Tales of Symphonia Story, Tethe'alla Chronicles (3)

QUIZ START: "What?" asked the Gnomelette (Gnomelette #3) that you approached, "You losers got a problem? You wanna fight?" another sweat drop slid down Lloyd's head as he commented,
"Their reactions are identical to the point that it's just silly..." he said this in a grumble. Then stated aloud, "No, we don't have any business with you."
"Hm?" asked the Gnomelette, inspecting Lloyds expression curiously, "Your face says: 'We came here to meet the Summon Spirit of Earth, but we're spending all our time dealing with these weirdos. And we may still get stuck again in some place. Maybe we should've just kept going and not wasted time stopping here. But then again this guy might be useful for something.' Right?" You got a sweat drop, so did Lloyd
"...What kind of face is that?" asked the brunette curiously *That's a good question...* you agree, crossing your arms. *Not to mention he was awfully specific in what he said...*
"You want me to help you?" you all jumped slightly at the suggested, you let your arms fall to your sides again.
"What?!" exclaimed the brunette,
"What do you want this time?!" Genis demanded. Seeing how the last Gnomelette made you cook something spicy...
"What?" asked the Gnomelette curiously, "Nothin'. Don't need nothin'."
"This one is nice." Presea concluded, you nod in agreement,
"Please, help us." Raine asked.
"Okay then." he agreed with a nod, "I'll be waiting at the secret passage ahead, so hurry up." then he jumped off of the bridge he was standing on.

You look over the edge doubtfully. Unless you were flying, you weren't a big fan of heights...or jumping from them...
"How're we supposed to get down?" you ask nervously. Raine walked to the edge, and looked over, silent as she thought,
"These bits of bridge." she said, talking about the rotting platforms that jutted out in the space from where you were to where the Gnomelette was, "They aren't spaced to far apart, and appear to be rotting..."
"Oh, I get it." Genis agreed. "We stand on one, and use the 'Earthquake' Sorcerers Ring to make one collapse, and then we'll land on another." Raine nodded approvingly at her little brother,
"Yes, that's correct. We'll continue to drop from platform to platform until we reach the bottom."
"Okay! Good idea Professor!!" Lloyd grinned.
"..." you bit your lower lip. You were scared of...falling. No. It wasn't you were scared of falling...it was more than that. *We wont fall very far, we wont fall very far.* you tell yourself as you stand with the others on the rotted plank, *We won't fall very far.*
"Here we go." the brunette warned, holding out his hand *We won't fall very far!!* the platform shook, and collapsed,
"AAAHHHHH!!!"

After making it down to the bottom, you fell on your hands and knees. Your body was shaking so hard you could hardly stand; why were you so scared? You'd already gotten to the ground, but you were still shaking...
"You ok, Aura?" asked Sheena worriedly,
"D-d-don't... like... f-falling..." you stutter quietly. You all had fallen quite a few times, and most of the spaces between boards were larger than you thought they would be. Everyone gave you a somewhat sympathetic look,
"...A very reasonable fear..." Regal agreed.
"Though, by your reaction..." Raine voiced, "You screamed when we fell even short distances... Hmmmm, it almost seems more like a phobia."
"Phobia...?" Genis echoed curiously. Lloyd turned to the Professor,
"Well, it's more reasonable' than being scared of water anyway." the Professor glared at Lloyd. She walked over to the boy, and slapped him upside the head "Ow!" Raine crossed her arms glaring at him. Everyone aside from you looked at her questioningly,
"Raine is scared of water?" asked Sheena. She blushed, turning back to the others,
"N-n-no!! No! Of course not! Dont be ridiculous!" she insisted as Genis helped you back to your feet, "Of course I'm not scared of water! What kind of fear is that?"
"You're blushing, Professor." Presea told her.
"..."

You all continue ahead to where a Gnomelette was blocking the door (#1) but it was different from the Gnomelette you had seen back up on the platform,
"Oh, you guys." he greeted. "You're the ones who gave me 'potion'."
"Ah...!" you say, remembering him, "That's the Gnomelette from the Toize Valley Mine!"
"Oh yeah..." Zelos agreed "...That little twerp...We had to give him a potion."
"This must be Big Brother." Lloyd asked
"They all look the same, so it's hard to tell." Colette voiced,
"Do you want to go back up?" he asked, "Then use this hole. It's a secret passage that only Gnomelettes use." he moved out of the way so you all could pass,
"Thanks, Big Brother." Lloyd thanked.

After going through the passage, you found the Gnomelette who you had seen earlier.
"Oh, there you are." he greeted, then explained, "There's a big chasm further in. We have to drop the path above down onto it to get past it. I'll go on over there."
"What do we do there?" asked Lloyd
"D-drop...down...?" you whisper worriedly, "...more falling...!?" Sheena smiled worriedly at you,
"C-c'mon, Aura!" she assured "I'll help you, don't worry!"
"..."
"I'll tell you when we get there." the Gnomelette assured the brunette,
"All right."
"Okay. I'm going now, but do something about those monsters along the way." he asked, "It's really annoying when one of them touches me."
"So we need to make sure no enemies touch you, right?" Lloyd asked. The Gnomelette nodded
"Yeah. I'll raise a big fuss if they do."
"Then let's get going." the teen suggested.