Author's Note: Guess what? This is completely and totally out of the blue, but I decided to finally start my second fic! And of course, what better category than Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World? I finally finished going through the entire game, and I can't really say it's better than the first ToS, since I've never played the first myself, but I love the story of ToS 2 so much that I just had to write my own fanfiction about it. And forgive me if I'm going against some viewpoints here, but I adore Emil and Marta's personalities so much more than anybody else from ToS 1 AND 2. And they were pretty much made for each other. Don't worry, there will probably be barely any spoilers at all, since it'll be AU, except maybe some small (or actually, rather significant) concepts transferred over.

Disclaimer: *Gasp* I finally get to do a disclaimer for something other than Inuyasha or Legend of Zelda. Yaysies. Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World, or pretty much any other Tales game, really, belongs to Namco. Something this great has to, of course, belong to some organization. Without further ado, read on, and I hope you enjoy.

Marta sighed. Why was she here again? Oh yeah, she had to help catch that supposedly crazed killer....what was his name? Rata...Rate...Ratatosk! Yes, that's what it was.

Her palm was currently supporting her chin as her elbow rested on the bottom edge of the open window. The open air caused her light brown hair to whip in every which direction, as her half-lidded sapphire eyes gazed, bored, at the passing scenery outside the car.

They had just left the city of Sybak, and as they passed the urban areas, the environment slowly started to shift to a more rural one. Pastures, farms, and animals could be seen more frequently. A penned in sheep to their right bleated weakly as the car passed.

"What's the matter, Marta? You don't look so perky," A girl to the right of her asked with a concerned face.

Marta briefly glanced at her, before turning her gaze to the outside once more.

"I dunno, Karin. I guess I just feel a bit out of it today. I don't really feel like going to catch some notorious criminal right about now...What did he exactly do, again?"

Karin stooped below for a moment, and rose up with some files in her hands.

"Let's see..." she mused as she thumbed through the papers. "According to this...he has killed numerous people, about 300, to be more specific, with many of them being Imperial Knights like us."

Marta raised her eyebrows, surprised.

"Then, he's pretty dangerous, isn't he? To kill Imperial Knights...any motive?"

"Not that we can see. He's shrouded in complete mystery. Not much is known about him at all. Nothing about his appearance or background...just that he goes by 'Ratatosk', and that he was spotted in the general area we're heading to now."

"And we're headed to....Palmacosta, right?"

"Yeah. Seems he's hiding out here or something. Hopefully, the civilians won't get dragged into this."

Marta pondered this for a while.

Hmm...it seems pretty risky. But nothing I can do about it. It's my job, after all....

The car screeched to a halt.

The doors opened, and a group of six walked out.

"Phew!" Karin cheerfully exclaimed. "Finally! It was cramped in there...."

Included among their number were Marta, who was easily the youngest of them, Karin, three men who looked to be in their twenties, and one burly, hulking, giant of a man with a scar gashed across one eye.

They were all garbed in armor of a unique design. The plates were purple, and an insignia was etched onto their chest areas, depicting the head of a lion hovering above two clashing blades.

"So....this is Palmacosta..." Marta said slowly.

Karin walked from the parked car directly to the entrance of the village.

As she entered, she peered around, and said, "Whoa...it's such a...rural area."

Marta followed her and nodded.

"Yeah...I didn't expect there to be much of a countryside so close to town..." she murmured.

One of the men walked forward and took charge, taking the role of their leader.

"Right. Okay, guys, we're not here for sightseeing. Get ready at any given moment to engage in sudden combat if need be."

One of the other men rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, we got it Lance. Just 'cause you're the leader, y'don't have to be so uptight about it."

Lance growled and glared in the speaker's direction.

"Apparently I do, since none of you are obviously being serious at all. Especially you, Roland. Really, we have to take this job more seriously. Ratatosk has been deemed a mass murderer and extremely dangerous. We have to be on our guard."

Roland merely yawned in response.

The third younger man, who carried with him a much more calm air, spoke in a relaxing demeanor.

"Alright, alright. It won't do us any good to quibble amongst ourselves. Let us just remain composed. Cargle, do you have the tracker ready?"

The large, bulky man grunted in response, and held out a tiny yellow device with numerous blinking lights and buttons located about its surface.

"You know, you could speak up and respond to Garith, Cargle...why are you always so silent? The strong, silent type, hmm?" Roland inquired.

"Leave him alone, Roland," Karin snapped. "Don't pry in personal business if he doesn't want to tell you anything."

"Alright, geez. I was just asking a question."

Cargle merely grunted once more, and aimed the yellow device in the air.

Marta glanced at it.

"What's that thing supposed to do again, exactly?"

"Well, in one of Ratatosk's many 'excursions'...we supposedly were able to quickly get a sample of his mana signature at the last minute. This object can use that signature to track down his location. Which is why we were able to come here, following him," Garith cheerfully explained.

Lance folded his arms and glared at the beeping device.

"Which means....we will use it to discover where Ratatosk is hiding in this village."

Marta frowned.

"U-Umm...excuse m-me....but...."

The group turned, surprised, to the voice that just addressed them.

"A-Are you...Imperial Knights? C-Can I ask what you're doing here...?"

Speaking to them was a boy, who looked about sixteen years of age, with a head full of messy blonde hair. He was wearing a shirt and a pair of blue overalls that were covered with dirt and specks of dust from the waist down. His gloved hands were currently gripping a rake upright, which had its rounded end thudding onto the ground. Protuberant emerald eyes gazed at the group curiously with a meek visage.

Lance strode forward, up to him.

"Boy, we are looking for a criminal on the loose, who's known as Ratatosk. We have tracked him here, to Palmacosta. Do you know anything about where he could be or any information at all regarding him?"

The boy's eyes widened.

"R-Ratat-tosk...?" he stammered out, the hands holding the rake suddenly wobbling.

Lance crossed his arms and nodded with a kind of self-satisfied understanding.

"Yes, I understand you are frightened. After all, Ratatosk's reputation of murder and terrible acts would render anyone speechl-"

"Lance! Stop that. You're scaring the poor boy," Marta scolded.

The boy stuttered once again.

"N-No, it's just that...R-Ratato..."

Roland raised an eyebrow.

"'Poor boy'? He looks like he's pretty much the same age as you."

"Shut it, Roland," Marta snapped.

She then turned to the boy and kindly inquired, "What's your name?"

The boy glanced at her briefly, then lowered his head, causing his bangs to overshadow his green eyes.

"...I...um...my name's Emil."

Marta smiled.

"Well then, Emil...have you seen anything or anyone suspicious around this area? Anything at all?"

"W-Well, um....I-"

Suddenly, a shrill beeping noise repeatedly sounded from behind Marta. She whipped around to see the tracker in Cargle's hand emitting a blaring red light.

"Wha...?"

Cargle suddenly sneered.

"Heh. I found him."

Roland walked up to him.

"You found him? Ratatosk?"

Cargle only answered with a further smirk, before raising his head to look at Emil. This caused everyone else to also look towards him.

Marta frowned.

"H-Hold up. Him? He can't be...Ratatosk. I mean, look at him, there's no way he can be anything like a killer."

Roland nodded in consent.

"I'd have to agree with Marta here. This kid doesn't seem anything clo-"

Squelch.

Roland's eyes widened. A single trail of blood leaked down from the corner of his lips.

He glanced down to see the tip of a large scimitar protruding out from his chest area. Blood was quickly staining his armor dark.

He looked behind him to see a smirking Cargle holding the handle of the scimitar.

"C-Cargle...what...what the hell...are you...."

Cargle viciously pulled his blade back outwards from Roland's body, causing him to wobble for a second, then collapse onto the ground.

"R-ROLAND!!" Lance shouted.

They all hastily unsheathed their weapons, but not before Cargle rushed forward with inhuman speed, and carved a deep gash from Lance's shoulder to his opposite elbow. Lance stumbled, coughed up blood, and he too, collapsed.

"Ho...How can you be so...." Lance mumbled, before his breath hitched and he went still.

Marta stared, horrified, as she gripped her metal spinners tightly.

Cargle grinned, his eyes widening with bloodlust. His weapon lay slack at his side, with the areas that weren't marred with blood gleaming in the sunlight.

He turned slowly, his bulky body rotating on the spot, and faced Garith and Karin, both of whom tensed up in preparation for what was to come, Garith gripping his axe tightly, and Karin holding her twin daggers.

Cargle raised his scimitar, and, with a huge movement, swung it down, the insignia on his armor's chest area glowing red. A red wave of destruction cleaved the ground as it rushed towards the pair.

They gasped, and attempted to guard against it, but the blast easily overtook them, and ploughed them both along the ground, deep into the forest that lay beyond the village, leaving a lengthy indentation in the ground.

The villagers had screamed, and were already hastily running about in chaos, in the general direction opposite of the village entrance.

Marta stood, frozen.

What just happened...? How could Cargle gain this kind of power? I-If the others were killed so easily, I don't have a chance! I-I can't even run away....

Cargle stonily glanced at his next victim. Marta trembled, her grip on her spinners loosening.

"Well...last one, and the mission cover-up will be complete...."

He rushed towards her with that same inhuman velocity, and prepared to end her the same way as he ended her comrades.

Marta braced herself, but before the imminent impact came, a blur rushed in front of her.

A resounding clang, and Marta opened her previously closed eyes to see a head of blonde hair situated in front of her.

"E-Emil??"

"Tch. Don't call me by that wuss's name. Even if we are the same person, I refuse to be acknowledged the same way as that weakling."

Emil tensed his muscles, then swung his blade in a wide arc, causing Cargle to stumble backwards in a display of sparks.

He turned around and fixed Marta with a glare.

She gasped. His eyes weren't that shade of green that she observed before. They had changed to a blood-red crimson.

Marta trembled, and took an involuntary step backwards. She could practically feel the lust for battle emanating from the boy in front of her.

"Y-You...E-Emil...? Wh-What's..."

Emil growled, hitching his heavy and cumbersome blade on his shoulder.

"I told you....do not call me that. I am Ratatosk. And-" He suddenly stopped, then in the tiniest increment of time, managed to turn on the spot, grip his huge blade, and block the swing from Cargle's attempted pre-emptive strike.

The corners of Emil's mouth curled upwards in a smirk.

"Oh, you're a feisty one. Good. Maybe you won't be as boring as those others you guys have sent after me."

Cargle's furious face turned a further shade of red, as he bared his teeth in an effort to hold the boy's considerable strength, which belied his rather small stature.

It seemed as if the two were at a standstill. Each blade was pushing against the other, yet neither had gained any considerable ground. However, Emil still held that smirk on his face.

"I'd have thought..." he started slowly. "...that after all those attempts and scruples..." Cargle's feet dragged slightly on the ground.

"...you guys would be at least a bit more enlightened on how exactly I fight."

With that, Emil had four of his fingers tighten slightly on the large, horizontal handle of his blade. His thumb then promptly curled inwards and pushed a trigger that was latched onto the handle, a trigger Marta had not noticed before.

A massive, purple blast erupted from the tip of Emil's blade, and impacted Cargle directly in the face. He was blown backwards, and thrown into a tree. A sickening crunch was heard as his back collided with the thick trunk.

Cargle coughed up blood, and panted. He raised one massive arm to wipe away the blood that had accumulated at the corner of his lip.

Marta's eyes widened.

A gunblade! I've-I've heard of people using those...though they're really rare, and not many people can wield it proficiently.

Sure enough, at the tip of Emil's thick blade was a hole, no doubt where the shots come out whenever he squeezes the trigger.

Emil grinned as once again hitched his blade up against his shoulder.

"What's the matter, you brute? I thought you would be only too eager to come at me. Could it be that you didn't realize you would lose this easily?" Emil taunted.

Marta remained rooted to the ground where she stood.

H-He's like a completely different person. What happened? He's nothing like that timid boy I saw earlier.

Cargle gave a feral snarl, and sprinted towards Emil.

Emil glared.

"Hmph. I thought you'd run away. Charging in like an animal won't help you, you know."

Emil ducked under the wide swipe Cargle made. He snarled and swung his scimitar down, only to have Emil easily sidestep it, and kick outwards at Cargle's shoulder. This caused him to stumbled backwards. However, he quickly rose up again and released a flurry of swipes, all of which Emil effortlessly dodged.

Emil continued to frown as he brushed aside a thrust with his own blade.

"Look," he began, as he flipped backwards to avoid Cargle's downward thrust.

"...I really think you deserve to die after all that. I despise thickheaded mongrels like you." Cargle sent a red wave of crackling energy at Emil. He responded by leaping upwards and pointing his gunblade down, pressing the trigger. The blast canceled the attack out.

Emil landed gracefully and continued as if there was no interruption.

"But the wimp's nagging at me not to kill anyone. He gets really annoying sometimes. So I think it's in your best interest to cease this fruitless attempt and wander along back to your precious Empire, while you're still given a chance to live. Otherwise, I'll really have to kill you, my conscience be damned."

Cargle paid him no heed, as he once again rushed towards Emil, charging his malevolent red energy in his blade.

Emil smirked and positioned himself.

"Well, whatever. It's not my problem now. On your own head..." Emil leaped upwards, over Cargle. He stared, confused, at the ground where Emil once stood.

Emil landed, facing Cargle's wide back, and pointed his gunblade directly at the back of Cargle's head.

"...be it."

Marta winced and looked away.

She heard a distinct "bang", and saw a purple flash in the periphery of her vision.

She tentatively looked back, and observed Cargle's corpse sprawled over the ground, spread eagle, the mass amounts of blood obscuring what was left of his head.

Her stomach uncomfortably lurched as she looked back at Emil. His face had been peppered with droplets of blood, his red eyes scrunched up in annoyance, as his gunblade hung limply down at his side.

He looked her way, then sighed. He sheathed his gunblade back in the large holster on his back.

"One hell of a job you have, eh?"

Marta laughed weakly, despite herself.

Author's Note: Well....there it is. I hope that I'm capable of writing something other than Feral Souls. Well, you guys'll be the judge of that, hm? I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Feral Souls will probably take priority, but don't worry, I don't plan on abandoning this story anytime soon, particularly if you guys like it. Well, I won't know that until you review, eh? So, please send your feedback. Look forward to more!

Random quotation of the day:

"On what grounds do you plead insanity?"

"Well, they hired me as their lawyer, didn't they?"

Lol, I don't think I've seen a bad episode of Futurama yet.