ToS Drabbles: Training is Fun!
By: Mylinda Antoinette

Summary: On a trip to Flanoir, the whole group decides to partake in a group training session… and quickly learns just how much fun training can be!

Author’s Note: Due to my continual frustration at receiving anonymous reviews by people who criticize my stories and leave no email for me to explain my choices for the stories I write, as well as claiming they have read and liked others of my stories and yet leave no reviews on those stories, I have chosen to permanently disable all anonymous reviewing of my stories. I have no problem with people criticizing my stories, but I would rather be able to reply to those criticisms. I have reasons for doing things the way I do them and would like to be given the opportunity to make my reasoning known.

Anyway, on with the story!

The eight party members landed their Rheairds on the freezing continent on which Flanoir was located. Despite the fact that they were all unused to the cold and therefore all except Kratos were shivering, they were all excited to see the phenomenon known as snow, something that they only rarely, if ever, got to see.

As they wandered through the streets, admiring the pretty flakes as they fell and listening to Raine raving about how amazing snow was, that every crystal, big or small, had its own intricate and unique pattern, none of them noticed that Kratos had stopped behind them until a snowball hit each of them in the back of the head. They all whipped around to see Kratos standing with a smirk on his face.

“Gotcha,” the angel laughed in a rare moment of mirth. A moment later, he was pelted with seven snowballs, each thrown by another member of the party, resulting in his mouth becoming packed with snow. Kratos’s eyes opened wide in surprise and ducked just in time as another volley of snowballs flew at him.

Soon, all eight party members were flinging the balls of packed snow at each other, and they began to grow good at predicting where to throw their snowballs, knowing that if they threw it at exactly the right place, their opponents would not be able to duck in time. They played in the snow for several hours before exhaustion led them to the inn, where they planned to stay the night before continuing their business.

“Well, that was a fruitful training session,” Kratos commented lightly as he stood, surveying the tired group.

“What do you mean?” Lloyd asked, looking up at the angel.

“Yeah, that was fun, a game; that wasn’t training!” Genis chimed in as Lloyd, Colette, and Presea nodded in agreement. However, Sheena, Raine, and Regal shook their heads, agreeing with Kratos.

“Come on, guys, did you honestly think Kratos of all people would start a snowball fight without an ulterior motive?” Sheena asked. “Grandpa used to take groups of the village children here to have snowball fights, but he did it so that we would learn better aim.”

Kratos nodded at Sheena’s explanation. “Precisely. Did you not notice that with each throw, your aim was truer than before?”

Lloyd’s eyes widened as he realized the truth of Kratos’s words. “Yeah, I guess Sheena’s right… you are too much of a stick in the mud to start a snowball fight with the simple intention of having fun…”

Kratos glared at his son, an action cut off by Raine’s suggestion that they all go to bed, as it was getting quite late. As they each settled in bed, exhausted, but happy, they all came to the realization that training can be fun… even when Kratos starts the lesson.

Author’s Note: Again, stupid, but fun to write. I love having snowball fights with my friends; when we get snow that actually sticks that is. Hope you enjoyed this tribute to the winter months!