Belly of the Beast

by CoMo290

There's trouble in Ixa'Taka and Vyse and Co. are the only ones who can stop it!

The Belly Of The Beast

It's been a year and a half since the crystal wars. But only nine months since something almost as big happened. All of Arcadia got the answer to the their biggest question. "Who does Vyse really love?" It all happened that beautiful night in Horteka, ten months from the present. The Hortekans were having a celebration for their heroes: Vyse, Fina, and Aika. Vyse and Fina-who had been seeing each other secretly for awhile-ran off to the highest peak in the village. It was an unusually clear night, which Vyse saw as the perfect opportunity. They were married one month later, and everyone was happy, everyone except Aika. Aika had been in love with Vyse for years, without even knowing it. But when she finally told him, it was too late.

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She knew she would have to get used to it one day. Seeing her best friend with the only man she had ever really loved. Not that he was stolen from her or anything. She would have to get used to looking out her window and seeing them together. Get used to them always holding and kissing each other. Getting woken up by their "late night activities". Not that she wanted to leave; they were all best friends, not to mention she didn't really have anywhere else to go. They didn't want her to leave either. It just got really awkward sometimes. Vyse knew how Aika felt about him, so public affection was...weird. But she knew she would get used to it one day.

"Hey Vyse, what time is everyone supposed to be coming over tonight?"

"This isn't about your hair, is it? It's big and scarecrow-like as usual."

"Vyse, you know it only takes me like ten minutes to do my hair, and I just want to make sure that I'm ready."

"Hey, I was just kidding. They should start showing up at about seven. So you should have plenty of time to get ready."

Aika headed out of the docking bay where their new ship the Voyager was tied and anchored. After Vyse gave the Delphinus back to Enrique, his father built him a wooden ship modeled much like his own Albatross II, only it was slightly larger to accommodate for his big crew, and had a more powerful engine, courtesy of Brabham. The ship was a deep blue color, and after much deliberation they decided on a new flag. It was of the six moons casting their light on their old flag, to represent the coming together of the six nations under the Blue Rogue banner to defeat the tyranny of Lord Galcian and Ramirez. As Aika stood at the center of the island she looked around at the new Crescent Isle. It had under gone many changes. Vyse and Fina moved int one large room together, and Aika simply got a bigger room. To compensate for the lack of ships to raid lately, Vyse came up with several ideas to get more money. For one thing, he rented space on the island to local merchants to set up shop, and he got twenty percent of all profits. And they also built an Inn, now that the port Kirala started was finished. Yep, the island was bigger and busier now.

Vyse walked into his room and saw his beautiful silvite wife brushing her hair. She was wearing her newer outfit. She used the same material for her old dress, to make a shorter skirt, a small vest, and arm cuffs. Under the vest she on a small blue shirt revealing her midriff, and a blue bandana over the top of her head.

"Why hello there my beautiful Silvite Rogue."(Which is what she was currently known as around these parts).

"Are they still calling me that?"

"I think it sounds kinda sexy." He swooped in from behind and put his arms around her neck and kissed her.

"How do I look?"

"Ravishing as usual" He said in his best, kidding yet serious "fancy accent" as he put it. Ravishing and other such words and phrases were taught to him by Enrique, who used them on Moegi, and Gilder, who used them on any woman he found even slightly attractive. But instead of using them like any serious gentleman would, he would slip into his "fancy" accent, to both compliment her and make her laugh at the same time. Fina pulled him by his ascot onto the bed as they started kissing.

After about five minutes, there was a knock on the door, it was Aika. "Vyse! Fina! Are you guys ready yet? Gilder's Here!"

"Uh, yeah! Just a minute!" Vyse said back to the door. Fina pulled him back to the bed.

"I think we should go now." He said.

"Yeah yeah yeah." She mumbled. They got off the bed and were both slightly disheveled, so they fixed themselves up before they left their room. As usual Gilder came a little early so he could be first to get a drink. Gilder stepped off his small Claudia dispatch boat.

"Hey guys, how's it goin'. This place sure has changed since the last time I was here."

"Yeah, which was like nine months ago! How come you never come and visit!?" Aika said punching the back of his head.

"Hey, I don't think I deserved that one. Besides, all the time I spend running from Clara has left me with very little to spare."

"Still afraid of a little commitment there Gilder?" Vyse said elbowing him in the ribs.

"Well I'm still young here, I can't settle down yet."

"Gilder, isn't it only like three months until your twenty-ninth birthday? You're not that young." Aika said. "And you do know that Clara is going to be here right?"

"Well I sort of figured. Oh well, more reason for me to get drunk early on then. If I'm passed out, tell my men to heave me back on board." He said as he headed towards the tavern.

"Hey look, there's Enrique!" Fina exclaimed, pointing to the small dispatch boat from the Delphinus. As they started to tie up they noticed that Moegi had a slight roundness to her stomach.

"Moegi, are you..." Fina started.

"Yes, I'm pregnant!"

"Ommigoshthatsocool!" Aika said at amazing speeds. Fina, Moegi, and Aika were all jumping and hugging. Vyse just slapped Enrique on the back.

"So Enrique, if you're here, then who's watching Valua?"

"Don't worry, Vigoro is watching over everything."

Aika suddenly stopped jumping as a look of utter disgust came over her face. "Vigoro!? That creep is still hangin' around?"

"Well Air Pirating didn't work very well for him, so he came to me for work. And he has proven himself to be very loyal to the Empire, so I gave him position of head Admiral."

"Head Admiral!? Isn't that a little much?"

"He has the best skills and the most experience as Admiral so I figured it would only be fair."

"Well maybe if he wasn't so busy groping innocent young girls all the time he could be an even better leader."

"Who are these innocent young girls you're talking about Aika? Maybe you could introduce me to them?" Vyse said laughing. At the exact same time, Aika and Fina both hit him in the back of the head.

"So how is the reconstruction of Valua going your Highness?"

"Very well actually. The people are really working together for this. And please Don, call me by name, I consider you my friend, and titles shouldn't come between friends. Which reminds me, I heard you became the Admiral of the new Esparanzan Navy."

"Well all I did was open a trading route to Yafutoma through the Dark Rift." Don threw that one around where ever he went. Conversations like this were going on all over the Island as all of the old crew returned for an early reunion celebration. Everyone was there except Tikatika and Domingo, who had the habit of showing up "fashionably" late as he put it. Then came the announcement. Hans stood up and tapped his glass. "Excuse me, can I have your attention please?" Nobody heard him. "Excuse me!" He said louder. Khazim, who was sitting next to him heard him this time.

"Everybody SHUTUP! The boy has somethin' to say!" It went silent.
"Thank you Khazim. Well, Urala and I have been seeing each other for quite sometime now and well..." He said turning to Urala. He got down on one knee and pulled out a beautiful diamond ring.

"Urala. I love you with every ounce of my being, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, will you marry me?"

Urala's Face turned three shades of red as she said..."Yes!" The entire island went up in a roar as they jumped into each other's arms. Everyone was there and celebrating. Except Aika. She stood alone at the flagpole. Everyone was in love and getting married, except her. She started to think about Vyse. Why she loved him so much. He was handsome, kind, brave, heroic, and gentle when he wanted to be, funny, understanding, and he wasn't a chauvinistic jerk like certain other men she knew. He was just too perfect for her. She was about to give up and go to bed when something caught her eye. It was the light from Domingo's ship, The Discovery. Vyse must have seen it too because he and Fina were walking up the path towards her. Domingo tied down his ship and was greeted by a slap on the back from Vyse.

"It took you long enough." Vyse said.

"Yes, well I had some business in Ixa'taka that I had to take care of. Oh and Tikatika apologizes but he can't make it tonight."

"Domingo you missed it, Hans proposed to Urala!" Said an over excited Fina (who had a little to much to drink).

"Oh I know, I ran into Centime while I was back there. He was so excited he had to tell me. But I have some thing that might interest you Vyse. While I was in Ixa'taka, I heard rumors of this strange flower. It only blooms for two weeks every one thousand years and its roots are said to give eternal youth. There's a huge reward for it too, for anyone who can get some of these roots."

"Yeah, but what else is wrong with it? Does a ferocious beast guard it? Or is it incredibly small and delicate so that one touch destroys it? I know some thing must be wrong or you would have discovered it for your self already."

"Well now that my trading business has failed, I could use the money, but yes there is a problem. It might not have anything to do with the flower though. There have been strange disappearances all over the mainland."

"Could it be the Ixa'ness?"

"No, they only take men, and women have been disappearing too. Also there has been very little game for hunting lately, so it must be taking animals too, which shows it must be some sort of carnivorous beast, but if it was Tika could see it with his powerful eyes. So either it's very small, which I doubt, or it's damn good at hiding. So, sound good to you?"

"Yeah, we'll go see what's going on, and if we just so happen to get rich off this flower, then so be it." Vyse said with a smile.

"Well now, if you excuse me, I think I'll go have myself some well deserved R and R." Domingo said heading down to the party.

"So I guess this means we're going back to Ixa'taka." Said Aika. At this point Fina was passed out in Vyse's arms.

"I think I'll go put Fina in bed, then you and I can go back to the party."

"That sounds great, just hurry up, I won't wait forever." Aika Said back. Vyse headed into their room, pulled back the covers on their bed and laid Fina down. He put a blanket on her and was about to leave when she started to move and opened her eyes.

"Hey, how are you feeling?

"I'm nauseous and my head hurts."

"Well you did have a lot to drink."

Fina started to get up.

"Hey, I don't think you should be getting up."

"But I think I'm going to..."

"Oh!" Vyse said as he picked her up and sat her next to the toilet in their bathroom. He closed the door and heard some noises that didn't sound to good.

"Hey Fina, I'm going to go and get you a glass of water." He didn't get much of a reply but left for the kitchen anyway. He came back with Pow trailing behind him and closed the door. He knocked on the bathroom door.

"Hey Fina, can I come in?"

"Just a second." She replied. He heard the sink running, then she shut it off.

"Okay, you can come in now."

Vyse opened the door and saw Fina sitting on a stool next to the sink. Her eyes were a little puffy and red, and her skin was a little more pale than usual, but she was still beautiful.

"Hey, someone wants to see you." He said as Pow jumped on to her lap, and stated licking her face.

"Hey Pow." She said.

"I brought you some water." Vyse said taking the stool next to her.

"Thank you." She said as she took the water, swished it around in her mouth, spit it in the sink, and drank the rest.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little better. I just feel so stupid."

"Why, because you got a little drunk?"

"That and you had to see me like this."

"Hey, don't worry, everyone has a little to much to drink every now and then, even me."

This surprised her because Vyse was known to be able to hold his alcohol.

"Yeah, I remember the first time I ever had some loqua. I was about ten. One of my dad's crew members left out a bottle of loqua. I drank some not knowing what it was. When they asked me what was wrong, I told them I had some bad fish, and they threw out all the fresh fish we had which was actually pretty good. I vowed never to drink again. That was short lived. On my seventeenth birthday I got wasted. I felt really sick but I didn't show it until three in the morning when everyone was still asleep. And nobody knows but you. So if you ever need some blackmail, there you go."

Fina was laughing. "Vyse, I'm your wife I already have plenty of blackmail on you."

"Great, you're already sounding like Aika. Just don't go putting your hair up in big ponytail. You should probably get some rest now." Vyse picked her up and carried her to bed and tucked her in. Pow jumped up laid down next to her.

"I love you." He whispered as he kissed her.

"I love you too."

He turned around, turned out the lights, and walked out the door.

Aika woke up Hungry. She looked at the clock; it was a quarter after nine.

"I guess I should get up now."

She said hoping it would help wake her up. She got up, put some clothes on, fixed her hair a little, and headed to the tavern. Vyse was already there. He pulled out the chair next to him signaling for her to sit down next to him.

"Good morning Vyse. Where's Fina?"

"She's still asleep; she had a lot to drink last night. Man is she gonna to be hurtin' today."

Then Urala came out of the kitchen with their food?

"Urala? What are you still doing here?"

"Hans and I stayed overnight. He heard from Domingo that something was wrong In Ixa'taka, and that you were planning to go and see what it was, so we thought we would come and help."

Then Hans walked in through the door.

"So Hans. I hear you've invited yourself on this little expedition of ours."

"Well I sort of lived there for a while, so I thought it would only be right. Especially after the natives helped us out, I just think I should repay them."

"But isn't Enrique going to miss his top engineer?"

"I don't think I'm that good. I've still got some to do some learning from old Brabham."

"But Enrique does know about this right?"

"Yes. Actually he practically forced me to go after I told him about my situation."

"Well if the Emperor himself said you have to go, then I guess you'll just have to come."

"Thanks Mr. Vyse."

"Hey Hans, just call me Vyse. I'm only a year older than you, and I'm not your captain anymore either."

"Right, sorry Vyse. Hey where's Mrs. Vyse."

"Fina? She's still in bed, I think I'll go check on her."

Vyse headed out the door and up into their room. Fina was still sleeping. Pow lay next to her. His tail started to wag as Vyse entered the room and sat down next to Fina. Fina woke up stretched, and yawned.

"Mornin' sunshine." He said.

"Not so loud, my head hurts."

"You're just dehydrated. Why don't you come down and eat breakfast with the rest of us?"

"Who's the rest of us?"

"Aika, Hans, and Urala."

Fina started to sit up. "Hans and Urala are still here?"

"Yeah, they're going with us to Ixa'taka."

"Oh I get it." She got out of bed. "Well let's go get breakfast now, I'm starving."

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. Although Fina did walk in on Hans and Urala fondling each other in the kitchen. The newer crew was on a short vacation, and wouldn't be back until the next day, so the Voyager preparation was slightly delayed.

But on the next day...

Vyse woke up and turned and turned to his side. Fina lay next to him. He still felt a little strange waking up next to a nearly or sometimes completely naked Fina. He looked out the window. It was raining, but not enough to stop them. Vyse shook Fina's shoulder a little bit.

"Fina. Fina. Come on Fina, we need to start getting ready now if we want to get to Ixa'taka by Friday night."

Fina opened her eyes, yawned, and stretched.

"What time is it?"

"About seven."

"Seven? Can't I sleep just a little bit longer?"

He just smiled and started kissing her.

"Alright, just let me get dressed and brush my hair."
He kissed her again and headed out the door to the tavern. Aika was already there.

"Goooooooood morning."

"I didn't know you could get up this early Aika. Are you all set to go?"

"Yup, did all my packing last night."

Fina walked through the door and sat down next to Vyse. Then Urala came out with a tray of food.

"You know Urala, we have a new cook now, you really don't have to do this for us."

"Well I just like to cook. Plus Hans and I can be alone in the kitchen."

Everyone looked down at his or her food.

"Don't worry, nothing happens to the food." Urala said as she disappeared into the back.

"Is it just me, or is Urala a lot more open than she used to be?" Asked Aika.

"Well I guess all the time she's been spending with Hans must have really opened her up. Like when Fina first came here." Answered Vyse.

As time went by more members of the new crew started to show up for breakfast and morning duties, until the room was completely full of hungry sailors.

All of the sudden there was a loud burst of thunder. Vyse got up and looked out the door. It was raining pretty hard and there was a ferocious wind too.

"Damn. If this storm continues like this, then we won't be able to leave. Alright everyone, let's finish preparations for today, so we can leave early tomorrow."

Instead of getting the enthusiastic collective "Aye Aye" he expected, he got more of a random person "Uh, yeah, sure."

"Okay, we'll work on that later."

With the storm happening outside, there wasn't much to do. So most of the crew just hung out in the docks and told jokes and stories. And with such a diverse crew, there were a lot of local legends and such to be told. Vyse, Fina, and Aika were telling of their experiences to some of the newer members of the crew when Aika yawned and said,

"I think I'm gonna go to bed now."

"Already? It's only like seven o'clock." Said Vyse.
"Well I'm really tired, and we have a long day ahead of us."

"Okay, but it takes three days to get to Ixa'taka if we fly east of the dark rift, you'll have plenty of time to sleep then."

Aika just shrugged and walked away.

When she stepped out it was still raining pretty hard, so she made a mad dash for her room. When she got there she was soaking wet, so she threw her wet clothes off, wrapped herself in a blanket, and jumped into bed. She just lay there for a while. Thinking about Vyse again, she reached into the desk drawer next to her bed and pulled out a picture of her and Vyse.

She sighed. "Vyse." She said to herself.

While Vyse was talking was talking to one of their new recruits Kori, he noticed Fina was missing. He asked around, but no one had seen her lately. He went outside and saw her standing at the balcony. The weather had cleared up considerably since it started, just in time to make a beautiful sunset. Vyse went up next to her and took her hand in his.

"It sure is a beautiful sunset." He said.

It was still raining a little, but it gave the air a nice scent, and it also made for a very calming sound. A small, cool breeze stated to blow through. They gazed into each other's eyes and started kissing. A little at first, then more and with more passion. They both had their eyes closed, so they went tight to the wall and started feeing for something. Then Fina found the doorknob, opened the door, pushed Vyse onto the bed, and then closed the door behind them.

Aika woke up again and lay awake on her bed. She hadn't been asleep for that long anyway. She looked out her window and saw Fina standing alone at the balcony. She was about to put some clothes on and go to join her, but then Vyse came and stood next to her. He said something, but she couldn't tell what. Then they stated kissing. Then Vyse pushed Fina against the wall, she flipped him to the wall. They kept doing this until Fina opened the door and pushed Vyse in. Aika knew what was about to start and decided she didn't want to be awake for it, so she went back to sleep.

Vyse woke up and turned to the clock. It was about five in the morning. He hadn't gotten much sleep.

"Hey Fina, it's time to get up."
There was a sort of groaning noise on her part, and she rolled over.

"Okay, let me make you a deal. If you get up and get dressed, then I'll carry you to our cabin on the Voyager, and you can sleep as long as you want."

She didn't actually say anything, but she got up, put her clothes on, then sat on Vyse's lap, put her head on his chest, and fell asleep again. Vyse didn't see her eyes open once. He then carried her out of their room on the Island all the way to their room on the Voyager.

No one else was up yet, except Urala. He could only assume it was her because she was the only person he knew who would be working in the kitchen at five in the morning. He walked in and saw Urala facing the wall behind the counter giggling.

"Um, hey Urala."

She jumped. "Oh! Good morning captain."

"Urala, I'm not your captain anymore."

Then Hans popped up from be hind Urala with a fork in his hand. "I found it!"

"I dropped a fork and he was helping me pick it up."

Vyse just smiled and shook his head.

"So what would you like for breakfast Vyse?"

"I'm not really that hungry right now."

Members of the crew started coming in droves through the tavern door. After a long while the entire crew was there except Aika. Vyse went and knocked on her door.

"Aika! Come on, we need to be leaving soon."

Just as he said that the door went flying open and Vyse got knocked back.

"Oh, sorry Vyse, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go get some breakfast."

She stuck out her hand and helped him up. After ten minutes of inhaling Urala's delicious Yafutoman food, Vyse stood up and the whole room went quiet.

"Alright everyone, the ship has been ready for quite sometime now. And if you're not ready yet, then I suggest you go and get ready now, we'll be leaving in approximately twenty minutes."

A few people got up and left.

Twenty minutes later Vyse was standing before his Rogues again.

"I know many of you haven't been to Ixa'taka before, but I assure you that what ever you've heard about it, what ever bad rumors you've been told, aren't true. Ixa'taka is a beautiful and peaceful place. And my good friend Hans here is from Ixa'taka. Well, sort of. But he helped save all of your home countries, so I think it's time to repay the favor."

Kori, one of the new raiders, intervened. "Hey, if Ixa'taka is such a beautiful and peaceful place, then why do we have to go there and save it?"

"You're new so I'll go easy on you. I'm the captain, so what I say goes."

"Whatever."

"Any other smart-ass comments? Good. Let's go save a country!"

"Aye Aye!" They all shouted.

The engines started to hum as the Voyager came to life. Vyse, Aika, and Hans all stood on the bridge. Vyse at the wheel, Aika at the guns, and Hans monitoring the engines. Aika looked around and noticed Fina wasn't in her usual position, clinging to Vyse's arm.

"Hey Vyse. Where's Fina?"

"She's in our cabin sleeping. She had a "rough" night and didn't get much sleep."

Hans started to laugh and Vyse chuckled a little bit.

"Vyse, was that really necessary?"

"Oh come on Aika, you're starting to sound like my mother."

Fina opened her eyes. It took her a while to realize where she was and how she got there. She was still exhausted from last night, but her hunger soon overpowered her exhaustion. She went to the ship's small dining hall. A few members of the crew were already there, mostly just those whose services weren't needed at the moment. Fina sat down next to two female sailors, Joan and Leela.

"What's for breakfast?" She asked.

"Breakfast? I think you mean lunch. It's one in the after noon." Answered Joan.

Leela entered the conversation. "The captain must have really been hard on you last."

"Actually, I'd really rather not talk about that."

"Oh, I'm sorry, usually I don't get into other peoples business like that."

"That's a load." Mumbled Joan.

"What did you just say!?"

"You heard me!"

Fina saw this as the perfect opportunity to escape. She grabbed some fruit and headed up to the bridge. Vyse was at the wheel and Aika was standing at the window to his left. Fina came up in front of him and put her body into his. He wrapped an arm around her waist. They didn't say anything. Then Aika came over.

"It's about time you got up Fina. I was getting worried about you. Is this what it was like on your honeymoon?"

Vyse and Fina laughed a little and kissed. Aika always hated it when she triggered that. Then there was an incredibly awkward silence. Everyone felt they had to say something. Finally Fina came up with something.

"Hey, I wonder where Hans and Urala are?" She said directing it at Aika.

The tone in her voice practically screamed, "WE WANT TO BE ALONE!" Which Aika picked up on immediately. But she answered anyway.

"They're probably making-out in a closet somewhere. I think I'll go and find them." She said with no real intentions of finding anyone.

She closed the door to the bridge. Nothing got her more depressed than leaving those two alone in a room together. And whenever she got depressed, she would eat. So she headed to the dining hall, but as she opened the door, she stopped dead in her tracks. The entire room was one huge mess. Food was everywhere, accompanied by shattered dishes. But nobody seemed to be trying to clean it up.

"What happened here?" She asked Foster, a new gunner.

"I'm not sure; it was like this when I got here. But I bet they know." He said pointing to Joan and Leela, who were still squabbling.

Aika walked up to the girls.

"What happened here?"

They both started yelling and pointing at each other. Vincent their new Helmsman was busy tending to some of their small cuts and bruises,

"Hey Vince. Do you know what happened here?"

"Nope. They did the same thing to me."

"Okay, well I'm gonna go get Vyse, you should probably come and take the wheel."

They headed up to the bridge. They walked through the door to see Vyse and Fina kissing. Fina had her arms around his neck and he had one hand on the wheel and the other on her "hindquarters".

"It's amazing we haven't crashed yet." Vince said to Aika.

"Hey Vyse, we have a problem in the dining hall that needs you attention. Vyse…Vyse! Dammit Vyse, let her breathe!"

This finally got his attention. He turned to Aika.

"Okay, so what's this problem?"

"You have to see it for yourself."

Vince took the wheel as Vyse, Aika and Fina headed to the dining hall.

"Vyse wait." Said Fina.

"What is it?"

Fina pulled out a small mirror and held it in front of his face. He had smudges from Fina's lipstick on his face and his hair was more messed up than usual. He fixed his hair and wiped off the lipstick smudges then turned to Aika.

"You were going to let me walk out like that weren't you?"

Aika smiled. Then they entered the dining hall. The mess was still there but people were trying to clean it up by this point, especially since Vyse just walked in.

"What happened here?"

"Ask those two." Aika said pointing to Joan and Leela.

Vyse walked towards the two girls who were still fighting. But when they saw Vyse approaching they went dead silent.

"Alright you two, what happened here?"

They did the same thing they did to Aika and Vince.

"Alright, if you don't calm down and answer me, then you'll be swabbing the decks, washing the windows, and cleaning the guns for the next three months."

They both went silent and neither one would say anything.

"Well that didn't work. Doesn't anyone know what happened here!?" Vyse shouted across the entire dining hall.

"I do Vyse." Hans said as he literally came out of nowhere. "I came in just as Fina came out. These two were arguing about something, but it didn't really seem that important to me or any one else around, until they started calling each other some pretty nasty names. That got the attention of me and some of the other men. Then they started throwing things at each other. Then they got really vicious and started attacking each other. Heh, some of the men actually started making bets on who would win. I made some pretty decent money on that fight."

"But didn't it occur to you that maybe you should try to break them?"

"Yes, but I was afraid for my life. They got pretty ferocious."

"Well, thanks Hans. Okay you two, time to start the punishing. You can start by cleaning up this entire mess. And those three months are down to one week. Hopefully you can become better friends within that time. Hey Kori, hand me those mops. Enjoy."

The rest of their Voyage was mostly uneventful. Although Fina did walk in on Hans and Urala on the kitchen counter a few times, but that was about it. Then came the last day. By sunset Vyse could see leaves blowing in the wind.

"Well that didn't take too long."

Then Fina came in. "If Hans and Urala don't want me to catch them, then maybe they should get a room instead of the kitchen counter."

Vyse looked at the loaf of bread in his hand that had been made off of that very counter and pushed it aside.

"Well, we should be reaching the mainland soon." He said slipping a hand around her waist. He started kissing her. She put one arm around his neck and another on his back. Then she got more aggressive and pulled off his ascot and started grabbing at his shirt. Then the door opened a little and a voice came through.

"Captain?"

They both jumped. Vyse put both hands on the wheel and Fina faced the door hiding the ascot behind her back. Then Lucas their lookout entered the room.

"Captain, we should be reaching the mainland within twenty minutes."

"Thanks. Is that all?"

"Actually, could you tell Hans and Urala that if they want to be alone, the crows nest isn't the place?"

"Yeah, I'll do that."

Lucas left the bridge. Vyse and Fina laughed a little. Fina put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

It was almost pitch black outside as the crew of the Voyager was looking for a place to drop anchor for the night. Horteka village was at the complete opposite side of the continent so they just searched for a good clearing and set down.

Aika headed up to the bridge to meet up with Vyse and Fina.

"God I hope they're not making out."

Much to her surprise they weren't. Vyse was at the wheel and Fina was resting in the Captains chair. Aika stepped to the window and looked outside. She couldn't really see anything except the thin out lines of mountains to the west.

She looked back at Vyse whose gaze was completely focused on Fina. Aika wondered if there was ever a time when Vyse wasn't thinking about Fina.

"Hey Vyse."

Vyse shook his head like he just came out of a trance. "Yeah?"

"Are we going to be stopping in Horteka for the night?"

"No, Horteka is too far east. I thought we could just find a clearing out of the wind where we could set down for the night. Then we can head to Horteka tomorrow and find the King."

That would not be necessary though, because later that night…

"Captain! There's a strange looking ship coming in off the starboard bow."

"Let me see."

Lucas handed his binoculars over to Vyse. There was a defiantly a strange ship coming in. But Vyse recognized it as the King's personal ship. Vyse, Fina, and Aika all headed out in the deck. The King's ship lined up next to the Voyager. A plank came off and The King along with Isapa and Tika Tika stepped onto the voyager.

"Vyse, it is good to see you again." Said the King.

"Yes and I see the girls still remain in their beautiful figures." Commented Isapa.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean! Why shouldn't I look the same?"

Isapa just laughed his powerful laugh.

"Tika, it's good to see that you're still alive. I heard some pretty bad stuff was happening here."

"Yes, that is what brings us here. I'm glad to see Domingo got the message to you in time. We were actually on our way to Crescent Isle when we saw your ship, dropping anchor here. But yes, something bad is definitely happening here. Entire hunting parties have disappeared. There is very little game for hunting and our people are starving. And even my powerful eyes cannot see what is happening."

It went dead silent. Despite the heat, a chilling breeze blew through the jungle. Chills went up their spines. Fina huddled closer to Vyse and he wrapped his arms around her. He could feel goose bumps al over her body. Tika continued with his story.

"I was with one such hunting party when it happened. We were going to a very familiar hunting spot. One known to be primed with animals. But when we got there, there was nothing. No deer, rabbits, or even birds. It was completely silent. Then we split up to search for berries and nuts. Then one of the men from the other party came back and said that he lost his companion. We went to a cliff several hundred feet off the ground. I saw him standing alone not too far away from us. Then, he fell, like something grabbed him. And he was then dragged off by some unseen force."

Vyse took Fina's hand and noticed she was shaking a little bit. He held her closer and started rubbing around her bare stomach. Aika, although she didn't show it, was also scared a little, and subconsciously stepped up right next to Vyse. He didn't seem to mind though. Tika continued.

"I couldn't see where he was dragged off to though. Something suddenly blurred my vision. We went to the spot where he was dragged off at, and saw man-made claw marks in the dirt. We followed these marks until rocks started to appear. The rocks got jagged so we followed pieces of ripped clothes. Until there were no clothes left and in it's place was a trail of blood."

Vyse and Aika both cringed. Fina squeezed Vyse's hands so hard the circulation stopped.

"Vyse, that man, was my brother."

"What? Oh Tika, that's horrible!"

"No, we must not mourn his death. It is said that if any unnecessary mourning is done, then the spirit will come back as an angry beast. We held a parting ceremony for him afterwards to help his spirit cope with the after-life. Please Vyse, help me find what did this to my brother. It is the only thing I can do to help his spirit move on happily."

"Tika, I swear on my oath as a Blue Rogue, that we will find and destroy this thing before it can do any more harm. But I'm afraid we're going to need more information than this. Isapa, do you have any idea what this thing could be?"

"Well there are many creatures of legend that it could be. But that is the problem, we don't know enough about it to really tell what it is."

"The only thing we have that could help is this." Tika said pulling out a large map.

He laid it down on the floor. It was a finely made map with dots and lines connecting to each other. It had notes written in Ixa'takan off to the side.

"Wow Tika, this is really good." Aika said.

"Who taught you how to make maps like this?" Asked Vyse.

"Domingo taught me while we were on your crew together. These dots here represent all of the places where disappearances have taken place. They haven't gotten close to any of the nearby villages, but it has destroyed all of the good hunting spots."

"What are all these notes here?" Asked Vyse.

"Mostly nothing really. But the really disturbing thing is if you notice these lines here. They connect attacks that happened in the same day."

"What? How is that possible?"

"I'm not sure. It could only mean that there's more than one of whatever we're looking for."

"Hey, is it just me or is there a pattern forming here?" That was the first thing Fina said in a long time.

But she was right. There was a pattern forming. It was making the same pattern of the yellow moon crest. In fact, one more circle and it would make it the complete the pattern.

"What do you think it means?" Asked Aika.

"I don't know. But I don't like it."

"Well, we must leave know. I have other things to tend too." Said the King.

The King, Isapa, and Tika got back on the Kings ship.

"Vyse, I thank you." Said Tika.

"Hey, it's no problem. I'm always happy to help a friend."

The King's ship started to sail back towards Horteka.

"Well let's assemble the crew."

"Alright everyone, listen up!" Vyse shouted across the deck. "We've just gotten some important information this thing. Most of which doesn't really concern you, so I'll tell you what you need to know. First, there may be more than one of whatever it is we're looking for here, and whatever it or they are; they're very good at hiding. The only good news I can offer you is they don't attack in people numbers, so I don't want anyone alone at any time, outside or in, it doesn't matter. And I want a group of three to act as lookouts through out the night. Shifts will rotate every two hours from now until the sun rises. And always stay armed, never let your guard down for anything, and make sure you make some noise to get the rest of the crew up just in case. Is that clear?"

"Aye Aye!" They shouted.

The deck then bustled with people scattering to their cabins. Staying in numbers wouldn't be that hard really. Most members of the crew were already bunked together. And since they were pretty much all friends, making watch groups wouldn't be that hard.

Vyse approached Aika and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey Aika, how about you bunk up with Fina and I tonight?"

"What? Really?" At first the thought of staying a night with Vyse sounded great, except he's married to her best friend. And she always hoped that when they stayed a night together, it would just be him and her, and her feelings for him would be reflected back to her from him.

"Well we have to stay in numbers right? And who else are you going to share a room with?"

"I guess your right. But will Fina care?"

"Well actually, it was more her idea than mine. So no, she won't really care."

"Okay. But are you sure I won't be intruding on something?"

"Relax, we're no going to anything if you're right there."

"Okay then, I guess we're room mates for a night then."

Fina came from behind and put her head on Vyse's shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. He put an arm around her waist.

"Just give us some time to get ready." Vyse said as they headed below deck.

Vyse and Fina headed into their room and closed the door.

"Vyse, are you sure it's alright for her to be here through the night?"

"Yeah, it's fine. She's my friend too you know."

Vyse changed into his sleeping attire, which would usually be nothing, but with Aika he threw on a white T-shirt and some lighter pants. Fina put on her rarely used, red satin nightgown. Then there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Shouted Fina.

Aika opened the door and walked in. Her hair was let down and she was wearing a pair of loose yellow shorts and a mildly revealing tank top. Vyse had never seen a lot of skin on Aika. And what he was seeing now made him slightly uncomfortable. He tried not to look so he changed focus to something else. He pulled out a small cot and set it next to the bed.

"So I guess I'll be sleeping there tonight." Said Aika.

Before Vyse could say anything Fina shot him a look that could make even the strongest pirate cower and hide.

"No, I think I'll take the cot, you can take the bed with Fina."

Fina smiled and Aika caught on to what was happening and laughed. Then Vyse's eyes kept flashing back to Aika. He got incredibly uncomfortable with his wife right there too and had to do something.

"Hey, I'm going to get a snack from the kitchen. Do you guys want anything?"

"No thanks." Said Aika.

"I'll have a glass of water please. And take Cupil with you just in case."

Cupil came out from his usual spot on Fina's wrist and floated around Vyse's head. Vyse bolted out the door.

"Hey Fina." Aika said breaking the silence. "We haven't really had a chance to have girl talk lately, and since Vyse isn't here right now…"

"Oh, I see. Well, what do you want to talk about?"

"I just want to know what Vyse is like when he's not being and idiot."

A huge burden seemed to be lifted from Fina's shoulders as she smiled and said,

"I'm so glad somebody finally asked me that. Believe it or not, Vyse is really sweet and romantic when he wants to be. It was funny at fist though, because he didn't really know what to say, he was like a cute little boy. Then when he had his how to talk to a lady lesson from Gilder and Enrique, he always seemed to know exactly what to say and when to say it. Or at least he could say it better now. He always knows what I'm thinking too. And I love cold nights with him. He'll get out a blanket and we'll wrap up in it and just cuddle the rest of the night. And you know what else, he is a great kisser. Not that I've really had any other experience, but from what I've heard from Clara and all the other girls, he must be great."

Suddenly Vyse walked through the door with a half empty glass of water in his hand.

"Were you standing there the whole time?" Asked Fina.
"Well just when you started talking about this cute little boy. Have I met him before? Or do you have some secret child lover I don't know about?"

Vyse and Fina laughed, but Aika was facing the other direction trying to hold back sobs from what Fina just old her.

That could have been me with him. Was all that was going through her mind at the time. Then she tuned back in to what was going on around her. Vyse handed the half empty glass of water to Fina.

"Hey, this glass is only half full."

"Well it's a long walk from here, to the kitchen, and then back here. I got a little winded."

They both laughed some more and then went in for a good night kiss. After they remembered that Aika was there too they stopped with the gratuitous tongue and Vyse got into his cot and turned out the light.

"Good night girls." He said.

"Good night Vyse." They both said in unison.

Vyse got up early that morning. He made sure not to wake the girls as he got dressed and headed to the dining hall. Aside from Urala making breakfast, there were only a few other members of the crew there, who probably didn't sleep judging by the looks on their faces. Urala came over with a tray of food.

"Here you go captain."

"I think they were here before me." He said pointing to the three men at the other table.

"Uh, right."

"Hey Urala, where's Hans. Isn't he usually all over you at this time in the morning."

"I let him sleep. He was up all night working on something." Urala went back to the kitchen and started cooking up more food.

Aika and Fina then walked in and sat on either side of him.

"Good morning." Vyse said.

"Are you sure it's even morning yet?" Fina said, still a little groggy.

Vyse bent forward and kissed her. Urala came out and served them their breakfast, which was an unusually quiet meal this morning. After Vyse finished eating he got, kissed Fina, and went to make sure his ship was being well taken care of.

Hans and the other engineers were busy making sure the ship's engine was working at full power, which it always was. The deck was being cleaned from a storm last night, and anyone who wasn't needed at the moment was on deck playing and sharing games from their homeland or honing their fighting skills.

After inspection Vyse went back to his room. Fina was there taking a hot bath.

"You know, we're going to be trekking through the hot muddy jungle all day long, is a bath really necessary?"

"I'm just trying to relax before the big fight."

"How do you know there's gonna be a fight?"

"Isn't there always?" Fina started to get out. "Could you hand me a towel?"

Vyse opened the cabinet and grabbed one of the so called, "Captain's Towels", which weren't really a whole lot better than the towels given to the rest of the crew. Fina dried off a little and the wrapped it around her body below her shoulders. She walked towards Vyse. He started to kiss her. After a while he started to grab at the knot holding her towel up.

"Not now Vyse. We have a country to save."

"Isn't there always a country or an island or a single person that only we can save? Can't I just have a little time to spend with my wife? Even on our honeymoon there was that family we had to rescue from the people they owe money to. I don't think we should have even gotten involved in that one. People are just taking us for granted now."

"That may be true, but we have a reputation to uphold now. How do you think all of Arcadia would feel if their only savior was to busy making love to his wife to come to their rescue?"

"I know the men would be jealous."

"The women probably would be too." They said laughing.

"It just seems like they ask too much of us now. And for stupid things too."

"Well that's what happens when you become the most popular people in the world."

There was a knock on the door.

"Are you guys ready yet?" Said Aika.

"Just give us a minute." Vyse said.

"Can I get dressed now?"

"Yeah, but when we get back…"

"I can't wait." She said with one more kiss.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" Vyse shouted across the deck.

"Aye Aye!" The crew shouted back.

"All right then. Remember the plan. Hans, Fina, Aika, and I are going on foot while the rest of you stay on board and hover above from a distance as a lookout. Vince, you're in charge as long as we're gone."

"Aye sir. Alright, you heard the captain, everyone to your stations!"

Vyse turned to the rest of the group.

"Are you guys ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be. But I'm not so sure about Hans. He doesn't even have a weapon." Aika said.

"Actually I do." Hans said as he pulled something out of his bag. It was an overly large wrench with sharpened edges and was fused with the yellow moonstone.

"Hey, whatever works. But that reminds me." Vyse said as he pulled out a yellow moonstone. He slid it up both edges and blades of his Sky Fang. He tossed it to Aika who did the same with her Boomerang. She then tossed it to Fina who fed it to Cupil. Cupil spat it back out to Fina who gave it back to Vyse.

"Are you ready up there!" Vyse shouted up to the deck.

Vince gave him the thumbs up.

"Then we're off!"

"I'm so bored!" Aika exclaimed.

"Aika, we've only been walking for like twenty minutes."

"I know, but there haven't been any monsters, and it's so quiet my ears are starting to hurt."

"All of your yelling is making my ears hurt!" He said back.

Vyse and Aika went into a big argument about something completely irrelevant to the current situation. Hans then turned to Fina.

"Can these two ever go on one little adventure without bickering?"

Fina looked at Vyse and Aika, then back to Hans and shook her head.

After another five minutes of arguing and walking they came to a large tunnel made of bricks in the middle of some thick jungle. It had symbols and writing etched into it much like the symbols and writing that can be seen at the ancient Valuan palace ruins. Aika stepped up and went over the markings with her fingers.

"This is really strange. Who put this here?" Aika looked into the tunnel. "Hey I can see the light at the end." She said.

She took two more steps in and there was a loud crack noise. Everyone looked down and noticed that they were all standing on thin molding wood flooring. There was another cracking noise. Everyone heard it but no one moved. Aika tried to move but it just made it worse.

"Aika, don't move." Vyse said.

He took one small step towards her and the ground beneath Vyse, Fina, and Hans gave away and they were all gone in a matter of seconds. Aika ran to the gaping hole.

"Vyse…" She said slowly. "Vyse! Can you hear me!" She yelled into the hole. No response. "This isn't good." She looked at the tunnel. "I have to get help."

Aika headed deeper into the jungle. When she reached the end she noticed there was a strange change in the air around her and it made her nervous. It felt like there was something waiting for her around the next corner or behind a tree, but she continued anyway.

Then for the first time in a long time she heard something. It was much like the sound a snake makes as it speeds over the jungle brush. She started walking faster but the noise got closer and closer. Then a large vine lunged out at her. With one swift motion of her boomerang she cut the vine in half and continued walking. More vines shot out at her but she just kept hacking them to pieces.

As she continued, she noticed bricks were appearing in the ground. A few scattered at first, and then they came together like they were forming a path to something. Then she saw it. In the middle of the dense jungle there was a huge building, or at least most of it. It only had three walls and some bricks of the fourth. And what was left of the roof seemed to from a dome. And in the middle of it all was a huge crimson flower that looked like it was just beginning to bloom. It had to be almost three times her size. She slowly approached until she was inside the building, or at least would've been if there were a fourth wall.

She could here a very strange, almost indescribable, noise coming from all around her. Then Vines shot from all around the building and made a fourth wall of vines. She quickly ran to the vines and tried cut them, but hen a vine shot out from behind her and yanked her boomerang out of her hand. As she looked back to where the vine shot from her eyes widened and she stopped dead in her tracks. The giant crimson flow had bloomed to reveal a mouth-like opening in the center. She watched as her boomerang disappeared inside the opening.

The strange creature had thorny teeth and looked hungry. Aika knew she would have to fight, so she used all of the yellow spells she knew until she couldn't cast anymore magic. She was too tired to fight any more. The mouth opened up and vines shot out. She dodged as many as she could, but she wasn't quick enough. A vine grabbed her around her ankles and picked her up off the ground. It shot back towards the mouth and Aika was half way in. The "throat" was tightening around her waist.

Great, what a way to die. Eaten by a giant flower. She thought .

She was now completely inside the mouth except for one hand as her life started to flash before her eyes. Then she got to Vyse.

Why did he pick Fina, what does she have that I don't?

She didn't want her last thoughts to be bitter ones so she made up something happy. It was of her and Vyse, together. He had her in his arms and they were kissing. Then the mouth closed and all light faded from her Vision.

"Dammit! Where did they go!?" Vince exclaimed as he pounded the arm of the captain's chair.

"We're not sure. They went into that tunnel and just disappeared." Said Lucas.

"They can't just disappear."

"I'm sorry Vince, but I don't see anything."

Vince let out a deep sigh. "My first important mission and I've already screwed it all up. Okay then, we go to our next option."

"What's that?"

"We go to the rendezvous point and give them an hour. If they don't show we leave."

"That's the plan? Dessert the captain?"

"Captain's orders. Actually he said half an hour, I gave them a little more time."

Five minutes later they were hovering above a clearing by some ruins.

"Prepare to drop Anchor!" Lucas shouted into the pipe system routed through the whole ship.

The grinding of gears and chains could be heard from all over the ship as the anchor dropped and the Voyager hovered about thirty feet above ground.

"What now?"

"We wait. I'll be in the dining hall if you need me." Vince said as he headed out the door.

Vincent was starving. He didn't get breakfast that morning. He had the second to last watch shift and slept through breakfast. He had been looking forward to lunch all day. But when he got to the dining hall, almost the entire crew was there. He didn't get served until half an hour after he got there. He stabbed his food with a fork and lifted it to his mouth, then the door burst open.

"Vince, come quick!" Lucas shouted.

He very slowly put down the food that he didn't get to eat and walked over to Lucas. Lucas didn't say anything but grabbed him and they ran above deck.

"Okay okay, geez, what's so important?"

"Look down."

Vince looked over the railing and saw hundreds of vines climbing up the ship's anchor.

"We're already loosing altitude. If this continues we'll be on the ground and those things will rips us to pieces!"

"Assemble the crew, tell them to get their weapons and make sure their sharp."

"Aye sir!"
Treyce, their gunner walked on deck.

"Vince, what's going on? None of the gun ports will open!"

"Just look down."

"What is that?"

"I don't know, but get a weapon, make sure its sharp, and meet me back up here."

The vines had climbed up more and were now breaking through windows.

"Prepare for battle!" He shouted into the tubes.

Treyce came back up with his gunners each armed with swords and knives. Vince pulled out his own rapier and was getting ready for battle. The vines started to surface to the deck.

"Okay, you two keep the vines at bay at port, Treyce and I will take starboard."

Vince and Treyce destroyed all the vines they could with their yellow spells, being Valuan themselves. Treyce's men were having a harder time and some of the vines punctured the sails.

"I think they know what they're doing here. Treyce! I have an Idea! Tell your men to fire all the cannons."

"What? That's crazy! We could severely damage the ship."

"Well the way I see it we have three options; One, we damage the ship a little; Two, we blow ourselves to Hell; and three; we all get slowly crushed to death by hundreds of vines. And one and two are really looking good to me right now."

"Alright. Foster! Randall! Fire the all the cannons until I say stop!"

"Um, Aye sir?" Replied Foster.

"Just do it!"

Foster and Randall disappeared below deck Ten minutes later then cannons rang out and chunks of vines and wood flew everywhere. It was working, but not very well. The cannons kept firing until there was a loud explosion. Foster's head poked out one of the gun ports.

"Sir, we just blew up the inside of a nearby room."

"Is there a hole leading to the outside?"

"No."

"Then keep firing!"

Foster's head went back inside and the cannons kept firing as the vines kept coming. There was a huge flash of lightning in the distance. Then suddenly, the vines completely stopped moving.

"Stop firing!"

"Did we do it?"

Vyse's eyes opened with a groan. He sat up and looked around. Fina and Hans were lying next to him.

"Hans, Fina, are you guys alright?"

Fina sat up and rubbed her head.

"What happened?"

"We fell, from pretty high too. It's a good thing this.. stuff was here and broke our fall. Hey Hans, Hans! Are you alright?"

Suddenly Hans jumped up like a reflex.

"Hans, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." He said looking himself over to make sure that he was indeed alright.

"Maybe we should go look for Aika now." Vyse said.

He stuck out a hand and pulled Fina up, but as soon as she got both feet on the ground, she let out a scream of pain and fell back to the floor.

"Fina! What happened?"

"It's my leg. It hurts and I can't move it."

The strange substance they landed on must have covered her leg, because as they looked down at it had a large wound and was bleeding pretty profusely.

"It's broken." Vyse said feeling her leg around the wound." Hans toss me the first aid kit."

Hans pulled out his pack and dug around for their first aid kit, which was barely used. Usually green magic was better than anything a first aid kit had to offer, except for breaks.

Vyse pulled out their canteen and poured some water on the wound to wipe away the blood. He unbuckled one of his sleeves and dried off the wound. Then he pulled out some rubbing alcohol and poured it on his other sleeve.

"This might hurt a little." He said as he wiped it over the wound.

Fina bit her lip and her eyes started to tear up. Vyse pulled out some gauss and wrapped it tight around her leg.

"Cupil, keep her foot elevated for me okay?"

Cupil mad a squeak of acknowledgement and lifted her leg with his head. Vyse picked her up in his arms.

"Shall we continue now?"

-Twenty minutes later-

"Where do you think she went?" Asked Hans.

"Well, she should know where the rendezvous point is, so hopefully she's already there drinking some hot coffee."

"And how's Fina?"

"She's been asleep for the past fifteen minutes, so she must be doing pretty good if she can sleep through it."

"What about you? Aren't your arms getting tired?"

"Not really. Fina's really light, plus doing something like this is easy if you're doing it for someone you really love."

Fina giggled. "Sorry, that was just really cheesy."

"Well excuse me; at least I'm not sleeping with little kids. She's sleeping with a cute little boy you know."

Vyse and Fina were laughing but Hans didn't get the joke. Then they abruptly stopped as Vyse and Fina started kissing.

"Come on you guys, we're supposed to be looking for Aika." Hans said.

"Yeah yeah yeah." They both said.

"Vyse, are we getting close?"

"Probably, why?"

"Well for one, there is a huge storm cloud gathering directly above us, two there are some huge ruins right in front of us, and three I can hear cannon fire."

They stopped and looked up. A storm cloud bigger and darker than they had ever seen before was gathering above, and cannon fire rang out in the distance.

"I don't like this." Vyse said.

"What is that? Fina said pointing into the ruins.

They stepped closer. "Oh my God!" They all exclaimed at once.

As they looked inside, they saw a huge crimson flower with a human hand dangling outside of it's mouth.

"Hans, stay here with Fina, that person could still be alive."

The hand disappeared as Vyse pulled out his sky Fang and prepared for battle. He immediately cast Increm and Quika for an advantage. He charged at the flower. Vines shot out at him, but he dodged and cut his way to the bud. The giant flower somehow de-rooted itself and prepared it's own attack.

"I don't have time to waste on you!" Vyse said, as he got ready for a pirates wrath.

Almost instantaneously when he spoke there was a crash of thunder and a huge lightning bolt hit his Sky Fang and it started to burn his hands, but nothing would stop him from saving that person. He just stared at his lighting charged weapon. This was just what he needed he executed a powerful pirates wrath completely decapitating the giant flower creature.

The body fell to the ground and Vyse jumped on it and cut open the beast's belly. It had strange green ooze inside it that burned his skin, but he kept searching. But what he found inside brought an instant look of horror to his face.

"Oh my God, Aika!?"

Aika woke up in a room. She didn't know where she was or how she got there, but it seemed familiar to her. Then in a flood of painful memories she remembered everything that happened. Her flesh started to burn with the horrible memories. She wasn't aware of it but she was making some pretty loud painful noises. Then she stopped. She started thinking.

How did I get here? Why am I still alive? Where am I? So many questions came up her head started to hurt. Then she looked to the side of the bed she was in. There some clothes. Her clothes. That's when she realized she wasn't wearing any. She got out of bed and was about to put them on when the door opened she turned around and saw Vyse. He had a wide-eyed expression on his face. Neither one of them moved. Then the look on Vyse's face changed back to a look of horror as Aika picked up her nearby boomerang and hurled it at Vyse. He tried to run, but it caught him in the stomach and he got slammed against the wall.

"Vyse you big stupid Jerk! What the hell did you think you were doing!?!"

Vyse had gotten the wind knocked out of him and was unable to move, so he just had to sit there and take the slew of mostly indiscernible insults. She opened the door a little more and yelled,

"And what were you thinking just walking into my room without knocking?"

Vyse's breath returned to him. "First of all, you were making some pretty bad noises, and second, you're in my room!"

Aika looked around and she was indeed in Vyse and Fina's room. "Well you should have knocked anyway."

"Yeah yeah yeah."

Twenty minutes later…

"What happened to my room!?!" Aika exclaimed staring into the charred mess that was her room.

Kori walked by. "Oh hey. I see you noticed your room got destroyed."

"How did this happen?"

"Well you see, those vines came and attacked the ship, so we fired all the cannons, and we accidentally blew up your room. But hey, you've still got a bed, and you didn't have anything of real emotional value did you?"

"No, all that stuff is on the island."

"See, you'll be fine." Kori patted her on the back and walked off.

Aika headed to Vyse and Fina's room, but before she even got there, she could here some very distinct noises coming from their direction that she really didn't want to investigate. Instead she headed to the dining hall for a well-deserved drink. As she got there she saw the entire crew hanging out and drinking and really wanted to join them.

"Urala, get me some loqua, anything will be fine."

"I'm sorry Aika, we're all out of loqua."

"What, no loqua? After all the crap I've been through I can't even get a drink? This sucks! I'm gonna go take a nap."

Aika woke up in her own bed this time. She headed up to the deck. Vyse was already there standing by the railing. She came up and punched him in the back of the head.

"That's for seeing me naked!"

Vyse didn't say anything.

"Come on, it's no fun if you don't fight back."

He just stared out at the sunset.

"So where are we heading?"

"Valua, we need a lot of stuff there."

"How long was I out?"

"Four days."

"Four days? We should be in Valua by now."

"Well we had some pretty bad damage done to the ships so we had to repair it the best we could. We didn't actually leave until early this morning. Let's see, we'll need some serious repairs, which should come as cheap to free with our royal connections. I'm sure our good doctor friend Ilcymis we'll be able to help us for free, and if we don't get some loqua soon there's going to be a serious mutiny." Vyse sighed after all of that.

"So, do we know what that thing was?"

"Actually yes. There was once an ancient Valuan cult that practiced some pretty bad black magic. An ancient Ixa'takan hero drove them out of the land but it looks like they came back now and created that thing, then posted a fake bounty to draw people to it."

"But why?"

"I have no clue, but it's dead now. Hey I need to check on the engine, I'll be right back."

As he left, Fina came on deck. She was using crutches now.

"Fina!" Aika ran up and hugged her.

"Are you alright? What happened to your leg?"

"I broke it when we fell. But I don't think I'm going to need a peg leg."

"If it's broken, then how did you and Vyse…"

"Oh, he was really careful about that. But what about you, you got eaten by a giant flower thing."

"Well as far as experiences go I think I win, but you definitely have the worst wound."

"Actually Vyse would win that one. Did you see his hands? His cutlass got hit by lightning and he has some pretty bad burn scars now, and to top it off he had to dig around in that acidy ooze too. You should have seen him, he was a wreck. When he saw you inside that thing he almost broke down and cried, god knows he wanted to. He actually did C.P.R. on you until you started breathing again. He gave up his side of the bed for you and slept with the rest of the crew. He really does love you, you know.

"Yeah, but he's in love with you."

Vyse came back up on deck.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He said kissing Fina.

"A little exhausted but otherwise fine. I think I'm going to get a snack."

"Alright, I'll meet you there in a minute." He said kissing her again.

Fina went below deck.

Aika grabbed Vyse's hands and looked at them. They had pink and red scars all over them in the shape of lightning. She leaped out and hugged him.

"Thank you so much for everything Vyse."

"Hey, no problem. I really love you and if something happened to my best friend, I don't know what I'd do."

Aiwa's eyes started to tear up. Vyse put an arm around her.

"Aika."

She looked up at him and he kissed her, not just a peck, but a real kiss. It wasn't an "I'm deeply in love with you" kiss, but more of an "I'm sorry I'm not deeply in love with you" kiss. They just stayed there like that for a while.

"Sorry." Was all he could say as he walked away below deck.

At first Aika was happy. Then as he walked away she just wanted to cry. The one thing she wanted the most would always be there, but she could never have it. And the worst part was, Vyse really was a good kisser.

"Well Vyse, it looks like everything checks out." Ilchymis said. "We put a cast on Fina's leg; she'll have to keep that on for about two months. Aika is in perfect health, and then there's you. I'm afraid those scars are permanent you got really badly burned. And also, I noticed there are fingernail marks on your back. Now I don't want to get into your marital life…"

"Then Don't." Vyse said.

"Um, alright then you can go now. But if you want me to check out the rest of the crew, I will have to charge a small fee. If I keep doing this for free, I'll go out of business."

"Yeah, that might be a good idea."

"So how much longer are you going to be here?"

"Until the ship repairs are done. That should take couple of days. I'm surprised we got here in the shape we were in."

Vyse let out a deep sigh. "That was one emotional adventure I'd rather not go through again. I'm a little worried about Aika."

"You mean like she might have a little more emotional and psychological damage than physical."

"You sure can word it a lot better than I can. But yeah, she just seems a little different is all. I think she just needs someone to talk to. It's probably to weird to talk to Fina, and she really can't talk to me."

"Vyse, maybe you should talk to her. It might be strange at first, but if you guys don't talk about it then it will always be strange."

"But what I'm supposed to say, I mean I already spilled my guts out on the ship."

"What do you mean?"

Vyse told Ilchymis the entire story. Everything he said to her on the deck that day.

"Well Vyse, it looks like you already got past what was there between you two. Maybe Aika is holding something against Fina."

"Oh man I really hope not. I'm gonna be the one in the middle of it all if that's the case."

"Maybe you should find Clara. I'm sure Aika and her could talk about it."

"Yeah, that could work. You don't know if she's here do you?"

"I know Gilder's here, maybe you could use him for bait."

"Yeah. Thanks Ilchymis."

"No problem. I have a degree in psychology too you know."

Vyse put his shirt back on and headed out the door. Fina was waiting for him out in the lobby. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"So what did he say?"

"Well, the scars are permanent, so you'll have to get used to my slightly disfigured hands."

Fina lifted one of his hands and started kissing it.

"Well I think they're kind of sexy."

They started laughing.

"Where's Aika?"

"I don't know, after Ilchymis examined her she just left and didn't say where she was going."

"I don't know Moegi. All of the sudden it feels like there's something between Fina and me. Only it's mostly on my part. I don't hate her or anything; at least I don't think so. I don't want to hate her. I just hate thinking about how if Fina never came along, then Vyse and I would probably be living our happy lives together. But then if she never came along then the world as we know it would've ended. Why did Vyse go for her? Why is she so much better than me? Is she really that much prettier than me?"

"Aika, I'm not really sure what you want me to say here without taking sides. Both of you are my friends, so I can't really give a good answer here."

Enrique walked into the room.

"Oh hello Aika."

"Enrique, who's better looking me or Fina?"

Enrique just stared at her with a blank look on his face. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but he didn't.

Then," Well I really don't think I should get into this. You're both very beautiful young ladies and… hey look it's Gilder. Gilder, come over here. Look who else came to visit at the same time you did."

"Oh, hey Aika. How's it going? I heard you had a bad time in Ixa'taka."

"Gilder, who's better looking, me or Fina?"

"Fina. Why?"

Enrique hit Gilder in the back of the head.

"Hey I was just being honest. You asked and I answered. If you're afraid of the truth, then don't ask the question."

"Great, I'm starting to think Vyse should have just left me inside that thing."

"Hey, you shouldn't say that." Moegi said with concern.

Aika walked out of their bedroom and headed for the door to get out of the palace. On her way out she saw Clara coming in.

"Oh Aika, I'm glad to see you're all right. I ran into Vyse and he said you might want to talk."

"Well Vyse thought wrong…actually, that sounds nice."

"Well it doesn't sound like you have anything against Fina, I think if you were feeling any hate towards anyone, it would be Vyse. He didn't choose you. It wasn't Fina's fault in any way, shape, or form, it was all Vyse's decision."

"What? I can't hate Vyse. I love him."

"There's a thin line between love and hate. When he chose Fina, you might have just stepped over that line. But just because Vyse doesn't feel that way about you is no reason to get mad."

"But doesn't it bother you when Gilder runs from you all the time?"

"I know how Gilder really feels about me. He's just afraid that someday his karma might just catch up with him and he'll get hurt like all the women he's ever been with. He'll come to his senses one day. But for you it might be a little late. Just remember, there's always room for another man in your life. I'm sure there's a lucky man waiting out there for you to come and find him."

"Thanks Clara." Aika said as they hugged. "I really needed that."

Tika sat alone at his lookout post in Horteka. The sun came out, but was only going to be there for a short period of time as another cloud came through. Tika thought of his brother whom he had recently lost. He was going to miss him. They had some good times together.

He gazed out to where they went on their first hunt together. The swimming hole they shared with all of their friends. Where they had that fight about the girl they both liked. Tika couldn't help but laugh.

Then something caught his attention. It was a strange looking white figure floating in the wind. It got closer and closer. Tika stood up and the white figure started to shape into a human figure. It was his brother's spirit returning to say, "good bye".

"Tika, it is good to see you again."

"My brother, I am sorry I could not help you."

"No, by calling on the great one you helped me. If you tried, you would have failed like me."

"I am glad to see that you can rest peacefully."

"You should be glad. If became an angry beast I would have eaten you first."

"Even after death you're still the funny one. Say hello to mother and father for me when you get to the other side."

"I will, and I hope not to see you for many years. Good-bye my brother."

As the wind picked up he vanished, and a single teardrop fell from Tika's powerful eyes.