"I'm stunned to see you here Flynn. I thought you were fighting off monsters near Dahngrest and assisting in communications and diplomacy on the continent that Nordopolica is located on, to stop the death toll at the arena." Ioder stated, confused to see Flynn and the rest enter the palace.
"My deepest apologies emperor, but a more urgent matter is needed to be discussed, along with a finding." Flynn stated as he kneeled down in front of Ioder.
"Really, what kind of finding?" Ioder asked. Flynn was overjoyed to know that Ioder was interested in the unique find.
Raven removed the green gem from the pocket under his purple coat and handed it to the emperor. Ioder gazed at it in awe and moved it around in his hands. After a few moments he handed it to Flynn and said, "I do not know what the gem is. You might want to go to Myorzo, the Krytian city, for information. Now, you said you had an important matter to discuss with me?"
Flynn nodded and stood up. "A copy of the Heracles model was spotted near Zaude, and it eventually disappeared. I am worried about the well being of our citizens and what the machine could do; the damage it could produce could be massive, even catastrophic to the empire. I ask you, what should we do?"
Ioder was appalled at the information. He leaned back in his chair, and then stood up. "I am stunned by what you have just told me. I'm worried about the machine as well. I ask that you inform the knights about this and prepare them at once. Raven and Judith, you need to find out more about this gem."
Raven and Judith nodded, but Flynn shook his head. "No, I will have Sodia and Witcher notify the knights, while I accompany Raven and Judith." Flynn protested: Ioder nodded respectfully.
"I want to go too." Said a voice from behind Raven and Judith. Everyone stared at the doorway to see a pink haired girl in a mostly white dress.
"Estelle?" Judith yelled in surprise.
"Well, well, nice to see ya Miss Estelle." Raven stated calmly.
"But, Estelle-" Flynn began.
"Stop right there Flynn." Estelle interrupted. "I helped defeat the Adephagos, and Duke, so I think I can handle myself, and choose on my own where I want to go. And I choose to go with the three of you." Estelle ordered.
"Well, nice to see you bein' assertive." Raven complimented.
Estelle shook her head quickly. "No, that's not what I meant! I don't mean to be bossy or…or rude or anything of the sort!"
Raven chuckled. "I didn't mean anything bad about it."
Flynn turned back to face Ioder. "We will leave tomorrow in the afternoon. We will take our leave now." He said as the group bowed and left the room.
"Good luck on your journey!" Ioder hollered after them. "Since I bet it will be longer than just heading to Myorzo…"
"Did you say something sir?" Leblanc asked from beside Ioder.
"Oh, it's nothing." Ioder responded quietly.
Outside the palace the group walked towards a nearby inn. At the door to the inn Flynn turned to face his second-in-command and his mage. "Alright you two, you need to alert the Imperial Knights about the new Heracles. First you should tell all the knights here in the city, then in Halure, after that head to Aspio, Nor Harbor, then Torim harbor, and finally the other cities like Nordopolica on other continents." Flynn said, explaining thoroughly his orders.
"Yes sir!" Witcher said.
"We will do as you ask." Sodia said with pride.
"Come on Sodia, we have work to do!" Witcher reminded his superior.
"Oh, yes, of course, let's get going. Good luck Commandant." Sodia said as she and Witcher ran off.
Flynn turned to face the group. "Alright, let's catch up on things, get some rest, and get ready tomorrow so we can leave tomorrow." Flynn stated to everyone. They all walked into the inn, paid the inn fee for two rooms, and sat around a table on the entrance floor.
"So Estelle, what have you been up to?" Judith asked.
Estelle thought for a moment then said, "I've mainly been at the capital. After the Adephagos incident and losing the blastia, I wanted to help people. Without the blastia to protect the cities, the people around the world are having trouble. Places like Nordopolica and Dahngrest are doing fine the majority of the time, but places like Halure and Nor Harbor are having trouble defending themselves against monsters. I just want to give a healing hand to everyone. After the situations in other cities were dealt with I came back to the capital to help over look the empire's problems."
"Well, it sounds like you've been busy." Judith decided. "What about you Flynn?"
"The usual duty of the Commandant of the knights. I look at the status of the knights and assist in the battling of monsters, like in Dahngrest and a week ago in Capua Torim. I planned to go overview Aspio in a month but since we may be going there soon I decided to just go there with you guys. I have a feeling thought that other cities will soon need my help or at least other knight's help while Sodia and Witcher are busy." Flynn explained.
Raven shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "You guys have all been busy, while good ol' Raven has been laid back in Dahngrest. Well, at least I can pitch in with what we're all doin'." Raven said.
"Yeah, I guess that's a positive outlook on not doing anything." Judith surmised.
Raven looked hurt. "Ouch Judith, not doin' anythin' important? That hurts Judy baby." He complained.
"I'm sure you've been helping people too Raven!" Estelle tried to cheer him up. "And now is another chance for part of the gang to travel together, which is a good enough reason to travel to Myorzo to me."
"Well, let's get some sleep." Flynn suggested. He and Raven slept in one room while Judith and Estelle slept in the other room.
The nest morning the group met outside the inn and prepared to leave. The headed out the city gates and walked to Ba'ul.
"Alright, let's head out." Judith said as the group entered the ship the Ba'ul was carrying. After everyone got in Ba'ul lifted off the ground and flew towards Myorzo. They were about thirty minutes from the city.
"I missed flying." Estelle said dreamily as the wind caused her hair to flow.
"I've never flown before, and I think it is interesting, though I do get motion sickness." Flynn confessed as he sat on a nearby bench.
Raven walked next to Judith who was gazing out at the sea below them. He placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "It's a beautiful sight, ain't it Judy?"
The Krytian nodded. "I just can't wait to get to the city; I've sort of missed seeing my people." She said as she quickly turned towards Raven. "I've missed you and Estelle more though." She continued without too much emotion.
Raven rolled his eyes. "Oh, it doesn't seem like ya missed us." He said sarcastically.
"I really mean it." Judith responded.
Estelle walked up next to Judith and Raven. "I'm also really glad to see all three of you." She said gesturing to Flynn as well. "It gets pretty lonely at the capital, since the only friend I can see on a daily basis is Ioder, and he's the emperor."
"Yeah, I know what ya mean Miss Estelle, being in Dahngrest isn't a bubble of joy and excitement, that's for sure. I haven't even seen Yuri or lil' Karol for a while, not since a couple weeks after beating the Adephagos." Raven explained.
"I can answer that." Judith stated. "Since the loss of the blastia Brave Vesperia has been given a lot of jobs, since we don't ask for much money."
"I bet all the guilds are getting lots of jobs." Estelle put in.
"That is a good point." Raven agreed.
Flynn ran over next to them and yelled, "Stop chatting and come look, quickly!" The four ran over to the other side of the ship to see a group of men come aboard from the modified Heracles.
"How come ya didn't say this big machine was here before now?" Raven asked, irritated.
Flynn looked back at Raven with an annoyed look on his face. "It just emerged from the water a few seconds ago, and it was a mere twenty yards away from us."
Judith shook her head. "New Heracles may be falling behind, but there are still plenty of goons aboard, so let's worry about the task at hand."
The head man of the boarding party walked up to Flynn and Estelle who were standing closest to the boarding party. "Well, Lady Estellese and Commandant Flynn Scifo, a pleasure to see you two. Oh, and it looks like you have some friends with you." The man mused with a snicker as he looked at the purple coated man and blue haired Krytian woman standing behind Estelle and Flynn.
Tokunaga ran by screaming all the way into the bottom floor of the ship, he locked all the doors he passed through.
"What a wimp." Judith stated with disgust. She pulled out her spear as Raven pulled out a bow, Flynn pulled out a sword and a shield, and Estelle pulled out a sword and a shield.
"I am Rugulf Mentoyo, and this is going to be your end, since we would like to take that jewel. Alright men, let's get the item and destroy all five crew members!" The lead man Rugulf yelled as he and his men charged.
Flynn and Rugulf met sword to sword with a clang. Rugulf swung his sword up and then quickly down, bur Flynn easily parried the blow aside. Flynn swung twice sideways and then ended with a thrust, each time Rugulf blocked each blow ended countered with a slash. Flynn blocked the blow with his shield and swung his sword sideways towards his assailant at the same time. Rugulf barely had enough time to parry that blow and block another.
Raven shot arrows at attackers from the back of the group, occasionally killing one of the attackers. Judith swung at one of the boarders and hit the attacker's sword; she then flipped upward and somersaulted in the air, hitting the attacker each time she rolled in the back. When she landed she did another somersault and ended it with a thrust of her spear into an assailant's heart.
Estelle blocked each sword thrust and swing that was meant to hit her, then countered with her own sword. Sometimes she struck down an attacker with one blow, but most the time she had to swing multiple times to connect a hit on the person, since they would block her swing or thrust. Eventually all four of the party members were cornered at the back of the ship. When Rugulf pulled back from his attack on Flynn for a mere moment, Flynn cut down four attackers in swift and well balanced sword swings. Flynn quickly had to block another of Rugulf's blows, which they held sword to sword in one spot, metal against metal, as the rest of the battle around them continued.
"Soon my friends will have defeated all of your followers, and then you will be outnumbered." Flynn taunted through gritted teeth.
Rugulf smirked as he said calmly, "Will see about that, now prepare knight bow!" Rugulf leaped back a couple feet and yelled, "Fire Twister!" which sent a spinning vortex of fire towards Flynn. The Commandant managed to block the spell, but the strength of the spell sent him reeling of the side of the ship. Before Flynn could fall to his death Estelle dropped her shield and grabbed onto Flynn's left arm.
"Come on Flynn; help me pull you back up!" Estelle yelled as she managed to pull the Imperial Knight back to the ship.
Flynn walked so he was directly in front of Rugulf. "Clever move you used there, but I won't go down so easily."
"Then this will be entertaining." Rugulf stated as the two lunged at each other and me sword to sword. "Show me what you've got!"
Judith struck down the last one of Rugulf's lackeys. The three party members ran beside Flynn and helped him send Rugulf a couple of feet back, his dark blue coat almost flying over the edge before he caught t and put it back on.
"I told you that we four would out number you." Flynn reminded the attacker.
"Yeah, all four of us together will easily overpower you." Estelle added.
"Yes, you have no chance of winning this fight." Judith agreed.
"See ya later pal!" Raven stated as all for stepped forward towards Rugulf.
Rugulf smiled and shook his head. "You are all so arrogant, it makes you seem so pitiful and makes me chuckle." Rugulf insulted as the new Heracles came up from the ocean. Rugulf back flipped onto the massive machine right before the four people could hit him with their weapons. "This is where I say fare the well!" Rugulf shouted as the green beam hit the ship. The ship the party was on disconnected from Ba'ul's grip and was sent flailing forward away from a stunned Ba'ul and sinister Heracles.
A grunt came up from the engine room of new Heracles. "Sir, the ship was sent miles ahead of here, far away from the Entelexeia that is flying away and us. They were shot in the direction of Myorzo."
"I know that. If we are luck the ship will do some damage to Myorzo. We want them to remain in that city for a while so we can catch up with them. Now I need you to return to the engines and recharge that beam as fast as you can, we have a city to invade and later to destroy." Rugulf ordered as the engine worker ran back down into new Heracles. "That beam is powerful, the people who made this, my employers, are amazing. I will get that gem back, and no matter what." Rugulf stated in awe to himself…
