As they returned into the city, the duo had found that the hyper-on-candy teenager had caught up to Estelle near one of the alleys near the Dice Master (who Rita swore was a demon from hell from how many times he taunted her for failing at a game). As they approached, Akihiro was gasping for air, leaning up against the wall as Estelle was giggling nonstop at the time.
"S-Seriously, Estelle... huff... that... huff... nguh, wasn't funny...!" the boy struggled to say under breaths.
"Heeheehee, your face was so silly, Akio," Estelle giggled, causing the two to smile along.
"H-Hey! That name's A- !" he tried to say, but was interruped by forgetting that he was gasping for air and so began coughing.
"Ugh, what a moron..." Rita rolled her eyes at the stupid exiting out of this kid.
"What? Tired already? What a poor excuse for a warrior!" Flynn said aloud, suddenly causing Akihiro to perk up, "A champion cannot afford to be seen gasping for air!"
A slight smirk appeared on the mage's face and a smile on the princess' as they saw that Flynn was trying to uplift the boy and make him get fired up so he could catch his breath. Awing at the sudden burst of energy, it worked.
The boy grinned as fire flared up his red eyes and said, "What!? TIRED!? Not me! I will never let myself fall to fatigue! I will become the champion of Nordipolica! Just you wait!"
"Good, good," Flynn said, closing his eyes with an innocent smile, "That's the Akihiro we know."
"Well, that was entertaining. Shall we get going to the others?" Rita asked, after folding her arms.
"Huh? Wait, is that Tai's face on that poster?" Estelle suddenly noticed on the wall behind Flynn's head.
The group turned to see that posted on the wall was a wanted poster and it had Tai's face on it, with a bounty. The group was stunned, but Estelle was the most.
"Wh-What? A wanted poster for Tai?" she said aloud worried.
"Wait just a doggone minute! Tai is a criminal!?" Akihiro said, surprised out of his skull.
"Rroooh, I knew that freak was hiding something! That's it! That glove is coming off!" Rita said, but before she could start running on her ambitious goal, the princess stopped her.
"Wait, Rita! This is a mistake! Tai's not really guilty of anything; it's Adecor and Boccos' lack of judgment!" she tried to say quickly.
Suddenly, all made sense as the mage groaned, "Oh, so it's those two dunce-buckets? Why do they always embarrass themselves and not know it?"
"I'm afraid they do have a problem with self-control and just jump to conclusions way too rashly," the commandant said, rubbing his face a bit with a sigh, "Well... let's not waste too much time here and go inform the others."
With a collective nod, the teens started to make their way outside. But before going out, another wanted poster caught Flynn's eye. It wasn't anyone who belonged to the group, but it seemed to have an amazingly high bounty for just one person. With that, he took it down and with Tai's wanted poster, followed the others back.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"...This can't be happening..."
A shallow groan came from under the hood of Tai as the others were baffled by this sudden bad news. Don't get me wrong; Flynn and the girls were overjoyed to see Patty again, but since it was an just a 'how've you been' sort of thing, we'll skip that and continue onto the bad news.
"Huh? Did Tai do somethin' really bad back in Zaphias that we don't know about or what?" Raven said, flinching comically at the poster.
"Oh, come on! You gotta be kidding me!" Yuri said, a bit upset and shocked as he ripped the poster out of Flynn's hand, "I break into a noble home, fight several knights, jailbreak, and all those false charges, and I got 10,000 gald on my head. Yet, Tai only has fought two knights and he has a 20,000 gald reward!?"
"You make it sound like you want to be in trouble with the knights, Yuri," Flynn grumbled a bit as he glared at his friend's inexcusable disappointment, which was followed by a groan from Repede.
"I hate to say it around Tai, but it's most likely that since he looks a bit like them, the knights think he's part of Leviathan's Claw, and thus the reward is greater," Estelle said, looking down.
"That is absolutely right, your royal highness!" a voice called from behind the group as they turned to see.
There they were; the Schwann Brigade: Captain Leblanc, Adecor, and Boccos. They were standing at the ready, with their equipment ready to go.
"That's far enough! I am Captain Leblanc, of the Schwann Brigade, and I am here for that young boy in the hood!" the mostly normal looking knight pointed at Tai.
"Yuri! So you are helping this fugitive run away from justice!" Adecor accused after he had gotten a good look of who Tai was with.
"My, my, one of the heroes of Tarqaron, and now aiding a fellow criminal. I guess the mighty have fallen," Boccos shook his head and judged.
"Ahh, Tweedle A and Tweedle B; perfect timing! We were just talking about ya," Yuri smirked and said mock-cheerfully.
Both knights got riled up and said a mixture of, "Just what is a tweedle, anyway?" and "I say, don't call us that!"
"Fools! Enough grandstanding and wasting time! Young man," Leblanc scolded for a millisecond and then turned to Tai, "you've evaded the law long enough. Now be a good boy, and turn yourself in!"
With the shadows covering his face, he turned to the old man, who rubbed his neck with a sigh, and said, "Old man... now's the time to really help me by keeping your promise..."
"Right-o!" Raven winked to him, and slipping around the group, automatically caught the attention of the knights.
"A-Ahhh! General Schwann!" Leblanc said aloud as the three immediately stood up straight and saluted.
"All righty, now, stop that. It's Raven, com' on now. Why do people not listen ta me?" Raven shook his head with an annoyed groan, refusing to acknowledge his previous identity, "Lookie here, now. Ol' Raven's got to have a word with ya."
So, skipping ahead in boring lines, Raven was basically forced to sit the trio of knights down to explain that accusing Tai of being apart of this infamously evil guild and doing the improper steps to determine if he was guilty was wrong and it was unfair. This left the group to see that Flynn was staring at another wanted poster he had grabbed... and leave Yuri muttering under his breath how unfair his bounty was.
"What is it, Flynn? Another poster?" Estelle asked as he attempted to look on with him.
"Yes, but the reason for the person's arrest caught my eye," Flynn said, as he showed it to the others.
The picture of the person wanted was a woman, maybe a little less older than Raven. She had darker skin with olive green long hair that curled inward towards her face and neck. She wore this baseball style cap that was pitch black with yellow lightning streaks on the side. She had some type of jacket on, but the portrait had cut off right at the shoulders.
"A woman?" Akihiro said, raising an eyebrow, "Call my crazy, but that's not a real criminal looking gal to me."
"What does the poster say she's wanted for?" Estelle asked.
"Hmmm... it says that she's apparently charged with blastia thievery, trespassing, and possession of unregistered machinery," Flynn said, analyzing it.
"What? Lemme see that!" Rita ripped the poster out of his hands and got a VERY good look at the woman's face, before saying, "Rrooogh! She's gonna get it! I don't care if blastia don't work anymore! I'm totally going to wring anyone's neck who messes with them!"
"You don't think she could be related to the blastia thieves?" Akihiro raised an idea, everyone suddenly interested in this unknown woman.
"Oh! Oh! I know that woman! I've seen her before!" Patty jumped up and down, waving her arms to get their attention.
"Wait, really?" Tai asked, raising an eyebrow at this sudden girl knowing something.
"Yeah-yes-yup! A little while back, my ship had this problem with the engine and I was forced to dock at Torim, but then this woman came up to me and said she'll fix my ship for free. She even paid for me to have dumplings and a night's rest at the inn!" Patty said, then defended with a pout, "That's what she can't be a bad person! No-No-No!"
"Then what's she doing being labeled as a jerk messing with blastia?" Rita fired back at the girl.
"I dunno! Yuri was falsely accused too! Maybe that happened!" Patty whined back at the mage, as she was not one of her many targets.
"And the other crimes too?" Estelle looked to Flynn, who closed his eyes and thought about it.
Shaking his head, the commandant said, "I can't really say for certain. I'd need to see witnesses who have seen her in the act of these crimes and also let her explain her side of the story. Nevertheless, Lady Estellise, you could maybe be right that she could have connections to the thieves," and then putting the poster in his belt for later, "I don't want to risk it. I'll keep it with me so in case I see her, I can verify I found her."
Soon after the conversation, the Schwann Brigade and Yuri had joined back with the massive gathering.
"All righty, Tai, you're officially cleared of all charges, courteously of me," Raven said, winking at the teen with a grin, "And all wanted posters of ya will be taken done asap."
"Heh, thanks so much, Raven," Tai smiled, waving his right hand to him, "I really appreciate this, man."
"But alas, my great friend, Tai, there's a teensy bit of a catch," a anime-style sweatdrop came down the man's head as he signaled with his fingers that it was small.
"There's always a catch when you're involved, old man," Yuri sighed.
"So, what is it?" Flynn asked for the teenager.
"It seems Adecor and Boccos are still a bit steamed at their loss against ya, and want a rematch," Raven said, rubbing his chin, "Ya must've really beat them hard."
"Oh, yeah? What exactly did you do to them?" Yuri asked, looking at Tai with interest.
"Well, after the millionth time of trying to reason with them failed, I said they sucked and that's why they were city guards. I then knocked them out with three hits, NOT using my weapon, but finishing by using the small one as a baseball and hitting a home run into the other one," Tai explained, a smirk developing as he told it.
"Haha! Man, that sounds awesome. I really wished I could've seen it," Yuri said, grinning at him with an impressed face.
"Hey! Be quiet! How dare you mock an imperial knight of the Schwann Brigade!" Boccos said, as both he and his partner rattled in their armor from anger at that insult.
"But belay that, Boccos! Tai, your name was that, correct?" Adecor asked, and continued after the teen gave him a nod, "We are willing to admit we made a mistake in labeling you as a criminal, but our honor compels us to ask you for a rematch!"
"We cannot let the beating that you gave us in the lower quarter of the capital go unrepaid! We request a battle with you, right now!" Boccos joined, as both readied their weapons.
"So, you know what I'm capable of, and you want to challenge me?" Tai suddenly, smirked eagerly, "Heh, you got guts if you know that much."
The group was rather surprised as the sudden turn inside Tai. Normally, he wasn't a guy that accepted challenges or was eager to fight. But something about him now changed. But to Akihiro and Patty, it was so amazing. This teen seemed so cool and he just captivated their attention. But their reactions were different.
Akihiro folded his arms and grumbled. Man, this guy was so much cooler and skilled, just by how he talked. He really needed to train now in order to get stronger. But Patty's eyes sparkled with joy. She gasped with excitement as she held her hands close to her chest and giggled.
"So... cool..." she muttered.
"All right, then, I'll show you more of what I can do," Tai said, reaching for his bat.
"Hold on, you're not seriously thinking of fighting these tweedles alone, are you?" Yuri said, suddenly drawing his sword, and ignoring the demands from the two knights to stop calling them that.
"Huh? Yuri, are you saying you want to be Tai's partner?" Flynn asked smiling.
"Yeah, I doubt he can take both of these guys by himself, right?" Yuri said, grinning.
"Um... didn't you just hear me?" Tai asked, sighing.
"Oooh, I say, Yuri Lowell, we will make you pay for all of those crushing defeats as well!" Adecor declared loudly.
"Pray for your soul to be saved, for it will perish today!" Boccos joined in.
"Fools! Not out here where innocence can be harmed," Leblanc scolded all four competitors, "We must go outside of the city, just in case. There, we will see who wins: Adecor and Boccos vs Yuri and Tai!"
/\/\/\/\/\
Well, here it comes; another Tweedle fight! I hope you keep reading and hopefully I can make it a good fight! But Yuri and Tai on a team alone? Could possibly cause some problems... :3 We'll see!