January 30th

"So monsters really are everywhere." Zelos notes, looking about as they get most of the way up the mountain.

"But the regeneration Ritual isn't complete." Sheena mutters. "So why..."

Daichi shrugs. "Maybe the balance isn't right or something."

"If it's not the Mana, then it might be work of The Cruxis." Raine says.

"To try and hurt Colette?" Lloyd immediately jumps to that conclusion. Not that any of the monsters have gotten close enough to the angel to attempt - if Lloyd and Genis didn't kill things first, she killed them herself.

"Can they do something like that?" Genis asks.

"They're the ones powerful enough to trick two entire worlds." Piers points out.

"Ok, why would they do that?" Genis corrects himself. "I mean, they want Colette, but probably not hurt."

"It's just a conjecture. We can't say for certain." Raine shrugs.

"Maybe they want to kill the rest of us so Colette is easier to take?" Daichi comments.

"Oh, Seaweed-head, you're always so cheerful." Zelos says, smirking. Daichi's expression flat-lines once more.

"Shaddup..." He glowers at him. Fortunately, anything else is left unsaid because Lloyd passes them both. They've reached the peak.

"Ok, Zelos, how are we gunna carry these?" Lloyd points at the crashed machines. They're all easily something Daichi and Shikka'd have to work together to carry. And Daichi points this out vocally. Zelos passes Lloyd and spins about to walk backwards, smirking.

"Oh, I'll show ya." He turns back about. "Come over here for a sec." And so they do. Piers and Daichi lag behind suspiciously. Colette floats along behind them. Zelos stops, reaching into his pocket, with mutters of 'wing pack, wing pack'. This forces everyone else to stop, and when Colette does, an orange-red barrier forms about their party, leaving her out of it.

Yuan jumps out from behind a rock. "You've walked right into my trap, fools!"

Piers blinks. "Can you come back later? We're still preparing the basket."

Lloyd glances at Zelos. "He just called you a fool."

"Zelos..." Presea starts. "Is clumsy."

"Gah.." Zelos looks about. "I am so sad now..."

Daichi clonks Zelos. "Way to go, Chosen Klutz." Yuan has four renegades with him. There's one in Forcystus Red, Magnius Purple, Kvar Blue and another in green.

"You." One salutes. "Retrieve the Rheards."

"Yes, sir!" They all move and with clouds of smoke, the Rheairds vanish. Yuan turns his attention back on the group. Despite the fact his expression was barely different, there was a smug feel to his faint smirk.

"This time, you're mind, Lloyd."

"Lloyd doesn't have a mind." Piers points out, matter-of-factly.

"Hey!" Lloyd frowns.

Yuan frowns. "... Mine. Lloyd's mine now." He looks grumpy, slightly. "The elf, too."

"You are so not getting your Thank You basket now." Piers states. Yuan twitches.

"... damn." Lloyd grimaces, as punching the barrier only sends tingles up his arm.

"Oh?" They all turn, and Aurian eeps, moving behind Shikka. There's a green haired woman in a leotard, with a metal floating cloak thing. "Lord Yuan." Yuan grimaces at her for a moment. "What brings you to this place?"

"Look out! A flying slut! Oh, sorry. It's Lady Pronyma." Daichi comments. Yuan snorts, looking amused for a moment while Pronyma glares at him.

"I should ask you the same, Pronyma!" Yuan's standing a little straighter. "The role of you Desians is to wreak havoc upon the declining world!"

"Everyone, meet Lady Pronyma. Part-time porn star." Daichi says. Aurian isn't amused by Daichi's joking. Raine looks like she's debating clonking him, then decided against it.

"And this from one of Forcystus' dogs." Pronyma shoots back, before visibly calming and glancing at Yuan again. "I have come here on Lord Yggdrasill's order to retrieve Colette. Please turn her over to me."

"I'm not a dog no more." Daichi states. "I'm a bird."

The two Cruxians ignore him. "Fine. But in exchange for handing over the Chosen, I am taking custody of Lloyd and the elf. I trust you have no objections?" There's the sort of look to Yuan that says 'any objections shall be quelled with force, and I shall enjoy shutting you up.'

"And what about the rest of us?" Piers asks.

"I don't particularly care." Yuan waves a hand.

"I have no orders concerning the others." Pronyma says.

"...Well, that's nice." Piers comments, folding his arms. "Glad to see we've been remembered." He looks at Yuan. "You're also of my angel-fest card list." Yuan twitches. His expression is of irritation, and irony.

"I have received no orders in regards to him, so, please do as you wish, my lord." Pronyma answers Yuan, then hovers over to Colette.

"Colette!" Lloyd wriggles over to be closest to her in the barrier, hitting it again. "Don't go!"

Daichi looks to Yuan. "You can be a bastard at times, you know?"

Yuan smirks at him. "I'm fully aware of this fact."

"Hahaha. A futile effort. Your words cannot reach a Chosen who has lost her soul. What is this? Why is there such a crude Key Crest upon the Cruxis Crystal? ...How pathetic. I shall remove this ugly thing at once." Pronyma rambles and attempts to take Lloyd's Key Crest.

"N..No!" Colette's voice stuck for a moment, before she bitch-slapped Pronyma.

"Colette! You're okay!" Piers yells, seeming relieved. Shikka shifts about, protecting Aurian successfully from view. He's also giving Yuan a look that says 'I don't care what you are. You touch what's mine and I'll shank you'. Yuan gives him a look back that says 'what are you calling yours?' Shikka eyes him. He gives the look that says 'I am a cat. Everything belongs to me.' It's a look very few can argue against. Yuan gives him a look that says if they'd been talking, he might be floundering for words. but, since they weren't, he wasn't.

"This is a birthday present that Lloyd gave me!" Colette continues.

"Colette... spoke!" Genis cheers.

"Colette! Are you okay?" Lloyd's thrilled too. Colette blinks over her shoulder at them - her eyes are back to normal.

"What? Why is everyone... inside that thing?"

Yuan double-takes. "Impossible!" He looks like he's twitching to pull something out of his pocket or something. "There's no way that pitiful Key Crest could restrain the Cruxis Crystal!"

"Wow..." Zelos claps Lloyd on the back. "Not bad, Lloyd."

Shikka blinks, stepping out of the way slightly so Aurian could see. "Bravo, sir Lloyd. I knew you could do it."

"How could this happen?" Pronyma is displeased. "Still, in the end, it is but a worthless bauble. It shan't last long! Now, come with me!" Colette turns about and whacks Pronyma away from her with her Chakrams.

"Let me go!" She falls over due to Colette balance issues. The moment she does so, an orange box that had been under her feet starts smoking. "Whoops... Oh... oh no!" the barrier flickers and fails. "I broke it!"

"Good!" Daichi says, drawing his axe.

"Right! Good job, my little Colette! I think I'm falling in love!" Zelos gushes.

"Some things never change..." Raine sighs, but is smiling.

"That brought back some painful memories..." Sheena mutters, smiling.

"Colette!" Lloyd's all happy and bouncy again.

"Lloyd!" Colette gets up. "Lloyd, thank you for the present! I was so happy... I was really happy, but there wasn't anything I could do at the time." Yuan's watching them like he was reminded of how... silly, the group was.

"Looks like little Lloyd-y is useful for something." Daichi comments, ruffling Lloyd's hair.

Lloyd flat-lines for all of three seconds, then he's happy again. "It's okay, don't worry about it."

"Ahh!" Aurian yelps, diving behind Shikka again. The cause of her distress is obvious.

"You impudent...!" Pronyma's back on her feet. Shikka tenses, settiling into a ready position. Daichi whirls around to face Pronyma.

"Acid Rain!" It's a dark, and stinging spell.

"Field Barrier!" Yuan has shifted to lean on a rock and watch.

"Here we go! Diamond Dust!" Piers' starting move blasts forth. The acid rain is frozen and sent flying back towards Pronyma. Colette hovers away from Pronyma, and starts singing for Holy Song. Lloyd darts in on a Demon Fang's tail, blades already pulled back for a Sword Rain. Raine's charging up a light spell, and Zelos is moving with Lloyd in a pincer movement with Presea opposite. Piers is spamming Deluge. Shikka has shifted and is mainly protecting Aurian, lashing out if Pronyma gets too close.

Daichi is casting, a blue aura. "Aqua Edge!"

"I call upon the power of the holy blade..." Genis was trying out a new spell. "Prism Sword!"

"Dark Sphere!" Lloyd yelps, managing to get a Guardian up to protect himself from the dark version of Photon.

Daichi runs in, jumping in a sort of somersault. "Ruin of Destruction!"

"Light Spear!" Zelos says, twirling about.

"Agarazium!" Pronyma says, and a red-ish ring forms under Zelos.

"Ah, no way!" he spins out of the way, rather like he was dancing, and ends up elbowing Daichi in the back. Daichi yelps, the aqua-blue wings shooting out of his back. Having been some time since he last used them, a bit of blood is dripping from them.

"Ow..." He mumbles, emotionless. Zelos's eyes widen, flitting to a startled blue-grey color, while Pronyma stares.

"Destruction." Presea swings her ax in an arc and beats Pronyma into the air. "Devastation." And she brings the Cardinal back down.

"Lightning Tiger Blade!" Lloyd zaps her.

"S-stone blast." Aurian finally does something.

"Photon." Daichi says, casting in short succession with the others.

"Holy Lance!" Raine casts. Colette's still singing her Holy Song.

"Atlas!" A puddle of water forms and an Air Blade uses it for added damage on Pronyma courtesy of Genis.

"Angel Feathers..." Aqua blue feathers shoot from Daichi, exploding on contact with objects. Pronyma goes down with a cry.

Lloyd immediately spins on his heel. "This is the perfect opportunity! Yuan! I'm going to settle our score right now!" Yuan blinks, straightening, but before he can do anything, or Lloyd's strike can land, there's a blade in Lloyd's way and Lloyd's forced to skid a few feet back from... Kratos. Something seems different about Kratos' hair. His right eye was covered today, which showed a rather rough looking scar on the left hand side of his face, normally covered by his hair.

". . . ." Daichi hovers there, staring blankly.

"Kratos!" Piers growls. Lloyd shouts it. Kratos ignores them both.

"... What are you doing here?" Yuan sound sullen.

"Leave, Yuan." Kratos sounds as bland as ever. "Lord Yggdrasill has summoned you."

"gr.." Yes, Yuan just growled a little. "Are you taking the Chosen?" He walks over and kicks Pronyma back into awareness.

"No..." Kratos watches Colette blandly. "It's the Toxicosis."

"... I see."

Piers looks between Kratos and Yuan. "What the bloody hell are you two talking about?" They both ignore him.

"Lloyd." Yuan looks at the twinblade. "Our battle will have to wait." from his back spread wings rather like Kratos's in shape... but matching Presea's hair color in shade. He and Pronyma fly off.

"He's an angel too?" Sheena yelps.

"Dammit, Yuan!" Lloyd starts for the cliff edge. "Wait!"

"... What are you doing?" Kratos ask blandly.

"He is rather feminine." Zelos laughs a little.

"... What?" Lloyd stares at Kratos like he was debating the stupidity of attacking him.

"Why have you come all the way here to Tethe'Alla?" Kratos explains his question further.

"Why not? Consider it a vacation from crazies like you." Piers comments. There's a flicker of a smirk as Kratos surveys the party.

"I'm here to save Colette..." Lloyd says it slowly like he was wondering if Kratos' brain had been fried. Shikka is now sitting protectively before Aurian. Daichi is hovering behind Zelos spookily.

"What good will saving the Chosen do? The relation of the two worlds vying for each other's Mana will not change. Their positions have merely been reversed by the regeneration ritual." Kratos asks blandly.

"Has Tethe'Alla begun to decline?" Sheena grabs for Kratos' attention. Zelos looks like he's expecting the answer to be a bad one. Piers walks up beside Lloyd.

"The Tower of Salvation can still be seen from this world as well. As long as that exists here, it means that this world is still flourishing. Although, in the event that the Chosen becomes Martel's vessel, Tethe'Alla will surely bid farewell to its era of prosperity." Kratos answers her.

"Are you screwing with us?" Piers asks, folding his arms.

Kratos gives him a blank look. "I feel that I currently have no reason to do so. If you feel 'screwed with' that is your own problem."

"That sounds SO wrong."

"..."

Lloyd's expression flat lines for a moment before he looks like he's going to pull at his hair. "Dammit, isn't there anything that can be done? Yggdrasill's the one that built this twisted world!"

Kratos ignores this comment in favor of talking to Lloyd. "Lord Yggdrasill does not consider it twisted. If you want to do something about it, use your own head." He tilts his head. It turns out, the right side of his face is still burned with the black-violet dark-Mana burns. "I thought you weren't going to make any more mistakes?" It was the same tone where he had asked if they had wanted World Regeneration.

"What can we do about it, though..." Piers muses aloud.

"..." Kratos stares at Piers with an eyebrow raised.

"...What?" Piers states, looking up at Kratos. "I was thinking out loud! Sheesh!" He mutters. "Don't think we always have to be talking to you."

"Yeah, I'll do it! This stupid system of two worlds stealing Mana from each other... I swear I'll change it!" Lloyd announces with a grin.

"... Heh." That was probably the closest thing they were going to ever get to a laugh from Kratos. "Well, do your best." Kratos flies off.

"...Asshat." Piers comments. Lloyd gives him a look, before he has a sudden look of epiphany.

"I remember! That Pronyma was the one on the projector at the Asgard ranch!"

"You mean the one that Kvar was talking to?" Piers says. "Oooooh. I thought she looked familiar."

"That means she's a Desian!" Sheena grimaces.

"Now that Kratos came to interfere and all—it looks like the Desians and the Cruxis are really the same organization..." Genis sighs.

"Really? You needed more proof than him?" Piers jerks a thumb at Daichi.

"Yes." Genis shrugs.

"It would appear that Yuan is connected to the Cruxis as well." Raine mutters. "Although, the Renegades..." Had been gone since Pronyma had shown up, by the looks of things. With the Rheairds.

"Gaaaah!" Lloyd holds his head. "This is all so confusing! So, simplified... they're all our enemies, right?"

"Yup. Church, Renegades, Desians...Everyone hates us." Piers comments.

"That means we must be careful of everyone." Raine agrees.

Piers looks over. "What about Flirty McFlirtflirt here. He's part of the Church."

"Hey, the Pope's been trying to get rid of me since my old man died." Zelos shrugs. "And, technically, I'm just as wanted as the rest of you. I figure my chances are better with you all."

Piers shrugs. "Whatever."

"Hey, Colette, is everything else back to normal? Besides your voice, can you feel things and such?" Genis asks. Daichi is still hovering behind Zelos, axe in one hand.

"Yup, I think I'm okay. Thanks, everyone. And I'm sorry I made all of you worry so much. Hey, you know what? I think I'm hungry for the first time in a long while." Colette smiles.

"Well, whatever we make, we need to make a lot of it..." Piers states.

"That's great!" Lloyd cheers.

"It looks like I still have wings, though." Considering she'd been using them in the battle against Pronyma, it wasn't that much of a surprise that she could open them now.

"Wings can be handy." Shikka comments, shifting back into human form.

"Hmmm. Just like I thought. Colette is definitely cuter when she smiles!" Zelos notes to himself, out loud.

"Let's see.. You're... Zelos?" Colette blinks at him.

"Ohh! You remembered my name! We Chosen have to stick together, you know what I mean?" Zelos loops an arm about her shoulders. Any sub-meanings to his words goes right over Colette's head.

"Okay!" she chirps.

Daichi hovers closer, keeping with Zelos. "Looks like Colette has a guardian Angel." Piers points out.

"Hello Mr Daichi!" Colette waves at him.

"Now what shall we do? Since Colette has regained her soul, there's no need for us to head immediately back to Sylvarant, but..." Raine brings up what had gotten them on the wanted list to begin with.

"There's the fact that we're wanted fugitives in both worlds." Piers finishes.

"Actually, that's just Lloyd in Sylvarant." Genis points that out.

"Shut it." Lloyd says to Genis. "But we know what we have to do! We're going to search for a way to save both worlds in order to prevent any more Chosen like Colette!"

"Saving two worlds at once...Good idea." Piers notes.

"I agree with Lloyd. I promised Sheena, too." Colette smiles.

"Colette..." Sheena looks like she might blush.

"What about Presea?" Genis asks. "It's not fair to keep dragging her around like this!"

Everyone turns to silent little Presea. "...I... want to go home."

"To...Ozette, right?" Piers asks.

Shikka pipes something up. "It does not do to keep a lady waiting."

"Oh yeah, that's right, we need to bring Presea to that Kate chick. Ya know, to get her to release Presea from the experiment." Zelos adds. Shikka pokes at Aurian.

"Well, the sooner we go, the sooner we can save the world." Piers points out. Aurian blinks and wriggles away from him.

"Unfortunately, I doubt we can use the Grand Tethe'Alla Bridge anymore." Raine reminds them.

"Surely we can get a boat across." Piers suggests.

"No." Raine and Shikka state firmly, in unison.

"Hmm...I have contacts in Meltokio. Let's ask them for help." Sheena offers.

"But we're wanted traitors. Can we even get into Meltokio?" Genis asks.

"Leave that to me. I know Meltokio like the back of my hand." Zelos smirks.

"But...You wear gloves all the time." Lloyd points out.

"Still know my hands pretty well." Zelos smirks.

"..." Lloyd looks like he doesn't get it. "All right, we're counting on you, Zelos." Lloyd manages to not sound dubious that this was a good idea.

"You got it! You can always count on me! Now, my hunnies, we're off to Meltokio!" Zelos cheers.

"Did he just call us his hunnies?" Piers asks.

Genis nods. "Yes, he did. Again." Zelos starts down the mountain. Although it was getting close to evening, no one felt like spending the night where they'd just been seen by The Cruxis.

"Colette..." Lloyd watches her.

"What's wrong, Lloyd?"

"... Welcome back." Lloyd grins.

Colette giggles. "I'm glad to be back." Daichi still hover-stalks Zelos.

February 1st

"Whoa, what is this place?" Genis is covering his nose as they watch water flow out of the wall, a stone walk next to it with the bars broken off so they could walk in.

"The underground sewer." Zelos explains. "Waste water from the city flows out from here."

"This is a pretty good way of sneaking in." Lloyd notes, also covering his nose. Daichi doesn't cover his nose up and Shikka, although covering his nose, has to breathe through his mouth due to the sensory overload. Aurian's covering her nose as well, although it's more like she's doing it because everyone else is due to her confused expression.

"Well, Meltokio's gate closes at night, so I used this a lot to get back home." Zelos explains.

"... Why don't you get home until night?" Colette asks, confused.

"...Hmm, if you'd like me to show you, I'll be happy to educate you tonight." Zelos smiles and winks.

Daichi sweat-drops. "That was lame, chosen."

"It was a joke!" Zelos says, waving a hand in dismissal. "Don't get jealous now, Sheena."

Indeed, Sheena's looking a bit pissed off. "... You've got to be kidding me!"

Colette glances between Zelos and Sheena. "Why is Sheena upset?" She asks.

"... You'll understand when you're older." Raine says.

"Much older." Daichi adds onto the end.

"Enemy presence detected." Presea announces mechanically. "There is danger."

"Ah.. yeah." Lloyd looks inside the sewers. "Let's be careful as we go."

Daichi draws his axe, sighing. "I miss those Papal knights..." The danger that Presea sensed came in the form of rats, giant leeches, poisonous snakes, and jellyfish. Daichi and Shikka seem to take care of the bulk of the enemy forces. Daichi seems to like looting the corpses.

"..." Raine's poking a blue panel on the ground with the end of her staff, before she stands on it and nothing happens. "Huh."

"Found a Sorcerer's ring thingy." Lloyd says, setting the ring on the machine and gaining a new one, slipping it on.

"Good for you." Piers says sarcastically. Lloyd makes a face at him, then activates the ring. The room suddenly seems many times larger.

"...What the hell?" Daichi says, blinking.

"Hmmm? It looks like the path got wider." Colette looks about.

"No, we got smaller!" Genis announces.

"... I guess so." Presea monotones.

"...Hm. Interesting." Shikka says, looking about. "We're still the biggest, however. It hasn't standardized the height."

"You're right!" Colette beams. Genis mutters to himself, then climbs back onto Daichi's shoulders.

"But we can't do anything like this!" Lloyd waves his arms angrily. They're small enough that the stairs are too high for them.

"..." Aurian's looking at the grime that was now about knee deep, a bit green.

"Oh, I see!" Zelos cackles. "Now I can do this and that without anyone finding out it's me..." Daichi blinks. He looks up at Genis.

"Hey. Don't use me to improve your napoleon complex!" He protests.

"Oh, brother. How can you be thinking about something like that?" Sheena groans.

"But how do we get back to normal?" Genis asks, staying put on Daichi's shoulders.

"Now that you mention it..." Raine carefully dropped down the half-step to the main floor, and walked onto the blue panel. She, and she alone, grew back to normal size. Aurian yelps. "I see." Raine's voice was a bit deafening. "It appears that stepping on these panels will restore us to our normal size." Raine says. So they hurry over and return to full size. Except that there was a stretch of cobwebing that was a too far to jump stopping them from reaching the stairs to the other level. So it was time to shrink again.

Daichi grumbles. "This puzzle makes no sense..." Zelos is frowning about occasionally, usually when no one was really looking at him, but they make their way across the Cobweb, then onto the next blue tile so they can climb the stairs. And then to a locked door.

"... Huh? It's locked..." Lloyd hand picks in his hand shortly after announcing that, running his other hand along the door to look for a lock to open.

"Can't we just kick it in?" Daichi asks.

"Go for it." Lloyd says, backing up, his picks disappearing. "It looks like stone to me, though."

"Zelos!" Sheena whirls on the redhead. "Didn't you say you knew this route well?"

"Huh." Zelos is frowning at the door. "That's weird. It was never closed when I came through. Maybe..."

"Stone..." He ponders before smirking. "Got it." He steps a few steps back, starting to run, glowing slightly. "Dark Crush!" He yells, triggering an Arte. He dents and slightly cracks the door, but ultimately falls back, dazed...

"Why can't we just blow the door up?" Lloyd asks, frowning at the damage that Daichi dealt.

"Because that would be property damage." Zelos shrugs.

"We're already wanted." Lloyd backs away.

"... Let me try." Aurian mutters, clutching her glaive awkwardly. A earthen glow started up on one hand and a golden one on the other. Shikka pulls Daichi out of any potential blast range, watching curiously. Like a cat with a shiny.

"Roar of the earth, loose thy gleaming fangs." Aurian mutters, shifting the two seals onto each other then pressing her palm into the new one. "Crystal Spear!" Large crystals form and stab into the door, radiating light and heat as they do so. The door, and part of the wall about it as this was evidently an area spell, groans.

"I summon forth the fury of the sea! Mercury!" The summon appears in the form of the little blue critter before poofing. High-power Mercury energy pounds the door. Aurian's Crystals collapse against the door and wall after they finished forming and stabbing, leaving them with a bit more of a walk way than there was on the other side.

"..." Zelos looks at the destruction as the spell faded, then at Aurian. "Remind me not to piss off Ms Elf."

"What makes you sure you should piss the rest of us off?" Piers says, twirling his sword and sheathing it, as he had used the blade to channel his magic.

"I have the feeling you'd actually have to move before I'm attacked." Zelos twirls some of his hair about a finger. "Ms Elf doesn't need to budge."

".. Let's just get going." Lloyd wisely doesn't want this conversation to continue.

"..." Piers shrugs. "Whatever makes you happy." He replies to Zelos. He walks on.

Zelos blinks, glancing at Piers. "..." He grimaces, and continues on. They reach a long path, and fight more sewer rats and other vermin, then reach a room with a sewage waterfall by means of breaking another door down. They're almost out, by the way there's a ladder beyond the stairs up. Three ratty males step out to stop them, holding makeshift weapons and broken shackles.

"What's goin' on?" Zelos blinks.

"I sense.. danger." Presea monotones.

"…We've been waiting for you, travelers from Sylvarant." One says.

"The Pope promised to lighten our sentences if we got rid of you. We've got nothing personal against you, but we need you to die!" one of the others says.

Daichi chuckles, stepping forward. "You really think you stand a chance?" He asks, axe over one shoulder, smirking.

"S-shut up!" the third snaps.

"... Air Thrust." Aurian casts. The hardened blades of air effectively reduce that one to ribbons.

"Any further protests?" Daichi asks, settling into a ready position.

"Die!" The remaining pair jump for Daichi, crude mace and shackle chains as weapons. The rest have gotten the vibe that Daichi wanted to do this on his own, so they just sit ready in case. Daichi's eyes glint rather maliciously. He swings the haft of his axe into the groin of one of the convicts, the other getting a punch to the face. They stagger back.

Lloyd and Zelos make appropriate "oooh..." noises at the groin blow. Daichi slashes for one of the weapons, aiming at the hand that holds it. He lops the hand off the one who was gasping due to the force that had injured his ability to children, causing the man to scream.

"Damn Half-breed bastard!" the second shouts, thrashing his chain at Daichi. Daichi ducks the chain and grabs the man by the throat, slamming him into the wall.

"What was that?" He snarls, but still has that malicious smirk.

"Let me go, damn half elf!" the convict gasps out, flailing his feet. A glint of brass was now on Daichi's knuckles. He starts punching various parts of the man's body, breaking his kneecaps first.

"Uhhh..." Genis is staring blankly as the convict tries to thrash. Aurian's paler than her anemic pale and shaking. The one-handed one picks up his weapon again, and tries to beat Daichi with it, despite wobbling due to blood lost. Daichi drops his comrade, turning on the other, grabbing his axe as he does so, swinging it and decapitating him.

Zelos gives a tiny whistle. "Someone's got anger management problems." the remaining convict is trying to crawl up the stairs. It's not working very well for him. Daichi puts a boot on his head, stabbing through his neck with a lead pipe from their packs.

"... Done now?" Lloyd asks. Zelos steps out to nudge a body.

"Yep!" He seems cheerful for what he's just done.

"Oookay..." Lloyd says.

"Ahh!" Zelos yelps, as a large blue haired man jumps out of nowhere and knocks him down.

"Don't move..." The man's got a low rough voice, placing an armored foot on Zelos's back. "If you move, the Chosen dies. Understand?" He's wearing better, but only slightly better, clothes than the other convicts, a white top that showed his abs and dark green pants tucked into greaves, and is still handcuffed.

"..." Piers and Daichi look at each other and smirk.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Zelos protests, pushing his face out of the grime but not able to move much due the firmly planted foot between his shoulders. "You think you can get away with doing something like this to the Chosen?"

"... One who plots the destruction of the world... can no longer be deemed the Chosen." This strangely formal convict says.

"... Oh..." Zelos says, before looking the groups way. "Hey, Lloyd! If you abandon me here, I swear, I'll come back to haunt you!" Lloyd scratches his cheek, shifting his weight as he looks like he's thinking hard with a grin.

"... I just had a sudden, violent urge to abandon you." Lloyd drawls.

"Seconded." Daichi says, raising his hand.

"Heeey!" Zelos whines, but Presea lunges forward, her axe swinging for the Convict. The blue haired man dodges, allowing Zelos to flee back to the group and hug Lloyd from behind. "Phew!" Zelos sighs.

"..." Lloyd's expression is unreadable. This might have to do with all the muck Zelos just transferred to his back.

"... You're..!" the convict starts, studying Presea, who stares zombie like at him.

"..." Daichi stares at Zelos and Lloyd.

Lloyd flails, getting out of Zelos's grip. "Lemme go." Lloyd wrinkles his nose, catching that the muck on Zelos' front had transferred to his back. "...eeeewwww."

Genis catches the Kendama ball. "Fireball!" the convict avoids the trio of fireballs.

"...Tch.." he makes annoyed noise, and books it.

Daichi shoulders his axe again. "What the hell?"

".. Looks like it's over for now." Lloyd puts his palm firmly in Zelos's face to avoid another hug from the Tethe'Allan chosen.

"Thank goodness everyone's okay!" Colette chirps.

Raine frowns at Daichi, then the ladder out. "... You need to clean up." She says, crossing her arms.

"...Why?"

"We are not walking out into Meltokio with you, covered in blood." Raine says firmly.

"Well, everyone else is smothered in grime." He protests, before casting a few low-level water spells to wash the blood off his armor.

"..." Aurian tilts her head, then looks at everyone else. ".. Blessed Drops." Somehow, it doesn't actively damage them, it just drenches them all. Lloyd splutters, his hair falling into his face messily.

"... A little warning would have been nice." Raine sighs, flicking water off her hands. "Let's go." Zelos is trying to wring out his hair. Piers winces as though the water is slightly burning.

February 2nd

They climb out of a manhole in the pre-dawn Meltokio. They're behind the item shop, a level down from the Coliseum.

"We finally made it into the city." Lloyd shakes himself to try to be rid of the water.

"Yeah." Sheena puts her hair back up in its knot. "Now we can meet my friends." Daichi lets himself drip-dry and Piers is dry already. Shikka is trying not to make his hair poof. Presea acts like she doesn't realize she's been spell-doused, Aurian doesn't seem to care.

"Where are your friends?" Colette's trying to wring her dress out a little.

"At a place called the Elemental Research Laboratory. I learned my summoning arts there. It's also where Corrine was born." Sheena says, wringing out her ribbon.

"It's not gonna be like Sybak, is it? All university-like?" Daichi comments gloomily.

"It's a building." Sheena says. "I guess inside it is, but it doesn't have a campus or anything."

"So it's like a proper laboratory on elemental study?" Piers asks. "Interesting..."

"More or less." Sheena shrugs.

"Okay, so of to this Elemental research place." Lloyd gives up trying to dry off. Piers glows lightly as he draws all the moisture off of everyone and dumps it somewhere. There's a scream from the upper quarter. For some reason, no citizen is protesting the sight of the wanted party as they wander through lower Meltokio. Zelos even stalls to flirt once or twice. A sound of clanking armor in a running pattern has them slowing, looking about. Piers and Daichi stop, turning around. A long dark violet haired form jumps the stairs half way down, carrying a sheath and paced by a blue and white dog. The knights are just getting off the last set of stairs still, but with cries of 'stop, thief!'

"...Is that a chick?" Daichi asks.

"Go, girl, go!" Zelos cheers. The runner skids to a halt and turns back about. From this angle, the dark haired figure was hopefully not female due to the half-open shirt.

"I'm a guy!" The thief shouts at them, in an unmistakably male voice.

"That's why I asked instead of assuming." Daichi says, folding his arms. The young man glances up the stairs, which the knights were starting to descend, and says something to his dog, who ran off in one direction while the young man clambered up the wall.

"... Oookay then..." Lloyd blinks as the knights completely ignore them.

"Funny isn't it." Piers comments.

"Yep." Genis agrees.

"This way." Sheena waves them to follow her as she heads past the stairs, around the inn, and under an over-bridge.

"So. We're wanted, right?" Daichi says.

"Yep." Genis says.

"So. Why didn't the knights chase after us instead of the she-male?" A rock comes from the wall toward Daichi.

"That would because I'm ... loose friends with most of them." Zelos smirks. Daichi instinctively ducks. Sheena shakes her head at their antics, and opens the door of a building for them, heading in. There's a red ninja in there. He has to be a ninja, for the only skin he's showing is that around his eyes.

"...I dislike most ninjas..." Daichi mutters.

"... You've met a ninja other than Sheena?" Genis asks.

"Sheena! It's you!" the Red Ninja blinks.

"Kuchinawa! What're you doing here?" Sheena asks.

"...Once." Daichi adjusts his glasses in the way that hides his eyes with the glare on the lenses.

"I'm on a top secret mission." Kuchinawa explains. "What about you?"

"... you can't say most unless you have at least 2:1 ratio of disliked to liked." Genis says.

"Ah, I'm in a bit of trouble, actually." Sheena rubs the back of her head. "My friends and I need to get across the bridge."

"...Shaddup, smart-aleck." Daichi grumbles.

"Friends?" Kuchinawa eyes them. "They're not from Mizuho."

"Most of them are Sylvaranti." Sheena shrugs. "Guys, this is a friend from Mizuho. His name's Kuchinawa." Sheena introduces them.

"Sheena and I grew up together. Pleased to meet you." Piers and Shikka return the greeting. Daichi is still bickering with Genis about love:hate ratios. Lloyd and Raine do as well. Aurian's ears are twitching as this many people in the medium sized room makes it feel a bit too small for the elf. Zelos is more or less ignoring them.

"I'll go talk to the people in the laboratory." Sheena and Kuchinawa head down a set of stairs.

"...So what do we do now?" Daichi grumbles.

"... follow them?" Lloyd offers, already heading toward the stairs. Raine shrugs, and follows him. Colette follows Lloyd.

"...Might as well." Piers states following. Daichi is pointedly ignoring Genis at this point. Genis notices. He climbs up on Daichi's shoulders, which makes him a bit harder to ignore. Daichi still does a good job. Aurian mutters, wavering a little, but follows.

"That's insane!" Sheena yelps by the time they get down the stairs.

"What's insane?" Lloyd blinks.

"..." Piers smirks.

"Listen to this!" Sheena gestures at the researcher she was talking to, a man with honey-brown hair, glasses, and the researcher's white coat. "They want us to cross the sea in an Elemental Cargo!"

"Is there somethin wrong with that?" Daichi asks.

"Yes!" Sheena's irritated.

"An elemwhat?" Lloyd blinks.

"Elemental Cargo, typically called EC. It's a compact transport vehicle controlled by Exspheres. Its maximum load weight is 1400kg and maximum speed is more than three times faster than an upgraded Exsphere-equipped carriage. They are currently used primarily by shipping companies for delivery." Presea says.

"...Wow." Daichi states, amazed.

"Hey, what are we, packages?" Zelos protests this as well.

"The Elemental Cargo absorbs Mana from the atmosphere and ejects it into the air, producing a counter-reaction that propels it forward." the man performs the glassesflash. "So if we use Undine for that, we get an EC that can surf."

"Does it move?" Piers asks.

"S...surf..." Raine turns a bit green.

"Yes. But it's a LAND TRANSPORT." Sheena grumbles.

"Isn't there any other way?" Lloyd scratches his nose.

"The bridge is closed. You don't have the necessary identification to use an ocean liner. And on top of that, there are three half-elves with you." the researcher glassesflashes again.

Zelos looks to Piers. "We could have Piers part the sea."

Piers looks at him. "I'm not the incarnation of Poseidon."

"... not that again." Genis is grumpy about the half-elf thing.

"That's the kind of world Tethe'Alla is." The researcher glassesflashes. "We, too, hardly ever get to leave this building."

"I wonder why everyone can't get along..." Colette sighs.

"Yeah. I wonder why." Daichi asks, mock-innocently.

"Ah, well, there's no point in getting all gloomy." Zelos says. "So will you make that modified EC for us?" Aurian steps on Daichi's foot. When it doesn't quite work well due to his armor, she jumps on it.

"If you'll wait a day, we'll have it ready." the researcher shrugs.

"...Do you want me to take the boot off?" Daichi asks.

"No." Aurian scowls at him, then kicks his shin, half her foot above the boot line. Raine grabs onto the back of her shirt and pulls her away.

"Okay." Zelos blinks at this. "Well, then, let's go rest at my mansion."

"The Pope's minions aren't going to be waiting for us there, right?" Sheena frowns.

"Ow..." Daichi mutters, rubbing the top of his shin. "That didn't hurt as much as I expected to..."

"We're going to have to spend the night in this city. So it doesn't matter where we are, it'll still be dangerous." Lloyd points out.

"Maybe it's because Aurian's not really a fighter-build." Genis says, before he frowns at the tinkling sound of some sort of wall breaking a little.

"Yeah. I guess you're right." Sheena sighs about Lloyd's comment.

"What was that?" Daichi says as he hears it too.

"No idea." Genis sighs.

"My mansion's in the nobles' quarter to the right of Castle Tethe'Alla. It's a conspicuously big building, so you can't miss it." Zelos smirks, but leads the way.

"We already know that." Piers points out.

"I was making sure Little Angel did. She was a bit zombie last time." Zelos says.

"I remember." Colette smiles.

"..." Piers mutters something.

Again, no one seems to care that a band of wanted people are wandering about in the streets. They head all the way into Zelos' mansion, which means they have to walk right in front of the church and palace, with no problems.

"Welcome home, Chosen One." Sebastian is there, without anyone really seeing where he popped up from.

"Yo, I'm back." Zelos looks about. "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"I was instructed by the Pope and an emissary of His Majesty Tethe'Alla the 18th to report as soon as the Chosen returned."

"You can just ignore that." Zelos waves it off.

"Yes, sir. Ahh..." He glances at Lloyd, then back to Zelos. "and who is the guest with the two swords?"

"My bud." Zelos glances back at Lloyd. "Again, just make yourselves at home."

"If there is anything you need, Sir Bud, please speak to me." Sebastian bows and walks off.

"...How like a butler. Proper and polite and still very snotty." Piers comments.

"My name isn't 'Bud'." Lloyd mumbles. Raine has wandered over to a large painting of a blonde woman in a red dress. Sheena inches over an eyes the flowers in a vase. Daichi is with Sheena, looking at the flowers also. They're daylilies. Lloyd wanders aimlessly about, then gets directions from Sebastian back to a room. Aurian blinks, watching this, then waits for Sebastian to get the same. Presea stalks her.

"What's so special about these flowers?" Daichi asks.

"... smells nice." Sheena looks up and goes pink. "What, is it weird for me to be looking at flowers?"

" ...No, not at all. I like daylilies, too." Daichi says, actually serious.

"... okay." Sheena blinks. "Didn't expect something like that from you."

"...Just because I'm an ex-torturer doesn't mean I don't like flowers." He sighs. "Alery got me some..."

"... Who?" Sheena blinks.

"I, uh..." Daichi seems to go a light pink. "N-No-one." He subconsciously rubs the back of his neck. His Exsphere, to be exact.

"... Riight..." Sheena lets it go though, yawning.

Genis taps the top of Daichi's head. "Really."

Daichi blinks, fliching. "Gah! Genis! How'd...Since when were you there?"

"Since the Research Laboratory." Genis reminds him. "But I'd like down now. And an answer."

Daichi plucks Genis from his neck like one would a cat, by the collar. "I-It's just...Uh..." He falters. Genis flails a little, grabbing onto his hand. Daichi sets him down, looking around. "Uh...Presea looks lonely." He turns the little mage around, giving him a rough shove in the back. "Go cheer her up." This sufficiently distracts Genis.

"... smooth." Sheena points out.

Daichi looks to Sheena, still a light shade of pink. "W-Well, I needed to distract the kid."

"yeah, yeah... I'm goin to bed." She heads past Genis and Presea, where Presea tells Genis that he is 'p...p...pretty too'. Daichi grunts and heads off to bed also. Piers has picked up a random book and is reading it.

Yay cameo :D