The battles were tough, and a few stray shots managed to strike Esparanza, but the Delphinus has managed to break through the two main defense lines.

"Alright! We're doing great!"

"Hans, how's the ship holding up?"

"We're doing fine, Mr. Vyse. Plenty of spare parts and the hull integrity has been holding up."

Domingo yelled down the tube, "Captain, Gregorio's ship dead ahead! He'll be in range shortly!"

"Gunners, status?"

"We-we're fine, Vyse. But—"

Khazim cut Karol off, "HAHA! Chalk another one for Nasrad! Next up is an Admiral, boys!"

"Uncle Gregorio…"

Enrique grabbed his sister's hand, "We can't let him take us back!"

"Alright… Full speed ahead! It's now or never!"

"Remember Vyse, they don't call him Ironwall for nothing. Just like his other ships, don't expect the usual Valuan tactics from him."

Rita kicked Yuri off, "His ship is designed perfectly to take the abuse he puts it through."

Aika shot back, "And that means?"

"It means don't underestimate him and don't stay still for too long!"

The Delphinus opened fire first, but the Auriga took the hits but weren't firing back. Domingo noticed something rather odd about the Auriga. "Hey, Vyse, the soldiers are battening down the hatches all of a sudden. Do you think we shook them up too much?"

Yuri looked out there, "No, Valuan soldiers aren't shaken that easily. Especially not an Admiral's crew."

"Hans, move!" Rita was doing something to the engines it seemed. "Everyone, brace for a sudden boost of acceleration!"

In the galley Raven turned to Polly, "How sudden do you think is—" Just then everyone was trying to hold on as the Delphinus was going faster than what it was before. Raven was thrown back and crashed into Merida with her landing on top. "Well, I suppose it's not all bad." Repede turned to Pow, waving his head toward Raven, and Pow moved over to Raven and bit his face.

It was just in time too as the Auriga had its own burst of speed trying to ram the Delphinus with the spiked plating on the bow.

"H-He tried to ram us?!"

Vyse pulled the Delphinus away from the Auriga before they made contact scrapping one of the fins against the Auriga, but if Rita didn't give the ship a boost to the engines they would have been hit. "Now we know the reason for why his ship has so many spikes." Vyse quickly turned the ship around, "It looks like they aren't moving now."

"The Auriga is like a Kantor war bull," Rita was working on the engines with Hans, "The charge is strong, but if they miss it can leave them wide open. The Auriga's design was meant to hit a target and pull back to recover but if they miss then it screws their engines and they have to go through a system restart. But keep your eyes open because their cannons and torpedoes still work."

"More than enough time to poke out any weak spots it might still have." Yuri wasn't finding much relative to the usual weak hull points, but the engines were still prime targets. And with turret mounted cannons they could adjust the aim and fire sooner than back on the Little Jack.

Marco was running around all over the place helping whoever needed an extra pair of hands, giving Khazim's crew an extra shove to push in the next heavy shell. Karol watched the next volley of cannon fire hit the Auriga. "I hope your friend is ok, Yuri."

"What, Flynn? No worries there. We've gone through a few pirate attacks before. He won't make any mistakes and he'll keep everyone safe."

Flynn had rushed down to the engines as Witcher was doing his best at getting the engine going again. "…Maintain those fires! Keep the access ways open for traffic! Witcher, status update."

"We're ready to move again. However, I strongly recommend not pushing them to such extremes again without a proper assurance that the charge will hit next time. This is a finely tuned instrument that…"

Flynn rushed over to the gunners, "How is everything here?"

"We're holding well, Vice Captain."

"Good to hear. Don't let up the assault, we will win this and rescue Enrique and Estellise. I want torpedoes ready to counter the Delphinus' when they fire." Flynn even helped some of the soldiers lift one of the torpedoes into the tube before moving on.

The inhabitants of Esparanza had come out to watch the Delphinus fight the Armada singlehandedly, defending a group of nobodies who gave up on everything. This act and the battle was giving these old sailors a new fervor to sail again. Even with Admiral Ironwall as their opponent, the citizens cheered for Vyse's crew to come out on top of the fight.

"Are you sure Rita? I want to defeat them, but isn't…?"

"Don't worry! I've altered the energy conversion formula so that it will only harm the ship's engines and some of their weapon systems. Maybe a bit of the hull too… Just aim for the bow and the armor should weaken it enough so no one will get hurt!" One of the pipes started to hiss with steam now and Rita quickly got to silencing it. "Now I suggest you get some distance before we fire this. We need some prep time to open the bow and ready the cannon."

Yuri hoped over to Rita, "How do you know these last minute adjustments won't hurt the crew?"

"I've done the small scale testing already and we're still here."

"Them too, but I was talking about us."

"Then just stay out of my way!" Rita yelled into the tube, "Just call out when we're ready to fire."

Vyse turned to Estelle and Enrique. "I won't fire if you two aren't comfortable with the idea."

Estelle grabbed Enrique's hand, "No. Rita knows what she's doing. We have to believe in her."

Enrique smiled to his sister. "Yes. But, when we're ready, please let us be the one to fire the cannon."

Vyse nodded, "Of course. Aika, Lawrence, how are we doing?"

"We're doing fine so far, but I don't know if we can survive a hit from that shield."

"Engines are fine. Hand me the helm, and I'll get that cannon into position." Vyse let Lawrence take the helm now. With Lawrence at the helm he managed to gain distance while allowing Khazim a few more shots at the Auriga. The Auriga was now in front of them and Lawrence stepped away, "All you."

Enrique and Estelle turned to each other, their hands were now set on the cannon controls as the bow of the Delphinus opened up once more. "Moon Stone Cannon…"

"Fire!"

The shot hit against the Auriga's shield, as if it wouldn't be able to pierce through it, but the energy managed to seep into the ship causing internal damage and none of the crew harmed. The damaged sustained to the Auriga wasn't too bad, but it had put them out of commotion for fighting or pursuing the Delphinus.

Flynn and Gregorio were standing on the deck as the Delphinus pulled up with Estelle, Enrique, Yuri and Vyse on theirs. Enrique called out to the Admiral, "I always thought that if we were ever in battle together that we'd be on the same side."

"Prince Enrique. Princess Estellise. Is there anything I can do to make you reconsider?"

Enrique looked as though he didn't want to disappoint Gregorio, but he couldn't say it, "No… We've made up my mind. We are not going back to Valua. I know that you've noticed a change in the Empire as well… They are headed down a dark path… Trying to rule the world with an iron fist… It will be Valua's downfall…"

"Uncle Gregorio," Estelle cried out, "I saw the cruelty of Valua first hand at Ixa'taka! I don't want to see Valua do such horrible things again!"

"This world… this sky… is not Valua's to rule. It belongs to the people." Enrique held Estelle's hand, "And to right the wrongs that Valua has committed, we have decided to travel with Vyse and his companions. Tell that to our mother."

"And also that we pray every day for her good health."

Enrique held his head high and proud, "This is goodbye. We must go. Be well. Flynn, do take care of yourself and your soldiers."

The Delphinus pulled away from the Auriga now, heading toward the Dark Rift. Gregorio couldn't be angry or regretful for his loss today. Instead he was filled with pride as he watched them leave and a tear welled in his eye. "Farwell, young Prince and Princess." Flynn saluted to them as well, knowing he would gladly follow Enrique to the ends of the earth when he took the throne.

The people of Esparanza were really fired up now, "Those kids are great! They just took out the Armada with one ship!"

"They make me feel like sailing again!"

"Vyse… You put on quite a show… If you make it back from the Dark Rift… I hope you come back here and take me with you…" Don shook his head at himself, "I can't believe I'm saying this… You hear me, kid?!" Don yelled with all his heart, "You better make it back!"

Rita was back on the bridge now as the lookouts got in and all of the hatches were sealed. Just like Don said, there was an eye to this storm. Rita didn't seem all that surprised, rather she seemed to have expected it to be there more than because Don said it would be.

"I'll assume you guys will want to explore every wreck we find in here."

Aika grinned, "Of course. Who know what treasures they might be hiding that needs recovering."

"Whatever." Rita adjusted her goggles on her face now. "But, if we're doing that while crossing the Dark Rift, I have one request." Rita had her bag with her, pulling out a rolled up piece of paper that she handed to Domingo and Tikatika, "Keep your eyes out for this ship, the Fornax. If we come across it, we go in and look everywhere. Doesn't matter how long it takes for us to search it from stern to bow, we'll see every nook and cranny before we leave the Dark Rift."

Before Vyse or anyone else on the bridge could question why, an alarm started to signal and one of the lights flashed red. Enrique went over the instruments, "One of the bilge compartments has opened?"

A familiar roar echoed out just as Ba'ul and Judith came into view of the bridge. Judith was wearing her Dragon Rider armor now as she hovered before them. "Don't worry…" Yuri came in now with a piece of paper before him, "She said we'll need her around if we don't want the Entelexeia in there to attack us."

"That would make sense…" Rita looked out to Ba'ul, "If these Entelexeia are capable of sensing the various disturbances of Moon Stone energy like she's said, then they should be capable of distinguishing one another from the monsters we may encounter."

Yuri continued on, "She also said that we will be able to breathe inside the calm pockets and should only need to seal everything up when traveling between pockets. Judy also confirmed the monster thing and said that she and Ba'ul will deal with any pests that land on the Delphinus while we're inside. I have no idea why she's doing this, but she seemed rather serious about this."

No one else was sure either, but Estelle could have sworn she heard Rita say under her breath something akin to 'thank you'. When Judith saw that Yuri finished giving them her message, she and Ba'ul were the first through the swirling vortex.

If Judith was going in with just a suit of armor, then there was no way they couldn't follow after her. "Alright everyone, here we go into the Dark Rift. Tikatika, Domingo, I want your expert eyes following Judith and Ba'ul. And Rita, we'll keep that promise and find the Fornax."

The initial turbulence was rather violent, knocking around some of the loose supplies and foodstuffs but it eventually subsided to a calm pocket where Ba'ul was waiting for them alongside a massive red bird with a pincer-like tail.

This creature wasn't simply just some creature, this was an Entelexeia, one that was almost as tall as the Delphinus, and if the neck and tail were stretched out, nearly as long too. Just from how it looked to the Delphinus, it didn't seem all too keen with the idea of letting them through but Judith or Ba'ul must have convinced it to let them pass.

The bird roared at them before spouts of flames escaped its feathers and it flew into the thickest and strongest portion of the Dark Rift's winds. "That was an Entelexeia? I was expecting them to look more like Ba'ul."

Yuri didn't seem completely surprised, "The Entelexeia used to travel around the world, right? They probably needed different kinds of bodies to patrol the various areas."

Ba'ul's roar expanded another calm vortex for the Delphinus to travel through. Just as foretold, the majority of their measurement instruments were useless inside the Dark Rift, including their compasses. They continued through this calm tunnel now as Rita continued to make various notes about everything she was seeing as well as the instrument failures. The tunnel eventually came to an end now and this new pocket was amazing. Just like the rumors said, there were bioluminescent plants along with many wrecked ships crashed onto strange floating rocks, some of them seemed to pulsate like a slow heartbeat.

Judith and Ba'ul were already hard at work wiping out some of the indigenous creatures flying around the area. Judith's spear and Ba'ul's fire breath seemed to be familiar to some of these beasts that many retreated upon seeing them.

This freed up the crew as they investigated each wreck. There were no signs of survivors, though they left behind plenty of treasures. When they finished exploring the area, Ba'ul led them to a new vortex where they found something completely unexpected.

"Rita, are those…"

"They are but…I've never seen Moon Stones like them before…" Within this pocket they were surrounded by several black, glowing, Moon Stones. I wouldn't mind taking a few for experimentation. Although…"

Before she could even think about it more a rift opened up as a winged golden deer-like creature entered the pocket. The creature gave the Delphinus and Ba'ul a bow before returning to the reason it had entered this place. The Entelexeia started to pour energy into one of the strange black Moon Stones. This energy was being converted by the Moon Stone itself before returning to the Entelexeia as a completely different type of energy. When it was finished it created another vortex since the one it original made had already closed.

"Now I've got to get my hands on one."

Ba'ul suddenly started to act up now, flying toward one of the bigger vortexes, barley giving the Delphinus time to recognize which one. "Come on, we can't lose our guides that easily."

Traveling through the vortex eventually lead them to another area with more of the strange vegetation covered landmasses and more wrecked ships.

They continued on until Rita spotted it, the ship she was looking for. "There it is…and it's mostly intact…" Before anything could be said, Rita rushed off with her bag, racing as quickly as possible to the lifeboats before the Delphinus was even close to the wrecked ship.

The ship was split in two, but there was no denying it, that ship was the very ship Rita was looking for, the Fornax. "Lawrence."

"That's what you hired me for." He grabbed the wheel as Vyse went after Rita.

Vyse managed to reach Rita before she took off on her own. "Rita!"

"What!?"

"I thought we were supposed to search the ship together?"

Rita continued toward the boats, "You can scavenge whatever you want from it, I have my own priorities."

"Rita, if you would just tell us what you're really looking for we could…"

"I don't need to tell anyone, anything! If I find what I'm looking for, all the better."

Vyse finally grabbed Rita's arm, "Now hold on Rita. We'll help you look for whatever you want first. So let's get a group together to search."

"Rita!" It was Estelle, she was chasing after her as well. "Thank goodness you haven't left yet. I don't know why you're acting like this, but I want to help you in your search, if at all possible."

"I…I don't want to talk about it…but…I appreciate the offer."

Estelle closed her eyes, "Nicolas Mordio…acclaimed scientist and former head of Valua's research and development. Victoria Mordio…captain of the Fornax, one of Valua's greatest scout ships. It was this dramatic duo who founded Esparanza and the last ship to disappear into the Dark Rift." Estelle turned to Rita, "I might not have remembered if Raven hadn't stumbled upon an old news article in the ship's library. Rita, if you want to…"

Rita was shivering, her head down, trying to avoid eye contact, "You…you think this is about them? Well it's not! It's…"

Estelle hugged Rita, "We'll stay as long as we have to and we'll find your parents."

"I…I…"

Rita grabbed Estelle now, crying into her dress. "I'm sorry for your loss and that we've only been able to find the Fornax now. So let's make things right and find your parents."

A/N: Will Rita find peace she's hoping for, or just more heartache.