Scott waited for what seemed life forever for Vyse and Co to get back. He just hung around Nasrad the whole time, hiding himself until they got back. It was odd to him, he had no idea why, but he was concerned for these people. He barely even knew them, yet he was waiting around for them, like a dog for its master.

"Maybe I'll see Belle again." He said to himself.

That must have been it, he thought. He must be doing it so that maybe someday, somehow he could see her again. He felt strongly that it could happen.

After what was almost a whole day, Vyse and Co returned to Nasrad. Scott was somewhat happy to see them, to his surprise. He jumped off of the building he was on, landing right in front of them. They were a bit startled, but it wasn't much of a scare.

"Great, him again." Aika said. "Do you want to be a jerk again, or what?"

"Hmph." Scott responded. "I came to ask a question."

"What exactly did you want to ask us?" Vyse asked, only having met Scott just now.

"I wanted to know if I could tag along with you guys." Scott answered.

Vyse, Fina and Aika all looked at one another. They blinked and looked back at Scott, who was staring right at them, with a sort of pleading look in his eyes.

"Why should we drag you along?" Aika asked sternly.

"I'm a good fighter, and I hope to find someone I met on a ship not too long ago." Scott answered again.

"Who?"

"Aika, that's none of our business." Fina said. "He looks trustworthy. maybe we could take him along Vyse?"

"Alright, we'll take him with us." Vyse agreed, making it seem like he was pushed into that decision.

"Thank you." Scott said.

So Vyse and Co decided to head back to the inn. But on the way there, they saw some ships from the Armada. Scott blinked, it was the first time he had actually SEEN a real Vuluan warship. The Armada began bombing Nasrad, blowing almost everything in sight to pieces.

"Quick, we have to get out of here!" Vyse exclaimed as the all turned and ran back towards Glider's ship.

But when they were nearly there, a bomb struck by them, starting a few flames. They had braced themselves, and no one was hit, but they did hear a voice.

"Well hello Fina." It said

Fina looked shocked, everyone was looking towards where the voice came from as a young man emerged from the flames.

"Ramirez!" Fina exclaimed.

Ramirez laughed a bit and ordered Vyse to hand over Fina. Scott had no idea what was going on, but he didn't like that Ramirez guy. Vyse and him were ready to go kick his butt, but Fina stopped them. They blinked at her; she had a worried look on her face.

"No, you mustn't attack him!" She warned. "He is an exceptional warrior, very good at combat. There's no way you could win against him, not now anyway."

"But." Vyse began to try and change her mind.

"I'll be fine." She said, interrupting him.

They agreed to surrender, and were taken to The Vuluan Grand Fortress, where Vyse had already escaped from once. But it didn't look like that was going to happen this time. They were all thrown into jail cells to await their execution. Glider and Vyse were in one cell, Aika in another, and Scott in yet another.

But Vyse wasn't about to give up; he never had and wouldn't want to start now. But he had no idea how to go about it. But Glider's parrot, Willy, flew into the cell, landing on Glider's shoulder.

"What's that tied to his leg? It looks like a note tied on with some wire." Vyse said, reaching out and untying the wire and reading the note.

"Let's see." He began. "Capitan, we will bomb the fortress at midnight for your escape. Signed by your crew Glider."

"I knew they'd be around." Glider said, laughing a bit. "It wouldn't be the first time my crew has had to break me out of prison. They know the routine."

"That's great Glider, but how are we supposed to get out of this cell?"

"There was a wire tied around the note for a reason." Glider answered as he took the wire and straightened it out.

Vyse watched for a bit as Glider began picking the lock on the cell door, then he looked at the back of the note.

"Hey Glider, there's something on the back here." Vyse said, reading it to himself.

"Oh yeah? What is it?" Glider asked.

Vyse held back from laughing as he read it out loud to Glider.

"Glider my love, I'm coming to get you out too. You'll be back in my arms in no time. Signed by Clara" Vyse read it to him. "And there's lipstick marks at the bottom."

Glider stood up, a joking look on his face.

"Hey Vyse, we don't really need to get out of here. do we?" Glider asked.

"Would you rather stay in prison and be executed?"

"Hmm. execution, or Clara. execution, or Clara. tough choice. Ah, oh well."

Glider then opened the door and gathered their weapons. Then they set off to find the others. They found Scott's cell, not too far away from their own, but it was open, and there was a guard knocked out. That meant that Scott had already escaped. But he didn't go after Vyse and the others. He just headed to leave.

"Such a nice guy huh?" Glider said sarcastically.

So they left again, to go get Aika. They beat up a few guards for the cellblock key and went and fought Virgo. Then they took her and went looking for Fina. It wasn't easy; the guards were all over the place. And even Ramirez was looking for them.

After a lot of fighting and searching, the found Fina, and began to head out of the place. They still hadn't seen Scott, but they knew he must have been ok. They ran all the way to an elevator, after blowing up a cannon on the fortress wall. Everything as going good until they ran into this big tank, they fought with it for quite some time. When they eventually won though, the alarm went off.

"Oh no, the alarm." Glider said, stating the obvious.

"We have to get out of here, or they'll be guards all over us!" Vyse said.

But then they heard a voice come from the floor above them.

"Come up here on the elevator!" It said.

"Vyse, someone is telling us to go onto the elevator! But I can't see who it is! What if it's a trap?" Aika asked, looking at Vyse.

"We don't have a choice! Lets take out chances and hop on!" Vyse responded.

They all got onto the elevator and went up. At the top they saw a young boy. and Scott!

"Can't leave you alone for two seconds, can I?" Scott said, putting his hands on his hips.

Aika stuck her tongue out at him.

He scoffed again.

"Scott and. who might you be?" Glider asked.

The young man smiled, "My name is Enrique." He answered.

"What? Enrique? The prince of Vulua! Heir to the throne?!"

"Yes, that's me. Now hurry, I'll help you escape."

Enrique led them to a big flagship, and let them inside it. It was hard for Vyse to just start trusting him. After all, he WAS the prince of Vulua. the people that hated him. But the others didn't have much of a problem with him. The inside of the ship was breathtaking to Vyse though. They all looked around, taking some time. No one really expected to find them in a flagship.

"This is The Delfinus, the most powerful ship in the Armada fleet, and my personal flagship." Enrique said.

"Wow." The others said in awe.

"Hey, Enrique." Vyse said to get his attention. "Why are you helping us escape, aren't you supposed to be on the Valuan's side?"

"Yes, I am supposed to." Enrique answered. "But Vulua is going down a dark road. They're trying to take over the world by force so they can be unopposed. I happen to disagree with how my mother is dealing with things. So I have one favor to ask of you Vyse."

"And.?"

"I want you to take this ship, and take me with it."

"Huh? Wait a minute."

"I feel that if I join your crew, then I may have a chance of changing the Vuluan Empire. To help them see the error of their ways, and hopefully bring them to their senses. And you Vyse are one of the only people who have ever dared to stand against Vulua, to stand against the Armada. I believe your intensions are as good as my own. So please, take me with you as part of your crew! I'll even be a hostage if I have to."

"Alright," Vyse said. "You can join my crew. But the Blue Rouges. don't take hostages. If you're going to join, you'll join as a Blue Rouge."

"Fine." Enrique said.

So Vyse started up The Delfinus and began to sail his way out of The Grand Fortress. They were almost out, but when they reached the gate, they noticed it was closed. All hope almost seemed lost.

"Hey Vyse. That cannon I blew up has made a weak spot in the gate." Glider said.

"Hey yeah!" Aika said. "We just need to get through there."

"Alright, we need to blow the hole open, and we can just sail right through!" Vyse proclaimed.

"Vyse, I should tell you now that The Delfinus is equipped with the strongest weapon in all of Vulua." Enrique said. "It's called the 'Moonstone Cannon.' Until recently, it was a weapon in development by De Loco. But it's been completed and added to the Delfinus, making it have almost the strongest firepower in the whole Armada fleet. And it's still as fast as a cruiser and as sturdy as a warship."

"So one blast from the Moonstone Cannon should do it then!"

"Yes, it should, but it takes a lot of power."

So they defended against the gate's cannons and saved up for the Moonstone Cannon. Once they had enough energy, Vyse didn't hesitate to push the big red button.

"Moonstone Cannon. Fire!" Vyse commanded.

And with that the cannon stored its energy, and then shot a big pinkish beam at the wall, in the weak area. That beam was apparently pure concentrated Moonstone energy, very powerful indeed, more powerful than any weapon able to be equipped to a ship.

They blew a big gaping hole right through the gate, big enough for The Delfinus to fit through. And they flew right through it, escaping Vulua for the second consecutive time.

Once they were far away from the Vuluan Airspace, they were given time to look around The Delfinus. Vyse found he needed to recruit quite a few crewmembers. A cook, a helmsman, a lookout, some sailors, and a few other positions needed to be filled. Then Glider mentioned he heard a noise from in the bridge. Vyse checked one of the storage places, only to find. Marco! A boy he met in Vulua a long time ago. Vyse recruited him as a "sailor." Or in other words, a worker, Marco immediately began working by "swabbing the deck."

Glider told Vyse that he was going to leave again. He had his own ship to take care of. He also gave him three pieces of advice. First, he needed crewmembers, and then he'd need a base so the crew could rest once in a while. And lastly, that Vyse never give up, no matter what. Then he just left, running really. Running from. you guessed it, Clara. And Clara went after him.

They had the perfect place to start a base. The deserted island that Vyse was stranded on, it was called Crescent Isle. But first they started towards Sailor's island, to get some crewmembers. Vyse ended up recruiting a cook (Polly), a helmsman (Lawrence), and a delegate (Pinta). Then Vyse went back home and took in a dog named Pow to be a jester. of sorts. Then he headed towards Crescent Isle.

Scott stood out at the very edge of the deck (is that the bow? Starboard? Or what?) Looking at the clouds as they zoomed by. He was alone, with the exception of Marco and Enrique. He had a slight smile on his face.

"Belle." He said to himself. "I hope you're doing as well as I am."

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Ba-bam! ^_^ Heh. that's it for this one too. Not bad if I do say so myself.

Got any questions or comments? E-mail me at Luigi_640@hotmail.com