Thank you all who reviewed! Anyway, you know the routine by now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean.

Chapter 5: Departure

We finally arrived at the Urssa lava caves. Just like the Mosel dunes, it was really hot.

"Man, why do dragons have to pick places like this for their lair?" I groaned.

"That's a good question. You'd think they would want to go somewhere that wasn't so hot," said Cliff.

"Just shut up and stop pondering the way a dragon's mind works, fools," said Albel as he walked past us. I sighed and Cliff shrugged.

"Who shoved the sword up his ass?" I asked.

"This is just Albel being himself. I'm surprised you haven't figured that out by now since we have been traveling together for a few hours now," said Fayt.

"I don't know, Fayt. Alex here is kind of slow. It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't figure it out by now," said Maria. Everyone except Albel and I started laughing.

"Hey! That was uncalled for!" I exclaimed.

"You bring it upon yourself by asking dumb questions," said Maria with a grin on her face.

"I guess you have a point." We continued searching for the Marquis, after a lot of difficulty and several battles we finally found a door.

"A door?" Asked Cliff.

"This must be where the Marquis is," said Nel.

"There's only one way to find out," said Fayt as he opened the door. It seems like Nel was right, inside the next room was the Marquis. As we got closer to him I let out a whistle.

"The King of Airyglyph said that the Marquis was big... but I didn't imagine he would be THIS big," I said. The Marquis was towering above us, not even our height combined would equal the size of this dragon. The Marquis sure is lucky that this room is really big too.

"This has got to be the biggest dragon I have ever seen," said Fayt.

"But it looks like we are going to have to wait for this thing to wake up," said Cliff. Sure enough, the dragon was asleep. I stepped forward.

"All we have to do is speak really loudly and it should wake up," I said.

"That's not a good idea. We should wait for him to wake up," said Nel.

"But who knows when that is going to be?"

"That' won't be a problem," said Fayt. Nel and I looked over at him.

"Why's that?"

"Look." I looked back over at the Marquis and saw that it had opened it's eyes. It let out a loud roar and flapped it's wings.

"Who dares disturb my sleep?" Asked the Marquis.

"Whoa, it talks?" Exclaimed Cliff.

"Another ill-mannered human..." The Marquis' voice trailed off as he looked at me. He suddenly sniffed the air and brought his head a little bit closer to us. "Wait... who are you? There is something different about you from the rest of the humans here right now."

"What do you mean?" I asked although I knew very well that the Marquis was somehow aware that I wasn't of this universe.

"It's hard to describe but I can sense that you are different somehow. So tell me, why are you all here?" Nel bowed.

"Your excellency, I am Nel Zelpher from Aquaria. We seek your excellencies aid," said Nel.

"A maiden from Aquaria... speak your purpose."

"Yes, your excellency. This world is under attack by a mysterious force and we need your excellencies aid to stop it."

"I sensed the restlessness outside, what do you need my aid for?"

"We need Your Excellency to carry the weapon Aquaria has made to fight this threat." The Marquis let out a roar.

"IMBECILES! Did you really think that I would acquiesce to a request like that? DO NOT INSULT ME! I am great and you are nothing!"

"We will not leave until you agree to help us."

"I could not care less."

"Forget it Nel. We are going to have to smack this one around before he will listen," said Cliff as he slammed his fists together.

"I agree with that," said Albel.

"Your Excellency, is there no other way?" Asked Fayt.

"None," said the Marquis. We pulled out our weapons.

"Then we have no choice, but to force you to listen!"

"You are free to try, convince me of your worth and I shall listen to all you have to say," said the Marquis. We started fighting the Marquis, after awhile we finally managed to defeat it. The Marquis fell to the ground. "To be defeated by humans... how humiliating," groaned the dragon.

"You will keep your word, right?" Asked Maria. The Marquis slowly got up.

"Though it is humiliating to serve your kind, I can't break my word. I have no choice."

"Alright then, let's go back to Aquios," said Nel.

"You may ride on my back small but powerful humans. I shall take you anywhere and bear whatever you desire," said the Marquis. We got onto the back of the Marquis.

"So what's your name?" Asked Fayt.

"Call me Crosell," said the Marquis.

"Okay, Crosell, take us to Aquios."

"As you wish." Crosell started slowly rising in the air and out of the chamber. Soon we were up in the sky and Crosell shot off towards Aquios.

"Wow! This is so cool! Everything looks so small and the sky is so close!" I exclaimed as I looked up at the sky. Suddenly my vision started going up further into the atmosphere and into space. It continued to zoom off into the stars until I saw a huge fleet of Executioners. They let out a roar and continued zooming off towards their location. After that my sight was thrown back to Elicoor II. I jolted back and looked around.

"Alex? What's wrong?" Asked Fayt.

"One moment you are babbling like an idiot and the next your eyes go blank and you suddenly jolt back to reality. What the hell is wrong with you?" Asked Albel.

"It's... it's nothing," I said.

"Sounds like you had a vision of some sort. What did you see?" Asked Crosell. At this point I figured it wouldn't hurt explaining what I saw. If I played my cards right they wouldn't see the Executioners and I would be able to convince Luther into stopping them. I took a deep breath.

"I saw a place somewhere deep in space, there was a fleet of dragon like creatures flying off to somewhere."

"Sounds like a bad omen," said Maria.

"That is what it seems like," said Crosell. So they have come at last, they are a lot earlier than I expected. Then again, I had been sensing their presence lately but the fact that they came in so quickly means that I don't have much time. Crosell continued to fly to Aquios. When we arrived one question rose up: who was going to be on the thunder arrow balcony? The question was answered by Crosell who said that only us who asked him for his help would be on the balcony. Then we sat around waiting for the thunder arrow to be attacked to Crosell. Suddenly my debugging tool started vibrating and emitting a beep sound. I walked over to a place where there was very few people and I activated it. A screen of Luther popped up.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The Executioners arrived in the Milky Way a short while ago. How close are you to Styx?" Asked Luther.

"I'm still on Elicoor II," I said. Luther started to look shocked and slightly annoyed.

"What the hell have you been doing? Don't tell me that you are getting involved in affairs that don't concern you."

"No, no, that's not it. It's just that we are having a few difficulties with getting off this planet. You see, there are these Vendeeni battle ships blocking our way out, and we have come up with a plan to get rid of them. But I have doubts that it will work."

"I see... well then, I will do what I can." The screen went blank. I deactivated my debugging tool and lowered my head. Could I possibly convince Luther to stop the Executioners, he tends to be a little bit stubborn once he decides something. Now that I think about it, Luther knew about the use of symbology for awhile yet he didn't do anything about it. But suddenly he orders us to make the Executioners. Somehow, something in this picture isn't fitting together. I looked back up and I saw Maria walking towards me.

"Alex, it's time," said Maria. I got up and we walked over to Crosell.

"So your flagship has arrived?" I asked.

"Yeah, and now the Vendeeni are coming as well," said Maria.

"I see..." We got onboard Crosell and he flew off into the air. The Quark Flagship, the Diplo, was flying towards us. The Vendeeni weren't far behind. We had managed to score a few hits on the Vendeeni ship but soon they caught onto our plan. They started flying towards the Diplo.

"Okay Luther, now would be a good time to do whatever you are planning to do," I said in my thoughts. Suddenly a large blast of energy came out of nowhere and destroyed both the Vendeeni ships. Nice Luther, right at the last minute too. There was dead silence on the platform.

"What the?" Asked Fayt.

"What was that?" Asked Cliff. Maria pulled out her communicator.

"Marietta, are you okay?" Asked Maria.

"Yeah, we're fine. Did you see that?" Asked Marietta.

"Yes, can you give us any info about it?"

"Hold on a second, here. What?"

"What is it?"

"That blast of energy had an energy magnitude of 3.2!"

"Magnitude 3.2?" Exclaimed Cliff.

"How can that be? Even the latest Federation Battle ships can only emit a magnitude of 2 tops!" Exclaimed Fayt.

"We have detected more blasts, one of them is packing an energy magnitude exceeding 4."

"Exceeding 4? Where are they headed?" Asked Maria.

"EARTH!" Exclaimed Marietta. Damn, I knew Luther wouldn't just help me. If he was going to use this method then he wouldn't just help me out, he would go for other targets as well.

"Let's go back to Aquios!" Said Fayt. As we landed back in Aquios and assembled out on the balcony outside of the throne room, we said our goodbyes to the King of Airyglyph and the Queen of Aquaria. Fayt had apologized for the trouble we caused, but the King and Queen said that this had benefitted their countries. Fayt looked around for Albel.

"Huh? Where's Albel?" Asked Fayt.

"He left already, said there was no longer a need for him to be here," explained Woltar.

"Oh I see, I wanted to say good bye," said Fayt.

"We will tell him for you," said the King.

"Thank you." Maria's Communicator started beeping.

"Captain, we are ready to transport you up," said Marietta.

"Alright, be ready to transport five people up the Diplo," said Maria.

"Huh? Five? I only counted four, who else is going up with you guys?"

"We met someone else who is not of this planet."

"O-okay, we are ready whenever you are." Maria turned off her communicator and put it away.

"Warrior with brown hair," said a gruff voice behind us. We turned around to see Crosell looking directly at me.

"Yes?" I asked.

"What is your name?" Asked Crosell.

"My name is Alex Rothrock."

"Alex Rothrock, I gave more thought to what I said to you when you were at my lair. I understand now why you seem so different." Had Crosell figured out that I wasn't from the Eternal Sphere? "What I sensed about you that made you different was not your clothing or your weapon. What I sensed about you is your fate."

"My fate?"

"Yes, one day you will have to make a choice that will determine if this world and every other world among the stars will be saved or destroyed." Saved or destroyed? Was he talking about if I would be able to convince Luther to stop the Executioners or not? Or had Crosell picked up something that I was yet to learn about?

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I do not know the details, that is all I can say." I looked down at the ground.

"I see." We all stepped back towards the edge of the balcony.

"Farewell," said Nel. We nodded and suddenly we were transported up to the Diplo. The transportation in this universe was not as smooth as transportation in my universe. After I was transported I felt somewhat disoriented, it was like being broken up into millions of pieces and coming back together the next second. In front of us was a man with gold brown hair and wearing a fancy looking outfit.

"Welcome back captain! I'm so happy you made it back safely!" Exclaimed the man.

"We don't have time to chat. So tell me, have you been able to get any more info about those beams of light?" Asked Maria.

"Oh, yeah. We found out that the blasts came from neither Aldian, Federation, or Vendeeni forces."

"How did you figure that out?" The people of the Eternal Sphere are smarter than I gave them credit for. They were able to figure out that it was from an unknown third party so quickly.

"Based on tapped transmissions from the Federation, Vendeeni, and Aldians. We figured out that all three groups are under attack by a third party."

"Who?" Asked Cliff.

"We don't know yet."

"Anyway, let's go to the bridge," said Maria.

"Who is that guy?" I asked.

"That's Lieber, a member of Quark," explained Cliff.

"Well I knew the part that he was a member of Quark. Why else would he be on this ship?"

"By the way Captain, who is the strangely dressed person?" Asked Lieber.

"That's Alex, he is part of a research team from Styx," said Maria.

"Is that a new fashion or something?"

"Who knows? It might be, the galaxy is a big place after all." We arrived at the bridge and everyone stood up and saluted Maria.

"I'm back people, we are behind schedule in rescuing Dr. Leingod. Proceed to point S317!" Maria sat in her seat and we sat in any seat that was available.

"Mirage, take us out of orbit with one quarter thrust," said Maria.

"Roger, taking us out of orbit with one quarter thrust," said Mirage. The ship started vibrating a little bit and within less then a minute we were out of the atmosphere of Elicoor II and in space. "Out of orbit," said Mirage.

"Alright, set a course for S317."

"Roger."

"S317?" Asked Fayt.

"At those coordinates is a moon that is cleverly disguised but it is actually has a Vendeeni base on it. We believe that is where your father is," explained Maria.

"Captain, we are receiving a transmission from another ship," said a woman with short brown hair in the front of the bridge. Her voice sounded familiar, oh yeah, this is that Marietta person that Maria was talking to earlier.

"Ship registry?"

"It's the Aquaelie, a federation battleship."

"What is a federation battleship doing out here?" Asked Fayt.

"Looks like we are about to find out," I said. The screen in the front of the bridge turned on. There was a dark skinned man with short black hair that connected to his beard and mustache. He was wearing an outfit that suggested that he was a high rank official in this federation.

"This is Commodore Wittcomb, it is an honor to meet you all," said the man.

"Likewise, I would never have expected to meet Commodore Wittcomb, the most highly praised official of the Pangalactic Federation in a place like this."

"Heh, I'm flattered. Anyway I wanted to tell you that a Vendeeni ship is coming, our analysts believe that they will not attack. So we expect the same from you," said Commodore Wittcomb.

"How can you be so sure that the Vendeeni won't attack?" Asked Fayt.

"Because..." Commodore Wittcomb was cut off as there was another beeping sound.

"Captain, we are receiving a transmission from a nearby ship, it's the Dasvanu," said Marietta. Commodore Wittcomb was silent and then the screen went blank and was replaced with the picture of a Vendeeni.

"This is Captain Biwig, surrender and obey our orders," said the Vendeeni.

"Nice to meet you too," said Maria sarcastically.

"Dr. Leingod, enemy of the galaxy, and the girl are in our hands. You have no choice but to listen to what we have to say." In the background was a main with glasses and grayish hair and from what I could see behind Biwig's shoulder, the man was wearing a pink shirt. Next to him was a girl with brown hair and green eyes. She was wearing a pink tank top and jeans.

"Dad! Sophia!" Exclaimed Fayt.

"We will exchange the girl and Dr. Leingod for Fayt."

"And the place of exchange? Obviously we don't trust one enough for it to be between ships."

"Indeed you are right, the exchange will take place on the planet you are orbiting. We are going to send you the coordinates now."

"The Dasvanu has sent the coordinates, 147.5834, 34.8874," said Marietta.

"Display the location," said Maria. A new screen popped up of an arena.

"Hey that's..." Said Fayt.

"Oh yeah, that place," said Cliff.

"You've been there before?" Asked Maria as she looked over at Cliff.

"Yeah."

"What is that place?" I asked.

"It's the arena on the top floor of the Kirlsa Training Facility," replied Fayt.

"I see."

"We will arrive at your location soon, further instructions will be given then," said Biwig. The screen went blank.

"Encrypt our signal to the Aquaelie," said Maria.

"Roger," said Marietta. The screen turned on and this time it was Commodore Wittcomb on screen.

"I heard everything," said Commodore Wittcomb.

"You won't give Fayt up, will you?" I asked as I looked over at Maria.

"Of course not, I won't let them have Fayt, Dr. Leingod, or Sophia," answered Maria.

"So you are going to rescue them?" Asked Commodore Wittcomb.

"Yeah, we will think of something. So tell me, how much does the Federation know?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me. You wouldn't be trying to secure Dr. Leingod, let alone Fayt if you didn't have any background info."

"Well your reasons are no different from ours. As for the Vendeeni, who knows what they want? But we can't let them have either of them."

"You are right."

"Best of luck to you, we will be there shortly to lend a hand." The screen went blank. A few seconds later there was a beep.

"A transmission from the Dasvanu," said Marietta.

"Display," said Maria. On screen was Biwig once again.

"Transport down to the specified location. No heroics," said Biwig.

"Understood, we will exchange Fayt for Dr. Leingod and the Esteed's child, that's the deal."

"Yes, that is the deal." The Screen went blank.

"All right, it's time to assemble a team," said Maria.

"We can only transport six at a time, they shouldn't be able to transport anymore than that," said Cliff.

"Your right about that. Let's see... our team will be, Fayt, Cliff, Alex, and I. Lancar will pick two soldiers to go with us," said Maria.

"Huh? Why Alex?" Asked Cliff.

"Yeah, why me? I am not even involved in this in any way," I said.

"It's because of the fact that you are really strong, you'll be useful if the Vendeeni try something," replied Maria.

"So I am only becoming involved in this because of my strength?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Even using people who aren't at your disposal, you are one cold lady Maria," said Cliff.

"I just know how to use my resources." Maria pulled out her communicator. "Lancar, do you read me?"

"What's up Maria?" Asked Lancar.

"I want you to assemble two soldiers of your choice and give them level A equipment, it's not enough for those disrupter rifles but it's better than nothing."

"Will do."

"Well I'm going to the Armory," said Cliff. Cliff got up and left the Bridge.

"Wow Maria, you are quite the leader," I said.

"Well thanks I guess," said Maria with a grin.

"Yeah, I am impressed too," said Fayt.

"You two are free to do whatever, I don't need you guys for anything at the moment." We nodded and left the bridge.

I had hoped that rescuing Dr. Leingod and this Sophia girl wouldn't take too long. Every second lost hastened the assault of the Executioners. I knew this and feared it. Even the Executioners are a threat to the staff of the Sphere Company if they are in the Eternal Sphere. The Executioners are programmed to act on their own accord, even we the staff of the Sphere Company can't control what they do once they are released into a galaxy.

Well I managed to get this chapter finished before I go to my grandma's house for Christmas. Since she doesn't have internet it kind of makes it impossible for me to post up any new chapters. I will be leaving on the 22nd or the 23rd and when I get back around the 28th or 29th I will have a new chapter to post up. Anyway, please review.