Chris: Here's another chapter! Ooooooooh...And it's a very late chapter too. Sorry about that.

Tom Valor: Thank you for the compliments, and I'm glad I put Kreizen in character. Didn't want to mess that up.

Tsuki Hoshi Hikari: Glad you like my story and all of the stuff.

mystique-goddex: Thank you…And I'm trying at getting faster updates. But I'm not doing that well.

Kiyoko-chan: Ah…Thanks for telling me about that. I'll try to use some different words next time. And you should read Tom's story. It's gooood.

Zhang Kai: Actually…It's not a real weapon in the game. I just made it up. You'll see it in action a little bit later.

Chapter 8: I Don't Think This Is Going To Work

"You know, this is not going to work." Niklason looked at Alexstrazos, who was concealing himself in a couple of trees.

"What makes you say that?" The rogue looked back at the swordsman.

"Just a feeling." Niklason looked back at everyone else inside their hiding spot. Currently, they were hiding in some trees outside of Payon's NightKnife guild. Alex had proposed a plan that worked in two segments. First, they would infiltrate and see what kind of security and structure they had inside. And finally, they would disguise themselves and pretend to join the guild itself. That last part was extremely risky, but as Alex had said, "Don't worry! My plans always work!"

"Tell me exactly why I'm here?" Sylvia looked out from her hiding spot, batting irritably at tree branches.

"You wanted to find out how many of the cheating bastards there were." Carylesti turned her head and answered Sylvia's question.

"Ah, yeah. That's right. Let's go kill them right now!" The blacksmith clenched her axe tightly and looked around. "What's stopping them from noticing that we're here?"

"Well…I kind of knocked out the guards earlier." Alex shrugged. "I thought it would be a good idea. And you know that merchant from earlier? He was one of the guards I clonked over the head."

"YOU WHAT?" Niklason leaped up, completely blowing his cover. Of course, no one was around to see him.

"Hey, now we can just go through the front door." Alex grinned.

Carylesti slapped her forehead. "Have you been away from NightKnife for so long that you've become a complete idiot? What do you think they're going to do when they find two of their guards unconscious?"

"Uh…Figure out that someone is trying to sneak into their guild?"

"YES! DON'T BE A MORON NEXT TIME AND DO THIS!" Carylesti bellowed at the rogue in her loudest voice and turned to the others. "Let's get out of here before they catch us! Thanks to Captain Stupidity here, we just blew a perfect chance." She dashed back towards Payon, muttering angrily. Niklason poked the rogue in the stomach roughly before running off as well.

"Hey, it's not my fault." Alex grumbled as he followed the rest of the party.

After a couple of days, they decided to try it again, only to find out that the number of guards had tripled. Carylesti sighed and glared at Alex. "Great. Now how are we going to get in?"

"Don't worry! Look, I've got a plan. Just trust me." Alex smiled roguishly at the rest of them and walked out of the hiding spot. In his hands he held a full bottle Payon spirits. Carylesti and the others watched them through the bushes and saw him walk straight up to the guards.

"That moron…" Niklason was about to go out there and give the rogue a piece of his mind, but Carylesti restrained him. He quieted down and they all watched as Alex offered the bottle to the guards. Then they watched as Alex was chased off, arrows and daggers flying behind him.

"Geez! Offer a drink and they try to take your head off!" Alex shouted back at the guards as they chased him. Carylesti heaved a sigh and Niklason shuddered, trying to stop himself from going into a berserk rage and punching the lights out of the rogue.

"Stupid guards." Alex leapt back into the hiding spot and grimaced. "Who could resist a pint of spirits?"

"Apparently, they could." Carylesti shot a dry look at Alex. "Got any other ideas before I stop trusting you?"

"Be quiet. I'm thinking." Alex frowned and thought long and hard. "I've got nothing."

"Um…I've got an idea." Elindasin raised his hand. "Alex, you know what the inside of the building looks like, right?"

"Well, yeah. I served here, remember?" Alex looked back at the priest.

"So…I can teleport you guys inside if you give me a good enough description of where you want to be sent." Elindasin shrugged. "Unless you don't want me to."

"Oh, of course we want to." Carylesti's eyes brightened. "This is perfect. Okay Alex. Get to explaining. Now."

"Sure." Alex smiled and made a small clearing on the ground. "Here's where we want to go. This room holds all of the records of the members of the guild. Now, it has around…three cabinets, all wooden, of course. They all have the same design and they lie against the north wall, like this, okay?" Alex drew a small picture of the room on the floor.

"Okay. What else?"

"Now, a long table sits in front of the cabinets. There are five chairs, positioned like so…" He drew in the table and chairs. "Is that enough information?"

"I hope so." Elindasin closed his eyes and clapped his hands together. He flipped them horizontally and spread them apart. A light-blue pillar appeared in his hands and a warp portal opened up behind him. "Now hurry up and go. I can't hold this forever, you know."

"Thanks Lindy." Carylesti patted her brother in the back before dragging Alex along with her. Sylvia jumped inside, clutching her broad axe with eager fingers. Niklason looked at Radella once and walked inside, the swordsman's various weapons hanging around his body. Radella looked up at the fairy, who nodded and they both went in. The priest closed his hands again, and the warp portal disappeared.

"Whew…Good luck." He lay on his back, watching the clouds move in the sky. "But then…With my sister and that rogue, luck is nonexistent with them."

"Find anything?" Carylesti called to Alex, who was busy rummaging through the cabinets. Niklason, Radella, and Sylvia were at the doors, listening for any footsteps.

"Nope. It's a good thing this room was empty." Alex grinned as he pushed aside a couple of papers.

"Yeah. Crazy, huh? Here we are, inside a criminal organization's head office, and the room we are in is completely empty." The huntress searched through a row of books lined up on one of the tables. "Hunh. Books on thievery, assassination, stealing, and con artistry. Everything a thief would need." She glared disgustedly at the books and searched through the papers that Alex had pushed away.

"Oh really?" Alex switched places with Carylesti and rummaged through the books. "Haven't seen this one before. 'The Rogue's Guide to Stealing.' I think I'll borrow this." The rogue stuffed the book into a pocket on the inside of his jacket.

"Geez…It's got to be around here somewhere." Niklason grumbled angrily, getting impatient at the wait. "How much do you want to bet that we are going to get caught?"

"We are not going to get caught." Alex reassured the swordsman and continued searching.

"And do you really think that NightKnife is stupid enough to keep a list of all their guild members out in the open?" Niklason tapped his foot on the ground.

"Found it!"

"That answers my question." The swordsman sighed.

"Where'd you get it?" Carylesti looked at Alex, who was holding a scroll in his hands.

"Oh, it was in this wooden box that had a seal on it. Wasn't too hard to open." Alex showed the others the box that he had found the scroll in. It looked plain enough, besides the rune inscribed on the lock.

"Alex? Do you know what you've done?" Carylesti looked calmly at the rogue, who looked at her apprehensively. Whenever she was calm, you knew you were in for a world of hurt.

"Um…I found the list?"

"Radella, please explain what the seal is."

"It's a signal seal that alerts the owner of the box that it was opened. As well as any of his subordinates."

"Exactly." Carylesti's eyes glinted. "So every assassin in Payon is coming here to kill us! You moron!" She smacked him upside the head. "If you weren't so valuable, I'd strange you!"

"Glad to see I'm needed. Whatever. Just as long as we got what we needed, right?" Alex grinned at her.

"It's nice to see you guys making up and all, but we've got trouble!" Niklason yelled back at the three, his ear at the door. "They're coming! Can your brother get us out of this?"

"No! He can only teleport us inside this place, not out!" Carylesti gripped her bow nervously. "Let's get out of here! I have no desire to die in a rat hole like this!"

"I agree!" Alex drew a small crossbow from his back. "Everyone! Let's go!"

The moment he said that, both of the doors burst open, knocking Niklason and Sylvia off of their feet.

"Outta my way!" Alex fired a bolt at the first enemy that blocked the exit and he was rewarded by seeing it pierce the man's skull. He threw the useless crossbow away and drew his dagger. "Out here! Now!" He ran for exit, swinging his dagger with deadly accuracy, slicing the wrist of a merchant that was going to swing an axe at him.

"Right behind you!" Sylvia grinned and pushed through the opening that Alex created. She swung her axe in a wide, horizontal arc, causing some of the assassins to back away from her.

Carylesti strung an arrow on her bow and shot it at soldiers that were advancing from the other door. She quickly notched another one and fired. "I'll cover! Move it!"

"W-Wait! Go behind Sylvia." Radella pressed her hands together, making sure they were vertical, pointing up. She spread her hands apart and pointed at the entrance where more NightKnife guild members were entered. A wall of flame erupted there, singeing some of the assassin's clothes. "It's temporary…But it should work…"

The faerie, who was still perched atop Radella's head, made a few motions of her own, and suddenly the wall of fire grew even larger and actually caught one of the guild members in its flame, turning him into a living torch. Radella tried to shut the screams from her head and ran after Carylesti, shivering.

Niklason was the last one out, throwing books at the approaching assassins. "Boy, if I didn't have to protect my friends, I'd so be kicking your asses!" The swordsman flipped off the NightKnife soldiers, even though they couldn't see the gesture. "Lucky for you saps!" He dashed out of the room amid the cries of outrage from the NightKnife troops.

"Where should we go?" Niklason ran up to Alex, who was busy battling a merchant. Alex spotted an opening and used his stiletto to slit the merchant's throat.

"This way!" Alex pointed down a long, narrow hallway. "If my memory serves me right, this leads straight outside. Luckily for us, that spell that Radella cast is holding them back. She truly is a beautiful genius, huh?" The rogue winked at Niklason, who flushed angrily.

"You better not be thinking about becoming her boyfriend!"

"Ohh…" Alex grinned impishly. "You already claimed her, huh?"

Niklason flushed even more. "You shut your mouth or else I'm going to give you a black eye! No! Make that two black eyes!"

"Will you two shut up and go already?" Carylesti raced back, sweat beading her forehead. She smacked the both of them over their heads and dragged them behind her. "Geez, you guys can argue about anything…"

The huntress met up with Sylvia and Radella, who were busy fending off a pair of ambitious swordsmen who thought they would be able to defeat them. Radella launched a bolt of ice at one of the swordsmen, but her enemy dodged it. The mage snapped her fingers and the block of ice shattered into thousands of sharp slivers. A couple of these pierced the swordsman's skin and one lodged in his throat, killing him.

Sylvia swung her axe, connecting with her opponent's sword. The blacksmith pushed harder with her weapon, bringing its bladed edge closer to the swordsman's face. The swordsman's eyes widened as he heard the blade crack, and then he knew no more as Sylvia's axe crashed into his skull. The blacksmith disdainfully pulled her axe out of the swordsman's face and pushed the man against the wall. "What took you guys so long?"

"Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum here were arguing again. Morons." Carylesti glared angrily at Alex and Niklason. "We're trying not to get killed here? So it might be beneficial to our health to not lag behind!"

"I'm sorry." Alex winked at Carylesti.

"Hmph…Sorry…" Niklason looked at the ground.

"Good!" The huntress released the two and looked backwards. An arrow lodged in her arm and she bit back a curse. "They're back! Let's go!" The five comrades continued running for the exit, arrows falling dangerously close to their heads.

"I've got something to stall them!" Alex reached down in his pocket and pulled out a branch that looked burnt.

"…You're going to throw shrubbery at them?" Niklason yelled at Alex, outraged at what seemed to be a completely stupid maneuver.

Alex tilted to the side to dodge an arrow that flew past his hand. "Stole this from someone. I think it might help. I've seen people do it hundreds of times!" He crunched the branch in his hand, threw it to the floor, and stomped on it. "Now let's go before whatever happens, happens." The rogue continued his run, pushing Niklason forward.

Behind them, the branch glowed black, and gray smoke slowly drifted out of it. The smoke formed the figure of a demon, which immediately attacked the closest person to it.

Niklason looked over his shoulder and saw that there was suddenly a monster in the hall. "Shit, Alex! What the hell is that?"

"I don't want to know! I don't want to know!" Alex continued running, not looking back at the demon, which was fighting against the NightKnife assassins.

"What did you do?" Carylesti stopped and looked at the rogue, who blushed.

"Uh…Unleashed a demon?"

"…" Carylesti paused. "WHAT DID WE TELL YOU ABOUT DOING THINGS WITHOUT THINKING?"

"I…uh…forgot." Alex grinned weakly. "Whatever. We can worry about that later. Escaping would be a good choice right now."

"We'll discuss this later! And how long is this stupid corridor anyway?" Carylesti cursed again as a dagger flew past her ear. She spun around, her bow arm covered in blood from the arrow earlier. "Who's that?"

Two assassins dropped from the ceiling and advanced on the five of them.

"Aw crap! Why are you guys here? Now is not the time to try to kill me!" Alex looked pleadingly at the assassins, who exchanged glances.

"There is always time to crush incompetence!" Hitori charged at Alex, swinging his twin katars at Alex's neck. Ninoryn followed up by using her other dagger to slash at his legs.

"Hey, it's the two deserters! Get them!" The NightKnife assassins, having successfully killed the demon, spotted Hitori and Ninoryn. "You'll pay for leaving NightKnife."

Hitori and Ninoryn looked at each other and began running for the exit. Alex and the others looked confusingly at each other before following their example.

"I thought you guys worked with NightKnife!" Niklason yelled at Hitori as they were running.

"We had…some moral problems. So we left." Hitori shrugged and pointed at the assassins chasing them. "They weren't that happy. But we still want to kill Alex."

"Glad to see I'm so needed." Alex grumbled and glared at Hitori.

"Tch, you should just be glad that we're in this situation. We would have wiped you out instantly if it wasn't for them." Ninoryn cocked her head at the NightKnife soldiers chasing them.

"We're finally out!" Radella cheered as they finally reached the exit, and the seven of them tumbled outside, savoring the feeling of the sun on their faces.

"Now might be a good idea for a distraction so we can get out of here?" Alex looked hopefully at Elindasin, who had spotted them running out.

"Sorry, I don't have enough energy for anything else." The priest looked hopelessly at them.

"Uh…I might have something." Radella spoke up. "Technically, what I have in mind should work…"

"Give it a shot! Now is not the time to worry about problems." Carylesti clutched her arm dazedly, feeling faint from the loss of blood. Alex and Elindasin supported the huntress and she smiled weakly at them.

"Well…Okay." Radella nodded bravely and launched a series of ice bolts into the entrance, clogging it with ice. "And…" Next, balls of fire formed around her hand and flew at the chunks of ice, instantly evaporating it and causing the steam to fog up the area. "Is that good?"

"Perfect!" Alex grinned at Radella as he helped Elindasin carry Carylesti back towards Payon. Hitori and Ninoryn looked at each other again before following the rogue.

"Hey, where'd you learn that?" Niklason looked at Radella while they headed back.

"It was just something I thought up while I was studying. I'm just glad it works." Radella smiled.

"Heh…You're really good at this studying stuff." The swordsman grinned at Radella and they ran to join the others.

"Well…We made it. Now, we just have to hope they won't find us and assassinate us." Elindasin paced around the room they were hiding in. Carylesti was lying on a couch nearby, a bandage around her arm. Alex was sitting next to the huntress, idly whistling. Niklason was tapping his foot impatiently, looking out the window for any signs of NightKnife. Radella, as usual, had her face buried in another book. Ninoryn and Hitori were leaning against a wall.

"Hmph. Looking at your group, it's surprising that you guys aren't dead yet." Ninoryn ran an appraising eye over the five friends. "I can't believe we lost to you."

"Now, now, Ninoryn. Don't forget, it was only with the mage's help that we were able to escape." Hitori tried to placate Ninoryn.

"Yeah! And don't you forget it!" Niklason glared at the assassin. "Sheesh! Why'd you pick that time to ambush us?"

"Hey, it was convenient, okay? We were already there to get out things out. So, when we saw you guys, it seemed like as good a time as any." Hitori shrugged. "But enough of this. Since you guys rescued our hides, it seems only fair we don't kill you right now. So, adios, and we'll be back to finish our job."

"Yeah, and we'll do it right next time! Quickly and silently!" Ninoryn smirked at them, pressing her fingers against her daggers. The two assassins left the room and quickly disappeared in the crowd outside.

"Nice people. Glad to have them stalk us." Alex sighed as he leaned back on the couch. "Well, now that we got that list, what should be our next move? I don't think busting them all right away is smart. Plus, we're already wanted by them."

"Then what should we do? I suppose the great Alextrazos of Payon has a plan?" Niklason cocked an eye at the rogue, speaking in a mocking tone.

"Yes…As a matter of fact, I do." He beckoned to the others. They all walked up to him. "Now…This is what we'll do." He lowered his voice, speaking in a conspiratorial voice. "We…are going to disguise ourselves…And join NightKnife."

"…WHAT?"

Chris: Sorry for the long delay. Got distracted because of games, my other stories, and all that stuff. I'll try to speed up a bit. And I hope I didn't mess anything up with NightKnife. It's hard writing about a criminal guild.