( watch?v=4wSKRiiZWUU Briefing )

Takuto wrestles control of the bridge while the gunfire is rampant behind him.

Ranpha.

Takuto, please. Call me Ambassador.

"Hah, alright, Ambassador"

A loading bar appears on my screen maxed out.

Alright, we're updating the mission details.

The 3D map of the nebula field appears with several danger zones.

The Vindictus is unable to fight back. It's your job to help us retreat. It's important we don't take heavy losses. Remember the ambassador Ranpha Franboise is on board.

Normad hacks the interface.

Normad what the-

Don't worry, I'm only borrowing the line. Now, where was I. Oh right. As a bomb I was designed to learn quickly the different targets on the battlefield and prioritize targets. Eonia has a fleet at his disposal. I am aware you are unaware of the different fleets and weapons he has at his disposal? Let me fix that.

A list of Battleships and fighter classes come up.

"Wow, thanks Normad!"

There is one problem, there is one fighter class that remains to be a secret. Be careful approaching it should he deploy them.

"How many?"

A squad, but don't underestimate them.

"Roger that, Normad!"

Hey, brigand Manny Caravera-

You are more rogue than I, at least I have a code of chivalry to abide by he hissed.

You're very feisty, now, aren't we? Very well.

Shut up both of you, one talking 'gentlemen is hard to put up with already'

"We can worry about later. Angel wing, engage!"

Yes, sir!

( watch/?v=O1848DY5GqU

Glacial Skies )

We move quickly in on The Ark. "Hold them off," Eonia beckons.

Lancer fighter craft warp in with a whoosh. "Evasive maneuvers!" We split into four.

The craft chase chase after us. Vindictus slowly lumbers through the orange clouds. "You won't be retreating so easily!" The Ark drew its cannon from the bow underneath and unloads a few shells into the VIndictus.

The structure of the ship is pounded and chewed through by hot pyro.

Any suggestions, m'am?

"Let me see...," I flip through the encyclopedia of information Normad gave.

Just as I was doing that, I was knocked about the ship by a soft boom.

The Lancer's are fast, don't let your guard down.

"Now you tell me.."

They're deadliest at close range.

The Vindictus approaches an asteroid field. The rocks floated in circles and swirling clouds of lightning crash into the empty space.

Dead end.

"Takuto!" Ranpha punches him, "Move faster."

The Ark fires unrelenting blows to the bow. A few lancers ignore us and whiz by us for the hull of the ship.

"Takuto.. This sounds crazy, but please trust me-"

Anything if you can shake these guys off our tail!

"Head for the asteroid field."

Are you nuts- BOOOM Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea, now that I think about it. They steer into the asteroid field. THUMP THUMP. CREEAAK. Argh!

"Geez, Takuto. Where did you learn how to steer?"

"Damage to the hull is trivial. The fire from the Ark's cannon is concerning"

A hangar opened from underneath the mammoth and frigates rolled out followed by shielded battleships.

Centurion classes. They'll steam right through you if you just stand there.

Lancers flew into the asteroid and erupted into sparks. Hah! Serves them right! Keep up the good work, guys! Ranpha punches someone over the radio and I can hear a brief ow.

"Roger, that!" More Shield battleships appear. I strafe to the right as a Lancer graze my wing. My heart rushes. It was like being in slow motion. The nose of the fighter comes at me while I grab the wheel and jerk away.

The Lancer was about to turn around when it went up in flames.

Killing a women when she is not prepared is a cowardly move.

"Gee, thanks, Fleu-" the signal came from Anise's fighter. Manny appears on the screen nodding. It's a pleasure fighting alongside the might Anise Azeat.

The wall of ships close in, while the beam from The Ark is charging. "We better move into the asteroid field. I pointed to the Vindictus as it swept through the dozens of rocks.

"How well can you two fly?"

I've been through worse. She accelerates and turns to fly vertically into the field.

Follow our lead. We will guide you to safety.

He casts a small wall of fire that incinerates the rocks on his sides. "Baron can you hold off the enemy?"

Roger that. I got this. He cranks his engines.

Whhrrr. Click.

The engines were now on his front pushing him in the opposite direction. Taking advantage of this, he fired away at the enemy.

"Good," I steer carefully into to the field and pitch right.

The blood rushes to my ear and I can hear the fuzzy voices of the bridge shouting.

Takuto, the breachers have been rounded up but there's still a few left. Urgh, we gound them! They're headed for the engines, don't let them-

BOOM

( watch?v=QlZvB-wFElI )

A trail of smoke followed behind the engine. "We no longer have breaches on board, sir. But the engines-"

"I understand. His face appears on screen standing next to Ranpha, "Mori, how is your squad doing?"

Baron blazes the trail behind us with rounds, then launches a missile that whistles into the stars. "We won't be able to last the night if we don't get help."

"Right. Who was supposed to reinforce us?

Ranpha's face hangs in disappointment, "They sent Sigurd."

"Dammit. At a time like this they sent a rival..and a coward."

"Takuto, don't give up. There's still a way."

"Don't mind when I intrude. But Anise has commanded me to- Ow, don't hit me! I'm willingly telling you that there is a secret route that will lead you out of the field."

"Really? Tell us right away?"

Your forces won't be able to show up, but Anise- ARGH, stop ripping the pages out of my spell book, woma- Argh.

Takuto sweats while Ranpha sighs, "Hurry up and tell us already."

"Anise takes over Your hopeless, so this route is used by Magic criminals all the time. There is a wormhole in this field that can only be accessed through black magic. They use this space to escape through or hide their treasures all the time!"

"Hey, thanks."

She doesn't say anything as if she wanted me to be blunt. "You know awfully a lot about this nebula, how come-"

"I'm a treasure hunter. It's my job to know where they hide their valuables."

With that, she yawls over the Vindictus with us following behind and takes us the opposite way, steering left.

"What- where are they going!?" Eonia shouts.

THUMP "Crew pursue them!"

"It would not be a wise choice my captain," a mysterious voice answers.

"Why is that?"

If our hunch is correct, they are headed to that place. We will meet them there soon enough on our own with your permission to act independently.

He scowls, "Fine, do it."

The radio communications shut off. That was odd. "Did you hear all that? Normad appears on my computer?"

"Yeah. What was that about?"

"There's no time to think about that, we've reached our destination. But if I were to guess.. It might have something to do with that squad I couldn't identify.."

At the center of the asteroid field there is a flat surface. On this flat surface are three mighty stones written in ancient Edenian, glowing a contrasting color of the nebula clouds.

Manny silently whispers a chant, "Peurta Abrir.."

The runes flicker and a portal shoots up above, swirling before breaking open a small wormhole.

I turn around to see Baron stop firing. His engine is hissing steam and the barrels cooling as much as it could.

"Hey, Mori," Ranpha stands beside the window watching me and the surroundings.

"Yes?"

"Nothing... I was going to say where the Magic soldiers were. But I'm glad they're not here."

"Yeah, I don't want to fight old friends."

"They're simple people. The Magicians. I can't imagine fighting them."

The communications shut off as we flew carefully into the worm hole. In front of us, was the Magic Fleet.

Their floating castles formed an odd seal around us. A blonde in cape appeared on the screen. "Hello," she spoke in a stretched and gentle voice, "Is Normad there~" Her soft eyes scanned the bridge and our frames.

"Kahlua, is that you?" Kazuya runs to the bridge with Nano-Nano.

"Kazuya! They didn't tell me you were here..," she sees Ranpha, "Ranpha, too?"

"Kahlua, what are you doing?"

She hangs her arms with a heavy feeling of guilt, "I'm the leader of the Magic Fleet. I'm supposed to surround you until reinforcements arrive.."

Reinforcements Anise pounds her fist on the dashboard. How did they find us?

Mercenaries. Only someone as lowly as myself could have known about this place.

Don't compare me to you, I know about this place, too.

( watch?v=4HGQS5XSoJ4 )

"Enough arguing," Ranpha orders. She walks up to the bridge and peers over to Kahlua's castle floating in the stars, "Kahlua. Do you really want to do this? We don't have to fight."

"But it's an order if they don't- they'll kill-"

"Kill who, Kahlua? All the leaders are fine."

"All except for..," she gasps, "Our Grand Wizard."

"She wasn't there..that's right."

I piece together connections, the leader wasn't present, much like Soldum. "RANPHA! RANPHA!"

Kahlua jumps back at my loud voice.

She eyes me with frustration, "What, Mori? You're scaring the girl."

"The council sold out their own leader in exchange for power, it's just what happened with Soldum! We have to-"

I hear the roar of engines nearby. "They're already here," Ranpha shouts to Kahlua, "Make your choice!"

"Shouldn't you try persuading her?" I kick my plane into the air with Fleur, Anise way ahead of us.

More shield class battleships. With battleship support. No sign of that unknown fighter unit. Hold out until we can find a breach in the blockade

A laser whizzes by me into space then turns around heading for me. "Dammit!" I pitch left turning at an angle. Alexander and the floating castles almost touch.

Castle, few yards-

Whooosh

I hear a crack as a tower comes crumbling down along with a soft boom.

Easy, avoid the walls! You could have hit Kahlua!

"Sorry," I look behind me at all the different castles built on floating piles of earth. They all looked the same, which one was her's?"

Kahlua's silence filled the radios, while my squad was yelling for orders.

Loading, Loading Baron unloaded his rounds into the ships passing through the castle. There was a soft pop sound as they hit the magic seals, consumed whole. On all angles and directions we were constrained in a small space with the fortresses watching us with their banners and lights.

A medium battleship lumbers toward Vindictus. "Baron!"

Working on it! he saws at the wings to dislodge the fighter's maneuverability, while Anise dodges and flies through a wall of Shields into the hangar. "Anise!"

We're too close to the wall! Too close, senor- Shut up! *THWACK* I have this, don't worry, just steer! Mori, can you take care of the rest of the squad? I'll rip the battleships from the inside out, deal with the fighters.

"Roger," I turn to the other fighters. Red Masque was holding up clumsy Lancer tailing right behind as he trails straight into the heaven above. Then maneuvering with his wings he steered and rolled out of their line of fire.

"The council," Ranpha contemplated, "They let this happen for a little power. I can't believe all the boring talking I did was for nothing."

"No, it wasn't," objected Normad, "There is still hope."

Kahlua.

"Hmm? Who was that?"

This is Normad. Ranpha's right, Kahlua.

She watches him speak sporadically as explosions fly across the bridge.

Please, listen. The people of Magic entrusted me with their future. There are some good people there and I want to protect them, as much as I can without putting them in danger, but I cannot. Not without reaching Shiva.

"Shiva.."

Trust me, Kahlua.

"I- I don't know if I can-" she hesitates.

Kahlua! Anise jumps on the line, You're a Galaxy Angel! Man up!

"Anise!" I shout. She looks at me as if to say, "What?"

"Make it quick," I told her. She nods.

The Galaxy is at risk, because of Lucious. Please, let us pass. Not as an order but.. A request from a friend. You are.. A friend, are you?

"Yes," she rubs a teardrop on her. Her face changes to a stern look form an older woman. "Yes, I am! Magic fleet lower the seal. Let them through!"

The barrier flashes then disappears.

Alright! Takuto cheers with Kazuya and the bridge as they set the Vindictus toward safety.

Anise glides leaving a trail of light behind her in the hangar of a battle ship in its final moment as it gave way to a crumbling boom.

The chaos allowed us to slip through undetected from the cloud into the safety of space. After a few hours did we start to talk normally.

"We're free!" I shouted. I turned back to the Magic banners of the floating castles, a rook chess piece. Funny choice. "Anise."

Yeah?

"You're always welcome to fly with us anytime. You don't have to be so shy."

Yeah.. Well I'm usually busy.

I roll my eyes. Actually.. If I have time.

"That sounds more like it."

Our moment was cut short when Anise's ship jerked forward.

Hey, what are you doing?

Touching as it is to see you bond, Anise. I am a bandit, now if you excuse

The exhaust from the canopy jet flew above. Manny with a barrier around him landed on the bridge and dissolved inside. Hey, what are you doing with Normad!? Let go!

He's got Normad!

Dammit, that sly dog!

Don't worry, Anise, we'll fix you up with another seat soon.

BEEP BEEP BEEP. My radar beeps violently, but there are no spikes detected within the area. "Alexander's acting weird."

"We don't see anything unusual, Mori. Maybe we should fix your system right now," Takuto wipes off the debris on the bridge and heads to the guards, "Have you found you the bandit?"

"Not yet." He shakes his head, "Well keep searching."

The beeping got louder and dots appeared heading south-west toward the center. "Hey, guys do you see it?"

I see nothing, madame perhaps it's an error?

This was just like last time in the beginning with Lisa. "Battle stations!"

What?

Whoosh

A squadron of fighters flew past us. We tried to make out their figures, but the rays of light reflecting off of them blinded us. When the light had cleared the ship was now caught in flames all over the hull.

"Takuto!"

The image was staticky, but I could hear his voice grunting, "We're fine.. What just happened?"

"I don't know, but-"

Barraging spears of lasers flew at my screen. As I clumsily maneuvered out of the way, I bumped into Anise.

"Urgh, Takuto can you identify what's attacking us?"

"I don't believe it..," he says. I scratch my head, "Believe what?" I insist for him to say something much easier to understand. "Wait, could it be that squadron Normad couldn't identify?"

"Emblem Frames."

( watch?v=SYyknN7iRos )

Emblem Frames could they be hell hounds? No they're dead..

Soldum talked about you Angels.

The lights cleared to show the wings and feathers of six Emblem Frames.

A girl's voice comes on the radio communicating to us from above.

It's.. it's the real deal. Real Emblem Frames.

This is the Macedona 66th. You can just call us The Horsemen of Lucious. I believe we've met before, during the Bishop Incident, yes?

Their Emblem frames ship-shaped. They shed their feathers down on us and descended at an angle. "Alexander..," I look at my console. "I won't fail this time."

So these cowards were behind that incident...

Give us some orders, I want to teach these guys a lesson, that all right?

Anise wrestles with her controls. "I'll be alright." John nears Anise's damaged Emblem frame and attaches these claws to the wings and drags to the hangar. "I'm counting on you, John."

She'll be fine. Worry about the battle.

Alexander scrolls text,

"Activate module and evasive maneuver tactics Y/N?"

I click Y.