Chapter Five

Hey everyone! Just so you all know, I still don't own any of the Star Ocean franchise except for a few OC's (Kokoro, Cierra, Phil), so there's no reason to sue me. Also, check out the stories Drifting Promise and Opposites Attract, cuz they both kick some serious ass! Anyway, on with the story...

Boredom was slowly setting in for Cliff, Nel, Kokoro, and Mirage. They slowly began to discover that Vendeen wasn't as close to Earth as they had thought. Cliff began to grow rather impatient.

"Are we there yet?" he asked.

"Nope," Mirage replied. Five minutes passed before Cliff spoke again.

"Are we there yet?" he asked.

"Not yet," Nel replied.

Cliff was slowly becoming more impatient, and so were the rest of the people on board. He kept asking if they were there yet, and each time, someone would tell him no. Finally, he asked a question that made Mirage snap.

"Are we there yet?" Cliff asked yet again.

"NO Cliff, we are NOT there yet! Now would you please stop being so annoying and find a way to entertain yourself?" Mirage shouted.

For once, the Gai-Mobile was dead silent. Moments later, however, Cliff began singing a rather unusual song.

"One million bottles of beer on the wall, one million bottles of beer, you take one down, pass it around, 999,999 bottles of beer on the wall! 999,999 bottles of beer on the wall, 999,999 bottles of beer, you take one down, pass it around, 999,998 bottles of beer on the wall! 999,998 bottles of beer on the wall, 999,998 bottles of beer..." he sang.

Everyone on board slowly began getting annoyed with this charade too.

"CLIFF! SHUT THE FUCK UP! No one needs a migraine at a time like this!" Kokoro screamed.

"Hey, chill out! I was just trying to lighten the mood a little bit!" Cliff retorted.

"Honestly Cliff, what in the world does Cierra see in you?" Mirage wondered.

Cliff said nothing.

"Aww, does my little Cliffy Wiffy like the cute girl back? That's so sweet!" Mirage teased.

"Cut it out Mirage, it's not funny," Cliff said.

"You like Cierra?" Kokoro wondered.

Before he could say anything, they stumbled across what happened to be a giant, floating cage. There were many tables inside. One of them had absolutely nothing on it, and a blue-haired boy was strapped to another.

"Ladies and Cliff, I think have found one of our hostages!" Nel hollered.

"Alright! Let's get our asses over there!" Kokoro said enthusiastically.

Nel switched the Gai-Mobile into turbo and drove to the cage as fast as she could. She parked the car right in front of the cage door and opened the door of the Gai-Mobile. She got a closer look at the boy on the table. It was Fayt alright, and she tried to open the cage door.

"Just push on it, it's unlocked," Fayt said in a weary voice.

Nel pushed on the door and beckoned for the others to come closer. Once Kokoro saw Fayt, she pushed Nel out of the way and ran toward him.

"Fayt!" she squealed as she kissed her boyfriend after what seemed like ages. "Oh my God, I'm so happy to see you! Are you alright?" she asked as she burst into tears of joy. Fayt, feeling equally as happy said,

"I'm fine Kokoro. I'm so happy to see you too! Thanks for coming to rescue me."

"No problem! It's the least I could do..." Kokoro went on.

As Fayt and Kokoro engaged in conversation, Cliff couldn't help but feel his eyes get watery.

"Cliff, are you crying?" Mirage asked.

"What? Oh! No, of course not!" Cliff said as he wiped his tears away.

"Sure..." Mirage said.

"What? I'm serious! Why in the world would I be crying? Fayt and Kokoro are just talking!" Cliff stammered.

"Aww...we know you miss Cierra, Cliff. It'll be okay," Mirage said jokingly.

Cliff and Mirage ended up getting into an argument. Meanwhile, Fayt and Kokoro were still talking when Kokoro asked,

"Hey Fayt, do you know where Cierra is?"

"Yeah. She..." he began to say but was cut off by the approach of a Vendeeni ship. It was the Starrlet, a subdivision of the PyroStarr II.

"Freeze, foolish humans!!" the Vendeeni soldier known as Phil said as he stepped into the cage.

"Who are you?" Cliff asked angrily.

"The name's Phineas Austin-Phinkelstein IV, but I'd prefer if you'd call me Phil," Phil said.

"So you're Biwig's apprentice?" Cliff asked.

"That is of no importance to you, Cliff Fittir. Anyway, I must kick the ass of any trespassers by orders of my master, Biwig," Phil stated.

"So you are his apprentice," Cliff said.

"Damn it, I screwed up again!" Phil shouted. "Hey, if you pay me 100,000 fol, I'll free the Leingod boy and show you where the hot chick's being held!" Phil offered.

"Her name's Cierra, Phineas, and show us where she is first," Cliff ordered.

"Hey, what about me?" Fayt asked.

"Right. Free Fayt too, before we pay you," Cliff said.

"Hmph. Very well then, I'll free the Leingod boy," Phil said.

Phil walked over to Fayt's table and undid the straps holding him down. Fayt sat up, in pain from the cramps in his arms and legs.

"There, happy now?" Phil asked.

"And Cierra? Where is she?" Cliff asked as a bell rang.

"Sorry kids, gotta go. Shift's over!" Phil said happily as he darted out of the cage and drove away in the Starrlet.

"Great. Our only hope of finding Cierra is gone. Now what are we gonna do?" Kokoro wondered sadly.

"Don't worry Kokoro, we'll find her somehow!" Fayt said as he took Kokoro in his arms.

"Hey, what's this?" Mirage asked. She pointed to a strange black device on one of the tables. It had many buttons on it.

"Looks like some sort of remote!" Fayt said.

"Wonder if it goes to the TV over there?" Nel wondered.

"Only one way to find out!" Mirage said.

She pushed the large red button in the center of the remote. Suddenly, the TV made a loud static noise that almost deafened the five of them. Moments later, images of a midget with a weird helmet and a tail singing his ABC's came on the screen.

"Ugh, it's Roger's World! Change the channel!" Nel screamed.

"Way ahead of you!" Mirage shouted as she began flipping through the channels. Nothing good seemed to be on.

"Wow. Vendeeni TV really sucks!" Fayt said.

"Yeah, tell me about it. We got Roger's world, The Young and the Remorseless, The Wizard of Styx, hey what's that? Mirage, go back to the show with the crazy guy on it!" Kokoro said.

"Roger," Mirage said. The channel Kokoro mentioned showed a Vendeeni soldier grilling a young girl with dark blonde hair and dark blue eyes. She was pinned up against a wall.

"Hey look, it's Cierra! Dear God, it looks like they've beaten her badly," Kokoro said.

"Where are the recipes for the Kelsey's Bar and Grill food?" the soldier asked firmly.

Cierra said nothing.

"ANSWER ME PATHETIC HUMAN!" he screamed as he hit Cierra. "Where are the recipes?"

Cierra still said nothing.

"Hey, isn't that the soldier we talked to on the phone?" Cliff asked.

"Dear Apris, it's Biwig himself!" Nel said in shock.

As they continued watching, they saw Biwig get very angry from Cierra's lack of response.

"FOOL!" Biwig screamed as he punched Cierra in the face really hard. Her nose began to trickle blood as he kept up with the questions.

"One last question, filthy human. Who is the ruler of all things in the Milky Way?"

Cierra continued not to answer. Her lack of response led her to getting punched in the face yet again.

"ANSWER ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU, YOU STUPID BITCH! WHO IS RULER OF ALL??" Biwig shouted.

"We..." Cierra began to say but was cut off by Biwig nearly choking her.

"WHO??" Biwig shouted.

"We...will come back...and kick your ass...one day. Then...you'll be sorry...you EVER...messed with me...or Fayt!!" Cierra said in a dignified, yet weary manner.

"Yes, there's Cliff Fittir. He is quite the tough guy. The big, brave superhero type of guy. And then there's Fayt Leingod, and Kokoro Scionheart and the rest of those damn fools you call friends. Too bad you're not getting away with your response bitch!"

Biwig called in an assistant of his. The assistant walked into the room holding a cat o' nine tails. This was no ordinary one either. It had sharp pieces of glass embedded into its ends.

"Now, pathetic human. I'm in a good mood tonight, so I'll play nice. Normally, I take advantage of the females who don't tell me what I want to hear, but it looks like you've been through enough already," Biwig said slyly.

"Yeah, no thanks...to you!" Cierra muttered.

"WHAT WAS THAT??" Biwig shouted.

"You heard...what I said. You kidnap me...and one of my...best friends...and for what? To carry out...a stupid plan of yours? I would take all the pain...and the bloodshed...to see you take your plan...to your grave...any day...you filthy Vendeeni asshole!" Cierra said in the same dignified, weary tone.

"Heh, I wish it was that simple too, pathetic human, but you don't understand. I'll take your franchise, and yours and Fayt's powers, whether you do it willingly or not. And for putting me down, your punishment will be doubled. Keilon, give the girl fifty lashes instead of the usual twenty," Biwig commanded.

"Hey, no fair! That's an extra ten lashes!" Fayt pointed out. Cliff looked as though he was ready to kill someone.

The soldier called Keilon took off Cierra's shirt.

"What the hell?" Cierra shouted as she slapped Keilon's hand out of the way.

"Ten more lashes! And remember to remove her bra too," Biwig instructed.

Cierra tried to escape, but Keilon did as he was told, and the security guards tried to hold her in place. Cierra struggled to escape, but the hold of the soldiers was too strong. All Fayt, Kokoro, Cliff, Nel, and Mirage could do was sit back and watch Cierra endure the sixty lashes she was sentenced to, each and every one of them. Cierra could feel a strange, burning sensation within her, almost as if she was about to explode at any minute. Her head pounded furiously and silent tears flowed out of her eyes. When the beating was over, Cierra was given her clothes and was literally kicked out of the blood spattered room. Two other soldiers took her and locked her up in a cell next door.

Mirage turned off the TV. She and the rest of the gang exchanged dumbfounded glances.

"DAMN VENDEENI!!! WHY DO THEY ALL HAVE TO BE SUCH ASSHOLES?!? CIERRA NEVER DID ANYTHING WRONG EITHER!!!" Kokoro screamed.

Cliff was too angry to even say a word, but you could tell he was hurt on the inside despite the heat shimmering around him.

"This is all my fault. If it wasn't for me, the Vendeeni wouldn't have kidnapped me and Cierra. You wouldn't have had to go through all the trouble of finding me, and Cierra wouldn't have to suffer like this!" Fayt shouted.

"Fayt, this is not your fault! That car crashed into you. As for the Vendeeni, they've been after you since we began shooting Star Ocean. They're just assholes who like torturing people." Cliff said.

"Yeah, but..." Fayt tried to say but was interrupted by Cliff.

"But nothing. Now if you beat yourself up over this, I swear I'm gonna smack you one myself! Now, where was Cierra this whole time? We gotta find her! Who knows what'll happen to her if we waste any more time sitting around? Cliff said.

"I...I think she was taken aboard this weird ship. It was orange with three fins and a bumper sticker that says, 'We do not break for human scum'," Fayt informed.

Yeah, that would be the PyroStarr II," Nel said.

"Okay, we know where she is. Now let's go!" Mirage said.

Before they made their way out of the cage, Kokoro saw yet another Vendeeni ship slowly come toward the cage.

"Damn! Not another one!" Fayt said in an angry tone.

Hehehehe...cliffhanger! (No pun intended) Find out more in Chapter Six!