Presea stared at the card in Raine's hand, wondering where Sheena had been taken. She could have been taken somewhere in Iselia…maybe there was another underground base there.

"What happened with Sheena?" Colette asked, a clear look of concern showing on her face.

"Sheena was…declared dead by Mizuho's information network," Raine said. "And…Genis was…" she paused, and let the tears fall down her face. Lloyd wrapped his arm around Raine's shoulders, and handed her the handkerchief from before. Raine dabbed her eyes, and continued. "Genis was killed." she said, trying to stay tough.

Presea went on to explain the rest of the long story to Colette. After she was finished, a look of sorrow filled Colette's usually perky face.

"Ah, cheer up, Colette," Zelos said, copying Lloyd by putting his arm around her shoulder. "We're gonna avenge their deaths, and kick the shit out of this Dessara guy!" Zelos smiled, but everyone else just nodded in agreement.

"Well," Lloyd said, standing up from his chair. "What should we do now? I think I need to train a little bit…"

"I will also train," Regal said.

"How bout you, Professor?" Lloyd asked.

"Let's go shopping!" Colette said, now cheerful. Zelos jumped out of his chair.

"Can I come?" Zelos said, his face lighting up with excitement.

"Sure!" Colette said with a smile. She turned to Presea. "Do you want to come, Presea?" she said. "It'd be fun if you did!" Presea shook her head.

"I need to train a little with my new axe," she said. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Colette said. "Another time. Ok! Let's go!" Colette walked out the door, followed closely by Zelos, and then Raine.

"Well," Lloyd said. "Should we start training now?" Everyone nodded, and the two boys and Presea walked out the door and into the Iselia forest. They found a large clearing, and Lloyd drew his twin swords. Regal stepped up, ready for battle with his feet. Presea drew her new axe, and dusted a small dab of dirt from the blade.

"I'm going to practice some new moves," Lloyd said. "Do you two want to fight against each other?"

"I agree to that," Regal said calmly. Presea nodded in agreement. She was excited. Back on the Journey of Regeneration, she had always envied the way that Regal fought. To her, he was the best fighter. Presea gripped the handle of the axe harder, and grabbed onto it with her left hand. She knew how she would begin this battle.

Before Regal knew what was happening, Presea lunged forward towards him. She gripped the axe tightly, and prepared to make the first move.

"Beast!" she yelled, as a blue lions head emitted from the axe, knocking Regal to the ground. Before he could get up, Presea ran over to him and pointed the axe's blade in his face. Regal smiled, and used his right leg to trip her. Presea fell to the ground, and watched as Regal flipped upwards and stood once again. Presea rose from the ground, and picked up her axe. She charged towards Regal, sweat dripping down her forehead. Regal remained calm, and as she approached he jumped into the air. Presea stayed where she was standing as Regal landed on her, and jumped off, giving her an opportunity to stand.

Presea stood up, and watched the blood drip from her arm. She now had a nasty scratch. Presea started to run towards Regal, pointing the blade of the axe at his face. It was her turn to attack now. She raised the blade over her head, and swung down hard. Regal dodged out of the way just in time, but the blade did manage to have impact with Regal's well toned arm. A small cut formed, and blood appeared on the spot. Regal noticed, but didn't do anything about it. He stopped moving, and Presea thought about taking advantage of his stillness and have no mercy…but she decided against it. She stayed standing at the same spot, trying to stop the bleeding. Regal, she noticed, had done nothing about his wound, the only wound that Presea could bring herself to give Regal. Finally, after what felt like forever, Regal shifted slightly and spoke.

"Presea," he said softly. "I must resign from this fight." With those words, he began to leave the clearing.

"What?" Presea called after him. "What are you doing?" Regal didn't reply, instead he walked out of the clearing. Secretly though, Presea was glad that he had resigned. For one, he was beating the crap out of her. And secondly, for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to hurt him.

Am I losing my touch? Presea wondered. Have I been out of it for so long that I've lost my fighting touch?

"Presea," the calming voice of Lloyd shot through her thoughts like a bullet. "Since Regal left, do you want to fight against me?"

"Yes," Presea replied. This will be my chance to see if I really did lose my touch. She picked up her axe from the ground as Lloyd drew his twin swords that weren't so much twins. Presea remembered him killing many creatures with the fire and water swords on the journey to destroy the Ex-spheres. Lloyd raised his swords, and lunged for Presea.

"Sonic thrust!" Lloyd yelled, thrusting his sword quickly at Presea. Presea managed to predict the move, having seen it in action millions of times, but she had been a bit too slow and the blade had nicked her stomach. A little blood was dripping, but nothing was too serious.

Lloyd suddenly disappeared. Presea glanced around everywhere, but still couldn't find him. Finally, she heard a Phwick! and saw Lloyd in the sky, preparing to do his Rising Falcon attack. Presea quickly dodged as Lloyd crashed down onto the earth, stunned his attack missed. He never missed! Presea smiled and ran towards Lloyd, pointing the blade of her axe at his face. As she drew nearer, Lloyd raised his hand up.

"Presea, stop." he said. "It's almost sunset. We should go back to my house to see what's happening. Everyone else is probably back." Lloyd started up the path, and Presea followed close behind, dragging her axe alongside her. After a few minutes of silent walking, Presea and Lloyd arrived outside of Lloyd's house. A dim light lit the upstairs window, and shadows danced around inside.

"Let's go in," Lloyd said, opening the door. "I'm home Dad," Lloyd said as he passed Dirk.

"Hello, Lloyd," the dwarf said. "Hello Presea," Presea nodded in response and followed Lloyd up the stairs to the second floor. As she entered the room, Presea watched as Zelos paced around the room, a look of concern on his face.

"Lloyd!" he said excitedly when they entered the room. "Presea! I need your help! Colette was captured by a Wyvern, and taken to their lair! We have to save her! Regal already went, but I doubt he can do too much about it since he fights with his feet…"

"We've got to save her!" Lloyd shouted. "C'mon, lets go!" Lloyd ran down the stairs, and was followed by Zelos and Presea. The group shot out the door, and removed the Rheiards from the Wing Packs and mounted. "Where did you go shopping, Zelos?" Lloyd asked.

"Well, we shopped in Altamira, but Colette got kidnapped on the way back here. The lair is close to the Ossa Trail." Lloyd nodded, and took off towards the Ossa Trail. As they neared the trail, the sun began to disappear behind the horizon. Zelos pointed a small cave high up in the cliffs, and Presea saw a faint outline of two Rheiards. Presea navigated her Rheiard over to where the two other figures were.

"Hello, Presea," Raine said.

"Hello, Raine," Presea replied, squinting to see into the cave. Inside, she could barely see the figures of ten or twelve Wyverns. "Are we going inside?" Presea asked.

"Yeah, lets go inside!" Lloyd said. "Colette, here we come!" The group slowly moved towards the cave, looking down at the path they had first met Sheena on, the Ossa Trail. "Sheena…" murmured Lloyd from beside Presea. "Where are you? Are you really dead?" Presea was wondering the same thing as they came to the edge of the cliff, the cave entrance. Presea dismounted her Rheiard, and stood still while everyone else followed suit. When everyone was standing outside the cave, Lloyd spoke.

"Ok, what's the plan?" he asked. The question floated around, but no one responded. "Okay…how bout we go in there, and just kill them all and get Colette back!"

"We need to be more strategic than that," Regal, who had not spoken to Presea since earlier, said.

"I agree," Raine and Presea said simultaneously.

"Sounds good to me," Zelos said.

"All right, fine." Lloyd said. "Uh…how bout we everyone like attacks a different Wyvern or something…"

"Someone will need to keep watch from out here," Raine said. "Just in case the one that has Colette decides to fly away."

"I will." Regal said.

"Let's go inside," Lloyd said. He drew his swords, and ran off inside. He was followed by Zelos, Raine, and finally Presea. Before she entered the cave, she shot a glance back at Regal. He seemed troubled by something that she couldn't place by his expression by just looking at his face. She turned away, and stepped inside. She picked up her axe, and targeted a Wyvern.

"There's too many!" Lloyd said, as a new flock of the Wyvern emerged from deeper in the cave. One of them held Colette in it's talons.

"Lloyd!" Colette cried. "Zelos! Help me!"

"Dammit!" Lloyd yelled, hacking away at another dragon like creature. "We have to help her! There are just too many of these damn things!" Presea swung again with her axe, killing her first Wyvern, and moved to another.

"Beast!" she cried, just as it began to shoot a ray of fire at her. The Wyvern fell to the ground, dead. A new enemy appeared, just as Presea wiped the blue blood from the blade of her axe. "Damn, this is crazy." she said under her breath. "How many of these things are there?" as the words escaped her lips, there was a quick breeze right beside Presea's ear. She whipped around to see an arrow protruding from a Wyvern. Quickly, four more dragons dropped dead, each with arrows sticking out of there bodies.

"Need some help?" said an unknown voice. Standing in the entrance of the cave was a young girl. She looked to be about Lloyd's age, maybe a little bit older than that. Her brown hair fell down to her shoulders, curving upwards at the ends in a wind-blown look, and blue-gray eyes glimmered as she readied a huge crossbow, pulling down on the trigger to let a bolt fly right through the eyes of a nearby wyvern. Smoothly reloading, she fired off another shot. She wore a dark grey corset that showed her bare, flat midriff and pale shoulders and arm warmers, black with white lace. Her black pants were littered with three white belts that curved sideways, sporting an assortment of knives and crossbow bolts. When she was finished loading the arrows, she pulled the trigger on the crossbow, sending another bolt speeding at the heart of the Wyvern. As soon as the first bolt had left, the girl had shot another bolt with God-speed. She continued this, a methodical dance of aiming, shooting, and reloading, dodging from the flailing claws of dying and wounded wyverns. Too soon, with the help of this new fighter, the group carried on until all the Wyverns were dead except for one: the one holding Colette.

"I don't wanna hurt the girl," the stranger said, keeping the crossbow trained on the beast, not moving. Her voice was deep, for a woman.

"I'll handle this," Lloyd said. He gripped his swords tightly, and jumped into the air. "Psi Tempest!" he roared as he moved in a front flip going higher into the air until he hit the Wyvern, killing it after a few slashes. Lloyd landed on his feet, and caught Colette in his arms as he fell.

"Colette!" Zelos cried, running over to Lloyd. "Are you okay?" Lloyd handed Colette to Zelos as she stirred and her eyes fluttered open.

"Zelos?" she said in a low voice. "Did you rescue me?" Zelos turned to Lloyd, who nodded. A smile formed on Presea's face. She understood what Lloyd had done. "Thank you, Zelos." Colette said, and closed her eyes, slipping into unconsciousness.

Now, the group turned their attention to the stranger. "Who are you?" Lloyd asked. The girl shrugged, and put her crossbow away on one of her belts.

"I'm Krystal," she said. "Who are you guys, and how the hell did your friend get kidnapped by a Wyvern? Those things are weaklings."

"Yeah…" Lloyd said, his face turning the color of Zelos's hair. "But there were just so many…

A smile formed on Krystal's face. "You need to work on your fighting skills," she said, still smiling. "C'mon, I'll explain everything, but we need to go somewhere else. We can start a fire or something." Krystal left the cave, closely followed by Presea. "Who are you?" Krystal asked Presea, allowing Presea to stand beside her.

"I'm Presea," she replied. "Did Regal let you in, or did you sneak past him?"

"You mean the blue haired guy?" Krystal asked. Presea nodded. "He didn't seem to care when I walked past him. I told him I was here to help, and he just nodded and let me in." What's wrong with him? Presea wondered. They stopped in the clearing that was also the entrance to the Ossa Trail, and Lloyd began making a fire. When he finished and a roaring fire heated the area, everyone sat in a circle around it, Krystal on Presea's left and Regal on her right.

"Okay, Krystal," Lloyd said.

"Call me Krys," Krystal replied.

"Okay…Krys," Lloyd said. "Why did you save us?"

"All right. It's a long story. You guys sure you wanna hear it?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, so a lot of shit has been happening to me lately, and so now its become a habit of mine to climb to the peak of the Ossa Trail at night and look at the stars. It calms me down, makes me forget everything weird, or bad that's happening for the moment. So tonight I was climbing up the trail, and I saw a human shadow reflected off the Wyvern cave because of the sunset, so I came up to check it out. Then I heard you guys saying that there were too many Wyvern to kill, and so I quickly ran back, got my crossbow from where I watch the stars, and helped you."

"Where do you live?" Presea asked. "You must live close to here since you come every night and you don't have a Rheiard."

"You know about Rheiards?" Krys asked, ignoring Presea's other question.

"Yes," Lloyd said. "How come you ask?"

"Well, because I'm the leader of the Renegades, and I thought that only Renegades knew about them."

Everything went dead silent.

"Leader? Of the Renegades?" Zelos said, his eyes almost popping out of his sockets.

"What happened to Yuan?" Presea asked.

"Yuan quit a few years ago, supposedly to go on some kind of journey to find something. So, a new Renegade leader and new Seraphim was needed, and they hired this one guy…let's say it didn't work out. When he died about four months ago, they hired me. For what reason, I have no clue. They say that Yuan had specific orders for me to be found and instantly replace him as Seraphim, but that note wasn't found until a few months ago."

"But wasn't the Renegades only objective to destroy Cruxis?" Raine asked.

"Originally, yes. And when Cruxis was destroyed, Yuan decided for them to stick around, to monitor the happenings in the combined world. You know, kind of like guardians of Symphonia."

"Wow," Lloyd said. "You know a lot about everything that happened six years ago."

"It pays to be a wanderer," Krystal said. "You hear a lot of stuff. Most of it's stupid, but sometimes you hear some interesting stuff."

"You're a wanderer?" Lloyd said, surprised at what he was hearing.

"Yes," Krystal said, a look of sadness on her face. "I never knew my parents. Both of them were killed after I was born. I spent my life in the House of Salvation under the guidance of a priest until I turned seventeen. That's when I started to wander. And I found this thing." She held up her hand, revealing an Ex-sphere unlike any Ex-sphere Presea had ever seen. It was like all the others, except something that looked like a flame moved around inside it. "It's called the Fire-sphere. It has the Summon Spirit Efreet sealed inside it." She sighed. "And man, don't think it wasn't easy. He was already bound to some chick so I had to beat him up a little before he let me make a pact with him."

"You're a summoner?" Raine asked, looking up. This also seemed to interest Regal.

"Yes," Krystal replied.

"So you have elven blood in you." Krystal nodded.

"I'm a half-elf." she said. "Er..!" She shifted uncomfortably. "If that's a problem with all of you..."

"Don't worry," Lloyd said. "Professor Sage is a half-elf. So is her brother." Raine shot a look at Lloyd that said millions of things. Lloyd lowered his voice, leaning over to whisper in Krys's ear."Sorry, don't talk about her brother. He's dead, and her other brother…well... he's dead too, but he wasn't the nicest guy in existance," (Read Dragonwings144's Runaway to fully understand what Lloyd is saying.)"

"Oh. Good. All right, now you guys have to tell me how your friend got captured."

"We were shopping," Zelos explained.

Krys gave him a look. "Are you serious?"

"And flying back home," Zelos continued, ignoring her. "We ran into a monster…a Wyvern, to be specific, and I was low on magic, so was Raine, and my sword was cracked, and we were careless and pretty soon the Wyvern was flying away, with Colette with him!"

"Oh, I see. Hey, we're close to Triet, how bout we stay there for the night?"

"I am fine with that idea," Regal said.

"Yeah, me too." Lloyd said. Everyone agreed, so Lloyd extinguished the fire and Presea followed Krystal out of the trail and to Triet. The desert town was empty, since it was after dark. As they entered the town, from the corner of her eyes, Presea saw a shadowed figure moving towards the abandoned house that Colette had fallen into back at the beginning of the World Regeneration journey. Presea watched the figure move into the house, and disappeared. Presea broke into a run, wondering if this was one of Dessara's workers going to the base. She stepped inside, out of breath, but the room was empty. Had that guard even been real? Had it been an illusion of the night? Presea assumed she would never know, until something on the wall caught her attention. It seemed to be a picture, but Presea noticed it was slightly askew. She walked over to it, and lifted it up off the hook. She discovered behind it a switch. She flipped the switch, and the sand started to move, revealing a staircase of stainless steal.

"Presea!" Krys and Regal said simultaneously as they ran into the room.

"Tell everyone to come in here," Presea instructed. Krys turned around and yelled for everyone to come to the house. Once everyone was gathered, Presea told the news, a humongous grin on her face.

"Guys, I found the entrance to the base."

The group walked out of the house, and towards the inn. Presea decided she would wait until they were in the room to tell the story to Krys, if they decided they could trust her and that she would help them. The group paid for the room, and trudged up the stairs. Before Presea even took off her boots, Lloyd had already plopped down onto the bed and placed his arms behind his head. Colette, who was still unconscious, was placed on the other bed, of which Zelos sat on the edge, watching his little angel sleep.

"Okay, what base did you find, Presea?" Krys asked. Presea glanced around, her face asking everyone if they should trust her. Everyone nodded. Presea went on to the explain the story of death, destruction, and horror. When Presea finished the story with them meeting Krys and finding the entrance to the base, Krys was awestruck. "Wow. That's amazing. I've been getting reports about missing villages, and the destruction of Meltokio, but I never expected it to be so…wow. Who do you think they're looking for?"

"We are not sure yet," Regal replied.

"I know this sounds a little selfish, but can I tag along with you guys? I wanna be a part of this…I think I can help with my crossbow."

"I have no objections of her coming," Raine said.

"Nor do I," Regal said.

"I don't," Lloyd agreed.

"Yeah! Let's have Krystal come! She's a cutie!" Zelos squealed.

"It would be wonderful if she came," Presea said, speaking last.

"Awesome! Now I can teach Lloyd how to tell the difference between strong enemies and weak ones." Krys winked at Lloyd. She yawned, and spoke again. "Well, I'm going to bed. G'night." she laid her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. Pretty soon, everyone was hitting the hay. The only two people left awake were Regal and Presea.

"Presea," Regal said. She looked up at him, at his eyes that showed a look of concern. "Will you come outside for a second?"

"Sure," she replied, rising from the ground. She walked out the door, and down the stairs, following Regal. Presea followed him out the door, and into the town. It was cool, and Presea shivered in her nightgown.

"Presea, something has been distracting me all day. When we fought earlier…did I hurt you? You didn't seem to attack very often. Are you hurt? I can heal you if you are." Presea smiled, hoping Regal didn't see. So that's what he's been worrying about all day.

"No, I'm fine. I went easy because I'm tired. Everything has been happening really fast, and it's wearing me out. I'm sorry if I worried you, Regal."

"It is nothing," Regal said, crossing his arms across his chest. "Presea, I think it would be good for the both of us if we do not fight each other anymore. I do not want to relive the horrors of Alicia from all those years ago. I still am regretting that."

"Don't worry about that, Regal." Presea said, walking closer to him. "It's over. She forgave you. Please, forget about that."

"Yes, you are right. I should get over that. Thank you, Presea. Good night." With that, he walked back inside the inn. Presea stayed outside for a moment, wondering why he so suddenly seemed concerned about her safety. Back before, when they had trained, Regal had been merciless on her. Then again, she had also been merciless on him…

Presea decided to drive the thoughts from her head and get some sleep. It was getting late. Presea walked back inside the inn, and laid down on the mat set for her to sleep. She closed her eyes, and within seconds she was asleep.

Outside in the hallway, a man cloaked in shadows tore away from his hiding place. He had almost been seen by the blue haired one. The girl had been looking at the floor, and didn't see him. The blue haired one on the other hand had heard him cough, but he must've assumed it was from his room. He needed to report back to the base. This group was figuring out too much, too quickly. And the arrival of Krystal was unexpected. The capture of the pink haired one could wait. Those orders hadn't even been from the master. Stupid Nobuhiro…thinks he can boss me around. The master would like this news, though. The stranger smiled, and left his hiding spot to return to the base with the news.

As morning dawned, Presea opened her eyes to sunlight and the rest of the group. Everyone was up already, and Colette had even woke up. Presea hoped that someone else had already filled her in on the events.

"Presea, you are awake." Regal said with a smile. "Now that everyone is awake, I have some news." Presea sat up, adrenaline rushing through her body. What could he have to tell us? "Everyone, we are being spied on."

A/N: This is the longest chapter that I've ever written EVER for a fanfic. And I wrote most of it in one day. Krystal is based off a good friend of mine, and she loves the character, which makes me happy that I'm writing a good story for once. Andddd yeah. That's about it. Please review. I appreciate those things. Till the next chapter.