Walking towards the hold, the group managed to keep the monsters at bay without having to use artes and items. It was relatively peaceful, but Tai couldn't help but think about what those knights called him. He slowly looked at the group and soon spoke up.

"Yo, guys? Can I ask a question?" the group turned to him, yet still walking, "Adecor and Boccos accused me of being a part of something called Leviathan's Claw. What exactly is Leviathan's Claw?"

"Leviathan's Claw is a guild from Dhangrest that specializes in weapons and used to in Hoplon Blastia merchantry," Estelle explained as she looked back at him, "The imperial knights have had problems with them in the past."

"Not to mention we have to," Yuri not looking at him but saying as he kept walking, "We've fought them multiple times, even their boss."

"But then, why did those knights think I was a part of them? I don't specialize in any of those two things," Tai pondered aloud, curious.

Raven chuckled nervously a bit and said, "Well, the grunts of the guild usually wore hoods, just like you do, that covered their faces. They probably saw your clothin' and automatically thought that you could be one of 'em."

Tai gave him an 'are you serious' face before, face-palming with his right hand and saying irritatedly, "Oh, of course. Because I'm automatically a part of this guild because of what I wear! ...Those knights are freaking stupid."

"Don't worry about 'em, 'kay?" the old man said, smiling and patting his shoulder, "If they com' around, and try to give you trouble, count on ol' Raven to stop 'em. I can talk them down from arrestin' ya. They listen to me for some odd reason."

At first, Tai had no absolute idea how the knights would listen to someone like the old man, but then he remembered; Estelle explained that he used to be General Schwann, and since those three were from the Schwann Brigade, of course they'd listen to them. He didn't notice the rolling of eyes the city man and his dog were doing behind their backs, though.

"Okay, I'm trusting you, Raven," he nodded, as he looked to Estelle and asked, "Since we're near the hold, Estelle, why'd you leave me behind?"

"Once again, we apologize, Tai," Estelle said, stopping for a second to bow then walking again, "but we had a knight come tell us that there were monsters near the hold attacking. Flynn had sent him from his brigade to us to ask for our help in fighting the monsters."

"Ohhh, okay," Tai said, nodding and understanding, "That's perfectly okay with me. Just, make sure I'm near you when you go running off, okay?"

With a bit of a smirk saying that, it caused the princess to giggle, catching Yuri's attention. Did she really like this kid? Not in a relationship way, but... she really was starting to like the teen being around. Nevertheless, his thinking was cut short as they reached the hold. But the odd thing was that a ton of guards have tripled and security looked tight.

"What's going on? There weren't this many knights over in Deidon hold when we left," Estelle said, her face seeming worried.

"I wonder if the monsters on the other side are tougher than Flynn and the knights originally thought," Yuri said with a serious face as he approached the entrance.

"Excuse me, sir, but entry past here is forbidden for the time being," the knight guarding the door said, putting his hand out politely to say he wasn't allowed.

"Look, a friend of mine is on the other side of the hold," Yuri replied, "I'd like to get over to him, so I need to go into the hold."

"Once again, I apologize, sir, but I'm afraid it's become too risky," the knights still refused, "The situation has become out of control; the monsters are trying to get into the hold, and thus we have to seal it off before they try to harm any innocent people. It's not too dangerous, but we can't be too careful."

"What about me?" Raven asked, walking up beside Yuri, "I'm Raven, Commandant Flynn's second-hand man. If he's in trouble, he'd be wantin' me to help him."

"Oh, Captain Raven! I'm terribly sorry... but even Flynn said NO ONE was allowed. Please forgive me, sir, but even I can't allow you to pass," the knight said bowing.

"Yeah, who'd want you to come in, old man?" Yuri said, degrading Raven as he made a glare at him.

But to be surprised by who spoke up, he looked at Tai when he said, "Hey, come on; that's uncalled for. Raven might have his down points, but I'm sure he's a good captain."

"Yeah, Yuri, that's right," Raven grinned, obviously enjoying the young man being taken back.

As Yuri tried to collect himself from suddenly being doubled-teamed, Estelle walked forward and bowed to the knight, saying, "Thank you very much for letting us know. I hope you have a good day. Come on, guys."

With that, the princess turned around and walked away. With the four males looking at each other for a brief second, they soon followed her far where the knight couldn't see them. As they stopped, they huddled in a group and began to talk.

"Well, that could've gone out better than it did," Yuri said, looking back at the hold.

"I'm so worried for Flynn. He's called us to come help him fight monsters, and we can't get through the hold," Estelle said, fidgeting her fingers in nervousness.

"Don't you find that at all strange?" Tai said, looking down while holding his chin.

The group turned to him as Estelle blinked in confusion, "Strange?"

"Think about it," Tai said, making a grumpy face and folding his arms, "He sends one of his knights to tell you guys to come help him finish off the monsters, yet the knights at the hold say he's preventing access to getting through."

Catching onto his drift, Yuri nodded and looked at him, "Yeah, you're right. It doesn't make sense how he wants us to help him clean up the monsters, yet blocks off the quickest way to get there."

"Maybe a chance of miscommunication perhaps?" Raven offered, shrugging.

"I don't know. Flynn's not the kind of person to confuse orders with different knights," Yuri shook his head and answered.

"You don't think someone is plotting something, do you?" Estelle asked, hoping that was not the case.

"I can't say for sure right now, but that's not important," Yuri answered her, looking back at the hold, "But right now, we need to get past the hold."

"But how are we going to get in? The knights won't even let Raven in," Estelle reminded, causing all to think.

"We could try to sneak in, or bust our way through the hold," Yuri said, turning back to them, "The five of us are strong enough."

"No, Yuri!" Estelle pouted and disgustingly looked at him, "I don't want to commit any crimes, and those knights are there to stop monsters from getting through."

"Plus, I already had a run-in with the knights already. I wanna clear my name; not add more assault and breaking and entering charges on top of what I'm falsely accused of," Tai grumbled, lowered his head a bit.

"All right, all right; I can take a hint," Yuri said, smirking a bit as he motioned the two to calm down, "This means we're gonna have to take the long way around."

"You mean there's another way through besides Deidon Hold?" Tai asked, shocking Yuri at how unknowing the kid was around the area.

"Yup, if we head west, there's this place called Quoi Woods," Raven said, nodding with a smile, "All we do is go strollin' through a lovely set of woods, and we're at our destination."

"Well, then, we better start moving," Yuri looked towards the west, with Repede giving an agreeing bark and the group starting to move, "To Quoi Woods."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Skit – Worried

Tai: (head moves down, the shadows covers his eyes, his mouth covered by his hoodie) Oh... man...

Raven: (head tilts to the right, eyes shorten, curious face) What's a matter, Tai? You're not lookin' like your usual cool-headed self.

Tai: (looks down to his lower right, sweatdrop, looks uncomfortable) I'm just really worried... I'm not proud of what went down back in Zaphias...

Raven: What even happened back there?

Tai: The knights got in my face, and I ended up losing my cool... I... hurt them and knocked them out. (closes eyes) I got their captain's attention and was forced to use my glove to get away. I feel so awful...

Raven: (head tilts to the right, smiling, closes eyes) Don't worry, Tai. I know what you're feelin' like. (opens eyes) Although you're not in the wrong, ya feel bad about what you did. It's not wrong to feel bad for bein' forced to stand up for yourself, but it can take a toll if standin' up for yourself goes against the knights.

Tai: (neutral face) Yeah... Raven... I really am counting on you to help me. Please don't let me down.

Raven: Don't ya go worryin' that cool head of yours. Ol' Raven's got your back, Tai.

Tai: (smiles) Thank you so much...

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Skit – Tai and Repede

Tai: (neutral face) So, Yuri, was it? Is this your partner?

Yuri: (neutral face) Yeah, his name's Repede.

Repede: (barking upwards, neutral face) Woof woof!

Tai: Oh, okay, cool. (looks to his right, uncaring face)

Estelle: (looks surprised) Huh, that's it? You don't wanna try to pet him?

Tai: Why would I wanna do that?

Repede: (looks to his left) Arwoo?

Raven: (head tilts to the right, eyes shorten, curious face) Aw, come on, don't tell us ya really aren't gonna try.

Tai: (neutral face) Why are all of you so interested in me petting Repede?

Yuri: He doesn't normally like it, but usually people who meet Repede try to pet him. (head tilts to the left, curious face) What, you're honestly not gonna try?

Tai: (looks straight up, carefree face) If he's not coming up to me and wanting to be petted, what's the point? Besides, I'm not interested. (neutral face) I'm gonna go over here and check the area out. (portrait moves off screen)

Yuri: Wow... Tai's the first person I've known who's never taken an interest in Repede.

Repede: Woof woof! (neutral face, portrait follows Tai off screen)

Raven: (head tilts to the right, smiling, all look surprised) Well, whaddya know? Seems the pooch has taken a likin' to Tai already.

Estelle: (looks down, sad) Ah! That's so not fair!

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Yeah, you're gone!"

Yuri just finished dealing a fatal strike to a wolf as he finished doing his arte, Cerberus Strike. He ran to the next available enemy and kept swinging thanks to learning all kinds of combo skills. Repede fought alongside him, using his sword that he held in his mouth. It seemed to Tai that no matter where Yuri fought, the dog was right by his side. But unknown to him, Yuri and Repede both kept a close eye on his fighting style. Watching how he moved and fought, he was very talented on how he timed his strikes and the kind of weapon he used, but he wondered why the kid wasn't using artes. Despite his skills, he looked like he had artes handy.

It soon came towards the end of battle when Tai got an idea. After Raven had killed a fungus enemy and jumped back, he stood side by side to the teen. Being wise in battle, the old man looked towards the smirking teen's face.

"Raven, let me knock the last one into the air," Tai said, obviously hinting on a team attack.

"Right-o!" the old man grinned, readying a bow.

With a swoosh past him, Tai sheathed his bat onto his back and rushed at the wolf that was left remaining. Estelle had finished and thus stood by Raven to see what the two were doing. It was around that time Yuri and his partner were also charging, but once they saw the teen closer, they stopped, curious on what he was doing without his weapon.

"Hey! Tai!" Yuri called out, a bit worried and confused.

But his breath excited for it, the boy in a flash swung his right fist, smashing it right into the wolf's face. As it flinched from the pain, Tai did a 360 degree spin to launch his left foot into its neck to knock it into the air, and then again with his right to send it flying into the air. As it was lauched up, Tai just stood up, put his hands in his pockets, and walked back. It was because Raven carefully aimed and fired his piercing arrow at the fiend, killing it as it struck it and sent it flying away.

"HOORAH!" Raven cheered loudly with a grin as Tai walked over and high-fived with him, "Nice launchin' the wolf there for ol' Raven."

"Hey, you did awesome with that aim, Raven the Great," Tai smirked, "We're just that good."

"You performed marvelously!" Estelle cheered happily, congratulating them, "That was such an amazing double attack!"

"And you began it without your weapon," Yuri caught their attention by saying interestedly while walking back with Repede to the group, "That's a pretty fancy set of footwork you got there."

"Hey, thanks, man," Tai said, smiling as he was given a nod in return.

"But I wonder why you did that instead of just use an arte; you do have them, right?" Yuri asked, raising in eyebrow in curiosity.

The sudden realization of the three listening remembered the promise of not speaking a word about it. The old man and the princess pretended to look curious as well so that it didn't have suspicion all about it. Realizing he decided to tell the truth as little as he could, his shrugging and blank face spelled it all.

"I don't really like using artes that much," he said, "I prefer fighting with my own skills and not having to use special powers for my victories."

"Heh, no objections here," Yuri said, smiling, "I think it's kind of cool for you to not use artes, but I can't wait to see when you finally do."

To save Tai anymore hassle, a clearing of the throat came from a certain man as he said, "Com' on, we can have special sharin' time later. We need to go through Quoi woods."

"Right," Yuri said, turning and leading the group there, "Hang on, Flynn. We're coming."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

And another chapter is posted! Will the group get to Flynn in time? Is Repede rather fond of Tai? How will the other various character act to the newcomers? Find out next time!