Inside the inn's room, Flynn and his companions weren't looking so happy. Yuri was the first one in, dripping water into the room as he couldn't help but poke, "You're looking chipper as always, Flynn."

"I've got a lot on my mind, Yuri," Flynn wasn't even looking to his friend, "Not that you'd know what that's like. Manage to go out and get your bounty raised even higher?"

Yuri knew Flynn snapping at him was just Flynn venting his frustration. "I thought you went to the magistrate's place."

"I went," Flynn pulled out a parchment with an imperial seal stamped on it, "Along with a search warrant from the blastia research lab."

Deesh quickly surmised, "And that still did nothing for you? Shocking…"

Flynn hesitantly admitted, "Yes… The magistrate refused us entry."

"Why?!" Karol received a swift smack from Rita to stop him from yelling anymore.

Witcher told them, "He even tried to provoke us. 'If you really think I have blastia, try to bust your way in,' he said."

Sodia was clenching her fist, trying hard not to react despite her anger, "He knows we don't have the jurisdiction to do that—he's just making a mockery of us!"

"Well, isn't he right?"

Sodia was ready to attack Yuri, "What did you say?!" stopping only because Flynn made her.

Karol agreed with Sodia, "Yuri, whose side are you on?"

"It's not a matter of whose side I'm on," Yuri turned to Flynn giving him that distinct look, "If you think you're right, you should force your way inside."

Flynn glanced away, "No, it's a trap. If we go in now, he'll hide the evidence and feign innocence. Ragou wants the Imperial Guard to make a mistake so he can use it as an excuse to increase the authority of the Council. "

This was news to Estelle, "Is Magistrate Ragou also a part of the Council?"

Sodia nodded, "Yes…" This was hard on Estelle to believe, "The Imperial Knights and the Council are both essential organizations that support the empire. And yet…Ragou seems to have forgotten this fact."

Deesh has dealt with infiltrations stacked far worse than this. "In essence, he is very high amongst your nobles. And because of this your balancing act of power could tip if handled incorrectly. You knights must have backup plans ready for when your initial plan failed."

Flynn fell silent as Aile seemed uncertain now, "Nothing? Surely there's an alternative we can pursue. Some contingencies or loophole to exploit?"

Aile and Deesh's words kindled something with Witcher, "…If there were some sort of disturbance inside the palace, the Imperial Knights would be able to move in under the pretense of emergency prerogative."

"Ah yes…" Estelle reciting the rule by heart, "The Imperial Knights may employ emergency prerogative to intervene in emergency situations, regardless of jurisdiction."

Yuri got the idea, "Of course! So, if a thief snuck in and caused a ruckus, that'd be enough?"

"Yuri, I've told you several times already, but…"

"Don't do anything reckless, right?"

Sodia didn't like having to rely on civilians to take on such a dangerous or underhanded task, but they were out of options, "Lieutenant Flynn…"

Flynn turned to the door, pausing next to Yuri, "I'm going to go patrol the town. I've just received a tip that a fugitive with a warrant out for his arrest is trying to get into the magistrate's palace. It might be some time before I find the evidence to pursue this criminal." Yuri smirked as everyone separated to play their role in this attack.

They were hiding behind one of the walls as Karol looked over the palace entrance, "This place seems to get bigger every time I look at it. Are members of the Council really that important?"

Estelle quoted the role of the Council for Karol, "The Council is a body of nobles which aids in the political administration of the empire."

Rita put it in layman's terms, "Which means they basically represent the empire's interests."

Shadow was holding onto a strange orb in her hand, "Give me three seconds and I can clear that gate."

Aile stopped her, "Not to interrupt your suicidal plans, but Knights, Councils, I'm hearing plenty about them, but for an empire, I'm hearing very little about its Emperor."

"That's cause the Empire's been Emperor-less for the past decade now," a strange man in a purple jacket and scruffy brown hair appeared behind them. "Will you count me in on your talk about sneaking inside?" He rushed to Estelle, silencing her, "They'll find you if you scream around here, yer ladyship."

Estelle took a moment to calm herself down before asking the strange fellow, "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"Whaddya mean? Me and the kid there are old friends, right pal?" the stranger attempting to wrap his arm around Yuri who ducked out of the way.

"I barely know you."

"Now, now, don't be like that. What about the fun times we had in jail, Mr. Yuri Lowell?"

Yuri finally turned to him, "I don't remember telling you my name." The weird fellow pulled out one of Yuri's wanted posters, "Oh, there's still that thing…"

Karol got some fun out of this, "You're famous, Yuri."

Aile looked to the scruffy man, "So, would you care to share your name, mister?"

"Huh? Ah, right…I suppose Raven will do for now."

Yuri's attention was back to the guards, "Well Raven, it's been lovely seeing you again. Now buzz off."

"Aw, come on. You just leave it up ta old Raven." Deesh could tell this man was going to be more troublesome than they want.

He rushed off before Rita could stop him, "Wait-" She then noticed none of the others trying, "Hey! We're not going to stop him?"

Yuri was just waiting in anticipation, "Despite his looks, he really did help me get out of the castle back then…"

"Really?" Estelle remembering Yuri mentioning someone telling them about their exit out of the castle, "Well, then maybe we can trust him."

"I'd like to hope so…"

They watched Raven speak with the two men as they rushed right past him. Karol was starting to shake in fear, "Not to sound alarmed, but they're heading right for us." Raven turned back to them and gave them a peace sign before waltzing his way onto palace grounds.

Rita was shaking, her arms stiff with rage, "That guy…how dare he make fun of me…I seriously hate it when someone…" Rita jump out from behind the wall and threw out several fireballs at the two guards, "Makes use of me!" The blast knocked the guards out as Rita patted her hands off, "We should've done this right from the start."

Karol took a closer look at the guards now that they weren't threatening him or conscious. These people…

Rita ran off ahead, "I'm going to chase that guy down!"

"Rita!"

Aile tapped Karol's shoulder to bring him back, "Come on, before she gets ahead of us!"

Rita ran to the side of the palace just as a gate opened for Raven. "There he is!"

Raven teased her as he winked, "Oh, glad to see you safe and sound."

"How dare you!"

Raven was already in the elevator as the gate closed and took him up, "Catch ya later," waving as it passed Rita's reach.

Rita rushed into the second one, waiting for everyone to get inside before hitting the button, "Let's get going too!" the elevator started to move, "It's going down?" It took a while before it reached the bottom, Rita continued her attempt to reverse it but with little success, "Argh! I don't believe this! You can't control it from down here…"

Once they got out of the elevator, Estelle was hit hard by the offensive odor in this dark room, "Ugh…"

Shadow was even waving the air in front of her helmet, "Something smells rank…"

Deesh was all too familiar with these scents, "Blood, flesh, bones, and rot… Death lines these walls and floor." Getting past the overwhelming smells of carcasses the two dogs and Deesh started to snarl, "We're not alone." Deesh's stalkers climbed out, ready to fight.

Aile pressed something on her ears as a green visor went over her eyes. "There're monsters here…"

Yuri wasn't expecting this, "Guess he's into raising monsters too."

Rita didn't seem too shocked, "He did release Rhybgaro."

Estelle turned around, "Did you…hear someone's voice…?"

Deesh turned to her, "Voice?"

The antenna on Aile's left ear started to adjust itself and pointed forward, "No, I hear it too! Let's move!"

In another one of the animal cells, a little boy was huddled in the corner trying to hide from the monsters inside a large rib cage as he quivered in fear, "…Papa…Mama…"

The monsters in the cell seemed to have been fighting over who got to eat the fresh meat, and a victor emerged. The black serpentine beast rushed at the boy only for two giant glowing throwing stars to cut its head off and body in two. The stars returned to mysterious figure in purple, deactivating after attaching to her gauntlets, "That was too close…" Others followed suit as they cut down the remaining monsters.

A pretty girl in a white and pink dress moved to the boy's side, "Everything's going to be all right." That helped him, a little. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"…Okay. A scary old man brought me here… He said it was 'cuz Papa and Mama couldn't pay their taxes… I'm not the only one. Anyone who can't pay their taxes is thrown in here…"

The kid-looking one with the giant hammer slowly turned back to a small pile of bones nearby, "…Then…you mean these bones are…"

The humanoid lizard had already moved to the pile of bones with one in hand as it sniffed it then chewed it, much to the others dread. It chewed on a few others before declaring, "Most are from feed animals, a few from other monsters. The rest… I think you can guess."

The mage turned away, "I'm not going to ask how you know the tastes so intimately."

The little boy started to cry, "Papa…Mama…I wanna go home…"

The nicely dress girl continued to protect him, "It's okay. Everything's okay now. What's your name?"

"Pauly…"

The guy in black knelt to Pauly, "Come on Pauly, be a big boy. No more crying. You'll see your mom and dad soon."

He sniffled a little and wiped the remaining tears from his eyes, "Okay…"

The lizard started barking orders. "Strider," the muscular dog started wagging its stub of a tail, "find the exit. Shadow, Aile…"

The mysterious helmeted warrior had a strange weapon materialize out of thin air, "Yep, got point."

The purple armored girl activated the giant throwing stars once more, "And I'll cut them through."

They encounter one locked metal door after another in this maze of hallways and cages. As the cleared each room searching for any other victims and disposing of all the monsters, they found more evidence of Ragou's twisted hobbies.

Eventually they found a new kind of cell, one with iron bars on one side and beyond them a staircase leading up. It was dark just like the other rooms, but sound still reverberated quite well down there as someone approached the bars from the stairway, "Well, well, what do we have here? More delicious snacks for my pets, it seems." The old man on the other side of the bars was dressed a black cloak with all the regal eccentricities of a nobleman.

"So, you're Ragou?" Yuri could seem more bones pushed to the corner of this cell as well, "You've got some pretty disgusting hobbies."

Ragou smirked, "Hobbies? Oh, you must mean my basement. Only someone with my refined sensibilities would understand this kind of entertainment. You're just like those senile old fools on the council. They bored me to death and never let me enjoy myself. It's the privilege of my exalted station to dispel such boredom with the…help of the common people." Estelle was shocked to hear such things, but from how angry Deesh sounded, she was about ready to tear him in two.

Aile shouted at him, "You're disgusting! Humans aren't toys to play with as you please!"

Ragou ignored her, "Well, I suppose I should go and fetch Rhybgaro," Ragou stepped away, "So many new toys… He ought to put on quite a show. Though you may not live long enough to see it…"

Yuri smirked now, "There's no point in searching for Rhybgaro. We've already taken care of him."

Ragou turned back to them, "…What did you say?"

"Are you deaf? I said we've already taken care of him," Yuri was protecting the Rhybgaro from this monster.

"You…" Ragou angrily pointed at Yuri, "What have you done to my pet?"

Yuri mocked him, "If you'd put a bell on it or something, maybe you wouldn't have lost track of it."

Ragou adjusted his glasses, trying to blow off Yuri's remarks, "Ah well, with a bit more money, I'll soon be able to replace him."

"Ragou!" Estelle had enough, stepping into the light, "How can you say such things and still call yourself a servant of the empire?!"

"What? …You…" Ragou was utterly horrified seeing Estelle, "But that's impossible!"

Aile shifted from Model PX to FX now as she pulled out only one of her Knuckle Busters. She wasn't even going to charge the thing to full strength either. "Megaton Crusher!" with that single punch she blew out all the cell's bars, almost killing Ragou with one of the blownout metal bars if he hadn't back up from seeing Estelle.

The blast was still strong enough to knock Ragou off his feet, "S-stay back!" Aile walked onto the bars, letting her weight leave an impression with each step, "W-what do you intend to do?! Someone! Arrest these intruders!"

A nearby door was flung open as more guards rushed through and Ragou used this opportunity to escape up the stairs, "Whoa! There're a lot of people coming!"

Rita started to glow, "…Good. I haven't been so pissed off like this for a while now! Take this…" ready to throw several fireballs into the group of mercenaries only for both Deesh and Aile to rush the doors and knock the mercs back inside.

Yuri stopped her by grabbing her arm, "Hold on!"

"What?! Don't we need to create an emergency for the Knights to respond to?"

He let go, "It's still too soon. First, we need some evidence."

Aile used her weapon to weld the door and stone wall, "Then why not follow the rat to its nest?"

"Move! Up the stairs everyone!" Deesh used a bone from the cell to temporarily block her door, knowing it wouldn't last too long. Waiting for the others to move on, Deesh followed as she looked back, "Fo…Krah…Diin!" breathing out ice and sealing the staircase. Before the guards could start the climb up the stairs Deesh tossed out one of her jars of billybally pollen as an added layer of hinderance.

The men still trapped on the other side started to pick away at the ice to break through. Aile was scanning the area and how many were still there, "He sure has gathered a lot of these savages."

Karol was doing his best to keep up, "These people look like they're from a mercenary guild. There are some guilds that'll do anything for money. But a guild with this many people…"

Yuri stopped at the top of the stairs, scanning the room above, "Looks like we've found it."

Rita rushed off to inspect the massive device at the center of the room while Shadow and Deesh barricaded the door they came from. "Strihm, laytos, rockra, fleck… They just patch together blastia with different formulas. This formula could manipulate the weather, but how can they use them like this!? This is just like Ehmead Hill! They don't have the slightest respect for the blastia they're using!"

Estelle was excited, "This is just what we need for evidence."

Aile looked around, "Rita, shouldn't you finish that later…?"

"…Just a bit more…" Rita wasn't giving up, "I just need to check a few more things…"

Yuri didn't care, "You can have Flynn give you a look at it after we're done. Let's get busy with our 'emergency'."

Karol started wailing against a support beam as Yuri did his best to smash a few expensive looking things himself. Strider started to urinate on a wall and Deesh used her magic to blast the area. Aile was still in Model FX used her Knuckle Busters to devastating effect. "Ground Breaker!" She slammed both into the ground, causing a fissure to appear across the room that was felt by everyone in the mansion.

Rita had enough and unleashed several fireballs in random directions, "Damn it!"

One of the fireballs hit Aile from behind, but she didn't seem affected. "That's certainly a change in attitude…"

"We've got to give those knights a good reason to show up, don't we?!"

Estelle watched as more fireballs were thrown in randomly as she protected Pauly, "Yes, but I don't know if we should…"

Ragou had appeared with more men, "Really, what a way to behave in someone else's home! Unforgivable… I will never forgive you!" He turned to his hired muscle, "The time has come for you to earn your keep! Capture those people! Whatever happens though, take care not to kill the young lady!"

Strider pinned one of the men, biting through his metal greave and tearing into his muscles as Deesh cut through another's armor with just a single slash of her sword. Karol was keeping Pauly safe while Estelle crossed swords with one of the mercenaries, defeating him by blocking his strike with her shield and cutting through. Aile was facing three of Ragou's men. She blocked their swords with her Knuckle Busters with ease and started to punch each one and knocking them out cold.

Rita threw out, even more, fireballs, "And here's another one for you!"

With the few men he had now out cold, Yuri and the others rushed to Rita, "That's enough, we're getting out of here!"

"What're you talking about? I'm not finished yet!"

"If we don't leave now, we'll run into Flynn, and I'd rather not deal with that."

"No way! You don't seriously think he'll come that quickly…"

Rita was eating her words now as Flynn, Sodia, and Witcher appeared in the doorway at the opposite end of the room, "See?"

"That was quick!"

Flynn bowed, "Magistrate, I don't know what's happening here, but allow us to offer our assistance."

Ragou was annoyed at this unexpected intrusion, "He's certainly enthusiastic… Fine then! First, capture those peo—" before Ragou could even finish something big crashed its way through the large stained-glass window next to him.

Aile seemed shocked, "What is that…? Is that a dragon?"

Estelle pointed, "There's someone…riding on the dragon!"

The strange white armored figure said not a word, looking down at the situation before going in with a quick single slash of his mighty and intricate spear destroying the blastia core. "You! What the hell do you think you're doing?! How dare you destroy those blastia!" Enraged, Rita threw several more fireballs at the rider. Witcher also trying to assist in bringing down the rider adding even more fireballs into the mix.

Yet this strange whale-like creature easily dodged all the fireballs as if it was swimming through the air and knew exactly where each spell was going. The creature even fired its own fireballs directed at the blastia core to make it unsalvageable while also trying to take out Ragou. And just as suddenly as the dragon rider appeared, they flew out the window they entered.

Partially from Rita and Witcher, the dragon's flames spread quickly through the room cutting Flynn off from Ragou, "Damn. He'll get away!"

Ragou quickly moved to the exit where some of his men were waiting, "Prepare my ship!"

Yuri was already running after him, "Where do you think you're going?!"

"Please wait! Pauly, he…"

Aile carefully picked him up, "Don't worry, go. I've got him. Hold on tight, Pauly." After making sure Pauly was secure, Aile used the thrusters in her boots to get massive speed boost before jumping over the flames. She quickly handed him over to Sodia before jumping through the fire to rejoining the chase of Ragou.

They were back outside again, and the rains had completely stopped, breaking away for a clear sunny day. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to admire the change in weather as they ran toward the palace's dock, "Move! The ship is departing!"

Rita was out of breath, "What…what the hell am I doing here?"

"Just jump aboard!"

Repede and Strider easily made it aboard with the speeds they were running. Rita and Estelle just barely managed to reach the railing as Repede and Strider helped the girls, respectfully. Aile shifted to HX and used her wings to fly onboard as Deesh dove into the water to get more speed and climb the side. Shadow jumped toward the ship though it looked like she wouldn't even reach the railing. Instead she suddenly disappeared then reappeared above the deck. Karol was having trouble keeping up with his smaller size and heavy bag. "Wait! Don't leave me behind!"

They were at the end of the pier when Yuri grabbed Karol by the waist, and jumped, "Hold on tight, Karol!"

Yuri just barely made it over as he tried to adjust his back. Estelle rushed over, "Are you two okay?"

Karol laughed a bit, "Looks like we made it. I'll think about what to put in my bag next time."

"Agreed." Everyone turned to the boat's cabin, "Well then, let's start round two…"