Escape (part 1)

After changing her mind, Ashe walked out of her cell. Accompanied by Olin and Svyen, the fallen princess felt stronger than ever to take down the Imperial forces. Jaden, Eugene, and the two Space Pirates followed them as well.

"So, what's the plan?" Mika asked.

"We need to find Gundolf's brother." Svyen answered as they all walked along the linear path.

"Do we even know where he is?" Jaden asked.

"We need to find him, quick." Vincent added. "It won't be long before they notice our presence.."

"I'm not sure of it," said the princess. "But there's got to be rooms for guests on the other end of the ship."

"We're after you, your majesty." Olin told her.

"Then, let's hurry!" Eugene hastened forward.

Ashe and her group marched warily, but all that vigilance was futile. The Judge was already observing them through a magical sphere. Then, an armored soldier stepped closer to him. "What are your orders, sire?" he asked.

"They proved that it wasn't wise to let them live.." said the Judge. "Dispose of them all."

"Yes, sire!" the guard bowed slightly, and walked ahead; leaving the Judge alone to contemplate on his last decisions.

~Sirens!

On the linear path, however, a siren sound filled the entire place. Red lights began blinking all over Jaden and the others.

"Huh!"

"What's going on?!" Eugene panicked.

"Here comes trouble!" Mika pointed toward a group of armored guards with spears heading their way.

"OVER THERE!" they yelled.

"What do we do? Run?" Jaden told his comrades. But then, he noticed another flock of guards closing in on them from behind. They were fully surrounded.

Vincent took out his twin daggers, "I don't think that's an option anymore.."

"Your majesty, stay back!" Svyen stood before Ashe, but she stepped passed him.

"I'm not that damsel princess you used to protect.." she told him. "I'm pull any punches.."

"Here!" Olin gave her a thin blade-sword. "Try to support us while we take care of the heavy ones."

Svyen looked at Ashe and Olin in awe. It made him realize how much time had passed while he was locked up. Princess Ashilda was the scared girl who shook and rigored to battle. But things had changed apparently. Svyen clenched his grip as he held the axe. "In that case," he rushed against the enemies. "Haaaaa!"

~Clank!

Svyen's axe collided with the armored guards' spears. The blonde warrior pushed as hard as his arms could, and managed to wobble few guards away. Vincent as well, sprinted to aid his friend by taking enemies that were closing in on him. His twin-daggers were quickly stinging the soldiers as Vincent carved his way toward Svyen.

"Got a little too fired up, now didn't you?" he said as he stood back to back with him.

"I'm just warming up.." Svyen replied.

The guards that encircled them charged at them at once. And the two guys leaped out, and countered them.

"HAAAA!" Svyen swung his axe hard with blurring speed.

~SLASH!

"GWAAAH!" the guards were severely hurt, and got dropped on the floor.

Vincent, on the other hand, jumped away to chant a quick spell. He drew a wide hexagonal glowing light beams in front of him. And through it, he unleashed a scorching fire ball. "..BURNNING ATTACK..!"

The fire ball flew to its target, and blew; shattering Vincent's pursuers.

~Ka-BAAM!

Vincent landed back on his feet. But at that moment, he was exposed. The armored Imperial soldiers further on the rear noticed this, and began chanting spells of their own.

"OPEN FIRE!" one of them signaled.

"MAKE IT RAIN!" the guards yelled.

The armored guards shot stream of fireballs directed toward Vincent and Svyen.

"Ahh---?!" Vincent turned to face the impact, but there wasn't much he could do. Escaping the blow was out of option.

"Kamal, look out!" Eugene shouted from a distance.

But just before they get closer to his body, the dashing stream of fireballs suddenly changed their course. They turned toward Mika, but the little girl didn't seem to be nervous by that.

Did she draw them to her direction?, Jaden wondered as he witnessed Mika raise her staff upward.

The little wizard forced the stream of fireballs to twirl around her without touching her skin. Then converged them into one flame snaking all around her. And as she twisted her body like a ballerina, with one fliuid motion, redirected the flames back onto the enemies.

"Burn to ashes!" she pushed the fire.

~BLOW!

"Guhaaa!!" the guards fell.

Thanks to her, the path ahead got cleared, Jaden thought as he saw the rest of his team struggling against the flock of soldiers in the back. But, I can't just stand still!

The heterochromatic boy charged toward Eugene, Ashe, and Olin as they were surrounded by guards with heavy armor.

[Air Bounce]!, he leaped from both ground and walls, and landed just between the guards.

~Grab!

Jaden tightened the grip on his sword, making its engine sound roar out loud, and picked another Skill. "[Urmagidar]!!" he shouted while slashing the enemies away.

~CLASH!

"GWAAAH!"

"Let's push them aside." Olin yelled. "Your majesty!"

Ashe nodded, and forged small light-spheres on top of her fingers. And with one throw, she manged to toss them onto the remaining guards.

~Blast! Blast! Blast!

~Ground quaking!

"Huh..!"

Back in the small room, Petra jumped off her seat. The sounds of explosions had reached their whereabouts. But the last impact was way too strong it took them by surprise.

"They're fighting outside." Julia told her.

"It's Mado.." Petra replied while staring at the walls; wishing that she could glimpse through them.

Red lights were blinking in their room as well as alarm sirens that were echoing all around them. But the two girls couldn't do anything. They realized that the room they were locked up inside was under a Mana dampener. But then--

"Come, fast! We need reinforcements!" someone yelled for the guard standing right outside the door.

"Aye, sire!" the guard ran away from the door he was supposed to watch.

Once he looked through the glass window that the coast was clear, Alphones somehow broke the lock, and the door slid open. The two girls stood in surprise.

"Now, it's our turn." Alphones told them.

The impact from Ashe's Mystic Art had caused smoke to cover the place. It wasn't possible to predict an ambush at this case. And once she let her guard down, Ashe was indeed ambushed by one soldier in heavy armor. He looked bigger and carried a thicker spear than the rest. "Die in the name of the Empire!" he thrust his weapon against her; ready to deliver a deadly blow.

"Huh---!" Ashe froze in place.

"Giaah!" Olin stepped before her, and blocked the assault. He then quickly countered with his lion-head shaped attack. "..LEON FIST..!"

~Bam!

That attack had managed to push the large guard few centimeters away only.

"Now, Svyen!" Olin shouted.

Svyen jumped from behind Olin, and delivered fast-paced chain of attacks. His swings were very fast that it looked blurry.

~Clank-Clank-clank-clank-clank!

With that, the large guard began to step backwards. But it didn't take long before he regained his composure. The large thick-armored soldier leaned forward, and pushed his heavy purple spear against Svyen's axe. And as the latter struggled, the guard was able to take upper hand.

"Ugh.." Svyen gritted his teeth. His enemy was on the verge of bringing him down. So, Svyen changed his center of gravity, twisted his body, and avoided the spear altogether.

~Smack!

As the guard struggled to raise his spear back up, Jaden and Vincent dashed against him.

"Haaaa!" the two jumped at him from both sides.

~SLASH! CRANK!

Right after the two boys attacked, Eugene and Mika combined their arial and fire magic to fully overtake the enemy.

"System Call ● Generate Arial Element ● Tornado Hole!" Eugene pushed the twirling wind out.

"Heat ● Scorch ● Flow: Fierra!" Mika released a stream of flames that trailed Eugene's wind, and completely surrounded the armored guard.

With stage sat for her, Ashe forged the explosive light spheres in her hand. And she threw them toward the fire tornado, and once they reached it---

~Boom!

"Yes!" Eugene jumped in victory. The blow was successful enough to perish the large guard.

"Hold your cheer.." Ashe interrupted him. "That's a soul we just burnt.."

Realizing what he had done, Eugene froze. He just interpreted what he actually been doing. Deep down he knew that the guards might well be mere AI, but he knew that wasn't an excuse. He even blamed Mado for such thinking once. Maybe after all this time of fighting for his life, his mind just adapted to it. The whole concept of life and death intertwined within him. He felt disgusted there for a second.

Jaden watched as his friend gazed back at him with a face that screamed 'What in the world had just gotten into me?!'. But Jaden understood that feeling. It reminded him of the first time he felt glad for taking the life of his enemy; someone who wanted him dead. If Jaden didn't convinced himself that it was just computer made AI and not an actual person, he would have lost his sanity.

"Jaden.." Eugene with wide tensed face, gazed down at his own trembling palms. "What are doing..really..?"

Jaden got closer and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "We're fighting AIs so we can get to our friends.." he told him. "That guard was going to kill us now, wasn't he?"

"But, I---" Eugene covered his face.

"You wanna see Elaine again, right?" Jaden stood back up. "Then, don't let this world get into you."

As he was listening to them, Vincent looked toward Mika before him.

Let this world get into me, huh?, he thought to himself. A strange feeling stirred within his chest.

"But, I ended someone else's life, Mado..." Eugene replied with a shaking voice.

"But look at how many lives have you spared in the process.." Svyen said as he walked up to him.

Both the princess and Olin also went to comfort him. "It's true that man's life was taken away, but it was necessary. Doing that will get us one step closer to save countless lives on this planetoid." Olin told him.

"Get up already!" Svyen pulled Eugene back to his feet.

"Okay.." Eugene smiled back at the blonde man. "Thanks, Wassie'e.."

"Cheer up, my friend!" Svyen played with Eugene's hair until the began laughing.

Jaden switched his gaze toward the princess as she stood there in distress. He wanted to know what she might had been thinking about, but didn't know how ask her. So, it was better not to stress her out more than the situation required.

"All right, the fire has been fully extinguished!" announced Mika as she had been using Water Mystic Arts to put down the fire from their last attack. "So, let's hurry and get out of here!"

"Yeah, let us move!" Vincent motioned for the others to follow him.

And with that, Vincent, Mika, and the others continued their way, but with faster pace this time. They ran through the linear pathway of the carrier they were in. But few minutes later, Mika noticed something. "Look!" she pointed at a metallic barrier descending down ahead of them.

"They're trying to block our way!" Eugene said.

"And behind us, too.." Ashe noticed another barrier closing in behind them.

"We're gonna be stuck at this rate.." Jaden gritted his teeth in distress.

"I have an idea!" Vincent told them. "Everyone, hold on to me, fast!"

As they grabbed tightly onto Vincent while they all ran, the latter took out his dagger and threw it passed the descending barrier right before it touched the ground.

"Now, what?" Ashe asked.

"Hold on tight.." Vincent used his warping technique.

~Dash!

And in a fraction of a second, Vincent and his companions had teleported to where the dagger had been tossed; beyond the metallic barrier.

"We made it!" Eugene high-fived Vincent.

"Yeah.." even Ashe's face forged a smile of relief.

"Okay, let's go!" Jaden got up, and continued running.

"Hey, don't go off on your own!" Svyen said, and followed him quickly.

As they kept their pace, Jaden and the others, reached a cross-road. But just before they turned left, someone was about to bump into them. He halted the moment he eyed Jaden and the others. A moment later, two girls caught up to him in this chance encounter. "Ah--!" the boy stood speechless.

"Wha--?!" Jaden's breathless lungs couldn't push his voice out. "--You..!"

The two girls were faster to react. They immediately walked up to Jaden and the others, "Hey!"

"Safi! Noor!" Eugene said happily.

"You guys!" Petra hugged Jaden first, leaving Eugene for Julia to greet.

"Are you okay?" Eugene asked her. "We were looking all over for you!"

"Yeah, somehow.." Julia blushed, scratching her cheek in embarrassment. "A lot have happened, you know.."

"Is this..our classmate, Safi..?" Svyen whispered to Eugene. "Man, she looks different..!"

"Didn't expect her to look like that..!" Vincent added playfully.

"Yeah.." Eugene giggled out a little.

"We thought you guys were in jail!" Petra asked Jaden. "What the hell happened?"

"A lot have happened to us, too. But we got more allies now!" Jaden pointed toward Olin and Svyen.

"Uncle Olin! You're alive, old man!" Petra blurted out.

"It's Captain Olin to you, little lady.." Olin smiled back at her.

"I'm delighted that all of you got reunited." Alphones interrupted them. "But we still have a matter to attend to."

As the rest shifted their gaze to the young boy.

"Thanks to you, L-A-M-O-U-N-T.." Jaden teased him.

The young prince giggled slightly, "My apologies."

"It seems like our paths have crossed again.." Vincent added.

"Indeed." Alphones replied. "And I don't believe it was sheer coincidence. It was fate that made us all reunite here to change the course of history. As I can see now, both her majesty, princess Ashilda Liv Deranna and Captain Helsem whom were presumed dead are standing before me."

"..Princess?" Julia's eyes widened as she stared at Ashe in surprise. But Alphones continued.

"This fact on it's on released a monumental thread, and we'll see what it will unravel. I believe that would bring good-will for Deranna as well as the Empire.."

But then—

"HEY! THEY'RE OVER THERE!" a flock of armored guards ran toward them.

"Shit!" Petra stood on high alert.

"What do we do now?" Eugene raised his Blue-Rose Sword, preparing to fight.

"We must get down of this ship!" Olin told them. "There must be few small escape ships in docking sector."

"Wait, no!" Ashe objected. "I have to reach Mival. He's got my father's Stone. I have to retrieve it!"

"But—your majesty!" Olin exclaimed with slight panic in his voice.

"That stone holds Titan's power." Svyen said. "It'd aid in obtaining the Treaty Blade."

"I'm going!" Ashe drew out her sword and went toward the control room.

"Hey, wait!" Safi shouted for her, but the princess didn't look back.

"I'll go after her." Svyen said as he turned heels.

"I'll come, too." Vincent declared. "Mika?"

The short wizard nodded.

"Uhh, guys," Petra interjected. "They're closing in on us."

"All right, but watch out for her majesty, Svyen. She's in your care."

Svyen nodded before departing with Vincent and Mika.

"Mado—" Eugene tried to say.

"Go with them." Jaden told him. "We'll reunite near the docking section."

"Thanks." the light-brown haired boy nodded before he turned his heel, and ran after Kamal and the Wassie'e.

As he tried to catch up to them, few soldiers tried blocking his way. "MOVE! DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!"

"OUT OF MY WAY!" Eugene yelled as he released a gush of wind that pushed the guards away from him, and opened the path.

Jaden, Petra, Julia, Olin, and Alphones were left behind; fully surrounded by heavy armored enemies.

Oh, great, Jaden thought. We're totally outnumbered. And at this close range, they can literally hit us from any direction, and we can't avoid that..

But then, Petra pulled Alphones up in the front all of the sudden, and put her Knife of Light close to his throat. "If you think you could get any closer, your beloved prince would lose his head!" she declared.

"They caught his majesty!" one of them yelled in anger.

"Round up! Don't let them hurt him!" the soldiers hesitantly progressed forward, one at a time.

That sort of hesitation was all Jaden needed. His eyes locked one guard, and he sprinted to action. "[Sharp Nail]!"

~Smack!

Sparks scattered from the impact. The sting of Jaden's blade managed to only wobble the heavy armored guard. Another spear was falling on its way down to Jaden.

"Ugh.."

~Bam! Miss!

Jaden twisted his body, and dodged the attack at the last second. But it wasn't like the battle was over. Apart from him, the other three were struggling against the impenetrable enemies.

"Die in the name of the Empire!" boasted one soldier as he attacked Olin. But the latter blocked it with only using his fist.

~Smack!

"Haaaa!" Olin pushed against the heavy spear. He even used his Mystic Art at the end.

~BLOW!

"GWAAAH!"

Julia forged barriers between her and the guards, but they kept on gathering up against her. Their successive hits on the floating purple plane had forced the ginger-haired girl to reconsider her strategy. She knelt on one knee, and converged a dark-crimson stream of energy in her right hand as her left stayed stretched upward to maintain the barrier. Then, she swifted the blow from beneath the transparent plane.

~Slash!

"Guwaaghh!" the soldiers before her fell down.

"You're mine!" another guard ambushed Julia from behind. But the ginger-haired girl rotated her body in a jiff, and forged an electrified kind of barrier between them.

"..Reflecta..!" she uttered as the plane collided with the assaulting enemy.

~Flash!

"Why you—!" as he uttered those words, blood sprayed out of the soldier's armor, and he gradually dropped. "Aghhh.."

On the other hand, Petra's battle was a bit too harsh due to her holding the prince hostage. The guards all tried to sneek-attack her to save their royal heir.

"Get her!" one soldier thrust onto her.

"Back off!" Petra pushed him with only one hand since the other held Alphones in place.

Another guard jumped at from behind, but Petra unleashed her Raging Blast, and dropped him away. "Ugh.."

"Sorry that you have to handicap yourself.." Alphones whispered to her.

"We have to get you out of here!" Petra replied as she repelled every enemy with difficulty.

But in that moment, one large soldier flew very fast toward Petra and Alphones.

~Dash!

"Look out!" Alphones pushed Petra off to the side.

"Whaa!"

~Drop!

~Grab!

"Ugh..!" Petra got up quickly to only find Alphones gone. "Huh?! Shit, that guard took him!"

"What?!" both Jaden and Olin gazed back toward her in distress.

"He's getting away!" Julia said.

At this rate, we'll lose him, Jaden thought to himself as clenched his fist.

"I'll bring him down!" Jaden sprinted to action. "You guys hold on."

And with these words, the heterochromic boy charged after the flying armored guard. Olin witnessed as he ran as fast as he could.

As he tailed them, Jaden noticed that the guard used fire magic to propel himself forward like a missile. But since he was actually flying in such speed, Jaden couldn't just keep up by running. The gap between had started to get wider.

That kid is my ticket to get the Golden Key back, Jaden screamed in his mind. I can't let Afallan take it back from me!

Jaden leaped off the ground and onto the wall using [Air Dash].

~Thwip!

As he kept on springing between corners like a pinball, Jaden had finally come closer to his target; hovering right above him.

"Gotcha!" he said, and swang his sword onto the soldier. But the armored soldier twisted his body in a fraction of a second, and thrust his spear against Jaden.

~CLANK!

"Ughh..!" Jaden was being pushed back.

I don't have time, he told himself as he struggled against the guard at such moment. I'd lose 'em like this!

Jaden tightened his grip on his Engineblade. "[X-ROUNDER]!!" he performed a blurry series of instant slashes.

~CRANK! Break!

~Drop!

Jaden managed to force the flying armored guard to fall down, and let go of Alphones. Jaden also fell down on the ground. As he was still struggling to get up, Alphones stood fast with his body frozen in place. Instead of helping Jaden get up, Alphones only watched him; not moving a finger.

"Ughh.." Jaden gazed up at the young boy. "Alphones..?"

"Sorry, " he told him. "In the end I'm an Eisenhaur, and I will not be used against my family."

Dammit, Jaden thought. He saw through our plan!

"Well said, your majesty.." a voice praised Alphones from behind the corner.

Once the two boys looked forward, their eyes caught a woman in Judge attire. She had a short black hair, and distinctive prickly fingers. The moment she walked up to them, Alphones ran toward her.

"Did they hurt you, Majesty?" she asked.

"Not at all. They're good people—take it easy on them.." Alphones said.

A second later, strange transparent threads twirled from above the fallen soldier next to Jaden. It turned out that the woman was controlling him somehow.

"They inflicted a great deal of damage to my puppet, though.." she said spreading her finger in thin air. "Your excellency, there's an escape ship waiting for you down the hall. Please head there now."

"H-hey!" Jaden shouted for Alphones, but the young lad merely glimpsed his way for a second before getting away.

"I'll leave him to you, Judge Vonda.." Alphones told her, and ran further.

"Humph!" Judge Vonda stepped forward, hitting the ground beneath her hard. "As you wish. I'll make sure to make an example of such criminal who intend to disturb the peace of our nation."

Jaden clenched his fists in disgust. Yet, the Judge was right. In her eyes, Jaden and his comrades were going to shake the Empire by taking Alphones as a hostage to pressure Gundolf. To the Afallanians, he was merely a terrorist; the opposite of justice and peace. So, that made Jaden feel ashamed of himself.

"I'm not even going to boast about killing you, or let the public notice my heroics. You deserve no mention in our history.." Vonda sneered and pulled the large soldier up like a lifeless doll with her magical threads.

But no matter, he told himself. I'm not here to be approved by anyone! I've a goal to fight for——a life to return to!

"Ugh.." he forced his body to stand up. "It make no difference to me.."

Jaden summoned his Engineblade back in his grip, ready to face Vonda. "I don't care if you consider me a hero of justice or a villain. But if you stand in my way, " he pointed his blade to the front and glared at her. "I'll show you how much of a devil king I can be!"