"Repede...!" The dog met them at the exit of Nordopolica, holding a bit of khaki in his mouth and walking smugly. Noishe was sitting next to a man cooking fish, trying to beg scraps from the rather scared man. Lloyd retrieved his dog as Estelle knelt near Repede and passed Judith the scrap of khaki.

"Look is this...?" Judith studies it.

"Repede'll be able to follow his scent with this." Yuri nods, confirming that it was part of Regaey's clothes. Repede barked in agreement.

"We've gotta get that case back!" Rita announces.

"Yeah, there's that too." Yuri says, watching as the mage started off.

"Guilds don't take kindly ta backstabbin' cheats." Raven agrees.

"That's right." Karol nods.

"Let's make sure he's not being blackmailed into doing it, first." Lloyd shrugs as they look at him. "If Ruins' Gate really is innocent, but the guildmaster was forced into doing something bad, well, we could get in trouble for takin' him out." Lloyd explains. "Just talk a little first. All I'm saying."

"He couldn't just cross the mountains to the west without preparing first." Judith says. "We should be able to catch up with him."

"All right, let's get him. And we can have a nice chat." Yuri agrees.

"Do you think the Coliseum will be okay?" Estelle asks.

"Are you worried about it?" Judith asks back.

"Do you want to wait here with Rita, then?" Karol asks.

"What do you mean?" Estelle blinks.

"This is a guild matter, after all." Raven crossed his arms behind his head. "Nothin for you little ladies ta worry yourselves over."

"Sorry, Estelle, but I'm going too." Rita says, standing on the other side of Repede. "I'm curious about that red case." Estelle turned about. "Besides, I won't feel right till I give that idiot a piece of my mind."

"If it makes you feel better, we can delegate Lloyd to keep with the escort while we take care of the wrong against us." Yuri says.

"Huh? Why me-" Lloyd sighs. "Whatever, whatever."

"Then, I..." Estelle looks down.

"Decide for yourself." Yuri insists.

"I... I'll come too." The princess decides. "If he was trying to obstruct the Knights, then this could be connected to the Empire."

"Hmm, maybe." Yuri smirks. "Anyway, the Coliseum will be fine. Flynn's got a handle on things."

"Well then, let's get our things in order and go after that jerk." Rita orders.

"I've got what I could find here for a desert trip." Lloyd shrugs. "Over mountains? Depends on what kind."

"Well, I guess we've got it down, then. Let's go." Yuri starts out, Repede racing ahead of him, tracking Regaey.

Somehow, they got a lot more running done in a day than they had previously. Yuri noticed neither Karol, Rita, or the old man complained about the amount of rushing, and he already knew Estelle would drop over before she said anything. Lloyd was muttering under his breath, a half-focused look to his face as he emptied a Holy Bottle on Noishe, the dog whining but staying near the group. So, they made good time after Regaey. There was even a path they could follow, but Lloyd thought that cutting corners was a good idea at times, so they did that too. The road ended in a cave.

"No sign of him so far." Rita said, following Repede inside the cave a little, out of the sunlight.

"Do you think he went this way?" Estelle asked, while Lloyd looked about inside, Noishe staying put in the sunshine, outside the cave.

"Maybe he used this ta get through ta the other side of the mountain." Raven guessed.

"But this cave is the Weasand of Cados." Karol says, frowning. "A powerful monster called Pteropus lives here. It's supposed to be really dangerous. Or at least that's what Nan told me." Repede started further in, sniffing the ground.

"Perhaps he went inside without knowing that." Judith offered. Repede barked, almost to a bend ahead. He dashed around it, and there was a slight sound of a scuffle.

"W-w-w-wait..." Regaey stammered. "P-please l-let me go." As they headed into the cave, they saw that Repede had the khaki clad man by the collar.

"Looks like he was hiding out here hoping we'd just pass him by." Yuri comments.

"Well now." Raven claps his hands. "Let's have a nice long chat."

"What were you trying to gain, setting us up like that back at the coliseum?" Yuri demands.

"And give back that case!" Rita adds.

"You leave m-me no choice." Regaey let his shirt rip to let him stand. He raised a hand, and a handful of Red Eyes dropped from the ceiling.

"Leviathan's Claw?" Estelle gasped.

"Down!" Lloyd called to Rita, and the mage dropped as Lloyd jumped over her to bring his blades down on a navy blue clad assassin. With Yuri and Karol on the twinblade's heels, and Repede flanking them already, the guildsmen had no chance.

"Guess this means Ruins' Gate and Leviathan's Claw are connected." Yuri muses as Lloyd kicked a body off the shelf where the walkway was.

"So they pretend to help with the excavations, then swipe materials and sell them later, huh?" Rita muttered, putting it together, furious. "I'll make them pay... I swear..."

"How could a guild as famous and renowned as Ruins' Gate do something like that?" Karol asks.

"Sometimes power corrupts." Lloyd shrugs. "Any kind." Lloyd knocked the last corpse off the edge, and Judith passed him.

"Judith, wait!" Karol calls.

"He'll get away if we don't hurry." Judith points out.

"Remember what I said?" Karol asks. "There's a really nasty monster living in there."

"Hey." Raven calls. "Whaddya say we call it a day? Old Raven can't afford ta get too far from Nordopolica without gettin' this letter to Belius. The Don'll hit me with another one of his thankless jobs otherwise."

"Well, I'm going after him." Rita says. "I can't let somebody like that just do whatever with the Blastia he takes from the ruins! And I'm gonna get that case back, too!" Yuri sighed a little.

"I..I'm going too!" Estelle announces, and Yuri's expression turned to a smirk.

"What are you talking about?" Rita demands. "You're staying put here."

"I'm not." Estelle insisted.

"Hah." Yuri laughs a little, his smirk gaining teeth and width to near grin. "This doesn't sound like something Brave Vesperia can very well pass up."

"..Yeah, it's our job to protect Estelle." Karol agrees.

"Why were we even questioning whether we'd be going or not?" Lloyd asks, scratching his head. "I thought it was a given that we would be."

"If we all go together, we're bound to come up with something." Judith says, and starts further in. Raven stays put, but the rest start walking.

"Sure you'll be all right without the Great Raven?" Raven asks.

"I think so." Yuri lazily waves at Raven. "Good luck delivering the letter." Raven said nothing for a moment as Yuri headed for the bend.

"..Jeez, aren't ya even gonna try ta stop me from leavin'?" Raven demands, then catches up to them.

The Weasand was filled with Bats, Spiders, and mushrooms, occasional bears and those strange scaley wolf-like monsters. And glowing crystals and occasionally flowing water.

Repede barked, darting ahead. He stopped before a span of water that covered the path, between a pair of glowing plants. Regaey was on the other side. But as the group headed closer to the water, Regaey tripped.

"Aaah...! H-heeelp!" the guildmaster yelped, as the water between Repede and him started to glow red, the green-glowing plants shifting to a matching hue as well. Lloyd stopped completely, his expression a bit lost.

"Aer...?" Estelle blinks.

"This is just like at Keiv Moc!" Rita announces. "Is there an Aer krene here, too?"

"What do we do?" Raven asks.

"Charge right in!" Yuri's sights are set right on his target, which is across the Aer'd water. Estelle grabs onto his arm before he can take more than a step.

"...I don't think so." Judith comments.

"Judith is right!" Estelle says. "Touching Aer that thick is dangerous!"

"I-I, c-can't believe that s-something like that would s-save me..." Regaey can hear them, and was back on his feet. He started for further ahead.

"Wait!" Rita shouts, but really had no need. The red-Aer filled water crossed the path ahead of him as well, and Lloyd gave a weak giggle, obviously trying to muffle it by the hand over his mouth. Karol gave a weak scream, backpedalling.

"It looks like we'll have to keep our distance." Judith muses.

"W-what's this sh-shaking..." Regaey looked about. Yuri looked at the ground as Lloyd flopped over, giggling, then up. A dragon, well, a beaked, scaled creature with wings and a tail, landed before them.

"Is that the monster you were talking about, Karol?" Yuri asks.

"N-no..." Karol peeks from behind his arms. "I've never seen a monster like that before..." The dragon-like creature roared, and red lights streamed to its mouth.

"It ate the Aer..?" Rita stares. Another shake hit as the dragon roared once more, the red Aer vanishing from the water. Karol screamed again.

"I-I can't move..." Estelle whispers.

"Oh no..." Rita groaned. Despite the dragon standing between them and Regaey, well, the creature wasn't overly large due to width, they could see Regaey was back on his feet again.

"This is not... good..." Yuri grits out, as frozen as the rest of them. The dragon watched them a bit, then roared once more, and took off. After it was out of sight, Lloyd's giggles start dying down.

"Hey, I can move..." Raven mutters.

"You're not getting away again!" Judith says, as Regaey was starting to run off. She almost went into the water, but glanced at Rita, and then didn't.

"Rita, be careful!" Estelle calls as the mage walks into the water.

"Don't worry, it isn't harmful at its current density." Rita replies, standing near the edge and staring into the water.

"What the hell just happened?" Raven asks.

"The monster we just saw somehow normalized the Aer krene that was out of control..." Rita says absently. "But that would mean that it can control the Aer... Could it be the same thing that guy did with his sword back in Keiv Moc?"

"Can we pass through it...?" Yuri asks, watching Lloyd and his giggles. "Rita!"

"Oh, uh, r-right." Rita blinked at them. "It should be okay..."

"What's the matter?" Judith asks.

"I have to figure this out..." Rita sighs. "I mean, this is what I'm traveling for... And Lloyd looks like he's going to be sick." Karol hurriedly moves out of the twinblade's way as the man rolls and sticks his head over the water. Yuri waits for Lloyd's heaving to stop, before giving him a hand up.

"Come on, Rita." Yuri says.

"I know, I know." Rita looks at the large crystals in the water. "We have to follow him... but... I just..."

"That Aer Krene isn't exactly goin' anywhere, is it?" Raven asks.

"Of course not, you idiot!" Rita snaps. She blinks. "Oh... I see what you mean..." She turns around. "...Okay, let's go."

"All right!" Yuri gives a smirked grin. "Karol, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah... peachy..." The small guildmaster pants. After a moment, while everyone looks at him, he looks up. "No, really, I'm fine." Karol straightens.

"Lloyd?" Yuri asks the twinblade.

"Headache." Lloyd groans. "Stiff. Been better, been worse."

"Not going to get sick again, right?"

"No." Lloyd says. "No more getting sick today. Unless someone feeds me tomatoes." He was a little unsteady on his feet through, and so he walked carefully in the center of the path.

"That monsters power..." Rita mutters, following at the end. "Was that the Rizomata Formula too?"

Over some twisted paths above the water, then through another tunnel, and up a path that clung to the side of the cavern.

"There he is!" Regaey was doubled over, and so it was easy for Repede to dart forward and startle the man. There was a mob of bats flying in the way of the exit, filling the room with chittering and flapping.

"B-b-but how did you...?" Regaey froze. Repede did something, and knocked the chest that dropped from Regaey back to the group.

"Good work, Repede." Yuri says, as Repede darts back on the chest's tail. "Looks like our little game of tag is over, Regaey."

"Heh, n-n-now..." Regaey straightened. "I'll have to show you my really real power...!"

"Oh! I got it!" Lloyd suddenly shouts. "He's –" The cavern was flooded with light, and when their eyes cleared, before them stood. "- Yeager!" The man flipped his hair.

"No way...!" Karol wails.

"Huh." Yuri frowned. "So that's what's been going on."

"What does this mean?" Estelle asks. "Was he disguising himself as Regaey...?"

"I don't think we have time to worry about the particulars right now." Judith says.

"Oh me oh my, how terribly frightening." Yeager says, rather cheerfully. "I don't know what I'd do if I were to end up like poor Ragou."

"What do you mean...?" Estelle asks. "What happened to him?"

"They found his body face-down in a riverbed back in Dahngrest." Yeager tells them, sounding a bit like an eager gossip. Yuri shifted his weight, watching Yeager with distaste, and Raven scratched his chin. "I just couldn't bear it if I ended up like that, you know." Karol gaped, Rita looked severely un-impressed, and Lloyd was tilting his head side to side as he thought.

"Ragou is... dead?" Estelle repeats. "But why?" Repede tilted his head like he was looking at Yuri, but the dog was missing an eye on that side.

"Afraid that's not for me to say, nein, my lips are zipped up tight for sure." Yeager waggled an admonishing finger at them, almost purring the last word. Yuri exhaled, glaring at the guildmaster.

"Well, there is a river nearby." Lloyd grins, getting ready to draw his blades by the way his balance shifted. "I could help you with that."

"Lloyd, did you-?" Karol gasps.

"Ah, no, no, I think I will decline." Yeager turned for the exit, or rather the mob of bats.

"Oh... Not that way!" Estelle gasps.

"Yeager!" Gauche and Droite dropped from nowhere, their blades of matching color to their hair in hand.

"Ta-daah, the reinforcements have arrived!" Droite cheers.

"Gauche, Droite – the rest I leave up to you." Yeager says.

"As you wish." Gauche says.

"Aye aye, sir." Droite giggles. The twin-like girls turn to the bats and attack them. Most of their hits were avoided by the winged beasts, but they all headed close to the girls.

"He's getting away!" Karol wails.

"Not on my watch!" Yuri lunged for the bats and twins as well.

"See you in the funny papers, leibchen!" Yeager waved a little at them, heading out of the cave. One of the bats started flying in a tight circle, and the others formed a T-shape about it. A blur came over them, and they turned into a smoky winged beast. It flashed once, and knocked Yeager's bodyguards back.

"That's him!" Karol yells. "It's Pteropus!"

"All right!" Lloyd shouts, grinning as he draws his blades and Yuri's sheath flew off to the side. "This'll be fun!"

"Ah, damn." Raven sighs, lowering a magic lens. "Don't go usin' any wind, water or dark on it, but light's good to go."

"Gotcha." Rita says, the pattern under her feet glowing earthen. Lloyd remained back by Rita, his blades held before him as a white seal slowly formed itself under his feet, Estelle doing the same from the other flank of the twinblade. Raven moved forward, using archery over magic, and Karol, Repede, Judith, and Yuri all jumped the smoky black-purple monster.

"Lloyd, are you sure you should be casting magic after being Aer-sick?" Estelle asks, before chanting, "O power that tries souls, shine..."

"Well..." Lloyd looked at his pattern then the monster. "Casting doesn't take too much balance, or movement." His words took on a chant-feel.

"O sharpened rage, run through that which blocks our future..." Rita chants. "Stalagmite!"

"Photon!" Estelle casts as well, her orb of light forming above Rita's rocks, pinning the Pteropus there.

"Shining Spear!" Lloyd mimes throwing, and a lance of light drops from magical nowhere to stab down into Pteropus. After the hit, the lance flashed, and exploded into a dome of light, which knocked the mob of bats the monster had just turned into about, scattering them.

"Uh..." Karol blinks, mentally failing.

"The yellow horned one is 'Leader Bat!'" Estelle quickly uses magic lens. "The ones with blue are 'magic', the ones with red are 'attack'."

"Wait, the bats can use magic?" Raven blinks, then yelps and moves away from a Champagne spell.

"Definitely seems like it!" Yuri looks about for the Leader Bat. "Old Man, hit the Magic ones, you too Lloyd. Estelle, focus on magic bats and healing. Repede, you, Karol and Judith on the attack bats. Karol, heal if you think someone needs it. Rita, blow 'em away!"

"Right." Raven groans.

"Gotcha." Lloyd turns to cast again.

"Yes!" Estelle brought her shield up and started casting as well.

"Woof!" Repede barked.

"Aye aye!" Karol cried.

"Ok." Judith smiled.

"Like you need to tell me that." Rita scoffed.

Yeager's accent is awesome? But I'd probably end up butchering it, so... make it in you're head~!