“Lord Alfonso! The ship has been successfully neutralized. We are ready to board!” A young man with a smug expression flicked a stray hair from his face.
“Let us end this dull cat-and-mouse game,”
“Sir!!”
Alfonso closed his eyes. He couldn’t wait to get home victorious. To see the look on Galcian’s face when Alfonso strips him of his title and makes him a foot soldier…
“Admiral! A small three-man ship has appeared from the port side of us!”
Alfonso rolled his eyes, “Then deal with it,” The soldier turned to give a firing order when a voice echoed through the ship. Tranquil yet tinged with madness.

-Antorbok, Redgamor, Xel’la’toth!-

A green energy rammed into the ship, killing almost all of the crew. Alfonso pushed the hunk of metal that was his Vice-Captain, thanking the Moons that he was alive. He stared at the small ship docking at his prey, for a second, and limped to the lifeboats.

Taku’s skinless face managed a grin as he stepped onto the small ship that had been “given” to him. He stared at the still figure in front of him. She was fairly beautiful, but nothing like petty looks would keep him from the Heart. The girl, hadn’t Xel’la’toth called her Fina?, awoke and gasped when she saw Taku. He wrapped a clawed hand around her throat and lifted her up into the air.
“Girl, where is the Essence of Mantorak?” His voice was muffled by the many bandages on his head. Despite the hand around her throat, Fina managed to deny knowledge of it.
“I’ll ask again! Where is the Essence!?!”
“I-I don’t know what your talking about!” Taku growled and hung the girl over the abyss below.
“TELL ME OR I’LL DROP YOU TO YOUR DEMISE, GIRL!!!” Before she could respond, a sudden explosion knocked them both onto a larger ship under them.

Aika sighed as the girl and the smoldering clump of her assailant fell onto the deck.
“Nice one Vyse, let’s just roast the girl we’re rescuing. Great expression of what Blue Rouges do,”
The man beside her shrugged, “Hey this is my first time using Pyri, cut me some slack!” The man he had targeted stood up, catching their attention. The bandages on his arms and head fell off, revealing the fleshless bones. Aika’s face paled.
“V-Vyse, is this guy a ghost?” At this, the “ghost” laughed.
“Oh no, I am very much alive. Which is more than what I will be able to say for you brats when I’m through,” He pulled the glaive off of his back and moved into a combat position. “Draw your weapon, boy, and face Uriath‘s rage! ”
“Ok, that’s enough of that crap!” A voice from above caused everyone to look up. Another man jumped from Uriath’s ship, to the fight below. He had medium length black hair, very pale skin, and midnight blue eyes. He tightened his gloves before speaking again, “It’s ridiculous when someone tries to act like something they aren’t. So cut the act and be yourself, Uriath,”
“Moria!!” The thing’s voice was much less impressive now, almost whiney, “Don’t ruin the mood!”
“If it’s a mood of deception and lies, I will,”
Large sweat drops formed on Vyse and Aika’s heads as the two continued to argue. Finally Vyse cleared his throat.
“Ummm… shouldn’t you be fighting us?” Uriath turned, a look of determination in the two balls of green flame that served as his eyes.
“Silence worm, and feel my wrath!” Both Vyse and Uriath charged.
“Cutlass Fury!!”
“Spire of Madness!!!”

Aika sighed as Vyse, once again, charged mindlessly into battle.
“I guess it’s just you and me than,” She jumped as the other man’s voice suddenly came from behind her, she could have sworn he had been on the other side of the ship a moment ago. Aika smiled.
“I’ll try to go easy on you,”
“Same here,”

Fina watched the battle rage on, scared because whichever side won, got her.

A few minutes later…

Vyse, panted heavily after using yet another Cutlass Fury. This guy was good, and just seemed to eat up his magic and SP Attacks like pie!
“HA!!  Pathetic human! You are nothing compared to me!” Uriath talked big, but he was on the verge of collapsing himself.
Aika was faring no better, she hadn’t landed a single shot! Finally, she concentrated all of her energy into her boomerang, “Back off! ALPHA STORM!!” When the lightshow ended, Aika could see nothing left of her opponent.
“My turn,” She turned in time to see a fist slam into her face and send her rocketing face-first into the mast.
Suddenly, Moria’s eyes widened, and he fell to the floor, breathing heavily. Taku immediately rushed to his side and asked quiet enough for only the two of them to here it, “How long has it been since you fed?”
“Long enough,”
“Right,” He pulled Moria to his feet, “We’re leaving,”
“Can’t I just take her for the road? I haven’t smelt blood this sweet since my first!” He giggled madly, causing a chill to creep up Uriath’s spine.
“Forgive me,” He brought his hand down, hard, on a pressure point and slung Moria’s still body on his shoulders. He looked at Fina, “Consider yourself lucky. You will here from us again,” With that he leapt back onto his ship and began to sail away.
“Till, we meet again, brat!” He called before vanishing into the clouds.
Vyse turned to look at the girl, “What’s his problem?”
“I honestly have no clue,”

Moria awoke back on Taku’s ship. Taku was standing over him. “Sorry, Taku. I screwed up big time,” Taku placed a hand on his shoulder. A warm look was on his face.
“Hey, we’re friends, we look out for each other. As long as your okay, you’ve got nothing to apologize for,” Moria smiled. He wished Taku would let others see this side of him. “Oh, I got you a present. In case your still hungry,” He pulled out a cage holding what was called a Looper inside.
“Thanks,”
“So while you were ‘away’, I heard about these things called Moon Crystals…”