Shokei...Shokei...Hey, Shokei...Please, wake up!

  Shokei was in a deep sleep. She woke up immediately as a voice calls out to her. From being put unconscious from the ambush, she looks to see that someone is watching her from above.

  "B-Beatrice?" Shokei asked.

  "Shokei!" Beatrice said to her, feeling gd that she is awake. "You're still here!"

  "Hmm, what..." Shokei rises up from the ground. There, she saw familiar faces. "R-Rei! Lei! Where were you two?!"

  "Consider that a long story." Rei said to her.

  "Shokei..." Lei said. "It seems that you have been brought here as well."

  "I see that." Shokei said and asked. "But where are we?"

  Shokei gets up from the floor and looks around. She sees that the area appears to be a tomb and there she can see that her allies are stuck in a cell altogether.

  "Oh geez!" Shokei said and then asked Rei. "How in the hell you two ended up getting here?"

  "Lei and I were spying on a mysterious man in a strange outfit." Rei tells her. "As soon as we reached up to him, we were ambushed in a small building."

  "I see." Shokei said.

  "What about you two?" Rei asked. "How did you end up here?"

  "Beatrice and I were at the vilge's tavern st night." Shokei tells her. "We were eyeing on a odd man with a red-stylish hair and has an eye patch. We walked into one of the tavern's rooms and then suddenly we were ambushed in the dark."

  "Damn!" Rei shakes her head. "That's crazy."

  "We never got the chance to react." Beatrice said.

  "That's messed up." Rei said. "At least we're still alive. Question is how the hell do we get out of here?"

  "I don't know." Shokei replied. "We'll have to think of something..."

  "Heeeeeeey, there's someone else in this cell!"

  The party is disrupted as they get their attention to someone in the same cell. Shokei turns to see a girl in her bunk bed as her clothes look dirty. The girl is wearing a brown dress and it resembles more of a princess. She has long blue hair with diamonds as her earrings. There is a medallion that is attached on the middle of her chest.

  "I know you're all talking among each other in here, but you do realize that there is one more in here in the same cell!" The girl said to the party.

  "Wait a minute..." Shokei said and asked. "Do you happen to be the missing daughter that was kidnapped in Granacur?"

  "Why...why yes. That's me!" The girl admits. "In fact, I'm the princess from the Kingdom of Ursaror."

  "Then, you must be Hyacinth." Shokei said.

  "Right...by the way, my father sent you guys out to find me. Is that true?" Hyacinth asked.

  "Yes." Shokei confirmed. "We been searching for you in that vilge, and we had no clue to where you were hiding."

  "Not in that vilge." Hyacinth said. "I was ambushed and kidnapped by those mystery men."

  "Yeah. We all have been kidnapped and put in here." Shokei said.

  "So, are you the only ones that traveled south to find me?" Hyacinth asked.

  "Yes, but we are not the only ones alone." Shokei tells her. "Our allies are out there, and I believe they're searching for us."

  "I'm gd to hear that." Hyacinth said. "I have been missing for days with just water and no food. I truly missed home..."

  Just then, the wooden door opens, and the party turns to see who is walking inside the small room. Shokei can see that it was the same guy from st night. The party can see that he is accompanied by two of his men as they stand there to the cell. Shokei sees the red-haired guy in his bck long jacket with his eye patch on one eye.

  "Oh no...its...its him." Hyacinth said with a worried look.

  "It is really him?" Shokei asked. "Is this man...the Shadow?"

  "Heheheh..." the man ughs. "Foolish beings. I am the one who goes by the name "Shadow." I am Robun the Desert Shadow, leader of Moonhawk."

  "Now it's clear who you guys are..." Shokei said. "Moonhawk."

  "Right, you are my dame!" Robun said with a grin. "I must welcome all of you to our secret hideout. This area is one that no one will ever find us within this sandy desert."

  "Why did you kidnap us?" Shokei asked him. "Why did you bring us here?"

  "Why?" Robun replied. "I have heard about a group of travelers coming to the vilge to find the missing girl that we have in here."

  "I see." Shokei said. "Don't think that we're the only ones who found the princess safe here. I'm sure that my own allies will come and find us here."

  "Really?" Robun asked with a ugh. Then he said, "You have found the princess. I take that as credit. However, don't even think that you and your friends will have a chance to escape this hideout. Finding your way out of here will be impossible as I speak."

  "Our friends are coming this way." Beatrice tells the leader. "When they find your so-called hideout, I promise that they will kill each and every one of you bastards."

  "Ha! Don't make me ugh." The Moonhawk leader said in a cold manner. "Your little friends are no match for my army of one hundred men that I have here in my turf. None will stand a chance against us. They are free to come here but guaranteed that they won't survive against us."

  "Grrrr!" Beatrice growled.

  "Now then," Robun turns to face one of his men. "I am putting you in charge of watching these dames in this cell. Keep an eye on them in case they try anything suspicious."

  The member of Moonhawk nodded. Robun and his cohort leaves whereas the cn member goes to his table on the right and sits back on the chair.

  "Ohhh...what do we do now?" Hyacinth asked.

  "There's nothing we can do now, princess." Shokei tells her. "We'll have to figure out a way to escape here. I just hope our friends come to save us."

  Back at Granacur, Shokei's party is waiting outside for Mizuki's raven to come back.

  "What's taking that raven so long to come back?" Marie asked, looking up in the sky. "We have no lead at this point, and I'm worried enough as it is."

  "Osicrus should return soon." Mizuki tells her. "He should be returning back to us."

  "Whatever it is, let's hope that raven will get some information where our friends are...and those men!" Marie said.

  "Look! The raven is flying back to us!" Tamiko said, pointing to the sky.

  The party looks to see Osicrus returning back to Mizuki. The raven flies back on her shoulder.

  "Osicrus, were you able to track down those men?" Mizuki asked him.

  Osicrus nodded.

  "Really?!" Mizuki asked. "Will you help us lead the way to where the men went off to?" Mizuki asked.

  Osicrus nodded and then it flies off again.

  "Come." Mizuki tells the party. "If we follow Osicrus, it will lead us to where our friends are located."

  "Does that raven ever gets tired of flying?" Marie asked.

  "No. I trained my pet well." Mizuki replied. "With its wings, he will never be tired of flying."

  "Interesting." Kichiro said.

  "We can't waste time. Let's go." Mizuki tells the party.

  Osicrus flies out of Granacur and the party follows up to the raven's lead.

  ----------

  Meanwhile, Shokei and her party are still stuck in Moonhawk's hideout. They are still inside the cell as they are figuring out a way to escape.

  "It's hopeless." Beatrice said. "There's no way we'll ever get out of here."

  "Don't say that." Rei said to her. "We still haven't figured out a pn to bail us out of here."

  "Perhaps...we can woo that cn guy and psyche him to get us out of this cell." Hyacinth said.

  "Ummm..." Shokei wanted to say something, but she shakes her head in disagreement.

  "I...guess not." Hyacinth said.

  "It's a good pn, but we still need some miracle to find our way out of here." Rei said.

  While sitting there, Lei looks carefully at Robun's cn members. He sees that the guard is sleeping and from there, she spots the key on the table.

  If I remain normal like this, we won't be out of this coop. Lei thought. Even at times like this, there's no way you can hold a Necromutant in a cell like this. I guess this is a moment where I need to act here. No worries...I'm getting us out of here!

  Quietly and being discreet, Lei sets her eyes on the key and stares at it directly. Then, she dims her eyes, concentrating on the key with her psychic powers to force the key to come to her. She takes her time as she attempts to make the key go from the desk to the cell.

  Come on Bck Death...focus...come to mommy...

  While Lei focuses on the key, Rei looks at her and sees what she was doing. Not only this caught her attention, but Shokei, Beatrice, and Hyacinth are witnessing Lei's ability. Lei concentrates hard to not make the key create a sound as she guides the key to the cell. Within seconds, the key went past through the bar gates and Lei receives the key in her hand.

  "Damn!" Rei said quietly with a surprised look. "I didn't see that coming!"

  Lei turns her attention to see her party. She holds the key and presents it in her hand.

  "What the?" Shokei said, seeing the key. "You didn't tell us that you have magic."

  "How did you do that?" Hyacinth asked. "I am amazed to see you pull that off."

  "I...I uhhh..." Lei tries to find the words to make a response and said, "I-I was born with psychic powers since birth."

  "You're serious?" Rei asked her.

  "Of course!" Lei replied. "I'd, I guess there are some things all of you never knew about me."

  Shokei and her party looked at each other. Then, they look back at Lei.

  "Either way, we are proud that you got the key." Shokei said to her. "Let's get out of here while we can."

  "Yes!" Lei said happily.

  Lei used the key to unlock the cell. Then, the gate opens with a slight creek noise when Lei carefully swings it open.

  "All right, we're out!" Hyacinth said in a whisper.

  "Shhh!" Beatrice said to her. "We need to be quiet if we're escaping."

  "Oh, sorry." Hyacinth apologized.

  "Hey! Look!" Shokei points out to Beatrice. "Our weapons are over there on the floor. Let's get them so that we can get the hell out of here."

  Shokei and Beatrice quietly walked over to recim their weapons back. Once retrieved, Shokei and her party leaves quietly as they are heading for the door. Before they could open the door, the door swings open and there was another Moonhawk cn member seeing the party is escaping the cell.

  "What the hell?!" The Moonhawk member shouted. "How did you all escape?!"

  "Great! We're busted!" Hyacinth said.

  The cn member that was sleeping in his chair wakes up to see the party leaving the cell. The guy then springs into action to attack.

  "Oh no you don't!" Lei said.

  Using her psychic abilities, Lei used force to push back the Moonhawk member to a wall and smmed him hard through telekinesis to knock him out. Rei rushed and jump kick the guard through a roundhouse and knocks him out with just one hit.

  "Great job you two!" Shokei said. "Let's get out of here!"

  The party leaves the room as they are making their way to escape.