On a television screen, a young brunette woman wearing leather armor appears with a big smile, "Welcome back to this exciting episode of Gerrie's Berries after-talk, where we get the chance to talk to our up and coming questers, and pick their brains. We are excited to have here today, the team that did the impossible." The camera pulls out to show James, Bay, Violet, and Rowan. The party all looked pretty nervous, except for Violet who looked both nervous and irritated, "They went into the second stage of the quest with high hopes, only for them to be dashed by a simple mistake of an inattentive administrator. Stuck in perpetual, hell until they miraculously escaped." The camera focus on Gerry who addresses her guests, "Thank you for coming on today."

The camera pulls out to show the interviewer and the team again as James answered, "Thanks it's great to be here."

"I'm sure you are all busy so I will get straight to the questions." She leans forward and asks excitedly, "What was it like?"

James began, "To put it simply it was..."

"It was A nightmare." Violet cut in, getting an annoyed look from Jame.

Gerry leaned back intrigued, "Care to elaborate?"

Violet took the lead answering, as the camera focuses on her, "At first it wasn't that bad, then it repeated, again and again." Violets body shook, "Eventually, you just start to retreat into your own mind, as your body moves on autopilot. Your mind slipping into a dream."

The camera cuts back to Gerry, as she brings her hands to her mouth, "My that sounds horrible." The group appears uncomfortable at the memory. Gerry sees this and in order to keep the interview going changes the subject, "Well let's move onto a more cheerful topic."

Gerry gestures to the whole group, "In your own words, how did it start?" She leans in smiling curiously, "Tell us how you all decided to join together, and start a party?"

The camera opens back to a wide shot of the four. They visibly let out a sigh of relief from the change of subject.

"Well," James started nervously, "all five of us have been good friends for a long time since we were kids. So it just seemed to make sense."

"Ah yes, the five of you." Gerry looks over the group looking hurt, "I was surprised to learn, your fifth member, an Aster Datura, couldn't make it. It is your first appearance as a team, one would think he would want to be here?"

James shifted uncomfortably, "Well. That's a funny story."

"Oh?" Gerry raised an eyebrow.

"Well..."

Violet cut James off, "We don't know where he is." Violet bluntly stated.

"Oh my." Gerry said aghast, "When was the last time you all saw him?

All four of the group gave each other an odd look.

Gerry, not one to miss something like that grabbed onto it, "What was that look for?"

The group was quiet, not sure what to say until James decided to answer "Well...none of us can agree."

"That would make it confusing," Gerry said understanding, but trailing to draw out more information.

James let out a long sigh, "The last we can all agree on was just after the first quest, and he was tossed out of the building for petty reasons."

"Strange." Gerry held her hand up to her ear seemingly getting a message. She sat up straight with a big smile as the camera zoomed in on her. "Oh! I am getting word we have a clip of the exact moment your talking about." The camera zoomed out to show the group's surprised reactions, before cutting back to Gerry, "Why don't we take a look."

The screen changes to show all five of the team, including Aster, opening up the first quest egg. To reveal five items appear in front of each of them Scales for James, Heart for Bay, Caduceus for Violet, Yin Yang medallion in front of Rowan, and a mask in front of Aster. The video continued showing the Mayor discussing something and then switched perspective to show Aster being dragged out.

Aster is then shown walking aimlessly through the streets for a while, before the footage becomes static but not before catching a glimpse of people in masks.

The screen cuts back to just the group, as they all watched the footage completely lost, "What was that?" James asked as the camera cuts to Gerry and she is raising her arms.

"We don't know." Gerry leans forward, "Isn't that exciting?"

"No." Bay chimed loudly annoyed, "What happened to our friend?"

"Anything is speculation, but with everything going static like that. It indicates these were some powerful people."

"Why would they take aster?" Bay demanded.

Gerry smiled knowingly, "This may have to do with your first quest mission. Let's take a look at some footage of the it, maybe it will explain."

The screen cuts to the party standing on a hilltop, standing alone for a moment before the first creature appears, and the team quickly dispatch the monster, with James being the only one injured. Then notice Aster wander around, coming back after a short time, then it cut to the next day the number of wolves doubled, and Aster went for a walk after. This repeated for the ten days of the mission cutting only to the end, showing only those injured, not the fights, and each time Aster would walk off. Even the group was finding it strange he kept wandering off.

It was the final fight when they found the misty person appearing, fighting and Aster was nowhere to be found. Then the screen showed Aster in the tree. The group watching the fight could only remark at how different the two fought to each other.

The screen cut back to the studio. Bay quietly asked Violet, "Did you think it was gonna be Aster too?"

Violet nodded, "But there is no way. Look at the way he fights versus Aster."

Bay nodded.

Gerry looking excited, "Well, I can't say I saw anything there, but that misty person really seemed to help, and if I'm being told correctly this wasn't your first encounter with them."

James's eyes widened, "How?" Then it hit him, "I was carrying the egg."

"Correct."

"Um, yes he actually gave me my sword," James answered chagrined.

"Any idea who it is?"

"No." James shook his head, but looking at his team they seemed to be making their own conclusions.

Gerry looked disappointed before giving a pointed smile, "Let's talk about your missing member real quick." Snapping everyone to lock onto Gerry.

"Did you know he was there at the end?" Gerry inquired.

The screen switched to show the wide-eyed shock of the party, James exclaiming "What?"

"Yes!" Gerry said excitedly, "We've been reviewing the footage, and due to the amount there are even instances of him being there." The entire part was in disbelief as they numbly looked on, "Let's take a look."

The screen cuts to footage of the four chained to a wall and a suspiciously empty spot. Suddenly, the spot had Aster in it chained, then he was gone. He kept appearing and disappearing, as though, the footage wasn't sure if he was there or not.

The screen cuts to another scene where a black lion lay dead and Aster again appears for just a moment before he was gone.

The scene changed back to the studio with the team looking on confused. With Bay asking, "Why was he popping in and out?"

Gerry let out a small giggle, "We had the same question, and got a big technical answer back." Gerry held back another laugh, "Apparently, it's due to the amount of footage, because everything seemed to keep happening the same way it started to only record things it deemed as new, and wasn't sure what to do with him. Hence the blinking in and out." The group listened to the explanation and before they could ask anything Gerry continued, "In fact, the clearest footage we have of him, is when he pulled you all into the room."Gerry seeing the stunned silence of the group, smiles and leans in again, "Speaking of which. Let's talk about what everyone is excited about. Your escape. What can you all tell us about it?"

The camera zooms out to show the party looking a little lost on what to say, when James speaks up, "Honestly, almost nothing. We were too far gone, and we seem to have conflicting memories of it."

"Your talking about the mysterious mist person?" Gerry asked intrigued.

"How'd you know?" James asked surprised.

"We actually have some footage of when he saved you." The four of them looked at each other confused, "Would you like to see?"

James speaks up, "I think we would."

The screen changed again this time showing the whole team all lost and distant, with some static going in and out of the video.

The tape showed James running around swinging a sword randomly, Rowan collapsed, Bay standing and Violet huddled over nothing. In the center of the screen was a man covered in mist fighting a man they all were familiar with through Aster, Cane. The fight was fast but interesting as the misty man threw disk after disk exploding shrapnel at Cane slowly whittling him away. But even with the static, they could tell the misty fighter was still being pushed back when James suddenly rushed forward taking the heat off him for just a moment before continuing on.

Then the mist man exploded into hundreds of copies, as the fight turned and Cane went down. As he did the static covered the footage.

Switching back to the studio, James absently asked, "Is that what happened?

"Yes."

"Why not show the rest?" Bay asked.

Gerry's eyes twinkled, "This was all the footage we received, apparently there was a massive magical surge soon after that interfered with the newer footage."

"But why was cane there?" James asked.

Gerry taken aback, "You know the man?"

"Yeah, he was a friend of a friend." Rowan answered contemplating, "Was he trying to save us?

"Actually, that man was the administrator who trapped you."

"What?" James asked stunned.

"It's very surprising you know the man. Perhaps this was some kind of revenge?" Gerry asked intrigued.

Everyone shook their heads. James replied adamant, "No there was no reason for him to do that to us or anyone."

"None at all?" Gerry prodded.

"None," James answered.

"Violet looked to Gerry almost pleading, "Who was the one who saved us?

"The dancer in the mists," James said wistfully.

"I like it," Gery said excitedly.

Bay looked confused, asked tentatively, "So that was Aster fighting?"

Gerry leaned forward, "Here's the best part." She paused for dramatic effect, "It's not. We have it on good authority based on in-depth analysis that this is, in fact, someone else."

"Then where was Aster during the fight?" Bay paused, "And who is the misty guy?"

"You remember how after the fight the crystals rose." The group gave a hesitant nod, as an image of a large crystal appeared on screen, "We believe Aster found access to it during the fight and was working on activating it. Having only succeeded at the end." Then she gestured to an image of a dancer in the mist that appeared on screen, "And the misty guy hit the crystal to get out of there before he ever came up. As for who he is, we think Aster knows him and has been having him help your team in the background."

"That might explain a few things." Violet comments

"Who is he?" Bay asked annoyed.

Gerry leaned back into her chair, "That is the million coin question, but he disappeared after the fight as it was Aster who saved you, pulling you to the crystal." The camera zoomed out and saw the team had nothing else to say focused back on Gerry, "A mystery hero, oh the season is shaping up to be amazing. Can you give us a sneak peek for your next quest?"

James smiled trying to compose himself, "That would be telling."

"That is all the time we have today, thank you for coming out."

"Our pleasure," James said as the group now had a lot to think on, and to plan for.

The camera pans out as it cuts to a commercial.