Disclaimer: Skies of Arcadia is the property of Sega and Overworks. Steambot Chronicles is the property of irem and Atlus.
The beginning of this story is the same chronologically as the beginnings of both Skies of Arcadia and Steambot Chronicles.
--
The captain of the Valuan Patrol Ship yawned in the high seat at the rear of the bridge. The patrols in Mid Ocean between Sailor's Island and the Grand Fortress were necessary to check entry passports, but extremely uneventful in between the occasional merchants. He thought wistfully of whatever errand the flagship of the 1st Fleet was on far to the south under the Silver Moon. The Admirals always get the choice assignments, he thought without rancor. It was only natural, he supposed, especially with such a highborn admiral as Alfonso. It was probably given to him by Lord Galcian, or even Empress Teodora herself!
He roused himself from his thoughts long enough to glance on the helmsmen, who seemed to be doing okay. Satisfied, the captain began mulling over Alfonso's activities again. Maybe he's going to secure that little island as an outpost, the one with the windmill--
CRACK!
The captain yelped and threw an armored hand up to cover his eyes from the flash of light that streamed in through the bridge's windows. What happened?! Are we under attack?! In Mid Ocean of all places? Damned Nasreans must have launched a sneak attack! The captain rose from the high seat, opening his mouth to shout commands. Then his eyes fell on what was lying just forward of the ship and he felt his jaw sag the rest of the way open in shock.
Where before he could see the distant view of the lighthouse on Sailor's Island, there was... something in the way. It looked a bit like the vortex in deep sky under the Silver Moon, except that it was vertical and just hanging in midsky. It glowed with its own inner light, highlighting the the spiralled arms of the vortex and they spun and drew inexorably into the center...
The Valuan captain shook his head abruptly, snapping himself out of the near hypnotic state he'd been in. The helmsmen had been shouting at him, sounding more frantic by the second. "Orders, sir!" While he'd stood frozen, the ship had been continuing on its course - which led straight into the vortex!
"Full stop!" he shouted, and grabbed ahold of the arms of his seat as the Patrol Ship jerked forward with the sudden braking. "Status report!"
"No perceptible damage to the ship, sir," one of the helmsmen replied, checking the various gauges on his console. "The hull is intact, and the engines - Sir! We're still moving forward!"
"What?! I ordered full stop!" The captain jumped up from his seat and rushed to the railing to see the vortex growing closer through the bridge's windows.
"We did, sir! That... thing out there is pulling us towards it!"
The captain felt himself go cold and clamped a desperate hand on the railing in front of him, as if he could hold the entire ship back by himself. "Full reverse! Get us away from that vortex!"
The deck rumbled beneath his feet as the engine's power output went flat out, the propellers of the small patrol ship churning at the sky to fight the pull of the vortex. That slowed their forward momentum but, from the way the vortex continued to grow through the bridge's window, it couldn't stop it. "More power!"
"We're giving it all we've got, captain! We're getting pulled in!"
The light throughout the bridge of the Patrol Ship took on a harsh tinge, as if the entire ship were under the glare of a spotlight but more so. As the captain watched, the differences between the light and dark on everything around him grew until everything appeared to be black and white. Then everything seemed to smudge together as an all-encompassing whooshing sound reverberated throughout the ship.
The captain blinked as his surroundings suddenly came back into focus. The colors of everything were back to the way they were, and below he could hear the engine groaning in protest as the Patrol Ship was thrown abruptly forward. "All stop!"
"Aye sir, all stop!"
The engine went quieter as the propellers stopped spinning, and the captain blinked as he looked through the bridge window to see blue sky. Wait, but we were just in Valua, weren't we? The sun never shines in Valua.
"Navigator, plot our current position. Are we near Sailor's Island?"
The captain walked down the steps to the small table that held the map of the lands of the Yellow, Red and Silver Moons, with the sky rifts marking its boundaries. The navigator grabbed the sextant from beside it and consulted the map briefly before stepping up to the bridge window and bringing the instrument to his eye.
A moment later he brought the sextant back down and stared down. "Captain, I think you should see this..."
"What is it?" the captain asked irritably. He may have been bored of checking entry passports, but this entire situation had him completely out of his depth. A short walk to the window and he started to rebuke the navigator, then his eyes were drawn to the ground below.
Ground below?! We were just in Mid Ocean! The Patrol Ship was now hovering over what appeared to be a large lake, and surrounding it were mountains with reflections on the water's glassy surface. He could see distantly see signs of habitation on the northern and southern edges of the lake, and beyond that...
"All I can see is land, sir," the navigator said. "Where are the edges of this island?"
"I don't think this is an island," the captain muttered, more informally than was usually the norm in the Imperial Armada. "A land mass this large has to be some sort of continent, but..."
He trailed off, but the navigator nodded in agreement. The only continents in the known world were those of Valua and Nasr, and the continent below was neither the bare rock of Valua nor the heat-blasted deserts of Nasr. The mountains and land surrounding the lake were green. Have we found the lands of the Green Moon, perhaps?
The captain suddenly noticed that the lake below was drawing closer by the minute. "Helmsmen, why are we dropping skyward?"
"I... I'm not sure, sir. The engines are functioning normally, but we're dropping anyway."
The captain frowned. There was no vortex down below to be pulling them skyward, so why weren't they staying afloat? "Compensate for the drop and keep us up," he ordered, and the engine churned back into motion. Their slow descent suddenly stopped and the captain heard an almost inaudible sigh of relief run through the bridge. The captain smiled in agreement. It was about time something went right.
One of the guards standing next to the speaking tube straightened from it as the captain turned back to face the bridge. The guard saluted and said, "Captain, the lookout reports that the vortex is moonside to our stern."
The frowned and nodded. It made sense if they had been dropping that it would be above them now. What kind of vortex is that? As far as he knew, vortexes only appeared in high wind areas and, to a lesser extent, in water. But as far as he knew, vortexes weren't supposed to send ships to completely different areas. And if they were in a completely different area with no immediate way back to Valua...
Then that vortex is our only way back, he thought grimly. "Helmsmen, bring us about and bring us moonside until we're even with that vortex."
The helmsmen looked at him, startled. "Sir?" one of them squeaked.
"We're... we're going to try and pass back through the vortex," he said, then jutted his jaw outward firmly to bely his earlier stutter. "It's the only way we know of back to Valua. Are you questioning my orders?"
"N-no sir. Right away, sir!" The helmsman who had spoken before hurriedly went about his task, and the Patrol Ship rose steadily as it turned a 180 to face the vortex again. As it did the captain mounted the steps back to the high seat and took his place on it. Soon the bow of the ship was pointing back towards the vortex, and the captain took a deep breath. If we make it back to Valua, I'll never complain about checking entry passports again.
"Take us in," he said, and clenched a hand on one of his armrests. The Valuan Patrol Ship moved forward, and picked up speed as it neared the vortex and its pull added to their momentum. The captain slitted his eyes against the strange lighting effect that occurred before, and then--
He blinked as the ship shot forward, then abruptly slowed to its normal speed. The captain looked out the bridge windows and smiled in relief. The sky was one again an inky black, and he could see the familiar spotlights of the Grand Fortress in the distance. They were back! Although...
"Query to the lookout: is that vortex still there?"
The guard lowered his face to the speaking tube and blew in it to gain the lookout's attention, then relayed the question. After a moment he rose and replied, "Aye, sir. The vortex is still there."
The captain nodded slowly, then stood from his seat. "Vice Captain, you have the bridge. I'll be in my cabin." He strode off of the bridge as the Vice Captain and the guards at the doorway saluted, then continued down the hallway.
Lord Galcian will want to know about this, he thought. If that vortex is some sort of shortcut to the land of the Green Moon, then that will surely give Valua an edge over Nasr!
And if that wasn't the land of the Green Moon... A small, fierce smile stretched across the Valuan captain's face. Then it will still profit Valua one way or another.
--
Willy walked alongside the Flap Flyer as his big brother Otto brought it to the top of the hill. "I don't know about this, bro," Willy said dubiously. "The Flyer's legs weren't looking too sturdy after the last attempt..."
"This time it'll work!" Otto said confidently - of course, that's how he'd sounded every try since the beginning. "Here I go!"
The specialized wing frames the two of them had built for the trotmobile stretched out to either side of the Flap Flyer. Otto pushed the control sticks for the Flap Flyer forward and it began running forward, its legs making some alarming grinding noises.
Willy, alarmed, began to run after the Flyer, but then Otto started flapping the wings and propelled the trotmobile into the air. For one glorious moment it hung in the sky and Otto let out a whoop - then it began falling like it had every other time before and Otto's whoop rapidly transformed into a yelp.
Willy winced as the Flap Flyer landed and, as he'd feared, the legs buckled. The trotmobile fell forward until the forward prow of the torso dug into the dirt, then skidded forward cutting a furrow into the ground. Well, if the farm grew wheat instead of raising livestock, Mom would probably be glad we're at least helping with the plowing, he thought ruefully.
Willy cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Brother, are you alright?" Even as he called, he saw Otto pull himself out of the trotmobile and, apparently okay, started stomping and kicking dirt at the wrecked Flap Flyer.
Glad his brother was alright Willy sighed and turned back towards their garage, bringing a hand up and holding the bridge of his nose just below his glasses. "Well, back to the old drawing board," he said to himself, then looked back up towards the sky that both drew and taunted him and his brother. "Maybe flying trotmobiles really are just a--"
Willy blinked behind his glasses as he saw a shape in the sky over Lake Luminoso. "What's that? A bird?" But as he watched, it was moving straight up. "Don't know of any bird that can do that," he commented aloud. Curious, he ran for the garage and grabbed the telescope off the workbench. But by the time he got back outside and brought it to his eye, the whatever-it-was was already gone.
Behind him, Otto trudged back up the hill and blinked behind his goggles as he saw his little brother aiming a telescope out over the lake. "What's up?" he asked.
"Thought I saw something out there. Nothing out there now except some crazy looking cloud," Willy replied, then shrugged as he closed the telescope.
Otto slapped Willy on the back. "Come on! Let's get the Flyer back up to the garage and see if we can move the wing frames to the spare trotmobile." He hurried on into the garage.
Willy glanced back at the weird cloud, then shook his head and followed Otto.