Hah, I think I spelled Ashe's middle name wrong in the last chapter... Go me for not checking the spelling... Anyway, now the story is starting to come to an end. But at least Princess Larsa and Basch get rescued!

Larsa: Stop that! I'm not girl!

Enjoy!

Chapter 9 -- Rescued!

The large dinosaur finally fell to the ground, vanquished. Basch rested on his sword as he stopped to catch his breath.

Those stupid rare monsters always show up at the worst possible times, he thought gloomily. He was curious as to why Larsa had not yet returned from the top of the hill. He looked up, but it was too far away for him to see much. The smoke from before was also beginning to die down.

Basch sighed and picked up his sword. Slowly he trudged up the hill, hoping to see Larsa at the top. However, when he reached the top Larsa was no where to be found.

"Lord Larsa!" Basch called out, but there was no answer. "I hope he went in the direction of the smoke," he mumbled to himself. Inside he was genuinely worried about the young lord, but since he rarely shows any kind of emotion, you wouldn't have seen the worry on his face. With the sun setting in front of him, Basch continued on in the direction of the smoke, occasionally calling for Larsa as he went.

Little Larsa, meanwhile, was slowly falling asleep at the Bangaa camp. The Bangaa, in their politeness, had given him a private room on their ship, so no one would disturb him. However, he deeply missed his nice, soft, fluffy bed back in Archades, and soon he was thinking about Penelo and Vaan.

That speech of mine is supposed to be tomorrow, isn't it? he thought suddenly. Everyone's probably in a panic over Sir Basch and me being missing. Goodness, I hope Vaan and Penelo have everything under control there...

"Get up! We're moving out!" a gruff voice shouted outside. Larsa quickly sat up and heard more voices shouting orders.

"We've found him! He's on our radar!"

"That fool can't get away from us now!"

Larsa peered out the window and saw an airship coming toward them. Unfortunately, it was dark enough outside that he could not see what kind of ship it was.

"Get the hostage!"

A Bangaa burst into Larsa's room and pointed a spear at him. "All right, time to make yourself useful, Princess!"

Larsa got up and followed the Bangaa into the ship's cockpit. Ba'Gamnan was powering the ship up and making it ready to fly. On hearing Larsa enter the room, he turned and faced the little emperor.

"Sorry to wake you, Princess, but we need to use you as bait to reel in our biggest target," he explained. "If we say that a girl is aboard, the fool will definitely come to rescue her!" Then he burst out into a gruff laughter.

Soon the ship was in the air, chasing after the other airship. One of the Bangaa tried shooting at the ship, but Ba'Gamnan hit him sharply on the head.

"You idiot! We need him alive! Shoot at the wings, not the cockpit!"

The chase continued for several more minutes. Finally, Ba'Gamnan decided to make use of his "bait."

He grabbed the intercom system and shouted, "All right, pirate! We have an offer for you! Slow down and maybe we can make an agreement!" However, the other ship continued to fly ahead. Larsa thought he saw a small pod shoot out from the underside of the ship, but he didn't want to say anything.

"Fool! We have a princess aboard!" Ba'Gamnan shouted frantically. "If you turn yourself in, we'll set her free!" He quickly turned to Larsa and whispered, "Scream or something! We need to convince him!"

"Uhh..." Larsa was slowly getting less thrilled about getting treated like a girl. He gave a short squeal. "Ahh! Save me! Save me!" he squeaked in a monotonous voice.

"Fine, whatever," Ba'Gamnan mumbled. "Hear that, pirate? She's scared! You should come rescue the girl!" he yelled into the intercom.

"Already taken care of."

Everyone turned to see none other than Balthier Bunansa standing at the entryway to the cockpit, pointing a gun at them.

"H-how did you get on board?!" Ba'Gamnan squeaked. The sky pirate had caught him completely unarmed.

"What, you mean you didn't see that escape pod shoot out of my ship and attach to yours?" Balthier grinned. "You lizards are more dense than I thought!" He eyed Larsa and almost started laughing when he recognized him. "So, hand over the 'princess'. I have you cornered."

"Grr!" Ba'Gamnan looked around at each of his companions. "Fine! You win this time, Balthier!" He pushed Larsa over to Balthier, who was still pointing his gun at the bounty hunters.

"Also, I want you to land this ship now," Balthier ordered.

"What?!" Ba'Gamnan grunted and reluctantly followed his orders. The Strahl also landed in front of them.

The bounty hunters exited the ship in front of Balthier and Larsa. Larsa also saw Fran emerge from the Strahl.

"Well, now that this lovely...princess..." Balthier was having trouble containing his laughter. "Now that she has been rescued, I'm sure she would like to have you all arrested for kidnapping a royal official. Isn't that right, Princess?"

"My thoughts exactly," Larsa replied with a grin.

"No!! Don't arrest us!" Ba'Gamnan pleaded. "Please! We were just trying to use her as bait! We would have let her go eventually!"

"Too late for that," Larsa replied. "Once I return home I shall have you all thrown in prison!"

The Bangaa returned to the ship and were forced to fly behind the Strahl on a tether, so they wouldn't try to escape. Larsa and Balthier boarded the Strahl behind Fran and entered the cockpit.

"Lord Larsa! Thank goodness you are unharmed!" Basch stood up from one of the chairs and bowed before the little emperor. "I apologize for failing in my duties to protect you, my lord."

"It's all right, Sir Basch!" Larsa exclaimed. "If I hadn't been captured, we might not have been rescued by Balthier and Fran!"

"We found Basch while we were escaping from the Bangaa," Fran explained. "He said he had lost you, and we figured that Ba'Gamnan had something to do with it."

"So, Larsa," Balthier interrupted. "Explain why you are dressed like a little princess in the middle of the desert."

Larsa sighed and explained about the "vacation" and the thornbush ruining his clothes.

"Vaan. Why does that not suprise me," Balthier sighed. "Well, I suppose we can take you two back to Archades... my lady."

"Balthier! It's not funny! I've had to deal with being called 'my lady' and 'princess' all afternoon! I'm so tired of this dress!" Larsa whined.

"I think it suits you," Fran noted. Balthier finally burst out into violent laughter.

"Well," he said after catching his breath, "Let's go back to Archades before Vaan blows up the capital, shall we?"