Part IV

Queen Marie of Centrotia giggled slightly at the sight of the incoming ship. A large aircraft, gleaming metallic blue and very similar in appearance to her own ships. Nevertheless their disguise was pathetic, if that's what it was supposed to be. This airship stood no chance against Centrotia, so Marie had decided not to alert the fleet inside the hangar. Putting them on standby would be pointless as they needed resting time before invasion of the era could begin. Though that would only happen once EyE was recovered.

"Who are these foolish unfortunates, and why does their ship look so similar to those of our fleet?" she asked rhetorically, drumming her fingers across her eloquent and finely embellished desk. The material it was made of was unclear, as it was with much of the furniture and the throne room itself.

"Intelligence gathered from the database on the now-departed 'Balamb Garden' would suggest the creators of that vessel are humans based in Esthar." Fire Ceremony elaborated, watching the view screen of the approaching shape of the Kalevala.

"A human establishment? My, how things change." The Queen chuckled. "And who'd have thought the monkey-children could ever build airships? In any case, we'll have to start with wiping them out. What did the Balamb Garden database say about the Shumi's current situation?"

"Surprisingly little, actually-" Fire Ceremony's voice was cut off by a warning siren.

"CAUTION, SHIELDS AND WEAPONS OFFLINE. ENEMY UNIT IN RANGE." Came the sound of a very natural voice from the computer.

"What?" The Queen hit a button on her desk to bring up a holographic projection of a Centran. "Why are our shields down and weapons offline?" She demanded.

"Not only that, Great One, our engines have also been disabled by an override from a high-up level." The female Centran replied.

The beautiful Queen scowled deeply, fury boiling up inside her, turning her features from benevolence to tyranny. "That little bi-"

* * *

The Princess pulled her small ID pin out of the hole as the computer accepted the override command. Being a Royal had its advantages. Once she'd seen the Kalevala approach, she'd rushed to the cells and freed the SeeD and Garden staff with relative ease. The prison was guarded by droids that were programmed to follow royal orders without question. The young Centran stepped back into the corridor, where Alex, Liana, Kodansha and Juri stood on lookout for the rest of the students and staff crowding the corridor for a way back. Kodansha and Alex stood at the front, looking awkwardly defenceless.

"Inside the next room down is the prisoner's armoury, we should find your weapons there." The Centrotia Princess beckoned them on.

"What are we gonna do about Carlie?" Liana asked, setting down Carlie against the wall carefully. Up until now she'd been carrying her friend on her back. "She's too heavy to carry for long."

"Kodansha could carry her." Juri pointed out, smiling.

"I think Alex should carry her." Kodansha swung the focus onto Alex with a smug grin.

"Uh, me?" Alex asked unusually unsure.

"Yeah, go on! I think you should!" Liana smiled.

"Y'know, I'm not sure whether I can do that…"

"Carry her, dammit!" Liana yelled, then grinned.

Alex mumbled something before dropping to one knee and dragging Carlie onto his back.

"Now we must hurry on." The Princess said, a slight giggle allowing her amusement with the subject to slip.

"We'll be okay, you better get outta sight before the Queen finds out it's you." Liana smiled at her. "We're already very thankful for your help."

"It will only be a matter of time before she figures out, I fear. I simply cannot stay here." The young girl shook her head.

"Then we'll protect you." Kodansha said grimly, walking ahead with Alex to the armoury. As the SeeD arrived inside they were greeted with the sight of two Centra investigating the myriad weapons of the Garden members.

"Hands off that gunblade." Alex placed Carlie against an ammunition crate, before turning to the Centran man holding his Twin Mithril gunblade.

Kodansha ran forward and threw herself into a dropkick, knocking the Centran man senseless. The Gunblade fell to the floor with a clatter, as the female Centran ran forward and swung for Kodansha with Juri's Oniyari. Kodansha's eyes widened and she back flipped onto a light fitting quickly, which promptly collapsed beneath her. As she fell, Alex ran forward and took the Gunblade from the floor, turning to face the Centran woman.

"Hit her!" Juri called, running up.

Alex charged forward, but his attack lost momentum as he neared and his opponent viciously struck against the gunblade, knocking him back. She ran forward attacking him more with the Oniyari. He brought the gunblade up and blocked the attacks, but didn't strike out.

Suddenly a gunshot rung out and the Centran woman cringed, holding her shoulder before dropping to the ground in front of him. Behind where she'd been, Liana stood with one of her pistols outstretched and a slight smile on her face.

"What happened to you?" Juri walked over and picked up her Oniyari as more SeeD and students poured into the armoury.

"Um…" Alex sighed, folding his arms and looking away at the floor.

"Ya can't hit girls?" Liana laughed.

"You see right through me." Alex said monotonously.

"Let's just hit the road." Kodansha said, taking her short, straight sword from a case. "Though not literally, with our distinct shortage of roads." She grinned momentarily.

"Kody… was that a joke?" Liana smiled. "Did you just crack a light-hearted comment?"

"Get over it kid." Kodansha grunted, and began to rummage around the piles of weapons and items. Liana grinned to herself.

The many students and Garden staff had gathered their weapons and began to head out of the armoury with haste. Kodansha made a grab for another of the Centran guns she'd acquired earlier, but Alex tugged at her shoulder to restrain her.

"It'll only slow you down." He cautioned.

Kodansha looked back for a moment, then nodded in a silent sign of acknowledgement. The two SeeD followed the rest of their companions out of the door and down the corridor toward the hangar, Alex picking up Carlie as he went. At the front of the crowd of prisoners, Liana and Juri ran with the Princess. Both the SeeD and the Shadow Hunter kept a careful eye around them, both to protect the princess and be ready for any danger to themselves and the Garden's students. After running for a while, they paused at an intersection of passages. A tired Headmaster Cid and slightly more energetic Xu stepped past the students.

"Which way is the hangar?" Xu asked. The Centran princess pointed silently to a tall doorway on their left. They walked up to it, and the Princess slid her ID pin into the slot. With a swift click, the tall doorway opened to reveal the massive interior hangar.

The huge bay was filled with long boat-like airships hanging in mid-air, long elegant Centran craft. The hangar door was closed ahead, a similar opening to the one the Garden had come through.

"To let in your friends, we'll have to open those blast doors. They're far too tough to be destroyed easily." The Princess explained as Alex and Kodansha stepped up to them. "I need some people to come with me, and some to head for the nearest empty docking port to the hangar entrance."

Headmaster Cid nodded. "I would like Xu to command defence here. Alex and Juri, assist the Princess in opening the doors. Take Nida with you for technical advice."

"Understood." Alex nodded.

"Alrighty." Liana grinned. "Kodansha and I will help the defence here."

"Here," Xu tossed a small radio to Alex. "Keep in contact."

Alex nodded. "Let's go."

* * *

Juri turned to see Alex had caught up, but Nida and the Centran were still running. As they rounded the corner, a group of four Centran Guards turned around, drawing out weapons…

To the surprise of the SeeD and Shadow Hunter, they had gunblades. Or at least, some twisted equivalent.

"Alex, keep going with the Princess and Carlie, I'll catch up with you." Juri said, before leaping forward and striking one of the Centra down with her Oniyari.

"Right." Alex nodded, stepping with Nida and the Princess. "Don't do anything stupid!" He called after her.

Juri grinned to herself, before engaging another Centran. She leapt upwards into the air, higher than was rationally possible. The guards looked around, momentarily puzzled that their enemy appeared to have disappeared. Suddenly she came down from nowhere, lancing her weapon into another guard. Seeing her weak point appear, one of the two remaining Centra cast a Demi spell on her. She winced under the pain, falling forward with a cry. Rolling over, she looked up at her enemy as the second cast Firaga on her. She gritted her teeth as the flames ravaged her senses. The fire was not real, only the pain was. The fearful effect of magic.

She struggled to stand, when one of the guards turned to look at something. As if from nowhere, Alex ran forward and struck down one of the guards with his gunblade and began to duel the other. Juri stepped wearily forward as Alex struck down the remaining Centran.

"What did you come back for? You have to protect the Princess, she has the ID pin!" Juri said to him.

"That's a chance I had to take." Alex shrugged. "Nida and the Princess will be okay, and Carlie's with them."

"What?" Juri shook her head.

"Hey, hang on. Look!" Alex pointed to the gunblade on the dead Centran's body. As they watched, the gunblade slowly morphed into a small, thin rod.

"What the..?" Juri frowned.

"Let's just go, and think about it later." Alex urged.

"Right." Juri nodded in agreement.

Xu and Liana ran along the thin gantry carefully, trying to attain a balance between speed and caution. The Esthar ship would be here any second, and the Princess had said it would only be a matter of time before Queen Marie can get the circuits re-routed for the shield, engine and weapons systems.

They neared the empty gantry clamp, and stood ready. The Centra probably knew they were here, and it would only be a matter of time before they started to make a nuisance of themselves.

"I'll keep a watch over this doorway." Liana drew her two pistols and crouched beside a large, oddly shaped container.

"One of those Centran guns would've been really useful for this." Kodansha mumbled. "(Why didn't I take one? I shouldn't have listened to him. Just because somebody says something, I guess it doesn't mean it's right.)"

"Something wrong, Miss Fujal?" Xu asked her.

"Nothing, thankyou. And my name is Kodansha." The SeeD ninja corrected.

Xu shrugged. She had heard of Kodansha Fujal from a colleague in Galbadia Garden, so she had known what to expect when the ninja had joined them.

"Heads up, guys. Here they come." Liana grimaced as a number of Centrans appeared at the hangar doorway far beneath them. Taking a case from a student standing nearby, she pulled her sniper rifle from it and laid aim.

"What're you gonna do, shoot them all?" Xu asked. There was no trace of either approval or condemnation in her words.

"No." Liana replied. "I'm going to try and pin them down."

Queen Marie stood and gave a sigh of frustration.

"I will conduct this myself, as you all appear to be so incapable." She announced, stepping out of the throne room and into the corridor.

"You two, there." She barked. "With me. I will not allow these insolent monkey-children to escape me like this." She strode angrily into the opened control cockpit of a large robot dragon, bigger than the previous ones she had used. The two other Centrans walked in and sat down inside.

"Let's show them who they're dealing with." She smirked as the jaw-like canopy of the machine descended over herself and her two pilots, and the giant mechanical dragon arose before diving into a hole that led into the network of tubes to the hangar…

The Princess slid her ID pin into the hole again, but the error simply repeated itself. 'No authorised codes'.

"Damn…" Juri cursed.

"She must've locked out my codes." The Princess realised. "She knows."

Alex punched the hard steel wall in anger. "There's gotta be something we can do. We're runnin' out of time, fast."

Liana cursed and abandoned her position next to a cargo crate. She quickly scuttled over to Xu, who was surveying the closing Centra.

"I can't pin them anymore, they're using dragon-like robots again." Liana sighed. "The soldiers just hide behind them."

"You've seen these dragon machines before?" Xu kept her eye on a distant group of Centran soldiers. Suddenly they looked up toward the two SeeD, and one of them launched a salvo of rockets from her gun, the same sort Kodansha had found.

Liana and Xu dived in opposite directions as the rockets flew past and exploded against the massive bulkhead. Pieces of the projectiles and a cloud of dust sprayed the hangar walkway they stood on, but the bulkhead seemed unscathed.

"Yeah, when we first met the Queen we met some…" Liana grunted, standing up slowly. Both she and Xu were now concealed behind two large containers on either side of the gap the rockets had come from.

"The Centra seem to have two hand-held weapons." Xu deduced. "One is a large rapid-fire hand cannon with a rocket launcher, the other is a morphing rod that imitates enemy weapons."

"I noticed some return fire from sniper rifles." Liana nodded, their conversation still being called over a four-meter gap.

"I think it's so they can adapt to our fighting strategies. The other gun is just for extra heavy firepower." Xu concluded.

"Let's see them adapt to this…" Liana peered around the corner with her rifle…

"What's the situation, ma'am?" Alex queried Xu on the radio, looking around the silent control room as Nida and the Princess desperately worked on opening the hangar doors. Carlie lay peacefully in the corner against the wall, a slight smile frozen on her face.

"Kodansha is a little injured, but I think she'll be okay. We have four casualties, and can barely hold our perimeter. You must get those doors open."

"The Princess' ID pin no longer works, we're gonna have to try something different." Alex informed her, holding the radio up to his lips as he spoke again.

"Understood, Alex. Make this quick. Xu out."

"Hey, I think I've found out how to bypass the authorisation code." Nida said calmly, clamping onto the panel one of several electronic devices he had carried.

"Let's get ready to get outta here." Alex picked up Carlie again.

Juri tapped him on the shoulder. "It appears we have some company." She nodded to the doorway. A large dragon robot, even bigger than the ones they'd seen when they'd first entered Centrotia, had entered the huge doorway at the far end of the corridor outside the control room.

Alex and Juri exchanged a glance before running forward to seal the doors of the control room. They reached the console just in time to slam down the large door in front of the machine. Both took several steps back, watching helplessly as the machine re-opened the door with its claws

Its metallic surface was smooth and organic like the others, but its back was ribbed with thin, spiky fins. Like the smaller ones, it also had long and spindly legs like a centipede and a fearsome mask-like head. It glared at them with blood-red eyes.

"You want a piece of me?" Alex grinned, resting his gunblade on his shoulder and taunting with an outstretched hand.

"I think it probably wants lots of pieces of both of us…" Juri eyed both Alex and the dragon lightly.

"Keep it busy!" Nida called out, keeping his eyes on the panel.

"You what? How do you suggest we do that?" Alex grunted, still watching the giant dragon-machine as it prepared to strike.

"Read it a story?" The princess smiled.

"Not the time for sarcasm!" Juri's voice got higher as the dragon went for her. She leapt high into the air as a lashing whip struck out from one of the many strange gadgets attached to the robot. Landing on its neck behind its head, she struck hard at it with her weapon, before it threw her off. She landed harshly next to Alex, who had just laid Carlie down again and drawn his Twin Mithril gunblade.

"You okay?" Alex kneeled over her, keeping his eye on the giant dragon-machine's movement.

"My Oniyari is not very effective against machines." Juri grunted.

"Thankfully that's one of the most vulnerable things to my gunblade." Alex stood and swiped at the monster to draw its attention from Nida and the Princess.

He ran forward and swung at the dragonhead, a loud gunshot ringing out as he hit it. It swung its head back, as if wincing, before slamming it back down on the floor right where Alex had stood. Throwing himself backward, he barely avoided the crushing might of the machine and rolled back to his feet.

"It's tough." He stated.

"Then let's toast it." Juri crossed over her hands and cast a powerful Thundara spell, weakening the dragon-machine.

Having stood against the onslaught of attack, the robot retaliated. Raising its head, it fired a lilac-coloured beam that struck Alex, knocking him down to the floor.

"Shit!" Juri cursed, rolling to the side as the beam shot out in her direction. In a swirl of colours, she summoned a GF, Terrorfly. A strange, indescribably unique creature appeared as the SeeD and Shadow Hunter faded, before a bright light engulfed the dragon-machine. Alex and Juri re-appeared before the robot to see it had been petrified and was frozen still. Juri quickly stepped over to Alex, and revived him from unconsciousness with a Phoenix Down.

"Ugh.. thanks Juri." Alex grunted, looking up at the robot, which remained totally motionless.

"We've done it, the doors should be working now." Nida grinned.

With a nod, Alex hit the button on the radio to speak. "Xu?"

"Alex? It's Liana! Xu's hurt, but she'll be okay. Please tell me you have those doors working, the Esthar ship is trying to get in." In the background of Liana's crackled transmission the sound of battle could be heard.

"The doors are working." Alex grinned.

"All right!" Liana cheered. "Get yourselves over here quickly. Me out."

Alex chuckled at her radio talk as he switched the unit off and lifted Carlie again.

Suddenly, terror ran through them as the robotic dragon turned its head to look at them as they reached the door. A voice emanated from it like the curse of an evil phantom.

"You can petrify my pilot, but not me!"

The Kalevala slowly slid into the hangar, it's guns covering the SeeD. As it docked, they ran as fast as they could down the boarding gantry to it. Tim noticed Centrans entering one of the warships docked ahead.

"Check it out." Annie pointed at them.

"Mmn, I know." Tim nodded. "We'd better get going soon."

"Why wait before firing?" The SeeD that had come with Tim, named Amardus, asked.

"We can't shoot our main guns while the ship is docked, the recoil will snap the boarding gantry in half." Tim replied in a frustrated tone.

"The infantry guns won't harm it, then I guess?" Annie asked.

"No. Besides, we need them to cover the Garden dudes." Tim said.

Liana ran into the observation room they were in. "Almost got everyone aboard… oh, hi Tim!" She gave a brief smile. "We still got some peeps left, they had to unlock the doors from elsewhere and they're gonna take a mo."

"What? The warships are getting powered up right now!" Tim exclaimed. "We can't stay longer than about two minutes."

"We aren't leaving without them, so we go when they get here!" Liana said sternly.

The students and staff of the Garden crowded onto the gantry as a SeeD ninja rushed them on.

"Run like fu-" Kodansha's sentence was cut short by an explosion as a missile shot impacted next to the boarding ramp. She gritted her teeth and braced her torn and gashed arm that bled through the bandages. Around her the personnel of Garden fell to the floor as dust and shards of flooring and metal flew about. The thunder of the Kalevala's anti-infantry machineguns resumed as the smoke cleared a little, pinning back the Centran squads.

As the last of the Garden personnel ran up the gantry, Kodansha took a glance to see Alex, carrying Carlie, and Juri running toward them with Nida and the Princess alongside. Behind them was a giant dragon machine like the ones they had seen before only much larger.

"Kodansha! Run for it." Alex called out, trying to keep up a run while carrying an unconscious teenager.

Kodansha ran for the dead body of a nearby Centran, heaving the massive Centran heavy gun with her healthy arm. With great strength and effort she lifted the gun up to level it at the dragon and fired. Although the shots sprayed out, the accuracy was nevertheless impressive for someone who could only use one hand. Alex, Juri, Nida and the Princess ran past her as she continued to fire, stepping backward onto the gantry.

The dragon closed in relentlessly, shrugging off the sheer wall of bullets as it approached Kodansha, who having run out of ammo slumped to the floor in defeat. The dragon moved in, it's red eyes glowing brighter as it readied an attack on the exhausted SeeD.

Suddenly a small device bounced past Kodansha onto the floor underneath the giant dragon-machine.

Realising what it was, Kodansha turned and almost dragged herself up the gantry, looking up at Liana who was at the top. A deafening explosion right behind Kodansha caused her to fly forwards a way, landing just outside the hatchway to the Esthar ship. Getting up to run in, she turned to look at the dragon monster that lay with a shattered head. Queen Marie dragged herself out of it angrily as the Kalevala's door closed behind her.

"Now we're getting' out of here, right?" Liana looked over her shoulder to Tim.

He nodded. "We'll help the wounded, go help Alex in the cockpit."

She smiled and ran to the elevator.

The Kalevala backed away carefully with tiny manoeuvring thrusters, jetting it slowly backward toward the closing door. Small infantry guns pelted it but failed to make any effect as it neared the hangar doors in full reverse. As the guns of the Esthar airship pummelled at the docked Centran warships, causing them severe damage, slowly the doors began to close.

Queen Marie clenched her fists in anticipation. The Kalevala wasn't going to make it. It was going too slow.

Suddenly, a bright projectile flew out of a long barrel on the Esthar craft, sending a crippling pulse of energy into the bowels of the hangar. Even more infuriating, the recoil of the shot had caused the Kalevala to go flying out of the hangar doors.

She buried her face in her hands. "Damn those monkey-children…"

* * *

"Whoo hoo! This is sooo cool!" Liana bounced up and down in her seat. Around them the clouds skimmed past the gleaming airship and the sky was a beautiful deep blue. The large domed roof of the cockpit was almost like the dome of the sky itself.

"You wanna drive it?" Alex asked, sitting at the other seat next to her.

"Ooooh, really? Yeah, yeah!" She nodded.

He hit a switch to swap the controls to her. She smiled widely, feeling the response of the controls move her and the massive craft wherever she wanted.

"I'm… really flying." She sighed happily.

"You are." Alex smiled, keeping his eyes ahead. The cockpit was empty but for both of them, though noise downstairs seemed to be closing.

"I could do this." She grinned, banking smoothly from side to side.

"Why don't you?" he asked with a smile.

Liana nodded. "Yeah… I will!"

Juri appeared at the hatchway with Tim and Annie and the two SeeD turned to look at them.

"Wounded are taken care of. Kodansha and Xu are recovering and Carlie resting on a medical berth." Juri reported. "Sorry, are we interrupting?"

Alex laughed. "No, don't worry." He switched on the autopilot.

"Hi guys. I'm Annie. Um, Tilgari." Annie said shyly.

Liana opened her mouth to say something but Alex clamped a hand over it quickly.

"Uh, so you're the Magic Bandit?" He asked.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"She stole magic from Centrotia." Tim said grimly. "Don't worry, I don't think she meant any harm."

Alex nodded, looking at Annie. "I bet Tim and the others have already had a go at you, I'm sure you've already heard anything I'll say." He shrugged.

Liana turned back toward the pilot console. "We can't just let it pass… Carlie is missing, and we may not be able to find her. It was all just too much trouble to let it pass."

Alex smiled at her. "True, but this is too happy a moment to be spoiled by laying blame. We've escaped, and what's done is done. Let's just focus on finding Carlie and getting her back."

Liana smiled. "I guess so. You know where we're going?"

"Fly on." Alex replied. "We're going to Esthar."

* * *

The Kalevala had landed beside Ragnarok at Esthar Airstation. As the engines cooled, the group of friends walked from the main entrance of the Airstation toward the vast network of transparent coloured walkways that spanned the enigmatic city. Alex wore a very slight smile, walking alongside Juri who was admiring the beautiful city once more. Both of them had been to Esthar before. Kodansha and Liana followed a few steps behind, looking around in awe at the majestic spires and almost alien grandness. Tim and Annie followed with them.

A presidential aide came toward them, they recognised him as Kiros as he stepped up to Tim and Annie.

"President Loire heard you were returning." He told them. "He said to tell you to meet with Dr. Odine and Morju at the ABM building. He thinks Odine might be able to answer a few of your questions."

"Right." Tim nodded. "We know where that is."

"Lead the way." Alex said.

The six companions hurried to a seat lift which rose slightly before darting off down the tunnels, past the palace and toward the east side of the city.

* * *

Tim stepped into the ABM building's main office to see Morju and Dr. Odine sitting relaxed. The doctor was a strange man, full of odd eccentricities, but it seemed some of his madness had subsided since he had begun working with Morju over the last couple of years. As the six teenagers entered, they greeted the two wise elders.

"Hi," Juri fronted the greeting, "I'm Juri and this is Alex, Li-"

"Oh, don't worry, we know who you are." Morju surprised her with a kind smile. "Welcome. I am Morju, and you've probably heard of Dr. Odine from the Ultimecia Crisis three years ago."

The doctor nodded happily. "Yes, renound my work. Indeed."

"I hear you can clear up some matters for us?" Alex asked bluntly.

Odine grinned and nodded again. "I have all ze answers."

"I suppose you want to know who these Centrans are, for a start. Mmmn?" Morju smiled.

Tim nodded.

"Let's start with that." Alex agreed.

Dr. Odine raised his voice a little, above his usual muttering level. "Well you must understand zat one thousand years ago, ze tribes of humankind were next to nothing. Ze world vas ruled by ze might of ze Shumi and ze Centra. For some reason zat ve do not know, zey found themselves at war. Ze ferocity of ze two sides clashing sometimes spilled ze violence over to ze un-noticeable creatures beneath them, our ancestors.

Ze Shumi and Centra almost entirely destroyed each other. Ze final blow came when, in desperation on ze verge of defeat, ze Shumi used powerful magic to summon a Lunar Tear. As it came crashing down onto ze continent, ze Centra race vere overwhelmed and destroyed. However, using advanced time-compression technology, ze Queen and her island apparently escaped into ze future, and took ze best of their fleet with them."

"So they only arrived now…" Alex nodded in understanding.

Odine confirmed with a manic nod. "Ze Shumi went into hiding from those Centrans zat had survived ze Lunar Tear, and retreated to their old, underground city in ze far north. Slowly ze remains of ze Centra died out, and almost nothing remains of them on ze Centra continent. Only ruins of their far north colonies on ze Esthar continent remained. Slowly humans began to reclaim ze wrecked world, with ze beginning of Galbadia, Dollet, Timber and Balamb. As zey spread out, one small group discovered amazing things on ze Esthar continent. Zey began to delve into ze Centran technology, while isolating themselves from ze rest of ze world. Those people vere ze ancestors of Esthar."

"So if humans had nothing to do with the war between the Centra and the Shumi, why did Centrotia attack Balamb Garden?" Tim asked.

Morju turned to her. "Shumi battleships were mobile fortresses, buildings that were able to fly when needed. When Master Norg built Balamb Garden, he used the same Shumi technology that built the old battlefleet."

"So when the Centra saw it, they must've believed the Shumi had survived the millennia and aught to be eliminated." Juri nodded in understanding.

"That would explain the look on Queen Marie's face when she first saw us inside Centrotia." Kodansha mused.

"So how do we find Carlie?" Alex asked.

"I have invented a machine zat is able to located anything with a significant, unique power signature anywhere in ze world. Since invention, my machine seemed to have a problem." Dr. Odine began to explain. "Every time I calibrated it to search for ze energy signature of Balamb Garden, ze readings would not add up."

"But I think now we know why." Morju smiled.

Dr. Odine tapped a few keys on the machine's operation console. He stared as a number of digits filled the screen, then other displays seemed to be shifting across a diagram that looked like the world map.

"Why?" Kodansha said, the pause having lasted too long for her tolerance.

Odine pointed at the cross that had appeared on the map in the ocean south of Fisherman's Horizon.

"Because since ze Garden was built until when it was sent back, zere have been two Gardens. For ze last thousand years, it seems zere has been a Balamb Garden sitting on ze seabed south of Fisherman's Horizon!"

"Weird…" Alex shook his head.

"Amazing it hasn't been discovered." Juri commented.

"It's probably embedded quite deep." Morju suggested.

"I heard Balamb Garden can work underwater." Kodansha said. "Though it's not surprising when you consider it was made by fish." She smirked.

"Shumi aren't fish, they're just kinda aquatic." Annie said with child-like innocence.

"They're fish, kiddo." Kodansha glanced over for a moment.

"Carlie…" Alex said suddenly, as if he'd heard her voice call out somewhere distant. There was a short pause as Alex gathered his thoughts. "You think she hid the Garden there?"

"Dunno." Juri, who was standing beside him, shrugged and looked down. "I hope so. The only other possibility is that she crashed there."

"We gotta go investigate it anyway." Liana grinned. "We get to see Carlie again!"

"The Kalevala has small exploration pods designed for working when the ship is in space, but they'll operate equally well underwater." Morju informed them.

Alex nodded, then smiled. "Then finding the Garden will be easy."

"Zat is not ze way I vould describe it." Dr. Odine countered. "Ze power source vill most likely need replacement, so you vill have to install this fusion battery of mine." He pointed to the large pack on the floor.

"Then let's go find Carlie." Liana shifted from one foot to the other and back again repeatedly.

"Just a moment, you do not know how ze battery fits. I have written these instructions for you." Odine handed them a neat Esthar electronic pad.

Morju smiled briefly, before a bleeper in her pocket came to her attention. She quickly responded by answering it discreetly in the hope of not interrupting them all. She listened to the message relayed to it, and her expression became full of concern.

"We have a problem." She said after the message had finished. "Esthar Airstation is being attacked."

"By what?" Dr. Odine asked.

"A man is fighting his way past our guards; they can't hold him back." Morju explained.

"It's him." Alex grimaced, before beginning to head out of the ABM office. As he quickly hurried off, the other five rushed after him.

* * *

"Get out of my way." The mysterious man commanded.

The Esthar soldier stood fast, refusing to move. "I will not subdue to a terrorist." He replied, his voice oddly distorted through the strange helmet he wore that was part of the standard Esthar soldier uniform.

"You insult me. I am no such low-life." The man's voice was clear and subtle, with a sharp and focused edge to it.

"Stay back." The other Esthar soldier standing next to his comrade chipped in.

"Insolent fools. Do you realise who you are dealing with?" The man laughed darkly.

A voice from behind him momentarily diverted his attention. "Let them go, Almiroth. It's not them you want…" Gary whirled around to see Alex as the SeeD completed his sentence, "… it's me."

"You… I seem to remember you didn't know me." Gary replied coyly.

"I just remembered." Alex scowled and drew his Twin Mithril gunblade.

"Last time you were just lucky, but the power of my junctioned GF far surpasses your worst nightmare." Gary sniggered.

"That doesn't make much difference if you can't hit shit…" Alex retorted.

Almiroth gritted his teeth and flung forward at Alex, their gunblades meeting with the shriek of metal and bringing them both locked still for a moment. Behind them the other five caught up but dared not approach the duel between the gunbladers.

Alex swung the Twin Mithril low to counter Gary's upward sweeps, with the gleaming blade striking sparks off each collision. Alex then swung a high horizontal arc, which Gary ducked and then countered with a spin. Anticipating the attack, Alex span his gunblade to a vertical position and deflected the blow. Both combatants were knocked a step backward.

No more than a second later Gary leapt into attack again with savage ferocity, striking at the SeeD with downward arcs. Alex tried to defend against them, bracing a hand behind the blunted edge of the sword as the intensity of Almiroth's assault escalated. Each blow caused him to be pushed back, until he dived to the side and rolled to avoid the pirate's last attack. Getting back to his feet, he launched an attack on his opponent, leaping forward and bearing the gunblade down on Gary. The gunblade pirate responded with an almost inhuman leap backward, somersaulting to land on his feet.

"What chance does a mortal SeeD stand against me?" Gary teased.

"You talk too much…" Alex grunted, carefully approaching and preparing for a counter strike. Almiroth leapt forward and the pair of combatants dodged and weaved for minutes, each painstakingly near miss causing rising anxiety in those around them.

Suddenly they locked into a martial moment and Gary flung Alex onto his back. The pirate struck down against the hard coloured flooring of the Esthar walkway but Alex had already rolled to the side and back on his feet. Anger raising inside, Gary charged at the SeeD one last time, striking out three times. A horizontal slice, blocked. A diagonal slice, blocked. A vertical arc, barely blocked. Alex stumbled backward again.

As he dragged himself back onto his feet, Gary barged at him furiously, sending him flying into the side of the walkway. Alex landed on his stomach, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floor. Wiling his muscles to move, he rose upward to face his enemy again.

Amused by the SeeD's persistence, Gary walked up leisurely and smacked Alex backward onto the floor again. As if in slow motion, the pirate brought his gunblade back behind his head, ready to strike the final blow. Gary grinned and stepped forward as the gunblade began to swing down…

"No!" Suddenly Liana appeared as if from nowhere, running out in front of the gunblade. Almiroth mercilessly swung the weapon out, pulling the trigger.

KLA-CHUNK!

Alex's eyes widened in horror. He stooped down as Liana toppled backward, catching her in mid-fall. Kneeling down, he stared at the long gash across Liana's torso. His gaze moved up to Almiroth, who remained still for a moment with a dark look. Turning away cruelly, the gunblade pirate walked unopposed from the shattered scene. The other four companions stepped over to them.

"Oh… my…" Annie shook her head.

"Liana…" Juri couldn't believe what she saw.

Alex remained silent, a tear forming in his eye. He shook his head slowly. No. She couldn't be…

Standing and changing from sorrow to fury, Juri pointed at the pirate. "I'll make you pay…" She yelled, running up to him. The gunblade pirate turned and raised a hand, and in only moments Juri became a figure of stone. The gunblade pirate continued to head toward the Airstation, climbing into the Ragnarok.

"He's stealing it! We gotta do something." Tim said desperately.

"We can't do a damn thing." Kodansha cursed, stepping over to use a soft to cure Juri of her petrification. Sirens of an Esthar ambulance came nearer as a hovering craft descended onto the scene. Without opposition, the Ragnarok lifted off Esthar Airstation's platform into the sky and darted away into the evening sky.

Alex continued to look into Liana's closed eyes, cradling her like a fallen angel. She had saved him… she didn't deserve this! He felt his tears mix with the blood on his face. Pain ran through him, like his soul had been plucked away and battered to death before being returned. This Almiroth… all he ever did was take away what Alex cared about.

"(I will find you Gary.)" Alex promised silently through gritted teeth and crystal tears. "(I will make you feel the pain I've felt because of you. You will crash, Almiroth. And then I'll make you burn.)" He sank his head.

Suddenly Alex noticed a faint movement. Liana was still breathing!

"Get that ambulance over here, now!" he called out.