I don't own this game. Satisfied?

The nine of us entered the Valley of Corrupted Gravity within two days of leaving Fletz. The guards let us go by without question once they saw the pass.

I whistled in amazement. "This is easily the most surreal place I have ever seen." The environment was so tortured it was hard to tell which way was up. Rocks drifted aimlessly, some of them large enough to stand on.

"It still has the backwash from the Dragon Campaign," Rose said, as though remembering. "The collision of the magic power of Dragoons and Winglies can distort nature quite a bit."

"You have a gift for understatement, Rose," Krista commented. "I wonder if we'll fall up, down, or sideways."
We moved through the valley with relative ease, jumping from rock to rock as necessary. The local monsters weren't much of a threat. Meru proved herself to be a capable fighter, expertly swinging her hammer at some of the valley's nastier inhabitants.

At the far end we got an unpleasant surprise. "Oh, no."

Dart looked up. "Virage!!"

Rose saw it, too. "What is worse is that it has the complete form."

"What is that!?" Meru asked.

"A creature used by the Winglies during the Dragon Campaign," I replied. "This could get ugly."

At that moment, the Virage started to move. It was at least twice the size of the one we fought at Volcano Villude. It was also twice as deadly.

Albert went first, rising high into the air. "Rose Storm!" The wind barrier surrounded us, blunting the Virage's attacks.

Haschel sprang up, then drilled into the ground. "Thunder God Attack!"

Lavitz dove at it repeatedly with his spear. "Take that, you evil creature!"

Dart, having lost his Dragoon Spirit, was forced to simply hack away. Fortunately, his sword was still razor sharp. One chop severed the Virage's left arm. A quick reversal, and he'd cut its legs out from under it.

Rose sprang forward with the ease of long practice. "Death Dimension!"

Meru held back, covering a slightly dazed Shana. "It's hammer time, ugly!"

Krista was starting to get frustrated. "Why can't you just be a good monster and die!?"

I got fed up. "Enough games." I rose higher, preparing for a massive magic attack. "Super Nova!!"

The explosion nearly blinded us. When the light faded, the Virage was reaching toward Shana, only to be blown over the edge by a beam of light emanating from the girl's forehead. "What in the name of…!?"

Rose reached her first. "Shana! What on Earth are you…to Virage!?"

"I don't know! I don't know anything!" Shana buried her face in her hands.

Dart took her by the shoulders. "There is no more Virage!"

"Da-rt." She shook her head. "It's okay now."

"Good."

The bandits' home turned out to be the Home of Giganto, home of Kongol's people. The Gehrichs had turned it into a rat's nest, full of traps, dirt, debris, and who knows what else.

I drew my katana. "Krista and I should go in first. Stealth is our trade, plus we should be able to deal with any traps."

Dart nodded. "All right. Good luck."
We slipped quietly into the compound, easily dodging the arrow trap near the entrance. Inside, all was silent.

"It's quiet…too quiet," I murmured.

Krista nudged me. "Here come some guards."

We scurried to opposite sides of the street, and lay in wait. When one of the guards drew near my hiding spot, I flipped over behind him and slit his throat. Goodbye, vermin

I signaled Krista. "One down."

"I got the other two."

I waved Dart and the others forward. "Three bandits dead so far, Dart. We'd better move fast."

We ran to a huge gate…which promptly shut in our faces. At the same time, the bandits bombarded us with arrows, a worthless gesture.

One gangster, evidently frustrated by their inability to hit us, came down to confront us directly.

Dart moved forward. "We have come to talk."

"There will be no talking," the thief sneered. "You have already ruined our territory, so now we'll beat you up!" He assumed a strange fighting stance.

Haschel recognized it immediately. "That pose…it must be from the Rouge School!" He glared at the bandit. "Where did you learn that style!?"

"If you want to find out, then try to defeat me!" was the reply. The bandit lunged at us, only to catch Haschel's fist in the jaw.

Haschel stood over him. "Do you know a woman fighter named Claire?"

"Never heard of her. I learned this from my boss. He used to study it seriously, but was kicked out twenty years ago."

"Kicked out…" Haschel jumped up. "Now I remember! Gehrich was once my disciple!"

"You'll never defeat him. My boss is ten times stronger than me!"

"It's my fist that decides whether I can defeat him or not!" Haschel snarled, sending the bandit fleeing for his life.

Haschel walked to the gate. "I'll show you what the real Rouge School is like." He then knocked the gate down with a single punch. "Shall we go?"

Just beyond the gate, Haschel abruptly collapsed.

I rushed to him. "Are you all right?"

"I think I did too much. My back hurts."

It was decided that Meru would keep an eye on Haschel, while the rest of us searched the surrounding area. There wasn't much to search. The only interesting thing there was a swarm of rock fireflies.

When we got back, we saw Meru sprawled on the ground. There was no sign of Haschel.

"Meru! What happened!?" Dart asked.

"Something hit me. Oh, where's Haschel!?"

"Blast it!!" I growled. "He must be planning to take on Gehrich by himself. Let's go!"

We rushed into an underground chamber, finding the Thunder Dragoon facing off against his former student. "Why don't you remind me of your so-called aching heart!" Gehrich snarled.

Dart, Albert, and Lavitz moved to support Haschel, leaving me face to face with Mappi. The diminutive bandit cackled with glee.

"Cackle while you can, Mappi," I bit out. "This time, I won't be so merciful. You won't get out of here alive."

Mappi charged as I transformed, the energy release sending him flying. He crashed into the wall, sending pieces of it everywhere.

I smiled coldly. "Didn't like that, did you? Well, you'll like this even less. Star Dragon!!" The dragon summoning dropped him to the floor, mortally wounded.

I turned in midair, just in time to see Haschel slam Gehrich into his own seat. The bandit leader slumped to the floor.

A rumbling sound alerted us to a new threat. A large piece of a statue broke off and fell towards us, but stopped before it could hit the ground. I turned to see who had saved us, and saw the last person I would have imagined in that role.

Dart's jaw dropped. "Kongol!?"

I landed next to Krista. "Kongol, why are you here? Why did you save us?"

"You enemy no more," the Giganto replied. "Here holy place of Gigantos. Me survivor."

"What happened to the other Gigantos?" Shana asked.

"Human killed us. They stole Gigantos' treasure. Human thinks other species can die. Human selfish creature."

"That's why you joined the Humans' war?" said Albert.

"No. Emperor Doel saved me from bad people."

While they spoke, I suddenly felt something in my pocket. I pulled out the Golden Dragoon Spirit and saw it glow faintly. So, Kongol is a Dragoon, too I thought.

The others agreed to let Kongol join us, though Rose seemed skeptical. The Giganto looked pleased to have friends.

I stepped forward. "Rose, perhaps this will cure your doubt." I extended the Dragoon Spirit to Kongol. "Welcome, Kongol, Dragoon of the Golden Dragon."

Kongol looked at the Dragoon Spirit in disbelief. "Kongol is Dragoon now?"

Rose nodded. "The Dragoon of Earth. You have the weakest magic, but the strongest physical strike." She turned to Dart. "But we have to get Dart's Dragoon Spirit back."

Kongol waved at the seat. "What you are looking for may be down there. Push that button."

While the others went to get the Dragoon Spirit and Lynn, Haschel left to bury Gehrich. He returned with news.

"Gehrich told me that the Princess Emille we met is a fake. The real one is hidden in the castle."
I frowned. "We'd better hurry."

Lynn turned towards Donau when we entered the Barrens, but Meru elected to come with us.

"Dart's journey won't be easy," she said. "I think that there's still something I can help with."

Dart shrugged. "It'll continue to be like a three ring circus."

Krista spoke up. "Guys, I think we'd better go in Dragoon form. Traveling by air will get us there much faster."

I turned to the Giganto. "Kongol, can you carry Meru?"

"Yes." Kongol scooped up the girl and placed her on his back. The contrast was striking: a petite dancer perched on the back of a huge Giganto.

Dart grinned, spreading his wings. "Let's get to Fletz, everyone!"

We didn't bother with landing in the city. Instead, we bypassed the guard and flew directly into castle.

Dart turned to Krista and me. "Since there are so many bandits posing as knights here, you two should use your stealth training to get to the Chamber of the Sun. We'll find Princess Emille."

I nodded. "Got it. We can keep an eye on the imposter."

Getting to the chamber was much easier than I expected. The bandit guards were so abysmally stupid that they missed the most obvious signs of intruders. I can say this because I left a note on the door and they didn't even blink.

Inside the Chamber of the Sun, Zior was standing before the ersatz Princess Emille. The only others present were a few dignitaries.

"You've been filled with twenty years if experience since you came into this world," he said. "You've reached the age that deserves the succession of the Moon Dagger as an heir to the throne of Tiberoa. Never forget the blessings of the Sun, Moon and Stars." He looked around. "Anybody! Are there any objections!?" Silence answered him. "I take this silence to be approval of the succession."

At that moment, Dart came in with the real Princess Emille. "I have an objection to the succession," Emille said.

Zior looked from one to the other. "Oh!? There are two Emilles!"

The fake suddenly jumped up and grabbed the Moon Dagger. She rushed to the balcony, trapped like a rat.

"I guess I can't run in this stuffy dress. I'll show you my true self!" There was a flash of light. When it faded, she was dressed in revealing black armor. "This is the true self of Miss Lenus!"

Dart glared at her. "You can't escape. Give up and give us the Moon Dagger."

Lenus laughed. "A girl in love doesn't know the meaning of the words 'give up'! I've gotten this for my love. I won't give up so easily!"

Rose drew her sword. "I'm sorry, but you don't have time to be in love anymore, because you will die in here."

"Really," Lenus sneered. "Why don't we find out."

Meru pulled her hammer while the rest of us transformed. Lenus hovered in the middle of the room on wings of light. She held a pair of circular blades at the ready.

What is that on her back!?

As usual, Albert made the first move. "Rose Storm!"

Lenus snorted derisively. "Take this! Black Rain!" The Darkness attack hit all of us at once, though Shana took the brunt of it. She fell to her knees.

"Shana!" Krista yelled. "Astral Drain!" The healing spell brought the Light Dragoon back into the air.

I looked at Dart. "Let's double team this lunatic. Double Inferno!"

Dart and I combined our Fire magic into a huge wall of flame. Lenus was nearly incinerated by the attack, but somehow managed to stay on her feet.

"Well, you guys aren't bad, I guess," she gasped.

"Just give us the Moon Dagger. You can't get away," Dart growled.

Lenus laughed. "Oh, really!? How about this?" She vaulted over the balcony and flew off.

Albert groaned. "Oh, no. She is a Wingly!?"

"The species that dominated the bygone world," Rose said. "She's a survivor."

I bent close to Lavitz. "Wanna bet that the guy she's in love with is Lloyd?"

"Since she stole the Moon Dagger, you're probably right."

King Zior offered to let us embark on the warship Queen Fury in order to pursue Lenus. We agreed, and began the next trip to Donau.

Author's note: I know Kongol is supposed to talk funny, but I'm not going to portray him like that. I refuse to accept that a Dragoon Spirit would choose a moron as its master. Kongol isn't human, so English probably isn't his first language. D.S.