The entire beach became quiet as Lloyd, Colette, Kratos and Yuan looked around for any pirates who they hadn't defeated. They all thought they had finished all the pirates until Lloyd raised the question of where their captain went.

Turning around, the quartet saw the pirate captain. He was back on his ship with any pirates that the group hadn't killed.

"You will pay for this!" yelled the captain as he started sailing his ship away.

Lloyd grunted and started running after him, but Yuan put his arm out in front of Lloyd and held him back. "Let him go," Yuan softly commanded. "We can take care of him later. Right now, we need to infiltrate Stromm's base."

Lloyd watched as the boat continued to sail out of sight. He really wanted to finish off the captain of the pirates, but he knew Yuan was right. They had more important things to worry about now, like getting into Stromm's hideout.

The group returned to the building where Regal and everybody else was. Lloyd and Colette looked kind of tired, but Yuan and Kratos acted as if nothing had happened.

"Who was that?" Genis asked.

"I don't know," Lloyd admitted. "But Colette and I encountered the same ones when we were looking for any exspheres."

"Quite fascinating," Raine said, touching her chin and looking at the ground.

"We don't have time to chat," Yuan insisted as he turned his attention towards Regal. "We have to get to Stromm's base."

Everyone agreed in unison. Kratos pulled out his teleporter and asked everyone if they were ready. When they all said that they were, he hit the button. The bright lights started swarming around all of them, and there was a bright flash. An instant later, they were all on the tip of the snowy mountain as they had been before Lloyd led them back down.

"Why might this base be located so high?" Regal asked in his deep and sad-sounding voice.

"Security measures, I would assume," Kratos answered.

Regal looked at the giant boulder that blocked what appeared to be an entrance into the mountain and hopefully into Stromm's base. "Is this it?"

"Yeah," Lloyd casually replied.

"Very well," Regal answered. "Stand back, everyone."

Obeying, the rest of the group walked backwards but kept their eyes on Regal as he prepared to blow the rock to smithereens. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and then put out both of his hands.

As he did so, a giant blast of energy erupted from those hands like a vicious explosion. It was the same move that Regal had used to free himself and Lloyd when they were trapped in Welgaia only a few months before.

"Impressive," Yuan muttered under his breath.

The rock was practically vaporized after Regal attacked it. Small chips of it were the only thing that remained, and the group watched as the violent winds blew the tiny rock fragments over the edge of the mountain.

"All right!" Lloyd yelled excitedly.

The rock revealed a large hole in the mountain that led inside of it. The inside of the mountain definitely looked like it was a building, removing all doubt that Yuan was indeed correct about where Stromm's base would be.

Raine sighed when she saw how eager Lloyd was. Genis also seemed pretty exasperated as well.

"Let's see how long that attitude holds up," Genis whispered into Raine's ear.

As if he was doing something that didn't matter at all, Lloyd started walking rather quickly inside the hidden-mountain base, leaving all of his companions staring at him. Apparently, they all thought he was about as mature as he was the day the oracle first came for Colette. The group cast quick glances at each other before they walked in more carefully after him.

The inside of the hidden base was huge. The floors were made of solid medal that seemed to make pretty loud sounds when they were stepped on hard. The walls were bare and empty and very dark. The whole place looked dark and complex. There was absolutely nothing in it at all, other than the floors and walls and any side doors.

"Whoa," Genis whispered. "This place is huge."

"Yes," Yuan said. "It's just as big as I remember it. The base goes down to the bottom of the mountain. At this rate, finding Stromm will be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Yuan, I'm sorry, but you really got to start saying some more original stuff," Lloyd said sorrowfully to the Seraphim.

Yuan looked and Lloyd with an angry face, then made an aggressive "hmph!" sound and turned his back.

"Enough," Kratos scolded. "If we're going to look for Stromm, we'd better split up. We'll cover more ground that way. And remember: don't do anything to hurt Stromm. He's no good to us if he's dead."

"All right!" Lloyd said.

Lloyd was ready to run off and start looking for Stromm, but just as he started running away, Kratos's voice once again stopped him. "Yuan, I'd like you to come with me."

Yuan silently agreed and the two Seraphim started walking down the long, echoing hall through Stromm's base. The remaining group members just watched, then quietly wished each other the best of luck and walked in their separate directions.

Lloyd started walking down the long, dark hall alone. He was pretty nervous, but he was doing his best to hide those emotions. After all, they would only cause him trouble.

It was then he started wondering why Kratos wanted Yuan to go with him. Did they both have some sort of plan, or did Kratos just think Yuan would be a valuable asset to him when searching through the base?

Whatever the reason was, that was what was happening. Lloyd continued walking through the winding base, having no idea where he was going. This was more complex than any base or ranch he had to infiltrate during his journey. (hopefully with the exception of Rodyle's)

When Lloyd was walking through the base, he occasionally saw doors that led to side rooms. However, most of the doors were sealed shut and wouldn't open, and the ones that were open didn't have anything of value in them.

It felt to Lloyd like he had searched forever before he had come up with anything. He was about ready to give up searching for Stromm, hoping that he wasn't getting himself lost in the giant mountain base.

Just as Lloyd was ready to turn around, he saw one giant room in at the end of a long hallway. Lights were flashing on the inside of it, so there was definitely some activity going on inside of it.

Heart now pumping, Lloyd started slowly walking towards the giant room, anxious to see who-or what, was in it. When he was finally at the front of the door, he saw that there was a giant computer in it with a figure standing in front of it. Since the screen was bright, the figure in front of it looked more like a silhouette.

"Stromm?" Lloyd asked lightly and even with some nervousness in his voice.

The figure shot around, revealing a man with little hair and was wearing a white military suit. There was no mistaking it: it was Stromm, all right.

"What are you doing here?" Stromm demanded sharply. Apparently, he didn't recognize Lloyd at first.

"Why should I tell you!" Lloyd said, trying to act as tough as possible. "You've got some explaining to do, Stromm!"

"Explaining?" Stromm said in a surprised voice. "What do I have to explain, other than why I'm going to call the guards in to take care of you?"

"Tell me why you want to destroy Tiberia so much!" Lloyd yelled angrily.

"I don't have to explain that to you," Stromm calmly insisted. He then started looking at Lloyd in a very strange way. His expression would not be able to give anybody any indication on what thoughts were running through his head. "Have we met before? You look somewhat familiar."

"And if we have?" Lloyd asked in a smart-aleck tone, crossing his arms.

Stromm let out a small "hmmmmmmmmmmm" as he continued staring at Lloyd, trying to put the pieces together. Then, it looked like a light went on in his head.

"Ah! Now I remember you!" Stromm said. "You're that kid who attacked my boat a day or two ago, weren't you!"

"And if I was?"

"Don't lie to me," Stromm said in a cold way. "I remember you, and nothing you say is going to make me change my mind."

"Whatever floats your boat."

"What were you doing on my ship, anyway?" Stromm assertively asked Lloyd.

"You want the truth?" Lloyd said, starting to sound a bit edgy. "All right, I'll tell ya. My friend and I were sailing and we were sidetracked by some stupid pirates and ended up getting stuck on an island. Then that boat that we were on came by and rescued us. A guy on board told us all about how you were going to destroy his world!"

"Who told you that?" Stromm asked, starting to sound really annoyed.

"None of your business!" Lloyd sharply replied. "What makes you think it's okay to destroy an entire world! Don't you know there are innocent lives that are going to be lost if you do that!"

"Don't tell me what's right and wrong!" Stromm yelled, obviously starting to get angry as well. "You don't even know what you're talking about! You're not fighting in this war, so why don't you just back off and let me do what I need to do?"

"You don't need to destroy that world!" Lloyd yelled. "How could that possibly lead to a happy ending if Tiberia gets destroyed?"

"I have no need to explain myself to the likes of you," Stromm bluntly said. "You don't know what's going on, do you! Do you even know why we're at war with Tiberia?"

"Well…no," Lloyd said.

"Exactly. You don't even know the purpose of this war being fought, and yet you feel you should interfere with it. You're not from Tiberia yourself, are you?"

"Did I say I was!" Lloyd angrily yelled. "I told you, I was only on their ship because my friend and I were stuck on a deserted island and they rescued us! And then you started attacking. As far as I know, you're the one who started this whole thing!"

Stromm didn't even take a breath before he started talking back. "A likely story. You expect me to believe they just picked you up when I came and attacked? You're a Tiberian spy, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not!" Lloyd insisted.

Stromm gave Lloyd a cold glare. "You definitely don't look like you're Tiberian, so I'll let you off with a warning. Get out of my base, now!"

"Or what?" Lloyd said, challenging the commander in front of him.

Stromm pulled out some of the metallic explosive pellets that he used to fight Lloyd and Colette the first time they met and got ready to throw them.

"Or else I'm going to have to make sure you don't leave."

Lloyd got ready to draw his material blades and battle Stromm. But then he remembered what Kratos said: "Don't do anything to hurt Stromm. He's no good to us if he's dead."

Remembering those words, Lloyd slowly loosened his grip on his swords. He wanted nothing more than to give Stromm a piece of his mind and save Tiberia by doing so, but he didn't dare go against Kratos's orders. Besides, he didn't want any trouble.

"This isn't over," Lloyd said through gritted teeth. He slowly started backing out of the room but never took his eyes off Stromm.

Stromm seemed to be sneering at Lloyd as he walked out. Stromm was making a disturbing smile as he watched his new adversary walk out of the room.

Lloyd had finally shuffled his way out of the giant computer room with Stromm in it and walked a short distance away from it.

"Dammit. He's gonna pay for this!"