"What is it, Sheena?" Lloyd asked casually when Sheena said that it looked like they had trouble coming. But the Eternal Swordsman didn't have to wait for his companion to reply before he understood what the problem was, either.
Kratos grunted when he saw what Sheena was pointing at. In the distance was a large, wooden boat that had a lot of screaming, dirty-looking men on it. It was the group of pirates Lloyd, Colette, Kratos and Yuan had to fight when they were going to Altamira to have Regal aid them in breaking into Stromm's base.
"Why can't those guys just leave us alone!" Lloyd yelled angrily as he drew his material blades, expecting the pirates to want to land on the island and cause them trouble for no reason at all.
"Lloyd, calm down," Kratos said.
Lloyd groaned, but decided that getting angry wasn't going to do anything to help.
But before the pirates could completely come in, Lloyd noticed something else on the water coming towards them, and it looked like it would only make the situation worse.
"Oh, no," Lloyd moaned.
"What?" Sheena asked.
Lloyd pointed to something that was making him surprisingly nervous. It was a large steel boat that looked very powerful and menacing, not to mention looking as if it were capable of destroying an entire town without much trouble.
"What's so awful about that boat?" Sheena asked.
"That's Stromm's boat!" Lloyd yelled. "What's he doing here!"
The trio just watched as the pirate ship and the large war ship slowly made their way on the shore. Lloyd wanted to completely destroy all of them and have no remorse doing so, but he had to fight the violent urges within him to not let that happen.
Stromm immediately hopped off his boat once it docked on the island. The pirate captain, too, got off as soon as his boat was nice and steady and not about to float away.
"What do you want!" Lloyd yelled at both of them.
"Why do you think?" asked the pirate captain, crossing his arms as his sea salt-stained and tanned arms glistened in the sunlight. "Isn't it obvious? Tell me: why are you here?"
"Why should I tell you?" Lloyd demanded. "Tell me why YOU are!"
"Fine, I will," the captain said in a bitter voice but with no sign of agitation or annoyance. "Now that you have been gracious enough to have this island show its true form, we shall be searching for the crystal that is said to have great power."
"Wait! How do you know about that!" Lloyd yelled.
"Don't underestimate my information," the pirate replied with a sneer.
"I had a feeling that was what you were doing," Stromm said in a cocky way. "Which is precisely why I had my boat follow you."
Things were not looking great for Lloyd's group now. There were now two others who knew about the crystal that was hidden somewhere on the island, and he had a pretty good feeling that both of them were dangerous and would prove very deadly if they were to get their hands on the crystal.
"Your efforts are going to go to waste!" yelled the pirate captain. "Because I'm going to find that crystal before either of you, and I'm making sure of that!" As he finished that threat, he pulled out his very long, sharp scimitar.
"Ha!" Stromm cackled. He then proceeded to running full force from his two enemies as he went into a deep patch of jungle behind them. The race to find the crystal had begun, and Stromm had gotten a head-start: the one who Lloyd didn't want to find it.
Without wasting another second after that, the pirate fired into the jungle after him, desperate to reach the crystal before he did.
"Dammit!" Lloyd cursed. "We're already behind!"
"Lloyd, we have an advantage now," Kratos calmly said. "We have wings. We can fly into the air. We'll be able to see more ground and cover it a lot faster than those two."
"Yeah," Lloyd said. "All right, let's do it!"
Lloyd and Kratos tried spreading their wings, but for some reason, they wouldn't. (just like when Lloyd and Colette had been stuck on one of the smaller islands just a little while before)
"What?" Lloyd asked, now confused. "What's going on? How come our wings won't come out?"
Kratos grunted. He then softly mumbled under his breath, "I wonder if it's because…"
Lloyd and Sheena turned their attention towards the Seraphim. "Did you say something just now?" Lloyd questioned.
"It's nothing," Kratos insisted. "Come, let's make haste after them!"
Kratos started charging after them and into the jungle, relying now only on his instincts to take him to where the crystal would be.
"Well, shall we?" Sheena asked, looking at Lloyd. (she was trying to ask him if he was ready to go into the jungle and partake in the pursuit)
"Yeah," Lloyd casually replied. "Let's go!"
The two of them headed in different directions, but both of them still ended up running right into the large jungle. The sand was still damp after being submerged for who-knows-how-long, making it a bit easier to run instead of having soft sand absorb the shock and slow everyone down.
Lloyd was breathing heavy as he ran for a long time. He pushed branch after branch out of his way and had to be very careful not to lose his footing when he was running.
Occasionally Lloyd had to smash through a few branches and push a few heavier plants out of the way, but he wasn't letting anything slow him down. After all, he thought the fate of an entire world was at stake here.
Everything around him went disturbingly quiet. He didn't hear anybody else running as he went deeper and deeper into the jungle. He looked under several rocks, inside many stumps, and even started to dig every now and then in the sand. However, all his attempts to locate the mysterious crystal were all in vain.
Lloyd no longer knew how long he had been running through the winding jungle. He knew he was getting himself lost as the thick treetops started covering the sunlight more and more, making it harder for him to see the path in front of him.
He no longer cared that he had no idea where he was going, though. He was way too concerned for the lives of the innocent Tiberians that would be lost if Stromm were to succeed in finding the crystal first.
Now Lloyd's lungs were giving in, but he couldn't stop now. He may have been looking for a needle in a haystack, but then again, so were Stromm and the pirate captain. (whatever he wanted the crystal for)
The time finally came when Lloyd thought he saw a flickering light behind a thick patch of bushes. He stopped running and gently made his way over to it. His heart was racing, but he didn't know if it was from exhaustion of running or if he was excited with anticipation on what the soft cerulean glow was.
Lloyd made his way through the bushes, and there it was: the crystal that he had been searching for. He gasped and was unable to believe that right in front of him was the tool that would be used to destroy a world.
"Splendid work leading me here," said a voice behind the teenaged swordsman.
Lloyd turned around and Stromm was right there with his arms crossed and a malicious smile.
"Stromm, get out of here!" Lloyd commanded. "I got to this crystal first, and you're not having it!"
"Am I not?" Stromm asked. He then proceeded to tightening his gauntlets and getting himself ready for fighting. "I suppose I'm going to have to fight it from you."
"As long as you want this to be your burying place!" Lloyd said sharply as he drew his material blades.
Stromm made the final preparations on his two gauntlets as he prepared for combat. In no time, Lloyd and Stromm started their battle for the possession of the crystal.
Lloyd made a sharp jump in the air and was prepared to bring his flamberge down and strike Stromm with it, but Stromm jumped out of the way just in time.
Stromm took his armed fist and punched a tree branch with it, snapping it off its tree as if it were nothing more than a twig. He then picked up the giant branch and started using it as a sword.
Lloyd took both of his material blades and started slicing at the long wooden branch and was cutting off parts of it the same way a laser would cut through butter.
Now realizing he was in trouble, Stromm resorted to using a more deadly weapon. It was dangerous to use that weapon since he and Lloyd weren't too far apart from each other, not to mention there were several flammable things around them, but if he was going to win the fight, he had to use them.
Stromm reached into his pocket and pulled out the tiny explosive pellets that he had used when he and Lloyd battled each other on his boat.
Stromm chucked the small silver balls at Lloyd as fast as possible, and Lloyd was smart enough to know to duck. The balls went soaring over his head and landed in the grass, creating small explosions on impact.
Realizing Stromm wasn't afraid to use any weapon at his disposal, Lloyd started fighting much harder and was using every ounce of his strength to counter or parry any of Stromm's attacks.
Stromm soon realized that he couldn't keep using explosive pellets forever, because eventually, he would run out and be at a disadvantage. And there were only so many things he could use gauntlets for to defend himself from two very powerful swords.
Stromm was getting a little tired, but so was Lloyd, and the fight was beginning to slow down a little bit. Still, the two competitors never dropped their guard for one second, for it could mean their life if they stopped.
Stromm finally got back in the fight when he pulled out a single explosive pellet and flicked it onto Lloyd. It ignited as soon as it came into contact with Lloyd, sending the young swordsman flying backwards in a small explosion.
Stromm started sneering and made his way over to the glowing crystal before Lloyd shot up. He wouldn't have enough time to run over to Stromm before Stromm got the crystal, so he had to make do with what he could.
The best Lloyd could hope for now relied completely on his accuracy. Using every ounce of his upper body strength, he took his Ice Coffin and threw it at Stromm, hoping to impale him with it.
The sword missed and ended up getting stuck in a tree a few feet behind where the crystal was. Stromm flinched when he saw how close the sword came to piercing him, and it was long enough for Lloyd to make a run over to him and start fighting with only one sword.
Now irritated that he had come so close to getting the crystal but missing it, Stromm resorted to using his gauntlets to deal painful punches. Lloyd ducked very quickly and was hoping his reflexes would not fail him.
Unfortunately for him, it didn't last long. Lloyd got a solid blow right between the eyes and was knocked onto the ground, barely conscious. There was a small trail of blood on his forehead where the hit was taken.
Stromm snickered and went over to the crystal. He picked it up and started tossing it up a very short distance in the air and caught it back in his gauntleted hand with ease. At first he thought he would be making his way out of the jungle and back to his boat as fast as possible, but now that he saw how hopeless Lloyd was, he felt like taunting him for a while.
"So, how does it feel to lose?" Stromm said with a nasty and cocky look on his face.
"You bastard…" Lloyd managed to slowly utter as he struggled to get up.
"Hope you don't mind me taking this," Stromm said. He deposited the glowing rock into his coat. He then started making his way quickly back to his large ship.
After lying on the ground for a while and trying to recover his strength, Lloyd got up and grunted loudly. His forehead was searing with pain from where Stromm had hit him.
"Ugh…dammit!" Lloyd loudly yelled as he clutched his aching head. He looked at the palm of his glove and saw a deep speck of blood from where he had been clutching his injury. He then walked over to the tree and pulled out his Ice Coffin, and then sheathed it.
It was hopelessly over now. Stromm had the crystal, and he was now fully capable of destroying Tiberia with it.