Walkthrough for Rue

                      **Area: Prologue.

The game will begin with a mother Otama and her three baby Otamas out in the 
woods in the winter. All is quiet and well until a dark, ominous shadow appears 
overhead. The Otamas hide, with one baby Otama going the wrong way at first, 
which is quickly corrected by the mother.

The shadow will navigate its way through the forest, possibly hunting for 
something, somAione...

The scene will then change to Rue, who is standing in his house looking out the 
window. He'll begin to chat some with his sister, Claire. After talking, you'll 
gain control of Rue for the first time. Look around the house for a bit - you 
can see Rue's weapon, the Arc Edge, sitting in the corner. After a few moments, 
dinner will be ready, and Rue and Claire sit down to enjoy a good homecooked 
meal... As they eat, they'll talk some, but their dinner will be interrupted by 
some noises outside. Rue will grab his Arc Edge and go to investigate.

Things will be quiet outside... at first. Rue begins to look around, 
cautiously... Suddenly, he's knocked back by a dark figure with a... large... 
right hand... Rue prepares his weapon...

Hearing the additional commotion outside draws Claire out of the house. She 
comes out to see Rue and the mysterious figure fighting. Rue is knocked to the 
ground, and the mysterious figure draws near to him. Claire won't have this, and 
attacks the man with a pickaxe. Possibly not the best move...

Rue gets back to his feet, trying to defend his sister from possible harm, but 
Mr. Right Hand won't have that, and picks Rue up, throwing him to the side. The 
mysterious man then raises his right hand, and as Rue reaches out to stop him, 
the hand comes crashing down on Claire...


                      **Area: The Ship and the Docks.

The scene then changes to a ship, sailing the high seas. From an arial shot we 
zoom in on Rue, who is looking out at the ocean, remembering the events that are 
now 3 years past. Mint, the game's other main character, stands in the 
background looking out at the ocean as well. After a bit, she walks off...

Rue then notices two men, Blood and Smorky talking on the other side of the 
deck, apparently planning something not-so-good. Rue continues to listen, but 
before he can do anything, they dock rather abruptly.

After landing, one of the sailors, named Davis, will come over and talk to Rue. 
They'll both look over to Blood and Smorky, who are no-doubtedly planning more 
mischief. The two run off, and, Rue after a bit more conversation, follows them.

Although there aren't any items in this area, it may be a good place to practice 
your jumping skills for a small bit. After you're ready, head up the ramp, and 
into the town...


                      **Area:Karona Town

Items: Bronze Coin [1], Silver Coin [1]

Rue will then find himself in Karona Town. Like any RPG-style town, there are a 
fair share of people roaming around, as well as shops and a church to visit. 
Here's a quick, rough map of the town to help you find the various locations:


                                     ^
                                    /|\
                                     |
            ___________Exit to Docks (under church)____________
           |                                                   |
           |                      Church                       |
           |_____|____|_______________________________________ |
           |     |____|                      locked door       |
           |     |____|                                        |                 
           |_                                                 _|
           |_                                                 _| Kraus'
         / |                                                   | House
 Hotel  -  |                                                   |
         \ |_                     ______                       |_
           |_                    /      \                       _ Rod
           |                    /        \                     |  
          _|                   | Fountain |                    |
      Bar _                    |          |                    |
           |                    \        /                    _|
           |                     \______/                     _|
           |                                                   | \
 Weapon &  |_                                                  |  - Inn
 Armor     |_                                                 _| /
 Shop      |                                                  _|
           |                                                   |
           |                                                   |
           |                                                   |
           |_____________________|______|______________________|
                                   Gate


You can obviously chat with the townspeople if you wish. A visit to the Weapon 
and Armor Shop, the Hotel, or the Church will provide option that cannot be 
taken due to lack of money -the W&A Shop and Church start at 1000G, the Hotel at 
500G - all over your current 200G. You can still always visit the church if you 
just want to pray, and not make a donation... Note that you can rotate the 
camera in the places that have a small arrow icon in the upper right hand corner 
of the screen - rotate the carmer with the L1 and R1 buttons.

A visit to the Inn will provide two options upon examining the desk:

  Cancel
  Save Game

Selecting Save Game will bring up the Save Game menu, and the game will check 
your memory card. If you have a free space, you can select it with Square, and 
by answering yes (the left option), you can save. Same kind of thing if you're 
overwriting another Dewprism save - yes, the left option, will overwrite and 
save...

You can also find a couple of coins laying about the town. The first is a Silver 
Coin, found in the alley leading to, well, the alley. The second, a Bronze Coin, 
is in the corridor that leads to the docks. Grab them, and move on...

Once you're done in the town, head to the gate. Examining the gate will produce 
two options:

  Cancel
  Karona Forest

Select the second, and two more options will appear:

  Cancel
  Depart

Select the second, and continue on to the first action level, Karona Forest!


     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                       I. Karona Forest.


                      **Area: Karona Forest

Items: Bronze Coin [3]
New Enemies: Otama, Mandora, Tigre

You will start with all of your monster slots empty, a full 60/60 HP, and 0/60 
MP - the latter can be filled up by defeating enemies. Head to the right, 
jumping over the tree stumps that are in the way by pressing the X button. After 
the stumps, you'll see an Otama or two - kill them using either the Square or 
Triangle button and grab anything that it leaves behind, including the monster 
coin. Continue to the right and you will come across a small pond. You need to 
turn into an Otama to cross it - hold the Circle button and press left or right 
until the Otama icon is highlighted. Release Circle and you'll transform. You 
can still attack in this mode, which will allow you to kill the Mandora that is 
in the middle of the pond and get another monster coin. Once across the pond, 
change back to Rue. You can now also get the first treasure chest (although it's 
not quite a chest... it's just easiest to call it that...) - inside will be 3 
Bronze Coins. Notice that if Rue is standing more towards the south of the 
screen, he'll actually look at the treasure chest before you open it - a nice 
little effect...

The next screen is a good place to fill up your MP, as well as any HP that you 
might have lost - pick up the potions that the enemies occasionally drop to do 
the latter, the small jars to fill the former. There's also one new enemy: Tigre 
(spelled that way intentionally - it's said 'tai gu reh').  Continue moving to 
the left here - no big obsticles...


                 **Area: The Statue in the Forest
                             --Boss--

New Enemies: Blood (70 HP), Smorky (70 HP)

While it's not a hard fight, I suppose that this area contains your first real 
boss fight. Anyway, you enter a clearing that has a nice statue/idol in it only 
to find Blood and Smorky holding a girl captive. Eavesdrop on their dialogue, 
and then go to rescue the girl. Unfortunately, you need to surprise them so that 
they don't harm her - luckily, you can turn into enemies... Change into an Otama 
(the Mandoras are immobile and a Tigre won't work...) and go up to them. They'll 
both see you, but go back to what they were doing. Go up and hit one of them. 
They'll toss the girl aside and come after you... After a short, easy fight (no 
real strategy, just hack and slash), they will both run away.

After the fight, Rue will go up and help the girl to her feet, who introduces 
herself as Elena. She'll bounce up happily, and the two will chat. After that, 
she runs off, and Rue follows.

If you check your monster coins, you'll find that Blood has been added, but is 
not selectable. This is the same for all boss characters. 

The next screen is very straightfoward - just head right.

Upon moving on to the next screen, you'll meet two new characters. The first is 
Kraus, who is a professorish looking character that reminds me of Citan from 
Xenogears. Notice the slight limp when he walks... The other character is a 
female named Mira, who appears to be a second-hand woman kind of character. 
Converse with the group (enjoying the well done clouds and the music), and 
eventually Kraus will take you to a cliff (which is named Atorie, I believe). 
After a bit more conversation, Rue will jump in...


                      **Area: Atorie Cliffs

New Enemies: Harry, Gargoyle
Additional Enemies: Mandora 
Items: ??

This is a pretty easy section. Kill a Harry right off, grabbing it's coin. Then 
navigate your way down, killing the Harrys and Mandoras on your way. About a 
third of the way down, you'll see a small cliff to the far right of the screen - 
to get there, turn into a Tigre and make the jump. You'll find an item here, but 
I've managed to miss the jump three consectutive games (you only get one 
try...), so I'm not yet sure what it is. Anyway, just continue to make your way 
down... You can actually just avoid the enemies pretty easily... Once you're all 
the way down, jump down into the trees.

You'll be in another clearing, with more statues. Head to the north and examine 
the large stone slab with the red, blue, and green crystals in it - upon doing 
so, two Gargoyles will appear. Kill them both, grab items/coins, and turn into 
one. Perch yourself across from the inanimate gargoyle in the middle of the 
screen. Steps will appear. Head up them.


                      **Area: On the Hill...
                             --Boss--

New Enemies: Nightmare (100 HP)

You'll now be on the top of a hill, with a sort of structure in the middle. When 
Rue goes to examine the structure, he'll be surprised by a large monster jumping 
down in front of him (with a nicely animated little scene, I might add...). It's 
the first real boss, Nightmare.

This boss, a large horse/unicorn-type monster, isn't that difficult. Wait until 
he jumps high into the air, and then begin running. If you keep moving, he'll 
land somewhere behind you. You'll see some red shockwaves when he lands - just 
wait a few seconds until these dissapate (they do damage you for around 10 HP if 
you run into them), and just start hacking away. Give him a good three whacks 
with your Arc Edge, and then give him some distance. He'll run around some more 
- it's possible to get another hit or two in as he's doing so, but be careful 
not to get hit, as he will charge you occasionally, and sometimes try to throw 
you with his horn. Eventually, he'll jump again. Repeat the above process until 
he falls over, rather abruptly, dead.

After his death, your new companions will show up. Speak with them a bit, then 
head into...


                   **Area: The Library on the Hill...

Items: Silver Coin [1], Moon Stone [2]. 

Kraus will be halfway up the stairs by the time that you get in the Library. 
Speak with him a bit, then do a bit of exploring. In the rear of the library's 
first floor you'll find one of the two Moon Stones in the area. The right side 
of the second floor will produce a Silver Coin. Exit through the second floor 
door to the outside balcony to find the other Moon Stone. 

After getting the treasure, go back inside. Return to the first floor and 
examine the door-like structure at the rear of the first floor. You'll be 
presented with two options - select the bottom one. Kraus will come over and 
examine it, finding the switch that Rue couldn't. The door will open, and Kraus 
will start examining the contents. As he's doing so, you'll hear Elena calling 
'Rue-chaaaaan!'. Head back outside and speak with her. 

Elena will point out a Otama (the ball-shaped, floating enemies) that is on the 
hill now. I'm not sure if it has any significance - I chased it around for a 
while, but wasn't able to trigger any events. After a bit, I returned inside.

Once back inside, Kraus will have finished examining what's inside the door. 
After a bit more conversation, you will look up to see Mint, the other playable 
character, standing on the second floor banister. A three way conversation will 
occur, and Mint will show off a bit of her stuff. After that, she will procede 
to fall flat on her face... Following that wonderous display, you'll be back in 
Karona.


                      **Area: Karona Town

Items: Dream Stone [1]
New Items Available: Bronze Brace & Beruto (+4, 1000G @), Silver Brace & Berutoi 
(+8, 3000G)

You'll be outside of the Inn speaking with Mira and the proprietor of the inn, 
Kaasa. After a bit of chatting, you'll regain control of Rue. Head inside the 
inn to save - as you do, you'll find that your options have changed a bit:

  Cancel
  Restore HP/MP
  Save
  Stay at the Inn (puts you in the upstairs room)

There's nothing to do in the upstairs room, as far as I could tell, so you might 
as well just restore your life and save. Following that, do some more looking 
around the town.

The one shop that you were unable to buy anything in is now shoppable. It just 
happens to be the Weapon Shop. Stop inside and speak with the owner - you'll get 
two options:

  Cancel
  Shop

After that, you'll be at a menu screen that allows you to do three things:

  Purchase Braces (Weapons) or Beruto (Armor)
  Sell the Enemy Coins that you've acquired
  Sell Items

I'm not sure what the effects of selling the enemy coins are, and the only 
sellable items right now are the two Moon Stones (1000G each). You do have the 
first two levels of Braces and Beruto, Silver and Bronze, to choose from... As 
it shows in the instruction book, the Bronze is 1000G and will raise the stat 4 
points, and the Silver is 3000G and will raise it 8 points.

The nice Hotel, previously too expensive to stay at, is now finacially 
accessable. Staying there will allow you to explore the room as well, which will 
net you a Dream Stone, which is worth 2000G at the Weapon Store, and will 
totally cover your expense of staying at the Hotel.

You are also now able to donate at the Shrine. Donating 1000G will net you 10 
Bronze Coins. You can also meet Rod and his dog, and fight the former for 100G 
(you recieve 1000G if you win), or visit the Bar for some drinks:

  Cancel
  Milk        50G
  Showaa      120G
  Tropical X  220G

There is another, very pricy shop in the same alley as the Bar - more on that, 
later, though, since you can't afford any of the wares...

Once you're done shopping, head to Kraus' house, which is in the upper right 
hand corner of the town, and was previously unvisitable. Head inside, and speak 
with Mira, who is in the first room. Notice that Kraus is a bit odd with his 
decorations, as there is a very large stone fish in one corner... After chatting 
with Mira, head downstairs and talk to Kraus. He'll speak to you for a while, 
and at one point tries to get up and walk over to you, but continuously falls 
for some odd reason. After you're done talking with him, head back upstairs, and 
ignoring the back door, which is currently un-openable, talk to Mira one last 
time before leaving. As you walk out of the residence, you'll run into Elena. 
Chat with her a while, and eventually she runs off in a happy, Elena style. If 
you're not going to shop any more, make sure that you're full on life, and save 
one last time if you need, because it's off to the second action area...


     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

II. The Underground Palace of Illusion.


                      **Area: The Transporter.

When you're ready to go, head to the gate and choose the third option, followed 
by the second. Rue should exit Karona and head to a sort of transporter that it 
in the middle of the forest. He'll look at the transporter a bit, and then be 
met by Mint. The two will chat for a bit, and there will be two separate times 
that you can choose two different ways to reply - I chose the first one both 
times, and everything was fine, but feel free to choose whichever you like.

After chatting, Mint will step into the middle of the transporter, and will be 
whisked away. After a moment, Rue will follow...


                   **Area: Tunnels and Waterfalls.

New Enemies: Gudon, King Ant
Additional Enemies: Otama

This is where things get semi-tough. After a very easy first action area, the 
second is quite a bit more advanced. First off, I wouldn't even attempt mapping 
this section - I did, and the results weren't pretty. There do seem to be a 
limited number of screens, but the all interconnect and loop in very 
incomprehensible ways. I wish that I could write more about how to get where, 
but it's really quite confusing for me as well... Anyway, I'll do what I can...

First off, kill a Gudon, then hunt down a spiderish Kinkuato, change into a 
Gudon, and press Triangle to use your fire-breath (which uses 4 MP) on the 
Kinkuato, which should kill it quite dead, quite fast. Otherwise, you'll only 
take off 1 HP at a time, and since they have between 30 and 60, it'll take a 
while...

Next, listen for the sound of waterfalls. There are two screens that have 
waterfalls on them, and in any adjacent screens you will hear the roar of the 
falls. One of the waterfalls screens is a multi-level screen, and contains the 
lone Otama in the area. Kill it, which will put it back on your monster-change 
list (you can only change into the last four types of enemies that you've 
killed, so chances are, it's not on there...). The other waterfall screen, which 
is only a single screen wide, should lead to your target in this area - a hole 
that you need to jump down. When you find it, do jump down it - there isn't 
really anything else that you need to do in the area...

There is a chance that you may stumble upon Mint - I did... You can talk with 
her a little bit, but nothing really happens other than that... I don't believe 
that you need to talk to her for any real reason (ie. you don't need to find her 
to go on...)... 

Something that you may want to do here, before you jump down the hole, is make 
sure that you have at least 40 MP. You'll need them for the next area, and the 
Gudons are easier to kill in this section.


                      **Area: Poison Tunnels.

Enemies: Gudon, Kinkuato

You'll now find yourself at the beginning of some more tunnels. These are easier 
to navigate. First, check your MP - if you don't have at least 40 MP, you'll 
need to kill some Gudons before continuing too far. Head into the next room, and 
follow the junction until you reach a long hall with five blocks in it. There 
will be a Gudon on two of the blocks and a Kinkuato at the end of the hall. Kill 
the Gudons if need be, avoiding the green poison that runs nearly the length of 
the tunnels' floor.  If you have enough MP, turn yourself into an Otama and 
float over the poison. This makes things soooo much easier. At the end of the 
tunnel, just avoid the Kinkuato and head straight into the next room. Grab the 
round platform that is in the middle of the room, and go back the way that you 
came.

Continue on to the room on the side, and go straight through it. You'll come out 
in a tunnel similar to the one with the Gudons and Kinkuato. Do the same thing 
here - Otama over the poison, avoid the Kinkuato, go straight, grab the stone, 
etc. Continue doing this until the scenery changes, and there is a T-junction 
after one of the poison tunnels. There should be four stones altogether before 
you hit the T-junction...

At the T-junction go north instead of continuing to the right. Grab the fifth 
stone piece, and then backtrack and continue to the right. You should be in an 
icy tunnel with a large iceblock in front of you. Change into a Gudon and 
continually use your fire breath - you should totally Mellt the block after 
doing about 10 fire breaths in a row (hence the 40 MP) - you do need to do it 
rapidly, though, as the block will come back... After the block is gone, grab 
the sixth and final stone, and head back to where you fell (unless you have 
enough MP to Mellt the additional blocks - of course, when you leave the room, 
the blocks come back, so you'd need at least 120 MP to do so... Needless to say, 
I didn't have that much...)

When you're back to the first room (the one that you landed in when you jumped 
down the hole), you should see the six stones floating above you. Jump on the 
red one, which should be at a 3 o'clock position, and jump around the rest of 
the stones in a clockwise manner without touching the ground. After you land on 
every one, you should hear a 'ding'. After landing on the last one, they should 
all move upwards, allowing you to access the next section.


                    **Area: Boudlers and Water.

Items: Knife

You will emerge in a long corridor. To the left is a large stone blocking your 
way, so head right. After climbing quite a bit, you'll come to Mint, who is next 
to a large boulder, trying to figure out what to do with it. Talk to her a few 
times, and eventually you won't need to figure out how to move it - it will 
begin to move on it's own.

Similar to the end of the first level in Brave Fencer Musashi(den), you now have 
to outrun the boulder, and avoid obsticles at the same time. It's not that hard, 
but if the boulder touches you, to you get run over and lose 10HP. There are 6 
obsticles to avoid, all chunks of the ceiling that will fall. They will 
(probably) fall in this order:

  Right
  Left
 -pause-
  Left
  Left
 -pause-
  Both Right and Left (same time - jump to avoid)

There may be some variation, though - I've gotten R, L, L, R, B before... 
Anyway, just make sure that you avoid the falling rocks, and don't get run 
over... After the two chunks fall at the same time, head towards the left of the 
screen, and duck into the alcove that is approaching. The boulder will rumble 
past you and smash the stone that was blocking your way.

Before continuing on past where the stone was, head back up to where the boulder 
started and talk to Mint, who was run over... After that, if you need, there is 
a HP-filler at the top of this hill, just past where the boulder was. Visit it 
if need be, then head back the other way. After the stone fragments there should 
be a door. Enter it.

Upon entering the door, you'll see a large cavern with a small underground lake 
at the floor.  Mint will come in as your looking at it, and will attempt to kick 
you into the water. Rue, of course, ducks, and Mint falls into the lake... Once 
this small cutscene is finished, it's on to the puzzle in this room...

You'll see eight platforms (just like the ones that you were collecting before) 
rotating around the center of the room in two circles. The inner circle contains 
Purple, Brown, Silver, and Green stones, while the outer circle contains Yellow, 
Blue, Black, and Red ones. Look for the flashing stone and jump on it. An 
incorrect stone will reset your progress, while falling into the water will 
deduct 5 HP. The order of the stones to jump to are:

  Red (Outer ring)
  Brown (Inner ring)
  Green (Inner)
  Blue (Outer)
  Purple (Inner)
  Yellow (Outer)
  Silver (Inner)

 note: you don't jump on the Black platform...

After you jump on the last platform, it will raise up to the next level...


                     **Area: Skull Beast's Lair.
                              --Boss--

New Enemies: Skull Beast (90 HP)

This is my idea of a good time... Upon arriving in this room, jump across the 
platforms to the right. Eventually, you'll come across the Skull Beast, a large 
skeleton dragon. The screen that you fight it on will have four platforms that 
you have to jump between, avoiding the Skull Beast in the process...

The Skull Beast will jump up and down and from platform to platform. All that 
you need to do here is avoid him - jumping around the screen in a clockwise or 
counterclockwise fashion will cause him to follow you, which makes him pretty 
easy to avoid. Make sure that he doesn't touch you - when I was fighting him, he 
kept hitting me, which knocks you back, and usually knocks you down into the pit 
below, deducting 5 HP on top of whatever the Beast took off... Keep an eye out 
for when the Beast pauses - it's then that you need to hit him. He will 
noticably begin to pant and bend over a bit... He's only usually good for one 
whack at a time, so be cautious, and patient. After jumping some, he'll breathe 
fire a bit, and in one of two ways. First, he'll to a blanket of fire - jump 
over this - it's not that hard to avoid. The other type of fire is a single line 
of fire that is again, easy to avoid - just move to the side or jump to a 
different platform. Just keep an eye out for the pauses - after fire breathings 
is a pretty good time... Once you know how to handle him, he's not that tough... 
The first few times he was hideously hard, but now, after a few times, I've 
almost (within one hit) beaten him starting with only 30 HP...

While this all may sound easy, it's not. It took me a few tries to kill the 
bloody thing, due to getting hit in midair, and falling as a result. Anyway, 
once you've taken off all 90 HP, continue to the right, and take the platform to 
the next area.


                      **Area: Indoor Structures.

Items: Bronze Coin [3], Gold Coin [1], Cube, Tiara

After defeating the Skull Beast and riding up the platform, you'll see a large 
inverted pyramid-type structure. Head towards the middle of the platform that 
you are on to activate the rising platform that will take you to it.

Once inside the structure, there are three rooms - one contains a HP/MP refill 
spot and your first Gold Coin, which is hidden in between the two large, black 
pillars. Another room has a Bronze Coin (on the tool rack towards the right hand 
side of the room) and a Cube, and the final room sports two Bronze Coins (one is 
on the floor, the other near the lefthand wall) and the Tiara.

Once you've gathered these items, head back down using the platform... It's time 
for more fun...


                      **Area: The Platform.
                             --Boss--

New Enemies: Duke

When you arrive at the bottom, you'll find two new characters. One is a male 
named Duke, the other, a female named Bell. You'll talk a bit, and then Duke 
will attack.

At the beginning of the fight, Duke will triplicate himself and surround you. 
The three Dukes will rotate around you once, or thereabouts, and then will 
reform and attack. Once they go around once, just be ready to jump to avoid 
Duke's magic attack, which hugs the ground. As you land, use the Arc Edge to hit 
him a few times, then get ready to avoid more...

After his life is about 1/2 gone, Duke stops playing and becomes more 
aggressive. This basically means less triplicating and more flat out attacks. 
Your methods don't really need to change more - just be on your feet and ready 
to dodge or jump over his attacks - they take off about 15 HP each time they 
hit.

After Duke is defeated, Bell will steal the recently-acquired Tiara from Rue. 
Before he can retrieve the item, though, Duke comes back to life, and the two of 
them leave. Rue follows...


                 **Area: Skull Beast's Lair Revisited 
                                and the Spiral Staircase.

Upon arriving back down, head towards the left, following the duo of Duke and 
Bell. Once you come to the area that you fought the Skull Beast, though, you're 
in for a bit of a surprise - it's back. It attacks with the same tactics, but 
you might notice that there is not life bar for it... You'll find that after you 
hit it once, the screen will unlock. You know what that means, don't you? Run!

Continue left and head for the platform that you came up on. It will take you up 
again, which puts you at a large spiral staircase. As Rue steps off of the 
platform, the Skull Beast will hop up onto the end of the staircase. Once again, 
same tactics - run. 

Another sort of minigame like the earlier boulder section, you need to outrun 
the Skull Beast while avoiding large spiked balls that will bounce down the 
stairs. This, however, is really easy if you know how. Just stick to the inside 
of the stairs - you go up a lot faster, you can't fall off, and you will avoid 
the balls as well. 

After reaching the top, the Skull Beast will catch up. Rue takes care of it, 
however, albeit in an unconventional fashion... Once the Beast is gone for good, 
jump onto the grey platform in the middle. 

You'll now be back at the large cavern where Mint fell. Rue, not seeing her, 
looks for a bit, then leaves to head back to Karona Town. Right after he leaves, 
though, Mint pulls herself up...


                      **Area: Karona Town.

Well, after all of that, you will probably want to head to the inn for some 
rejuevenation, as well as a quick save...

If you weren't able to beat Rod before, you should be strong enough to now. If 
you haven't cashed in your enemies and upgraded your weapons and armor, now is a 
good time to do so...

For some additional information, albeit all in Japanese, visit Graham near the 
fountain. You can pick from about four different things to hear about. You must 
do this before going to Kraus' house...

When you're done doing the above, head to Kraus'. Elena will be in the first 
room - chat with her, then head downstairs to visit Kraus. Rue and Kraus will 
talk a bit, then Rue can head back upstairs. An automatic conversation will 
occur with Elena, and then you can go on to one of two new destinations... Head 
for the gate...


     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

III. Mell's Atorie.


                     **Area: The Star Fields.

If you select the third option down (skipping the top 'cancel' option, so I 
suppose it's really the fourth...), you'll head off to the Mell's Atorie. Before 
leaving the town, both Mint and Elena will come up and chat with you. After 
that, though you're off to the extreMelly... colorful... Mell's Atorie.

As you head off through the forest, the landscape will suddenly change. Yes, 
pastels folks. Gotta love them... A slightly confused Rue continues on, only to 
find a dead end with a fallen star. Hop on the star to continue on...

The star will take you to a mushroom-shaped house on a small floating island. 
The island is deserted, so the only thing for Rue to do is go up and ring the 
doorbell, which he does. As he does, though, a bunch of small oddly shaped and 
colored men come up behind him. Chatting with any of the three of them will give 
you an option, and upon selecting the bottom one (the top one, as usual, is 
cancel), you'll be whisked away on a star to one of three side-scrolling, 
pastel-ly, and incredibly annoying mini-stages, each of which is followed by a 
mini-game.


                     **Area: The Star Games.

New Enemies: Kinokobooya, Imp, Mokedore
Items: Bronze Coins, Silver Coins

Although not incredibly long, these three mini-stages are quite possibly the 
most annoying section of any video game that I've even played in my entire life. 
Period. Everything about them is annoying - the enemies, the game play, the 
graphics, and, on the top of the list, the music. Mute here, folks. For the love 
of God, press Mute...

The first of the stages that you encounter (starting at the door and going 
around counterclockwise) is quite possibly the most annoying. It's not really 
that hard, but many of the things, like the fact that falling off is 
_incredibly_easy, will quickly begin to try your patience. The only real tip for 
this stage is for the big jump near the end - you have to get on the ball that 
the Kinokobooya is riding to sucessfully make the jump - and be careful - after 
killing the Kinokobooya, the ball will soon pop. The mini-game at the end 
involves killing as many Kinokobooyas as possible - each one nets you 20 points 
(although if they aren't fully grown yet and you hit them, they will attack...). 
A score over 500 will net you something special, naMelly, a Silver Coin. My 
score was only 460, so I only got a Bronze Coin (and I am NOT playing that stage 
again...). This scoring is the same for all of the mini-games (over 500 gets you 
a Silver Coin).

The second mini-stage is probably the easiest, and boasts no hard spots. The end 
mini-game is a simple one as well - when the balls are shot out of the horn, 
grab as many non-black ones as possible. Each ball is worth 10 points, although 
the black ones aren't worth any, and only slow you down.

The third stage is pretty easy (compared to the first) as well - there are two 
problem spots, though - the second and third teeter-totters. The second is easy 
to operate; just stand on the very right-hand edge, and it should shift over, 
making the jump easier. The third one requires you to jump on each end 
alternatively, each jump moving it a little bit. The end game is the most odd, 
though (as if the rest of the area _wasn't_ odd...) - you have to jump on the 
circles when the Mokedore come close to the horn... 

There is one nice thing about these stages - easy money. The enemies are all 
very easy to defeat, and they are worth a decent amount as well... Although I 
don't know the specific amount per, after defeating about 130 each of the Imps 
and Kinokobooyas and 30 of the Mokedore, I got almost 6000G in return... 

After you're done pulling your hair out from the music in the last few mini-
stages, have Rue go up and ring the doorbell one more time. This time, the 
inhabitant of the house, whose name happens to be Mell, comes and Rue 'says' one 
of the most classic lines in the game... After that, the two of you will talk, 
and you'll show her the Cube. Once you're done there, get back on the star, and 
head back down to the ground...


                   **Area: The Star Fields, Part 2.
                              --Boss--

Boss: Duke in Star-Suit (140 HP)

Once back on the ground, you'll notice an odd star towards the top of the 
screen. Upon trying to talk to it twice (and having it fall over twice, then 
having to pick the second option to help it back up), you'll see that the star 
is actually Duke in a star-suit. Odd. After chatting for a bit, he'll attack. 

This shouldn't be that hard of a fight. You have to wait until Duke falls over, 
and then hit him once (he'll get up right after that...). Just run around and 
avoid his various attacks - it shouldn't be that tough. Be careful to avoid the 
edges of the field and any vegetation - it's kind of easy to get trapped when 
you're around the above... After 140 HP of damage, Duke will become a shooting 
star, and you can head back to Karona.


                   **Area: Karona Forest Revisited.
                               --Boss--

Bosses: Blood, Smorky
Enemies: Otama, Tigre, Mandora

Speaking with a Karona resident near the fountain reveals that a trip back to 
the forest is required, so head back to the gate and choose the second option. 
This will put you in the second Karona forest screen (bypassing the first 'mini-
tutorial' section of the forest). Hack through this screen quickly (all of the 
enemies should only take one hit now) and head on to the clearing with the 
statue. There, you'll find your old friends Blood and Smorky, this time 
tormenting a small Popleplul. After a bit of conversation, battle will begin.

As with last time, there's not much in the way of strategy here. Just hack and 
slash. They do pack a much bigger whallop, though, and are much more aggressive. 
After a about 120 points of damage to Blood or 110 to Smorky, they will run off, 
tail betweenst legs. After a bit of conversation with the Popleplul, you'll 
return to Karona Town.


                      **Area: Karona Town.

Upon returning to the town, you'll find that it's dark. The Hotel is closed, as 
is the Weapon Shop. The Inn is open, as is the Church. Kraus and friends have 
appeared to have retired for the night as well. If you head to Rod's little neck 
of the woods you can enjoy a short, quiet sequence with him. Heading down the 
alley reveals little new - the Bar is open, but still empty, and the Item shop 
is still really expensive... 

Since the Gate is closed for the night and you can't explore any more, go to the 
Inn and select the fourth option to call it a night. While sleeping, Rue will 
have a nicely disturbing dream about his sister and the mysterious man from 
three years ago... He wakes up in a cold sweat, but ready to start a new day...

A visit to Kraus reveals little new, so unless you need to shop, head back to 
the gate, and select the fourth option to return to the stars...


                  **Area: The Star Fields Revisited.

Head to the fallen star and go back up to the floating house of Meru. Ring the 
doorbell, and enter. There you'll find the Popleplul that you rescued, as well 
as Mell. Speak some with Mell, and you'll recieve Mell's Report and Kyuupu in 
return. After that, Rue has more to say, and reveal. Much more about his 
character is revealed here, as well as more of what happened that day three long 
years ago...

After the flashback sequences, Mint will ring. When Rue goes outside he finds 
not only Mint, but also Elena. Rue and Mint talk for a while, then Mint enter's 
Mell's house, leaving Elena and Rue to talk. After a bit of a chat, you'll find 
them back down on ground level after a bit more chatting, the scene will change 
entirely...


                        **Interlude: ???

You'll now get to see a short scene between a new character named PsychoMaster, 
and another unnamed one who looks decidedly evil. The scene presumably takes 
place in a hallway in the castle or fortress of the unnamed man, but the scene 
is short, and one cannot really tell. What you can tell, though, is that  
neither the unnamed man nor PsychoMaster are one of the good guys...


                      **Area: Karona Town.

After the short PsychoMaster/mystery man sequence, you'll find Rue back in 
Karona Town. Save if desired, then head to Kraus' residence. Heading downstairs, 
Rue and Kraus will begin to talk. Rue speaks of the two items that Mell gave 
him, and Kraus eventually turns their attention to the Cube, which he has been 
examining. While they are standing there, the Cube begins glowing, and in a 
burst of light, a large diamond of energy holding a small child appears! After a 
moment, the energy diamond gives out, and the child falls to the floor, 
unconscious. Right after this happens, Mint walks in the room.

After a bit of conversation, the child is moved to Kraus' bed, and the three of 
them sit down to talk. Eventually, Mint runs off, and you regain control of Rue. 
Speak with Kraus if you wish, then head out. Elena will be in the first room - 
speak with her, then go outside.

Save if you want, then head to the gate. As a side note, I was at three hours of 
playtime exactly when I saved before heading out, and had 101 HP and 71 MP, so 
if you want a rough idea of how you're doing.... (with the timer, keep in mind 
that I'm writing this walkthrough as I play, and pausing doesn't stop the 
timer... anyway...)

While you have been able to select the Lake Shore for quite a while, a trip 
there will not really reveal anything at all, and will end up being quite 
short...

The next area that you need to visit is the Ghost Temple, the fifth choice from 
the top, and the fourth visitable area (the top choice, as always, is cancel). 
Select it, and continue on...


     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IV. The Ghost Temple.


                      **Area: The Temple Entrance.

Rue approaches the Ghost Temple cautiously, and looks around at the entrance. A 
large door towers in front of him, apparently the only way in. Rue, unsure of 
what else to do, simply walks up and knocks on the door. Nothing happens. He 
turns around, pondering other options, and the door mysteriously swings open. 
Rue slowly turns back around, and cautiously enters...

Once inside the Temple, the door mysteriously swings shut behind him, locking 
him in. Rue looks around the large entrance hall a bit, then you gain control. 
If you walk up the the left hand door and try to open it, Rue will again knock, 
but the door on the right hand side will open (if you walk up to the right hand 
door, it will open when you try it...). Rue enters it...


                   **Area: The Right Corridor, Part 1.

New Enemies: Papetto, Spectre
Additional Enemies: Tigre, Gudon

Upon entering the right door, Rue will find himself in a long corridor. The door 
will swing behind him, shutting him in. He begins to explore the corridor, but 
sees three mysterious figures in the distance. He carefully follows them, and 
sees them enter a door at the far right of one of the halls. Before the final 
one enters, it turns around, apparently hearing Rue's advance. After a moment, 
it continues in, and the door swings shut. When Rue explores the rest of the 
halls, he finds two doors in the bottom hall (the one on the left being the one 
that you entered), both locked. The top hall has one locked door on the left, 
and the final door being the one that the figures entered. Rue heads to that 
one, finding it open.

Upon entering the room, the door will again shut behind him, and then two of the 
figures, called Papettos, will appear. Upon defeating them, the door will re-
open, and Rue can exit to the hall that he first came into. 

You will now find that the door on the top left is now open, and thus, Rue 
continues to explore in that direction. Entering that door will put you in 
another small room, and introduce another Papetto and your first Spectre. Upon 
killing them, they will both shortly reappear, so head north into the next 
corridor. 

The next corridor will go straight for a short distance, and then veer right. 
Beware of large spiked balls that fall from the ceiling occasionally... After 
the first jump, you'll find a door on either side of you, with two Papettos to 
fight on the platform connecting the two. Enter the left door to fight a Tigre 
and two Papettos (grab the monster coin that the Tigre leaves, as well a a 
Papetto one if you don't have it yet). Enter the right door to fight a Gudon and 
two more Papettos. After that, head back to the main corridor.

You'll now be faced with a large jump - change into a Tigre to make it. After 
that, you should be at the far end of the corridor, where you'll find a locked 
door and a couple of Papettos on pedestals. Kill the Papettos on the right, then 
take it's place and turn Rue into a Papetto. After a moment, the other Papetto 
should turn to the side (you might have to wiggle around a bit for it to do so), 
and the door will open. Before Rue gets a chance to enter, though, a large blade 
flies out of the room, then boomerangs back. Rue, always brave, enters, albeit 
cautiously.


                   **Area: Ashurakimaira, Take 1.
                               --Boss--

Boss: Ashurakimaira (250 HP)
Items: Left Seraretto

While it looks pretty mean, the fight with Ashurakimaira is one of the easiest 
ones that you'll have when facing a boss. A simple, aggressive hack and slash 
technique should work fine. Ashurakimaira will only attack about once every six 
hits, and even when it does, it shouldn't do much damage.

After defeating Ashurakimaira, you'll recieve the Left Seraretto. Grab it, and 
move on...


                   **Area: The Right Corridor, Part 2.

New Enemies: Skeleton, Uutan 
Additional Enemies:Otama, Spectre, Papetto
Items: Bronze Coin [3], Silver Coin [1]

Upon entering the next corridor, you'll find a glowing platform at the end of 
the corridor. Jump on it, and you'll be greeted by four skeletons, two from each 
side (are they dancing?). Hack them to little skeleton bits, and head into the 
right room for a quick HP refill. After that, head left...

The room to the left of the glowing platform is a small one that leads you 
north. Head north to find another corridor. It'll turn to the right, and then 
you will find a door on the left a bit before a larger, open area that has some 
poison gas on the ground. Head into the left room before continuing on. You'll 
find two Papettos and 1 Uutan. Kill them and head back out, continuing to the 
north. You'll want to try to hang on to the Uutan transform ability for a while, 
too...

Jumping to the first platform, you'll find a Skeleton and an Otama. Make sure to 
kill the Otama and grab it's coin, as it will make it easier if you fall to the 
poison gas below (Otamas, since they float, aren't affected by the gas). If you 
head left into the first room in the larger area, you'll find two Skeletons and 
one Tigre. The next room, on the right-hand side, contains two Skeletons and one 
Spectre, while the final room, on the left and to the north, sports a chest 
containing 3 Bronze Coins and a single Silver Coin. Again, be careful of what 
you kill, as you need the Uutan ability later on (you can always backtrack, 
though...). Anyway, grab the treasure and jump to the northmost platform, which 
should have two skeletons on it. Kill the right-hand skeleton and jump onto the 
pedestal, transforming Rue into a skeleton. The door should open. Inside is...


                     **Area: Ashurakimaira, Take 2.
                              --Boss--

Boss: Ashurakimaira (250 HP)
Item: Right Seraretto

The second encounter with the still-mean looking Ashurakimaira is almost as easy 
as the first. Again, assume a simple hack and slash style here, but watch out 
for when the camera pans out - it means that Ashurakimaira is about to unleash a 
lightning attack. The good news is that only that last blast should (key word: 
should) hit you, so get in a few more chops before starting to run. After it's 
defeat, the Right Seraretto should be dropped, and Rue can gather it up and head 
north.



                   **Area: The Right Corridor, Part 3.

Enemies: Skeleton, Spectre

You'll find a much shorter section here than in the previous two sections... A 
nice change. Anyway, this is where you'll need the Uudan transformation ability. 
Kill the two Spectres that you find, then change into the Uudan to make the high 
jump that you'll face. Make it, and continue north, where you'll find another 
pair of pedestals, this time with collasped Skeletons. Again, kill the Skeleton 
on the right and assume it's position. Turn into a Skeleton and press the 
Triangle button to collapse yourself. The door should open, and you'll get to 
face, once again...


                    **Area: Ashurakimaira, Take 3.
                              --Boss--

Boss: Ashurakimaira (250 HP)
Item: Left Gauntlet

This time Ashurakimaira has decided to up the ante a bit, and make things a bit 
tougher for Rue. You'll still have to do a lot of hacking and slashing, but 
you'll also need to keep an eye out for more attacks. Again, when the camera 
pans out, look for a lightning attack (again, only the last bolt should hit). 
Also, when special effects such as motion blur begin to happen, a special attack 
should be happening shortly, so beware. When Ashurakimaira begins to breathe 
fire, head around to his back (if possible) and hack him from there. Aside from 
that, just get in some swipes with the Arc Edge whenever possible, and once 250 
points of damage have been afflicted, death will result. Rue will grab the Left 
Gauntlet and head north.


                **Area: The Right Corridor, Final Section.

Rue will encounter a short corridor here with four lit torches at the end. Turn 
into a Spectre and use it's ice attacks to extinguish them (you'll need a few 
magic points as well...). Upon extinguishment, the door to Rue's left will open, 
and a large spiked ball will fall from the ceiling. Watch out. Head to the left.

You'll find yourself in the first hallway that you entered (remember the locked 
door in the bottom right?). Head back to the left and go out the first door that 
you entered. It should be open now. You'll find yourself back at the main 
entrance hall to the Ghost Temple. The right-hand door should shut behind you. 
Head over to the door on the left, and enter it.


                     **Area: The Left Corridor, Part 1.

Enemies: Skeleton, Papetto, Harry
Items: Moon Stone [1], Night Stone [1]

You'll now be in yet another corridor. Head left, and you'll see an odd-looking 
section of the wall, one that is a bit more inset than the rest. Examine it. As 
you do, Rue will head a noise over his shoulder. He turns around and begins 
investigating. Hiding behind the corner, he readies the Arc Edge, turns around 
to attack, and finds... Elena? The two talk for a while, and then the hear the 
faint noise of a door locking. Rue runs back to the entrance of the hall to find 
that (once again), they are locked in. Unfazed, he continues on.

From the locked entrance door, head back left, thrn up, then right, then down. 
You should see a lever. Strike it with the Arc Edge, and the door to the north-
west of the screen should open. Enter it, and Elena will follow.

You'll now be in a corridor with a door to the north, west, and east. 
Unfortunately, they are all locked. There is also a small hole on the left side 
of the corridor towards the top. Examine it if you like. Eventually, the two 
doors on the left and right will open, producing a Skeleton and Papetto, which 
come out onto the platform that Elena is now standing on. Ever the defender, Rue 
now needs to kill the two enemies. Do so, and you'll be greeted by another two 
Skeletons and another Papetto. Once defeated, you'll chat with Elena a bit, only 
to hear the two doors begin to knock and shake. 

The door on the left has three Skeletons to defeat, while the door on the right 
sports three Papettos and another door. Kill the Papettos, then strike the door 
with your Arc Edge to demolish it, then enter the next room. You'll find a Harry 
that you'll need to kill and take the mosnter coin from, and a chest that 
contains a Moon Stone.

Once the Harry is dead and the Moon Stone in your possession, head back to the 
main corridor. Go to the small hole on towards the top left (which just happens 
to be about the size of a Harry...), change to said Harry, and enter. You'll 
have to wait a bit for Elena to come up and wait by the entrance of the hole... 
Once you get her there, enter the hole as a Harry.

In the hole you have to stay in Harry form, due to the lack of space. Use your 
Triangle attack combined with the D-pad/left analog stick to rid the world of 
the other Harrys that inhabit the hole. Grab the Night Stone that is in the 
chest, and continue to head north, then turn right to exit the hole. 

Once outside of the hole, change back to Rue and hit the lever with the Arc 
Edge. Both the top and bottom doors will open, and Elena will run in. Head 
north, and Elena will follow. 


                   **Area: The Left Corridor, Part 2.

Enemies: Papetto, Spectre, Tigre, Skeleton 
Item: Silver Coin [1]

Head down the next passageway until you encounter yet another lever, which you 
will again need to hit with the Arc Edge. Upon trying to enter the newly opened 
door, you'll once again need to wait for Elena (which can get a bit tiring...). 
Once you get her there, head through the door. Unfortunately, Elena isn't the 
fastest person in the world, so she doesn't make it through before the door 
shuts. Luckily, she figures out how to open the door after a moment, and 
continues through, right before the door shuts on them again.

You'll be in another small room with a glowing platform and another lever, with 
yet another shut (and somewhat clawed at) door. Standing on the platform will 
invoke a short sequence, but nothing really happens. Hit the lever with the Arc 
Edge, and to Rue's dismay, the lever will fly off. Luckily, the door opens. Rue 
and Elena head through, but once again Elena is cut off, this time without a 
lever to open the door with. Rue heads off to find another solution. 

You'll be in another long corridor with three doors (one to the north, and one 
each to the west and east, besides the one that you just walked through to the 
south). The one to the north is accessable by jumping in a couple of stationary 
floating platforms, although the door will be locked. Head into the right-hand 
door to fight two Skeletons and one Tigre. The left-hand door contains another 
glowing platform, as well as two Papettos and a single Spectre. Make sure that 
you obtain the ability to change into a Papetto (I didn't the first time, so you 
may need to exit and re-enter the door a few times). Change into a Papetto and 
jump onto the glowing platform, which turns out to be a teleporter.

You'll now find yourself back a few screens. Head back to where you left Elena, 
which should be a single screen to the north. You'll need to open another door 
via lever to get there. When you enter the door, you'll find Elena being held 
captive by a couple of Papettos. Before Rue can save her, they step onto the 
transporter and are whisked away. Rue follows. You should now find yourself in 
the Tigre/Skeleton room, across the hall from the first transporter that you 
used. Run over there and jump on the Transporter once more.

Now, backtrack (all the doors should be unlocked at this point) until you come 
to the corridor that had the shaking doors. One door, the right one, will be 
shaking again. Enter it and defeat the three Papettos that are inside. Upon 
their defeat, three Skeletons will enter the room, bursting through the wooden 
door. Kill them, then enter the door.

Elena will be there, cowering in a corner. Go up and speak with her for a bit, 
then head back outside. Go into the next room. Once inside, talk to Elena - she 
should give you a Silver Coin. Continue back to where Elena was kidnapped, in 
the room with the broken lever. Examine the door, which is still locked. Elena 
will offer to help, and manages to get the door open, albeit in possibly not the 
best way... Enter the next corridor with Elena following.

The two stationary platforms will now be spinning. Jump onto them, and then to 
the platform to the far north of the screen. Examine the door, which is now 
open. Of course, Elena still needs to be brought over to the platform, so press 
the Triangle button after examining the door to speak with her. Choose the top 
option, and then press Triangle to have Elena jump onto the platforms 
(obviously, having the timing correct). Once you've manuevered her to the 
platform with you, head into the next room, proceding down the following 
corridor and into yet another room. 


                  **Area: Ashurakimaira, Take 4 (kind of).
                                --Boss--

Boss: Duke (210 HP)

Upon entering the next room, you'll see your old friend Ashurakimaira again, but 
this time, Duke is there as well. He defeats the beast, who in turn drops the 
Right Gauntlet. Duke retrieves the item, then speaks with Rue a bit. After a 
small amount of chatting, the two begin to fight.

This is the hardest boss in the whole of the Ghost Temple. Duke has numerous 
attacks, some of which he is invincible during. There are two similar attacks 
where Duke will pause and glow, then unleash a band of energy - one attack is 
long range, but has a small area of coverage, while the other is short range, 
but radiates in all eight major directions. Both of these are fairly easily 
dodged, although Duke seems to be immune to damage during these. Duke also has a 
sort of machinegun punch which can be easily cancelled by striking him, and a 
jumping uppercut that he can also be hit while doing. You'll also find that Duke 
will chase you around the room a bit, trying to get a good hit in. This is a 
good time to use the various items that are laying around to your advantage - 
one hit with the Arc Edge will make them blow up a few seconds later, which will 
damage Duke (as well as yourself), if in the vicinity of the explosion.

There are two things that you need to watch out for in this battle - the first 
is the exploding items. It is very easy to mistakenly target one of them (due to 
the semi-auto targeting system used by Dewprism), so watch out - if you get two 
hits in on one of these, it will more than likely explode in your face, damaging 
you. It might be a good idea to detonate all of these at the beginning of the 
fight so that you don't get into any trouble. The other thing to watch out for 
is swinging the Arc Edge too much - if you do so, there is a good chance that 
Duke will catch you in mid swing and do some damage. Remember that if you press 
the Square button three times in a row, Rue swing his weapon three times, which 
cannot be cancelled. This may result in you trying to more Rue out of the way of 
an attack, but Rue continuing to sit there and swing at an enemy that is no 
longer there.

Once Duke is defeated, some more dialogue will be exchanged between Rue and 
Duke, followed by Elena and Duke. After a bit, though, all three of the 
characters hear a low rumbling noise... the walls! Duke will buy Rue some time, 
so start hitting the door on the right with your arc Edge repeatedly. Eventually 
(after 15 or 20 hits), the door will collapse, and everyone will escape.

You will now find the three characters outside. Rue and Elena will talk a bit, 
while Duke will be silent. After a bit, Rue and Elena go to leave, which is when 
Duke speaks up. After a bit of conversation, the Rue and Elena do leave, and 
Duke stands there a while longer, thinking...


                      **Interlude: ???

The scene will now change to a small room where Duke is being scolded by Bell. 
The two will quarrel for a while, then talk for a bit, then begin to quarrel 
some more. After a bit the scene will change again.


                      **Area: Karona Town.

New Items Available: Gold Brace & Beruto (+12, 3500G @)

Rue and Elena will enter the town and talk a bit, but after a moment Rue sees a 
familiar face disappear into the alley. He follows, but can't find the person 
again... Searching the bar and the item shop reveals nothing... 

Looking around the rest of the town, Rue will discover that the Gold Bracer and 
Beruto are now available in the Weapon and Armor Shop for the price of 3500G 
each. Each item will boost the respective stat +12.
Again, if you'd like to track your progress compared to mine, my timer was at 
5:00 upon arrival back in Karona Town, with HP at 133, MP at 76, Attack at 40 
and Defense at 24 (both of the last two without the Gold items).

Another visit to Rod will reveal that he has acquired more powerful weapons, 
although he's still fairly easy to defeat...

You should now be in the range of beginning to be able to afford the shop in the 
alley, so let's take a look at what they have to offer. Selecting the second 
option will bring you to a screen where you can buy...

  Power Up (Raises Power by one point)  30000G
  Guard Up (Raises Guard by one point)  30000G
  Life Up  (Raises HP by ten points)    30000G
  Magic Up (Raises MP by ten points)    30000G

You can also exchange defeated enemies for gold here, as well as selling all of 
your items, including your Coins (which are not sellable at the other shop)

Once you're done doing any of the above, head to Kraus' place. Going downstairs, 
you'll find Kraus and Mint there, and the three of you will strike up a 
conversation. Rue now has the two Gauntlets (Duke apparently handed his over at 
some point) and two Serarettos that are needed for the mysterious child, so they 
are outfitted, and the child wakes up immediately. It is quickly learned that 
the child's name is PrimaDoll, and the four characters talk for a while 
(although Mint isn't always the happiest camper...). PrimaDoll is apparently a 
pretty smart little cookie, as his speech uses nearly all kanji (if you don't 
understand that, simply look at the complexity of the characters in his dialogue 
versus the other characters, who all speak in much simpler characters...). After 
a bit, PrimaDoll gets up and tries to walk, but falls over rather quickly. He is 
put back onto the bed to rest, and the three remaining characters continue to 
talk. Mint eventually leaves, rather happily, and Rue and Kraus finish up their 
conversation. Afterwards, you regain control of Rue... Speaking with PrimaDoll 
reveals something regarding the Tiara that you had stolen by Bell, as well as an 
Amulet. After another short chat with Kraus, you can head upstairs to talk to 
Elena, and then it's back outside.

Heading to the gate, you'll find that another area has opened up: The Angry 
Mountain (the sixth choice down, and the fifth area)


     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

V. The Angry Mountain.


                  **Area: Outside the Angry Mountain.

New Enemies: MaguMagu, Dadango
Additional Enemies: UUtan

When you first get to the Angry Mountain, you'll find that you're put right into 
the action. On the first screen you'll have to choices - up or down. Going up 
will result in your first MaguMagu as well as a falling platform (it's smaller 
than the rest). If you head down, you'll be greeted by a large boulder. The 
solution? Head to where the falling platform was and jump down, holding right. 
Instead of falling to your doom (albeit a temporary one) you'll land on a 
platform that has a large hammer-wielding enemy called a Dadango. Kill it and 
grab it's coin, then head back to the left, turn into a Dadango, and smash the 
boulder. Head back up, and continue into the cave on the right.


                   **Area: Inside the Angry Mountain.

New Enemies: Otama (Blackened)
Additional Enemies: Otama, Dadango, Gudan
Items: Silver Coin [1]

Inside the cave you'll again have two choices - right or left. Going right 
(towards the bottom of the screen) you'll find a couple of Otama-generating 
pools as well as another boulder. Going left (towards the top of the screen) 
you'll find a boulder, followed by a chest containing a silver coin. So, head 
left first to retrieve the Coin (and killing the Spectre that appears once 
you've smashed the boulder), then head back and to the bottom of the screen, 
smashing that boulder (and killing a few Otamas in the process) before 
continuing right. You will then find a larger area that has a bunch of steam 
vents to avoid, and more Otamas and Dadangos to kill. Continue to the right, and 
through into the next cave. 

The next room in the series of cave sports a beautiful blanket of lava (which 
happens to take off about 17 HP if you fall in, so watch out). You'll find 
Gudans on floating platforms (which move slightly), as well as some new 
Blackened Otamas that sport many more HP than normal ones (although they are 
still classified as Otamas; no additional monsters are added to your monster 
list that is available by pressing start). If you head north on the second 
floating platform, you can access a HP refill point that is being guarded by two 
Dadango, as well as a boulder. Smash the boulder, as well as your Dadango 
brethern, fill your HP, and head back down and to the right. Note that Dadangos 
can't jump onto the floating platforms (they tip over) and Otamas (regular white 
ones) can't float over lava (they fall in).


                   **Area: Back outside the Angry Mountain.
                                  --Boss--

Bosses: Bell (& Hexegon), Duke
Additional Enemies: Otama (Blackened), MaguMagu

Headinging into the next cave will take you back outside, where a strong wind is 
blowing. Continue up the mountain, killing MaguMagu and Blackened Otama as you 
go, and being careful not to be blown into a pit. Note that the wind is stronger 
some times than others - don't try to make the jump if dust is appearing...

Upon reaching the next screen you'll see your old friends Duke and Bell. The two 
of them will talk to you for a while, with Bell eventually taking over the 
conversation. After a bit, she decides that she is through talking, and attacks 
(with a little help)

While Duke appears to be the target, he's not. He is, however, defeatable, and I 
would recommend a bit of the old hack and slash to get rid him. I wouldn't even 
go after Bell until he's done for. Once he is gone, concentrate on Bell.

Wait until Bell comes close and tries to grab for you, then jump to avoid the 
hands. After you land, jump again and slash her in the air. She'll retreat, and 
then you can repeat the process all over again. Note that sometimes she will 
fire projectiles before she grabs for you, so be careful. She's not that tough 
this time around, and each hit does a good 25 or so damage.

After taking down the entire life bar, she'll retreat, then come at you on foot. 
Watch out for the same things that you watched out for while fighting Duke at 
the end of the last section. She has two kinds of magic - fire, and light. The 
fire is fairly easy to avoid, but the light will circle around her, and 
eventually shoot out - this is a little tougher, but still shouldn't pose a big 
threat. Just keep your cool, and avoid getting near to the edges (a Blackened 
Otama will come out if you do), and she should be toast in no time. After that, 
they will both retreat, and you're back to climbing the mountain.


                    **Area: Climbing the Moutain.
                              --Boss--

Boss: Wealaugh
Additional Enemies: Dadango, MaguMagu, Otama (Blackened)
Items: Pan

After defeating Bell and Duke, you'll find yourself on another normal action 
screen. To the far right of the first level is a HP refill point - it is past a 
Dadango. There is a Pan on the second level to the far right (over some 
platforms with MaguMagu on them). You'll probably find that it is easiest to 
just run in this part. Plus, you'll want to conserve HP for the battle ahead. 
Continue upwards, jumping over and otherwise avoiding enemies, and finally, past 
some Blackened Otama, you'll find the top of the mountain. 

The top of the mountain is a field of lava and burning rock. You'll speak with a 
dragon named Wealaugh for a while, but eventually it will attack. Get ready for 
one tough fight.

Wealaugh, being a creature of flight, will spend most of the fight in the air, 
well out of Rue's reach. While it's in the air, you'll find that firebreathing 
seems to be an enjoyed pasttime. It's not that hard to avoid, luckily - the 
playfield is large and easy to maneuver, and the fire should be easily dodged. 
Eventually, Wealaugh will begin to divebomb you - when it does, jump and swing 
your Arc Edge it it's general direction. With luck, you'll hit it, and it will 
head back to the skies. If you miss, however, you're probably about to get hit. 
After it hits, it will probably fly back up. There are times that he will stay 
on the ground for a while, whacking away at you with his head or tail. Same 
strategy here - jump-shots work wonders, and will avoid his attacks at the same 
time that you hit him.

Other things to watch out for in this stage include bursts of flame that appear 
on the battleground where Wealaugh's fire-breath intially hit(they are 
stationary and not hard to avoid) - these will be around for quite a while after 
the breath hits, but will eventually disappear. Another obsticle is the 
whirlwinds of dirt and debris that Wealaugh will occasionally create - if you 
run into one of these, you'll be shot heavenward, and will probably take some 
damage in the process. With the latter, it's generally pretty safe around the 
edges of the playfield. Another thing that makes this stage tough, but is 
impossible to avoid, is the camera. Due to the circular nature of the field, it 
will swing around wildly (although not randomly, mind you - it's a very 
controlled wild...) - this only adds to the difficulty of the battle, and was no 
doubt done on purpose....

After over half of his life is gone, Wealaugh will stop fighting and sit down to 
talk with you. You'll regain control of Rue for a bit, and can rotate around the 
dragon, looking at Square's mastery with polygons. You can also get in a few 
more whacks if you really want, but that's not as recommended. Eventually, 
Wealaugh will speak some more, and give you a small present. After a few more 
words, he'll fly away...


                    **Interlude: Karona Bar.

The scene now cuts to Bell and Duke, who have taken up residence in the Karona 
Bar, and, as usual, are bickering and fighting. Bell, in particular, is not 
happy. After a bit, Mint shows up. The three of them talk , and then the scene 
fades.


                      **Area: Karona Town.

New Items Available: Platina Brace & Beruto (+16, 4500G @)

After the interlude with Bell, Duke, and Mint, Rue will find himself back in 
Karona Town. He will hear some shouts in the distance, and Blood and Smorky will 
come running up to him. After a bit of conversation, and a choice of which of 
two things to say (I picked the first), they will run off, and you can head 
around town.

A visit to the Weapon & Armor shop will reveal that the two Platina items are 
now available for 4500G each, with a value of 16 point added to the existing 
base value.

After shopping and saving, head to Kraus' residence and go downstairs to speak 
with him. After a little conversation, Rue will show Kraus what the dragon 
Wealaugh gave him. While they are looking at it, the child, Primadoora, wakes 
up, and right after that, Mint shows up with the Tiara, previously stolen by 
Bell. They walk over to Primadoora, and after a bit more transpires, Mint runs 
off once more, and you regain control of Rue. After speaking with PrimaDoll and 
Kraus again, if desired, head upstairs, where you can chat with Elena before 
heading out.

Once outside, you'll find a few more people to talk to, including Graham, who is 
right outside of Kraus' house. After talking to your heart's content, it would 
be recommended that you head for the town gate, and thenceforth to Mell's 
Atorie.


                      **Area: Mell's Atorie.

Boss: Gorotan (320 HP)

Head for Mell's house, and speak with her for a while. After you're done talking 
to her, head outside and talk with the small men that are walking around - 
instead of the previous three, there are now four - one is Popleplul (he's the 
only one whose name shows up), the one that you rescued from Blood and Smorky. 
Speak with him, and select the second option.

You'll be transported to a black Star Field that has a small bird in the center. 
Speak with the bird, and it will split into four, and disappear. After that, a 
large cat named Gorotan will appear, and a boss battle will ensue.

Gorotan is a pretty easy boss. You can damage him a lot quicker than he can 
damage you, so just get in front of him and start hacking away. You should do 
about 25-30 damage with each strike. He has a couple of attacks, noteably a 
lightning strike, but again, you can hurt him quicker than he can hurt you... 
After 320 points of damage, he should be history, and you should find yourself 
back in Karona Town.


                    **Area: Karona, Mell's, Karona.

Items: 50G

When you get back to town, head for the residence of Kraus. Once inside, head 
downstairs. At first, it appears that Gorotan is in the basement attacking 
Primadoora with the lightning attack, although after a moment, Gorotan changes 
to Rue, and we see that it was not quite so. Kraus is there as well, and the 
three characters talk for a while. After a short talk, you regain control of 
Rue, and can speak with either of them before heading back upstairs. Head back 
to the gate - you need to visit Mell's Atorie real quick again...

Once at Mell's, go inside and speak with her real fast, then head back to 
Karona.

When you're back in town, go back to Kraus', and head back downstairs. You'll 
talk with Kraus and Primadoora, and afterwards, you'll find that you have a 
follower - Prima, has he has been nicknamed, is now on your tail, following 
wherever you go... Go around town and talk to the various people to get some 
different reactions, and to have Primadoora talk with them... Talking to Macom, 
who's standing near the fountain, will net you a whopping 50G. After you're 
done, head for the gate. For once, you'll only have a single selection aside 
from cancel... the Lake Shore.


     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VI. The Lake Shore.


                     **Area: The Lake Shore.

Once you arrive at the lake shore, Prima will jump around a bit excitedly, and 
the two of you will chat. Eventually, unable to contain himself, he sprints up 
the hill so the lake shore. Rue follows. Unfortunately, Prima doesn't like what 
he sees. After a bit more talking, he begins to cry. Rue comforts him, and the 
two head back to town.


                      **Area: Karona Town.

Boss: Rod*

Head directly for Kraus' basement. Upon arriving there, a conversation will 
automatically start. Kraus bestows Prima with the Amulet that was spoken of 
earlier. Prima gets a bit stronger, and the characters chat some more, Kraus 
tries to get up to approach Prima, but falls again. Concerned, the characters 
help him to his bed as the scene fades.

The scene will brighten again and you'll see that Elena has now joined the group 
from her previous station upstairs. Kraus is safely on the bed, so more talk is 
talked. Prima begins to cry once more, and after some more talk, Rue leaves to 
find another solution to their problem. 

Speaking with Elena before heading out will bring you a familiar name: Rod. Head 
over to his little beach and speak with him. He has a ship, and you need one to 
reach the island in the middle of the lake. He agrees to take you if you can 
defeat him one more time. This time, however, he is armed with a very large 
hammer. While it looks dangerous (and is if you let him hit you too many times), 
a simple hack and slash should take care of him. Just jump out of the way of the 
hammer when it comes crashing down. 

After the defeat of Rod, head back to the basement of Kraus' place and speak 
with him. Select the top option to continue on to the next section. You'll now 
find yourself back at Rod, but with Prima at your side. Rod will introduce you 
to his boat, the Scarlet Typhoon Excellent Gamma. Pure gets all excited at the 
prospects of riding in such a sleek beast. Eventually, the three of you will 
pile into the Typhoon and head for the island in the lake.

Upon leaving, Mint will show up at the beach along with Bell and Duke. The scen 
pauses a bit, then fades.

You'll now get to see the three characters riding in the Typhoon for a short 
while. Rue looks nervous, while Prima is still having a blast. Eventually, after 
a bit of talk and a bit of windblown sailing action, you'll arrive at the 
island. Getting off of the boat, Rod has a few more words to say before he puts 
the Typhoon into high gear and splits.  Rue and Prima will then head for the 
center of the man-made island.


                   **Area: The Island in the Lake.

It should be noted that the majority of this section is, plain and simply, a 
major spoiler. While I have tried to keep a lot of the plot information to a 
minimum, upon the completion of the notes of this section I realised that it 
was, in fact, one big spoiler. You have been warned.

Once again, a major (and long) spoiler is coming up, and will continue to the 
end of the section (until the next Area: header), so if you don't want to know 
what happens, skip down to the end. Filler such as this has been added there as 
well, so if you happen to read the last sentence or so, you won't be discovering 
anything spoiling...

This is the final warning for the spoiler that follows, starting in the next 
paragraph. Anyone wanting to not know what happens should skip down to the next 
section.

Rue and Prima will approach the middle of the man-made island, which is a large, 
square indented section. Prima will head to the center of the indent and, upon 
standing on a small raised section in the middle, start glowing. Suddenly, to 
Rue's dismay, three more characters will appear. One, PsychoMaster, we have 
already met by name, and another, a character named PuppetMaster, we know only 
by face (as he was the unnamed character who was talking to PsychoMaster in the 
earlier sequence). The third happens to be Maya, who is Mint's sister, and a 
Queen. All of the characters will talk some, and then Maya, being the same 
little magician that her sister is, attempts to blow Rue away, literally. Rue 
puts up a good fight, but in the process loses his hat in a very Mario-esque 
fashion. This, of course, reveals his secret.

The camera will now cut to the edge of the indentation where you will find Bell 
and Mint watching the goings-on below. After a bit of spying, they will turn 
around to talk with Duke, who stands at the edge of the island below. After a 
bit of conversation, the scene will cut once more to the inner section of the 
island.

Back down in the indentation, Rue begins to power-up. Maya isn't too find of the 
idea of this, and says so. In response, PuppetMaster walks over to Rue and puts 
a stop to it, then walks over to Rue and encompasses him in a sort of spell, 
imprisoning him in a small force-field. PuppetMaster then captures Prima, who 
after a bit of a struggle appears to break free. PuppetMaster then re-focuses 
his attention on Rue, and begins advancing on him. At this point Bell decides 
that it's time to enter the picture, and save Rue from harm. After another 
moment, Duke jumps into the fray as well, and begins scrapping. His abilities 
prove to be not as effective as they could be, and after a few moments we see 
Duke exit the picture via an arial route. At this point, Bell will remove the 
trapped Rue from the equasion, leaving PsychoMaster, PuppetMaster, and Maya 
behind with Prima, who is actually frozen in place. At this point, Maya will 
begin to cast a rather large spel...

After getting back to town with Mint, Rue will be beckoned by the former down 
the alley. Head down there (you can't save or anything yet), and enter the Bar. 
Duke and Bell are there already, and the four characters talk. After a few quick 
mood swings from Mint, she will head off, and the scene will fade. 

This is the end of the said spoiler, and the following section will revert back 
to a more spoiler-sensitive format. It should also be noted that any future 
major spoilers in this document will be noted with similar filler at the top and 
bottom. This is done merely for the reader's sake, as a simple sentence stating 
'A spoiler follows' is not usually enough (in my opinion) to effectively buffer 
the spoiling section from the rest of the document. 


                      **Area: Karona Town.

After the long plot-laden sequence, it is best to head to the Inn to save.  
Since it's dark out, most of the town has shut down for the night (the Inn, Bar, 
Church, and Item Shop being the exceptions). Head out to Rod's camp to trigger a 
short sequence with him, then head to the Inn and select the final choice to 
head to your room. Jumping onto or approaching the edge of the bed and hitting 
Square, then the second option will have Rue go to bed for the evening.

In the morning, you can head to Kraus', although nothing major happens there, 
just a bit of normal dialogue. Head to the gate and, select bottom option to 
continue with your quest.


                      **Area: Lake Shore.

Upon arriving at the Lake Shore, you'll notice that it has... well, changed... 
Rue surveys the situation, and upon careful examination, decides upon a single 
solution. Head back to town. He turns, and the scene cuts to...


                   **Interlude: Inside the Tower.

You'll find Maya and PuppetMaster having a rather heated converation in a large 
room. PsychoMaster, as well as two new characters - one a red- (and rather 
pointy-) haired male, and a dressed-to-kill female. After a bit more talk, Maya 
heads one way, and the other characters head the other. Upon exiting, Psycho and 
Doll have a short conversation, then the scene fades to black. 


                      **Area: Karona Town.

Upon arriving back in town, you'll find that it's dark again (boy, that was 
fast). Head to Rod's camp and speak with him to trigger a conversation between 
him and the other character that is there with him. After a while, said 
character will run off, and Rod and Rue will talk some more before the scene 
fades. Afterwards, Rue will find himself back in the main town square. Head to 
the Inn, repeat the process above to call it a night.  

During the night Rue will have a dream that causes him to awake. Going to the 
window, he is drawn into a sort of wild goose chase. Without revealing anything 
major, you will need to visit the sections of the town in this order: first, 
head for the alley. After that go to the docks and talk to the person there. 
From there, head to Rod's camp and speak with him. Following that, you'll need 
to go to the church. 


                      **Area: Karona Church
                            --Boss--

Boss: PsychoMaster (150 HP)

After finding the subject of your wild goose chase in the church and attempting 
to reach them, you'll be confronted by PyschoMaster. After a short bit of 
dialogue, Rue will whip out his Arc Edge in a cool gunslinger kind of way, and 
the game will switch to battle mode.

PsychoMaster isn't very hard at all... if you know the trick to actually hurting 
him. If you try attacking him straight-on, he will use his psychic powers to 
lift, and then throw you. This does a fair amount of damage, and after getting 
thrown this way few times, you'll be hurting. He also will attack you using a 
ring of fire that spreads along the ground (a simple well-timed jump will avoid 
this), and will also occasionally float around the room, and if he catches you, 
we will do the aforementioned psychic grab-and-throw. So how can you deal damage 
of your own? Merely run around to the back of him and strike. Most times, after 
reappearing, PsychoMaster will just stand there, making him an easy target for 
at least one, and occasionally two swipes with the Arc Edge. The few times that 
he does move, he will do the aforementioned floating-around-the-room-chasing-you 
technique, so just be careful, and look out for floating & fire appearing on the 
ground, and you should be fine. 

After taking off 150 points of damage, he will fly up to the subject of your 
chase, who is floating, out of Rue's reach, at the ceiling. After a bit more 
dialogue, they will disappear, leaving Rue is dismay on the floor. Soon after, 
the scene will fade, and Rue will find himself at the door of the church, dawn 
newly broken.


                      **Area: Karona Town.

New Items Available: Mythril Brace & Beruto (+20, 5500G @)

After the fight with PsychoMaster, you'll probably want to head back to the Inn 
to save. Stopping by the Weapon & Armor Shop reveal new Mythril items, so grab 
those for 5500G each to boost your add 20 to your stats. After that, a quick 
trip to Rod and Kraus reveal nothing new, so head to the gate. You'll find that 
the Lake Shore option is no longer available, and has been replaced by a new 
one: Maya's Tower (it's still the final one). Prepare yourself, and select it to 
continue...



     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VII. Maya's Tower.

                   **Area: Ascending the Tower, Part 1.

New Enemies: Fabbit, Pumpkin
Items: Gold Coins [2]

As you approach the tower, you'll be greeted with a few short sequences, one as 
Rue approaches the tower, and another as he enters it. Upon entering, the door 
slams shut, and a figure who you first met on the island appears.

After a bit of conversation, it is revealed that his name is TrapMaster. Rue and 
TrapMaster talk for a while, and eventually the scene switches to a battle mode. 
If you try to hit TrapMaster, though, a small explosion will appear, and Rue 
will get hurt. Instead of trying to damage him, head up the stairs. After a bit, 
he will call out to Rue, and then disappear in a flash of light. 

Continue up the tower stairs, fighting the Fabbit (birds) and Pumpkins that you 
meet along the way. Neither are very hard, and the Fabbit in particular are 
worth quite a bit in gold (150 apiece), so you may want to kill quite a few...

Once you've reached the top of the stairs, the scene will switch to a balcony. 
You'll find a few more Fabbit to kill, and, upon heading halfway around the 
balcony, four pumpkins to axe as well. Instead of heading into the door that the 
pumpkins came out of, continue around the balcony. At the far left, and just out 
of eyesight of the door, you'll find a chest. Inside, you'll find two gold coins 
awaiting you. Grab the coins, then enter the door.



                   **Area: Ascending the Tower, Part 2.

New Enemies: Witch
Additional Enemies: Fabbit, Pumpkin
Items: Star Stone, Gold Coins [2]

Upon entering the door Rue will find himself in a large room with a door on the 
far side, across a large gap. Floating over said gap are eight large green 
pumpkins. While it appears to be a simple jumping game, in reality, it's a bit 
more. If you simply jump across the pumpkins at random, you're bound to be 
attacked by one. Upon getting attacked, you're bound to fall to the level below. 
Upon falling to the level below, some of the pumpkins will quickly ripen, and 
then turn bad and start attacking. If this happens, trying to get back to the 
beginning of the room will result in a small shock, and about 5 points of 
damage. Simply kill the three pumpkins, then climb back up to start again.

The key here is to watch the pumpkins when they first appear. Five of the 
pumpkins will appears in a billow of smoke, and the final three will apparently 
drop from the ceiling. These latter three pumpkins are the ones that will ripen 
and turn into monsters, and thus are also the ones that you need to avoid. In 
case you didn't catch this small difference in pumpkin birth, I've made a simple 
diagram below to roughly tell you which ones have gone bad (O is safe, X is 
unsafe).


                     finish

                   ------------
                        O
   
                    O   X   X

                            O
   
                        X   O 
                      O
     
                   ------------
  
                      start


  [note that the some of the pumpkins do move, so the positions above may not 
match exactly what you see on screen... but really, what do you expect - it's 
ascii art...]


Of course a simple jump across the pumpkins would be too easy, so Square has 
added a new enemy, a Witch, at the other end. She just happens to shoot 
projectile pumpkins across the gap at you. These, however, aren't that hard to 
dodge - when you see one coming, simply jump, and, with a well-timed jump, you 
should sail right over it. Of course, if you're on a moving pumpkin, be careful 
that you land on it... Once you've made it across the gap, kill the witch and 
grab it's monster coin (if desired), then use the HP refill point if you need to 
and grab the Star Stone that resides in the chest near the door. After you're 
finished with the above, head into the door, and on to the next section.

Rue will now find himself in another room similar to the first one with the 
spiral staircase. This room, however, sports a large circular platform that you 
need to jump onto (note that simply walking onto it will cause you to fall into 
a hard-to-see gap) to advance. And once again, Square throws a few things at you 
to make your journey an exciting one - more pumpkins. Yes, once the platform 
begins to rotate it's way up, it will begin to rain pumpkins. This is not hard 
to take care of, as you can simply continuously swing the Arc Edge, and due to 
the games semi-auto-target feature, you should keep rotating around, killing all 
of the pumpkins. One the pumpkins are deceased and the platform is still, head 
onto the next screen.

You will once again find another balcony, and will also find that this one is 
exactly the same as the first. Kill the two birds, then the four pumpkins that 
will appear, and before entering the door, grab two more gold coins from the 
chest to the far left. Once finished, head through the door and onto the next 
section.



                   **Area: Ascending the Tower, Part 3.

Enemies: Fabbit, Pumpkin, Witch
Items: Gold Coins [3]

The next room will look somewhat similar to the last pumpkin-jumping room, but 
instead of pumpkins, Rue is faced with platforms and birds (Fabbit). And also 
like the last room, some of the platforms contain traps. In order to procede, 
you'll need to jump from platform to platform in the following manner (start by 
jumping onto 1, then 2, etc.):

                            finish
                       
                     ---------------------



                       4(~)   3(~)  2[~]

                         X      -   1()

                     ---------------------

                            start

In the diagram, () represent safe platforms, and ~ represent birds (Fabbit) that 
may reside on them. [] is the single stationary platform, and X is the single 
explosive one. The platform marked - , while generally safe, will fling you 
against the ceiling after a bit, so watch out. It also happens to be lower than 
the rest, so if you fall, you'll need to use it to get back up. Once you make it 
to 4, the platform will deliver you to the far side of the room safely. Fill up 
using the HP refill spot, and grab another Legendary item - this time, the 
Legendary Helmet, which strongly resembles an ordinary kitchen pot. After that, 
head into the door, and onto another spiral staircase.

Upon arriving in the next spiral staircase room, don't head upstairs just yet. 
Instead, head around the room until you reach the bit of the stairs that would 
have been just over Rue's head as he walked in the door. There you'll find a 
chest, and after opening it Rue will be blessed with three more gold coins. 
After the treasure is yours, head up the stairs.

Heading up this set of stairs shouldn't prove all that difficult. You'll 
encounter Pumpkins and Witches on the way up, but if you merely run all the way 
you should be fine. The main thing here is to keep moving; if you stop to kill 
too many enemies, they will merely continue to pile up on either side of you, so 
the only real solution is to run. Once you hit the top of the stairs, you'll be 
back on another balcony.

This balcony, like the other two, sports some Fabbit and door-exiting pumpkins. 
Once they're history, head to the far left to find not a chest, but another HP 
refill spot. Use it if need be, then enter the next double doors.




                    **Area: At the Top of the Tower.
                               --Boss--

Boss: PuppetMaster

Please note that the following section was written very carefully, with great 
deal going into the words that were chosen. As you may be able to tell from this 
prologue, there are possible spoilers afoot. I do say 'possible', however, 
because I have tried to reveal as much of what's going on without being 
specific. I haven't lied, but I've been vague in certain parts to keep the 
tension high. If you don't want to have any more of the storyline revealed, you 
may want to skip down to the next Area, as this section is mainly plot-related.

When you enter the room following the final balcony, you'll find that it is not 
another trap-filled one, but a room decorated in a grand, royal style.  There is 
intricate ceiling-work, and a plush velvet carpet covering the floor. And 
standing on this carpet is a person with a very, very familiar face. After a 
moment's disbelief, and then some forced conversation, the charade is lifted; 
the person that Rue first saw is replaced in appearance by another, more 
sinister person. A small amount of dialogue reveals that you are face to face 
with ModeMaster. Furious at the disguise that she had assumed, Rue charges her, 
Arc Edge raised, but before he can strike, she changes once more, and he is 
frozen in place, unable to strike such a face.

At this point the music changes, and PuppetMaster decides to make an appearance. 
He traps Rue, and then in a short sequence that I will not describe, reveals a 
secret regarding his past. Upon this secret's revelation, Rue becomes extremely 
upset, and before we know it, another sort of secret is revealed. With this, he 
looks at PuppetMaster, and the attacks.

PuppetMaster is ferocious in battle. His attacks can be avoided by jumping, but, 
due to the area that he covers, this is easier said than done. Well timed hits 
are the key here, as is keeping Rue moving. However, although you are sure to 
put up a marvelous fight, Rue will lose, as PuppetMaster's strength is just too 
much. Rue, exhausted and defeated, will be hoisted up by PuppetMaster, who 
poises for the final kill. Then, as he prepares to strike, another player enters 
the fray.

Maya begins talking with PuppetMaster, and after a short while it becomes 
obvious that something is amiss. Maya tries to leave, but is stopped rather 
abruptly by Rue's old friend PyschoMaster. PuppetMaster, who has dropped the 
near-death Rue to the ground during the conversation, walks over to him and 
confines him in a familiar way. Rue, however, draws power from deep within, and 
defies PuppetMaster's spell to get to his feet and walk to the center of the 
room. He holds up his hand, and through sheer thought, he forces an item that 
Maya has been holding to fly through the air and land in his grasp. He then 
begins to rise into the air, and the room fills with a bright white light.



                      **Area: The Book of Cosmos.
                               --Boss--

Boss: Athanasius (600HP)

The light fades, and Rue wakes up on a floating platform in space. Maya is 
there, and the two begin to talk. She explains that they are in the Book of 
Cosmos, and after more talk, including talk of Aion, she heals him. Soon after 
this, the scene begins to shake, and a large face on an even larger stone tablet 
appear. It is revealed that his name is Athanasius, and he is rather upset. 
After a bit of talk, he can no longer take it, and attacks.

Although he sports a whopping 600 hit points, Athanasius isn't actually that 
hard, as Rue can inflict massive amounts of damage with each hit. The playfield 
during this battle will consist of three major sections, each of which will 
definately come into play. The first and third, located at opposite ends of the 
screen, and large rectangular platforms, one of which Rue will start out on. 
Connecting the two platforms, and serving as the other major section, are four 
smaller platforms. Athanasius will fly from section to section, and you will 
have chances to attack in each. During this battle keep in mind the fact that 
Athanasius is fairly tall, and will require a jump-attack to damage him. When he 
jumps to the far edge of the field, keep in mind that you can go straight down 
the center, using the two smaller platforms nearest to the large ones. 
Occasionally, however, potions will appear on the left and right small 
platforms, so keep an eye out for those. The only real attack that you have to 
look out for is when the camera rotates upwards - like most major camera changes 
in this game, it signals a special attack. In Athanasius's case, he will grab 
you with his beard and moustache and slam you against the ground. Simply getting 
as far back from him as possible will avoid this attack. Past that, simply keep 
jumping and attacking, and after a while, he will be history, his stone tablet 
crumbling away and becoming part thereof.

After his defeat, there is more talk, and just when everything seemed calm, 
Athanasius's head re-appears with no stone block behind it. Having the element 
of surprise on his hands, he attacks Rue, who is knocked to the ground. Just as 
things are looking bleak once more for our hero, PuppetMaster appears and 
strikes the monster dead, saving Rue. After that, there is more talk between the 
three...

During the conversation, a series of revealing flashbacks, as well as revealing 
events in the present, occur. There is talk of light, a return and dismissal of 
Athanasius, and more regarding the origins of Rue. After the revelation of 
certain facts, Rue tries once more to attack PuppetMaster, but it is to no 
avail. After the attack, PuppetMaster disappears, and our hero awakens back in 
the top room of Maya's Tower. 



                   **Area: The Aftermath, and 
                               Return to Karona.


After Rue picks himself up from the floor, he sees that Maya is there as well, 
and after a bit of conversation where Maya apologises for her actions, the 
entire tower begins to shake. The scene cuts to the outside, where we see some 
sort of structure being formed from crystals, floating in the air.

The scene then quickly cuts to the center of the island, where we see 
PuppetMaster and PsychoMaster talking, with ModeMaster and TrapMaster in the 
background. After a while, we cut back to Rue and Maya, who have arrived back in 
Karona.

Rue talks with Maya for a bit as the sky deepens in an ominous red. Eventually, 
the two characters look off into the distance, where they too see the formation 
of the crystalline structure. After the structure is finished, the sky returns 
to normal, and the player can once again control Rue. 


                      **Area: Karona Town.

After such a long and revealing set of happenings, it is recommended that you 
head to the Inn to save. Heading to see Rod reveals yet another weapon that he's 
gotten his hands on. Past that, there isn't much to do, except head back out to 
the fray. Head to the gate, and select the next to the last option: The Angry 
Mountain.



                **Area: The Angry Mountain Revisted, Part 1.
                                --Boss--

Boss: TrapMaster (220HP)
Enemies: Uutan, MaguMagu, Spectre, Dadango, Otama

Heading back to The Angry Mountain to speak with Wealaugh, Rue will quickly 
encounter TrapMaster, who is waiting halfway through the second area. After a 
bit of conversation, TrapMaster will transport them to a cyber-looking area, and 
the two will commence fighting...

TrapMaster is one of the easiest bosses in the game if you know how to deal with 
him. Obviously, being the Master of Traps, TrapMaster does not attack you 
directly, but uses a series of traps to doso. The most common trap that you will 
encounter is a flashing panel. This is usually set when TrapMaster lands on one 
of the panels in the 3x3 grid that comprises this area. If Rue jumps on a 
flashing panel, an explosion will be set off, doing damage, and occasionally 
knocking him inbetween the panels, which is the same as falling off a cliff (ie. 
expect some additional damage). Also, TrapMaster will occasionally set multiple 
panels flashing, this time a more orange color. When this happens, get off one 
of the panels, because they will all explode in a matter of moments. 
TrapMaster's final attack is a large spiked ball that will drop on Rue's head - 
this one is easy to spot due to the large shadow that the ball casts. Basically, 
you should stay in pretty good health if you just keep your eyes open and be 
aware of what's happening on-screen.

So how do you deal damage to TrapMaster? Well, although it looks like you have 
to be on the same panel as him, you don't. The Arc Edge has a long enough reach 
to hit him not only on an adjacent panel, but also on a panel that is diagonal 
from Rue. There are times that you can't hurt him, there are many others that 
you can; when he lands, just start hacking at him (carefully, though - you don't 
want a spiked ball dropping on your head as you hack away at thin air...).  You 
can usually only get one hit in, but sometimes he will just stand there rather 
stupidly, not doing much of anything - wail away, Rue, wail away. Also, when he 
sets the multiple panel trap, he should stay fairly stationary for a decent 
amount of time - when this happens, get off any of the flashing panels onto a 
safe one, and start chopping. Within a short amount of time, he should retreat, 
albeit temporarily...

After giving up, TrapMaster will talk to you some more, and then allow Rue to 
continue on. When you leave the room that you fought him in, you'll be in the 
lava area. Remember that there is a HP refill spot at the north of the area - 
grab it if you need it, and then continue on to the next room.



               **Area: The Angry Mountain Revisted, Part 2.
                                  --Boss--

Boss: ModeMaster (340HP)
Enemies: MaguMagu, Dadango, Otama (Blackened)

As if one Master wasn't enough, upon entering the room, you'll see another 
familiar face. Unphased by her disguises, Rue immediately spots her for who she 
truly is: ModeMaster. After a small amount of dialogue, ModeMaster will assume 
the guise of Rue, and then, the two will begin to fight.

This is another rather easy fight. The key here is to stay away from ModeMaster 
when she is in the form of Rue. As you might be able to tell, Rue is overall one 
of the strongest characters in the game, and of all of the different shapes that 
she assumes, he packs the biggest whallop. When she is Rue, simply run away from 
her, circling the playing field. After a while, she will turn into another 
monster (just as Rue can). It seems that she favors monsters that Rue has run 
into lately, but she can take just about any form. A favorite monster to assume 
the guise of is the large hammer-wielding Dadango - when she does this, simply 
begin hacking away at her as fast as you can. You should get a good half-dozen 
hits on her before she changes. Otherwise, just use the same strategy that you 
would with the enemy normally. As a side note, I have seen her turn into and 
enemy that I don't believe to have seen before, but it was brief (I died 
immediately afterwards), so I'm not positive. After 340 point of damage, 
ModeMaster will give in. As Rue is going for the kill, she stops him in a way 
that we've seen once before. Frustrated, Rue continues out of the room, and up 
the mountain.

Continue through the next two screen, both of which should be old news, and head 
up to the peak of the mountain for a chat with Wealaugh. During the 
conversation, Wealaugh will give Rue an item which we cannot see, but can see 
the sparkles coming off of. After a few more words, the screen will fade, and 
Rue will be back in Karona Town.



                      **Area: Karona Town.

New Items Available: Brave Brace & Black Beruto (+24, 6500G @)

Heading back to Karona Town, save if need be, then visit the Weapon & Armor shop 
to pick up the new, and final, weapons - the Brave Brace and the Black Beruto, 
each of which raise the respective stat 24 points, and cost 6500G. If you're a 
bit low on cash, as I was, head back to the Angry Mountain and kill a bunch of 
Dadangos. Once you've killed enough to afford the items, head to where you spoke 
with Wealaugh (he's not there right now) and examine the plant in the middle of 
screen. Select the top option to return to Karona Town.

After you've spent your money, head to Kraus' home, and enter the basement. 
You'll start a short, dialogue-filled sequence. After you're done with that, 
head to the gate, and select the final option: Valin's Holy Limits.


     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VIII. Valin's Holy Limits.


               **Area: The Entrance to the Limits.

Rue will head to the cliff that you first met Kraus on, and before heading to 
the floating Limits, will have a short chat wil Elena. After a while, Mint will 
show up, and eventually, Rue will head off to the Limits.

Upon arriving there, you'll find Prima, who's sitting outside of the entrance. 
Rue will talk with him, and then, after a bit, goes on, and for good reasons 
that I won't mention. Rue will head to the middle of the entrance, and to the 
first of many teleporters contained within the Limits. 

[note: the walkthrough for the next three areas contains simple ascii maps - 
they may look somewhat confusing, but hopefully they will make sense to you once 
you play the areas a little bit...]



                      **Area: The Second World

New Enemies: Behemoth, Shaoron
Additional Enemies: Gargoyle
Item: Silver Coin

Rue will start out on a round platform (1), with only a single way to head - up. 
Upon going up, you'll meet your first Behemoth face-to-face, as well as a few 
Shaorons that are almost off screen and unreachable. Kill the Behemoth with a 
good few hits, and continue up. You'll see another platform like the one that 
you arrived on. Head for the circle in the center, which is the transporter. 
Upon stepping on it, three Gargolyes will appear, and you'll have to defeat them 
to move on. Once they're history, step on the transporter again, and head to the 
next level. 

     O < G, 2   (1            O < 4  (2
     |                       /
     O < Start              O < 3
                           /
                          O < 1
    G=Gargoyles

Heading onto the next level (2), you'll find yourself on a diagonal pathway this 
time. Head to the northeast, and step on the panel to teleport to another 
platform (3) that contains another three Gargoyles and a refill spot (available 
upon defeat of said Gargoyles). Fill your life up, then backtrack. Continue 
northeast, killing anything that's in your way, then step on the next 
transporter.

     O < 2   (3         O < 6   (4
      \                 |
       O < G, HP        O < 5
                        |
                        O < 3
     HP=HP Refill Point

You'll now be on yet another platform (4). Skip the middle transporter, as it 
just lead to 3 Gargoyles (5). Continue to the top transporter.

      O < G, 4  (5      O < HP*, SC*, III   (6
                        |
                        floating platforms     
                        |
                        O < 4      

      SC=Silver Coin
      *if within time limit
      III=The Third Gateway    


You'll now be in a similar looking area (6), but with floating platforms to 
travel across instead of the simple walkway to go across. You'll also see a time 
meter at the bottom, which will tell you if you get a bonus or not. Before you 
can cross the platforms, you'll have to hit the blue plate that is at the top of 
the platform you're currently on - doing so will deactivate the forcefield, 
allowing you access to the floating platforms. About the only tip that I can 
give for these platforms is to use the Gargoyle - it's double jump ability will 
give you a bit of extra distance. Cross the gap within the time limit, and 
you'll get a Silver Coin and a HP refill spot (you have to be in Rue form to get 
them, though). After that, step on the transporter and head for the next 
section.



                      **Area: The Third Gateway.

New Enemies: Hellhound
Additional Enemies: Shaoron, MaguMagu
Item: Silver Coin

You'll now arrive in the area named the Third Gateway. Right off the bat, you'll 
get to face the tough-skinned dinos named Shaorons. To make short work of them, 
change into Dadango (if you've got him, which you better...) and use his hammer 
- it should do about 50 damage, which should cause immediate extinction. Kill 
them, and continue to the next transporter, and take it. 

          O < 3  (1        O-O   (2
         /                 ^ ^
        O < 2              B 1
       /                   3
      O  < II           

      II=The Second World
      B=Block, breakable with Dadango

You'll now be in section (2), and all the way to the left, you'll find a large 
Block. Hopefully you've kept Dadango to this point, as you'll need him to break 
it. Do so, and move on. You'll arrive back at the start of (1). Head all the way 
to the top, and step on the transporter.

You'll now be on (3). All the way to the right is a large block of ice covering 
the transporter. Change into a MaguMagu and use it's fire-sprouting ability to 
melt it. Once liquidized, step onto the transporter, and on to the next 
platform.

       O-O  (3         O <5      (4
       ^ ^            /
       1 I           O < 3
         4          /
                   O < 6

       I=Ice, meltable with MaguMagu

Upon stepping on the newly unfrozen transporter, you'll be on platform (4). You 
now have the choice of going up or down, as you start in the middle. First head 
up, and step on the transporter.

You'll now be in (5), which has a single transporter other than the one that you 
came in on. Melt the Ice that covers the transporter by turning into a MaguMagu, 
then step on it. A new enemy, a Hellhound, will appear. Kill it, and grab it's 
monster coin - you'll need it for the next section. Backtrack to (4) again.

       O-O  (5      O-O   (6
       ^ ^          ^ ^
       I 4          4 F
       H              7 

       H=3 Hellhounds
       F=fire, use Hellhound to put out.

Now, head all the way down to the bottom-right most transporter. Step on it, and 
head to (6). You'll find that there is a transporter covered in flames on the 
right hand side of the platform. Change into the newly acquired Hellhound and 
douse the fire using the the Hellhound's water ability. Step onto the 
transporter and head to the next platform, (7).

       O < HP*, SC*, IV   (7
       |
       floating platforms     
       |
       O < 6      

       IV=the Fourth Arena

You'll be faced with another timer and more floating platforms. This time, 
though, you'll also have a fire-spouting platform to deal with. Just be patient 
and don't worry about the time - if you rush through it, you're bound to fall. 
If you make it in time, you'll get your HP refilled, as well as recieve a silver 
coin. After that, get on the transporter and head to the next area.


                      **Area: The Fourth Arena

New Enemies: Djinn
Additional Enemies: Shaoron
Items: Silver Coin

You'll find yourself on yet another platform. If you need a HP refill, head 
down, step on the transporter to summon 3 Shaorons, and upon defeat, a HP refill 
point will appear. To make quick work of the three dinos, use the Hellhound's 
attack (either one) - two blasts will take care of them. If you're doing alright 
on HP, go up, and onto the next platform.


         O < 2   (1      O < 3   (2
        /                 \
       O < III             O < 1
      /                     \
     O < S, HP               O < S

     S=3 Shaorons

Upon reaching platform (2), you'll meet a new enemy - a Djinn. After acquiring 
the monster coin, head upwards (if you're not doing so already...) - going down 
results in 3 more Shaorons, but no HP point. Step on the transporter...

This platform (3) sports 2 more Djinns, and not much else. Make a beeline to the 
transporter.

       O < 4  (3    O < S   (4
      /              Pc
     O < 2            O < 3
                       \
                        O < 5    

On (4) you'll be faced with another up/down decision. Unfortunatly, I didn't try 
up, although I'm guessing that more Shaorons will appear. Head down, and to the 
next platform, (5), which is another simple and straight one. Head up and step 
on the transporter to go to the next platform.

      O < 6  (5       O < S    (6
     /                 \
    O < 4               O < 5
                         \
                          O < 7 

You'll now be on platform (6). Going up produces more Shaorons, so unless you're 
in the mood for more fighting, go down. Stepping on the transporter will result 
in you going to platform (7). There, avoid the middle transporter (more 
Shaorons) and head for the top transporter. Step on it to continue...

         O < 8  (7     O < HP*, SC*, V   (8
        /              |
       O < S           floating platforms
      /                |
     O < 6             O < 7

     V=The Fifth Beast

Platform (8) is another timed floating platform one, but this time with more 
fire. Just keep an eye out for the flashing, which means that a flame is about 
to be emitted, and jump carefully. At the other side, like normal, you will 
recieve an HP refill and a Silver Coin if you get across in the set time. Step 
on the platform to go onto the next area.


                      **Area: The Fifth Beast.

Enemies: Behemoth
Items: Silver Coin


You'll start out the fifth area of the last dungeon on yet another platform, 
with another left or right selection to make. Head either way (I went to the 
right first, and my maps will reflect that) and step on the platform.  

     O-O-O    (1      O < B   (2
     ^ ^ ^            |
     3 | 2            O < 1
        \             |
         -IV, B, 4    O < B

     B=Behemoth

You'll now find yourself on an up/down platform. Again, head either way and step 
on the transporter. Instead of being transported, a Behemoth will appear. Kill 
it, and then head the direction that you didn't go before. Stepping on the 
transporter will again reveal a Behemoth. Kill it, and then return to the center 
of the platform, and go back to (1).

Now, go the opposite direction that you went before and step on the platform 
(ie. if you went to (2), go to (3)). Now repeat the process abot to kill two 
more Behemoths. After they are dead, head back to the center of (1) and step on 
that platform. A fifth and final Behemoth  should appear. After it has met it's 
demise, step on the transporter again to continue on.

     O < B   (3      O < HP*, SC*, VI   (4
     |               |
     O < 1           floating platforms
     |               |
     O < B           O < 3

     VI=The Sixth Circle of Hell.

You will be at (4), which is another timed floating platform level. Again, use 
the Gargoyle, and make one jump at a time when the platforms converge (don't try 
to go across two platforms during one convergence - you won't make it). There 
are more flame-spurting platforms near the end, so watch for the tell-tale 
flashing. Once on the other side, change back into Rue and step on the 
transporter to recieve your prizes. Then, it's on to the next area.



                  **Area: The Sixth Circle of Hell.


Enemies: Hellhound, Djinn

Before you hit that actual next area, you'll be on a small platform that 
contains your first save point (it slightly to the northwest of where you 
start). Walk over it and press the Square button to bring up the save menu. Once 
saved and ready, continue on by heading up.

You'll eventually find yourself in a room with four torches that leads to an 
outside balcony on either side. Continuing on will reveal a total of four 
different rooms, all with four torches in various states of flame. You'll also 
see that the first room that you started in has some strange markings on the 
ground that the other rooms don't. An obvious thing that is missing is a working 
transporter to the next area. As you might have guessed, the solution lies on 
the flames. 

In order to solve the puzzle before you, you first kill and have the ability to 
change into a Djinn and a Hellhound, both of which lurk on the balconies. If you 
want, keep killing Hellhounds to build up your HP and MP a bit - after a half 
dozen to a dozen of the puppies, you should gain a HP or two. After you're ready 
to head on, go back to the room that you started in.

                           S,4
                            O
                           / \
                        3 O   O 1
                           \ /
                            O
                            2

From the first room, head out to the right and continue to the next room (marked 
1 on the map). There should be none of the torches lit. Turn into a Hellhound 
and use it's firebreathing ability to light the two middle torches. Upon being 
lit, a small pink rock should fall into the middle of the floor. Walk over to it 
and examine it, and it should float overtop of your head. Head back to the first 
room, and upon reacing the middle of the room, the rock will float to the 
ground.

Once the first rock has been deposited, head back to the right and go on to the 
second room from the start, marked (2) on the map. In this room, the leftmost 
torch will be lit, and the middle right torch will be sputtering. Extinguish the 
left torch and light the middle left torch using the Hellhounds fire and ice 
abilities. Next, change into a Djinn and use it's sonar ability (Traingle) to 
un-clog the middle right torch. After that, another stone, this time green, will 
drop. Head back to the first room to deposit it.

After placing the stone in the first room, head to the left, and to the room 
marked (3) on the map. This room should have all of the torches lit. Simply 
extinguish the two on the outside, leaving only the middle torches lit, and 
you'll recieve a blue rock. Head back to the first room and deposit.

Now, you'll find that you are one rock short of a complete collection. Turn into 
a Hellhound and extinguish the two torches in the initial room (also marked (4) 
on the map). Now, again using the Hellhound, re-light the torches to make the 
final rock fall to the ground. Change back to Rue, and go to the middle of the 
rocks to continue onto the next area, and the first of many bosses in this last 
action area.



                **Area: PsychoMaster, 2nd Encounter.
                              --Boss--


Bosses: PsychoMaster (240 HP)

Rue will now find himself in a large room, and will quickly be greated by a 
familiar face: PsychoMaster. After a polite bow and some brief conversation, 
PsychoMaster will erect some psychic barriers around the room, and the two will 
enter into mortal combat.

Many of the tactics that you used in the earlier battle with PsychoMaster will 
still apply here. Psycho does a lot of the normal disappearing/reappearing that 
he did earlier, and als does a lot of standing still. Again, this is when you 
need to strike (two hits are possible each time). Striking from the front will 
result in Rue getting thrown. PsychoMaster's attacks, aside from the psychic 
throw, are fairly easy to deal with. The circle of flames that he emits can be 
jumped over, and the floating cubes that he sends after you are better to simply 
let hit you, as they only do a single point of damage apiece. 

After PsychoMaster has been defeated, the two will converse a bit more, and 
after another brief event, Rue will head back to the transporter, and on to the 
next area.


                   **Area: Past Battles Refought.
                             --Bosses--

Enemies: Otama, Tigre, Mandora, Gudon, MaguMagu, Dadango, Skeleton, 
         Papetto, Spectre, Pumpkin, Fabbit, Witch
Bosses: Nightmare, Ashurakimaira, Skull Beast
Special: Save Point

You will now find yourself on a large 3x3 platform (on the point marked (S) on 
the map). You'll soon find that each of the available transporters (1-6 and 8) 
will transport you to a fight with a different Boss or set of three enemies. You 
must defeat the three bosses (2, 4, and 5) to move on, and you can tackle them 
in any order. Below is the map of the area, aloong with contents of each room, 
and note that the only ones that you have to go to are marked Boss.

                       1  2  3
                        O-O-O
                        | | | 
                       4O-S-O5
                        | | |
                        O-O-O      
                       6  7  8

1 = Otama, Tigre, Mandora
2 = Nightmare (Boss)
3 = Gudon, MaguMagu, Dadango
4 = Ashurakimaira (Boss)
5 = Skull Beast (Boss)
6 = Skeleton, Papetto, Spectre.
8 = Pumpkin, Fabbit, Witch

The regular enemy rooms can be visited as many times as you want, althought the 
Boss rooms will close off after you defeat them. This area will also give you 
the chance to pretty much select which monsters you want the ability to turn 
into. As for the bosses, they are all pretty easy now, as they all sport the 
same number of HP that they did when you last fought them. Of course, your Power 
rating should be much higher now, which will make for some short battles. After 
visiting and defeating the three bosses, you'll find that a save point has 
appeared near the center of the area - use it, and head down to the bottom 
middle section, use the HP refill spot, and step onto the transporter to 
continue to the next area, and the final bosses of the game.


                   **Area: The Right Arm of Death.
                              --Boss--

Boss: The Right Arm of Death (420 HP).

Upon arriving in the next area, you'll be greeted by PuppetMaster. He and Rue 
will have a conversation while a large gear turns on the background. After a 
while, PuppetMaster will be gone, replaced by the Right Arm of Death. Rue gladly 
plunges into battle.

Although having 420 HP, this isn't that all hard of a fight (it may take a few 
tries, though). The most deadly attack is the grab-throw that the Right Arm will 
do. This attack is preceded by the Right Arm's right arm sparkling, which will 
be followed by a charge - when you see the sparkling, run a bit away from him, 
and you should be fine. After he does charge, though, you can get a good couple 
of hits in on him in safety, as he won't immediately attack. Other attacks 
include a simple swipe with his right arm (which is pretty safe to just absorb - 
the only real time that it should hit you is if you're up close pummelling him, 
in which case you should easily get two hits in to his one hit. He will also do 
an attack that features some yellow swirling spheres - this one will only do 
minimal damage, so it's alright to absorb as well. He will also send out an 
antimatter sphere that is easily outrunnable. Pretty much just stay close to him 
and keep hitting him with your Arc Edge, retreating when you see the sparkles 
coming from his arm. Another strategy is to stay away from him and wait for the 
charge to come, then close in and get three hits on him before retreating again 
(this is a good strategy to switch to at the end of the fight, when you're low 
on HP).

After dealing 420 points of damage, the Right Arm of Death will be on his knees. 
The two of you will talk some, and after another small event, Rue will head to 
the final transporter - the one that will take him to what he has searched 
for...


                      **Area: The Dewprism.
                            --Bosses--

Bosses: Valin, DewRedMoon/DewTwilight

Rue will arrive in the holy-looking area that houses what he has searced high 
and low for: the Dewprism. Almost immediately after getting there, though, 
another person will appear from under the Dewprism. This is Valin, the person 
that this final action area is named after. After quite a bit of dialogue and 
events that I will not spoil, Valin changes one of his servents into the mighty 
DewTwilight, encloses his body in a protective crystal, and attacks.

In this battle you will have not one, but two targets. Valin's large monster, 
named either the DewTwilight or the DewRedMoon, will attack you and protect 
Valin. Valin himself, however, simply floats around, avoiding you. To make 
things easier on you, first take care of the large Dew monster. Hack and slash 
is the way to take care of him - he will have a few attacks that will get in the 
way, but the monster is easily take care of with pure, simple aggression. Things 
to watch out for include the small earthquakes that the monster will cause by 
jumping - well timed jumps of your own will help you avoid the damage that these 
cause (have Rue in the air as the monster lands). Very rarely will the monster 
change into a speeding shuriken-styled lawnmower and chase you around the arena 
- this, again, should be able to be taken care of with well-timed jumps. Past 
that, attack the monster aggressively, and make sure that it doesn't heal Valin.

Once the monster is dead, hunt down Valin. A single hit from the Arc Edge should 
do a good deal of damage, but it will also cause Valin to head to another part 
of the arena. Follow him and repeat as often as necessary to defeat him. Note 
that Valin may resurrect the monster occasionally - simply defeat it again, then 
re-concentrate on Valin.

After the protective shell has been broken, Valin and Rue will converse some 
more. More extremely spoiling events will happen (which I will not list here), 
and eventually Valin will transport the two to the final battle...


                  **Area: The Top of Valin's Holy Limits 
                                 --Boss--

Boss: Valin (transformed)

Again, if you know the tricks, this boss is not difficult. The key is the fact 
that you can only damage him at certain times, as well as the fact that Rue is 
now slightly different - he now has a Guard move instead of his horizontal slash 
(use Triangle to activate). Valin has many attacks in this form. He will often 
take a sort of spiderish pose that simply needs to be avoided by running your 
little heart out - this pose also includes a lot of jumping - when he starts 
this, just jump right before he lands on you, and you should be fine. This 
second type of attack will be proceeded by him taking a pose that includes his 
wings rotating around him - just run around him in a circle while he emits the 
balls of energy, and then run away from him when he begins to try to suck you 
in. He has two other attacks, both airborne, and both of which appear similar. 
The first type, and rarer, is easily identified by moving wings - if his wings 
are fluttering madly, he will use attack that will chase you and then throw you. 
Running away is the easy way to avoid it. The second airborne attack will happen 
when his wings are still - he will simply begin firing shots at you. When this 
happens, press Triangle to raise your guard, and just block the shots. After he 
is done firing at you, he will briefly flash pink. This is when you need to 
attack. A single shot is all that you can get in, but it should do a huge amount 
of damage. Simply avoid his attacks the best you can, and when he begins to 
approach you from the air with his wings still, guard until he flashes, then 
attack. Repeat this until he is done for. The screen will fill with white light, 
and Valin will explode...


                      **Area: After Valin.

Rue will be back at the Dewprism's chamber after this fight. What follows is 
very easy to understand, as it is all mainly graphical and not dialogue based, 
and is extremely full of spoilers, so it will not be described here. After the 
chain of events happens, the screen will fade, and the Epilogue will continue...



     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IX. Endgame.


                      **Area: Karona Town.

Rue will slowly awaken to find himself back in Karona Town, in the bed that he 
has been using in the Inn, with Mell by his side.. After a short conversation 
with her, you will regain control of Rue, and be able to search the town to have 
some final conversations with characters before the true end of the game. While 
I won't describe all of the encounters, I will give an outline of where to go, 
and in the order that I did. You can also head speak with the owner of the inn 
and select the bottom option to save the game. 

 - Kraus' Residence.
 - The Alley.
 - The Pub.
 - The Hotel's upstairs room.
 - The Church.
 - Rod's Camp.
 - The Docks, the various shops (optional).

After visiting the various places, go to Kraus' for the second time. Upon 
exiting, the game will enter another final cinema mode, and you can sit back and 
enjoy the end of the story, as well as the entertaining credits sequence. 
Congrats!


                    End of Rue's Story.



[following the end of Rue's story, you will be given the option to save (top 
option) or not to save (bottom option). Saiving will result in a Mint 0:00 save, 
and will put you to another screen with three options: the top is to start 
Mint's story, the middle will exit you to the title screen, and the final will 
allow you to save once more.]