Skies of Arcadia/Boarding Party

Boarding Party
A tiny ship flees from a pursuing Valuan battle cruiser. Captained by Admiral Alphonso of the Valuan Imperial Armada, the battleship fires on the smaller craft knocking its pilot, a young girl dressed in white, unconscious. The Valuans barely have time to take her on board before they're under fire from an Air Pirate ship hiding in clouds off the port side - and the next thing they know Vyse and Aika, two young Blue Rogues, have landed on the deck ready to take all the treasure on board.

Vyse and Aika start immediately with a battle against two Valuan soldiers. They're not particularly tough opponents, but it is worth focusing both of your party members on one at a time. If you need to heal, Aika knows the Sacri spell, or if you're not worried about your health right now you can save your Spirit Points for Vyse's Cutlass Fury S. Move - although frankly, that's overkill.

After that fight, Vyse and Aika are facing off against Valuan reinforcements when Dyne, Vyse's father, steps in and tells the young pirates to head on into the ship to find any treasure they can.

Immediately in front of Vyse when you drop into the main part of the ship is a chest with ??? in it. Behind you is a door leading down a corridor into one of the main cannon rooms on Alphonso's ship, where you'll find the Admiral making off with a young girl dressed in white. He'll set off the alarm and sic another four Valuan soldiers on you.

While the alarm is ringing, you're vulnerable to Random Battles; each one will have you face against four more Valuans. Head up the stairs at the far end of the room from where you came in, and around the walkways to see Alphonso escape through a doorway - there's a switch just beyond it that will deactivate the alarm. Alternatively, if you're the levelling sort, you can leave it running while you open the two chests in this room. There's one on the lower floor close to where you came in containing ???, and another directly above your entry point on the top floor with ???.

If you follow Alphonso's escape route, you'll come across the first Save Point in the game, and another chest with ??? inside. The big doorway in front of you is locked, but a smaller exit to the right will lead you outside where you can climb down the side of the ship and head back in.

Alphonso's determined not to take the rap for losing his ship, preferring to pin it on his second-in command who then gets pushed off the side of the ship. Disgusted at the Valuan's lack of morality, Vyse is ready to go after the Admiral himself, but Alphonso has a proxy to do his fighting for him - enter Alphonso's "personal War Beast", Antonio.

With his War Beast defeated, Alphonso takes the opportunity to escape, leaving the strange girl in white behind, still unconscious. Vyse and Aika decide to bring her back with them, to find out exactly why she was so important to the Valuan Armada.