Return to Mizuho for a quick rest if you need it, but talk to Puninja at the shop while yer there. He asks Sheena for a favour. Go to the well behind the Chief's house and inspect it to get Puninja's Account Book. You automatically return to the shop and give it to him. ... notebook of secrets, huh? AAAAAHHHHH, BAD PUNS! *ninjas Puninja* Even his name is a pun!! Augh! ^>__<^! ... *kicks Regal, too* ^>__<^!! Well, Regal's bad puns get you the Secret Notebook, so yay?

Go to the pier between Ozette and the bridge, then head directly northeast in the EC until you hit an island with a hill on it that's got a guide post monument on the top of it (no, you can't get to it, this is just so you can orient yourself). Go right and around it til you're on the other side, then continue directly northeast. You'll hit a continent, and the pier is slightly to the left of your current position. While wandering around on this area you might encounter a Bacura enemy. Anything you do to it results in -1 HP damage on it, no matter if you do physicals or magic attacks, so just whomp it. You don't get anything for it, either (no gaul, EXP, NOTHING), so beh. Anyway. Go right from your current position to encounter a Map Skit. Go right from there and follow the coastline. When you get to a beachy area, explore it to find a chest containing a Rune Cape.

From the pier, go left and up to find the entrance to the Mine. It seems the defense system's going berserk... hrmmmm...


Boss: Defense System, Auto Repair Unit, Guard Arm (4), Orbit (2)
HP: 12,000; 5,500; 8,000; 3,000
TP: 100
Attacks: physicals
Recommended level: 40
My current level: Lloyd, Genis, Raine: 37, Zelos, Colette, Sheena, Regal: 36

Your party for this fight should be Lloyd, Zelos, Regal, and Raine. Set Zelos and Regal to Attack Same under Strategy, and turn off all of their spells. Leave Raine alone to heal the party ("Do not pursue"), while you get the three others to attack the Auto Repair Unit (thing in the middle) with physical attacks. Once that thing is dead, attack the Defense System (i.e., the back wall) with physicals. No magic, cause spells take too long to cast, and what with all of these things floating around and attacking, the chances of you actually getting a spell off are rather slim. Also, the Auto Repair Unit gets revived (this thing halves the damage done to the Defense System), but at the rate you're going you shouldn't have to worry about it. Have Raine cast Acuteness/Keenness and Field Barrier/Permaguard at the start of the battle (Acuteness and Field Barrier are all-party, while Keenness and Permaguard are single party member, so if your Raine is S-type, you'll want to just cast the spells on Lloyd and Regal). Watch her HP, though... just in case. Have Lloyd using his most powerful tech (probably Rising Falcon) when you go to destroy the Defense System, or have Lloyd and Zelos doing Fierce Demon Fang if you don't have Rising Falcon yet. Be sure to turn Regal and Zelos' techs back on for this part (not spells though). Don't bother with a U Attack, cause they never work on this thing... You don't even need to heal before this fight, it's sooooo easyyyyy...

Violence is your friieeeeennnnnndddd....... :op Go back to the previous area and inspect the chest near the carts for an Ex Gem Lv. 1, then go to the right of the now-dead defense system for a chest containing a Sage. Enter the next area, then go right and inspect the odd thing there to turn it on. Go right onto the platform thing and face the back of the screen. Shoot the sign as you go by to end up at the back. Examine the stone thing next to the door in the back, then approach the door. OK, so the ore isn't that way. ... I wonder what's behind that door... didn't Sheena mention something about the Toize Valley Mine being connected to Moria by a tunnel? hrmmmmm... anyway. Kill off the animal running around to get a Memory Gem, then use the elevator thingy south of the locked door to get to the lower level.

Go south, right, and up to where the carts are to find a chest hidden behind them containing a Crescent Axe. South and left up the ramp is a chest with a Saint Rapier inside. Go north from there to find a slug. Defeat him, then go left for a Sand Saber for Zelos. Go all the way to the right on the lower level to find one of those Ring-changer things. Go back onto the elevator, then go left. Blow up the rock, go downstairs, change the ring, go back upstairs, go left and down and jump the gap, use the platform thing and shoot the sign again, then go back across, left and up, jump the gap, go back downstairs, and change the Ring back to the bomb-thing. Now return back upstairs and use the platform again to get across, then go through the door. *whew*

Go forwards, and Genis says to blow up the rock. Well, duh. Blow up the rock, then go north and blow that one up as well. Go back a little, then left and open the chest for a pair of Iron Greaves for Regal. Go back towards the entrance and right to blow up another rock, then go right and up for another one. In the back are two more rocks (I'll get to the chests in a minute, chill) and a sealed SP. From the SP, go right and up, then down the wooden ramp there. Go south for a chest with a Silk Robe in it, then talk to the little dude wandering around. Give him the Mizuho Potion I told you to get earlier and... he eats it. ^O__o^;; He also goes home (this is kinda important for later), and yer left wondering what the heck that was all about. OK, go back up the ramp, then go left and down, then down the ramp there. Turn on the thing there, then go back up the ramp. Back at the SP, go right and south, then left and down the ramp. Turn on the machine thingy, then grab the Battlesuit out of the chest on your right.

Back at the SP again, go right and up, then right again. ... KYAAAAAAA, THIS ISN'T INDIANA JONES!! Jeeze... stupid Regal. Well, we're not turning that thing off yet, cause you need it. Go down and right to find... some odd spinning thing (if you fought a Bacura earlier, you know that that's what this thing is). Of course, now you get more information on what it is. Sure, you might have fought one earlier, but this time if you approach it, you can't fight it; it just smacks the crap out of you. Well, here's what we have to do: Go towards it, but DON'T TOUCH IT! It starts following you a lá that stupid monster thing in Chrono Cross' Shadow Forest or the stupid little gnome in the Cave of Spirits in Tales of Phantasia. ... cept those things didn't try to kill you if you got too close. Have it follow you around the bend and part of the way up. It'll lose interest eventually, stopping in one place and spinning, and when it does, run up and onto the switch, then RUN RUN RUN (no, not the One Piece ending theme... ^-__-^;; ) down to that little space that you ran to automatically before (if you don't get out of the way, you're the one that gets squashed). The boulder knocks the Bacura down to the lower level and smashes it to bits. Yay! (you might have to do this a couple of times to make it work... if you're still having trouble, then set an Ex Gem Lv. 2 for Lloyd and equip his Personal skill).

Flick the switch, then go onto the elevator you passed earlier. Go right for a Thunder Cape, then right again for some Super Pellets. That mess near this chest is what's left of the Bacura. Inspect its remains, and Raine goes all nutsy-cookoo again. You also find a chakram in the mess... oddish. ^O__o^;; Actually, this is one of the infamous Devil's Arms weapons: they start out as the weakest things ever, but their power increases with each enemy defeated by it (although you can't tell from the stats in the field menu). Return to where you first encountered the Bacura, then go south and down the steps. Go right and down the steps for an Ex Gem Lv. 3, then go back up and right across the bridge. Time to blow up more stuff! BWHAHAHAHA!! ... ^<__<^;; Well, you heard them, blow up the boxes. ... what? It wasn't my idea! Blame Zelos! The Inhibitor Ore is actually hidden in the group of boxes on the far right, but hey, blowing shit up is fun. :oD

You make the Key Crest, and now it's time to head back to Ozette and free the Princess! ... oh, er, wrong story... I meant, heal Presea! ^<__<^;; Leave the Mine (from the SP, go south and left, then south into the next area, then take the platform across, and go south to leave. When you get to the exit, that guy you saw talking to Presea in Meltokio is there. ... errrr... Regal's a what? Well then... Vharley runs off, cause he's a big chicken.

Move forward to encounter... Iscariot!! ... OK, OK, the Papal Knights, but Iscariot sounds so much cooler... :op They're not even a boss battle, so don't worry about it. After the fight... guess who collapses... again. *sigh* Presea shows up. ... gack! Traitorous bitch! Geeze, y'all have such bad luck with comrades, don'tCHA? Man, it's that stupid guy again. ^>__<^ Corrine beats up on Presea, and Rodyle reveals himself to be, well, Rodyle of the Desians. He flies off with Colette.

... help her? She's the one who got Colette taken away! Oh, fine, fine, ya big softy... Well, now her voice is less... Grobyc-ey. She runs off in search of her "daddy." ... you know, the dead guy in the bed. ... she screams like Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls. ^X__x^ ow, my ears. Well, blah, so she's got nobody. She wants to join your party, and so does Regal. Whatever you choose results in their joining. Regal says he won't betray you... and speaking of betrayal, it's that Kratos guy again! *stabs* Beh, he's confusing, as usual. *stabs him some more* Haha, awwww, poor Genis... *snickers* You might want to rest up in the Inn instead of quick-jumping, cause you won't be able to rest at Mizuho for awhile... ^>__>^;; Also, talk to the girl inside the Inn... who says that Kratos is in the village. ^<__<^;; after you've rested, go to Altessa's house and speak to Tabatha. She teaches you the recipe for Curry (I'm only mentioning it here, because it's important for later). Head to Mizuho.