ITEMS TO GET: Charger A, Power Ring S, Dawn Rock, Dusk Rock, Dark Rock, Power Crisis, Panalphasol, Hob-Steak, Physimentsol, Samson's Hair, Yamato Belt, Hard Star, Speed Star, ETH Drive, VIT Drive, STR Drive, ETHDEF Drive, HP Drive, EP Drive, Chu-chu Idol

   ...the Gear Dock of the floating city of Shevat. Go west through the blue hallway to the Siebzehn's hangar and talk to Maria to learn about her past (this is optional, but there's no harm in doing it and Maria has cool theme music). Then return to the room you first appeared in and stand on the platform in the center. Hit X and choose to go up.

   On the Shevat map, go to the other triangle, Aphel Aura (the capital). This is really cool-looking place, though it's a bit prone to slowdown ^_^. From where you start, if you go forward, there will be a Stepping Stone on the ground that you can ride down to a save point (should you wish to stop). Otherwise, proceed forward to the first building, which is guarded by a really freaky-looking giant dog. If you hop up the first few Stepping Stones, you can reach the upper door, which leads to an empty bar (you can work the jukebox, though). Up on the very top of the building is some guy who gives you a long rambling speech if you talk to him, so avoid him. If you head east from the dog, you'll loop all the way around the building to another door on the west side. Brace yourself, for beyond this door lies the most horrifying moment of the game...

   ...a room full of Chu-chus! AAAAAH! Unfortunately, you really have to go in here, as it contains both the item shop (at the counter) and the weapon shop (the green Chu-chu on the upper level). The item shop has a lot of new items, but you're better off saving your money for Gear parts. Do stop by the weapon shop, though, and pick up the Dynamite Rod for Elly. You needn't bother buying a whip for Bart, though; you'll find a better one soon. The shop also sells all the different elemental Ether Gun ammo; be sure to buy the Earth and Water Ammo (since you only have Fire and Wind right now). If you want, you could get two of each kind so you can always have the most effective Ether Gun combination possible, but it's not really necessary (and many enemies are immune to Ether Guns anyway).

   Talk to the green Chu-chu in the center of the room and you can trade all three Badges (assuming you collected them) for the Charger A and a Power Ring S. It's not that great, but there's nothing else to do with the Badges. Also, if you go up onto the upper level and stand on the weapon shop guy's head, you can jump from there over to the chandelier with the pink Chu-chu on it and talk to it as you're falling. It will give you a riddle that points to the location of three Stones:

• The Dawn Rock is back on the Shevat map. Walk in the direction the big angel statue (the palace) is facing, across the bridge, to a dead-end. Search the dead-end and you'll get the Dawn Rock.
• To get the Dusk Rock, search the doll on the table downstairs in the war memorial house (see below) in Aphel Aura.
• The Dark Rock is the trickiest to get; to find it, take the Stepping Stone in the back of the Chu-chu Tribe room down to the Aqua Paradise plaza. Jump up on top of the fountain and hit X to start fishing with the Spider Web (if you didn't pick up the Spider Web back in Lahan, you can buy one from the woman to the west of the plaza for 50G). Tap up, then left, and you should catch a fish (you may need to wait a while). Select the second option, then the first to reel it in. The Dark Rock is in its mouth.

   Once you have all three rocks, go back to the room with the save point at the front of Aphel Aura. Go down the stairs in the southwest corner and use the door to get outside. Put the stones into the broken Stepping Stone to fix it, then ride it up to the Sage's room. Once inside the Sage's room, search the shelf and watch the goodies roll in (everything listed above except the stuff you get for trading the badges). After you finish collecting your loot, search the little shrine on the wall for the Chu-chu Idol. Then ride the Stepping Stone back out of the Sage's room.

   If you continue east past the Chu-chu Tribe's room, you'll end up outside a small building on the north end of town. Go in the building and take the Stepping Stone down. Talk to the guy in brown (I think) in the southeast corner; he's the Gear shop. There's a lot more Gear equipment here, but it's really spendy and there's no way you can afford it all. Just upgrade the Weltall, Vierge, Stier, and Renmazuo; you can worry about the others later.

   Back outside the Gear shop building, there's another Stepping Stone. This one will take you down to a short ledge that leads to a damaged house (the war memorial). Here, you can find the Dusk Rock in the arms of the doll on the table if you haven't picked it up already. Also, on the south wall, there's a cabinet which can be opened to reveal a mirror. If you examine the mirror and then start pressing buttons, your character will dance o_O. Open the closed door and go up the stairs into a child's room. Searching the cabinet will give you a weird message that you found a child's memory (???); I have no idea what this means. Search the rocking horse, though, and Maria will show up and talk for a while, then invite you to the palace.

   Go back to the Shevat map and walk up to the angel statue, which is actually the palace. Enter and talk to Maria to get by the guards. There's not really a whole lot to do in the palace (save to talk to people), but the northeast-most door has beds you can sleep in and a save point. In the southeast room, on the lower floor, you'll find Yui and Midori, whom you can talk to (I tried bringing Citan along here, but nothing special happened). The northwest room on the top floor is the library, where you can find out about more about the Solaris-Shevat war, Krelian, and the Diabolos.

   Once you've finished exploring the palace, go through the big double doors at the north end and go up the stairs. Talk to Wiseman and Maria, then go north into the palace. Walk up to the edge of the platform and jump onto one of the Stepping Stones, which will automatically take you to Queen Zephyr. And, as you can probably guess, as soon as you talk to her, the bad guys will attack (gosh, I never saw that coming). Maria will join your party (d'oh), and you will have to pick one character to leave behind. You'll definitely want Rico for the next dungeon, so leave Billy or Elly behind (of course, if you didn't bring Rico because you ignored everything I said, then I guess you'll have to take somebody else... you asked for it...)