As the day came to a close and night started to rear its head, Xavier tiptoed off of his boat. The two girls would arrive any minute now, and the pirate had been formulating a plan of attack all day.

Destroying the fleet would likely cause a large ruckus, so they would have to do things subtly until it was time to pull the trigger. In Xavier's experience, the guards on the ships didn't have much to them, being magical conjurings by the Guardians.

Xavier was pulled from his thoughts when he heard two sets of footsteps pounding on the docks. The pirate turned to see his new allies running up to him.

Maya and Luna came to a stop in front of the pirate, their hands locked together. "Alright, Mr. Pirate, let's do this." Maya said to him.

The nickname nearly pushed Xavier into the valley of despair, he shook his head. "Call me Xavier, lass. Now, let's be off."

The two girls boarded his ship, and they pushed off the docks. The boat gently drifted across the sea until arriving in front of the mighty fleet.

"So, the plan is simple," Xavier said to his allies. "We're climbing aboard, and taking out any guards we see. Don't feel the need to go all out, they aren't like you and I. We want to be quiet, so the Goldplates don't get alerted."

The two girls were still skeptical, but nodded. Xavier created a small staircase up to the first ship from ice. Manipulating the water in the air, especially at night, was a piece of cake for him.

Xavier hurried up the staircase first, and waited for the others to follow. Maya struggled to get up the staircase without slipping, while Luna took her time and reached the boat with relative ease.

On board, there were a few scouts doing patrols. Xavier decided to take them out himself, sending a flurry of icicles into their bodies.

As the projectiles made contact, the guards all collapsed into a purple mist. Just like usual, nothing but illusions. "W-what happened to them?" Maya sputtered.

Xavier grinned. "They're illusions, created by the commander of the ship. It'll make a bit more sense once you meet her, but she's far from human. And Tradton is far from a friend to Kingston."

Luna silently walked up to where the guard once stood and reached out a hand. "Unbelievable, it's not too far off from my magic. Xavier, what exactly is going on here?"

Maya hurried to her girlfriend's side. "Yeah, you wanted Maya specifically for her magic. You gotta tell us what's happening!"

The pirate shook his head. "I'll explain all in due time, I'm afraid it'll only be more confusing right now. Lass, do me a favor and show me some of your magic in action."

Maya was about to say something to Xavier, when Luna fired a black ball from her hands and into the sky. The magic was like nothing Xavier had seen before, only similar to the Guardians' spells.

The orb flew into into the sky and exploded. Leaving behind a murky mist before fading away. "It works a bit oddly, it absorbs whatever gets hit by it and destroys it when exploding." Luna explained. "Been real helpful when living in Heau."

Xavier nodded. "I bet. Thank you for indulging me, lass. Now, we have a few more ships to clear out. Hopefully, there's some useful cargo on board. We have to be thorough if we want to find the commander."

The team set out on exploring each of the dozen ships, taking down any guards they found. There were quite a few resources on board the boats.

From money, to food, and even munitions, the ships were fairly stocked. The coins in particular were a great find, helping motivate the two girls in their searching. "Any money found is all yours, I don't have much of a use for it. Especially not a need." Xavier told them.

Maya and Luna were a bit surprised by this. "Aren't you a pirate?" Maya confirmed. "Isn't getting riches your whole thing?"

"Bit of an oversimplification for piracy, but in a way I suppose so." Xavier shrugged. "However, I've got bigger ambitions than the average pirate. And I've made quite the haul in the past, so my purse certainly isn't hurting right now."

"Well, whatever floats your boat. Can't complain when I'm getting money," Maya said, and she went back to sifting through crates. Luna rolled her eyes and stifled a chuckle.

Luna went up to Xavier and suddenly grabbed his hand, giving him a surprise handshake. "What Maya means to say, is thank you, Xavier. This is going to make our lives much easier."

The pirate was a bit caught off guard by the handshake, but quickly returned it. "Not a problem, lass. Least I can do when you're humoring me on this. Now, we best be off."

They continued to clear out the ships, until reaching the eighth one. There, standing on the deck, was a murky figure with a bow and arrow slung around her back.

Clymene, the Guardian of Caros, and a monster with a bow and arrow. She was currently dressed with a shawl covering her shoulders, hunting boots covering her feet, and in other gear set for exploring the woods for game.

The Guardian's hair was tied into two pigtails that rested past her shoulders, while a glowing purple gem sat around her neck. A fragment of the Indigo Jewel. Her orange eyes were like gemstones, and were striking bright. As they scanned the area.

"That's our girl," Xavier whispered as he peaked over at the ship. "Clymene."

Both girls peered at the Guardian and stared back at Xavier. "She barely looks human, what's going on here?" Maya pressed.

Xavier stood up. "Believe it or not, that's a Guardian. And she's less of a Guardian, and more of an enemy. Look alive, she's a menace with that bow. I've fought her before, and if we work together we can bring her down. Look out for the homing function her arrows have thanks to the gem around her neck." He explained to the confused girls. "No matter how many times I explain what she is, I promise it won't make much sense. Give it time and trust me."

Luna took Maya's hand wearily, and the two girls nodded. "Alright, this is where my magic comes in, right?"

"Indeed," Xavier confirmed. "It'll be extremely damaging to her, so try and hit her as many times as you can. Guardians are very hard to bring down without advantageous magic, so I'll be counting on you to hit her when it matters most."

Luna clenched her fists and looked up with determination. Xavier then got a running start and jumped onto the other boat, Clymene immediately fixed her eyes on him. "Xavier, it's about time you turn up again."

Xavier chuckled a bit. "Right, last time we fought I really had you on the run. I'm surprised you're still standing."

Clymene was the one to laugh this time. "Your cute little ambush was worthless, but you know that. So why're you back? Want to waste my time again?"

"Not this time," Xavier drew his weapon and started to run at her. Clymene fired off a few arrows that Xavier cut to bits with his blade. The pirate closed his fist and a column of ice slammed into Clymene, blowing her back.

He closed the distance between the enemy and himself, and readied his blade to strike her. Clymene summoned an arrow in her quiver and fired it off, forcing him to quickly move to block.

The arrow exploded as it collided with his blade, throwing Xavier back. He rolled across the deck and looked up to see a volley of arrows heading at him. Magic guided the arrows all directly at the pirate, and he preemptively winced.

The arrows suddenly all exploded as lightning ripped across the sky. Xavier turned to see that Maya and Luna were now standing behind him.

Clymene seemed a bit surprised by this development. "Children? Really Xavier? Are you that desperate?"

Xavier gestured to Luna. "See for yourself how desperate I am."

Luna unleashed a barrage of black balls, one of which managed to slam into Clymene and throw her back. The Guardian was visibly shocked by the move. "W-what? B-but how? No matter! I'll end you here and now!" She launched another set of arrows into the sky that started to fall down at the group.

Maya sent another rush of electricity from her fingertips and into the arrows, causing their homing to seemingly deactivate. The arrows impaled the deck of the ship and suddenly became interlinked with electricity.

The battlefield was now sectioned off with various electric barriers on the ground. Clymene chuckled as she launched another set of arrows at Maya. "I've dealt with Electric Mages before, you're no different."

The girl had no room to run now that they were all penned in by the arrows, and Clymene's latest volley started to home in on her. Luna jumped in front of her girlfriend and unleashed another spray of black balls, absorbing and destroying the arrows.

With Clymene preoccupied, Xavier leaped into the air and struck her with his sword. Then he began flinging shards of ice into her body. The pirate landed, and immediately was knocked off his feet by an arrow exploding on the deck.

Xavier rolled across the deck, coming to a stop right next to the grid-trap Clymene had created. She grinned and snapped her fingers, and Xavier rolled himself away as the arrows all exploded.

With two explosions barely dodged, the pirate sat up and tried to think of a counterattack. Maya suddenly soared above him and slammed an electric-charged fist into Clymene, knocking her from the air.

"You wanna use my power to hurt us, yeah?" Maya asked, getting up and punching the Guardian in the gut. "Well have a nice taste of it!" She began rapidly slamming her fists into her opponent, uppercutting the Guardian to finish.

As Clymene was sent flying, Maya conjured a whip made of electricity into her hand. The whip shot out and wrapped around Clymene's leg, pulling the Guardian back down and slamming her into the deck.

After the barrage of attacks, the Guardian took to the skies and began unleashing several volleys of arrows. The projectiles began to home in on the three targets, before all going off course and into the water.

Xavier suddenly realized what had happened. "All those attacks, Maya you must have damaged the Indigo Jewel! Now, we can finish this! When I give the word, charge up my sword with lightning! Trust me!"

Clymene descended from the sky with an arrow in her hand, trying to stab the pirate. Xavier jumped back and thrust his hands out. "Let's see how cold we can get!" He sent out a massive wave of cold energy.

Then he harnessed all the cold into Clymene, he felt a boundless amount of power. Finally, he was making progress. And now he could prove it.

Clymene was suddenly encased in a thick layer of ice, and Xavier held up his blade. The pirate looked over at Maya, who shot electric magic into the gunsword.

Xavier then ran at the frozen Guardian, and began to slice her repeatedly. He spun around and made sure to strike her as many times as possible. Electricity coursed through her body as the ice broke and her fragment of the gem shattered.

Atlas was nowhere to be seen, but the Guardian seemed entirely weakened. "Luna! Now, use your power and finish this!" Xavier shouted.

Clymene looked forward as Luna charged the attack. "So this is it then, another one of us has fallen for their lies... it was nice meeting you, sis." She mumbled.

Luna unleashed a giant black ball from her hands, this one flew past Xavier and into Clymene. The ball rose into the air and exploded, destroying Clymene alongside it.

Xavier waited another moment to see if any signs of Atlas would emerge. Unfortunately, it seems the Guardian was being held somewhere else.

"Xavier, what was she talking about?" Luna questioned.

Xavier sighed. "I-I can explain better once we're done here, let's just get to back to the ship. Then I'll destroy these and explain everything, I promise."

The trio raced across the ships, jumping from empty boat to empty boat, and eventually reached Marius's ship. Xavier climbed aboard it and pushed it into sea.

Then he faced the fleet, and gleefully conjured multiple icicles from the sea. The massive ice spears pierced the ships, and then Xavier dissipated them. Before long, the ships would start to sink.

One down, four to go.