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<01/17/1972 – 19:51 | (Northwest Ocean), Sprawn Valley>

Is she only accepting excuses to run away from home, away from her friends? Jane kept those thoughts far away. She couldn't afford to think like that; not right now. Several hours passed since the incident happened. Jane was stranded on a small electric boat, void of all working controls and a working motor. The only means it would catch the wind now is with the puny emergency sail from the lower hatch. It didn't do very much to pick up speed, but the small sail allowed Jane to detect which way the wind was blowing.

Though at this point, she could be drifting anywhere by now. She'll see land eventually; it will either be the edged cliffs that block entry and exit through the sea, stranding Jane at a void where no one else goes. Or, the winds will conveniently take her all the way to the continent of Junon, exactly where she needed to be.

The sun had long since brushed past the sky, leaving total darkness in its place. Though more clouds rushed in to change the weather, rain did not fall for now. The winds picked up on speed slightly, ever lowering the night's temperature. Jane had to unpack a second dress sphere just to use as a blanket which would be enough for now. Jane still had her supply sphere, which means she still has all of her belongings. This included food and water, but only for a two day supply, assuming Jane were to ration everything out.

As the long silent moments passed, Jane unloaded the complex thoughts weighing her mind. The first lingering question was: How did this happen? The chaos back on the beach still made little sense in her hindsight. Some random guy pretending to be the staff of the lighthouse suddenly attacked her, without letting up for a moment, and then chased her as she tried to flee. No governing body of authority would ever behave this way. It was obviously because Jane witnessed watching the real agent get teleported away with spacial magic.

Jane couldn't make sense of the fragment details regarding their identities or their purpose. Jane didn't recall any specific faction clinging to those red and white robes, nor could she deduce the business of the malicious mage at Tilsit. One mage allowed two more inside, the glint of a fire glyphring she gazed into evident of their hostile intent to breach the lighthouse with force. Her attacker and his helpers have to be part of some criminal organization. Which syndicate were they working for? How many members would they need in order to invade a government facility in broad daylight?

Then there is Danny and Taylor. How will they decide to react once they find Jane? It's not like she wanted to leave them behind, but losing the ship's controls like this didn't give her much of an option. Without a motor to drive, or the digital board to steer, she was in a mess without a way to learn where she was. Jane wanted to take her friends with her though, her thoughts looming around them again and again.

It wasn't easy to come up with a plan right now. Jane pulled up her map again, realizing how dark it was out here. There wasn't enough light to go around. The moon was being blocked out by the clouds, darkening the sky to emptiness. Jane could barely see anything in front of her face, so she thought of a plan, some way to create a light artificially. There wasn't a spell or Leray skill that Jane could think of that would be best used as a lasting source of light, but she didn't need one anyway. After charging just a small bit of magic into her hands, they began to glow with a bright blue aura. Jane suddenly realized that any official skill designed for her situation wouldn't matter now. By keeping her hands charged up with a little bit of MP energy, regardless of the attack spell, the charge itself put out some glowing light.

The lighting wasn't perfect, but it allowed Jane to read her map again. The only real place she could end up is on the edge of Sprawn Valley, or at Monoc Port. Monoc Port serves as the other port that transfers passengers at sea to or from Tilsit dock to Monoc dock, but Monoc Port is also a small town made up of restaurants, shops, and storage facilities. The houses for those people are said to lie northward of the town, but it's the opposite of Tilsit. Tilsit has a beach. Monoc does not, due to the abnormal landscape there. All that mattered now was for Jane to end up there.

She needed speed, real speed. Even if she couldn't direct where she was going, heading forward should be enough. Jane glanced around her surroundings. Though it was dark, the clouds above were still somewhat visible, but nothing else was in sight, no land for miles or so it seemed. Despite the fact that it was already dark outside, Jane wasn't the least bit exhausted or tired. She can't sleep now. There has to be a way to seek out land.

Jane thought about all of the potential ways there could be to create an artificial engine next, something that could propel the boat forward at a decent velocity. She had no idea which way her vessel was facing, but standing around here won't help her find out either. She had to think, any ability that can propel something on the water...

"Water!" Jane repeated aloud. The name of that itself stung on the back of her mind. Water type abilities? Jane was out at sea, and the hunk of metal she was standing on was actually quite small. There are not a lot of Leray abilities that deal water elemental damage, or use water for that matter. But there is one; it might just work. It's a small ability known as Water Blast. Water Blast does no damage in a Leray battle. It's one of the weakest forms of attacks out there, because the only thing is does is get the opponent soaking wet. In this situation however, it might be useful.

Jane turned to face the back of her ship, standing her feet out carefully. She raised her arm, trying to aim perfectly out from the center of the rear section. Jane aimed out towards the water at the same time, making sure to aim close to her inoperable ship. After charging only about 1% of her MP energy, Jane unleashed the force of her power, creating a bright blue glyphring around her wrist as she fired her spell. "Water Blast!" Jane's entire hand lit up at the same time, after which a steady stream of water followed. Blasting out of her glyphring and her hand at a really high force, the Water Blast was a lot more of a beam when it took form. The beam was an entire foot wide in diameter, shooting outwards from the back of the boat, and splashing down into the ocean.

Jane kept this up for as long as she could. Water Blast is only meant to last momentarily, but by expending more MP, she could keep it going. At first, it seemed like nothing was happening. Jane stopped using her spell just as the wind began to pick up on the back of her neck. She turned around, checking the small sail. It was hard to tell, but she was defiantly moving. Jane had to consider that her Water Blast was working to propel her ship forward. She turned around and tried to do this once more.

Bit by bit, her ship continued picking up in speed. The Water Blasts in the ocean were providing her ship the force it needed to move. Jane kept it up for as long as she could, but eventually had to slow down. The process was exhausting, draining much of Jane's MP all the way down to its limits. She had to wait every so often for her MP energy to automatically regenerate. Due to the nature of the time it took in intervals, over three hour passed with nothing new in sights. While she waited, Jane searched for any signs of land.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

After three hours of this repetition, she spotted two locations. Jane activated her supply sphere, pulling out the pair of binoculars she packed with her. The binoculars formed in her hand from a blue essence that was its magically compressed form. Then the supply sphere closed, allowing Jane to use her item. "I never thought I would need these things." Jane packed these only because it was one of her many birthday presents that she obtained when she was just a kid. Keeping something from home to remind her of that situation was something she wanted to take with her. Jane peeked through the optical lenses towards the hunk she saw in the distance, and as the land got closer to her eyes, it only seemed to be a small formation; a delta of shallow land.

Jane looked away from the binoculars in regret. That's not going to work. It's not the land she is looking for. Jane tried once more to pan around, and then she discovered a much larger piece of land in another direction. It was so wide, hard to believe that it was part of the boarder or a mere delta. Jane couldn't be sure if this was Monoc Port, but she has the means of directional travel as soon as her energy recovers. It might be land, or it might be deserted terrain, but for Jane, this is all she can hope for in the meantime.

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Chapter Theme Shift: Infiltration ~ FFXIII-3 OST

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After Jane continued using Water Blast at the back of her small ship, she managed to get much closer to the larger island up ahead by aiming her beam in different directions, letting on and off of her magic as if it were a throttle. Despite the total darkness outside, it became much more visible with the lights nearby the land, thus the size was clearer to her by now with the distance reduced. This wasn't any ordinary island or delta. Jane must have made it to a place with living people behind the cliff, equipped with working electricity. As she drew closer, sections of the tiny shore line became more noticeable due to the sudden appearance of yellow electrical lamp posts. The lights were coming from electrical street lights, shining all over the town and the port. It had taken over three hours, but finally there was a change in her hopes.

Jane managed to get a lucky break. This happened to be Monoc Port after all. For what else could the place be? It took forever to get from Tilsit to this place, after using the ocean's currents and Water Blasts to travel. A fully mechanized motor vehicle built for the sea... Right now it was nothing but a silver plank with mangled circuitry. Jane had to be careful while steering, navigating to the docks of Monoc Port, trying desperately to park her boat there and catch her break on land. It was hard without any digital controls and little field of view available. Her MP energy was far down the level once again. Water Blast isn't meant to be used like this, but there wasn't any other way to move or steer the ship.

Jane stood up on her boat too, keeping her balance while getting much closer to the docks. There wasn't very much traffic around the port right now, but there were plenty of other larger ships docked at the bay. One of the lamp posts was set up directly on the docks to make such details more noticeable. A few people were standing watch on the wooden docking structure, checking cargo and watching for new arrivals. They must work here as watchmen; people assigned to docks to check on ships incoming or outgoing. They act as security and maintenance crew while inspecting cargo. One of the guys up there managed to spot Jane, just as she managed to pull her ride into the towing section.

An empty slot had her name on it, even though she was clearly not authorized to use that station. It didn't matter now, because this was finally her big break. After slamming the ride into the station with no way to use a breaking system, Jane had to pick herself back up quickly, or else be jettisoned back out to sea from the force feedback. Jane used the rope below her to try and tie it to the dock quickly, giving her right hand and energy rest. When the ship bumped into the edge of the wood a second time, it made things harder for her, but Jane finally got the rope casted and knotted in place. As her ship steadied, the man who saw her earlier approached with help.

"Hey! What are ya doing? You're not supposed to dock here!"

Jane carefully stepped out of the boat. The man above her expressed his concerns, but he held out a hand to help her up. Jane got everything on her out of the boat, making sure everything was in place, but now she had to deal with the watchmen. "I-I'm sorry. I had no choice."

The girl seemed exhausted physically, her stance slumping down as if she had suffered a major ordeal. How long was this person at sea? And why did she dock without the navigation system? "I thought so without any power," he expressed. Her boat must have run out of juice on the way here. After glancing around, the other workers grew curious, but as much as this situation appeared to be, this ordeal would be easy to wrap up. He just needs to get her into town. "So what happened? Come with me and explain please."

The man began to back away, letting his helpers lead the way further into the town while the others made sure the new boat was secured. Despite noticing how illegal Jane's docking sequence was, it was very evident that she had done so after some sort of emergency at sea. The path between the docks and the town of Monoc Port was still a good distance away, but Jane followed alongside the crew manager who helped her climb onto the pier. The lights around here did well to light up everyone's faces. Jane was a stranger to these people, and she knew it was their job to ask her these kinds of things especially given the circumstances. "My name's Jane. And that piece of scrap back there saved my life, well, what's left of it."

"Problems with the controls?" The man grunted. It must be usual for people to not know the controls of certain ships. Jane isn't supposed to be driving that thing alone anyway. Everybody is required to have an official sailor to drive the ship, with the others as passengers. The only exceptions go to those who get their own boating license, which is rumored to be difficult. "Name's Dennis."

Jane glanced at his face. He was at least thirty-four years old, and judging by that beard, he must work here a lot. Everybody seemed calm, despite having Jane to ask all of these questions. As a result, Jane sighed in relief, feeling much more at home. She knew it was because the immediate danger at Tilsit had passed, and the threat of dying at sea was gone as well, but it also brings to light one detail; the people here must still have no clue what is going on at Tilsit Port. "I guess it must have needed maintenance. The controls are gone now, not that it worked for me anyway."

"You come all the way from Tilsit?" one of the members asked. Dennis wasn't walking Jane alone, some of his helpers were with him for support, not that it was needed right now.

Jane didn't really know any of these men, but they seemed trustworthy for now. "Yeah. I didn't mean to leave there either. Coming here was sort of an accident, but at least I'm safe now."

"I think I get," Dennis concluded. "You got lost at sea, and parked anywhere you could find."

"That's right," Jane confirmed.

Dennis slowed down mid-way, thinking in question. "If that's true, how did you end up here without a motor? How many days have you been out there?"

Jane didn't need to be embarrassed about her style. She was actually proud of coming up with the plan to move her vessel. "I used the power of constant Water Blast spells, propelling myself with magic instead. It was exhausting though."

"Interesting," the crew responded. "Never thought about using Water Blast like that to move around. It would never work on a larger vessel."

Jane got over herself quick to discuss the more pressing issue, or at least plant it into their minds. "I must have access to a phone, and you may want to personally check into the commotion that happened at Tilsit as well. I don't know much about it myself, but..." Jane let her words die in the air. She had not thought of the possibility until now, one where she could end up getting blamed for stealing that boat in the first place. Then again, someone had to know the real truth by now.

Dennis and his men finally made it off of the dock, and the ground below them became grass and dirt again. A multitude of structures and warehouses were in front of them now, including a ton of people walking by in the night. "This is the town in Monoc Port. They have a medical facility here and a small inn. I suggest you use one of them to call home."

Jane stepped forward, taking in the sight of Monoc Town. It was almost different from Tilsit in every way but one. The town still has its fair share of shops, Leray stores, storage structures, a bunker house, a medical facility, an inn, and a wide gravel road at the far opposite end of the town. The traffic of people during night, though unusual for her seemed normal to the town. She turned around, bowing to the watchmen now behind her. "Thank you. I'll sort things out from here."

Dennis nodded and waved goodbye. "Alright then. Take care, and return to me if you have any questions." He then turned to face his assistants, signaling to return back to the docks. "Come on. We still have pods E and C to check, plus the manifest build." Dennis then took off with his men. He would have to take the broken vessel out of the water so that the docking bay would become free again.

Jane thought it was a little strange for people to randomly lend her a hand only to leave her be afterwards, but she welcomed it as well after what happened on Tilsit. People in Sprawn Valley are like this all the time though, always nice, always willing to lend a hand. So then who were those crooks at Tilsit? Jane shook her head. Things needed to be taken care of first. Other than her new mission to reverse her permanent spell bomb, she needed to know the reference of where she was, and what to do next.