If you still believe...

After we killed the Virage, the way to the core of the Moon was wide open. With no way to escape, even if we wanted to, our only option is to march forward.

As we do, we see Shana tied to the core. Dart moves in but is stopped by Zieg, who steals the Red Dragoon Gem. Despite not being the primary user for 18 years, the gem still recognizes its former master as thus. Zieg promises to follow through with Soa’s will, transforms into the Dragoon, and does battle with us.

I’ll be honest, I suspected we’d fight Zieg here. We’ve battled every other Dragoon, other than Shirley, so it just made sense. Because of that suspicion, instead of focusing on Dart, I made Miru my weapon of destruction. Giving her as much magic and MP as I could, I spammed a few of her Dragon summons and made this fight a breeze. If Dart attacks his dad, he does no damage and gets countered. That counter does no damage since Dart’s wearing armor that nullifies fire damage, so it’s a lesson in futility.

After the fight, Zieg collapses. He says he no longer needs this body, as there’s a better one nearby. From out of Papa Feld comes a blue spirit. Rose knows exactly who that spirit belongs to. Melbu Frahma. Melbu floats up to where Shana is, kicks her out of the absorption...pod...thing, and takes her place as the spirit of the God of Destruction. He, once more, tells us his plan to destroy the world, which makes me wonder if Soa really planned this or if it was all just a ploy by the ancient Wingly dictator. He also informs us how he came to possess Zieg. 11000 years ago, he transplanted his spirit into the Red Dragoon Gem. Then, 11000 years later, when The Black Monster attacked Neet, Zieg went Dragoon to protect his town. Rather than transform, however, the Dragoon spirit, couurpted by Melbu, instead was replaced bu the tyrant himself. Just as we’re ready for the final battle, we hear a voice from behind us. Lloyd, still in the Divine Dragon Armor and using the Dragon Buster, shows up and tries to get revenge. He’s still upset about being lied to over his utopia, and probably for the attempted murder, too. The battle between them seems pretty even until Melbu stops playing. Using his magic, a red beam of light shoots from Melbu’s hand and pierces the chest of our former enemy. Lloyd’s last words are encouragement towards Dart, as well as relinquishing the Devine Dragon Gem and Buster. DD recognizes Dart as its new master, and it replaces the Red Dragoon. Rather than jump right into battle, the party talks about stuff.
Meru says she was correct in following Dart.
Albert mentioned when he joined and reminds us of where we came from
Haschel says Dart's determined face looks just like his and that no one has suffered more than Shana.
Miranda says Theresa said the goal of her journey should be to find the meaning of fate. Her response to that meaning is, from her own mouth, “Fate belongs to those who are living. We can destroy the fate that somebody else made up.”
Kongol no longer believes strength alone can make everyone equal but that anyone can. But anyone can destroy the world too. “Kongol doesn’t fear god.”
Rose is simply ready “any time”.
Dart tells the unconscious Shana to wait for us and promises his dad that we’ll end this.

Equip the Dragon Buster to Rose, and, for funsies, give Dart the sword that kills him. We’re then fully healed, and the battle begins.

Melbu Frahma has multiple stages. I guess the caterpillar from last night was foreshadowing. His first form is his "natural" body surrounded by four tentacles. The tentacles are easy to dispatch with the Psyche Bomb and another item. He can summon three Virages to attack us, doing moderate damage to the whole team. This form isn’t too bad. His second form, though, can be rough. At this point, he changes shape based on what generation he’s decided we’re in. The generation represents the age of the planet, starting in space and going to a molten lava planet. The fish, trees, and birds show up before the age of man pops. I think I'm missing one form and I know some gens don't have a form, but I'm close enough. That’s the mechanic, but back to the battle.
Second form Melly can suck a character into his body, making us unable to use them. Eventually, he spits then back out, which does massive damage. Even at full health, Rose wasn't surviving that Meru cannon. The rest of his forms pose no threat, barely even being able to attack before we pushed him to the next generation. His final form, though, is terrifying.

Maybe I was too cocky and near the end, but I ended up dead just before I won. The trick here is to NOT go Dragoon. In a cheap tactic, Melbu can use the Dragon Block staff to remove 99% of our usefulness. Not only that, but he summons monsters to be adds in the battle. When you take them out, they one-hit whoever killed them. I hated this. There was no warning and no way to undo Dragoon transformation. It's cheap, and I have no regrets about what I did. I may have been overconfident, but I did have back-up plans. Finding that strategy lame, I reverted to a save-state (I may or may not have been ready to cheat anyway) from when I was on the ropes. I healed back up, re-survived his Faust spell, and beat him down with regular blows. He’s still pretty scary, being able to hit for massive damage, but I used the remaining of my potions and hit him some more. I wanted to embarrass him, so, when I hoped I had him near death, I went Dragoon again and hit him with a few dragons. After Meru got the final hit, Dart got the last kill steal of the game using one of his new Dragoon abilities. And, just like that, we killed an 11000-year-old Hitler.

CGI fills the screen as it turns out Melbu isn’t done yet. While Rose goes over to Zieg and Dart goes to Shana, Melbu swears he won’t be outsmarted by humans, despite all we did was hit him. He Sith Lightings the party, and Rose and Zieg know what they must do. They say how much they’ve missed each other and that it’s time to end their long journey. Zieg goes Dragoon, and he and Rose bumrush the Wingly, stopping him from killing everyone. Zieg says how proud he is of his son, and Rose is glad to have met him. Dart, knowing what they’re about to do, says that he wants to spend more time with his dad and is mildly upset at what's about to happen. The two ancients collide with Melbu and self-destruct. Everyone else flies away, with only mild resistance on the path.

Outside we see the Virages deteriorating and the Moon blowing up. While Dart & Co. fly out of the Moon, we hear Zieg and Rose say that their time is up. This is their age now, and it doesn’t need them. "Their" being people born in the last, let's say, 80 years.  As everyone reaches a safe distance, light erupts from the Moon, and a mushroom cloud replaces it, destroying it and the Divine Tree, as well. Dart, to no avail, screams out the names of his father and friend, and the closing epilogue begins.

Haschel is in Rouge teaching Kongol about martial arts. Haschel does some cool gymnast stuff, and Kongol, being eight feet tall and 600 pounds, is unable to do the cool gymnast stuff and ends up in the ocean when he attempts it. A bird flies off, and we follow it for the rest of everyone’s ending scenes
Charlie Frahma is tending to the red Venus Flytraps.
Miranda is conversing with the Sacred Sisters and Theresa in a rebuilt Denningrad Throne Room.
Princess Lisa is mingling with the people of Fletz.
Meru and, I assume, Guraha are in Lohan.
Fireworks are shooting over Bale as Albert and Emilie are getting married.
A man resembling Dart leaves a drink in Lavitz’ old room, just as he promised after the tournament.
A man who is definitely Dart returns to Selis to help in the rebuild.

As the credits begin to roll...or should begin to roll, I freaking crash! Why?! This is why patches are a good thing. Because I want to see everything the game has to offer, I load up YouTube, find a video from David Flores, and skip to the credits.

The title track, “If you still believe in love” plays as the credits roll, for real this time. It’s a top tier song. Afterwards, the bird lands in one final place. We're in, what I think is, where the Divine Tree was. As the camera cuts down from the bird and, I assume it's mate, we see the Red and Black Dragoon Gems right next to each other. The words “The End” appear on screen.

Last thoughts for tonight: the ending song isn’t about Dart and Shana. This isn't Dart's love story. I’m not even entirely sure it’s his story. The ending song is about Rose and Zieg. Does this make Rose the main character? Dunno, but if a prequel is ever made, we all know it’s about her. Legend of Dragoon memorandum tomorrow, and then I have a decision to make.