As soon as he'd hung up he dialled his communicator again. It rung a few times and just as he thought it wasn't going to be answered Sparx picked up.

"Ace…" Sparx sounded like she'd just woken up. "What is it?"

"I think Random's gone after the griffin. We need to find him."

"What! How come he gets all the fun!" Sparx now sounded awake.

"It won't be fun if he gets himself destroyed. He shouldn't have gone alone."

"Yeah, I'll say."

He'd been walking as he talked and now entered what could be termed a garage. At the moment it only contained a smallish scout ship. It was about 20 feet long, pointed at the front and curving back to three more equal spaced points. The windshield was a lightning shaped gash in the dark grey metal. He stepped up to its side and whacked a panel, causing a piece of the hull to slide up. "Well, get ready. I'll come and pick you up in the Bolt and we'll go get him. Lightning out."

He stepped into the interior and powered up the ship, its engines whining. He'd known Random hadn't liked letting the thing go, but he hadn't really expected him to go after it by himself. While he certainly agreed with Random, taking the creature on by himself was a reckless move. He would at least have expected him to ask for help. Something seemed wrong. Random wasn't so obsessive as to run off in the middle of the night on a dangerous solo (unapproved he thought grimly) mission. Not usually.

So why now?


The fight had continued for some time and he could feel himself tiring.

The creature seemed to notice this and threw itself at him again as he paused to catch his breath.

He tried to dodge it but was pinned to the dirt by a clawed paw digging into his back.

Suddenly a massive boom split the air and the ground shook.

The griffin moved its weight off him. He looked around just in time to see the volcano spiting fire, rock and ash into the air. That and the flaming boulder hurling through the air. He rolled out of the way just as it smashed into the black crust. Cracks formed around it and then it fell through, dragging the surrounding rock with it.

He moved away from the hole and searched for the griffin.

It had somehow gotten behind him and threw him to the ground again.

Fire spurted from the ground behind them. The crust cracked again. Then shifted downwards. An underground lake of fire was suddenly revealed. The slab of rock shifted closer.

The creature grabbed him up in its talons, preparing to throw him in.

He kicked off the rock. The force sent it crashing into the lava, but the griffin's wings kept them both above the furnace. He used the momentum he'd gained to bring his arm far enough around to blast the creatures wing.

It screeched and let go, dipping towards the lava.

He flew back to the surface. Lava flows now covered the landscape and the sky was stained red. It was raining fire and molten rock. Perhaps now would be a good time to leave.

The griffin blasted through the rock ahead of him, cutting him off.

I am not finished with you, coward.

It hurled a fireball as it said the words.

He tried to turn away but it caught his shoulder, sending him spinning out of control into the ground.

He hit and felt a searing pain in his legs. He pushed himself off the ground enough to look around and saw the lava flow that he'd half fallen into.

You have chosen to be weak. The griffin's voice came from in front of him.

He looked back up at it through the tears of pain that blurred his vision.

And as you have chosen, so you have become. You are weak. And so you will be destroyed. But I will not destroy you, in honour of the strength you deny. The fire river will do that. It flapped its wings and pulled up, pausing in the air to find safe passage through the falling rocks and fire.

I'm not letting you go. If I'm going down I'm going to at least do what I came here for. He braced himself, pushing himself up on his left arm, then shoved his right into the lava flow. He tried to keep focused as the pain seemed to set his circuits on fire. His hand grasped a half-melted rock. And with the last of his strength he threw it at the creature in the sky.

It hit it in the wing from behind. The griffin screeched and fell, crashing through the crust as it landed. A second later a spurt of fire shot out of the hole.

He stared at it. Don't let it come back. He could feel his body going into shock. He kept on fighting it. He had to see if it was gone.

The griffin burst out of the hole, front claws digging into the earth, and dragged itself out. Its wings unfurled behind it, the feathers alight. Lava slipped off its body, leaving burning trails. It let its weight fall on the edge, its wings falling down over it. It looked about as weak as he was.

"You're not… going to destroy… anything," he gasped out. "Not now."

Weakness will be destroyed it said. Then it screeched. High-pitched and wailing.

Though he'd had the strength to look at it before, now he lacked it to look away. The sound cut into him like a million daggers. But it wasn't the noise itself, it was what underlaid it. A voice that told him to destroy, a voice he couldn't seem to fight. A voice that drove its claws into his mind like a nightmare and wouldn't let go.


They'd found the griffin's trail quickly and following it in the Bolt had taken even less time. Before they'd even reached the lava field they'd seen the sky stained red. The Bolt's sensors had started complaining that they were getting messed up by smoke and dust.

"Ace, that volcano's over here isn't it?" asked Sparx as she tried to tell the ship to ignore its warning signals.

"Yeah. It makes sense. The griffin's a fire element. But even it shouldn't stay around here with all this going on," he replied.

"It might not be that bad…" said Sparx.

That was when the lava-scape had opened before them. Now it was a field of fire.

"Ah… or it could be worse," she corrected.

"Check the sensors and see if they're still here. We should be close enough to pick them up if they are," he said as he slowed the ship and steered towards the inferno.

"You think they've left?"

"If the griffin stayed then Random will have too…"

"They did. We're picking up one electric and one fire based life sign," said Sparx.

"Where?" he asked as he pulled to the side to avoid a falling rock.

The ship protested with a loud beep and Sparx pounded a button on the console with a growl. The warning system switched off altogether. "I'm not sure. It might be because the smokes messed up the sensors but the life signs are very weak."

"Or because their life signs are very weak."

"That too."

"Random, what are you doing?" he asked the air. It was a question he'd very much like answered.

"Hang on. It's picking up weapons alright! I've got an energy signal from a wrist cannon and we can follow it."

She pointed him in the right direction and he powered up the ship, perhaps flying too fast as one should through a rain of falling rocks and fire. But while the signal from the wrist cannon was a good thing it also meant the sensors were working. That also meant they were correct when they'd picked up the weak life signs. The problem with weak life signs was that they had a habit of disappearing altogether.

"We're right over it," said Sparx suddenly.

He hit the brakes and the Bolt slewed to a stop.

"Make sure the Bolt doesn't get hit by any rocks, Sparx. I'm going down."

"And I guess that means I'm staying up here," she grumbled.

"Yes. Keep an eye on the ship."

He could hear her mutter something as he flew off and was once more glad she'd ended up with him and Random. He still wasn't quite sure how she'd gotten through training but if she'd ended up with some other Knights he knew she'd have been out on insubordination ages ago. He knew she never meant any of it and the fact that some of them would throw her out on that alone annoyed him. She fought well and she lived for being a Knight. As far as he was concerned that was all that mattered. Anything else could be worked out on the field. The pathetic excuse for a training program certainly didn't do anything about it.

He looked down and saw the griffin. It was entirely engulfed in flames and unmoving. But where was Random? A flicker of blue caught his eye and he saw his friend lying on the ground. He was also unmoving.

"Random!" he called as he flew down beside him.

Random didn't answer him.

He grabbed Random and dragged him away from the lava flow. "Come on, buddy. We're getting you out of here," he said as he gestured for Sparx to bring the Bolt down.

It was when he looked back at Random that he noticed the half of his body that would've been lying in the lava was completely gone. He stopped in shock as his mind raced ahead. That was way too much damage for a recharge to fix.

"Ace!" called Sparx from the ship. "Get him in." Her eyes widened as she seemed to notice Random's state. "Okay, that's bad, right?"

"Yeah…" he replied. "Sparx, how fast can you fly through this?"

"Fast as the Bolt can go."

"Then get in the pilots seat. We need to get Random to a restore point and fast."

"Alright! Don't worry, Ace, we'll get him there with time to spare."

He lifted Random into the ship, frightfully aware that his body weight seemed to be about half of what it usually was. He laid him down on the back bench seat.

"Ace…" Random groaned suddenly.

He knelt down beside his friend, holding onto his shoulder as he did. "Yeah, I'm here."

Random needed to catch his breath before he finally continued, barely audibly: "I'm… sorry…" Then he faded back into unconsciousness.