I'm sorry I didn't get a chapter posted last night, but a tragedy happened in this family. My dog of 14 years, Bitsy, who was infected with an advanced case of either leukemia or lymphoma, was put to sleep this morning. I didn't want to get on the computer last night, but spend the last few hours with her. This may seem kind of corny to you all, especially those of you who might think Bitsy is kind of a dumb name, but I'm dedicating this story to her.

See you around, Bitsy the Wonder Dog.

Gilgamesh finally reached the end of the tunnel. However, he had no sooner stepped out into the moonlight when he froze. Immediately, he stepped back and pushed himself against the stone wall. The other espers ran forward, but he quickly turned to them and held his arm out, indicating for them to get back. Slowly, they all ground to a halt and did as they were told. Each one snapped back and laid against the back wall. And for good reason. Already, the fight had broken out on the other side. And it totally blew away the earlier tournament battles.

Gilgamesh peaked his head around the side, and watched the chaos. The airship had changed, turning into a giant armored man. And now, it was attacking Bahamut. One of its giant claws had grabbed him, and was slamming him into things left and right, throwing him into the rock wall and then to the ground. It had fires coming out from under its feet. Somehow, it was moving using them, seeming to walk on the air as it ran. Abruptly, it snapped around, swinging its entire upper body in a circle, and flung Bahamut into the cliff. He smashed against it, so hard that the rocks shattered underneath him and debris rained down. Bahamut soon slid down weakly and pained looking. Not stopping, however, the giant shot forward and began to pound Bahamut in the stomach, swinging his fists into it again and again. Bahamut was already looking cut and bruised, but now he began to spit out blood.

"This is really bad…" Gilgamesh moaned at the sight, his eyes filling with fear. "They've already started…Bahamut can't even fight back."

"Ah, how tough could it be?" Ifrit asked. He too turned the corner and looked. He watched the horrific battle for a fraction of a second…and immediately he seemed to turn a shade white. His grin faded and he gulped.

Shiva smiled at him slyly. "Still want to fight him, tough guy?"

Ifrit blinked in astonishment. However, he swallowed in the end, and backed off. "Uh…um…" He stammered for a moment. Then, in the end, he turned to Gilgamesh, and eagerly motioned to him. "Let's…let's let Gilgamesh do his thing. Yeah."

Gilgamesh licked his lips in reply. In truth, he never had tried this. He only read about it. He had to hope he could pull off some of his mother's abilities. If not, they were all going to be sunk. That thing was strong…much stronger than it had been before. It could crush them all in a snap. This was their only hope. Quickly, he recalled the thing to mind, and then motioned for the others.

"Ok…everyone, get against the wall…and…uh…close your eyes and focus. Try to…let go of your energy…let it up…just relax and let it flow…or something."

"Or something?"

"Just do it!"

The espers sighed, but then did as they were told. Each one closed their eyes. Each one relaxed and tried to let go. But some were a lot worse at it than others.

"Titan…close your eyes. Close your eyes…Titan…Titan!"

"Peekaboo!"

"Yes, yes, Peekaboo. But now…um…look, a monster!"

"Ahh! Monster!"

"That's better."

"Ifrit, you're not relaxing."

"Sure I am. This is me relaxed."

"You need to do better. Close your eyes and your mouth. Breathe deep."

"Do I have to? This is a lot of work…"

"Just do it!"

"Sigh…"

It took a few moments, during which Gilgamesh heard the body of Bahamut continue to be thrown around like a rag doll outside. That made him more nervous than before. But finally, all of them were ready. He too closed his eyes and relaxed. He needed to give up his own power as well, after all. With that done, he tried to think of what to do next. What was it? Oh…yeah… He had to try and concentrate on them all, and give it to Bahamut. And so, Gilgamesh turned and faced the older esper. He prayed that it would work, and then tried to focus again. He attempted to reach out, and feel the auras of everyone else.

At first, he felt nothing. He tried to think of doing this, but it was no good. He was only imagining it, not really doing it. He tried again to reach out to them, but again he only thought of it and didn't do it. Groaning inside, he focused again. This time, he tried to sense the auras instead. That worked…but to actually pull on them was something else. He had to focus hard to do it. And so, he bit his lip, clenched his eyes, and tried to focus only on the power. He grunted for a moment…strained…sweat… He finally felt the energy moving a little…but the shock of that interrupted him, and he let it go. The power went flowing back to the others, and they were back to square one. Outside, Bahamut continued to have the life beat out of him.

Gilgamesh groaned. He yelled at himself to focus. He balled his hands into fists and tried again. He grit his teeth and grinded them. He focused so hard he began to sweat and his body began to quiver. He struggled as hard as he could to extend his sense to do more…to reach out and touch the auras. He focused and focused hard, struggling to shut everything else out…just grab them and use them. Finally, his grip contacted them again. He forced himself not to be surprised this time, and just held them. It took a few moments to balance it out…but then he began to pull on it. Slowly, quivering, barely containing it…it began to pull out. Gilgamesh felt wonderful, and he began to raise his hand…only to lose his grasp and lose it all again, throwing himself back to start.

Gilgamesh wanted to rip his hair out. He was growing frustrated now. He tried to focus again, but he was so frustrated it was useless. The others began to grow impatient. They began to fidget and shift.

"Are you done yet?" Ifrit asked.

"Not yet…" Gilgamesh groaned.

"Hurry it up!"

"Shut up! This is harder than it looks!"

"This is hard too!"

"Just keep it up!"

Gilgamesh groaned and sighed. He had to calm down. And so, he paused for a few moments just to breathe deep, to get his balance back. It took him a little while, but finally he was calm enough to try again. Then, he attempted to pull on the energy once more. It was hard, but he was used to what he had to do now, and so he was able to get in his groove easily. Soon, he was focusing harder than ever, and his effort was paying off. The energy came forth again. Gilgamesh forced himself to shut all else out. Slowly, he raised his hand again. This time, he managed to hold on to it. He had to stop frequently, because it nearly slipped again and again. But he did get it up. Now…as his hand rose…he just had to focus on Bahamut.

"AH!"

Abruptly, the king of espers cried out in pain. Gilgamesh snapped his eyes open…and immediately totally lost his focus. Everything went back again. The esper would have cursed at this in fury, except for the fact that he didn't have time. The airship monster had just smashed Bahamut down on his knee. He had let the esper fall and arch in pain from the attack, writhing helplessly on the ground in his low power state. The airship monster then leaned over and seized him by the neck. He began to pull him up off the ground, and from the looks of it…it was ready to give the final blow.

Gilgamesh's white skin turned whiter. He was running out of time. He had to give Bahamut their power, and fast. But he had no time to focus again…and definitely no time to screw up again. He had to do it now…fast…and not fail again.

This was useless.

Bahamut couldn't even lift a finger against the monster. His power had faded. All he could do was live enough to scream in pain as the thing slowly beat him to death. It was hopeless. He simply didn't have any power to fight. And no espers were around to help him this time. He was drained. In addition, his body was getting too beaten as well. He was in a lot of pain now, and as such could only hang down like a limp rag as Arc raised him up in one massive hand.

He looked weakly at the monster, right into its soulless glass eyes, showing no warmth or life or anything. He couldn't understand it. The thing seemed to have no power other than what it had stolen, none of its own. What was it? It didn't really matter. All that mattered right now was that he was about to die…and he had to think of something. But there was nothing he could do. He had no power left…not even to stall him long enough to escape. He couldn't do anything but stare. As he did, he saw the creature's chest. Abruptly, two metal panels opened on its chest, sliding the metal into its chest as it did. Two holes were inside…and they both began to glow a white light. Bahamut's eyes began to widen, focusing on them as they began to make a whining sound, no doubt forming an attack…

"Lord Bahamut!"

Ark made a whirring sound as it turned and looked behind it. Bahamut likewise turned to the voice. What they both soon saw was in the tunnel...Gilgamesh. He held his hand at the both, and waved up with his other. "Lord Bahamut! We gave you our power! Fight him!"

"DESIGNATE: GILGAMESH." Ark responded. "LOWER POWERED, UNDERDEVELOPED ESPER CLASS. STATUS: NON-THREAT."

"Then why don't you worry more about me?"

Ark turned back around to the sound of that voice, facing Bahamut again.

WHAM

Moments later, the massive machine was shot off of its feet and sent sailing through the air backward toward the cliffs. Gilgamesh gulped and quickly ducked inside. As for Ark, it nearly crashed into the rock, its head turned to one side and knocked back. But then, it managed to halt itself in mid-air right before reaching the cliff. It turned back and glared at what had struck it.

Bahamut now hovered in mid-air as well. His body was fully erect and strengthened again. His fist, tightened and straight, was still extended out from where he had jabbed Gilgamesh right in the face, sending him flying back. He glared at it now, his eyes burning with new strength and power as he flew, now fully ready for battle.

Ark whirred and turned back around, facing Bahamut again. "YOUR ENERGY HAS UNEXPECTEDLY BEEN RESTORED. IT IS IRRELEVANT. I ALREADY POSSESS YOUR POWER IN ADDITION TO THAT OF FOUR ADDITIONAL ESPERS."

Bahamut glared coldly in reply. "Didn't you hear what I told you? It doesn't matter how much power you have, if you don't know how to use it. Or would you like me to demonstrate?"

Ark didn't answer. Suddenly, a white light appeared in the middle of it. Moments later, a great disk of energy erupted from its chest and began to curve toward the esper. Bahamut glared at it, but didn't bother reacting immediately. Finally, as it was about to hit him, he did move to one side and let it sail by, striking into the cliffs behind him instead. But apparently Arc controlled it, rather like Leviathan's attack. It came out behind him a moment later, shooting straight for him from behind. Bahamut had fortunately fought with Leviathan before, and was aware of that attack. He dodged it again, moving to one side. The ring came around and attempted to hit him again, but once more Bahamut moved, letting the disk go back into the rock wall.

Having had enough of this, Bahamut shot upward into the sky at full speed. Ark looked up and focused on him. First, it called back the disk and locked it back in itself. After that, it fired out the flames from beneath it once more and shot after the esper. Both went up for a few moments, until Bahamut cleared the crater and hovered over the mountain. Arc quickly followed afterward, and soon cleared as well. It stayed opposite Bahamut, however, and once it reached the same level it stopped. Both paused for a moment, looking at each other and doing nothing.

Then, the metal man finally fired off the two light bolts from its chest. Two beams of light immediately curved and shot straight for the esper before it. Bahamut saw them come and didn't react immediately. But then, as they neared, he merely crossed his arms in front of himself and blocked. Moments later, the two lasers hit his arms, and erupted into white explosions. Bahamut grit his teeth as heat and energy washed over him. A burning force impacted on his arms and rocked powerfully. The push was strong, but Bahamut braced himself and managed to hold back against the blast. Finally, it died down. And the moment it did, Bahamut dropped his arms, looked at Ark, opened his mouth, and fired a Pyrin at it.

But Ark was reacting as well. The massive machine shot forward straight for Bahamut. It saw the Pyrin coming, and immediately put its own arm up. But instead of striking the arm, the Pyrin exploded into a fiery ball a bit early. Bahamut's look turned to puzzlement at this. It seemed as if the sky had shimmered and turned an electric purple, as if some sort of wave or invisible surface was around the thing and the Pyrin had impacted on it. That caused it to blow up before reaching it. But Bahamut could only focus on this a moment, for Ark still shot forward to the esper. On reaching him, it immediately swung one of its giant fists to hook Bahamut in the face.

The esper didn't fall to the ground, but he still had his face snapped violently to one side. The thing immediately punched him the other way, sending his face flying back. It did this again and again, smacking Bahamut's head up and down in response, all before moving down and beating him repeatedly in the stomach. He pounded him so fast in the chest that one couldn't even see how fast he was striking. All of this was before he uppercutted the esper, sending him flying down to the ground. Not finished, Ark watched him fall, and then straightened itself up in the air. It stretched out its arms and legs and hovered for a moment. Then, a whirring and clicking sound was heard, and both of its shoulder suddenly detached and opened. Underneath, a series of cylinders with caps on the ends came out and locked into place. The thing faced the falling Bahamut and watched him go.

Suddenly, red light began to shine from within the shoulders. A whining sound came out, and it quickly grew high pitched. A sizzling followed, like burning or electricity. Then, in a flash, the cylinders all erupted, one after the other, and shot straight at Bahamut. Each one spewed out a line of fire behind it as it tore out of Ark's shoulder and sailed for the falling esper.They connected with him as he was falling…and immediately, each cylinder exploded. Massive balls of fire erupted in the sky. A thunderous echo was sent throughout the air. Violent tremors rocked below. The crater farther below splintered and dropped some rocks below from the rim. But horrible, bright red light raged everywhere as a firestorm blasted in the sky. The world was lit up as the light brightened up all around from miles. It was a horribly strong attack, and the black smoke that occurred from it made a massive tower in the air.

Finally, the attack was over. Ark loosened itself and straightened out, and its shoulders collapsed back again. It looked down to the black smoke and watched it fade, expecting to see nothing. The fires died out, the wind blew, and the blackness began to fade away. Still Ark looked, expecting to see that nothing was left. That attack should have been more than sufficient to destroy Bahamut's power. It just needed to scan to confirm it.

However, its scan did register at last…and it gave bad news. Moments later, the visual confirmed it.

Bahamut hovered in mid-air, a bit blackened, a tiny bit bloodied…and still glaring coldly at Ark. He barely looked affected from all the blows he had received. And he still appeared more than ready to fight, and more than ready to destroy Ark.

"ERROR." Ark announced. "CALCULATIONS INADEQUATE. INTENDED BLAST INSUFFICIENT."

Bahamut smiled in response. "My turn."

In a flash, Bahamut shot forward. Using his wings, he propelled himself more strongly than before and sailed straight for Ark. The thing glared at him, and tried to react…but Bahamut was too fast for it. Bahamut extended his fist, and smashed it hard into Ark's "face" as it shot into the air. The metal man's head was snapped back in response, and its whole body was thrown up through the air. Bahamut followed up by giving it his own pound in the stomach, so hard that metal grinded and it snapped over on itself. Finally, Bahamut swung around and gave the thing a tail slap, and soon its whole body was sent down toward the ground again, on the other side of Terratopolis.

Ark spun uncontrollably for a few moments…but then somehow righted itself. It twisted around and balanced in mid-air, and then halted. Its feet burned again, and it prepared to shoot back. But it was too late. Bahamut was already on it, and he locked arms with the large machine. Both of them grabbed each other, and both pushed for a moment. Bahamut glared at the thing and flapped his wings. Ark glared back and blasted more heat from underneath it. Both buckled and turned. Both quivered and struggled under each other for a moment. But in the end, one did break. Abruptly, Bahamut gave a yell and pitched forward. Ark was ripped off of its balance and was thrown into a bent position, and soon was being thrust down back first to the ground. Bahamut put more speed in, pushing them faster and faster…until at last they did hit the ground. Not stopping, Bahamut kept pushing against the thing. After smashing it into the ground, it now pushed it through the ground. A huge trench was cut into the earth as Bahamut shoved. Hepushed Ark onward, until at last they reached a rock. Then, Bahamut smashed him into it as hard as he could. Ark snapped back in a sign of damage in response.

But the metal man wasn't done. Ark responded by bringing its fist down on Bahamut's head, smashing down on the esper. Bahamut was sent falling to the ground…for a moment. Before he even hit, he sprang up, spun around, and smashed his heel into the thing's side. The metal was dented and smashed in, and sparks flew out. In response, the thing, now crackling and hissing, brought its first forward and punched Bahamut in the face. This had enough power to send the esper flying back from it. Immediately, it opened its laser cannons and fired again at the esper. But Bahamut too managed to right himself. He halted his body, flipped in the air, and then planted his feet on the ground. He held his hands up, and then made a slapping gesture with both as the lasers approached. Immediately, the energy beams were slapped aside, curving behind Bahamut and striking elsewhere. Afterward, he opened his mouth, aimed at Arc, and fired once again another Pyrin. The blast shot forward and landed right inside one of Ark's laser cannon barrels. Moments later, a fiery explosion erupted from inside one of Ark's panels. Flaming debris exploded from the hole. The corresponding shoulder popped open…and immediately broke off as fire and sparks shot from the new gapingblast in the metal man.

"WARNING. CRITICAL DAMAGE TO PRIMARY AND SECONDARY WEAPON."

Yet Ark still didn't give up. The great metal beast shoved its legs behind him, and then erupted into another set of fire. Immediately, its body ripped off from the rock and went sailing at its fastest speed yet to Bahamut. Bahamut responded though. He crouched, focused, and then took off as well. He extended his own fist out and sailed straight for Ark. The machine's fist was longer and bigger though. It seemed as if its appendage would land a lot sooner. Except as the two thundered to one another…it became evident that Bahamut wasn't going after its face. It was going after the arm that was headed for him. Moments later, both of their fists connected, and a sound like thunder clashed out from the result…

…as Bahamut's fist tore right through Ark's arm. It was like a person throwing themselves through a pile of dried leaves. Bahamut's fist started at the fist of Ark, and on impact first dented it inward and then shattered it. Metal erupted and flew everywhere. Sparks followed behind it. Pieces of twisted metal and strange devices flew everywhere. But Bahamut's arm kept moving. It tore further into the machine, tearing deeper and deeper into it. It went down the arm, shattering it more all the way, sending pieces of metal and debris flying everywhere. It did not stop until Bahamut reached the shoulder, and finally tore through to the other side. As he shot by Ark, a long trail of shattered, destroyed, warped metal flew up in a cloud behind him, all that was left of the thing's arm.

Ark instantly halted and froze. The pieces of its limb fell to the ground a moment later. Its arm sizzled and snapped. Sparks flew from it and wires went this way and that. Pieces of metal dangled and moved within the socket. Bahamut himself halted his body, planted his feet, and then turned around and glared at Ark. His look was still cold and icy, unchanged in resolve. The metal man looked down to its socket, and spoke out again. As it did, its voice modulated frequently, as if it kept losing its voice.

"WARNING. HEAVY DAMAGE DETECTED. 19.2 PERCENTOF SYSTEM DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. BATTLE CAPABILITY DECREASED 23.9 PERCENT. POWER OUTPUT DOWN 36.4 PERCENT. SEEK REPAIR IMMEDIATELY."

With that, Ark turned and faced Bahamut again. At this, it crackled and spat from within, then spoke again. "DATA ERROR. READINGS DO NOT COMPUTE. DESIGNATE: BAHAMUT SHOULD NOT POSSESS THIS STRENGTH. BATTLE CAPABILITY OF DESIGNATE: BAHAMUT EXCEEDS MODEL PARAMETERS."

"Do me a favor…and shut up." Bahamut coldly responded to the thing.

The machine held for a few moments. It seemed to be thinking of what to do next. Inside, it was calculating its options and what course to take. But in the end, it could make only one choice. Abruptly, it turned away from Bahamut, blazed the fires out of its feet, and began to take off into the sky once again. As fast as it could go, it was soon headed away from the esper.

"No…there is no escape." Bahamut darkly responded. With that, he opened his mouth and focused. The ground shook beneath him. The sky darkened again. His eyes began to blaze, and his mouth filled with light of fire as he gathered his strength. Finally, he opened his wings up and snapped his head back, all the while still focusing on the fleeing Ark as he announced his move "MEGA-PYRIN!"

The massive attack immediately erupted forth as before. It wasn't as huge as the one that killed Crusader, but it didn't have to be. The huge chain of balls and fire stormed out in their normal wave, and sailed right for Ark. The metal man tried to put on more speed, but it was already at its limit, and Bahamut's attack was too fast for it. In the end, the wave overshadowed it…the red heat overwhelmed it…and the balls overshot it and blew up right on the thing's hull.

Bahamut looked in as the massive chain of explosions rocked the sky. Thunder crashed and the world shook below as the attack went off. He glared into the blazing fires and watched to see his result. Ark was thrown one way and another with the power of the burning blasts. Searing heat penetrated him. Shock crashes blasted its body and fragmented it. Pieces of him flew off left and right before it broke into smaller pieces. Its head blew away, and its limbs detached before its torso ripped into shreds. Not only that, but the heat was too hot for it. The metal blew into tiny pieces just to instantly be melted into nothing. The heat blasted so much that the metal was vaporized. There was nothing left. Ark was already reduced to atoms long before the fires subsided and the last explosion had gone off. But eventually it did. The sky continued to rock for a few moments. The ground shook and only slowly died down. The glow vanished, and the black smoke dissipated once again.

The black sky was clear. There was nothing left. Only a few specks of ash from the destroyed Ark fluttered down to the ground. The thing was totally destroyed. There was a change, however. The energies of the espers had been in that thing. And they lingered there for a moment after it was gone. But now…they began to flutter back down, and head back to their owners once again.

Bahamut glared at the wreck a few moments more. But then, he turned and began to fly back to Terratopolis without another thought.

"Ark has been totally destroyed."

"I thought you said that Bahamut was well within threshold."

"There were unexpected changes. Bahamut had his power drained. Ark had drained all targets and so he ascended to phase two of the operation, converting into battle mode and eliminating them. But then somehow Bahamut's energy totally refilled. It wasn't able to drain in that form, but it wouldn't have mattered. At 100 percentenergy, Bahamut was more than capable of destroying Arc before his energy was back down to manageable levels."

"But he already had Bahamut's power plus the others."

"Yes…but machines have a hard time utilizing biological energy. What more, Bahamut's restored power was actually greater than previously. And he seemed to have spurts of even higher points during battle. It looks as if despite the ease with which Bahamut dispatched Ark, he was only at 64 percent battle capability."

"Amazing…"

"So? Do we build a better unit and send it out?"

"Hardly. These eidolons have surprised us once. Now they'll be ready for us to send another. Besides, Ark already represented the pinnacle of our cybernetics. There are little to no improvements we could make. Even in the next hundred years of research and development, we don't expect to perfect any new type of energy usage and storage in that time."

"And the eidolons seem to have a lot more to them than meets the eye. Our only hope is to fight them at weakened levels. At full levels, anything could happen."

"Even worse. We were lucky this time. The eidolons didn't associate them with us…hopefully. If we send another, they might suspect we had something to do with it. Using the airship was a bad idea. Ark was the most advanced military machine we had among us. Any of our other defenses would be useless against an assault of the eidolons."

"An interesting point. What should we do?"

"Maintain our research for now. We're still generations away from needing results. Until then, let's handle the other problems we need to take care of on this world. There are other potential threats, however unlikely, than the eidolons."

"Very well. This problem will be put to one side…for now."

Starlet's eyes suddenly opened. She blinked for a few moments, and then turned and began to rise off of the floor. She turned and looked around the room in response, putting her hand to her head and rubbing it. Had she missed something? That had been strange… She had felt so tired and drained. Gilgamesh had run in to tell her something, but…she had blacked out shortly after that. She seemed to have totally passed out. She had felt so weak and exhausted… But that was over now. She felt better than ever. However, she was wondering what was going on now. She had awakened into a strange situation.

As she looked around the room, she saw that the beds were empty. All of the children were out. But she remembered that much. She had put them all to bed last night. So they should all still be there…unless it was morning. Was it morning? Perhaps it was. But she couldn't hear them either. What had happened? She tried to remember… She did remember putting them to bed and sitting down. She remembered being tired, but she was also eager for the birthing time. She had waited and waited for that…struggling to stay up. But she had fallen asleep… Starlet gasped at the thought. Did that mean that she missed it?

Quickly, Starlet rose to her feet. She dashed out of the room and headed straight for the fusion area. Her body twitched with nervousness. What if she missed it? Then what? What could she do? She'd have to wait another fifty years, and she didn't want to do that. She had been planning for a new baby for five years now, and she couldn't afford to wait. She ran faster and faster, headed straight for the chamber. At last, she reached it, and immediately she rounded the corner and went inside.

She froze on entrance. No one was there. Not a soul was present, and there were no signs of use. Starlet blinked and looked around, trying to see signs for anything. She couldn't tell what had happened. Had they already used it? Or had they not even come yet? Starlet couldn't tell. There was nothing there to indicate it. Starlet looked up to the opening, but saw nothing but darkness. It was still night at any rate. Starlet sighed and paused there, standing in the doorway.

The female esper hesitated for a moment. She thought over the area. Everything was ready. Things were set up for a fusion or separation. Looking over this, she began to think. Not everyone was needed for a separation. Only one person was needed for it. And everything was set up already… Everyone could have already gone. Or they couldn't have yet. But of the second of the two, it was already getting late. It was the time for birthing. And she didn't need any assistance. If they already went, well…shouldn't she? She had to do it sometime. Perhaps…perhaps, she should just go right now. Just get it over with. There'd be times for others. It would only take a moment… In the end, she decided to go for it. Why not?

Giggling a little to herself at her turn of independence, Starlet moved out into the center square. No one had done a separation yet, but it didn't matter. She had reached her own Omniapex. She knew all the knowledge the Planet had set out for her as well. And so, she moved into the center and stood there, quivering a bit with excitement. Once she stood there, she paused and thought for a moment. What should she pick? Wisdom? She wasn't too big on that aspect. Courage? No, she liked that part of herself as well. The only thing that was left was power. She didn't like the idea of being as weak as Bahamut when it happened to him. However, she valued the parts of her mind. And so, she decided that was the best thing to do. She realized she had to do it correctly this time. Otherwise, her offspring would be below espers just like the dragons were. And so, she closed her eyes and began to draw within herself.

It didn't seem to be too hard. She felt within for a few moments before she found her aura. Once there, she focused a bit harder. By doing so, she moved out the other aspects of herself, and attempted to isolate her power. It took her a little while to do that, but it was still fairly easy. Soon, she had that grasped as well. She asserted her hold on it, focusing and holding strong. Then, after pausing for a few moments to get her bearings, she began to form it within her. Concentrate it…make it its own separate entity. It took a bit of starting out, but then began to happen.

Starlet nearly yelped for joy as she felt the forms beginning to grow within her. It was just like when she was pregnant with Gilgamesh, only faster. She continued to focus and pull on it, expecting her body to start shrinking any time now. Strangely enough, she didn't feel that at all. She felt the same as before. Perhaps Bahamut had done it wrong, and that's why he had grown so small. But Starlet kept focusing, kept drawing out the power from within her. As she did, she felt a little peculiar. She seemed to be a bit more unbalanced than before… And her clothes were getting a little tight around her… She tried to ignore it, but as she kept going, she felt her clothes get very tight. In fact, they choked her a little…before ripping. She continued to feel very odd and lopsided. The weakness did come, but she didn't feel skinny at all. Still, she kept focusing, puzzled by all this, but more concerned with the creatures growing inside her. She kept pouring out her power, feeling all of these things continue to a larger and larger degree. But then, at last, she had finished. She felt the last bit of her power go into them, and she still felt pretty conscious…albeit weird.

Starlet didn't care. She felt them already rising within her, coming to her own mouth. And so, she immediately opened her mouth and let them come. They weren't big and round like Bahamut's eggs. On the contrary…she soon saw much smaller things come out. One by one, four little creatures emerged and fanned out before her. They were very odd looking. They appeared to be humanoid like Starlet, yet they glowed with a strange livid green light. Each one of them had a crop of green hair, and they had little green wings as well like butterfly wings, which they flapped around with. Two small antenna were on each of their heads as well. They fluttered around on emerging, turning and flapping around one another. But Starlet yelped for joy again. She scanned their minds, and found, to her amazement, not only did they have true esper nature within them, but they were already at the point of maturity. Though newborn, they were already farther along than any of the kids.

"Oh…look at you!"

The four fluttering beings halted at that, and they all turned to Starlet. They seemed a bit surprised on seeing her, but Starlet thought that only typical. She was, after all, a giant compared to them.

"Who are you?" One of them piped in a small little voice.

"I'm your mother!" Starlet cheerily responded. "Look how precious you are! And you're already so smart! Oh…I'll call you all Sylph!"

"You're our mother?" Another asked incredulously.

"Yes, yes!" Starlet answered. "We're going to have so much fun! You have everything you need here! I'll braid your hair and make you little dresses, and we can tend to the flowers and play games…"

Abruptly, the four Sylph broke out into chittering laughter. They fell backward in mid-air, grasping their bellies, and somersaulted around to laugh some more. One pointed at Starlet and laughed even harder. They closed their eyes and cried. Starlet was taken aback at this. Her smile faded and she grew concerned. Their laughter wasn't good hearted or joyful…it was mocking and teasing. She hadn't heard laughter like that since she was a child. But they only laughed at her in that cruel voice all the more.

"Yeah right!" One of them called at last. "Like we'd run around with you?"

"You're big as a whale!" One cried back.

"And ugly as a cow!" Another added.

"More like a cow's behind!" Another corrected.

"Or a cow's refuse!"

They giggled all the more because of that. Their tones were biting and cruel, mocking and without pity. Starlet looked at them in concern at this, but was also puzzled at what they were saying. As they kept laughing, she began to feel a bit pained inside, and she grew upset with them. Her previous adoration began to fade.

"Stop that! Stop that at once!" She called to them.

"Oh yeah?" One of them teased in response, as they all stopped laughing. She fluttered over, grabbed a lock of Starlet's hair, and tugged it hard. Starlet yelped in pain in response. Another came up and pinched her hard on the cheek. Still another flicked her hard in the ear.

"What are you going to do about it? You're so fat you can't even move!"

"We'd never hang around with an overstuffed sack of lard like you!"

"We're leaving to see what other fun we can have!"

"So long chubby!"

"Fatty!"

"Cow's butt!"

"Pig's face!"

"Blubber girl!"

After teasing Starlet again, to which the esper was both frustrated…as well as hurt by what her children were doing…they stuck their tongues out of her and began to fly away. Starlet called out to them, and tried to move to stop them. But it was useless. She couldn't move. Her power was gone, and she couldn't budge and inch. And so, laughing to each other and spinning around each other, the Slyph fluttered up to the opening in the ceiling. They all flew out as one from it. Starlet heard them flying a bit more, but then they were gone. The room was silent again.

"Wait!" She cried. She was hurt by them, wondering how they could be so cruel. But her mother's instinct settled in, and she now was worried about losing them. She struggled to move, but it was useless. However…as she moved…she realized, all of the sudden, that she didn't seem restricted because of just being weak. Her muscles weren't the problem. It seemed…she had suddenly gotten much heavier. She seemed much more awkward as well, and felt a bit large… Her clothing had ripped, yet it didn't seem to be hanging off of her. She realized she hadn't exactly looked at herself until now… And so, she looked down, fully expecting to see her body as thin as a rail.

That wasn't what she saw.

"AAAAAH!"

Leviathan opened his eyes and groaned for a moment. He blinked a few times, but then lifted his head. To his amazement, his head moved easily. And he felt fine. All of his tiredness had vanished, and his power felt better than ever. He felt more than capable of producing a Tsunami now. However, to his surprise, the airship wasn't around anymore. No one was around. He looked from side to side a bit, before turning his head back to the river. As he did, he saw that Ogopogo was recovering as well. He too raised his head from the ground and looked up in puzzlement. He seemed confused in much the same way.

"Uh…what happened?" He asked.

"Beats me." Leviathan answered. He focused for a moment, and scanned the area. "Odin's power has moved away. And I feel as healthy as ever."

Right after saying that, however, both Leviathan and Ogopogo turned their heads to a new arrival. They heard a rush of wings overhead, and soon saw a shadow descending. On turning, they soon saw that Bahamut had returned. Right now, he was coming down the opening to the mountain. Leviathan focused on him and scanned him, and saw that he looked cold and bold once again. His face was rough and focused. What more, Leviathan saw that he was a bit scoffed and bloodied. He had been in a fight. Bahamut hadn't even landed before Leviathan moved out of the lake and up to him. He immediately accosted him.

"Bahamut! Are you alright? There's this thing out here that attacked me and-"

"It's alright, Leviathan." Bahamut immediately cut off. "It's over."

Leviathan paused at that. He blinked in amazement for a moment. As for Ogopogo, he quickly came up afterward, looking rather surprised as well. "Really? You beat it?"

"There's nothing left of it." Bahamut simply replied. "And the energy it stole is returning to the people it took it from, obviously."

Leviathan hesitated, but then spoke in amazement. "Wow, Bahamut. You must be pretty strong. I found out the hard way that it drained energy from individuals, but it was draining the energy from all of us at once too. You had to have a lot of power to withstand it."

Bahamut hesitated at that, but then grinned. "Actually, I didn't have the power. I owe one to the guys over there."

Leviathan was surprised at this, but then saw Bahamut gesture over to one side. He turned and looked in response, as did Ogopogo. They saw that they were now focused on the tunnel leading out of the mountain. They saw nothing for a moment, but then, a white head peaked out from the side. Moments later, Gilgamesh came out and began to walk up to the others. After a moment, the rest of the espers followed him from behind. All of the kid espers except Palidor were there, and they quickly rushed up to the others. Leviathan rose his eyebrows in surprise. So, the little ones had already been able to help out? That was extraordinary to him. He was pleasantly surprised at them, and managed a smile.

"I wouldn't have won if it wasn't for you kids." Bahamut accredited them with a smile, reaching out and rubbing Gilgamesh's head with one of his claws.

Ifrit frowned and crossed his arms a bit. "Yeah, we helped out a little by giving up our energy…but I still think we should have tried to take that metal man ourselves."

"Don't talk crazy!" Ramuh yelped. "I just about fainted when I saw him turn to us!"

"Ah, you faint before everything."

Leviathan, however, was more amazed. "One of you managed to perform one of the energy transfers? And at this low level of ability?"

Gilgamesh blushed a little in response to this. He bowed his head and rubbed his foot against the ground. "Oh…it wasn't so hard…"

"Strange…it took you long enough." Shiva answered calmly to the side, making Gilgamesh frown a bit and look up to her.

"That's extraordinary, Gilgamesh." Leviathan reassured, making the younger esper look back to him. "I'm amazed that you perfected that ability, simply by hearing about how Starlet did it. Your father should be very proud of you."

Gilgamesh seemed to have mixed feelings in response to this. In part, he was happy about that response. But on the other hand, he was still upset about how his father had treated him. He knew Odin better than Leviathan. Odin wouldn't be happy, not if Gilgamesh hadn't destroyed the airship monster himself. And so, he managed a bittersweet smile for the moment, keeping the thoughts to himself. He respected his master as well, and felt he owed him respect.

"So where is Odin, anyway?" Ogopogo asked at last.

"Sense his energy." Bahamut answered. "He's still out there, but he should be getting up soon and heading back here." He paused a moment, looking over the kid espers. "What I'm more concerned about is where is Palidor?"

The group of kids just realized now that she was still gone, and that she hadn't come up to them at all during this interim. In another moment, they might have looked concerned. But before they could, abruptly they heard a female scream from within Terratopolis. They immediately turned and looked to the sight, and managed to track the screaming from coming up deep within Terratopolis. It was also unmistakable who it was. It was Starlet's voice. Immediately, the group turned concerned. Some, like Ramuh, began to grow fearful.

"Oh no…" Leviathan called. He sounded deeply worried, more so than before. An inner panic was in his voice.

"I thought you destroyed it?" Ifrit asked, turning to Bahamut.

"Maybe there's more than one…" Ogopogo gulped.

The thought of that turned Bahamut cold.

Leviathan focused again. After searching for a moment, he turned a shade pale. The others looked to him and saw this change. Immediately, they gulped as well. He spoke at last. "I can sense Starlet's power…and it's flying away from the area."

Immediately, Bahamut unfurled his wings. He turned to the others, and gave a cold command. "The rest of you, get back inside and check the area. I'm going after it. So long as I find it and destroy it quickly, I'll have the energy to stop it before it can get me."

However, Leviathan had his own command. He turned and looked to Ogopogo. "Take the kids and make sure they get back to their room ok."

"Aw!" Ifrit moaned.

"I'm going after Starlet." Leviathan answered.

"Let me look too!" Gilgamesh instantly protested.

But Leviathan turned to him sternly. "No, Gilgamesh. You already gave up your power to help Bahamut. You won't be in fighting shape. Neither will the rest of you."

"Damn!" Ifrit cursed.

"Hey, watch your mouth!" Ogopogo responded. However, he was grateful. He would rather tend to the kids then go out looking for a fight. And so, he gave a nod to Leviathan. "No problem, Leviathan. I'll take care of them."

Leviathan gave a nod, but didn't waste anymore time. He turned and quickly rushed back to the tunnel. He had grown ferociously fast in time. He moved like lightning now. In no time, he was already back inside, and shooting up it. He scanned out, trying to find where she was. He couldn't sense much, but he did find out where she might have been. It was farther upstairs. And so, he began to slither up the main hall as fast as he could. His thoughts shifted away from all of the other espers, and focused only on Starlet. A yearning grew inside him, one that was too strong to be denied.

As Leviathan got higher and higher, he began to sense something new. A slight bit of energy was still present, and he detected it as Starlet's. It was hard to pinpoint, but it was something. With renewed vigor, Leviathan rushed up even faster than before heading after the signature. Filled with earnest, he continued to ascend farther and farther, until he finally noticed something. Starlet's power was coming from the birthing chamber. With that focus in mind, he immediately rushed forward even faster than before. Like a flash, he shot through the corridors and made right for her place. Finally, he saw it just up ahead. He continued to rush toward it at first. But as he kept going, he began to slow down. He heard a gentle sobbing coming from the inside. It was constant and female, and he recognized it to be Starlet's voice. He continued to slither forward, until he reached the side of the doorway. Once there, he froze behind it for a moment.

"Starlet!" He called inside.

There was a bit more sobbing for a moment, but then it gradually leveled off. In response, a small, meek voice came out. "L…Leviathan?"

"Are you alright?" The esper insisted. "I'm coming in…"

"No!" Starlet immediately cried. "Don't come in here!"

Leviathan froze, but then quickly called out. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Nothing…! Nothing at all!" Starlet called back. "I…I just…"

"What's the matter, Starlet?"

"I…er…" Starlet seemed uneasy. Finally, she lamented. "Well…oh, I might as well confess it… Leviathan…I tried to reproduce on my own. I did the separation technique. It worked…I broke off my power and I made four little flying espers…"

Hearing that, Leviathan felt a wave of relief come over him. So, another one of those airship things didn't exist. It had just been a reproduction. Despite Leviathan's antagonism to Starlet's idea of doing this, he was happy that this was the only problem. This could be dealt with. However, as Starlet continued, he heard her grow tearful again.

"They looked so perfect…but they were mean and cruel… They wouldn't listen to me when I told them to stay. They were so independent already. They made fun of me…then they flew off."

Leviathan sighed in reply. This was bad news, but not the worst. Still, that meant they were losing an esper, and that was something they hadn't heard of since Bahamut's children. These separations were independent to be sure… He didn't like how they had just left like that. However, it wasn't the end of the world. It was no reason to be so broken up. "It'll be ok, Starlet. We'll find them, but-"

"No…they had a reason to make fun of me…" Starlet continued, growing more uneasy and sad-sounding. "You see…I thought that separating my power would make me thin…like Bahamut. But it didn't. It…made me…well…" She trailed off here, and sounded on the verge of tears again.

Leviathan held for a moment. He stayed back for a little longer. But then, in the end, he decided he had to look sometime. Starlet wasn't saying anything. And so, he realized he had to go in. He licked his lips and trembled a moment. But then, at last, he turned the corner and looked inside.

Leviathan struggled to restrain his surprise…or laughter.

Starlet had grown grossly, grossly fat. She was gigantic. Her arms and legs had grown so fat that he could barely see her hands and feet. She had several chins now, ballooning around her head horribly. Her gut had expanded more than large enough to fit two Titans inside. Her eyes had sunk into the fat of her head and her mouth was stretched out like a frog face. It was shocking to behold. Leviathan couldn't believe that he had neverconsider the factthat losing one's power could make someone either horribly thin or grossly fat. But it was certainly feasible. At any rate, Starlet looked up at him. It was obvious that she had been crying, her fat face still streaked with tears. She bit her lip and looked nervously at Leviathan. The sea serpent himself licked his lips.

"Um…it's not so bad." He choked out with a weak shrug.

Starlet broke out into tears again. She bent her head in shame. "Admit it! I'm hideous!"

Leviathan winced and desperately tried to think of something. "Well…er…you'll get better. It'll just take a few months for you to lose the weight."

"I'm going to look like this for months!" Starlet cried in response. She sobbed more loudly than before.

Leviathan licked his lips again. He cringed and fidgeted uneasily. He wished he knew what to say, but in truth, this was the first time he was alone with Starlet that he could remember. Saying anything to her was a difficulty. He choked for a few moments, as Starlet continued to bow her head and cry.

"Starlet…" He managed to finally say. "Don't cry… Don't be sad." He paused for a moment. "You…you look fine."

Starlet continued to sob in response. "Oh…you're just saying that, Leviathan…" She choked out on a pause.

"…No." Leviathan answered after a moment, putting more boldness in his voice. It made Starlet ease up a bit on her crying. "No. I'm not just saying that… You still look fine." Another pause. "You always look fine…you always look beautiful. You always have."

Starlet continued to cry for a little longer, but slowed down. She sniffled a little, but began to look up on Leviathan's words. He continued afterward.

"You've been beautiful since the day you were born…" He went on, words seeming to begin to spill out of his mouth. "Your eyes were always that pretty blue…and your hair was always smooth…and your face was always so cute… And…and…you always had that little way of walking around and talking…and scolding us…and playing those little games…and even that way you looked whenever we squirted you with water…"

Starlet listened to all of this with some inner reaction. She smiled a bit and let out a little laugh on that last mention. However, Leviathan went on.

"And…and…and you always have been so nice to everyone… You've always been so considerate to people…and you always loved everyone so much… You take care of all the kids like they were your own…and you always care about what happens to any of us…and you always are trying to reach out… You have a smile that could brighten up anyone's day…make the sun shine on a cloudy day…and your voice can make birds sing…and sweeten honey…and…and…well, I'm just kind of rambling now…but…but you're so perfect. You're always perfect. And…and…" Leviathan tightened up and got nervous. He began to tremble. "And…you always are perfect…no matter what happens to you on the outside." Apause, and then suddenly a somewhat angry blurt."...And Odin never deserved you. He should have treated you better. He should have given you the respect you deserved. I…" He paused and swallowed again. He seemed really nervous about this part. However, after much reluctance, he managed to speak.

"I…I love you."

Starlet's eyes expanded considerably at that. Her tears cut off as she looked to the timid sea serpent. He twisted and turned more than ever now, afraid after saying that. He had presented his feelings to her, and now he was nervous about the result. He cringed and seemed more scared than ever before. Sweat began to spread over his brow. He trembled even worse than Starlet did. Starlet stared at him for a long time in response. She was a little shocked. She had never known Leviathan felt that way. And now, it had just spilled out in a flood within seconds. Leviathan had loved her for this long. She supposed she should have known it. He had been nervous around her for decades. He always blushed and sweated whenever she spoke to him. She had suspected a lot, but not this. She realized now that he was really, honestly, strongly in love with her.

But then, as she thought a little, she realized that it hadn't been that much of a surprise. Ever since the fight with Griever, Leviathan put himself in harm's way for her. He risked death in order to protect her in that fight. And since then, he had always supported her and been there for her. He always valued her opinion. He had always been good to her. And as Starlet thought on, she realized he had always been such a good esper…always so controlled and civil. And he was always so kind to her as well. Even now, he was desperate to make her feel better. Hearing all of this, Starlet's inner pain lessened somewhat. The fatness was bad, but the real thing that upset her were Sylph's biting comments. But now, hearing Leviathan, she felt much better. She felt encouraged and happy, and she felt very grateful to Leviathan to that. The sweet esper…he was always so kind…always so good to her. For the first time ever, she realized what a good person he was…how kind and gentle he was…and how much the two of them were alike.

Softly, Starlet smiled. Her sadness vanished as she looked at the nervous esper. "Leviathan." She called, wanting him to look up. The esper looked up in response, still uneasy and quivering. However, when he saw Starlet, he softened up a bit. His face turned to puzzlement instead, seeing her smiling softly back at him. But as he looked at her further, he realized something else. She was happy to hear what he said. She seemed pleased with him. As he looked at her, the silent exchange went into him, and he saw the happiness in her. Gradually, that made him smile as well. He gradually began to lose his nervousness and calm down, although he still blushed and looked uneasy. But Starlet found she enjoyed that. She liked the look of him in that position, with that little quirk about him. Soon, she found herself laughing a little at him, in good humor. Leviathan laughed a bit nervously back.

"Um…Starlet…" Leviathan finally managed to say, his voice slightly hopeful. "I…I was wondering…if you were still broken up about your child…"

Odin, face frowning and scowling, had remounted Slepnir again. Now, he was on the lookout. Fresh anger was filling his veins now. He had no idea what that thing was, or what it had tried to do to him. But now, he was eager to destroy it. It would pay for what it had done. No one snuck up on him like that and attacked him behind his back. However, he couldn't sense it in the least. It didn't appear to have any other signature at all. Nevertheless, with a cold look he continued to search the ground as he flew forward.

Abruptly, he froze. A ripple of annoyance traveled through his body. He felt a new presence in the sky, and stopped in mid-air. Bahamut was out, no doubt hunting for the same person. Not that it really mattered who got the thing, but it was a matter of personal vengeance at this point. What more, he hated to see Bahamut have a reason to outdo him yet again. But nevertheless, the esper was out. What more, he was headed right for him. Realizing he couldn't avoid it, he waited right there for him to arrive. After a few moments went by, sure enough, Bahamut came up. He shot through the sky right toward him, and soon came to a stop right in front of the warrior esper. Sure enough, it was him.

The new arrival gave a nod to Odin. "Nice to see you're recovered, Odin."

The warrior esper frowned in response for a moment, but then raised an eyebrow. "Recovered?"

Bahamut proceeded to explain the events that had passed not too long ago, everything from when the monster Ark had first been felt bearing Odin's energy. It went though how the monster had been draining energy from everyone, and how Bahamut had finally attacked it and destroyed it. After that, the energy that it had stolen was restored to the people it belonged to, somehow. Odin listened to it all, but secretly felt some apprehension from within him. Apparently, Bahamut had already outdone him again and he didn't even know it until it was too late. That gave him some annoyance.

"I thought there was another one, but on closer observation it looks like it's producing its own aura. Strange, though…because it's both unique and similar to Starlet. It's gone now, whatever it is. It was too fast for me to catch. I have a feeling Starlet knows something about it. Her aura dropped, and I think it was because she reproduced herself. She said she'd separate herself for months now." He paused for a moment, but then spoke back up about the fight. "It was thanks to Gilgamesh." Bahamut threw in at the end, emphasizing it. "Because of him, and because he learned how to transfer energy, I was able to beat it."

That, however, only annoyed Odin more. He snorted in response. "Figures that he would help you. He obviously doesn't appreciate all that I've done for him. If he would have stuck with it, he could have destroyed that thing himself by now."

Bahamut frowned a bit in response. "You know, Odin," He spoke up after a pause. "You shouldn't be so hard on your son. He struggles to please you."

"Do I tell you how to raise your children?" Odin angrily shot back, his eyes filling with anger momentarily.

Bahamut sighed in response, but went quiet. He might have said more within a few seconds. However, before he could, both Odin and Bahamut reacted to a sudden message within their minds. It was distinctly Ogopogo.

Guys…you need to come back right now! Back to the main chamber! It's an emergency! It's Palidor!

On hearing that, Bahamut's face immediately turned to concern. He forgot about everything else for a moment, and turned and looked to Odin. His face was cold, but he turned back to Bahamut gruffly, and spoke with some personal satisfaction back to him. "Looks like you may have been mistaken about the threat. It appears already two people might have been attacked."

Bahamut didn't answer. However, this latest bit of information made that sound like a viable option. Starlet's power was still down, and now Palidor was in trouble. Perhaps the thing was still there and hadn't disappeared. Maybe it had just hid itself. At any rate, Bahamut immediately turned back to Terratopolis, and took off straight for it. Odin turned Slepnir to the side and spurred him on as well, and soon both of them were taking off for the mountain. Lower power as Odin was, Slepnir was still the fastest by far. The two of them were soon moving together as they headed back to the mountain.

It didn't take long at all for the two powerful espers to shoot across the sky, reach the mountain, delve back down into it, and reach the entrance. Once there, Odin dismounted Slepnir and sent him away, but Bahamut quickly landed as well, and both had to continue on foot through the halls. Both of them managed to stay together, however, and soon raced up the hallways. In no time at all, they had shot most of the way through the mountain, and approached the top. The entrance to the main chamber soon came in the distance, and the both of them ran inside.

Both Bahamut and Odin halted on entering. After they were there, they both paused and looked about for a moment. The room was full of the esper children. Titan looked distracted enough, and most of the others were holding back, but Gilgamesh had run up to one side along with Ogopogo. Both of them were hanging over the body of Palidor. She was laying in a heap on the ground against the wall, pieces of stone from the cracked wall laying around her. It looked as if she had been flung against it. Gilgamesh turned when he saw Bahamut and Odin run in…and immediately he looked away and to the ground. Bahamut, however, looked tense when he entered. He tightened up and seemed surprised or worried. His eyes darted around the chamber as if he was looking for something invisible or hidden.

"What's the trouble here?" Odin asked.

"It's Palidor!" Ogopogo yelped in response. "She won't wake up!"

"She might have been knocked out." Gilgamesh answered, albeit slowly and with his head down. "But I don't see signs of any major trauma. And her pulse and breathing seems different from it. She's acting like she's asleep. But there's something else too. I sense some aura about her…"

"I know that aura…and I feel it elsewhere in this room, fading…" Bahamut darkly answered as he walked inside. Sweat had suddenly began to form on his brow, and anxiety had visibly struck him. His eyes began to dart around the area with a serious look."It's weak already, but it was here. I don't know how it was possible, but it was here." He paused, his voice low and quiet. But as he walked inside he began to tense up more, and finally spoke again.

"Griever. A trace of Griever is in here."

The children looked up to Bahamut in puzzlement. Their faces tensed up and looked worried. Ramuh began to quiver in fear, while Titan whined pitifully, having always been scared by scary stories of Griever when he was young. Ogopogo likewise began to tremble, while at the same time looking confused and fearful. Odin himself looked stunned, but kept his fear in check. He turned to Bahamut with some tightness within him. "That's impossible. Griever is dead. And you said that you separated his magicite into all of the dragons. Were you wrong?"

"No." Bahamut responded darkly, continuing to look around the room as he walked in. "It was gone. It couldn't have come back. I made sure that it was too subdivided to…" Suddenly, Bahamut paused in mid-speech, trailing off. He was in front of the crystal in the center. Now, he was looking down on it in hesitation. A few moments passed, and the other espers looked to him as he stood there. He glared down it for a few moments, and then finally reacted. Scowling, he shot out his fist and smashed the crystal with one strike of his hands. Immediately, the entire rock crumbled, and the top of it nearly exploded on impact and sent shards everywhere. The younger espers leapt back. The other two turned to him in confusion.

"Why did you do that?" Ogopogo asked.

Bahamut sneered. "I can't believe I was so stupid. The dragons had to leave an imprint of themselves in order to make the messages. All of them together made enough energy come together to make Griever show itself in some small form. It lashed out like this, but I don't know what it did other than effect Palidor in some way."

"How?" Ogopogo responded.

"I don't know…" Bahamut slowly answered, turning his head to Palidor. He focused on her for a moment, seeming to concentrate on something. Then, at last, he spoke.

"But I feel a lingering presence of it on her…and it's not fading."

The entire room went silent. All of them looked to Palidor. She was still motionless and quiet, but did nothing either. The two older espers scanned over her, and confirmed Bahamut's thoughts. They could detect traces of another aura on her. That made them tense up. What did it mean? Their old foe had enough power briefly to return, but to return to do what? And why had it chosen Palidor? No one said anything for a moment. Possibilities simply ran through their heads. But in the end, after the pause, Bahamut sighed and looked up to the others.

"We have to find Starlet and tell her the news as well."

The others paused for a moment, but then all began to nod as well. After a few moments pause, Bahamut spoke up again. "I and Odin will go find her. Ogopogo, you and the children stay here and watch over Palidor." After saying that, Bahamut closed his eyes and focused once again. The others watched him and waited, seeing what result he would come up with. However, Bahamut's eyes turned to puzzlement after a moment. When he opened them again, he had a confused tone of voice as he spoke.

"Well, I did find a tiny aura which seems to be Starlet…but Leviathan is already with her. What more, there are two other small auras with them as well."

Odin grit his teeth in frustration. "What other things could happen tonight?"

"Let's just go find them." Bahamut responded. "They're in the fusion chamber. Maybe that one signature was one of her offspring."

Soon, both Odin and Bahamut had turned and ran off. They soon were tearing off down the halls again, making their ways back down this time. Soon, Odin began to recognize the faint signature of Starlet as well. After a few more moments went by, they had left the others far behind, and were coming up close on the fusion chamber. They reached the entrance to that as well, and quickly ran inside as well. They quickly stopped once in and looked over the area. They were rather amazed at the sight.

Starlet had grown grossly, gigantically hefty. However, she didn't seem to be too concerned with that at the moment. She was cooing and smiling with Leviathan over at the fusion pads. They seemed to be totally preoccupied with two small figures that Leviathan was holding in his coils in front of her to see. One looked like a tiny version of Slepnir, only white, four legged, and with a small nub on the top of its head. The other also looked like a horse in body, but had a green mane, a long neck, and two nubs on the top of its own head. Both of them wriggled a little, seeming to be ready to walk just now. They were so totally absorbed with them that they didn't even notice the two of them enter. And as for Odin and Bahamut, they were too stunned to say anything. After a few moments, however, they looked up and saw the two.

"Hey guys!" Leviathan spoke merrily. "What's up?"

To be continued...