When Kotaro and Yue met up with the group at the doors to the outside, they couldn't help but notice that Kotaro's face was pale and Yue's was red.

"I don't think I'll ask…" Asuna noted idly.

Haruna thought differently.

"So, did he tell you what gender the baby was?" she asked, causing Yue's face to get even worse.

"N-No!" Yue stammered, "It's nothing, alright, let's just go."

The rumor-monger felt as though she had gotten the truth out of Yue and didn't pursue it any further. She couldn't help but wonder what gender the child was though…she'd have to pursue it later. Kotaro and Yue, on the other hand, knew how wrong she was.

When they arrived at the center of one of the areas of trade in the town, the group quickly realized that they would have to split up; not because they were looking for anything in particular, but because of the sheer mass amount of people…it wasn't just necessary to split up…it was unavoidable.

"Negi, take my…" Nodoka began, but when she looked over to see Negi, he was nowhere to be found. It didn't take long though, all Nodoka had to do was ask a merchant where she could find the latest in magical technology and she was face to face with the red-head in no time.

Kotaro and Yue, on the other hand, made their way into one of the buildings that sold the latest text books. When they walked inside, the noticed it was definitely cooler than the outside…either because of the lack of people or because of a magical enrichment spell.

"What is it you're looking for?" Kotaro couldn't help but ask.

"Information on the Inugami tribe," Yue commented idly, looking over the titles of various books.

"Why?" Kotaro couldn't help but ask.

Yue glanced at Kotaro briefly, casting him an endearing smile. She couldn't help how much he reminded her of a curious puppy.

"You told me that your mother was Inugami," Yue continued, "And so you were the only one born."

Kotaro nodded, urging her to continue.

"Well, in this case, the Inugami is the father…" she finished, "I want to know if I'm only going to be having one child…or if it will be more like the rest of the Inugami tribe…and have an entire litter."

Kotaro's mouth was agape, and Yue couldn't help but notice how the word 'litter' didn't seem to affect him at all. He was definitely one of the dog tribe.



Kotaro turned a sickly pale color again and Yue could hear him whispering to himself… "One child…seven children…?"

"Kotaro, calm down!" Yue scolded.

It didn't help. He started sweating and hit the floor in a complete flummox. Yue could practically see the swirls in his eyes. She sighed and, as to take advantage of the situation, dropped a book on his head.

"Dummy…" she commented to herself more than him, "I'm the one who should be having cold sweats…you're not the one that would have to give birth seven times at once…"

- - - - - - - -

"Negi!" Nodoka yelled out of desperation. She was exhausted, running after him through every shop they visited, and he wasn't even breaking a sweat. This man had any shopaholic female beat hands down.

"Darn it…" she panted, "Fine, Negi, I didn't want to do this but…"

She raised her hand in the air, facing his direction and yelled, "Stop!"

Negi froze in place, unable to move, while the spectators gathered around, commenting the strange position he was in.

"Why isn't he moving?" one of them asked.

"Sorry!" Nodoka yelled, making her way through the crowd, "He was running around worse than a teenage girl!"

She stood in front of him and put her finger to his forehead. He instantly started running again, unaware that he had even been forced to stop, and Nodoka's finger held firm. In les than a second he was airborne and then planted firmly on the ground; his head pounding.

"Umm…Nodoka, what happened?" Negi asked, completely unaware.

"You wouldn't stop running, so I stopped you," she stated, shrugging her shoulders.

"Umm…what's with the crowd?"

"Again…you wouldn't stop running…so I stopped you…completely."

"Oh…sorry…"

Nodoka gave his a sour look.

"But…but, Nodoka, they have the latest innovations in magic…most of these are impossible to find! Look at them all!" Negi started pulling the different magical artifacts he'd purchased out of his cloak.



Nodoka continued to give him a sour looked until he apologized…which only took a few more seconds of waiting.

"Just don't run off without me, okay?" Nodoka pleaded.

"Alright, I'm sorry," he replied genuinely.

The two continued searching the shops.

- - - - - - -

"Come on, Set-chan!" Konoka yelled, pulling Setsuna by her arm, "They've got all sorts of stuff around here!"

Konoka was searching through a shop's set of medicinal herbs when three rough looking men took their places around her.

"Say there cutie, how about you join us for some fun?" the larger man of the three whispered to her, lifting her hair away from her ear.

"No, thank you, I'm just looking through some herbs right now. We've got to meet up with our group in a few hours," Konoka replied complacently.

"…We?" another of the three asked, but he was answered when the scabbard of Setsuna's sword collided with the bigger man's hand, making a cracking noise.

There was a howl of pain from the man as he pulled his hand away and he gave her an evil glare. His response was much worse than he could ever hope to accomplish.

"Hands off," came Setsuna's voice, "Unless you want to lose it."

The sheer violence coming from Setsuna's voice sent shivers down the three men's spines and they were quick to apologize and disappear.

"Honestly…things don't appear to have changed much from…wait…I guess things won't change much for the next few hundred years…" Setsuna stated inquisitively, lifting her head to see the clouds.

"Set-chan, this is for you!" she heard Konoka call out. What she was met with was a Jink Root to her nose. Something said to induce sleep, but recover vitality quickly. The next thing she knew, things were spinning and she was getting rather drowsy.

"Set-chan?" Konoka asked as Setsuna fell into her shoulder, "Set-chan, if you were tired, why didn't you just say something?"

Setsuna tried to regain her balance and shook off the dizziness. When she finally regained her composure, Konoka collided her body to Setsuna's and squealed into her chest.



"Hey, Konoka…what do you remember from that night about a week ago?" Setsuna asked, remembering that drink Konoka had made…which unfortunately consisted of enough alcohol to make her do…interesting things.

"Everything," Konoka replied, looking up to Setsuna's face from her chest.

Setsuna turned bright red, "You don't mean everything-everything, right?"

"No, I mean everything."

The redness that was being contained on Setsuna's face could no longer stand the strain. In a brief moment, Setsuna's entire body resembled the color of a boiled red beet.

- - - - - - -

Back at them apartment, the three that hadn't gone out: Chisame, Haruna, and Chamo, lay unconscious on the floor…they'd used Chisame's artifact to access the internet. For some strange reason, the artifact was connected to the time they had come from…time even seemed to flow normally. Documents and pages were being updated regularly and even eBay seemed to follow the flow of time. The only thing the group couldn't seem to access was Mahora University. From some unknown reason, the artifact would take them anywhere but there.

Needless to say, this brought a lot of confusion to the group, who were hoping, rather badly, to see their home again.

"I can only suspect…" the ermine reasoned, "That it has something to do with Chao."

The other two remained silent…neither could disagree, but at this present time, there wasn't a thing they could do about it.

- - - - - - - -

Asuna had broken off from the group and now sat on the edge of the gigantic wall that circled the town…if one could even call it a town. It was definitely big enough to call a city…probably its own country if they so desired it, but right now Asuna didn't want to be around that many people.

They'd been traveling for years and this was only the third time anyone had accepted them. The first time was by Genghis Kahn, which ended with the group losing their two primary fighters…the second was much worse. They ended up being run out of the town when Kotaro and Setsuna's pasts were discovered. They somehow managed to get out of the village unscathed, but she wasn't so certain of this place. They were asking them to help fight a war.

Asuna looked down briefly, gazing at the thirty foot drop that was so certainly waiting before her. Years before, should she have attempted a leap down, she would have probably killed herself, but now it didn't seem so far down…she'd traversed worse. She doubted that the fall would even sting her legs. Unfortunately, it was put to the test.



Up ahead she saw a figure of a man limping his way to the village…covered in blood. He was being chased by something, Asuna wasn't sure what it could be, but he was definitely running from something.

In a flash, she was down and sprinting forward, hoping to get to the man in time to save him from whatever it may be that was chasing him. She got lucky; it was a massive beast with spikes jutting from its dark blue arms. It was hunched over like a gorilla, running by using its legs and arms alternately. How the man had managed to outrun the beast this far was beyond her.

She heard shouts behind her and knew that the border guard had finally seen the man coming…or moreover, the beast coming. Had they followed her when she had sprinted to the man, they may have been killed by the beast. Its massive arms came swinging down at Asuna, and she was quick to dodge, throwing the man out of its reach at the same time. In a shimmer of light and one swift motion, the beast was dead, cut clean in half by the woman's sword. Asuna could only mutter two words as it dissipated, "A summoning…"

The man lay on the ground, panting when Asuna reached him. She noticed that the blood was coming from a wound on his arm…or, more like the wound where his arm had been. Apparently the beast had made use of its spikes.

"Hold on, I'll carry you to the medics," one of the guards stated as they reached the two.

"No…time…" the man huffed out, his breaths struggled.

"Tell…Fleaux…Bird Tribe…" the man continued, "They're coming!"

The guards turned white.

"You can tell him yourself," Asuna told the man as she picked him up, "There's a healer at his mansion."

With speed faster than any of the guards could have mustered, Asuna bounded into the city and to the governor's home. It was verging on dusk, and Asuna knew that the others would undoubtedly be back. She could only hope that she was correct…the man in her arms didn't seem like he'd survive long enough to wait.

When the two finally reached the manor, its guards were the first to greet her. As they tried to stop her she bounded over them and headed straight towards the entrance, where she met the one person she was looking for.

"Konoka, he doesn't have long!" she yelled.

With an expression few who knew Konoka had seen, she quickly began reciting a healing spell.

"That will hold him for a few more hours, we need to get him inside. It will take all the time I can get to re-grow that arm of his."

The man looked at Konoka shocked. Re-grow his arm? Was that even possible?



"Alright, let's go," Asuna stated and led the way to her room.

"I'll need time to concentrate…that means all of you out except Set-chan," the woman commanded.

The group knew why Setsuna was told to stay; she was a means of defense, and the only one that Konoka could have around as a presence to concentrate. Stern and silent, Setsuna was a perfect guard, especially for someone as powerful as Konoka.

Everyone left the room to the three, knowing that Konoka was the only means to save the man's life, and Asuna told them what had happened.

"You need to go report this to the elder, you know," Kotaro replied with a stern resolve in his voice.

Asuna agreed and leapt the stairs to the governor's room in only a few bounds. When she entered, she felt it would be proper etiquette to bow before him on one knee before being asked to report.

"Asuna-san? What brings you into my office?" the elder asked, looking up from his pile of paperwork. Now Asuna couldn't help it: paperwork? Beard stroking? Uncanny means to devious ideas? Was this man Konoka's grandfather's great grandfather or something?

"Elder Fleaux…" Asuna began.

She explained the story to him in full detail when the guards that had been there to witness the happening finally arrived. They made it just in time to hear her finish the report. They quickly verified her story…recanted almost exactly word for word.

"Oh my…you do seem to be quite powerful in your own right…" the elder commented impressed, stroking his ever-gray beard, "Guards, if you will, report this to the generals and the council members. I need to go and see this messenger to hear the rest of the story."

The elder stood over the man, who was finally resting quietly in Asuna's bed. Only minutes before he had been screaming in pain as his arm re-grew itself. The elder couldn't seem to get out of his mind how powerful his new comrades were. Had Kotaro and Negi decided to attack him the day they had met, he wasn't so certain he would have survived…and now this? Re-growing lost limbs?

"Elder Fleaux…" the messenger whispered.

"What is your report?" the elder replied, strictly business.

"The bird tribe has destroyed the outlying town of Utanaris, and is presently headed in this direction. I come from that town. The demons summoned a monster that managed to follow me for weeks. I passed at least two other towns on my way here and gave them fair warning of the enemy's movements, but they didn't seem to believe me. Assuming that the bird tribe does make it past those two towns…they will be here in only a month's time."

The elder looked down at the man seriously, "That gives us a full month of preparations. Negi, Asuna, Kotaro, Yue, Nodoka, Setsuna, Konoka, Chisame, and Haruna…those of you that can fight, I request that 

you show up to the training camp tomorrow. I want our troops to witness how powerful their enemies can become, and I want you to teach them how to fight them the only way I know how."

The group looked at him uneasily.

"You mean we're going to fight groups of your men at once?" Kotaro finally asked.

"Yes, each of you will be assigned a regiment and you will fight them. All of them at the same time. This will not only show our men how strong their enemies can become…but it will show us how powerful you are."

"Kill two birds with one stone, eh?" Kotaro asked, his trust in the old man having grown since the morning.

"Yes…" the man replied sternly.

"Count me out…" Chisame replied quickly, "I don't fight."

"Very well, down to eight?"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline too…" Yue stated.

"Your reason is more than acceptable, Yue. Seven?"

The group nodded their heads.

"Seven it is then," the elder affirmed, "I'm sure I can condense the troops to make it larger groups for you."

Kotaro smirked, "Are we allowed to use 'all' of our abilities?"

The elder knew what Kotaro was getting at…and it was more than obvious to him that Kotaro was wanting to fight his people more and more, "Yes," the elder replied with an evil smirk, "All of your abilities…and that goes for you too Setsuna."

Setsuna bowed and smiled and Kotaro had to agree with her. These people had no idea what they were about to witness.