NOTE: Much like Zodiark, the next few espers will appear without a clear summoner.

Chapter 10 — Affinity

The Titans reached the very familiar Titans Tower just outside of the Melody Castle. Dotty and the Angels had done their respective jobs. Dotty had also set up what she called "Chrono-portation", where she had a time limit on the next teleport to warp every Bean Titan to the next location: the Arctic base. She set it for an hour.

"What now?" Mystic asked.

"I think all of the Titans should have a chance to see the castle for themselves." Sweet proposed.

"I'll allow it." Mystic replied.

On that note, all of the Titans were teleported by Mac to the front entrance of the south walls of Melody Castle. Mystic opened the gates for them and led the Titans inside.

Before thinking about entering, Thunderbolt turned around and saw another white-skinned unicorn in the distance. The gates closed, leaving Thunderbolt out... but he did not care, as he wanted to see who the unicorn was. When he got a bit closer, he finally had a clear glimpse of her. Her horn was shorter than Mystic's, but she had a golden ring on it. She had gray eyes and long lavender hair like Floppity, only her hair was more sparkly and had two bangs hanging down past the far left and right sides of her face.

As it turns out, the unicorn had her sights on the castle. She saw Thunderbolt walking towards her, so she walked to him.

"Umm... who are you?" Thunderbolt asked her.

"Fortress Melody (age 19)." she answered with a slight Irish accent, inheriting the castle's name.

"Say what?"

"That's my name... I can't change it."

"Isn't that castle your home?"

"Supposedly. My 'parents' told me that they weren't my direct parents, and that I had a sister to add on."

"Whoa..." Thunderbolt whispered, surprised at the fact that she may be Mystic's younger sister.

"Can I ask you something?" Fortress said, noticing the watch on Thunderbolt's left wrist. "Are you with the Bean Titans?"

"Yeah, how'd you know that?" Thunderbolt questioned.

"My fake parents, to no offense, told me that my sister was in the Bean Titans. So, I figure the only way that I'd be able to see her is if I join."

"Oh. Well, I think you'd have to take that up with Sweet, our leader. Regardless, your sister is with us; she's the only other unicorn I know." Thunderbolt told her.

"That's good to hear!"

"One more thing: do you have any powers?" Thunderbolt asked.

"Yes I do." Fortress exhibited her psychic/telekinetic powers, psionic light skills (as the horses have; purple-colored), and hydrokinesis (movement of water). "So what now?" she asked afterwards.

"Follow me." Thunderbolt responded, leading Fortress to the castle.

As they were walking there, the front gate opened, as Durango, Tina and Mina exited the castle looking for Thunderbolt. The three of them saw his guest.

"Who's that, T-Bolt?" Durango asked him.

"This is Fortress... she tells me that she may be related to Mystic."

"No way."

"Yeah way. Mystic's last name used to be Melody... and Fortress's is Melody, which means that she has to be her younger sister. Could I be wrong?" Thunderbolt explained.

"Nope." answered the Oracle Twins (Mina and Tina).

"The only thing left to do now is get her into the Titans."

"Done." Sweet said, startling Durango and the Oracle Twins.

"When did you come in?" Durango asked, with his jaw dropped.

"I was always behind you..." Sweet answered. He then turned his attention to Fortress. "Of course you can join us... but, if you truly are Mystic's sister, relaying the news to her would be a mystery."

"Why's that?" Fortress asked.

"A long time ago, her—well... your parents—told her all about this curse that she had, and how it affected them as well. Just hearing about it broke her heart. If I remember right, your parents were to die 25 years after Mystic was born. They must've produced and gave you to some other family sometime before they died."

"So I am her sibling." Fortress figured.

"Yes, and I'm trying to say 'good luck' when you tell Mystic about it. Which will be... pretty soon."

Suddenly, all of the Bean Titans were assembled in the same place—in front of a fortress made of solid, dry ice; the Tower stood in the middle of it. Fortress went along with this.

"Whoa..." Durango murmured, "it must be cold in there as it is out here."

In an instant, two holes were broken through the side of the fortress they were facing, one on each side of the entrance. Polar bears were thrown through them, which shocked Aurora.

"What's going on?" he exclaimed. Then, Aurora was hit unexpectedly by an ice attack that froze him.

Mystic "scouted" around for a threat, and found one. "There's your answer..." she said, pointing above the fortress.

All the Titans looked up to see a dark blue water nymph with a blue staff in her left hand.

"Dotty, that's a scion, isn't it?" Spunky asked her.

"Yep. The ice esper: Mateus, the Corrupt... his zodiac relation is Pisces the Fish. The esper is the stucture that the woman is bounded to, not the woman herself; she's his living shield."

"Legendary 12, standby! The rest of you, get inside the base!" Sweet commanded, as the Bean Titans then split up.

"May I suggest my battle plan?" Kuku said.

"We're listening." Sweet responded.

"I think that you, Spunky, Hippity and Dotty should protect the Titans just in case Mateus wants to try something sneaky."

"Why us?" Hippity asked.

"Think about it..." Kuku told him, "you and Spunky have moves that can destroy the ice we're standing on, and Sweet has techniques that can melt it. Plus, Dotty already has another job to do, so I planned this so we could save some time."

"She's right." Dotty concurred. "Let's go." Another split up was made, as the other seven Titans were left to deal with the esper.

Mystic moved also, to try and thaw out Aurora. The rest assumed their Legendary strength, ready to fight again. Floppity, Mac, Kuku and Fleece ran in first, distracting Mateus. They were distracting him because Canyon and Fancy were preparing their ultimate combination move: Chidori: 10,000 Birds. They would intertwine their hands as if they were using four separate Chidoris, but combine all four of them, increasing the grand Chidori's power exponentially. Once they had it charged, both felines ran in together in equal movement and momentum, to hit Mateus with the super Chidori.

Unfortunately, Mateus saw the ball of electricity coming and blew everyone away with its powerul Blizzaja move. It was the same as Floppity's fourth level magic spell (suffix, -ja), but it seemed like it was on the 10th level.

"No..." Mystic whispered, speeding up to try and break the ice off of Aurora. He could move his face, as he warned Mystic that Mateus was coming for her. She powered up to Phoenix Form. "Ion Grav—"

She was stopped, as Mateus whacked her hard with his staff. Seeing this, Aurora was tired of feeling helpless.

"That does it...!" Aurora yelled, suddenly breaking out of the ice, but wearing icy armor of his own. This was his Frost Mode (Ascended Legendary).

Mateus tried to hit him with the staff as well, but Aurora blocked it with the back side of his Frost Gauntlet.

"Not this time." Aurora said, pushing Mateus back with a fierce icy wind. The aurora borealis mysteriously appeared in the sky above. Mateus caught himself in the wind and charged in again. "Borestralis Cannon!" Aurora shouted, unleashing a more powerful version of his Aurora Blast, utilizing strength from both the northern and southern lights. Being engulfed in the blast, Mateus was defeated, materializing into faint, glittering dust. A cerulean crest dropped on Aurora's head, causing him to be forced out of Frost Mode on impact. As a result of this, the aurora in the sky slowly faded. Aurora picked up the crest.

"Sweet, you wanna get your Shining Phoenix working here?" Aurora asked.

"No can do; a light like that would melt this place away."

Aurora sighed. "Right... I guess a Megalixir would do just fine."

Soon, all the Titans were instantly healed and inside the Tower within the ice fortress. Speaking of which, Fortress found the chance to meet up with her older sister, as she was the only other unicorn in the Titans.

"Mystic?" Fortress called for her.

Mystic turned around. "Oh, the new Bean Titan. Yes, what is it?"

"I don't know how hard you'll take this, but... I'm Fortress Melody, your sister."

Mystic was shocked for a second, noting the age difference between the two of them. "My sister?"

"Yes. I was born before our parents died, but they had given me to a different family before that time came. When I grew up and discovered my powers, my guardians told me about you, as they had heard from our parents. And ever since, I've been looking for you... that's why I came to the castle."

Mystic knew that she was telling the truth. "I'm not saying that you made a mistake, but why you leave your guardians?" she asked out of curiousity.

"It's because I wanted to be with my real family... even if I had to find the only person on Earth that was a part of it." Fortress answered.

Her words touched Mystic's heart, as she moved in to hug her new sister. Fortress accomplishes her mission of reunion.

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Nine of the thirteen "original" scions have been captured.