And despite that, Xastra's blow hit nothing. "You do not understand," the Principality said, now in front of the Sadistic One, "I am above the angels, older and greater than any deity. You cannot win, Xastra."

The Child was hit--every single time. And yet, each blow proved futile, as the blade seemed only to cut an illusion, cut something not even there, despite the fact that each blow had struck true. For all of Xastra's speed and the Sword of Time's power, it had been ultimately useless.

The Child looked indifferently at Xastra, with something akin to pity in his strange eyes. "You still do not understand," he said softly, "Even Ziatoch cannot destroy me. And if He cannot, what makes you think you can?"

"You are only partially correct, Xastra," the Principality corrected, "I am above combat, and thus I will not harm you, especially when you continue to use an innoncent girl as your shield. But erasing me is impossible. I have survived Balefire, something even you cannot touch and survive."

"Of course not," the Child replied, "Xastra has always been so inflexible. It would have been... surprising if he had changed. You may come out now, we are quite alone."

"I am not omniscient," the Child said, "Despite popular belief."

"In the long run, it will not matter," the Child said, "I must be going now."

And with that, he disappeared, as if he was never there to begin with.

The Hartnetts all shouted and grunted and were tossed to sides as the Lord of Dragons manuevered himself away from danger. They sighed once the danger ended and relaxed.

"So where are we going?" Bryant asked Bahamut. The other two wanted to the know the same, but were still too shaken to ask.

In the Black Mountains where the Child and Xastra fought (right?), or rather above it, the people fled to thier homes. However Dargor called them to be silent as to not rouse the two's attention. The people silenced and returned to thier homes. The Riders got ready however, incase they would need to step in.

That depends, Bahamut communicated telepathically, figuring it'd be easier for them to hear him instead of over the wind. Where is it you wish to go?

The dragons flared their wings and hovered in midair. Bahamut glared coldly at the being--he had a pretty good idea who it was.

The group quickly scurried to the tower-Matt and Soma pushed the doors aside to reveal the entire tower was simply a large collection of turning golden gears, connected to each other in a complicated network.

"Are all of these for one clock?" Helena asked. "It looks unneccessary."

"Damn straight," Matt said, glancing up. "Are there any stairs around here?"

Glancing around, Hugo noticed a thin set of stairs against the wall. "There they are!" he said, pointing.

"Oh, now that looks inviting," R.D. spat sarcastically, seeing the stairs. He decided to break the Phase Lance, and put one of the Phase Blades back in its sheathe at his side.

"I'm getting that bad feeling again," Alasea said, shivering slightly.

"And why should we trust the assurance of a stranger?" Bahamut growled.

"So you're threatening me, Kuro?" Bahamut growled. His suspicions had been confirmed, the Dark Balance had risen again. "You of all people should know that I am a lot more resourceful than that. You'd be surprised at what I can take down... seeing how I already defeated your daughter once before."

The dragons that followed had grown tense, their tails lashing and throats growling, the flaps of their wings becoming more powerful and violent. But they held themselves in check, knowing a battle here would be futile.

"Ah, but you see, I have something he doesn't," Bahamut said, holding up a small yellow crystal in his claw, one that contained a chaotic power. "With this I can easily escape. I have no desire to battle you, Dark Balance, or Xastra. Sheena is my enemy, and only her. It is time we left. Chaos Control!"

The energy coaelced around the Chaos Emerald the Dragon held, creating an energy field around the group of dragons as reality and time warped, causing the dragons to disappear into another realm.

(OOC: Just now, because you gave me a nasty scare with Kuro. That wasn't nice. >.> And its actually the second one to appear, R.D. has the first one.)

A large flash came over a wasteland of Nevada. It wasn't really where the Hartnetts wanted to be, but in the rush it was the first place to come to mind. There wasn't any life around, not even demons.

The Hartnetts looked around then down, only figureing they were ontop of a dessert. Veronica and Bryant sighed in relief while Brandon just ran a hand over his face.

"We're here." Brandon then said, sarcasticly as he looked at the ground more.

The dragons circled down to the sandy wasteland, landing on the warm sands. One of the dragons made a rude comment, saying it was a giant birthing beach. Bahamut touched down and lowered himself to the ground for the others to get off of his back, and the other dragons quickly erected an illusion barrier so that no one else could detect them.

Bahamut looked about as he lowered himself. "It would seem something went awry," he rumbled softly, "I have yet to master the Emerald's power."

"We could fly up there," Matt suggested.

"No," came the simultaneous reply from Hugo and Helena.

"Well, all right...if you wanna climb crappy stairs..."

The stairs were pretty crappy-thin and bolted to the wall, the limp system of metal looked fragile. Soma went first, moving quickly but carefully, clenching the handrail. Soon, the whole group was moving up the stairway.

"Well, this isn't so bad," Helena noticed.

That was a cue for Matt to notice something above the gears. "Ah, hell! Look out for the BATS!" True to his word, a swarm of bats swooped down on the group, seeking to bite them and get in places they shouldn't belong.