Part 37: Well, Fuck.

4Yr. 10Mo. 1Wk.



Yesterday, we faced our greatest challenge to date: the Kawrea Volcano.



Jets of flame shot from pools of lava, twisting in strange, unnatural ways. The ground beneath us, barely cool enough to walk on, trembled violently, as if a great beast were thrashing in its sleep.



Demonic monsters, the weakest among them as tough as A-class monsters, stood in our way, rising again and again before finally going down.



Chucky encountered many of his own kind. They asked no quarter and were given none.



Natsu, too, faced off against many Dragon subtypes, including his own. The battles were vicious, but the outcome was never in doubt.



Our journey was cut short, however, by the discovery of another Gaia Stone.



Rio touched it, receiving her clearest vision yet...



...and with it, memories of her past life. The Phoenix Suzaku... will it be reborn again?



And if it does, will it be too late? IMa and FIMBA are already raising arms against the wild monster attacks. Diehl's father is trying to block the assembly, while Philia and Gram try to talk AGIMA out of joining the madness.

Ultimately, though, I think this problem is one that I will have to solve. It's my responsibility; if I'd told the truth three years ago, maybe all this could have been prevented. Or at the very least, they'd have had warning about how dangerous Wit is.



I've had Pollock get rid of all of the ancient training gadgets, as well as that Magic medal target. They just didn't feel right. From now on, it's back to basics.

We're going to head into the volcano again this weekend. This time, we've just got to find Wit. Wish us luck.



4Yr. 10Mo. 2Wk.

...we went back to the volcano.



Lava flows and fallen boulders forced us to take a winding path deeper and deeper into the caverns within the mountain.



Chucky mastered a new skill, one that let him summon the primal spirit of the Garu...



...and send it out to say 'hi'.



We ran into Teetee not long before reaching the bottom of the cavern. I was worried she might hope to stop us from reaching him, but...



...she just wanted to know why he'd gone so crazy.

Then she supplied the last piece of the puzzle. It's been personal all along. He isn't just looking to become strong; he's looking to beat me. And he's become so obsessed with that...

Fortunately, we didn't have much farther to go. Unfortunately...



...we were too late.



Wit was already trying to reseal Xevion, but he didn't have the strength to save himself...



...or Teetee.



Xevion hadn't forgotten Rio either. I knew that, if it had its way, it would kill all of us, then escape into the outside world and finish what it started long ago.



Chucky bravely stepped forward to face it. We'd been together since I became a breeder. He'd mastered every technique a Garu can learn. And I knew that, together, we could defeat Xevion and put an end to this nightmare.








Right until, with a sweep of its great claws, it knocked Chucky into the lava.