(NOTE: This chapter describes the events that transpired while Sirocco and Astra were missing from the Spire 2 battle with Vaurix. Hope you like it ^^)

Astra and Sirocco glanced around as they fell rapidly toward the bottom, through level after level of the Genesis’s substructure. Sirocco used his thrusters to slow himself down as they neared the bottom; unfortunately, Astra had no such device. As Sirocco landed softly he helped Astra get to his feet. Astra groaned, muttering, "That was a bit of a rough landing…" Sirocco looked around in the darkness. He saw several crystal formations. *Huh?* he thought, wondering why the Genesis would have crystals growing in it. He knelt and touched a hand to the ground. It was dirt. He stood and stepped forward, continuing to glance around. His infrared eye was detecting a slight presence of heat, but it was being blocked out by some strange energy emanating from the crystals. "Astra…" he said, continuing to scan the area. "What?" Astra asked as he stood in the darkness. "We’ve landed in some sort of cave, Astra. There’s crystal formations, and I’m detecting some other presence in here besides us, but it’s being blocked by energy that appears to be coming from the crystals…" Astra looked around, but in vain, as he didn’t have the night vision ability Sirocco had. "That’s interesting," he replied as he kneeled down and touched the ground, discovering the dirt. He then rose and took a few steps forward until running into Sirocco. The patchwork stumbled forward, and let out an audible growl. "Here," he mumbled as he tossed a pair of glasses back to Astra. Astra caught them. "What are these?" he asked, looking at them curiously. "Night vision goggles…put em on already," Sirocco answered with an impatient angle to his voice. Astra nodded, and put them on. The area around him suddenly turned green, and he saw Sirocco’s glowing form as well as that of the crystals. "Whoa, nice." He chuckled as he spoke, as if he were a child who had been given a new toy. Sirocco rolled his eyes, and continued to walk forward. "Hey, Sirocco…can’t you just use your thrusters to get out of here?" Astra asked the patchwork. Sirocco shook his head and replied, "No, my thrusters are running low, I used up most of their power to slow my descent down…it was a long fall." Astra nodded. Suddenly, the crystals began to glow with bluish light, giving the area tolerable illumination. Astra let out a surprised cry as the night vision goggles blurred. "Aaah!" He tossed them off, blinking and rubbing his eyes. Sirocco’s eyes rushed about the chamber, trying to find what had caused the crystals to start glowing, when a voice familiar to Astra called out, "Well well, look who’s here."

Astra looked in the direction of the voice in surprise as he heard it. "Lord Sphinx?!" he cried, surprised to find the feline menace on such a place as Zolott. Lord Sphinx walked out from behind one of the crystals on all fours, standing before the two at his full height of 7 feet. Sirocco drew his pistol and took aim, shouting, "Who the hell are you?!" Lord Sphinx smirked, and flashed his red eyes at Sirocco. "I am Lord Sphinx, warrior of the Anuban race and enemy of your reptilian comrade," he scoffed. "You, my friend, appear to be some manner of re-processed trash." Sirocco growled, and snapped, "What I am isn’t your business, bastard." Lord Sphinx chuckled, and sank his claws into Sirocco’s chest, tossing the patchwork into a nearby crystal formation. Sirocco hit hard, and collapsed into a heap with a groan. Astra drew his sword, and shouted, "Gem Blade, assume Sapphire properties! Magic up!" With those words, the crystalline sword in his hands changed to a sapphire sword. Astra then shouted once more, this time saying, "Thunder Spark!" As the last word left his mouth, a lightning bolt flew from the tip of the blade and struck Lord Sphinx. Unfortunately, it had little effect as the Anuban roared and dispelled the attack. He thrust a claw toward Astra, and cried out, "Claw Cats, strike him down!" There were suddenly two flashes of light at Lord Sphinx’s feet, and in an instant, Astra was being torn apart by the claws of two black and orange cats. Astra yelped as he fell to the ground, the cats continuing to claw him. Lord Sphinx folded his arms and chuckled, enjoying the sight before him. His rest would not last long, however, as he was soon struck from behind by a powerful beam blast. He fell forward, caught completely off-guard. As he snarled and lifted his face from the dirt, Sirocco blew the smoke from the barrel of his gun, saying, "They always come from behind, idiot."

Lord Sphinx snarled, and jumped to his feet, turning and swinging a claw at Sirocco hard. The cats attacking Astra had disappeared, and the yoshi was now recovering from the beating he had received. Sirocco jumped back, dodging each of Lord Sphinx’s claw swipes. "You gotta do better than that, furball!" Sirocco mockingly shouted at the huge cat as he swung. Lord Sphinx roared, and tackled Sirocco, pounding his face with fists. Sirocco put his gun to the Anuban’s stomach and pulled the trigger, giving the cat a surprising blast to the stomach. Lord Sphinx doubled back in pain, holding his stomach wound. "You damned freak!" he snarled as he looked at the blood running from the wound. He thrust out a hand to Sirocco, and shouted, "Lightning Gale!" Sirocco looked around as the wind began to pick up. Sirocco braced himself, muttering, "Not another wind attack…" Lord Sphinx, hearing the patchwork’s words, replied, "Oh, this is hardly a ‘wind attack’, freakish pile of garbage…ha!" He forced his other hand forward, and suddenly Sirocco was struck by lightning from all sides. Sirocco cried aloud in pain, the electricity rushing through his body and rapidly shutting down his systems. His legs were the first to go, causing him to topple to the ground. Next his eyes went, and he was blinded. His hearing failed after that, effectively putting him in silent darkness. Lord Sphinx then stopped the flow of lightning, and walked up to Sirocco, stomping him hard. "You little freak…you can’t beat an Anuban noble in combat!" He chuckled as he continued stomping Sirocco. While all this was going on, Astra was finally back on his feet. He had his sword ready, and prepared to attack Lord Sphinx when he realized something. He looked around at the crystals…they were just what he needed. *Lapis!* his mind cried out as it came to the realization that it was standing in a chamber of enchanted lapis gems. He walked over to the crystal formation that Sirocco had slammed against and picked up a shard of the material, smiling. *Time to introduce Lord Sphinx to Gilgamesh,* he thought delightfully as he touched the crystal to his forehead.

Lord Sphinx was distracted from his stomping the patchwork below his feet as he noticed a glow behind him. He turned, and blinding light filled his eyes. He covered them, squinting to see the figure encased in the light. It was Astra. He was also able to notice the glowing blue gem imbedded in the yoshi’s forehead. *Huh?* he thought, wondering what was going on. He looked around the chamber, and it came to him. He howled, shouting aloud, "These stones are empowered with Lapis magic! Damnit!" "That’s correct," a deep, booming voice acknowledged as its owner stepped forward. A 7-foot tall man with 4 arms dressed in white desert-traveler clothing stood in Astra’s place, a sword in each of his hands. Lord Sphinx instantly recognized each: in the man’s upper right hand was the legendary holy sword of power, Masamune, in his upper left was the sword of the ancient warrior Ein, the Eindanzer, in his lower right was the sword of chaos, the Ragnarok, and in his lower left was the most powerful sword of all, the sword of the Nether, the Nexcalibur. Lord Sphinx stepped back, realizing whom he faced. "G…Gil…" The man interrupted the Anuban with a smirk, finishing his sentence: "Gilgamesh." Gilgamesh walked up to Sirocco, and gently touched the blade of the Masamune to his body. The patchwork began to glow, and his vision miraculously returned, as did his hearing and the use of his legs. The damage the lightning had done was undone in mere seconds. Sirocco stood with a groan, and looked over at Gilgamesh. He blinked, uttering, "Who the hell?" Gilgamesh smiled, and telepathically told Sirocco, "It’s me, Astra. I’ve assumed the form of the warrior Gilgamesh. You might have heard of him. Stand back…I’m gonna take care of Lord Sphinx now." Sirocco nodded, and got out of the way, his magical side sensing the power emanating from the 4-armed giant.

All was now cold steel. Gilgamesh’s swords flew in a flurry as they gashed and tore at Lord Sphinx. The Anuban howled in pain, dropping to his knees. Gilgamesh delivered a powerful blow to the feline warrior’s stomach with the Eindanzer, throwing him hard into a formation of crystals and shattering it, blinding out all with shards of lapis. Gilgamesh ripped through the blinding cloud of shards with ease, impaling Lord Sphinx with all four blades. The Anuban stared hopelessly into the warrior’s pupil-less eyes as he hung on the blades of the four legendary swords. Gilgamesh then removed them all with one swift leap backwards, and Lord Sphinx fell to the ground, unconscious and bleeding heavily. Gilgamesh looked over at Sirocco, who hid his surprise at the ease with which the warrior had taken Lord Sphinx down. "Let’s get out of here," Gilgamesh said, looking toward the hole with determined eyes. Sirocco nodded, walking over and standing under it, preparing to ignite his now-recharged thrusters. "I can’t carry you, so I hope you can fly," Sirocco warned the 4-armed giant. Gilgamesh chuckled, replying, "I can handle myself, Sirocco. Don’t worry about it." Sirocco nodded, looking over at Gilgamesh. "Come on!" Gilgamesh nodded, slipping something into his pocket and walking over. Sirocco ignited his thrusters and flew upward, back toward the battle with Vaurix being waged far above them. Gilgamesh peeked at the object in his pocket, smiled, and leapt into the air, climbing faster than Sirocco could fly with his swords as his climbing tools.