As soon as Baddock steps out of the darkened doorway of the lair of the three-headed dragons, he finds himself back in the stone "clearing" formed by the ruins of what was once a great stone hall. Across the way is the garden, which has been trampled down, and the pile of fertilizer is still in the center of the "clearing" … though it now sports a couple of small Aelfin feet that poke out of it, wiggling back and forth.

Over the broken walls, and between gaps can be seen an ongoing conflict between Aelfin monks and Eeee corsairs. The Eeee engage in distracting "keep away" tactics to keep most of the land-bound Aelfin busy, but the Aelfin are not wholly restricted to staves – They appear to be fairly decent marks with slings, evening out the contest.

A couple of Eeee in the garb of airshipmen fly away, clutching sacks of loot in their hind-claws. A third Eeee, with yellow-tan fur, turns to regard Baddock. A smile crosses the bat's face – It's the same bat who was at the airship back in the forest clearing where Baddock first set foot on Aelfhem soil.

"Ahoy there, fighter boy!" calls out the Eeee. "I heard about your conflict with the – Oh, pardon me a moment… " He stops his talking to swing his polearm, the blunt end of it sweeping the feet from an attacking monk out from under him, and sending the short warrior falling to the ground. "Now then," continues the Eeee. "I was going to say, if you'd like to be free of this dreadful little place, I could use another hand. And we'd be happy to give you a ride out – and your cut of the loot. About time we taught these snooty, greedy little Aelfin a lesson, eh?"

Baddock takes a moment to look at the conflict that's broken out around him. "Wow," he thinks to himself, "A lot can happen in just a few minutes… What did I walk into?" Upon hearing the Eeee's offer, Baddock replies with a polite, if slightly befuddled smile. "Well, where are you headed?"

The Eeee says, "Back – whoops!" He ducks a sling stone, then stands up again. "Home, naturally. Babel." He points northward.

Babel… The name resonates somewhere in Baddock's mind as he looks in the direction the Eeee indicated. Of course! The aviary! He'd have to be making his way there sooner or later anyway, and this would definitely be easier than doubling back to Rephidim and jumping on another airship. Cheaper, too.

Baddock has unfinished business in Aelfhem, however. But maybe he can kill two birds with one stone. He grins happily at the Eeee. "Ooh! Sure thing… but, would it be okay if we stopped by the orchard before we left? I need to get some of those leaves."

"Stop by the orchard? We're in the middle of the orchard! No problem at all!" This time, a pellet bounces off of the leather cap on his head, and he staggers from the blow. He shakes his head again. "Ow. Pardon me, but I'd best get back to business. Uhm … what was that sound?"

The Eeee looks around curiously, then looks right over Baddock's head. "Uh … oh."

A gust of warm air brushes the back of Baddock's neck, followed by a gust of cold air.

Baddock turns his head, looking behind him. The Eeee's sudden expression gave him a pretty good clue at what he'd see, though. "Dagh… " He looks back around to the Eeee and grabs him by the arm as prepares to bolt off. "Let's go!"

It's a good thing Baddock moved, because it seems that the gusts of air were the only forewarning he was going to get to what happens next: As Baddock and the Eeee move aside, a jet of flame shoots past, followed by a spray of frosty particles, and finished lastly by a big gust of wind that sends fertilizer flying (and an Aelfin rolling from out of the fertilizer pile where he'd been unceremoniously stuck).

The Eeee utters a choice phrase that should not be repeated, and starts flapping his wings. "It's the Guardian of Seasons! Everyone, go go GOOOOO!"

An Eeee normally wouldn't be able to carry a passenger, but apparently Baddock would qualify as an exception, due to his size. The bat is starting to lift off, and if Baddock is going to hitch a ride, he'll need to hold on tight. (And if he'd rather not fly, now would be the time to let go.)

"Sod it," Baddock thinks to himself, hanging on to Eeee as it takes to the sky, "This place is just too unfriendly right now. I'll come back later when that guy's in a better mood."

The strain of the weight is evident on the Eeee, as he doesn't take to the air as quickly as his shriekingcomrades, but in a few wing-beats, the human boy and the bat are airborne, soaring over the broken battlements of this old, long-forgotten fortress. The bright magenta leaves of the sugarfir trees rush past underneath, as the fliers skim the treetops. Behind them, a large, six-winged monster takes to the air, shooting jets of flame, ice and gusts of wind and scattering the airborne corsairs in his fury.

The Eeee grunts, "Ah … could you do something about repositioning that shovel? It's digging into my … (wheeze) … stomach!"

In the chaos, Baddock had forgotten about the newest addition to his arsenal. "Oh! Sorry about that!" He carefully pulls the shovel out from the back of his belt, and tucks it under his own stomach, between belt and gi. "Is that better?"

The Eeee sighs audibly. "Yes, quite! Now, hang on tight … not much further until we're … "

The young boy's grip almost slips as he uses just one hand to hold onto the Eeee. However, fate is with him this time, and he doesn't plummet to his doom. That was close, though.

"Wha… gyaah!" Baddock quickly grabs back onto the Eeee as he feels his hand slipping. He looks around as he pants softly. "Dagh… "

The Eeee sails over the boundary of the Sacred Grove, the stone wall and its border poles and banners visible through the pinkish leaves of the black-bark sugarfir trees.

The Eeee's airship is already airborne, evidently, and the yellow-furred bat starts to make his ascent toward the craft. "Just a little further … "

Baddock looks up at the airship as the Eeee begins to rise higher, then looks back to see if the angry three-headed creature is still pursuing them.

The three-headed dragon is going this way and that, evidently distracted by the Eeee … but if they're all aiming to get back to the airship, it's bound to come this way eventually!

It looks like it should only be a few more wing-beats before the Eeee is able to land on the deck of the ship. What protection the ship will offer from the dragon remains to be seen.

Letting out a quiet sigh as the deck of the ship comes into view, Baddock ponders all that's he's seen so far. There's so much in the world he doesn't understand. It's a good thing he's still young… It's probably going to take him a lifetime to learn everything that he wants to. At least he's off to a solid start.

"Uh oh … hold on tiiiiiight!" the Eeee cries out as he comes in on the deck … and makes a tumble-roll of a landing that sends both himself and Baddock sprawling out on the deck. "Oof!"

Baddock climbs to his feet, rubbing his head and having a look around. "Whew… sorry, guess I should have warned you about that guy. He's bein' a real jerk, for some reason. And his friend's in a bad mood about something, too." He returns his shovel to its normal spot on his back, and mutters to no one in particular, "I didn't even care about her stupid egg! Sheesh!"

The Eeee gets up and dusts himself off. "Yeah … that Guardian can be so inconsiderate. Well … best we be off, then!" He rushes across the deck, leaving the boy by himself for the time being, as other corsairs flutter in under the cover of the ship's primary envelope. The three-headed dragon seems to be at last noticing the airship … and is winging its way in this direction!

Baddock blinks a bit, peering out at the dragon. "Awww, NOW what does he want?!" He cups his hands around his mouth and screams angrily at the creature as it approaches. "GET LOST!!" He sighs and paces over to the center of the deck.

The yellow Eeee rushes past, crying out as he goes, "Well, he's not here to say howdy-do! MAN THE BALLISTAS!"

The bats rush to drop their booty and start cranking back the oversized bowstrings on equally oversized crossbows mounted on swivels on the side of the ship. (The side facing the dragon, naturally.)

Sighing as he sees the ship's weapons being readied for attack, Baddock shakes his head. "Way to go, dummy… You've got 'em fighting back, now. Three heads, you'd think one of 'em would have a brain… " The boy takes off after the yellow Eeee, calling out, "Want me to do anything?"

The Eeee looks aside at several of his men collapsed on the deck from the exertion of carrying booty to the ship, and sighs audibly. "Well, if you can handle a ballista… we're a bit short-handed right now."

Baddock nods. "I'll see what I can do." He quickly heads over to an unmanned station.

One of the ballistas fires off a bolt, arced to reach the distance to the dragon … but it's still too far out, and the missile falls short of its mark, plummeting to the sugarfir forest below. The dragon, meanwhile, continues its approach, its roars quite audible. The purple head billows out its cheeks, though the range of the jets of flame and cones of ice aren't sufficient to pose a threat to the ship just yet.

This particular station has already been loaded, so it is at least ready for a single shot, but reloading it is will take some time and effort if the first attack doesn't score.

Baddock looks over the crossbow, examining it intently… then looks over to the others firing their weapons, and studies their technique. Nodding to himself, he gets up behind his crossbow. Peering into its sights and adjusting his aim, Baddock watches the dragon and waits for the right time to fire.

The right time seems to be about the time that the yellow Eeee squeaks, "FIRE!" Right then, the ballistas launch their bolts, which arc through the air, glinting in the sun as they fly toward the approaching three-headed dragon…

The purple head suddenly exhales … creating a mighty gust of wind that sends the bolts scattering in every direction but the one intended.

Bats curse … and dutifully reload.

The yellow bat mutters under his breath, "Where's my distraction?"

Baddock's bolt remains firmly in its crossbow, waiting to be fired. He doesn't even hear the cursing, or the yellow Eeee shouting the command. The kid has completely tuned out everything around him, and drawn his mind into a world where only he, his crossbow, and the dragon exist. Everything else suddenly seems to be a million miles away. Baddock's breathing comes quietly and slowly as he focuses. He knows the purple head wouldn't be able to attack again until it prepared another blast, which means it might not have time to counter Baddock's shot if he fired now. Watching as the dragon expels the air from its lungs, Baddock trains his crossbow right at the point on the creature's body where the three necks converge into a single torso. "Sorry, pal… but this is gonna hurt me… " Wait! This guy's tried to fry, freeze and eat this kid! Baddock's not sorry at all! "… A DAGHLOAD less than it's gonna hurt you." He checks his aim a final time, and fires!

Given Baddock's lack of training with such a weapon, the shot probably shouldn't have hit … but it is a big target, and by this time, the dragon is really, really close. The bolt hits the dragon somewhere on its torso, and all three heads bellow and shriek. A jet of flame shoots by, narrowly missing the deck, while a spray of ice sends shards of frozen moisture pattering against the envelope and rigging, and leaves a frosty coating in its wake. The ship lurches from the shock of the breath blasts, sending Eeee crying out and stumbling about for better footing.

"YEAH! YOU LIKE THAT?!" Baddock screams at the dragon in anger when he sees the shot hit its mark. He begins to prepare the next bolt. "Have some more, JERK!"

The dragon is spiraling in a circle, smoking rising from its wound where the bolt punctures its hide. It looks as if it's not coming back up … but it hasn't hit the ground just yet, either.

Its cries are so deafeningly loud that they can be heard even aboard the ship. Many of the Eeee stagger about, clasping their ears in pain.

It takes some fumbling, what with the ship pitching about … but the second bolt is at last cocked and ready to fire.

His hands quivering, Baddock has some difficulty containing his rage as he tilts the crossbow downward. Finally, the boy brings his fury under control, calming himself and searching for his next shot.

The downward-spiraling dragon comes into view again. This is as good a target as any, if the boy is intent on finishing off the three-headed beastie.

Baddock quickly adjusts his aim, and fires his second shot. "You wanna eat something so bad? Eat THAT!"

The ship lurches again, making it impossible to see just how well Baddock's second shot scored. However, the Eeee crewmen are now cheering, which must be a good sign.

The young boy lets go of the crossbow and drops down on one knee, panting softly. "Forgive me… " he utters softly, remembering what Master Genji had once told him about death and the taking of another's life. "One of us was going to die this day… It came down to who had the greater will to live… "

The cheering stops, as the airship stops bobbing. A shadow falls across the airship, and then passes again.

Still panting, Baddock looks up into the sky as the shadow passes.

It's that three headed dragon again … no … it's a different three headed dragon. It shrieks out angrily, and the hair on the back of Baddock's neck involuntarily stands up as it passes. The fur of some nearby Eeee sticks straight out as well.

"Oh, today just keeps getting better and better… " Baddock mutters to himself sarcastically. He climbs back to his feet and begins to load another bolt into the crossbow. "So all you like to do is kill?" The boy looks up at the dragon as he prepares the bolt. "Well I'm not quite ready to die, yet."

The three-headed dragon makes an arc around, its six eyes glowing and crackling with intense energy. Something looks a bit different about this.

The yellow Eeee calls out, "Abandon ship! Abandon ship!" He spreads out his wings as he prepares to do exactly that.

Upon hearing this, Baddock just drops the bolt and races for the Eeee. "Wait up!"

Arcs of blue energy shoot out from the mouths of the three-headed dragon, coursing through the air, unerringly toward the Eeee airship's envelope.

If Baddock is going to make it off the ship in time … he'll have to jump … and hope that he has good enough karma that something happens in his favor.

Sticking his shovel back into the front of his belt as he runs, Baddock charges for the nearest Eeee and leaps into the air, screaming loudly as he tries to get his… or anyone's attention.

Alas, it's really hard to run and jump when you've got a shovel tucked into your belt, and you happen to be kid-sized. In the lurching of the deck, Baddock trips, falls flat on his face … and electrical energy arcs through the air. After that …