You all know the drill by now. I don't own this, blah, blah, blah

3. Antiquity

The journey to the mall itself was uneventful, unless one counted the period of time that Kevin spent freaked out and fighting to keep the car on the road as Ship suddenly announced his presence by pulling himself away from the bumper and attached to a random light post, the connection causing the vehicle to lurch suddenly. The ensuing period of shrieking, swerving, and cursing in a variety of alien languages that perhaps only Ben would be able to understand could almost be considered funny to an outside observer. The remainder of the trip was spent in an admirable attempt to lower heart rates to normal levels, and a valiant effort by all parties to ignore the green and black light post that was cantering along next to them. Everyone was simply thankful that the road was deserted.

It was fifteen minutes later that the mall came into view. Ship picked this moment to morph back onto Kevin's bumper, this time without causing any sort of control issues, leaving the light post to smash to the ground behind them. Kevin grabbed Ship as the mecha-morph started to detach from the car again.

Holding the little alien creature so that he looked straight into his large eye, he growled, "No messing with my car again. And stay with us." Ship beeped extremely rapidly and melted out of Kevin's hands like goo and hurriedly oozed over to Julie. She squeaked as he jumped up and morphed with her belt, the buckle turning into Ship's eye. Gwen frowned as Ship let out a hollow sounding sigh.

"Kevin!" He scowled.

"You want a street light following us inside?" He turned and stomped towards the entrance. "And nothing messes with my car!" Gwen just rolled her eyes.

"Ok, whatever." She frowned. "Did you have any ideas on what to get Ben?" Kevin shook his head.

"I was kinda occupied keeping an affectionate street-light from destroying us." Julie giggled in spite of herself.

"Oh c'mon, Ship didn't mean any harm." Ship beeped affirmatively. They both let out a squeak when Kevin rounded on them and favored them with a look that could have curdled water. Julie held up her hands. "Sorry!" She sighed. "Ok, look. Why don't you just look for something he'd like?" Kevin raised an eyebrow.

"And just what would that be?" Julie shrugged.

"That's up to you. We already got him our presents." Gwen frowned and seemed to decide to take pity on him.

"Nothing fancy. Ben doesn't really care for anything flashy except for the Omnitrix, and that doesn't really count. You've known him long enough to be able to tell what he definitely wouldn't like. Just use your best judgment." She looked at her watch. "Why don't we meet in the food court in a half hour or so? I could probably use my powers to tell if he'd like what you get him." Kevin blinked.

"I didn't think you could do something like that." Gwen shrugged.

"I can track people using their belongings. Finding out what appeals to them shouldn't be much harder." She smiled rather widely and pulled a scrap of something green out of her pocket. "Ben almost never goes anywhere without his jacket. A DNAlien took a chunk out of it about a week ago. Aunt Sandra fixed it, but I saved one of the scraps she couldn't use. I thought it might come in handy." Kevin raised an eyebrow.

"You scare me sometimes, you know that?" Gwen's smile widened.

"Yes. I do." She grabbed Julie's arm and raised it high. "To the Shops! Charge!" She shouted in a display that Kevin would have fully expected from Ben. Gwen doing it caught him entirely off guard, which was probably her intent. After a moment he shook himself and spotted the two girls giggling madly as they climbed on an escalator. Julie waved.

"Meet you at the food court!" A loud beep from Ship punctuated her statement. Kevin snorted and looked around.

"Great. Where do I even start looking for a present for a Mana?"

"You could try that shop over there." A less battle hardened person than Kevin would have yelped at the sudden high-pitched voice speaking in his ear. As it was, he jumped nearly a foot in the air before whirling around to find the source.

She might have passed for a child. If she weren't around two and a half feet tall and floating a good four feet off the ground that is. She had a cascade of red-gold hair that was only partially controlled by an oversized hood that was so faintly purple it almost looked gray. It reminded him very strongly of the person Ben had met in the park. Unlike that person however, this one's hood did not cover the face. It sat on top of her head and seemed to billow out with two yellow patches near the top that looked very much like eyes. The face was feminine, though remarkably young. The sleeves of the robe obscured the being's hands in much the same manner that Plua's outfit had, minus the lace. Like Plua too, this creature's feet were not visible, though Kevin suspected that Plua did not actually have any feet, whereas this being's were likely just obscured by the flowing garment. She held a glowing yellow lantern attached to an oversized ring in one hand. The creature made a sweeping bow, causing the lantern to rattle gently.

"Sorry if I startled you. I sensed some lingering power from a Mana, so I came out." Kevin blinked.

"I'm guessing you're a Mana then." It was more statement than question. The creature bowed again, this time doing a complete flip in midair, the lantern swinging crazily.

"No guesses on that." She smiled. "I am Flay, Mana of Spirit." Kevin frowned.

"So what exactly do you do?" Flay giggled.

"My power is over spirits that have left their existence on Earth but have not moved on to their next destination. In layman's terms, I have powers over ghosts and ghouls and the various and sundry spectral wonders that reside in the universe. I can also work with the spirits of the living to a limited extent, meaning I can affect the emotions of those still living, though not to the extent I could if they were without a body and a life to empower it." Kevin blinked.

"What do you mean "A life to empower it"?" Flay shrugged.

"Free will is a powerful gift that most living beings take for granted. It is only once they've lost the body that houses so much of it that they understand just how great it is. The body houses so much of the soul while it lives that a person can do virtually anything within their power if they want to. When they die, most of the soul's power is used to facilitate the beings transition to the next phase. There's not much left over after that, which leaves those who stay behind with rather severe limitations. For some beings it would be far better to pass on completely." Kevin shook his head, looking faintly confused.

"Why are you hanging out around here then?" Flay shrugged elegantly.

"This place runs pretty high on emotions all the time. They aren't spirits, but they'll do well enough." Kevin closed his eyes for a moment before letting the conversation go.

"Why did you say I should shop… where was it again?" Flay cocked an eyebrow and pointed the lantern at a small shop just in front of the food court that he had never seen before.

"Over there. It's called Antiquity. It's a shop that caters to Mana and those that work with them." The display in the windows made the shop look so out of place that it was astonishing that he had never seen it. One window was dominated by a display of what looked to be thousands of precious jewels floating in the air. They were shining with an unnatural intensity that made for an eye-catching view. The second of the two largest windows was more moderate, though no less interesting. A giant cauldron sat on top of a roaring flame, giving off large quantities of steam that changed color constantly. Every few seconds the steam would break apart into a stream of shapes and back to normal. Kevin blinked twice.

"Okay. That's not completely abnormal or anything." Flay started giggling.

"It certainly has a unique charm to it doesn't it?" She motioned Kevin towards the shop.

Ducking her lantern as he pushed open the door, he said, "It's…original. Let's leave it at that." He whirled when the door slammed shut behind him and vanished. Before he could act, someone spoke up from the back of the shop.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Kevin and Flay turned to see a woman come around a display rack of what appeared to be glass beakers. She was wearing the type of dress that Kevin had once heard Ben refer to as a "floor mop". The dress was a deep midnight blue and had a purple band of lightly ruffled fabric nearly the same color that ran around the hem, extending it by a good three inches. It was belted tightly at the waist by a wide band of gold. The top half the dress was sleeveless, the fabric of it wrapping completely over her front and criss-crossing in the back before connecting at her neck where it was fastened by what appeared to be an emerald brooch. She had on a pair of dark colored high heels and elbow length silvery colored gloves. She wouldn't have looked out of place at a ball.

Her hair however, was what truly set her apart. It was a brilliant sky blue and held in a loose bun. Kevin guessed that was her natural hair color since it seemed to go all the down to the roots. The woman gestured at the door. "I prefer not to keep the door open too long if I can help it. This shop connects to a lot more places than that mall you came from, and no one can get in from another location while it's open." She smiled and shook her head setting the moon earring in left ear swaying, its movement following the same pattern as the star earring in her right ear. "That and I like to know when someone comes into my establishment." She clapped her hands together and rubbed them briskly. "Now then, what can I do for you? You look as if you don't really know what you're looking for. Are you a new alchemist?" Kevin blinked twice.

"Uh… no. I don't really care about turning lead into gold." The woman raised an eyebrow.

"Definitely not an alchemist then." She muttered. She frowned at him before visibly letting it go. "Alchemy is about a lot more than transmutation of lead." She frowned again. "The question then, is why you are here if it's not for an alchemy related reason? I can't see why else Flay would be with you." Flay shook her head.

"I've never shown myself to him before now. I came out because I smelled a Mana on him." She made a sort of shrug that had Kevin dodging her lantern again. "I heard him say something about getting a present for a Mana." This prompted the shopkeeper to give Kevin an once-over that he found to be very unnerving.

"Really now. If you aren't an alchemist, how would you know about Mana? As secrets go, that's a rather large one we keep." Kevin bit his lip, wondering how much to say.

After a full minute of the woman staring at him with her amber colored irises seeming to bore into him, he sighed. "Plua says my friend is turning into one." The shopkeeper blinked twice and stepped back.

"I think you should be making some explanations. The only Plua operating on Earth was captured some time ago." Kevin shrugged.

"My friend set her free from the Highbreed's xenocyte." Flay and the woman exchanged a look before the woman grabbed him by the arm and dragged him around the display rack she had emerged from. She then pulled a tall stool from seemingly nowhere and pushed Kevin down on it.

"Sit." She narrowed her eyes at him. "How on Earth do you know about the Highbreed?" She demanded. Kevin crossed his arms and scowled at her.

"Why should I tell you anything? I don't even know who you are!" The woman took a step back in surprise. "You just blaze in demanding answers like I'm going to tell you whatever you want to know! How's that supposed to make me talk?" The shopkeeper had by now gone an interesting shade of red that contrasted oddly with her hair. She sat down with a thump across from him, mirroring his position in spite of the fact she wasn't sitting on anything visible.

She sighed. "You have my apologies. I tend to get a little too drawn in to things, especially one as important as this." She gave him an overly bright smile and held out her hand. "I am Lulubelle Triane." She pronounced it "Tree-Ane". It would be quite some time until Kevin saw it written down. After a few minutes of Kevin looking at her hand like it would explode, Lulubelle frowned and lowered it. "You already know Flay it seems." The Mana gave a slight curtsy. "Now exactly who are you?"

Grudgingly, he said, "Kevin Leven. My friends and I've been fighting against the Highbreed for a while now." Lulubelle blinked twice.

"A guerilla strike team eh? Glad to see someone's doing something against them. Though I'd still like to know how you discovered anything about them. For all the trouble they've caused us, the Highbreed have been remarkably secretive." Kevin shrugged.

"They weren't exactly being subtle when they set a bunch of DNAliens after my friend's grandpa." He smirked. "And the tech they use isn't something you see everyday either. Alien cloaking tech isn't exactly common on Earth." Lulubelle arched an eyebrow.

"No I suppose it isn't." She frowned. "Why would the Highbreed want your friend's grandfather?" Kevin shrugged.

"Who knows? He did blow up one of their factories, but they were after him long before that. All Ben got was a recording."

"Ben?" Kevin coughed.

"That's my friend. Ben Tennyson." Lulubelle sat bolt upright.

"The same one who wields the Omnitrix?" Kevin stared at her. "That explains a good deal. We've been keeping an eye on him for years now, and Max Tennyson is something of a legend among the Mana." She smiled. "Besides, I heard plenty about the Tennyson family every time I had a visit from my cousins. Apparently they were enemies of Benjamin and Gwendolyn." Kevin blinked.

"You're kidding right?" Lulubelle shook her head.

"I doubt Tennyson is a common surname in this area. And they were quite vehement about himit. I believe he would know them as Charmcaster and Hex." Seeing that Kevin had been effectively rendered speechless, she continued speaking. "Personally I don't see why they have such a big deal with losing every now and again. Though I have to admit that it's suspiciously coincidental how they always seemed to run into him whenever they planned something big." She sniffed. "Perhaps that's why they called him a meddler. Every time I saw him, he struck me as an engaging child, if a little overly exuberant." Kevin blinked.

"You were watching him too?" Lulubelle shrugged.

"I live just above my shop, so that puts his home fairly close to mine." She frowned slightly. "Besides, When the Mana chiefs ask you to do them a favor, saying no isn't really an option." She shrugged again. "I admit I helped him out on several occasions, though I was as inconspicuous as possible. It wouldn't do for my cousins to know that I was watching over their enemy. Mind you, the incident with the fountain of youth put the kibosh on just about any thing they had planned for a while, but it didn't stop them from coming back for more. They're ridiculously tenacious. I suppose they're biding their time somewhere. I haven't heard from them in quite a while."

She frowned. "I have to admit though; Benjamin didn't really need physical help particularly often. Usually he was in need of a little nudge to make him figure things out. The aliens in his Omnitrix were, and still are, more than sufficient where physical power is concerned." She pursed her lips. "I wonder how he can stand it." It was several minutes before the silence was broken.

"Stand what?" Both Kevin and Lulubelle jumped, having completely forgotten the until now silent presence that was the hovering Flay.

"The transformations. Given some of the differences in his forms, it must be an… interesting experience to turn into them." Kevin didn't miss the slight hesitation she made and it left him wondering exactly what she was trying to say. The woman shot him a glance before rising from her nonexistent seat. "Of course the only one who'd know for sure is Benjamin, and he may very well refuse an answer." She paused as a mallet sitting on a nearby table rose and hit a miniature gong sitting next to it. The little mallet swung itself twice more before dropping back to the table. "Ah that's the upper California entrance." She swept off in the direction of the door. Kevin blinked.

"Upper California entrance?" Flay let out a giggle.

"She's had this place for over two hundred years. She's got quite a reputation for being the best alchemy shop operating on earth." Kevin felt his mouth drop open.

"Two hundred years? She doesn't look anywhere near that old!" Flay simply giggled again.

"She's got Mana blood too." Flay gave a fluid shrug. "Even the tiniest drop of Mana blood can work wonders. Lulubelle has plenty of it, but she didn't become an actual Mana. That particular occurrence is more than slightly unpredictable." Kevin frowned as he heard Lulubelle talking with someone.

"So any Mana lives for centuries or something?" He heard the sound of an old fashioned register, followed shortly thereafter by the door opening. Lulubelle returned as it closed, just in time to catch Kevin's question.

"True Mana do, but it can vary fairly heavily for a human born Mana." She actually smiled. "My mother's a Silwest." Catching Kevin's expression, she added, "She's a wind Mana. It's my father that's human, and it's his side of the family that my cousins come from. Which is very fortunate. I'd hate to see what they were capable of if they had Mana powers in their arsenal." She snorted at the look Kevin gave her. "Most Mana actually look fairly similar to humans." Kevin shook his head.

"Plua doesn't have any feet." Lulubelle blinked before coming up with a response.

"Plua is from one of the oldest Mana races. Her particular race is certainly the oldest among the various strains of Dark Mana." She tapped her chin in thought. "Now that I think about it, there's only one Mana race older than Plua's, and it's one of the only races that's truly one of a kind." She paused. "Mind you, most of them are so well hidden that you wouldn't find one no matter how hard you looked. I only know of one that's near here, and I'm not allowed to give out its location." Kevin shrugged.

"Suits me. It's not like I'm the one who's gonna be looking for em." Lulubelle snorted softly.

"With Benjamin's luck, you'll more than likely run across it regardless of your intentions." Unable to refute this truth, Kevin just shrugged again and made a face. Lulubelle clapped her hands briskly. "Now you said you had some birthday shopping to do?" Kevin nodded and rose. The stool vanished into thin air with a soft popping sound as soon as he was off it. "Take a look around then! I have all sorts of things in here. Be careful though, some stuff is extremely dangerous." Kevin raised an eyebrow.

"Am I even gonna be able to pay you?" Lulubelle waved a hand negligently.

"Of course! I take Cole, cash, checks, and all of the major card types." She grinned widely, showing a set of pearly white teeth. "The exchange rate from American money to Cole is incredible." She turned to the hovering Mana. "Flay, it might be best if you helped him dear." The Mana nodded, looking excited. For some reason this sight was one that sent chills down Kevin's spine. He made a mental note to add an excited Flay to his list of things that could scare him. If she noticed his apprehension, Lulubelle didn't comment on it. "Splendid! Have fun then! Let me know if you need any extra help!" She vanished among the shelves.

Kevin winced as Flay grabbed his arm and with surprising strength, proceeded to drag him bodily into the depths of the shop. Lulubelle giggled to herself as she heard Kevin shout, "Oh god! It's gonna be like shopping with Gwen!"

Lulubelle shook her head and said to herself, "It might be better or worse than that, depending on what Flay finds." She knew Kevin wouldn't have been remotely reassured by this.

As it turned out, Flay proved to be more subdued than Gwen about shopping, though Kevin suspected that it was because she didn't really know where to start. Within five minutes she had dragged him deep into the shelves of the store, stopping in front of a display of what appeared to be globes of the Earth, though there were several others he couldn't identify. Flay started looking around wildly, her gaze flicking from shelf to shelf. Kevin took advantage of her distraction and managed to free his arm from the little Mana's grasp.

"Take it easy!" Flay had the grace to look embarrassed. "What is all this stuff?" He picked up a globe and started to twirl it idly. Flay shrugged looking slightly uneasy.

"Most of them are basic tools of the trade for alchemists. Alchemists work with Mana, and their ultimate goal is the betterment of the planet. At least, the good alchemists have that goal." She seemed to have moved from unease to downright fear. "If you spin that much more, it'll go off." Kevin blinked but stopped spinning the globe.

"What are you talking about?" Flay pointed to the globe.

"Those explode if you spin them enough. They aren't really meant for study purposes, they're tools of battle." Kevin put it down in a hurry, flinching when it wobbled in place.

"Why the heck would someone make an exploding globe?" Flay shrugged.

"Explosives are easier to smuggle into guarded places when they look harmless." Upon catching sight of the slightly horrified expression on his face, she sighed. "It's not all dangerous." She turned and plucked what looked like a large teardrop shaped diamond attached to a chain from the shelf. "Take this for instance. It's called a pendulum, and it can tell you if there's treasure nearby." She replaced the pendulum and picked up a cup filled to the brim with some sort of rainbow colored liquid. "This is called Item Wish. Throw it on something and concentrate on an item you need. If you concentrate hard enough, whatever's been doused in it will change into what you need. It even works on your foes, though you'd better hope it works the first time. I doubt they'd take too kindly to getting splashed." She smirked as she put the cup down. Kevin grinned in spite of himself.

"I'll remember that." He picked up a craggy yellow object shaped roughly like an oval. "What's this?" Flay glanced at it.

"It's a special core containing the power of the Metal Mana, Zuvelk. Eating it'll increase your strength permanently. It's not easy to make and the ingredients can be really hard to find though." He put the core down looking equal parts surprised and exasperated.

"There's a Mana for metal?" Flay nodded and giggled at his incredulous tone. "How many kinds of Mana are there?" Flay frowned in thought.

"Around twenty or thirty. I think." She flipped her sleeves back and started counting on her hands, the lantern floating in the air beside her. "Let's see…There's stone, fire, wind, water, time, life, metal, light, dark-" Kevin cut her off.

"I get the picture." Then he blinked. "There's a Life Mana but there isn't one for death?" Flay's expression turned outright dark at this, startling him.

"That's supposed to be part of the job of Aion!" She snapped. In a somewhat calmer tone she said, "Aion is name of the Life Mana." She scowled. "Apparently one alchemist wasn't impressed with how the Aions were doing. He was obsessed with the darker side of alchemy and it showed. He ended up capturing a Mana and transforming it into one that focused chiefly on death and destruction." She grabbed her lantern and shook it hard. A long streamer of light erupted from it and twisted into the air. It widened before images started running across it, flickering rather like an old film reel.

"The Destruction Mana was running rampant." He saw a strange looking shadowy creature with brilliantly red eyes appear in the ribbon. "All the Mana and the alchemists at the time banded together to stop it, many of them losing their lives to it. It wasn't until the Aions confronted it that it finally began to lose ground. A burst of light took the place of the Destruction Mana. "Exactly what the Aions did to the Destruction Mana is something that only they know. All we know is that the Destruction Mana ceased to be a problem." The ribbon vanished as Flay lowered the lantern. She bit her lip, looking both sad and angry. "To actually kill a Mana takes much more than most are capable of. The Destruction Mana could and did do it as if there was nothing simpler." She looked down. "It is because of it that my kind came into existence. There were so many unattached consciences, all of them drifting, unable to move on. So many Mana and humans, lost and wandering, still trying to fight in a battle that they had already lost themselves. It was pure chaos!" Kevin blinked, picking up a large, brilliantly red stone as it began to shine faintly.

"How did you come around then?" The stone grew brighter as he held it. Flay grasped her lantern tighter.

"It was the Aions. They saw the dangers being created; they saw the need underlying everything. They used their power to give life, existence to that need. They made me and mine. Brought us about to help the souls pass on, to give the world balance again." Kevin eyed the stone as the light pulsed faintly.

"How could they stop that destruction thing by themselves when all the rest of you couldn't?" The stone's glow was pulsing faster. Flay gave it a brief glance.

"Life is powerful force. It contains a spark that makes us move on each day, a will to keep going whatever the trials faced. It has the strength to make even the weakest of beings stronger than their greatest foe. It creates the power that lets everyone defy that which seems impossible to overcome. It gives everyone the spark needed to display that defiance. It creates and perpetuates hope." She smiled, her expression seeming as blindingly radiant as the stone he held was becoming. "Against something like that, what chance does a creature basing itself on death, destruction, and despair have?" He had to admit the chances seemed fairly nonexistent, even if Flay was starting sound a little too fanatical to be believed. He shrugged and examined the stone more closely.

"What is this thing anyway?" The stone had by now grown to a brilliant shine and was starting to rise into the air, taking Kevin with it. Flay did a double take as his feet left the ground. She shook her lantern at the stone, which stopped glowing instantly. Kevin dropped the foot or so he had risen and landed heavily. Flay lowered her lantern looking slightly suspicious.

"It's a very special stone. It's constantly producing mana power. It doesn't usually behave that way though. Normally it needs conscious thought to direct it." Kevin frowned, looking thoughtful.

"So it's an energy generator?" Flay raised an eyebrow.

"I suppose you could say that."

"Perfect." He grasped the stone more tightly and headed back towards the door. Flay followed him after a moment of stunned silence.

Finally she spoke. "Do you even care about cost?" Kevin shook his head.

"You talking about cash or that col stuff?" Flay grimaced.

"It's Cole. And the currency type is beside the point!" Kevin shrugged.

"So's the money. I ain't exactly hard up you know. If I was I couldn't fix my car up as much as do. I got paid pretty well back from my tech smuggling days." He scowled "Besides, Ben is my friend. One of the only real ones I have. That's worth a lot to me." Flay went silent as she watched him pick up through a display of various metal blocks, muttering to himself. "Let's see, alloy's are usually good conductors, but this is probably gonna need something unusual." He called over his shoulder, "What's this stone made of anyway?" Flay frowned.

"The ingredients for synthesizing it are gold, aroma material, and a jade tablet." Kevin raised an eyebrow.

"Synthesizing it? I meant what's it made of now?" She frowned again before giving the stone a much closer look.

"Erm... I can't make out all the minerals; you'd need a Stone Mana for that. But I can tell that every last one of them conducts like nobody's business." Kevin grinned and plucked a cube of metal off the shelf.

"Good. Let's go." He set off for the front again. Lulubelle intercepted him less than ten feet from her counter, appearing from out of nowhere.

"There you are. I was beginning to wonder if Flay was going to decide on anything." Flay let out a slight laugh.

"He decided for himself. I doubt I would have picked that." She pointed at the stone. Lulubelle raised her eyebrows at the sight of it.

"Unusual gift idea for a guy." Kevin shrugged.

"So I'm unusual." He frowned. "Besides, it's not like I'm gonna give it to him like that. It needs to be reworked a little bit first." Lulubelle's expression remained the same.

"Hence the metal." She sighed slightly and swept the objects up, taking them to the register. She paused as she rung up the stone. "I assume you plan to reshape this?" She sighed slightly at his nod. "I see." She reached under the counter and brought out a small bag that jingled slightly. This was soon followed by an unnervingly large stack of papers. "This bag has the tools you'll need to reshape it. These are the instructions for using them." She looked him straight in the eye as she slid an old fashioned key across the counter space.

"I must warn you. This stone is extremely powerful. If you aren't careful, it could easily level everything within at least two hundreds miles of it. It is constantly producing Mana energy, and the output is nothing to sneeze at." She fixed him with a piercing stare that made him shiver slightly. "If you need help, please don't hesitate to ask for it. This key will link any door to my shop. You needn't worry about the lock type. The key will automatically adapt itself to fit, no matter how old or new the mechanism is." She pushed it across the counter and practically forced it into his fingers.

Feeling distinctly wrong-footed, Kevin allowed the bag and key to be shoved into his hands. He snapped back to reality and pocketed them as the shopkeeper named her price. "An even total? That doesn't sound right." Lulubelle snorted.

"Of course it doesn't. That total was in Cole, which doesn't use cents. She pressed something that caused the price to gain a cent number and drop well over half. "American currency totals tend to be around a third of the price." She frowned. "There's some kind of laundering operation run by Mana over in Belkhyde that takes care of the changeover to Cole. Apparently the actual bills and coins are extremely useful in synthesis. From what I understand they can be substituted for almost any ingredient without affecting much of anything other than the quality." She frowned slightly.

"Mind you, with some of the rarer synthesis recipes quality can make a huge overall difference. Some of them have ingredients that are extremely difficult to come by, and I couldn't justify substituting one when its replacement makes the others useless, so I've never tried it with the rare recipes." She handed him his change and swiftly wrapped both the stone and the metal in some kind of cloth and slipped them into a rather ordinary looking gray bag. Kevin took it and winced as he looked at his watch.

"Oh god! I've been here for two hours!" He grimaced. "Gwen's gonna have my head!" Lulubelle smiled slightly.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that if I were you." She laughed at the expression on Kevin's face. "I think Flay could explain it to you." She placed the instructions into the bag and sent him off towards the door with a stern reminder to contact her if he needed help. The door appeared and snapped open as he approached.

Kevin shivered as a strange sensation washed over him. He turned around just in time to see the door shut with a soft click. A strange shimmer enveloped it and the entirety of the shop, making it look oddly flat. "What just happened?" Flay materialized beside him and shrugged slightly.

"One of her protective measures I think. It's supposed to make it more difficult for anyone to accidentally find the shop. It's already got a spell on it that makes it invisible to anyone who doesn't have a pact with a Mana or doesn't know about it." She smiled slightly. "Of course, no matter what she does someone will manage to slip through." Her smile turned into a smirk. "Last year she had an Australian and two Canadians stumble through at Christmastime." She giggled. "I think Lu's always been a little annoyed that most of the people who bumble into her shop come from the remote areas that only have one or two alchemists around. Apparently it makes it a pain to send them back without everyone noticing. Lu always says it's something to do with close knit regions." Kevin raised an eyebrow at her and set off towards the food court at a rather brisk pace. Flay was forced to move into a sort of glide to keep up with him.

"You don't have to rush you know!" Kevin shot her a glare over his shoulder.

"Have you looked at what time it is?" Flay gave out an exasperated sigh.

"No. But you certainly should!" She folded her arms and dodged around a support pillar at the same time without losing pace. "I think you'll be relieved if you do." Kevin shot her an incredulous look and stopped dead, causing Flay to overshoot him by a good ten feet. She floated back to him wearing a distinctly exasperated expression.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Flay's response was to grab his wrist and drag his watch up to eye level. He glanced at it then blinked at looked at it properly. "What the hell?" He shook his head and looked at his watch again. Its time remained the same. "This can't be right! This thing says I was only in there for five minutes." Flay burst out laughing.

"It's correct alright. Lulubelle has some kind of special spell on her shop that she set up with the Time Mana's help. It's for alchemists who had to come in a hurry and left a synthesis in action. Ten minutes is usually the limit before a synthesis goes bad. They tend to explode after that." She smirked slightly. "It never fails to get a good reaction out of people who experience it for the first time. Don't ask me how she manages to avoid paradoxes like people meeting themselves." She sobered as they reached the food court. "I think it'd be best if the majority of the people here continue being unsuspecting of my existence." She waved her lantern and abruptly grew somewhat hazy. "There. If you don't know who and what I am, you can't see or hear me." Kevin raised an eyebrow as he dropped into a seat.

"That sounds pretty vague." Flay shrugged and landed neatly on the table.

"The best spells usually are. Magic tends to work better when you don't fetter it to a single path." She flicked her lantern at the table, making a car magazine appear in a quiet rush of shuffling paper. "Now people won't think you're talking to thin air." She smiled slightly. "With this going they won't notice you unless you actively draw their attention, but it's nice to have a backup." Kevin just shrugged.

"I'll take your word for it." He glanced around. "Can you fix it so they can't hear me too?" She nodded and flicked her lantern at him. He shuddered as a peculiar sensation of coldness washed over him and focused around his mouth before fading. Flay settled herself more comfortably on the table.

"You have questions for me I hope?" She smiled when he nodded. "Good. I'd have been worried if you didn't." She made an expansive gesture. "Ask away." Kevin eyed her before leaning forward.

"Fine. What was with the chapter and verse routine for the Aions? You sounded like a religious prophet or something." Flay frowned.

"First off, most religions generally view Mana as enemies or at the very least unnatural." Kevin blinked.

"But you're like the definition of nature!" Flay outright scowled.

"If you want to try convincing Moses of that, be my guest. You couldn't have done worse than anyone else did." She pressed on before he could respond. "The Life Mana is the oldest race of Mana and therefore the closest in power and form to our originator, the Creation Mana. That makes them the most powerful in terms of what they're capable of, and they have one of the most precious wonders of nature to look after." She sighed slightly.

"Of course, they are a rather proud lot because of it, but they aren't so proud they can't see the forest for the trees. They've always taken their duty to the world seriously, and that's really where most of their pride stems from. Even the Mana Chiefs don't have anything to do with their element. It's all in the hands of the Life Mana. They're one of the few Mana the Highbreed haven't managed to capture, and we'd definitely like to keep it that way. Can you imagine what would happen if we lost the power over life? I think the best we could hope for would be for people to have a complete lack of regard for the safety of their existence. I am afraid the reality is likely to be much worse if that happens though." She shuddered and Kevin couldn't stop himself from doing the same.

"What was that about Moses and a Creation Mana? You haven't actually talked to him have you?" Flay grinned, seeming to forget all about her grim pronouncement.

"Oh him. Well, you know that story about the bush exploding into fire?" He nodded. "It isn't quite true. The poor plant did catch fire, but it wasn't really a sign from his god." She giggled. "It was a Fire Mana that he'd managed to inadvertently irritate. I suppose you could say we accidentally renewed his faith." She frowned when he opened his mouth to ask something. "I'm not saying that the Christian god doesn't exist. The ten commandments Moses returned from the mountains with were not made by any Mana or anyone we have ever associated with. They had a presence around them that was completely foreign to us in every way. The only thing we had a hand in was the bush incident, as it's come to be called among ourselves." She giggled again. "The most contact we had with Moses after that was when we sent a small group to apologize for scaring him and explain what we were." Her smile fell slightly. "He was quite a sour individual once he realized we weren't messengers from the heavens. The man wouldn't listen to a word we said and tried to banish us as if we were common ghosts." She scowled. "He really didn't like me, but that stunt with the Red Sea was the final nail in the coffin. He must have called on the power of his god again, because no human could have done that on their own. The amount of work it created for Nymph and I was ridiculous." Kevin was silent for a moment.

"So do you believe there was, is a god?" Flay raised an eyebrow at him.

"Of course I do. It was not any kind of Mana Power that parted the sea, and it was the same power that forged the Ten Commandments." She frowned. "I may as well tell you. Religions exist because people believe in them. Over time that belief becomes strong enough that it is capable of manifesting in conscious ways. Its how the Greek and Roman gods came about after all. So long as belief is held in them, the gods continue to exist as a conscious reality, and continue to be capable of the miracles and various other feats they perform." She sighed. "Believe me, I know. I've had to guide a few gods back to formlessness. They return to a different existence, but it's the same in general theory. That's why all religions stress belief. Without it their god or gods and goddesses would no longer exist. Belief is a powerful force; it has enabled some miracles that are beyond the power of any Mana, except perhaps the Creation Mana." Kevin eyed her skeptically.

"There's a Mana for creating things? And who the heck is Nymph?" Flay sighed.

"Nymph is the Water Mana. And when I say creation, I really mean existence. Mana are after all, the keepers and perpetuators of natural order, and existence is the very foundation of natural order." She sighed when she saw the blank look on Kevin's face. "Fine. Socio-religious discussion aside, I'll skip the deep stuff." She giggled at the slightly offended glare she received. "The Creation Mana is, was the very first Mana. Without it, the rest of us wouldn't have any power at all." She looked pensive. "The first time it came about it was female. We called her Lillith. When she reincarnated she became known as Iris." She frowned. "The trouble is that the Creation Mana doesn't live like a regular Mana. It has always lived as if it was an exceptionally long-lived person, and has been reincarnated into another form upon its death. Usually it comes back as female, but it has been male before too." She huffed and crossed her arms.

"The real snag is that we never know when or where the Creation Mana will reincarnate, or who or what it will return as for that matter." Her scowl became more pronounced. "We always have to discover its return." She held up a hand when Kevin's mouth opened. "We know it hasn't been captured. When one of our own are caught by the Highbreed's creatures it leaves a void of sorts in the flow of the elements. All Mana are sensitive to it, and not just because the element in question starts to be affected instantly. We'd definitely notice if something happened to the foundation of our powers." She frowned. "It is rather frustrating to not know if it has returned yet or not, but with the Creation Mana, it can't be helped." Kevin raised an eyebrow.

"You sound pretty unconcerned." Flay gave him a look he couldn't decipher.

"I'm one of the first of the Spirit Mana. This isn't the first threat to Mana that I've weathered." She paused, and then added, "Though this is the first one I've seen that's managed to reach a global level of effect so quickly. Of course it's also the first one that's had the source of the threat be off-planet." She gave a small smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I suppose it's the nature of the beast, as the mortal saying goes."

"How many times have you guys been threatened?" Flay shrugged.

"That's actually pretty hard to say for sure, seeing as there's no real criteria for deciding. We just tend to remember the big ones."

"The big ones." Flay nodded and glanced at a large clock hanging over one of the vendor stalls.

"You've still got another twenty minutes or so if I overheard correctly, so get yourself something to drink and I'll tell you about what happened when Lillith returned in the form of Iris." Less than three minutes later, she began. "The Creation Mana had been missing from us for decades. There had been a huge war fought over her and once it ended all the alchemists and Mana retreated onto a group of islands and activated what they called the Gardo Continental Drive, a device that completely separated them from Belkhyde. They left behind a special android named Yuveria to guard it. They called their new home Eden and for many centuries they lived in peace, even as Belkhyde trod a path of turmoil. One day parts of the land vanished without a trace. At the same time, a brand new alchemist came across a little girl that called herself Iris."

When Flay's tale came to a close nearly fifteen minutes later, Kevin was sitting there feeling a mixture of shock and amazement. He didn't have a chance to comment on her story however, for Gwen and Julie both materialized out of the crowd laden with bags and both carrying large drinking cups. They proceeded to occupy the table that connected to his and set their bags down, which to Kevin's more than slight horror, seemed to triple in quantity, a number of them sliding towards him. Flay quirked an eyebrow.

"I think Gwendolyn there may have used her powers to help herself along." Kevin simply sat mute as Gwen and Julie carried on their conversation, seeming not to notice them.

"I don't see Kevin anywhere." Gwen shrugged at Julie's statement and took another sip of her drink.

"This is Kevin we're talking about. If he isn't buying something for his car, it can take him hours. And it IS Ben he's shopping for. I'm honestly shocked he hasn't called me for help yet."

"Hey!" Neither of the girls appeared to notice hear him. Julie just took another drink and looked around.

"Don't you think you were a little too subtle for him?" Gwen sighed.

"Maybe a little." Julie raised an eyebrow at her. Gwen coughed. "Alright, way too subtle." She continued, sounding somewhat sour as Julie smirked. "He almost always understands Ben perfectly." Julie's eyebrow remained elevated.

"No offense, but Ben isn't exactly the most subtle of people. He just doesn't operate that way." Kevin grinned in spite of himself. It was true that Ben didn't often go for stealth of any kind. He had once said that his aliens weren't much good at it with the possible exception of Goop and Big Chill, and a flat out assault usually took opponents by surprise anyway. He glanced at Flay.

"Do you mind?" He waved his hand in mimicry of Flay's lantern. "As riveting as this is, I need to take them home before midnight." Flay giggled and nodded before raising the lantern and shaking it slightly. Kevin felt the strange cold sensation wash over him again, this time accompanied by an odd wave of heat. Neither girl appeared to notice.

"Maybe that's why. He seems to understand Ben a lot more than he does me anyway." Julie stared at her for a second.

"Really? What do you mean?" Having heard enough, Kevin cleared his throat loudly. He smirked slightly when both girls shrieked and almost inhaled their straws. Gwen was the first to recover.

"Kevin! When did you get here?" He snorted and gestured to the table where his bag sat. He noticed that there was an odd semicircle completely free of bags with the noticeable exception of his own, which sat in the exact center of table and looked extraordinarily out of place among the brilliant white bags the majority of the mall's clothing shops favored. He strongly suspected the prominence placed on it was Flay's doing.

"We've been waiting for you for almost twenty minutes." Julie, who had been eyeing his bag, glanced at him sharply.

"We?" out of the corner of his eye Kevin say Flay shake her lantern slightly, making it rattle quietly. She must have rendered herself visible to Gwen and Julie, as they both let out a gasp. Julie was the first to recover. "Who are you?" Flay gave a bobbing sort of curtsy.

"Flay. Mana of Spirit at your service." She narrowed her eyes suddenly. "Wasn't there some sort of being attached to your belt earlier?" They all looked at Julie's waist to see that it had indeed changed back to its original form. As if on cue, a loud shriek came from one of the vendor stalls.

As Gwen sprinted towards the woman who was screaming something about possessed ice cream, Kevin found himself growling. "Yamamoto! I thought you were keeping an eye on him!" Julie held up her hands defensively as a flash of pinkish purple light came from behind her.

"I was I swear! He was with me when I sat down!" Another flash of light came, this one hovering and expanding outward.

Recognizing Gwen's standard memory wipe, Kevin said, "Field blanket." Both he and Julie closed their eyes as it reached them. According to Gwen, the field worked via the eyes and closing them rendered it powerless. Or something to that effect. Gwen herself appeared a moment later, Ship in her arms and cooing in his odd echoing way. Wordlessly she held him out to Julie before sitting down with a rather annoyed expression on her face and starting to comb soft serve out of her hair.

"That woman seemed to think Ship and I were practitioners of witchcraft and all around dark magic." She took a large drink of her soda. "Lord I hate the superstitious!" After a minute she calmed down and said to Flay, "Thank you for pointing out he was missing, but how did you know about him?" Flay smirked.

"I've never seen that particular pattern and hue on a belt before. Try something less conspicuous next time." Both girls winced. If Flay saw, she ignored it in favor of moving on to Ship itself. "And you should be more careful you know. What if something managed to catch you?" The mechamorph, which had been staring at her in what Kevin could only describe as unabashed amazement, let out a low hollow whine from his perch in Julie's arms and hung his head. Flay pursed her lips. "It was rather reckless to go off like that. Although…I have to admit that I haven't seen this part of the mall so awake since the fire alarms went off accidentally last year and sprayed everyone with water." She smiled as Ship's head snapped up, eye watching intently. "I suppose it's for the better, even if no one remembers it. This place is much better when the people here actually have some interest." She folded her arms.

"It's better safe than sorry here. You never know who might be watching. Especially here. The walls do practically have ears around here." She turned to Kevin. "Don't forget what Lu said about if you need help. I think I know what you're planning, but it definitely won't be easy. Do you even know the exact size you need?" Kevin nodded.

"After all the time I've spent working on my car it's pretty easy to eyeball sizes." Flay's smile was the first one that seemed truly genuine.

"That all but confirms my guess I think. While the Altena ingot shouldn't give you any trouble, the Ruby Prism is another matter entirely. Trust me on this; it's better to have help from the start with that particular item." She gave a graceful bow in midair. "On that note I shall be taking my leave.' She gave Kevin one last appraising look. "I'll be around if you need me. Just give me a call." She made one last sweeping bow and vanished with a quiet pop and an orb of orange flame. The silence following her departure lasted less than five seconds and Gwen was the one to break it.

"Kevin-" She stopped abruptly, clearly trying to think of how to word her question. "Kevin, just how do you know her?" He shook his head.

"Other way around Gwen." He frowned as he glanced around. "I think you missed a few people with your memory wipe. Couple of em are giving Ship some looks." It was true. Several of the people around them were peering very interestedly at the little mechamorph. Gwen nodded.

She reached out and swept up all of the white bags on the table, leaving Kevin to pick up his own bag. Kevin was positive he saw a flash of Gwen's powers accompany the motion, and knew that Flay had probably been right about Gwen using them to help. Gwen nodded her head at Kevin's bag as they set off. "So what'd you get him?" Kevin grinned.

"A birthday present." To the supreme irritation of the two girls, he didn't elaborate. No amount of pestering on either of their parts would get him to reveal anymore, and they were both rather put out to arrive at their houses without any further information, though Gwen had scanned them with her powers and declared that Ben would probably like it.

"Or he'll at least appreciate it." She said as she closed the door with her foot. Kevin was not completely reassured by this, but nor was he deterred. Once he arrived at his own home he settled himself out in his garage. True to Flay's prediction, the Altena ingot as she called it was the work of minutes to melt and reshape into the various parts he needed. The Ruby Prism, as she called the stone, was another matter entirely. Kevin spent a good twenty minutes reading over the information before emptying the bag of tools out upon the table. He selected what resembled a ball point hammer and after reading over its page again, gave the prism a cautious tap. The stone promptly discharged a bolt of red energy, which scorched a large section of wall space. He stared at the burn mark for a full minute before re-reading the instructions and making another attempt.

This time the energy blast carved a pit underneath one of his tool chests, dropping it a good three feet. When the third attempt netted him a destroyed side mirror, four melted tires, and a slightly singed hand, he gave up. Pulling the key from his pocket with his good hand he stuck it in the door to his kitchen. He gave it a sharp twist and heard a sound like a dozen wind chimes ringing. He swung the door open to find Lulubelle already striding towards him. He wasn't sure whether he should be offended or irritated that she was carrying bandages and a burn cream.

Lulubelle's first act was to clean and bandage his hand. "The Ruby Prism has a rather irritating propensity towards burns." Kevin flexed his fingers experimentally, relieved to find them free of pain.

"And pits." Lulubelle smiled.

"Actually that's a first. Usually it's burns and explosions." Kevin scowled.

"I noticed." Lulubelle smirked.

"Which is why I wanted you to come to me yes?" She didn't wait for a response but instead stepped smartly through the open door into Kevin's garage. She surveyed the damage for a moment before saying, "Honestly it isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I've seen much worse than this." She pulled something from her sleeve and threw it at the scorched wall. There was a small explosion of foam, which quickly cleared away to reveal a clean and unblemished wall.

Another throw refilled the pit, while two more brought Kevin's car back to its former glory. Lulubelle smirked at his dumbfounded expression. "My own personal invention. Perfect for fixing large scale damages." She dusted her hands before picking up the tools. "Now then, you tell me how you need this shaped and we'll go from there." Kevin blinked.

"You sure you want to help?" Lulubelle snorted.

"It's in my best interest after all. I'd rather not lose the better part of this area's business." Kevin laughed and slid a sketch over to her. The shopkeeper looked intrigued as she perused it. "Very interesting."

"Think you can do it?" The dainty woman smiled widely and ignoring Kevin's cringe hefted the hammer before bringing it down on the jewel bright stone with a hefty smack.

She smiled when it didn't so much as spark. "Easily. You set to work on your metal pieces there. I'll handle the volatile work." She set to work with a will, hammering and prodding it into shape. Working on assembling the bits of metal, Kevin couldn't restrain his laughter five minutes later when he heard the distinct zap of an energy discharge followed by Lulubelle's mutter of, "Damn temperamental stone." He was forced to dodge the empty plastic bottle thrown at him in response.

AN: Um...HI? :Dodges barrage of flying vegetables.: Sorry to leave this for so long. First off, Thanks go out to Cherryboy and Sevenletterword for making reveiws that actually motivated me to get this posted and finished. I honestly didn't realize it had been that long since I had updated, nor did I intend for it to be that long. When I pass a mark like that, I appreciate people telling me.

Ahem: Backstory chapter really, and the Introduction of Lulubelle, one of the most unusual of all the OC's I've ever created. She'll be around a lot for those of you that like her. And The items...The globe is unique in that it's a powerful explosive in the Atelier Iris games. (And I mean powerful.) Item wish is another oddity The Zuvelk core was introduced in Atelier Iris two, as was the Altena Ingot, and the Ruby Prism has been a game staple throughout the series. Flay however, is from Atelier Iris one. (Yes, she does exist.) As is Plua. Plua reappears often, but Flay is only in Iris One to the best of my knowledge. (And yes, there really are somewhere around that many Mana types. There's even one for smells!)

See you next chapter! (And may it never take this long again!)~Magicia P.S. I'll be posting this story on my Deviant Art account later tonight. I have the same username as I do here, Magicia. to easily find my stuff, type by:magicia into the DA search bar.

Just click that button and send me a review. Flame if you must, but keep it constructive. Pointless flames shall heat my cauldron of ideas.