["Menace"? All the original fluffballs were crushed in the collapse (I'm going to go ahead and make that official now; I was debating whether or not to bring them back later, but decided to do it this way instead). There's only one now, and it's currently contained.]
"Where did it come from?" asked Gizogin.
"You should know; you were the one who kept the dust in that vial," X responded.
"I know that. What I meant is, why did it suddenly change? It was perfectly happy to stay as a pile of dust until now."
"I have no idea. The Gide was irritatingly vague on fluffball reproduction." The two doctors were standing around the desk, having cleared everything from it except the vial. The fluffball was now the only thing in it, having absorbed all the remaining powder. It was also bigger than before; it measured a good two inches across. "If I had to guess, I'd say that something changed in its environment to trigger its growth. It's like one of those spores that can stay dormant for years until it finds the right conditions."
"Something changed in the sealed glass vial," Gizogin deadpanned.
"Like I said, it's a guess. It might have just been a matter of time." X gingerly picked up the vial, turning it around in the light. The fluffball inside maintained its orientation, and Gizogin got the peculiar sensation that it was watching him. "It's not trailing any dust, unlike the others," X noted.
Prompted by his doppelganger, Gizogin snapped into scientist mode. "It also appears to be a new variety of fluffball, unlike the fire or ice variants described in the Gide. The others had coloration based on their attributes; it's likely that this one does as well."
"Grey could mean any number of things, though," X added. "If they fall into an eastern 'five elements' pattern, then it could be metal. Alternatively, it could stand for earth or stone. Then, if we move past traditional element sets, then we have shadow, darkness, order or chaos, light..."
"Unless," Gizogin took over, "it has nothing to do with magic. Grey could just be natural camouflage, though why it should have different coloration than any of those whose dust it sprang from is a bit strange."
"This is all idle speculation; we need to experiment," X declared.
"Naturally," Gizogin agreed. "There's no time to lose."