"Yes, slipping," R.D. said behind Bruno.

He had zipped out of the way after he had attacked, stopping behind Bruno. He had his weapons held low to his sides, and he was smirking at Bruno's back. He could feel the power Matt was radiating.

"And now... let's just say whatever chance you had at winning is lost to you now."

DragonFire: They are the enemy, Juno... I will kill them.... Why do you continue to stop me?

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!"

A pillar of crimson light erupted from the crater, and its power was enough to knock over those who hadn't the strongest support to the ground.

Hsien-Ko and Hugo both fell, just when the jiganshi had gotten close enough. "What the hell's goin' on?!" Hugo shouted, now on his side.

Hsien-Ko scooped up the Mettaur. "We have to go! Now!"

DragonFire: Hmph, Xastra has my soul, I wouldn't care if this body died, this is just a copy anyways..... I am stronger, but I still need help where I really am, you know that, if I can kill him from within, all this madness will be over for good... Let me just take these two down so we can get to the real fight, the fight where I am, I need your energy as well as Kouken's....

DragonFire: Hmph, not handle them, me make them angry? Juno, how can you even think of joinging forces with our enemies... You're not the Juno I remember... And I guess this is truly the end of DragonFire, and the rise of a fully powered ZetsumeiRyu... *walks away* Hmph....

"DRAGON DRIVE BETA!"

With an explosive burst the pillar was dismissed, and in the center floated Matt. He was surrounded in a dense, red energy field-the outline was more solid and defined than the first Dragon Drive, filling the shape of a humanoid dragon. The Drive's tail flickered under its own power.

From within the Drive, Matt's blank eyes stared.

It was on now.

R.D. grinned and said, "You monsters always underestimate us. Lee did, the serpent did, even Rugal Bernstein did. And I can assure you, Rugal was far more powerful than you could ever hope to be. And we splattered his brains all over the street when we last fought."

The amnesiac teen looked up at Matt and blinked. That's new, he thought, Isn't that the Dragon Drive? It's different from before.

R.D. laughed. "Face it, freak," he said, "You've lost and you don't even know it yet."

===Egypt===

"I honestly do not see why this is necessary," Re-Tuul thought aloud, "But undoubtedly it'll be fun. Let's see how these would-be heroes are against the Gan."

The Khaglessi floated above the battle midair, watching the battle, as well as Juno's spat with the apparition of DragonFire. He looked beyond the camp at what approached.

Three of the mighty Gan lumbered forward towards the camp. Each looked like a komodo dragon the size of a cruise ship, and their thick hide would make them difficult to kill. It would only be a few minutes before they'd reach the camp and begin to destroy everything in sight.

"Have fun, kids," Re-Tuul mocked into the night sky.

Edited by RisingDragon on December 10, 2006 at 23:08:11.

DragonFire: Yeah, join us, then after all is said and done, you'll try to kill us... I don't like it... *sits under a tree alone*

OOC: Why Beta? Just cause.

"You talk too fucking much."

Matt grinned, but it wasn't just full of confidence-it seemed mean at the same time. He tilted his head back a bit as he grinned. "Come and get me."

(OOC: I will edit, as I see I missed reading the part where you defeated the army. However, I will not make them wait, and so... make the convo quick. War is war, after all. Heh. And hold your freakin' horses, my internet is shit right now.)

R.D. deactivated his weapons and ran off, grabbing Alasea by the arm and dragging her with him.

"What's going on!?" she shouted as she ran with him.

"Shit has hit the fan, girl, and we're getting the fuck out of the way!" he shouted back. He looked back at Matt and Bruno and thought, This better be messy. Too bad, I wanted to kill Bruno.

Edited by RisingDragon on December 10, 2006 at 23:00:42.

"Or could it be that you didn't plan this out? Could it be that this was a factor you simply hadn't accounted for? The Core is highly...unpredictable like that.

"Or maybe...maybe you realized just who I am."

Matt shrugged, still grinning. "Ever since I got here no one's even tried to bother chasing me. No one's even bothered to get the Core. No, it's all been about R.D. And that pisses me off. Wanna know why? Because no one seems to know who the most important person in this entire fucking Multiverse is right now. That's me. And I think I should get the press I deserve.

"But we can do more interesting stuff than debate all day," Matt continued, letting his arms hang at his sides again. "When you want to die we can continue this fight."

His eyes narrowed-combined with that grin, it was not a pleasant face. "But make no mistake-if you don't want to die right now, you will."

(OOC: It's edited. Calm the freak down and look.)

"It should."

His eyes widened, like in some sort of horrible revelation. "Have any of you even considered what will happen if I don't deliver the Omega Core back where it belongs?

Or if I die while holding it?

If you did...then, well, the situation would be entirely different, wouldn't it?"

He lazily raised a claw. "But since your one-track mind can't comprehend the potential consequences, I think I'll take your advice and kill you now."

The earth beneath Matt shattered as he shot toward Bruno-the Drive had, not surprisingly, dramatically enhanced his speed.

Matt just laughed.

And time froze again.

R.D. and Alasea made their way to where Hsien-Ko and Hugo were hiding. Once Alasea was settled, R.D. stood up and drew a Phase Blade. He stepped forward, only for Alasea to grab him by the shirts.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked, a vein throbbing in her forehead.

"Uh, probably to go get killed," he replied almost cheerily, then spun and ripped his shirts out of the girl's grip before running back to the battlefield.

(OOC: Why not?)
===Egypt===

Lightning Hawks were indeed dangerous... to human beings. Gan, however, were a different story. While they were primarily aquatic creatures, they were also creatures of lightning themselves. The beasts simply bounced off their skin, and their elemental power did nothing to harm the gigantic reptiles. They loosed powerful roars into the night, alerting the rest of the camp to the threat, and then began doing the one thing they knew that'd easily kill a lightning hawk while they continued onward towards the camp.

They began eating them.

The Lightning Hawks had not killed the Gan, as much as it looked like they had. Lightning simply did not work on Gan, and as Lightning Hawks were made from lightning, they simply wound up channeling themselves out of the body. The monsters continued their rampage, and the first of the beasts found the camp. It opened its mouth wide and roared--and fired an orb of lightning energy out of its maw. It did not travel far, only went a ways in front of the beast's head and rested, but the tines of energy that lanced out rained havoc on the edge of the camp.

(OOC: You read back and see how you said they set up camp! I don't have to explain everything in each post! >.<!)

The Reaverbots and zombies proved useless against the Gan. The lightning that emitted from their mouths disabled Reaverbots in swarms, and the very footfalls of the beasts collapsed the frail bodies of the zombies. As for the heroes and villians attacking them, they soon learned that these were not normal Gan. And when aided and abetted by Re-Tuul, their abilities were brought to the surface.

A barrier formed above the beast that was being assaulted by Reckoning's flame. The monster roared and thrust its face into the sand. With amazing speed, the creature burrowed beneath the sands, which quickly filled on itself. The beast then burst up from the center of the camp and started tearing the place apart.

The slashes and beams of Juno, Kouken, Dokuro, and Derek were not nearly enough to pierce the hides of the Gan. Mere scrapes were left by the slashes; the beams merely deflected off of the scales. And when Derek's spike impaled one of the beasts, it was not enough to deter them.

As the beast let out a pained cry, it spewed lightning everywhere into the sky. And another Gan lumbered over and grabbed the spike by its jaws and tore it out, then threw it into the armies. The wounded beast suddenly was enveloped by liquid light--a reversed time dilation field. When the light cleared, the beast was completely healed, and it resumed its massacre.

"Something you should know," Re-Tuul cackled, well above the battle, "is that the saliva and blood of Gan contain amazing regenerative properties. Takes forever for something of that size, but these were made by my master Himself. He taught them a few tricks."

Edited by RisingDragon on December 11, 2006 at 0:56:22.

"My, my, aren't we compensating for something? Bigger isn't always better, you know." Re-Tuul mocked, not at all peturbed by Reckoning's transformation. "But yes, I must thank you, Reckoning. You've given me everything I needed here."

He looked at the red jewels he held in his claw. It glowed with a soft, gentle light--a drastic contrast to what it was meant to do. They had been fully charged with nothing more than the energy released by Reckoning's transformation.

"Perhaps you'd like to charge up more of these for me? No? Too bad," the demon said, "As my master would be most pleased if you did. Oh well. Your loss."

The Khaglessi descended to the ground and placed one of the red jewels in the sand, then watched as it seemed to bleed away into nothing. The foundation was complete, there was nothing the others could do to reverse the process now--the energy from the jewel traveled deep below the surface of the planet, preventing them from doing whatever they'd try, even though it'd be pointless.

"Now, I have many, many more of these to plant, and I must be on my way," Re-Tuul said as he began to walk away.

A portal opened up right in front of Re-Tuul, and the demon walked through it, appearing on the other side of the fist.

"What the hell does it look like?" he replied, grinning.

"You were used. Easy to understand, no? You were used, like the tool you are. I don't think I need to make it any clearer than that."