R.D. slipped into the front seat on the passenger side of the car, his eyes still scanning the surrounding area in case Diablo had brought reinforcements with him.

"Let's get out of here while we still have the chance," he said, only moments after he realized he had a entire new slew of memories to sort through.

After carefully allowing Helena to clothe herself, the group piled into the Firebird. "I say we go get some food from, like, a restaurant or something," Matt said, closing the door along with all the others. "I don't care if no one's there, I'm hungry."

"We'd better get in and get out, then," Hugo muttered from the backseat, sitting down-he needed to take a load off after that fight. "Every damn city's probably crawling with monsters, and I'm too tired to kick their asses."

R.D. fought back a chuckle, and remained silent. He did, however, reach into the pocket dimension inside the pack that Alasea gave him, and pulled out a sandwich. He leaned back in his seat as they drove, eating contently.

Edited by RisingDragon on May 29, 2007 at 13:37:38.

The drive was uneventful, thank God, and soon the Firebird, having travelled down one of those really long paved roads you see in those movies, approached the ruins of a city. They passed debris sprawled across ruined cars and other landmarks, but it seemed like everyone had evacuated before the shit hit the fan, since there were no visible bodies. Still, the whole place, like any ruined city, felt pretty unpleasant.

"Let's hope the fridges work," Matt remarked.

R.D. finished his second sandwich--he wasn't sure, he suddenly had a much larger appetite--and looked about for a restaurant. "I still don't see why you won't eat the food Alasea gave us," he said idly.

"I deserve restaurant food," Matt reasoned. "After all, while you dealt the finishing blow, I was a tremendous asset to the overall battle." He made a short sideways nod to Helena, who sat in the passenger seat up front. "And Helena did pretty good, too."

She looked at her knees. "Well, I did what I had to do."

"That being said, I feel like chicken tonight," Matt continued. "Or...whatever food we find. Which hopefully doesn't suck."

"We're in Japan," R.D. said, rolling his eyes as he scarfed down a third sandwich, "If you want chicken, you'll have to delve into what Alli left us. All you'll find here is ramen and sushi."

"They've got American food, just like they got Chinese food over in America!" Matt said. "I'll find something, you watch."

"Do you think it would be safer to rest in this city than out in the open?" Helena asked. "I mean, if it's already been attacked, then there's no reason for any monsters to come back, is there?"

Hugo nodded, with his whole body like he usually did. "She's got a point. And at least we'll have a building around us."

"Yeah, sure, Matt," R.D. said, "Except everything is written in kanji. I don't know about you, but I sure as hell can't read it."

He then turned to Helena. "Right now, I don't think it matters where we stay. We were attacked only a day after we got back here, so at least one of the enemy sides knows we're here," he said, "So we can stay in a building, so long as Matt and I stand guard."

"I can!" Matt declared dramatically, jabbing a thumb at his chest. "For I am incredible."

"I'm sure." Standing up, Hugo did his best to peer out the window at the left side of the street. Noticing a nearly intact building, he said, "That place looks good, we should rest there."

"All right." Turning the car around, Matt made an attempt at parking along the sidewalk next to the bulding, not quite landing it at a straight angle. "Eh. Who gives a fuck."

R.D. left the car first, holding a Phase Blade ready in his right hand, the other holding a sphere of energy. His eyes scanned the nearby buildings, darting back and forth to anything that can be considered an entrance, whether it be a door, window, or sewer.

"I can't sense anything here," he said, continuing his sentry. "No lifesigns in the shadows, nothing in the skies or beneath the ground, nothing moving about the buildings. Looks like it's clear... for now."

"Because!" Meta said, turned to face Electra, "Kuro is there, as well as those other two little pals of yours. And Kuro probably will have some answers, and I don't think any of you, and neither I, would like to lose them prematurely."

The building they had selected was one of the shorter buildings near the border of the city-it seemed to be a bank, from the looks of the inside. Again, no people, but the dividing ropes that made up the normal line at the bank were scattered to the side, and all the lights were off, casting uncertain shadows. As night was coming soon, Matt gestured to the center of the room, conjuring an orb of light that banished the darkness. "Hugo, I want you to sleep first, since you can stay awake longer than us so you can take the second shift."

"All right," the Mettaur said, eyeing the room.

"I can take watch too," Helena offered. "It usually takes me a while to get to sleep anyway."

"Sounds good." Sticking his hands in his pockets, Matt turned back toward the entrance. "Helena, you're with me. R.D., you stay with Hugo and search this place."

"Right," R.D. said, looking about. He looked about the room for a brief moment, then picked a door way and strode to it, entering it. "Try not to blow up anything you shouldn't, Matt," he called back to his friend as he exited the room.

"Eh heh heh," Matt laughed in a wooden, sarcastic fashion as he exited the bank, with Helena in tow. "Shut up."

R.D. continued to search through the bank, stepping carefully through the darkened rooms. After a while, he couldn't see anything clearly, and with a thought, summoned the Dragon King Armor. The cobalt and azure armor materialized around his body within moments, and the visor closed down over his face. The area suddenly seemed illuminated, and the scanner in it quickly went about pointing objects of interest, most of which he ignored.

This place seems pretty empty, the amnesiac teen thought sourly, Whoever was here certainly left in a hurry. Not that I can blame them.

Something flickered at the edge of his vision, and immediately the ring of light and energy pistons appeared on his arms. Dark energy charged into his fists, and his arm whipped out and fired the Entangler shot at the moving object.

It made a strange hiss and stopped, and R.D. walked over it, picking it up. It was a large, mutatedinsect, nothing ever seen before on Earth. Yet R.D. has seen its like on Khalis, the ruined world left behind in Ziatoch's destructive wake. Countless numbers of these insects roamed the frozen city they traveled through. Luckily for them, the insects were harmless, and R.D. released the creature, letting it scurry back into the protective darkness.

"It can't already be happening here... can it?" he muttered in disbelief.

"A wild guess." Meta said. "And the fact that our two little companions shot off into that direction." She said, pointing a finger southwards. "They flew that way, south, and I do not think that they would have any other reason to do that but rejoin with some old faces. Otherwise, they would likely have attacked us."

Her arm lowered, and she turned and looked Derek in the eyes. "So let's go south, immediately."

"R.D.!" Hugo's voice shouted from a nearby hall-he had decided to stay near to the boy in case something suddenly happened. "Find anything?"

"Just an insect," R.D. called back, his eyes scanning the area once more, "One of the kind we found on Khalis. So I'm starting to wonder if there's another giant spider somewhere in the city."

"Shit." In a little bit, Hugo came back into view, pickaxe still passing through the air in warning to potential enemies. "And it's getting dark soon...I hope Matt and Helena didn't go far."

"If they don't come back soon," R.D. said, allowing the visor on his helmet to retract, "I'll go out and look for them. They couldn't have gotten too far."

R.D. concentrated and formed an orb of light, allowing it to illuminate the room. The insect from earlier hissed at it and scurried past Hugo and out of sight.

"The spider I'm not too worried about," he continued, "I'm more worried about the possibility of Ing being out there."

"Probably not much, though, since this world's not as bad as Khalis was." Hugo lit his own flame at the end of his pickaxe-he felt better if he held one himself. "Let's go find them now and let them know."

"Yeah," R.D. said, readying his Phase Blade once more, "Let's go."

R.D. led the way outside, looking about the streets as the sun began its descent to the horizon. The helmet closed up again and he activated the scanner in the visor, carefully looking around in search of his friends' lifesigns. The scanner quickly found him, a few blocks off behind some buildings, or possibly in them. He wasn't sure.

"Found'em. Let's go."

"Where are they?" Hugo asked, quickly taking the lead.

"That way," R.D. said, pointing off to the left, "Couple blocks down, either inside a building or behind it. They certainly moved fast."

"Damn it, what the hell kind of restaurant is he searching for?" the Mettaur complained. Pushing open the bank door with his foot, he piled out into the street, activating his sensors to detect life signs-if this town was really abandoned, he could find out where exactly they were.

"Hell if I know," R.D. said, "He's certainly the type who'd be picky, with that ego of his. He like this often?"

As Hugo advanced down the ruined street, his weapon was up, trained in front of him. "Yeah. Most of the time he wants things to go his way. But he says he's working on that."