"We... didn't know if you would be hostile or not when you would finally awaken," Papillon said, her voice ever so soft. "Considering what your armor looks like, it was a necessary precaution."

Edited by RisingDragon on January 25, 2008 at 21:07:39.

"...armor?"

Armor...

...oh, no.

"Untie my arm," Matt snapped. "Now."

Papillon hesitated at Matt's command. However, with the edge in his voice, it would probably be best to comply with his order, and she quickly moved and undid the leather binding on his right arm.

It would probably be best to get Guy and J down here, as well.

He lifted his arm up to his face, look at his hand. As he stared at those emerald-tipped claws, it all came coming back to him. The Eternal Sanctuary. Core Genesis. Helena dead in his arms. His anger, his hatred. His last words to R.D., and the fatal blow dealt to him.

Dragon Drive FINAL...it still lingered on his body, long after its defeat.

He wanted to say something, but no words would really come. Nothing could describe those...atrocities.

Matt had to get up. He had to leave this place. His free claw dug at the strap over his chest with heavy, sloppy effort. Still, the way he worked...anyone would guess him to be a man momentarily possessed.

Dark-skinned hands touched the emerald metal on Matt's gauntlet, trying to still him. "Please," Papillon said, her voice soothing, "Let me help."

She had to trust her instinct on this matter. From what she felt with the Sensing Mind in the brief time she probed his mind, she believed that this person was a gentle soul, despite his fierce appearance. She quickly went about undoing the bindings holding him down before stepping back, allowing him room to sit up or stand.

Matt was about to push away Papillon, but as she went to work on his bindings, he let her be. With the straps undone, he could now fully sit up, and he quickly scanned his surroundings-a small, futuristic kind of lab, with equipment humming along the walls. With total haste in mind, he swiveled his legs off the table, and pushed himself onto his feet.

Something gave. Maybe it was the unexpected weight of the armor or his own weakness, but Matt promptly crashed to the floor with a resounding noise, one that would no doubt attract attention. "Damn it!" The armor's wings clanked uselessly about him as he struggled to rise.

Papillon quickly knelt down next to Matt, placing a hand on his shoulder. There was something in his voice that pulled at her, some sort of buried sorrow. What had he gone through to make him act this way?

However, the commotion had not gone unnoticed. There was a strange sound of metallic footsteps coming from outside the hall, steadily growing louder. The door slid open once more, shining light down on the fallen Matt and Papillon. Another figure stood in the doorway, another woman, this time dressed in a long, light-pink coat. Her red hair fanned out over her shoulders, and resting on the bridge of her nose were small, red-tinted glasses. Her right hand was made of metal, with a green gem embedded in the side of her golden arm.

The woman stared at the two of them on the floor for a brief moment, and then a long-barreled pistol suddenly appeared in her left hand, aimed at Matt. Unlike Papillon, it seemed this woman would be taking no chances at all.

"Renais!"

Upon seeing the newcomer, Papillon jumped to her feet, spreading her arms out in an effort to shield Matt. "Don't shoot him!"

Another man, this one with a long brown mane, had also heard the noise, and his feet quickly carried him toward the scene. He stopped as soon as he turned a corner, noticing Renais standing in the open doorway of the makeshift lab, brandishing her weapon at something.

Matt glared up at the newcomer. Shit...this was the last thing he needed! Damn his heavy limbs...

The man outside pulled out a communicator, flipped it open. "Commander! We've got a situation at the labratory!"

"Papillon," Renais said shortly, "What's going on here?" Her weapon never deviated from where it was pointed: at Matt, were Papillon not in the way.

"The boy that Guy found," Papillon explained quickly to Renais, "He woke up when I came to study him. He seems friendly enough, I feel no hostility coming from him. I don't think he'll harm us. There is... something about the armor he wears that is bothering him."

"I don't want to hurt anyone," Matt agreed, staring at that gun. "I just want some answers."

Renais' gun never wavered as she looked straight into Papillon's eyes. After a long moment, Renais conceded, lowering her gun before it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared when she drew it. Stepping back, the red-haired woman folded her arms, staring at Matt silently, and allowing room for anyone else to enter.

Edited by RisingDragon on January 25, 2008 at 22:12:15.

Soon, the brown-haired man entered next to Renais-he looked young and healthy, wearing a golden vest over a skintight green shirt, illustrating his thin physique. His eyes in particular were quite strong, as they settled on Matt. "So...you've finally waken up, huh?"

"Who are you supposed to be?" Matt asked, grabbing the edge of the table to prepare to hoist himself up.

"My name's Guy Shishio," the man answered. "I found you in the ruins of the city near the east."

Matt raised himself up. Carefully. "So you're Guy, huh? Why'd you bring me here?"

"You're the only other human we've seen on this planet." Guy glanced at Renais. "Though your armor's nothing like we've ever seen. Still, I couldn't just leave you there."

"You should've." His claws clenched tighter, digging into the table. "You should've just left me to rot."

Renais turned her gaze back onto Matt, gazing at him over her glasses. Her arms remained folded. "And what makes you say that, boy?" she asked coolly. While she looked relaxed, the tension that he was suddenly displaying had her on edge. She was ready to spring in case the boy planned to fight.

"Who's in charge here?" Matt asked, changing tactics. "I wanna talk to him or her or whoever."

"Well, I guess that'll be Commander Taiga, then," Guy replied. "I can go get him for you, if you want."

Matt slumped back on the table. "Thanks." Folding his clawed hands together, he bowed his head. What a fine mess he was in now.

Guy nodded. "Right." He glanced at Renais before leaving the way he came. "Keep an eye on him."

Renais nodded. "Right," she said as Guy passed by her. Her sharp blue eyes remained on the distraught boy in armor. Papillon returned to the stool she had sat on before, watching Matt carefully. She could probably use her Sensing Mind on him to find out what was going on, but the boy had already proven he could detect it. The room remained in silence as they waited for Guy to return with the Commander.

He was being punished, that much he could determine. Dragon Drive FINAL was his weapon of vengeance-turned him into the very weapon itself-and, in a bout of irony, bound him to the weapon that had spiralled out of control. Perhaps he had dabbled in affairs beyond mere men. Perhaps the fates themselves now played their hand and condemned him to this punishment. He would've tried to remove the armor, if he didn't already guess that wasn't going to work.

Guy soon returned with another man, this one with a prominent quiff in his blond hair. He seemed older and sturdier than Guy in form, clothed in black with a shirt partially open near the neck. "Hello," he said.

Matt glanced up. "Taiga, right?"

"Yes. My name is Kotarou Taiga. I an the head commander of the Gutsy Galaxy Guard." A pause as he caught himself. "Well, what's left of it."

"I want to talk to you," Matt said. "I need to know what's going on here." An offhand glance at Renais. "You can keep your gunslinger around if it makes you feel better."

Taiga nodded in all seriousness. "What do you want to know first?"

"Everything. What this place is, who you people are...what I'm doing here."

"Chief, perhaps we should get Uncle Liger to check him out again," Guy suggested.

"Good idea, Guy," Taiga replied. "Papillon, Renais, please go with Guy and find Doctor Liger."

Hearing the Commander's order, Papillon and Renais both stood quickly, exiting the room with Guy. As they walked, Renais' gold metal boots made a soft clanking noise with each step. "There's something strange about that kid," Renais commented as she placed her hands within the pockets of her cooling coat.

"Aside from the armor, you mean?" Guy said.

"He's obviously not a cyborg, and he's not a special alien like Amami or Kaidou," Renais said, "If either were the case, I'd have heard his parts going when he moved, or he'd have no trouble moving around in an armor that wasn't powered by a G-Stone or a J-Jewel. Instead, we find him collapsed on the floor wearing armor much too heavy for him."

Renais sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. "So what kind of human kid goes running around and fighting in armor like that? The old fart better have some answers about it."

Guy frowned. "When I first found him, I could detect some sort of residual energy in the area he was in...it felt a bit like the G-Stone, but mostly different." This didn't make much sense, even with his Evoulder powers. "Did you manage to catch anything unusual too, Papillon?"

"No," Papillon said quietly. "My time with him was brief. While I was able to find out what kind of person he was, I was forced to stop probing, as he detected my presence very quickly. He must have some experience with other people entering his mind."

"Hmmm." And here Guy thought that they wouldn't have to deal with anything strange on this alien world called Repli-Earth. Maybe there were more secrets where this boy came from. "Well, I'm sure Uncle'll be able to find out something else, now that the boy's awake."

***

"A duplicate Earth..." Matt repeated.

"Yes." Taiga had taken to the stool next to the table, where he folded his hands together on his lap, observing their strange guest. "After the battle with the Sol Masters, we settled here. We've managed to secure resources so that the entire crew can survive while we attempt to signal our comrades near Earth."

"...that really sucks."

Taiga smiled confidently. "We've banded closer together due to our situation. We always have courage, and believe that we'll return home someday."

"That's good." It was a sentiment Matt could hardly share right now.

The young man hadn't really budged much, always carrying the same downcast expression since they spoke. "What about you?" Taiga asked. "Where do you come from?"

Matt laughed shortly. "At first I figured that you wouldn't believe me, but after hearing that story, you might buy this one."

"Let's hear it."

Matt peered down at Taiga, as if looking over the rims of glasses that weren't on his face. "I come from a different dimension."

***

"So he's finally up? That's good. He didn't try to attack you, did he?"

"No, Uncle," Guy answered, watching Doctor Liger tinker with some electronics in an attempt to create another power generator. "He's talking with the commander now. We figured that you could check him out again."

Liger pushed his strange, oddly colored hat back solidly onto his bald head. "Well, all right. Though I doubt I can learn anything else from him."

Renais frowned slightly as the conversation with her father, so to speak, continued. Her arms were out of her cooling coat again, folded in front of her. Papillon said in that quiet voice of hers, "It could be possible that with him awake, he will be cooperative when you examine him. We might be able to learn more from him."

"Here?" The man asked. "This is our city! NationStates General, land of the Trolls!"

~~~

"All right, stupid. We're here"

"Fass... this is just an open plain."

"Yeah. It's to make sure you don't lose face in front of everybody else when you make an idiot of yourself in a minute or two."

"I hate you."

"I get that a lot."

"Then let's go see our strange friend!" Hopping off his seat, Liger tipped over the rocket-propelled skateboard. As he landed on it, it kicked into action, sending him hurtling through the doorway and out into the hall with a burst of immense speed.

"I'm going to check on Mikoto," Guy said to his companions. "Can you help Uncle if he needs anything?"

Renais, watching her father, shook her head and sighed in exasperation, quickly following him out the door. Papillon looked at Guy for a moment and said, "We will," before following her friend and the doctor.

===In NationStates General===

The warrior looked about briefly. The people here looked human. Turning his gaze back onto large man, he said, "You certainly don't look like any trolls I've seen."

"So eventually we hopped to a dimension called the Eternal Sanctuary," Matt continued. "It was like...the weirdest place I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of stuff in my time."

Taiga really didn't know whether to believe Matt after all. There he sat, speaking of his adventures across this Multiverse, and though Taiga was naturally accepting of many things, he couldn't help but feel a bit of skepticism. Still, Matt was sincere so far, so for now, he could assume it was all true.

And if it was all true, this young man had seen things Taiga could only dream of.

There was a familiar skid of wheels outside of the makeshift lab, and the doors parted to reveal a small, old man. He was wearing an outlandishly colored suit and strange hat, and he picked up what appeared to be a rocket-powered skateboard. "Hello, commander!"

"Hello, Doctor Liger," Taiga said, standing up. He gestured at Matt. "Allow me to introduce Matt."

"My, my." Liger bravely outstretched his hand toward their armored guest. "It's very nice to meet you, Matt."

"...same here." Matt gripped Liger's hand and they shook limply. "I guess you wanna check this out, huh?" He tapped the emerald plating about his arm with the back of a claw.

"I already know as much as I could discover about your armor," Liger replied. "Though I'd like to take a look at your bio-signs now that you're awake. But I really just wanted to speak with you about it."

Matt shrugged. "Sure, I guess. I dunno if I can really tell you much, though." He glanced over Liger's head at the door. "Where's Gunslinger?"

Liger chuckled. "You'll have to excuse Renais. She's only concerned for our well-being. You must admit that your armor looks quite fearsome, so she probably wanted to make sure that you wouldn't harm anyone."

That sinking feeling returned. "Yeah..."

The distinctive clanking was heard again, slowing down as Renais appeared at the door. Papillon soon followed, slightly out of breath, yet Renais didn't seem winded at all. The women entered the room again, returning to their original positions. It seemed they had missed the explanation.

As the door parted, Guy fully stepped into Mikoto's room. At once, the smell of the flowers she kept passed through him, enhanced by his Evoulder nature. Mikoto herself was propped up in her bed, reading, and looked up at him. "Hi."

"Hey, Mikoto." He sat down in the chair angled to the side of her bed. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling pretty good." The young woman pushed aside strands of burgundy hair from her face. "Anything going on?"

"The boy we found the other day woke up. He's not hostile, thankfully."

"Really?" Mikoto sat up straight. "Did you find out where he came from?"

"The commander and Uncle Liger are talking to him now," Guy answered. "Maybe he knows how he came to Repli-Earth...and maybe how to get out."

***

"All right, then." Liger stepped back, observing his handiwork-with few places to stick electrodes, he could only place three of them on Matt's bare face. "Now, while I get this running, why don't you tell us as much as you know about this armor?"

Matt knew he couldn't speak about the armor's true origins. He didn't even want to think about it. "...I don't know where I got it from. All I remember was falling down something, and then I ended up here."

"Was it one of those dimensional holes that you mentioned?" Taiga asked.

"Yeah. I fell through a dimensional gateway. I know that much."

"Gateway?" Renais said, her head perking up. She turned and looked at Taiga. "What's he mean by dimensional gateway?"