Matt almost froze in place when he saw people. Dammit, he forgot he wasn't the only guy on board! This would be awkward as hell, that was for sure. Putting on a casual, unconcerned face, he made his way toward the exit as quickly as possible, taking care not to bump into anyone else. Just keep your head up and a tune in your heart...let's try and find Papllion and see if we can make ourselves useful.

Sounds of work floated into the J-Ark from the starboard exit port as Matt neared the ramp. The outside between Kushinada and the J-Ark was a scene of chaos as people ran back and forth accomplishing daily chores. A loud, commanding, and ultimately irritated voice carried over the din.

"No, no, the rations go into that stack, munitions into... No! What did I just got through saying!?"

There was a loud crash, followed by the snapping of a small handheld device, crushed in a large hand in anger.

===In NationStates General===

"Sounds reasonable," the warrior murmured, at ease with the Warblade's sentiments. It was not unlike himself at one time. Frowning, the warrior lifted up his shield and looked at it, noting its melted surface, testament to the Queen's deflected attack. "At any rate, I need to repair my equipment."

Where did that come from? Matt quickly scanned the area, taking in the din of the scene. No indication of where that came from. Was it one of the other major crew members that Papllion mentioned? Eh...he'd rather stick with someone he knew. Matt descended the ramp, hoping the source of the voice didn't notice him and loudly drawing attention.

Bryant nodded lazily as he looked over to his wife and brother. They checked their supplies on weapons and ammo. Their supply was well intact, but small in effectiveness. That is all that scared the trio. Their guns may have seemed fearful before, and in their hands they felt like tools of destructing. But after seeing that of the seven, the true bringers of destruction, their guns were mere child play. However, they could believe that maybe it would be enough for the trio, enough for them to live on and find this scepter. However, the trio was merely a duo in this case. Bryant had other things on his mind. Mostly his wife and that of RD. No, he didn’t feel that RD would suddenly scoop up his wife and carry her away, but in a way RD was responsible for Veronica’s life. More than either knew.

Bryant shook his head, no, think not of that. He must focus on the current objective. While his secondary would remain in the back of his mind, Bryant groped around his belt finding his two 9mm and a few grenades. They would be used more a distraction than a weapon. Again, he felt small and unnerved by the sheer power of the seven and their minions. Though he attempted to keep hope in his heart, it was weak. His heart was heavy, and crying.

R.D. snagged his thumbs in his pockets, contemplating on the upcoming battles, among other things. Why did he suddenly know things about the Dragon Tribe? How did he know that they were battling Sheena in the frozen wastes of Antarctica? And why did he feel a cold fury whenever he thought of the Dark Goddess of Ice Dragons, anyway? This doesn't make sense, he thought with a frown, This knowledge is as strange as how my eyes changed color. Why is it happening?

There'd be more battles after the one with Sheena, too. If Sheena is destroyed and the original being freed, two of the Seven Beasts will have been dethroned, freeing Africa and Antarctica from NightShade's control. The Dragon Tribes would probably move on and begin an assault on the next continent. Could there be a chance they'd join Juno's army? And if they could join his army, perhaps...

Deciding on something, R.D. looked back to the Hartnetts and said, "I'll be back in a moment. I need to talk to Juno about something."

The amnesiac teen trotted off, moving through the crowds of warriors and Reaverbots to the front, where he found Juno, Thresh, Gatz, and Derek. Approaching the purple-haired Ancient leader, he tapped his white armor and said, "Juno."

===In Repli-Earth===

Perhaps it was fate, or just bad luck. As Matt walked by, he passed by the site where the accident had happened. Various stacks of gold-colored boxes, adorned with the distinctive emerald GGG emblem were off to his right side, and one of them had fallen over, all over the place. GGG crewmembers were running around frantically, trying to pick up the strewn containers as a large, dark-skinned man yelled at them.

The man looked to be the embodiment of macho itself. Green hair was put up in a distinctive mohawk style, contrasting with his dark skin. He was quite musclebound, and his strength was displayed for all to see with the sleeves of his coat missing. The fragments of a transceiver device were strewn about his feet, yet another one was in his hand as he barked orders in a loud, strong voice.

There was a shifting at the top of one of the stacks as Matt passed by. The wings of his armor accidentally brushed one of the boxes, and the entire thing shifted precariously before finally tipping over, threatening to fall on the armored boy.

The noise caught the attention of the man, and turning, he suddenly shouted, "Hey, kid! Get out of the way!"

Edited by RisingDragon on February 5, 2008 at 19:49:30.

Instinct kicked in. As soon as Matt saw the stack of boxes fall toward him, he sent his heavy body rolling to the right, in a defensive dodge he has used before during his time fighting with others. He quickly mustered to his feet in the same roll just as the stack scattered along the ground.

Uh oh. That wasn't good. Matt quickly stood. Not good, not good-

"Sorry!" he shouted back, pretending nothing about him was strange at all. "Didn't see where I was goin'!"

The man had quickly made his way over to Matt, a grim look on his face. Bringing up the transceiver up to his mouth, he yelled, "What the hell did I tell you people about stacking the containers correctly!? You nearly killed someone down here!"

As the crewmembers rapidly made their way over to the fallen stack to fix it, the macho man turned and looked over Matt. "You okay, kid?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah." Matt shifted his eyes left and right. "It's fine. Sometimes stuff falls, it happens."

"Aye, but with this lot, its happening all the time," the man said, touching his forehead in exasperation as he looked at the crew as they worked. Looking back at Matt, the man extended a hand to Matt. "Name's Geki Hyuuma. You're that Matt kid that Guy found, right?"

Matt grasped the hand and shook it, without much confidence. "Yeah. Taiga brought me up to speed about the whole situation." Well, at least Hyuuma knew about him. "I was just lookin' for Papllion to see if there was anything I could do around here to help out. Figure I gotta earn my keep, ya know?"

"Right," Hyuuma said, "If you want to help, just ask around."

The man began lifting one of the larger boxes; he was easily strong enough to pick it up without a problem. Placing the box back on the stack, he looked back and said, "If you still want to see Papillon, she's probably up in the Kushinada."

"Okay. Thanks."

Matt started to walk away before pausing.

"I actually have a request, if you can help me with that," he said.

Hyuuma paused in the middle of putting up a second box on the stack to look at Matt. "Yeah?"

Matt looked back at Hyumma with a serious face. "Do you have any kind of transport avaliable? I want to look around the ruins that Guy found me at." Perhaps there was something there that crashed along with him...

Hyuuma pushed the container back in place before stepping back, thinking. "Yeah, actually," he said, "I think they just managed to fix up the GunDober and GunGlue."

"Who do I talk to about using them?"

"Me!" Hyuuma declared, pointing his thumb at his chest, "I've used GunGlue quite a bit back on Earth, so we can use that. Come on."

GGG's second in command motioned for Matt to follow him. As Hyuuma proceeded, he turned on the transceiver he held and spoke into it.

"Oi, the new kid wanted to check out where Guy found him," he said into the device, "I'm gonna take him on GunGlue. It is fixed, right?"

"Fortunately for you, I've just finished fine-tuning it," Liger's voice crackled back. "I'll send Guy with you as well. Just be sure not to break it when it gets out the door!"

"Yeah, yeah," he said, shutting the device off. He muttered something unintelligible under his breath. He guided Matt around to the side of Kushinada, just as a cargo hanger door opened up. Walking up the ramp, he made his way over to a small helicopter, adorned in standard police department colors of black and white. Opening the cockpit, he motioned Matt. "Come on, into the back seat. Guy should be here in a moment or two."

Matt briefly wondered if he could fit inside. He wedged himself in, struggling with the useless folded wingspan of the armor. He couldn't even sit down properly, the damn things were in the way. After some manipulation of the things, he could take an uncomfortable seat. Piece of shit armor.

Soon Guy arrived, piling into the seat next to Hyuuma. "Hey there, Matt."

"Hey."

"Why do you want to see the place where I found you?"

Matt's eyes narrowed. "I want to see if I can find any clues about the armor and anything else."

Hyuuma swung himself into the pilot seat and gripped the control yokes. Looking at Guy, he said, "We should probably see if we can find that energy signature again while we're there. Well, lead the way."

The canopy of the GunGlue lowered into place, and the rotor began spinning as it warmed up.

They set off toward the ruins-not terribly far from the J-Ark, but still enough of a distance that would take a while to reach. Matt found himself peering out over the terrain below-like Taiga mentioned, it definitely looked like Earth. As he took it all in, his mind drifted toward other matters.

Was there a reason he landed here, of all places? Was he even supposed to live? It seemed like he was forced to survive, to wear the armor of FINAL as a fitting punishment, maybe a cleansing of sin.

...did he die? Was this a sort of purgatory? And how long would it be before he could pass on?

He pushed those thoughts aside as Guy said, "Down there. That's where I found him." He pointed down toward a massive area of toppled buildings, crushed by an incredible impact into near unrecognizable pieces.

Hyuuma whistled inside the cockpit as he angled GunGlue over the city while descending. "Damn, that's some damage. Hey Guy, is this one of the places where the Mobile Unit fought?"

"No," Guy answered. "The meteor caused it."

"The meteor?" Matt repeated.

"Yeah. A meteor came down one day. It hit this area hard, and we all felt it back at the base. When I went to investigate, I detected the energy signature and followed it until I found you."

Matt leaned back. So he came here through a meteor...appropriate, he thought bitterly, for an engine of destruction.

"Alright, we're landing," Hyuuma informed Matt, "Just hold on for a moment."

Skillfully, the GGG second in command guided GunGlue down to a relatively flat, rubble-free stretch of asphalt near the impact site and touched down. As he shut off the helicopter, he opened up the cockpit for Matt to exit and begin his search.

Matt stepped out. The ruined landscape greeted him as he glanced over it. "Can you take me to exactly where you found me?" he asked Guy.

"Sure."

Guy lead the others to a small opening within the rubble, big enough to squeeze through if one crouched down. Branching into a wider room that remained nearly intact, a large hole angled near the roof and singed to near blackness pointed down to a smaller crater-the point of impact.

Matt walked over and squatted, rummanging through the rubble with clawed fingers. He wasn't sure of what he could find, but he had to make sure there was nothing else...

...hello, what's this?

A glint of something reflective caught Matt's eye. Dusting away a rock or two revealed the bluish fragment of glass, somehow brilliant despite the lack of light.

"What's that?" Guy asked, also noticing the shard.

Matt gently took the fragment between two fingers.

What the-?!

It felt like liquid fire was being poured through his nerves. Images of past events and lives flashed through his mind with such blinding speed and pain that Matt cried out, tossing away the shard as he bent over, cradling his hand in immense agony.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" Hyuuma said, looking at the shard that Matt flung. His voice seemed louder than normal in the enclosed space. "You alright, kid?"

Amid the pain he knew what that thing was. He was so familiar to it by now.

The Omega Core...!

Soon it began to subside, and slowly, feeling returned to his hand. "-yeah," he managed. "I'm fine."

"You sure?" Guy asked.

"My hand just...felt this really weird feedback," Matt replied. "Then it felt like it was burning. But now it's gone."

Guy looked to the shard now. "Whatever that thing is, it looks dangerous."

"We gotta take it with us," Matt said, bringing himself to one knee, still tightly gripping his wrist. "It may be a clue."

Guy frowned. "Well...if we do bring it, we'd better get some equipment to handle it. I don't want anyone else getting injured because of it."

Hyuuma had flipped out his transceiver once more and spoke into it. "Oi, Doc, the kid's found something. We think you better get some people down here and check it out."

"What is it?" Liger asked.

"It's a shard of glass," Guy answered. "But when Matt touched it, his hand felt like it was on fire. It doesn't look like any normal glass, either. It may be something left over from when Matt landed here."

A pause from Liger-but not too long, as his mind was quick to figure out what was neccessary for the job. "All right, I'll give it a look. I'll be right over with GunDober."