R.D. blinked as he saw the Reaverbot armada surface from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. "Good god," R.D. muttered, looking at them all. "Where the hell do you find these things?"

===In Repli-Earth===

"Come on," the crewmember said, "Let's save the ones we can."

"Looking around, he swore. "Dammit! We have to get out of here, quickly. We'll run out of air if we don't."

R.D., choosing not to get on one of the aquatic Reaverbots, instead brought out the Riptide, and herded the three Hartnetts onboard to help him pilot it. The armored craft traveled at a steady pace at the lead of the armada, its turrets moving back and forth in search of targets, with R.D. standing at the prow.

Soon, Sheena, R.D. thought, staring off into the horizon, Soon we'll settle this, and I'll show you that you still haven't learned anything.

He never even wondered why the thought was alien to him.

Matt glanced back toward the door. No problem, he'd just force out the rubble and-

Wait.

Damn it, he didn't have the Core anymore! All of the options he could've used immediately vanished in his mind with this realization. Great.

Still, Matt wasn't without any ideas. "We don't have any digging equipment or explosives, do we..." he muttered, somewhat audible.

Turning away from the prow, R.D. went back between two of the turrets and entered the cabin. "Hope you guys have some warm clothing," he said to the three Hartnetts, "You're going to need them when we get to Antarctica."

===In Repli-Earth===

"No, dammit," the crewmember said, "Looks like we're gonna have to dig our way out with our hands."

Looking around, the man raised his voice. "Anyone still have a working transceiver?"

There was some shuffling. "We might," another one said, "But we don't know if its been damaged. And we might've dropped them somewhere in here."

"Crud. Someone find a working transceiver and radio the outside. We need to get out of here, and fast."

===Onboard Kushinada===

"Chief," the quiet voice of Papillon said as she turned in her chair, "Someone has reported an accident at the C-8 sector of the ruins. They are requesting for excavation equipment."

"How much can we spare, Doctor Liger?" Taiga asked, arms folded.

"We have a few Carpenters on standby," Liger replied. "Beyond that...not much."

"Send out all the equipment we can." Taiga's brow furrowed. "We can't waste any time."

***

Matt began to search the debris for a spare transceiver. Damn it, damn it, damn it! He felt so useless right now...if only he could bust through the rock blocking the door, they'd be free!

"Yeah, don't worry." Bryant said as he put down a fur coat, that seemingly came out of nowhere. Veronica and Brandon put theirs next to Bryant’s on a bench.

“We snagged a couple out of the tank. Thing’s got nearly everything.” Bryant said, almost proudly as he looked back to RD. He then began to walk a bit around the cabin, getting his sea legs. Veronica had to lean against a wall to be sure she wouldn’t just tumble over. She wasn’t much of a fan of water. Not so much scared, just got sea-sick easily sometimes. Brandon was much sterner however, he looked outside fearless of the water.

“So about how long will it take to get there?” Veronica then asked, a bit unnerved as the boat tipped and bobbed about.

"Shouldn't be too long," R.D. said, looking out the window, "Reaverbots can get pretty fast, and so can this thing. We don't have to worry about being left behind, that's for sure."

Keeping an eye out at the cold blue horizon, he frowned slightly.

"The only thing we have to worry about is what happens when we get there."

===In Repli-Earth===

A number of the crew began moving rocks out of the way as carefully as possible; they now realized that if they weren't, they could possibly bring the entire roof down on them. Hopefully help could get there in time.

===

Outside, GGG crew was gathering. Hyuuma was there, supervising the lesser-ranked crew in clearing the area and getting debris cleaned. As he yelled out orders, he wondered just when Guy and Renais would get here, hopefully bringing the Carpenters with them. Hell, even the GunMachines would be useful here.

===In Xobelisk===

In the dark recesses of the Throne of Souls, Ziatoch sat, gazing through a scrying screen while in a shadow golem. Red eyes peered through the darkness onto the cowering humans, surveying the current battlefields and regions under the control of the Six Beasts of the Dark Apocalypse.

It wasn't long before He came upon a region where the humans were far from afraid, and far from enslaved. This proved entertaining for the Destroyer of Worlds... He wondered how long before someone came upon this rebellion and squashed it.

With a quick motion of His hand, a red portal opened up, splitting the air before revolving into a oblong oval shape, with tendrils of burning energy whipping around it, the edge burning brightly, while the innards of the portal was a deep, dark crimson.

"Damian, come to Me."

From the confines of which currently held the body to Damian, a pair of eyes opened. Cursed eyes, burnt from the fires of Hell more than enough times. The covering, which covered his torso, slowly shifted as the he felt the portal open. Before he could even complete a half conscious thought to the meaning of this though, his calling came. The tone from the voice only the blessed of the cursed normally heard. The covering was cast his side, his mind now fully alert. The Destroyer of Worlds required his presence, and he was only too happy to oblige.

Bare feet pushed off the ground, pushing him through the portal. Was it even ground? Before he could come up with the conclusion for his own question, he had reached the end of the newly opened gateway. No more than the step to exit was taken before his knee lowered his body into a kneeling position. Damian kept his head low in respect for the great Ziatoch, and he spoke with a firm but still child-pitched voice, “What would my Lord ask of me?”

“Ok…” Veronica sat down on a chair, a bit dizzy still. Bryant nodded as he stood next to RD he looked with him for a moment then stiffened his jaw. He readied his tongue so he could ask what was needed. Bryant wanted to ask much as he could before the operation began.

“So, how much resistance do you think my party will meet while you keep Sheena busy?” Bryant asked casually as he stared with RD.

In one motion, Guy swerved and landed firmly in GunGlue's cockpit, his long hair waving about. He glanced back at the four Carpenters they had managed to salvage so far. This wasn't really a big job, so four should be all they needed. Still, they had to hurry-"Can you feed me the coordiantes, Renais?"

"I'm not sure," R.D. said, honestly. "I'm banking on the chance that between Juno's army and the Dragon Tribes, Sheena'll send most, if not all, of her Ice Dragons out to meet us. Hopefully the army can spare a few men and Reaverbots to help you when you get inside."

===In Repli-Earth===

"You know as much as I do, Guy," Renais said, hopping into the GunGlue behind Guy, "They're still trying to get a reading on the guys trapped inside. Also trying to figure out who inside is trapped."

===

The work inside the ruins was slowly taking on a desperate tone, as the crew worked faster. Air was running out, and there were injured people inside in need of medical attention. "Anyone find a transceiver yet?" one of the crew asked, his voice strained from the effort of moving the rubble, which was now making a small pile on one side of the room.

===In Xobelisk===

"Come," Ziatoch said, motioning to the boy. "There is something you should see."

The scrying screen turned, rotating back until it was parallel with the Throne of Souls. Within the lucid mists, many teenagers and young adults moved about in a rapid, blasphemous dance as one particular being on a stage sang, and finally declared himself the God of Music. "In the area of the North American continent known as Rhode Island, this child is subverting a large group of mortals. It would be... providential that we secure this entity's allegiance before Carnax and his ilk arrive to stamp out the resistance."

The masses now shouted out the name of the one addressing them on the scrying screen, their voices silent over the air as Ziatoch muted it. "Observe him, and when the right moment comes, approach him. Bring him and his followers into the fold. Now go. Use the shadows."

Edited by RisingDragon on February 8, 2008 at 20:02:51.

“Hopefully, but spare no more than you can. She is one of the seven remember. If something happens and things get out of hand, we should evacuate all we can….” Bryant said, almost trying to be too safe. After glancing to his wife and the thought of losing her forever…just wasn’t worth it in his mind, he wanted her out first if any. The thought of leaving her behind crossed his mind, but he doubt she would let it, and they would need her anyway. Bryant let out a small sigh to himself. He was being selfish. He needed to think of everyone, the world even.

“I think we’ll be fine though.” Bryant said, though not entirely believing his own words of hope. In fact, the closer they got, the less hope shined.

Damian watched in silent interest as he obeyed Ziatoch’s command and witnessed the teenager act ridiculously in front of such large amounts of people. When the sounds muted, and Ziatoch voiced his request, Damian replied simply, “It will be exactly as you have requested, my Lord.”

Without another word, Gouka enveloped Damian leaving a tiny portion of blood on the ground, which sizzled with the heat and evaporated.

.::Rhode Island::.

In an alleyway outside of the building where his target lay, Damian’s body stepped from a pillar of evil fire. His clothing, although enchanted as they were, was beginning to get singed by his travels. It happened though when one tried to simply use clothes donned by the average mortal.

The music from the building blasted onwards, it was indeed a concert. Depending on this person’s location at it, this would either be immensely easy or immensely difficult. Well, it would be better classified as quiet or public. Checking the strap on his gauntlet covering his right hand, Damian proceeded to walk in the shadows until he had gained access to the building.

"Right!" Guy flipped switches on GunGlue's control panel, brining the helicopter to life. "Then let's go! Lead the way!"

***

Something caught Matt's eye, and he pushed away a chunk of rock to reveal a hopefully working transceiver. "Bingo!" He held it up. "Hopefully this works!"

"Don't worry about the Seven," R.D. said, "That's my job."

Turning and stepping towards the door, he looked back, raising a hand and chambering it into a fist with a confident grin. "Don't worry about taking too many people with you. We'll win no matter what we have. We'll do the impossible and kick reason to the curb, just to come out on top."

With a quick motion, he swung himself out of the cabin, pivoting and jumping up onto the roof next to the missile launcher, staring out across the ocean towards Antarctica.

===In Repli-Earth===

"Great!" one of them said, responding to Matt, "Get some word out to the guys outside! Should be on the right frequency!"

===

The radio crackled to life inside GunGlue, and Papillon's voice came over it. "Guy, Renais," she said, "The site of the accident is sector C-8, inside of an old warehouse. Sergeant Hyuuma is already directing rescue efforts."

"Any idea who got caught in it?" Renais said sharply.

"We're still taking a casuality count," Papillon replied, "But we've confirmed that Matt was with them when the accident occurred. We don't know yet if he got caught in the accident or not."

“Confident kid…” Bryant almost laughed at the teenagers speech and swing. Not that he didn’t believe the kid, RD had amazing powers, but he laughed because of the spirit he had. Bryant had lost that hope, but that hope seemed to pass onto RD and bounce back to him. Already things were brighter than what they seemed. RD and his party would defeat the seven and Bryant would go home with his family to continue their lives. Within all this light, Bryant forgot the dark that was still sealed within his mind.

"Hello?" Matt spoke into the transciever. "Anyone out there? Hyuuma? You copy me and all that?"

Keen hearing picked up the sound over the rushing roar of the Riptide's engines. Moving into action, R.D. threw himself backwards, rolling over the roof into a kneel, both Phase Blades drawn. But when his eyes locked onto his assailant, he froze.

The smallish-sized green dragon shot passed him, taking off into the air once more. He'd recognize that draconic form anywhere. But he shouldn't be seeing it at all.

Helena!?

===In Repli-Earth===

"Kid!" Hyuuma said, surprise in his voice. "You alright, Matt? What's going on in there? What happened?"

"There's been a cave-in up here," Matt replied. "The roof's collapsed in on us. We've got some people injured and we've got rubble blocking the exit. We're on the second floor, and we need to get outta here, now."

Edited by The Helldragon on February 8, 2008 at 23:57:35.

R.D. ignored Juno as he watched the dragon fly overhead. "This... can't be happening. She... she died... dammit!"

Azure light coalesced around R.D. as the Dragon King Armor appeared around him. The shield split open four ways, spreading outwards as a field of energy emitted from its center. The heat beam crashed into it with thunderous force, but R.D., used to groundbreaking attacks like those from NightShade and Core Genesis, was able to stand his ground. As the beam ended, R.D. stowed away his Phase Blades and aimed an arm cannon at the dragon, but hesitated to fire.

She can't be alive! I saw her die!

After fighting the indecision, the orange pistons slammed down into his gauntlet, unleashing a burning wave of plasma at the airborne dragon.

===In Repli-Earth===

"Help's on the way, kid," Hyuuma said, "Just hang in tight and try to keep everyone from panicking! Over."

The GGG second-in-command quickly switched frequencies, and hailed the GunGlue, which damn well better be in route. "Guy! You read me? We just got contact from inside the warehouse!"

"I read you!" Guy answered, as GunGlue soared over the landscape. "We're heading there now with the Carpenters!"

Guy's grip tightened around the controls. He just hoped they would make it.

***

"They're sending over some help," Matt reported. "It'll just take a bit."