With frenzied movements, Entouji and Papillon quickly scrambled away from the computer terminals, only moments before the instruments set into the panel exploded, showering shrapnel upwards to where the two crewmembers had been seated previously.

Entouji, sprawled on the floor, was the first to speak. Raising a hand to scratch at his scalp, he said, "Erm, how can such a small object contain so much data? Even Galeon did not contain as much."

"Hmmm..." Liger stroked his small beard. "First Matt's strange armor...and now this...the two are undoubtably connected. Both are beyond anything this world has seen before..."

He looked to it now, quietly floating within the special container. As a scientist, he liked to think that everything had potential, and definitely, this shard, whatever it was, had potential to spare. Potential danger as well, for sure...

Standing up from the floor, Papillon went over to a surviving, undamaged computer and typed in a few commands. "The computer was able to create a backup of the analyzed data before damage was sustained to the system," she reported, "It is incomplete, but still a sufficient amount of data."

"Excellent. At least I have something to look over." A grin came to Liger. He wasn't sure exactly of what he was dealing with, but he couldn't wait to find out.

Elsewhere, in the Mobile Unit storage hanger, repairs continued on the first pair of the six Vehicle Machines, the blue and red robots HyoRyu and EnRyu. The armor around their bodies had been stripped away to allow repairs to the framework, while the plating would be repaired and cleaned by a separate team. The main task would be rebuilding their missing arms and chest emitter weapons, which took the most damage due to their use of Level Infinity: Supernova.

Kazuo Ushiyama, the chief maintenance director, a rotund but capable man with short black hair and small eyes, stood alongside Hyuuma as the two oversaw the repairs to the Mobile Unit. "So," Hyuuma said, leaning against the handrail while looking about as crewmembers went about with their set tasks, "How long until we repair these two?"

"Its hard to say," Kazuo said, "We don't have much of the specialized equipment anymore, with all of it being on the Goldion Crusher. We should be able to repair all of them, but it could take months. For HyoRyu and EnRyu, it'll take a month, maybe more, as it is."

"Damn," Hyuuma swore, looking down and spotting Matt working with the crew. "I hate to think what's gonna happen back on Earth while we're stuck here for months."

An unfamiliar feeling came to Matt as he assisted the crew. He...liked what he was doing. If this was supposed to be some sort of repenting, it wasn't that bad. Maybe it was because he was doing a bit of honest work for a change? Granted, attempting to save the Multiverse wasn't bad at all, but after all that, maybe it was good just to sit down and work on something.

He hummed a song to himself as he cleaned one of the armored panels for HyoRyu. Yeah...this wasn't so bad at all.

Work continued for another hour and a half before Hyuuma called for a break at midday. Just as he called it, his transceiver went off, forcing the GGG second in command to answer. The message was brief.

"... yeah, alright. I'll go get the kid and bring him over in a moment." Hyuuma put the transceiver back in his vest pocket once the transmission ended.

"Something wrong?" Kazuo asked, looking up from a clipboard.

"Nah, just that Dr. Liger finished the analysis on that shard Matt found in C-8," Hyuuma responded, "Gonna have to go fetch the kid and head over there for the briefing.

The man leaned over the ledge and shouted. "Oi, Matt!"

"Eh?" Matt glanced up toward the ledge. "Yeah?" he shouted back.

"The Chief wants us over at the Kushinada!" Hyuuma returned. "Looks like they're done checking up that shard we found."

They finished analyzing the shard? Now he was curious. Ever since he had found the shard, he wondered what sort of secrets it held, and why it had reacted so strangely to him. Now he had to know. "All right! I'll head over there!"

The walk to the Kushinada only took a few minutes once Hyuuma descended from the catwalk. As the two of them approached the converted escape shuttle, they were greeted at the entrance by Renais, who wordlessly followed them to the bridge.

As the door slid open to admit them, Hyuuma immediately noted that Taiga, Guy, Liger, Papillon, and Entouji were already gathered in the room. Like usual, there was no sign of J. Where the hell was he, anyway? "Well, what've you found?" the GGG second in command asked as he took one of the two empty seats, while Renais consigned herself to leaning against the wall.

(OOC: Kinda hard to react to something when you're frozen in time, besides pushing the God-Mod button or blatant railroading. =P But if you wish to have a response, okies then!)


"She's where?!" The armoured figure cried out loudly, and almost shrieking at that.

"Down there." One of the Tzhaar said hesitantly, and pointed its finger at something over the edge of the city.

The armoured one walked closer to the edge, somewhat suspiciously, and carefully glanced over it. It then retreated again and let out a curse. It turned its head towards the Tzhaar. "How come their movements are so strange? How come things seem to be so off over there?"

"Well," The Tzhaar started, coughing a little, obviously feeling a little uncomfortable. "It's because we are in some sort of dimensional rift. This city is pretty much such a thing. We're constantly in-between Earth and the Nightmare Realm, as this city and we are connected to the Nightmare Realm. This 'rifting' causes us to be invisible and indetectable to both realms, save the inhabitants and protectors of the White City. Time and space within this city are also distorted in relation to other realms due to that effect, and that is why you see everything that happens beyond the city's borders being so distorted and strange."

The armoured figure had listened closely to the Tzhaar's words, and when it had finished its explanation, the figure gave a nod. It stood for a moment, glanced once over the edge, and then started to shake its head slowly when a larger figure stepped forward, clad in flowing red half-robes, its head covered up in bandages, but one yellow eye was clearly leering at the armoured being.

"So it's like that." The newcomer said, and took a step forward to look down upon what was happening down below. "Well then, I have a plan..."


~ Down There ~

The immensely compressed ball of water and darkness that mere moments ago had been a Fuzen-Mizu Moon shot forward at Meta at a speed currently so much faster than her she would not be able to dodge it in time, she thought, she just knew it, with no puns intended, although if she had realised its punninnity, she would have hated herself for thinking it.

But then... there was that strange feeling again! That odd and queer feeling she had gotten when all of a sudden the world had gotten all weird and distorted, but the feeling was stronger and slightly different. What had happened?

"MILADY!" A voice, a familiar voice, suddenly cried out to her, rung through her ears and pierced her mind. Meta turned her head to look, and 'lo! Her spirits were lifted. She did still feel as if doom was impending, but there was her savior, for there was Gilgamesh, that bloody bastard from Tartarus who somehow was a bastard one could trust.

"Gilgamesh! What in the name of Me?!" She said. Gilgamesh came closer, he was in mid-air, hanging from a chain attached to something that lingered above. She could not clearly make out what it was, for its shape was dark. Then suddenly she took note of that strange feeling of impending doom again, and she turned. Great Holy Sin!

A large wall was there in front of her, incredibly large, made of a glinstering dark-coloured substance, and it stretched out for a few good dozens of yards to all sides. She did not understand, what was that?

Gilgamesh, still hanging by the chain, had gotten closer to her. "Strange, huh?" He noted. "That's the Fuzen-Mizu."

"What?"

"That's the Fuzen-Mizu. We're in some sort of time bubble, just like Hydro apparantly is. The Fuzen-Mizu somehow got stuck between those two time bubbles and exploded and froze in-between the two time bubbles." Gilgamesh told her.

"Oh." Meta still did not quite understand it, but it was not like she needed to. She was still alive, and now there was something between Hydro and her. Her brow furrowed and her gaze got stern. "Gilgamesh,"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to kill this guy."

Edited by Morphman on February 14, 2008 at 15:59:51.

He found himself within the cliffside arena at Persior, behind the ruins and surrounded by thick jungle. He knew that beneath him held the dimensional gateway--and dimensional prison--that contained the dark "god" that the inhabitants of Persior worshipped and feared. The same dark "god" that had implanted itself within Helena.

"Found you?" R.D. snarled in return, turning around to face the copy, "We found Helena here. Not some fake."

There were movements within the foliage; and R.D. knew that the Ruinsman Beasts were still here. And probably none-too-happy that someone had returned to their island sanctuary. Despite this, R.D. held his Phase Blade at the ready, brandishing it at the fake Helena.

"Heh heh heh...pathetic, misinformed copy."

From around the false Helena, spikes of darkness rose, seeking to entrap her within a circle of his design. Near R.D., Malvettix rose from the ground from the inky blackness he was known for.

"The girl he knew wouldn't return to life just to destroy the only family she really knew," he replied, with a hiss. "I know her just as well as he did."

***

"Chief," Liger began. "Do you have any how large the International Database is?"

Taiga didn't know the exact specifications of the largest central infobank in Japan back on their world, but he knew it was quite massive. "I know it's one of the biggest sources of information on the planet."

Liger pointed lazily at the shard. "That shard could possibly rival the amount of information in that database."

"What?" Guy couldn't believe it. "Are you serious?"

"Completely. When we were analyzing the shard, it offered so much information that the computer overloaded. When I went back to check the data we managed to capture, it listed an enormous amount of facts and formulas and quotes and such from our world." Liger glanced at Matt. "It also contained data I couldn't even identify, probably from other worlds."

Edited by The Helldragon on February 14, 2008 at 23:25:38.

"Again!" barked Damian, and the shield was summoned once more. Blood Beach would not be where Damian would have chosen a battle, then again, no one would have. However, they were there now, and it had to be done.

His hand trailed silently over his blade in his clothing, he could not fail this battle.

Edited by Ribitta on February 17, 2008 at 2:25:29.

Which is a scary thought in an of itself, R.D. thought, concerning Malvettix. With a brush of a thumb, the Phase Blade retracted and was sheathed. R.D.'s hand lifted into the air and clenched into a fist. "It doesn't matter if you look like her or sound like her," he said as the three cannons exploded into particles before reforming.

Three segments of flattened red metal appeared on the right side of his back, while the armor along his arm broke apart and reformed into red and gold, clawed armor--Shell Bullet. "I'll show you to be the fake you are!"

===In Repli-Earth===

"That's... impossible," Renais said, incredulous, "How can that even hold any information?"

"Any idea if that information can be used to get us home?" Hyuuma said, leaning back into his chair. "Ushiyama believes it'll take us months to repair the Mobile Unit. Would be nice if that shard can help us speed the timeframe up."

Edited by RisingDragon on February 17, 2008 at 2:22:18.

(OOC: Little late to clarify that, dontcha think. Besides, I find the way I responded much better. =P)

OOC: And geez, Juno, it wouldn't have been that bad to have Malvettix involved. I mean, considering the way Copy Helena is overpowered right now, it wouldn't have made much difference. I thought we talked about him coming in, too. <_<

"It's definitely possible," Liger replied to Hyuuma's question. "I would have to look through what's avaliable, but from what I know, there are many advancements in science and technology discussed there that mankind hasn't even achieved yet."

Taiga's eyes widened. "It even knows the future of technology?"

"It knows that and much more." Liger smiled in growing excitement. "If we can use the information presented in this shard, we may not only be able to go home, but the entire human race can benefit from the knowledge it offers!"

Uh oh. This wasn't supposed to happen. Matt didn't believe that the Gutsy Galaxy Guard would misuse the information within the shard, but the fact remained that they weren't supposed to have it all. Now he was sure that it was the Omega Core. The energy, the knowledge...all familiar.

But how could he get the shard away from them?

"There's a possibility that it could be dangerous, though," Guy remarked. "It burned Matt's hand, so we would have to be careful."

"I've got enough information in the database," Liger said. "Maybe later, I can scan it to see if I can get anything else out of it, but for now, we have enough to work this."

OOC: Alright, I'm gunna join this up a little bit.

Seriously Juno, anything that is a step a way from god should technically be god-moding. Being able to drag multiple people into a realm without them being able to do anything to stop them, then them not being able to do anything to Carnax in that area is simply put: an auto-hit. There's no scooting around the fact. Why not just create techniques that never miss and kill in one hit?

Secondly, to your referance with Awai. You know how deeply I adore the character, enough to make a student of just him. However, past expirience shows two things. One: Ziatoch can match Kuro in power. Two: Kuro is inevitably more powerful than Awai when un-restricted. Besides, in the long run, what gain do you get from merely stopping a plotline? Satisfaction of being more powerful than someone else? That is called being a control freak.

OOC: There's nothing that can really happen in there if R.D.'s stuck in there. She isn't strong enough to transform him, and he's already got protection against mental attacks, as was seen with Sin. It was either that or have her blasted with Balefire. And I don't think you want the battle ended that quickly.

OOC: Besides, I absolutely refuse to do crazy dimension hopping adventures with a female R.D.. We've already got some in store for the party.

The pistons started slamming down one after another, firing a jagged ray of light with each firing. The shots proved to be ineffective. He screamed in rage, swinging an arm around and spraying the darkness with a series of Lightblasts, scattering bolts of light everywhere. Again, it was useless.

R.D. squeezed his eyes shut. He was beginning to panic. He had to get out of here. He had felt like this once before, been trapped like this once before--what had happened? That's right. He destroyed a canyon. He couldn't let that happen again. But he couldn't control it; he felt himself reaching out for that kind of power. Memories flitted along the edges of his mind, struggling to overpower him.

He could feel it. He remembered--the image of someone ablaze in the light of the shining justice raced through his mind.

Shining Justice?

With a silent thanks to his best friend, he reached out. R.D.'s eyes snapped open, glowing angrily against the pressing darkness, as thin, angular lines of light traced up his body to them, and back out. He reached for the power and drank it in. With a mighty roar, he flung his limbs outwards, throwing brilliant, blinding light in all directions.

===In Japan===

Alasea's tale went on, describing the events that happened after Akuma left their party in the dead city.

"... after we left the city, we had to fight our way across the countryside. Lots of monsters out there, after all!" she continued, "We had one real big one come after us, but Matt was able to take care of it. Once we escaped, we made our way to another port, and took a boat off to Kattelox. We ended up finding a stowaway while we were out there. Some guy named Vagabond."

===In Repli-Earth===

"Oi," Hyuuma called out, drawing attention to him. "Aren't you guys forgetting something?"

Edited by RisingDragon on February 17, 2008 at 17:54:36.

"What are we forgetting?" Taiga asked.