A cool, metal gauntlet encircled the hand of the Helena replicant. "I'm right here," he said.

R.D. gripped the hand for a few more moments, gathering his emotions up and releasing them in a big... sigh.

The armor faded from his body, leaving him in his normal outfit. He placed the replica's hand over her torso and stood up. "I'm pretty sure you can hear me, NightShade," he said, loud and clear, "I'm positive you've been watching this. So let me tell your plan backfired. I'm not affected."

He looked up into the air slightly. "I've had to face my friends before. I know what its like. And I know she wasn't the real Helena. So know that whatever you do, whoever you throw at me, I'll keep going. You can't stop me."

"She proved herself to be fake," R.D. said, looking over his shoulder at the corrupt Ancient. "She asked me how I came upon new things the real her would've already known. She's seen it before, after all."

R.D. turned to stare at the Ancient fully. Staring death in the face once more. "You're right about one thing," he said, "She wasn't a clone. If she was, she'd never have succumbed to you. And she'd have never turned on us... corrupted or not."

"She won't be so big or bad once I'm through with her," R.D. said coldly. "I'll do just what Bahamut wanted. Drape her hide across the land for all to see."

R.D.'s only response was to lift his hand up, along with his middle finger, at the corrupt Ancient NightShade.

Oh yeah. Real mature there.

"Replica or not," Malvettix said, stepping foward, "her fate would've been the same. For a minute I suspected that you wouldn't follow through on what needed to be done." The grin. "You continue to surprise me, Rising Dragon."

"Yeah," R.D. said in response to Malvettix and ignoring the entity's usage of the title, "All the bad guys say that."

He turned towards the fake Helena's corpse and walked over to it, passing Malvettix as he did so. When he arrived, he knelt down and scooped the body up in his arms, lifting it. At the very least, he figured, he could bury the replica. And with that in mind, R.D. began walking over to one of the side walls, and leapt up lightly onto the dirt overhead before laying the body back down.

"Do not think this is a simple black and white matter," the dark creature replied. He appeared along the wall, allowing the wind to dance along his coat. "You need to retain your resolve. Many dangerous times lay ahead, times which may force you to make decisions you may not want to make."

Malvettix glanced toward R.D.. "Your resolve to destroy her, real or fake, and purge her of her sin...that is what surprised me. Not neccessarily your willingness to merely destroy what stands in your way."

"I wasn't going to let NightShade piss on her memory like that," R.D. said, using Earth energy to part the dirt into a crude grave. "If Helena had been brought back and corrupted, she'd have wanted death. It's like Matt said before I defeated him... she would've understood."

R.D. knelt down and lifted the corpse, and eased it into the grave. Using the energy to close it back up, he moved a rock over and carved a simple message--R.I.P.--into it, and set it as a headstone. Turning back to the wall, slightly, R.D. said, "So what's this about dangerous times ahead? I doubt you're talking just about the crap that's going on here, in this little corner of the Multiverse."

"You would be correct. After all...everything in the Multiverse tends to affect each other, even through the simplest of ways." Malvettix smirked. "Of course, you probably already know that."

***

"I see," Liger said, listening to Guy's report from his communicator. "Right. I'll let them know. Okay. See you in a bit."

"Is Guy okay?" Mikoto asked as the doctor pocketed the communicator.

"He's perfectly fine. As a matter of fact, he couldn't find anything out there."

Matt turned his head. No portal...?

"You wouldn't happen to be offering a hint, would you?" R.D. asked, a tiny bit suspicious. Malvettix was a difficult one to trust, after all.

===In Repli-Earth===

"Perhaps the portal will appear at a later date," Papillon suggested, reminding them of one thing Matt had said. "We should keep a lookout for it."

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Malvettix replied, with a big grin.

***

Liger glanced at Matt. "In the meantime, Renais has suggested that we modify the Z Sensor for use in detecting the portal."

"Z Sensor?" Matt repeated.

"It's a device we used to detect something called Element Z0." Liger tapped his temple. "Renais thinks we can scan your armor, along with the Sky Shard, and modify the Z Sensor in accordance with that energy signature."

Matt narrowed his eyes. "...will that even work?"

"We'll just have to see, won't we?"

"Feh," R.D. grunted, giving Malvettix a slightly annoyed look. "I have to get back. I'm sure you'll be able to take care of yourself out here."

R.D. hopped off of the wall, back into the arena, and walked back towards the middle of the arena, where the elevator to the gateway prison was. Halfway there, he stopped, and looked back at Malvettix. "Thank you," he said, "For the save."

The Chaos Emerald flickered as it was tossed into the air, and as R.D. caught it, he was gone with a shout of Chaos Control.

===At Sea===

Light flared above the Riptide boat as Chaos Control took effect, depositing a worse-for-wear R.D. onto the main deck.

===In Repli-Earth===

"It will take some time to do this," Papillon noted, "There are many repairs we must make to the computer system before we can even begin. The damage caused by the Sky Shard is... extensive."

"NightShade decided he was going to be an ass," R.D. muttered, brushing stray dust from Persior off of his overshirt. "And I ended up flipping him off. In person. I doubt it was a wise move."

"Hmmm."

Malvettix turned away, and began to walk toward the edge of the island, amid the ruined landscape. "Stand strong, Rising Dragon...I am not the only thing that threatens you in the near future." He glanced up, grinning. "To live in interesting times..."

***

"All right." Matt stood, pretended to crack his knuckles. "Let's get back to work, then."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Liger asked. "You don't want to rest?"

Matt smirked in a cocky fashion. "I don't like taking naps in the middle of the day. Messes me up. I'd like to get back to business."

Liger smiled back. "Well, okay, then. I'll take you back to the work site."

"I'll stay here for a bit," Mikoto said. "I...don't think I'm fully recovered just yet from that feedback."

"All right. Papllion, look over her, would you?"

“Well there he is.” Bryant said walking up the stairs from the cabin then sat down onto a bench, “Been looking for ya. Thought maybe you croaked.” Bryant said, almost jokingly. He held a glass wine in his hand. Yes, wine it was. After a bit of rummaging around, Brandon and Bryant found a bottle, a fine year it was. Bryant swirled the liquid casually for a bit, it getting closer and closer to freedom, but was still out of reach. Bryant stood back up and walked over to the warrior. ‘

“Sounds you took pretty good care of yourself though.” Bryant said a bit happily, unusually happily; perhaps the bottle was gone…? “Anyway, Veronica decided to take a snooze while you were gone. She almost cast sided a couple of times. Poor girl, still hardly has her sea legs.” Bryant laughed and patted the teen’s shoulder. He gave him a grand grin then turned to see Juno on the deck. Bryant’s grin weakened a bit, though it remained friendly. He still was not fond of seeing Juno again. Any second now Bryant swore the man would pull out that nasty buster and blow his head off.

“Oh, hey Juno. Didn’t see ya there.” Bryant waved lazily, “Anyway, me and Brandon found some wine.” Bryant said putting an arm around RD’s shoulder and gave him sort of a friendly hug.

“It’s a fine year. Have some!” Bryant patted the teen’s back then began back down stairs. He didn’t seem to care if they followed or not. He just felt he needed to keep Brandon company down there.

R.D. watched Bryant march off with a raised eyebrow.

Please tell me he is not drunk, he thought with exasperation. Where in the hell did he find that wine, anyway? He knew that Alasea, Matt, Helena, Hsien-Ko, and Mei-ling did not drink, and they were the only ones who had used the boat before this trip to Antarctica.

===In Repli-Earth===

"Alright," Papillon agreed, then waited until both Dr. Liger and Matt had vacated the infirmary. Once the door slid shut, she turned to Mikoto and looked at her briefly. The Sensing Mind did not lie to her, as Mikoto had certainly done when talking about the incident.

"What did you see?" she asked the Evoulder woman.

Mikoto blanched momentarily. She had forgotten about Papllion's abilities for a moment. "I...I saw something very disturbing."

She explained what exactly she had saw.

Papillon listened patiently to Mikoto's explanation. She remained silent for a few moments after it ended. "So... the nightmare that you saw... it was Matt?" she asked, visibly perturbed by the recounting.

"Yes." Mikoto wrung her hands together. "I know he's been helping out around here, but that armor...that was the armor of a god of destruction..."

"I don't think he likes wearing it any more than you do," Papillon said, remember his initial reaction to the armor, back when he awoke four days earlier. "When he first found himself wearing it, he tried to get it off of him, and grew frustrated when he couldn't get it off."

"Papllion, what if we're in danger?" Mikoto interjects. "What can we do if Matt tries to attack us?"

Hah. These guys are nowhere near as strange as Matt, R.D. thought wryly. "NightShade says a lot of things," he said, "Mocked me about my battle with the replicant. Asked me if I was off to fight Sheena. Then said something about history repeating itself. Man likes to hear himself talk, if you ask me."

===In Repli-Earth===

Papillon shook his head. "I don't think he'll attack us," she said, "And even if he did... Guy, J, and Renais wouldn't let us come to harm. Guy especially."