J's scarf hardened into the green wings, and he took off after Guy, drawing the Radiant Ripper from the gauntlet housing his J-Jewel, and the two streaked off towards the Flux. Behind Matt, dust was being kicked up, and within moments Renais appeared, skidding to a halt in the dirt, a large crate held on her back. She tossed the crate down and kicked off the lid, revealing a large amount of weaponry.

"Grab a weapon and lay down some cover fire," she ordered, yanking out a chain gun from the hay-filled crate and arming it. "Try not to hit Guy or J."

"Uuuuaaaaagghhhh!"

GekiRyuJin bellowed as the spines barraged his green and yellow armor, causing painful feedback that manifested in wild, out-of-control electricity that arced around him. HyoRyu and EnRyu saw the transformed fist and activated their thrusters, closing up their chest plates and bringing up their arms to defend against the attack as they attempted dodging it.

The spiked orb glanced off their forearms, knocking them backwards. Their thrusters kept them upright, and they brought out their pistol weaponry and trained it on the arm, firing rapidly with Ul-Tech beams at the joint of the spike ball and the arm.

"Cover fire against THAT thing?" Matt shouted. "News flash, Renais-that thing's fifty stories tall and can regenerate anything we throw at it! This ain't gonna work!"

The Flux's wounded arm fell to the ground in front of HyoRyu and EnRyu. The sections rebounded, shifting into snake-like monsters that lunged at them. All the while the cage continued to press into GekiRyuJin.

Guy flew for the cage. His Will Knife sliced through several bars during his initial pass; with J's followup, perhaps they could get GekiRyuJin out of the gap before the Flux could regenerate.

"Its called a distraction, Matt!" Renais yelled back, giving him a sharp glare. "Now stop flapping your lips and start shooting!"

As if to punctuate her statement, she depressed the trigger on the chain gun, and the barrels spun rapidly for a second before unleashing a rain of bullets at the Flux's main body.

As the liquid serpentine creatures lunged out at HyoRyu and EnRyu, the two backpedaled away from them, and then took off into the air: HyoRyu ascended over the cage holding GekiRyuJin, while EnRyu drew his Pencil Launcher and aimed it at the snakes, spraying the last of the fluid out at them.

Soldato-J tailed Guy along the distance to the cage imprisoning GekiRyuJin, then banked off in the opposite direction of Guy and slashed at the spikes on the other side using the Radiant Ripper. Dislodged silvery fluid rained down on the ground. Roaring, within the cage GekiRyuJin stood up fully, unleashing his elemental power over wind and lightning from his weaponry to break apart the cage and free himself.

Cursing, Matt hefted out an assault rifle-one of the few they had left-and started firing.

The Flux roared in anger as GekiRyuJin escaped and the two other robots escaped. Its chest suddenly swelled, funneling out into gaps like a massive ribcage. Leaning back, the rips split into points, and a legion of spears dislodged from its body, streaming up in an arc toward HyoRyu and EnRyu. There was no way they could avoid it, there were far too many.

"Watch out!" Guy shouted.

As the spears streaked in, J turned and flitted through them, disappearing and reappearing closer to the Flux with each movement, his superior agility allowing him to easily navigate the forest of spears. HyoRyu and EnRyu were not so lucky, many of them began striking their armored bodies as they closed the distance, piercing metal and throwing them back.

Before long, though, a pair of green and yellow energy dragons cut through the air and shredded through the spikes as GekiRyuJin unleashed Xiang Tou Long to defend his brothers. J finally closed the distance between him and the Flux, and the Radiant Ripper flashed downward in a vertical slash at one side of the giant monster's ribs.

A section of the Flux lashed from the monster and smacked J across the air. It then dove its limbs back into the earth, and great, horned pillars shot from underneath toward the Brave robots, plunging on even as the dragons wetly ripped through them.

J cried out in pain as he was smashed into the ground, the beak-like front of his helmet shattered as it hit. He skid across the ground for a moment or two before stopping, allowing him to pick himself back up.

The Xiang Tou Long shredded apart the spikes as they rose up, but it was unable to prevent the spikes from striking the three Brave Robots. The spikes tore through armor plating, cutting into vital components. The Brave Robots cried out as pain arrested their systems, throwing them roughly onto the unforgiving dirt.

"J!" Matt shouted. His eyes widened further as the Brave robots collided with the pillars and fell to earth just as J did.

Shouting, Guy continued the attack. The symbol on the back of his hand glowed with incredible power, and he tore into the Flux-his Evoulder pwoers granted him the ability to stay on par with the monstorous beast. The Flux swung in vain at first, but finally connected with a lucky shot as it widened its arm and threw the major brunt behind its attack.

Mikoto's palms fell on the screen. "Guy!"

"G-Stone power levels are dropping," Papillon reported, looking over the status screens for HyoRyu, EnRyu, and GekiRyuJin.

"Tch! Why the hell can't we take that thing down!?" Hyuuma raged, slamming a fist down on the table. "Entouji! Have you finished analyzing the power reading we detected?"

The bushy-haired man shook his head, scratching at his scalp as he turned in his chair to look at the Sergeant. "Not yet," he said, "The reading is taking much longer to analyze. Even Tomoro-0117 is having difficulty deciphering it."

===

"Guy!"

J shot through the air, catching Guy before he could hit the ground. His ID Armor was showing signs of damage from the blow. He quickly lowered himself and his rival down to ground level, then hovered back in the air with the Radiant Ripper at the ready.

"Dammit," Renais swore, tossing the useless chain gun aside. While their bullets were tearing into the Flux, it didn't even seem to be bothered by them, ignoring them completely and targeting Guy, J, and the Mobile Unit instead. "We might have to get King J-Der to handle this."

"Damn it!" Matt kicked the crate. "We're screwed, you know that? We're SCREWED!"

"Don't give up Matt," Guy said, weakly. "We have to stay strong and believe in victory."

"Believing in victory and earning victory are two different things, Guy," Matt snapped. "Being positve you'll find a way home is one thing but just LOOK at that thing! The robots were useless, King J-Der is just gonna get killed by it and I'm too damn powerless to even DO anything!" He clenched his fists. Damn it, if he didn't have to get rid of his powers...

"We cannot give up," J said, stepping forward. "King J-Der is our last hope."

Renais nodded. "Just like last time, J?" she asked, a smirk on her face. The J-Jewel cyborg nodded, then looked back at the J-Ark in the distance. Renais walked up alongside him on his left side, and took his hand in her own, metal one. The G-Stone embedded in Renais' arm glowed brightly, along with the J-Jewel embedded in J's gauntlet. Quite suddenly, there was a burst of light and hot steam, shrouding them and the hillside they stood on.

When it cleared, Soldato-J and Renais had both changed. Hovering in the air and their hands held together, J's armor was now a bright, gleaming silver, and his wings were now a rich, dark emerald as they extended out. Renais clothing and the lateral vanes of her cooling coat, once pink in color, were a brilliant gold matching Guy's ID Armor, and her hair, once a fiery crimson color, was now bright pink.

"Let's go!" J said, suddenly taking off with Renais, their hands still locked together, as they soared towards the J-Ark.

Now the Flux turned its predatory attention on the remaining forces. Its empty eyes settled on J and Renais, flying off toward the J-Ark.

Matt saw this as the earth rumbled when it shifted positions. "Shit! WATCH OUT, GUYS!"

The Flux massed a giant fist again and launched it at the pair, to bring them back down to earth.

Hearing Matt's shout, the two of them looked to the side and halted their advance, backflipping in the air to avoid the strike coming in. The giant fist seemed to fill their vision as it flew before them, narrowly missing them.

The Flux wouldn't let them get to the J-Ark and unleash the largest and most powerful of Mechanoids without a fight. Growling, J activated the Radiant Ripper. Enhanced by their combined Hyper Mode and the resonating power of the G-Stone and J-Jewel, the energy sword doubled in length and width, emanating from beneath J's J-Jewel gauntlet. Holding it forward together, the two readied their assault.

The gleam again-the familiar energy, but the Flux was preparing for something else. Its arms retracted into its body and its ribcage swelled. From the center, a mass array of horned pillars shot out at the duo.

The large energy blade came up and slashed down, cleaving the first of the spikes in two. Together, they flitted around, narrowly avoiding the pillars as they struck out at them with the sword or shot at them with Renais' gun.

One, however, managed to strike them right in their joined hands, breaking their connection. Immediately, their Hyper Modes deactivated, their armor colors turning normal. Dashing off to the sides, they escaped the attacks, gritting teeth in frustration.

===

"Commander!" Entouji said, a rare hint of panic in his voice as he turned towards Taiga. "We've completed the analysis! But... sir, it's saying its the Sky Shard!"

Taiga's eyes widened. "What? Another one?" His hands hit the desk. "Matt, did you hear that?"

Matt snarled. "Yeah, I did..." Another piece of the Omega Core...that explained it. But how the hell were they gonna get it out?

There was only one option, and he lifted the assualt rifle again. "J! You and Renais need to get into that thing's head and remove that shard!" A magazine dropped as he loaded another. "I'll try to distract it!"

Guy scrambled to the crate and took out a pistol, one of the few weapons they had left. "Uncle, we need some more of that solution for when they remove the shard! Get EnRyu and HyoRyu back to base if you can!"

"It'll take some time, Guy!" Liger shouted, as Mikoto looked on in worry. "Just hold out a little bit longer, okay?" He tapped another frequency. "GekiRyuJin, if you're still with us, you've got to help J and Renais get that shard!"

"HEY, UGLY!" Matt yelled, firing his gun at the Flux. "COME GET SOME OF THIS!"

"Alright, old man," Renais said back to her father, looking at J. He nodded to her, and brought the Radiant Ripper out into his right hand. Renais herself drew a second pistol seemingly from nowhere and trained both on the Flux, firing repeatedly at the creature. J leaped into the air and took off, blade at the ready.

GekiRyuJin stood, wearily at first before gaining strength as he drew on on the GS-Drive. His brothers were also rising, looking at each other. Their orders were clear. Activating the Ul-Tech Engines, they shot off back to the base to exchange parts and acquire more of the crimson fluid that was so effective against the silver creatures.

The Flux roared and batted at J and Renais with a massive hand.

"I'M DOWN HERE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Matt shouted, operating on pure bravado. "COME GET SOME!"

Growling, the Flux's gaze fell on Matt and Guy. "Run for it!" Guy shouted, bolting. Matt did the same, firing his weapon. The giant creature lumbered toward them and raised a hand.

Guy saw where it was heading and rushed toward Matt. "Matt!"

The hand came down on them both with a tremendous, wrenching impact.

"Nooooooo!" Mikoto screamed.

The grinding grew louder as Keiser increased the strength of his drill, causing it to glow with the same red color R.D.'s body blazed with. In response, the green flame seemed to double. Within the flame, the red light of Overdrive began to recede, as if being sucked into the Giga Drill as R.D. pressed on the attack. The drill itself began to glow brightly as the energy was converted by the drill.

Quite suddenly, the drill doubled in size in a flash of light, creating a shower of lightning and sparks. And then, that drill was tripled the new size, matching Keiser's drill in size. R.D. himself would seem dwarfed by it, should anyone see him within the flames. His eyes flared gold, his mouth agape in a furious roar, unheard and lost over the rising sound of metal grinding.

===Repli-Earth===

Renais and J were able to move out of the way of the slow-moving attack, as J took to the air and Renais dropped to the ground. However, it seemed that the Flux found better prey when Matt shouted. Neither of them were able to move fast enough to help.

"Matt! Guy!" J shouted, shocked by what had happened. Renais yelled out in anger and repeatedly blasted at the Flux with her dual pistols. Soon, however, a much louder roar sounded over her.

"Xiang Tou Long!!!" GekiRyuJin bellowed, swinging his arms down from overhead and launching the green and yellow dragons of energy at the Flux. They shot forward at the Flux, intending to rip into it and shred it apart from the inside out.

Edited by RisingDragon on August 6, 2008 at 13:12:53.

The Flux screeched, it seemed furious now, and its eyes glowed. Its body briefly shrank as it drew its mass in, only to release it outward. Spikes and pillars and blunt objects forced from every section of its body in a wide radius, to remove the pests once and for all.

Looking to the side, protected by the visor in his helmet, R.D. saw through the flames as the appendages came out at him. Angling himself to the side, he thrust his hand out. A second Giga Drill shot out, much smaller than the first one. Through a careful thrust, he managed to catch all of the tentacles on the tip of the Giga Drill, but now he was trapped between the two.

This is bad, he growled in mind, contemplating on what to do. Only got one chance at this...

===Repli-Earth===

The Flux's appendages smashed into GekiRyuJin, canceling the Xiang Tou Long and preventing it from shredding the Flux. He slammed hard into the ground. Renais was struck by a number of the attacks, partially shredding her clothing and causing her to scream out in pain as she was flung through the air.

Pieces of J's armor were broken off as he narrowly avoided the attacks, but otherwise didn't come to any harm. Swooping downwards, he caught Renais in his arms, and settled her down on the ground. "This is bad," he said, "We can't get to the J-Ark. What can we do?"

Grunting, R.D. doubled the size of the second Giga Drill, causing it to expand rapidly. The tendrils' aim were thrown off, and instead of skewering R.D., they instead pierced and shredded through the second Giga Drill, shattering it instantly. The shockwave emitted would no doubt push away the tendrils that had caused it in the first place

R.D. used the force of that explosion to continue on forward, feeding more power into the strength of his push. Slowly but surely, he was forcing Keiser back. The grind of metal was deafening, but it wouldn't be too much longer now.

There was only darkness, and numbness.

This is it, isn't it?

He was short of breath.

Just a few more moments before it's over...

He felt bound on all sides.

I don't want to die yet. There's too much to do...I don't want to die yet! I want to find RD and Hugo and Helena again! I want to make up for everything I've done! I want to go home, see my family! I don't want to die yet! Not NOW!

"Chief!" Swan cried out. "Readings indicate a huge spike of Sky Shard energy coming from the battlefield!"

"Is it the piece the Flux has?" Taiga asked.

"No...it seems to be coming from...from under its hand!"

"Aaaaaaaaggggghhhhhh!!!"

The Giga Drill Breaker spun even faster with the resistance gone. There was a sudden jolt as Keiser's drill was removed, and R.D.'s roar rivaled the scream of the flames as the massive drill pierced the air, streaking towards Keiser's prone form.

===Repli-Earth===

"No way!" Hyuuma sputtered, putting two and two together. "They're alive!?"

"Lifesigns confirmed!" Papillon said, her voice rising slightly. "Both Matt and Guy are alive!"

The Flux's hand swelled from within, something massively building up. With a burst it exploded silver shrapanel in all directions, and the Flux, startled by the incredible display of force, recoiled, drawing back its injured arm.

A field of jagged green flame burned where Matt and Guy were thought to be crushed. It was centered on the young man in the armor-the back of his hand shone with a similar light as power screamed about him, power that the scanners would rapidly identify as familiar energy patterns from the Sky Shard.

Head bent, Matt reached down and picked Guy up by the shoulder, who was just as astonished at what had just occured.

"This is incredible!" Liger gasped. "The computers almost can't keep up with it-he's putting out a huge amount of different energy signatures!"

Mikoto's breath held. But was Matt still friend, or new foe?

Gritting his teeth, Matt glanced up at the Flux, pupils burning red, trailing energy. "Let's dance."

From within his helmet, both halves of his lost mouthplate slid over his face with the loud clap of metal.