Liger gestured to the case which held the Sky Shard-the now empty case. "As you can see, the first one has mysteriously vanished. Somehow, in his time of need, Matt has absorbed it into his body-where else do you think that sudden power he displayed came from?"

All Renais could do was blink in surprise, looking up at the empty container. "What? How is that even possible?"

"Another good question." He leaned back. "Like I said, there are things here we don't know about...things I bet Matt can tell us about. Still, at least that horrible creature is gone." He glanced at Papllion. "We didn't find any traces of it left over, did we?"

Papillon shook her head. "We think the remains may have been absorbed into the soil," Papillon said, "So the Commander ordered that HyoRyu and EnRyu saturate the ground with the remaining weapon, just in case."

There was a groan from the table. "Please tell me this place has aspirin," Matt muttered, laying a hand on his head.

"Ah!" Liger spun back around. "Good afternoon, Matt. How are you feeling?"

"Like wet cardboard. But I'll live."

"That's not cool," R.D. muttered, looking at the destroyed pieces of the Sheena construct. He held his hands low, cupped together in front of him as he channeled power into them as he readied himself for renewed assault.

The scanner made a sound, alerting R.D. to his enemy's presence approaching from behind. A sphere of golden power burst into life in front of R.D.'s hands, pulsing for a second before throwing of rays of shining light. He threw himself to the side as he pivoted in midair, unleashing a magnificent beam of golden energy, the Giga Flare, at Sheena once he was out of her path.

===Repli-Earth===

"So, Matt, how's it feel to have that ugly-looking armor off of you?" Renais asked, placing a hand on her hip. She made sure she stayed away from the table--without the armor, Matt no longer had his protection against Renais' own harmful body.

That armor...a symbol of his corruption, his revenge, his torture. Her death. At last, it was shed-to use the cliche, he felt like a new man.

Matt glanced up at Renais. "You don't know how relieved I am, Renais."

Liger plopped down to the floor and began removing the electrodes from Matt's chest. "Well, all of your life signs seem to be steady, so if you want, we can go meet the Chief now." A raised eyebrow. "I think the camp is very interested in thanking the young man that helped defeat the Flux."

Matt laughed. "Well, normally I'm the kind of guy who likes excessive praise, but this time I think I'm fine without it."

"So what're you gonna do now?" Renais said, folding her arms beneath her breasts and leaning against the doorframe. "You should probably get some new clothes. What you were wearing are kinda ratty-looking."

Matt glanced down at his clothing. His jeans and denim jacket were definitely worn, frayed from travel. "Hmmm. Good idea. I'll want to look presentable for the Chief." He stood. "All right, Renais, show me your fine selection of mens wear."

Renais shook her head. "All we have are crewmember uniforms, and since GGG doesn't hire teenagers, we've got nothing that'll fit your size," she said, "You'd have to go back into the ruins and find a clothing store that isn't destroyed."

"A lot of the paths have been cleaned out thanks to the Vehicle Machines," Papillon interjected, "So it should be safe to find one. The outer sectors are mostly free from rubble."

"All right!" Matt clapped his hands together, and adopted a valley girl accent. "Let's totally go shopping!"

"First off, you won't actually be paying for anything, will you?" Liger asked.

"Um...no?"

"Secondly, you should meet the Chief first for a debriefing."

"All right, all right," Matt said, strolling out into the hallway. "Though I really don't see the point-I mean, what's the debriefing going to be about? 'Good job, you won'?"

R.D. growled in ever-mounting frustration as his Giga Flare destroyed the copy, revealing it to be what it was. He spun around almost instinctively at Sheena, holding himself at the ready, teeth grit as he glared at the Dark Goddess of the Ice Dragons. Golden eyes flared briefly through the dark visor.

She's mocking me, he thought sourly, mind racing to figure out a plan to get her to follow him. But she's right, dammit. I used up too much energy fighting those four mercenaries.

He wouldn't be able to keep this up. He had to get himself and her out of here, and continue on with the master plan. As the ice beam came in, he barrel-rolled out of the way, barely avoiding the dangerous attack, and drew his Phase Blades together in one smooth motion before rocketing forwards at the wyrm's face. Massive rays of green light extended around their blades, forming giant blades of power as he readied the Shin Kougenjin attacks. Slashing one after the other, massive thirty-foot-long arcs of energy flew out from his attack, cutting through the air at Sheena's head.

===Repli-Earth===

"He probably wants to know how you pulled off GaoGaiGar's ultimate attack without any actual knowledge of how it works," Renais said, standing up from the doorway to follow him. "But other than that, I wouldn't be surprised if he said such a thing."

Just before the door closed, Renais looked back at her father. "Oi, old man! You need to get started fixing Guy and J's armor again."

And with that, the door shut, allowing Renais to follow Matt as they went to the briefing room.

They had already gathered when Matt and Renais entered-presumably they had recieved word from Liger beforehand than Matt was up and about. As he entered, Taiga stood and smiled warmly. "Good to see you awake, Matt."

"Likewise," Matt gibed, easing into a seat near the door.

"First off, I'd like to congratulate you for your efforts in helping us defeat the Flux," Taiga said. "You fought admirably."

"No problem...but I'm guessing we're not here to exchange praise."

Guy cut to the chase. "How did you do it, Matt? How did you use the Hell and Heaven?"

"Is it because of the shard?" Mikoto added.

Matt sighed, long and deep. "Well, I wasn't planning on telling you about this, but I think you deserve an explaination." A gesture. "You remember that I told you that I was previously an interdimensional traveller, right, Chief?"

"Yes I do," said Taiga.

"Well, there was a reason for that." Matt stood. "You see, once upon a time there was an artifact called the Omega Core, and this artifact was the most powerful thing in existence. It was created to help maintain the Multiverse, and somehow, someway, I dunno, I gained possession of it. Now, I could only use a fraction of its powers, but it turned me into someone pretty important, like, fast."

He began to pace. "After that happened, I met up with someone called the Chronomancer, and he said that as long as I had the Core, the whole Multiverse would slowly tear itself apart, because it was accidentally creating dimensional rifts. He told me to go through the rifts and find something called the Eternal Sanctuary, where I could put the Core up so that the Multiverse would stabilize itself. So that's how the whole travel thing started-I was trying to prevent everything from blowing up."

"That sounds pretty unbelievable," Hyuuma said, folding his arms. J nodded in response to this--while as a puppet of the 31 Primevals, he had seen his own fair share of strange things, but nothing quite like this.

"So what the world happened during your travels?" Hyuuma continued. "And what happened to this Omega Core? You were talking about it in the past tense."

"Well, you know how these things work," Matt remarked, completely forgetting that they, in fact, did not know how these things worked. "I gathered me a motley crew and we jaunted around the place. You know-R.D, Hugo, Helena, so on. So we got to the Eternal Sanctuary and I put it back, but then all hell broke loose, and get this, the Core itself decided that, 'Hey, I wanna reset the whole Multiverse' and it turned into, like, this giant angel monster." His tone dropped. "I got stuck inside it while it was attacking everyone else, and, well...Helena got killed because of it."

"Oh my God," Mikoto gasped.

"Yeah. So I was kinda ticked. I just...I freaked out, you know? I busted out of the thing and the next thing you know, I've got a wardrobe change and a whole 'Hey, I wanna destroy all of existence' complex." He managed a look at Mikoto. "So that explains the vision you had."

She nodded briefly, kept silent.

"Fortunately R.D. was able to take me out before I could really mess everything up," Matt finished. "I feel through the giant wormhole I was making and somehow ended up here."

"So that's how R.D.'s blood wound up on your gauntlet," Hyuuma remarked. "Probably what that scar on his chest was, too."

"So do you know anything about those Sky Shards?" Renais asked, folding her arms beneath her breasts while looking at Matt, head cocked to the side.

"They're actually pieces of the Omega Core," Matt explained. "You see, when I took out the Core in its big angel mode, it shattered into loads of pieces. I'm guessing that one made its way here, and somehow, the Flux got ahold of another one."

"You have no idea of the grave consequences that have entailed from your actions," a voice suddenly intoned. Standing near the door, all of a sudden, was a figure cloaked in a white robe riddled with black, jagged designs. His head and face was completely shrouded by his hood, revealing only blackness.

"Who-who are you?" Guy asked, taken aback.

The figure raised his head. "I am the Chronomancer. Servant of time and space."

Almost as soon as he spoke, Renais had jumped back from the doorway and had aimed a gun at the cloaked man. Despite naming himself as one of the people Matt had met during his travels, she did not lower the weapon.

She cursed. How in the hell did he get in here? No one could sneak up on her with her hearing? Blasted BioNet cybernetics couldn't be going. "How the heck did you get in here?" she demanded.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Matt said, leaping in front of the Chronomancer with hands up. "It's cool! I know this guy, remember?"

Taiga's brow furrowed. "Stand down, Renais."

"Tch."

Reluctantly, the cyborg woman removed her finger from the trigger and stowed the weapon away to wherever she kept them.

Stepping back, she folded her arms and did her best to keep a sour expression off her face.

"What're you doing here?" Matt asked the Chronomancer.

"Your quest is not over yet," the hooded figure said. "When you destroyed Core Genesis, its body was shattered into pieces, and was drawn into the wormhole you created in the guise of Dragon Drive FINAL. In effect, you have scattered the Omega Core across the Multiverse."

Matt frowned. "...well, if it's in pieces, can it still tear up the fabrics of space and time?"

"No, but that is not the problem. Though the Omega Core has been shattered, it will seek to draw itself back together. Over time, the artifact will be recreated." Matt could imagine the Chronomancer's eyes narrowing within the hood. "You know well that many have lusted over the power of the Core. Now that it is shattered, if the wrong person was to recreate it, the Multiverse would be placed in jeopardy."

"I don't like where you're going with this."

"A long time ago, a fellow servant of the Multiverse attempted to capture the Core for his own use," the Chronomancer explained. "His name is Magister." He gestured, and a holographic image appeared before them, of a man in a crested helm, who sneered with confidence. "I defeated him and sealed him away in another dimension, but your battle with Core Genesis has strained the bonds that held him, and now, he is free to roam the Multiverse once again. Magister will be attempting to collect the pieces of the Omega Core. You must collect them first."

"That sounds familiar," Renais, frowning. She thought back to something that Mikoto had learned from Mamoru--by destroying the Z-Master, GGG and Soldato-J had unwittingly activated the 11 Planetary Masters of Soul. By defeating one enemy, they released another that was just as dangerous, if not more so.

"So you want me to jaunt all over the place and pick these things up along the way?" Matt asked. "Why am I not surprised."

"You will need help," the Chronomancer said. "I will guide you to your friends. Hopefully they will be willing to assist you."

Matt's eyes widened. "They're safe?"

"I helped them escape the Eternal Sanctuary as it was crumbling."

"Oh, thank God." Matt let out a long sigh, ran a hand through his hair. "Well...do I have some time to get ready?"

From the folds of his robe, the Chronomancer produced a sparkling jewel. "Prepare quickly. When you are ready, stand outside the camp and break this jewel upon the earth. I will arrive and guide you."

Matt took the jewel. "Thanks."

"Farewell." With a shimmer of air, the Chronomancer had disappeared.

"Okay, that... was creepy," Hyuuma said.

"Welcome to my life," Matt remarked, turning back around.

"Well, I will take that as definite proof of your story," Taiga said. "We'll help you prepare for your journey in any way we can, Matt."

Matt smiled. "That's pretty swell of ya, Chief. Actually, Renais and I were planning to head out to a clothing store in the ruins to get me some new duds." A mock grin at the French cyborg. "Then again, I'm fairly sure my fashion sense is far more refined than hers, so I'll probably be giving out the pointers."

Renais' countering grin was almost vicious. "Actually, my fashion sense is fine, I just can't wear anything else without my clothing lighting on fire," she said, smirking. "But just for that comment, we're going to bring Miss Swan along. I'm sure she won't mind picking out something for you to wear."

"Oh, NOT COOL," Matt whined, as Swan White was just as girly as you could get, maybe even more, like two girls smashed together into a single girl shape. This meant that they would be there for roughly seven hundred years.

Taiga chuckled. "Well, while you do that...I say we get the crew together and celebrate our victory!"

"A party?" Mikoto said, eyes lighting up. "That sounds wonderful!"

"I'll rig up a grill," Guy offered. "It's been a while since I've had some barbeque."

"Sounds great!" Taiga gestured. "All right, everyone! Good work! You're dismissed!"

"Yes, Chief!" Everyone saluted.

"C'ya at the car, Matt," Renais said as she exited. "C'mon, Swan, let's get out of here."