"D'you think he...?" Alasea started, cocking her head to the side as Matt disappeared into the green portal.

"Naturally," R.D. said, picking up Ileyna and allowing her to cling to him as he approached the portal. "It wouldn't be right if he didn't somehow flatten his face in every time we jumped."

Now, both girls present giggled. "Take care, R.D.," Alasea said when she was finished. R.D. paused in front of the portal and looked back, nodding, then stepped through.

With a crack of thunder, the portal disappeared.

R.D. and Ileyna tumbled out onto a smooth, paved road cutting down a suburbian street. Looming before them was a building quite different from other houses:



Matt was already gazing up at it, hands on hips boldly. "Ah, the old lab."

Edited by The Helldragon on October 12, 2008 at 17:39:33.

R.D. quickly regained his balance as he exited the portal, which quickly closed behind him, and prevented himself and Ileyna from taking a fall into the street. The first thing that R.D. noticed was the sounds--in the distance, he could hear the sounds of cars. Birds were chirping, and every other little nuance of sound that happened in an average American neighborhood.

Absentmindedly, he let Ileyna down onto the sidewalk, and both of them looked around as they made their way over to Matt. These sounds were so... alien to R.D.'s ears. It was... peaceful. Something he had never experienced since he woke up in that broken-down building to the sounds of a battle. He had little in the way of memories experiencing it, and not for the first time, R.D. silently cursed his amnesia.

Ileyna, on the other hand, had experienced such times of peace, but not for quite some time--she marveled at it now, both at how peaceful it was, and how normal it was. Like any child, her idea of going to another world was a lot more abstract, more alien. She wasn't expecting a place that looked much like her old home, before her parents died and the world went to hell.

"Lab?" R.D. said, hearing Matt's words as he finally caught up to him. His eyes finally laid to rest on the building he spoke of, and lifted his eyebrows in surprise. Now that looked out of place here. "Matt, where are we?"

In haste, Matt was already scaling the steps. He took a concealed turn toward a more conventional front door, complete with overhead lights and awning. A quick rap on wood, and he idled by glancing toward the neat little garden of red and purple by the front door steps.

Soon the door opened, answered by a small girl in breezy summer clothing. "Matt!"

Matt smiled. "Hey, Roll! How's it goin'?"

R.D. and Ileyna looked at each other for a brief moment, wondering what was up. "Haven't you been here before?" the little girl asked. R.D. shook his head, looking back up as Matt turned towards the conventional front door of the house.

"Not to this world, no," he said, following up the steps, Ileyna trailing behind him.

Matt glanced back just as R.D. and Ileyna came into view. "Roll, I'd like you to meet my friends. That's R.D., and that's Ileyna."

"R.D.?" Roll repeated.

"He likes calling himself by his initials." Matt's voice dropped to a whisper. "He's kinda weird like that."

"Oh."

Matt gestured at the girl at the door. "R.D., Ileyna, I'd like to introduce you to Roll, creation and daughter of the roboticist Dr. Thomas Light."

"Um, hi," R.D. said, waving to the girl, as did Ileyna. Creation? So she's a robot, like Hugo? He looked over at Matt. "You know, you could've told us that this was where Hugo lived, instead of running off when I asked."

"Sorry," Matt said. "I was just excited to see them again." He looked back at Roll. "By the way, is everyone home?"

"Hugo and Guts Man are still at work," Roll said. "They'll be coming home together, but everyone else is here."

"Sweet."

Roll opened the door all the way. "Come on in." She shouted down the hall. "Dr. Liiiight~! We've got company~!"

The house was clean and pleasing-something you would expect from one of those typical middle-class houses. Roll led them through the foyer toward the den. Sitting in front of the TV were two others, intensely concentrated on a video game on their screen. "Ice Man, Cut Man, look who's here!" Roll said.

Ice Man-the blue and white robot with a large fuzzy hood about his head like a parka-turned to see the newcomers, and his young eyes widened. "It's Matt!" He leapt up and nearly tackled the young man.

"Whoa, buddy! Calm down." Matt kneeled to Ice Man's level. "It's good to see ya too."

"Hey! How've you been?" Cut Man asked. The red and white robot walked over, the large scissor on his head perfectly balance, and offered a hand to Matt, which he shook.

"I'm doin' good," Matt said. "I'd like you to meet my friends R.D. and Ileyna."

"Hi," R.D. said, waving his hand while feeling a bit repetitive. Ileyna could only stare, her body instinctively having moved behind R.D. a bit, her shyness taking over. R.D., in the meantime, moved to shake hands with both Ice Man and Cut Man.

After Ice Man shook hands, he waved at Ileyna-he was still a bit taller than her, though definitely the smallest of the robots. "Nice to meet you, R.D.," Cut Man said cheerfully.

"Cut Man, where's Dr. Light?" Roll asked.

"He's working in the lab," the scissor robot answered. "I'll go get him."

As Cut Man scampered off, Roll said, "Ice Man, would you go get the others and bring them into the kitchen?"

"Okay." Ice Man walked toward the stairs as Roll led the group to the kitchen and sat them down.

"Would you like anything to drink?" Roll asked. "We have water, milk, and juice."

"Water for me," Matt said.

"Same here," R.D. said, with Ileyna quickly following suit. Her gaze was wandering about the kitchen, taking in the new sights.

"So what brings you back to this world?" Roll asked, setting down glasses of water for them all.

"We're here to pick up Hugo," Matt said. "We kinda need him for something."

Roll dried her hands. "Oh, are you going on another journey?"

"Something like that."

"Where did you go after you dropped him off last time?"

Matt shot a glance at R.D.. "Just back home. Went to go do some stuff. No biggie."

Knowing Matt didn't want to talk about the journey's end itself, R.D. decided to change the subject. "So... who all lives here?" he asked the robot girl.

Roll counted on her fingers. "There's Dr. Light, me, Rock, Fire Man, Ice Man, Elec Man, Cut Man, Guts Man, and Bomb Man. It's a pretty big family, but I like it that way."

Through the other kitchen entrance came Cut Man, and he moved aside for the man behind him to walk through-a rotund figure with a cottony beard and white labcoat. His eyes brightened. "Ah! It's wonderful to see you again, Matt."

Matt stood up and shook the man's hand. "Hey, Dr. Light. These are my friends R.D. and Ileyna." He leaned in. "Don't mind the initials, he's a bit weird."

"Ah." Dr. Light held out a hand for R.D.. "Hello, R.D.. It's nice to meet you."

Unlike the last time he had made the statement, R.D. heard what Matt said, but refrained from kicking Matt in the leg. Instead, he also stood up, and shook the roboticist's hand. "Likewise," he said.

Roll handed Dr. Light a glass of water, and after he drank, he sounded more clear. "So, what brings you to our world again, Matt?"

"We need to pick up Hugo," Matt said, now serious. "It's important."

"Another dangerous journey, huh?" Another drink. "I'm not sure if Hugo will be avaliable. He's been quite busy at his new job."

"After Hugo got home, he told me that he wanted to become more versatile," Roll explained. "So Dr. Light modified him."

"Hugo mostly spends his time going about the city and helping others," Dr. Light added. "I used a variation of Rock's tool-adaptation technology on his pickaxe. Though it can't neccessarily copy any tool, it can transform into a selection of tools that allows him to perform a variety of jobs, such as construction and police work."

"Well, is there a chance we can at least talk to him?" R.D. asked, taking a sip of water. "Even if he can't join us, or doesn't want to, I'm sure he'd like to know how we're doing."

"He should be home soon," Dr. Light said. "Today he'll probably come in the back way with Guts Man."

"Well, well, well," a voice at the kitchen doorway interrupted. There was a new robot, black-suited with a curved plate covering his chest and shoulders, leaning there, arms folded. "Look who's finally back."

Matt smirked, reserved. "Nice to see you too, Elec Man."

"Who're they?" Elec Man jabbed with a backhanded thumb toward R.D. and Ileyna.

"Friends of mine," Matt replied. "I trust you don't have a problem with that."

"Of course not." Now Elec Man stood up straight and entered the kitchen proper. "If you're looking for Hugo, he's not here right now."

"I know. Dr. Light filled us in."

Elec Man's eyes narrowed. "My question is...where have you been all this time? All I heard from Hugo is that you just dumped him off and went back your own way. Any reason you couldn't talk to us?"

"I had things to do, Elec Man," Matt said. "You understand."

"Perfectly."

R.D. kept his face neutral, but he quickly picked up the different behaviors in Matt when this new robot--Elec Man?--entered. R.D. hadn't seen the behavior in him before, but then again, R.D. had never been to a world Matt had been to once before already, except for his own home world.

Something Elec Man said caught his attention, and he pondered it for a moment. "Just... how long has it been since Matt dropped Hugo off?" he asked, remembering how, since the final battle at the Eternal Sanctuary, it'd been several months for Matt, yet only one week for himself.

Elec Man glanced at Roll. "Roll. What day did he come back?"

She rolled her eyes up to ponder. "Let's see...I think it was...two years and five months ago."

"WHAT?!" Matt shouted. This earned him looks, which he immediately tried to cover. "I mean, I didn't expect the time gap to be so long..."

Matt's shout startled both R.D. and Ileyna. The girl, who had been moving to drink some water from her glass, nearly jumped in her seat and came close to spilling her drink--only quick movements kept the water in the glass, and only then did the girl push her beret back up from where it slipped on her head.

"Excuse us for a minute," R.D. said, putting his glass on the table and standing up. He motioned for Matt to follow him as he made his way to the far side of the living room, where he could speak to Matt in private.

Matt held up a finger. "I'll be right back." A quick smile and he followed R.D. into the living room.

Once they were both in the living room, R.D. turned towards Matt and crossed his arms. "Were you aware of how big the difference in the flow of time was?" he asked, confused. "I've been under the impression it was the same for all worlds, up until your story of where you'd been all this time."

Matt frowned. "I never really thought about it until now. Still, there's no reason for worlds not to be on a different timeline."

"I guess the Chronomancer wasn't kidding when he said we had to hurry," R.D. said. "If there's different flows of time... I don't want to go back to my world and find that a hundred years have passed, Matt."

"Don't worry," Matt said. "We'll get this thing done and we'll get you back to your normal time."

In the kitchen, words of greeting were suddenly being exchanged. Someone had entered in through the way Dr. Light had come.

"Welcome home, Hugo," Dr. Light said.

"Hey, Dr. Light," came the familiar voice of the Mettaur. "When did Elec Man finally decide to come out of his room?"

"Ice Man dragged me down here because we have company," Elec Man replied.

"Who is it?"

"Matt came by to visit!" Roll cheerfully announced. "And he's brought some friends!"

There was no reply that they could hear.

R.D. could hear the words being said in the other room, and was happy to hear Hugo's voice again. His lack of a reply, however, was not a good sign. He exchanged a look with Matt. "Well, that doesn't sound like a good sign," he said, loud enough only for Matt to hear. "Well, might as well go reveal ourselves."

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Ileyna found herself looking back and forth at people during the commotion, pausing every once in a while to sip at her glass of water. When Hugo was revealed, she cocked her head a bit, looking at him in curiosity, having expected the robot to be much bigger, or at least humanoid in appearance. He hadn't yet noticed the girl's presence.

Matt took a deep breath. Okay. Calm down. Though that was impossible. How did you break this kind of ice?

With anything, it took the first step.

Matt moved through the living room, slowly edged into the kitchen. He looked at Roll and Dr. Light, both concerned. Panned over to Elec Man, solemn and silent as always. Then, when he couldn't bear it anymore, he glanced at Hugo, at the little Mettaur he had known whose eyes were wide as red traffic lights as he took in Matt's full form.

"Hey," Matt said.

Metal slid and shifted along Hugo's pickaxe, and a thick muzzle extended from the top of the weapon, pointed right at Matt. Inside of the muzzle, a crystal hummed, glowing brighter with infused energy.

Yeah, this was quickly going downhill. R.D. made his way around Matt, and stepped in the way of Hugo's Power Shotgun, using himself as a human shield. "Whoa, Hugo," R.D. said, raising up his arms. "Calm down. I have an idea in what you're thinking and I can assure you things are different this time."

Heaving a sigh, Siegfried rubbed his temple, the fatigue setting in more heavily. Nevertheless, he launched into an introduction, "My name is Siegfried Schtauffen, originating from Germany. Lance is the name of my partner, and I'm not even sure if he knows where he's from. We've been travelling for months, tracking fiends and running from them... We've seen half of the world by now, and South America was to be the last of our stops. The man in the sky we ran into in Africa, and we've been fighting ever since." Siegfried sighed once more, the recollection of all of this he disliked. "His name was Shadowrend, and he's dead now. Nothing else is following us... you don't need to worry about any harm falling on this place while we're residing here."