One more blast from Hugo dropped the last visible knight in the room. "Finally!"

Behind him, Helena released a bloodcurdling roar. Her elegant dress hung like paper over her body-the familiar, monstorous dragon that had fought alongside them before. She eyed R.D. and Hugo as her wings flared.

"...shit," Hugo said.

R.D. quickly got up on his feet after Hugo blasted the knight, the last one in the room, off of him. He took one look at Helena, now fully transformed and looking absolutely furious.

"Time to go!" he said, turning around and dashing, scooping up Hugo in the process.

Hugo yelled as the dragon bounded after them, toward the foyer, out the door, onto the lawn. Matt and Mr. Hiroshi both gained shocked expressions.

"What is THAT?" Mr. Hiroshi shouted.

With a loud cry, Matt smashed into the dragon, and the two tumbled across the clipped grass, trying to overpower the other through a test of strength. Finally Matt managed to get behind the beast, locking its arms, before smashing it into the ground.

"Calm down, Helena!" Matt snapped at the snarling monster. "R.D., help me out here, she's being extremely tempramental today!"

Mr. Hiroshi paled. "Helena...? That's...?"

Depositing Hugo on the ground near Ileyna and Mr. Hiroshi, R.D. interlaced his fingers together and pressed his palms out, cracking his knuckles. "This isn't gonna be pleasant," he muttered.

With a cry, R.D. rushed towards Helena's draconic form, and wrapped his arms around her neck, forcing her head against the ground. He didn't want to hurt her, but if he didn't get her down, she'd rip them all apart.

Helena screeched, tail whipping and wings trying to buffet Matt and R.D. away. She was strong. Maybe it was because Matt lacked the Omega Core...and if that calmed her down, they really were screwed.

"Breathe, Helena," Matt said. "Breathe."

Snarling, growling.

"Come ON," Matt said. "Work with me! You can hear me, right?"

The angry dragon glanced toward him, still struggling.

"That's right. Keep focusing on me. You know me, right? We used to do some crazy things together. And hey, I'm just as surprised as you are that we'd stumble onto one another again. Once you've calmed down we can talk this over, all right? Just stay focused on me, I'll talk ya down."

Her protest diminished.

"R.D.," Matt said in that same friendly tone, "very slowly, I want you to get Mr. Hiroshi's coat for me."

Cautiously R.D. relinquished his hold on the dragon, and backed away, before slowly turning around and proceeding back to the group, walking. Once he arrived, he held out his hand to Mr. Hiroshi.

"I'm gonna need your coat, sir," he said wearily.

Utterly dumbfounded, Mr. Hiroshi took off his coat and handed it to R.D..

As R.D. draped the coat over Helena, she twitched, and her body shrank, wings and tail receding. In a matter of moments, the fierce dragon had been replaced with her human form. This time she was still awake, shocked, quiet.

"How're you gonna explain this, then?" Hugo asked Matt, in a small challenge.

"Good question."

"A better question is what she's even doing here," R.D. said, suddenly tired. He sat down on the grass. Looking up at Matt, he asked, "How is this even possible?"

The memory of Helena's death and the subsequent birth of his greatest opponent, Dragon Drive FINAL, was still fresh in his mind.

"Come on, it's okay," Matt said, crouching to Helena's level. He took off his coat. "Here, you can use this if you want some more cover."

She yanked it over her legs and sat up, clenching Mr. Hiroshi's jacket tighter around her. "How do you know about me?" she asked Matt. "Who are you?"

"Let's get to a safe place first," Matt said. "Hugo, are they all dead in there?"

"Pretty much."

"R.D., I want you to take Mr. Hiroshi inside so he can get Helena some new clothes. We're gonna move Helena over to that part of the wall where no one can really see her." He pointed at the layered brick wall surrounding the property that ended at the steel gate near the front.

"Alright," R.D. said, standing back up and turning to the no-doubt bewildered man. "C'mon, follow me."

While Helena was dressing behind the house, Matt folded his arms. "All right. We need a hotel. Do you know any good ones to stay in that are cheap?"

"First off you're going to tell me what's going on," Mr. Hiroshi said, having had a chance to regain his nerve. "What the hell happened to my daughter?"

"She's your daughter?" Matt asked.

"Tell me what happened," Mr. Hiroshi said, sternly. "How do you know her?"

"Hold on, it's an explaination you both need to hear," Matt said. "Let's find a place to stay once she's dressed and then we'll talk."

Mr. Hiroshi frowned. "All right...but I want answers."

"You might not like the answers we give you," R.D. said, sitting on the ground, while a concerned Ileyna helped him bandage his wounds. He looked up at Mr. Hiroshi. "I've got a few questions for you, though."

"Like what?" He sounded pretty irritated.

"Who's Geese Howard?" R.D. asked, keeping his tone level. "Whoever he is, he's the one who sent that Oswald guy after Helena."

"Geese Howard..."

Mr. Hiroshi patted himself down quickly, near his pockets. "I'll be right back." He rushed back toward the front door.

Hugo watched him go. "Whoever this Geese Howard guy is, it sure spooked him..."

"Oy!" Matt shouted to the back of the house. "You done?"

Helena stepped out to where they could see her-she had donned the first pair of jeans and shirs her father could find, resulting in an unpleasant white-pink combination. "Ugh...this looks horrible."

"It'll have to do." Matt turned to look for Mr. Hiroshi. "Where the hell did that guy run off to?"

"Go after him, Matt," R.D. said, motioning to him. "I can't leave until Ileyna's done patching me up."

"Be right back. Don't go anywhere." Matt ran off.

Helena took a few steps foward, dragging her hand along the wall of the mansion. Still, she kept her distance. Finally, she managed to say, "How did he know how to do that? Turn me back to normal, I mean."

This was gonna be difficult to explain... it was almost like she had no idea who they were. And that hurt. Nevertheless, R.D. tried to explain.

"It... well, it always worked before," he said. "Soothing you, I mean."

"How do you even know me?" she asked. "I've never seen any of you in my life."

"You're probably not going to believe it," Hugo said. "That's why I'll let Matt and R.D. spill the beans."

"And what the heck are you?" Helena kneeled in front of the Mettaur. "Are you some kind of toy robot?"

"I'm not a toy. That's another part of the explaination." Hugo sighed. "Look, it doesn't really make sense now, but..."

"All I can say, Helena, is that we're just as confused as you are."

"There, done," Ileyna said, stepping back while pushing her beret back up on her head, which had slipped slightly. Looking at the handiwork, R.D. nodded and thanked the girl, then put his shirts and glove back on. He pulled the silver gemstone out of his satchel, and began using it to repair his sliced clothing.

"Now, what the heck is taking Matt so long?"

"All right, people!" From out front, with Mr. Hiroshi in toll, Matt clapped his hands. "Mr. Hiroshi here's gonna find us a hotel where we can lay low for a while."

"Quit shouting what we're going to do to the whole neighborhood!" Hugo snapped.

"Helena..." Mr. Hiroshi approached his daughter, but didn't move in close. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Dad."

"You don't feel strange, do you?"

"I feel okay, but...yeah."

They didn't say anything more. How could they with what just happened?

"Let's get going, then," R.D. said, digging the Thunder King out of his satchel. "I'd rather not risk being here when the cops show up."

They drove to the Aurora, a standard hotel that stood right next to a bank. The clerk seemed to ponder who Mr. Hiroshi was, but quickly shrugged it off. Soon they had two adjacent rooms of their own for the night-Matt and Hugo would stay with Helena, and R.D. would stay with Mr. Hiroshi and Ileyna.

"I am picking up so much filth," Hugo muttered as he entered Matt's room, where they could all discuss things.

"It's best not to think about it," Matt said. "At least it looks nice."

"What are we going to do now?" Mr. Hiroshi asked.

Edited by The Helldragon on October 25, 2008 at 23:27:54.

"Now we talk," R.D. said, entering the room with Ileyna in tow. The girl went and sat on one of the beds, while R.D. went across the room to look out the window to check in case of incoming cops. He saw none, and turned back to the group, leaning up against the window sill.

"So, Matt, where should we start?" he asked, looking over to him.

Matt took a deep breath. "WELL..."

There is literally so much exposition that I'm doing myself a favor by saying that Matt explained what had happened.

"So that's basically it," Matt said. It was now evening, it took that long. I guess. I dunno. It's an exaggeration 'cause there was a lot of stuff, okay? You'll live.

"Do you honestly expect us to believe that?" Mr. Hiroshi spat.

Matt folded his arms. "Mr. Hiroshi, today you were attacked by robotic knights and your daughter transformed into a dragon the size of an overly large German Shepherd." Mr. Hiroshi's brow wrinkled in anger. "Uh, what I mean is, I know we're asking you to believe a lot today, especially after what you've been through."

"So every time I get stressed or angry, it's going to happen?" Helena asked. "Why did it start now? Why not earlier?"

"Instinct," R.D. said suddenly, having remained mostly silent through the exposition. He folded his arms, relying on sudden information that he just knew was the truth. "Today you were attacked, and something tried its damnedest to kill you. You needed a way to protect yourself, and you transformed."

Well, that was a pretty good way of putting it. "What he said," Matt remarked, gesturing with his thumb toward R.D..

Helena looked down, said nothing more.

"Anyway, we should all take it easy tonight," Hugo said. "Tomorrow we'll get to the bottom of this." He pointed at Mr. Hiroshi with his pickaxe. "By the way, you sure jumped when R.D. asked about Geese Howard. What do you know about him?"

"...Geese Howard is one of the most powerful businessmen in Southtown," Mr. Hiroshi said. "He's also willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants."

Matt held up a hand. "Lemme guess. He's harassing you."

"He wants me to work for him," Mr. Hiroshi explained. "I told him no. We've been trying to outdo each other for months. I knew he was going to do something drastic, but I never thought it'd come to this."

"He was after something else," R.D. said, looking off to the side. "There's a pretty good chance he'll come after you again. Possibly even tonight; I'm sure he knows Oswald failed by now."

"What's gonna stop him from sending more bad guys then?" Ileyna asked, innocently enough.

"We'll have to set up a watch, I guess."

"Well, this is turning out splendidly," Matt said. "Maybe we all should've just shared a room."

"Well, go get a refund then," Hugo said.

"Is that even possible?"

"It will be. Come on." Hugo walked toward the door.

"Hold on, I'm not leaving R.D. by himself to protect three people. I'll go." Matt pointed at R.D.. "Stay here."

R.D. rolled his eyes, and pushed himself off of the wall, making a half-hearted and fully sarcastic salute. "Yes sir," he muttered. "Try not to let our usual luck get us in trouble on the way down."