As Vent arrived to where Matt was getting up, he brought his arm cannon back up, keeping it trained on Matt's chest. "Don't think you can fool me, Maverick," he said. "You attacked Neo Arcadia and I won't let your kind hurt any more people."

R.D. grit his teeth in frustration as his weapon was parried by Aile's beam saber. Finally, he pushed back, dislodging himself from her weapon, then shouted, "Hugo, use the grapple!"

===Pillar of Dawn, Japan===

"Kattelox Island," Alasea said. "Turns out one of the other Daughters of Dawn has a piece of the Chronoscepter."

She walked in side, looking at Brandon once before offhandedly casting a spell with the Pillar's magic to clean the oil off of him before he could get it anywhere. "We'll need to find a way of getting you there, but once you're there, you can meet with Tomoko and get the piece from her."

Edited by RisingDragon on November 24, 2008 at 19:19:13.

"Now, hold on, Crazy McShooterstein," Matt said, raising his hands. "We arrived peacefully, but your robots attacked us first."

Hugo's grapple shot out again, and this time it completely wound about Aile, leaving her wide open as she cried out.

R.D.'s Phase Lance flew up at Aile, stopping just before her face. "Now, Aile, we're gonna settle this the peaceful way," he said.

Vent nearly lowered his weapon. "What?" he said, confusion evident in his voice. "Galleons in the city don't attack people without a reason."

"Well, TECHNICALLY, we did make a...dramatic entrance into your city," Matt said, with some wide gestures. "And I suppose it was because of that that set your robots off. Other than that, we mean no harm."

"And if you don't feel like being peaceful, we can be difficult instead," Hugo said.

"Let me out of this!" Aile strugged to free herself. Suddenly, an electric current travelled through the line and shocked the swordswoman, causing her to cry out loudly in pain.

Aile's cry of pain did not go unnoticed. Vent's eyes widened in surprise. "Aile!" he shouted, immediately turned around and dashing off, hopping up the cliff wall at rapid speeds, his arm cannon charging up plasma energy.

R.D. shot Hugo an annoyed look as he electrocuted Aile. "We can't talk if you make her unconscious, you know," he said, turning back to Aile--and seeing the blue figure leap up over the wall and let fly with a pair of plasma shots at R.D.. "Shit!"

He dove to the side to avoid the blasts, letting both of them shoot over the cliff, and Vent took the chance to dash forward across the top of the cliff towards Aile.

Matt bounded up the cliff as well. "All right, who did it?"

"Hugo did!" Helena shouted, pointing at the Mettaur.

"Thanks a lot, Helena!" Hugo snapped.

"Vent!" Aile shouted. She struggled fiercely, and tore herself free of her bonds. "Now I'm MAD!"

Before Aile could draw her blade, Matt leapt between her and R.D. and held up his hands. "Hold it! This is a cosmic level of miscommunication!"

Gritting his teeth, R.D. reluctantly lowered the Phase Lance, brushing his thumb against one part of it and causing the blades to shrink down into the floating oval crystals. "You got that right," R.D. said, dismissing his armor and revealing to both Vent and Aile that he, too, was a human.

"Who are you people?" Vent said. He still had his arm cannon out, and it was charged with energy--seemed he wasn't quite ready to disarm as the others were.

"The name's Matt," Matt said. "Me and my friends were passing through on a quest of sorts."

"We're looking for something called Omega Essence," Hugo said. "Have you heard of or seen anything like that?"

"Even if I did, why would I tell you?" Aile asked. "We don't even know if you're working for Serpent or not!"

"Look, I've got no idea who that is," Matt said. "But I assume he's some sort of generic villian around these here parts."

"I told you before," R.D. said, looking right at the red-armored swordswoman. "We don't work for anyone. We don't know of anyone called Serpent."

"Why did Neo Arcadia's Galleon forces attack you in the city, then?" Vent demanded to know.

"You wouldn't believe us even if we told you," R.D. said, sighing. "Though it looks like we're gonna have to try."

"I would prefer to do it over a cold drink and something to eat, personally," Matt said.

"Oh, no!" Aile pointed at Matt. "You're not getting a thing until we really know what's going on."

"Fair enough." And so, Matt explained their basic quest and angle.

"It sounds hard to swallow, I know," Helena said. "I'm still not so sure. But I've been through one of those portals already, so it's starting to come together."

"And if you don't believe us, just find a recording or ask a few of the people that saw us in the city," R.D. said, sheathing the deactivated Phase Lance on his left hip. "God knows plenty of them saw us."

Ileyna remained silent through most of the explanation, spending her time with staring at Vent and Aile, and at the countryside--off in the city, towering over the futuristic buildings, was a gigantic tower with six curved extensions, its lower levels surrounded by a curving gray-black wall. However, now that the explanation was done, she looked back at the others.

She looked apologetic as she spoke. "I still can't sense any of the Essence," she said. "I thought maybe I'd sense it better up here..."

Matt rubbed his chin. "Hmmm. That's a problem. And it seems you've got a pretty impressive detection range..."

Aile holstered her weapon and placed a hand on her hip. "What do you think about this, Vent?" she asked, not as loud as before.

"I don't know what to think," Vent said quietly, disengaging his arm cannon. "They're not Reploids, just humans and a single Mettaur, but... you saw what they were able to do."

"I think we can trust them for now," Aile said. "That one kid was pretty strong but he didn't kill me for a reason. But we should keep an eye on them."

"I think you can trust us," Helena said. Matt shot her a look as her eyes widened. "Um...I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Hugo said. "Probably another one of your draconic traits."

"If the scales didn't clue you in," Matt said. "Anyway, we're just trying to find this Omega Essence, and we'd appreciate any help on the matter."

Vent blinked a couple times at Helena's admission, then looked at Aile briefly. He shrugged, then looked back at the others, thrusting his right arm out, his left hand gripping his upper arm. There was a flash of light from his hand, blinding the group for a moment. When the light cleared, Vent was now devoid of armor.



In the hand he had held out was now some strange blue and white, face-like stone.

Aile performed the same motion. In her hand, she held a similar device, marked with red and black.



Matt clapped. "Great trick!"

"Watch it," Aile said.

Edited by The Helldragon on November 26, 2008 at 23:30:41.

R.D. blinked at the actions of Vent and Aile. He almost thought they were wearing Bound Armor, the way it was no longer there--but, he had a distinct feeling that it was because of those two stones they were carrying.

"Okay... what was that?" he asked.

"These are Biometals," Vent explained. Suddenly, the stone--the Biometal?--in his hand began to glow, and hovered up out of his hand. To R.D., it seemed... alive. Ileyna could only stare.

"I am Biometal Model X," it said in a calm and kind voice. It spoke?

"... this gets weirder and weirder," R.D. muttered.

"And I am Biometal Model Z," Aile's stone said.

"They talk?" Helena said.

"Mmmhmm. They've been made to give their powers to us when we need them." Aile swished the air with her hand. "But that's here nor there. Look, if you really want to find this Omega Essence, then it'd probably be best if we talked to the Guardians."

"But we don't even have any pendants of life!" Matt said.

"Um...what?"

"Don't pay any attention to him," Hugo said. "Do you work for the Guardians?"

"Yeah," Aile said. "If there's any Omega Essence to be found, they can help."

"So you trust us?" Matt asked.

"Let's just say I'm being generous today."

"We'll need to go to the Trans-Server back at Neo Arcadia to get to the Guardian Base," Vent said. "We'll talk to Prairie to give you some keycards to allow you to enter."

"What's a Trans-Server?" Ileyna asked.

"Its a kind of computer that allows you to teleport to other Trans-Servers in the network grid," Vent tried to explain. "Most places in Inner Neo-Arcadia and the Outlands have one."

"We'll need to go soon," Model X suddenly said, turning to Vent. "Mavericks may show up if we stay here."

"We can handle any Mavericks or whatever the heck you call 'em," Matt said, blowing it off with a wave of his hand.

"Mavericks like to swarm their target," Model Z said. "If we become surrounded, we can easily be overcome."

"Yeah, Matt," Hugo said. "Remember, you've got your limits."

Matt frowned. Hugo was right, of course. Not like he could just snap his fingers and blow up the entire vicinity. "All right. Let's move."

"We've got a car we can use," Helena said. "But we'll have to trek out back to where we can use it."

"That's not necessary," Vent said, shaking his head. "There's a Trans-Server near the edge of the forest."

"Well then, let's get a move on," R.D. said, summoning the Dragon King Armor onto his form. The action caught Vent and Aile's attention.

"That's... not a Biometal, is it?" Vent asked. R.D. shook his head.

"No, this is... something different," R.D. said, not all that comfortable with the subject. "Its a... momento from an old friend."

Vent, strangely, seemed sympathetic, and for a moment R.D. thought his eyes darted over towards Aile, but he disregarded. Instead, Vent stepped back and took Model X into his hand. With one movement, he thrust his hand and the Biometal out in much the same manner when he disengaged his armor in the first place.

"Megamerge!"

The Biometal suddenly spoke, the red gem set into its center above the "face" lighting up, with glowing text beneath its surface.

"Biolink established," Model X said in a monotone, "M.E.G.A. System online."

There was a flash of light as R.D. saw numerous panels of light settle onto Vent's body and clothing in an instant, and when it cleared, he was wearing the blue armor he had worn before. Dashing forward, he leaped off of the cliff's edge, plummeting and landing on the ground without promise, his arm cannon engaged to fight any incoming enemies.

"Wow," Ileyna said, watching his actions.

"I wonder how he does that," R.D. said as Ileyna took his hand as he began to make his way down the custom stairs Matt had made earlier.

Edited by RisingDragon on November 27, 2008 at 16:54:42.

"If you guys were just going to throw your armor back on, why did you even take it off to begin with?" Matt asked.

"What?" Aile shrugged. "I dunno. Just following Vent's lead, I guess." Grabbing Model Z, she threw her hand outward like Vent had done. "Megamerge!" After the same process, she was now wearing the red armor again.

As she leapt off the cliff, Matt looked at Helena. "You doing okay?"

Startled, she turned away from the looming building in the distance. "What? Yeah, I guess."

"Come on." Matt walked toward the stairs, and Helena followed, once she looked back toward the building, just long enough to keep it in her memory for a moment's notice.

"Stay close, Ileyna," R.D. said to the girl, who nodded and moved closer behind R.D.. He made his way over to Vent, arming his own cannon as well. "Hey, Vent?"

The blue-armored boy looked back at him for a moment. "Yeah?"

"Why do all of these trees robotic?" he asked, motioning with his shield arm at the fauna.

"That... they help regulate the growth of the trees," Vent explained. "The great war two hundred years ago radiated the land, and nothing grows on its own anymore. So for trees and the like, we put implants in them."

"A war, huh?" R.D. said, going back to examining the area, his memory flashing to what Cairn, Ange, and Levi had told them back on Khalis. "That sucks."

"Cybernetic trees?" Matt said. "This truly is the FUUUUUTURE!" He complimented this with a random wiggling of his fingers.

"Stop being an tactless idiot!" Hugo snapped.

"All right, all right, that was a bit too far, I admit."

"It's alright," Aile said. "It was a long time ago. And, if you're really from another world, you probably haven't seen anything like this before."

"Kid, I've seen a lot of stuff in my day," Matt said. "Stuff like this is hardly new."

"We've seen worse. A lot worse," R.D. said, thinking of Khalis and causing Ileyna to look up at him with a frown. He turned to look at Matt for a moment. "And didn't I tell you to stop doing that finger thing? Last time you did that, we got Ing chasing us down a subway."

Vent looked down at Hugo. "Are they always like that?" he asked.

"Like you wouldn't believe," the Mettaur deadpanned.

Their trip to the Trans-Server occured without major incident. It sure was a paranoid trip, for sure, but for the most part, it was safe.

"The Trans-Server should be just ahead," Aile said, sheathing her blade.

The group stepped out into a familiar, stump-filled clearing--the same one they had stopped at earlier, where R.D. had found that snake-like robot's corpse stashed away in a stump.

"It's right in there," Vent said, pointing towards the outer wall of Inner Neo Arcadia. There was a large metal door set into it, away from the street entrance (which was now closed, R.D. noted). They walked up to it, and a circular lock in the door's center rotated and disengaged, causing the two halves of the door to recede into the floor and ceiling.

"That's... a Trans-Server?" R.D. asked, looking at the small yellow terminal and the large metal disk held above it.

"Yep," Vent said, demerging with the Biometal once the door closed behind the group. He walked up to the terminal and pressed a button. "Prairie?" he said into an intercom.

The sound of a young woman greeted. "Yes, Vent? Have you completed the mission?"

"Yeah, sort of," he said, scratching his head. "There's been a... complication. We need authorizations for five extra people to come aboard the Guardian Base."

"Five?" Prairie's voice asked. "Vent, what's going on?"

"It's a long story," he said. "Look, can you send the authorizations? I'll explain when we get there."

"Okay," she said, suspiciously. After a moment, she responded. "Alright, there. Meet me on the bridge."

"Thanks, Prairie," he said. He looked back. "I'll let you explain how it works, Aile. I better go let Prairie know what's up."

Pressing a button on the terminal, a gold ring from the disk overhead lowered down around Vent. Energy wavered within, and Vent disappeared into beams of golden light, and disappeared. The ring then moved back up to the disk.

"I'm not jumping in that first," Matt said.

"Suit yourself." Hugo walked onto the platform. "Let's do this."

"I like your attitude." Moving behind the terminal, Aile pointed at the large green button occupying the left of the panel. "Press down on this once and then center yourself in the middle of the platform. And try not to move."

Helena gave Matt a look. "I really don't like the sound of that."

"Don't worry," Aile said. "It's harmless."

"Then send me up," Hugo said. Aile pressed the button, and the ring descended again, causing Hugo to vanish.

Helena stepped back. "You next, Matt."

"Fine, fine." Working up the courage, Matt allowed himself to be teleported, and Helena did the same, after some prodding from Aile.

Ileyna did not look thrilled at all with the prospect of teleporting. It took several minutes of prodding to get Ileyna to step onto the teleporter, but even then she didn't look happy.

"You're sure this will work?" she said, her eyes pleading.

"It'll be fine. Vent's human and it worked on him, and he's probably been doing this for a while. Don't worry. I'll be right behind you."

"Okay..."

Hesitantly, Ileyna reached up and pressed the button on the Trans-Server, repeating the process and earning a yelp from the girl as the ring came down on her, but soon she too was teleported.

R.D. stepped on it and looked at the control. "Well, this can't be any worse than Chaos Control," he said, pressing the button. The ring came down around him, and powered up. Instantly, R.D. felt everything that made him up being pulled apart, and everything in sight disappeared in gold light, and he was gone.

He felt himself being put back together only a split second later, and gold light faded to reveal a large, squarish-room made up of blue and purple and gray metal walls, and a gigantic window on one side, showing only clouds and sky streaking past. R.D. looked around, feeling rather tingly, as the ring went back up and allowed him to get off of the Trans-Server--he probably didn't want to be on it when Aile came through.

Matt, Helena, Hugo, Ileyna, and Vent were in the room, along with a young woman in a long pink coat and hat, with bright blue eyes and long blond hair. She held what looked to be a white stuffed animal cat in her arms.

"Well, it was better than Chaos Control, at least," he said, stepping off of the Trans-Server's platform and waving to them. "Hi."

Aile soon followed. "Hey there, Prairie," she said to the woman holding the cat. "In case you haven't noticed, these are the complications Vent mentioned."

"I take offense to that!" came Matt's inevitable protest.

"We didn't mean to cause any trouble," Helena said to Prairie. "But things kinda got out of hand."