"The less people trying to get to the Model W Core, the less of a chance Serpent will know we're coming," Vent explained as Aile exited. "If we can destroy Model W before Serpent can get it out, we'll win."

"Good luck, then," R.D. said. "You'll need it, if Model W is anything worse than those Pseudoroids."

Vent nodded, then ran out the door. R.D. turned towards Ileyna, who looked back at him. "Any luck detecting the Omega Essence?" he asked.

She shook her head. "The only Essence I can feel are Matt's and Helena's," she said. "I haven't felt any other piece around here."

"Strange," he muttered, pursing his lips as he thought. There had to be Omega Essence here, that Chronomancer guy said that the blasted scale would take them to the nearest dimension with Omega Essence.

"I can have some of the Guardians help you with a ground search," Prairie said. "If you can show us a piece of this Omega Essence, we'll know what to look for."

R.D. looked over at Matt. "Do we have any pieces that aren't in the pendant yet?" he asked.

"It's not exactly a piece. It's more like an energy signature. I mean, when I'm near Omega Essence, I can sense it, but Ileyna's the one with crazy range." Matt shrugged. "Besides, I don't think it's a good idea to whip that out. Who knows what it'll do."

"Well, maybe they can capture an energy sample," Hugo said. "Not a big sample, but one that's different enough for them to use."

"All right..." Ileyna was here, maybe she could wrangle it up should it do anything crazy. Would it try to seek another host? Who knew.

Matt dug out the pendant and reached in with his shielded arm, extracting the small fragment of the Omega Core. At once it pulled, and Matt caught it in his palm.

"Be careful!" Helena said.

"Oh, real help you are!" Man, this thing was reacting like crazy! Exerting a power all its own, it tried to break free of Matt's grip, dragging him foward. "Shit shit shit shit shit-!"

"Get it back in the pendant!" Hugo said, whipping out his Grapple Option.

"Shit!" With one final pull, Matt tumbled, and released the Omega Essence, which shimmered as it shot right toward Prairie.

R.D. felt tense as Matt brought out the piece of Omega Essence--he didn't want to get anywhere near it. Not after what a single piece had done to Lumiya. For all he knew, further contact with the shard of the Omega Core could destroy him, or overload Lumiya and destroy everything.

He made a startled cry, however, as the Omega Essence reacted and broke free from Matt's grip. He hesitated for a split second as it flew, conflicted with protecting Prairie and preventing the Essence from doing any more damage to him.

Before it could go any further, however, there was a rising hum as blue light shone in the room, and the Omega Essence froze in the air, struggling for a moment before coming still. R.D.'s eyes shot over towards Ileyna, who was now blazing with the blue aura, wings of light extended from her back and halo over her beret, with the Omega symbols appearing in both her forehead and the Ao-Gem pendant on her neck. Her right hand was raised and aimed at the Omega Essence, thumb, middle finger, and ring fingers out while her index and pinky were curled in.

"Nice save," he said, sighing with relief.

Slowly, Prairie lowered herself back into her seat, clutching her stuffed animal with one hand and her heart with the other. "What just happened?" she asked, looking up at them sternly.

"I don't know," R.D. said, "But if I were to hazard a guess, I think it tried to merge with you."

"I KNEW this thing was dangerous!" Matt said, scrambling up and grabbing the Essence, shoving it back into the pendant before it could react again. "Well, that's enough out of YOU, young man!"

"I guess an energy sample's out of the question," Helena said. "Unless you could feed it into the computer yourself."

Matt snapped his fingers. "You know, you might have a point there. Maybe I can interface with a computer and download a sample of the Omega Essence's energy signature!"

"You'll have to be careful, otherwise you'll blow the thing up," Hugo said, retracting his Grapple Option.

"I know, I know."

Bryant sighed angrily. He wanted to get moving. He was a man of action as some so say. He dimmly wondered if maybe they could just go, his family only if need be. Then again, without the blessings of a daughter of dawn, it would probably end up a super suicide mission. A suicide mission, that if put in percentages for chance of success, would be in the negatives. It was a needless risk...and yet.

"Is there anyway we could go alone then?" Veronica asked, "Just the three of us?" She continued, shocking Brandon and especially Bryant. She glanced at Bryant, hinting that maybe she knew what he was thinking. She usually did.

"Very well," Prairie said. "But I want to know how you'll prevent the Essence from merging with any of my people when they help you."

Looks like she was finally convinced of the dangers the Omega Essence posed. She stood up from her chair and motioned for them to follow her as she made her way to the door. "I'll take you to Fleuve's laboratory."

===Pillar of Dawn, Japan===

"... well," Alasea said, turning to them. "I can't really stop you from going on your own. You shouldn't have too much of a problem getting there, either, most of Gouki's forces are concentrated on Shayol Ghul at the moment."

She leaned against the edge of the table. "But you probably won't find a suitable vessel that can defend itself at the port," she continued. "The world's seas have been infested with Sea Serpents and Gan, and the Hydro's made his home in the oceans ever since Australia was destroyed by Ziatoch. I'm capable of retrofitting any of the boats so it can be defended, though."

They followed. "Ileyna just needs to catch them before they can merge with anyone, like she did before, right?" Helena asked.

"Well, she can't go with every single group," Matt said. "I can probably snag them in the pendant before they cause any trouble, and if it does merge with someone, Ileyna can extract it. So we'll need to split our groups up."

Prairie led them to a door between the bridge and the Trans-Server room, labeled as "LAB" above it. She opened the door and led them inside. Within, they found an extremely large computer with a gigantic screen taking up the space of one of the walls. Operating the system was a short man clad in a blue coat, wearing strange goggles and a hat. Most of his face not covered by the goggles was covered by his white beard.

"Ah, Prairie!" the short man, Fleuve, said upon seeing her with the others. "These are the travelers you mentioned earlier?"

"That's right," Prairie said. She pointe to each of them. "This is Matt, R.D., Hugo, Helena, and Ileyna. They need your help in using the mainframe to detect the Omega Essence they're searching for."

"Certainly! Give me a moment, and I'll recalibrate the computer," Fleuve said, before turning back and began typing into the console at a rapid, inhuman pace--R.D. figured he must be a Reploid as well.

"Hope your tech's up to snuff," Hugo said. "This one's a doozy."

"I will do my best to refrain from frying your computer," Matt said. "No promises."

"I suppose the tank can't be changed up then?" Brandon asked. Bryant shook his head at this quickly.

"If we expect to go alone we'd have no way of changing it back when we get to land." Bryant said, Brandon nodded.

"Ok, we'll go look for a boat then and come back to get you, Alasea when we find one." Veronica stated and stood up. Bryant put a hand on Veronica's shoulder.

"Just me and Brandon will go, no sense in all three of us going." Bryant said, thinking of her safety.

"I don't like being held back like this ya know." Veronica mumbled. Bryant patted her shoulder.

"We won't be gone long." He assured with a smile. Veronica sighed and nodded.

Fleuve gave a hesitant (R.D. wasn't sure, he couldn't tell through those goggles of his) look to Prairie, who could only shrug in return. "Alright," he said, looking at the group. "How exactly are we going to scan this?"

After the explanation, the scientist seemed more confident. He made his way around the room, doing various things to the instruments within, before finally readying a box-like, slotted hand-reader device. "Well, Matt," he said, motioning to him. "Just press your hand to the panel inside and transfer the energy through it. Just a tiny burst, though! Too much could destroy the equipment."

===Pillar of Dawn, Japan===

"Be careful out there," Alasea bade them as they left. A moment after the two men had exited, she sighed. "Do all men feel the urge to leave so quickly?" she asked, looking over at the older woman.

Veronica sighed frustratingly.

"Bryant does at least. Ever since we met I've seen how notoriously rash he is in a desperate situation. Its saved our lives on more than one occasion though. So who am I to complain?" Veronica shrugged, "Its probably just the testosterone pumping. He's trying to show how mannly he is maybe. Next you'll see him trying to grow a beard through sheer force of will and bend things with it." Veronica joked as she stared at the door, her legs crossed.

Bryant was walking down the hill and was checking his pistol clips.

"What is it with women and being so slow when we need to get moving?" Bryant mumbled as he jammed his clip back into the Mk. Brandon shrugged.

"I wouldn't know." Brandon said dully, his SADAR slung over his shoulder with an AK-74u in his hands. Bryant sighed.

"Part of being married I guess, or at least in a relationship with a woman." Bryant began spinning both his pistols, "As a wise man once said, 'Women, can't live with them, pass the beer nuts.'" Bryant said and the brothers shared a laugh as they ended at the foot of the hill. Bryant's scouter did a quick check around for any hostiles as they walked towards the port. It slowly was coming into view. Bryant began to pick up his pace, as did Brandon.

"I will subdue my natural awesomeness!" Raising an armored hand, Matt gently laid it against the scanner, and focused.

He attempted a tiny burst but the computer was already protested, spouting lines of data and formula. Matt quickly withdrew his hand. "Oh, great," Helena said, throwing up her hands. "You broke it."

"Nuh uh!"

The computer did not explode, thankfully, or break down. After printing its voluminous code, it thankfully cooled down.

"Hmm."

Fleuve was stroking his chin as he examined the data as it poured onto the screen. "My, my, this is quite an amazing energy source," he said. "This energy could've easily solved the energy crisis from two hundred years ago!"

He began typing in commands as the scan completed. Looking over his shoulder slightly, he said, "Why don't you kids go find something to do? This will take some work to enter into the computer. The energy signature was more complex than I had imagined."

"How long do you think it'll take?" R.D. asked, unfolding his arms.

"Not very long," Fleuve said. "An hour, perhaps more.:

R.D. sighed. They might not have an hour. Prairie looked at him apologetically. "Don't fret," she said. "Fleuve is the best at what he does. He'll be able to configure the scanners soon enough. In the meantime, why don't you search Neo Arcadia?"

===Pillar of Dawn, Japan===

Alasea laughed. "Yeah, that sounds about right," she said. "Matt and R.D. used to do stupid and reckless stunts as well."

Standing up from the table, she looked at Veronica. "I better go get started on making your supplies," Alasea said. "I'll need you to tell me what you'll need for the trip to Kattelox."

Murphy's Law. A law that many used as more of a joke than anything. It stated 'Anything that can go wrong, will in the worst possible way'. While maybe that last part wasn't quite the solid, the beginning was right on the money. Bryant thought dimmly of this as he slammed the door to the dock owner's house. A desk was thrown in front of it. Bryant saw that the only windows were about twenty feet up in this high brow house. It was relatively empty, the ceiling curved upward to a point. It was hollow with only some rafters to keep it up. At least the things outside couldn't climb. As far as he knew.

"Bryant they're hitting the door pretty hard!" Brandon warned as the desk shook with every thundering pound of the creatures outside. These creatures, Bryant remembered as he and Brandon sprinted, jumped from the trees around them. They looked like humans, but were savage, and screeched at them. He couldn't feel anything evil off of them and the scouter couldn't pick any of them up. The only explanation: zombies. They weren't evil, hell they probably didn't know who the hell the seven were let alone who Bryant and Brandon were. They were just hungry. For flesh, Bryant's flesh. The pillar must have kept them back a decent ways, but they must be out of that safety zone now. There was another pound and the sound of splintering wood filled the house, churning Bryant's stomach. They weren't slow either, Bryant remembered, they were as fast as any good sprinter. Not easy to get away.

"Bryant what do we do?" Brandon asked in a panic as the door again shook. Bryant stared blankly, unsure. They weren't prepared for the numbers put before them. Bryant stared at his pistols, but then began to move. He went around a counter and found a simple 12-Gauge shotgun. It would do. Bryant put his pistols away and took the shotgun in his hands, he checked the ammo. Full. Bryant heard the wood splinter again.

Then there was some pitter and patter on the roof. Bryant looked up and saw what looked like some drug dealer with a hoodie sweatshirt, and the hood up. It had red eyes. Bryant raised his gun slightly. Then the drug dealer gave off a terrible yell as it leaped down on Bryant instantly pinning him. The creature, Bryant found out quickly, had claws and it quickly went to work on Bryant's chest.

"Bryant!" Brandon pushed the creature off of Bryant. Brandon then let about half a clip as the creature screamed in pain and quickly fell to the ground. He came to Bryant and pulled him to his feet. Bryant had several cuts along his abdomen and chest. "Are you alright?" Brandon asked earnestly. Bryant nodded as he looked up at the door.

"What the hell are these things?" Bryant asked no one in particular. Bryant raised the shotgun again as the door finally gave. The creatures came at them, running and flooding the dock house quickly. It was much like watching water break through a dam. Gun fire quickly went off as the creatures fell from the force of the shotgun and the AK. Bryant and Brandon were backed into a corner quickly as the zombies kept coming and coming. Bryant blinked as a stream of sunlight then filled the room. Many of the zombies were tossed into the water by the force of the alpha male. At first all Bryant saw were a pair of arms. Then he saw a mangled face of a man, his tongue lulling out and the small legs barely touching the ground. The creature roared as it rushed at the two with the force of a bull elephant. Bryant figured the law was just kicking in.

At the cabin Veronica was naming off somethings they would need. She had a hand laid over two fingers, one for ammo, another for some sort of medical care.

"And we'll of course need something hold the pieces securely." Veronica said referring to the scepter. It was pretty big so far and without something nice to carry it in, they ran the risk of loosing it to the enemy. "A way to keep in contact with everyone would also be nice." Veronica added.

The two women sat on a bench just outside of the cabin, as they'd have more room. Which each item named, Alasea harnessed the power of the Pillar of Dawn and wove it into existence, the unreal power manifesting as strands of bluish-white light that wound into a single point and burst, leaving the item resting on the ground, categorized into one pile, depending on what it was.

Leaning back against the house's outer wall, she stretched slightly. "I can make a couple backpacks or something and put pocket dimensions in them," she said before shrugging her jacket off--it was getting to hot for it, so she let the sun hit her bare shoulders. "You saw R.D.'s satchel, right? I did the same thing for it, its got plenty of room to hold tons of objects in it, so long as its small enough to get through the opening. It won't be too difficult to make more."

Once more, she embraced the energies of the Pillar of Dawn and began weaving individual flows of the power into a single point. Once more, it manifested in bright strands that curled into a single point before bursting, revealing the backpack. Standing up, Alasea retrieved it, unzipped the top and reached her hand inside... and then her arm... right down to the shoulder. She had put her arm in deeper than was physically possible to put inside of a backpack. She withdrew it a moment after, grinning. "See?" she said. "They're pretty useful."

She handed the backpack to Veronica before creating two more to match it. As she did, something seemed to snap at the back of her mind, and her eyes went wide. She swore, looking off in the direction of the port and really, the rest of Japan. "Dammit! How in the hell did they get free?!"

"Road trip!" Matt whooped, shooting his fists upwards. "I call shotgun!"

"We're going to need a guide to the city," Hugo said. "But we can take care of the vehicle."

Helena ran a head through her hair-it was still a bit untamed. "Mmmmm. We'd better not drive around in the Firebird. We used it earlier to escape the city, so people might recognize it and become suspicious."

Veronica was fitting her equipment when she looked at Alasea as she swore and exclaimed. Veronica looked the same direction.

"What is it?" Veronica asked, nervous of what the answer could possibly be. Another wonderful moment for Murphy's Law no doubt.

Bryant saw the dock as he fell and watched as the brute bashed around frustratingly. Bryant hit the water as the creatures followed, like lemmings, off to their death. Brandon surfaced right after. His SADAR was probably ruined, but the other guns would work fine. Brandon let the SADAR sink as he slung the AK over his shoulder and began to swim to shore. Bryant lost the shotgun but swam as well. More creatures jumped down and sank, gurgling.

The Hartnett brothers came to the beach. Bryant had already drawn his pistols and began picking off some of the zombies, as Brandon helped. A piece of the desk came flying by their heads as they saw the brute roaring and charging at them. Brandon's clip went dry, ironically. Bryant stopped firing. Brandon turned to Bryant.

"Run or shoot?" He asked, Bryant was silent. Brandon reloaded.

"Run or shoot?!" He asked excitedly.

"Both!" Bryant suddenly yelled as they suddenly sprinted down the beach. Brandon held out the AK in his right hand, shooting inaccurately, but because of the mass of creatures he hit with every shot. Bryant switched back and forth between his pistols. Then suddenly a long pink wire like thing came from the woods on their right and quickly caught Brandon. It constricted him and pulled him into the woods.

"Bryant!" He yelled before being swallowed up by the dense foliage.

"Brandon!" Bryant yelled and leaped over a stump as the horde behind him followed along with the brute. Bryant dodged around the trees, following Brandon's shouts and grunts. Finally Bryant caught up to him and saw him up against a much taller figure. The figure had the pink wire lulling from its mouth. Bryant figured the tongue must have been fifty feet long. Bryant shot the figure in the head and it exploded into a strong smoke. Brandon stumbled forward, groaning and coughing. Bryant followed the coughs as Brandon fell forward. Bryant caught him. Brandon looked up.

"You alright?" Bryant asked through the coughs. Brandon nodded. Then a sick gurgling, almost puking sound came to them. A very fat man with boils the size of basketballs came from the forest. They looked at him for a moment. He then reeled back and let loose gallon of bile and vomit on the two. Both were blinded quickly. Stumbling they rolled back down the hill and to the beach. They landed, groaning as the horde came at them with even more earnest as the bile attracted them. The Brute could be seen in the back, shoving the zombies aside, neigh, [/i]throwing them aside. They were flying from the mob. The brute came to the front as the horde came on the two.

[i]Edited by Blazen on December 11, 2008 at 21:37:30.

"You'll need appropriate clothing, too," Prairie said. "The clothing you're wearing hasn't been in style for nearly five centuries."

"Geez, that long?" R.D. said, looking at his clothing.

The leader of the Guardians nodded again, making her way to the door. "I'll have someone find some spare uniforms you can wear."

Contacting one of the Guardians, Prairie ordered the man to find outfits for the four of them; even Ileyna, though R.D. found that weird. They were led by the man to an elevator in the middle of the hall, which went up a floor before stopping. There, Matt and R.D. were led into one spare room to change, while Helena and Ileyna went into another. Inside, they found the spare black jumpsuits and the green coat and white pants of a male uniform, while the girls were given matching jumpsuits and green dresses.

Picking up one of the visored helmets after he got done changing, R.D. said, "Think we should wear these as well? I don't think anyone in Neo Arcadia will recognize us with the uniforms."

===Pillar of Dawn, Japan===

"There was an infestation of undead I found a few weeks back," Alasea said, nearly growling. "I couldn't deal with them on my own, so I trapped them with a spell and put wards around them. Someone just severed the flows of the prison I set, and the wards are going off."

She raised her hand up and a shield fell around the house--until she released it, no one could get in or out of it. That should keep Maya and Mercy safe for now. She looked over at Veronica. "Get that tank out, we're gonna need it," she said. "These things are unlike any zombie I've ever seen, and we'll need all the firepower we can get."

Edited by RisingDragon on December 11, 2008 at 19:05:57.

Matt came out of the closet he changed in, wearing...his jacket over his uniform. "I absolutely refuse to remove the jacket." He folded his arms.

"Matt, just play along with their stupid uniforms," Hugo said.

"I bet Mettaurs haven't been in fashion for five centuries either!"

"Shut up."

Edited by The Helldragon on December 11, 2008 at 22:09:07.

Veronica nodded as she tossed out the cube. The tank folded out in its miraculous light. She opened the door and got in, quickly grabbing an auto-shotgun and a vest of shells. She stepped into the driver's seat and started up the Warmachine. She waited for Alasea to get and put the pedal to the metal.

Bryant was shoving the greedy hands off of him as the horde tried and tried to rip him apart. The Brute then tore the horde off of him. Bryant could see the shape through the vomit of the larger zombie. The Brute raised its arms and Bryant rolled to the side. He then heard the quick gunfire of the AK. The Brute fell back a bit, stunned by the sudden gunfire. Bryant pulled up a pistol and began firing as well. The Brute grew more and more angry when it suddenly lashed an arm out sending the AK into a nearby tree, cracking it in half. The Brute roared again and punched Brandon hard, sending him into the tree as well. Bryant could hear the cracking and breaking of Brandon's bones.

"Brandon, answer me!" Bryant shouted as his view came back slowly. Brandon mumbled. He was alive at least. Bryant picked up the other pistol and continued his mass fire onto the Brute it roared again and rushed Bryant. Bryant put in the last two shots and suddenly the Brute jerked its head and stumbled. It slid along the ground and bumped into Bryant. The horde, back off by the alpha male stared at Bryant for a moment. Bryant looked back, reloading. They then suddenly dashed forward at him.

The Warmachine landed from a hill in front of the horde. The turret on the top turned to the sea of bodies and went to work creating a red mist in th air.

"Actually, Aile recognized what Hugo was, so they're probably still around," R.D. said, shaking his head at what Matt had done as he put the helmet back down on the table. "But we don't have the time for this. If a Galleon recognizes the coat and shoots Matt, it'll be his own fault."

He opened the door and walked out, signaling to the guard that he and Matt were ready. Now they just needed the girls to come out. Soon enough, they did--the door open, and Ileyna walked out, looking at the small green dress she was wearing. It was unusual to see her without her beret, too, and it seemed like she knew it. Her hand kept making aborted motions to check for the beret. "Helena will be out in a moment," she said as the door shut behind her.

===Japan===

As the Earthquake rolled up over the hill, its side hatch opened and Alasea jumped out, once again wearing her jacket and the Megami Tsurugi in hand. She pumped her legs hard as she ran down the hill, feeling the bullets whiz past her off to the side as they shredded into the zombies down below. As she landed on a slight rise in the hill, she leaped off, holding her left hand out in front of her as gravity took hold over her. A sphere of white light manifested and grew as she fed power into it, and after a second or so, a bright white beam of energy burst out of it, releasing shockwaves of light from its focal point, and cored through the center of the alpha male zombie. Screaming, it crumpled into a heap, catching the attention of the other zombies as Alasea landed.

Standing up straight, she stared at them with cold fury in her eyes. She brought her sword up to bear with one hand, as if challenging them, then shot forward while taking it in both hands, slashing one undead creature right in half as she came into range.

Helena soon followed, pulling at the short sleeves of her dress, trying to stretch them out. "I hate this stupid dress," she muttered. "I hate this stupid bodysuit, it's too tight."

"The clothes sure do suck, don't they?" Matt said.

"You're not supposed to be wearing that jacket, you know." Helena ran her hands down her front, flattening wrinkles in the fabric.

"So? I don't care."

"Whatever. Let's just do this and get back into our good clothes."

"You want me to pick up a spare outfit for you?" Matt asked.

Helena sighed, and made some kind of shrug. "Sure, I guess."

Prairie met up with them at the elevator once they came back down. "Matt?" she said, looking at him. "You're not supposed to wear that jacket with the uniform."

"He knows," R.D. said with a sigh. "He doesn't care. He can be dumb like that."

Ileyna giggled in response.

"Well, if you say so," she said. "The Trans-Server is all ready for you, and we've notified Guardian personnel in the city of their new objective. Your uniforms should keep the public from suspecting that you're the people who caused the disturbance this morning. They're generally helpful to the Guardians, so don't be afraid to ask for any help from them."

"Alright. We should go now," R.D. said.

"Good luck," she said, bading them farewell as they entered the Trans-Server room.

"Maybe I should've put on a fake mustache too," Matt gibed as he stepped onto the Trans-Server. "Hello, I am from foreign country," he said in a bad accent. "Our ways different than yours. Jacket come from traditional looming methods."

"You'd better not try anything like that," Hugo said. "We'll just get shot for it."

"And if we get shot, I'm shooting you first," R.D. said, stepping onto the Trans-Server. Any retort Matt may have made was lost to him, as he disappeared in yellow light as his atoms were torn apart and spirited away down into the Innerpeace city of Neo Arcadia.

"I don't like this thing," Ileyna mumbled as she stepped onto the platform after it settled down. She reached up try and activate it, though her short stature made it difficult. "It makes me feel weird."

"Hold on." Matt stepped on the platform and tapped the button, stepping back before the ring descended. "Well, just grin and bear it, eh?" He and the others followed suit.

As the group left the Trans-Server room just near where they first arrived in Neo Arcadia, they were met by five other Guardians. "You're the new guys, right?" the man, clad in an identical uniform as R.D. and Matt's, along with a helmet, asked.

"Right," R.D. said, nodding.

"Here, take these," he said, holding out sleek-looking beam rifles to both R.D. and Matt. R.D. took it with hesitation--why did he need one of these when he could just fire lasers from his hands? "We were told you could defend yourselves without guns, but you'll need these to complete the look," the Guardian explained, as another member, this time a dark-haired woman with a triangle on her forehead, handed Helena a spare beam pistol. "People won't believe you guys are Guardians if you're not visibly armed."

"Makes sense," R.D. said. They listened as they explained how to use their weapons.

"So, now that we're ready, we need to split up, right?" the woman said.

"Pretty much," Matt said, aiming his rifle at a wall and pretending he was about to blast off someone's head. "I can sense Omega Essence, but it's only at close range. Still, I'll be some form of help." With an elaborate turn, he drew the rifle's strap over his shoulder. "Ileyna's the one with radar, though, so we'll mostly be relying on her."

Helena holstered her gun right away. "How are we splitting up, then?"

"Same as before. You're with me, and Hugo tags along with Ileyna and R.D.."

"Good," Hugo said. "I don't want to be around you if you ever decide to use that gun."

R.D. slung the weapon around his shoulder, then looked down the street. "Well, time to get started, I guess. Ready, Ileyna?"

"Yep," she said, opening herself to her detection powers. She'd be able to detect the Omega Essence the moment it appeared.

"Then let's get started," R.D. said. "We'll meet back here in an hour, alright?"