Matt peered into the depths of the Impact Crater. "Hoo, boy!" he remarked. "That's deep."

"Ileyna, can you detect any more Omega Essence?" Hugo asked.

"No," she said, hovering down with her powers, the blazing shard clutched firmly between her hands. Ileyna floated over to Matt and held the shard out to him. R.D. held his hand out to motion for Samus to stand back--it wouldn't be worth it if the Omega Essence tried to jump to her, like the other shard had with Prairie.

"Looks like that's it for us," Matt said, shoving the Essence into the amulet where it belonged. "Time to get out of here."

"What about Samus?" Helena asked. "We can't just let her go fight Metroid Prime by herself."

"Look, we've got business to take care of. And you wanted to get out of here, right?"

Helena set Hugo down. "Well, yeah, but without her, we couldn't have beat that thing."

The Mettaur began checking his pickaxe for wear. "We're in no shape to fight. We need to move on. Hopefully find a place to recover."

R.D. turned to Samus. "You going to be okay without us to help you?" R.D. asked.

The woman nodded, and took off her helmet one more time. "I should be fine," she said, placing the helmet underneath her arm. "After Ridley, this might even be a piece of cake, since Ileyna doesn't think Metroid Prime has another piece of the Essence."

"That's true," R.D. responded while Ileyna nodded her head in confirmation.

"What about the rest of you?" she said, looking at their haggard appearances. R.D. in particular was missing a good portion of his armor and sporting a number of burns in his side. "Will you be okay moving on?"

"Matt, we can't go on right now," Helena said. "We don't have any idea what's next, and it may be too dangerous to rest in a place we don't know about."

"She's got a point," Hugo said. "Let's camp around here for a bit. Get our bearings together before we move on."

Matt flung out Dragon Strike, dismissing the Genesis Arm in a burst of bright particles. "All right. But not for long."

"We should wait inside the Temple," R.D. said with a nod. "At least we'll be able to get out of all this rain."

"Just be careful," Samus said, placing her helmet back on. "I haven't really stuck around here before, so who knows what might come crawling around now that we've killed Ridley."

"You heading in now?" Matt asked Samus. "You should probably rest for a bit too."

"I'm not all that tired," Samus said, shaking her head. "My Chozo blood gives me plenty of stamina, so I'll be fine. I can't take a break, especially when I'm so close to defeating Metroid Prime."

"All right." Matt held out his hand. "It was a real kick to work with you, Samus."

"Be careful in there," Helena said. "Well, you probably know what you're doing, but still."

"I will," she said. "Good luck with your mission, kids."

And with that, Samus turned around and strode into the energized mist spraying up from the portal, and didn't look back. She was swallowed up by it, and disappeared.

"Well, that's that," R.D. said. He closed his eyes and dismissed his armor, causing azure sparkles of energy to disappate from his body, leaving his normal clothes intact, despite retaining his burns. He made his way towards the entrance of the temple. "This place was nuts."

Matt remained frozen, hand still outstretched. "...she didn't shake my hand."

"You'll live," Hugo said. "Come on, let's go."

The group didn't stay too long within the Temple of the Cradle. They did need to get a move on, and who knew when they'd be attacked again. After a forty-five minute break, they decided to head back out into the pavilion.

R.D. held the Great Serpent's Scale up in front of him, and energy gathered into its glimmering surface. Soon, the crimson ray lanced out across the pavilion and smashed into an invisible point, spiraling a brilliant green portal into existence at the far end of the pavilion.

"Make sure you don't step into the blue portal," R.D. said as he began to walk around it, taking Ileyna's hand as he did so.

"Did you have to shoot it so close?" Matt asked, carefully making his way around the blue portal.

"I hope we don't run into anyone like Ridley again," Helena said to Hugo. Hopefully, someone she didn't feel so useless against.

"Yeah."

"Its right up against the wall, did you want us to have to jump off the edge to get in?" R.D. retorted to Matt in their usual bickering. After a few moments, they entered the portal, and it closed behind them.

Roughly five minutes later, Samus emerged from the portal in the center, and the floor ignited as the backlash of Metroid Prime's destruction engulfed the Temple of the Cradle, causing explosions to tear apart the pavilion. She quickly ran to the edge while summoning her Gunship and leaped off, plummeting, only for the Gunship to swoop down and pick her up.

As the destruction continued, Samus removed her helmet while the spaceship hovered. After a moment or two, she was retracted into the ship, and she flew off, her mission complete. Tallon IV had been spared of the Great Poison and the foul Worm that propagated it.

Once more they spiralled through time and space, until the familiar end came upon them, and they were deposited neatly upon their destination.

Which coincidentally happened to be right in the middile of raging traffic.

"Shit!" Matt shouted, bounding over to the sidewalk as cars swerved, honking to avoid the group that has just been dropped into the scene from a rip in the sky. Helena and Hugo made for the same amid the cries of startled people.

Ileyna fell roughly down on the asphalt as she was deposited from the Gateway, skinning the palms of her hands and her knees in the process. With tears threatening to pour from her eyes, she looked up, and shrieked as she found herself in the middle of traffic.

Before she could do anything, something scooped her up and she found herself rushing through the air towards the sidewalk. Once they arrived, R.D. put the shaken girl down gently on her feet.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" he demanded, looking back at the Gateway as it shrank and disappeared into nothingness.

"Looks like a portal being a JERK!" Matt shouted, shaking his fist at the sky.

"Shut up!" Hugo snapped, glancing at the people and cars who had stopped to observe them. "We're already drawing a lot of attention, we need to get out of here."

"Ah! I finally found you. That's good."

Matt turned around. Before anyone had noticed, someone else had dropped in as well.

"See, Helena?" R.D. said, looking at the newcomer, while his hands slowly opened, readying himself to grab his swords. "There is no 'normal' world."

Ileyna backed off slightly, staring at the man with trepidation. Carefully, she inched herself towards Helena.

"Now, hold on," the man said, extending a hand. "Sorry if I scared you. I didn't mean to do that."

"What do you want?" Matt asked, stepping in front of the group.

"I'll be honest with you," the man said. "I'm here on behalf of Magister. Name's Destroyman. I'm here for the Omega Essence."

Matt clenched his fist. "That's what I thought."

Destroyman didn't flinch. "But I'm not interested in fighting you for the sake of the Essence. It's a sick game we're both caught up in, aren't we?"

R.D. didn't relax his posture. While his hands no longer moved towards his Phase Blades, he kept them still, ready to grab in case this was a trap.

"If you're not here to fight us, why are you here then?" he asked, suspicious.

"Oh, no, don't get me wrong," Destroyman said, holding up both hands. "I have to fight you. But it's not really that fair to either of us. I mean, you have to protect something that's sacred to you and your friends, and I'm here trying to take that away from you. I just think it's meaningless."

"Well, Mr. Destroyman," Matt remarked with a flip of the hand, "if you hate it so much, but you want to fight me anyway, I guess we've got no choice but to tango, don't we?"

Hugo shot another quick glance at the focused crowd. This was too weird.

"I'm afraid we do," Destroyman said. He held out his hand.

Matt eyed it. "What, you wanna shake?"

"We're both fighters, aren't we? This is a sign of sportsmanship, that we respect each other before and after the fight."

Matt kept his eyes on it for a bit, sizing up Destroyman. Hmmm. He seemed pretty earnest. Who knows. Maybe he was another innocent person lost in this crazy affair after all, or something poetic like that. And hey, he could definitely spare a good handshake. "All right." Matt took Destroyman's hand, and they shook. "Good luck then."

Destroyman smiled, and whispered, "Destroy Spark."

Electricity coursed from Destroyman's glove through Matt's body, and he left out a painful yell as blue lighting danced across his frame, until he hit the pavement with a smoky thud.

"Matt!" Helena screamed, rushing to his side.

Destroyman let out a huge laugh. "This is great! Is this guy an idiot or what? Is this a joke? You fell for the oldest trick in the book! Oh man! You are something. This is the best." He slapped his knees. "Man, you really crack me up. I think this laughter's going to kill me. Seriously!" His laughter grew hoarse, profound. "I think I might really die from laughter. It hurts. Someone help! Oh God!"

Hugo's pickaxe chambered. "You fucking-"

Then Matt stood back up.

Destroyman's eyes widened. He clearly didn't expect that.

A boot to Destroyman's gut sent him flying through the crowd, knocking down a mass of people that had gathered in a straight line.

"Get Ileyna out of here!" R.D. commanded to Helena while flinging his right arm back, not even looking back at the two of them. "Keep her safe!"

He suddenly reared back that arm and slammed his gloved fist into the ground, propelling him upwards with the Godhand. He angled his descent towards the fallen Destroyman, and reared his hand back again. As gravity dragged him back down to earth, he yelled.

"Let's see if I can blow you away!"

Destroyman rolled as R.D.'s blow sunk into the sidewalk, disrupting the earth.

Pandemonium ensued.

"Damn it!" Hugo shouted, to no avail against the screaming droves of people. "Matt, you IDIOT!"

Destroyman turned around just as Matt's hand grasped his face, and he was dragged through solid pavement before being smashed into a wall. Before Destroyman could escape, Matt crushed his shoulder deeper into the brick, seizing his neck with his other.

"No one EVER pulls the oldest trick in the book on ME," Matt muttered. "Comprende?"

Destroyman coughed. "...help..."

"Oh? You want some help?" Matt shrugged. "Well, okay, I'll help you GET A PILEDRIVER" and then Destroyman was quickly piledrivered.

Ileyna clung to Helena as chaos broke loose on the city street. She held on tight, fearing to let go and get pulled into the hysterical masses. She whimpered slightly.

Despite all of the people running away screaming, R.D. yanked his fist out of the ground and caused the Godhand to flare, breaking away the debris. Shaking his hand slightly, he turned and walked over as Matt piledrivered Destroyman into the concrete.

He reached down and grabbed a hold of the strange attacker's cape, and roughly yanked him back up off of the ground, holding him up high. "Now, Destroyman," he growled, looking up at him through the bangs of his hair. "Give me and Matt one good reason as to why we shouldn't disembowel you right here."

"What the HELL are you DOING?!" a very angry Mettaur shouted as he strode up to them.

"What?" Matt asked. "I don't take practical jokes well, okay?"

"What happened to SECRECY?" Hugo snapped. "Huh?"

"Look, I got a little bit riled up, okay?"

"A BIT riled up?!"

"Look, I can explain, it's all in the reflexes-"

It was at that moment that, cape ripping, Destroyman leapt away from R.D.'s grip. He thrusted out the...device attached to his...crotch at them, as it quickly gathered energy. "Destroy-"

And he was promptly punched in the device by Matt, with the resulting explosion enough to send Destroyman hurtling down the street.

Something seemed to shift at the edge of Ileyna's vision, like something flickering. She turned her head to look at it, but there was nothing to see. She squinted her eyes for a moment. Wasn't there a police car parked there a moment ago?

"We lost our cover the moment we arrived here, Hugo," R.D. said coolly, holding his hand over his head while walking in Destroyman's direction. "We got dumped into the goddamn street by that portal. There's no point to hiding that little fact."

The air sparked around R.D.'s hand, and energy lanced out and crackled, swathing it in flame. His fingers clenched down into a fist, and the energy condensed into a blazing light. "I say we take care of him right now. Destroyman!"

He stopped nearly ten feet ahead of Matt and Hugo, still quite a distance away from their enemy, his hand still threatening to explode into the Shining Finger attack.

Something large, something gold-plated and circular, rocketed through the air at R.D., opening up and smashing into his side. Surprised, he lost his grip on the power, and his arm faded back to normal. The gigantic cuff smashed him into the wall, knocking the wind out of him. His eyes shot up in anger, following the black cord attached to it back to its source.

Dropped down into a kneel was a large, purple and black-plated robot with a serious, white-silver metal face, staring impassively at him. His hand was held out, and attached to it was the cord.



"W-w-what the hell!?" he sputtered in shock. He struggled to free himself from the cuff, but it held on tight with almost crushing pressure. He couldn't get his left arm free. "Alright, that's it!"

Matt looked back up the cord to its source. "Volfogg?!"

Volfogg? Helena held Ileyna even tighter now. How did Matt know what the robot was?

"You know this guy?" Hugo asked, solidifying her question.

The moment Matt uttered the robot's name, both R.D. and Volfogg stopped moving in surprise.

Volfogg? Matt had mentioned that name before, when he informed R.D. of the Gutsy Galaxy Guard and his time on Repli-Earth. This meant... they were finally here, in that paradoxial time where Matt knew GGG's crew, but GGG's crew did not know him. Oh lord, this was going well.

Volfogg, however, stood up to his full height, staring now at Matt, though he did not relinquish his hold on R.D.. He opened his mouth and spoke with a calm, strong voice.

"Who are you?" he demanded, his tone leaving the impression he would not tolerate games. "How were you aware of my identity?"

Oh, man. Him and his convienent-mess-up-time commentary. Now to talk the giant ninja robot down. Sure, that was going to be easy. "Well, first off, if you can release my friend, I'd really appreciate it."

"I cannot do that," Volfogg stated matter-of-factly, causing R.D. to swear and renew his struggles to escape, but to no avail. "I must bring the six of you in for questioning."