"The Dividing Driver makes a Dividing Field for five minutes," Hyuuma explained, looking back at the glowing rays as said field began to expand. "That way the Mobile Unit can fight a Zonder inside of it and not worry about the surrounding area getting destroyed."

"How in the hell can you do that?" R.D. said, looking up at the man. "That... shouldn't even be possible with Earth's technology!"

Hyuuma grinned at him. "Well, Galeon gave us a lot of alien technological secrets when he came to Earth."

===Pillar of Dawn, Japan===

"I don't think so," Alasea said, looking troubled. "Tomoko's a lot more skilled than me, and that Llewelyn woman made it sound like she's only interested in me."

"Are you going to be alright then?" Bryant asked, getting troubled himself, "I think one of us could stay behind." Bryant suggested. Despite his nobility, he had a strong feeling this would end up being between Llewelyn and Aleasea. No bystanders, no witnesses, no one in the way. In a way, it chilled Bryant's blood. In another, he wondered how RD would take this if he heard it. Glancing at Veronica, he had a strong idea.

"I'll be alright. If they come after me, I'll show them that I won't be an easy kill," Alasea said, resolve in her voice. "I'll show them they can't stand against the light of the Pillar of Dawn. Don't separate your team for my sake."

A little help would be nice, but these three... they'll need all of the help they can get. Here on this world, dividing up their power would be suicide. They had to stick together. Alasea was sure of that.

"How can you just SIT THERE?" Helena shouted at Hyuuma. Her claws sank into the back seats.

"Helena, it's not gonna hurt you!" Matt said. "Just calm down."

"How the HELL can I calm down?!"

"Well, try anyway! Just breathe!"

"Switch seats with R.D.," Hugo said to Hyuuma. "If she freaks out she'll try to hurt you."

Bryant's jaw twitched slightly, as if to speak again. Instead he clamped it and nodded. He stepped on board, then held out a hand for Alasea to jump on.

"Let's take care of this boat then." He said with a weak smile.

Ileyna was looking back and forth at Matt and Helena as they argued, her face getting paler. "You know, guys, you really shouldn't be swearing in front of Ileyna," he said, noticing the girl's expression as he and Hyuuma traded seats.

"Don't worry about what happens in the Dividing Field," Hyuuma continued explaining. "Once the time limit runs out, the field will collapse and the ground will turn back to normal, like nothing ever happened."

===Pillar of Dawn, Japan===

Alasea nodded, taking Bryant's hand to climb into the Earthquake. "Hopefully we'll be able to find a suitable vessel."

"See?" Matt said. "No problem."

Helena put her hands over her eyes. "Just tell me when it's over."

Soon, in the distance, a pillar of light erupted at the airport, dissolving into uncountable particles. Reality unflattened, resuming its normal shape. "It's over, Helena," Hugo said.

She carefully removed her hands. "Thank God."

"Well, Ileyna, you better get started," R.D. said, feeling a lot more comfortable as reality seemed to straighten itself back out.

Ileyna sat still, rooted in one spot. "I... think something's wrong," she said, sounding worried. "I haven't felt any changes in the fragment."

"I saw some keepers." Bryant assured and took a seat on the driver's spot. He geared up the beast again.

"Buckle up." Bryant advised and after a moment would shoot down the hill. Within only a couple of minutes, they made their way to the dock house. "We're here." Bryant said as he opened the door.

"Alright," Alasea said, clambering out of the tank. Once she was settled on the ground, she looked about, then back at Bryant. "Well, let's go see these keepers of yours."

A jet-like shape exploded overhead briefly before zooming off toward the horizon.

"What the HELL was that?!" Hugo shouted.

Matt's eyes widened. "Was that...?"

Hyuuma's spare communicator crackled. "Hyuuma! Come in, Hyuuma!"

"I'm here, what's going on!?" Hyuuma shouted back into the communicator. "I just saw the Zonder fly out of there!"

R.D. looked out of the window, glaring. He watched as the Zonder flew off. "That thing's getting away!"

"The core was missing!" Guy said from the communicator. "The Goldion Hammer dissolved a lot of its body, but somehow it survived! It just flew in your direction!"

"I'll take care of it!" R.D. said, getting out of the car.

"R.D., wait!" Ileyna cried, but it was too late. She had to shield her eyes as green light flared out in a dazzling display from the Chaos Emerald. Soon, he was gone.

Up in the air, light blazed out, and R.D. found himself plummeting. That in itself didn't bother him. What bothered him was the Zonder flying towards him. Grunting, R.D. readied himself and reached out, and soon, he grabbed onto the creature's wing. Immediately he felt like his arm was yanked out of his socket, causing him to cry out. His pained cry, however, was lost over the wind. Fighting the pain, R.D. pulled himself up and steadied himself.

Time to teach his bitch a lesson, he thought as he readied to attack the Zonder and knock it out of the air.

Bryant nodded with a proud smile. The thought of one of those Brutes ruining it suddenly came to mind. A bit of horror shocked through him for it. Maybe that bitch saw this coming? Did this just to hassle Alasea? Maybe a zombie got bored? Bryant's face grew slightly pale as they approached. Though a wave of relief swam through Bryant as they would enter the dock house. It was there. Still as nice as before.

Before them, bobbing lazily, was a simple, but very well kept, cabin boat. The back was open to show off a small deck with a steering wheel on the right side with a stool and another stool on the left. On the back side was a sofa like place to sit. In between the stools was a door leading below deck. What could be faintly seen was a dining room and stove. It was about twenty feet long and fifteen high. The bow was all hull with a low railing for tending to the tarps.

"She's not much," Bryant began, "But she's something. I figured you could do something to it if you could. If not, I think we'll manage if we don't get any trouble."

"I was... hoping for something a bit bigger, actually," Alasea said, examining the boat. "But... I think I can work with this. I'll see what I can do."

She motioned for the others to leave. "Go find Brandon and keep an eye on the house," she asked. "Its easier if I'm alone when I work transformational and creation magic."

Bryant nodded, saddled up, and went back. Back at the house, Brandon was awake and entertaining Maya the best he could. It was a relief to see the family home it seemed. After some quick talking and breakfast the three returned down to the dock.

What floated boldly before them was not a boat, but a large yacht. The Hartnett's walked out, their mouths a gap and eyes wide. A staircase into the machine was set on shore. The ship was closed mostly however with a spot in the front if the Earthquake were used for offensive action. Around the front of the ship was a cannon as well as on the sides. On top of where the bridge would be was a covered machine gun turret as well as a small radar dish. The ship was a dark blue color with a white hull. On the hull, under the bow was the name in red paint. The Great White was the beasts name.

"Looks like she put on weight." Bryant said in a small daze. He then snapped out of it, looking to Alasea. "One hell of a job." He commented then turned to his crew. "Bring the stuff aboard," He said with a grin, "and get ready to sail. We're in war after all, all hands at ready." Bryant ordered and the two, mildly amused went to work.

"Aye aye." Veronica and Brandon had said. Bryant then approached Alasea once more.

"You sure you'll be fine on your own?" Bryant asked sincerely.

"I'll be fine," Alasea said, wiping sweat off her brow. She had foregone her jacket, leaving her shoulders bare again. Her hair was a bit matted from the sweat. "They won't be able to sneak up on me. I have wards set all over the place. If they trip them, I'll know, and if they try and disable them, I'll still know."

She stretched a bit. Working with creation always took a lot out of her... was this the trouble Matt had when he worked with the Omega Core, trying to create a car or something simple? She'd need to apologize. They all gave him a hard time about it. "What about you guys? Will you be safe?"

"We'll be fine. I think we can handle ourselves. We may not have any of you or RD's fancy powers or anything, but we've got this baby." He pointed to the Great White. He put a hand on her shoulder just then. "Just take care, we shouldn't be gone long." He said then gathered up the Earthquake. He gave Alasea one last nod and boarded. The stairs came up and the twin super engines reved up. The ship slowly turned as Brandon steered. Then with a blast of power from the motors, the ship sailed off.

Inside Bryant sat down in the bridge watching as the world went by. Veronica sat in front of him. She was watching him as he watched the sea, the sky, the future, all unfold before them. This was war, but he was currently, in absolute peace.

"Dammit, R.D.!" Matt shouted. He spun the Firebird around and slammed the gas pedal. "We're gonna have to remove that power from the Zonder! Hyuuma, I'm gonna need your base to track the energy signatures you've got in case it falls out of Ileyna's range!"

As R.D. steadied itself, the Zonder suddenly lurched, shooting down toward the streets at high speeds. It must've felt R.D.'s presence and was trying to shake it off.

Edited by The Helldragon on March 2, 2009 at 21:22:01.

R.D. yelped as he felt the Zonder shift, its body dropping out from under him. His hands flailed out wildly, trying to grab onto something, anything, that'd prevent him from becoming an interesting-looking smear on the ground. His gloved hand caught the edge of a ridge on the Zonder's back, and once more felt his arm nearly wrenched out of the socket, causing him to cry out. "Bastard!" he growled, pulling himself towards the center of the creature's back.

Swinging his left hand forward, he aimed an open palm at the Zonder. Potent electricity gathered in his hand before suddenly lancing out, a single bolt of lightning spearing forward at the Zonder.

===Abandoned Dock, Japan===

Alasea watched as the boat, the Great White, pulled out of the harbor and sped off. She leaned up against a crate, breathing lightly. Would they survive the trek across the ocean to Kattelox? When they used R.D.'s Riptide to escape Kattelox Island, they were attacked by Re-Tuul's pet Gan. Other Gan now prowled the waters, along with Sea Serpents. It was now a common occurrence to see the two rival monsters tearing at each other, turning the ocean into a sea of blood. It was rare to see Gan lose such fights.

Aisha said that normally, Gan are peaceful creatures, staying close to the bottom of the ocean and surfacing only when they hunt Sea Serpents. But they were prone to control by monsters like Ziatoch's ilk... Just be careful, guys, she thought, watching them disappear from sight. "Be careful."

She turned and made the trek back to the house, using an abandoned car she found. Once she was back at her house, she contacted Riul--she had to prepare, and to do that, she had to take her charges' safety into consideration. That meant she needed Riul to take Mercy to Awai. While Mercy was good at heart, he was still a remnant of Kuro's blackened soul. There was no telling what would happen to him if she had to unleash the light of the Pillar of Dawn against her enemies.

After that, she began working on a way to get Maya to her family, or someone she knew and trusted. It was unsafe for her to be here now. Alasea knew she'd have to get Maya out of here, away from her. That way, if Kara or Re-Tuul or whatever monster Ziatoch sends appeared, she wouldn't have to worry about collateral damage.

The lightning bolt burst a noticable gap in the Zonder's hide. In response the great jet twirled to try and shake R.D. off, like a jet-powered drill tearing through the air.

"Yahhh!" R.D. cried, grabbing at the ridge with his other arm, hanging on for dear life. "God damn monster!"

His hands were slipping, as the shaking threw his body side to side. One hand slipped, and wildly grabbed back on. He needed to bring this bastard down.

Down below, while Hyuuma made the call to the Main Order Room, Ileyna unstrapped and reached over the seat, tugging at Matt's jacket sleeve. "Matt, there's something wrong!" she urged. "I can't feel the fragment coming from the Zonder!"

"What?" Matt said. "Then where is it?"

"Wait a minute!" Hugo said. "Guy said the core wasn't in the Zonder. If the fragment's not on the Zonder, then it's in the core!"

"Makes sense to me!" Matt said.

"We need to get Mamoru so he can purify the core!" Helena said.

Wonderful. He was really getting sick of turning this car around. "Hyuuma! Make a call to Guy and tell him we're coming back to the airport after we get R.D., so he needs to be there with Mamoru, okay?"

Edited by The Helldragon on March 2, 2009 at 23:21:56.

"Guy!" Hyuuma yelled into the communicator. "We got to bring the kids back to the airport. Get Mamoru there as well!"

Godhand exploded around R.D's fist, the one clinging to the Zonder's body. His strength increased, R.D. held on and readied a new attack, one that'd rock the machine being out of the air. He'd bring this fucker down one way or another. His fist rose up.

"Earth Gaizer!"

With a bellow, R.D. sent his fist, imbued with Earth energy that'd play hell with the Zonder's metal body, flying back down into the Zonder's frame.

Earth Gaizer's impact finally hurt and angered the Zonder. It bellowed in pain as it was forced back down into the city streets. Its right wing leaned into buildings and tore through them, sending rock and glass flying behind the fast-moving monster. With a sharp turn, it faced its back and pushed into the buildings it passed, trying to push R.D. off.

"Oh shit," R.D. said, realizing the angered Zonder's new tactics. This time, there was no chance of holding on; and R.D. quickly threw up a wall of energy around him as the Zonder tilted and smashed its back into the buildings it was previously shredding with its wing. The barrier managed to deflect most of the shrapnel created by the ridges tearing into the wall, but R.D. was quickly torn from its back, dislodged into the building.

Rubble collapsed all around him, his momentum carrying him forward at speeds only slightly inferior to that of the Zonder. The end of the building he was in was coming up fast, and the wall was destroyed. His momentum threw him out of the building, causing him to smash into an alley wall. With a loud "Guh," noise, R.D. bounced painfully off of the wall and plummeted into the alleyway.

"Oh, shit," Matt muttered under his breath. The Firebird stopped, unable to go on due to the massive traffic blockage and rubble scattered down the street. "Time for another path."

"I just hope R.D.'s okay," Helena said.

"He's somewhere in the distance," Matt said, almost automatically. Huh. Maybe it was a hunch. "Let's just look closely and we should find him. Or maybe he'll spot us." With that, they slowly drove, looking for any signs of him, getting closer to where Matt felt he was.

R.D. pulled himself out of the alleyway before standing all the way up. Numerous bruises and cuts and scratches were on his exposed skin, blood flowing from his temple and the corner of his lips in slight trickles. His clothing was torn slightly, and matted with particles of destroyed concrete, powderized plaster, and sawdust.

"I fucking hate Zonders," he muttered, watching as the Zonder escaped as he gripped his left arm.

Matt stopped as soon as the hunch spiked. "Wait here," he said, parking the car. Stepping out, he strode down the nearest alleyway, reaching back to scratch his head as soon as he caught sight. "Whoo boy!" he shouted to R.D.. "That thing sure did a number on ya, huh?"