"Very well," Relayia said, nodding to the woman. "We must make haste. I fear there is more than the Five Beasts and Ziatoch that threaten the world, now."

Turning, she looked out towards the coasts, where the Reaverbot vessels awaited. While they had been distracted by the threat of Sheena's return to the world, they could do nothing about it. But they had felt the looming threat, as the dragons were the guardians of nature. Now, Nature itself had become threatened, with its Elemental awakened.

"Someone has taken opposing Elemental forces to Holy Darkness," she said softly. "Someone has used the shrine there to awaken the Nature Elemental."

Meta could only frown in confusion upon hearing the words of the Dark Balance. She lifted her hand--still gauntleted in the Hand of Chaos, one of the Seven Perfect weapons--and held it's coldness against her face. She let out a sigh. "Ugh, this is more tiring than fighting Hydro or Electra." She glanced at Kuro with one eye, the other hidden by her facepalming hand. "So let me get this straight, you are Kuro, the Dark Balance of the Beta Realm and also Xastra. Darius is the king of the Za-Fuzen, not Shujou. Lemme guess, Australia is still in one piece and Africa doesn't have a gaping hole in it?"


~ The Old Home ~

"Yaayy." Maya let out happily, glad that Alasea called in on that rematch and appeared to be going to actually focus a little more on the game like she had. As Maya selected Guile to play with next, she chuckled a little in an almost typical villainous way--perhaps a remnant of her possession by Xastra--and looked at the older girl. "I'm not holding back if you aren't." She said.

Matt swished his hand back and forth, using wind power to clear the air. "Where'd she go?"

A red filter passed over Hugo's eyes, casting moving shapes in bright red outlines. There was Matt, R.D., but where was...

Helena! He spun about as the Machine King hurtled toward Helena and the kids, still coughing. "Watch out!" A blast from his gun smashed into Primada's back-she screeched and spun about.

Helena covered her mouth, pushing the kids backwards. "Come on!" They had to escape the smoke.

Edited by The Helldragon on March 12, 2009 at 19:51:53.

Nodding while she coughed, Ileyna muttered something and began staggering out of the smoke, disoriented by it. She quickly reached outside of it.

As Hugo's shot rang across the smogged battlefield, R.D. spun towards the sound of Primada's screech. Running forward through it, he quickly closed the distance and leaped forward, spinning his body around while attacking with the Phase Blade horizontally.

===Pillar of Dawn, Japan===

"I won't hold back," Alasea assured the girl, while she selected her next character for the game.

The Phase Blade tore through the smoke, and as Primada saw R.D. spin towards her, she performed an agile split. She twisted around, pointing the large exhaust pipes that had protruded from her back at R.D., and fired another blast of smoke into his face.

"Damn smoke!" Matt thrusted his palms back and forth, firing columns of wind that ripped gaps in the smog. With the air now cleared, he set his sights on the Machine King. "There you are!" Another palm thrust-this blast of wind spiralled about a point. "Tornado Buster!"

Primada flew back as she was caught in the wind, but drove her heels into the earth to stop flying back, with a degree of success. Another round of liquid bullets caused Matt to shield himself.

R.D. hacked and sputtered as the smoke blasted up into his face, causing him to stumble back out of it with his eyes shut and his mouth coughing. "Damn bitch!" he snarled, trying to clear his eyes.

He managed to regain his vision just in time to see the Tornado Buster lash out over Primada, and for the Machine King to quickly counter with her liquid bullets. His free hand exploded with bluish-white energy as he activated the Godhand, and took a quick, powerful swing at the woman's lowered head. "Fore!"

The Godhand smashed full-force into Primada, and she flew up, back down into the pavement with a large impact.

"Get her!" Matt shouted, drawing his energy blade and rushing.

Hugo deployed his Laser Options, and leapt toward the Machine King with a boost of his jump jets. As he approached Matt, his sensors began beeping. What was that on him?

"You impudent...!" Struggling to rise, a new pipe extended from Primada's arm. "Burn!"

A gout of flame launched at Matt, and he was caught in a violent inferno. Shocked and anguished, Matt hollered in pain, clenching his body as he fell.

"R.D.!" Hugo shouted. "She hit you with gasoline!"

"What!?" R.D. cried, lifting up his arm and taking a sniff. Sure enough, the potent fumes of gasoline hit his sense of smell, and he cursed. "Shit!"

He leaped away, out of the range of the flames and getting up in a roll. Looking back at Matt, he lashed out with water energy, quickly dousing Matt.

Primada lifted her arm again as Matt was drenched.

"Back off!" Hugo shouted. The Laser Options drew their fire on the Machine King, and Hugo added his own powerful blast to send Primada reeling before she could fire.

"Freeze Option!" The Laser Options returned to Hugo's helmet as his pickaxe configured, producing a fine, cold mist from the tip. With another jump, the Mettaur launched at Primada, firing a great burst of frost.

But the Machine King snatched him and smashed the robot into the ground, interrupting his attack. "I've had ENOUGH of you!" Primada growled, tightening her grip.

"Hugo!" R.D. shouted as Primada attempted to dispatch the Mettaur. Energy exploded into his hand in a bright sphere, and he flung the plasma shot at the Machine King. It exploded into a spiraling blast wave of azure fire, irradiating the air as it streaked in.

Primada lifted the Mettaur and chucked him into the ball of plasma.

Matt recovered just as Hugo hit R.D.'s attack, and they seperated through the resulting explosion. "Hugo!"

"Hugo! No!"

Wind blasted out from behind R.D., propelling him and his rage forward at the Machine King. His arm seemed to explode with fire as he overchanneled energy, only for the flames to be sucked down into a single point, turning into a raging sphere.

As he closed the distance between himself and Primada, he swung, throwing the fireball at the Zonderian. It exploded forward, transforming into the head of a dragon of flame, maw agape as if it sought to bite her.

"Dragon Blaze!"

Primada bent before leaping to the side in a spinning pirouette. "You're next, human!" Another tongue of flame blazed at R.D..

"This doesn't look good," Mamoru said, clenching onto Helena's arm. "What're we going to do?"

Helena relaxed her fingers. "You need to let go of my arm, Mamoru." Her claws slid out, causing Mamoru to jump back with a startled cry.

Matt ran toward the fallen Mettaur, smouldering, his armor cracked and blistered. "Oh damn. Ohhhhh, damn." He bent down. "Hang on, man, don't die on me."

"...that's IT." Matt drew his hands back as Hugo sat up, with effort. "I'm sick and tired of some low-rate trash tossing me around all the time."

Fully standing, the Mettaur lifted his pickaxe. "Now I'm mad."

Angled green lines flew across Hugo's black body, leading to his eyes, and the G-Stone implanted in his helmet unleashed a brillant light.

The Dragon Blaze attack soared past the Machine King as she dodged it, and smashed into the wall of a warehouse. The entire wall was destroyed as the attack exploded violently, a gigantic blooming fireball raging upwards into the air.

R.D. flung up a hand as Primada attacked, summoning up a sphere of water. The flames washed over it but couldn't break through, but R.D. was unable to continue his assault in the meantime, wary of being ignited because of the gasoline in his arm and clothing.

OoC: Yeah. That's right.

Lance sighed, finally realized the full extent of his idiocy he also realized that there wasn't any chance of this ending easily. He might have to take some extreme measures now, even though Siegfried woudld be furious to say the least.

Raising a hand, the phone stopped in the air immediately and walls of an illuminated semi-clear substance shot up around himself and Audrey, and time seemed to slow to a crawl. All movements seemed sluggish and weighted, and even as the phone dropped it seemed to fall at a speed that was exaggeratedly slow. Her screams would be caught in it, and he used the echoes and almost melody of slowed sound to speak to her in a more soothing, almost hypnotical way, "Calm down," his voice came out deep and slow, reassuring and peaceful, "you are going to be fine; just relax and everything will be made clear."

Slowly, the magic wrought by Lance began to take its toll on the hysterical girl, even as she continued to fight its effects; her panic rising ever more sharply as she found her reflexes and movement dulled and her own voice diminished. What was going on!?

The hypnotism, however, seemed to not work at all against her. "What are you doing to me!?" Audrey screamed at him, becoming absolutely terrified. "Stop it!"

"That water shield won't protect you forever!" Primada shouted, approaching R.D.. "You're mine!"

Hugo's grapple at Primada and clenched to her face. "What?!"

"Come here!" As the G-Stone shone, the grappled shot back into place, yanking the Machine King in his direction at high-speed. As Primada lurched in, Hugo leapt foward with a boost of his jump jets, smashing his helmet into her midsection. The powerful blow knocked her back, and she tumbled.

Matt blinked as the Mettaur landed. Holy shit. He never did THAT before.

Ileyna could only stare at the sudden actions of the little robot. Was it the G-Stone that caused his sudden change in behavior?

As the flames suddenly lurched away from R.D., he finally let go of the sphere of water, causing it to smash down onto the asphalt with a large splash, staining the grayish street black. He breathed heavily from the exertion of maintaining the weave, and could only watch as Hugo began a vicious counterattack on the Machine King.

Damn, he thought. Matt better watch what he does now.

Primada lifted herself to one knee, clenching her stomach. "That stone...I didn't think a little toy like you could tap into its power..."

Retracting his grapple, Hugo took another boost toward the Machine King. "Hammer Option!" A large, two-pieced hammerhead burst from the flayed pickaxe, and he swung at Primada's head. The Machine King scuttled away to avoid the swing, but the earth shook briefly anyway as the Hammer smashed into the pavement, spawning a web of cracks upon the impact.

But Hugo wasn't done yet. With more speed than he had ever used, he leapt again, smashing into Primada's shoulder with a mighty blow, striking her over and over again in a frenzy. The last blow-a high sweeping swing-knocked her farther away, toward the dock itself.

R.D. ran up to Matt, stopping next to him as he watched Hugo, who was practically glowing with the G-Stone's energies, tear into the Machine King. "Jesus Christ, Matt, what the hell's gotten into him?" he sputtered, watching the battle shifting.

Hugo's pickaxe returned to normal, and as the green energies outlined his body, energy swirled toward the business end of his weapon. "Power...

"No!" Primada shouted, rushing at Hugo. "I'm not going to lose to a stupid toy!"

"SHOTGUN!"

Hugo released the fully charged bullet-large, aflame with emerald power. It struck Primada head-on. The Machine King screamed as the blast shot her out toward the ocean, where she fell in with a great splash that momentarily forced rain to dance across the pier.

"I don't know," Matt said, "but it sure was awesome! All right, Hugo!"

The green aura faded, and the Mettaur lowered his pickaxe. "...damn." He turned around, before falling over, smoke pouring from his frame.

"Hugo!" Helena shouted, and she ran toward him.

"Shit!" R.D. swore, running over to Hugo. His longer legs allowed him to stride past Helena, and he reached the robot before she did. Kneeling down next to the robot, he quickly felt the surging G-Stone energies in his frame; the helmet had worked as best as it could, but with so little material compared to his armor, it could still only take so much.

"Dammit, Leo warned me about this. Hugo can't use the G-Stone's energy too much without overloading."

Reaching down and pressing his hand against the helmet, he began to try and siphon off whatever excess energy he could, to try and bring the power levels back down to acceptable levels. As he used Lumiya to draw the power into himself, he marveled as the properties of the energy. So wild and powerful, practically brimming with life. It was no wonder GaoGaiGar was so powerful. Quickly, R.D. dispersed the energy he collected, then switched over to Earth elementals, using it to try and repair the helmet, since he had damaged it earlier.

"Are you okay, Hugo?" Ileyna asked, voice tinged with worry and apprehension as she came over to them.

"Like...wet...cardboard," the Mettaur muttered.

"We need to take you to the Professor for repairs!" Mamoru said.

Hugo shook it off with a weak gesture of his pickaxe. "Don't worry...I've got auto-repair systems...it'll take a bit...but I'll be fine."

"Yeah," Helena said, "but after what you did back there..."

"It's fine," Hugo repeated, a bit more strongly. "But...there's no way I can go with you...the rest of the way."

Matt patted Hugo's helmet once-it still felt a bit warm. "All right, man. What do you want us to do?"

Hugo tried to point toward the roof of a warehouse, with minimal success. "Stand me up...close to the sun. I need to recharge my batteries...keep my repairs going."

"Okay." Matt picked the Mettaur up carefully, switching to the wind gem, and gently floated up to a high warehouse to place him.

"Come on, we need to keep moving," R.D. said, motioning for them to get ready. "I doubt that woman's the last one we'll meet on this crazy trip."

Once more, R.D. grabbed hold of wind energy, using the weaves to create a shield to circulate the cleaner, surface air as they approached the open manhole. The shield did the trick; warding away the awful smell. He increased the size and tied off the weave, allowing it to travel with them without having to maintain it and waste more energy than he already has.

"We ready to continue, Matt?" he called back to their leader.

Matt landed next to R.D., taking one last glance toward the roof he left Hugo on. The sun had just passed the point of noon. "Yeah."

"Is Hugo going to be okay?" Helena asked.

Wow, she looked pretty worried. Was she already close to him? "Yeah," Matt said. "Hugo's a tough customer. He'll pull through. Still, I don't like leaving him like this."

"Then we need to move quickly," Helena said.

Wise words indeed. "Right," Matt said. "Lead the way, R.D.."

"Right," R.D. said, dropping down into the manhole and grabbing the ladder. He quickly scrambled down it, landing on the side of a pathway on one side of a rather large, wide sewer system. Ileyna followed him shortly after, and he helped her down off of the ladder when she got in range.

"Start getting a reading on the Core again," he said, stepping forward as he peered into the darkened recesses of the tunnels, trying to hear over the sounds of the foul water.

Matt went down next. "Eeeeew." He landed on the pathway, but still, he wasn't looking foward to sewer spelunking. "All right, come on."

Helena came down, followed by Mamoru. He looked about the darkness. "It's faint, but it's coming that way," he said, pointing in a direction.

Ileyna nodded as if in confirmation. "Let's go," she said, making to step forward.

R.D. put a hand on her shoulder first. "Hold on a second, kiddo," he said, digging into his satchel. He pulled out the same crystal from Khalis, the one he had shown to Helena. Once more, he gave it to her, as now it seemed to glow faintly, extending their field of vision. "Hold onto this. Me and Matt need our hands free in case we get attacked again."

For a moment she briefly squeezed it. The so-called jewel that apparently slowed her transformation before. Helena held up the useless jewel for it to generate a field of light. "Okay."

"Foward," Matt gibed, and took the lead.