"I really would've been more eager to go on this trip if I got to ride in the robot," Matt said.

"You'll live," Hugo said, as Helena sat next to Matt and placed the Mettaur on her lap.

"You already got to ride in Tamaran," R.D. said, looking over at Matt.

Alasea remained silent, however. Her mind wandered back to when the armored person restraining Matt had spoken. Why did his voice sound so familiar? Sure, there was some distortion thanks to the helmet's synthesizer, but that didn't stop her from almost recognizing it.

Of course, there was no way to ask him about it now. What with her being in the transport and he in the Nine-Ball mech outside.

A shudder ran through the ship as the engines cycled to life, and soon the transport vehicle was lifting off from the ground, headed into the sky. Behind the transport, the Nine-Ball turned and jumped into the air, powered by a single powerful thruster mounted in the back of the torso, and began following the transport. Once they reached a safe altitude, the mech forged ahead, taking point, as the two red jets pulled in alongside the transport.

"So, uh, how long is this trip going to take?" R.D. asked, looking over at the soldiers.

"'bout a couple of hours," was the answer.

"Great," R.D. muttered.

Helena pulled out her current novel-some fantasy adventure involving a young heroine and her mechanical guardian-and began reading.

"Well, this is gonna be boring," Matt muttered, resigning himself to lean his cheek on his hand.

Within an hour, Ileyna had fallen asleep, leaning against R.D.'s side and her beret tilted, threatening to fall off of her crown of blond hair. R.D. too was about ready to join her, leaning his head back against the viewscreen, while Alasea had followed Helena's example and pulled out a book of her own from her purse.

In less than another hour, the comm-speaker crackled to life, catching their attention. "Looks like we're headin' into the tail end of a battle, people. Ride might get a little bumpy."

"A battle?" Ileyna asked as she sat up, wakened by the sudden noise. She pushed her beret back into place before it could fall off of her head completely. "We'll be okay, won't we?"

"We should be," R.D. said, as the girl twisted around the watch through the viewscreen.

What she saw was a massive island dotted with large, unusual buildings, and a series of explosions trailing through the airspace above it. One of the soldiers was also looking through the battle. He looked Latino, and had the accent. "Damn, man," he muttered, watching. "Those guys just don't let up, do they?"

"This happen often?" R.D. asked. The soldier gave him a cursory glance, then turned his gaze back to the battle while nodding.

"Yeah, them freaks've been layin' siege to Aube every chance they get. They don't like it when they can't destroy a human place that fights back."

Awai's suggestion immediately provoked a smile from Maya, and she forgot what she asked him just before it as Mercy sounded excited as well. "Hai, that sounds nice!" She said to the boy as she jumped up. "Let's go Mercy!" The girl cried out as she started to run away already, although she had no idea where the waterfall was.

Once more the follower, Seril kept silent. She hoped there would be no more threats to the island--just south of here was a Pillar of Dawn, after all, and the Daughter who protected it lived in the city. If there were a threat here...

"We're not getting involved, are we?" Helena asked.

Edited by The Helldragon on April 16, 2009 at 19:57:27.

"Hah, no, we jus' gotta outrun the Devil Dragons," the soldier said with a bit of a laugh.

"Outrun? A Devil Dragon?" R.D. said, sounding almost strangled at the prospect.

"Don't worry, kid," another soldier said. "Devil Dragons aren't that difficult for a Falken to take down."

"Yeah, try doing it without a Falken," a third said with a bit of a laugh.

"Been there, done that," R.D. muttered, getting curious gazes aimed at them.

Matt just exchanged a smirk with R.D..

They were closer now. Looking out the viewscreen, Ileyna took in all that was Aube. Larger than most, the island allowed for a larger diversity in its climate, rather than being a smaller tropical island. The volcano that formed it was partially dismantled, with large stark gray structures built up around it, the crater of it covered by one of such structures. Hangers and runways were built into the rest of the mountain, along with a number of docks at the coasts. Many of the structures had large turret weapons mounted on top of them, many of which were launching a vicious barrage of energy at the dozens of Devil Dragons swarming up through the air. Off to one side of the island was a massive hanger, and stretching out from it was a rail system that stretched out into the ocean and curved upwards into the sky, like some part of a truly colossal roller coaster.

The intercom crackled once more. "Everyone, hang on! We're entering the battlefield!"

The wait was tense. As the vehicle began to dip downwards towards the island and pick up in speed, the Nine-Ball broke off and flew away to intercept a Devil Dragon, while the red jets continued to escort them. As more explosions littered the air from beam and missile fire, shudders rocked the ship from the resulting shockwaves. Ileyna whimpered and shifted in her seat, grabbing onto R.D.'s arm.

The jets broke off suddenly, pulling up and peeling away to enter the battle themselves, targeting rampaging Devil Dragons and driving them off with missiles and gunfire. Now defenseless, they began to pick up speed, and before long, the sight of the island battle was replaced with that of a long, wide hanger. The transport shuddered as it slowed and came to a stop.

As the doors opened, there was a flurry of motion as the gruff commander began bellowing orders, causing the other soldiers to tear out of the transport in a hurry, weapons armed and ready as they headed back out into the battlefield. The hanger's blast doors began to shut, locking Matt's group inside the hanger.

"You know, Matt, we can't go a single day here without getting stuck in some crazy battle," R.D. said as he got up and looked out of the open transport warily. An officer was quickly making his way towards it.

"No rest for the awesome," Matt agreed.

"I'm ready for one of them this time," Hugo said. His feet tapped against Helena's lap. "Last time it was hard taking one of them down, but now...heh heh heh."

Helena clamped her hands around the Mettaur's helmet. "No way am I going out there to fight one of those things."

"You guys fought one of those things?" Alasea asked as she stood up from the bench, Ileyna following her. "They look like they mean business."

"They do," R.D. said, having to raise his voice a bit to be heard over the sounds of battle outside. "We had to fight one in that canyon the Principality showed you. Hugo managed to kill it."

"Hugo did? Wow. I'm impressed," she said, giving the Mettaur a quick smile.

The officer had arrived. "You guys must be the ones Lt. Bristow brought back," he said, looking over them. "Follow me, please."

"Where you taking us?" R.D. asked.

"To the lab. We'll need to get each of you scanned into the database, and make sure nothing's put an implant in you."

"I think we'd know if someone stuck something in us," R.D. said, raising an eyebrow at the officer.

"You'd be surprised how often people don't. Regardless, you have to come with me to the lab."

Alasea shrugged. "It can't be that bad, R.D.," she said, going to follow the officer as he headed for a doorway off to the side.

"Tell that to Helena. She didn't care for the last time we had to get checked out a lab."

Helena walked stiffly by Matt's side, and as he heard R.D.'s comment, he piped up. "Listen, we're all gonna be together, right? Helena here gets pretty nervous around medical examinations, so I'd like for us to be close by so she feels a bit more reassured."

"You'll be kept together. You won't be in there that long," the officer said as he led them into a hallway, towards an elevator.

"Don't all doctors say that?" Ileyna wondered aloud, then clapped her hands to her mouth upon realizing she said that out loud. Alasea giggled briefly.

"Most doctors don't have the tech we do," the officer said as he led them into the wide, circular elevator and entered a combination into the keypad. Quickly, it began taking them down, deeper into Aube.

And as they grew closer to the laboratories, Ileyna's hair flashed blue as a chime cut through the air, causing her to gasp.

"What the?!" the officer said, looking down at the girl the moment it happened, slightly wide-eyed.

Shit, not now! "Which way is it?" Matt snapped.

"Down!" Ileyna said, looking back at Matt. "We're headed right towards it!"

"So that guy was right. They do have a piece here," R.D. said.

"A piece of what?" the officer asked, looking at them.

R.D. looked at Matt, then at the officer. "The guy who apprehended us said we had something identical to something you have here in Aube," he explained. "They wanted to make sure it was secure. And it looks like our guess as to what 'it' was was right on the money."

"Are you kids talking about that glowing shard we found months ago?" the officer questioned as the elevator rumbled to a halt.

"That's it," Hugo said. "It's called Omega Essence. Where do you keep it?"

"Its in a special facility in the labs," the officer said as he walked out of the elevator chamber. "That's all I can tell you. The rest is classified."

"Right," R.D. said. "No chance you taking us there, I'm guessing?"

"Right."

So, as Ileyna sighed in disappointment that they couldn't get the Omega Essence just yet, the group was lead into a different part of the labs. There, they met up with a couple doctors, who discussed something with the officer for a few minutes while they waited. Then, they were herded into a waiting room, except for Matt, who was taken to a neighboring room, where a large device stood, with a hollowed section for a person to stand in.

"Stand here," one of the old doctors said, pointing at the hollow chamber in the device while another man entered a sectioned off area of the room to monitor the procedure. "Just wait there while we scan you. It'll only take a moment or two."

Helena looked up at the hollow column.

Hugo walked up to her side. "Go on. I'll watch you."

She glanced back down at him for a moment until taking a step forward, shuffling into the chamber and flattening her arms against her sides.

*****

"Hey," Matt said. "Where do I go?"

Edited by The Helldragon on April 16, 2009 at 23:37:25.

The doctor stared for a moment, then pointed at the hollowed center of the device. "Right in there, like I just told you to."

"What?" Matt glanced at the chamber. "Oh! Oh, oh oh, yeah. Okay." He sauntered inside the chamber.

The doctor merely sighed, then followed his colleague into the other section of the room. After a moment or two, two curved pieces of metal slid out from the sides of the machine and connected into a half-ring with a circular center that aimed a red sensor at Matt. A ray of light lanced out from it and spread out, going down vertically across Matt's form before turning and scanning across him horizontally. After it was completed, there was a few sounds made by the device as it calculated its findings, then disengaged the ring, allowing Matt to step out.

"That's it," the doctor said. He took Matt back to the room, and had Helena come in next. One by one, each person was scanned, including Hugo.

"That wasn't so bad," Alasea said when they were finished.

"No, not really," R.D. agreed. "Guess that officer was right when he said they had better tech."

After a moment or two, the officer returned. "Sorry for the wait," he said. "We'll take you to a debriefing room, where you'll meet with the General so you can explain your situation."

Matt didn't like how he was seperated from the others, if only momentarily. Bet they were suspicious of him after he fought tooth and nail against their bruiser. Wonder where he was, anyway.

They followed the officer as he led them through the hallways of the laboratories. Long, stretching windows showed them various rooms full of computers and instruments, and other advanced machines. Scientists were scrambling to pack up gear, while other soldiers ran about to secure the area.

They entered an elevator, and headed up to another level, and through more hallways as they made their way through an administrative section of the Aube base. The officer entered one particular room, one with a large, round table in the center and surrounded by chairs.

"Wait inside here," he ordered. "Once the battle has finished, the General will see to you. We'll leave some soldiers in here in case any enemy combatants manage to breach this sector."

===The Main Gate===

Like Sera did with Geetz, Seril jumped up onto Gatz's back before he flew off--she still was hesitant to transform, and would switch back to her natural form should they leave Kattelox Island's airspace.

Matt took a seat, leaning in his chair at an angle. He rested his head on his hand as the others sat down.

Maybe it was paranoia talking, but he definitely didn't trust this.

"... have we ever seen as much humans gathered in one place on this world?" R.D. asked out loud as he sat down. The doors closed behind them as the officer left, with a pair of soldiers standing guard by the doors, holding their strange, pod-like rifles.

Alasea shook her head. "Maybe Kattelox, but even then they were worried. I didn't think there was this many freed people on the planet."

"Do the other Daughters know?" R.D. asked, looking over at the Daughter of Dawn. She shook her head.

"I already contacted them about it. They were just as surprised as we were."

"So now what?" Hugo said.

"I guess we just wait," Helena said, her hands folded before her.

"Anyone know any good jokes?" Matt asked.

"Hopefully none of them are from you," Hugo said.

"Well, at least he can't cause anything weird to happen when he tells a joke," R.D. muttered. Ileyna giggled momentarily.

It was another ten minutes before the battle seemed to end. "That was the last of them. All units, stand down," came the order over the transceivers carried by the soldiers guarding the room.

"'bout time," one of them muttered, lowering his rifle.

"So we'll meet this General now?" R.D. asked, twisting around in his chair to look back at the two of them. The one who didn't speak earlier nodded.

"Once he gets here."

Five minutes later, the doors on the opposite room opened up. A middle-aged man in a red and black uniform stepped through, a number of medals and orders pinned to one side of his coat. He had dark brown hair interspersed with gray slicked back, and a short, full beard covered his face. His blue eyes seemed familiar, but they were weary, as if he hadn't slept much. As the door closed behind them, everyone turned to look at him.

When Alasea laid eyes on the man, she suddenly shot out of her chair, which clattered to the floor, startling the General and the soldiers, along with her friends. Her face was pale, and her eyes were growing wider and wider. She took a step back, even as the man's eyes widened in shock.

Her lips trembled for the briefest of moments. "Father?" she whispered.

"Alasea!" came the shocked reply. Suddenly, Alasea tore around the table and flung herself at the man, who caught her in a strong embrace.

"O... kay..." R.D. said after a few moments. He leaned over to Matt. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Alasea say her parents were dead?"