As the group began to head back, they were stopped by a haggard-looking engineer.

"Hey, you kids!" he shouted, catching their attention. They turned and looked at him, seeing a large amount of dirt and grime covering a work uniform.

He quickly closed the distance. "You guys are the new kids who showed up, right? I heard you're capable of working with elements."

"That's correct," R.D. said, wondering why he was asking.

"That's great. We need your help. During the last battle an explosion dumped a large amount of concrete onto one of the rails for the Mass Driver," the engineer explained. "Its gonna take hours to get it cleared away and we just don't have that time. Colonel Patterson's been busting our asses about getting it cleared up sooner. Can you kids use your powers to get the rubble out of the way? We can't launch the XA-26-483 with it there without damaging the Mass Driver."

R.D. looked over at Matt. It probably wouldn't take the two of them more than ten minutes to clear something like that with the Earth element, and probably even less with Alasea there. "Your call."

Edited by RisingDragon on August 20, 2009 at 19:55:46.

Wouldn't be too much of a problem to handle. Besides, what kind of guy would he be if he didn't manipulate the earth to help others? "It shouldn't take long," Matt said. "We'll get it for you."

Edited by The Helldragon on July 31, 2009 at 21:46:34.

"Great," the man said, sounding immensely relieved. "I'll show you guys the way there."

A short while later, the group was herded onto a hovering skiff vehicle with a wide, flat bed, back down at the immense chasm where the escape craft--the XA-26483, he called it?--was located. From this position, they could see what the problem was--on the rails ahead of the ship was a large amount of fallen rubble, completely obscuring the rail.

"All you kids need to do is shift the rubble off the rail and into the chasm," the engineer said. "Its not developed down there anyway so it won't cause any problems. We'd do it ourselves, but the XA's blockin' all the ports needed to get a mechanoid down here."

"Its fine," Alasea dismissed. "We're happy to help."

Nodding, the engineer guided the skiff over to the launch rail, and settled down next to the closest clear spot. The group dismounted and quickly got to work, and much to the girls' exasperation, R.D. and Matt had turned it into a contest to see who could shift the most rubble out of the way at once.

Matt won by a fair margin, having better control over his power than R.D. did with the diminished Lumiya. "Well, that takes care of that," R.D. said, wiping sweat from his brow.

"You kids are lifesavers," the engineer said. "Now we don't have to worry about launching."

R.D. nodded, looking up at the front of the massive ship. It looked a great deal like the forward-thrust head of a dragon... it was quite a sight to behold.

As the skiff settled back at the landing bay, the group was dismounting when chaos broke loose. It started as a barely noticeable shudder in the chamber, but within moments, a loud roaring sound could be heard. The chamber suddenly shook violently, throwing them all to the ground.

"What the hell was that!?" R.D. shouted, catching himself from his fall. The klaxons suddenly began blaring.

"Damn it!" Hugo snapped, pushing himself up with his pickaxe. "They're attacking!"

Matt leapt to his feet. "Shit!"

The engineer was already on his feet and checking an intercom. "What the hell's going on up there!?" he demanded. A voice replied almost immediately.

"We're under attack by hostiles converging in three different directions!" the voice said. "We've never seen a force this bad before! All units are to report to their battle stations immediately!"

"You guys gotta get up to the vault," R.D. said. "I'll go and make myself useful upstairs."

"Be careful," Alasea said. She was about to say more when another explosion cut her off. The room shuddered again--that one had sounded close. Way too close.

"Shit," R.D. cursed, moving past the girls and over the parked skiffs. He looked out into the large corridor and saw what he had feared. Explosions had rent through the blast doors on both ends. "We better get through there and plug up the leak before anything gets through," he said.

"Let's use the rubble!" Matt said.

"Right!" R.D. said, looking at the strewn fragments of the blast doors. He, Matt, and Alasea dropped down into the loading chamber for the skiffs' launch pad and made their way over to one door.

They were immediately attacked from the other side. A shockwave of power smashed through other blast door, destroying it completely and flinging the three of them out onto the catwalks set beneath the doorway. Alasea shrieked with pain as she slammed painfully into the guard rail, bruising her hip.

"Guys!" Ileyna shouted fearfully, seeing what had occurred. Something in black armor suddenly scurried out of the destroyed door and dashed down the loading bay in pursuit of the three struck by the shockwave.

R.D. was picking himself up off the wide catwalk when he saw the enemy attack. The creature hurtled down through the air, slashing with a pair of energy blades held tightly in sharp claws.

Quick to the draw, R.D. unsheathed and activated his Phase Blades and parried the attack, causing sparks to fly all over the place as Alasea shouted in surprise. R.D., however, suddenly felt shock as he recognized the face of their enemy. With a burst of strength, he shoved the canine-like demon to the side, out over the rails. Unfortunately, the demon stopped in midair, grinning at them.

"Terranox!" R.D. shouted, bringing his blades up to bear.

Matt glanced up at Terranox. "Well, well, well," he said, drawing his energy blade. "This is a surprise."

"I didn't know you wanted another ass-kicking!" Hugo said.

Helena just took a step back, crossing her arms defensively. Was that a fighting pose?

R.D. grit his teeth as Terranox laughed. He looked unchanged from their battle. It should've been impossible; R.D. had blown the monster's head off with the Shining Finger.

"Its so good to see you brats again!" the demon barked. "It was so difficult to drag myself out of the Nightmare Realm and beg for Lord Daemonus' forgiveness!"

"You should've stayed there!" R.D. shouted back. "Looks like I'll just have to tear your head off again!"

"As if!" Terranox said, full of glee. "I've had such a long time to study how you children fight! And surely you haven't forgotten what I can do!"

"What's he talking about?" Alasea demanded.

"Let me show you, girl!" Terranox said, dismissing his blades and flinging his arms out. "Behold my secret power, forged by Lord Ziatoch!"

Power exploded out around the canine-like demon, wrapping him in a bright, electric-blue aura. It swirled around his body, forming large claws and talons, and sharp horns extending back from his head. More "limbs" appeared behind him, stretching out and filling the dark chamber with light.

Alasea's eyes widened in absolute shock and she gasped. "That's...!"

R.D. felt a similar dread. "Dragon Drive!?"

Sheathed in the blue power, Terranox grinned and shot forward with unholy speed, straight at Matt.

Matt's eyes widened. "Oh, you fuckin' cheater!"

He took Terranox's tackle head-on, without the time needed to dodge. All he could do was meet hands and attempt to push the demon back. Meanwhile, Hugo invoked the power of the G-Stone and aimed his pickaxe at Terranox's back, firing supercharged blasts.

Helena kept her eye on Terranox. She unfolded her arms smoothly, and they suddenly brimmed with flame.

Sensing the incoming shots, Terranox disengaged from Matt and shot upwards, sneering at the combatants. Ileyna watched on in fear as the demon dove towards the catwalk again. R.D. jumped up and attacked with his blades, but Terranox easily blocked them and smashed R.D. to the side with a brutal kick.

The beast swept around and fired a black globe surrounded in white light at Helena and Hugo, and the Disruptor blast released a series of shockwaves as it traveled down at them.

"Get out of the way!" R.D. shouted at them, knowing the strength in the attack Terranox had stolen from him. Behind him, Alasea darted forward and leaped into the air, her jump augmented with wind. The Megami Tsurugi smashed against Terranox's claws, and she grit her teeth as she tried to hold the monster in place.

With unexpected speed, Helena grabbed Hugo and leapt away for a huge distance. The Mettaur still kept on the attack, charging a massive shot and letting it loose to counter the Disruptor.

Meanwhile, Matt threw out his arms. "Dragon Drive!" The familiar aura leapt into place, and he tore at Terranox, tackling him head-on.

Terranox disengaged with Alasea for a brief moment, and lashed out with his foot. The kick sent the girl down hard, slamming her into the metal catwalk, giving Terranox the room to block the explosion caused by the colliding Power Shotgun and Disruptor blasts. With a grunt, he was able to defend himself, but the explosion gave Matt the time needed to use Dragon Drive himself.

Whipping around, Terranox spotted Matt at the last second. Power flared as Matt crashed into him, sending them both careening out over the chasm. Spiraling away, Terranox and Matt were forced out of the battlefield, and down another tunnel for skiffs.

"Damn!" R.D. shouted, running up to the edge of the catwalk and looking over its guard rail. "We'll never catch up to them now!"

"Will he be okay?" Alasea asked, picking herself up.

"I hope so. Terranox has the power to copy attacks, and we gave him plenty of hard-hitting ones when we faced him."

"Guys!" Ileyna suddenly shouted. "We gotta get to the Essence!"

"But we can't leave Matt to fight that monster!" Helena shouted.

"Guarding the Essence is higher priority, Helena!" Hugo said. "You go ahead, I'll help Matt out!"

"You can't get down there either, Hugo, they'll be too fast with Dragon Drive active," R.D. said. "We just gotta hope he can beat Terranox. Come on, Helena, grab Hugo and let's get out of here."

Despite Alasea's protest, R.D. scooped an arm around her waist and slammed the catwalk with his Godhand-enhanced fist, propelling them back up to the blast doors. Setting her down, they ran off back towards the entrance. The engineer had already gotten the hell out of there.

Ileyna opened herself to the power and began flying ahead of them to lead the way.

===Underground Passageway===

Electricity was generated by the opposing Dragon Drives, sending arcs of it racing down the tunnel. Flaring his wings, Terranox pulled away from Matt and thrust his claws forward, firing light-and-dark-powered Annihilator Beam shots at him.

Matt fired back with his own rapid fire energy shots, like a machinegun. He swooped up to cover more in his arc of fire.

Terranox dove down low to avoid the strafing fire, which littered the floor with explosions that he barely managed to outrace. Rolling around, Terranox shot ahead of Matt, coming out of the tunnel into another large corridor.

"Not bad!" he shouted, darting forward once more to slash with claws. "They said your power diminished, but your skill hasn't!"

Matt swung inwards. The slashes grazed the air as he came in with a chokehold, turning up the power and sending them flying at one of the tunnel walls.

The wall cratered as Matt's attack slammed Terranox into the wall, but that didn't phase the dog demon for long. Terranox thrust a knee upwards at Matt's stomach, using the momentum to push off the wall.

Matt whoofed, bending over a bit before recovering. He let out a yell as he unleashed a diagonal claw slash, carving through the rock.

A flap of his wings sent Terranox well out of the way of Matt's counterattack, and he slashed the air again, sending more Annihilator Beams at Matt, and then he began his charge once more, pursuing Matt farther down the tunnel.

===Nine-Breaker Hanger Bays===

"Keep an eye on your six at all times, guys," Leon said to his squadmates over the comm. channel, taking command of the team in his superiors' absence. "This one's gonna get messy."

"No kidding," Maria said, activating the systems in her Nine-Breaker as Leon got his mechanoid loaded onto the launch catapult. "They got scared when that R.D. kid bust out that robot of his."

"Doesn't matter now. We just gotta hold out until the Captain can launch," Leon said. "This is Razgriz-4, launching in Nine-Breaker!"

The catapult raced down the track and flung the Nine-Breaker out into the skies. On the horizon was a dark cloud of incoming monstrosities.

"Come on, let's do it!" Leon bellowed in challenge, gunning the thrusters of his mechanoid and shooting out into battle, along with dozens of other machines.

Matt didn't think he could outmuscle Terranox. But that was okay. He just had to last long enough. Matt leapt from tunnel wall to tunnel wall, bouncing around and countering Annhilator Beams with his own shots. He couldn't burn up too much energy, though. Now it was a game of attrition.

The two of them came out in an underdeveloped storage hanger, which showed signs that the mining to open it up had yet to be completed. As they came out, Terranox pulled up and readied a Sonic Boom to send Matt flying.

Before he could attack, something black and white smashed hard into his hip, knocking him away into the wall. The new attacker backflipped with the momentum and landed on the nearest platform.

"You alright, Matt?" Jared asked, now fulled Equipped and with Will Knife drawn. Terranox growled and pushed himself out of the wall, readying his claws now that his Dragon Drive had been canceled.

"Been doin' good," Matt said, landing on the platform and dismissing his own Drive-didn't want to burn out and become vulnerable. "Watch out for this guy-he copies special attacks. But I think if we just stab him a lot, he'll fall down anyway."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Jared replied, his voice altered by the helmet's synthesizer. "Get going. Your friends are gonna need your help, Command's reporting dozens of spatial portals being ripped open throughout the base."

"You gotta a lot of guts to try and take me on, cyborg," Terranox growled, generating an energy blade in one claw.

"As much as I'd love to help Jared kick your ass," Matt said, "I'm afraid he's right. I've got better things to do with my time. I'll be catching you later."

He lifted a hand and swept it through the air, and a massive rock snake burst from the tunnel wall and fell towards Terranox. Without waiting to see the results, Matt switched to the Wind gem and soared away.

Terranox shoved off and darted over the rock snake as it came crashing down, and Jared immediately followed suit, shooting after the demon. The energy blade of his Will Knife activated and he swung, clashing it against Terranox's own sword.

===Sector W-1 Foyer===

Soldiers milled around the open elevator, holding ZF-1 rifles and having cold looks in their faces. Demons were appearing out of ruined walls and doors, only to get mowed down or torched by the machine gun and flamethrower settings of the multipurpose weapons.

Another door exploded open, and an Imp came rushing out, only to explode immediately as a ray of fire core through its chest and disintegrated. Alasea leaped out of the hole, and the soldiers, who had turned their weapons in the direction of the disturbance, quickly lowered their weapons.

"All clear, guys!" she shouted over her shoulder. "Get through and seal the exit, R.D.!"

"Right!" R.D. called back as he herded Ileyna, Hugo, and Helena through ahead of him. Turning, he directed flows of earth through the ruined metal, warping it and stretching it into crisscrossing bars that kept monsters out of the way.

"Hurry up and get in the elevator, kids!" one of the soldiers shouted, before turning and mowing down another imp that had warped in. "We can't hold it forever!"

As Hugo darted towards the elevator, Helena looked back over her shoulder towards R.D.. She felt her senses kick in, enhancing and amplifying. If the dragons wanted her to stay aware of her surroundings in case of any attack, she was happy to oblige.

An explosion sounded down the hallway they had exited, and R.D. looked down it, through the makeshift bars. "Oh, crap. He followed us!"

The soldiers finished herding them and the other personnel onto the large elevator, only for another explosion to sound, this one much closer. A Hell Knight, very similar to the Barons of Hell fought the previous day, was barreling down the hallway.

R.D. found himself roughly shoved into the elevator by one of the several soldiers still in the foyer, and the doors began to close. He ran up to the door, only to see the Hell Knight crush through the barrier he had made, causing another explosion. Soldiers screamed as the shrapnel tore into them.

Lifting up a hand full of plasma, the monster threw it at the elevator. The doors shut just then, and only a gout of flame made it through, and R.D. reeled back in pain as it burned his arm.

"Gyahh!"

Falling back, a couple of soldiers in the elevator caught him while the elevator started its ascent.

"R.D.!" Hugo and Helena cried out.

Helena grasped R.D.'s shoulder. "Are you okay?"