"Yeah, this thing's business end might as well be a cow catcher!" Matt laughed. He opened the door and charged into the driver's seat. "Let's roll!"

Helena raised her claw at R.D.. "Hey, R.D., mind if I ride with you this time? Cramming myself in the backseat of the car will take too long, and we have to hurry."

Absentmindedly, R.D. nodded as he got onto the bike. "Go ahead. Make sure you hang on tight, and keep your wings tucked in."

Helena sat behind R.D. and grabbed her tail, pulled it forward as she wrapped her arms around R.D.'s stomach and gently laid her claws on his chest. "Just be careful," she said.

The others got into the Firebird and it exploded down the dusty road, turning a sharp corner and barelling towards the palace, with the animal citizens leaping into stalls to avoid it. Soon the crowded, cheap shacks gave way to more exquisite estates spaced apart by roads and gardens. As they approached the courtyard of the palace, the cries of battle soon rose above as black-armored soldiers with bladed spears fought against the palace guards.

"Let's get CRAZY!" Matt whooped, and sharply turned the Firebird, skidding the car towards the crowd.

R.D. gunned the Thunder King's engine and spun it about, kicking up dust behind the rear wheel. Helena had to keep a tight grip on him as the motorcycle roared down the road, chasing after the revamped Firebird.

Ignoring the sound of the wind rushing past his ears, R.D. reached up with his gloved hand and tugged on the new sword on his back, causing its movable hand guard to swing up into position as he drew it out to his side. "Hold on!" he shouted. "This might get rough!"

As they approached the brawl, the parties involved glanced in their direction as Matt leaned out of the window and yelled, raising a fist. He slid back into his seat and hit the brakes, turning the Firebird to skid right at the two groups, who leapt away from the wayward vehicle.

"What the HELL are you doing?" Hugo snapped.

"Sorry!" Matt said as the Firebird ground to a sideways halt. "Got caught up in the moment."

R.D. also hit the brakes, skidding the Thunder King to a stop beside the Firebird. "You're always getting caught up in moments," R.D. said, tightening his grip on the sword. "Focus on what we got to do now."

"Fine, fine." Matt flung the door open and leapt out of the car, entering a bold pose as the others bounded from their seats. "Let's party!"

The fighting exploded back into action. The black-armored warriors - each one with a concealing helmet that extended for quite a length in the front - swung their bladed staffs at the newcomers as well as the palace guard. Matt snapped weapons and knocked aside fools with a flurry of punches and kicks, and Hugo used his Force and Grapple Options to throw bodies against each other and clear room.

Helena threw out a wall of flame toward the gold-lined palace doors, clearing room. "Come on, let's get upstairs!"

The hidden compartments of the Thunder King sprang open, and R.D. pulled his Guardian-issue rifle from one of them, quickly turning and spraying beam fire into the crowd to force them back. With both sword and rifle brandished before him, he held up the rear as Alasea and Ileyna followed after Matt, Hugo, and Helena.

"Keep running!" he shouted back, gathering Earth energy through him via the weapon stored inside of him. "Let me wall this place off so they can't follow!"

A snappy roundhouse took down a foe. "We're gonna head inside to help the royal family!" Matt shouted at one of the more armored palace soldiers. "You gonna be fine out here?"

"No problem!" the soldier called back. "We drank our milk today! We're good!"

Matt flashed a thumbs-up and tore through the palace doors. Once everyone was inside, he kicked the doors shut, one by one, and threw up a wall of rock to keep them in place.

R.D. slumped, propping himself up on his legs with his arms, his weapons resting beside him. He was breathing heavily.

"You okay?" Ileyna asked, looking concerned.

"I'm fine," R.D. said. "Just used up too much energy building those walls back there."

"Don't overwork yourself, R.D.," Alasea warned. "We don't need a repeat of what happened when you fought NightShade."

R.D. nodded after a moment, and picked his rifle and sword back up. "Let's keep going."

At first Matt figured they were in for an easy run. The invading army was all walled up outside, right? 'Course, nothing in life is that simple. The philosophy proved true again when they scrambled past rooms doored off by paper walls, and rushed up the polished wooden stairs to find more armored soldiers waiting for them. Though, to be fair, most of them were already face-down, defeated by someone else.

"We shouldn't be too far behind the cats," Hugo said. "Push through!"

As the group pushed forward, Ileyna suddenly stop as her hair flashed blue, a chime ringing through the air.

"Ahh!"

She looked straight up as the group paused.

"Where's it at?" Alasea asked the girl.

"Above us! I think its at the top floor!" Ileyna exclaimed.

Matt smirked at Helena. "Uh oh. Remember the last time we found Omega Essence at the top floor of a tower?"

"Yeah, I almost died," Helena said. "Be more careful this time."

"Let's just hope THIS villian doesn't nuke the whole building." One last kick dispatched the final opponent, and the group travelled up. They fought their way through a few stragglers until reaching what Matt figured to be the tenth floor. There, they spotted the Samurai Pizza Cats taking out a stubborn group of soldiers.

Helena held up her claw. "Hey!"

Polly turned towards them and flashed a smile. "Hey there! Did you have any trouble getting in?"

"Nothing the car couldn't handle," Matt said. "How far up are we?"

"Upstairs is the final boss," Speedy said, twirling his blade. "Did you save?"

"Yeah, sure, why not."

"Then let's get ready to put an end to this," R.D. said, stepping past the group. Grasping his new sword, he hefted it until it rested across his right shoulder, and held his rifle before him in his free hand.

The now-bigger team charged up the steps to the top floor, which turned out to be a long hallway marked by expensive-looking wall scrolls and wood flooring. Shoes scuffed as they ran up to the golden double doors, which Matt unceremoniously opened with a "this is the police, FREEZE!" kind of boot.

It revealed the main throne room - simply a room with low green tiles laid out in length across the floor, leading up to a raised stage. On this stage sat what Matt assumed to be two members of the royal family. Only one, the rabbit-looking girl, seemed quite uncomfortable. The other looked...well, dazed.



But more importantly was the figure standing to the side, hanging near the wall. Immediately Matt could tell it was a lizard - even its tail was covered in plates of rust-red armor, leading up to, of all things, a wide-brimmed cowboy hat. The figure turned a tawny eye towards the group and cracked a lazy smile, tipping his hat with a pull. "Well, looks like we're all here," he said in a thick drawl. "Been waitin' for ya."

Of course, that sounded friendly, but considering that one of the lizard's claws wrapped around a giant axe with an axehead almost as wide as his body...

"That's him," Ileyna whispered to the others. "He's the one with the Omega Essence."

Matt flicked his pointer finger at the lizard. "Who're you supposed to be?"

"Name's Komodo. Commander Komodo, to be fancy." Komodo let the arm holding the giant axe hang as he walked out towards the center of the room, his claws clacking with each step. "Sorry for the big mess, but I wanted everyone's Omega Essence in one room so I could make things a little bit easier."

"If we're gonna fight, then release the princess and the emperor first," Guido said. "They're not a part of this. Even if they're stupid. And loud. And annoying. And bratty. And-"

A sharply-thrown fan provided by Princess Vi smacked Guido right in the eyes. "Okay, we GET it!" she snapped. "Now kick this guy's butt and get me OUT OF HERE!"

"FFFFFFFred!" the emperor proclaimed, like he was announcing the arrival of a god.

"... let's just get this over with," R.D. muttered, shaking his head. "Before we lose any more brain cells."

"All righty, then." Komodo snapped his claws, and a blur of black and red warped next to him before solidfying into another of the black armored soldiers. However, this one was different, sporting rows of gold trim. As soon as he appeared, Ileyna could immediately detect the second sign of Omega Essence.

"Lackey," Komodo said, "why don't you show these nice folk what you can do?"

Lackey crossed his arms, and suddenly, clones flung themselves out of his form, and clones sprung out of the clones, until the throne room was packed with a miniature horde of warriors.

"Ah, shit," Hugo said.

"Today just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" Alasea asked, taking hold of her sword in both hands. Overhead, Ileyna alighted her power and began to hover over the group, her right hand held out at the army of Lackeys before them.

R.D. brandished his sword straight at Commander Komodo, his face devoid of emotion, having entered his battle mindstate. "Come on, guys," he said, his eyes' pupils contracting while the irises dilated, signaling his use of Lumiya. "Let's take him out!"

Flashing the sword to his side, he shot forward at Komodo and swung.

Komodo swung up his axe to block R.D.'s blade, but that just left him open to a tackle attack by Matt. Komodo smashed into the wall and wrestled with Matt before kicking him away, knocking over a cluster of Lackey clones like bowling pins.

Meanwhile, the other clones vainly attempted to attack their foes, but Lackey had duplicated so much that more fists were hitting each other than the rest of Matt's group. Not like the others had an easy time fighting as well - being pressed in by the Lackey clones limited their attack radius.

"Damn it, it's too small in here!" Hugo shouted.

Komodo clenched his claw. "Well, if that's the case..." He raised his axe and hit the floor with the end of the handle, releasing a massive shockwave that blew away the walls of the throne room and collapsed the floor, sending them tumbling down, down to the earth.

Everyone yelled as they were knocked off their feet, the floor collapsing below them.

"Aw, dammit!" R.D. shouted. "Not again!"

Ileyna yelped as the ceiling followed suit, and she deftly weaved between the falling rubble before snatching up the two hostages with her telekinesis--she felt that the others would be okay on the way down.

Sure enough, she saw a flash of green light below her, signaling a teleportation via Chaos Control.

Just outside the tower grounds, the light flared out again, depositing Matt and the others onto the ground. R.D. stood up, blasting out with wind to keep the dust at bay. "Well, that's two towers that've collapsed after we got into them, Matt," he commented, looking around to try and find Commander Komodo and the Lackeys.

"Mmmmfffffghhhhh," Matt replied, his head and upper torso currently buried in rubble.

Helena pushed herself up from a large chunk of rock, setting down Hugo as soon as she fully stood. "Where'd they all go?"

"Attaaaaaack!" Komodo's voice hollered, and the Lackeys bounded towards them en mass from the dust, like a rain of black arrows.

"Why'd you have to say that?" Speedy complained. Once again the groups leapt into the battle, joining the confused and dazed palace guards as they fought to overcome the Lackey menace.

R.D.'s sword flashed outward, charged with electrical energy. "Shinkuujin!" he shouted, the sword sending out an electrified blade of energy at the nearest grouping of Lackeys as they darted down at them. Twice more he slashed, sending out blades of electricity to clear his path before the arcing energy disappeared from the sword.

He pushed off through the path he created, into the rubble to strike at Commander Komodo, while Alasea went in another direction, covering for Helena as Lackeys came up from behind. Swift strikes from her blade parried blows to the side, and she took the openings presented to her to lay down a stasis trap, thrusting her sword to one corner of the ruined tower. Weaves of power tied themselves off into a ward, and as she held off the enemy, she tuned it to Lackey's signature so it wouldn't paralyze any of her friends by mistake.

As the tuning was completed, the stasis trap activated. The air was charged for fifteen feet around it in a circle, ready to immobilize any of the clones that got within it.

A massive crag of rock burst apart as Komodo charged through the rubble, swinging his powerful axe down at R.D.'s head.

R.D.'s arms jolted as he deflected the attack with the flat of his blade, letting it slide off to the side, creating a shower of sparks as it did so. R.D. shoved a foot forward at Komodo to try and stun him, followed by slashing upwards with his sword in both hands.

Komodo recoiled with the blow, and swung up his arm to block the blade, whose tip scratched through his bracer. Growling, Komodo thrust the handle-end of his axe at R.D.'s chest, trying to knock him away with the same incredible force he used to demolish the palace.

The sword was brought up for defense once more, only for the shockwave to send him screaming as he was thrown back out of the rubble and into the street.

"R.D.!" Alasea shouted as he was shot past.

He hit the ground and rolled, coming to a stop as he dug his feet and hand in. He glared up at his opponent, a snarl slowly appearing on his face.

"Now you've gone and made me mad!" Komodo lifted his axe, and the blades suddenly glowed bright gold with a high-pitched whine. He slammed the axe into the dirt, and a line of small explosions burst through the earth at R.D..

"Iron Guard!" Bounding over R.D., Matt landed in front of him and crossed his arms, briefly flickering with a pass of silver aura. The last explosion engulfed him with a loud, but as the dust was settling he was already charging Komodo, leaping into a mighty kick that smashed into the reptilian commander and sent him tumbling.

R.D. flew up over Matt, propelled by a Godhand-enhanced fist, and flipped through the air, forcing his weight back down towards the ground and driving his foot straight at Komodo.