Waves of color and light rushed through her mind, followed by smoky black particles and nauseous striations, all overlapping with that alien screech. The pain was too great, and Alasea was unable to answer. The battle raged on down in the city.

Tamaran roared in KishouDoragon's chest, and data filled up screens within the control chamber for Matt, detailing the functions of the Annihilus Slasher, and the Slasher Hell and Heaven attack. Across the way, Omega readied its buster cannon once more, taking aim and firing at the Drake of Braves.

"Shit!" Resorting to pure instinct, KishouDoragon threw itself out of the way of the buster shot, tumbling through the landscape with tremendous impact. "All right, uh...how do I turn this on? Um..." Matt raised his hands. "Annihilus Slasher! Open sesame!"

As the System Change began and the Draken Arm began to combine with KishouDoragon's right arm, Daemonus threw a hand out from his vantage point in the city, and R.D. screamed with rage. Omega's dash thrusters ignited, and the mechanoid darted forward, thrusting its giant beam sword straight at the Drake of Braves.

"Wait wait wait, I'm not ready!" KishouDoragon desperately gestured at the ground, spliting part of it with seismic cracks to hopefully disrupt Omega's dash.

Omega faltered as the concrete split apart beneath it, but it still managed to close the distance--its blade shredded upwards, cutting into the upper plating of the left shoulder and wing. Stabilizing itself, Omega attacked again, rearing back and swinging just as the Annihilus Slasher landed into KishouDoragon's waiting fist.

"Back off, now!" Matt said, swiping with the Annhilus Slasher to block Omega's strike. This was getting him nowhere. He had to disable Omega somehow and pull R.D. out of there, but how? Just reach in?

Hmmm...maybe if he could do it right...

As the Annihilus Slasher activated, blazing white-gold light erupted from its blade and throughout the rest of the super mechanoid, super-charging its systems. As the two blades struck, there was a thunderous crash that rivaled the storm that raged over the ruined city. The energies clashed against one another, with KishouDoragon coming out on top.

The shockwave blasted back, knocking Omega off its feet and sending it hurtling back through the air, crushing numerous buildings beneath it as it landed. R.D.'s scream was a combination of fury and pain as electricity arced through the cockpit and the systems invading his body, the feedback seemingly trying to destroy him.

Omega's gigantic saber had been destroyed in the attack, leaving the red plating of its right arm blackened and smoldering. The Annihilus Slasher still shone in KishouDoragon's hand, one charged used up and leaving two more remaining. The blade was already splitting down the middle, becoming a two-pronged claw for Slasher Hell and Heaven. R.D. snarling within, Omega climbed to its feet.

Rain fell across Russia, soaking it completely. Frigid and freezing, Alasea and the others watched on. Water slid and dripped across Daemonus' armor as he watched on impassively.

Everyone present knew that the end of this fight had come. Beneath his helmet, Daemonus began to smile.

"All right, kid," Matt said, with KishouDoragon brandishing the Slasher. "I think it's time we stopped dicking around." It twirled the blade and jabbed the edge deep into the earth, crumbling the ruins further. "Because obviously I know what Daemonus is trying to do and I don't feel like playing that game, because we played it before and everybody cried and it was super emotional and shit."

KishouDoragon lets its hands fall near its waist. "So if you don't mind...how about we play a different tune?" The mecha's fingers glowed with bright power, and KishouDoragon clenched them into fists. "These hands of mine are burning red!" As it brought its fists up towards its' chest, it bared their knuckles at Omega, revealing the symbols burning on the back of each fist. "Their loud roar tells me to grasp victory!"

Omega reacted in kind, crossing its arms over its chest, then throwing them out wide, hands open. The right blazed orange with plumes of flaming energy, the left fractured as light was disrupted by silver waves of shockwaves. The air between the two super mechanoids became charged.

"What's going on!?" Ileyna demanded, on the verge of hysterics.

Alasea's breath caught in her throat. Tendrils of energy, like draconic serpents, erupted from around Omega's wrists and bound around the opposites, dragging the hands together as the energies between them grew more and more powerful.

"Erupting..." KishouDoragon threw its hands open, and gathered familiar energy in each, burning with a new and intense power. "Hell and Heaven!"

"Everyone GET BACK!" Hugo shouted. "NOW!"

Omega's hands came together, the energies finally uniting in a gigantic burst of electric blue energy. The resounding thunderclap rocked the ruined city. With a primal scream from R.D., Omega rocketed forward at KishouDoragon, tearing up the asphalt beneath it as a gigantic spiral of energy erupted from its fists.

Matt let out a roar of his own, and KishouDoragon rocketed towards Omega, fingers clenched in claws of burning power. It reared back its right hand and smashed it into Omega's combined fists, and the resulting eruption of power was truly immense.

The initial shockwave annihilated the surrounding buildings, turning them to rubble, which became shards, which became dust. A myriad of color swarmed about the two machines as they clashed. Within Omega, R.D. screamed with rage, Lumiya flooding the super mechanoid with energy in pulses, and the purple gemstone was blazing white with power.

"So it has come down to this. And yet you still persist to fight and save him," Daemonus spoke to himself. He was suddenly standing atop Omega's shoulder, as if he had been there the entire time, unnoticed. "Without the Omega Core, how can you hope to stand against this force? Our hold on him is absolute, and he is lost to you. Have you not realized that your attempts, pitiful as they are, are futile?"

R.D. screamed, ignoring everything else as Omega was pushed to the limit. He ignored the cracking monitors, the lightning arcing through the cockpit, the torn flesh on his body and the searing pain throughout his body from Lumiya's overloading, and the tears falling from his eyes. For him, there was nothing but the rage filling him. The blazing drill of energy around Omega's fists was picking up speed, growing more powerful. The entire valley was shaking under the onslaught of the two mechanoids' battle. Omega's dash thrusters suddenly kicked into overdrive, trying to overwhelm KishouDoragon and land a killing blow on Matt.

"You know..."

Cracks buckled through KishouDoragon's blazing fingers.

"...this same end-of-the-world shit happened last time when I became Dragon Drive FINAL. God of Destruction, they called me! And R.D. kicked my ass then. We teamed up and wiped it out for good. And I figure if he took the little chance he had and managed to help me beat a fucking God of Destruction..."

Burning Hell and Heaven pressed into the drill tip until it absolutely shredded it away.

"...what the hell makes you think I can't beat this too?!"

Omega's arms shuddered and cracked, wavering as KishouDoragon pressed on in its attack. Suddenly, its fists shattered, and the blazing drill was blown apart. R.D.'s scream was cut off as KishouDoragon's attack continued forward, smashing through Omega's chest. Daemonus had disappeared once more, but off in the distance, the others watched as KishouDoragon landed a deathblow on Omega, and felt their hearts stop.

"Erupting Heaven!" KishouDoragon ripped its hand free from Omega's chest, and the massive mechanoid spewed beams of brilliant light from the gap. Then, KishouDoragon lashed its other burning hand at Omega's chest with a display of power. "Erupting Hell!"

The fiery hand crushed back into the robot, and with colossal strength, KishouDoragon lifted the entire mass of Omega above with a tremendous creaking sound, energy coursing through its battered frame, pressing against the limits and spewing like dark lightning from the gap.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEAT-" KishouDoragon began.

"No, wait!" Helena screamed.

"ENNNNNND!"

"Matt, no!" Ileyna cried out.

Rays of light broke out from Omega's chassis, and the hum of energy grew louder and louder as Lumiya's provided energy went out of control. Cracks erupted throughout Omega's body, causing it to radiate more and more light. It's reactor suddenly went critical, and Omega blew apart in a spectacular explosion that blanketed KishouDoragon and the ruined city in flames.

"R.D.!!!" Alasea screamed.

The shockwave could be felt for miles. There was a dull rumbling sound as the blast subsided and rubble settled. The city, already having been burned to slag by Omega--which could only have been the new weapon that had preyed on the world--was now utterly destroyed. Amidst the smoke and the lingering flames, the battered white armor of KishouDoragon could be seen.

KishouDoragon stood there, smouldering from the remnants of the explosion. Then it brought its right hand up, and carefully open its fingers.

"You'd better not be dead after all this shit," Matt said to R.D.'s form, lying prone within KishouDoragon's segmented palm.

The rain continued to fall, quickly soaking R.D.'s bloodstained clothing and the fractured equipment worn around his chest, and washing the blood and grime from his exposed skin. The cables linking him to whatever awful machines still jutted out from wounds in his arms and chest, their jagged ends leaking black fluid.

The familiar-looking violet gemstone that had been set into the equipment gleamed in the light of the fire.

Yeah, that wasn't looking good. Alasea should be able to help fix this poor bastard, though. KishouDoragon looked about, scanning for the others as well as any reappearing enemies that could pop up, and when it spotted the others, it began stomping towards them.

Soon Matt had arrived with R.D. in hand, and a rain-soaked Alasea rushed up KishouDoragon's preferred hand. She halted with a gasp, both hands flying up to her mouth when she finally saw the extent of his condition.

"Guys, help me! We gotta get him out of here!" she cried, spinning about to face them.

Hugo deployed his Lift Option as Helena gasped, running over to the mech's giant fingers. "Where do you want to take him?" he asked. "Back to one of the Pillars?"

"No time!" Alasea shook her head. "Just get him out of this weather so we can heal him!"

Hugo sent the Lift Option forward. "Then get him on, but be careful!"

Meanwhile, from somewhere else, a figure stirred.

He had been thinking. About many things, like the many works of the universe and how it all ends.

This KishouDoragon...could he be?

This figure, a being nothing more than a spirit of a old king in ancient armor decided to get a closer look.

They got him loaded up onto the Lift Option and hauled him to a nearby overhang while Matt disengaged from KishouDoragon, so that Tamaran and the Dragon Spirits could escape.

"No, no no no no no!" Alasea cried at her fifth attempt at healing R.D., to no avail. "This isn't working!"

The flows spun through the air and converged on R.D.'s body, only for Alasea to recoil in disgust and pain as the weaves broke apart and dissipated. It was as if R.D.'s body was rejecting all attempts at healing, or as if something within him was preventing their efforts. And whatever it was, it was going to kill him.

"Matt, I can't heal him!" the girl cried fitfully. "Those monsters must've done something else to him!"

Matt approached R.D.'s form and crouched near his arm. "I bet it's this fuckin' thing," he said, pointing at the purple gemstone. "Lemme take it out."

"Be careful," Hugo said. "We've got no idea what that thing does."

"If there's feedback, I can take it," Matt said. He summoned his armor and grasped the stone, bracing himself for any kind of shock.

The pain was intense. Matt screamed out loud. He stopped yelling, and attempted to pull the damned stone out. He was strong, but the gemstone wanted to stay.

"Godamnit." Matt yelled. "This thing is a stubborn son-of-a-bitch!"

(OOC: One of the rules of the RPG is to not control other member's characters, Hardman.)

Nothing happened when Matt touched the gemstone--in fact, after a bit of tugging, it came free, revealing it for what it was--a purple-colored Chaos Emerald, one likely helping power Omega alongside Lumiya.

Nodding once, Alasea once again tried healing R.D., and once again hissed in pain as the feedback of her weaves was forcibly dispersed. "Dammit!" she cursed, tears of combined frustration and grief pouring down her face. "I don't... I can't..."

Shutting her eyes tightly, she cried out across her telepathic bond to the nearest of her spiritual sisters.

Aisha, help!

It didn't take long for Aisha to reply, disturbed by the feelings of distress sent over the bond. What's wrong, Alasea?

Alasea quickly explained what happened--how the weapon Ziatoch had procured was nothing more than R.D. being controlled through some foul device or magic, and that now that they had recovered him, her powers were useless in trying to repair the damage done to him by Daemonus' machinations and the final battle against KishouDoragon.

What do I do? I can't lose him again, Aisha, not like this! Alasea cried.

Stay calm, Alasea, her elder responded. I know of some people who can help. You said you were by a mine, right? The one by the Antlion nest?

Yes, it's not far from here!

Return there. I have some friends currently in the area who will be able to save R.D.. Find them.

Nodding a bit, Alasea ended the conversation. "We gotta go back to the mine!" she said, looking up at Matt. "Aisha says there's someone there that can help him!"

Edited by RisingDragon on February 4, 2011 at 10:53:35

"What, all the fuck way back there?" Matt asked.

"Then get the car!" Helena said. She had taken one of R.D.'s hands inside her claw, her other laying on his battered shoulder. "Drive like a maniac like you always do!"

"Now ain't the fuckin' time for criticism!" But she was right. Matt pulled the plane of metal out of his pocket and tossed it aside, so it could unfold into the Firebird. "Get him in the back!"