"Yeah, it's cool," Matt said. God knows losing a family member was hard.

Mei-ling seemed to be thinking the same thing, as she placed her hand on Hsien-Ko's pale shoulder, and the two sisters exchanged glances.

Alasea nodded. "Thank you," she said. She looked up at R.D. and gave him an embarassed smile. "Sorry for trying to kill you earlier."

R.D. blinked. "Uh... no harm done," he replied, "Just don't do it again."

She nodded and stood up. "So... what do we do now?" she asked the group.

"We were going to take shelter in that building over there for the night," Hsien-Ko said, pointing to the apartment building.

"I got food for all of us, too," Matt said, readjusting the backpack. "Well, those of us that eat, that is."

"Well then, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going inside," R.D. said as he approached the building, "I'll go see if there's anywhere suitable to eat at."

Alasea watched as he left. "Does he really have amnesia?" she asked Matt.

(OOC: I'll leave it to you to pass the time so we can get on with the story, Helldragon)

Edited by RisingDragon on October 3, 2006 at 20:25:56.

"He must, 'cause I guess he just forgot that I just said that we have food..."

Mei-ling looked to the sky, now deepening shades of orange. "We should set up for the night...we can get a fresh start tomorrow."

OOC: Um...yeah. Time passes. Lawl. Next day scene one GO.

===The next day===

R.D. shifted the backpack into a more comfortable position while he waited for his companions to finish getting ready. Somehow, Alasea, Hsien-Ko, and Mei-ling convinced him and Matt that because they were guys, they could lug all of the supplies around. He still wasn't sure how they managed that one. Women are evil, he decided. He opened up the map and started scouring it for an inkling of where they should go to find a port.

You better have left something to show me what to do to get there, Ondal, he thought exasperatedly.

Alasea approached him. "What's up?" she asked.

"The sun," he said noncommitally. He looked up to see her unamused stare. "I'm trying to figure out where we go from here. We need to find a port, and... ah!"

R.D. looked past her and shouted to the entrance of the apartment complex, "Hey Matt! Found a port on the map!"

"I am not hauling all of this shit around," Matt snapped in a wasted protest. He pointed an accusing finger at Hsien-Ko. "You don't feel the pain my weak, girly arms feel! Why can't you get some of it?"

"My arms are girly too," Hsien-Ko said with a curly little smile.

"But you're a ZOMBIE! It doesn't MATTER!"

"Matt, shut up and carry it," Hugo said, ending the argument as he walked past toward the door, holding his pickaxe as an eased angle.

From outside, R.D. shouted, "Hey Matt! Found a port on the map!"

"I'm comin'!" Matt shouted back. He looked to Hsien-Ko and Mei-ling. "My awesomeness is wasted here," he huffed, turning around comically and strutting out the door.

"He's an odd one," Mei-ling commented, met with her own smile as she walked out, her pale sister behind her.

R.D. watched as Matt came out of the building, quickly followed by Hugo and the two chinese women. He noticed Matt's comically forlorn look and asked, "Couldn't convince them to help, huh?"

"I even used the 'weak girly arm' gambit." Matt sighed dramatically.

Hugo ignored this and looked to R.D. "All right, where's this port at?"

"Port. Right."

R.D. looked down at the map again, examining the length between the city outskirts and the port. "Let's see," he murmured, "It's about... damn. 24 miles west of here."

"24 MILES?!" Matt shouted, not surprisingly.

"Can't you make a car or something?" Hugo asked.

"Yeah, I'll just pull a car out of my ass!" Matt snapped back. "Hey! While we're at it, let's cure CANCER!"

"Can't you do that too?!"

"NO!"

"Calm down, you two," Mei-ling interjected, seperating the two with her own body. "If we go back into the city a bit I'm sure we can find a working car."

"Well, I can't drive, so don't ask," Matt said.

R.D. sighed at Matt's theatrics. Today was going to be a long day.

"Well, it's a city. How hard can finding a car be?" he said.

===1 hour later===

I have got to stop opening my mouth, R.D. thought.

"Did that monster HAVE to smash every single vehicle in the damn city?" he heard Alasea mutter. They had just found a suitable vehicle: a pickup truck with only a few pieces of shrapnel laying across its hood.

"So, anyone besides Matt know how to drive?" R.D. asked the group. His question garnered no answers.

"... damn."

"My parents never felt it necessary to teach me... I was supposed to learn in about a week," Alasea explained, frowning.

R.D. sighed and walked over to the vehicle, then got inside. He looked around the dashboard for a minute, ignoring the curious stares of his companions. Then, quite suddenly, it seemed like his hands began moving on their own.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Alasea asked him.

"Nope," he replied as he continued working.

"You're hotwiring a truck."

"Really?"

"Are you SURE you have amnesia?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, "Now shut up a minute."

After a few more moments, the truck roared to life. R.D. sat up and leaned out the window. "Well, hop in!" he shouted out to the others.

Edited by RisingDragon on October 3, 2006 at 22:21:59.

Matt leaned on the edge of the truck door conversationally. "Do YOU know how to drive, son?"

"Honestly?" R.D. said as Alasea took the chance to steal the passenger seat, "Not mentally. At least at the moment. But my body does, it seems."

At Matt's confused and skeptical look, the amnesiac teen explained, "It's like when we fought Rugal earlier, and when I fought Alasea. I had no clue what I was doing, but my body showed me what to do. Besides, I apparently know how to hotwire a car. Why would I know how to do that and not know how to drive?"

"I see what you mean...but I think you'd better let Mei-ling drive. Just to be safe."

It's like the Omega Core...somehow. I wonder what it means...

"Mei-ling can't," R.D. said, "We've already made enemies, and if they return or, God forbid, we make new ones, Hsien-Ko will need her, and you and Hugo have long range attacks. Alasea and myself are stuck with three swords and no guns."

R.D. revved the engine, for some reason satisfied by the clear sound it made. He turned back to his companion.

"Now get in the back before I drive off without you."

Edited by RisingDragon on October 3, 2006 at 22:43:58.

"I get shotgun, then," Matt said. "I need to talk to you anyway." His expression made it clear he was quite serious about this.

"Fine," R.D. said, and turned to the girl next to him, "I guess you're gonna have to move back. Maybe you can throw Hugo over the side or something."

Alasea frowned and got out, joining Hugo and the other women in back.

"Well, get in," R.D. said to Matt.

Matt did, and folded his arms, looking out of the windows at the ruined city around them.

R.D. was surprised at how easy it was to drive the truck. Distantly he wondered what kind of person he was before he lost his memory.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" he asked Matt.

"I'd like to know what that guy told you in that apartment building," Matt said, bringing out the revelation with a standard voice. His arms crossed, he kept looking foward.

R.D. looked over at Matt calmly before turning his eyes back on the road.

"How'd you learn about Ondal?" he asked.

"I had a dream last night," Matt replied. "When I dream something like that I usually take it seriously because it's usually true. I saw that you were talking to some guy in that building about something, and that's why we're going to this port, so you can go somewhere important."

... I can't tell him about Lumiya. That'd be too dangerous.

"Well, you just answered your own question, Matt," R.D. said, "Ondal more or less said it was important that I go there, it'd be the 'first steps of my new journey.' And that you'd be able to help me somehow."

The last of the fields around the city faded away, becoming a sparse forest as they drove.

"And now I've got a question for you, Matt," R.D. broke the silence. "What's the Omega Core?"

Mental note. Don't argue that loud next time.

Matt leaned on his fingers. "A very important package I need to deliver."

They fell into silence after that. They drove on for another 45 minutes, the only sounds being the chatter of the three women and Hugo's comments interspersed between the them.

At the end of the trip, they arrived at the port. The entry gate was left slightly open, and there were no sounds coming from the place.

"Oh please don't tell me he got here too..." Alasea whispered, her mind reliving the carnage caused by the Dark Dragon as R.D. drove the truck in slowly. The amnesiac teen stepped out of the truck with his deactivated Phase Blade in hand after parking the vehicle.

"Matt, any idea what could've happened here?" he asked his passenger.

Edited by RisingDragon on October 3, 2006 at 23:39:13.

"It'd better not be Rugal," Matt spat, exiting the truck.

"That'd really make our day, wouldn't it?" R.D. said, "A visit from long, tall, and ugly."

R.D. looked over at Hugo and the women. "Be on your guard. We might have company."

Alasea nimbly leapt out of the vehicle, drawing her shortswords for combat.

"Well, if there's nobody around, we can just go grab ourselves a boat, right?" Alasea asked R.D.

"Right," he replied, "Let's go find ourselves a boat."

Edited by RisingDragon on October 3, 2006 at 23:58:48.

"Yeah, we stole the food, might as well steal a boat..." Matt glanced around, Hsien-Ko and Mei-ling right behind him, his senses trying to pick up what they could.

Re-Tuul shot across the water, skimming over it, looking down as it teemed with life.

"Such beauty," the demon murmured, "All of it fit for the Sacrifice... I wonder if the Rising Dragon has found what's left of them by now..."

With a disturbing laugh, the eyeless winged monster continued its flight over the Pacific.

===With R.D. and company===

"Hmm... we found a yacht, now we just need to find the fuel..." Alasea murmured to herself, "And Matt said it should be in this warehouse over... here!"

Alasea turned the corner and trotted over to the large sliding door of the warehouse, and started pulling it open.

"Alright, let's see just how much we... have..." Alasea trailed off as her eyes widened in horror at the site in the warehouse. After the shock wore off, she started to scream.

Across the port, R.D. was helping Matt to load the yacht with their supplies when he heard Alasea's screaming. He uttered a curse and leapt off the dock of the boat, activating his sword and rushing over to the warehouse.

He ran over to the screaming girl, ready to battle, when he saw the source of her fright.

"Oh God," he whispered, deactivating his sword and pulling Alasea out of the site of the building's contents, letting her cling to him as she sobbed.

Inside the warehouse were the torn and mutilated bodies of the port's dockworkers.