“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Watch it Tikai!” A misty voiced snow-white haired teenager answered. He closed both his eyes in pain, then reopened them revealing his left eye was blue, and his right eye was red.

“Sorry! Sorry! I’m just trying to help!” Shouted another voice, this time of a girl. She was holding a welder in one hand, and trying to keep her long blonde hair from getting in her eyes, revealing her two sky blue eyes.

“Alright, if you want to help with my repairs, then please stop scorching me with the thing!”

“I’m trying my best Airaxen, but I don’t take shop class!”

“Alright, alright. Just be careful, you nearly burned what was left of my left arm off.”

“*Sigh* I didn’t mean to do it, I’m just trying to help,” she protested.

“Maybe, you should just put down the welder and let my body regenerate instead. It’ll take longer, but I trust it more then your skills with tools that could set me on fire.” Airaxen then tested one of his tattered legs by tapping it on the ground gently to see if it hurt. When he felt nothing a test of the other one was in order, when that one passed the test, he tried to stand up. After about 3 minutes of struggling to keep upright he wandered over to his computer chair and turned on the monitor, and accessed an order form for a manufacturer of machine parts.

“Hey, what are you doing Air?”

“I’m ordering new parts for weaponry, and why are you calling me Air?”

“Because it’s easier to say then Airaxen, and why do you have to make more weapons?”

“So I can be prepared for the future.” Tikai then shook her head disapprovingly and spun Airaxen’s chair around to face her.

“Oh come on! The battle has been fought and won, and the good guys have come put on top. It’s time to take a good long rest. Maybe go on vacation for a bit?”

“Tikai, you know I can’t I have to stay here and prepare for when Sonaris’ superiors counterattack.” At this she hung her head and let out a sigh.

“Just take a week off and relax, you know before you went all cyborg -like.”

“But-”

“Come on! Enjoy yourself, unwind, stop being so stiff!”

“...Well...maybe I’m overdo for some R and R.”

“There ya go, why don’t ya go to Hawaii. Annnnnd, you can take me along...”

“...In other words, you want a vacation.”

“Ummm, maaaybe...”

“Alright, alright if you promise to stop bugging me I’ll consider it after I’ve fully repaired.”

“Yay! Ok, I‘ll see you later then.” With that she skipped out the door and to the public floors of the tower.

<Are all girls this strange? Who knows, I don‘t.> He then sighed and rolled his chair to the bed and painfully rolled onto it, falling asleep.

* * *

Within a void, there lived a creature, one that had existed for many eons, asleep, lying dormant. Until now. Then two animal shaped blue eyes opened themselves, becoming the only thing that could be seen within the void of darkness. “I-I sense something...But what? Must focus...must find where this disturbance is coming from. I...I know I’ve felt this once before, I can’t place my claw on when...but it was sometime long, long ago. Ah-ha! Now I remember when I felt this before, when the crystals were being recovered, yes...the seal that was placed on them has been broken. Well, it’s time I prepared for the worst.” The creature’s eyes vanished, meaning it had gone to do...whatever it was going to do.

* * *

There was a loud hiss, then the sound of a door creaking open, accompanied by mist, like some scene from a movie. Then with two loud clanks a figure stepped out of a capsule. After the mist cleared, the figure somewhat resembled the once deceased Sonaris, except now had much more armor, and a rather menacing weapon on his right arm. With two blades sticking out of what appears to be the head of a wolf.

“I like, I like. This is a very nice upgrade.” Sonaris admired himself in a mirror, smirking. But a small little robot, which resembled a Lego man appeared at the door. He had a yellow face with big eyes, and a large mouth, on top of a blue body, this little robot barely came up to a person’s knee. It slowly walked over to Sonaris and gently pulled on his armor.

“Hm? What do you want?”

“Sir, we’ve found one of the artifacts you requested.” The small robot gave Sonaris what appeared to be a small red crystal, shaped like pointy cross. The crystal glowed a gently red, while shining brilliantly despite the lack of light in the lab.

“Ahahahaha, yes. The first of one of the seven crystals. To think, hundreds of thousands of eons ago some brilliant mind created these all mighty gems. A little bit of magic, and science created the seven most powerful things imaginable. Now I have the crystal of fire, to decide what to do...now that is the hard part. Hmmm...Ehehehe, I’ve got it...”

* * *

Airaxen was out like a light for quite awhile, what awoke him was the sound of a news reporter.

“Uhhhh, what’s that noise?”

“Hm? Oh you’re up.” Once sitting up Airaxen looked at Tikai sitting in a chair watching that evening’s news.

“Didn’t you say you were going to go home or something?”

“Well, I can only stay at my friends for so long.”

“Don’t you have a place of your own to stay, ooh say your house?”

“I can’t, no house key, and my folks have the best security. And before you ask where my folks are, they’re in Hawaii wondering why I’m not there yet.”

“That’s right, the bus you were on that day was probably towards the airport. And after that tornado dropped a few houses around the city, I bet the pilots would be afraid of flying for awhile.”

“Yeah, but that’s ok, cause you’re going to take me now.”

“Later, later! Have some patience. Out of curiosity, how long have I been out? And, how did you get back in here?”

“Well you’ve been asleep for about two days now. And I hacked my way in, hope you don’t mind.”

“You, you were able to bypass my security system?”

“Yes, and what’s with the tone? I’m good at hacking, so what?”

“Well, your skill with the welder gave me a different impression.”

“Ok, ok, so I can’t weld if my life depended on it, but I’m great with the computer.”

“Alright, one more question, how did you learn this anyway?”

“From tracking down people on the net, so I could meet them, or haunt them.”

“...I’m not going to ask.” With that Airaxen took a look at himself, rather pleased to see that his left arm was fully repaired, and his right was also all there, and once standing there was no pain, or wobbling.

“Nice to see you up on your feet again Air.”

“Nice to be on my feet.”

“Anyway, let’s go.”

“Go?”

“Yeah, on vacation.” Airaxen looked up for a second thinking, then he remembered saying he would take them on a vacation. Much to his disappointment.

“Can’t we just forego it?”

“Please? I really want to meet my folks again!”

“Yes, but I don’t have that sort of money.”

“Then how do you order those parts?”

“I...cheat a little...”

“You mean you hack and stuff.”

“...Yes.”

“That’s what I thought, now-” Then a beeping came from Airaxen’s wrist monitor.

“Eh? Heh, well work calls, we’ll finish this later.” With that he suited up and dashed out of the room. When arriving at where his monitor located, Airaxen’s eyes went wide. For there sitting on a bench was Sonaris quietly humming looking straight at him.

<No, no way. That’s just not possible. Sonaris was blown apart, there’s no way he could’ve survived.>

“Well boy? Are you just going to stand there all day and stare? Or are we going to actually have some fun?”

<Oh, I’ll give you a fun time alright.> Airaxen narrowed his eyes.

“What do you want? To try and kill me again?”

“Well of course! Isn’t that what we bad guys do? We kill the good guys and then have the world at our mercy.”

“Pffff, you wish.”

“Well enough idle chitchat, let’s get down to business.” With that he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small red crystal.

“What’s that?”

“Oh you’ll see. Crystal I command you, release the untamed forces within! Now! I give you new form!” With that he threw it into the air, the crystal glowing rapidly. A light fired from it hitting a few of the nearby cars. They lifted off the ground and whirled around the crystal. Then with one final flash of light what used to be a bunch of cars had transformed into some strange deformed robot. The front of a car for a head, the back parts for legs, and everything else, well that just went in-between.

“An interesting form indeed. I think I’ll name it...Hezuno! Well then, Hezuno! Attack him! Burn him to ashes!” Sonaris ordered. The monstrosity towered over Airaxen, it started to walk towards him, painfully slow, and very loudly. Airaxen armed his cannon and leapt up firing rounds onto it. Hezuno responded by creating a wall of fire to defend itself.

<Blast, that didn’t work. I’ll have to try again.> Once landing he circled it blasting away. To no avail, each shot was either swatted away or countered with a fireball.

“Enough toying around, Hezuno, Final Burner!” He lifted his arm up, at the end of it were a bunch of wheels which spun around rapidly releasing a large stream of fire at Airaxen. There was no time to move out of the way, so he braced for impact. Arms crossed ready for the worst. Soon the flames engulfed him, slowly melting away his armor. But the fire soon died out giving Airaxen time to cool down.

<This reject transformer is pretty tough, well better bring my game up a notch then.> Airaxen then stood up, and rolled to the side before another stream of fire hit. Once getting back on his feet he struggled to dash away. Hezuno released a barrage of fireballs, most missed, but three of them hit Airaxen in the back sending him flying into a wall. Airaxen was fairly dazed, the heat from Hezuno’s attacks were causing his systems to overheat. He struggled to stand up, then looked around, his sight was blurry, but he then noticed something, the one thing that was going to win the battle for him; a fire hydrant. He looked to see Hezuno slowly walking towards him, readying another fireball. After doing some quick calculations he drew his sword and flung it at the hydrant. Once hitting it a piece of the fire hydrant fell off, releasing a jet of water hitting Hezuno in the chest, sending steam everywhere. Hezuno tried to get out of the way, but couldn’t the ice cold water mixing with the scorching heat of his body creating a strain on it, causing cracks to run all along his body. Airaxen picked up his sword then dashed at Hezuno. With one mighty slash Hezuno split apart, the crystal which originally formed him, now lay on the ground glowing back in it’s normal beat. Airaxen then picked it up and studied it, but was interrupted by Sonaris’ shouts of rage.

“YOU STUPID LITTLE-ARGH!” Airaxen turned to look at him, then armed his cannon. Sonaris stopped long enough to hear the clicking noises of his cannon being assembled. Airaxen fired a round at Sonaris, but he already teleported away.

“Blast, he got away. Uhhhh, looks like our little rivalry isn’t over just yet.” Then some water rained down on him.

“Hm? Oh yeah, I sliced apart a fire hydrant.” After haphazardly welding back the sliced off part he wandered back to his tower lab.

* * *

“This is not good, not good at all.” Airaxen muttered during his elevator ride.

<Sonaris is back to try and destroy the planet, and me for that matter. Oh, that’s right I picked up this thing.> Then he fished through his pocket and took out the red crystal he picked up.

<What is this thing anyway? It’s just not natural.> The elevator came to a stop and the door opened. Tikai was still there watching the latest news report on Airaxen’s battle with Sonaris’ latest creation.

“Hey, you ok? That was a rather ugly fight you fought, nearly got yourself cooked.”

“Yes, I’m fine, I appreciate your concern.” Airaxen sighed and collapsed onto his bed. Then brought the crystal to his face.

“What’s that?” Tikai motioned towards the crystal he was holding up.

“This? I don’t know, it’s a crystal of some sort. But whatever it exactly is escapes me, because I’ve yet to see any jewelry from a store give itself a body and shoot fireballs.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Well you do know what we have to do.”

“Oh? And what’s that supposed to be?”

“Research!”

“Later, I still have a headache from that fireball.”

“Fine then, you lay around here like a sloth, I’m going to the library.”

“And do you know what you’re even looking for?”

“Umm...Not a clue, but I’ll just go and look for science books or something.”

“Alright, I suppose that’s somewhere to start. I’ll stay here and examine the thing.” Tikai nodded, then walked out of the room. Airaxen lay there for awhile then sat up and dragged himself over to his computer and placed the crystal underneath a microscope like tool.

“Alright, time to find out just what’s going on here. Computer a scan if you please.” The computer responded with a few beeps, then a humming.

“Scan completed, compiling data.” Airaxen hummed quietly while waiting. Then a beep told him the task was done, he looked at the data and was rather shocked.

“Remarkable, this thing is pretty much nothing but pure energy crystallized. This would make source of energy for just about anything, but it’s unstable. Now I have to figure out how Sonaris was able to create it. But how was he able to command this? It’s just some supercharged piece of jewelry.” Airaxen pondered about this, trying to figure out a logical explanation. But Tikai came back soon carrying with her what could only be described as enough books to supply a large classroom.

“Yikes! Tikai! Did you decide to just grab the science section of the library and bring it back here?!”

“Of course not! I just grabbed everything in quantum science.”

“...That’s just overkill.” Airaxen walked over to the pile and studied the titles. Then he looked back at Tikai.

“How exactly did you carry all of these over here anyway?”

“I just turned on some of my charm and suckered a few guys into it.”

“...” <I’m starting to get scared by her...> “Alright, time to start hacking at this.” Then a yawn came over him, causing him to stretch his arms out, and inevitably knocking over the tower of books.

“ACK! AIR! Watch it!”

“Err, opps.” The two started sifting through and skimming through the books. The hours rolled by, and nothing of importance. Then Airaxen picked up a very old looking book, the book was tattered around the edges. Once opening it the contents were about incantations, spells, potions, and a few legends along the way.

“Tikai?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you take this book out? It’s useless.” He held it up for her to see.

“Oh, I love that sort of thing. Fantasy, magic, all that is so interesting to me.”

“Bah, I see no reason for interest in this sort of thing.” Airaxen closed the book and was about to put it away.

“Oh come on, even if it’s not real it’s still cool.” Tikai then shoved it into his face and reopened it.

<She’s a rather pushy person.> “Alright, alright I suppose this may be a nice change of pace.” Tikai then jumped over next to him and leaned on his shoulder. Airaxen showed very little interest, Tikai on the other hand was stopping him every five seconds because there was a love potion, or a hex that made someone’s hair fall out (Airaxen really didn’t want to know more about that). About an hour in he was starting to fall asleep, this was all very boring to him, but then turning the page something caught his attention. A picture of the red crystal was printed in the tattered page, an exact replica of the real thing.

“This...this picture...” He took the crystal out of his pocket and compared it to it’s picture twin.

“Hmm? What is it?”

“This picture, is an image of the crystal I have right now.”

“Well, let’s see what all these captions and stuff say.”

“Alright, let’s see.” After quickly clearing his throat he began reading. “In ancient times before humans. A fierce war was being fought. One side, the Magisters a race of mighty, and powerful spell casting people. Similar to humans, but the Magisters had great knowledge. They didn’t have very much physical strength, but they did posses the ability to control the forces of nature, and even turn back the hands of time. The Myreisons couldn’t do things such as the Magisters, but they possessed something just as good, science and technology. The Myreisons had no real form, instead they were more like living machines. Robot like creatures who used the genetic material of other living creatures to give themselves form. They possessed many powerful weapons, rockets, laser beams, fire balls, and powerful shields to protect them in battle. But they had one major drawback, exposure to high amounts of light would cause their bodies to decoy. For centuries the two fought, soon many forgot why they were fighting, they only knew that they had to be the winners. But the ones that did remember knew that the Myreisons wanted to control the world, the Magisters strived to stop them. Their battles slowly ravaged the land, turning the planet into a wasteland. But then one of the Magisters knew that to win they needed, their mastery of the elemental forces could only do so much, but very little could be done before they were exhausted and collapsed. A more powerful, and permanent power was needed, the true power of the elements. After many, many years of work, they’ve came up with a set of crystals, each controlling something different, fire, water, ice, wind, lightning, earth, and gravity. But just when they were ready to unleash them onto the Myreisons, one of the Myreisons had already known about the plans for the crystals, and attempted to destroy them in a massive explosion. The explosion didn’t destroy the crystals, but scattered them across the globe. Now a new war raged, over the control of these crystals. Many more centuries went by, each side no closer to finding any of them then when it began. The Myreisons soon came up with their own secret weapon, a Myreison that could stand up to the intense lights of the uncloaked world. But to their dismay this one didn’t want the war to go on, and joined the Magisters to help tip the war in favor of them. Knowing the weaknesses he destroyed the cloak generator which provided them with permanent darkness. As the light burned through the cloak, the Myreison fired their desperation attack, a giant asteroid created to be used as a kamikaze attack. In the end none of them survived the war, but it is said the Myreison have hid in the deepest depths of the Earth. It is also said that the seven crystals still exist, to this day.” With that Airaxen closed the book and looked over his shoulder at Tikai.

“What do you think about that?” She asked.

“It’s a great story, and normally I wouldn’t believe such a far-fetched idea, but the evidence is pretty much staring me in the face. There may be some accuracy, but I wouldn‘t count on a lot.”

“Oh, you never know Air, some of these legends are more real then you think.”

“Well, we shall see.” He placed the book on his desk for future reference, then stared at the rest of the pile on the floor.

“Ooh boy, this is going to take awhile to go through.” Airaxen grumbled.

“Well, I don’t think we need any of these anymore anyway, we got that book to tell us all we need to know.”

“You don’t honestly believe the story do you?”

“And you don’t? Come on, give me a hand these books won‘t take themselves back.” He loudly lifted himself off the chair and went to stacking the books.

“Honestly, did you really have to bring all these books?”

“I was just being thorough.” Another groan or so from the miffed Airaxen, then the job was finished. Tikai ran off saying she’ll be back soon, to Airaxen’s dismay. After she left he flopped onto the holding the red crystal up to the light.

<Heh, that legend, it couldn’t have been true...could it?> The thought was soon left alone, he was too tired from the battle, and all the regenerating his body had to do was also very rigorous. So he soon fell asleep, wishing he could do it more often.

* * *

In a dark cave a silhouette of a creature was being projected onto the cave walls. This creature was in a great rush, going at high speeds, but still able to avoid smashing into the cave’s insides.

“I must hurry, for the crystals are being uncovered, after all the eons. I fear that someone is planning to use them for the forces of darkness. Time is running out!”

* * *

On the way back from the library Tikai was thinking over the recent chain of events. Her life was rather normal and mundane, then she had her first encounter with Airaxen. It was a day in fall, he was sleeping in a tree, and fell into the ground. This perked her curiosity, no human could be able unhurt from a fall like that, and his looks weren’t exactly a common sight, a full head of white hair, a blue eye and a red. Then the day in winter was really bizarre, leaping 20 feet into the air, being able to make nearly impossible shots, no one did believe her, they were either ducking down to avoid being hit, or were hit before they could take a good look. Then there’s the fact he saved her twice, both times getting severely injured.

<He leads a tough life, running around saving people, trying to fight the bad guys, and making it out alive. I feel sorry for him. And he can’t remember his own past, must be a very troubled life. Maybe that’s why he’s always so serious. Wish I could help...> Once arriving back at tower she found Airaxen sprawled across the bed sleeping like a bear. Not wanting to disturb him, she went up top to the roof to admire the view. As Tikai sat on the roof watching the lights of cars and buildings, someone or something was coming up. A shadow like creature was making it’s way towards Airaxen’s elevator. Since the tower was closed no one was there to disturb the creature.

<The first crystal is behind these doors, it’s time to retrieve it.> It raised what appeared to be a claw, but without light one could only guess. With one swift swipe the door split apart. The parts fell to the floor, and revealed the elevator wasn’t there, just cables in it’s place. It leapt at the cable and then started to climb it towards the top. When the way was once again blocked, a mighty swipe of it’s claw and the elevator bottom split apart falling towards the ground below, but not without making a lot of noise. Despite this, Airaxen was still out like a light, but Tikai on the other hand did hear something. Out of curiosity she climbed back into the room, in time to see the silhouette of the creature. She gasped, then went up against a wall.

“Wh-who are you? What do you want?” Tikai was afraid, she moved towards the table, then felt around for a weapon to defend herself with; what she came up with was the welder she used to try to repair Airaxen. Then she looked around, and noticed that Airaxen was still sleeping.

<Give me a break, there’s this thing here and my hero is off sawing lumber.> “Well? Aren’t you going to answer me?” The creature turned to look at her, with it’s piercing blue eyes. They made her want to step back, but of course couldn’t being pressed to the wall already. It’s eyes seemed to have shot right through her. In a deep and misty voice like Airaxen, it answered,

“I’m simply here to retrieve something of mine.”

“We have nothing of yours!”

“Do not panic, I will cause you no harm.”

“I don’t believe you! Get out of here now!” At Tikai’s shouts Airaxen finally aroused him from his sleep.

“*Yawn* Keep it down will you...”

“Air! There’s someone here, they say they want something.” This perked Airaxen’s attention. He then leapt to his feet and over to Tikai’s side, sword drawn.

“Alright big, tall, and creepy, what do you want?” Demanded Airaxen. It sighed, then looked at him.

“Please, I just want to get what is rightfully mine, and I will leave you in peace.”

“No one goes and barges in to just get something, so let me show you the way out!” With that he lunged at the silhouette, sword out. But by the time Airaxen was within striking range the creature had already left.

“Blast, got away.”

“What do you think he wanted?”

“I would say, he wants the crystal I have.” He replaced his sword, then turned to look at her.

“You’re a brave person, I admire that. None the less, are you alright?”

“Fine.”

“Alright, I’d say it’s best for you to get some rest, I need to get to work.”

“What work?”

“Well, if that legend has any truth to it there are more of these crystals. So I’m going to do some research, find the wavelength of the aura of this thing, or something.”

“Want some help?”

“No, I’m fine, go out and get something to eat.”

“Ok, just try not to fall asleep if some freaky guy comes over.”

“Heh, alright.” Airaxen walked over to his computer desk, but before he could sit down...

“Air, how do I get out if the elevator is broken?”

“Err...That’s a good question.”

* * *

Sonaris was sitting in front of a computer screen, typing away furiously, searching for something.

“Alright, alright. I just lost one crystal, there’s still 6 more left, no problem. I’ll just get more of them at a time, then attack Airaxen with a all the elements except for fire...yes that sounds good...” Sonaris was losing it, his mind was slipping. Not only from the frustration in not being able to destroy his rival, but also his “other” half was rebelling against him.

<Stupid organic part, trying to overthrow me. Bah, stupidity, that weak organic mind can’t overpower me, I was programmed into him, and given full control. Just have to beat back this goody two shoes.> A few quick shakes to his head, and his concentration returned. After a few minutes a cry of joy, and Sonaris was doing a very bad victory dance. After his dancing was finished he dashed off to his teleporter, being sent to the Ural Mountains in Russia, the location of the crystal of ice.

Airaxen sat in front of his computer, running scan after scan, test after test, to no avail. He let out a cry of frustration, then sighed.

“I’ve been working for the past 4 hours, and nothing. If I am to find the crystals before Sonaris does, I have to be able to locate them!”

“Uhhhh...” Tikai was on the bed asleep, well until Airaxen started yelling. “What time is it?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. Oh yes, it’s 3:27AM.”

“*Yawn* Why are you still up at this hour? Better yet, why am I up?”

“I must find a way to find the crystals, time is of the essence, Sonaris is going to get them before me, and then we’re all going to be in a heck of a lot of trouble. But so far I’ve come up with nothing.”

“Maybe you should *yawn* take a rest, you know clear your head.”

“Can’t, have to keep on working. No choice.”

“Oh come on, you’ll blow a fuse or something at this rate, just stop and take a breather. Think about something else for a bit, might help you when you get back to work.” He spun around in his chair and went over to the bed.

“Alright, alright. Well do you have any good topics to get my mind off work?”

“...Nothing in particular, but would you mind if I asked a few questions?”

“About?”

“You, you’re rather interesting to me, all these secrets and stuff.”

“Alright, alright.”

“Umm...Well is Airaxen your real name?”

“I...I think so. To be honest I don’t know. When I awoke it was the only name I could remember, so I assumed it was mine, but I might be wrong.”

“Ok, well if your a robot why do you sleep so much, and I’ve also seen you eat, and how those your body rebuild itself without a welder or anything?”

“Well, I’m only part robot, the rest of me is human. That human part gives me some human characteristics. Things like pain, need to eat, healing, and other things like that. So I do need to sleep every now and then to recharge my energy cells.”

“Those that mean you have emotions like a human?”

“...I honestly don’t know. But if I had to guess, then I would seriously doubt it. I’m still 76% machine, the human part is just meant for the basics.”

“Oh...ok then.” There was silence after that.

“You know...I just noticed.”

“Noticed what?”

“Your hair is a giant mess, it’s all over the place.”

“...Why did you go and point that out?!” Tikai was rather annoyed at that.

“I was just trying to break the tension. Sorry”

“That’s ok I guess.”

“Well, if that’s all you want to ask me, you should go back to sleep.”

“Actually...I have one more question left.”

“Which is?”

“What can you remember of your past?”

“Just what I‘ve told you I‘m afraid.”

“Really? That’s it?” Airaxen nodded. “Yikes, that’s harsh.”

“It doesn’t bother me very much. What happened then was part of a past life, that’s all. Now get some rest, not healthy if your sleep deprived.”

“Wait, I still have something to ask.”

“Hm?”

“Well, mind if I help you out?”

“Help me out? How so?”

“You know, in the field, taking care of all Sonaris’ flunkies.”

“You don’t have any sort of weaponry, or any sort of armor.”

“I can make some!”

“...”

“Ok, ok, I can make some with a lot of practice. Come on, I just want to help, and at this rate you’ll need all the help you can get.”

“...Maybe, but you’re still just human.”

“So?”

“So, you’ll be charbroiled in 5 seconds flat.”

“Oh come on, stop with the tough guy act and let me help!”

“It’s not a good idea to go out and try getting yourself killed.”

“You’re one to speak.”

“...Touche. Well if you can build yourself weapons and sufficient protection, then I suppose you’re welcome to try, but...”

“I know, I know! Be careful, blah, blah, blah.” Airaxen shook his head in defeat, then rolled his chair back to his computer desk. There were the sounds of gentle rustling, but were all ignored. Then Tikai leaned on his shoulder.

“Tikai? What are you doing?”

“I’m going to ask you if you had any schematics for weapons. And any welding for dummies sort of books.”

“...Your going to take the 3 hours of sleep, and try to work a welder?!”

“Yes, after some coffee.” With that she jumped into the newly fixed elevator, going to raid the tower’s cafe. Airaxen then went back to trying to make a scanner, to no avail. But then an idea came to him, <Maybe trying to scan for this specific cluster of molecules...yeah that should work.> A fury of keystrokes later, Airaxen was fiddling with a small handheld device which the computer spat out. “Ha! There that should work...Thank god for technology.” Tikai came back carrying some coffee, looking pretty much like a zombie.

“Tikai...you look like...never mind.”

“*Yawn* You know, I never knew how fast I could burn out.”

“Told you should’ve gotten some more sleep.” He then whacked his little device a few times on the side. “Come on, work!” A few more times, still nothing. Airaxen then let out a exasperated sigh, before throwing it aside. Tikai then picked it up and studied it.

“I think I figured out your problem.”

“Oh? What’s wrong with it” He said this with a sarcastic tone, not believing she could of figured out the problem.

“Did you turn it on?” With a click, the monitor hummed to life.

“...Shut up, just shut up.” He twitched a few times, then growled quietly, clenching his fist. She giggled a bit.

“Bruised your ego, eh?”

“Just shut up!” Airaxen snatched the device from her hands and starting pushing some buttons on it. “Ha! I think I’ve got it, one crystal is located...in the Ural Mountains.”

“*Yawn* Where’s that?”

“In Russia. So dress warmly, pack light, because we’re going crystal hunting. And this is your vacation.”

“...”

“You wanted to help, your helping now.”

“...”

“Hello?” He waved his hand in front of her face, nothing. Then the coffee in her other hand slipped out and splattered on the ground, some quiet snoring made him look at her face closely.

“She’s asleep.” He shook his head, then snapped his fingers a few times, waking her up.

“Huh? What’s going on?”

“Come on, we’re going to Russia.”

“Can’t it wait?”

“Nope.” Airaxen grabbed her arm, the crystal off his desk and the scanner. Before dragging her towards the wall opposite of the elevator.

“You’ve lost it, your trying to open up...” He placed his hand on the wall, making it slide open.

“Things aren’t always what they appear to be.”

“Well, where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see...” After the wall stopped moving, revealed another elevator. Once taking this one it led to an underground garage. What was there, was some sort of car, not one with wheels, or the more modern rocket engines.

“What is that?”

“It’s an old Sky Car, they were never really mass produced. I was able to get my hands on the blueprints and built one, with a few modifications.”

“So how’s it work?”

“It uses the old jet engine system.”

“Oh I remember those, they were mentioned in history class.”

“None the less, they may be an old technology but with what I’ve done they can easily surpass what everyone calls state-of-the-art. Super sensitive solar cells, just need light as bright as a flashlight to run them, and I made it so it can pretty much power itself. Pumps out 20 amperes of power to each of the 6 engines. It‘s quiet, fast, has lots of extra room, and a few extra toys...”

“Such as?”

“Laser guns, 2 rocket pods, afterburners, and a small workstation in the cockpit.”

“Nice, I like it. Hey why haven’t you actually used this thing before?”

“It was a giant model to me, didn’t think I’d actually have to use it. Well I guess I‘m wrong. Come on lets go.”

* * *

The winds whipped at Sonaris’ face. Despite being totally and utterly covered in layers of winter jackets, was still shivering nonstop.

“I h-h-h-ate the co-o-o-l-d.” He muttered throw clenched teeth. Sonaris continued stumbling through the thick snow. Every now and then he would bend over and shred through a portion of like a dog digging for a bone.

“Bah! My scanner can locate the general area of the crystal, but can it prevent me from going through hours and hours of spending time in the freezing cold and digging like a dog?!” Stopping soon he stood back up and moved to a different area.

* * *

The jet engines hummed quietly, obviously modified to be silent unlike the older models. Airaxen had his feet up on the dashboard, with his arms behind his head. The Sky Car was on autopilot, leaving the hassle of going through the piloting corrections out.

<I’m off on a wild goose chase now. Globetrotting to the four corners of the Earth.> Airaxen let out a sigh, he was worried. He looked at Tikai who was sleeping in the seat next to him.

<I wish I could’ve prevented any others in coming in my rivalry with Sonaris. Now Tikai is a target, even worse she wants to help me on the field of battle. Her determination, and fighting spirit is impressive, but she’s a human. And to my dismay humans are such a fragile race. I hope she changes her mind, can’t baby-sit someone all the time.> A soft blow to his stomach interrupted his thoughts. Tikai had slid to her side and her head landed on Airaxen.

“I’m afraid you’re just a human, nothing more then that.”

* * *

After a long and boring 5 hour flight, they had landed in the Ural Mountains of Russia. A freezing sub-zero wind blasting at you the second you step out of your shelter. Tikai was constantly trying to clear up the fogged over window.

“Man, it’s really ugly out there, can’t see a thing! And I don’t have any winter clothes.”

“Aye, well it’s night here you know. You can wait here and I’ll leave the engine on.”

“Why not let me follow in this? I want to help in your search, and what if Sonaris is around?”

“I can take care of him, I have once.”

“With my help!”

“A small detail.”

“Come on, you need me to get your butt out of trouble, just admit it!”

“I do not, besides you don’t know how to work this thing.”

“Yes I do, I read the blueprints you left in the back.”

“...Fine, just don’t follow closely. I’m going out there now.” He opened his side door, briefly letting in the freezing winds.

Airaxen landed in the thick snow and struggled to move around. The cold didn’t have much of an effect on him, despite just wearing a shirt and a pair of pants.

“Rather nippy out. Well lets see what the scanner has to tell me.” He removed the scanner from his pocket, then turned it on. The screen very slowly appeared, the cold temperature was slowing down the scanner, the screen was flickering slightly as well.

“Alright...looks like if I head a few more kilometers to my right I should be very close to this crystal. Heh that’s just convenient.”

* * *

Still shivering and twitching Sonaris continued his way through the snow, fighting the urge to teleport back to his lab to warm up.

“I...must keep...on moving, continue searching.” After walking for awhile longer he looked down and noticed a set of footprints. Odd, he hadn’t walked this way, and who in their right mind would be out here? After some more thinking, a mortifying thought came to him.

“The only other person here would be that cursed Airaxen, he must have somehow found out about this crystal. Fine I’ll dispatch him first then after that I’ll continue my search.”

* * *

Looking up at the towering mountain Airaxen let out a sigh. The crystal that he was searching for was somewhere in that mountain of ice.

<Ugh, well at least I’m not freezing out here.> Airaxen leapt into the air and tried to land on a high ledge, but the winds were too strong, and blew him off course, making him land back into the snow. Airaxen climbed out of the snow and stood back up, looking at the mountain again.

<Looks like I’ll have to climb up this thing, one step at a time.> Another sigh, and then he started to scale the mountain by hand. Thud, thud, thud. Airaxen punched the mountain side creating a small hole for his feet to go into.

<Ugh, this is rather annoying.> For the next five minutes there was nothing but the howling of wind, and the occasional thud.

* * *

Tikai who had been following Airaxen from the air, had lost sight of him when some snow blew across the windshield.

“Ack, where’d he go? Huh? What‘s that?” Looking out the left window she saw something, no wait, someone. They were bundled up in tons of winter coats, shivering furiously. Then something on his right arm caught her attention. It was some orange wolf like head, there were two blades, one on each side of the head; obviously it was a weapon of some sort.

“Strange...why would someone be all the way out here? And with that thing on his arm. Wait a second...could it be? Sonaris? Here? Now? I had better give Air a head’s up, might be in danger.” Tikai started looking again, to no avail the snow was blocking her view.

Sonaris kept following Airaxen, hovering a few meters behind him, using the blizzard to keep him concealed.

<When you find that crystal, I’ll be hear to snatch it from you and turn you into a block of ice. Hm? What’s that sound?> He looked around, searching for the origin of a strange humming. To the left! There was the source, what was it?

<Hmmm, possibly a jet? Well it doesn’t matter what it is, I’ll just destroy it for some entertainment.> Sonaris pointed his right arm towards the sound of the humming. The barrel of the cannon started to glow. Hundreds of tiny yellow lights floated towards the barrel, gathering inside it creating a large orb to form. Then a loud crash and a blue beam erupted from the cannon, shooting straight at where Tikai was. The beam shredded through side of the vehicle. A hole on both ends, then started to crash to the ground. Airaxen turned to see the flaming wreak fall to the ground. Airaxen’s eyes widened at the sight. He leapt off the mountain wall, also shaking loose some snow, letting it fall to the ground. And letting a small glowing blue crystal fall with it. Airaxen dove through the hole and into the burning wreak. Fire was everywhere, it blocked everything from view. He threw both arms into the fire, looking for Tikai. Nothing, there was nothing there. The wreckage was nearly at ground level, no more time to search. He leapt out and watched the Sky Car smash into the ground and explode in a fiery blaze. Airaxen was shocked, <Tikai...she’s now...> His eye started to twitch. He started to growl, quietly at first, soon it became a roar.

Sonaris paid no attention to the chaos that he had did. He saw a bright blue glow within in the falling snow, he knew what it was instantly; the crystal of ice. Sonaris flew at it, then snatched it from the snow.

“Finally! The second crystal is now mine!”

“SONARIS!” Sonaris looked at Airaxen, he couldn’t see his face, just his back from up there, but he knew from the way he shouted his name, he was mad, very mad.

“You...you killed her...she was an innocent human being...and you killed her.” He removed his sword slowly, letting the metal blade scrap against the cover, letting the sound echo, despite the winds that noise could still be heard.

“I will...DESTROY YOU!” At the instant he spun around, and hurtled his sword at Sonaris. The blade clipped him in the shoulder. As he analyzed the damage, Airaxen had leapt up and now was right in his face, his left arm now a cannon. Airaxen let out a battle cry, then jabbed it into his chest, before letting off a barrage of lasers at point blank. Sonaris was blasted into the mountain side, causing tons of snow to rain down on him. Airaxen was breathing heavily, he was still fired up on all that anger. He didn’t want to just kill Sonaris, he wanted to totally annihilated him. Airaxen soon calmed down, he landed in the snow then hung his head.

<I’m so sorry...I didn’t want to drag you into this...forgive me...> Then he felt something cold move down his face, once seeing what it was, it was a tear.

<Odd...why do I feel like this? And how is it that I can cry? I don’t think I’m human enough for this...for that matter I shouldn’t even have these emotions built into me.> But then the snow drift Sonaris was in was shattered. A tall one eyed crystal like behemoth stood there. It was all blue, covered in sharp light blue crystals.

“I already found the crystal of ice, luckily for me you gave me a window of opportunity. Now Icirion ATTACK!” The creature released a barrage of razor sharp darts of ice. Each one hit Airaxen, cutting him in the leg, the arm. Soon his body was covered in them. Sonaris was confident that Icirion destroyed him, but Airaxen was still standing there, badly damaged. He was growling again, his eyes covered in shadows. Sonaris backed away from him, utterly stunned. Airaxen’s body sent out sparks from the damaged parts, he shook off the ice darts. He was breathing hard again, then Sonaris stepped back, farther this time. It seemed that Airaxen was radiating a red aura. It had to be an illusion from the snow.

“Sonaris...this is the final battle!” Sonaris’ eyes went wide, then jumped behind Icirion.

“Icirion! ATTACK! ATTACK!” Icirion swing it’s arm firing a beam of ice. Airaxen looked up in pure rage, then pointed his cannon at Icirion. With another battle cry, a gigantic beam burst out of the cannon barrel, with many lines of fire spiraling it. When the two blasts hit, Icirion’s attack was instantly melted away. And on the blazing beam went, it smashed into the chest of Icirion, then burst right through him, shattering the behemoth into a million shards of ice. Still the beam continued, and plowed right into Sonaris, smashing him into the ground. Soon after, a large flaming orb engulfed Sonaris, then it grew incinerating everything it touched. Airaxen lowered his cannon, then surveyed the damage he had caused. A 5 meter wide crater was now in place of Sonaris. He walked into the crater and picked up the crystal that created Icirion. Then he saw something in the center. It was Sonaris, he was barely alive. Airaxen leapt up and pulled his sword from the mountain, then landed next to him.

“This is where it all ends.” He raised the sword into the air. But something interrupted him, the sound of crunching snow? Airaxen peered to his side.

“Where is that coming from?” Then a groaning made him look back down. Sonaris tried to sit up, but each time he tried to move more armor fell off him, the circuitry was also falling apart.

“You...have...won...finish...it. Let me die...honorably.” Airaxen then started to bring down his sword, seconds away from splitting apart Sonaris’ head. Then something interrupted him again. He stopped then looked to the right, what he saw made him go wide eyed, and made his jaw hang.

“T-T-Tikai?” Tikai was walking cross-legged, shivering, and looking very blue.

“H-h-h-h-h-hey Air...w-w-a-s lo-lo-lo-looking f-f-f-f-or yo-u.” Airaxen threw his sword aside then dashed over to her. She tried to smile, but couldn’t muster the strength and collapsed.

“Boy,” Airaxen turned and looked at Sonaris, he was barely standing, barely alive for that matter. “You lost your chance...next time it will be you staring down the blade of a sword.” With that he teleported away. Airaxen had an urge to try to follow, but then he remembered Tikai laying in the snow, barely alive. Airaxen bent down then picked her up. Her face was very blue, she looked beaten up, a few cuts on her face, a few rather bloody parts on her legs.

“Don’t die on me yet kid...no one else to bug me...heh...”

* * *

On top of a ledge a shadowy figure with blue eyes watched the battle.

“It seems like many are out to have the crystals for their own. One wants to dominate the galaxy, the other wants to stop him. This is like the ancient war all over again. And I can not let that war happen again.” He looked down at Airaxen. His face was panicked, he was afraid, afraid he might lose that girl.

“I think I should...be of assistance.” He turned around and slashed apart the mountain side, then hollowed it within in seconds. Creating a large cave.

“I had best leave now, that other person is going to try again, and I must be there to stop him.” A whoosh then he was gone.

* * *

Airaxen looked up to the source of a loud crashing noise. He saw a ledge a little ways above him. He bent down again, then leapt into the air again, then when landing he saw a cave entrance. And there was a round piece of stone, it sort of looked like a door.

“Ha, it’s my lucky day! This cave is just what I need!” he dashed inside, the inside went a very long way into the mountain. Airaxen lay Tikai down on the ground, then looked around. It was pitch black, but with Airaxen’s special optic sensors he was able to find his way around. He looked at Tikai again, worried.

“Please...don’t die...” He whispered. Then looking to the side he noticed something, a few pieces of rock, wood, and plenty of straw.

“Ha! I can use these to make a fire.” Once sitting down he grabbed the materials and started to strike the rocks together to try and create a fire. After an agonizing 5 minutes the straw started to smoke, and light. Soon the spark became a roaring fire. Airaxen moved Tikai over to the fire, close enough to be warmed up, not so close as she might get burned. He sat down next to Tikai, looking at her with sad eyes.

“You dolt, I told you, you would get hurt out here...” <Oh god, how long was she out there? It had to be -40 out, and with just a shirt and pair of jeans...and that explosion...What if she broke something? Or caught hypothermia?!> “Please...don’t die...” He whispered again.

* * *

It was the following morning. Airaxen had stayed up the whole night, keeping that fire going, in an attempt to revive Tikai. But sadly, for the last 9 hours, she lay motionless. Then her finger twitched. Airaxen’s hopes raised at the sign of life.

<Come on, be a sign of good luck.> A soft groan, a smile crept across Airaxen’s face. Tikai put a hand to her forehead, then sat up.

“Oooow, man my head hurts-Ack!” Airaxen had leaned over quickly and hugged her tightly?

“Air? Are you ok?” Tikai was shocked, and a tad red in the face. Who knew he ever had a nice side, and when did he care what happened to her?

“I never knew you actually cared.” Airaxen then quickly pulled away from her and looked to the side, blushing hard.

“I-I do not!”

“Then what was the hug for?”

“I...I...I...”

“It’s ok, I have lots of guys throwing themselves at me.” At this Airaxen’s left eye started twitching violently, he raised his fist to his face then growled menacing, his face even more red then before. Then he spun around and shouted,

“I DO NOT HAVE A THING FOR A DITZ LIKE YOU! I WAS JUST WORRIED THAT SONARIS KILLED YOU, THAT’S ALL! AND IF YOU THINK I’M SOME FAN BOY WITH A FASCINATION ON THE OPPOSITE SEX, THEN YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING!” He was breathing harder then he had after his battle with Sonaris, he was also infuriated by Tikai’s comment. His face looked like a savage bull, very menacing, with a “I shall kill you if you speak” expression on his face. Tikai smiled at him. Airaxen peered over at Tikai again, “Are you alright? Any terminal damage?”

“Well I have this giant headache, my arms are real sore, and I think I sprained my ankles. I don‘t know how I was able to walk out there thou.”

“The cold probably numbed your body. Well for now I would say you’re probably fine.”

“...Air.”

“What is it now?”

“You’re more human then you think, and to be honest I sort of like the nice side of you.”

“I DO NOT HAVE A NICE SIDE!” Tikai smiled again, then giggled slightly. An idea then popped into her head. She leaned over and gave him a small kiss on his cheek. Airaxen blushed furiously, and simultaneously growling.

“You’re cute when you act all tough.”

“TIKAI! DAMNIT WOMAN LEAVE ME ALONE!” Airaxen stood up swiftly, then shot a glare at her.

“Come on, lets just get out of here and find that next crystal.”

“Mind helping me out here? I don’t really think I can walk.” He sighed then lifted her up and gave Tikai a piggyback ride.

“Hey, Tikai.”

“Yeah?”

“How did you get out of the wreak before it crashed?”

“Well when that beam shot through the Sky Car I was knocked off balance, fell onto the door knocked it open. Then I just fell out of the thing. I landed awkwardly thou. I think that’s how I sprained my ankles.”

“I see. You are a very lucky person to have walked away from that with just a few sprained ankles.”

“Well I’ve always been really lucky.”

“Next time you’ll be in a nuclear explosion, and walk away with a cut on your head.”

“I don’t really want to try that one.”

“Heh, I bet.”

“Hey, Air how are am I supposed to stay warm out there?”

“That red crystal in my pocket, it can generate heat. Just keep it in hand and you’ll be warm.”

“So how long will we be walking until we get somewhere?”

“I’d have to say about...8 hours till we get to Moscow.”

“So I had better get comfortable, eh?”

“Yes.”

“Well, want to play 20 questions to pass the time?”

“Sure.”

* * *

Sonaris walked down the hallway. With each step he took, more of his armor fell off. Another few steps, what was left of his right arm just fell off.

“I must...make...it to the repair chambers...” He was almost there, just a few more meters and this ordeal would be over.

<I’ve never seen Airaxen like that. Totally in rage, nothing but sheer anger. I thought I saw it all when I watched the records he retrieved from his runs...but tonight, that, that was terrifying. I’m fairly sure he had the crystal with him, but even without it he still would’ve devastated me. I can only pray that I’ll never see that side of him ever again.> Finally he made it, good thing too, his legs were almost nothing but pieces of wire. He stumbled into a repair pod, then closed the door.

As he lay in the pod, he reminisced, to a time 4 years ago...

* * *

“Sonaris...Come here for a second.”

“Hm?” Sonaris was busy working on a set of weapons on a laboratory table. He looked over to the doorway, which led to the darkened “Freak Room” as Sonaris liked to call it. Reason being it was full of capsules, lit up with an eerie blue glow. Within each were strange pulsating machine like parts. He placed his tools aside, and walked through the door, to greet his creator. A man with one normal eye, and the other like an android's. He wore a black cloak, which covered his entire body, and his head. The man turned to look at Sonaris with the large red gem of his machine eye.

“Yes Dimitri?”

“Sonaris, you know that human I wanted you to retrieve?”

“Yes. What about it?” Dimitri pointed at the capsule he was in front of. Within it was most of a human’s body. But the lower half was totally made out of blue vines. “That’s the human. He doesn’t look like much does he?”

“Honestly, I would have to agree.”

“Well you shouldn’t judge on looks alone. The components I developed, well they far surpass yours.”

“I see. Should I be worried that my job is in jeopardy?”

“Heheh, no, no Sonaris there’s only one of you. No, this one is meant to help you in terraforming. But.”

“But?”

“But, this one is different then the others.”

“How so?”

“It’s partly organic, so far this was the only one that was able to come so close to being finished. The problem is the organic mind, might conflict with the programming I’ll put in.”

“So one part will follow my orders, the other won’t. How nice.”

“Well, yes I’d suppose that would be it. Well none the less MkrX shall be an excellent solider for our cause. I’ll leave his well being with you.” With that Dimitri walked out. Sonaris walked up closely to the capsule.

“Hmm...white hair? Red eye and a blue eye? How strange.”

* * *

Sonaris looked at the new person laying on the lab table.

<Well, he certainly doesn’t look very tough. But then again Dimitri said looks are deceiving. Had better be true, I don’t want some little twerp in my way.> Sonaris went into the other room and sifted through a pile full of junk.

<Dimitri would want to give that twerp something for battle, so may as well find that set of armor I threw away the other day.> A soft groan interrupted his searching. Sonaris walked back into the room to find that he had already gotten up, and was studying the contents.

“You know, you were just like that before you were finished. Now enough idle chitchat, time to introduce ourselves, my name is Sonaris.” He turned to look at him, rather confused.

“Umm...Nice to meet you, I’m...well I’m sorry I don’t know what my name is.”

“You’ll think of something. Come.” Sonaris went into the other room, the other person followed quickly.

“Dimitri, this one is ready to be programmed.”

* * *

“Hmm...” Dimitri’s android eye kept on opening and closing, as he leaned on the computer desk, analyzing a set of coding.

“I’m fairly sure that this will make the new recruit perfectly obedient. Sonaris, I need you again.” Sonaris was in the freak room with the new person, talking abit.

“So what did that person do to me, or doing to me?” He motioned to set of wires connected to his head.

“He’s just checking that everything is working right.”

“Ok.”

“Now excuse me.” Sonaris walked into the room and over to Dimitri.

“Yes Dimitri?”

“I’m just about to engage the program, so you might want to be careful.” A stroke of a key, then a blue set of lights started appearing on the cord, leading towards the person’s head. He looked at it puzzled, then the lights made it to his head, and he screamed in pain. The screaming echoed through the lab, it was a blood curdling sound that made Sonaris cringe, Dimitri on the other hand didn’t mind the noise. Soon the screaming stopped, and he lay on the ground twitching slightly. Sonaris walked over, then slowly moved a hand to his shoulder. Then he spun around and grabbed Sonaris’ arm. The person looked at him, grinning manically. Then he stood up, all the way tightening the grip he had on the arm.

“You had better keep your hands to yourself from now on. You might one day find yourself missing one if you don’t...” He let go at this, Sonaris rubbed his arm furiously. Dimitri clapped quietly, while walking over to them.

“You’re all I expected MkrX.”

“Thanks boss.”

“Well let’s get started. There’s a city 100km to the northeast. It’s population is 78 000, I want you to kill them all.”

“...Ok.” He then walked off humming lightly.

* * *

The citizens of Dishma City were all going through their daily tasks, getting up, eating breakfast, going to work, the usual mundane tasks of the working class. Then a car was hurtled through the sky, smashing into another car, decimating the two. People were all frightened and running around, the explosion that soon followed the flying car didn’t help calm things down. Soon the city became a battlefield, lasers firing in all directions, debris raining down in all directions. A figure then was seen, emerging from the destruction. It pulled out a sword, and leapt at the fleeing crowds. With deadly grace, 5 bodies fell to the ground, dead. The level of hysteria increased dramatically at this. The figure laughed manically, before forming a cannon then went about causing more death and destruction.

2 hours later, it was over. The city was nothing more then rubble, blood and gore everywhere. The figure stood on a piece of rock, his bloody sword in hand. He soon put it back into it’s cover, his hands stained black. He let out a sigh, then ran his fingers through his hair dying it from white to red.

* * *

Sonaris and Dimitri were watching the insane massacre. Sonaris was rather unsettled, but impressed.

“You’re right, he is a lot stronger then he looks.”

“And, totally and utterly under our control. Now then, Sonaris I want you to go out there and continue, I have to run a few more tests one MkrX.” Sonaris nodded, then left with all his weaponry, ready to continue the insanity. MkrX sang a strange song on his way back, causing more destruction. Then he stopped, there was the sound of whimpering somewhere nearby. He smirked and grinned, that sound was just to hard to ignore, he had to kill whatever was making it. Spinning around he drew his sword and slashed apart a few trees revealing a scared couple. Obviously they made it out of the city before they were caught and killed. He laughed evilly, then swung to try and decapitate them. Too late the couple had already starting running off. MkrX laughed again, then formed his cannon. He shot a beam at a few trees lighting them on fire. The fire spread so fast that the three were encircled soon. No more escaping now, they huddled up and looked at him fearfully. MkrX walked towards them slowly, tsking lightly.

“You should’ve known better then to run away from me! No matter what you’re going to do you’re going to die, so just die willingly.” It was probably for the best that the fire was so loud it drowned him out. Soon he was within striking range. He raised his sword into the air. Then started to bring it down onto their heads, the female shouted something, and whatever it was, stopped him cold. He looked down at the two, with now a nearly bored expression. He then raised his sword again, and spun it around rapidly putting out the flames around them. Without looking up, he pointed the sword to the right, and muttered,

“Go, go now.” They looked at each other, then ran off before their would-be executioner changed his mind. He stood there motionless, but Dimitri’s voice over the intercom interrupted him, then he looked back up and walked towards the laboratory. Once arriving Dimitri was there to greet him.

“MkrX, you don’t look alright, something bothering you?” A shake of his head.

“Alright then, come with me.” As they entered the main control room, MkrX looked to his side, and noticed a set of explosive materials on the way. He thought for a second, then started to plan. MkrX tapped Dimitri on the shoulder, and motioned to the stains on his hands.

“Ah, you wish to clean yourself up, well alright, just don’t take too long.” He nodded then went outside of the lab, formed his cannon and pointed at the explosives. Then he fired off one shot, time seemed to slow down, the small bright red beam charged forward, then in one mighty earth shaking explosion , the entire lab was blasted into oblivion, the mountain which concealed it, was now raining down the countryside. It seemed as if it was raining fire at that moment, every single piece was lit, setting another part of the countryside on fire. MkrX stood there, unmoving, unblinking, in a deep trance.

* * *

Sonaris who was half way to the nearest city, spun around to the sound of an explosion. He saw his lab, his home be obliterated. Sonaris was shocked, and terrified. He raced off, in an attempt to save what was left of the lab. He stopped at the ring of fire that faced him.

“Damnit, what happened here?!” Sonaris plunged through the wall of fire, he found himself standing on top of what was left of the lab. He scanned the area franticly searching for Dimitri, but he wasn’t there.

“No...Dimitri...” But a bright red laser shot across his shoulder. He looked at where it came from, there was MkrX. Sonaris thought for a second, and came to the conclusion that this reject robot was the reason for this destruction.

“You imbecile! You destroyed the lab! WHY?!” Sonaris was nearing the breaking point.

“I did it because...I won’t let the two of you kill and destroy.” Sonaris narrowed his eyes.

<He must have surpassed the total sum of his programming, now his organic half must be in control. I must get rid of this reject and complete terraforming! I will not let Dimitri’s work be unfinished!>

“MkrX! I command you! Step down and obey me!”

“NEVER!”

“You dare to disobey me?” Sonaris finally had enough, and started charging an attack.

“I will never help you accomplish your horrid goals!”

“I helped give you new life, and I can take it as well!” With that he swung his arm, fired a red orb at him, MkrX leapt to the side; where the orb did hit was now a giant crater. Another swing of the Sonaris’ arm and another orb charged at him, this time MkrX was hit, and the orb was growing in size, engulfing him. Before the orb imploded on itself and was replaced with a massive explosion launching him high into the air, and off into the distance...

* * *

Sonaris was fully conscious again, and fully repaired.