“Who are you?” He stood up slowly and watched the spirit fly around himself.

The spirit then shot into the air and out of sight, Airaxen narrowed his eyes and nodded sternly.

“Time to fight,” he launched himself straight into the air.

Cerberus raised a paw and was about to crush Yasosume into dust when one of the heads saw a blur fire out of the hole in the ground. All heads turned to look at it narrowing its great blood red eyes angrily, growling. Airaxen came crashing down from the sky; Marimatsu raised above his head. Cerberus shot out three orbs at him, Airaxen slashed the first one down the middle and sliced the second and followed through be jousting through the last one. Now that Cerberus had attacked it was time for Airaxen to strike back. With a swing of his blade he cut through the front right leg of the beast, the cut spilling out dozens of spirits, the leg itself breaking apart into the blue lights. Cerberus howled in immense pain, much louder then before. It fell down with a mighty crash, able to shake the ground for miles around. Airaxen placed the sword onto his back again then ran over to Yasosume.

“Are you alright?” He asked. She looked at him bitterly and sat up.

“I’m f-fine!” She spat at him, but he knew that she was hurt.

“Why do I even ask?” Airaxen grabbed her by the shoulders, which got plenty of protest from her, but he ignored it. He held her like a child, then ran and put her down against a tree.

“Stay there, you can protest later!” Yasosume looked away angrily, having being helped by Airaxen. He ran back to where the great beast was; now it’s missing leg regenerating itself. Airaxen looked around trying to find Tikai but couldn’t see her. All around the area there were giant blotches of blood covering the grass. Airaxen frowned at the sight of so much blood, never being in favor of it being shed. He looked off to his left; Cerberus’s leg was reforming again, spirits falling into place to create the new limb. Cerberus turned to look at Airaxen hatefully, then spat out a jet of black fire at him. Airaxen wasn’t prepared for Cerberus to counterattack so quickly; he raised his arms to defend but was too late and blasted back by the flames. Airaxen was able to break free and slashed apart the flames with his sword, but by now the beast had healed itself again. Cerberus got back on all fours and reared its heads at Airaxen. He swung his sword arm back; pieces of armor flaking off his body. Airaxen leapt up into the air, his sword arm trailing behind him. Cerberus shot it’s heads up to the sky and breathed out the black mist from before. The mist flew up into the air forming a giant black cloud. From the cloud rained down giant black orbs falling down onto Airaxen. He stopped flying at Cerberus and shot back to avoid the orbs as the pummeled into the ground and blasted it apart. He looked up at the sky; more of the orbs were already falling down upon him. Airaxen kept leaping back to avoid the orbs, then he noticed something on the ground off a meter to his left; Tikai.

“Tikai! What in the world happened to your arm?!” She was holding her bloodied left arm; her teeth gritted together in pain. She looked at Airaxen through painful eyes.

“Watch...Out!” She yelled weakly. Airaxen looked up; an orb was coming straight down at him, with a desperate swing of his sword the Marimatsu he swatted the orb away, back up into the dark cloud from where it emerged.

“Run!” She cried out at him. Airaxen gripped the sword by both hands, then shook his head.

“You’re hurt, I can’t leave you here,” he said sternly. Two more orbs came at him; he swung the sword at the nearest one and sent it flying into the other, blasting both of them apart in a massive black explosion. Cerberus’s dark cloud kept raining down orbs, Airaxen kept swatting the orbs away with his sword. The cloud began to shrink, and soon it had vanished all together. Airaxen spun the sword around and stuck the tip into the ground, breathing heavily from all of the orbs he knocked back. He walked over to Tikai and helped her up to be sitting again. The ground began to rumble slightly but it got stronger, Cerberus was nearing their position. Airaxen set Tikai back down gently and walked back to his sword, pulling it out of the ground.

“Stay down, I’ll take care of Cerberus,” Airaxen snarled. Cerberus’s great mass caused the ground to shake violently, all three of the heads were snarling and snapping their jaws open and shut. Suddenly a red blur shot across the ground, three black daggers coming from it, and lodging into the bottom of all three heads. The daggers exploded and blasted apart the bottom jaw of each head. This time Cerberus didn’t care about the pain and smashed a paw into the ground, trying to strike down Yasosume. Cerberus was short of striking her, but the shockwave the attack caused sent her flying forward, and caused her to land on the ground skidding along. Airaxen saw this and flew over the stained battlefield and grabbed Yasosume by one of her shoulder pads and dragged her away from Cerberus before it smashed another paw into the ground.

“LET GO OF ME AIRAXEN!” Yasosume roared.

“And leave you to get flattened by Cerberus? And didn’t I tell you not move!” Airaxen shouted back, Yasosume looked away in disgust, having been helped by Airaxen again in the same day. He dropped her off next to Tikai the two shot glares at each other growling like the heads of Cerberus. The mighty beast’s heads were growing back rapidly; soon the heads let out a triumphant roar. Airaxen stepped in front of the two girls as they continued glaring at the other, stepped forward with his right foot, put his sword arm out in front of himself and held the sword with both hands. Yasosume looked at Airaxen from the corner of her eye.

“You can’t be serious in thinking that you can stop Cerberus if I couldn’t!” She said.

“Oh shut up fox-girl” Tikai spat at her.

“Quiet you prissy little girl! You’re a mere mortal!” Airaxen rolled his eyes as the two began to argue again.

<Of all the times for those two to fight!> Airaxen mumbled under his breath, then diverted his attention back to Cerberus. The great beast began to radiate a dark purple aura the ground around it began to crumble slabs of the Earth being lifted up into the air. Black jolts of electricity began to ripple through the air around Cerberus. All three heads opened its jaws as wide as they could; Airaxen gripped Marimatsu tighter, partly out of instinct, partly out of uncertainty. Small specks of black began to converge inside of the mouths, a black flame developing in them

“Alright, if I can’t stop whatever Cerberus is about to throw at us, we’re all dead so...How do you all feel about that?” Airaxen shouted behind him.

“...” The two looked at him for a second, then back at each other and lowered their heads.

“We’re doomed,” they said in unison. Airaxen lowered his head.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence!” He looked back at Cerberus, large black flames engulfing the heads. Suddenly a massive black and red stream of fire shot forth from the mouths, ripping through the ground, charging at Airaxen. He stood his ground and prepared for the worst. The flames struck the blade and diverged, a small patch of clear space where the three were safe from the flames. The black fire was pummeling Airaxen, trying to force it’s way past him. His feet were being dug into the ground, he was being pushed back slowly. The ground around Cerberus began to shake and rumble, a black flame engulfing Cerberus again. The flames grew larger, and much more powerful, they were almost too much for Airaxen’s Marimatsu to fend off. He was slowly losing his balance, unable to keep standing up to Cerberus’s flames. Tikai got to back onto her feet, her left arm dangling limp by her side. She put her good arm against Airaxen’s back pushing him forward.

“Don’t you dare give in! I don’t want to be burnt to a crisp!” Tikai shouted in his ear. Airaxen smirked his balance regained, and the flames still being forced away. Dark clouds soon appeared, blocking out the sun; giant blue bolts of lightning fired down from the clouds, ripping apart the ground. The black fire surrounding Cerberus grew to twice its size; the great beast had gotten desperate. It began to channel all of its remaining power, blue spirits began to come out of its back and fly towards the mouths. Suddenly the flames died off altogether, the black fires gone. Airaxen lowered his sword arm he looked at Cerberus, the Earth shaking dangerously, lightning striking the ground, ripping the ground apart. He fell down onto his right knee, thoroughly exhausted.

“You and Yasosume, have to get out of here! I don’t think I can hold back another attack from Cerberus. I got nothing left to fight back with,” Airaxen got back to his feet, his hold on Marimatsu loosening.

“No way! I can’t leave you here to fight that thing alone!” Tikai said back in a determined voice. Yasosume stood up and looked at the two, then closed her eyes and scoffed.

“Fools,” she said under her breath. Yasosume turned to walk away, but stopped and took one more look at them before continuing on her way.

<I’ll wait for Cerberus to kill those two and I’ll take that sword from Airaxen’s charred body afterwards,> she smirked to herself and ran to a cliff far from the battle. She stood there watching, waiting for the final outcome. The spirits stopped flying to the mouths of Cerberus, it was almost ready to strike. Airaxen closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

<Come on, this sword has to have more power to it! I’m not going to die because of this oversized mutant dog, come on Marimatsu give me some of that legendary power!> He opened his eyes, the sword began to pulsate strangely as if answering him. The wings of the hilt split apart and slid up the blade, the gold trim of the blade coming off and opening up to have the trim perpendicular to the sword’s blade. Cerberus’s heads looked ready to strike, Airaxen looked down at his sword and then at the great beast. The Marimatsu suddenly shot up, dragging his hands up with it. The sword blade began to vanish; soon all that was left was the hilt and handle. Airaxen looked up at the Marimatsu then blinked.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” He said. Suddenly the trim of the sword glowed blue and fired out a thin blue beam. The beam kept shooting up until it was at least 50 feet tall; the Marimatsu had turned itself into a massive beam saber that could make Omega envious. The blue beam illuminated the whole area in a bright blue light, this time the ground around Airaxen was rumbling and breaking off floating into the air. From the cliff Yasosume watched intrigued by the sight.

<I didn’t think Airaxen could have that sort of power! It must be that sword, I must have it!> She thought to herself determinedly.

“That’s more like it!” Airaxen said happily. Cerberus had finished preparing its attack and from the mouths of the beast the giant black form of a second Cerberus shot out and ran at Airaxen. He leapt up into the air, and brought the sword back over his head...

“Destinyblade!” Then brought the massive beam saber crashing down to the Earth. The blue beam sliced right through Cerberus’s attack, not to mention the great beast itself. The dark fire and electricity crackling around Cerberus stopped suddenly, it’s attack also stopped moving altogether, Airaxen had the blade of the sword cutting deep into the ground in front of him, he was hanging there in midair. Time seemed to stop neither of the combatants moved for what seemed like an eternity. From where the blade stopped the ground there began to rumble, then from the ground a pillar of fire shot out and exploded, then another one in front of it, then another, and another, they kept appearing from the ground and shot past both Cerberuses. The original beast had a thin white beam appeared through the center of the beast, blue electricity firing from it. The two halves of the beast began to disperse into blue lights; the great guardian beast Cerberus had been defeated. In minutes the entire beast dissolved and was no more. Airaxen took the blade out of the ground at long last and dropped back to the ground, the blade disappearing, the original rune-marked blade returning in place, the trim folded back up, the sword returning back to normal. Tikai ran over to him. Airaxen fell down to all fours, Marimatsu dug into the ground next to him.

“Man...That’s...Exhausting,” Airaxen breathed out.

“You ok there Air?” Airaxen stood back up, and nodded at her. Suddenly he noticed a red streak coming at him, Yasosume grabbed him by the neck and pinned him up against a still-standing tree.

“Alright Airaxen, give me the sword and I won’t snap your neck, sound good?” Airaxen chuckled.

“Sure,” Yasosume blinked, but let go of his neck none the less. Airaxen took the sword out of the ground and stuck it into the earth in front of Yasosume. “All yours,” Yasosume looked at the sword then back at Airaxen suspicious, but reached for the weapon anyway. Just when she was about to grab the handle she looked at Airaxen, eyeing him for a reason to why he would relinquish such a powerful weapon. He looked back at her casually. Finally she grabbed the handle of the sword and lifted it up.

“You’re a fool to give me a weapon like this Airaxen! Now I can cut you to ribbons!” She said triumphantly. Yasosume pointed the weapon at Airaxen’s face, smirking evilly. He didn’t flinch or try to avoid the tip of the sword; instead he smirked at her. Yasosume’s arm suddenly dropped down to the ground, the Marimatsu weighing her down.

“ACK! Why can’t I lift this thing anymore?!” Airaxen chuckled and picked up the sword, putting it on his back.

“The Marimatsu chose me as its master and only I can use it. Try as many times as you want to strike me down with this sword, but you’ll fail each and every time,” Yasosume looked up at him with hate filled eyes. She stood up, a scout ship flying towards her and landing.

“Bah, next time we meet Airaxen I’ll kill you, you saved me today so I won’t kill you now, but next time!” Airaxen waved a hand at her casually and shrugged. Yasosume stepped into the ship, but stuck her head out briefly to stick her tongue out at him before the door to the ship closed and flew off. Airaxen looked at Tikai who was off to the side; she was crouched on the ground, blood flowing from her the open wound on her left arm. Airaxen walked over to her, what was left of his armor disappearing. He carefully lifted her up making sure not to cause any pain to her.

“Hang tight, I’ll get you back to the Inn and Maria can patch you up, ok?” Tikai nodded slowly, her left eye closed in pain. Airaxen floated up and shot off towards the city.

* * *

Maria frowned at Tikai who was lying on a bed next to Sonaris.

“Now I can see Sonaris doing something stupid like fighting Cerberus, but I can’t seem to see you trying to fight that beast. Well lucky for you fixing up a human injury, no matter how bad is very easy to do in this age,” Tikai smiled feverishly at Maria and shrugged slightly, not enough to cause her any pain thou.

“Well you hang out with these two for so long of course I’ll be picking up their stupid habits!” She offered as an answer.

“I am not as stupid as Airaxen! Just for the record...” Sonaris said in an undignified tone of voice. Tikai laughed and laid back in the bed, it was a very good quality bed but then again it was a high ranked Inn so it was expected. Airaxen stepped into the doorway and brushed the curtains away to pass through, a new door still being delivered.

“I’m not stupid; I was just programmed that way!” Airaxen shouted, obviously hearing the comment. Sonaris looked at Airaxen and smiled.

“Been here for two days and you’re already making a name for yourself there Airaxen.”

“What do you mean?” Airaxen raised an eyebrow at Sonaris.

“Ruining Yasosume’s track record of never being defeated and unlocking part of the network that leads to the secret of Lutenia.”

“What do you mean secret of Lutenia?” Tikai asked.

“Well I’ve heard rumors of a chamber within the island which had within it an incredible power, one that Dimitri would want to destroy, an uncontrollable power that was sealed away to never be released. The Magisters created the weapon to destroy the Myreisons but the Myreisons and Magisters were both wiped out before it was complete. Despite this it still lives encapsulated waiting to be released upon the world.”

“Why does this island have so many powerful weapons buried in it anyway?” Asked Airaxen. Sonaris shrugged unable to answer.

“I could be able to answer that;” Maria spoke up quietly, always being a soft-spoken person. Everyone turned to look at her; she glanced around and sat down in a chair.

“The Magisters used to use this island for weapon development in ancient times, many powerful weapons were created, most were scrapped because they didn’t work well enough. There were just three weapons left intact, you have one of them; Marimatsu, the second was the weapon Sonaris mentioned and the third was never finished as well, it was to be a shape shifting machine but it’s parts just lay scattered around the ruins where they were making it.”

“Ok then...When you’re feeling better Tikai we’ll be heading out to the ruins.”

“Hey! What about me?!” Sonaris shouted. Airaxen blinked and scratched his head.

“Oh yeah...Just that you’ve been resting for so long I forgot...”

“I’ve been in bed for two days!”

“So? Your point?” Sonaris lowered his head and sighed.

“Hey Air,” Tikai started. “Maria told me that I’d be in bed for a few days so maybe you should just explore the city, don’t go to the ruins thou! You need at least one of us to back up your butt, so don’t get any crazy ideas you nut job,” Airaxen chuckled at her comment, walked over and messed up her hair.

“Right, I won’t do anything to make you mad mom,” he said while rolling his eyes. Maria laughed quietly then walked over to Airaxen and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I know you’re like Sonaris and feel that you have to do this, but I don’t want to see you in one of these beds, alright?” Airaxen frowned, then put his hands in his pockets, not wearing any armor now.

“Alright, alright,” Tikai looked at Airaxen annoyed.

“Why did you listen to her and not me?!”

“Because she’s talking as a doctor, you’re talking as an annoying girl that I so happen to know,” Tikai pouted and looked away.

“What would you recommend I do to pass the time then?” He asked Tikai. She glanced over her shoulder and him then looked over.

“You could always go into town like I suggested.”

“Sounds good to me,” Airaxen shrugged, then he waved at the three and left the room. Tikai shook her head and put her hand to her face.

“Hey Sonaris?”

“Yes?”

“How many times did you hit Airaxen over the head anyway? I think his mind is slowly slipping away, he’s about as stupid as they come!”

“Err...Yes...I sometimes wonder how he was programmed. The boy can fight with plenty of technique and finesse...But he really isn’t that bright on anything else.”

“Truer words have never been spoken;” Tikai nodded at Sonaris and chuckled before laying back.

Airaxen looked around at his surroundings, the sun shining down oh him without a cloud in the sky. He took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, despite so much on his mind he could relax a slightly after so long. Airaxen walked down the street watching as cars would shoot by him. As he walked by a few people would stop him and shake his hand or greet him on their way. Airaxen continued walking down the street, somewhat confused.

<Strange, I’ve never been stopped on the street to be thanked for what I do, much less actually having the people in the city know who I was. It’s...Rather nice actually...> Airaxen’s expression moved from emotionless to a content one. He passed by what he assumed was a schoolyard, there were many kids playing some sort of game in the large field. Their ages ranged from 5 to what he guessed was somewhere in their teen years. Airaxen leaned on the fence watching rather interested.

<Is this what all children do at a young age? I wonder if I did that when I was still human...Odd watching this,> he scratched his head and continued looking on. About 10 minutes later one of the younger children noticed him leaning on the fence, blinked a few times, rubbed his eyes and ran over to one of his friends saying things to them and pointing at Airaxen occasionally. Airaxen raised an eyebrow confused at what the child was doing. Then one of the older girls there walked over to the children and looked over at Airaxen skeptically, he simply blinked totally confused at what was going on. The girl walked over to him; Airaxen was still confused as she approached. Suddenly she reached out and grabbed his hair and began to pull on it.

“ACK! What are you doing woman?!” Airaxen roared. The girl let go and looked at him skeptically.

“Well, are you another Airaxen-wannabe? Took the stories that Sonaris told too seriously?” The girl asked sternly. Airaxen frowned at her and narrowed his eyes.

“What are you talking about?! I am Airaxen!” He shouted with his fist raised.

“The real Airaxen wouldn’t dress so badly,” she retorted with.

“What?! Who in the world are you to tell me who I am?!” He demanded.

“Look; drop the act you couldn’t be the real deal. Sonaris said that the real Airaxen only wore armor, and you’re dressing like some nerd from my science class!” Airaxen lowered his head and sighed.

“Sonaris I’m going to kill you when I see you next...” He muttered. Airaxen looked at her again thoroughly annoyed. “Alright, how about I prove that I’m the real thing?” He suggested. The girl thought of a second then agreed. Airaxen raised his right arm, the wrist weapon forming on it; the sides flipped open and constructed the blade. He then pointed it up to the sky, the blade split apart, he charged a small orange orb and then shot it up into the sky as a thin beam. He let his arm drop back to his side, the blade cutting the sidewalk apart before disappearing along with the wrist weapon. Airaxen smirked triumphantly at his reticular.

“Was that enough proof?” He said smugly.

“Y-Yeah...That’s good,” she said quietly. The girl turned around and waved at all of the people in the field who were watching them. “It’s the real deal everyone! It’s the real Airaxen; it’s not a fake one again!” Everyone in the field looked at everyone else then ran towards him, Airaxen drew back looking a tad shaken up at the crowd that began to surround him. He blinked stunned at his situation, then waved feverishly at the crowd.

“I...Err...What’s going on exactly...?” He asked quietly. The girl that had first approached him spoke up for the crowd.

“All of us here basically grew up on stories that Sonaris told us about his time, and about his ally Airaxen. Stronger then Omega, humble like a knight and braver then anyone else out there,” Airaxen blinked three times, then blushed somewhat, embarrassed at what Sonaris had told all of them.

“Oh man, I’m not really that strong, or that humble or that brave. I don’t really know what Sonaris has been telling you but I think he’s been stretching the truth in those stories. I just do what I think is right, you know?” Someone near the back of the crowd shouted at him.

“Sonaris told us that you sent him and that girl back to the Earth while you left yourself floating in space, how is that not brave and humble?” Airaxen blinked and put a hand behind his head, lowering his head.

“I...Just acted within my programming, which’s not bravery,” someone from off to the left joined in as well.

“Ok, you may not be brave or humble but you’re strong. Sonaris told us that you destroyed Omega’s army within seconds, then nearly blasted him apart! Or was he just filling us with false hope?!” Airaxen looked up and at the crowd. All of the faces watched him with eyes filled with lose and sorrow, they all lost something from Dimitri and Omega having their way, Sonaris had planted the seeds of hope in all of the children over the years. Now he came to this new time like a living legend, someone that could turn back the hands of time, was it even possible? Airaxen didn’t care, he knew that whether or not it was possible wasn’t important, he’d still try.

“No Sonaris wasn’t filling any of you with false hope. I’m the real deal, stronger then Omega, humble like a knight and braver then anyone out there. I’ll do everything in my power to change the way of life around here, ok?” A cheer ran through the crowd, Airaxen looked at them and felt happy to see their faces light up in true hope.

“Well,” Airaxen said, silencing the crowd. “I’ve been here for just two days, but I don’t exactly see the effects of the Myreisons here to be honest, what exactly do they do?” For the minutes that followed there was a deafly silence, then one of the smaller children spoke up.

“They come once a month and take our parents so they can be their slaves in building weapons and ships for the Myreisons to travel through space in. They want to conquer the galaxy and anything else after it. If we don’t let them take our parents they destroy our city. Some of the grown ups hide themselves and don’t get caught...But most do...We’re still lucky, in most islands they come and hurt other people...”

“Oh...I’m sorry...” Airaxen lowered his head at his own ignorance.

“But!” Another child piped up, this time a boy. “You’ll be able to stop them from taking our parents! I don’t want my mommy to make more guns for them to hurt us with!” The small child could be heard crying softly, Airaxen pushed his way through the crowd and towards the child. He looked down at him, he was small compared to him came up to his waist, just barely.

“Don't worry, that will never happen again, I’ll make sure that it won’t! So chin up there little one,” the little boy wiped his eyes and looked up at him and nodded.

<Heh...I feel real weird doing this...> He thought to himself.

“I bet those jerks do more then just take your parents...Gah...Ok don’t worry the old ways are changing from here on in! Ok...So you guys want to hear any stories? Sonaris might have messed up on some of his stories;” he sat down, all of the people sat down around him. Airaxen blinked a few times, still getting used to all of the attention he was receiving. Some of the children wanted to hear about spectacular battles, some wanted to hear about Tikai and himself (which Airaxen refused to talk about), but mostly they wanted to hear about Omega being defeated. Airaxen gladly went on with his stories for as long as they wanted to hear them.

* * *

Yasosume lay down on her bed within the ship’s orb. She looked up through the sky roof, the walls around the ceiling turning from opaque to transparent. After being protected by Airaxen, Yasosume was in less then a friendly mood. She was absolutely livid from that fact to be saved by one of her enemies; Yasosume’s left eye began to twitch severely at the thought of it.

“I didn’t need his help to defeat Cerberus! Bah, stupid damn Airaxen!” She pulled out a throwing knife from one of her shoulder pads and threw it up; the knife exploded on the ceiling, but didn’t even scratch it.

“Why would that imbecile want to help me anyway?! That Airaxen is more of an idiot then I thought he was at first, saving me will only result in his death,” she sat up and leapt down from the upper floor of the orb. Yasosume landed on the bottom, the parts to another mecha lying around.

<The Mikuri Shimoir still needs repairs from going into those ruins at the lake. The only ruins I can get into and there’s some supernatural force stopping me! Gah,> Yasosume walked over to a large green orb covered in glowing yellow squares and rectangles that glowed softly. She grumbled at the frustration that was presented to her to try and get into the ruins of Lutenia.

“Oh well, I’ll rip apart Airaxen and that prissy girl that follows him around,” she formed a small fireball and threw it behind here where it struck a pile of parts and exploded.

“Gah, I need to get a drink,” Yasosume leapt back up to the upper floor of the orb and took a large red and black trench coat from off the ground and threw it on before exiting the orb. She headed towards the docking bay and entered one of the purple scouting ships and flew it out of the ship towards the city.

* * *

Night had fallen in Lutenia, the streetlamps turned on and shone brightly. Airaxen had finished with the children a few hours ago and was back to wandering the streets of the city. The few people still out at the late hour still would greet him on his way and give him warm smiles, which he returned with a courteous wave of his hand. After walking for 10 minutes without running into anyone he noticed a figure wearing a red black trench coat, normally he would pay no attention to the figure but something struck him as odd...It was the fact that the figure had long red hair, two fox ears on the top of her head and a furry tail poking out of the bottom of the coat.

<You have to be kidding me, what could Yasosume be up to now?!> He shook his head and leapt up onto the roof of a nearby building, following her from above. Yasosume walked down the street quickly and briskly, the bottom of her coat flapping. She turned to her right and entered a building with large neon lights spelling “Black Lagoon”. Airaxen dropped down to the ground floor and approached the door of the building, eyeing the structure. The building was marked up with graffiti and grease, Airaxen looked around at the other buildings that were in the same general condition; he was in the slums of the city. He pushed open the door and was greeted by a bunch of big bulky looking men sitting at tables with large mugs of beer in their hands. They all stopped their conversations and turned to look at the new comer, eyeing him carefully. Airaxen began to walk into the bar slowly glancing from side to side. Yasosume looked up from her drink at him then muttered a few curses under her breath.

“What the hell do you want now Airaxen?” She hissed at him.

“What are you doing here now? Going to rampage through the city again?!” Marimatsu formed floating an inch over Airaxen’s back, he reached behind himself and grabbed the blade and pointed its tip at her face. The bartender, a large man with an eye patch over his left eye and a beard grabbed Airaxen’s arm and looked at him sternly.

“Look, I know that girl has a bad reputation in town, but this isn’t a place to pick a fight. Look around you, everyone here is just trying to get their mind off things and have a good time until those Myreison scum come to take us all away to be slaves. In here my policy is if you don’t screw up my bar I don’t care who you are I’ll still serve you, so put away that sword alright?” Airaxen looked at the bartender then at all of the people in the bar who looked back and nodded solemnly. Airaxen put the sword back onto his back where it hovered in place and vanished.

“I’m sorry, forgive me,” Airaxen said quietly as he bowed slightly.

“No harm done, now what’ll you want?” The bartender gave him a toothy smile and went back to cleaning a dirty mug. The conversations all started again, the atmosphere restored with all of the people just washing away their troubles. Yasosume looked away from Airaxen and mumbled another cuss word.

“Leave me alone Albino, I don’t want to fight right now, got it?” She grumbled at him.

“I know if you’re in town then you probably aren’t here for anything good,” replied Airaxen. Yasosume stood up and took her bottle of rum and headed out of the bar, Airaxen following close behind.

“I said leave me alone,” she stated again.

“Not until you’re out of the city, and I can make sure you’re not going to cause any trouble here,” Yasosume growled menacingly and spun around.

“I TOLD YOU I’M NOT HERE TO PICK A FIGHT WITH ANYONE I JUST CAME FOR A DAMN DRINK! GOD! CAN’T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!” She yelled at him, Airaxen blinked a few times at the outburst.

“Well can you blame me for not trusting you? The first time I meet you and you’re out to do as much damage to the city as you can just because you wanted too! Second time I meet you you’re after my sword and ready to kill me for it as well! It’s not like you’re trustworthy you know,” Airaxen fought back, folding his arms. Yasosume turned back around and took a long drink from her bottle of rum then began to walk off again, and again Airaxen followed. She sighed and growled again, spun around and threw a fireball at him, who swatted it too the side with his arm.

“Damn, I hoped that would hit you in the face,” she mumbled. “What do you have against me anyway?!”

“...That’s a rhetorical question right?”

“You just hate me because I’m a pirate; you’re no better then anyone in this whole damn city!”

“I don’t hate you, but I do have to do what I was meant too, and that was to protect the humans with my life,” Yasosume spat on the ground and muttered a swear before taking another drink.

“What good are those damn humans anyway? They get in my way and I kill them.”

“Not all humans are scum; there are plenty who would give their life to defend what they believed was right. Sides, I would be proud to be called human...”

“You’re just like me, a machine hybrid, you should be more proud of that; we’re like gods compared to those pathetic weaklings.”

“I’m not a machine hybrid, or not anymore.”

“What are you talking about?”

“My old body was destroyed; I was...reincarnated in this one a Myreison body with human genetic material and some other animal genetic material making up my composition. I hate the Myreisons and find it ironic that I could be called one of them. I’d much rather be a human then one of them.”

“Tch, you’re stupid. Myreison bodies are top of the line if you’re talking hybrid bodies, I’d kill for one, well I did but I still didn’t get it.”

“I spent my life as a “machine hybrid” trying to defend humans, and I never regret ever doing it,” Yasosume muttered another cuss word and finished off her drink, throwing the bottle to the side where it shattered.

“You’re stupider then you look if you think defending humans is worth doing. Humans are nothing but scum and are only good for stepping on to your way to the top!”

“I don’t care what you think about humans, you’re just a lousy pirate anyway!”

“No, I’m the greatest pirate out there!”

“And I don’t really care what’s your title. You try to harm the city and I’ll strike you down none the less!”

“Tch, in your dreams, you couldn’t kill me, you’re too weak to do it!”

“We’ll see won’t we?” Yasosume folded her arms and glanced over her shoulder at him.

“What is it with you? You’re like that stupid, naive child who thinks there’s all that good in the world, that isn’t true you know.”

“I don’t care, I believe there’s some good in the world and I’ll defend however little there is out there!”

“You’re a fool.”

“I still don’t care why are you so bitter anyway?”

“...None of your business, now screw off,” Yasosume stormed off, grumbling swears under her breath every few seconds.

“Hey!” Shouted Airaxen. Yasosume spun around at him and growled.

“WHAT?!”

“I’m sorry for charging into that bar accusing you of things. My mistake,” Yasosume stopped growling and blinked at him confused.

“Did...You just apologize to me?” She hesitantly asked.

“Yes, I was wrong and I should apologize,” Airaxen stated. Yasosume walked up to him and studied his face carefully.

“You don’t seem to be lying to me...So what are you trying to soften me up for?!” Airaxen blinked a few times.

“Nothing! I’m just apologizing!”

“...You’re actually being sincere? Even to someone like me?” Yasosume asked in utter bewilderment.

“Yes of course. You’re not like Omega, you fight with some degree of honor and helped me battle Cerberus. I just have a gut instinct that you’re not as bad of a person as you seemed to be from face value.”

“Tch...” Airaxen shrugged and turned around, but Yasosume grabbed him by the shoulder before he could start walking.

“Wait, where are you going?” She demanded.

“Well my business here is done so I thought I might as well just go back to the Inn, maybe I’ll talk with Sonaris or Tikai,”

“So you’re going to go talk to an old man and a preppy little girl?”

“...Yes, to put it bluntly.”

“Why don’t you stick around with me? I’ll show you a good time, setting things on fire, hit some more bars, torment some hobo...” Airaxen looked at her as if she was joking, but she was smirking so evilly that he seriously doubted she was joking.

“Err...I’d rather not...”

“Come on, I bet you loved to be a bad boy when you were younger, or at the least human!”

“I don’t remember my time as a human, and I’ve never had the time to do anything other then repair or prepare to fight.”

“That’s why I love being a pirate, I do what I want too, don’t have to fight for anyone but myself!”

“My way of life is good for me, and I have good friends at my side, I don’t need anything else.”

“Ok that’s it; you’re coming with me. We’re going to hit the town and screw it up!” Yasosume grabbed his arm and began to drag him with her as she headed off towards another bar.

“Personally the Black Lagoon is nice but not my kind of bar not enough blood,” Airaxen found himself wondering why he was allowing himself to be dragged by Yasosume, but he didn’t have much else to do and Tikai had told him to explore the city so...it couldn’t kill anyone right? The farther Yasosume dragged Airaxen along the more dingy the buildings would become with more neon lights popping out of the sides of the building. Finally she stopped in front of a run down building. Airaxen stood up and dusted himself off and took a look at his surroundings.

“...Why am I here again Yasosume?” He asked slightly annoyed.

“To get drunk and bash heads in” She offered as an answer and pushed open the double doors to the bar. Inside were rows upon rows of men and women all wearing spiky leather clothes, covered in tattoos, some wearing eye patches. The bartender who was also a large man with tattoos and leather clothes took one look at Yasosume and broke out into a sloe of swears and cuss words.

“OH NO!” The bartender bellowed. “Yasosume you are forbidden to take step into my bar for the next 50 years!” Yasosume flicked some hair away from her left eye and stuck her tongue out at the man.

“Oh you know you love me around here!”

“When’s this? Before or after you destroy my bar?!” Airaxen tried his best to be inconspicuous as Yasosume ordered a drink. He took 3 steps in and was already encountering trouble; one of the men suddenly took a step back and nearly smashed Airaxen into the wall with his sheer girth. Right after that someone had threw a barstool at someone else who ducked and nearly decapitated Airaxen with it, but he ducked under it just barely. Airaxen took a few more steps, and now someone had flipped over the table they were sitting at, having lost a game of poker. Airaxen back flipped and avoided the table, but by now the large man had started to punch out people, probably from drinking too much that night. Someone tried to restrain him but was body slammed, then a group of people to the left broke out into a fight and began to punch each other out. One of the larger of the men charged at Airaxen in his drunken state. He put his arms out in front of himself and grabbed the man by the shoulders, rolled back and flung him into the wall behind himself. The drunkard slid off the wall and onto the ground and groaned knocked unconscious. Yasosume laughed at the sight as two men came from her sides. She grabbed both by the neck and smashed their heads together and dropped them onto the ground before grabbing her mug of rum and took a long drink from it, emptying it and slamming the mug back onto the bar. She walked into the mass of fighting and grabbed another guy who was strangling someone else and tossed him into the nearest wall. Someone else came charging at Yasosume and threw a punch at her, she turned clockwise and grabbed the fist with her left hand and twisted it around her body snapping the attacker’s arm, letting him fall to the ground howling. Airaxen was surrounded by three girls that were all throwing punches and kicks at him, but he was able to block their attacks, much like someone from an action film.

“Can’t, ack! Can’t we just talk about this?!” He shouted in a feeble attempt at keeping the peace. Finally he gave up and grabbed one of their arms and swung the girl around like an oversized bat and knocked the other two back before letting go of the girl and let her fall to the ground dazed and confused. Finally the bartender had had enough and ducked out of sight, and stood back up with a shotgun in his right hand and a machine gun in the left.

“ALRIGHT! EVERYBODY STOP FIGHTING OR I’LL PUMP BULLETS UP YOUR,” before the bartender could finish shouting someone came flying at him, being knocked out of a fight nearby and smashed into the bartender knocking him to the ground. Yasosume walked through the bar grabbing random people and threw them into each other or just kicked someone in the ribs as she went along. Airaxen had enough of the bar fights and began to flip off people’s shoulders to reach the door saying sorry to anyone who had their face stepped on. Finally he made it outside of the bar and crouched down with his hands on his kneecaps breathing heavily.

“Oh man, that’s not the best place to go too,” he said quietly. Shortly after he exited the bar Yasosume strolled out with an unconscious biker in tow, then threw him back into the bar, just as the bartender could be heard yelling followed by the sound of gunfire and shouting.

“That was really fun, wouldn’t you say so Airaxen?” Yasosume said with a broad smile, obviously content with the bloodshed she caused in the bar.

“Yasosume...How twisted of a person are you?”

“You know that prissy girl asked me the same thing in those ruins...”

“That prissy girl has a name you know, and Tikai isn’t that bad...most of the time...”

“Why do you even put up with that...That...Human?!” Airaxen stood straight again, took a few steps forward and put his hands into his pockets then shrugged at her.

“I really don’t know sometimes to be honest. Tikai is...Well...I don’t really know what’s a good word to sum her up, but I guess annoying could be one,” he shrugged again and chuckled quietly to himself.

“What could possibly make you keep that thing around anyway?”

“It’s a her and I don’t really mind much anymore. Tikai is a pain but I’m attached to her...I don’t really know why, I just am I guess,” he shrugged once more and turned back to face her.

“Humans are still insolent little cretins that should be killed in a horribly painful manner.”

“I still don’t care what you think about humans. Now despite how much fun I had with you in that bar I’m out of here, and if you try something I’ll be there to stop you, just to remind you,” Airaxen turned back around and walked away with his hands in his pockets. Yasosume muttered something under her breath and turned away as well, but took a glance over his shoulder at Airaxen as he faded into the night. She muttered again and left to her ship.

“Stupid albino...”

* * *

Airaxen opened the door to the Inn, the receptionist sitting at the front desk greeted him, and he waved back at the man. The Inn had quiet classical music playing from somewhere, the walls were a deep red and the floor was tiled with marble. Airaxen headed up a set of carpeted stairs and then turned to the left and entered the room in which he was staying at with Tikai and Sonaris. He took a glance at the bottom of the door, there was light coming through, but he opened the door slowly and silently anyway. Sonaris wasn’t in his bed anymore but was standing in the middle of the room swinging around his dual blade, oddly enough in a bathrobe. Sonaris looked at Airaxen as he entered the room and broke apart the weapon and put the blades away on the table.

“Sonaris...Why are you in a bathrobe...?” Airaxen asked not entire sure if he wanted to know the answer or not.

“Well my armor is still destroyed and my body doesn’t regenerate as well as yours so rather then being naked I’ll live with wearing a bathrobe.”

“.... I really didn’t need to know that Sonaris!” Airaxen shouted with eyes closed tightly. He looked over at the beds, Maria was asleep in the bed that Sonaris was in, Tikai was sleeping soundly also. Sonaris looked over and smiled.

“They look so nice...” Sonaris started.

“When their yaps are shut!” Airaxen and Sonaris said in unison. The two laughed and walked over to a table near the corner and pulled up two chairs and sat down.

“Despite all of these Myreisons running around freely...Sometimes I have to wonder if these times have pulled the human race together in a strange way, even this has a silver lining,” Sonaris commented in a quiet tone of voice.

“Yeah, I noticed...It’s rather uplifting, gives me faith that things can change,” Airaxen said in what could nearly be considered a happy way. Sonaris looked over at Maria and sighed quietly.

“Ever since this New World Order was established life for me changed, in a mental sense. I’ve learned things...For us mechanical hybrids we don’t have to stay in the boundaries of our original programming. When we were made I know Dimitri never thought we could develop...a soul...” Airaxen looked at Sonaris quizzically at his message.

“I don’t get it, what do you mean by soul? You and I are just machines that utilized their organic halves,” Stated Airaxen. Sonaris shook his head at continued.

“No I don’t believe that anymore. We don’t have to follow the coding that lies in our heads, we follow what he believe is right and do what we believe is the right thing to do and that is just like being human and having a soul. I’ve felt the sorrow and pain of all the people on the island, I’ve known what it’s like to be depended on, I know what it’s like to have a strange female following me around...Well yes anyway. I also don’t believe that this was just luck that we turned out how we did...Perhaps, perhaps it was...Destiny...I don’t know, but I do know that we were meant to do something with our human souls,” Sonaris concluded his short speech and leaned back in his chair.

“Maybe you’re right, but I don’t know,” Airaxen glanced out of the window and looked out at the night sky.

“Tomorrow I’ll be battle ready again, not at full power but battle ready. So I suggest we visit the ruins out on the lake, sound good?” Airaxen looked back at Sonaris and then back at the window.

“Ok,” he said quietly.

“Is something bothering you Airaxen?” Sonaris asked while he tilted his head slightly.

“Well I met Yasosume tonight...” Airaxen responded in nearly a dazed voice.

“Did you have to fight her? I didn’t hear or see any explosions tonight.”

“She didn’t come to Lutenia to pick a fight actually.”

“...Odd.”

“Yeah I know, especially from what you told me. She came to get a drink and then after I accused her of wanting to attack the city we talked. She was really...Err...Scary. Then she dragged me to a bar and got into a bar fight...Well actually when the night was over I think she isn’t that bad of a person...” Sonaris chuckled.

“Tikai is going to be jealous of her,” he said amused at the thought.

“What do you mean?” Airaxen asked rather naively.

“Don’t worry, you’ll know sooner or later.”

“But...I...Don’t get it...” Airaxen mumbled feebly. Sonaris chuckled and stood back up.

“Ok you should get some rest,” he suggested.

“Sure, I call the couch.”

“Why don’t you just shove Tikai over and sleep in that bed? Normally Maria gets me to sleep in the same bed with her whenever I sleep, she also insists I take off my armor, but it’s rather comfortable padded on the inside. I don’t know why she would ask me such a thing thou...Human nature is rather strange isn’t it?” Airaxen nodded.

“I’m not going to sleep tonight so you can use the couch, still too awake to sleep,” Sonaris shrugged and took some blankets from a closet and flopped onto the couch before falling asleep instantly. Airaxen put his arms on the table and folded them, then put his head on top of his arms, just staring at the other wall blankly while he thought about what Sonaris said and about the strange pirate girl Yasosume to pass the rest of the night.

* * *

Yasosume flew the scout ship back to the main ship; eyes half closed somewhat tired. The bottom of the enormous ship opened up and swallowed the small craft into it. A dozen of the servant robots ran around the docking bay guiding her to the correct landing spot. Yasosume walked out of the ship stifling a yawn.

“Is my Shimoir Mikuri loaded and ready to go in the morning?” She asked the nearest robot, which instantly seized up and saluted her quickly before responding.

“Not yet, we have stopped repairs on the Shimoir Mikuri on orders from Grant-I mean Chaos,” it said in a timid voice.

“...Where is that retard?” Yasosume grumbled with her eyes half closed now out of annoyance. She began to walk down the massive hallway and up an incline with a conveyer belt to help someone get to their destination faster, after all the ship’s massive size could be compared to a small city.

“Had to get the biggest freaking ship out there!” Yasosume muttered angrily. After 10 minutes she arrived at a massive 20-foot tall set of double doors which opened up as she approached. She entered Chaos’ room, which was the size of a shopping mall; the entire place covered in weapons and robotic suits.

“GRANT!” She bellowed, shaking the entire room. A few seconds later Chaos, or Grant came at Yasosume riding on a motorcycle found from some museum they stole it from.

“My name is Chaos! Get it right Yasosume!” He shouted back at her.

“Why the hell did you take all the servants off working on repairing my Mikuri Shimoir?! I was going to go out and destroy Lutenia and that albino Airaxen!”

“Change of plans, tomorrow we’re going to the lake and I’m sending in my attack force. You tried and failed, but that’s ok. Now I’m going to go and smash through the defenses at the ruins in the middle of the lake and take the treasures in it!” Again Chaos began to laugh manically

“Oh shut up with your laughing. I wanted to fight with Airaxen again! Bah, he’s too soft...” She began to trail off slightly. Chaos raised an eyebrow and looked at her, studying her face.

“What do you mean? How would you know if you just met him twice and fought with him both times?” Yasosume looked away quickly and put her right hand to her left gauntlet.

“He...Saved me today when Cerberus attacked, twice! Bah, he’s an idiot to save me...” She wasn’t going to tell him that she ran into Airaxen that night, nor would it do any good to her reputation.

“...Oh ok right then. Take advantage of that next time you fight him then! Anyway you get to sleep you grouch. I need you to lead the attack,” Yasosume yawned and mumbled an “ok” before heading back to her room, or the back of the ship which was the massive community sized orb. She entered the orb and leapt up to the upper level through a hole in the bottom of it. She took the shoulder pads off and the metal armor covering her lower body and then the gauntlets before she limbed into her bed, staring up at the top of the orb which was perfectly transparent except for a few small glowing squares. There was a full moon out; it was very bright, bright enough to block out the stars. She put her hands under he head and thought for awhile.

<That Airaxen is more confusing then anyone else I’ve ran into. Fights for the humans, and won’t allow me to die despite me being his rival. Bah, why do I care?!> She thought angrily and quickly went to sleep.

* * *

The morning sunlight shined through the cracks in the window and struck Airaxen in the eye causing him to cringe then blink sleepily.

“*yawn* I guess I was more tired then I thought,” he murmured while yawning again. He stood up and stretched then glanced around the room. Sonaris was still in a bathrobe asleep on the couch, Maria was still asleep in one of the beds while Tikai was in the other, a cast on her impaled arm. Airaxen walked over to Sonaris and took a pillow off a nearby chair and dropped it on his face. Sonaris let out a muffled “ow”. He took the pillow off his face and threw it at Airaxen.

“Right, you need to work on waking up people better,” Sonaris sat up and walked into the washroom took walk out a few seconds later with his blue armor back on instead of the bathrobe. “This is much better...” Sonaris pounded on his chest plate letting out a metallic clank. Airaxen nodded and turned around.

“Ok where are these ruins? We should get there early incase someone wants to get to the ruins themselves,” Airaxen stated quickly. But his voice was loud enough to stir Tikai from her sleep. She mumbled a few things that they couldn’t hear and sat up rubbing her eyes with her good arm.

“*yawn* Why are you two up so early?” She half said, half yawned. Airaxen frowned and walked over to her bedside.

“Sonaris and I are going out to some ruins, you stay here and rest for another day,” he said promptly. Tikai sighed and closed her eyes the nodded slowly.

“Ok...I won’t fight with you on this. I wish I was stronger...I don’t want to have to stay here and not being able to do a thing to help you...” Tikai muttered quietly. Airaxen blinked and looked at her face, she looked somewhat saddened, or maybe she was just tired.

“You’re only human Tikai, you’re strong of spirit and that’s good enough. Now rest up, Sonaris and I will be back in the afternoon if we’re lucky,” she nodded again and lay back down on the bed. Airaxen walked over to Sonaris and nodded the two of them both headed out the door, Tikai watched as Airaxen left, and sighed.

“Airaxen,” Sonaris looked to the side at him and then back forward as they descended down the stairs.

“Yes?”

“When we get back I would recommend that you speak with Tikai. She seems saddened by her injury,” Airaxen shrugged and pushed open the door to exit the hotel and walked onto the morning street of Lutenia.

“She seemed ok to me, thought she was just tired,” he responded with while he shrugged.

“You aren’t very...perceptive.”

“What? Why do you say that?”

“You’ll understand someday, now follow me,” Sonaris leapt up and hovered in the air long enough for Airaxen to catch up to him, then Sonaris led him to a massive lake off to the west of the city. The lake was the size of a large bay, that part of the island not high enough to have been spared when the icecaps melted. In the exact center of the lake was a very small island, just 20 meters in diameter with a 10 meter high tower that covered half of the island, the door to the tower blasted apart for all to enter it’s depths.

“So if these ruins are wide open why isn’t anyone just raiding the place?” Questioned Airaxen.

“You see whenever anyone goes into those ruins some strange creature stops him or her. Well no one knows just what it is but it has strange glowing silver eyes and it’s as if you hit an impassable wall, anyone that tries to break through is hurtled out of the ruins violently. Perhaps we can break through that invisible wall, you think?” Sonaris said somewhat confidently. Airaxen chuckled and looked upon the lake. The surface was perfectly still and acted like a giant blue mirror, rather a tranquil sight.

Suddenly a massive black shadow engulfed the two, as well as the entire lake. The two stopped flying and looked up at a massive ship floating in the air, loaming over them ominously. Airaxen’s body was wrapped in green bands of light and solidified into his suit of red armor.

“Stand ready for battle...I think I know who’s up there...” Airaxen muttered at Sonaris who nodded in return and took his swords off his back and connected them at the hilts to form his dual blade. The sides of the ship slowly unfurled to reveal what looked like shelves upon shelves of small ships, about a dozen in each box; the problem was there had to be hundreds of boxes. Each and every one of the ships launched from their boxes, all of them looking exactly like the ship that picked Yasosume up except they had much larger guns and carried rockets under their wings. In the distance they all looked like tiny dots, but ones that were approaching very fast. Airaxen formed two orbs in his hands then pointed his open palms into the largest mass of ships and released the energy as a translucent white beam. The ships scattered except for 6 of them that were shot down.

“6 down only 5994 left to go...” Airaxen groaned. Sonaris broke his dual-blade apart and put the swords back on his back and brought his arms and legs close into his body, hundreds of thousands of tiny green orbs of light firing out of his body and surrounding him.

“Now you know what I go through everyday. Energy Burst!” The lights shot at the ships like lightning and struck down another 14 ships. By now the ships were in range and opened fire tens of thousands of laser pellets shot forth accompanied with about as many rockets. They shot to the sides, barely avoiding the main mass of fire but getting hit by at least a dozen lasers that cracked their armors.

“Airaxen! Don’t bother counterattacking, just trick the ships into firing on their own crafts!” Sonaris shouted over the gunfire and explosions. Airaxen nodded and flew at a group of three ships, while another 3 tailed him firing. He avoided the lasers from behind him, but a few stray ones from the sides clipped him. Sonaris looked around at the ships, they were all rather disorganized and just firing at whatever came in there way which was mostly other ships, so plenty of explosions dotted the skies.

“Such disorganization...They’re just firing at whatever they can get their crosshairs on! They’ll blast all 6000 of their force to pieces before we even have to attack!” Sonaris dove down and under the waters, the few ships following him got shot down by some others. Airaxen was also enjoying the same sort of luck, if a ship stopped to fire on him another would destroy it.

“This is nuts, what’s the point of all this?!” Airaxen said half relieved half confused.

* * *

“Chaos...What the hell is going on down there?!” Yasosume shouted into his ear, causing him to stumble to the side and fall over. The two were standing on the bridge watching the absolute chaos as their ships shot each other down. Chaos got back up to his feet leaning on the control panel.

“When I saw those two I changed the orders and told them to...attack...anything...in...Oh hell,” he hit his head on the panel a few times out of his stupidity.

“Well you can’t do anything about it now, can’t call the ships back until their job is done so until WE HAVE ONE SHIP LEFT OUT OF 6000!” She screamed in his ear again, sending him back right back onto the floor.

“Right, I’m going out there. My mecha isn’t fully repaired but enough so I can at least use its platform mode, you cover me from up here, got it?” Yasosume ordered, Chaos got off the ground and muttered and then nodded. Yasosume ran out of the bridge and onto a conveyer belt that led to the loading area where Yasosume’s mecha was being stored. It took just a short minute to get across the ship being aided by the speedy belt and her own speed. Yasosume ran towards a 6 foot diameter green orb which was covered in glowing yellow squares like the orb she lived in. She jumped onto the orb standing on top of it, then looked at the nearest small yellow robot which ran towards a lever and pulled it, the ground under her split open and dropped her. As she fell the orb’s markings glowed bright white then all around her green colored pieces formed in a similar manner as how Airaxen’s armor is formed, grid lines appearing in the air. 6 of the pieces were long and spiked at the end with an oval at the other end; these were about 2 meters long. 2 more pieces appeared, they were more square-like. They were 3 meters wide another 3 long and 2 meters deep. The top meter of height was the longest while the one below it was about half as long, the piece’s corners were curved off slightly. The two larger pieces connected on the sides of the orb Yasosume stood on, one in front of her another behind her. The remaining parts attached to the ends of the other platform like parts, three to each one spike level with the top another below it tilted down slightly and the third tilted down the most, nearly pointing at the ground. Yasosume stood on the platform like structure with her arms folded, hair blowing in the wind. Yasosume looked around; all of the planes had been shot down now, the pieces floating on the surface of the water. She looked to her right and saw Sonaris hovering above the water’s surface, Airaxen directly above him. She put one leg out in front of her and leaned forward on it the platform turned and shot right towards Airaxen who was turned to the side unaware of Yasosume’s fast approach.

“Airaxen! This time I kill you!” She shouted at him, now catching his attention she smirked and rammed the spike right into his back winding him.

“ACK!” He cried out in pain. Airaxen formed his wrist blade and spun to his right dislodging himself from the spike and in the process slashed at Yasosume’s feet, but she simply jumped over the blade. Airaxen swung his blade out to the side and looked on at Yasosume as she swung around to face him. The armor to Airaxen’s chest plate seemed to be intact, but suddenly long cracks emerged from where Yasosume struck him and ran all over the armor until it simply broke apart and fell into the water 100 feet below.

“So we’re back to rivals I take it,” Airaxen asked of her.

“Of course! We’ve always been since the first time we met and we still will be!” She stated in a harsh tone of voice. Airaxen’s blade reconverted back to green beams of light and disappeared, he then reached behind his back Marimatsu forming in an instant. He grabbed the deadly sword and held it with his right hand, ready to continue the fight. Yasosume charged at him again fireballs forming in both hands. Airaxen swung at the front of the platform rather then Yasosume herself. The platform’s frontal spike was slashed off in a second but Airaxen didn’t bother to avoid Yasosume’s attack and was struck by two large fireballs and fell about 20 feet. She formed another set of fireballs in her hands, put her palms together and let out a stream of fire down onto Airaxen. He threw his sword straight up and through the flames. Just as Airaxen charged up to catch his sword and take advantage of the flames that gave him cover he heard the sound of multiple missiles being launched. He turned his head to locate the sound, when he looked straight up about a dozen large missiles came flying out of the sides of the ship and straight at him. Airaxen’s eyes widened, but a blue blur shot at the missiles and they all exploded before getting close to him. Airaxen looked to the left Sonaris floated there his swords out and smoke trailing from his arm cannon’s barrel.

“You take care of Yasosume; I’ll make sure nothing from that ship interferes!” Sonaris yelled at Airaxen who nodded back at him. Airaxen raised his right arm and opened his hand Marimatsu flying back around and right into his hand. Yasosume smirked then pulled out 6 throwing knives and flung them at Airaxen. He responded by striking them with the side of his sword causing them to explode. Yasosume drifted back being weary of Airaxen’s tendency to use explosions as a cover for attacks. The explosion cleared soon and Airaxen wasn’t there, she franticly began to look around to see where he went. Airaxen had used the explosion to cover his movements; he was clinging to the bottom of Yasosume’s platform. He moved very slowly and then jammed his sword into the center orb of the platform, all of the lights instantly going out. Yasosume shouted as the platform shook violently all of the extra pieces fading out of existence leaving Yasosume to clung onto the orb. Airaxen flipped off the orb and hovered in the air watching Yasosume plummet towards the water. He slightly frowned as he put away his sword but shrugged it off before turning his attention up to Sonaris who was slashing apart missiles as they flew at him. Airaxen formed two orbs in his hands and flung them up at the massive ship, they exploded in brilliant white and blue clouds but it didn’t do much damage, the ship was massive compared to the explosions he had caused. Yasosume was floating in the middle of the lake on her orb, holding onto it for dear life. Her eyes were wide tail standing straight up and ridged.

“Water on all sides....Heh...” She chuckled nervously looking around at all the water. Very slowly she moved a hand off the orb and up to her left ear, which had a gold earring on it. She pressed it gently a beep could be heard and then she screamed.

“GET THE HELL OVER HERE CHAOS! YOU BETTER NOT LEAVE ME FLOATING HERE IN THIS LAKE OR I’LL KILL YOU!” On the other end of the screaming was Chaos, who for the third time was knocked back by Yasosume’s vocal power. He lay on the ground twitching slightly; the little robots around the control room running around went over and helped him back up and into a chair.

“You heard the banshee men, pick her up,” he grumbled with his head in his hand that was on the armrest of the chair.

“...I heard that,” Yasosume hissed over the com, Chaos had forgotten to turn off the link, which he did, in an annoyed fashion. The little robots pressed buttons and pushed levers franticly to open up a hatch in the bottom of the ship, a claw dropping down and grabbing the soggy fox-girl. Sonaris and Airaxen didn’t understand why the attacks had stopped, and more at why the attack was so horridly planned. They watched as the ship hovered back up into the sky and flew off quickly, but before they were out of sight Yasosume shouted over the intercom:

“NEXT TIME I’LL KILL YOU AIRAXEN! I SWEAR I WILL!” Airaxen and Sonaris plugged their ears, the sound waves shaking every structure in the city of Lutenia; for sure every living soul in the city heard her.

“...SONARIS, I CAN’T HEAR ANYTHING ANYMORE,” Airaxen shouted at him who was also experiencing a similar loud ringing in his ears.

“WHAT?!” Sonaris shouted right back at him. Airaxen kept shouting at Sonaris who kept shouting back at him, both unable to answer each other. After 10 minutes their hearing returned to them.

“Gah, that was all rather...pointless and annoying,” Airaxen grumbled with his left eye closed out of annoyance. Sonaris grumbled with Airaxen as well then shrug it off.

“Alright, back to business. We have to keep going to the ruins on the lake, so lets go!” Sonaris shouted confidently and charged off to the ruins’ entrance farther to the west. They arrived at their destination relatively quick. The entrance was a damaged tower with a large hole in the top and in the side, obviously someone had severely damaged the structure. Sonaris looked down the long tunnel-like structure that led down into the Earth, the odd thing was he could see the bottom of it, it was only 20 feet down the sunlight could reach the bottom which was very strange for such structures. Airaxen jumped down and landed on the ground and formed a white orb in his hand to illuminate the room. Unlike the previous ruins he had been to there were no strange line markings on the walls, no eyes, the walls looked like simple steel. Sonaris landed on the ground behind him quietly with a thud. Airaxen looked from side to side and walked forward entering a massive circular room with what appeared to be a glowing blue capsule in the center, something inside said capsule. He glanced around his surroundings again and took a step into the room and instantly a loud hum was emitted from the capsule. Airaxen assumed a fighting position but was blasted back by some invisible force and knocked right into Sonaris. Airaxen looked up and at the capsule, glowing white eyes could be seen from within it. He tried to stand back up but was slammed back down into the ground dust stirring as he hit the floor.

“Sonaris...You able to stand?” Airaxen said harshly, another force being applied on his chest. Sonaris shook his head unable to utter a word.

“I was just about to ask that myself, who are you?!” Sonaris sputtered.

“I’m Sonaris and he’s Airaxen, now release us from your bonds!” He shouted at the capsule. Moments passed then the glowing eyes faded and the forces applied to them dissipated. Airaxen stood back up and walked over towards the capsule very slowly. As he got closer the figure of a person was in the blue mass of liquid, but they were very badly damaged in appearance. Cracks running all over the body, blue vines showing underneath the larger ones like his original design. The male figure was wearing a white jumper suit with two lines running down the sides which were glowing a soft blue. He had red spiky hair with two long streaks of white in his hair. The person’s eyes were closed as if they were in a deep sleep.

“Is this...You?” Airaxen asked at the figure.

“Who exactly are you?” Airaxen backed away from the capsule looking around cautiously. Whoever that person was knew more then he originally thought.

“And how would I know you aren’t lying?” Sonaris interrupted now, walking up to Airaxen looking right at the person in the capsule.

“...What do you think we should do Airaxen?” Airaxen didn’t respond immediately, thinking about what to do. Finally he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Ok, Sonaris you try and help the guy I’ll just wait around or something,” Airaxen said calmly. Sonaris shrugged and nodded his head.

“Right then, whoever you are where are some tools?” Just as Sonaris finished speaking the wall to their left opened up a rack of tools behind the wall. Sonaris interlocked his fingers and stretched his arms out with his palms facing outward.

“I recommend that you find something to do to entertain yourself for the next few hours, this looks like a long job,” Airaxen nodded, his armor faded away and he turned to leave the room.

“...Stay out of my head or I’ll blast you into oblivion,” Airaxen growled angrily. He stormed out of the ruins, leaping back up to the surface world. He mumbled to himself and then looked up at the clear blue sky. Airaxen flew up and flew slowly over the lake looking down at the boaters, fishers and all of the other people enjoying the crystal clear waters. He landed at the front door of the Inn and walked in, greeted the receptionist and went up to their room. Airaxen opened the door, Tikai was asleep in her bed again, Maria was also gone, probably went to work in the local hospital or something. He walked over to the bed and pulled up a chair and sat in it. Tikai looked very pleasant in her slumber, like something from a fairytale, Airaxen found it an odd sight but still pleasant. She rolled over, turning to face him and sighed quietly. Airaxen shook his head and blinked a few times.

<Ok, this is getting way too...cute for my taste,> he thought to himself while his left eyelid twitched slightly. Airaxen reached behind and picked the pillow off the other bed and gently tossed it into the air where it arced and landed on Tikai’s head with an audible thud. Tikai rolled back over onto her back and took the pillow off with her right hand and hit Airaxen over the head with it.

“And what was that for Airaxen?!” She muttered and now finally opening her eyes.

“How did you know it was me?” Airaxen inquired smirking slightly.

“You’re the most annoying guy I know of and the only one that would smack someone in the face with a pillow to wake them up,” Tikai stated. Airaxen shrugged and stood up. Tikai yawned and sat up she took the blanket off herself; she had been put into that bed with all of her street clothes on, blood and all.

“I need new clothes...Maria had to change these sheets about a few times because of this hole in my arm,” Tikai turned and put her legs off the side of the bed and stood up stretching everything except for her left arm. She looked down at the cast and tried moving the arm but was rewarded with a stab of pain.

“Guess I’ll need another day or so to keep healing,” Tikai shrugged and walked to the door then paused and turned around to look at Airaxen.

“You want to come along?” She asked. Airaxen thought for a moment then shrugged.

“It couldn’t kill me,” he answered. Tikai smiled and walked out of the room Airaxen following close behind. The receptionist greeted them happily; after all he was paid to do so. By now it was just about the afternoon and the crowds were forming around the city. Tikai grabbed Airaxen’s arm and began to walk down the street.

“You actually know where we’re going?” Airaxen was slightly surprised but in retrospect she was a girl and knowing where a mall was in a city seemed to be like a 6th sense, or maybe he was being stereotypical and she was told by Maria beforehand, well it didn’t matter very much.

“Yeah of course I do, Maria told me before hand,” Tikai answered right after he finished thinking. They passed by many people all of which stopped them to say something on their mind, a few of the stranger people made advances on Tikai who struck them over the head with her cast and caused them to fall over on the ground holding their heads. Because of all the stalls it took them it was at least an hour until they made it to the large building that was the city’s only mall.

“Come on Air, I need new clothes and some actual food, unlike you and Sonaris I actually do need to eat!” She dragged along a partially unwilling Airaxen into the massive building. The mall had about 3 floors to it all of them covered in stores selling clothes, food, weapons, toys, books, and anything else imaginable. Airaxen had never taken the time to enter a mall in his life (well life as a hybrid) so it was all so vast, like the inside of the caverns under the Forbidden City.

“Wow...It’s...Really...Big...” Airaxen stammered. Tikai looked at him and blinked as if he had two heads.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never been to a mall!” She exclaimed, Airaxen nodded at her and she lowered her head dismally.

“Ok you’re getting a crash course in human basics 101, take notes cause I’m testing you in a few hours, or when we leave whichever comes first,” with that she grabbed him around the neck with her good arm and dragged him like that with Airaxen protesting a great deal. They pushed through the crowds of people talking and walking along in massive clusters. Tikai pushed through them with a rather disgruntled Airaxen in tow, wondering if this was how she felt when Sonaris and they were all trying to find the crystals. The two entered a rather flashy looking shop with shelves of clothes as well a bunch more hanging on circular posts.

“Tikai, we don’t have any money to buy anything,” Airaxen said as some girl shoved past him. Tikai let go of her hostage and reached into her pocket pulling out a black card with a single gold stripe on it.

“Yes we do, Sonaris has lots of money and he’s given it to me since he doesn’t buy anything,” she said with a glee. Tikai was about to dash off and search through the clothes, but she stopped herself and sighed.

“As tempting as it is to just go and buy enough clothes to last me months, but I’m with you and we move a lot. Have to pack light now,” Tikai said with a slight quiver in her voice, obviously struggling to maintain self-control. Airaxen chuckled at her.

“Your life has changed a great deal, hasn’t it?” He asked.

“It has, got a lot harder for sure...” She responded with a slightly airy voice as she trailed off. Airaxen tilted his head slightly and raised his right eyebrow.

“Then why do you stick around?” He asked again. Tikai’s eyes lingered on him for a few moments then she turned her attention to some jackets.

“No reason,” she said back absent-mindedly. Airaxen shrugged and walked next to her.

“You know Air...” Tikai began quietly getting Airaxen’s attention. “The very first time I saw you I knew that I’d see more of you in the future...But we met before that accident in the tree you know Airaxen.”

“What do you mean?” Airaxen asked, to which Tikai didn’t respond immediately as she was putting away the jacket. Tikai walked out of the store, Airaxen stood there trying to remember when he did run into her but gave up on it, it wasn’t a very important memory.

“Hm...This trench coat seems to intrigue me...” Airaxen held up a large black trench coat that had metal chains near the bottom and nearly touched the ground with high collars that were pointed at the end like blades. Tikai looked over and chuckled.

“Why not put it on?” She suggested, he shrugged and slid into it before looking in a mirror. Airaxen blinked, something about his appearance was menacing but he found it rather...amusing.

“You look good Air, really cool for once,” Tikai said with a laugh, Airaxen smirked and took it off then placed it inside one of Tikai’s bags. “That’s enough for now, I got a few new things. A hat, jacket incase we go somewhere cold again, and that’s it...have to pack light...” Tikai sighed and shrugged. “Give me a second to pay and lets get something to eat,” Airaxen nodded and leaned against the doorway waiting for her to finish. Tikai walked over but he looked a tad disgruntled.

“Hey what’s wrong Air?” She asked.

“Two girls came up to me and asked if I wanted to ditch you and go with them...I find that rather rude,” he answered in an equally disgruntled tone. Tikai laughed quietly.

“I don’t know what it is with you but you can just attract girls like a magnet for some reason,” she commented, half annoyed, half amused.

“WHOA! ACK! GAH!” Airaxen was maneuvering between the mass of hungry teens trying not to drop the tray with their food on it. After demonstrating more flexibility then most circus actors he made it to Tikai who was fending off people trying to steal their table.

“About time you got back!” Tikai said as she shoved someone away. Airaxen sat down across from Tikai and put the tray down, which was full of fast food goodness. Tikai took one of the boxes and opened it up taking a double cheeseburger and bit into it.

“Hah...You don’t eat that much when you hang around me a lot, no time too!” Airaxen chuckled then took a box himself and began to eat a burger himself. He finished it rather quickly then paused and turned to the side.

“...You know Tikai...” She stopped eating and looked at him, swallowing what she had in her mouth.

“What’s up Air?”

“...I realized I haven’t worried about my past in months...It’s odd. Before I was totally fixated on it, I had to figure it out; I wouldn’t stop until I did! Then I met you and my entire life changed. I’ve gotten back in touch with reality. I feel much more at peace...Content despite all of what’s been happening,” Airaxen shifted his glance to her briefly then looked forward again.

“Tikai...Thank you, thank you for giving me back my sense of reality,” Tikai smiled warmly at him.

“Next time we go out for days on end, I would assume it would be a good idea to bring some food for you,” Airaxen said as he watched her eat veraciously. Tikai chuckled and stood up wiping off her cast. Airaxen stood up as well and took the tray over to a garbage can and dumped it all in. Tikai looked over and laughed then walked over to him placing a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re supposed to throw the garbage into the garbage can, and you put the tray on top of it,” she said with a giggle. Airaxen looked at the garbage can and lowered his head.

“For the record I’ve never done any of these human things!” He said feebly. She laughed some more and began walking.

“Come on, let’s get back to the Inn, Maria said I could take my cast off. We needed nanobots back in our time; my arm is good as new!” Tikai said happily.

“So that’s how they do it now...I have to look into it later. But yes lets go,” Airaxen began to walk then stopped suddenly and blinked.

“...Which way did we go to get here anyway?” Tikai laughed and walked up to him grabbing his arm in hers.

“Come on, I know the way.”

* * *

“Well it seems that your arm is perfectly fine. Don’t tell anyone but I sneaked in a few extra hundred nanobots for you,” Maria said with a smile as she put away a small test tube partial filled with a black substance. Tikai’s now fully healed arm was free of the cast, and it looked just as good as if Airaxen had regenerated a limb. She climbed off the bed and walked over to the closet, opened it and pulled out her battle armor. Tikai slipped the chest plate on over her head her arms sliding into the gauntlets easily as well.

“Alright Airaxen lets go to those ruins!” Tikai shouted enthusiastically. Airaxen looked at her and frowned.

“Tikai, I don’t know if you should keep coming with Sonaris and me on these trips to the ruins. I’m afraid you’ll get hurt,” expressed Airaxen. The glow Tikai had to her face faded, her shoulder slouching somewhat as well as her head lowering.

“...I know...But...I’m sorry Air, if only was like you a machine hybrid I could help you...I’m still too weak and human...I’m sorry but I want to keep trying!” She cried out. Tikai was almost pleading with him, Airaxen suddenly felt a jab of pain in his chest but couldn’t explain why; it was probably just a glitch anyway.

“...Does it bother you this much Tikai? That you’re human and not as durable as a machine hybrid?” Airaxen asked quietly. Maria looked at the two and smiled then walked out of the room quietly, not wanting to be rude. Tikai walked over to one of the beds again and sat down on it looking down at the ground.

“You don’t remember when we first met I know, but I still do. You saved me again; you also got hurt, stabbed in your chest. I knew it wouldn’t be the last time we’d meet don’t ask me how I knew. I don’t know why but I wanted to be at your side and be of some help...But since I’m human I can’t do anything! I know if I was a machine hybrid I could help you...” Airaxen walked over to the bed and sat down.

“You worry about this too much, you’re helping me enough...For some reason I can’t help but wonder if you have another reason for all this.”

“What if there was?” She said quietly. Airaxen shrugged and flopped onto the bed, Tikai did so as well landing on Airaxen’s chest, and the two making a cross like design.

“No clue, I don’t know what it could be. How about you tell me.”

“Nope, you have to figure it out.”

“...Heh alright fine. Well if you feel that much of a need for a hybrid body, maybe you should talk with Sonaris,” he suggested, Tikai looked over to the side at his face and then back up at the ceiling.

“I’ll think about it, thanks. You know, you’re rather comfortable.”

“Great I can be furniture now,” Airaxen mocked, then he laughed softly.

“You’re right, you are more peaceful these days...More human,” Tikai said now moving onto a more pleasant subject.

“Ha...Well whenever you want to get off lets head to the ruins. I’ll just protect you so you don’t get hurt again;” Tikai looked at him again and smiled.

“Ok lets get going,” she said quickly and jumped off him and walked over to the balcony, opened the door and turned on the anti-gravitational units on her suit floating up a bit. Airaxen stood up and stretched then joined Tikai in the air his clothes flapping in the wind from them being somewhat larger then he needed them to be. Airaxen led the way towards the lake going faster then last time since he didn’t have to get stalled by Chaos and Yasosume. They dropped down the entrance of the ruins and walked down the hall to the large circular room. There Sonaris was working on something on the floor, he noticed that the capsule in the center was now empty as well as the glass covering gone. Sonaris had a welder in his hand and was firing sparks out all over the floor. Once hearing the footsteps he put away his welder and turned to look at the new arrivals.

“What are you working on?” Tikai asked.

“A new friend you could say, I want you two to say hello to Ethernial,” from behind Sonaris a person jumped up and off the floor and walked out from behind him. Airaxen recognized that it was the person from the capsule, well it was rather obvious anyway. Ethernial unlike the other three didn’t wear entire armor, like Yasosume he had pieces of armor on his legs that had little pads and triangular blue gems near the bottom. He wore the same jumpsuit with the glowing blue lines and two more blue gems on the top of his hands. He looked at Airaxen and Tikai smiling broadly with emerald green eyes.

“What’s up guys? It’s great to be up and walking after 1000 years!” Ethernial walked over and extended a hand to Airaxen, who took it cautiously and shook his hand.

“Hey relax man, I’m not going to backstab you!” Ethernial protested, Airaxen looked at him sternly.

“Get out of my head. And how do you do that anyway?!” He demanded. Ethernial smiled and laughed.

“Ok, ok I’ll tell you, just calm down, oy, oy, oy.”

Ethernial sat down on the floor and looked at them smiling happily.

“That’s my story. Oh right, I have something for you guys! Follow me,” Ethernial jumped up and walked to the other wall of the room and put a hand to it causing the floor to shift slightly and move down, it was a giant elevator.

“Where are you taking us?” Sonaris asked.

“Since there was so many old parts lying around I decided to build something I couldn’t see what I was building except through a camera but I created a ship for myself when I could walk again.” Tikai looked around slightly nervous at the new guy Ethernial, he sort of scared her with his upbeat tone, she wondered if he was entirely trustworthy. Ethernial looked at her and frowned.

“Come on, just because I’m so happy doesn’t mean I’m pretending or anything! It’s...Just that I never got to move or anything for a thousand years all the time being aware it was so close in my grasp,” Ethernial said quietly with a faint smile.

“Yeah I guess that’s understandable.”

“So come on, give me a chance here? You too Airaxen!” Airaxen side glanced at him and chuckled.

“Well Ethernial what can you do? You don’t have much armor there so I don’t know how well you’ll do in battle,” Ethernial chuckled.

“I don’t have traditional armor like you and Sonaris, this jumpsuit takes some of my psychic energy to create a barrier to protect myself with, and it doesn’t break unless of course I’m to weak to keep a barrier up. And sides I have some psychic and energy attacks that’ll impress even you Airaxen.”

“We shall see, won’t we?” The elevator stopped now a doorway to their left; they walked through it and into a pitch-black room. Ethernial walked around and turned the lights on sitting in the center was ship that was about 30 feet long and 20 wide. It was mostly light blue with some darker shades along the body. The body was long and pointed forward at the end where at the back it flattened out to be more triangular the back part was colored yellow at the ends of the triangular back were two wings that measured 30 feet 10 feet were on the top 20 on the bottom, the bottom wing sections were much larger then the ones at the top. The ship floated off the ground perfectly still. Airaxen looked up at the body of the ship it was perfectly clean there looked like there were no hatches or anything on it.

“I call this ship Starblade, it’s ready to go and can carry about 6 or so people, and has a few weapons on it you know I was bored and like to see things explode!” Sonaris looked over the craft and nodded approvingly.

“It’s well built very well built.”

“It’s all yours. This ship is all yours;” Sonaris looked at it then back at Ethernial and smiled.

“I think I like this kid already!” He laughed. Ethernial turned to look at Tikai.

“You, I think you should be the pilot and do the maintenance for the ship,” Tikai blinked at him confused.

“Me? Why me? I don’t know a thing about any of this!” She protested.

“I have this gut feeling you’ll pick it up fast, trust me! Yes I'm serious Sonaris not close your mouth.” Airaxen blinked and lowered his head.

<I don’t think I’ll be getting into that ship anymore.> He thought dismally. Tikai blinked and nodded.

“Ok...Always did want to try anyway...” She said quietly.

“You can move the ship out later through the ceiling, but first I say we get out of these ruins and wander around town!” Ethernial cheered and began to dash out of the room; the rest of them blinked at him and flew after him.

* * *

“Oh wow, it’s so bright out here!” Ethernial exclaimed while squinting. Airaxen, Tikai and Ethernial were back in the city, Sonaris had left them to go back to the Inn and rest up after all the work he had to do to repair Ethernial.

“Its called sunlight. Are all of Dimitri’s creations so stupid?!” Tikai slapped her forehead and sighed.

“Yeah I know what it’s called just never seen it for myself!” Ethernial fought back. Tikai laughed and turned away from them beginning to walk down the street. Ethernial blinked and looked at Tikai as she walked away.

“Whoa! How tight are those pants?” Ethernial half-shouted. Airaxen looked at him and blinked.

“...What?” Airaxen looked at him oddly; Ethernial shook his head briskly and looked up.

“You don’t think she heard that did you?” Ethernial asked quietly.

“I did hear you,” Tikai hissed at him in a tone of voice that suggested she was trying to keep calm. “And you better hope I don’t hear that again, or you won’t be alive to say it again,” Airaxen looked away as Ethernial put his hands out apologizing profoundly while Tikai pointed gun barrels into his face. Airaxen watched the clouds roll by as he listened to the shouting and arguing. Then he noticed something strange a small silver streak shooting across the sky.

<That couldn’t be what I think it is...Could it?> Airaxen flew up and straight after the streak. Tikai noticed this and sighed.

“Airaxen can’t you stop with the hero complex just once? Or at least wait for me to back your butt up,” She mumbled.

“Ha, Airaxen has to do what he has too, fight day and night for what he believes in,” Ethernial offered as an answer.

“Lets get going,” Tikai said, she floated up into the air and looked around for where Airaxen went off too. Ethernial glowed dark purple for an instant and floated up next to her.

“Come on I can sense his aura,” Tikai nodded and followed Ethernial as he shot off.

* * *

“Omega! Is that you again?!” Airaxen roared over the sound of the wind. The streak stopped moving suddenly and turn