“Oy, Yasosume, ‘aven’t seen you around here lately.” Joey, the bartender of The Black Lagoon turned to greet one of his more memorable customers. Yasosume was wearing her red trench coat and shoved past the other people, pulling up a stool at the bar.

“What’s up there lass?” He asked, to which Yasosume scoffed at.

“Just give me a drink.” Joey shrugged and turned around taking a bottle of rum and a mug then handed it to her. She blew apart the top of the bottle and poured the contents into the mug. Yasosume’s ears began to twitch slightly, she then picked up the empty bottle and threw it to the side at a loud table of people.

“SHUT UP!” She roared. The bar suddenly went silent everyone looked at her nervously, then picked up their conversations in whispers.

“Aye, they were loud but you didn’t have to do that.” Joey said casually, obviously used to such things happening frequently.

“Leave me alone Joey.”

“Come on, what’s botherin’ you?” Yasosume took a long drink emptying half of it.

“Ever since that stupid albino Airaxen destroyed my Mikuri Shimoir I can’t get him out of my head!” She took another drink and finished off the mug. Joey took another bottle and handed it to her having seen this mood in other customers. She blasted the top apart taking out more then she planned and splattered rum everywhere and poured what was left which filled about half of the mug.

“It’s like I’ve become obsessed with him! I don’t know why but every time I close my eyes I see his stupid face grinning and smirking at me! I’LL KILL HIM!” She slammed her fist onto the bar table and nearly smashed it apart.

“*sigh* I...Can’t believe that...He actually destroyed my Mikuri Shimoir...Not even an island’s military division could even stop it! And yet one man turned it to dust in one attack...And to further humiliate me he spares my life so I could brood over my defeat!”

“Aye, I know. Watched the battle from the bar it was quite the show there lass.”

“I still can’t start to understand why he keeps letting me walk away. It’s strange I would just blast their head off if they hit me, I nearly kill him and he says he doesn’t feel like killing me. Stupid, imbecilic, albino!” She finished off her drink and sat there for awhile, tail swishing casually. The sound of the bar doors opening entered her fox ears but she ignored it, until everyone in the bar began cheering and hooting. She looked over and there plain as day was Airaxen, white hair, mismatched eyes and-hey he looks better in that trench coat. Airaxen blinked and muttered thanks to the people congratulating him on his battle against Yasosume. She overheard what they were saying and growled menacingly, then slammed her tail into the ground and actually dented the tiles. The bar fell silent, but since they had blocked Airaxen’s view he didn’t see Yasosume. The crowd parted and let him through to the bar. Joey walked over to him, Airaxen blinked and thought for a moment, he remembered the bartender from the previous time he came to his bar.

“Right then, what’ll it be?” He asked. Airaxen thought again, he had never been to a bar before, nor did he know what sort of drinks they sold.

“I...Well...What do you recommend?” He asked. Joey ducked down and pulled out a few bottles and began to mix them.

“’Ere I’ll give you the special, on the house for keepin’ me bar in one piece.” Airaxen laughed slightly and rubbed the back of his head, he wasn’t used to so much attention before.

“Yeah well I have to admit, Yasosume can really fight but hopefully she won’t be bothering the citizens for awhile.”

“Depends on what you consider ‘bothering’.” Yasosume said loudly and angrily. Airaxen blinked and looked to the side of the bar and saw her sitting on a stool. She had a new bottle of rum, put a finger to it and blasted the top apart. Yasosume grudgingly poured the drink into the mug and drank from it, she then looked to the side and glared at him. Airaxen blinked and walked over taking the seat next to her.

“Going to accuse me of something else?!” She shouted. Airaxen drew back and shook his head.

“No I came here to pass time, sides I’m assuming you’re on your pirates’ union break or something.” Yasosume chuckled and took another drink. Joey had finished making Airaxen’s drink and passed it down at him in classic bartender fashion. Airaxen stuck his hand out and caught it, then looked it over the contents were...blue? He blinked and looked over the glass.

“...It’s...Blue stuff?” Airaxen continued to look over the glass. Yasosume looked over and let out a frustrated sigh and threw a fireball at the glass and blew it up in his face splattering him with ‘blue stuff’ as Airaxen put it. Yasosume laughed to herself having gotten a bit of revenge. Airaxen licked the side of his mouth catching some of his drink and tasted it.

“Hm, that’s good. Um, excuse me, can I have another one of those drinks?” Joey chuckled and nodded making another one, again not asking for payment. Airaxen looked over at Yasosume and frowned, she looked away still chuckling.

“What? You can’t possibly accuse me of doing that!” Yasosume declared. Airaxen chuckled and got a new drink taking a sip from it.

“You’re quite the character Yasosume, quite the character.”

“And you’re quite the idiot.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You keep letting me walk instead of killing me!”

“I see something in you, and it’s not too bad.” Yasosume laughed and finished her drink, Joey handed her another and moved on to serve someone else.

“I don’t know what would make you think such a stupid thing, but I’m as despicable as everyone here thinks, I’m a pirate after all!”

“Then why are you so bitter and protective of that reputation?” Airaxen asked snidely, Yasosume grumbled and took her new bottle and blasted the entire bottle apart rather then just the top.

“Joey get me something to drink damnit!” She barked. Joey sighed and did just that, not wanting to see some sort of fight break out.

“I’m not singing there albino,” she hissed at him.

“Tell you my story if you tell yours.” She laughed at him again picking up the newly arrived bottle, taking a slight bit more restraint as she blew off the top and emptying it into a mug.

“Ha, like I’d want to know anything about you! Wait there is something, why the hell are you bugging me?” Airaxen shrugged and took another sip from his drink.

“I’m bored? Everyone else is gone out doing their own thing.” At that moment Ethernial walked into the bar much to Airaxen’s surprise.

“Ethernial? What...Are you doing here?” He asked a bit stunned. He walked taking the seat next to him.

“I could ask you the same thing! Didn’t peg you to go to a bar.”

“I was bored. And what were you doing?”

“Well you know, I was looking for...” Ethernial looked away, being a bit red in the face. “I was looking for a girl,” he said finally.

“I see,” Airaxen said while nodding his head.

“Yeah well, Sonaris has Maria and you have Tikai and I sorta want to find a girl myself and...Yeah.” Yasosume eavesdropped on their conversation and chuckled quietly.

“And how’s that going?” Airaxen inquired while drinking some more.

“Not that well...But hey! What do you think my chances are with that girl in the red trench coat?” Ethernial nudged Airaxen in the ribs and smiled.

“Well I wouldn’t recommend it be-”

“Cover me I’m going in!” Airaxen slapped his forehead and shook his head slowly. Ethernial approached Yasosume, who didn’t bother to look up. Airaxen stood up and moved 4 seats down, not wanting to be caught in any sort of crossfire that would occur. Ethernial leaned on the bar next to Yasosume and thought for a moment on what to say, but he then came up with something.

“My, my, my what a fine...Vixen you are! Oh wow!” He said loud enough to not only get her attention but the attention of a few people around them. Yasosume sighed then turned to look at him, Ethernial thought he might have gotten it right, but no such luck. She decided to be a bit nicer and slapped him then with her other hand punched him in the stomach and turned back around flicking him away forcefully with her rather powerful tail. Airaxen sighed and shrugged taking another drink.

“Ethernial perhaps-” Airaxen tried warning him again but he shook his head.

“No! I’m ok!” Ethernial stood back up and went back over, Yasosume took another drink of rum and mumbled something under her breath. He thought again for another attack plan.

<Compliments are sure to get me in her good books!> “Wow! Are those real? If they are then let me tell you they are big, beautiful and round.” Airaxen slapped himself in the forehead again, he couldn’t comprehend what was going through Ethernial’s mind, if anything at all. This angered Yasosume a fair deal again she turned around and stood up. To Airaxen’s surprise she didn’t hit him and instead put a hand on his cheek, then smiled sinisterly and formed a fireball which exploded at point blank range blasting Ethernial to the side. He nearly hit the ground but Yasosume demonstrated her extraordinary reflexes again and smashed Ethernial up with her tail knocking him up then with a back-handed swipe from her arm she knocked him right back to the floor. Despite this Ethernial was determined and was going to try again. After putting out the fire on his head he stood up and leaned on the bar next to Yasosume with a smile from ear to ear trying to appeal to her in some way.

“So what do you want to be called? Vixen? Fox lady? Rar.” Yasosume didn’t bother standing up and reached into one shoulder pad while forming a fireball in the other, grabbed 3 throwing knives and slammed them into the fireball and threw it at Ethernial all in a split second. He was blasted back and knocked onto the ground right in front of Airaxen smoldering.

“Ethernial I think you should-”

“One more time!” Ethernial jumped back up, his jumpsuit getting tattered and charred. He went back to her and thought again.

“So...How long will it take for me to get into your pants? Oh wait did I say that out loud...? Curses I wanted to say something like...” Yasosume had enough, she grabbed him by the neck stood up and ran his head along the bar table smashing into anything on the table or around it. Airaxen jumped back to avoid them, he watched as she slammed his head into the wall and pulled him out throwing him into another wall. She flicked her wrists, pointed both palms at Ethernial and released a massive jet of fire burning him to a crisp. After about a minute Yasosume decided to stop. She grabbed her mug and finished it off and left in a hurry obviously offended by all of Ethernial’s advances. Everyone in the bar had seized what they were doing to watch Ethernial’s attempts and when Yasosume was finished with him they all looked away and continued talking as if nothing happened. Airaxen got up and pulled Ethernial out of the wall and dusted him off slightly. Ethernial was pitch black now his hair blasted back and spiked oddly.

“That...Wasn’t too bad...” He sputtered then collapsed onto the floor. Airaxen took one more sip to finish off his drink and took out some money putting it on the table out of courtesy and picked Ethernial up then dragged him out of the bar.

“Ethernial are you still conscious?” Airaxen asked, to which Ethernial raised an arm in response.

“Just to tell you, you shouldn’t try that on Yasosume again, she’s a very violent pirate.”

“Yeah...Sorta picked that up,” Ethernial groaned back. “So what did you do since you woke up?” Airaxen didn’t respond for awhile.

“Well I woke up last night and Tikai asked that I stay with her for the night.”

“Oh you lucky! I can’t believe you got to sleep with her!” Ethernial sulked a little bit more hearing this.

“Sleep? Ha! I didn’t sleep at all that night!” Airaxen laughed and then grumbled quietly.

“Oh ho! You sly devil you!” Ethernial chuckled and probably would’ve nudged him but he was being dragged along.

“What?” Airaxen asked naively.

“Nevermind.”

“Out of curiosity what did Tikai need to find Sonaris for?” He inquired.

“I don’t know, probably about that set of parts she found in the ruins, she wanted to make them into a weapon. Now would it be alright if you dragged me back to the hotel?”

“Yeah ok, no where else to go really.”

* * *

Sonaris was sitting down in the food court of Lutenia’s biggest (and only) mall. He had spent the night going from place to place, wherever Maria had dragged him off too. He was at the mall only because of her constant insistence that he should have something other then his suit of armor. Tikai came up from behind and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Oh Maria I didn’t think you’d-Oh why good morning Tikai, what are you doing here? Here take a seat.” She sat down across from him and put her arms on the table.

“Did you have any luck analyzing those parts I gave you?” She asked in a rather serious and business-like fashion.

“I did. I must admit they are very sophisticated and complex enough to even give me trouble. It appears to be a long-ranged weapon with multiple modes, it works in the same way as Airaxen’s armor in the way it forms. I sifted through the pieces meticulously but it seems there’s no firing mechanism or is the nanolathing system entirely there, I’d have to build those parts myself. But I think I could probably construct you the weapon in about 3 hours maybe-”

“No.”

“Pardon me?”

“Don’t build me the weapon. Teach me how to build it,” Sonaris looked at her strangely, she stared back with determination in her eyes.

“But it would take me an incredibly long time to teach you enough to reconstruct the basic frame of the weapon! It’s extremely advanced and I don’t think you’d be able to build it let alone build the firing mechanism or completing the nanolathing parts.” Sonaris persuaded, Tikai didn’t bother listening to him.

“I don’t care, I want to build it myself! I learn fast anyway, trust me I can be taught how to build this! I’m...Determined you could say.” Sonaris looked her face over for some sign of a lie but could find none.

“Ok then, since you probably want to learn as soon as humanly possible I’m going to give you schematics for something I was toying around with a month ago.” He reached into his left gauntlet and pulled out a small black box and put it on the table. It box glowed green and a projection came out of the top of it. The first projection was some suit of armor, then after a minute it changed to a set of tools, then a set of parts, and procedures.

“I made it so it was idiot proof to myself, most of the time I would be so tired and weary after fighting I could barely remember things. So while I was conscious and aware I created the procedures and such that I’d need for mostly any project. Study that, learn it and build the suit by the end of the week.” Tikai looked it over and nodded slowly.

“Ok, where can I get all of these parts and tools?”

“I gathered them and left them in the storage room of our hotel room, look in there you can keep the tools if you wish.” Tikai nodded and thanked him then left. Sonaris waved her off and looked around for where Maria was, she was still gone to get their food, but it had been 15 minutes...

* * *

It didn’t take too long for Tikai to get back to the hotel and she was there in less then 10 minutes, carrying the black box Sonaris gave her.

<I don’t have a lot of options left...But I know if I can do this I’ll win him over at long last!> She thought happily. Tikai ran up the stairs and threw open the door, Airaxen wasn’t there that was good, he couldn’t ask what she was up too. She looked around the room and saw the storage room door, it was off to the side next to a bed. She walked over and opened it up leading to a large room with shelves all over the walls and a massive desk in the center of the room like a workstation. There was a large window across from the door which was rather nice, it seemed that Sonaris had renovations done to the room. She looked at the shelves and pulled off welders, screwdrivers, drills, saws, sheet metal, circuit boards and whatever else machine related.

“My god...This is going to take an eternity to learn, let alone build! But I’ll get it right...” She sat down and turned on the black box and looked up the list of procedures she had to know, which ran up to the hundreds, describing every possible system that would be needed to be built in basically anything. Tikai sighed and put her head in her arms mumbling. Then she heard a door opening and footsteps. Before she got up to check who it was she heard voices, Airaxen’s voice.

“Ethernial I still have to wonder what you were thinking! Trying to hit on Yasosume,” he said with a slight chuckle.

“Yeah well you know, I’m sorta lonely!” Ethernial protested. “Like I said Sonaris has Maria and you have Tikai!”

“Yes I know. I’m lucky to have her...I still don’t understand why she stays but I’m not going to complain.” Tikai felt all warm and tingly at Airaxen’s praise.

“Well I’m going to go to the lake, see you later Ethernial.” Ethernial could be heard letting out a strange groan, then footsteps and the door closing. Tikai waited a moment then opened the door and walked out of the small workstation. Ethernial was on one of the beds, jumpsuit soot black and whatever armor he had was destroyed and smoldering to make him into a fire hazard. He looked over at her and raised an arm to wave and let it drop back onto the bed.

“So how long were you in there?” Ethernial asked.

“I was there for a few minutes before you got here.”

“Doing?”

“Trying to...Build something.”

“Oh, how’s that going?”

“Not too well.” Tikai reached into her pocket and pulled out the small black box and turned it on. Ethernial sat up slowly and took a close look at the holograms.

“That’s pretty cool, one of Sonaris’s designs?” He inquired curiously.

“Yeah well. I’m trying to build it, I want to be able to assemble those parts and everything. But I’m not smart enough to hope to build this design.” She sighed and sat down on the other bed. Ethernial thought for a moment then spoke up.

“If you want...I could teach you in...About 5 minutes.”

“Don’t mess around with me Ethernial! That’s impossible!” She whined.

“No I’m serious I can! I just plant all of the knowledge related to building and designing weapon systems and mechas into your subconscious and then it’ll just come to you in your conscious state so you can build just as well as Sonaris!” Tikai blinked at him and walked over to him eyeing him.

“You’re serious? You can really do that?” Tikai glowed with new hope of not being a total mechanical failure.

“Yeah, but you know...I’d sorta like something in return...” He coughed slightly and looked to the side. Tikai’s demeanor suddenly flipped around and she narrowed her eyes dangerously at him.

“Ok, ok! I just wanted to go out with you!” He protested, to which Tikai began growling dangerously. Ethernial raised his arms defending himself.

“How about you just watch my back next time we get into a battle, ok?” He tried compromising with her feverishly. Tikai’s expressions lightened up slightly and she stopped growling.

“Ok sounds fair, but if there’s anything messed up when you’re done I’ll kill you!” She roared, a blast of air going through Ethernial’s hair. He vowed not to do anything other then what he said he would and Tikai finally relaxed. Ethernial got off the bed and walked over to her taking two fingers and touched them to her forehead. Tikai let out a gasp and then instantly blacked out, she didn’t flop over thou Ethernial used his powers to keep her upright. Ethernial looked at the holograms from the box and absorbed the knowledge into his mind then began transmitting it into Tikai’s. The process was quick and simple, a basic psychic ability Ethernial learned awhile ago. In 5 minutes he had finished giving her knowledge and experience that was equal to a skilled mechanic that had to take years to acquire the same knowledge. Ethernial removed his finger from her forehead, Tikai woke up from the trance immediately and blinked.

“There you go, done. Rather convenient isn’t it?” He asked with an air of arrogance. He handed her the black box and let her look at the actual schematics. Tikai blinked and thought for a moment.

“Weird...I actually understand this! Oh! I know how to make this part work now!” Ethernial smiled and lay back down on the bed.

“Alright go wild, have a blast and build something to blow stuff up.” Tikai had already left and went back into the little storage room to work. 5 minutes later Ethernial was listening to a symphony if welding, hammering, cutting and drilling noises. He was content with himself having done his good deed of the day and decided to go and sleep to let his body regenerate and repair the damage Yasosume did.

* * *

It was a few hours in the future, 4 to be precise and now it was about 1 PM. Ethernial woke up and blinked, he listened carefully and Tikai was still at it building whatever it was she was building. Ethernial’s body was repaired the little bits of armor on his body and his jumpsuit was back to normal, glowing blue lines and all. Ethernial got off the bed and stretched his limbs out. Curiosity over came him and he walked over to the door and knocked on it. The noises seized for a moment and the door opened a sweat covered Tikai greeted him.

“Working hard I take it?” He asked. She nodded and went back to her work. The storage room was covered in scraps of metal and wiring that was rejected for some reason. Ethernial walked in and looked around, the room was in disarray with parts everywhere but he did take note of what was on the table. Tikai had a welding mask on and was assembling a large midnight blue cannon. It was long and rectangular with a simple circular opening on the end, a rather simple looking design with a few square openings on the weapon. On the top there was a opening for an arm to go in. Across from it was what he assumed was another arm piece, it was a simple gauntlet with cylinders on it that looked like long pellets, Ethernial wasn’t sure what the purpose was be he knew it had to be some sort of weapon, again it was blue. Lying to the side was a chest plate with two guns on either side and two massive machine wings on the back that were basically just blue rectangles with openings on the bottom.

“That only took you 4 hours?” Ethernial asked stunned. She stopped and turned around.

“Yeah, I was...I don’t know, motivated I guess. I had to modify the cannon to have some strength enhancements so I could lift it, and the chest plate can fit over my current armor without a problem. I was considering using a nanolathing system so I wouldn’t have to manually equip this stuff but I think I’ll put up with it, I don’t think it’ll last too long, it’s only made out of sheet metal!” Ethernial blinked, he didn’t think that his little assistance would bring about such a drastic change in her.

“Well I just have to build the leg parts and then if I have enough parts I can make something extra. This arm cannon is finished now, just needs to be tested after I’m done so it should only take me another hour. It takes me forever to actually prepare the metal, the actual hardware takes me like no time!” Ethernial thought for a moment then looked at the hologram next to all of the finished parts, then at the sheet metal. His hands glowed purple as well as the metal as it began to reshape and contour into the shape of the leg pieces and in less then a second they were finished.

“You know Ethernial you are more useful then I first thought!” Praised Tikai. Ethernial nodded happily and crossed his arms.

“That’s right I’m more useful then-HEY!” He didn’t realize what she said until awhile after which embarrassed him a far deal.

“Alright now give me some time and let me finish this! Oh yeah if you want could you find Sonaris? I don’t know where he put the parts from the ruins.” Ethernial nodded and left Tikai to her work. Tikai wiped her forehead and took some reinforcing for the sheet metal so it could be somewhat resilient and put it in the inside of the sheet metal boots. She continued working diligently for the next 15 minutes and was actually able to complete the entire mecha suit in little over 4 hours. Tikai took a can of spray paint, shook it and then gave a quick paint job for the boots. She let out a happy sigh and lay down on the floor where there was a patch of clean space. Tikai lay there for a moment then sat back up, keen to work yet again. She still had one more project in mind and looked at her selection of parts which were moderate, most were just scraps. Tikai picked up a few pieces and thought. She got bored and built a miniature nanolathing system but it was too small to be used in the weapons, but just right for a simple weapon of sorts. Tikai left the room to get her armor and then sat back down at the desk with one of the gauntlets lying on the table while the other was clipped onto the back of the suit. She thought for a moment then came up with another idea and began scribbling it out on the desk.

* * *

Airaxen hovered over the surface of the lake creating ripples along the surface as he went along.

<Why did Dimitri put a weapon like the Marimatsu in the ruins just so I could find them? Draken probably didn’t know about his plans either. Gah! I have to get this off my mind, Dimitri was playing mind games with me, he shouldn’t be having such a profound effect on me! I’ll have to try and figure out what to do now that the pirates have stopped attacking and the ruins of the island have been explored. Hmm...Most likely there are more ruins scattered around the world and some that are legitimately ruins and not something Dimitri made for me. I guess I should ask around then.> Airaxen turned around and headed back to the city. Airaxen was still troubled a fair bit despite his attempts to change his demeanor. He knew he needed to do something to distract himself. Airaxen drifted back to the hotel and flew into the room from the balcony. He walked in and there he found Tikai spread out on the bed asleep. She grumbled quietly and shifted slightly before opening her eyes.

“Didn’t mean to wake you up,” Airaxen said quietly. Tikai sat up, blinked and let out a yawn.

“It’s ok, I wasn’t entirely asleep anyway.” Tikai was still damp with sweat, probably needed to take a shower sometime soon.

“I take it you’ve been up to something.” Airaxen stated from taking a look at her. Tikai nodded slowly and lay back down.

“I was building something, finished it but it still needs to be tested.”

“When did you learn to build such things?”

“Not too long ago. Anyway what have you been up too?” She asked, her voice still in a quiet tone. Airaxen took his trench coat off and hung it on the coat rack then sat down in a plush chair.

“I just drifted over the lake and thought.”

“What about?”

“What Dimitri said. I’m not sure how much of that ‘hero’ I am anymore. It does seem that I only live my life from battle to battle. I can’t even get what he said out of my head! It’s driving me insane!” Airaxen was gripping the armrests tightly, the sound of wood grinding could be heard now.

“I seen you like this before Air.”

“Oh? When?”

“When I first met you and got to know you better. You were still totally focused on your past, or getting the crystals or defeating Sonaris, I still find it odd you two are friends now but that’s beside the point.”

“And how did I get off of that?”

“I don’t know. I think my presence around you started to calm you down slowly.”

“Interesting. You do have a strange effect on me so I guess it’s possible.”

“You mean in a good way?”

“Sometimes you lighten my mood, other times you drive me insane but I don’t know why but I enjoy both of those effects to some degree.” Tikai smiled slightly. She took off her vest and put it to the side and lay back down.

“So now what happens?” Airaxen asked, to which Tikai shrugged.

“I don’t know, I guess we’ll be staying here for awhile.”

“Hm...I was thinking that we could look around for new ruins, after all we do have a ship for that reason.” Tikai made let out a ‘eh’ as her response.

“Well I heard about some ruins that were underwater off the coast of the island. There’s a large dome and a city inside the dome is also inside a large cavern.”

“When do you think we can go?” He asked. Tikai sat up and looked over at him thinking.

“We could go right now but I want to test out my new weapons...But I know this probably means a lot for you so ok, I’ll just drop you off and I’ll be back here ok?” Airaxen nodded and stood up, Tikai put her vest back on and got up as well. Airaxen walked onto the balcony, Tikai jumped onto Airaxen’s back and he lifted off the ground.

“Head to the ruin entrance at the lake I left the ship there.” Airaxen nodded and flew off towards the lake with Tikai in tow.

The two arrived at their destination in less then 10 minutes, the blue colored ship sitting in the water where Tikai left it. She jumped off Airaxen’s back and onto the top of the ship which opened up to let her in. Airaxen lowered down into the ship to be inside a rather uniform looking cockpit. Ethernial had built the ship to have 3 levels, on the top level there was the cockpit at the front with all of the controls and two large rooms where passengers could live and such. The level below that had a living room, a kitchen, two washrooms and a storage area for supplies. The last level contained the engine room and other important workings of the ship. The cockpit had windows on all sides with a large seat at the front with controls on the armrest and a steering wheel in front. The traditional controls around the seat to turn on the ship. Tikai sat down in the chair and flipped on some switches and pushed a few buttons. The ship’s engines hummed and shifted suddenly Airaxen nearly fell off but maintained his balance.

“Don’t worry Air, I can fly the Starblade perfectly!” Tikai shouted over the sound of the engines starting up. Airaxen nodded and held onto the back of Tikai’s chair. The ship lifted out of the water slowly, turned and with a burst of speed began hurtling through the air. The ship flew over the city nearly creating a sonic boom but making a massive blast of wind in their wake, toppling over people and their pets.

“Tikai! Do we really have to go this fast?!” Airaxen shouted at her.

“Of course! You have to admit you’re loving this!” She shouted back in a much less worried tone then he had. In about 3 minutes they reached the coast of the island but then Airaxen realized they didn’t know where the ruins were located.

“Tikai do you even know where these ruins are?!” Tikai looked back at him and laughed.

“Of course not! Now hang on!” She shot straight up into the sky and did a loop, diving straight down into the water.

“TIKAI!” Airaxen shouted at her as he lost his grip on the chair and was floating upwards towards the door. They hit the water with incredible force creating a massive pillar of water that smashed back down spraying water in all directions. Airaxen was jostled around the cockpit roughly and now ended up next to Tikai’s chair mumbling. He got back to his feet and looked out the windows. They were surrounded by fish and other small marine life. Tikai had curved up a bit and wasn’t diving straight down now. It didn’t take very long to find a cavern in the water, Tikai still was racing through the water like there was no tomorrow, but Airaxen suspected she just enjoyed all of the speed.

“Tikai did you ever get a driver’s license?” Airaxen inquired. Tikai looked over and smiled.

“Never did! Can’t imagine why...” She snickered and looked forward again. In a few minutes Tikai saw an opening off to the left. She steered the ship in that direction and carefully maneuvered into it. Soon the dome ruins could be seen. Green lines shot out of Airaxen’s back and weaved around his body solidifying into armor.

“Ok thanks for the ride...I think. Anyway I’m out of here!” Tikai nodded but she stopped Airaxen before he exited through the door.

“Airaxen...Maybe we should wait? At least let me get my armor or something so I can go with you,” Tikai pleaded. Airaxen frowned somewhat and put a hand on her shoulder.

“I will be alright, don’t worry ok?” Airaxen reassured, to little avail.

“I...Have a bad feeling that something is going to happen to you...I’m scared that it could be more then a feeling,” Tikai muttered. Airaxen shook his head.

“I’ll be alright, now get back to the city and test out that new weapon or something. Come back in an hour and I’ll still be here, got it?” Tikai nodded reluctantly. Airaxen walked out of the cockpit ending up in a small hallway with 2 doors on the left and a large door to the right. He opened the door on the right a flood of water greeting him, but he jumped through it and shut it in a few seconds, not long enough for the ship to sink from too much water. Airaxen flew through the water and towards a small opening in the dome. As he approached the opening creaked open letting water flow in, but he sped up and through it letting it close up.

“I don’t understand why these ruins were hard to get too, well I guess it’s because of the water pressure or something,” he said to himself. He looked around at his surroundings, he recognized his surroundings but not fully. It looked like the city from the past, again another familiarity from his time as Konesence. The buildings were tall and like cylinders with eyes and ruin markings. Airaxen flew up and looked at the buildings, they were all crippled and destroyed holes in everything something had rampaged through the city, and from the looks of the still burning fires it was a recent attack. Airaxen formed his wrist blade, splitting it apart to set it into beam mode. He looked down and noticed something. There was a large building at the end of one street, it brought back a sense of nausea it was his old home when he was Konesence. Airaxen landed and walked up to the door, it was still functional and opened up for him. He walked up to the top level of the 5 story building and looked around. He wasn’t sure how but somehow the city survived. He looked around, the same old couches and the large window on the wall giving him a perfect view of the city, but the view wasn’t so splendid anymore now that the city was destroyed and on fire.

“Before I didn’t take Draken too seriously when he said I was part of a prophecy...But now seeing all of this...Makes me wonder if it is all true...I suppose only time will tell...” Airaxen said to himself. Then he noticed something, a bland looking bunker down the street that stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the city. It struck him as strange so he decided to take a look into it. Airaxen exited the building and walked down the street towards it, but a strange ominous feeling overcame him. He paused for a moment and reconsidered his actions. But he had to continue forward no matter what! So he did just that. Airaxen raised his right arm in front of himself incase something emerged to attack him, it always did happen so he might as well be ready. Suddenly he heard shuffling coming from somewhere close by, he couldn’t pinpoint it’s source it sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once. An eerie groaning entered his ears causing him to spin around suddenly pointed his weapon in all directions. Then he saw the source of the noises, a human person with a hole through their stomach an arm ripped off and leaking blood. They were covered in blood from head to toe leaving a trail of red. Airaxen ran over to their aid but they raised their good arm motioning him to stop.

“Get...Out! Expedition team...Killed...Run!” He spluttered out at Airaxen spilling more blood around him and onto the ground. Suddenly a large grey machine claw reached up and grabbed the man’s head and crushed it in a splatter of blood. The decapitated corpse fell to the ground lifeless, Airaxen drew back in disgust. He looked up to see where the claw was connected to. It was attached to a large machine mecha that didn’t look complete with wires and hydraulic cables showing in large gaps in the armor. The left side was larger then the right which was more machine like then the right which was sort of like a normal human body in armor and with human proportions. The head was oval like with a large blue eye and on the shoulders were loops with jewels on them. In the right hand there was a strangely designed beam saber with a white beam in it. Airaxen pointed his wrist weapon at the mecha and fired out an orange beam at the body, blasting it back and toppling the monstrosity over. It stood back up the jewels on the loops fired out small blue lasers at Airaxen, he leapt to the side and easily avoided the little attacks of light. Airaxen’s wrist blade closed up and dematerialized. He changed his attack patterns and formed two balls of light building a charge in each. The mecha stomped towards him knocking over buildings or slicing them in half with it’s saber. It smashed it’s way towards him rather quickly. Airaxen leapt over and crouched under it’s massive arm as the mecha swiped at him, but being so slow and bulky the attacks were easy to avoid. In a few minutes Airaxen gathered enough energy for his counterattack. He leapt back and smashed the two orbs together turning them into a large ball of energy with an extremely thin white beam shooting out.

“Dark-light slash!” Airaxen swung the beam down as it shot out and sliced right through the mecha, hydraulic fluid firing out from the gash and splattering onto the ground. The two halves still moved but it was probably from the loss of hydraulic fluid and then the pieces collapsed onto the ground. Airaxen sighed and looked around to see where the bunker was now. He spotted it a ways away to his right and continued walking towards it now fairly sure the threat was gone. Airaxen kicked down the door which lead to a decrypted set of stairs leading down into the Earth. He cautiously walked down them glancing from side to side, his nerves a bit on end from his run in with the strange mecha. The light from the surface couldn’t reach down to the depths he was going in so he formed two orbs of light in his hands to illuminate his path once more. Airaxen entered a gigantic room that had dozens of capsules like the one Ethernial was in, but some of them were cracked open oozing the blue substance that was always inside them. He then took notice of the massive computer console at the end of the room, curiosity over came him so he walked towards it. The chair in front of the computer was still perfectly intact, and after pressing some buttons on the computer he found that it was also intact. Airaxen sat down in the chair and looked through the files but there was nothing left, everything was deleted. He frowned but decided to keep looking, and he did find something, audio and video files. Airaxen opened one of them and up came a strange looking man, well not a man almost like a dragon-human hybrid in gold armor, but he knew that it was a Myreison. Then a voice spoke and to Airaxen’s shock it was Dimitri’s.

Airaxen was intrigued by the first file and having another 40 minutes until Tikai came for him he decided to continue seeing what else Dimitri left on the computer. He moved onto the next file and opened it.

Airaxen was confused at the last entry in Dimitri’s logs. In his past life he was Konesence, and apparently he wasn’t built in the manner he thought. It was rather strange, what did Dimitri mean when he said if Konesence was the one, did he know about the prophecy Draken had told him? Perhaps. None the less Airaxen continued to look through the log entries.

Airaxen drew back, it was himself that Dimitri was talking about, he was MkrX. He knew that this was what he had been searching for as long as he could remember, the truth to his past. Airaxen had to keep going and continued looking through the logs.

“So...I am the one in that prophecy...And I’m not even that hero I always thought I was. I killed all of those people, Dimitri did succeed in creating a killing machine. And what does he mean that I had taken a shining to the Darkness? I do possess the crystal of Darkness but that was long after I had been created...So I must have had it in me for quite a long time. I can’t be...No! I’m not a killing machine! I can’t be!” Airaxen smashed his fist through the monitor and lowered his head.

“I’m not a killing machine...I’m not...” He silently vowed to himself. Airaxen pulled his arm out of the monitor and sat in the chair for a moment. His head was still lowered down, his entire self image had just came crashing down leaving quite the dent in his psyche. Airaxen looked at his wrist weapon, the gem on it hummed and the time appeared. It was 2:06 PM, Tikai would be there in 20 minutes. Airaxen took a small cord out of his wrist weapon and looked around on the computer console and then found what he was looking for, a jack-in port so he could download the video files Dimitri stored. It took a brief moment and he had all of Dimitri’s logs, he had finally learned his past and now he was wishing he didn’t. Airaxen stood up and began walking out of the abandoned lab but something caught his attention, one of the capsules was sparking and there was still something inside of it. Airaxen pointed the orbs of light at the capsule illuminating it. It was another one of Dimitri's abandoned works. It looked like humanoid mecha, wearing a suit of red armor with little green lines on the legs and small lights. The shoulders were large green orbs, the chest plate had a green gem on it and the head reminded Airaxen of Omega’s being slightly triangular. The top of the head had two long points that pointed to either side, a metal face plate and eerie red eyes. Airaxen then saw something shoot across the back of the capsule. He tried to track it’s movements but to no avail. Then the mass of black came into view and smashed through the back of the capsule and into the back of the mecha. It began to convulse violently emitting a strange deep cry of pain. Airaxen floated off the ground and backwards out of the room as the mecha began to mutate, but he didn’t stay to watch. Airaxen reemerged to the surface of the dome but was soon joined by the mecha. It’s right arm suffered the most severe mutation now being at least 4 times bigger and instead of a hand a grotesque zombie like clawed hand. From its back machine-like tentacles had sprouted and weaved through the air like some strange monster. It pointed the opened claw at Airaxen a wave of what could only be described as darkness shot out at him. Airaxen drew the Marimatsu and put the blade in the way of the attack causing it to diverge away from him. He swung the sword a white energy slash shot out at the mecha and sliced it clean in half. The top half of the body was knocked up into the air but suddenly small tentacles shot out between the two halves and pulled it back together in a second.

“This is going to be more difficult then I original thought...” Airaxen mumbled. The tentacles on the mecha’s back shot up into the sky and came crashing down on Airaxen. He leapt back and slashed apart the tentacles but they simply grew back and retracted to the mecha. This time the tentacles slammed into the ground, this puzzled Airaxen but he soon figured out what they were doing. The tentacles shot out of the ground from under him and impaled his right leg, the rest of them had missed their target thankfully. Airaxen fell down onto one knee, but leapt back using his good one and hovered in the air instead of standing. He formed a ball of light in his hands.

“Dark-light bomb!” And spun around, throwing it at the mecha as it expanded and blasted the mecha apart. When the explosion had cleared to Airaxen’s surprise the mecha was still standing but it was twisted and deformed strangely. It didn’t matter because the tentacles shot out and repaired it’s body again. The tentacles shot up at Airaxen again, he slashed them apart repeatedly but they simply kept on coming at him trying to impale him. The mecha pointed it’s claw up at him again and released another wave of darkness which caught him off guard and exploded in a massive black and purple explosion. Airaxen hit the ground roughly his armor cracking. The mecha shot forth it’s tentacles again, Airaxen threw the Marimatsu at the tentacles where it slashed them apart and rebounded off and back into Airaxen’s hand. He drifted back up into the air and looked at his enemy. To use the Destinyblade attack would be to fatiguing as well as overkill, so he resorted to his second best weapons. He put away the Marimatsu and formed his wrist blade, splitting it apart then created two orbs of light in his hands. The mecha stuck it’s tentacles into the ground but this time Airaxen knew what was coming and shot up into the air. But the tentacles simply reached further up to try and strike him. He slashed them apart with his split wrist blade but he was running out of dome to fly up into so he began zigzagging. The mecha raised its arm up and fired out another wave of darkness which nearly struck Airaxen but he avoided it and narrowly avoided the tentacles shooting up at him. Airaxen didn’t take anymore time to charge his attacks and pointed both his arms down at the mecha.

“Dark-light!” He released the energies he gathered as two sets of beams, one orange one translucent white. The two attacks engulfed the mecha and began disintegrating it. Airaxen focused his energy once more and redoubled his efforts, the beams doubling in size and shredding apart the mecha and reducing it to dust. Airaxen landed on the ground, then sat down.

“Hmph, that was easy enough,” Airaxen murmured. He looked around the dome and noticed something strange, a massive ship coming towards his position and it wasn’t the Starblade. Airaxen ducked behind a building and watched as it smashed right into the dome shattering it and lodging the massive ship inside, it was beyond a doubt the pirates’ ship. Yasosume and a group of 50 armed servant robots poured out the side and into the dome as tons of water gushed in.

“Alright move out! We have less then 10 minutes before this dome is flooded and they say that albino Airaxen is here! Find him and bring him to me alive got it?!” Yasosume shouted. The little robots saluted her and ran off in different directions. Airaxen thought quickly for an escape route. If he flew he’d be spotted and attacked, besides the water would slow him down too much for him to make a speedy getaway. If he stayed there was a chance he wouldn’t be found but that was unlikely. Suddenly the building across from him erupted in flames as a cluster of the small robots shot flaming bombs at it.

“The white-haired boy isn’t here!” One shouted, the others agreed and ran off in different directions. Airaxen floated off the ground slightly and hovered along quickly.

“AIRAXEN!” He spun around and there was Yasosume two fireballs in hand. She leapt up at him as he kept flying away. Yasosume threw them in his path causing him to swerve to the right but he was met by all 50 of the servant robots.

“It’s him! CHARGE!” They shouted and began to rush at him tackling him to the ground. Airaxen tried fighting them off but the number of them was overwhelming. None the less he overpowered the miniature mechas and shot up into the air. But the servant robots served as a distraction as Yasosume jumped up pulling a large red box out and then slammed it onto Airaxen’s back where it suddenly shot out small wires that jabbed into his body.

“Ah-ha! I have you now albino!” Yasosume snapped her fingers the box began to hum and fed a powerful surge of energy into his body all at once. Airaxen let out a howl of pain, every second it was increasing ten-fold and it wasn’t too long before he blacked out and came crashing to the ground. The servant robots clustered under him and caught him. Yasosume snapped her fingers again the box turning off.

“Alright good we have him, alright everyone back to the ship!” The pirates ran back to their ship and boarded it, in just mere minutes Airaxen’s situation went from bad to worse.

* * *

Tikai, Sonaris and Ethernial had gotten into the Starblade to investigate what the pirates were doing. Their ship had been seen off the coast diving into the water in the general area of where Airaxen had went off to.

“Those pirates went underwater in that massive ship...I hope they’re not going to those ruins, come on Airaxen you better be there!” Tikai prayed quietly, at the same time she was piloting the ship and going at top speed Ethernial and Sonaris both holding on to her chair for dear life.

“I know you’re worried about Airaxen, but it wouldn’t kill you to slow down!” Sonaris shouted, but Tikai ignored him. They reached the coast in a few minutes, Tikai spun the ship around violently and dove straight into the water, while Ethernial and Sonaris were thrown around smashing into things. She didn’t bother taking care while maneuvering into the chasm where the ruins were located and to her utter shook the dome encasing the ruins was shattered the ruins now filled with water.

“I’m going to guess that’s not how it’s supposed to look like,” commented Ethernial. Tikai narrowed her eyes and spun the ship around again flinging Ethernial off and throwing him against a window. Tikai looked over at a monitor to her right. She turned it on and on it was a map of the general area on it was their position marked by a small blue version of the ship and off to the north was a large grey ship moving away quickly.

“Tikai we can’t catch up to those pirates now, their ship has a much more powerful engine then this one!” Sonaris pleaded not wanting to continue on this insane joy ride.

“You’d think that.”

“What do you mean?” Sonaris asked bleakly. Tikai charged out of the chasm and shot straight up like a bullet, Ethernial and Sonaris both shouting desperately to get Tikai to change her mind.

“I won’t let those pirates get away with...I WILL GET THEM!” She roared, Ethernial and Sonaris cowered against the back wall.

“We can’t go any faster and they’re already at least 300 miles away!” Sonaris shouted.

“You shut up and let me drive!” Tikai shouted back. She flipped a set of switches in front of her a new set of controls appearing overhead of her.

“Ethernial...What exactly does she know that I don’t?!” Sonaris shouted again, Ethernial looked away and chuckled.

“You’ll...Find out really soon...” He said feverishly. Tikai flipped the switches quickly the sound of shifting parts could be heard by the three. The vertical wings of the ship began to move towards the center to form an X design. A bright ball of blue energy gathered in front of the exhaust of the ship and was fired out at least doubling the speed of their ship. Sonaris and Ethernial were slammed into the back wall of the cockpit denting it. The two began shouting at Tikai who still ignored them. It didn’t take long for the pirate’s ship to come into view. Tikai growled dangerously and flipped more switches above her. The bottom of the ship opened up two large silver needle-like weapons dropped out, they resembled two gigantic javelins. A charge of red and yellow electricity leapt back and forth from the two javelins, more and more electricity began forming in seconds. An enormous blast of lightning fired out at the back of the pirate’s ship and shredded apart a fair deal of armor to the rear orb.

“Remind me never to get on her bad side,” Ethernial whispered nervously to Sonaris who nodded, he was thinking the exact same thing himself.

* * *

“WHAT IN THE WORLD JUST HIT US?!” Chaos shouted as he was thrown backwards. The servant robots helped him back up as the rest checked their scanners for the source of the attack. Then they were hit again the entire ship rocking and shaking roughly. Yasosume ran into the control room fairly angry at being attacked.

“Damage report!” She shouted. The closet robot spun around and answered her.

“Rear armor is down to 68% from the first attack, the second one hit one of the engines and knocked it out ma’am!” Yasosume looked over at Chaos and leapt over to him.

“What are you waiting for?! Arm the main gun and start firing at him!” She yelled, Chaos yelled back at her and slammed a fist into the controls. The bottom of their ship opened up and the massive cannon that they used before emerged now being repaired.

“It must be that stupid girl trying to get back the albino!” She determined angrily. Yasosume then thought of something and ran out of the control room.

Tikai watched as the cannon turned around to point at them and scoffed.

“Tikai maybe we should-” Ethernial began but she spun the ship to the right cutting him off, as a dozen lasers shot past. The cannon let off another barrage of lasers, Tikai took evasive maneuvers entering barrel rolls and loops to dodge the beams of light. The main cannon finished charging and pointed at the Starblade slowly. Tikai took note of the cannon and stopped the ship to point it at the cannon and with the rest of the charge in their guns she fired another blast of lightning that collided with the cannon before it was able to fire back. The cannon erupted into flames from the inside out and exploded violently, the energy it had gathered to charge an attack backfired and destroyed the armor on the bottom of the ship. Ethernial and Sonaris let out a cheer, mostly to try and put Tikai in a slightly better mood. She grinned and flew up to the back of the ship. Tikai pressed a button on the control panel above her and opened a communication link to the pirate’s ship.

“What have you done with Airaxen?!” She shouted. Chaos who received her message grumbled angrily.

“We didn’t kill that white-haired freak, we just kidnapped him. I don’t know what Yasosume did with him! I just stayed in the ship, go yell at her and leave my ship alone! Do you have any idea how much the repairs will cost?!” He shouted into the com, which was somewhat odd to Tikai.

“Well get that fox-girl on the com then!” She grumbled. Just then Yasosume reentered the control room dragging an unconscious Airaxen with her.

“Open up a visual link with their ship,” she said with a strange sinister delight in her voice. On Tikai’s end a hologram of the insides of the ship popped up in front of her, on screen was Yasosume and behind her was Airaxen.

“What have you done to him?!” Tikai demanded. Yasosume chuckled.

“Nothing! I just...Got him to test out one of my...Toys...” Yasosume laughed and walked over to Airaxen.

“Go back to Lutenia right now or else...Well lets just say I don’t hold a lot of sentimentality towards the albino as you do if you get my drift...” Tikai seized up, she didn’t know what to do. Ethernial and Sonaris finally got back to their feet and walked over to Tikai.

“I don’t know what to do guys. If we back off we might not see him but if we don’t then she’ll kill him,” Tikai mumbled, hopeless at her situation. Yasosume was becoming impatient and snapped her fingers a surge of energy flowing into Airaxen’s body and flying out from him. The intense pain awakened Airaxen and he let out a cry of pain that echoed throughout the pirate’s ship. Tikai shut her eyes and reeled back when hearing Airaxen’s cries of pain, shivers of spine were being shot up and down her spine.

“STOP!” She cried. Yasosume smirked and snapped her fingers again the machine on Airaxen’s back stopped with the tormenting of Airaxen.

“Leave or I’ll show you what else my toy can do to him,” Yasosume stated coldly. Tikai closed the comlink and turned the Starblade around and rocketed off back to Lutenia.

“So now what happens?” Ethernial asked. Tikai didn’t say anything nor was she putting the engine on at full blast.

“I’ve fought with those pirates for a long time, I know how they think. Most likely they’ll wait a few days and then come to the city with a new attack force threatening to kill Airaxen if we stand in their way,” Sonaris deduced. Tikai remained silent in deep thought.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get Airaxen back,” Ethernial said trying to reassure her. Tikai nodded solemnly and for the rest of the way back to the city there was nothing but silence.

* * *

Yasosume laughed manically having messed up that prissy girl’s head pretty badly.

“Why is it you get to laugh manically while I can’t?” Chaos asked, who was having a rather bad day so far. Airaxen stood up slowly but Yasosume heard his movements and spun around to face him.

“Don’t think of escaping there albino, I could kill you if I felt like it!” Yasosume threatened with a smug grin on. Airaxen, who’s back was facing Yasosume turned around slowly and to her shook he had a deranged look on his face. He had a sinister grin and a strange darkness in his eyes. Yasosume drew back, even a slight bit scared of the change in his normally pleasant demeanor. Airaxen lunged forward and grabbed her by the neck spun around and slammed her up against the wall.

“Lets see you...Well actually I know you will kill me but I’m more curious to know how long will it take you to kill me!” Airaxen laughed a strange and almost evil laugh. Yasosume grabbed his arm and tried burning it off but couldn’t, he was immune to the element of fire. Airaxen’s smile grew larger and his eyes grew more evil looking. Yasosume had never been beaten before, until she met Airaxen and now he almost seemed willing to kill her if she didn’t beat him to it; simply put she was scared.

“Someone-ack! Get him off!” She choked out. A dozen of the servant robots leapt up at Airaxen and grabbed his arm. Airaxen laughed and let go of Yasosume, she slid down the wall and rubbed her neck. He easily flung the robots off and into the control panels denting them.

“Get him to my lab!” Yasosume shouted. The robots jumped back to their feet and began pushing Airaxen along.

“Yeah, yeah I get the picture you stupid little rustbuckets!” Airaxen shouted back scaring a few of them which ran to Yasosume and clung to her arm. Yasosume got back up and followed Airaxen from a safe distance as the rest of her servant robots led him to the rear orb. When they finally reached it, the robots led him to the back of the orb and sat him down then ran away back to the control room leaving Yasosume and Airaxen alone.

“Now Yasosume,” Airaxen said in a dark tone. “What makes you sure I won’t rip off your stupid box and slice your head off?”

“If you did then before the wires got out it would inject nanobots into you and rip you apart from the inside out,” Yasosume still had a slight quiver in her voice from Airaxen’s first attempt on her life.

“Is that so...” Airaxen inquired curiously. He smirked then reached behind himself and grabbed at the box. Yasosume went wide-eyed then lunged at him, grabbing his arms just before he ripped the box off.

“W-What in the world are you doing?!” Yasosume demanded. Airaxen sighed and lowered his arms.

“Well you’re no fun!” Airaxen protested, letting out another sigh.

“What’s wrong with you?!” She demanded again, to which Airaxen didn’t reply. He sighed again and stood up, Yasosume backed away now not denying the fear she was now going through.

“I just wanted to know what it felt like to be ripped apart from the inside out! I have however been cut in half many times, blown into a million pieces and killed like that, it wasn’t very pleasant but I’m still curious to know what it feels like to die twice...” Airaxen said with sinister tone.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Yasosume demanded again. Airaxen laughed again then rushed forward grabbing Yasosume by the neck with his left hand and slammed her up against the wall again. At the same time he created his wrist blade and jammed it into the wall a millimeter away from her head.

“WHY DON’T YOU FINISH THE JOB?!” Airaxen shouted then laughed again and let go of her, backing away all the time laughing. Yasosume pressed the earring on her ear and called for a battalion of robots to give her backup.

“Oh come now Yasosume! Why don’t you just finish me off yourself?” He inquired, then approached her again. Yasosume panicked and pulled out 3 throwing knives from her shoulder pads and threw them at Airaxen. They hit him right in the chest and cracked the chest plate to his armor. At that instant her requested backup arrived.

“Open fire!” Yasosume ordered, but in her haste she didn’t think over what she just said. The robots quickly grabbed an old harpoon gun and pointed it at Airaxen then fired it. He made no effort in avoiding the simple attack and let it impale him.

“Hm...That stings.” Airaxen pulled the harpoon out of himself and threw it back at the robots, striking one through the head and disabling it. The rest of the robots that witnessed the death of one of their own got scared and grabbed their fallen comrade and ran away.

“Now if you want to kill me I would recommend that you used a much bigger gun,” Airaxen suggested quietly.

“What’s...Happened to you Airaxen?” Yasosume asked again, not quite sure if she wanted to know the answer. Airaxen sat down on the floor and looked away now having stopped with his laughter.

“Anything wrong with trying to repent for my sins?” Airaxen said quietly.

“I don’t understand what you mean,” Yasosume said timidly.

“Ha, I didn’t think you’d scare so easily.” Yasosume’s eyelid began twitching at Airaxen’s comment.

“I don’t blame you thou. I’m scaring myself right now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ha, you wouldn’t understand...Tell me how did you become a hybrid?”

“Like I’d tell you.”

“That’s what I thought.” Airaxen scoffed at her and stood back up. He walked over to the opposite wall and leaned against it looking to the side.

“So why are you so screwed up in the head?” Yasosume asked again. Airaxen gave her a side glance then looked forward again.

“I’ll tell you my story if you tell me yours.” Yasosume thought for a moment then shrugged.

“Only if you stop trying to kill me...Or yourself for that matter.” Yasosume’s sudden concern merited another side glance.

“Ha, I don’t make any promises.”

“I don’t either.” Airaxen chuckled to himself and looked over at her.

“Lets just say I’m not all that I thought I was cracked up to be.” He said bluntly.

“Like I’m going to let you get off with that explanation!”

“You wouldn’t understand, you have no sense of heroism in your body! Nor do you have any dignity for that matter.”

“Try me.” Airaxen laughed at her then walked over to Yasosume, who backed away slightly.

“I’ve always known that Dimitri was my creator. But I never did know anything about my past other then that. I spent time trying to learn about it, and lucky me I’ve finally learned!” Airaxen laughed loudly again.

“That could explain all of your power, creations of Dimitri have quite the punch to them...” Yasosume muttered mostly to try and calm herself down.

“It’s bad enough to have slaughtered a million people with my bare hands but learning there is also...A creature of pure darkness residing in my body doesn’t help me much. I possess the crystal of darkness, but the darkness inside of me is actual evil...Everything I’ve believed myself to be has been a gigantic lie...To repent for my sins, prevent myself from ever killing another soul and to destroy the darkness that is in me I must die and never return to this mortal realm.” Yasosume looked over Airaxen who wasn’t able to return the glance, he was looking away disgusted by himself.

“Is that all that’s made you insane Airaxen? Well I guess it hurts more when you’re the one in the situation,” she said, trying to do something unthinkable and sympathizing but mostly because she didn’t want to be threatened repeatedly. Airaxen laughed again but much darker causing to Yasosume back away again.

“Haven’t you already repented for your sins? You’ve saved those...Humans...What’s different now that you know your past? What are you afraid of?” She inquired. Airaxen was quick to anger and let out a menacing growl, then knocked over a pile of mecha parts in a fit of rage.

“I’m...I’m afraid of myself...I’ve always had an erratic personality going from kind and gentle to dark and foreboding, but I never knew I had such...A dark side...With all of my power I pose a threat to anyone around me.” Airaxen’s demeanor changed again, he was much calmer, to the point of sadness.

“So that’s it? Killed yourself off before I got to do it myself?” Yasosume demanded of him. Airaxen chuckled weakly.

“You can still kill me, do it now I ask of you to do it!” Airaxen pleaded.

“No! I’m going to kill you yes, but only in battle! With...honor and dignity!” Yasosume declared, much to Airaxen’s surprise.

“You’re not some cold killing machine Airaxen. You might have been created by Dimitri but you still have a heart...You can’t seem to kill me so you mustn’t be all that much like what you say,” Yasosume reassured, but in turn shocked herself and Airaxen. She drew back sharply, slightly red in the face from her stupidity.

“...Thank you Yasosume,” Airaxen said quietly then sat down. Yasosume blushed a slight bit more then shook her head.

“My turn isn’t it?” She finally said to break out of the awkward moment. Airaxen nodded at her, Yasosume sighed and sat down as well.

“The only reason I’m doing this is so you won’t ask me ever again,” Yasosume stated firmly.

“Alright, lets hear it then, what’s your story?” Yasosume sighed again then cleared her throat.

“I can’t seem to picture you being a kid...Or nice for that matter,” commented Airaxen.

“Oh shut up and let me continue,” Yasosume grumbled.

“Those bastards planted explosives around my Father’s lab to try and destroy it and kill him in the process, instead they killed me,” Yasosume said with plenty of spite.

“Look at that, we’ve both died once before, got something in common,” Airaxen lowered his head at his ignorance.

“I was lucky, wasn’t extremely close to one of the explosives but the blasts and falling structure were enough to kill my brittle human body. Now stop interrupting and let me continue!”

“Something similar happened to me,” Airaxen said quietly. “As a human I was killed by an explosion, from there on in Dimitri used that human’s DNA to create his weapon.” Saying those words was like swallowing acid for Airaxen, the discomfort evident on his face. Yasosume chuckled.

“We have a lot in common albino,” Yasosume chuckled again and looked over at him. “Right, back to what I was saying.”

“That was 3 years ago, ever since then things have always been like he said. Going to ruins and taking their treasures and destroying cities like pirates.”

Airaxen laughed darkly for a moment. Yasosume blinked and looked over at him.

“What’s with you now?” She asked.

"We are weapons, created and only meant to serve as weapons. As weapons we cannot live our lives like people...No we start our life and begin on the path to our own destruction,” Airaxen said darkly. He laughed again and looked over at Yasosume.

“Sad but true, it’s our destiny,” agreed Yasosume. Airaxen laughed again, the look of insanity creeping back over his face.

“Airaxen...?” Yasosume asked. Airaxen smiled sinisterly. He began to move a hand behind his back.

“But no, they created the weapons with a soul, so they could feel pain and remorse from what they were created to do...” The Marimatsu formed and Airaxen grabbed the weapon and slowly removed it from his back.

“Airaxen...?!” Yasosume asked again but again he didn’t answer her.

“So why should weapons be made to suffer?! I see no reason, so why not END IT ALL?!” Airaxen roared. He raised the weapon and turned it around, gripped it with both hands, in the Japanese position for samurai’s to commit suicide. Yasosume’s eyes went wide and she lunged at him. Airaxen was tackled back dropping his weapon.

“STOP IT!” She screamed. Airaxen was knocked onto his back, Yasosume pinning his arms down.

“Stop it...” She whispered. Airaxen was surprised by her sudden actions. He then noticed something odd on his armor, a few small tear droplets?

“Yasosume...I’m sorry. I just can’t live with myself after such a thing...”

“Airaxen, you have to keep living. I’m the only one meant to kill you, and it’s going to be in battle, not like this. Besides, you probably have to stay around and keep that ditzy blond safe.”

“You’re right...Thank you again, I’ll remember that I guess. I can not let the darkness engulf me.”

“Yeah...Just, never mention it again,” she growled. Yasosume got off of Airaxen and turned around, wiped her eyes and turned back around.

“Alright then, now can you shut up for the rest of the time I have to leave you here?” Yasosume asked. Airaxen nodded, he had enough of his own insanity anyway.

<I should consider a way to escape now, but first I’d have to get rid of Yasosume’s little remote control. The best option I have is to destroy it, but I don’t have a weapon I could use to destroy it, at least not from my angle. I guess I’ll need to wait for an opportunity, perhaps the original blueprints are around in this orb.> Airaxen ran multiple scenarios through his head, all of which didn’t seem to be very successful. Yasosume grumbled, trying to move a set of metal crates up to one of the upper floors, but since they were full with rusted over mecha parts they were much heavier then she had thought. She had no choice but to slowly and precariously shove the crates up ramps going all the way around the orb 6 times, emitting a horrendous screeching that was like that of the banshees. Airaxen slammed his hands over his ears trying to block out the hideous noise, but to no avail.

“Ok that’s it!” Airaxen shouted now being fed up. He stood up and walked over to Yasosume and grabbed the sides of a crate, lifting it clear off the ground with relative ease.

“You’re...Pretty strong there Airaxen...” Yasosume said quietly.

“Yeah well this thing was making too much noise for my taste,” Airaxen grunted.

“Mind moving that to the top floor?”

“Sure.” Airaxen kicked off the ground and flew up to the top floor of the orb then placed the crate down over by a pile of other mecha parts. Airaxen continued this same process for the remainder of the crates.

“Thanks Air, saved me some time.” Yasosume jumped up the floors and up to the upper floor.

“...Heh.”

“What’s wrong with you now? Are you insane again?!” Yasosume demanded angrily. Airaxen shook his head and sat down on one of the crates.

“No, it’s just that it’s strange coming from you. Only Tikai calls me that,” Airaxen chuckled.

“Interesting...Right then, I can trust you to not destroy anything right Air?”

“We’ll see.” Yasosume scoffed and leapt off the floor and was about to leave the orb but paused and looked up at Airaxen for a moment.

“Hey Air, I’m heading back into town to relax and since you seem to be so much more fun why don’t you tag along?”

“Do I have