A/N: I just felt like writing a depressed story and Ryo is the brunt of my muse's wandering... It has a surprise ending though... Enjoy my madness, and REVIEW!!

Ryo felt as though the entire world had been dropped on his chest. The weight was almost more than he could bear, the thought of losing her… She was so precious, so beautiful…She had been his light in the darkness, helped him to go beyond himself, do great things.

Torn apart, piece by piece, cruelly destroyed by the robots. He would never be able to let her go… never. She'd completed him, empowered him, and now she was gone…

Memories flew by. The many times they'd escaped danger together, barely making it out of situations alive… this time, there had been no barely. She was gone, forever.

Taking a deep shuddering breath, Ryo clenched his fist, staring angrily at the wall in front of him, eyes not moving, jaw muscles tightened, teeth clenched. They killed her. My beloved, beautiful girl and they killed her, He thought, tears pooling beneath his eyelids.

They'd done so much together, had so many good times. And now, all he had were those memories. Not even a thing to remember her by.

The robots would pay for this. Over and over again.

Standing, Ryo stepped out of his room, preparing for the inevitable. He wouldn't even get time to mourn her either. Sentai Fortress was being destroyed as he stood here, and she was gone also, all in one fell swoop.

Brushing his eyes angrily, Ryo choked back a sob. It just wasn't fair!

He walked down the hall, barely able to suppress his emotions. Hikaru came around a corner, looking beaten, broken, defeated. Ryo felt far worse than Hikaru, he was sure.

Seeing the techie, Hikaru's eyes widened. "I'm sorry," he whispered softly, touching the Engineer's shoulder. "I know how much it hurts…"

Ryo turned away. "I don't want to talk about it," He said gruffly, trying to choke back the emotion clogging his throat.

Hikaru nodded gently. "I know how important… I'm sorry," He said, quickly heading to his own quarters.

As the fellow Exo-Force pilot hurried down the hall, Ryo heard the wail of a red alert alarm go off. Come and take me, he thought at the robots angrily. You've already destroyed one of the most important things in my life.

Then his communicator crackled to life. "Ryo, we need you in the lab-- and you need to leave soon... no, now!"

"It should take the robots at least a few more hours," Ryo snapped. "Let them come."

"No. I'm sending you to search for the Golden City," Sensei Keiken said, staring at the young Engineer through the communicator with slight concern. He cringed as an explosion rocked all of Sentai Fortress.

"Oh, now that she's gone we're going to search for the city!" Ryo snapped. "What am I supposed to do without her?!"

"Ryo, I know…she… meant a lot to you. But we don't have time for this now!" Sensei Keiken shook his head, feeling for the boy. But they didn't have time...

"Yes sir," Ryo said miserably, turning off the communicator. Sighing, he stared blankly into space for a moment. She was gone… his beloved girl… Sensei was right. He needed to do this later. Right now there was a crisis. But still, Ryo couldn't help allowing one tear to trickle down his cheek.

The Mobile Defense Tank was gone…and nothing would ever bring her back.