Chapter 6

Back to the stalactic cave under the sand, Bart and Fei have both been marching around in their Gears, searching for a way out. In a distant wall, they find a giant boulder, blocking a once, entrance way. Bart is curious.

"My sensors detect what appears to be a huge cave on the other side of here. If we could only do something about this boulder...But I doubt we can just smash it to pieces!"

"I guess we could try pushing it..." Fei inquires, as he begins using Weltall to push on the boulder. Bart scoffs at the idea,

"Wait, no matter how you look at it..." He stops talking, as he sees Fei successfully moving the boulder before him.

"What the heck are you doing? Hurry up and help!"

"Oh, right." Bart moves quickly to push on the boulder with Fei. They are successful, as the boulder tips over and falls down below. The entranceway to an even larger cave is now revealed.

"We can get by if we help eachother." Fei says, as he jumps his way into the larger cave.

"Let's keep it up so we can get out of here."

Bart is following directly behind Fei, and suddenly sighs,

"The hydromechanic pipe for my knee joint is on the verge of breaking down. It's all because of that fall from the ceiling...followed by pushing this mega-colossal boulder. It won't be funny if my Gear malfunctions in a huge cavern like this."

Fei looks over to Bart,

"Your friends won't come and help us?"

"It'd be a waste of time waiting. They probably won't come."

"But, aren't they your friends!?" Fei gasps, Bart explains.

"We believe in a liberal upbringing. They'll assume we can escape by ourselves."

Fei is confused by this way of thinking, and continues to wonder to himself about his freind.

"I wonder if doc is okay."

"Don't worry about the man you were with. I'm sure our guys saved him by now."

Fei stays silent for a moment, in his mech.

"What is it?" Bart asks,

"...We wouldn't have fallen in here if you had only listened to me."

Bart jolts back in his seat in offence to this,

"Don't blame it on me! You should've surrendered instead of challenging me. All I wanted was your Gear."

"Don't be ridiculous! You're the one who blindly attacked me. What else was I supposed to do? I thought I might die if I didn't fight you."

Bart scoffs loudly,

"I was taking it easy on you. Couldn't you tell? Then you're a bit dense."

"Don't lie to me. I know you were serious." Fei's eyes light up, and Bart snaps.

"What! You want some!? Let's have it out! Right here!"

Fei proceeds to just turn Weltall around and walk away to find another exit, rejecting Bart entirely.

"Wait! Settling it right here comes first! I won't be able to get anything done until we settle this once and for all!"

Fei looks back and yells over to him,

"I thought you wanted a truce for now? Getting out of here should come first! Once we're out of here. Then I'll fight you all you want. Let's hurry up and move on out of here!"

Bart makes a loud grunt, and begins catching up to Fei in his Gear,

"I don't like you very much...Damn it! I'll get you when we get outta here."

Fei chuckles a little bit, as the boy he now travelling with, is with is very tempermental and hot headed.

The two young men are still travelling through the rather large cave, and they notice as they get deeper, the cave begins to glow in green overtones. Making the stalactites look as if they are sparkling. As the hike begins to get to the half hour mark, Bart notices a small openeing in a nearby wall, the opening isn't large enough to fit Gears though, so as the two make their way towards the alcove, they climb down their red and blue Gears, and proceed to find out what awaits them.

Inside the small alcove, Fei and Bart are led to a quick surprise, as they notice the entranceway they just entered, was actually a doorway to a small cavern home. With clothes hanging from clothes hangars, a single bed, a dining table, and many other household appliances.

"Hey, Fei! This is a surprise! There's someone living in this place!"

Bart notices an elderly fellow, beggining to walk over to the entranceway, where the two stand. The old man beckons them to come on over. The cavern home has a cozy feel, as there is a small fire lit, and many carpets, laying down on the floor. The old man looks to Fei and Bart,

"Hmm, it's been a while, but I thought I could hear the sound of Gears. I assume they are yours?"

The man has many wrinkles, and very long, thick grey hair and eyebrows. He gives off an impression of intelligence. The old man coughs into his sleeve before he starts conversing.

"Well anyway, come on back in here and make yourself at home."

Fei and Bart exchange confused looks, as they wonder why an old man is doing living alone in a deserted cave. They walk towards the living area of the cavern, following the old man, and resume to stand in a triangle formation, all giving eachother their attention.

"It's been a long time since my last visitor. What happened? Did you fall from the surface?"

Bart scratches his head,

"I guess that's it." The old man chuckles at the response,

"I see...That's too bad. I can tell from the sound, that you both ride good Gears...But the legs seem to be playing up a bit."

Fei is amazed at the man's knowledge of Gears,

"You mean, you can tell what's wrong just by the sound of it's footsteps?"

"Ha ha ha. It's easy to know what's wrong with Gears by the sounds they make. My guess is that one of them needs a new hydromechanic pipe in its joints. It's making a nasty sound. It must be hard to walk with too."

The man suddenly stops, and proceeds to walk over to the two young men and extend his hand,

"Oh, by the way, the name's Balthazar, but you can call me Ol'man Bal." He gives the two a friendly smile.

Bart shakes the mans hand and is impressed at his knowledge as well.

"Oh yeah? So looks like we've got a real fanatic here, huh! What's an old man like you doing in a place like this?"

Balthazar claps his hands together,

"I guess you can call me a 'fossicker' or a 'collector of things'. There is much to be found lying around in this here stalactite cavern."

"A collector, huh? Sounds interesting." Bart sounds ecstatic, as per usual. He begins to look around at the mans various belongings that are set up on his walls.

"The things on this shelf, are they some of the stuff you have found?"

"You mean the fossils? They're one of the things I collect. Feel free to have a look at them."

Ol'man Bal beckons the two over to a shelf in the back room of his cavern, on display is many different skulls of many different shapes and sizes.

"Around here, you can dig up ancient machines along with human and animal fossils. Notice anything particular on these shelves? They go from oldest on the left, to newest on the right."

"Are you an archaeologist or something, old man? I don't quite see what you're talking about. They just look like a bunch of old bones to me. Fei, what do you think?" He looks over to Fei in anticipation. Fei begins examining the shelf before him,

"...Let me see. First, there are no human bones up to here. Then, from here on over to the right, something is slightly different...I guess." He takes his wild guess, Balthazar resumes to explain himself.

"Yes, from a certain point in time, human fossils suddenly no longer appear. That point is roughly 10,000 years ago."

Bart tilts his head in confusion,

"What does that mean?"

"Don't ask me. I don't know for sure...But my guess is, there were no humans on this planet, before then. At least it appears so."

Bart gasps in shock, towards the mans assumption of humans only existing here for 10,000 years, and no longer.

"How could that be? What about all that talk about evolution?"

Balthazar scoffs at the annotation.

"You mean the theory of evolution as taught by the Ethos Religion, right? You can't trust that! Rather, I believe in the old Legends and Myths."

Fei's eyes light up in curiosity,

"Legends? Myths?"

"Haven't you heard of this story...?" Balthazar coughs into his hand, and continues,

"They say that humans and God lived together in a paradise in the sky. With God's protection, there was no fear of death, and natural disasters were entirely unknown. Then one day, the humans ate a forbidden fruit, which gave them incredible wisdom. But God drove mankind from the paradise for their sin. Bitter at having been driven out of paradise, humans used the wisdom they had gained to make giants. With these giants, they planned to challenge God himself. But God poured his wrath down on them. All who defied God were destroyed. But God himself did not escape unharmed. Taking paradise with him, the wounded God buried himself deep beneath the ocean to sleep for eons. Before going to sleep, God used his remaining power to create right-hearted humans to live on this planet. These people are said to be...Our ancestors."

The old man clears his throat, from the excessive storytelling.

"Well, anyway, I'll stop my rambling now."

Fei and Bart both stand before Ol'man Bal, shook, as they have never heard such tales be spoken in their entire lives. Fei shakes his head for a second to clear his head,

"By the way, does this cave have..."

"An exit?" Ol'man Bal interrupts Fei immediately,

"There is an exit in the excavation site beyond the sand barrier. You can get outside through there."

Bart is pleased to hear the news.

"Sand barrier? You mean that huge wall you can see from your entrance?"

Fei looks to Bart in confusion, as he did not see that wall himself. The old man continues,

"Yes, that's it. On the other side is an old Aveh excavation site. They built the wall when Aveh was excavating here to keep the sand from falling in from above. But they've stopped work there now."

"So, how do we open such a huge thing like that?" Fei asks, Bart steps up to answer this time.

"If it's a wall, you can probably break it down."

Ol'man Bal gasps at the notion,

"Hold your horses there young'uns. No matter how good a Gear you have, you'll never break that wall down. It's much too strong. So...let's make a deal."

"A deal!?" Bart is intrigued.

"The wall was closed due to the reaction of the 'Sand Sensors'. Thanks to that, now I can't get through to the other side either. Maybe they were triggered when you two fell in here. Were you boys fighting up there or something!?"

Fei steps back and gasps,

"You seem to be able to tell everything! Anyway, so what can we do about it?"

"It's very simple. You just have to turn off the Sand Sensor switches, that you turned on as a result of falling down here. Doing that will keep the barrier from closing again. While you two are doing that, I'll open it up."

"Right, got it!" Fei exclaims,

"The sensors are in two places. You should see their flashing red lights. Well, good luck then."

"Let's go Bart." Fei beckons over to Bart, who is still fascinated by the old man before him. The old man interupts once again as they are about to leave,

"I can share some parts and fuel with you. Just talk to me whenever you need something, alright."

Bart smiles over to him on his way out of the cozy home,

"Thanks, old man. Well, we'll go and finish our part of the deal then!"

With that, the two young men proceed to make their way out into the larger cave, where there Gears currently reside. Fei and Bart give each other subtle nods, as they both climb into their respective red and blue Gears. The two decided that the best course of action, would be to split up, and both find a sand sensor switch, and meet back with Ol'man Bal when they are done.

The mission goes smoothly, as Bart is the first one back to the cavern home, with Fei following shortly behind him. Finding the sensors was no problem, as they were glowing red on the walls of the larger green glowing cavern, as well as having Gears, to protect themselves from any cave monsters that could cause potential trouble, if unarmed.

Back inside the warm cavern home, Fei and Bart run over to Balthazar, who is still observing his fossil and machine collection. He notices the two boys,

"Oh, good timing. I was just about to open up the sand barrier now."

He beckons the two to go back outside into the larger cave. The wall that they are trying to open, is a giant, rusty, steel gate, that acts as an opening and closing, to the entire cave. On the other side of the wall, are the excavation ruins, where the Ethos and many others, are currently digging, for ancient lost Gear parts. The gate acts as a safety mechanism, if sand was to ever flood the entire cave, the sand sensors would activate, and close the gate. Keeping any and all sand away from flooding the excavation ruins as well.

The two watch as the giant rusty steel door, screeches open, as Balthazar has now activated the sand barrier. The two are amazed at the sight, and run back inside, to go see Balthazar once more before they leave in their Gears.

"Well done, old man!" Fei yells out in excitement, as they are no longer trapped.

"Our deal is done." Ol'man Bal says in a raspy tone. Bart steps in,

"Hey, old man. There's one thing I want to ask you."

"What is it?" The old man is highly intrigued. Bart scratches his head before starting,

"I've heard somewhere on this planet is a Gear far superior to all others. I've heard it was called 'The God Gear' and was made in ancient times, but hidden away somewhere. Do you know anything about it?"

The old man sighs,

"A man-made God, created with the wisdom of God! Such a Gear would have the power of a thousand Gears. In a wave of its arm, it could destroy whole cities. It's battle cries would thunder in the heavens."

He proceeds to give a serious look to Bart,

"You must be speaking of the 'OmniGear'."

"You know of it!?" Bart gasps,

"Then perhaps it was what you were speaking about in that tale you told us of the battle with God..."

Ol'man Bal is surprised by Bart's sudden belief.

"Goodness gracious, you too, boy? Those stories were made to inspire man's soul. But they're just legends. They don't really exist." He continues to nod towards the exit of his cavern home,

"Anyway, allow me to take a look at your Gears. It'll only take a little while, so wait here please."

"Hey wait!" Bart calls out to the man who is now gone,

"Arhh, he's gone..."

Fei and Bart continue to head to the living room of the hut, and sit down as they wait for Balthazar to be done with their Gears.

"Hey Bart. Do you think the Gear in that story's buried in the ground somewhere?"

Fei asks Bart, as they are sitting across from each other, on one of the many carpets.

"I think that's what I've heard."

"Could one of the Gears we are using possibly be it?" Fei says with a more serious tone,

"Yeah, right! What are the chances of that happening?"

"?" Fei gives Bart a confused look, Bart explains.

"The Gears that are excavated lately...are usually only a few hundred years old. Nowhere nearly as old as the Gear in that legend."

"Then why were they in the ground...?"

"I don't know. There are no records. Except..."

"Except what?" Fei interrupts him, Bart shoots a sharp look at him and continues,

"There must be some truth in the tales that they were buried after a great war...The bullet wounds covering most of the Gear's armor would appear to confirm that."

"You mean that there are no records from the last several hundred years? How about before that?"

"None from either period. The 'Ethos' controls all the records from that time period. Maybe they have some very ancient records too...All we know about our history is from the little pieces that we find ourselves."

Bart jumps up out of his sitting position, and stands up tall,

"Anyway Fei, what do you make of the old man?"

Fei looks up at Bart, as he is still sitting.

"What do you mean...?"

"Why would such an old man live all alone in this abandoned cave?"

Fei shrugs to himself,

"I don't know. Probably digging for ancient Gears or something?"

Bart turns around and crosses his arms together,

"Right! So you think so too?"

"Hey! I just said that as a joke. Don't take all that stuff seriously. They're only legends, you know."

Bart shakes his head,

"No...that old man is up to somethi..."

"This can't be..." Bart is immediately cut off by Ol'man Bal who is entering the house.

Fei stands up immediately and both him and Bart pay full attention to the old man.

"What's wrong, old man?" Bart asks impatiently,

"Is this your Gear!?" The old man points outside the doorway, to Weltall standing there.

"Well, sort of..." Fei speaks up,

"Where did you get it?"

"I'm just borrowing it."

Balthazar now has a serious tone on his face, and begins to talk in a dark and quiet tone,

"This is...The host for the spirit of the slayer of God..."

Fei jolts immediately to the insane remark.

"Wait a moment! What did you just say?"

The old man turns around, away from the two.

"Nothing. I didn't say anything!"

"No! I heard you! You said, slayer of God..." Fei scoffs,

"That's what you said, isn't it old man!"

"Your Gears are fixed. You have no more business here. This is a bad time for me. Be on your way!" Balthazar continues to dodge the topic.

"Be on our way...? Listen here, old man...!"

Outside the small little cavern home, Fei and Bart head back into their respective Gears, after saying their farewells. and thank you's to their new acquaintance, Balthazar. The two have now had the repairs they needed on their Gears to move forward, and out of the large cave. First, they must head through the gate they opened, and then through the excavation site.

Making it through into the excavation site, the two proceed to around many different holes that have been dug, and see many different types of materials laying about the cavern floor. It is clear that digging has been done in these parts.

Coming up to where they finally see a light in the distance, the exit to the cave, the two are immediately excited, and charge there Gears for the exit.

Unfortunately, they are immediately put to a halt. As a huge, beefy, round looking grey Gear has approached. It seems to be a special model as well, nothing to mess around with. It is called Calamity. Bart and Fei give each other nods from their cockpits. Weltall assumes his martial arts poses, and Barts red Gear, brings out his giant metal whips. The two are ready to fight.

Calamity puts up a rather tough fight, as it can fly around, and with its large body, charge into the two with great force. The two prove themselves to be the superior opponent though, as Calamity is dropped to its knees. Bart begins cheering wildly in his red Gear,

"Hah! What an idiot. Trying to scare us with all show and no power, eh, Fei!"

Fei remains silent for a moment, Bart speaks back up,

"Anyway...looks like that's the exit. So it'll soon be adios to this old cavern!"

Bart begins to turn his Gear around, and make way for the exit. He is soon interrupted though, as Calamity has stood back up quickly before Bart could notice, and proceeds to pummel his Gear.

"!?" Fei looks to Bart in a panic, who is now on the ground,

"What the...!?"

"Get out of the way, Bart!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Fei runs up to the Calamity, and begins sending wildly powerful punches at its chest area, it looks almost as if there is a shadow of mist, seeping out of both of Weltalls Fists, as Fei pummels Calamity, into an giant, fiery explosion. Calamity didn't stand a bit of a chance against the punches, and Bart cheers in amazement from his Gear.

"Wooh! What the hell did you just do?"

Fei proceeds to still stay silent. Bart yells out anyways,

"Hey!"

"...huh?" Fei says quietly from inside Weltall. Bart scoffs at Fei,

"What do you mean 'huh'!? What in blazes was that!?...Don't you know?"

"...No, I err,...I don't know."

"That was incredible! You just blew that huge thing to pieces! Why didn't you use that technique a bit earlier?"

Fei begins to feel extremely flustered, as he wants to answer Barts begging questions, but doesn't know the answers himself.

"...I don't know that technique...I have no idea how I even did it!"

Bart calms down a little bit, and begins to shrug,

"Hmm. Oh well, I guess that doesn't matter. Anyway...Thanks for helping me out!"

Fei continues to reside in silence for a few more moments, until Bart steps in again,

"So, now that we've got rid of that nuisance, let's get out of here, eh, Fei!" Fei continues to stay silent, but the both of them begin their walking once again, hoping to not be interrupted again, as they're becoming excited to finally exit this cave.

Upon getting closer to the bright light standing before them, that is the exit. They begin to see the sprawling desert before their eyes, with the blue sky shining and the sun beating down on the hot sand, and mountains decorating the not so distant background. The two give out a massive sigh inside their red and blue Gears, as they are finally free.

"Wow...I never thought we'd end up here..." Bart gasps.

"Where are we?" Fei inquires, as he stares off into the distance,

"You see the twin mountains way over there? That's where Bledavik, the Royal Capital City of Aveh, and Fatima Castle are located. Currently, there's no King living there though. Anyway, that's my old home town."

Fei has a distant look in his eyes from the remark,

"Home town..."

"I'd like to go ahead and settle our dispute but...considering how close we are to the Capital of Aveh, we'd probably get caught."

Fei remains silent, as he annoyingly recalls their fight that caused them to sink below the desert sand in the first place.

"Hey, stop looking so glum, chum." Bart exclaims, as he notices Fei's recent silence. He proceeds to get Fei's attention in Weltall, and point him in another direction in the distance, where his giant grey sand submarine resides.

"I guess I'll have to get you back to your friend soon, or you might die from worrying or something. Anyway, the rendezvous point with the Yggdrasil is right over there. Don't worry, you'll be meeting your friend in no time at all."