Chapter Twenty: The End of the Beginning

Renton traversed the hallways heading for his old room where Mischa said his board was, It's probably too small by now, he thought as he reached the door and tugged it open. He gaped slightly upon the sight of his old room, he couldn't remember the last time he saw his room, but if memory served at all it hadn't changed a bit in the past year. It was a small room, about the size of the two bunks in Eureka's room arranged end to end, and at the far side of the room was a round window overlooking the left wing of the Gekko-Go, his sleeping bag lay rolled up at the base of the right wall from the door and on the other wall leaned his ref board, it seemed as though someone had been taking good care of it while he was gone. He grabbed the board and jogged out of the room, Eureka, wait for me, the thought of her face hit him hard and he sped up, reaching the airlock in a record time of thirty-two seconds.

"About time, you ready?" asked Dominic as Renton slid to a halt,

"Yeah," replied Renton as Dominic turned the wheel mounted on the wall, opening the hatch. The wind pushed in, blowing both of the two's hair upwards, "Where's Mischa?"

A grave look crossed Dominic's face, "The 606 just returned to the Gekko, apparently the 808 was destroyed by another Nirvash look alike and Hilda's injured, Mischa has to take a look at her."

"Nirvash look alike?"

"Yeah, they're calling this one the typeANGEL, I've never heard of it before, I never even heard that it was in development."

"Never mind, which way is Holland?"

"Straight ahead, twelve O' Clock"

"Alright I'm off." With this Renton jumped through the opening and out of the Gekko-Go, he looked around to survey his surroundings, I can… he thought, looking around, strange faint, transparent, white, streaming lines were visible all around him, She was right, I can see the waves! Sweet! He threw his board under his feet milliseconds before hitting one of the larger wavy white streams and jetting forward at a speed he hardly thought possible, and cutting up and to the left just before the end of the wave to catch another, even bigger one, surprising himself with his own incredible reflexes. This is so sweet! Eureka, I'll be there in no time, just wait, Eureka! Wait for me!

Holland coughed as he forced open the crumpled hatch of his broken 909 and looked up at the gigantic green and white LFO looming over him, and chuckled, "I never did like you, but I didn't think it would come to this." He said, wiping blood from his forehead before it could reach his eyes.

The LFO raised its left arm, and pointed a wrist mounted laser cannon directly at Holland, the cockpit opened and Tyler stood up, "Finally time to end this? It's been fun…" he said down towards the ragged man, "Don't worry, Eureka will not be harmed, I'll make sure of it… I'll definitely make sure of that."

"Is that what this was about? Do you think Eureka is being harmed?"

there was a short silence, "…No… This is to prevent harm from befalling another. To be honest, if Renton hadn't reminded me of the pain of losing someone so close…" his eyes thinned as painful thoughts filled his mind, "…I probably wouldn't have gone though with this…" Tyler shook his recently trimmed hair instinctively, composing himself, "But we've talked too long, it's time to end it."

Tyler sat back down and closed the cockpit, he pressed a few buttons and pulled a lever and the cannon began to charge, Holland scanned the area for cover but there was nothing but the broken 909.

Holland blinked, a faint swishing could be heard from somewhere above and he looked towards the sky to see a distant object closing in quickly silhouetted by a mess of green and white spark-like objects. 606, Matthieu? It's about damn time, he's always… he trailed off as the object drew nearer, That's not an LFO, thought Tyler, watching the object that could now be easily recognized as, Renton… thought Holland and Tyler simultaneously, Renton… thanks, thought Tyler with a smile as he shifted the cannon to face Renton and fired.

What's that? A laser? Thought Renton as he watched the pink projectile come nearer and nearer, it was clearly a laser, but it seemed to move so slowly. Renton swerved to the side and easily avoided it, he watched as it passed him, and circled around it, examining it on all sides, suddenly he was past it, and he looked back down towards the giant LFO from which it had originated, then towards the wreckage of the 909, then towards Holland, he grinned slightly, though he didn't know why. So you're the one, he thought, shifting his gaze back towards the green and white Nirvash look alike, his smile turned to a frown and he upped his pace and sped towards it, "Where's EUREKA?"

Part One End