A/N: Thanks to Wyvern-Socress-Myra, ChasexJinjaForever, and KaimelartheDreamer for the reviews. This chapter is mostly just wrapping up a few people's views before we head into the final chapters (something I was going to skip actually, but decided to go with anyway).

Enjoy!

He didn't mind being alone for so long. Spending the last day with Hargrave and Dom Pyro was exhausting at times, even for the clone. He still couldn't grasp feelings and emotions properly, but it was certainly getting easier.

"I wonder when father will get here," Six said out loud as he sat on the edge of one of the cavern entrances. He had spent the past few hours exploring the area, trying to figure out what it was about this place that was so strange. Eventually, he stopped at the top of a cave that led out over the lake, well over two stories above the ground.

He looked down at Demise's core in his hand, gazing at the faint light inside. The light was nearly gone now, though he could feel the essence still fighting inside. It was a peculiar feeling to know that something was wrong with your monsuno with no way of knowing what to do. Still he wasn't as worried as he should've been.

"Maybe father will be able to tell me what is wrong with you," Six said, leaning back against the cavern wall and gazing out to the lake again. The moonlight was now shining against the surface, and he couldn't help but think about how pretty it looked. There was a flash storm earlier that day, and some of the ceiling had chipped away because of it, so there was even more light coming in then when he first arrived.

There was an echo from within the cave, and Six immediately was on alert. He knew that if it wasn't his father, then he would attack, no matter who it was. After listening intently, he found that the voices weren't approaching him at all, and were somewhere else in the giant cavern. Six peeked out from the side, seeing that four people came out of another cave that was next to the shore of the lake.

"I suppose that we'll just have to wait for them to show up," one of them said, though it was hard to tell who the people were. Six tried to lean closer to see, but knew her wouldn't be able to because of the cloaks they wore. Two of the figures were smaller, one definitely on the feminine side. One had a larger build, and may even be an adult. The last however...

Six felt a chill when looking at the last. There was something about them that was just… off. Their presence was overwhelming, and just looking at them he could feel something radiating off them...

"Suno'll definitely be here by tonight!"one that spoke before continued, "Tesserah does make a good impression of-"

"Exi," the larger interrupted, "you're being cocky again. Shut up."

The one that spoke before clicked their tongue, but shrugged.

"Fine," they said, "But you know it's true. And the second they get here, we'll grab that last monsuno and-"

A hand flew up to silence the loud one. Six felt anxious when he saw it was the last one that he got a chill from.

"I think you'll have to mind what you say," they said, "it seems that we're being listened to."

Immediately, Six hid behind the wall he was leaning on before. How did they know he was there? No one could detect his presence, not even the best S.T.O.R.M. soldiers could. And that voice… the second he heard it he knew what it was about their presence that was off. He finally knew what that feeling was just a few minutes ago.

Bloodlust.

No… That wasn't all… There was something else...

He heard footsteps, though he knew he would be fine because of where he was. They didn't seem to possess monsuno, so there was no way they could scale the wall up to the cave he was at.

"… Well?" the one of them demanded, "hurry up and come out!"

Six took a steady breath, still gripping onto Demise's core. He was alone on this one. It was strange to feel so unsure about himself, he never felt this way. After all, his father expected him to be the best, even better then Chase. There was never room for error.

'I will not lose to them. They do not frighten me,' He thought, and stood silently.

"About time you showed up!" the loud one boomed again. Six let out a small gasp, and peeked over the side to see five teens emerging from another cave to challenge the hooded figures.

"That's…!"

HLP

The large S.T.O.R.M. ship was hovering over the jungle to the east, not bothering to wait for any word about the remnants of the base. Charlemange knew very well that all her troops had evacuated (they weren't all completely useless after all), but what she did wonder was whether Suno and his little group had made it out. Either way, their next objective was to try and find Jeredy.

"… Well? What iz zey status?" she asked, crossing her arms as a few of the troops furiously worked at the computers.

"It seems that there is nothing left of the base, Ma'am," one of them said, "it's as if the whole base was consumed by a black hole."

She put a hand under her chin in thought. This was most likely the work of Dr. Tallis. She had gotten reports of a town disappearing in the same suit, though she dismissed that as some sort of negative reaction to monsuno essence.

"However," the soldier continued, "it seems that multiple monsuno were spotted by the remainder troops. Some of them being those of Core Tech."

Charlemange let out a huff. Of course Suno's group made it out. They were lucky after all.

"Iz that all," she asked, "Otherwise, start our course to the northeast. There have been reports of Jeredy Suno in that direction-"

"Hold on Ma'am," another soldier interrupted.

"What iz it?"

"Two of the monsuno that were spotted appeared to neither be Core Tech or Eklipse technology. In fact, there was no technology."

She stared for a moment, "What are you saying? That zere are natural monsuno out zere still?"

The soldier hesitated (typical reaction), so another spoke up, "It seems that the monsuno that were fighting had no discernible marks or colors that could be identified. What's more, these monsuno's energy levels are off the charts! Not to mention the physical differences they have compared to regular monsuno."

The commandant thought for a moment. It seems that the information that Dr. Tallis gave wasn't faulty after all. Maybe there was some truth to it. Regardless, that wasn't their focus. Not with Suno still running around.

"Send out any samples, pictures, or records to the research bay of zes 'rogue monsuno'," Charlemange commanded, "We'll look into zee matter, but it won't be priority."

"Yes Ma'am!"

She looked over as the rest of the troops started to work furiously.

"Now," she said, "WHERE IZ COMMANDER TREY?!"

The door flew open, with said commander stumbling through in a flustered manner.

"H-here ma'am."

"Where 'ave you been?! I expected you to report back well over an hour ago!"

Commander Trey was taken back a bit by her shouting, but stood his ground anyway, "I'm afraid I was in the sick bay since we left the base. Me, as well as a few others, were injured on the way out while encountering a group of thugs who snuck into the base."

Charlemange raised a suspicious brow, thinking that it was Suno's group he was speaking of. But that was preposterous that those five would take out Commander Trey and most of the soldiers, "Who exactly were these thugs?"

"Dr. Tallis' group."

She clicked her tongue in annoyance. First he sends S.T.O.R.M. information, then infiltrates their base. What was this guy planning? Whatever. She didn't have time for this.

"Regardless," she said, then turned back to the rest of her troops, "We'll still head up towards the-"

She was cut off by alerts given off the computers, many of them causing the screens to flash brightly. All the soldiers immediately went to work to find out what was wrong. Before Charlemange could give another command, the ship made a jolting lurch to the side, making all of them loose their footing.

"What iz going on?!" She demanded, holding onto the railing as the ship veered to its side even more.

"It seems that the monsuno energy levels are going off the charts!" one of the soldiers exclaimed, "We can't locate where it's coming from, but its causing a disturbance in the atmospheric pressure!"

The ship creaked, and once again tilted to the side. The troops scrambled about, trying to get it to even out. The commandant grit her teeth in anger at this new nuisance.

"Fine," she huffed under her breath, then announced to the rest of them,"Set a course for zee eastern base closest to use. We'll 'ave to land zere."

As soon as they would land, she would get to the bottom of whatever this spike in monsuno energy was. Though one thing was for certain. It most likely revolved around Chase Suno.

HLP

"We were really wondering when you would finally stop following us," the cocky figure said as the five teens stepped out of the dark cave into the dimly lit space, although the moonlight on the lake made it slightly easier to see. The lead of the five teens smirked.

"Well. It's always smart to assess your enemy before making a move," the red haired teen leading the group said, crossing his arms. None of them made an immediate move, merely staring off.

"You sure this was a good idea Alpha?" Kilo whispered to their leader, "I mean, we don't even know who these creeps are. Or what they have to do with those rogue monsuno."

"I'll figure it out as we go," the leader responded. He usually had a plan when going into danger, but it never hurt to do things on the fly. At least, that's what he hoped.

After they had followed the monsuno for what felt like hundreds of miles, the Strike Squad found the entrance to an underground labyrinth. Strangely enough, the wolf monsuno urged them to go inside. Alpha had a feeling that it was too big to fit inside, but that there was something important that they had to see. It was strange how much he understood from the monsuno without actually speaking to it.

"I see. You're all from S.T.O.R.M.," one of the figures said in a serious tone, "I suggest the five of you leave now. Otherwise, you won't be leaving here alive."

That last statement made the five of them flinch, though Alpha stood his ground. He was never one to back out of a fight, especially ones he didn't initiate. Not to mention this unnerving feeling he got while looking at the four. Maybe it was in the way they stood or talked, but there was just something different about them...

One of them, the cocky sounding one from before, let out a dramatic sigh, "I suppose I'll deal with these five. I doubt they'll put up much of a-"

"No, Exi," the serious one from before said, "You'll be needed when Suno arrives. Triah will take care of them."

The larger of the four figures stepped forward. Alpha nearly talked back at the thought of a one-on-five fight, as if it were an insult to the Strike Squad's abilities. He, however, held back his tongue as the person in front of them gave off a menacing feeling. They stretched out for a second before speaking.

"I was wondering whether I would get a warm up before Suno," they said, "though I'm sure it won't be for as long as I would wish."

Before any of them could respond, the person vanished and rubble and debris went flying through the air, as if a bomb went off right under their feet. Alpha held his arms out in a defensive stance, and could hardly see through the dust. When he turned back to try and find the rest of the Squad, he was met by a tremendous force that knocked the breath out of him. As soon as he tried to get his footing, he was slammed back against the wall by his throat.

"Interesting. You seem to have the monsuno sight as well," The hooded person said as Alpha struggled against their vice-like grip, "I wonder if we handed you over, you would be a successful test subject-"

"Get off him!"

The person holding him was gone, tackled to the ground by Bravo. Alpha collapsed to his knees, trying to take a breath, but coughing against the dust still in the air. He looked ahead to see both Bravo and Kilo struggling to fight against the large figure. Alpha looked over to see the other three figures watching, though hardly doing even that.

'Aren't they going to call out monsuno? Surely that would be an easier victory,' Alpha thought, then took hold of Tripwire's core.

"Tripwire, launch!" he shouted, then threw the core as hard as he could at one of the large stalagmites. The sparks weren't as bright as before as it spun, and Alpha could only watch in anticipation as it hit the wall.

He let out a gasp. The metal hit with a small 'thud', and fell uselessly to the ground.

"What?!" He exclaimed.

"Oh! Nice try there!" the figure with the cocky voice chirped, going over and picking up the core. They tossed it absently as if it were just a toy, "Too bad monsuno can't stand this place!"

Both Bravo and Kilo were thrown off to the side, and the large figure stood over them. They cracked their neck a bit, before turning back to Alpha.

"This seriously can't be all you can do without monsuno," they sighed, then turned back to the red-haired teen.

"Alpha!"

Both Tango and X-Ray jumped out of the dust from behind the person. Alpha reached for his belt for something to use, but froze as the two of them were swept aside by an unknown force, slamming them into the wall. As the dust cleared, Alpha could see that it was some sort of black tentacle. A monsuno…?! Where?

He froze as he saw that the tentacle was coming from the sleeve of the person's cloak. Was the monsuno in there? He let out a gasp as the appendage shrunk down into a regular arm. The hooded person flexed their hand before turning to Alpha.

"Silly children," the large figure said as they stalked over to Alpha, "Did you really think simple combat could take us on?"

Before he could get close, X-Ray threw out a smoke bomb, making cover for them to escape.

"Alpha! We need to regroup!" Tango shouted, running over to Bravo and Kilo. Snapping out of his daze, the red-haired teen nodded but stopped when he remembered that the other figure had Tripwire's core.

"Go into the caves and wait for me!" He called out to his team, and ran in the direction that he threw the core. He could hear a commotion happening, and knew that the smoke bomb had probably filled the whole area the nine of them were in.

"Oh! Do you think Triah will be able to get them now?"

"Doesn't matter, they're not important."

"But what about the- Ah!"

The sound of someone falling was heard, and Alpha crouched down and moved slowly towards the sound, knowing that he could probably take one of them down if he could catch them off guard.

"Exi. I told you to stop fooling around."

"Hey. It's not my fault this place is so dank and dark!"

Alpha saw a glimmer of metal nearby, and crawled over underneath the cover of the smoke to see Tripwire's core. The person - Exi- had probably dropped it. As he reached for it, something else caught his eye. Not much farther away was a glowing green stone, one he thought he wouldn't ever see.

The Crystal of Tav Kagah.

A/N: Review Review Review!