Rex rounded another corner as the lights directed him closer and closer to where Klaus wanted him to go. The whole while Rex gripped the Aegis sword as if his life depended on it. He was not a normally vengeful person, but if he hurt them, then he did not know what he would do.

"Why are you doing this, Klaus?" Rex asked as he passed another metallic door that looked like the last, "What happened?"

A sinister sounding laugh came over the speakers, "Why should I explain myself to someone like you?"

"Something's not right," Rex checked the next room before entering, "You seem like an entirely different person." Rex stopped in his tracks as realization dawned on him, "You're the other half, aren't you? The one from the other world."

"Bravo. Took you long enough, boy."

"But how?" Rex started moving again, "How could you be here?"

"You were not the only one to travel back in time."

"What?"

"Our worlds were and are linked like no others. It was this rift that made your little stunt possible in the first place. After being betrayed by a rebellious glorified flash drive, I was on the verge of defeat. Until I noticed the rift in time that you were using to go back. I decided to hitch a ride as well taking over that tired old man's body. So in a way, I suppose I should thank you for this new lease on life."

"You…those nightmares I kept having, they had something to do with you, didn't they?"

"I suppose that it's possible that your subconscious could have picked up on a few bits of my world."

"So this…this is all our fault?"

"A large part at least. Though, it was a boon for me. I had thought this world destroyed. Why rule over a tiny pocket dimension when there is a universe to rule?" That familiar insanity started creeping back into his voice that Rex now recognized from those dreams.

"Rule the universe? Are you crazy?"

"With the Conduit at my fingertips, who's going to stop me? You? I may be lacking some of my power here, but I make up for it with my sheer genius with proper equipment."

"If I have to, yeah," Rex replied defiantly.

A cold laughter greeted Rex in response which continued as the driver entered the room where Klaus waited for him, "You may try."

"Rex!" Pyra called out from her confinement, but her voice could not reach him. She banged on the material sealing her inside, but it was no use. She could not help him. She was helpless.

"Let them go, Klaus!" Rex demanded as he brandished the Aegis sword which had not changed to Pyra's version despite Pyra being active.

"Please, I long outgrew that name. You may refer to me as Zanza while you grovel!" The mad scientist declared from the elevated platform in the center of the room. Underneath Pyra was contained in a narrow cell. Notably, he was looking far more whole than Rex remembered.

"I don't care what your name is, I won't let you hurt Pyra or Mythra!"

"So attached to them," Zanza dismissed, "How nauseating. Like that pathetic man who wore my face. He had all this power, and he sat around with a disfigured body. I'll never understand those who have power and yet refuse to use it."

"Yes, I am attached to them, and I won't let you use them!" Rex yelled as he charged forward only for an energy barrier to block every blow he made at the control station.

"Is that all you got?" Zanza laughed, "Different world, same story it seems. Don't you realize how that without the processor, you are just a kid? At least the hom had help from my greatness, but you? What are you?"

"And what about you?" Rex panted as he relentlessly attacked the barrier, "What are you without the Conduit?"

"A genius beyond your comprehension," Zanza replied dryly, "Now enough games." With the press of a button, a directed pulse knocked the Aegis sword out of Rex's hands before another hit him in the chest knocking him to the wall.

"Rex!" Pyra called once again to no avail while Zanza pressed another button to pull Malos' fallen core crystal toward him.

"There, was that so hard?" He asked rhetorically as he held up the purple crystal, "Hopefully this one is in a more usable state. Took years to develop those AIs and he just formatted two of them so carelessly. At least it's in one piece."

"Ngh," Rex pulled himself up, "I'm not…not done yet."

Zanza rolled his eyes, "Your persistence might be seen as a virtue by some, but what good does keeping up this fight do you? What do you think you can even do on your own?"

"Heh, you know…I'm a blade eater, right? Never really tried all that much, but…blade eaters get some of the powers of the blade they share a core with," Rex let out a tired smile as the third Aegis sword began forming in his waiting hand, "Guess…in a way…I'm sort of an Aegis too now, ain't I?"

Zanza raised a brow in mild interest. Admittedly, that was something that piqued his interest if just slightly. "Alright. I got a little time."

Rex's eyes went wide as the energy pulses aimed for him again, but this time he was able to evade them just barely. He had to do that several more times as he rushed back to the center of the room, but his enhanced speed and reflexes saw him there if just barely.

Rex looked Pyra in the eyes as he swung harder and harder into the barrier. Pyra wore a look of terrified concern, but she had faith in her driver. He just seemed to be one surprise after another after all. If anyone could pull this out, she believed that it was him.

Zanza, however, was a bit less enthusiastic seeing that he actually was doing non-trivial damage to the barrier this time. Growing frustrated, Zanza decided to put an end to this little experiment. With a simple command, the entire floor was electrified. Rex's cries of pain filled the room as Zanza wanted to make sure that he was defeated.

"Good, now stay there until I extract the processor from your chest," Zanza spoke disinterestedly as he went about analyzing Malos' crystal. Tapping into the Conduit in limited fashions was one thing, but for what he wanted, he needed stronger control and the access the processors had. Conquering the universe after all would take more than a few parlor tricks.

Meanwhile, Rex was breathing heavily on his hands and knees desperately trying to stay conscious. It was not enough. He was not strong enough. He needed more. He needed more power, but he felt so defeated.

Bringing his head up, he caught Pyra's sympathetic gaze as she tried to stay strong for the both of them. They could not hear each other, but she mouthed something to him. It took him a moment to make it out, but eventually he did.

"I love you."

Rex grit his teeth as he fought back the tears. No. No! It did not end like this, but he needed more power. He dug deeper. Looked as far as he could into the depths of the core crystal he had lucked into. He needed something. He needed more power, and he was going to find it.

Pyra was the first to notice the golden glow emanating from his part of the core crystal. It was minor at first, but it quickly started to grow in intensity. She asked Mythra, but even she did not know what it was.

Rex soon felt the effects too. He did not know what it was, but it felt amazing. As the glow reached peak intensity, his vision was superimposed with a strange message made up of characters he only recognized from Morytha and the station, but they quickly shifted to more familiar Alrestian characters: New Admin Recognized.

"What now?" Zanza asked as Rex stood grabbing the Aegis sword once more, but this time when it activated, its energy was of a golden hue. Pointing the weapon downward, Rex thrust it into the metal floor below sending out a surge that disabled the security measures in the floor and knocked out the protective barrier.

"What?" Zanza, in a panic, attempted to flee, but Rex deactivated his entire control tower with a flick of his sword. Taking a brief moment to free Pyra, Rex was soon on top of the tower with the scientist, "How?"

"I don't really know to be honest," Rex, despite his short stature, seemed to tower over the blonde, "But you're done."

"Done? You would talk down to me? I am a god!"

Rex narrowed his eyes and delivered a quick left hook to the man dropping him flat, "Felt like a man to me."

"Rex!" Pyra joined him back on the top of the control tower, "That was amazing!"

"It was…something," Rex still was not sure what exactly was happening, "This power is amazing, but…it's too much. I think I should send it away. Send it…home."

"If you think that best," Pyra nodded.

"Though, first things first, I think we should search this place. Without Klaus, we're on our own to search for answers."

"Right, we should be able to help with that, but before that," Pyra looked over her driver's shoulder, "Perhaps we should restrain him first."

"Rex," Pythra called. They were back in the Architect's room where Pyra and Mythra had begun looking for any hints as to Klaus' endgame before Zanza took him over, "I think I have something."

"What is it?" The group all huddled around. The fact that Rex's core crystal now glowed yellow had not gone unnoticed, but Rex tried not to make a big deal about it when recounting the tale.

"It seems to be a program to recall the cloud sea. According to this, reclamation is approximately 97% percent complete. If the numbers are accurate, there should be fertile land that could sustain several times Alrest's total population."

"Well, that sounds handy," Zeke rubbed his chin, "What are you waiting for?"

"It will also signal most of the major titans to join with the nearest continent. It will be the end of an era."

"I don't see that we have much choice," Nia rubbed her nose.

"Nia's right," Rex nodded to Pythra, "Do it."

"Roger," They nodded and gave the signal, "It should take a little while for it to finish. In the meantime, Rex, we found something else."

"What is it?"

"The facility did not have much on blades, but we think we can use some of the equipment to transfer one of us into a new core crystal."

"Really? That's great!"

"In fact, we've already started preparations for the process. One of us will remain in our original body while the other is transferred to a new core crystal. The new crystal will be more or less a normal blade core though with the exception of not returning to her core like a normal blade."

"How long should it take?" Rex asked not caring about whether they were as strong or not, "Will you keep your memories?"

"Only a few minutes, and yes. If you'll follow me."

Pythra led them to where the new core was already waiting. It was shaped after their existing one even emulating the color. Pythra then laid down on a bed, and giving Rex one last smile, they closed their eyes. This left the others to wait in a relatively tense few minutes as one of them found their home in the new core.

Part of the way through the procedure, a flash signaled Pyra's form on the bed which surprised most present. They had assumed Mythra would be keeping the original body. Not that they could inquire about it until she awoke which fortunately did not take long.

"Pyra!" Rex was quickly at her side, "How'd it go?"

"Fine on this end," Pyra took a moment to realize how…quiet her mind seemed. Even when Mythra had been sealed away, her mind had never been quite so quiet. "Oh, Mythra!"

Mythra's new core crystal actually resonated on its own, and in a flash of light, Mythra was once more standing before them. Pyra slowly approached, "How…do you feel?"

"Huh? Oh, fine," Mythra opened and closed her hand, "Actually feels pretty…normal. Shouldn't be surprised I guess." It was using the same data after all.

"Tora thought Mythra keep original core," The nopon interrupted with his curiosity.

"Oh, I was going to take the new one," Pyra informed, "But Mythra insisted."

"Well, seemed only right that you keep your connection with lover boy over here." Both blade and driver blushed earning a smirk from Mythra, "Though, I'm ready to get out of here if you all are."

"Right," Pyra nodded, "Rex."

The driver nodded, "On it." Closing his eyes, he focused for a few minutes before his core crystal lost its golden glow. "Done. It's gone."

"Well done, chum. Now let's–" Zeke was interrupted by an intense shaking, "What was that?"

Pyra was silent for a moment, "The station's grown unstable. Without the structural integrity fields, the structure can't support its own weight."

"That sounds…bad," Pandoria noted.

"It is," Pyra agreed, "But Aion should be able to destroy the station before it hits. I can point you to the escape pods, but I will need to personally activate Aion."

"Let me do it," Mythra interjected, "You go with them."

"You can't," Pyra shook her head, "You're not an Aegis anymore, remember?"

"Oh right…"

"Will you be alright?" Rex asked in concern, but Pyra smiled.

"Aion is sturdy. It should have enough power to do the job and get me home, but you should hurry."

"Right then," Rex did not like this, but he had her word, "Let's get a move on."

As they reached the escape pods, Pyra did a brief analysis, "Hmm, it seems they're damaged."

"Damaged?" Nia did not like the sounds of that, "So what do we do now?"

"If Mythra and I were still…sharing, we could accelerate Azurda's growth and let him carry you the rest of the way, but I'm…still adjusting to being on my own. Instead, I'll use Aion to carry the pod through the atmosphere. That should allow it to make it the rest of the way safely."

"Alright," Mythra nodded, "We'll wait for your signal then."

"I won't be long."

True to her word, Pyra gave them the all clear shortly. After the pod ejected, they were safely guided down to the planet's surface by Aion before it flew back up to finish off the station. Rex sat on the roof of the pod as it floated in the ocean waiting for Pyra to finish and come back.

Watching the World Tree be destroyed was somewhat surreal. They had been right, it was the end of an era, and Rex was not sure exactly how to feel about it. Still, all the land they saw on their descent was exciting to see.

"Is she done?" Mythra walked up there to join him. It was weird to her, not being joined. Not a bad weird, but it would take some getting used to. At least she did know what it was like; she could not really imagine how Pyra felt finally being split.

"Looks like it," Rex watched. He was nervous, but he knew she would not do this and put him in danger. So long as they shared her core, he knew she would be back. Sure enough, Rex and Mythra were soon watching as Aion descended to rest just above the water.

"Is everyone alright?" Came Pyra's slightly digitized voice.

"Yeah, we're all good."

"I think I saw a good landing spot not far from here."

"So what do we do with that thing?" Nia stared up at the giant mech after Pyra landed it.

"Tora want to dig inside! So much to learn!"

"No, Tora," Pyra smiled, "I think we should hide it."

"Meh meh," Tora pouted dejectedly as Poppi patted him on the head.

"So," Rex put his hands on his hips as he looked out at the brave new world, "Looks like we found Elysium anyway."

"Yes," Pyra linked an arm with his, "It would seem so."

"Second time's the charm I guess," Mythra smirked to the side.

"Heh," Rex rubbed his neck sheepishly, "Now come on! Let's see what this new world has in store for us!"

A/N: Phew. The ending bit, largely after the Zanza part involved some back and forth with someone I chat with. Still, I may have wanted to give Rex a big moment after talk of him not making Smash making sense because he's weaker than the girls or something (even though you have Isabelle in the game so that shouldn't really matter). Oh well, maybe some Rex fans will enjoy this at least.

Now, Pyra has officially won the poll. I may end up doing the other two variants in some fashion, but Pyra's comes first. Though, next week should be pretty busy as I took a temp job with some…less than pleasant hours. Maybe I'll at least get the Pyra version out.

If you have any questions or want to comment about which ideas I presented you might want to see, let me know. If you have a question in a guest review, I can add my answer to the review if you want.