The air shook apart as the floors gained new scars. The walls exploded around him and Jet could hear nothing more than the pure noise of the shattering metal structure of the hall.

Ranchel was quick to regain the advantage and recalculate and measure. Now there were plenty of seemingly non-stop kinetic blades flying around the hall as Jet was always just barely one step ahead. Always just missing the attack and jumping away. He hit the walls at the end of the hall and he had nowhere to go.

As the kinetic blades came for him he threw his fist for the floor and blocked the attacks with another Lion's Shield, thus lowering his strength and stamina more. Still his speed did not suffer and he took that moment of safety to dart past the woman and get more room.

The assault from the nin fell away and Jet took it as an opportunity to rest. A grin came to her face as she came to a conclusion. Jet became weaker the moment he used his Lion's Rage attacks. She had been listening to his breathing and that is what was becoming as if he had just run a mile which his simple dodging should not create. All she had to do was force him to use that technique and he would become her prey. And that was the plan she set into motion upon her first step.

Slinging her blade she flings out multiple blades of kinetic energy that Jet was quick to avoid from his right and then his left. He ducks under one and handsprings so that he avoids another. Landing he moved from another one and his lack of breaths was starting to catch up with him. He needed a moment to calm his body down, but he didn't have any as more blades came for him. He jumped away from one more and planted his roots in the metal floor. He figured out what Ranchel was getting at by sending all of these attacks out. She wanted him to use the Lion's Shield. He would give her a Lion's Rage all right.

"Positive Gattling Fire!" As Adven had done with his Negative Missile Barrage Jet did now by flinging out random shots of positive energy through the room that stopped Ranchel's blades where they stood. The female meanwhile dodging the shots effortlessly. Just as the multiple pockets of explosions of positive energy and kinetic energy settled Ranchel's shocked face turned to the shadow moving through those fading lights. "Lion's Rage Punch!"

Ranchel could do nothing in response as her chest was met by the oncoming attack that flung her body through the air. Jet's body coming to a stop where she had just been standing.

The result of his Positive Gattling and the Kinetic Blades now settling behind him. She finally fell to the floor with a hard rock to her body as the sudden stop left her bruised.

"It was smart of you to try and get me to use up all of my stamina…but I'm aware of how many times I can use it and still go on to fight another battle." Jet confides in her. "I still have plenty reserved for McCoy."

"It's…not over yet." The woman's weak words came as she lifted her body from the floor to sit up on her hips. "I can still fight."

"Why fight?" Jet questions again. He stood silent for a moment looking to the headband that cover her eyes. Two optical organs that haven't been given the chance to see light in the longest time. "If you hope to kill me…you'll have to use your natural born sight and not the one you developed to replace it." He walked forward swiftly and silently. She did nothing in response.

It was when he stopped right in front of her that she only reacted with a slight jerk away from him. She was worried a bit what he would do now. Her fear grew when his hands gingerly moved to her face. Removing the headband that cover her eyes. All it revealed was two orbs of a brown orientation. Nothing more. At least to Jet.

To Ranchel however, it brought back a horrible memory. A horrible memory and the forgotten reason she started wearing the headband. It brought a long gray bang into her face. Her lip trembled and her eyes began to let out salty water.

Now she came to understand why Jet did not understand her reason for wanting to kill him. He could see that her hair that was short in the back and long in the front was colored the same as his. She blocked out all memories of her having this color. She had smelt the lack of pigment in Jet's hair to tell he had gray for a color, but it was only now that she could do the same for her own.

The fight was over. Ranchel now was just a ball on the floor who cried into her hands. Jet could barely watch her. Usually he would keep a cool personality…but this time he sort of felt responsible.

"I…Now I…know why…I wore the headband." The woman muttered in a forced sob. "It's…because…I'm a 'marshmallow head'." That just made her break into more tears.

Jet felt he needed to say something otherwise he couldn't really feel good about this victory. That…and any information Ranchel could give for what he was heading into would be great. "Listen…I don't think the color of someone's hair really matters at all…just don't kill yourself over it. I know you probably think you have to commit suicide now seeing that…you are your own enemy. I will stop you though…if you try."

Her sobs by now had died a little. Her ball wasn't as tight. She had the worst part of it over. "I…could never commit suicide." She replies with reinforcement in her shaky voice. "I don't have any reason to." She gently picked her body from off the floor; denying Jet's hand he offered in embarrassment. "I…could never be a hypocrite!" She declared. Still…there was a hollow feeling within her soul. "I…don't…have anything in my life now. Until now…it was…all about vengeance. I…don't know what to do now. I have no one to help like you do."

"If you need someone to help for a mission…help me now. I haven't made it this far alone…and I won't make it to McCoy alone either." Jet offers.

Her eyes looked to his with their full swollen red around them now that her tears had tried. She rubbed them good when she cried. There was a doubt in her. "How can you trust anything I will do or say from now on?"

"I don't trust you." He admits. "Still, I trust you enough to know that at heart you're a good person and not the woman who just tried to kill me."

888888888888

Virginia and Sweet made their way upward as they entered an all too familiar hall where Sweet stopped their ascent. Virginia looked to Sweet with doubt. She was intent on getting to McCoy and Jet. Not to take a stop on the floor where there was a rung ladder at the end and a hall branching off to the 'GaMe RoOm'.

"What are you doing?" Virginia asked through clenched teeth.

"I have to check on my brother. He's very fragile." Sweet looked to Virginia with puppy dog eyes. "I'm responsible for my brother! I have to make sure he's fine." Sweet pleads. Virginia lets out a sigh and Sweet knows that she won.

However, it was pure coincidence that Emilia and Sour were leaving the control room at that moment. Emilia looked at the two women as Virginia looked to the young man and Emilia. At first dirty thoughts went through Virginia's head when she saw Emilia come out with the young man. Then she dismissed that. "Looks like you're doing well." Emilia comments to her teammate. Sour meanwhile happily ran into Sweet's open arms and the happy family was reunited. Virginia found it funny that all hostility left the young redhead the moment her arms were wrapped around her blonde twin.

"We have to go help Jet." Virginia protested.

Emilia looked to Virginia with a dismissive look. "There's no way we can now. The elevators have been shut down." She explained. "If we turn them back on Jet will be killed by the tower's self-defense system."

Virginia's hands trembled. She looked to the young man named Sour and ripped him from Sweet's arms. Shaking him violently. "Tell me a way to get up there without causing him any harm!" She begged with force.

Emilia smacks her hand. Virginia let go of the young twin who returned to his sister quickly out of fear. "It's impossible. I've already thought over every possibility and this is the best way." Emilia explained as this dawned on the brunette. Her presence leaving her eyes. Virginia was the leader. She came into this place not wanting to split up her team and make it vulnerable. And she had done just that. They all split up. And now when they were facing one of their most mysterious foes in the whole place the team couldn't gather together to help the one who was faced with that man. "If you believe in Jet like I do then we can still be with him."

Virginia felt her knees give way as she fell to the floor. Landing on her legs. "I…I need to help Jet…I couldn't help anyone else." Sweet was quick to come to her side and place her arms around the young brunette lightly.

It was quiet for a moment before the least likely of people spoke up. "When I play in my sports games," Sour began. "Sometimes it's best for me to stand back and let my computer player play and I give support. It usually works best that way."

Silence fell once more. "Thanks." Virginia spoke.

8888888888888

Sandra stood idly by as she watched the man stand before the chest. Frank had not moved an inch. Not since the two of them arrived here. He had just been standing in front of the gauntlet with the key in his hand. By now the bronze key was sweaty and the key most likely now leaving his hand with that metallic smell.

Will he ever open it?

That was what Sandra wanted to know. She was beginning to tremble in her hand. She knew why. She just began to feel it in her bones and it started to make her agitated. She would not like the answer. He would never say the true answer…but he will give another minor reason.

"Frank…why won't you open it yet?" Her soft voice questioned with a tremble.

He just glared at the wooden box. "Enduro…"

The young man with gray hair who took that name as his own came to a sealed metal door. Two panels that were shut tight. The elevator at the end of it all that would lead to the top floor. Too bad it doesn't work. That's what Ranchel had found out by the thirteenth tap on the button nearby.

"This is where we part ways." Ranchel states. "You gave me a good injury at the end there. I can't make it up."

"What do you mean?"

"The elevator is run through many things. One thing is a wire. You can use that to climb up to the top of the tower." Ranchel explained. "My injuries prevent me from following. I won't last long climbing."

Jet nods. "Are you sure there is no other way up?"

"Positive. There is only this elevator. I don't know how it could not work." She looked around the room. "The security has been turned off as well. Something must be going on."

"I know what happened. Don't worry. I can climb. If the elevator's off I have no fear of being crushed by it. I should be fine."

"The most I can do is save you the trouble and the energy and break this door." She took her blade and slashed the door with her kinetic energy blades. The two panels—now six—fell into the pit that be the elevator shaft. The elevator platform itself two floors below.

She moves away from the door as he steps forward himself. A bit of hesitation taking him as he stood there. Still…even with that hesitation he jumped into the shaft and grab the wire as he swayed back and forth on it. His legs and body contracting and contorting as he tried his best in a wiggle to scale the wire. He looked up and he saw some hard work ahead of him. Still, he climbed upward as best he could.