Metal Gear: Soldier X

by ShardclawKusanagi

A COE multicrossover story of accompanying side stories, anime/manga and games. The new story phase begins after a long hiatus with new mysteries, allies and more! It's been a long time, but...revised chapter 14 now uploaded.

12. Fading Light

ShardclawK: Greetings once more to the readers out there, here I am back again to deliver unto you a new revised update on this story after getting such high praises and appreciation on the last chapter. Sorry if it seemed like a long wait for the update since most of you couldn't wait to see what happens next, but as I said before, I'm a working guy and I also have new anime and manga to be checking out as I'm also still in the process of expanding the newly revamped Greg Kinezono's character and this story so it will be much better than it was before, especially when we get to the upcoming future arcs ahead.

This take on the future SX revisions will be totally unlike anything from before with several new additions and surprises since the revised direction of the story takes place from this chapter while I plan to have the next set of chapters that will focus on hinting to new future story arcs later for the course of the newly revised and soon to be quite complex, yet intriguing storyline of Soldier X.

In the meantime, this revised chapter will be more like one of those to take a break from the action in the story for a while and focus more on of those character interactions for both canon and original characters in the developments and appearances that you've grown to love so far including revealing more secrets to Greg's past and character as well as things to come that will affect COE and SX during their revisions as well to tie in the storyline for MGS4.

And to notify those who haven't found out about it yet, but have been requesting for an update of it since the last chapter to keep up with who else has been included into the story, but doesn't know about the particular anime/game, I've also revised and modified the character's listing for the story, adding some new titles to the story as well which I think would bring smiles to some people's faces when they recognize the names, so go check it out. Let me know if there's anyone I've missed since I've yet to come across a number of them, especially for the Shadow Hearts series as I haven't played part 3 up to now.

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Previously in Soldier X:

It was a hard fought battle, but after being able to pool their skills and teamwork together efficiently in the final heated battle against Psycho Mantis, the group consisting of Greg and his surrogate mother, Rio, along with his three FOXHOUND comrades, Riku, Nagi, and Tot, managed to overcome the dangers Mantis was able to pose while in his emulate form and were able to defeat him as Greg, through the use of his powers, was finally able to free Mantis of the brainwashing effects that had been placed on him, thus allowing him to cooperate with them by exchanging information with the group.

Mantis revealed information about the involvement of the Patriots and the biodroid technology, which was created by Yuina's father himself, much to the shock of the group, though they opted to look more into the matter after they were safe from danger. However, Greg chose to stay behind with Mantis longer while he let his foster mother and his friends escape the base to join the remainder of their comrades who were able to escape earlier, since he had lingering questions about his past and the future.

However, just when it was time for departure after Greg had obtained some vital information, the underground facility suddenly began to self destruct and crumble around them, and then Mantis began to undergo what he had predicted to be his second death. Unable to do anything for the man he had just risked his life to rescue from the enemy's clutches, the helpless Greg Kinezono could only look on in horror as Mantis was killed before his eyes and shortly afterwards, the Patriots made their presence known as they had the whole scenario planned out from the very start all the way from the events that led up to the current day.

Spurred on by the urge to live past the events of the day, Greg put his own life in danger as he summoned all of his psychic power along with his nanomachines' energy to make an escape out of underground deathtrap, where he barely was able to reunite with this friends and family before he collapsed due to the fatigue and wounds he endured during the mission.

Now that Warrior and the Shinsengumi has retreated to the Uruha mansion with various members of the Hokage and Uruha who came in time to assist in their escape, they are gathered to await the results on Greg's condition, as well as discuss to the members of Riku's family and ninja clan about the events of the day, while unknown to all of them, more unusual developments regarding Reese were afoot as he has made an alliance with a seemingly mysterious man named Richard Dixon who has a connection to Greg's past…

And if that wasn't enough, a whole new world of problems that await those who defend the safety of the world, also begin to take root...

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Metal Gear: Soldier X

Chapter 11: Fading Light

"Well, so much for going back to that place to look for clues now…" An attractive woman with long white hair tied back in a long braid wearing a yellow dress with an extremely short skirt and white panties said while looking through the scope of her binoculars. Removing them, a group of women, a few of them also dressed in the same yellow uniform though the majority of them were wearing a blue version of the same uniform and all wearing same colored underwear stood on a metallic platform, which is that of a battleship, docked across the ocean and away from the mainland as they were looking across to the distance to where the underground facility near the ruins of old Tokyo self destructed.

"What? Tell us what happened, Toniya." One of them asked.

"You can see it all for yourself, the place is going under. There's no way we can go after whatever data about this Soldier X we've heard about." The woman named Toniya replied.

"Well, that much we do know, but what about the people who went in there?" Another one of them asked. "Did they…?"

"From here, it seems that they made it out safely, the target included." Toniya said. "Though, he didn't look to be in the best of shape; he certainly wasn't able to even remain standing…he must have had one heck of a fight down there today."

"This is our chance, then! If they are just recovering from a major battle, we can easily take out the forces that came to back them up and capture the target, it will be a cinch!" Another of them exclaimed as a voice called out from behind.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, ladies." The voice said as a young girl, apparently sixteen, with long flowing dark black hair with a corset in it came up to meet her fellow comrades, wearing the same yellow outfit as well.

"Rie, we weren't suggesting that…we were just…" One of the females replied as the girl named Rie Petoriakowa approached them with a look of concern on her face.

"I know how badly you want this Gregory Kinezono man, but let's face it. We are not that inhumane to attack him and the allies that are with him just after he managed to defeat Psycho Mantis according to the data we just got." Rie said.

"But he's the vital key factor to reviving the Delmos plans! If we don't go and capture him at a moment like this…!" One of the females said as Rie stared at her which made her become quiet at once.

"I know that very well, he has what we lack in our current mission at the moment, but you know what they say, 'good things comes to those who wait'." Rie said. "We may have been tracking him for the longest time now, but after this little escapade that he just had, we don't need to pick a fight with his buddies that are with him, even from here, I can see that they are not the type to get messed around with so easily. We need some more time to think of our approach to this guy if we want to go through this without suffering any casualties on our side."

"So, what are we going to do then?" Toniya asked.

Rie sighed as she headed back to the ship's helm as the sea breeze blew across the deck, causing her hair to blow to the side, along with the skirts that she and the other Delmos were wearing.

"I'll head over to the mainland to do some investigating on my own, I've been getting some bad vibes about how the operations have been moving recently and I'm concerned with what that guy is connected to." Rie said. "If anything, I'll be asking the White Leader for permission to do so as early as this evening. For the time being, you guys are to monitor the situation here and keep me posted of anything unusual."

"Are you sure you don't need any back up, Rie?" One of the Delmos asked as Rie smiled.

"I'll be fine, it's not like I'm going to end up fighting anyone when I get there anyway." Rie said as she went into thought. (Well, it looks like I have to take matters into my own hands for now…if what the data on this Gregory Kinezono says is true, then White Leader must be serious about the 'Demology' plan for him…I just hope it isn't that serious…)

Meanwhile, across the land and on top of an abandoned office building in the sunken areas of Old Tokyo…

"Hmph…that figures. That old man, Reese, really had no more use for Mantis after all." A disgruntled Shade said to himself as he watched the black smoke rise from the deep underground outer areas of the city. "And to think that I fell for a deceitful trick to be used as a measuring tool for a psychic this time again…I must really have gotten soft since the last time I fought like that. But I still had some fun out of the experience…had that insolent psychic who was with that Hokage brat and his friends not been there, I would have had my way with the women with them more than once and still enjoyed accomplishing my mission…"

Before he continued on, he grabbed hold of a kunai that he had stored at his waist as he sensed a presence behind him, but eased up after realizing who was there.

"Well, look who decided to show up now, none other than the former Iga mongrel." Shade said as another Japanese male, wearing a dark traditional ninja gi appeared. He had cold and sharp, piercing eyes and long black hair that was tied back save for a portion that went down both sides of his face.

"Hmph, I don't know whether to laugh at or pity you for not being able to see just how incredibly stupid you've gotten, Koga trash, but after seeing you complain like this must mean that you yourself admit to having lost your touch." The man said in an insulting like tone as Shade smirked.

"Unlike you, at least I can still turn what I learned today into an advantage…Tenzen Yakushiji." Shade said as he faced the former Iga ninja. "In my years of immortality, I've learned that it pays to be patient and wait for the right moment to strike when fools such as these least expect it. You should have at least paid attention to your master's teachings regarding that, like a competent ninja."

"I didn't come here today to listen to your insults, especially if they are about Kurando-sama, Shingen." Tenzen growled at him. "In any case, he sent me here to let you in on a little piece of information that you may find interesting."

"I knew there could have been no other good reason for you to be here other than that." Shade said. "The only good time we've ever had together was the last time when I was able to fight and defeat Darva was not so long ago thanks to that ceremony where you gathered a huge amount of mara and malice, if I recall. Don't tell me the old man's already found another access to another immense power, and so soon too. It wouldn't happen to be the Orochi power this time, would it?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but not as of yet." Tenzen said as he turned around. "But you are correct in this having something to do with the Orochi, as it seems that someone is trying to steal that particular power for themselves in preparations for the next upcoming King of Fighters tournament."

"So, the Heralds of Orochi are starting to make their move again…" Shade said as he figured out what Tenzen was saying. "So, what is it that the old man is suggesting that we do about this before it happens?"

"Oh, he wants that matter discussed with you personally; there are a lot of things that need to be covered." Tenzen said. "He didn't give me any specific details; only just for me to get you to where he currently is right now. And knowing how foul a mood that you are in right now, he told me to assure you that proper 'entertainment' will be provided to sweeten the deal. I even had a few helpings myself of the guests he had staying before I came here."

"Hmph, even now, he doesn't seem to disappoint and knows what I want beforehand. Fine, then, you'll lead the way." Shade said as he glanced back over to the distance for a while and thought to himself. (I'm sure things are going to get interesting from here on out, but I will stay true to my word on dealing with Reese when the time comes, as well as with the Hokage brat and that older psychic friend he had with him…considering he almost forced me to go at it with my full strength without calling on the Orochi's power, he could become someone to be watchful for. His name…it was Gregory Kinezono, huh?)

With that, the two immortal ninjas disappeared from sight as suddenly as they had appeared, leaving no sign of their presence from before.

Somewhere else in Japan, at a maximum security prison island area located outside Neo Tokyo…

"Pick up the pace, you douche-bags! We haven't got all day!" One of the wardens, a muscular male, shouted as he waved his baton at the large group of prisoners who were working on construction in their yard. "Hey, and the same goes for you, you tranny wannabes! Don't think just because you freaks are locked up here with the rest of your 'girlfriends', means that I'll go easy on ya!"

"This is cruelty! We're only humans just like you!" One of the Four Divas, a burglar group of men who dressed like women, this one being the burliest looking one of the group, spoke. It just so happened to be Chimama, the group's leader, who got a reply of swearing from the warden.

As could be seen by just about anyone, the group had seen better days, especially now that prison life had started to get to them. Also their typical women's clothing was now replaced by the standard prison uniform.

"What a joke! Do you really think so?" The warden laughed as his friend spoke after seeing this.

"Yo, Wakabe, take it easy on those guys. They are a special case, you know." The other warden said as Wakabe spat on the ground in reply.

"Yeah, well they don't look so special now, do they?" Wakabe grinned. "Ever since they were brought in here by Police Town a long time ago, I've been looking forward to tormenting poor souls like these all my life just for personal amusement!"

"Really, is that so?" The younger warden said, almost uninterested. "What about the other nutcases that we get everyday, do they apply too?"

"Hmph, say what you will, but I despise people like those guys with a passion. Trying to pass off as women when they even don't know how to…" Before Wakabe can finish, a loud explosion rocked the outer prison walls, crumbling it in its process.

BOOOOOM!

"What the hell was that?" Wakabe shouted as he reached for the alarm close by, before he got knocked out by a cloaked figure wearing a mask as the younger warden held his gun up.

"Who…who the hell are you?" He exclaimed before the figure dropped a canister next to him as nerve gas came out, putting him to sleep.

Chimama, Mama, Caroline, and Josephine looked on as they then saw an armored SUV drive through the rubble of the broken prison walls before stopping close to them. Then one of the doors opened.

"You're the Four Divas, right? My boss wants to hire you." A cloaked figure said as he extended his gloved hand. "If you want your freedom and a chance for revenge, I'll be glad to offer both to you as long as you can trust me."

"Chimama, this could be our big break!" Mama, who had long curly red hair and was actually the most feminine looking of the four as well as the brains behind the group, said as Chimama nodded.

"Yes, good fortune must be smiling upon us to make this happen!" Chimama said. "Alright, we accept your offer!"

"Get in!" The figure said as the Four Divas hopped in as the remainder of the prison guard began to fire at the escaping SUV which sped off just as the alarm went off signaling a break out had occurred.

"Phew, that was too close for comfort." Chimama said as he saw that he and his group weren't the only ones in the vehicle, a number of men and women he had never seen before were also in the vehicle. "Oh, I don't think we've ever met before."

"Like you guys, these people were incarcerated as well just as you were, but my boss managed to free them just as we did for you." The figure said as he pointed out to the people in the van. The first two that he indicated was a woman with long dark hair with a portion of it tied back while another part hung loose on the right side of her face. She was wearing an expensive coat over a tight and very low cut black dress, which fully revealed her buxom figure. Accompanying her was a man in casual clothing with his short black hair tied back, and he was wearing a pair of sunglasses. "This is Mrs. Butterfly and her henchman, Tetsu, who holds dealings in the black market of smuggling everything from women, drugs, and weapons."

"It seems like we'll be working together very soon." Mrs. Butterfly said as she smoked while Chimama spotted a pair of twin females with matching short brown hair and features seated next to each other.

"Next is the famous assassin pair known as the Blood-Sucking Angel, Lindsey and Cindy." The figure said as the two women nodded at the Four Divas while they spotted a young girl with a pair of short ponytails and wearing glasses.

"Next is Kirika Rindo, formerly of the Far East terrorist group, SAN." The masked figure said.

"But she's just a kid." Josephine said which got an angry glare from the girl.

"For your information, I'm 25 years old." Kirika said coldly as the figure continued.

"Last, but not least for now, the psychotic serial killer, Mahito. He was the most troublesome to get out, as we had to break into a mental displacement ward to make it happen." A Japanese youth with brown hair and complexion simply raised his head with a gleeful looking smile as Chimama winced looking at him.

"I'd appreciate you tell us why we are all being rounded up like this." Mama said as the figure spoke.

"Oh, my boss will fill you in on everything that you need to know and what needs to be done. Besides, I'm sure all of you want revenge against the ones who put you in those places, am I right?" The figure asked as the group of criminals nodded. "Now that we're all in agreement, I'm going to let you in on what has been happening on the crime scene these days…"

"We're back." Kendall Martin said in a neutral tone as he and Richard Dixon entered a dark sealed room that the door they had passed through kept tightly sealed from intrusion. The room was filled with several rows of large containers that had oddly colored liquids in them, along with corpses of monsters and human beings carefully preserved by those very same liquids. In front of them stood a man of medium build with short brown hair, a hairline scar, and blue eyes who appeared to be in his thirties and was dressed in a white lab coat as he turned around to face him.

"So, I take it that you delivered the message to him?" The man asked as Kendall raised his head.

"Yeah, we talked to the old fart called Reese, but he's so full of himself as usual, he didn't take our warnings seriously." Kendall said as he folded his arms. "This was why you should have just let me use my power to blow off one of his arms to serve as an extra warning to him, Thorn."

The gene manipulator and scientist for the Patriots, Robert Thorn, a powerful psychic himself, simply smiled at Kendall's comment.

"Well, as much as I understand that your position in the Hunters is to be respected, Kendall Martin, or more appropriately, Soldier X, doing so would only hinder further uses that are required of Reese. Regardless of your feelings towards him, there is still much more wi will need from him in the future. Or would you rather waste time in finding a replacement?" Thorn said as Martin groaned.

"Tch." Kendall's face showed a hint of irritation as he faced Dixon behind him. "At least we can leave it to him to locate the other possible emulate host, as well as the other biodroids that are currently in our world for the time being. But if he by any means strays from the original purpose…"

"Don't worry about it; I have made sure that the new strike force that has been assigned to him by the Patriots were programmed to take him down the second that he betrays us." Dixon said. "While we're keeping their personalities intact these new I-Weapons should be easier to keep under control than our brainwashing of Mantis thanks to the more advanced programming we've installed in them. Still I doubt we'll have to fall back on the fail safes since one of the benefits of keeping these particular units' personalities is that most of them are will be focused on revenge against the ones responsible for their demise. That in itself should provide them with motivation to follow us."

"Just remind me, which of the I-Weapons has Reese selected for his unit of guards?" Kendall asked and Thorn, in reply, tossed a clipboard to him and upon catching it began to look over the papers and profiles of those who were brought back to life to assist Reese.

"First we've got the Chinese assassin, Sha Li, supposedly killed by the Noir assassins a couple of years back before they practically disappeared off the face of the planet." Thorn explained, as Kendall began looking over the profile. "It was trouble enough to keep this battle able beauty from the Soldats when the time came to retrieve her. Fortunately that decrepit organization's troubles made things doable."

"Yes, I'd heard about that, something about some assassins they couldn't keep under control. Moving on, we have Mikoto, a ninja employed by Kouran Mori years ago. Killed in a fire that occurred during an incident on Koran Mori's private land." Kendall read on in the report.

"Fortunately the corpse wasn't too badly damaged thanks to the presence of another acquisition." Thorn commented. "Actually, the story behind that is rather interesting, considering it was by his request that…"

"Another time, thanks." Kendall said impatiently before he noticed something on her profile and frowned. "Hold on, it says here that…" He then looked over at Thorn. "If that's what you were referring to, are you sure it's a good idea to have her active considering Reese does work with us?"

"That's odd from you, Martin," Dixon commented. "Just a moment ago you were rambling about how much you wanted Reese dead at your hand, yet now…"

"It's not what you think, Commandant. What I meant to ask was whether it was a good idea considering the circumstances of her death." Kendall said. "The last thing we need is for our operations to be jeopardized by the likes of those two…but then again, even if they do make up, the picture of those two in bed together by itself would make even my stomach turn."

Dixon let out a small laugh as Kendall continued to go through with looking at the series of reports.

"Moving on… now we have Go-Go Yubari…personal assassin for fKendall Martin said as a small grin appeared on his face. "She was slain by the Bride, aka Beatrix Kiddo, a nail driven into the skull area of her head." He then turned to Thorn. "It really is amazing, no matter how badly damaged the corpse is, you lot are somehow able to bring them back to life."

"Well, that's to be expected of the Witchblade's power." Thorn said. "I admit I do wish we had the actual artifact, but the method of creating I-Weapons that we recovered from Douji Industries after its collapse and Mr. Wado's assistance is more than satisfactory. Not to mention these new models are so much more advanced than the old ones, it may be worth finding a way to slip them under the ban into mass production at some future date."

"Good luck getting a vote passed on that, you'll need it considering the moral ground. Besides I wouldn't trust relying on some magic trinket that can't be rationally explained." Kendall then opened the last of the folders. "Well this last guard sounds like another notable character…Hermann Kruch, also known by his soldier codename of 'Khyber'." Kendall paused. "Should be interesting to see who took someone this skilled down…'Killed two years ago by …'"

Kendall stopped as he noticed the name and suddenly flung the clipboard at Dixon who caught it.

"Whatever is the matter, Martin?" Dixon asked with a knowing smirk. "An old and familiar name strike a chord somewhere?"

"Hmph, so even at that time, the reject was capable of such things, was he?" Kendall said with a sadistic looking smile. "But even so…he is still far off from matching my level. I wonder… when the time comes, when his life will truly depend on it, will he be able to live the way that I have since he abandoned his role?"

Just then, they overheard a buzzer go off over their heads, as it signaled the arrival of other occupants of the base they were in at the moment. Dixon stood up firmly and faced his subordinates.

"There will be a time to test that soon enough, Martin. But for now, it seems that both of your partners have returned from their mission. Go and see what they've brought us." Dixon said as Kendall nodded, leaving the room. As he went into the passageway, Thorn approached Dixon to speak to him.

"It must mean that they managed to crush the Pacific Medical forces and successfully retrieved the unassigned Humaritt." Thorn said as Dixon nodded.

"But, of course. Even though they are the support team of the group, both Blood Dancer and Abyss Saint can get their tasks done when it comes to menial missions such as this one." Dixon said. "Now that that part is done, it's time to move onto the next phase of the plan…"

"Are you referring to the integration of the Soldier X gene into humanoid type androids?" Thorn asked with a smile of curiosity. "Is that why you needed the Seraph biodroid so badly?"

"Why stop with just human beings, when the process can now be processed just the same for a diclonius or even now, a Humaritt?" Dixon replied with a question of his own. "Until recently, the SX gene could only be applied to just the human genes, but after what we've learned from the conclusive data based on Anna's tests, it can now also manifest itself among the other foreign genes within its host."

"Speaking of diclonius, Anna Kakuzawa's training and handling of the SX gene is still proceeding well, just as planned, as there are no expected problems." Thorn told him. "Restoring her to human form was easier than expected, but I personally made sure that the same symptoms that occurred on the previous attempt on another diclonius will not occur whenever she utilizes her vectors."

"Could you be referring to her late father, Kakuzawa, perhaps?" Dixon asked as he heard Thorn. "Ha, that old fool had it coming. Using that rejected SX gene that he stole without realizing that it had failed to be duplicated one hundred percent to its original state was quite the wrong move on his part. Either he was too hasty, or perhaps he had simply gotten so greedy that he didn't take the proper precautions, with him being part diclonius and all."

"Hopefully, his daughter won't follow the same fate, thanks to the information you've provided me on how I can make this work on Anna Kakuzawa without any problems." Thorn said.

"Most excellent, so think nothing of it, Thorn. Like you, I was just testing the limits on how much a diclonius can handle if she had traits of the SX gene within her DNA." Dixon said, fixing his shades. "Though, it rather surprised me to know that the genes of a diclonius can be compatible with the SX gene and managed to evolve into something different from all the other samples at present."

"Yes, while they are intriguing, it appears that they do have their secrets that we have yet to unravel. Secrets we certainly can use to our advantage until we can locate and then capture the queen Siphelit, Lucy…" Thorn said as Martin stepped back inside the hallways, along with Thorn to meet two of the current Hunters that just returned from a mission.

One of them was a male of Canadian decent in his early twenties, with straight cut, dark black hair who stood at an average of five feet and a female younger than he was, apparently in her teens, with red hair that was dyed in color. A single and loose ponytail hung from the back of her head as she wore a pair of straight, dark shades as if to protect her eyes.

"Looks like you two had some fun today, Blood Dancer and Abyss Saint." Kendall said as he approached his two partners as the male started to speak.

"Quite the opposite actually, those Shimba industrial guys were awfully protective of their merchandise." He said, as a trio of lab wearing assistants from Thorn's lab area wheeled in an unconscious female with bright pink hair with, her eyes glazed over and devoid of any color. Her body was apparently covered in bruises and wounds and there was a single rose lying on her chest as the male picked it up to smell it. "But you already do know us by our names, Kendall, no need to address us by code names since we're back at base."

"Well, sorry for not remembering, Joshua." Kendall said as he looked at Melissa in silence. "Oh, and hello to you, Melissa, hope you're doing well."

"How did your visit with Matthew Reese go, Kendall?" Melissa asked as Martin growled.

"It was a real pain! First he goes to send his flunkies to trash the reject's apartment, and then he goes off saying he has other things going on with his plan and leaves us to clean up after him like we're his servants!" Kendall shouted. "Were things any different and that old fool wasn't around, I wouldn't have to endure waiting to kill that punk, Matthews, and just go after him myself."

"Hmm, so in other words, you didn't get to see him, huh?" Joshua said as Dixon and Thorn entered the room. "Well, if it isn't the Overboss and Dr. Thorn themselves. Did you come to check out this Humaritt that you assigned us to capture, and well… check her out?"

Dixon and Thorn approached the prone and damaged female cyborg and after a quick look, Dixon nodded as he looked at the assistants.

"Take her to the restoration room where the repairs can begin, I'll be there shortly to implement the SX gene designed to her memory banks." Dixon said seriously to the group as they carried her off into the other room. Just then another assistant came in and handed him a file, which Thorn promptly opened and glanced. "I see…so that batch is complete and ready for a test run. I'll look into it once this matter has been settled."

Meanwhile Joshua continued to explain to Kendall about the Humaritt they had just brought in.

"From what I've read on what these Humaritts can do, she originally didn't have any master or orders, which explained why she was practically invincible to anything both the Shimba Industrial and Pacific Medical guys threw at her." Joshua said. "To think that the only thing capable of stopping her was her own self going past her limits…poor thing. And she had lots of battle capability to boot…"

"Che, if you care about that thing so much and feel so sorry for it, why don't YOU become its new master after the Commandant manages to restore its vital functions to normal?" Kendall asked as Joshua reacted.

"Wait, Martin, what I meant by that is…" Joshua before Dixon spoke in his stead.

"You know, that is not such a bad idea, Martin. Joshua, the Humaritt known as Triple B could be quite useful on your missions in the future. Considering that you and your sister act as the support for the Hunters, it would be best if you did have a fighter backing you up." Dixon said with his arms folded. "All we need is some time for her to…blend in, so to speak, with the rest of us, Anna included and I'm sure she will feel right at home."

"Yeah, I know that sounds cool and all, but still…" Joshua muttered as Kendall interrupted him.

"Let it rest, will you? You and Melissa don't have enough of the experience in combat as that Triple B had before she was shut down. Besides, the only useful abilities you have that are dangerous are this…" Kendall said as before anyone saw it, he suddenly took out a combat knife from Joshua's weapon holster and cut a gash across the man's left arm, causing him to flinch a bit.

"Hey, what did you do that for?" Joshua said as the blood that started to run from the cut suddenly stopped in mid-air as he opened his palm to let the droplets hover over it. "Did you think just how much doing this grosses me out?"

"Don't let it get to you, you have the most multi-purpose Soldier X ability of the group, Free-Fire, which allows your psychic energy control the flow of liquids, even your own blood down to its very blood cells, and use them as weapons. I don't see why you should be complaining about a cut like that, you've had worse in our previous missions." Kendall said as he grinned at Joshua. "And besides, you have your precious sister's Soldier X ability, Restoration, to take care of them. After all, she's the only in the group granted with at least moderate healing abilities, even though she can't use them on herself for some reason."

"It's not like I have a problem with that, Kendall…I did prove I was of use to you many times before in the past and I'm still able to do so." Melissa said as she took off her shades, revealing both of her eyes were white in color in the pupil area then she lightly touched her brother's arm to heal the gash on her brother's arm. "Even though the fact remains that I'm blind, and that I can't use my power to heal my sight, even if I wanted to."

"Well, until the time comes that something can be done about it, you two guys better continue living up to my expectations for the group, especially when the group is reformed after Anna's training." Martin said.

Melissa gave a slight smile to Martin at first, but soon after, her body swayed to the side as if she had gotten weak. Before she fell over, she was caught into Martin's arms in time as he suspected this would happen before hand.

"Don't tell me you used more of your power than you had to today." Martin simply said as he helped her stand straight once more. "What did I tell you the last time about over doing it?"

"I know about that and I did what I could to limit as much of it as I can today, Kendall." Melissa replied as her cheeks grew red a little from his gesture. "It was just that…"

"Look, if you're feeling more tired than usual, you don't need to push yourself more than you have to." Kendall advised to her. "If anything, I'll talk with the boss about sending you out to the next mission, okay? You're still not used to strenuous missions like this, I knew I should have been there with you guys instead of going off to meet that deadweight Reese earlier today, just in case."

"Thanks, I'll be sure to remember that." Melissa replied as Kendall released her.

"Hey, didn't I just say that we would have this covered, Kendall?" Joshua said with a sheepish grin. "I know how worried you are about us whenever we're out in the field, but…"

"Damn it, who said anything about me being worried about any of you?" Kendall replied with a snarl as Joshua shook his head.

(As usual, he's trying to hide his true feelings about how dangerous these recent set of missions are becoming for me and Sis.) Joshua thought to himself. (From the looks of things, it won't be long till we probably start our actual mission to go after the 'one who got away'…)

"Oh, yeah, Kendall…I was wondering about that thing we discussed, you know, with the Overboss about the mission we'll be having in Japan…" Joshua said quietly as Kendall quickly replied to his comrade.

"So, you're still not sure if you're up to it, huh?" Kendall asked simply. "Now isn't quite the time to be so sentimental about the Hunter's cause, Joshua. I'm sure the Commandant went over this with you already."

"Yes, and he gave us the options for Melissa and myself to participate in the mission or not to partake in it as well, even though we're all heading there despite any objections." Joshua said. "I mean, we're not as used to operations on the battlefield as you are, but we still have to act as support in any case."

"Well, it just means I can get to kill more enemies than I thought I would if you guys can't come." Kendall said as a tall, Japanese woman with long hair that was braided into a ponytail approached them and Kendall noticed her. "Ah…Shirakawa, I was looking for you."

The woman named Shirakawa, who was in fact the former assistant to the Siphelit Number 7's adopted father, Kuruma, also formerly Kakuzawa's slave for 'personal enjoyment', and was supposedly killed by Lucy some time ago, approached the Hunter group wearing her trademark glasses as she had been working for them for some time now. Martin handed over her the two suitcases that he had confiscated from Greg's apartment earlier.

"What is it, Martin-san?" Shirakawa said as she looked at the two cases he gave her questioningly.

"I need these to be checked out; they were possessions of the previous Number 3 who betrayed us." Kendall said. "Notify me and the Overboss about anything you've come across that can be deemed as either weaponry, armor, or any of the like as soon as possible. Oh, and that reminds me, how are the prototypes for the new weapons coming along?"

"There are still issues about calibrating its precision and firing ranges, Martin-san." Shirakawa replied. "However, we had to eliminate a few of the other previous options for its application formula before it can become a hazardous precaution like the one before it…"

"And how long will it be until it can be ready for use in the field?" Kendall asked her. "Soon, I hope."

"It can be done within two days, but even within that time…" Shirakawa stopped midway as Kendall interrupted her.

"As long as it works, that's fine enough with me." Kendall said in a serious tone, his arms folded. "Just have it ready in time for the next mission, okay?"

(Again with more powerful weapons, huh?) Joshua thought as he watched his comrade from behind. (That is so like you, Kendall.)

"I'll do the best I can. Anyway, Overboss Dixon, the report on Kinezono's current readings has just reached us and they are what you predicted from before." Shirakawa said as she handed him a filed report as he started to read it. A broad smile came to his face as he thought to himself.

(Hmph, even from beyond your grave, you still managed to pull a fast one on me, don't you, my old friend, Curtis?) Dixon thought to himself with a grin. (I must commend you on how you were able to easily fool me into thinking that I've known what had happened to the strongest Soldier X gene at the 'time' of your death, but eventually the past will catch up. Now, that I know that you would have resorted to using your own son in hosting the gene that I've been searching for all this time as a desperate measure, it's only a matter of time of drawing him out into the open, thus making my search for him all the more easier.)

"What's so funny, Overboss?" Joshua asked as Dixon simply handed him the report before replying.

"It seems that our little runaway managed to surprise even me, Steele." Dixon said as Kendall reached over and snatched the report out of Joshua's hands to look at it and he violently began to shake it as he read the contents.

"What's the meaning of this?" Kendall shouted. "How come this says that he managed to beat Mantis and how can he be giving off these readings? Normally I can rate much higher than him in just a normal sparring match!"

"Well, that goes to show that even he has advantages with the SX gene that we aren't aware of as of yet." Dixon said. "But I suppose that is to be expected. He is carrying the original, after all."

"You know what, screw this! I'm going to kill some time in training." Kendall said as he began to walk off.

"Okay, now he's really pissed off." Joshua said as he rubbed his head. "I hope we still have a training center after this."

"Oh one last thing Martin, don't forget that you still have training with Anna later, so I wouldn't go and waste all that energy you have blowing off some steam." Dixon casually said to him to which Kendall pounded his fist into a wall near Shirakawa, which suddenly imploded within itself, leaving the stunned woman looking in shock at what he had just done.

"Damn it!" Kendall shouted as he left the room. (Damn it all…how is it possible that he of all people can possess the current and strongest Soldier X gene? It must be a mistake, since I was the strongest up till now!) Kendall thought as he left the room in a fit of anger. (No need to lose my cool over something like this…I've always been the most powerful of the Hunters and will still be, no shadow from my past that caused me to be the way that I am now will surpass my destiny as the host of the true Soldier X. And when the time comes for our little reunion, dear Gregory Matthews…)

"Well, it was good work keeping tabs on the situation while we were gone, Shirakawa. You can be excused now." Dixon said to her as she bowed to him.

"Thank you for the appreciation, Dixon-san. But I still have work for Dr. Thorn that needs to be completed before the day is done." Shirakawa said as Thorn extended his arm.

"Well, I won't keep you waiting, especially since I have some documents on Anna that I need you to have properly checked before administering them to the medical room." Thorn said as Shirakawa nodded and left the room to go to his office while glancing back at the two men.

"Well, Thorn…" Dixon said as Thorn nodded.

"So far she seems to be working normally. I know it's risky having a prototype made an integral part of our research team, but the rewards have so far been outweighing the risks." Thorn said. "I know we haven't been able to work out any fail safes into the non combat models, but considering she's the first functional one…"

"The problem with creating I-Weapons from female corpses is, according to what you've told me is that even transformed they're more human in appearance, internal structure, and personality when compared to their male counterparts which makes them unpredictable and potentially difficult to control. " Dixon said. "As I remember from the reports, it took several tries in programming and recalibration until we could work out a way to ensure that they wouldn't degenerate into Ex-cons and even then you had to take steps to ensure there fail safes installed."

"The theory is that it's a by product of the Witchblade's influence due to the fact that the subjects are female and the Witchblade bonds with women only." Thorn explained. "Perhaps if we had the data the NSWF had on the Cloneblades we could get a definite answer, but sadly that was stolen by another organization that got there before we could." Thorn gave a sigh. "In any case, we were able to install the programs to prevent any personality degeneration on Miss Shirakawa's end, but we don't have any fail safes should those programs fail since the non combat models are so different from the combat ones. Still, being a non combat model she wouldn't have access to any weapons, so…"

"Does she know about her current condition?" Dixon asked.

"No, I don't believe that's necessary for now." Thorn answered. "She didn't take the news of the death of that Kurama well when we revived her, and I don't think the news of being dead and technically no longer human would be good for her mental health."

"No point taking chances since there's of knowing if your programs could withstand a subject's nervous breakdown. Still, have surveillance keep an eye on her for the time being." He then looked to where Kendall's outburst had left the large crater in the wall. "Besides, I think it's time that you find a way to reinforce this place some more before the next violent outburst from Kendall which could very well destroy even this base even if he didn't mean to."

"Dually noted, still it was definitely worth it to see the most fearsome Soldier X ability that I heard so much about, Destruction." Thorn said with a grin. "A simple name and the perfect description for it."

Their conversation was interrupted when, Joshua called out to them. He and Melissa were further down the hallway as they had stopped to chat and as a result hadn't heard Thorn and Dixon's conversation.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we're off to get freshened up and take a break from all the work we had today. Let us know when it's time to train." Joshua waved off to the two men as his sister followed soon after him. As he watched the rest of his unit go their separate ways for now, Dixon looked across the room to where Anna Kakuzawa and Triple B's quarters, the latter of which was now being prepared, were, he then began to think to himself about what the day's events would mean in the near future.

(I wonder how dear Gregory Matthews will react when he finds out that his own late father's research has brought about such pleasant results.) Dixon thought to himself as he walked toward the building's training facility. Once there he looked at the footage of Kendall in training. "I would like to see the look on his face, but considering that he's unable to respond to anything at the moment due to his body going past its physical limits, its unlikely. But no matter, he will probably be finding out the truth eventually when he recovers. Until then, I will continue preparations for our arrival in Japan soon…then we can officially start our 'Zero Tolerance' operation."

Around the same time on the other side of the country, Nastasha Romanenko, Maki Kawasaki, and Nanvel were dropped by at the Uruha mansion by Joker and Raiha, along with Gennosuke and Kenshin Mori, who were contacted by Kurei to pick them up from the safe house after they had lent their assistance to Rio and co in covering their escape that day.

Nanvel was carrying emergency supplies and a case of the spare nanomachines that will be used to ensure Greg's recovery. But before all else, Maki and Nanvel were overjoyed to see Lilica again, who went to meet them as they wasted no time to embrace one another upon seeing her.

"Lilica!" Maki cried out as she hugged Lilica, while Nanvel got to hug her from the sides as well. "Are you alright?"

"I am. Really, Maki, I wasn't hurt at all during that time." Lilica smiled at her friends. "Boy, seeing you guys again makes me feel so much better right now."

"Yeah, us too, Lilica. We feel the same too." Nanvel hugged Lilica. Then, she looked around the living room where everyone else with the exception of the rest of Team Warrior waited. "Well, Maki and I heard what has happened before coming here from Gennosuke-san and Kenshin-san on the way over here. That's why I made sure to come prepared."

"I'll show you to where they are. Yanagi-san and Serina-san are with him along with the head of the medic team, Oboro-dono, doing whatever they can to take care of his wounds." Miki spoke, offering her guest to come along with her.

"Thanks, just show the way." Nanvel said as she quickly passed the people in the room to head upstairs, while Maki and Nastasha stayed behind. As the two left the room, Neon then stepped out from one of the rooms with her husband, Kurei and Kagero. With them, stood two young children who looked like 5 to 6 year old pre schoolers. One was a boy with black hair, while the other was a girl with black hair as well.

"Hey, it's Lilica!" The boy ran to Lilica, as she smiled when she hugged him.

"My, you've grown some, Sora." Lilica smiled, then holding up the other twin. "And you too, Aoi. You've both grown up well."

"Lilica, you're dirty. We heard that you got kidnapped by a bunch of bad people and how everyone came to help you…but we're glad you're okay." Aoi spoke to Lilica, as she only giggled at the younger children. Then they both came closer to her. "We missed you, Lilica!" the two hugged Lilica at the same time.

"You two stay with Lilica and Daddy, while I go and show Maki-san to where Rio-san, Maya-san, and Yuji-san are there waiting outside as well." Neon said.

"Yes, do please lead the way, Neon. I have some important issues to speak over what has happened privately." Maki said as she and Neon left the room to go to the lobby area while Lilica stayed back with Nastasha.

"Alright, Mom, we'll be seeing you." The young twins said in unison as they stayed with Lilica, who was later joined by Umi, Tatsuko, and Inuko. Also in the room with Lilica were Riku, Nagi, and Tot, along with trio of the Shinsengumi female group, Gennosuke, Kenshin, Raiha, and Joker getting themselves seated, as Recca got himself into a more fixed state of mind before he spoke.

"Okay, Riku...with the exception of Oboro-san, Yanagi, Maki and the remainder of Warrior that is staying close to the room where Greg is at the moment, is this everyone?" Recca asked before speaking seriously. "From what I've seen about what went on today, I'd say things are definitely getting drastic."

"Yes, there seems to be a very serious problem going on here indeed..." Kurei spoke, then just as he said that, a figure entered the room behind the group from one of the rooms. Seraph looked on in curiosity and surprise at the sight of such an unusual group of strangers in the room.

"Seraph, you're awake." Riku stood up to meet the woman as she was introduced to some of the occupants of the Uruha mansion. "How is Yuina doing?"

"Well, after being able to gain supplemental nutrition and a much deserved cleaning, she's finally resting well, despite all that has happened." Seraph said as she sat down herself. "Still, the deep scarring to her heart remains…"

"If there's still anything that you two need from us, we'll be able to accommodate until Yuina recovers from this, you have our on that word, Seraph." Riku said to her. "And the same goes for the people in this room you haven't seen before; count on them to be your friends from now on."

"Thank you for going through the trouble of accommodating us, Riku-san." Seraph said, bowing lightly to him. "Even now after everything, you're able to assist us…"

"You don't need to say it, Seraph. You and Yuina were the ones in the most trouble today, so we had to do what we could to ease your troubles." Riku replied quickly. "As for accommodations, you should be thanking my uncle as this is his house, and also the rest of the clan as they helped to arrange it all. I was really just a messenger"

"Are you alright yourself, Seraph-san?" Tot asked her. "The day's been pretty rough on you too, you should rest as well."

"I'm aware of your concerns, Tot-san, but I can manage since most of the damage done to my body was minimal." Seraph said. "A full night's rest can fully restructure over seventy percent of my body's damaged molecules."

"I see, still, it wouldn't hurt to check just to be safe, Seraph, so I'll tell Serina-san to give you a check out too after she finishes her work on Greg later." Riku said as Seraph nodded.

"I would appreciate that, Riku-san. I also would recommend the same for Yuina after she wakes up from a full rest." Seraph said as Riku nodded to her suggestion.

"Okay, we'll keep that in mind." Riku replied to her as his father spoke.

"In any case, Riku, we should also introduce ourselves to your new friend that you rescued." Recca said. "Oh, excuse me, I'm Recca Hanabishi, one of the heads of the Hokage ninja clan and the young man you know already is my son, Riku."

"I see, so you're this brave ninja's father." Seraph said as she smiled at Recca and then at Riku. "I can already sense the similarities by watching you."

"Hey, what is that supposed to mean?" Both Riku and Recca said in unison which made some of the people in the room laugh to this while Kurei spoke now.

"We've just only been informed about you and Yuina, but it's best to let you know that we're all on your side and are willing to aid you as well in this matter, just as my nephew and his partners, as well as their comrades have done today." Kurei spoke first. "Allow me to introduce myself as well, I'm Kurei Mori, also one of the heads of the Hokage ninja clan as well as Uruha and where you're located right now is the base where we normally gather."

"This is a mansion that houses ninjas?" Seraph asked, almost in a tone of surprise.

"That's right. Think of this as a fortress that's been fitted to protect us from the enemy forces. We also have many, various allies that assist us in the same role my son and his partners play in FOXHOUND." Recca said.

"I see…" Seraph said simply as she greeted them.

"As you've met my brother's son, this man here is also my eldest son and also Riku's closest cousin, Kenshin Mori. The ones with them who also assisted Riku earlier are also long time Hokage clan members, Joker, Raiha, and Gennosuke." Kurei said, introducing the trio to Seraph while Joker noticed the presence of the Shinsengumi in the room as well.

"We couldn't help but not recognize the familiar names of the Shinsengumi here, so allow us to greet you as well and also to thank you for assisting Riku today as well." Joker spoke.

"So, you know about us and our reputation?" Dee asked.

"Certainly, our knowledge of the numerous mercenary groups is quite vast among the Uruha assassin group." Raiha answered. "Riku's friends must certainly have good connections, indeed."

During this, Seraph was getting to meet Kenshin and Gennosuke as well.

"It is an honor to meet you as well; I must thank you for being able to protect us during the escape." Seraph said as Kenshin spoke.

"Well, Seraph-san, considering the outcome of the mission and knowing that the enemy wouldn't give us the slip so easily, we were able to prepare for the worst upon our arrival to that base. It was really all in a day's work for us." Kenshin said. "Besides, I'm practically Riku's 'aniki' so to speak, so I've got to at least be around to give him the support he needed."

"Kenshin, you don't have to put it like that, though I appreciate the thought." Riku replied with a smile. "Besides, I'm sure Gennosuke-sensei felt the same way for his student, which was why he came too, right?"

"That's for certain, Riku." Gennosuke said, bowing to Seraph before returning his attention to his student. "Not only did it give me a good chance of letting me see how far you've advance in controlling your powers lately, but I also got to see for myself how good your medical skills have gotten. I'm certain Oboro-dono would be proud once she hears about this."

Riku blushed a little bit, but then stopped and tilted his head slightly, remembering how Greg was eager on meeting Oboro before and did his best to hide the feeling of regret on the fact that he couldn't do more for his friend and keep it from showing on his face. Though that attempt was in vain, as it had become obvious.

"Riku, I'm sure he will be okay." Lilica said suddenly, although the expression on her face looked sad too. "Greg's a fighter; surely something like this won't keep him down forever."

"Yeah, you're right. Greg may not look it, but he's really a resilient guy, he's shown all of us that today." Riku nodded. "I'm sure he'll pull through this once Mom, Oboro-dono and Serina-san are done with him. And with Nanvel just joining in, I'm sure the chances of that just got better."

"It's been over a couple of hours since we got here, though…I know the medical team has to take their time, but Nanami and I can't help but worry too, Riku." Nagi said.

"Yeah, Greg-san looked really bad when we brought him in. He also looked like he was in a deep sleep, maybe the fatigue caught up to him in more ways than one…" Tot said as well while Kenshin spoke.

"I know you three are worried for your friend, and while the most of us do not fully know him as you do right now, I can be sure that things will work out for the best once the medical team set their hearts to it." Kenshin said to them. "Though, we have to wait until they are finished to confirm how things will be, then…"

A short silence followed afterwards until Kurei began to speak.

"Well, until the medical team gives a report on Greg's condition, we need to discuss about all that has happened today, since this is of grave importance. We can save the full introductions for later when things have calmed down." Kurei said seriously as he looked at Seraph, then at Riku and his partners. "Riku, I'm sure you understand that we need to know what's going on too so we can help Seraph and Yuina better."

"I do know that and I'm willing to tell you guys what happened today, for Seraph's sake as well, since she needs to know what we could be expecting in the near future soon." Riku replied.

"Yes, considering the situation, things have gone out of hand because of that guy, Reese's actions." Recca said. "It wouldn't be a surprise to me that he's responsible for this mess."

"Seraph, you do know that what we've gotten into is very dangerous, meaning that whoever was responsible for putting you and Yuina into a situation like this, also means that they won't give up until they get what they want from you." Kurei said. "Still, do you want to listen in on what we're about to learn from Riku and his partners over what has happened?"

"I'm prepared to intake the information; while I still have little memory of this planet, it will be a good source of information for me at this crucial time, although, it will be hard for Yuina to accept it the most when the time will come for her to learn the truth as well." Seraph said.

(Well, she's right about that. We won't be able to keep this from her much longer, now that she and Yuina are involved in a much bigger role just as Mantis said before he died when he was with Greg…) Nagi said in thought to his partner.

(I'm sure that had things turn out differently in the end, Greg would have done the same and filled her in on what's going on, but I guess we have to do it in his place for now.) Riku replied in thought. "You're right, since things have gotten way out of our control, you should probably know that much, Seraph, since you have been involved into this before anything else as well."

"Since everyone is in agreement, we can pass the time by exchanging information until news from the medical team arrives and also ponder more on the matter on what possible dangers we would be facing later from the enemy." Recca said as he looked at Gennosuke.

"You're correct, Recca-san, this is a serious time we're all dealing with at the moment." Gennosuke replied seriously. "First, we should begin with detailing to Seraph-san about the enemy that was responsible, before going on to discuss about the events of today."

"Don't spare any details, you guys." Kenshin said to Riku and his partners. "If there's even a little hint worth mentioning, we should know about it too."

"That is why I'm out here as well, despite what Yuina and I just endured." Seraph said seriously. "In any case, you were about to explain the likeliest reason as to why we were targeted and Yuina's aunt had to die in the process, were you not?"

"Yes, we'd better begin with what we do already know about it. Now, Seraph…we should start with the kind of enemy that was responsible for causing you this grief in the first place." Riku spoke first. "Since you were the one who learned from Maki and the others basically on who Reese and the Patriots are before we met you, I guess we should also fill you in on what kind of threats the people he works for possess."

"Yes, Greg-san and Maki-san told me about the Patriots and their doings, so I have a vague idea on what they are capable of." Seraph said as she looked at Lilica. "Will you be alright here with us instead of being with your comrades?"

"I'll be okay, Seraph, though I do think its time I get back to the others anyway, they are pretty much worried over what happened to Greg, especially Rio of all people." Lilica stood up. "Kurei, it will be okay Sora and Aoi come along with me, right? They may meet their mother on the way."

"Most certainly, Lilica, since this conversation we will have is between those who have been through a lot today and I don't need to scare them. Thank you for the consideration." Kurei replied as Lilica took the children's hands and beckoned them to come with her as Umi, Tatsuko, and Inuko stood up as well.

"Ah, I think we'd better follow Lilica's advice and go too." Tatsuko said. "I know the medical team's got things handled, but I'm just as worried about how Rio-san feels about it.

"Yeah, I'm with you on that one, Tatsuko." Inuko spoke as Umi headed in the other direction.

"I'm going to gather the rest of the referees that are staying here at the moment to come check up as well." Umi said. "I'm sure since most of them were told about what's been happening, the most they can do is help cheer up the Warrior group."

"Yeah, you go and do that. We'll be meeting you at the lobby area then." Tatsuko said with a nod as the three former referees left the room, leaving the remainder of people to start discussing what had happened.

"Now then, Seraph, if Greg hasn't told you about the kind of person Reese was before he revealed himself today, I'm sure you can grasp the idea why every single one of us doesn't really like him. We can tell you from our point of view of most of the detestable things he has done that I'm sure you'll need to know…" Riku said as he and his partners began to explain to her about his past actions…

Meanwhile, in the lobby area of the mansion, Maki was sitting across the couch area where Rio, Maya, and Yuji sat, holding onto a cigarette and sighing after hearing all that has happened from her three Warrior operatives, while Neon was sitting across listening to the conversation as well. Most of it was still pretty hard to accept, but she will eventually understand things better when Nanvel gets a report on Greg's condition later, hoping for some good news.

"I see…so Greg stayed behind to get some secret information from Mantis and in turn, the enemy must have found out about it and eliminated Mantis and tried to take down Greg along with the underground base." Maki said solemnly as Rio, who looked tired due to the experience she had today, spoke.

"I'm so sorry, Maki…I knew I should have listened to my instincts and stayed behind, but I didn't want to upset Greg if I did." Rio said, still gripping unto Greg's lance, the Ascension with both her hands as it was laid on her laps. "And what happened to Mantis after everything we did today…what Reese has done isn't forgivable!"

"I know what you mean…Greg must have been hit the hardest since he was the only one with him at the time." Yuji said miserably. "To think how this will affect him mentally from now on…chances are he won't be able to recover from this so easily."

"Damn it all!" Rio hung her head and shouted. "What gain is Reese trying to get from all of this?"

"Rio, I know how bitter you must feel about all this, but now isn't the time to think about how we were all manipulated into this for the enemy's gain." Maki advised her. "For the moment, now that at least we've gotten Lilica back along with both Seraph and Yuina, it's best to concentrate on recovering ourselves from this ordeal until the time comes to counter what other surprises Reese and the Patriots have in store for us."

"She's right, Rio, although I feel the same way about Reese as you do now." Maya said to her friend. "We should be grateful that at least we will be safe here at the Uruha mansion for the time being and I'm sure with their alliance with us still set, they will continue to support us from now on."

"That's for certain, Rio-san. Kurei and everyone else here will see to that, I can assure you." Neon said to her.

"Yeah, I know that and I really appreciate it." Rio replied, as she looked at Maki with concern on her face. "Yet, I can't help but think about everything regarding Greg's powers…was it part of the reason why he stayed behind with Mantis?"

"Most likely, since all we know right now at the moment is that that facility had something to do with whatever Greg's father was involved in." Maya replied. "And those things you claimed Greg did with the Ascension during the fight with Mantis…what is really going on?"

"I wished we all knew, Maya, but I guess the answers will have to wait until Greg recovers from this. You guys need a much deserved break from all that has happened, so don't worry yourselves any more than you have to. When the time comes, we'll seriously gather around to ponder about this." Maki told them as Lilica entered the room with Sora and Aoi holding her hands, with Inuko and Tatsuko behind her.

"Lilica, how are things up front?" Maki asked her as Lilica sat next to her, as did the two young children stood next to their mother, and the two referees stood next to the Warrior operatives who took part in the mission earlier.

Yuji felt an urge to take out his camera and start filming the cute and pretty former Urabutosatsujin referees, but since the mood right now killed any perverted indication he had before, he soon dropped the idea.

"Well, it seems like Kurei and the other members of the Uruha and Hokage are going to get down into telling Seraph all that she needed to know about Reese and the Patriots, as well as getting into what really happened today with the members from Riku and his partners." Lilica explained.

"We were just telling Maki and Neon about what happened during the mission as well and from Rio, about that fight with Mantis and afterwards." Maya told her. "You missed out on one hell of a story, Lil; you should have been here to hear it."

"Thanks, but I've been through enough wild stories for one lifetime, I can do without it until later." Lilica replied sheepishly as she laid back. "Still, considering that Greg did one heck of a job today, he still managed to find his way back to us despite getting hurt badly."

"He did say he wanted all of us in Warrior to stay with him as a real family from now on before and he sounded like he meant it." Maya said with a small smile on her face.

"It could be that, but I guess this also applies from what his memories of his late mother told him, I guess." Rio said solemnly. "That he has to live, no matter how hard things look. I guess in a way even she knew of the burden he was to bear later on in life because of his past…"

There was a short silence afterwards until Umi entered the room with a group of other females the members of Warrior never met before.

"Well, I managed to find as many of the former referees that are staying here at the moment, but I didn't remember that all of them staying here." Umi said as one of the referees stepped up to speak. "In any case, girls, with the exception of Nanvel who is with the medical team at the moment, this is Greg-san's surrogate family that Riku and I have told you about."

"So, this is Team Warrior, one of the groups that we're allied with, right?" The girl asked, wearing a mouse cosplay. "I'm Demi, Number Two referee after Tatsuko, representing the Year of the Mouse."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Demi." Maki said, bowing to her. "Greg has told me that he made some friends out of the group of referees when he last visited the mansion with his girlfriend."

"When you said 'Year of the Mouse', those that apply to the outfit you're wearing?" Lilica asked.

"Of course, each referee represents something pretty much similar to a zodiac from China or the like." Demi replied. "While you already know Umi, Tatsuko and Inuko, they too represent animals of a year as well."

"I represented the 'Year of the Rabbit'." Umi simply told them.

"While I represent the 'Year of the Dragon' and Inuko represents the 'Year of the Dog'." Tatsuko said as Inuko nodded as well.

"I see, so that makes four referees we've met out of you so far." Maya said. "And you guys?"

The remainder of the group got to introduce themselves to Maki and the Warrior group. After Demi was introduced, next was Amagi, a cute freckled girl who represented the Year of the Horse. She does what she can to support Demi and is a good natured girl whose friends with Enma, who represented the Year of the Monkey. Like Amagi, Enma is also a good natured person and is always cheerful.

The next to be introduced was Yoko, who represented the Year of the Sheep or Ram. She is one of the most self assured and outgoing of all the referees, having no doubt to her own attractiveness and loves to work the audience. She also craves attention, limelight and admiration more than Tatsuko and is the source of confidence among the rest of the referees. Despite all these qualities, she prefers to dress in her ref outfit than do the task she wore it for in the first place.

Following Yoko, the youngest of the group, Inoko was next. She represents the Year of the Pig, though hasn't done any of her duties as a referee as yet, she still had quite a fan-base and is training to become a professional referee to be on par with the rest of the girls. She happened to wear an eye patch over her left eye and happens to be one of Domon Ishijima's fans.

Next to be introduced to Maki and the others from Warrior was Midori, who represented the Year of the Bird. She wore a cosplay that closely resembled a large bird. She happens to be one of the spunkier referees, not hesitating to yell back to the audience who make comments about her body.

The last of the girls to be introduced was Ushino, who represented the Year of the Cow. It would seem obvious since she is the bustiest of all the refs and she has to wear cow related costume wear consisting of a cow bell around her neck, two rings on her left leg, along with a pair of cute, rounded glasses, which got a much forced back reaction from Yuji who kept staring at her. Like Umi, she is timid, and has a habit of flinching when the fighting for one of the participants starts to go bad as well as hiding her eyes during a fight. She is not such a big fan of violence.

Altogether, the former Urabutosatsujin referees were getting to greet the various members of Warrior and started to get along well with each other as they began to give their own support to Rio over what has happened. It was Ushino who got to speak with Rio when she approached her.

"Rio-san, while the rest of us don't know your son like Inuko, Umi, and Tatsuko do, I'm sure that he will be fine." Ushino smiled at Rio. "The medical team here is one of the best in treating its patients, so he's in good hands."

"Yeah, Rio-san, so don't look so gloomy." Inoko told her as Rio grinned as she looked at Neon.

"Was this your idea, Neon? Rio asked simply. "Because if you're trying to make me feel better, it's actually working."

"Oh, I wish I had a hand in this, but they are just as worried about Greg as everyone else is." Neon replied with a smile.

"You know…this reminds me of something similar several years back." Maki said with a light sigh. "This was not the first time Greg had his extremely close brush with death… The only difference is that Greg didn't have too many friends back then, yet still he always had a way of making ones, even if it meant getting into trouble."

"What are you talking about Maki?" Yuji asked as Maya clubbed his head since he was staring at the referees too much, especially at Ushino.

"Try to remember. You were there too, Yuji, when Greg got into that nasty fight that almost got him killed." Maya exclaimed which was pretty much the surprise to Neon, her children and the Urabutosatsujin referees.

"Greg got into a fight?" Umi asked. "I know it may sound troubling, but may we ask with who and what for?"

"Well, it would be pretty strange to hear it coming from us, if Greg was awake, as he would tell you all a much better detail on what happened." Rio said as she shrugged her shoulders. "Still, I can tell you as much as I know from what he told me what really happened. It took place long before he joined FOXHOUND; he was still in Japan at the time and was hanging out with the kids around the block for exercise as he was in training at the time…"

August, 23rd, 2008, 6:58 pm, in front of the Mizuo train station at Neo Tokyo…

"Damn, I knew I should have tried to leave the basketball court earlier before it got dark like this, but because the kids around here are pretty enthusiastic about sports in these parts..." A seventeen year old Greg Kinezono said, wearing a hooded, jogging shirt and basketball pants. He was also wearing a large set of head phones around his neck hooked to an Ipod in his pocket and was carrying a medium sized gym bag with books, training equipment, and small lifting gear in it.

He was already late in getting back to the district near Rio's apartment before it got dark, as he had been warned by Maki, Rio, and Seishiro about how dangerous certain parts of the area could get after dark, so he was behind on curfew. If he didn't have to stay back around the busy district, shopping for supplies that he will need for his education and training purposes, he would have been back home before the sunset.

Worse yet, he had spent all of his allowance on the supplies, meaning he was short on the right amount of money for a taxi fare at the moment. That meant that he would have to walk the rest of the way home, which was basically a fifteen to twenty minute trek from the station to the suburbs.

"I can almost sense something's going to happen tonight." Greg muttered his thoughts out loud to himself. "On a night like this, it's probably would have been better to have stayed put at home and waited for tomorrow morning, but now I guess I don't have a choice. Well, here goes…"

Turning towards the street across from his direction, Greg started to walk towards the street leading to the park, where the lamplights began to illuminate the darkness of the area around him. He could hear the fountain of the park was still churning water and was also lit with fluorescent lights as well.

"This is nice…" Greg muttered as he took in the sights of the city at night. Still, he knew that he shouldn't be out too late, although he wanted to relax a bit after a hard evening of training. He continued walking through the park and to the other side where he was able to get back to the main street where the suburb area was.

(Okay, seems that home isn't too far away. Taking that shortcut at a time like this was a good thing when I…) Before Greg finished what he was thinking, he stopped to overhear noises coming from a back alley some buildings away from Rio's apartment building.

"Come on, baby, you know you want it." An older male's voice said as Greg then noticed the sound of a muffled scream of a girl slightly younger than him following afterwards.

"Hey, you know there's no use of you trying to resist us. We're Yakuza, you do know that?" Another male's voice spoke as Greg quietly crept in the direction of the voices to investigate what was going on. "And even if you do cry out and someone managed to hear you, there's not a thing they would to do us."

From around a corner, Greg glanced to see a group of four to five Japanese males, two of them were over twenty years old while the remainder of them looked younger. Three of the men were surrounding a young girl with short, chestnut brown hair, wearing a white and blue school uniform that was partially torn around her blouse area, while her mouth was being covered by one of the men and tears could be seen coming out of her eyes.

After noting the clothing fashion of the men, Greg could tell that they were indeed members of the Yakuza, as they had admitted, but they looked to be simple cronies as he noted their personalities. He overheard from Rio that they've gotten more active in the area as of late, causing trouble for the neighborhood lately, especially by harassing young girls which was one of their acts.

"Okay, I got first dibs on her." One of the older men spoke, spitting out some of the alcohol he was drinking and approaching the trio holding the girl in place as he started to unzip his pants.

"What? Fine, but I don't want any sloppy seconds and neither does anyone else here, so you'd better not ruin the fun for the rest of us, you hear?" One of his friends said as Greg turned his head.

(I know this looks bad for her, but I can't pick a fight with these guys. Rio said I should just leave these kinds of people alone.) Greg thought as he started to walk away, before he stopped as he remembered Rio's voice ring.

(Now, Greg, its okay for you to use what Seishiro-san and I taught you to try and help someone in trouble, but you must never, ever use it to start some kind of fight for personal gain. The same goes for your powers, too.) Rio words of advice came back to him as Greg grunted with contemplation over what the girl would have to go through if he left things as they were. His right artificial arm suddenly began to shake, trying to hold back any guilt he was getting from staying away from intervening. Eventually…the pain that soon gave away afterwards forced him to make a choice.

(Ah, dammit! I'm so going to regret doing this!) Greg thought as he turned around and headed back to the alley where he stopped to face the group of Yakuza as Greg called out to them.

"Stop what you're doing right now!" Greg shouted to the group as they turned to see him standing behind the group, holding unto his bag. "Leave the girl alone."

(Did that guy hear what was going on here and came to help?) The girl thought as one of the Yakuza who was still holding onto the girl spoke.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Some punk that thinks he's a knight in shining armor, maybe?" One of the men asked as Greg lowered his eyes at the men, trying to put up a brave face for the girl, but still was feeling scared as he stared at the men with contempt in his eyes. "I hope my trembling of excitement doesn't make me look too bad."

"Trembling? That's just probably from your drinking too much, buddy." Greg replied seriously as one of the Yakuza cursed loudly at him in reply, taking out a pair of batons to arm himself with.

Battle theme: The theme of Arcueid-Nero Chaos's theme from Melty Blood: Act Cadenza.

"I was just thinking the same thing too. Go and beat some sense into that little bastard!" One of the men shouted as the baton wielding Yakuza male charged at Greg, who sidestepped before the batons were swung at him and he countered by striking the man with an upward blow accompanied by the heavy weight of his training gym bag that he was holding. The force of the bag met the underside of the man's chin, bruising it as he got lifted off his feet and was knocked flat on his back.

"Why, you…!" One of his friends spat as he prepared to go help his friend, but before he finished, the gym bag was thrown at his chest area, while Greg suddenly followed up by rushing to the second Yakuza that was there and Greg planted a straight punch from his left arm into the chest area, knocking some wind out of him. Greg then grabbed the one who got injured by his training bag from before by his jacket and manage to throw him across to a heap of garbage, crashing into it.

"Dammit! What's the matter with all of you?" The Yakuza holding unto the girl said as he released her and took a steel pipe that was on the ground as he used it to strike Greg at his back. Staggering against a nearby wall, Greg held onto it as he regained his balance as he saw the Yakuza charged with the pipe once more. The young psychic suddenly avoided the incoming strike as he grabbed the Yakuza's arm and used his strength to wrangle it away from the Yakuza as he then used his psychic powers to push the man a great distance from himself and the girl.

Taking some steps back as he approached the young girl with his bruised back turned to her, Greg glanced at her, making sure she was alright.

"Hey, are you okay?" Greg asked as he held his left fist up in a ready fighting pose and breathing heavily. "They didn't hurt or touch you unnecessarily, did they?"

The schoolgirl simply shook her head fervently as Greg stared back at the recovering Yakuza group.

(At this rate, even I can't hold my own against this number…but since I'm already knee deep in this mess, I might as well perform to the best of my abilities until some miracle happen.) Greg thought as he smiled lightly at her. "Don't you worry; I'll make sure these guys won't touch you ever again. For now, I'll draw their attention while you make a run for it."

"Ummm…" The young girl simply muttered as Greg figured out what she was going to say.

"Gregory. Gregory Kinezono, that's my name." He simply said. "And yours?"

"K-Kyoko…" The girl muttered as her eyes widened as she looked to her side. "Look out!"

Greg took heed of the warning and managed to put up his right arm in time to stop a glass bottle that was being thrown at them. As it broke, it managed to cut away into his shirt, revealing light strands of nanomachines coming out of the prosthetic arm that he was wearing.

"What the hell?" One of the Yakuza shouted as Greg looked sternly at the group even harder. "His right hand's not even freaking real!"

"Kill the freak!" The leader of the Yakuza shouted as Greg lifted one of his arms to project a barrier to knock back one of the men while he palmed another to the side with his left fist. Another of the Yakuza then leapt from behind and swung his fist at Greg's stomach, which took the hit, before kicking Greg back in the face.

Before he lost his balance, Greg flipped backwards and used his prosthetic arm to claw into the wet ground beneath him as he slid across it away from the girl named Kyoko. A stream of blood leaked out of his cut cheek as Greg quickly stood up and stood guard against the group once more.

As three of them charged at him from the front, Greg stamped onto a nearby puddle as the water splashed on the men's faces, creating an opening for him to attack one of them with a single roundhouse kick. As he was stunned, Greg gave his accomplice a swift backhand to the back of his head as he dashed to the side once more and gave him a sweep kick to knock the Yakuza man back.

Stopping to breathe for a while, Greg looked on to see how many of the group was still standing, even though he was covered in minor bruises himself. However, before he could register what was to happen next…

"Kinezono-kun, behind you!" Kyoko shouted as Greg didn't get enough time to register what she said was behind him except for a sharp, cold, and piercing feeling that forced its way through the left side of his lower abdomen from behind. Looking down for a second at where the feeling came from, he then saw a tip of a blade, peeking its way through the front of his now blood-stained shirt.

"Kyyaaaahhhh!" Kyoko screamed loudly as Greg's body suddenly felt weak for a moment, as he caught on to what happened just now. One of the Yakuza from before that Greg trashed from before was armed with a wakizashi, a Japanese short sword, and had used it to stab him from behind when he didn't see it coming. No wonder it was getting difficult for him to breathe as he could feel his body getting weak all of a sudden.

(Did I…just get stabbed? Is this how it feels like…?) Greg thought weakly as he slowly slumped to the wet ground, blood pouring out of his wound, unable to stop the bleeding even when he tried to press his hand on it. (No way…does this mean that I'm going to die at a miserable place like this, trying to protect a stranger? How…pathetic…)

"Kinezono-kun! Kinezono-kun!" Kyoko shouted while she watched Greg slumped on the alley ground, as the Yakuza who stabbed Greg spat and looked at Kyoko now, with a murderous look on his face.

"Now that you've seen this, there's no sense keeping you around to tell others what happened. But why not have some fun with that body of yours before I slit your throat first, hmm?" The Yakuza ringleader said as he was about to approach the girl, a tall male with shoulder length hair of black color and was wearing an eye patch over his left eye and casual clothing of a dress shirt and long jeans leapt in with a flying kick to knock down the knife wielding man from behind.

"Who the hell are you…?" The Yakuza shouted, but got a swift punch to the face, knocking him backwards.

Kyoko could tell that this man was also here to rescue her and now Greg so she immediately rushed over to Greg, who was still slumped over and losing blood.

Meanwhile the man managed to knock out three more of the Yakuza within a matter of seconds before the leader, seeing that this newcomer was no pushover, called for the rest of his gang to retreat. After seeing the gang leave, the man turned around and approached Greg

"Greg! Can you hear me?" The man called out as Greg already recognized the tone of his voice as well as his face. "Greg!"

"Sei-Seishiro-san…?" Greg muttered as Seishiro took his left hand and held it firmly.

"I'm here, it's going to be okay, and those guys are gone now." Seishiro said, as he looked at the girl looking at the two, tears streaming out of her eyes. "Stay with me, Greg, I'll get you to a hospital right away."

"Kinezono-kun, he's right. The hospital isn't far from here." Kyoko said, holding unto his prosthetic right hand, surprising him a bit. "Just hang in there!"

"Even after…seeing me like that just now…you're still worried about me?" Greg muttered weakly as Kyoko shook her head.

"That doesn't matter! You…you protected me, the most I can do is help after all that you did…so, please…don't die…" Kyoko cried as Greg coughed a little, he even tasted some of his own blood in his mouth.

"Why did I ever…get myself into something like this…in the first place?" Greg muttered as Seishiro stood up and faced Kyoko.

"My car isn't far from here, so I'll drive him to the hospital." Seishiro said as he lifted up Greg's weak body in his arms. "I assume you're coming as well?"

Kyoko nodded silently in response. "Yes, I'll be fine, I need to be close by to see what happens to him, and also…"

She stopped for a moment as she hesitantly shook her head as Seishiro spoke on.

"There's no need for you to say anymore, but if you want to come, that's fine with me as long as your parents know that you're safe. I'll need you to look after him on the way to the hospital while I drive." Seishiro said. "In any case, we should already be on the way there."

Kyoko nodded at Seishiro in agreement and hurried along with him to his parked car just a few meters away from the alley where he easily laid Greg into the backseat, while Kyoko sat in the passenger's seat and Seishiro took the steering wheel as he sped off to the hospital.

"Do you think you can apply some pressure on that wound to stop the bleeding from getting worse?" Seishiro asked her as Kyoko nodded.

"I think so, I'll try anyway…" Kyoko muttered, as the sight of blood frightened her a great deal.

"Please do, I'm sorry to say won't be able to concentrate on keeping Greg alive long enough for us to get to the hospital in time while driving us there at the same time." Seishiro said with a heavy hint of concern in his voice. "I know you may not like it, but…you are probably one of the first persons that he would stick his neck out for. The most you can do is start repaying his kindness with some of your own."

Kyoko swallowed as she took her hands and pressed on a rolled up cotton towel on his wound while Greg was losing blood and consciousness by the minute.

"Kinezono-kun, please stay awake…" Kyoko said as Seishiro managed to get to the local Neo Tokyo hospital in time as he stepped out of the car at the emergency parkway where a trio of nurse orderlies were outside, attending to patients brought in from an ambulance near by.

"Can somebody please help us?" Seishiro asked as the orderlies noticed Greg lying prone on the car's backseat. "He was just stabbed in a fight when he came to the aid of this girl."

"Notify the emergency room at once that we've got one losing blood fast!" One of the orderlies said as two others brought in a wheeled stretcher and carefully rested Greg on it as he was groaning lightly in pain from the wound. Kyoko stood close by to see Greg get carried off inside as Seishiro took out his cell phone from his pocket.

"Who are you going to call?" Kyoko asked.

"His surrogate family, they need to know what happened so they can be here." Seishiro said as he dialed Rio's number. "And what will you do?"

"I…I will stay here, I can always contact my family later…" Kyoko said hesitantly as Seishiro got through to Rio as her voice got through on the other side.

"Hey, Seishiro-san, it's rare that you gave me a call." Rio asked from her end. "Sorry about the noise, I just got off work and was on my way to a karaoke bar with Miyuki. So, why did you call me up?"

"Rio, I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you that you may not like. Greg got himself into a fight with a small group of Yakuza who were harassing a girl on his way from training and he ended getting stabbed." Seishiro said as Rio exclaimed in reply.

"WHAT!" Rio shouted. "Is Greg okay, Seishiro? Where are you guys now?"

"At the Neo Tokyo hospital, I just brought him here." Seishiro replied. "The wound doesn't look too bad, but he did lose a lot of blood."

"Dammit, I'll contact Maki and the others about this! I'll be on my way there as soon as I can so you can tell me the details!" Rio quickly hung up as Seishiro sighed he looked at Kyoko.

"We should go inside and see what they are doing to help Greg." Seishiro told Kyoko as she nodded.

"Yeah, I just hope he will be okay…" Kyoko said as the two of them went inside the hospital.

Shortly after Seishiro called Rio, she and the rest of Warrior arrived and were there with him and Kyoko within half an hour. They hadn't got any news on Greg's condition since he was brought in and were anxious in knowing if he would pull through. While they were there, they were told about the details of what happened by Kyoko in order to pass the time.

"Damn, Greg should have known better than to get involved in fights against the Japanese mob, but I guess he's a little too good hearted not to leave some girl in trouble like that…" Rio muttered. "It's not like he intentionally went to pick a fight, those creeps started it."

"Well, rest assured that now that Kyoko just told us what we need to know can act as evidence as well since I can look at this as a case of attempted murder." Maki said seriously. "Before I came here, I had a team of forensics make a stop to where witnesses around the area heard the skirmish was taking place and they happened to come across the bloodstained sword that was used to stab Greg."

"So, we've also got psychical evidence too, is that it?" Maya asked as Maki nodded.

"Yes, chances are that the Yakuza who were in the area tonight may have had previous criminal records, so once the fingerprints from the weapon are confirmed and matched with the owner, we can get an arrest warrant made by tomorrow morning." Maki said as one of the doctors came in from the Emergency Room areas.

"You're the legal guardians of Gregory Kinezono, correct?" He asked as Rio, Seishiro and Maki nodded. "Well, I got some good news, the wound somehow managed to miss any vital areas, but he still lost a lot of blood tonight. For now, it seems he's been stabilized and resting comfortably, so even the next few days will be decisive. You will just have to pray that his condition will improve somehow."

Rio gritted her teeth as the doctor left the group while Maki approached the blonde to pat her shoulder.

"Well, at least we know that he's far from danger for now, so we'll be able to rest easy tonight…" Maki said as she looked at Seishiro. "And, once again, thank you for being there in time to help him. I know you did your best too to help him, so…"

"I'll be okay, Maki, I can't blame myself for any of this, though I wish I was there several minutes earlier before it got serious to that point." Seishiro said. "I was concerned on how late it was getting and that Greg wasn't at Rio's apartment at the time, so I went around the block to look for him in case he ran into trouble and it was a good thing that I did."

"We're really grateful that you did that, none of us were probably close enough in the area to be there in time to help Greg." Lilica said as she looked at Kyoko. "You don't have to worry about things here, we'll let you know on how Greg will pull through and as for those punks who harassed you, Maki's going to get something prepared for them as well by tomorrow, so you can come by the station for an ID parade and just show us who was responsible for this mess."

"You don't need to worry about any of them trying to intimidate you or the like, I'll be personally there to watch things myself since I'm one of Greg's guardians after all so I'll be personally be slapping them with a visit to court as early as later this week as well as to have them tried for at least attempted murder." Maki said. "But for the time being, you should be getting home since it's getting late."

"Yeah, if anyone's going to stay here, it should be us; your parents would probably be worried by now. Yuji will take you to where you live if it's far from here." Rio came and bowed to Kyoko. "Thank you again for being there with Seishiro-san through this."

"It was no trouble…but would it be alright if I come back tomorrow to visit?" Kyoko asked as Rio nodded.

"I think Greg would appreciate that very much if you did, Kyoko. He would need the company until he gets better." Rio said with a smile as she handed her a phone number. "Contact me with this number in case you run into problems, I'll tell the staff here that you're Greg's Number One Fan and you're free to check on him any time."

"Rio-san…" Kyoko blushed as Yuji approached them.

"Come on, we should be on the way, Kyoko." Yuji said as Kyoko bowed to the Warrior group before she left with Yuji in a hurry. As she did, Kyoko shyly asked Yuji what he could tell her about what he knew of Greg and he felt obliged to tell her and began doing so on the way.

Two days later, despite feeling a stinging pain from the wound area now and then, Greg woke up just as he normally would, but this time to a bright glare through the hospital windows next to the bed he was lying on. Lifting his right arm over his head, he opened the palm of his artificial hand and clenched it as he thought seriously to himself.

(I survived a near death experience…again…) Greg thought as he then heard a knocking on the door as Rio, Nanvel, Seishiro, Maki and Lilica entered the room carrying a bouquet of flowers and small containers of home cooked food.

"It's you guys…" Greg said simply as Rio hugged him as she rested the flowers close to him.

"Ohayo! So, you're finally up, you sleepyhead." Rio said as she lightly touched Greg's bandaged cheek. "Even though it was just a stab wound, you were sleeping for whole two days since you got here."

"I was out for that long, huh?" Greg asked as Rio folded her arms and stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "I guess that I'm not really that strong if I was sleeping for that long now, am I?"

"Really, Greg, you had us all worried. Why did you go and do something like that?" Rio asked. "I know there must have been good reasons and I can't really blame you, but still…"

"I know that the reason I got in here to begin with is my doing, but I couldn't just leave that girl in trouble like that." Greg said as he held his head. "Yeah, I know those guys were Yakuza too, but…something inside me just made me want to take some kind of action…I don't know, maybe I just don't like seeing other people being pushed around like that. I felt that I had to make a stand somehow, even if it meant either revealing my secrets or getting hurt, but those didn't matter to me at the time."

Rio sighed as she lightly patted Greg's head after he said this.

"Ah, why am I getting fussed up about you doing something like this for? What you just said is pretty logical, not to mention chivalrous on your part, no one can argue with that." Rio lamented. "But you're still going to take the responsibility for making us worry over you like this, so from today on, you're going to spend each evening cleaning out my apartment for a week and getting dinner and bath ready by the time I get home from work!"

"Hey, what kind of punishment is that?" Greg asked. "Besides, you're the one who keeps the apartment unorganized every time I used to stay there and clean up after you anyways when I was a kid. As a matter of fact, those are actually all the things that you assigned me to do every time I was living at home!"

"I don't need to hear any of your complaints, unless you want Seishiro-san to give you hell training for a week instead." Rio said with a sly glare to Greg making him flustered as he gave in.

"Fine, fine…you win, sensei. Although, you forced me into it, I'd rather take the training any day over being your personal housekeeper." Greg muttered as Rio grabbed him in a headlock and tried to suffocate him by pressing his head to her chest.

"What did you say?" Rio said as Maki chuckled seeing this.

"Well, since it's obvious now that Greg is strong enough to take Rio's smothering; I've got some more good news that I'm sure he would like to hear." Maki said as she took out a newspaper to show him a headline that was printed on the second page of the print after Greg recovered from Rio's attack. "Remember that group of Yakuza that got you into the hospital to begin with?"

"How could I not ever forget, Aunt Maki?" Greg asked as he looked at the page as his eyes widened in surprise when he read the headlines. "Hey, aren't these are the same guys that…!"

"That's right, Greg. Soon after that skirmish, I had the forensics at Police Town visit the scene and they happen to get the weapon they used to stab you with and managed to obtain the fingerprint data from the Yakuza guy who just happened to have a criminal record in our files." Maki said.

"The next morning, we found out that this guy was involved for notorious minor, drug smuggling rings around the Neo Tokyo district, not to mention running a money laundering business and real estate scam, and he was arrested on those charges before but that didn't keep him in jail for long." Lilica said.

"Because the Yakuza are always backed up by a high paid lawyer they have in times like these?" Greg asked seriously as Lilica nodded to him.

"Yes, but with the evidence from the blood samples we obtained, it was enough to point all what had happened to him and his friends, even the most professional lawyers in the city couldn't have gotten them out of this one." Nanvel said. "So, we got the guy and his accomplices arrested and had them brought to the ID parade where Kyoko, the girl you rescued and Seishiro-san pointed the guys out."

"That later lead them to a tribunal of judges that convicted them of assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder." Seishiro said. "You may not know well of how the Japanese justice system works around here, Greg, but it's different on this side of the world. Many countries like this one either do not have or believe in trial by jury, but by a tribunal of judges."

"This means that those guys who harassed Kyoko-san and attacked you that night are going to be spending the next seven years in jail." Rio said as Greg nodded after hearing this.

"That's good to hear…all's well that ends well, I suppose." Greg said as he thought of something. "By the way, you said that girl came forth at the parade, Kyoko, wasn't it? How has she been doing ever since then?"

"She came to visit you yesterday evening while you were still sleeping and stayed like an hour just listening to my stories about you when I came to check you as well." Rio said. "She seemed concerned about how you were going to pull through this, though and said she would keep on visiting until you get better."

"I see…I hope I didn't scare her too much from that time, I ended up having to use some of my powers against those punks who were harassing her." Greg said sullenly.

"Ah, she didn't seem to mind it, as a matter of fact, we ended up telling her everything about you from your artificial arm to your powers." Rio admitted as Greg looked at her wide eyed.

"Why did you go and do that for, sensei?" Greg asked as Seishiro answered for her.

"It was obvious from after what Kyoko-san saw that she had questions about you, Greg. We had to be honest and straightforward with her, and she looked like a trustworthy girl, especially since you've done quite a bit to get her admiration." Seishiro said as Greg blushed and turned his head to the side.

"A-anyway, now that I'm better, how soon can I get out of here?" Greg asked.

"Well, we can get you discharged as soon as today, if that's okay. As long as you don't push yourself since you're still recovering, that is." Nanvel said.

"Today is fine enough, Aunt Nanvel." Greg said simply.

"Alright, the doctors already gave you an ok about this from your last check up, but we need to get some food into that stomach of yours as well as get you a fresh change of clothes." Rio said, grabbing Greg's hospital shirt.

"Hey, wait a minute…!" Greg exclaimed, trying to hide his embarrassment. "No one said anything about you changing clothes for me, I can manage that myself!"

"Oh, let me at least do this for you since one more time since it's been so long since I could toy with you like this!" Rio said as she managed to lift the shirt off, exposing Greg's bandaged chest. "There you go! Now, for the trousers…!"

"SENSEI!" Greg exclaimed loudly as Seishiro and the other Warrior women in the room started to laugh at Rio's antics for driving Greg crazy in order to try to make him feel better.

Several minutes later, after Greg had a breakfast of beef and pork udon noodles and a serving of strawberry sundae that Lilica cooked and prepared herself, knowing one of his most personal of desserts, he changed into casual clothing and left the room with Seishiro and the Warrior group where they would meet Yuji outside waiting for them. However to their surprise on the way out, they met him talking to a familiar face as Greg was the first to point him out.

"Hey, isn't that Shin Murakami-san?" Greg pointed as Rio nodded.

"Well, of course, that's him. I know that face from anywhere here in the hospital." Rio said as she approached him. "Good morning, Shin-san, it's a surprise that I'd meet you here of all places, but then again, this is where we first met you all those years after all and since then to check up on Greg's medical progress."

"Rio-san, Greg-san…it's good to see you too again, though it is under strange circumstances that we always to meet this way." Shin said as he looked to the side. "Kyoko, is this the person that you told me about?"

"Kyoko…?" Greg muttered as he saw the same girl from that night, smiling across from the distance approaching Shin from behind the reception desk.

"That's him; he's the one along with Seishiro-san who rescued me from those guys." Kyoko said simply as Greg stepped back.

"Huh? Why are you here?" Greg asked as Kyoko blushed while Rio looked at Shin and then back at Kyoko.

"Wait a minute, Shin-san? What's really going on around here? Just how is it that you know about this girl so much?" Rio asked as Shin gave a sheepish grin to the blonde before replying.

"I suppose it's my fault for not saying anything earlier to any of you from all the previous visits you made, but Kyoko here just happens to be my younger sister, a sophomore attending Neo Tokyo U at the moment." Shin said as a short silence followed as he said this as Greg and Seishiro looked at each other first before they looked back to the rest of Warrior who had shocked looks on their faces as well.

"Ehhhhhhhh?" Every person in the group except Shin and Kyoko said out loud in shock, most especially Greg, who was dumbstruck by this revelation.

"Wait a minute…you're his younger sister?" Rio asked as she suddenly glanced at Greg's expression when she nudged him at the side. "Talk about a strange turn of events. Who'd think that Greg would end rescuing the younger sibling of his private doctor, thus winning over even more favors, hmm?"

"And what is that supposed to mean, sensei?" Greg asked, flustered. "I had no idea about it until today just like you did, so it's not like I wanted to get a girl's attention or anything…I was just helping someone in distress when it looked real bad."

"Aw, come on, Greg, you don't have to be so defiant about it." Rio wrapped her arm around her surrogate son's neck and pointed to Kyoko. "Besides, she's a rather cute and attractive girl your age, it wouldn't be nice to her if you just ignored her after doing something so chivalrous and brave."

Greg's face turned even more crimson, as did Kyoko's as Rio, Maki, Lilica, and Shin laughed.

"Easy for you to say, I would have died if Seishiro-san wasn't anywhere close by to rescue me. These things happen only by coincidence." Greg said. "Seishiro-san, did you know about this?"

"Trust me; this is a first for me too. I'm just as surprised to know this as you are." Seishiro said as he then patted Greg's shoulder. "But that in itself is a good thing; at least Kyoko-san here will be one of the real first friends you've made here."

"That's true, I guess." Greg replied simply, looking at Kyoko who was still blushing as Greg sighed. "Umm…I really don't know what to say…I'm not that good when it comes to girls…"

Kyoko simply bowed to a nervous Greg as she offered a nicely decorated lunch box wrapped in a red and white handkerchief with a bow in top.

"Please, I worked through last evening on making this…it's a special recipe I used from my mother. It's a meat pie lunch, so I was hoping that if you can…" Kyoko asked as Greg looked on at Rio in silence, who in turn gave him a wink.

(Go for it.) Rio mouthed the words as Greg sighed when he took the bento from the girl's hands.

"Sure, I might as well since I've never had meat pie before." Greg said with a smile as he opened the handkerchief and opened the bento as he was impressed by the girl's culinary skills and presentation. Taking a pair of chopsticks, he took a piece into his mouth and gave it a taste before shutting his eyes to savor it.

"Well, how is it, Greg?" Seishiro asked as Greg's eyes started to water after he swallowed it.

"This…this is…" Greg shook his right fist as he spoke. "…this is how meat is supposed to be used! What kind of magic hands this girl must have to create such a meal?"

Kyoko's eyes widened as Greg took another bite just to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"This is short of anything close to any other homemade style bento I've ever come across!" Greg exclaimed. "You guys should try this out, it's just beyond words!"

"Take it easy, Greg. It's just a special lunch she cooked for you, but then again, you always get like that whenever you're tasting new recipes to use as inspiration for your style of cooking ramen." Rio said as Greg flushed.

"I do not! That applies to you, acting shamelessly like that every time I do the cooking." Greg said as Kyoko sighed with a smile.

"I'm glad…that you liked it. Even though I've never cooked before, I just thought I needed to repay you for what you did. My mother showed me what to do after she and Shin found out what happened since this is also her thanks as well to you." Kyoko said as Shin spoke.

"You have to excuse her personality, even though she's intelligent and good natured, she still comes off as a bit timid and shy most of the time." Shin said as Kyoko shouted back at him.

"Shin-chan, don't say it like that! I don't want to feel any more embarrassed than I am now!" Kyoko nudged her brother's side as he laughed at this while Greg looked on, feeling a slight migraine come inside his head watching the two of them.

(What's this? Something from my past…did I also have that kind of closeness to my younger sister too as well?) Greg thought, holding his head as Rio approached him.

"Greggie, are you okay there?" Rio asked as Greg replied to her by nodding at her.

"Yeah, just felt a little woozy for a moment, but I'll be okay." Greg replied.

"You must still be having those headaches that you told me about from the last time you visited me, Greg." Shin said. "You are taking the medication that I prescribed for you, right?"

"Yeah, though I still do get them trying to remember stuff, from time to time." Greg said as Kyoko looked at him with a look of concern. "You don't need to worry though; it's nothing serious, just something I've had to cope with since I was a kid."

"You're a very strong person, Kinezono-kun." Kyoko said as Greg shook his head.

"No, I'm not really." Greg said in a low tone. "Even though I may have troubled myself and those around me by putting myself at risk to come to your aid, I still have ways to go before I can believe in my own strengths. I'm not such a reliable person as you think I am…"

"That's not true. You helped me out back there and that's not a bad thing." Kyoko said. "I'm sure anybody else with the same kind of convictions that you had would have done the same for me, so don't think ill about what you've done. I think I owe you a lot, Kinezono-kun."

Greg started to fluster as he glanced back at Rio and the group watching the scene intently before he stared back at Kyoko.

"A-anyway, I'll give what you told me some thought, thanks for consideration, I know you meant well in trying to make me feel better." Greg said as he rubbed his head. "Hey, don't you guys have to get to work today?"

"Awww, but we're so enjoying this little show you putting on for us; I'd hate to ruin it for you." Rio said as she clasped her hands together as Greg took her hand and started to walk as did the Warrior group.

"You know how your boss gets about your late comings to work; we should be going now." Greg said to Rio before Kyoko called out to him.

"Wait!" Kyoko called out to Greg as he stopped to look at her. "Will I…get to see you again sometime soon, Kinezono-kun?"

"I'm not really sure about that, I already have plans to leave for the States soon, so I doubt I would have time to stick around longer than I have to…" Greg said as Rio suddenly stomped on his left foot, causing him grimace quietly, but suddenly catching the message that she was sending. "…I mean…just because I got my future set, doesn't mean I don't have any leisure time to spare in Japan before I go…"

"I see, well…at least continue to visit Shin more often, I usually drop by there too to bring lunch to him." Kyoko said as Greg nodded to her.

"Whenever I'm in the area, I'll be sure to do that. He owes me a lot too, you know." Greg replied to Kyoko with a light smile as he turned around. "Well, thanks again for the meat pie bento, I'd really appreciate it. It was really nice meeting you. Take care of your brother and yourself, Kyoko-san. And try to be more careful whenever you're traveling to home at nights from now on, okay?"

Kyoko looked on as Greg hurried back to where Rio, Seishiro and the other members of Warrior waited for him.

"Well, that went well now, didn't it?" Rio asked with a smile to her surrogate son.

"That's because you forced me to be say unnecessary stuff to a stranger, and a girl no less!" Greg replied. "Are you trying to get me into some kind of trouble by playing matchmaker or something?"

"Aw, all of that was your doing, Greg. I had no part in it whatsoever." Rio said as she shrugged her shoulders as Greg rubbed his head.

"Once I get better, I'll make sure to have you answer for putting me in that spot in the next sparring match, sensei." Greg said in embarrassment.

"Ha, I'd like to see you try!" Rio lamented as she wrapped her arms around Greg's head and smothered him against her chest as the members of Warrior laughed to seeing this. As they left the hospital building, Kyoko and Shin stood at the exit doors, watching them leave as Shin smile secretly while watching his younger sister watch her rescuer leave intently.

(Kinezono-kun… arigatou.) Kyoko thought to herself, holding unto her shirt with a light smile on her face before she bowed to the distant group.

"Wow, I didn't think that Greg-san was involved with something like that from long ago." Tatsuko said as Maki nodded.

"Yes, it does wonders for us to know just how much about him we have yet to learn, yet what we already do know is that he has faced death more than once." Maki said with a finger near her lips. "He may as well be protected by a divine will or something if he doesn't mind risking himself for strangers in trouble…"

Before Maki continued, her cell phone rang which alerted Rio and Maya in surprise. After the second ring, she quickly answered it in her usual, calm tone.

"This is Captain Kawasaki speaking." Maki said as she listened from the other end, her facial expression getting serious by the second as she heard from the speaker from the other end as to why she was being contacted. "There was…? How long ago did this happen? I see…and what are the patrols doing? Alright, alright…I'll have to be there to ascertain the situation myself; the Commissioner would want me there in any case. Expect me in at least half hour, the most."

"What is it, Maki?" Rio asked her as Maki hung up her cell phone. "From the way it sounded, something must have happened in the city."

"No, it isn't the city that's in trouble, but it's actually a number of local state and maximum security prisons all around the country." Maki said in a serious tone. "There was a massive prison break sometime after lunch and a number of escaped convicts are currently on the run."

"What did you say?" Rio exclaimed. "Did you find out anything on who escaped and how?"

"I need to get to Police Town Headquarters ASAP to find out more, the chief of police and the Commissioner are trying to do what they can to prevent the country going into a state of mass paranoia because of this and are doing what they can to keep this under tabs from the media." Maki said as she stood up. "I wish I could stay here to see how Greg will recover from this, but my role in Police Town requires that I must be present with the rest of the police force to settle things. Not to mention that since this is a serious matter, it's not likely that I'll be coming back here anytime soon, as this looks like it will be at least an all-nighter if some of those criminals aren't caught by the day's end."

"Well, I should be coming with you if that's the case." Rio lamented as Maki stopped her.

"Rio, take it easy. I've got things covered for the time being. If anything, I will be contacting you guys about what happened today while you all rest up here. Besides, don't you have a much more important matter to be worried about at the moment?" Maki asked as Rio hung her head as she remembered Greg and his current condition.

"I get it…I'll try to take things slow, for his sake." Rio said in a low tone. "Still, are you sure that you'll be okay getting back to the city from here, Maki?"

"If you need a guide to take you to the city, I can ask Kurei to have one of our clan members to take you there, since now the possibility that the enemy could be watching our movements since this development came up." Neon said to her.

"I'd appreciate that, but before I leave, I'd like to stay a little longer just to hear the news on Greg's condition, to put my mind more at ease." Maki said.

"Well, we deal with one problem and another one pops up when we least expect it." Lilica said. "Who do you think would organize a mass multi-prison break, Rio?"

"We'll be more screwed over if Reese is behind this one too, but I don't think he would resort to that sort of thing. We learned that from after we ran into that Shade guy and we found out Shade too was a pawn for Reese's game." Rio said, rubbing her head and going into deep thought. (Arrrgh! This is so damn confusing! What the hell's really going on around here? Was the prison break around the country all some part of Reese's plan as well? Oh, Greg…if only I knew what's going to happen next so I could at least prepare you for the worst…)

"Look, Rio, until Maki gets a good idea about what went on, we shouldn't rack our brains worrying about what we can't do about the situation." Maya said. "For now, I think we should take it slow like Maki said and think things over."

"Yeah, I hope that will at least ease some of the anxiety that I'm having right now over things…" Rio said as she hoped that there wouldn't be any further problems ahead as they were now…

Meanwhile, back at the living room area of the Uruha mansion…

"Now that Seraph-san has a vague idea on who Reese and the Patriots are, we should start talking about how the mission went today for Greg and the rest of you guys." Kurei said as Seraph looked focused even more after having just listened to Riku and his partners as well as various members of the Hokage and Uruha members on the dirt on Reese and the Patriots.

"I know now, why such a man would have done all of this to hurt Yuina, but in a way I cannot even begin to comprehend why." Seraph said, trying to hide any sense of bitterness and anger, a sense that she was not used to, that she had against Reese from showing. "Didn't he even consider other human being's emotions when he did such unspeakable things?"

"Unfortunately for us, it seems he has lost all sense of compassion and only has regards towards his own self, Seraph, but it's not like he had any to begin with." Riku said. "It even disgusts me to even think that this guy was part of FOXHOUND and more particularly, one of the commanding officers that we usually took orders and missions from…"

"I understand what you mean Riku, but that doesn't change the fact that what has happened has already happened and we really can't do anything now to change anything about it. Reese had already accomplished his role and now in turn, caused disorder in the group." Nagi said. "I just hope the Colonel, Commander Silverburgh, or Michael will be able to keep things stable when they are informed of this. In fact, we probably will be receiving some word from them on what action should be taken soon, especially now that Reese has crossed the line."

"Before we do that though, we need to concentrate on the situation we're facing. There's no need to openly go after Reese the next time he reveals himself, or else it could be another trap just waiting for us. " Recca said.

"Recca-san is right, Nagi. For the time being, you three also need to recover from today's mission with your companions, as I can imagine that you all must be very weary from all of the events." Gennosuke said as he faced Riku. "Riku, leave the discussion of the matter about Reese to your uncle, myself, your parents, and your grandmother."

"Thank you, Gennosuke-dono, but the three of us should be okay for the time being, since most of our wounds were taken care of before we got here." Riku said and then stopped as he noticed Maki enter the room with Neon. "Maki, why are you here? Shouldn't you be with Rio and the others until the medical team is finished upstairs with Greg?"

"Apparently, something just came up over at the city and I've been called to report back to Police Town HQ, as I have to be present over a matter of great importance as soon as possible." Maki said with a serious tone.

"What happened, Maki?" Nastasha asked as Maki replied to her friend.

"Since you're all here, I might as well tell you what I've heard. Apparently, a number of wanted and dangerous criminals just escaped from their prisons from all around the country." Maki said, this news definitely catching the attention of everyone else in the room. "The police chief himself told me that it's possible that someone organized this since a few of these criminals rank from psychotic serial killers, professional assassins, to thieves and burglars, all ranking from highly dangerous to common in terms of criminal classifications."

"When did this happen?" Nagi asked as she looked at her watch.

"I just got the call about this about five minutes ago…so taking into account the time we got here from that base, it must have happened shortly after lunch." Maki replied.

"So, someone else has been busy during our mission below old Tokyo and has started something new we should be worrying about." Riku said.

"Yes, in the case that this news gets out on the media, we could be looking at a new state of anarchy in the country, that is why I have to be there and try to keep that from happening, though that will be hard too. It won't be long before this becomes a national issue." Maki said, fixing her glasses.

"And you need access to the city while staying hidden from the enemy in case we were tracked on the way here, is that it?" Kurei asked as Maki nodded.

"I know just how much you need your mansion to be secured from the enemy and I respect that a great deal, but for now, I will need your permission to leave here and get to Police Town HQ, as I think it will be a matter of days before this thing can be sorted out, so I probably won't be back here to check on Greg for awhile." Maki said.

"Well, we don't want to get in the way of your profession, but is that alright with you, being away from Greg in his current condition?" Recca asked.

"Don't worry; as much as my work is important to me, my family comes first before everything else." Maki said with a smile. "So, I'll stay here a little longer, at least until I hear some news on his condition."

"Alright, when that happens, I will have Kenshin take you back to the city under his watch." Kurei said as he then saw the rest of Warrior came in behind Maki afterwards.

"Yo, Maki, what's the situation?" Maya asked as Rio came in afterwards, still looking rugged as before and holding onto Greg's Ascension lance, still in its original form and in its steel casing.

"I was just telling everyone about what happened while we were here, and that I'd stay here for awhile longer until I at least hear some good news on Greg's condition." Maki replied.

"Oh, it was about that mass prison break, wasn't it?" Yuji asked. "Who could have pulled off something like that?"

"We'll know once I gather enough information when I get back, Kurei already gave me permission and security to get there." Maki said as she looked at Nastasha. "So, what were you guys discussing about yourselves?"

"If you all must know…" Nastasha said as she lit her third cigarette since she came to the mansion before she spoke. "…Seraph was just getting told about what the Patriots are from me and the ones who helped us today."

"How do you feel, Seraph?" Lilica asked her. "I know it's hard to accept at first, but what we're all fighting against is very true and real. It's just that we never would have thought the enemy would start picking on people like Yuina."

"It's not like this is the first time something like this has happened, as we know people who have been put in similar situations before." Riku said. "So just so you know, you and Yuina aren't the only ones who suffered because of people like Reese."

"I'll get by, somehow…it's Yuina that will have the hardest time trying to comprehend everything you've just told me." Seraph said. "Not to mention that her father's also been thrown into this matter…"

"I know we should be doing what we can for Seraph, but Riku, I think we should also know more on what happened with you guys and the Shinsengumi today if we want to know why Seraph and Yuina were targeted." Recca said seriously.

"Well, we were just about to get to the part where we'd start telling you what we went through today anyway, Dad, though most of it is pretty unbelievable stuff even compared to some cases that we've dealt with in the past." Riku said to his father.

"Just try us, we're all ears." Kenshin said as Rio and Riku looked at each other before nodding to each other before speaking.

"Alright then…it all started when Greg came back to Neo Tokyo after leaving NERV after that last Angel battle some days ago…" Rio started to explain at first.

During the time after, the rest of Warrior entered and joined in, and had their chance along with Riku, Nagi, Tot and the Shinsengumi to explain to the members of the Uruha and Hokage about what had happened that day, and many of them were indeed surprised over what they were told. All about Lt. Matthew Reese's revelation and his involvement with the Patriots and how they were responsible for the revival and brainwashing of Psycho Mantis, Yuina's and Seraph's involvement, Greg's origin of his powers...they explained it in the best of terms to Recca, Kurei, Neon, Raiha, Joker, Kenshin, Kagero and Gennosuke. At the end, it seemed only more questions than answers were left among the group's thoughts.

"I couldn't believe what I'm hearing..." Recca shook his head in shock. "To think that the Patriots are after an advanced artificial intelligence, created for human possession in battle…"

"Yeah, it's hard to accept it at first, but that's the truth and what had happened." Riku said, seriously. "Trust us, we saw it first hand ourselves and we can tell you that something like this is what Reese would want to get his hands on."

"You're right, but then again, it's not like this is the first time that we have had a similar case like this. But to think Seraph may have come from the future…" Kenshin stopped to look at her before continuing. "And you said that Yuina's father may know more about this and could possibly be in the enemy's hands?"

"Most probably, according to what Mantis said." Nagi said.

"Well, the Patriots and that Reese must really be proud of their handiwork now, seeing the results." Kurei gritted his teeth. "To think that we would have to come across another who would go that low as to hurt others for his own benefits, even innocents."

"This really is a serious matter, Riku...if only we knew the seriousness of the situation before hand and predicted Reese's movements; we would have been able to keep tabs on his whereabouts." Kagero said. "But I'm sure even the Patriots would have been able to cover them up…"

"Not to mention that you guys would encounter Shade of all people today as well…" Kenshin said, very much surprised to hear that Riku and his partners were able to escape death from the immortal ninja mercenary if Reese didn't stop him before. "…as grateful I should be to that Reese just this one time for being able to put a stop to Shade before things got more serious, it does come as a bit of a surprise that Reese would enlist his help into this."

"It was all for testing Greg's psychic strength and even though Greg has encountered some problems dealing with Shade when we faced him, it was enough to give Reese the results he wanted." Riku said. "In the end, even Shade himself got used in this little plan that was set up by the enemy."

"Well, we won't get anywhere in this without fully understanding the reason why Reese would go through all of this if it's just to expose the truth of your friend's abilities, not to mention the mystery involving Seraph-san as well unless its directly under the Patriots orders." Kagero said.

"What are you saying, Grandma?" Riku asked in a tone of concern.

"It's a possibility that he could have been working under someone else at the time as well if he was able to gain access to Greg-san's confidential records and obtain them for himself." Kagero explained.

"She could be correct in that assumption, Riku. Unless the Patriots allowed it, they certainly wouldn't have let Reese go to these lengths just to attain the information he needed on these biodroids that you told us about." Gennosuke said. "Someone else must have been pulling the strings behind all of this with Reese from the shadows; that someone could be one of our clan's enemies or it could be someone who we have yet to gain information on."

"I just hope it's not anyone from the assumed enemy organizations that our allies are currently fighting against, or else we could be in more trouble if any of them manages to find any of the biodroids or Yuina's father, who was the brains behind their creation." Recca said.

"According from what we learned from Mantis, the enemy already has had a head start in learning about the existence of biodroids before today happened, so it's possible that Yuina's father could be in captivity somewhere by the enemy." Riku said. "Of course, if he sensed that this sort of thing was to happen and that he'd be targeted later, my only hope is that he already went into hiding to keep a low profile, but its probably too late for that now..."

"So, we don't know exactly if he's still safe or not at this current time, since Mantis was more concerned about warning us about something called the 'Guns of the Patriots' that seemed to be of more importance to him at the moment." Nagi said.

"Yes, that alone does sound like something we all should be looking into. From the looks of things, it could possibly be related to what's been going on in Tokyo-3 at the moment, or could it be part of another scheme?" Kenshin asked seriously as he looked at Kurei. "Dad, what do you think?"

"It's obvious that it just doesn't stop from Yuina's father and the biodroids' existence, or the fact being that Greg was originally involved in one of the Patriots programs for creating psychics, Kenshin." Kurei said seriously. "This is just a prelude of even more problems to come if Reese continues at the pace he's going…"

"So I take it that this means that this particular ninja clan is going to have these matters looked into, right, Kurei?" Maki asked.

"Most certainly, which why we all thought that it was a good thing to have most of our allies from both within and outside the Hokage clan and Uruha gather since they too could have reports on what's been happening on their sides lately." Kurei said. "Not to mention, they could also help your Warrior group look more into the matter regarding Greg-san's relations to this Soldier X project we were told of, meanwhile we can also assist with looking into the matter of Yuina and Seraph as well."

"So, these allies you're talking about…other than us who are already here, just how many can we expect and how soon they can get here?" Lilica asked.

"A number of them are on the way as we speak since they were contacted only a day after Riku told us about what has happened." Recca said. "A number of them are probably going to be in groups while some will be individuals and a number of them are already backed by major organizations you may or may not have heard of that can also help us as well."

"Well, it's good to know that soon we'll be getting some major help in sorting this mess out, though judging from the status we stand by as just a strike force, it's not like we're affiliated with big name corporations like you guys are." Rio said as she stopped to think to herself. (Well, unless you count the reformed Company for one thing which we're allied with to thanks to Greg and Rumina's efforts from the time when we had that adventure in the Underground…)

"You'll eventually get your chances to meet our old and new friends when they get here, as they have heard some stories about your group as well, so getting along with them shouldn't be too hard." Riku said to her.

"Remember that you have to tell Greg about this as well when he recovers, but I'm sure he'd be surprised about it but take it well considering his good personality, so I'm sure it will be good news to him. He could really use it." Lilica said, placing a finger near her lips and tilting her head.

"So, what do you think should be done now, Riku?" Recca asked his son.

"For one thing, Reese is going to answer for what he has done...after getting someone like Greg and his family involved in something like this, along with what happened to Yuina and Seraph, he can't be forgiven so easily. However, I realize that dealing with Reese will have to wait." Riku answered, sensing that his answer was in a way a test of his judgment. "That is because right now I think we should do whatever we can to help Yuina and Seraph; they were hurt because of Reese as well…a great deal more than anyone else in the matter."

"Yeah, point taken, leader." Nagi looked at the two. "Until we get a firm grasp of the situation, we might as well take care of them until Greg recovers. He may know what we can do to help them until we can find Yuina's father..."

"What makes you say that, Nagi-kun?" Tot asked him out of curiosity.

"It may sound strange coming from me, but we've only known him for a couple of days and already I feel that I've known him just as long as I've known everyone else we've met in FOXHOUND up to now. Also, all those things he did during the mission to make sure everyone who helped us was comfortable and watched over showed me that's the kind of person Greg-san is." Nagi said to his girlfriend. "He probably even feels a bit responsibility for what happened to Yuina and Seraph as well, so he would probably want to take it on in order to make up for things."

"You know what; I was thinking the same thing too about him." Tot replied with a smile.

"I'm sure your friend would be pleased to hear that you three are taking up the responsibility of taking care of me and Yuina in his place for the time being." Seraph said as she lightly bowed to the trio. "As much as I'm certain that I can deal with certain matters myself, it is Yuina that will need the most guidance from now on. So, please…"

"Seraph, we already know what you're going to say next, so there's no need to trouble yourself any more than you do right now with worrying about Yuina at the moment, we promise as your friends that we'll do our part to get her through this tough time she's having." Riku said to her.

"And besides, Seraph-san, once things get better for the both of you guys, I'm sure that there will be lots of exciting and good stuff we all can do together from now on." Tot said.

"Thank you again, Riku-san, Nagi-san and Tot-san." Seraph replied to them with a smile.

"Well, you three seem confident about handling that matter, so I guess there was no need to be worrying." Recca said.

"Well, we do owe it to Greg who somehow was the link in helping get Seraph and Yuina back before things got difficult for us, so most of this is thanks to him." Riku said as Seraph nodded.

"Yes, it was because of him from our first meeting that things turned out this way in our favor." Seraph said as she looked at Maki. "And I'm also grateful to Maki-san and her group also took the risk of getting Yuina back while in the process getting their loved one back thanks to Greg-san's efforts as well."

"You guys have a lot of good things to say about Greg, huh?" Maki asked with a smile. "He would feel pretty embarrassed to hear you say things like that, but I guess it's one of the more unique qualities that he seemed to have picked up from his time with Rio and Seishiro-san."

Maki looked to the upper levels of the mansion and began to ponder to herself. She then began to smile as tears started to run down her cheeks around her rounded glasses.

"Greg...because of him and Seishiro-san...I came back to Warrior, did any of you know that?" Maki said to Riku and the others.

"Really? You left the group before?" Nagi asked her.

"Yes, something very bad happened years ago to me...and both of them were there to support me and put me back on track." She sat down to explain, before pausing to wipe her eyes before she continued. "It happened just after a while when he joined FOXHOUND. Lilica and the rest of Warrior should remember about it..."

"Yeah, the black diamond case..." Lilica nodded in agreement. "That was the one of the craziest, yet most dangerous of cases that we ever had to handle since the start of Warrior..."

The date was January 21st, 2011, and Greg had just completed one of his first routine missions. He was using the Harrier to get to where Maki lived, despite orders from a certain Lt. Matthew Reese to return to headquarters as soon the mission is completed.

Even though it was a family emergency, Reese insisted that Greg came back to HQ at once. Unable to find an excuse to evade him this time around, he later got a call from Riku that day in which the young ninja told him what he told Reese while he was still in the Japanese vicinity.

"Riku, are you sure that telling Reese that for me was alright?" Greg asked as the Harrier got closer to its destination. "I mean, to tell him that I was held back in the wrapping up of the mission, even though it already ended two hours ago, and the fact that Reese knows that… wouldn't that end up putting you in a great deal of trouble with him?"

"Yeah, but whatever happened to Maki must be really important, I could tell by the look on your face when you found out, so I felt that I had to cover for you. Besides both Linn and Garland are okay with it as well, saying it's alright and that you have until evening to get back to headquarters." Riku replied to him over the Codec. "I'm willing to take any blame for covering you like this if Reese says anything, but if things get out of hand, I'm sure that General Drake will put in his own opinion on the matter and make Reese come to an understanding."

"Riku…thanks a lot, man." Greg said to him simply. "I'll be sure to find a way to repay the favor someday."

"Hey, don't worry about that, it's no trouble at all, I was glad to help. After all, you're the model of a family man in this group; I know how worried you must be about her." Riku said to him, and it was clear to Greg that the ninja also was concerned about what was happening. "Anyway, give Maki my best wishes, will you?"

"I will." Greg smiled at him as he logged off and finally reached his destination.

After he landed the Harrier some meters away from the house and on the driveway, he got out of his Sneaking Suit and then leaped out, wearing only the casual clothing he had on underneath. He had on a plain white dress shirt, half unbuttoned, as the FOXHOUND dog tags shone on a chain around his neck. He was also wearing long blue jeans and a black combat boots. It had fresh mud and blood under the pair of boots, thus indicating that he was fresh from a mission for the FOXHOUND.

"Where is she, Lilica?" Greg asked, stepping in the house where Maki was staying.

"She's in her room." Lilica replied sadly. "You've should have seen her, Greg...she's not the same Maki we knew...she's different. She's really depressed over what happened when she had to stop that Harry Masato guy."

"After hearing as much I heard from Rio and Nanvel, she would have good reasons." Greg replied. "I still can't believe that she decided to leave Warrior because of this mess...she must really be emotionally hurt."

"Yeah...it's not usual to see her without her glasses..." Lilica said. "She really had it rough… she even ended up breaking them."

Lilica turned and handed Greg a pair of Maki's glasses, which both of the lenses were splintered and broken. His heart broke when he saw this and felt Maki's pain.

"Aunt Maki..." Greg said to himself. Then he patted Lilica. "Don't you worry about it, Maki's a tough woman, she should be able to recover from something like this…but I still can't help but worry about her. That's why I came all the way over here."

"Okay, Greg." Lilica tried to smile. "I know I can always depend on you."

Greg then started to make his way up stairs to her closed room before Lilica called out to him gently.

"Hold up, Greg…she's not alone in there." She said to him. "Seishiro-san's with her too."

"Aw, yeah…he was taking some time off the recent mission for FOXHOUND in this country that he took prior to what happened." Greg said as a thought hit him. "Still, it wouldn't hurt to look and see what he can do to help Aunt Maki."

"Are you planning on eavesdropping on the two of them?" Lilica asked him as she placed her hands on her hips. "Have you no shame?"

"Aw, come on, you want to know too, don't you?" Greg asked her, as Lilica shrugged her shoulders, defeated.

"Alright, you got me there." Lilica said as she pointed at him. "But I won't be covering for you if we'll get caught since you're always so nosy."

"Hey, it can't be helped. That's the kind of guy I am." Greg smiled as he and Lilica carefully snuck in close enough to the slightly ajar door leading into Maki's room. Managing to get a good view of the inside, they could see Maki at a distance, wearing a white robe, which was partially open.

Greg looked into her eyes; they were red just as how her pupils looked from all the crying she must have gone through since she had to stop her former first love, Harry Masato, from causing more chaos and destruction in Police Town. From what Greg knew from Rio's stories, Harry was a police man himself years ago that saved Maki one day from a crazed gun man and she had ended up falling in love with him at that time, making her decide she would be a cop herself one day.

They happened to have been married after she graduated from the police academy, but before they could begin their life together; their ceremonial cruise became victim to a bombing attack that had supposedly left Masato dead, but had Maki spared to live for another day. She had searched for his whereabouts, and was unable to locate him, while Harry was actually still alive and was rescued by a group of fishermen. He was horribly scarred from the attack, and at the time he learned that the bombing was in fact the act of the very same police chief he had worked with and this was all to kill him before getting too close on cracking the black diamond smuggling case.

Harry wanted revenge and used the rumors of his death as an advantage as he went underground. His plan was simply revenge on the police and had formulated many plans to gain his ultimate goal of destroying all of Police Town. Warrior stopped his army of berserker female fighting machines and Maki discovered the horrible truth of Harry Masato. This tragic reunion ended in a gun confrontation on the top of Tokyo Tower and Maki had to stop Harry, her former love, permanently before he could accomplish his terrible goal, by actually shooting him dead in his tracks.

Greg was now a member of FOXHOUND when he heard this and he had to do something about it when he heard from Nanvel that Maki was resigning from the police and how her mood had drastically changed. But upon seeing this, he decided to let Seishiro take care of things since he was much closer to Maki longer than Greg has.

"Aunt Maki..." Greg said silently as he looked at her near pale face as her depression must have really affected her usually radiant color on her face. (Seishiro-san, do what you can to help her.)

"Maki, are you feeling any better than yesterday?" Seishiro said to her as Maki only as she sat down near a table. She was holding unto a small photograph of Harry and herself together.

"How can you ask me that...after hearing what I've been through?" She said without looking, as her head laid low. "I...didn't know what to feel then, or now...I shouldn't have done it..."

"Maki..." Seishiro stepped up closer to her and placed his right arm on her shoulder. "This is not your fault. Not fully knowing why Harry would have done this, you had to do what needed to be done or else he could have killed you and gone after the others if you hadn't made the decision to stop him. If I myself knew about what was happening from before…I would have intervened and done it instead of having to see you put yourself through this pain."

"But he was your friend, wasn't he, Seishiro?" Maki asked him. "Surely, you could have talked him out of it and made him surrender to the authorities…"

"Yes, there's that too." Seishiro replied to her. "But from what I was told, he was pretty set on seeing this through; he even considered your group as obstacles.

"I...I actually still loved him after all this time, Seishiro." Maki started to sob again, as she sat on her bed. "I still ask myself since I pulled the trigger; if that was the same man I was going to spend the rest of my life with, or just a fake, twisted copy of him? Was it really worth killing him...so that his face would haunt me for as long as I lived?"

"No, it's not really right to begin with, believe me. It will weigh on your mind for some time to come, but you should consider one thing. You chose to keep the old Harry in your heart all this time, the Harry I also befriended lies in both of our hearts." Seishiro said to her.

"He would have given me everything that would have made me happy, Seishiro...and he still would have if he hadn't been corrupted like." Maki said.

"I believe so too...part of this lies in my fault as well." Seishiro replied. "If I had only made sure to continue my pursuit of looking for him after that bombing incident and if I had found out that he was still alive since then, maybe it would have been easier for me to persuade him to come back to us. But none of us could have known the truth then."

Seishiro gently took the picture away from Maki and held both her hands.

"Maki...I know you've been grieving long enough about this, but I don't think that is what the old Harry would want. I'm sure he would want you to be doing what he did before that bombing...protecting the civilians of this city with your own sense of justice with him on your side. If...if you can find a way to remember him like that...you should be able to stop blaming yourself and move forward. I'm not forcing you to come back to Warrior, but that's your choice anyhow..." Seishiro explained to her.

Maki looked at Seishiro as tears continued to stream down her face. "Oh, Seishiro...I'll try to...if there's anything to make the old Harry happy..."

"Let's just cherish the good memories that we all shared in the good old days, in both of our hearts. That way, knowing him as a friend of his as well, it should be for the best." Seishiro touched her cheek and wiped some of her tears with his bare hand. Maki then took one of his hands and rubbed it against her face.

"Oh, Seishiro-san...I'm so sorry I..." Maki threw herself at Seishiro in an embrace and started to cry around his shoulders. He simply smiled and started to stroke her blue short cut hair.

"Shhhh, that's okay, Maki...let it all out." Seishiro whispered into her ear. "If you want me to take in all of your sadness for you, just let it out on me. I'm here for you..."

"Seishiro..." Maki stopped sobbing and she started to smile at him. "Thank you...I don't know what to do now..."

"Your choice will come eventually, Maki, you should just let your wounds heal until you're ready." Seishiro told her as a thought came into his mind. (If only…you actually knew how I felt about you too…).

Fully understanding what was happening, Greg smiled to himself as he stepped back, holding unto Lilica's shoulder.

"Greggie, aren't you going to help Maki too?" Lilica asked him as he shook his head.

"I would, but not right now. I think its best that we let Seishiro-san and Maki be for the moment, I think he's got it covered." Greg said quietly with a grin to Lilica, as she smiled back at him with a nod.

"Yeah, I think we should leave them alone too." Lilica said as she walked out of the room with Greg as well, careful not to interrupt the moment between Seishiro and Maki, who already overheard what Greg and Lilica were saying and smiled to each other before embracing once more.

"It was only a couple days after I made up my mind to cancel my resignation from the police and I was back on track, because of Greg and Seishiro mostly; I owe my thanks to them." Maki smiled at her friends.

"I didn't think Greg had quite a history that affected you guys that greatly." Joker said as he heard this.

"Yeah, I hope he manages to get through this, he really fought honestly with all of his strength today, making sure that everyone of us came back home." Tot said sadly, but tried to keep a smile on her face when she saw one of the former referees appear and called everyone from upstairs. It happened to be one of the referees who came back from checking with the medical team's progress on Greg thus far, Umi.

"Everyone, Nanvel-san, Serina-san, Oboro-dono and Yanagi-san are finally finished." She said. "They said it's okay now for us to come and check up on them as they have some things to discuss."

"Well, we've waited long enough. Let's go and check on them to hear what they were able to do for Greg." Kurei said as Rio's eyes lowered, hoping that her surrogate son's condition was in acceptable terms.

(Greggie…please be okay…) Rio thought as she followed the large group soon after.

A few minutes later, Nanvel stepped out along with a tired Yanagi and Oboro, from one of the guests' rooms in the mansion. The three of them were busy putting their skills and abilities as an inventor, medic, and healer altogether in an attempt to stop the bleeding caused by the wounds on Greg's body from the nanomachines deactivation.

Rio, Lilica, Nagi, Tot, and Riku rushed to see them to hear their news. Behind them, Recca, Kurei, Yanagi, Neon, Joker, Kenshin, Raiha, and the three former referees, Umi, Inuko, and Tatsuko along with the rest of their friends, stood by behind them, holding onto Kurei and Neon's younger twin children, while Nastasha, Maki, Yuji, Maya Jingu, Gennosuke and the Shinsengumi stood with them.

"Finally...it's done. He's resting comfortably for the time being." Nanvel plopped on the seat to wipe her brow and opened a suitcase containing a variety of equipment and an assortment of frozen nanomachines for Greg while Oboro sat next to her, worn out as well. Next to the two women, a slender and tall blonde woman wearing a pink sweater and long blue skirt sat down next to them.

To Rio and the other members of Warrior that were there, it was the first time that they've seen her at the mansion as unknown to them, she was actually a Humaritt working with the Hokage clan as one of the medical team personnel who went by the name of Serina. Her lover, Yoshiki Kamiwazumi, was also assigned to the Hokage clan as a one of the tech heads, but he was currently on the way back from an assignment prior to the day's events.

"It took a while, but we managed to stop the bleeding from his right arm in time before he lost any more blood, while Oboro-san, and Yanagi took care of healing some of the other serious wounds, and Nanvel-san and I managed to oversee the state of his nanomachines as she introduced me to how they work for him, but..." Serina stopped as she didn't want the news to distress Rio.

"But what is it? Don't tell us that it's that bad?" Rio exclaimed.

"Not as everyone thinks it is, not very many of the wounds he had before he was brought here were life threatening." Nanvel said with a sad tone in her voice. "After managing to operate on his wounds, this is what I got at the end...2 broken ribs, several lacerations about the chest area as well as his legs, which were badly cut, and there were wounds to his left hand, caused by the continuous uses of the gauntlets and greaves. Still it's a miracle that he can still be breathing after all the damage he took, considering that he also lost a sizable amount of blood when he lost the nano colony for his artificial right arm."

"Greg..." Riku muttered. "Mom, Oboro-dono, does this mean that he's...?"

"We did our best, Riku. The entire team did everything in their abilities to make sure Greg will recover from this, but it will take awhile longer than planned for him to make a full recovery." Yanagi held unto her son as she placed her tired arms on his shoulder. "The good thing is that he's in the most satisfactory condition for him to recuperate properly."

"It's as she said, things will be okay for now. If Greg was able to sustain his own life after the nanomachines in his Suit stopped working, he can still pretty much get through in turn, though his capabilities as a combatant will be decreased dramatically. For now, his vital signs are satisfactory." Nanvel said. "Though, we have come across some pretty bad news…"

"His injuries weren't that complicated, but I suspect that the mental trauma he probably underwent has only worsened the recovery condition as well." Oboro said. "It may only be days to tell us if he will survive this ordeal or not."

"And what are the chances of him waking up?" Rio asked her as Oboro shook her head sadly.

"I'm very sorry to be the one to say this to you, but it's a struggling battle now. Nanvel-san here told me of the details about his condition and the science that your son used to suppress his psychic powers and it seemed that this nanotechnology that was within specific areas of his body may take longer to operate due to the stress endured by his mind." Oboro said.

"In other words, it's up to Greg alone to cooperate with the new nanomachines he's been given if he ever wants to recover and wake up again, but after what I heard about him not being able to help Mantis when he died…" Nanvel stopped to swallow a bit as the news was hard on her as well. "…that alone along with all the endurance he used trying to suppress his power this entire time could have weakened him drastically."

"No, Greg…it can't be." Lilica said, some tears streaming out of her eyes.

Rio simply slammed her fist into the wall next to her as she gritted her teeth. "Damn it all to hell! Why after all that everyone went through, did it have to come to this? I knew I should have followed my intuition and stayed with him and Mantis at the time…"

"Hey, come on, Rio, there's no reason to be upset that Greg's in this condition." Maya said, trying to cheer up the group. "Given the situation, he had no other choice and was willing to take the risk, considering that he already guessed what was going to happen to Mantis at the end and probably spared you and Riku and his partners from having to witness him die such a horrible death by sending you guys out ahead."

Rio looked at her friend then she looked at the floor sadly thinking about Greg's fate. Now that the events of the day had brought the two of them closer than before, she felt a deep sense of regret over not being able to do anything more for her surrogate son after he was able to do his duty as he had promised before to her and the Warrior group.

"You're right, Maya. But I can't help but worry about him...it's so like him to be like this, even though for Mantis's case…" Rio said simply, still in a sour tone. "Even now, I wish I could do something for him, to make him forget his pain, but no matter how much we try to support him, his powers and past are now becoming obstacles for his existence. This will just make things harder for him from now on…"

As Rio said this, Riku looked on at Nagi and Tot in silence as they mentally conversed with each other about what they heard about Greg's condition.

(Man, this is more serious than I imagined.) Riku said in thought. (If what both Oboro-dono and Nanvel said were true, we may have a tougher time helping Rio and the rest of Warrior with dealing with this situation than I originally thought.)

(But judging also from what they said, Greg still has some time before that personality of his can do something that would endanger his life.) Nagi thought in reply.

(Yeah, Greg-san did say that the personality would do things to him first before going after anything else, or would just find ways to torment him mentally on a conscience level.) Tot inputted. (Do you think you can do the same thing with him like you did with Aki some time ago, Nagi-kun?)

(It may be similar in some ways to what I encountered when I faced Shiso while I was in Aki's mind a couple of years back during our mission in dealing with the Mikage family. Though what I did was able to help change him for the better, one difference is that I simply showed him the truth and what happened from there on was more done on his accord. Therefore, I can't really say for sure that there's anything I can do to make this personality more compliant, especially considering the extent of Greg's powers after what we've seen today during this past mission…) Nagi stopped as if to reconsider something. (I'll probably need reinforcements this time around if we ever plan to do anything like that.)

(You mean like what you and Alice did for Mayako-chan?) Tot asked.

(In a way, yes, though I don't think we can deal with Greg's other personality like we dealt with Terror.) Nagi answered. (A simple waking Greg up and then using a seal won't cut it.)

(True enough, that case is a bit different from this one, though we need to know more before saying that for sure. I guess I should get Alice and the rest of the Uruha Ryu to gather here as soon as possible to support us if we want to help Greg put this problem of his to rest before everything else. We're also going to be contacting Yukimura about this as well, so he can help point out what we should be careful of while we proceed and get his opinion too.) Riku thought before Rio suddenly called out to them.

"Hey, you guys are rather quiet again, aren't you?" Rio asked, suddenly cutting their mental conversation. "If you guys are doing what I think you're doing, we're way beyond the point of keeping secrets from each other anymore."

"Could it be that you guys have an idea about Greg's situation and something we can use for it?" Maki asked as Riku gave a hesitant sigh and replied.

"In some ways, we think what may be happening to him has happened to some other people we know from outside the clan in similar cases." Riku admitted. "Although it's kind of early to tell what is really responsible for the cause, there's surely ways that it can be dealt with…"

"Wait, so does this mean that there's some hope for Greg?" Lilica asked as Rio's eyes lit up.

"Well, once the rest of our allies and teammates get here and learn of the situation, I think Greg should be in good hands. Most of them are 'specialists' so to say, about these sorts of things, you guys don't have to be worried about him anymore." Riku assured the Warrior group who sighed heavily in relief as they heard this.

"Riku…you're really are such a good friend to us. We can't thank you enough." Rio stepped forward and embraced Riku tightly, enough that he blushed furiously at her gesture.

"You don't have to put it like that, especially after all that he did for us today. It's the best that my partners and I could do for returning the favor." Riku replied, rubbing his head.

"Since that's the case, Nanvel and I will be ready to support and answer any questions about what we know of Greg's powers that would be any help to you and your allies." Rio said to Riku who nodded in agreement to this.

"Yeah, you'd better do that so we can get a grasp of what we're fully dealing with." Riku said to her.

"Also...we should do what we can to help Mantis rest as well, he was a victim of this mess as well, so he might as well be buried with honor and where no one can disturb him." Rio suggested in a solemn tone.

"Why exactly do you want to do this, Rio?" Riku asked.

"Well for one, Greg asked me too before he passed out and second, I really think Mantis should have a place where he can finally rest in peace, considering after all he was going through." Rio answered.

"But didn't he try to kill you?" Riku asked as Rio gave him a quick smile before speaking seriously once more.

"No, Riku...Reese tried to kill me. He ordered Mantis to do that." Rio replied. "The guilt's all Reese's, and one of these days, before very long, he's going to answer for it."

"We all agree that Reese is fully responsible for everything that has happened, but until we could get to that matter, the burial of Mantis comes first importantly. We at of the Hokage clan can help you get a resting place for Mantis if you let us." Kurei said. "We have an ancient burial ground for our ancestors and fallen warriors like Mantis."

"This burial ground..." Rio began. "Are you sure no one will find it?"

"They'd be stupid to even try." Riku answered. "The Hokage, and many other ninja clans, made sure that the ground where they buried their dead was sacred. Only the clan chief and a few others knew the exact location, and the only people who know that now are me, my father, Uncle Kurei, and Grandma. If we bury Mantis there, I'm sure he can rest in peace without any danger of the Patriots disturbing him ever again."

"Can you guarantee that?" Maki asked.

"Of course I can." Riku answered. "The forest that surrounds the gravesites, are littered with traps of the worst kind. Anyone who comes in uninvited doesn't come out."

"And in the case that someone is brave enough does try attempt to force their way anywhere near the site, they will have to come through us first as we will have some of our allies on the patrol of that particular area, just to play it safe." Kenshin added to Riku's suggestion.

"Alright, it's arranged then...while Greg is recovering and we wait for the remainder of our allies to assist in the situation regarding his powers and recovery, we should prepare a proper funeral and burial for Mantis." Kurei nodded. "That's two problems put aside for now."

"Still, part of the problem lies on what Reese and the Patriots will be doing now." Nagi said. "The matter about the existence of biodroids being known to the enemy bothers me a lot."

"Yeah, Nagi-kun's right. I know we should be asking Seraph-san and Yuina what they know about it, but it wouldn't be right considering what they went through today soon after everything that they went through." Tot said.

"I agree. We should give those two some time to recover, both mentally and physically until they are ready to talk to us some more. We shouldn't rush the matter, although it is pretty urgent." Riku said as Recca spoke.

"You and your partners are really considerate about Yuina and Seraph's welfare on the matter, not to mention how much they are involved in it as well, so we can understand this decision." Recca said to his son.

"Hey, we pretty much go through these things during certain FOXHOUND missions, though it is pretty rough on us as well, when we have to deal with the ordeals that affect your mental level and morale." Riku replied. "The only thing we can do about them is to learn as much as we can from those experiences and be prepared to help out in any way, even if the case is severely traumatic to the victim."

Tot shuddered slightly as she remembered what Gladys Smithson went through during their mission two years back and what treatment she had to undertake before she was mentally stable again.

Not only during the time that the Mikage base was captured by the enemy forces comprising of Shade, and the three members of Schwartz at the time, Brad Crawford, Schuldich and Farfarello. Shade used Gladys as his sex slave for repeated uses until she was rescued by Riku and his partners. If that wasn't enough to send her over the mental edge, the person that she worked and admired the most, Kagami Mikage had abandoned her and was later killed by Black Arts Viper, and later on, the remaining C-Genomes that she had been taking care off like a mother killed themselves by destroying the facility they were being kept in by using their tennyo powers, rather than be captured by the Patriots' forces. The damage to her mind was bad enough that she had to be sent to a mental hospital to be treated.

Fortunately for Gladys, she had been able to recover from the ordeals and had been able to get her life back together. The last time Tot, Nagi, or Riku heard from her, she was currently working as one of the agents for Michael Hansen's Wolf Pack as thanks to the man who had defended and protected her through the aftermaths of the mission, even saving her from death as well.

(Now that I think about it, Gladys-san is also in the same team that Seishiro-san is in as well. I wonder if she knows about Greg-san through him.) Tot thought to herself at first.

While wondering how Gladys has been doing up till now, Tot also hoped that Yuina's condition wasn't that severe, but promised herself that she would do her utmost best to help her out as well. But before she could ponder more on how Gladys had been doing, Nanvel spoke up as if to say something again.

"Oh, and Rio…I just happened to find this in what was left of Greg's Sneaking Suit before." Nanvel said as she took out a cd case that was smeared in some petrified nanomachines and blood, both of which were Greg's and showed it to everyone. Although it looked damaged, the data disc inside the case itself was untouched and safe.

"Hey, I don't recall Greg carrying that with him during the mission." Maya said. "Did he get that when he stayed behind with Mantis?"

"It appears so." Nanvel said simply. "I guess this is why he did that, Maya, he probably may have been searching from answers in regards to those powers of his and Mantis secretly gave this to him."

"Well, if that's the case, we should start looking at what information it has that could probably help us…" Rio said, reaching for the case, but before she could touch it, Nanvel already took the case before Rio did and stored it into her breast pocket. "Huh? Nanvel, what are you doing…?"

"Rio, as much as I want to learn more about the mystery surrounding Greg's psychic powers, as well as learn more about the past that he tried to forget, I don't think it would be right for us to go ahead and look at this without Greg to witness this as well." Nanvel said sternly. "Mantis did entrust this to the person who risked his life to save him from the Patriot's brainwashing, knowing fully well what would happen. This was intended for Greg to know the truth, after all."

"I know that, but..." Rio spoke before Riku placed an arm on her shoulder.

"I think she's right, Rio, even though I'm curious about it as well. It would be best to wait till things calm down a bit and for Greg to recover, so that he can see what that disc contains first. Besides we need a little time to assess the situation more anyway, especially after what's happened recently." Riku said sternly as Rio had to agree after hesitating a bit.

"I guess you're both right." Rio said solemnly as Maki smiled at Rio.

"Don't worry, Rio. It will be kept safe until Greg gets through this. But for now, we should focus on what we can do about what Nanvel said, which worries me the worst right now." Maki said as her tone sounded more worried than ever. "Also, I'm pondering on the case that something this serious has happened to Greg, a lot of people that he's associated to are not going to be happy to know it and I'm not refereeing to those just from FOXHOUND alone."

"Oh, yeah, Greg's got a mess of friends and allies outside the group all over the place." Maya lamented. "It will be kind of hard of who we should be contacting first about the situation if they don't know already."

"Well, I know for sure when I get to call Haruko and Yukari-chan later to check up on things, they won't be too pleased to hear about Greg's current situation if they ask about him, this sort of news would break their hearts, especially Yukari's." Rio said. "Greg's the closest thing to an elder brother to that kid and she really looks up to him, you know."

"Not to mention a number of certain people that he is affiliated with from the King of Fighters like Geese, Billy and Lilly Kane, Nagase, Luise Meyrink, Seth, Rock Howard and Hotaru and Gato Futaba, B. Jenet, Kyo, Iori, Shingo, Cyborg and Mirror Kusanagi, Adel and Rose Bernstein as well as the Beart sisters and the Art of Fighting, Psycho Soldier, Hero, and Rival Teams." Yuji said. "Of all them just mentioned, I know I wouldn't like to see Geese get angry knowing one of his best agents almost died because of the enemy that he's trying to keep a low profile from. Though I bet Ash Crimson will probably revel in joy over the matter when he hears the news."

"Uggh, Ash is one of the reasons why trouble always happens in KOF these days, even outside it like when he caused that fire in Southtown, or even that last time where Greg ran into him, Oswald, and Shen Woo. Things didn't go well since he didn't have Nagase working with him at the time and he got his ass kicked severely." Lilica said.

"If that's not bad enough, what about those from his home turf back in the States?" Nanvel asked. "Greg's done some notable stuff at the neighbor-hood that he currently stays in the area close to FOXHOUND headquarters, one of them stopping a demolition of the apartment complex that he and his neighbors are staying. After managing to get the dirt on the greedy contractor responsible for the demolition when he came across compromising information on the slob, it was enough to put him in jail for life due to money racketeering crimes and stolen insurance claims. So as of now, they are rather supportive of him because he helped supported the community in a big way. Now, whenever he's in trouble, he has support from the tenants of the building that he's living at too."

The members of the Hokage and Uruha as well as Riku, Nagi and Tot stood surprised to hear how Greg has become popular with the people the group of Warrior just mentioned. They were also pleased to know that Greg was needed not just in FOXHOUND and among them, but around those who seemed to have counted on his help.

"Rio, I don't know how I should say this, but even I'm impressed to know how much of a Samaritan Greg is trying to be. None of us knew just how many people outside of FOXHOUND that he has helping him." Riku admitted.

"Yeah, he may even have friends that even we wouldn't know about as of yet, that's just to say how far he's grown, he's been to many places in the time he was in your group. The way I see it, I think Greg would have wanted us to try and fix things for him, since he pretty much was responsible for the mission and how it turned out at the end." Rio spoke. "With the exception of Mantis' death at the end, everything else went fine, its as if he was guided to do a fairly good job of having everyone watching each other's backs today by something divine."

"I agree with you much on that, but what makes you say that about him being guided, Rio?" Riku asked her.

"Well, if I recall correctly, the Americans had an old post Impact song that he listened to at times which had a phrase that could definitely fit Greg's bravery and actions for all that he was able to do today for us." Rio said with her arms folded. "'Heaven helps those who beat their fears.'"

"That's a strange way of putting it on how things went today, but I think I see where you're getting at, Rio." Riku said to her with a smile, agreeing with her comment.

"Well, even I could have seen it myself, that Greg is special in his own way, Rio-san. Still, what happened at the end…it seemed that he didn't get any closure now that the person he saved is now dead…" Nagi said as Tot looked at him, feeling his emotion and understanding. Ever since Nagi met Greg, he had started to regard him as a reliable comrade, even though they have been only quick good friends. She hoped too that Greg will be okay.

"Don't fret too much about it. Greg-san's really is one of the strongest people we have ever met so far and I really had the honor of meeting such a new and great friend, along with his family of Warrior. I know I can believe that he will be okay since he's got such wonderful family and friends to help him out through this." Tot said with a smile.

Nagi looked at Tot and she gave him a nod of assurance. "Yeah, you're right about that. Thanks a lot, Nanami."

"And I'm very certain, from seeing how much each of you from Team Warrior cares about Gregory-san and the same for the comrades that aided him today, that you most assuredly will." Gennosuke suddenly spoke with a light smile. "Until then, you can leave him to our care as discussed before."

"Oh, yeah, thanks a bunch…umm…" Rio stopped as she looked in Kurei and Recca's direction as she was having trouble trying to address Gennosuke and his wife, Oboro since she heard they were referred to by the suffix '-dono' more than '-san' at the end of their names from most of their fellow Hokage clan members. This was because '-dono' is considered a more formal, and in some cases old fashioned term as it is based on the suffix '-tono', which means 'lord', making it an even higher level than the suffix '-sama' as it confers utmost respect. "Help me out here a little, how should I address them, Kurei, Recca?"

"No need to trouble yourself about formalities today, Rio." Kurei said as Oboro spoke.

"Yes, we're all allies and friends here, Rio-san. If it makes you more comfortable, you can just address us as Gennosuke and Oboro of the Hokage until you get to know us better." Oboro said as she smiled at the blonde. "Besides, Riku told us a bit about you and your team before today, so it is an honor to finally meet you, although I wished it was under better circumstances…"

"Hey, I feel the same way, especially after hearing Riku say nothing but praises about your skills as a medic the whole day." Rio said as she clenched her teeth. "Greg would have been pleased to meet you just the same, if he was still conscious…"

"Rio-san…" Oboro said as she held Rio's hand, feeling her anxiety. "You don't need to fear a sad fate for your son; I can tell when the team was working on him that he's a strong person that will fight through this. Not to mention, as while I was operating on his wounds, I've seen that he has recently been taking some of my specially made medicine, which must mean that he really has taken my skills in high regards. So, if the effects from the applications from before managed to keep him in satisfactory condition by the time he was brought here…"

"Yeah, he was holding onto the last spare vials I gave him during that fight with Mantis, Oboro-dono, so the chances of him pulling through this are slightly stronger." Riku said. "But it's as Rio said, you should have heard from him about how much he appreciated having the fruits of your knowledge to help him out today. He really put it to use when he didn't have his medicine any more."

"That reminds me. Nanvel-san…when you get time after dinner, can I speak to you about what kind of symptoms that Greg suffers from concerning his anemic condition and what kind of medicine he takes to deal with it?" Oboro asked. "I want to start working on an herbal remedy to counter some of those effects and have it ready by the time he wakes up."

"Okay, I'll be sure to do that, Oboro-san." Nanvel said with a big smile.

"As you can see, things haven't become hopeless for your son." Oboro said to Rio. "So, try and be strong while we work on helping Greg-san recover, while you get yourself a well deserved break from this. I can see that you also need some tending to yourself, Rio-san."

"Don't worry about me, where do you think that Greg got to be so tough?" Rio asked with a big grin, before taking both of the woman's hands and held them as she bowed to her. "But I will take it easy until things get better, and thanks a lot again for everything, Oboro. You have no idea how much you've done for my son up to now…oh, is it okay that…?"

"You want to see him, is that it?" Oboro asked Rio nodded silently. "Well, I guess it would be alright that those closest to him could get to see him, but try not to make too much noise, he's sleeping peacefully after going through such a delicate emergency procedure."

"Hold on, Rio…" Maya stopped her friend as Rio glanced at her. "We're coming in there with you."

"Yeah, we want to check up on Greg too, you know?" Yuji said with a smile. "He's the reason why we're all together like this, anyway. And who knows, you could get emotional after seeing him in such a sorry state, you will need us to look after you until his condition improves."

"Same goes for us." Riku said as his partners stepped to Rio's side. "I know just how close you've been to Greg during this whole thing and he did help us out a lot at the end, we just want to at least be there with you guys and show our presence so he can at least feel that we're there with him as well."

"So, that way, he can recover better?" Recca asked his son. "I think Rio would like that very much."

Rio stood and looked at the group of people standing around her and almost broke into tears after realizing how many were ready to support her through this. With a small grin, Rio nodded to people in front of her.

"Heh, thank you, everybody. I'm sure Greggie would like the company as well." Rio said as Oboro opened the door and the group entered the room.

The group carefully stepped closer and was able to see his head bandaged over his right eye, while the stump of his arm was bandaged up as well. The chest area was wrapped in bandages, and the cuts he had taken about his body were turning to scars and blemishes, thanks to Yanagi's healing abilities and Oboro's medicinal herbs. His face was deep in a trance that seemed to be relaxing him a bit. She sat next to his side and started to stroke his cheek with one of her hands. Greg's skin was still toughened and broken from all the fights he went through today.

"At least he's resting comfortably, considering all that has happened today. Most assuredly, he will pull through the night without any worries." Serina said. "I know you who are the closest to him want to stay with him, but remember that you too need tending and above all some rest as well."

"Sure, we just need to set our minds at ease by looking over him, even if it's only for awhile." Lilica replied as she took his bandaged left hand and held it gently.

"I understand that. Nanvel was telling me some good stories about him and the times he spent with you during the whole procedure today." Serina said with a smile as Nanvel replied with a grin.

"Hey, it was the best way to pass the time, not to mention give the mood a brighter sense of hope towards the situation." Nanvel said in a quick reply.

"So, Rio, what are you and the rest of Warrior are going to do in the meantime while Greg's recuperating?" Riku asked her. "You know its okay to take it easy here for now until things get better."

"I appreciate what you guys have done for us, Riku, but as a police officer for Police Town, I can't really stay away from my duties much longer than I have or else the chief will get suspicious. Maki's got things covered for now, but sooner or later; I would have to get back to working there in case something has come up, now that Reese has made his move." Rio said sternly.

"Well, we do understand that there are still criminal elements in the city that aren't related to the Patriots, but it can't be overlooked, that's for sure." Recca said.

"Neon told me about the call Maki got before and it's possible that it could be related to what's been going on lately." Kurei said. "Which is why I'm advising you to be careful on how all of you from Warrior approach the situation, it could be another trap set up by Reese and the Patriots for all we know."

"Thanks for the warning, but it's not likely that the mass prison break was their doing, I don't think Reese would organize one hell of an escape like that if he's looking to make a squad force out of criminals alone." Rio lamented. "Still, I'll be okay as long I've got someone here to watch my back in case someone from an enemy organization would be looking for Greg, Yuina, and Seraph for obvious reasons."

"Okay, if that's all you need, let me do it for the time being." Riku offered. "I myself have got some errands to run from tomorrow on anyway, that includes getting the rest of the Uruha Ryu here as well from their recent mission."

"Thanks a lot for the company then, Riku." Rio replied as she looked at him and sighed a little. "Say, that reminds me, have any of your buddies from FOXHOUND been contacted about this yet?"

"No, but we might as well give them a call since Greg's going to pull through this. I bet everybody who is from the group at NERV headquarters at the moment, as well at HQ, must have been worried about us since we broke contact before we fought Mantis." Nagi said to Riku.

"Right, I would have to contact them later, I suppose. I'm sure Linn is worried about Greg the most as well…" Riku stopped to think for a moment before he faced Rio. "Oh, another thing, Rio…by any chance does Greg have any outside allies and friends himself that you mentioned before that would be needed to be contacted about this as well?"

"Yeah, it wouldn't be fair that everyone who is allied with the Uruha and Hokage to get together and leave any of your allies out, I'm sure there must be people Greg must have on the outside that can help you guys out and us in return." Recca said.

"As much as you guys are right about Greg and Warrior having their own allies and friends on the outside, I don't think they have such big profile names and organizations compared to the ones you guys have made from all we know right now or those you haven't told us about yet." Maya said. "Although a number of them are special, in their own 'normal' way, I suppose."

"Now that you mention it, there are a few kids that Greg, Linn, myself, Maya, and Lilica helped out for a time just last year after that incident you guys had at FOXHOUND, which caused you to split up for awhile." Rio said seriously. "I'm sure out of the way they are able to fight, they can pretty much fend for themselves, but I'm still worried about them…"

(At least since we last checked with the kids from the Underground, things seemed to be normal for now and are improving for the better since Kashin changed, but I can't help but worry…sure, that base we were in earlier today was nowhere close to the Underground in terms of relations or location, but was it really just a leftover from one of the projects that the Patriots later took up for themselves?) Rio stopped midways to think to herself as a thought bothered her. (Well, it won't be long till we will be meeting up with Rumina, Chelsea, Ginnosuke, Ruri, and all the other allies and friends we were able to make from the Company again soon and we'll be tangoing with them soon enough once they hear what has happened to Greg.)

"Rio-san? What's the matter?" Tot asked as Rio shook her head.

"Ah, it's nothing, Tot, just something that was on my mind." Rio waved it off as Riku noticed the serious tone in her voice as he thought to himself.

(Hmm, considering how serious Rio looked a while ago, I'd say Greg and Linn may have been involved in something just as big as the Mikage mission, but she said it was after we all split up after that…'incident'. Is that pretty much the reason why Greg couldn't take the offers for joining the Wolf Pack or the Uruha Ryu, even though both Michael and I personally asked him respectively?) Riku thought, a bitter feeling in the back of his mind as he remembered what had caused the split up at first, before he focused back to the discussion at hand. (As much as I'd like to find out what they were dealing with, I should probably wait until its time for them to come forward with who Greg could be allied with that we haven't met yet…)

"Well, I can guess that those guys would be okay, but who knows if Reese and the like would go picking on them while we're not around to help?" Maya asked. "Rio, be sure to give Chelsea a ring later to see things are still safe on their end, just in case."

"I'll be sure to do that, Maya. I'm even wondering how Soichiro-san is going to take the news now that his favorite sparring partner is like this?" Rio asked as Kenshin was next to speak next.

"Soichiro-san? Who is that?" Kenshin asked her.

"Oh, Soichiro Kadotake, he's just a public servant working at the Living Environment Division of the Tokyo Environment Office. Greg bounced into him not too long ago through another affiliate we have. On the outside, he looks like a wimpy pervert, but the guy was in the wrestling club in school and his hand to hand fighting skills are on par with just about any other FOXHOUND recruit at the moment. Not to mention, his girlfriend is a professional dominatrix who works as a spiritual medium part time, so they make quite a couple." Rio explained, causing some of the Uruha and Hokage clan members to look at her wide eyed as she said this.

"Rio-san, just what kind of friends does Greg make on the outside that you know of?" Neon asked her as she grinned to this.

"Well, other than having to work for Geese Howard, getting involved with people from another world, and making friends with a dominatrix, I'd say Greg's got a habit for hanging with the unusual crowd." Rio said. "It's not like I chose who he gets to make friends with anyway."

"I guess he is popular in that way, I suppose." Yuji said, causing Riku to look at the sleeping Greg with a nervous chuckle.

(I'd never thought Greg was mixing with that kind of crowd, but then again quite a few people would consider some of my friends strange, so I guess I can't really complain.) Riku thought. (Still, I'd like to meet these people that Rio just mentioned, especially this Soichiro guy and his girlfriend. I've never met a medium who was also a dominatrix before…)

When Riku was about to ask more questions, he saw the group of Warrior members huddled at a spot near Greg's bed, they discussed quietly amongst each other what they can do by the meantime while he recuperates.

"Well, while Greg is resting, I guess we can start preparations for him by the time he wakes up." Lilica said as she rubbed her head. "I'm certain he will need to keep up to date on what's been happening from today onwards, so I've got to start collecting data and intel that would be useful to him and the rest of his FOXHOUND buddies later on, not to mention try and download some more of those Devil May Cry 3 combo videos that he may have missed since the last time I saw him."

"Right, we also can't forget that his other buddies and comrades that exist outside of the FOXHOUND group would also need to be notified about this as well, so we'd better start making the rounds when things ease up." Maya said. "I may even have to make a stop at Neo Osaka to check on my father and the gang to see if things are still calm on their side and ask them for favors this one time before things get hairy later."

"I'll be the one contacting Geese and whoever else from KOF are allied to Greg; I'll speak to him personally later about this if he hasn't heard by now." Rio said. "What about you, Nanvel?"

"I'm going to have to come clean with Naomi over the developments regarding what happened today at the facility, as well try and salvage as much useable data from what was left of Greg's Sneaking Suit." Nanvel said. "Before that, I'd like to discuss something with Seraph-san first before I talk things over with Oboro-san and Serina-san if they want to assist in Greg's recovery in the future."

"While I'm in Police Town, I'll do some digging around myself as well." Maki said seriously. "These days, the local gangs and crime-lords are being quiet, but something about that is suspicious in itself."

"Yeah, that reminds me that he would need to catch up on some Gantz manga reading as well, so I'm sure after such a long wait when he wakes up, he could at least get two to three new chapters to read since Oka-sama has delayed weekly updates lately, so I'd better get those prepared as well." Yuji said.

"At a time like this, is that all you can mention about helping Greg right now, Yuji?" Maya asked him.

"Hey, I'm doing the best I can too, you know." Yuji said. "Besides, you can say it's one of his strengths, he just can't get by without seeing Kei Kurono in action, presuming he's been revived or not by now."

"Like you can't get by without your hentai material, I suppose." Rio lamented. "Why can't you take an example from Greg and read normal stuff like him? He still even reads the Full Metal Alchemist manga long after he saw the series, the movie and all the animated specials."

"What? I do read normal manga time to time!" Yuji exclaimed, getting nervous. "Why, I've even got my sights on getting all four volumes of Giri Giri Sisters when things calm down…ooops!"

"Ah, ha! So you're still thinking of pervy stuff as usual. You're asking for a beating, Yuji." Maya said, ready to clock Yuji one.

"A slip of the tongue, I swear, girls." Yuji cried out as he pleaded to Rio. "Rio, aren't you going to save me?"

"You brought this on yourself, so I can't help you anymore today, Yuji." Rio said as she folded her arms. "If you want to get beaten up, I'd suggest you take it outside where you can't disturb Greg."

"Rio!" Yuji cried out as he managed to escape the room in time as Maya, Nanvel, and Lilica chased him.

"Come on now, we all had quite a day...it will be time for dinner soon and you do need to get out of those suits after everything that's happened. The people from Warrior already have their rooms ready as well, so they can get themselves more comfortable and join us as well." Yanagi said to the guests.

"I agree, a good long bath and a warm meal really do sound like a good idea around this time." Recca agreed. The group all nodded in agreement, as this day was tough emotionally and physically for all of them.

"And I guess that you two are going to get busy with what you were talking about before on the helicopter on the way here, right?" Riku asked his partners, recalling what they said earlier, before Tot waved her harisen at him while Nagi blushed.

"Hey, you'd better stop saying ecchi things about Nagi and me that aren't true before you get another bruise on the same spot from before, Riku." Tot warned him as Rio giggled some to this.

"Jeez, you guys sure love to put on an act whenever things get depressing, huh?" Rio asked.

"Well, that's the way things have been with them for years now, so it's almost customary." Kenshin answered for Riku. "I would know after seeing them being so close knit for so long."

"As much as we'd like to get used to the antics, it's still going to be tough knowing what lies ahead and what we have to deal with." Rio said in a mellow tone.

"Ah, you're worrying too much, Rio. I'm sure things will get better eventually once we're past the bridge." Recca assured her. "Now, we should let Greg rest and get ourselves taken care of, we're all beat."

"Thanks, but…I'd like to stay with him for just a bit longer, if you don't mind." Rio said as Recca and Yanagi nodded to her.

"Sure, take your time, Rio-san." Neon said as she, along with the various members of the Hokage and Uruha left the room, Rio and Riku along with Nagi and Tot were the only ones in the room now, watching Greg as he slept.

"Well, now that I know he's going to pull through the night, I can head over to the city now. Chances are that I may spend the night there as well considering how things turn out, so I'll contact you on the situation as always." Maki said as she hugged Rio. "Give Greg my regards and apologies for not being here in case he wakes up later, okay?"

Rio nodded to Maki as she did the same with the other Warrior members in the hallway as she proceeded to leave the mansion under protection from Kurei's eldest son, Kenshin and Joker who both agreed earlier to leave with her since Kenshin had to pick up a few members of his team, Hokage Ryu, on the way who went by the names of Reiji Azuma, Elen Azuma, and Cal Devens.

"I've got to hand it to you, Rio. That's one incredible son you've got there, Rio." Riku smiled at Rio. "Until today, he did things that I've never seen him do before."

"Yeah, even though he seemed uncomfortable about it earlier, he did a good job guiding and assisting us through some tough moments." Nagi said.

"Rio-san, you should feel proud of Greg-san because it is kind of rare to meet someone who is genuinely kind and caring to his mother, even if they aren't related by blood." Tot said to her. "I know because of that, and of everything else we were able to find out about him and you guys from Warrior today, he will pull through this."

"I know...I'm so proud of him...yet still…" Rio wiped some tears from her eyes and shaking her head. "Stupid...it's my fault he's like this...If I wasn't so nosy to look into Greg's line of work by helping him from the side, Lilica and everyone else like Yuina and Seraph who later got mixed up into these problems...no one would have to be going through this!"

"Rio...it's not your fault Greg's like this...it was his choice that he sought to face a highly dangerous situation by seeking Mantis to save Lilica and Yuina." Riku said, patting her shoulder. "And besides, we can't be sure what happened to Yuina wouldn't have happened even if you hadn't gotten mixed up in this."

"I know that but...there are times I think, that after all the things I've done to make him stronger...I don't deserve to be his mother. It's like everything I'm doing one ends up causing him more pain...do you think I'm really that heartless, Riku?" Rio asked.

"No, I don't think so." Riku said. "You just care for Greg so much you just have trouble trying to express it the way a real mother should."

"You think so?" She asked him.

"I know so. You were praising him highly a lot, especially with all that's been going on recently." He said. "If he didn't have your kind of support from long ago, he would have ended up becoming someone totally different, he would probably have gone insane because of the loss of the past he once had."

"He looks tough, but he's only human like the rest of us, so it's only natural for him to have the kinds of emotions one would have when he has suffered a traumatic time as a child and kept them hidden as he grew up." Nagi said. "I know that because I've been there too…"

"Nagi-kun…" Tot looked at him compassionately as Nagi looked over at her.

"But, somewhere along the line, I was able to hold on to myself, because of Tot and later after I met Riku and all of our friends here and at FOXHOUND, I knew I was able to put myself at ease because of the trust I was given. Even though there are bits of my past I'd rather not live with, I'm happy because I have my friends to help me ease my burden." Nagi said, taking Tot's hand and giving it a light squeeze. "Rio-san, I know this isn't much, but as a new friend to such a wonderful son that you now call your own, I'm asking you to take the best care of Greg-san. We know that after today, things will get better for everyone, especially since we know what kind of a person he is to be able to bring people together like this."

"Yeah, it's what we thought about earlier before we faced Mantis, everyone's all together now because of Greg-san." Tot said with a smile. "And if you have any problems or anyone who will try to hurt him while he gets better, you can leave it to me and Nagi-kun to look after you guys."

"It's the same with me, Rio. I promise my family, friends, and I will help defend you guys in case anyone stupid enough tries to come for one of my closest buddies." Riku said with a grin as Rio laughed lightly.

"You three…" Rio said as she nodded at them. "Thanks for the offer; it's good to know that Greg can depend on you to watch over him through this."

After Rio said that, Riku took a glance over as she watched Greg sleep one more time before Riku spoke.

"I wonder...is he really at peace while he's sleeping?" Riku asked.

"I just hope whatever Greg is dreaming about, it's only about good things...the last thing he needs is more nightmares." Rio got up and stretched herself. "Come on, Riku, we should let him rest. While we're going to have dinner with our friends and your family, we should discuss some things over with Recca and Kurei as well as get sorted out with the rest of your FOXHOUND buddies on what we should be doing afterwards about the situation."

"I got you. We should do that and leave Greg to rest more comfortably, Rio." Riku replied as he walked out of the room with her, as Rio stopped to look at him one last time, thinking to herself.

(Greggie…even when he wakes up, he'll probably just feel bitter about being unable to prevent Mantis from being killed, I just know it.) Rio thought sadly. (If he were to just forget all about what's happened…while me on the other hand, can't really do much but try and keep him away from the danger of knowing his past, knowing that will be impossible in any case. All I've done is put on a show…what an ugly personality I must have.)

Wiping a tear, Rio quietly shut the door behind her; leaving Greg to slightly groan a bit as his closed eyelids flinched while he slept. Unknown to them, he was getting an unwanted visit by his innermost enemy within his mind-space…

"So, how do you want to go about this, dear Greggie boy, hmm?" Violent Greg asked him as Greg Kinezono looked on, clenching his left fist, feeling slightly more powerless in front of his counterpart. "I'm sure being the masochist that you are, you'd want a slow and endless period of suffering before you submit, or should I see to it that it gets done quickly so you won't have to feel any humiliation after letting Mantis die in front of your eyes? Which do you prefer?"

As Greg stayed silent for a while glaring at his counterpart, Violent Greg turned his head to the side and scoffed simply as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Giving me the cold shoulder treatment, is that it?" Violent Greg asked. "Need I remind you who the one in control here? You won't be able to fight me in your current state because you don't have your powers anymore."

"Because of your cowardly doing, I suppose." Greg replied as Violent Greg angrily stomped the ground under him.

"Speak for yourself, the one who chose to come to this place right after failing to save Mantis. Unlike you, I'm no coward." Violent Greg said as Greg started to protest.

"Enough with the lies, you brought me here!" Greg shouted at him. "Do you think I enjoy coming here to see you of all people at this moment?'

"I don't know, you tell me." Violent Greg said as he rubbed his head. "As a matter of fact, you seem to be more relaxed here, now that you no longer have the will to resist your fate as Soldier X."

"That crap again…" Greg muttered. "Is that what has this been all about for so long? Why you always do what you can to provoke me so much?"

"It's time you accepted things the way they should be. You can't keep fighting the growing urges inside you much longer, now that things have finally come to a head." Violent Greg said.

"My…growing urges?" Greg asked in an unsure tone.

"Your regrets, your anger…trust no one and nothing else but those feelings!" Violent Greg said as he raised his arms as if he was praising his own words. "Feed your anger, your hate. Those are the only two things you will ever need to keep you strong in this world, dear Greg."

"I don't need strength, not anymore." Greg said to his counterpart as he fervently shook his head. "There's only one thing I want…the only thing I need…"

Battle theme: Get Down to Business-Order Sol's theme from Guilty Gear Accent Core.

"What? To love and be loved in return, is that it?" Violent Greg said as he smirked at him. "Who could ever love…a failure like you?"

"Ahhhhh!' Greg snarled at his counterpart as he cried out and charged at him, as Violent Greg simply smirked as Greg threw a left punch at him which he dodged with ease as it brushed nothing but the air near Violent Greg's face.

"Yes, that's it! Stop lying to yourself, you hypocrite and show me your true self!" Violent Greg spoke as he dodged the next set of one handed punches that Greg threw at him. "You want it, don't you? You want to see Reese and your enemies, the Patriots, bleed for everything in the name of all the misery and pain they've caused you and your friends, am I right?"

"You're wrong!" Greg shouted, as he fell forward, only to stumble on the ground and fall on his face. "I…I…"

"Don't lie to me! There's nothing better than the feeling of vengeance against those who took away the innocent lives of a couple of strangers, just because of a grand plan set up by the same enemy you've been fighting for years. You can feel it welling up from within inside you, can't you?" Violent Greg asked. "Greg, you know you can't leave things alone as they are now…just give in to your emotions and I promise I'll be able to settle things against them to make things right."

Greg stayed still for a moment as he clenched his left fist into the dirt below him as Violent Greg offered a hand.

"I'm asking you one last time as a gesture of peace, Greg…let me take control or else suffer the agony for denying yourself for the rest of your life." Violent Greg said as before he got a response from his counterpart, Greg suddenly turned around and threw a handful of grey dirt at his Violent Greg's face. "What the…?"

As the dust got into his eyes, Greg got up and sent a rising uppercut from his left hand at Violent Greg's chin, stunning him a good bit as he backed off a distance from Greg, holding his face.

"You son of a bitch!" Violent Greg shouted, as blood began to seep out from a cut made to his face. "To think you got first blood by using such a cheap trick on me…well, from that little act, I guess you're still going to be quite the stubborn hypocrite that I grew to hate. And to think I was going to take it easy on you…"

"Do whatever you want with me, but I'll tell you something since you want to vent your frustration on me." Greg stood up as he held his chest, breathing hard. "There's no way I'm going to easily give in to the temptation of taking lives just for the sake of vengeance. Sure, I would be lying to myself if I said I didn't have any lingering feelings about how Yuina's aunt and Mantis had to die because of Reese and the Patriots, but at least I know that if I take any sort of action…there will be dire consequences to pay on my part as well. Once I kill purely out of hatred, there will be no stopping it, it will be an endless cycle that will go on until either me or all of them are dead, so what's the point about…"

"I've had enough of you and your stupid preaching! Just shut your cakehole already!" Violent Greg suddenly threw a wave of crushing air at Greg, who got sent flying into a nearby rock behind him as he felt the impact enter his body.

"Guuhhh!" Greg cried out as before he can register what was going to happen next, Violent Greg was already in front of him, holding onto his neck with his right hand.

"I knew from the start that there's something about you which was the problem as to why I wasn't able to totally assimilate with you for all these years." Violent Greg said. "Now after looking at you today after my first attempt failed earlier, I think I'm beginning to see why. It's your natural conscience; it must act as a self defense mechanism to counter my influence, but for it to be able to resist me with such strength…that must be it."

"What…what the hell are you saying?" Greg asked as Violent Greg's grip tightened on Greg's throat.

"You still don't see it yet, do you?" Violent Greg said as he struck a fist into Greg's stomach area, causing him to spit out some blood. "Manifestation…it must be the influence of the Soldier X gene that you currently have in you as well as its most specialized power. You rely on your own mental will when it comes to your usage of your powers and in response, the SX gene that you have must have been influenced to act in accordance to that situation, like the nanos for instance."

"Is that the kind of power…that I have?" Greg asked as Violent Greg shrugged his shoulders.

"That's just a theory, though the manifestation thing could be true too." Violent Greg said. "And it's probably why I came into the picture as well…not to complicate things, but to aid you whom I despise the most!"

"That's not my problem! If you want to take it up with someone, do it with my father!" Greg shouted as Violent Greg slammed his temple against Greg's, sending excruciating pain through his head.

"Of course it's your problem, because you're his only legacy! And you can't do a damned thing about it because you're so blind to the implications of what you can do with such power!" Violent Greg said as he threw him against the rock and started to pummel him with multiple blows with his fists. "And that is why I despise being in the same mind and body such as yours! Why can't you get it right?"

"Its not like I wanted this power to begin with!" Greg shouted as Violent Greg kicked him furiously now.

"Shut up! There you go again with your lame ass excuses!" Violent Greg shouted. "Maybe it never occurred to you before, but I despise do gooders like you who don't know jack about their destiny! You're turning away from the role given to you; the most you can do is respect your father's wishes and abide by them!"

"Maybe it never occurred to YOU, but what if I don't want to?" Greg said as Violent Greg slammed his fist into his right cheekbone and against the rock behind him.

"Dammit…" Violent Greg stopped his punch as he walked backwards to look at Greg who was covered in bruises and cuts because of Violent Greg's assault. "…why? Why can't you realize your role as the new and true Soldier X? Why do you continue to resist like this if you enjoy the torment so much?'

Groggily standing up, Greg wiped the blood away from his lips and stood up firmly as he looked at his counter part.

"Maybe…I'm just stubborn like that. It really can't be helped if I want to endure pain if I can continue getting the appreciation that I'm wanted in this world by my family and friends." Greg said. "That is enough for someone like me to get through in this world, even though most of it will continue to reject me, a failed psychic…I will keep doing what I can to protect it, even if it's only a little."

Violent Greg silently cursed as he took a step to come closer to Greg as he suddenly stopped to feel a water-drop land on his face. Before long, a gentle downpour rain began to fall on the field as both counterparts faced off in the barren field.

(Rain, now? In this place?) Greg thought as he looked up and the blood from his wounds began to get cleaned from the downpour. (Yet, somehow…I have a feeling that this can be my powers acting in accordance just as Violent Greg said a moment ago. And the warmth coming from the rain…it feels familiar somehow…)

"Well now, this scenery gives off such a nostalgic feeling now, doesn't it?" Violent Greg said as he looked around the area as the ground below them started to turn muddy. "I may not know what's happening because of this little display, but no matter, allow me to fix that problem right here and now!"

Violent Greg opened one of his palms to send a psychic wave at his counterpart, who managed to evade it in time by moving to his side as he rushed at Violent Greg in a sprint. Once he was close enough, Greg sent a flying backhand using his left fist, which was blocked before it reached Violent Greg's head.

(Even now, he still has fight in him. This could pose a problem if I let him have his way, so I have to be quick in taking care of this from now.) Violent Greg thought as he countered Greg's attack with a rising knee to his abdomen. However, before he was set to deliver another, Greg had already recovered and sent a downward punch at his counterpart, sending him crashing to the muddy ground.

Greg began to pant as he tried to stand upright, but Violent Greg didn't let him rest as he grabbed his ankle and sent him flat onto the ground before he could stop his fall. Landing on his back, Violent Greg pounced on Greg and started to use double haymaker punches on his counterpart, but Greg effectively blocked the blows using both of his arms, before managing to kick him off.

Violent Greg spat out some of the rainwater that was in his mouth as he stood up, but Greg was already on his feet and returned his attack on his counterpart with a roundhouse kick, before turning his back and used a knock-back spinning single punch on Violent Greg that sent him sliding back on the mud. Stopping midway, Violent Greg quickly dashed at Greg and sent a downward punch, before grabbing him by his chest area and pushing him into the ground.

"Damn it, this is getting nowhere…how come you can still resist to this extent?" Violent Greg asked as he kicked Greg at his abdomen area, forcing him to turn over, panting for air. "You're going to regret yourself if you keep this up, Greg. This power is yours for the taking and you are neglecting the role given to you to fulfill its role, why are you doing such a thing?"

Before Greg can answer, Violent Greg stared on in silence before he smirked as he realized something else.

(I see…it's that woman of yours, isn't it?) Violent Greg thought. (She must be the reason why he's gotten this strong mentally over the time I 'last' saw her in person. Damn it…so could that explain the Soldier X's effect on him or is it…?)

"It's not good to let your mind wander off when you're in the midst of a fight." Greg said as he lifted Violent Greg off his body as Greg managed to get himself free for the time being. The two counterparts stared at each other in another standoff as Violent Greg shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, it matters not what happens from now on. Even if you do manage to put me in my place, you won't be leaving here so easily." Violent Greg told his counterpart. "Any access to the outside world is now restricted ever since you came in here, so you're pretty much stuck here for awhile."

"Even if it seems so, my friends on the other hand would have to do something about that. I don't think they are the kind who would let a friend stay asleep like this for longer than expected once they see that something is wrong." Greg replied, almost with a confident grin. "In case you didn't know, I made sure to tell Riku and his partners about what I had to go through because of you, in the case something like this happens."

"Hmph, even so, what good would that do you anyway?" Violent Greg asked. "I've always told you that you've become too soft, too trusting to these so called friends and family of yours, Greg…you really think that I can be beaten like that? As long as you continue possessing the Soldier X gene, I will always be a part of you for the rest of your life."

"Then that just means that I'll just have to find a way to deal with it just as I did before after I get out of here, don't I?" Greg asked simply as Violent Greg growled at him.

"Enough talk! If I can't consume you right away, I'll just put you to sleep forever! So you'd better put everything into this blow, or else its light's out for you for good!"

Violent Greg charged at his counterpart as Greg started to run towards him as well.

As soon they were in contact range, the two stopped in front of each other as they simultaneously sent their clenched fists towards each other's face.

Greg's left hand connected with his counterpart's right cheek, while Violent Greg managed to land his own fist into Greg's left check, both of them feeling the severe impact of each others blows.

The two of them glared at each other in the rain, with their fists still in each others faces, as they waited for one of them to fall. Then it was Violent Greg who broke the silence first.

"You…bastard…how did you…" Violent Greg stumbled as he fell to his knees, looking stunned. "The Soldier X gene...doesn't belong to you, not to a failure like you…so how can you still beat me like this…?"

"Oh, go to sleep already, will you?" Greg said as he gave him one more punch to knock him out, as Violent Greg felt the energy drain from him from Greg's final blow.

"Impossible…it's not fair that you won. How can a weakling like you still be strong like this…?" Violent Greg muttered, trying to stand up from the mud, but fell over as did Greg, who was too weak to stand up from the beating.

"Damn it…I'm not sure if these wounds will count towards the ones I actually got today from the mission, but they still hurt like hell." Greg thought as he held his chest. "I've got to take it easy for now and assess the situation in here if I want to be clear on anything with my powers."

As he took his time and began to stand up, the rain began to ease up a little as the sun started to shine clearly through the gaps of dark grey clouds above him, though the field around him looked more desolate and in a more sorrowful state than before after all the rain.

"It seems that since he's weakened for now, the influence he has on this place has weakened some, it's never really shone so brightly here before. In any case, I've got to find a way out of this place and back to reality…but not before I start looking for some memories I may have missed, not to mention understand what my power's truly about if any of the memories can point out something useful." Greg said to himself as he wiped his mouth and started to walk away from the field. While he did, a thought hit him.

"He said something about manifestation about my powers, huh? Since this is my mind, I guess I can clearly give it a try with my appearance for now…" Greg said to himself as he stopped to close his eyes and extended his left hand while he opened its palm over his chest area, as the energy he emitted from his hand began to surround him and clean the majority of his body of the mud that stained the majority of his Suit.

"I guess this explains why the nanomachines reacted late today as well, even when I used the Ascension." Greg said to himself, although his right hand was still not there. "What the heck's going to happen to me from now on? Well, I won't find any answers by standing around here; I guess it will be okay for now to see what my powers have done by affecting this place since I had them."

After a bit of walking, Greg found himself on a dusty trail from the empty field as he stopped midways to glance over his side.

"Oh, yeah…since I'm here within my mind-space, I guess I can try and at least visit my mother and sister's graves, it is possible after what Violent Greg told me about my powers, that such things would be here, after all…" Greg said as he lowered his gaze in thought. "The most I can do for now is give them my respects since I never saw their tombstones before in real life, though it won't do much to put myself at ease when I eventually get out of here."

As he walked, he stopped again to see a tall, dark figure walking in the direction where the supposed grave markers were placed.

(Who is that, standing in front of mother's grave?) Greg thought as he knew it couldn't be his counterpart who wasn't that tall. After a few seconds of looking closely, his eyes widened in shock as he started to walk quickly to the grave markers after recognizing the person standing at his dead family's graves.

(Don't tell me…it can't be true…here of all the places…) Greg thought as he clenched his left fist, walking faster to approach the figure, who glanced over to his side and stared at Greg with a tired look through the lens of his glasses. He had dark skin, with a broad and bearded chin with sideburns and was wearing a lab coat over his casual clothing of a dress shirt and jeans.

Greg couldn't believe it at first and he didn't want to from that moment. The one who caused him all of the unnecessary misery and pain from the very beginning was standing right in front of him, trapped within the confined mind-space, was the face of the man he tried the hardest to resent, hate, and, finally, to forget all his life.

The man was none other than Greg's own father and his expression after seeing him after so long was not a happy one.

"Hello, Greg. It didn't take you long to realize that you'd be able to find your family here now, did you?" Curtis said to Greg, who shouted back at his father.

"Y-You!" Greg shouted simply, gritting his teeth. "Matthews! Dr. Curtis Matthews!"

"Is that any way to address your own father after so long?" Curtis simply said to Greg, who tried his best to curve his anger towards his father. "My, look at how you've grown."

"Why the hell are you phrasing it like that for?" Greg asked angrily. "It would be so obvious that I have to grow up and be a real man, unlike a particular bastard I know who still has the cheek to show up here at this time!"

"Now why in blue blazes are you addressing your parent as a bastard?" Curtis asked simply.

"You're not just any bastard, you're THE bastard!" Greg shouted. "If you weren't in front of my mother's and Candice's graves, I would have knocked you down long ago!"

"Judith, Candice…why did you have to die?" Curtis said solemnly as Greg continued to shout at him.

"Why, you ask? Isn't it because of shit like you!" Greg asked. "You're the one who made them go through a lot of hardship!"

"A little more time, that's all…a little more time…" Curtis said as he seemed to be drifting off to his own mindset while Greg continued to argue with him.

"Ahhh? You planned to give them more hardship in that 'a little more time'!" Greg asked him.

"I did promise you so…" Curtis stopped midway as Greg continued to shout.

"You don't even know how much work a single woman in a household had to handle!" Greg shouted at his father while his father spoke to himself as he faced the graves.

"Don't leave me alone…" Curtis cried as Greg pounded his left fist into a nearby slab of rock nearby angrily.

"You're the bastard that left her!" Greg cried out. "Argh, it's not like we're even communicating on the same frequency!"

Pointing at his father with a bruised left fist, Greg continued arguing with him. "You came back to my life too late and you have no place in here! What the hell did you even come here for?"

Curtis looked up and examined the surroundings of Greg's mindscape as he seemed to be checking for something in the environment.

"It seems that the time you spent with your new family and friends have totally changed your perspective, even being in here feels so different from what could have been predicted from those harsh times in your childhood." Curtis said.

"What the hell are you getting at, old man?" Greg said, turning to the side. "If what you're trying to say that what you're seeing has something to do with all the painful memories I've suffered because of you and this Soldier X gene, you couldn't be any more wrong. However, I've already decided long ago not to not to turn back from the path these powers have chosen for me, so it will not be wise to look away from things as they are. It's a sign of my resolve on that decision."

"No, you're the one who's wrong, Gregory." Curtis said simply as he stared at Greg. "It is because one does not want to see the remnants of his own mistakes, isn't it?"

"What do you mean by that?" Greg asked as Curtis continued.

"Is it for the sake of running away from the horrible images brought about in one's own mind?" Curtis asked. "Is it to erase the evidence of what one 's self had done?"

"No, you're wrong!" Greg shouted at his father.

"It is just like a child who wets his bed at night and then hides the sheets." Curtis said as he faced his son sternly. "Gregory…you are just running away."

"What would a bastard like you understand about that!" Greg shouted at his highest tone back at him.

"I do understand, Gregory." Curtis said with a sympathetic tone as Greg turned his head away.

"Tch! Conversing with a bastard like you gives me such a disgusting feeling." Greg said as he started to walk away from his father's position.

"Didn't you come to visit their tombs?" Curtis asked as Greg shouted back without facing him.

"Not while I'm in this foul mood!" Greg replied angrily as soon after he heard his father's footsteps right behind him. "Stop following me!"

"I'm afraid I have to, Greg." Curtis said calmly. "Since you're going to be here for awhile, I might as well accompany you for the time being. It can't be helped since your mind is still getting attuned to the true specifics of your powers along with your memories, which is why from now on; you will need to know how to confront any incoming problems in regards to them by re-experiencing those memories of your past that you tried to forget."

"Why should I have to listen to a memory that I'm trying to forget?" Greg asked as he rubbed his head. (Is this how far my powers have gotten? This seems like a nightmare that I can't wake up from than a dream to me…but for now, I've got to go along with it if I need to fill in at least some of the remainder of my memories while I'm in this dream state. I'd better be careful about it too, or else I may never wake up again …what could Mom and the others be doing now if they knew that I'm in this state?)

Thus, Greg opted to stay within his mind-space for awhile longer, with the most unlikely of people who he happens to hate the most, all the while seeking for more of the closed off memories to his past…

It was only after nine o'clock and most of the Uruha and Hokage clan members had decided to call it a night since it was obvious that the day's events had worn everyone out and many were in need of some rest and meditation over what had happened, especially for the medical team who worked extra hard on Greg's wounds. Following the advice of Kurei and Neon, the members of Team Warrior were granted temporary staying rooms and accommodations as well as protection and assistance for the time being until the situation regarding Reese eases up a bit.

Rio had just stepped out of the bathroom of her own room in the Uruha mansion which was right across to Greg's own and she was feeling almost dead tired due to worrying about her surrogate son's recovery since he was brought in. Wearing nothing but a fluffy, pink towel around her to cover her naked and wet body, she stopped near a tall mirror to examine her body as well to contemplate over the events of the day.

(Boy, a lot of crazy stuff did happen, more than even I can understand at the moment.) Rio thought to herself as she lightly touched the spot where she was stabbed by Shade earlier, now it has become nothing but a light blemish thanks to the medicine that Riku offered her during the rescue mission, along with his mother's healing and mostly of all, her own son's psychic healing ability.

(I've heard that psychics were able to heal wounds to an extent from Seishiro-san before, but I didn't think Greg would be able to do such a thing because he still doesn't fully understand the extent of his powers just yet. Not that I'm complaining about it…thanks to him, I don't have to worry about my beautiful skin being messed up because of some nasty scars.) Rio thought with a light smile before her expression saddened.

(Still, I can't help but not think about him being the center of some kind of conspiracy that the Patriots had organized long before we met; eve if it is so hard to believe. Whatever kind of project that he was involved in must really be in high regards to Reese and whoever else wants that kind of power Greg possesses that they would go through such lengths like that.) Rio thought. (And this proves the point even further that I'm still not that strong enough to protect the one person who has worked so hard throughout his life to bring us altogether like a family…what the hell can I do from now on just to ease Greg's suffering even a little?)

Rio sighed as she turned to the side of the room where the dressing table was when she then heard a ring tone of one of Shuro Tsukasa's famous songs, 'Feel' from her cell phone rang. Not wanting to be bothered and also due to her being cautious in case one of the enemy would trace her cell phone range, she was about to ignore the caller, but the blonde officer sighed heavily in relief as the caller ID on the phone revealed a very familiar name to her. She opened her cell phone, answering in a tired tone.

"Hello?" Rio asked as a female voice replied to her on the other end.

"Rio, is that you?" The voice asked. "It's me, Miyuki. I thought something happened to you, since you weren't in Police Town for some days now. You should have called in sick if you weren't going to be around."

"Hey, Miyuki, it's been a while. Sorry about that, but there were some personal issues that needed tying up." Rio replied, still tired and depressed over all what just happened. The glasses wearing, Miyuki Onodera happened to be one of her old time friend from the academy up to current in the Police Town duties. She has known of Rio's past and current participations in Team Warrior and has been keeping it as a secret since her life was saved by Rio once during a hostage situation and Rio's first mission involved rescuing her.

"Man, you sound like crap. Is everything okay with you?" Miyuki asked.

"It's just that a lot of stuff has happened recently, that's all. I'll be okay." Rio muttered, looking at her tangled hair as she began to brush it to get back its long and flowing length. She decided to put the speaker on the phone on as she spoke to Miyuki. "In any case, you sound as if something's been going on at the station."

"Yeah, a lot of crazy stuff has been going on while you were on leave." Miyuki replied. "You did hear about the mass prison breaks around the country earlier today?"

"Yeah, I was with Maki when she got the news." Rio said. "She didn't seem to at ease when she had to respond to it, too."

"I heard that some vicious criminals managed to escape, including that transvestite group you brought in awhile back after that whole incident when Nanvel and you got kidnapped." Miyuki said, causing Rio to lift her eyebrow.

"Aw, man. That's one experience I wouldn't want to go over again." Rio lamented. "Besides, there's nothing about them that's even close to vicious, so I wouldn't worry too much about them."

"Yeah, maybe they are a group of stupid, low rate criminals, but it seems that they had some accomplices from the outside who seem to have organized the incidents. If a professional is behind this, we could have problems dealing with capturing them later." Miyuki said.

"Right, in any case, what is everyone back at HQ doing now?" Rio exclaimed.

"I heard from the chief that they are planning to do a joint police investigation with the Neo Osaka, Neo Tokyo, Old Tokyo, Tokyo 2 and 3, Metro, as well the Kamakura branches on this since this may affect all areas and the criminals could be hiding in those places." Miyuki said.

"Man, this really is serious." Rio said simply.

"Yeah, and that means sooner or later, you will have to show up at work to help us, since we're stationed to investigate these kinds of things." Miyuki said. "So, are you going to come and help us with the investigation?"

Stopping her hand movements on the brush for a moment, Rio sighed as she glanced at the mirror and thought about what she should do.

(I know I should be here to help Greg, but I can't ignore my duties as an officer too. Maybe if I do go and check things out at Police Town, I may be able to find out what's been going on lately and even check up on how some of our old friends have been doing since this mess started.) Rio thought to herself.

Looking at the wall next to Greg's room, Rio sighed as she shook her head silently as she replied back to the phone.

"Sure, I might as well turn up from tomorrow and give that old chief an ulcer for showing up on the job." Rio said. "There are some things I want to confirm as well, so you should be expecting to see me then."

"Good, well, I'll be seeing you in the morning." Miyuki said to her. "Have a good night, Rio."

"You too, Miyuki and thanks for calling." Rio said as she hung up and glanced back to the direction of Greg's room.

"And just when I thought that I could concentrate on the problems revolving around Greg, but I guess that has to wait for awhile." Rio said to herself before she started to think to herself.

(Well, I'll just have to leave it all to Riku and his partners, as well the Hokage and Uruha's hands to take the best care of him, while I'll have to deal with my job. On the other hand, the stuff Seraph mentioned about more than one bioroid being around is starting to bug me a little…if Reese decided to go after another host capable of being an emulate just like Yuina is with Seraph...then this whole mess will just start all over again if he goes after another innocent person since he failed to capture the two of them…or could it be that his intentions were for different reasons?) Rio thought seriously.

Silently cursing herself at this, Rio stood up to start changing herself into some nightwear, consisting of a loose, see thru white vest and small and short, tight fitting boxer shorts. Considering that those were a set of clothing that Maki and Nanvel brought over earlier on the way here, it was something she had to make do with until she had the time to gather the stuff she will need while she and the rest of Warrior have to stay at the Uruha mansion.

"Oh, yeah, I've got to remember when the time comes to get Greg's stuff as well. I need to ask Nanvel to make something decent for him to wear around the mansion when he wakes up, though…" Rio yawned as she finished prepared herself for bed. Standing up a bit, she then stopped as she looked on the cell phone one last time after considering Reese's movements.

"Then again, Reese could be after anyone else who also has specially gained abilities or participated in secret projects in the past. Could this mean that he would target Yukari and her mother in the future as well and possibly Ruri and the others from the Underground eventually?" Rio asked herself as she sighed hesitantly and sat on the bed with the cell in hand. Looking for list of contacts, she stopped as she found the name, 'Haruko and Yukari Imada'.

"I guess for the time being, I can start with them. Rumina and Chelsea may be able to hold their own for awhile and while those two may be safe thanks to the relocation program Maki had them enlisted under, I still hope that nothing's happened to them as of yet while we were going through this mess. Please still be okay, you guys." Rio said as she pressed the call button.

Unknown to her, her surrogate son, their friends and comrades and those associated with them thus far, although the hard fight with Mantis is over for now, a whole new world of problems are soon to be heading their way…

Meanwhile, in another part of the mansion, Riku was having a brief discussion with Nagi and Tot regarding what they had just learned that day before turning in to get some sleep.

"Well, this sure has been one heck of a day, especially considering two things." Riku said as he leaned against the wall of the hallway outside their rooms. "First we have this series of big prison break outs and now it looks like our old 'friends' are involved in this somehow."

Both Nagi and Tot nodded in agreement as they knew Riku was referring to when Seraph had described how she had met Greg and co. while being pursued by Farfarello, the knife wielding assassin of Schwartz, and one of their long time enemies. That had definitely gotten a reaction from them, but Rio and the rest of Warrior had apparently not noticed it since they were more focused on the explanations on the mission.

"I had a feeling we'd run into those guys sooner or later, after considering how big the operation in Tokyo-3 has gotten, but I wasn't expecting we'd have to deal with Crawford, Schuldich, and Farfarello so soon." Nagi's tone was a weary one due to the fact that he realized he may have to face his former teacher and comrades soon.

"Well, maybe they'll be taking another job that doesn't have to do with this, maybe it will be outside of Japan." Tot said in an attempt to cheer her boyfriend up as she was aware of how the subject of dealing with his former teammates tended to lower Nagi's spirits greatly.

"Thanks, Nanami…" Nagi gave a light smile of appreciation to her in reply. "…unfortunately, that probably isn't going to happen. Because Greg used his powers when he fought Farfarello, then I'm sure Crawford knows by now that he's a psychic and that alone is enough to catch his interests."

"And once something catches that guy's interests, he won't drop the matter until he's satisfied." Riku said, and Nagi nodded in agreement.

"I know we talked a bit about this with your family and all after dinner when Rio and everyone else went to bed, but what do you guys think we should do about this?" Tot asked.

"For now, the only we can do is keep an eye out for any move Crawford could make." Nagi answered. "I know Crawford well enough to know that he won't make any sudden moves, at least not when things have gotten so chaotic. He'll bide his time, and do things at his own pace."

"That sure isn't very reassuring…" Riku noted with a sigh. "Well, I guess we'll have to deal with it when it comes. Now about those prison breaks…"

"We'll definitely have to contact Shinichi about that." Tot said. "Since he's gotten so many bad guys arrested by solving the crimes they committed, if any of them are the escapees, they might come after him."

"Actually, Tot, it isn't really Shinichi we need to worry about in that case." Riku said. "Remember, the cases aren't officially solved by him…"

"Then you mean…" Tot asked. "It's Mori-san, Sonoko, and Professor Agasa that we need to be worried about."

"Considering Shinichi solves the cases through them, it's kind of obvious." Nagi admitted. "Still, to focus only on those three alone may not be the best of ideas. A really vengeful criminal would probably target the families and friends of their intended victim first."

"It looks like we may have to have some of our clan members' shadow quite a few people until this dies down, then." Riku said, thinking of the friends he, Nagi, and Tot had made through Shinichi Kudo. "The only problem is that the only ones who know who we really are and how we're connected to Shinichi aside from our friends in the FBI, are Haibara-san, Heiji, Professor Agasa, Yusaku-san, and Yukiko-san, so the ones assigned to shadow Ran and everyone else would have to be careful that they're not discovered."

"Hey, wait a second, you left out some people who the escaped criminals could be after as their target for revenge, and that goes for Shinichi too." Tot pointed out to Riku.

"Now hold on, didn't…" Riku then stopped as he realized something. "Oh yeah, that's right, man I really do need to get some rest…even though the Detective Boys haven't solved as many cases as the first three, they still have managed to put a few dangerous criminals away thanks to their investigations."

"Even though three of them are only elementary school kids and the other two just look that way." Nagi commented with a light smile.

"So that adds Ai-san, Ayumi-chan, Genta, and Mitsuhiko to our list of people to be worried about." Tot said, and her head drooped slightly from worry. "I hope this prison break thing is taken care of quickly, I don't want any bad things to happen to our friends."

"Which is why first thing tomorrow, we'll talk with our buddies from Weiss about this, as I'm sure they know of the mass prison breaks by now and plan to do something about this." Riku said reassuringly.

(Though once those guys get involved in dealing with the criminals, I wonder which kind will be taken back into custody more. The ones who get recaptured or the ones that will be coming back in body bags?) Riku thought to himself, and then remembered something.

"Oh yeah, considering this prison break thing has happened throughout the country, I bet Inspector Megure and everyone at their station will be pretty busy with this." Riku commented.

"Yeah, you're probably right about that, Riku." Nagi said in agreement.

"And the same probably goes for both of the Yokomizu brothers, Heiji's dad, Commissioner Toyama, Inspector Otaki, and probably even Yamamura-san too." Tot added. "By the way, do you think Maki might meet any of them when she gets to Police Town?"

"Well, since Inspector Megure will probably be accompanying Matsumoto-san, there's a chance Sato-san and maybe even Takagi-san or Shiratori-san will be there." Riku replied after pausing to think about it.

"I'm hoping that it's Takagi-san." Tot said brightly.

"The only problem is even if you're right; those two will probably be too busy for anything to happen between them." Riku commented, causing Tot's head to droop slightly.

"Aww, that's no fun at all." Tot puffed her cheeks some in disappointment.

"Well, I guess if that's it we should turn in now." Nagi then paused and then turned to Riku. "Oh by the way, Riku, one thing…do you think I should tell Rio and everyone else about who I used to be?"

"I think that should wait until Greg's recovered…actually, on second thought, we should probably wait a little bit after that too considering what's been going on." Riku answered. "Between all these revelations Greg has gone through and the fact that he'll have to deal with Mantis' death, and who knows what else, after he wakes up, I think we should give Greg and the rest some time to settle down a bit first."

"Do you really think that's a good idea, Riku?" Tot asked. "Rio-san did say we shouldn't keep secrets from each other after what we've been through."

"Nanami, I don't think…" Nagi began.

"No, she has a point." Riku said. "I'm about as comfortable keeping secrets from good friends as you two are, but still…I just don't want to put Greg, Rio, or any of our other friends from Warrior under anymore stress than they're already dealing with right now…I know this kind of sounds like a coward's excuse, but…"

"Well, if we're only waiting until things have gotten a bit more relaxed, then I guess it's alright for now." Nagi interrupted Riku. "I mean it's not like we're keeping this secret indefinitely, right?"

"Yeah, though…" Riku began.

"Sheesh, now it's you who needs to be honest about things, leader." Tot commented. "If you're trying to be nice then you're trying to be nice, so don't be ashamed about it."

Riku was a bit surprised at Tot's statement, but then smiled a bit as he couldn't argue with her on that.

"Alright…and thanks, both of you." Riku said gratefully.

"Well, I guess we should get some sleep now." Nagi turned to head for his room and Tot was about to follow him, almost as if she were oblivious to the fact that she had her own room, when both of them stopped when they noticed Riku wasn't heading for his room. "What is it? Usually you're the first one to sleep before us."

"Oh, I'll be going to sleep in a little while, I'm just waiting for Yu Lan and Yu Fan to get back as they volunteered to inspect the area we'd left in case the enemy left anything behind and also since in their last call they said they'd be arriving here in a few minutes from now." Riku then gave a light smile. "I figured that since they're usually the ones who say 'welcome back' to us whenever we come here, I should return the favor at least once."

Almost as soon as Riku had said that, he saw that Nagi and Tot had obviously changed their minds.

"Next time tell us about something like that, Riku." Nagi said to his friend. "Those two are our nakama too, you know."

"Yeah, and I said I was going to thank Yu Lan-chan and Yu Fan-chan in case they didn't hear me from before, so I'm going to do just that." Tot said firmly.

With that the three friends then proceeded to wait for the arrival of two of their teammates, temporarily forgetting the fact that they now faced a very good possibility of having to face three of their most dangerous foes in the near future, though it still hung in the back of their minds.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the country, inside a spacious and expensive looking condo suite overlooking the city of Neo Tokyo…

RING!

"I'll get it, Akashi." A woman's voice said in response as she ran out from the kitchen area in a hurry to pick up the receiver. She had short cut brown hair and was dressed in casual long jeans and a t-shirt. She also happened to be one of Japan's current J-pop idols and former host of the Juno tennyo, Shuro Tsukasa.

"Moshi, moshi (hello)?" Shuro asked as the other end replied.

"Hey, Shuro, how are things?" Another female voice at least younger than Shuro's age replied cheerfully from the other end as Shuro smiled when she recognized the speaker.

"Oh, hi, Athena, it's you." Shuro replied happily to her accomplice in entertainment. "Well, I was just entertaining Akashi and some of the recording staff for dinner at my place, you know, just hanging out and preparing before the final recordings of that CD we've been working on for months now."

"Yeah, I wanted to know if you're still on for tomorrow, since that's the day we get to wrap things up." Athena replied. "I've got to say, it was really fun working with you through this project, it was a blast. It's too bad we couldn't get Yoko to work with us too since she was working on another project at the time, especially since she was interested."

"I agree, but on the plus side, Momoko gets to hang out with me most of the time, since I just adore cute kids like her." Shuro said. Momoko is a bubbly twelve year old girl who is another new recent addition to the Psycho Soldier Team who practices the fighting style of Capoeira. Her Japanese name translates to 'Peach child'. "So, I can expect to see her and Kensou with you guys as usual tomorrow at the recording?"

"Yeah, as usual, Kensou will have to serve as bodyguard, but I don't think he's complaining about it." Athena said. "Oh, yeah…I've got a kind of a favor to ask you, but I'm not sure if you would accept it."

"Hey, you don't have to worry about me, Athena. We've gotten really tight as buddies and we'd said that we would help each other in times of crisis when the time comes." Shuro said to her friend. "So what was it that you wanted to ask me?"

"Well, it's something involving the next upcoming King of Fighters tournament for this year." Athena said. "I'm not sure about the details of it yet, since whoever is holding it is always pulling some dark scheme from the background as usual and since anything substantial about it has yet to be publicly announced, I'm growing skeptical about it these days since I don't know the details yet."

"Yeah, I've been hearing some rumors about it for awhile now myself." Shuro replied simply. She had heard some of the bad rumors about KOF not just from Athena's tales, but also from what was spoken about it since its start and it had to deal with conspiracies regarding Orochi and his Heralds, the reformed NESTS cartel, as well as Kusiel and Mesphistopheles, sub syndicates belonging to ADDIS. Even though none of it so far had involved her, or her friends who formerly were C-Genomes like herself, Aya Mikage, Suzumi Aogiri, Maya Hirobe and Chidori Kuruma in the time that had passed since the downfall of the Mikage conglomerate, but she was still worried that the enemy groups who ran the KOF for years would eventually start targeting them sooner or later.

"Look, it's nothing you should be worried about; I don't think any of those guys would be coming after you because of your little secret. Kensou's worried too, since the Heralds have been targeting his 'Power of the Dragon' ability for a long time now." Athena said in a worried tone.

"I know what you mean, but we can't be too careful around those guys who seem to be behind the tournaments these days." Shuro said seriously. "If it's not too much trouble, I can always ask the Aogiri's to provide extra security for tomorrow."

"You don't have to go through the trouble, but thanks for the consideration, Shuro." Athena said. "In any case, Bao and Kensou have started something with Chin-sensei over here, so I've got to go and break it up before they destroy something valuable."

From the background, Shuro can overhear Sie Kensou and Bao's shouts as sounds of crashing can be followed soon afterwards, while Momoko's voice can also be heard yelling at the background.

"It seems like you're having quite the party, Athena." Shuro said as Athena sighed.

"They can so get out of hand sometimes…" Athena said. "In any case, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Shuro-san. Have a good night."

"You too, Athena. Tell Momoko I said hi." Shuro said as she hung up with a smile on her face, before she contemplated over what she and Athena were just discussing about the conspiracies regarding KOF.

"Should I really be worried?" Shuro asked herself as she shook her head. (Ah, I'm sure Riku and his partners would be able to take care of such things if we ever need help from them again in case this thing turns serious. Well, it's time to go back to the get together and finish prep for tomorrow.)

Shuro shrugged her shoulders as she left and went back to the other room to meet with her manager and fellow staff to arrange for the morning….

Shardclaw: Thus ends this revised chapter, hope everyone liked it as much as the rest of the ones before it, although it was different than usual since I intended it that way to give chances for the other canon and original characters that have appeared so far to interact with each other and get a break from the action while revealing new intriguing hints for the story later on, especially on Greg's side.

In any case, I'm only midways through the next chapter that is already be filled with plenty of crossover surprises that I'm sure you all will like though as for who is appearing will be my little secret till the next revision posting update, so sorry to those if I'm being cruel to the readers who are wanting to find out what I have planned, but you will be getting some hints of who to be expecting in the omake for this chapter coming up.

Okay, its time for more notable Easter Eggs used in this chapter, one of them was being the conversation between Greg and his father which was a reference from the Full Metal Alchemist manga, (which still is one of my current favorite manga reads at the moment until Elfen Lied and Gantz are updated periodically and those two are my two top personal faves that don't get updated THAT often like Bleach, Naruto and One Piece, because of the scanlation delays and artists' problems, considering the current story arcs…I know how frustrating that could be for those who really want to know what happens afterwards very soon if you've been reading EL up to chapter 78 recently for the first time like I have.) when Ed faced Van Hohenheim in chapter 42. If most of you hadn't guessed by now, Greg's relationship with his father is about the same with Ed's, which was partly the inspiration for his revamped character.

And while on the manga topic, a big thanks to Dark-san for providing the link to the translated, short, yet very delightful Giri Giri Sisters h-manga that Yuji mentioned as a reference in this chapter a while back, I really enjoyed that one a lot that so I thought I'd mention it for others who missed a recommended title like that.

Another thing to note is that I was hoping to get this chapter out by the time KOF XI finally came over to Stateside by this month on the PS2, as you can see I've also included the characters and its canon arc story line from that game into this story as well. Hopefully, the interesting endings for the teams this time around should provide more than enough inspiration for the KOF related events ahead in the story…

Now, to close off this chapter, here's another omake starring myself and Greg as well along with the other co-hosts already famous for chapter introductions and closings for Soldier X: the team of Weiss from Weiss Kreuz!

Ran: Ah, it's good to be back, Shardclaw-san, we really missed having you let us host this fic which is getting better than it used to thanks to the revised chapters you put up so far.

Shardclaw: Well, what can I say? I got to do what I can to keep the COE/SX story saga on its peak of 'best MGS/Evangelion' crossover around. And pretty soon, I'm making this story's one of the best multicrossover fic ever created once I get to the later chapters, I got a lot of big plans in store that will keep the fans happy and wanting for more.

Omi: It's good to hear you say all of that, especially after the set of positive reviews from the last revised chapter which closed off the Mantis arc.

Ken: Yeah, you really pulled off some uber stuff there, Shardclaw-san. Everybody liked the references you've thrown in.

Greg: I personally liked the battle themes used as well, especially for the first Mantis fight. With you being a fan of Hitoshi Sakimoto's work since Vagrant Story and on the Boss Battle theme for FF12 must have gave you the idea to put such an epic sounding theme for an epic battle.

Shardclaw: Well, it's going to keep on happening until I run dry of ideas, but that is unlikely. If I run into any trouble coming up with any ideas to help me with my revisions as well as updating, I can always summon a group of either anime or game girls to keep me company, that's one sure way of keeping writer's block off for a time.

Greg: Hey, boss…surely this time around; you won't let that harem of yours get in the way of these omakes, right?

Ran: Yeah, you said that you won't be messing around with the unnecessary omakes this time around.

Shardclaw: What makes you say that?

Greg: Well, after what the girls in your harem saw all the positive and good stuff that the readers sent in their reviews from the last chapter, they started to behave rather…erratically for some reason.

Ran: I don't like where this is going…

Greg: And to top it off, some of those girls include the ones that Dark-san sent over before ranging from the Dead or Alive games and Rumble Roses, as well as all the females from the Tenjho Tenge manga which you like so much better than the anime because of all the fan service and ongoing story line…

Shardclaw: Hey, you didn't have to go on and say all of that, now it will just make the fanboys of those series extremely jealous that I of all people have those girls!

Greg: Hey, I was just being honest and forward with the facts. And besides, they managed to sneak inside the stage-room without Legretta-san to stop them, I should have told you before.

Shardclaw: What?

As on cue, Dark-san's previous shipments of the DOA, Rumble Roses and Tenjho Tenge girls stepped in, and also accompanying them was this year Tempest's birthday shipments of all the hawt and cute schoolgirls of one of my recent favorite anime for the year, My-Hime along with their alternate doubles and the series exclusive girls of the pseudo sequel, My-Otome (finally on DVD as well now and I can't wait for more volumes) appeared, all of them wearing various skimpy, cosplay material of police miniskirts, school team swimsuits, tank tops accompanied with extra short and skin tight P.E bloomers, micro minis and scandalous nightwear.

Aya Natsume, wearing one of the nightwear: Look, girls…Shardclaw-sama looks like he's in the mood.

Kasumi, wearing the P.E uniform: Yes, we haven't seen him this worried since we all ganged up on him just to sway him to include us into this fic, as well after seeing the responses he got from all the postings of the revision for this story so far. I say we should 'pressure' him some more so he can be persuaded.

Chie Harada, wearing the skin tight and wet, school team swimsuit: That doesn't matter…allow us to relieve you of some of that stress and then some years of your life expectancy, by using our newly learned technique…the Flatliner.

Shardclaw: What is that now?

Erstin Ho, wearing police miniskirt: Imagine yourself being a piece of meat, dropped into a tank of starving piranhas. That's only a short preview of Flatliner.

Makiko Nagi, wearing night wear herself: Want to be that meat? We can be the piranhas.

Shardclaw: Legretta-san was supposed to stop cases like these from happening…what did you do to her?

Reiko, wearing the tight fitting micro mini: Right here with us. But don't worry; we didn't hurt her…too much.

Legretta is then shown, wearing a tight and tiny, pink nurse's outfit with extra short mini skirt.

Legretta: I'm sorry, Shardclaw-sama…even I couldn't hold them back in their numbers. And besides…I thought you did an exceptional job yourself last chapter, so I willingly joined them on the condition that I seduce you as well, either wearing this or the see-through negligee or the micro mini, sling shot, one piece, extra skimpy swim suit.

Shardclaw: Legretta-san…how could you…? You know I just can't help myself to your hawtness every time I see you do your Mystic Artes, so you went and did this, knowing fully well what may happen?

Greg: Oh, what's to cry about, boss? You should be used to these sort of things now, although what you got planned for the Gendou bashing omakes in the COE revisions to come soon is only going to get these girls even more out of hand than ever and even now that you've read the Evangelion manga...

With fire in my eyes, I stood up with my fist shaking after hearing that comment.

Shardclaw: I don't need to be reminded! I'll make him suffer for what he did to my most favorite Evangelion character of all time up to ten, no, a hundred, no a thousand times more than when I started the story the first time! Come, girls…I will need assistance from all of you to start giving me ideas on everything that could make every Gendou hater out there clamor for more pain that he will be receiving soon! And maybe, just maybe…I may consider including you guys into this fic or at least throw in a reference or two once I'm convinced enough…

Youji: Wait just one minute! Didn't you say you won't let these girls get in the way of the revisions, or was all of that you said before a lie?

Shardclaw: Hey, they let themselves in and they too have supported me throughout the progress of the revisions, so I had to convince the fans just how appreciative of their assistance up to this point, isn't that right, girls?

Ayane in tank top and short shorts: It is true, so why worry about details?

Shardclaw: Just as she says. Now, ladies, I got tons of work to get done for the sake of the fans, let's get the party rolling in the usual master bedroom.

Maya Natsume: Yes, now that you say it…'Let's fight!'

As I get carried off by the dozen of by uber hawt anime and game girls, Greg and the Weiss boys stare on with dark clouds over their heads.

Greg: That guy is treating the revisions as if it's one of his updates…

Ran: I think it's the revisions themselves that has made him more powerful as a crossover writer, it's so scary to know that it's true.

Ken: You got that right there, leader. And since Greg here should know what we should expect next, he's going to share some hints, right?

Greg: That's right, for the next chapter, we'll see some of Riku and his partner's allies make their appearances, as well as a few others including the long awaited characters from Elfen Lied and more KOF character appearances to boot will be showing up too. As for who and how they will affect this story, you will have to read on the next chapter to see what's in store for the story.

Omi: Sounds like the fans already can't wait to see who else will be appearing, judging from what went on in this update; we can expect the same thing in the next chapter, even though it didn't have too much content.

Greg: Well, while the boss is not trying to shoot for the Gantz effect, but he has set a special crossover sparring match between one of the KOF characters along with one from Real Bout High School along with some more of its characters for the next chapter as well, so the fanboys will be really hyped about that one.

Just then from the back of the stage, Ryoko Mitsurugi along with all the girls from Real High school manga enter, wearing nothing but towels around their dripping, wet bodies as they were just taking baths from the hot spring.

Ryoko: Is that true? Are we really going to start appearing from the next revised chapter too as well?

Greg: Oh yeah, it's true. You can ask him yourself in there, already probably getting eaten alive by the other brawler girls in the harem.

Azumi: And he didn't even tell us? We hardly have had the time to prepare for our appearances, but no matter. We shall join in and give him a piece of our minds by ganging up on him as well, shall we girls?

All the Real Bout girls started to nod their head and said, 'Oh, yeah!' in unison as they entered the room as well while Greg tilted his head.

Ran: Aw, man…he will do just about anything to drive fanboys nuts, will he?

Greg: That's not the worst of it…unless the room is sound-proof; you can hear Natsumi-chan emceeing who is doing what to the guy from the other side clearly. I don't need to go into details about it…

Youji: I'd say we stop the chapter here and let's wait until the next revised chapter that will be worth looking out for.

Ran: Indeed. So, until the next revised posting, let your comments be pleasing and inspiring to Shardclaw-san who is working very hard to keep the story's appreciative status as always and to post as many revised chapters and material as quickly as he can. And also, until the next revised update is up, be sure to read the accompanying COE/SX stories written by DarkFusion-san, GreyWolf4, TempestDynasty and RuneKnight Pictures and review them as well.

Youji: See you all in the next X.