Cera and Ali were driving along in their bikes, still wearing their Blade and Chalice suits respectively. They were far away from the Valley now, totally unaware of the terrible loss that had occurred there earlier. They were now only focused on finding Doras and finishing him off for good.
Things were going normally until Blade suddenly stopped her bike, sensing something.
Chalice came over to her after she slowed down as well. "What is it, Cera?"
Blade looked to her left, then her right, before gazing back at Ali. "I thought I heard something…"
Chalice looked in the same spots that Blade just looked. "Where?..."
"I'm not sure where…" Blade responded. "I'm just getting that feeling…I don't know if it's the suit or what, but-"
"Cera, duck!" Ali suddenly shouted, as she suddenly saw something peeking out of the trees at her, pushing her down and firing her bow at the sighting!
Garren jumped out of the trees, avoiding the blast and putting up his hands, his gun still holstered.
"Hey, hey, hey, wait!" he yelled, trying to calm things down.
Chalice tilted her head as she recognized the figure and armor of the warrior she had seen before in the fight with the scorpion creatures. "You again?…"
"Again?" Blade asked, crossing her arms a bit. "You mean, this guy is one of the two mystery suits you've been looking out for?"
Chalice nodded in response. "Yeah. He helped us one time, then he just disappeared."
Blade eyed Garren Suspiciously. "And why did you do that? Got something you don't wanna share with us?"
Garren shook his head vigorously. "No, no, nothing of the sort. I only pulled out because Rock said I shouldn't reveal myself right now!", he blurted out, not really thinking about what he was saying.
"Rock?" Chalice looked to him, stunned. "Who or what is Rock?"
Garren gasped. He tried to cover his mouth with his hand before he remembered it was under his helmet now. "Oh no…" he muttered softly, in disbelief of his own stupidity.
Blade calmly unsheathed her sword. "You might as well tell us pal, because we're not gonna let you go in peace until you do."
"Cera…" Chalice looked to Blade sternly.
"What? You've got to be firm in these situations." Blade retorted.
Garren sighed. "Very well…Rock's not gonna like this, but he's gonna have to learn to live with it now." He walked forward and slowly shifted back, his armor vanishing as he shrunk down to his normal adolescent duckbill form.
Blade and Chalice just watched as the duckbill walked towards them, grinning sheepishly and waving. "Uh…hi…my name's Slick."
Cera and Ali changed out of their suits and watched as Slick walked to them.
Cera eyed Slick curiously. "Slick?...I've never heard that name before. And I've never seen you in the Valley either."
Slick shrugged. "Well, that's because we've only been in and out of the Valley a few times."
"We?" Ali tilted her head a bit.
Slick nodded slowly. "Rock and I. We go all over the place in this world. We've been doing it ever since we were really young.
"Doesn't your family ever worry, though?" Ali asked him.
"Well…neither one of us has a family." Slick replied. "I lost mine in a terrible earthshake, and Rock lost his to a pack of sharpteeth. We met each other by chance while wondering aimlessly through the wastelands. We depended on each other from then on, and we learned to survive together."
"Wow…" Cera thought to herself out loud. "…Two swimmers surviving for years without a family for this long. I don't know if I could even do that."
"Well…" Slick spoke up again. "…Rock is a Three-horn, actually."
Cera turned to Slick again, surprised. "You're kidding…"
Slick shook his head. "I don't kid…at least not when it's not needed."
Cera chuckled a bit. "Well, that's even more amazing."
"What do you mean?..." Ali gazed at her, puzzled. "You hang out with Ducky all the time."
Cera laughed a bit. "Yeah, but I don't live with her every day of my life. That would drive me crazy!" She smiled as Ali giggled and nodded a bit.
Slick chuckled a bit, as he decided to change the subject right there. "So, what are you two doing outside of the valley anyway? Looking for something?"
"More like somebody." Cera responded.
"Who?" Slick asked.
"Doras" Ali replied, her smile disappearing at the thought of her target.
Slick folded his arms. "Oh? And who might that be?"
Cera looked at him strangely "You mean you've never seen this guy before; the big ugly green monster who hunts down dinosaurs like us, who have these powers?"
Slick shook his head. "Nope. But then again that may be because Rock and I removed the homing devices on our suits."
"Homing devices?" Cera furrowed her brow.
Slick nodded. "Yeah, these things the professor put on our suits. They've been what the enemies been using to try and track us down. But I learned of a way to get those things off of us." He then looked to Cera and Ali. "I could even help get them off of you. That might help you in tracking down this Doras character."
"Sounds like a promising idea." Ali nodded slowly. "So how do you pull it off?"
Slick quickly changed into his Garren suit and withdrew his gun. "Just get into your suits, and hold still…"
Meanwhile, in the Valley, Littlefoot had just silently left on his bike to pursue Kusaka. He didn't say a word to anybody as he was preparing for his confrontation with the one who had killed his Grandmother. He simply transformed, and went off in the direction that Takumi had pointed him off to.
Takumi was currently on his ship, doing some more research on his computers, mainly to get the disturbing thoughts out of his head. He had known Kusaka for years, the scared orphan of the academy, and the thought this once bright and friendly young Paxerian turning into such a heartless killing machine was just too much for even his mind to bear. He looked over to Mihara's cryo-tube once again, a reminder that his friend was now dead because of this once innocent person. He looked on to his screen, typing away as he hoped that Littlefoot could properly confront Kusaka, and be able to do the one thing that he wasn't sure he could.
At about the same time, Grandpa was sitting by the lake, all by himself. He used to come here with his wife all the time to drink or bathe, and would sit and chat with her for hours.
"We were so good at talking to each other." He thought to himself, before lowering his head in grief. "But now I've got all these kind words to give to you, and you can no longer hear them. You'll never hear them…"
He heard footsteps as he turned and saw his son, Bron, walking towards him slowly. The younger adult longneck settled down next to him on the spot his now late mother usually took.
"Hey Dad." He simply said, looking over at him. "How are you holding up?"
Grandpa didn't respond at first, holding his head down and closing his eyes.
"That well, huh?" He softly asked again, half-jokingly.
"How do you do it, son?" Grandpa responded. "How do you learn to live with something like this? Knowing that the one you loved more than anything is now gone forever, and you'll go for the rest of your days never seeing her face, or hearing her voice again?" He paused for a moment. "You're very strong, Bron...much more so than I…"
Bron sighed and shook his head softly. "I wish I could tell you it gets easier, Dad…That it hurts less and less as you remember it…but it doesn't." He closed his eyes as he remembered his own late wife for a moment. "All I can tell you to do is to live your life, like I do. Whenever I think of Ayla, I know that the last thing she'd want me to do would be to sit around and mourn her for the rest of my life…"
Grandpa just sat and listened as Bron continued. "I felt just like you do now at first, believe me. When I learned that Ayla was dead, I felt like the entire world came to a crashing halt, and nothing really mattered anymore; that I didn't matter. But you know what? I found those lost young longnecks I told you about, and I found out that I DID matter now, even without my wife. I found a reason to keep going on with my life, and I today, I think Ayla would be very proud of me. At least I hope she'd be."
"But…I'm so much older than you, son…" Grandpa responded. "What reason do I have to keep going on?"
Bron scoffed a bit. "Are you kidding? I've still got Littlefoot and Shorty to watch over, and I can't do it by myself." He smiled. "I think if we got both of those boys to grow up well, and use those new powers of theirs wisely, well, I think Mom would be pretty darn proud of you as well as me. Don't you think so, Dad?"
Grandpa looked up and smiled. He had forgotten about his Grandson and his "brother" for this period of time, but not anymore. "You definitely have a point there, Bron." He leaned over and gently nuzzled his son. "Thank you…"
Bron smiled softly. "Anytime, Dad…"
Further away from the valley, Littlefoot, still in his Agito suit, drove along on his bike, determined to find his target as trees and bushes passed him, and smaller creatures dove out of the way. The direction Takumi had pointed him too led to a very rocky area brimming with volcanic activity. He remembered such terrible places from journeys past, the "mountains that burn" as his mother had called them.
In the old days he would have been very hesitant to visit such a place again, but he wasn't the same old Littlefoot now.
"Kusaka…" he thought to himself. "I know you're hiding in here someplace, you murdering monster. If you really think you're my superior, then why don't come out and face me like a true warrior?" He stopped and looked over a ledge before continuing on.
Kusaka was indeed hiding in this hot and rocky place, in the entrance to a cave, sipping water from a full canteen on his bike as he made some minor adjustments to the Kaixa gear, as well as tying together some loose wires on something completely different. It looked like sort of case, with a circular handle in the middle, an unfinished prototype for a new Paxerian weapon that Kusaka had been secretly working on before his escape.
"The sooner I can finish putting this together…" he muttered to himself, "…the sooner I can rid myself of these constant headaches and bring the Professor's suits back to Paxeria where they belong."
He gritted his teeth a bit and made a few more careful adjustments, before snapping the outer casing together completely.
"Ah…done." He smiled to himself. "Now to charge the thing up…"
He was about to get a connector cable and transfer some power from the reserve batteries into the weapon, when he heard the sound of a bike heading his way. He slowly stood up and turned around as he saw Agito stopping his bike and dismounting, walking towards him slowly.
"Kusaka…" Agito stated simply, stopping after walking a few feet closer.
Kusaka looked to his left, and then to his right, before realizing what was going on.
"You came here all by yourself?..." Kusaka said, looking rather surprised. "You're bolder than I thought, young one…Usually animals like yourself attack in packs or herds, or what have you…"
"Don't you DARE call me an animal this time!" Agito shouted "I am not an animal, my friends aren't animals, my father's not an animal….my grandmother wasn't an animal!"
Kusaka walked casually to his bike and picked up the Kaixa gear as Agito ranted.
"You think THAT hurt?" Kusaka responded. "Try watching helplessly as your father is beaten up and decapitated by an impactor twice his size, or seeing your Mother get shot through the stomach and head trying to protect you, or maybe you'd like to try seeing your dear little sister get picked up and thrown like a rag doll into an incinerator!"
Agito looked on in shock and disbelief as Kusaka continued. "Oh yes, I know the pain of loss just as well as you!"
"Well, if that's true, and you know how awful death can be…" Agito shot back. "Then why did you kill her, and why did you kill Mihara?
Kusaka gave him a stern look. "They got in my way…"
Agito just stared at him. "What?..."
Kusaka walked closer with the belt attached to him now. "After my family died, I wanted to make sure that what happened to me doesn't happen to any other Paxerian. I want to rid the galaxy of these dreaded Impactor machines, and these suits are the only way I, and the people of my home, can achieve that. And I will not allow anyone to keep me from completing my task, so if I have to wipe out a few animals to do it-"
"WE ARE NOT ANIMALS!" Agito shouted, much angrier now.
Kusaka sighed and flipped open the Kaixa driver, punching in the code.
"You're quite an angry animal…"
9…
"…You've learned much…"
1…
"But you're still quite ignorant…"
3…
He pressed the enter key. "STANDING BY…" He held the phone up once more, "Henshin…", before sliding it slowly into his belt. "COMPLETE!" The Yellow photon streams coursed over his body, as a flash of light came over him, making him into Kaixa once again.
Kaixa walked closer to Agito and spread out his arms, beckoning him closer. "Come on now…you came here all alone, looking for vengeance…come and get it…strike me!"
With that, Littlefoot sprung into action as Agito, leaping forward and throwing a punch, which Kaixa caught with his hand, before taking a hard kick to the stomach from Agito. Kaixa growled a bit as he walked steadily and threw a few hard punches of his own, as Agito ducked and weaved over each one, before spinning and smashing him across the helmet with a roundhouse kick!
"Gahh!" Kaixa grunted as he took the kick, steadying himself afterward and looking at his opponent. "You've improved…" a slow smile crept under his helmet. "Maybe this will be an interesting contest after all…"
"I'm just getting started!" Agito shouted as he ran in and threw a side kick at Kaixa, which he promptly dodged, and countered with a hard right hand across the helmet that nearly made Agito's head spin.
Agito cried out and nearly fell onto his back as he steadied himself. Kaixa took his shot here and let loose with a flurry of kicks, each one connecting to Agito's arms as he tried to block each one, being backed over to a rock ledge before he threw off one of Kaixa's feet with one arm as he punched with the other, smacking into his chest as he punched with the other, starting to send the Paxerian reeling until Kaxia suddenly saw an opening and grabbed Agito by the throat!
Agito sputtered and grunted in the powerful grip as Kaixa slowly pulled him down towards him. "I've said this before and I'll say it again." Kaixa spoke as he choked Agito. "Never fight unless you're willing to fight di-"
As if sensing what he was about to say, Agito caught Kaixa off guard with a hard right hand into his groin! Kaixa almost howled out in pain as he released Agito from his grip and nearly curled up on the ground.
"I know all about fighting dirty…" Agito responded as he tried to catch his breath, "…and I have my own little saying about that too…don't dish it out if you can't take it…"
Agito looked down at Kaixa as he growled and got back up to his feet. "I don't need a lecture from an animal!" he shouted, as he whipped out his blaygun and fired! Agito leapt to avoid the barrage of bullets, before shifting to his red armored self, and taking out his sword, slicing some of the bullets before reflecting one back at Kaixa, clipping him in the shoulder!
Kaixa shouted out as he clutched his shoulder and looked to Agito, now ready to strike with his sword. "You're trying my patience, young one…not smart…" Kaixa raised his blaygun and extracted the sword portion, which glowed yellow as the lava flowed below them, charging towards Agito with his sword off to the side in his right hand.
The two met in the center of the area as their blades clashed, Agito swiping away like crazy as Kaixa parried each swing expertly, tagging Agito on the sides with his own blade as he swung, and kicking Agito whenever he saw an opening.
The lava below bubbled and sprayed up over them every few minutes, missing them only by a few feet as they swung at each other, Kaixa going for Agito's legs as Agito jumped and swung from above his head, making Kaixa duck and roll out of the way as Agito scored a few hits on his back, making sparks fly as Kaixa yelled and turned quickly, swinging his blaygun swiftly and slicing Agito's chest plate a bit. Agito stumbled as Kaixa grunted and scored a few more hits with some diagonal swings, kicking him away as he rolled onto the ground, moving out of the way as some lava spurted up over him and sizzled on the ground.
Kaixa held his blaygun at the ready as Agito held out his sword with one hand and reached into his belt with the other, pulling out the double bladed staff as his armor changed, taking the blue and red colors of his "Trinity" form once more!
"All the tricks and weapons in the world aren't going to save you from a quick death!" Kaixa shouted, running to Agito as he swung his blaygun, only to have Agito catch it on his sword as he swung his staff from below, slicing Kaixa's armor as he grunted and fell back, sparks flying as he discovered that the cut was so deep, the right side of his chest was bleeding a little.
Kaixa growled as he used his power to patch up the deep cut in his armor, and fired the gun section of his weapon again, only to have every bullet deflected as Agito spun his staff around with his sword.
The fight moved over to a series of sloping rocks that pointed down like a series of descending stair cases connected to each other, and Agito now had the high ground as Kaixa swung and fought as best he could, clashing with Agito's sword as he worked to avoid his staff as well. The energy they put out in their fighting made parts of the earth shake, dislodging some loose rocks above them as they made it onto a flatter part of the rocky ground once more.
Agito was about to score a fatal blow when one of the smaller rocks fell and hit him in the hand, causing him to grunt and fall back as Kaixa took advantage of this, slashing Agito across the helmet as he yelled and dropped his staff, only holding his sword now as the rocks continued to fall.
Kaixa smiled, as he saw his chance for the kill now, running in and slicing Agito's armor numerous times as Agito blocked weakly with his sword, the blow to the helmet having briefly screwed up his vision. Kaixa reared back with his sword a bit and charged recklessly, yelling "DIE!" as he prepared to strike.
But just as he was about to strike the fatal blow, a shower of loose rocks came down from right above Kaixa! Kaixa grunted and yelled in pain as these smaller rocks showered him, striking him and his armor quite hard. Agito saw his chance as his vision cleared up, lifting his staff and performing a series of beautiful looking swings in time with his sword at the same time, cutting through parts of Kaixa's armor as Kaixa yelled in pain, falling onto his back as Agito leaped up and landed close to him, his blades crossed now, with Kaixa's head in between them!
"How does it feel now?" Agito shouted. "How does it feel now that you're the one who's in danger of death?"
Kaixa sneered under his helmet as Agito didn't notice that he was still holding his blaygun, the end of it sticking into the lava as it was quite a heat resistant weapon.
"Pathetic…" Kaixa simply responded, as he brought up his arm quickly, making lava fly onto Agito's armor! Agito screamed in pain as it burned him, singeing much of his chest plate as Kaixa laughed a bit, getting up and striking with his blaygun, which was still hot from the lava!
Agito grunted and yelled as the force of his swings made him drop both of his weapons, his armor smoking as Kaixa backhanded him in the helmet, messing up his vision again as he cocked the gun section of his weapon and fired, hitting Agito with a spray of bullets as he grunted and stumbled on his feet, not able to do much of anything now.
"This is the end for you, young one…" Kaixa said as he took the cover off his Kaixa driver and attached it to his blaygun. "READY…"
He flipped open the Kaixa driver on his belt as he looked at Agito. "You fought well…better than anyone I've fought in a long while… your suit will be prized above all the others when I take it…" With that, he pressed the enter key. "EXCEED CHARGE"
Before Agito could react, Kaixa fired his special energy bullet, which when it hit Agito, wrapped him up an a yellow energy net that fit all around his body, holding him in place as Kaixa growled and raised his glowing blaygun, the yellow sword section ready for the kill as he ran towards Agito!
All time seemed to slow down as Littlefoot looked and saw Kaixa running towards him through his helmet, about to strike the final blow. His mind flashed and ran through all the great things in his life, his home, his friends, and his family…what was left of his family anyway. And here was this person, this evil, twisted, grossly misguided Paxerian about to take his life. To render him permanently unable to experience the joys of life, and leave his friends and family to likely suffer the fate of his poor Grandmother, not only with Kaixa, but with the impactors and the Neo-Organism as well.
But he could NOT let that happen, he thought to himself. There was so much more to be done, so much more to be taken care of. What was done was done, his Grandmother was gone, but there were things now that were far more important than vengeance. And he was not about to let this mad Paxerian, whose whole life was consumed by anger and vengeance, to keep him from continuing his mission.
This new resolve gave Agito focus, and a new determination to defeat all of his enemies…he could also now feel something new inside of him, more powerful than anything he had ever felt, growing and growing as he felt himself pushing at his confinement…
Kaixa yelled out in rage as he slid with his blaygun extended, about to strike at the moment of impact, when a burst of flame suddenly erupted from where Agito was standing, knocking Kaixa back!
Kaixa looked up in disbelief as a new figure suddenly walked out from the flames that came from nowhere. It was Agito, but he looked much, much different from before. The horns on his helmet were wider now as his armor was now larger and more muscular looking, his colors now red and silver with black coverings as his yellow eyes glowed, flames coming off of his shoulders and red chest plate. Agito had achieved a more advanced version that even Prof Mochizuki hadn't expected to develop for quite some time when he built it. It was Agito's "Burning Form" as the professor had dubbed it.
"What the devil is this?" Kaixa shouted as he stood with his blaygun defensively, unsure of what to do now.
"You've spilled blood down here on Earth quite easily, Kusaka…" Agito spoke calmly, getting into a fighting stance. "Let's see how simple it is for you to kill me…"
Kaixa sneered as he readied his blaygun. "Don't get confident, young one…I'm still going to slaughter you; once an animal, always an animal!"
Agito stood there, unfazed by Kaixa's taunting as he roared and ran to him with his blaygun drawn, swinging it. Agito quickly ducked and weaved over every swing, surprisingly quick for his bulky form as he turned and knocked Kaixa several feet back with a single kick!
Agito then reached out with his hand, able to manipulate fire now as he made the firey aura around his chest shoot out, flames covering the ground near Kaixa as he jumped over them, charging Agito again as Agito simply stood and held out his hands, producing a flexible weapon that looked like a staff with two scythe-like blades pointing in opposite directions at each end!
Kaixa swung his blaygun around as Agito blocked each one with his new staff, twirling and hitting Kaixa numerous times as he grunted and yelled in pain, falling back a bit before shooting off the gun section again in desperation. Agito once again deflected most of the shots with his weapon, before Kaixa ran in for another shot.
Kaixa swung his blade and kicked madly from every direction, trying desperately to hurt his opponent before Agito took his shot and punched Kaixa hard on the right side of his helmet, shattering parts of his visor!
Kaixa yelled in pain as parts of the glass cut his face, swinging and kicking blindly in rage as Agito split his staff up into two separate blades, swinging them just as well as he did with his staff as Kaixa swung out for a shot at his head with his blade. Agito quickly caught the blaygun with one blade, and brought the other blade down with his other arm, slicing Kaixa's arm off!
"GAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kaixa screamed in agony as he fell onto the ground, clutching his body as blood flowed freely from where his right arm once was, his armor sparking like crazy as well as he laid on his back, the bleeding stopping quickly as Paxerians could recover quickly from losing limbs.
Agito slowly walked over to the downed Kaixa, and reached down, taking the Kaixa driver out of his belt. Kaixa was too weak to protest as Agito held the device.
"You don't deserve to wear this…" Agito said as he tightened his grip on the Kaixa driver, breaking it in half! The pieces of the device fell to the ground as Kaixa quickly shifted back to Kusaka, panting heavily in pain as he was now on the ground wearing his now useless belt, missing his right arm.
"Go on!" Kaixa shouted. "Go on and kill me you filthy little animal! It's what your kind does best!"
Agito shook his head "No Kusaka…You may be a mudering bastard, and you may deserve to die…but you don't deserve to be killed by my hands." He looked down at the now helpless Paxerian. "See, I've got you figured out now. Ever since you lost your family, you lost your will to live too. All this time you've been fighting and killing, the one thing you've wanted more than anything else has been to die; to die in battle, with honor…"
He shook his head and retrieved Takumi's missing Faiz part from Kaixa's bike, and turned his back on Kusaka. "Well, I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of an honorable death…Goodbye Kusaka…"
Kusaka looked on in disbelief as Agito got onto his bike and drove off, satisfied at leaving him crippled and shamed.
"Don't you leave!" Kusaka shouted as Agito drove away. "Don't you run away, damn it!" He roared to the sky. "NO ANIMAL'S GOING TO SHAME ME!"
Kusaka took out his now useless blaygun from his severed right hand, trying to fire it with his left hand and not getting anything out, before he suddenly heard footsteps, which belonged to somebody who had been watching this fight from nearby.
"Hello Kusaka…" Logia simply said as he walked out from the shadows.
"You…" Kusaka growled, in a combination of fear and anger.
"I told you I was going to finish this another time…" Logia continued as he took out his gun. "…I don't like to be a liar."
Kusaka breathed heavily. "So you're going to take advantage of me now that I'm crippled?..." He shook his head slowly. "You're just as bad as all the other animals on this planet."
"The only real animal on this planet is you, Kusaka…" Logia responded, readying his gun. "…and now I'm going to have to put you down…"
Kusaka scowled as he raised his gun once more, staring defiantly at Logia. "You son of a-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Logia brought up his gun and fired! The shot went right through Kusaka's chest and shattered his spine, killing him instantly! Kuska's dead body fell forward, collapsing onto the rocky ground.
"Such a waste…" Logia said to himself, putting his gun away as he walked towards Kusaka's corpse, taking the Kaixa gear off of him and picking up the shattered remains of the Kaixa driver.
"Hmmmm…looks almost salvageable…I'll see what Lucia and I can do for it.."
He then walked over to the Kaixa bike and saw something odd. It was the device that Kusaka had just finished putting together before the fight.
"This looks interesting…" Logia said as he lifted the case.
He then turned and walked off into the shadows once again, leaving behind the body of a powerful, but angry and hateful Paxerian, his violent murdering streak at last brought to an end.