Chapter 7: Startling Discoveries

A/N: I gots me a job now! The updates might be a little slower but I'll keep writing as much as I can to please your hunger for reading this! Enjoy! Comment muchly if you like it a lot.

Disclaimer: I think you get the point now. I'll just stop typing in a lot of random stuff about this.

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Shion just stares at Kevin, believing that this was a dream. That she was sleeping on the Elsa or something, anything but this. She pinches herself only to feel pain and still being on the roof of the Federation Citadel.

"It…it isn't a dream…" Shion says slowly. "So…it was you…"

"Yes, it was." Kevin turns around and stares down at the city. "I'm sorry for keeping this from you for so long. But it was necessary to get you this far."

"Get me this far? You know what you put me through, you…!" She let out a variety of cuss words that surprised Kevin. He thought she was sweet and innocent but she had changed since he "died."

"I know it's been hard, Shion. But there are still more trials ahead."

"Trials? What the hell do you know?"

Kevin moves close to Shion and puts his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "You must do this. For the sake of humanity. For me."

Shion slaps him hard on the face. "I'm through with you! Whatever we had in the past is gone! I…I like someone else now!"

"Someone else…you can't mean…"

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"Jr.!" MOMO aims her bow. She fires an arrow and nails both the chakrams in the middle and stops the attack from slicing Jr.

"Thanks!" Jr. quickly starts brimming with red energy. "Red Dragon!"

He explodes with power, blowing the enemy and his weapons away. One of the chakrams nailed a picture of Juli Mizrahi and the other Subcommittee members while the other struck a wall near MOMO. Jr. grabs his guns and points his guns at the enemy.

"Don't move or you're going to die."

The enemy moves with lightning speed and pulls one of his chakrams back towards him. Jr. starts firing but he's too fast. He grabs MOMO and raises his weapon to her neck.

"Don't you dare!"

"Put your guns away then." The man said. "I will release the girl only if you come with me to visit Master."

"Master?" Jr. says. He thinks about what he can do. (Guess I've got no choice.) He puts them away and the man lets MOMO go. She quickly runs over to Jr. and holds onto him.

"Follow me." The man puts his chakrams in his belt and then leads the way.

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"Uhhhh…." chaos slowly gets up and his eyes adjusts to the room. "KOS-MOS!" He looks around for her and sees nothing. He notices a hole in the ceiling near the windows and moves towards it. He looks up but sees nothing. "They must've gone to the next floor. I'd better hurry."

He runs towards the stairs and goes up. He sees the hole that Ziggy had made and goes on through. He sees KOS-MOS and Ziggy sprawled out on the floor but T-elos isn't around.

"KOS-MOS! Ziggy!" He runs up to them and starts using a couple of healing spells to quicken their recovery.

They slowly come to and stand up.

"It seems that the Vector android, T-elos, has disappeared for the time being." KOS-MOS says after looking around. "I suggest that we locate Shion Uzuki. She was present before T-elos knocked me out with Ziggy."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that as well," chaos says as he turns to Ziggy. "I…thought she was with you."

"I don't remember what happened. All I remember is being hit towards KOS-MOS."

"We should continue forward." KOS-MOS says. "Standing here contemplating will not solve our current problem." She moves towards the stairs and goes up.

"She has a point." chaos chuckles.

"chaos."

"What is it?"

"Do you know why that android attacked us? It seems rather odd that it would just come out of nowhere and attempt to destroy us."

"Your guess is as good as mine." chaos moves towards the stairs. "We'd better be going."

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"Margulis." A hologram of a blonde-headed woman is kneeling before him. "It seems that Yuriev has begun his move."

"Then begin the assault. I'll join up with you as soon as preparations are complete," Margulis says. "Make sure that you do not destroy the Foundation. We need the Emulators to continue with our plan."

"Yes, sir." She blinks out.

A scientist steps up behind him. "I think I'm done with the preparations for the E.S. Levi."

"Good, Sellers. I will head out to the Foundation and help with the attack fleet."

"And I guess I have to go report to him then…"

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The red-haired person opens the door for Jr. and MOMO and lets them go in first. The room is dark, only a lit-up computer screen is seen on the other side of the room.

The lights suddenly come on, revealing Yuriev in his chair.

"F…father…" Jr. stammers. "You bastard! What did you do here? Where's Gaignun?"

"I did not raise you to be an idiot, Rubedo. You already know what I did here." Yuriev stands up and gets in front of his desk. "And Nigredo? I do not know where he is."

Jr. starts to get angry and emits his power for Red Dragon.

"Calm down, Rubedo. Or do you not care for your subordinates?"

"Subordinates?"

Yuriev snaps his fingers and a holoscreen appears showing Mary, Shelly, and all the 100-series Realians in binds on the bridge, with soldiers standing all around them.

"Mary! Shelley!"

"My sisters…"

"I thought you'd understand." The holoscreen blinks out.

"What the hell are you after?"

"All in due time, Rubedo. As soon as I retrieve the Zohar, all will be revealed."

"The Zohar? You can't mean…"

"U-DO…" Yuriev moves towards the balcony. "I will open the portal and unleash it upon the world."

"You can't! You'll just be repeating what happened 14 years ago on Old Miltia! Like Dr. Mizrahi, you'll be tinkering with a power that's beyond your control!"

"You understand so little, Rubedo. Do you know what the Emulators are for?"

"Of course I do! The Emulators are replicas of the original Zohar made to imitate its power. Although it doesn't compare, one of the Emulators managed to make the planet Ariadne disappear."

"You're not as dumb as you look."

Jr. grits his teeth and scoffs.

"But now, I must go." Yuriev starts to brim with power and begins floating up. "I trust you'll have fun with my servants."

"You bastard come back here!" Jr. runs forward only to be stopped by Cirin with his gigantic sword. "Don't get in my way!" He pulls out his guns and starts firing them on Cirin and Yuriev.

Cirin easily blocks them all.

"MOMO! Watch my back! The other one is just outside!"

"Right!" She turns around and aims her bow at the door. Her sensors still weren't working so she didn't know if he was there or not.

Jr. runs forward and jumps into the air. Cirin starts spinning his sword above his head, creating a tornado that blows Jr. away. He catches himself and bounces off the wall, firing when he had the chance. As soon as he lands, the blue-headed man bursts through the doors and slides across the ground towards Cirin.

Ziggy, chaos, and KOS-MOS walk in.

"Ziggy! chaos! KOS-MOS!" MOMO says happily. "Are we glad to see you! But where's Shion?"

"We don't know." chaos says. "We seem to have lost her while we were fighting T-elos."

"No time for talk." Jr. says. He jumps back to dodge Cirin's sword and then gets in a fighting position. The blue-headed man also gets up and readies his chakrams. "We've got business to settle!"

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Kevin puts his hand in front of Shion. "It's time for you to rejoin your friends and your…boyfriend." He said the last part with a little hint of jealousy. "That necklace I gave you will be the key."

"To what?"

"You'll see."

Shion disappears, leaving Kevin to look at the sky. "It's for the best."

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"Have you heard the news, Jin?" A browned headed man is talking with him through a holoscreen in his E.S., the Reuben. It is dark green and has two katanas in both hands.

"About what, Helmer?" Jin continues flying to wherever his destination is.

"The Foundation is under the control of Dr. Yuriev."

Canaan patches into the conversation. "Is everyone there alright?"

"Yes. But it seems that Shion and her friends weren't there. They were on Fifth Jerusalem at the time."

"An odd coincidence."

"Yes, indeed."

"Is it Ormus?"

"I have no idea, friend."

"So our target is the Kukai Foundation." Canaan starts inputting data into the Reuben. "We are to eliminate the enemy threat and interrogate their leader, U.R.T.V Unit #668. Her name is Citrine."

"Yes." Helmer turns around. "That's about the gist of it."

"So, do you think that U-TIC knows about Yuriev taking over the Foundation?" Jin asks.

"Most likely. They will probably be making their move soon. That's why I dispatched you two. We have our fleet in hiding to back you up when needed."

Canaan nods. "Understood."

"Good luck." Helmer blinks out.

Jin and Canaan see the Foundation in the distance; it looks fine and well. There isn't any proof that something was wrong. But past the Foundation, they see a large fleet converging on it. They looked like the same ships that had guarded the Ormus Stronghold when they traveled through the Abyss.

"U-TIC?" Canaan asks.

Jin presses the button for hyperboost. "We'd better hurry."

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Shion lands in a couch in the Citadel. "Where…am I?"

She takes a look around and hears her friend's battle cry in the next room. "I've got to go help!" She pulls out her M.W.S. and runs in.

Jr. was running around frantically, firing his guns. He ducked from a chakram attack and then jumped aside to dodge Cirin's smash attack. KOS-MOS rolls under a sweep attack by Cirin and then unleashes her chained machinegun, blowing him to the wall with bullets all around. The blue-haired man threw one of his chakrams at KOS-MOS's machinegun and saws it in half. Ziggy runs forward and knocks the blue-haired man back and pulls out his armblade. The blue-haired man throws his other chakram at Ziggy but he easily knocks it aside.

MOMO and chaos saw their chance to attack and used several powerful ether spells to finish off the two bodyguards of Yuriev. They disappeared and silence filled the room.

"Is it over?" Jr. asks.

"I think so." Ziggy says.

"Guess I didn't need to come help." Shion mutters.

Everyone turns around to see Shion and runs over to hug and talk to her.

"Shion! Where were you?" Jr. asks. "You missed out on all the fun."

"I…got lost." Shion scratches her head hoping her friends would buy it.

chaos looks at her strangely but doesn't say anything.

"Well, it doesn't matter now." Ziggy says. "As long as we're here now."

"Yeah, but we have to get moving!" Jr. says. "The Foundation is in trouble!"

He turns to go but Ziggy stops him.

"What about Gaignun and Abel?"

Jr. starts struggling to break loose from his iron grip. "What about them? Gaignun can take care of himself and who gives a damn about Abel? Everything Albedo told me was a lie. Why should we go on to believe him?"

"That may be true, but are you really going to give up this easily?"

Jr. slowly stops struggling and looks down, realizing the situation. "It doesn't matter. Gaignun isn't here; we would've seen him by now. Same goes for Abel."

"I'm sorry, Jr." MOMO grabs his hand and squeezes it.

He blushes as he wraps his fingers around hers. "It's nothing to apologize for."

"For now, let's put Gaignun and Abel on hold." chaos says. "We should get out of here and think of something when we head back to the Elsa."

"Good idea." Jr. says. (Don't worry, Gaignun. I'll find you.)

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A/N: Ahhh…another chapter finished. I hope that you're not mad about the short fight scene. I mean five on two…it would be short…with the exception of T-elos. Three on one and she still kicks ass. Don't worry, KOSMOS! You'll have your chance to shine! And for Albedo lying, he really didn't. I hope to update very soon! Remember to comment! And thanks again for reading!