Date Unknown

Time Unknown (Afternoon hours)

Ruined Streets

A low growl from Ren's stomach could be heard as the soldiers and Rock walked with him to their place of rest. He groaned and clutched his stomach. He didn't eat anything when he left the house to go on vacation this morning. He figured he would be able to get to Westside Island without being sucked into another world. Guess he figured wrong…again.

Rock tilted her head at her partner. He was beginning to act strangely ever since a few minutes after taking down the huge Armament and was making a noise every few seconds. "Are you…hurt?" She asked.

"Who, me?" He replied. "Nah, I guess I'm just a little hungry is all. I didn't eat anything this morning…"

"Don't worry." Rothcall said over the radio. "We've got lots of food back at our base." He looked back at Rock. "What about you, kid? Feeling hungry?"

Rock shook her head. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I just need a Repairer, that's all." No sooner did she say that however, than another low growl joined Ren's own stomach whining.

"Oh really now?" Rothcall chuckled. Rock blushed slightly and turned the other way while Ren did his best not to laugh.

"Cut the chatter people." Phobos cut in. "We're at point B."

Point B was, quite literally, a fork in the street. The left path led back around to the trailer. A long way back, but as far as Intel was concerned, there were no enemies on this route, since Ren and Rock had already cleared the area after destroying the generator. At least…Phobos hoped so. He wasn't about to lose another man on his watch. The right path however, led to their base of operations. It was blocked off by a gate that was built a while ago to keep enemies out. 'Lot of good that did us.' He thought cynically. It wasn't known if there were any enemies along this route or not, although he wasn't going to take any chances on it. If it was anything to be proven from events recently past, both the Gray and the kid would be able to handle anything that lay in wait for them along that route, so naturally they would have to be the ones to clear it out. He'd send along Roth and Xiao with them too, Xiao for fire support and Roth to get the gate open while he and the rest of the squad would double back along the left route back to the trailer and drive it back. Alright, they had a plan. Time to execute it.

"Ok people, listen up. Along the right road here, there's a gate leftover from the old wars. Thing is the damn thing is locked to prevent entry into the city, so we need to get it open somehow. That's where you come in Rothcall. You gotta get that gate open or we'll never get out of here."

Rothcall gulped nervously. "Y-yes sir."

"Don't fret. You've got excellent backup going in with you. I'm talking about you three." He pointed to Ren, Rock, and Xiao. "You all make sure he gets to the gate. Me and the rest of the boys will go along the left route and re-secure the trailer. That kind of tech isn't meant to just be sitting there collecting dust. Once you get the gate open, radio us and we'll come running and pick you guys up."

"Alright then." Ren replied.

"Well then what are you waiting for? PSS tally ho!" He and the other men started to move down the left route as Ren straightened his gloves on his hands and warmed up. He wanted to straight rush it to the gate due to being famished beyond all imagining, but he knew Rock and the others wouldn't be able to keep up with him if he did rush it. Well, ok…maybe Rock *could* keep up with him. But that still left Roth and Xiao. Nope, gotta take it at a steady pace for them.

"Ok. Well, let's hoof it to the gate then." He said. The others nodded and started along the path.

A few minutes later…

Golden Gate Gate

Ren whistled at the huge wall that spread before the group. It looked worn down in some parts yet brand new in others. There was a small black terminal in front of the part that opened. That must have been the controls. His guess turned out to be correct as Roth walked up to up and started hitting some buttons. Xiao was scanning the area around them for enemies while Rock stood silently by Ren.

"Huh, looks like it still has power. That's pretty lucky for us eh?" Roth said to himself. As soon as he said this however, the terminal asked for confirmation from the other side. 'So it's one of those doors huh?' He grumbled under his breath.

"Everything cool?" Ren asked.

"Well, there's good news and bad news. Good news is there's still power being generated to open up the gate. The bad news…there's another terminal on the other side that needs to be activated at the same time as this one." Roth looked upward. "Unless one of us can fly, we're going to have to take the long way around…"

"No." Ren grinned. "No we don't."

Roth looked puzzled by the remark. "How do you mean, kid?"

"Just watch and keep in touch on the radio." Ren jogged backward a couple of paces while he and the others watched. He started to tap his foot. "Coming Rock?"

"…Where?" She asked.

"Up there of course!" He pointed to the top of the wall. She tilted her head in confusion, but walked over to him anyway. "Hop on my back." He said. She did as she was told. He was a little surprised at how light she was despite the huge cannon on her back. "Hang on tight." He began to run in place just as he did a few hours earlier. His feet and legs became blurs as they formed a mobius strip and suddenly shot off towards the wall. He could hear Rock gasp a little as they sped up and on the wall and before long, shot clean over to the other side. As they landed, Ren poured on the brakes just as he did a while ago and skidded to a halt.

"That was fun, right?" He asked her. She looked a little surprised, but otherwise said nothing. "Guess I'll take that as a 'yes'." He let her down and they both walked over to the black terminal on the side they were on.

"Paging Dr. Rothcall! Please report to the gate please!" Ren said into the radio in a joking manner. "Dr. Rothcall!"

"I'm here!" Came the reply, albeit a little shaky. He must still be trying to come up with a question as to just how a kid like him just ran up the side of a wall and carried another person doing so. "Uhh…you should see a yellow button on the console. Got it?"

Rock located the button on the console. "Yes."

"Ok…on three, I want you to press that button ok?"

"Ok."

"Alright, here we go….One….two….three!" Rock pressed the button on three and the gates began to open. As they did, Ren looked out towards the sea. If this was San Francisco, then even the seas went to hell as the water splashing onto the gate was dark and green. The navy must have waged a great battle here if the water was this polluted. It was strange though, if there had been a battle here, he should at least see some shipwrecks or debris floating around, but nothing could be seen for miles. Nothing, except for a big island about a couple miles away. Wait…. A big island near San Francisco!?

"…South Island?" He squinted. Sure enough, his island home, albeit murky, dark, and with huge smoke plumes coming from all points of the island, was there. So, whatever happened here also happened to it too…he shuddered to think what might be there lying in wait…or what might not…

Suddenly, two sapphire eyes popped in front of him and nearly gave him a heart attack. "GAAAAAH! Don't appear out of nowhere like that!" Ren gasped while clutching his chest. As he looked up he could have sworn he saw Rock smile at him. "Err, anyway, let's wait for the trailer to get here."

A few more minutes later…

Come on…hurry up…!" Xiao mumbled over the radio.

"You're pretty strung up today." Roth said as he noted Xiao's arms shaking from aiming his gun downrange for too long.

"Well anybody would be in a situation like this!" Xiao replied.

Ren was sitting near a pile of rubble with Rock standing guard at the gate not a few feet across from him. He was in deep thought about the other version of his island. Usually when South Island appeared in another world in one way or another, that world and his world were connected somehow. 'The question is…how?' He thought to himself. 'I got pushed across space….did I go forward in time too? Or…?' He shook his head. It wouldn't do any good trying to figure it all out right now. Besides, he figured once he got to this base the PSS were talking about, he could let them in on his secret. That he wasn't from this world, and he was actually sucked into it through his by an unknown person. And of course, chow down on some much needed food! He sighed and looked up towards Rock, only to find that she wasn't there anymore. "Huh? Rock?" he got up and jogged over to where she was originally standing and looked around. She was nowhere in sight.

"ROOOCK!" He called, gaining the attention of Rothcall and Xiao.

"What happened Ren?" Roth asked.

"I think Rock wandered off somewhere, but she shouldn't be too far. Can you track her somehow?"

"Yeah, we should be able to. Let me just check this here and…" He pulled out a tablet like device and booted it up. A map of the area sprung to life onto the device and showed Rock's position as a black dot alongside a purple dot. "…..Oh no…."

"What? What is it?" Ren asked.

"Run."

"Huh?"

"Just run over there RIGHT NOW! I'll explain everything later; she's in trouble and needs help NOW!"

"Whoa whoa! Alright!" Without any second thought, Ren burnt shoe rubber running to where Rock last wandered off to. "Man! Sometimes this girl is such a pain!"

Meanwhile…

Rock stopped running and relaxed her cannon over her back. She scanned the environment around her. "…I know she's here." She muttered to herself. When she was guarding the gate, she thought she saw a woman on the top of a small building on the other side of the Gate. Curious, she followed where the woman was and sure enough, she saw her again a small ways away. She continued to follow her until she lost sight of her around this point. "Where did she go…?"

"Hola! Buenas Tardes!" A voice far in front of her called out. Rock centered in on the voice, and sure enough, the woman she saw earlier was standing atop a tall pile of rubble. She didn't recognize what she was saying though, and kept looking at the woman from downrange. She must have noticed that she didn't understand her, as the woman then followed up with "Hello!" Suddenly, she disappeared in a small puff of smoke and reappeared in front of Rock. She was a young woman wearing a stereotypical outfit of a magician-class character in a role-playing game and had short light purple hair and eyes with the same shade. Her outfit was made up of a black shirt tied only at the point between her breasts, and was open in the back, closing below her shoulder blades. She also wore light purple leggings and two belts, one of which was attached diagonally while the other was secured in place the typical way. Her feet were slightly obscured by a pair of accessories consisting of a piece of pleated black cloth attached just below the knee with a belt each. She also wore a simple black glove on the left hand and a glove with metallic detail on the right and a choker with a blue gem pendant and a pointed hat adorned with a vertebra-like design.

Before Rock could ask who she was, the woman cooed "Oh…you're a cute one…." She walked up to Rock and whispered "Que Buena pinta…" before licking Rock's cheek. Rock was confused by this odd woman's behavior. "Just as I thought…" The woman said. "…you're a Gray."

"Are you an enemy?" Rock asked.

"Hmm…maybe!" The woman grasped Rock's throat and lifted her up suddenly. Rock struggled to breathe as the woman smiled. "Just hold still for one second okay?"

Ren was gunning it as fast as he could when he heard Roth on the radio. "Hurry Ren! She's starting to lose consciousness!"

Ren growled under his breath. "Guess I gotta use that old move if I'm going to catch up to her in time!" He stopped in his tracks and crouched down. White energy began to flow around him as he spun his whole body in place on the ground, making a loud KEEEEEEEE! noise. Revving it up as quick and fast as he could go, Ren, now a gray and red spinning ball to the naked eye, released his charge and rocketed towards Rock and the woman. KA-SHOOOOOOM!

"You should feel yourself going to sleep soon…" The woman chided. "Isn't it grand?" Rock struggled to break free, her cannon resting on the ground as she tried to wiggle out of the woman's tight grasp.

"KEEEEE!"

The woman heard a high pitched noise from behind her prey and looked around her, and got a face full of size ten and a halfs. She was launched away by the attack and skidded on the street while Rock fell onto her knees, hacking and coughing.

"…What?" The woman looked up to see who attacked her and saw Ren wagging his finger at her.

"Now now, didn't your mother ever tell you to keep your hand to yourself?" He said with a cocky grin. He turned to his partner. "You okay there Rock?"

She nodded and picked up her cannon, aiming it at the woman. "She's…an enemy."

"Yeah, I noticed." Ren said sarcastically.

"Oh oh?" The woman got up and put a hand on her hip. "And didn't yours teach you not to hit a lady?"

"First of all, you're no lady. Second, don't hurt my friends. Third, the Hammer of Justice is unisex. Sorry pumpkin, you're plum outta luck!" Ren said confidently.

"So it's true…" The woman said. "You are as witty and powerful as she said." Ren narrowed his eyes at the woman at the mention of the word "she" as she continued. "But, too bad for you, I'm here for the chica beside you." She faced Rock next. "But don't worry. I'm not going to kill you right now. Because if you ARE that Gray…killing you would get ME killed." She took out a large hammer like weapon as she said this. "But so long as I'm here…I might as well push you both as close to death as possible!"

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard something similar to that…" Ren said to himself as he materialized his Saber with Rock unsheathing her blade whilst still aiming her cannon at the woman. "So, I generally like to know the names of the people I'm gonna beat down before I actually beat them down. What do they call ya?"

"Ms. Mefe, to you."

"Perfect." Ren said. And with that, he and Rock rushed her. She flipped her hammer and energy beams shot forth from it causing them to split up; Ren taking the left while Rock took right. Rock managed to squeeze off a few shots on Mefe with most of them being deflected by her hammer, although one got through and hit her in the waist, causing her to flinch. Ren took this opportunity to leap into the air over her and snatch her hat.

"Aha!" He exclaimed while examining his new prize. "I was thinking it was pretty stupid looking, but this is actually a really nice hat! Maybe I'll sell it to some Australian dude who can then sell it to a bunch of mercs fighting over gravel pits or something. Or, I could give it to a wizard that has an annoying roommate. Yeah, either or seems like legit plans!"

"Ugh! Give that back!" Mefe took a swing at Ren while Rock tried to rush her, causing both of them to duck. She then twirled her hammer in the air as five dark energy balls appeared and flung them at the duo. Ren swiftly dodged them in style while Rock dodged when she could and shielded herself with the cannon when she approached her heat limit. Rock then interlocked weapons with Mefe and pushed her back, parting off a few more Rock Cannon rounds. Ren stepped in and slashed into her torso, then followed up with a swipe to her collarbone and a kick to her stomach. She fell to her knees.

"Huh. That was too easy. Way too easy." Ren remarked. "Get up Mefe. All three of us know you're not done yet."

Mefe looked up and took her hammer in her hands. "Indeed!" She then swung at the two's feet. Both of them jumped out of the way but she managed to clip Ren, causing him to fall on his hands.

"OW! My lemon toe!" Ren yelped as Mefe brought the hammer down. Rock jetted back into the fray and deflected Mefe, then cut into her legs and head butted her backward. Cursing something in Spanish, Mefe began to fire off hammer beams at both Ren and Rock, each one more powerful than the last in a dance like motion. Scrambling to get out of the way, Rock and Ren nearly almost collided with each other during the last volley.

"Enough." Rock said quietly as her eye started to blaze a brilliant blue flame. She ran and got in between Mefe as she was finishing her move and leapt into the air with blade in hand and, with all her strength, slashed into the witch.

Mefe was again on her knees, but Rock wasn't finished yet as she rushed at her once more with her blade. Mefe blocked her blow and the two began fighting faster and faster. Not content to be sitting this one out, Ren hopped into the fray as three bodies were twisting, juking and weaving whilst swinging sharpened objects at each other. Finally, Rock hit Mefe's hammer out of her grasp. She gasped, and Rock and Ren both slashed one final ending move that sent two flaming sword beams to cut through her body, one of blue flames, one of white and black.

"N…no…." Mefe sighed as she fell to the ground. "Lilio…h-hurry….come….quick…"

Suddenly a giant armament appeared before the trio. Rock and Ren tightened their grip on their weapons as it picked up Mefe and disappeared.

"Whew. Well, whoever she was…she won't be a threat now." Ren said. Rock nodded as he wiped the sweat off his brow.

"Wow! Wowie wow wow!"

Ren and Rock both turned around to see all the soldiers behind them with shocked faces and the trailer parked behind them. Well, the ones whose faces could be seen anyway. One soldier was celebrating like crazy. 'That has to be Bob.' Ren thought.

"That was Mefe, right?" Dully asked aloud.

"Yeah, the A-rank alien in the flesh." Roth confirmed.

"And these two kids took her out all on their own…" Lars said.

The squad took positions around a tunnel entrance and parked the trailer inside it while Roth and Phobos walked up to Rock and Ren.

"You really are something amazing." Roth said to Rock.

"Yeah, even though she's not the sharpest knife in the drawer." Phobos commented.

Ren was about to fire something back when Roth gave him a look that said "Let it go.", which he did reluctantly as Phobos walked to the tunnel to brief the rest of the squad.

"What does that mean?" Rock asked.

"Oh, he just means you're amazing, like I said." Roth replied.

Rock nodded. "I see." Ren rubbed his nose a little and turned away. He wasn't angry at not being recognized for his share of the battle. It was just something he had gotten used to during his days of adventuring. Just seeing the world he was in become a little safer was all that he really needed anyway.

Roth looked toward the tunnel. "There's the portal. The entrance to the web tube. It's connects to all the UEF bases and all around the world. It's like a huge tunnel. And the PSS is-"

Both Ren and Rock alike looked highly confused by what Roth was saying, although Ren understandably showed this more than Rock, who just stared blankly.

Roth sighed and scratched his head. "How can I begin? PSS doesn't mean "piss" or anything. It stands for Primary Support Service. So basically, we're your support system. We're here to help you Rock. And we're also a part of the UEF."

"Oh, so UEF is…?" Rock had started to say, but stopped.

"Don't worry, you'll figure it out eventually. All you need to know is that we're the PSS, we're part of the UEF, and we're also the last remaining survivors on Earth."

"Got it." Rock replied.

Roth sighed once more. "I guess it still hasn't finally hit me yet." Rock tilted her head in confusion at the statement, but Ren could figure out what he meant by it. Them a loud growl noise could be heard from both teens.

"Agh, cripes….so hungry…" Ren sighed as Rock's normal stare changed to one of urgency.

Roth laughed. "Well anyway, let's head to our base and get something to eat ok?" He walked over to the tunnel entrance. Rock and Ren began to follow suit. Until…

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Ren felt something. Something eerily familiar. He looked to where Mefe had fallen and noticed a small sparkle. "Hmm…what's that…?" He walked over to the sparkling object and picked it up. It was a purple brilliant cut gem in the shape of a triangle. "Huh…looks pretty!" He said.

"What is it?" Rock said.

"It's a gem of some kind." He replied. "Here." He handed it to her so she could see it.

"It's…pretty." She cooed. She looked at it for a while, then looked up to him. "Ren..?"

"What's up?"

"…Here." She handed the stone back to him plus the star shaped sapphire Lars had given her.

"What? You're giving me your stone too? Why?"

She looked down and didn't answer, but Ren thought he knew why she was doing this. "Are you trying to apologize to me somehow?"

Still more silence.

"I thought so." He closed her hands on both the gems and pushed them back to her gently. "You don't have to do that. Just seeing that you and everyone else are safe and sound is enough for me. Just, promise me that we'll stick together from now on. Ok?"

Rock looked up at him with a confused look for a bit, but nodded after a while. "Ok. I promise."

Ren smiled. "Good."

"Should we go then, partner?" She added.

He chuckled a little when he heard her call him that. "Yeah. Let's go."

And with that, the two of them headed over to the rest of the squad and into the tunnel network….