Broken Universe: Unicron Saga

by dragonridley

Universe 3. In one of the many Universes within a Multiverse, a time of change was about to occur, and the head of this change, the figure who sees it all occur, is a simple Mobian boy named Chad. This is the beginning, the first signs, from a Dark Soul to a Planet Eater. A once old MSN story between friends.

23. Diamas: Ally of Chaos

In the far distance, Rufus Shinra could hear the resulting explosions of the artillery continue onto the landscape of Earth X.

He stood there, relaxed, with his hands in his coat pockets, as all around him, his men worked, filing reports and keeping up to date on things as the battle unfolds.

Although he already knew the inevitable outcome. Victory was pretty much handed to him by Keaton and his reckless approach. After his chain of surprise attacks and sudden assaults, as such with the bombardment and the cannons, he expected Keaton to try and make a comeback, have his own plans in the works.

All Keaton has done, is huddle himself in the midst of his men, and keep them on a desperate defensive stance. He felt sorry for Keaton's men. They really chose the wrong side of this little war.

Soon he heard the footsteps of Dr Robotnik walk up behind him. "Emperor Rufus. The Gardener has arrived in orbit, as we expected. I suspect Grievous will soon, no doubt, deploy transport ships to either rescue Keaton or drop reinforcements."

"Hm. The former. Grievous knows when he's beat. We don't want Keaton to escape after all this though...Robotnik, can you send a transmission to the Gardener?"

The scientist was surprised. "A transmission? Well, yes sir, of course. I doubt Grievous would listen to any offers to surrender to us or defect to our cause."

"No. I want you to send a transmission containing the information and listing of those that have been used and subjected to project Order."

"Order? That? Why?"

"Have you ever looked at who were put down for that?" Rufus looked over his shoulder at Robotnik.

"No sir. I never really bothered with such a project."

"You should sometime. It's an interesting list. Send it to Grievous at once...oh." He turned around now, facing the orange moustached scientist. "And make sure it especially lists who gave the go ahead for the project."

---

Keaton couldn't stop shaking in utter rage.

Everything felt like it was crumbling around him. Grievous had failed him, the battles across the other worlds were lost, his main base of operations, destroyed...

He looked down to his hand, and saw the com-link was there. He quickly glanced around, and saw the likes of Vile, Cortex, Storm Eagle and Flame Stag staring at him.

His mind was racing. They just looked at him, like he was the strangest thing they've ever seen. Didn't they realize there was a battle to still be fought!? A battle that still went on?! No, he couldn't stop here, he couldn't lose here! "...GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! GET OUT! GET OUT AND RALLY ALL OUR FORCES TO CONVERGE ON MY POSITION! NOW!"

As the four quickly nodded and departed, he quickly turned his attention to one of the men working on the communication systems. "You! Inform Grievous to deploy all of his able bodied men! As soon as they land we'll begin to plan a counter attack! I refuse to go down without at least taking Rufus with me!"

The man nodded, and quickly got in contact with Grievous, speaking to him, whilst Keaton looked at the holographic image of the battlefield, which was still flickering from him hitting the table. In his mind, if Grievous joins him down here, and if the Gardener can take out all the SF warships, then they can turn this entire situation around with the warship bombarding the enemy locations, while they make a charge into the main encampment where Rufus must be.

'Smug little bastard thinks he has me cornered! I'll show him! I'll show him what I can do once my additional troops arrive!' Keaton thought to himself.

He waited, trying to calm himself down, as the com officer was still trying to get into contact with Grievous. He chose to walk around, and take a look outside of his tent.

He could already picture the victory now. This battle was far from lost. He could take it, he could bring about his greatest victory.

All it needed was the cyborg...

And the com officer soon turned to look at Keaton. "Sir. I've gotten a report back from the Gardener."

---

"Rufus. He's deploying all available transport vessels on his ship. They're coming down towards where we believe Keaton is."

Rufus smiled, after hearing that from Robotnik. "That's fine. Inform all our forces to pull back and await further instructions. Stop the artillery strike. Give Keaton a little breathing space."

"Sir?"

"Grievous is planning to no doubt fill those ships with the people here. He's not going to bring reinforcements...if he got that data transmission, we'll probably be soon finding the decapitated body of Keaton."

Soon, he saw the transport ships coming down in the far off distance. And waited for the news of the evacuation of the GF starting. He planned to spare Grievous in the aftermath. Perhaps he can get him over to his side with slow and progressive persuasion. Let him lick his wounds first, then begin the process.

He noticed then, that there was black clouds looming overhead...and the weakest drops of rain began to fall down. "Hm, perhaps I should go back indoors for now." He turned, and headed towards the central building of his base of operations, entering in, to find several dozen men and women walking around, checking on computers, looking at the huge holographic map, and of the holo-image of the ships orbiting this world, showing the Gardener driving away the fighter ships of the SF, stopping their attack on Keaton's last vessel, GFS Babylon.

He walked over to a nearby pot of black coffee, grabbing a small plastic cup, and filling it up. He soon turned to those handling communications, as Robotnik walked into the place, looking soaked, meaning it was probably pissing down now. "Inform our warships to ease on their attacks. Go defensive. We'll continue pounding what's left a little later."

"Yes sir." One of the staff answered with.

"Emperor, are you sure we should be so relaxed over this?" Robotnik had to ask, looking at the holographic images.

"Keatons men are frightened and overwhelmed. We have Zhang Liao keeping an eye on their rear, Sun Jian to their side, and us before them, a three way constant assault. They don't have any real fight left in them. Sadly for them, so long as Keaton is alive, I don't have any intention of sparing them, and I'm sure they now know that with the loss of life so far reported to them, about their smaller factions falling short."

Robotnik wasn't as convinced. "He's cornered Rufus. They are cornered. If Grievous motivates them to break through, we'll be sitting ducks."

"We have the artillery. We can restart that anew if they come this way, remind them of their position in this conflict." Rufus started sipping his coffee. Luke warm, he was a little disappointed.

He turned towards the holographic screens, and as he just focused on them, two new warships belonging to the GF appeared on one of them, behind his small fleet, and quickly opened fire and deployed their fighters, whilst the Gardener was unleashing it's own, with the Babylon giving fire support.

"...I thought the Gardener was the only vessel to escape Gaia IX?" Rufus looked over at Robotnik.

"Well, I was certain it was the only one. In the report given it said about the Gardener only, and said about capturing one other vessel."

"But no information on the remaining enemy ships? Robotnik inform our fleet to drop back and regroup. Being attacked by two sides is not something I'm comfortable with." He said that, just as one of his warships faded off the screen, meaning it had been taken out.

He still wasn't too concerned. Grievous had only merely tried a surprise attack with his rag tag fleet. It was all in Rufus' favour still.

Or so he firmly believed.

---

The Arcadia was traversing the stars, still continuing on it's direction towards the systems that once was controlled by Mickey, now officially under the rule of the SF.

On the bridge of the ship, was Mr Match, Count Zap, Maddy, Serious Sam, Aqua, Shademan, Charlie and Megaman. Anna, Zhang He, Roll, Chad, Kei and Dark Rich had left a little while ago, along with Light Rich and him carrying Richard.

Count Zap had been watching the radar and radio systems, and noticed that during their journey, not once have they been picked up on by any patrol forces, nor was there any sign of security. "...Odd. I didn't think the Shinra Federation would be so, loose, with its checks during a crisis like this."

Maddy looked over to him. "It's probably due to people being unsure what to support. Alot of those in service of the SF were GF members remember? It's better to keep your head down low until the issue passes rather then pick a side. Whoever wins is the one who's going to sign your pay checks, afterall."

"Don't they force people to do their job in the military?" Sam asked.

Maddy shook her head, now focusing on the guy who seems to keep his sunglasses on, no matter the lighting condition. "In this day and age, it's all about pay. Why do you think there's so little numbers and not millions and millions? Each and every one of those men and women have had money thrown at them to be trained up to standards and constantly paid to stay working. A standard soldier in a Federation army earns four times the wage compared to a simple guardsman, those idiots on the space station. That's why you see alot of the guard types, those with little experience but wear a form of the power armor, then the actual hardcore troopers, who can actually shoot straight and their armor can take a fair few hits. Money. Even Rufus will have to follow that."

"Something isn't right though. We're about half an hour away from what was the border into our old territory. Surely Rufus would leave someone to keep watch. Anyone at all. What if Mickey chose to rebel at this time? There would be nothing between him and the worlds beyond." Aqua walked over towards Zap. "I suggest we slow down for the remainder of the trip and focus directly on keeping watch. We'll eventually get to Traverse Town. While we're slow, try the long range scanners, if, this ship has any."

"I can have a look and see for ya." Zap smiled at her, and soon focused back on his computer panel.

Meanwhile, a few decks down, within the medical facility this ship had, on one of the three metal stiff looking beds designed for the patients, Richard was resting, his claws relaxed, slightly hanging over the edges, a light grey sheet covering most of him.

Nearby, on a table, was the Dark Wolf, in it's casing. And sitting close to it and Richard, was Anna, Roll, and Zhang He.

"...Do you think he'll wake up soon?" Roll was watching Richard closely, noticing, now and again, one of the claws would twitch.

"I really hope not. I mean, as much as I approved on the idea to rescue him, I'm hoping he sleeps long enough that we can get him contained somewhere within the Hero Base, should he still decide to try and kill us." Anna was jumping a little every time said claws twitched.

"Don't worry Anna, I shall make sure to defend you should he ever wake." Zhang He proudly boasted.

"I would feel much safer if Chad was here...instead he decided to go with that, Kei woman, to one of the upper floors to 'talk'."

Roll looked at Anna, a little worried. "You're not thinking she's coming onto him, are you?"

"I'm worried it'll be the other way round."

"Relax Anna, I doubt Chad will do anything of that sort. He'll just, most likely keep to looking, but no touching."

"That's bad enough if you ask me..."

As for Chad, he was standing outside one of the cabin room doors, waiting for that hot blonde to come back out. She had gone inside after using the ship's replicators to create clothing to suit what the vessel once was, a pirating ship. She felt uncomfortable wearing her old gear, knowing it marked her days in the GF, and wanted something completely different. Mr Match and Aqua were against the idea of wearing stuff matching the ship, but she insisted.

Dark Rich had already got changed, coming out of one of the other cabin rooms. He was wearing what the captain should. He wore a black leather tunic, which had imprinted, a white skull and crossbones on the torso, Black leather trousers and boots, with two red belts around his waist, with gold bucklers. He had brown gloves on, and a leather cape to finish, which was velvet red on the inside, and gold stitched linen on the edges, it was attached to his clothing by the neck piece, which was large enough to cover his mouth when he turned his head side to side. On the front of that neck segment, was also a white skull and crossbones. Connected to one of the belts, was a holster, for a rapier styled vibroblade, found in the cabin Kei had now entered to get changed in...the captains cabin. It had a golden hilt, and the blade was finely polished, showing it was worth a fair bit, explaining why it was stored in a glass case, when Kei got it out.

Light Rich had just returned as well, but instead of getting something from the replicators, they had found a suit of light, pale blue armor in the horde of treasures in the deepest sections of the ship...the treasure had certainly been something that made Chad stare in awe. Jewels, gold, diamonds...what didn't the previous owners of this ship not steal?

The armor Light Rich wore covered his entire body, up to his neck, in light, easily adjustable metal, with a white cape flowing from the back. He had also gained tools to use from the treasure horde. An unusual blaster that doubled as a laser sword, which came from the top of the gun, and a wrist device that, when activated, formed an energy barrier in the shape of a large wieldable shield.

Chad had looked through the treasure for anything he could use, but once Light Rich had collected what he wanted, Kei denied the others anything from it, saying her first mission once things settle down is to return some of the stolen goods. Chad didn't leave without anything though...he did nick a few handfuls of gold, stashing them in his pockets. Dark Rich seemed to look at him accusingly as they left the treasure alone, but didn't say a word.

Something that seems to be an occurrence at the moment. As all three waited for Kei outside her room, Dark Rick kept looking at Chad, and the lad was being unnerved by it. Light Rich had found himself a chair, and was sitting down, eyes closed, in deep thought, leaving the other two to it.

"...What!?" Chad once again looked over at the 7th clone, glaring.

Dark Rich once again, didn't answer. He was leaning on the wall, arms folded, just staring down at Chad with his uncovered eye, seemingly not blinking at all.

Chad tried to focus elsewhere, tried to not think of that annoyance nearby...it quickly failed, as he was looking at the clone once again. "What the hell is your problem!? Stop it!"

Dark Rich refused to answer.

"Can't you look elsewhere? I know the corridor is fucking boring but surely you can find something other than just staring at goddamn me!"

Again, it was met with silence.

"ARGH!" Chad threw his arms up into the air, then moved closer to the door to the cabin Kei was in, and leaned on that segment of the wall...he could swear the clone was now glaring darkly at him. "What now!? What the hell have I done to piss you off!?"

Finally, Light Rich spoke up. "Move away from Kei's door."

Chad looked over to the 6th clone. "Excuse me?"

"My brothers Zerg genes see her as his Overmind, his master. You are getting too close, too much between him and her. Move away from the door. I strongly recommend you do not touch it. He may attack." Light Rich hadn't opened his eyes, saying all of this in a calm, relaxed manner.

The Mobian lad decided to listen to those words, and moved well away, walking over to where Light Rich was, noticing Dark was still staring at him for a while more, before focusing solely on the door. "...So he's like her bodyguard?"

"One that will attack anyone who approaches Kei without her permission. Most likely kill them if Kei does not intervene."

"By Blind Lo this is all I need. I thought Zhang He was bad enough when it came to Anna..."

"Zhang He is Anna's bodyguard?"

"Yeah, and I'm her boyfriend now. Kinda forgot your memories are based on Richards. He hasn't been around the base lately." Chad smiled at him.

"Hm, with the way you've been looking at Kei, I had presumed you were still single." The clone answered.

"I can't help it. Have you looked at Kei? She's just...wow!"

Light Rich slowly shook his head. "I have Chad, but not in that way. I suggest you don't either."

Chad looked baffled at him, but soon, the cabin door opened, and Kei walked out.

Gone was the scientist gear, and now she was wearing knee high black leather boots, elbow long white gloves, and a rather tight looking one piece pink and black suit, the black parts being around her rear and between her legs, as well as around her neck, covering her entire body up to said neck. She had a golden and brown leather belt around her sweet, curvy hips, with a standard GF blaster in a holster. She stood there, looking down at herself, and slowly spun around. "According to the computer, this is what the captain before the last one wore, what do you guys think?"

Dark Rich looked at her carefully, before answering. "Effective for first attacks and sneak attacks. Not good for protection. It's fine. I would recommend you also wear a cape like mine. Useful for keeping yourself discreet in dark areas."

"I have to agree with my brother. It would also keep any unwanted attention at bay, as your current attire is bound to draw eyes to you."

Chad looked at both of the clones, frowning at them. "Seriously? You can't give her some proper compliments? I personally think it looks fantastic, it really shows off your-" He paused for a second, his mind finally catching up on what the hell he was about to say and causing him to actually think for a moment. "-good, psychical, condition."

Kei blushed a fair bit, looking surprised at him. "Oh, why thank you Chad. I'll go with what Dark said though. I'll get a cape. It'll make me look a little more leader like."

As she turned around to walk back into the cabin, Chad got a good look at the back. His mind was racing. 'Oh man but that tush! I hope to Blind Lo Anna gets something like that when she gets older, because hot damn, I would tap it hard!'

Kei stopped, after stepping through the doorway, and looked back at Chad, going even redder, before weakly smiling, and closing the door shut.

Chad was a little baffled by her reaction...until his conscious decided to butt in. 'You could've stopped staring ya know Chaddie boy. She obviously knows you've taken a fancy, but remember, Anna is on this ship with you.'

Chad mentally shrugged. 'Eh, she's watching Richard. I won't need to worry about her.'

Then, his com-link went off. He picked it up, and found out it was Anna. "Chad, you better get down here, right now."

"What's up?"

"It's Richard. He's moving."

---

When Chad got down to the medical center of the ship, he found Anna, Zhang He and Roll keeping their distance from the beds, and Shademan was also present, having been called down by Roll. He waited near the glass doors that led into the place, and as Chad entered, he followed the lad towards the bed Richard was still on, eyes wide.

He was breathing slowly and steadily, yet just seemed to stare right at the lights overhead. His claws were making a faint, yet constant clicking sound, and were now moving a little by themselves. Shademan went to one side of Richard, while Chad stood at the other...There was something they both were picking up with the clicking noise.

"...Is he, communicating?" Chad looked to the Net Navi.

"Trying to, I believe. My enhanced ears are hearing words, but they're jumbled. I believe he is still trying to wake up from the deep state of sleep the GF had him in."

Chad listened closely, trying to pick out the words himself.

'...Alive.'

'Unknown.'

'Needles.'

'Sleep no more.'

'Not over.'

'Not the end.'

'Chad.'

Richards eyes suddenly looked at the mobian lad. His face showing he had only just registered the fact Chad was there. The clicking got louder.

'Chad. Chad. CHAD!'

The claws were really shaking now. Chad had the feeling he should step back a little, and did so...

It didn't help any. Richard had suddenly come to life, leaping off the bed, and the moment his feet touched the ground, he charged at Chad, throttling him, and slamming him into the ground, with himself bending over the lad, a face filled with rage glaring down at Chad. "YOU!"

That really hurt the busted arm Chad still had. "Ow goddamnit! Richard! Calm down!" Chad quickly put his hand up, trying to show he wasn't going to fight back.

Richard snarled, and seemed ready to start smashing Chads face in, when he notices the fact he was in an unusual location, and there was more than just Chads eyes on him. He quickly looked around, noticing Shademan slowly walking over, his hands gesturing Richard to calm down, and Roll was slowly coming over as well, repeating to him "Easy, easy..."

The Zerg hybrid rapidly got off Chad, and begun to move away from them. "You, you lot! What happened!? I'm not in the Hero Base! Earth X! Where am I!?" his movements were showing the fact he still wasn't one hundred percent, wobbling a little as he moved back.

Anna moved over to where Chad is and helped him up, while Roll and Shademan kept their distance from Richard, as he moved himself into a corner, with Roll trying to speak to him. "It's okay. You're on a ship with friends. We just rescued you from the Galactic Federation."

"Galactic Federation? Why? What happened to me?"

Chad managed to speak up, after thanking Anna. "Chaos happened. He brought you to them."

"Chaos?" Richard looked to the floor, still keeping his back firmly to the corner. "Chaos, I remember now. I tried to take over the Hero Base back on Earth X after Unicron fell. He was already there, he, he demanded I surrender for his next plan..."

"Next plan?" That got Chad's attention fully.

"When he knocked me down, as I was blacking out, he said about wanting to deliver me to someone who can grab the attention of the new emperor." Richard shook his head, putting a hand on it afterwards. "This, room needs to stop spinning."

"Relax Richard, take a few deep breaths. You're safe here." Shademan calmly stated.

"Safe, with you lot!?"

"Richard we won't hurt you. Please relax a little." Roll smiled at him.

"I tried to kill you lot! What the hell makes you think I would want to calm down!"

Chad gave him an answer. "Because Chaos has been fucking with you, and you've been effected by a Dark Soul. Combined with the Zerg genes too that Unicron probably slapped in you I can't blame you for thinking we're the bad guys."

Richard just stared past Roll and Shademan, focusing on Chad.

"You've been twisted up for the last two years Richard. I can understand you acting like this. But we were friends once, and we need to be again...because of what you said about Chaos." Chad sounded...very serious.

Anna was worried. "Chad?"

"Chaos worked with the Galactic Federation just to have them divert Rufus' attention away from something. He probably knew the GF's fight was a doomed cause from the start."

"But what though? What could he be planning? He followed Darkmega, went silent over Unicron, and has popped up again." Chad's girlfriend wondered aloud.

"What, happened to me precisely, while captured by the Federation?" Richard asked, slowly calming himself down, noticing the fact they weren't trying to restrain him, as he first believed was their intent.

"They made several clones of you. Two are on this ship, allies...well, one is, the other I personally don't like much. I think they were testing to see if they could control the Zerg."

Anna added in. "They made 8. 4 were already dead. 2 are here, 1 was on the space station, and the last one, we don't know."

Richard was unsure with that answer, his claws seemed to click for a moment. "That's why I can sense another Overmind...huh, not two though."

"The GF were trying different blood mixtures, some have active Zerg blood, others not. You're probably picking up the clone I don't like so much."

"Do you think that was part of Chaos' plan? The whole cloning business?" Shademan turned to Chad.

"His name was mentioned in the project...but why? Why control the Zerg? Why make a clone of Richard?"

"I'm not sure Chad, but we need to get back to the Hero Base as soon as, maybe Dr Wily was able to track where Chaos went in all this, before the station was destroyed." Anna suggested.

Chad felt that was the best option they had right now. "Good idea. Richard, you feel like tagging along?"

"You seem oddly fine despite the fact I wanted you dead at one point and even stabbed your arm and crippled you." Richard was, quite honestly, baffled, by Chad's open friendliness.

"I never fully hated you for it Richard. Roll, myself and a few others believe in you still. I could use someone who almost kicked my ass to help me deal with Chaos, who you probably want payback on."

"Well, he DID beat out of me and didn't really assist much after the start of mine and Darkmega's little plan...fine." He motioned at Roll and Shademan to move aside, which they did so, as he walked past them, and headed over to where his sword was, being guarded by Zhang He.

The Wei officer looked to Chad and Anna, who both nodded to allow Richard to pass. Zhang he stood aside, and Richard picked up the Dark Wolf, holding the hilt in one hand, and the leather casing in the other, before tying it round, and putting it on his back, carefully avoiding the claws. Afterwards, as he looked at the wall beyond where the blade once was, he spoke again. "This is a temporary thing though Oswald. Once Chaos is gone, I'm gonna make you pay for my defeat back on Unicron, you and Darkmega. Much more then what I caused you at Junon Harbour."

"I'm hoping once we dealt with Chaos, we'll find a way to help you return to normal. Get rid of the Dark Soul within you." Chad answered that with.

Richard chuckled to that response. "I'm not the only one here that has one..." He glanced back at Chad, who just looked away, before leaving, heading down the corridor to head back to the bridge. Roll quickly went after him, noticing his sudden shift of mood at Richard saying that.

"Chad wait up!"

Chad did so, waiting for her for a few moments, and the second she caught up with him, he started to walk again, with her following. "Roll it's nothing. I know what you're gonna say."

"What did he mean? Do you actually have a Dark Soul too? When?"

Chad sighed. "Roll. It doesn't matter. He just, irked me, saying about it. It's gone silent now, Unicron sealed it away. Didn't anyone tell you about what happened before the fight with Unicron, my great fuck up?"

"I heard you had teleported the key items for defeating him to the planet eater...but that was all that was said about it, most of the time it was about how much of a screw up you were. I said mistakes happen."

"Well it was a mistake, forced on me by a Dark Soul. Listen can we just drop this? I really don't feel like speaking about it. I need to see Kei and the others, let them know about Richard joining us."

Roll slowed down, allowing Chad to go on without her, noticing he wasn't looking back. She knew he would probably talk about fully some day. She knew he needed time...and hoped, as one of her fears were, that the Dark Soul wasn't active again.

---

"Still no movement from the GF forces?"

"No emperor. There is no movement. They seemed to have bunkered down."

"What of the attack in orbit?"

"Our ships have moved away from the enemy vessels, Colonel reports the surprise attack had done some heavy damage. Reinforcements are on their way."

"Everything remains in our favour then...inform out forces to remain at the ready. I want to see what Grievous does next."

"Yes Sir!"

Rufus was still inside his base of operations, having just been talking to one of his officers, before turning and looking over at the table with the hologram of the battlefield. For the last eight long endearing hours, there has been nothing more than an endless thundering downpour, and nothing going on within the frontlines. He had expected Grievous to move by now, either to retreat or defect.

He noticed that Robotnik seemed to have opened one of the compartments of the hologram device about ten minutes ago, and was looking at it carefully. Inside the compartment, was a small keyboard and screen, to allow someone to access the system. "Ivo, what are you doing?"

"...Sir, I, I don't think we've been getting the right information after all this time."

"Excuse me?" Rufus walked over to him.

"I noticed the hologram flicker several times during our last couple of checks. At first I thought it was just a minor issue, but then I saw that, as one of the enemy units begun to move, it flickered, and reset them back into their original position. As it kept flickering, I could just see the enemy unit over a few of our allies positions, but then back to where they were."

Rufus looked at the small screen. "...What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that...ah ha!" The scientist typed in a key line of coding, and suddenly, the small screen showed an image of the base of operations, with a bubble around it, as several beams of scrambled data come down to it, from somewhere in orbit. Other waves of data seem to come from all over the place, but keep being bounced off.

Rufus quickly knew what it was showing.

They were being isolated by someone. Someone who was transmitting these readings from orbit. "Robotnik readjust the jamming frequency at once, try to send it to all our allies so we can block off this hacker. Then get us an update immediately."

"Yes emperor!"

It didn't take long at all.

Soon, the truth appeared on the hologram...and all of his officers were suddenly able to get proper updates from the frontlines.

"Sir! We've managed to get in contact with Zhang Liao! He had attacked Sun Jian's forces, mistaking them for Galactic Federation forces after chasing Vile through the storm! Grievous had then led a surprise attack, and has made him withdraw his troops! He has been waiting for suggestions from us!"

"Sun Jian and his two sons also have a similar report sir! They had pursued forces led by Storm Eagle, and attacked Zhang Liao's! They were hit by an attack from Grievous, and have chosen to withdraw as they could not get in contact with us!"

"Sir, we have confirmation that Keaton's forces are in retreat! A unknown number have joined up with Grievous to launch an assault! Master Chief is currently attempting to hold them back and is requesting assistance from our artillery forces!"

Rufus saw it. Zhang Liaos and Sun Jians forces were quite a far distance from the battlefield, taking what's left of their units, and were obviously waiting for their next order, avoiding any further combat whilst doing so, His rear attacking forces and side attackers were gone, leaving Grievous to only worry over just one direction, which he was now attacking. The hologram showed there was ship activity in Keaton's forces, no doubt his men boarding the ships to escape.

It was a serious blunder. Without keeping an eye on their own systems, and his own laid back attitude with it all, they had failed to keep up with Grievous. "Robotnik, reactivate the artillery cannons, aim them much further to hit Keaton's forces. Forget what Master Chief wants, Grievous wants us to focus our attention on him. We need to take Keaton down."

Robotnik nodded, and quickly started barking at the others to get those cannons active, checking the range and distance required...only for one of the officers to say something Rufus REALLY doesn't want to hear. "Robotnik sir! Our, our cannons! They won't activate! We've sent the confirmation, and the automated response system is not functioning!"

"What!? Then restore the goddamn system! Get the engineers out there to fix them! NOW! Switch to manual if they have to!"

Rufus shook his head, sighing a little. "Our sensors fail us, and someone hacks into our systems without any warning...this is an inside job. Someone is helping Grievous, and did a great job of it."

Robotnik quickly looked over to his leader. "Don't worry sir! We'll break the Galactic Federation yet! We just need to reorangize our forces and-"

There was a beeping sound coming from the hologram device.

Several dozen transport ships had just taken off from Keaton's location.

Rufus knew this was over. "Keaton has bound to put himself on one of those ships."

"We'll shoot it down then!"

"Forget it Robotnik. Inform Master Chief, Sun Jian and Zhang Liao to fall back to our location. If I'm right, Grievous will then fall back himself, to make a retreat. He wants to drive back our front forces, and has already done so with two of them. Let him have three for three. Grievous has motivated his men, and our men up the front have probably noticed the sudden surge of morale. We'll finish this up in orbit. I want our ships to return to combat, no matter what state they are in. Keaton won't leave. If we can't get him on the ground, we'll take him out in the sky."

This proved to be impossible.

Rufus' prediction of Grievous was right. As soon as Master Chief's men have started to pull back, Grievous retreated, and started to board the transport vessels that were coming down to pick them up...as there was more GF warships then what Rufus had been ready for.

He had seen it on the hologram screen. A sudden arrival of twelve other warships, all belonging to the GF. All which, as Rufus saw their identity numbers, were those that were part of Grievous magnificent fleet before many of them surrendered over to the SF. These ones were those that had faded into obscurity and couldn't be tracked. Rufus had believed they fled to the Farside, choosing to be rebels by themselves.

With their arrival, and deployment of transport ships, the GF force that remained on the planet was quickly collected up, with only a few hundred left behind, as the artillery was eventually back online, and opened fire, forcing the remaining transport ships to retreat to avoid destruction.

The hail of weapons fire ensured there was no survivors on the ground belonging to the GF.

Soon Rufus found, falling down from the sky, escape pods, all from the vessels he had up in orbit. They couldn't last against the firepower that had come to aid the Galactic Federation, as Colonel the Net Navi reported to him on the way down. Once the enemy ships left orbit and warped away...Rufus felt slightly humiliated, only slightly.

Because despite his fuck up, they had still made the Galactic Federation retreat. Combined with their defeats across the Shinra Federation, their small uprisings wiped out, their main space station gone, and their defeat at Gaia IX, it was an overall victory.

The only problem was, they couldn't track down where the remaining forces were retreating to.

---

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the GF Gardener...Keaton and Grievous were, having a little fallout.

As such, Keaton found himself being flung across the bridge, smacking into the railing, making several of the bridge officers quickly get up and move away in panic from his position, fearing Grievous may throw him at them.

Keaton found his back to be in severe pain, and grabbed the railing, pulling himself up...and finding Grievous grabbing his neck, and slowly starting to lift him off the ground. "G, Grievous!"

"You. You betrayed me. Betrayed my unit. You forced leashes on them bar myself. That, is your own mistake Grand Commander." Grievous was sounding awfully calm, hiding away the pure rage he had.

"I had no choice! He made me once it was obvious he was out of control, and I had to make sure none of your other men would be as crazy!" Keaton grabbed Grievous' arm, trying to make him let go.

"You decided to try and threaten me on the planet. Sadly for you, I have made them stay on the other ships, out of sight and hearing, should you bark the order. I should just snap your neck."

"Then, then what was the point in saving me huh!? What was the point in keeping me alive?!" Keaton was gasping for air, sweat pouring down his face, as he stared right into the cyborgs glaring eyes. "Face it Grievous, you NEED me! You betrayed Armstrong Houston for me because you felt I can lead us to the future you want!"

General Grievous suddenly dropped Keaton to the floor, letting the man slump down, and put his hand over his neck, gasping for much needed air. The machine looked down at him, before turning around, and heading to the main seating of the bridge. "I refuse to give the satisfaction to Rufus of going down on my knee to him. You have wasted many of our trained men for all this, and pushed us onto the brink." He turned around, looking to the Commander, waiting next to the captain's chair. "But I believe you deserve another chance. You must have a backup plan."

Keaton slowly but surely, got to his feet, looking at Grievous wearily. "Yes...yes I have...Earth V. He Jin. We have lost many supporters, but he still lives. His refusal to join in on our...initial battles, have left him in a useful position. His planet, the men there, are quite well trained, and we can rally them on our cause. From there we can contact Xehanort and Eraqus, get them to join us once again."

"And what of Chaos? The one who gave you the foolish idea I had advised against?"

"If, he is around, I will allow him to join us once more. But this time I will be cautious with his suggestions."

Grievous didn't like that answer, but he did not respond to it. Instead, he looked to the stars beyond, and waited, as Keaton slowly walked over, watching Grievous, before eventually sitting down on the captains chair. When he was settled in, Grievous looked to his bridge officers. "Inform all ships to change course. We will head to Earth V."

"Yes sir!"

---

Traverse Town. They had finally got to it.

Chad, Richard and many of the others bar Kei and Dark Rich, had moved into the 7th heaven bar to relax for a while. Tifa was fine with this little influx of customers, and was glad to see the likes of Anna, Zhang He and Chad again.

Barret wasn't here this time, and nor was Cloud. Tifa explained that they had to deal with some small trouble in one of the districts. A few heartless, nothing worth mentioning as far as she was concerned. They were a common pest issue within this area, never seeming to run out.

While Sam, Light Rich, Charlie, Chad, Roll, Anna and Megaman sat around one table together, Chad took the moment to give Wily and Light a call. "Hello? Docs?"

Wily was the one who answered. "Chad? Took your time. I was expecting you to call much sooner. How was the rescue mission?"

"We got Richard back." Chad looked over to Richard, seeing he was sitting with Shademan, on a table by themselves, just quietly drinking. "He isn't too pleased with the situation of coming back with us, but I'm sure he'll be fine. We also got another you might want to see when we return. What's the situation on the war?"

"It's pretty much dealt with for now. Keaton and his mooks have fled Earth X, the reports had just gone around, and Zhang Liao and the others have come back. Now Rufus will most likely trigger the cleanup operation his been setting up the moment the report of RE886 getting destroyed came."

"The what now?"

"Cleanup. Thanks to us monitoring the communications, we know who else worked with the Galactic Federation. He has reserve forces set up to deal with them. One of his targets is a scientist by the name of Kei Yuki. It's believed she fell back to the RE886 space station before it blew up. She could've survived. Did you see her?"

Chad felt, a little uneasy. "Yeeah about her Wily...She helped us escape the station before it blew up. She's fairly nice and seems to be on our side. Helped us get all the way to Traverse Town to get me some healing items. Can't we tell Rufus to let her off? You're his old friend right? Can't you get him to?"

He heard the old doc sigh. "I'll contact him and let him know. He'll probably be fine with it, since then he can focus on the others, such as the keybladers and Shadowlaw."

"Shadowlaw? Aren't they the elusive criminal empire? How the hell is he gonna hunt all them down?"

"Probably just have bounties for anyone connected to them, keep on top of their actions...he'll never get rid of them, but it'll make certain sectors a little safer."

"And the keybladers?" Aqua had overheard him say that from the table next to his, and looked over, listening as carefully as possible.

"They mostly work from one planet. Alot easier to target. From what Rufus had set up from what I saw, he'll soon carpet bomb the whole place, since it is just nothing but them. It won't wipe out all known Keyblade users, but it'll send a clear message."

"Bomb an entire planet? Isn't that a little extreme?" Chad sounded surprised.

"It's his call Chad. He had done it to a few of the Protoss worlds, so what's going to stop him from doing it again?"

Aqua was deeply horrified.

"I suppose. Well, anyway, we'll be back home soon. Just waiting for those healing potions."

"Yeah, about that...couldn't you wait until you got back? Our hospital has tons of equipment."

"Nah doc. I think it would be offense to Kei now to just reject what she's getting for me."

"Alright, fine. Call me again when you want me to track you and teleport you back." With that, Wily disconnected the call.

"I'm sorry, but what was that about bombing an entire planet?" Aqua quickly asked, as Chad put his com-link away.

He looked over to her, shrugging a little. "Oh it's not much. Just the Keybladers main planet. Rufus is probably going to burn it all to the ground."...only then does Chad look at her outfit and recognize its style, looked a little concerned now. "...You're a Keyblader aren't you?"

Aqua didn't bother answering him. She quickly got on her own com-link, trying to call Eraqus. "Master Eraqus, please pick up! I need to warn you!"

There was no response.

She quickly moved away from her table, and left, still trying to call Eraqus, leaving Chad feeling a little guilty. "Huh...I should've noticed what she was first and broke it a little easier..."

"I'm surprised you hadn't noticed, she is wearing something that shows off a little bit of her skin." Anna said to him, leaning back and folded her arms, giving him an accusing look.

"...Anna, what's wrong?"

She sighed, annoyed. "Nothing."

"Yeah, nothing. Sure, your face says otherwise."

Anna was about to say something, but then, Kei came into the tavern, with Dark Rich. Kei was now wearing a cape, just like his, and was carrying a small, glowing green bottle, as she came over to Chad's table, and joined him, the clone sitting next to her. "Here you go Chad, this should quickly heal your arm up." She passed him the liquid.

He looked at the bottle oddly, and soon removed the glass lid, and drank the fluid inside...it was like downing a shot of pure peppermint, Chad had to put the bottle down, and cough, as the fluid felt like it was burning his throat. "Goddamn that's strong!"

"It's an Elixir. I knew I had to get one of the best for you." Kei smiled sweetly at him.

Whatever it was precisely, it was doing the trick. Once it got into his stomach, he felt this, warmth flow into his body, and his damaged arm quickly started to feel much better...heck he was able to move it properly once more, as he soon noticed. "Well, it's certainly effective, despite its taste. Thanks."

"So what's your plan from here on out Kei?" Charlie asked.

"I don't precisely know...There's no place I can really go now."

"You could come stay with us at the Hero Base." Roll offered, something that Anna quickly frowned at.

"I won't say yes to that...but I'll have it as an option if I can't think of anything else."

"...Where's Aqua?" Dark Rich asked.

"Oh? She left due to me telling her that, well, Rufus is gonna bomb her planet due to their siding with the GF."

"Any idea where she went?" Kei quickly asked, worried over her ex.

"She just left trying to call someone. Sorry." Chad could only answer with.

"I'll go and find her." Dark Rich got himself back up from the table. "It won't take me long."

"Alright. Thank you. If she needs us, please tell her we can leave right away to help out." Kei watched him depart, before turning back to the others. "I hope Aqua is okay..."

"She will be, don't worry." Chad put his hand over to where Kei's hand was, and gently touched it. "If anything happens, I'll help out too, alright?"

Kei was certainly glad at that, holding his hand. "Thank you. I knew I could count on you."

There was a brief, eerie moment of silence, as Kei seemed to stare into Chad's eyes, which was the last worrying straw for Anna, as she broke the silence. "Well we can't leave you without a drink Kei. Why don't we go over to the bar together and get you one? my treat."

Kei looked to her, and smiled. "Oh, thank you Anna. That would be wonderful." With that, they both got up, and left the table, heading over to where Tifa was.

"...Oh dear Chad, you may have stepped a little too far." Zhang He warned him.

"What? Why? What did I do?"

Over at the bar, Kei soon ordered just some simple red wine, leaning on the counter with Anna. "So, how long have you and Chad been together for?"

"Oh, some time. Speaking of him, I wanted to have a little talk with you about him." Anna replied with.

"Oh?"

Anna gave a deep sigh, getting ready to break it to Kei that, in the end, If she was gonna contest Anna for Chad, she was going to lose. "Listen, Kei, I've noticed the way Chad has been looking at you now and then. And when you wore that new outfit to the bridge, I saw him just staring. He seems really...affectionate towards you, especially with him just now holding your hand."

"He does seem to be quite nice to me, doesn't he? I'm surprised he would feel so close to me so soon. I hope I won't need him to help me out if something happens to Aqua."

"Yes well, that's not what I'm getting at Kei." As Anna spoke, Tifa had returned with Kei's glass of wine, and while Anna paid for it, Kei took a gentle sip. "I'm concerned, as his girlfriend, about the way he is to you."

As Kei stopped sipping her wine and put it on the counter, she looked at Anna. "I guess it is expected really. He must've noticed the connection, the fact we're siblings. He feels comfortable around me."

Anna paused, not sure if she heard that right. "...Come again?"

"Look..." Kei lowered her voice to a whisper, leaning close to Anna. " I was adopted by Dante Yuki when I was just a small child. The one who brought me to him is my guardian, someone named Zuo Ci. He said I would one day find a member of my true family. He said I would know by the eyes, the feeling around the person, the blade he carries. When I saw Chad, I knew it was him. The sword Zuo Ci describe is a perfect match to what Chad has. Don't tell Chad though, alright? I want to break it to him myself."

Anna blinked. "...Yeah. I mean, of course. I won't say a word but, are you sure?"

Kei nodded. "One hundred percent certain. My entire being is telling me he's my brother, and Zuo Ci hasn't been wrong so far."

"Wow...and here I thought...no, nevermind." Anna smiled at the older girl, relieved. "I'm sure Chad will be happy once he knows."

"Good, thats good. Does he know any other members of our family?" Kei asked.

"No direct family members, at least not to my knowledge. He has a human cousin called Dave, who gave him his Net Navi Quickman whilst we lived on Mobius...and Chad did once mistake a drum playing, spiky haired green hedgehog mobian as his brother, but that mess was soon sorted out. Beyond that, he never talks about it, if he knows anything."

"Well maybe we can find out together. Maybe find our actual mother and father..." Kei sounded quite hopeful on that.

"You never know with Chad. You might do. Come on, let's head back to the table." Anna led the way, quite glad on what she knew now.

---

Meanwhile, outside, in the third district of this place, Aqua was just going around in circles, repeatedly trying her com-link to get in contact with Eraqus, or even her fiancée, but matter how many times she tried, there just wasn't an answer. "Come on come on!"

Nothing again. She threw the device on the floor in frustration. "Damnit no! Why can't I reach them!? I need to get off this planet and get home!"

She knew just what to do. She activated her Keyblade armor, and her Keyblade itself transformed into a glider, and as she jumps onto it, she hears a man speak to her. "The reason you can't talk to them is because Rufus already has your world in his sights. Without the space station, Eraqus is oblivious to what is going on and probably hasn't changed his frequency. What do you hope to do once you get there? Do you have transport vessels to help them escape?"

Aqua quickly turned her head, looking at the man, who was the person that once was sitting in the 7th Heaven bar before when Darkmega was here with Chad, the man who wore the golden dog tags and military camouflage jacket, as he slowly walked up to her. "Few of our people can do what I do, we can easily escape and-"

"What about those who can't? You expect to just leave them behind? And what if your world is surrounded by warships? Do you plan to somehow avoid their firepower on your little glider? I know Keybladers are quite able, but even they should know when to draw the line."

"I have to leave!"

"And save just those few people? You won't be able to get transport vessels over to that world in time, and no one wants to support the losing side anymore. Rufus will have his fingers on the trigger already."

"WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST THEN!?"

The man folded his arms. "The Arcadia. I know the ship from my experience. It can carry a fair amount of people, save more then you would've otherwise. Go speak with the captain of the Arcadia. I know you came here with her."

"It's not her concern..." Aqua replied. "She doesn't want to help against the Shinra Federation anymore, I understand that thanks to what Keaton intended with her. If she helps me, she'll be targeted by the Shinra Federation."

"So what?"

"So what!? They'll chase her down!"

"It doesn't matter. She would gladly help you."

"How do you know that!?"

"I know her well enough. Go back to the 7th Heaven. Trust me on this."

She focused back on her glider, ready to aim it upwards and head off to her home...before venting her frustration verbally, and jumping off the gilder, making it return to its normal Keyblade form, and walking away, heading back to the first district. She knew he was right, she needed the Arcadia. As she looked back, she saw he was walking off, hands in his pocket, no longer watching her.

Once she saw the front of 7th Heaven again, she noticed Dark Rich was leaning on the wall near the door, looking at her. "Hm, I wondered if he would speak to you."

Aqua stepped over to him. "You know that stranger then?"

He shook his head. "No, but he seemed to know Kei. He told me to stay put while he handles you. He knew where you were. I asked him why I should trust him, and he said 'you can'."

"And that convinced you?"

He nodded. "I could tell he was speaking the truth. He did what he said he would. Did you manage to contact whoever you wanted to speak to?"

"No, but I need Kei's help." With that, she walked into the bar, with Dark Rich eventually following, seeing her walk over to where Kei was, and joining them.

The new captain of the Arcadia looked up at her ex, listening, as Aqua explained she needed the ship and aid to rescue as many as she could from the eventual fate that would befall her world.

Kei was more than willing from the get go, and Chad reminded her he was willing to help out, as were the likes of Mr Match, Zap, Charlie, Sam, Roll and Anna and pretty much everyone...bar one.

Richard.

As the others gathered in the middle of the Tavern, agreeing to help Kei, he was the only one who remained at his table.

Anna soon noticed Richard's refusal to join in. "So, what do we do about him then?"

Richard overheard her. "Don't mind me, I can just sit around in the ship, watching you possibly get blasted to hell by the Shinra Federation. When it does happen, I'll just take the thing and get the hell out of there."

Sam glared a little, before focusing on the others. "...Yeah no. I don't think we can trust him right now, in my own opinion. We should just send him over to Wily to handle."

Chad nodded. "At least then he can watched over in the base while we help the Keybladers."

Richard stood up, beginning to walk over towards them all. "Oh now come on. Don't any of you trust me not to just sit around and watch you all die? It'll be a great view for me."

"I don't think anyone here trusts you with anything right now. I certainly don't." Anna chided in.

Richard focused on Roll and Shademan. "You two trust me, don't you?"

Shademan shook his head. "I would rather give you some time in the base, get to know all of us again, before I put any real trust back with you."

Roll...Roll had mixed feelings. She could only think of that Richard from the future, on RE886. Her memories were reminding her of the way he gently held her hand, causing her to look away from Richard to avoid eye contact. "...I'm not sure...I want to but...Sorry Richard."

Richard chuckled a little. "So, that's how it is huh? You all would trust my two clones here, but not little ol' me? Fine then. Send me home then. I'll meet you all there."

Chad quickly got on his com-link.

---

Dr Wily was sitting in the lab of the Hero Base on Zebes. He was checking through the files as per the normal routine before planning to get some sleep, when his com-link went off. "Yes?"

"Doc, it's Chad. Listen, only Richard needs to be teleported back. Lock onto him. We're on the world named Traverse Town, first district. The rest of us have got a task to do."

Wily nodded, and begun scanning for Richard. "Why are the rest of you staying behind?"

"I said to someone I would help...and they need help getting people off the world where the Keybladers live. Everyone else is willing to lend their support."

Wily straight away warned Chad. "Do not go there Chad. That place is a direct target for Rufus. If you all get involved in that situation-"

"Wily we can't just leave those people to die, not when the one I said I'd help is gonna go herself. Fuck Rufus."

"Chad I'm serious, you need to stay out of that business!"

"I'm sorry doc, I can't."

Wily finally locked onto Richard, and started to teleport him over, as Darkmega walked into the labs. "Hey Wily, got any idea when Chad will be back? Medi wants me, him and Anna to go to the hologram to do a little hiking and..."

He stopped, as Richard appeared in a blue flash of light, in front of Darkmega."HOLY CRAP!" was all the dark Navi yelled out, before jumping back and aiming his buster at his once-ally.

"Relax idiot. I'm not here to kill you today." Richard certainly wasn't pleased to see him.

"Alright doc, see ya for now." Chad disconnected the call.

"That goddamn boy! Of all the things to do! Does he want Rufus to think we're against him!?" Wily was angered by the mobian lad, and turned the face Richard and Darkmega, with the latter slowly lowering his arm cannon.

"So what's Chad done now? Why isn't he here to help me keep Richard in check?" Darkmega quickly asked, keeping an eye on the Zerg Hybrid.

"The boy has decided to possibly help deteriorate our relationship with the Shinra Federation by rescuing those they plan to destroy, the damned annoyance, I swear if he really fucks this up...and as for you, Richard..."

"Hey gramps."

"I want you to head to the hospital room. I'll call Forte and Laserman to escort you. Medi will then check you over to see what state you're in since the last time you lived with us."

Darkmega was quick on the response. "You are not putting my girlfriend near him!"

Richard smirked, in a dark, worrying way. "Oh, she's your girlfriend now? I'll have to remember that, won't I?"

The dark Navi was frozen on the spot, staring right at Richard. He could see it in Richards eyes, that he had some cruel thoughts going through his mind. "Doc, I, I really think it should be you or Light to check him over. Then put him under lock and key until we're sure he'll be fine."

Wily thought about this for a moment. "Hmm, well I can check him over, then when Chad returns, he can do what he did for you, keep an eye on Richard until we're sure we can trust him again. Perhaps Medi can have some time off."

Richard chuckled, looking at Wily. "Grandfather, you hurt me. Don't you trust me anymore either? Your own flesh and blood?"

Dr Wily moved from his seat, and walked over towards the door, seemingly ignoring what Richard had said. "Come on. Let's get this over with."

"Fine then." Richard began following his gramps, and as he went by Darkmega, the Navi was sure he was giving him the most evil glare he could muster...Darkmega had a horrible bad feeling about Richard being back around here.

---

The Land of Departure, the main military world of Mickey's forces before his surrender to Rufus and the Shinra Federation.

The especially trained, elite users of the Keyblade all come from this rather compact and bustling world. The number of those that were fully combat ready and deployed across Mickey's territory, last known to the Galactic Federation, reached a peak of seventy five thousand. This didn't include those that were new recruits, handling the training that can take two to three years to accomplish. If they were included, along with two small towns of civilians on the planet, the population was at two hundred and fifty thousand.

Like many of the worlds in Mickey's domain, they were much smaller compared to the size of a standard populated planet, like Earth X, yet their gravity was unaffected, meaning there wasn't any special need for anti-gravity shoes for visitors to any of the planets.

The upside to this was that many people could visit them safely and bring trade without any special requirements.

The downside was invaders would have no trouble in attacking, so long as they could handle the normal gravity rating.

Like the Zerg.

There was a reason that there was communicating difficulties. The man who spoke to Aqua was right about one thing, Eraqus and those on the planet did not know of the fall of RE886, and had not changed their channel frequencies. This was because they were greatly distracted by the sudden surge of Zerg attacking their world.

Eraqus had tried the com-link several times himself to try and find out what the hell is going on, but soon assumed that this attack was launched by Keaton himself. He was guessing that Keaton had turned on him, believing the Keybladers were a threat to his position of power once he kills Rufus and restores the GF back as the main force. He tried to order those he sent to other worlds to support the GF rebellions to pull back, but was unable to reach them as well.

He currently had around 30,000 trained fighters left on his world. All the others had departed to fight elsewhere in this civil war.

Unfortunately, those numbers he had, were dwindling.

The sheer number of Zerg that had come out of a GF warship that had warped in above their world was not too much of a concern, as he felt, so long as they calmly evacuated the two towns and bring the people to the castle, the threat could be eliminated and he can then demand from Keaton why the fuck he allowed this to happen.

But the numbers only got larger and larger the moment the Zerg landed. There were several Overminds present in the Zerg forces, and with their ability to create eggs, which can hatch in minutes thanks to their rapid growth genetics, more and more Zerg rushed the groups Eraqus sent out to clear them up. Worse still, a fair few of those Keybladers had become mutated and infected by the enemy.

Eraqus has had little choice but to close up the entire castle, as the Zerg had soon approached, once they had cleared the towns of any people lagging behind and the Keybladers who dared to stand before them. It was as he stood on one of the castle walls, watching the last unit he dared to send beyond the walls, a group of two thousand Keybladers stand at the ready, that he saw who led the Zerg, and confirmed his fears that Keaton had turned on him.

The 5th known clone of Richard. Unholy. He had been to Char, he had rallied the Zerg as ordered, over sixteen different broods accepted his authority. But as he brought them all on board the ship he was assigned to, a quick little mass slaughtering later, and the entire crew of the ship were either killed, or part Zerg now.

Those Eraqus had allowed to go outside the castle to protect it, were receiving support the moment they engaged the enemy, by many of the other Keyblade users who were on the castle walls with Eraqus, using their numerous magic attacks to give long range backup and casting cure to keep their people alive.

But this was a danger in itself curing them. If the attack on the person was to solely infect them, then curing them is simply closing the wound up. The magic that these people used was not adapted to handle the horrible disease the Zerg brought. Before they knew it, nearly half of those that were making this stand were mutating, screaming out in sheer pain, before turning on those still normal.

One female Keyblader, with dark green shoulder length hair, carrying a red coloured Keyblade, found herself striking down a comrade, as his arm had grown completely out of proportion, twisted and became pretty much connected up to his Keyblade, before his eyes turned blood red, and he swung the weapon at her. She then had to take down another two Zerg, slicing through their skulls with her weapon. All she could keep hearing were the screams of pain and terror from her allies, as more and more came at her.

She saw waves of ice, fire and lightning rain down, as those she was trying to protect were giving whatever they could to save her and those left, but soon, she found herself knocked to the ground, with a Zerg on top of her, after she was distracted by another, slicing that one in half, before this one got to her.

It's fangs quickly ripped through her armor, right at her stomach, and tore into her flesh, as she could only scream out, trying to use her weapon to get it off, but it continued to rip into her, chew into her flesh, she even saw it tearing out her intestines, feasting on them, before her view was blocked by another Zerg appearing above her, making her look up at it directly, before it opened it's maw, and dived it's head down at her face.

A puddle of blood quickly grew around her, as she screeched for a second, before making nothing more then gurgling sounds, her arms and legs going limp, as bone and muscle could be heard being chewed up. As her body was being yanked around slightly by the two Zerg eating it, a small heart shaped silver frame could be seen in her pocket, sticking out a little. A picture of her, holding her fiancée close.

Aqua.

---

As she stood on the bridge of the Arcadia, she felt something terrible had happened, watching the view of the passing by stars, as the ship was heading towards her home.

"Kei, we're picking up several warships now. Long range scanners just caught them. All SF marked. They're not moving from their positions. We've also picked up a single GF warship." Count Zap had said aloud, making sure Kei could hear him from her seat on the bridge.

"One ship?" She seemed quite surprised at that.

"Yep. Just one."

"Any idea where it's at?" Mr Match asked his companion.

"It's over the very planet we are heading to."

Chad, who was standing with Anna and the others of the Hero Base, shrugged a little. "Obviously its for defensive purposes, right?"

Kei shook her head. "I don't recall Keaton ever agreeing to let a ship protect their world, or even giving Eraqus one."

"Any ID on it Zap?" Maddy was now worried, looking over at her friend.

"Yep. GF Karhera."

The 7th clone looked over at Zap for a moment, then turned to his captain. "That's the ship assigned to Unholy to retrieve the Zerg from Char. It should not be in this location."

"Huh, who bets the ship is now riddled with out of control Zerg and they've gone down to the planet?" Charlie was not sounding overjoyed by that prospect as he said it.

"If so, landing this ship will be extremely difficult." Light Rich had been standing near Mr Match.

"Suggestions?" Kei asked them all.

"Well, if we got into orbit of the planet, I should be able to use my Chaos Control to get some of us down there. We could then get to Aqua's friends and maybe find a safe location for us to get them away from there." Chad offered.

Beyond his idea, no one else was coming up with anything. There were no shuttles on the ship, and no one else had an ability to teleport. Aqua was the only other person who could leave, but now with the high chance of Zerg, she knew there was safety in numbers. "We have to go with that. Kei, I suggest you and your crew stay and man the ship alright? I'm going to go with Chad and his allies."

"...Alright. Please be careful."

---

Soon the vessel reached orbit, noticing the lack of response from the GF warship, and Chad used his power to take himself, Aqua, Sam, Charlie, Shademan, Roll, Anna, Megaman and Zhang He down to planet.

They had appeared, from a flash of green light, in the middle of one of Tudor-era looking towns...which was littered with the bodies of the dead, both Zerg and human.

Anna quickly picked up on the smell. "Oh, jesus..." She was gagging.

"...Well this place looks dead. Aqua, if anything bad was to happen, where would your people fall back to?" Charlie asked.

Aqua simply answered by pointing it out, in the distance.

Several miles away, were several steep mountains, covered in grass and stone, waterfalls spewing out of a couple. One particular one had an easily seen spiral path, leading up to a clearing, that was connected to a bridge...leading to the castle of the Keybladers.

It seemed to have no ground beneath it, and what was holding it seemingly in place, appeared to be numerous huge, golden chains, connected to four other mountains, they didn't appear to be enough to hold the weight of the place to the naked eye, yet...they did.

"How the hell?" Sam was shocked at the sight.

"You'd be surprised what technology we house inside that place when SCI came and gave us gifts to help our advancement. Problem right now is, if the Zerg are attacking, there is only one way in from the planet, the main entrance. They'll have that covered." The blue haired Keyblader explained.

"Well now I can see the place, a little more Chaos controlling won't hurt...I hope." Chad had smiled at first, but a face of worry soon took over. He could use Chaos energy quite well, but his was quite limited in comparison to say, Shadow.

He focused his mind, and used it once again, moving them from the desolate town...into a overly crowded grand hall of the castle, right in the middle of it, filled with men, women and children alike, only several of them noticing their arrival, and quickly moving away in fear, soon alerting more.

"Chad this was really the best spot you could get?" Shademan wasn't precisely a crowd person, and was trying to avoid being so close to all the people around him.

"Aqua!?" One voice quickly called out.

That got her attention, noticing an armoured Keyblade user quietly getting passed the civilians towards the new arrivals. "Aqua! Thank god you've returned! Where are the others that went with you to Gaia IX?"

Aqua quickly dismissed that question. "Forget about them, Where's Master Eraqus?"

"Over by the main door! Our recent dispatch outside to stop the invaders are dead! We're now just holding a constant barrier up around the door!" The person answered.

Aqua didn't stay put, she quickly starting to shove people aside, trying to get over to the main door. Chad the others were quickly following suit, with Anna, Roll and Megaman taking the time to also apologise to those they push past.

Near the great door that lead back outside, were numerous Keyblade users, all using their weapons, pointing them towards the door, white light coming out of each and every one, hitting the door, and covering it in a holy looking aura. Eraqus was in the middle of the group, holding out his Keyblade with one hand, the same energy coming from his as the others had. "Focus everyone! We have to hold them back until we know of a way to get the innocents out of here! Flexen's group! Get ready to move in and replace Chalaus and his team! They'll need to recharge shortly!"

"Master!"

Aqua's voice got his attention, making him stop his energy usage, and quickly look over to her, before moving away from those holding the barrier up. "Aqua!? I'm glad to see your alive! How did you get in!?"

"With help from my friends here." Motioning at Chad and the others.

Eraqus quickly recognised Chad. "His a member of the Hero Base...You've joined with them?"

"Not precisely, but I'm not an ally of the GF anymore either. They were planning to harm Kei if they succeeded in defeating Rufus."

"Well, I suppose this explains everything...no doubt the Galactic Federation also planned for our destruction too. No doubt you know the Zerg are attacking."

"I take it the fight does not go well?" Aqua was deeply concerned.

"Not at all. We are down to just over ten thousand capable Keybearers, most are on the castle walls and windows, using their magic to keep the Zerg down. I've had the recruits, the trainees, go to the shelter to protect all the civilians there, those we could fit in. All of these here could not. They're condemned to wait for their doom, if we fail. Those in the underground shelter can seal themselves in, and hopefully, by sending a distress signal, someone will come for them."

"What happened to our numbers? I thought you made sure to keep a majority of our people on this planet?"

"I did...I tried to cut the losses when we were holed up here, leaving a willing volunteer force to hold them at the mountain point, but many, many others dared to leap off the walls, to join the fighting, refusing to allow what those volunteers died for to be nothing...and I know some of them are still alive right now, giving their last ounce of strength to hold back the wave of these, aliens...and our mutated siblings in arms."

Aqua knew what to ask next, one question she feared the answer to. "What of Pulsum? Is she alive? Is she alright?"

Eraqus didn't answer at first. He looked away from one of his more personally loved pupils for a moment, before closing his eyes. "I'm sorry. She demanded to be part of the volunteer force. She had assumed you were killed, like we all believed the Galactic Federation had done to those that joined in their rebellions."

Aqua fell silent. She felt a pain in her chest, knowing her loved one was either dead, or a monster...a fate much worse.

Sam knew he had to take over on her conversing with her master. "Hey old geezer, we seriously need to get your people out of here. Not only is there gonna be Zerg swarming your planet, but sooner or later Rufus is planning to bomb the shit out of you."

"We have no ships. Only those trained will be able to leave now...everyone else in the castle..." Eraqus trailed off.

"We have a ship, up in orbit. Do you have anywhere around the castle that's a connection point for it? A landing site or something?" Anna asked.

"Will it be able to carry everyone?" Eraqus looked over at her.

"It's not the biggest ship...probably a maximum of, I dunno, five thousand? Six? It's not a colony carrier nor troop carrier." Charlie answered with.

Eraqus' face dropped a little, looking at the group before him, then at those in the hall. "There are at least eight thousand here, not including those trained in our art. We filled the shelter made for us by SCI with everyone we could. These are those that could not fit into it."

"Well look, maybe we can pick one lot up, drop them off somewhere, then come back for more, and keep repeating-" Chad begun to say, before Shademan butted in.

"No. We don't know when the bombing run will occur, we may not have that time. I doubt we can just drop the population in Traverse Town or any other planet without first getting somewhere to set up a site for them."

"We can't just take one lot and leave and not bother trying!"

"As Zap said, there are SF warships nearby. They'll soon be coming. We don't want to be here when they arrive, unless we want to risk the Arcadia going down, killing us, and those we're trying to help."

"...You need to get all those you can out of here. We cannot save them all, but we can't condemn them all to die." Eraqus answered with, focusing on those of the Hero Base.

"Master?" Aqua finally came back into focus, pushing her grief momentarily aside.

"We, the keybearers, can easily escape and get away from the planet when we know we have to. The underground shelter was built right beneath this very castle. SCI granted to us should any invaders come and we are unable to stop them. It was built for a population of 120,000. We've pushed it to its very limit with an extra 20,000. Those down in the there will be protected from the bombing and the Zerg, hopefully. We've never properly tested it before. But before they seal themselves in, the distress beacon and the protection sequence will need to be activated."

"First things first. Where is the distress beacon?" Sam asked.

"The distress beacon, the device itself, a probe, is several miles away, ready to launch into orbit. The signal trigger for it is several floors up. The path to that should be clear, but I know several small teams of my fighters went up to try and activate it...and never came back."

"Don't worry. I'll go handle the distress beacon. I've dealt with the Zerg before." Chad offered, before turning to the others, noticing Anna was about to say something. "Anna I know you want to come with me, that's fine but stay close, Zhang He, I know you will also want to come with, to protect Anna."

If Anna did want to say something, she stopped now.

"What's the protection sequence?" Charlie wanted to know.

"The protection sequence...is to destroy the castle." Eraqus really wasn't happy to say that.

Aqua was shocked. "Destroy it!?"

"My predecessor agreed to it with SCI. As you know Aqua, down at the lowest floor in this place, is the teleportation pad, set to directly take people to the underground shelter. If we leave with this place intact, the Zerg could easily use it and kill those inside that place. What we use to keep this place afloat is a grand energy orb that we have set up long, long ago, and the gold chains connected to the nearby mountains...We need to destroy the chains."

"SCI were kind enough to set up explosives into each of those mountains to complete the job. The triggers for them are in the four towers, in the other segments of the castle, two to the east, two to the west. With all four destroyed, the energy orb with suffer severe strain from the sudden extra weight being thrown on it, and if what SCI predicted is correct...it should simply break down, and the castle will fall, denying anything from getting to the shelter. The triggers won't be hard to find, they stand out compared to what we have around here, and have been set in the highest points of each tower."

Anna understood. "Then the others should split up. Shademan, Megaman, Roll, why don't you three deal with the east two? Just get to them, turn the things on, make the explosions, then run back. Sam, Charlie-"

"Don't bother with Charlie. I'll go and handle the west two towers." Sam pulled out his twin colt pistols, ready for action. "Someone needs to stay behind and contact Kei remember, whilst we run around."

Charlie looked a little baffled. "I'm kinda expecting Aqua will tend to that while you and me handle the Zerg."

Aqua disagreed, getting her Keyblade ready. "No. Charlie, I'll leave it to you. Sam, I'm coming with you to kill some of those alien bastards. Master, please get the people here ready for the ship. We'll get them out of here. Just let us know when you got all you can on the ship, and we'll trigger the blasts."

Eraqus nodded. "Alright. Be safe, all of you...and thank you."

---

There was a reason why those small teams Eraqus had sent before for the distress beacon never came back.

There was the clear and loud sound of a neck being snapped, before a boy's body, covered in Keyblade armor, fell to the ground in a heap, his Keyblade landing close by him.

This had happened within a decent sized room, with metal flooring, huge glass windows showing the blue sky of this world, stone walls and ceiling, with marbled yellow pillars. There was a marble staircase leading up to this room. Here, was a decent sized computer, with a huge screen, set up opposite to the staircase. This was what SCI had sorted out for the Keybladers many years ago, as once the Keybladers realized that there was many, MANY more worlds beyond Mickey's domain, there was technology out there that could threaten them from their own skies, weapons of fire that could rain down on them at any time.

In this room now was around two dozen bodies. Some had been decapitated, others had signs of a sword slicing their armor and slicing them open, and some had signs of their skulls, chests and limbs being crushed. The one who done it had now walked back over to the computer, before turning around and standing there, looking at the staircase. Diamas Link, the Master Sword he carried glowed with its menacing red aura. Next to him, was Chaos, focused on the computer, pressing a few buttons on the computer. On the screen, was a blueprint for a device, and options to modify it, as he seemed to be doing. "...He's coming. They are going to be the last ones Eraqus has sent."

Diamas chuckled. "I hope so. These people don't give much of a fight, and are so gullible to try one at a time rather than attacking me all at once..."

"At least they were sporting enough to do so. Darkmega and Chad weren't, and it proved to be your failing."

"Hmph. So what? They won't win again. I'm not trapped in a machine shell this time. I can show them my real strength. I can show Chad now, kill him, then deal with Darkmega."

" We have an agreement. I shall deal with Chad this time." Chaos looked to his ally. "I want to see if what you said is true...perhaps we can get some use from him."

"If not, I want to be the one to kill him. I felt pain before that body was destroyed, I felt it as he destroyed the Matrix...I want him to pay in kind." Diamas then could hear footsteps, thanks to his Hyrulian ears. "...They're on the floor beneath us. Three of them. Two are light footed, one is slightly heavier."

"He's brought some friends then. Should be interesting to see who would be foolish enough to follow him." Chaos finally finished whatever he was doing, making the blueprints disappear off the screen, before turning around.

They heard the three come up the stairs, and soon before them, was Chad, Anna and Zhang He. "What the!? Chaos!?"

Chaos gently pushed his sunglasses back up his nose slightly. "Chad Oswald and Anna Hael...It's been too long since the last time we all met in person. And you must be Zhang He. I've read up on some of the Wei forces more noticeable officers...Your appearance is the most, unusual."

"My appearance is of pure beauty, and I know of you, villain! My dear Anna has told me of your cruel actions during your time on Mobius!" Zhang He readied his claws.

"Oh has she now? I'm glad someone is spreading positive news about me."

"What are you doing here Chaos!? And why is..." Anna stopped, staring at Diamas. "...Link?"

Chad was just as shocked. "Link what's with the get up and why are you here with Chaos?"

Diamas gave an evil grin. "I know there is a hero who carries my looks from my world. There must always be one, as the legend kept to, as there must be a Zelda, and a connection to Demise. But I am from years long past...yet we've already met before." He finished that with pure hate coming from his voice.

Chad just raised his eyebrow. "I'm sorry? Have we?"

"Of course, you've only met him when he was much, much bigger...Diamas, jog his memory."

Diamas was more than happy to. "Chad Oswald...you once again stand before Heaven's Judgement. You turned against me, entered my body, destroyed me from within. But like when I fought your blood before, I have returned again!"

Chad clicked right away. "UNICRON!?"

"Perhaps someday your blood will figure out to make sure I am entirely gone when they defeat me, instead of expecting it."

Chad quickly pulled his Blade of Darkness out of its casing and had it ready. "So what, is this a body you stole a long time ago and stashed it somewhere for when your big ol' machine body goes pop?"

"This, I, am the brain of the machine. I slept within the mind, controlling everything...Chaos here woke me after my body was lost."

"So that's your game is it Chaos? Get Unicron to serve you? That's it? What for?" Chad looked back at his old enemy.

"I have my reasons for working with him Chad, he is no servant of mine...and he is not the one you need to focus on." Chaos took a few steps forward, clenching his fists. "I believe we haven't come to blows for a time. Shall we?"

"Gladly!" Chad charged, before Anna could get a word in to try and stop him.

He should've known from the moment he swung his blade, and Chaos easily sidestepping it the first time, that this battle was not in his favour. Yet Chad tried, again and again, sometimes mixing it up, taking steps back, unleashing his Chaos beams, the red energy being avoided like it was the slowest thing Chaos has ever encountered, and Chad transforming into his mobian form, using homing attacks and spin dashes, only for Chaos to block and punch Chad away from him.

Zhang He wanted to get involved, but Anna made sure he didn't. Chad was quickly becoming reckless with his attacks, he was doing whatever he could, even trying his Silfarion and Explosion sword abilites, the blasts doing nothing, and Chaos pretty much dancing to avoid the much faster weapon. Anna had to, at one point, duck to the floor, with Zhang He, when Chad had yelled, something, and before they knew it, he had the Zeta Cannon in his hands, aimed at Chaos, who was standing between the lad and his girlfriend, and seemingly teleported aside when it fired, the energy blast just missing her and her bodyguard.

Chaos was fucking with Chad. That much was obvious. He was probing the boy, testing him. Chad had figured this out, yet a part of him was demanding he keep attacking, to kill, to destroy Chaos. "Come now Chad, you're still holding back. I know you have it within you. It could help you defeat me, or at least make me take you seriously."

"When and how did you become so capable of avoiding everything I throw at you!?" Chad yelled at Chaos, firing yet another Chaos energy beam, and again, Chaos avoiding it.

"Oh I always was capable, but I felt little need to give off my real potential back on Mobius." Chaos had to avoid a sudden cluster of mini bombs, easily ducking and weaving between them, letting himself become engulfed by the smoke they left behind. "I know what you have within you. As you grow more tired, it's becoming more noticeable. Let it out. Let it go."

"What the hell are you talking about Chaos?! EXPLOSION!" His Blade of Darkness changed once again, and he slammed it into the ground, the explosion covering him and Chaos...either had seemed to move once the smoke cleared, to his annoyance.

"You know what I'm talking about. It begs you to keep going, to keep fighting, because you're tapping back into it." Chaos blocked another homing attack from Chad, before kicking him away, sending him sliding across the ground, before the red hedgehog jumped back on his feet.

"He knows it's no longer sealed away. You're now trying to weakly deny what it wants to give you, what power it wants to share. I know what it can give." The man in the leather trenchcoat was smirking as he said it.

Chad had to focus for a moment, breathing a little fast, trying to recover and to think up another plan of attack...that's when he noticed it. There was something flowing inside him. A special power that he was sure he had felt before...When he killed that Keyblade user. That wonderful feeling he had.

Only now could he feel it was a separate entity...and it wanted Chaos dead, like he did. He could faintly hear it's alluring whispers, it's urges on his body, trying to give him a new source of power, no, not new, one he had before. It felt very familiar to him.

"You seemed distracted Chad. In the middle of a fight too." Chaos pointed out, before suddenly aiming his hand towards Anna, a red glow beginning to appear in it, as he was about to use his own version of the Chaos beam. "That's a terrible mistake to make."

That was all that was needed. Chad had suddenly used Chaos Control, to teleport himself right before Chaos, and in one hand, swung the Blade of Darkness, while in the other, there was a dark cyber sword. His old enemy had no choice but to jump back, out of the way of both blades as they crossed one another.

"There it is. I knew by threatening her life you-" Chaos was about to continue talking, when Chad ran at him, after quickly turning back to his human form, and swinging the weapons again, Chaos easily sidestepping them.

That's when Chad disabled the dark cyber sword. "Awaken! MELFORCE!" He roared, his Blade of Darkness suddenly swallowed by a dark purple aura, before transforming into a new form, a longer blade which was half purple, half light green. He swung the weapon Chaos's way, and out of it, it was like a hurricane had been unleashed, surprisingly being able to push Chaos back, forcing him to cast around himself, a red energy barrier, made of his own Chaos energy to stop the sudden sheer force.

Chad didn't let up. "Awaken! BLUE CRIMSON!"

His blade now morphed once again, dividing into two swords, one seemingly covered in violet coloured fire, and the other in a deep purple sheet of ice, before rushing towards his foe, and using both blades at once, smashing into the barrier, and shattering it, making Chaos teleport from one side of the room, to the other, slightly impressed. "Much better Chad. Much much better. Come on."

Chad spun round, and was ready to rush at Chaos again, snarling in fury. Anna noticed then, that as Chad held his two weapons, the blades appeared to be, melting slightly, more precise, as if the swords were unsure what precise form they were supposed to be in, as if Chad wasn't entirely controlling it anymore. As he soon put the blades together, restoring his sword back to normal, the weapon was still slightly distorted. "Oh I still got another ability I'm gonna use to get rid of you Chaos! It helped with Unicron, and now it'll help with you! LIFE SOUL!"

This was a major error of judgement.

As the holy white aura covered him, the purple aura around his blade quickly vanished, and his sword was back to normal...along with him falling to one knee, dropping the weapon, yelling out in pain, and he put his arms around himself. It was like he was being burnt alive.

"CHAD!" Anna quickly rushed over to him, as the boy fell onto his side, curled up slightly, still in pure agony. Zhang He quickly came over and readied his claws, glaring at Chaos, and Diamas.

Chaos knew what was wrong. "A bad combination Chad. One cannot agree with the other. I'm sure you'll remember that next time around."

"There won't be a next time." That was Diamas, as he pulled off of his back, the Master Sword, and begun walking towards Chad, Anna and Zhang He...he was stopped by Chaos looking at him, positive the man was giving him a warning glare.

"No. There will be. The boy will have his use Unicron. I'll deal with Zhang He and Anna."

"You will not lay a finger of Anna while I am arou-" Zhang He was trying to say, before Chaos suddenly appeared before the Wei officer, and smashed him right across the face with his fist, sending him flying to the side and smacking into the ground.

He was out like a light.

Anna quickly noticed the lack of her bodyguard, and before she knew it, Chaos had his hand around her neck, and slowly lifted her up from the ground, away from Chad, his grip having got tighter and tighter, cutting her air supply off, as she weakly struggled, reaching out to her boyfriend.

Chad was watching in horror, but his body refused to move. There was a battle going on inside himself, and it forced him to remain where he was, constantly in pain, his eyes locked on Chaos and Anna, as the latter soon went limp, falling unconscious, before Chaos dropped her, looking at Chad for a moment, then heading over to Diamas. "W-wait, Chaos...you...you bastard..."

He couldn't follow Chaos anymore. His body didn't want to move, as there was now a sharp pain all over his head...before darkness engulfed his vision, followed by eerie silence.

---

"Ugh...My head..." Chad mumbled weakly to himself.

'There were two voices you know. One was wanting you to murder Chaos, the other was demanding that first voice to piss off, essentially.' The boy knew this was his conscience.

"Huh?"

'What was going on during all that. The first voice is what let you do those fancy tricks, and the other was the one that helped us defeat Unicron before. They couldn't agree with one another.'

Chad slowly opened his eyes.

There was a grey, stone ceiling above him, with a ceiling fan, that had a small light, dimly lighting the room up he was in.

He was a single bed, made of wood, with a huge red, puffed up cover on it, and two soft pillows that his head was resting on. He could feel a presence nearby him, sitting on a metal chair, leaning back on it, one leg over the other, looking slightly amused. It was Chad, but his mobian self.

Chad didn't turn his head to focus on it. "Mind telling me where we are?"

The mobian shrugged. 'I'll just say it's a safe location for you, while the universe continues to move on. Minutes here are hours out there.'

"Am I dead?"

'You already know the answer, idiot.'

Chad nodded, slowly sitting up. "Yeah. I didn't think this was the Farplanes."

Around the red walls of the room, were portraits. Alot of them seemed to be blurred out, while there was only two that weren't...One of Chad, and one of a white phoenix, rising from a wave of grey fire, it seemed. The wall ahead of Chad, was a huge clear window, showing beyond this place...was darkness, a void, with faint, green lines, seemingly made of numbers, now and then, heading downwards.

"Is there a way to leave? I'm worried about Anna." Chad now asked.

The mobian shook his head. 'Not without some outside help guy. You've been hurt quite badly. More so then what that Richard did to you on the space station. You always come here when in a severe condition.'

"Why do I feel calm?"

'It's how you've always been when you come and visit. Probably because of the damaged state you always get yourself in beforehand. You probably feel quite num.' The mobian had stood up, and walked towards the window, looking outside it.

"Yeah, I do. So I've been here before?"

'Several times. You never remember.'

"Why?"

'Because you're not allowed to. I'll warn you now, we've had this conversation before.'

Chad was now looking around, before slowly forcing himself to move to one side of the bed, and put his feet on the black carpeted floor. "I hope Anna is okay."

'I wonder about Roll and the others. We did leave them at a rather bad time. Now they have to handle the entire situation without us. Good job, you offered to help Kei, your one of the first to be knocked out of it.'

"I had to use the Life Soul. I felt it was the best option to enhance myself further to match Chaos."

'It's effective, but with that other voice too, it's dangerous to us. I think the only time it'll be safe to use is when you're about to cross fuse with Darkmega and his soul.'

Chad looked to the mobian. "Why do you say that?"

The red hedgehog turned around, facing Chad. 'Because his very similar to that voice. He can help both it and your Life Soul get along, for a short while.'

The boy then felt tired again, slowly laying back down on the bed, yawning. "Similar? How so?"

'You'll figure it out. Seems like our time is up here. Was kinda expecting you to sleep all the way through this. Anyway, better get back to business.'

Chad closed his eyes. "Hey, can't you at least tell me?"

There was no answer.

"Come on, at least a small hint? I promise I won't tell anybody else."

"A small hint? About what?" A new voice responded with.

Chad groaned, and felt like his body was suffering from aches and small amounts of pain, as he opened his eyes once again, filling them with a new, bright set of lights from a metal ceiling.

It didn't take him long to figure out where he was. A soft medical bed, several computers and monitors nearby, and one sexy Net Navi nurse looking at him through her red tinted visor. Smiling at him, as his eyes adjusted to the light. "M, Medi?"

Medi nodded. "Welcome back to the living Chad. Took you long enough. So what do you want a small hint to?"

Chad shook his head a little, eventually making himself sit up, noticing that he had only his boxers on, and that there was a grey sheet covering most of him. He was of course, in the hospital room of the Hero Base. "A hint? What?"

Medi had moved back to allow him a little space. "You said ' Come on, at least a small hint, I promise I won't tell anybody else.'"

"Whatever it was I wanted to know, I've forgotten." Chad dismissed it. "Probably like I wanted the number of the donkey cart or something...so anyway, how did I get here? What happened at the Land of Departure?"

"The place where you were teleported out of you mean? I'm not sure. Anna and Zhang He were brought here as well. Charlie had found you three and managed to get in contact with Wily, who had to adjust the settings of the teleportation system to get you three back."

Chad was surprised. "You mean something happened to us?...Wait...CHAOS! UNICRON!" He quickly got off the bed, the cover nearly falling off him, he managed to catch it, and quickly wrapped it around his lower half. "I was fighting Chaos! He threatened Anna, I snapped and...and that's all I recall! Did Charlie see them!?"

Medi couldn't answer that. "Wily only told me you three were coming to the hospital Chad. I just nursed you all back to health. Zhang He recovered first about eight hours ago, while Anna recovered about seven. She had a little bruising around her neck."

"Bruising?...I remember, Chaos had her by the neck at one point, while I was on the ground...in pain over something. Look, Medi, can you get me my clothes? I need to see Wily."

"Alright. Just warning you now though, Wily's most likely gone to bed at this time. It is 2 in the morning. Regal might be up doing the nightshift, or Keira, or Yuichiro. They did say about the others having not yet returned and want me on standby. Had to turn off my sleep subroutine." With that, Medi walked over to a drawer nearby, and begun to get out Chad's gear, as well as picking up and putting his Blade of Darkness nearby him.

He soon got himself dressed, and headed out of the hospital, walking off into the nearby lab, ignoring the little aches and pains as he went, and only briefly noticing the fact only Laserman was sitting around in the main room, looking right at him.

The problem with that Navi was the lack of facial features, Chad couldn't tell if he was happy to see him or not, instead it just kept turning it's head and watching, whilst it just sat there, arms folded.

Inside the lab, he saw that Keira was there, sitting back in one of the chairs, yawning, and reading a book, by the looks of it, on robotics, named 'Will robots one day reproduce like organics?'.

"Keira?"

She idly looked at him. "Hey, welcome back."

"Shouldn't you be focused on the computers? Ya know, watching out for the others over at Land of Departure?"

She shook her head. "No point. That place is being bombed to shit."

"...Excuse me?!"

"Relax Chad." She licked the tip of her finger and turned a page in her book. "They already called in while leaving the planet two hours back. Said about only managing to get a few thousand out. Zerg swarmed the castle. They're just getting the people to a world someone called Eraqus knows of."

"Damn..." He walked in, leaning on the desk a little with his hands. "Only a few thousand...I should've been more careful with what I was doing, could've helped out somehow...At least the rest of the people on that world are in the shelter made by SCI."

Keira stopped reading, looking at Chad. "A SCI shelter? Planet one? Made for bomb runs and or planet wide disasters?"

Chad nodded. "I'm going to assume so."

"Oh..."

"Oh?"

"Well." She put down her book. "How am I gonna say this...look, SCI wasn't that good with their planning out with those. I've seen one of those shelters before during a history tour. Death-traps. Literal death-traps. I doubt those things were tested. They use air vents whereas the more current day ones work with air recyclers as well as the vents, so at least if the bombs destroy the vents, you can still survive. The power core for those shelters are very unstable as well, and lack effective cooling systems, so leakages of plasma are highly common. Top it all off with the fact out of five shelters being tested under a twenty feet depth of earth against the normal known round of explosives from a constant barrage from a bomb run, or energy assault, only 1 out of the 5 didn't get completely wiped out."

"...Can't we, can't we warn them? Get them out?" Chad was trying to register the image of over a hundred thousand people either choking to death, irradiated by the energy core or being incinerated by the bombs while expecting what they were in was safe, not a tomb for them all.

She shook her head. "Normally there's a transmitter launched up into orbit that sends out a distress signal. We could've used it as a relay and try to teleport some of the folk out."

"They failed to launch it?"

"From what I heard, they got it launched, just it exploded midway. Someone tampered with its systems to make sure it couldn't survive, obviously. Whoever fucked with it knew what it could be used for besides a distress call."

"Chaos...Him and Unicron were both at the computer for it when me, Anna and Zhang He arrived there..."

Keira leaned forward, raising her eyebrow slightly in wonder. "Unicron?"

"It's him but it isn't. It's a body that, that he uses and...look can you call the docs for me? I seriously need to talk to them. I'll call up Darkmega. The planet eater isn't entirely gone yet."

---

Rufus had now returned to Gaia VII, back into the Shinra HQ, back to the top floor, sitting at his desk.

Before him, was Robotnik, Master Chief, Snake and the Net Navi Colonel. Each of them were giving the overall reports he wanted. Robotnik to report on the casualties and planets status, Master Chief to tell him of the amount of captured officers and troopers of the GF army, Snake to inform him about the status of their borders, and finally Colonel to update him on the bombing run of the Land of Departure, the hunt for agents of Shadowlaw, and whoever the hell allowed the escape of Grievous and Keaton from Earth X by hiding the real information.

Colonel was the last one speaking, having concluded that although they had found several agents of Shadowlaw, the group appear to have fallen silent, and there has been no reports on whoever ruined their victory at Earth X. He was now going on about the bombing. "-The SCI bomb shelter detected thanks to the remains of the distress probe has been heavily damaged. There are reports of survivors coming out from it. Estimate of around 40,000 at the very least, most appear to be of civilian rank. The bombing has been halted by captain Keeves, as he wants to have them captured alive and-"

Rufus stood up, looking at one of the bit of papers on his desk, picking up and seemingly reading it. "Tell his second in command he is now promoted to captain and that Keeves is to be arrested. I haven't passed down the order to stop the bombing, so he shouldn't have. I want it to continue until all humanoid life is terminated on that planet." He turned away, and slowly begun walking over to the giant windows, still reading.

"Sir, I think that's unnecessary. We've accepted that you want all those captured executed, and the bombing run has guaranteed the Keybladers won't attempt to rebel again. But to kill them all..." Master Chief tried to argue to his emperor.

"I want them destroyed entirely. I want a planet devoid of life. Proof of what I can and will do. I need the ultimate example. It'll force others to stay in line. The Protoss weren't enough, as the GF rebellion proved."

There was a moment of silence, before Snake nodded. "Understood. I'll go and make the call for the run to continue." With that, he left the office.

Once Snake had closed the door behind him, Robotnik spoke up. "Sir, I have to side with Master Chief on this. Killing them all is one step too far. It may trigger more rebellions."

"No. The people will be too distracted by the announcement I'm going to do soon." He stopped reading, and turned to face the other three. "I plan to tell everyone the brief outbreak of civil unrest is already finished, I've already crushed them, proving my superiority compared to the GF's slow and sluggish reactions to conflict. The ones who started it, the ones who wanted to bring terror to our worlds, have been rightly punished, and only their leader, with a small handful of people, have gone into hiding, already being hunted down by our best agents."

"I'll make sure to brand the Keybladers as one of the central figure forces. That way no one will feel sorry for them. They'll treat them like they were monsters, one of the many reasons an animal like Keaton could even attempt to threaten us."

"And all it takes is the death of all those on one world. I have to stand with the emperor on this. It's going to prove effective. Chief? Robotnik?" Colonel focused on them.

Robotnik eventually conceded and nodded, but Chief on the other hand, he looked to Colonel, then to the doctor. "I wish to talk to the emperor. Alone."

Both were rather surprised, but Rufus waved his hand at them to dismiss them, before looking over his shoulder to the windows, as the doors were heard opening, then closing.

"You said it just needed to be the Protoss, Rufus. How many more is it going to take before you stop?"

"John. I said I betted on it being all we needed to do." That was the first time Rufus had ever called Chief by his true name, as the emperor stopped looking outside and walked back over to his desk, putting the piece of paper down, and turning it around to make sure it was facing towards the power armoured trooper. "I could not promise it."

"So now you'll try it with those innocents, and on those we've had surrender to us, on those who stood with me once before within the GF. You want to instil total fear, but so far its failed."

"It's working, but we need to give it more time. My ultimate plan will come to a head soon. All we need is Keaton dead, and everything will run it's due course."

"What is this ultimate plan then? This goal that needs people to be afraid of us?"

Rufus tapped on the paper, making the trooper walk towards the desk, grab the paper, and start reading it.

The emperor waited patiently, and soon, Master Chief lifted his head, looking at his leader. "...This is going to be hard to achieve."

"But this is why I want to make sure my entire territory is unified as one first. Once peace is restored, I can finally bring about the idea of a long term alliances with the Galactic Empire and United Federation...before I lay out my goal of unity."

"A council of all the leaders...One flag, shared leadership. It's extremely risky. The Federation, the Rebel Alliance, the Galactic Empire, Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians. There will be disagreements."

"I'll find a way. Once we're together, expansion into the Farside will be easy, and we all can reap the benefits. Who knows, we might find another empire willing to join us. We can all venture across the stars, and bring an era unlike any other in our lifetime. That's my dream, John...I just hope we can deal with Keaton soon enough, so I have time."

Master Chief looked at him, and under his helmet, he showed confusion. "Sir?"

"It's nothing. If that was all Chief, you can go."

The trooper put the paper down, and took a step back, saluting, before turning and leaving.

Rufus watched the man go, and soon sat down at his desk. He opened one of the drawers, and inside was medication, labelled as 'Beta-blocker'. He could swear every time he looked at the damn box, he could feel his heart struggle just that little bit more...

---

Aqua sat there, alone, in one of the bedrooms of the Arcadia.

The ship had landed. Those of her home were getting off, bar Eraqus. He had said to her and Kei he intended to stay on the ship, his role as a teacher was over for him. A group of two dozen keybladers also demanded to stay, which Eraqus refused, and so in turn, did Kei. All the others had to discard who they were and try to become normal people on this new world under Mickey's rule, in order to avoid the SF.

All those on this ship, and any other survivors who weren't on the Land of Departure, were the only true Keybladers left.

Aqua couldn't say goodbye to anyone. She had been greatly affected with the fall of her world, having to listen and watch helplessly...She had been there, on the bridge, when the bombing began, when the castle collapsed, first killing all those they could not save inside...

It started the moment Roll had diverted Shademan and Megaman away from their mission to find Chad. She had a feeling something happened to him, and was right, and soon found themselves being attacked by Zerg, leading to Charlie and Eraqus and others to help them...it just left Aqua and Sam Serious Stone to handle to triggering of the explosives.

Which failed. Sam hoped it was just the one tower that would fail to trigger, they had to fight tooth and nail to each one to make sure...and none of them worked. It was presumed the signal was too weak for the explosive charges to pick up, a mistake that could've been corrected way back in the past, if SCI and the Keybladers of then tested it.

Aqua was ready to give up at that point, but Sam told her that if they couldn't take down the castle, they'll defend it until the warships were almost in orbit, guaranteeing that they would take down the castle before the Zerg get to the shelter.

The Arcadia had been heavily delayed on its landing, due to Charlie being preoccupied at first with the Zerg and trying to rescue Chad and the others, then when it was contacted, the Zerg had swarmed the area it could connect to.

Sam stuck with her throughout the carnage. His pistols had long since ran out of bullets, but he was a battlechip user, and had his own custom made ones, which were designed to give him miniguns, rocket launchers, cannons, and gatling lasers. Although such powerful weapons would drain the normal human being of their stamina and strength pretty fast with each use, Sam had trained his body for this.

He was essential for the infected Keybladers...Aqua struggled to accept their fate, their faces mutilated and transformed, their armor distorted and damaged...she could still put their figures and faces to names, making it much worse. Sam quickly put each and every one of them they encountered out of their misery to ease her pain, she could see behind his sunglasses that he had felt sorry for her.

As they knew the warships were getting close, the Keybladers within the castle decided to stay behind, all but a few hundred who were to guard Eraqus as suggested by those staying. Eraqus wanted to be with them, but they begged him to leave them. As they got on the Arcadia, they were forced to shut the entrance, as Zerg began to cover the landing area..she had to watch a group of innocents get mauled down, as they tried to reach the ship, before it took off, activating it's shielding to stop the Zerg from getting on.

Then, they managed to, once out of orbit and easily getting by the warships, briefly gain contact with those in the shelter, trying to say to them the distress signal is not deployed, that they will need to hold out while they try to rally others to come and help...to hear their sudden screams of horror and sheer terror, before the deafening silence, as the wave of weapons fire from the SF vessels blast the shelter wide open.

She had just heard her door open.

"Hey, Aqua. Kei is getting the ship ready for departure. Eraqus said he'll come and see you shortly."

It was Sam. Aqua simply nodded, not looking over at him.

"...Sorry about your world."

He waited for several moments, see if she would say anything, before deciding it was best to leave her be, and slowly closed the door.

She just burst into tears.

---

"So...Unicron is alive?" Dr Light sounded quite surprised.

"In a sense, yes."

"But now he looks like a Hyrulian, mostly, he looks like Link." Dr Wily continued.

"That's about right."

In the labs now, was Dr Wily and Dr Light, both sitting down, with Keira, Anna, Zhang He, Darkmega and Chad nearby. He had brought them up to speed with his encounter with Unicron and Chaos.

"He said he was the mind of the machine...that means the reports were true." Dr Light folded his arms and closed his eyes. "Damnit. I knew we should've sent a scouting party there. Rufus should've."

Chad looked interested. "Hm?"

Dr Wily spoke in his friends place. "During our watch over the lines of communication, we noticed a few reports of a giant floating machine head in orbit over the planet known as Trilogy. Rufus had sent responses that suggested they ignore it for now. The war was much more important. If he even thought about for a few moments and realized it would've been Unicorns..."

"It's only a normal being now though, he can't be that much of a threat compared to what he once was." Anna wasn't so worried about the prospect of Unicron being still alive.

"His working with Chaos, that's enough of a concern to me." Chad frowned a little, remembering his encounter with his old enemy.

"That, and if the mind is still around, the central point of such a powerful machine...there might be a way to restore it." Dr Light threw that out to them...and the sudden looks of concern from Darkmega and Chad proved they heard that right.

"A-a machine planet again? But this time we don't have the Matrix to use against him!" The Dark Navi looked over to his friend.

"And I'm certainly not in the mood to run around looking for a replacement for it...docs, what should we do?"

Dr Wily thought about this for a moment, before coming up with an answer. "We destroy the head. Now. It may greatly hinder their plans. Thomas, scan for the machine's location, we can teleport Chad and Darkmega-"

"That's not gonna happen tonight." Chad quickly interrupted, sounding, unusually angered.

Wily was rather taken aback by that response. "Huh?"

Chad seemed to just stare at Wily for a moment, before, as if, he woke up, shaking his head, placing his hand in his hair, looking exhausted. "I, suddenly feel quite tired...I dunno, I don't feel right. I don't want to go running about just yet and using my energy up."

"Well you did quickly come here from the hospital earlier. You might need to recover a little more. Don't worry, I'm sure the docs can send others to-"

"No. No I need to be there. I want to be there."

Wily looked at Chad with suspicion, before he simply shrugged his shoulders. "Very well. I'm sure it won't go anywhere anytime soon. Go and get some rest. When you're ready, we'll get started."

"Got it doc. Goodnight Anna, everyone." With that, Chad walked out.

"...Forgive me doctor Wily, but do you not think something is, off, with him?" Zhang He was rather concerned.

"I'm sure it's most likely to do with Chaos. His probably hoping to fight him again there." Wily answered with.

Darkmega wasn't so sure. There was a familiar feeling coming off Chad that Darkmega and Richard normally have...the vibes of a dark power. He felt it when Chad interrupted Wily's plan to handle Unicron. "Wily, I think we should monitor him, just for now. If he leaves his room tonight for any reason, let me know."

"Alright, if you're sure. Keira, make sure you're on that. I'm gonna get myself back to bed. I know Rufus is going to want reports and begin the reorganization of his forces, and I rather be fully awake to assist him if need be."

---

"Those annoying Hero Base folk, wanting their little signal business sorted out so soon. Guess they already miss their precious little base..."

The grumbling, high pitched voice, was of Colorman, the Net Navi of Kei's friend Maddy. He was idly bouncing down one of the many hallways of the Arcadia on his massive ball, heading towards the transmitter room.

The Arcadia had moved on from the world the Keyblader users were left behind on, and begun a trip towards Trandus IV, as Kei wanted to see if the other friend of hers, the other lackey that once served Wily besides Match, Maddy and Zapp, wanted to come and join them.

Roll and those of the Hero Base wanted to get back now. Roll did the most, due to Chad and getting worried over the fact that despite all the calls they were making after they left the planet, there was no signal whatsoever.

There needed to be a transmitter to allow any signals to get past the shielding the ship had, and Dark Rich flatly refused the idea of lowering said shields. Kei instead suggested someone go and check on the transmitter and see if it can be repaired, as it may have been damaged a little by the rough docking they had to do back on the Land of Departure.

Colorman was voted it by his own operator. He was enjoying the rest he was having since the Space Station, and wasn't thrilled by the idea of simply going to see if he could fiddle around with a transmitter.

Soon he found the transmitter room though...with the metal doors being torn down, and the machines inside...completely wrecked.

He slowly bounced inside, looking around. "Oh, oh my. This wasn't what I was expecting..."

He made his way over to some of the wreckage, and with his red, blocky hands, connected to his yellow and blue striped arms, begun checking through it. "Bite marks? Claw marks? We don't have anything like that on the ship, and I'm sure we were clear of Zerg in the scan after we left that doomed planet..."

He heard something, a metal object, fall to the ground to his right, quickly making him spin round and look, noticing it was a steel tube. This got him on high alert, as his eyes darted round, trying to see if anything was there. "Okay, now Colorman, think, if I was a Zerg that can hide from scanners, where would I be...?"

He heard another object fall to the floor, clanging on the ground behind him, making him spin around again, seeing it was a half bitten metal plating. "Okay okay, relax, relax...better turn off my emotion systems for a little while, getting too tense right now for me."

That's when he looked down, and noticed that the a few of lights on the ceiling were clearly still working, as he could see his shadow...a little, covered over by an unknown shape, with two massive claws. It seemed to be humanoid but much more bulker, it's head was larger and more reptilian...and if the shadow and the lighting were correct, then it was covering one of the lights, right above him.

He managed to give out one quick scream, before the being was on him, and quickly was tearing him to shreds, fragments of his data made body being flung across the room, and one segment of his face, torn off, having been flung outside into the corridor, the look of terror etched onto it.

The same shadow that was once above the now terminated Navi, was now at the doorway, a low, echoing growl emanating from its owner.

---

Notes:

1. Colorman is the Net Navi from Megaman Battle Network. Honestly it's hard to describe him, it's better to look it up...I'm just glad I had no intention of keeping him around. Seriously, that was an asshole of a boss in the games in my opinion...made Elecman and Magicman look like walks in the goddamn park.

-dragonridley