Chapter 7

U-DO

MOMO and the others watched the light show from afar as one sphere of red energy contested to overtake the other. While Jr.'s effort was great he could feel the beginnings of his energy being pushed back. He wondered incredulously how the cyborg was able to channel so much U-DO waves without deteriorating or going insane under the pressure-Jr. was unprepared for the intensity.

Then Jr. felt it for certain now; his energy was being pushed by inch by inch. No you don't! I can't let you do this! Everyone is counting on me. He used his own words to encourage himself to put forth more energy and suddenly he began to tap into energy stores he hadn't known he had-the kind of energy that Albedo was always anxious to draw out of him. Now, however, it would serve its purpose for a better reason. Jr.'s cries became even more fierce as more and more energy left him. He heard the cyborg's harsh cries in the distance far louder and deeper than his, but he knew that the cyborg could not possibly keep up with his current output-no single man could contain so much U-DO and still exist.

Eventually, Jr.'s prophecy came to pass just as he fell to his knees in exhaustion. The cyborg had been thrown back quite a distance before colliding with a wall and losing consciousness in defeat. Jr. remembered MOMO then and tried to gather himself back up, but she had already come to his side kneeling beside him.

"Don't get up too quickly, Jr. I'm fine," MOMO said reassuringly.

She stood up again and looked over at the slumped figure of Ziggy. She began to walk towards him, but Jr. grabbed her hand. Looking back, she was surprised to see that Jr. had risen to his feet so quickly.

"He's dangerous, MOMO."

"We have to-"

Her words caught in her throat as the cyborg's eyes opened once again. Crimson eyes stared at her as if beckoning her to come forth at her own risk. There was an unmistakable feeling of foreboding that MOMO could not ignore. He made no move the entire time.

"Ziggy…?" MOMO asked softly as she stepped forth.

Jr. still held her hand as they both moved closer unsure of Ziggy's current condition. A thick stream of blood flowed down the side of his face from the impact he had made with the wall.

"Ziggy, please. Say something, anything. Tell me if you're alright."

His expression seemed contemplative until finally he spoke. "MOMO, why are you still here? I thought I told you to-"

"Oh, Ziggy! You're back!"

Her sudden decision to run the remaining distance between them and Ziggy surprised Jr. so much that he lost grip of her hand as she went in for an enthusiastic hug. MOMO might not have been able to see it, but Jr. saw the shocked expression on his face-the fact that this was the Ziggy they were used to was confirmed; he would not have been prepared for a hug not even from MOMO who had never until then dared to do such a thing.

Yet there was something there below the surface. First of all, his eyes had not returned to normal, but Jr. could also sense the U-DO that still infected him. The dominance of the waves had been significantly diminished, but it was still there. It was high time that MOMO was made aware of the danger she was putting herself into by getting so close to him despite his regaining of some sense of self.

"MOMO, that's enough. Get back before you get yourself hurt."

She still held onto him tightly as if he was going to slip away from her again, but Ziggy was in agreement with Jr. and he began to pry her loose.

"Ziggy…"

"It's for your own safety. Please, I don't believe I'm fit any longer to be your bodyguard."

"How could you say that? You're talking to me right now."

"MOMO, I can still feel it."

"Feel what?"

"The red energy; U-DO."

Only a hint of shock crossed MOMO's features. "I don't care. Fight it, like you're fighting it now."

"I'm not sure how much more longer I have, but I'm sure it couldn't be long and I don't want you anywhere near when…"

MOMO closed her eyes when he said this, "Maybe if…maybe if I stayed near, I could help you maintain control."

Ziggy shook her head, "That would be too dangerous."

By then, the others-Shion, KOS-MOS, and chaos-had come over to them relieved at first that the fight was over, but then downcast as Jr. explained their circumstance.

"Finish what you've started."

All of them turned to the new voice only to find that it was the same red masked man from before.

"You again?" Jr. proclaimed, "Do we have to finish you off again?"

"Brave talk from someone so weak," the red masked man retorted, "But I was talking to your friend-the one you call 'Ziggy'."

"You guys have nothing to talk about," Jr. said stepping forth, "Your little trick didn't work."

"Is that what you call it, little boy?-a trick? When dealing with U-DO it is far from such a trivial word."

"That just makes it worse, doesn't it?" Jr. went on to say, "You went through all that trouble only to have it fail at the last minute."

"I wouldn't start celebrating too quickly. You of all people can still sense it within him. Eventually, he will succumb. Do you hear me realian? No amount of coaxing will stop the inevitable."

MOMO glared back at him with contempt.

"Aw, such raw emotion. No wonder Albedo is so taken with these mechanical dolls. Ziggy, how long will it take, do you suppose?-a few days, minutes, seconds, maybe. I beseech you, follow what your body really wants to do-it would be so much more easy. Kill them."

MOMO still held on to Ziggy, but he was finally able to pull her off. Before she could reattach herself, Ziggy sent her a look so icy that she decided against it.

"Will you do it?" the red masked man inquired.

Everyone watched as Ziggy climbed to his feet once again and they stepped back a few paces as his haunting eyes passed over all of them. For a moment they were undecided on whether they should defend themselves until Ziggy spoke once again.

"It is…wrong…" Ziggy said with clenched fists.

Jr. sensed the U-DO regaining its dominance as if the longer Ziggy stayed in the red masked man's presence the more the dormant waves became active. That was when it hit him. If the masked man was somehow controlling U-DO to some extent (it seemed likely since it was part of his plan), he could probably tamper with its intensity.

"Whatever you have to say, you say to us. Ziggy's got nothing to say to you," Jr. said stepping forth.

"Jr., you can't defeat him."

Jr. glanced back at Ziggy after he said this, "We have to do something. Or else…"

"There's only one way."

Jr. stepped out of the way as Ziggy walked forth towards the masked man.

"Your tenacity is admirable, Ziggy."

"Unwittingly, you've given me the power to destroy you."

"You would tap into that power willingly knowing full well it is the very thing that you resist?"

"I'll have to take my chances."

"If you insist, but you see you'll have to fight fire with fire."

"Stand back everyone," Ziggy warned.

With Jr. pulling MOMO along, the others obeyed.

U-DO radiated from the very pores of the masked man. He became encased in the ecstasy of power as it escaped him and expanded instantaneously. The cyborg glowered red and his hands clasped together purposefully. His hands came apart from each other carefully as red energy swirled in the growing space between his hands. When the space became at least three feet, he released the massive energy. His hands continued touching the energy as it was thrown toward the opposing energy. Ziggy continued enlarging the energy sphere and the masked man continued unleashing his fury.

Jr. looked on as his mind went over all the things that they could be doing. He knew, however, what Ziggy would want them to do.

"Everyone, he's giving us a chance to escape."

They all looked towards him in slight disbelief as he said this.

"Look, Ziggy knows we won't be able to defeat him and he might not as well," Jr. said and then he took a deep breath, "He'd want us to leave and get out of harms way while we can. All his work would have been for nothing if we're still here."

"He's right," chaos said speaking up, "Ziggy knew full well what he was getting himself into."

"How could you say that?" MOMO cried out, "I'm not just going to leave him."

chaos placed a gloved hand on her shoulders, "We must leave, but you should never give up hope."

MOMO looked over at Shion and she gave her a reassuring look. Then MOMO looked up into chaos's strange melancholic eyes and nodded. Soon they were running together to the dock area.

/Z

Ziggy felt his bearings slipping; the masked man was simply stronger and he had known this fact before he had made his decision. Ziggy's sense of what was right and wrong was still a bit muddled, but something internal, something that could never be converted, shined through the turmoil. He realized that the source of his problems was none other than the man standing before him-not Voyager, not U-DO, but him.

And there was the anger; an emotion he hadn't experienced in decades and decades. Perhaps the presence of U-DO had incited it, but Ziggy felt it as clear as day. He didn't know yet what he was angry at, but he decided to use it alongside his output of power, he knew it would intensify his energy. It was more than what he had bargained for.

He hadn't known how much anger he held inside himself, but when he let it come forth, it was near overwhelming. Ever since the moment he had reawakened as a cyborg, all his emotions had been controlled and subdued simply for the sake of effectiveness. He had only been able to acknowledge this fact, but now he realized that he hadn't liked that at all. There were a dozen and one situations in which he knew at that moment he would have reacted differently-his existence could only be described with one word: control. Before, he thought he was okay with this fact, but he didn't like it one bit. Much to his surprise, he hated being controlled and that if everything were to return to normal, he'd go right back to the same temperament as before-too controlled to tell the difference.

Ziggy's energy increased twofold completely cutting through the opposition and striking the masked man dead on. The red garbed man dissipated into all the energy.