A/N: I've been neglecting this story, and BOY, I do regret that! I'm mostly in a rut where it would be far too early to show what I want to, but I don't know what to add in while keeping it linear. Also, thanks for all the reviews! Dear Sami-SDGForce, I don't actually know what mpreg is, but I'll see if adding it into the story would detract from the main plot I have once I find out exactly what it is.
Once the four of them had gotten into the Nature realm (and Raiden had procured a training gauntlet), Gabriel began to question Sasha on exactly what the dispute was all about, as they all rode on Bob and Squeaky. She told him that a unit of the Bronze-Arm Tribe had been attacked by a mechanical beast that they assumed was a Light creature, as they could not and did not recognize it as a Fire or Water creature.
"But the strangest part of all of this, there is no reason for there to be any sort of Light Creature here," she continued as the children listened. "Even here, all of our kind remains above the clouds, and we have no logical intention to attack a peaceful settlement, even if they are directly below us."
"So, it may be an attempt to get the both of you to turn on each other," Gabe rationalized. "The real question is, why would somebody do that?"
"I'll tell ya why!" called out a voice from in front of them. The creatures skidded to a halt, a bit startled by the sudden outburst. Once the dust had cleared, they saw a Bronze-Arm Tribesman, in a cloak and tunic, wielding a sword. He brandished it before them, and in realizing they meant no harm, placed it back in its sheath on his belt. "It's because he's come back."
"He?" Lucy asked, hopping off of Squeaky. "You're gonna have to be a little more precise with who you mean by 'him', you know."
He rolled his eyes and huffed incredulously. "Oh, you know. Him! The blonde-haired demon that tried to turn us all into zombies! Brainwashed the flippin' Water Monarch himself into his little puppet!"
Ray and Allie shared a short look at this statement, and Bob groaned loudly, putting a hand up to his face. Ray tapped his shoulder, and Bob then pulled him off his back. "This isn't still about that 'covert' mission, is it?" asked the hybrid creature. "The one where we and your little search party ran themselves completely ragged over a wild goose chase?"
The tribesman seemed taken aback at Bob's blunt assumption, almost offended for him to refer to it as such. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry! I wasn't aware that you didn't care about a madman possibly still being on the loose, ready to torment innocent creatures! Besides, we have proof, so I suggest you watch yourself." He pulled out his sword again, and Bob growled tensely. Ray could already sense that things were going to go south fast, so he quickly stood between the two, raising empty hands.
"Alright, alright! Why don't we just… go look at the evidence, right? It's the least we can do." The final sentence was punctuated with a sharp glance over at his partner, as well as the others behind his partner. They all nodded or agreed, and bob crossed his arms. But, he went with them back to the camp, where the Bronze-Arm Tribesman led them into a rather large tent, where they could all see this 'proof' of his.
And, it was more they had could have ever expected. It was a large silver and white robot, vaguely resembling Aqua Seneschal were it not for the lack of any hands or feet. Where those were nothing but torn up cables, or severed hunks of metal that had been bent in and twisted, most likely from a battle. It was chained down gratuitously, almost unable to budge or even move other than a few jerks up or down. Its bright blue 'eye' darted around the room, and stared directly at the kids that had come in, the 'pupil' dilating as it took in their expressions.
"Oh, man. You weren't kidding about having proof!" Allie said, eyes wide and horrified. "What the heck even is this thing, which civ would even make this?!" Lucy stayed behind her, a bit worried what it might do if she got any closer.
"It is not a creature," Sasha said, just as scared as her. "It is not alive! I am sensing no mana output nor input from it. And yet, it moves just like one of us. No wonder these Nature creatures would be startled by it." Gabriel and Ray towards the false creature, and Gabe pulled out his updated phone to scan its shell, while Ray looked over it, not sure what to make of it in the slightest.
"Judging by the scan, this metal isn't even native to the creature realm! The base material definitively came from Earth. At the very least, it may be a combination of metal from this side of the veil and from our side. I've never seen anything like it before." Gabriel said. He was very interested in how the metal could have been formed, but felt a smidge guilty about it, being as it was being used for evil.
Ray, out of habit, touched the robot's stomach, trying to heal it with his gauntlet. The robot's arm lunged upwards, snapping free one of the chains as Ray yelled, trying to wrest his arm from its grasp. The other three kids gasped, and Allie and Lucy began trying to tug Ray away from it, while Gabe started to attempt prying the arm off of him. But they were knocked back as it unearthed its other arm, and pulled Ray close up to its face.
"Don't test me, boy." It uttered in an emotionless, mechanical tone. Ray activated his gauntlet, and the robot's shell began to crack and peel away, until it released. Ray gasped for air as he shoved himself away from the now unmoving pile of wires, and fell to the floor. It twitched for a seconds, residual mana seeping from where it's face used to be, and then shut down permanently.
"I shall take it to the Light Civilization," Sasha said, levitating the remains. "And I will inform the Cyber Lords of what has transpired here. She exited the tent, and the kids followed her out, with Allie helping walk the still woozy Ray outside. Both Bob and the tribesman stared as Sasha returned back to her Civilization with a flash. The hybrid snorted, having only seen the remains, and sarcastically asked "Don't tell me that was your only proof?"
"It was," Ray said, having regained his bearings. He was just about has tense as the creatures had been, and wondered what the false creature's ultimatum had meant. "Don't test me, boy." Had the Choten really returned, and was making these mechas to terrorize the creatures?
Meanwhile, Kevin was on the bus, going back to Ray's house after he'd accidentally picked up his bag. He was nervous as ever, worried that Raiden might accuse him of stealing it, but it was an honest mistake! He checked again to make sure that the pack was indeed not his own. Yes, there was Ray's sketchpad, and a few comics, and… a black half glove? He pulled out the glove, examining it all over; he recognized the symbol on the top, but he didn't know exactly where it was from.
He put it back in the pack, shrugging it off as probably some sports logo, which had to make the most sense. He also didn't want anyone thinking that he was going through someone else's belongings. And when he'd reached his stop, he got off, went straight into the neighborhood, placed Ray's bag on his front doorstep, and left without a second thought, even though the thought of what exactly that symbol meant still lingered.