Author Note: Hey all, here's the third chapter. I'll admit right now, I don't feel too good about the pacing on this, but it mainly serves to help set up chapter 4. Also, I'd like to give some thanks to whatisee for following this story. Well, R&R and all that stuff.

Chapter 3: Sediba the Cryptek

The boy was sitting cross-legged on the ground, tapping his green orb against the various rocks on the ground, before bringing the orb back up so he could look at its surface.

That wasn't enough to make Jalith curious. Neither was the thin, green body. No, what was curious was that the scantily clad boy was quite precisely tapping a different rock every time.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Jalith asked, walking up to the boy. The boy didn't answer, and Jalith desperately wanted to pull him up by the hair. Unfortunately for the dark eldar, the skeletal boy didn't have any hair, nor any clothes other than the short white skirt quite firmly planted on the ground. "Hey, I'm talking too you."

The green boy stood up quite leisurely, and hung the orb in a leather loop on his side.

"A query." The boy said. "Is it odd that every naturally occurring object here contains electrical data patterns that can be used to generate a model of the object itself?" Jalith glared at him.

"We're on the 'digital plane', home of the 'digital beings'. Of course everything is made of data."

"Just because something says it is immortal does not mean it is immortal, and seeing that a ship flies teaches a ship builder nothing. How would you theorize a visually realized 'digital' world would come into existence?"

"Not important. I just want to know how I got here."

"Which, if you transferred from a purely biological state, would be unusual. In my case however, there is ample precedent of transfer of mind into machinery, and a second transfer is not of particular note."

"Oh, you already had your mind transferred once? I hear its not safe for juveniles."

"Neither I nor my father were involved with the decision, and neither I nor my father have enjoyed the experience. At the very least, I was able to spend the majority of the time in the cryo-tomb."

"Tomb? That's a weird name-" Jalith paused as his mind added the pieces together. Mind transfer to machine in addition to unwilling transformation in addition to green orb technology in addition to unusual and casual use of the word 'tomb'.

"Necrontyr!" Jalith shrieked as loudly as possible as he ran back. "Reavmon where are you, its an emergency!"

"Necrontyr? I? That is a very illogical conclusion given the period of conversation."

"Reavmon!" The canine darted in between his master and the green boy, before taking a moment to glance back at Jalith.

"What is it?"

"Necrontyr!" Jalith continued to scream, pointing at the boy. What might have been tears came from the corners of his eyes. Reavmon looked at the accused boy and back at Jalith.

"Do you want me to deal with him?" Reavmon asked.

"Do I look stupid? I need you to get me out of here."

"He doesn't look very dangerous."

"Are you crazy? Stop talking and get me out of here."

"If you say so." Reavmon said trotting over to Jalith and leaning down. The dark eldar quickly mounted himself on the canine's back and kicked his heels in.

"Now. Quickly." Reavmon grunted as he began walking away from the green boy, muttering venomously under his breath. As they walked away, a silvery scarab climbed up on top of a rock next to the boy.

"I say, Sediba, are all you organics so rash." The beetle said.

"I am not being rash." The boy replied. "I am being thorough. You're claims are nowhere near any established knowledge."

"But why would I lie? That's quite rude, you know."

"I never said you were purposefully giving untrue information."

"But then what- Oh. That is very insulting."

OOOOO

Tamas gave a rock a hard kick as his underlying frustration peaked in that particular moment.

"Man, another day and we still haven't seen anything." He mumbled.

"At least that means we haven't been attacked again." Mesme pointed out.

"Yeah, but there's nothing to do." Tamas said. "It's nice to get away from work for a day or too, but I can't stay here forever…"

"Well we could talk about our cultures." She said.

"No, if we do that your second mouth will start spewing lies to deceive me from the path of the Emperor and I'll have to fight you."

"My- I'll- That sentence does not work." Mesme said, laughing it off.

"Hey, I'm serious. If that thing on your forehead isn't a mouth then what is it?" Tamas asked. Mesme rubbed the Y-shaped slit on her head and shrugged.

"I don't know. Do you know what every part of your body does."

"Yeah." Tamas said defensively. "…I think."

"Well, it's not a mouth, I'll say that for sure."

"Really? My instructor sounded pretty certain… Then again, he also said you were all seven foot tall and had glowing red eyes." They both laughed at the ridiculous statement, up until Piramon called out.

"Hey you two, stop chatting and look in front of you." Everyone looked up from the conversation, and when they focused they could see the beginning of something black in the distance.

"Eh, its probably just more rocks." Tamas said.

"But rocks aren't so straight." Saldramon pointed out.

"I guess you're right. It's better than nothing, so why not head for it?"

OOOOO

Jalith stopped to lean on a rock, forced to run on his own feet after Reavmon's strength had quite predictably given out. He was catching his breath as Reavmon tried to straighten out and correct his back.

"Why did we run?" Reavmon asked as he heard a satisfying crack in his spine.

"That was a necrontyr, I'm sure of it." Jalith replied.

"And?"

"Do I really- Look, they're old, all right. Old and dangerous enough to fight the gods. They're immortal and smarter than anything else in the galaxy."

"I thought you said-"

"I mean book smarts. They can make stuff even we couldn't imagine."

"You say that as if we didn't have tacticians." Sediba said.

"Aw nuts." Jalith said, turning around to face the green boy. "How'd you catch up with us."

"Well, your partner wasn't able to go very fast, what with you riding on his back and all." The silver beetle added, climbing up from Sediba's back to perch on his shoulder and address the other pair.

"Man, what do you want, necrontyr?" Jalith asked.

"I am simply trying to ascertain my exact situation, and believe my analysis would be improved with the input of any other organics I meet."

"Other? Your-"

"I was originally organic, unlike these 'digital beings' we both have encountered."

"Well… Is that your real body then?" Jalith asked. He had been told that every last necrontyr was converted into metal bodies.

"Of course not. This is merely my memory of my body. It is far from an exact replica." Sediba looked down at his chest. "In truth, I don't know if this is really anything like my old body."

"Really? Man, you guys must have bad memories." Jalith said. Reavmon carefully noted how quickly Jalith had begun changing tone.

"I was in the cryo-tomb for many millennia, I'm lucky to not have gone insane like many of my fellows."

"I never said it was your fault for not being built to live so long." Jalith replied. Sediba replied with an odd hiss, but before there could be another response, a roar came out in the distance, and in an instant they changed from conversation to battle. Sediba backed away, the beetle placing himself in front, while Jalith and Reavmon stood their ground waiting for the attacker. An armored boar, many times larger than Jalith and Reavmon, arrived bellowing in rage as streams of colored shards drifted off its back.

"Is that all? Take care of him, Reavmon." Jalith said. The canine nodded and charged forward, swiping his claws at the boar's head, only to glance of its armor with a discordant shriek of metal on metal. "What are you doing? Aim for the vitals, an eye or something." Reavmon ducked down and slid, aiming for the boar's underbelly, but the beast was too quick, swinging its bulk to bash the canine out of the way. Reavmon bounced of the ground, only protected by the metal mask on his head.

Jalith turned to glance at the necrontyr, surprised to see him manipulating his green orb.

"How long will it be stunned for?" The silver beetle asked.

"Total paralysis for half a second, one second to fully recover faculties, five seconds to recover momentum." Sediba said quickly, glancing quickly from the orb to the fight.

"It will have to do. Out of the way." Jalith leapt aside as green lighting danced on the beetle's back. With a gesture of its forearms, the beetle compressed the lighting into a ball and hurled it at the raging boar. The ball hit on the side, and lighting wracked the boar's body. Jalith realized what had happened and refused to leave an advantage untaken.

"Finish him." He called out. Reavmon leapt to his feet and charged, muscles tensing in both arms. As the boar regained its senses it reared up and bellowed again, giving Reavmon the perfect chance to plunge both claws into the boars exposed underside. The boar shattered into shards of color and light, and Reavmon began inhaling the light without waiting for his master's command.

"Well, looks like you can be handy in a fight." Jalith said, turning to face the necrontyr. "You'll need me to do the real fighting, but you can certainly help."

"I didn't have time to check, but due to the beings size, I believe it may have been at least one order higher than either of our… partners." Sediba responded, eliciting a disinterested frown from Jalith. "If not for it having sustained the injuries that provoked it into coming here, I doubt any of us could have defeated it."

"Hah, don't underestimate me, necron. I let Reavmon fight because I don't want to waste my energy on such pathetic opponents. But…" He said, trotting over and clumsily putting an arm on Sediba's shoulder. "Stick with me and I'm sure we will both find ourselves quite well off. By the way, what are you guy's names?"

"I am Sediba the Cryptek."

"And I am Scarabmon." The silver beetle added, hopping onto Sediba's back.

"Well." Jalith said. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

OOOOO

Two figures were watching from afar. One was a silver haired girl surprisingly similar to Jalith, but dressed in flowing blue robes. Beside her sat a figure that appeared to have been hewn from rock or bone. Its face was the same as its bulbous torso, marked by a strange double-loop rune in the place of eyes, and it crouched down to stay level with the girl.

"He helped the necron." The girl said. "Even one like him should know the danger."

"It is doubtless he knows." The stone figure said. "And the necron will fight his enemies just like we used the cyboarmon to fight ours."

"It was champion level-"

"I could injure it. Strength is nothing without knowledge."

"We must deal with them ourselves."

"He is kindred with you, Riantha, even if he is one of the forsaken."

"And if he is with the necron, Spirimon, he is my enemy."