The team watched as the carnage unfolded on the screens. All over the city and its surrounding lands, creatures from the past clashed with the inhabitants of the Land Outside of Time. Of particular note were a group of dragon sized, blood red bats, which were trying to attack a group of wild raptors, for some reason. Unnoticed by the group, Spear and Fang glared at that screen.

Elise couldn't take her eyes off the screen. "We have to do something."

Sean glanced at her. "Normally, I'd disagree, but not today."

"Really? Why?"

Wordlessly, Sean pointed toward one of the screens. Turning to look at it, the team blanched - on the screen was Null, directing several Eclipse soldiers to work on some kind of ancient machine.

"I get the feeling that thing, at least, is after us. So at least some of what is happening here is our fault."

"I see. Quick, let's get moving."

The team moved to leave...only to notice that Tristan wasn't with them. Instead, he was currently standing rigid by one of the screens, eyes frozen on the carnage, while a sheen of sweat began to form over him.

For a moment, no one reacted to this, aside from staring at the boy in concern. Then the moment passed, and Sean walked over to his brother and started trying to talk to him. When Tristan didn't respond, Sean waved his hand in front of his brother, then clapped his hands loudly. Still no response was elicited. Groaning, Sean walked over to the still present probe and said something to it. A moment later, the boy returned, carrying a bucket.

What talking, clapping, and shouting failed to accomplish was finally achieved with the power of ice water.

"AGH I'M AWAKE!"

"Good. Now get moving."

Tristan glanced at his brother in confusion. "...What just happened?"

"You had a panic attack after seeing the giant bats. Look, I get that you have understandable reasons to be scary of giant terrestrial...er, flying creatures that hunt by echolocation, and so far you've been managing it well, but lives are at stake here. So please, move your ass right the hell now!"

"...Oh. Sorry. I'll get to it...wait, how can we fix this?"

"I believe I have a solution," spoke an unknown, feminine, and highly computerized voice...which, as it turned out, came form the probe.

May quirked an eyebrow in surprise. "You can talk?"

"Yes. Also, I have no name, so calling me probe is acceptable."

"I guess that works for now," noted Sean. "Now, what can you tell us?"

"Examination of the machine leading the Shadow Carja, designation currently unknown-"

"It's name is Null," chimed Elise.

"...Designation Null, possess a sort of magnetic device within its body."

"Can you specify what the device is?" inquired Sean, though he had a good idea what the component might be. "There are tons of different magnetic components that it could possess."

"Analysis of the device's readings indicate it creates similar magnetic signatures to the temporal anomalies that frequently open here. So, in smaller terms, it is a portal generator."

"Oh..." remarked Elise. "...oh fuck. Does it have another component that works like whatever your commander uses to tunnel into alternate universes?"

"Yes, but the part appears to have been violently damaged beyond repair, and has been removed by Designation Null. This limits what it can summon to...well, wreck havoc."

"I see," noted Sean. "...How exactly are we supposed to kill it? We're teens and kids with minimal weapons training."

A wooden object was promptly deposited in front of the team. "This is a device known as a Tear Blaster. It fire jets of compressed air, and is powerful enough to shear heavy weaponry off of a machine the size of a tyrannosaur."

"...Teens and kids."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"...Dammit."

"Hey, if we die, dad isn't going to call you out over swearing in front of us."

"Yeah, true. Not much of a silver lining, though.."

"Positive thinking does help motivate people into action," noted Cassandra.

"Also true...eh, screw it, let's go save everyone-"

Without warning, one of the giant red bats suddenly crashed into the room and roared at the group. That was all it got to do, though, before Spear and Fang attacked it and began to tear it apart. It only took them a few seconds to slay it.

As the tyrannosaur started eating the bat, Tristan glanced at Cassandra. "You gonna join us?"

"...No. I have little taste for combat. I will stay here to provide support and advice on incoming portals."

"I see. Mind watching our younger siblings?"

"Don't want them to fight the big bad machine?"

"Hey!" groused Tai. "We're kids. All we'd do is provide easy targets."

"I figured. I just wanted to mess with your brother."

"Not the time," groused Sean.

A scream turned the group's attention to another screen, where a raptor pack was attacking what looked like a school bus. Though it managed to fight off the abnormally large and aggressive pack hunters, it was sitll a terrifying sight, especially for Elise.

"...We have to help them."

"And we will if we can kill the machine," remarked Sean.

"But there are already a lot of people around here that are hurt," noted Elise.

"More will continue to get hurt until the portals are closed."

"But then we'd be leaving them to die."

"I don't like it, but we have to keep our priorities straight."

"But..but"

Tristan glanced at Anne. "Can this facility double as a field hospital?"

"Yes."

"Alright, then can you help my younger siblings and Cassandra prepare this place to take injured while the rest of us go destroy the machine causing this?"

"Of course."

Tristan turned to Elise and Sean. "Does that compromise work?"

The two thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Good. Now let's go save everyone we can."

XXXXXXXXXXX

The group hastily made their way through the city, careful to avoid confrontations that were too dangerous. Finn, Terence, Al, Theo, and the other large animals with them made the trek easier, but problems were still showing up. Machines and creatures in the sky pushed the pterosaur riders to their limits.

The machine had decided to place itself atop a small hill overlooking the city - a surprisingly mundane one, too. It held no religious significance, nor any mundane significance - occasionally, it was used to hold public events, but there were other hills used more often. It seemed the machine just wanted a nice viewing spot right by the city to watch the destruction - which, after some thought, made sense. Machines usually were motivated by logic, and even if it seemed to have a sadistic desire to watch the city be destroyed, at least some of its thought processes seemed to still be grounded in logic.

Just as the team reached the foot of the hill, a huge machine emerged from the ground. This one (called a rockbreaker, though the team didn't know it) moved to attack them, only for Laela and Finn to knock it over. Undaunted, the machine moved to attack them, only to be forced back by a series of explosions - explosions produced by Marcus, Michelle, Lucas, Vera, and Alice. The probe had supplied them with two other weapons from the machine's world - a pair of slings, which could fire either elementally charged projectiles or explosive ones.

The rockbreaker responded by roaring, causing a group of smaller machines to charge over to assist it.

Michelle turned to Tristan, Elise, and Sean. "Go on ahead, we got these buckets of bolts."

Nodding, the trio went on ahead, with Terence and a few of the dinosaurs following them. They had a bigger fish to fry.

XXXXXXXX

Resting on the hilltop, Null watched as the city was slowly devastated by the new arrivals. More portals were opening as time went on, meaning that more creatures would inevitably show up.

This world had been an oddity - while Null and his siblings had opened several portals to achieve their ends in the Zero Dawn world (and to bait the commander into the open), the gateway leading here had opened up entirely naturally, as had the pathway between the Monster Hunter and the Zero Dawn worlds. An odd coincidence, but useful nonetheless. Still, it would need to be more wary of these in the future - they could potentially aid a commander in pulling ahead of them.

A sudden proximity alert warned the machine that the children were coming up the hill. NO matter -they were hardly a threat, unlike, say, the horned tyrannosaurs that had just eaten its Shadow Carja minions.

Letting out a mechanical sigh, the machine turned to engage the reptilian brutes.

The first dinosaur died quickly - mistiming its attack, the creature ended up overextending itself and collapsing, allowing the machine to jump atop it with enough force to cave in its skull. The second predator attempted to exercise more caution, only to get a hole blow clean through its torso - there were perks to storing internal weapons on your chassis.

Enraged, the largest carnivore charged. Dodging, Null grabbed it by the tail and used it to beat the rest of its pack to death. This time, though, one of the beasts managed to get a lucky break, for as he let go of the largest tyrant, a dying one kicked him with its last breath, pushing him back and crippling his chassis. Letting out a synthesized sigh, Null rammed a Carja spear into the dead beast's eye socket, before walking over to finish off the larger tyrant.

Behind Null, a set of traps whirred to life, immobilizing the entire group - the humans who had been trying to assault it directly, the humans who had bene moving to flank it using the others as a distraction, and the dinosaurs that would have opened up a third front against him.

"Did you really think you had a chance against me?" he questioned as he put his arms around the tyrant's neck.

"I've killed meaner things than you."

A few arm movements snapped the neck, slaying the mighty beast in an instant.

"You're nothing before me," he boasted, turning around-

"Just a bunch of tiny, flesh little-"

-to see Tristan pointing a Tear Blaster right at him.

"-nuisances?!"

The boy pulled the trigger, releasing a high velocity jet of air. The blast sent the machine backwards, resulting in him being impaled on a tree branch. The blast also removed his portal generator, which promptly went offline. Now, with nothing to sustain them, active portals would start to close, and new ones would cease to open.

Also, the combined damage from the kick, the blast, and the impalement were effectively terminal for the machine.

The girl, Elise, smirked at him "Pride comes before the fall, it seems."

Already, her other brother was examining the Medjed, presumably trying to see how to disable it.

Well, that could not be allowed.

With a gesture, Null awakened the machine. Then, he activated the download.

Within moments, his consciousness left his failing chassis and entered that of the Faro Automated System Heavy Assault Platform Medjed. As soon as it had could, it turned the guns toward the teens.

"Yes, it seems it does."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!