Awareness was an uncertain thing, for the first few moments, before Axe was once more lucid enough to take stock of himself and his current situation. The first thing he noticed was Conrad's head, lying listlessly in his lap. The next was Sam's small form, moving fitfully as the youngest of his students slowly fought his way back to consciousness. The proceeding few moments were merely a blur of sensation, but Axe felt that he could at least hazard a guess as to what had happened.

"You did well, my student," he said, gently gathering Conrad's deeply unconscious form into his arms even as he allowed Sam to use his right arm to lever himself back to his feet. "You did very well."

"I'm glad to see the three of you made it, too," Shinji greeted, as he and Katharine made their way over across the devastated landscape.

"Grant, is he-"

"He'll be fine," he said, quickly cutting into Katharine's worrying before she could truly start in earnest. "Why don't you look after him, while Sam and I take stock of the situation?"

"Of course," Katharine offered quickly, once again proving that his initial assessment of her still held true; she really would be a good match for Conrad.

Smiling softly as Katherine gathered Conrad up in her arms, speaking softly to him as though he was still lucid enough to hear her in his current state, he turned to Sam and nodded to signal the younger Teknoman to come along with him. Moving slightly away from the other members of their group – the small family that Conrad had brought together; and that Ness and Cain clearly sought to destroy, for whatever absurd reasons they might have – Axe brought out his teknocrystal and nodded to Sam as he did the same.

The sense of Rapier's transformation taking place right next to him lead Axe to smile slightly; but, the fact that the first thing he heard after completing his transformation was Shinji's grousing over the loss of his hair tie, caused Axe's smile to widen into an amused grin.

"Perhaps it's time you considered cutting it," he suggested, not particularly seriously; all of them were permitted their little vanities, after all.

Shinji turned to him, a shamelessly exaggerated expression of shock on his face. "Perish the thought."

The four of them shared a laugh, before he and Rapier took to the air, in search of Ness, Cain, or any of those humans who they would need to deal with.

101001010

I could really get to hate that guy, Ringo mused, as he took stock of the injuries that Spear and his cronies – that pint-sized thug in particular – had left him with. He was pretty much crippled right now, what with his right arm and left leg having been all but snapped like dry twigs. Still, he was grateful in a distant sort of way that something had called Spear and his cronies away, even if it was going to end up causing trouble for the rest of the Space Knights down the line.

The sharp chirp of his comm. gave him something else to focus on, and Ringo was glad for the reprieve.

"You guys have no idea how happy I am to get this call," he said. Tina, speaking from the other end of the line, sounded just about as happy to hear him as he was to hear from her. "So, what did you call me for?"

Apparently, the Command Center had been almost completely devastated by Spear and his cronies; they'd been fighting Saber and Shara, and then there had been some kind of huge explosion that took out basically everything in the area. He wasn't even talking to Tina from her normal post; no, she was contacting him from some kind of mobile squawk-box while she, the Commander, and all of the surviving Space Knight support-staff evac'd from the remains of the Command Center before it all started falling down on their heads. He spared about half a minute to hope that their boys had survived – while at the same time hoping that Spear and his cronies hadn't – before he detailed his current situation and got orders to sit tight.

Star and Maggie had evidently been able to find a prototype tank – the Green Earth – to escape in, and even now they were attempting to rendezvous with the other elements of the Space Knights. The two of them were particularly interested in finding Slade and Saber, of course; not that he couldn't guess the reason for that.

Carefully arranging his broken limbs, Ringo waited for his two current favorite people in the world to show up.

00100101001

When Saber had started to show signs of waking up, Slade futilely wished that he could have given more than just his vest to his younger twin while they were both making their way away from what remained of the Command Center. Strong as his younger twin was, Saber's comparatively pale skin meant that his younger twin would burn more easily in the sun. And sure, they both had Pegas to help shield them both from that, but Slade still couldn't help wishing that he could have done more.

Gathering Saber back up onto his back, as his younger brother had started to slip free, Slade kept walking.

"So, do you have any idea where we're going?" he heard Saber ask.

Slade sighed, rubbing the broken remains of Shara's crystal that he'd managed to recover; it was the same way that another person might rub at charm of their own, but Slade didn't know if that kind of thing would bring him luck or not. "Honestly? Not really. It's just, away from here seems to be our best bet right now."

"Well, I suppose I can't argue with your logic there," Saber said, with a brief sigh of his own. "I heard the rest of the Space Knights were evacuating; I hope they made it out all right."

"Yeah," he muttered, knowing Saber would hear it. "I do, too."

Licking his dry lips, Slade sighed again. He didn't quite know what he and Saber were going to do, from this day forward, not after all that they'd lost, but he did know what their focus was going to be for the immediate future: they were going to find a way to get to the Moon, so that the two of them could finally end this battle of theirs.

They were going to find a way to kill Darkon, even if it killed them both in turn.

When he heard Saber's annoyed sigh, and felt his younger twin's breath ruffling his hair, Slade could just barely manage to hold back a sigh of his own. "What is it now?"

"Oh, the usual crapload of Spider-crabs, showing up for the usual reasons."

"Figures."

Letting Saber slide down off his back, knowing that his younger twin would never agree to being left out of battle no matter how many arguments Slade tried to marshal, Slade turned back to Pegas.

Transforming even as Saber did the same, Slade landed in front of Saber as Pegas drove them into the midst of the Spider-crab swarm that continued to descend toward this desolate patch of land. Carving their way through the masses of Spider-crabs in front of them, occasionally turning to deal with the ones who had appeared behind them, Slade could feel a strange energy building within him from somewhere.

He couldn't determine where it was coming from, since he hadn't started the charging process for a Tekno-bolt and there wasn't any other source of energy aside from the transformation itself that he knew of that carried that same kind of feeling. When the new energy began building to the point that he could feel it thrumming in his body, Slade began to wonder in earnest just what in the hell was going on.

(Saber!)

His younger twin was at his side in what seemed like half a second, and as the corona of energy that he'd felt building up while he'd been engaging in battle against the massed Spider-crabs flung them up and out farther than Slade had ever flown without the aid of the Blue Earth.

(What… what was that?)

(I'm not really sure of that, myself,) his younger twin said, letting Slade know that he'd inadvertently projected that thought.

(Yeah,) he muttered, looking down at the remains of Shara's crystal that he'd still had in his hand when he'd transformed.

There was still a subtle glow emanating from the broken crystal. (I'm starting to think I might know what caused that boost we just got. Look,) he said, holding Shara's crystal up so that Saber would be able to get a better look at it.

(Yeah, I think you might be right,) he heard, as Saber cupped his armored hands around Slade's own.

The subtle glow that had suffused the remains of Shara's teknocrystal had faded out almost entirely by now, but Slade could still remember the power that he'd felt from it.

(You know, if a broken crystal could get us this far out-)

(I know; imagine what a whole one might do,) Saber said, picking up on the thought like he'd been having the same one.

Slade figured he had been; it was an easy enough thing to figure out, once you were presented with the basics, really. Now, all that remained was to get one. And lucky them, they just so happened to have a good – not easy, no one but an idiot would call what they were going to be doing easy – source of crystals; enough for the both of them to take one each.

Thinking of that brought a brief, grim smile to Slade's face, even as the last light in Shara's teknocrystal slowly faded away.

0100101001

(That's the third time I've seen that tank, Goddard-sensei,) Rapier reported.

Axe turned his armored head in the direction that his youngest student had indicated, and he narrowed his eyes in consideration. (You're right, Sam; we have certainly been seeing a lot of that tank, lately.) He paused for a moment, considering the vehicle as it continued to trundle forward to some unknown destination. (Maybe you could go down and investigate?)

(You really think it's something important, Goddard-sensei?)

(I think it's something interesting, Sam,) he said, smiling as he set his armored left hand – right still grasping the shaft of his halberd – atop Rapier's head. (Whether or not it's important remains to be seen.)

He only had to give Rapier a gentle push to his right shoulder, before his youngest student leapt down from the back of the creature that Spear had rode on – the one that Axe was borrowing while his eldest student recovered from the damage he'd taken trying to defend them all from Shara's insane last-ditch effort to kill them – and landed lightly in the forest of still-immature teknopods that they had been flying over. He could both see and sense the burst of energy when Sam released his transformation, and Axe was pleased to know that his lessons on subterfuge had sunk in so well.

It wouldn't do, after all, for whatever humans they were inevitably going to be going to deal with seeing a Teknoman – even one Sam's size – come striding out of a forest of teknopods.

10101001011

As the Green Earth's engines rumbled, driving the tank further on through the forest of teknopods that Star was doing her best to ignore the presence of, Star couldn't help but wonder just what had become of Slade and Saber. She was at least reasonably sure that the both of them had survived the destruction of the Command Center, considering all that they had both survived before that, but she still couldn't stop herself from wondering just when they would all meet up again.

"Hold it," she heard Maggie say, bringing her attention back to the present moment and all of the upheavals therein. "There's someone up ahead."

Looking out through the Green Earth's large windscreen, Star found that there was indeed someone coming out of the forest of teknopods. Coming from the left, relative to the Green Earth's own path through the forest.

"Wait, that's just a kid," Ringo said, sounding about as surprised as she felt, hearing that. "What in the heck is a kid doing out this far all alone?"

Normally, she would have been worried about someone so young being anywhere close to all of those horrible teknopods, but there was something uncomfortably familiar about this particular boy; something that made it all but impossible for her to express her usual sympathy in the face of the strange boy who was even then starting to wave to them as though to signal the Green Earth to stop.

Turning back to her computer station, Star pulled up the crew manifest from the Argos mission that she had downloaded after hearing the story of what had happened to Slade and Saber's family. Because, while what had happened to the Carter family and their friends was horrible, it was also a fact that the survivors of that mission – as horrible a thing as something like that was to think about – were a threat to the remaining people who wanted to live free on Earth.

Soon enough, Star found the exact reason why this boy in particular made her feel more and more unnerved the closer the Green Earth got to him. "Heads up; that's not just any kid out there, that's Sam Carter."

"Carter?" Maggie echoed, and Star saw the other woman look from her to the seemingly-innocent young boy – only fourteen, according to the dossier that had been compiled on him – standing just a few meters in front of them now, still waving them down. "You mean, from the Argos?"

"The very same," she muttered, looking up at the rapidly-approaching form of the Radam Teknoman – he looked so gentle, almost fragile, standing there in those ill-fitting clothes; he had an albino's natural paleness, and the colorless hair that she had seen so many times when she spoke to the Commander – that continued waving them down as they approached.

"So, that's what that pint-sized thug looks like without his armor," Ringo growled, reminding Star that he'd had a closer encounter with Sam Carter – by whatever name the Radam had given him when they had twisted him into one of their evil Teknomen – than any of them had had so far.

"Yeah," she muttered, feeling her eyes burn with tears.

What had happened to the Carter family and all of those other poor people aboard the Argos when they had encountered the Radam had been horrible enough even to hear about, but now to see one of the very people that had been destroyed by them – twisted and tortured until he was nothing more than a shell of the boy he'd once been – was infinitely worse than any story, no matter how clearly told, could ever be.

"At least he's alone," Maggie said, sounding like she was searching for something to give them all hope, small hope as it might have been. "As much consolation as that is, considering."

"Yeah," she muttered.

By now, all of them knew full well that every Teknoman – whether fully transformed by the Radam or not – was telepathic and could contact any number of their fellow Teknomen with only a thought. So the fact that this one was all alone really didn't mean anything; not even considering how small and harmless he looked. Even when she was dying from the aftereffects of the incomplete transformation she'd been forced to endure, Shara had been able to fight off any of the Spider-crabs that had attacked, and she'd still been able to outrun Spear for as long as her strength had lasted.

And now, considering how the transformation had obviously taken for Sam as it hadn't for Shara, facing him would be all the more dangerous for all of them. Particularly considering Ringo's condition. He couldn't very well use the Tekno-suit, with his right arm and left leg still delicate from being broken the way they had.

"Maggie, stop here," she said, having just come to a decision.

"What?" the other woman asked, turning to look her way just as Star had tucked the gun that she had carried with her ever since they had evacuated the wreck of the Command Center out of sight. "Why in the world would you want us to stop, when there's a Radam Teknoman not seven paces up ahead?"

"Maggie, please," she entreated, already standing and beginning to make her way to the entrance / exit of the Green Earth.

Maggie's gaze passed over her, lingering for a moment on the bulge of the gun tucked into her belt, before she nodded. "All right; just be careful out there. That's still a Teknoman you're going to be dealing with."

"I know."

None of the others said anything as Star rose from her seat and began to make her way out, but Tina did give her a long look as she made her way out. As she began to hear the soft sound of someone knocking at the Green Earth's hull, knowing just who it had to be, she swallowed hard. Shifting the gun she was carrying further out of sight, so that Sam wouldn't be able to spot it the way her fellow Space Knights had managed to, Star continued over to the Green Earth's exit.

Even though Star knew what she was doing had to be done, since for all Sam Carter's fragile appearance he was still one of Darkon's Teknomen and hence just as dangerous as Spear, she still couldn't help the thought that she was essentially going to be shooting a child. Still, whoever Sam Carter had been before Darkon had gotten to him, that boy was dead now. All that was left was the evil Teknoman; that concept was born out clearly by her encounter with Spear in that church, back when Slade and Saber's insane older brother had been attempting to bring them back into Darkon's fold.

The door opened, and in just a few moments the knocking at the Green Earth's hull stopped entirely.

"Hello?"

Forcing herself not to wince after hearing that soft, gentle sounding voice – Spear's had been just as gentle, for all that it had naturally been much deeper than Sam's – Star stepped down from the interior of the Green Earth and began to make her way closer to where Sam stood. He was facing her now, an expression of curiosity on his pale – paler than Saber's, even – face. Even the red eyes that had looked so unnatural on Spear fit into his face, since she'd seen the Commander's eyes often enough that she'd become used to seeing just that color on an albino.

Still, Sam's red eyes weren't the natural product of his albinism; they were the mark of someone who had been turned into a monster by the Radam.

"Hi," Star said, trying to make her voice sound gentle so that she wouldn't provoke any kind of reaction from Sam – she almost wanted to know the name the Radam had given him, if only so she could stop thinking of him as a human boy while she was facing him – and at the same time trying to subtly maneuver him away from the Green Earth so that the others would have more time to get away if another Teknoman showed up. "Are you lost?"

"I was looking for someplace I could stay," Sam said, and Star was unnerved by just how sincere he managed to sound even though she knew he had to be lying. "I guess I wandered a bit too far into this forest," Sam wrapped his arms around his chest, and even though Star knew that he was deliberately making himself seem uncertain and vulnerable, she was hard-pressed not to react to the effort. "Because now I can't find my way out."

Moving to stand closer to Sam, still wanting to get him away from the Green Earth but not knowing just how she could manage that since he was bound to notice if she started trying to lead him back into the Radam's forest when he'd just said he was looking for a way out of there, Star tried to think of another way to deal with him.

"Miss, do you think I could travel with you, in that big truck of yours?" Sam asked; Star shuddered at the earnest tone of his voice. She knew he was lying, but it was getting harder and harder to make herself realize that, consciously. "Because I'm all alone out here, and… well, you kind of look like my mom. At least, the pictures I saw of her; she died when I was very young."

"Well, let's see if we can get you cleaned up a bit," Star said, moving closer to Sam and trying to make it look like all she wanted to do was what she'd spoken to him about. "Come on."

The fact that Sam was actually willing to let her guide him – however gently – back nearer to the line of teknoplants that he'd said he'd just come out of, was just as unnerving as anything else about the Teknoman she was being forced to deal with. Gently brushing out his hair with her left hand, trying not to be distracted by the softness of Sam's colorless hair against her fingers, Star carefully unlimbered the gun she'd taken steps to conceal from Sam's line of sight.

Aiming it squarely at the back of Sam's head, not wanting to endanger any of her fellow Space Knights by the evil Teknoman's continued survival, and also not wanting to burden Slade or Saber with having to kill another member of their family, Star tensed her finger on the trigger. God knew they were already having enough trouble with Spear.

"Are you really going to shoot me, miss?" Sam asked, and Star saw him turn to look back at her over his right shoulder, leaving her gun now pointed at his right eye. "That's not very nice."

A shudder ran the length of Star's spine, as those red eyes – the same eyes that Spear, and probably all of the Radam Teknomen, had possessed – fixed on her past the gun she'd aimed at him. She stepped back, nearly at the same time that Sam himself leaped lightly away from her like some kind of gazelle, and she quickly found herself facing him across a gap that was more than wide enough for him to transform and attack her any time he wanted.

The next thing Star saw, as she fired a shot that Sam quickly crouched out of the way of, was the subtle sign of one Teknoman attempting to make contact with another of their kind. Firing as fast as she could, and watching in frustration as Sam nimbly dodged all of her shots as he leapt to the top of one of one of the nearby teknoplants, Star had soon expended the last of her ammunition. Her blood chilled when she saw the huge, armored form of the other Teknoman that had responded to Sam's call.

"Oh, so this is what my student reported on," the stocky, broad-shouldered Teknoman in green-shaded armor said, looking down at the Green Earth and her crew with a halberd that seemed to be his main weapon in the same way that Slade and Saber's lances were theirs. "Nicely spotted, Sam."

When this new, armored Teknoman lowered his halberd so that Sam could grab onto it, lifting the smaller Teknoman up with one hand onto the back of a creature that looked nearly identical to the one that Spear had rode into battle when he'd faced Slade and Saber, Star caught her first glimpse of just how strong a Teknoman in full armor could really be. Of course, the fact that Sam had been fast enough to dodge bullets had long since brought home how fast a Teknoman could be.

It wasn't a comforting thing, being faced with a pair of superhumans who lacked even the most basic scruples or humanity that Slade and Saber possessed.

00010010100

Holding Conrad close to her, feeling his warm breath on her neck as she continued to make her way through the lush forest of teknoplants that the Radam had planted, Sword hoped that he was feeling the same returning strength that she did, surrounded by the nutrient gas that the plants gave off. She didn't know, since she couldn't see any life returning to her love's face, and his body was just as warm as any other Teknoman's. Still, after the sacrifice that he had made to protect all of them from his mad sister and those faithless traitors he called younger brothers, Sword knew that it was probably a vain hope that he would wake anytime soon.

Looking back up, she saw that Lance had stopped walking and now had his head cocked slightly, as though listening to some far-off sounds, she paused. Halting her own forward motion, Sword was just about to ask just what it was that Lance thought was so important, when she herself began to hear the sounds of footsteps slowly approaching from their left. Turning that way, not having sensed the approach of any of her fellow Teknomen and so knowing that it couldn't be Axe or Rapier coming to meet with them, Sword wondered just what breed of foolish humans had chosen to die this day.

"See, I told you there was people up ahead," one of the humans said, and Sword narrowed her eyes in annoyance; she hated it when those she met could not speak properly.

"All right, so you were right," the human at the forefront of the group, the one who seemed to be the leader of this particularly pitiful band of a pitiful breed, said. "What, you want me to congratulate you?"

"Look at that one back there," one of the stouter humans – though he would have been no match for Axe even if Axe had merely been a human, himself – said, pointing squarely at her. "Ain't she a pretty one?"

Clenching her jaw, even as she held Conrad closer to her, Sword knew just what these – most useless of all humans that they were – had to have in mind. They were fools to even consider such a thing, and naturally all of them would die for their presumption, but it seemed that she wouldn't even have to lift a finger to see these particular cretins punished.

"Oh my, there seems to be something rather wrong with your spine," Lance said, cheerfully snapping the neck of the human who had been so arrogant as to attempt to single her out simply for the fact that she was the sole woman – Teknoman though she was – among the small group that she was traveling with. "It seems to be broken."

(Why don't you allow me to handle this, Sword?) Lance offered, even as one of the other humans foolishly attempted to attack him and he broke their neck with a high-kick. (You just make sure that our dearest leader is taken care of, hmm?)

(Yes,) she agreed, looking down into the slumbering face of her love; she'd no need to dirty her hands with this rabble when Lance could handle them just as well, and would clearly take more enjoyment in the process. (I leave this in your capable hands, dearest Lance.)

She felt his amusement through the telepathic link that all Teknomen shared, but she was not entirely certain whether it was caused by her own turn of phrase, or the sheer ease with which he was shattering what little resistance the humans could muster against him.

Knowing that Lance was more than capable of dealing with any number of humans, even without the protection of his transformed state considering how pathetic an adversary any of these fools would inevitably prove to be without even the rudimentary weapons that these creatures armed themselves with, Sword settled into a crouch so that she could rest at least some of Conrad's weight on the ground; since love him though she did, Sword was forced to admit that his unconscious form couldn't remotely be considered light.

The dense bone and toned musculature that made her love one of the best of those warriors who had been chosen to serve the glorious Radam Empire also, unfortunately, made him rather a task to carry now that he had been rendered insensate through his sacrifice.

Sword briefly looked up, as she heard Lance making a rather crude taunt, and shook her head in exasperated amusement. Yes, it likely was rather disconcerting for those humans that Lance was fighting in the nude, and probably far more disconcerting that he was winning, but there was truly no reason for him to indulge in such childishness. Still, speaking of it now would likely distract him from his opponents, and after the battle he wasn't particularly likely to care about what she though of his remarks.

Particularly to a human, since their opinions counted for so little in the first place.

So Sword decided to ignore Lance's little faux pas, intentional though it might have easily been, and simply cradled Conrad's head closer to her body while she sat and waited for Lance to finish dealing with the humans who had been so foolish as to attempt to harm any of those who would properly be their masters.

When she heard the heavy thump of something rather large being dropped at her feet, Sword looked down to see the corpse of one of the humans who had been so stupidly audacious as to threaten them.

"And what do you think I would want with this?" she asked, rather nonplussed by the sight of the dead human who had been dropped so abruptly at her feet.

"Well, the both of us are going to need sustenance, if we're to be of any more use during this campaign," Lance said, and Sword narrowed her eyes slightly as she considered the merits of what he was saying. "And, I do remember reading that the flesh of these creatures tastes rather like pork."

She chuckled; that fit rather well, that these squalling little things would taste like the little creatures they had once used for food. And, that she, her love, and Lance – who were as high above them as they were above those puny creatures – would use them for sustenance, in turn. It was indeed rather fitting, now that Sword was given the time to reflect on such.

Lance was even courteous enough to wrench the arms – and only the arms, since she had little interest in the legs of these creatures, more substantial meals that they might have been – from the corpses so that she did not have to disturb her love where he slept. Biting into the yielding flesh at the top of the arm she was holding, Sword quickly swallowed the blood that welled up in her mouth, even as she continued to thoroughly chew the meat that she had taken in.

Once she had reduced the mass to mush, almost to the consistency of food that one would feed an infant, Sword gathered Conrad closer into her arms and pressed her lips against his even as she gently pried his unresisting jaw open. Her dearest, unconscious love reflexively swallowed the meat she'd just given to him, and Sword leaned back against a nearby teknoplant as she began to prepare another such bite.

First, she would see to it that her dearest love would survive these troubled times, and then Sword would see to her own needs.

01001010011

The first time he'd transformed after the latest in a long line of horrors he'd been forced to face, he'd had Shara's crystal tucked neatly away in his pocket, having found it just after getting Cain dressed in the clothes he could spare and therefore not having had much time to really contemplate just what it was that he was looking at – how much loss was represented by such a simple-seeming thing like the crystal shard he could hide in the palm of either hand – but the next of the Spider-crab attacks that it seemed he and Saber were forced to face every time they seemed to be getting their feet back under them after whatever new tragedy had happened to them. This time, he and Saber had been sitting together, Shara's crystal cupped in his hands and Saber's cupped around his in turn, just thinking about all that they'd lost.

There had been no more hesitation, then: whatever Conrad and the others had been before, all of them would have to die for what they had done to Shara, even over and above what they were trying to do to the Earth.

Shara's crystal had still been clenched in his right hand, even as Slade had leaped into Pegas' interlock-chamber and felt the energies of his transformation fill him. Only this time, there had nearly been more energy than even he was prepared to handle. He'd called to Saber, at least he was fairly sure he had, but he could sense his younger twin's presence close by in any case.

The Spider-crabs that had been descending for another attack were destroyed completely in the wake of what felt like a much, much more powerful variant of his Tekno-battle mode, and as Slade felt the energies inside him continuing to pour out without even the slightest hint of tapering off, he couldn't help but wonder just where he and Saber were ultimately going to end up.

Right then, the rush of energy that had flung him this far into the air and torn through the Spider-crabs in his way like so much used tissue paper, dissipated and left Slade staring up at the Space Ring, just a few feet in front of him. Turning to look back at Saber, he saw the confusion plainly expressed by his younger twin's body language, and a slight smile worked its way onto his face.

(Well, I'd say this is a fair bit further than last time, wouldn't you?)

Saber's chuckle, along with his younger twin's amusement, came clearly over the link that they both shared. (Yeah; I'd have to say you're right.)

(What we said before, I'm even more sure of it now,) he said, looking down at the still-glowing shard of Shara's crystal he held in his right hand.

(Yeah.)

With no Spider-crabs to threaten them anymore, Slade turned Pegas back toward the Earth and dove. Seeing it all like that, nearly all in one piece even if only for such a short time, brought home just what he and Saber were fighting for again. They weren't just in this for themselves; everyone still living on Earth was depending on them. Seeing Saber's right hand on his left shoulder, even though he couldn't feel it through his armor, brought the smile that had slipped away back to his face.

At the very least, Slade could take comfort in the fact that he wasn't alone; that neither of them were alone, separated as they were from their fellow Space Knights.

As the two of them dove back through the atmosphere, Slade began to consider just which of the evil Teknomen that he and Saber were facing now would make the most opportune targets. Forcing Spear to give up his teknocrystal, while it did appeal to the part of Slade that wanted vengeance for what had happened to Shara, didn't really seem to be in the cards for the moment. Particularly since he didn't exactly know if Spear had actually survived.

And, under the circumstances, Slade didn't particularly know what he was hoping for.

11101010011

Hmm, now that's an interesting development, Axe mused, looking up as he felt a powerful – and powerfully familiar – surge of energy. (Sam, withdraw.)

(Are you sure that's a good idea, Goddard-sensei? Don't you want me to finish dealing with these humans we found?)

(They're not much of a threat to anyone, except maybe a few unlucky Spider-crabs,) he said, even as Rapier wove out of the way of another shot of that gun the Tekno-suit pilot – and the pilot of the ship that he'd helped to ground permanently; a memory Axe still savored at times – was aiming at him. (However, I just sensed something much more important than any of these minor irritants here.)

(What is it, Goddard-sensei?)

(You would have been a bit distracted,) he allowed, smiling indulgently down at the youngest of his students; the little rabbit had a mean kick. (But, I sensed our two wayward Teknomen just coming back down to Earth. And I know where they are.)

(All right, Goddard-sensei,) Rapier responded, as he obediently disengaged from what could only marginally be considered a battle and flew back up to meet Axe where he stood on Spear's mount.

(Good. Now, my little rabbit, let's see what our wayward Teknomen want,) he said, chuckling as he directed Spear's mount toward the area where he had sensed two of his most wayward students descending back to the planet they were still so foolishly attached to even after all that defending it had cost them.

When Ness and Cain breached atmosphere again, he and Sam were right there to meet them. Narrowing his eyes as a thought came to him, Axe returned his attention to his youngest student. (Sam, release your transformation; I want to see how Ness and Cain react.)

(All right, Goddard-sensei.)

The surge of energy that burst forth as Rapier became Sam again would have clearly drawn the attention of even a Teknoman who wasn't paying attention, but the way both twins' gazes – clear even behind the concealing effect of their respective visors – snapped to lock on the small form of his youngest student caused a distinct suspicion to take root in Axe's mind.

(Show them your crystal, my little rabbit.) The brief surge of energy that accompanied the summoning of any Teknoman's crystal was certainly not the most noticeable effect when Sam called the requested item back to his hand. No, the most noticeable effect of the favor he'd asked of Sam was when Ness – impulsive as he'd ever been – directed that mechanoid he used to transform without the use of an intact teknocrystal to charge the two of them. Ah, so that is what he wants.

Wrapping his left arm around Sam's narrow chest, Axe held the little rabbit close to his armored body as he directed Spear's mount to nimbly dodge the sudden, futile charge that his foolish, wayward student had decided to launch against them.

(Goddard-sensei, do you know what's going on?)

(That I do, my little rabbit,) he said, pleased to have been right even as he continued to dodge the attacks that Ness, and now Cain, continued to attempt on the small form of his youngest student. (Ness thinks that, if he claims one of our crystals, he'll be able to boost his own, weakened powers. He might even be desperate enough to think that he could make it to the Moon, to challenge Darkon himself.)

(Do you think he might be able to do it?)

(Even if he did, Lord Darkon would slaughter him in single combat,) holding Sam closer as he dodged yet another futile attack from Ness and Cain, Axe smiled. (So you don't need to worry about that, my little rabbit. Still,) he paused a moment, dodging another attack from Ness. (You should probably transform again, since it's likely we're going to be fighting in earnest soon.)

(You mean, right here?)

(It'll be fine, Sam,) he said, smiling again at the concern his youngest student was showing for him, unneeded though it was in this instance. (I'm still in my armor, and it's not as though we need to worry about Ness and Cain right now.)

(All right, Goddard-sensei.) "Tekno-power!"

The surge of energy that transformed Sam into Rapier once more was a rather interesting thing to sense, particularly from this close, Axe reflected as he and Rapier began engaging Ness and Cain in earnest once more. Still, their battle only lasted as long as it took for his wayward students to exhaust their limited powers – something neither of them would have had to worry about if they had simply gone back with Conrad when he had first made the offer to them, but it was clear that Ness and Cain were simply being stubborn for whatever frivolous reason they had decided on – and after that they were both forced to withdraw.

(Should we pursue them, Goddard-sensei?) Rapier asked, turning his armored head to look back at Axe.

(Not just yet, little rabbit,) he said, gently patting Rapier's armored head. (I need to contact Lord Darkon, and tell him what I've found out about our wayward Teknomen. Meanwhile, I want you to see if you can find Katharine and Shinji; we're going to need a place to stay while we're still on this planet, and it would be best if they were present so we could select the place that best serves our needs.)

He knew just where Conrad would have wanted to stay, if any of them had had such an option; but the Carter house wasn't really suitable for living in at the moment, having stood so long without its caretakers, and so they were going to need at least some place of residence while they all recovered and made plans. Those of them that were conscious to make plans in the first place, of course.

000101001011

As Pegas' interlock-chamber released him, just as he was starting to feel that same, hateful disorientation and detachment that had always signaled when he was at the end of his useable time in his transformed state, Slade sat down on the rocky ground and sighed. He should have expected Axe to have outfoxed him when he'd had Rapier transform back into his human form, but all that he could think of when he'd seen the teknocrystal glittering in Rapier's pale hands was the power that even the broken shard that was all they had left of Shara had granted them both.

Well, it had granted him power, but he'd shared that power with Saber so the specifics didn't matter.

"Guess this isn't going to be as easy as either of us want," Saber said, and Slade looked up to see his younger twin drop unceremoniously to the ground beside him.

He scoffed softly. "Guess not. Still," he clutched the remains of Shara's crystal tighter, feeling the edges dig into his hand. "Nothing in our lives ever seems to come easy; so really, why should this be any different?"

He didn't care how long it took, and he knew that Saber didn't, either: they were going to take a pair of teknocrystals from the first pair of Radam Teknomen they could pin down – whether it was Axe and Rapier wasn't particularly important so much as the fact that they need a pair – and they were going to go to the Moon so that they could deal with Darkon personally.

That was really all there was to it, in the end.