Skyler idly toyed with the pencil on his desk, ignoring the reports that he was supposed to write. He was in a very large room in the base, a library, but currently was the only person in the room. It was late and everybody was either in bed or out in their guard shifts.
Skyler frowned. Was Tam lying about seeing Skan? Doubtful; he probably wouldn't lie to Skyler again in a long time. Then was it really Skan? It could have been a SWORD meant to look like him... but why? To fool others? Skyler never heard of SWORDs giving other SWORDs instructions, they were always programmed to do something, or told through some sort of central computer. And if Skan was still alive - a theory Skyler still stood with - why was he with Seth? Or WAS he with Seth? It was not out of the question that Skan either reprogrammed a SWORD to work for him, or built his own. Then why was he attacking Nisemeisho?
"Skyler Yokotani."
Skyler blinked in surprise at the voice behind him. It almost sounded like a recording (definately a recording do to the slight static sound), almost of Skan's voice. He turned around, and nearly gasped in surprise. A SWORD - an Ultima, judging by the descriptions he's heard - stood in the doorway, looking at Skyler from the hallway. It made no move.
Without hesitation, Skyler threw himself at the wall, slamming the palm of his hand into the alarm button. Instantly, all lights in the complex turned on, a bright red color now, and a loud ringing filled everybody's ears. "SWORDs in the base!" Skyler roared. "There are damned SWORDs in the base!!" How had a SWORD got so far into the base without being noticed!?
As soon as Skyler sounded the alarm, the Ultima threw itself at him, flying across the room towards the Esper, a pink beam sabre smoothly gliding out of a hole in the middle of it's three fingered hand.
Faster than the eye could blink, Skyler drew his own weapon from it's sheath at his side - a glowing blue beam sabre of his own. The two blades met in a shower of purple sparks.
As Skyler and the Ultima struggled to overbear the other, the room was swarmed from the two doors on each end. Both SWORDs and Humans - all equipped in weapons, but some wearing no more than their underwear - came in, and instantly met in battle. Skyler recognized most of the SWORDs as Delta and Gamma, but saw a few Fenrir, as well. But he had his own fight to attend to.
Another shower of purple sparks knocked both opponents back, and the lunged at each other again, pink and blue beam sabres slashing and thrusting, neither one ever hitting. Skyler's sword twirled and spun so fast it was no more than a blur. The Ultima's sword appeared to be merely hacking with no stratgey, but it blocked as many attacks as Skyler did.
The battle raged on about the two, but nobody, SWORD or human, came within ten feet of the battling titans. A clear circle was made around the Ultima and Skyler, both fighting at a level clearly above anybody else in the room. And they seemed to be evenly matched.
Skyler gritted his teeth in concentration. Every time he made an attack, it was blocked, and countered with another strike from the Ultima. This was getting him nowhere fast; he would eventually tire out, while the SWORD could go on forever. But until things around him calmed down, he could merely continue his own pace. He just hoped that the humans would lose; it would take only a hair more for the Ultima to win against him.
Suddenly, he realized he WAS the only one fighting in the room. Around him were people arguing whether or not they could get a clear shot in at the Ultima without hitting Skyler, and everybody else assured them that Skyler seemed like he was capable of defending himself.
Suddenly, Skyler went full on the defensive, working only to dodge and block blows. "Everybody," he growled in between attacks from the SWORD, "attack him! I'm going to charge up for a spell!" At a time like this, it may be only a high powered lightning spell that could actually defeat such a SWORD... Skyler had never experienced anything like this; even Fenrir were nothing in comparison.
Obediantly, nearly everyone else in the room charged the Ultima, as Skyler stepped back, the beam sabre winking out as he sheathed it. He put his hands to his side, as if cradling a small ball, and began charging up.
Anybody could tell that the sudden source of darkness in the room was caused by him. All light faded, except for the bright yellow ball that began pulsing between his hands. Suddenly, yellow and purple lightning began striking the ball, seemingly from nowhere, and it grew in size. It was the only source of light in the room, and a dim one at that, but as it grew to the size of the basketball, it illuminated the library more and more. In the span of several minutes, he was complete. Just as the SWORD was nearly finished killing the last of it's opponents; an apprently easy task for such a creation.
"Step back!" Skyler yelled to the other soldiers, who were too happy to oblige. Skyler leapt in the air, his bat wings spreading wide, holding the glowing orb of swirling yellow and purple magic above his head. He hovered in the air only a moment before hurling that magic ball at the Ultima. The SWORD had no time to move before it struck it's chest and exploded.
The explosion kicked up a massive cloud of dust from the uncleaned desks, and the only following sounds in the room was that of Skyler's heavy breathing. The tension was thick as everybody waited for the dust to clear, to see what he had accomplished.
As the dust cleared away, a soldier gasped in fright as a vaguely humanoid shape could be seen. When the dust finally settled, the Ultima stood where it had just before it was struck, it's pose unchanged, and not a scratch on it's body. Before Skyler could curse in surprise and frustration, it lifted it's beam cannon arm.
Then, the fight got REAL difficult.
Kenjii awoke slowly, his eyes fluttering open. As soon as he gained consiousness, he groaned in pain. It felt like his entire body was on fire. It took a minute for Kenjii to notice where he was. In the desert, lying on a stretcher, moving...
:What the HELL is going on!?: He mindsent "loudly". His telepathic abilities could be broadcast for all to hear, as well as personal communication. One of the two people carrying the stretcher, the on behind, almost dropped him in surprise. Another figure - Kenjii couldn't see very well - made it's way to his side, a dark blur about the size of a large dog at her side.
"Kenjii?" It was Crystal! "Are you OK?" That meant the figure at her side was doubtless Krinn.
"I..." Another wave of pain washed over him as he tried to talk. :What happened?:
Crystal shook her head. "You tell me! I left, when you were holding off that Ultima... and came back with Alex and his two guards. You were still fighting it! Kenjii, how long were you fighting?"
Kenjii's small cough turned into a wheezing cough. :It wasn't the same SWORD... after being captured by that first Ultima, and escaping Seth's clutches, I was ambushed... by three others. I managed to take out two, but that last one seemed to take it all out of me:
There was a short silence, before Crystal responded through Kenjii's telepathic link. :This is no time for jokes, Kenjii! What happened?:
:I'm not lying!: Kenjii growled. :I-:
Krinn interupted. Somehow he had managed to listen in, maybe through Crystal. :You OWE her a thank you!: The iguion sent angrily. :Crystal was in bed, nearly dehydrated to death and exhausted, but still refused to lay down just because you were out here. If she had not pushed herself - and healed you, too! - you would be dead hours ago:
Kenjii looked down at his body. Most of the wounds were still there, several of them already drying up, but the largest one was gone. Although Kenjii could still see a dark scar of the gaping wound where he'd been gutted like a fish. :Thank you: Kenjii said slowly. Why had she worked so hard for his well being?
:As long as you're OK...: Crystal said, patting him on the shoulder. What the hell WAS going on? Crystal actually being nice to him?? :Perhaps you can tell me what happened after we get you to a proper healer:
Kenjii nodded, then drifted off to sleep almost instantly, completely unaware that it was because of Crystal's spell.
Krinn looked up at Crystal in surprise. :Why did you cast a sleep spell on him!? He was about to doze off himself! And you haven't the energy to spare:
Crystal shrugged. "He needed the rest... and would probably have forced himself to stay awake."
Krinn shook his head. :YOU need the rest...: he grumbled, but Crystal just ignored him.
"Are we almost at the base yet?" she asked. Although she tried to hide it from both Alex and her familiar, she was quite tired. And Kenjii needed the attention of a REAL healer... not a first-aid, like herself.
"Just over this hill," Alex said, shouldering his rifle. He still was a bit shaky after that encounter with the Ultima. Either they were much weaker than rumor had given, or Kenjii had damaged it quite a bit before being defeated. Either way, they managed to destroy it before it could even fire a shot at it... but an Ultima raising it's beam cannon at you was a frightening sight. "I... what!?"
"What is it?" Crystal asked, exasperated. She ran up to where Alex was, at the top of the sand dune. Her blood turned to ice at the sight of the base below them.
Chaos. Pure, utter choas, a sea of fighting SWORDs and humans. And... Crystal was sure she recognized at least one Ultima among the rest of the SWORDs. And then... something else.
"Oh... oh my god!" she cried out. She looked over to Alex. "Alex, what is that!?"
Alex took a step forward, eyes widening. "...Skan?" he whispered. Then he took off running, to the north, to the Engineer's Guild. "I'll be back!" he called over his shoulder. Crystal didn't hear, she couldn't take her eyes off of the gigantic SWORD in front of her, very easily wreaking havoc among the base.
"How... how can we fight that?"