While most everyone seemed to be trying to figure out what to do with Diablo, Zero looked away, noticing someone else coming up to the camp. Roe had arrived. Sigma was no-where in sight though.

"Where've you been?" Zero asked. Roe didn't respond to him. "Where's your father?" He asked, alittle more forceful. This time, Roe paused walking for a second to glance slightly at Zero, then turned her head in a flurish, her hair flickering in the faint light, taunting him. She had no intentions of listening to the likes of him.

Roe continued walking over to Epsillon, sitting on the rock close beside him. "Problems with the newcomer?" She guessed, her voice cheerful, but without being too cheerful.

Destiny paused for a moment before responding, looking thoughtfully at the reploid. Not many people knew about her past, and she liked to keep it that way. Zebu knew, of course, but then again the two had been friends for years. She wasn't some psychopath who had a dangerous secret, she was just antisocial. ((lol)) She tapped her fingers once on her left knee, wishing she had her armor, and replied.

"There's not a whole lot to tell. I met Zebu when I was just a teenager, found out she was a reploid." She shrugged. "The Hunters figured they could use my talents, so I joined. Been there ever since, except for a few years in between places."

This was a very condensed version, to say the least, but it was about all the reploid was going to get. After a moment of silence, Destiny gestured to the sabre she had thrown him.

"You're not too bad with that. Quite good, actually."

She halted in her speech. This whole polite thing was a lot harder than Zebu made it seem. For her, at least, it was much easier to be rude and arrogant. At least then she didn't have to worry about whether or not she would offend whoever she was speaking to. It was virtually guranteed.

*He nods thoughtfully as she 'talks' about her past..*

"So you and the other woman that was here are friends. That's good to hear. Myself, I'm personal friends with Zero...er...the one from my dimension though..."

*Upon receiving the compliment about his sabre-work, he pulls off a slightly bashful act, never before having been told he was good with them*

"Ehhh...thank you very much..I always considered myself mediocre with these...really..."

*Only been using one for 195 years..*

"I imagine you yourself aren't bad with a sabre, seeing the one you had pointed to my head earlier today...special kind is it? Mine's just a little bit longer than most...and a little longer life too.."

*Destiny gets a kind of "Excuse me?" look on her face...Diablo smirks a little bit.*

"I guess you could call this a Sabre Longsword. The blade can max itself out at 4.5 feet, or it can do a normal sized one, like Zero's sabre. I had to toy around with the life a little because of the power it used up while at it's max.."

*Destiny does the "ooooh" thing. trying to stay polite about it..not doing the best job in the world though. Diablo doesn't mind though.*

"So...why are you over here, anyways...? I thought you were going to leave me as some tinhead here to try and take over the show."

( as he watches Roe near Epsillon,he draws his Sabre thinking that a Fire is needed)

(cuts a few branches and sets them down,Digging a Good Size hole)

Zero: it might take more time but...apparently I've got plenty of it... (with that he sets the Branches in the Hole igniting them using the Shoenzan Technique)

Zero: (thinking to himself) (So this is what it comes down to Eh?... Someone new comes along and I just sit here waiting for an enemy attack...Ep there, I wish I knew what was going through his head right now...)

(with the fire burning hot...warm enough for 3 people,Zero gets up heading to Ep)

Zero: Ep, could I have a word with you?,if you wouldn't mind, I'll meet you by the clearing in the forest (points to a bit of Sunlight within the Forest)

(with that he walks into the forest passing up Diablo)...Diablo,Just So you know...I'm not giving up leadership of this Group...heh,not easily anyway (after that, he continues to walk to the clearing)

"I don't mind if you don't give up leadership "

*Says this as Zero walks away. He's right, he doesn't mind. They don't all know he's a High Commander. Destiny may have gotten that, with him sharing his story with her and all*

Destiny glanced at her sabre hilt, turned back to Diablo, and shrugged.

"I suppose you could say it was special..I have to fool around with the wiring to get it to recognize my energy signal, or it won't work. Stupid blade's still turquoise though."

She scowled after mentioning this. One thing the human did not deal well with was failure, and though she would be able to fix it, she hadn't managed to do it on her first try. She was about to respond to Diablo's question about why she had returned when Zero strolled by, making his comment about not giving up leadership. Destiny smiled a tiny bit. The tinhead had more spunk than she had credited him for.

Zeb was enjoying herself, sitting in a random tree and listening to a conversation that no one knew she was listening to. She'd always wondered what Destiny was like when she wasn't around.

Zeb was also wondering about Destiny's sabres. Other humans used sabres, Zeb thought. It must be different in this dimension. After all, everything else was, why not sabres as well?

This brought up another point. How was Diablo possibly over 195 years old?! Zeb herself was only about 14, and she was considered pretty old in her dimension, for a reploid. She couldn't possibly imagine how a reploid could live that long... but maybe the Irregular Virus wasn't as strong there. In her home dimension, the average lifespan of a reploid was about two and a half years. Most of them turned Irregular or were killed before that.

Zeb leaned back in her tree, looking up and into the leaves. That was the intent, anyway. Hanging a few centimeters away from her face was a small brown spider. Zeb's eyes grew very small very quickly and a shiver flew down her back. She did the only logical thing by shrieking and falling out of the tree.

"KUUUUMOUUUU--Wai~!"

Zeb landed on the ground several feet from Destiny and Diablo and she *had* been screaming, so she wasn't exactly unnoticed. She stood, trying as hard as possible to remain polite instead of going into a wild panic. She bowed, trying to make her entire performance look intentional.

"Ara... O-Ohha..."

*He hears the scream and falls back off his stump. Not paying attention to the radar and his surroundings. He gets up to see Zeb bowing out of polite-ness and he can't help but laugh a little at both his own stupidity and Zeb's goofiness.*

"Ah...haha...Well done..well done indeed."

*He props the stump he was on up and motions to it*

"Come, take a seat, I can spare the room."

*He throws one of the cut logs into the fire and a bit of tinder in order to keep the fire going. The log 'pops,' creating that snap sound and sending a few sparks into the sky. As no questions have been asked, and no conversation's going right now, he's silent, staring thoughtfully into the fire whilst sitting on the ground*

Destiny stared at Zeb for a moment as she smashed into the ground wailing, then burst out into hysterical laughter, nearly falling off of her stump. She clutched her stomach and doubled over, seemingly unable to catch her breath. Zebu stood up and glared at her, brushing herself off as she did so.

"Quiet, you. I don't believe I need to remind you how many times you've made a fool of yourself."

Destiny merely waved a hand at her, sitting up straight once more. "Oh, c'mon, Zebs. Even you've got to admit it was funny."

She probably would have agreed, but she was too busy being perplexed at the fact that Diablo was now sitting on the ground, and she was supposed to be monopolizing his seat. ((Can you say "run-on sentence"? o.o; ))

"Er, I didn't mean to steal your seat," she said, looking vaguely worried.

Apparently, Destiny had regaiend her senses, because she was now breathing normally. Having noticed Zeb's discomfort, she pushed off her stump, hovering silently in the air a few feet above the ground and crossed her legs. Grinning, she called out to Diablo, who was looking rather shocked, and pointed to her former seat.

"Pull up a stump."

*Shocked is an understatement. He's having trouble comprehending what the heck is allowing her to do that...she doesn't register on his radar, meaning she's not reploid..or mechanical for that matter...yet..she's hovering..*

"Err...certainly..thank you.."

*He gets up and sits down on the stump anyways..still kinda trying to figure out how she's doing that..*

"Oh, don't be worried about stealing a seat. I don't mind either way what happens right now." *He says with a bit of a smile*

*He stares into the fire once more, no conversation going on at this point in time. He does, however, ask if Zeb can throw a log into the fire, since she's closest to the pile of cut logs*

Ep got up from the boulder he was sitting on, leaving Roe's question unanswered for the moment. He doubt he needed to answer it anyways. She always seemed to know the answer before he asked usually.

Alpha watched as Epsillon left, heading towards the woods where Zero went. He watched that direction for alittle while, then laid his head back down, feeling no need to follow.

Ep shortly caught up to Zero. "You wanted to talk?" Ep asked.

*Shocked is an understatement. He's having trouble comprehending what the heck is allowing her to do that...she doesn't register on his radar, meaning she's not reploid..or mechanical for that matter...yet..she's hovering..*

"Err...certainly..thank you.."

*He gets up and sits down on the stump anyways..still kinda trying to figure out how she's doing that..*

"Oh, don't be worried about stealing a seat. I don't mind either way what happens right now." *He says with a bit of a smile*

*He stares into the fire once more, no conversation going on at this point in time. He does, however, ask if Zeb can throw a log into the fire, since she's closest to the pile of cut logs*

Jaguar had been sitting there on that tree branch for hours now, going through his personal files as he deleted various photos of Sigma's head in the place of some famous bald headed icons, such as Curly from the three Stooges, Elmer Fudd, Lex Luther, Mr. Clean and another figures without hair as were orders from Zero. He could of easily had im deleted by their content, but there were some official files about Sigma in his database that he figured he might not wanna risk losing as he had no way of means of reaquiring them when or if he ever got back to Earth plus since sending the BEATs out again, he had nothing else to do.

It had been a couple of days since the others had finally showed up at the camp he had found and all had been quiet and slightly tense as the others adjusted to the smaller accomadations. The tension had reached it's peak when that new comer appeared, which wouldn't of been so startling had he not made the once in a life time mistake of calling Ep weak specially with Alpha around, which tween the two of them there wouldn't of been enough left of Diablo to make a toaster out of, least any that worked.

After the challenge and the introductions from the other people here, disincluding himself as he had little to no idea what to make of the guy and wasn't exactly about to find out the hard way as to whether this guy was friend of foe. He had been caught spying on the lot of im and he had little proof as to who he said he was, and anything he had in his database could of easily been faked, but then again the same could be said for all the repliods here, but still he wasn't about to take any unnessassary risks till Zero gave his two cents on the subject.

Nothing else had occured since the outburst from Ep, sides Roe showing up, which in itself was a startle to the others. Shortly afterthough, Zero and Ep had suddenly walked off into the woods together to chat about somthing. "More than likely, Zero will tell Ep he should put this little grudge of his aside till later, cept in a more command like fashion" he thought silently to himself.

As for himself, to keep himself occupied he had sent his two BEATs out once again, this time as small scouts to survery their current surroundings to try and see if he couldn't locate any new Drone patrol patterns. They had been gone for a few hours now, when the two had returned. Accessing their audio data banks, he at first found nothing of interest, cept finding a few drones here and there. But after realigning the drone's past known locations with the chartered map he had of the woods they were in...somthing didn't quite measure up. There were too few drones and what ones there were they appeared to be retreating out of the woods, but why?

The first instinct he had was to bring this up with Zero, but with Zero out with Ep, that left him with...it wasn't until then he realized he was the only hunter, sides Alpha, from this dimension and earth left at the camp. He wasn't too sure on the command structure and he was sure he didn't hear Zero leaving no one in particular in charge. He wasn't exactly too clear on how Zeb and Destiny might respond to this and he had zero clue as to how Gohan and Diablo would ither. "First things first", he said to himself.

After reprogramming the BEATs he sent them out again, this time to survey the outer boundries of the woods around them. He had a theory, but nothing to arouse panic among the others, he wouldn't say anything else till he had more information to go by or until his suspicians were comfirmed.

Zeb used the distraction of getting firewood to nudge the airborne Destiny in the side.

"You had *better* explain yourself to him!" Zeb hissed, "I don't think you bothered to mention to anyone that you can do that!"

Destiny shrugged innocently and Zeb ignored her, throwing the log into the fire a tad too hard, and sending sparks flying at the human. Destiny flinched, and then sighed defeatedly as the reploids both stared at her expectantly.

"All right, I suppose you want to know why and how I can do this?"

Diablo nodded, still managed to look composed as usual.

Destiny took a long breath.

"It's a complicated story, and I don't understand parts of it myself." Destiny paused, glancing at Zebu.

"Of course, that's the way most things in our lives are, eh, Zebs?"

Zeb's expression didn't change even slightly. "That's a different story. And your audience is impatient."

Destiny nodded at Diablo, "Right. Well..."

Zeb reached over and threw a couple of logs on the fire as Diablo had requested, throwing a glance at Destiny as she did so. The human was still grinning like an idiot, thoroughly enjoying confusing the heck out of Diablo. She felt sorry for her fellow reploid. Destiny could be a bit of a shock, and she wasn't helping lessen that shock at all. Zebu cleared her throat.

"Unmei, perhaps you should explain."

Destiny sighed. "All right, spoil my fun." She turned to Diablo. "As you can see, I'm rather special. I can use my energy to do this." She nodded sagely. "My powers were given to me when I was very small."

This seemed to be all she was going to say. She did, however, form a small ball of energy, tossing it back and forth between her hands.

Zebu turned to Diablo for further explanation. "That's why we wanted her for the Hunters, you see. She's faster and stronger than a normal human, plus she can do her energy blasts."

Diablo was still staring rather openly at Destiny, but she was quite used to this by now. Chuckling, she dissolved the ball, resting her hands on her knees.

"If you've got questions, then ask. Don't just stare."

*It's like when you snap out of a daydream, you twitch slightly and say 'huh?'..Diablo did that, saying "Oh.." instead of "huh?"*

"M-my apologies. That's something else, that gift you have. Reminds me of the busters some reploids have. And no..I don't have any questions.."

(Quite the mix and match batch of fighters...)

*Proceeding that thought, Diablo lowers his head and closes his eyes. Having done that, he begins his eveningly systems and weapons check. He's not shut down, because he still shifts slightly, but closing his eyes blocks out the un-needed visual from his HUD. From an outside view looking in, it looks like he's meditating. He deems a voice check needed right now, thus speaking*

"So, do you two have anything else to do? I'm going to be here like this for a while.."

*He thinks a listen check is appropriate now as well, awaiting their response, either one of them.*

Zeb and Destiny exchanged a skeptical glance. The reploids here we unquestionably weird. Unable to figure out what exactly Diablo was hoping to accomplish, Destiny nudged Zeb to show that this was their cue to make a graceful (and unnoticed) exit. Zeb nodded and the Hunters escaped back to the main camp. It looked pretty empty, but Ice was lying on a patch of grass near the center of the clearing. They seated themselves next to him and he gave them both an offended look.

"Sorry, Ice." Destiny said, "We sort of forgot you."

Ice snorted as though to say 'no kidding.'

Destiny understood him completely, but nodded instead. "Glad you understand!"

As Destiny was speaking to the tiger, Zeb was looking around camp. It was nearly deserted with the exception of Jaguar, who she hadn't seen since they arrived. He was sitting in a tree, doing nothing obvious. Zeb tilted her head at him. Reploids here were SO strange... Zeb was confused as to how they managed to regain their energy. Zeb was only running on about 1/4 power at the moment, and was not very happy about it. Sure, she could sort of recharge, but it took several hours to regain any sort of energy.

Well, Zeb decided, it was better than nothing.

"Des," Zeb said, "I've got to go sleep, alright? I'll be over there." She gestured at another, smaller patch of grass which was covered partially by bushes.

"Hiding from the spiders?" Destiny asked.

"Hey!" Zeb replied, defensive, "You never saw that spider! It was like THIS BIG!" She held her hand about three feet apart, and Destiny snorted. "My arse it was."

Zeb sighed. Destiny couldn't understand. "I'm going there because I don't want to be out in the open, completely defenseless; spiders and Irregulars alike."

"If you say so, Zebs."

Zeb sighed again and made her way over to the patch of grass. She teleported her clothing into solid black, to be even less noticable, and then leaned against a nearby tree and shut her eyes. She wasn't very good at shutting down, didn't really have as much practice as most other reploids. Finally, she was able to flick the right mental switch and fell into the closest thing she had to "sleep."

(upon Ep's Arrival, Zero turns around to face Ep)

Zero: (to Ep) ...You know as well as I do,we need as much help as we can get and the way you've been talking to Diablo...I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see if he left, but that's not why I called you here...Are you ok?...I noticed that you were somewhat "homesick"...do you want to talk about it?

*Diagnostics complete. He's operating at his peak, for what little he has right now. Only a minor problem with his dash thrusters, nothing overly vital. Once he opens his eyes, he sees that he's once again alone. smirking a little and nodding slightly. Kinda figured them ladies'd do that. It did feel slightly weird without much conversation going on. No problem though.*

"Not like they were assigned to be here anyways.."

*After a second's contemplation, he stands up, throwing 2 logs and the rest of his tinder into the fire. He takes a couple of steps back after this is complete, his right hand reaching down to his sabre. He unclips it and ignites the green blade, holding it out and standing in a ready position, like he's dueling. He begins to slash and slice at the air in intricate patterns, practicing it would seem. Each slash and slice meld into each other with suprising smoothness, like water flowing down a brook without interruption. The hum of the sabre's energy discharge and the heightened sound when a slash takes place comes in a pattern, a high pace pattern though. He continues to practice for a while, or until someone shows up, if at all anyone should even remotely consider that option.*

Sighing, Destiny watched as Zeb walked away to take her "nap". She didn't really have much to do, and since Zebu was sleeping, she certianly wasn't going to do the same. Glancing at her hands, she pulled her sabre from its sheath, resorting once more to the tedious task.

"You are not going to be turquoise," she muttered to the sabre. "You will be properly colored."

All in all, the sabre didn't seem to care much. This could be expected, seeing as it was an inanimate object, but Destiny kept muttering away to it, most if her mumblings seeming to be death threats. After a while, she seemed to be satisfied, and when she ignited it the blade was white with a black core. The human smiled.

"Good sabre."

*Diablo halts his practicing while holding the tip of his blade up against the tree. He's panting heavily from the sheer drive he was putting behind his technique..his speed and most of all, how correct everything was. A lot of concentration was put behind making his strikes effective, as they'd need to be in a real battle. Without making a sound, Diablo reaches down for his second sabre...*

"Time to kick things up a notch..."

*He ignites the second blade and begins an even higher paced 'workout,' faster strikes without skipping out on the fluidity of them. It almost looks like he's dancing an intricate circle around his crackling bonfire, minus the catchy drum beats and music..just the hum of the energy blades cleaving through the air and the occasional "YAAAHT~!" of his 'battlecry' when he makes a particularly powerful chop, signified by a louder hum than normal*

Alpha lifted his head once again from the spot where he was laying. He was trying to get a nap, but with that trouble making reploid doing his training and yelling, it was impossible to do so, and Alpha was getting fed up.

Alpha lowered his head, keeping his neck still of the ground, watching Diablo carefully. After watching him for a short while, it became easy to predict his moves. Alpha waited for just the right moment, then sent a quick burst of paralysis energy off of his horns and right towards Diablo's ankle.

Direct hit! Alpha heard a satisfying yelp of suprize and a hearty thud as Diablo fell face first in the dirt. Alpha layed down his head, attempting one more time to take a nap.

Diablo sat up, his ankle feeling numb. 'Guess I overdid it with the exercise,' he thought, though he didn't think he had been pushing himself to hard. Diablo, for some strange reason, looked over at Alpha, but the dragon was sleeping as he had always been...

Ep stared at the ground a little, thinking. No, he didn't want to -talk- about his homesickness, he wanted to be home. But that was apparently not happening any time soon.

There was another thing he wanted, but he doubted it would look very good for a 'commander of the Maverick Hunters' to be giving Ep a hug. He doubted if anyone even knew they were related. Would it even -matter- if they knew?

Ep closes his eyes and sighed, just wishing he was home...

Zero: (to Ep) Hey, come here...who cares what they think ok? We're not here to win any popularity contests...I know you miss home,so do I as a matter of fact...but you have to remember that the only way home is to finish what we've started here...but in the meantime...(kneels down so that Ep is Eye to Eye with Zero) we have to keep our spirits up...(opens up his arms)...Come here,Ep..we'll be home soon enough...

*After that brief little stint...Diablo decided it was a good idea to cool it for the night. It was, after all, rather late in the evening, according to his internal chronometer, and since he's no longer alone, he has to maintain a certain level of respect. So, he does so, uttering a quick "Sor-rie.." He throws the last of his logs into the fire and sits back against his seating stump, leaning a little bit, and away from the fire so as not to burn himself in any fashion*

........*A small smile*

*As he lays there, he begins to think about his own little home dimension, how he misses the hunter faction he commands...what he's going to do about the green hunter and that..darn big lizard of his..everyone else as well..He also has to figure out a way to get his energy recharged, weapons and everything. Perhaps he could assemble a generator of somekind..but the components are a little more than out of reach right now..*

"Ah well.."

*With that, he lays there, anticipating the new day's arrival.*

Ep stayed where he was for awhile, still thinking, then eventually went over to Zero, embracing him and allowing Zero to do the same. They hugged for a long time, silently, not needing any words. Zero felt him shudder occasionally, but that was all.

"Feeling any better?" Zero asked after awhile. He felt Ep nod his head alittle. "Want to go back to the group now?" he also asked.

"Excluding Diablo." Ep stated firmly. Zero sighed, letting go of Ep and standing up. It seemed Ep was just not going to let the matter drop. Ep began to head back to the camp.

"My challange still stands, no matter what. Until then, that coward can just stay away from me."

(after Zero's Talk with Ep, he heads back to the camp and decides to just lay down looking up at the Dusk/Sunset sky)

Zero: (sighing)...(to himself and in a low voice)...I should be at home aiding the recovery operation...The enemy here,cowards...the lot of them...they should be lucky that I will be the one to end their lives.

::In a valley, far from civilization, a portal appears. Through that portal falls a particular lupine fellow, dropping headfirst toward the rocks below. Flipping himself over, he inserts a grappling hook into the cannon strapped to his shoulder, and fires, launching it into a rock overpass. He winced when the cord connecting the hook to his right gauntlet pulled taut, but held on as he swung up and caught the edge of another overpass. Pulling himself up, he pulled a second rail gun from its position hanging on his back and fired, cutting the cord at the hook, and put the weapon away, the shoulder-mounted cannon roving back into resting position as he massaged his sore shoulder. After a moment, he spoke.:: ???: I wonder where I am...?

(as the sun sets, Zero sits up looking at the group, Destiny's still messing with the Sabre she was given...Ep and Alpha both "napping", and he's not sure what Diablo was up to,..and where the hoo ha was Sigma?)

Zero: (looking around) there must be a high point around here somewhere or something to use as a high viewpoint (then he sees Jaguar) Hey,Jaguar...I'm giving you a recon mission,ok? just give me an aerial layout of the land,and also record what you find this way we can make a map of sorts...and I want you to use Stealth whenever possible...if not all the time...understand?

Finally satisfied with the way her sabre was performing, Destiny put it away, only then sparing a look around. With her sharp hearing, she caught Zero giving orders to Jaguar for a surveillance mission. Sighing, she thought she might ask Zero if there was anything she could do-but then she remembered Zeb. One thing was sure, Destiny would not leave her friend sleeping in a strange place unguarded. Even so, she was immensely bored. Really, she would just like to go and blow something up. However, this would effectively wake Zebu from the rest she was having, not to mention the fact that a certian someone would fly into a rage about "alerting the enemy." From Destiny's point of view, it was all well and good if it alerted the enemy. All it meant was more stuff to blow up. But, for now, she would have to be content with idleness, awaiting the seemingly unreachable moment that something interesting would occur.

Jaguar had been waiting for his two own BEAT scouts to return when Zero had given him the order. He figured it was just as well, as he could use this oppertunity to see if he could learn anything new about the current new developements he had just found from the BEATs.

Igniting his jets he took the air for the first time in days as he switched on his long range scanners. The feeling of being air born was a nice change from just sitting around waiting for Ep and Zero to resolve whatever it was that Diablo had sparked in Ep.

Measuring the ground depths, mapping various land scapes and features he kept a eye open for any sign of drone activity as it was comfirmed from what he had discovered earlier, all the drones were indeed gone. But why was now the more important question. As before he wondered if the drones had been convinced that he and the others had left the woods, but that wasn't likely as most likely the drones' outside intelligence was monitering the outskirt of this forest like a hawk. So the only other explanation was that their new enemy was going to try a differant approach for flushing the maverick hunters out, but what-

Before the next question could run across his processer Jaguar suddenly spotted somthing 50 miles from the new camp area. Somthing big was tunneling into the earth. Jaguar was too far to tell exactly what it was and he had only caught the tail end of it as it went underground, but it had looked like a giant..worm?

He and the others had only encountered so many types of species here but he had a gut feeling that a giant worm didn't quite fit into the eco system around here. A few seconds later he caught sight of the thing again as it resurfaced only 45 miles now away as a large dirt cloud built up. Upon closer examination it looked just like that one worm boss X had faced during Sigma's third attempted seige, only this one was much bigger and appeared to be much quicker.

Not pausing to finish his mapping, he quickly jetted back down to where the others were as Zero raised a light eyebrow at him. "You can't be done already Jag," the feline's commanding officer exclaimed. Shaking his head Jaguar quickly informed Zero what he had just seen.

Though she knew that Jag's report was not really meant for her, Destiny cloud not resist leaping to her feet and dashing over to where Zero and Jag were. The two reploids regarded her with mild surprise, but she ignored that. Instead, she allowed herself to be thoroughly overexcited by the news. It rather looked as if her chance to destroy something, or at least be part of destroying something, had come. Catching her excitement, Ice bounded over in a series of graceful leaps. Ignoring the tiger as well, Destiny waved her hands around energetically.

"We've got to got kill it! Jag said it was heading towards camp." She proceeded to point in a random direction, and began brandishing her sabre. "Come on, Zero! You get Ep and," here she grinned wickedly, "Tinhead, and I'll go wake Zebu."

With that, she ran off towards her friend, shouting incoherently. Though she might seem far too exuberant, she was actually well under control. Really, she was just glad to have something to do.

(stands up from where he was Sitting,dashing over to Ep's locaton first)

Zero: (To Ep)...we've got something big,mean and fast coming this way,get Alpha,because we need to get the hoo ha outta here now!!

(he said this loud enough just so Diablo can get an inkling as to what's going on but with that anyway he then dashes to Diablo warning him of the impending attack)

Jaguar and I will give you all(meaning the group)the details later, for now get yourself outta here

*With suprising calmness, Diablo rises to his feet. He never really fell asleep in the first place, so all that was said, within his hearing range, was detectable, including the comment made by Destiny. He couldn't help but smile at that one.*

"Cute kid. Real cute."

*He takes a second to think...what happens if that thing's abotic? There could be a tracking device on it. Whoever's monitoring the thing could figure out where the camp is if it's destroyed...or what if it's biotic? There's going to be a lot of things affected, besides the directly linked and very mis-matched group here... Whatever the case may be, he beings a very quick weapons check, finding out if he still has the data he needs to perform his usual attacks and complete his usual strategies. With a smirk after a couple of seconds, he confirms that he indeed has the necessary means and now the motivation*

"So what's the deal? You all going to evactuate this nice little camp while a big, fast and mean 'thing' is heading this way? Or are we going to stick around for a little slice and dice action?"

*As he says "Slice and dice action," he gets a bit of a smirk, like he's anticipating that choice to be picked. It also displays a little more than anticipation, if read right. If done so, it sort of...displays a slight lust for battle and it also seems to display a deeper knowledge, like he knows 'how' to fight, not just the brutal hacks and slashes, but clean, efficient and very deadly strikes...*

*He asks this as well, versus 'taking command,' not only due to his...current standings, but also, suprisingly, to leave the decision up to the Kid Commander. He knows that in this place, at this point in time, the badge on his chest holds no meaning other than a decorative type. Besides. Knowing what other people chose is but one step to understanding both them, and how they operate under conflict. Who knows...something interesting might pop up.*

"What'll it be?"

Destiny tore aside the underbrush concealing Zebu, grabbed the reploid by her shoulders, and callously shook her awake. Zeb awoke rather fast, and no surprise. Blinking rapidly, she stared at the human, who had now released her.

"Unmei, what are you doing?"

Waving aside her question, Destiny informed her of their current situation.

"Jag said it looked like something X fought. If that little blue rust bucket can beat it, so can I."

When Zeb made as if she was going to stand, Destiny pushed her back into a sitting position, glaring fiercely at her and lowering her voice.

"Zebuhachi Takashi, you are not going to fight. I know how low on power you are. That little nap didn't do much. If I catch you fighting, I will deconstruct you and rebuild you with arms growing out of your forehead. Comprende?"

The reploid merely stared at her friend, rendered completely speechless. Destiny had taken a better measure of her condition than Zeb had known. Still, it irritated her that Destiny had the gall to order her around.

"Listen, Des, I'll be fine, you can't-"

But her words were quelled by the harsh stare Destiny gave her. "Just listen to me this once, eh, Zebs? Let me take care of this."

Sighing, Zeb had to admit the validity of the human's arguments. "Fine. Go then. But you be careful too!"

However, Destiny was already gone, flying full speed towards the rest of the group.

"Oi! Zero! You think I'm going anywhere, you're wrong! Let's kick some metal worm tooshie."

Though Zeb was nowhere near as open about it as Zero or Destiny, she really did enjoy fighting. Opponents always underestimated her because of her frail appearence and Zeb loved proving them wrong, the expressions they always had when they realized that they were beaten by someone half their size.

But she really, really hated it when Destiny threatened to rebuild her when she was sleeping. Sucks being a reploid, when threats like that can be potentially valid.

Zeb tilted her left arm towards her face and a small power-meter appeared near her wrist in a ripple of violet plasma. She glanced at it before it dissolved back into her arm. Nearly half-power, that wasn't so low, was it?

Loophole... there had to be one. Zeb went over Destiny's words very carefully in her mind.

"If I catch you fighting, I will deconstruct you and rebuild you with arms growing out of your forehead. Comprende?"

With a grin, Zeb stood and leapt into the tree above her head. Destiny was already too far away to see her, chasing after some sort of reploid worm, nowhere near close enough to weld much of anything to Zeb's forehead. Anyway, she'd never said a thing about following to watch.

Gohan: (Getting ready to fight by sharpening his sword) I might be late but I like my blade to be sharp.(with that said he dashes off to try to catch up with Destiny)

Two Reploids stand facing each other. Both are female, both have long hair, but those where about the only similar things between the two at first glance. One was dressed in a purple, white, light blue and silver fighting outfit. She carried a long metal rod and had several stun bombs strapped to her belt. She had her neon ice blue hair loose. Her red-violet eyes glimmered in the light with darkness. The other was dressed in a white shirt with a red vest over it. She also wore a long red skirt. She had her white blonde hair in two pigtails on either side of her head. Her sky-blue eyes where glued to the other Reploids. A strange pink ball shaped bat floated near her head. It was covered with tuffs of white and purple stripes. It's green eyes glowed.

"Where will you go Siren? Why won't you stay with me?" The Reploid in red asked. Siren frowned.

"Where ever I please. I serve no one and care about no one. You better not follow me. I don't need you to slowing me down." Siren spat. She grinned.

"Why don't you find someone else to bother Celes? That is what you do best!" She added. Celes cringed.

"It is not! I don't need your help Siren Ice! I'll find my own way around!" And with that Celes turned and stomped off her little pet tailing behind her.

"Well now let's see. I wonder what kind of money they have in these parts? Well might has well find out." She turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Celes walked out of some brush and gasped. Something really big was tunneling underground.......In her direction.

"Puff identify object!" She commanded. The little bat's eyes turned red and it beeped.

[i]"No data found on selected creature."[/i]

"What?!" She yelled has the ground started to shake.

"Well what does it look like?!"

[i]"It appears to be some sort of tunneling robotic worm. Might I suggest we flee?"[/i] The robot beeped.

Celes nodded and turned. Then she realized she had no place to hide...

The human burst through the underbrush, having followed the rather obvious vibrations of the tunneling "worm". However,she did not look like some sort of powerful, enemy-crushing tyrant. Rather, she wore no armor, weilded only a sabre, and was currently hopping on one foot, cursing enthusiastically at a plant she was attempting to detach from her left leg. Upon succeding, the chucked it into the forest rather harder than necessary, brushed a few strands of tri-colored hair out of her face, and turned.

"All right, worm boy, lets--"

But her words abruptly stopped as she spotted the reploid and the floating puffball. She stared rather openly for a moment before speaking.

"You certianly don't look like a worm." She shook her head. "Or a giant one, either. Jag needs his vision checked."

Quite suddenly, she realized that the vibrations she had felt through the soles of her shoes had not diminished, and were, in fact, becoming alarmingly strong. with reflexes born from many years in training, she kicked off the ground and into the air, just as her original source of interest made a rather messy entrance, spewing dirt clods in every direction as it burst from the soil. It immediately went for the unknown reploid, as she was on the ground and closest. And not moving. Destiny realized this as well, and wondered if the reploid had ever fought before. Perhaps not.

"HEY! I'm the one who wants to blow stuff up, so come and get me!"

That said, she fired a large blast at the worm, taking advantage of its distraction to hit it on its right side. Abruptly, it swerved, now after the one it percieved as a threat. Flying backwards to keep luring it towards her, Destiny shouted to the reploid.

"Oi! Tinhead! If you can't fight, then get a move on! Shoo! Go hide someplace or something!"

Celes ran till she was about ten feet behind the girl.

"Puff! Identify!" She yelled to her pet. It's eyes turned red and it beeped.

"Subject is human female, no other data can be found."

Celes groaned. She thought for a moment.

"Puff! See if you can help her!"

"Not possible until I can Identify human."

Celes frowned.

"I can't just leave her by herself!"She told her companion. It beeped.

"I may be able to give her sabre a power jolt."

"Then do it!" She commanded.

Puff's eyes glew neon blue has it took off towad the worm and the human.

"I hope this works..." Celes mummbled crossing her fingers.

Still dashing to try to catch up with destiny Gohan notices some action ahead of him.stopping he tries to see if he could figgure out what was happening ahead of him.

Gohan:"What the.......what's that."

Whith that said he notices someting coming his way.It was Destiny

Gohan: (waveing his arms in the air and shouting) "Hey destiny it's me Gohan". Destiny turns around .

Destiny:"Gohan you tinhead move out of the way"

Gohan looks around to try to see what she was talking about.Then he notices something big follwoing Destiny

Gohan:"Is that the worm thingy".Destiny:"yes that's the worm thingy you tinhead now move out the way or help me or something"

The black armored Maverick chuckled at the scene below his red violet eyes glimmering in amusement.

A girl stood with no place to go has a giant Reploid worm tunneled toward her a human and a Reploid had just emerged and where trying to fight it off. A low growl came from behind and he turned.

"Well what did you find out? This world better be prepared for me. I know I needed a vacation but picking me up and plopping me here just doesn't cut it." He said to a large black Reploid dragon. The dragon opened his mouth wide showing off razor sharp teeth. A hologram projector in the back of it's mouth lit up and displayed an above view of the world. Eventually it switched to a scene that had been taken from the trees. One figure caught the Mavericks eye.

"Zero! How did he get here?! Wait, Zero looks different. Perhaps It isn't the Zero I know..." He pondered this thought for a moment before the dragon closed it's mouth.

"Good job Shadow Zeta. I appreciate everything you've done. But right now I must think about my sitituation." He turned and glanced at the scene below.

"I could wait. Yes that's what I'll do I'll wait. Wait and observe my new.....playmates." He added evilly.

"After all.....one Zero is has exciting has another. If these little punks can bring me to him then I won't have to waste time looking for him." He said. Shadow Zeta let out a low pitched roar. The Maverick laughed.

"Soon enough these people will tremble at the very sound of the name Razor!"

Shadow Zeta stared at his master. Razor glanced at him.

"No I don't want you to go scout. If you get spotted we lose our cover." Razor placed a hand on his pet. Shadow Zeta made a small purring sound.

"No I don't know if there are other Reploid dragons on this planet. We will just have to see."

His eyes narrowed.

"Wait and see........"

Seeing another Reploid enter the scene Celes called Puff back to her.

"Awaiting your commands Mistress Celes."The Robot beeped.

Celes watched the worm for a minute. She thought a moment.

"Puff! I want to help! Do you think you could turn into a blaster or something?"

"Negative, you have know idea how to fight and therefore I will not risk your safety."

"Puff! I want to help!" She whined. Puff's eyes flickered.

"Siren Ice should still be in the vicinity. Shall I send a distress call?"

"No!"

Celes sighed heavily. She shook her head.

"Puff can you detect any more Reploids or humans in the area?"

Puff's eyes glowed orange then turned back to green.

"Affirmative."

"Dispatch a distress call to them please. give them our coordinates and tell them about the worm."

Puff's eyes turned purple has it lifted it's self into the air.

When it was done it landed on Celes shoulder.

"May I suggest we flee now?"

Destiny growled, not at all pleased about how this little affair was turning out. So far, the only ones around her were doing nothing but stand and gawk, or get in her way. Still hovering about twenty feet from the ground, she gestured violently at Gohan, then at the unknown reploid.

"Get her out of here, Gohan! And be quick about it!" Then she muttered to herself. "Dumb tinheads, more trouble than they're worth."

Now at least partly assured that the worm wasn't an immediate danger to anyone but herself, she boldly flew directly towards her opponent, drawing her sabre as she did so. Odd, it seemed rather more powerful than it normally was upon being drawn. Shrugging mentally, she sent her usual surge of energy into it anyhow, firing another blast at the worm with her left hand as she approached.

Gohan: (looking at Destiny)"You got it" (Turning to Celes) "hey you.... follow me"(Runing over to Celes he points towards the the campsite)"Just keep running that way tere wil be some more good reploids like us there"

Celes: (looking at gohan)"Ah..Ok."(with that said she runs towards the campsite wondering if he was telling the truth)

Gohan then looks at Destiny fighting the worm.He then Jmps up towards the worm. Gohan: (unsheathing his sword) "Hey destiny you stupid Flesh head, look at this"(still in the air he shoots acouple off blasts a the worm)the worm then hits gohan back down to the ground but gohan manages to catch himself.

Gohan: (Jumping back into the air) Die you stupid worm DIE!!!(Gohan then shoots more blasts at the worm hitting it in its head. with the worm distracted by the damage it had just recieved it doesn't not ice gohan on its tail.Gohan takes his sword and chops some of it off)

Destiny: "Gohan I thought I told youto leave"( she then turns back to the worm and blows more of its armor off)

The worm the decides tht it ha been damaged too much and then tunnles back into the ground and tunnles away.

Celes ran has fast has she could but couldn't help but stop when she heard a scream and saw the wrom barrel underground. She disided to wait for the two. She didn't feel like walking alone.

*Diablo's radar begins to flash wildly, with the arrival of three new reploids, plus helper 'bots, the worm nearing and all the points converging...*

"Aww no.."

*With a second look at the radar, he notes the worm's trace has disappeared from the ground level, meaning it's either buried himself again, or they already killed it. He hoped it wasn't the latter of the two, he wanted a little action himself, having had nothing to fight since he's gotten here. He takes a frantic look around in all directions, spotting..Zero..Ep..Jag..trees..trees...more trees...another reploid...? Unidentified, but that'll change as soon as this is over.*

"Alright..best guess through triangulated positioning and sheer luck would say he's going to pop up right he~.."

*With the word 'he~' spoken, there's a great rumbling beneath Diablo's feet before the ground literally splits open and swallows him whole. There isn't even a second's silence before the worm shoots out of the whole with Diablo riding on its head shouting "WHOOOOOOO~HOOOOO~!!!" Even though he's holding on for dear life as the worm thrashes wildly to throw Diablo off, he's hootin' and hollerin' like he's having a grand old time.*

"Alright ugly~! Time to pay the piper~!"

*A shout which seemed to fuel the worm to thrash much harder. Diablo reaches down for his sabre longsword, one of two. Igniting the blade, he begins to leave energy trails as he's thrown around, kind of..in a pattern, strangely enough. The blade flashes a golden color before actually extending and becoming a gold blade. With a flick of the wrist and bend of the shoulder, he cuts a -deep- gouge out of the worm's outer shell and inner shell, causing it to quit thrashing so crazily and rear back like its howling out of pain...*

*This is where it gets furious. Within a second's time span, Diablo lets go of the worm and draws his second sabre longsword, it too extending out to become a golden blade. Once both blades are out and ready, they turn a purplish color, upon his command, the shout "DOUBLE TENKUUHA." Once the blades are both finished their transformation, he begins to chop away in a furiously fast 'X' pattern, leaving 5 deep X's in his backside, landing with a loud and hard 'THOOOM' on the ground. While he's recovering from that nice drop, the sabres resume their gold color. When Diablo stands up, he shouts out "DOUBLE SHOENZAN" followed by "DOUBLE RYUENJIN." The result is Diablo slashes upwards with both his sabres, which are now fireblades, cutting open a searing gap in the worm. He recovers then leaps into the air, only a 4 foot jump, but while doing this, he enlarges the gap in the worm's shell, and deepens it.*

"Ya like that one?"

*Once he lands again, the worm nearly freaks out and what's left of the tail smashes out of the ground and whallops Diablo in the head, sending him to the ground further, knocking the wind and daylights out of him. The worm then burrows back underneath the ground. Where it'll pop up next is anyone's guess. Diablo's left ostrich style: Head smashed into the ground while his body is left laying limp on the ground, still attached mind you. Sabres are at his side, unignited of course, as a 'standard' safety feature from his dimension.*

Celes frowned when she saw an orange rebot get smashed to the ground. She turned.

"Hey you two! The worm just attacked one of your friends and is getting away!" She screamed. The other two apon hearing this started running toward her.

Celes turned and ran to where the orange Reploid lay and pulled his head out of the ground.

"Hey wake up! Come on wake up!" Suddenly the worm burst up again. It roared in anger and pain and eyed the two Reploids in front of it.

Celes froze.

"Oh no!" She screamed.

*Diablo came to at a semi-quick rate, having had his head pulled out of the ground. By putting his hands on the ground by his head, kicking his feet into the air and springing up with his arms, he launches himself up and into a standing position. He whirls around to grab his sabres, doing so quickly. He looks up to see the worm, and he smirks..*

"Back for more eh? Didn't get enough the first time?"

*He holds his sabres high in the air, closing his eyes and igniting them to their full length, complete gold-blade as well. As he holds them over his head, something odd happens...the blades begin to increase even more in size, getting taller then wider...Zero (Who I'm sure is around and watching,) sort if..tilts his head to the side, like 'Hey, I know that move..' His eyes shoot open and he shouts out "GET OUT OF HERE~!" to Celes, who very obediently obeyed, as she can't do much more than watch at this point in time. Once she's a safe distance away, Diablo rears back, the blades now a good 15 feet in length and 3 at the base, where the sabre hilt ends and the blade begins.*

"YAAAHH~!!"

*With a quick 'battle cry,' he slashes over his head with the pair of enormous blades, cutting a remarkably large 'X' through the worm. The cut marks are left glowing a reddish color from the pure heat of Diablo's blades. The eyes of the worm, a greenish color, fade to black, though this doesn't stop Diablo. He recoils and slashes horizontally throught the worm ( --- <= Horizontal), recoiling once more and cutting a reverse X, (up instead of down), increasing the size of the first X. The worm, already falling apart from the first 2 slashes, gets damaged a little more by the third...though..this massive attack doesn't come without problems..*

*Upon completion of the third strike, the sabre blades both fizzle out and Diablo collapses to the ground, simply out of energy to spare. As he collides with the ground, several large chunks of 'worm' fall onto Diablo, encasing him within a tomb of shrapnel and other odds and ends. His radar signal even fades out, due to the lack of energy. The last thought in his mind before shutdown?*

"You're safe now..you..all.....are"

Diablo did some rather decient damage to the worm, but once again, like before, it dove underground, burrowing out of reach. Ep, who had been staying out of the battle, still sore over Diablo, walked up to the hole, Alpha beside him. This one wasn't closing up like the others. Someone must have damaged the equipment that allowed it to do that. Ep looked down the hole. It seemed to be staying down there a rather long time, and Alpha didn't detect it moving.

"What'll you bet it's regenerating?" Ep said allowed to no-one in particular.

~(Well, since it's left the front door open...)~

Alpha lifted his head, charging up a high-powered fire bomb. Once he finished charging it to its maximum, he spit it down the hole, and both he and Ep backed up, just before white-hot flames shot back out of the hole in a huge column, remenicent of a volcano errupting.

Once the flames stopped, everything was silent for a few seconds, then another rumbling started again as the worm began burrowing back towards the surface.

"That got it moving," Ep said, readying his sheild, crouching down along with Alpha. They waited for the last second, then leapt out of the way as the worm resurfaced. Alpha and Ep turned in the air, Alpha firing flames and Ep firing a charged shot at the worm before landing, then darted out of the way as the worm tried to dive on them, burrowing into the ground again. Ep and Alpha readied themselves again, waiting for the worm to come back.

Gohan runs over to Ep awaiting some more combat.Suddenly Gohan,Ep,and Alpha felt the ground trembling.

Gohan:"WHat the......it must be surfaceing again"(he then jumps out the way as it popped out of the ground right below him.)

As th worm cmes out of the ground all three of the shoot consecutive blasts at the worm bloing more chunks of its armor off

Gohan:"What is this thing made of,super metal or something"

Epsillon:" it probably keeps regenerating"(jumping back dogeing the worms dive)

Gohan: (looking down) "Well...there's only one thing I can do that will probably kill it once and for all and that is to turninto the Chaos mode"

Epsillon:"What is a chaos mode"(looking surprised)

Gohan: (looking sternly at Ep) "You will find out.Just try to kep him away from me while I transfom"

Ep:"Ok.......I still think tha you don't know what you are talking about"

Gohan then jumps into the air and begins to hover.His eyes tun into a dark shade of red. .Gohan: "Chaos mode...Activate". .Gohan then began to grow larger and more powerfull looking.Chaos Gohan slowly turned towards the worm monster. He was now at least two times the size of the worm.He then slowly walked over to the worm carfully trieing not to step on Ep and Alpha. He then reaches towards the worm and grabs it in his hand.The worm feircly whipped Chaos Gohan with the regenerated part of his tail..................

This was not turning out the way she had planned it. Fuming, absolutely filled with rage, Destiny shot like a rocket towards the commotion, eyes blazing with anger. Her fight had been going just peachy, until Gohan had joined in, scaring it off. Not having sensors like most of the reploids, she didn't have a clue as to where it would surface until after it did. By now, everyone but herself had taken a decent chunk out of the darn thing. Arriving on the newest scene of battle, she noticed Gohan floating above the ground and looking rather strange, but she disregarded it. Instead, she sheathed her sabre, crossed her right hand over her left, and fired off a, quite simply, gigantic blast. It was blindingly white, with black swirling about the center, and managed to take off a good portion of the worm's head. Though the worm continued to writhe, it was with rather less energy than before, and Destiny looked quite pleased with herself. That is, until her opponent neatly smashed her into a nearby tree. Cursing, she latched onto the portion of the worm nearest her.

"That is SO enough out of you!"

Hanging on with all her might, which was considerable, Destiny unsheathed her sabre once more and began stabbing the worm wherever she could reach, still shouting obsceneties as she did so.

White Tiger, Zeb thought immediately, noticing the familiar glaring white blast. She'd been on the wrong end of THAT more than once, and it hurt. Zeb hadn't been aware that Destiny had enough energy to pull off a White Tiger attack, but then again, she had no radar.

She really wanted to go fight. Leaning precariously from a tree branch, she had an excellent view of the fight. The only things holding her back were gravity boots built into her legs, some carefully placed plasma, and the mental image of herself as some sort of mutant octopus.

There was a new girl as well, probably a reploid. Zeb was mildly confused by the pink ball hovering around near her, but other than that, she was very strongly reminded of D3, her sister. Except, of course, that D3 at least pretended to know something about fighting. She would probably rank higher if she spent more time in the training room and less time hanging onto (her dimension's) Zero like a leech.

Zeb was surprised to see that the White Tiger didn't destroy the worm. Even headless, it was able to smack Destiny pretty effectively into a tree. Of course, being Destiny, that only thew the human into a rage. The Hunter cemented herself to the worm's midsection and was jerked abruptly out of Zeb's range of vision, leaving only curses in her place. The reploid stared in confusion for a second, then tried to get a better view by leaning further away from her tree. As Zeb caught a glimpse of Destiny's foot, she felt her plasma grip on the branch release and drop her unceremoniously on the dirt below.

(watches as he makes sure the camp is clear)

Zero: (looking at the worm digging in and out of it's holes in the ground)...hey I can't let ya'll have all of the fun (with that he draws his sabre and dashes towards the battleground)

(about halfway there the ground shakes again from a combination from the Worm and Alpha's Fire Bomb attack,falls to the ground hitting his head on a rock)

Zero: (Shaking his head) ow...gotta remember not to do that...(with that he gets up using Drill Crush (T.Rhino's Weapon for Zero in Xtreme 2) going underground,trying to find the worm)

(within a few minutes of looking underground,the worm catches up with Zero grasping it within it's forward Pincers/Teeth (whatever) bringing him above ground,ready to slam Zero into the ground,halfway into the air,he takes his Sabre and Plunges it into the Worm's Face/Head,turning it from the normal Beam Sabre Blade to Raijingeki Energy Blade,short circuiting the Worm)

(after the Stab,the Worm releases Zero as he falls Hurt to the ground,barely able to move...)

Zero: (as loud as his voice will carry) ...help...

"Zero!"

Ep abandonded his fight with the worm to go over to his brother. Alpha continued to engage the worm, using his hot flame to keep it away from the two of them. Ep kneeled beside Zero, looking at his damage.

Well, here's something I haven't had to do in awhile, Ep thought, closing his eyes and putting his hands together. His silver scarf began to glow brightly as he was slowly covered in a very faint aura of green energy. The energy left the rest of his body and accumulated on his hands. Once done with this, Ep layed his hands on Zero's stomach area, and the energy spread across Zero's body, slowly begining to fix his damaged circutry. Ep could heal internal damage this way, but he wouldn't be able to fix Zero's armor.

Once Ep finished healing Zero, he sat down, closing his eyes again. He was very tired out now, having drained off almost all of his energy to heal Zero. Ep felt so drained that he didn't want to get up until he recharged, despite the presence of the ramaging worm.

Celes watched the group of Reploids gather around the hole. Feeling very left out but obeying orders she stomped the ground.

"Would you guys tell me what's going on?"She yelled.

Celes watched the group of Reploids gather around the hole. Feeling very left out but obeying orders she stomped the ground.

"Would you guys tell me what's going on?"

She yelled.

Razor smiled down at Ep and Zero from his perch on Shadow Zeta above the battle. He motioned for his dragon and Shadow Zeta roared. Shadow zeta charged up and fired a super charged blast at the worm. Like most worms it regenerated but not has quickly has it should have.

Then Shadow Zeta roared again. It landed near were Celes was. Razor jumped off and aimed his weapon at the hole.

"Hurry! We don't have much time before it resurfaces!"

Celes ran over to Ep and Zero.

"Hey I think I can help you!" She smiled and put her hand on Ep's shoulder. Her eyes glowed has she repletished his energy.

"Now hurry and help!"

Chaos gohan Had managed to hold the worm for a while but it was to slippery and got loose.Chaos Gohan hd been in tht for for some time now and his power level was getting low.

Chaos Gohan: "I SHOULD TURN BACK BEFOR IUSE ALL OF MY ENERGY UP.SINCE I HAVEN'T USED ITIN A LONG TIME IT IS USEING UP TOO MUCH OF MY ENERGY"

Chaos Gohan then said "CHAOS MODE OFF" he the slowly started to turn back to normal. He fell to the ground with a loud thump.He lay there unconcious and with hardly any power left.

Celes groaned has she watched the futile efforts of the group of Reploids. She started to get angry.

Diablo was still on the ground, half covered by various metal plates, appearently her energy replenish had no effect. The first Reploid she had seen was on the ground damaged and out of energy. Destiny had probably broken bones yet was clinging on to the worm like a leech. The boy Reploid she had healed was with another Reploid he called Zero and his dragon trying to fight it off. Another Reploid had fallen out of a tree and was on the ground. A black Reploid was firing at it while, smiling like an insane person. His dragon was beside him doing nothing.

Puff was floating just above Celes's head.

Celes shuttered.

"Mistress? What is ailing you?"

"This isn't working." Celes started to sniffle.

"SOMEBODY GET RID OF IT PLEASE!!!!!"She cried bursting out in tears. She started to wail at the top of her lungs.

She continued sobbing uncontrollable.

Unfortunately this aggravated the already angry worm which caused it to turn and head full speed in her direction.

Puff fluttered up and down trying to get her Mistress's attention. Celes just kept crying.

Sigma watched the scene from the edge of the forest with a high degree of annoyance. He was gone barely two hours and already it was complete chaos. There were a bunch of new reploids, and some of the people were injured.

The worm did seem to be doing a really good job of trashing the Hunter, and he had half a mind to let them all fight to the death, then kill of the surviving Hunters, but there was that truce, unfortunately, and if he did wipe them out, then it'd be just him and his daughter against whatever nut was running things on this planet.

"Time to get dirty..." He said to himself. The worm seemed to be heading for one of the new reploids, who was too busy crying to save her own pathetic life. Sigma sighed, forming a large energy blast. He waited for the right moment, then through it at the worm, causing it to reel to the side and miss her. After another sigh, Sigma drew his beamsabre and walked towards the frey, to join in if necessary...

Destiny was not pleased.

Neither of the two reploids currently attacking had taken any notice that she happened to be attached to the worm, and had happily fired off attacks at it. Of course, one of them was Mr. Clean, so this was understandable. the first one, however, she did not know. And, in typical fashion, she did not like him. Flinging herself away from the worm, she began directing her insults in his direction, brandishing her sabre.

"Idiot tinhead! Whaddaya think you're doing?" This was followed by a long and inventive string of curses.

Her tirade was cut somewhat short, however, as she noticed that the last person she wanted to see here was attempting to hide herself in the foliage.

"ZEBUHACHI! You stupid pile of SCRAP METAL!"

***

One look at Destiny, and Zeb knew she was in trouble. The human was barreling towards her at top speed, and she did not look pleased. Zebu was steeling herself for a long and horrible argument, but Destiny merely landed in front of her and turned to face the worm, in a defensive posture.

"I'll deal with you later, Zebuhachi," she said angrily. "Right now I have to save your shiny metallic butt."

*Sounds of battle begin to be picked up by Diablo's sound sensors, more likely 'ears.' Memories begin to rush back to him... the worm....all the damage he dealt to it and the reward he reaped of getting crushed under many pieces of its head. Diablo clenches his fist up..both now..gathering energy as his recharged-from-Celes subtank drains into his main power supply...*

"aaaahhh..."

*A low start....the calm before the storm..*

"AAAAAHHHHHH~!"

*Releasing all the energy he had gathered, he bursts upwards, sending chunks of worm head (oO *lol*) flying in every which direction, Diablo standing in the middle of a ring of it all, both fists raised to the sky with a shout of rage that echoes on the wind. Once he's sure of his liberation of the shrapnel pieces, he reaches down for his sabres, kneeling in order to do so. He ignites the blades to normal length. Looking up with a gaze of anger in his eyes, he targets the worm using his internal equipment, grinning with a hint of confidence now..*

"This is it ugly..Let's go~!"

*Since he has the energy to spare now..he stands and concentrates. Much as X charges his buster, he charges a weapon of his own..Sogenmu, more well known as Twin Dream. Releasing the charge, a 'shadow' Diablo tears away from Diablo himself, standing beside him in the same position.*

"Double the fun.."

*At the same time, both Diablo's run in, all four of their sabres extend out, to full length. The clone, however, turns from the natural sabre green color to the gold of the enhanced blades, signifying the power change. In a symmetrical pattern, they begin to chop and slice away at the base of the worm, oddly, in a pattern as well, more like an intricate dance, than anything brutal. After a few minutes, the shadow Diablo fades away, leaving the original left.*

"Dammit, why...*SLASH*....won't....*SLASH* You...*SLASH* DIIIEE..."

Celes's eyes grew wide when she saw who had saved her. She wiped her eyes.

She turned and glanced at Puff.

But she stood up and walked calmly foward. Then she spotted Diablo. He was up and fighting with the worm.

"Hey I guess that really did help. Maybe I should help the other two Reploids. And possible that human too."

Celes went over to Gohan. She exmined him for a minute.

"I hope that this doesn't have the same effect it had on Diablo." She muttered. She put her hand on Gohan and healed him.

"Please wake up." She turned.

Razor gasped when he saw Sigma appear from the trees.

He grinded his teeth together. Sigma was no big problem, it was just that Sigma seemed to be on the Hunters side.

Razor shook his head and snapped his fingers. Shadow Zeta turned.

"This is going to get ugly. You go wait for me in the trees till I call you again."

Shadow Zeta nodded and took off toward the trees.

Razor jumped up.

"Time for this party to get started!"

(after Ep repairs his internal Damage,there is still some weakened areas of his body,namely his legs and his Sabre Arm)

Zero: (To Ep)...Help me up so I can get a clear shot at the Worm...

(with that Ep reluctantly helps Zero to his feet,as he's aiming his Buster at the Worm's head and upper Abdomen)

(as he's aiming he hears his Targeting system emit a solid tone meaning Target Locked, next thing is heard a rather loud humming from his one shot wonder buster

Zero: Ep,you might want to cover your ears.

(With that Zero releases a Shot about 3/4 the size of his body into a separation between the Worm's head and the 1st link in the upper abdomen,Stunning the rather Large Worm)

(looks at Alpha,whispering so no one but Ep and Alpha can hear)

Zero: Alpha...I hate to ask of this,but this worms needs to be destroyed now...Ep,With your permission...we need Alpha's Ion Cannon...nothing else seems to be working on this stupid thing...if there were another way,I'd take it anyday over the I.Cannon,but the final decision is yours and Alpha's, I'm just suggesting a Course of Action.

Razor glanced at Zero.

He had a lot of guts to pull that blast when he was injured.

He couldn't hear what Zero was saying to the boy but he could tell it was something big from the look on the boy's face.

Razor looked at the dragon which was beside the boy. His own dragon was hiding in the trees awaiting his orders. He scowled.

So far he hadn't tried really hard to kill the worm. It was way to much fun watching these idiots try to kill it. Now he wondered.

'I hope that what ever summoned this thing up calls it back before my whole plot is spoiled.' He thought.

And with that he jumped unnoticed into the trees watching the battle.

Underneath a piece of the worm's armor, a faint glow began quickly followed by the charging of a buster. The armor flying to pieces, Jaguar slowly got up. He was no worse for wear, as he had sustained very little damage. Looking around, he examined the war zone that had once been their peaceful little camp site.

"Ok, first piece of armor landing on me...I didn't mind. Second piece of armor, slightly annoying, but then a "third" piece...thats where I draw the lines!", the slightly disoriented Jaguar said. He looked around to see several hunters damaged, and a few new ones that he'd never seen before. He then felt a rumble that everyone had felt that day coming up from beneath him. "Somthing tells me, thats not your typical guiser", the feline saying this...as shortly after the worm bursted up out of the ground knocking the poor feline back unto his back for the fourth time that day.

With a grunt he slowly got back up to his feet, as the worm started to burrow back underground. Shaking his head slightly, he ignited his jets as he took to the air having a half formed idea in his head.

Just before the worm wen't entirely underground, Jaguar took note that the repliod beast had sustained many direct hits along it's outer exteir, it's head and part of it's tail. It was then the idea came completely together. "Ok", he said as he gained altitude as he switched on his Tengu Blade weapon adapter, "it may be hard on the outside, but maybe it's soft on the inside", he said lightly to himself.

The bladed wings on his jet, glowed slightly and grew bigger as two grey energy blades appeared, one on each wing. Jaguar then froze in mid air as he looked down at the ground, scanning it waiting for the thing to reapear till finally the familair seismic readings began to appear...near Zero.

Not being able to fire his buster while his tengu blade adapter was on, he had very little options and not much time to respond. Circling down low, he cut his speed down as the worm reapeared. Then flying in a tight arch, he allowed his bladed wings to cut into the exterier of the worm as he pulled up quickly. The worm once again distracted it wen't after the more livelier target.

Putting his thrusters into over drive, Jaguar sped ahead of his pursuer keeping a close eye on his and the worm's speed. Finally, he put on a extra burst of speed as he did a quick U-turn as he lined himself up with the worm and what remained of it's mouth. He had to make sure he did this just right as there was already one major gamble involved.

He had no idea what the insides of that thing was like, but if it was anything like the insides of the worm X had fought, he didn't even wanna think about it. Seconds seemed to pass like minutes, as the tengu blades on Jag's back finally cut into the opposite sides of the worm as Jaguar sped into it's mouth.

Two loud and long shrieks were heard, like the way one scrapes their nales against a chalk board. The only thing visable of Jaguar were the tengu blades or what one could see of im, as they sped through the worm's battle ravaged body. Finally Jaguar reemerged as the two halfs of the worm fell to the ground with a loud thoom as his two tengue bladed wings finished their job, the two parts twitching lightly till they finally shut down as Jaguar flew into the last burrow the thing had made.

Jaguar slowly emerged from the deep hole, his armor scraped in several spots but none worse for wear. He looked around at the others, a disoriented look seen on his face. "Am I dead?...", he said as he collasped unto the ground with a gentle thud.

Epilogue:

They say cat's have nine lives. Well Jaguar must of used more than one that day. The other's attacks had done more damage they had seemed to, more to the inside than the outside as the attacks had seriously slowed down the worm's internal mechanisms. Had they been fully operational Jaguar would of been cut to ribbons. With the worm defeated, the hunters and mavericks live to see another day.

*Diablo watched in awe as Jaguar destroyed the worm, from the inside out no less. There was a huge chance that he could have been torn up, yes...but thank god for strength in numbers. He shuts his sabres down, clipping them to his 'belt,' (more a magnetic hold there) and turns away from the scene, making a quick glance to the newcomers. Who was it that revived him, and how in god's name did they match his energy signature?*

"Ugh..I must be basic.." *Smackage of the forehead*

*He forgot, he keeps a 'standard' energy signature subtank in case of things like energy pellets (oO) and whatnot. He now turns again, surveying the scene of their...encampment.. Several ideas begin to surface, almost right away, as he sees the wreckage of the worm. Perhaps parts of it could be used to make a few things, like a recharge unit or ...heck, a few more sabres for people..if they're lucky, why not a better shelter, even if it's a lean-to?*

"Hmm..." *He turns back around to the group, the main fighting force, minus Sigma, Razor and himself. They're all gathered around Jag, to see if he's alright, most likely. There may be an acception..someone, or some of them, may not have gathered around, but right now, it doesn't matter to him. Boy does he feel useless right now...and he doesn't care who knows it right now. He wanders off, not too far from the battle scene, within visual contact, and finds a place to sit.*

Celes jumped into the air her fist raised.

"ALL RIGHT!!!!!" She yelled. She landed and smiled.

"Thanks to that kitty we are all safe. Wow."

She walked over to the group.

"Does anyone need me to heal them? I'm a nurse Reploid after all." She giggles.

"Oh and by the way my name's Celes. And my little friend here is Puff.