Man, what happened to Stahlmansche?

That IS Stahlmansche, right...?

(waits with eagerness for chapter 2!)

Oh, wow, she's obviously and totally possessed. This can't really be good.

Awesome start! Maybe this will give me the motivation I need to finish the last chapter of my own! *shot*

That was awesome! Very nice wordplay and representation. I give it five thumbs up, except I don't actually have that many thumbs...

Holee crap I'm gonna be in something XD

Holy crap! I didn't believe my eyes when I saw this! I demand TERROR!

Exquisite work here Tergie-boi I'm all eyes now.

Don't worry, there'll be plenty of Terror in this one. 😛

That said, I'm gonna have to go and reformat this. Seems like Yuku doesn't like quotation marks and italics from EZboard.

EDIT: Done, although when I copied and pasted from my word processor, it made the text bigger. Oh well though, the easier to read, my dear.

This fic is intended to feature all of the guest characters I've had in all of my stories. However I realize now that I forgot to double-check and ask for permission first! I'll take a little longer doing that before I post up my next part.

I'm kind of curious how Tricia will be guest starring in a future one and am eager to see it. She doesn't have a MFW counterpart, so I'd like to see how that pans out.

Wow o.o It took a google searching of my username to finally get me into this topic, and I regret not doing so earlier. Your writing is engaging and captivating and definitely leaves us/me wanting that next segment.

Also, you don't need my permission to use any of my characters. You've done them justice on many occasions, and I trust this will be the same way, if not better, knowing you. ^^

(Semi off-topic, but I did try board RPing once, Kitty. It was like three years ago on Eliteboard, but it still counts ^^ Cari, probably Tamara too, and Tricia/Electrawoman are all involved, though not actively 'cause I just can't do board roleplays. Also, Terg did that awesome Electrawoman story, so even if I don't let me be involved, he won't let me not be involved... or... something... okay, the excessive negatives are telling me to end this post now. ^^;; **flee!**)

~Shadowed Spirit Sage

Oh, love. You know Eliteboard never counted to me, not now, not ever.

But it clears up a mystery ^_^

Now I have to see this Electrawoman story o.o;

http://tergonaut.deviantart.com/art/Triple-Trouble-49547214

Tergonaut in Triple Trouble! Guest-starring Electrawoman! I think this one was written prior to "Naut for Bayfield" which I've also put up on my DA account; all of the stories that I have written since my return (and even a few from before!) I've posted here, so even if you miss them here on the board, you can always go to my DA to see them all. Wow, some of these stories are already a couple of years old...

Anyhoo, still working on the next segment of this one; it's gonna be just a little freaky.

It appears I'm shamefully behind on things. Gave the story a read and was quite satisfied with it ^^;

*presses fingers together* I may need a refresher course in recent MFW history, though o.o

Anywho, no more stealing up your thread. *Vacates*

Justin stared up at the white bumpy ceiling in his bedroom, and for the fiftieth time that dark morning, he rubbed his hand over his smooth head. He couldn't sleep. It wasn't just the spasmodic pain that sprang up inside of him at spontaneous moments during the night; he had been used to that for nearly a year. And he'd lived with the green neon glow from the lights across the street since the first time he had been in the Mobius Forum World. No, what bothered him was not a physical pain.

I've been here nearly two years since I went chasing through that portal after Stahlmansche, he thought as he pushed himself up, the blue blanket falling off of his white-shirted chest. And nothing's changed. She's still out there, making her plans to conquer both this world and Earth - my Earth - and here I am, waiting for the perfect moment when it might not even show up. And if I die, then there won't be anyone to stop her. Nobody knows her like I do, not even Vector. And Cera's so worried...

Justin threw the blanket aside, frustration etching his brow and tightening his lip as he got out of bed. He stepped to the cramped bathroom and turned on the faucet. He splashed his face with the cold water, and then glanced up at himself in the mirror. His pate was entirely clean of hair, not even peach fuzz to help hide the pale splotches of his scalp. He almost yearned for the five o'clock shadow that he had fought since he first grew facial hair. Even his eyebrows had not been spared from the ravages of the cancer growing inside of him.

He looked down at his hands; they gripped the sides of the sink so hard that his fingertips throbbed. He released the sink, but he still formed fists with his hands, which shook with rage. "I can fight robots, monsters, mutants, criminals…why can't I fight this!?"

"It's your own body that's gone wrong," asked Justin's voice from the bedroom. "You can't fight yourself, Justin. Or should I call you…Tergonaut?"

Justin whirled to face the bedroom, his bare feet squeaking on the tan porcelain tiles. He saw a figure standing in the darkened room, silhouetted by the neon sign out the window. But the voice, how could it be? "Who are you?!" demanded Justin.

"You have to ask?" An all-too-familiar chuckle emanated from the figure, who stepped into the flickering light from the bathroom in red, gray and white sneakers, blue jeans, a gray T-shirt with blue SEGA letters across the front, a brown leather jacket, and red-fingered gray gloves. Turquoise eyes looked back at him from beneath a full set of rounded brown hair with a part down the middle. But there was something about the sinister smirk that just didn't seem right.

"No, you can't be me!" growled Justin as he redirected his tension into his fists, fighting instincts kicking in as he adjusted his stance. "This is just some kind of trick!"

"Trick or not, I'm here - so stop denying reality." The mirror-image of Justin backed up before taking on Justin's exact stance. "Or are you going to start crying about that little girl again, like you did when you were fifteen?"

Justin couldn't help his shock as unbidden memories rose up in his mind. Anger shot up along with those memories. "Shut your trap!" he roared as he rushed his counterpart.

Pseudo-Justin caught Justin's fist mid-swing, twisted it, and yanked Justin along to judo-throw him through the bedroom door into the living room. Justin crashed into his couch, and hardly got to his feet before being pummeled by his fake.

"Do you know about doppelgangers, Tergonaut?" Pseudo-Justin asked conversationally as he punched Justin again and again. "They look exactly like you, but they are perfect where you are not. And, they appear to you only when you are about to die."

The fake Justin picked up Justin by the shirt with one hand, lifting him up into the air and pulling back his other fist for another blow. Justin's nose bled over his bruised face, and the fight went out of him as he was punched in the stomach. Justin's innards heaved and he spat blood, which marred the shirt of Pseudo-Justin, who laughed.

"You're going to die, Tergonaut," he said. "And you're going knowing that you were responsible for that little girl. It was your fault."

Justin found himself oddly welcoming of death; he was tired of life, starting to lose all hope. But a small part of him saw that smirking visage of himself, and was reminded of another smirk he had seen that day, long ago. A smirk on the face of a woman.

A smirk he wanted to erase.

Ignition!

Justin's body flashed with blue-white light as his skin sheathed itself in orange and blue metal. Though the cancer inside still burned, all despair vanished as he welcomed the raw power of trillions of micro-fusion core batteries flowing around him. The room lit up like at midday and Pseudo-Justin stepped back, suddenly looking scared, as he dropped Justin - no, Tergonaut! - like a hot rock.

"Come on, then," said Tergonaut, his voice artificially scrambled to sound deeper and more metallic. "If you're here to kill me, then you're going to do it as who I am - Tergonaut."

Tergonaut stepped toward Pseudo-Justin menacingly, launching his arm forward and gripping the fake's forehead, lifting him up into the air while his counterpart struggled to get away, turquoise eyes darting around for some escape from the iron grip. "Well? Why aren't you killing me? A true doppelganger would have the omni-suit too." The conviction in his voice was not artificially amplified. "No, you're not a perfect version of me. You aren't me at all. Which means you're something else!"

With a grunt of effort, Tergonaut pulled back and slammed Pseudo-Justin into the wall, smashing through it with a crash. Tergonaut let the lifeless body crumple to the ground, watching as the skin sparked and shimmered before it vanished. All that laid there was a silvery robotic skeleton, its steely skull shattered into pieces from the impact with the wall.

"Bingo," breathed Tergonaut. "A robot with a holographic disguise. Only one person would be behind th-"

A wisp of smoke slithered out of the robot's head fragments and sprang up in front of Tergonaut. It spread itself out in front of him and formed a ghostly image of a person's face as it wailed and cackled. Tergonaut backed up a step, raising an arm defensively in front of him, but the gibbering specter twirled through the air before vanishing out the window, passing through the glass as if it wasn't there.

"…okay, now I'm confused. Robots are Stahlmansche's bag, but she doesn't make ghosts." Tergonaut lifted his blue-fingered orange gauntlet up to the side of his helmet in an unconscious gesture as he opened a communication link with the HQ Tower. "Vector, this is Tergonaut. We've gotta talk."

Static reached his ears. He tried switching channels, but he only heard more white noise on all of them. "Great. Looks like I'll have to go see him in person. Something's going on."

He opened the window, climbed onto the sill, and leapt out into the air above the street on the corner of Sally Acorn Street and Amy Rose Lane. A split-second later, blue-white jets burst out of the soles of his armored boots, and they propelled him through the air toward the HQ Tower.

It was the dead of night.

Oooh! Ghosties! GOBLINS! Where are the GOBLINS! Jokes, this is great, loving the deterioration of his spirit to live. (Not saying I want 'im dead, jus saying its true to a character like this-whom's tired of being beaten by something so small..when he's done so much)

As per usual, looking forward to more, oh Omni-panted one.

The name makes the story sound intresting... But as always, I never understand a single word you say. Sorry! 😉

You know, a comment like that looks like borderline spam to me, Socks. *pokes* Try to avoid making one-liners if you can help it, 'kay.

Relating to the topic at hand, I was starting to think that Justin's starting to go a bit mad for a moment, but that robot copy proved otherwise. Nice work, there.

Nobody's ever told me no one liners before! Half of my posts on this board are one-liners. I don't recall ever getting warned about that. Sorry for off topic post, but I just feel like arguing today.

it's not just the one-lining that factors into it. what matters is whether you're saying something that adds to the discussion in a meaningful or entertaining manner. before you post in someone's thread, you should ask yourself: is just saying "I never understand a single word you say" really helping anybody? it would be better to point out specific passages that you don't understand, or to just not post at all.

Ok, sorry guys. I have a problem with posts like that. I'll try to keep from doing that, ok?

Nobody's ever told me no one liners before!

Well they have now.

I don't recall ever getting warned about that.

I'm pretty sure you have been, but I'm not about to go and check. Anyway, you have been now ;p

I just feel like arguing today.

Nothing wrong with that, unless you're considering arguing a rules issue with a member of Staff. ;3
Also, I second pretty much Deck's entire post.
Oh, and you needn't reply to this post Socks, cos I'm gonna assume you'll see this and read it - so you don't need to reply to let me know you have, just in case you were thinking of doing so. ;o

Well, changing up the pace from the last few posts, thanks all for posts and encouragement; I just sat down last night and did more writing than I've done for a good while, and I feel like I made good progress on the next part of this story. Even introduced an entire battle that I had no idea was going to be involved at the point where it's happening, which should make the introduction of the other characters a little more dynamic.

...oops spoilers

But as you can tell, it isn't quite ready yet, so this is just to make sure people know I'm still alive and writing.

EDIT: Here is the next section!

Something's not right, thought Tergonaut as he jetted through Sega City, flying low over the streets as he headed for the central HQ Tower. There's no way Stahlmansche would send only one robot after me if she knew who I really was. She'd want instant termination. But that robot was one of her designs. And then there was that…ghost inside it. Maybe she's finally cashed in on selling her soul to the devil?

The thought was one made almost jokingly; the Mobius Forum World was full of possibilities, and he hoped that wasn't one of them. But the prevailing silence and darkness in Sega City, with no lights on inside the nearby buildings he passed, interrupted his thoughts. Things are really quiet around here. I wonder what is going on? It's like Sega City suddenly became a ghost town. Wait, there's someone driving right now.

"All citizens of Sega City, remain in your homes!" blared the loudspeaker of a Sega City Police squad car as it drove slowly through the city, its white and blue colors remarkably bright in the gloomy night. "We are locking down the city while the attack is happening! For your own safety, please stay inside while we reestablish the communications and power networks!"

What? Sega City is being locked down? But at least I know why I can't contact Vec over the comm. And the city is being taken care of by the police…I'd better move.

Tergonaut redirected his motion straight up into the air, rising above the main skyline of Sega City, and he toggled his visor to zoom in on the HQ Tower ahead. I see lights on there. The Templar tech backup fusion generator must have kicked in. And what's that?…

The HQ Tower lit up on the outside from a dozen spotlights and floodlights as bright hot yellow bursts of Templar plasma cannons pierced the quiet night with ferocious explosions. Hidden missile racks and precision laser cannons came out of their panels and opened fire against the various humanoid forms that threw themselves at the Tower. Tergonaut looked more closely to see Armada units mixed in with robots of other designs, and his audio sensors picked up an unearthly screech that rose above the sounds of destruction. There were hundreds of the robots attacking, their bodies sheathed in a shimmering black aura - much like the ghost he had seen earlier!

The Tower's defense systems have been activated! It's under attack! I've got to get there NOW!

Throwing himself forward, Tergonaut willed the omni-suit to reshape itself into a more aerodynamic shape. More thrusters appeared on his legs as his arms came together into a rounded triangle shape, blue-white energy surging him forward as he cut through the air. The buildings blurred underneath him as the HQ Tower grew into his view.

"TINNER, can you confirm that we're registered on the Tower's ATR system?" Tergonaut shouted as the omni-suit rammed right for the fray.

"Automatic Target Recognition is having difficulty telling us apart from the attacking robots," relayed TINNER's voice into Tergonaut's ear. "Until I establish contact with the system, maintain evasive maneuvers."

"Roger that. Do it fast, darlin', I'm going in!"

Tergonaut dove into the storm of combat and lanced through one of the attacking Armada units, already well away as the holed robot exploded behind him. The omni-suit glowed with blue-white light as it shifted quickly back into normal mode with both arms as cannons, which blazed to life immediately as Tergonaut opened fire with his own barrage. The fire of battle shone against his orange and blue armor, casting it in gold light as the blue-white flares of his boot jets kept him moving smoothly over the ground like roller blades.

Tergonaut's visor filled with threat alerts and targeting sights as he plowed through the melee, his impact screens glowing around his body to protect him from the bullets and claws of the robots nearby that turned their attention from the Tower to him. Yet here in the greatest danger, his blood ran high with adrenaline as he threw himself into battle recklessly, and every impulse flew out from him like a rocket.

"Take this!" he shouted as he spun around, almost sitting down as he crouched and let the spin's momentum keep him from falling flat as he fired blue-white plasma bursts in a constant stream around himself. He then balanced on the end of one of his arm cannons while he kicked out to either side with his boot jets, catching two smaller robots with the thrust and throwing them into the crowd to crash into their fellows. "Booya!" he crowed as he flipped back up to his feet, and not missing a beat, streaked forward and slammed both cannons into the jaw of a construction robot, using the uppercut to send the robot monster upward and finishing it off with a twin shot of charged particles.

BOOM!

Tergonaut nearly lost his balance as he tumbled aside, avoiding the star-hot burst of plasma that exploded where he had just been, sending melted globs of concrete flying. And he was completely aware of his dwindling energy stores, which he tried to replenish as he diverted energy from his jets and ran instead. "TINNER, how much longer? If these robots don't get me, the Tower's guns will!"

"Sixty seconds," said TINNER, so calm that Tergonaut felt it was a little forced.

"Not enough energy to keep this up by myself," he said quickly as he reverted his arms back to normal, relying on the suit's super strength to punch, kick and crush his way through the marauding hordes of robots. "Cut every corner you have to, just do-"

He gasped as his chest constricted forcefully, and he staggered as pain spiked up into his brain and out to his fingertips. "Body anomaly detected," reported TINNER. "Cancer infestation is growing."

"Not the best time, TINNER," coughed Tergonaut, then he yelled as an Armada unit grabbed his weakened body in a bear hug from behind. Being so close to the darkness-possessed robot made his skin prickle with unnaturally cold sweat, and he felt the strain against the omni-suit and its impact screens. Armada units had super strength too, powered by massive actuators, and this demonic version seemed stronger still.

Can't hold on much longer…

Suddenly the pressure released, and Tergonaut collapsed to his hands and knees as all pain subsided. He gasped for breath, but noticed the sound of battle was different now, that there were other voices calling out above the din of combat. Looking back, he saw the Armada unit falling back headless as a red hedgehog flicked his shining blade around to chop off the head of another robot. "Glad to see we arrived with punctuality," said the hedgehog dryly.

Tergonaut pushed himself up to his feet, but not in time to stop the spidery robot that jumped at the hedgehog's back. The robot stopped in mid-air, grabbed by a gauntlet-wearing brown-haired human woman, and she heaved the robot around and tossed him forcibly into the metallic crowd before pounding her fist into the thick armor of a construction bot, tearing something important out. "Jason, you should be more careful," chided the woman as she resumed her melee with armored boots kicking.

"Funny that you should mention that, Modesty," said Jason Rapidfire to his super-strong wife as he lunged with his sword to skewer a household robot that was going for Modesty's ankles.

They exchanged a loving wink before continuing the fray. To their left were Gyser and Ultra, the former a whirling fluorescent green ball as he sped and spin-dashed through the robots, and the latter accurately aiming his black blaster pistol and picking off robots with red beams to their weak spots.

Looks like the cavalry arrived! Tergonaut felt the flow of battle again as he joined the red-furred wolf Crimson and the superheroine Electrawoman in pushing back the tide of robots.

"Hey, mind zapping me with some of that electricity?" asked Crimson as he swung his large composite spear and smashed a ceiling-cleaning robot aside, its skittering legs broken like so many twigs.

"Are you sure?" asked Electrawoman, concern in her voice even as she overloaded an Armada unit with a burst of blue electricity.

"Ask Omni-Trousers here, he'll tell you."

"Just do it, Electrawoman - Crim'll be better off for it."

Electrawoman powered up a ball of lightning between her gold-gloved palms. "If you say so." She thrust the ball at Crimson, who absorbed the entire shockball and suddenly grew muscular enough that he bulged through his thick fur coat. He sliced through ten robots with one swing of the spear, demonstrating his new strength.

"INFINITE EIGHT-WAY LASER!"

Eight laser beams arced around Tergonaut, Crimson and Electrawoman to pierce through the melee on the other side and explode powerfully. Sailor Papirini landed on the ground nearby, her Sailor uniform's skirt flaring around her in the aftermath of the blast. "Looks like a real party here, huh?"

"I'll say," said Tergonaut, trying to ignore the pangs of discomfort at seeing his onetime girlfriend. Or was it the cancer acting up again, clawing at his stomach?

Through the battle haze, the cloaked CyKairus used his telekinesis to crush robots left and right as Kaze laid down supporting fire with laser missiles and machine gun rounds from her Chao Walker's weapons.

So many of the forumers that I've worked with before, thought Tergonaut as he looked around at all of the familiar faces. This almost feels like a dream...

"Tergonaut!"

Tergonaut found himself turning at that voice, and saw Cera's lithe form through a clump of robots attempting to close in on her. She was shooting electric arrows from her bow, penetrating robots and frying their corrupted circuits, but there were just too many of them for her to handle all at once.

"Cera!" shouted Tergonaut as he surged forward; the sight of the woman he loved enlivened him. His pains were forgotten and he tore through the robots with powered fists of metal and energy. An Armada unit's chest burst open as Tergonaut thrust his rocket-powered fist through it, and he swept a safe area around Cera using the gorilla robot, throwing it with enough force that it became a giant mechanized shuriken through the robots surrounding them.

Then suddenly, a rain of sharp liquid-propelled spines pierced expertly through a whole group of robots, and Tergonaut caught sight of red and green armored carapace. "What the…Terrornaut?"

Terrornaut landed in the middle of the battlefield, retracting her remaining armorspines. Tergonaut heard no more sounds of battle; the fight was over, with robot parts littering the scorched grass around the HQ Tower. The only noise was that of the open fires burning where the battle had laid its mark.

Tergonaut considered aiming an arm cannon at Terrornaut, but Terrornaut held up her hand as everyone else gathered around. "We must confer with Vector immediately," said Terrornaut, her deep voice filled with an urgency that Tergonaut had never heard before from the otherwise perpetually-collected Terrornaut. "Georgia Stahlmansche has made a pact with a devil, and I have information regarding it."

A great exhaustion threatened to overwhelm Tergonaut. I was right…she did sell her soul to the devil.

=D Yay. Epic battles of epic battling! And once the robots are smashed, drinks are on Cooki for having the flashiest attack Nn

The gathered forumers were all in the HQ Tower's lobby, with Vector using a secretary's desk as a podium. "The city is being attacked by Effective Cybertronics Unlimited robots that are possessed by Class-3 transdimensional creatures," stated Vector in his characteristic growly voice, heavy with seriousness. "The police's Armored Response Teams are currently dealing with them, as well as several other forumers and SONIC agents who have been assigned to civil defense. Scans from the Tower's sensor array indicate that the hostile robots are coming at us from a single location far outside the city limits."

Vector turned on a portable projector, which lit up the darkened lobby with an aerial view of a black obelisk in the middle of sands blued by the darkness of night. A mass of robots poured out of the base of the obelisk where an active portal swirled and writhed. "This is Danger Desert, the site of the last structure built by the Segans prior to their apparent exodus from the Mobius Forum World. This is actually a portal to a sub-orbital flying fortress, which is where the robots must be coming from."

"And it is there where Stahlmansche has gone," cut in Terrornaut.

Vector nodded to Terrornaut, who stood up in front of the others without her bio-suit on, wearing instead the blue denim clothes she was accustomed to wearing under the suit. She stood tall and muscular, bronzed and blonde with the physique of a goddess. Her turquoise eyes regarded the group with a cold, practical gaze as they turned to her. "I stole the transmigrator from Vector during the confusion of the recent 'terrorist attack' on Carnival Island. I delivered it to Georgia Stahlmansche, who intended to use it to transfer herself into a new android body she built specifically for herself. However, the transmigrator already had a spirit inhabiting it, and thus she was unable to utilize it for that purpose."

Tergonaut, still wearing the omni-suit, couldn't believe what he just heard. "You mean you gave her Overkill?!"

"I believed that we should have destroyed the device with the demon in it, but Stahlmansche was intrigued. She allowed the demon to persuade her, and as a result, Overkill possessed her. He summoned an army of demon spirits to use her robots as soldiers to protect him as he acquires his true body from the Grave of the Griefbringer…which is the fortress of which Vector has spoken."

"Wait a sec!" exclaimed Gyser as he stood up, pointing at Terrornaut. "You mean that thing that destroyed that Segan city we checked out, those ruins - that thing is getting its body back?!"

"Correct." Terrornaut's expression hardened. "And if not stopped, then like the Segans, we too will be destroyed."

"So the world's in danger again, huh?" chuckled Ultra, closing his eyes as he crossed his arms. "Looks like we'll just have to save it again."

Vector turned off the projector. "We have a transport ready to bring those of you who can't go at super speed to the target. Your objective is clear; you have fifteen minutes to get ready."

As the group got up from their places and made their final preparations, Vector approached Tergonaut. "Tergonaut, you shouldn't wear the suit unnecessarily," said Vector in a low voice. "And in fact, I'm recommending that you don't go on this operation. The cancer is close to becoming terminal, and the longer you wear the omni-suit, the faster you'll-"

"I know that," interrupted Tergonaut. "But it's already too late. Even if I take it off right now, I'll die by this time tomorrow. But I will not take off this suit until Overkill - no, Griefbringer - is defeated!"

Vector opened his mouth to protest, but he closed it again. "Very well," he muttered. "I can't stop you from doing that. But you have my support, old friend."

Tergonaut's heart ached as he realized that this would be the last time he would see Vector. He took the crocodile's hand and shook it. "Thank you, Vector. I will finish this mission. For Sega City, for the Mobius Forum World."

"For all living."

Tergonaut and Vector turned to Terrornaut. She donned the bio-suit once again, its red and green carapace reflecting the emergency lights that flashed through the glass doors of the lobby. Tergonaut and Terrornaut faced each other, his visor matching the passionless gaze of her ever-staring spider eyes. "I can't trust you, Terrornaut," said Tergonaut bluntly. "But as long as you're going to help us against Griefbringer, I'll fight alongside you, not against you."

"My goal has ever been the safety and protection of this world," stated Terrornaut sternly. "A demon that seeks the oblivion of this and other worlds…<I>must</I> be defeated at any and all costs. In this, you may be sure that you and I share the same goal. I give you my word."

"Actions speak louder than words," retorted Tergonaut as he turned and went to the doors. "Let's go right now."

"Very well."

Vector watched as Tergonaut and Terrornaut flew up into the dark night sky. "Be careful," he said, knowing he could not be heard.

o.O! yayyaa TERROR! YAAAAY Terror! ::Remembers something direly important now!!:: ....Totally forgot about that...... In any event, awesome setup for the Griefringer .

Just as a note, if anyone feels their character wouldn't say or do something that I depict them as doing in this story, then certainly feel free to contact me using board PM or however else you can get a hold of me - and we'll work it out.

And now, for the most recent and perhaps one of the biggest story updates thus far...it's time to Enter the Grave!

"ETA, five minutes!" announced the pilot of the transport over the intercom, which reached Tergonaut and Terrornaut in their suits as well as those who sat in the aerial Vertical Take-Off and Landing transport's cabin.

Cera held her hand up against the window as Tergonaut flew alongside, his armored hand there against the window to match hers. She adjusted the miniature microphone of the headset she wore - one of the standard-issue communicator devices issued for SONIC agents - and spoke softly on it on a private channel. "I love you."

She can still say that - even though no matter whether we win or lose, I'm marching to my death.

"I love you too, Cera."

There was nothing left to be said.

"Whew, looks like it's gonna be a hot drop!" whooped the pilot over the intercom again, interrupting Tergonaut and Cera's brief moment together. "This crate doesn't have much firepower, so I need you guys to clear me an LZ."

"Roger that, Lifter One," replied Tergonaut over the comm. system, then he glanced once in the window to meet Cera's soft brown eyes. Then he pushed away and rolled through the air once before diving toward the ground ahead, Terrornaut matching his approach with her enormous dragonfly wings.

Danger Desert's sands were aflame with the infernal auras of the robot army that swarmed in a stream from the base of the obelisk toward the direction of Sega City. But these demonic machines had been so intent on their goal that they gave no notice to the flying craft above them. Tergonaut even saw some of the Segan scorpion defense robots crawling along, their bodies swirling with ethereal energies that marked possession.

"Like a bunch of ants coming from their colony," laughed CyKairus as he opened the door of the transport and leapt out, his telekinetic abilities allowing him to fly as he dove through the air to join Tergonaut and Terrornaut.

"Yeah, except they're not tiny enough to step on," mentioned Kaze as she stepped to the doorway in her Chao Walker, and simply dropped downward, engaging the Chao Walker's jump jets as she approached the ground to safely land as she opened fire with her mech's guns.

"You heard Lifter One - let's clear him that landing zone," said Tergonaut, his targeting systems already calibrating. "Make sure to clear it around the base of the obelisk - we need to stop that flow. Gyser and Ultra, join us on my mark. Ready…NOW!"

Tergonaut cut his jets and hit the ground running, his arm cannon engaged and firing. Terrornaut didn't even bother stopping - she grew mantis claws over her arms and simply changed the direction of her flight to raze the robot line with metal-rending slices as she flew parallel to the ground. CyKairus landed in a spot he cleared by shoving the robots aside with a psychic push, and expanded that open area by taking robots and slamming them against each other before flinging their parts into the crowd. Kaze landed heavily on a humanoid robot, crushing it before ramming her way through. Her Walker's machine gun blazed, and a spray of laser missiles popped groups of robots into the air.

One second after they began, Gyser and Ultra joined them as they dashed along on either side before piercing the formation and zigzagging through the robots. Gyser spin-dashed into action, tearing up sand and dirt as he knocked the legs out from under a line of robots. Ultra's eyes glowered red as he plowed his adamantium arm, elbow-first, punching through robot armor before flicking his arm out and shooting a metal-melting blast from his arm's flamethrower.

Lifter One lowered the transport down into the open spot by the towering black structure, the anti-personnel turrets adding their percussion to the music of the battle as the blasts and weapon fire lit up the desert night. The side doors slid open and the other forumers flooded out to add their powers and abilities to the fray while making their way toward the obelisk.

"The portal should lead to the flying fortress!" shouted Tergonaut above the fray as he pounded a robot's head in with a jet-powered boot. "We need to get through it!"

The attack had not gone unnoticed, and more of the demonized robots approached, turning back from their exodus to Sega City and coming as a horde to the intruders. "Looks like those guys don't want us to get that far!" yelled Electrawoman as her hands sparked with powerful electric bolts. "We have to clear them out before we can go on."

"Negative!" cut in Terrornaut as she sliced through two of the demoniac automatons. "It will take too much time! We must advance through the portal and stop the Griefbringer at all costs!"

Crimson smashed a robot in front of him with a swing of his spear, before stabbing it forcefully behind himself to catch another one in its optic sensor. "But then we'll have Griefbringer in the front and these things behind. And I know we won't like taking it both ways!"

CyKairus bit off a laugh. "Then I'll stay behind and hold these things off myself while you guys handle the big guy!" He swept his hand to one side, knocking an Armada unit onto its back, then he gestured and it skidded across the ground to bowl over more of the drones. "I'm not really that impressed with this guy if he has minions like these, so I'm sure you guys won't need my help."

Electrawoman and Kaze looked at each other, and nodded, determination in their faces. "We'll stay behind too and help," said Kaze. They then turned their backs toward the portal and dashed toward the dropship to assist it with its covering fire.

"Good luck, you can do it!" called back Electrawoman.

Tergonaut couldn't help but feel that he should stay and help. He reached out toward CyKairus, Electrawoman and Kaze. "But-"

Terrornaut shed the mantis claws from her arms and without hesitation approached the portal. "They are sufficient to guard our rear. Do not mock their efforts by failing to do as you promised."

Tergonaut hesitated for one moment, but then he turned. "We have to finish the mission," he said, more to himself than to anyone else.

The swirling vortex of ethereal energies, a mix of purple and yellow tinged with a cloudy haze of blue, gave no resistance as Terrornaut, Tergonaut, and the other forumers following them entered it. The sounds of battle instantly muted as they transported through a beam of light into the sky to the darkened flying fortress.

* * *

Tergonaut and Terrornaut led the group through the wall of darkness and down the shaded corridor, little dancing dots of light forming to show the way. The black stone felt far chillier than during Tergonaut's visit here before with Cera, and the air was thin even though it was filled with tension. Their footsteps were muffled, as if the sound itself was afraid to be too loud for fear of attracting what lurked deeper inside the sky fortress.

"There's an open room up ahead," explained Tergonaut hurriedly, his stomach still quivering from teleportation sickness he experienced every time he was transported. "There could be anything in there now, get ready!"

The group entered the cold, dark room, and the lights twirled up into the air and illuminated the room…revealing the stark still form of a large robot, its upper half a humanoid shape, the lower half a car-sized hover pod with six smaller thruster pods. The robot's engine hummed as it hovered above the ground, its bright neon green paint scheme violently contrasting with the black stone around it. Its right and left arms were equipped with large guns, and box missile launchers adorned shoulder struts. Its black visor wrapped around the front half of its extended head.

"I am Armada Hillmar. I am the guardian of the way to the next room. You must choose warriors to face me; I will allow the others to pass."

"It's one of those robots from the warehouse," said Ultra as he narrowed his eyes. "Looks like it was rebuilt. This should be a piece of cake."

"Stop!" Terrornaut shouted. "This is no ordinary robot. This is a guardian demon, left here to barricade the way until we accept its terms."

"What? Why can't we just dash past it?" asked Gyser, and before he got an answer, he revved his legs up and dashed forward.

The fluorescent green and purple hedgehog bounced off of an invisible barrier in front of the passageway to the next room. A glowing arcane sign, like an infinity symbol with one end cut open, shone darkly red in the air a moment later where the barrier was, before it faded into darkness.

"That is why," said Terrornaut dryly.

Gyser rubbed his head, annoyed. "Thanks, I noticed."

"So, let me get this straight," spoke up Crimson, leaning on his spear. "This hunk of junk here needs one or two of us to fight it while the others move on?"

"Precisely," answered Terrornaut.

"But how do you know so much about this demon business?" asked Tergonaut.

Terrornaut turned her helmeted head to look at Tergonaut. "Do you truly wish to know the answer to that question?"

Tergonaut shook his head, annoyed. "We don't have time for this anyway. If we defeat Griefbringer, then this will be over, so we have to get there at any cost."

Modesty and Jason exchanged glances, and Tergonaut got the idea that their eyes were saying a lot more to each other than he could perceive. Then Modesty turned to the others. "We'll stay and fight this one. You guys need to get to the Griefbringer."

Tergonaut wanted to say no, but he could see the same determination brimming in Modesty and Jason's eyes that he did in those of Electrawoman, CyKairus and Kaze. They had come here to get the job done, and they were willing to do whatever it took to do it.

I'd better be ready to make the same sacrifice, he thought.

"Give that blighter a good show for us, will you?" asked Jason lightly as he held his sword in both hands. "Carissima and I will handle this part."

"Huh?" Crimson peered around as if looking for someone. "Who's Carrisima? I didn't know we had one around here."

"Don't worry, we'll catch up with her later," joked Modesty as she nudged Jason's arm with her elbow. Then she flexed her gauntlet-covered hands and turned to face Armada Hillmar. "Get going! We'll be fine."

This time Tergonaut didn't hesitate as he ran down the hallway, unimpeded by the magical barrier as Hillmar prepared to engage Modesty and Jason. "Good luck!" he called back to them.

"Same to you!" called out the young married couple with one voice, and then they charged to the music of chattering gunfire.

* * *

The next room came all too quickly, and there stood the slender form of Armada Espadrille, her blue armor embalmed with infernal energies.

"I am Armada Espadrille, and I block this path. If you wish to pass, you must choose warriors to face me. Choose now."

"I'll take her on," said Ultra as he stepped forward. Tergonaut noted his eyes were turning red. "I've seen this one in action before. She's too fast for the rest of you."

"Says you!" Gyser scowled as he stepped forward, clearly unwilling to be shown up by the blue hedgehog. "I'll show you who's the fastest hedgehog in Sega City!"

Espadrille nodded gravely, then split into three separate forms. "We are Espadrille," all three forms voiced as their fingers extended into pointed, sharp claws. "We will show you the true power of speed."

Ultra turned just slightly to the others behind him and Gyser. "Go ahead, time is of the essence. Leave this…to us." Oddly enough, one eye was green while the other was red.

"Consider this dealt with!" growled Gyser as he revved up his feet.

"I know you'll handle it!" Tergonaut gave them a thumbs-up as he passed. "Take 'em down with style!"

* * *

Then came the third room, and if ever it looked more disjointed and decrepit than it had during Tergonaut's first visit there. Tiles lay broken on the floor where they had been shaken from the ceiling and walls, and the heavy door that had sealed the portal now lay cleft neatly in two on either side of the room. Standing in front of the infinitely-dark portal was the massive gray form of Armada Odeon, the last of the three Armada generals.

"I am Armada Odeon, last of the guardians before you. Seek me with three, and those left shall pass."

Here, Tergonaut hesitated as he looked at the others. "That means only two of us will go through that portal; the Griefbringer has to be there."

Crimson sized up Odeon, and rubbing the tip of his spear with his fingers like a cue stick, he stepped forward. "I know I'm not suited to this heroic stuff - so I'll stay here and clear the way for you guys."

Sailor Papirini stood next to Crimson, her sand-colored Sailor uniform glimmering with mystical energies as her hair flew back behind her dramatically, blown by a wind out of nowhere for dramatic effect. "I'll stay too. Someone has to keep Crimson here in line."

Tergonaut turned immediately to Cera, and met her eyes for a moment. Cera, I want you by my side…

"I'll be the third one," said Cera firmly, keeping eye contact with Tergonaut. "Neither of you need me along to slow you down. I'd only get in the way."

"Cera, I-"

"She speaks the truth, Tergonaut," interrupted Terrornaut as she stepped to one side around Odeon's bulky form. "She is safer here than she would be against the Griefbringer. Do not ignore what she is doing for you and for all of this world."

Tergonaut reached out and clasped Cera's hand with his own, gripping it with a loving squeeze. "I'll come back," he promised impetuously, his heart beating quickly in his chest.

"Make sure you do, or I'll come after you," promised Cera in return, her gentle threat not lost on Tergonaut's ears.

"Tergonaut, we must go now."

Tergonaut hesitated, his heart bursting with love for this woman - he wanted to sweep her up in his arms and take her away from this horrible place. It was not too late…

Before he let himself know what he was doing, Tergonaut released Cera and walked swiftly after Terrornaut. He did not look back.

"You love him, don't you?" whispered Papirini to Cera once Tergonaut and Terrornaut were out of hearing range beyond Odeon.

"I do," answered Cera. "But, how did you-"

"I did too, once. I know how you feel. Let's do our best now, and we'll both see him back."

Cera nodded. "Thanks. But you'll have to see if you can beat me to crushing this bucket of bolts!" She lifted her metal bow from its sheath on her leg, and flexed the arms open, pulling back on an electric string to summon an arrow of raw electrons.

"You're on!" Energy swirled around Papirini's form as she prepared her attack.

"And drinks are on the sorry sod who takes last place!" yelled Crimson cheerily as he hefted his spear, swinging it around deftly as his interminably furry tail thrashed the air behind him.

Tergonaut stood in front of the pure black portal, side by side with Terrornaut. It was like a pool of ink, suspended on its side. Impenetrable, revealing nothing to even the advanced sensors of the omni-suit. The only sensation coming through it was a tense feeling of raw fear that blew like a wind through Tergonaut.

"Are you ready, Terrornaut?"

Terrornaut gave a peculiar glance at Tergonaut. "I was born ready."

The two armored warriors stepped into the darkness as the first barrage of Odeon's missiles tore the air in the enclosed chamber.

* * *

A gentle breeze caressed a grassy field speckled with flowers of purple, white, and yellow. Wispy clouds hung lazily in the deep blue sky overhead. Mountains in the distance formed a circle around flowered valley, green with life on their slopes.

Tergonaut felt like an intruder in this peaceful setting, his metal boots stomping through the grass as he and Terrornaut entered the field. "Terrornaut…where are we?" he asked, looking around the valley. The portal behind them was glowing white, with no emanation of the horror that he had felt on the other side.

"In the heart of evil," answered Terrornaut gravely. "Stay on your guard - what's that up ahead?"

Tergonaut turned back forward, and he saw what Terrornaut was pointing at - it was a little red-haired girl, wearing a frilly pink dress with bows in her hair. Her back was turned to Tergonaut and Terrornaut, and she was crouched over, singing a gentle, wordless song to herself as she picked flowers in the field.

"What's a little girl doing here?" asked Tergonaut as he stepped forward. "If the Griefbringer shows up, she'll get caught in the crossfire…we have to get her out of here!" Then he raised his voice as he walked more quickly forward. "Hey, you there!"

"You fool, Tergonaut!" shouted Terrornaut as she launched after Tergonaut, extending spines and claws from her armor. "It's a trap!"

Tergonaut placed his hand onto the girl's shoulder, and she suddenly whirled around, her face a mass of eyeballs of different sizes and shapes, all staring out from a dark hole where face should have been. He recoiled, his concern for the girl swiftly turning to fear and adrenaline, but an eyeball that looked exactly like one of his own stared him in the eye from that horrific, dark face. A dark beam shot into Tergonaut's visor and into his eyes, and he saw another beam shoot out and heard Terrornaut's cry as she was struck. But he could not think about it, because his own body twisted in pain.

A deep, monstrous voice laughed as the two armored warriors fell back under the striking beams, which left no physical mark on their bodies. "Foolish mortals, you prize your souls, yet we shall show you how easily they are broken. Behold the seeds of your destruction sown in your past!"

Tergonaut gripped his helmet as tears streamed from his eyes, losing consciousness as the world morphed and rolled around him.

A gentle breeze caressed a grassy field speckled with flowers of purple, white, and yellow. Wispy clouds hung lazily in the deep blue sky overhead. Mountains in the distance formed a circle around flowered valley, green with life on their slopes.

Is dat sum Dark Falz arena inspired imagery? I approve. <3

Loving it. Wishing you didn't have a life so you could write more. =P

Awesome. EPIC.

And sets up a subplot for future merging between Ultra and Redley in GM: Deep Freeze...

This is brilliant stuff, sort of reminds me of... well countless things where compinions have split off to fight earlier challanges, but in particular FFIX. That's just the splitting smashing setting I mean. Everythings cool.

As for your use of Crim? You couldn't be more spot on unless you were me after five pints. You've got the innuendo, the bad jokes and the complete occasional dimness. And also: "Crimson sized up Odeon, and rubbing the tip of his spear with his fingers like a cue stick" Is this a reference to Charlie? =O Cause that's how I read it and it made me =3

One more thing: "I'll stay too. Someone has to keep Crimson here in line." "I'll be the third one,"...

There is only one way this can end ;P

YAY! ::Thinks he's in love with Terror.:: <3.<3!!! I'm positive its not possible, but I am.

But holy crap I was reminded of so many things reading that, especially the last scene in the field. Made me think of Grandia II and Aida all over again, and THAT..THAT was triptastic.

So, I expect this to be equal in awesomeness. Which it will, I never fret about that. Stop your life and finish this LOL.

If you liked that much Terrornaut, then you'll love more: I'm actually in the midst of a flurry of writing that is adding to the next sequence, which I hope will make up for the delay by expanding on Terrornaut's background as well as Tergonaut's. I hadn't necessarily intended to go into the details with Terrornaut, but I felt it would be important to finally put in a more dramatic fashion Terrornaut's origin story, rather than the version that he gives to Cookirini in Cookirini and Terrornaut. And note that Terg's memories were hinted at in Beasts Within.

But that's for another update once I'm ready and finished with this segment. Thank you all for your encouragement; it has been an inspiration to me to write more, and hopefully I can speed things up a little.

As for the inspiration behind the field of flowers, I openly admit that I borrowed a lot of it from the scenes of Dark Falz from Phantasy Star Online. Considering that my Tergonaut stories have had themes related to that game, and considering it's a SEGA game, I felt it all the more appropriate to set up the stage for the final battle. That said, I'm glad it inspired thoughts of other references, as I didn't want to plagiaraize outrightly.

Excellent story, Terg.

"So, what do you think, Matt?"

15-year-old Matt stood in the doorway of the warehouse, blinking as he adjusted his glasses. "This is what you wanted me to repair?"

He stepped into the open room, approaching the large humanoid robot that sat in the middle of the room, directly under the flickering bulb above. It was bulky and white, with an elongated head and black visor. Heavy armor adorned its figure, and only its chest gave the hint that this robot had anything wrong with it, as it was open with wires and circuits hanging out of it. Matt couldn't help shuddering a little at the sight of the foot-long talons at the ends of the arms, his imagination running away with him to think of them in action.

"But…this is an Armada unit…one of those Stahlmansche Defense Inc. robots!" Matt turned back to the young man who had led him there. "How'd you get a hold of one of these?"

"That isn't really important," dismissed the gang leader as he approached Matt. "We just need you to repair it for us."

Matt looked at the robot, then back at the young man with a look of disgust. "No, this wasn't the deal. This robot has weapons, it's dangerous. What are you going to do with it?"

"Knock over the bank, of course, and get rich." The young ganger laughed. "Don't be so naïve, Matt. You didn't really think I brought you here to fiddle with some car engine?"

"I won't do it!" repeated Matt as he walked past the leader, headed for the door. "I'm not a criminal!"

"If you don't do it, you'll regret it…and so will your parents."

Matt stopped at the doorway, his hands clenched into fists as he slowly turned around. "I'll tell the cops."

"And you think they could arrest us before any 'accidents' could happen? Come on Matt, I really don't want to see that happen. And I'm giving you an opportunity to do what you like to do: fix stuff. If you do, we'll cut you into the deal. What do you say?"

Matt hesitated, and then relaxed his fists as his shoulders hung in defeat. "Okay, I'll do it. But I've got a condition." He looked up, his eyes sharp with determination. "I don't get any cut from the deal. I'll work on the robot without your dirty money. That, and if anybody asks you, I wasn't involved."

"Sounds like a deal to me. When can you start?"

* * *

The blonde-haired man knelt over the battered and bloody body of a pale-faced woman. The sound of gunfire rattled the air outside the house, and shells exploded so close that the walls rattled. The man shuddered as he reached with his hand and stroked back the black bangs of the woman's hair with a tenderness reserved for the most sacred of emotions.

"Andrea…it can't be," he breathed, tears running down his tan face and streaking through the dust accumulated there. "We promised…we promised!"

Then he threw his head back and screamed, a deep, primal sound that erupted from his heart. Then he clutched the lifeless, still-warm body of the woman to herself.

The clicking of several rifles reached his ears. "Kenzer, you are under arrest. Come with us and we will spare your life."

Kenzer's eyes were suddenly dry as he laid Andrea down, and slowly lifted himself up from the ground, standing with clenched fists at his sides. Anger burned in his veins as he slowly said, "My life is no longer of value."

He spun around, his booted foot cracking the bones in the hand of one of the soldiers as he ducked to avoid the first wild burst of gunfire. He followed through and spun around with his foot to sweep the soldiers off their feet before whipping up to his feet and stomping his foot down hard; his reward was a strangled cry. Spattered with dried blood, his face hard and focused as he crushed his opposition in the most brutal and efficient way.

It did not take long.

Kenzer stood among the bodies, spattered with dried blood, breathing hard. The anger was burning out into sorrow, inconsolable sorrow. He looked back down at Andrea, who was as lifeless and still as ever, and a sad smile crossed his face.

The bullet pierced through his chest before he realized it hurt; blood stained his shirt as he turned around to see a shaking soldier barely keeping a grip on his pistol as he stepped back from Kenzer. "He who lives by the sword," choked Kenzer as he fell to his knees, "dies by the sword…goodbye, Andrea…"

He closed his eyes.

And then his eyes sprang back open as he woke up from one reality to another, choking.

He thrashed and struggled inside the tube of glass, green fluid enveloping him. He was able to breathe the oxygenated water, but reality had shifted so quickly and the pain he had gone through was still so fresh in his mind that he only wanted one thing: to get out!

His fist smashed against the glass, shattering it. He drifted out onto the cold metal floor of a massive laboratory, and he lay there, breathing the sterile air as he came to terms with this new reality.

"Arise, Kenzer, my Firstborn Son."

Kenzer pushed himself up to his feet and stood before a woman. The top of her head was level with his collarbone, and yet she stood there with a self-confidence that towered above him. He looked at her, confused. "But what about-"

"Your former life was a virtual one, created to mentally stimulate your mind while your body developed," explained the woman; her homely smile was warm and welcoming. "You have grown to maturity in the space of a month. The stress of the process nearly overwhelmed your nervous system. Out of one hundred, you are the only one who has survived."

The woman gestured, and two humanoids that looked like a cross between humans and bats stepped forward to present what looked like a silver-domed platter to Kenzer. "All will be revealed, Kenzer. But first you must accept this gift and become my Prince Adjudicator, a terror upon all the enemies of the Queen Mother and the glorious new age that is dawning for humanity."

Kenzer reached out and lifted the top of the platter, driven by an unknown impulse. As soon as it was open, a strange creature squirted out from under it, a mass of claws and organs and goop that stuck itself to his bare chest before spreading out over his body and absorbing itself into him. The sensation was at once prickly, wet, and peculiarly reassuring as his entire body was penetrated, then wrapped in a fast-growing shell of crimson and green carapace. He felt stronger, aided by power not his own. He opened his eyes to look out through multiple spider eyes emplaced in the helmet formed around his head.

Friend? asked a voice inside his head.

The simplicity of the childlike question strangely affected Kenzer. Yes. Friend, he thought back. And at that moment he knew he had a lifelong companion to be loyal through anything he would face.

Kenzer's heart still ached for the beautiful Andrea, but he already cast aside the rest of his now-false past. "If it is a terror that must be sent, then a terror I shall be," he solemnly proclaimed.

* * *

Matt sat alone at home, watching the television news tensely. He tried to eat, but his heart wasn't into it; his food sat on its plate with hardly a bite taken out of it. He couldn't think of anything but that robot and what he had programmed it to do when activated by the gangers.

Did I do the right thing? he asked himself, knowing that he could have put himself and his parents in danger. But if it works, then the robot won't hurt anyone, and those guys will get arrested. That way they won't be able to hurt anyone. I just hope that-

His thoughts were interrupted by the news coming back on. "Gang members attempted a robbery in broad daylight using a battle robot! Earlier today, a group of young teens burst into one of the banks in St. Louis, threatening to make their salvaged robot attack if they did not get what they wanted."

Matt stood up, his hands on the table to support him as he stared at the screen. This is it!

"But their robot, identified by witnesses as an Armada unit produced by Stahlmansche Defense Inc., went berserk when they activated it. Seven people, including three children, were received at the hospital in critical condition. At least twenty other people have been hospitalized with serious injuries. The arrested criminals are now being held for-"

"M-my fault," stuttered Matt as he wavered, feeling sick to his stomach. "N-never would have happened if I didn't let them use me…"

The agony of guilt wracked him as he shook his head, then gripped his face in his hands and screamed, "I SHOULDN'T HAVE HELPED THEM!"

He slammed his hands down onto the table, knocking off the dinner plate. It smashed on the ground, shards of white plate mixed with the browned meat and gravy-stained potatoes. "A-Armada unit…built with my own hands, so many people hurt, maybe even dead! And it's my fault!…my fault…"

He slumped into his seat, and wept. "I, I just wanted to stop them…I'm responsible for this…"

* * *

Terrornaut stood triumphant over the armored body of the leader of the technological resistance. The shattered remains of ice mountains drifted around them in the deep reaches of space around Pluto, the devastated landscape of their one-on-one battle. A thin sheen of frost was already gathering around both of their bodies as they sat still in the cold atmosphere.

"So this is how it ends." Terrornaut's words hung emptily, only heard by him in the dead space that ended sound. He stepped forward, bent down next to the still body. His hand reached up to the helmet of his white-armored opponent, and he brushed the frost from the faceplate so that he could finally see the face of the enemy who had led the rebellion against the Queen Mother.

And when he saw it, the shock froze him more solidly than if he had been encased inside Pluto itself. It was the pale face of a raven-haired woman.

"No!" he cried out, as his brain finally caught up to the obscenity of the moment. "It is not possible! She was part of my false life…this cannot be!"

He stumbled back; he stood with new questions in his mind as he realized that everything he had fought for had led up to this one moment. The very impossibility of it shattered the sure confidence that emboldened every step of his path of conquest in the name of the Queen Mother.

"What have I fought for all this time?" He fell to his knees, now unaware of the cold as his heart opened to grief for the first time in eighteen blood-soaked war years. "The war is over. What use am I now? What meaning is there to this?"

He sought for those reasons in outer space, far from the warmth of his princely home on Earth where his Mother awaited his return.

* * *

Tergonaut writhed on barren, snow-covered ground, completely unaware of the drastic change of surroundings, as he and Terrornaut were rendered helpless before the Griefbringer. It shed the disguise of the little girl and the Griefbringer grew upward and outward into its monstrous form. Its neck split into two, and one head was a scaly mass of flesh with a black hole instead of a face, with a number of eyes, cat eyes, bug eyes, human eyes all staring ceaselessly from that hole. The other head was a massive version of Stahlmansche's, her red hair hanging down from her head as she grinned devilishly, and her green eyes shimmered.

"We are only just beginning," breathed the two heads at once, one voice monstrous, the other Stahlmansche's own, and both reverberating through the entire dead valley and off the sharp rocks of the mountains. A stomp of its foot shattered the bones of countless dead that littered the snow in the valley. "And for every beginning, there is an end!"

Wolves appeared through the blizzard, a howl accompanying the large canines. Their fur was black and shadowy, their eyes burned red, and they slavered at the mouth as they bared their large white fangs. Their movements blurred into unreality as they circled Tergonaut and Terrornaut, black nightmarish wraiths that fed on the fear and pain of the past like the remains of dead beasts.

"Feed, our pets," breathed the monstrosity, the abomination that stood in armored flesh, crackling its bony talons against the ground. "Feed on their misery and prepare them for oblivion."

With a simultaneous scream of awakening, Tergonaut and Terrornaut burst up from the ground and shot their fists out, sending demon wolves flying out to each side. The Griefbringer took a shaky step backward as its monstrous form locked onto the two armored warriors with its multiplicity of eyes. "You are destined to die, to be destroyed. Why is it that you can still rise to challenge us?"

The Griefbringer shot beams of dark light from every single eye, including the eyes of Stahlmansche's head attached to his other grotesque neck. But back to back, Tergonaut and Terrornaut both raised their respective suits' defenses and dispelled the darkness. "What? Impossible…"

"We've got you outnumbered, Griefbringer!" shouted Tergonaut - but it was not his voice alone that spoke. A female voice from the suit also spoke - he and TINNER spoke as one.

"Your strength comes from binding a soul to your own to make yourself stronger," proclaimed Terrornaut as spines grew out of her armored carapace. Her voice was joined by an alien quaver that mirrored her words. "But you do this by bending that soul to your will, quenching the strength that comes of personal desire. We have combined with our suits, and it is stronger because both halves are joined together, not out of force, but out of free will and the need to destroy you!"

"Mayhap you have found a way to escape your memories," called out the Griefbringer as it flexed its long talons and stepped forward menacingly, its body several times larger than either of the Nauts. "But you only prolong the inevitable!"

The monster lashed out, quicker than a striking cobra, and knocked Tergonaut backward, impact screens shining brightly and humming desperately to avoid shattering under the demonic strength. But Terrornaut took that opportunity to open up a part of her suit where she had been carrying something inside, and held it out now, linking it to her suit to allow her to make use of the device.

Tergonaut saw it, and with it he saw the key to victory. "The transmigrator!"

"And using my bio-suit as the computer to control it," gasped Terrornaut as the transmigrator's green crystal orb shone with light, "I will take back that which is not yours to have, monster!"

The orb burst forth a green light that bathed the snowy battlefield in emerald, and it coalesced into a beam that struck Stahlmansche's head. And in the next instant, the head was gone, leaving a neck stump there as Stahlmansche's spirit was drawn into the transmigrator with a crackle of ethereal energies in the gray air.

The Griefbringer shrieked with only one voice, its horrible freakish monster voice, the voice of a demon. Its wrinkled armorflesh seemed to shrink, and the abomination soon stood merely a couple feet taller than Tergonaut. In fury it struck out at Terrornaut, but Tergonaut was there to block the blow with both arms formed into a shield. "Terrornaut, get out of here with that!"

"But to leave you here, in your condition-"

"GET GOING! I have a plan!"

Terrornaut nodded, and with a flash of translucent green wings, she flew off toward the portal that led into the pocket dimension into the darkened corrupted sky fortress.

Tergonaut faced the Griefbringer, blocking the demon's frenzied strikes as the impact screens shuddered and shone. The blizzard swarmed around the battling pair in the middle of the cold, empty world, bones breaking under their scrambling feet. Tergonaut gazed into the face of the Griefbringer, gritting his own teeth against the hideous dark hole where a face should have been.

"Die," whispered the Griefbringer harshly as he drew back one set of hideous talons and swiped with deadly speed.

Tergonaut was knocked backward, and sent tumbling through the snow and bones. His insides clenched with pain as he felt the cancer growing inside him, eating away at his organs with jagged teeth of agony. Sweat broke out over his entire body as he struggled to control his own life.

"TINNER, scan for unused positive energy," he croaked as blood trickled from one edge of his mouth.

"Found," replied TINNER. "The Griefbringer is using one hundred percent negative energized forces of the pocket dimension to sustain itself. But you required the Turbonaut augmentation armor to activate it before."

"That was just a battery…so siphon off the energy and store it in my body!"

The Griefbringer's stomping footsteps came nearer as images of the tortured souls it had corrupted in the past swarmed around it. "Die, die, die," it repeated over and over in a whisper that crawled into Tergonaut's ear, and seemed to speak to the cancer inside of him. He had to bite his lip to keep from giving in to the surge of razor-fresh pain inside.

"That is theoretically possible, but to do so would be to risk burning your body in positive energy - and even if you survive that, it may energize the cancer as well and speed up its growth."

"I'm going to die, TINNER! That's going to happen no matter what I do now!" The prospect of death was welcome now, in the face of this overwhelming gut-wrenching he was enduring at this moment. "Do it! Override code, 'orange for courage without blood, blue for justice tempered by mercy!'"

"Code accepted," said TINNER's voice, and Tergonaut shuddered as the omni-suit injected parts of itself into his body. The air glimmered around him as the suit reformatted to produce cone-shaped energy siphons out of the shoulders, helmet, forearms, legs and boots. These siphons drew in bright particles of pure positive energies, and the Griefbringer halted and raised a hand to block the brilliant light that enveloped Tergonaut and shone violently outward.

Tergonaut opened his eyes, realizing only then that he had closed them, and he felt a new power enter him. He was glowing - not just the suit, the color of which had changed from orange and blue to crystal blue and golden yellow. No, he himself was emitting light, untapped light that had not been in existence until he had called it forth. His insides suddenly put themselves back into order, and he felt like he had been reborn.

And he was, the armor was supercharged to the same state that he had been in when he had faced Terrornaut in that dreadful battle years ago. He was now Turbonaut!

"Now, Griefbringer, it's time to pay for all the murders you've committed!" shouted Turbonaut as he rose into the air, unaided by the omni-suit's jets, sparkles of light flowing from him as he changed both arms into cannons and shot streams of yellow light out from them. The Griefbringer shielded itself with its arms for a few moments, but was blown back by the sheer force of the attack, sent skidding just like Turbonaut himself had only moments before.

"You are only at my level of power now," growled the Griefbringer as it used its talons to stop sliding across the snow-covered ground. "You cannot defeat me with only that!"

"You're right," said Turbonaut as he flew backward to the mouth of the portal. "And I'll die anyway in a few moments immediately after this power is gone. But the Segans said that this portal had to remain open if this pocket dimension was to exist at all. So if I close it-"

"NOOO!" shrieked the Griefbringer as it thrust itself forward.

"As a Moderator of the Mobius Forum World, I'm going to give you what you wanted - oblivion!"

Turbonaut reached out and grabbed the portal with his hands, yanking on it with all of his might as he evoked the closing powers of his station as Moderator. At first the portal did not yield, but then it shuddered and the entrance began closing immediately. Inside, the pocket dimension shuddered and rumbled as it shrunk at an exponential rate, the Griefbringer getting caught within the mountain valley as it was deleted from existence.

"You only delay the inevitable," rasped the Griefbringer as it struggled against the mountains crushing it to pieces. "Die. You will die and end. Die!"

"SHUT UP!"

With a final pull, Turbonaut fell backward as the portal slammed shut, and there was a distinct POP that ruptured all existence as the portal vanished, leaving only the bare black walls of the dark fortress there behind the open circle of metal that had held the dimensional door.

* * *

Outside of the octagonal obelisk in Danger Desert, the demonic robots all stopped and gave a single wail of terror before the spirits animating the robots vanished, leaving piles of junk on the gritty ground, mixed with blood and oil.

CyKairus, Kaze and Electrawoman all looked up toward the sky, where they saw a bright explosion dot the sky high above them. The obelisk shuddered and shook, and the portal glowed a miasma of different colors.

"Looks like they did it," proclaimed CyKairus as he led the way back to the transport. "Now we need to make sure this crate can get us all back once they come back through the portal."

* * *

Modesty clutched at her torn arm as Jason stumbled over to her and tore a piece of his shirt off to tie the wound. "Something must have happened," said Modesty as she looked with glazed eyes up at the ceiling. "That robot just fell apart into pieces, like the force animating it just left."

"Will you stop talking and be still?" asked Jason edgily as he tied up her wound and picked her up in his arms. "You've lost a lot of blood, and this whole place is starting to shake apart."

"You're one to talk," replied Modesty as she tore off her own sleeve to wrap around his forehead where blood spilled prodigiously over his face. "Now let's get out of here, and hope the others can make it too."

"I don't think I've ever agreed with you so much in my entire life, carissima," said Jason in a low voice, holding Modesty to him as he dashed out of the crumbling ruins toward the exit portal. "Just try not to throw up too much once we go through the portal."

* * *

As soon as the triple Espadrille was destroyed, Gyser and Ultra ran for the exit, not stopping for idle talk. They were barely fast enough to avoid falling blocks of dark cold stone as the rumbling of the crumbling sky fortress filled the air with rampant noise of rock against rock.

* * *

"I'm going back for him!" shouted Cera, desperately pulling away from Sailor Papirini and Crimson as she tried to go back down the hallway toward the portal room.

"He'll be after us soon, but we need to get out of here!" answered Papirini

"I won't leave here without him!" shrieked Cera as she zapped the two with her electric powers before dashing madly down the corridor even as the ceiling threatened to cave in.

But she was stopped by Terrornaut as the bug-eyed warrior flew down the hallway and planted herself in front of Cera. "Tergonaut would not want you to remain in danger," Terrornaut said simply. "Get out of here with the others."

"He promised!" cried Cera, too panicked at the thought of losing Justin to let Terrornaut get in her way. "I'm going to see him!"

"Yes, you will," said Terrornaut kindly as she took Cera's hand. Then she yanked Cera toward her while her other fist dug into Cera's gut with enough force that the shock of it knocked Cera out cold.

Terrornaut caught Cera and flew down the corridor to the others. "Let us make haste to get out of here, this entire place is falling apart!"

Wordlessly, the group dashed through the corridors and rooms, avoiding fallen masonry and stepping over holes in the floor that dropped down to the sky below. Wind rushed through the sky fortress, threatening to sweep them off their feet off the slick black stone. But the portal was only yards ahead as the corridor crumbled around them, the wall of solid darkness behind them.

Terrornaut dropped Cera into Crimson's arms, then using organic jets and dragonfly wings, shoved Papirini and Crimson toward the shimmering portal. A block of gray, uncorrupted stone crushed the portal, and in a few moments Terrornaut herself was caught in the avalanche and lost in the darkness.

* * *

Tergonaut lay on the ground, the omni-suit returned to its normal colors as the positive energy ran out. He fought for breath, but he felt his lungs starting to give way to the cancer that was erupting through him.

"We stopped the Griefbringer. And without a body, Stahlmansche will be unable to continue her reign of terror," he croaked, the taste of blood strong in his mouth from his bitten lip and the other injuries from the battle, scarring his body. "We did it, TINNER. Now maybe…I can…take a little…nap…"

"Justin," said TINNER's voice, with the strongest emotion that he had ever heard from her before, "I am sorry I could not save you. I lo-"

Rocks from the ceiling smashed down onto Tergonaut's torso, and he could not hear the rest of TINNER's words as the rest of the fortress came smashing down onto him. The crushing force of it enveloped his body, squishing the last bits of life out of him. He first resisted it, but then there was peace, and quiet, and he relented.

And there was darkness, and he fell asleep.

* * *

The sky fortress tumbled to the ground in pieces, smashing the obelisk under it as the transport chopper flew away from the site just ahead of the falling rubble. The desert disappeared beneath them in a cloud of dust and smoke, and the turbulence shook the transport like a rattle.

Everyone held on to anything nailed down, or close enough to it. Hence how Crimson held onto the pilot of the transport, and discovered that the pilot was not a he, but a she. Perhaps someday the full account of their star-crossed romantic exploits will be recounted. But that is not for this tale to tell.

The transport tumbled through the air, death itself raining down upon it, but suddenly it was free and everyone dared to look up to see that it was all over. The desert, though littered with the debris from the fortress, was calm and quiet. Only the noise from the slightly sputtering engines reached their ears. And light from the dawning sun spilled over the desert like a kaleidoscope being slowly turned to reflect its colors across the sands.

"Wait a sec, is everyone here?" Gyser looked around hastily. "Where's Terg, or the bugface babe?"

"They…they didn't make it out."

Everyone looked at Papirini, who cradled the unconscious Cera in her arms. "Get the comm. on, and tell Vector the mission was successful. Then…tell him the bad news."

Victory was made bittersweet in the silence that followed as the transport rumbled back to Sega City.

Rain fell from the sky above in a constant heavy downpour as the figure, dressed in a long tan trench coat and wide-brimmed fedora, stood at the corner of a building in Sega City. Water dripped from the hat's edge that shadowed his face as he looked across the street to the memorial service being held at the Sega City Cemetery.

"And why, exactly, are we wasting our time here?"

"So you have awakened," spoke the figure quietly in a deep voice. "But be still for a moment longer. I am honoring a fallen comrade."

"Sentimental, now that you're a man again, are you? At least describe what it is you see to me."

The man narrowed his eyes. "I see Vector giving the eulogy over the grave of Tergonaut. There are all of those who stood to fight with us three days ago, when we faced the Griefbringer and his demonic army. There is even…a woman, whom Tergonaut loved. She is upset by the proceedings, and is interrupting. I can hear her distress: she wants to go find the body of Tergonaut. And now…she has left. It appears that all heart has gone out of the proceedings, and they are breaking up the meeting now after a few short words from everyone."

The man turned away from the scene. "It appears that this is all I can do now to ensure that his sacrifice was not in vain." He reached into the trenchcoat and pulled out the transmigrator, looking into the crystal to see the confident smirk of Stahlmansche. "He has died, while you remain, Georgia Stahlmansche. Though I wish it was under different circumstances, that means you have won and may proceed with your plans."

"Excellent, Terrornaut." The satisfaction dripped thickly from the woman's voice inside the green crystal orb. "Get me to the android body I have prepared for myself. With Tergonaut out of my way, I will be able to claim this city and then this world as my own!"

Tergonaut…something inside me tells me that he is not gone. And yet I am faced with the facts. I lost my evolved enhancements from the cocoon from the damage I received in the sky fortress, along with my aberrational change in gender, but somehow I feel more confident in my own future now than ever before. In your memory, Tergonaut…I will ensure that Stahlmansche protects this world to the best of her ability.

Terrornaut took the hat off of his head as he walked down the rainy street, letting the rain wash down his face.

* * *

Deep in Danger Desert, as night fell quickly over the arid landscape, things were particularly quiet around the blackened rubble of the sky fortress on the ground. Spread out over miles of sprawling sandy territory, most of it was concentrated in spots of piled rubble, hills of stone that were slowly losing the stench of evil corruption.

A small lizard stuck its tongue out as it sat on a pile of these rocks, investigating this change to its home. The sky overhead twinkled with many stars, and the lizard barely perceived them overhead, unable to comprehend their full glory and wonder. It slipped along from rock to rock, scenting something different in the rubble and wanting to find what it was.

All of this was abandoned immediately as a large hand burst out of the rubble, and the lizard zipped away to safety. The hand was shaped like a human's, but larger, and seemed to be missing skin as it appeared to be made out of muscle fibers and wires. It glistened with moist red fluid, as did the rest of the skin of the humanoid that scrabbled free of the rubble it had been trapped under.

The creature staggered to its feet, its head the most malformed piece of all - it was large and round, with a stubby horn sticking out of its forehead, and four glistening blue eyepoints in each eye socket. There was no mouth, ears or discernable nose in the face.

"We, are alive," breathed the creature as it glared out into the darkness, clenching one fist shakily. "Must find…the scientist…"

And that's the end…of THIS story!

Wonderful writing as always Omnipants.

The ending did feel a smidge rushed, but there's only so much you can do with "this place is collapsing, let's GTFO"

And of course, ending on a cliffhanger? You nasty man. You make me want more. =P