Legends of the Halcyon Era

Episode 70 - Homecoming

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Previously, in Legends of the Halcyon Era...

Things have been busy for the Diggers from Terra. Nytetrayn was beaten within an inch of his life by the Air Pirate, Trevor Creed, and brought back by none other than his creator, Commander Black Draco, who revealed Nyte's origins and brought the crew back with him to his planet, Avion: A world founded by humans and Reploids thousands of years ago. After a tense beginning, the two got to know each other a little better.

Black Steel regained his lost memories, while Celeste chose not to regain hers, and both reaffirmed their commitment to their significant others. Steel discovered he had nanite-powered healing capabilities and sought to train them so he could enact revenge on the one who had thought to kill him.Celeste looked into the history behind her namesake, Celeste McTreggor, and has begun to aspire to be more like her so she could be of more use to her friends.

As the group prepared to return home, Black Draco asked that they keep Avion's existence a secret to the rest of Terra, to which they agreed. Katrina, an Avion to whom Adam Powers grew close with over the course of their visit, would be returning with them as an emissary of sorts.

And upon their return, Black Draco presented Nytetrayn with a new airship, which he dubbed the Dragon Star II, after the ship he awoke in, before the group set out for Monroe Island.

After arriving back at the beach on Monroe Island, the Terrans and Avions disembarked the Dragon Star II following its successful test run. The latter party had activated their holomatter avatars, giving them a variety of human appearances to allow them to better blend in with the locals. Katrina now appeared as a young woman devoid of any apparent cat- or bird-like features.

Adam Powers and Fenix were clad in their usual armor, while the others wore their more casual attire. As the sun rose, Nytetrayn and Celeste looked out at the ocean, his arm around her shoulder, and they were soon joined by the Dragon Knights and then the others, as they all took a moment of newfound appreciation for the beauty this world possessed.

"So," Nytetrayn asked. "Where do we begin?"

"By finding Creed," said Fenix. "And then forcing him to pay up on his alimony!"

"If by 'pay up on his alimony', you mean 'beat him to a pulp', then that sounds good to me."

MegaMan Magnus raised an eyebrow at Fenix. "Weren't your parents unmarried?"

"Why?!" Fenix sobbed. "Why do you hate me so?!"

"Because it's so easy?" Nyte offered.

"Oh, yeah, sure," said Fenix. "Just pick away at all my psychological scarring and emotional baggage."

"Not that we needed an invite, but okay! It'll have to wait, though. For now,where do we start looking? I guess we can come back for our stuff and let the landlord know we're moving out later."

"We should ask around, see if we can find out where he was last spotted," said Adam. "Hunting pirates can be tricky. Some like to stick around a general area, but Creed seems to just go wherever he pleases, so that complicates things."

"If we're looking to do some fighting," Janine said, "I'd like to get some gear Fenix left in my room first."

"Okay, so let's kill two birds with one stone," Nyte said as he started for the town.

As they got closer to the town of Monroe, it quickly became apparent all was not right, as a large, sleek black shape hovered over the middle of the small burg.

"Might not be so tricky after all," said Nyte.

"That doesn't look inviting," said Steel.

Celeste looked up. "Is that...?"

Adam brought a hand up to his ear. "Alpha-Red, do you read me?"

"Oh, wonderful to hear you're back, Adam. How was your–"

"Later," Adam cut him off. "We've got business. Scan the ship that's hovering over Monroe, and please tell me that isn't Creed."

Fenix clenched his fists. "I'd know that ship anywhere."

"Affirmative," Alpha-Red said. "The ship is indeed the Nemesis."

"...I asked you not to tell me that," Adam replied.

"But–"

"Nevermind, I'll check in later."

Katrina whistled. "That's Creed's ship? Guy knows how to make a statement."

Meanwhile, Nytetrayn broke into a run towards the town.

"Nyte, wait!" Celeste shouted, as she ran after him, followed by Adam, Katrina, Fenix, and Magnus.

"Dammit, does this guy just know when I don't have my armor on?!" Steel grumbled as he and Janine followed as well.

As the Terrans took off, the Avions consulted their leader.

"So, do we go with them?" Edge asked. "Our whole thing is supposed to be minimizing our involvement, after all."

"Hey, if someone's causing trouble, we can't just stand by," MoonRazor said.

"I vote we go bust some heads," SunFlame added, as he smacked his palm with his fist.

"We can't just go in guns blazing, though," said Crossfire. "We're likely to do as much damage as they are!"

"If we keep our holo-camouflage forms up, we can investigate without drawing too much attention to ourselves," Shuri noted.

"Agreed. We'll follow them in and let them handle it, but provide support as needed," Black Draco said. "Dragon Knights, move out!"

With that, the Dragon Knights made haste to catch up to the others.

As they arrived, the Diggers noticed that the city was not burning. In fact, it was largely fine, aside from the people fleeing in terror from the renowned pirate's ominous vessel.

"Well, that's new," Fenix said. "Usually when Creed comes to town, there isn't much of a town left by the time he leaves."

"Yeah, that's weird," Nyte said. "Why is this place still standing?" A thin trail of smoke caught his attention amidst the panic. "Come on," he said, as he led the way.

"What's his game?" Steel wondered aloud.

"Bet he's looking for Celeste," Adam said. "Or Fenix. Maybe both."

"He's about to find more than that," Nyte said, as he punched his palm for emphasis.

The group soon found the source of the smoke, which appeared to be a single house – or at least, what had once been a house, before it was blasted clear from its foundation, leaving no more than a deep crater.

"Who picks apart a town one house at a time?" asked Adam.

"Maybe he's just getting started," Nyte suggested.

"Maybe not," Celeste said, as she pointed into the crater. "Look over there."

In the center of the crater, almost disguised by the blackened earth surrounding it, was a large hole that led down into equally inky blackness.

"The ship hasn't opened fire on us," Fenix said. "I don't think he's up here."

"It couldn't be a trap," Steel added. "How would he know we were coming?"

MegaMan Magnus and Janine went to inspect the hole.

"Is he tunneling into the island?" Janine asked.

"No," Magnus said. "He didn't create this hole, it's lined with concrete – it was here already. And there are handholds. Looks like it could be a ruin of some kind, but it doesn't match anything from our time period."

"A ruin?" Nyte asked.

"In the middle of town?" Celeste added.

"This crater runs pretty deep," Fenix noted. "The entrance to whatever this is must have been buried."

"Something weird is going on here," said Adam. "We should probably check it out."

"There's no doubt he's down there," Steel said. "Were he here, we'd be under fire already."

"So, do we follow him?" Janine asked.

"We could just wait up here and give him a nice surprise party," Adam said. "I can radio the Sky Shark to put the Nemesis out of commission while we wait."

Nytetrayn shook his head. "If we bring it down here, it'll flatten half the town. And besides, I'm not in much of a waiting mood. If we want to find Creed, then this is the way. On top of that, if he's going to all this trouble, he must be after something down there. I think I'd rather he didn't leave with it."

The others nodded, and Nytetrayn began descending the shaft, with the rest following close behind.

"I'm interested in seeing what's going on, too," Black Draco said, before starting down the ladder. "Something about this gives me a bad feeling..."

Shuri, Edge, and Crossfire closely followed their leader, leaving MoonRazor and SunFlame standing at the entrance alone. The two brothers looked at each other.

"Match you for it?" said MoonRazor.

Wordlessly, he and SunFlame engaged in a sudden-death round of Rock-Paper-Scissors, which MoonRazor won.

"Dammit!" SunFlame said.

"You always pick Rock," said MoonRazor.

"Fine! But I'm tellin' ya', there'd better not be anything related to any kangaroos down there!" SunFlame grumbled, as he started down the ladder.

"You're really never gonna let that go, are you?" MoonRazor asked while he followed.

"Next time, we're doing a coin toss.".

As the group descended the shaft, they found that it ran deep – very deep. Deep, and dark.

After what felt like a good hour or two, but in reality had only been under half an hour, the shaft opened up into an underground tunnel. The makeup of the tunnel differed from any ruin the Diggers were familiar with. Concrete and bricks lined its walls and ceiling, leading down to a pair of sidewalk-sized ledges on either side of a trench which appeared to be long since dried out. Along the ceiling and leading into various points in the wall were metal pipes, decayed from ages of rust and broken in numerous places.

"Oh, great," said Adam. "It's a sewer."

"I see one kangaroo, just one, and I'm bringin' the whole place down," said SunFlame.

"Don't worry, we'll help," Adam said.

"Come on," said Fenix. "That was just one ruin!"

"Actually," Janine said, "there were some 23 other similar units that were sealed away..."

"Bah gawd..." said Fenix.

SunFlame broke the awkward silence that followed with a single, sarcastic word: "Joy."

"This doesn't look like any of the ruins I know," said Magnus.

"Yours have less stank?" MoonRazor asked.

"They are typically cleaner than this, yes."

"Fitting as this place is for him, why would he come down here?" Nyte asked.

As the group marched on down the tunnel, they passed by what looked like a plaque on one wall, though it was encrusted with enough dirt as to be unrecognizable. Black Draco paused to wipe away some of the muck.

"Abel City Sewer System" read Fenix.

The Avions were speechless at this revelation, but before they could rally their thoughts, Fenix spotted footprints in the dirt.

"They must belong to Creed," Nyte said.

"Then may we follow them to a righteous ass-kicking," Magnus said. After a brief pause, he added, "His. Not ours."

"We gathered, and sounds like a plan to me," Nyte said, as they continued down the tunnel.

The trail carried on for some time, with a few twists and turns along the way. Eventually, they came upon a pile of rubble around a hole in a wall, replete with the accompanying fresh ozone smell of a wall that had been blasted apart. The footprints stopped at the base of it, though there seemed to be some indication of them on certain bricks in the pile.

"Guess he went in here," Nyte said.

"Hang on a second," Fenix said. "Something's not right about this..." He turned to the others. "How are you all seeing down here?"

"Nightvision," Nyte said, while Celeste held close to him, as she followed his lead.

Adam added, "I've got a variety of spectrum analyzers in my glasses."

"I can see in the dark naturally," said Katrina.

"I also have built-in nightvision," Magnus said.

Black Draco and the other Dragon Knights' eyes were all glowing in different colors.

"I've been holding on to Magnus's tail, and Steel has been holding on to my ass," Janine said matter-of-factly.

"I am no-- well, how 'bout that?" Steel said.

"I just had to ask," Fenix said, as he turned back to the rubble surrounding the hole and started to climb through, with the others following.

The Terrans and Avions never expected what they would find on the other side of the wall. As they came through, they found themselves in what looked like a hallway one would expect to find in an office building. What's more, the improvised entrance aside, it seemed to be rather clean. Remarkably so, in fact, despite all indications that this place had since been abandoned long ago. A dim fluorescent glow emanated from overhead lights, with some flickering occasionally.

Adam helped Katrina through, while Celeste kicked some of the dirt from the sewer off her shoes after being helped through by Nyte.

"Where are we now?" Nytetrayn asked.

"White-collar Hell?" Fenix suggested.

"It looks like an office building," Magnus said.

"I know what I said," Fenix countered.

"The carpet is nice, though," Janine said.

On one wall, there rested a framed picture of a pretty young woman with long, dark hair. As Nytetrayn looked it over, he read the words decorating it: "Employee of the Month: Ariel".

Black Draco turned. "...Ariel?"

"Think this could be...?" asked Edge.

"Sound familiar?" asked Fenix.

"An old girlfriend, perhaps?" Magnus asked.

"More of an acquaintance," Black Draco answered, as he looked over the picture for himself.

"So this place is from your time period?!" Fenix exclaimed. "No wonder it looks so old... think we could find any dinosaurs here?"

While MoonRazor made a move to hold SunFlame back, Steel said "I sense the air of death in this place..."

"I think that's just the stale air in here," Crossfire said. "We probably don't want to spend too much time hanging around in it."

Despite Crossfire's words, Steel couldn't help being drawn in by the wonder of it all. "Amazing... a ruin predating all known and accepted history."

"Even better," said Fenix, "just imagine what kind of bitchin' new – er, old – toys might have been left in here!"

"I'm relatively sure it'd be decrepit," Steel said. "Besides, how do we know that Creed hasn't already beaten us to that? I doubt he came here for a look at the 'Employee of the Month'."

"Despite how cute she is," Magnus added.

"Well, shit," Fenix said. "Why do you guys have to bring me down all the time?"

"Comes with the territory," Steel replied.

"Hmm. The odds of anything surviving would probably be slim," Black Draco said. "Nyte himself was a stroke of luck, fortunately. But even the Dragon Star was in bad condition."

"So, how do we know you were the only one who sealed away a Reploid?" Janine asked.

"Simple," Black Draco replied. "We don't."

"This could be bad," said Magnus.

Black Draco continued. "Of course, mine wasn't deliberate. With proper preparation..."

"Really bad."

"Indeed," Black Draco replied. "Especially now that we have an idea of the potential actors involved."

A clanging noise rang out from down the hall, demanding the immediate attention of everyone in the group. A voice familiar to some of the group rang out, the words "It's alive! IT'S ALIVE!!!" rang out through the halls.

"We've established that 'alive' in this context probably means 'bad,' right?" asked Magnus.

"Down here, after all this time... I wouldn't doubt it," Black Draco confirmed, as he moved to the front of the group. "I'll take a look," he said, looking back to the others. "Knights, defensive formation, and make sure to be ready for anything. If it is something from our era, then we don't want it to get past us. He then drew his beam saber – a large hilt and handle that suggested a rather large energy blade – from the folds of his long coat, and carefully moved forward, ready for anything.

The Knights readied themselves with their weapons, too, unsure of what to expect. Katrina reached up to draw a pair of feather blades from her wings, before remembering that she was currently camouflaged as a normal human, and couldn't access them right now. She felt a little foolish, but moved along just the same.

As the group followed the direction of the voice, Black Draco led, with Shuri close behind, her own katana drawn. Edge had his spear and Crossfire his massive cross punisher in hand, and were covering the rear, while MoonRazor had his arm blades deployed and SunFlame wielded his axe, each taking up positions on either side of the mostly-unprepared Diggers, who were all in their regular attire. Mostly, that is, except for Adam, who had drawn his large sword as well.

The group quietly descended upon a steel blast door that had been blown in half. On the other side was a large, austere chamber whose trappings betrayed the office exterior outside. Glancing inside, Black Draco could make out a very large, heavily fortified stasis capsule against the wall off to one side, pulsing with the glow of numerous blinking and static lights alike and bearing a large ∅ symbol on its face. After checking as much as the limited view would allow, he silently gestured for the rest to hold their position as he stepped through the doorway.

"Well, well," said the voice from before, much calmer now. "What've we got here?"

Standing against the wall next to the door with a plasma caster trained right at Black Draco's head was Trevor Creed himself. His quarry now firmly in his sights, Creed relaxed himself a little and stepped away from his hiding place against the wall, keeping his gun trained on the Avion leader.

"Perhaps you could tell me," Black Draco answered.

"Only a fool would dare follow me into a place like this, and I don't make a habit of suffering fools. You've got one minute to change my mind, before I blow your bloody head off your shoulders and resume my evening's entertainment."

"You must be Trevor Creed," Black Draco said, relaxing his stance slightly, yet remaining ready to move at a moment's notice.

"My, my," Creed said in a mocking tone. "My reputation precedes me. I must have a good agent."

"Indeed it does. Perhaps further than you can imagine."

"That right? Well then, it sounds like you've traveled a long way just to die by my hand."

The rest of the group remained obscured from the Air Pirate's view by Black Draco's large frame. Fenix trembled with rage, while Janine kept to the rear, painfully aware that she would be borderline useless in this fight. Celeste, for her part, kept up a determined but uncertain face.

"I have travelled far, but I have no plans to die yet," Black Draco told Creed.

"Bold. I like that, but only for a little while. Can't say I make much of your logic, however, so I can only assume that you must be privy to info I am not. Would you care to share?"

"I would not. That knowledge is not for one such as yourself, nor any but a select few. However, you can rest assured that I've forgotten far more than you may ever know in your lifetime."

"Ah, elitists. I hate elitists. Not counting myself, of course, because I know no one else can be on my level. All the same, I can tell you're not alone; I can hear them breathing. Come on out now, the lot of you. Slowly."

"Very well," Black Draco said, as he stepped aside. "I think you may know some of them."

"Really, now?" the Air Pirate replied with some bemusement in his voice.

The group entered, Nytetrayn following Shuri, with Celeste close behind him.

"I believe you know my... you know Nytetrayn here. As I understand it, he has some unresolved issues with you."

Creed looked between Nytetrayn and Black Draco's holo-avatar, and noticed some resemblance. "Ah, I see how it is, now. And Kade! It's like a bloody family reunion here, isn't it? Or at least, it will be when I'm done. You've grown taller since the last beating I laid upon you, haven't you? How's about a hug for your old man?"

"Eat shit and die," Fenix replied.

"That's my boy," Creed said, as he pretended to wipe away a tear.

"Asshole," Adam said through clenched teeth.

"Call me all the names you like, but I'm the player who's got the winning hand."

"Oh?" asked Nytetrayn. "Why's that?"

Keeping his gun trained on the group as he walked over to the capsule, Creed stroked it lovingly with his mechanical hand. "Phenomenal, unimaginable power. Yes, I can feel it in my bones. I'll have it all, once the virus I fed into this machine finishes decrypting the access codes. It'll be all mine, to unleash as I please."

"Just think," he continued. "If the distant past beheld such wonders as Reaverbots and refractors, then one can only imagine what kind of secrets, what power came before. Sealed away, waiting for those bold enough to take it!"

"Power that you shall not have," Black Draco said.

"Hmph. You're a real party-pooper, aren't you? I can see where your kid got his attitude. Parenthood's a right pain, isn't it? Tha's why I never bothered sticking around. Though Kade here's the only one who ever made a point of coming looking for me. Lack of good sense must've come from his mother's side."

Fenix seethed at the remark, but the others made sure he didn't make any rash moves.

Black Draco stepped forward. "Back away from the capsule, Creed. You don't know what you're messing with."

"Oh, please. Of course I have no idea what I'm messing with! That's the entire point! It wouldn't be nearly as much fun if I did!"

"What is in that capsule could easily destroy you."

Creed shrugged. "Eh, never did want to live forever."

His eye strayed to Celeste, who slinked behind Nytetrayn slightly. "Well, well, if it isn't Refractor Girl. You slept with her yet, Nyte? That must have been good. Almost as good as Kade's mom, whoever that was."

Nyte's eyes narrowed, while Fenix was practically hissing in rage.

Creed cackled. "There it is! The look, the rage swelling up within you. Pissing you right off, then the dawning realization just as I'm about to gut you... better than sex."

"So, let's get on with it, then!" he said, holstering his plasma caster as he strolled to the other side of the room, his red mechanical eye glowing brightly and mechanical arm crackling with power. "Who's up first? Is it you, Nyte? You're looking far better than the last time I saw you. Let's see how those bones have mended, hmm?"

Nytetrayn looked to Black Draco, who nodded in return as he kept his eyes affixed to Creed.

"Alright," the Digger said, as he stepped away from the group.

Black Draco gestured for the others to move back. Janine clung to Steel, who held her protectively and told her "Don't worry, Nyte won't lose this one."

"Be careful, Nyte," Celeste said.

As he walked forward, Nytetrayn looked back to give her a reassuring smile before turning to face Creed with a determined look.

"Looks like you didn't come prepared this time," said Creed. "Not that it mattered before. I'll make this qui–"

Before he could finish, Nytetrayn reached his right arm skyward, and shouted "DRAGON STORM, ARMOR FORM!"

Nyte then brought his other arm up in front of him as his right arm reached out behind him while he took a half-kneeling stance.

"...the hell?"

Most of Nyte's body, save for his face, was enveloped in a silvery glow as his Digger armor materialized around him. His right arm then transformed into the Nyte-Buster, which immediately converted to Nyte-Saber formation, the blade extending outward from its barrel.

While Black Draco's gaze never flinched from the fight that was about to take place

Black Draco stood cross-armed, his gaze remaining firmly on the fight that was about to take place, even though he could feel a bead of sweat forming as all the other Dragon Knights looked at him.

"Don't look at me," he said, unflinching. "I taught him the trick. The catchphrase, he came up with on his own."

The Knights looked like maybe they didn't quite believe their commander, but let the issue lie for now as they returned their attention back to the fight.

"Prepare yourself!" Nyte shouted as he used his Emergency Acceleration System to dash up on Creed in an instant with his blade leading. Creed was only barely able to get his twin-bladed Shatter Sword up in time to block. The two locked blades, moving back and forth towards each other before breaking and leaping back, with Nyte assuming a battle-ready stance.

"So," SunFlame said, "this is the mook that beat up Nytetrayn, huh? Let's see how this goes..."

Creed unleashed an arc of energy from his mechanical arm at Nytetrayn, who evaded by leaping quickly into the air and came down with a slash of his saber arm, and the two locked up again, this time moving around in a circle as they tried to jockey for position and gain the upper hand.

Black Draco told MoonRazor, "Now, while Creed is busy, investigate that capsule, and find out what's inside. And if you can, stop his virus from doing its work."

"Yes, sir!" the incognito silver Mechadrake said before heading over to the machine.

Nytetrayn broke out of the lock-up, and tried to leg sweep Creed, who backflipped and bounced off his mechanical arm before landing on his feet, albeit slightly off-balance. Nytetrayn switched to Nyte-Buster mode and opened fire at Creed, careful to make sure his shots wouldn't hit any of his friends.

Meanwhile, MoonRazor set to work, doing what he could to find out what was in the capsule, and whether the virus would affect the contents at all. The program was well fragmented, though an only slightly corrupted readme file was also there, which he decided to check out.

Creed crossed his arms, activating the shield generators in them to block Nytetrayn's blasts, before returning fire with a beam of crimson energy from his mechanical arm. Nyte converted his Buster to Nyte-Shield to block the blast before dashing in at Creed again, this time intent on delivering a knuckle sandwich to the Air Pirate.

The file MoonRazor opened appeared to be a warning signed by Magna Centipede. Though the message was scrambled, it did reveal that the capsule contained "something really, really bad," and Magna expressed regret that he had turned "him" into "such a monster".

"Hey, boss dragon," MoonRazor said to his commander. "Might want to take a look at this."

Creed caught Nyte's punch with his right arm, and raised his cybernetic left with an intent to do some nasty damage to Nyte with his claws. Nytetrayn quickly converted his arm back to Nyte-Buster and activated his saber, but Creed grabbed the blade, with energy coursing over his hand as he tried to push the Digger back.

Black Draco went to see what MoonRazor had found, and saw schematics, though they were largely too degraded to be of much use, save for a diagram of a lethal looking blade. The notes further mentioned "upgrades" and being "unable to control his new power". Black Draco got to work with MoonRazor to try to decipher what was in the capsule, and stop it.

When Creed tried to push Nytetrayn back, he found the Digger wasn't budging, forcing him to blink and strain even harder. He would swear that the kid seemed stronger than before.

As Creed's organic eye looked like it was starting to wander, Nyte said "It's the end of the road, Creed. Your evil stops here!"

"Oh, how droll," the pirate retorted. "I may have to change my underpants after that one."

Nytetrayn grabbed Creed's cybernetic arm with his free hand, and used the strength in both arms to throw him across the room. Creed tumbled across the floor where he hit before rolling to his feet, plasma caster in hand, while Nyte dashed after him.

"Maybe you didn't hear me the last time, so I'll say it again: Die!" he said as he pulled the trigger.

Nyte leaped over the shot, hit the wall, and pounced down at Creed from above. Creed tried to counter with a slash of his mechanical claws, but was met with Nyte's own blade.

Creed cursed as he leaped away, now nursing the stump where his unfortunately uncharged hand had been just moments ago. "DAMMIT!"

"GO NYTE!" shouted Katrina, as the Digger resumed pursuit of his enemy.

Using his remaining hand, Creed ripped his cloak away to reveal the micromissile launchers mounted in his shoulders, which opened up and fired.

"Oh, crap," Nyte said before being engulfed in smoke from the missiles' detonation.

"Little punkass..." Creed muttered, as he started to turn away.

"NYTE!" Celeste shouted, ready to head out to him, but an arm that belonged to Shuri stopped her in her tracks. "What...?"

Then Nytetrayn leaped out of the smoke, raining Buster shots down on Creed. "Missed me!"

"What the bloody hell–?!" Creed stammered as he quickly raised the energy shield in his gauntlet to protect himself from the blasts.

Nytetrayn landed facing Creed, who used his good hand to once more bring out his Shatter Sword. "Bring it, boy."

Nytetrayn dashed in at Creed, who tried to stab him on approach, but Nyte ducked and rolled between the pirate's legs, coming up on his feet and jumping up to deliver a drop kick to Creed's back, sending him flying with an anguished yell.

Nyte landed in a crouch and waited for Creed to make his next move, which was to get back to his feet and dash at Nyte, his saber whirling. Nytetrayn activated his Nyte-Saber and charged right back at his opponent.

As this carried on, Black Draco and MoonRazor continued working on the capsule. It looked like they were making progress, up until the screen went black with a laughing skull and crossbones on it.

"Scrap," said MoonRazor. "That's usually not good."

"Indeed," Black Draco concurred.

As Creed attacked with his sword like a Jedi gone mad, Nyte kept up the whole way, matching him blow for blow.

Steel whispered to Janine, "I had no idea he'd become this much stronger."

"I know, right? They're so... fast."

Celeste continued to watch the fight quietly, as amazed as the others.

Nytetrayn locked blades with Creed again, this time kicking in his dash boots to push the pirate back towards the wall. Creed snarled, not having expected the Digger to be able to match him move for move.

"Dammit!" Creed shouted as his back slammed into the wall.

Nytetrayn leaped back from his foe. "Ready to give up yet?"

Creed's arm fell to his side before dropping his saber, only to come back up holding a rather large handgun. "Eat shit and die," he said before firing.

Nyte raised his arms as he fired, and for a split second, a golden spherical shield flashed around him for a split second, deflecting the shot away before disappearing.

"Nice try," Nytetrayn said as he returned fire from his Nyte-Buster, striking Creed square in the chest, causing the pirate to fall to one knee with a grunt.

As this was going on, Black Draco and MoonRazor were still trying to get back into the system. The skull suddenly screamed and used its crossed bones as legs to run off the side of the screen, which then cracked.

After an awkward silence between them, MoonRazor told Black Draco "I'm... not quite sure what that means..."

The capsule began to pulse more rapidly with flashing lights while it let out a squeal of metal scraping against metal, as joints that hadn't budged in millennia at long last moved again.

"...but I'm sure it's not good," MoonRazor added, as the two stepped back cautiously from the capsule.

"Nytetrayn!" Black Draco called out. "You can stop toying with him now. We have more pressing matters at hand."

"Aww..." Nytetrayn said, almost mock-pouting.

Creed's eye widened in disbelief. "You... you were just toying with me the whole time?! This was all just a bloody distraction!"

Nyte just smirked at the pirate.

Once the shock subsided, Creed's expression twisted into a devilish grin. "Clever. I didn't think you had that kind of deceitfulness to you." Calling over to Fenix, he added, "You could take some lessons from your friend here, boy!"

Fenix's eyes glowed, and Nyte didn't look too happy about it, either.

Creed looked over at Celeste, and muttered "Maybe I can still have a consolation prize..." But between his current condition and the angry mob of large, heavily-armed friends around her, he thought better of it.

Instead, he ripped his mechanical arm from its socket, and slammed it into the floor, where it produced enough smoke to obscure him from view.

"Gone," Adam said, after scanning the room with the infrared mode of his glasses.

"Smoke bomb disappearance," Shuri noted. "Impressive."

"Dammit!" Nyte said.

"He must be headed back up to the surface," Fenix said. "In the shape he's in, I bet we can catch him if we hurry!"

"Negative," said Black Draco. "We have more urgent matters here, and if this is what I think it is..."

The capsule's heavily-armored exterior began to warp and give way as something on the inside pounded on it.

"...it's going to take all of us to have any hope of stopping him."

Steel moved Janine behind him, and brought out his Soul Sabre.

Nytetrayn looked to Fenix.

"...alright," Fenix said. "We'll get another chance at Creed, let's just make sure this guy doesn't hurt anyone."

Nytetrayn nodded, and turned his focus back towards the capsule.

After some more pounding, the door of the capsule came flying off, where it hit the opposite wall and left a huge dent before falling to the floor with a deafening thud.

As he tried to peer through the steam emptying out of the capsule, Nyte asked Black Draco "So what's in there, anyway?"

A bestial roar yelled out in anger.

"...Null."

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