text:
In 1996 Josh Clayton-Felt, a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who used to play in the rock group School of Fish, began to record his second solo album for A&M Records.
What began with creativity and excitement soon simmered into frustration, he said at the time. Whenever Mr. Clayton-Felt turned in some of his mellow, classic-sounding rock songs to the label, executives were unsatisfied, saying he lacked a hit. Finally, after going through 22 songs, Mr. Clayton-Felt had an album that A&M was ready to release. He waited. After eight months, the label had still not set a release date.
Then in late 1998 A&M, along with the rest of the music holdings of Polygram, was sold to Seagram and combined with the Universal Records Group. Mr. Clayton-Felt was one of about 250 artists dropped in the merger.
In some respects, that was a relief for him, but the album he had spent so long working on got stuck in the bureaucracy. The label, in typical industry fashion, would not allow Mr. Clayton-Felt to take the music to another label, to buy the album back and release it himself, or even to find an independent label to negotiate for the right to put out the music.Continue reading the main story
At first Mr. Clayton-Felt planned simply to rerecord the songs in the studio, but again Universal wouldn't let him. A clause in his contract prevented him from rerecording the songs for five years. He then considered changing his name, recording the songs live in concert or enlisting other artists to sing them to get them out. (A spokesman for Universal said that the label was willing at the time to negotiate to sell the record to a major label, or for independent release for a limited term only.)
Ultimately Mr. Clayton-Felt decided to rerecord the music anyway. At least that way he could make the album he always wanted to hear without executive meddling, he would own the masters, and maybe Universal could be persuaded to allow him to release it before five years were up. He finished recording it on Dec. 10, 1999, telling friends that it was now, finally, perfect. The next week, he finished mixing it.
A week and a half later, on Dec. 22, Mr. Clayton-Felt was found to have a rare form of cancer. When Universal Records heard about his illness in early January, the company finally relented and gave him and his family control of the album. But it was too late; Mr. Clayton-Felt was in a coma. At 4:45 on the morning of Jan. 19, 2000, he died at age 32.
Afterward his family resolved to see his last musical project through to the end he wanted. ''I wasn't very spiritual like he was,'' said his mother, Marilyn. ''But now I am.''
''He said that his work wasn't finished here,'' she continued. ''So I tried to finish it. Well, finish is too final. I tried to bring it out, bring it to the world. It mattered so much to Josh: if there was one thing he wanted to do, it was to bring his music to fans and others he could bring happiness and peace to.''
For months after Mr. Clayton-Felt's death, his sister, Laura Clayton Baker, and her husband, Steven Baker, an executive at DreamWorks Records, searched for the right label for his music. ''Instead of going to his grave every day and putting flowers on it, Laura gets to wake up every day and be involved with her brother's legacy, which is cool,'' Mr. Baker said.
One day, he said, his bosses suggested just releasing the record on DreamWorks. The label, they said, would take care of pressing and distribution, but Mr. Clayton-Felt's family would be responsible for marketing, promotion and publicity.
In a surprise turn of events, several former employees of A&M who worked with Mr. Clayton-Felt volunteered to take on some of those duties. Meanwhile his mother coordinated 22 fans in different cities who volunteered to help with local promotion. So now, after six years, Mr. Clayton-Felt's labor of love has a final title, ''Spirit Touches Ground'' (named after one of its songs), and a definite release date, Feb. 12.
''There were just constantly frustrations,'' Ms. Baker said, ''waiting for the paperwork, waiting for photographs, getting the artwork done, scheduling. Everything seemed to take so long because he wasn't there to help make the decisions.'' Profits, if any, from the album will be donated to Save the Music, an organization that brings music teachers and instruments to public schools, and to the Nature Conservancy.
With 14 songs, ''Spirit Touches Ground'' serves as a strong, gentle, thoughtful meditation on spirituality, faith, self-realization, universality and the constant conflict between human vanity and the human spirit, some of it touched with Mr. Clayton-Felt's interest in American Indian culture. The songs, crisply produced yet chillingly intimate, are rife with encouragement for people to let go of fear and insecurity and live in a way that's true to themselves, true to other people and true to their destiny, ambition and happiness. In the somewhat prophetic ''Dragonfly,'' he sings:
If you want to get through
To the other side
Let the dragonfly
Come and give you a ride.
Every day you're born
And every night you die.
Other obstacles await this long-beleaguered project. Nancy Stein, a former vice president of special projects and promotions at Warner Brothers, volunteered to help with radio promotion. But a few responses were not quite what she anticipated.
''They're concerned because the artist isn't alive anymore,'' she said. ''They say, 'What's the point?' It's been a big hurdle.''
Yet even that hurdle is not proving insurmountable for ''Spirit Touches Ground.'' Dave Benson, the program director at KFOG-FM in San Francisco, said that he planned to add the record to the lineup of new releases that the station plays on Thursdays.
''For all the wrong reasons that records get put out these days,'' he said, ''it's nice to participate in one that comes out for all the right reasons.''Continue reading the main story


text:
My family stayed two nights at the Renaissance Concourse hotel at the Hartsfield Jackson Airport. We had three rooms for one night coming and going to Puerto Vallarta. The AAA rates were fantastic! $84.00 per room going down and $67.00 per room coming home. Both rates included breakfast.
There is a free shuttle bus to and from the airport. I would recommend only taking the shuttle from the hotel. We waited 20 minutes at the airport for the shuttle to arrive and barely got on because of the number of people waiting. On our return flight we grabbed a taxi van for $12.00 and avoided the wait. The shuttle going to the airport was great. The driver was hysterical!
Breakfast was the usual Marriott buffet and very nice. We had dinner at the bar and room service both were great. The only issue was that I was over charged $11.00 by the bar. The nice woman at the front desk corrected the charge the following morning.
The only issue we had with the rooms was when my daughter and her husband and infant went to their room, there was a strong cigarette smoke odor. My son-in-law went to the desk and they upgraded them to a suite. Very nice.
There was a fraternity convention going on the weekend we were on our return. They were pretty loud and woke us up at 2:00 a.m. but they quieted down before I needed to complain.
Check out was a breeze and we are already booked to stay here again next February.
- Reservation Options:
- TripAdvisor is proud to partner with Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Hotwire, Travelocity, Priceline, getaroom.com, HotelsClick, HotelQuickly and HRS so you can book your Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Hotel reservations with confidence. We help millions of travelers each month to find the perfect hotel for both vacation and business trips, always with the best discounts and special offers.
- Also Known As:
- Renaissance Concourse Resort
- Renaissance Atlanta
- Atlanta Renaissance

subset: commoncrawl


text:
kelly kelly & maria m
- Size: 640px
- Quality: High
- Size: 7.85 MB 284.04 KB
This Gif entitled kelly kelly & maria m was created from the youtube video 3 years ago. It uses 12 frames per second and is displayed at 640px resolution. This animated image plays for 4 seconds, was built with high quality and an estimated weight of 7.85 MB for download. This animation was originally created from the Kelly Kelly Stinkface Montage video from 00:18 to 00:22.
Flag This GifSend


text:
Arc'teryx Ridgeline Shirt - Long-Sleeve - Men's - $94.95
The Arc'teryx Ridgeline Long-Sleeve Button-Down Shirt will help you keep your cool while you're sitting in the boss's office trying to convince him that you deserve a month off to play in the French Alps. But, all that cool comfy fabric will feel even better when you're photographing pristine lakes just outside of Switzerland. - $94.95


text:
Theory of Production: A Long-Period Analysis
€ 64,49
Lieferbar innert 2 Wochen
Oktober 2004
BeschreibungThis book contains a comprehensive treatment of the theory of production in a long-period framework. The issues dealt with include prices and income distribution, economic growth, joint production, fixed capital, scarce natural resources (both renewable and exhaustible), and heterogeneous labor. The issues are treated analytically; in addition, the book's introduction provides a history of the subject.
Inhaltsverzeichnis1. Free competition and long-period positions; 2. A one-commodity model; 3. Two-commodity models; 4. Models with any number of commodities; 5. Choice of technique; 6. Alternative descriptions of a 'technique'; 7. Fixed capital models; 8. Joint production; 9. Models with jointly utilized machines; 10. Land; 11. Persistent wage and profit rate differentials; 12. On limits to the long-period method; 13. Production as a circular flow and the concept of surplus; 14. The neoclassical theory of distribution and the problem of 'capital'; 15. On some alternative theories of distribution; Mathematical appendix.
Pressestimmen'The Theory of Production is a tour de force that provides a needed authoritative survey of modern competitive theory on technology and prices. It seems a golden mean between mathematical complexities, policy alternatives, and historical geneses. I expect to wear out a copy every two years from extensive use.' Paul A. Samuelson, MIT 'The Theory of Production is a remarkably clear and precise statement of linear economic theory post-Sraffa. The sound analytical work is complemented by substantial historical notes in most chapters and the work is a pleasure to read.' Ivan Steedman, University of Manchester
Untertitel: Revised. Sprache: Englisch.
Verlag: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PR
Erscheinungsdatum: Oktober 2004
Seitenanzahl: 592 Seiten
Format: kartoniert


text: A crisp stripe nicely tempers the sweetness of this flirty dress. Cotton sweater, $85, Splendid Silk dress, $355, Rory Beca Patent leather belt, $7.99 A snug gray vest acts as a unifying staple between contrasting skinny stripes and soft buffalo plaid. Cashmere sweater vest, $177 Cotton-blend turtleneck, $19.50 Wool-blend skirt, $192.50, Adam Ladylike meets tomboyish, with a silky oversize bow and slouchy shorts. Silk blouse, $79 Cotton-blend shorts, $24.50 By keeping the palette subdued, this bold blend of animal print, color-block, and check looks surprisingly low-key. Wool vest, $198, Whitley Kros Silk blouse, $198, BCBG Max Azria Wool blend skirt, $294, Iceberg Patent leather belt, $178 Bright yellow is such a unique choice of hue to connect these fall separates. Wool jacket, $330, Liquid Cotton dress, $278, LaRok A demure skirt is a brilliant counterpoint to such a vivid leopard pattern. Silk top, $208 Polyester-blend skirt, $148, Liquid Swirling paisley and an everyday striped turtleneck have a punchy appeal. Wool dress, $210, A.P.C. Rayon-blend turtleneck, $65, Ella Moss A navy-and-white cardigan layered over a soft feminine blouse conjures just the right blend of nautical and retro. Cotton-blend cardigan, $14.99 Silk blouse, $98, Quiksilver Rayon-blend skirt, $119, Ella Moss A seemingly hand-sketched floral is such a refined, feminine complement to an outdoorsy plaid. Wool-blend cardigan, $248 Cotton shirt, $45, American Living Wool skirt, $164, Liquid Prep school meets Western-in the coolest way-with dark argyle and a red check. Cashmere cardigan, $103.20, Victor by Victor Alfaro Cotton shirt, $19.90, Forever 21 Heritage 1981 Viscose-blend skirt, $188, Trina Turk A textured medley of stripes and cable-knit telegraphs collegiate chic. Cotton-blend turtleneck, $98, Vince Cotton-blend cardigan, $36.99 Wool-blend skirt, $88, Odille Styling these monochromatic patterns together creates a cohesive, sophisticated look. Silk blouse, $110 Cotton-blend miniskirt, $26.50 Photo 1 of 1 Continue Gallery


text:
The First Story of the Night...
She looked at the white and gray cinders at the bottom of the fire and she watched as the flames drew them up and let them float softly down over the campers.
"Cim on ev'rybody, someone's gorra know one story!" the Camp Leader for the Young Persons Writers' Guild poked the fire with a long supple branch, the leaves on the end twigs twisted and burnt as the branch prodded at the burning embers.
"I know a good story," She looked up at the shocked faces of her fellow young writers. She hadn't spoken a word yet at camp. "It's a bit of a scary story. Hope you guys ain't scared of them."
She sat up straighter and started. The leaves rustled behind the group.
Jack was an ordinary boy before he went to camp, jus' an ordinary kid who liked football and playing tricks on his lil'sister. But as I said, that was before he went to camp.
His parents gave him a bag of stuff, games and treats for the usual mischief ordinary boys got up to on camp nights. There were bottles of cola for the spin the bottle games and sweets galore for the midnight feasts.
It was on one of those mignight raids, that this story happens and Jack, no-longer stayed, an ordinary boy.
"This story is real booooorrrrrring - when does the action start?" one of the younger campers was slouching in a bored way and his face diplayed a very 'I'm Bored' expression."
"Shaaad-up an' list'n if ya wanna get ta the action."
"Quiet ev'rybody and let her finish." the Camplleader shushed everyone and the story comtinued.
Jack and the other boys at the camp were all crowded round the dead pile of ash which was the fire just hours before. The Camp leaders were sleeping in the tents only a few minutes away. The girls had just joined in and the boys were reluctant to give them any of their treats.
"I know," Said Jack, "If you wanna have sweets, you gatta play spin tha bottle wiv' us."
The girls giggled and agreed. The ash in the stone circle was pushed away and the glass bottle sat in the middle. The first boy touched then flicked the bottle.
The bottle stopped at one girl, she was pretty, but who was she? No -one knew and no-one cared.
"Well, well, I guess you're first on the bottle, Truth or Dare?"
"Dare." Her voice was darker tan the midnight air and much colder.
"This is a stoooopid lurve story, I wanna tell mine. It's well cooler and less girly."
"Shaaaad-up, I was act'yully list'nin. Whaad happ'nd nex'?"
I'll carry on...
"I dare you to Kiss the boy you think is cutest."
A resounding 'ewwww' came from the other girls but the strange girl carried on with an unfaltering stare toward the boys, almost as if sorting the weaker ones out.
"You" she finally said, pointing to one of the boys in his pyjamas. He looked at her a puckered up.
She leaned forward and planted a kiss on him.
He looked so pale afterward.
The first boy spun the bottled again. It landed once more on the strange girl.
"Truth or Dare?"
"Dare. And this time, give me something challenging."
"Kiss the ugliest."
"Easy" another 'ewww' came from the general direction of the other girls.
The strange girl pondered again, finally just pointing to the boy.
He puckered up.
He too went a ghastly pale.
The two pale boys left the group, complaining of illness, dodgy barbeque food, anything to go away.
The first boy spun the bottle once more.
It landed on the girl again.
"Dare. Something more challenging."
"Nah - ya gatta do a truth naa, it's inna rules."
"Fine then, what do you want to know?" The remaining boys, Jack and one other huddled together with the small group of girls. What did they want to know? What is she scared of, or what is she here for? something that could make her not want to answer. It was finally agreed.
"Whadda you find scary?"
"Nothing, Is that the question?"
"Yea, but ya gatta tella troof, that's inna rules."
"I was telling the truth."
"Not even spiders."
"I have two pet snakes and I feed them spiders, bugs, worms and other dead things."
"That's gross." one of the girls was heard to say.
"The dark?"
"Is it mornig or am I blind?"
"Oh, well, ya gatta be 'fraid a sumpfink, anyfink. errr, ya know like ghosts."
"Why would I be afraid of ghosts, what have they done to me?" She was starting to scare them.
The game carried on in the night until the girl had told them who she fancied whan she was littler, what was the grossest thing she had done, licked a mossy rock and kissed the first boy.
The girls left the clearing and the first boy went away too.
The girl and Jack were left alone with the bottle.
"Go on, spin it."
"Well you might as well ask me truth or dare, it's been me all night."
"Spin it, it could be me."
"Fine then." She spun the bottle and it landed on her.
"What do you want me to do, kiss you like I did the others?"
"What then?"
"Tell me whaad ya doin'ere, ya aren't 'ere forra camp are ya? Ya here jus ta be 'ere, aren't ya?"
"Yes I guess so."
The girl disappeared before Jacks eyes and it was morning.
He pulled the damp leaves off his sleepy face and got up.
It was cold.
His friends were all around him, what were they doing?
"Hey, whaad time isit? It looks like it's waaay past archery."
No-one heard him.
Jack was an ordinary boy, like football and tricks.
He stayed at camp.
"That wasn't that good whaad 'app'nd?"
"He was dead."
"Ya didn't saay 'ow 'e died, it wooda been better if ya'd done that, made it scary."
"It's my turn naa, I'll tell a good'un"
She looked at the floating cinders and felt herself disappear into the background again.


text:
Remember the thing that the NeoBrain researcher says in Custom Robo arena? After you get into the Grudge Battles? He says, "Whenever I work here, I start thinking about the future of the human race. As Custom Robos evolve, man and machine might merge at some level. If that were to happen... the boundary between humans and non-humans could disappear altogether... And I don't think it will take that long to happen, either... Maybe a few hundred years..." Well, this is a story that treats the robos in Custom Robo like humans, essentially. But they're still quite robo-y. I'll also mention "when humans were alive" a few times. I never really planned out how they died off, they just did. So I don't know if I can answer any questions about how it happened. Anyway, just read and enjoy! I put a lot of work into forming the personalities in the robos just the way I thought they'd act... by the way, there's a long description in here about how Custom Robos work, you can easily just skip it if you know it all. It's pretty long, though, so you just have to keep an eye out for they end... once again, just enjoy. :)
As the ladies cleaned Robin off after his 62nd victory in the Dungeon Arena, his opponent rose to her feet. "Hey! That technique is totally cheap! You stun me and go in for a charge? Who the heck do you think you are, trying some fancy move like that?!" she shouted angrily. Robin sighed and looked up from the girls' cloths to his recent opponent. "I think that, being the chief of police, I can use whatever technique I want without any punishment," he mumble, adjusting his Stun Gun absentmindedly. The girls finished and stood up, giving him multiple pecks on the cheek. Advantages and disadvantages, I suppose... Robin thought to himself, wiping off his face and adjusting his helmet. I get cleaned, but they feel the need to kiss me no matter what I tell them. Sheesh. The speakers over the holosseum crackled into life suddenly, and the voice of AIRS (Anti-Insurgent Ray Sky) said, "Alright Robin! Ready for round 63? Or are you gonna back out now?" Robin sighed. "I've told you this EVERY SINGLE ROUND, just keep me in until I 'die' or I finish round 100," he growled. "Sorry, just gotta do it, sometimes people change their minds, right?" AIRS said sheepishly, preparing the next holosseum. "Your next opponent will be the great and mighty Wolfen! Prepare for battle!" The holosseum changed from the standard to the rather dangerous Magma Ruins stage. Robin's opponent, a rather fierce looking black and purple wolf, appeared on the opposite side of the stage. "Hey! Like my holosseum, or does it scare you?" Wolfen teased with a grin. "I've fought more dangerous Illegal robos and fought in holosseums with ACID in them. Sometimes I did both at once. Do you think a little magma scares me?" Robin mumbled angrily. "Hey man, lighten up, I was just kiddin'. I know who you are, so it's not like I thought it would faze you. I mean, MOST people know you, right?" he laughed. "Alrighty then! It is TIME! Get in cube form, and your associates will put you in the Robo Cannon shortly," AIRS said excitedly. Wolfen immediately transformed, but suddenly, a loud BANG resounded through the holosseum. Robin quickly turned toward the noise to see... "Hadron!" he shouted angrily. Hadron snickered and walked towards him. "Don't get any closer! If you do, I'm not stopping at arrest this time!" Robin growled. Hadron froze in his tracks, but still had a snicker on his face. "Robin, now, let's be peaceful here." the Illegal robo said with a grin. "Peaceful?! You just blew up the door to the Dungeon Arena!" Robin retorted. "That's only because they wouldn't let me in. Trust me, I'm a changed man," Hadron said with a bow. Robin glared at him, but let his defenses drop a little. "What do you want?" he snarled. "I merely wanted to make a business proposition. Are you interested? It involves catching a, well, let's say a very DANGEROUS Illegal robo," Hadron said, sitting down to show he had no intention of hurting Robin. Robin's eyebrows raised. "Since when do YOU want to CATCH an illegal robo?" he asked suspiciously. "Because he nearly destroyed the world many years ago," Hadron answered, a knowing smile playing across his lips. "Rahu III..." Robin breathed. Hadron laughed. "Yes, yes, that one. You police are so well informed." "What? What's a Rahu?" asked Wolfen suddenly, popping out of his cube form. "Oh, didn't see you there. Well, I suppose I should explain it, since your precious police force seems to have kept it from you," Hadron said, glancing at Robin (whom gritted his teeth at this). "Rahu III is an extremely... EXTREMELY dangerous Illegal robo... I assume you know what an Illegal robo is?" Wolfen nodded. "Right, but let me explain it anyway, for the reader's sake. An Illegal part is an enhanced, usually modified, version of a normal robo gun, pod, leg, bomb, or robo type. There are many different robo types, and I can assure you almost as many different kinds of illegal robos. Of course, you know about many of them, but there are some you may not know of, so I suppose I should name them. There are the Aerial Beauties, the Big Boys or Funky Big Heads, the Burning Beast..." "That's what I am!" Wolfen cut in excitedly. "...Yes, anyway... there's also Lightning Skys, Little Raiders, Little Sprinters..." "You said the same one twice," Wolfen cut in again. "No, Little RAIDERS and Little SPRINTERS. They're different. Little Raiders are slightly faster but have worse aerial capabilities, and Little Sprinters are slightly slower but have better aerial capabilities. Well... I suppose the aerial part depends on whether or not you like air dashes or continuous jumps," Robin explained. "Oh. Well then uh, go on," Wolfen mumbled. "Right... there's, of course, Metal Grapplers, and the lesser known Misty Mirages. There are Old-Timers, the Ray series..." "Eh? Ray series? I thought they all just belonged to the Shining Fighters," Wolfen said in confusion. "No. Take me, for example!" AIRS's voice said loudly over the speakers. "I'm, well, a MILITARY part of the Ray series, but that doesn't mean I'm not part of it. And I'm a Lightning Sky." "Ah..." Wolfen said quietly. "Correct. And just because you say 'Military' doesn't make it any better than 'Illegal.'" Hadron said with a sneer. AIRS's loud "Hmph" played over the speakers. Hadron chuckled and kept going. "Don't worry, we're almost done here... there are Sassy Stunners, and as you said, Shining Fighters. There are Strike Vanishers, Trick Fliers, Wild Soldiers, and lastly, other such robos that don't apply to any of the types, such as myself and Rahu III. We're just considered too powerful or too different to be classified in any of the groups." Hadron took a deep breath. "Did you understand all that?" he asked. Wolfen nodded quickly. "Good..." Hadron sighed. "But... what do they all do?" Wolfen asked. Hadron's eye began twitching. "You'll find out as you go along..." Robin said quickly, not wanting Hadron to get angry. "Well, okay...". Hadron sighed in relief at this. "But you never told me what Rahu was!" Wolfen exclaimed sadly. "Ah. Right. Well, as I said, there are many types of robos, and many types of ILLEGAL robos. Rahu III is much better than any of those. He falls, as I said, into the category the other, most powerful robos fall into. To name three as an example, that includes me, Hadron, Jameson, and Rahu III. Of course, not ONLY the really good robos fall into this category. There's the Chick Robo, for example, that also falls into this category, and he's undoubtedly the weakest robo that ever lived." "What about the Can Robo?" "Well, at least he can air dash, which is useful. Continuous jumps do almost nothing, especially the weak ones used by Chick. Besides, Can is a Shining Fighter, not an other," Robin muttered. "Exactly. So anyways, back to the point at hand. Rahu III is far more powerful than your other robo, and he nearly destroyed the entire world before. And the worst part is, he's back, alive and kicking." Wolfen gasped (which seemed slightly exaggerated) and Robin grimaced. "And you want to stop him because...?" Robin asked. "Are you kidding? I already told you, I am a reformed robot. I want to stop Rahu from destroying the world again. Of course, you know that his defense rivals that of even Jameson's, so we'll be needing the police's help." As Hadron explained this, a slight smile played upon his lips. "Fu-" Robin started. "HEY HEY HEY, let's keep things appropriate!" AIRS said loudly over the speakers. "...Sorry. Dangit. Okay, I suppose that we can spare a few men to help you with catching him." Hadron smiled widely. "Thank you, Robin. I assume you'll be coming with us?" he asked, taking a slight bow. "No, I have enough to worry about here, what with cleaning up YOUR incident and Ray II Dark trying to restart Greybaum..." "That's what I'm helping with!" Wolfen exclaimed. "...You are? But only police members are supposed to be on the case," Robin said in confusion. "Yep, but Javelin requested I helped out. Said it himself." "Ah, the former head of police. But he's retired, he doesn't exactly have the authority to give orders and get people into business they don't need to be in... ah well, I suppose it can't be avoided in any case. We can use all the men we can get, anyway..." "Then why send any with Hadron?" "Come on, think Wolfen. Rahu destroyed the WORLD before. Well, nearly. I think he takes precedence over Greybaum." "Then... why are you still going after Grey-" "Shuuuut UUUUP! I'M TRYING MY BEST HERE!" Wolfen looked away out of fright. Robin rubbed his temples (or at least, where they would be under his helmet). "Well, we'll give you as many as we can spare... don't get any of 'em killed, hear me, Hadron? If you do, you'll answer to ME. AGAIN. Understand?" Robin redirected his attention to Hadron. "Ah, crystal. I need a max of, oh, let's see... 8. That sounds like a reasonable number, doesn't it?" he responded with a grin. "I told you already, we'll see what we can do. I make NO promises." "Well. Whatever works for you then," Hadron said with a snicker.
Ray 01 was meditating when Robin interrupted him. "You, up. We gotta send you with Hadron." Ray 01 cringed at the interruption, but stood up and adjusted his Scorpion Gun and Smash Bomb. "All right then... but might I ask why?" he asked, looking incredulously at Robin. "Rahu III is apparently back, and Hadron wants to capture him. You're gonna be one of the strongest in the group, so do me a favor and make sure Hadron doesn't do anything funny, all right?" Ray 01 nodded and walked towards the door Robin held open for him. "Of course, if you DO find out he's planning something, you make sure and get 'im first," Robin added. Ray 01 nodded once more and exited his Custom Dojo.
Swift stared at the painting she had made, not sure whether it was kind of good or completely terrible. She could never tell, because in her eyes everything she did was sub-par. "Nice painting," Robin said from behind her, causing her to jump. "R-R-Robin! Oh, hi, I didn't, um, notice you," she stuttered quickly, trying to hide the artwork. Robin laughed. "If I wanted you to notice me, I would have let you. Anyway, I need you to go with Hadron." "...Hadron...?" she asked slowly, unsure whether or not this was a prank. "Yeah, Rahu III is back and-" "Really? Is he coming with us too?" she asked excitedly. She had known Rahu before he disappeared, and nobody believed her claims that they were good friends. "...No, you're going to stop him from destroying the world again." "What?! B-But he didn't last time! I don't want to fight him!" she exclaimed quickly. "Too bad, unless you want another run in with Ray II Dark." Swift cringed at the statement. Last time she ran into Ray II Dark, he had nearly turned her into scrap metal. It was her friend, Violent Boar, that had saved her at the last minute. "Well, I... I don't... but... well, I guess I could possibly convince Rahu to come peacefully..." she mumbled sadly. "Exactly. So go on, join up with Ray 01," Robin said, patting her on the back. She walked slowly towards the exit to her room, looked back at her painting, and sighed. "I messed up the sky..." she breathed. "No you didn't... go on, you don't want to keep your partners waiting," Robin assured her, patting her on the back again and giving her a slight and friendly push out the door.
"Jameson!" Hadron shouted, waking up his colossal ally. "Buh, what, erm, yes sir!" Jameson stuttered, getting up slowly. "We're going after Rahu," Hadron said briefly, re-opening the door he had just come in through. "Really? So you decided to join the police force after all! Good to hear!" Jameson said excitedly. Hadron quickly looked out the door in both directions and shut it again. "No I didn't, you should know better than that," he sneered, causing Jameson to frown. "Oh. Then... why?" Hadron laughed at this. "Why?! Because! Do you know how much better Greybaum would do with HIS power? He's like a better version of me and you combined!" he scoffed, causing Jameson to frown even more. "So it's just for Greybaum... for you," he mumbled. "You seem disappointed that I'm freeing you from your cell to hunt after the greatest power history has ever seen." "I... kind of am. The meals aren't so bad, the bed is comfy, and-" "HURRY UP AND GET THROUGH THAT DOOR OR I'LL TURN YOU INTO SPARE PARTS!" Hadron screamed, cutting him off. Jameson just looked at him distastefully and moved slowly towards the door. "...Move faster! Jump if you need to!" Hadron yelled. "But jumping constantly is hard, and it isn't good for my legs... they'll get dirty," Jameson complained. "You're right, I'm sorry. They'd stay much cleaner if I had them as a TROPHY ON THE MANTLE ABOVE MY FIREPLACE! START JUMPING!" Hadron shouted. Jameson sighed and began jumping the rest of the way.
"Ray?" Robin asked as he opened the door to the she-captain's office. "'Sup, Robin, my man! I was just thinkin' about you!" Ray said, back flipping over her chair using her legs, which had been propped up on her desk. This resulted in the rolling chair she was sitting in to slide out from under her, whiz past Robin, and sail through a window that had been on the other side of the door. "...Oops..." she said. She cringed when she heard a car alarm go off from the street. "...Tell you what. I won't kill you if you move RIGHT NOW to join up with Ray 01 and Swift to meet up with Hadron," Robin growled, looking slowly from the broken glass to Ray. "Okay... but you gotta admit, it was a cool move... if, y'know, you were to take away the chair incident," Ray said with a cheeky grin on her face. "Whatever. Hurry up," Robin mumbled. Ray hurried out the door as Robin sighed and began rubbing his helmet covered temples again.
Ruhiel looked at the many papers on his desk with great sadness. I haven't been in a really good fight in so long... he thought, picking up a pen and getting ready to fill in more blanks. Suddenly, Ray burst into the room. "Ruhiel! Brosef! Big dog! Mr. Cool! Bang chicka wow wow, what is UP?" she said excitedly, doing some awkward handshake with his left hand (mostly by herself, as Ruhiel was clueless as to how it went). "C'mon, I want you to come with me to see er, Ray 01 and Swift." "I can't, I have work to do..." Ruhiel mumbled sadly, glancing the the stack of work. "Uh, but Robin said he wanted you to," she tried quickly. "You just said it was YOU that wanted me to, it has nothing to do with what Robin wants..." "Uh, yeah, but pleeeease? I'll give you a kiiiiiss!" "I'm BUSY, Ray, can't you go bother someone else to go with you?" "Fiiiine. Your loss, though. I heard we were gonna do some MAJOR fighting..." she lied with a wink as she walked out the door. Major fighting? That sounds like fun... more fun than paperwork is, anyway... Ruhiel thought as he watched Ray walk out. Maybe Robin won't mind... he knows how some people get if they don't fight for a long time. Heck, he IS one of those people. "Wait, Ray!" he called down the hall. He thought she was gone once he was out there himself, but she poked her head around the corner. "Yeah? You comin'?" she asked excitedly. He hesitated for a moment before nodding and jogging up to her. "Cool! And I said I'd give you this..." she said just before she kissed him on the cheek (or what would be considered his cheek, since his face was a little more triangular). She grabbed his arm and led him quickly the rest of the way before he could respond to it.
"So this is my team? Impressive..." Hadron mumbled, looking over the five that had been selected to go with him. An excited Ray, an anxious Ruhiel, a nervous Swift, a calm Ray 01, and a rather depressed looking Jameson. "Jameson, stop sulking like that. You'll make us look bad," Hadron ordered. Jameson did absolutely nothing to remedy his current state, which looked like it made Hadron irritated. "Hmm, I see you chose one... wait, Ruhiel, when did you join them?" Robin asked, coming up from behind Hadron. "Oh, uh... I'm sorry, did you want me to do paperwork...?" Ruhiel asked nervously, glancing from Ray to Robin. "Well, you DO have work to do..." Robin said slowly. Ray shook her head, which Ruhiel only saw out of his peripheral vision. "...I... I'm sorry sir, but I'm going with them! I'm tired of papers!" he said quickly, bracing himself for any sort of punishment he may get. "...I suppose you haven't had a good fight in a while, and I guess the one against Rahu will be pretty epic. Fine, I'll let you go. I can just have my girls take over your work, after all," Robin said with a slight smile. Ruhiel quickly bowed and said a quick "thank you." "No problem, I know how antsy some robos get without battling for a long time. I am one, after all," Robin chuckled. "Haha, that was my exact thought earlier!" Ruhiel said, joining into the laughter. How come they get along so well? I wish I had HALF that kind of relationship with Robin, maybe then I wouldn't have to do so much work... Ray thought with a frown. "So we're going to fight Rahu? The third?" she piped up. Robin nodded to her. "You'll be fighting him and taking him here after you arrest him. He'll be going into a maximum security cell in our most high tech base, so we won't have to worry about him escaping," Robin said quickly. "All right! Let's go kick us some big robo butt!" Ray cheered, which made Swift frown. "HOOOOLD IT!" called a voice from behind them. Everyone turned to see Pipit, panting at the doorway to the Police Station. "Pipit? What are you doing here?" Robin asked, eyebrow raised. "You... can't... go after... Rahu... you're dead if you do it with THIS many people!" Pipit panted, making a wide motion to the team. "Well, this is all the men we can spare... how did you hear that we were going to fight Rahu anyway?" Robin asked quickly. "AIRS told me. Anyway, you need more! That's why I brought you some!" Pipit said cheerily, standing out of the way of the door. Metal Ape walked in shortly afterwards. "I know I may not be much help, but I WANT to help you do this," he said quickly, his steely resolve showing in his eyes. "Fine by me, join the crowd," Hadron said with an odd smile, one that someone might think meant he was uncomfortable with Metal Ape. Then another came in. "Javelin?" Robin asked in surprise. "Right. I may be old, but I haven't lost my touch. That's why I'm here to help you beat Rahu," he said, walking over to stand next to Ray 01. "Sir," he said quickly, nodding to Javelin. "Ah, Ray, been a while," he said with a smile. "Actually, we've never met," Ray said with a laugh. Ray 01 and Javelin both stared at her for a second and began talking once more in quieter voices. Ray pouted, disappointed that her joke went unnoticed, as the next one walked in. "Wolfen... honestly, I expected this," Robin said with a smirk. "Yeah. I figure catching someone who could destroy the world is a much better gig than nabbing a couple of stupid Greybums," he said with a grin. "GreyBAUM..." Hadron corrected him. "Hm? Didn't hear ya. Anyway, I'm in." Wolfen quickly took a place next to Jameson. "...Is that all?" Robin asked. "Er..." Pipit quickly looked outside the door and shouted, "HEY!" The team heard a quick gasp outside and heard someone stand up. Violent Boar quickly took his place in the doorway and saluted Pipit. "Not me, them!" Pipit whispered urgently. "Ah, yeah," Violent Boar mumbled, saluting the team at that point. Swift giggled. He's so doofy. That's what I love about him... she thought with a smile. "Try not to blow bubbles on the job again..." Robin joked (Violent Boar used to be on the Police Force, but he was fired by Robin for blowing bubbles while a criminal made off with a woman's purse). "But they're nice..." Violent Boar mumbled sadly, walking over to stand next to Swift. She gave him a quick hug and went back to standing normally, a large grin now taking up most of the lower half of her face. "THAT'S all of them. After all, I can't go, old Gramps needs me up on Mount Zephyr, y'know? I'd LOVE to help, for real, but I just can't do it," Pipit said. Robin nodded. "Anyhoo, I gotta go. He's probably doing something stupid, like making another oversized pot of coffee. Bye now." After saying this, Pipit ran off towards Mt. Zephyr. "Well, guess that's the last of them," Hadron said, looking closely at Metal Ape. He's the one that was on the team of three that defeated Rahu III the first time, wasn't he... I'll have to be careful not to let him know about our plan, he'd blow me away, no matter how old he is, he thought nervously. Robin stared at Metal Ape too, but different thoughts were going through his head. Metal Ape... one of the trio that defeated Rahu a long time ago. He may be old, but I'm guessing that he's still stronger than Jameson or Hadron... I hope he's suspicious about Hadron too. That would make things easier on both me and Ray 01... he thought with a slight smirk. Why are they staring at me? Metal Ape wondered, raising an eyebrow at Robin and Hadron both. Hadron noticed this and stopped staring, glancing over at Swift and Jameson so as to look like he was examining everybody. Robin just kept staring, as he didn't care much whether Metal Ape knew he was or not. "So where would we find Hadron? I'm guessing at the old Amusement Park outside the Dome, right?" Metal Ape asked. "I can see why you'd think that, considering that's where you fought him when you defeated him before..." Hadron said with a fake smirk. Ray and Swift gasped, and everybody turned to look at Metal Ape. He saw Rahu? Maybe he'll believe me that we were friends before... Swift thought hopefully. Hm, he defeated Rahu. Maybe he can help me with Hadron, Jameson wondered. Dude, this guy must be old as heck! Hah! Ray thought absentmindedly. Incredible... was the only word that Ruhiel could think of at that moment. Javelin simply chuckled alongside Ray 01. I wonder if he would think the same way I do about the bubble incident? Violent Boar wondered, as he never seemed to take things seriously. This guy looks like a Burning Beast, but I guess he'd be a Metal Grappler? I think? Wolfen thought, still trying to get his head around all the robo types. "A-Ahem!" Hadron cleared his throat nervously, getting everyone's attention back on him. "But... no, you're incorrect..." he said to Metal Ape. "He's actually inside the Dome itself. Lucky it's abandoned, or else he could hurt a lot of people, but I think that it also makes things more difficult for us. There's no easy or short way to escape from there...". Most of the group glanced at each other in fear, mostly for their own lives. Only Ray 01, Javelin, and Metal Ape remained calm. "Not to say that it won't be easy anyway, there's 9 of us and 1 of him. I think that even though he's one of the strongest robos in history that we should be able to defeat him with ease." "Oh no, don't be so sure," Metal Ape said. "I've seen that Rahu III take down... I'd say the max I saw him take was a squad of 20 highly trained police officers. Single handed. You wouldn't believe the hell that I went through taking him down with just two others. See this?" He turned to reveal a large scar on his back, the size of his large fists put together. "That was from a SINGLE round from his gun. Nearly turned me into scrap metal. Lucky that Glory's a good mechanic, or I wouldn't be here right now." Murmurs began to pass between the team members. Even Javelin and Ray 01 looked a little nervous at this point. "It's nearly impossible to get close to him..." He glanced at Wolfen and his Knuckle Gun. "He has an incredibly high attack rating..." He glanced at Swift, and she looked down at her feet, thinking about her terrible defensive capabilities. "His gun has an incredibly far range and many rounds, capable of dealing huge amounts of damage to big enemies..." He glanced this time at Jameson, who looked down at his own giant and chunky body. "And then there's his aerial capabilities, which are astounding as well. I've tried my best to remedy that situation for this battle..." He looked down at his very own Plus One legs. "This is a battle that should not, under ANY circumstance, be taken lightly. It shouldn't even be taken heavily, that would be a dangerous thing to do. You should take this battle like your lives depend on it... because they do." Everyone began muttering even louder, even Javelin and Ray 01. "Er... but you have me, I'm an incredibly powerful Illegal robo myself. Even in my police file, they call me 'a souped up Illegal robo.' You're also forgetting that he can't target all of us at once, and we're all targeting him," Hadron said to try and make his team less fearful of the coming battle. "He only needs to target one of us. His gun has a special spread feature, it's nearly impossible to avoid. It spreads out in five directions. Of course, if it doesn't, that only means someone was caught with the full blow of the blast... and that that person in probably dead," Metal Ape countered. "But you're right about being a souped up Illegal. Even Rahu III will consider you to be a bit of a threat." "A bit? Don't underestimate me..." Hadron said with a fake smirk, as that remark had ticked him off a lot. "I'm not. But I'm also not underestimating Rahu when I say that. He will only consider you a bit of a threat." Hadron dropped the fake smirk and was now clearly enraged. "Just because that NUT thinks that he's better than everyone doesn't mean it's true! I could've destroyed the world too, I just never TRIED! He thinks that just because he had anger management problems he's better than everyone else! BUT HE'S NOT ANY BETTER THAN ME!" he shouted, much like he shouted to his Greybaum minions on a regular basis. "Then go alone. If he's no better than you, then you don't need a team," Metal Ape said, looking at him in a way in which Hadron could tell he was testing him. "I... he would squash me like a bug..." Hadron growled, unhappy with the way that Metal Ape had made him say that. "Come with me real quick..." Metal Ape said, walking towards the police's training facility. "Hm? Why should I?" Hadron asked, glaring at him. "I want to show you the power that defeated Hadron before. I want to show you that just being Illegal isn't the ticket to victory." Hadron growled and glared at him for saying that. "I'll make you sorry you ever said that..." he said angrily, stomping towards a holosseum table. "My money's on-" Jameson started. Hadron glared at him. "...Hadron..." he lied sheepishly, looking away from the holosseum deck. "Heck, I'm going with the big dude!" Ray cheered. "Which big dude?" Ray 01 chuckled. Metal Ape got into fighting position, as did Hadron, and they were teleported inside the holosseum deck.
Inside of the Robo Cannon, Metal Ape thought about his moves carefully, whereas Hadron could only think about how much this robo was already getting on his nerves. When I show him here that I'm the boss, the others won't think twice about listening to my every word... Hadron thought. Trying to explain Metal Ape's thoughts would be too difficult, as complex mathematical equations for angles, speeds, projections, gun, bomb, and pod positioning, and different advantages of air versus land battles were running through his head. When the Robo Cannon launched, Metal Ape landed on his left arm, which meant his right arm was sticking up, and Hadron landed on the opposite side of the holosseum on his feet, which meant that he could stand straight up and begin the battle. Despite this advantage, before he could air dash his way close enough to effectively hit Metal Ape with anything, Metal Ape was up and air dashed twice out of the way (generally, Metal Grapplers can only do a single air dash, but Metal Ape was equipped with his always handy Plus One legs). As soon as he was done with his second air dash, he fired his Dragon Gun at Hadron, who didn't manage to dodge the round and took roughly 100 damage. Hadron mentally swore and jumped up again, air dashing once more towards Metal Ape. Metal Ape coolly blasted his Smash Bomb overhead and fired his Dragon Gun directly after that. Hadron couldn't turn fast enough, so he accidentally ran straight into the Smash Bomb blast and was hit by the Dragon Gun's round directly afterwards, doing about 190 damage this time. This also took him down, but since Hadron had an incredibly short down time (the amount of time it takes a robo to get up), Metal Ape used this chance to air dash further away from him rather than go for another attack, so Hadron's close range attacks wouldn't hit. Hadron got up and decided that air dashing probably wasn't a good idea, so he ran at Metal Ape and pointed his Hadron Gun (an illegally modified version of the Knuckle Gun, with more rounds, longer range, and different air and ground effects) at him. Metal Ape shot up a Smash Bomb anyway, shot two Satellite Pods into the air, and shot a Dragon Gun round. Hadron got hit in the arm with it, but a hit is a hit, and it knocked him a little into the air, enough to get hit by the Smash Bomb and to have the Satellite Pods go directly for him. This did about 230 damage and got him downed once more, which was Metal Ape's cue to air dash once more to a further distance. Who IS this guy?! He's gotten me down to less than half health and I haven't gotten him once! Hadron thought angrily as he got up again. This time he used a different tactic. Hadron air dashed towards Metal Ape again, but this time fired his Hadron Pod (an illegally modified version of the Wave Pod with longer range and more firepower) and veered to the left. However, Metal Ape didn't dodge in that direction, which made Hadron realize that his plan had been pretty flawed, and instead dodged to the left of the pod shot (since Hadron veered left, he was to the right of it... depending on the angle you think you're watching, this could change, however) and fired his Dragon Gun. This time Hadron was lucky enough to drop below the round before it hit, as his air dash had ended at that time. Metal Ape did a very short hop off the ground and immediately did two air dashes TOWARDS Hadron, which hadn't been expected, and fired his Dragon Gun. In the very tiny amount of time that Hadron had flinched from that shot, Metal Ape had landed and did his charge, doing about 250 damage to Hadron and causing him to down. Metal Ape dashed away again. If I keep this up, I'm going to lose! I have to think of SOMETHING! Hadron thought as he got up. Hadron decided to do an air dash towards Metal Ape, whom fired his Smash Bomb when he saw this. Hadron got hit, but wasn't done then. Hadron landed on the ground, safely behind a wall, and jumped again. Metal Ape, rather than going for another Smash Bomb (which wouldn't have been charged at that point, which was why Hadron was hoping he would have done that) immediately charged (his charge had him go diagonally towards his opponent in the air, effective for aerial opponents), catching Hadron off guard and finishing the battle.
Metal Ape and Hadron appeared outside of the Holosseum Deck again, Metal Ape getting out of battle position and Hadron kneeling in defeat on the ground. "Woo! I knew it!" Ray cheered. "You know, what you said could have applied to either one of them anyway..." Javelin mumbled to her, shaking his head. "So how much damage did he do to you, Metal Ape?" Swift asked. "Well, Hadron? How much damage did you do to me?" Metal Ape asked with a smirk, looking down at the mentally drained Hadron. "Grr... I did lots! Lots of damage!" Hadron growled angrily, looking up in pain at his opponent. "But... Metal Ape doesn't seem to have any mental wear at all, whereas you look like you're in complete PAIN," Jameson pointed out. "Fine! Fine, you know what? I did no damage. None whatsoever. THAT'S the power that defeated Rahu III," Hadron admitted quickly, standing up unsteadily and glaring at Metal Ape. "That's right. And tell me again how you were as good as Rahu." "I already said he'd squash me like a bug! How many more confessions do I need?!" Hadron practically spat as he shouted that. Metal Ape chuckled. "Well, now you all know what we'll need when fighting Rahu III. In fact, we probably don't have what we'd need just to fight Rahu II. Rahu III might still rip us apart," Metal Ape said, turning now to the rest of his teammates. "But... with you on our team, there's no way we can lose!" Ray said excitedly. "Would we stand more of a chance if I used my Amun Part set?" Jameson asked. "I can pitch in with my fly and fry strategy. I still have my Flame Gun," Ruhiel offered. "And I still have all my Titan parts. He'll have a hard time dodging those," Javelin said. "Hm. You all seem so confident. Maybe we CAN do this..." Metal Ape said with a smile. "Hang on! Wait! Hoooold all the phones!" called a strange voice from the front room. It sounded like there was gunfire and shouting going on in that room. The door to the training room burst open, much like the door to the Dungeon Arena had when Hadron made HIS first appearance, and a figure not too unlike Ray 01's or Ray's came to be seen in the smoke, though it was still unidentifiable. "Hadron, Hadron, Hadron. What I just saw was PITIFUL! And you still want to call yourself the leader of Greybaum..." said the voice again. It was obvious that it was coming from the figure in the smoke. Everyone glanced at Hadron, who realized that whoever this was had somehow blown his cover. "What... what are you talking about? I'm a changed man!" he tried nervously, shouting desperately at the shadowy figure. "Tsk tsk tsk! No need to lie to me! We're on the same side!" The foggy figure walked closer to the group, making Metal Ape motion everyone behind him and get in defensive stance. Everyone quickly agreed, as he was obviously the strongest fighter on the team. "Whoa-ho-ho~! I have NO intention of fighting you, my finely fined friend!" Finely fined...? Metal Ape wondered as the man in the dust laughed manically. To Hadron it was clear who this was, just based on the laugh. "What the heck are you doing here, Ray II Dark?" he asked angrily. The laughing paused, but only briefly, and then Ray II Dark began laughing even harder. "PRECIOUS! What do you mean 'what am I doing here?' I'm here because I got bored! You know, you get bored with life, so you go commit a couple crimes, maybe destroy a police station..." he answered nonchalantly, waving the question off. "Greybaum has a thing for committing crimes, I know, but you're just plain NUTS, kiddo," Ray mumbled. "Hm hm hmm. A little missy me telling me what nuts is and what nuts isn't. Hahaaa! Cute! Unfortunately, I'M the only Ray that matters to me. Not you, not any of the rest," Ray II Dark said, waving (once more) the statement off. "Not even Ray Legend?" Ray 01 asked, raising an eyebrow. All of the Ray models (well, in this case, MOST Ray models) considered Ray Legend to be the leader of the Ray models, as he was the first. Ray II Dark began laughing again. "Not even close! That kid's nuts. What a stupid model! That's why he's obsolete, y'know." "You are NOT one to tell people who's nuts and who isn't," Ray mumbled. "Sure I am! You're nuts, you're nuts, you're nuts..." He proceeded to point to all the guys in the group and then laugh hysterically. "Funny. Nuts," Ruhiel mumbled, rolling his eyes. "Ahahaha! Yyyyep! You're ALL NUTS! The ladies, eh, you're more melons. Except you..." he said, pointing to Ray's chest. This caused her to frown, which caused Ray II Dark to laugh even harder (if that was possible at this point). "But... that leaves only me..." Swift thought uncomfortably, and managed to blush even in this strange situation. "Wait... haven't I seen you before? Maybe? Craigslist or Ebay or... something...?" Ray II Dark mumbled, stopping his seemingly incessant laughter to stare questioningly at Swift. Her stance shifted repeatedly in response to his discomforting gaze. "Yeah, we fought once..." she mumbled, looking down at her feet. "Pfft, riiiight! I almost sent you to the dump. How could I forget such a romantic moment?" This caused Violent Boar to frown. "And yoooou're the one that stopped me! Cuuute. Hahaha! Get a room, you freakbags," Ray II Dark chuckled. Violent Boar looked away, wondering what 'get a room' meant, and Swift frowned in discomfort. "Hmm. So you're the old chief of police, eh? Years have been good on you," Ray II Dark said, directing his attention to Javelin. "And they have on you too. What are you... 20s somewhere? You seem more like 4..." Javelin said, his insult causing Ray II Dark to frown briefly. Then it turned more to a frown of indifference and he shrugged. "Eh, what can I say? Chicks dig little kids, and chicks dig me. Same dif, right? Only difference is the context in which 'dig' is used. So yeah, I'spose you're right in a sense," he said, turning around just in time to see Robin running at him. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, sidestepping and firing his Laser Ripple Gun at Robin. The gun basically caused Robin to freeze in place. "Hmm. I guess I'm done here... ciao then! Here is my parting gift to you," Ray II Dark said with a bow, firing his Deva Bomb high into the air. The way it was angled, it was going to hit Robin, who was still paralyzed. Swift gasped as Ray II Dark ran out of the room, laughing hysterically. "Robin!" she exclaimed, running to his side. The bomb was coming down quickly and, while they all would have loved to, the rest of the team couldn't intervene in Swift and Robin's predicament, for it would kill them, too. They just had to run at that point. The bomb started arcing down, and the team watched in terror as Swift tried to shake Robin awake and the bomb came down on them. Or at least, it came close. "SWIFT!" boomed a voice from outside. The team turned to a window just as a large, white, dragon-looking robo crashed in and did a dash for Swift and Robin. "RAHU!" Hadron shouted, running towards the bulky robo. Rahu III paid him no attention at all as he air dashed, grabbed Robin and Swift, and broke through the window on the opposite side. Hadron backed up just in time to get out of the bomb's radius.
Swift watched as the majority of the police station was engulfed in a large green explosion. "Will... will the rest of them be okay?" she asked slowly, seemingly unsurprised (or rather too shocked to notice) that Rahu III had just saved her. "Yeah, they were in a safe spot... they'll be fine," he answered as he looked over his shoulder. Robin finally got out of his paralysis. "Agh! Fu-" he started. Rahu III rapped his helmet before he could finish. "Uh? Oh. Dangit!" Robin said, deciding to use a better word (or at least a more appropriate one). "Not only did Ray II Dark get away, lots of innocent police officers just died... how are we going to stop Greybaum now?!" "Hey, worry about them later. For now, we still have your friends, whom Hadron is probably sweet talking into coming after me even after I SAVED both of you..." Rahu III mumbled, looking at the crumby looking corner of the police station where the team had been standing. "Right... why did you save us? Or at least, why did you save me?" Robin asked, looking from the wrecked police station to Rahu III. "Well, I was going to do one of two things... I was going to tell you the story of how I wasn't evil anymore, and you would either believe it and possibly let me join the police, or you'd call BS and I'd just turn myself in. Better than being out there where everyone's worried about me killing them," he explained. "Well, you can save the explanation for later... for now we should focus. Oh, Swift, by the way..." Robin said, looking to her. She raised an eyebrow in response. "I believe you now. He's not so bad," he said with a smirk, patting Rahu III on the stomach. "Ohh. So you're the power Hadron wants. Fancy," said a voice behind them. "You again..." Swift moaned, turning to see Ray II Dark standing behind Rahu III. "When did you get here?!" Robin asked angrily, getting into a defensive position. Rahu III motioned for him to stop, and Robin reluctantly agreed. "We really don't want to fight right now..." Rahu III tried. Ray II Dark laughed. "Neither do I! Coincidence?!... Yeah, probably," he said with a shrug. "Good to see we understand each other," Rahu III said with a smile. He's still the guy I remember... Swift thought happily, cracking a smile herself. Being able to smile in a time like this... he's so much nicer than everyone thinks. "So why did you want to blow up Robin?" Rahu III asked after a tad bit of silence. "Well, enemies are enemies. And plus he ran at me first, I just counterattacked," he answered, shrugging again. "Hm. Have you ever thought about joining the Police Squad?" Robin asked suddenly. Swift wondered briefly if he was joking, but the look on his face said otherwise. "Hm? The police? Well, I doubt I'd be easily accepted if I did..." Ray II Dark answered, glancing over at the ruined building. "Well... as cruel as this sounds on my part, everyone who could have witnessed that event is... dead." This statement made Ray II Dark laugh manically. "Yep! Did pretty good there, didn't I?" he chuckled. Robin stared in uniform disinterest at him until the laughing ceased. "Tell you what... I won't join the police. I won't stop being a part of Greybaum. But I WILL help you stop Hadron," Ray II Dark said with a strange grin. "What? Why? I mean, thank you for the help, but why anyway?" Rahu III asked in surprise. "You should know, Rahu... wait, maybe not. Nah, you never had any competition, have you? You're the best," Ray II Dark said, followed by more laughter. "Well, it's because I'M the new leader of Greybaum. Hadron says that he's still the leader, and most of the members are inclined to believe that. But Hadron lost. Robin saw to that. He's old news, I'm the new face of Greybaum! I'm their leader! And I'm not letting some old SCRAP METAL get in the way of my leadership! The only reason he controls Greybaum still is because of his influence with it's other leaders." "Hm? Who are the other leaders...?" Robin asked suspiciously. "Well, you know Freya..." Robin had seen Freya once before. They hadn't fought, despite that being Robin's intention. Freya simply walked down the hallway (there were many hallways, and each of the old Greybaum leaders, Katana, Freya, Violent Boar, and Snipe, had blocked the way to Hadron the first time that Robin had stood up to them. This was the first time that he managed to get Hadron, and the second he had stood up to most of the Greybaum leaders), planted a long kiss straight on his lips, and walked out the way Robin had came. He never saw her again, at least since then, and had always wondered why she had done that. As if reading his thoughts, Ray II Dark smirked. "Yeah, I know about it... anyways, there's still Snipe, too." Snipe was undoubtedly the weakest Illegal robo that Robin had ever faced. He was just too clumsy and overconfident. Maybe he had gotten stronger since the last time they had fought, and in that way got influence in Greybaum. "Katana isn't there anymore though, in case you're wondering. He left a while ago. Instead, Majel took his place. Not that you know Majel." He was right, the name didn't strike Robin as anything he would remember. And he figured he would remember an Illegal with that sort of unique name. "And of course, since Violent Boar left us, we've replaced him too. Now Rakansen is with us." Robin had fought Rakansen a few times, and had lost every time. He had only kept his life due to sheer luck. "And of course, there's me, too. Five of us." "Hm? Not Jameson?" Robin asked. "No. Well, at least I don't think so, since he supports Hadron. Some do, and some consider him more of Hadron's bodyguard rather than another leader. After all, five is a perfect number, right? Well... a pretty COMMON number, at least." Robin nodded, as this was true. Even so, he was sure that Jameson still had SOME influence with them. "It's weird, though..." Swift mumbled suddenly. Ray II Dark raised an eyebrow in her direction. "You were acting so normal when you were telling us about them," she explained with a smile. "Well, I have my moments," he said with another laugh, causing her smile to fade quickly. "Okay, you guys stay here... I need to see if they're still over there," Rahu III said, pointing to the remains of the police station. "That was random, but go for it..." Ray II Dark mumbled with a smirk. Rahu III began walking towards the ruins.
Hadron had successfully roped the remaining teammates to work with him, convincing them all that Ray II Dark was sincerely insane (they had all clearly witnessed his hilarity) and that he had no influence with Greybaum whatsoever. Well, Metal Ape wasn't convinced, and Jameson KNEW that it was a lie, but they were the only ones, and Jameson knew he had to listen to him either way. "Everyone..." Javelin said suddenly, causing everyone to go quiet. "Someone is coming..." They all waited anxiously for a moment, when Rahu III walked into sight. "What luck! EVERYONE, DIVE!" Hadron ordered excitedly, getting into battle position. Everyone obeyed. "Geez... I don't even get a chance to talk..." Rahu III mumbled, getting into his position. "One on seven... sheesh." "No..." one of them said suddenly. "Hm?" Hadron asked in a mixture of exasperation and anger. Metal Ape got out of battle position and walked over next to Rahu III. "Two on six," he said, glancing at Rahu III before getting back into battle position. "WHAT?!" Hadron screamed angrily. Jameson gulped and got out of position himself. "No way. Three on five," he said, a mixture of determination, anxiety, and extreme nervousness painting his face as he joined beside Rahu III. Rahu III grinned at Hadron's extreme anger. "JAMESON, YOU TRAITEROUS BLACKHEART! I'LL TAKE YOUR HEAD!" he screamed as the battle finally started.
As it would be too difficult to describe a battle with that many robos in it, we'll skip to the ending. Simply imagine an amazing battle. Rahu III, Metal Ape, and Jameson came out panting as the other five slumped to the ground, unconscious and defeated. "Great work... thanks for your help, you two," Rahu III said, glancing at them both. Metal Ape just nodded, as he was more worn out than the other two, even to speak. He had fought ferociously, and since he wasn't an Illegal, he took more mental energy than the others. Jameson sighed a little. "I wasn't that big of a help, half the time you were saving me..." he mumbled. "But if that Amun Gun and Amun Pod were against ME, I know I'd be frustrated," Rahu III said encouragingly, causing Jameson to smile. "I personally hate the bomb..." Metal Ape got out, causing Jameson and Rahu III to laugh a little. This is a nice change of pace from Hadron insulting me all the time, he thought happily. "Well, if we take Hadron's body to Robin, he'll be happy," Rahu III said after this. "I don't think that's happening," said a voice from behind them. "Great, what NOW?" Rahu III mumbled angrily, turning around. A group of four Illegals was standing behind them. Snipe, Rakansen, Majel, and Freya, Jameson realized. Of course Rakansen was leading them at the moment, as he was the strongest of the four. Next would be Freya, then... Jameson wasn't sure if it would be Majel or Snipe, so he decided they were equal for now. "We'll be taking him. And the rest, of course," he said, looking menacingly at Rahu III. "I could take on the four of you MYSELF, what makes you think you're getting past the THREE of us?" Rahu III growled, getting into a defensive position. "I can't imagine that three on five was especially easy on your brains, and we're fully prepared," Majel said with a smirk on her face. Rahu III growled at her. "Move it fatty, before we blow your stupid tiny head off!" Snipe shouted, his one eye creased in anger and excitement. "Shut up Snipe..." Rakansen mumbled. "Grr... I wouldn't let him go so easily if it weren't for my condition..." Rahu III mumbled, stepping to the side. "Good boy... we'll let you live then. For now," Rakansen said with a smirk, walking past him and picking up Hadron. Snipe went and picked up one, and Majel went and picked up two. Freya rubbed her hand across Rahu III's chest as she walked by, looking back and giving him an oddly attractive smile. He gulped at her behavior, causing her to laugh a little. "I never thought that the power Hadron was afraid of would be so cute..." she said, trying to pick up Wolfen. He was too heavy though, and she wasn't able to. "Aw, poo. He's too heavy for me," she moaned in a way in which they couldn't tell if she was actually sad about it or not. Part of Rahu III wanted to help her, but the other part didn't, as she was the enemy. "Jameson, could you be a dear and help me with this?" she asked suddenly, catching Jameson off guard. He stuttered for a couple seconds before swallowing his fear (for the most part) and saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm not with Greybaum anymore..." Freya seemed surprised at this. "You aren't? I suppose that's why you sided with the hot one..." Rahu III gulped again, and made her giggle once more. "Rakansen..." she called, causing the robo to turn. "What?! Hurry up with that!" he said angrily. She winked and said, simply, the following: "I quit." Jameson, Rahu III, and Metal Ape didn't get why, but this caused Rakansen to growl. "You can't do that! You come with us NOW! THAT'S AN ORDER!" He sounded oddly like Hadron when he screamed commands. Freya winked at him and wrapped her arms around Rahu III's waist. This caused him to gasp and look around awkwardly and in confusion. "God DANGIT FREYA! You're going to regret the day when you crossed Greybaum!" Rakansen stormed past the four and picked up Wolfen, grunting at the weight of both him and Hadron, and joined with the other two and left. "You're... coming with us?" Rahu III asked unsurely. She nodded at him and winked. "You've got to have some sort of extra help... shouldn't it be a pretty lady?" she answered with a smirk. "Speaking of help... where are Robin and Swift?" Metal Ape asked. "Right... come with me," Rahu III said, beginning to walk towards where he had come from.
Despite having to push Jameson to make him move faster, the new team arrived there pretty quickly. Somehow, seeing Freya clinging to Rahu III's arm caused Swift to frown. She didn't think she liked him in THAT way, so she wasn't sure why she did. "Freya? Jameson? Metal Ape? What are you doing here?" Robin asked in surprise. "Some uh, unexpected things happened..." Rahu III mumbled, scratching his head. Freya laughed and winked at Robin, which caused him to jump a little. He wasn't used to girls hitting on him, as he was pretty uptight. The only girl that ever 'hit' on him would be Ray, and that was usually as a joke or to get out of work. Not that it ever worked. Freya walked over to him and began rubbing his chest. "O-Okay, so um, did you find the guys?" he said quickly, moving away from her hands (which were making him uncomfortable). "Yeah. Had to knock 'em out," Metal Ape mumbled. "Yeah, we had to fight them. Lucky these two joined me, or else I might not have made it," Rahu III added. "Yes you would've..." Metal Ape said with a laugh. "I'm out of practice, and those guy's aren't exactly Glory and Milky Way." Rahu III laughed upon hearing him mention the trio that had beat him before. "They'd be surprised to see me now..." he mused. "Anyway, how did Freya find you?" Ray II Dark wondered, causing Jameson to jump (he hadn't known he was there). "I quit..." she repeated with a wink. "Ohh... Greybaum showed up, you liked what you saw, and you disbanded from us?" he confirmed, as if those words explained the entire scenario. "Well... that's an interesting way to do it. I figured you'd do it at some point or another. Better to help me while doing it, right?" He laughed after saying this. "Helping you? Oh, right... you probably want Hadron dead too," Jameson mumbled. "So... we outnumber them now. Seven to five," Robin said with a grin. "Well, they have Greybaum..." Swift said. "Think about it, though. Hadron said he wasn't with Greybaum anymore. That's how he's getting the others to follow him, by making them think he's a good guy, that he's changed. If Greybaum joined them, that'd shatter the illusion that he's a good guy, and the team would leave him. Greybaum might be helping their leader from the shadows, but they'll never outright fight with him for fear it might ruin his plan," Metal Ape said. "You sound like a detective or something," Robin said in surprise. "Reminds me of a certain letter of the alphabet," Ray II Dark said with a laugh. Nobody caught this joke, so his laughter quickly faded into an awkward cough. "But what if one of the others wakes up before Greybaum is done taking them... wherever they're taking them?" Swift asked. This time it was Jameson's turn to be smart. "Well, the way they wake up in real life is about the same as in a battle. Since Hadron gets up in about one third of the time it takes for a normal robo to get up, he'll regain consciousness in a third of the time it takes for everyone else to wake up. In that scenario, he'll have plenty of time to tell the Greybaum leaders his plan, have them drop the team off somewhere safe, and get them out of there." "Wow, you guys are really smart. I'm glad you joined us," Swift said happily, a big smile spreading across her lips. Jameson smiled back. "So where do you think they're going to take them? We can take the four of them, and if we do that, we can capture Hadron and let the others go about their businesses..." Robin stated. Jameson shook his head. "I have no idea... there are a lot of drop off points, but we can't separate because we need to team up against them. So I have a few, but if we aren't lucky, then... we'll miss them," he explained. "Well... how many are there?" Rahu III asked. "Are you feeling up to fighting four... maybe five Illegal robos at once?" Metal Ape asked. "Yeah, I've felt mentally better for a couple minutes now. I can handle them," he responded with a wide grin. "Well... there are 27 of them," Jameson said, causing everyone to groan. "Great, so we basically have a 7.4 percent chance to find them, even if we split up into us and Rahu III..." Robin mumbled, doing the math quickly in his head. "I didn't know you could do math," Swift said in astonishment. "So you thought I was stupid?" Robin said angrily, turning to her. "W-Well no, that's not what I meant... I meant that fast..." Swift stuttered. "Yeah, don't take things so literally, sheesh. Anyway, if we don't hurry up, we'll miss that tiny chance we have! Let's go!" Rahu III said.
After Jameson explained the two most likely places, the two teams (well, the team and Rahu III) split up, but both returned to where they were before, empty handed, an hour later, as planned. "Shoot. They're probably gone by now. Looking for us or something..." Robin mumbled, head hanging in frustration. "Well... maybe they thought that we headed to the Dome?" Swift said to try to help the mood. "Maybe, but they'd probably figure we weren't there yet because of Jameson. So they might be scouting the way there rather than going into the Dome itself..." Rahu III mumbled, causing Jameson to frown. "Sorry..." he said meekly. Rahu III raised an eyebrow at him. "Why...?" he asked. "Because I'm slow." "But... we aren't actually going there, so it doesn't matter that you're slow." "Oh! Right. I forgot." Jameson laughed nervously. "Here's what I think that we should do..." Metal Ape mumbled. "Hm? What is it?" Robin asked. Everyone huddled around him as he explained his plan.
Ray Sky scrubbed at the dishes in his sink in frustration. "This spot won't come off...!" he growled, scrubbing furiously. So furiously that the dish he was scrubbing cracked. He stared at it in disappointment for a second, then got an idea. He threw it behind him and shot his Sniper Gun at it, but he missed (ironically, that gun is supposed to be very accurate) and the plate flew into a window, breaking the plate into lots of pieces and cracking the window. As for the shot, it flew into the chain of a chandelier that had been above a wooden table and broke it, causing the chandelier to fall downward into the table, breaking both. "Aw..." he sighed, moving over to pick up the pieces. But suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" he called. No answer. "Who is it?" he tried again. No answer. "WHO IS IT?!" he shouted. They weren't saying anything. So finally he went over and he opened the door and just as he suspected, it was a... salesman. "...What?" he groaned. "Do you want to buy yourself a Super Cloth?" the salesman asked excitedly. "No." He shut the door on the salesman, turned around, and let out a huff. There was a knock on the door again. He turned around and opened the door for the exact same salesman. "But I never finished! You see-" he started again, just before Ray Sky shut the door once more. "Sheesh..." he mumbled, crossing his arms. There was, once again, a knock on the door. Ray Sky opened it and shouted, "I DON'T WANT ANY OF YOUR DUMBWAHAHA!" as he found himself shouting in the face of Rahu III. "What?" Rahu III asked with a shocked look on his face. "...Hi. What?" Ray Sky asked nervously, a shy grin on his lips. "...We uh... we wanted your help with something..." Rahu III said, just as nervous as Ray Sky due to the outburst when he opened the door. "Oh, uh... what do you need?" Ray Sky's mouth was twitching slightly from the awkward way his facial features had arranged themselves for his surprised look. "You... okay...?" Rahu III asked. "What? No, yeah, no... I'm good," Ray Sky mumbled. Suddenly, an arm appeared from behind Rahu III and tried to shove him out of the way. This only resulted in Robin pushing himself into a wall next to him, as Rahu III was much to heavy for his tiny arm to push. "Oops, sorry. If you wanna talk to him, you should just ask..." Rahu III said, stepping out of the way. Robin mumbled something angrily, too quiet to hear, then cleared his throat and began: "Look, Ray Sky, we need your flying abilities to look for a group of people. You'll be paid $100 for every half hour you're in the air, plus the cost for any gasses you use or whatever. If you agree, we'll tell you who you're looking for, if you don't, then just forget it. Got it?" Ray Sky looked at him incredulously. "Really? Are you being serious? The police is coming to me for help? All right!" Ray Sky cheered. He had passed the Class A license test, joined the Police Force, then accidentally blew up the training room. So he was fired and hadn't had a job anywhere but an oil depot since then. And when he blew that up on accident too, he hadn't had any job whatsoever. "Just try not to blow the sky up..." Robin mumbled. Ray Sky laughed nervously. "So, we need you to find any or all of the following: Hadron, Ray 01, Wolfen, Javelin, Ray, and Ruhiel. Got that?" Ray Sky nodded. "Let's go then!" he said in excitement, shooting his Sniper Gun up to celebrate. He accidentally shot through a light fixture, which ended up exploding and landing on a car driving by, which also caught on fire and exploded soon after that (the driver managed to escape, though). "Sheesh..." Ray Sky said, flinching at the mess he had made.
At the same time, Hadron and the others were getting some help of their own. "Where are we?" Ray asked, looking around at the small house. "We're going to the Underground..." Hadron answered, making sure nobody was around to see them. "The Underground?! That's illegal! And I don't mean the robo way..." Ruhiel exclaimed nervously. "Obviously. But what's better? Meeting up with Rahu III and dying or just breaking a single law and getting some Illegal parts?" Hadron stated, a knowing smirk upon his lips. Everybody muttered quietly, knowing they'd rather get the parts than the death. A hatch opened up next to the ordinary door, and it looked like it went down. Hence the name, 'Underground.' "Welcome to darkness..." Hadron said with a grin, motioning them inside. They went into the hatch and walked down for what seemed like minutes, and then wound up in a large area with two shops and four holosseums. "The shop on the left is just for holosseums, don't mind that..." Hadron said, causing the shopkeeper there to frown. "...what we want are the parts, in the shop on the right." That shopkeeper snickered and motioned them over. They all obeyed. "All right, I already know what I want. Kindjal Gun, Wyvern Bomb, Cerberus Pod, and Phantom Legs," Hadron said. The shopkeeper gave them to him without making him pay. "Great... if you all know what you want, step on up. Fell free to use any of my parts too, I'm not picky," Hadron said with a strange grin. Ray immediately stepped up. "Well, familiar with Illegal parts, are you? Good girl..." Hadron mumbled with a smirk. "All right, Homra Gun, Amun Bomb, Orca Pod, and Cleaver Legs," she said quickly. The shopkeeper was so impressed, he gave her the parts for free too. "How do you know so much about Illegal parts?" asked Hadron, clearly impressed. "Eh, I research these things," she mumbled, equipping the parts. Ruhiel stepped up next. "I want the Wyrm Gun, Hadron Pod, Grand Cross Bomb, and Eclipse Legs," he said. The shopkeeper gave them up, but made him choose a different bomb. He chose the Wyvern Bomb as well. He also had to pay, but only half price, as he was an Illegal himself. Javelin went up next. "I want the Cleaver Gun, the Treble Bomb, the Sling Pod, and the Swallow legs." The shopkeeper was impressed by the customization choice, but still made him pay. Finally, Ray 01 stepped up. "I want the Wave Laser Gun, the Indigo Bomb, the Amun Pod, and Hadron legs." "Good choice... lot's of weak, freezing parts, though. You sure you want that?" the shopkeeper asked. "I figure that if I'm with the team, then I can be a support, and alone I can use the freeze to my advantage and go in for a charge. I'm positive." The shopkeeper shrugged and handed him the parts, and Ray 01 gave him the money he never asked for. Again, the shopkeeper shrugged and put it in the register. "And finally, another robo to add to our team... to help even the odds," Hadron said with another odd grin. He motioned to a sliding door and it opened. "...Where is he?" Hadron asked when nobody was standing behind it. "Oh, hey! Sorry... I didn't know when you'd get here, so I sat down," said a voice from the wall opposite the team. Hadron looked from the door to the corner to see the robo he had wanted sitting in a chair across from them. "Oh... well, Ray Legend, people," he said with a grin. Ray Legend got up and bowed as if he had just finished acting in a play. "Thank you, thank you, too kind..." he said to the silence. "...What? We're really gonna use a busted up obsolete robo like that?" Ray asked, turning to Hadron. She turned back to where Ray Legend had been to find him standing directly in front of her and staring her right in her face. She jumped back and yelped in surprise. "Trust me. I'm old, I'm obsolete, but I'm NOT busted up. And I'm definitely not off my game," he said with a smirk, backing up. "Of course... you wouldn't still be considered the leader of the Ray models if you were that bad," Ray 01 said with a nod. "Yeah, but... he wouldn't be considered obsolete if he were as good as he always was," Ray pointed out, still a little uneasy from his behavior. "Well, YOU try being around for hundreds of years, since when there were still humans, and YOU try being in the best shape of your life," Ray Legend said sarcastically. "He makes a point..." Javelin mumbled. Meh. First Robin and now this joker... I'm always surrounded by people I don't like, Ray thought.
As Ray Sky flew overhead, he didn't look at the ground, but at the sky around him. He always felt good when he flew. The wind blowing against him, his body feeling lighter than a feather... he savored every second. Suddenly, a voice crackled into his headset: "Sky, you seen any of them yet?" Robin asked through a microphone. "Wha, oh, uh, mhm! I mean, no," Ray Sky stuttered quickly, snapping out of his trance. He could hear Robin sigh on the other end. "Well, keep your eyes peeled and keep looking... they could be anywhere," he said, hanging up the line. Ray Sky mumbled in distaste (no words in particular, just gibberish) and flew lower to the ground. Suddenly, he saw four purple gunshots headed his way. "WHOA!" he exclaimed, flying out of the way just in time. He popped out a lens on his headset, and, ignoring Robins call ("Sky, you all right?"), zoomed in on what had shot at him. He saw a robo that everyone knew as a powerful influence in Greybaum, Rakansen, pointing a Wyrm Gun at him. Ray Sky pulled out his Sniper Gun and pointed it towards him, but had to barrel roll out of the way of another round, as this time it was a single quick round that couldn't be dodged by simply flying ahead. Rakansen had done a small jump to perform this action, as that was how the Wyrm Gun shot in the air. Ray Sky aimed his Sniper Gun once more and fired, but Rakansen suddenly disappeared. A stealth dodge... Ray Sky thought, being vigilant of the air around him. Sure enough, Rakansen appeared in the air, next to Ray Sky, pointing his ARS-B02 bomb at him (a military part that acted as a Direct Bomb with more, faster rounds). Ray Sky changed out of flight mode and began dropping towards the ground to avoid the bombs and, using his handy Plus One legs, began flying ahead again after shooting his gun once more at Rakansen. He did another stealth dodge and reappeared back on the ground, firing four Wyrm Gun rounds at him. Since Ray Sky was closer this time, it was harder to dodge them, but he managed. Of course, Robin was shouting loudly at Ray Sky at this point ("God [beep] [beep]! [beep] answer, you [beep]!"), but he was still ignoring him. He began diving down, headfirst, towards Rakansen, knowing that he couldn't do any more air dashes and he would be lucky to dodge and more of his gun or bomb rounds. He fired his gun, causing Rakansen to do another stealth dodge, but this time he reappeared above Ray Sky, plummeting towards him. Ray Sky turned and shot his Geo Trap bomb, but Rakansen did yet another stealth dodge and reappeared right next to Ray Sky, grabbing hold of his body. Ray Sky struggled, but couldn't break free. He realized what Rakansen was trying to do. He was holding his body upside down so he would land on his head and die rather than land on his feet and live. But that would kill him as well... that can't be what he's doing! Ray Sky thought frantically as they approached the ground. Ray Sky cringed as the ground approached quickly, and felt Rakansen release him. He opened his eyes just to see the ground before he crashed straight into it.
Robin suddenly got only static on his headset. "[beep]! We lost him! He must've run into trouble, I'm heading over to where he was!" he shouted to the others, getting out of his chair and running towards the door. "Wait!" Swift called, but it was too late. Robin's Formula Legs carried him out the door and towards Ray Sky's location before anyone could react faster.
When he arrived, Robin saw Rakansen standing next to Ray Sky's crumpled body. There was no way he would possibly be saved. "Dang! You did this, didn't you?!" Robin shouted furiously to Rakansen. "He would have proven to be a thorn in Hadron's side, so I decided to step in," Rakansen replied with a smirk. "Shut up! You just killed someone! You don't get to make any excuses, any smirks, nothing! You killed him, SO YOU'RE NEXT!" he shouted, getting into a battle position in front of Rakansen. Rakansen stealth dodged behind him and kicked him in the back, causing Robin to fly forward. "Stupid. You think I'm going to fight you in a dumb holosseum? I'm not playing by your rules... when have I ever?" he asked with an evil grin. Robin swore and got up, facing again towards Rakansen. "Robin...!" called someone from a ways away, causing both Robin and Rakansen to see who it was. It was Swift and Metal Ape, both running towards them as fast as they could. Rakansen grinned. "More that I can put down for Hadron... perfect," he mumbled. Swift slowed down a little when she realized that the robo with Robin was Rakansen, but Metal Ape picked her up and kept running towards them. Rakansen grinned and stealth dodged behind Metal Ape, preparing to send a Wyrm Gun round into his back, but he leapt into the air and threw Swift up, shot his Dragon Gun at him (which managed to hit!), twisted back to face Robin, caught Swift once more (she sighed in relief at this) in his left arm, and started running again, shooting his Dragon Gun behind him, relying on it's good homing to target Rakansen and keep him on the move. It worked, and Metal Ape managed to reach Robin before Rakansen could catch up. He set Swift down and they all got into a defensive position, facing Rakansen. Rakansen grinned. "Great... all right then," he said, snapping his fingers. A lot of Greybaum lackeys, about 20, appeared behind the three. "Geez! Not good!" Robin exclaimed, turning from them to Rakansen frantically. "They're just lackeys, I can handle them! Keep Rakansen from shooting me, okay?!" Metal Ape shouted, turning to the group of Greybaums. Luckily, none of them were of the mindset that Rakansen was, and went into Metal Ape's holosseum. Robin and Swift turned toward Rakansen, moving in front of Metal Ape protectively. But Rakansen just fired his gun at them anyway. Robin suddenly realized the mistake they had made. If they dodged, then Metal Ape would get hit, but if they didn't, then they would have to take them, and outside of a holosseum, that would have devastating results. Suddenly, a large shadow appeared over them and Jameson dropped down, taking all the rounds without even flinching. "What the-?!" Robin asked, looking up from where he had come from. He saw Rahu III air dashing away quickly. He must have dropped him off for us... Robin thought, a slight smile forming on his lips. That smile faded when he looked back at Rakansen, who looked angered that his rounds had been blocked so easily. Jameson looked down at Swift and they nodded at each other. Jameson shot his Amun Gun at Rakansen (basically, it's an illegally upgraded cross between the V Laser Gun and Right/Left 5-Way Gun, it fires two wide lasers on the ground and two waves of five rounds straight ahead in the air), and Swift charged directly over the laser and ran at Rakansen. Before he could react, Swift shot him with her Shotgun straight in the chest, knocking him back and doing heavy damage. She ran at him, jumped over his body, and shot him once more before he could get up. He clutched at his chest in agony, as weapons were powered up and robos weakened if there was no holosseum involved. In a holosseum, that attack would have done roughly 275 damage, but if you were to calculate that into damage done outside a holosseum, that would have been about 600 damage. Were Rakansen a Little Raider or Little Sprinter (or any robo with low defense, for that matter), he would have died instantly. Robin ran forward at this point, just as Rakansen got up, jumped, and stealth dodged behind Swift. While he was still in the air, he fired his Wyrm Gun at her. Before it hit her, Robin jumped up and kicked her out of the way, sending them both to opposite sides of the round and having it disappear on the ground. While the kick hurt Swift, it didn't kill her like the round would have, so she didn't mind much and got up quickly. Jameson jumped and fired his Amun Bomb (an illegally upgraded Delta Bomb, it fires a round to both sides and directly at the opponent), followed by three Amun Pod rounds (a unique pod that moves faster when fired from the air), basically trapping Rakansen and causing him to have no choice but to get hit with all three pod rounds. He stood up quickly, as the pods weren't particularly powerful, but then something caught the other three's attention. A loud cry was heard behind Jameson, and everyone turned to see Metal Ape slump to the ground, after taking out all but two of the Greybaum lackeys. Robin swore and Rakansen used the slight confusion to his advantage. He ran at Jameson and jumped onto his back, then front flipped off that over Jameson's head. When he was halfway through the front flip, he fired his gun directly at Jameson's face. While this didn't kill Jameson, one of the sturdiest robos to ever live, it caused him great pain and made him clutch at his face in agony. Rakansen motioned for the two remaining lackeys to come with him, and they ran away before anybody else could do anything. "Dang! They got away..." Robin mumbled. Swift ran over to Jameson and made sure he was okay. Jameson took his hands off his face to let her see the damage. It was a very slight dent, nothing particularly major or threatening. It just meant his already unnoticeable nose was even less pronounced. She let out a sigh of relief. Robin walked over to Metal Ape, who was lying unconscious on the ground. Luckily, none of the lackeys had used Illegal parts. If they had, Metal Ape might be dead at that moment from too much mental stress. Robin looked at the 18 lackeys on the ground. "You still did good..." he mumbled, despite the fact that Metal Ape wasn't able to hear him. "Jameson, carry those lackeys back with us. Swift, help me carry Metal Ape." They both nodded and picked up what they were asked to.
Since Jameson was even more weighed down than usual, it took them a couple hours to get back to the rest of the team. Luckily, they hadn't had to knock out any of the Greybaum lackeys again. Jameson set them all down roughly, and Swift and Robin set Metal Ape down in a bed. "Hey, that's my bed..." Swift realized with a frown. "So... I take it things didn't go so well?" Freya asked curiously. Robin shook his head. "Ray Sky was dead, AND we got ambushed by Greybaum... these guys are what Metal Ape managed to defeat before he was knocked out. The last two and Rakansen got away..." he explained. "Ooh, poor boy... you want something to make you feel better? I could give it to you..." she said with a smile. For once, she wasn't trying to hit on anyone. "Yeah, get me some freakin' sleeping pills. I need a nap, but I don't know if I could do it myself after that..." he mumbled, resting his face in one hand. She nodded and went to the medicine cabinet. He turned to Rahu III. "Thanks for Jameson... if you didn't bring him, any or all of us could have joined Ray Sky..." he said with a forced smile. "I figured he'd be good for you to have. The timing was just lucky." He let out a slight chuckle. "But dang, we lost our eyes in the sky..." Jameson mumbled. "I wonder how they knew he was helping us?" Swift said, putting a hand on her hip. "Well, usually Lightning Sky models don't fly unless they're doing something important or fighting. I guess Rakansen saw him flying around and didn't want to take any chances..." Robin mumbled as Freya handed him a couple of pills. The pills looked like pills humans used, but they had a different effect, as they were electronic and had different effects on parts of a robo, such as it's AI, essentially making them the same thing. Sleep for robos was basically like eating for them, it wasn't necessary, but definitely a luxury that they liked to have. After he quickly swallowed them, he nodded at Jameson and said, "Tie those guys up, will you? I don't want them causing any midnight trouble..." Jameson began looking for some rope or something similar at that point.


text:
You have no items in your shopping cart.
White Ceramic Butter Crock - Bird Lid by Creative Co-Op
Keeping butter fresh is easier and more stylish than ever with Creative Co-Op's adorable Ceramic Butter Crock in classic white. This eye-catching ceramic butter crock features a simplistic pattern of leaves wrapping around the bottom edge, while a delicate bird perches atop the lid.
This ceramic butter crock is 5 inches tall, perfect for storing homemade butters in an elegant fashion. With its beautiful design and natural beauty, you will surely love using Creative Co-Op's White Ceramic Butter Crock every chance you get.
- Ceramic butter crock
- Bird Lid
- White
- Hand wash
- Dimensions: 3.75" x 5"
Questions on Creative Co-Op White Ceramic Butter Crock - Bird Lid (DA1935)
- From Julie at 10/1/16 11:15 PM
- Does this butter keeper allow for the traditional submersion in water to hep seal the butter?
- Hello Julie,
Thank you for you interest in the Creative Co-Op White Ceramic Butter Crock - Bird Lid (DA1935), this particular butter crock doesn't require water to seal & keep butter fresh.
Hope this helps to answer you question, have a good day!
Everything Kitchens
- Do you find this question helpful? Yes No
Ask Your Own Question
- From Julie at 10/1/16 11:15 PM
- Reviews
Customer ReviewsNo reviews have been found
- Additional Information
Description Author Lindsey P Name Creative Co-Op White Ceramic Butter Crock - Bird Lid GTIIN / UPC Code 807472630069 Brands Creative Co-Op Type Butter Crocks Home or Commercial Home Material Ceramic Color White Size 5" Quantity Included 1 Manufacturer's Warranty N/A Country of Manufacture China Shape Round Weight (in Lbs) 0.9