A Loyal Mutt

Lost Home

Chi sighed as she entered the place she once considered home. The very first Dark Nebula building. The place was dusty, but aside that, not much has changed.

She had Sirius in one hand and her launcher in the other. She knew this place by heart and went to search all the places she could think of he'd be. She started from the lobby and made her way up as she goes.

It wasn't that long until she reached the top floor, specifically, his old office. Well, he called it an office, but in reality, it was just a huge dining room.

The door behind her closed and a metal wall came down, blocking it off. The lights flickered on and now she could clearly see the android standing on the other side of the room.

It clapped its hands. "Bravo. Bravo, little Chi. I applaud you for coming here on your own!"

She could only sigh. "Doji. I'm getting really tired of just hearing your name."

The metallic man chuckled. "Well, that isn't a very nice thing to say to the one who adopted you, is it?"

"It wasn't adoption, you just wanted another child slave."

"But you never objected, did you? You never cared about what's happening at all, so why are you against me now?" He began to sneer. "Is it because I have your precious Ryuga?"

Her face remained indifferent. "So it really was you. How did you even manage that?"

"That boy became weak after Nemesis! Without his abilities, it was easy to knock him out and drag him here."

"And now he's where?"

"You don't have to know." Doji aimed a launcher at her. "You won't be going anywhere."

Staring at him, she let out a sigh. "I hate unnecessary fighting, but I guess I don't have much of a choice." She took aim as well.

"Still using Beta Sirius, I see. That bey should've been mine, you know. But because I made the mistake of putting you into that chamber, it synchronized with you instead." Then he laughed. "Well, that no longer matters. Not while I have this," He launched. "Phantom Fenrir!"

She followed and the beys met in mid air, creating an explosion.

~~~~~

The rumble could be felt from outside. Ginga, Kenta and the kids had followed the signal to the abandoned building and they all became wary as the shaking got worse.

"Boy, I sure don't miss this place." Kenta sighed.

"It can't be the Garcias again, right?" Ren asked.

Shinobu shook her head. "Not likely. Director Tsubasa already contacted his friends in other countries and the Garcias are out making problems in Europe."

"Well, Julian should have no problem with them." Ginga stated. "But then who's in here? It can't be Doji again, can it?"

"Who knows." Eight sighed. "Let's hurry up and find her. This place looks like it could collapse at any minute."

"The explosions are coming from upstairs." Kite said, pulling out his computer. "But... There's something in the basement too..."

Maru blinked and used her own monitor to scan the area. "He's right! The generators are barely working in the upper floors, but there's a huge energy heading downwards!"

"Then let's split up." Takanosuke suggested. "The thing at the bottom might be something useful to the enemy, so we should destroy it!"

"Good thinking!" Ginga praised. "Then Sakyo, Takanosuke, and Maru, you keep heading up to find the source of the explosions. The rest of us will go down and see whatever's down there. If the energy's that big, we'll need more power to get rid off it."

"But Ginga, will they be okay with just the three of them?" Kenta worried. "There might be traps in here..."

"And they're not used to protecting Maru like me and Shinobu are!" Zyro objected as well.

"No worries, Zyro!" Takanosuke smiled. He picked Maru up easly and had her sit on his shoulders. "Will this do?"

Maru smiled and nodded. She turned to Zyro. "Don't worry about me, Zyro! You know how strong these two are!"

"We'll take care of her, so get going." Sakyo stated.

"Sakyo... Okay. Then she's in your hands!" The larger group ran in first, Kite leading them with his computer.

They found a working elevator pretty quickly and after analyzing further, Kite pressed the button to the lowest floor.

When the doors opened, they found the remains of a laboratory. Computers were lined up with labels indicating what they were related to. There were doors that had labels as well, but in the dark, it was difficult to read. Despite the lack of lighting, they could clearly see some large cables, ones that Kite mentioned giving off energy for his computer to read. They led from all sides to the room at the end of the corridor.

In the center of that room, Ryuga was frozen still, sleeping in his arrangement capsule.

~~~~~

The other three proceeded carefully as they headed up. Maru led them through a series of corners, analyzing every corridor to make sure it was safe.

Hardly any traps appeared. When the blonde asked about it, the pink haired girl assumed the lack of power must have shut them down.

"We're almost there." She said, hardly looking up from the computer. "Just one more turn and-Ah!"

"Whoa!" Takanosuke nearly jumped when a wall suddenly appeared in front of him. His sudden actions nearly made Maru fall off his shoulders.

"So they blocked us off at the last section..." Sakyo muttered putting a hand to the wall. He then took out his launcher. "Stand back, you two."

The two backed away to the previous corridor as the dragon blader launched his bey, destroying the wall. On the other side, many more obstacles stood in their way.

"Hmm..." The red head took a look around. "This looks like it fell from the cieling... It must've just recently happened."

"So the explosions are causing this?" Takanosuke asked.

"We need another way through." Sakyo stated. "If this pile of rubble is destroyed, the entire roof could collapse on us."

Maru nodded as she reopened her monitor. "I'm on it."