It’s been almost an hour since we left to search for Rockmond and his group but it felt weren’t getting anywhere. Me and Ruby were able to find some water that Yang chugged at happily much to Mother’s enjoyment. Mother had given us canteens to store some water for later, which we thanked happily for.

Now we stood atop a cliff that overlooked a dried up riverbed, the dirt cracked from the lack of water. From where we stood we were able to see the jagged rocks from afar, though I couldn’t help but groan at the distance between us and the rocks. My groaning was cut off by loud growl behind us and when we turned to face the source of the growl, Me, Ruby and Yang stared at it in horror while Mother looked up at it. A large and heavily scarred Rex loomed over us, nostrils flaring angrily as it stared us down.

“Ruby… is this your Rex?” Yang asked her sister as Ruby stared up at the T-Rex. The Rex then roared at us before preparing to chomp us only to be bashed to the side by another Rex, this one wearing Tek looking armor. It roared at the scarred Rex before bashing it away once again before shaking his head, the sounds of cocking guns soon followed. From the side of its head, two gun turrets formed and fired plasma balls at the other Rex. Now hurt and outmatched, the scarred Rex ran off in fear.

The Armored rex roared victoriously before turning around to face us while the guns turrets deactivated. It looked at Ruby before bending its head in front of her, a non threatening growl emitted from the armored Rex before nudging Ruby. Ruby smiled happily and hugged the armored Rex.

“This one is!” she said happily as the Rex growled happily. Yang slowly turned to me wide-eyed.

“An armored, T-Rex…” she said. I simply shrugged.

“Ruby likes dinos.” I said to her.

“Right…” Yang said as she pulled Mavis closer to her. “I like Dovahs more.” This earned her an amused giggle from Mother. There was another growl as we all see Ruby on the T-Rex.

“Anyone wants a lift?” Ruby asked us. Seeing this as an excuse to not walk, I hopped on. Yang follows me and climbs on. As she got on she offered a hand to Mother.

“Need a hand?” she asked. Mother smiled before taking the hand and being helped up onto the Rex before sitting behind Yang. She then wrapped her arms around Yang and resting her head on Yang’s shoulder. With everyone on Ruby motions the Rex forward and soon we were making good time through the desert. We made our way towards the jagged rocks, passing by the many Rex’s that dared not to interfere. We finally made to the jagged rocks and saw the large rocky mountain that Lana had told us about before going around it, stopping to fight a giant hostile scorpion that, thanks to the Rex, was taken out with ease.

“Now, the dunes should be… here.” I said, laying my eyes on the seemingly endless ocean of sand. “Oh… That’s not good.”

“Good thing we have these clothe.” Yang said as she looks up at the sun. “We would have a bad case of heat stroke and sunburned…” she looked at Mavis for a moment. “Question; do you get sunburnt? Or a tan at all?”

“Only when I want to.” Was Mother’s answer. I noticed a mound of sand moving in the distance.

“Umm, what was that?” Ruby asked, seeing what I’m seeing.

“Okay, you have to teach me how to do that! The stuff you can do is really cool.” Yang said, making Mother giggle as I looked at the two of them.

“Um, focus please?” I asked them as I nodded to the dunes. “I think there’s something under the sand, moving.” Mother looked over to dunes but saw nothing, the mound of moving sand having disappeared.

“Hmm.” She hummed before we began moving into the dunes, surprising everyone but Mother. The Rex having decided to not stand around much longer and headed into dunes. Not knowing how to react to this, we simply let the Rex do its thing as it carried us along.

Before long I noticed that I can guess is a makeshift camp. I pointed this out to the others which they now see. The Rex stopped beside the campsite and lowered its head, allowing us to hop off safely.

“Allow me, my lady.” Yang said with a smile before offering a hand to Mother. Mother grabbed Yang’s hand before climbing down the Rex, being sure not to harm it as she did.

“Thank you, love.” Mother said, giving Yang kiss on the cheek as a reward. Yang smiled at this.

“Anything for you.” she told her. Ruby and I looked around at the makeshift camp. It didn’t look abandoned,judging by the still burning pot of stew, which was a good sign.

“Was this their camp?” Ruby asked. I shrugged as I looked around the camp, maybe I could find something.

“Hey look what I found!” Ruby exclaimed as she turned to us, revealing a Tek rifle in her hands. It hummed to life upon Ruby’s touch.

“That could be one of theirs, so that’s good.” I said wait a smile. Yang got closer to Ruby and asked for it. Ruby nodded as she handed it to her. Yang got a closer look at the Tek gun.

“This look cool.” she said before showing it to Mavis. “What do you think?”

“I will admit the design intrigues me but a weapon such as this in the wrong hands could be… disastrous.” She said, looking at the weapon with a frown.

“That’s...true.” Yang said as she looked at the gun. She handed the Tek rifle back to Ruby. She looked up at her sister with a odd look. “If your friends are still around they would want this back.”

Ruby nodded as she put the rifle down and went back to look around. I stared at Yang for a second as she was deep in thought. Mother worried that she might have upset her.

“You okay?” I asked Yang. Yang blinked a few times as if she was just snapped out of a trance.

“Huh? Oh, I’m fine, just thinking.” she said as her hand reached to Mother’s own. As Yang took hold of her hand it looked like she was holding her hand for support, Yangs expression softens at this a bit.

“Whatever troubles you, know that I am here for you.” Mother said to her in a loving and comforting tone.

“Thank you…” Yang said softly. I slowly back away from them, feeling like they need a moment alone. I spent the next while looking for tracks of any kind that aren’t ours.

As I looked around I noticed some shadows peering over the dune. I turned and, to my joy, one of the twins. I looked at her before yelling. “Which Twin are you again?!”

“Heaven!” The twin said before running up to me and giving an almost bone-crushing hug. “You’re here! How?” She asked pulling away from the hug.

“I have my ways.” I answered right before Ruby attacked Heaven in a hug.

“Heaven!!!” Ruby said happily as she hugged the twin.

“Ruby!” She exclaimed happily as well, returning the hug happily.

“What’s going on here!?” A familiar voice yelled as they appeared from the other side of the sand hill. It was Rockford sporting a desert cloth shirt and pants, his robotic legs still visible.

“Hey Rockmond!” I called out to him as I waved. Rockmond noticed me and smiled upon seeing me wave at him.

“Viri, Ruby… didn’t expect to see you two in a place like this.” Rockmond said as he slid down the mound of sand.

“I believe I have an odd habit of simply showing up.” I nodded to Ruby as she let Heaven go. “One my girlfriend is slowly getting.” Rockmond raised a brow at this and glanced at Ruby before looking back at me.

“So you’ve finally told her?” He asked with a smirk. I chuckled at this.

“Yeah… yeah I told her and she kissed me.” I explained. He patted my shoulder with a chuckle as he walked by me.

“Congrats, Viri.” He said before noticing Mother and Yang. “Friends of yours?” He asked me.

“Yes, this is Mavisath and Yang.” I introduce them both. Oddly Yang gave him a small bow to him alongside Mother.

“Hey there.” Yang greeted.

“Greetings.” Mother greeted as they both straightened up. Rockmond bowed in return, not wanting to be rude.

“Greeting to you two, what brings you here to this wretched desert?” He asked all of us.

“We came to help Lana and the rest of you with dealing with the beast.” I told him. “She sent us out to find you guys, maybe mostly so we can see each other again.”

“Ah yes, well I’ll be sure thank her when we get back.” He said as put out the fire that heated the pot. “We haven’t been able to find much of anything out here beside centipedes and mantis.” He said.

“I see.” I said to him. I looked around before continuing. “Where are the other two?” Just as I said this, Ed came into view with Navaeh following behind him. They both slid down the hill of sand. I smiled at the two of them until there was a fifth being. This one looked like they were wearing Tek armor but it was...different. They wore some kind hooded short cape that were the same colour of the desert clothing.

“Hey, who’s that?” I asked. Rockmond saw them and said.

“Oh her, she says her name is Rose.” He said just as Ed and Navaeh stood beside us.

“Wow, didn’t think I’d see you two again.” Navaeh said before pulling me and Ruby into a hug. “I’m glad I was wrong.”

“Good to see you Navaeh.” I said as I hugged her back. We pulled away and I reintroduced the rest of them to Yang and Mother. The woman, Rose, stayed up top for a bit as she looked around at the place. Was she keeping watch?

“So not to be rude or anything but are you two a thing?” Ed asked Yang and Mother, gaining an angered look from Yang. Edward quickly raised his hands and said. “No need to get angry! I was just curious, you two seem awfully close to one another.” He quickly said.

“To answer your question, yes we are.” Yang said before glancing to Mavis a bit before stepping back a bit. This made me tilt my head a bit as Yang seemed to get angry much easier than before. Maybe I should ask Mother that later.

“Again, sorry I really didn’t mean to sound rude.” Ed apologized once again before moving away, every so often making sure Yang doesn’t charge at him.

I turned away from them to see Rose still standing over head holding something in her hand. As soon as I saw it it disappeared before looking off somewhere. I stare at her before looking at Mother who now saw me. I nodded for us to talk a little away from the others as I made my way away from the group as Ruby asked the four questions.

I waited until Mother came over to me.

“Is something the matter, dear?” She asked as she walked over to me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you and Yang okay? I couldn’t help but see Yang getting… angry more often.” I asked her concerned over Yang. “Is she going through something Dovahish that I don’t know about?” This made her chuckle a bit.

“No no, there’s no ’Dovahish’ thing she’s going through, though she is acting like a young one… but I believe she’s scared of losing control and everything she worked so hard for.” she explained. As she said that her expression turned to worry and sadness as she glanced back to Yang as she talked to the others.

“I see…” I said. We stood there for a moment until I spoke again. “You think she’ll be alright?” Mother looked at Yang with a concerned gaze before looking back at me.

“It will be in time.” Was her answer as she closed her eyes with a deep sigh.

“Maybe you two need to talk about it, clear it up between yourselves.” I told her, remembering some close calls that could lead to Ruby and I fighting for a long time.

“I will.” Mother said with a nod. The two of us returned and I saw the woman slid down to us.

“Hi hello, sorry that I didn’t come to say hello to you all but old habits, so yeah I’m Rose, not around these parts as you can see, but uh… what are we doing?” Rose asked. From the sound of her she sounds like the same age as me and Yang back home I have this odd feeling about her. So much that it feels like she doesn’t belong here… At all. I looked over at Mother and saw that she has that same feeling.

“You feel it too?” I whisper to her. Mother nodded knowingly, glancing at Rose as she did.

“Yes, she is one of those individuals. The ones they call the displaced.” Mother said in an informative tone.

“Oh.” I said as I saw Rose look at Rockmond.

“If you don’t mind but uh… We should go. Now. There are...what were they called again?” she asked to no one as everyone stared at her. “Right okay, some kind of giant worm thing in the sand. I don’t like worms so I think we should go.” As she said this, a large mound sand moved headed towards us, Mother saw this and waved her hand at it, causing it to turn away and leaving us be.

“Umm, what was that?” Ruby asked as she watched the mound of sand moved away from us.

“Giant Worm… that turned away.” Rose said. She seemed to look around at us as I saw her hand at her side, as if she was going to grab something. Yang had her weapons out but simply watch it go.

“Uhh, yeah! Run away you… sand...worm… Thing!” she said to sound tough. Mother giggled a bit, gaining a blush from Yang as a result.

“I will repel these creatures for the duration of your expedition.” Mother said, looking at Rockmond. The latter nodded, appreciating this.

“So what’s the plan boss?” I asked Rockmond. Ruby stood beside me and stand at attention as Rockmond stared at us.

“On the way back here we spotted some ruins just over this hill, crawling with Mantises. It seems like a good place to find an Artifact, if there is one that is.” Rockmond said with a little shrug before saying. “This place is odd in more ways than I can count, who knows if there even are Artifacts.” He said.

“There could be loot!” Rose said to which we all stared at her. “What, you never know.”

“Anyway… we go to these ruins?” I asked, ignoring what Rose said.

“I’m up for anything as long we got out the sun.” Rockmond said, gaining a few nods of agreement from Ed and the twins.

“Ruins it is, it get us out of the sun and if we need to set up camp it will make it easier.” I said as I looked back at Ruby’s Armored Rex. Everyone went over and climb up on the T-Rex, which didn’t seemed to bothered by it as again Yang helped Mavis up again.

“Are you coming up?” Ruby asked Rose.

“As much I would love to say to a certain someone that I rode on an armored T-Rex I have my own thing to get around.” She said. Mother looked at her with a curious glance as she wrapped her arms around Yang. Yang was still blushing at this but smiling happily.

Ruby soon motioned for the Rex to move forward and headed where Rockmond told her about. After getting out of the camp and rode for a few moments I heard an odd sound behind us. I looked back to see Rose zoom out on some sort of hovering bike. She came up towards us and kept in line with us. We spent the next while riding the armored Rex with Rose nearby until we found the ruins. We also saw the sun slowly started to set towards the horizon.

“We’ll set up camp inside.” Rockmond said, earning a nod from both Navaeh and Edward before they both drew their swords and hopped off the Rex. With smirks on their faces, they sprinted towards the horde of giant Mantises before cutting them down. Heaven pulled out the rifle on her back, a long sniper like Tek Gun before providing cover fire for the other two. As quickly as we came, they had quickly dispatched any and nearby predators.

We entered what appeared to be a gathering hall, half buried underneath all the sand. Rockmond and Heaven were busy making the camp, creating a campfire in case it’ll get cold and somehow making sleeping bags for all of us.

“Hey I found something you might want to check out, boss!” Yelled Edward from across the room, gaining the other man’s attention. I looked at Edward, hopping to see what he found but was unable to from my position.

“Looks like there’s more to this place than we thought.” Said Rockmond after seeing Edward’s discovery. Letting curiosity get the best of me, I walked over to them and soon was able to see a half boarded up doorway down a set sand flooded stairs.

“What do you think is down there?” I asked them.

“Cave.” They both said with smirks, clearly excited to go spelunking.

“So...tomorrow we go spelunking?” I asked with a smile. They both nodded before moving back to the camp with me following behind. As I headed back, I noticed Yang and Mother off to the side by themselves. I watch them talk for a minute before moving a bit away so no one could see them. Arching a brow I went over to find Rose sitting by the fire, poking at it. Before I could say anything I saw her pull her hood off and unclasped her helmet. As she pulled it off I saw that, by far, looks completely different from anyone. Her skin was a pale white colour with a small bluish tinge to it. Her hair a dark blue colour with some green in it while her eye were a glowing blue colour. She glanced at me and tilted her head.

“What?” she asked. “You know it’s rude to stare.”

“Um, sorry, just you look so…”

“Different?” she asked before giving me a once over. “You have fox ears and tail.”

I didn’t say anything as I sat down. The firelight seem to cast a different glow to Roses eyes as she stared at it. Before long Rockmond and Edward came back and saw Rose without her helmet. Rose looked at them before sighing. “This might be something I need to get used to…”

The next few minutes for me were spent letting my mind wander as I saw Ruby make some pillows for us. I looked back at were Yang and Mother went off to. I stood up and walked over where they went in hopes that I could find them.

“Hey, you two around here? Is everything al- oh.” I stopped to see the two of them… having a very intimate moment with each other. I pulled back as they pulled away from each other. I hope they didn’t see me.

“Viri, we know you’re there.” Mother called out. I jumped a bit at this. Of course she would have seen me. I walked back out to face them.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to walk into that.” I said with a little blush. With an arched brow Mother asked.

“Why did you follow us out here for?” She asked, holding Yang close as she did.

“Just seeing if you two were alright.” I said, crossing my arms. “I’m allowed to worry about people.”

“Yes but peeping on them while they’re in a passionate moment with their love one is another thing.” Mother said while crossing her arms. I shrank a bit as I felt like I wasn’t going to win.

“Sorry… I’ll leave the two of you…” I said before turning to leave the two of them alone. I walked back into the room where no one seemed to notice that I left. I headed over to where Ruby is and sat down on the sleeping bag.

“Hey… you okay-ack!” she said as I pulled Ruby into a hug as I laid down. “You… okay?”

“Shut it, I need a Ruby to cuddle.” I told her.

“... Can do!” Ruby said as we laid there for a bit until I had to let her go for food. Who new roasted mantis taste good! Rose was busy telling tales of her own adventures that were very out there.

“You see, then this giant Space turtle came at me and tried to crush me into the wall! Luckily I was nimble enough to simply roll to the side as he crashed into the wall. Brought the whole building on top of him.” Rose said.

“So that killed it?” Ed asked her. Rose thought about it and shook her head.

“No, simply pissed it off before it tried again. How it died is a funny story…” she continued on well after the rest came back. Yang, Mavis, and the other two were surprised by the appearance of Rose, who simply ignored them. As we at we soon went to get some sleep.

Yang had dragged her sleeping bag closer to Mother, much to Mother’s surprise but she didn’t complain and laid there comfortably with Yang. The latter sleeping while Mother simply rested.

I laid in my bag as Ruby… well she was already passed out in hers, muttering about cookies. I glanced over and saw Rose sitting near the now low burning fire.

“You going to sleep?” I asked. She glanced up at me for a moment.

“In a bit. Need to be by myself right now.” she said as she simply stared at the fire. I nodded as I turned myself around in the sleeping bag. It wasn’t long before I fell asleep.

Morning came by really quick, having slept soundly last night. When I woke up with my arms around Ruby as she snored happily in her sleep. I looked around to see that I was the first to get up. I turned to see Mavis and Yang still sleeping, I also saw Yang had her arms around Mavis with dried tears on her face. She must’ve had another nightmare.

Not wanting to wake them just yet I slowly pushed Ruby off me and stood up. I saw the sun beaming in from some holes in the walls and windows that were still in one piece.

Rose was off sitting against the wall. She has her helmet on and not moving. I could only guess that she was asleep. I looked over to check Rockmond and Ed only to see that both sleeping bags were empty and their weapons were gone.

“They went off spelunking… without me!” I said annoyed. Being the adventurous spirit that I am, knowing that two friends have gone out cave exploring without me greatly annoyed me. I marched up to the supposed cave entrance only find them both sitting there with weapons in hand, they didn’t go spelunking… They were just guarding the entrance in case anything goes out.

A part of me sighed in relief upon sight of them, knowing that we can all still go explore together as a group. Another part of me wondered why they set up guard there.

“You two okay there?” I called out at them.

They opened their eyes and aimed their weapons at me before realizing that it was me. With a sigh Rockmond lowered his weapon while Ed looked down the entrance.

“You’re up early.” Rockmond said, placing down his rifle. He yawned a bit before adding. “So what’s up?” He asked.

“Thought you two went off exploring without me.” I told them as I got closer. This got a tired chuckle from him before he said.

“Nah, we go in as a group.” Rockmond said between chuckles before shaking his head and adding. “We heard some noises coming from inside the cave, figured we should keep guard in case something crawls out.” He said.

I nodded as I went over and sat down near them. “What do you two think is down there?”

“We’re not sure, though its safe to say it ain’t going to be nice.” Edward said, finally lowering his rifle. “I have a question for you, regarding your blonde friend. I know I have no right to ask but my weakness is curiosity.” He said before I nodded for him to continue on. “Is something troubling her? Any form of trauma? I noticed her crying in her sleep but thankfully her lover comforted her and calmed her down.” He said. I took a moment to think of a response.

“It’s… sorta of PTSD, it has something to do with her arm. The rest is something personal.” I told him. He nodded, accepting the answer.

“So she’s afraid of losing something.” Rockmond guessed, glancing at me with an arched brow. I nodded at him.

“Yeah, if you ask her she will maybe tell you about her arm. But know she’ll do anything to protect her family and friends.” I told them. They both nodded at this.

“What about the other one, Mavis, what’s her story?” Edward asked, leaning back onto the sandy steps behind him as he spoke. “Blondie seemed a little too clingy.” He said, referring to how Yang went on the defensive yesterday when asked if Mavis and her were an item.

“Well for one, wouldn’t you be if you lost something as close as your own arm?” I asked Ed. Edward glanced at Rockmond, gaining a frown from the prosthetic legged man.

“I’ve dealt with my loss after having gone through a deep depression.” Rockmond said before looking at me and saying. “The day I lost Lana and that monster took her place, that moment in my life was more painful than having my lower half ripped off.” He said, knocking on his metallic thigh.

“Was it really that bad?” I asked him, to which he nodded.

“It was.” He said. The three of us were silent before someone spoke up.

“Hey you three?” Rose greeted without her helmet. “What are we talking about?”

“The lovely sense of lose.” I told her sarcastically. Rose chuckled as she sat beside me.

“Oh fun, that sounds depressing.” she said in a oddly cheery mood. The other two stare at her for a few moments.

“Yeah… it is.” Rockmond said, looking back down at the boarded up cage door. Edward did the same, both of them had their weapons laying next to them. The four of us stared at the door in silence. I could have sworn that I heard something coming from there.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” a voice said which made me jump. I turned to see an oddly shaped eyeball floating beside Rose.

“You say that about everything.” she said before seeing my expression. “Oh yeah, you two never met. This is Beta, Beta this is Viri.”

“Nice to meet you.” Beta said. I simply stared at...him?

“You look like a tiny version of an Overseer.” Edward said, glancing at the floating eye.

“I’m...sorry? What’s an Overseer?” Beta asked.

“It’s a robotic being that controls and monitors places called Arks, which we’re in…” I frown and looked at the other two. “Right?” I asked them. Rockmond nodded before saying.

“Spot on.” He said with a chuckle.

“Well in a sense I am this Overseer but… not really.” Beta said as he floated over Roses head. “I simply help my Guardian with whatever she neede via information of anything to what she has.”

“Thank you, Beta.” Rose said.

“Interesting.” Rockmond said, interested in what Beta had just said.

“I have to ask; what is an Ark?” Beta asked. Rockmond raised a brow at this question.

“Never seen an Ark before?” Rockmond asked them. The two of them looked at each other before at Rockmond.

“That depends on the definition of that word.” Beta told him. Rockmond sighed before grabbing a handful of sand, letting it flow out of his hand out.

“The land we stand upon, all of this, is an Ark. A large enclosed space simulating Earth with a different climate.” Rockmond said in an informative tone. He sighed before saying. “As far as we know, our Ark is the only properly functioning one left. It’s a surprise this one is stable without its Overseer.” Rockmond added.

“Lana said it was nothing short of a miracle that she found this place.” Edward said, adding into the conversation.

“Interesting.” Beta said. As we chatted for a bit I saw Ruby walking over to us.

“Morning…” Ruby yawned a bit, still somewhat sleepy. She stumbles over to us before sitting down beside me… Then lay on me. This brought chuckles from both Edward and Rockmond. “Do we have more roasted bug?” Ruby asked.

“No but I can probably kill another Mantis and cook some up if you’re that hungry.” Edward said, offering to hunt a Mantis outside. Ruby muttered a bit as Rose spoke.

“Want any help?” She asked Edward. Ed simply looked at her, noting her lack of weaponry. Rose tilted her head a bit. “Something the matter?”

“How are you going to help without a weapon?” Ed asked with his arms crossed. Rose arched an eyebrow at this before leaning back.

“Oh? Don’t you mean something like this?” Rose asked as she pulled out a red and white revolver like gun. She showed it off to the two of them before attaching it to her leg. “That’s the tip of the iceberg with what I got.” I heard Beta groaning at Rose’s words. Edward looked at the revolver unimpressed before standing up.

“Alright let’s go.” Ed said, grabbing his rifle as he spoke. The rifle hummed to life, ready for a fight. Rose nodded as she stood up, a helmet formed around her head as the two of them headed off along with Beta. As I watched them go I felt Ruby tug on me.

“Hey, did you see Yang at all?” Ruby asked. I thought about it and nodded.

“You talking about the dried tears?” I asked. She nodded.

“What do you think happened?” Ruby asked, her voice gave way to the fact she’s worried about Yang.

“Maybe she had a nightmare or something.” I said.

“I don’t know… should we go check on her?” Ruby asked. I gave it some thought before answering.

“I think we should.” I told her. With that the two of us left Rockmond alone to go find Yang. We found her sitting alone in the corner, doing something. We started to head over only to be stopped by Mother.

“Please do not disturb Yang. She needs some time alone to her thoughts.” Mother said to the both of us. The two of us looked at each other before Ruby spoke.

“Is… something wrong with Yang?” Ruby asked.

“She has been suffering nightmares for quite some time, it seems that this one was her breaking point.” Mother said, glancing at Yang with worry before saying. “I will keep watch over her, bring her food and water if she asks for it.” Mother said. We both nodded before Ruby stepped forward.

“Yang… listens to you the most so…” She takes Mother’s hands and gives her a saddened look. “Help her please.”

“I will do everything I can to help her.” Mother said, smiling sadly as she spoke. I soon pulled Ruby away as Mother went over to Yang. The two of us went off to do our own things as Ruby now wanted to be alone. I couldn’t blame her from seeing her sister like this.

It wasn’t long before the other two came back with a large Mantis. Rose now holding some kind of rifle with a scope as Ed was simply shaking his head.

“You okay?” I asked him.

“She’s a bit of a show off.” Ed said with a chuckle. His rifle strapped around his back.

“I kinda agree, she reminds me of someone we used to hang out with.” Beta said as he floated past. Edward soon lit the campfire again before beginning to cut pieces off the Mantis and cooking them in the fire. As he did this I saw Beta float around the place before stopping. He looked at the Tek Rifle near Edward and shined a blue light on it, as if he was scanning it. When he finished he floated off again.

When a mantis arm was finished cooking, Ruby was the first to snatch it off Edward’s hands. She happily started munching on it as Edward stared at her.

“Just be happy you weren’t making cookies.” I told him. He looked at me oddly before resuming his cooking. The next half an hour was spent sitting around and eating the Mantis, once again it was tasty despites it being Mantis meat.

Yang didn’t say anything as she was given food. She simply ate it and was left alone to her thoughts. Mother sat nearby, looking at Yang in case she needed anything, worried for her as she sat there.

As we finish eating I saw Rockmond walk over to us. “Hey, what’s up?”

“We’re about to head into the cave in a few minutes, Heaven and Nevaeh will keep guard up here while we’re down there.” Rockmond explained, grabbing his deactivated sword that laid by his sleeping bag. “We’re scouting the cave for anything useful, maybe even an Artifact.” He said.

“Want me to come as well?” Rose asked. “I’ve been in a few caves in the past, this one will be no different.”

“Let’s...hope not.” Beta said, hovering over Rose’s shoulder. Rose looked at him for a moment before nodding.

“Yeah...what he said.” Rose said, pointing a thumb at Beta. Rockmond nodded before looking at me.

“What about you and Ruby?” He asked curiously. I looked over at Ruby as she looked at Rockmond before glancing at her sister.

“I’m...going to stay up here.” she said. I nodded a bit before standing up.

“I’ll come.” I told him. He nodded before heading over to the cave entrance with Edward following behind him. I followed behind with Rose as she put on a new helmet, the other one looked like a odd robot head while this one more hawkish. When we stood in front of the entrance, Rockmond was the first enter after crouching down. Edward followed suit soon after and Rose entered behind him as well. I was the last one to go under the boards and upon straightening up, I saw the rocky tunnel that slowly led down into darkness.

Rockmond took the lead, heading down into the darkness first with us following suit. It eventually gotten so dark I had to place a hand on the rocky wall to help me move forward. Eventually we managed to walk into a lit cavern, a stone ramp leading down and around. We went down the ramp and came face to face with a large stone mural. We all looked up at this mural in silence before Rose spoke.

“That’s...something.” she said as Beta appeared. “Want to go up and scan it?”

“On it.” Beta said before floating up and shined the same blue light on it.

“What do you guys think?” I asked Ed and Rockmond.

“Well judging by the tail and wings on a lion body, my bet is that it’s the Manticore.” Rockmond said, walking up to the mural as Beta shone his light on it. Beta had gotten too close to Rockmond, prompting Rockmond to push him aside.

“Hey!” Beta said before looking at him. “Do you mind?”

“Try not flying so close to me.” Rockmond said simply as he looked back up at the Mural. He looked at it in deep thought before an odd noise echoed from within the cave.

“Uhh, what was that?” I asked them with a bit of fear in my voice.

“Don’t worry, I know that sound, it’s bats.” Edward said, walking deeper into the cave. I looked back at Rockmond in time to see him turn away from the mural and head deeper with Edward. I looked over at Rose as she looked at me.

“Go ahead, I’ll take up the rear.” she said. I nodded as I followed the other two deeper in the cave. When we stopped we stared in awe at the large cavern, seeing ruined buildings and crystals on the walls.

“Hey boss, bats incoming!” Ed suddenly yelled, gaining the attention of me and Rockmond. Quickly turning to look at Ed, I saw a swarm of very large bats flying over to us. Rockmond grabbed his rifle and began firing at the bats with Edward doing the same.

Rose looked at the swarm coming and spoke. “Beta! Coldheart!”

With that something appeared on her back. She grabbed it and pulled an odd-looking rifle from her back and took aim. From her rifle a beam of light blue came out of it. As the beam hits the bats I saw ice form on them, making it hard for them to fly. I pulled my gun out and shot any that got too close.

Seeing the surviving bats flee, we moved on down the cavern. The place was crawling with centipedes, bats and Mantises but fortunately we were able to fight them off. We then came across another path down that led to a large gap. We walked down the path and headed closer to the edge only to stop at the sudden shake of the ground.

“Ark-qack!” Rose yelled As She jumped back a bit. The ground continued to shake violently as a large mound of rubble formed a hand before planting itself on the ground and pushing itself up.

I watched in awe as it revealed itself to be some sort of Golem made out of rubble. It pounded the ground before picking up a large chunk of the ground.

“What the Hell is that!” I yelled as the golem threw the rock at me. I jumped out of the way as it sailed past me, hitting and rolling the ground behind me.

“It’s some kind of Rock monster!” Edward yelled as he blasted the Golem with his Tek rifle. It roared and smashed the ground in front of Edward, surprising him and as a result, dropping his rifle. “No!” Edward yelled, attempted to get his rifle back only to see it fall off the edge.

Rose looked over at Edward before pulling out that red and white revolver. She took aim and shot at the rock monster and each shot seemed to explode on it. It roared as it’s gaze, if it has one, turned to her.

“I think you’re making it mad!” Beta yelled as Rose kept firing.

“What do you think!” She yelled as another gun appeared on her back, the same one from earlier today. “Yo Ed, catch!”

Ed looked over at her just in time to catch the rifle. He looked at it oddly but did not to question it. He took aim and fired at the rock monster. Rockmond saw all this transpire and narrowed his eyes, a hint of a bright blue glow within them as he did. He took an odd stance before breaking into a full sprint towards the Golem. The latter seeing attempted to stop him only to be distracted by both Rose and Edward.

Rockmond then zoomed passed me with incredible speed and just before reaching the Golem, Rockmond jumped into the air and delivered a dropkick that send the Golem back and off the edge. Rockmond landed on his side with a loud clank and thud before groaning.

I ran over and watched as the Golem fall down before disappearing. I looked back to Rockmond as the other two walked up to him.

“You… just drop kicked that Golem off the edge.” Rose exclaimed excitedly as she walked up to Rockmond. “I have to say, that was the most badass thing I have ever seen. And that’s saying a lot.”

“Yeah… thanks.” Rockmond said with a groan as he laid on his back. We waited for a few minutes before helping him up to his feet. Beta floated over the edge looking down where the Golem fell.

“Does anyone think that thing is still alive?” He asked all of us. Rockmond stood up, groaning loudly as he did. Once back on his feet, Rockmond walked up to the edge.

“I don’t it would’ve survived… it’s a pretty long fall.” Rockmond said between pants. I walked up beside him and looked over the edge, my jaw dropped at the sight of a dark abyss. Neither the bottom or the Golem could be seen.

“That’s… a long way down…” I said as Rose came up beside me to look down.

“Do we… are we going down there?” she asked, a little nervous in her voice.

“No, we go across.” Rockmond answered, pointing at the other side of the large gap. There was a stone platform that bridged one end to the other, though we had to jump it.

“What’s the matter, scared of the dark?” Edward asked Rose.

“It’s not the dark I’m afraid of.” Rose answered him before turning away. “It’s what in the dark I’m afraid.” Ed soon looked at me for a moment before we all headed towards the platform.

“Come on, it’s an easy jump.” Rockmond said running up to the edge and jumping to the platform, his metallic feet touching ground on the platform with a loud thud. “Come on!” Rockmond yelled to us before jumping the other gap and landing on the other side. I turned to look at Edward for a moment I spoke.

“You want to go or…” I asked, seeing if he wants to make the jump or I should. He rolled his eyes before following Rockmond’s trail, jumping onto the platform before continuing onto the other side beside Rockmond. Once it was my turn I took a few steps back to get a running start. I bolted forward and jumped to the platform. As I hit the ground I stumbled a bit before continuing on to jump to the others. As I landed I ran into Edward who caught me. I thanked him before looking back at Rose who simply jogged over to the edge and jumped. She must of done this sortof thing before since she made it look easy. As she landed on the other side she looked at us for a moment before speaking.

“Onwards?” she asked. Rockmond once again took the lead with Edward, Rose and I behind him. On the way we encountered several more centipedes and Mantises but they were quickly dispatched.

It wasn’t until we reached another buried building that Rockmond sprinted ahead, seeing something we couldn’t. He ran up a set of sandy steps before stopping just in front of a large doorway. When we caught up to him, we were able see some sort of floating object just at the end of the dead-end hallway.

“The Artifact.” Edward said in awe as we all stared at the rotating object.

“Yeah… It’s the Artifact of the Destroyer.” Rockmond said as he walked up to the Artifact. As he walked closer, the ground began to shake violently, even worse than it did before. The crystal wall at the end of the hall cracked and snapped before a giant crystal hand bursted through and snatched the Artifact. A loud growl echoed through the cavern. Rockmond saw this and stepped back at this before running back as the hall collapsed.

“Fuck!” Rockmond yelled as he threw himself away from the collapsing hall.

“There’s another one?!” I yelled after seeing the giant crystal hand. The whole wall was soon came down as another crystal hand punched through. Dust soon hindered our vision for a minute or two, when the dust cleared a much larger Golem stood there looking down at us with a low growl.

“I think we’re in trouble…” Rose said as she stared up at the Golem. “We don’t have a bottomless pit to kick it in.”

“It’s not the time for jokes!” Rockmond said in a panicking tone. The Golem roared at us, causing us to cover our ears. With us disoriented, The Golem struck the ceiling, causing various rocks to crash down around us. Luckily the rocks missed us by a few inches or so but the Golem decided that wasn’t enough pounded the ground, cracking it the floor once it did.

“Shit!” Edward yelled at this, stumbling about as he did. Rockmond quickly drew his rifle at the rocky beast before firing. Rose did the same but this only angered it more. With another roar, the beast smashed its crystal fist against the wall and embedding it in the process.

As it does this I saw more of those golems starting to form around us. “Oh come on! That’s not fair!”

“Not really!” Rose yelled as she looked at the giant golem. She pulled out her revolver before spinning it around. I watched as it burst into golden flames as she took aim at the Golem. “Let’s see if it like this-”

As she yelled this the ground started to shake and she wobbled a bit before firing. The flaming bullet missed the giant golem as it bounced around and it one smaller one and made it explode, destroying a few more of them.

“... Well, we’re dead.” Rose said as she took aim with her revolver and fired normal shots at the smaller ones. The Golem’s began to slowly surround us, each Golem we brought down another took its place.

From where I’m standing, we were in big trouble. Everyone we bring down another would form again, and we haven’t even scratched the big one yet.

“Does anyone have any ideas?” I asked everyone.

“Does one that may bring everything down around us, maybe buring us under large amounts of rubble and sand count?” Rose asked.

“No!” we all yelled at her.

“Oh, well nope!” she yelled as she shot a few more shots. “Well, if this is our end, it’s been fun.”

Before I could say anything the sound of explosives echoed from where we came from as some of the golems were destroyed and sent flying over us. I turned and a familiar fiery blonde haired bombshell came strolling in. Her eyes were a red colour as, again, her hair seemed to be on fire. She cracked her neck a bit before smirking.

“Miss me?” she asked. Before anyone could say anything one of the Golems brought it’s fists up and tired to slam it down onto Yang. Almost with superhuman strength, she blocked it with her prosthetic arm. She seemed to smirk and pushed the golem back and twist around, punching it and shooting her gauntlet, turning it into ruble.

“Is… that really your friend?” Ed asked me. I smiled and nodded.

“Just as a warning for you; Don’t piss her off.” I said as Yang reloaded and fired herself forward. Like a fiery wrecking ball she destroyed everything in front of her. Rose simply started to laughing at this before speaking.

“Beta, Arc mode.” she said. Almost as her body seemed to shake her armor seemed to look armored monk. She held her arm out and a sword appeared. It let out some electricity off the blade as got ready. “Bring it.”

I watched as, between Yang plowing forward and Rose running forward to join in, it seems that the tides of battle turned to our favor. Rose was something else, moving in between each golem and slashing at them. Even if they tried to hit her Rose simply moved around their fists and got in close. She even punched one of them, letting out a small burst of electricity and made the Golem stumbled back before she brought the final blow. Before long the shock of this wore off and the three of us joined in as well.

After a few minutes it was only a few of them left and the giant one. One that Yang seemed to be taking on by herself. It brought it’s crystal fist up and then down to hit Yang. She sidestepped it before shooting a few rounds towards it’s head, blasting chunks off it. As she got in close she let out a loud scream as she simply went wild on it, punching and shooting round after round into the body. Soon we all watched as the Giant golem was reduced to rubble, only the artifact left. Yang picked it up and held it up for us to see.

“I really~ needed that.” she said with a large smile. Yang turned to face us with a smirk.

“Nice one, Blondie.” Rockmond said to her as he took hold of the Artifact. “You saved all our asses and got the Artifact, all in one go.” Rockmond added.

“Yeah… you’re welcome.” Yang said as she smiled. She turned to the rest of us as Rose spoke.

“You have the destructive force of a Striker Titan.” she said with a chuckle. Yang arched a brow.

“Can this Titan do this amount of damage?” Yang asked. Rose simply looked around us at all the rubble and damage before answering.

“Yes, that’s why it’s great that you’re on our side.” Rose answered. I couldn’t help but chuckle at this as we turned around to head back. Our trek back was spent chattering amongst ourselves and we soon found ourselves back up at the entrance to the cave. We exited how we came in, ducking down to go through the boarded entrance and once I went through I was greeted with Ruby tackling me into a hug.

“You’re okay!” Ruby said with a bit of a sniffle. I smiled at her as I hugged her back.

“Yeah… you have to thank your sister for that, if it wasn’t for her we would’ve been pancakes.” I told her. Ruby didn’t say anything as Mother came over to us along with the Twins.

“We felt the battle from up here, are you alright?” Mother said, walking up to us with a look of worry. I nodded and told her what has happened underground. Yang simply smiled happily as if she was filled with vigor. By the end of my explanation, Mother had been hugging Yang repeating her thanks for saving me. When she pulled away, Mother gave Yang long lasting kiss, yet another reward for having saved me. Yang’s smile grew wider at this.

“Daw, it was nothing.” Yang said. “I’m just happy everyone is alright and I’m out of that funk from before.”

“Yeah well, I think we should…” Ed looked up to see the sun passing over us. “How long have we been down there?”

“Mostly all morning, it’s the afternoon now.” Beta said as we turn and stare at him. “What? I was keeping track of the time.”

“So… now we have this artifact … Beta, would you mind?” Rose asked him. Beta, in turn, went over and gave it a few scans.

“Well this is interesting.” he said as he finished.

“What is it?” Rose asked. “Does it do anything?”

“Well I can say for certain there’s no real external effects that does anything around it or to itself.” Beta explained.

“So… it’s a large glowing rock.” Rose asked.

“More in lines of a large glowing rock key.” Beta corrected. “Oh this is something, I’m picking up faint traces of… one, no two other sources of this kind of key.”

“Hold on, you can find the other two artifacts?!” Rockmond asked Beta.

“Well I can’t simply find them right now but, if say I was near any of them at a given time, I would pick them up for sure.” Beta explained. Rockmond nodded at this before humming a bit.

“Lana would like to hear this…” Rockmond said before turning to all of us. “We’re heading out, let’s get packed up.”

Author's Notes:

Yay~ The First Artifact is found!

Also, I would like to introduce you all to Rose, a Displaced Awoken Hunter Guardian from Destiny 2. I was going to make a story about her but... kinda went to the trash due to having nothing to write about. So she’s here!