Chapter 6

"That Darkonda, what a character!" Elgar muttered to himself, making his way back inside the base after Darkonda threw him through a window.

"Why... If Auntie-D were here, she wouldn't stand for anyone abusing me and throwing me out windows... Because she'd want to do it herself!"

"Why, I oughta start some kinda union..."

"Uh, wait a minute... I forget, where's the door to this place?"

Meanwhile, in the forest.

The rain was coming down like never seen before, at least by Ecliptor. The tall robotic creature had braved the ferocious and deadly weather for what seemed like hours, the thought of his Princess all that was keeping him going.

"Tired... But I must keep going! For her sake..." Her said to himself, the heavy wind pounding his arm, which he had placed in front of himself to shield his face from the ever increasing winds.

"If... I keep going, I should make it by morning..." He said, barely able to get the words out, his robotic limbs slowly beginning to short-out and malfunction. But he didn't stop, he refused to stop... No, he was determined to see this through to the bitter end.

"If I stop now, everything I've been through up until now will have been in vain!" he said, clutching his fist in frustration. His mind began to wander while he continued his trek through the dense forest, to the many memories he had stored away in his databanks, all memories of her.

He flashed back to a young Karone, no younger than fifteen, dueling him with her wrath staff, recently awarded to her by Dark Specter. Ecliptor was putting up quite the fight with his sword, the two weapons clashing and clanging against each other in successive blows, sparks flying when the weapons struck each other.

They were in a stalemate, until Ecliptor managed to get his sword free, and delivered a kick that sent Karone hurtling to the floor.

"Good, my Princess... very good." He said, gesturing toward his pupil while clapping his hands. He reaches Karone and puts a hand out to help her up, she gladly accepts.

"Yeah... But not as good as you Ecliptor." She said as she dusted herself off.

"I'll admit, you do need more training... But its obvious to me that you're getting better, soon the student will have surpassed the master."

"I don't know, Ecliptor... I don't think I'll ever get used to this fighting style of yours..."

"Not to worry. My princess... you'll do fine."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Anytime, my princess..."

"Want to go again?"

"I think you've had enough for one day..."

"I suppose you're right."

"I'll tell you what... we can resume your training first thing in the morning, how does that sound?"

"You mean it?"

"Of course, anything for my dear princess."

"Oh, you're the best!" she said as she hugged him.

"Oh please, my princess... people may be watching!"

"Oh, sorry..." she said as she backed off.

"Quite alright..."

"Well, see ya... I guess." she said, walking out the door.

"That girl... I've... never encountered anyone quite like her before..." he said silently to himself, an odd feeling washing over him, it was a feeling quite unlike anyone he had experienced before, the robotic warrior was beginning to experience love of all things, but most of all he was beginning to gain something he physically lacked, a heart. No, not a physical heart but a inner one.

Back in the present, Ecliptor continued his trek through the unforgiving weather, seemingly getting nowhere fast.

"Can't... last... much longer."

Suddenly, he stops in his tracks and sinks to the ground.

"I'm sorry, my princess... I've honestly tried, tried in vain to get back to you, but... it seems impossible, I've been wandering for hours upon hours, getting nowhere at all... Why? Tell me why!" he shouted to the heavens, pounding his hands into the ground.

Then as if it were an omen of some kind, the heavy rain and pounding wind abruptly stopped, Ecliptor looked up to the sky, once filled with lightning, it had now cleared up so much that the moon was now visible.

"I... I... can't believe it." Ecliptor said to himself, after everything he had been through... It hadn't been in vain, not in vain at all.

"Surely, its a miracle..." He said softly as he stood up, and took a few steps forward.

"I am... coming... my princess..." Ecliptor's leap of faith was short-lived unfortunately, as he felt the sting of a blade, it had been hurled in his direction and had struck his chest, causing sparks to emit from his body.

"Ah!" Ecliptor yelled in pain, now on his knees.

"Well, what do we have here?" the all too familiar voice of Darkonda asked sarcastically, the sword flying into his open hand like a boomerang.

"Dar... Darkonda!" he yelled, just a hint of fear in his voice.

"I've had enough of this ridiculous game, you've already caused me a life, and for that you'll pay dearly!"

"If you think you're taking me back, you're sadly mistaken!" Ecliptor said, getting into a fighting stance.

"I think you're confused, I'm not here to take you back... I'm here to put you out of your misery!"

"Ha... that's a laugh coming from you!"

"Silence!" he screamed, lunging at Ecliptor with his sword, Ecliptor pulled out his own sword with hardly any time to spare, sparks fly upon impact of the two blades.

"Face it, Ecliptor... you're antiquated and old, yesterday's technology, you don't stand a chance!"

"I can, and I will beat you! I may be old and outdated, but I have something that you'll never have... loyalty!" he yelled, getting his sword free and striking Darkonda in the abdomen, sending sparks flying and Darkonda falling to the hard ground, he grabs the damaged area of his body in pain, noticing purple blood coming from the wound.

"I'm bleeding?"

"How... How dare you! No one has ever done that to me! You just signed your death warrant, Ecliptor!"

"Better to go out fighting than dying!"

"I'll make you wish you never met me, you metallic fool!"

"Bring it on, if you're ready to die..."

The two bitter rivals stare each other down, nothing but pure hatred for one another in both they're eyes, they're hands are facing down to the holsters housing they're weapons, ready to draw the deadly weapons at any time.

"Prepare to fall, Darkonda."

"You first!"

With no more words to utter to each other, they both pull out they're swords in unison and charge each other, the two blades collide three times, then lock together.

"That foolish girl I kidnapped for Dark Specter all those years ago... I should of slit her throat decades ago!"

"If you had tried it, I'd of stopped you!"

"You would of died trying it!"

The fight suddenly becomes brutal, Ecliptor freeing his sword from the lock and kicking Darkonda hard, causing him to stumble backwards. Darkonda fires a blast of energy from his hand, but Ecliptor manages to dodge it by leaping into the air, firing his own blast while still airborne from his eyes causing explosions to emit all around Darkonda, it ultimately sends him flying straight up as Ecliptor falls back down to earth gracefully.

"You rat!" Darkonda screamed, still hurtling upwards, then abruptly falling down to earth, he hurtles right pass his enemy and into a nearby quarry, Ecliptor wastes no time and fires the most powerful blast he has from his eyes, triggering a gigantic explosion in the quarry, the resulting aftershock causing the trees to bend, and a blinding light to emit from the battle field, which could be seen from miles, even to the city of Terra Venture, where the energy from the blast is picked up on the city scanners, catching the attention of Commander Stanton, now Governor.

"Report, Corbett... what was that?"

"It appears to be an energy signature of some kind... I've never seen anything like it before, sir!"

"Contact the troops and tell them to standby! I've got a bad feeling about this..."

"You're not the only one, sir..." Mike said to himself worriedly.

Meanwhile, back in the forest; Ecliptor is lying on the ground motionless, electricity emitting from his body, he has been hurtled several miles by the blast and knocked off-line.

Suddenly, he is awoken by a squirrel standing on his torso, he quickly raises up with a startle.

"Astronema!" he yelled, having awoken from another nightmare.

"It... was just a nightmare... where... where am I?" he asked himself, surveying his nearby surroundings, and not finding anything that looked even remotely familiar.

"Huh... It appears that blast of mine was a little too powerful." he said to himself as he stood up, dusting himself off.

"Lets just hope I'm closer to my goal than further..."

Back at the villains base.

"Well, Ecliptor... it appears Darkonda has been killed by you once again..." Deviot said to himself, watching a screen that was tracking Ecliptor's movements thanks to a chip implanted in his circuitry. Of course Darkonda wore a tracking device on his person, his signal disappearing following Ecliptor's attack.

"Serves that fool right."

"Deviot!" Dark Specter appeared suddenly on the screen, startling Deviot.

"Dark Specter... I see you're back from you're recharge..."

"Yes, a recharge than did me no good... I feel my energy has been drained, I take it Darkonda's died again?"

"Yes, I'm afraid he has."

"What was that fool thinking? I pacifically told him to leave Ecliptor be!"

"You must accept reality my liege... Darkonda can't be trusted."

"I haven't had trust in Darkonda since I met him, so believe me when I tell you you're completely right in your statement."

"Of course, whatever you say, master..."

"Now then, since Darkonda continues to fail me... I believe its time for you to make yourself known to the citizens of Terra Venture... Remember I want Astronema brought back to me alive, otherwise my plan to reform the Alliance will not succeed, and it'll be on your head."

"Not to worry, I have everything well under control... you have nothing to worry about master."

"Very well, I will return in the morning... and for you're sake, I hope I see results, farewell!" and with that, Dark Specter disappeared off the screen.

"Trust me you underrated tyrant, you've got plenty to worry about with me around..." Deviot uttered to himself, Elgar had been eavesdropping however, and heard what Deviot had said.

"Why that dirty..." Elgar accidentally knocks over a canister, catching the attention of Deviot

"What was that? Hmm... clumsy Quantrons!" he said, then walked off.

"That was a close one... Alright, Elgar old boy... don't get in over your head here, who knows maybe Dark Specter needs to be brought down a peg or two, I mean heck... he has always been kinda overrated anyway, who knows, with him out of the way... Maybe I could be the big man in charge around here, and then people would respect me!"

"Yeah, yeah that's right! I, Elgar would rule the entire universe! I would be the subjugator of worlds, people would worship me and bring me food and drink all day, and then I'd make them sing to my favorite heavy metal bands, and they would pamper me for the rest of they're miserable lives..."

"Everybody would love me! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" he began laughing maniacally unaware that a Quantron had been watching him.

"Huh? What are you looking at chump?" he asked, gesturing toward the grunt.

"You want a piece of me, huh? Do ya punk?" he said as he walked toward the Quantron, not noticing a puddle of spilt oil, he steps right into it, causing him to slip and land hard on his back in the floor. The Quantron begins pointing a finger at him mocking him for his trouble.

"Hey, stop laughing at me you... Oh, who am I kidding? Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed."

Back in the forest, it is now daylight and Ecliptor is getting ever closer to the city.

"Almost there, just a little further..." he said to himself, walking up a steep hillside.

"There..." he said, having reached the top of the hill overlooking the city.

"After all this time, I've made it at last!" he said, a massive amount of relief feeling his being, he had made it, he had finally made it at long last.

"No time to celebrate... I have to get to Astronema now, her fate as well as mine depends on it." he said, then began to walk down the hill.

End of Chapter 6