I may have gotten some details wrong. And I suck at fight scenes so bear with it.

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General Modula had a lot of time on his hands. Yes, quite a lot. Galaluna had not fallen as quickly as he wanted, but it was getting there. And the King. Ah, the King. He would break soon. It was all coming to an end.

Except for the Princess.

The slight of a girl, on another planet, overshadowed by two protectors. Modula frowned. Xeexi's information had proven quite useful yet troublesome. All the creatures he sent were proving useless, even that small, seemingly innocuous one. That robot, whatever it was dubbed, was too strong, yet…they were not always using it. Yes, there was a good amount of time where the Princess was flagged by her two subordinates (Edward's son and the unknown robot, he thought grimacing), but without the armor. Vulnerable.

The ex-General allowed a small smirk to grace his features (which most have commented to be akin to a primates – Modula killed them soon after such comments).

"Sir." Modula turned from the throne room balcony overlooking the destruction of his former home. The frown returned.

"Drop the pleasantries Baron, what did you find out?" he asked stiffly, never too comfortable around the young man before him. The blond smirked and pulled out of his formal kneel, straightening his cardinal uniform.

"The rebellions in the South should be quiet for a while. I managed to map out their plans and hideouts." He paused to remove a roll of parchment from the inside of his coat pocket and hold it out to the traitor. Modula glanced at the parchment with a raised eyebrow before easily snatching it out of Baron's hands and looking it over with his scrupulous eye.

"But it looks like I can't do reconnaissance anymore. They found out I wasn't exactly trustworthy," continued Baron casually, examining his fingernails. Modula's nose twitched and he immediately snapped the parchment back into its roll, giving his spy a cold look.

"And how did that happen?" he bit out in a warning tone. Baron shrugged, standing up from his kneel.

"Don't know really. But I was getting bored anyway." He looked up from his nails to give Modula a dark look, matching the ex-General's own oppressive stare. "I did this as a favor. I could care less about what you plan – you should know I'm just in it for the entertainment." And Modula didn't doubt him. The young man was a natural killer. A brat, but a natural killer all the same. The former hero turned to look back over his kingdom, having no qualms with exposing his blind side to the young soldier. Even Baron had some sense not to make any attempts on Modula.

"And, well, I do it for the benefits too. When do I get my cut of the land for all the trouble I had to go through to get your information?" Ah. Yes, a favor that also required a bit of loss on Modula's side. He would just give the soldier some backwater village to rule over. He glanced over his shoulder, about to give a name, when he paused for a moment. Slowly, his eyes focused back on the slaughter that had taken place in the capital city.

"Baron. You remember Princess Ilana, right?"

:::

"I thought you said this was going to be easy."

"I made a slight miscalculation." Ilana inwardly frowned as the Titan was hit by a sweep of a tail. Octus seemed to be doing a lot of those lately.

"Focus Ilana." Lance's voice permeated her mind in the shared conscious. The blonde ignored a biting remark and willed Titan to form a shield against the sudden splash of acid that immediately started corroding the barrier. Whatever the current Mutraddi creature was (#461, according to Octus), it was spitting acid left and right from its funnel like mouth. Every move to grab the creature's leech shaped body was met with an acidic skin that further damaged the enormous robot.

"We can't keep taking hits!" came Ilana's voice as #461's dark tail caught them in the side before Lance could conjure up a sword. Titan went flying over the forest trees, nearly landing flat on the colossal conifers (which were severely dwarfed by both the creature and Titan) if not for a quick righting in the air, allowing the machine to land in a crouch.

"The armor will repair itself. Focus on cutting the creature apart." As always, Octus was calm and unemotional, his monotone manner of speech an odd comfort in the stress of battle. Rolling over the trees to avoid the spit of acid, Titan sprang up, swords forming in each hand. Not allowing the grotesque beast to recover from the position needed to shoot acid, Titan jumped and swung both swords inwards. Expectantly, yet unavoidable, the creature's tail lashed around, always vigilant, and struck Titan out of the air, causing it to lose hold of the weapons which also spun into the distance, only to create a trail of devastation as they tore through the forest below.

"Augh," groaned both Ilana and Lance, the damage on their mech only slightly dulled as they landed in a heap. A shot of acid sprung at them, and Titan flung out a shield, the buffer wavering as the caustic and corrosive liquid destroyed the safeguard.

"Octus!" cried Lance, as if somehow the robot could fix the entire situation. In response to Lance's cry, Titan's rockets boosted up, but only managed to destroy the surrounding trees, barely putting any force in the shield. Just as Titan's free hand started to form a sonic canon, the acid assault abruptly ended.

Disabling the shield, ready to pounce, Titan's occupants were faced with a Manus armor delivering swift kicks and punches to the surprised beast.

"Another Manus armor?" All three watched in shock (or whatever Octus had in place of that) as the armor let out a burst of electricity from its palms, stunning the Mutraddi threat. Not hesitating, Manus conjured up a sword and cut through the paralyzed beast twice, killing it on the spot with near impossible to catch speed. As if that wasn't already done, the armor's shoulder plates flipped out, and missiles shot out at the remaining flesh, completely destroying any trace of the Mutraddi beast. The three Galalunians of Titan could only stare as Manus turned to look at them (that is, the occupant of Manus) before dissipating, the pilot lost in the forest below.

"W-Was that another Manus armor?" echoed Lance in disbelief, the strum of Titan's core quieted without the extra pressure of a fight.

"It seems to be so," returned Octus, his voice only slightly holding what some may call emotion.

"We have to check it out, it's from home," ordered Ilana, high pitched. With that, the combined thoughts commanded Titan forward to where the Manus armor had deactivated. In no time, it too was absent in the cloudless Thursday night.

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Okay, I know you all probably hate Baron for being a dick to Lance in Shadows of Youth. I do too, but he makes a great plot device (though I am kind of reaching blindly in the dark for his personality - especially with all the years that have passed). And yes, I know it's short, sorry. I'm actually attempting a legit full blown story. It may not end well. Writing wise, I mean. Reviews would be nice.