Porter dragged his body up out of the snow as best he could, trying to find a foothold where he didn't sink too low into the snow. He clutched onto the side of The Warlord's foot, pulling himself close to the doorway on the exterior. The password among all of the academy's Goliaths was supposed to be the same, and Porter struggled to enter it, slipping and sinking in the snow. The number pad on the side of the battlesuit was tiny, the buttons nearly frozen. It took a few efforts just to get the right combination in, as Porter's fingers constantly slipped and missed.

The door finally hissed, falling inwards before sliding to the side. It was a tiny dot on the side of the massive machine, Porter's body normally miniscule from the top of a Goliath looking down. He didn't notice the scale of Riya's battlesuit as he stepped inside, the door slamming shut automatically behind him. He was suddenly wrapped in the warmth of the interior of the machine, different mechanical components emitting heat as they worked. Porter's clothing shifted once more, adjusting to the new temperature to keep him cool.

A moan echoed down through the metallic hallways, reverberating inside of Porter's head. It sounded like Riya, seemed like her voice, but he had never heard her in distress before. The feelings that rose within him as he heard her were instantly buried deep inside, joining a swirling pit of anger and concern, of fear and sadness. There were far too many emotions going through Porter for him to be able to control them and his mind defaulted to shoving everything down as much as possible, trying to help him temporarily forget and go numb so he could focus.

The Warlord creaked as Porter moved through it, strangely silent save for the hum of its components at work, white noise, and now the creaking was a sudden shock to Porter. He had never been inside Riya's warmachine before and it felt strange, almost like an intrusion. He had never been inside anyone's battlesuit other than his own and a practice machine but those were used by all the students at some point or another. This felt different, almost like an intrusion.

Porter began to scale the ladder up to Riya, a long haul through multiple levels from the bottom of the Goliath. It was like climbing a building, and Porter felt himself wishing for an elevator. A gust of air breezed past Porter, swirling around his body before flying up the rest of the shaft he was scaling. Porter looked down at his body, noticing a faint taint of black mist encircled him, chilling every part of him it touched.

Must be her chi, Porter thought, pressing forwards. He didn't understand the black chi or anything that went on with it, but he did know it was dangerous, both in its volatile nature and in the fact that Marian was intent on getting rid of it and Riya with it. Beyond all of Porter's thoughts though lay only one truth he knew: he had to get to Riya.

* * * * *

Marian leaped back from the black chi, dodging a barrage from its tendrils trying to rip him apart once more. He could already feel his chi fading, his life slowly waning. Even if he never let the shadow creature break his shield, he would eventually die simply by emptying himself of his chi, leaving him dead either way.

"Sir, object incoming, estimating ten seconds." The soldier disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, giving his report before cutting out once more. Marian sighed, almost breaking focus as he folded his wings in front of him to ward off more attacks from the black chi. The last thing he needed was Sigma coming down to the battlefield, and he couldn't imagine why the android would be coming here. The only reason he could think of was Ishiyama punishing him but he always thought he had been keeping up with his daily prayer routine of late.

Sigma crashed into the ground, sending a ripple through the snow and a blast of powder in all directions. For someone so small, Marian thought, squinting to see the tiny cyborg, he sure makes a lot of noise. A pulse of purple energy exploded outwards from Sigma, and Marian had to steel his resolve and his shield in order to stay standing. The black chi, however, dissipated, blowing away under the force of the blast like dust in the wind.

Marian rubbed his eyes for a moment and considered what he had just witnessed. For Sigma to have destroyed the black chi so easily, Marian had to reconsider the android's power level. He had watched Sigma duel with Syn, and Marian had once been able to beat Syn but...had they grown more powerful since then? Once activated they had only shown a fraction of their potential power?

The shadows continued to dance through the air, attempting to coalesce once more and reform the monster. It seemed Sigma couldn't simply rid the planet of the black chi and even he could only temporarily disable it. Still, this gave Marian the chance he needed to decommission the pilot behind it all.

"You'll have to wait here Marian." Sigma held up his hand, the hole in his palm open, exposing a dim glow of purple light.

"I'm not about to take orders from you Sigma," Marian spat, stepping forwards to bypass the cyborg. He knew that Sigma would be unable to hack into his systems due to the changes he had made just in case he ever came across the android. It had been tricky, but creating a new network just for Marian had been necessary so that he could combat the Enigma Soldiers in the future. "I have my own business to attend to."

"You'll have to wait." Sigma pointed upwards at the sky, the Archangel's cameras zooming in on the cyborg's actions so Marian could see. "If I leave, it returns." The black cloud was indeed swirling around in the air above the battlefield, attempting to recreate itself. Sigma's presence was still disrupting it, though Marian was curious how much energy that was costing Sigma to maintain. Could Sigma even run out of energy though?

"I don't really have time to deal with you Sigma. I need to get rid of the black chi user. What does it matter to you what I do?"

"Normally I wouldn't be here." Sigma sighed as if this were a chore for him. "I don't really care what you all do to each other anymore. But then I had a talk with someone a little wiser and they helped me understand a couple of things." Marian threw his hands up in the air, knowing exactly where Sigma had come from now and he imagined all the different ways he could strangle Shotuku for all the headaches he was causing. "Someone important to me has something to do with that black chi pilot. He's going to deal with it for now."

"He's going to deal with it? What are you babbling about you piece of junk? Nobody should be anywhere near that Goliath and nobody should be able to interfere with it." Sigma only shrugged as a response. Marian knew he couldn't fight against the Enigma Soldier in his current state, and even if he did beat Sigma that would only make the black chi return and that would certainly kill the general. He didn't have much of a choice then other than to wait this one out.

* * * * *

Porter stepped up to Riya's cockpit, panting a bit with exhaustion. Goliath's were not meant to be climbed manually and he had learned the hard way how poorly designed their interiors were. The door slid open in front of him with a familiar pneumatic hiss, but Porter was greeted with nothing but darkness.

The shadows began to seep out of the doorway, stretching out to touch Porter, wrapping around his body and pulling at him, beckoning him inside with its icy grip. He didn't hold back though. He was used to the presence of these shadowy wisps. This was a bit different in that it encompassed the entirety of the cockpit, but Porter felt no fear. He knew Riya was somewhere inside and he knew he had to reach her and that was all there was to it.

As Porter moved into the doorway, he heard the door slam shut behind him. He was blind, unable to see without light. Another moan rattled around the room, this time much closer, so close he thought he could just reach out and grab Riya, shake her out of this and help her.

"Riya?" he called out to her, instantly regretting it. The shadows began to swirl, picking up speed and creating a torrent of wind around him. They started to manifest physically, tearing at his clothing, whipping past him. One sliced open his cheek, a tiny cut across the tip of the bone. It stung but Porter did not stop. The darkness was starting to break apart, gaps appearing as they moved. He thought he had caught a glimpse of Riya in between the shadows.

The speed continued to pick up and it was almost like Porter was standing in a tornado. The darkness was beginning to push back, closing around Riya as it swirled, pushing back Porter as he stepped through it. More cuts began to appear, some of the shearing through clothing and skin. A laceration appeared across the back of his hand, then another one on his stomach. Porter had to grit his teeth to endure the mounting pain as he took another step forward, pulling ever closer to Riya in the centre of the room.

Porter's hand touched the edge of the cockpit's seat, and he wrapped his fingers around it tightly, yanking his body through the shadows as they cut through him. One sliced along his side as he did, cutting deep into his skin and muscle, trying to make it to his organs. Porter sucked in a breath through his teeth, bracing himself from the pain. He threw his other arm forwards, feeling it fall across Riya's lap.

"Riya, what's happening?" There was nothing but another moan in response, a slow, long sound that seemed to seep out of the girl's body rather than coming from her mouth. Porter pulled himself up so he was in front of her, clutching on to either side of the chair. This was the eye of the miniature storm and the shadows no longer touched him. It was only now that he felt the wounds he had received, the blood welling up from his cuts and sliding down his skin. The cut on his side was the worst, the warm liquid dripping down to his waistline and pooling at his pants. There was a laceration above his eye, and a drop quivered in front of his vision, hanging on to his eyebrow before finally falling but he did not care.

In front of Porter was Riya, her eyes wide open but filled with nothing but darkness, two black orbs that stared straight through Porter. The shadows oozed out of her body before flying off to join the rest and form the black chi. "Riya, what's going on? Come on Riya, you need to stop this."

There was no response this time from the girl, her eyes just looking upwards, never meeting Porter's no matter how much he tried. It was as though she were unconscious, stuck in a trance from the shock of seeing Chase die. Porter wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tight and pulling their bodies together. He felt the darkness pass through his body after it emerged from Riya, like ice in his heart. His temperature was rapidly decreasing as he stayed this close...or was it that his life was draining? Did the black chi eat up the chi of those around it?

"Come on Riya, wake up! Wake up!" Porter pressed his cheek to hers, her skin colder than outside the Goliath. Still the shadows poured forth from her body and swirled around them, and Porter's grip loosened on her as his strength was whittled away. "Riya if you don't stop it they'll kill you." Porter wasn't sure if it was a tear on his face or blood. He couldn't tell the difference anymore between crying and bleeding but he knew he was upset enough to cry if that's what it really was. This was Riya, this was the beautiful girl in the hallway he had bumped into, the girl whose books he had helped pick up, the girl whose father he had stopped, the girl who he had found at the dance, the girl he shared a moment with. This was...the girl.

"Enough Riya, you have to snap out of it. You have to stop, you have to come back to me Riya, come back to me, Porter! It's me, it's Porter."

"Por...ter..." It was like a last gasp that slipped out between Riya's lips. Had Porter's ear not been beside her face he would have never even heard it but with that tiny sound he knew he had hope.

"Yes Riya, it's Porter, Porter is here. I'm Porter." He was smiling now, his chest filled with a rising hope. But it was immediately extinguished when there was no further response. Riya was silent once more, and the hope was replaced with the growing chill in Porter's body as the black chi flowed through him.

"Riya I...I don't know...I don't know what to do anymore Riya..." Another tear rolled down his cheek, and then more began to pour forth from his eyes. "I don't know how to stop this." He choked a little, coughing to clear his throat and breathe again. He wasn't about to lose two people so close to him in one day.

"Riya I don't know but...all I know is...Riya I...I love you Riya, I love you. That's all I know anymore Riya." He collapsed on top of her, his body heaving with his sobs as he imagined Marian closing in on The Warlord to execute the two of them.

"He's...he's gone." Porter sat up again, pulling away from Riya to look down at her, at her eyes, her clear brown eyes. Riya was staring at him, not through him, but at him. The shadows were dissolving around them, fading away as the light swallowed them up. "He's gone Porter."

Tears were streaming down Riya's face, and she reached up to touch them gingerly. She checked her finger in shock, as though she were unaware of her own body's actions. "Yes Riya...I know," Porter replied. He wrapped her up again, pulling her in close, and she slowly responded in kind, unsure at first before accepting the embrace.

"What...what happened Porter?" Riya was examining his body, surprised to find him covered in cuts and blood. "Where did I go?"

"It doesn't matter," Porter said, smothering her with his body, not caring about the blood he was smearing across her clothing. "It doesn't matter anymore Riya. It's ok now. It's all ok now."

A/N: Sigma's arrival buys Porter time but the battle is far from over. The Jahari still rise from beneath the earth, but can Sigma change the course of the fight?