KrissyKat91: Okay, this is really old, and I don't know how good it is. This is the one that ties into both my Thunderblade story, and my sister's (kaileytmarie) Terra story that I had to post because she was too embarrassed to do it herself.

Ch. 1: An Ending and a Beginning

June 5, 2155

It was the stereotypical dark, stormy night when the portal first opened. The man who stepped through the swirling vortex blinked, wondering if he'd misread something somewhere. He wasn't supposed to be caught in the tail end of a hurricane!

Oh, well. He was there now, and if he left, there was no telling when he'd be able to come back. And he needed to be there.

Panting, he hauled himself over a particularly slippery ridge, and nearly lost his grip at the sight in front of him.

A large robot, so badly damaged it was impossible to tell what it had looked like, was lying in a slowly growing pool of blue liquid. Sparks flew from several places, and smoke was rising into the sky.

Scrambling over the ridge, the man rushed to the robot, careful to avoid the liquid. If that was what he thought it was, it would eat him alive if he touched it.

Upon closer inspection, he found that most of the bot's armor was burned black, as if someone (or something) had tried to blow it up but hadn't quite succeeded.

Reaching out, he tried to brush some soot off of the charred chestplate, only to jerk back as it fell apart at his touch. Now able to see inside the huge machine, he couldn't help but cringe.

The circuits and wires that made up the bot's sensory receptors were a melted mess. He couldn't imagine the pain the poor creature must have been in before they'd overloaded and shorted out. He was surprised it was even alive!

Yes, he could see its fuel pump working slowly. It was alive, though at the rate it was leaking fluids, it wouldn't be for long.

Trying to figure out a way to save the bot, he scanned its interior, then spied something strange. A boxlike object rested in a fairly empty part of its chest, the top almost burned off.

Carefully peeling back the burnt casing, he peeked inside, and gasped.

An orb of blue, translucent energy floated in the middle of the box, flickering weakly. As he stared at it, entranced, something in the back of his mind whispered, Take it. Save it!

So he did.