Welcome to Gaia! ::

The wind blew as the fierce sandstorm raged through the desert. A lone figure could be seen, struggling against the storm, his clothes matching the color of the sands around him. For a brief moment the sandstorm calmed, revealing the figure to be a male before the sand started to pick up again.

The man sighed as he stopped and placed a hand on the right side of the goggles he wore. His vision faded for a moment before a small map appeared on the corner of the right lens, while on the left had information. His brown eyes scanned the map and the information provided before he switched the unit back to its previous mode.

Even though covered by the sandstorm, the heat from the sun made the track through the wasteland that much more unbearable for him as he continued his walk, his footsteps hidden a second later as if he hadn't even been through the wasteland.



Hours went by as the figure continued his walk though the sandstorm. He let a long sigh escape his lips as he walked. His goggles flashed red as he stopped walking, his right hand going for something strapped to his leg. Off in the distance, unseen by the normal eyes, were a dozen or so beings. From his distance, he wouldn't be able to tell if they were friend or foe. "Might be, best to be on the safe side.' He thought to himself as he started walking again away from those ahead of him.

'Just great my luck, been walking all damn day, and once I get into what's left of Stone Canyon something shows up. GREAT.' He thought as he mentally made the 'Great' sound like how Tony the Tiger would do. He sighed again as he moved to hide inside a ruined building.

Moments later the dozen or so blacked feathered human size walking birds walked past the door into the building he was hiding in. One of them stopped and walked into the building. The creature eyed what remind of the store.

"See anything?" another of the creatures asked from the outside.

"Nothing's new in here." The one inside said.

"Then let's move on. This sandstorm doesn't look like it's going to break any times in the near future." The one outside said.

"Yeah, took an hour to get all the sand out last time." The one inside answered as he turned around and headed back out into the storm. After what seemed like an hour the male figure moved out from behind the counter he was hiding behind.

'Just as stupid as I remember.' He thought as he brushed some of the sand off of him. He moved the cloth over his face. Reaching for a bag he had strapped to his back, he removed a canteen along with pulling out a plastic bag from his pocket. He laid the two items down on the dusty counter in front of him before taking off one of the gloves covering his hands. The first thing he opened was the plastic bag holding the jerky, taking a piece or two before closing it back up again. The next thing was the canteen. Once it was open he laid the lid down before taking a long sip.

He let himself relax a moment as the cold water hit his hot throat. He closed his eyes, as he thought about better times. It only took a moment for him to open his eyes back up. He sighed in relief when the goggle indicated that he was along once again.

Pulling the canteen away from his lips and putting the lid back on he grabbed a piece of jerky with his free hand, making sure it was the one without the glove before taking a bite. 'Can't wait to get home again, stuffs to damn dry for me.' He thought as he finished his jerky.

Once he was finished he wiped his hand with a napkin, making sure to trash it before putting his glove back on then the cloth protecting his face. He let out sigh escape his lips as he walked for the door.

He came to a stop just short of the door, turning his head from left to right he scanned the area with the goggles. 'Good though feather heads are gone. Now just to make it back to base without being spotted, this stuff so better be worth the long trip.' He thought as he finally stepped through the threshold.



'Where is that?' the figure thought as a lone red bleep on his goggles. He turned around as the figure moved around him. He couldn't see or hear anything as he looked for the bleep. It took him a moment to feel something pulling on his pants.

The goggles changed from scan mode to thermal, he looked down to see a little boy pulling on his pants, the boy had short blond hair that was covered in with sand making it look more brown then blond, his eyes were the brightest blue he had seen in a long time. He took a relaxing breath before bending onto his knee. "You shouldn't be out here. It's not safe." He said looking down at the little boy.

"They took mommy away." The little boy answered before starting to cry.

The figure sighed as he placed a gloved hand on the boy's head. "What's your name son?"

"Travis." the boy answered.

"Alright Travis, I'm going to take you with me ok. It's not safe of you to be out here all by yourself." He answered.

"But…" Travis said but couldn't continue as he started to cry harder.

"I'll do everything in my power to find your mom, but it might take me some time Travis."

"Promise?" Travis asked looking up.

"I promise." The man said as his goggles flashed to green. 'Ok none of Mondo's tricks.' He thought as he stood back up and held out his hand to Travis. "I'd carry, you piggy back, but the items in the bag or to important to do so."

"Ok." Travis said as he took the man's hand before the pair started to walk, they only took a step or two before the man handed him something.

"Put this on your face, It's keep the sand out of your mouth." He said before bending over and putting the cloth and goggles on Travis. 'Good think I brought a spare.' He thought. "I know there a bit big but they'll help."

"Thank you." Travis said as they started back up again.

"You're welcome." The man said as they walked. "It'll only take a few minutes to get where we're going."



The pair stopped. The sandstorm is, getting worse. "Stay here for a moment, okay." The man said, looking down at him. "Don't worry. With these goggles I'll be able to find you again."

Travis nodded as he looked up at him.

The man nodded back before walking forward. He turned the goggles to a different setting. It flashed purple for a moment before a keypad appeared on a statue. He turned his head a bit to look around making sure it was only him and Travis before turning back to the pad and putting in the code. It took several seconds before a faint green light appeared. He smiled to himself as he could he a clicking sound before the statue started to lift up.

He switched the goggles back to red before walking back to where he had left Travis. He smiled when he found the little boy standing where he had left him. "All set." He said watching as the boy ran over to him and took his opened hand.

The pair walked to the statue before entering the hidden elevator. Once inside the man pushed a button and the elevators doors closed and the elevator started down. He sighed as he removed the goggles from his eyes placing them in a pocket before removing the cloths from his face and head, he then removed his glove. He looked himself over in the reflection the doors surface. His hair was shorter then he would have liked, he had gotten used to it being long. His hair and eyes were a chocolate brown color. He smiled as he turned to look down at Travis who had like him had removed the items protecting his face. He took the offered items from the boy before storing them back in his pocket.



Ten minutes later the doors to the elevator opened, allowing the pair to see into a long corridor, which split to the left and right, along with continuing forward. The corridor was very well lit. The corridors appeared to be made of the finest metals found on earth, which do to Earth's current state was surprising. It took only a moment for someone to notice the open elevator door.

"Welcome back, sir." A blond haired woman with blue eyes said as she walked up to them as they exited.

"Hey Dana," The man said smiling at her. "Could you, take Travis to get something to eat, and find him a room?"

"Sure." Dana replied as she bent down. "Hello Travis, are you hungry."
Travis moved to stand behind the man.

"She won't hurt you, she here to help you." The man said then quickly added. "I promise."

Travis looked up at him before slowing walking over to Dana, and taking the offered hand.

"He's in his lab." She said as she stood up and turned before she and Travis disappeared.

The man stood there for a moment before turning left and going down a different corridor. 'Hope he gets along with the other children.'



The man soon walked into a large room. He smiled as he saw people running around working on things as a brown hair man barked orders at them. He looked up to see a large machine, and then sighed as he noticed it hadn't taken form on what it was going to be yet. 'Five years and we haven't even gotten one done. Then again parts are hard to come by.' He thought as he looked back down only to see the brown haired man had gone. 'Damn now where did he run off too?' He thought as he turned his head and seeing this target walking into a room off to the side.

He shook his head a moment before following. His mind drifting back to where he had been when the world came crushing down around him.

Flashback

He smiled as he walked out of the restaurant he had been in for the past hour. Which was unusual for him, normally he'd just order eat and leave. However today had been different, he had run into a person he hadn't seen since High School. Sure it was only a year ago, but it felt like longer than that. The two of them had spent an hour talking about what they had done since high school.

It was then that he noticed people running. He had seen this hundreds of times back in Angel Grove, but here in Stone Canyon it was different. He turned his head to see what they were running from, walking behind the fleeing people where beings dressed in either black or silver, with silver armor covering most of their bodies, They are armed with enormous bladed weapons.

"What the hell." He found himself saying before rushing at the creature and doing his best to fight them.

End Flashback

He sighed as he shook his head, not wanting to relive that memory again. He soon stepped into the small lab. For those that walked in without knowing the owners past would think it was just a high tech lab the genius had built for himself. However he knew better, he knew what the owner had been, and what the room was supposed to symbols. But he wouldn't tell anyone that didn't.

"Did you get it?" A voice off to the right asked.

"Yeah I got it." The man said sighing. "This thing easy weighs a ton you know." He added as he placed the bag he had been carrying on a table.

"Surely you're joking with me." The lab owner said as he pulled himself away from what he was looking at and walked over.

"Of course," The man said with a laugh. "It is what you wanted right?"

"Let's see." Lab owner replied as he opened the bag and pulled out a large piece of something. "Yup this is it. Great job," He said looking at the other man with a smile.

"It's not like I'm not listening Billy." He replied with a smile.

"Hard to tell you were." Billy acknowledged taking the piece out and moving it to one side of the table before digging into the bag a bit more, pulling out some wires, switches and what appeared to be a circuit of some kind. "What with this stuff?" he asked turning to look at the man.

"Oh right you weren't here last time I came back." He said taking the circuit from him. "Close." He called as the door slid shut and locked.

"Found something you might be interested in. It's back in my room. I'll come by a little later and show you."

"Ok, but why did you have to close the door for?" Billy asked a little confused by his action.

"Huh?" he asked confused before turning around. "Oops. Oh right...um…crap forgot it. Open." He said as the door slid open.

"Memory is still as bad as ever huh Tommy." Billy said trying hard not to laugh.

"Funny." Tommy replied rolling his eyes a bit, as he turned to leave.

"I thought so." Billy answered. "Close," He added

Tommy stopped and turned to look back at Billy. "Reason for that?" he asked

"Yeah, we found him."