The remainder of the day after the fight with Dasher flew by in the blink of an eye. But before sundown came and it was time for the next Salvager to show up, we decided to use the day to go out into the city and have fun together as friends. Although I was happy to have the four of us together, I couldn’t help but think about the fight between Byte and Dasher, and what Byte said as they fought.

“This is my ability, OverDrive. I assume they didn't inform you of it, by sacrificing part of my life force, I can power up any part of my body, for a short period of time.”

‘Ever since then Byte doesn’t seem like his normal self, something is off’ I thought to myself as I kept walking. I kept thinking more and more about it and before I knew it, I was way behind everyone else.

“Come on Erika! We gotta get back, it's going to be getting dark soon!” Yua yelled to me as she wildly waved her arms. I didn't want to hold them up, but I couldn't help the sinking feeling I had all of a sudden. We made haste back to the woods near my home, expecting the next of the B5 unit to arrive shortly, with their ship impacting the ground like Dashers had before, but this time was different. A robot in maroon armor made his way from behind the trees, and confronted us.

“Take them and get back” Byte demanded as he looked at me. Following his orders, the three of us moved back enough to be away from the two of them, but still close enough to hear what they were saying.

“I never thought I'd see the day they sent you after me, Cataclysm” Byte spoke as he got into his fighting stance. He spoke as if he knew the crimson colored bot personally.

“You know I don't want this my prince, drop your fists and return to Homeworld with me, I don't want to hurt you” The soft voice of Cataclysm spoke from inside the armor.

“This is my Homeworld now, I've made meaningful relationships here that I don't ever plan to give up” Byte responded as he settled into his stance, “even if I have to die to prevent my departure!”

“Shame” Cataclysm whispered as Byte started to run at him. Byte’s feet glew orange once again as he powered up with OverDrive, as well as his hands. Landing a furious amount of punches on Cataclysm, Byte sent him flying into a tree, breaking its trunk and causing it to topple over. Dusting himself off from the pummeling, Cataclysm stood back up, and took a defensive stance, not moving. Byte once again rushed over and began another furious assault on him, sticking to his defensive stance, Cataclysm blocked most of the punches, but was pushed back by one of Byte’s powered up strikes. Byte stood and looked at Cataclysm with his arm outstretched as he breathed heavily.

“Something isn't right” Reiji uttered as he watched their brawl.

“What do ya mean? Byte’s beating the tar out of that Cat-Oh-Clism or whatever he said his name was” Yua said as she threw fake punches in front of her.

“No, Reiji’s right, I’ve never seen him so stressed before” I mumbled as my legs started to shake, “Byte’s losing.”

“That’s enough” Cataclysm said as he leaped in front of Byte and knocked him back with one punch, bringing Byte to his knees, as he gasped for air. “At least this will be more painless than I thought. My ability MeltDown would have taken so much longer to bring you down and would have required so much more time and fighting. But since you've already weakened yourself with OverDrive twice today, I only needed to hit you with my ability one time to knock you out of the fight” Cataclysm explained. At that moment I knew why Byte had seemed different all this time, OverDrive was making him weaker, each and every time he used it.

“You...bastard” Byte fumed as he started to glow fiery red, trying to use his ability once more.

“NO STOP YOU CANT! YOURE GOING TO KILL YOURSELF!” I screamed to Byte as I stood crying, and watched him jump to his feet and try to strike Cataclysm once more, catching Bytes' punch.

“Why, why why why? Do you actually want to die here?” Cataclysm asked as he held Byte’s fist in his hand. Using his other hand, Byte landed a crushing blow on Cataclysm, rolling his head to the side. Cataclysm then sent him flying back with another punch. “I was told to bring you back, even if it meant you were dead, you knew this” Cataclysm said as he walked over to where Byte lay. “I’ll make this quick” Cataclysm stated as he lifted his fist above him, “Goodbye, Prince Byte.” Screaming out in terror and what I prepared to witness, I tried to run over and stop it, but I couldn't make it past Yua and Reiji, who held me back as I flailed my arms and cried uncontrollably. But just as Cataclysm prepared to strike, he stopped short, and held his hand to his helmet.

“Why...did...you...stop” Byte asked from the ground as he breathed heavily.

“Just received a transmission from Homeworld, from the King and Queen, saying that Prince Byte is to be let spend the remainder of his days as he pleases. Royal orders” Cataclysm explained as he started to walk away.

“Wait, why are they doing this?” Byte asked as he looked up from the ground.

“Who knows, maybe they'd rather have a live son then a dead king. Anyway, take care of yourself, old friend” Cataclysm said before disappearing into the night.

“Farewell” Byte said as he brought himself up from the ground. Knowing that the fight was over, I ran to him, and wrapped my arms around him.

“Oh my god I'm so glad you're okay” I told Byte as I looked at him. He started to say something but I couldn't hold back my feelings anymore, and planted my lips against his and kissed him. After I kissed him he pulled away and looked at me for a second.

“Erika” Byte said stoically as he looked at me.

“I'm sorry I don't know what came over m-” I was interrupted as he pulled me back in to kiss me. I was so surprised, yet everything felt right.

“Hehe look at those dorks right Rei-Rei” Yua teased Reiji as she messed with his hair. As Byte and I stopped kissing we started to watch the two of them.

“What aren't you mad at me for teasing you? Shocker” Yua said as she started to pout. Reiji then put his hands on the sides of her face and kissed her, her eyes slowly closed as they drew closer as they kissed. “It took you way too long Rei-Rei” Yua said before pulling Reiji into a hug. After everyone's moments had passed we all started to talk with each other about what had happened and that Byte was free to live the rest of his life on Earth.

“We need to CE-LA-BRATE! Mug Boys, for coffee?” Yua suggested, to which we all agreed. Suddenly Yua and Reiji started to sprint off holding each other's hands.

“If we make it there before you two do then you guys gotta buy the coffee!” Reiji said looking back at the both of us. Byte slowly walked over and rested his hand on my shoulder.

“I don't think we will be able to beat them with how worn out I am” Byte chuckled.

“I don't mind, let's just have a nice walk there, just the two of us” I smiled as I took his hand in mine, and we began to walk together toward the city under the light of the moon.