New Age Chapter 15, a Zoids fanfic by Sh33p

Hats off to this fic. It tops most fics I've read....including most of the ones I posted here. Tim Seltzer, seltzer@seltzerbooks.com

"Looks like you have your first official battle set up," Stigma informed as Vega drearily gazed across the table. "Who?" He asked slowly, looking worn down a bit. It could probably be attributed to the severe emotional toll recent events had dealt him, but he was mostly just adjusting as best he could. It could also be traced to the fact he had woke up into a flashback and come out of it holding a gun to Stigma`s head.

Of course the older veteran brushed that little fact off like it hadn`t even happened, but Vega was obviously a little unnerved by it happening.

"The Lightning Team. Jack Sisco and the Tasker Sisters. I believe you`ve dealt with them before," Stigma answered, tossing a folder across the table and glancing out of the window of the shack that Vega had demanded to call his temporary home during his stay. "Yeah. I tossed the three of them around like rag dolls just before the Royal Cup Tournament," Vega replied with a stifled yawn, ignoring the folder and instead heading for the mini-fridge in what made up the kitchen of the two room living place(the second room was a bathroom).

"They`ve picked up a few new tricks Vega, I`d advise you read over the files before you throw them aside," the former Backdraft commander said, a well placed tinge of experience shining through in his voice. Vega merely ignored him and swiped a can of whatever drink he could get his hands on, preferably something illegal for his age. Even at eleven, he was already beginning to show a strong rebellious streak, easily attributable to a good many things caused by the Backdraft Group.

"We`ve finished off one of the conversion armors, the other two are coming along slower than anticipated. The two current armor systems are already being loaded onto a Hammerhead II," Stigma answered. "A Hammerhead II?" Vega asked. "We haven`t picked out a name for it, modified in that it has most of it`s offensive weaponry and internal space removed to play host to the conversion rail system for the Fury and it`s armors," Stigma informed. "Any suggestions?"

"... Even if it wasn`t taken, I wouldn`t let it be named that," Stigma replied with an especially unamused, dry tone of voice. "The names we have slated for it so far are the Hammer Fuhrer and the Berserk Kaiser," he added before Vega could try and justify his last choice. "... Did you come up with those, Stig?" The boy asked. The former pilot of the Elephander gave a slow nod. Vega was slackjawed.

"Don`t get too comfortable. You may be my legally adopted son but that doesn`t mean you get this for free, I`m charging 50% of the wins from every battle you have until you pay off the debt for the time, money and personnel this has cost me," Stoller replied sharply.

"... Okay, so you are such a stingy old bastard," Vega commented while opening the can and taking a sip.

"Damn straight I am," Stigma shot off before heading to the door with a wave and leaving.

"Did he actually just display a sense of humor?" Vega asked himself, staring down into the mouth of the freshly opened drink before promptly walking to the sink and pouring it all out.

"So, Vega`s accepted the challenge?" Jack asked, leering over at Chris with little amusement in his eyes. "Not personally, but his new sponsor accepted for him," she answered with about the same tone, neither really paying attention to the obsessive way that Kelly was studying a recording of their last encounter with the Berserk Fury. It was a small habit the younger of the two sisters had taken on, she tended to over-analyze each and every loss the trio had until she could spot the exact reason, move or strategy that had cost them.

"I see," Jack replied after a long pause, sipping his coffee before nodding at Chris to continue. "Vega`s still a little banged up from the beating he took at the hands of that Kale guy that`s been plastered all over the news lately, the area around his left eye is probably still a little swollen..."

"Which means he`d be a little less capable of snap reactions on that side," Kelly informed without missing a beat. "Yeah, pretty much," Chris agreed with a small shrug. "Who`s his sponsor?" Jack asked, only partially interested in the actual battle itself. "Let`s see... Stoller Incorporated."

"So, Stiggy wasn`t bluffing when he told me he had started up a new collection of teams," Jack mused, sounding a bit riled beneath the surface, but nothing out of the ordinary. "You know him?" Chris asked, leaining back against the side of the fairly posh living room of the suite the three had gotten for the time being. Two beds in one room, a bathroom, a kitchenette and a living room. Jack had basically claimed the couch as his own and Kelly was sitting on one of the armrests.

"Yeah. Stoller and I go back a ways to when I was just starting out. He hired me and a guy calling himself 'Bart Huntley' to go into a few battles for him," Jack answered. "What happened?" Kelly asked, pausing the recording and glancing over at the former mercenary. "Bart`s Helcat got fried midway through the first battle and he vanished. I survived and eventually won my Lightning Saix off him as payment for all the cover I provided," he explained taking another sip of his coffee and scratching a spot up under his headband.

"Stoller`s got a real sense of irony then," Chris commented, dropping the paper down onto the table and smirking. "Picking Vega to fight us when we laid an open challenge to any of his teams and all..."

"Stigma`s sense of humor is as warped and invisible as a Whale King`s exhaust trail," Jack stated dryly, speaking up again a second later. "When do we fight him?"

"Today," Chris stated matter-of-factly. "When?" Jack asked again. "Twenty minutes."

"... Yanno Chris, I honestly wonder if you enjoy timing these things the way you do just to watch us squirm," Kelly muttered, literaly fling off of the armrest of the couch and grabbing her pilot`s suit off of the back of a nearby chair. Given that she usually favored lounging around in a pair of jeanshorts and a tanktop, not to mention the fact she was a bit more vane than Chris, she took a little longer to get dressed for battle.

She simply smirked in a smug sort of way at Jack, and then finally answered her sister`s comment. "Yeah, I do. I`ll be waiting," she stated before heading for the door, already having gotten dressed for the battle earlier on.

Jack on the other hand, merely shook his head and stood up, slinging on his jacket and heading for the door without another word.

"Who`re you?" Vega asked quietly, leering up at the woman standing in front of him. She was about the same height as his mother, making her relatively tall compared to most women, but she was also a great deal thinner, and a good bit younger than Sarah Obscura was. "Katherine Takahori," the woman stated bluntly. "Surprised you don`t remember me..."

"I remember a Rayth Takahori but I don`t think I ever met his sister," Vega replied dryly. "Ah... Well, that`s me so..." She shrugged. "Are you one of the support crew members Stoller told me about?" Vega asked. "Yeah. Me and several others," she stated with a nod or three.

"Just stay off the battlefield and be there when we need you," Vega ordered, walking past the young woman, darting in between an older woman and a man in his mid-thirties, making a byline for the Fury as it lumbered slowly out of the hangar with a roar. "Strange kid," Katherine commented. "All kids are at that age, especially the arrogant ones with big war toys," the man commented. "Can it Pip," the woman ordered annoyedly, smacking the man - who seemed to be her younger brother - across the back of the head. "Fine, fine... You`d think I`d`ve had a concussion by now with all the times ya smack me around."

"- killed early last night. His home was destroyed by what officials are identifying from trace energy signatures as a charged particle beam. Gunther Palta leaves behind no heirs to the surviving pieces of his impressive Zoid collection, which will probably be sold off at auction to pay for funeral expenses. In other news, Vega Obscura - the former King of Unsanctioned Battles - is going to be making his first official entrance onto the world of sanctioned Zoid Battles in little under fifteen minutes from now, taking on the former rivals of the team that beat him to win the Royal Cup Championship - and the only team to hold a win on the Blitz Team, the Lightning Team. Neither team could be reached for comment, but the bets are already stacking up, even though the battle was only announced two hou-"

"Hey! Turn it back, I wanted to watch the battle!" Bit complained with annoyance, receiving death glares from both Steven and Leena. "Bit isn`t the only one," Brad intervened. "I happen to want to watch Jack learn a new meaning the word 'defeat,'" he stated calmly, receiving a pair of death glares as well but ending up utterly unphased by them in the least. "That makes three against two," Jamie cut in, setting down on the floor in front of Leena`s bed.

"True, but I happen to own all your asses so NYEH!!!" The Doc exclaimed boldly, flicking his tongue out at the three warriors in his employ who had disagreed with him. "Anyone else up for a Union?" Brad asked sarcastically. "If we tried that, he`d sic Leena on us," Jamie answered with a wince. "Point taken," Brad replied at the sight of Leena`s slightly distorted, mildly insane looking expression.

"Five..." Brad begun, just as an unearthly scream echoed through the room, followed by glass shattering and one Bit Cloud flying out of the nearest window. "AND DON`T COME BACK!!!" Leena screamed, standing in her robes at the broken window.

"She was early for once... Nice to see she`s almost well enough to leave the hospital," Brad commented mundanely. "And her Bit Radar is still functioning pretty nicely," he observed a second later. As for Bit himself?

He was laying quite nicely in a body imprint made in the roof of a parked taxi, muttering about injustices of teenaged girls with tempers too short and hormones too plentiful for their own good.

Tensions were high as the two Gustavs pulled to a dead stop just past the edge of what would be the battlefield, a massive, plain piece of barren land stretching out to a number of mountains in one direction and the start of a forest in the other. The place was known as Imperial Crossing, a band of desert-like terrain stretching across what had once been the edge of territory belonging to the Guylos Empire, later ceded to the Guardian Force, who then turned it over to the Zoid Battle Commission in the interests of giving the people an outlet for their aggressions.

Coincidentally, since the ZBC`s foundation, wars had become fewer and farther in between. The essence of conflict ran deep in the veins of people all over Zi, but now that they had somewhere they could vent it in a controlled environment, it had become something far less violent.

Today though, as Jack hauled himself up and out of the cockpit of his Gustav, making a byline for the trailer as his Lightning Saix freed itself and hopped down, bending it`s head forward and allowing the former mercenary to climb instead, Imperial Crossing was going to be playing host to one of the most surprising battles of the past months, as well as one of the most anticipated.

"Good," Jack thought, ignoring Chris and Kelly`s Saix units getting loose and taking on their pilots. He was more focused on the black Hammerhead II that had just flown in overhead, moving straight for the opposite end of the battlefield before angling into a wide turn to face the Gustav`s, hovering just a few hundred feet in the air as a formerly concealed door on it`s belly, nearer the tail of the carrier Zoid, slipped open like a pair of bomb bay doors, bending into a right angle as a silver runway-styled extension slid out into view from within the door itself, two magnetic rails extending up to either side of that.

"He`s here," Kelly announced readily. "I noticed. Any bets on whether or not Stoller came with him?" Jack asked over the broadband, finding himself answered in a fairly nonchalant sort of way.

"You`re a real sick bastard, know that Stig?" Jack asked with a chuckle, bringing his Lightning Saix around and onto the battlefield, followed seconds later by the Taskers. Without giving it a second thought, he flipped channels over to the Lightning Team`s designated line. "Any ideas or should we try the formation trick again?"

"That didn`t work last time," Chris noted. "Kelly and I can distract Vega on his right while you go in from his left, until then we can use the switcher formation," she explained with eagerness. "That should work. If his left eye is still swollen then yes, his reaction time will be down in that direction because he won`t be able to see properly with it, if not then I`m going to get the snot knocked out of me."

"If all else fails we can try and use the Saix Twister," Kelly commented. "He has foot locks, it wouldn`t work," Jack replied, shooting that strategy down in an instant. "Yeah... We`ll have to watch out for his agility too, that thing might be big and stocky but it`s also pretty quick on it`s feet," she warned with audible distaste. Kelly hadn`t quite forgotten how the Fury had knocked her around the first time. "Agreed. Speed-wise it`s only a little faster than the Liger Zero`s base armor, but it has a lot more endurance... It can also fly, for how long, I don`t know, so we`ll need to be careful of that too," Chris warned.

"He should be launching pretty soon, get ready to go into formation," Jack ordered at the sight of electricity lacing between the rails of the Hammerhead II, which had yet to be formally named.

The modified Hammerhead II was a fairly impressive Zoid for what it was worth, about the length of the Blitz Team`s HoverCargo and around the same width. The internal transformation railing system was around the same type as that of the HoverCargo, but far more compact, and unlike that CAS unit, the one in the Hammerhead II moved the Zoid, starting at the base armor then moving down through a set of four other stopping points, each with a different set of armor in it, with the final stopping point being used to remove armor. The downside was that it made it a little troublesome to switch armors multiple times in battle.

Vega Obscura, an eleven year old veteran of more Zoid battles than most professionals thrice his age, wasn`t focused on the technical aspect of the Hammerhead II. He was focused on the match ahead of him, and goals beyond that. Shifting uneasily in the cockpit and waiting as the transformation rail kicked into gear, producing a dull hum throughout the Fury`s cockpit. A miniature screan popped up in front of the still-bruised preteen, showing the face of the older woman on his support crew.

"Which armor do you think you`ll be needing?" She asked. "I`ll try the Berserk armor for now, have the other on standby though," Vega answered rapidly, tugging at the rim of his right glove and feeling the momentum shift as the rail unit went into action and begun to slide him down towards the launcher.

The mini-screen blipped off and Vega was again left alone with only his thoughts.

"Not too long. We`re launching now, the Judge should be showing up soon after that," Vega answered without really paying much thought to it.

There wasn`t another word between them, the cockpit fell silent for several seconds before Katherine`s voice echoed into Vega`s ears, coming from outside the Fury rather than within.

"Armor system all set, launch rail at full power... Launching Berserk Fury in in five... Four..."

The Fuy came to a stop and then slowly lowered down to another stop, the outside of the Hammerhead II now clearly visible in the main screen. "Three..." The entire cockpit began to tingle a bit, Vega felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. "Two..." The Fury let out a rumble and...

There was a full fledged roar as the enormous Zoid went flying through the air, Buster Claws tucked neatly back as they almost always were, bar those times when he was using them in battle like he had against Bit and Kale. The Zoid`s legs were also tucked closely in towards the main body, extending in a flash just prior to a skidding impact with the ground, landing on both feet perfectly as another, far louder impact sounded in the distance.

"The area within a five mile radius is a designated Zoid Battlefield. This zone is now restricted. Only competitors and personnel have authorized entry, all others must leave the area at once. Area scanned... Battlefield set up... The Fury Team versus the Lightning Team. Battle Mode 0982. Ready..."

"As I`ll ever be," Vega muttered to himself, leaning forward in the cockpit, shoulders hunched up into the back of his neck with the heavy armored vest he wore settling onto him uneasily because of it.

In a blast of movement, the battle began, with the Fury rocketing forth and finding itself hard pressed to try and land a hit on the fast moving Lightning Team, which literally blasted by him with the combined force of no less than three sonic booms roaring into the side of the Berserk Fury in the process. Vega`s teeth rattled but the Zoid kept moving, literally plowing through the drag of the three Saix and coming to a stop several hundred feet behind them, already whipping around as the three began to make their next pass.

"I know," Vega replied, swinging the Buster Claws forward and pressing the triggers for rapid fire, sending off several pulsed beams at the incoming attacks, even as the three of them started shuffling positions, and in doing so changing their general location, with the line moving one Saix-width to the right or left each time.

"You`re going down this time!" Kelly Tasker`s voice sounded over the broadband. "Say`s your mom," Vega replied hotly, bringing the Fury up and off the ground in a boosted jump, allowing the three to pass beneath him and then further riding the sonic shockwave like a surfer to try and close in on them, the Zoid swinging itself around on instinct in the process.

"On my mark!" Jack`s voice sounded as the Fury began getting closer, to the extent that it was almost at the very edge of it`s striking range. "Mark!" Jack`s voice sounded again, louder this time. In truly perfectly timed unison, all three of the Lightning Saix units jumped off of the ground and into the air, each one executing a just as perfectly timed backflip at the height of the jump, and each one of them passing above the Fury to land in the very edge of the sonic shockwave, which allowed the three ace pilots to literally throw their Zoids forward and land back in formation without a single hitch, though this time they picked a formation which wasn`t as constricted, with Jack falling a bit behind and the Tasker sisters moving ahead to either side, Jack firing off first and then Chris and Kelly taking shots at the same time, trying to sandwhich Vega into a triangle of firepower from behind.

The young warrior wasn`t exactly falling for it though, the jets in the Fury`s legs suddenly hauling it right, out of the way of the incoming attacks and just out of range for the three of them swerve and continue their attack, forcing them to turn if they wanted to try it again.

"I don`t think you guys know what you`re up against," Vega said with a smirk, watching the three enemy Zoids split up, two going one way, the third going the other, but all three of them turning around just the same. "And neither do you," Chris chided, just as she and Kelly began to open fire from Vega`s lift. The Fury hopped back and out of the way each time but it was effective nonetheless, keeping the pilot`s attentions off of the incoming Jack Sisco.

Despite Vega`s commands, the Fury suddenly stopped any and all movement, allowing Jack to close the distance before suddenly, and utterly unexpectedly, a flare of pinkish energy lit up off of the ground into a sphere around the large Zoid, just as Jack brought his Saix into a jumping lunge, causing the former mercenary to swing around on the Fury`s energy shield, finding itself being burnt in several places - mainly the stomach - as a result before Vega took control back from the Fury, just as the Lightning Saix was airborn, taking the opportunity to bend the Zoid forward and whip the tail upward, catching Jack`s Saix on the side of the neck and sending it flying into the ground with a hard bounce and several spins by the end of it all.

"Jack!" Chris yelled, veering off course while Kelly poured on the speed, streaking beneath the Fury`s tail and swinging around on her Saix` forepaws, opening fire instantly and tagging the Fury`s left Buster Claw arm, knocking the larger Zoid off balance just long enough to leave it wide open. With a vengeful cry, Kelly`s Lightning Saix burst forward in the air, one foreleg drawn completely back before being sent forward in a flash at point blank, ripping into the connector joints for the Berserk Fury`s back unit, tearing off the entire thing in one fell swoop.

"In spades!" Vega retorted, and just as he did, the Fury twisting around, catching Kelly`s Saix across the side with it`s tail and sending her flying along to crash down next to where Jack was just now getting back up out of his rut, with Chris currently being the only member of the Lightning Team able to go on the attack in an instant.

The back unit of the Fury slammed into the ground a small distance away from it, but Vega paid no attention, waiting idly as Chris took her sweet time, obviously trying to give Kelly and Jack the chance to fully recover.

Vega could only agree with the Fury`s frantic scream, bringing the Zoid into a high speed rush forward and dodging aside through several bolts of fire from Kelly, narrowly avoiding each before coming up to point blank, crouched down to an extent before the Saix tilted on it`s back legs, trailing sparks from the chin due to a massive headbutt, but not before Jack could finish getting to his feet and opening fire, catching the Fury off guard completely in the chest with several shots before Chris` Lightning Saix crashed down into it, sending both back down for the count several seconds later.

Vega and the Fury came to a stop after the impacts at around the same time, having been thrown a good distance from the Lightning Team as a result.

Two loud clamps sounded and the tail of the Fury suddenly extended out, becoming rigid as the armored vents flipped open while the entire body bent forward, mouth swinging open completely with a roar. The barrel of the Charged Particle Cannon slid out to full extension and Vega narrowed his eyes, holding down the trigger to fire the weapon while adjusting his aim.

The scary thing about Charged Particle Cannons and the like were that they weren`t banned in Sanctioned Battles, but their usage was extremely restricted to aiming for the area near an enemy Zoid rather than right at it, though this rule wasn`t in place during Royal Cup Tournaments. This meant that Vega had to be careful about how he used it, which is exactly why he took his time, narrowing in as best he could to the space exactly five meters above the three Zoids.

"Ready Oeny?" He asked the Zoid, which growled in reply rather than trying to use some second mind-voice. Seconds passed by as the tip of the barrel began to glow, then a rushing sphere of energy formed there, one that grew and grew, and kept on growing by the moment until it was almost as big as the Fury`s own head, only barely fitting into the space of it`s jaws.

And then there the sound of a sonic boom and Kelly`s Lightning Saix went back on the attack, dodging under the Fury`s arms and slamming into it at the midsection, causing the large Zoid to tilt back at the last second as Vega released the trigger in surprise, causing a beam twice the width of the Berserk Fury itself to go streaking up into the skies in a flash of light, intense enough to shut out the light from the sun and render the entire battlefield little more than a white flare visible from miles away for several seconds before the beam narrowed to a thin ribbon of energy and stopped completely, just as the Fury bent forward again and locked both of it`s stubby arms around the head of the Saix.

"Nice move," Vega complimented as steam hot enough to melt a normal vehicle into slag rushed out of the tail of the Fury, which was still straight. "Remember to try and back away afterward next time though," he advised as the tail vents of the Berserk Fury clamped shut once again.

"Grand... I`m being tutored on how to fight by a kid," Kelly muttered sourly, just as Vega swung her up into the air and then dodged back, making to jump up after her for some move or another only to meet two pairs of incoming shots from Chris and Jack, halting the large Zoid in mid-air with the first two impacts and pushing it back with the second.

"Alright, it looks like we`re out of options here," Chris stated, just as her Lightning Saix shifted around several times quickly, trying to shake out the slowness of what could be considered 'injuries' to the Zoid. "Agreed," Jack replied uneasily, his own Saix stumbling forward as Kelly`s shifted and landed on it`s feet to the right of her teammates.

"Saix Twister then?" Kelly asked dazedly. Even if her Saix had made it to the ground in one piece, all of that twisting, turning and flying around had knocked a bit of the sense out of her. "Yeah, I`ll lead us off," Jack stated, bursting forward in a flash and swerving along towards Vega, who had only just touched down himself a few seconds before, leaving him wide open for the Berserk Fury to be swept off of it`s feet for several seconds by Jack, who stopped on a dime and swung around on a tight angle, coming back around a second time as Chris and Kelly moved up into position to join the attack, just as Vega touched back down the second time after Jack`s second pass.

In a pair of sonic shockwaves, Chris and Kelly rushed in, each coming in at opposite angles, with Jack following up a few seconds later by crossing through both of their paths. The pattern continued until it had formed what looked like a nine triangles formed completely out of dust, though each dust trail promptly blew away as the shockwaves of the Saix team`s movement, with Chris and Kelly providing most of the force and Jack simply boosting their efforts by guiding the shockwaves into the Berserk Fury, which was rapidly taking on damage by the second as a result.

"What in the hell is this?!" Vega thought in a blur, feeling the Zoid rock around and lose it`s footing several times before finally clamping down the foot locks in a panic, which only succeeded in leaving the Zoid a sitting duck with not enough room to execute a Charged Particle Shot while the three Saix could knowingly kept just out of range of it`s tail and head, effectively pinning the Fury in place to be slammed by shockwave after shockwave of sound, something that would eventually wear away on both the pilot and the Zoid.

And that wasn`t even the worst of Vega`s problems, because there was something even more dangerous beginning to happen at the very epicenter of the attack, all around him.

"You`ve got to get out of there!" Katherine`s voice cut in sharply over the comm, and Vega could only grit his teeth for several seconds. "I think I kinda figured that out by now!" He yelled back, even as the Fury howled it`s war cry, which was promptly shut out by the load roar of a newly formed tornado, literally ripping up and out of the ground in a spiral, almost tearing the Zoid right out of it`s rooted spot on the ground, causing it to stubbornly bend forward and sink it`s claws in, staying put even as the fierce winds threatened to rip it out of the ground. The sonic booms weren`t exactly helping.

"I don`t know! Shut up!" Vega ordered frantically, trying in vane to think something up.

"Thinkthinkthinkthinkthink..." Vega jumbled at himself, trying to clear the Fury`s panicked voice out of his mind long enough to actually come up with a plan. Before, they`d worked just fine but right now he was having quite a time thinking something up, until finally...

"GET PISSED YOU BIG PIECE O` SHIT!!!" Vega screamed at the Zoid, his own emotions reflecting his words, even if he had to force himself to become more angry than he was afraid. It was a trick he had picked up during the initial period of time when he was playing with the Backdraft`s 'elite aces,' people he kicked around in battles for fun. Basically, he had figured out that he could further control and work with the Fury if he used his emotions to help do it, and the emotion the Zoid responded most intensely to was anger.

Unlike in the Royal Cup though, Vega wasn`t going to be knocked out this time. That would keep the Fury focused with it`s anger, ruthless, precise and lethal, something it hadn`t been during the Tournament.

"That`s it... They think they can take us with such a pansy assed move as this?!" Vega goaded, feeling the Fury`s emotions shift from fear to well guided rage as the Zoid released it`s grip on the ground with it`s hands, standing up with a jerk amid the rushing winds and sonic booms. With a loud roar, audible even over the screeching howls of the winds and the tortured cries of the sound barrier being broken, the Berserk Fury stood with near impunity, practically unable to move or attack.

With the Fury now angry, Vega`s mind was cleared of it`s voice, and in turn, the Zoid had become virtually unmoving. Nothing ventured, quite a bit gained, allowing the young pilot to try and think.

The ground though, it wasn`t as resolved as the unlikely duo striving to cling to it, and after a few moments, the foot locks began to slip loose. The foot locks...

"The foot locks!" Vega repeated to himself, literally smacking his own forehead before leaning forward and pulling back on the controls into the proper pattern to slip the foot locks up and out of their anchored position. "Vega! We just picked up that you`re releasing the clamps," Katherine`s voice jacked into the boy`s senses. "Just shut up and get the Storm Unit ready," Vega ordered with a sneer, just as the foot locks slung up into neutral.

"This party just ended," Vega exclaimed loudly over the broadband, just as the Berserk Fury was literally torn off of the ground, surfing up and crashing into the inner wall of the tornado on one of the numerous sonic booms that the Lightning Team was throwing at it.

"What the hell is that kid doing?!" Chris demanded, watching the Fury skim up into the walls of the tornado and fire off it`s rockets, seeming to skate alongside them. "And people wonder why I`m the former King," the boy muttered to himself annoyedly, at about the same time that the Fury literally slammed straight through the wall of the tornado, slingshotting along the outside and flying through the air towards the Hammerhead II, which looked as though it was about to bank sharply to get out of the way.

"Don`t move!" Vega ordered. "What?! You won`t even come in on the right course!" The man formerly identified as 'Pip' yelled back. "That`s why I`m the pilot here, dunce," Vega retorted as the Fury deactivated the entire rocket set-up on one leg, hitting the afterburners on the second while swinging it`s tail towards it, causing the entire Zoid to twist around before the first leg lit back up in a burst of flames.

"You were saying?" Vega asked smugly, at the same time that the Fury smacked feet-first into the launch rail, magnetics kicking in to do the rest of the job of bringing it to a stop while Vega killed the engines, breathing a deep sigh of relief and emotionally coaxing the Zoid into calming down.

"... Whatever," Pip grumbled in reply while the launcher slid up and into the main body of the Hammerhead II.

"Alright... Ready to initialize the Storm Armor..." Vega said with a steeled resolve, leaning forward again and shifting the controls into the appropriate pattern to trigger the selection.

Shiro: He stopped wearing his visor in NA, thus his character shielding went with it :P And I`ll try to mail ya sometime, just been a tad busy as of late.

Anonymous: The shield generator equipment(secondary powerplants, controls, emitters, etc) had to be removed to accomodate for the placement of the Sim`s blades. They can still charge them but not very much compared to a true Blade Liger. Hope that answers your question :/

New Age by Sh33p

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New Age

Chapter 15

The King's Return - Lightning Rematch