New Age Chapter 22, 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

"Forfeit the game, before somebody else
Takes you out of the frame, and puts your name to shame
Cover up your face, you can`t run the race
The pace is too fast, you just won`t last..."

Vega Obscura. By most accounts, of those few who actually knew him, he was a normal boy, had a bit of trouble on math but technically a genius in every way. Highly creative, a could-have-been prodigy in both art and literature, a natural at Zoid piloting for more reasons than one and someone who grew bored with most hobbies and jobs fairly quickly because he could master most of them on the first try. On the flip side of the coin though, he was also a sometimes ruthless, highly skilled tracker, a lethally skilled warrior for as many reasons as he was merely a natural at it, and to end the package, he had mastered two black belts in Helic martial arts and could fence no less than eight styles of Imperial swordsmanship with the best of them like it was nothing.

To add fuel to this fire, the boy also lacked much apprehension about killing. He had seen people die before, he had killed some himself, by accident and design as it were. Further more, the boy wasn`t a tracker in the conventional sense, tracking a foe through foot steps and other such things took far too long.

As such, Vega had tailored his old 'hobby' of hacking into the Backdraft computers into tracking the movements of certain people through everything from credit cards and checks to the individual signatures of Zoid cores - a trick he had learned during his admittedly brief time working with Doctor Leyon just after the finding of the Berserk Fury. He also used this talent to hack through the mainframes of international news agencies, and other... More notable groups.

One such group was the world wide peacekeeping intelligence/military organization known as the Guardian Force. Their systems had been the toughest so far, but given how he had slipped in completely undetected within two and a half minutes, that wasn`t really saying much.

"Obscura, Obscura, Obscura... Where is Obscura?" He thought to himself, scanning through the entire computer system and searching for the files on anyone with the last name Obscura.

Eventually, he found what he was looking for. A single gigantic folder marked off as 'Obscura,' with 'Obscura, Kale' located within. It only took a few seconds from there as Vega went to work again, pausing only to sip on his drink while downloading the files and then exiting the Guardian Force`s systems, covering his tracks with every dirty trick in the book, along with about fifteen that hadn`t even been written in yet.

When it was over, he was left with a complete bio of Kale, a list of recent activities and everything that they would charge him with if he was ever caught alive, which was an impossible long shot in and of itself given how many task forces and individual pilots Kale had apparently taken out along the way. It was sickening and outright disturbing for Vega to watch as his hunch from almost a month earlier was proven right.

Kale was following a specific pattern, running like a seismographic needle with the pattern of kills matching up with portions of a grid that corresponded to high or low ranking members of the Backdraft Group. The highest point so far had been Altiel, the lowest had been one of the mechanics for the Five Kings program, and the pattern had already doubled back once. That meant that there were deaths that the public didn`t know about, a bad thing indeed.

At the present, Kale`s seismic pattern was at a mid-way point, climbing upward on an imprecise angle that would probably carry it somewhere into one of three targets. Altiel and Sarah had been of equal rank during the weeks near the end of the Backdraft Group, and above them was a shadowy fellow that Vega knew only as the Count. Above the Count was the Commitee of Seven, people who kept their identities completely hidden from any and all attempts at ferreting them out. The Commitee had also been the only notable portion of the organization to escape being arrested for trying to overthrow a national past time that was as important to the governments as it was to the people.

Kale`s course meant that he was on a byline for Sarah or for the Count, Vega didn`t know which. The Count was located at a fairly comfortable prison located within the borders of the Helic Republic, that meant that Kale would have to either be subtle or punch through border patrols, and Vega knew that Kale honestly didn`t care either way.

That left their mother`s prison. Sarah Obscura was being held at a women`s prison located near the edge of the Imperial border with the zone designated for Zoid battles, putting it close to a day`s time from Kale`s last known sighting.

"I can already tell that this is gonna be one o` those days," Mark groaned with a yawn, reclining back as far as he could in the rigid cockpit seating. "Isn`t my fault we had to stay up fixing damage and rearming that damned launcher," Kyle grumbled back, audily trying to scratch his head only to find that his finger became stuck in a knot. "... Damn it," he muttered.

"Thus you see the joy in being me... I am not a pretty boy, thus I don`t need an hour brushing my hair!" Mark shouted, just as the Fox growled out something akin to an insult at the Liger, which merely snorted in reply. "... Silence or I stab you with my chin."

"YOU BASTARD!" Kyle screamed, only to scream again when he literally yanked his finger free of the knot, coming close to yanking some of his hair out as a result. Marcus was too busy cackling like a sleep deprived mad man to try and further his insults though, and the two Zoids were both exchanging wits at a furious pace as the Judge Capsule slammed down in the distance.

"Yesterday they aced through the Serpentine, Faren, Orwell and Bastard Teams. Unfortunately, the Packard Team - who they were originally scheduled to fight first - was forced to forfeit due to unknown circumstances, keeping the two man team with all five of their first promised wins. Today though, the Suicide Team will be dealing with far tougher opponents. The yet-to-be defeated Devestator Team, recently returning from a one year hiatus, the newly formed Orion and Wolverine Teams, the Aralina Team and the new Class B champions, the Tigers Team! Due to circumstance though, the Tigers will not be defending their title, primarily because battle mode 0138 - the chain match - would tip the balance too much for or against them for it to be fair for a title defense."

"Circumstance saves the day," Naomi tiredly commented, bending the sleep induced cramp out of her back as Brad leaned up off the couch, a snoring Leon basically camped out in the nearby chair. "I see you to were up late studying them," Naomi observed slyly, having long since figured out Leon and Brad`s habits when it came to both studying a possible future opponent`s battles and when it came to actually sleeping at a sane hour. "I blame the coffee... Wasn`t my usual type," Brad grumbled. "Sure it wasn`t," Naomi replied, wandering over and affectionately scruffing the former mercenary`s already messy hair.

"Devestator Team?" Mark asked. "Yeah, they all use decked out Iron Kongs and favor turning battlefields into char broiled mush rather than precisely trying to hit someone. Brutal in the short term but if we can outlast their missile supply, we`ll probably be able to make short work of them," Kyle answered. "So you weren`t looking at trailer parts last night..."

"Shut up, Newbie," Kyle grumbled. "Your mom," Mark shot back. "Is a very nice, chaste lady who calls me once a week and hasn`t looked sideways at another man since my father died," Kyle finished with a mocking tone. "You must have forgotten that she`s also a weekly stripper."

"You would know about strippers, wouldn`t you?" Kyle asked. "Bah," Mark sputtered with an annoyed tone. "Meh," Kyle replied. "Bah."

"YEAH TOAST!!!" Mark blurted out. "... Gee, somebody didn`t get enough sleep last night, did he?" Kyle asked. "... Can it or I`ll file your chin off with sandpaper."

"So you`re the Suicide Team, eh?" A new voice, burly and somewhat hauty interrupted, coinciding with the appearance of four Iron Kongs, two of which were practically covered in missile launchers, the other two of which had enough beam cannon-type weaponry to hose down the average battalion like nothing.

"Gee, compensating for something?" Kyle asked dryly. "Yeah, really... Must be all the steroids," Mark interjected amusedly. "Big talk coming from a pair of idiots," the other stated with a tinge of his own amusement. "Bubba," Mark growled. "No dude, Bertha," Kyle replied. "Bertha? Why Bertha?" Mark asked. "Because it`s obvious that these guys would probably get a sick kick out of a masculine, redneck name like Bubba," Kyle answered. "Bertha it is then," Mark replied.

"Your mom`s," Mark answered calmly. "... Rimshot man, cheap and brutal," Kyle stated. "Yes well... It had to be done, right?" Mark asked. "True, true..."

"You would know about taking out assholes, wouldn`t you?" Mark asked contemptuously. "You talk too much shit," a second member of the Devestator Team stated dully. "Only because it`s all he can do," the apparent leader reassured. "All I can do, eh?" Mark asked with that sadistically exhausted, utterly laughable tone present in any young man deprived of sleep after having spent close to ten hours doing heavy labor with absolutely no help in the process.

"The area within a five mile radius is a designated Zoid Battlefield. Only competitors and personnel have authorized entry into the battlefield. All others must leave the area at once! Area scanned... Battlefield set up. The Suicide Team versus the Devestator Team. Battle Mode 0138. Ready..."

"I weep for you. Really, I do," Kyle mocked as Marcus spat out several random insults, jumbled horribly to the extent that they couldn`t really be understood, into the comm.

"... Whatever," the leader muttered annoyedly. "Take `em out!" He ordered loudly.

The two Missile Kongs both dove behind their counterparts, moving into rear guard positions while the two Beam Kongs rumbled forward, spraying out shots at both the Fox and the Liger, the latter of which merely stood it`s ground with it`s shield up at full. The Shadow Fox on the other hand, was moving by the time the Devestators had even begun to open fire, rocketing forward at full speed with a loud shriek and opening up with it`s dual impact cannon.

The Kong it hit didn`t even budge an inch from the hits it took, all of which barreled right into it`s thicky built right shoulder, coming just beneath the beam cannon that was mounted there.

"... Will you two just shut up and fight?!" Another Devestator demanded as a salvo of missiles passed over the two forward Kongs, streaking in with a whistling scream of brutalized atmosphere, heading on a direct course for the Ivory Blade Liger, which growled at the coming onslaught in feral amusement. It was only by scant seconds that the Zoid dropped it`s shield, needlessly of course, before abruptly dodging through the raging wall of firepower, zipping along at full speed after the Shadow Fox.

Then came a fierce shriek of tortured metal as the first Iron Kong tumbled over, rolling backwards from the full impact of every single spare ton behind the weight of the Shadow Fox, already moving at full speed as the collision took place.

"Warned you not to piss off the Newbie, but did you listen? Noooo," Kyle groaned, nonchalantly using the remaining Beam Kong like a spring board in his approach towards the two Missile Kongs at the back of the newly breaking formation. It was at about the same time that the Shadow Fox rose back up and away from the Iron Kong, which was already getting back up to it`s feet and bearing out the superficial damage it had taken. Claw marks, eight of them in all, lashed across the chest of the huge Zoid, which rumbled angrily at it`s smaller attacker.

"... So maybe you actually have some power backing that stupidity, no skill though," the leader stated dryly. "No skill? Dear Bertha, I just punked your sorry ass out, and I`ll do it again just to prove my point!"

"... You just don`t know when to listen, do you?" Kyle asked blandly, twisting the Blade Liger down and avoiding another pair of missiles in the process, a trio of beams coming in from behind and just barely missing. "They`re named the Devestator Team, what do you expect? Schubaltz-level intelligence?" Mark asked, swiftly dodging the Shadow Fox through a blistering hail of plasma, taking several small grazing hits in the process.

"Point taken, but still," Kyle replied, nonchalantly swinging both blades forward and stabbing one of the Missile Kongs right in the bends of the forearms, then swiftly sinking the Ivory Blade Liger`s longest teeth right into the huge Zoid`s leg, going for the vulnerable spot where the knee joint connected to the thigh. It wasn`t long before the first Devestator went crashing down as Kyle brought the blades back and extended them out to either side, breaking the connections for the forearms and the biceps of the Iron Kong, sending the top-heavy Zoid to rapidly begin losing it`s balance, which wasn`t helped when Kyle fired up the shield to hold the Kong in place while the Blade Liger literally tore it`s leg loose and bit it in two while the rest of the Zoid slid along on the energy shield, crashing to the ground next to the Ivory Blade Liger.

"You were saying something about us being unskilled?" He asked, even as the other Beam Kong fumbled back, dozens of sparks flashing off of it`s head and several of it`s main guns tearing off under the onslaught of pulse lasers, half of which were going in at angles calculated to hit joints, the other half obviously being Mark`s semi-improved aim, which was still a bit sloppy but obviously still very lucky, as displayed by the amount of damage all of the shots were causing.

And then the Fox stopped, swinging it`s gun back into forward-only and lunging forward, the ground behind it exploding in a violent fireball from close to thirty missiles at once as the smaller Zoid tore through the empty space between itself and the Iron Kong like a bat out of Hell, an image not exactly helped by how the Shadow Fox instinctively began deploying it`s smoke dischargers while Mark charged up the Strike Laser Claws.

"Nobody ever listens to the random bishounen... Such a shame," Kyle stated, blandly dodging a pair of missiles and putting a number of machinegun-styled blaster shots into the groin of one of the Missile Kongs, blowing it`s lower body right off due to the severe lack of armor there. That had always been a key weakness among Iron Kongs, but only a few people thought enough to actually exploit it.

The remaining Beam Kong let out a roar, the majority of it`s the upper right side of it`s chest, the lower right side of it`s neck and all of it`s right shoulder promptly being severed by the smoking blur that was the Shadow Fox, which landed with a harsh skid, smoke dischargers folding back up while the enormous Zoid behind it twisted and toppled over, out of the battle due to the damage it had taken.

"You were saying something about me being unskilled?" Marcus asked rather dryly, flipping open the tail of the Shadow Fox and nailing the remaining Kong with an air of annoying calm and relaxation. The pilot screamed irately and pounded his fists, but it was useless. The remaining Kong shut down entirely and...

"I`m back!" Bit announced cheerfully, waltzing into the living room like he owned the place. Leena was camped out on the couch with a dozen empty bags of what had been popcorn set on the floor next to her, Jamie was muttering obscenities to himself in what looked vaguely similar to sleep and Steve and Brad were nowhere in sight.

"Gee," he began sardonically. "Just roll out the ol` welcome mat, why don`t ya?" He asked dimly, glancing up from the two unconcious teens and setting his sights on the television, just as the winner of the first phase of the five part battle was announced. The blonde youth quirked a brow up at the sight of the Shadow Fox and a slightly-large white Blade Liger standing side by side as a number of Gustavs literally scraped away the remains of four Iron Kongs.

"Guess Harlock`s doing alright," he thought aloud, glancing around briefly before shrugging to himself and heading into the kitchen. Immediately, his eyes set themselves onto the fridge, and in his usual fervor, Bit launched himself through about twelve feet of empty space to try and latch onto it, only to find that it was completely empty save for a single note.

"... Can`t these lazy bums even shop for groceries when I`m gone?!" He demanded mournfully. So much food had been there... And someone else had eaten it all!

"Wait a sec," he thought, finally noticing the little piece of chilled paper, which layer across an unopened, empty tupperware bowl. From the looks of things, it was from the Doc, and it read rather plainly as well.

As they say, "Duty calls." I had to go away for a few days
on business leave. Keep the place as tidy as you can and try
to avoid any calls from a guy named 'Sloan Tendro.' If
you need me, you know the number for the jeep I took.
- The Doc

"... Sheesh, are we all on business leave these days?" Bit asked, absentmindedly remembering that Leena was actually out of the hospital now. She`d apparently been released during his own little trip around the block from the look of things, though he hadn`t made note of much else about her. Like the fact that she was wearing pajamas with sleeves and pant legs rather than the usual skimpy get-up she favored.

He also hadn`t noticed the pair of glasses that`d been placed next to the couch.

"And just where do you think you`re going, Vegie?" The male member of the Fury`s support crew demanded. Vega had recently managed to identify him by the last name of 'Torson,' but had no freaking clue of anything else about him. "To put a stop to something I`ve been neglecting lately. What armor is the Fury wearing?" Vega asked, already knowing the answer though. "The Storm Armor, why?"

"Good. I`ll need some speed to get there," Vega stated, walking past the man like nothing and mentally calling out, using his emotions to coax the Fury into walking out of the hangar they`d kept it in lately.

"We will soon enough, Fury. Just have to let them finish figuring you out," Vega assured as the Zoid lowered it`s head, obediently opening the way into the cockpit, much to Torson`s vehement protests.

"Tell him I left. He`ll understand," Vega answered, jumping inside without another word.

It was a far more even match-up than the previous had been, at least in numbers. Two against two, the Ivory Blade Liger and the Shadow Fox against a Shield Liger and a Command Wolf. Numerically speaking, things looked as though they really could have hit a complete deadlock from the start of the battle to it`s end, but then again, numbers only accounted for how many Zoids were present.

The actual battle proved to be far shorter. The Command Wolf was outgunned right from the start, having it`s shoulders blown open with a stream of pulse lasers right as the bell rang, but the Shield Liger proved a tougher opponent, mainly since the pilot had the sense to throw his shield up from the start of the battle while trying to ram the Blade Liger, which also had it`s shield up for similar reasons.

The result was that the two shields canceled each other out and both Zoids slammed into each other at nearly full speed, with the slightly heavier weight of the Blade Liger causing the Shield Liger to stumble backwards before things degenerated into a biting and clawing melee. Sparks flew from the cheek of the Blade Liger as an errant paw strike came in, narrowly missing the actual cockpit, but the Shield Liger rocked back from having the ivory Zoid`s shoulder smashed into it, which also changed when Kyle sank his Liger`s teeth in and -

- promptly tore the front right shoulder`s armoring right off, exposing internal gears which were promptly smashed to burnt kiblets by a single pair of shots from his dual impact cannon, causing the Shield Liger to topple over sideways and stay that way.

"Surgical," Mark commented dully, leaning back in the cockpit chair and yawning. "Guess you`re trying to finish this as quickly as me, eh?"

"The longer these fights go on, the more damage we`ll take and the less sleep and food we`ll be able to get as a result. The less sleep and food we get and the more damage we have to work through means our Zoids will be weaker if we make it through to Class A, and the slower and sloppier our piloting will be," Kyle explained with all the logic of a computer. "Point taken," Mark replied with another yawn.

"Interesting," Leon commented studiously, practically ignoring the way that Naomi and Brad were carrying on with each other. Despite the fact that most of the time, they were quiet, now that they had gotten significantly closer through the past weeks, you could put them together and - as Leon Tauros was more than willing to testify to - they wouldn`t shut up.

But at least they paused in their typical morning debate of coffee versus tea long enough to quirk a mutual eyebrow at him.

"What?" Naomi asked, blandly taking note of how Leon had yet to even look at the two. That was probably one of the man`s key mixing points. When focused, he literally ignored everything but the goal he had set for himself and things that coincided with it. This meant that he was extremely dedicated but it also carried the downside that he came off as somewhat secretive and maybe even a bit more jaded than Brad and Naomi both at the same time.

"Did you see that just now?" He asked after a small pause. "See what?" Brad asked, pointing out the obvious fact that he and Naomi hadn`t even been paying attention. "The Liger pilot`s style just changed. So did the Shadow Fox pilot."

"How so?" Naomi asked, finally leering at the TV as Gustavs started dragging off the downed Zoids of the Orion Team.

"The Fox pilot just became less willing to go point blank when that was his best chance to take out the Command Wolf and the Liger pilot just became quicker and more precise. They`ve finally realized that they aren`t dealing with a game so they`re trying to cut back on risks where they can, or to end any risks they have to take as quickly as possible," Leon observed.

"They`re still sloppy enough," Brad pointed out, noting the amount of damage that had been taken to the heads and shoulders of either Zoid.

No man`s land, just a few hundred miles south of the Guylos border with the zone of land permanently assigned to the Zoid Battle Commission and the Guardian Force. Most of the time, this was land that was reserved for battle, and it was only occupied sparsely in the area that a fugitive was making his camp. Close to 280 years earlier, this place was the site of a battle that had come close to determining the outcome of one of the last of the three Imperial-Republican Wars, a place where then Lieutenant James R. Kreuger lead a squadron of prototype Shield Ligers and thirty Gordos, lacking on any air support whatsoever, to a forced victory after the death of his commanding officer, successfully becoming the only man to ever outsmart General Alfred Schubaltz, the uncle of the brothers Karl and Thomas.

Today, the place was still littered with scavenged, demolished Zoids, barren of their cores, barren as well of their now badly obsolescent weaponry and equally obsolescent armor. All that was left of what had once been close to eighty-eight fallen, then top-of-the-line combat Zoids were skeletal remains, battered shells of what had been, and what was left of that was generally half-covered in sand and desert growth, with a few playing host to the occasional wild animal.

It was a place filled with ghosts of the past, hundreds had died there for a war that only beget two more in it`s aftermath and lead the emperor, Rudolph Gerhard Zeppellin I into believing that the Republic was too dangerous to be allowed to grow. Because of that, the battle had been utterly futile.

Kale Obscura considered the futility of that event to be something funny in an off sort of way. His sense of humor had been broken like the rest of his now cracked, murderous psyche when he`d gone over the edge, so to find something like a futile, bloody and otherwise desperate battle that accomplished nothing but further bloodshed was something that highly amused him.

Almost as much as the faint growling of the Genosaurer. Apparently, the huge Zoid found it annoying to have to sit around so many 'dead' members of it`s kind, if only because they couldn`t give it a fight.

"Almost time," he thought to himself, taking a sip from his cantine and then checking his watch. "Vega`s probably figured my pattern out by now. He`s also probably heading on a byline for where mommy-dearest is being held by the Guardian Force. If the broadcasts the Genosaurer`s been able to pick up on broadband lately are correct, he`s also probably using the Storm Fury," he mused, and then paused to look up and around.

A loud rumble overhead and he could faintly see the outline of a Whale King. Civilian transport, obviously, otherwise the area would`ve been coated in artillery by now, along with attack Zoids flying in overhead.

"He`ll probably be waiting on me at the prison, as well. All the more reason for me to change my plans. Trouble is, he`s also probably had the forethought to warn both of my targets. If he hasn`t, he told someone who told Stoller and Stoller gave them the warning. That means that they`ll be expecting me regardless, which also means I`ll probably end up having to take either target out from a distance."

"I`ll trash Vega then. Whether or not I kill her in the process doesn`t matter," he resolved, leaning back against the leg of the Genosaurer and narrowing his eyes as the mid-day sun beat down hard.

"Ouch," Kyle commented dryly. "The truth is always painful, isn`t it?" Mark asked.

"Yep," Kyle answered, kicking off the match in the same fashion that the last one had ended, precision piloting. He wasn`t the best, but he was improving rapidly, dodging through a dozen incoming shots before extending the blades of the Ivory Liger out and slicing straight through two of the three Wolverine Team Zoids, splitting each of the two Saber Tigers right down the middle of the jawline to the hind end of both Zoid, each exploding in the same instant as he came skidding to a halt.

"Mommy," the other member of the Suicide Team harshly mocked, just as the remaining Saber Tiger literally went to pieces, a pair of golden blurs slicing in an X from either shoulder through to the back of either hip, narrowly missing the core and leaving the Zoid to split into four neatly sliced parts, held together only at the armor on the belly, though each leg promptly became detached when the Saber Tiger`s body fell straight down. The legs stood straight and then fell onto the diced up Tiger.

"That was harsh, man," Kyle stated. "... Oh, like chopping two people`s Zoids in half isn`t?" Mark asked blandly. "... Point taken."

"I think I figured out the Fox pilot`s style," Leon said, more to himself than anyone else since Naomi and Brad were busy rambling on with each other about the best angle to shoot down a Gojulas.

"He`s trying to play the psychology card and hit his opponents where they least expect it, taking each out in what should be the most uneffective weapon for the task, surprising them and overwhelming them because of it," he thought aloud.

"Doesn`t occur to you that he`s probably just exhausted, huh?" Naomi asked sarcastically. "... Or that," Leon mumbled to himself amid the background noise of Brad`s near audible smirking.

"Guess they`re either frazzed out or improving," Harabec deduced with all the shrewdness of a veteran elite trying to evaluate his competition at an upcoming tournament. People were crowded around the main televisions in the resturaunt, but Harabec still had a good view, even from behind the countertop. "I still think he`s nuts," Abbie growled, settling down onto the stool behind the counter and sighing to herself. "`Staving, I could understand, but what point is battling if he could die at any time out there?" She demanded.

"You`ll see if you ever pilot a Zoid," Harabec answered patiently. "Besides, I seriously doubt many fatalities occur in legitimate, sanctioned battles anymore. They have medical staff on call, ejectors, the works," he stated. It was a nice effort to try and soothe the young woman`s edged out nerves, futile but he tried anyway. Abbie had something against Zoids, she never said why but it was obvious that she didn`t like the idea of people piloting 50+ ton war machines against each other for sheer sport.

"Don`t you just love it when they think we`re on crack?" Kyle asked with a sadistic snicker. "... Who said they only think it?" Mark asked, snorting into the com.

"These guys are insane..." One of the Aralinas muttered in disbelief. "All the more reason to end things quickly," another stated. Three against two, two Helcats with side-mounted hiblit guns and a Dark Horn with two Imperial-made hyper beam cannons, the kind typically seen on Iron Kongs.

In short, things looked rather even, but as with the previous sub-matches of the day, looks were disturbingly false compared to actual results, which were quick and decidedly lethal. Explosions lit up the area around the Ivory Blade Liger, the one that most people would rightly think was both more dangerous in terms of firepower and durability, as well as the skill of the pilot.

Unfortunately, that meant that all of their focus was away from the Shadow Fox. With the Blade Liger dodging around through bullets and plasma bolts, things had definately fallen onto Mark`s shoulders for the duration - which also meant more individual points. Points that he would earn in quick fashion.

"Yanno," he began, bringing the Fox towards the three Aralinas from the right. "It almost insults me that they think so highly of you that they`d ignore me," he finished a few seconds later, just as the Fox caught the first Helcat completely off guard, plowing through the Zoid`s right hiblit gun and causing the motor to explode. In a chain reaction, the rest of the weapon`s ammunition followed, and the resulting fireball rocked both of the other Aralinas to the side as well.

That didn`t stop the Shadow Fox though, the Zoid literally dove through the flames and smashed into the Dark Horn, landing right on top and balancing there long enough to bring his dual impact cannon to bear on the remaining Helcat, blasting the Zoid right in the base of the topside of the neck, severing it`s 'spine,' so to speak by destroying close to a dozen vital connections to other systems, which included the command and combat systems both.

The Dark Horn went last, and it went with the least messy end. A single strike from the Shadow Fox`s left foreclaw - not using the Strike Laser Claw attack, just the basic claw itself - to stab and cut right through the other Zoid`s thick hide and break it`s back.

A few seconds later, the screeching, howling, proud Shadow Fox hopped down off of it`s latest victory, literally prancing around the three trashed Zoids as the Blade Liger snorted annoyedly.

"Friggin` ham," Mark uttered to himself. Then the ejector seat option popped up onscreen...

If the Shadow Fox had movable lips, it would have been grinning like an idiot just about now.

"Nice to see he finally got the gall to take an entire team without Kyle watchin` his back," Harabec thought aloud, leering over at the annoyed expression on Abbie`s face and then shrugging to himself without another word. He reasoned it was either a mixture of concern and possibly something in the past involving a Zoid, or only just one of the two likelihoods. Either way, it wasn`t his business and he wasn`t intent on prying, so instead of that, he shifted his attention back to the television.

"They got quicker," he noted, watching as the team of salvage Gustavs, all of them an unconventional model designed specifically for all terrain, even underseas, shuffled up and hauled off the remains of the eviscerated Aralina Team.

That meant there was just one left, and that meant that the Suicide Team were about to deal with the Class B Champions.

"Business`s about to pick up," he mused, stealing a seat from the other side of the counter and putting it to use.

"Gotta hand `em one thing," Mark exclaimed, watching as the great golden Whale King, dubbed the Lord Saber according to a few of the spec sheets that were made public on it, descending down from the skies at a slow, deliberate pace. It looked more like an enormous shark though, powerful and imposing, bristling with close to a half dozen visible gunports and with an engine roar that was sheerly deafening even from close to a mile away.

"And that would be?" Kyle asked dimly, also keeping tabs on the huge carrier as it came down. "They`ve definately got style," Mark answered.

Seconds passed and then the enormous carrier, measuring in at close to a kilometer in length alone, opened it`s mouth with a loud cry, just as three yellow Saber Tigers dropped down from within and landed precisely next to each other in a delta formation. The Kings of Class B had arrived.

"... And our opponents call us the crackheads?" Marcus asked sardonically. "Yeah, really," Kyle agreed with the same tone.

"FUCKING WEIRDOES!" Mark interrupted with a joyous, utterly serious shout. Kyle broke into a fit of snickers and all three members of the Sabers Team fell completely silent for almost a half a minute. Finally, Omari spoke up. "Kirkland..."

"... START THE MATCH ALREADY!" The leader of the team screamed in a rage. Both Omari and Lineback joined in a few seconds later, and after that, the Judge calmly carried out their wishes.

"Battle mode 0138! The Suicide Team versus the Tigers Team, sub-match five of five! Non-title! Ready?"

"Hope they don`t spew froth on their controls... Be kinda disappointing if they offed themselves before the match," Marcus commented dimly. "Yep."

In a matter of seconds, the battlefield turned into an outright warzone as the entire Tigers Team went after the Shadow Fox with a vengeance, almost aiming for the cockpit at several points. Mark and the Fox were better than to take the damage without a fight though, dodging out of the way by inches and charging the enemy team with a mildly insane cackle, while Kyle and the Ivory Blade Liger just stood there, waiting to be noticed.

And then the Shadow Fox finally took a hit as no less than nine shots blew apart the ground in front of it, sending a combination of a fireball, melting shrapnel and debris right up into the Zoid`s underbelly, flinging it back a ways before Mark finally spoke up, a bit annoyed given the fact that he was presently hanging upside down in the cockpit since the Shadow Fox had landed on it`s back.

"But I enjoy watching you get your ass kicked!" Kyle complained amusedly, jumping into action even as he did so. Several seconds passed by while Mark continued dodging around after the Shadow Fox got to it`s feet, and then one of the Tigers, namely the one Kirkland was piloting, screeched out a cry of something along the lines of pain, flinging forward of the other two and backflipping as the Ivory Blade Liger, shield in place, charged into battle from behind, ramming the other Zoid and then flipping both blades down, trying to slice Omari and Lineback`s Saber Tigers in half.

The attack missed on both ends, and instead of being sliced in half, both Tigers swung to a halt on their forepaws, allowing the Blade Liger to dash ahead of them, just as the Shadow Fox doubled back, leaping over Kyle and the Liger only to land and dive forward, tackling Lineback`s Saber Tiger right off of it`s feet and right into that of Kirkland, which was already damaged from before to the extent that it`s back legs were almost useless.

With a hard skid and a rapid turn, the Blade Liger set itself to face the remaining Tiger, just as a number of rounds smashed into it`s shield. "Invincible, huh?" Kyle asked with a smirk. Omari winced and the Liger dropped it`s shield, blades zinging forward forward. A second later, Omari`s Saber Tiger had it`s lower jaw blown off, while it`s shoulders met a similar fate against the firepower of the Ivory Blade Liger`s blasters.

This happened at about the same time that Lineback and Mark`s battle with one another hit it`s fever pitch, with both Zoids breaking into little more than a rolling brawl before the Shadow Fox snapped it`s teeth tightly around the Tiger`s throat, rattling it viciously in a manner more befitting of a wolf than any fox.

Lineback didn`t quit though, opening fire right into the Shadow Fox`s right shoulder as best he could before an errant left claw swiped his undergun right off, raking a trail across the Zoid`s armor until finally, the Shadow Fox closed it`s mouth completely, effectively severing the equivelent of the Saber Tiger`s jugular.

Given that Kirkland`s Zoid was virtually immobilized from the second hand abuse it had taken, the match was over.

"Hold it!" A new voice interjected annoyedly. It was a man, obviously, a bit scratchy, a bit high pitched and a good bit nerdy, but still a man. "Eh?" Mark voiced in near-contempt at the sound of anyone even thinking of disputing a victory as absolute - and tiring - as that one had been. "Who the hell are you?" Kyle asked dimly, obviously at least as annoyed as Mark was contemptuous.

"Norris Packard, leader of the Packard Team. I`m here to challenge you bastards to a re-match."

"... For god`s sake, you lazy sonsabitches didn`t even show up yesterday!" Mark complained. "What he said," Kyle muttered.

"... Do you accept?" Norris asked angrily, his Zoid still out of sight. "... We`ll accept when you admit your momma plays your cousin-brother`s skin flute five times weekly, with an encore of the sister-daughter`s cornhole getting stuffed with your uncle-dad`s special pie," Mark growled out.

"Tomorrow, before you enter Battle mode 0138, re-match against the Packard Team. Is it a deal?" Norris asked again. "If it`ll shut you up, yeah," both members of the Suicide Team groaned in unison. "See you on the battlefield then," Norris stated, just as a black Heldigunner unearthed itself from several dozen yards in front of the Shadow Fox and the Ivory Blade Liger, taking a moment before scurrying away at full speed.

Author`s Note: The madness continues :P And if anyone noticed, yes, Norris Packard was intended to be something of a tribute(in name only, if nothing else) to teh l33t0r Zeon Gouf pilot from 08th MS Team.

EndlessAdventure: Friend of mine coined the term "Four Days of Suicide" for Mark and Kyle`s trip through the hells of leaping before looking :P

ZeonReborn: ... *Simply sprays the cookie making factory with napalm, then utilizes Sh33p minions to destroy all of the remaining cookies, cookie dough, etc. that Zeon could get his hands on.* Napalm > Cookies >_>;

Zinou: More bickering, bitching, whining, verbal jousting and witty insults than you`ll be able to shake a stick at... And yes, Mark single handedly kicks the rating up to 'R' with how much he cusses when he`s half asleep, hasn`t eaten more than a single meal a day for three days straight and needs to bathe very badly >_> And yes, Jamie has quite a problem... Too bad I`m not going to be able to resolve it for a little while longer. Ah well...

That`s all for now folks, read and review, enjoy and Sh33p out. See ya next time!

New Age by Sh33p

Best Fanfics on the Web, selected by Tim

Tim Seltzer's page www.seltzerbooks.com/tim.html

Discuss books at Blogging about Books http://www.seltzerbooks.com/blog/
Other book reviews by Richard Seltzer
Opus authors -- contemporary writers whose entire work is great
The Readers' Corner and Writers Showcase

This site is published by Samizdat Express, 213 Deerfield Lane, West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. (203) 553-9925 seltzer@seltzerbooks.com

Book collections on CD and DVD. A library for the price of a book.
Limited time offer: 2 for the price of 1

Return to Samizdat Express


	Webseltzerbooks.com

New Age

Chapter 22

Points of Authority