New Age Chapter 26, 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

Early morning, the dormatory shared between one Abigail Summers, Hope Jones and Jessica Takashida. In specific, early morning within the bedroom of Abigail Summers. Mark was half-asleep but he still had it in him to open his eyes, groggy and unkempt as he looked after having slept next to a woman who literally flailed around in her sleep every now and then. Thankfully for him, he was an especially heavy sleeper though, so it didn`t really make any difference.

Sitting up in bed though, the thoughtful realization that Abbie wasn`t there next to him dawned upon his awakening senses, a bit slowly though. Without a word - but instead with a loud, tired yawn, the younger member of the Suicide Team got out of bed, hobbling along on one foot while stretching the other out, then repeating the process a second later as he got to the door. The clock read 9:35 AM, it was Monday so Abbie was at her classes as usual, as were Hope and Jess.

"Thank god," he grumbled to himself in thought. "Don`t think I could stand those two right now," he added, glancing drearily around the living room of the presently empty living space. As it usually was when he stopped by, the place was so clean you could pick out a needle sized dirt stain from a mile away, and the counter top was almost sparklingly clean. Scratching his side a bit, Mark made his way over to the phone and -

Kyle Mazemia stirred awake with obvious annoyance, the phone`s ringing blaring into his ears at near point blank. He`d fallen asleep right after a conversation with Kat, so there really wasn`t time for him to drop the phone off the couch or anything like that.

As such, everyone`s favorite prerequisite bishounen gag-whipping boy was more than a little irate when he finally answered the phone. After falling off the couch. And after collapsing the coffee table. And after spilling lukewarm coffee on his groin. After breaking a glass bowl on his rear end in the fall.

"My my," the voice on the other end said with a lazy, utterly false socialite attitude. "Aren`t you just Mister Good - fucking - Morning?"

"Ah, the sounds of awakening... When Kyle gets anally violated by a bowl of popcorn..."

"Pry the pieces of glass out your asshole and get down to where we left the Gustav, I`ll be waitin`."

"... I need to pick the shards out of my asscrack. I`ll be there in a little bit."

And with that, both hung up in unison, with the older member of the Suicide Team growling to himself and slowly getting off of the floor. It was bad enough that he`d woken up the way he did, even worse with everything that had happened in the seconds following. Rather lazily, and painfully, Kyle made the slow walk to the bathroom, one hand slowly plucking bits of glass from his posterior the whole way there.

The hangar was filled with the sounds of near-frantic mechanical work as the brutalized form of the Storm Fury was slowly hauled out of the still nameless Hammerhead II on a specialized Gustav Trailer. The Zoid was an outright disaster to look at - armor had been fused together at some points, outright vaporized in a few others, charred to the extent that the very chemical make-up of it had altered to match burnt tin at others still. The Organoid System had all but shorted out, and Vega couldn`t sense Specular`s presence as more than a vague heartbeat registering only when he could focus clearly enough to hear it.

Right now, he wasn`t able to focus clearly enough. That was for a simple reason, because right now was one of the only times in living memory that Stigma Stoller was actually being angry - which was itself pretty rare since he was such a low key guy most of the time.

"What were you thinking?!" He demanded. Vega only stared at the hulk of the Fury, unphased. "You could have been killed! And what about the Guardians who died? Damn it Vega, look at me," he ordered. Vega was again unphased, watching glumly as the armor of the Fury was slowly removed, piece by piece. "Vega Obscura," Stigma growled out. "Look at me, right now," he ordered again, voice relating a parental sounding authority more than his usual laid back tone.

At his wit`s end, Stigma drew back and made ready to smack Vega as lightly as he could while still getting the boy`s attention, but he never finished the process.

"I was trounced, Stigma. Right now I`m more concerned with Specular and the Fury than I am with hearing someone`s concerns for me," he stated, never once turning to look back at his current legal guardian. "And if you think you can get away with smacking me to get my attention - I`m only here in your employ because it suits my needs. Hit me and I`ll be out of here before you can blink, Fury or no."

Stigma paused. Vega didn`t speak another word, crossing his arms over his chest and cracking his neck to either side. It was an awkwardly repetitive scene, vaguely similar to one that had played out years before with a younger Stigma Stoller and an equally younger Kale Obscura. Even Vega`s tone of voice was the same. Thankfully, the mechanical crew had been too preoccupied with the downed Storm Fury to even notice the admittedly brief, somewhat one sided arguement.

Stigma turned away with a baleful shake of the head, a chill running down his spine like few he`d ever felt as he made his way toward the exit.

The Deldaros Ocean, just south of equatorial tropics on an island that had somehow remained uncharted even in times where Judge Satellites mapped the entire planet constantly to keep up to date. How and why was due to an unusual phenomenon caused by roughly two hundred tons of Zoid magnite located in the core of a long dormant volcano, which was in turn surrounded by an even rarer material known as telicite, the unrefined form of planetelicite. In it`s refined form, it could be used to distort gravity, light, magnetics and even sound.

It`s unrefined form wasn`t quite as potent, but in a quantity as large as the island boasted, it could distort light and magnetics, as well as interfere with advanced electronics, everything from cell phones to infrared cameras, the only truly complex mechanical equipment that worked on the island were Zoids and Organoids. Why or how was anyone`s guess, they just did.

With a loud clash of energy, like lightning in a sense, the Geno Saurer touched down onto the ground, both feet seeming unusually sturdy for a split second before the gain in strength left them, just like it`s pilot and it`s hijacker of an Organoid followed suit.

Kale landed hard, slamming into the ground at an awkward angle and bouncing back to his feet. For a lesser man, it would`ve been a broken shoulder and likely a cracked skull. For Kale it was just a few bruises and a mild headache. Shadow landed swiftly with the sound of beating wings a few feet away, baring his rows of deadly teeth in a lethal threat as those hollow, insanely murderous looking eyes shifted onto him.

Hours must have passed, it was daytime now. Or at least, Kale thought hours must have passed. Perhaps they`d just traveled to a different location on Zi, far enough that it was broad daylight now.

"What do you want with me?" He growled, a vicious calm permeating an equally vicious voice. Shadow shifted from side to side, perhaps uneasy, perhaps just fidgety after the first bits of movement he had done in close to two hundred years.

If not for me, you would be dead. Specular and the whelp are beyond you now, they have come together as one...

"I don`t care," Kale spat. "My only concern is vengeance, and if I die doing it then oh-fucking-well."

You think too small, the Organoid stated, it`s many voices echoing in but a whisper compared to the enormous screams of mere hours earlier. Kale was perplexed. "What do you mean?"

Your war is only against a single number. My war is against everything that breathes.

A pause. Both seemed to measure each other up, Kale gauging Shadow, Shadow gauging Kale. Neither attacked, but both were wide open in every way. Neither spoke further for a long while, how long was anyone`s guess. Neither blinked, neither moved, neither even breathed.

"What can you do for me?" Kale finally asked, breaking the stalemate into a fairly hostile negotiation. Shadow nodded to either side curiously and then inched forward, but to the Organoid`s surprise, Kale didn`t move forward, back or to either side like Raven probably would have. He didn`t attack either.

Unlock your own potential. You have the same powers as He did, and more inherited from Her. Their blood runs strong in you, you can do things you aren`t even aware of yet, and I can help you draw them out.

"This Zoid is my tool," Kale growled, ominously leering up at the Geno Saurer. The enormous killing machine almost inched back in what could best be described as fear. Fear of an insane looking young man in his mid-to-late teens, who currently bore no weaponry at all. Why or how, Kale didn`t know. He also didn`t care but that was beside the point.

Don`t play dumb with me. I`ll give you the information to unlock your abilities - but not what you already know.

Kale frowned. Shadow was smarter than he had acted at first, not to mention equally as shred as he himself was. He also didn`t have to reach out with his mind to know what was happening to the Geno Saurer, he could tell already, he`d known for weeks. "Something is off with it`s Zoid Core," he stated autonomously, like a robot. Shadow shifted just slightly on one foot and then flicked it`s tail, pointing to the huge Zoid.

Evolution. In proximity to one like you, it`s already begun to evolve. The only reason the Fury hasn`t is because Specular has held it in check. With time, it will evolve simply from having you pilot it...

"Then why do I need you if it`s going to evolve either way?" Kale asked with suspicion. Again, Shadow flicked his tail and shifted from side to side.

Kale and Shadow stood like that again, for several minutes. Neither spoke, but it wasn`t needed. Even telepathy would have been redundant, because for the first time since Raven, Shadow had found a soul as angry and volatile as himself. Two kindred spirits of destruction had again found one another on Planet Zi.

"Nice battlefield," Leon commented offhandedly as Naomi brought the Gustav to a dead stop, forestland and mountains stretching out for as far as the eye could see. "It`ll do," Naomi replied, the cockpit flipping open as the lightly dressed Gunsniper pilot jumped out, her mannerisms obviously more mature and soldierly than the teenaged girl who had long claimed to be her best rival. "Agreed. Any idea when they`ll be here?" Leon asked, follow Naomi out of the cockpit and finding his question answered by a nonchalant thumb pointed to the woman`s right.

"Ah," he voiced in reply, watching a familiar black-and-blue Gustav pulling up onto the edge of the battlefield not too far away. Taking a moment to literally yank the cockpit shut, Leon followed Naomi back to the trailers and climbed onto the one that had the Red Blade Liger standing on it, while Naomi - in her usual nonchalant sort of way - climbed the roll-out ladder that was standard issue for all Gunsnipers, especially since Gunsnipers weren`t Zoids prone to bending down and planting their heads in the dirt like Ligers or Saber Tigers or other more common Zoids.

Several seconds passed between the two, and the Red Blade Liger lithely hopped off of it`s trailer, seeming to be pretty much enthused just to have some movement for the first time in a week. The ZBC had prevented the Fluegel Team from going into any matches while the Suicide Team had gone into overdrive to make it to Class A, trying to ensure that both teams would somehow remain 'fresh' for their battle, even if the two members of the Suicide Team were both recovering from Hell Week while their Zoids were constantly being worked on.

"Want me to cover for you long enough to find a good spot to snipe in?" Leon offered a bit generously, shifting in his chair to get his safety belts and such on, then glancing sideways at the Ivory Blade Liger. "I was right. It`s a bit bigger than the Red Blade," he observed, so intently that he missed Naomi`s response, catching only the tail end. "Leon?" She asked, equally as observant of his suddenly shortened attention span as he was of the size and color differences between his Liger and the other.

"Sorry, can you repeat that?" He asked, actually paying attention this time. "I said: No, I can manage myself."

"The Shadow Fox beat you before," Leon reminded thoughtfully. "That was when it`s pilot wasn`t a sleep deprived rookie," Naomi pointed out in reply, her Gunsniper hopping off of the trailer after a brief spurt of shifting about and getting it`s sense of movement back. "Still, don`t take either of them lightly. If they`ve gone 20-0 in four days, they`re dangerous enough to handle seriously."

"I noticed that, Leon. I learned my lesson the last time a rookie took me down," Naomi replied, obviously referencing her defeat at the hands of Bit Cloud. "Which do you want?" She asked with the usual pre-battle curteously of letting Leon pick his prefered targets. Given that Naomi`s skill with a Gunsniper was surpassed by only three pilots in Class S, she had no problem picking off any Zoids that Leon didn`t get to or didn`t want. It was all a matter of hitting the small openings where armor had to be vacant to allow for movement. That and hitting stabilizers, whichever happened to come up first.

"Mazemia and the Liger. You did promise Brad one of the Shadow Fox`s legs, after all."

"... What`s wrong Leon, having 'little Liger syndrome?'" Naomi mocked in reply, obviously having noticed the fact that the Ivory Blade Liger was just a bit larger than Leon`s own. She could almost hear her team mate fuming to himself annoyedly in reply, but he didn`t say anything further and she didn`t dig at him any afterward. They were here to win, not play games and joke around. That singular proffessionalism was why they were among the top ten teams in Class A, and why both were utterly focused on leveling the Suicide Team.

"HEY FOX! GET OFF THE DAMN TRAILER ALREADY!" Mark yelled up at the black-and-gold Zoid, which growled in an almost tired fashion and hopped sideways off the trailer in reply, head dipping down as the cockpit flipped open. Mark was already inside by the time Kyle had limped his way up into the cockpit of the Ivory Blade Liger, holding his apparently sore rear end the entire way there and walking like a bowlegged cowboy in the process.

"... Yes. I had shards of a popcorn bowl lodged in my rectal cavity. It was egrigiously painful, highly traumatic and otherwise humiliating, but I`m over it now."

Blitz Team base, situated in the desert a few miles from Farentown. A sprawling, surprisingly large facility, it was once owned by the Helic military and later abandoned following the conclusion of the last great war between the Imperial and Republican forces, later purchased a cheap real estate company and then bought a few years after that by a young trio of men who later went on to become the original Blitz Team. Oscar Hameros had given up his rights to the base early on, he was more interested in piloting. Leyon Martin had considered keeping his part of it`s ownership but later quit in disdain after Steven married the woman that Leyon had been smitten with, thus forking over his own share of ownership.

Today, the Blitz Team base was occupied by a new generation of warriors. Leena Tauros, Jamie Hameros, Bit Cloud and the newly returned Brad Hunter, who was currently staring up at the Scout Fox with an air of suspicion to his features. Leena was apparently sulking in her room, Jamie had isolated himself in another way by taking the Raynos out on six hour flights that amounted to nothing but circling the base overhead and Bit was presently walking around stuffing his face with a sub sandwhich that was probably as long as he was tall.

"I still don`t get it," Brad thought dryly, watching the Fox like a hawk in hopes that it might do something to confirm or deny his suspicious leers at it. He`d been feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the Zoid as of late, to the extent that it had been one of his main reasons for hanging around at Naomi`s apartment - not that the sniper herself wasn`t enough of a lure as it was, but still.

"Something wrong?" Bit asked, wandering boredly into the hangar, mouth half full, the sandwhich he was cramming down his gullet just about a quarter eaten. "Aside from your eating habits, I`m not sure," Brad replied thoughtfully, never missing the chance to pick on his team mate. "... Ah`m noh t`ah bagh, am ah?" Bit asked, mouth completely full this time. Brad flenched.

"See? I was right when I said he was a shoe-in for you," a voice that caused Brad`s entire body to rigidly straighten up and a slight twitch to form under his right eye as he looked over his shoulder, spotting the one man he had sworn with contempt that he did not want to meet again.

"Oh... It`s you... The dickweasel," Brad grumbled under his breath at the last sentence. "Gee, how pleasant to see you too, shitface," Bram retorted in kind. Bit on the other hand, had his head cocked to the side in a mixture of curiosity and instant resolve.

The two looked as if they could have passed as twins if their hair and eyes were the same color. They even had the same posture and hairstyles, though Bill`s awkward looking spikey mess was shifted to the opposite side from Bit`s, making the two look like distorted mirror images of each other. There was also another thing that bore notice...

"My sandwhich," Bit growled ferally, holding the sub closer to him in a protective stance. The two narrowed eyes and...

"Nice to see the monkeys getting along," Brad and Bram muttered on the same note as Bit and Bill broke into a brief chase that quickly degenerated into an outright slugging match as to who would eat the remainder of Bit`s food, turning into what could best be described as a classical anime dust ball of violence, complete with wanton screams, random fists and legs flying all over the place and even chunks of debris seeming to materialize out of thin air as the two brawled across the hangar, much to the disturbingly similar annoyance of the two former mercenaries, who also happened to bear more than a slight resemblance to each other.

In unison, both Bill and Bit halted, standing there with each balanced on one foot at an impossible angle, Bit`s free hand planted firmly into Bill`s right cheek and eye, his hand holding the remains of a now half-eaten sub as far away as possible while both glanced in opposite directions, seeming to listen in on a conversation that only they could hear.

"... And I thought just one of them was bad," Bram and Brad commented to themselves at once, just as Borealis hopped into view, glaring up at the Liger with near palpable annoyance.

"Now, if you do or don`t mind my asking - I don`t care either way, just so you know that - why in god`s name are you here?" Brad asked annoyedly. "Since you guys won`t answer the Doc`s calls, he sent ol` monkey here to issue a challenge. I was guessing on a hunch that luck would be against us and the rest of your sorry ass team would also just happen to be exactly like us. Except for you, we`re nothing alike."

"Agreed. Besides, your hair`s greasier," Brad commented, taking out a cigarette at the exact same moment as Bram. Again, Bit and Bill paused, staring at the two in morbid fashion.

"Nothing alike, huh?" They both asked at once, just before resuming their brawl for the now three-quarters-eaten sub sandwhich.

"Grease has nothing to do with it," Bram finally stated, lighting himself a quick smoke and then continuing. "I just happen to clean my hair... Unlike you," he snidely pointed out. "Greaseball," Brad replied shrewdly. "Do you accept the challenge or not?" Bram asked, cutting to the chase pretty quickly. "Yes. Battle mode 0982, as soon as the Doc gets back," Brad replied, already taking a drag off of his own cigarette.

"He has an Organoid, he can make his way home alone," Bram answered, already halfway out of the hangar. With a shrug, Brad turned back to the Scout Fox and afforded himself a very private, satisfactory smile.

"Nothing alike at all," he thought confidently. He was utterly wrong, but then again, everyone had their moments, right?

A random crash of heavy machinery, two loud matching yelp/screams and a flying sandwhich that just happened to bean Brad on the side of the head.

A distant, thundering impact, over a mile away but still clearly audible even at that range as the Suicide Team faced off with the lone Red Blade Liger. Naomi and the Gunsniper had seemingly vanished minutes earlier, mainly since, like any good sniper, Naomi Fluegel was deeply intent on not getting smashed to pieces in the opening seconds. Against Zoids that were built around medium-to-short range combat, and capable of extremely long ranged battle in the case of the Ivory Blade Liger, a Gunsniper wasn`t an ideal Zoid. It was better suited by far to battle at medium-to-long range, standoffs and shoot-outs rather than getting up close and personal.

"The area within a five mile radius is a designated Zoid Battlefield. This zone is now restricted."

"Smell what?" Leon asked in reply, though there was a bit of hesitation behind it.

"What are you guys on, anyway?" Leon asked. "First popcorn bowls, now bullshit?"

"Oh, Kyle`s the token whipping boy-slash-bishounen, me? I`m just high on life, not on drugs..." Mark answered, an almost audible twitch ringing through in his voice, followed by a cracked grin that Leon could practically hear.

There was a lull. Neither side spoke, but both Ligers tensed up somewhat. Kyle was both disgruntled and severely angry, and Mark had fanned the flames of that emotion by ruthlessly degrading him. However, since murdering a team mate wasn`t really an option, Kyle was instead reduced to focusing his complaints on the Red Blade Liger before him, rather than the Shadow Fox beside him.

"Dibs on Pinko," Kyle growled. "Which pinko?" Mark asked. "The gold-and-red pinko," Kyle answered. A pause. "Which pinko?" Mark asked again. Obviously the fact that the Red Blade Liger and the Red Gunsniper were the exact same colors tended to work against picking one of them out on paint scheme alone, that and Mark was taking a fairly destructive joy in badgering his team mate. Perhaps it was revenge for all the Newbie comments...

And perhaps Mark was just a sadistic bastard sometimes. Not to mention a sadistic bastard who was being rather... Deprived by his girlfriend as of late. Frustrations in the bedroom(Abbie was quite firm about not knocking boots whenever Mark was still injured. That and she wanted him to quit Zoid battling, she had few bargaining chips and that was one of them) tended to lead to outright brutality on the battlefield. A most unfortunate thing for the Fluegel Team to have to deal with, that was for sure.

The sound of a lightning crack of an extremely long ranged gun overwhelmed the ringing of the Judge`s bell, and before any of the three Zoids who were closest to one another could do a thing, the Shadow Fox was almost downed. The shot had been mind wrackingly precise, to the extent that it was almost like Naomi had been using the two Blade Ligers as a sight for the Shadow Fox, who was standing just enough off to the side that it looked to be standing between them if viewed from the proper angle.

Despite that precision though, the Fox remained in the battle, now bearing a deep gash across it`s underbelly where the shot had only barely missed it`s mark. The round continued on though, reducing a solid oak tree to the Shadow Fox`s left to little more than splinters and toothpicks, half of which had been burnt by the sheer heat of the slug.

"Not wasting any time," Leon stated observantly as the two Ligers started to circle one another. "A quick battle is an easy battle. Surprised he dodged it though," Naomi commented dryly. "He didn`t," Leon pointed out. "It was luck."

"How about you ignore them and put your attention where it matters?" Kyle asked, his blades swinging out into to the slash pattern in an almost fluid sort of motion. Despite the threat, Leon didn`t follow suit, merely studying the other pilot`s technique for several seconds. "You`re overly eager," he stated with a ring of experience.

Mark and the Shadow Fox didn`t stick around to hear the conversation though. If Kyle and Leon had paired off, that left him to deal with Naomi, who had vanished into the thick forestland of the battlefield, or she was located on the nearby mountain, a quarter of which was situated on the opposite side of the battlefield. Whichever it was, the two of them weren`t intent on playing sitting target for her.

In a wild zig zag, the Shadow Fox vanished into the forest, jetting out random puffs of smoke to try and throw Naomi`s aim off. The result was that Leon and Kyle were left alone.

"Since you won`t start us off, I will," Kyle exclaimed, charging forward with a loud cry. "Definately need to learn to look before you leap," Leon replied in kind, not missing a step and charging forward as well.

Dejectedly, a figure sat alone in a bedroom, staring at her right arm. The figure was the shapely form of a fifteen year old girl by the name of Leena Tauros, resident Gunsniper pilot of the Blitz Team. Accomplished in her own right, she`d spent the better part of her lifetime being babied by both her father and older brother, spoiled rotten to some extents. Up until roughly a little under a month or so ago, Leena Tauros had prided herself not only for her somewhat reckless, lunatic style of piloting, but also for her looks, which she often thought of as her strongest trait.

A month or so ago, Leena Tauros had been more than a little bit of a braggart, she`d had confidence that was more often than not pure arrogance.

The bedroom was dimly lit, but she`d come to prefer that lately. A month or so ago, her right arm had been just as flawless as the rest of her. Now though? Now she bore a dozen scars, electrical burn marks that were going to be visible right up into her late thirties at best, and this was only on her right arm. Her left bore the same number of scars in an equally random, sickening looking pattern, as did her legs, stomach, back, sides, hips and just about everything else.

A month or so ago, Leena Tauros had jumped the gun in battle with a pilot classified by those who knew him as a raw force of nature. A month or so ago, Leena Tauros` life had only been saved by the fact that most of her clothing at the time was made of a material remarkably similar to rubber. If not for that, she`d have likely died. She`d have also likely lost her hair, but thankfully that had somehow survived. Burnt badly to the extent that the ends were still singed but still.

Her sight wouldn`t ever recover, either. Leena Tauros had once had perfect vision. Now she had to have prescription glasses just to see properly. Originally she`d`ve tried for contacts, but Jamie had advised against that. Something about the glasses having a cutening effect that made the few scars on her face stand out less.

A month or so ago, Leena Tauros had been one of the chief warriors on the Blitz Team.

Now? Her confidence in both herself and her piloting was broken, to the extent that she wasn`t eating as much, she was starting to steal Jamie`s clothing since it covered more of her body up than any of her own skimpy outfits, and she was becoming increasingly withdrawn. Bit`s naivete, her father`s blindness and Brad`s apathy didn`t help things. Harry had been M.I.A. for a while, apparently something had gone down involving his mother, and Jamie was increasingly forced to deal with problems of his own, while Naomi was by no means a friend, let alone a confident, and Leon was constantly out of touch lately.

For a girl who had been so very used to relying on others at one time, Leena had found it something of a cold shock to have to rely solely on herself for once.

And as the tears that had been randomly falling for weeks on end whenever she was alone began to seep out once more, it was visibly apparent that the cold shock hadn`t worn off yet.

In a forest out in the middle of no where, all hell broke loose as two Blade Ligers slugged it out for one of the few times in history. Both Zoids were moving at a furious pace, almost more fitting of a Class S championshion duel than any mere Class A battle. Kyle Mazemia and the Ivory Blade Liger had come to the battle in top form, as could be expected in this case, and Leon Tauros and the Red Blade Liger were fighting back with at least an equal skill leve, though it was obvious - at least to Naomi and anyone else who`d seen Leon at his best - that the senior Zoid pilot was visibly holding back against his younger counterpart.

Swiftly, the two Ligers ran alongside one another, the Red Blade avoiding getting skewered on the other Liger`s blades in the process, even though it was constantly trying to ram sideways against the other, slightly larger Zoid. Forestland was rapidly being reduced to a combination of splinterered wood and burning brushfires as gunshots rang out, and even more as hyper charged, golden energy-veiled blades swiped through everything in their path.

Then the two Zoids swung to a complete stop, sideways so that they could face one another. Kyle was good, Leon was better, and in a split second, the Ivory Blade Liger stumbled back, four shots raining down on it in rapid succession. By the time the less experienced of the two had recovered, the Red Blade was gone.

A crashing of gold against white, the Ivory Liger flew back into a tailspin, recovering swiftly and skidding to a halt on all fours, already turned to face where the attack had come from. It was greeted by the Red Blade, which still held a paw up in the striking position. Ivory trickled sparks out of one cheek, and Red growled forebodingly.

"You`ve got a lot of potential, but you need to learn to anticipate an opponent`s actions."

"I`m not mocking you," Leon pointed out as the Red Blade lowered it`s paw, slowly beginning to walk in a circle with the Ivory Liger walking parallel in the opposite direction. "Eh?"

"Mockery of an opponent implies a lack of skill, manners or both, and further implies desperation by trying to verbally goad another warrior into making a mistake when you`re not skilled enough to do it on technique alone," Leon exclaimed, only to catch Kyle completely off guard with another burst of firepower from his dual impact cannons, though the larger of the two Ligers managed to dodge this time, jumping forward and over the incoming shots -

- and smacking head first into the Red Blade`s freshly activated energy shield, which sent off a shower of sparks and fireballs before the Ivory Liger was slung clear of the Red Blade, smashing sideways into a gigantic tree and knocking it over on momentum alone. Kyle and the Ivory Liger slid along for several seconds before coming to a stop, the larger of the two Zoids laying on it`s side for several seconds.

Slowly, like the predators they were, Kyle and the Ivory Blade Liger stalked towards the stationary Red Blade, which had so far cut them down at every turn without even resorting to it`s blasters or blades. It was like a lion cub with an inferiority complex trying to deal with an amused elder in control of the pride, smacking it`s challenger aside at every attempted strike, outwitting them with every parry, dodge and counter.

But the most grating of it all, was that Leon was so utterly calm about it. This was not the same fiery, charismatic figure that had handed Bit Cloud two of the four fights of his life, this was an overly, almost lunatic calm veteran who almost seemed to be toying with him from every level of battle, both physical and mental.

"I`ll take that calm demeanor of his and shove it up his ass," Kyle thought resolutely, tilting his blades forward and making ready for another charge.

Off in the distance though, a much more psychological, stealth-ridden battle was taking place.

Two warriors and two zoids stalked one another in the thickest region of the forestland. Surrounded by trees the width of houses and the height of an Ultrasaurus, the land lent itself to a game of hide-and-seek, not the straight up confrontation being carried out by the two Ligers far off, though that battle was still loud enough to ring with echoes even at the range of what had to be at least a mile and a half.

This one was far less personal, to the extent that the combatants had yet to encounter one another with more than fleeting glances of motion blurs and the occasional random burst of gunfire, which typically missed the intended target by a little more than a dozen feet. Naomi Fluegel`s experience was great enough that it made Marcus Harlock`s burgeoning skill, and it was also showing itself to be great enough to effectively cancel out the reaction times of the Shadow Fox.

It had been surprisingly even, but for the moment, the relatively smaller Zoids were seperated from one another by an unknown distance. Mark was breathing hard, not due to exertion but excitement. The Shadow Fox was crouched patiently, hidden from sight by a combination of having it`s back to a steep rise in the ground and more than a dozen especially thick trees forming a straight path in front of it.

A good tactic, no doubt, but not good enough when dealing with one of the best Gunsniper pilots around.

"Game over," a distinctly feminine voice stated, calm and laid back to the extreme, almost a bit smug if not for the underlying lack of emotion behind it. Mark reflexively jerked, and the Shadow Fox followed suit, both looking around.

No shot came. The lone Zoid growled annoyedly, but that was exactly what Naomi had wanted. The sound carried perfectly to her cockpit, indication the Fox`s general location to be about five degrees to the left. A quick swivel and -

Another loud crack was audible to the two dueling Liger pilots, followed rapidly by the speech of the Judge:

"... Shit," Kyle groaned to himself, realizing just how his chances for a victory had dropped. Not that he would have won anyway, but the opening caused by his momentary distraction was all that Leon needed to finish the battle off.

Precision epitomized the attack, a single, swift and utterly ruthless strike into the base of the Ivory Liger`s head, just behind the cockpit. It had been done with the jaws of the Red Blade, teeth slipping mercilessly under thick, reinforced armor and jabbing into what amounted to the back of the other Liger`s spine. Before Kyle could even react, the Red Blade had finished touching down out of it`s apparent jump, and it had withdrawn it`s teeth as well.

Insult came to the injury though, as Leon roughly smashed the back of the larger Zoid`s head with one of the Red Blade Liger`s claws, driving the already injured Zoid down and further paralyzing the Ivory Blade Liger`s combat and command systems.

"No surprise," Mark`s voice carried over the broadband. "Least my solo streak is still intact," he muttered to himself. Kyle merely twitched. "... Just shut up, Markie," he growled. All in all, it hadn`t been a very good day for the senior member of the Suicide Team.

"You did pretty good for someone who`s been as weakened as the two of you are," Leon stated. "Perhaps we can rematch somewhere down the road?"

Kyle only muttered out profanity to himself while Mark yawned. "Anytime you`re up for it... After bishy-boy gets the remaining glass shards out of his ass."

In the desert, over three hundred miles from where the Blitz Team was currently hosting a fairly uninvited guest, and over three hundred and fifty miles from where the battle between Kyle Mazemia, Marcus Harlock, Leon Tauros and Naomi Fluegel had briefly raged, an old structure, mostly abandoned for close to a decade sat alone in the middle of an ancient crater once used as a battleground for the tournaments that had been the prototype of the Zoid Battle Leagues.

The structure was a cage, and in it, two men and two Zoids stood across from each other.

One, a crimson Shield Liger, an equally powerful Zoid to the Leo Master variant, bristling with weaponry and armor and giving a growl ten years in the making.

Across from it stood a dark blue Saber Tiger, armed to the teeth in the literal sense, just as powerful as it`s foe. Unlike the Red Shield Liger though, the Blue Saber Tiger let out a fierce roar, a cry of both defiance and perpetual anger.

Across from one another, two men stood alone atop these Zoids. One was Doctor Steven Tauros, adorned for the first time in a decade or more with a suit vaguely reminiscent of the wear of a Helic soldier, and across from him, on the back of the head of the Saber Tiger, stood Doctor Leyon Martin, wearing instead a uniform that also bore a similar vague resemblance to the wear of a soldier, though his was Imperial rather than Helic.

Within the structure once known as the Cage of Fate, a battle more than two decades in the making was gearing up to happen, and as the old Arena Judge raised up from his hiding place atop a disc placed at the very peak of the huge structure, a harsh wind could be heard, and maybe, if you listened right, that harsh wind carried and underlying sorrow.

The voice of the obsolescent Arena Judge asked, recognizing only the out-of-date registrations of the two Zoids and the warriors set to pilot them.

Both pilots answered with firm nods, their Zoids roaring the war cry to start the battle to come, and then...

Author`s Note: Bit sudden an ending, but I`m kinda eager to hurry up and get the heck off the Suicide Team already x_x; Wasn`t really that satisfied with this chapter at certain parts, but I at least did okay with the Blitz Team scenes(especially Bill/Bit and Zeke/Borealis... happened exactly as I had wanted >_>), and I finally got along to starting to build some onto Leena`s rather drastically changed character. And oh, look: I actually took away her good looks! Wonder how many of B/Lers who actually read this won`t like that? :p

And for anyone who hasn`t figured it out yet: Battle mode 0972 is a personal creation: A cage match. There are other... Stipulations and such, but I`ll explain those next chapter.

Zinou: Hopefully I`ll be able to return to the whole 'blowing everyone away' thing with the next chapter... Which by the way, is one I`ve been especially looking forward to... >_>

true platinum man: Those two haven`t even gotten started yet... Just wait`ll their next few battles.

DJ Wolfwood: Thankyeh :D I also suggest you check out some of Zinou`s work if you haven`t, especially the whole series she`s got around Vega, Brad and Naomi. Good stuff all around :]

Rhade: Yes yes, mindless violence is fun! Fun for the whole family, even little Tod... there... Oy, someone get the spatula so we can pry that kid off the wall... But anyway: I try to keep the OCs from stealing the show too much... Kyle and Mark made themselves an exception, but they were due for a shining moment or three(or five, in their case) like everyone else in the story. Their`s just happened to be the first that came to mind. As for Vega and Kale`s battle seeming to drag on to you, it was probably because Mark and Kyle tend to end their battles pretty quickly... And with lots of witty, semi-psychotic banter on the side. Vega and Kale aren`t like that, so it`s to be expected.

Expect the next chapter to be out whenever the heck I manage to finish it. Leyon vs Steven is one of the key battles of the story, and I`m going to try and make damn sure that it blows you out of your seat six ways to sunday and back again - even if it means re-writing it eight times or more if I have to.

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 26

Suicide Days Revisited