New Age Chapter 30, 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

Two days had passed by since Bill Chapman, his Geno Saurer and the Organoid known as Borealis had all been abducted by a number of utterly unknown attackers. Little had happened in those two days. Brad was returning from a meeting with Naomi, Leena was still moping around, Jamie hadn`t shown up at all, Doctor Tauros had been on the phone more and more frequently, mostly with none other than Leyon, of all people, and Bit...

Bit had spent all of that time sitting on the living room couch without speaking a word. He`d been staring at the floor, blinking once every two or three minutes on average and he hadn`t eaten at all during that time. No one had been able to get a response out of him when asking about why he was so silent and brooding, and no one had been able to even make eye contact with him for that matter.

To put it bluntly: Bit Cloud was behaving as out of character was you could imagine.

Why? He hadn`t known Bill Chapman or Borealis very much at all, but it obviously wasn`t concern over a friend. The fact was that Bit Cloud had more intelligence than anyone - himself and Zeke included - credited him for, and that same intelligence was what was leading him to such a troubling state. He hadn`t been thinking about the plight of a rival, he`d been thinking of why that rival was kidnapped instead of himself.

It wasn`t too difficult a train of thought either, Bit was among the top ten pilots on planet Zi, if not one of the top five. He knew that, and he knew that if Bill Chapman was his exact equal, differing only in Organoid and Zoid preference, going by conventional logic, Bit was the more likely candidate. More people would know that he defeated the Berserk Fury and Vega Obscura to become the new Royal Cup Champion, mainly since it was more recent and more sensationalized than the win that Chapman and the Thunder Team had gained to enter Class S.

Besides, Bit was still essentially a rookie contender, logic screamed that a rookie would be easier to try and take down than a four and a half year veteran.

"Hello everyone!" Steve`s voice chirped into Bit`s ears, finally drawing him out of his stupor in time to watch Leena seeking to make off with another set of Jamie`s pants.

"If ya keep that up, he`s gonna have to become a nudist," Bit pointed out, completely ignorant of anything the Doc had to say, until -

- the magical words trickled into that conflict prone portion of the blonde youth`s brain, promptly snapping him out of any and all mention of concern for anyone or anything.

In a blur, Bit had Doctor Tauros by the collar, and wasn`t too long in shaking the living daylights out of him.

"Well-maybe-if you-stopped-strangling me-I could-tell-you," Steve replied in between getting his brain shaken out through his nose. Bit paused. "Oh, right," he said, promptly dropping the larger man like a stone. With a dull thud, Steven landed and sprang back up, shaking his head fiercely for a moment before speaking up again.

"And I know it`s one that`ll excite Leena the most," he exclaimed before continuing. "Our next matches have been decided, first it`ll be the Three Snipers and then the Tsun Team," he exclaimed with a grin five miles wide.

"The Three Snipers?" Leena asked, almost instantly dropping the pair of pants she`d been stealing from Jamie`s laundry. The mortified expression on her face said everything, but Bit just blinked.

"Only the top three Gunsniper pilots of all time," Brad answered while stepping into the living room, sipping his coffee as usual. "Their leader is Eric Johnson, the man who set the standard for precision Zoid piloting, also the uncrowned king by most people`s standards," he explained, though Bit already remembered who Johnson was from the last Zoid Trials.

["Seven straight 100s in seven different trials! Eric Johnson continues his outstanding record of perfect trial runs!"]

"Big deal, trials don`t mean anything in a real battle," Bit muttered with more than a little arrogance to his voice. He had obviously forgotten the massive loss the team had taken against the Lightning Team for his arrogance the last time they`d gone up against three quasi-legends.

"Bit, in case you don`t know, Eric Johnson is the reason I got a Gunsniper," Leena pointed out.

"We have confirmed incoming," Lieutenant Rich Carlson stated aloud, eying the low level/ground radar like an old enemy. "It`s just one Zoid but it`s still moving with incredible speed."

"No doubt about it then," Major Selene Alred commented, immediately glancing to her right. "Get the walls up, arm the turrets, and start deploying every close combat Zoid we`ve got!" She ordered at an almost frantic pacing, even as those same walls - twelve foot thick, ten foot wide, eighteen foot high plates of steel - shot up out of the ground along the perimeter of the base, throwing sand and dirt all over the place in the process.

The base defense turrets followed shortly after, literally coming up out of no where on the cemented over terrain behind the base walls. Machine guns, rockets, guided missiles, laser cannons and plasma guns, the sheer variety of weaponry was almost staggering, but not so staggering as the numbers of close combat Zoids to come pouring out of the base`s hangars.

Command Wolves, several Shield Ligers and every Arosaurer on the base, they were all mobilized in unison, leaving the slower Gojulas, Bombard Gustavs, Europlas and aerial Zoids were kept in the base, mainly since a snap deployment wasn`t possible in the current weather. Helic aerial Zoids had always experienced trouble operating inside sandstorms, even today, that was still true.

"Picking up another blip," Carlson started. "Smaller than the first... Zig zagging around it, too."

"Put it on," the Major ordered sternly, and as she did so, a face appeared on-screen. Menacing, epitomizing threat and a murderous rage that was hidden behind a pair of dead eyes, outwardly calm, and utterly methodical.

"We`re a military installation, we don`t keep tabs on the locations of Zoid Warriors," Alred stated with a bit of contempt and a lot more courage than a dozen Guardian Force commanders had displayed when confronted with Kale Obscura`s presence.

"Bullshit. The militaries of both the Guylos Empire and the Helic Republic have been keeping tabs on individual Zoid Warriors who show any sign of actual skill for decades. You`d be completely blind to potential threats otherwise," Kale stated with a dangerous lack of patience. Alred grimaced to herself. Someone had finally called the military`s bluff on keeping away from the Zoid Battle Commission, and they`d done it in one of the most dangerous ways possible.

"If you try to destroy this base, you`ll be faced with the combined might of both the Guylos Empire and the Helic Republic, as well as the Guardian Force," she threatened. Kale chuckled mirthlessly.

"I`ve been slaughtering every Guardian Force team sent to find me, maybe having both of the world`s biggest armies on me will liven things up a bit?" He asked with genuine seriousness peppering his voice, however vicious it was.

"Not even an ace Zoid pilot could survive that. Even a legend like Raven would go down," Alred retorted sharply, earning a sharpened sigh as a fell growl filled the air across the base.

"You really shouldn`t have done that, you know. I may be patient, but my... Partner, isn`t."

"I`d say it was nice knowing you," Kale began as every single Zoid and human being in the base but himself and the Geno Saurer howled in mental agony. "But I`d be lying through my teeth."

"You felt it too?" Vega asked, glancing emptily in the direction of the base that Kale and Shadow had just decimated in under two minutes. Shadow had obviously done most of the work, otherwise Vega wouldn`t have been feeling ripples of the Organoid`s irate Screaming, which to him sounded almost like a chorus of yells even several hundred miles away. Even Torson seemed to feel it to some extent or other, as evidenced by how he suddenly turned his headphones up after looking a bit creeped out for a moment.

I fear that there will only be more bloodshed as Shadow and Kale continue searching for you.

I don`t breathe. Kale obviously doesn`t care about me enough to even notice me if I wasn`t your Zoid.

Shadow already knows where we are, child. He just enjoys the meaningless slaughter that comes with Kale trying to find you.

"... So Kale only needs to link the dots between Stigma`s group and me. Knowing him, that won`t take too much longer."

"Normal? I`m not normal anymore... God damn scars... God damn Kale... God damn everything..."

As with before, Leena was presently moping before a match, but today would promise to have several odd consequences because of her moping. In the hangar of the Blitz Team`s HoverCargo, she was sitting by herself on the foot of the Gunsniper, leaning forward haphazardly and - for the most part - avoiding social contact with anyone, which happened to include the two men standing a reasonable distance away, speaking to one another in an especially quiet sort of manner.

"Hnn... You`re right," Brad Hunter finally admitted with a soft shrug. "She`s moping even more than Jamie used to. And to make matters worse, I think she`s almost on her period..."

Bit Cloud blinked several times in typically blonde fashion. "Almost on her period? I thought she was always on her period?" He asked with a curious tone, earning a snort from the older pilot.

"I didn`t come to make jokes, Bit. You said you wanted to make a deal, make it."

"I already don`t like where this is going," Brad muttered before continuing with a long sigh. "What other place can we 'shift her confidence' to? Her piloting stinks, she`s tone deaf, destructive, impatient, her looks have gone to Hell and she can`t cook to save her life."

"Exactly. If she can do what we seemingly can`t and beat these Three Sniper guys, she`ll be back to the old overconfident, self righteous bitch we all know and love to hate!"

"... So sue me, I miss my daily beatings, alright?" Bit grumbled back. "Besides, I`ll give you half my share of the winnings if you do," he offered. Brad perked briefly before settling back down, still leaned against the wall with his arms across his chest.

"You`re asking me to put my faith in Leena to win this one against the three best Gunsniper pilots of our generation, yes?"

"Bit, you seem to misunderstand me here. There`s a major difference between a harmless psycho - you, and a murderous lunatic - her."

"And what do you prefer, a murderous lunatic beating on a harmless psycho or a moping, angsty teenager on the verge of writing un-rhyming poetry and spouting off about how badly the world sucks?" Bit asked with an unusually logical sarcasm. Brad nodded to himself silently.

"At least option number one gives me the chance to laugh morbidly at all the hospital bills you`re gonna be wracking up if she wins," he stated with a small hint of a malicious sense of humor shining through.

"Gee... Nice to see you care so much about your friends," Bit muttered sarcastically.

"Isn`t it though? I get half more money than usual, and I get to watch you get turned into a bloody pulp by an irate sociopath. What more can a guy need?" He asked shrewdly. Bit snorted. "How do you think we`re gonna pull this off convincingly? Run off the battlefield in fright? Get out asses kicked straight up?"

"Neither. System shutdown key, press it at the most believable moment and then act panicked."

"Alright, but you have to last longer than me," Brad admitted while taking out a cigarette. "You`re a better pilot than I am, even Leena knows that. If I go down first, it`ll make things more believable."

"Only because you`re bribing me," the former mercenary stated. Bit only grinned one of those 'PUNCH ME IN THE FACE'' grins, practically reading Brad like an open book and letting him know it in the process.

"Definately won`t be pushovers," Eric Johnson mused to himself in silence as the King Sniper, a smaller Whale King, touched down heavily on the flat ground at the very edge of the battlefield, it`s gargantuanly large mouth sliding open with a loud thud. Silence filled the cockpit of the Bolt Sniper for several more seconds before finally, Marcus Coleman`s voice sounded off, followed by the quick steps of the Blade Sniper.

"Still staring at our opponents, are you?" He asked in that quirky, Elemian accented voice of his, almost audibly rubbing his lightly bearded chin in the process. Eric shrugged.

"Pretty much," he admitted, hopping down the rest of the way off the side of the lower half of the carrier`s jaw, just as the Gun Panzer lumbered out into view, stepping the long way down the low jaw, unlike the Bolt and Blade Snipers. "We`ll probably have the most trouble with Hunter and Cloud, I doubt that Tauros`ll be any real issue and their air support isn`t going to be in the battle," Eric judged thoughtfully.

"Long as I can wrack up some points," Jordan Terrel commented bluntly, guiding the Gun Panzer around to stand side by side with the two smaller Gunsniper variants, all of whom seemed geared toward covering the weaknesses and amplifying the strengths of the others.

The Blade Sniper had almost the same armament as the Blade Liger Simulacrum, mounting a swiveling blade on either side of a back mounted weapon`s pack, one that also mounted a pair of quick firing blasters. On it`s underside, at the groin, it mounted a double impact cannon, and on it`s ankles were a pair of small, short ranged 'pepper boxes,' rocket launchers with ten small dumbfire missiles each, as well as a number of small, nearly invisible thrusters all over the body and tail, providing agility to the extreme. Unlike normal snipers though, the Blade Sniper lacked long ranged rifle, the tail was where most of it`s thrusters were placed. It`s armor was also above average for collisions, mainly since Marcus tended to fight no-holds-barred, and that included ramming an opponent. Because of this, there was also a 'cage' over the cockpit glass.

The Bolt Sniper was the generalist of the three, emphasizing Johnson`s preferences for taking opponents out at any range. It had better armor, and vectoring thrusters on the outside of each ankle, and it`s leg stabilizers were both more powerful than the conventional variety, and armored as well. A four shot rocket box was mounted between the mortar-thruster units on it`s back, while two double pulse guns were placed on it`s wrists. The last piece of the Bolt Sniper`s modified arsenal were the two pivoting double machine guns - Bolt Guns - mounted to either side of the main body, easily capable of perforating a target in seconds. Unlike the Blade Sniper though, the Bolt Sniper could use it`s rifle - and well.

Last but not least, there was the Gun Panzer, the single most heavily armed and armored Gunsniper in existence. With armor matching that of the Liger Zero Panzer and the Berserk Fury, the Gun Panzer was just a step short of impervious to anything short of a charged particle cannon. It was also armed even more heavily, mounting a hand-aimed Panzer Cannon on it`s left side, capable of blowing holes through Whale Kings - from head on, no less. It also mounted a super laser cannon that bordered on having illegally high firepower, along with a standard gattling gun on it`s right wrist, as well as a number of targeting pods along the head. The ankles were adapted with footlock units and the tail had it`s rifle removed, it`s weight drastically increased and it`s frame stiffened to handle the insane imbalance caused by the huge mass of the Panzer Cannon alone, while every stabilizer was a dozen steps up from the norm just to compensate for the Zoid`s increased weight.

All in all, the Snipes Team wasn`t a group to take lightly. To do so was literal suicide, even Harabec Davids gave the Three Snipers a bit more respect than most opponents.

"Now all we do is wait," Jordan exclaimed in his usual grave voice, leaning back and biding his time for the most part. As he most often was, he was right.

The northernmost section of Argolose, an island just shy of twelve miles away from the northwestern coast of New Helic City. Special Agent Niles Kasagawa was in a frantic rush for survival. For three days now, he`d been running on borrowed time, dodging through more traps and missile bombardments than he could think of. Dried blood was still smeared down one side of his face, a bullet wound that had gone untreated the entire time he`d been running was still highly visible in his right side and his stolen Zoid was on the verge of collapse from the strain he`d been putting on it.

The Zoid in question was an Aerosniper, a Gunsniper variant capable of powered flight for long distances over short periods of time. It`s black outline was only faintly visible in the early evening twilight, but the roar and glow of it`s thrusters was visible from a good distance away, especially to the squadron of Sinkers in hot pursuit.

More gunfire rang out, Niles grit his teeth. If not for an unknown jamming field, he`d`ve been able to contact the military forces in and around the city, or even the Guardian Force, or someone who could help him.

As it stood, Niles was alone, outnumbered, outgunned, dying, afraid beyond words and hating every second of it.

"Mayday, mayday, this is Special Agent Niles Kasagawa of the Guardian Force, do you read?!"

An incoming missile. No response. The Aerosniper landed with a skid, only to blast right back up off the ground again, climbing to it`s maximum altitude once more. He could just see the city, and the vague outline of the top of the sun to it`s west. Salvation was only a few more jumps away...

"MAYDAY! MAYDAY! THIS IS SPECIAL AGENT NILES KASAGAWA OF THE GUARDIAN FORCE, DO YOU READ?!"

- the missile hit, right into one of the two main thruster units on the Aerosniper`s back. An explosion followed, debris rained into the icy sea below and the nearby city that never slept continued shining as if nothing had ever happened at all.

A quick blur of blue, black and white, and the Jaeger slammed down to the ground from it`s launching point near the top of the HoverCargo`s snail-like hangar section, hitting the ground in a run for several short strides before coming to a dead stop, already lined up with the Bolt Sniper, which growled with an air of intimidation to it, despite being outsized considerably by the Jaeger.

"I`m going to enjoy this. A real battle for once," Eric stated anxiously, drawing out a bit of annoyance from the other pilot.

"If it weren`t for the whole 'daily beating' thing, your ass would be mine," he muttered disdainfully in thought.

Another blur, this one a bit slower and embodied as gold and silver rather than blue, black and white. The smaller, nimbler Scout Fox touched down in a lengthier skid than the Liger had, it`s smaller size allowing it to continue on for a few seconds longer before coming to a halt just next to the Jaeger. It was met in turn by the Blade Sniper, which wasn`t even in attack mode yet. As with the previous two, the smaller Zoid, the Blade Sniper, growled threateningly, despite being visibly outsized by the Scout Fox.

"... I`m going to make you pay for that comment," Brad muttered, though his thoughts - "If I wasn`t getting bribed, that is." - were different in the extreme.

This time the blur was a bit more subdued, if that was possible, zinging through the air and landing short of where both the Liger and the Fox had touched down, coming to a stop almost instantly while Leena worked to avoid outright toppling over from the added weight of all the Zoid`s weaponry. She`d touched down directly behind the other two, between them no less. Her counterpart in the face off - Jordan and the Gun Panzer - was nowhere in sight.

"Where the heck is the third one?" She asked, only to be answered promptly by Bit.

"Two miles ahead and to the right of us, near the center of the battlefield on a hilltop," he stated promptly, earning a well deserved grunt from Zeke.

The telepathic conversation ended there though, mainly due to the familiar delayed sonic boom as the Judge Capsule touched down with a roar, automatically beginning to belt out the rules of the battle without delay.

"The area within a five mile radius is a designated Zoid battlefield. All non-combatants and unauthorized personnel must leave the area at once. Area scanned. Battlefield set up."

There was an intensity on the battlefield that few things could match as Leena watched her team mates ready themselves for combat, never knowing they were going into things with the pure intention of losing.

The Blade and the Bolt crouched low, the Blade rearing back to the right somewhat and the Bolt inching to the left ever so slightly. Bit and Brad nodded to themselves and the battle -

The two lead Blitz Team Zoids lunged forward without hesitation, charging into battle with all guns blazing. What their attacks were met with though, was just the opposite of opponents who could be disoriented that easily. In an instant, Marcus had deployed his blades out in full attack mode, diving to the left at a low and stabbing the Liger right in the side, missing vitals by inches before pulling back out and jumping to the right. By then, Eric had already gone airborn, catching Brad off guard with disheartening ease and raking a path of precision gunfire from his Bolt Guns, throwing the larger Zoid to it`s gut at the same time that the Liger Zero toppled over sideways with a roar of pain.

The response from Brad, Bit, Zeke, Leena and Steven back on the HoverCargo was uniform:

"So much for a real battle," Eric grumbled to himself at the two downed Zoids, both of which he`d been expecting a major fight from.

"Maybe I didn`t have to bribe you after all," Bit mumbled in outright shock at what had just taken place. Brad was too busy scraping his jaw off the floor to even try to think of something witty to say.

"I didn`t think I`d go out that quick," he finally managed to say with a voice about twice as high pitched and surprised as it usually sounded.

"I`m screwed. I`m screwed. I`m beyond screwed," Leena thought with several slight twitches as the two Gunsnipers turned to face her.

"Hope you don`t mind," Coleman stated plainly, swinging his blades straight forward into stabbing mode, then swiftly jogging away from the Bolt Sniper. Eric almost audibly frowned in annoyance, if only because Marcus had been hogging most of the good point making wins as of late.

Leena on the other hand, was utterly terrified, reacting one sheer reflex rather than actual skull. His first thrust with a blade, she jumped back. The second followed the same course, Marcus swung his blades back into attack mode and jumped sideways this time, trying to skewer her again. Leena jumped sideways with a half twist to her own movements, bringing her face to face with the other pilot for a split second, and that was all she needed.

That itch on her trigger finger was temporarily satisfied and the Blade Sniper toppled over with a dozen foot wide holes trailing down it`s collar to it`s groin, which itself had exploded the moment a round glanced into one of the barrels of the double impact cannon, striking into a shell on a fluke and setting off a chain reaction.

In short, Marcus Coleman had just been trashed on a complete fluke. Leena was almost hyperventilating with excitement and adrenaline.

"... Well, that was certainly unexpected," Eric mumbled with several thoughtful blinks.

There was a faint glow in the distance and the Bolt Sniper literally blasted out of the way by the force of it`s ankle thrusters, launching up and to the right. Almost on shocked reflex, Leena did the same, if only because she had a habit of jumping to her right rather than her left. The result was a complete fluke of a dodge past a laser that would`ve blown a hole straight through the Gunsniper`s chest and out the back of it`s tail, sawing a trail of actual fire into the ground for several dozen yards before another delayed sonic boom shot into the girl`s ears. Again, she jumped right, and this time, a 380mm Panzer Cannon round blasted by with enough force for the sonic boom to almost throw her Zoid right off of it`s feet, slamming into the ground with a furious explosion of dust, flame and smoke, as well as rapidly glassing dirt.

"Keep dodging!" Her father yelled over the comm, and Leena again jumped to the right, only to hop back an instant later as the Bolt Sniper slammed down where she`d been standing. Her trigger finger was fast, but Johnson`s well honed reflexes were faster, allowing him to rocket jump straight up again and dodge a hail of bullets, only to found out that his dodge wasn`t good enough.

The flaming hulk of what had been the Bolt Sniper landed a second later, with Johnson already drifting down on a parachute while Leena fought off the urge to jump around ecstatically. It had taken up half of her rocket and bullet ammunition to nail the Blade and the Bolt, but she still had some left and she was going to put it to good use.

"Here we go, baby," Leena said to herself, already seeming to slip back into her old pattern of thought, but this time she was more cautious, taking time to aim at her target. Even at a distance of two miles, the Gun Panzer stuck out like a sore thumb, and it was well within the range of both the Wild Weasel unit`s targeting systems, and the range of her guns. It took a split second, and then Leena had sent off everything she`d had left, promptly dodging to the left this time and avoiding Jordan`s preemptive attacks in one full swoop, just as the ground she`d been standing on burst into flames from the impact of a flaring orange laser beam.

There was an enormous explosion just over a second later, just as the Judge spoke up.

Another delayed sonic boom, Leena jumped out of the way frantically, the ground beside her tore apart in flames, dust, glass and smoke. Another beam followed, again she dodged though, but only by a few inches.

"Run to your right and try to close in. He`s big and clumsy so it`ll take him a few seconds to turn and aim as you get closer," Brad stated over the broadband, not exactly caring if Terrel heard him or not.

"He meant a Gunsniper," Bit emphasized with a similar tone to what Brad had been using. In an instant, she understood, taking off in a wide run towards the right, even as the Panzer tried to turn and keep up with a drawn out laser beam, trailing by inches at first but with the gap growing wider and wider with every stride the Gunsniper made, until Leena had made what she was willing to bet was a good ten to fifteen seconds ahead of the laser, then went to a skidding halt while turning halfway around, the Zoid`s tail already straightening out in a matter of two seconds, going rigid and extending several feet in total.

As this happened, the chair reclined back, twisting around and holding her prone with the trigger in hand. It wasn`t comfortable, but it`d have to do.

"Aim for a stabilizer in the leg," she thought almost automatically at the zoomed in view of the insane amount of armor on the Gun Panzer. Eight seconds went to waste as Leena tried to steady her nerves for the shot, and the last five -

- all the while, facing imminent elimination by the oncoming laser beam. With only a slight hesitation, the targeting reticule aiming for the knee stabilizer on the right leg, Leena pulled the trigger. A crack of the gun, the hum of the laser and -

- the Gun Panzer let out a screech, toppling over sideways with a loud thud. The laser promptly cut out on auto, while the Zoid`s leg had completely buckled at the knee, tagged so perfectly that the cap had flown off and internal gears had been otherwise unscathed. Jordan screamed irately at the result, while Leena just gaped at her own victory.

And after that, there was a twitch and a bit of psychotic, demoralizing laughter as Bit Cloud and Brad Hunter emerged from the cockpits of their Zoids, the latter smoking a cigarette, the former still in relative shock to what just happened. Zeke was as cynical as ever about it all.

... Well, for the first time in just about two-hundred or more years, someone`s actually proven me wrong. A human no less. A completely ordinary, mildly psychotic, non-Zoidian blooded human.

"I somehow doubt she`ll be letting us forget that anytime soon," Brad stated rather plainly, taking a slow drag off of his smoke while Bit just shook his head and sat down on the side of the Liger`s head.

"You`re right. You don`t. But then again, neither of us will be paid since our checks are probably going to fixing the damage our Zoids took."

"Last time I ever underestimate psychotic teenaged girls with reddish-pink hair and a fetish for high explosive chaingun rounds," the Elemian gent commented with an utterly defeated expression as Eric finished parachuting down to the ground, giving only a sage nod in response. It was really all the veteran could think to do.

"WHO`S THE BEST GUNSNIPER PILOT NOW, HUH?! I BET NAOMI`LL CRAP HERSELF WHEN SHE FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS!!!"

Author`s Note: Well, did I drag that one out enough for you? Took the whole smeggin` story to pull that off but I got through it eventually :P Consider this Leena`s big shining moment so far.

X DJ Wolfwood X: How about letting me work through the story first? I already got the next book and a potential prequel lined up as is, not to mention work on the Hybrid Theory series and a potential Cowboy Bebop fic.

ZeonReborn: Nice to see you`re back :D *Tosses... Fangirl tongue since you already have WAY too many cookies for your own good.* And since you`re wondering: I specifically made Bit and Leena distantly related so people wouldn`t want to see them paired up in NA. At most, they`ll be friends and they might learn about the relation thing, but don`t expect romance. I doubt Bit will hook up with anyone in NA and the same goes for Leena. As I`ve said before: Romance is NOT my preferred field of writing. To be blunt: I usually suck at it. Plus I despise fluff. With a passion.

EndlessAdventure: Yes, Borealis is now the youngest Organoid. That has a story of it`s own but... That`ll be explained later.

JCKilla: I do respect your oppinion, but I`m the one writin` the story yanno... And since you`ve made so many points, here are my replies to them all:

1: I never decide my battles by raw power without a damn good excuse for it. Skill determines everything in most battles that I write, the same is true for New Age. The Fuma Team are not good Geno Saurer pilots, with Warsharks they`re great but Raven with a Geno Saurer would mangle all four of them with ease. The Ultimate Xs are powerful, yes, but not invincible.

2: I need only point to the Red Blade Liger. It`s not an Ultimate X and it moves on it`s own. U-X Zoids are not the end-all, be-all as far as New Age goes. They may be powerful but they`re not invincible. And yes, I agree to a point about the Zoid cores and the man-made Zoids, but I think that while they may be the norm, there are exceptions to the rule.

3: I made the name up. It sounds virtually the same as Leena, just replace the Lee with an Ri. Ties in to how Leyon thinks she looks so much like her mother.

If ya want to continue any sort of debate, feel free to do so in mails rather than reviews. Just a request.

New Age by Sh33p

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New Age

Chapter 30

The Three Snipers, Leena's Confidence