New Age Chapter 4, 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

It had almost been a week since Bit Cloud had thrown down the gauntlet and laid out the challenge to a Zoid Battle as soon as Mark finished registering and repairing the Shadow Fox. In that time, quite a bit had happened, not the least of which being Marcus having traded in the two trailers of his Gustav - along with that 'liberated' Gunsniper - and used the funds to buy a new trailer and finish the cost requirements to repair and modify the Fox. All in all, it hadn`t been too bad a week really.

Marcus was a bit tired, settling himself down on the ground next to the trailer that he`d been keeping the Shadow Fox on. The Zoid still wasn`t exactly being friendly with him but it didn`t seem to be too hostile anymore. At least not openly. A campfire was burning a few feet away, and beside it was a plain, dark blue sleeping bag. "We got a big day ahead of us tomorrow," he said, more to the Shadow Fox than himself. The Zoid only seemed to grunt in annoyance. "But for now, I got a phonecall to make..."

With that, Marcus calmly dialed up a certain number, namely the number for dorm room number A45C, the room number for one Abigail Summers, one of the three and a half thousand students who had chosen to take up residence on the massive facility known as the D Institute for Higher Learning, named after the ancient patron saint of Zoid research(they had to find someone to commemorate as a saint for Zoid research given how widespread their usage was...). It was actually a combination of a Zoid, medical and archaelogical research facility, but that really didn`t matter to Marcus.

He waited for several seconds with the phone pressed casually to his ear, resting on his back on top of the sleeping back, staring up at the twin moons of Zi. "Come on Abbie, pick up the phone," he mumbled to himself, glancing over at the Shadow Fox, which was practically sizing him up still.

"Hello?" A decidedly female voice asked over the roar of a party in the background. "Abbie?" Mark asked, having to speak up. "Yeah, I`m kinda locked up in my bedroom right now..." She stated, just loudly enough to get through the sound of the party outside. "Ah. Just calling to let you know that if I don`t call tomorrow, I love ya, `kay?" Mark asked.

"... I love you too Markie, now get back here soon!" Abbie ordered sternly. "I will, just be sure to watch..." Mark thought a moment. "Channel seven tomorrow at work, alright?" He asked. "Alright," Abbie agreed after a thoughtful pause. At that, Mark decided to end the conversation, knowing she`d have a fit the moment she remembered what channel number seven was. "G`night Abbie, time for me to sleep."

"Lo-" The Shadow Fox interrupted with a well timed shriek. "-ve you!" Marcus said, quietly pressing the button to turn the phone off and then placing a well aimed glare at the Zoid. The Fox looked like it would have been grinning like some trickster god if it`s face could change expressions.

"Just don`t pull something like that in the match tomorrow... I can probably bet money you don`t want a loss to the Liger placed on your record, do you?" Marcus asked. The Shadow Fox let out another sound akin to a grunt and settled down on the trailer, not moving another inch as it`s eyes faded black.

"Thought so," Mark grumbled before setting the phone down on the ground and slipping into the sleeping bag.

The hangar bay of the Blitz Team base was mostly silent at present. The oversized garage was almost empty, bar the presence of a newly repaired Raynos and a Gunsniper that was also in the process of being repaired, though more due to heat and radiation damage than getting it`s limbs cut off or anything of that nature.

Aside from that though, the hangar was almost entirely empty, occupied only by a jeep, a car and two additional figures which contrasted each other to an unbelievable degree. One was the hugely built Liger Zero, standing proudly as ever in the shadowed bay in it`s ivory-tinted base armor, accompanied by the hustling figure of a sleepless Bit Cloud, who was currently shuffling around in the hangar trying in vain to burn off excess energy and anxiousness.

"Can`t lose," Bit kept thinking, shuffling along on the smooth metal flooring like a boxer, even though he was too thinly built to do such a thing and even though he was wearing pajama pants and a sweatshirt. Bit was weird like that, nobody had really put any thought into his past prior to his time as a junk dealer, but he had been an amatuer boxer during High School, and he had graduated early to boot. He was nineteen now, he had spent three years doing little more than wandering the world as a junk dealer and he had spent little less than a twelfth as much time as a Zoid pilot, but that was all in the past.

Bit wasn`t a boxer anymore, he hadn`t been since he graduated and stole his uncle`s garbage truck before fleeing the Wind Colony, but he still kept his skills intact, if only because it kept him in shape. Plus it was useful for burning off energy, like now.

Tonight was just one of those nights though, Bit couldn`t sleep and he had personally finished repairing the Jaeger armor himself to try and wear himself out but all it did was breed more energy for him to have to burn off.

A phantom punch here, a haymaker there. Liger seemed look on in vague amusement at it`s partner`s antics, though Bit could feel a bit of anxiety from the Zoid too. He had a connection to it, just one of those things that couldn`t be explained very easily. "Don`t give me that look," Bit grumbled, seeming to dance to the right of the Liger`s left forepaw. The Zoid rumbled lowly. "I don`t care if I look dumb, don`t give me that look," he chastised, backpedalling out in front of the Zoid and throwing around a dozen straight jabs ahead of himself.

"Agreed. The pilot`s too much of a rookie to worry about, but the Fox still isn`t something to take - lightly," Bit said, pausing briefly with a grunt to throw an uppercut which in turn almost threw him off balance. Liger rumbled again. "Just tryin` to tire myself out so I don`t enter the battle as a zombie tomorrow," he replied to his Zoid`s concerned tone. "No need to worry - about - me!" He yelled, throwing another combination of moves that finished the job of knocking him off balance and in the process, knocking him over.

"Your move," Leyon stated with a half-concealed smirk after using the abilities of the piece he had just moved to take Steven`s favored Blade Liger out of the game from the fifth board. "... Sneaky," Steve commented. "But I`m sneakier," he added soundly, using the long range abilities of his remaining Gunsniper - which he had kept well hidden behind a fairly large rock - to pick off the Pterasniper that Leyon had just used on his favorite piece in the game. "... True, but I guess that just means I`ll have to resort to being the crazy bastard that I am," Leyon commented lazily, using the Megalomax option on one of his Dibison pieces to literally spam the area of the Gunsniper until nothing was left standing.

"Not bad," Steve said with a pause. The game was called Five Tiered Zoid Battle Chess, usually referred to as 'Fitz Battling' because of it`s complex nature. Originally used as a light training tool in the old Guylos military for strategic officers, the game revolved around five 3D boards linked together by a plate-sized holographic projector, and over the years it had changed to include a card system and multiple moves per-turn, but the basis had always remained the same: Two or more people using a choice selection of up to fifty Zoids pick one another off until either one side is down to no units in the game, one side gives up or one side loses it`s home base.

Despite it`s complex nature and the fact that few people could ever master it, the game was widely enjoyed, not the least of which by two well known former pros who happened to be playing right now, namely Leyon and Steve. "Think Bit`ll win tomorrow?" Leyon asked, more or less attempting to stir up a conversation about something to throw Steve`s concentration off. Part of the game was that the terrain changed from game to game, one of the boards was under water, one was in the air and the home boards and the main fighting board were all on the ground, and you could only see things from the side of the game that you sat on, so if your opponent hid behind a rock or an abandoned building, you wouldn`t see them.

"Probably. This 'Marcus Harlock' character seems to be a bit too green around the ears to do more than throw the Fox off," he answered after long pause, resorting to playing dirty and going to the Pteras he had up on the aerial board. "Seems that way. Only pilot that ever mastered it was Brad Hunter," Leyon replied, leaning back to glance over at the television.

"Got you," Steven commented to himself, using the Pteras he had on the aerial board to execute a bombing run on Leyon`s base. "Not quite," Leyon replied just as Steve ended his turn, using a combination move of a Geno Breaker jetting up and slicing the Pteras in half with it`s head horn, landing on the border of his base and firing a long range Charged Particle Cannon assault straight at Steven`s base to even things back off.

"Guess I`m winning, eh?" Leyon asked. "Not quite," Oscar cut in, just as the Geno Breaker and a significant chunk of both bases were removed from the game. "... You sneaky bastard," both men grumbled at their compatriot. "Take`s one to know one," Oscar said with an annoying grin.

Marcus sat quietly in the cockpit of the Shadow Fox, arms crossed sternly over his chest. The Zoid was obviously anxious, but it didn`t do anything to try and make this known, it seemed a bit annoyed still but it wasn`t about to complain at the chance of a rematch with the Liger Zero.

"About time they showed up," Mark grumbled at the sight of the Hover Cargo off in the distance, followed by the sonic impact of the Judge capsule with the kind of force that could plow through most Zoids in an instant, throwing off a heat-and-dust shockwave from the high speed touchdown onto the ground. "Ready to kick some Liger ass, Fox?" Mark asked anxiously, setting his hands onto the controls of the Zoid and settling further into the seat. The Fox growled a little and waited, almost having to resist calling the Liger Zero out of the Hover Cargo personally.

But Bit was a tad too intent on getting the match going to really keep the other fighter waiting. Without even coming to a stop, the Hover Cargo`s top launch bay slid open like a post office box and out came flying the blue speed demon itself, rocketing well over a hundred yards through the air before landing perfectly on it`s feet with a skid and a roar, all of fifty yards away from the Shadow Fox, which seemed to greet it like an old rival.

"You ready?" A voice chimed in over the broadband. "As I`ll ever be," Mark replied, cracking his neck and shaking his shoulders briefly. "Good, cause so am I. Hope you know, Brad broke a table with his forehead because of you," Bit replied. "... Sorry?" Mark asked. "Tell him that after I beat you," Bit answered. "If you beat me," Marcus replied.

"Trust me, I will," Bit shot back. The smell of competition was practically thick enough to cut through with a knife and the fighting hadn`t even started yet. "All that`s left is for the judge to give off the rules and then..."

"You`re mine," Marcus interrupted, finishing Bit`s sentence for him. "I wouldn`t be so sure of that," Bit argued with a near-audible grin.

"The area within a five mile radius is a designated Zoid Battlefield. This zone is now restricted. Only competitors and personnel have authorized entry. All others must leave the area at once..."

Tension filled the air as the Judge began to give off the rules to the Zoid warriors.

"Let`s see how good you really are," Marcus thought to himself, leaning forward.

"Time to kick some tail, Liger," Bit thought, recieving a guttural rumble from the Liger Zero in agreement.

"Bit Cloud of the Blitz Team versus Marcus Harlock, no affiliation. Battle Mode 0992. Ready... FIGHT!"

Both Zoids let out mirroring roars of challenge before the Liger Zero Jaeger burst forward, levelling off a near-sonic boom in the process. Marcus wasn`t ready - the Shadow Fox was, and it replied in kind by darting straight towards the oncoming Jaeger with reflexes honed through years worth of battle data input by it`s creator, Doctor Leyon, only now being put to use though.

The Shadow Fox tumbled through the air in a forward flip, carried aloft further by the sheering effect of the Jaeger`s full acceleration, while the Jaeger itself had to skid along to try and meet a decent stopping point a good two hundred yards away before swinging itself around on it`s foreclaws and letting loose with a hail of fire from it`s four head-mounted machine cannons. The Fox sprang out of the way, this time under Marcus` control, darting from side to side in a zig-zagging pattern for the Liger, avoiding more than it`s fair share of damage in the process before coming up to near point blank.

"Pika-boo!" Marcus shouted loudly, bringing the Fox`s entire weight to bear and crashing the smaller Zoid headfirst into the chin of the Jaeger, throwing it back onto it`s haunches before the AZ 30mm Laser Vulcan Gun spun up, letting loose with a hail of high powered pulse lasers, which the Liger Zero dodged in an unorthodox fashion, boosting up off of the ground with it`s Ion Boosters, only to come spiralling back down in an agile twist and land awkwardly on it`s forepaws, swinging back around in a handspring-like movement before dodging to the side again in avoidance of the EMP Net Missile the Fox had launched in advance.

"Better than I thought," Bit commented with mock annoyance. He was enjoying himself too much as it was, no real point in feeling anger over that fact. "Nice to know we don`t make a bad team," Marcus replied with a smirk, wheeling the Fox around with a hop and setting his eyes on the still position of the Liger Zero Jaeger, which was growling out threats at the Shadow Fox, a Zoid that seemed more amused than anything else by it`s compatriot`s emotional stance.

"Thanks for proving me wrong," Bit replied as the two Zoids made to charge each other again, only to break course and start running alongside one another, smacking together frequently.

"So much for Bit winning this in the first few moves," Leena commented surprisedly. "... I`m screwed," Brad muttered sarcastically. Jamie was still as silent as he had been for the better chunk of the past week, staring more at his own hands than the battle that was being waged outside of the Hover Cargo. "Too bad Dad isn`t here, we could probably use his help for once," Leena mumbled to herself. "... How would he help? Cheer on the enemy team while playing with his toy Zoids?"

"Exactly. Don`t you think he`s got some sort of jinxing effect on anyone he cheers for?" Leena asked. "... For once, you have a point," Brad thought aloud, watching the battle with dreary interest.

The two Zoids continued running for several seconds before the Shadow Fox came to a dead halt, leaving the Liger to charge forward and skid around to face it again as Marcus deployed one of his little surprises, dropping the Dual Shock Impact Cannon into view and pulling the trigger for it, almost at random. In a flash, the first significant shots of the battle had been made, and the Liger growled out in near anger as the smoke cleared afterward, revealing two fresh, sizable scorch marks centered around equally large dents in it`s right shoulder.

"Don`t remember that being in the Fox`s arsenal," Bit commented a bit annoyedly. "Who said I was gonna let my partner keep his options narrowed down to only three weapons?" Mark countered swiftly. "... Yanno, I think I like you already," Bit complimented. "About time I met someone else who was screwy enough to call their Zoid a partner like me and Leon do," he added. "That`s nice. I`m just doing this for my girlfriend`s college funds," Mark replied with a shrug. "Cool," Bit said with an equally mundane tone of voice before casually pressing the trigger again.

The Fox shuddered as a pair of rounds smacked into it, impacting just behind the cockpit and nailing it in the base of the neck. "Low blow," Marcus grumbled. "Nyeh nyeh," Bit shot back before the Jaeger burst forward again, only to find that the Fox had expected it a move in advance and jumped up, this time leaving it`s foreclaws oriented downward and twisting around.

In a flashing thud, the Jaeger spun out of control, the Shadow Fox firmly locked onto it`s back with claws sinking down into the joints of the Jaeger boosters, causing the other Zoid to roar in fury before tumbling over sideways and throwing the Shadow Fox off.

Marcus grunted and wiped the small trickle of red from his forehead as the momentum flung him around hard enough that the safety harness failed for all of a second and allowed his head to smack into the metallic part of the seat. The rookie pilot didn`t complain though, he actually didn`t seem to notice it either but that wasn`t the point.

Again, the two Zoids rose, and again they clashed, with the Jaeger charged forward and catching the Shadow Fox off gaurd before clawing at it relentlessly, leaving several visible scrapes running across the belly of the Fox before it had ever even hit the ground, even while Mark retracted the Double Impact Cannon, allowing the Fox to backflip out of the assault on it`s own and catch the Liger squarely in the chin with it`s hind legs, landing a bit awkwardly in a handspring-like stance before righting itself and letting loose with a stream of pulse lasers.

The Liger twisted out of the way again though, even though it`s right stabilizing fin took a hit and gained a brand new hole running straight through it, catching itself and landing on all fours after another second only to jump sideways as the Fox trailed it with further pulse laser attacks.

The Jaeger paused, the Fox lunged forward, ending it`s laser assault with a synthesized shrieking howl in mid-air. Both Zoids collided brutally as Bit brought the Liger into a rapid twist while already on the ground, catching the Fox in the stomach while the Fox raked it`s claws across the Liger`s side and stomach, throwing both Zoids apart from each other with a thunderous roar from both sides, sending the Fox crashing straight into the ground while the Liger rolled along and came back up, shaking the dirt and dust off of itself and turning to face the Shadow Fox once more.

"Strike Laser Claw!" Bit shouted, spiking the power to the claws and the boosters while rotating them at the same time, bringing the Jaeger into a sideways jump at the Fox, flying into a corkscrew for it`s strike. Mark seemed to read the move though, bringing the Shadow Fox into a decidedly un-rookie-like move by jumping it straight up and corkscrewing into a sideways flip, allowing the Jaeger to pass straight through where the Fox had been standing mere seconds before.

"Strike Laser Claw!" Marcus shouted as the Fox began to descend, bringing both claws into a combined stab at where the Liger had landed, missing by mere inches but still taking the very tip of the other Zoid`s tail off in the process. The Jaeger had already moved though, the blowback from it`s acceleration almost sent the Shadow fox back a few yards but the smaller Zoid held it`s ground, literally until it managed to tear it`s foreclaws clear again.

"Give up yet?!" Mark demanded, bringing the Fox into a run straight through the Liger Zero`s exhaust trail, opening up with the Fox`s own concealed thrusters to speed up until the two Zoids were seperated by only a few dozen yards. "Not a chance!" Bit yelled back, swinging the Jaeger Boosters` aim downward and throwing the Liger Zero up and off of the ground in an increased jump that left the Fox to run straight under.

If not for the Shadow Fox`s own skills and reflexes, the oncoming hail of machine gun rounds would have likely rained on Mark`s parade, but in a show of agility that most would`ve puked at, the Zoid brought itself into an acrobatic jump out of the way, spinning and flipping through the air several times before coming to a stop, the AZ 30 raising up out of fixed-forward firing mode and tilting to aim at the neck of the Jaeger, which just barely managed to drop down in time to avoid it, earning a perfectly placed burn mark along it`s nose for it`s efforts.

"This is actually closer than I thought it would be," Oscar admitted with both brows raised. "Here I was thinking Bit would win in the first few moves and this rookie`s keeping him in the game," he added. "Give it five minutes, by then, Bit`ll have finished playing around with him," the Doc commented dryly. "Your move," he said with an exhausted grin. "... Gnagh..." Leyon sounded, somehow finding the mental strength to think up a plan for his next move. He quickly used one of his Iron Kongs and trampled through the ankle of Steven`s Death Saurer, taking several points off of it in the process. Steven was nonchalant in following his opponent`s move up by having his remaining Storm Sworder kamikaze the Iron Kong right out of the game.

"Maybe he`s like Brad," Leyon commented. "Eh?" Steve asked, watching with a twitch when Leyon used his Geno Saurer to blow off the Death Saurer`s head from across the board. "Able to survive the Fox long enough to pilot it effectively... Doubt he`s the pilot I wanted though," Leyon answered. "And who did you want?" Oscar asked. "Someone who wouldn`t just own it," Leyon answered cryptically. "That`s the only way you can bring out the potential of any Zoid, you can`t just command the damn thing and expect it to do everything because you tell it too," Leyon explained. "Yep," Steven answered back, using a trio of Cannon Tortoises to try and tag the Geno Saurer at range.

"Wonder if Brad`ll ever unlock the Key System?" Leyon asked. "Key System?" Steven asked. "Eh... Nothing," Leyon answered. "Right. Oh look, DIE GENO SAURER, DIE!!!" Steve cackled as prolonged bombardment by his Cannon Tortoises seemingly won the day. "Nope," Leyon replied, simply replacing the Geno Saurer with a Geno Breaker.

Again and again the Fox and the Liger clashed across the flat terrain of the battlefield, waging a battle that refused to die down in the least with increasingly shorter, increasingly rare times of rest between each flurrying offensive either side pressed on each other.

This time around, the Fox seemed to come out on the losing end of the Liger smacked it hard across the cheek-region of the head with an open pawed strike in mid-air, aided by the speed of the Jaeger Boosters as if performing an uppercut. The Shadow Fox tumbled back through the air above the battlefield, landing roughly on all fours before dodging to the side in a near-blur, avoiding the crashing onslaught of the Jaeger`s foreclaws, even though the larger Zoid used this brief time to tilt it`s thrusters to the side and spin itself around, rooted by it`s claws, before sending off a hail of machine gun rounds.

"Right, we`ll need some cover to catch our breath and if we can`t find any," Marcus replied, flipping the switch on the newly enhanced Smoke Projectors. "We`ll just have to make our own!" He shouted, just as the Fox vanished in an artificial cloud of smoke so heavy that it refused to dissipate even as a strong gust of wind whipped through the battlefield.

"He`s using the Projector system, try and charge around it and whip it into a tornado, then it`ll blow itself out!" Brad shouted over the team-only channel, experience doing the planning ahead of his words. "Alright," Bit agreed, taking a moment to allow the Liger to rest up and then accelerating forward, straight around the ground-level cloud of smoke, curving into a circle pattern a few seconds later.

Faster and faster the Jaeger went, until after several seconds, the smoke began to curl in on itself and then expand, in an exactly circular tornado as Brad had predicted.

Bit yelped in surprise as the Fox emerged out of the cloud, above and in front of the Jaeger, coming down at an angle and aiming straight for one of the Jaeger`s boosters. As fast as was humanly possible, Bit tried to veer out of the way but the effect of his own tornado came back to haunt him and in an unbelievably badly timed sort of way, delaying his turn by almost a full quarter of a second.

It was all the Mark and the Shadow Fox needed to get their hit in, cleaving straight through the parts connecting the right Jaeger Ion Booster to the Liger Zero itself and sending the piece flying through the air, where it too was gripped by the winds and dragged back around, slamming into it`s counterpart with ferocious speed as the Fox unsteadily touched down and rocked back ever so slightly under the pacing of the winds, which died down almost immediately after the Liger tumbled out of control, now bearing a simply missing Booster to one side and fairly charcoal colored burn mark across the other.

"Rookie`s luck," Marcus commented with a prideful little smirk. The Shadow Fox growled something of an affirmative and turned around slowly, facing it`s former partner and waiting.

Seconds passed and the Liger Zero Jaeger unsteadily brought itself back up, turning around to face the Shadow Fox and shaking itself out. "Not bad at all," Bit commented with an uneasy breath over the broadband communications set-up. "Same to you," Mark replied with an even tone, wiping the sweat and blood from his forehead and waiting.

"Strike Laser Claw each other. Same time, whoever wins that, wins the match," Bit proposed cautiously. "It`s on," Marcus replied as the Shadow Fox lowered itself slightly.

"Strike!" Bit shouted out, just as the Liger began to rush forward again, trailing behind whisps of black smoke as the golden glow began to appear on it`s foreclaws.

"Laser!" Marcus added, just as the Fox`s own claws began to glow in the same color as those of the Liger Zero, even as it too charged towards the larger Zoid. Both pilots were obviously either insane or hyped up on adrenaline, otherwise they would have tried to just shoot each other at a distance.

"... Lunatics," Leena muttered in disbelief. "Oh, you would be one to talk," Brad commented sourly. "Can it," Leena growled villainously. "I didn`t say anything, it was Jamie," Brad coolly lied, motioning with his thumb at the still-moping teenager at the driver`s seat. "... Is that so?" Leena asked with a twitch. "Oh, totally... Did I mention he gave away the location of your cookie stash to Bit?"

"Sell-out," Jamie grumbled annoyedly in Brad`s direction, promptly diving behind the console and rolling out of sight.

On any day before today, the Liger Zero Jaeger would have won, narrowly in any event, but it would have won. The original Strike Laser Claws of the Shadow Fox were a good 10% weaker than those of it`s larger opponent, but as of today, that imbalance had been corrected.

As of today, the two were deadlocked in at least that respect. As such, the results were equally deadlocked when both Zoids were blown apart from each other and sent to wildly fling through the air and slam into the ground with mirroring rolles before stopping, leaving the Shadow Fox`s combat system at less than 5% and the Liger`s at an equally poor level of performance. Both Zoids had been hurt and both were all but exhausted in every respect as a result.

"Good fight," Bit commented as the Liger froze up. Damage from the entirety of the battle had finally done his partner in for the time being, putting the Liger down and disabling it from making any attacks as a result.

"You too," Mark replied, facing the same conditions as the Shadow Fox shrieked out something akin to a bruised drunkard`s cry of victory and collapsed, combat and command systems both frozen. It hadn`t taken as much damage as the Liger had, but by that same token, the Fox wasn`t as durable.

"Guess this means a draw then, huh?" Mark asked towards the Judge, waiting for an answer.

"Battle over! Battle over! This match has been determined a draw!" The Judge announced, as expected, before launching off of the battlefield and back towards whichever Judge Satellite happened to be in easy range. Both combatants sighed heavily as their Zoid cockpits opened up, allowing a ragged looking Marcus to tumble out and take in a few heavy breaths before sitting up and glancing down the fifty or so feet to the equally exhausted looking Bit Cloud.

"What now?!" Mark asked tiredly, hauling himself up and leaning against the Shadow Fox, still bleeding slightly from the cut across his forehead. "Heck if I know!" Bit yelled back, throwing his jacket off and flopping against the burnt nose of the Liger with a wheeze. Even if they hadn`t been trading punches, the toll was the same on both men - they were tired. Mentally and physically, it had been a draining battle and it had left them both all but exhausted as a result.

A few minutes went by as the two waited for the Hover Cargo - which seemed to be moving a little erratically for a little while - pulled itself up between them, followed by the forward garage opening up for the Liger.

Inside, Brad was standing with a cryptic look on his face, staring past Marcus and straight at the Shadow Fox.

Brad paused for a few seconds, thoughtfully regarding his decisions and then shrugging. "It`s your`s! Just run it daily and keep it well off or else!" Brad shouted back before turning and walking over to Bit, ready to help load the downed Liger Zero up and head back to the base.

"... Well, that was unexpected," Mark said to himself before faltering down and sitting against the Shadow Fox. "I need a few minutes to rest before I bring the Gustav in to pick you up... Gimme a minute," he told the Zoid, certain it likely wouldn`t hear him either way.

"Not bad," Harabec admitted with barely contained amusement at his nephew`s mere survival of a bout with the burgeoning legend that was Bit Cloud. "Coulda done better, but... That`s just me," he added with a mumble. Abbie was twitching every few seconds at the mere sight of what had just gone down, and most of the patrons in the resturaunt were either cheering or too surprised to say anything.

"... Beck, you mind if I kill your nephew?" Abbie asked, not really sure if she was joking or telling the truth. "Ah, don`t mind him too much Abbie, it`s in his blood after all," Harabec replied with a shrug, gingerly taking a sip of his water with his elbow propped up on the countertop. The green haired young woman on the other side of things simply shook her head and sighed.

"What am I going to do with him?" She asked. "Probably marry him," Harabec commented with a knowing smirk. "Aside from that," Abbie replied. "Smack him a few times with a frying pan no doubt," Harabec answered.

"Have you seen this kid?" A new voice, along with it`s owner, cut into the conversation rudely. Harabec blinked a few times at the picture that had been so rudely jammed into his face and then politely pushed it away. "That`s Vega Obscura, who hasn`t?" He asked sarcastically. "Has he been in here recently?" The youthful voice asked impatiently. "A week ago, he was here with his friends celebrating the Blitz Team`s arrival into Class S, why?" Harabec asked.

"Because," the other replied, nonchalantly walking to the door before turning over his shoulder. Given that he wore a jacket with a hood on that obscured the greater part of his face from the mouth up, Harabec had to strain somewhat to see even the slightest part of his face as he spoke up.

The doors shut too swiftly for Harabec to do anything but started to climb over the counter and by the time he had gotten outside, the young man had vanished already.

Author`s Note: The real plot starts forming in the next few chapters... Was just usin` the past few to help establish the characters and all - and don`t worry, Brad and Leena will both start taking far larger roles than they have so far in the next few chapters, which will also probably introduce a few more characters.

New Age by Sh33p

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New Age

Chapter 4

A Rookie's Luck - Marcus vs Bit