By Sh33p, CultofSh33p@aol.com
The great sequel of New Age. It'll knock your socks off. Tim Seltzer, seltzer@seltzerbooks.com
Sh33p Disclaimer: I don`t own Zoids. Consider this disclaimer valid for the whole damn story :P
Foreword:Get out the notepad folks, this ST list`s a bit longer than usual...
Scene One: Rurouni Kenshin - Last Wolf Suite(from 3:26 to 6:01, to be
specific)
Scene Two: Inuyasha - Rei no Chikara/Strength of Soul
Scene Three: Metallica - One
Scene Four: This is where it gets complicated...
Flashbacks: The Two Towers - Requiem for a Dream
Carl Orf - O Fortuna
Actual Scene: Rurouni Kenshin - Fallen Angel
Scene Five: Inuyasha - Shrine Maiden Kikyo
Scene Six: Sarah McLachlan - I Will Remember You
Scene Seven: Korn - Alone I Break
Scene Eight: Metallica - Enter Sandman(S&M Version)
"So much for that little get-together, huh, Liese?"
As the words hit the sanitized smelling air in the cockpit, the gears in the legs of the outdated, black-and-gold Rev Raptor blazed to life once again, churning with something that just hadn`t been there before. With their activation, years of experienced reflexes kicked in and an adaptive mind geared every last ounce of its power from resignation to its owners fate to carrying that destiny out as effectively as possible.
Smoke blew from his nostrils, his ungloved hands locked like vices onto the controls and the Rev Raptor launched forward with a screeching battle cry, the ground exploding into a proverbial hellfire in its wake. Plasma and missiles rained down by the bucket load, but as the entire world seemed to fade to little more than a streaking tunnel in his eyes, the old veteran seemed to consciously tune out everything, switching into some mental gear that only often found only in soldiers at war.
Everything was a blur, instinct followed thoughts that were moving at speeds that, quite frankly, should`ve been impossible.
The action paused for the briefest of moments, he came to the realization that the Rev Raptor was now directly beneath the mass of the Hellwalker`s main body, and as a result, he drew a breath and a drag from his cigar at once. The movements he`d made had been swift beyond belief, the colossal Zoid seemed dumbfounded by them, reacting as if it was being controlled by nothing short of a spoiled rookie punk with a new toy and a grudge against everyone in existence.
"Go for the eyes," he thought, and his body obeyed as if he were having an out-of-body experience. The Hellwalker stumbled to compensate, the guns across its stomach moving seconds to try and lock onto a target that had already gone off on its own.
The Rev Raptor that had always felt so outdated in comparison to Zoids like the Liger Zero or even the mighty Berserk Fury was now moving with a speed that defied logic, outpacing even a Lightning Saix as it closed in with whatever goal the pilot`s brain had marked off as step one in this last strike. The ground was exploding all over the place within a second of its initial launch, even beneath its feet, and yet the Zoid itself remained virtually unscathed.
This was what had given him the title of the Revered Raptor. This was why he had been a champion for four years straight in the toughest class of the Zoid battling leagues, this was it.
The Hellwalker`s neck craned around, only one eye visible, the same eye trying in vain to track the impossibly smaller Zoid`s movements. Instincts alone seemed to be guiding the massive creature, but those instincts had shifted from those of a predator on the hunt to prey under assault from the most dangerous of foes, and it wasn`t long before every gun on the Hellwalker`s body was firing almost randomly at anything that did or didn`t move, sending explosions sky-high all over the place.
"Predict."
The Rev Raptor howled its war cry as the Hellwalker`s tail finally pulled into the exact position that Harabec had been waiting for. By the time even he had finished registering the change, the Revered Raptor had positioned itself in a tensed, battle ready crouch upon the gigantic monster`s tail, just ahead of the three cannons in place there, both scythes flipped back out of use to lower drag. The clawed hands of each arm had braced into the thick, nearly impervious seeming armor of the Demon, while each eye glowed with a feral, almost inconcievable level of dedication.
There was no surrender to despair and hopelessness in this one, defiant rebel.
There would be no retreat either.
"Got you right where I want you, you big fat son of a bitch," the old veteran finally whispered out with conviction and a toothy grin that looked even more animalistic than the snout of the Zoid he was piloting, even as every gun on or within firing range of the tail locked onto his position with little or no regard of the Hellwalker`s own safety.
With a scream on his part and a screech from the Zoid he had partnered himself with, the Rev Raptor launched from the place it had been standing, clearing out bare nanoseconds before a hail of plasma scorched the tip of the tail black, somehow causing little or no damage despite the sheer firepower involved.
The universe became a distant blur to his eyes and tunnel vision set in once again, his world was the cockpit of his Zoid, nothing mattered but the objective and making sure it was carried out.
At speeds that would make Jack Sisco and the Tasker Sisters balk, the Rev Raptor whipped its way up the length of the Hellwalker`s tail, seemingly impervious to every gun the thing could shoot at it, and equally impervious to the countless anti-Zoid missiles now chasing after it only to be shot down by the same guns that couldn`t even touch it to begin with.
Both of the charged particle cannon turrets locked onto the charging Raptor as best they could, each firing with sustained, low level beams, and each missing no matter how hard they tried to hit the mark. It was like trying to use an artillery cannon to bring down a psychotic fly.
Color faded out as the Rev Raptor made it to the main body section of the Hellwalker, jumping up once onto the first turret, then again to stand upon the second, each time moving with an impossible speed that caused chips of impossibly heavy armor to go flying into the air from where its bladed feet touched down. Again though, it made a third jump, and by then, Harabec`s vision had regained only one color in contrast to the black and white that filled it before, a specific shade of orange that could be found on in the furnaces of Hell that were his target`s eyes.
One last time, the Rev Raptor landed, touching down swiftly upon the very base of the colossal Zoid`s neck, but this time, it paused, standing lethally calm between the two foremost mortar cannons.
If Henry Rommel`s mind could still comprehend the emotion of fear for his life, it was probably surging through him as every sound on the planet became nothing but a forgotten underline to the noise that came with each deadly scythe upon the Rev Raptor`s back coming to life with a silvery blue glow before flipping forward.
In that instant, the Hellwalker stopped being the most dangerous thing on the continent and instantly turned into the largest deer caught in headlights that had ever existed.
"End o` the line, you rotten bastard," Harabec growled, having already come to the realization that this would be his final attack. His heart pounded into his throat with that thought, but it didn`t serve to slow him down. Not even the added resistance of the energy scythes could.
As one, they moved, the Hellwalker trying in vain to turn away and get its left eye out of the line of fire, even tilting its neck back as far as possible to create a slope in hopes that it would slow the Rev Raptor down. It was futile though, because as the Hellwalker tried to dodge what even the remains of Henry`s fragmented mind knew was going to be a potentially lethal hit, the Rev Raptor had seemingly vanished from sight, blurring into non-existence with the crack of a gunshot.
Anti-Zoid fire slowed to a halt, every movement caused his vision to go black and the closer he got to the head of the Demon, the closer he knew he was getting to his own end.
One last battle cry filled the stale, now smoke-filled air of the cockpit, his knuckles turned white and the joints of his fingers screamed in protest. Hasty, raging strides head lead the Raptor right to its target with a speed that could almost be called godlike, a speed that seemed impossible to rival even in comparison to that of a teleporting Organoid. One last step carried it diagonally onto the left side of the neck, and then it was over.
Snap.
The black Rev Raptor flew with the grace of one of its aerial cousins, one leg curling dramatically as the other straightened behind it, in line with its rigid tail. Both arms trailed to either side, but one blade had snapped cleanly off at the base, the remains of its stabilizer tearing off into the air from wind resistance. Harabec`s scream became nothing short of a delirious laugh of absolute triumph.
His Zoid continued ascending for what felt like hours before gravity kicked back into play, slowing it first to a halt, then pulling it back down from what had probably been over a mile off the ground. Reflexively, he eased his grip on the controls, feeling his worn fingers start to soothe themselves almost instantly.
"This is gonna hurt, ain`t it?" He wondered to his Zoid, feeling its emotions perform the equivelent of a ginger, careless shrug in response. It brought another chuckle to him, even after he had finished quieting down from the laughing that had come with his attack`s success. His head reclined almost casually against the rest of the sight, his lips tightened around the burning cigar and his hands finally released the controls, gripping his harness instead.
With an implosion of metal and a fierce explosion of dirt and dust, the Rev Raptor crashed to the ground, its tail breaking and its legs immediately threatening, but not fully managing to follow suit. Both cannons were jarred from its back, giving a reflex firing as they broke away. Each arm snapped loose at the elbow, and the neck only barely held on by the will of the Zoid itself.
Harabec, despite this crashdown, came through it unscathed, only barely managing to pay attention to the agonized shrieking that was playing itself out in the background, underscored by several explosions and tremors as guns fired and feet stomped.
Almost laughing, he coaxed the Rev Raptor into getting up once again, if only to poke fun in the face of his humiliated enemy. The Zoid, broken down as it now was, responded with what sounded like a rumbling, gleeful little growl, having landed on its stomach. The climb to its feet wasn`t easy by any means, but it made it anyway, if only out of sheer spite, and when it did, he undid the harness.
The cockpit flipped open as the dust cleared, and with its good eye now glowing an insane shade of red, the Hellwalker glared absolute death in the face of the man and the lowly Zoid that had dared to defy its reign of terror. Instead of the fear that should`ve been there though, it was greeted only with the smug, shitheaded grin plastered across the face of one Harabec Davids, seconded by the half-toothless Rev Raptor he had been piloting, and now awaited his execution with.
For a moment, there was silence as the two regarded each other, Harabec`s eerily calm and pleasant, almost golden-brown eyes clashing with the one good red optic unit of Henry Rommel. In that moment, he finally got the chance to survey the damage he had been so proud of inflicting.
The Rev Raptor`s right scythe had broken off right in the center of the Hellwalker`s left eye, and had promptly become lodged there as a result. Sparks flew from the cut that lead to where the scythe was positioned, the eye itself had darkened to almost black.
Smugly as ever, Harabec took a long puff off of his cigar, and then spoke, ending the momentary truce as if it had never even existed.
"Yanno," he began, each and every gun and missile launcher on the Hellwalker`s body promptly locking onto him as best it could, the entire tail curving out to the side and the mouth opening up as its main gun started charging up.
"You really are one sorry son of a bitch," he finished, promptly exhaling smoke out of the side of his mouth and raising one hand up, middle finger happily raised in the face of his own demise.
"See ya in Hell!" He gleefully exclaimed, still waving the one-finger
salute as the Hellwalker let loose once more.
... Hn.
"Hm?" Kale voiced idly, leaning back against a brick wall with soda in hand. He was actually dressed now, having made the switch from nothing and back into his piloting outfit, though he`d yet to put his gloves on. His hair was as unkempt as usual, though he`d actually bothered to brush it for once, and it was obvious that he had recently showered, as evidenced by the fact that while his hair might have been brushed back out of his face and into an even more Ravenesque style than usual, it was still slightly wet.
I`m not sure if you should know, really, Shadow answered, staring blankly into the distance, in whatever direction that Farentown happened to be in. The jet black Organoid stood menacingly within the darkness for which it was named, seeming to hover just out of range of the street lamp`s immediate light, or the light cast off from the apartment building that Kale was leaning against. If anything though, the Organoid`s comment only made Kale more curious, though he didn`t bother saying it, preferring instead to just quirk a brow in Shadow`s general direction.
It doesn`t look like you`ll be getting the chance to avenge that earlier... Incident, involving that Harabec Davids guy, the black creature explained, crystal blue optics seeming to narrow ever so slightly. That roused Kale even more.
"And why`s that?" He asked, only slightly annoyed at the virtual revelation that had just been dropped in his lap. Were he in any other state of mind, he probably would`ve been downright irate.
He just died, Shadow answered again, as blunt and uncaring as a sledge hammer.
Kale blinked. For the first time since his battle with Bit Cloud, he was genuinely surprised by something, if only because Harabec had had the utter indecency to go and die by someone else`s hand. Now caught without a mixture of annoyance and something vaguely akin to remorse, he let out a sigh, took one last sip of his drink and then proceeded to pour it out as if it were alchohol being dumped onto a coffin or a tombstone.
"Too bad," he commented, tossing aside the empty bottle and then grabbing his gloves from where they`d been crammed under his arm, first pulling on the left, then the right. "Looks like he`s going to go down in history as the only person to beat me and be killed by someone else. Pity, really," he said, so emotionlessly that it was perplexing even to the Organoid standing across from him.
What now? Shadow asked, eager to avoid having to waste any more time in this piss bucket of a town in the middle of no where. Are you going to grieve for him or something?
"Nah," Kale answered with a shrug. "I grieve more that I wasn`t the one to kill him."
Then what do you plan to do? Are we through toying around, or do you want to risk someone else killing Fleiheit`s descendent?
"Well... I suppose it`s time to stop playing around then," Kale replied, straightening up from the side of the building and nodding to Shadow so that the Organoid would follow. "As for what I plan to do right now..."
There was a pause as the Maxis stepped into view from an unspoken command, optics glimmering ever so slightly while Kale took the towel from around his neck and tossed it aside, looking up at his own private Demon with a grin.
"I trust I`ve kept you `n` Fido waiting long enough, haven`t I?" He asked, walking towards the Zoid with a barely noticable swagger to his steps, cocky, but not unguarded. Shadow gave the mental equivelent of a cracked grin at the tone of Kale`s voice, the Organoid`s optics already starting to glimmer with a slow build-up of energy from within.
Yes. You have, he replied, which the Maxis promptly seconded with a growl, both optics starting to light up to an even bloodier red than before. Kale`s smirk deadened after a few seconds, fading from casually murderous relaxation to dead seriousness. His eyes almost became a shade darker, and his hair promptly seemed to obscure and overshadow the vast majority of his face, head hung low all of the sudden.
"Burn it to the ground. Not a single survivor."
The Maxis` head blade flipped forward accordingly, claws already glowing.
"I`ll wait here. When you`re finished..."
Shadow`s eyes seemed to turn into hot, hellishly blue torches, a black light starting to outline the Organoid`s body while its wings snapped out into view, arching straight up.
"We`re going after Bit Cloud."
A slow smile formed, infinitely more dangerous than the simple smirk he`d had on his face earlier. It was the only detail on his face not hidden by his hair or the darkness of the late evening, and as it did, Shadow and the Geno Maxis both began their respective rampages.
"You fuckers can tell Harabec good-bye for me," he muttered at no one in particular, angrily flaring his nostrils in memory of the old veteran who had, for the most part, humiliated him in his first true hour of glory.
Suffice to say, the town wouldn`t be standing much longer.
"Ever get the feeling that we`re just pawns in some game we don`t even know is being played?"
"Nope," Kyle answered bluntly, not really sure how to handle Mark anymore. The two had grown to be the best of friends(and technically enemies as well, but that was just a minor detail), yes, but even accounting for how brotherly they had become, neither had ever exactly dealt with the other after one had just lost a family member.
Not to mention the city that one of them had called home for several years now, the same city that the family member in question had died defending. The same city that had once boasted a population of well over a million people from all walks of life. The same city that had just had that entire population wiped out in under an hour.
Kyle wasn`t even really sure if there were any other survivors at all. He didn`t even know if Katherine, Abbie and that autistic kid had made it out alive. All he really knew was that his Zoid was just a few steps shy of being shot right to Hell and his remaining team mate had been almost mute for the past ten to fifteen minutes. Even the Shadow Fox had its head lowered, those charcoal optics dimmed imperceptibly.
The only sounds audible for a half a mile in any direction seemed to be those of the two lone Zoids that were limping away from the warzone that had once been Farentown. It was mind numbing, to say the least.
"Same," Mark finally replied with the same glum tone he`d had for the few times he`d spoken in the last few minutes.
"A bath`d be nice right about now," Kyle changed the subject clumsily, just trying to avoid any more quiet. Besides, staring at one`s feet and trying to think of things you could`ve done differently wasn`t going to do them any good right now.
"... Mlegh," Mark sounded out blandly, at least bothering to join in the conversation. "I`d rather have something to eat... Or Abbie in a schoolgirl outfit..."
"... I didn`t need to know that," Kyle muttered, though his thoughts were of a slightly different nature. "Least his sense of humor hasn`t been wiped out..."
"... Edible panties..."
There was the nearly muted sound of what appeared to be saliva dripping onto the floor.
"... Okay, so maybe the shock just hasn`t set in fully yet," Kyle thought with a tone sour enough to match the blankly sardonic look on his face.
"Don`t suppose you have anything normal to talk about, huh?" He asked, trying to change to a subject that didn`t instantly render thoughts of Katherine into his brain. Despite being considered the 'sensitive' member of the Suicide Team - primarily due to misconceptions made by younger women because of his looks and sometimes articulate nature - Kyle Mazemia was still a guy. He still had male urges, to say the least.
"... Gee, the world`s effectively come to an end, my hometown just got blown to shit, my uncle just died and I have no idea where the fuck my girlfriend and my seemingly adopted son are - or if they`re even alive. Got anything normal to talk about?" Mark asked with a lot more bitterness than he had probably intended.
"... Point taken," Kyle replied in surrender. "Wanna talk about that then?" He asked, finally giving up on trying to avoid the topic all together. He needed some damned conversation, even if it was negative.
"Not really."
"You don`t even seem phased by it," Kyle only half-lied. Mark wasn`t taking the bait.
"Whatever. Just drop it before I shoot you," he growled, though the threat was likely about as empty as his voice had started to sound.
"Right," Kyle finally sighed, giving up and resigning himself to hearing nothing but the sounds of the Zoids and his own thinking. It was still just as mind numbing as it had been before, but now it was equally depressing as well. He had just run out on one ally, and now it felt as if he might have just failed another.
And that was when he picked up a single blip on his scanners, identified clearly as a lone Gustav, exactly three miles away.
"Nice to have something going right tonight..."
"My..."
Pain. It hurt just to think anymore, the world had turned from being displayed to him in so many colors he could scarcely comprehend it all to being blanked out by a red, agonized haze.
"My eye..."
The assailant was gone. Dead, in fact. Henry had seen to that much personally, it was why he was currently having even more trouble balancing than he would have otherwise. The reason was that his attack on the little smiling bastard had completely annihilated the area in front of him. It was literally nothing more than a burnt-out, glassed over crater, smoldering so hotly that most of it still tinged a smoking orange, even as the top layers started to actually slop towards the center.
"... It hurts..."
It hadn`t been enough.
After several more seconds, the Hellwalker`s mouth started to close at last, the gun retracting into its throat with a slow precision. Both pairs of legs, unevenly placed as they now were, started automatically taking the colossal Demon out of the edge of the crater in reverse. Guns across the body swiveled to point into what could best be considered neutral for each and every one of them, ranging from pointing straight ahead to simply sliding into previously unnoticed concealing ports.
But the pain could still be felt as clearly as it had been just before Henry had fired.
It still hadn`t been enough.
"How can it still hurt?"
According to the injury of his external left eye, the crystallized, Core cell pit where his biological left eye had once been now began to trickle out a fluid that could be mistaken for tears. In truth, it was the kind of liquid that flowed around in most unnatural Zoid Cores, used to help circulate energy and lower heat levels. It was the equivelent of blood.
He was bleeding.
He had poured almost all of his main firepower into that attack, his new body was exhausted, and the city that he had wiped from the face of Zi was little more than a burnt memory of his first true success in years.
But it still hadn`t been enough.
"WHY DOES IT HURT LIKE THIS?!"
In his agony, the Hellwalker reared back a bit more and threw its head
to the sky, roaring out what sounded more like a human scream than anything
else. The Rev Raptor`s scythe, or what was left of it, remained lodged
in place, still sparking electricity from the damaged Demon`s eye.
[The world had turned apocalyptically dark as the two great Demons confronted each other, the skies burning a pitched black and red. Each towered over the surrounding landscape, scarred and viciously pockmarked as it was after years on end of seemingly futile violence. Bodies, most of them burnt or crushed to something resembling pulp, were strewn about the brutalized countryside, and the lone fortress that had dared to even exist in the area had been turned to nothing but shattered dreams and broken debris, piling high in some places, dipping into low craters in others.
But in the eyes of a child, everything took a backseat. She had never known her father, he was one of those few sane men who hadn`t initially joined in the bloodletting, long enough that she had been born in the first place, but he had still eventually fallen to the wrath of the conflict. She didn`t even know why it had started, nor did she even care to find out.
Her mother lay dead on the ground in front of her, the body covered in a mixture of blood and ash. What was left of it, anyway. The woman`s Organoid was in much the same shape, having been blown open in numerous parts of its formerly sleek, blue body.
Tears streaked down the little girl`s face, but even in this darkest of hours, some form of hope still tried to defy fate and live in the face of adversity. She could hear the words, spoken in a language that seemed to falter in between her own and another that sounded more like insane gibberish than anything else, sounding off in her mind as if it had been composed of a million or more different voices all at once, each perfectly identifiable from the next, but each blending together to an absurd degree.
Her own Organoid stood nearby, shoulders visibly slumped, arms hanging out in front of it. Shock had set in for the creature, its normally blue colorscheme having started to shift to a checkered red, though its original black coloring was still slightly visible. It was part of the growing process for an Organoid, changing colors and the like, but it didn`t matter.
It seemed all that mattered were the two Demons who stood across from one another in the horror of the Zoidian Endtimes.
They contrasted to each other in a sharp way, but they were still similar despite it. One of them was a near solid black with numerous red panels and silver, eerily polished feet, claws and teeth, mounting a full fledged arsenal within and upon its body. The other was a slightly taller beast, mixing colors between solid black, clawed hands and feet, several enormous blue panels, three gigantic cannons of various types upon its chest and a colossal white body, all of which contrasted to the great red crest standing upon its head.
The two were nearly the same size, though the white one was larger and perhaps even more imposing because of it. They were both bipedal with long, thick tails and vicious orange-and-red eyes, and they shared a seemingly oblivious mindset in regard to the countless hapless dead that lay all around them, finding themselves equally ignorant of the single, silver colored streak that blurred between them, trying and failing to find any form of reason with them.
They stood there like that for what felt like an eternity. Countless fires burned around them, twin moons of blood began to set in the distance, but the sun refused to rise. It seemed to be, almost like anyone and anything else, holding its breath as the intensity of the staredown continued to escalate, so much so that it seemed like all it would take was a single gust of extra wind to set the two tyrants at each other`s throats.
Still, the little girl and her twisted looking Organoid stood there, neither of them even finding the emotional wherewithall to bother with shedding anymore tears. Each of them looked like renegades from a horrible dream, one wearing tattered, blood and soot stained rags, the other looking as if it had just gone off the deep end and wouldn`t be coming back anytime soon.
They watched in the morbid fascination of the damned and the dying as the slightly larger Demon blinked first.
The Death Saurer threw its head back with a feral cry, the charged particle intake fan on its back spinning like a tornado as energy built up inside of its newly opened mouth, eyes glaring a hideous shade of red and orange alike.
The other Demon just stood there, watching and waiting with a methodical, other worldly patience, while the lone streak of silver blurring about between them finally seemed to give up, the countless voices belonging to it all fading into nothingness. The streak formed up into a sphere and then tore away from the two would-be combatants.
Reva and Boris just stood there, watching with glassy, wide eyes.
The Death Saurer took a step forward with an alarming quickness for its size, the ground shook for a mile all around and its head came back down, the charged particle cannon within its mouth fired along with it. The larger Demon stood still as the beam approached and dozens of times the speed of sound, the windsheer alone equalling and surpassing the raw force of a category five hurricane with horrific ease.
The beam struck the other Demon squarely in the face and kept going, blazing a hot, deathly trail through the sky, standing out against the background of the red and black clouds that blotted out any sunrise and allowed only for scant views of the moons.
For a moment, it seemed as if the battle had ended before it had even begun. The white Demon`s head and crest were completely obscured by the blow, but the Death Saurer kept firing, sustaining the beam beyond any real need for it.
And then the entire thing seemed to shatter like glass from a roar powerful enough to cause the little girl`s ears to bleed, blowing tons of debris into the air and threatening to take her along with it. Not that it mattered much, the effects of a charged particle wave were probably enough to liquify her where she stood.
At least they would have, if not for a sudden impact to her side. Boris numbly took off into a sprint as the seemingly paralyzed little girl was carried off, tucked under someone`s arm as they ran for some cover, if there was even any left to begin with.]
A groan sounded out from beneath the cover of a thinly made sleeping bag on a haphazardly laid out futon pad in the middle of a hangar in Champton.
[Finally, the girl yelled something out in the Zoidian tongue, though it was inaudible against the background noise of the charged particle beam, which was now literally shattering in every directions, though the lion`s share of its power flew right back into the Death Saurer`s face, knocking the colossal Zoid off balance for all of a second. Even its own power was unable to destroy it though, and the doom machine recovered with ease, though not without a sudden, telepathic nosedive in its morale.
The larger Demon finally halted its death scream, though the clouds directly above now sported a hole, and the ground around its feet had been imploded into a shallow, wide crater that reached all the way to the smaller Death Saurer and the edges of the newly re-slagged remains of the fortress. Both Zoids seemed to freeze before the equivelent of a telepathic smile echoed into the mind of the little girl, even as she, her would-be savior and Boris hid in a smaller crater that had just become a foxhole. The charged particle wave had passed right over them.
Whether their survival was a miracle or a curse of fate, she didn`t know.
The main cannon on the larger Demon`s chest suddenly began to spin, all three barrels promptly glowing red at the tips. The Death Saurer replied in kind, making the first move again and raking across the other Zoid`s neck with gunfire from its snout, but it was an utterly futile effort.
The Death Saurer rocked back again, countless shallow trenches and pits blowing into existence across the front of its body from lasers powerful enough to level entire mountains. It faltered even more from the abuse, turning to the side in a bid to keep its body from being shot straight through, but the lasers had stopped by then. Each of the dual cannons that set to either side of the laser gattling promptly blew into life once again, firing out bolts of plasma-packed death into the air and gouging out deep holes into the Death Saurer`s neck.
But the larger Demon stopped shot of firing again. It was obvious that it could end the battle at any time, but it held off on doing so with a methodical, insane desire to prolong the smaller Demon`s suffering, as if to gain revenge for the slaughter that it had probably helped to cause.
Finally, the Death Saurer recovered, and the larger Demon began to move forward, slow at first, but gaining speed at an alarming rate. Despite the fact that both of the Zoids were each well over seventeen hundred feet tall, both were unbelievably fast and agile when they wanted to be, and right now, they were proving that fact with terrifying ease. Within seconds, the larger Zoid had closed to within half a mile of the smaller, but by then, the Death Saurer had taken its own steps into action.
A yellow and orange glow shot through the arm across its tail, the smaller Demon moved forward one step and then sharply turned around, bending forward and swinging its tail at the incoming Hunter-Killer like a colossal whip, the energy shooting off like some cliched energy bolt from a sword.
The attack hit home, crashing into the incoming Demon with enough force to sheer off the upper half of Mount Everest with ease, but it stopped cold and blew apart in an explosion on contact with the white armor of the larger monster, who kept coming as if completely unscathed.
What happened next simply had to be seen to belive.]
The light blue Command Wolf that stood nearby shifted imperceptibly, its head turning to look down at sleeping bag, which now seemed to shift around as if the petitely built person inside was twisting about in her sleep.
[The charged particle intake fan on the Death Saurer`s back crumpled like tin foil from a swift headbutt, but the smaller Demon whipped around again with a backhand. The larger of the two seemed taken aback by the unexpected resistance, however little damage it had actually done. Shards of the Saurer`s clawed hand had flown off from the impact, it had taken more damage in making the attack than the target it had been trying to take out in the first place.
The Death Saurer took a similar slap in the face in retaliation, jarring half of its numerous guns loose in the process. The black, clawed hand whipped back from the first strike, cracking across the Saurer`s shoulder on the comeback before a second such hand grabbed onto the side of the smaller Demon`s head.
The two shared angry roars, though there was an obvious tinge of desperation and fear in that of the Death Saurer, its hands both locking around the forearm of its would-be assassin, trying to pry the grappling hand loose from its neck.
If the larger Demon could laugh, it would`ve been cackling like a lunatic by now.
But since it couldn`t, it settled for drawing its free arm back as far as it could go. For a few seconds, the two Zoids froze into place, the Saurer struggling to escape its fate, the larger Demon taking a sadistic pleasure in delaying it just a little longer.
And then, it was over.
The Hunter-Killer let loose, yanking its first arm away and taking a chunk of the Death Saurer`s neck off in the process, breaking the already damaged arm and almost pulling the smaller Zoid off of its feet. Almost, if not for the sudden stop that came when its other hand plunged straight through countless layers of once-impervious seeming armor as if it were tin foil caught in the path of a sledge hammer, ripping into the Saurer with ease.
And then, they stood like that. The smaller Demon let out a death cry before the larger began to lift it from the ground, initially using only one arm to do it, then adding the other almost as an after thought.
The Death Saurer`s tail hung limply to the ground, its legs and arms alike following suit. The larger assassin heaved it up, bending back onto its own tail to support the extra thousands of tons it now supported in addition to its own massive weight, and then, almost carelessly, tossed the Saurer up into the air before attacking the dying creature with a lightning attack of its own. It straightened up before the other Zoid had even finished ascending from the ground, then whipped around before lashing across the Death Saurer with its tail, shattering both the sound barrier and most of the remaining armor on the other Zoid`s body.
The Death Saurer landed awkwardly on its feet and tail, its eyes dimming rapidly and its jaw starting to sag as smoke began to billow from the hole in its chest, a massive trench having formed across its body. Still, the other Demon wasn`t finished yet, grappling onto the Saurer one more time, as if to prevent it from having anything remotely akin to an easy death on its feet.
Again, the smaller Zoid was heaved up from the ground, this time by its waist, and again, the larger Demon bent back to compensate. This time though, it started pressing in, crushing and imploding what little remained of armor on the Saurer`s sides with ease before turning around and flinging the smaller Demon into the air once again, this time allowing it to fly freely for a mile or more before crashing into the ground at a disgusting angle.
Its neck broke on impact, one arm ripped off and countless parts of its main body crumpled inward in too many places to describe as a result.]
"Nnnnguhf..."
[Its victory cemented into place, the King Gojulas roared with pride at its newest handywork, having virtually curbstomped the same Death Saurer that would one day level most of Guygalos in the same way that it had trashed the fortress that would one day become the foundations for the Project X Facility that would begin its own rebirth.
Satisfied with this, the King turned away and began to walk off, oblivious as ever to the countless lives shattered before and after its latest kill and intent only upon continuing to hunt down and destroy as many other Demons as possible, regardless of the consequences.
And in their foxhole, Boris and Reva finally bothered to look up from the dirt, though they were too late to see much of their savior other than her backside as she started to climb out and survey the area.]
"Can`t sleep," the bag`s occupant finally grumbled out, the entire thing flopping into its proper top-up, bottom-down position before curving up at an awkward looking right angle, then opening to reveal a girl who was physically around the age of fifteen, blue hair hanging down from her head in a mixture of straight and orderly and knotted chaos, several strands sticking out at odd angles here and there. Her sleepy looking eyes were still shifting colors as always, going from blue to red to green and back again every few seconds.
The Command Wolf growled idly, turning away from its new pilot and owner, back to staring straight ahead at the Blade Liger Simulacrum standing in front of it, and beyond that, the hangar door. Suffice to say, the IS was bored at the moment, and Leyla could vaguely register the emotion with some sympathy in reply.
"We`ll see some action soon," she mumbled up at the Zoid, seeming, more or less, unphased by the fitful dream she`d just had. Not that it wasn`t something she had become used to by now, she`d been having random flashbacks and dreams about her original life ever since the incident that had cost her her career as a ZBC-approved Zoid pilot in the first place. The flashbacks were easier to handle though, they were usually things she didn`t even consciously realize until after the fact, but the dreams were usually a little more unsettling.
"But for now, I need a drink..."
And with that, clad in nothing but the same clothes she had gotten into after taking her shower at the end of the day, she stood up. Her socks, boots, gloves, utility belt and sleeveless overshirt were all left to sit on the hangar floor next to her mattress, and with no real thought given to them, she walked off towards the small part of the hangar that most of the pilots and mechanics alike reserved for brief stops in their shifts, ranging from a quick, microwaved snack to getting a sip of water.
Thankfully, the hangar was mostly silent right now. Only a few other pilots had either wanted or been forced to sleep in it, and most of them belonged to either Hacksaw or some other squad, and almost all of them were either asleep or reading something by flashlight or from a handheld. One or two might have been listening to headphones, but the vast majority were out like lights.
The hangar itself was also rather dimly lit right now, only barely well enough that a normal person would`ve been able to find their way around. Moonlight filtered through several windows in the roof, but that was about it, and it was also all that Leyla really needed to get around anyway.
Soundlessly, she crept across the chilled metal flooring, pausing occasionally for a stretch here or a yawn and scratch there, but mostly finding her way to the small kitchenette-like area at the corner of the gigantic room, where she was promptly greeted by the sight of one of her squadmates in his pajamas, sipping coffee right out of the pot.
"Evenin`," she greeted dimly, not even feeling like chastising him for it. There wasn`t much coffee left in the thing anyway. Regardless, the guy froze in mid-sip like a deer caught in headlights, lowering the pot back down.
"Couldn`t sleep either?" She asked, going straight for the jury-rigged bottled soda machine. No money was required to operate it, thankfully, the Champs tended to throw around creature comforts for their employees like that. It was half the reason the pilots in the hangar had futon mats to lay their sleeping bags out on in the first place.
"Nah... It`s a trick for helping to wake up," he answered blithely, continuing before she could ask what he meant. "Chug down as much water or whatever else you can find before you go to bed, then wake up and you`ll have to use the bathroom. Wakes ya right up," he explained.
"Ah... Why use coffee?" She asked, grabbing an orange soda from the dispenser.
"Cuz it tastes like piss and I`m a glutton for punishment," he answered, drawing a slight chuckle out of her. "My names Jack, by the way," he added, not sure if she remembered having met him or not. "I`m the BL-Sim pilot."
"Nice Zoid," she commented, unscrewing the cap with a fizzled pop of compressed air and bubbling liquid.
"Not bad yourself," he replied.
For a while longer, neither bothered speaking. They didn`t exactly have anything to talk about as it was, but as the moments ticked by, Leyla bothered to study him a bit further, in detail this time. She had done the same with Paxton and the other members of Hacksaw Squad when given the chance, it was something of a base instinct to give people the twice over for her. Aside from wearing glasses and having messy, light brown hair and plain green eyes, there really wasn`t much to him. He was a bit on the tall side, bore an even tan and looked as if he was just starting to learn that critical life lesson that some men only really started to get the hang of when in their teens.
Said life lesson was that it was better to shave with the lights on, otherwise one would risk having several cuts on his jaw and chin like Jack did. Apparently, he probably wasn`t one for cutting his hair too often either, since it hung down to his shoulders.
After a few more minutes of both just standing there, sipping their respective drinks like lazy bums, Jack finally spoke up, setting the empty pot down on the counter as he did so.
"Walk ya back?" He asked with an obviously mock-gentleman`s tone of voice.
"... It`s just a walk to a futon pad," Leyla replied with the glum, naive look of a girl whose social skills had likely been more than slightly blunted by her years as Paul Tsun`s adoptive, overly protected daughter.
"... And my pad`s just a few yards past it, your point?" He asked, mimicking her tone accordingly. Finally, Leyla shrugged, not really sure if she had been beaten or given the victory in a half-assed arguement that she couldn`t even tell whether or not had ever happened to begin with.
"Quite the charmer, aren`t you?" She finally mumbled, walking off towards
her Command Wolf with Jack in tow.
"... What?" Abbie asked sourly, not even believing her own ears. Maybe it had been some sort of overblown screw-up in the comm unit. Considering how many ways Mark had screwed around with both the Gustav and the Shadow Fox, it was possible, right?
"Dead," Kyle repeated, sparing his younger team mate the hassle. Both the Fox and the Liger now flanked the Gustav in guard positions, taken up several minutes before, when they had initially spotted the lone Zoid transport out in the middle of nowhere, aimlessly trucking along with no real sense of direction to it. Smoke from the burning remains of what had once been Farentown still managed to blot out part of the night sky, but the twin moons were at least visible now, glowing a hollow shade of orange down onto the souls of the desert.
For a few seconds, there was silence from the other end of the comm. Mark spoke up again, his voice carrying a smoother edge than the antagonistic manner that had been in it when he and Kyle were still looking for the Gustav.
"It probably isn`t comforting but... He went out with a bang and bought us time to out alive. All of us."
Kyle sighed at Abbie`s less-than-coherent response of sniffles and utterances. Kat took the comm.
"Give us a minute to get re-situated," she ordered, obviously having to steer the Gustav from the passenger`s seat with one hand. Abbie`s sounds faded after a few seconds, Kyle registered the sound of someone else plopping into the driver`s seat after the Gustav started to lose speed, only to regain it. It now trailed slightly behind the other two Zoids, but only until a burst of speed put it back up to par with them.
"Alright. I won`t ask what happened, Kyle can tell me later," she explained, trying to limit Mark and Abbie from having to learn or recollect anymore than they had to for the time being. "I just know we have a hundred or more refugees tucked into the cargo containers and they`re probably gonna be baked in there if we don`t get them somewhere else by tomorrow."
Kyle knew she was probably overestimating the damage that could be caused. If the people could be baked in there, the fires back in the city would`ve done them in. Still, they did have to find food and shelter, and the nearest city was roughly a hundred or more miles away...
"Mark," he began, striking on an odd bit of inspiration.
"What?" The other Suicide Team member asked dryly, though not as badly as his voice had been earlier. It seemed that the will to be an asshat was starting to drain out of him for the time being, and Kyle honestly didn`t know if that was good or bad.
"You know where the Blitz Team base is, right?" The older pilot asked curiously.
"I could probably find it blindfolded. Place sticks out like a sore thumb," Mark answered with what sounded like a nonchalant shrug. Kyle smirked to himself imperceptibly, speaking up once more, this time with the same tone as he`d often used during their verbal sparring matches.
"Get your ass out front then, newb, you`re leadin` the way."
Even though Mark didn`t respond in any audible way, the Shadow Fox did, issuing out a synthesized growl and trotting up ahead of the Gustav, though still hanging off to the right by a few yards. Reflexively, Kyle and the Ivory Liger dropped back a bit, slowing down long enough to get behind the Gustav`s second trailer and then falling into line there, acting as a rear guard.
Even with its numerous injuries, the Liger still carried itself like a proud, laid back king, and even with his own numerous cuts and bruises, Kyle did the same, leaning back in the seat and taking his hands from the controls with a tired yawn. While it was true that he had lost a fairly good friend in Harabec, and something of a new home away from home with the annihilation of Farentown, he wasn`t letting it get to him. Not yet, anyway.
Too many people were counting on him. The same was likely true for Katherine. Both of them were the only ones who hadn`t lost just about everything, they were pretty much obligated to keep their heads screwed on straight, whether they liked it or not.
And Kyle, if nothing else, didn`t like it one bit. That, if nothing else, forced him to stay awake, rather than ceding to the exhaustion of having survived a battle with the first true Demon ever made by human beings. Not that he knew the true history behind the Hellwalker`s designation as such, he probably wouldn`t have even cared if he did.
"This sucks," he thought bluntly, resting his hands in his lap and resisting the urge to stretch his legs for fear of what it might do to aggrevate his bruised up knees.
And that was when the scanner went off, followed within a split second by a pop-up screen of Mark`s face. For the first time since the battle had taken place, Kyle got the chance to see his now glassy-eyed comrade`s mug, which was only barely slick down either cheek. It looked as if he had shed a few tears, wiped his eyes and moved on like nothing had ever happened.
"We got company," he stated bluntly. Kyle only nodded.
"Looks like one Zoid, standing a couple miles back from us. Can`t confirm what it is, but it doesn`t look like its weapons are hot," the older of the two replied, putting his gloved hands back onto the joysticks, eyes feeling a bit heavier than usual.
"Want me to check it out?" Mark asked, looking, more or less, as if he would have gone anyway. Again, Kyle took control, knowing that under normal circumstances, he would`ve probably had to fight tooth and nail to do it.
"No. I`ll go, your Zoid`s in better shape and you`re needed to navigate anyway. Keep your scanner active though, and don`t wait up on me."
"If you get left behind," Mark began, as if oblivious to the very real possibility that Kyle was going to be up against a potential enemy that neither of the two knew anything about. "Just keep going west until you find a set of mountains. Then look for a rock archway just southeast of them."
"Will do, good luck," Kyle replied as the banged up Ivory Liger turned
off, breaking into a haggard sprint towards the source of the ping on his
scanner. Mark didn`t bother replying.
"Not ready to sleep either, huh?" Leon asked casually, stepping into the lobby. He had finally changed out of his piloting gear, having switched over to the old light purple t-shirt worn under a dark brown, open jacket and dark blue jeans. He was still wearing the same boots he always wore, but it was probably the first time in months that he had donned his actual civilian clothing. The last time he had put it on was the night before he`d left the Blitz Team.
Naomi shrugged, uneffected by his question. The second-floor lobby of Champton`s air port was hardly the place most people would pick to spend the night, but in comparison to most of the other places in and around the city and its protective fortress, the lobby was virtually empty. The only reason that Leon had even known where to find her was because they tended to think in alarmingly similar ways when they wanted something, and right now, both seemed to just want some peace and quiet.
"Hope you don`t mind the company," he said, though Naomi still hadn`t bothered to look over her shoulder by the time he had indicated the sleeping bag tucked under his arm, which was promptly chucked into a corner and left there.
"Just so long as you don`t talk as loudly as your sister," she cracked. Her tone of voice seemed a bit off though, and the oldest of the Tauros siblings was keen to pick up on it.
"Something wrong?" He asked, stepping around to the front of the padded bench that she was settled on, her arms casually slung over the back of it, head craned back and to the side slightly, legs crossed in a ladylike sort of way in front of her. She was still wearing the clothes she`d left Romeo City in.
"Can`t keep a secret from you, huh?" She shot back with a half-smirk. Leon was unamused.
"Naomi," he began. "I know your bra size, I can guess when you`re about to go on your period two weeks in advance, I know you own two sniper rifles, an assault rifle and five handguns, and I know you prefer your tea and coffee both hot enough to sear most people`s tastebuds off - except every afternoon on Thursday. I also know you have a closet love for the color pink and you owned a pet cat named 'Timmy,'" he exclaimed with all the enthusiasm of a man who was about to be shot in the face. Naomi only chuckled at him.
"Nope, no secrets," she said with a shake of the head. Leon plopped down next to her, automatically making himself at home by throwing his head back onto the top of the bench, stretching his legs out and crossing his arms over his chest.
"So what`s bothering you?" Leon asked once again, staring at the ceiling. Naomi was the opposite, staring out at the appealing view of the Champton airfield at night.
"Aside from going on twenty minute naps since we got here, dealing with an attack where I couldn`t do a damn thing because of a system freeze and then having your sister kidnapped by a Gojulas on crack only to show back up early in the morning a few hours later as if nothing had happened..."
Naomi trailed off with a sigh. It hadn`t helped matters when Leena had started having headaches after having somehow managing to pick out flaws in a half-dozen Zoids that had gone completely unnoticed by even the best of the local mechanics.
"Stressed out then?" Leon asked, shifting his head back upright and glancing out at the landing pads, most of which were filled to capacity by more than a dozen Whale Kings in total, moonlight shimmering down on each one.
"Guess so," Naomi shrugged. "But it`s not just that... Earlier this morning, I kinda... I don`t know. It felt like I was gonna cry for no reason, and after that, I`ve just felt like there`s been this pit in my chest all day," she explained grimly. For a woman as level-headed and stable as Naomi to mention something that borderlined on a breakdown, Leon knew that something had happened.
"Maybe it`s just the stress of everything catching up to you," he suggested, though it was really more of a flat-out statement. "I mean... Every country on Zi`s pretty much gone to Hell for the past month or so, we`ve all been through battles for our lives... Travelling even more than usual, protecting people... Maybe last night and today were just the straws that broke the camel`s back?" He wondered. Naomi simply gave him a sideways glare.
"Then when did you break down over nothing? You`ve been through way more than I have lately," she pointed out. It was an obvious reference to how similar the two were, and an equally obvious reference to how different they could be at the same time.
"Didn`t," he shrugged. "And if I did, I was too busy to notice it. Or asleep."
"Dink."
"No comment," he retorted. Again, Naomi shifted, this time moving her arms from the back of the bench with a yawn, then uncrossing her legs and stretching out in every direction at once. Intentionally or unintentionally, she whacked Leon over the head with an elbow, drawing an annoyed glance as a result.
"I don`t know... Just feels like I lost something before I even got it," she commented, scooting back into her seat and crossing her arms over her chest, just beneath the bustline. "Sort of... Between disappointment, outright sadness and something else. Go figure."
A few seconds inched by, and then, Naomi felt Leon`s leather covered arm drape itself around her shoulders in a warm, brotherly embrace. She sighed, giving him another sideways glance, the only reply to which was a squeeze that brought the two a bit closer.
"How`re the lunatics doing?" She asked, changing the subject with all the skill of a rabid pitbull that had just been nailed with a tranquilizer.
"Leena`s conked out on Harry`s bed... He`s staying on the couch," Leon began, his tone instantly souring at the mention of his sister`s virtually obsessive suitor. Naomi smirked tiredly, but he continued. "And Sarah`s managed to convince Dad and Leyon to take a break from flinging verbal shit at each other long enough to take a shower, eat something and go to sleep... And Sarah`s still on the job, so to speak, she`s mentioned something about going to bed in another hour or two when I last spoke to her..."
Leon trailed off. He didn`t do it because he had run out of things to talk about, mind you, he had done it because the figure he had wrapped his arm around had just turned from a conscious body to the equivelent of a dead weight leaned against his side. Straightening up slightly, his expression changed from that of a tired pilot and concerned older brother to a silly little smile that edged his lips upright just enough to be visible.
"Guess she was more exhausted than she thought," he wondered, feeling her head drop onto the front of his shoulder, and hearing the change as her breathing shifted into the deeper, more relaxed pattern of heavy sleep. Regardless, he just hoped she managed to get more than twenty minutes this time, even if it meant having to sit there all night with her to do it.
"Sleep good," he mumbled as an afterthought, allowing his mind to wander
off to other things.
"I never should have left this place..."
There was no arguement. Only silence. He was alone now, standing in the hangar and staring out into the evening sky. He could see smoke in the distance, but only just barely, and even then, it was only because several of the brighter stars had been blotted out by it. The Raynos stood nearby, wings spread in an eerie stance. It was the only Zoid in the hangar, just like he was the only person in the base. There were marks outside, scorched into the pavement. Footprints resembling those of a Geno Saurer, but slightly longer and thicker in the toe area.
Whoever had been here last, they had at least had the decency to shut the door into the main hallway on their way out, even if they probably hadn`t locked it. Not that it was ever locked to begin with since most people, the Tauros family and his other team mates included, would`ve figured that your average bandit would both not be looking for an unoccupied base in the middle of the desert, and even if they were, they`d`ve had to plow through the thick, reinforced doors protecting the actual hangar itself, and by default, the door into the actual base.
Logical, really. Someone had just been too illogical to go along with it.
"... Should I have ever even come here at all?" He wondered quietly,
the silence in his head proving to be more deafening than any arguement
he`d ever had. As bitter as he was to admit it, he missed the company,
even if he`d never quite been able to stand the Wild Eagle`s personality.
It was eerie, being alone in his own thoughts. Before, he`d always been
able to count on Will to pick on him whenever he went idle, give him a
reason to do something, even give him a bar to measure himself by.
Now, he was so alone that he could barely even think for himself. He
couldn`t even remember why he`d returned to the Blitz Team base to begin
with, it wasn`t like the place had ever been much of a help to him...
"I guess it was just... Instinct or something," he reasoned dimly, turning away from staring at the night sky and, after a parting glance over his shoulder, walking towards the door into the living room. Or was it the hallway that lead to almost every room in the base? It felt like it had been so long, he`d forgotten his own home`s layout.
His own home.
What a joke.
"Beats sleeping in the Raynos. I think," he reasoned again, slinging his duffle bag over his shoulder as he got to the doorway, which he promptly opened up. Just as he`d been wondering, the door lead into the central hallway of the facility, which was a bit dustier than usual, and a bit colder as well. Not that he cared much for the cold, but the dust probably would`ve bothered him if he hadn`t been so apathetic to reality. His normal, sometimes obsessive attitude about keeping things clean just didn`t matter anymore.
After a few seconds, he felt his skin start to form goose bumps. It was colder than he`d thought, but it still didn`t bother him.
Another three or four minutes went by in the same blind haze he`d been living in since he`d left his parents` home, and as he stopped by the living room and took a quick look around, he never even bothered to look at the picture on the wall with the knife lodged into it, the edge splitting the paper at Brad`s face. It was just a minor detail, he didn`t really care.
Again, he ducked back into the hallway, continuing onward until he arrived at the bedrooms, or what was at least the bedroom of the Blitz Team`s ex-mercenary. The door was open, leaving Brad`s quiet, reflective living space exposed to the teen`s view. It was probably the first time in almost a year or more that he`d even seen past the doorway, and were he in his usual state of mind, he probably would`ve given thought to just why the door was still open, and why one of the display racks mounted on the wall between Brad`s desk and bed was empty.
Had he known just what gun it was that was missing, he probably would`ve winced. He wasn`t exactly 'in the know' about Brad Hunter`s worldly possessions, but given that it was the only weapon that Brad had ever been seen showing genuine care to, it was obvious that it meant something.
As it stood, the mercenary`s room was just a landmark. His own was positioned directly across from it after all, but he at least stopped long enough to manually trigger the door to shut.
Another double swish of air later, and he was back in his own bedroom for the first time in what felt like an eternity. The smashed alarm clock was still in place on his nightstand, his own blood had dried and congealed into a brown glue on the pices, and the mere sight of it made him clench the fist that had done the dirty work just a bit tighter.
His duffle bag dropped from over his shoulder, and with an uneasy, reflexive series of movements that were the result of force of habit rather than actual thought, his vest was undone and cast to the floor, followed by his gloves. Each landed with muffled thumps before he kicked out of his sneakers, leaving his socks on as he tumbled face first onto bed.
He lay there on his stomach, chilled bitterly by both reality and the cold air of the already darkened room, eyes open and staring at the wall to his left, but not actually seeing anything. And then, finally...
"I wish I could just wake up and realize this was all a bad dream... Maybe tomorrow is the real Royal Cup and I`m just having a nightmare..."
His voice was as hollow and dull as the silence behind his thoughts. He had no exact, polar opposite to sit there and annoy the piss out of him by playing devil`s advocate or anything else, just his own mind. It was like listening to static with the volume so low that you couldn`t actually hear anything.
Almost as if intent on making his flawed rationalization a reality, he reached beneath the two pillows of his bed and pulled the blanket and sheets down, crawling under them and laying down on his side before pulling them back into place. It wasn`t as comforting as he`d hoped, but there was something at least distantly reassuring about feeling his own body heat starting to gather on the mattress and the covers. After setting himself up to what passed as being comfortable, he reached under his head and pulled the top pillow up, promptly using it to completely obscure himself from the neck up.
Not long after that, Jamie Hameros settled into a fitful, heavy sleep.
Maybe if he was lucky, he would wake up to find it all really was just
a bad dream...
The Liger came to a stop, albeit a slower one than the usual skidding halts or dime-buster breaks. The damage done to it in the battle with the Hellwalker was still highly apparent, from the countless cracks in the dusted-over armor to sparks that were infrequently jolting into view on the stabilizer caps. Almost instantly, unease set in as the realization hit home that despite the still-present ping on his scanner, there was nothing in sight.
"Why the hell is it still pinging if there`s nothing around?" He wondered, ignorant of the possibility that maybe, just maybe it was nothing but a malfunction. After all, the Blade Liger had been punted right out of a city like a football, the shield was only barely starting to come back online as a result of the Zoid`s own regenerative capabilities, not to mention old failsafe programming designed to reroute power from the less vital systems to more important ones.
Annoying as it was, he stayed in place a little longer, glancing from side to side and then taking one last look down at his scanner.
And in that moment, he realized he`d been set up, and that he had taken the bait. Hook, line and sinker.
"Damn," he managed to yelp out, pulling the Liger into a backwards leap on instinct. The booster was still sluggish and wouldn`t respond fast enough, the legs were almost in the same shape. Too late, he realized that it wouldn`t be enough, and too late, he tried to brace himself as the attack came in from directly above him.
The Ivory Liger roared out in shock and pain as a golden tinted claw smashed down across the front of the cockpit, just behind the top of what would`ve been its nose if it were a real animal. The impact alone caused chips of armor and random sparks to fly from the friction, and shattered already broken glass right in front of Kyle. If not for the reflex of throwing his arms in front of his head and burying his face in the bends of his elbows, his pop star looks would`ve likely been shredded to pieces.
His arms promptly gained a dozen or so new cuts, mute static lined the fresh hole in the cockpit glass and the world rattled violently. The Liger, already in the midst of being flung chin first towards the ground, promptly came to a punishing stop, a second claw, just as golden as the first, raking across its lower jaw in a hooking uppercut.
Already as injured as it was, the Blade Liger had no choice but to falter and leave the ground on all but one foot, which seemed to defiantly root itself in place while the rest of the Zoid tilted almost straight into the and then twisted around, crashing to its side with the feline equivelent of a loud, pained groan. The remaining cockpit glass went stark gray for several seconds before Kyle finally allowed his arms to go down, just in time to actually register the searing pain of a half dozen shallow cuts in his skin.
"What the hell is this?" He managed to grumble out defeatedly, no longer feeling as if he had it in him to really be surprised right now. Under normal conditions, he would`ve been a step or two above crapping himself in shock, but right now?
Right now, Katherine could profess to be a lesbian, Mark could waltz by in pink, five-sizes-too-small tights, Abbie could take a job as a male stripper and the Ivory Blade Liger could run off with the Shadow Fox for a three year vacation in Elemia, shooting up battery acid rectally, and Kyle would probably just shrug and look for some liquor.
Suffice to say, he wasn`t in the best state of mind.
Slowly, the Liger started to stand up, and its pilot placed his hands back on the controls, seething with annoyance at what had just happened. If he even had a breaking point, he wasn`t too far away from it now.
Just as slowly as before, looking and sounding like an angry lion, the Ivory Blade Liger turned around, head held low and a growl issuing dangerously from its already damaged mouth. Sparks streaked from the numerous wounds to its body and legs, but Kyle was as oblivious to the damage as his Zoid was, ignoring even his own injuries for the time being.
And then he saw what had attacked him.
It stood just a few yards ahead of his own Zoid, body crouched forward at the ready, forelegs spread for balance, hind end arched up and tail stiffly curled into a half-arc behind it. It was black, almost the same color as freshly mined coal or thick obsidian, with light gray 'cuffs' above each foreclaw. A weapon resembling a three barrelled version of the Ivory Liger`s dual impact cannon sat on its collar, while thick looking 'whiskers' and 'ears' extended from sides of its jaw and the top flanks of its head. Its fangs were almost a solid silver in color, while the cockpit glass was an eerie shade of gray that almost matched the cuffs of its claws.
It was a Liger. About as small as a Command Wolf, agile looking and fierce, but also packing a final addition to its arsenal - two silver-colored blades folded onto its back, each one visibly sharper than the pair wielded by its larger opponent. It wasn`t just a Liger, it was a Blade Liger, and it crouched down, poised to strike in a stark contrast to its noticably larger, Ivory counterpart.
For a time, there was nothing but silence. The desert winds gently blew between the two Zoids, and Kyle exchanged in an unknown staring contest as his thoughts seemed to grind to a halt.
It was so convenient, he almost wanted to puke on himself in disgust. The style matched perfectly - the Zoid was smaller than his own and the colors were the exact opposite as well. It was visibly more geared towards melee than variety, as evidenced by the seeming lack of blasters on the back of each blade, as well as the proportionately larger shield generator panels on its head. Almost instantly, Kyle felt he knew the Zoid like the back of his hand, and almost instantly, he felt he knew just who was piloting it.
"Long time, no see," he muttered, eyes narrowing as the Ivory and Black Blade Ligers stared each other down, waiting for the first strikes.
"Rayth Takahori."
Author`s Note: *Crossing his hooves that the HTML didn`t screw up.*
That said, hopefully this chapter was worth the wait and hopefully it blew the lot of you out of the water several times over. Suffice to say, this is the kick-off, and ahead of time: If you`ve ever seen Rurouni Kenshin, the Rev Raptor was doing something like Soujiro`s Shukuchi. Yes, Reva is Leyla`s real name. Yes, that was the Death Saurer that Prozen used to level Guygalos(there were about a dozen or so of the downgraded DSaurers, one or two of the true variety seen at the end of the Guardian Force, and yes, there were other unbelievably large and powerful Zoids wandering around blowing shit up. The Zoidians didn`t call it the Endtimes for nothin` yanno...).
Expect Rayth`s little return from the dead to be explained in the next chapter. His issues with Kyle were always something I`d meant to put more focus on but never quite had the chance to.
Here`s hopin` I can keep the whole... 'Longer than fuck' trend up for the remaining five chapters, yes? :p
EndlessAdventure: Well, I`m glad we settled things like gentlemen then, and I`m glad you don`t hold any grudges. Look forward to hearing from you sooner or later, and hopefully this chapter blew you so far out of the water that it makes up for any of the crap from the last few :P
Tilly: It`s Liger Soccer! *Punts Van into low orbit.* :D Also glad it read better than I thought it would. God those were bitch chapters to write...
smilingsam: Glad you`re enjoying it so far.
The Big Fisch: Glad you agree about Beck. As cool a character as he is, he`s also got 'Too Perfect' syndrome when it comes to battles. For a good guy, that`s usually not a good thing, yes? And yeah, expect my chapter rate to slow down a little bit more than they already have. The next chapter is already complete, but I`m waiting until I have the one after it, and since the next one(like this one...) weighs in at 91 kb on wordpad... Yeah. May be a while.
Illidan: Yeah well... Hopefully it won`t be too predictable for much longer. I think it was you that I agreed with about raising the bar too high, sometimes you just gotta duck under it. As for characters... Don`t worry, I`ve got stuff planned for everyone, just need to get to where I can show it.
With all That said, Sh33p out folks. R&R, enjoy and see ya next
time!
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