In Search of Broken Wings

by Madam Chaos Shadow

A small, independant research facility specializes in the manufacture of artificial Organoids, oftentimes torturing their charges in order to push them to the limit. When one particularly powerful, and rather annoyed, specimen happens to break out, vegean

Notes:
Outside of the obligatory "I don't own anything related to Zoids, that goes to Tomy or wherever", I need to add that this story was written for a Zoids RPG called Zoid Revenge Saga. As such, it's continuity is admittedly a bit iffy here and there - I changed what I wanted to do with it a few times - and each of the chapters need not actually have that division due to their relative brevity. But hey; I guess it's a fair read. Enjoy.

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: I N S E A R CH O F B R O K E N W I N G S :
o r g a n o I d r e s e a r c h f a c I l I t y
f I l e 1 9 . 8 9
s u b j e c t c o d e n a m e
A E S T E R O T H
b e g I n f I l e

c h a p t e r : o n e

The sound of the siren resonated throughout the building, and it took a long moment for the third cycle watchmen's sleepy eyes to flutter open and peruse the landscape about them. They saw nothing but the inky darkness that nestled softly over the desert at this time of night - a low fog, however, seemed to pervade the area. Nothing suggested that there were intruders into the facility, but the low, droning siren told them otherwise.

Had they been within the facility, the calamity probably would have kept them far more awake.

"Get him! Get him!"

"He's escaping!"

"Shut the door! Shut the door!"

A ringing clang as the thick metal of the door met the cold steel of the floor, but still the cries continued from the enclosed side.

"What's he doing?"

"He's going to charge the door!"

"That's insanity! What the hell is he thinking?"

"How desperate they must be to escape..."

"How can you be calm about this!"

"JUST GET HIM!"

"He'll knock himself out..."

"EXACTLY!"

No such luck. With a piercing screech, followed by a flash of light, the metal door impeding the pathway into the halls was suddenly not so much as molten slag. The brilliantly highlighted deep-blue creature shot full tilt through the door. His pursuers, meanwhile, stopped short, stunned to silence, and stared.

"How did he...?"

"Did you not pay any attention to the testing we were doing!"

"Of course I-"

"Then why do you feel the need to ask that sort of question!"

"I'm... I'm sorry, sir..."

"No matter. The rest of the facility knows subject one-nine-nine-eight is on the loose. Give them instructions to pursue with intent to capture. Make certain that nobody tries to kill him."

"If he can't be captured, sir?"

A low silence, then a smile on the lips of the head researcher.

"Why, my dear man, we shall see, won't we?"

Farther down the hallway the blue streak continued on his path, his aerodynamic design allowing him to easily tear past anything that could impede his escape route, the traction from his claws allowing him to easily make almost hairpin turns, then continue onward as if he had always been on the straightaway. Gleaming gold kept its sights locked straight forward, oblivious to anything coming from either side - nothing in this facility was fast enough to catch him, and he knew it. Nothing in this facility was prepared.

Suddenly, ahead, a pair of men wearing the signature black coats of the researchers appeared, dropping a net timed to land on him when he ran under it. The fools.

Another screech, and suddenly the boosters fired, sending a golden-blue blaze behind the calmly escaping figure - he easily shot under the net, beyond the reach of those that wished to imprison him, through the opened doorway and-

He slowed himself down, deactivating his boosters and coming to a slow stop, quietly proceeding through the openness of the primary hangar. They would not be able to catch him out here - he had been in far more danger in the confined tunnels that comprised their facility.

He knew their habits. He knew how they worked. He had gauged their athletic capabilities for months now, planning his escape from the facility. He had timed his run for when the weakest shift would be present - when those looking down outside would be too tired to properly pursue him in the great green pterasaurs that they had also taken, most likely against the will of the massive mechanical life forms.

He had learned in his time here, in his communion with his fellows, that none of those present had any inclination to be here - did not wish to remain here, captive, held under the strange cocoons called 'stasis tubes', lulled to quiet sleep by the warm liquid that buffeted them within the steel and glass prison.

He wondered why none of his fellows had ever tried to escape; he had spoken with them directly, and he head pried at their thoughts, but none of them seemed at all inclined to follow what they were screaming to themselves and get up to simply leave the wretched world they were confined to.

Then again, he knew his fellows. They were weak. Not just physically, but mentally. They would never had the wherewithal to stage an escape as he had - they knew that they were not physically capable of making a run for it, not unto themselves. And they could not be incited for a group effort.

He was certain - so went his thoughts as he wandered through the darkness within the hangar - that if they had all tried at once to fight back against the fleshlings that confined them, they would have easily made the escape. The fleshlings relied on his larger brethren to try and combat himself and his fellows.

For what purpose did they need these machines?

They were weak.

Those within the facility were weak. Vulnerable.

If his fellows had merely listened to his cold reason, they would have all escaped, all of them wandering without fear through the great hangar. Without fear of pursuit. Nobody would be after them; the fleshlings would be no more.

As it stood, he himself could not take on the entire facility, not with his singular power. He needed... Something more. Something more to level the prison he had been kept in. More power - far more power.

He had seen the papers that the fleshlings had carried, scrutinized the data, sifted through their thoughts and learned why they kept him and his fellows in this prison. He was what they called an Organoid - and his purpose for being was the enhancement - or even completion - of his larger mechanical relatives, those they called 'Zoids'.

They had him run through gauntlets while remotely piloting one of these Zoids - they had made certain that he was capable of fusing to its soul, what they called the core - and most importantly, this hangar was where they kept their Zoids.

He was aware that these were not very powerful behemoths, but the steel of the door was thin and easily torn by the blades of one that he particularly favoured. While his files had shown the existence of even more favourable behemoths, he had located one that fitted their description closely, and he had always had fun fusing to the soul core of that creature in particular.

Brilliantly golden eyes, glowing internally in the sheer darkness of the hangar, sent their glance around the blackness and searched for that Zoid, the one that he had so much fun piloting, the one that would allow him to escape.

At long last, he found it, and made his way quickly, silently, to its side. He stopped where he was and looked up - the great, rusty hide of the raptor winked back down to him. He smiled internally.

They are weak. I am strong. You, my friend, you too are weak. But with me, you are capable of being strong. Very strong. So much stronger than you are now. We have felt it before, you and I, we have both felt this power. You will accept me unto your soul. It is best for both of us.

Feeling no resistance from the Zoid, he screeched, letting his cry reverberate defiantly through the empty darkness of the hangar. He arched his wing, the stump of the second pulling itself into a pathetic attempt to mimic its counterpart, and the boosters on his back activated. He shot into the darkness of the ceiling, gaining speed, his power changing his physical form into a beam of energy. He whipped around, faced the Zoid, shot through its hull and into the glittering core.

He hugged the core tightly, sinking is teeth and claws into the brilliant orb, bringing his wing around to shield him as he fused with it...

Holding fast, he felt his consciousness awaken away from himself, now through the green eyes of the raptor. He took an experimental step forward, flipped the blades forward, immediately satisfied with the results. And, unleashing a steely, rusted roar, he ran for where he knew the door of the hangar was, holding his claws above him...

Brought down his claws, ripping a hole through the door. He leaned forward now and began to run as fast as the Zoid would allow. When he got far enough...

He heard it; the distant whistle. The sound of the seeker missile coming after him. Closer, closer, almost...

There.

The missile on his tail, coming down just the right angle, the power of the Organoid flowed through the Zoid, encompassed it, transforming the rusted old Rev Raptor, hardly capable of running without the aid of an Organoid, into a version of itself capable of utilizing the booster power that he had to give it.

The Rev Raptor, his peculiar passenger seated comfortably within, shot off across the desert, tearing through the wisps of sand kicked up by the wind, making an ethereal fog. The base was left far behind him, the droning of its alarm becoming fainter and fainter as he continued running, full tilt, across the desert, almost putting himself on auto-pilot as he allowed his thoughts to wander aimlessly.

Now, he realized, he was no longer going to be tethered to the stupidity of those 'scientists' that had held him captive. No longer would his talents and powers be used by others. He was not to be manipulated again. Never again. He would not allow it.

Even if it meant taking the limited power of that Rev Raptor that he know found himself in possession of and wiping out every last fleshling.

c h a p t e r : t w o

"Y'got it there okay, Ramus!"

There was silence that met her reply; all silence within the little garage except for the squealing of the old steel chains as they strained under the effort to hold the heavy piece of metal that they were forced to bear.

"Just about!" came the call from high above, and with another scream of tension from the chains, the enormous gun slipped finally into its position on the back of the Zoid. The man standing atop the gun, riding it down to its position, nimbly clambered down to the back of the Zoid and, taking out his blowtorch, proceeded to weld the rifles to the Zoid, yellow and orange sparks occasionally flying down, accompanied by embres from charred bits of old paint.

She looked up to the handiwork with a smile, knowing full well that if it ever came down to her attaching new equipment to her Zoid, there was no way she would actually know how to go about the procedure. She was immediately thankful that her brother happened to major in just such a thing.

After length, she saw the sparks from the gun's base subside, and then heard the call: "Okay! He's all set!" The clamps that held the gun released it, and the man immediately grabbed hold of the chain of one, balancing his feet on the clamp itself, and the crane swung around, lightly lowering him to the ground as it did so. He released his hold and fell to the floor, landing easily and then raising himself up again, smirking.

"See?" he said. "Told you I learned a few new moves working in here."

"Smooth as ever," she said. "Too bad the ladies can't get past the sweaty, oil-covered exterior to see the nice moves, hmm?"

He put on a look of mock shock. "You're so terrible, Reia!" he said, adding a sigh afterward. "How could you be so mean to your dear older brother?"

"Like that," she said, smiling broadly. "Well, Ramus." She looked up to the Zoid he had been working on and waved her arm in its direction. "How's Iulius doing?"

"He's doing quite well, actually," he said. "No signs of stress, no signs of overheating, the cold armour forging went well, he's compatible with the sniper rifles... Might want a paint respray, though. He's looking a bit dim. How old is he now?"

She thought back for a moment, trying to place his age, then shook her head. "Gosh," she said. "He's been around for... A couple of years by now. When did I graduate?"

"Three years ago."

"Plus a year... Four years, I believe. Yeah. Four years out of the warehouse."

"And you travel in him?" Ramus said suddenly, sounding appalled. "Have you ever given him a respray?"

"I'll let you figure out that answer."

He made a derogatory, scolding noise, then looked at her down the bridge of his nose, pushing up his glasses slightly. "Reia," he said, clearly disappointed. "How could you let him go for so long? You can almost see the gray metal beneath him!"

It wasn't true, of course; as she looked up the Zoid, all that caught her was that she was standing at the foot of a Shield Liger - a standard looking shield liger, painted with the obligatory pale blue colour that all of them were originally given. Certainly, he was a little duller than the ones that came fresh from the factory, but to say that his paint had been worn away was a bit much.

Regardless, he did look like he could use a good colour wash.

"Yeah," she said dully. "He could use a respray." She smiled slightly. "Maybe black."

"You wouldn't believe how many people enjoy painting Zoids black these days," he said, obviously disgusted by the sheer statistical value.

"Fine, fine," she growled, tossing aside the notion. "Red, then?"

A momentary silence, then he nodded. "Actually, there aren't too many red Zoids. Lots of black or deep blue ones... But no red ones." He smirked. "I'd like to see that, actually. I'd like to see you walk back in here with a red Shield Liger."

"Hah! I'll walk back in here with a red Slash Liger next you see me!" she crowed. "Just you watch, Ramus! Little sister's gonna be a kick ass pilot one day! And be able to afford something beyond the work you give me..."

Ramus laughed. "If you didn't come here at such broad intervals, I'd have to start charging you..."

"That's why I don't."

"Smart move, sis." There was a momentary pause, and suddenly, he inquired: "Speaking of red Zoids, where's Shadow gone to?"

"I wouldn't worry about him," Reia said. "He's running around with a Blood Demon. No reason to be concerned about him."

"It's the other people I'm concerned about," he said darkly. However, he quickly lifted the mood with a smile. "Well then! Where are you heading off to t'day?"

"Going back out to New Helic City," she responded. "There's supposed to be a tournament down there in a week or two."

"Why are you heading down so early, then?" he inquired, genuinely confused. "It only takes perhaps two days to get their by Liger..."

"With my sense of time, it'll be over when I think to actually leave for it. I'm getting a jump on it this time."

"Brilliant idea," he said, sarcasm tinging his voice ever so slightly. "Well, then... You'll be off now, I assume?"

"I best be off now," she said quietly. "It's almost noon. If I stay here too much longer, I'll either have to anticipate two nights in the desert, or stay back here. Neither prospect is particularly appealing to me."

"What? Don't like our middle-of-nowhere outpost?"

"Exactly."

He smiled as she said this, and leaned forward, hugging her tightly. "You be careful now, sis," he said. "Careful for bandits, don't get into any stray confrontations, don't sell your Zoid for scrap, and if somebody approaches you in a remotely threatening manner..."

"Step on him," she finished. "Don't worry about me, Ramus. I've been traveling for the past three years in this Zoid. I've seen just about everything there is to see, and I have yet to come out with just a sheet of metal and the approximate money one earns by being a woman of the night."

"Ah, I just need to give you the entire talk, you know that. After all, you're-"

"My baby sister."

They both said the last of the sentence at the same time, in the same tone, with the same inflection, and this made them both smile knowingly. "I know," she said. "I know that. Don't worry, Ramus - I'll take care of myself. I always manage to."

"All right, Reia," he said. "Have a safe journey." He pulled away from her, beginning to make his way to the work station, but he then stopped and turned to face her again. "Oh. If Shadow comes back, what shall I tell him?"

"Tell him where I went," she responded, making her way to the Shield Liger. As the great feline machine lowered its massive head and opened the cockpit, she then turned to look at Ramus one last time, finishing her instructions. "If he knows where I am, he'll probably follow me. I'll be able to meet him in New Helic." She climbed into the cockpit and nodded as the Shield Liger raised his head. The cockpit shut itself, and he heard through the radio:

"See you later! Take care, bro!"

"You too, sis."

The Shield Liger suddenly pulled back, stretching itself out, then leaned forward, completing the swing motion. He came back to his normal position, and the barrels of the sniper rifles twitched a bit - the Liger, now fully online, was testing his equipment. Satisfied, he let out an agreeable roar, and walked out of the confines of the small garage. As soon as his full body hit the blinding sunlight, a thunderous roar shook the garage, and the resounding, pounding footfalls of the feline Zoid began to reverberate all through the small township; the Shield Liger was well on its way.

c h a p t e r : t h r e e

Reia felt herself relax as the Shield Liger ran swiftly away from the little township, leaning back in the chair and allowing the Liger to pilot itself as it went. She fully trusted her Zoid to be able to navigate through the desert to New Helic City - in fact, whenever she traveled, she left the navigation up to her Zoid. He, after all, had a built-in mapping system, and his navigation skills were infinitely superior to hers.

Now that she was out on the road, she felt free to simply pull herself up into a ball and let herself drift to sleep. In reality, it would normally take about two days of travel through the desert to get to New Helic from where she had begun; however, with the way she traveled - allowing the Zoid to deal with the fine points of navigation while she caught up on sleep - the trip would land her in New Helic in the early morning of the next day.

She found it an excellent way to work, and her Liger didn't seem to be entirely averse to the idea. In fact, from what she could tell, it had been his idea to begin with; she had, of course, fallen asleep on one of the long journeys, exhausted not only by the journey but also by her bizarre sleep schedule throughout the week, and had awoken at the gates of New Helic, still in the cockpit, with the Liger roaring loudly to get her attention.

It was, as she saw it, a very efficient, very relaxing practice, good for both of them: She got to catch up on sleep, and Iulius got to sharpen his navigation and tracking capabilities. Both things were great assets on the battlefield - a place where Reia found herself strangely often.

When she had gone to the Academy, of course, she had never anticipated being a true Zoid battler; her elder brother Ramus had graduated from the academy as a mechanic, and she had hoped that, perhaps, she would be able to follow a similar path. Of course, her plans changed rather abruptly when she was given the opportunity to engage in a real-life combat scenario, where she and her sparring opponent would be using a GunTiger and DiMantis, respectively. The point of the exercise was to understand the controls in a standard Zoid machine, and to be able to utilize them effectively in an emergency situation. Unfortunately, she had a bit of fun with the simulation and successfully defeated her opponent with moves to spare, and had promptly decided that she would rather learn the intricacies of the Zoid fight rather than the Zoid core.

As a result, she had managed to graduate with flying colours, and as a graduation gift had been sent the Shield Liger, Iulius. Despite the fact that he was somewhere between five and eight times her height, she had always felt more that the Zoid was a family member rather than fighting machine, and welcomed him more like a firstborn child than the inanimate object he was supposed to be.

The Liger, however, had proven to be far more animated than she could have anticipated - he had a personality, a heart, a soul. For all the hands-on experience she had with the Zoids at the academy, she had never gotten that feeling from the others. But then, they were assembly line children, all born within minutes of one another in a continuous cycle as more and more of them were made. Shield Ligers, while they were hardly rare, were certainly harder to find than a DiMantis, and perhaps had a bit more thought put into them, in a literal sense of the term.

And with these thoughts swirling through her mind, she slowly slipped into unconsciousness, caressed in her sleep by the gentle motion of the great Liger around her. He knew she was asleep; she knew he was capable of telling that she was. And that thought made her smile even as slumber began to take her into its arms.

Running. Running constantly; running forward, full throttle, never stopping, pushing to the limits, tearing though the white light, trying to get away.

Away from what?

The figure looks over its shoulder, gleaming green eyes sending a careful, quick glimpse behind it. Visible behind; the length of the body, pulled forward to run faster, aerodynamically designed. Down to the end of the tail, a shot is fired, and a spark as the bullet ricochets off the hide of something.

Massive.

The spark illuminates the deep blue hide of the creature; shards of gold are visible through the night briefly - then, gone again, as though they never existed.

Being chased. Electricity rushes through circuitry like adrenaline; have to get away somehow...

Away from what?

Away from it. There is nothing more to be assumed.

Forcing a faster run, joints screaming as the weight of the Zoid slowly becomes too much to bear against them at this pace. Can't stop now. Can't stop now...

Another glance over the shoulder, and slowly the pain begins to flow beyond the joints, encompassing the whole of the creature. Pain... Pain lancing through its body, burning like a fire within its circuits, its core. Can't stop. Have to run away...

Away from what?

Another glimpse behind the back, another shot from the rifle mounted on the tail. It continues; ricochets off nothing. No more pursuit. No more.

The fires continue to burn within, however, and slowly, the Zoid collapses, no longer able to take the strain. A shot of light from the back; the brilliant green of the cockpit grows dim, blackens; total system freeze.

The light manifests...

Her eyes snapped open the instant she heard the powerful roar from the Zoid, and she swooned a bit, clearly feeling dizzy from the peculiar dream she had just had. The sun had gone, she realized; it was early night, the afterglow was still taunting her over the horizon. However, as she look out, she saw no movement; she felt no movement. The Shield Liger had stopped, and had turned to face something.

She peered out the cockpit, but could only see a vaguely white gleam on the edge of something brilliantly reflective - a star's gleam offering a strange outline before her. However, with a bit of thought, she could finally recognize it.

A raptor type of Zoid, it seemed to be; possibly a Rev Raptor, but its position as it lay crumpled on the ground made it difficult to discern in the wan starlight. It simply sat before her, looking up to Iulius, and she whispered a quiet command to the Shield Liger. It growled in agreement to whatever she had suggested, and it took careful steps forward, slowly approaching the Rev Raptor.

She activated the external light and shined it down on the Rev Raptor, finding herself fully awake now, and stared at the Zoid. It was lying uselessly on the ground now, and careful inspection of the cockpit revealed that there was no pilot present. She stared at it for a long moment, curiously peering downward, and Iulius came to a full stop, then bent down, allowing her to get a closer look.

"That's strange," she mused. "A Rev Raptor... Somebody must have been desperate if they were traveling in that thing. Pull in closer." Iulius took a step forward, getting closer to the Zoid, and she quickly appraised it, then nodded. "It's overheated; probably going max speed across the desert."

An astute assumption.

She froze.

"What...?"

Please, do not move, fleshling.

Almost from nowhere she saw the brilliant golden shards glowing before her, the creature who possessed them standing on the nose of the Shield Liger.

This will be quick.

c h a p t e r : f o u r

"What the hell?" were the first words out of her mouth, but her inquiry was met only with a resounding mental taunt - laughter filled her mind, a strange laughter, it's voice oddly deep and masculine, and it had a distinct air of superiority, of arrogance.

Foolish fleshling, he hissed. You will leave your mechanized minion; otherwise, I cannot guarantee your survival.

"Mechanized minion...?"

No? he interrupted harshly, obviously gauging the fact that she would have hardly comprehended what he had said in that short span of time. In that case, I'm afraid I'll have to evict you from your steed.

Suddenly, the strange golden shards disappeared from before her, transforming, manifesting instead into a flare of golden-blue light. The beam of energy shot up, and her gaze followed it as it flew into the night sky, luminous as a signal flare, before whipping around and suddenly, with a blinding flash of light, slammed into the back of her Zoid.

She anticipated the shock of having something so powerful tear through his back, but felt nothing change, and merely sat where she was for an infinite moment, awaiting the repercussions, anticipating what could possibly transpire for sustaining a shock that badly yet not reacting at all to it. Waiting...

She looked at the lights of the cockpit as she noticed that, suddenly, the power control bar seemed to shoot through the roof; a light blue energy began to surround the entire Zoid, and the light within the cockpit changed from the fluorescent white to a strange shade of scarlet. The sensors on the Zoid took on a golden colour; the cockpit glass became green.

"What...?"

Iulius suddenly roared furiously, raising his upper body and standing almost fully erect, forcing her full back into her seat. She stared down at the controls as they continued to fluctuate; she listened as she heard his internal fan buzz uncontrollably, as the soothing sound of the circuitry became an incredible, incessant buzz. The controls of the cockpit were locked down - despite her best efforts, she could not begin to move the mobility thrusters, even when pushing all her weight onto them.

So sorry, came the resounding voice once again. I'm assuming you're trying to get back down? Allow me to aid you.

The body of the Zoid came crashing down hard almost immediately, thrusting her forward, forcing her frame against the powerful, cutting straps of the seatbelt. She pulled back and began to breathe heavily, feeling pain arch through her chest where the belt had dug into her flesh, and she looked around wildly, trying to reason what was going on.

All of the systems were going berserk, she could tell that much, and the Zoid was acting of his own accord - he was capable of doing so normally, but now he seemed to be far more insane than he had ever been before. He shook his head from side to side, pulled himself left and right, leapt forward, slammed hard onto the ground, pulled up and roared only to tear back down, trying, it seemed to shake her from her position in the pilot's chair. None of it seemed to be working properly - she was thankful for that - but the interloper seemed to have finally gotten the right idea.

Now let me see, he mused. What does this option do... Hmm. Eject...

"Hey, woah, nonono, don't you dare eject me!" she yelled, trying to allow her voice to penetrate to... To wherever the thought was coming from. Another mental laugh.

Or you'll do what, fleshling? he inquired smoothly. What will you do to keep me from continuing?

"I can-"

Too late. He had grown bored of the game; and suddenly, the cockpit flipped open, and with the hiss of depressurizing barely leaving her ears, she found herself flying through the black sky, still strapped to the chair.

"This is insane!" she yelled to the night winds, but none of them seemed apt to return her cry. She struggled for a moment with the seat belt, finally loosening it, and pulled the chair around to face the ground - seconds later, she landed, hard, into the cool desert sands, the chair taking most of the fall, cushioning her from the impact.

A thunderous roar suddenly came from the Shield Liger, and he turned to look at her, the eerie red glow from the exposed cockpit casting strange shadows around her. The external searchlight, also gleaming red, landed its sights directly on her, and the voice resounded through her mind.

What a pity, it mused. So young, I believe, by the standards of you people. It's a shame I'll be forced to eliminate you now. But, this game must end, as all good things do.

The Zoid began to advance toward her - very slowly, its head kept low to the ground, like a great cat stalking the helpless mouse, intent on catching its prey only after the long chase had finally ended.

"Wait!" she screamed. "Wait! What... What are you!"

A product, the voice whispered. A product formed by you flesh-and-blood demons to serve the purposes that you were so eager to create us for - so eager to imprison me and my fellows for. The voice had become low, its tone dark, filled with anger and aggression. You have made us suffer. All of you. All of you have done this. Aggression slowly gave way to a psychotic tone, and his voice, so low and arrogant, became a crazed shout. All of you! I'll wipe you all out! Every last one! ALL OF YOU!

The scream repeated itself endlessly in her mind, although she was unsure of wether he was continuing to shout wordlessly or if it merely had a strong, echoing mental clangor. Regardless, she was snapped away from the thought when, suddenly, the Shield Liger pulled itself up and roared furiously again, slamming hard down on the ground. The voice was silent for a long while, and she saw the Liger pull itself in strange contortions, obviously not by the commands of the intrusive, disembodied voice.

What! it screeched. What is... Stop this! Stop this at once! How dare-

The Liger roared one final time, and suddenly the blaze of golden-blue light shot from his back. Iulius, trembling as his joints strained from the stress he had just endured, fell almost limply to the ground, the dull blue blaze falling away from him, the light of his cockpit growing dim; however, he still moved slowly, almost as though breathing. His power supply was minimized; he needed to rest from the sudden exertion.

Reia, meanwhile, directed her attention to where the blaze of brilliant light was touching down. She saw it land silently, perhaps twenty metres away - not far at all. The brilliant blaze encompassed the small part of the ground for a long moment, and she - still trembling, not having yet recovered from the sudden shock she had received - managed to pull herself to her feet and make a quick yet shaky jog to the location. The blaze died shortly before she arrived, however, and she was ready to merely leave it at that and make a run for it; whatever that thing was, it certainly didn't seem like it would make any friendly turns.

Regardless, curiosity gripped her strongly, and dragged her to where he still lay. She murmured something low under her breath, mostly speaking to herself, and held out her hand - a small orb of condensed lightning appeared there, providing a brilliant blue glow across the immediately landscape.

She blinked a few times as she approached the crumpled figure that had just invaded her Zoid, that had just been so violently booted out, and stopped short a few feet away, stricken by silence.

"An Organoid...?"

It looked like it could very well be such a creature; it's body - four to five feet high, perhaps seven feet from the tip of the beak to the tail - was pulled into a definitively saurian shape, and the entire creature seemed to be made of a deep blue metal, highly reflective in the light of the lightning orb. She stared down its back - the side exposed to her - and saw that, nestled in the centre of the torso - were two boosters, glowing faintly, obviously spent. Following the lithe body down to the tail, she saw that the end was fanned into seven thin sheets of green metal - the same green metal was repeated on its hind and foreclaws, as well as providing accent to the muzzle. Golden circles surrounded brilliantly scarlet glass domes attached to its lower arms and upper legs, glimmering with the brilliance of a polished ruby ring. Its head came down to a blunted beak; its muzzle pulled back and formed three curved spines just below its blank eyes; its entire head came down and pulled back into four long strands of sharpened metal.

Oddly, though, from the torso, just above the boosters, were a single wing, formed over its left side, splayed across the ground - decorated up its length with gold bases for the ruby glass, formed with sharp blades of deep green metal, held together with dark blue pieces of metal. The right wing started up to the first set of gold and glass, but then abruptly stopped, ending in a torn ligament, exposed circuitry nestled deep within the crack.

He was beautiful.

But his wing...

He seemed unconscious, possibly having spent all of his energy from the attempt to control Iulius - having been ejected from the Zoid, she figured that whatever this creature was, he had suffered quite a bit from this. She knelt down beside him and cautiously ran her free hand over the smooth, warm metal, feeling that it was finally beginning to cool under the desert night.

She stood up again and looked over the Iulius, then back down to the raptor-like creature. An Organoid, perhaps? She had heard of the mechanical saurians, and seen images of them, but none of the images looked quite like this creature...

And if he was an Organoid, had he been the one speaking to her?

Bizarre.

Common sense told her to boot up the Shield Liger and make a run for it; if the Organoid had tried to kill her before, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't stage a repeat performance. But something about him...

Well. She had never been one to listen to common sense, anyway.

With such thoughts on her mind, she took it upon herself to put out the little ball of electricity - it was too draining to keep it burning for long period of time - and pick up the large raptor as best she could. She took the unconscious creature with her back to Iulius, and lay him gently on the ground, next to the Shield Liger. She then looked to Iulius and quietly tapped the glass of the cockpit.

The Liger raised his head slightly and looked down to her, growling a bit. She smiled.

"We've got a bit of company with us tonight," she said quietly.

c h a p t e r : f I v e

He sat where he was, curled up into a tight ball, ruminating steadily over the events he had just witnessed, confused. This had none gone as it had before. He had been traveling with that Raptor for some time now - he did not know the way that the fleshlings divided their days, nor did he care - and every time he had hijacked a new Zoid, had tormented the fleshlings overseer of that Zoid, had destroyed the fleshlings withing - he had always succeeded seamlessly. The Zoids had never protested to his presence, his power.

He was, however, surprised during his travels. He had always used that Rev Raptor for transport; he had kept the Zoid stationary elsewhere while he went to play with his oppressor's kinsmen, and had always succeeding in forcing the creatures away from their mighty steeds, either by mere panicked flight across the merciless desert, or by his awesome judgement at the hands of their own captured behemoth. Across the desert, lying in the remote openness, the bodies of those that resembled his oppressors littered the battlefield, laying next to their mechanized beasts of burden; the dead that he had judged to be unworthy, killed at the hands of their Zoids as he commandeered them for his justice, killed by his own hand as he ruled their fate while standing before them.

He tended to go after the lone wolves, but only because they were the ones most often found traveling the desert. He wondered vaguely why there seemed to never be any caution when the fleshlings ran, even though there had doubtless been work of the divine right of the Rev Raptor he controlled reigning down upon the sinners before him.

Most likely, the incidents were too focused; too centralized. Lone wolves running about in the desert were not going to be a topic of great interest for most people; most likely, the fleshlings had already left their nest, had nobody to return to, or had not returned for so long that they would not be missed. He had seen the memory banks of the Zoids he had commandeered; they seemed made only for forced gladiatorial combat.

Of course, the types he had commandeered were some of the more basic sorts, the type he had been trained in primarily to test his capabilities before moving on to the more sentient models; Pteras and Redlers and DiMantis and Sinkers, mostly, all of them very dull-witted. The more complicated Zoids, however, he could sense the presence of a soul beginning to truly form within them. But always, when he had joined with them, looked into their thoughts, they seemed to be filled with hatred - he felt a crackling hatred all around him, hatred toward the fleshlings, toward their oppressors.

He had liberated them, had he not?

Of course. All the Zoids wanted to be free of the oppression of their hated masters. He knew they did. He shared their sentiments. They had sensibility, and they shared his capacity of sensibility; therefore, they must hate the squishies. Therefore, they must kill the squishies.

But what a shock!

This one he had tried to commandeer... He did not want to follow the Organoid's sensible commands. Why? There was no reason that he could understand; he had sifted through the memory banks, he had seen forced combat, he felt the overwhelming hatred when he first entered the Zoid's core. His claws and teeth had clamped onto the heart of the Zoid; he felt himself overwhelmed with the necessity to kill. A necessity that flowed through the Zoid.

Then what? What had happened?

He had approached the fleshling; she was open, so easy to kill, so ready for death, yet suddenly, the hatred had vanished; the Zoid had gone berserk, fought him, kicked him out, left him drained of his energy. Why?

What made the Shield Liger fight so hard? It could have been that the Zoid had no appreciated the rather sudden, hostile takeover - did not appreciate his resources being spent so suddenly. He decided that this was the very reason for his expulsion, and lifted his head slightly, looking up to see what was now before him, dull golden slivers, drained of their energy, looking through the black night.

He saw the fleshling before him, curled up on the cold night sands of the desert, and he tilted his head curiously, confused. The fleshling...

He remembered now; she had come upon him, holding something brilliant, illuminating his tattered and weary form. She had reached down to him, and at that point he blanked out, his power supply finally running on empty. It had taken the last few hours to recharge, and now that he was capable of basic functions again, he was... Confused.

The fleshling had an opportunity to destroy him, of course, or else bind him, ship him off back to where he came from, back into the slavery of the research facility, of the scientists and the allegedly smart squishies, back to his artificial masters who would certainly punish him severely for his escape, for his holy anger, for his divine rampage. Fleshlings did not appreciate the death of other fleshlings, particularly when such judgement was handed down by something that should have been inferior to them.

Somehow, however, as he looked at this fleshling, curled up near the protective claw of the massive Zoid, something struck a strange chord within him. A very strange chord. It rung vibrantly in his breast - a hollow sound - an unfamiliar note. What was this now?

He pulled himself to his feet, using his arms for additional balance, finding that he was still terribly weak - he hated to be weak - and finally, he stopped, sat down next to her, looked down at her, regarded her carefully.

This fleshling... Is protected by her Zoid?

He felt movement from the Shield Liger, and he looked up to his, dull gold penetrating the orange-yellow of the cockpit glass. He could sense it from the Liger, too; his thoughts were verified. This fleshlings was under the protection of her mechanized steed.

He once more stared down at the girl, consternation running through his mind, confusion setting his other thoughts aloft, temporarily unbalanced.

Why? he questioned silently. Why do you protect this creature that abuses you so?

He then looked down to the girl, baffled. What could have made this Zoid - this beast of burden used so foolishly by the squishies - prevent him from killing her? Or was he sighting the correct reason? He could very well have been wrong; ignored other factors. Somehow, though, this seemed to be the reason the Zoid had ejected him.

Why?

He stared at the behemoth, then down to the fleshling. This did not make sense. He had seen the other Zoids - he had felt their thoughts, felt their hatred flow through him, felt their fury and anger and anguish melt into him, increase his own power with their rage, allow him to unleash his own wrath upon them.

Why?

Why not? Does not every Zoid wish to protect their pilot? They care for us; you see them only pit us in these battles, but you do not yet understand that as the Zoid perishes, so too does the pilot; the pilot's power enhances the Zoid. They give us strength. They give us hope even in impossible situations. They are our lifeline; we are their lives.

I don't understand...

You do not have the experience yet. Stay for the night; stay for the morning. I will show you what you do not understand. But for now, contain your delirium. I will show you the true nature of humanity.

The Organoid sat where he was for a long moment, mulling over these words that echoed behind his thoughts, and finally collapsed into a restful position beside the girl, beside the Shield Liger, curling up and slowly shutting himself down for a few hours, intent on regaining energy.

If you prove incorrect, Liger, he hissed, I will have my vengeance on your 'pilot' and on you.

If you prove correct, then you will not need to.

c h a p t e r : s I x

Reia awoke rather violently the next day to the newly rising desert sun with the brilliant gold slivers of gold staring directly into her eyes.

"Gah! What the hell?"

She snapped awake immediately and pulled herself back as far she can, resting her back against the cool metal of the Shield Liger behind her. Standing before her, looking down almost patronizingly, was the blue saurian robot that she had seen last night - the Organoid that had tried to hijack her Zoid.

"You're... Still here?"

Do you wish for me to leave? the voice said quietly, although it had a twinge of impatience to it. I do not have a particular desire to stay here, myself.

She stared for a long, silent moment at the Organoid as he stood before her, his single wing opened as if to show off the sharp blades that comprised the 'feathers' that ran along its length. She shook her head slightly, looking back up to him once more, and whispered, very carefully: "You are the one that spoke..."

Yes, indeed I am, he replied curtly. Did you not think I was capable of communication, fleshling?

"No, not at all," she murmured, feeling altogether that the entire situation felt very surreal, almost as if it were a foggy dream. The crisp clarity brought about by the brilliant orange of the rising sun, and the soft heat beginning to bake her skin seemed to remind her, however, that this was no fantasy.

"I just... You're an Organoid, correct?" He flared his wing slightly, offended by the question, and she felt herself cringe. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I meant nothing by it. I was merely verifying... I've never heard of an Organoid capable of communicating in a relatively regular manner."

He seemed to relax slightly, his golden eyes dimming a bit in their ferocity. I suppose not, he said. My fellows could never communicate, I don't believe. His tone of voice seemed to crackle with resentment; They would hiss and screech, certainly, make all sorts of vocal cacophonies, but it took personal intervention to truly understand what they were trying to say.

"Intervention..."

I have the capacity to probe the minds of others, as you may have been able to ascertain.

She hadn't, of course, but this entire conversation with the little mechanical dinosaur was proving to be more and more interesting. She allowed him to continue.

I had to consistently poke into their mind cores in order to discern what they were trying to communicate. I do not speak their language, you see.

"But you're an Organoid. You should be able to... We're talking about other Organoid, right? Why...?"

I am not like them.

"I suppose not..."

Absolute silence fell over the triad - Iulius, who had already been stone silent before, remained so yet further, and Reia and the Organoid each had their own silence, both consumed by their own thoughts. It was Reia who was next to break the coldness of the moment; she looked up to the Organoid again, and said, slowly, not sure wether it would be proper to ask:

"Why did you try and hijack my Zoid last night?"

He looked up momentarily, his eyes flickering slightly in consternation at the question, but, regardless, he humoured her with an answer.

I am not particularly fond of you fleshlings. My origins portray you vibrantly in a... Less than impressive manner. As such, I harbour no love toward you or your kind. Your Zoids seem to share similar sentiments.

Our Zoids?

Yes. You use these great creatures and mechanical beasts of burden, forced gladiatorial combatants. I have seen others like your Shield Liger - less intelligent, incapable of true sentient thought, possibly soulless if you prefer to consider them that way. I have jumped many a Zoid and felt their anger and hatred within them. I have released them of their fury. But your Zoid - this Shield Liger that you force into such combat - it seems to be averse to allowing me to reign my judgement upon you. This... This confuses me.

Judgement...

His voice took a slightly different tone; almost smug. Judgement.

She didn't want to know what he was speaking of.

"You... You aren't a natural Organoid, are you?" she said quietly, then promptly slapped herself mentally. No Organoid was natural; but, perhaps, he would understand what she was referring to.

No Organoid is natural, he responded cooly, much to her dismay. He continued regardless: However, if you mean to inquire as to wether I am from their original birthing spots, no. I am not of the sort that the Ancients had created; my fellows were, however. I am different. Unique. Far moreso than the rest of my fellows.

"Made in a laboratory?" she blurted suddenly, immediately biting her tongue. What sort of question...? How would he react...?

It was called a research facility, he said, his voice dropping to a low, acidic tone. But laboratory is rather more correct. Torture chamber would be the most proper description for it, however.

She was silent for a moment. "A torture chamber," she repeated softly. "Run by... Humans?"

Fleshlings, he corrected hotly. His brilliant golden eyes turned upon her again, glaring cold yellow. Demons in the chambers. Poking and prodding at their shelled specimens, unable to fight back properly... Keeping them prisoner. Performing their experiments on their subjects. Forcing them to expend ludicrous amount of energy in order to continue fusing, diffusing, commanding Zoids with their limited psychic capacity, forcing them to run the gauntlet until they have mastered the techniques to the point where the blindfolded can complete it in twenty-three seconds yet still get harsh treatment for their impressive feats. Manufactured and reared like cattle for only one purpose, and when they cannot fulfill that purpose... Cast aside like so much wasted garbage, torn and tattered if they do not accomplish everything that they were created for.

A vague blue aura surrounded him, and he suddenly snapped back again:

I despise them. I'll kill them. I'll kill them all!

Reia flinched slightly, startled by the sudden shift that the Organoid mood had taken, startled also by the ferocity of the voice resounding in her head. The Organoid turned his brilliant golden eyes upon her, the gleaming aura around his body seeming to become more vibrant, and his full attention turned upon the girl.

I did not tell you why I was created, he said sharply.

"No," she replied suddenly, still taken aback. "You... You were a laboratory creation, weren't you? What were you made for?"

I was meant to be the Organoid for a massive demon Zoid, he said cooly. I was crafted to be strong enough and smart enough to handle the sheer power of my charge - of my assumed charge. But - if he could have smiled, she was certain he would have been grinning broadly - they built me too well. Too powerful, too intelligent for their ultimate god. They realized I had the capacity to truly think for myself, unlike their countless other experiments, and that I could easily control their Zoid, but still turn it upon them. They thought me a threat, capable of easily escaping if given the chance. I had tried before. They gave me a reminder of my insolence.

"They tore off your wing."

You catch on quickly, I give you credit for that. Yes. They severed my wing from its base in a most painful fashion and locked me away to be used as a base template for another Organoid - they had finally succeeded in controlling their behemoth with me, why not use my capabilities as a template for a future Organoid to do the same? Somebody within the compound made a drastic error, however, and released my stasis tube; I took advantage of the situation and easily escaped from my oppressors, taking this Rev Raptor as my steed and running.

Reia stared at him for a long moment, then shook her head. "That's terrible," she whispered. "That's... Wow. What sort of organization would do something like that?"

If you wish, I may be capable of showing you.

She frowned slightly, the nodded curtly. "Yes," she said darkly, then repeated, her voice tinted with slowly festering rage: "Yes! I tell me! I'll destroy every last one of them for whatever they're doing in there..."

Very good, he hissed, his response cold and chilling.

Reia stopped for a moment, then stood up and turned to Iulius, preparing to enter the Zoid. "Oh," she exclaimed suddenly, looking back down to the Organoid. "What's your name?"

He looked up, seemingly perplexed by the inquiry. What?

"Your name," she repeated. "What they call you."

My code number is one-nine-eight-nine, he said slowly, trying to pull up the information that might have been pertinent to the question. My code name is... 'Aesteroth'.

"Aesteroth," she repeated, testing the word on her lips, then nodding. "All right, Aesteroth. I'll take your detour path. Lead the way."

She clambered into the cockpit, and the Organoid immediately shot off into a streak of light, fusing with the Rev Raptor behind him. The Raptor stood up and looked forward, then turned its attention to the Liger. Yes, he said. I shall lead the way.

c h a p t e r : s e v e n

Perhaps he was wrong to have so easily accepted her offer to aid him in his vengeance; he wondered, vaguely now, if it might have led to her skeptical consideration of his words, to her denial of his story and perhaps, ultimately, to her revenge upon him for his supposed lies.

It was, however, the truth behind his motivations that he had revealed to her; he had no reason to speak with a silver tongue. She was willing enough to aid him in his conquest of the facility - a conquest that he had fully expected to come back to, but he had anticipated a much longer interlude between his escape and his return.

A longer interlude. An interlude with which he would gain strength to come back and fight the oppressive hand of those that had held him; and to wreak his holy vengeance on those that had contained him, tested him, forced him to run the gauntlet, to fuse with the lower Zoids, to ultimately try and command the higher.

He smiled internally; their training had been successful, he realized. More successful than they likely could have ventured to guess. He had been capable of controlling their behemoth god; they had not been able to construct another Organoid with that capability.

Why, then, did he need help.

He did not.

He was, however, willing to exercise a bit of caution in approaching the base; he knew what sort of Zoids they had, Zoids that nobody had invested any knowledge in for ages. And he had seen the upgrades invested in these Zoids; he knew what to expect.

A walking shield was something that he had always rather felt fond of having.

Reia had never seen a Zeek Dober before.

She had heard of them, certainly, heard tell of the far forgotten past when the Guylos Empire employed the speed and power of the Zeek Dober for its reconnaissance needs; the Zoid had long since been discontinued in general production, however, instead making way for the more efficient Lightning Saix, or the more versatile Konig Wolf. She had never been able to see images of the Dober, of course; perhaps because there were so few, perhaps because her overall interest in the old war Zoids was so faint, and she had never bothered to seek them out.

Regardless, she had never seen a Zeek Dober before, and to find was standing proudly before her, its black polished metal gleaming in the midmorning sun, juxtaposed against the sand-crusted redness of its lower legs and accented finally by the brilliant yellow crescents that were its eyes and the thin yellow sensory blades arcing behind its back came to her as a complete shock.

"I thought these were decommissioned," she murmured to herself. She heard a mild laugh ring through her mind as she said this.

They were, Aesteroth said cooly. What you are about to face is known as the Crixis Facility, home of the Oracle project. They have a strange fascination with the resurrection and subsequent retooling of Zoids that should have been forfeit to the temporal sands. They have taken a particular liking to the old Guylos Zoids; perhaps for their inherent ferocity. I cannot determine why.

It didn't matter.

The Zeek Dober was alone, strangely; she would have assumed that Zoids of this sort would have stayed in groups, very much like hunting packs; a quick scan of the area revealed that, in fact, the presence of any other such Zoids was not to be found.

"Do they always travel singularly like this?" she inquired, figuring that the Organoid would pick up on it once again.

You have merely found the basic border patrol. They are spaced evenly along the borders of the area. Generally speaking, nobody is meant to be able to find their way out into this part of the desert; it is, after all, rather out of the way from the primary commerce locations, but not so far out of the way as to be obvious.

She nodded curtly to herself, finding that the strategy made sense; whatever it was they were keeping in here, testing and priming the Organoid for, it would likely be too serious to let anything slip past. But, she thought to herself with a vague smile, they would be slipping past; they would be charging headlong through it.

She liked the notion.

She did just that.

With a roar, the Shield Liger pulled back and locked its sights upon the Zeek Dober, which stood in an offensive position before them, growling low and barking once or twice before resuming its posture. It seemed unwilling to move from its spot. Perfect.

With another, thunderous roar, the Shield Liger charges straight for it. The Zeek Dober was prepared for this, and suddenly it pulled down, leveling a large cannon at the Liger and firing off a series of blasts; the Liger, however, saw these coming and, on order of its pilot, immediately unfurled its shield, allowing the shots to bounce harmlessly away before it leapt and slammed hard into its target, sending the peculiar Zoid tumbling as the Liger tore past, deactivating its shield and spinning around to face the hound.

The Zeek Dober, however, was already back on its feet, and without warning a missile slammed into the Shield Liger, forcing it to reel back, growling low and shaking its head as if to clear a fog that had come over him. He looked back to his opponent and roared challenge to the hound, and the dog-like Zoid answered back with a high-pitched bark, pulling itself down as if to fire another missile.

Suddenly, the hound pitched forward, falling to the ground, its head rolling away from the rest of its body, severed straight at the neck, and Reia, confused, looked up to what had just transpired. Standing behind the Zeek Dober, hissing and clicking his claws as he looked down to the fallen Zoid, was the Rev Raptor.

Aesteroth brought the eyes of the Raptor up to the Shield Liger and said, almost soothingly: We have broken a link in the border patrol. Shall we continue?

"Let's go!" was Reia's immediate reply to the inquiry, and Iulius seemed to echo these sentiments with a powerful roar, spinning to where Aesteroth had said the complex was located and immediately taking off at maximum speed, putting the decapitated form of the Zeek Dober sleeper Zoid behind her, as well as losing sight of the Rev Raptor as she continued running.

She faltered for a moment, immediately confused. That certainly was strange; the Rev Raptor was nowhere to be found behind her. She pulled the Zoid into a complete stop and turned him around to make certain that her equipment was merely faulty; much to her surprise, he still did not appear.

"What...?"

She turned back to where she was going and suddenly found him standing before her, the brilliant green glass of the cockpit glaring down to her through the dulled yellow of the Shield Liger's dome.

There is nothing back there, the Organoid said. What are you doing?

She was somewhat startled by the sudden presence of the Rev Raptor and the Organoid that piloted him, but she shook her head regardless, collecting herself immediately. "Nothing," she said. "It's nothing."

He knew it was more than that; he could probe her thoughts and see into her mind and recognize the fact that she was unable to compute the sudden increase in speed of the Rev Raptor; that the Raptor had suddenly moved from being relatively far behind her to being in front of her in a span of time where she did not have the capacity to even recognize his movement. He knew that she was tearing her brain asunder trying to understand it.

She was also aware that he was aware of her thoughts, and he was subsequently made aware of her ability to detect when he was picking her brain apart.

He seemed to withdraw from the practice slightly, but made no signs of having done so, at least not physically, by the stance of the Rev Raptor or the tone of his voice. Instead, he remained as he always had, slightly deadened:

We are within a few minutes of the base now, he informed her curtly. Let us... Proceed.

The Raptor tucked its body to the ground and began to run, and the Shield Liger fell in stride next to him. She watched him carefully out the window, seeing as he began to fall back, the boosters on his back activated, then flared with a brilliant golden-blue light; the energy aura of the Organoid.

She knew Organoids increased the capabilities of the Zoid, but there was... Something else about him, too...

Something...

c h a p t e r : e I g h t

Reia heard the powerfully low sound resounding throughout the Zoid as the Shield Liger took careful steps forward through the sands of the desert, its heard turning back and forth as she commanded it to look about her, scanning the area for the traces of anything that could imply the presence of a powerful base of operations stationed squarely in the middle of nowhere. However, for what she had heard Aesteroth tell of it - the sheer enormity and grandeur of the area - she could see nothing her immediate range of vision that would betray the location of the massive complex she was supposed to be trying to infiltrate.

Both the Rev Raptor and the Shield Liger had come to a much slower pace, the Raptor still bent forward in an almost stealthy position, although she had the distinct impression that it was capable of making an immediate bursting run for it the instant he saw need of it - but, knowing the Organoid within, this position was almost certainly not for retreat. She heard the determination hissed icily in his mental voice; she could tell by seeing the stance of the raptor that he meant to do what he said he would do; she could feel, as his mind kept a mildly invasive presence within hers, that he was not one to back down from this sort of conflict.

She did, though, really have to ask:

"Where the hell is the base?"

The Rev Raptor pulled itself up a bit, reacting to her inquiry, and cocked his head to the side. This is strange, Aesteroth mused. We should have already run across it by now, unless... Hah!

The Rev Raptor suddenly darted forward, and Reia stared after him, hesitant to take the run and follow, but finally setting Iulius into a brisk pace after his opponent, taking him fast down the open desert, although she was still a fair distance behind the Rev Raptor - it was strange to see her Liger unable to keep up with the lesser Zoid - but she tailed it anyway, shooting across the hot sands in a straight line and then-

Suddenly, the Rev Raptor disappeared.

She pulled back hard on the controls of her Shield Liger, and it responded immediately yet somewhat adversely, its entire body contorting somewhat strangely in order to compensate for the sudden decrease in speed, pulling itself down to try and lock its claws into the giving, shifting sands. It slowed down considerably, but could not stop in time, coming to where the Raptor disappeared-

Suddenly, the Shield Liger disappeared, as well, and Reia found herself somewhere completely different.

She brought the Liger into a slow, steady turn, surveying her surroundings and blinking profusely; it was mostly dark beneath the high, steel ceiling of the building that she suddenly found herself in, empty hangars casting foreboding shadows before her, while the brilliantly white hot light from the outside filtered through the open door, forcing the shadows to become even darker in compensation. She tried squinting, hoping to get a slightly better look around the place that way, but it was to no avail; the brilliant juxtaposition of the black shadows against the white external light left her temporarily blinded.

To your right, came the mental command, and she pulled the controls of the Liger in such a way as to force him to pivot to the right, turning to face her peculiar benefactor. She squinted and blinked a bit, finally making out the rusty read armour of the Rev Raptor around the brilliant shining green of the cockpit glass - his stance was lowered, hunched over slightly, impatient.

Very good, Aesteroth said curtly. This is the hangar, as you may well have guessed; the entire complex is cloaked within a very strong and, clearly, effective cloaking device, making it look like nothing more than open air. The only entrance is through the hangar's door. Now that we are inside, we will have to proceed with caution; the sleeper Dobers outside were just that; sleepers. Internally is where the pilots for these experiments are kept. He turned his attention away from her and stood almost completely upright, proceeding cautiously through the enormous space of the hangar.

She pushed the Liger forward at a minimal pace, and, upon getting out of range of the immediate brilliance of the external light, allowed her eyes to adjust to the comparative darkness. Once she had, she immediately studied the region around her, carefully examining everything in the area, drinking it in, noting the large number seven blazon across the wall; obviously, the tier number for the hangar. Further observation revealed that the floor was beginning to decline at a gentle slope, too gentle for a Zoid pilot to take notice of unless they had the intent of looking down as she was, the slope leading to the next level of the hangars.

We are going to head for Tier Five, Aesteroth reported back. While it is possible to reach the research facilities from this level, we would have to abandon our Zoids in order to do so, the passages are much smaller than when you come to the research level. I believe that our luck will be rather more favourable if we head to the larger area; more space to battle shall give us the inherent advantage.

Reia liked how the Organoid's though processes worked, and she nodded, agreeing silently, figuring that he would be able to pick up her thoughts even if she did not bother speaking them verbally.

The next tier of the hangar proved to be darker, and her eyes adjusted to the limited light accordingly; navigation, however, was not at all impeded by the absence of light - she had a keen ability to see in the dark, and the Organoid... Well, she wasn't sure what he was capable of - and they managed to quickly pass through the little area, proceeding downward to Tier Five, the level that Aesteroth was intent on descending to.

Upon getting down to this level, she stared stoicly ahead, watching the back of the Rev Raptor carefully to see where it would be necessary to move, but suddenly, the Raptor stopped short, just before entering the central facility. She brought the Shield Liger to a stop and stood perfectly still in the slowly encompassing darkness, fearful of moving, although why, she was unsure.

"What's going down?" she asked openly.

I detect the presence of Battle Cougars in the hangar, the Organoid replied immediately. I assume you have no experience with them.

Entirely correct.

It does not matter. Their presence in an underground facility is foolish; they cannot use the air to their advantage.

"What, they can fly usually?"

Normally, that is the battlefield of the Battle Cougar. However, these are stationed within the hangars. This is extremely peculiar.

"You're certain they're... 'Battle Cougars'?"

I am positive; I recognize the core signature. She heard a low, hissing-clacking sound escape from the raptor, and it pulled itself down, obviously on edge. I am not fond of being unaware of what is transpiring. However, I am almost completely certain that we will be capable of felling the entire small legion without too much difficulty; the Cougars are not in their natural habitat. This will be simple.

He took a step out into the hangar.

Provide the cover fire, he ordered. I shall take the combat straight to them.

c h a p t e r : n I n e

He took the combat straight to them, all right.

The tiers down at this level were lit by a rather poor system; the light cast over the immediate vicinity was sadly wan and lacking, not at all the vibrancy she should have expected from being within a research facility such as this one. Then again, she was in the equivalent of the parking lot; she really should not have expected much more.

She stalked closer to the edge and peered around the corner watching, fascinated yet horrified, as the Rev Raptor let out a blood-curdling screech, catching the attention of the four Battle Cougars within the tier. A strange breed of Zoid, the Battle Cougar - brilliantly white, with golden hooked beaks and vibrant foreclaws - they resembled, to an extent, the gryphons of legend.

Strangely, though, she did not see any wings upon their backs, and this immediately made her wonder how they were meant to fly. Her thoughts were interrupted by a suddenly screech of pained terror - she turned her attention toward the Rev Raptor, fearing the worst, and finding that the Zoid - she should have normally thought the Raptor ineffective - had leapt onto the back of the nearest Cougar and raked his foot claw across its back, tearing a large gash into its exposed back and revealing a short shower of sparks erupting from its circuitry - obviously, he had cut something fairly important.

He followed this up by leaning his full weight on the back of the Zoid, forcing the back of the gryphon down into the hard concrete floor of the hangar, and as the Battle Cougar screeched protest to this sort of treatment, she saw the Raptor raise its leg again and bring the claw back down upon his opponent, effectively crushing the entire back half of the Zoid under his feet. He finished his gruesome display by spinning on its torn back, sliding out the sickles on its back and effectively lopping off the head of its opponent, allowing it to roll uselessly across the ground as the rest of the Zoid collapsed into a useless pile.

This entire action took perhaps four seconds, and immediately thereinafter the other three Battle Cougars present in the room - most likely sleeper Zoids, just as the Zeek Dober had been - pounced upon their prey all at once, two of them tearing at him with their foreclaws, the third pulling itself onto its hind legs and leveling the barrels of a pair of side-mounted guns at the Rev Raptor, firing off a single, powerful shot at its opponent. She heard a scream of pain and fury resound in her head as the shot cut through the leg of the raptor, obviously dealing some sort of vicarious damage to the Organoid within.

The Cougar landed and stood normally, raising its golden foreclaws to once again raze its opponent.

Not on her watch.

Reia suddenly twisted the controls, and the Liger responded immediately, leaping out at an angle that made him shoot from the corner facing the triad of Battle Cougars as they stood over the Rev Raptor, effectively shielding the little rust red Zoid as the Shield Liger unleashed a series of brilliant green laser blasts at his aggressors, forcing one of them away from the Rev Raptor and pinning one against a wall - the third pulled itself down defensively, using its body as a shield from the attacks.

The attention of the Zoid seemed to have turned away from the Rev Raptor - which now lay mostly immobilized on the floor, staring vacantly into space - and suddenly, the three Zoids seemed very, very interested by the presence of the Shield Liger.

"Oh, hell," Reia whispered, seeing the barrels of the cannons on the Battle Cougar's slide slightly forward to give them a better shot. She pulled back hard on the controls, and the Liger responded properly, taking a leap back ast the powerful, slicing attacks fell just short of where he landed, puncturing the floor at an angle that would have severed his forelegs had it actually hit.

In response to this rather ungracious, Reia forced the controls forward, and with a roar from her Liger he tore straight for the middle of the group, unleashing a steady barrage of laser fire as he ran for the Battle Cougar. The gryphon pulled itself back, incapable of pulling itself away while its comrades stood at either side, blocking his clear shot at the exits, and upon seeing this the Shield Liger leapt up, bringing its hardened claws down upon its opponent, the cold steel of his claws puncturing the armour of gryphon, slicing across a sizeable chunk and tearing off nicks and pieces here and there across it.

"Eat this!" she screamed, somewhat foolishly, as the claws of the Shield Liger bore a deep, sizeable hole in the side of the gryphon's neck. Hearing a click from the resetting of firearms, Reia forced the Liger to pivot about quickly to face the other two gryphons, who had now leveled their larger cannons and were ready to open fire.

Immediately, she activated the shield of the Liger, and Iulius roared thunderously, pulling himself up slightly before slamming down on his forelegs, the shield flickering to full life just as he did so, just in time to take the shot from the Battle Cougars and diffuse the blast immediately. The shield was deactivated just as quickly as it had been used, most likely to conserve energy, and with another terrible roar the Liger pounced for his opponents, landing just in front of one of the Battle Cougars before him and firing his impact cannon and point-blank range once - twice - thrice and the Cougar, now sporting a sizeable hole in its frontal armour plate, staggered back, faltered, and finally fell completely over, hissing as smoke poured from the wound and electricity danced triumphantly from the open gash.

Satisfied, the Liger prepared to turn again, ready to revel in his victory, but a powerful blow from behind caused the entire Zoid to lunge forward, slamming down hard on the ground, rising at an odd angle as his legs seemed to refuse to respond. Reia slammed the controls a few times herself, trying everything that there could possibly be in her pathetic move arsenal to spin around and just kill the Battle Cougar.

It was only now that she realized, rather suddenly, why it was called the battle cougar - its entire body had taken on a long, slick, streamlined sort of shape, far more feline than what it most likely should have been, its brilliantly scarlet eyes gleaming off the silver-black armour and the golden claws and gun barrels. The feline aspect of the Zoid made perfect sense; but what had Aesteroth said about flight?

She was snapped from her momentary reverie rather violently; her opponent seemed to gauge the exact moment she was no longer paying absolute attention to the battle, when her mind wandered off just a tiny little bit.

Iulius spun around to face the Battle Cougar and roared thunderously, obviously unhappy with his opponent. The Battle Cougar returned the roar was a screech, and leapt toward the Shield Liger, its feline body outstretched as a cat stretches when it jumps.

It was closing in on her now, closing in, through the air and closing in...

A terrible hiss, and suddenly, it wasn't flying through the air anymore. Reia turned toward where the energy expense seemed to originate from, and immediately felt the worst urge to leap out of the Zoid and hug the leg of the Rev Raptor - for, standing directly before her, one sickle-shaped claws held up in the motion of an uppercut, his lower left leg emitting a shower of sparks from the wound that the Cougar had inflicted. However, the wound seemed to have healed rather quickly; almost as if in no time at all.

Peculiar.

We've taken the sleepers, he said curtly, indicating a long, narrow passage. This is the next pathway we must traverse, and we will have to abandon our Zoids before continuing onward.

She nodded understanding, full aware that he was, in fact, not capable of seeing her, and more importantly not looking at all; she nodded out of force of habit, knowing he would pick up her intentions anyway.

Let us begin the 'fun part'.

c h a p t e r : t e n

You'll have to traverse the hallway on foot, Aesteroth warned. I shall remain back here and cover your back. You will be exposed, of course, while you go forward; however, your opponents will more likely than not merely be scientists. I assume you have the full capacity to keep such fleshlings from striking you down with their clipboards?

"Don't worry about that," she muttered, and with a few twists of the controls within the Shield Liger she brought her Zoid's head down to the ground, opening the cockpit with a hiss as the cabin depressurized. Leaning forward in the cockpit of the Zoid, she grabbed the twin scabbards that she always kept with her in case of close-range combat and, fitting herself with a belt before subsequently attaching the swords to it, then vaulted out of the Liger and, landing on the thick concrete ground, she turned to face the passageway she would be traversing.

"What am I supposed to do when I get to the end of it?"

He took a moment to consider this event, the green of the Rev Raptor's eye thoroughly dissecting the long passageway that the Organoid was sending the girl down. He seemed to nod to himself.

You will proceed to the end and merely unlock the door; there is a group of fleshlings beyond that door. You will get their attention immediately, more likely than not; once you do, run out and run back to this end of the hallway as fast as you can. I shall take care of everything from there.

She felt a cold shiver run down her spine, feeling that something untoward would ultimately be the result of this peculiar alliance and these even more peculiar orders, but regardless, she nodded her compliance with the instructions and, taking a deep breath, exhaled, turning to Iulius and murmuring orders to stay low to the Zoid. He growled his compliance, and she turned to look down the hallway.

Now that she was no longer in a Zoid, that small, thin, compressed, whitewashed tunnel seemed rather more disturbing to her, but she could not fathom why. According to Aesteroth, there would only be scientists waiting for her in the rooms that joined with the tunnel; that was nothing to get upset about, nothing to worry about.

Was there?

Probably not. This entire mission seemed to be going rather smoothly, aside from the minor scrap they had with the Battle Cougars in the hangar - that, though, had been nothing special in the least, and the Shield Liger had gotten out virtually unscathed, with the Rev Raptor taking minor damage to the leg...

She looked over to the Raptor immediately as the thought crossed her mind, and stared stupidly for a few minutes at the Zoid. She realized, with a start, that the damage around its leg had totally dispersed, healed itself fully within a span of three minutes.

Wow, she thought stupidly to herself. I've heard about the capacity of an Organoid to heal an injured Zoid, but... That quickly...?

She watched as the Rev Raptor turned to face the entrance to the hangar, pulling itself down in an attacking position and, she taking in a deep breath, proceeded to step down into the tunnel, hoping that she would be able to keep silent long enough to reach the opposite end of the passageway without having any confrontations beforehand.

It didn't work.

The instant she stepped down into the passage, she heard a resounding, monotone voice begin to crackle through the facility, repeating in its calm, hushed tone: "Intruder alert. All units, be on guard. Intruder detected in Hangar Five northwest passage. Intruder alert..."

All the lights shut off immediately thereinafter, only to be replaced by a dull red glow throughout the base, and an alarm - a strange, almost soothing alarm, oddly enough - began to whine in the distant background, white occasionally flashing as the red lights cast an ambient glow, dimming and then igniting in a two-second cycle.

"Oh, hell."

She bolted.

The first of the doors immediately opened up before here, and standing in her way was a young man wearing the white lab coat emblazoned with a strange, scarlet symbol on the left shoulder - the symbol of the Crixis Compound Research Facility, she guessed. He was merely standing where he was, seemingly unarmed, and she tested her luck, pulling herself down and charging full force, ramming into him with her shoulder and forcing him to the ground. She stopped to get her bearings again, then continued her suicide run before the man could recover and come after her.

The doors in front of her opened, and this time a steady wave of the research scientists made their presence known before her; all of them stepped out, facing the girl, some of them armed with particle energy handguns - a powerful if short-range defense mechanism, to say the least.

She immediately pulled one of the swords from its scabbard, fitting the weapon in her right arm, and held it before and across, read to sideswipe anything that pushed its luck when treading before her. Some of the research scientists pulled away from the threat, valuing their lives, but others were not so lucky, one of them immediately finding himself breathing through a new hole in his throat before he fell to the ground, coughing up blood through this knew windpipe.

She felt guilt immediately begin flooding through her as the first of the casualties fell - she knew that her profession was dangerous, sometimes calling for the killing of another pilot, but rarely had she found necessity in killing an innocent. The wave of guilt, however, would have to keep itself at a low level; she had to concentrate.

She flipped the blade, exposing the flattened edge for her next attack, and promptly slammed the blade over the head of one of the scientists, sending him to the floor, unconscious. She turned the flat of the blade to another, and he suffered the same fate. She ducked suddenly, and the blast of fire from the particle energy handgun shot over her head - she raked the ground with her sword, catching the feet of the man who had just attempted to kill her, and sent him tumbling to the ground, clearly dazed.

So far, so good; only one casualty, and for the tripped alarm system, that was a fairly good record. She bolted, tearing past the scientists that lined the hallway, slamming into another one and pushing him out the way, leaping over the attempts to trip her up and ducking under the attempts to knock her down.

And then it was a blur.

The door before her; she pulled it, opened it, stepped in for perhaps a full second before the military force within suddenly turned around, saw her, drew their weapons; she caught a glimpse of something massive from beyond the little viewing room, but she couldn't tell quite what. All eyes turned to her. She panicked; bolted back down the way she came, repeated the acrobatics she had just gone through before, successfully running a few paces along the wall to evade the ground for a few seconds. She looked up...

Before her, a brilliant ball of energy, sparkling with all the jewel tone colours she could have imagined, was slowly gaining power, constructing itself entirely to...

Oh, no.

She ran full out, her muscles screaming protest to this action, and then dove, rolling out of the narrow hallway and next to the foot of the Rev Raptor just as an enormous burst of energy shot above her, tearing a hole through the very air before the particle beam lanced down the hallway, shot through the opposite wall, and then, finally, diffused.

Reia looked up to the hallway behind her and stared.

An enormous, circular indentation had been cut through the walls, making a rounded tunnel stretch before her and open into the next room seamlessly. The lights at the end of the tunnel, and within the tunnel, had all died, obviously having been cut somewhere along the line by the particle beam. Most disturbingly, however, the great din that the scientists had been raising had fallen completely silent; the scientists were no longer standing in the tunnel, no trace of them remained.

She inhaled sharply, then looked up to the Rev Raptor. "You... Killed them..." she breathed, staring upward, no comprehension running through her brain, her mind blank, empty. "Why would you...?"

Reia, sweet girl, the voice said soothingly, and the green eyes of the Rev Raptor suddenly turned toward her as the Zoid bent itself down closer to her. I had no choice but to purge them.

"That was cold blooded murder!"

Just as they have done to myself and my fellows! he barked back, venom suddenly tangible in his voice. I am here for freedom and for vengeance! Your presence was merely a catalyst to my return. You should not have been so shocked by my actions; I told you my intent from the beginning. You did not seem to follow my superior logic capacity.

"You murdered them!"

You are rather vehement about that point, aren't you?

The Zoid seemed to smile.

I suppose it is up to me to make you rather less vehement, then.

The Rev Raptor suddenly opened its jaws, and she saw nestled within the Zoid a barrel extending from the mouth. It seemed almost to inhale and, slowly, a glittering light appeared in front of the barrel; a Charged Particle Gun.

In fact, now that she looked at the entire Zoid, it seemed... Different, somehow. The head came got a sharper point, they eyes were more slanted, the Zoid seemed vaguely bulkier, and the particle gun in its mouth...

Say good night, fleshling.

"Good night!"

An enormous energy blast, most likely originating from a cannon, suddenly shot past, slammed into the Rev Raptor, sent it hurling into the wall; it crashed, its armour crumpled, its form slumped, the lights flickering off within it.

A high-pitched scream of rage, and suddenly a bolt of golden-blue shot from the back of the Rev Raptor, and she saw, feeling a bit of shock run through her, that the Zoid seemed to relax slightly, becoming its normal, streamlined self; a standard Rev Raptor, now sporting a rather large hole in its side.

Aesteroth stood on the broken hull of the Raptor and looked down to it, anger flashing in his eyes, then looked up to the direction where the blast had come from, pulling himself down and screeching terribly, his natural voice ringing harshly against the soothing deep tones she was accustomed to hearing mentally.

Who dare- he began, then stopped suddenly, pulling himself up inquisitively before assuming his prior position, hissing a deadly warning at whatever was coming toward them. The facility, still bathed in red light, offered no answers for a long moment, but, at last, the resounding echo of footsteps could be heard through the hangar, and then a curt laugh, followed by the hollow sounds of a man clapping.

"Well done, well done!" came the almost jovial voice, but as Reia listened, she heard the deadly tint to his words. "I never would have thought I would see you again, One-Nine-Eight-Nine!"

The Organoid clamped his jaws shut with a sharp clink, glaring levelly in the direction of this new player. My name, he said acidly, is Aesteroth.

"Very good," the man said. "Very good."

And then, seemingly from nowhere, he materialized in the red lights, wearing the scientists lab coat, the seal of the Crixis Compound emblazoned on the sleeve. His dark eyes regarded them carefully, but he seemed far more interested in Aesteroth than he was in Reia. However, he did spare her a passing glance before turning his attention back to the Organoid.

"You even brought a pawn with you!" he said, laughing again. "I certainly did underestimate your powers, One-Nine-"

My name, he repeated, his acidic tone becoming more caustic, is Aesteroth.

The man smiled.

"Subject gaining self-awareness and self-pride. Referring to itself by fictitious code-name assignment. The id of the Organoid is beginning to surface properly."

What do you desire from me now, Sylosia?

The man - obviously the Sylosia character - merely continued smiling, studying the Organoid for a long moment, then nodding once again. "I see your fractured wing has done nothing to deter you from harnessing your powers to their fullest extent."

I have only you to thank for my wounds. Now speak to me, meat-bag. What do you desire from me?

"I desire nothing but the opportunity to... Study you further."

I am well aware of these ideas. However, I have no subsequent wish to aid you in this necessity.

"That's a shame," he said with a sigh, then added: "I suppose I can fathom why you have returned with your unwilling subject?"

The fleshlings came of her own accord, he attested swiftly, arching his wing in rising anger. And yes, I suppose you do know why I am here.

"Come to free the Organoids?" he said, although his voice held a heavy hint of irony in it. He smiled broadly, taking pleasure in the verbal game. "Your primary excuse, no doubt. But your real reason, I assume, is to exact vengeance."

Upon you, the Organoid added.

"Upon me," the man verified. "Unfortunately, I do not believe you anticipated my trump card."

Aesteroth leapt down from his perch on the Rev Raptor, using his boosters to hover back down and land hard on the ground, standing where he was, his torso raised as he unfurled a claw. Held tightly within that claw was a small, blue spark - as Reia looked over, curious, it ignited into a definitive blaze. The Organoid's eyes dimmed dangerously, and he was obviously intent on throwing the small fireball at his enemy.

What would that be? You're precious God Kaiser? Your project is nothing without the equilibrium that my power grants it; your Oracle is nothing but a demon without the proper balance. I am your balance. You are nothing without me.

"The God Kaiser is a wonderful achievement," Sylosia said. "But I have something that you may find a little more unnerving."

I doubt that.

"I don't."

The man brought up a small whistle and blew into it, a sharp, piercing sound coming from the small instrument, and suddenly, almost as if he too materialized from nowhere, there stood beside the scientist a small, vaguely dragonoid figure; pitch black with only the vaguest highlights from the red ambience around them, bat-like wings spreading to reveal a deep crimson underside. He stood, staring at Aesteroth and Reia through scarlet eyes, his small clawed arms held close to his torso.

A little mechanized dragon. Another Organoid.

Considering this was an Organoid research facility, she saw nothing strange about that.

Aesteroth, apparently, did, and in a hushed, whispering tone, the raptor-like machine took a careful step forward, his wing folding in to his body slightly as he stared for a long moment at the figure. Sylosia stood perfectly still, his expression stagnant, carefully regarding the Organoid as he took another cautious step forward.

Finally, the infinite silence was shattered.

Ryuukei!

c h a p t e r : e l e v e n

Sylosia let his head hang back as a powerful, deep stentorian laughter thundered from his chest, his dark eyes turning to the Organoid before him. The researcher smiled darkly, his expression ecstatically grim.

"Yes, One-Nine-Eight-Nine. Subject One-Four-Two-Seven, code name 'Ryuukei'. I believe you were acquaintances previously?"

Aesteroth snapped his jaws, a menacing metallic clang reverberating as a warning. What have you done to him! the Organoid demanded.

Reia looked at the opposing Organoid once more, taking him in completely. He seemed nothing more than a black dragon, crimson moon eyes glaring from beneath the jet black armour, but further inspection revealed that he looked even more dangerous; from his shoulders there were two curved black spines; from his elbows were the same, only smaller. Stubs of razor-pointed blades ran down his back, starting from approximately the forehead, and peaked at his tail, which was a single-bladed, simplistic weapon. It opened mouth and let out a silent screech, and contained within the jaw she saw the warning gleam of a gun barrel, or even - she shuddered at the thought - the small intake barrel of a mouth-mounted mobile charged particle gun.

Her heart stopped as she realized with a jolt that this little creature was, in fact, wielding such a device; that this little creature had shot down the comparatively massive Rev Raptor with its gun.

"I have merely enhanced him," the man said coldly, his calculating eyes looking Aesteroth up and down. "A year of experimentation can lead to such assumed 'mutations'." As a low growl rose from the throat of the blue Organoid, Sylosia seemed to crouch forward a little, revealing his teeth as he smiled. "You know how long you've been held, of course."

Three weeks transpired before my inevitable escape, Aesteroth snapped. What do you desire of me, Sylosia? What have you done to Ryuukei?

The man smirked.

"Your estimation of time is sorely off balance, One-Nine-Eight-Nine," he said haughtily. "You have been in our research capsule for well over a year; you have only been aware of a three week time passage because that is all you wanted to be aware of."

LIAR!

He ignored the violent outburst from the Organoid, and Sylosia continued almost languidly, mockingly.

"You were the first Organoid we created that could properly bond with the ultimate goal of our Oracle Project - for that, we were grateful, but you had too much free will to be of any immediate use. However, you were found too fascinating to merely destroy, and your data was too important to flush away. We encapsulated you in that chambre, and while undergoing further tests you ultimately began to speak your fellows and formed a certain bond with One-Four-Seven-Two - Ryuukei. You remember this? Of course you do.

"What you do not wish to remember is that in this duration, the Organoids you communed with were all systematically destroyed."

Reia stood back where she was, unmoving, assuming that nobody was paying her any notice and feeling very good about not getting any attention. She was trying to piece together what was going on, but so far, the two different accounts she was getting - or the one that she was getting that came from the rather uncertain source - were beginning to conflict and, somehow, bring a headache upon her.

"You remember," he said with a smile. "You remember how you would share your plots with other Organoids, begin staging such an escape, but they would never comply. You remember that."

My flawless plans were always shot down by my fellows, Aesteroth murmured. Yes, they were. Because you fleshlings kept them under a ball and chain; they were afraid to dare to go against you!

"They never had the opportunity. You do not remember that those that disagreed with you were systematically destroyed, but not by us; you killed them."

The single wing of the Organoid arched into the air, and his golden eyes blazed furiously. He lunged forward a bit, snapping in warning, screaming mentally: LIAR! I would never-

"Oh, but you did," Sylosia continued, his voice becoming warped, manic, trying to get the Organoid to understand, the irascible Organoid, trying to get him to listen, or else merely going mad. "You saw as they denied your insane schemes, and you stood in the shadows for a long moment until, finally, you saw fit to pounce and kill; the carcases of your so-called fellows littered the test halls. We had to quarantine you before you could destroy all of your experiments."

How dare you accuse me of such monstrosities!

"The only one you never touched was One-Four-Seven-Two - he was the only one to agree with your mad schemes, but he never did anything to really comply with you, or at least never had the opportunity. You were quarantined too quickly, and apparently you had time to think; you erased your own memories and warped your thoughts to something you wished to remember. Your containment lasted a full year after that; you were only allowed to awaken for a full duration of perhaps three weeks. And in that time, we began experimenting on One-Four-Seven-Two; the only other Organoid to express a thought pattern remotely similar to yours, one that might be tweaked to allow him to control our Oracle Project's... Mascot."

Meat-bag! The Organoid crowed. You lie! You stole Ryuukei and transformed him into a soulless shell! You shaped him unto your own image...

"Perhaps we did."

A terrible screech of rage reverberated around the compound hangar - a scream of fury the likes of which Reia had never heard before, and suddenly the Organoid mutated and warped, the boosters on his back flaring to life as he suddenly shot forward, arcing into a bolt of pure energy as he shot toward his target - the research professor.

The man only nodded, and suddenly a streak of red energy leapt up, intercepting the bolt of blue and forcing him from the air. Aesteroth formed back into his corporeal shell, and his attacker did the same, landing beside his master - Subject One-Four-Seven-Two. Code name Ryuukei.

You destroyed him.

"We salvaged him."

He is nothing. You stole his very life from him.

"No," Sylosia repeated, more sternly this time. "We salvaged him! And if you please... Allow me to demonstrate."

He snapped his powerful fingers, calling the black and red Organoid to attention. The creature stood at the command, desiring no further explanation, and with a hiss it leapt behind the man and latched onto him, firing his boosters and disappearing with a blast of crimson and the low scream of manic laughter.

The entire based seemed to growl, and suddenly Reia was aware of the piercing golden eyes of the blue and green Organoid before her.

It seems that things have suddenly heated up.

He lunged, and she fully expected to find herself dead in a heartbeat, but suddenly the claws of the Organoid latched to her arms, and his own boosters fired, golden-blue even in the screaming redness around her. Then, suddenly, a blast of energy, a blinding light-

She found herself, rather suddenly, in the cockpit of the Shield Liger.

Dazed, she shook her head a few times and looked around, trying to discern her exact location. She was met with a sharp mental reprimand.

Don't look around, just get out of here! Suddenly, the Liger's head swung to the right, and Reia, taken aback by this, slammed against the back of the pilots seat. A dull pain began to trickle through her spine, but after length she managed to recover some awareness - enough to properly harness herself in the Zoid and take the controls.

She found, to her dismay, that the controls were locked.

A necessary precaution. Now if you would please allow me, I shall be saving both our lives post-haste.

Dumbly, numbly, she muttered: "What of the Rev Raptor..?"

It does not matter! You see the hole that our friend the Rev Raptor so graciously provided?

The murder tunnel. "Yes."

The Liger pulled itself back, almost as if stretching, and she noticed rather suddenly that the internal checks within the Zoid were beginning to go haywire - its power levels, its speed, its mobility, its overall capacity was suddenly shooting through the roof.

Another growl from above - or perhaps even below, she couldn't tell, and the Shield Liger lunged forward, jerking into action and forcing her limp hands from the controls.

I must briefly apologize for having wished to kill you earlier, the Organoid said. But at the moment, I believe I will concentrate more on navigation.

c h a p t e r : t w e l v e

"Oh my... God..."

The Shield Liger stood at the crest at the end of the tunnel, the mild earthquakes running more frequently through the underground facility even in that momentary hesitation, and below her Reia could see, outstretched in all directions, the dark, ambient green glow from the bio-containment tubes that harboured the Organoids, keeping them at bay, keeping then unconscious, unable to battle.

Snap out of it! Aesteroth commanded, and in time with his order the Shield Liger let out a powerful roar, immediately bringing Reia to the more pertinent reality. We must escape from the compound immediately. I request that you rescind all control of this Zoid to me for the time being so that I may lead us out of here alive. I know the compound - but more importantly, I know the Zoid that is going to be chasing us soon.

"You're asking me to let you pilot my Zoid?" she said suddenly, only then realizing what he was trying to get her to comply with. "You tried to kill me with it last time!"

This is a different situation, he admitted, his voice low, almost apologetically embarrassed - a strange thing to hear from the Organoid. This is a matter over both of our lives, and the lives of the Organoids in those bio-containment fields. Now will you comply with my wishes or will I be forced to eject you again?

"I'm listening," she murmured. "What do we need to do?"

You need only to keep your position in the cockpit and keep a lookout. I cannot see in all directions at once.

"Where do you want me looking, then?"

Just watch the ceiling and inform me the instant something peculiar happens.

She had no time to verbally object to this command for immediately the Liger pulled itself up into a powerful roar, and immediately leapt from its position and into the bio-containment 'field', running through the stalks as fast as the Zoid could go of its own accord. Reia kept her eyes trained on the ceiling, looking for something - anything - that could be considered out of the ordinary...

"There!" she yelled, taking the opportunity to collect her thoughts and figure out what she was seeing. "It looks like... Like somebody is trying to bore through the ceiling. They're tearing it apart with the equivalent of a blowtorch, I think..."

I was afraid of this, the Organoid said, panic actually rising in his voice, and suddenly she heard a faint, distant click, and then a deafening roar encompassed the cockpit, and suddenly the Liger was going faster. Quite a lot faster.

The boosters on the Zoid had been remotely activated and amplified by the Organoid. With a fleeting thought, she wondered at the astounding capabilities of the Organoid, thinking vaguely that, if she could only manage to find a tamed one, she could become nearly unstoppable...

It didn't matter, she realized; not at that moment, not ever, and, as she thought about it, especially not that moment; survival trumped fantasy. A distant fantasy...

"Pull back!"

The order had screamed from her lungs without her accord, but it was just as well; a large chunk of the ceiling had come loose from above, possibly shaken from the earthquakes, and the Shield Liger came a full stop just in time to allow the slab of concrete and tile slam into the ground before him, shattering into a thousand grains and skittering across the floor, dust coating the lower legs of the Shield Liger and obscuring a small part of the cockpit glass. A terrible, thunderous roar came from above, and immediately Aesteroth brought Iulius around to face his exit, firing the boosters to maximum power and shooting down the hallway, leaping over a small set of Organoid containment tubes as he went. He landed opposite and continued at his accelerated pace, running fast as he could force the Liger to go...

"Again!"

The Liger shot forward just short of another falling piece of concrete and tile, but this one was poorly aimed anyway, and fell to the ground, crushing one of the containment tubes - empty, Reia hoped, a great many of them were empty - and spilling the warm green liquid within it onto the floor, slickening the tile with the smooth substance.

Keep it up! Aesteroth ordered. Do not stop!

She didn't.

Another chunk of the ceiling fell, and she promptly gave him warning, giving him time to leap over the next falling bit of mortar; to duck a bit here or speed up or slow down or move from left to right. The game, however, was slowly becoming rote; she no longer needed to inform the Organoid of what was happening above. He was learning.

She kept steady watch on the ceiling, regardless, and suddenly noticed that some of the tiles were still coming off, but in peculiar places, oftentimes managing to slam into a subsequently fracture the Organoid bio-containment tubes, spreading the slick internal liquid all over the floor.

And suddenly, a soft roar from behind, and then a thunderous scream, and she looked back curiously to see what it was before immediately retreating back to the Zoid's main cockpit.

What has transpired now? Aesteroth demanded, his voice implying that he, too, was becoming a bit jaded with the entire idea.

She looked back to verify what she was seeing then, nodding, she turned to face forward again, reporting calmly: "The floor is ablaze."

Oh, hell.

The Organoid seemed to have lost all pretense for being formal; he seemed to have picked up something from Reia. She had no time to be surprised by this, of course; with a terrible roar, the Shield Liger's boosters suddenly flared to their maximum capacity, and as she looked back and around, she saw that where the ceiling tiles had fallen and fractured the Organoid cases, spilling the containment fluid, the fire was capable of spreading; obviously, the fluid was highly flammable.

There was a slick directly in front of them.

Hold on to something, he warned darkly. We're about to... There!

It happened before she even noticed that it was imminent; the line had ignited immediately, burning with a brilliant green, and the Organoid had leapt, immediately activating the full frontal shield and letting the flames uselessly bite at that. Iulius landed heavily on the other side as the Shield deactivated, and immediately the Organoid brought the Shield Liger around, pulling him to the left and...

A passage.

The Zoid shot up the passage with the powerful roar of the flames looming as a threat behind him, but it didn't matter; the steep sloe seemed to imply that, soon...

The blue cat-like machine, its dulled hide in desperate need of a respray, burst from the sand of the dune and landed harshly on the ground a little ways away, shaking itself off before pulling back and roaring victoriously.

Finally!

She could almost touch the exhaustion in the Organoid's voice, but her own ecstacy over having survived the collapse of the Crixis Compound had Reia already preparing to finally curl up and just take a nap right there in the cockpit.

And then it decided to appear.

Stepping out of seemingly thin air, perhaps twenty metres before them, it was enormous; a great behemoth standing at least fifteen metres high, with an enormous, bulky, saurian body following it. The entire behemoth resembled an ancient saurian, its short legs coming only to the point where they could drag the Zoid forward, its arms ending in three pronged, golden claws. The main body - the joint metal and such - was all a deep navy colour; running up its back and down its arms and across its tail, the customary armour joints, were brilliantly white paint, the entire creature accented here and there with gold luminescent decals of flames and the serial number one and, with enough inspection, the mark of the Crixis Compound.

Protruding from its white head, above golden glaring eyes, were two spikes, protruding horns, curving upward and extremely sharp point. Lined along its back must have been the winking barrels of twenty different weapons.

She had seen it before, in last night's dream, and she murmured to herself: "The God Kaiser?"

The God Kaiser, Aesteroth muttered, an air of deflation in his voice. Ryuukei really was modified to be able to handle its power. Well, then.

She felt a surge of enraged electricity jump through the entire Zoid, seeming even to re-energize her, and then Aesteroth issued his last commands for the day.

Do not be alarmed. Fight as your instincts tell you. I will be watching and preparing.

c h a p t e r : t h I r t e e n

Reia was aware suddenly that she was now in control of the Shield Liger once again, and Iulius couched down, roaring his challenge to the behemoth before him, his entire body seemingly rigid, ready to take any action that she told him to just as he received the command. Reia herself was on hair-trigger, waiting for the great beast to launch the first strike, trying to size it up...

A keening, high-pitched screech suddenly erupted from the throat of the midnight blue God Kaiser, and the God Kaiser lunged as best it could, raking the desert sands with its golden talons. The Liger, however, had easily danced to the side, the motion more swift and fluid that Reia realized it should have been, and suddenly she was aware of the raw, static power rushing through the Zoid, igniting it internally as though the entire beast were a living creature, a sparking live wire.

This was the power of the Organoid.

She had no time to muse over this after that; the God Kaiser suddenly spun around to face her again, seeming almost to flash her a toothy grin across its otherwise emotionless face.

"Well, well!" the pilot - the head researcher, Sylosia - muttered openly. "This is quite the strange development! I hadn't anticipated needing to combat a similarly fused Zoid, but this should be proper exercise for the God Kaiser Oracle."

"What are you doing with that thing?" Reia whispered to herself.

"Dear child," Sylosia suddenly responded, making her freeze upon hearing the words ring through the cockpit again. "We intend to take this back to the Empire - the Zenebas Empire. The Oracle Project seems to have been a resounding success now - the final piece that our employers needed was an Organoid that could handle the Oracle Zoids. We've finally found the template."

The mouth of the Kaiser opened, revealing two barrels - one of them enormous, clearly meant to be the primary firepower, the other small, the secondary fire.

"This means we must eliminate the prototype. It has been an enjoyable romp, watching your genocidal rampage, One-Nine-Eight-Nine. Unfortunately, the game is up. Interesting how you dragged an innocent into even this grudge match. I am sorry I have to cut your life so short, child. Good night."

The secondary weapon suddenly let loose, drilling the ground with minuscule laser shots, puffs of loose dust marking where the automatic laser fire was hitting. With a jerk of the controls, the Shield Liger easily leapt from the path of fire as the God Kaiser brought its head up, firing off a series of laser into the nothingness beyond the desert, fizzling out as they proceeded too far away.

The Kaiser looks down to the Shield Liger, and the Shield Liger looked up to the Kaiser. The God Kaiser Oracle screeched, obviously a bit annoyed by his opponent's ability to evade the attack, and it was obvious, just then, that the game was afoot.

The Kaiser brought down its claws on the Shield Liger again, but Reia had already grown to anticipate how the move was preceded and, seeing the shift in weight in her opponent, she forced the controls hard to the right, making the Liger unexpectedly hit the ground in a sideways roll, getting up a shot distance away and hissing furiously as his opponent.

She shook her head, recovering from the suddenly movement, and realized that she was definitely going to have to get used to the power influx on her Zoid before she tried doing just about anything past running.

Iulius spun around of his own accord, facing the God Kaiser fully, and the Zoid fired off a stream of shots from his chest-mounted laser cannon, catching Sylosia's behemoth in the right leg. The God Kaiser screeched as the concentrated fire began to bore a hole in the armour of his leg, but almost immediately a powerful gunshot fired from the very leg the Zoid had attacked, and Reia took her part immediately, thrusting the Shield Liger forward and tearing straight past the fire from her enemy, forcing it to dissipate in the thick desert sands, the shell lodging into a dune a short distance away.

She pulled the Shield Liger around to the God Kaiser's back before she was even aware that she had come around its side, and whipped the Zoid around to face its monstrous opponent, firing off a quick series of shots from the back-mounted sniper rifle, catching the God Kaiser in the back of its arm and head, but missing the exposed wiring behind its neck. She clenched her teeth and tried again, this time pulling in to aim just properly, but suddenly the Kaiser had turned around and came to face her, roaring furiously and unleashing another barrage of shots from his secondary mouth-mounted weapon.

Instinctively, she activated the energy shield on the Liger, and the lasers bounced harmlessly away from her Zoid, the barrage ending just as she closed the shields entirely. The Kaiser took another step forward and lifted its head to the heavens, screaming thunderously before bringing the golden horn down hard on the Shield Liger, sweeping it to the side in a swift, fluid motion. Reia let out a terrified yelp as the Liger tumbled to the side, but quickly brought the cat to its feet and immediately began to run around to the side of the God Kaiser Oracle.

The turret mounted on the Kaiser's leg, however, followed her run and fired off several shots in succession, all of them missing her by a good distance, but still serving as a warning against attempting to attack from back there.

She played around with a few of the buttons, toggling the booster strength momentarily as the Zoid continued running, then, finally discerning how she could activate the maximum strength of the boosters, resolved to do that the instant the opportunity seemed perfect.

The Kaiser's head swung around to face her as she came around to its left, and it opened its jaws, letting out a terrifying screech, a wave of energy emitting from its mouth as it did so and catching the Liger, sending it tumbling again.

Iulius landed somewhat messily in the ground, growling low in obvious annoyance, and Reia did her best to get him up again. However, he slumped forward, and after running a quick system diagnostic she realized that his right front leg had a huge gash in it, sustained most likely from when the horn had originally hit her, only torn open now by the shockwave of the roar.

Even as she watched, however, a blaze of blue began to fill the cockpit, lightning the internal part of the Zoid with the cobalt ambience, and the damage repaired itself almost instantly. Aesteroth was playing this from the internally; he was still there.

She looked up to the God Kaiser Oracle and saw that its jaws were wide open once again, charging a brilliant white-gold energy, and she realized with a heart-stopping revelation that she was staring directly at the barrel of a charged particle cannon.

"HELL!"

The cannon fired, and she shot the boosters on the Shield Liger into overdrive. The Zoid roared furiously and immediately leapt forward, zipping off along its way as the particle cannon continued to pound into the desert sands behind her, slowly bringing its way up as she continued to force the Liger into a run, trying to evade the shot.

Suddenly, it stopped, and slowly began to go the other way, having circulated as far as it was going to go around its neck. She stopped for a moment, finding herself next to the leg of the Zoid, and immediately fired off a full blast from the missile pods of the Shield Liger at the silent, mocking turret; apparently, it was incapacitated so long as the Kaiser was firing its charged particle cannon.

The barrage of missiles came down upon the turret, and suddenly the Kaiser's head screeched up to the heaven's again, dust and smoke slowly clearing around its leg to reveal a tattered cannon and heavily scratched armour, almost torn away to reveal the circuitry of the leg.

"That wasn't particularly nice!" Sylosia screamed, his strangely calm voice suddenly alive and distressing with anger. As he said this, the golden eyes of the God Kaiser Oracle came to face the Shield Liger, and a soft, black light began to glow around the Kaiser. "I suppose I'll have to teach you better than that!"

Another terrible screech, and again the claws came down upon her, but too short, falling behind several feet. She needn't even bother dodging, but instead turned to face the Kaiser, and Reia realized with a start that the movement hadn't been an attack, but had merely allowed the Kaiser to pivot around a central ground, bringing its head level with the Shield Liger. It opened its jaws once again and began to charge the particle cannon.

She forced the thrusters to their maximum limits and leapt out of the way just as the white hot beam of energy shot past her, lancing into the slowly darkening world as the sun became obscured by a rogue cloud. The entire landscape seemed to change as the cloud completely dissipated the sunlight, turning everything darkly gray around her.

She had never been a particular fan of the colour gray.

The Shield Liger landed from its powered jump, and Reia brought the Zoid around to face the God Kaiser once again. The Kaiser screamed in annoyance and began to pull itself up from the desert, and as it did so-

Suddenly, she couldn't see, her vision obscured by the cobalt ambience of the cockpit. She felt apt to choke, almost expecting to be smothered by smoke as the blue light formed and almost tangible, solid wall around her.

"What's going on!" she demanded of nobody, feeling panic begin to rise in her throat.

Do not worry, and do not scream, Aesteroth said suddenly. I am not particularly fond of screaming.

She heard from behind the scream of the God Kaiser, but it seemed distant, vague. And it was definitely furious.

"But I can't see!" she yelled. "I'm blinded!"

This should not take long. Be patient.

"I'm being attacked by a fricking giant god Zoid!" she responded, her voice taking on a shrill tone. "Why the hell should I be patient!"

Shut up for just a moment and you will understand! SHUT UP!

"Stop this!"

The last voice was from Sylosia; distant, obscured, and slowly growing harder to hear.

Close your eyes for seven seconds, starting right now.

She did so, and was aware of a blinding, warm light suddenly flooding the cockpit, and remaining for several seconds. She counted to herself, not daring to underestimate the number she had been given, and at seven, she opened her eyes and stared stupidly out the cockpit glass.

Green glass above her, cut through by black internal metal and separating the brilliantly golden side panels to her left and right.

Looking down, she saw that the cockpit controls, while similar, had been drastically warped and transformed; protruding directly in front of her, through the canvassing green glass, she saw a silver muzzle, accented on the edges by a brilliantly crimson red.

"What...?"

She brought up the diagnostics screen and her breath caught her throat.

Her entire steed had transformed, and as she sat immobile within the cockpit of the great crimson behemoth, its black claws digging into the hot desert sands, silver accent blades shining dimly in the hidden sun's light, elongated, bladed tail slashing through the air, the great triple-point mane extending itself outward slightly as the streamlined monster pulled back for a thunderously, all-consuming victory roar, she realized incomprehensibly that she had just been charged with a Trinity Liger.

c h a p t e r : f o u r t e e n

The Trinity Liger let loose a great roar of its own accord, and she heard a mental chuckle coming from the Organoid. Reia was very much aware of her own broad grin, and as she checked the weapons systems of her Zoid, he grin could only broaden.

Turning to face the God Kaiser by simply tapping the controls in the proper direction, she felt a rush of manic power as the fluidity of the control scheme came to her; the Shield Liger had been much bulkier than this, and even if she was only toying an Organoid enhanced variation, she could almost feel the visceral, incredible power beneath her hands.

Her name is Ascanius, Aesteroth informed Reia promptly, and she has the greatest desire to see the dragon felled. Please do so.

"It will be my pleasure," Reia whispered softly, and taking the controls in a light grip, feeling herself calm down and swell with wild appreciation for the incredible sensitivity of the Zoid she was beginning to pilot, she exhaled a long breath, looking up to the God Kaiser as it stood before her, seemingly immobilized.

Slowly, her grip tightened until she was holding the controls of the Trinity Liger white-knuckled, and she felt the raw power of the Zoid and Organoid flow through her, her vision blurring into the Zoid's perspective, her hands instinctively moving to pilot the Zoid; she felt a rush of exultation, felt a rush of wild, furious power, felt her emotions collide with the Zoid and Organoid's feelings in such a way that she no longer felt the pilot; she felt the mechanical beast, that the low hum of the boosters was emanating from her, that it was merely her against the God Kaiser.

Her against the God Kaiser...

The God Kaiser Oracle screamed and slammed its leg on the ground, and she felt heightened senses picking up a discrepancy in its; the right leg seemed jerky, uncertain, and she realized with pride that it was due to the damage she had dealt it; it could no longer properly support the weight of the monstrous Zoid.

Why doesn't it heal back, though? she wondered. If it's fused with an Organoid...

All of Ryuukei's power is being directed to merely control the God Kaiser Oracle, Aesteroth answered, his voice seeming only an addition to her mind rather than a foreign presence. I was incapable of doing little more than keep the Zoid from going berserk, myself. It is an extremely exhausting exercise, to be the Organoid of the Oracle.

If it's so exhausting, then why hasn't the Organoid been expelled yet?

The modifications to Ryuukei might have given him more stamina when it comes to piloting the God Kaiser Oracle. I cannot be certain on this point, but it is a distinct possibility. Although I could only handle it for perhaps ten minutes... Even if he had been given more stamina, I do not think it is possible to hold the monster down for much longer. Although these is something most peculiar about the fleshling forcing him to fuse.

Perhaps there's something more than what we're seeing?

Knowing the capacity of this meat-bag's cruelty, I believe you may have a feasible hypothesis.

The God Kaiser Oracle screamed again and pulled its body forward slightly, beginning to walk a bit more quickly than it had before to try and attack her - and suddenly it lunged forward, its jaws snapping at the air, obviously trying to slam shut around their opponent.

Reia pulled back - wether she merely pulled back on the controls, or pulled back as one fluid motion of the Zoid, her mind did not bother to differentiate - and the Kaiser landed awkwardly before her, slamming itself to the ground. The Liger roared and leapt at the Kaiser's head, bringing itself down on the exposed cockpit bay, but the behemoth anticipated this, and pulled itself back, the vague black glow around it becoming more prominent.

The Trinity Liger landed somewhat awkwardly, but manages to keep its footing and roared a screaming challenge, locking on armour-less space between the arm and the body itself and firing off a single shot from her sniper cannon at the exposed wiring. The blast succeeded, and cut through the God Kaiser's internal circuitry, forcing the Zoid to unleash a powerful, pained roared; the left arm now hung limply, dead at its side, golden sparks leaping from it periodically.

"How dare you!" Sylosia screamed, and the mouth of the Kaiser opened, a barrage of laser shots firing from the internal vulcan cannon. "I'll annihilate you!"

The bullets rained down around the Trinity Liger, and with a roar mixed with a scream mixed with a hiss the great crimson feline leapt from where it was in the cage of laser blasts, landing on the desert ground a short distance away, her back leg slipping slightly into the deep furrow that had been carved not long ago by the charged particle cannon of her opponent. Feeling the nothingness behind her - a fairly deep nothingness, Reia realized with a start - the Liger allowed herself to slip backward and into the furrow, claws screaming as she tried desperately to keep hold of the brilliant new formed glass that the cannon had created.

The reverberating steps of the Kaiser could be heard from above, and the Trinity Liger finally found herself at the bottom crest of the glass canyon, her claws providing proper traction even in this smooth tunnel. She bolted forward, running full-out across the glass, and then pulled herself down into a stop, sliding along the gleaming reflective surface and coming to a stop at just the end of the canyon, leaping out with a fluid motion, the Liger bending and warping and contorting like liquid steel.

She landed on the hot sands again, and Reia brought the face of the Liger toward the God Kaiser, which was slowly lumbering toward her, the black fire seeming to come off of its body in wisps. The Liger growled and pulled back uncertainly, Aesteroth's thoughts seeming to help dictate how all three of them acted.

That flame, the Organoid whispered to himself, trying to discern verbally what was transpiring. I recognize that... Oh!

Reia pulled the Liger around, the Liger pulled itself around, and Aesteroth ordered them all to spin away from the Kaiser.

Ryuukei cannot contain its power any longer; he's almost exhausted himself. In seconds, he will defuse and leave the God Kaiser Oracle to its own devices...

A high-pitched, terrible keening sound suddenly erupted through the entire area, and in a flash of crimson, the Organoid fused with the God Kaiser was no longer with the demon saurian, and the entire behemoth crumped where it was, staying perfectly still for a very long while.

The Trinity Liger turned to face the crumpled God Kaiser, staring foolishly for a long moment, her three minds transfixed upon the temporarily deactivated Zoid. Something sent a shudder through the conglomerate thought, however, and that something took form rather suddenly as the golden eyes of the God Kaiser lit up again, this time gleaming a dangerous red.

In a heartbeat, the Kaiser was on its feet, and it screamed, fury palpable in its long drawn screech, as it turned to face the Trinity Liger, identifying the opponent as its immediate enemy. Leaning forward, it revealed the glistening barrels of three laser cannons, and immediately let loose with a quick barrage of fire.

The Trinity Liger left from where it was standing, its boosters activating with the brilliant golden-blue light as it shot to the side, the laser cannons beating holes into the empty sand dunes before it. Reia brought the liger to the back of her opponent and turned to face the God Kaiser, trying to take careful aim at the exposed circuitry at the back of its neck. A low hiss, however, suddenly warned her that standing there was foolish, but she made no motion to get out of the way; if she could just disable the circuitry up there...

The tail of the God Kaiser Oracle swung up and slammed into the left side of the Trinity Liger, making her stagger to the right a bit, and suddenly a shot from the tail-mounted rifles and the Liger was down on its side, roaring slightly as pain arched through her frame. The Liger slowly brought herself to her feet, and looked up to the God Kaiser is it made a slow turn toward the three within the metal shell, a trail of gleaming particle energy following its mouth as it turned to face its opponents, preparing its final shot.

It's awfully slow, isn't it?

Hmm. I had never seen it in action without the aid of an Organoid. Apparently, it is not nearly as mobile...

And suddenly, Reia had an idea.

The Trinity Liger roared thunderously, and the silver actuators on her main flipped up, igniting and activating the powerful cobalt shield around her. The Liger locked on to her opponent and ran for to the left, keeping it turn to try and face its side, its side-mounted gun turret pointing uselessly at her as it tried to fire the weapon that was no longer there.

She overshot the Kaiser by a goodly bit and then turned to face it, and with a final, thunderous roar challenging its authority, Reia pushed the Liger full-throttle forward, and the cat leapt up to her opponent, slamming it with the shield right in the side with such force that the frame of the God Kaiser Oracle tipped over, its particle gun snuffing out at that moment, and the Liger, hanging in the air as the shield continued to bore a hole in its side, growled furiously. A blaze of energy, most likely provided by Aesteroth, shot through the Zoid, bringing the energy of the shield to a centralized point, and-

The Liger cut through the powerful neck of the God Kaiser and landed easily on the opposite side, darting forward just in time to let the Kaiser - its eyes blank, gray, dead - fall behind it, a hiss of decompression as the cockpit opened coming from behind; a low, satisfied sigh.

c h a p t e r : f I f t e e n

He did not understand.

He had done so much in such a short span of time; and in that short span of time he had killed, destroyed, maimed, annihilated. All of the things he had targeted had been fleshlings, but in the process he had injured their Zoids, caused the suicide of their beasts of burden. His temporary stay with this peculiar fleshling had driven out the thought that all of them quite deserved the treatment he had allowed them.

However, he was not particularly happy with the fleshlings regardless, and now he was partially aware that it was not entirely because of them that he felt the need to purge himself of his insatiable rage. The meat-bag Sylosia had been correct when he said that his containment had been for far more than three weeks - he was aware of that, he knew it, he understood, now, what his occasional haunting nightmare meant.

He had run from the God Kaiser; the Oracle project that had tried to contain him. But every time he ran, he was always caught, always dragged back to the facility to face up to whatever had transpired, whatever had happened.

He knew that there was genocide within the walls of that facility; genocide resting as bloodstains and scrap metal that littered the ground and accented the walls with the strange crimson hue. He knew that at some part of that, he had been a major player. But he was having trouble remembering what he had done, and he began to toy with the idea that, perhaps, the meat-bag had been right.

No.

Aesteroth stood on the muzzle of the Trinity Liger and stretched his wings, crying out defiantly against the black sky before him, screaming up the twinkling stars as they mocked him with their unspoken bright splendor. No! They were wrong! He would never betray his fellows like that; he certainly had not agreed with them, but he could not believe that he had killed them with such vehement fervor.

Sylosia was probably lying. He was prone to that.

A low hiss of decompression, and suddenly the cockpit of the Trinity Liger slid open, revealing Reia within the centre of the great Zoid. She looked up to him and smiled warmly, but her eyes sent him an accusing glance, and he slumped a bit, fully understanding why.

I tried to kill you, he said bluntly, reading into her mind, understanding why she had come to see him. She glared pertinently at him.

"Yes," she responded, following his blunt manner of speaking. "Yes you did. Imagine that."

I was confused, he admitted. I had always been under the impression that you fleshlings were naught but the evil that would ultimately destroy my fellows. My impressions of you fleshlings was... Clearly incorrect. And I... He played with the words, uncertain of how to phrase them, then finally hung his head. I am sorry.

"You killed them in cold blood." She was still referring to the scientists.

I have killed more than them. I have killed lone wolf pilots, and in turn I killed their Zoids. I... I am no better than my captors.

Reia looked him over very carefully for a long moment, and the Organoid half expected her to kill him outright; had he been in a similar position, a confessed murder of his kinsmen standing so openly before him, waiting for the hand of judgement to fall upon him, he would have certainly taken the opportunity to wreak his vengeance on his ultimate oppressor.

Instead, she relaxed, and her warm smile was genuine this time.

"You aren't like your captors."

He looked to her, his golden eyes swirling with confusion. Why do you believe you can say that?

"Because they did not admit their mistakes or false judgement; you did. You can fess up to the wrongs you've done; judging by that Sylosia guy, I don't think the Crixis Compound employees would behave like that."

Aesteroth stared at her for a long, long moment, shaking his head slightly as he tried to figure out just what he was being told. He looked up finally and stared into her eyes again. You forgive me for what I have done?

To that, Reia shook her head.

"It's not my place to forgive you," she said quietly. "The only ones who could forgive you are those people that you killed. But I accept your repentance."

He cocked his head to the side curiously, his mind screaming.

"And I want to give you a chance to redeem yourself." She climbed out of the cockpit and stood before him on the muzzle of the Trinity Liger, looking back to the great, crimson Zoid. "She's a beauty," Reia said lowly, musing.

Yes, Aesteroth murmured. I have evolved Zoids before, but I have never attempted such a feat in the midst of a battle. I was unsure if it would be possible, but it seems that it has all come together. You have proven a worthy pilot for her, I believe.

"You have proven a worthy fusion for her." The girl's eyes turned to the Organoid. "I want you to come with me."

He felt himself pull back a bit, taken aback by the comment, and he turned to stare at her, bewildered. What?

"I want you to come with me," she repeated, looking back to the Zoid. "Her name is Ascanius, right?"

Yes.

"Did you name her?"

I suppose I did.

"She's just as much yours to be with as she is mine to pilot," Reia muttered. "She should be kept with her father."

This comment came as a jarring shock to Aesteroth; he did not know what the word meant. Father...? he repeated uncertainly, not willing to admit that he did not have the capacity to recall such a word. However, the ring it had to it was strangely charming, and finally, the Organoid merely nodded.

Yes, he said. I will atone for my transgressions. And I will be the father of my child.

"Let me down here, One-Four-Seven-Two."

The midnight and crimson Organoid landed and released his passenger, letting him fall lightly to the ground. The Organoid himself landed behind his master and bent his head slightly, almost as though bowing, before pulling back a few steps, giving his master room.

The man looked around the ruined remnants of the base and frowned slightly, proceeding down the long walk to the next floor. He stopped just a short way down the ramp and looked back to the Organoid, and the Organoid leapt forward nimbly, gripping his master and gliding steadily downward, back into the darkness of the hangar below.

He landed again and looked around, letting the Organoid back off a bit as his eyes appraised the carnage of the lower hangar. The four sleeper Zoids - all Battle Jaguars - had been decimated already, he had seen that...

His eyes fell upon the Rev Raptor lying prone in the corner, and he smiled, looking back to the Organoid.

"Revive him," he instructed, and bowing once again, the Organoid launched upward in a beam of crimson light and fused with the Rev Raptor. A small orb of scarlet energy engulfed the Zoid, and the man smiled.

What perfect vengeance he would have.