Sometimes war, sometimes catastrophes, or sometimes just something that happened to be so powerful it could wipe a planet clean as though god himself was just washing a dish. Either way, something destructive had happened sometimes ago, making the unfortunate planet Zi an inferno until some time later humans started to develop technology again, in the exact same way the previous generation did, like undoing and redoing a word document.

A boy with short, spiky reddish-orange hair and emerald eyes stood in the middle of a desert, behind a boulder to cover himself. He was wearing a white vest under a sleeveless brown hood that didn't go all the way down to his waist. His lower torso was covered in brown pants and black boots; the only things that weren't brown on him were his arm guards, with a gradient of stair-like layers going down from the elbow to the wrist, colored in dark green. All that brown made him well hidden in the sand.

If anyone had seen him, they wouldn't know that he was himself a Bounty Hunter, a somewhat well known organization with arguable legality that took jobs nobody else wanted to do for whoever wealthy enough to pay. He was their youngest member, who had been carried into the group since he was seven, or rather; he had asked to be taken.

Kayn eyed his surroundings. Everything seemed so terribly similar to ordinary eyes –sands and rocks repeating their yellowish, pinkish brown patches over the dry land on which warm, gentle breeze swiped through.

But to trained eyes, there were so much more to see. Despite only being thirteen, Kayn could already tell the stories hidden in the sands –the footprints, wheel tracks that had pressured upon the flexible ground and had now faded with the blowing wind that had occurred some time ago. Hiding behind a dozen of weirdly shaped rocks, with the sun hanging high right above him, he started to get nervous. He was supposed to be waiting for his target, and he'd done so, with an increasing tendency to move on.

Surely, having been a Bounty Hunter, the redhead was more than glad to have been assigned his first solo mission at his age. Then again, his past had motivated him, resulting in his being one of the best regardless of his time spent in this career.

But now he was really starting to get impatient, one thing that should never happen on a Hunter. It shouldn't take this long,he thought. There's really not much things more torturing than getting stuck in the middle of a desert on the medieval-tech Zi. Even with most of the time he'd spent in a desert, it was still not at all enjoyable to have the heat accompanying him.

His mission was simple: up in this track, a gang was going to travel with a Zoid they'd acquired in a questionable manner. All he needed to do was to sneak up to them, get inside the cockpit, and drive that thing away before anyone could chase him, to where it belonged, and claim the reward. The whole thing was that simple.

"It's getting way too long." He began to mumble. Instinctively he walked out from his post and pulled over his hood, protecting his head from the sand grains that were hovering all over the place.

And then, just when he was about to have a quick scout, sounds of machinery entered his ears with the soft breeze. Let the raid begin.

Allia wasn't having her best day. Honestly though, she'd never really had a day in the pass couples of months that she could call "good", but still, even those were better than being involved in a part of a mob raid, in which she was forced to post as one of those masked members, guarding the delivery they took from her.

Just because I couldn't activate it didn't mean it's not mine! Thought her, struggling to keep her pretending as one of the many burglars. Not very long ago, she'd ridden the exact same Zoid as she got into the wilder part of the wild, but just a moment ago it had ignored every of her instructions and she could only be thankful that she wasn't still locked in the cockpit before the entire thing blacked out. it didn't make any sense at all, though, seeing that a Zoid didn't need any kind of fuels to run, nor had anyone seen a Zoid went into a coma like this one did.

And she hated it. After all, she was supposed to be running from whatever might be after her. Maybe it wasn't all that bad though, now that she'd mixed herself into a mob gang. But if they keep on going like this, who was to be sure she could ever be free again? They could sell the Zoid, get a fortune out of it, but then what was to become of her?

So far, she could only be as cooperative as she could, which really wasn't much; she wasn't born to be cooperating with thieves, and she had practically met none before. At least I know I should never run into any of these anymore. She thought. Just at the same moment, she could hear a light noise coming from behind her. Most probably, she was just hearing things in her mind, knowing that a slight click sound could mean anything in the middle of a transporting vehicle.

Hopefully something should happen, and by then, I'm getting out of here for certain.

It wasn't all that hard to get into an illegal gangs transports after all.

Stealing from the thieves; that's gonna be fun. Thought Kayn, giving a slight grin instinctively.

The cargo itself, if there were any cargos to be reckoned with, was simple. The target Zoid, known only to be a Liger type, was covered by a gigantic brownish-white cloth that was hooked to a trolley on its four angles, carried by two or three Baratz-type Zoids.

It almost stunned Kayn how so few –practically zero –guards were there. It seemed to him that whoever orchestrated this transport must be either too confident or simply possessing an incredible stupidity.

"Either way, they'll find out when someone else has driven there Zoid away," Kayn didn't even fear to mumble, confident that no one would hear him, "no way they can't notice that."

Steadying himself, the redhead sneaked into the inside of the curtain. No guards either, at least not visible ones. It was dark inside, with the minimal amount of the outstandingly blinding sunlight outside leaking in through the fluffy gaps the cloth failed to conceal.

It took time to adjust his eyes to the darkness, and by than he could see his target. It was, as stated in the report, a Liger-type, only it wasn't a white one he was supposed to get. It was the lighting, maybe? He approached it regardless of the circumstance, knowing that he'd gotten on the right track at the right time. It was probably just that the client hadn't been too well at distinguishing colors. Either way, he was excited, knowing that he'd probably get to pilot a Zoid on his own, though he'd have to return it to the client in just a matter of hours.

"Time to see if those annoying trainings work." Muttered him as he started to climb on the Zoid's feet to get to its cockpit. Now that he'd got a closer inspection at it, he could be pretty sure that it was different from what the mission report had described. It was essentially a Liger Zero, no doubt, but its main color wasa mat-black, with slightly different looking, more angular navy-blue armor. Even its side wings seemed too large that they could easily be used as blades.

"Never mind, intelligence goes wrong all the time," murmured Kayn as he put his hand on the living machine. So absorbed in the sense of satisfaction that he never realized a figure walking from behind, approaching the young Hunter.

Before the guard could attack, however, Kayn noticed the incoming strike and struck first, turning rapidly with one of his gloved fists swinging at the guard. The guard, responding fast, gripped the red-haired boy's forearm, pressed his shoulder, and forced him back such that his back was leaning against the Zoid's leg.

The boy's reddish-brown hair and green eyes were certainly unusual sights, as the guard said in a soft, low female voice, "You're not one of them; who are you and what are you planning to do with my Zoid?"

"What are you talking about?" uttered Kayn in confusion, but then he decided it was probably just the guard deciding that she would take the Liger Zero as hers. Not willing to give up his mission, with the observation that she was the only guard around, the redhead retaliated, knocking the guard's gripping arm with his free hand while utilizing the force of the motion to get him to a more open space. To his surprise, as opposed to the menacing look of the blank mask worn by her, she was tremendously weaker than he'd expected and in a matter of seconds their positions would've been reversed had he not kicked her legs and leg her fall.

With the temporal victory, Kayn crouched down at his fallen enemy. "I couldn't help but notice something," whispered him as he reached out for the mask, "Your accent is a bit too elegant, and your strength too weak, to be a bandit. Plus, you just said something about 'them', so who are you really?"

As he pulled the mask off, however, he figured he had had half his question answered already. Behind the mask was a pretty face of a young girl, perhaps even younger than Kayn himself. The girl had incredibaly short cut dark blonde, with her pale green, almost dead white eyes giving him a deadly glare, and a very round face, probably due to her age.

"You haven't answered my question," said the girl in a hasty tone, "what do you want with my Zoid?"

"I'm pretty sure it's not yours," replied Kayn, almost immediately, "it's from a man, not a five-year-old like you, called Lian, who just happened to get his Zoid over there robbed and went to us for help," said the redhead, pointing at the black Liger Zero. "Now, I'm not sure why you're not on the robber's side. Perhaps you're some other gangs, trying to steal it from here, who just happened to come across me."

"I am no thief, not like you! And I'm not five!" retorted the blonde. "I have a proper name, called Allia. Now, I'd really like to know where did you get the name Lian, cause I've never, for once, heard that name before in my life."

Kayn could really care less about everything the Allia girl had just said. It had been a hard time on Zi, at least at the land he knew. Quite near the Hunter's camp was the country Zya, which had been in quite a good shape, having been maintaining an uneasy peace until events just burst out all at once very recently. Another country, or rather, an empire, Rouves, which was known by its emphasis on military expansion, had recently been reported to be seen at the boundary of Zya.

Zya itself, of course, was not having much of a good time either. A serious of incidents that were too impossible to be coincident, occurred over the past few weeks, with its king finally ending up dead from his years-long disease, its rate of industry advance decreasing, and strangest of all, the sixteen-year-old prince was put into the throne with his younger sister mysteriously missing, presumed dead, having last been seen in the boundary of the country at which another invasion of Rouves was spotted.

Kayn of course, knew nothing more than that. The increased raids from Rouves, as well as the instability of Zya itself, meant opportunity to the Hunters. More and more traveling merchants had been requiring the Hunters to escort them safely across the lands. Though that wasn't exactly the kind of job the Hunters did, they didn't mind a little extra payment. Never been a bodyguard before, Kayn had only heard that some other unclaimed towns, owned by neither country and standing on their own, had been raid more frequently. It seemed that, with the recovering technology to revive a Zoid by digging its core out of the ground, the country had gotten more and more aggressive.

"Whatever you say, I'm not gonna stop here because of some random encounters." Said Kayn.

"Well then, good luck trying!" uttered Allia in the loudest whisper possible.

"Whatever!" muttered Kayn as he climbed up the Zoid, reaching its cockpit.

"Didn't I tell you it was mine," said Allia, trying to lure Kayn down. Seeing the impossibility, she started to climb up the cockpit as well. "Right until some days ago it was still under my control, and then it just stopped by itself right before the robbers came, so don't blame me if you find it impossible to steal."

"I'm not stealing, and you're not gonna convince me with your silly story," mumbled Kayn. Realizing that Allia had climbed up quite fast and was about to reach him, the red-haired boy searched the button for the cockpit desperately, while the blonde had already gotten right next to him, ready to kick him down if possible to protect her property.

"You can try, but it won't work." Whispered Allia.

Kayn gave her a shrug, annoyed. The girl in front of him didn't seem to be lying, and looked quite confident in her words, making the trained yet inexperienced Hunter wonder for a moment if she had been telling the truth, and his client lying the whole time. And though it seemed stupid to trust a stranger over a paid customer, both of them were practically strangers, and that made their words equally doubtable.

Still, he pressed the button, giving a confident smile as the cover of top of the Liger sprang upwards, revealing the clean, illuminated console inside while the blonde standing next to him had her jaws simply dropped impossibly low.

"Thank you, but I like to take my chances." Teased the boy.

"Take you chances of what?" an unfamiliar sound came striking from underneath. It was until then could either of them realize that, so engaged in the conversation had they been, that they had let their guards down, and that the real robbers, presumably having heard their argument or any noise caused during that period, had discovered the "pair" of thieves that was caught right in the middle of stealing their stolen. There were approximately six of the gang members all in total, each wearing the same blank white mask with a rifle in hand, pointing straight at Kayn and Allia.

Kayn estimated the odds. The gunners were far below him, with their guns pointing upwards, which could possibly mean that their shots wouldn't reach them, at least not without a few unsuccessful tries whereas he, as well as his uninvited companion, could easily duck into the cockpit of the Liger and, if possible, get out of the situation with ease. Still, for the moment, he couldn't risk taking any moves yet, not knowing if anyone below was a good shot.

Allia, on the other hand, thought less than the redhead. All she knew was that they were caught in the middle of escaping, and that could very well be the only chance for her to get out of whoever was targeting her once and for all. Making up her mind, she got down rapidly and dove into the cockpit of the Zoid. For a moment she had thought of leaving Kayn behind to clean up the mess by himself, but then, on the account that he actually activated the Liger Zero, and thus was basically the one to give her the chance to run, she took him in while he seemed to be deep in thoughts.

Immediately as the two made a move, the gunners fired their rifles with nothing held back. Bullets flew straight at the black Liger, with most of them hitting the Zoid's armor and a few of them having made their way to the cockpit, where the two thieves had disappeared in.

"What are you thinking?" grumbled Kayn as he fell into the crowded space with the blonde. "You could've gotten us killed!"

"Really? I think I acted faster than you do, thief." Uttered Allia, clicking a few buttons around while trying to get into a proper position. Nothing happened as she pressed the buttons.

"Why is it still not listening to me?"

"Perhaps because it's not yours," uttered Kayn as he took over the motorcycle-like sit and scanned his surroundings. The interior of this Zoid was, unfortunately, not necessarily the same setup as the ones he used to train in, making it a completely unexpected condition to him. Despite that, several fundamental handles, latches, levers were the always there. Utilizing the little pre-existing knowledge that could be of use at the moment, he made his first move by closing in the cockpit, preventing them from being shot, impressing the blonde again.

"By the way, thievery is not my occupation," uttered the redhead, "not all the time, at least."

"Stop talking and focus on them!" demanded the girl, pointing at multiple screens that showed the robbers climbing up the limbs of the Zoid. "They're coming up!"

"What'd you want me to do?" said Kayn, annoyed. "I can't just move this thing around and drop them!"

"You're worried about them while they're trying to kill us?"

"Fine!" muttered Kayn, controlling the Liger to perform minimal movement, trying to scare whoever already onboard off the Zoid before he had to shake them off, which would result in the killing of them in the process.

The robbers, those that were already climbing on the Zoid, flinched as its legs moved lightly. Some of them got off immediately, while one or two of them proceeded, determined to reach the cockpit and get it to open, violent or not. Those that retreated onto the floor weren't unoccupied as well; rapidly they got with themselves ropes, tying them on latches on the transporting vehicle.

"Can't you just do things faster?" uttered Allia, nervous at the sight of the robbers attempting to tied them up, only to get the irritated response "At least I can drive this thing!" from Kayn. Desperately, she said, "Shouldn't you be experienced with this kinds of circumstances? You're a thief!"

"Excluding trainings, everyone's got their first!" shouted Kayn. He simply couldn't deal with the blonde anymore. Nevertheless, he did know she was telling the truth, and that she had every reason to panic under this kind of situation. More to that, he knew he had to act fast to avoid getting caught, but he still had his occupational ethics of not killing if possible, and, under no threats from armed Zoids, it seemed to him improper to break the code.

Fate, however, had another arrangement for him. Before he could make any decisions, the entire cargo shook with a loud bang. It happened again soon and more frequently, causing the platform to flip over along with the Liger Zero on it. By the time Kayn could gain a clear vision again, the whole cargo had already been practically half-buried within the sand, with the Baratz flipped upside-down. Not far away, riding towards the cargo, were a number of Unenlagia, colored in mat black with a little red strips as details. Everyone with common sense knew what that meant.

"Uh oh," muttered Kayn, "Rouves."

Note: About that whole 'low tech' thing, the most I wanted to eliminate was electricity. I'm quite a Genesis fan myself and am quite attracted by the Bionicle universe as well (I recently re-read Raid on Volcanus). I just want to write something with with that kind of Environment. Other than that, this will be a weekly update (hopefully) and I wish I can finish writing in time. I'm wirting something else as well.

Also, I have some very basic drawings of the characters and, seeing that I'm not too good at drawing (also too lazy), they look like Hasbro pprduct shots. The link is shown below. In case you're new to the system, get rid of the spacing intehe link.

www. flickr photos/ 133251277 N02 /sets / 72157654687339888