Disclaimer- No, Zoids does not belong to me in any way, shape or form. This fic and this drabble, however, do belong to me, as do the Geno Breaker and Blade Liger fighting with each other over a candy bar. XP

Word: Ashes
Series: Guardian Force
Characters: Specula, Reese, Raven
Words: 917
Notes: This little drabble popped into my head while I was watching my new Zoids Guardian Force DVD. I know both iwalkinthelight and San child of the wolves have asked for a Specula drabble, so I finally got off my lazy arse and did one. ^^; I know this isn't exactly what you had in mind or what you detailed in your request, iwalkinthelight, but a different Specula drabble won't hurt, will it? XP lol. Also, this was spawned from a new post in my 'New Fic Ideas' section that I just added the other day, under the name From the Ashes, hence the drabble's name. ^^; This drabble takes place after the Death Stinger blows up New Helic City, during the morning before Van arrives. Please enjoy! ;D

Specula mewed softly as she started to regain consciousness, her senses slowly returning. Her body was sore and painful from the blast of the Death Stinger's Charged Particle Beam, the blue metal singed and covered in black soot and pale ashes. She wasn't sure what had happened exactly, but she felt horrible; it felt like Ambient had jumped up and down on top of her. What had her worried the most was what she was hearing: nothing, quiet, complete and total silence. She knew that was a very bad sign, after all, she was in the middle of a large city, or what once was a large city.

Gathering her strength, Specula pushed herself off the ground, shaking her head and snorting at the sudden cascade of ashes and dust. She took a deep breath and cracked open her golden eyes, blinking at the sudden light of the sun, her blurry vision slowly adjusting. As soon as her sight cleared, the otherworldly sight of New Helic City, or what was left of it rather, greeted her. Twisted spires of concrete and steel pushed up from the burnt ground, looking like broken bones. Some buildings still stood, leaning and tilting awkwardly, most of the glass obliterated or melted, though a few panes reflected the early rays of the morning sun. The ground was littered with chunks of steel and buildings, buried in a thick blanket of soot, pulverized glass and ash.

Specula sighed at the sad scene, getting to her feet, shaking all the clinging ash and dust from her body. She turned and looked behind her, and her heart sank at the sight. The once beautiful and powerful Psycho Geno Saurer lay in a crumpled heap, its armor blacked and melted and twisted, Core exposed in its blown-open chest, its face contorted into a scared and painful snarl; it was dead. Beside it was the Geno Breaker, the proud crimson Zoid in deplorable shape. It was burned and singed and broken, curled up in an awkward position, but it was alive, however barely; Specula could hear its weak whimpers of pain and see it shaking, the poor Zoid was terrified and in a lot of pain.

Another glance at the Psycho Geno Saurer reminded Specula of Reese, and immediately she tried to reach her mistress mentally. She didn't get a response from the Zoidian, but she knew she was all right; after all, Reese was inside her. It was the only thing Specula could do to protect her, and it appeared to have worked, for she was still alive, though unconscious. Even though the danger had passed, Specula didn't release her master; she didn't want to expose Reese to the hazardous environment, after all, she didn't know if her Zoidian friend was injured or not.

As the sapphire Organoid scanned the desolate landscape, a sudden, worrying realization hit her- Raven was nowhere to be seen. Specula whipped her head around, searching frantically for the young pilot, but he appeared to have simply vanished. 'Where is he? Did he survive the Beam, or did he… …' Specula trailed off, not wanting to think that Raven might not have survived. But Raven seemed to have disappeared, and the Organoid began to wonder if the young human had been vaporized.

Lost in her thoughts, Specula didn't see the slight movement near the Geno Breaker's tail, the sapphire Organoid too engrossed in her thoughts to notice. She didn't see the Geno Breaker uncurl its tail slightly, exposing a very miniature hill of ash and soot. A weak growl from the half-dead Zoid finally shook Specula from her thoughts, the sapphire Organoid blinking and shaking her head. She looked at the wounded Zoid and saw that it had moved, and finally saw the pile of soot near its tail.

'What is that?' she thought, cocking her head and growling quietly. Curious, Specula walked closer to the downed Breaker, moving carefully so not to step on any live wires or still-hot metal. When she got to within a few yards of the mound of ash, it twitched, making her freeze in her tracks, afraid it could be some sort of danger. As she watched, the mound moved again slightly, and she heard a weak cough come from it. Specula blinked and cocked her head, slowly and cautiously approaching the pile of ash, looking it over for any threats. Not seeing any, she walked carefully over to it, looking at it intently.

Curious, Specula leaned down and sniffed it, and her golden eyes widened when she recognized a familiar scent. She growled softly and lightly nosed the mound, causing much of the soft ash to fall away, revealing Raven's lifeless body. He looked dead, his body colored a deathly white from the dust and ash, but Specula could see his chest faintly rising and falling with each breath; somehow he survived the Charged Particle Beam.

'That explains why the Geno Breaker was in that odd position… it curled around him to shield him…' Specula thought, looking up at the ailing crimson Zoid, '… the open tail vents would have made a pocket of air and deflected some of the heat… but even then Raven was lucky… that was the most powerful Charged Particle Beam I've ever seen…' she shook her head to clear her thoughts, looking down at the unconscious human.

'I hope the Geno Breaker can walk, I need to get these two somewhere safe, there's nothing but rubble and ashes here now…'

AN- I liked this one for some reason. I've always loved Specula, but I rarely get to write her. This was a treat for me, I've always wanted to write something about how Raven and Reese survived that Charged Particle Beam at point-blank range. Well, now you know how they survived- Specula enclosed Reese and the Geno Breaker shielded Raven (which makes sense, considering it has a little of Shadow's conscience due to him evolving it and all). But, I hope y'all enjoyed this little drabble!!

Btw, I have added several new ideas to the 'New Fic Idea' section in my profile. Please read and PM me with your thoughts, and better yet, please vote in the new poll in my profile. I am very curious as to your thoughts about which of my fic ideas you as the reviewer would like to see posted.

Anyway, thanks for reading and please leave a nice review and a word or two!! ;D

~Ibeyla ^^