THIRTY FOUR
GAUNTLET, PART 1
Blue City,
Easten Continent, Planet Zi,
December 5, ZAC 2121
The Beam Smashers gave Saskia a feeling of completeness far beyond anything she ever had. Although not tested, the four giant buzzsaw added security during close-quarter combat (and who wanted to go into melee against those anyway?), and provided an acoustic shield against high-profile weapons. They complimented the long-range punch of the Gravity Cannons.
The Gilvader felt the same way. Its confidence transpired in its gaits as it strolled into the arena, undaunted by the fact that 10 zoids of unknown capability would try to kill it. The arena was drab grey with miles and miles of concrete base, and although only cameras attached at the wall, the metal dragon knew that millions pairs of eyes were watching it. It hurled a long taunting roar to trumpet its readiness.
"Don't get too cocky, Gilvy," Saskia miffed. "Eastern Continent is a different place with different zoids from Delpoi. We don't know anything about their power and their quirks."
The Gilvader replied with a short grumble, but before it got into another argument with its pilot, the door on the other side of the arena slid open and a Dark Horn with 2 Hybrid Gatling Cannons stepped in. It stopped right in front of the gate and fired off its battle cry, challenging the Gilvader's conviction.
"I think I'll let you know that this fight already broke the record of the most viewed zoids fight in Blue City history," Babu Pulsar appeared on the comm screen. "The stock exchange hasn't been affected yet, but let's worry about it later. We're on our way to make history, Miss Leewenhoek. Good luck, I wish you the best."
"We're ready," Saskia replied under her breath, then turned on the Magnesser System, levitating the Gilvader a few meters above ground. "The Dark Horn wants a shootout, Gilvy. He's going to shower us with laser beams. We'll need your speed dodge them. You may fire as you wish, but dodge his shots. We have a long way to go, and we don't need unnecessary damage early in the fight."
The Gilvader emitted a reassuring growl, and as soon as the Dark Horn fired its twin gatling cannons, the Gilvader leapt. The Dark Horn traced the Gilvader, strafing the sky with thick laser beams. Missiles and ballistics followed suit, creating a web of murderous shots that wrapped around the Gilvader.
But the Gilvader bobbed and weaved in the air, inching toward the Dark Horn amidst midair explosions. Armor shards and smoke filled the air like mist of debris, but the majority of the shots missed. Saskia waited until the crosshair lined up with the Dark Horn, then unleashed a long stream of plasma bolts at one of the gatling cannons. The superheated plasma tore up the cannon casing. Tongues of fire licked from the weapon, and the Dark Horn staggered.
The Gilvader blasted its rockets as it launched itself straight at the Dark Horn. The black styracosaurus fired everything it had to stop the Gilvader, but everything it threw bounced off the Gilvader's armor. The Gilvader's horns lit up in harsh purple and the Beam Smashers on its wing whirled in supersonic speed, creating an eerie screech. Passing the Dark Horn, the Gilvader jammed its horn at the remaining Hybrid Cannon, which exploded instantaneously. The Beam Smashers sank deep into the Dark Horn's hull, creating a deep incision on its back. Fireballs erupted from busted machineries, and as the Gilvader pulled away, the Dark Horn slumped into the ground with flaming hump. The pilot immediately jumped out of the fallen zoid, signaling his surrender.
"One down, nine to go," Saskia said with a puff of relief. "Nice work Gilvy. Keep up the vigilance and we can get out of here pretty soon."
But Saskia knew it was naïve of her to think it was going to happen. The door she came in from slid open and a Cannoneer Gordos entered the fray. Not a minute after getting into the arena, its twin Helic Supercannons roared, spitting 360-mm mayhem at the Gilvader. Its rail guns and beam cannons flashed like strobe lights. The air was choked with fiery mist, and not a single zoid could fly through without getting maimed by the awesome firepower.
"Dodge it! Dodge it!" Saskia yanked the joystick, but she ended up battling the Gilvader for maneuvering. The Gilvader snarled in confusion, and a rail gun shell hammered its head inches away from the plexiglass canopy. The ricocheting sound almost tore Saskia's eardrums. The Gilvader's head flailed uncontrollably, making her stomach churned. The large zoid dropped to the ground and staggered under the onslaught.
"Beam Smashers! Raise the Beam Smashers shield!" Saskia blurted involuntary. The four buzzsaws whirled to supersonic speed, creating an acoustic wind surrounding the Gilvader. The Gordos intensified its assault; all weapons fired in unison at one focal point. But the acoustic shield held off the Gordos firepower. The Helic Supercannons thundered like volcanoes, and the rail gun shells whistled through the air like sparrows going for the kill, but the Gilvader sat comfortably behind the acoustic screen as murderous explosions bellowed ferociously but harmlessly all around it.
Soon the Gordos was depleted, and the Gilvader emitted a vengeful roar. Its six rocket boosters blasted, catapulting the 300-ton mass straight at its adversary. The Gordos tried to escape but it was too slow. The Gilvader rolled over the Gordos' broadside and its Beam Smashers mutilated weapons and limbs. The Gordos careened to the right side as its right hind leg was completely sheared off and its fore leg was left with nothing more than metal beams.
The Gordos still had a few fights left in it. As the Gilvader flew away, the Gordos fired its remaining weapons. A few laser strands peppered the Gilvader's rear armor, carving holes at the backsides of its legs. The Gilvader turned around and unleashed a punishing salvo of plasma bolts and Needle shells. With both right legs scrapped, the Gordos could only watch haplessly as the Gilvader's salvo ravaged its back hull. A massive fireball ripped the Gordos' hull from inside, tearing its body apart. The Gordos gave out its final howl before slumping to the concrete ground.
"Oh crap," Saskia muttered in horror as she checked the Gilvader's stats. The Gilvader's core was seriously depleted. Her worst nightmare had just come true: the Zoid Magnite didn't fully 'heal' the Gilvader's core. It fixed the core to some degree and left the rest still damaged. "Gilvy, the Beam Smashers drained too much energy from your core. We have to stop."
But the Gilvader snarled in defiance, and against Saskia's wish, it walked right to the middle of the arena and shot a long challenging roar.
"Do not argue with me!" Saskia tried to move her zoid with no avail. "Your core cannot sustain continuous battle! You will hurt yourself!"
But it was too late. Another door opened and a Geno Breaker glided over the concrete slab. In a quick flight, the Geno opened its mouth and a brilliant fireball took form inside its mouth. The flame became hotter and more intense with each passing second, so intense it rivaled the sun.
"Charged Particle Cannon!" Saskia yelled in panic. "Gilvy, get the hell out of here!"
The Gilvader blasted all thrusters and took off, just as the Geno shot its fireball. The shot grazed the Gilvader by the base of the tail, creating a swath of molten armor. The remaining energy bolt hammered the arena wall. A cloud of concrete debris and smoke billowed as half of the wall crumbled. The Gilvader cried, more shocked than hurt, that a small zoid a third its size could bruise the seemingly impenetrable dragon.
"Plasma Cannons! Hit it with everything you've got!" Saskia encouraged her zoid. The Gilvader let loose streams of plasma bolts, backed up by Needle Guns, but the Geno Breaker extended its X-Breaker and raised its energy shield. The Gilvader's shots fell flat on the energy globe. Flame enveloped the shield, but no harm was done to the Geno Breaker.
"Dammit, Gilvy, why do you have to be so aggressive?" Saskia muttered as she took her zoid to the sky, nullifying a possible counter attack from the Geno Breaker. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she watched the energy level fell under 20 percent. Beam Smasher shield was not an option as it would suck the core dry. And she was too scared to use the Gilvader's most powerful weapons, lest they too knocked the zoid out cold. Worse still, the Geno Breaker hadn't even broken a sweat. The only advantage the Gilvader had over the Geno Breaker was raw power, but Saskia wasn't sure if it was enough.
This one would need an unconventional strategy. This one was on her.
The Geno Breaker charged its Particle Cannon again. A flame ball emerged on its mouth, brighter than the first one, then shot out in sub-light speed toward the Gilvader. Saskia pulled the joystick to the left as hard as she could, but it was not enough. The energy bolt smashed the left torso of the Gilvader. The consoles burst; spark and smoke exploded from busted electronics. The armor platings on the left side of the Gilvader's upper body were wiped out clean, and flame bled from the stripped area.
Yet the Gilvader still roared in defiance.
"Haull ass! All power to the boosters!" Saskia cried out and slammed her foot on the pedal. The Gilvader jumped forward and glided toward the Geno Breaker. The Geno fired everything it had, but Saskia gripped the joystick firm, weathering the onslaught, relying on Gilvader's thick armor. The Geno Breaker raised its energy shield, but before a full orb of energy took form, Saskia flicked the joystick. The Gilvader bumped right above the Geno Breaker, then whipped its tail and stabbed the Tyrannosaurus zoid with its tailblade, right at the base of its neck.
"Pull! Pull! Pull!" Saskia screamed from the top of her lung. The Gilvader roared and dragged the Geno Breaker on the ground. The Geno tried to cut the Gilvader's tail but the dragon weaved its tail, rolling the Geno from side to side. Weapons and body parts were crushed under its own body weight, and it wasn't long until both X-Breakers were left clattering on the hard pavement. As they came closer and closer to the wall, Saskia pulled her joystick. The Gilvader heaved up and whipped its tail, throwing the Geno Breaker at the wall. The hundred-ton zoid slammed into the wall, dislocating its right arm, and crushing its left thruster pack.
Smelling blood, the Gilvader swerved toward the downed Geno Breaker then landed right on top of it. The hardened-alloy teeth of the Gilvader sank into the neck of the Geno Breaker, and it heaved upward until the Geno was nearly decapitated. With only a few strands of cable connecting the head and the body, the Geno Breaker quickly shut down.
"Mr. Pulsar, I want my break now," Saskia said, huffing and puffing, sweating profusely.
Strangely, she got no response.
"Mr. Pulsar? Can you hear me? I want my break now," Saskia said as she scrambled the busted circuitry under her console. Some conduits were cut off from the power supplies, and she suspected her comm system was knocked out. "Gilvy, we have no means of communication. Get us out of here before the next zoid comes in."
The Gilvader started hovering when something glided over the arena at very high altitude. It moved very slowly like a blimp, but as soon as it glided over the Gilvader, a torrential ballistic and missile rain chastised the arena. Bombs and missiles exploded all over the Gilvader, pulling cracks and craters on the armor. The Gilvader bellowed and pulled off barrel rolls to dodge the fire, but the ballistic downpour was just too dense. There was no square inch of ground that was not bombarded by the flying thing.
"Sonofabitch! Go up! Up! Up!" Saskia led her zoid to gain altitude. Missiles charged it and cannon shells exploded all over its body, trying to bring it down, but the Gilvader pumped up its boosters. The energy level dropped below 10 percent, and Saskia thought she would never get out of the arena alive. But her mind changed when she got close enough to the 'thing' that had been bombarding her.
It was a highly-modified Whale King. The underside of the whale had been patched up with innumerable cannons and missile launchers, turning it into the perfect orbital bombardment platform. Fired in unison, these weapons created a rain of destruction, and it could maintain the bombardment for a long time considering the amount of ammunition the whale could carry.
"We can't fight those weapons," Saskia ground her teeth amidst explosions and ricochets. "Go up, as high as you can! We have to own the higher ground!"
The entire cockpit rattled as the Gilvader blasted its way past the bombardment, inches away from the bulky Whale King. Missiles still latched on to it, but with increasing altitude, the missiles lost their thrust and fell down back to the surface. The Gilvader leveled off for one second, then initiated a perfect stoop like a peregrine diving for its prey.
Unlike the underbelly, the top side of the Whale King was unmodified. Only a three-gunned turret defended the whale from attackers from the above. The Whale King was designed to overwhelm terrestrial zoids or aerial zoids that couldn't reach its altitude. Saskia wasn't even sure why Pulsar brought in a Whale King to fight a Gilvader. The superlarge zoid was completely defenseless from above.
"Take out the turret," Saskia ordered, "and get this thing out of our way."
The Gilvader's plasma cannons blitzed with conviction, spraying the Whale King sole turret with murderous bolts. The turret returned fire, but at this time it was hopeless against the Gilvader's attack. The turret exploded, and the Gilvader used the fireball as a bullseye. It dove straight toward it, horns blazing, and buzzsaws whirling. The dragon went through the back of the whale and exited from the belly. Multiple fireballs eviscerated the Whale King, followed by a massive explosion that ripped the flying zoid into two parts. The tail section erupted into brilliant flares in the air, while the head part plummeted to a section of the arena wall. The entire section crumbled in a thick plume of smoke and debris, creating a large opening on the wall.
The Gilvader glided gracefully over the arena before landing at the center.
"You violated the fight parameters ," suddenly Pulsar popped up on the comm screen. "You left the battle area. You are disqualified."
"Disqualified my ass!" Saskia replied curtly. "We never constrained the battle area on altitude! And where were you when I ask for a break?"
"I couldn't hear you."
"You can contact me but you can't hear me? That's nonsense! I said I wanted my break and you deliberately ignored me! And now, after you fail to cheat me, you're accusing me of cheating? Deal's off! I'm leaving!"
"I didn't cheat you," Pulsar said nonchalantly. "I couldn't hear you then, I can hear you now. That's the truth. I didn't know you wanted a break. Your zoid must have been damaged from the Geno Breaker blow. Somehow it's fixed now. I am not an engineer. I can't tell you what's going on. I can only tell you what happened, and that was what happened. I am willing to disregard this communication breakdown if you stay in the game."
"I'm still leaving."
"Fine, but if you leave, return the Beam Smashers. Technically you haven't won this challenge, so the Beam Smashers are still mine. If you refuse, I will take them by force, and we both know your zoid can't stay in the battle for much longer. Your choice, Miss Leewenhoek."
Saskia closed her eyes and knocked her head on her command couch. She might not need the Beam Smashers, but she had gone through 4 battles with acceptable damages barring the Gilvader's core. As much as she wanted to leave this place, she didn't want to leave behind what she and her Gilvader had invested.
"Alright, I'm staying, but I want my break," she sighed in defeat.
"Have at it, although I need to mention we trump rating battle with our broadcasting competitors, and people are waiting to see your Gilvader against BEEK. If you go with this, granted we're on to another record…"
BEEK? Thomas Schubaltz? The name stirred a maelstrom Saskia's mind. Thomas Schubaltz is a devoted member of Guardian Force. What is he doing here, playing gladiator games, while the Guardian Force is fighting the Helic Republic? Something didn't seem right.
"Wait, wait, are you saying my next opponent is Thomas Schubaltz's Dibison?" Saskia asked.
"Thomas Schubaltz and his Dibison," Pulsar replied. "You have a problem with that?"
"No, no, I'll fight him now. Just send him in."
"Good decision, Miss Leewenhoek. Your next opponent will be ready shortly."
Another door slid in and a Dibison galloped into the arena like a brazen bull eager to crush the matador. Saskia checked the Gilvader's power level, and she swallowed hard, watching it went dangerously low. She needed to subdue the Dibison fast if she wanted to keep the Beam Smashers.
However, fighting the gauntlet was the last thing on her mind right now.
"Mr. Schubaltz, my name is Saskia van Leewenhoek," she hailed the Dibison. "I used to work for the Helic Military. I need to ask you several things…"
"Just shut up and fight, woman!" Schubaltz snapped from the other line.
"Mr. Schubaltz, you don't understand, there's a lot of propagandist news about Helic Republic conflict with the Guardian Force, and as a member of Guardian Force, or perhaps an ex-member…"
Saskia's tirade was cut short by a vicious salvo from the Dibison's back cannons. She froze, but the Gilvader took the initiative, blasting its rocket for an evasive maneuver`. It snapped at Saskia.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but I have to talk to this guy," Saskia took control and pulled her joystick, taking the Gilvader to fly. She tried to call Schubaltz again. "Mr. Schubaltz, something doesn't make sense in the entire situation. I'm afraid something terrible will happen…"
"I'm not interested in Guardian Force anymore!" Schubaltz realigned his weapons and let loose another salvo. "Now get down here and fight me or I'll come up there and whup your ass!"
Schubaltz's marksmanship went wide, but Saskia knew how dangerous the BEEK was. It was the earliest prototype of integrated Organoid System. Sooner or later Schubaltz would score a hit that her Gilvader might not be able to recover from. She had to put her questions at rest and focus on the combat.
"Gilvy, we have to beat this guy but don't kill him," Saskia pleaded. "I know I ask you too much already, but please, I need this guy alive."
The Gilvader replied with a short growl, then dove straight at the Dibison. At 230 tons, armed to the teeth, and sporting an early phase of integrated Organoid System, the Dibison seemed to have all the power to take down the Gilvader. But it didn't have speed, and the Gilvader knew it. The dragon swerved past the Dibison, and as the metal bison turned around, its tail sweept the Dibison's legs. The metal bison swirled in the air and landed on its back, crushing its assorted cannons under its own body weight.
The Gilvader quickly turned around and pinned the Dibison to the ground. Its fore paw immobilized the Dibison's head, and once again its Maser horn glowed. But it stopped inches away from the Dibison's cockpit, demanding the surrender, yet showing no hesitation to continue to the fatality if the Dibison dared to question its authority.
"Mr. Schubaltz, I want nothing but a few answers from you," Saskia tried one more time. "There are many inconsistencies in the facts about the Helic Republic – Guardian Force conflict. You can give me some light about what's really going on. Please Mr. Schubaltz, I want to believe in Helic Republic the way you believed in Guylos Empire, but at this point, I don't know what to believe…"
It took Schubaltz a long time to reply, but when he did, he made Saskia drew a big breath of relief. "I'll be at the Valhalla Club this evening."
"Thank you Mr. Schubaltz," she replied, then pulled the joystick gently. The Gilvader stepped back, letting the Dibison get back on its feet and limp away to where it came from.
"Even though you failed to knock out BEEK, I will take it as a win number 5 for you because Schubaltz left the arena," Pulsar's face popped out on the comm screen. "We crushed the competition. Our broadcasting program ruled primetime shows. We can ride this momentum and go for becoming a legend…"
Saskia checked the Gilvader's power level, and cringed at the sight of only 2 percent before catastrophic shut down. "I want my break now. Give me 15-hour break to repair, reload, and recharge my zoid."
"Very well," Pulsar sighed, clearly disappointed. "My men will assist you with everything you need."
The Gilvader growled in protest, but Saskia expected it. The dragon zoid had no regard of its own mortality, and would gladly dive headlong into another melee, even though doom was the definite result. She had to stop it from self-inflicted destruction.
"I can't let you kill yourself, Gilvy," she sighed as she leaned back on her command couch. "Maybe dying in the blaze of glory is all you want, but I can't consciously let it happen. I don't have anybody else but you."