I just love writing soooo much!  And this is soooo fun!  Oh great, I'm starting to show that I have no life.  Great.  Why me?  Anyway, yes, I don't really have anything else to do right now except to write this story, so I think I will.  I have a pretty good idea for this chapter.

Disclaimer:  I have no ownership to Zoids.  I only own the characters I create.

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Risai sat on the ground, cross-legged.  She seemed to be thinking about something as she stared out in front of her at the huge pool.  The water seemed so clear and inviting, not to mention that this room was one of the biggest in the base.  It stretched out far.  The pool was set up like the kind you would use in a competition.  The blue lines on the pool floor separated the lanes, but no one ever used it for that.  The water swayed gently in the pool.  Risai thought about it for a while and stood up.

"Should I?" she asked herself.  She then shrugged.  "Why not?"  She quickly removed her shoes and her overcoat.  She smiled and backed up a little.  With a running start, she dove into the pool.  The cool water felt refreshing on the hot day and the shade of the room made it all the more comforting.  She began to swim laps, doing the front stroke and then flipping at the end onto her back.  She began to pirouette through the water and then disappeared underwater, still spinning.  She came back up for air and then just floated on her back.

"This feels great," she said happily.

"I'm sure it does."  Risai quickly stood up and looked towards the entrance.  She found all of them standing there.  "So this is where you went," said Miharu.

"Yeah, so?"  Risai swam over to the edge closest to the entrance and pulled herself up and out of the pool.  She was soaking wet.

"How's the water?"

"Cool and refreshing, but now I'm all wet."

"Well duh."  Miharu had an amused smirk on her face.  Risai looked herself over and then smiled.

"I think I'll go take a shower now."  She walked over and picked up the rest of her stuff off the ground.  She just walked past them and began to head down the hall towards her room.

"What do we do now?" asked Leena.

"How about we all go back to my room," suggested Bit.

"And do what?" asked Naomi.

"I don't know…talk?  Play games?"

"I guess that sounds good," said Jamie.  They all walked down the hall and off to Bit's room.

******

Risia walked out of the steaming shower and into her room.  Each room had it's own shower to eliminate what always happened with Bit and Leena.  She was wearing a white robe, sort of like the one Leena wore.

"That feels better," she said to herself.  She stood in front of the mirror and combed through her partially wet hair.  She quickly blow-dried it and then put on a pair of black pants, a green shirt and her black over shirt.  "I wish my clothes had more variety, but agents are suppose to dress like this," she said as she looked at the image in her mirror.  She pulled on her black boots and began to head for the door, but stopped upon hearing an explosion that shook the building slightly.  She ran to her window and saw some zoids approaching their camp.  "Darn it."  She quickly ran out of the room and down the halls.  She stopped in the doorway of Bit's room, where everyone was sitting around, talking.  They looked to her as she stood in the doorway.

"Get to your zoids now!" she yelled, half in a command, and half in panic.

"What?" asked Bit.

"We're under attack!"  Just then, another explosion rang out, this time shaking the building harder.  It felt like an earthquake.  It was followed by a few more as everyone tried to keep their balance.  Pieces from the ceiling began to break off and a huge chunk was just about loose and it was placed over Mattei.  Risai looked up and then ran into the room.

"Look out!" she warned.  She grabbed him and pulled him out of the way just as it hit.  Everyone stared on in shock.

"Thanks Risai," said Mattei.

"Don't mention it."  She stood back up.  "Now come on.  We have to defend this base."  They all began to run down the hallway, following Risai to the garage.  They finally made it and saw that others were also getting their zoids out.

"Rick, you guys know where your zoids are, so hurry up and join the soldiers that just left."

"Okay."

"Where are our zoids?" asked Brad.

"We had them placed over there."  She pointed to where they were stationed, which was against the right wall.  "Now hurry up and join the others."

"Yes ma'am."

"Um…we're not in class anymore.  You can just say okay.  Thanks for thinking ahead though."  They all just sighed and then ran off to get in their zoids.  Miharu and Risai quickly got into theirs and joined the troops.  A battle waged outside.  Zoids were being destroyed left and right.  Some were from the Backdraft and some were from the ZBC.

"Well Bit, you wanted action and now you have it," said Leena.

"Yeah, but I was expecting something along the lines of a zoid battle.  This is like a zoid massacre," responded Bit.

"I agree.  At least in zoid battles the pilots don't die.  Here, you never know what's gonna happen," added Rick.

"That's right," said Risai.  "This is a war, so get used to seeing this.  I told you it would be hard to fight.  You have to understand just one thing out here on the battlefield.  It's either them or you.  Never go easy on the enemy."

"Got it," said Bit.  "This is gonna be harder than I thought."

"I'm moving up to the front line.  I'll see you guys later."  Risai turned her com-link off just as Miharu was about to say something.  She then blocked her COM system.

"Risai, wait," started Miharu, but she had been cut off.  "Darn it.  What's she thinking?"

"What's wrong?" asked Meiyuu.

"She's not supposed to be up there."

"Why?" asked Jamie.

"Because the front line is dangerous, but…she is a commander, so I guess she has the right to do what she wants.  She's only following her orders, I guess…but still…"

"You worried?" asked Bit.

"Yeah.  She's been different for the past few weeks.  I'm starting to worry."

"Maybe she's just trying to win this war," suggested Naomi.

"I guess…well, we need to pay attention now."  They charged further into battle and began to fight off the enemy forces.  They were mostly Zabats, Rev Raptors, and Hellcats; all of them were painted the color black.  There were many of them and they seemed to just keep coming.  The front line was doing the best they could to keep the enemy away from the newer, less experienced fighters.  Risai quickly arrived at the front of the battle.

"Commander," said one of the soldiers.  "What are you doing up here?"

"I came to help out."

"Tell us, what should we do?"

"Leave this to me."

"But-"  He didn't have enough time to finish his sentence, because Risai had already went ahead into the midst of the battle.  This did not go unnoticed.

"What is she doing?" asked Leon.  All of them were wondering the same thing.

"She's going to get herself killed," said Miharu.  She tried to open a com-link with Risai, but it didn't work.  She slammed her hand down on the console.  "Darn it, her com system's jammed."

"But it hasn't been damaged," pointed out Bit.

"I know that.  She purposely blocked it.  What is she thinking?" yelled Miharu angrily.

"What should we do?" asked Leena.

"I'm going up there.  You can come if you want."  And with that, Miharu turned her Phoenix hard to the right and started heading towards Risai, who was taking on a ton of zoids on her own.

"This is harder than I thought," she said to herself.  She took a hit or two, but came back with an attack of her own.  She quickly maneuvered out of the way of another attack from a Rev Raptor, and followed up with her own attack.  She was then hit from behind by a few gunshots, causing her Genosaurer to stumble.  "Darn it…what was I thinking when I came up here?" she asked herself.  She got back up and stood deathly still in fear as she saw a plasma particle beam coming towards her.  Her mind was racing.  'This is it.  I'm gonna die here on the battlefield, in a stupid battle…but…do I really care?  Do I really care if I…'  Her thoughts were interrupted by something hitting her from the side, knocking her out of the way just before the beam would have hit.  She looked to the side and found the Liger Zero and Lighting Saix, belonging to Bit and Rick.

"Thanks you guys," she said.

"You're welcome.  Now let's finish this," said Bit.

"Yeah," agreed Rick.

"Okay."  They all regained their composure and rushed off to go and take out some enemy troops.  The clamps on the Genosaurer went down and the cannon extended.  "Hey Bit, Rick.  You guys think you can cover me?"

"Sure," they both answered.  The cannon began to charge as she lined it up with some enemy zoids.  Bit and Rick kept the other zoids away from her so the cannon could finish charging.  Once it was done, she fired it.  The beam took out at least 20 zoids.  She just smiled to herself.  The other fighters were taking out their own share of enemy zoids and soon enough, the rest of them retreated back to their base.  All the soldiers cheered at their latest victory.  They went back to the base and stationed their zoids back in the garage.  Miharu jumped out of her zoid and began to walk over to Risai as she stationed her Genosaurer.  The others followed, curious as to what she was going to do.  Risai jumped out, an emotionless expression on her face.  She looked up to the approaching Miharu and seemed confused.  Miharu seemed really mad.  She went up to Risai and the first thing she did was aim a punch right at her face.  Risai didn't stumble when she was hit.  Instead she just looked downward, since her head was moved in that direction from the hit.  The others all cringed, thinking to themselves about how much that must have hurt.

"You idiot!  Do you have a death wish or something?!  You could have gotten killed!" yelled Miharu.  She was definitely angry.  Risai didn't say anything.  She just looked to the ground, her head turned to the side.  She seemed mad and yet sad at the same time.  She was gritting her teeth partially and her eyes seemed to have tears in them.  "I know you're a commander, but that gives you no right to charge in there like that."

"I was only following orders.  Our duty is to defend the base in any way possible," responded Risai.  She sounded angry.

"But you're not suppose to risk your own life to do so.  What would Taban say if he knew?  And if Rainer were here, he would…"  She wasn't able to finish her sentence before a fist connected with her face, knocking her to the ground.  Everyone else stood in shock as they saw an angry Risai standing with her fist still in the punch.  She seemed really angry this time.

"Shut up!  What do you know?!" she yelled.  Miharu pushed herself up on her elbow and looked at Risai.

"Risai…"

"No!  Just shut up!"  And with that, she ran off, out of the garage and disappearing down the hallway.  The others all ran over to Miharu.

"What was that all about?" asked Jamie.  He seemed to speak for everyone with that question.

"Are you alright?" asked Meiyuu.  Miharu got up, a little shaky at first, but she soon regained her composure.

"I'm fine."

"So exactly what happened?" asked Bit, curious as to why Miharu had gotten punched.

"I'm worried about her," said Miharu.  "She hasn't been the same lately.  She keeps taking these unnecessary risks."

"Why?" asked Naomi.  Miharu just shook her head sadly.

"I'm not sure."

"She punched you when you mentioned Rainer," said Bit.  "Isn't he one of you guys?"

"Rainer is the one that died."

"Why'd she get so upset when you mentioned his name?" asked Leon.

"I'm not quite sure.  It's not my story to tell.  You'd have to ask Risai, but I doubt she'll tell you."

"Where did she go anyway?" asked Leena.

"Probably back to the pool.  She spends most of her time there.  Usually when she needs to cool down or when she has something on her mind.  I'd leave her alone for a while.  Just give her some time."  They all began to head down the hall and to their rooms.  It was starting to get late and the sun was beginning to set, painting the sky.  Risai had indeed gone to the pool.  She was swimming laps, trying to clear her mind.  'Why…why can't I get him out of my head?  That was years ago…but still…'  She stopped swimming and just floated there for a while.  She kept coming back to the dream she had had.  'That stupid dream.  Why is it bothering me?  What did it mean…'

"Mind if I join you?"

Risai spun around quickly to face the newcomer and ended up facing Leon.  He was standing at the edge of the pool.  Risai sighed.

"It's only you," she said in relief.

"Yeah.  Who'd you think it was?  You seemed panicked."  She thought back to earlier that day and Colonel Garner.

"I just thought…no…never mind…it's nothing, really."

"You sure?"

"Y-yeah."

"Okay…so…can I come in?"

"I don't see why not.  It's not like this is my pool or anything."  Leon smiled and dove in.  Risai watched him as he began to swim laps like she had done.  He stopped next to her.

"You sure you're okay?"

"You're starting to sound like Miharu.  I'm fine.  You don't have to treat me like a child."  There was an annoyed tone to her voice.

"Sorry."

"And don't apologize."

"Okay.  I was just concerned, that's all."

"Don't be.  I can take care of myself."

"You know, you don't always have to act so tough."

"Who's acting?"  She was starting to get edgy.  'What's with this guy?  Why can't he just leave me alone!' she thought to herself.

"You don't have to pretend you're not hurting by being reckless.  You really could have gotten killed out there."

"I don't care."

"What?" he asked in shock.

"You heard me.  I don't care.  Why should I?  No one would miss me."

"You can't believe that."

"Wanna bet?"

"What about Taban and Miharu?  They'd miss you."

"Yeah, but they're the only ones and both of them treat me like a child.  I don't care if I die out there.  At least I'll go down with honor."

"Throwing your life away isn't honorable at all; it's stupid."

"What do you care anyway?  You don't know me."  Risai guessed that she must have hurt him with that, since he didn't say anything and also began to swim back to the side.  As she watched him go, she started to feel bad about it.  'Why do I always have to yell at him?  He's just being nice.'  Leon climbed out and turned back to face her.

"Just don't die, okay?" he said.  This confused her.

"Why?"

"Just don't."

"Okay, I won't."

"You promise?"  This brought out a small smile from Risai.

"Yeah, I promise.  And I'm sorry about yelling at you."

"Don't apologize either."  He smiled when he heard a small laugh come from Risai.

"Okay," said Risai.

"Good.  It's getting late.  You should probably get some sleep."

"Yeah, okay."  Risai swam over and pulled herself out of the pool.  Leon and Risai walked back to their rooms, but not before saying goodnight.  Risai closed the door behind her, a smile on her face.  She wasn't sure just why she was smiling, but she felt good for some reason.  She fell back on her bed and closed her eyes, falling into a deep, but peaceful, sleep.

******

Back out in the desert, at the base in the middle of nowhere, Taban still sat in his cell, not knowing what to do.  He had seen the soldiers come back from a battle.  They had decreased in amount and he just smiled upon recalling the moment.  'This must mean we're winning,' he thought to himself.  "We'll definitely win this war," he said to himself.

"I wouldn't be so sure," came the same cruel voice from before.  Taban sat up on his bed and looked around, but it was too dark to see anything.

"What do you mean?  Your troops just lost a battle."

"Your side may have won this battle, but we will win this war.  We have everything all planned out."

"Nothing is certain in a war."

"How so?"

"We've recruited the help of some of the most powerful teams.  There's no telling who will win, but we have just as much of a chance as you do."

"I'm sure you do, but I have a sure fire idea that can't fail."

"And what would that be?" asked Taban angrily.

"We'll get rid of the two remaining agents back at that base.  I believe you know who I'm talking about.  You're an agent as well."

"How…do you know that?"

"I know all about agents.  You're human beings with increased senses and never-ending youth.  Your aging stops at the age of 21.  Agents have the ability to summon their zoids by using high sonar pulses, emitted from the bracelets around their wrists.  Agents have a sixth sense in order to detect unnatural occurrences, such as, what I believe you call, 'doomed to die'."

"How did you know all of that?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"You may know about us, but you couldn't possibly know about the other agents, so there."  This had now become a battle of wits and Taban was about to loose.

"I know that during the war that started nearly 200 years ago, there were six agents.  You, your sister, Miharu, Toran, Rainer, and Rose.  Rainer died during battle, Toran joined the other side, and Rose disappeared during a battle, assumed to be dead.  Toran is now spending his days in jail."  Taban was speechless.  "I see you have nothing left to say.  Very well.  I'll be leaving now, but know this.  There's no way that you or your pathetic ZBC can stand up to us.  Remember that."  And with that, she walked off.

"How…how could she know that?  It's not possible…"  He lied back down on his bed and fell asleep, his questions still occupying his mind.

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Gee, that was a long chapter.  I can't believe I wrote that much.  I hope you guys like it.  I'm looking to get at least 28 reviews.  That's my favorite number^.^  I hope you can do it, cause I don't plan on writing the next chapter until I have that many…but if I get bored, I might write it anyway^.^  It happens.

Remember…review!  But no flames!

Audi^.^