The Wolf

A big thanks to all who reviewed, and fox, you're right, the liger was developed after. But I thought it would be a nice twist. *blah* = zoid speaking. //blah// = equals human talking to zoid. ************************************************* "Owww." It's dark. Where am I? "I see you've woken up." Who's there? The lights flick on. I turn toward where the voice came from. It's a girl. Black hair, tall, about my age. Her eyes, they aren't right. She doesn't seem totally. human. Her eyes are silver. There is nothing in them. No spark of life or nothing. There's nothing but me reflected in those eyes of chilling silver. They're strange. They are a wolf's eyes! "Who are you?" My voice comes out as a croak. "I have many names. For now, call me Astarael." The girl's voice is weird; it has a hint of ruthlessness and wildness. It sounds like a wolf's howl. "Where am I?" "Liger will tell you. You will find that what you see is not necessarily what it is." What does that mean? " Get up, your liger has been worried for you." Fine. I swing out of the bed and move to the door. Astarael rises up from the chair. She's graceful, but moves unnaturally. She seems more wolf-like than human. The room is big, but furnished plainly. It's stone, with a high vaulting ceiling and no windows. We move out of the room and into a long hallway. "The Liger's hangar is two doors down on the left." I run faster, eager to see liger. Astarael breaks into a long lope, keeping pace. I skid to a stop and fling open the door. Liger lets out a loud roar, happy to see me. *Raven! You're all right! * I run over to him and climb on top of a crate so we're at eye level. //Yeah, I'm fine. What is this place?// *Astarael did not tell you?* // You know who Astarael is?// *Yes, of course I do. She's my creator. * I fall backward in shock and look at her. She's standing by the door, with a small smile on her face. // Do you know what's wrong with her? // * How do you mean?* //Well, her eyes, and the way she moves.// *She's a berserker.* //A what?// *A berserker. She's half wolf. When she is taken by the rage, bloodwrath is what it is called, she turns into a wolf. In this state, everything she sees is a target for destruction, and everything is utterly destroyed. * //Then I don't want to get on her bad side.// *That would be advisable. * //I'm tired, I'd better go.// * Until next time, Raven. * I climb down and head towards the door. "Has he filled you in?" "Yeah. You're his creator?" We turn towards a door and walk into a kitchen of sorts. My stomach growls loudly. "First, eat. Than we'll go someplace more comfortable and I'll tell you about Liger." She pushes a hamburger at me. I eat ravenously. In five minutes it's gone. She watches quietly with her frozen eyes. "Come."

Van and Irvine were yelling their heads off at the guardian force base. "I'm telling you, he picked the siax out of the air like it was bright day! And I was going my fastest, too!" Irvine shouted. " And he beat the blade liger in five seconds!" Van added. The rest of the bunch stood around, utterly flabbergasted. " If you don't believe us, look at the battle data!" "Very well, I will." the doc said. He downloaded it onto a screen. They quickly crowded around the T.V. They saw once again the Liger standing alone in a sea of sand, lit red-gold by the sun's last rays. They saw the siax charge toward it, faster and faster until it was too fast to be seen by a normal zoid's eye. They saw the Liger stand still, while the siax ran circles around it, preparing for the kill. The claws glowed smoldering gold, than Liger leaped! Twice, thrice, he struck! The siax fell, it's leg almost completely severed. The Blade Liger charged, extending its blades. Liger Zero rushed to meet it, with the stabilizers down and both boosters flaring. 30 feet separated them, 20. the Liger snapped the stabilizers up and soared into the air. Higher, higher, over the blade liger! It pushed its legs down on top of the blades, snapping them. The liger crashed into the sand, system frozen. The force stared at the frozen tableau, hearing the Liger's roar of triumph echoing in their ears. Doc was the first to move, shutting off the video. "That was a battle like no other!" " How do you mean?" "First, the chances of any zoid being able to pick out a siax at full speed are astronomical! Second, no human could precisely know the exact moment to strike at the siax or the Blade Liger. We are looking at a zoid and a pilot unlike any other!" " So what you're saying, is that the liger did this?" "It seems that way, yes." "Did you design it to be able to do that?" Van inquired. "No, I found it, a burnt rusting hulk out in the sand. I repaired it, and then." The doc shrugged. Van thought for a moment. "All right, ready the blade liger, dibison, and siax, we're going hunting."

I'm sprawled on a couch, listening to Astarael's tale. "First, I'm a lot older than I look. I am one of the last of the ancient zoidians. And if I have my way, Fiona and I will be the last." She grinned wolfishly. There are two long fangs in her mouth. " I am millennia's older than Reese, or that pitiful excuse for an organoid, Specular. When the zoidians were destroyed, I sealed away two zoids, to sleep for eternity until the other woke. You remember the writing on the rock?" The verse flashes through my mind. She watches silently. "Yes. You are the dark one, and liger zero is the destroyer. Hiltz is the murderer, and death is the death stinger. And it is true, that you are lost to purpose and meaning, because of Hiltz. You know what I mean." Visions of that terrible day that Shadow died run through my head. "You want to resurrect your organoid." "Well, yes." " Than follow."