The Test

The guardian force was moving, following the Liger's tracks. "Huh?" Van stopped in surprise. The tracks ended, as if the earth had swallowed Raven up. Doctor D, Fiona, and the rest leaped out and stood around where they ended. "This is weird."

Shadow and I are wandering the halls of this massive underground complex, looking around for information on Shadow or me. A screen activates, and Astarael's face appears. "Get to the computer room, some friends of yours are here." :: What do you think is going on, Shadow?:: :The Guardian Force?: ::That's probably it.:: I leap onto his back and the boosters activate, sending us flying down the rock tunnel. She runs out of the data room and hooks an arm around Shadow's neck before swinging up behind me. "Take us down this hall and two doors to the right, please." I turn around and look into her eyes. "Now's your chance to see the wolf in action." she says. Shadow skids to a stop in front of a steel door, and busts through it. Astarael leaps off, calling. A low growl shakes the earth. "Yes, yes, I know, but he's with me, so you can come out now." A zoid melts silently out of the darkness, with not so much as a clank marking his passage. It's Shadowrage! I start to shake, seeing the deadly malice in his eyes. "Rage, we're going to battle. We haven't had one in millennia!" He bends down and opens his cockpit. Astarael leaps in. "Come on, we don't have all day!" "I'm coming?" She leans down and hauls me up. "Shadow, please merge with Shadowrage." He complies, opening his wings and merging in a flash of light. I settle in the back, looking at a screen mounted on the back of the chair in front of me. Astarael types in commands. "Raven, the passage through the lightning beam is hard. The real danger is if I decide to go up to mach 10, the G-forces could destroy you. If I do, hit the yellow button below the screen in front of you. Now, I'm sure Hiltz has been tracking you under the order of the Dark Kaiser, so you tell Shadow to keep a lookout for him or that scum of an organoid Ambient." I nod and relay the order to Shadow. A beam of black lightning hits us and we become it.

"It's no use, it's like him and that zoid were picked up and carried away." Van moaned. A distant roll of thunder interrupts the force's dinner. The clouds are an ominous purplish-black and are moving towards them fast. They scrambled for their zoids to take shelter from the storm. A black bolt of lightning hit the ground with the weight of a hammer. "Shit!" Van swore. Doc and Moonbay in the Gustav were simarly shocked. Black lightning? That wasn't possible. The smoke cleared and a black zoid stood there. Van glanced back at Fiona. All the color had gone from her face. "Fiona?" She shook her head. "It can't be! It just can't be!" "What, Fiona?" She started shivering. "It's her! Astarael!" "Who the heck is Astarael? And what's that zoid?" Moonbay quickly asked doc. He didn't know either. Suddenly a face appeared on the screen. A face that looked young, but the eyes. they were the eyes of a wolf. Chilling silver, cold, caculating. "Hello, Guardian Force." "Who are you?!" Van yelled. "Oh, I have many names. Astarael is one, and the other? Let's say you've heard of me, for I am The Wolf, and all who challenge me shall die!" The zoid blurred and stood at the ready, waiting for the first move. "Irvine, do you know her?" "Yes! She's the most powerful zoid warrior that ever was, and ever will be! She defeated a deathsaurer with one blow! She disappeared a couple of years back, and people hoped she was dead, for that zoid can destroy entire planets!" Van muttered, "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us, Zeke."

Astarael cut the visual link but left the audio link up. "Ready, Raven?" I nod mutely, afraid, and yet eager. She threw her head back and howled along with Shadowrage, their voices blending into one song, a song of destruction, death, and darkness. I shiver and scan the area for Hiltz.

Irvine leaped forward in the siax. Two gold boosters extended out of the side of the wolf, and it disappears. Irvine, running in a line across the plain, glanced to the side. The wolf was easily keeping up, the boosters were extended but not firing. He suddenly heard Astarael yell, "Hit the button, Raven!" The boosters powered up and she shot off, so fast that nothing could see her. Irvine skidded to a stop, looking frantically around, but knowing that he was dead. "Where are you!" A black blur of wind slipped through the crack in the rocks before bounding upward into the air. " Right above you." He looked up, and saw the wolf coming down in all it's fury, the golden eyes smoldering like the flames of hell. The siax crashed to earth, it's body crumpled like so much tin foil. The cockpit, however, was intact. Irvine sat there, shocked. She hadn't killed him! Why? Before, she would have smashed the cockpit and killed the pilot. Thomas ran forward in his clumsy dibison. Beak blipped a warning in his ear. The Wolf stood calmly, knowing that the clanky zoid could fire all day and not hit it. He fired a burn out and Shadowrage slipped sideways, so fast that it could not be seen. It extended the blades on the side and loped forward, slow enough to let them see and marvel at its awesome power. Thomas desperately fired off all his missles, trying to stop the incoming assault. Shadowrage dived underneath the missles and sliced through the bison's legs. The mighty zoid fell onto the ground, sparking and hissing.

"Hit the button, Raven!" I slammed down my hand on the button, milliseconds before we began our wild dash. The seat slid backwards and leaned down a bit. The landscape slipped into one long, changing blur. We ran toward a crack in the rocks and slipped through it. Suddenly, we were in the air, high above the siax. We fell, down, down, and crushed the siax's body. Then the blades opened, and we slashed through the bison's legs like tissue paper. :: How are you doing, Shadow?:: :This is great! This zoid is the best one I've seen!:

Van gaped, as The Wolf destroyed Irvine's and Thomas's zoids like they were models. "What can we do? There is no way to beat that, that thing!" " Don't worry, they're fine. You did notice the care I took in not destroying the cockpits, right?" Astarael said. "This wasn't even a challenge. I haven't met a pilot and zoid that could stand up to me in millennia. Unless you count Raven and the Liger Zero. So, I'm not going to destroy you. Farewell." They turned and ran off.

:: Shadow, what does it feel like to be merged with Shadowrage?:: : I can show you, if you like.: :Please.: My mind seems to swirl in a pit, and than it's there. I feel my legs loping underneath me, the weapons on my back, the breeze blowing across my metal skin. What?! My mind reels. This zoid is alive! It has a brain. It thinks, speaks, is sentient and self- aware! But most of all, the power! The body humming with deadly energy, the fibers that make up the muscles tensing, the deadly, explosive, hungry, power!