I'm really sorry that I haven't written this for a while. I had a really hard time coming up with enough stuff to fill it, but I think I have a good idea as to how this chapter will go. I hope you enjoy it, so with no further adieu, here's the 23rd chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Zoids, only the characters I create and this fic.
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"Is everyone ready to go?" asked Bit. It was morning now and it didn't look like anyone had slept well last night, but nonetheless, they were all wide-awake and ready. They were going to head out as soon as they got everyone together.
"I think so," said Leon. They were all standing around in the hanger and Bit was already in the cockpit of the Liger Zero. Naiomi glanced around a little more.
"Hey, where's Leena?" she asked. This time, everyone looked around.
"She was here a minute ago," said Jamie.
"Will someone go find her?" asked Bit.
"I will," responded Naiomi. She turned around and walked out the door. Miharu walked over to where Taban was standing.
"You did remember to call the ZBC and tell them about this, didn't you?" she asked him.
"Yeah, I remembered. I don't know when they'll arrive though. I gave them the coordinates as to where we would be," responded Taban.
"So, will they be there when we get there?"
"I don't know. They said they'd come, but they didn't say when. Let's just hope they make it in time though. We'll probably need the backup."
"Do you really believe what you said though? You know, the suicide thing?" Taban just looked down.
"I'd like to think I'm wrong, but there isn't much hope in success, but I do have faith that we can pull it off. This team has been through a lot of ordeals and they always seem to manage to make it out all right, but this time it's different. We're up against one of us and to make matters worse, he's the only one like us with an ultimate X. I just don't know. I'd like to think we can do it, but I'm not about to get my hopes up."
"What about Risai?"
"I still want to save her, but she may be too far gone now. He most likely brainwashed her again. I don't think he'd kill her, not when they have a battle like this to go into."
"You sure you can do this?"
"I don't have much of a choice, now do I?" They both just stared up at their zoids while waiting for Naiomi and Leena to return.
*****
"Thank you. You remember the coordinates, right?" said Leena. There was a small moment of silence. "That's good. Thanks again." Leena turned off the videophone and sighed. "That's all of them. I should probably get to the hanger now. Maybe by changing just this one thing I can prevent Bit from dying. It's worked before." Leena walked out of the room but ran into someone while doing so.
"There you are," said Naiomi. "We've been waiting for you. Everyone's ready to go."
"Sorry, I got caught up in something." Leena had a distant look on her face.
"Are you alright?" asked Naiomi.
"What? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about this battle, that's all."
"Okay, well, we should get going now. They're all waiting."
"Okay." Naiomi and Leena walked down the halls and back towards the hanger. Everyone turned to them as they entered the area.
"Good, now that everyone's here, let's get going," said Taban. They all nodded and got into their zoids. Each one of them was nervous, hoping that somehow they'd all make it back to this base.
"You know," started Rick. He had opened up a com-link between his two teammates. "Even though I was really excited about this and I wanted to go into this battle, I'm actually a little scared now."
"I know what you mean. I don't think that there's anyone in our little group who isn't scared about this battle. Especially since it is like a suicide mission," said Meiyuu.
"Don't say that," said Mattei. "I think we can do this. We just have to outsmart them, that's all. I believe we can do it. Don't worry, we'll all make it out of this and then we'll come back here to celebrate with everyone."
"Yeah…I hope you're right, but in case something goes wrong, I want you guys to know that it's been fun," said Rick.
"What's with the one eighty? You're usually so optimistic," said Meiyuu. "Come on, don't do this. We're all gonna make it out together. We have to…"
"She's right. We have to win this, and we're all gonna make it out together, you'll see."
"Yeah…" said Rick as his voice trailed off. 'I hope so,' he thought to himself. They all kept going, trudging through the desert, hoping that they would get there first and have the upper hand. They finally reached the area and luckily, they had made it there first. The desert sun blazed above them and the wind would pick up some dust occasionally.
"Are you sure this is a good place to be? What if they take a different route, or what if they've already passed through here?" questioned Bit.
"They couldn't have, otherwise we would have known about it. That's the only strait path from their base to your base," said Taban.
"We had to make sure that we'd get here first," said Miharu. "The whole plan relies on us being able to take them by surprise. Everyone, get ready."
"Roger," they all said. Naiomi took her sniping spot on some nearby cliffs and awaited the enemy. The other zoids spread out and covered a wide area. Some hid behind rocks, since they were ordered to. The enemy could soon be seen, making their way through the desert and onward towards the awaiting teams. Leena looked to her radar, which was detecting something approaching. 'Déjà vu,' thought Leena.
"Here they come," she said.
"I'm detecting 2 enemy zoids, no wait…four…wait…it's…uh, over 200 units!" said Miharu. They were all panicking.
"Well this can't be good," said Taban as he slouched a little in his chair. A com-link popped up on his screen revealing a very angry Bit.
"TABAN! You said there were only going to be 4 zoids!" he yelled.
"I'm aware of that," responded Taban.
"What do we do now?" asked Leon.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking. Well, we don't have much of a choice, do we? We have to take care of their backup units first and then we go after the others."
"So, what's the plan?" asked Jamie.
"Well…first we charge in," said Taban.
"And then what?" asked Leon.
"Then…I have no idea." Everyone would have facefaulted if they hadn't been strapped into their zoids.
"They're coming," said Leena. She hadn't seen this part, so she wasn't sure what to expect. Somehow, they'd make it out, but she wanted to make sure. Her dreams had ways of changing, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. 'I just hope I made the right decision,' she thought to herself.
"Well, let's go," said Bit. They all began to charge towards the enemy zoids, except for Naiomi, who kept her sniping spot. "It's a good thing we brought the Hover Cargo with," said Bit. "This way, I'll be able to change armor units and we can reload our ammo if we run out."
"Yeah, it was a good idea," said Brad. "Now maybe we should concentrate on this battle."
"Definitely." They were now really close to the enemy. Bit seemed to be thinking about something, and then an idea hit him. Liger stopped running and when that happened, the rest of them stopped as well.
"What's up Bit?" asked Rick.
"I have an idea. Why don't I just use the Panzer unit? I could take out all of those zoids and then we wouldn't have to waist our strength on these backups."
"That's actually a good idea," said Brad.
"But we didn't bring with any extra ammo for the Panzer. If we needed it later on, we wouldn't be able to use it," said Jamie.
"I know that, but we gotta do something. I'm going." Bit and the Liger were about to turn around when a barrage of bullets hit the side of the Liger, causing him to topple over. "Darn it! I don't think I can make it back now. They're too close." Just then, some stray bullets came flying from behind them, taking out a lot of the enemy zoids.
"Where's that shelling coming from?" asked Brad. Bit was wondering the same thing. Then, a com-link popped up on their screens, revealing a very familiar face.
"We thought you could use some help. Hope you don't mind?" he said.
"Jack?" questioned Bit.
"Leena called and asked us to come help. Looks like you guys could use it," said Kelly Tasker.
"Thanks."
"Think nothing of it," said Chris.
"I hope you guys don't mind, but I called for some reinforcements," said Leena.
"Good thinking," said Miharu. "This way, we can concentrate on our plan."
"Can they really handle all these zoids on their own?" asked Jamie.
"No, that's why we're here," came another familiar voice. A well-equipped Storm Sworder flew through the air and on the ground, the Elephander was coming as well.
"Pierce and Stoler?" questioned Bit. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We got a call from Leena as well, saying that you guys needed some help, so here we are," said Stoler.
"We really appreciate this," said Jamie.
"It's no problem at all," responded Pierce. The Lightning team was now in view as well as they ran past the Blitz team and their friends.
"Just let us handle this," said Jack.
"You got it," said Bit. Taban opened a private connection with Leena, making sure that the others couldn't hear.
"Nice call Leena," said Taban.
"Thanks," she replied.
"Was it a dream?"
"Yeah…but I don't know too much about this battle and all. I only saw glimpses."
"So you knew about the 200 backup troops?"
"Yeah."
"Well, it was a good call. Now all we have to do is lure our enemy away and then we can put our plan into action."
"Right." They shut off the private link and reopened the normal one.
"Alright everyone, listen up. We're gonna lure our enemy away and then we'll put our plan into action. Move back to the point we started at and then hopefully, they'll follow us," said Taban.
"Roger," they all said. They began withdrawing back to where Naiomi was still stationed. Luckily, the only zoids that followed them back were the Neo Breaker, the Genosaur, the black Blade Liger, and the Rector. Now they could settle this once and for all.
"Alright everyone, they followed us. Let's put our plan into action," said Taban.
"You got it," said Bit. They all stopped and anxiously awaited as their enemy grew closer, and it looked like the final battle had started.
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IMPORTANT!!! I'm sorry about this, but there will actually be two more chapters after this. I got to thinking and realized how long this chapter already was and just how much more I'd have to write, so I'm breaking it up into two chapters, so there will actually be 25 when I'm done, which is what I wanted in the first place. Sorry about that, but I can't write that much at once. Hope you guys understand. Well, I promise to get the next chapter up sooner than I did this one. I've been watching Initial D with my uncle and my cousins came over not that long ago. We went to Valley Fair (if you don't know what it is, well, it's an amusement park.) It's also the place where I realized a year ago that I shouldn't get cocky. Bad memories, even though you'd probably laugh at me if you knew what happened. Well, gotta go.
Audi^.^