Rise of Power

   Prozen smiled as he entered the Imperial Palace, his conquest was almost complete and all that remained was the destruction of the Imperial and Republic army. "Tell me Minister, what are you going to do about the remaining armies."

   Tom smiled, he enjoyed being called minister. "There forces are making a move sir. We have four regiments coming are way."

   Prozen turned and smiled. "There chances."

   "None." Tom pointed out a huge window, aiming at the black GenoBreaker Raven had owned until Hilz had taken it. "Three land divisions and one air born division."

   "Hilz lost to Van because of his foolish overconfidence, I suggest you don't follow in his footsteps." Prozen walked over to the throne and took a seat. "Get me the Jade River Base, I want Rudolph to see the death of his Empire."

   Tom bowed and walked out. After leaving the room he turned to a huge, chubby man with a beard. "Jim, order the Whale Kings to land."

   Jim looked at him. "Then we won't have an air defense, and they have a bomber regiment coming."

   "I want them used as fortresses, they can use much more firepower when grounded." Tom watched as Jim still wasn't convinced. "Remember, we still hold their missile platforms and anti-air weapons." Tom gave a small smirk. "Its Van that concerns me, Hilz blew it and Raven hasn't caught up with him yet."

   "Damn!" Jim said, resting his massive arm against the wall. "Van is good, I know that."

   Tom nodded. "I want you to take the GenoBreaker."

   Jim looked back up and smiled. "You sure?"

   "Next to me your the best pilot we have. Take it and use."

   "Yes sir." Jim said, walking away quickly.

   "What's there ETA?" Kruger asked, taking a seat in front of a map.

   "90 minutes." Fiona replied instantly.

   "This is the largest assault we have ever pulled off." Kruger cupped his hand and rested his chin on it. The conference room was buzzing with life, tension was high and everyone was nervous. This was one of the biggest battles ever, and if they lost they had nowhere to run and nothing to fight back with.

   Moonbay walked in the room and slowly walked to Fiona, handing her a cup of tea. "Nervous.' She asked softly.

   Fiona took the cup and smelled the sweet smell of the warm tea. "Very." Fiona's voice was soft and tense, you could easily tell she was nervous.

   Moonbay smiled. "I think all of us are." She took a sip, then looked back at Fiona. "But what can we do, this is something they have to do."

   "I know, I just wish it would end." Fiona closed her eyes, remembering the few peaceful times she had in her life with Van. "I just wish all this evil would go away."

   "Well at least we know they can take care of themselves. I know they'll come back." Moonbay turned around, leaving Fiona to her work and thoughts.

   "Sir, we are receiving a transmission!" O'Connell shouted, pressing a button to bring the message into view.

   Fiona looked up, Prozen appearing.

   "Prozen!" Rudolph shouted. "You are going to pay for this."

  Prozen laughed. "No my Emperor, I will win. And I will take out the army you dare to challenge me with."

  "How did he know about are forces?" Kruger was shocked, he had done everything he knew, use every trick that could be done to hide the army and keep it undercover.

  "I have many ways of finding out." Prozen gave the entire room and evil smile. "You are now sending your sending your forces into a trap, one they will not escape from. And do not try contacting them, I have scrambled all of your communications."

  "Your bluffing Prozen!" Hermann shouted.

  "Am I colonel? Then I suppose we shall see." Prozen turned his attention to Rudolph. "As of now Emperor." His voice was sarcastic. "I am in command of the Empire, as soon as your army falls I will rule this planet." He closed his eyes and smiled. "And then with Zoid Eve I will rule the universe."

   "Prozen!" Rudolph screamed. "I will make sure you never breathe another breath of air!"

   "Will you. Well Rudolph, I suppose we shall see. Yes, we shall see in only one hour." The screen blacked out.

   Kruger took a deep breath, trying to understand what went wrong. "Colonel Hermann."

   "Yes sir." Hermann ran up to him.

   "Take a Terrace, try to catch up with them before it's to late." Kruger closed his eyes.

   Hermann nodded and ran off quickly, bumping in

   "Damnit!" Kruger yelled. The room had grown silent after hearing the threat Prozen had made.

   The silence made it easy for Fiona to think, the threats he made and the plan he had. But she wasn't as worried as she should be. Van could take care of himself even in the worst situations, and she knew that. And as for Zoid Eve, she had a feeling Prozen would never get a chance to see her again.

   Raven stood on top of the cliff, looking down at the Imperial Palace. The city around it glowed in the night sky, fire and smoke mixed with the lights of houses and buildings made it brighter then the two moons above. The clear night sky and cool air was relaxing and peaceful, the exact opposite of emotions. "Van will be coming here soon Shadow." Raven smiled. "Then we will finish exactly what we started." He listened as Shadow gave a low growl, it seemed to Raven as if he was laughing. Raven looked back, the Berserk Fury standing tall, waiting for its chance to fight Van once again.

   "A fight for personal glory, one that was condoned centuries ago by Zoid Eve."

   Raven turned as he heard the voice, Jason and Phantom standing there in the nights shadow. Though Raven couldn't see his face, he knew Jason was smiling. "You have a lot of guts to come here to my face." Raven now turned his entire body, facing Jason who seemed to want Raven attack him.

   "You still don't understand." Jason stepped out of the shadows, coming into clear view of Raven. "I am the mortal form of God, Raven. I have power to defy those that cannot."

   Raven smiled. "You have a power, nothing else. After I kill Van, then I will kill you. Making sure neither of you torment me again."

   "Van Flyheight and Raven, the greatest rivalry this planet shall ever see. Yet if you want me to die, then you will have to suck in your pride and do what you despise. The Devil has been born Raven, you have a choice to accept it or fight it."

   "Drake told me the exact same thing, I know what I want." Raven turned back slowly, facing the city once again.

   Jason gave a silent laugh. "Very well, continue this dream. I shall step aside for now."

   Raven ignored the last thing Jason said, glad he was now gone. Raven looked at the horizon, watching as a massive army of Zoids slowly approached the city.

   "Ok, we have visual contact of the Palace." Van said, looking around for the Whale Kings that were supposed to be there air support. "Where are the Whale Kings at, Kruger said they had almost a dozen."

   "Who cares, it makes are life easier." Irvine replied.

   Van smiled and nodded. "Are you ready Karl?" Van said turning on the comm.

   "Just tell me when you are ready to attack. We will cover you." Karl said.

   Van switched the channel, watching as another man came onto the screen. "This is Lieutenant Van Flyheight of the Guardian Force, I am requesting permission to speak with the commander of the blue forces."

   "This is Commander Jake Valen of the Republic." Valen smiled. "Good to see you Flyheight."

   Van smiled back. "Same to you commander. Are your forces ready to attack?"

   "As ready as we will ever be I suppose. Where is the air division?"

   "Back a few miles, their waiting for us to begin before they start bombing runs."

   "Alright, give the command and we'll charge."

   Van took a deep breath and looked at the Lighting Saiex.

   "Now or never Van." Irvine told him, grasping the controls of his Zoid tightly.

   "Karl, Thomas. Open fire now" Van said, listening to the massive sounds of cannon shots and bullets rip through the air. He looked down, what few Zoids stood quickly fell to the ground. "Something isn't right, this army captured the capital."

   "Could have lost a lot of then during the battle." Irvine was trying to make the eerie situation seem slightly better.

   "Only one way to find out." Van pushed the throttle forward, sending the Zoid straight towards the city. His regiment quickly followed him into the city, Irvine keeping dead even with the Liger.

   Valen smiled as he to took charge, his regiment following him as well.

   Tom sat in his Zoid, arms folded as the loud pounding of the Zoids footsteps ran by overhead. He waited for them to stop, then reached for his controls. "Now!" He yelled, pushing his Zoid up through the coarse sand.

   "There coming up from the ground!" Thomas shouted, watching as hundreds of Zoids rose out of the ground. Opening fire, he did his best to shoot down the swarms of Hellcats and Guysacks.

   "They have us separated from Karl's regiment." Van said to himself, amazed at this tactic.

   "There not sleepers Van, meaning this isn't going to be as easy as we hoped." Irvine said, shooting down three Guysacks which stood in his path.

   Raven looked down, surprised at the move Prozen's forces had pulled off. "Shame none of them know how to use a Zoid." Raven's quickly lost the surprised look on his face and smiled.

   Van swerved in and out, watching his allies quickly fall to the deadly group led by Prozen. "Hang on Zeke." He said, slicing his blades through two Rev Raptors.

   Karl watched as the target reticule split into 12 different sights, opening fire and destroying each Zoid. "There's to many of them, I'm almost out of ammo."

   Thomas tried to maneuver past the Zoids, shooting them as fast as he could. "Damn, out of ammo." Thomas watched as a Guysack came into view. He lowered the head of the Dibision and charged it, its horns ripping through the Guysack. "Any ideas Van, they out number us at least 3 to 1."

   Van gritted his teeth as he shot down a few Hellcats. "We can't get out of here." Van went silent as he watched a few Zoids fall to a massive cannon shot. Turning his head, he looked at a few grounded Whale Kings. "They're using the Whale Kings like fortresses."

   "What!" Irvine yelled, trying to escape the chaotic fire happening all around. It only took his a few moments to spot the Whale Kings as well. "Damnit, these guys are serious!"

   "Is there any way to retreat!" Valen screamed out, his Command Wolf taking a beating from the intense fire.

   "No, I already looked." Van said, still shooting what little ammo he had left.

   Jim looked out at the battle from his GenoBreaker, waiting for his chance to get some action as well.

   Van listened as explosions began to pop up from all over the battleground. He smiled. "Its about time." Van charged out, taking down a few enemies with his blades.

   Tom looked up at the sky and smiled. "AA command." He said, holding down his comm. button as he did. "Fire."

   Karl watched as more then 50 large missiles rose from the desert sand, causing bright explosions in the air as they crashed into their targets. When the smoke and flames cleared, not one Zoid remained in the air.

   Van looked up, horrified at what had just happened. Every Storm Sworder, Raynos, and Terrace was gone.

   "This is madness!" Valen shouted, trying to avoid the enemies that just seemed to keep coming. "We have to got out of here!"

   "We cant!" Karl shouted back. "They have us surrounded!"

   Tom smiled, shooting down a Shield Liger and a few Godo's. "These pilots have hardly any skill what so ever." He was disappointed at how easily they were winning. "Jim, finish this now."

   Jim smiled as he activated his GenoBreaker, bringing from under the sand and rock.

   "A GenoBreaker!" Irvine shouted as it began to open fire at his Lighting Saiex. "Van! What the Hell are we supposed to do!"

   "I don't know!" Van shouted back, as he continued to slice through Zoids. "Zeke, we have to take out that GenoBreaker." He listened to his Organoid object to the order but Zeke didn't have much of a choice. Van looked to see what ammo he had left. "A few TTC shots, nothing else." He slammed a fist down on the console. "Now what?" He said quietly to himself.

   Jim set his Zoid up for another charged particle cannon blast, watching as it ripped through an entire platoon of Command Wolves and Godo's. "These pilots are nothing."

   Raven looked down, the Republic and Empire were losing badly now. Downed Zoids covered the sand now. Debris, fire, smoke, and bodies is what filled the battlefield now. The Republic and Empire had maybe 40 Zoids remaining compared to the 200 still held by Prozen, including a GenoBreaker. As much as Raven wanted to watch Van die, he wanted it to be at his hands, not Prozen's. He looked down at the Fury and smiled as he jumped down. "For once Van, Ill come and save you." Raven fastened the straps and closed the cockpit. "Shadow!" He yelled, his black Organoid quickly merging with the sleeping Fury, bringing it to life. "Now Van, let me show you true power." The Fury jumped up and quickly charged into the battlefield.

   Zack listened to the sound of guns and explosions, flashes of light glowed off in the distance. "Maybe I should have helped." He looked at John who brought him a bowl of soup.

   "Maybe, but we have something more important to worry about right now." John said running back and fetching a glass of water.

   "Not much point in defending a planet that's already destroyed." Zack picked up the spoon and took a bite of the soup, bits of chicken in it.

   "Yes there is because when that Tiger gets awakened then we are talking about universal Genocide. We may lose are home, but at least life will go on." John took a seat next to Zack. "From Van's point of view, what you did was an act of a coward. But what you did was exactly what you needed to do."

   Zack nodded wishing he could believe John. "Maybe." He took another bite of the soup, and turned his head as the doors to the front of the church opened. A blue Organoid holding a young girl in its arms walked in.

   "Specula." John said, rushing towards the Organoid. "Ryss"

   Zack looked back out the window. "What's wrong with her?" Zack asked.

   "Her face and body, it's all cut up." John felt for a pulse, feeling proved she was alive. "She's alive Zack."

    Zack closed her eyes. "Let her die John."

   "Zack are you mad, I'm not going to let her die."

   "You should." Zack stood up and looked at him. "She deserves to die."

   John ignored Zack and took the fragile body from the Organoids arms and taking it upstairs. "Zack help me will you." John said walking past Zack.

   Zack shook his head and just stood there.

   When John reached the top of the stairs he looked back down at Zack. "Damn you Zack, will you help her."

   Zack didn't even look up, he just walked away leaving John's sight.

   John knew he didn't have time to waste so he took her to his room and gently rested her on his bed. His ministers cloak now red from blood, just as Ryss was. Specula was now in the room as well, looking down at his master.

   Zack took another drink of water, watching as the battle raged on. He closed his eyes and tried to forget about everything, but it wasn't working.