~3~

   Nightfalcon walked out onto the competition field, followed by Raven, who was still in a bit of a shock. She climbed up into the cockpit of the Thunderhawk. Raven did the same with the Geno.  In both of the Zoids, the pilots were watching a comlink. Van was speaking to them.

"Now listen, you two. I have created a ground course for Raven, and an air course for Nightfalcon. They are exactly the same, except with different target zoids, I guess. This is based on how precise your sights are aimed, and also at how well you and your Zoid cooperate.  There will be … aww, well, you'll see soon enough. I don't want to drone on forever…"

"You already are, Van, so shut up and let us go." Raven looked a bit irritable. Just a bit. Then Nightfalcon popped up onto a comlink in Raven's face.

"Is that any way to speak to a superior officer?" She looked like she was kidding, and she was.

"Van Fahrenheit, Leader of the Guardian Force, I'm sorry, LIEUTENANT." Raven was smirking violently.

"Better…" Raven heard Nightfalcon say as Van started to blow up on Raven. Raven turned the comlink off. Then Fiona popped up in a new window.

"I think I'll take over for Van… I'm gonna be the timer and scorer. I mean, look at the guy…" the comlink was panned over to show Van on the ground screaming something about Mercury, thermometers... apparently something caused by Raven's insult. Raven and Nightfalcon both cracked up laughing at the same exact time. Fiona was a bit bemused, but she got stars in her eyes and sighed.

"What?" Both Raven and Nightfalcon looked at Fiona and got an odd look on their faces.

"Nothing…" Raven and Nightfalcon face faltered. Fiona was pushed aside and Irvine appeared on the screen.

"This is my competition now. Get ready to mobilize. I'm not going to screw around like those two." He thrusted a thumb at Van and Fiona who were on the floor, Van rocking, Fiona with huge stars in her eyes muttering about something or other…

"And when I say 'Go', you two will see your first targets. Try to make it to the goal at the opposite end of the course. I will time you. Points will be given for time and accuracy. Whoever has the most points wins. Ready… GO!" The Thunderhawk and Genobreaker both roared and took off. They shot through the course like bullets. Nobody even saw the zoids get hit; it happened so fast they flew then fell. Or in Raven's case, ran and fell. Raven was pushing the Geno to maximum output, and Nightfalcon was keeping an incredible pace. She hit all the targets with absolute perfection; so did Raven. She activated her blades and soared through the line of Redlers; he shot down all the Command Wolves and Rev Raptors in his line. The goal loomed up ahead of both of the pilots, taunting them. Raven was concentrating on Nightfalcon because he thought she was a little ahead of him. And because of that girl, he missed a target, and finished faster, but lost points for the Zoid that was left.

   The cockpit of the Thunderhawk opened, revealing a very enthusiastic female pilot. She took her helmet off, and flew down off the giant bird zoid; falling so hard she nearly broke her ankle from the recoil. She wasn't very coordinated for an 18-year old. The Geno's cockpit opened, the seat was lowered, and Raven stood up. He looked down at Nightfalcon and laughed. She was partying over there. He decided he would join. He hopped down, not even stumbling, and ran over to her.

"That was amazing! Nobody's ever even been able to keep up to me before! And you almost beat me!" He was totally astonished at how good a Zoid pilot this girl was.

   Irvine came running out, and he looked dumbfounded.

"How… how did you…" He looked at the stopwatch. "Raven: 45.2 seconds. Nightfalcon: 45.7 seconds… you guys were AMAZING!! You destroyed 30 Zoids and maneuvered through a battlefield in less than 50 seconds!! WOW!" Irvine was blabbering on, and on, and on… you get the idea…

"Irvine…" Nightfalcon tried, unsuccessfully.

"IRVINE!" Raven yelled. That shut him up for a minute. "Nightfalcon has a question." Irvine looked at Nightfalcon.

"Who won?" was the simple question that escaped her lips.

"Uhh… oh, right… points… Raven, you missed a Rev Raptor, so points will be taken away for that. Nightfalcon, you finished .5 seconds behind Raven, so points will be taken for that… oh…" Irvine's face fell into utter confusion. " It's a dead tie…" Raven and Nightfalcon looked at each other with their jaws dropped. Nightfalcon was the first to recover. She held out her hand in a very sportsman-like (or in this case, sportswoman-like) manner. "Good match, Raven." She said softly, with a smile teasing her lips.

"Yeah. That was awesome. Thanks for the entertainment. It'll hold me over for a while." He shook her hand, and looked into her eyes… He saw himself. And that's all he saw.