Okay, we're now on to chapter 6. I'm not sure if there will be any more major plot twists but I am planning to include some characters from the series. I hope you're enjoying my story thus far. Please review.

Section 2

Chapter 6

            The night had gone by slowly, with no one getting a lot of sleep. Everyone came down to the living room at some time during the night until, around two in the morning when Lyle came down, an unexpected team meeting was called. For a while no one wanted to speak, they just sat there trying to read each other's expressions. It was going to be a long night…

            "Rayne…" Gin looked down at the ground as she spoke. "I'm pretty sure your brother's going to return." Rayne merely nodded. Lyle was the next to speak.

            "What're we going to do until they show up, sleep in our zoids? They might show up tomorrow or it might not be until next week. We don't have any idea. So what're we going to do?" The team captain grimaced lightly as she leaned back in her seat and looked up to the ceiling.

            "I don't know. Saix is out of commission and I haven't even tried to pilot Sworder yet-"

            "You're already using a nickname for it…"

            "Shut up, Lyle. It's going to be up to you two."

            "You can pilot the Storm Sworder as soon as tomorrow. Its controls aren't that different from the Lightning Saix's and the force of lift off and landing isn't any worse than going full speed in your other zoid." Gin explained, standing in front of the younger woman. "In fact, you might as well learn to pilot it tomorrow. We don't have the parts to fix the Saix and we can't go out to get some until we're sure that they won't be returning." The light from the two moons shone through the blinds on the window and illuminated the small room. Rayne rolled over to lie on her side and sighed in defeat.

            "Alright. I'll try it tomorrow. We should get some sleep. I'm going to stay here in the living room, in case they come back in the middle of the night." Lyle and Gin nodded and Lyle walked over and laid a reassuring hand on Rayne's shoulder.

            "Rayne, if you want I'll wake up at like six to let you get some sleep before you try to pilot Sworder."

            "I'll be fine… but… thanks…"  Lyle and Gin left to their own rooms while Rayne prepared for a sleepless night.

            The newly risen sun shone through the same window that had, only hours before, harbored the light of two moons. Rayne flipped over uneasily as she attempted to get comfortable on the couch. She opened her eyes slowly, realizing that she had failed to maintain a vigil of the hanger during the night. She practically flew off of the couch and into the hanger, sighing in relief when she saw all four zoids still in their respective places. Gin and Lyle came down at the same time, about an hour after Rayne woke up, to find warm tea and biscuits already made and waiting. They ate quickly and quietly and were nearly finished by the time Rayne walked into the kitchen with uncooked bacon and eggs from the store. She glanced around at her partners and walked over to the stove, turning on the burners and putting the bacon in one and the eggs in another.

            "I didn't know you could cook!" Lyle said, smiling arrogantly. Rayne turned around to face him.

            "I was living alone in this base before I met you or Ryan in that tournament, remember?"

            "Why? I mean… Why were you alone and for how long?"

            "I was alone for about… Let's see. I'm eighteen now… I was… Hm… About eight years."

            "Eight years?! Are you serious?!" Rayne nodded and turned back to her cooking. "But why would you want to be alone for eight years?"

            "I didn't have a choice. My parents died when I was ten, or at least I'm pretty sure they did. We were separated when a zoid battle got out of hand and the city we were in started taking damage. I assume they died because they didn't come looking for me or my brother, who was with me. My brother and I didn't get along even back then, and he told me he didn't want to take care of some crybaby so he left. Some people took me in for a while. They were part of a zoid team and at first I appreciated having somewhere to stay. But I got annoyed by those people constantly pestering me about learning to pilot a zoid. Now that I'm older I realize why they wanted me to, but back then I didn't want to bother. They had me learn on a Lightning Saix and I grasped the concepts of piloting pretty quickly. Eventually I ran away with Saix and I found this place abandoned. It took a while but I earned enough money from winning some competitions to fix this place up fairly well. It wasn't until I won the Ace Tournament and met you and Ryan that I had enough to actually take extremely good care of Saix, so I can pilot it fairly well if it's damaged. But it's too damaged for me to pilot now. Listen to me; I'm getting off the subject. But yeah, that's why I was alone for eight years." Lyle and Gun listened to her story patiently.  By the time Rayne was done both the bacon and eggs were cooked. She put them both on plates and put them on the table, seating herself and grabbing the last biscuit to munch on.

            "Why didn't you tell us?" Gin didn't want to intrude, but it would have been a lot easier to understand the level of hate between Rayne and Sai.

            "You never asked, and I pushed it out of my mind long ago. I hadn't seen Sai in seven years before the Ace Tournament and not very often since. It never occurred to me that anyone would really want to know about my past."

            An explosion brought everyone to the present and, though they had expected it, it caught them slightly off guard.

            "They're back," Lyle stood up and began running to the hanger but shots fired from a zoid blasted down the windows in the living room, halting the advances of the worried pilot. Rayne and Gin were now beside him. While Rayne checked to see if the enemy zoid was still nearby the window, Gin looked over Lyle and worried over glass shards embedded in his arm from the shattered window. From her vantage point, Rayne spotted the Whale King from before flying over head and she also saw, much to her dismay, all three zoids from the Crimson Team running along below it.

            "Lyle, Gin! Now's our chance! Can you get to the hanger and into your zoids?" Though her entire statement was more of a demand than a question, there was still the hint of worry in her tone. She jogged over to them as they nodded and she grinned at their response as she turned to head to the hanger.

            "Rayne!" The younger woman turned to look at Gin, who was supporting Lyle with her shoulder. She waited for the rest of the woman's sentence. "Use Sworder. Trust me; it'll come in handy against your brother's Terrace." Rayne nodded quickly as she continued into the hanger. Sworder stood imposingly between her and Saix. Rayne walked over to it slowly and noticed that Gin had painted something on the side. She smirked lightly to herself as she ran her fingers over the Ace of Spades emblem. She looked over at the Gunsniper that stood between Sworder and the Hell Cat Gin piloted. She smiled as she noticed the painting on its side.

            'Why didn't I notice this before?' she asked herself in wonder. 'Gin knows a lot more than she lets on…' She jumped up into the aerial zoid's cockpit and buckled herself in. She pulled a helmet from behind the seat and strapped it on. She tugged lightly at the black gloves she wore to keep from tearing up her hands in combat. She prepared to start the zoid but paused, looking at the palms of her gloved hands. Slowly she removed them to glance at the scars underneath. A terrible memory flooded back.

            "Momma?! Papa?! Where are you? Sai?!" Rayne ran frantically through the burning streets. She slowed to a jog as she approached a downed zoid. Before she could reach it she saw a small boy jump into the cockpit and begin punching buttons. "Sai? Sai?! Sai!" The older boy looked at her coldly from the zoid. Just as the girl made it to the cockpit the boy shouted at her.

            "Get out of here, you lousy crybaby! I'm not going to take care of you! Get lost! You heard me, beat it!"

            "Sai…? But where're mom and dad?" The boy closed the canopy and brought the zoid back up. It took her a moment, but Rayne recognized it as a Terrace Bomber. Just as the Terrace was about to take off, a D-Bison shot at it from across the city. Many of the bullets it had fired hit buildings and signs on the way but a few reached their target. Shards of broken metal and wires rained down on the frightened girl. She put her hands up to defend her face, the metal and circuitry slashing through her tender palms. Her agonized cry wasn't heard above the Terrace's lift off and the D-Bison's shots.

            A few shots from a renegade D-Bison was all it took for Rayne to had an everlasting fear of zoids that, until now, had been disguised as hatred toward her brother. It had taken her years to overcome it, and for a while, when she was ten, she refused to try to learn. Now, she realized, she hated him because he abandoned her, he left her, he didn't even care about their parents… But none of that would have happened if that battle hadn't gone awry. She smiled at the irony as she pulled her gloves back on, grabbing the controls of the Storm Sworder. But it was him, not that D-Bison, that stood outside and threatened her safety. She opened the hanger using the control in the zoid's cockpit and prepared for lift off.

            "Sworder…" At first there was no reply from the zoid but there eventually came a low rumbling from deep within its core. "It's my first time fighting with you. Let's try to be good partners. Leave the Rev Raptors to the Hell Cat and Gunsniper… Our target is the Terrace Bomber." Another rumbling growl signified the zoid's response. "Gin, Lyle?" She noticed that, by now, both of them had strapped themselves into their own zoids. "Do you know what to do?"

            "Yeah, of course."

            "Naturally, we take out the two lackeys while you get to be the hero and defeat Sai… Yep, got it." Rayne smiled at the hint of jealousy in Lyle's voice, though he tried to hide it.

            "I'll let you do it next time, I promise."

            "Hm, no you won't. Alas, I suppose some promises are made to be broken…" Again she smiled as Lyle and Gin raced out of the hanger. The enemy was ready for them and countered with a magnificent show of skill. Sai stood back and watched the battle unfold.

            'Where is she? Rayne! Come out and fight!' he thought, flipping the cover of his "fire" button up and down.

            "It seems as though my little sister has decided not to fight… What a coward. I mean she isn't even brave enough to-"

            "Oh shut-up, hearts!" Sai looked towards then hanger in time to see the Storm Sworder lift off into the air. He smirked lightly as he prodded the controls of the Terrace which raced into the sky after the other zoid.

            "A new zoid? Saix not good enough?" Rayne kept her mouth shut, though her blood was boiling in anger.

            "You've had that Terrace for a while… How long has it been? Eight years?" Sai balked as he recalled that day.

            "I guess… What does it matter?"

            "I could have died, Sai, because you were selfish and didn't want to take care of a crybaby like me. Now look at how things have unfolded… You're ranked fourth out of hundreds of zoid pilots that competed in the Ace Tournament. You are revered by many and hailed as an ultimate zoid warrior. But who's one of the three who upstaged you, Sai? Your crybaby sister."

            "Shut up, Rayne!"

            "No, Sai. You have to hear me out because it's time you heard the truth. All of this is a result of that horrible battle that could have destroyed our parents… but all you think about is the glory you lost at a single tournament. You're pitiful, Sai. Get out of here. I'm not going to take care of you. You heard me, beat it." Sai didn't like in when people threw his words back at him. He was seething with rage and, without thinking, he fired upon his sibling. In his rage he was careless, he didn't take aim, but it wouldn't have mattered if he did. Because by the time the shots he fired reached the area where Sworder flew, the aerial zoid was three feet ahead and by the time Sai realized his mistake, his sister had upstaged him again and was the one doing the chasing. "Sai, letting your anger control you won't do you any good! I can not force you to realize what you've done to yourself; I can only show you the surface. You have to dive deeper. Think about this on your way down."

            Sworder extended its blades without Rayne putting in a conscious command. Then the thrusters fired up and the Storm Sworder began gaining on the Terrace. Sai looked down at the ground. His team was no more than unmoving dots now. They had been beaten and Lyle and Gin watched the battle above with anxiety and fear, but there was always that hope that, given the right reason, could evolve into a burning chance. That spark of hope shone brighter than the fear that showed in their expressions. Though there was always a chance of the opposite, they knew that Rayne had Sai beaten.

            And she did.

            Sworder flew directly into the Terrace's wing, slicing it clean off. Without a wing the aerial zoid was incapable of flight. It plummeted towards the solid ground at an alarming rate. It was three hundred meters up, two hundred, one hundred, fifty, forty… Its fall was broken by the claw of the Whale King as it plucked the critically damaged zoid right out of the sky. Two other claws were dragging up the Rev Raptors. The battle was over. Rayne had beaten Sai.

            Rayne plopped herself down on the couch vaguely aware of the glass shards cutting into her arms and legs. Gin walked in, exhausted, and Lyle followed with a tired grin on his face.

            "We beat them… Finally…"

            "I'm pretty sure they won't be returning for a while. Definitely not tonight. Anyone up for a meal at the After Battle Eatery?" Gin smiled hopefully. Lyle nodded quickly but Rayne was less sure as she nodded her consent. They left a half an hour later and arrived fifteen minutes after that. They entered to the familiar sounds of talking people and cooking food. The smells were as inviting as the prospect of a moment without Sai breathing down their backs. They had taken a few steps before someone called out, halting them all.

            "Hey, Ace Team!"

Whoo, long chapter… My hand hurts now. Anyway, I didn't manage to include any characters from the series but I am definitely sure I'm going to get to that next chapter. I tried to incorporate a flashback and, in case you didn't figure it out by both the text clues and the change in text, it was in italics. Okay, please review. Also, any suggestions/hints/comments/criticism is welcome. Thanks for reading my story.