Here I am, back again for Chapter 9! Since the last chapter was so dull, I'm going to make this one more exciting! Yes, though Zi is a long way away from Earth, the constellations are the same. Sort of an AU thing.

-----------------------------
Last time on "ZOIDs: Futile Ambition"

Rhodry pressed a few buttons on her IBATU, and a white Shadowfox appeared on the scene. "I'll use its fog dischargers to obscure myself, to keep Shifter from finding me alone. I'll be taking the Kanara Canyon Pass... it's a treacherous route, so you guys take the long way around. Only my Shadowfox has the agility to make it through."

With a short fox-bark, the white ZOID took off, leaving three ZOIDs, three Organoids, and two rivals.
------------------------------

Chapter IX - Flight of the Fox

The Kanara Canyon Pass. Few people dared take the treacherous path through the canyon... fewer still made it out alive. It was a long trail that had a reputation for landslides that had claimed the lives of many powerful ZOIDs. Now, people only entered Kanara Canyon Pass if they had no choice, or had a very swift and agile ZOID.

A rumble filled the canyon as several rocks plummeted from the top. A white Shadowfox neatly darted below the landslide, managing to avoid all but a few pebbles.

"A Shadowfox... how fitting for a graceful yet sly human such as yourself." A strange ZOID watched the other dart underneath the landslide before burrowing into the ground and following the fox.

Rhodry kept looking all around her, praying Shifter wouldn't find her here... or that he planned on leaving her to the dangerous road ahead of her. After all, with the Pass' reputation, Rhodry might be eliminated from the game right here.

"He must be letting the Pass claim my life instead... won't he be surprised when I come through unscathed?" Rhodry smiled, relaxing her guard.

The ground beneath the Shadowfox's feet began to swirl. The fox's left front paw began to sink in the sand. Leaping backward before the sandy whirlpool could claim the Shadowfox, Rhodry stared at the vortex, aware of her ZOID roaring a challenge.

"Shadowfox? There's something down there... and knowing Shifter, it's no pushover." Rhodry aimed all of the Shadowfox's highly-advanced sensors on the whirlpool, but was unable to find anything. Undaunted, Rhodry turned her own senses to it, using her powers as an ancient Zoidian to learn what the whirlpool's depths concealed.

A cold and sinister presence, a mindless evil whose only thought was to annihilate. This was clearly not Shifter... it lacked the ruthless intelligence and mocking confidence. The 'scent' was unpleasantly familiar.

"DEATHSTINGER!!!" Rhodry screamed, and not a second too soon, for at that very same moment, the blue and red Sea Scorpion-type ZOID appeared from the vortex of sand.

The Shadowfox took a step forward, snarling. Rhodry seized the controls and fought to turn the ZOID around. "RUN, Shadowfox! We can't fight this! Remember, we couldn't defeat a powered-down Genobreaker with both the Konig Wolf and Diloforce together!"

The Shadowfox turned around and was about to run when the Deathstinger reached out with a claw and caught the Fox in a crushing grip. The Shadowfox squirmed helplessly as the Deathstinger's grip tightened. Klaxons went off inside the cockpit and the Deathstinger threw the Fox aside.

"Behold! My greatest creation is reborn!" A red Organoid appeared atop the Deathstinger. "Yes, I am... or was... Ambient. Through this form, I killed Raven's parents, I broke Hilz's spirit until he became my servant, and I created the Deathstinger and set it loose upon Zi. The people believed that Hilz was the one doing all of the damage... when in fact it was me, acting through Hilz. Do you want to know how I created the Deathstinger?"

The Shadowfox struggled to its feet, already heavily damaged. Rhodry sneered, "No, but I'm sure you'll tell me anyway."

"I took a star down from the sky.. a star in the constellation you call Scorpius... the star, I believe, was named Antares. I chose it because of its lovely red color... the color of blood and anger. From Antares, I formed the Deathstinger... its colors were chosen as red (for the star's color), and blue (for the color of the sky in which it was seen). The Deathsaurer was from a star in the constellation Draco, much like my latest creation, Thuban. The Deathsaurer, however, was created from the star Eltanin... the brightest star in said constellation. Since I didn't want a dragon... I created the Deathsaurer... a Tyrannosaurus-type ZOID that spewed deadly fire like a dragon." Shifter sounded very proud of himself, as well he should be. For a creature who loved destruction, the chaos and havoc his 'children' had created would make a 'parent' very proud.

The Deathstinger took a menacing step forward, raising its tail to fire a Charged Particle Beam. Seeing the ZOIDs intentions, Shifter-Ambient raised a claw.

"Don't kill her! At least, not like that... I want her to watch her ZOID suffer... then I want to kill her myself. Troublemakers must be dealt with as soon as possible, before they cause real damage. Especially troublemakers like you..." Shifter smirked evilly, "I had hoped to keep you alive until all life on Zi was annihilated, but you've become far too much of a thorn in my side... I shall relish your demise."

"Relish?" Rhodry smiled mockingly, "Well, first you'll have to 'ketchup'!"

With that, the Shadowfox took off running, dense white fog pouring out from the dischargers along its body. Shifter howled in frustration and screamed for the Deathstinger to give chase.

"Go, Shadowfox... once we're out of the canyon, we can get help from the others. We're much faster than a Deathstinger." Rhodry urged her ZOID onward, praying that it wouldn't let her down.

The end of the canyon was in sight; an opening in the winding road that showed blue sky and wide open space. Her hope of survival renewed by that crack of blue that no longer seemed so distant, Rhodry and the Shadowfox seemed to find new strength, the ZOID running as never before.

The crack seemed to grow larger as the partners approached, and Rhodry kept her gaze locked on the freedom beyond. Suddenly, the light from the outside was cut off as something blocked the exit.

"Landslide!" The Shadowfox cried out.

"No..." Rhodry leaned back in her seat and took her hands off of the controls in total surrender.

"Don't give up, Rhodry! I can climb it!" The Shadowfox urged his pilot, "Please, let me try! We can't give up now, not when we're this close!"

"You don't understand, Fox." Rhodry said, looking up to the top of the viewscreen. "That's no landslide................. it's a Deathsaurer."

------------------------------------------------

Hey there! Sorry about this chapter being so short, but I reached this part and thought it would be great to put a cliffhanger here! Don't you just hate me? Well, you just worry about reviewing and I'll worry about how Rhodry and the Shadowfox will get out of this situation.