Chapter XI: Family Ties

"This is even more confusing than it used to be."

Whee... more of my confusing story... if you have any questions, please feel free to ask in a review and I'll be happy to answer them (if I can). I think I've sorted everything out.

***

"Bit? I found your sister. I think."

Bit looked down at the comlink before him as the Liger Zero X to see Harry Champ staring back at him. They were traveling back to New Helic City, having stupidly neglected to tell either Spring, Sylvia, or anyone else. Robert's Spino Snapper followed as best it could.

"What..." asked Bit.

"Well, aren't you going to thank me?" joked Harry.

"Are you sure?!!"

"It's Kylie, right? Or is it Nanase, Kitai, or Rukki?"

"Y- yeah, it's Kylie...!" Bit smiled. He ignored the other names, except for Nanase. He knew that one well. Maybe Harry wasn't so bad after all. "Listen, I have something important to do right now, but meet me at New Helic City, okay?"

"Right!" cried Harry. The comlink closed.

"Bit?" asked Leena from behind him. "You okay?"

"Yeah..." sighed Bit. "I'm great."

"Was that Harry again?"

Bit nodded. "Right."

"What did he want?"

"I'll tell you later, we've got to get to the city and your dad first. Robert's counting on us to help him out, right?"

***

"Who are you?" asked Kokoro as she watched her new friend trying to get the Ultrasaurus to work. "And exactly how did I end up here if I was just in the Zoidian Guild's..."

'Their headquarters was built around the Ultrasaurus wreck," he said, "after the Deathsaurer was finally defeated. For the second time. Some of the equipment was still operational, like the comlink systems... Hey!" A spark flew out of the control panel. "Well, not anymore."

"Your name, I mean..."

"Which one?" he laughed uneasily.

"Err... your full name?"

"Sephiroth Adrian Donovan, err, Marron Altiel, at your service. I think that's it. Or close to it... Surnames, nicknames aliases... I have way to many."

"Huh?!!"

"My real name's Adrian Altiel, but in the Backdraft I used Adrian Donovan. After I left I used Sephiroth so they couldn't track me down. Marron was my mother's maiden name," explained Sephiroth quickly.

"Talk about a small world..."

"Whaddaya mean?" asked Sephiroth.

"My friend... Robert... his last name is Marron, or so it seems."

***

Dive into the mind...

"Let me get this straight," said Harry Champ as his comlink popped up on the Dibison's monitor. "You're real name is Kylie, but when you were with the Backdraft the only name you knew was Nanase, which is your mother's name...? Am I right so far?"

Kylie nodded silently. She decided to leave out the other, way more confusing part. she had no idea what was going on, exactly. If she wasn't human, wasn't organoid, and wasn't even really a human organoid as she had thought, then what was she?

"Right," continued Harry. "And Bit's your brother, and Faye was a friend you met when you were in the Backdraft." Another nod. "When you were in the Backdraft they were performing various experiments on children. Too 'create' the perfect Zoid pilot?" Nod. "Both you and Faye were experimented on?" Hesitation, but still a nod. "And if I heard right, there were others. Vega Obscura, Taro and Sayo Murata, Yoko Minobe, my deceased cousin Eira, Adrian Donovan, and someone else who you never really met." Solemn nod. "Hey! Don't you go crying on me-"

"Listen, you know pretty much all of it now, so let's just shut up and get to New Helic!" cried Kylie, not wanting to discuss it any longer.

"Okay, okay... sorry..."

It wasn't long before the city was in sight.

***

"DANG!!!!" The Orudios braced itself against the amazing power of the legendary Deathstinger. This was harder than Neos had expected. Who was the pilot...? For someone to have that much anger and still be able to control such a powerful Zoid... sheer skill. He had underestimated what the Deathstinger could do with someone who wasn't a Zoidian behind the controls. But how could he know that it wasn't a Zoidian? Just yesterday he or any of his comrades would have very willingly gotten into its cockpit.

The Deathstinger backed away quickly as the Orudios stood up, spreading its wings. It faltered and fell, struggling to remain standing.

"Neos!" shouted its pilot. "Tell me... how does it feel to be pushed around like this? How does it feel, knowing that you're not the most powerful Zoid pilot around?!! HA!!! No matter how long it takes, I'll prove that I'm not a weakling! I'm NOT too small to be dangerous!!!"

"I killed you," murmured Neos. "You're just a kid... I killed you... you're dead! You're only a dang human! No human could pilot a Zoid that well!!!"

"Aw... thanks."

"It wasn't a compliment. I'm not wasting my time here anymore." The Orudios turned around and began to trot away.

"Where the heck do you think you're going?!!" shouted Eira. "It doesn't matter how good of a Zoid pilot I am or what Zoid I acquire, does it?!! You'll never acknowledge the fact that I'm better than you!!! You'll never accept it!!!"

"I won't fight a kid," said Neos. The Orudios stopped momentarily. "I should be killing one of the Chosen, not you."

"How can he still not fight..." Eira asked herself. The Deathstinger twitched restlessly. "If he won't fight me, then why did I wake this thing up... dang... I don't get it."

The Orudios turned around. "Well... who can pass up a chance like this...? I can defeat both the Deathstinger and a complete idiot in one fight." Neos shrugged.

Eira raised an eyebrow. "I don't understand... just a moment ago you... his Zoid can barely walk... why risk his life like that...?"

"Why risk anything?" asked Neos. "Why risk your family's reputation and ties or the whole city of Guyglos, just so you can prove that you're worth something?"

"I think I can answer that." The Deathstinger snapped a claw as two figures appeared in front of it.

"Akira?" asked Neos quietly. "Who's that kid...?"

"Because I understand that no one is too small to be dangerous."

"What are you doing here?" shouted Eira as she saw that the two figures were a young boy, her age, and Akira. "You told me you'd let me do this my way!"

"It seems that everyone's in cahoots with somebody else..." murmured Neos.

"Oh, I understand it very well," continued the boy. "I'm not as young as I look. I'm older than everyone else on the face of this dang planet!"

"How is that possible?" asked Akira, trying to get away from him. It was useless- she was having a very hard time moving, much less running.

The green Liger Zero X appeared next to the Orudios again, Hitoshi's Zoid on the other side. "He speaks the truth," murmured Hitoshi. "Because HE killed Faye..."

"Which means..." put in Ayumi, "That we haven't been following an old geezer all this time, but just a young kid!"

"Shut up," said Hitoshi. "He's neither. He's part of the worst race in this universe that you could imagine..."

"What? A Shadow?"

"No.... a human."

***

"What's going on?" asked Sylvia. She and Spring looked across the gorge. The battle had suddenly stopped.

"Look..." mumbled Spring. "That's him."

"Huh?"

"That's him... the enemy we've been fighting all these years. I can tell. But I've felt this way before... in the presence of someone else..."

***

Dive into the core of Zi itself... Zoids... Eve...

"So that's Prozen's 'successor,' the great Kaiser Kage, huh?" asked Neos. "Ha! I bet even Eira could beat him in a Zoid battle."

"Do you wish to see?" asked the boy, turning to the Orudios.

"No!" shouted Hitoshi quickly. "No, no he doesn't!"

"Neos..." continued the boy. "It seems that being around humans for so long has changed you. It used to be that you wished to destroy them all, but now... you've changed."

"For the better," laughed Neos.

"I can still remember when you killed Van Flyheight," said the boy, grinning evilly. "Even though we were related, you can't imagine the satisfaction of knowing he was dead. It was bliss!!! But then Fiona had to interfere before I could get to their child. HA!!!" he shouted, throwing a fist in the air. "I should've killed her while I had the chance! Then none of this would ever have happened. I wouldn't have lost you, my most valuable asset, to these mere humans... But no. It's too late now. The ten Chosen still live. They still prevent my activating Zoids Eve! You know the only way that can happen."

"Fiona made it so that all ten must be present in order for the Eve to activate again..." muttered Akira. "But it will also activate if all ten are killed."

"However, if they die naturally that certain Chosen will be... replaced, you could say," shrugged Kage. "I used to believe that the organoid Shadow would be my perfect 'partner' to help me carry out my duty. But I was still young then. The only thing I need is the Ultimate X!!! And to get that, I must first destroy its pilot!!! HAHAHA!!!" He cleared his throat. "Observe. I have the power to control weaker Zoids as I have the power to control Zoidians and their counterparts, organoids, along with most other beings except for those darn humans.."

He disappeared.

The Deathstinger twitched again, still restless. Akira looked around. So... he was gone. She was sure that he was going to kill her or something. After all, he HAD said that she was a Chosen, so...?

"That wasn't very scary..." muttered Neos. He laughed nervously. "I guess maybe he isn't all-powerful as I originally took him to be."

"You're wrong," murmured Hitoshi. "Despite what just happened, he is a very powerful human. Very... strange in his presentation, but still very powerful. He yearns to destroy all of mankind, along with all Chosen. And, most likely, he will succeed."

"He said to observe," said Ayumi thoughtfully. "So... observe what, exactly?"

***

Dive into the heart...

Robert sighed as his Spino Snapper followed Bit Cloud's Zoid, the supposed Ultimate X. He'd been trying to kill them only a few hours ago, so why were they helping him? Even after they learned of Kokoro, you'd think they'd be hostile towards him. These Chosen... they were so strange. But they were only human, like him. Unlike Kokoro.

Who was that young boy, anyways? The voice was strangely familiar...

"Hey, Robert!" shouted Leena Toros. "We're almost there! But I don't know if Dad'll be able to tell you anything..."

"Sure he will," said Robert, fidgeting.

"Unless he's still in a coma..." Leena muttered under her breath. With all the confusing action, she'd almost completely forgotten about Dr. Toros for a while. Now, well, she was beginning to become very worried. She still didn't even know who had done this or why.

She also remembered that she had seen a few other interesting things on the news when she learned of the tragedy. That same day Jack Sisco and his teammates, Chris and Kelly, had been attacked by a green Liger Zero X as well. She had heard that earlier that morning they had installed a new weapons system on Chris's Lightning Saix- if they hadn't, they'd all be dead. They, too, had been hospitalized. Who was doing this?

"You okay, Leena?" asked Bit, breaking the silence. "You've been pretty quiet lately. It's just not like you..."

"I'm okay," smiled Leena. He was so caring at times. "I was just thinking."

"We're here," said Robert, off the subject. Leena's thoughts scattered and she nodded. "Good," she said.

The two Zoids stopped just outside the city and their pilots jumped out. "Robert?" asked Leena again.

"Yeah?"

"I just thought you'd want to know that love always finds a way."

"You really believe that?" asked Robert.

"Don't you?"

"It didn't work for Harry Champ."

***

Speaking of Harry, their Zoids had arrived at the city as well. The Salamander landed behind the Dibison and Dark Horn, and Faye jumped out in an effort to catch up with Kylie, who was walking rather fast. "Hey! Wait up, will ya?!"

"Sorry," said Kylie, slowing down. She turned to wait for Faye and Harry. "It's been so long... I really missed him."

"And I'm gonna lose my job if I don't hurry," muttered Harry.

"What was that?" asked Kylie.

"Oh, never mind."

As the three walked into town they remained silent for a while. "I wonder... what am I gonna do after this is all over...?" asked Faye quietly. "I have nowhere to go..."

"I'm sure Dr. Toros wouldn't mind having another helping hand with the Blitz team, especially after Brad left," suggested Harry.

"Where, exactly, are we supposed to meet them?" asked Kylie quickly.

"The hospital," muttered Harry as they walked aimlessly down the streets. There were few people out this early.

For some odd reason Harry felt quite a few stares from the people in the street. Had something happened while he was gone?