Zoids: Counterforce

By: Pyroteknix

Hello! I'm back after a long week of exams! I've got great new ideas for the plot!

7 Gojulas, giant dinosaur zoids bristling with weaponry, shook the cracked ground with their gigantic feet as they closed in on the retreating form of Max's Command wolf Urban. The canine zoid turned around to escape the enormous machines but was cut off by more rebels, most of them Zaber Fangs and Gunsnipers. Surrounded from every direction, Max gripped his controls tightly and braced for battle as the numerous zoids aimed their various weapons at his zoid. "Let's go." In the blink of an eye, Max's Command Wolf was in the air firing its gatling gun at the rebels located at the back as the enemy zoids at the front hit each other with ammunition originally designated for the Preventer's zoid. Landing on the back of a Zaber Fang, Max leaped to the side as a Gojulas fired at his previous location, instantly obliterating a cluster of Gunsnipers. Max was rocked inside his cockpit as Zaber Fang rammed his zoid, crushing some of the Command Wolf's armor. Righting himself, Max dodged the next attempt and retaliated with a barrage of Marvin quality armor piercing shells. As the ravaged Zaber fell to the ruined streets of the Imperial Capital, Max was attacked again by another rebel, a Gunsniper with cannons instead of missile launchers on its back. Rolling under its attacker, the Command Wolf quickly stood up, flipping the Gunsniper like a waffle. Jumping up to avoid another burst of fire, Max smiled as the shells intended for him slammed into the Gunsniper he just toppled. With twenty more rebels to destroy, Max let out a warcry and stormed into the horde of enemies, craters appearing behind him every now and then as the silver Gojulas bombarded him. Max's spent shells littered the floor as he pummelled his opponents with all the remaining ammunition in his gatling gun. Zabers and Gunsnipers alike fell to their knees as Max rushed into the battle, his zoid shooting, biting and clawing away the opposition. "Eat this!!!" Max yelled in the face of one of the many nameless soldiers he was fighting and jammed his oversized gun in the gaping jaws of a Gunsniper, ripping away flesh and steel as bullets streamed out of the muzzles of his gatling gun. The Command Wolf vaulted into the smoky air of the Imperial Capital, somersaulting over the stunned rebels like an acrobat. Grabbing a Zaber by the leg with his zoid's powerful jaws, Max used the rebel as a shield as its comrades' shells penetrated the Zaber's hide. Before the other rebels had the slightest knowledge of his actions, Max's Command Wolf was in the smack middle of the 5 remaining zoids. Glancing behind him, Max smiled with glee as he jumped away from the stunned rebels and watched them disappear in a ball of fire as a Gojulas desperately tried to lock onto the agile Command Wolf. The zoids, a lone Command Wolf against 7 Gojulas, stood still as the pilots sized each other up. After tense silence, Max broke the face-off as he dashed at the Gojulas firing his gun at the leg of one. The bullets merely bounced off and the Gojulas traded situations with Max as they pelted the ground with their highly explosive projectiles while the Command Wolf ran around, trying to escape the onslaught. Unfortunately for the solo Preventer, a fallen building that was toppled by the attacks of the giant dinosaur zoids blocked his way like a giant wall sealing of the fianl hopes of survival Max had. Finally, the Gojulas' repeated attacks paid off as a shell exploded mere feet away from the right leg of the Command Wolf. But Max didn't give up even though his life was obviously compromised with his damaged zoid. Sparks flew from the wounded appendage as the Command Wolf leaped at a rebel Gojulas despite the obvious tilt of the odds in favor of his far bigger and powerful opponents. Trying a new tactic, Max's canine zoid peeled off the multi-layered armor of the rebel powerhouses while his back legs dug into the Gojulas for support. Then as quickly as he thought of that specific strategy, Max pushed his zoid's acceleration levers to their full capacity and sent his Command Wolf flying over the enraged rebel as he zoomed over the cockpit and landed on another Gojulas as deftly as a frog. As Max expected, the second Gojulas aimed directly at the spot he was at a few moments ago and fired at the gaping hole that Max's Command Wolf dug with its razor sharp claws. An immense explosion rocked Max in his cockpit as the Gojulas he was originally perched on blew up with a spectacular, and unplanned, display of fireworks. "Woohoo!" Max yelled as he stuck his gatling gun in the face of the Gojulas he was on and let loose with a barrage of destructive steel. The rebel zoid promptly started to collapse on its own weight and unbalanced Max's zoid. But the wily Preventer had a few more aces up his sleeve and shifted his Command Wolf's weight distribution and stance, thus altering the fall of the Gojulas and sending it crushing down on its own ally. Max landed deftly on his zoid's four feet and surveyed the 3 downed Gojulas and stared at the remaining. Preparing for another attack with renewed confidence. "Aaaah!!!" Max yelled as a totally unexpected jolt of electricity shocked every nerve of his body. He clutched his singed arm and winced as he looked at his zoid's vital statistics, failing fast as he realized that a Zaber Fang that he didn't finish off earlier was sinking its elongated fangs into the already injured right leg. The panels around him turned a warning shade of red as the Zaber removed its oil-soaked fangs from the damaged limb. "Command Wolf, relay this message to my friends RG, Guio, Dean, Marvin, Joseph, Jico and JC. I don't think we can scrap through this battle." Max said his final message and compulsively grabbed his bleeding stomach. "Old buddy, one more thing I want you to do. Set up the Ragnarok Fang attack." Max said, every syllable a painstaking effort. His dying zoid hummed in agreement and Max watched as the panel that read "Ragnarok Fang" popped out from the side of the cockpit. "My brother died defending our village with this attack. Guess it runs in the blood." The Ragnarok Fang was the final attack of every Command Wolf in the world, preprogrammed in every of their cores. It was even more powerful and devastating than the Charged Particle Beam of Raven, capable of destroying more than 2 hundred zoids in a single charge. Of course, there is no such thing as a perfect weapon and the Ragnarok Fang had one major downside. With the tremendous power of a zoid's core rushing into the fangs, the obvious outcome was an overkill resulting in the explosive end of the pilot and the Command Wolf in question. When Max was young, his older brother engaged in combat with the original rebels to protect their village. After a grueling battle that left most zoid pilots in the village dead, Max's brother resorted to the Ragnarok Fang, demolishing half a mountainside and all of the rebels. This was actually the original reason that made Max join the Preventers, though in time Max started fighting for peace and not for revenge like JC. "I never give up. Not now, not ever." Were the final words of Max as his zod leaped on top of the stupid Zaber, crushing its back and quickly ending its life. Max noticed that the Gojulas had called for reinforcements and that at least ¼ of the rebel army was closing in on him like lightning. His Command Wolf gave a last roar as ammunition blasted into it like rain. Even though Max's faithful zoid was literally falling to pieces, the intense emotions of a dead man walking surging through every single part of the canine zoid's body like a thousand gallons of nitrus oxide pumping in a car powered it through the steel hail and burning fire and led it right at a stunned Gojulas. Jumping on the frantic Gojulas, Max yelled a warcry that shook the snow of the peaks of the tallest mountains and pressed the trigger, which activated the Ragnarok Fang. The Command Wolf's cracked fangs dug into the exposed neck of the rebel zoid like twin knives cutting through flesh as easily as a hot knife through butter. Energy greater than anything currently on the planet with the exception of the Zoid Eve flowed out of the Command Wolf's fangs like a broken dam releasing all the water stored in it. A nanosecond later, both Max and his zoid disappeared in a blinding flash of light and heat as a gigantic explosion rocked the very foundations of the Imperial Capital. The fireball grew and grew, eating up all the foolish reinforcements that came to aid their comrades and leaving only the slightest trace of a zoid behind. The nova slowly diminished and vanished completely, only sparing the burned out remains of a brave Command Wolf.

A few minutes before. Van Flyheight and his Blade Liger stood a few feet away from a raven-black Gunsniper and its companions, his zoid sizing up the valiant Preventers. Slitting his eyes as his scan passed over the heavily modified Gunsniper of JC, the psychotic mastermind began his oh-so cliché "evil scheme to conquer the world and degrade your most likely killers" speech. He gritted his teeth as he suddenly remembered why he came out in the open. "Damn you all. You used Fiona and Zeke to lure me here and impulse drove me to take the bait." He said angrily then became the all so suave deranged rebel leader again, dropping the emotionally challenged alter ego like a hot potato. "You want to kill me so that my troops will lose hope and surrender, don't you?" He continued, Marvin replying with a confident nod accompanied by a smile. "You also wanted me out here alone so that the 5 of you cowards could easily defeat me." The once most powerful pilot on Planet Zi said, Joseph flinching slightly at the sound of "coward". RG smiled tauntingly to the apparently doomed pilot. "But. I too play dirty." At the sound of these words, a Dibison, Lightning Saix, Genobreaker and Shadow Fox appeared from behind a sand dune like wraiths obeying their leader. At one glance, the well-trained Joseph knew who they were. Memories of soldiers who assisted Van Flyheight came to mind instantly. Irvine, renegade Lightning Saix pilot, and Thomas, technological genius and Dibison pilot. He also knew that Raven piloted the Genobreaker, but who was the Shadow Fox? "Oh yes, I forgot to introduce my newest ally in this crusade for peace. Meet Jacob." At this remark, JC's stomach gave an almighty lurch as he gaped in sheer disbelief. Jacob's cold heartless face appeared on the black Gunsniper's cockpit, leering at the shocked pilot inside. JC involuntarily remembered all the times the 2 boys shared together in their small village on the outskirts of the Elemia desert. The camping under the stars with their dads, fishing in the oasis and many more moments that made up his childhood. Then, a horrible thought formed in JC's mind, what if. "You planned the destruction of our home." JC said slowly, Jacob replying casually as if he did that sort of cold-blooded act everyday. "Yep. That stupid little village was hindering my true potential as a zoid pilot. If you were half the warrior I was, you would have done the same." JC shook his head in disgust and anger and leaped at the Shadow Fox of Jacob, only to be stopped by the Shadow Fox of Marvin. "I have a plan." Marvin whispered, again utilizing his immense amount of gray matter in his advanced brain. " The fact that their zoids are the same as ours is quite an advantage. We can fight them separately to minmize friendly fire and confusion." Marvin quietly dictated to the impulsive JC. As if on cue, RG and Joseph's faces appeared, Guio's follows shortly. Guio was the first to remark. "Ha! I'll show that hotshot Irvine!" Guio said in an unnaturally reckless voice. RG scowled and discussed the matter as their opponents watched on in mock fright. "Most of the techniques I use were developed by Thomas Schuboltz." Joseph disagreed with RG with a far louder scowl. "Max always told us to never give up. What the!?!" A loud explosion cut off Joseph's remark, the shockwave knocking all the zoids, Preventer and rebel alike off their feet and onto the burning sand. "What the hell!!!" JC shouted, Marvin instantly computing the energy level and where it came from. "Oh my good Lord. That was Max's Command Wolf." Marvin said letting his fingers slide off from the table as he started feeling dizzy. JC blinked and let his jaw drop as comprehension dawned on him. Van Flyheight righted his zoid with the expertise of a man who did it all years ago and still does. "Looks like your friend used the Ragnarok Fang attack. Pity, that man was a good pilot." RG gritted his teeth as emotions of anger, hatred and grief washed over him like a cold bucket of water. JC's zoid lunged at the off-guard Blade Liger and started what would be 5 of 7 of the greatest battles ever fought on Planet Zi as RG, Joseph, Guio and Marvin followed suit and attacked their respective opponents. Marvin streaked for Jacob and his Shadow Fox while RG fired at the Dibison and Joseph pounced on the Genobreaker. Guio sped off toward the edge of the desert, tailing him was Irvine and his own black Lightning Saix.

Jico was tinkering with the advanced support systems of the Death Saurer inside the expansive rebel fortress. Humming as he deconstructed the most sophisticated piece of zoid resurrecting mechanics like a boy dismantling a toy block castle, Jico looked over the console he was "modifying" and saw his comrades putting up a valiant fight to distract the attention of the guards. He smiled his bunny smile and grabbed a grenade similar to the one he used to freeze the first group of rebels he and his fellow Preventers met. He removed the various mechanisms located in the explosive tenderly and picked out the freezing liquid container as to avoid unnecessary freezing of him. He stealthily moved in the shadows like an animal and jumped on the back of the giant force called the Death Saurer. It used up all his skill as a wall-climber, which wasn't a lot, to scale the ultra-smooth armor of the machine, which was as indestructible as it was almost impossible to grip. He panted as he reached what he was looking for, the particle converter necessary for the most powerful weapon on Zi, and unclapsed his suit's hip pocket. He extracted the freezing liquid container and a few other things he salvaged from the grenade and the machine he dismantled. He sat on the rim of the converter and concentrated on combining the parts like a man piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. After what seemed like eternity because of all the tension, Jico sighed a sigh of honest relief and placed the improvised gadget on the base of the converter. He jumped back down to join his teammates, 6 of them lying on the cold steel floor with their mouths dripping blood, and signalled them to run away and head to their zoids. The guys nodded and ran out the massive chamber while Jico hesitated as he watched a rebel start up the Death Saurer, which was modified to be autopilot, a fact Jico discovered while tinkering with the resurrection machine. "Things are heating up now. Hope we make it out alright." End of chapter

Kinda depressing since I patterned Lt. Max after myself.