Authors note: Major delay problems due to a bunch of things. Sorry. One major thing being my birthday, my new PS2 and my scary obsession with the DVD: Spirited Away. Great movie.

Don't worry Himeko, you'll find out about the injuredies soon enough... Along with another old... friend of ours... lol.

CHAPTER 22

"NO!" Nadia yelled, her voice heard over everyone's intercoms. Her Konig wolf suddenly fell victim to a vicious assault by the group of Zebats the Chaos-sin had left behind.

Jessie saw what was happening, and pushed his Lightning Siax forward, taking down one of the enemy zoids, "Nadi, we have to get out of here." His face appeared on her screen," Your dad and Tauros are ordering us back to the hover cargo... Lets go!"

"No!" Nadia sobbed, Not without uncle Cloud and mom." She gasped suddenly as another barrage of missiles jerked her zoid.

Two of the Zebats that were attacking her suddenly fell, and a blue Blade Ligar appeared just as a flash of lighting stuck across the sky.

"There's nothing we can do at the time, to help them." Chris said, his face popping up next to Jessie's, "How do you expect to ever help them by getting killed here?"

"But,"

"Listen," Chris sighed, putting up a block on the com-link so that only Nadia could hear, "Nadia. We still may have a way to save them, and stop Sin all in one shot...." He paused, "But, you have to trust me."

"Nadia! Get back to the hover cargo now!" Hiro's voice rang out, "Please. We weren't expecting Cloud to just disappear like that."

Nadia slammed her fist down on her control panel, and her Konig wolf faltered slightly as she hesitated.

"Please Nadia..." Jessie said, just as a flashed of bright light appeared in the dark storming sky. It came down suddenly, striking the Konig Wolf. Nadia gasped when a familiar roar filled the cockpit.

"LightStrike?!"

Lightstrike roared again and forced the wolf to turn around, even through Nadia's protests. Chris ran out ahead and Jessie followed close behind, the dark sky only seemed to grow darker as night began to approach, the storm still not letting up.

"Nadi...?" Jessie sighed, looking over at her tear filled face.

Nadia didn't answer, and just let LightStrike guide the Konig Wolf over the wet mud that the desert sands had become.

The Lightning Saix and Konig Wolf were the last two zoids to return to the Hover cargo, and once they were safely inside, the large transported opened fire on the remaining Zebats, destroying most of them, the rest fleeing into the darkness.

Nadia jumped out of her cockpit and just stood in the almost abandoned hanger, tears streaming down her face. Jessie slowly walked up to her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Come on Nadi," Jessie said, "Lets go meet the others."

"We..." Nadia whispered, "Jess.... We were so close."

Jessie sighed and wrapped his arms around her gently, stroking her long silver hair as she cried into his clothes, "Shhhh..." Jessie tried to calm her down, "Everything will be ok... Please Nadia..."

She continued to cry for a few moments longer, eventually deciding to dry her tears and head on up to the main room. They were surprised to see LightStrike standing next to the door waiting for them... He seemed to be glaring at Jessie. He growled almost threateningly, making Jessie cringe. Even though he was smaller than regular zoids, LightStrike was still kind of big.

"Stop it." Nadia pat the organoids nose gently, "What are you jealous or something?"

Even though Organoids were almost completely unable to show any type of emotion, LightStrike still seemed to look pretty surprised as he turned his head to face a different direction.

Nadia started to giggle, "Ah, don't worry LightStrike."

The organoid growled warmly and nudged her arm gently, grabbing the sleeve of her shirt and dragging her down the hall and to the infirmary. Jessie followed closely behind at first, until LightStrike swung his tail and tried to hit him. He jumped back to dodge it and fell on his butt, deciding it would be safer to travel further behind.

The organoid pushed her into the room and nodded at a certain bed.

"Koh!" Nadia ran up to his bed and knelt down, putting her small hand on his arm.

Jessie walked in just then, standing to one side of the door. LightStrike was standing on the other side. The organoid once again whipped his tail out to hit Jessie, and this time found it's unsuspecting target, striking him hard in the shin. Not hard enough to break any bones of course...

Jessie yelled and grabbed onto his shin, "God Dammit! That hurts! Owwww."

Nadia looked up and over, and was surprised to hear Koh start laughing quietly and tiredly. She looked down.

"He's Jealous..." Koh whispered. He fell back asleep just then, and Orihime walked up to them.

"Don't worry, he'll be ok. Koh's just tired." Ori told her, "But he's right. It does look as though you've got a little jealousy problem."

Nadia laughed slightly and Orihime continued, "I can remember how he acted when your mom started to fall for Hiro... It was pretty funny..."

"Well if it's anything how he's acting now, I feel sorry for Hiro." Jessie said, still rubbing his shin as he hopped over.

"Oh no, it was worse." Orihime laughed, "He actually broke Hiro's shin... Twice. Then pushed him down the stairs once..."

Jessie's face grew pale and he looked over at LightStrike, terrified that the organoid would suddenly pounce on him. If organoids could look truly evil, LightStrike did just then.

"He must like you or something." Orihime winked at him, "Don't tell your father I told you though Nadia."

Nadia nodded and said, "Of course LightStrike won't do anything like breaking bones or pushing people down stairs now... would he?" She turned to look over at the organoid who seemed to be trying to look unbelievably innocent.

"Oh, Will and the others told me to tell you that they are all in a room upstairs. I don't know which one, so you'll have to find it." Orihime sighed, "You may want to go up there and wait until we can come up with another plan. I'll take good care of your brother."

Nadia was suddenly reminded of what Chris had told her. He had a plan... would he tell the other adults?

"Thanks orihime." Nadia said, "It's good to have you back."

Ori nodded and turned back to her own business, and the two teenagers left, Lightstrike just about to follow.

"Hey LightStrike..." Ori said, and the organoid turned to face her, "Go easy on him... he's a good kid."

LightStrike turned and followed the two teenagers closely, and Orihime had one last glimpse of LightStrike about to his Jessie before the doors closed. She then heard Jessie wail out in pain and Nadia scold the organoid.

***********************

They had eventually made it to the room, Rion had shown them were it was, and now they were all inside, just hanging around.

Jessie was nervously sitting next to nadia on the floor against a wall, turning to look at LightStrike ever so often. Hikari, and will were sitting on the edge of the bed. Rion and Ayane were sitting on a couch with LightStrike standing next to it.

Shiro was busy gazing out the window, the cuts on his face had stopped bleeding, and kristen was pacing back and forth across the room.

It was pretty silent all together, each teenager focused on his or her own thoughts, the storm still raging outside. The sun was almost completely set, giving the dark, cloud filled horizon an eerie glow. The winds could be heard roaring outside, and thunder boomed occasionally, followed by the bright flashes of lightning.

"Shiro...?" Nadia asked... "What did my mom look like?"

Shiro turned, a bit surprised by the question.

"She was a demi-human right... I couldn't see her very well with the storm and all."

"She looked..." Shiro began, trying hard to explain it.

"Really pretty." Hikari said softly and the others nodded.

"But tired... really tired." Will added, "Not exactly like, sleepy tired, but a different kind. I don't know how to..."

The was a sudden knock at the door that startled the entire group, causing LightStrike to growl at the noise. They all shook it off pretty quickly and Shiro walked over to the door and opened it, surprised to see the ZBC commander and his organoid.

"Hey guy's... Can we come in." Chris asked, and Shiro shrugged, walking back over to the window. The storm seemed to be teasing them. Every time it looked as though it would let up, it just got worse. Curse Zi for being mostly desert.

"So, what are you all up too?" Chris asked, finding a stool and sitting down.

"You told me you had a plan." Nadia almost demanded, not giving anyone a chance to answer Chris's question. The teenagers, none of whom new anything about what she was talking about, turned their eyes to Chris.

Chris sighed and looked directly over to Nadia, "Actually, that's what I came up here to talk to you about..." He paused, "I was just down their listening to anything the others could come up with... and they can't. So, Im going to tell you my plan, because in my opinion, this isn't their fight anymore."

"What do you mean?" Kristen asked.

"I new it ever since I met you four." He looked over at Jessie, Nadia, Ayane and Rion, "You are the future of Zi. All of you. Not those people standing downstairs. And though they fight to protect you all and make Zi a better place for you all to live... They're tired."

Nadia looked over at Will, and he nodded, "I could tell Rain was when I saw her."

"You can see it in all of their eyes." Chris continued, "They are getting older, though not really old per say, but..."

"We understand that Sir." Ayane said, "Please continue with the plan."

Chris nodded, "You are all smarter, braver and stronger than you should be for your age."

"I think we grew up allot within the past few days." Rion said, and the others agreed.

"Well, like I was saying... it's not their job to fight and protect Zi anymore, but they still do, and will. I have been commander for the ZBC for only ten years. And within that little bit of time I have yet to see a more dedicated group than your parents, and well, you.

"For the past 20 years there has been a top secret ZBC operation. I was put in charge of it ten years ago, and it was just today finished. It is called Project PHOENIX." He paused, "And I want all of you to be a part of it. Not your parents... though I do want them to help, but I want all of you to be in charge."

"What exactly is it sir?" Nadia asked.

"Well, I'd rather show you. I was down there, listening to the other adults, and they said they were going back to your base to pick up the others. Im going to ask them to take us to a secret underground ZBC compound afterwards that is luckily, not to far away from the Waterfall Oasis. That's when I'll show you."

"Well whatever it is... will it work?" Kristen demanded.

"It's the best chance we've got." Chris answered, "It won't take long, seeing as though we are only about half an hour from your base now, give or take. To get to the compound and get the entire project ready, I estimate 4 hours tops. So... get some sleep."

He turned and left, his organoid following closely behind. Once they were out the door, Zeke growled and Chris turned to talk to him. Zeke growled again.

"Am I sure...?" Chris asked, "Yes. Im positive. Zeke... you zoids and organoids live on for a very long time... we humans, we only live for a very little time compared to you. But you know this. Compared to you zoids, and compared to time in a whole, we are only that a blink of an eye." He paused, "And within that blink, are new generations of people who must live their own lives, and protect their own futures. One generation can't keep doing it for ever... you see? If they tried to... they would fail eventually."

Zeke growled again and they continued walking, "Of course each generation will receive help from the one before it... that's important too... but they must be the ones to save their own future. Understand?" Zeke nodded, "That's how I look at it anyway. They... well, they are the future."

*****************************

Sin looked down at his chess board and smiled, about to move another piece when a knock was heard on his door. 'The worthless demi-human no doubt.' He thought. "Come in."

He was right. Gabrielle shuffled in slowly, her features both angry and seemingly thoughtful. She seemed... different.

"What do you want. I told you to wait with the other demi-humans. Both of them are secure, no doubt?" Sin asked, "It's almost time after all.

"Sir... I disagree with your plan."

"I don't care."

"But Sir..."

"Leave demon. You have no say in the matter. I brought you back to life for one reason, and one reason only. That reason is approaching."

"And if I refuse!" Gabrielle demanded.

"I'll use you anyway." Sin said.

"Damn you..." She whispered, "You'll go to hell for this."

"On the contrary." Sin added.

"Your wrong Sin." The demon laughed cruelly, "When you get sent to hell, I'll be there to torment you forever and ever... remember that."

"Whatever you say... demon." Sin said.

"Oh I will Sin.. I will. And you will be there with me..." Gabrielle laughed, "Your plan, it will be ready in approximately 4 to 4 1/2 hours."

****************************

"So what's the plan?" Izumi asked, "Where are we going?"

"Chris wants us to go to some ZBC compound." Hiro explained.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of Chapter 22~~~~~~~~~~~~

Authors note: Dang, I was hopping to get farther than that with the whole project Phoenix thing. Oh well. Next chap will have the bulk of it.

Oh, and as for which of my friends ended up giving me the best b-day present... it's a tie between Jeremy (Kingdom Hearts Jap. Soundtrack) and my bestest friend Chris, who burned me the entire collection of music from Cowboy bebop, along with all the Live performances and one Yoko Kanno live performance. He managed to get it all on a total of 7 Cds. Hell, he even got the voice reels for the english character voices.

How can I say that it's a tie? Easy. My personal stereo upstairs in my room has trouble playing some kinds of burned CD's. It'll read 'em fine all up to about the 5 or 6th song, and then just have trouble. Just with some CD brands though. Oh well. Its a cheap stereo anyway. Every other stereo (The big surround sound entertainment system downstairs and my sisters Stereo in her room... and my little boom box don't have trouble playing them. Lol)

Anyways, next update will probably be either later this week, or the weekend. Im on spring beak, kinda busy, but not too bad so I'll probably work on it. Oh, and thanks for all the reviews!