Hi. Long time, no see. I got busy with some things, but here is the next chapter. Enjoy!
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"Good morning." Kirin said as he joined Sky and Jade at their table. "What are we having?"
"I ordered you breakfast." Jade told him. "But you're late; we have only half an hour to get to the hangar now."
"We'll be on time; don't worry." Kirin promised. "So, what are we doing tonight?"
"I'm going to dinner with Bit." Jade said.
"I guess it's just you and me." Kirin grinned at Sky. She smiled and nodded.
"Are you taking the Dibison out again?" Jade asked him. He shook his head.
"Naw. Got a bit beat up; plus, I got to get more ammo for it. I'll use your Ptera for this round, k?"
Jade shrugged. "Whatever. Just don't crash it, okay?"
Kirin snorted in an offended way, while Sky grinned.
"I'll help you with the Dibison tonight." She offered. Kirin smiled.
"Thanks."
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A persistent knocking woke Bit from his slumber. Looking up, he saw Jamie still asleep and decided that it was Brad in the shower.
The knocking continued. Grumbling, Bit got up and opened the door.
"You." He growled. Leena smiled at him brightly.
"Sleep well?"
"Brad's going to kill you."
"I can handle it. How are the rest of you?"
Bit looked at her questioningly. "What's with the sudden concern for us?"
"Nothing." Leena said, violet eyes wide and innocent. "Thought I should tell you though, that Harry and Daddy are down in the restaurant and we're ready to order. I'm supposed to get what you guys want."
Bit held open the door. "Come in."
As Leena sat on Brad's bed, Bit went over to the cot and shook Jamie's shoulder. The young man tried to brush him away, but eventually woke up. Sitting up, he saw Leena.
"You're in trouble." He said sleepily. "That was mean, Leena."
"You two deserved it." She insisted.
"I didn't." Bit muttered under his breath.
"What'd ya want to eat?" Leena asked Jamie.
"Anything's fine." He said rubbing his eyes. Brad poked his head out of the bathroom.
"I thought I heard your voice." He said to Leena. "Bit, hand me my clothes."
Bit gave them to the mercenary, who presently came out. His hair was becoming brown again, but was still streaked with neon green.
"Nice fashion statement." Leena grinned.
Brad raised an eyebrow disapprovingly and nodded to Jamie. Jamie got up and went to the bathroom.
"Hey!!" Bit cried. "I wanted a shower next."
"Oh well." Brad said, pulling his shoes on. "I'm eating with Leon and Naomi this morning, by the way. Could you tell your dad, Leena?"
"K." she turned to Bit. "You?"
Bit was quiet.
"Hello, Zi to Bit." Leena waved her hand in front of his face.
"What?" He blinked. "Oh, sorry. Uh, nothing spicy. I don't really care."
"Okay." Leena stood. "See you in a few."
As soon as she left, Bit turned to Brad. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"About what?"
"How did you meet Naomi?"
Brad blew out a breath. "Just working. Met at a competition, that sort of thing."
"Do you love her?"
"I like her."
"That's not what I said."
"I know." Brad smiled wryly. "Why the sudden interest in my personal life?"
Bit shrugged and sat. "Just wondering. I'm kinda wondering where Jade and I will turn up."
"No harm in that. Everyone does." Brad said, standing. "You worried about it?"
"Nah." Bit said easily. "Just curious, y'know? But whatever happens, I'm enjoying it right now."
Brad smiled and shook his head. "See you at the hangar."
"K."
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"I understand Hunter told you of my offer?" Pierce asked. It was later in the day, between battles. Dr. Tauros nodded.
"Yes, he did."
"But you're not going to take me."
"I wouldn't say that…"
Pierce shook her head and smiled calmly. "I can understand. You don't trust me."
Tauros was quite. "Well, we do have a good reason."
Pierce chuckled wryly at that. "I suppose." She stood, leaning her hands on the table they had been sharing. "I'll be seeing you around, I guess."
"Maybe sooner than you think." Tauros said, finally making up his mind. "What if I take you on a trial run?"
"You mean, like proving I'm trustworthy?"
"Well, you will be outnumbered. I'll risk it for a pilot of your skill."
Pierce's face cleared as the Doc stood and offered her his hand.
"Done." She said, shaking his hand.
"Good. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning, so meet us then."
"I will. Good day."
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"Today is the day!" Kirkland declared. Lineback and Omari stared at him, then at each other, and then back at their leader.
"Today's the day for what?" Omari asked. Kirkland gave them annoyed glance.
"The day we start our winning streak, duh." He said.
"Oh." Omari and Lineback nodded smiling.
"Wait," Omari protested. "You said that last week."
"Well, I meant today." Kirkland said. "I mean it, Omari! We are going to be winners today."
"Who are we fighting?" Lineback asked, munching on a snack bar.
"Uhhhh…" Kirkland looked at Omari who shrugged.
"Don't look at me."
"You didn't get the schedule?" Kirkland yelled.
"I wasn't supposed too!" Omari protested. "Lineback was."
"Was not." Lineback spoke up in defense. "You said to leave things to you."
"Great." Kirkland huffed. "Some mighty Tigers Team we make. Can't even get a schedule."
"Excuse me?"
They turned to see a slender, dark-haired woman with a bemused expression on her face.
"Here, you can have my copy." She said.
"Thanks." Kirkland took it from her. "You on a team?"
"The Rouges." She answered. "See you later."
"Hmm?" Kirkland looked down at the schedule. Their next fight was with the Rouges team.
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The woman surveyed the crowd, her pale pink eyes looking for a particular person. Reaching up, she tucked some blue hair behind her hair.
"Any sign?" a voice murmured in her ear.
"No." she answered, barely moving her lips. "And next time, try not to sneak up on me like that."
A slightly chubby girl with short, jewel tone pink hair that was cut in a boyish do sat next to the woman with blue hair.
"You should have seen me, coming, Mai." She sniffed. Mai rolled her clear wine pink eyes.
"Oh, yes. I was paying mounds of attention, Keema. Where's Dinah?"
"Here." A girl with black hair and jewel tone purplish-pink bangs sat down. "I can't find anything either. Let's face it; they're not going to show up this time."
"I refuse to believe that." Mai answered stiffly. "All the signs pointed to here."
"And the signs may have been planted." Dina pointed out, her almond shaped black eyes still worriedly scanning the crowds. "Keema didn't see anything, did you Keema? Keema?"
"I'm hungry." Keema stated, looking wistfully over at a young man who was selling caramel popcorn. "Can we eat something?"
"Gee, I wonder why she hasn't seen anything." Mai said wryly. "Hmm, look who we have here?"
"Pierce." Dinah said. "Looks like we've caught up to her. Do we talk?"
"Not just yet." Mai decided. "I want to see what she's up too first. After all, no point in flushing out our quarry just yet."
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Jade turned her Command Wolf around as one of the Saber Fangs they were fighting shot at her. Weaving right and left, she felt her adrenaline pumping as she dodged the shots. From above, Kirin added his own shots, disabling the Saber Fang to her left. Sky had already taken out the third, but Jade wanted to take this one for herself.
Ramming it, she shot till the judge announced it disabled. As she felt the adrenaline drain from her system, Kirin's face appeared on her screen.
"Hey, sis, get a load of this. The team's called the Fuzzy Pandas."
"I thought that they were the Tigers?" Sky cut in, also appearing.
"I'll ask 'em." Jade said.
She called up another view screen and was met with the face of a young man.
"Are you the Fuzzy Pandas?" she asked frankly, and was surprised as the man gave a half groan half scream.
"Tigers! The Mighty Tigers Team!!!" he exclaimed.
"Ooookay, thanks." Jade said quickly, cutting the connection.
"That guy was a little irritated." Kirin commented.
"You would be too if you were on a team called the Fuzzy Pandas." Sky said.
"Tigers." Jade corrected.
"Fuzzy Pandas has a nicer ring."
"Okay, look." The man appeared again. "We are the Mighty Tigers team! Not Fuzzy Pandas! What is wrong with you people?!" He disappeared before they had time to answer.
"Hey." Bit's face appeared. "You might want to get off the field, J. Class S warriors are coming on now."
"Oops, sorry." Jade smiled. "We were trying to figure out what the other team's name was."
Bit grinned. "And did they tell you?"
"I think so." Jade smiled back. "Tonight at seven, right?"
"Right."
"Bye." Jade said, before she cut the connection. Kirin's eyebrow rose.
"J?" he asked. Jade blinked.
"It's a nick-name!" she exclaimed, directing her Wolf off the arena ground.
"A nick-name." He continued.
"Kirin!"
Sky's laughter came over the speakers. "Quit it you two. Let's get out of here.
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"You can be so irritating." Mai growled as she gave Keema some popcorn. The pink-haired girl grinned happily.
"Thank you, Mai." She said. Mai growled again as she sat. Dinah smiled slightly but then looked back down at her palm pilot.
"Hmm…" she frowned.
"What?" Mai asked. Dinah was looking around the crowd.
"Pierce isn't the only one around. My scanner's picking up Storm Sworders."
"They wouldn't attack a rally like this. That's dumb!" Keema said.
"They might not be the Backdraft." Mai pointed out. "There are other factions out there."
"Oh." Keema blinked and then munched on her popcorn. Mai gave a frustrated sigh and looked at Dinah.
"Any ideas?"
"Notify the authorities anonymously and then get to our transport." Dina said. Mia nodded and grabbed Keema's popcorn.
"Hey, I was eating that!" she protested as Mai grabbed her by the arm and pulled her from the seating area.
"Too bad." The blue haired girl said, tossing the carton into the trash.
"You're mean!" Keema whined.
"And you're an airhead." Mai muttered. "Now let's go!"
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Xander looked at the young girl who was shaking in the corner of the room they had locked her in. She was slender to the point of being thin, pale, with enormous almond shaped mahogany eyes and ankle length dark violet hair. A very pretty creature. Xander sighed. He looked at the next one. A young man, with long, black hair in a ponytail and dark blue eyes.
"Do we hook them up?" Nira asked. Xander nodded. Nira nodded to two of the guards and they went in to the girl's room. Grabbing her by the arms. She yelped, but then struggled. However, she was too small and they managed to drag her out.
The young man came stiffly, though he didn't struggle like the girl. When she saw him, she cried out, "Jack!"
He looked at her and his face softened somewhat when he saw her tears. The girl continued to struggle, but it was only half-hearted. The young man, Jack, looked at Xander and the hardness returned to his eyes.
"Take them in." Xander said.
"What are you going to do to us?" the girl said. Xander didn't answer, but turned to the computer display as the two of them were hooked up.
"Start the young man first." Xander directed. A man nodded and started the program. Half an hour later, they stopped.
"Effects?" Xander asked.
"Sailed through. Not even a blip on the screen." Nira answered. "Name's Jack Hanson."
Xander nodded. "Good, have him locked up in here. We'll finish with the girl and then take them back."
The guards brought Hanson in. He seemed exhausted and meekly sat where the guards told him. Xander nodded and the program started on the girl. At first it went well, but twenty minutes in, the girl gave a long drawn out scream and abandoned her controls. The program was shut off and the guards brought the girl in.
They half dragged, half lifted her into the room. A medic rushed to the young girl, who was breathing in shuddering half sobs and retching.
"Rachel." Hanson stood, but he couldn't reach her.
"I need to take her to the medical bay." The doctor said. "Now."
Xander nodded to the guards and they followed the doctor with the girl. Hanson turned on Xander, his eyes full of fire.
"Is that what this is?" he demanded. "Is that why we were forced here? To be the Backdraft's guinea pigs?"
"Take him back." Xander ordered.
"Like hell I'll be reduced to that." Hanson snarled and barreled into the first guard, knocking him back into the second. Grabbing one of the guns in his manacled hands. Hanson first shot the view screen window, then one of the guards that rushed him. He ran out the door.
"Catch him!" Xander shouted. "Don't let him get away!"
The other guards pounded after the young man.
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Mai pushed her sunglasses up on her nose as she sat in her Viper Zoid. Above her, Dinah soared in her Raynos and below Mai, Keema burrowed through the sand in her Hammer Shark.
"Any sign of them?" Mai asked.
"No." Dinah's face appeared on the screen. "I'm certain that they were here, though."
"I don't doubt you, but if they're not showing up…" Mai trailed off. Dinah sighed.
"I know." She frowned. "They must have upgraded those cloaking shields."
"We're just lucky that they can't do much together when cloaked like that." Mai told her. "We'll scout around a bit more and then take turns until the rally is over. You, me, then Keema, got it?"
"Yes ma'am." Dinah answered. "I'll tell Keema."
"Thanks." Mai said, directing her Viper back to the Rally.
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Xander ran up, breathing heavily. Breaking through the ring of guards, his shoulders fell. Jack Hanson lay on the ground, eyes vacantly looking upwards, while lying in a pool of blood.
"Sorry, sir." A young guard said shamefacedly. "But he got me by surprise and I don't know – I panicked. I didn't mean to shoot him."
Xander nodded, then looked at the medic who had run up with him. After a few moments, the medic looked up.
"I might be able to save him." He said. "But I don't know if he'll be able to walk properly or not afterwards."
"Take the chance." Xander ordered. The medic nodded and two guards came forward with a stretcher.
"Take the manacles off." The medic said. "He won't be running too soon." The guards nodded and walked away. Xander stopped the medic.
"What about the girl?"
"She's recovered somewhat. No permanent brain damage. You might want to try her again." The man said. Xander frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Meaning I don't see any signs of permanent damage. There's shock of course, but really her reaction had more to do with her fear of being captured rather than the program itself, I believe." The medic explained. "You'd probably have to get a specialist though."
"I think I will. What's the girl's name?."
"Rachel. Rachel Hughes."
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And the plot gets a little thicker. ^__^
Nabooru – Yeah, I'll have to admit Harry is rather OOC, but that's because I decided it was time for him to grow up a bit; and not only that, being half deaf must have taught him some patience. Lol, you'll see. Glad you enjoyed it!
Thunderstorm – lol, yes she does! Glad you liked it!
Wolfcking – Thanks! Those are good reasons; lol, I probably should have thought of them before. *shrugs* Oh well, I'm just glad it was believable. Thank you very much for your compliments. ^__^ *sigh of relief* Good. I hope these ones weren't too bad; but there was barely any in here so…