Hello everyone! I'm sort of amazed that I have actually been able to get to the 10th chapter. I ish so proud of myself! *Grins* well, anyway, thanks for the reviews of my pitiful story, even if there are only ten reviews *sniffs*. Well, anyway, read on. I put a lot of effort into crafting and molding Malone into the perfect villain, just like I had taken a tedious bit of time creating Mara. She turned out to be someone you wanted to spit at, and I've attempted to make this Hitler wannabe about 100 times worse . . . Anyway, read on. Here it comes, Births and Proposals, I do believe . . . Maybe not. I think I'll drag things out a little bit longer just because. After all, it's not every day these characters get a break from the constant misery I put them through. But then again, you never know with me . . . Hehehehe . . .

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Glancing at a calendar, Audrena blinked, doing a double take. 'Wonderful, just absolutely wonderful. Wraith's due today.' Kyle paused as he passed her, then backed up a little, cocking his head to the side as he looked at the schedule.

"It's June already?" He asked, not seeing the little red circle that was smack dab in the middle of the whole month. Audrena glanced over her shoulder and resisted the urge to hit him. She did that yesterday, which ended up turning into a wrestling match. Kyle won, much to Audrena's denial, so she ended up smushing a banana in his hair for her personal vengeance.

"Yeah, it's June. Two months in a blur eh?" A memory clicked in Kyle's mind as he approached the calendar, staring up at the circled date.

"Should we be expecting any new zoids soon?" Audrena nodded up at him, being about three inches shorter then he was.

"Yup. Expect mass chaos today if the kid actually comes. We've never had a zoid childbearing here before."

"Come to think of it," Kyle started slowly, thinking a bit. "I don't think there's been one anywhere before this." He paused again before continuing.

"You know, this new zoid's going to need a pilot." Audrena blinked, then turned to him slowly, an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah . . . what of it?"

"Well, I know that Nitric would kill me if I ever suggested selling the child, so that leaves only one other option . . ." He smiled sheepishly, and Audrena's eyes went wide.

"No way am I doing that! Besides, I don't have the equipment!" Kyle's face went beet red for a moment.

"What are you talking about? Of course you do!" Audrena turned away from him the instant before he could finish.

"No I don't! Furthermore, I have a moral dilemma against cloning people!" Kyle face-vaulted with a cry of exasperation. Up in an instant, he shook his head and walked out of the room.

'Ok, so that wasn't the best way to propose . . .'

-

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Nitric's hologram sat down heavily next to Wraith's outside the base, not talking to her for a moment before speaking up, staring at the ground.

"Do you regret that night?" He muttered, still staring at the ground. Wraith eyed him for a moment, her form swollen.

" . . . No. Not really at least, the only bad part about this besides the constant puking and the pain and mood swings is the fact I'm 10 tons heavier." Nitric winced.

"Sorry."

"What are you sorry for?"

"Because I know I did this to you." Wraith chuckled.

"You're forgiven. Besides, it's not exactly like I hated the procreating process." Nitric grinned mischievously.

"Ah yeah, I'll never forget that. You meowed instead of moaned." Wraith punched his shoulder with a smirk.

"You were no different, you doof. You preferred to growl and roar!" Nitric stuck his tongue out at her impishly, Wraith returning the favor.

Wraith paused in her side of the taunting to sneeze. Another one followed the first, and another, and another, and another, until she started having a sniffling fit. Nitric eyed her warily.

"Err . . . do you need a tissue or something?" Nitric inquired, cocking his head to the side in mild confusion while his pregnant lover continued to sneeze. Labor pains suddenly slammed into the liger, making the hologram gasp and the mechanical body shudder and growl.

"Wraith? You ok?" Nitric asked, starting to become alarmed.

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Audrena's head shot up from her sitting position, hearing a bout of intense sneezing from outside. Dropping the book she was currently burning just for fun (Martha Stewart's Guide to Being the Perfect Wife), she gave a sharp whistle, calling every female zoid in the hangar was instantly at her side and every male evacuated the premises. All except Nitric and Kyle, the both of them having no idea what was going on.

Nitric was quickly pushed out of the way by the masses of female zoids that was escorting Wraith down to the 13th floor. Audrena paused and turned, seeing Nitric start to trot after them. The female pilot shook her head and teleported in front of him, stopping both the zoidian body and the hologram.

"No. You can't go down with them. You've got to hang around outside the door. It's a messy business, you know." Nitric pouted and was about to say something, but Kyle put a hand on his mechanical leg.

"You can wait." He said, and looked over to grin at Audrena, but she wasn't there, having transmitted to her liger's side. -

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(4 ½ hours later . . .)

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"Can you please stop pacing Nitric?! I'm getting dizzy and I'm not even watching you!" Nitric eyed his pilot evilly.

"Well, sorry! You'd be the same way if Audrena was in the process of bearing your kid too!" The zoid shouted back, rumbling back and forth. Kyle paused, then nodded. He hadn't considered it that way.

"Yeah, I guess s-" He was interrupted by the human-sized door opening. The female pilot stepped through the door, wiping vast amounts of core fluid off of her face. Nitric's hologram immediately appeared and began shaking Audrena's shoulders roughly, staring at her wide-eyed and looking frantic. Kyle blinked, staring at the scene with mild amusement.

"IS SHE ALRIGHT? HUH? WHERE'S WRAITH! WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER!? WHERE'S THE KID? HUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUH?!?!" Audrena was a little stunned by the sudden whipping around, so she got shaken about quite a bit, her head jolting around violently.

"Stop that Nitric! You're giving me whiplash!" Nitric backed away reluctantly, sticking his hands in his holographic pockets. He still looked frantic, and it was obvious even if he tried to hide it.

It was kind of a dead give-away when Nitric's mecanicle body started to try and bust down the door. It wasn't working so well.

If you would, compare a fly to the windshield of a car going 50 miles per hour down the freeway. You'll get the idea of how well Nitric was doing. He was starting to find the weak points of the titanium alloy wall though . . .

"Look Nitric, she's fine, ok?" Audrena shouted over the noise, trying to calm the zoid down. Kyle started chuckling wildly. It was quite amusing to see his Fury, normally so composed, completely agitated and frenzied like this. Audrena ignored Kyle and continued.

"You should be quite proud of her, actually. Punching that massive thing-" Nitric gritted his teeth in shock at the word 'punching' and made a small squeaking noise. The pilot narrowed her eyes in annoyance. 'Good god, he's freaking out over everything.'

"Well, anyway, guess what? You're the father of a tiny male liger that's down right-" A loud wrenching noise echoed around the 13th floor, and a cloud of dust rose as Nitric broke down the wall and charged into the room, tearing through the various layers of insulation. Even as the wall's metal shell began to re-grow; Audrena got a very sour look on her face, sweatdropping through the silvery-green core fluid.

"Cute." She finished dryly. Kyle blinked, then grinned sheepishly.

"Never seen him do anything like that, that's for sure. Heck, I don't think I've ever seen him this far out of his mind before!" Audrena turned and fixed him with a 'Don't-you-know-the-circumstances?' stare.

"I would think that you would be damn near tearing concrete walls down if your wife had just delivered your child too." She stated, glaring at him in annoyance. "I mean, come on. You've got to think about it that way." She looked him up and down.

"Hell, I think you would spontaneously combust, either that, or suddenly blow yourself up in a freak incident of stress-produced excitation of molecular energy." She babbled nonchalantly, trying to confuse her listener with a vocabulary she knew he had but didn't like to use. Kyle shook his head.

"Not only do you scare me, but you continue to educate me in the various ways of life." He shook his head, smiling a little. "I don't even know I'm sticking around."

"Simple, because you have nowhere else to go, and secondly, out of simple love and respect." She sniffed, smiling through it though and giving the joke away. A pair of arms encircled her waist in a playful gesture.

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"You do that a lot."

"I know, I just want assurance that what I feel is returned, that's all." Audrena giggled, leaning her head against his shoulder.

From the stairwell though, a pair of orange eyes almost gave a smirk away.

"Perfect time to attack, Master DeLacarte . . ."

The tiny implant chattered in Troden's earlobe as the response came in, sound waves designed to be inaudible to the average human ear.

"Status on their zoids?" The response hissed

"Both are on the 13th floor. Wraith's just-"

"Who's Wraith?"

"Audrena's liger."

"Oh . . ."

"Going by the books again Master?"

"Of course you nitwit." There was a pause. "Are you questioning my strategy?"

"God no!" The fox shuddered in the shadows, glancing at Kyle and Audrena for any signs that they had noticed him. He shook his head, smiling to himself. Still exchanging affections. Good humans. "Sorry Malone, I'm not suicidal."

"Might I add you're the only infiltrator that has lasted more then a year? Keep up your attitude and your leading streak will end very abruptly. Anyway, I suggest you start working on Phase 3. I fear those machines more then the human who pilot them. I can't have those two zoids meddling, you know. After all, my chandelier is quite fragile."

"Yeah," Troden hissed. This was way too much work, even for a lifetime supply of Chinese hot mustard. Just thinking of mustard made him hungry. God, he loved hot mustard. Then again, it wasn't only for mustard . . . "I know that very well."

"Good. Make sure that the Voids-"

"The Voids, sir?"

"When you're as old as I am, you can almost predict what's about to happen."

"Oh boy . . ." Troden giggled wildly. It was quickly cut off by a curt snort.

"I leave you with a quote Troden, one to bear in mind. It relates to your situation completely. 'Hard work will set you free.' Auschwitz, 1944."

There was a chuckle from the other end and the line went to slight and soft static. Troden sighed, his heart heavy, staring at the couple he had to send to their eternal captivity. He shook his head as he entered an airshaft, his favorite way of getting around the base. The shadow fox had begun to question his own thoughts as he squirmed through the dark tunnels.

'Was his freedom worth the slavery of two others?'

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Nitric plodded into the room, eyes trailing through the gloom. His hologram had switched off without his knowing, and the wall he had broken through having long before rebuilt itself, sealing him in darkness. The room was completely dark except for the slight flickering light that shone up through the thick glass that was the floor. It flung watery reflections on his blue and black armor, causing his eyes to wander downward towards the glass floor.

The zoid let out a yelp and jumped a good 4 feet in the air, landing in a heap about 3 yards from his original spot. The shark didn't really care, and went swimming right on by beneath the transparent floor. Nitric scrambled up, trying to get a hold over his frazzled nerves. He could have hit himself right then. He had faced and survived Vega's Berserk Fury, Audrena's temper, and Mara Void, along with a whole lot of other disturbing things in his lifetime.

And now a small shark frightens him. Good grief.

It was only after a moment did he look cautiously down at the floor again, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

"This is one seriously messed up base." He muttered, staring down into the marine ecosystem below his claws. The light that shone up through the water outlined various denizens of the deep, also telling of the depth of the tank under Nitric's feet. Doing a quick scan of the whole reservoir, the zoid examined each species and shook his head.

"Audrena, you are even more of a twisted genius then I believed. Extinct fish, who would have thought! You've got an aquarium of terminated marine life for the delivery room floor! How sick!" He kept muttering various thoughts under his breath as he continued his search, plodding around the seemingly endless chamber, his surroundings starting to scare him.

He paused in his plight, blinking at the sight meeting his expanded silver eyes.

" . . .Did I . . . do that?" He whispered to himself, looking through the faintly lit dark, his heart sinking.

Wraith was curled up like a sleeping house-cat; puddles of core fluid starting to evaporate around her body. The liger had twisted around something protectively, that huge tail blade of hers hiding something.

Nitric immediately thought his lustful urge 3 moths ago had killed his girlfriend, and he started walking again with growing dread. It was only when he approached that something in the darkness began to stir.

But it wasn't Wraith. That's for sure.

The fury backed away warily, careful to think of some sort of trick. Movement could be traced. Something was attempting to move the massive scythe that blocked its route of escape, mewing pathetically. Tentatively, Nitric tip-toed forward and lifted the mammoth blade away gently . . .

Immediately, what appeared to be a fully formed zoid fell to the floor, all 4 outwardly splayed legs silhouetted against the watery light.

The tiny liger seemed to be about 8 feet in height while standing, being about 4 ½ feet tall when fallen. Miniature pieces of blood red armor decorated his body, the grey green claws and blades adding a dark contrast, his canines jutting out from his jaw. Oddly enough, the male had inherited his mother's teeth, blades, and wings . . . well, somewhat. He had a set that were almost identical to his mothers, except for the fact that his were a maroon color instead of dark purple and that his were twice as big as he was. Along with that, there was a bottom set too, a pair of Nitric's own dragonfly blades, giving him the appearance that he had butterfly-like wings.

Menacingly twisted and evil-looking butterfly wings, but nonetheless.

The tiny machine struggled up again, weaving to his feet. And upon reaching his feet, he sneezed, sending him back to the floor. Blinking as he recovered from the little sneeze, the minute infant blinked, staring curiously at Nitric's claws. Baring his tiny teeth playfully, he pulled himself up again, weaving to and fro.

Nitric watched this with disbelief and growing wonder. 'Machines creating Machines . . .'

"Mroawr!"

A sudden pressure on Nitric's claws attracted his gaze downward to his feet. The pint-size zoid had pounced on the middle claw on Nitric's right foot, the acid coating on Nitric's claws not seeing to have any effect on the tiny liger's armor. After gnawing vainly but viciously on the claw that was easily as big as he was for a moment, the infant raised his head to look up at the body and head that the foot was attached to. He cocked his head to the side in curiosity, staring at Nitric as though he had just noticed that the fury was there. An unexpected twinge of pride rose in Nitric's core.

It had his eyes . . .

"Hello there," The fury remarked, grinning a little, watching the utterly adorable liger yawn widely and curl up on his middle claw to sleep, purring a bit.

"I'm your dad." He finished in a disbelieving voice, sounding as though he couldn't believe his own words . . . -

- (Days later . . .) -

- "OOOOOOOOOH!" The Stealth Viper squealed, completely beside herself at the sight of Nitric and Wraith's son, the infant currently trying to ingest her tail. The temperature out on the 2nd floor was kept at a constant, so even if it was 120° outside.

"He is sooooooooo CUTE!" She seemed to ignore the fact that 'so cute' child had bitten off the last 2 feet of her derriere. Wraith smirked to herself. She never liked the snake anyway.

"Thank you. He's going to be quite the lady-killer when he gets older. Then again, what can you expect from the two most powerful zoids this side of Zi?" The massive liger posed a little, beaming proudly.

"Have you named him yet?"

"Sulfuric Liger. But we just call him Newt."

"So where's the father?" Wraith rolled her eyes.

"He got dragged off by the other males to celebrate. You should have seen him though when I first woke up. Nitric is so happy that he actually has a son; he was dancing the last time I saw him. Trust me, you have never lived until you've seen a dinosaur zoid dance with delight. He was hooting and yelling so much with joy that he ended up cracking the glass floor."

"Ouch." Wraith shrugged.

"Eh." The liger sat down on her haunches, watching Newt start to dig a hole in the turf, having scanned the dirt and found a metal object. Now bored, the Stealth Viper slithered off to find something more amusing to keep her narrow-minded brain on. The liger was growing at a phenomenal rate, at 6 inches every 10 hours, as was his intellect. In one week he was at the comprehension level of a 4-year-old. He starting to learn how to use the various mecanicle weapons that had equipped his body from birth, and the various and numerous holes around the bases walls told the truth of that. A clinking sound caused Wraith to glance down. Newt had unearthed his target and was currently chewing on it. A rusted soda can. Yuck . . .

"Hi everybody!" Wraith immediately sweatdropped, donning a very sour look. She had noticed a change in his behavior lately, and it was starting to put her on edge.

"Hello Troden." The fox didn't seem to hear the murderous tone in Wraith's voice and trotted towards Newt, looking him over with a disgusted look.

"Yuck. It's a lizard!" He muttered, backing away. Instant silence throughout the floor. They all turned to stare at Troden as though he was suicidal and began to flood towards the opposite ends of the floor, not wanting to be anywhere near the newly condemned Shadow Fox. Troden blinked, unsure of what was about to happen. Newt's lower lip began to tremble. Even he could recognize the insult. Wraith looked insanely bloodthirsty right then and there, but stopped herself from attacking the fox when she noticed that newt was going to take care of the problem.

The metal halves of Newt's ailerons flipped up and down to hang over and parallel to his back, the electricity webbing the acid intensifying. The other half of his airfoils curled around the now spinning blades, forming a large pair of cannons, the gyrating edges inside warping the very atoms inside, twisting them into unrecognizable molecule and distorting them into the 4th phase of matter . . . (sorry, I had to do that. We're studying the 4th phase of matter in Bio today . . .)

Troden had no time to move out of the way. The assembly and charging of the two cannons took no less then 17 seconds, and the young liger anchored himself by latching to the ground, almost ready to fire. Troden gulped.

"Err . . . Nice kitty . . ."

"PLASMA CANNONS FIRE!" the Shadow Fox yelped and hit the ground barely in time to avoid the massive surge of 4th stage matter careening two inches over his head, the heat from the blast melting the top layer of armor on his ears, head, back, and tail. The discharge continued, and it didn't stop at the titanium walls either. The light generated from the energy, an eerie orange yellow, lit up the whole 7-mile floor, blanketing it in an uncanny glow until the power dissipated.

Blinking and trying to ignore the fact that the top of his back was melted, Troden hauled himself up and peered into the 12-mile tunnel that the blast had dug into the rock with a gaze of awe and relief that he hadn't been in the way. The shadow fox then quickly evacuated the scene, hoping not to invoke the child's wrath again. Newt began to giggle, pointing at the half-mile wide hole that he had made with his pair of Plasma Cannons.

"Lookie! Imakadahole!"

Wraith blinked, shocked and lofty at the same time.

"He most certainly got that from my side of the family."

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Kyle paced back and forth in the small hallway, looking exceptionally nervous and tense, compulsively fingering something in his pocket and muttering various thoughts under his breath.

"No no no . . . she'd hit me if I said something like that . . . or have pulmonary failure, which ever one . . ."

Hearing incoherent babbling, Troden stuck his slightly melted head out of the airshaft to see the Obscura ambling around. Hearing the grate swing open, Kyle glanced up, raising an eyebrow.

"What happened to you?" He asked, watching Troden fall ungraciously to the floor, none too gently either. The fox wobbled on unsteady legs as he stood up, sitting on his haunches to avoid falling over. His nerves were still shot from his encounter with a seriously temperamental and over- powerful child zoid. Not too fun in his opinion.

"Don't ask. But anyway, I heard you talking to yourself. Everything ok?" The human nodded, paused in thought, and then shook his head.

" . . ."

The Shadow fox cocked his head to the side, then looked upward at the label over the door Kyle was standing in front of, along with the warning sign.

'Level 17, Chorus and Band Floor. All non-designated zoids will stay out! Anyone caught trespassing inside during non-appointed times will be severely punished, using rusty nails and watermelons . . . Wait a second, why did I add watermelons in? . . . That reminds me, I'm hungry. Maybe some watermelon . . . Ok, I just succeeded in confusing myself; so just stick by the rules unless you're in the Base Chorale or Orchestra, got it? And that means you too Kyle!'

Troden shook his head.

"Audrena loves her music. What could be so important as to-"

Kyle quickly shut him up by hesitantly taking out the object in his pocket. He trusted the zoid with his life, and hoped he could keep a secret.

Troden blinked at the small black velvet covered box and raised a nonexistent skeptical eyebrow.

"You're giving her a box?" Kyle blinked and sweatdropped.

"You don't know very much about human relationships, do you."

"Err . . . I know enough to know that you shouldn't go in there."

"Why not?"

"Do you enjoy being tortured with watermelons and a rusty nail?" The human ignored him, stuffing the box back into his pocket and grabbing the doorknob, an old fashion round door handle (Think the kind you have at school. You'll get the idea.), stepping into the room and shutting the door quietly.

Darkness met his eyes, complete and utter darkness. Lifting a hand and waving it in front of his face, his dark hazel eyes widened a little. He couldn't see his own hand two inches in front of his face. This was like being blind . . . or buried alive. Sweat began to bead on his forehead, not from apprehension, but with heat. The humidity and temperature in this place was quite a change to the arid desert air that pervaded the base; it was like being in a green house. He could hear running water somewhere, like a waterfall and a slow river moving at once, and the occasional organized hum of voices tuning up added to the strange melody. The faint sound of wings also met his ears, making for a very primeval sound.

Blinking and using his ears to navigate, he took a few cautious steps out into the gloom, towards the sounds . . .

He was unprepared when the lights suddenly switched on and he cringed away form the light, his eyes stinging form the sudden exposure. He squinted through the glare that was the room, until the vague form of an Iron Kong stood out against the light.

"So are you the new bass we've been waiting for?" It rumbled, a southern accent heavy on each word. Kyle gulped.

"God help me!" He whimpered. Blinking and clearing his mind, he crossed his arms and tried to look imposing, giving the zoid a cross stare.

"I couldn't sing if my life depended on it, much less be the new bass." He stated curtly.

"Besides, I'm not a fish."

"Bubba! Back off! I need a clear shot!" Someone shouted from behind him. The gorilla zoid smirked and moved to the side, to show a sight very strange to even the seasoned Obscura.

His senses were right about his surroundings in the first place. It WAS a green house, an underground green house. Palm trees, orchids, massive ferns, rubber plants, moss, vines, various bushes, everything was covered in plant life. A massive waterfall fell from the top of the far west ivy- covered wall, landing in a pool and dissipating into a slow moving river that meandered around the place. And among the foliage was a group of more full-sized if not enlarged zoids, each a myriad of armor colors and zoid classes, hiding in the leaves and peeking out at their visitor. And the machines didn't seem to notice the thicket of butterflies flitting about, completely at home among the dinner-plate sized neon colored flowers that jutted about in miscellaneous places.

To say the least, Kyle was a tad bit overwhelmed by it all. The smell was like being in a perfume shop. To his relief, Audrena stepped out from behind Bubba's front arm/leg, but she didn't exactly seem like she was happy to see him. He studied her for a moment. She seemed to be in a more patient but flammable mood today, according to her outfit. Her hair was in those blue ringlets again, and a deep grey sleeveless turtleneck replaced the normal black or navy blue T-shirt, along with the same black cargo pants, the kind that zip off at the knee. That was the first time Kyle ever got to look at Audrena's lower legs. He stopped himself from fidgeting. 'Yeesh . . . I'm glad she's never kicked me . . .'

A memory suddenly came to his mind, of that dream that plagued him while he was wandering around Zi. Flashes of various scenes from the nightmare shot through his mind, but one in particular. The shot of Audrena's crystal and the figure inside of it, everything began to match. The clothing, the length of the hair and the style, even the color of her footgear, everything was exactly identical.

His mind kept revolving between these scenes and the real world, seeing both the memory and reality at the same time, but separately. Kyle began to make a connection and his heart sank. Everything correlated, from fact to dream and back again . . .

"I know you're not blind," Audrena started, causing Kyle to tear his eyes back up to her face, somewhat reluctantly. "And that you're somewhat capable of reading ("HEY!" Kyle screeched.), so you must have seen the warning label."

" . . . "

Audrena sighed, and every zoid leaned forward, hoping to see Kyle get covered in rusty nails or hit over the head with an unripe watermelon. (That reeeaaaally hurts. Trust me on that one!) Instead, the human shook her head, looking as though she was regretting the action she was about to take.

"Well, it must be something important, so spit it out before I have Bubba here demonstrate the ultimate wedgie for you." The Iron Kong grinned evilly and every zoid in the background winced. Kyle didn't really hear the threat. His nerves were starting to act up right around the phrase 'spit it out'.

"Audrena . . . will-" He stopped there and stuck his hands in his pockets, mentally pulling the small box out of his pocket, but keeping it form her line of sight. He took another deep breath to steady himself, the small black box hovering behind his head and wreathed in a gentle blue radiance.

"Will you-" He cut himself off again, his throat clenching up on his again. 'Stupid nerves!' He thought angrily to himself. It was just a simple question!

'Hold it . . . what is he getting at?' All thought processes in Audrena's mind halted. The pilot narrowed her eyes at him, waiting quietly and plotting . . .

"Look Audrena, I've actually been meaning to ask you for a while now, but I've never had the guts before. And even now, I feel that I should be running in the opposite direction . . ."

'Uh oh . . .' That statement set off alarm bells in Audrena's mind. She glanced at a watch around her wrist. 10:45 PM . . .

Neither of the humans noticed that the zoids behind them began to silently sink to the ground around them, tumbling down and crashing to the ground with cores dead of charge and sucked completely dry. Neither one of the pilots could hear a sound of it. Had someone just entered the room, they would have heard massive crashing and ear-wrenching noise, just as normal. Troden winced as he entered the room, Bubba having just collapsed to the moss-covered floor and making quite a bit of noise. The fox trotted into the shadows behind a thick grove of orange trees, waiting for his master to give the signal.

"Audrena," Kyle steeled himself again, hoping for the best. "Will you m-"

The sound barrier that Malone had set up fell in that moment, cutting off Kyle's proposal with a barrage of noise, the discord having been held back from their ears. An explosion of sound met the pair head on and they both cried out, clapping their hands over their ears in an attempt to shield themselves from the sound.

Malone waited for them, his hunger steadily being satisfied by the many zoidian energies he had just assimilated. But even after 45 living breathing zoids, the vampire still felt the pang of hunger. He smiled to himself, glancing to the side at Troden, purple eyes glittering wildly. What a faithful little drudge . . .

Audrena was the first one to stop cringing from the noise, straightening up slowly. Kyle soon followed, the clamor ringing in their ears. Silence now pervaded the room. Even the waterfall had stopped, as had the river. The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up, and adrenaline started to pump through every artery and vein in her system, her senses becoming heightened. They weren't alone . . .

Kyle could immediately tell something was wrong with his surroundings. His own heart began to race; a chill spurted down his spine; and his mental abilities went on full-scale alert.

'Oh great, what now?'

"Oh look, I've alarmed them." A sarcastic voice sneered from the shadows, causing both Audrena and Kyle to whip around, looking for the source of the phonation. Malone shook his head and stepped out into the simulated sunlight for both to see. The couple studied the new comer before going back on guard again.

"What are you doing in my base?" Audrena hissed, not even bothering to ask the intruder's name. Malone snickered, his curly black hair bobbing a bit.

"Cutting to the chase, as always. You're so predictable Audrena, but you always were." Kyle immediately scooted protectively in front of Audrena. He didn't like that remark. The ancient man then smirked at Kyle, his glassy magenta eyes glittering as though he knew a secret.

"Kyle Obscura, I presume. It's always been your nature to bite the bullet in place of your loved ones, though you never seemed to succeed in that particular art. You're long dead mother can be used as an example. I remember watching that, trying to save her from that car collision . . ."

Kyle snorted, hiding his surprise.

'How'd he know about that?'

Malone chuckled darkly.

"How rude of me. I didn't introduce myself! I am Malo-"

"I don't care who the hell you are." Audrena spat, glaring at the intruder. "Just get out of my home." Malone turned his purple gave to her, that creepy smile frozen on his face. Audrena gulped.

"Naughty naughty little Drenny! You'll be punished for that one." A slight increase in his smirk and the pilot faded from view with a slight pop, a look of sheer shock printed on her face. Kyle swung around in vain, trying to locate her. After a few seconds, he turned back to Malone with a look of rising anger.

"Where's Audrena?"

"No matter, you'll be joining her soon enough." He said, sounding bored.

"Sorry about this Kyle, but this has to happen." A squeaky teen-like voice muttered, sounding immensely guilty. Recognition met Kyle's eyes and he couldn't help but gasp a little.

"Troden? . . . I can't . . . I can't believe it. You're working with this guy?!"

"Enough!" Malone turned his back on his newest target. The world began to swirl in on Kyle's vision, reversing in color and becoming tunnel like. It was all very confusing, especially when he was jerked along for the ride.

"Come. Enjoy yourselves before you're put to work."

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AHHHHHHHHHHHH! *runs screaming to write the next chapter, Dances with Liger Pilots*