HEY again! Okay, first things first, michael-91, yeah go ahead! Use da Dragonair!(Just as long as you say I made it! 'Cuz I did! ~.^) Oooh! Can I ask if Aeries can make a cameo in your fic then??:P

Well....erk...nothing else to say just yet! Read it, and I hope ya'll like it!

*~Biddett da Pigeon Stalker~*

:=It's Hard=Chapter 5!:

"Hey! You won! Good job!" Doc greeted as the four re-entered the Hover Cargo.

"Yep! Too easy! I thought S Class would be harder!" Bit strolled past and sat down on the lounge.

"Yeah, I mean...they should really be back with Harry! Are they ALL like this, Aeries?" Leena sat down beside him.

"No. Fierce Strike are just pushovers. That's all. You should wait until we face teams like Omega Phoenix. Even when I was back with a proper team, I had trouble with them. And Blazend Fury." She replied sitting down herself.

Brad went and got his coffee and then joined them. "So who was in your old team?" Bit asked as Brad sat down.

"Err...." Aeries started.

"What happened to you anyway? How come you were by yourself?" Leena asked.

"Man, you two are like the police interrogating her. Give her a break." Brad told them, sipping his coffee.

Doc came over again.

"Oh! I almost forgot. We have a new challenge!" He announced.

"Who?" Bit asked, jumping up, almost making Brad spill his coffee.

"Watch it..." He mumbled.

"....What was it again, Jamie?" Doc looked over to Jamie.

Jamie brought up some pictures of people, zoids and names onto the screen. "Team Angel-Wings."

Aeries, who was relaxing peacefully, almost asleep, suddenly jerked her eyes open, peered around and asked, "Who...?"

"Team Angel-Wings. Uhh...four women in it, and they are : Toni Garrot, Clair Lucinder, Jessica Kyuu and Sylvia Mann." Jamie informed her.

"Sylvia..." Aeries muttered to herself under her breath.

"Huh?" Bit looked puzzled at Aeries' dark expression.

"N-nothing..."Aeries looked away.

"Did you know her?" Leena moved over closer to her. Aeries sighed. "Okay. Let me show you something then." She stood up, and moved over to the panel. She pressed a few buttons here and there, and brought up some old info from the databases.

The team, was The Dark Aurora Team. In it, were four zoids. A Stormsworder, a Lightning Saix, a Dark Horn and a Liger. Only this one was black.

"Oh! So THIS is your old team!" Leena exclaimed.

"Yeah." Aeries replied, darkly.

Jamie read them aloud. "Let's see...in it are: Aeries Nomeska, Tia Wentworth, Angie Pristine and...." He paused. "No wonder you acted so wierd." Jamie noted.

"What? What!? WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Leena screamed.

"Ugh....Sylvia Mann." Jamie informed.

Leena stared over at Aeries. "She was in your old team? Wow...I suppose you wanna get revenge on her for abandoning you?" She suddenly had an evil glint in her eye. "Because I can help you there!!"

'It's not Sylvia I want revenge on...' Aeries thought.

"Nah. I'll get her myself!" Aeries replied, sounding a bit more cheerful.

Jamie cleared his throat.

"Guys, this one's gonna be difficult." He said. Quickly he brought up the old screen of Team Angel-Wings.

The Blitz Team decided to pay attention and swiveled around to watch him.

"They all have aerial zoids. Three Raynos and a Stormsworder!"

"So? I'll just shoot 'em down! Not too hard, Jamie!" Leena smirked.

"Yeah...they can just reach speeds past the sound barrier! How are you going to hit them if they're going that fast?!" He replied sarcastically.

"Well I'm sure that Stormsworder can't." Bit observed. He looked at the silver zoid on the screen. It had the normal blades on the wings, a heavy-looking gatling gun on the back, small missles seated near the head and powerful-looking boosters underneath the wings.

"You shouldn't underestimate the SF's abilites." Aeries sounded dark again.

"SF?" Doc asked.

"Short for Silver Fury, which is what Sylvia calls her zoid."

"Huh. Well, anyway, I think me and Aeries should stay in the air for this one." Jamie continued. He brought up a small simulator and showed a Raynos, with the Dragonair and Jamie's Raynos just above it.

"If we both work together, we could herd some of them down closer to the ground." On the simulator, the Dragonair and Jamie's Raynos pulled closer to the other Raynos, forcing it to move closer to the ground. Not far from it, was the Gunsniper.

"That should leave a free shot from one of you guys." The Gunsniper fired at the Raynos and the simulator ended.

"Or we could lure them down ourselves." Bit suggested.

"But that gatling gun doesn't look too friendly, and neither does those blades on the Stormsworder." Brad pointed out.

"So it's settled then?" Doc asked.

"Uh-huh!" Leena and Aeries replied cheerfully.

"So when is it?" Brad asked.

"In two days, 12 o'clock sharp. We're going over to a valley in the Red Canyons....Yellow Valley or something..." Doc answered.

Yellow Valley? Aeries' mind reeled at the name. She remembered it clearly. The day the Dark Aurora Team made it to S Class....

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

Two days later. Aeries knew what was coming. And to think they used to be friends...

"Well I see they called it 'Yellow' Valley for a reason..." Brad noticed on arrival.

Aeries looked out her window. It hadn't changed a single bit since that day... Sand. Bright yellow, gleaming sand stretched for kilometers. And surrounding each horizon,a foreboding and ominous, dusty bronze-almost blood red in parts- wall of rock rose sharply out of the sand. Scattered among the dunes was the occaisonal bone-like ruin jutting out of the yellow grainy ocean of sand.

The sun beat down hard as each of the Blitz Team mobilised. Aeries hung in the air, gliding circles around the area, while they waited for the other team and the judge to arrive.

Suddenly a Black Liger tore out from far underneath her, in close pursuit of a Elephander.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" The pilot of the Black Liger screamed, and leapt upon the Elephander, tearing and ripping into the zoid mercilessly.

A Dark Horn took its chance and shot with deadly aim, while a Stormsworder and a Lightning Saix tore at it with anything they had left.

A horn sounded. A judge announced "The battle is over! The battle is over! The winner is...."

"AERIES!" A yell from Leena snapped her back to reality. The memory faded.

"Huh?...Oh, sorry." Aeries soared back to the Blitz Team. The Angel-Wings team had already began to arrive.

"You okay?" Bit asked.

"Yeah." Aeries sounded a bit shaky.

Aeries glanced up to see a bright object closing in on them. Good. The judge was here. The fight should take her mind off all this...

Aeries stared at the Silver Fury intensly. And the SF's gaze looked straight at her too.

"Long time no see, hey, Aer?" Sylvia smirked.

"Hmph." Was all Aeries had to say.

"Don't worry about her, Aeries! I'll make sure she gets what's coming!" Leena grinned evilly.

"The Blitz Team vs. The Angel-Wings Team!" The judge's voice boomed across the sand.

"I like your new toy. Pretty impressive. But just how good is it in battle?" Sylvia said in a sinister voice.

"Battle field set up! Ready...?"

Aeries looked straight at her. "Good enough." She replied.

"FIGHT!"

Almost straight away the Blitz Team was met by a shower of bullets and missiles. Brad jumped nimbly out of the way, and Jamie flew over the attackers, but Bit, Leena and Aeries were caught in the fire.

Aeries eventually managed to fly high enough to join up with Jamie, and Bit could manage to shake off most of the attack but that left Leena stranded.

"Hey! Try picking on someone else for a change!" Leena growled, launching an attack, which missed completley.

"Damn..." She muttered.

Aeries grinned. The perfect opportunity for an attack. She readied her blade and headed straight for the nearest Raynos.

"Wh-where are you going?!" Jamie called after her. The Angel-Wing Raynos had barely any time to even look at the Dragonair because it was so caught up in putting the Gunsniper in a Command System Freeze. Aeries sliced right through the zoid, but she didn't have any time to celebrate as something slammed into her, knocking her dangerously close to a cliff.

She turned around to see the SF. Both Aeries and Sylvia's gaze met for an instant.

"Next time I'm not going to miss." Sylvia hissed.

Jamie rejoined Aeries and they worked on herding another Raynos closer to the ground. Aeries brought out her blade and followed its every move closely. The pilot was so busy trying to stay away from its two attackers that she didn't notice the Shadow Fox rising up, about to strike it with a Strike Laser Claw.

She looked around, and saw the attack. She had no room to stop. She banked hard to the left, but it was too late. The Shadow Fox came in contact with the Raynos. It began to fall, knowing escape with futile. Brad leapt from it, centimeters from it touching the ground.

A COMMAND SYSTEM FREEZE appeared over Toni's Raynos in the panel of the Stormsworder SF.

"They're smarter than I gave them credit for..." Sylvia smirked. It was now only her and Jessica though. But that should be enough...

Aeries and Jamie worked on Jessica, but she knew what was happening. She kicked in to full speed and brought her Raynos high above them, and their attacker.

Then the Dragonair rocked violently. Aeries looked back, surprised. She didn't catch the attacker.

"In front of you, AER!" Sylvia's voice boomed.

Aeries faced forwards. She gasped. The SF flew over the top, and Aeries felt the Dragonair shudder. She watched as the wings to her zoid fell harmlessly to the ground, and her zoid following closely behind. She had to get her feet out!

She brought out her feet, and found a suitable landing area. She calmed a little. That was close, but she was going to make it.

"Don't think I'm letting you get away this easy, Aer!" The SF doubled over, and at once, the boosters kicked in. She closed in, quicker than anyone would have expected the heavy zoid to move. It broke the sound barrier with ease. Then came the horrifying moment and Aeries felt the Dragonair's legs crunch from underneath her. She watched them fall away, and Sylvia soared high up.

Aeries closed her eyes and waited for impact, for a COMMAND SYSTEM FREEZE to appear over the screen. She knew she had lost.

Jamie, now more doggedly than ever, began to chase down Jessica. He swerved to the right as she swerved to the right, banked to the left as she banked to left, fired a volley of missiles at every chance he had, desperatly trying to get her close to the ground and keep her there.

The Liger leapt out in a Strike Laser Claw, and Jessica's Raynos veered to the side, escaping by mere millimeters.

"HAH! Is that all you...." Jessica started.

"WEASAL UNIT TOTAL ASSAULT!!!!!!!" Leena screamed.

The Raynos was met with a wall of missiles and fell to ground, lifeless.

"Dammit." Jessica slumped to the panel and thumped it hard.

Sylvia chewed her lip. Things weren't looking so good now. Any moment now they would begin to attack her. Just as well she kept hidden far up in the clouds.

She smirked. Watching the Gunsniper crawl along made her think. She pulled the SF into a dive, and brought out her blades.

"Too easy..." She muttered.

Leena looked wildly around. "Where are you hiding, you coward! At least I have the guts to show myself!" She yelled.

"Leena!" Bit yelled.

"Right here!" Sylvia called.

"Huh?" Leena glanced up. At a quickening pace, the SF was shooting down, blades brought forward ready to strike.

"Eep."

And then, she boosted forward and was coming down even faster. The Silver Fury rocketed down, sights set on the slow Gunsniper. Leena made an attempt to run, but it wouldn't do.

Then, the Stormsworder was barely a meter away when a greeny blur flew past, knocking Sylvia flying. Jamie's Raynos!

"My, that was brave, Jamie." Sylvia admitted.

"Jamie? My name's the Wild Eagle!" Jamie called back.

"Oh...dear." Doc muttered.

"O....kay." Sylvia said, puzzled.

Sylvia righted her zoid, and saw the Raynos. It was badly damaged. Twin scars trailed across the front of the zoid from where she had slashed him on the impact.

"Well...whoever you are, you're a sitting duck now!" Sylvia exclaimed, locking on quickly with her missiles and sent a dozen or so in his direction. The Raynos couldn't bear it and fell helplessly.

"That..." Sylvia sneered. "Was PATHETIC!"

And then she turned and fired countless rounds with her gatling gun on Leena.

"Hey!" Bit yelled.

"What about me!" He leapt forward and tried once again for a Strike Laser Claw. It missed.

"Oh, you'll get your turn soon enough." Sylvia replied. She turned and took to the air once more.

She fired upon Leena for a while more with her gatling gun. And then turned on Brad, who quickly hid inside smoke.

"Hmmm...." She stopped firing. And descended with her blades. At the last moment, she flicked on the boosters for a burst of speed. She shot through the dense smoke and hurtled back to the sky.

The SF continued on with its assault on Leena, who fired back with little effect.

"Grrrr...." Leena grumbled.

By now, the smoke had cleared and the Shadow Fox was left lying there, in a Command System Freeze, from a severe slash. Brad was shocked. She had come so quickly....

Leena glanced around. Where was Bit?

"Biiit?? Where'd you go...?" Leena called.

"Awww...look at that. He left you for me. How nice." Sylvia taunted.

"I'm coming!" Bit yelled. He bounded from the Hover Cargo. He had changed from the Jagar into the Schnieder.

"Hmph. Time to finish this." Sylvia announced. The SF shot downwards onto Leena. She readied her blades. She flicked on her boosters.

'NOW!' Bit thought. He ran. He brought his Buster Blade forward. Hopefully this would work...

Bit ran straight for Leena. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING BIT?!" Leena couldn't take her eyes off his blade. Was he going to attack his own teammate??

He jumped. On top of the Gunsniper! "HEY!" Leena yelled. But he jumped almost straight off.

"BUSTER SLASH!" Bit yelled.

Sylvia's eyes opened wide. She hadn't expected THIS....

Bit soared through the air, straight for Sylvia.

The Schnieder landed deftly and placed its blade back, while the Stormsworder SF grounded itself, kicking up dust as it skidded along the sandy desert.

"The battle is over! The battle is over!" The judge announced.

"The winner is..."

"THE BLITZ TEAM!"

"WHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Leena cheered.

"Alright! Good one, Liger!" Bit exclaimed. The Liger roared happily. Doc sighed a huge sigh of relief.

Aeries sat still. Her mind echoed that moment over and over again. She had lost....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*big breath* Thank god I've finished! ^.^ Well...? Hmm...sorry for not updating in around FOREVER! :P

Um...I guess that's all!

Cyaz (make sure ya R&R!)

*~Biddett da Pigeon Stalker~*