S.D. Aloha everybody! It's Steam Detective! Knuckles: And according to the
name in front of my dialogue I'm Knuckles. S.D. Sorry about taking so long
to get this written, I kept getting distracted and it's that time of the
year again, finals are coming...Knuckles: What? You've been playing video
games for the past week ARRGH! S.D. That's enough out of you. But still I
am under a lot of stress right now to stay on top of everything. Anyway
thank you all for reviewing and speaking of reviews now's a good time to
address some of them. Of course the Fuma Team intends to kill Ted too and
as for what Bit is going to do after this whole mess I haven't quite
decided, I have a few ideas that I'm tinkering with but I haven't made up
my mind just yet. Finally to Mercenary Pen I have to say you're very smart
aren't you, I'm impressed. Knuckles: Does that mean someone finally got
you? Yes! S.D. No they didn't. Let me explain this, the Liger Zero was
overhauled but I don't think that anyone would take the schematics for it
and the only people who would want to would be the BackDraft who probably
weren't aware and didn't care at the time. Second point I have to make is
that they could not examine the black box which held the organoid system
and after the collapse of the BackDraft it would take a few years before
they could get around to anything that advanced. Besides, without the
organoid system and the other armor sets, which were not analyzed, the
Liger is somewhat of a mediocre zoid. Finally about the Strike Laser claw
thing, if you take a look both the Liger and the Fox only use one law when
using that attack and besides for the first few years Bit didn't use that
attack and I'll explain that later in the story. Well on with the fic!
Losing the Soul
Chapter 12: The King's Betrayal
Voice4: "The Fuma Team?" Voice7: "Isn't that a little risky Altile?" Altile: "Perhaps but it was necessary. I didn't want to but this is the only way. The fact is we keep underestimating Bit Cloud and the Liger Zero so this time I decided that risking over estimating him would be a better course of action." Voice8: "Well this does spice up the battle quite a bit." Voice3: "Let's just hope our members aren't too angry at us." Voice2: "Won't the police be a little suspicious why they are suddenly missing an officer?" Altile: "I've thought of that and I have a solution." Voice5: "Which is?" Altile: "Once the Fuma Team disposes of them both we'll blow the place to pieces in order to destroy the evidence of charged particle cannon damage removing all the pieces of the Liger Zero X first and planting copied pieces of the Liger Zero and once that's done we'll tell the police about how Ted Hawkings was killed in the Gustav we gave him when the explosives it was carrying exploded prematurely." Voice6: "They still might suspect something." Altile: "I expect they will but our plans are nearing completion and all we need now are more supplies and with Bit Cloud out of the way we won't have to worry about losing anymore." Voice4: "Then by the time the police, army, GF and ZBC begin to catch on it will be too late?" Altile: "Precisely."
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Jamie: "Well I've looked all around here and I can't find anything." Brad: "Me neither, what about you Leon?" Leon: "Sorry." Jamie: "Damn it. We're back to square one." John: "Maybe I can help." Leon: "John?!" Brad: "I thought you were out today." John: "I was but then Pete got sick on one of the rides. I told him not to eat all that junk food then ride on a roller coaster called the Gut Twister." Jamie: "Eww." John: "You can say that again. Anyway, from what I gathered you guys don't know how to get into this thing." Brad: "Pretty much." John: "Have you tried blasting through it?" Leon: "Tired it." John: "Hmmm. Well I'll try scanning it and see if I pick anything up. This is going to take awhile though."
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Bit: "How did you three get in here?!" Fuma: "We were in here the whole time." Negara: "We were just hiding." Koga: "Commander Altile didn't want any slip ups this time." Fuma: "Now you will die, Bit Cloud. It was nice knowing you." Fuma's Genosaur spread it's legs out, dropped it's foot locks and proceeded to charge particle energy. Bit: "Come on, come on raise the fucking shield!" MALFUNCTION. Bit: "No, not now!!!" Fuma: "Goodbye." The Genosaur fired a charged particle beam right at the Liger. Fuma: "That should do it. What?!" The Liger Zero X stood in front of the Liger Zero, protecting it from the deadly blast. Ted: "You used me! Now you're gonna pay!!!" Fuma: "You insolent little-" Fuma's Genosaur began firing it's back mounted pulse laser at the Zero X's shield. Ted: "Hey! You gonna sit there or do something?!" Bit: "Huh? Oh, right!" The Liger ran out from behind the Zero X and began firing at the Genosaurs with it's sniper rifle. Fuma: "Fan out! They can't counter three Charged Particle Cannons at once!" Koga and Negara: "Roger!"
The three Genosaurs surrounded the two Ligers and prepared to fire their charged particle cannons. Ted: "Oh shit! Your shield wouldn't happen to be working again would it?" Bit: "Nope. We'd only be able to stop two anyway." Ted: "Then what the hell do we do?!" Bit: "You try and stop one of the beams while I stop the other two from firing." The Liger drew it's blades and ran towards one of the Genosaurs. Koga: "You little idiot! I'm gonna..." Bit: "Gonna what? If you move you have to stop you cannon charge but if you stay there..." Koga lifted the foot locks and ran out of the Liger's path. Bit: "That's one." Ted: "Hate to bother you but-" Bit: "Hold on!" The liger aimed it's sniper rifle and tried to fire. Bit: "No! Out of ammo! How am I going to stop him, I can't get over there in time unless... John you had better have been right about this." Liger went into it's five blade attack and charged at the other Genosaur. Negara: "What the hell are you doing?!" Fuma: "Fire!" The remaining tow Genos fired their CPCs at the Liger and Zero X.
Fuma: "We'll at least get one. What?!" The Liger stood in front of Negara's charged particle beam and was completely unaffected. Bit: "Looks like John was right the blades can cancel the beams out too." Koga: "Nice try but you're not out of the woods yet." Bit looked to his side to see Koga lining the Liger and the Zero X up in it's sites. Ted: "We've got a problem." Bit: "Which is?" Ted: "Your rifle is out of ammo and I can't risk turning around." Bit: "Why not?!" Fuma: "Silly man." Bit looked back to see Fuma charging her particle cannon as well. Bit: "Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place!" Koga: "Die!" Koga fired the CPC and a second later so did Fuma. Bit: "Oh shit!"
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Jamie: "Well?" John: "Sorry, but I got nothing." Brad: "C'mon there has to be someway in." John: "Fraid' not. I thought maybe we could tunnel in but my scanners reveal that the shields extend below ground." Leon: "Below ground?!" John: "This thing sucks up a lot of power so it needs something to supply it with energy. There are small generators under the dome's projectors so the shield has to protect them too." Jamie: "Then how are we going to get through?" John: "We could try busting through again but that won't work without something stronger to break through it." Brad: "What about the Berserk thing?" John: "Might work but I don't know..." Leon: "Do you have any better ideas?" John: "(sigh) Alright." Everyone but John backed their zoids up while Light Wing rose into the air. John: "Light Wing, let's give this one our all." The Light Wing screeched in response. John: "Targeting...targets acquired...powering up...FIRE!!!" Light Wing let lose a huge volley of laser blasts on the black dome. A tremendous amount of smoke and dust was kicked up so much that the dome could not be seen.
Jamie: "Did it work?" John: "Hold on the dust needs to clear." They waited a few minutes for the dust to settle and when it did. Brad: "Damn it!" The dome remained intact. Leon: "John, can you do that again?" John: "No, Light Wing needs to cool down first and that uses so much energy I can't use it more than once before having to recharge his power cells." Jamie: "We're back were we started."
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Negara: "That should do it." All three Genosaurs looked at the damage they had caused. Smoke billowed from where the two particle beams had hit and it looked to be the end. Fuma: "The odds that they survived are unlikely." Koga: "Officer Hawkings might have ejected but Bit Cloud wouldn't, he loves his zoid too much to leave it." Negara: "Exactly. What?!" Fuma: "What is it?!" Negara: "I'm picking up life signs!" Ted: We're alive? Now how in hell did that happen?" Bit: "We owe Liger that one." As the smoke cleared the Liger Zero came into view with it's shield raised. Koga: "But you had a malfunction!" Bit: "I did and Liger's auto repair fixed it just in time."
Ted: "Okay so we're not dead yet but that doesn't help that much. You're supposed to be a pro at this stuff so do you have any suggestions?" Bit: "What happened to "I'll kill you, you scumbag"?" Ted: "Now is not the time." Bit: "Alright how about I defend and you try and take one of those Genos out." Ted: "What?! Why me?!" Bit: "Because Liger's running low on power and you've still got plenty and we can't fight three of these things." Ted: "Okay fine but you better not be planning to stab me in the back." The Zero X lowered it's shield and raised it's blades and began firing at Fuma. Ted: "So what exactly am I trying to do?!" Bit: "Go for the foot locks! They need a secure base to fire their cannons!" Ted: "Got it."
The Zero X ran towards Fuma and kept firing. Fuma: "Oh no you don't!" The Genosaur leaned down and started firing all three of it's guns at the Zero X. Ted: "Damn it, why do the controls feel so sluggish?!" Bit: "Both us and our zoids are wearing down so it's gonna be harder to move!" Ted: "Great." Fuma: "Damn it hold still!" The Zero X ceased firing and opened it's blades for attack. Ted: "Choke on this!" The Zero X lunged at the Genosaur but it ducked. The Zero X managed to cut off the gun on the top of it's head and the ones on it's back. Ted: "Huh, now you only have that cannon." Fuma: "You sure about that?" The Genosaur turned around and fired it's claw at the Zero X which grasped it on the front leg. Ted: "What the hell?!" A wave of electricity ran down the wire connecting the claw to the Genosaur. Ted: "GAHHH!!!" Bit: "TED!!!" The gold turbines on the Zero X's back began spinning faster and faster until they blew up. Ted: "Damn it! The Command System's frozen!" Bit: "Hang on!"
The Liger Zero rushed in firing it's pulse cannon at Fuma's Genosaur. Fuma quickly move out of the way. Bit: "Damn it! Ted, can you move?!" The Zero X struggled with it's front legs and raised off the ground a little but immediately fell back to the ground. Ted: "Sorry. The Zero X won't budge." Bit: "Damn it, I'm on my own now." Bit looked back to realize all three Genos had begun slowly advancing towards him. Bit: "Shit, they're just mocking me now." The Liger fired it's pulse cannon at them and they dodged every shot. Bit: "Hold still and let me shoot you! Huh? No! Not now!" The Liger suddenly stopped firing it's cannon because it wasn't able to keep shooting. Koga: "Well, well, well looks like someone just ran out of energy." The two Genosaurs that still had cannons fired at the Liger until it fell to the ground. Bit: "No, it can't end like this!" Negara: "Accept it Cloud. You've lost. That's what you get for tangling with Fire Wind." The three Genos spread out and began charging their cannons. Ted: (to himself) "Damn, Lara said my hardheadedness would get me killed some day." Bit: "Leena, Toby, Amber...I'm sorry...I failed..."
The Genosaurs fired their charged particle cannons at the two grounded zoids and sent up a huge plume of smoke. Fuma: "That's, that." Negara: "There's no way they could have saved themselves from that." Koga: "Commander Altile will be pleased.
[
(Pop)! Altile poured the newly opened Champaign into the wine glass in front of him and passed the bottle around. Altile: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have succeeded." Voice2: "May Bit Cloud burn in hell." Voice6: "Humph, hell's too good for him." Voice6: "To Fire Wind." Altile, Voices2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8: "To Fire Wind!" all of them raised their glass and then drank from them.
[
Fuma: "C'mon, we've got to get here before head quarters has this place blown up." The Genosaurs turned around and began to walk away when out of nowhere three blue laser blasts came out of the smoke and hit each Genosaur. Negara: "What the hell?!" Fuma: "Ah! No, you traitor!!!" Bit: "We're...alive?" Ted: "But how?" Bit looked in front of the Liger and saw a saurian foot with white purplish armor. Bit: "It can't be...Vega!!!" Ted: "Vega?" As the smoke cleared the menacing form of the Berserk Fury came into view in front of the two downed Ligers.
[
Altile and everyone all spat out their Champaign seeing this on the video screen. Altile: "(cough) (cough) Vega!!!" Voice4: "Our best warrior just betrayed us!" Voice7: "Damn it I thought he was locked in his room!"
[
Fuma: "How the hell did you get in here?!" Vega: "...same as you guys, I was here the whole time." Vega sounded almost the same just older. Negara: "But how did you get out with out anyone noticing?!" Vega: "Dead guards don't notice much." Koga: "Get out of our way Vega!" Vega: "Why should I? It's obvious I came here to save Bit." Bit: "...I don't know what to say." Vega: "You can think about that it later when we're out of here." Fuma: "Oh no you don't! You three aren't going anywhere!" Vega: "And who's gonna stop us? I've beaten you before I can do it again."
The Fury's engines kicked in and it zoomed past the three Genos causing them to lose their footing as they scrambled to get out of the way. The Fury quickly got it's feet back on the ground, turned around, flipped out the two claws on it's back and began firing at the helpless Genos. Fuma: "Damn it! Koga, Negara! What the hell are you two waiting for, blast him!" Koga and Negara: "Roger!"
The two Genosaurs that were still armed turned around and fired at the Fury. Vega easily piloted his zoid around all of their shots. Fuma: "Damn you!" Fuma fired her Genosaur's claws at Vega but he managed to dodge them too. The Fury ran in close to the three Genos and ripped into them with the Fury's rotating claws. The Genos backed up as fast as they in an attempt to split up and avoid being easily targeted by Vega.
Vega: "Spreading out huh?" The Fury's claws turned around to face the two Genos running behind it and fired three shots at each of them and then turned to the one in front of him and repeated. Vega: "You didn't take into account that the Berserk Fury's lasers can pivot to almost any position." Fuma: "Oh we remembered and it seems you're getting rusty." Vega: "What did you say?" Vega looked and realized all three Genosaurs were preparing to fire their Charged Particle Cannons at him. Vega: "You've tried this one before and it didn't work." Koga: "Yeah but it does something else." Vega: "What are you... (gasp)!!!" It suddenly occurred to Vega that the last time they pulled that stunt it was at the Royal Cup where it had caused a huge explosion whipping out everything in the area. The two Ligers were in big trouble and the Fury wasn't in front of them to protect them. Vega: "NO!!!" The Fury turned around and fired multiple shots at the two Genos behind him and made sure that the shots went straight for their mouths. The constant laser blasts caused serious damage to the Genosaurs' jaws and closed off the gun barrels. Koga: "Quick, stop charging!" Negara: "Why, the blast should clear the cannon." Koga: "Idiot! If we do that the blast will recoil and kill us!" Negara: "What?!" The two Genos stopped charging immediately.
The Fury turned around to face the last Geno and blocked the particle beam with the shield. Vega: "This is getting annoying." The Fury's foot locks dropped and the two metal claws spread out as the Fury began charging it's Charged Particle Cannons. Fuma: "NOOOO!!!" The Fury fired and...the blast went right past the Genosaur. Fuma: "You missed." Vega: "Who said I was aiming for you?" Fuma: "What?!" Koga: "Look!" Fuma: "Huh? Ah!" The particle beams had just blown a very big hole in the dome. Negara: "Why the hell did you do that you little punk?!" Vega: "Reinforcements." Fuma: "What?!"
[
John was running another scan, Jamie was trying to think of something and Brad and Leon were going over the perimeter to see if they had missed something when three particle beams smashed through the dome. Everyone looked at the gapping hole blankly for a second. Each person had a profoundly humorous look on their face as they stared in confusion. John: "...uhhhh, hey guys, I think I found a way in."
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Koga: "What the hell do you mean, reinforcements!?" At that moment the Shadow Fox and Blade Liger came rushing through the hole that the Fury had created. Vega: "That." Brad: "Vega?" Leon: "I thought Bit was in here fighting a Liger Zero copy." Vega: "He was, just look over there." Leon: "Huh?" The Blade Liger and the Fox turned their heads towards the Liger and the Zero X. Brad: "Bit, are you alright?!" Bit: "Hell no!" Leon: "What happened?" Ted: "I'll fill that one. This is my fault, I was tricked into helping those assholes and when they thought I'd lose they jumped in to kill us both." Bit: "But Vega was here too and he stopped them." Brad: "So you blasted that hole in the dome?" Vega: "Duh." Leon: "You knew we were out there?" Vega: "Of course, I was using the feed from the Fire Judge to gain access to satellites to look at this place." John: "That seems a little complicated but ingenious." Light Wing was now hovering just outside the hole in the dome with the Raynos behind it.
Vega: "Well?" The Fury turned around and faced the three Genosaurs who had run together as the others were talking. Vega: "I'd tell you to surrender but..." The Fury began shifting into the stance for firing its CPC's. Koga: "Let's get outta here!" Fuma: "Damn." The dome that surrounded them quickly disappeared and the Genos activated their boosters and got out as fast as they could. Brad: "Jamie! John! What the hell are you waiting for?! Go after them!" John: "Right, maybe we can get the location of Fire Wind's base from them." Vega: "Don't bother." Everyone: "Huh?" The Fury's cockpit opened and Vega stood up.
He definitely wasn't the kid they had known anymore. His hair was still the same but his face was no longer that of a child, he wore a long- sleeved black shirt with a white cargo vest over it and camouflage cargo pants. The most noticeable feature that was different were his eyes. They no longer had the spark they had once contained and in its place was a look of sadness.
Vega: "I know where it is." Jamie: "You'll tell us? But aren't you with Fire Wind?" Vega shook his head. Leon: "Then why did you just show up now?" Vega: "It was important for one thing and for another I only just escaped." Ted: "Escaped?" Vega: "I was being held against my will in the Fire Wind head quarters." Bit: "I figured you wouldn't be working for them, not at this age anyway." Jamie: "What do you mean?" Bit: "I may not know Vega very well but he's a genuine warrior. He fights for fun and only wants to find challenging opponents. He was only a kid when he worked for the BackDraft so I figured he'd begin to hate them as he got older and understood what they were doing better." Vega: "That's true but that's not why I began to hate them." John: "Then why are you here?" Vega: "(sigh)...I need your help." Bit: "For what?" Vega: "We both want the same thing Bit, to see Fire Wind fall and it's leaders killed and I can't do that by myself." Bit: "Fine. Your help is exactly what we need anyway. But why did you begin to hate them?" Vega: "I'll explain later, right now we have to get moving." John: "Right. I'll call Dr. Layon and have him pick us up." Brad: "Huh? Why don't you just give Bit a lift?" John: "I could but if you haven't noticed there's two downed zoids and I need to lift that." Light Wing turned to face the Fire Judge. Fire Judge: "Umm...uhhh...I don't know anything if that's what you're thinking!" John: "No, I don't think you do but you'll make great evidence."
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Altile: "Curses!!!" The comity looked at the screen as the Light Wing dragon stared at the judge and then the picture went to static. Voice4: "We lost our best pilot, the Liger Zero X, a judge and I'll bet we just lost a lot of confidence from our members." Voice6: "Forget all of that! Vega is going to tell them were we are!" Voice2: "Come now, they wouldn't be foolish enough to attack now." Voice5: "Yes, with the Liger Zero down they'll have to wait another day or two before they strike." Voice8: "That doesn't make things any better now does it?!" Voice3: "We'll have to beef security up as much as possible before they get here." Voice7: "Fat lot of good that's going to do us! The Berserk Fury's Charged Particle Cannons will wipe out our security forces and they stretch for miles before extinguishing so there's no way to stretch out forces far enough!" Altile: "People! This is indeed a dire situation but it is not an impossible one. Need I remind you we have planned for an occasion such as this?" Voice5: "Commander Altile? You're not suggesting that we-" Altile: "Yes, I'm afraid so. We must get our work teams on alert if we are to get it running before they attack."
[
Back at the Whale King Everyone was hard at work fixing the two Ligers. Layon: "Tell me again why we're bothering to fix the Zero X." John: "Ted volunteered to help and we need all the back up we can get now." Brad: "How do you know that he isn't going to stab us in the back?" Bit: "Brad, think for a second about how you would feel if you were fighting someone you thought was evil and you were getting support and it turned out that the people who were helping you were really the evil ones and they were using you?" Brad: "Point taken but I'm surprised that you would be so nice to this guy after he tried to kill you." Bit: "You're not the only one. I guess I just understand what was going through his head or something."
Jamie: "John, how are we supposed to fix the Zero X? The back's blown out and we don't know how it works." John: "I know how it works." Jamie: "What?" John: "The idea of putting turbines on the backs of zoids is older than you think, heck I thought of putting some on the Zero Phantom but decided against it." Jamie: "Why?" John: "Not enough room." As they were talking Ted walked into the Whale King's hanger wearing a slightly baggy black Pilot's suit. John: "That thing fit okay?" Ted: "Yeah, thanks." Ted had changed out of the suit he had been given and he had to admit he felt better now that he wasn't wearing it. Vega was over by the Light Wing and his Berserk Fury watching as the two large cables in their back restored power to them. Jamie: "So, Vega. You really know where the base is?" Vega nodded. Jamie: "Well then tell us." Vega: "Can't." Jamie: "Why not." Vega: "You might leave without me." Bit: "I wouldn't let them." Vega: "They might leave you too." Bit: "What?!" Vega: "I already told you I want Fire Wind destroyed and I think I made it clear I have a grudge against them now and so do you. The others might be worried you and I will do something stupid and get ourselves killed so they might leave us behind." John: "C'mon we won't do that." Vega: "I didn't say I thought you would but I'm not taking any chances." Jamie: "Alright."
Brad: "So what exactly are we going to do?" John: "Simple. We attack their base and break in. Bit and Vega get to the leaders and kill them while we take pictures and grab evidence while blowing the place to kingdom come. After that Bit and Dr. Layon make tracks and we tell the police how Bit approached us a few days earlier, told us the situation and we just couldn't say no to an old friend. Ted backs us on this and after some messy trials we get out smelling like roses and every last member of Fire Wind left alive goes to jail." Leon: "Do really think it will be that simple?" John: "I said the plan was simple what actually happens is bound to be very complicated." Jamie: "I get the feeling this is going to be a big headache." John: "Maybe, but it will be worth it."
[
After two days of working the group of six zoids ran across rock terrain towards the base of Fire Wind. John: "Damn, how did I miss this?" Leon: "Miss what?" John: "Fire Wind's base being in this place. It's so obvious!" Brad: "I don't follow." John: "This place is a national land mark and no one really comes out here. There are clouds blanketing the sky all year round and this area was once volcanic so it's rich in zoidmagnite, iron, copper, tin and a bunch of other metals." Bit: "So?" John: "Zoidmagnite gives off a weird signal that blocks radar and screws up satellite images and radio communication at long ranges. All though there are a lot of areas like this it would make sense that they are here." Vega: "It doesn't matter. We just need to take out Fire Wind and that will be the end of it."
Jamie and John: "Holy shit!!!" Bit: "What is it!?" Jamie: "There's no base..." John: "Just a giant crater..." Vega: "Giant crater...?" John: "They lifted the whole base into the air!!!"
Up ahead there was exactly what John and Jamie said. Nothing but an enormous crater over two miles in diameter that was not on any map of the area.
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S.D. Weird huh? Knuckles: Well that's it. S.D. Sorry this chapter was a little shorter than most of the chapters have been lately. I hate to tell you all this but the next chapter is probably going to be late too. Knuckles: Please don't kill us. S.D. Until Next time! Knuckles: We'll be back!
Losing the Soul
Chapter 12: The King's Betrayal
Voice4: "The Fuma Team?" Voice7: "Isn't that a little risky Altile?" Altile: "Perhaps but it was necessary. I didn't want to but this is the only way. The fact is we keep underestimating Bit Cloud and the Liger Zero so this time I decided that risking over estimating him would be a better course of action." Voice8: "Well this does spice up the battle quite a bit." Voice3: "Let's just hope our members aren't too angry at us." Voice2: "Won't the police be a little suspicious why they are suddenly missing an officer?" Altile: "I've thought of that and I have a solution." Voice5: "Which is?" Altile: "Once the Fuma Team disposes of them both we'll blow the place to pieces in order to destroy the evidence of charged particle cannon damage removing all the pieces of the Liger Zero X first and planting copied pieces of the Liger Zero and once that's done we'll tell the police about how Ted Hawkings was killed in the Gustav we gave him when the explosives it was carrying exploded prematurely." Voice6: "They still might suspect something." Altile: "I expect they will but our plans are nearing completion and all we need now are more supplies and with Bit Cloud out of the way we won't have to worry about losing anymore." Voice4: "Then by the time the police, army, GF and ZBC begin to catch on it will be too late?" Altile: "Precisely."
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Jamie: "Well I've looked all around here and I can't find anything." Brad: "Me neither, what about you Leon?" Leon: "Sorry." Jamie: "Damn it. We're back to square one." John: "Maybe I can help." Leon: "John?!" Brad: "I thought you were out today." John: "I was but then Pete got sick on one of the rides. I told him not to eat all that junk food then ride on a roller coaster called the Gut Twister." Jamie: "Eww." John: "You can say that again. Anyway, from what I gathered you guys don't know how to get into this thing." Brad: "Pretty much." John: "Have you tried blasting through it?" Leon: "Tired it." John: "Hmmm. Well I'll try scanning it and see if I pick anything up. This is going to take awhile though."
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Bit: "How did you three get in here?!" Fuma: "We were in here the whole time." Negara: "We were just hiding." Koga: "Commander Altile didn't want any slip ups this time." Fuma: "Now you will die, Bit Cloud. It was nice knowing you." Fuma's Genosaur spread it's legs out, dropped it's foot locks and proceeded to charge particle energy. Bit: "Come on, come on raise the fucking shield!" MALFUNCTION. Bit: "No, not now!!!" Fuma: "Goodbye." The Genosaur fired a charged particle beam right at the Liger. Fuma: "That should do it. What?!" The Liger Zero X stood in front of the Liger Zero, protecting it from the deadly blast. Ted: "You used me! Now you're gonna pay!!!" Fuma: "You insolent little-" Fuma's Genosaur began firing it's back mounted pulse laser at the Zero X's shield. Ted: "Hey! You gonna sit there or do something?!" Bit: "Huh? Oh, right!" The Liger ran out from behind the Zero X and began firing at the Genosaurs with it's sniper rifle. Fuma: "Fan out! They can't counter three Charged Particle Cannons at once!" Koga and Negara: "Roger!"
The three Genosaurs surrounded the two Ligers and prepared to fire their charged particle cannons. Ted: "Oh shit! Your shield wouldn't happen to be working again would it?" Bit: "Nope. We'd only be able to stop two anyway." Ted: "Then what the hell do we do?!" Bit: "You try and stop one of the beams while I stop the other two from firing." The Liger drew it's blades and ran towards one of the Genosaurs. Koga: "You little idiot! I'm gonna..." Bit: "Gonna what? If you move you have to stop you cannon charge but if you stay there..." Koga lifted the foot locks and ran out of the Liger's path. Bit: "That's one." Ted: "Hate to bother you but-" Bit: "Hold on!" The liger aimed it's sniper rifle and tried to fire. Bit: "No! Out of ammo! How am I going to stop him, I can't get over there in time unless... John you had better have been right about this." Liger went into it's five blade attack and charged at the other Genosaur. Negara: "What the hell are you doing?!" Fuma: "Fire!" The remaining tow Genos fired their CPCs at the Liger and Zero X.
Fuma: "We'll at least get one. What?!" The Liger stood in front of Negara's charged particle beam and was completely unaffected. Bit: "Looks like John was right the blades can cancel the beams out too." Koga: "Nice try but you're not out of the woods yet." Bit looked to his side to see Koga lining the Liger and the Zero X up in it's sites. Ted: "We've got a problem." Bit: "Which is?" Ted: "Your rifle is out of ammo and I can't risk turning around." Bit: "Why not?!" Fuma: "Silly man." Bit looked back to see Fuma charging her particle cannon as well. Bit: "Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place!" Koga: "Die!" Koga fired the CPC and a second later so did Fuma. Bit: "Oh shit!"
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Jamie: "Well?" John: "Sorry, but I got nothing." Brad: "C'mon there has to be someway in." John: "Fraid' not. I thought maybe we could tunnel in but my scanners reveal that the shields extend below ground." Leon: "Below ground?!" John: "This thing sucks up a lot of power so it needs something to supply it with energy. There are small generators under the dome's projectors so the shield has to protect them too." Jamie: "Then how are we going to get through?" John: "We could try busting through again but that won't work without something stronger to break through it." Brad: "What about the Berserk thing?" John: "Might work but I don't know..." Leon: "Do you have any better ideas?" John: "(sigh) Alright." Everyone but John backed their zoids up while Light Wing rose into the air. John: "Light Wing, let's give this one our all." The Light Wing screeched in response. John: "Targeting...targets acquired...powering up...FIRE!!!" Light Wing let lose a huge volley of laser blasts on the black dome. A tremendous amount of smoke and dust was kicked up so much that the dome could not be seen.
Jamie: "Did it work?" John: "Hold on the dust needs to clear." They waited a few minutes for the dust to settle and when it did. Brad: "Damn it!" The dome remained intact. Leon: "John, can you do that again?" John: "No, Light Wing needs to cool down first and that uses so much energy I can't use it more than once before having to recharge his power cells." Jamie: "We're back were we started."
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Negara: "That should do it." All three Genosaurs looked at the damage they had caused. Smoke billowed from where the two particle beams had hit and it looked to be the end. Fuma: "The odds that they survived are unlikely." Koga: "Officer Hawkings might have ejected but Bit Cloud wouldn't, he loves his zoid too much to leave it." Negara: "Exactly. What?!" Fuma: "What is it?!" Negara: "I'm picking up life signs!" Ted: We're alive? Now how in hell did that happen?" Bit: "We owe Liger that one." As the smoke cleared the Liger Zero came into view with it's shield raised. Koga: "But you had a malfunction!" Bit: "I did and Liger's auto repair fixed it just in time."
Ted: "Okay so we're not dead yet but that doesn't help that much. You're supposed to be a pro at this stuff so do you have any suggestions?" Bit: "What happened to "I'll kill you, you scumbag"?" Ted: "Now is not the time." Bit: "Alright how about I defend and you try and take one of those Genos out." Ted: "What?! Why me?!" Bit: "Because Liger's running low on power and you've still got plenty and we can't fight three of these things." Ted: "Okay fine but you better not be planning to stab me in the back." The Zero X lowered it's shield and raised it's blades and began firing at Fuma. Ted: "So what exactly am I trying to do?!" Bit: "Go for the foot locks! They need a secure base to fire their cannons!" Ted: "Got it."
The Zero X ran towards Fuma and kept firing. Fuma: "Oh no you don't!" The Genosaur leaned down and started firing all three of it's guns at the Zero X. Ted: "Damn it, why do the controls feel so sluggish?!" Bit: "Both us and our zoids are wearing down so it's gonna be harder to move!" Ted: "Great." Fuma: "Damn it hold still!" The Zero X ceased firing and opened it's blades for attack. Ted: "Choke on this!" The Zero X lunged at the Genosaur but it ducked. The Zero X managed to cut off the gun on the top of it's head and the ones on it's back. Ted: "Huh, now you only have that cannon." Fuma: "You sure about that?" The Genosaur turned around and fired it's claw at the Zero X which grasped it on the front leg. Ted: "What the hell?!" A wave of electricity ran down the wire connecting the claw to the Genosaur. Ted: "GAHHH!!!" Bit: "TED!!!" The gold turbines on the Zero X's back began spinning faster and faster until they blew up. Ted: "Damn it! The Command System's frozen!" Bit: "Hang on!"
The Liger Zero rushed in firing it's pulse cannon at Fuma's Genosaur. Fuma quickly move out of the way. Bit: "Damn it! Ted, can you move?!" The Zero X struggled with it's front legs and raised off the ground a little but immediately fell back to the ground. Ted: "Sorry. The Zero X won't budge." Bit: "Damn it, I'm on my own now." Bit looked back to realize all three Genos had begun slowly advancing towards him. Bit: "Shit, they're just mocking me now." The Liger fired it's pulse cannon at them and they dodged every shot. Bit: "Hold still and let me shoot you! Huh? No! Not now!" The Liger suddenly stopped firing it's cannon because it wasn't able to keep shooting. Koga: "Well, well, well looks like someone just ran out of energy." The two Genosaurs that still had cannons fired at the Liger until it fell to the ground. Bit: "No, it can't end like this!" Negara: "Accept it Cloud. You've lost. That's what you get for tangling with Fire Wind." The three Genos spread out and began charging their cannons. Ted: (to himself) "Damn, Lara said my hardheadedness would get me killed some day." Bit: "Leena, Toby, Amber...I'm sorry...I failed..."
The Genosaurs fired their charged particle cannons at the two grounded zoids and sent up a huge plume of smoke. Fuma: "That's, that." Negara: "There's no way they could have saved themselves from that." Koga: "Commander Altile will be pleased.
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(Pop)! Altile poured the newly opened Champaign into the wine glass in front of him and passed the bottle around. Altile: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have succeeded." Voice2: "May Bit Cloud burn in hell." Voice6: "Humph, hell's too good for him." Voice6: "To Fire Wind." Altile, Voices2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8: "To Fire Wind!" all of them raised their glass and then drank from them.
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Fuma: "C'mon, we've got to get here before head quarters has this place blown up." The Genosaurs turned around and began to walk away when out of nowhere three blue laser blasts came out of the smoke and hit each Genosaur. Negara: "What the hell?!" Fuma: "Ah! No, you traitor!!!" Bit: "We're...alive?" Ted: "But how?" Bit looked in front of the Liger and saw a saurian foot with white purplish armor. Bit: "It can't be...Vega!!!" Ted: "Vega?" As the smoke cleared the menacing form of the Berserk Fury came into view in front of the two downed Ligers.
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Altile and everyone all spat out their Champaign seeing this on the video screen. Altile: "(cough) (cough) Vega!!!" Voice4: "Our best warrior just betrayed us!" Voice7: "Damn it I thought he was locked in his room!"
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Fuma: "How the hell did you get in here?!" Vega: "...same as you guys, I was here the whole time." Vega sounded almost the same just older. Negara: "But how did you get out with out anyone noticing?!" Vega: "Dead guards don't notice much." Koga: "Get out of our way Vega!" Vega: "Why should I? It's obvious I came here to save Bit." Bit: "...I don't know what to say." Vega: "You can think about that it later when we're out of here." Fuma: "Oh no you don't! You three aren't going anywhere!" Vega: "And who's gonna stop us? I've beaten you before I can do it again."
The Fury's engines kicked in and it zoomed past the three Genos causing them to lose their footing as they scrambled to get out of the way. The Fury quickly got it's feet back on the ground, turned around, flipped out the two claws on it's back and began firing at the helpless Genos. Fuma: "Damn it! Koga, Negara! What the hell are you two waiting for, blast him!" Koga and Negara: "Roger!"
The two Genosaurs that were still armed turned around and fired at the Fury. Vega easily piloted his zoid around all of their shots. Fuma: "Damn you!" Fuma fired her Genosaur's claws at Vega but he managed to dodge them too. The Fury ran in close to the three Genos and ripped into them with the Fury's rotating claws. The Genos backed up as fast as they in an attempt to split up and avoid being easily targeted by Vega.
Vega: "Spreading out huh?" The Fury's claws turned around to face the two Genos running behind it and fired three shots at each of them and then turned to the one in front of him and repeated. Vega: "You didn't take into account that the Berserk Fury's lasers can pivot to almost any position." Fuma: "Oh we remembered and it seems you're getting rusty." Vega: "What did you say?" Vega looked and realized all three Genosaurs were preparing to fire their Charged Particle Cannons at him. Vega: "You've tried this one before and it didn't work." Koga: "Yeah but it does something else." Vega: "What are you... (gasp)!!!" It suddenly occurred to Vega that the last time they pulled that stunt it was at the Royal Cup where it had caused a huge explosion whipping out everything in the area. The two Ligers were in big trouble and the Fury wasn't in front of them to protect them. Vega: "NO!!!" The Fury turned around and fired multiple shots at the two Genos behind him and made sure that the shots went straight for their mouths. The constant laser blasts caused serious damage to the Genosaurs' jaws and closed off the gun barrels. Koga: "Quick, stop charging!" Negara: "Why, the blast should clear the cannon." Koga: "Idiot! If we do that the blast will recoil and kill us!" Negara: "What?!" The two Genos stopped charging immediately.
The Fury turned around to face the last Geno and blocked the particle beam with the shield. Vega: "This is getting annoying." The Fury's foot locks dropped and the two metal claws spread out as the Fury began charging it's Charged Particle Cannons. Fuma: "NOOOO!!!" The Fury fired and...the blast went right past the Genosaur. Fuma: "You missed." Vega: "Who said I was aiming for you?" Fuma: "What?!" Koga: "Look!" Fuma: "Huh? Ah!" The particle beams had just blown a very big hole in the dome. Negara: "Why the hell did you do that you little punk?!" Vega: "Reinforcements." Fuma: "What?!"
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John was running another scan, Jamie was trying to think of something and Brad and Leon were going over the perimeter to see if they had missed something when three particle beams smashed through the dome. Everyone looked at the gapping hole blankly for a second. Each person had a profoundly humorous look on their face as they stared in confusion. John: "...uhhhh, hey guys, I think I found a way in."
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Koga: "What the hell do you mean, reinforcements!?" At that moment the Shadow Fox and Blade Liger came rushing through the hole that the Fury had created. Vega: "That." Brad: "Vega?" Leon: "I thought Bit was in here fighting a Liger Zero copy." Vega: "He was, just look over there." Leon: "Huh?" The Blade Liger and the Fox turned their heads towards the Liger and the Zero X. Brad: "Bit, are you alright?!" Bit: "Hell no!" Leon: "What happened?" Ted: "I'll fill that one. This is my fault, I was tricked into helping those assholes and when they thought I'd lose they jumped in to kill us both." Bit: "But Vega was here too and he stopped them." Brad: "So you blasted that hole in the dome?" Vega: "Duh." Leon: "You knew we were out there?" Vega: "Of course, I was using the feed from the Fire Judge to gain access to satellites to look at this place." John: "That seems a little complicated but ingenious." Light Wing was now hovering just outside the hole in the dome with the Raynos behind it.
Vega: "Well?" The Fury turned around and faced the three Genosaurs who had run together as the others were talking. Vega: "I'd tell you to surrender but..." The Fury began shifting into the stance for firing its CPC's. Koga: "Let's get outta here!" Fuma: "Damn." The dome that surrounded them quickly disappeared and the Genos activated their boosters and got out as fast as they could. Brad: "Jamie! John! What the hell are you waiting for?! Go after them!" John: "Right, maybe we can get the location of Fire Wind's base from them." Vega: "Don't bother." Everyone: "Huh?" The Fury's cockpit opened and Vega stood up.
He definitely wasn't the kid they had known anymore. His hair was still the same but his face was no longer that of a child, he wore a long- sleeved black shirt with a white cargo vest over it and camouflage cargo pants. The most noticeable feature that was different were his eyes. They no longer had the spark they had once contained and in its place was a look of sadness.
Vega: "I know where it is." Jamie: "You'll tell us? But aren't you with Fire Wind?" Vega shook his head. Leon: "Then why did you just show up now?" Vega: "It was important for one thing and for another I only just escaped." Ted: "Escaped?" Vega: "I was being held against my will in the Fire Wind head quarters." Bit: "I figured you wouldn't be working for them, not at this age anyway." Jamie: "What do you mean?" Bit: "I may not know Vega very well but he's a genuine warrior. He fights for fun and only wants to find challenging opponents. He was only a kid when he worked for the BackDraft so I figured he'd begin to hate them as he got older and understood what they were doing better." Vega: "That's true but that's not why I began to hate them." John: "Then why are you here?" Vega: "(sigh)...I need your help." Bit: "For what?" Vega: "We both want the same thing Bit, to see Fire Wind fall and it's leaders killed and I can't do that by myself." Bit: "Fine. Your help is exactly what we need anyway. But why did you begin to hate them?" Vega: "I'll explain later, right now we have to get moving." John: "Right. I'll call Dr. Layon and have him pick us up." Brad: "Huh? Why don't you just give Bit a lift?" John: "I could but if you haven't noticed there's two downed zoids and I need to lift that." Light Wing turned to face the Fire Judge. Fire Judge: "Umm...uhhh...I don't know anything if that's what you're thinking!" John: "No, I don't think you do but you'll make great evidence."
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Altile: "Curses!!!" The comity looked at the screen as the Light Wing dragon stared at the judge and then the picture went to static. Voice4: "We lost our best pilot, the Liger Zero X, a judge and I'll bet we just lost a lot of confidence from our members." Voice6: "Forget all of that! Vega is going to tell them were we are!" Voice2: "Come now, they wouldn't be foolish enough to attack now." Voice5: "Yes, with the Liger Zero down they'll have to wait another day or two before they strike." Voice8: "That doesn't make things any better now does it?!" Voice3: "We'll have to beef security up as much as possible before they get here." Voice7: "Fat lot of good that's going to do us! The Berserk Fury's Charged Particle Cannons will wipe out our security forces and they stretch for miles before extinguishing so there's no way to stretch out forces far enough!" Altile: "People! This is indeed a dire situation but it is not an impossible one. Need I remind you we have planned for an occasion such as this?" Voice5: "Commander Altile? You're not suggesting that we-" Altile: "Yes, I'm afraid so. We must get our work teams on alert if we are to get it running before they attack."
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Back at the Whale King Everyone was hard at work fixing the two Ligers. Layon: "Tell me again why we're bothering to fix the Zero X." John: "Ted volunteered to help and we need all the back up we can get now." Brad: "How do you know that he isn't going to stab us in the back?" Bit: "Brad, think for a second about how you would feel if you were fighting someone you thought was evil and you were getting support and it turned out that the people who were helping you were really the evil ones and they were using you?" Brad: "Point taken but I'm surprised that you would be so nice to this guy after he tried to kill you." Bit: "You're not the only one. I guess I just understand what was going through his head or something."
Jamie: "John, how are we supposed to fix the Zero X? The back's blown out and we don't know how it works." John: "I know how it works." Jamie: "What?" John: "The idea of putting turbines on the backs of zoids is older than you think, heck I thought of putting some on the Zero Phantom but decided against it." Jamie: "Why?" John: "Not enough room." As they were talking Ted walked into the Whale King's hanger wearing a slightly baggy black Pilot's suit. John: "That thing fit okay?" Ted: "Yeah, thanks." Ted had changed out of the suit he had been given and he had to admit he felt better now that he wasn't wearing it. Vega was over by the Light Wing and his Berserk Fury watching as the two large cables in their back restored power to them. Jamie: "So, Vega. You really know where the base is?" Vega nodded. Jamie: "Well then tell us." Vega: "Can't." Jamie: "Why not." Vega: "You might leave without me." Bit: "I wouldn't let them." Vega: "They might leave you too." Bit: "What?!" Vega: "I already told you I want Fire Wind destroyed and I think I made it clear I have a grudge against them now and so do you. The others might be worried you and I will do something stupid and get ourselves killed so they might leave us behind." John: "C'mon we won't do that." Vega: "I didn't say I thought you would but I'm not taking any chances." Jamie: "Alright."
Brad: "So what exactly are we going to do?" John: "Simple. We attack their base and break in. Bit and Vega get to the leaders and kill them while we take pictures and grab evidence while blowing the place to kingdom come. After that Bit and Dr. Layon make tracks and we tell the police how Bit approached us a few days earlier, told us the situation and we just couldn't say no to an old friend. Ted backs us on this and after some messy trials we get out smelling like roses and every last member of Fire Wind left alive goes to jail." Leon: "Do really think it will be that simple?" John: "I said the plan was simple what actually happens is bound to be very complicated." Jamie: "I get the feeling this is going to be a big headache." John: "Maybe, but it will be worth it."
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After two days of working the group of six zoids ran across rock terrain towards the base of Fire Wind. John: "Damn, how did I miss this?" Leon: "Miss what?" John: "Fire Wind's base being in this place. It's so obvious!" Brad: "I don't follow." John: "This place is a national land mark and no one really comes out here. There are clouds blanketing the sky all year round and this area was once volcanic so it's rich in zoidmagnite, iron, copper, tin and a bunch of other metals." Bit: "So?" John: "Zoidmagnite gives off a weird signal that blocks radar and screws up satellite images and radio communication at long ranges. All though there are a lot of areas like this it would make sense that they are here." Vega: "It doesn't matter. We just need to take out Fire Wind and that will be the end of it."
Jamie and John: "Holy shit!!!" Bit: "What is it!?" Jamie: "There's no base..." John: "Just a giant crater..." Vega: "Giant crater...?" John: "They lifted the whole base into the air!!!"
Up ahead there was exactly what John and Jamie said. Nothing but an enormous crater over two miles in diameter that was not on any map of the area.
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S.D. Weird huh? Knuckles: Well that's it. S.D. Sorry this chapter was a little shorter than most of the chapters have been lately. I hate to tell you all this but the next chapter is probably going to be late too. Knuckles: Please don't kill us. S.D. Until Next time! Knuckles: We'll be back!
