In response to the inquiry of the most loyal reviewer worldwide award, for three chapters in a row, regarding what the Dragowing actually looks like, I probably ought to reveal that the Dragowing is a green reptilian zoid, not much larger than a Redler and designed along a similar body shape, its wings of the folding variety like those of either bats or the traditional dragons of mediaeval fantasy, which are, coincidentally, my favourite variety of dragon, no offence meant but the oriental style just looks wrong to me.
Now, I think it is time for the story to really get under way, enjoy.
Chapter six: Chaos at Dawn.
Despite the setbacks that the Paladin team experienced in their training schedule following their battle against the now relegated Titans team, they were now, two weeks after that battle, back on schedule and getting ready for the week of zoid battles that would see them catch up with the leading zoid teams of Division-B. Moreover, Garth's father was quietly backing the Paladin team with the technological advances made by various of his colleagues at the university of Geigolos, for example the new Ultimium alloy developed by the departments of applied metallurgy and military chemistry had replaced the standard armour plating of all four of their zoids, and the new bombs that had been designed for use by the Dragowing would ensure that Garth need never again resort to the use of such superpower assaults as had proven necessary against the Titans team.
That morning they were on their way to face one of the higher-ranking teams of Division-B, the Dragons Team, whose three Redlers were almost unbeatable despite their strict adherence to the rules laid down by the zoid battle commission.
The decision of the team last night had been to mobilise the Ursazerk, the Liger Zero and the X-alpha Rev Raptor against the Dragons Team, hoping that the anti-air capabilities of these three zoids proved a match for the Redlers that they would face. Before them stretched the battlefield, clothed with the false dawn that signified exactly how early in the day this battle was. But, although the Whale King that transported the zoids of the other team had arrived, their zoids were conspicuously absent from the skies around the Hovercargo that the Paladin team were renting.
With a mighty crash the judge capsule landed and began to execute its duties. Still, the Redlers of the Dragons team did not appear. Then a message came in from the judge, reporting that the Redlers of the Dragons team had chosen that precise moment to enter cocoons of energy, beginning the process of evolution, the battle was cancelled.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Garth surveyed the battlefield from the relative safety of the hovercargo, just drinking in the sight of the sunrise as it reflected off the still shiny Ultimium alloy armour of the zoids in front of him. The strange thing was, he noted, that the judge capsule had made, as yet, no attempt to return to orbit around Zi, instead staring intently westward towards an approaching black Whale King.
The Whale King came in to hover directly above the ground just vacated by the Whale King of the Dragons team not a moment before. Suddenly, a very different demeanour apparent in the very way it acted, the judge announced, "This battle has been taken over by the Chaos Storm organisation, the blitz team versus the Phobos team," and sure enough, the whale king landed, releasing from its mouth hatch four zoids as it did so. "Any attempt to escape will result in your zoids being fired upon, battle mode 0999. Ready...fight!"
"WHAT," Garth exclaimed, incredulously, "don't tell me we're actually going though with this you guys, we don't have the skill, the money or even the time to go getting ourselves into unsanctioned battles like this, guys, don't do this, I beg of you..."
"Hate to tell you this Garth," replied Jake chagrined, "but with that judge catering to each and every whim those guys have it doesn't look like we have a choice, they sound like the sort of guys who probably would shoot us in the back if we tried to make a run for it too. What I don't get is how that judge comes to be serving such a group like that, I mean, hell, its not like they have any guns pointed at the judge, and the commission have armed all the judges since the royal cup to prevent unsanctioned battles like this."
Before them stood a Guysack, what looked similar to a stealth viper, a Di- Mantis and an unknown spider-shaped zoid. These began firing, their guns spitting out lasers everywhere as they tried to quickly cripple the enemy.
Garth began to take charge of the battle, calling out to his team-mates, "okay guys, these chaos storm guys are arrogant to think that they can defeat us but we need the combat practise anyway. Adrianne, you take the viper using your speed and strike laser claws; Mykkael, you have the Di- Mantis; Jake, take the Guysack if you would, then all four of us will take down the spider, copy?"
"Copy that, Meyer," came the reply from Jake, who, despite his frankly lazy use of language the rest of the time, insisted on proper military protocol from them any time their zoids went into combat, "Acquiring target now. Get yourself to the catapult deck and prepare to mobilize upon my mark, over."
With that Jake brought the Ursazerk around to face its attackers, ramming the controls forward hard to coax his zoid into its shambling run, firing the pair of heavy beam cannons attached to its back as he charged, only to find that despite his target locks none of his shots had hit its mark.
Meanwhile the Liger Zero had its work cut out for it trying to defeat the Viper that it was pitted against, which kept diving underground spreading the scanner-fouling smoke that was the deadliest weapon of a viper, only to surface almost beneath the Liger Zero, the concealed blades along the length of its body extended in an attempt to cut through the plating of the Liger Zero.
Mykkael and the Rev Raptor were however managing okay against the Di- Mantis, their artillery boxing even such an agile zoid as the Di-Mantis in, onto a head to head attack path with the Rev Raptor, whose blades swung out and energised at the last minute, cleaving the enemy zoid in two.
"Huh," came a voice over the comm channel, "we were led to believe that you might be a challenge, it's a shame to have revealed the existence of the Raknix when you cannot even defeat the Strike Viper or the Nightstinger Guysack."
"We'll see about that," muttered Garth to himself before calling, "'Wing to Zero, suggest you fall back to the Transport and modify to Experimental armour, over."
"Zero to 'Wing, copy that, falling back to Transport, looks like 'Zerk could use a hand with the stinger, over and out."
"Okay, lets get this show on the road, deploy catapult deck. Dragowing...here we go!" Garth exclaimed, ramming his arms into the control yoke of his zoid, the thrusters lighting up behind him and the wings unfurling as he took to the skies.
"I see," broadcasted the pilot of the Raknix, "another zoid has launched in a pitiful attempt to defeat us...No matter, activate anti-air artillery and fire." Energy beams lanced upwards from the leg-joint mounted gunnery of the Raknix, not even causing turbulence for the Dragowing, which soared straight past the gunfire, accelerating to Mach one.
At that precise moment the Ursazerk reared up on its hind legs, the strike laser claws upon its front legs glowing as it smashed back down on the main body of the Guysack, almost completely severing the cockpit from the rest of the zoid. The Nightstinger Guysack was no longer part of the battle.
Meanwhile Mykkael's gunnery was proving no match for the Strike Viper, whose sensor-disrupting haze now covered most of the battlefield, even his on-target shots missing as the Strike Viper dived underground to evade them. Finally the haze thinned and his onboard computer locked onto the Strike Viper, he fired every gun he had at its base in the hope of hitting it as it dived back into the earth, only for it to, with a single convulsion, launch its body into the air, over Mykkael's barrage of energy before diving into the earth beneath him...and not emerging.
The Liger Zero was by now ensconced within the modification deck that had been designed for this hovercargo, the Zero armour being removed to leave the zoid almost bare. Adrianne, having waited patiently for this moment, designated the modification armour for the Liger and activated the assembly sequence. She was now giving the first-ever combat test to the Liger Zero Mirage- a sand coloured zoid that combined midrange weapons with high-tech stealth systems designed specifically for desert conditions. Then, elevating her zoid to the catapult deck of the Hovercargo, she prepared to return to the fray, warming up the boosters of her zoid and activating its optical stealth system before she even reached the catapult deck. Then crying, "Liger Zero, here we go!" she launched herself from the catapult deck, activating the boosters of her zoid before her zoid even hit the ground. As her zoid began to move she activated the four-directional grenade launcher of the Mirage armour, launching off enormous clusters of a very special variety of grenade, none of which hit even one target.
Then the strike viper, its pilot's patience worn thin, surfaced directly beneath Mykkael's Rev Raptor, tipping the zoid over on its side as Mykkael cried out, "Noooo, this can't be happening to me! My zoid can't get back on its feet!"
"That's what you get for attempting to defeat the mighty Chaos Storm!" sneered the pilot of the Strike Viper, "What!" he then exclaimed, surprised, as what looked like little more than a dustcloud rammed into him from behind, a pair of yellow flashes all that gave away what it was as the Zero Mirage rammed its strike laser claws straight through the spinal conduit of the zoid, rendering it useless for the remainder of the battle.
"So," remarked the pilot of the Raknix appreciatively, "Your zoids are more powerful than they appeared, but I have one major advantage, I can see right through the optical stealth of your Liger. Prepare to meet your doom!" and with that he unleashed a withering barrage of firepower at the zoids surrounding it.
"This is 'wing reporting in, I tried bombing the Raknix but it has shields. I'll go in for another run to cover for you guys to get Jake back on his feet so he can use his tail gun, over." And with that Garth turned the Dragowing about, swooping in towards the Raknix with its Novastorm laser cannons throwing dozens of brilliant blue laser bolts at its target, each with very little energy, but in total they would force the spider like zoid to keep its shields raised for the remainder of the battle, draining its energy reserves until it could not even manage that much and would have to concede victory to them. But for now the Raknix was able to maintain a constant stream of fire targeted on the Liger Zero, not even the Mirage arsenal protecting it from the direct hits that were being dealt out. Finally Adrianne decided that enough was enough. "Activate Mirage Grenades." And suddenly the grenades that her Liger had strewn so liberally about the battlefield were activated, generating sensor distortions that would hide the Liger and any other optical stealth equipped zoids until they either got switched off or ran out of power in their batteries.
Garth thought to himself, he was sure that he had been given his own new weaponry for disrupting energy shields without resorting to overwhelming firepower. Lets see, he thought, coming around for another pass, Depth charges-no; high explosives-well those might work but he was sure that his bomb bay held something better suited to the task at hand; aha, he thought, electro-magnetic pulse bombs, that was what I was looking for, trust that bloody Rev Raptor/Gunsniper hybrid to freeze up just when it was needed! He began his final attack run, noting that the heavy artillery of the Ursazerk was pounding away on the other side of his target, he pressed down the trigger for his rapid-fire lasers, his EMP bomb already ready for action as he slowed to guarantee his accuracy while bombing, and then, gliding over his opponent's zoid, he hit that second trigger, releasing the bomb which, even as the Dragowing accelerated away from its target, detonated, bringing down the shields of the Raknix, which then collapsed under the fire of Jake's heavy beam cannons, its fuel-cells rupturing to release vapour into the atmosphere. That zoid would not be doing anything soon.
Will the Paladin team learn more about the chaos storm organisation? Will Garth get over his fear of killing enemies? Find out all this and much, much more in the next few chapters of Dawn of Chaos, and while you're at it please, please, PLEASE write a review! Ah well, failing that, and with apologies that this chapter was quite so long, Mercenary Pen signing off, ciao.