Though some might not agree, but I felt like I wasn't getting enough in these chapters, so I decided to double the length, at least for now, I have a lot of information to uncover to my readers. Just expect this to be double the length from what I usually write. Oh yeah, I'm also running out of good title names, so try to bear with me a little bit. Thank you.

LockeLink

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Chapter 10 – Canyon Brawl

The next day came soon and rather uneventfully. Mark woke up and studied the sun's position to see if he could read the time. He guessed it was around ten o'clock and then checked his watch.

"10:30." He mumbled to no one in particular. He looked around to find that Locke was up and already cooking something on their small hot plate. After sniffing a couple times, he could only guess that it was a vegetable soup of some kind. He got out of his sleeping bag and just got into his uniform. Locke looked like he had already had already shaved and taken a bath. Mark went over to a lake nearby and wet his hair down to comb it a little bit, and then went over to find out what they day's plan was.

Mark sat down across from Locke and looked at the steaming stew. Locke wasn't the best cook, but he also wasn't the worst. He poured a bowl out for Mark and himself and they ate in silence. Mark considered bringing up the conversation that went on last night, but quickly decided against it. He figured that when Locke was ready to talk about it, he would talk about it. But he also needed to make sure that his not saying anything would be a poor decision. He couldn't just let Locke go on with the torment going on inside his soul. Mark finally decided that if, after a while, Locke didn't say anything, he would have to intervene in the silence and make sure everything was all right.

"So," Mark began to get some sort of conversation going, "What shall we do today?"

Locke just looked up from his stew and looked back down again. "You make it sound like I'm the leader of this operation. You can take some charge too you know."

"Of course I know. You're just the better leader, that's all." Mark explained. Locke just shook his head at the comment.

"I'm more of a follower then a leader."

"Locke, you know very well that the fact you are such a great follower makes you a great leader."

"Even if that were true-

"It IS true." Mark interrupted.

"Mark, listen, I'm not any kind of leader at all. The huge responsibility of it all would just get to me. I would never be fit enough to take on such a task." Locke tried to explain to his fellow solider, but the explanation only made Mark laugh. The sudden outburst from Mark irritated Locke and only made him wonder what was so funny. When Mark was finished laughing, he saw the look on Locke's face that asked him why he was laughing at his comment. Mark was quick to explain.

"Look Locke, first of all, you belittle yourself way to much. 'Can't handle the responsibility'? Ha! Locke, if there were anyone I know that could handle a leader status, it would be Victor, Ryss, and yourself. You've seen some of the hotshots in our training camp. THEY fall flat on their faces from the pressure of the job. You may be a hotshot at times yourself, but you can most certainly lead a squad of soldiers in any war."

Locke began to say something, but Mark wasn't finished. "Secondly, what have you been doing this whole time? Think back to the battle we just fought yesterday. Who was it that ordered us to attack the two Zoids chasing the Gustave instead of splitting our resources? You. Under whose orders was it that we attacked those Zoids in the first place? Yours. During many of our combat simulations, who is it that always leads us to victory against the other team? I don't even need to answer that one for you. True, your not the only one who has success, but incase you haven't noticed, your record shows that you have had very few casualties."

Locke didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. Link came around the foot of the Shield Liger where he has supposedly been sleeping, but Locke knew that the organoid had been listening in on the conversation that he and Mark were having. The sound of metallic legs and feet could be heard coming closer and stopped right beside Locke. Link looked at Locke for a couple seconds and decided to put in his two cents into the conversation.

"He's right you know." Was all Link said. The fact that Link only said four words kind of surprised Locke.

" 'He's right you know'? That's all you have to say? Sheesh, I was ready to listen to an entire speech, and all you have to say is four words?" Locke

"Hmm," The organoid thought for a moment, "yep!"

Mark chuckled at the response. A good five minutes went by as they ate in silence again. When they finally finished, Mark paraphrased his previous question. "So what's the plan?" Locke rolled his eyes and answered the question seriously. "I was hoping we could pass through this canyon before night fall, and continue moving forward through the night. We had a pretty full moon and I expect it to be here again tonight, that will give us some light to ride in."

"Look at that attitude Locke. How can you say you are not a leader?" Mark attempted to convince his friend again.

"Can you just drop it already?" Locke asked a little frustrated. They began to pack up camp once again. When Locke disappeared around the Zaber Fang, Mark asked a question that wasn't directed to anyone in particular.

"Why can't he accept a compliment like that one?"

"Because," Link answered him, "For many people, it is hard to accept compliments. It is an awkward feeling to be praised in such a manner. Sure everyone likes attention and the feeling of being loved, but compliment just seems like it's too much to take in. It's a rather hard concept to explain really." Mark watched in the direction of the Zaber Fang. He pondered what Link had just told him, but then quickly began to pick up what was left at the campsite and tucked it away in the back of his Shield Liger.

It wasn't long at all until they were off again. They were a little drowsy, but not bad enough to complain about. Mark had a small neck cramp he was trying to crack for a while, but eventually found the right spot and cracked back into comfort.

Locke just pondered what had happened last night. Had he told his friend too much? Locke was a rather self-contained person. He never gave much away about himself that he didn't want the public knowing. He had great friends, but he just felt like he couldn't quite trust them sometimes. Mark, being his best friend, was usually the person he would confide in if he ever needed it. Even then it was still hard to trust him, but that was just Locke's nature.

The other thing on his mind was the urgency of his orders. Ryss had given him the task rather quickly. He constantly wondered why she would have procrastinated that long. Had she just forgotten? Not likely, she was the kind of person that was always on the ball. It still didn't explain she held it off for this long. Also, was it really right for them to kidnap this woman? It just didn't seem right to take someone who was merely working at an orphanage, to a new military base for purposes unknown to him. For all he knew, when she got there, she would find herself not doing anything, but just sitting around letting whatever her skills were go to waste. After a while, he just assumed that she would just work at a Zoidian orphanage.

He shrugged the thought from his mind. He would worry about it when he got there. He hoped he wouldn't have to use force to get her to come with them.

He surveyed his surroundings. The Canyon was wide enough to squeeze both of the Zoids side by side, but they decided to go through one at a time with Mark's Zoid in front. Locke looked warily for any sign of bandits, but could find none. "I guess that transporter was right, there aren't any bandits here anymore, that is, if there were any." He thought to himself. He could tell that this could turn out to be a very uneventful operation.

"Aunty Fiona! Come play with me!" Called a small boy, about the age of four, holding a small ball.

"I'll be there in just a second!" Fiona responded cheerfully. "I just need to clean up this small spill, and then I'm all yours." She smiled at him and his face lit up with joy.

"Yay!"

Fiona had been working here for only a couple of days. Of course it didn't take long for the children to love her. By the end of the first day, they had fallen in love. By now, they practically adored her. She already had one of the much younger boys propose marriage to her. She just chuckled on the inside and politely declined with a "No, but thank you for asking". Seeing as he was to young to understand the true intimate feelings of a marriage relationship, he was merely sadden a little, but Fiona fixed that right away with a small game of hide and seek, and it wasn't long until he forgot about the marriage proposal.

When Fiona had mopped up the spill on the floor she began to play with the boy tossing a beach ball back and forth.

"Toss it higher, toss it higher!" The boy exclaimed.

"Okay, here we go!" Fiona warned. She tossed it into the air, but a crosswind unfortunately caught the ball instead and began to roll the ball down a small hill.

"I'll get it!" The boy proclaimed. As he went off the orphanage manager came up behind Fiona. He was about 80 years of age, and though he had a cane, he always had a good amount of energy in him. He was completely bald, and his face was wrinkled to show his age.

"How are you doing this fine day Miss. Fiona?" He asked. She turned around and smiled.

"I'm doing just fine, how about yourself?" She asked back politely.

"I am just dandy." He answered back with a smile of his own. "I can't say it enough, I thank you for everything you have done for us."

"Well, you have repaid me with some food and lodging, so in my eyes we are as even as we can be."

"No," He countered, "Please tell me when you plan on leaving, I wouldn't want to send you away empty handed, I must pay you something at least. You really aren't getting your moneys worth."

"I'll allow you to give me enough money or food to get to my next destination," She eyed the boy who had gone to go recover the ball the wind had stolen away. He had an egger face and was ready for their game to continue. "But not a penny more, I want to be a blessing to you all, not a hi that is looking for any kind of money she can get her hands on."

"I can understand what you're saying, now you go on ahead and play with that young lad, I have a few matters I need to attend to at my desk. Carry on." He turned and smiled at her before he left and she smiled back. She continued to play with the boy, but after a while, they both got pretty tired of playing with the ball, she left to go put it away while he went inside to take a nap.

It was about 3 o'clock in the after noon. All of the children were shepherded indoors, and Fiona sighed with relief, "Good, I don't have to help with the kitchen tonight, I think I'll go lie down for a while." She thought to herself. She entered the room that had been designated hers. Surprisingly, there was enough room for the staff to have their own room. The children on the other hand slept in two different rather large rooms, on for males, and one for females.

She lied down on the bed and thought about the day's events. It had been a rather good day. The children were good, the weather was good, what else could she ask for? The orphanage itself was rather nice. The two-story building was in very good condition and was never really that full compared to other orphanages. This was due to the fact that the water colony was a rather nice place with many residents, and because the orphanage was so close by, people continued to adopt the children who were there.

While Fiona continued thinking to herself, she heard a light tap on the door.

"Who is it?" Fiona asked.

"It's me, Sarah!" Came a voice behind the door. Sarah was one of the staff that befriended Fiona immediately. Like Fiona, she traveled from town to town helping out in anyway she could. Sarah had come a few days before Fiona, so she was eager to make friends with someone who was a stranger like herself.

"Come on in." Sarah entered the room, rather surprised to see Fiona lying on the bed.

"Oh! Did I wake you? I really didn't mean too!" She began to get hasty, but Fiona tried to calm her down.

"Sarah, Sarah! It's all right, I just was resting, and that's all. I don't have much else to do."

"Oh," Sarah realized, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, I'm quite fine." Fiona mused.

"The latest reports of the mysterious attackers came in today." Sarah stated.

"Really? What's going on?" Fiona asked.

"Well, we still don't know who the actually are, but it seems as though they have halted their attack. I heard some rumors in town that these people aren't even from Zi. Some say they came from the Blue Planet, but no one knows for sure."

"Why did they stop attacking?" Fiona asked, a little confused. It sounded like they were making good progress into our territory, why did they stop?"

Sarah just shrugged, "I don't understand either, my guess is that our soldiers must have stopped them somewhere important, and now they are making a full retreat."

"Hmm, you're probably right. Can't think of any other explanation other than that." Fiona stated.

"So are the kids beginning to wear you down?" Sarah asked with a smile.

"No, I just haven't been going to bed responsibly these past few days." Fiona answered.

"Oh. Hey Fiona, when do you plan on leaving?"

"Hmm, I usually stay about five weeks before moving on, I can't lend my aid to anyone place for a long time."

"I was wondering, since I'm getting kind of tired of being the only person I know, could I travel with you?"

Fiona thought about it for a while, and then replied, "You know, I'm surprised I didn't think of that before. I guess I just didn't know your plans to try and ask."

"Great!" Sarah exclaimed. "Thank you so much!" She hugged Fiona and ran out. Fiona smiled, it would be good to have a friend she could really relate and talk too where ever she went, she got excited just thinking about it. She lied back down and drifted off to sleep.

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"General Shuttle!" Yelled a Commander of the Confederate forces. "What are you doing, why are you halting the attack!?!" General Gary Shuttle was the person in charge of the take over of Zi along with Dr. Randal. A lot of people that were in the command center when the commander yelled out his question in anger and were pretty surprised he did so. Many of them had a look on there face like he would soon lose his head.

"What do you mean, Commander?" Asked the General, putting more emphasis on the word 'Commander' to remind the lower ranking solider of his position and whom he was talking to.

"Uh, what I mean is, sir, we have these guys on the run, and I was wondering why you would stop now?" The commander stuttered trying to regain his composer.

"First of all, you must understand that you are just a commander, you don't have the bigger picture of this war the way I do. Secondly, I would like you to answer a couple questions for me. Number one: Do you delight in mass slaughter of innocent civilians?"

"Uh, no, of course not!" Replied the officer, wondering what is superior was getting at.

"Good," Said the general, "Number two: Do you know what our ultimate objective is here? I'll tell you what it is, to take over this planet with as few casualties as possible."

"Y-yes sir."

"Now back to your post, and put your trust in me. I know what I'm doing; we can't afford to lose a lot of soldiers and commanders such as you. Don't throw your life out the window. You are dismissed." They saluted each other and the commander left, a little bewildered. After the encounter was over, Dr. Randal came up behind General Shuttle. "What do you need Randal?"

The Doctor was a little surprised that the General knew who it was, but didn't let his surprise show.

"You still need to tell me the real ultimate goal that you have in mind, General."

"What are you talking about Randal?" The General growled, "I believe you just heard me say it to that commander just now?"

"Please," Spat the doctor, "That is the most pathetic lie I have ever heard, you have something else in mind, and I would like to know about it." A lot of soldiers looked in their direction, curious as to what Dr. Randal could be talking about and what General Shuttle would say about it.

"Dr. Randal, lets take this somewhere else so I can remind you who still has the greater authority in this operation, come with me please." A lot of 'Ohhs' came from the command center staff, but the General went into his office and Randal followed and acted like he was about to get a promotion. When they were inside the Generals den, Shuttle asked the big question on his mind.

"What do you want, Randal? You after something, you might as well tell me what it is."

"Last night, I got this planets history and read about a few people who are Zoidians. I told you, they are not dead. We have proof. Not only that, but they were all involved in a plot to resurrect our greatest enemy, the Death Saurer. The humans here, however, took out the Death Saurer with the help of one young man."

"Who is this man? One who is strong enough to destroy a Zoid of legendary status?"

"His name is Van Flyheight. General, if one man was strong enough to be a key in destroying the Death Saurer, there is no telling the strength of this planet! You may have been invading this planet without hardly any resistance, but what about when they regroup and retaliate?!? What are you going to do then?"

The General smiled, "You think he's a Zoidain?"

"Along with two other people, yes."

"Show me the profiles of these people."

The General received the folder containing the profiles he wanted and read silently. Randal spoke up.

"I know there're more Zoidians out there, hiding. I want to continue the attack before they rise up without us knowing and strike."

"The two women, Fiona Alyesse Lanet and Ryss, the blue Devil have been proven to be Zoidians, but this young man, there is nothing here that points to him being Zoidian. I know his skill is good, but he probably just has talent."

All was silent, the Doctor looked like he was trying to make a comeback, but the General spoke first.

"'To take over this planet with as few casualties as possible', that includes Zoidians. Tell you what, if they are alive and as barbaric as they were 200 years ago, they will be killed, but if we can negotiate with them and achieve peace, there will be no need for bloodshed, for that is the objective of the confederacy, to rule over all of the colonies with justice and peace for the better of mankind. If we can work together, then we assured to see a better tomorrow. Do not forget that, Randal. You are dismissed." The General saluted and left the room. Randal continued to stand in the same spot for a while to take in all that the General had said. Finally, he clenched his fist and growled.

"That pacifistic point of view will be the confederacy's down fall." And he finally left the room as well.

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Locke sighed with relief, so far so good. They hadn't seen a soul since they entered the canyon. They were a few apparent signs that a battle or two had gone on in this canyon, but not too bad to make him nervous. They would soon be on the other side in about five minutes. After that, it would only be a few hours to get to their intended destination, the Water Colony. They had alternated the person in front about every two hours for the past seven hours.

They turned their last corner and could see the end of the canyon. However, just before they were at the end, Locke stopped suddenly.

"Get back!" He yelled at Mark and they both jumped back and ran around the last corner they had turned just a few moments ago. By the time Locke had turned the corner, an explosion had gone off leaving a huge cloud of dust where they had just stood before.

"What was that?!?" Mark asked

"A grenade, I saw it coming down in time."

"Now what?" Mark asked.

"You try to look for some footing to shimmy against the walls and get on top of the wall, I'll fire at them from down here."

When the dust settled, Locke turned the corner to see if he could find the enemy, only to find a single stealth viper blocking the path of the canyon.

"Who are you!?!" Locke commanded the Zoid in front of him."

"Oh, don't get mad," Replied the pilot, "I just wanted to make sure you knew I meant business. You have to pay a toll before exiting this canyon."

"Under whose authority?"

"Under MY authority!" The Viper fired a few shots at Locke. Locke looked for an opportunity to dodge the incoming fire, but found that the canyon had gotten a lot thinner, only allowing him to move a few yards around. The shots all hit him dead on. "Now it's a hundred dollars each, and I'll let you through without anymore wounds, if you don't have enough money, you will just have to go back out the way you came, and go all the way around this canyon. That will only take you about two days, it's your choice. Oh, and if you try anything, I've got seven Dark Horns fully armed to the teeth and ready to kill. It's your call."

When the pilot had finished his small speech, Mark jumped over Locke, and fired two missiles into the walls beside the viper. Rocks came tumbling down and crushed the Zoid's body, but the head was still intact.

"You're going to regret that!" The Viper pilot screamed. The two Zoidians jumped over the rubble and exited the canyon. Sure enough, seven Dark Horns awaited them and rained down missile and gunfire on the two. There were three on each side, and one in the middle to cut off any sort of escape they would attempt. The formation looked somewhat like it was in a 'V' shape.

"Mark, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Dominos!" Mark rang out excitedly.

"Right, I'll take the left side, you take the right side, and we crush the one in the middle if he tries to attack us. Make it swift and then we will leave before we draw to much attention from local authorities.

The Zodiains gladly did their deed. Both sets of claws rammed one of the Dark Horns on either side, which then triggered the domino effect and rammed into the Horn beside them. When the domino effect got to the center Zoid, the pilot closed his eyes and braced for impact, only to find the there was a Dark Horn laying on either side of him, they had missed him by half an inch. By the time he did open his eyes, Locke and Mark had already ran past him and were now well away from the battlefield. He sighed and thanked the both of them silently for sparing him.

Mark was laughing his head off. "Did you see the look on the pilots face!?!"

"Yeah," Locke replied with a smile, "That was sure fun."

"You know, no matter how many times I do it, the domino effect never gets old!"

"I know what you mean, but you really should hold off when we fight rookies back home during training."

Mark laughed again, "Remember when we did it to twenty of them!?! Rev Raptors always are the best dominos."

"You bet I remember, I also remember when Victor yelled at us and told us not to do it again soon after we pulled that stunt."

"Like I said, it never gets old!" Mark exclaimed. Locke just rolled his eyes.

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Three hours later after the whole domino incident, Van and Raven were still trying to catch the two mysterious mercenaries that had almost single handedly dealt with the gang of bandits that had chased Moonbay. They too had decided at last minute to use the canyon as a shorter route to catch up with them. When they got to the end of the canyon and emerged from it, they saw the wreckage of the Stealth Viper and the six Dark Horns that had been disabled before. Only one of the Dark Horns was seen to have had no injury on it what so ever. It was now about 6 o'clock in the evening. A campfire could be seen just outside of the prior battlefield, so Van and Raven decided to take a look and ask some questions. The damage of the Zoids reflected the pilots, but they had not been hit so hard, the cockpits were never attacked. The two exited from their Zoids and introduced themselves.

"My name is Van Flyheight of the Guardian Force, would you gentlemen mind telling me what went on here?" Van asked.

"Yeah," Said who apparently was the leader of the whole gang, "We ran into a couple of marauders who emerged from the canyon. As you can see, they left one Zoid; we piled up the rest of the unusable ones over there.

"It looks like that Stealth Viper was hit by boulders or something heavy rather than gunfire, actually, none of you Zoids look like they were hit by any gunfire," Raven observed, "but what is the story behind the Stealth Viper?"

"I ran into the Canyon to get some shelter and make it harder for them to get me, but they merely shot the canyon wall and piled a bunch of boulders on me. The other took care of my boys quite nicely. Why they left one, I don't know."

"What Zoids were they using?" Van asked.

"A green Zaber Fang, and a blue Shield Liger." Van and Raven exchanged glances.

"Where were they headed?" Raven asked.

"Toward the Water Colony." Replied another guy who was apparently in the Zoid that was undamaged.

"I see, thank you, we will try to get you some assistance." Said Van.

"No no, just stop those two before they wreak havoc on the Water Colony."

"Uh, when did all of this happen anyway?" Raven asked.

"About three hours ago." Replied the leader. Van and Raven looked at each other, they would be at the Water Colony by now.

"Thank you, we had better hurry." Van replied.

When the two Guardian Force members left, the unhurt gang member looked at the leader and spoke up. "They will be back you know."

"Yes," Replied the leader, "When they get enough out of sight, we will have to go to a nearby cave and fix up our Zoids to take them to a repair shop at the Water Colony when things have cooled down.

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Well, you finally reached the end. I hope it wasn't too long. That Gang that was just beat up, by the way, they are not important to the story, just another one of those character story enhancers. Thank you for reading! Be sure to tell me any flaws or confusing parts there are in my story, I'm sure there are a lot of them. Also, I don't know what the currency for Zenny is which I believe they use in the series, so I'm just going to use dollars instead.

LockeLink