Author's Note:This chapter is more filler than anything. I hope you can get through it without falling asleep. But seriously, every story has to step back from the action sometime and now is that time.

The Jackal's Gate

Recalled to Loneliness

Zagan gazed out at the auburn sands through one of the base's few windows. Shira lay comfortably on a nearby bed. The SPX watched Zagan through a half closed eye. As long as she had known him, he was always staring out windows at something no one else could see. She asked the only question that came to mind. "What's the matter?"

The GDN shrugged. "Nothing."

Reluctantly, the golden medabot lifted herself and went to his side. "You're always so mysterious" she laughed.

Snaking an arm around her waist he replied. "Yeah, but you wouldn't like me if I wasn't."

"Very true" she said as she moved a hand to touch his face.

The ebony medabot took hold of it instead. He hesitated before speaking. "What if I told you… none of this was real?"

Shira's face transformed into a look of total bewilderment. "What are you talking about?"

Of course she did not understand. After all, she was no more than a memory herself. How could she possibly grasp the concept of a memory living within a memory? Just as Zagan started to explain flecks of static began to appear before his eyes. 'Nothing lasts forever…' he thought sorrowfully as he felt his strength begin to fail. In a moment the GDN was on his knees.

Shira's medal skipped a beat. She quickly knelt next to him, her hands around his back for support. "Zagan, Zagan what's wrong?" her voice was frantic but grew ever fainter as the GDN's senses dulled and he lapsed into unconsciousness.

"You've gotta get up Metabee!" Ikki shouted. Despite their predicament his voice was determined and did not hold a drop of fear.

"Well gee, maybe you should try standing when there's a medabot on your chest!" Metabee snapped back. Indeed Arachnis was perched squarely on his chest plate, her legs forming a cage to keep him from wriggling away.

Grayson was enjoying himself. The two were feisty, neither one willing to give up their pride in spite of the circumstances. Perhaps the young champion was worth including in his new world after all. Of course, he could not be certain until the robattle was over. Which, as far as he was concerned, it would be very soon. "Finish this Arachnis." The ARN nodded in acknowledgement before removing a hilt from her waist.

Metabee's head snapped up at the sight of the weapon. Surprise filled his transmitter. "Where did you get that?" he questioned.

"You two really don't get it do you?" Devon mumbled just loud enough for the KBT to hear.

"Whadda ya mean?" he asked, his voice strained by the ARN's weight crushing his systems.

"Forget about it!" Devon yelled. "Just concentrate on winning this match!"

He was right. If he did not do something fast Metabee would be squashed. "Fire seeker missiles!"

Metabee snickered deviously as he roared out the command. "Missile launch!" Even with superior armor there was not enough time for Arachnis to react at such close range and the attack had the desired effect. Another burst of flame forced the eight legged medabot backwards, giving Metabee ample room to scramble to his feet.

'Very clever' Grayson praised as he watched Arachnis recover from the assault. He held up a hand to the ARN. "That's enough." She immediately stopped moving. "Let's go." He turned to leave but Metabee would have none of it.

"You can't just run away in the middle of a robattle!" He stamped his foot to emphasize his point.

Grayson responded with the uncaring calm that seemed better suited to Devon. "Watch me." Turning his attention to Mariah he added, "I'll be sure to say hello to Brimstone for you." It was the perfect way to aggravate her temper.

"Why you…" she began but decided to let action speak for her. "Go get him" she commanded.

This was the Mariah Isis was afraid of, completely oblivious to everything except the desire for battle. Reluctantly the SPX did what she thought was best. "No" she said firmly.

The response caught her by surprise. "What did you say?"

Isis thought of relenting but knew what she was doing was necessary. "No." she repeated. "I won't do it."

Now Mariah was angry. "What do you mean you won't do it? You're my medabot and I order you to attack!"

The SPX shrunk a bit under the onslaught but stood her ground. "I said I won't do it!" Now both medabot and medafighter's tempers were flaring. But Devon had had enough.

"Both of you shut up! Now is not the time!" he yelled. The snarl in his voice was more than enough to silence them. All the while he kept a fixed stare on the blonde and his spider like medabot.

Grayson smiled. "Very good Devon, gotta keep them in check. But since this whole thing seems to be about Brimstone I'll just let you discuss it with him." With that he motioned toward a nearby alley.

Why? Why did this keep happening to him? Of all the medabots sealed behind the gates why did he have to experience these memories? Of all the loved ones he had left behind Shira was the closest to his heart. They had been together longer than he could remember and if there had ever been a person he could really trust it was her. Even if it was not under the best circumstances, seeing her again was absolute bliss. But thoughts like that were useless now. He could not hide in a long gone fantasy world. It was time to return to reality.

And return he did. The cloud of stagnancy began to clear from his vision and his processor. His visor filled with crimson, signaling the journey back to the real world was complete. The GDN sat up and nearly fell over himself. His body felt lighter, much lighter. He thought for a moment that he might still be inside his own mind but the presence of tools, and absence of Shira, eliminated that possibility. Quickly scanning his surroundings he found a mirror hanging against a far wall.

He rolled over but quickly wished he had not. The fall to the floor was short but painful, why hadn't he been able to catch himself? His knees stinging from the impact Zagan stumbled toward the mirror, why was he moving so slowly? To his disappointment the room was horribly lit and he could not make himself out. Looking around again the GDN found a door and cautiously opened it.

His optics quickly adjusted to the flood of light that poured in and revealed the 24-hopmart. "What is going on?" he mumbled to himself. A quick glance out the window revealed it was still dark. Checking the clock on the wall he discovered it was nine o' clock. The entire shop was empty and an eerie silence hung over it. 'Something ugly happened here' Zagan thought to himself.

"We're losing pressure on line two!"

"I don't care if you have to blow it up! Get that car out of the way now!"

Fire crews were steadily winning their battle with the blaze at the Medabot Corporation. Their current water shortage was a minor one and it seemed the fire would be soon be put out. All the while uniformed Select Corps members dashed and buzzed about. Several people had been detained and were being questioned in the hopes of discovering the motive behind the arson. One of them was busy interrogating a scientist. "Did you see any suspicious individuals in the building today? Anyone acting strangely or employees you've never seen before?"

The nervous man trembled beneath his white lab coat as he shook his head for no. The female officer repeated the question "You didn't see anything that could help us?"

Again he shook his head. She turned away with a flick of her brunette hair and reluctantly reported to her superior officer. "I've got nothing" she said, sounding dejected.

A visor clad man shrugged his burly shoulders. "You and everyone else. No one saw anything, no one heard anything, and no one knows anything!" he yelled and threw down his helmet, revealing spiked black hair and sea green eyes.

"Take it easy commander. The last thing we need is another mark on our record for assaulting a civilian." She mimicked a set of quotation marks with her fingers as she repeated the charge.

The brawny built officer sighed deeply. "Yeah I know, I know." Just as his mind began to wander to thoughts of his glory days with the Select Corps a shrill beep cut through the air. His head snapped up at the sound. Quickly removing the walkie talkie from his waist he spoke in a bored and fatigued tone. "Commander Gonzo."

"What's the status of the fire?"

Gonzo's tired eyes flashed open. He stood up to address the speaker. "Dr. Aki sir, how may I be of assistance?"

"You can answer my question. Now what is the fire's status?" The old man was annoyed.

"It's been contained sir. Only minor sections of the upper floors are still burning." Gonzo replied sharply.

"Good. Now pull your men out and get to Nakashima Avenue immediately. And bring the… equipment we recovered."

Nakashima Avenue, what could possibly be happening there? "I'm sorry sir, what was that?"

The doctor's tone was a hushed yell filled with urgency. "I said get to Nakashima now!" With that the channel went dead.

Though he did not understand why Dr. Aki wanted him, Gonzo was fully aware of the consequences if he and his unit did not arrive soon. Forgetting that the old man was not really there he saluted smartly and began to bellow orders. "Forget the investigation! Release the detainees and get ready to move out! Let's go, go, go!"

Brimstone was a wreck. His armor had been shoddily repaired and deep ruts marred the usually brilliant crimson. The black mane he had been so proud of was ratty and matted. The remnants of oil were still visible on his chin and the lance he carried lacked its unique luster. But through it all his optics shone the same brilliant green they always had.

Brian stood behind him, a devilish glimmer in his eyes. "How's it goin'?"

Mariah could have spit at the very sight of the boy and his medabot. She acknowledged him in the only way she knew how "Cocky little bastard."

Grayson waggled a finger in her direction. "Now, now, there's no need for such language. I merely asked Brian and Brimstone to come because I knew you all had some issues and I was hoping to work them out."

Devon burst into laughter at the idea. "What…what kind of game are you…are you planning?" he managed to ask between fits.

The blonde glared at his russet skinned counterpart. "The fact of it is there are problems here that just cannot continue if my plan is to proceed." His voice held undeniable contempt. "Of course I'm sure a simple counseling session won't work this out. So to answer your question Devon," he had to force himself to say the medafighter's name. "The game I'm playing is actually a robattle. Standard rules, the contestants will fight until one ceases to function."

This was ridiculous. Devon replayed the suggestion over and over again in his head before speaking. "And what then, the losers agree to leave town?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Ah. You see there in lies, the ingenious part. When I said cease to function, what I meant was, they'll fight until their medal is destroyed." The indigo eyed teen grinned at the word destroy.

'What an idiot' was the first thought that came to mind as Devon took in what Grayson had just said. "That's very interesting but I'm sure Mariah's not interested." He was counting on the dark haired girl's level headedness to win out.

He soon found that to be a mistake. The only thing driving her now was vengeance and the only thing she could see was Brian's confident smile. "I'm game." There was a slight growl in her voice.

Devon raised an eyebrow at her answer. Turning to her he tried to clarify. "I'm sorry. I don't think I heard you correctly. You're what?"

Mariah's head whipped up and she stared him directly in the eye. An unmistakable fire was in her chocolate orbs that longed for battle and would settle for nothing less. She spoke with an obvious intensity. "I…am going…to do this."

That was it. Devon knew better than to argue with her whenever she broke up sentences like that. With one course of action closed the best he could do was try to make sure the fight was on favorable terms. He turned his attention back to the blonde. "Well if your so dead set on doing this let's at least do it the right way, one on one."

As always, Grayson had other ideas. "Now that just wouldn't be fair to our other guests." He motioned toward Ikki and the other kids. "Let's see. I count seven medabots. I'm sure I can muster up a few more fighters."

Before he could motion to what Devon knew were his concealed cronies the black haired medafighter interjected. "No way Grayson. One on one."

A commanding, and unexpected, voice turned every head gathered outside the 24-hopmart. "Come on Devon. You can't tell me an old fashioned battle doesn't interest you."

The medafighter's collected manner was shaken once again. "Z…Zagan."

If he'd had a mouth the newly awakened medabot would have smiled. "In the flesh." Looking down at his medaparts he added, "Well, so to speak."

Devon was in shock. His old friend was finally awake, and better yet the GDN's new body was more emaculate than he could have imagined. Every piece of armor was slick and streamlined. Carefully sculpted ribs wound 'round his torso like stripes on a top and long, slender rubies were set into fine gold poleyns. For such a rushed job it was excellent. Giving a half smile he remarked, "Good ta see ya." Zagan nodded to reciprocate the feeling.

Apparently Devon was not the only one happy to see the black medabot up and about. "My dear Zagan, I was beginning to think you would never wake up."

The GDN cocked his head to one side. "Do I know you?"

"No but I know all about you. Thanks to my good friend Arachnis here." The spider like medabot glanced over her shoulder at the sound of her name.

Upon seeing the navy optics and tear stained face Zagan felt a chilling wave rush through his body. "You…" he muttered coldly. Arachnis merely averted her eyes.

This was perfect. Nothing made a show more interesting than resurfacing conflict. "Well, now that you're up to full strength we can begin." He clapped once and a myriad of medabots and medafighters emerged from their hiding places. They were of every shape and size, not a single one like the other.

Zagan chuckled dryly. "Great. These new parts could use a test run."

Devon sighed uneasily. Only someone like Grayson could have made something so serious resemble a sport. Addressing the blonde one last time he said, "I assume you won't be staying for this little brawl."

"Unfortunatley no, I have other matters to attend to. Do have fun though." With that he was gone.

There was nothing else to do. At least it was a fair fight, eight against eight including Zagan and himself. His eyes flitted from opponent to opponent. He heaved another sigh before instructing everyone. "Okay everybody, pick a medabot and let's get started."

Mr. Referee was absent and so the task of starting the match unofficially fell to Ikki. The champion took a deep breath, the blood was rushing through his veins and his heart was fluttering. "Let's go!"

And so it begins. I know this chapter was severely lacking in robattles but I had to build up for the next one. Wondering what you can expect from chapter ten? Let's just say the steel is gonna fly!