AN: (&#(&$#!!!&!&!$&$)!!!$#)!!!

Um, yeah. That's kinda my reaction to the fact that I haven't been writing fanfiction for a couple of months. What can I say? I AM SO SORRY TO EVERYONE WHO'S ACTUALLY STILL EVEN SLIGHTLY INTERESTED IN THIS THING AND WOULD REALLY LIKE TO MAKE IT UP TO YOU ALL BUT THE CHANCES OF THAT ARE REALLY KIND OF SLIM ESPECIALLY SINCE THERE'S NO BLOODY WAY I CAN MAKE UP ABOUT THREE MONTHS OF WRITING IN A FEW WEEKS AND MAKE IT EVEN PARTIALLY DECENT!! xx

Um, so yeah. I'll just shut up now and let those of you still hanging in there read. I've made you wait long enough. bows and runs away

Chapter 6: I'm tired of fighting with you

If questioned on the matter, Van would have had to describe himself as 'compromising', after pretenses of not knowing the meaning of the word so that he could cleverly twist it to fit his purposes. This one time, however, he wondered if he was too clever, to land in such a situation as bestowed upon him. Okay, so he wanted to appease his justifiably cranky human companion (who had yet to forgive him for the previous intrusion), and obeying the maverick's every whim and command until he was back to his normal, stoic self was the option he'd selected. The other would have been to hide under a large mountain for a couple of centuries, but the first was a lot more practical. This though, was going way too far.

...damn it!

He would have sworn a fortnight ago that the Blade Liger belonged to him, Van Flyheight, solely and eternally. His loyal servant, his trademark force of good , his zoid. Only he, the (second) most skilled pilot in all of Zi, could command the obedience of the feared blue machine, with its clashing yellow blades, numerous guns and stunning maneuverability. Only he was allowed to control it.

Of course, he had forgotten that he'd been travelling with the best pilot on the planet. No, it wasn't possible to forget, or disregard that fact... or was it? Spending so much time with Raven outside of the cockpit had changed his perception of him, from indestructible robot to equally-hard-to-destroy human. Someone who had obviously lived through a lot more than Van could imagine. Something painful enough for him to paradoxically work with zoids to blow them to extinction, though he didn't know what that was yet...

He winced as he trailed off that path of thought. Raven obviously thought he knew enough, and that was (should be) the end of that. Right now, he had to concentrate on piloting the Pteras so that they could retrieve the Genobreaker as soon as possible, and thus permit him to retrieve his zoid legitimately from the clutches of his evil-inclined companion. Settling on that idea instead, he returned his view to the narrow canyon directly beneath.

His instructions had been to deal with the three groups of sentries guarding the door of the fortress. So far, he'd spotted seven guards on either side of the canyon, and another ten inside it, though he was unsure whether or not there would be sleepers hidden around in the numerous nooks and crannies of the place. After that was dealt with, he would have to battle with the reinforcements that were likely to engage him in combat, and stall for as long as possible. He'd been assured that there were no patrols around this place, though how his partner-in-crime knew this was beyond his current understanding. He would simply obey.

However, Raven hadn't bothered to mention how much, if any backup the Liger would provide him, though Shadow had elected to fuse with the Pteras after witnessing his lacking flight abilities. This had been adhered to, and the presence of the organoid was a reassuring factor. He was still not confidant about piloting the cursed bird zoid, and had the sneaking suspicion that if engaged in combat with another airborne unit, his skills would prove insufficient. Thankfully, there seemed to be no such opponents at that moment, though whether this luck would hold out was questionable.

"How about this," he yelled, not sure if Shadow could hear and understand him if he spoke normally. "You drive and I shoot?"

The answering growl was hardly helpful, but the sudden intentional turbulence as the flying zoid dived straight down served as a tangible agreement. Almost falling from his seat, Van quickly adjusted the main gun's aim and fired; he saw the bullet pierce the core of the Command Wolf from directly above. Rapid-fire brought down another three before a vertical barrel-roll messed up his aim. He predicted the second midair evasion better, and shot while spinning, striking one of the three remaining opponents in the leg. Another bullet brought the injured zoid down completely. The Pteras banked sharply from the dive to drag steel claws through the roof of another hapless zoid, tearing it in half as Van missiled a Guysack on the other side of the ravine.

Releasing the torn shell, they zipped past the last Command Wolf towards the next sentry, belly nearly scraping the ground; the black wolf zoid dodged off the side of the cliff and scrabbled with its claws. However, the target was another Guysack, who was prepared for the assault but not for its speed. Missing several times, the scorpion zoid flinched as its enemy blew past and severed the deadly tail., then pulled away, allowing the victim to be destroyed by its own team's fire. A quick twirl sent the winged unit sailing up two hundred metres, where it turned and shot three Guysacks.

A shot pierced the left wing of the Pteras, and it wavered. Van turned to see that the Command Wolf had managed to maintain a hold on the cliff, and reversed its gun to aim at him from behind. Irritated, he grabbed the controls and shifted his zoid's position, then fired; the enemy fell when the cliff edge was blasted away. He quickly spun around to deal with the incoming missiles of the Guysacks, and successfully dodged them all while firing his own, knocking down the remaining three easily.

His zoid was too injured to try anymore fast dives, but he could still hover and glide. How would he approach the last sentries in the gorge? He flew further away from the battlefield, then reversed his flight and dived down at an angle, gathering speed without placing unnecessary duress upon the wounded wing. He viewed the group of Iron Kongs slightly apprehensively; the thick armour would be difficult for this zoid's missiles to penetrate, and he'd been unable to attach a better gun without compromising the ability to fly with balance and coordination. A growl; Shadow disagreed with his point of view. He grinned to his new partner, and continued to move forward.

Shooting the Command Wolf off the side of the cliff had lost any surprise factor he had over those within the gorge, but he still managed to fire two shots before having to dodge. They hit the same place on the gorilla chest, cutting through the steel plate perfectly to destroy the zoid core. 'Nine more to go.' He checked the in-built timer, and noted that five minutes and thirty-eight seconds had elapsed since he'd shot the first enemy. Shouldn't the sleepers and reinforcements have arrived by now?

A familiar roar sounded above the canyon, and he looked up, to see a black and blue sky covering the canyon. Red stars glinted down at him, almost blocking out all the sun. He could hear clicking, snarls, and howling, the sounds reverberating through the slot in the ground and shaking boulders from their homes. Van dodged them but never stopped watching what else was above him, grimly prepared for the massacre that would accompany this trip. He swore.

"First on the agenda is capturing Raven. They'll be deploying 50 Shield Ligers, 60 Command Wolves, 100 Godos and 150 Guysacks."

...that looked about right.

The echoing of a particularly vigorous battle some distance away was only slightly distracting to Raven as he crept through the shadows towards the fortress' back door, which was also its loading bay. He was more concerned with the horde of zoids charging out of said bay, through a conveniently large door. Sirens were ringing throughout the building, out of which poured black Command Wolves, teal Guysacks, black and white Godos and blue Shield Ligers.

Perfect.

He really shouldn't keep counting on the enemy's stupidity to pull through ridiculously outnumbered battles, but why abandon such an effective strategy? He was more or less one hundred percent certain that none of the idiots around would be able to tell the difference between a Shield Liger and a Blade Liger, despite about a hundred alterations he could point out, starting with the fact that the latter was leaner, meaner, and a lot faster than your average unevolved tiger/lion hybrid.

Then of course, there was also the fact that a twenty-year-old Raven would choose to pilot nothing less than an evolved zoid of the Blade Liger's standard. Which was high. The Liger was one of the best, though not quite adhering to his general style of "BANG BANG! YOU'RE ALL DEAD... BWAHAHAHAHA!" It did suit his slighter, sneakier former arch nemesis though, and after a few minutes of internal observation he was much better informed about how this zoid was able to destroy the more megalomaniacal types of its species (a.k.a. those of the Geno or Death families) and escape as unscathed as possible.

Being obsessively pedantic about which zoids he piloted had given the maverick a connoisseur's appreciation of the finer ones available to him. And this Liger was one hell of a piece of art.

The roller doors were falling back down as the last enemy zoids left the building. A command had the Blade Liger lunging forward, covering the three hundred metres in a white smudge and tucking into a dive beneath the metal just before it slammed down. The entrance was perhaps a little over-dramatic, but no less so than the graceful jump to all fours. The surprise of amateur pilots who'd never seen such skill masked the fact that this wasn't one of their own even more so than the blue Liger shell, and the pair sprinted away with satisfied grins.

The sixth sense (instinct and logic) dictated where they searched; the Genobreaker was especially eager to see its master and rival again, and the intelligence residue left over from the occupation of an organoid was far from passive. Besides, there was only one pathway large enough for a zoid, and there was hardly any choice but to follow it. They ricocheted through the corridors, oblivious to the various traps and alarms they were inconsistently triggering in the process. It barely mattered anyway; their speed ensured that only one in six snares or sirens were tripped, and that none of them actually made an impact.

Seven turns, eighty-three slabs of concrete serving as walls and a couple of perplexed guards later, they entered a darkened room the size of a zoid storage area. Raven looked around at his surroundings with the contemplation one usually gives to a possibly dangerous, slightly murderous looking room that did not look right. The fancy drapes over no windows may have alluded to that fact, as could have the shiny titan's chair and excessively plush red carpet leading to it. 'Throne room? Who the hell gave themselves airs...'

Click.

'...and imagined themself as a king?!'

Cursing the sudden brightness, he glared at the offending zoid that now inhabitated the ridiculously big chair. It was a customised, pure white Iron Kong, larger in size than the originals and much more ornate. Silver runes and scripts curled around the zoid's limbs in some sort of flowing pattern. Spiked knuckles covered the fist, promising extra damage to any who tried to oppose. A gold emblem was painted carefully over the gorilla's chest, and the intelligent eyes turned to see the intruder.

'...apparently, an emperor did.'

"R-Raven?! What are you doing here?" asked the monarch's voice. The head of the young man popped up on his screen, expression greatly surprised and only slightly suspicious. The Iron Kong stepped forward, though the fist remained down. "Where's Van?"

"Oh shit!" Too late, he busted the intercom in a hurry, by slamming a hand down on several different buttons. The entire screen went dark, and he oathed again.

"Raven?" Puzzlement now at why the Blade Liger's eyes changed to black, and another step.

"Your majesty, stop!" A window opened on the Iron Kong's screen.

"General, what-"

"Men! Arrest this felon!"

Breathing a sigh of relief as a few random buttons put him back online, Raven blinked. A few dozen or so zoids had materialised in the room, forming a solid line between him and the throne as the door behind him crunched sickeningly into the marble floor, trapping him in the room. The only way out was... well there was no way out. Blocked in quite nicely by closed stone walls on all four sides, as well as marble beneath him and what appeared to be part of the cliff above. He grimaced and looked around.

A few dozen guns were all aimed for him, cocked and ready to blow to smithereens. That was okay, he could handle that. They also seemed to be waiting to drag him out of the cockpit afterwards and tear him up with bare, filthy hands, regardless of the fact that he was a piece of world history. That was sort of alright as well. Even the fact that they were attempting to capture and kill him with their superior numbers strategy and a bunch of fifth-rate machines could be overlooked; it was not like this group could actually use anything better. Yes, that was fine.

But the cannon aimed at him was not. There was no way some eighth-rate 'pilot' was commanding that cannon, controlling the proud and fierce beast that bore the steel's dead weight. The red dinosaur, that glorious (though falling apart when it had pawned) machine of death and destruction, was not covered with the newly instated and poorly designed symbol of the Guardian Force (a tacky G and F mashed together in an attempt to intertwine), was not emblazoned with Guardian Force slogans and propaganda.

And below all this feeling of nausea was the guilt of betrayal. It was all his fault.

'Oh hell.'

AN2: That was... really bad. Sigh I'm such a let down, and deserve to be flamed. Please. To those of you who've waited all these months expecting a good piece of writing...

I'm so sorry.

I've written about half of the next chapter, so that'll probably be up soon. The double cliffie will be resolved, so that's something to see. However, on Wednesday I'll be taking an extended holiday (5 weeks), and will have little to no access to computer or internet. That's sort of why I rushed this and the next chapter out, despite work experience cutting off my time even more... gomen nasai. Bring on the flames people! I can take it! Improve my writing and story with your scalding comments! Anything worth considering will be! (However, I do know that 'oathed' is not a word. Please humour me as I try to reform the English language.)

Future of this piece... does it have a future? Hmm... I'd like to finish writing it first, so that those dying to know the story can. Then I might take a break and either kill off or finish my other multi-chaptered fics. A few one-shots dotted randomly, maybe. And then, I'll revise this thing and do things such as condense chapters, add in scenery, cut out the random OOC parts and smooth out plot holes and the like. Because I want everyone who reads this after its finished to see and understand why you people actually bothered to review this story.

Thank you guys so much.

-AlienYak

P.S. If any of you are happy with me updating (even though the quality's seriously below par) please find some way to thank wyrd. This person's (sorry, I don't know your gender) quick reminding note a week or two ago prompted me on the facts that I have a fic to write, and people to try and satisfy.

Review responses:

Mercenary Pen: You're probably my harshest critic, and the one i'm most scared of disappointing, but that's a good thing. The interrogation... I realise that I skimped on it. Actually I kind of skimped a lot of that chapter, seeing as I was on a high from finishing the previous chapter, and wanted the next one UP. Somehow, I don't think you'll be pleased by this and the next one that I'm posting, but I tried.

Taltos: Another one I'm really scared to disappoint, though not just because your standards are high. I feel bad because you're so nice too, and thank you for your help on the scenery description. I sorta skimped again though...

wryd: Yes, thank you so much for giving me a nice virtual wake up call. Greatly needed and appreciated. I suppose my version of Van is sort of schizo and psycho... is that bad? One bandit, two bandits, multiply to... four.? Oops? I'm not really used to putting heaps of spaces on computer. I think it comes from writing on paper... I'm kinda stingy. -- And yes, Shadow's smart. Coz he ain't human!

nightfighter642: No van/fiona! Why? Because I don't like Fiona, and I'm not that fond of Zeke either. And I doubt that Van could really settle with either of them considering the monster that I've changed him into. But I guess Raven/Ryss is sort of already set, even though I don't think Raven's the sort who'd want to settle with anyone. And I don't think the Sarah and Vega (Raven and Ryss' descendants) vs. Bit (Van and Fiona's descendant) argument can really work, considering that it's 300 hundred years later. There'd have to be a hell of a lot of incest on both sides for that to work out.