Chapter 4

AFTERTASTE

Black Dragon Base, noon...

Shiva had remained in her room much of the morning, and only came out for lunch. She had remained disturbingly stoic the whole time. Cooper and James were naturally creeped out by this. Not that Shiva was much of a talker anyway, but this was serious. Axel took it without question and stayed out of it. Kali, who normally stayed at Shiva's side whenever she wasn't piloting, had kept distance from her, sensing a tremendous amount of stress and frustration under that pale skin.

Shiva would wander around a bit, then disappear again just as quickly, not saying a word. Finally, she came to a stop at the Zoid hanger and stared blankly at the heap of twisted metal that was once her Storm Sworder. That freak Anubis in the black Geno Breaker had made fools of her whole team, and did it with little effort aside from minor damages. This guy was also apparently working for the Backdraft group. Shiva hadn't heard much about them aside from rumors, as much of their more notable activities were done on Europa where their central base was rumored to be located. The Nyx division was probably a few bases here and there and a few Whale Kings at most, but considering what her team went up against the other day, it'd be foolish to say they weren't dangerous, especially with a pilot of Anubis' caliber. Shiva knew if she ever got a Zoid again, it'd be no surprise she'd end up facing him again.

Nyx Backdraft Base, 3:00 PM...

Anubis wandered through the halls of the base, having left his teammates in the hangar. The damages that Storm Sworder pilot inflicted on his Geno Breaker were going to cost him. A lot. The pilot of that Storm Sworder was good, but not nearly as good as he was. He finally reached a small office, and took a seat in a chair in front of a large desk. Suddenly, a holographic image of a big man with dark gray hair with white streaks running through the sides appeared before him.

"Well, Anubis..." The man began "I see the raid from yesterday was successful?"

Anubis grinned. "Yes, Altail, it certainly was. I wiped out the team whose leader interfered with an earlier extortion. But the only Zoid worth taking was in no shape to bring back here. Unfortunately my Zoid got a taste of that pilot's skill" The young man propped his booted feet up on the desk, his expression hardening. "If you want me to fight any more battles for you, I'll need my Zoid repaired. Cash or the necessary equipment directly distributed works for me. And I KNOW you won't back down on my request. I've seen those laughable excuses for pilots you have stationed in the Europa division."

Altail clenched his fists in frustration. It was degrading having to give into demands like this to keep this... delinquent... working for the Backdraft, but he had no choice. The Count himself had hired this boy and his team to secure their control on Nyx and the Count's orders were not to be defied. "Very well." He said. "You will be granted extra pay this once. But understand our money's starting to tighten. We've been having trouble with a team on Europa that has an Ultimate X Zoid we've been trying to capture..."

Anubis sighed. "Whatever. Just make sure my Zoid gets the repairs it needs"

Altail turned his back to him. "That will be taken care of. I also wish to bring up another matter. The Nyx Royal Zoid Cup Tournament is going to be held in a few weeks. I need you to take care of a few of the less worthy teams as quickly as possible. It simply won't do to have our wealthy spectators be forced to watch our team simply stomp out weakling teams. I also want you to keep an extra close eye on any team that opposes us. This includes the team you fought yesterday. It's only a matter of time before they have new Zoids and are fighting again. Understood?"

Anubis nodded and dropped his feet from the desk and stood up. "Consider it done." Altail's image flickered and vanished, and Anubis turned and left the office and returned to the hangar.

Black Dragon Base, 4:20 PM...

Shiva lay propped against the side of her decimated Storm Sworder for what seemed like forever. Defeat meant no prize money, and Storm Sworders were expensive and hard to come by, plus they'd used a lot of the prize money to pay for repair bills for the other three Zoids. Shiva stared up at the ruined Zoid, not a single word leaving her mouth. Eventually she heard footsteps.

"Ayane?" her father said, looking down at her. The purple-haired teen glanced up at him.

"What?" She asked half-heartedly.

"I'm sorry about your Storm Sworder. But it's not the end. I have something I've been working on restoring. A new Zoid."

Shiva's eyes widened slightly. "How? We can't even afford a Rev-Raptor right now."

"I found it in some old ruins when I was parts searching about a year or two ago. It's a very rare Zoid and is clearly very powerful. I kept it at my outpost and have been working on restoring it, but some of the parts that needed replacing are really rare, too so it took me awhile to track them down. I want you to see it."

Shiva, not having anything better to do right now, and plus an urge to get back on the battlefield got her to her feet and tagging along.

Black Dragon outpost, 5:45 PM...

Shiva stared in shock at the massive dark shape before her. It was a massive dragonlike Zoid, a little taller then a Geno Saurer, with large red wings and dark gray armor. It had a drill-like structure on the tail-tip, and had a black belly. Its eyes were a deep red. It showed some sighs of still needing some work done to finish fixing it up, but otherwise it was impressive.

"This is the Gunguyarados." Her father explained. "It's very powerful, I can tell. It came with a large and extremely powerful charged particle cannon on the back but it wasn't in any shape to use so I had to remove it. I don't know if it can be restored or if a replacement even exists, but for now I was able to install a mouth one, and an intake vent in the back. I doubt it's nearly as strong as the original, but it should still be good. It also has three forward-facing grenade launchers, an E-shield, and what's most surprising is the thrusters on this thing which indicate a lot of mobility and speed in both ground and air combat, considering its size. But it's not suited for close combat, so if you are to use this thing, try to keep a distance."

Shiva was speechless for a moment, but finally found the words. "Any chance we can finish restoring it soon? I want to get back on the battlefield as soon as possible."

Her father looked over at his daughter. As he thought, her mind was focused on the battlefield more then anything else. He had tried for years to understand his daughter, but something about her seemed impossible to understand fully. If anything it was a serious inferiority complex. But he had no choice but to go along with it. "Possibly. If we start tonight."

Shiva stared into the crimson eyes of the dragonlike Zoid, which seemed to look right back at her. "Then let's make it so."

"This time..." She thought to herself, "There will be no excuses if I fail. I won't botch this up... I won't..."

Backdraft Base, 6:30 PM...

Anubis paced back and forth in front of his jet-black Geno Breaker as his teammates were finishing on repairing it. Their König Wolves were still in fairly okay shape; so they didn't need that much time to repair. The Geno Breaker was another story. Removing that Storm Sworder blade from the Zoid was NOT a fun task, and fixing the rest of the damages, especially the hole, would also take some time. That pilot, Shiva, was impressive, despite losing. The battle's tide could have turned if he hadn't been careful. Anubis was a man who learned from his mistakes. No one trashes his Zoid and gets away with it. No way would he let this team make it into the Royal Zoid Cup Tournament. No way.

TO BE CONTINUED...