Zeke: Hey DR, you got any cookies around here?

DR: Used to. Not sure if Bit and Leena haven't had them all...

Zeke: Drat.

Shadow: Hey Zeke, I've got popcorn here!

Zeke: All right!

Chapter 33: Storms of Terror

Leena was, unusually, the first up a few days later. With Naomi's birthday looming, Leena had decided that she would get the older woman something. Since she was not sure what to get, she planed to allow herself the whole day to find the right gift.

Passing Sarah's door, Leena shook her head. The sudden movement of Leon into her room with her the other day had been a shock to all the others, including Leena. With her room next door, she had listened hard. But nothing seemed to happen, as Leon had told her empathically. Clearly they were still taking it slow. Leena hoped the two of them could find happiness together. After hearing the sad tale of Sarah's past, she no long felt any ill will for her. In fact, over the last few weeks she had began to look upon Sarah as a kind of big sister, certainly a friend.

She slipped downstairs quietly, and again marvelled at the way the light filtered down though the shallow pond above. 'That was certainly one of Bits better ideas.' Leena sighed heavily. She and Bit just couldn't seem to settle down and remain constant. She really wanted to go steady with him, but things kept happening between them. The night that Leon had first slept alongside Sarah, the rest of the team had been watching a film, and after it was over everyone had drifted to bed, except her and Bit. The two of them had been unable to agree on a small point in the film… and things had gotten out of hand. They hadn't spoken to each other since.

Leena shook her head as she quietly fixed herself a large breakfast. She was not planning to return for lunch, so she was going to need all the energy she could eat. Two slices of toast, a bowl of cereal, and one of her cookies. Leena smirked as she slipped the cookie from her latest hiding place. Bit had yet to find her store. Then again he was more interested in her rather than the cookies at the moment. The sudden thought of Bit caused her to sigh again.

She sat down on the central couch to watch the latest news while she ate. Nothing really sprung out, except a worrying report. A number of solo pilots, mainly independent transporters, had gone missing. Rumours had blamed it on a new desert gang, but last night one of the Gustavs had been found. Completely destroyed.

As she finished her toast, the weather report came on, what she had been waiting for. It had been a long hot summer, and the dry spell was set to continue for a while longer. The seasonal winds however were here, and all travellers and outlying communities were warned that the combined long dry spell and high winds meant that sandstorms were highly likely. It was certainly not weather to take a jeep out into.

'Fine, I'll use the Gunsniper.' She thought as she gulped down the last of her drink. She took a few minutes to scribble down a note to the rest of the team to tell them that she had gone shopping. With their recent string of victories, all of them had an ample amount of money. Like most of the others, Leena had been setting some aside into an account, just in case. After a long time of having to be frugal with her spending, it had been very tempting to go on a shopping spree and freshen up her wardrobe. But Leena had resisted the temptation, since what kind of hypocrite would she be if she told her father not to waste money, and then went and brought a set of clothes that she would hardly ever wear?

Whistling happily, she strode into the hanger. Unlike before, she did not feel chilled within the hanger, since the new building was well insulated against the chill of night. As she climbed into her Gunsniper, Leena heard the faint growling of the Liger Zero. She shook her head again. Ever since the Fury had moved in the two of them seemed to spend all their free time talking. Bit and Vega never let on what they overheard, but from the looks on their faces it was often amusing.

Outside the sky was clear and the wind crisp. Leena set her course before engaging the autopilot, allowing her to lean back in her seat. She needed to think about what she could get. To help her she decided to think about Naomi herself.

Leena had never really hated Naomi at all, it was just their two combat styles were polar opposites. Naomi as a person was in fact warm and forgiving, even when Leena had raged at her. She didn't begrudge her getting hooked up with Brad. In fact as the two of them got closer Brad seemed to open up more, revealing a side of his personality that Leena had never seen before.

Leena smiled as she thought back to that night, four months ago. She had never seen Naomi look so good. In fact, she had looked far better in that rather conservatively cut dress than in some of the other, more revealing clothing she had been seen wearing. The look on Brads face when he saw her had been one of those 'must have' pictures. Too bad her pregnancy stopped her wearing it again. At least until her child was born.

'Maybe a new dress then, to fit her "expanded" form?' Leena smirked as the Gunsniper continued to stride towards her destination. She didn't know it, but the Gunsniper was watching her, wondering what Leena was smirking about.

…I hope she doesn't intend to add any more weapons to me… It thought privately. …I'm over loaded as it is!

X-X-X-X-X-X

It was a couple of hours later before the rest of the team was up and about. Leon and Sarah took their time getting up. They had grown comfortable sleeping side-by-side, and rarely wished to end it. But rumbling stomachs demanded it. As before, Leon would slip away to change in his own room, leaving Sarah her privacy.

Pierce performed her normal routine, doing forty laps in the swimming pool. Normally she'd only do twenty, but in the smaller sized pool to get the same distance she had to do twice as many. The others all started their day the same as always. Brad and Leon doing some light work with the gym equipment, both to keep in shape for battles and to impress their women. Stroller settled down with the paper to watch the news, While Jamie and Sarah set to work on the team's breakfast. Bit had a quick look over and a chat with the Liger Zero, while Vega did the same with the Fury. And Steve – played with his toy zoids.

Soon the scattered team members filtered through to eat. Stroller took his on the couch along with Brad, while the others gathered round the breakfast bar. As he munched through his usual, Bit looked around for Leena. He had been hoping that maybe today they could make up for that argument they had had. "Say, where's Leena?" He asked when he couldn't find her. "She's normally up by now."

"Oh, I forgot." Sarah gasped. "I found a note left for us. Seems she went shopping earlier today."

"That explains the mess of the toaster…" Jamie muttered. None of the others were capable of doing anything in the kitchen without making a mess.

"Serious? Because with everything going on right now…" Pierce waved her hand towards the monitor, which was displaying the latest report about the unexplained disappearances of lone zoid pilots. Another two pilots had been found dead. It was beginning to look like some one was preying on lone zoids.

"Leena's a big girl. She'll be fine." Leon told her, confidant that his sister could look after herself. "Did she take a jeep or her zoid?" He asked Sarah. Their eyes lingered on each other for a second before she looked down at the note.

"Her zoid."

"There, no one in their right mind would challenge her. Not with her arsenal." Laughter drifted across the room as everyone thought about how surprised some bandit would be if he jumped out to hold her up and found himself staring down all of that firepower…

X-X-X-X-X-X

Out in the desert, Leena was definitely not fine. "Oh why did I choose to go out today?'

She had been making her way towards Battam City, larger and more commercially orientated than Romeo City. Only part way there the mother of all sandstorms had rolled in. Now her Gunsniper was struggling to remain upright, and visibility was down to less than a dozen meters. Leena had to lean the zoid into the wind to remain standing, and the noise of the wind blown sand roaring around the cockpit was stunning.

Glancing to her displays, Leena sighed. Ever since the storm had come, her sensors and communications had been full of nothing but static. Even the GPS locator was offline! She didn't have a clue where she was. Worse, she didn't know which way to go. With no references, she didn't know how much she had been turned around.

Another fierce gust pushed her zoid backwards and a bit to the right. The zoids actuators groaned from the stress they were under, trying to keep the zoid upright. Leena groaned with them. The situation was dire enough without having her zoid fail on her.

She tried to use the larger toes on the Snipers feet to gain traction, but the loose sand and soil had been blown away, leaving nothing but hard compacted earth and rock. Her many weapons were also acting like a sail, catching the winds and pulling her back.

At least she was still able to think calmly. 'All I have to do is hold on.' She told herself. 'Once this storm passes, I'll be able to get my bearings and return home.'

As if to mock her, another sudden gust sent the Gunsniper staggering to the right again. Squinting, Leena made out the faint outline of a large rocky outcrop ahead of her. 'The winds must be blowing around that rock.' She thought. 'Maybe I can get some shelter there, if I can just…'

She didn't get the chance to complete the thought. The wind eased suddenly, and visibility improved. But before Leena could rejoice, she saw a larger, heavier front of sand coming right towards her. It smothered the rocky outcropping she had seen.

"Oh hell…"

The impact of the winds was like a cannon round at point blank range. The Gunsniper was forced backwards, its feet carving furrows in the hard ground. Since the wind had struck her not quite head on, the zoid was also forced to the right as well.

Leena struggled to turn to face the wind, but even her remarkable strength was as nothing compared to these winds. Updrafts forced the nose up, and she had to take a step back to avoid being toppled. Problem was, once she started she couldn't stop taking steps. The Gunsniper was blown back another dozen paces before it managed to get both feet level with each other. Now facing the winds head on, Leena leaned the zoid forward.

Leena looked out the canopy. There was nothing to see but swirling sand. The sound of the sand scoring away at the zoids skin drowned out any other sounds. It would be amazing if any of her weapons worked after this! In fact she didn't realise that she was slipping again until she felt the vibrations though the controls.

'I don't believe this! Where in hell could such powerful winds come from?'

At this point, Leena felt closer to her zoid than she had ever been before. Small twitches in the controls, the straining of the actuators, all hinted that the zoid was throwing everything it had into trying to hold still. Slowly these perceptions trickled into Leena's mind. Slowly, she began to understand what Leon had been saying for a long time now.

'Maybe zoids really are alive…'

Suddenly she got a heightened sense of danger. Something was really wrong here, but for the life of her Leena couldn't work out what. As if in answer, the main display crackled back into action for a couple of seconds. What it showed terrified her.

'Oh god, I'm being blown towards a cliff!' Leena threw everything into holding position, but it wasn't enough. She knew the edge was getting closer and closer, and there was nothing she could do about it. Leena had never been religious, but right then she started praying for a miracle…

As if her prayers had been answered, the Gunsnipers feet found traction. The rougher, more broken ground at the cliff edge allowed her zoid to get a good grip. No longer sliding, the zoid was able to stand its ground against the ferocious head wind. Leena was so shocked she laughed out loud. "Hah! That's the best you got?"

A second later she realised that might not have been such a good idea…

Another updraft lifted the Gunsnipers head, raising it up for the winds to swoop underneath. The zoid was pulled upwards, losing its precious grip on the ground. The updraft dissipated quickly, but the damage had been done. With the shriek of metal sliding on rock, the zoid was pushed to the very edge.

Leena had time to think 'Me and my big mouth…' before another strong gust sent her zoid toppling over the edge…

X-X-X-X-X-X

Leena slowly came to some time later. As she forced her eyes open, she tried to push the pounding in her skull aside. Surprisingly she was still safely strapped in her zoid. Glancing outside, she could see that the storm had all but passed. The cliff she had tumbled down had only been fifty odd feet. Around her all that could be seen was sand, but a fine haze prevented her seeing beyond a few miles.

Groaning, she pulled herself back into the centre of the pilots' seat. The Gunsniper was lying on its side, rocks scattered about. As she slid back into place, Leena was surprised to find that she had no broken bones at all. Counting herself lucky, she pulled up diagnostics for her zoid.

The Gunsniper had come though the fall okay, but the added weapons had suffered. Wincing, Leena looked over her right shoulder. The Vulcan cannon's barrels were flattened together and bent out of shape. The whole assembly would have to be replaced. Turning back to her displays, she took stock of the rest of the damage. Two missile pods were certainly out of action, with a large question mark over the others, while the tail mounted sniper rifle, standard on all Gunsnipers, was wrecked.

"Ha. Never use that thing anyway." Oddly, Leena got a wave of discontent when she said that…

Shaking her head to clear away the unwanted thought she tried to make some sense of the sensors display. The storm was past, but the static build up had ionised the air, badly limiting the sensors effectiveness. Radio communications were most certainly out for now.

'Still, at least the GPS should be working now…' Her thought trailed off as a blip appeared on the sensor screen then vanished. A few seconds later it returned, then disappeared again. Leena stared at the screen, wondering. Moments later the blip returned, and stayed. Then other blips joined it.

"YES!" Leena cried out in relief. "A rescue party!"

But even as she said that, Leena began to get a really bad feeling. The number of blips had grown, till there were seven of them. They held a tight formation, three close together in the middle and the other four surrounding them on three sides, quite a distance out.

Leena worked her zoids controls, and slowly the Gunsniper lurched upright. Leena was mildly alarmed to see that the right panel of the canopy was cracked. 'That'll need replacing…'

In the suspended dust ahead, a shadow had formed. It was a squat, boxy form, walking on two thick legs. Leena began to wonder where she had seen such a form before as another shadow, like the first, appeared.

Leena felt fear begin to coil in her belly as the first shadow stopped before turning in her direction. As if in response to this action, the whole formation swung round to point at her. Leena stared hard into the haze, but all she could see were seven silhouettes slowly approaching. The one in the centre was the most massive, and as it emerged from the haze Leena was able to recognise the machine beneath as a Gojulas. But her brief spark of relief faded as she took in the details of the massive saurian zoid. This one was a dark grey colour, in stark contrast to the normal Gojulas colouration of white and other pale colours. The canopy had also red-shifted…

The four smallest forms were now clearly visible, and the sight causes Leena's blood to run cold. Above the two sturdy legs the body was thin with a forward projecting central eye, with great humped shoulders behind it. A quartet of weapons were placed on those shoulders, and the central eye shone with a blood red brilliance. The rest of the thing was a steely blue-grey…

Even before the last two machines emerged from the dust Leena had no trouble realising whom these – things – were. 'They're the group that attacked us! Oh shit!' Leena's first response to threat may have been to open fire, but the attack on the Blitz Team base had taught her that these things were tough enough to take everything she could throw at them. With her weapons damaged, and outnumbered, she did the only sane thing...

She turned her zoid around and ran, calling out into her radio in the hope that someone could pick up her distress call. Static was her only answer.

Behind her, after taking a moment to report in via a system unaffected by the storm – and one not native to zoids - the pilot of the improved Gojulas ordered his units to pursue and destroy the lone Blitz team zoid…

X-X-X-X-X-X

He lay there, close to the summit of the mountain, staring into the sky. Over the many years of his life that he had lived on Zi, he had come to this place often. Hands linked behind his head, he allowed the gentle winds to rustle the loose strands of his dark brown hair. Feet crossed at the ankles, he stared up into the heavens…

…You can never go back you know. You took an oath, and only death can release you… The voice was projected into his head, a rumbling sound as if spoken by a great beast. But it was filled with compassion and wisdom.

He laughed gently as a shadow eclipsed him. Turning his head slightly, the man shifted his attention to the source of the shadow. "I know, old friend. But sometimes I long for the place of my birth, you know?"

…I do know. We are both exiles…

"At least you're still on your home world!" He joked. "Still, as much as I long for home at times, I recall the mess it was in when I left." He shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder how on earth my species survived…"

…You humans have a remarkable quality. Your race is one of those few that does not accept the status quo, but continually asks questions. You build communities, and you seek the balance between order and chaos…

"Sometimes…"

The massive zoid shook its head. …While it is true that humans as a species have yet to fully reach maturity, everything in your past is part of that growth. Your race has great potential…

The voice suddenly stopped. The head swung sharply around to stare across the plains below.

"What is it?" The man quickly stood up, dusting himself down as he did so. He could tell something was seriously wrong simply by the way his massive zoid partner was holding his head.

…I am receiving a distress call. It is… weak, full of static. Side effect of the storm… The zoid told him as it quickly got to all four feet.

…Single zoid, outnumbered and being chased by… things, not zoids… The massive head shifted slightly. …Things like those that attacked the Blitz Team…

The man stiffened. "Cybrids…" He breathed.

…There is more… the pilot being chased… female… something oros…

"Leena Toros?" The man asked urgently.

…Yes! Leena Toros, under attack… The great head lowered till it was almost touching the ground. …You wish to help… It was a statement, not a question.

"If you know what I wish to do, you know why."

…Yes… …it is, not what we are meant to do… …but if you're right about these 'Cybrids', then it would be… The canopy was already lifting up.

Grinning, the man leapt up onto the zoids jaw, and then another leap took him up so that he could haul himself into the cockpit. Dropping into his seat, he began to belt in even as the canopy lowered and the zoid braced itself.

With a roar of power, the zoid left the high ground, rocketing towards the source of the distress call…

X-X-X-X-X-X

Leena was well past being scared, and now was fully terrified. The force behind her had reacted to her running by opening fire. Fortunately she had had a head start on them and only a few shots had hit her. But the smaller things were faster than her, and they quickly got her back in range. Their shots had flashed across her zoids legs, clearly intended to cripple her, or at least slow her down so that the larger pursuers could catch and finish her.

Luckily, the scanners had cleared a bit more, enough for her to find and dash into a series of canyons. Amongst the winding routes though the rocks the smaller things had fewer clear shots. And as she left them further behind, it became clear that they had trouble cornering at high speed.

Still, it only took one lucky shot to reduce her to a crawl, and the pursuit was still doggedly following. So she continued to push her zoid to the limit, taking bends faster that she'd ever thought possible. One LRM pod was scraped off in a really sharp one, but Leena would gladly trade her entire arsenal if it came down to losing that or living.

All the while, she continued to broadcast her call for help, but it seemed that the pursuit force was jamming her transmissions. All she ever heard over the radio was static.

After a couple of minutes with no shots fired at her, Leena began to relax. "I think I lost them…"

She was never more wrong.

The Cybrid Land-Skimmer craft popped up from behind a ridgeline on her right flank. Of all the Cybrid units brought to Zi by Helios, the Land-Skimmers had had the most change. With improved engines, weapons and armour, they were far more deadly now than they had ever been back on Earth.

The Land-Skimmer fired two missiles. From the point that it appeared on Leena's scanner and the time of impact, there was only three seconds. She had only just begun to react to the new blip on her screen when the warheads hit.

The first struck the zoid midway down its body, between the fore and hind legs. The missile blasted apart the thin armour plating and sent the zoid staggering sideways.

The second missile hit just below the lip of the canopy.

When the bright light appeared just to her right, Leena threw up her arm to shield her eyes. That simple action saved her life, as the right panel of the canopy shattered under the impact, sending a hail of razor sharp fragments spinning into the cockpit. The metal skin under the point of impact folded and buckled inwards, the scream of tortured metal drowning out Leena's own.

The zoid was sent even further staggering to the left, till it struck a rock and rebounded. Reeling from the strikes, the Zoid stood still, swaying.

Leena slowly lowered her arm, agony tearing though her veins. Her face had been shielded from the shards of canopy, but her arm had taken the brunt of the assault. The outside of it was lacerated apart, the flesh sliced to the bone. Her right side received similar, if lesser treatment; the instrument panels partially shielded her.

But even as she struggled to cope with the pain in her arm, another searing pain in her leg caused Leena to scream in agony again. Looking down, she was horrified to see a huge jagged sheet of metal thrust though her thigh, the sharp point poking out on the inside; red with blood.

Looking right, she could see the bodywork around her right side had been blasted part. Part of the zoids upper jaw hung loose, and a whole section of the head was missing.

Over the roaring of blood in her ears, and underneath the tears mixing with blood from cuts on her forehead, it was no wonder that she did not notice the pursuit force round the bend to her right…

Sudden detonations, far louder than anything she had ever heard, flung the Gunsniper to the left again. The zoid gave a metallic screech as the two supercannon rounds fired from the Gojulas struck it. One smashed just below the knee joint, shattering the leg in a shower of zoid parts and fluids. The knee actuator was ripped completely out of the leg, while the stub of shin flopped onto the ankle.

The other round struck right were the Land-Skimmers missile hit. Right over the zoids Core.

As the critically damaged zoid crashed down onto the rocky ground, Leena was thrown about in her seat, causing even more harm to her leg. Though the pain, she could see the displays flicker and die. Only the main one remained active, with a single 'Zoid core damaged' message printed on it in flickering, blood red letters.

As she sat there, Leena felt though her seat the foot falls of her attackers. When they ceased, she turned to look. The Gojulas stood centre, with a pair of machines like those man-shaped ones that attacked the base flanking it. Behind them were the smaller units, and circling round just behind them was the Land-Skimmer, the one thing that had brought her down.

The barrels of the Gojulas supercannons cranked down, till Leena found herself staring right into the muzzles of the massive guns. The darkened head of the other zoid seemed to be the grinning face of death itself. She knew that another shot would kill her. As blood and tears ran down her face, Leena closed her eyes and awaited the end, thinking only one thing.

'Bit, I'm sorry…'

Shadow: That's got to hurt...

Zeke: (from behind sofa) Is it over?

DR: Not quite...