Battle Dawn
Chapter 10: Necropolis
by Silver
Author's Note: Sorry to have been away for so long. Having finished my Digimon Fic, "Darkness Reborn," I am now free to focus on this fic alone.
I'm anxious to see how people react to this chapter since it is here that will start taking some liberties with the story, mainly concerning plot holes, gaps, and under-explained aspects from the New Century storyline. I'll also be working on gradually changing the characters. How will I change them? Well, you'll have to wait and see.
Special thanks go to ZeroPioneer, who proofread this story and helped catch some major typos and one plot inconsistency. I've had to edit a few of the older chapters. Leo's former designation, 12514, has been changed to 12515, and his rival is now 12516. The reason for this change will become apparent later on in this chapter.
I also want to thank all the people who took the time to read and review. Your input helps make this story better.
He couldn't see anything, and he couldn't tell time. After crawling into the wall and finding his way around lots off different sections, he didn't know where he was. He must have been gone a long time and by now the angry men would probably notice he was gone. He should have turned back, but there wasn't any room. The walls pressed in and scraped against his shoulders and thighs and made everything hot. It hurt to move. He winced but kept crawling. But why? He would get into trouble if he was gone much longer. Why keep moving this way? Because the angry men were behind him, that's why. He couldn't tell why, but he could feel himself getting farther away from the angry men. No matter where this darkness went, it had to be better than the place where the angry men lived and hit him because he didn't want to kill Zoids. Outside would be better.
What was outside? He had only left the base to train, and all he ever saw was desert. Sometimes he overheard a pilot or tech saying he was going home for a vacation. He one time asked a tech what home was and the man had smiled and said, "home is where you truly belong. It's the place where you feel most comfortable. You're happy just to be there, and there are people who are happy to have you with them."
Everyone made it sound like he belonged at the base, learning to kill Zoids; but he hated it there. He wasn't comfortable or happy and the angry men didn't like having him around. The base was not home, so his home must be somewhere else. Maybe the dark was his way back home.
His hand rubbed against something metal, covering the tunnel of darkness, but it wasn't smooth like the metal in the base. It was bumpy, rough. This is what the techs called "rust." He'd felt it before on an old Zoid that the angry men had wanted him to blow up. It had been this weird color that didn't belong on the Zoid. It made the Zoid look sick. He had tried to take the rust off, but it didn't work. The rust was part of the Zoid, even though it didn't belong. Then the angry man in charge had kicked him away and ordered to fire on "the old wreck." He refused, just like always, and he'd been hit, just like always. He was like rust to these angry men. He didn't belong, but he was a part of their group.
Then another boy, 12507, had been ordered to blow up the Zoid, and he'd done it. He hadn't enjoyed it like 12516 did, but he'd still killed a Zoid that couldn't even fight back. It wasn't fair, and that was why he had to get away. Rust wouldn't stop him.
He pressed his hands against the rust square that blocked his crawling and braced his feet against the sides of the tunnel (or air duct as the angry men called it. Was he even still in an air duct?). He pushed hard with his whole body and nearly fell out over the side when he heard the rust square bang on the floor. That rust stuff made it really easy to break metal. Maybe that was why the techs and Zoids didn't like it.
But what should he do now? He couldn't turn around and climb out because the "duct" was too small. He couldn't go back the way he came after coming this far. Maybe he was close to home! So there really was only one thing he could do.
This was the only thing he liked about being with the angry men. They taught him how to do this cool stuff that even most grown-ups couldn't do. If it didn't mean he had to kill a Zoid (or a human. He didn't want to kill anyone, even the angry men), then he would learn it. Hand-to-hand fighting, weaponry, endurance, gymnastics; as long as no one got hurt, he learned them all. He even taught himself a little, like how to fire a gun and hit a target where it wouldn't kill him; or how to knock a guy out real quick instead of drawing the fight out. Most of that was simply trying something and seeing if it actually worked. He practiced the gun stuff on targets where a computer said if it was a kill or a wound. He had learned that anywhere on the head, chest, or groin would probably be a kill. Instead it was better to focus on the shoulders and legs, since without those moving right a person couldn't be much of a danger. And he had watched the angry men practice fighting with each other. He saw where they hit each other, and noticed whenever they stopped or held back because they knew when they were about to really hurt someone. After a while, it was easy to see how to hit a guy without killing him.
Good thing he hadn't had to learn anything extra about gymnastics. This kind of stuff wasn't meant to kill people like guns and fighting, and it was a lot harder to learn. He pulled himself forward and tried to flip as he fell out. He couldn't land on his feet, but at least he started rolling as he went down. He tucked his head under his knees and curled up as tight as he could. Stay away from the wall so you don't hit your head when you land, but don't fall too war forward or you might fall longer than you want. He was barely ready when he hit the ground. It was metal, like everything else in the base, and it hurt, bad. It wasn't as bad as the beating from before, though. His body ached from the fall but he held back his tears. Crying made him feel better, but it hadn't stop the angry men from killing Thunder, and it didn't make them stop hitting him. When something needed doing, crying didn't help. He needed to keep going.
It was still too dark to see. He put his hand against the wall and kept walking. He was limping again, and his body hurt all over. It was worth it to go home. What would home be like? Was someone waiting for him? Did someone miss him? No one at this base would miss him, not even the other trainees. Especially not 15216. This base was his home. He liked fighting and killing. He even scared the angry men with all his killing. Any place that was home to 15216 couldn't be a home for him.
The men at the base, both the angry ones and the techs, kept mentioning words like "brothers" and "sisters" and "mom" and "dad." The only person who had explained those words had been a medic who was caring for him after another beating. He had explained that brothers and sisters were people who came from the same mom and dad that gave birth to him. When he'd asked who his mom and dad were, the medic had become really sad and said that he shouldn't ask those questions. There was no mom or dad, and definitely not any brothers or sisters. But if he was alive, shouldn't he have a mom and dad somewhere? Maybe he'd find them if he ever got out of here.
His hand brushed against something sticking out of the wall. A light switch. He flipped it, but nothing happened. Then there was a loud hum, a tiny bit of light filtered down from the ceiling. It wasn't much but he could at least see a little bit around him. There was a lot of broken equipment in this place, and wires lying around. Some boxes lay over in a corner, knocked over and rusty. When he went to take a look he found some very old jump suites like what the techs wore. They were too big to fit him but the place was cold so he put on one and rolled up the sleeves and legs. It was hard to walk and not trip.
He had heard of some places like this; abandoned military bases where some of the hangers lay really deep within a mountain or inside the ground. The base he lived in must have been built on top of this old one.
There was something over in the corner, something big. It had four legs and a long snout with small teeth that were all rusty like the duct plate. It looked like it had rusty spots on its body too. Cracks and dents covered its body, and even its cockpit window was broken up. This Command Wolf must have been abandoned because it was so broken. It was a lot like Thunder and the other Zoids the angry men used as "targets." Now he was mad. Whoever left this Zoid behind wasn't any better than the angry men!
He walked over to the Command Wolf and climbed in to the pilot's chair after trying to clean it up a little. Just like before, the rust didn't come off. The Zoid didn't get mad or say he couldn't come in. Maybe it was lonely and wanted some company. He still couldn't think of a good name for this Zoid. "Rusty" fit but that sounded like an insult. "Hello. Have you been here long?" The Zoid's body groaned and shook. This one had been here a long time, and he didn't like to talk about it.
He brushed off the console and tried to find the power button. When he finally pressed it, the Zoid didn't try to move. Its body was too tired. The only thing that did work was the monitor screen.
INPUT PILOT NAME:
How cool! The Zoid was talking to him, kinda. "Oh… I don't have a name."
ERROR
"No, it's true. I don't have a name. All the adults I live with have names, but everyone just calls me a number. Maybe I'll get a name when I'm an adult."
ERROR
"What? You mean I should have a name now?"
INPUT PILOT NAME:
"But I told you I don't have a name. Everyone just calls me 12515."
PILOT REGISTRATION: 12515
"I don't want that for a name. Who wants to have a number for a name?"
UNIT: COMMAND WOLF
STANDARD UNIT
SERIAL NUMBER: 15364781R
"So you don't have a name either… Well, I'll give you one. I'm good at giving names." But not Rusty. That was a bad name for this talking Zoid. Maybe there was something in the cockpit that would help. He glanced around, but there wasn't much to see. Most of the displays and panels were cracked and broken, and there wasn't a lot of light. There was one that wasn't broke, but it was really dark and hard to read. He leaned closer to get a better look at it. There were two words just above a red button. It was weird. The button was covered by glass. This was one of those buttons he shouldn't touch. The angry men always told him not to press buttons like this; and if it made them scared then he definitely didn't want to touch it. The words above the button didn't seem bad, though. He couldn't read the first word. It was too big. "Rag… Ragni…. Ragook" That would be a lousy name. What good was a name that people couldn't say?" The other word was smaller and much easier to read. "Fang. Okay, I'll call you Fang."
The words on the screen changed.
UNIT: COMMAND WOLF
STANDARD UNIT
SERIAL NUMBER: 15364781R
ID: FANG
"That's great! You have a name now. You're lucky."
PILOT REGISTRATION: 12515
"I said I didn't want that for a name! You're being mean!"
12 5 15
"What are you doing?"
12 5 15
L E O
"L-E-O? L-Leo? You're naming me Leo?"
UNIT: Command Wolf
STANDARD UNIT
SERIAL NUMBER: 15364781R
ID: Fang
PILOT REGISTRATION: 12515
PILOT NAME: LEO
"Leo… Leo…" he grinned. "My name is Leo!"
"Leo! LEO! PAY ATTENTION!" Leena's shouting snatched him back to the present. They were still in the dark cave, though it was far more spacious than the air duct from so long ago. Leo was in front with a flashlight with Leena half a step behind. She was unusually jumpy. Come to think of it, her fuse had been even shorter—practically non-existent—since this whole mess started.
Then again, Leo hadn't been any calmer until this darkness reminded him of how he'd gotten his name and a life-long friend. "Will you calm down? Things are looking better for us."
"Better? Better how?"
"We lost the Cannon Fort, survived a fall and an attack by a second rampaging Zoid, and we found a passage out of the cavern. Given everything that's been thrown at us, we've been pretty lucky."
"You call this 'lucky?' We're stranded underground with some psycho Zoid just above our heads!"
"You don't know that. The Cannon Fort could be miles away by now."
"Or it could be really close!"
Leo was glad she couldn't see his smirk. "You're a real optimist, you know that?"
"And since when did you become mister cool-and-collected?"
"Dark places don't bother me that much. I've had some good luck in the dark…"
"Could you be a little vaguer?"
Leo laughed. "Easily."
"Argh! You are so frustrating!" Strange, they had shared several conversations like this and while there had always been an undercurrent of tension, Leo had sensed that Leena relaxed more when they quipped. That wasn't happening now. She was more on edge than ever and Leo's comments only made things worse.
"Leena, what's bothering you? It's not just the Cannon Fort, or our situation, is it?"
By the thin luminance of the flashlight Leo could see the conflict on her face. This wasn't his to ask since he'd only been with the Blitz Team a short while; but if Leena's emotions started causing troubles then it would his concern. Besides, he was worried about her.
Leena decided to answer. "About two months before the Royal Cup I was targeted by a bunch of Zoid thieves who were pretending to be the "Chainsaw Man," an urban legend. They'd send out e-mails asking about strong Zoid warriors, and if you told them you were the strongest of all they'd threaten to slice up your Zoid."
Leo rolled his eyes. "And you actually told them you were the strongest?"
"Shut up! Yes, I did, but it's true that I really am strong since I'm in Class S, right?"
"You weren't Class S at that-OW!" Leena slapped the back of his head.
"I said shut up! If you want to know why I'm so nervous you could at least be polite enough to listen!" She took a deep breath. "It turns out that my Dad started the Chainsaw Man rumor years before, and these punks were just using that as a cover for stealing Zoids parts. Once they hacked a custom Zoid they made off with all the parts."
"And a gun-loaded monster like your Gun Sni-Ouch!" Another slap.
"I started to believe that the Chainsaw Man really was coming after me and I started to panic. When they finally came I ran with my Gun Sniper into this canyon range and had to wait for Bit, Naomi, and the others to help. We finally blew away the thieves in their new Spinosappers and that was the end of the Chainsaw Man."
Leo shrugged. "So what's the problem? You got the criminals, so there's nothing to be scared of, right?"
"Well…" Ah, he could tell this was what was really scaring Leena. "I saw something else during the week I thought the Chainsaw Man was coming after me. I saw this… little girl. She was dressed in a white dress with a big sun hat and she was always bouncing this ball. She had this eerie glow around her and-"
"Oh, I saw that movie."
Leena didn't hit him this time. "What?"
"That character you're describing, she's from 'Child of Mine.' You know, the cult horror movie? Everyone's seen it, even me. I saw it when I was like ten years old! Scared me half to death. You must have rented the movie that week, right?"
Leena stared at him, dumbfounded. Then, realization dawned. "Oh, yes! I did see that movie when I was a kid. My Dad took me and my brother and we both went home crying because we were so scared! That ghost girl terrified us both."
"So you rented a scary movie when you were already on edge? Are you some kind of fear freak that gets a rush out of being terrified?"
"NO! That's just it. I didn't rent a movie, I saw the girl, twice. The first time she was outside a Zoids store just before some guy's Rev Raptor got slashed, and she appeared again during the fight with the thieves. She was standing beneath a sixth Spinosapper, even though there were only five crooks!"
"Okay, slow down." Leo motioned for calm. Talking about this only made Leena more nervous. "So you say you saw a ghost girl and a Zoid that didn't really exist."
"It DID exist! I saw it!"
"Did anyone else?"
"… no…."
Leo took a deep breath. Saying "sorry, Leena, but you're crazy" wouldn't help any more here than crying used to help against the angry men. "Okay, I can't say I fully understand what happened, but that's not going to happen here. The Cannon Fort isn't anywhere near us, there're no thieves after you, and we haven't seen any ghosts. I'm here, and I won't let you out of my sight. If anything goes wrong, I'll protect you. Okay?"
"Yeah… okay…" Leena's expression softened, but then she became fiery again. "Waitaminute, who said I need you to protect me? You don't think I can take care of myself?"
"Ah, that's the Leena I recognize!" He laughed.
"Why you!" She started throwing punches in the dark. "Just because you saved my life once-"
"Twice!"
"Either way, don't start thinking I need you to look out for me all the time!" Leo continued to laugh and moved away from Leena, keeping the light focused where she could see the ground. She chased him the rest of the way down the tunnel with Leo's laughter and Leena's threats echoing in their wake.
Zoid Eve's conspiracy became more and more apparent. As Oriudos used its nimble hoofs to slide down the mysterious tunnel, Vaez experienced a déjà vu from his first trip into Eveopolis. Sure enough, he emerged into the desolate city that had once been the crown jewel of all Zi. He had apparently come out at the opposite end of the city. The cradle building for Zoid Eve still mocked him with its empty column. For a moment, raw anger flared in his veins and tried to force his hands to blast everything in sight; to smite the city that had failed his expectations. He did not succumb to his anger. That was for weaker men.
Far better to focus his energy on understanding how this entrance suddenly existed. On either side of the tunnel's mouth lay two Guysacks. One scorpion Zoid's claws had been removed and replaced with a wide shovel while the other's claws had been modified with a drill and shovel, obviously designed to break through hard rock. One was the digger, the other cleared the debris. For these two Zoids to dig a tunnel to the surface would take years, even decades. All this to get the Cannon Fort into Eveopolis… was Leena Toros here as well?
Splendid! What a welcome plot twist. Good things would come of this. Yet something was not right. If Zoid Eve truly wished Leena dead, why go to such elaborate means? Unleashing the Cannon Fort, luring her into Eveopolis, and then digging a path for the assassin itself; this was needlessly complex. If Zoid Eve was plotting murder, surely it could simply order the nearest Zoid to strike Leena down without warning. A near-god like Zoid Eve had no reason to show off. Perhaps Eve had her own plans, or maybe she had accepted Vaez's designs as was working towards their fulfillment? What better proof of legitimacy than to have the mother of all Zoids endorse you?
"Only the desperate jump to a conclusion. Act with knowledge of your ignorance, and plan around it, filling in pieces as you go. Flexible but resolute, that is the path of our family." Grandfather was such a well of knowledge. A shame he hadn't been smart enough to follow his successor when the time came.
It would be foolish to try to guess Zoid Eve's motives. As he had told the reporters above ground, he would simply ask Zoid Eve when he saw her. Vaez moved Oriudos forward, sidestepping the burnt-out Zoids and heading deeper into the heart of the city.
Great; as if they didn't have enough to deal with. Now they couldn't even move through the tunnel. Leo's flashlight cast small shadows across the wall of soil that blocked their path. Leena felt like screaming until the whole place collapsed around their heads. What had she done to deserve this? How could she go from being courted by the most powerful man on Zi to being stuck in some underground prison with the most infuriatingly vague and secretive man on Zi? Leo was worse than Brad! At least Brad had shown he was a real teammate. Leo's more relaxed attitude was just a cover, no different from Brad's Mr. Cool persona. Leena didn't even understand why she was so frustrated about this, especially when they had bigger concerns; but ever since coming down here she'd become keenly aware of how little she knew about Leo as a person. They'd spoken many times, but he always talked about Zoids or her. Not that she minded talking about herself, but maybe it was harder to trust Leo since she didn't know anything about him.
She especially wanted to know why he was so calm about this. Even with the barrier laughing in his face, he didn't show any signs of frustration. In fact, he'd had this stupid smirk on his face since they'd entered the tunnel! Weird change for a guy who'd been so depressed about leaving a Zoid behind. "What's so funny?"
"Hmm?" As if he didn't know. Jerk.
"Why are you smirking?"
"Oh, well, it's just that this whole situation is kinda familiar."
"Yeah, sure, you've had 'good luck in the dark.'" She quoted him with the worst imitation she could manage. "Is this part of your luck too?"
"Yes." Damn stupid jerk! She could tell by the way he spoke he wouldn't explain what he meant. Instead, all he did was hand the flashlight to Leena, place his hands on the wall, and push hard. The wall didn't budge. "Brilliant plan. If you keep that up we might get out of here before we turn sixty."
Leo huffed. "You could always help. Then we might get out of here before we turn thirty."
Leena rolled her eyes, shoved the flashlight at him, and walked forward. "It's a pile of rock and dirt! You can't honestly expect to be able to push it in." She raised one foot and kicked with all her strength, just to prove that the wall was as thick as Leo's head. For a moment she stood triumphant, smiling at him. Then the wall around her began to shake and crumble. Leo grabbed her arm and yanked her back as chunks of rock and dirt tumbled and smashed onto the ground. The sounds of the cave-in exploded in her ears, followed only by the sound of her heart thundering. For a moment, she stood trembling, clutching on to the nearest thing; until she realized it was Leo. The she yelped, stepped back, and slapped him.
"OW! Will you stop doing that?" Leo rubbed his cheek. Nice to see him lose a little bit of that unwarranted optimism.
"I didn't
say you could hold on to me!"
"You were holding on to me.
Gods of Zi, you're impossible!" He stormed past her
and stepped over the debris and into a newly revealed cavern. "By the way, nice kick." Then he muttered something
amusingly. While she couldn't hear it clearly, she could have sworn he'd said
"Barbarian woman."
Even more furious at Leo and positive he had tricked her into kicking that wall, Leena marched after him. "Hey, I've still got the flashlight, remember?" No response. "Leo! Don't you ignore me! Leo?" And he called her impossible? Did he have any idea how frustrating it was to be around a guy who was ready to bolt the first chance he got? Oh sure, he said he'd protect her (as if she really needed it), but why should she put any trust in a guy whose master plan was to work with her team for a little bit, then leave as soon as he had what he wanted?
"Whoa…" Leo's voice no longer held the optimism from before. Rather, he spoke with complete awe. Stepping through the archway, Leena saw there wasn't any need for the flashlight. A thin blue veil illuminated the new area, which was filled with dozens of pods, varying in size with the largest roughly the size of a man and the smallest the size of an infant. Something about these things made Leena's skin crawl. She'd heard about old Terran movies where monsters leaped out of eggs and grabbed people's faces, but these didn't look like eggs. They were teardrop-shaped with emerald-colored glass and dark metal capping the top and bottom. All were covered with dust and caked-on mud. Leo was moving between pods, trying to get a look inside. "I've heard about these things." He said more to himself than Leena. "These must be Organoid capsules." He continued trying to peer in, but the crud covering the pods was too thick. Leena spotted another pod farther back that didn't look as dirty and decided to investigate herself. Part of her wondered if maybe they could use an Organoid to escape from here.
She'd never enjoyed history. Zi was so different from the days before the great cataclysm, and people had bounced back quickly from the days of small towns and tiny cities. Now it was large cities with only a few farmlands in poorer areas. As far as she was concerned, the Ancient Zoidians were a long-gone race that had no bearing on the future, and people weren't the same as they were fifty or a hundred years ago. Why dwell on something that long gone? She didn't even remember what she'd heard about Organoids. Only that they were small Zoids that served Zoidians. Maybe if they awoke one, it could be their ticket out. In that case, she'd definitely take more interest in Zoidian history.
But weren't Organoids supposed to be really big? This capsule was big enough to fit her, but the one next to it wouldn't even fit Jamie. Could Zoids really live in these things?
She peered closely at the tarnished surface. It didn't seem like a Zoid, even a small one, could fit in something like this. She cleaned off one part with her hand and leaned closer. Then she screamed as a human skull sneered back at her. Somehow she wound up pressed against the cavern wall, as far from the vile container as she could. Leo was beside her, asking what was happening. All she could do was point at that terrifying piece of death and say "T-there. There!" Leo stepped away momentarily to check for himself. Leena's mind couldn't wrap around the grim horror. She'd never seen a dead body before. Science classes always had a skeleton model for reference, but that was expected. Down here, where there shouldn't be any skeletons or human remains, its very presence made her whole body sick and her head throbbed. She'd never felt fear like this before, not even when running from the Chainsaw Men.
Leo was moving past the one pod and checking the others. How could he go near any more of them after seeing that? It was hot down here, and her whole body felt wrong. She staggered up to go after him, not willing to let him abandon her at a time like this. It was then that the skeletons leaped out of their prisons and lunged for her.
Damn. These weren't Organoid capsules at all. They were hibernation chambers for Ancient Zoidians. Leo wasn't sure whether to feel disappointed or excited. No Organoids meant no easy way out of here. With an Organoid, they could have returned to the cave where Sentinel rested, flown up through the hole, and returned to the Blitz Team's base. Provided the Organoid was cooperative, of course, but Leo had never heard of an Organoid that resisted people. Even the devil Organoid Ambient followed Hiltz the Butcherer's orders, and Specula and Shadow followed Reese the Blue Devil and Raven the Maverick. Leo grinned slightly at his own use of the popular titles for those historical figures. They were always spoken with such reverence, even if people didn't fully understand the meaning behind the words. Leo himself said the names without breath.
But no Organoids. That's what it all came back to. Instead, these were the resting places of Zoidians who had apparently tried to sleep through Zi's destruction, just like Fiona the Ancient. Unfortunately, these people had not been so lucky. The life-supports had given out, turning the life pods into death chambers as the people within suffocated. It seemed that most had passed away in their sleep, perhaps trapped in hibernation despite the lack of air. Others had tried to break their way out having awakened and realized their peril. Time and again Leo scrapped away the covering to look inside and see only the remains of a trapped soul. Some leaned right up against the glass, yearning for freedom even after death. It turned his stomach, but he was used to seeing unfair deaths and human remains. It happened if you traveled in troubled areas enough. Some people grew cold and didn't register any emotion; others never stopped caring and could be broken by enough loss. Leo liked to think he lay somewhere in between.
This was definitely Leena's first real encounter with death. She had to have heard about it, seen it in movies and on televiewers, but no matter how authentic the fiction it could never really prep a person for the consequences of reality. Leena was normally a fiery and strong-willed person. She'd certainly given him enough grief since staying with the Blitz. Seeing her tremble in the corner was more frightening than anything else. He wanted to get her away from this place, but he had to check first to see if any Zoidians had actually survived. Who knew when the next party would arrive to look for survivors; and by then it might be too late.
Leena's second scream brought the search to a complete halt. He ran back through the slalom of glass pods and slammed into Leena, who came charging around the corner, tears in her eyes. He nearly fell back from the force of her blow, but she clung to his shirt and buried her face in his chest. "Get them away! Get me out of here! Don't let them get me!"
What? Leo looked around, not sure what she was talking about. "There's no one here but us."
Leena looked around nervously. "I… I saw one of those skeletons… they…" Leena's skin was noticeably paler, almost a sickly gray; her eyes were drooping. He checked her forehead. She had a fever, a big one. Something was very wrong with this place. This went beyond shock from seeing death. Maybe Leena had contracted some kind of virus down here. Except that Leo wasn't sick. That, or he had caught the same virus and hadn't felt the effects yet. No way to know unless it actually happened.
"Leena, no one's after you. There's nothing here but memories and remains. Nothing here can hurt you."
"But I saw… they came out of the pods and… and…" Her legs gave out as she wretched and threw up. She nearly fell forward into the vomit but Leo grabbed her and pulled her back. "I… I'm dying…" she panted.
"No, you're not. We're leaving." He scooped her up, buckling a little under the surprising weight, and moved towards what looked like a small passageway at the other end of the chamber.
"I can walk…"
"Yeah, right. I can fly us out of here."
"I might throw up again."
"Then please aim for my shoulder. Don't mess up my face."
"…I can still move…"
Leo smiled. "Yeah, I know. Humor me." He carried her out of the chamber, hoping that he hadn't accidentally missed a survivor. The passageway was oddly shaped. The walls were made of rock, jutting out at odd angles and making it hard for Leo to carry Leena through some places. This cave looked natural, but seemed too convenient to have happened by chance. The stagnant air stank of sulfur, ash, and other molten odors. It was hot and muggy, causing Leo to sweat from head to toe. As bad as things were for Leo, they had to be ten times worse for Leena, who was seemed to be delirious now. She kept moaning and trying to squirm out of his arms. "No. NO! Get away from me! Don't come any closer!" The way she limply kicked her feet reminded him of running. Leena didn't seem like the type that liked to run away. What could terrify her so?
She was running through a city she didn't recognize, with half the buildings falling down around her ears and the other half going up in flames. Before her, flames ripped apart buildings, plants, and people. Behind her, a towering nightmare breathed death. It was pitch black with bloody eyes and oversized claws. From its gapping jaw came a stream of fire that vaporized everything around her. All this was both alien and familiar to her at the same time, as if she were two different people. That thing overhead was a death monster. There was no better term for it.
The ground trembled from the creature's steps, and continued to rumble after it stopped. Twin blasts erupted from beneath, adding to the destruction around her. Two giant Scorpions, nightmare versions of Guysacks, screeched a challenge to the death monster and brandished their claws. Both strange creatures were covered in armor, cut at sharp angles with small openings on the heads for some kind of machine gun. The stingers atop their tales were small cannons and appeared to be the main weapons. The death monster fired a blast of energy at the new rivals, who scattered sideways and retaliated with similar blasts from their tail cannons. Their fire was weaker than that of the death monster, but still inflicted pain.
The battle raged between the death monster and the scorpions. Already decimated sections of the city became dust as the energy blasts lashed back and forth. The death monster withstood the blows to its body and returned with twice the force while the scorpions evaded most blasts and continued to circle their prey. For a long while it seemed as though this fight would go on forever.
Then a fourth figure joined the battle. It was half as tall as the death monster, but walked on four legs. Two long horns jutted out from the crest atop its head and a third poked up from the snout. The large head crest protected its neck and seemed to absorb the death monster's blasts. One burst of energy set the crest to glowing white-hot, but it quickly cooled and returned to normal. Its two larger horns threatened to impale the death monster. In defense, it grasped the two horns and held the charging three-horn creature back, firing its deadly breath futilely. This gave an opening for the scorpions.
The two smaller creatures leaped on to the death monster's body and began skinning their claws deep into its skin. The death monster screamed but could do nothing. Releasing its grip on the three-horn creature would mean impalement. For all its terror and power, the death monster could only scream and shake as the scorpions carved into its skin and poisoned it with blasts from their tail cannons. The cries of the four monsters tore at her ears, making her scream all the more. When it seemed as though she'd go mad from the pain, a blue light shown down from the sky, breaking through the smoke and debris hanging in the air.
Still roaring in unfocused rage, the death monster toppled backward. The scorpions jumped off and shied away from the blue light, as did the three-horn. The light turned to liquid and flowed around the death monster, then hardened into a mirror-like slab. With one final roar of defiance, the death monster's chest opened and ejected a shinning red core that seemed to be filled with pure hatred and malice. The core rocketed away, though the scorpions and three-horn tried to shoot it down. Now the death monster's body was only an empty shell, half-encased within a mirror as tall as most buildings.
The line then shone over her, and for a moment she screamed and turned to run, afraid that she too would end up imprisoned. Then she hit Leo's head. "OW! Damn it! Even when you're sick you hit me."
Leena tried to get up, but her body didn't want to move. The most she could do was turn her head just slightly. There was nothing to see beyond the flashlight's range. They were surrounded in total darkness. She managed to look the other way and saw light reflecting off water. Leo was dabbing a wet cloth—torn from his own jacket—on her forehead. It cooled the fire on her skin.
"Looks like your fever's broken. As illnesses go, that was pretty quick." He stepped away and dipped the cloth into a fountain. Judging from the faint light, the water source looked clean and untouched, despite the rubble and cracks on the ground.
"Where am I?"
Leo sat down next to her. She was lying on a bench in what must have been a park, long ago. Hadn't they been in a cave?
"Brace yourself." Leo had an odd grin. "We're in Eveopolis." When Leena didn't respond, Leo chuckled. "That name doesn't mean anything, does it?" She didn't waste the energy to shake her head. "Okay, let me explain. After we left that chamber, you passed out and started having fever dreams. There wasn't anything I could do to help, so I kept moving and hoped we might find a way out and I could call a medic or something. But when we finally got out of that passageway, we came out in the middle of a city, buried here underground.
"Back at the base, I heard people talking about excavations and disappointment. Couple that with the capsules and an underground city it's not hard to figure out where we are." He explained about Zoid Eve and the Rarehertz. "We're right in the middle of the most ancient city on Zi; the home of the Ancient Zoidians."
"A city?... What does it look like?"
Leo shrugged. "Not much of a view since there's no light. Lots of damage, though. I'm amazed I found this fountain here. The water's clean and the fountains almost untouched. It's like something's been keeping it safe. Lucky for us, huh?"
Leena moaned. "I had a dream. There was a city burning around me, and there was this big black… thing blowing everything up. And there were these other monsters…"
Leo placed his hand on hers. It was cool and soft. "It was just a dream. You screamed in your sleep, so I imagine it was pretty scary, but it's over now."
"It didn't feel like a dream. I remember everything about it. I even remember the heat from the flames."
"That's probably the fever. But I know how real dreams can seem. I have them all the time." He didn't elaborate.
She was hot, tired, filthy, and scared. The moment Leo had charged off to go after those criminals, everything had gone wrong. Fed up, she finally asked, "Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Hint about yourself then say nothing."
"I do not."
"Yes you do. You talk about Fang, you talk about Zoids, you talk about people, but you never talk about you." This was exhausting. She needed to say this now, before she passed out again. "Leo, I'm tired, I'm sick, and I admit I'm scared. I'm stuck down here in some buried city where the only other living thing is a guy who I've only known for a little while, and all I can say about him that he's planning to leave my team as soon as he can. You said you'd stay by me and protect me, but how am I supposed to trust you when you won't even tell me about yourself?"
Leo was silent for a long while. He focused at the fountain, not Leena. She could tell her words had hit a nerve. Finally, he said, "The first thing you need to know about me-"
RRRRAAHHOOOOWWW!
Something inhuman cried out from the darkness, a sound that didn't belong in a dead city. Leena had heard it once before, in the belly of a Whale King. Even though she couldn't make out its form, she knew the Cannon Fort had found them.
Author's Note: Ah, the classic cliff-hanger. Seems like Leo and Leena have been hot water for a good while. Their Rarehertz/Eveopolis journey ends next chapter, but what will be the consequences of this misadventure? Next chapter will be out soon. Please review and let me know what you think thus far.
