CHAPTER 2

Night Drive

The white colored Stealth Viper slithered back into what remained of the Waterfall colony the next day. Crow's eyes watered as he looked at what was left of his former home. He saw the crater where pieces of his father's Zaber Fang still laid around, he saw the bodies of children he had once looked after. The boy broke into tears, unable to control either his sorrow or his rage. They'd taken everything from him, his only surviving family member from the war, his house, everything. All because of the organoid he had with him. He didn't blame Drake, the organoid had saved his life after all, he blamed himself. He should never have returned home knowing that those creeps knew what he looked like, he should've just finished them off back at the ruins.

He slammed his fists into the rough ground in rage, tears pouring off of his face. So many memories, so many good times. Drake appeared behind him, sensing the loss the boy had suffered and placing his metallic claw on the boy's shoulder as he choked up his tears. "Are you with me to the end buddy?" Crow asked. Drake nodded. "Thank you" Crow said, grabbing the organoid's claw for a moment before standing up and heading back to the Stealth Viper. Crow jumped into the cockpit, wiped the tears from his eyes and closed it. Drake flew up onto the center box of the Stealth Viper as the Zoid started moving. "I'd say let's go find the bastards responsible but I don't know where they went and I have the feeling that they'll find me," Crow said, "guess I'll see what I can do about enlisting some help."

Over the next couple of days Crow traveled, seeing the sights and keeping an ever watchful eye out for the creeps that had attacked him earlier. His destination was Guygalos, the capital city of the Empire. There was the closest thing he had to family, his dad's best friend, a man named Colonel Payne. Payne was a military strategist in the Imperial Army, one of the best too. He had worked side by side with his father in the war against the rebel Republicans. He was even one of the strategists that worked against the Death Saurer when it had attacked the capital city he now resided in.

On the night before he would arrive at the city he decided he couldn't wait anymore, he would travel through the night and arrive early morning. The darkness was no problem for such an advanced Zoid like the Stealth Viper, the moonlight from both the moons of Zi helped as well. As his Zoid slithered through the sand, Drake resting on the Viper's head, he spotted a campfire ahead. His radar picked up two objects, one obviously a Zoid, the other smaller, probably the pilot. He flipped a switch on the Viper's main control pad, suppressing all noise and heat the Zoid might put out as not to be detected. As he neared the campfire he felt a little better when he saw that the Zoid was neither a Heldigunner or a Genosaurer.

Instead, the Zoid was a there called a Helcat. The Helcat was a cheetah type Zoid with abilities similar to his Stealth Viper. It used a new type of stealth technology called a Stealth Shield that refracted the light around the Zoid to make it seemingly invisible. From what Crow could tell in the faint light of the fire the Helcat was painted black and dark blue for added stealth at night. The pilot, a tall young man, probably around 21 to 22 years old, had short spiky blue hair and wore a piece of chest armor with loose black pants and gloves.

"Victor?" Crow asked himself. The pilot spun around, drawing a large pistol from its holster and aimed it into the darkness.

"Show yourself coward" the man said. The man nearly jumped back when the white Stealth Viper slithered out of the darkness. Drake roared at the sight of the gun but Crow assured him it was okay and opened the cockpit. "Crow?" the man asked in disbelief, putting down his pistol. "I heard that the Waterfall Colony had been destroyed, how did you survive?" the man asked as Crow jumped down to greet him. Victor used to be Crow's schoolmate when a traveling Imperial teacher had came to their village, but then he had left for the Imperial army.

"Drake there saved my skin, without him I'd be dead too" Crow said.

"What about your dad?" Victor asked. Crow just sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry pal, he was a great man, can I ask what happened?"

"They came looking for Drake and I," Crow explained, nearly crying again, "two Heldigunners I had defeated earlier and a Genosaurer. Those glowing red eyes and that raspy voice, I'll never forget them. I managed to take out one Heldigunner before the Genosaurer killed my dad and was about to get me too. That's when Drake took command of the Stealth Viper and got me to safety." At the mention of his name Drake glided down, standing next to Crow, worriedly looking at the gun in Victor's hand. "Oh, by the way, he doesn't like guns" Crow warned as Drake solemnly growled. Victor nodded and put the weapon away.

"An organoid huh? I've seen one of these before, a silver one named Zeke," Victor said, reaching out to pet Drake, "amazing creatures they are. So, I'm guessing he's responsible for you having a Zoid as well?"

"Yes, never seen a Stealth Viper colored white before though" Crow said.

"You know, there was a tale about a Zoid pilot who piloted a white Stealth Viper going around during the war," Victor said, "I heard he was good. The white color was to help blend in with the color of the steam the Zoid emitted. They say he was able to defeat entire Imperial bases with that Zoid."

Crow looked up at his Zoid. Could this honestly be the Zoid Victor was talking about? A Zoid of heroism amongst the Republic, or was it a simple coincidence? He'd have to get down to the bottom of that later. "Hey, enough about me, what've you been up to?" Crow asked.

"I joined the army, as you know, and training camp was hell but I made it through," Victor explained, "then they started me off with a Molga Zoid. Not my favorite, weak weapons, not much speed or armor but I excelled none the less. Finally they gave me my Helcat, seeing how I did as a scout and guerilla warfare soldier. I've never been hit by a single bullet." Crow nodded in acknowledgment of the accomplishment. "So hey, where you headed all the way out here?" Victor asked.

"Guygalos, I'm going to go see Colonel Payne, see if I can get some help in tracking down the guy that killed my dad" Crow said.

"No way, that's my commanding officer," Victor said, "tell you what, you help me on my mission and I can take you straight to him. Deal?"

"What's the mission?" Crow asked.

"We've received some reports of bandit activities between here and Guygalos, apparently they've been intercepting traders on their way into the city, I've been sent out to find and apprehend them" Victor said. Crow didn't even have to think about it, even if Victor wanted help against the Deathsaurer Crow would be in.

"Okay, sure I'll help you," Crow said, Drake growling in the background, "sorry we'll help you." The organoid nodded at that comment, roaring in approval. After packing up Victor's camping gear the two hopped in their Zoids, the Helcat taking the lead as they searched around. Soon they came across the ruins of an insect-like transport Zoid called a Gustav, the Zoid in flames and its cargo all missing.

"This is definitely their work, your radars picking up anything?" Victor asked.

"No, oh, wait a second, what's that?" Crow asked. Suddenly the night lit up as muzzle flashes pierced the darkness.

"Activating Stealth Shield!" Victor yelled. Suddenly a rainbow colored aura covered the cheetah-type Zoid and in a flash it disappeared into the night.

"Drake!" Crow yelled. The organoid bellowed a battle cry and rocketed into the air, turning into a bolt of pure energy and melding with the Stealth Viper. More muzzle flashes appeared out of the darkness from behind the snake-like Zoid, the shots barely missing the Viper's skinny body. The Stealth Viper whirled around, firing shots from its dual 40mm machine guns into the unknown abyss where he thought the enemy fire had come from.

Up ahead, the Helcat approached the small blip on its radar screen, cautiously circling around it in order to get some idea of what it was up against. "Crow! They're Guysacks, we didn't pick them up on our radars at first because they dug underground!" Victor exclaimed over the intercom. The scorpion-like Zoid ahead of the Helcat snuck slowly toward the Stealth Viper's position, then began digging into the ground with great haste. Victor opened fire with his Zoid's back mounted AZ20mm machine guns, catching the back of the Guysack before it disappeared under the sandy ground and out of sight.

Below the ground the bandits communicated back and forth. "My audio equipment is picking up something behind me, but I couldn't pick it up on radar" one of the bandits said.

"Must be using some kind of stealth technology, probably a Helcat, tricky little buggers" the other bandit said. "Just use your Zoid's advanced audio equipment to find it, focus on the small amount of noise the sand makes when it shifts under the Helcat's feet."

"Okay, I just need to-" but the bandit was cut off by the sound of gunfire as it shot through the sand above, raining down on his Zoid. "Damn, they found me! But how?" he asked.

The Stealth Viper emerged from the sand above and slammed into the Guysack head first, using its digging ability to find its opponent and flush it out. The Guysack tried to reach up and use its pincher-like claws but in such a tight space they were useless. Instead, the bandit piloted the Zoid forward, out of the way of the burrowing Viper and toward the surface.

"Now!" Crow yelled. The Guysack erupted from the sand, met by the gun barrel of the Helcat The cheetah type Zoid slashed forward with its hardened alloy claws, ripping off a few of the Guysack's fragile spider-like legs. The Zoid fell to the side, off balance and began digging to try and escape. The Stealth Viper emerged from behind the Guysack, lashing out with lightning reflexes and biting into the Zoid's dangerous tail. The maneuver halted the Guysack's retreat, holding it above ground long enough for the Helcat to open fire and blow off one of the Zoid's pincher claws.

"Care to give up yet?" Victor asked with a smile on his face. Suddenly a blast from behind him slammed into the rear of the Helcat, exploding into the Zoid's back leg. "No, you son of a bitch!" Victor yelled, pissed that his clean record of never being hit had been broken. The Helcat disappeared once again while the Stealth Viper watched guard over the disabled Guysack. The remaining Guysack pilot desperately looked around for the enemy Helcat, trying to catch some distortion in the pitch black of the night, but to no avail. Victor growled and opened fire with all the Helcat's weapons from behind it, tearing away at the scorpion type Zoid. He continued firing until the Zoid had been completely dismembered. Then he opened his cockpit, walked up to the Guysack's and spit a huge wad of spit onto it.

"Thanks for the help" Victor said, reaching out and shaking Crow's outstretched hand. "We'll take these guys and book em, then I'll take you to Colonel Payne."


A/N: How am I doing so far? Please review and tell me what you think.