CHAPTER 6
Pitfall
The seven Death Wraiths stood in a circle, staring at each other and remaining perfectly silent as their leader stared down at them from above. Craven sat in his Genosaurer on the high cliff, gazing down at the hooded figures below him. The Death Wraiths and their Genosaurers were quite a sight to behold. With Craven being one of the only beings alive to know what they truly were, and being one himself, the mysterious effect had long ago faded away.
"The master called for a gathering for a reason," Craven said over a megaphone, "there is only one organoid left to recover, one final chosen one. The green organoid runs rampant to this day and it MUST be captured for the awakening to begin. It has banded together with some village boy named Crow, who pilots the Albino Assassin's Zoid. Find the boy and destroy him, then bring his head and the organoid back to me."
The gathering of Wraiths bowed their heads in unison before turning toward their parked Genosaurers and preparing to leave. Craven was sure that they would succeed, the question wasn't if, it was when. The master would be patient, but not too patient. His Genosaurer roared ferociously in the air before activating its boosters and turning to leave. A soldier stared through a pair of binoculars far to the side of the Genosaurer and watched it maneuver through the rocky terrain. He pulled out a walkie-talkie and turned the dial at the top, "Target is heading west by southwest."
"Roger," Colonel Payne said, turning to the platoon of Zoids behind him, "go, go, go! Bring that bastard back to me!" The Zoids, five Red Horn, twelve Royal Zaber Fangs and ten Iron Kongs mobilized, charging to intercept and surround the Genosaurer. Craven's radar blared as it picked up a huge amount of approaching targets, the Death Wraith just smiled and turned to meet them. Hook, line and sinker. The squadron of Imperial Zoids quickly surrounded the Wraith and his Genosaurer, aiming all their specialized Anti-Zoid weaponry at the Saurer's chest. "Craven, for crimes against the Empire by authority of Emperor Rudolph you are under arrest!" Payne yelled.
The chest of the Genosaurer popped open, the Death Wraith gliding down and landing softly on the ground. Craven threw his hands up, making the soldiers flinch until they realized he was surrendering. Colonel Payne himself strolled right up to the hooded Wraith, a massive guard of soldiers behind him aiming at Craven as the Colonel approached. Payne grabbed Craven by the wrist, pulling up the cloak and revealing the rotting flesh beneath. Craven mockingly blew a breath of putrid air at the Colonel as the man went to cuff him.
Crow looked the Stealth Viper over meticulously, but couldn't find a single dent in it. He smiled and shook the hand of the man responsible for the repairs. "Thanks old man," he said, "here's your payment." The repair man greedily accepted the Imperial currency and patted Crow on his back before turning to leave. Victor walked up from behind.
"Ready to go yet?" the soldier asked.
"Yeah, let's get the hell out of here" Crow said, jumping in the cockpit of the Stealth Viper. Drake took flight, landing softly on top of the center box and went back to sleep as the snake-like Zoid slithered into motion. "Sure you don't want to come with us?" Crow asked as he passed the Whitz Wolf.
"Sorry guys, I've got a few jobs lined up south of here" Scar answered, the Whitz Wolf roaring a goodbye in response. Crow just shrugged and continued on, quickly joined by the newly repaired Helcat from the side.
"So I'm guessing it's back to the original plan of heading to the Waterfall Colony?" Victor asked. Crow solemnly nodded. "I'm a little afraid to go back and see the destruction but no worries, I'm up for the task."
"You've seen hundreds of destroyed villages, it doesn't look much different" Crow said.
"Well sure it does," Victor retorted, "it's our home Crow. We can never forget our roots, they're what define us."
"You're right I guess" Crow said, thinking again about his friends and family that had been slaughtered because he couldn't defend them. He had grown almost emotionless when thinking about them, the only emotion left being rage. He couldn't wait for the battle between him and Craven. A few hours went by with virtual silence between the two travelers, the only real noise coming from Drake's snoring. Crow admired the organoid greatly, the creature had been an essential part of their survival so far. Finally the sun began setting into the horizon, casting a golden aurora down upon Zi and Crow yawned briefly. "If we ride through the night we'll reach the village by sunset, your call" Crow said.
"Hold on a minute," Victor said, "I'm receiving a message from Colonel Payne." Victor transmitted the message to Crow's screen as the Colonel's face came up.
"We've captured Craven and are now attempting to transport him to the nearest base now" the Colonel said.
"Where are you?" Crow asked.
"Just outside of the Waterfall Colony, we've got the bastard detained and in cuffs" the Colonel said.
"No, stop Colonel, he's undead! He CAN'T die with conventional weaponry!" Crow yelled. "It has to be a trap!" Suddenly screaming came from behind Payne and Crow and Victor watched in horror as Craven grabbed the military man by the throat and aimed a bloody pistol at his head. Payne struggled to get out of the Wraith's grasp but to no avail. Crow barely made out a smile on Craven's face under the shadows of his hood.
"Good to see you again boy," Craven said over the intercom, "how about we stop and have a little chat about the organoid?"
"Wouldn't have it any other way, where do you want to meet?" Crow asked.
"Why the burial sight of your pitiful father of course" Craven said, cackling maniacally before the screen went blank. Crow turned on the intercom to Victor.
"You stay behind in case he's got friends with him, but leave Craven to me" Crow said seriously before the Stealth Viper kicked in to its full speed and charged toward the Waterfall Colony, or at least what was left of it. The Helcat ran to catch up and they disappeared into the night sky.
Morning came and Craven glanced down at all the tied up soldiers he had taken hostage. His plan had been simple, but effective, much like the common pitfall. The Wraith looked up in time to see the albino Stealth Viper come into view. He smiled and activated the Genosaurer's boosters, heading to meet the approaching Zoid. Craven cut Crow off and the Genosaurer and Stealth Viper exchanged growls and hisses.
"I'm here, now if there are no more interruptions can we get to it, I've been waiting" Crow said coldly. Craven smirked.
"So be it, did you bring the organoid?" the Death Wraith asked.
"Drake!" Crow yelled. A roar from behind the Stealth Viper signaled the organoid's approach and in a flash of lime green light Drake disappeared inside the snake type Zoid. "Satisfied?" Crow asked. Craven nodded and the two began squaring off. The Genosaurer and Stealth Viper circled each other slowly, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Craven tauntingly activated the Genosaurer's boosters, making Crow flinch, but quickly de-activated them and laughed mockingly. Crow lost what patience he had and piloted the Stealth Viper forward, using the Zoid's superior maneuverability to slither around the Genosaurer's legs and squeeze.
The Genosaurer collapsed to the ground as the Viper slid around to face the fallen Zoid. The Stealth Viper struck like lightning, lashing down and biting into the neck of the Genosaurer with its hardened alloy teeth. The Genosaurer desperately slashed at the Viper but Crow easily extended the Zoid's body backwards and dodged the attacks. In response the Genosaurer boosted forward, releasing the Stealth Viper's grip on it and pushed itself to its feet. Then it shot one of its grappling arms toward its opponent, catching the Zoid in its mid-section.
"Got me!" Crow yelled. The Stealth Viper hissed defiantly as it was drug toward the tyrannical Genosaurer.
"There's no escape!" Craven exclaimed ravenously. The Genosaurer dug further into the body of the Stealth Viper with its claws and activated its foot locks. The Viper swung its long tail at the Saurer as it prepared to fire the CPG. Realizing it was futile to strike the Genosaurer in its main body, Crow aimed for the foot locks as a cloud of charged particles formed at the base of the Zoid's mouth. Only managing to dent one Crow instinctively threw his Zoid's tail at the Saurer's head, bashing it to the side as the Charged Particle Gun fired. The Stealth Viper lunged to the side, Crow watching in horror as the particle beam sliced through one of the 40mm machine guns located on the Viper's head.
The shockwave of the weapon threw the Stealth Viper back with tremendous force, releasing it from the grasp of the Genosaurer. Crow groaned as his head was slammed against the console upon impact with the ground. Everything became foggy and for a moment all he could make out was the shape of the Genosaurer as it boosted towards him. Drake took command of the Stealth Viper, piloting it back and around the saurian Genosaurer and opening fire with the remaining 40mm machine gun as Crow's world came back into focus.
Craven turned his Zoid but the Stealth Viper moved in unison, keeping out of reach of the Genosaurer and continuing to rain bullets upon it. A small piece of leg armor fell off from repeated fire, crashing to the ground below. The Genosaurer roared viciously and turned its head, firing a few shots from the cannon mounted on its nose. The shots struck the Viper's head, knocking it backward and disabling it for a moment, allowing the Genosaurer to swing around and fire two direct hits with its twin 120mm pulse laser cannons.
The Stealth Viper hissed and collapsed to the ground, bowing before the might of the Genosaurer. Crow looked up to see the Saurer's foot come crashing down on his Zoid's cockpit, the glass breaking and exposing his position. "You're finished!" Craven bellowed. The Stealth Viper sprang to life, wrapping itself around the Genosaurer before Craven could react. The Genosaurer tried desperately to pry the Viper off of it but the Zoid and its pilot were determined. A spray of bullets to the Saurer's face dissuaded any more resistance as gears and armor began grinding together as the Stealth Viper squeezed the Genosaurer roughly. Craven frantically pressed button after button, pulling levers and typing commands in an attempt to release his Zoid.
The Genosaurer bent into itself as its body began breaking, wires snapping and gears grinding against armor. The Zoid's cockpit erupted in electricity as the command systems malfunctioned, trying to send commands to body parts that couldn't react. Craven screamed in pain as the electrical energy surged through his already deformed body, the electricity charring his festering skin.
"Yes!" Crow yelled, revenge in his eyes. "Suffer you son of a bitch!" Suddenly the boy lost control of the Stealth Viper and the Zoid began releasing its hold over the Genosaurer. Crow frantically looked around, confused as the snake-like Zoid unraveled from the mal-formed Genosaurer. "Drake! What is this? Why are we stopping?" Crow barked angrily. "We almost had him! What are you doing?"
The Stealth Viper slithered away, Crow watching as the Genosaurer collapsed into a heap of broken metal behind him and screaming in righteous confusion. "Crow what happened?" Victor's voice asked over the intercom.
"Drake stopped the battle, we're heading for a rock face not too far from here, meet us there!" Crow yelled. The Viper maneuvered between two large jagged rocks, turned and opened its cockpit, ejecting Crow out then closing it. "What's the meaning of this?" Crow demanded. The Stealth Viper hissed and wrapped itself into a coil as a layer of pink colored crystals began covering its body. "What?" Crow asked. When it was done the Stealth Viper and Drake had disappeared, replaced by an egg of crystals.
A/N: Any thoughts on the battle between the Genosaurer and Stealth Viper? Send them to me in a review.
