(Disclaimer: I do not own the Zoids franchise. Copyright goes to Tomy for making this fantastic series. All I own are this story, its characters and some concept Zoids that might appear.)

Zoids: Lost Eden

Chapter 9: Repair and Rebuild

"And…there goes another one."

Sakura sighed as she watched a helpless pebble tumble down what appears to be the wreck of an old Republican Zoid. She knew it was a Republican Zoid based on the fact that majority of its joints and mechanisms are unarmored, leaving it exposed to various elements. The one she was sitting on had what appeared to be wings of sorts.

Up ahead, the Republican forces were moving in to Mount Cybele. She had gone further up in order to get a glimpse of the invasion. Republican Zoids were running to and fro, scanning, disabling landmines, cleaning up wreckage, most of them coming from Guylos Zoids. She saw Alyx's Liger Zero at one point. It headed inside the hangar of Mount Cybele. Despite the careful and methodical cleanup, she didn't see any Imperial soldier get caught.

"They must have escaped immediately after…Thank goodness!" Sakura sighed with relief. She had heard bad stories from soldiers who were captured by the Republic. Despite all the propaganda about how they were striving for the sake of all people, Republican soldiers tend to get nasty. Poor conditions, beatings, abuse. There were even talks of torture. No doubt the people of the Central Continent would immediately condemn these actions once it comes to light. Then again, they're probably aware of it but just don't care since it's not something that affects their lives.

She wondered how long it would take the enemy soldiers to find her. Even if she assumes Alyx kept her mouth shut, they're bound to stumble upon the area one way or another. Plus, there was the König Wolf pilot. If she's caught, would she be abused as well? Such were the questions that ran into Sakura's mind as she leapt down from the chassis she was sitting on and slowly made her way back to her Zoid.

The Geno Saurer was a mess. The damage to the core wasn't deep, but it sure was enough to cause the Zoid to shut down, lapsing into what appears to be a coma. Her Zoid was alive but in terms of functionality, it was just as capable as the empty husks of dead metal around them. Still, it made an eerie sight. Its red visor, the sharp claws and teeth, the wicked gun barrel in the mouth, a woman inspecting its remains—

"Wait? A woman…?" Sakura's eyes suddenly locked on a stranger looking up at the cockpit of her fallen Zoid. She was dressed in a weird manner though Sakura was sure she recognized the white dress from somewhere. "Ah! Those eggheads over at the Eastern Continent!" Sakura recalled. She wondered what an exotic woman like her is doing outside…and in a Zoid graveyard no less. She didn't look like she was lost either.

"Umm…Can I help you?" Sakura asked, causing the woman to look in her direction. She gave Sakura a good look over, checking the young pilot out from head to toe. Seemingly satisfied, the woman laughed.

"Ha! Well, aren't you a little cutie?" The woman chuckled to herself, possibly laughing at Sakura's young age. Before the girl could protest though, the woman turned back to face an approaching man wearing a very familiar uniform. "I gotta say, your taste in pilots do not disappoint at all, Ash."

"Remind me again why I was hesitant to call on you for aid." Gregory Ash sneered as he brushes the woman off as he walked towards Sakura. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yes Captain." Sakura meekly replied, her eyes trailing to her Zoid's wreck. "The Geno Saurer's busted though."

"I see." Instead of reprimanding her, Ash just sighed as he turned to the woman. "Well Zhou? Think you can do something about it?"

"Of course I can do something about it! Who do you take me for Ash?" The woman smugly answers back, giving no regard to Gregory Ash's rank and position in the army.

"Huh? Captain, who is she?" Sakura asked, a little puzzled by their conversations.

"Hmm? Oh, this is Zhou Byakuiei. An old associate of mine." Ash introduced the two girls to each other. "Zhou, this is Warrant Officer Sakura Nagisa."

"I'm not just any old acquaintance of Ash you know?" Zhou continued. "I was part of the team that built this mean baby." Her tone seemed like she was boasting as she patted the side of the Geno Saurer's armor.

"Y-you built the Geno Saurer?" Sakura was surprised.

"Along with that Demon fellow, yeah. He came up with the concept, I made it possible. But, that's all ancient history. Right now, we need to get out of here." The woman Zhou walked on ahead, following Ash to what looked like an empty space in the desert. Before Sakura could ask though, Zhou snapped her fingers, and the empty space started to distort, hinting at a form of stealth shielding. In a matter of a few minutes, the shielding gave way to reveal a dark, navy blue Whale King docked on the desert floor.

"Well, Sakura Nagisa." Zhou turned to face Sakura. "Welcome to my little palace, the science vessel Hydrarchos."

The interior of the Hydrarchos was rather spacious, more spacious than other Whale Kings despite being the same size. Sakura observed that this is mostly has to do with the fact that the Hydrarchos didn't seem like it was meant to be used as a large scale transporter. Most of its space was filled with various weapon hangars and research platforms, befitting the moniker of science vessel.

"Ms. Zhou? I take it that this Whale King wasn't intended to be a transporter?" Sakura asked the woman as they walked around the huge Zoid's interior.

"It can carry a couple of Zoids but, yes. I didn't have this Whale King built for the purpose of providing a taxi service for Zoids." Zhou answered back.

"Built? I suppose being a top-class scientist nets you these privileges…" Sakura could only sigh as she watched Zhou walk off to a nearby monitor. She wasn't too familiar with some of the research and equipment so she walked a little further inside, finally spotting the Zoids the Hydrarchos carried with it.

There was Ash's Dark Spiner, tucked in on the farthest side on the right. Opposite of it is a Red Horn and a Sabre Tiger. Both were rather familiar Zoids to her. And of course, there was another Geno Saurer, painted a bony white and gunmetal. Nothing new except—

"Wait? A Red Horn and a Sabre Tiger?" Sakura suddenly realized, recognizing the two Zoids.

"Yay! You survived!" Seral suddenly jumped down from the Red Horn's open canopy, locking Sakura in a tight embrace.

"S-Seral…" Sakura patted her older friend on the back as she saw Vishna making her way towards them.

"Yo!" The silver-haired, complainer greeted.

"Hey Vishna. What are you doing here?" Sakura asked as Seral loosened her arms on the younger girl.

"Looking for you, duh!" Vishna answered back with some light teasing. "It was either that or stay in the Dragoon Nest with the Knights. Believe me; it didn't take us five minutes to decide which one we prefer."

"Actually, we were supposed to escort Zhou somewhere up North. Coming for you was just a bonus." Seral clarified.

"Well, thanks regardless." Sakura glanced back and saw her Geno Saurer being loaded on a repair platform. Regardless of the core being busted, it seems Zhou would attempt to repair it anyway. Given that she was one of the people who helped develop it, fixing it up was probably no big deal.

"Sakura." Ash suddenly barges in the three girl's conversation. "The Viscount wants to speak with you."

"Impressive. Very impressive." From the screen, Sakura could see the Viscount smirking while seated in the Dragoon Nest's bridge. On his sides were two of his Knights, Alexei and Caitlyn, on the left and right respectively. "I heard from our soldiers. You stayed behind so they can safely retreat. Thanks to you, more than half of our forces managed to survive."

"J-Just doing my job sir!" Suffice to say, Sakura was flattered by their leader's words as she spoke with him inside the Hydrarchos' bridge. Her other allies were with her as well.

"It's a shame about the Geno Saurer but, knowing Zhou, she'll be able to get it back up and running in no time. But anyway, seeing as your performance has been very impressive as of late…I'm promoting you to 2nd Lieutenant."

"T-Thank you sir!" Sakura was grateful though she wasn't that ecstatic about it. She did feel happy that she was now at the same rank as her friends. She could see Alexei's eyes twitch in anger a little. She just sighed. It seems she just can't get on the man's good graces no matter what she does or how high she climbs in rank.

"Continue to do your best for the glory of our Empire…Lieutenant. Now then—"Immediately after congratulating the girl, the Viscount turns to face Ash. "You have received your new orders, correct?"

"Yes sir. But, is this really okay? We still have to attend the summit at Chimera City."

"I'll take care of that. In the meantime, you do what I asked you to do. Knowing Muroa, our next task would be much more difficult. The Republic's planning to return soon so I suppose I can understand why they would ask us to handle all other miscellaneous jobs. But I don't intend to head over there outgunned by our enemies." The Viscount explained to the aging Captain.

"I understand. This next job would be for our benefit as well."

"Get ready to recall all other remnants soon. Regardless of what happens at Chimera, we would need their strength." And with that, the Viscount cut off, leaving Ash and the others to their own devices.

"Well, congratulations." Vishna shakes Sakura's hand. "Now we're all equal."

"We've always been equal." Seral pitched in, patting the two girl's head. "Isn't that right, Sakura?"

"Yeah…"

"Helmsman, take us out of this airspace. Plot the coordinates for the Northern glaciers towards the Central Mountain Range." Ash instructed the Whale King's pilot, who immediately complied with the order. In an instant, the Whale King rumbled slightly as it lifted off the ground, sending out a small sandstorm on a small radius around it.

"Hello? Paging the pilot of this wrecked Zoid down to the maintenance bay please!" Zhou's voice called over the intercom. She was calling for Sakura.

"Your new friend's summoning you." Seral elbows Sakura in a teasing manner.

"You think you guys can accompany me downstairs?" Sakura asks her friends, looking a little unnerved from the possible earful she'll get from Zhou upon inspecting her Zoid.

"Nah. I'm gonna get some shut-eye." Vishna excused herself and left the room.

"And I'm going to the cantina. Had ordered fish there, don't want it to get cold." Seral also excused herself and left.

"Guys…!"

Upon heading downstairs, Sakura could already see her Zoid being patched up. Armor panels removed, pistons being cleaned of gunk. Its old guns were removed as well, reducing the monster to its bare form. Zhou was overseeing everything though from what Sakura can gather, almost all of the mechanics already know what they're doing. They moved as if they service Geno Saurers on a daily basis.

"Ah, there you are!" Zhou motioned for Sakura to come closer as she brought up some files on her monitor.

"Y-yeah. I can't believe how fast you work." Sakura compliments the woman as she steps forward. "How much longer until you can bring it back to normal operating efficiency."

"Within this day but—" Zhou turned to Sakura, taking her eyes off her research for a moment. "I've seen how you battle. I don't think the "normal" configuration is the best machine for your use."

"I'm sorry. I don't really follow?"

"Mind if I ask you something?"

"Not at all."

"How does the Geno Saurer rate as a fighting unit?" Zhou suddenly sprung her a question pertaining to her Zoid. "In your—how long did you say you had this Zoid again?"

"Two years."

"Right. In the two years you've piloted this Zoid, what impressions have you acquired from it? How did it feel wielding the compact form of the Death Saurer's power?"

"Well—" The question wasn't something Sakura expected. "A little late for a product satisfaction survey…considering the design is eight years old now." She thought as she looked for the right words to say.

"It's a decent Zoid. Not as great as the Berserk Fuhrer or is it as eccentric as the Dark Spiner but, it has its uses. Eight long years and it can still put the bind on most Republican Zoids, barring the Blade Liger." Sakura faced her Zoid, which was currently still comatose. "This particular model was said to be a little quirky, according to the mechanics and technicians who used to work on it but so far, it has yet to go berserk on me or give me a hard time. It is a little more aggressive though, as far as I can tell from operating it. It hasn't let me down in a fight and, not to boast or anything, we've been able to hold off a Liger Zero, a Zoid with a much higher performance margin. Its weapons are adequate and I can always count on the Charged Particle Cannon in case things got too hot."

"That's what I've observed about your style, Warrant—no, I heard you're a Lieutenant now." Zhou suddenly cut her off.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, a little puzzled.

"I've worked on several Geno Saurers since the time we first used it in battle. Among all of them, yours is the only one I've seen with the cleanest Charged Particle Gun barrel." Zhou eyes her with a sly look on her face. "What's the matter? Are you holding back? Does the power scare you too much?"

"It's just that—I've never really plunged myself in a situation where I feel like I have to use it, Ms. Zhou."

"Really? That's not what the battle records from yesterday say."

"I'm sorry."

"Well—" Zhou grunted as she turned back to her research. "If you don't want to fire it then fine. I doubt your Zoid could withstand the stress of using it repeatedly anyway, considering it's an underpowered variant."

"I-I'm sorry?"

"I'm saying your Zoid's quirky performance has got something to do with the fact that it's an underpowered model." Zhou explains. "Do you know why this Zoid holds a higher performance rating than say, that Sabre Tiger and Red Horn? Aside from its arsenal."

"The Organoid System…" Sakura managed to reply.

"Huh, so you do know something after all."

Sakura felt a little stung from the way Zhou said the words. Sure she's no mechanic but, she's at least familiar with how her Zoid functions sometimes. "Do all mechanics and scientists see us pilots as dumb, uneducated fighters with no understanding of their own partners?"

"But yes, you're right. See, your Zoid here—" Nevertheless, Zhou continued with her explanation. "—its Organoid System's powered down. I'm willing to bet your higher-ups chose to field these babies in a hurry, skipping a whole bunch of necessary trials and tuning. The other Zoids of its batch are probably all underpowered rigs too. All this time, you're fighting with a limiter that you didn't know about. Hah! It's a miracle you even managed to get out of those situations alive."

"Okay. So, now what?"

Zhou sighed. Sakura felt it was because she doesn't immediately follow whatever Zhou was implying. "What I'm saying is I can complete your Zoid's Organoid System. Oh, and don't worry about the charge. Ash's already got you covered."

"Will it take long? I may need to head out soon."

"Powering up the Organoid System? Nah, it will only take a couple of days. However, I was also planning on upgrading it with the parts I have here. Prior to mass-production, me and Demon have been toying around with a variant model. Heard he managed to complete it and you know me, I want to see if I can finish it myself. All-in-all, it should take me around a week."

"A week?!"

"Hey, I'll need to build some parts from scratch you know? This isn't a CAS. These require time and precision work since the parts would be integrated all the way into the core."

"But, how am I supposed to fight then?" Sakura asked. She just got her promotion. Taking a one-week break isn't exactly the way she wanted to spend her first week as a Lieutenant. Besides, if they heard she was off the field for that long, they might just demote her again and she was sure those Knights won't think twice on chewing her out.

"You can use my Geno Saurer there. Its temperament is a little milder but, at least it's not an underpowered rig and a mess like yours right now." Zhou pointed at the white Geno Saurer sitting idly in the hangar. "Ah! But if it comes back like your underpowered rig here, maintenance cost is coming out of your paycheck. Got that?"

"Alright. I'll take good care of it Ms. Zhou." Sakura sighed. No way was she getting out of this one. Still, she did feel a little surge of excitement. Her own upgraded Geno Saurer. She couldn't wait to see how it performs in her hands.

"Maybe then I can get the respect I deserve..."

The day following the fall of the Viscount's base at Mount Cybele was a busy day for everyone in the Alexander. Cleaning up debris, repairing facilities, checking for any bombs or spying equipment—almost everyone's got their hands full. Since the Alexander still has its mission of hunting down the Viscount's forces, it was agreed that Black Hound would occupy the base for a while, until the main Republican forces could land again. Even Alyx helped out for a little while before turning all her attention on repairing her Zoid. Fortunately, Alexei's wrecked Liger Zero was still lying around in the hangar. She had brought it inside the Hammer Kaiser so she can salvage parts to use in repairing her own Zero.

"My Jäger unit…what has she done to you?" Kiminari sighed as he tucked away the damaged CAS to its storage case.

"That was a Geno Saurer man! It's not something you just fight without expecting any bruises!" Alyx yelled back from her cockpit. She was currently testing out some new components she was adding, running several checks and scans to ensure the Zero's handling remains the same.

"What did you do to this Zoid anyway?" Kiminari walked over to the Liger Zero, having finished stowing away the Jäger unit. From his position, he could see that Alyx had been messing with the shoulder armor. Having lost hers, she took the armor from the Liger Zero EM they salvaged and modified it with other Zoid parts she picked up. The right armor looked like a huge radar array of some sorts. The left side was loaded with what looks like a weapons binder.

"Well…seeing that the Jäger's gone, I decided to modify the base armor a little bit." Alyx explained, her eyes still fixed on the Zero's monitors. "I took the Gator's sensor array and the Gorhecks' Crystal Radar and fixed them together, increasing the strength of the Zero's sensors. This should allow me to withstand one blast from the Dark Spiner's Jamming Blade!"

"Just one?" Kiminari asked, obviously not impressed. "But wait! If you've loaded the fins, that'll be way too heavy to balance on just the shoulder alone!"

"Don't worry!" Alyx piped in cheerfully. "That's what the other rig is for. I compiled two small beam gatlings and some missile launchers in a weapons binder and attached it to balance the legs!" Alyx pointed to the left shoulder armor. "At least now we have a little more firepower, right Zero?"

"Balancing a heavy component with an equally heavy component… Huh! Cool then. Well what about its speed?" Kiminari asked with obvious sarcasm, earning him a sharp glare from the young rookie pilot.

"Okay, so what if Zero's max speed dropped from 307 to 295 km/h? That's still faster than a huge portion of the Zoids here!" Alyx answered back.

"Okay! I get it! You better be sure your antics don't bite us in the ass in battle! With Itsuki gone, your Zero's the only high-speed Zoid we have onboard." Kiminari just sighed as he walked away, scratching the back of his head with a wrench.

"Sheesh, what a worrywart!" Alyx muttered under her breath as she finishes up with the adjustments. "You don't mind the added weight, don't you partner?" She asked her Zoid.

Growl! The Liger Zero growled back angrily, shaking its legs a little as it tried to acquaint itself with the added weight.

"God! You too?! Man, everyone's a whiner these days!"

Writer's Note: Chapter 9 is finished! Filler chapter for now as my classes have already resumed and I've been occupied with a lot of college stuff.

Here I present another of my own concept Zoids which is Alyx's Liger Zero. I wanted to toy around with a utilitarian Zero for Alyx without going overboard. It is a little hard to envision though since I do not have the resolve to sacrifice my models in an attempt to build it. This kind of repair seems to suit the Retaliation Unit well, given their lack of production facilities.

Sakura's about to receive her new Zoid as well. But until then, see you guys in the next chapter!