TWENTY TWO

OF ZOIDS AND ORGANOIDS

Rottiger Outpost Victor Whiskey 4468
Central Continent, Planet Zi,
February 25, 2128

The steady rhythm of beeps and whirr from the radar screens made Kenny drowsy. He knew that Cassiopeia would confront Royce in a blistering combat, but the monitors didn't show any activities throughout the desert. Maybe he was just untrained to read overhead map, but spotting any signs of explosion shouldn't be hard. Or so he thought. After a couple of hours peeling his eyes over the screens with no avail, Kenny gave up and just found a quiet corner to doze off.

Shifting back and forth between reality and the land of the dream, Kenny thought of Roxy. She was part of his life, and she was his inspiration to strive through daily strife. It sucked to lose her. He missed her, more than any other day since they broke up, and he started to think that he made a bad judgment leaving her. Actually it was she that left him, but his decision drove her to take that path. And now he was stuck in an alien place without clear future. He started to think that maybe, just maybe, it was time to go home. Roxy might still take him back.

But come to think of it, what would Saskia do if Kenny went missing? She would do anything within her power to find Kenny, to make sure he was fine, or at least until she got an absolution. Kenny knew her that much. And as Cassiopeia geared up to eliminate Royce DesGagne, Kenny felt obligated to make sure Saskia was not caught in a crossfire. It broke his heart that Roxy wouldn't share his insight over the matter, but if he could go back in time and change everything, he wouldn't have it any other way.

His daydream suddenly exploded into reality when his comset rang. He punched the receiver button and Cassiopeia's holographic face popped up. The connection was bad, but he could see aggravation in her face. "Kenny, see your ass down here immediately!" she hollered.

"What happened?" Kenny blurted. "Everybody OK? Did you see Saskia?"

"Daylight will escape if you must answer every command with questions!" Cassiopeia barked at him. "Get down here fast! And leave the slave girl behind! I only need you and your organoid!"

Kenny was already opened his mouth but Cassiopeia cut off the link. It made him mad when she referred to Maia as 'slave'. He knew Cassiopeia was not a compassionate person, and Maia's tagging along was just a courtesy of her information about Saskia's whereabouts. But Cassiopeia's derisive attitude toward Maia started to get in his nerves. Maia had every right to be in this quest if she chose to do so.

"Was that Cassiopeia?" Maia overheard the quick call. "Is Saskiaalright?"

"She didn't say," Kenny turned off his comset. "I have been summoned."

"Then let us not…"

"Maia, she asked of your absence," Kenny knew Cassiopeia's order would upset Maia. "The place I'll go, it could be dangerous. You'd be better off within these walls, among the protection of Rottiger agents."

"What?" Maia's eyes immediately turned cloudy. "She doesn't want me?" She averted her eyes. "It's because I'm not a zoid pilot, is it? I am but a burden, a liability to all who shed blood and sweat in the battlefield."

"It's for your own good," Kenny tried to console her. "Cassiopeia made good judgment for you."

"Cassiopeia has been trying to rid me," Maia stated with trembling voice. "But that's fine. If she doesn't want me in her way, then I will not be in her way. Just give words, Kenny. See Saskia well and alive. Don't let her fall into harm's way. And tell her I send my best regards. I shall see her around."

Screw Cassiopeia, Kenny thought. "You know what, Maia? I am not a zoid pilot either," he huffed sharply. "You and me, we are the same liability among zoid pilots. Titans, absent regards of affection and good manners. If Cassiopeia wants me, she has to bear your presence. Let's go."

"You sure?" Maia turned around with a glint of hope in her eyes. "You know the urgency of Cassiopeia's desires. The consequences could be grave."

"This is what Saskia would do," he replied, walking toward the door. "Never leave a friend behind."

Maia's lips curled into a smile, beautiful like a drop of water in the desert. "Gratitude," she said.

Kenny whistled to Cleto, and the small organoid crouched to give him a lift. Kenny hoped on to it and waited until Maia sat comfortably behind him, then kicked Cleto into high gear. The organoid chirped and blasted through the desert. Maia wasn't shy away from holding onto Kenny's body, squeezing out a smile from the young boy.

The scene became more grotesque as they got closer to the Northern Mountain. Insect zoids littered the desert, mutilated and riddled with holes. A few zoid pilots lied dead next to their zoids. Some pilots didn't even get out from their zoids, and died together in flames. Maia shielded her eyes and buried her face on Kenny's shoulder as they walked past one particular remain of burning Saiccurtis with its pilot visibly scorching in its open cockpit. Kenny covered his face with his shirt to avoid the acrid smell of burning flesh.

The three went on until they arrived to a new set of carnage. Cassiopeia's Arosaurer lied on the ground; its body was sliced on the chest almost in two. Body parts of Royce's Command Wolf sprawled over a wide area. Another zoid, a Leostriker, stood in the distance. It was in working condition but armor pieces dangled with busted rivets and bolts. Only Leila's Saber Lion was in respectable condition, but it too sustained severe battle damages.

Cassiopeia's face turned red as soon as she saw Kenny coming in with Maia.

"I told you to leave her behind!" she fumed, shooting derogatory stare at Maia.

"She is not your slave!" Kenny braved Cassiopeia's firestorm. "Her desire commands her feet, wherever and whenever it chooses!"

"To what end?!" Cassiopeia practically screamed in Kenny's face. "Can she mend a broken zoid? Can she pilot one? Can she provide additional transportation, now that we are thin on zoids? What purpose does her presence bear?"

"Is that what eyes see?" Kenny snarled. "Anything absent zoids or the skill to pilot one is a burden?"

"Put head to work, Kenny!" Cassiopeia hissed. "We live in the age of war! Anybody absent skillset for war is a waste of resources!"

"We live in the age of peace and I am not a zoid pilot!" Kenny fought back. "Yet you summoned me! What purpose do I hold if I am absent battle skills?"

"I need your organoid," Cassiopeia gritted her teeth.

"Well aren't you the snobbiest?" Kenny snorted curtly. "First you insulted my lack of piloting skill. Then you're taking my organoid because you lost your zoid. Well put ears to work, Miss Hollier-Than-Thou Rottiger jackass! I am through with your affair! See it done yourself!"

Kenny turned around but Cassiopeia drew her gun and cocked the hammer. Cleto emitted a series of distress chirps, but didn't do anything to help Kenny. Maia froze in complete terror. And Kenny, knowing that Cassiopeia would resolve in violence if all else failed, could just turn back and face whatever she would throw at him.

"I need your organoid!" Cassiopeia growled. "I am not asking you again!"

"Do you think killing me would solve matters?" Kenny found the courage to defy Cassiopeia. "Would Cleto see your desire fulfilled once you put a hole in my head? Do you know what 'loyalty' means? Or must anybody, anything against you be destroyed? How different are you, then, from Neo Zenebas? The very entity you are eliminating?"

"My loyalty is to Rottiger Special Operation Force!" Cassiopeia grimaced. She held her gun straight but with increasingly trembling hands. "I shall see my mission completed!"

"Then kill me and see where Cleto will take you."

"Take me?" Cassiopeia suddenly realized what Kenny was thinking. "Take me? Take me where? Do you think I am stealing organoid like I would a car?" She lowered her weapon and let out a long exasperating sigh. "Kenny, you are the most stubbornly stupid man I've ever met."

"Oh, sure, throw more insults, see how it fits the violence," Kenny muttered, but he was actually baffled by Cassiopeia's sudden change of attitude.

"Organoid can revive damaged zoids. If luck favors us, it can evolve a zoid into its bigger, more powerful self."

"Cleto is not Zeke or Shadow," Kenny puffed. "He can't mend dead zoids, much less evolve them into their evil selves. He didn't even come to aid when you pointed gun at me. He's just a scaredy cat."

"All organoids can," Cassiopeia turned around and observed her damaged Arosaurer. "Why didn't you come upon this? Where did you get Cleto?"

"I don't know. I always have him."

"Then you might be an ancient Zoidian," Cassiopeia turned to face Kenny, "or a descendant of ones. An ancient Zoidian who doesn't know what an organoid does. Imagine that. And I thought I have seen everything."

"Whatever fever grips brain, it makes you delirious," Kenny sneered. "I am no ancient Zoidian. It's a thing born of the impossible. If I were you, I would seize upon a new zoid, or procure one at New Helic City."

"Time is not in my favor. Just do it, Kenny. Have Cleto fix zoids."

Kenny scoffed in response. "My hands are not extended in your favor anymore."

"Then leave Cleto with me," Cassiopeia said as she pointed her gun back at Kenny. "I told you I shall see my mission complete, one way or another! There is but one path out of this state: Cleto merging with zoid. Whether it goes with you or me, you decide."

Kenny threw his hands in the air. It was hard to argue with somebody that held a gun. "Very well," he moaned in exasperation. "Your will, your time. Just don't come crying when it doesn't work."

He walked toward the small organoid who was chirping the whole time. Kenny couldn't take Cassiopeia's claim that Cleto could merge with a zoid, mutating the zoid into a different version. Cleto could intimidate muggers and thugs but the organoid had no violence in its blood. It certainly didn't have the guts to stomach a zoid battle. As he mounted his organoid, he started to think about running away once he was out of Cassiopeia's range. But he couldn't leave Maia as the sole recipient of Cassiopeia's wrath.

"Alright Cleto, whatever it is you can do, do it," Kenny said skeptically as he steered Cleto to circle the Arosaurer. "Do something or Cassiopeia will procure my head."

The two walked slowly in circles, stopping a couple of times, but nothing happened. Cleto didn't show any sign of connection with the downed zoid. Convinced, Kenny dismounted his organoid and walked toward Cassiopeia, spreading his arms. "I told you it would not work. What other genius your brain can muster…"

Kenny hadn't finished his sentence when suddenly Cleto engulfed in a blinding light. Bits and pieces from the Arosaurer levitated from the ground, floating around Cleto like planets orbiting their sun. Everything hovered in static for about a minute, then floated slowly toward the Arosaurer carcass. The zoid creaked and rumbled as Cleto sank into its center mass. The ray of light from Cleto expanded until it enveloped the entire body of the Arosaurer.

"What is the name of Zi?" Kenny watched the proceeding in complete awe. His knees seized, locking him in place. He tried to step back but his legs didn't respond. His eyes dried up from staring at the light for so long. His labored breaths came in hard and fast to the point of hyperventilation. His brain couldn't compute what his eyes witnessed. It was almost unbelieveable that his timid organoid had, indeed, merged with the savage Arosaurer. It couldn't happen, but it did happen. All he could do was to stare at it, waiting for the outcome of such impossibility.

"Oh my…" Maia moaned breathlessly. "What is happening?"

"I told him," Cassiopeia replied casually. "I told him it happened. His stubbornness spurned my tongue."

The brilliant capsule lasted a few minutes, then it started to dwindle. Kenny could see a shadow in the middle of the capsule, getting clearer and clearer as the light began to fade. It was the Arosaurer, standing in full armor as if the punishing battle with the Command Striker didn't happen. But instead of the quadruple 105-mm cannons on its shoulder, it now sported two massive assault cannons. Its appearance was a quick reminiscence of the dreaded Gojulas Mariner.

"Holy shit…" Kenny muttered breathlessly. "Cleto?"

The Arosaurer hurled a loud, long, and proud roar that echoed throughout the Northern Mountain. Then it lowered its head, ever so gently, until its snout was inches away from Kenny's face. It emitted a series of low growls, but Kenny wouldn't miss the tone that was once his organoid's chirps and tweets.

"Cleto, is that you?" he mumbled. His shaking hands touched the side of the snout. "I didn't know… well look at you, you're… you're…"

"It is latched on the Arosaurer's core," Cassiopeia arrived, followed closely by Maia. "I told you, organoid could heal a zoid. Looks like luck favors us presently. Your organoid evolved Arosaurer's weapons. Gratitude for your service. Hence I must continue my mission…"
Unexpectedly the Arosaurer turned toward Cassiopeia and hurled a vicious roar. Cassiopeia didn't expect it. She stopped dead in her track, looking at her own zoid with utter confusion.

"What is going on?" Kenny blurted.

"I don't know," Cassiopeia replied. "Your organoid seems to hijack my zoid."

"Is that even possible?"

"Ask it to let me in."

Kenny didn't know much about zoid, but he didn't know anything better. "Cleto, your job is done. Let Lieutenant Cassiopeia in."

The Arosaurer didn't respond. Instead it shot an angry growl at Cassiopeia, forcing her to backpedal.

"Cleto! Come on! Quit it!" Kenny yelled. "Let's just go home!"

But the Arosaurer shot a burst of growls, almost like laughter, then gently turned its head toward Kenny. The canopy popped up in a long hiss, a sure sign of invitation for Kenny to go into the cockpit.

"No, no, no, no…" Kenny felt his heart jumped to his throat. "It is not mine to pilot, Cleto. This Arosaurer is the property of Rottiger Special Operation Force. We cannot use it. Just return it to Lieutenant Cassiopeia."

But the Arosaurer turned its head and sneered maliciously at Cassiopeia.

"Kenny, we are burning daylight!" Cassiopeia sneered with a hint of desperation in her voice. "Take control of organoid! I want my zoid back right now!"

"I don't know how!" Kenny turned around and faced Cassiopeia. With the Arosaurer behind his back, he found a new level of confidence he had never felt before. "YOU had me put Cleto in! Now that he is trapped in zoid, I don't know how to get him out! You think you lost zoid? You owe me organoid!"

Cassiopeia started to raise her gun, but she realized it would matter little. She didn't think through when she decided to use Kenny's organoid to revive her Arosaurer, with a hope of getting a more powerful mutation, like Van's Shield Liger evolved to Blade Liger. She failed to take into account that organoid changed all aspect of a zoid, including the personality. Now everything was too late. Her Arosaurer – controlled by Kenny's organoid – was lost.

"I owe you nothing," Cassiopeia moaned in defeat. "Your organoid has decided to take residence of the Arosaurer. It chooses you as pilot. There is but one way: accept destiny."

"Your meaning?" Kenny cocked his eyebrow.

"You have own quest, do you not? To find Saskia? You have means. Zoid, freshly concocted from evolution. Weapons to carry you to Zi's end. Find her, and make her know everything about Royce DesGagne. Royce told her I killed you. Upon seeing you, she will know Royce had been filling her with lies."

"I finish mission?" Kenny's eyes bugged out. "You trust mission in me? Me, a boy that had never piloted a zoid? Has brain ceased functioning? I am absent skill. I know not what to do."

"Organoid will provide counseling."

"Then what of you?" Kenny sighed. "You forfeit mission? How am I to find Saskia?"

"I shall take Leostriker," Cassiopeia gazed upon the blue and white lion zoid in the distance. "Take the Arosaurer. I shall establish comlink presently."

Kenny stared blankly at the Arosaurer, still waiting for him with open hatch. He went from a street rat to a zoid pilot in blink of an eye, and his brain couldn't keep up with the transformation. It was as quick and as radical as the Arosaurer's own evolution. He recalled Saskia mentioning something about organoid, something about performance in a much bigger fashion, but she was never obvious in her speech. She let him figure things out himself. He blamed Saskia for his ignorance, but come to think of it, it wouldn't matter what she had to say. He didn't listen to her anyway.

His reckoning was cut off when Maia grabbed his hand.

"Let us claim your reward. I shall accompany you," Maia said, but then she turned around to face Kenny. "Gratitude. For standing up for me." She pulled him into an embrace and kissed his cheek.

Kenny wasn't ready for that. His mind was still occupied by the whole zoid and organoid relationship. He felt considerable warmth washing through his veins, pushing his heartbeat past its normal rate, and turning his face completely red. But he didn't know how to react. He just stood still, even long after Maia released him.

Maia shot a smile then tugged his hand toward the zoid. She climbed in first, then urged Kenny to follow. Clumsily Kenny climbed into the cockpit of the Arosaurer. He had never been in a zoid cockpit before, and the blinking lights with arrows and symbols pointing to all directions intimidated him. He was even too scared to seat on the command couch and touch anything.

"Come, the task should not be that difficult," Maia noticed Kenny's anxiety around the cockpit. She helped him with the seat belts. "I did this often for my boyfriend," she said sheepishly, "well, ex-boyfriend. He communicated with his zoid through the joystick. Pull it up and see what happens."

Kenny followed her direction, and the Arosaurer rose up to its feet.

"Huh," Kenny smiled. "Not that difficult at all." He jiggled the joystick left and right, and the Arosaurer twitched and twisted following his direction. "You think I get the hang of this? I should master zoid piloting in short time… I think…"

Suddenly the console emitted a loud beep. A LED blinked right under the communication screen. Kenny let go of the joystick in panic. "Maia what the hell is happening?"

"You are hailed," Maia said, giggling. "Hit the green button under the screen."

With trembling hand Kenny pushed the knob, and Cassiopeia's face appeared on the screen.

"Victor Whiskey 4468 spotted Royce and Saskia boarding a Hover Cargo to Western Continent," Cassiopeia said. "They are making a run for something. We have to cut them off before they reach destination. If they get the Gilvader, there is no stopping Royce anymore. Make your best speed and keep up with me."

"I can't follow you to Western Continent," Leila said. "This is as far as I go."

"Very well," Cassiopeia sighed. "Kenny, time is of pressing matter. You have to learn as fast as you can."

"Alright," Kenny mumbled. He bent down and talked to the console, "Cleto, I need you. I've never needed you more. Show me what to do."

The Arosaurer let out a long, shrilling cry then started to jog, forming up with the Leostriker, leaving the Saber Lion behind.