Little Tsu: Ok, so I've actually decided that I AM gonna continue this after all, but not till I finish some of my other like...dozen stories that I'm still workin' on. So by the time this chap comes out,...then that'll mean some of my other stories had been completed finally; yayyy!x.x

...Ok, I lied. I didn' complete ANY before I posted this...Crap...x.x

Ch: 2

"Step through there please. The president of the Battle Comission is waiting for you in the...War Room..."

Halting suddenly outside of the electric sliding door, Zero casted a look to the young man as she arched a brow. "...The 'War Room'? Seriously? Has the Battle Comission always suspected a world wide war or threat ta just...pop up or something?"

The young man lifted a hand as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly; shifting his short blond hair nervously. "Well,...apparently, there's been terrible threats in the past long before any of us were even born so...I guess they made it to conduct all their meetings and such as a precaution, should any threats arise again."

"Huh...Well, looks like they finally get ta use it then..." Resting her hands upon her slender waist, she stared at the closed door for a moment longer before thanking the young man for showing them here and pressed the button that was on the wall next to it. With the door sliding open, Zero and Raze stepped inside, only to be greeted by the president, himself, rather than the three zoid officers he had that were apparently commanders of their factions if the looks of them had anything to go by it.

"You must by the two pilots that stopped those group of Zabats and their pilots from causing any injuries. You both were very brave to have taken such immediate action to ensure the safety of the people within that town. You have my sincerest gratitude."

As the president stood and bowed to them both along with the three commanders also standing to bow in a show of gratitude as well, Raze blushed faintly in embarrassment over this and raised his hands slightly in front of himself as he panicked a bit. "H-Hey now. Th-There's no need to bow or anything. I mean, we only did what any pilot would've done...Right Zero?"

"Actually,...not too many would've bothered with it that are outside of the Battle Comission and all..." Sighing softly as she said this, Zero side glanced up at Raze, who held a look of utter confusion now. Turning to face him completely at this point, she decided it was best to explain. "You see, most people that possess zoids would rather avoid conflict with this new organization that's been rising up over the last few years. They try ta simply make sure that their own zoids aren' targeted. They couldn' care less about whether anyone else's zoids nor any wild ones are killed. That's how things have been since this group rose up and started causing trouble. Pilots look out for themselves and their partners only, not the people and all other zoids in general."

"But-!...That's crazy! Who's gonna protect everyone that needs help if most just watch their own backs?!"

"That's why we brought you two here."

"Huh?" Glancing over at the one who spoke, Raze's eyes widened slightly in realization of just who it was when he got a better look. "You're-!...You're the commander of the Aerial Faction! You're Falcon; pilot of the only Storm Sworder FX! You're practically a legend in the skies with that zoid!"

Falcon chuckled softly at the praise before shaking his head. "I'm glad that my reputation preceeds me, but I'm no longer the fastest in the skies. In fact, someone out there matches my FX's max speed." It was then that he narrowed his blue eyes while a few strands of his brown bangs fell into his face. "Unfortunately, the pilot of that zoid is the very leader of that organization..." He then turned to face the large screen at the front of the room and turned it on, causing pictures to appear onto the screen. "This is the Gilvader; a wyvern-type zoid that not only matches my FX's max speed at mach 4, but is also the deadliest zoid to ever grace the skies. A number of members from the three main Guardian Factions have tried to fight this zoid and its pilot, but none have stood a chance at all against them."

"...Who's the pilot of this so called unbeatable zoid?"

A young woman with thigh length pale blue hair and dark blue eyes rose up from her seat and pressed a few buttons on the table, causing a picture of a young man in his mid twenties with shoulder length dark silver hair and a black almost dragon styled mask hiding his entire face, save for the right side of his forehead and right sharp ruby eye to appear on the screen. "This is the pilot of the Gilvader and the leader of this group. He calls himself Desto and his goal is the complete annihilation of all zoids and pilots till only the ones that follow him remain; not even sparing wild zoids. He plans to rule Planet Zi without even the slightest bit of resistance against himself, which is why he's actually destroying the zoid cores; the very life force of each zoid..." She then brought up a few more pictures onto the screen, revealing a shot of a Geno Hydra VF destroying one of the smaller military bases that was taken a few days ago and another shot of an Energy Liger easily taking down a Gun Blaster. "The pilots of these two are unknown as of yet, but due to the zoids they pilot, we can easily surmise that they are quite possibly Desto's right hands. This group calls themselves the 'Death Reapers'."

At hearing this, Raze flinched faintly and sweatdropped. "Well, that's certainly fitting considering what all they're doing..." Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, the older of the two teens narrowed his violet eyes slightly. "So what exactly do you want us to do? I mean, I know that Zero's zoid and my own are powerful and we've recently found out we make a pretty good team, but...you can't honestly expect just the two of us to beable to take on this Desto guy and his croonies alone. That's pretty much suicide even for us."

The final of the three commanders, an older man in his fourties with slicked back black hair and green eyes shook his head before speaking; his deep, rough voice ringing out within the room. "We know this. That's why we're counting on you two to build up your own team. With skills and zoids like what you have, you're bound to attract attention from Desto and his followers soon enough so I suggest you find some pilots with skills and zoids equal to your own that will beable to stand against the Death Reapers."

At those words, Zero closed her eyes gently and tilted her head down as she chuckled lightly to herself, though the others in the room definately heard it, causing confusion to suddenly appear on each of their faces.

"Uhh...Zero?...You ok there? You suddenly started laughing and I think you've stumped all of us on the reason for it..."

"Heheheh...Sorry about that Raze. It's just what the commander of the Ground Faction, Rudos said; pilots equal ta our own skills and zoids..." Zero then raised her head once more and when her gold eyes opened, they were narrowed as a smirk played onto her features. "I know just the pilot for the job..."

Hours later, Zero, Raze, and Falcon, who had opted to go with them on this trip, were standing at the top of the stands within a massive outside arena as a Gravity Wolf and Gravity Saix were collapsed in the center of the arena; sparks flying from the damaged zoids with their pilots still inside the cockpits. However, what got their attention were the sounds of machine guns firing rapidly high above their heads as they tried to shield their eyes from the bright sun with their hands in an attempt to see what was going on, though Zero didn't have to see to know what was happening. Soon a crackling blast was heard along with a slight explosion from it making contact with something before a zoid came falling out of the sky, crashing in a bit of a messy landing where the other two fallen zoids were. The final fallen zoid was revealed to be a Gravity Ptera; the pilot being the leader of the Gravity Triad.

Chuckling lightly to herself at this, Zero closed her eyes and began to make her way down the stands to get out onto the battlefield with the two still confused males following behind her. "Come on guys...The battle's definately over, heh." As they stepped out onto the battlefield, the zoid that was left standing finally made its descent from the skies and landed on the ground before them, taking both Raze and Falcon by surprise at what the zoid was as it released a victorious roar.

"A Decalto Dragon?! Are you kidding me Zero?! Who the hell could pilot this?!"

"...Please don't tell me that's..."

At the almost uneasy and reluctant tone that Falcon spoke in, Zero glanced over her shoulder at them and smirked slyly. "Oh, it's him alright. And you better get use ta it too Falcon, cause he's my choice..." Turning back to facing the front as the Decalto Dragon bent his legs to lower himself to the ground more along with lowering his head, she watched as the cockpit finally opened and the pilot of the dragon-type zoid leaped out; landing on the ground in a slight kneel before straightening back up. The sun's rays shined slightly against his dark magenta and light purple mixured hair, which halted in the back at the base of his neck and at his chin in the front, though his bangs fell into his face to conceal the left side of it. "Still showing off, I see Zeke."

"Hm?" Bringing his single visible sharp neon green eye onto the speaker, his gaze soon lit up at the sight before him as he jogged over to the girl. Upon a closer look, the pilot looked to be about nineteen-years-old and stood at about five-nine in height; three inches taller than Razeluxe and nine taller than the petite Zerodyme. Unlike the girl's more blue grey martial arts type of attire, his was vastly more punk in style as his sleeveless fitted top that stopped above his navel to show a small tattoo of three tiny black dimands above said navel, nearly knee length shorts, shoes, and fingerless gloves that were wrist length on the left and elbow length on the right were all black, and his socks that halted just below his knees were a striped pattern of black and hot pink; chains attached to the right side of his shorts overlapping each other in two different lengths completing his look along with the two piercings on the top of his left ear and the single one on the lobe of his right. Even Raze's attire of grey shorts, brown running boots, red t-shirt, and dark blue open jacket with pale blue furred lining along the edges of his down hood was majorly different from Zeke's more unique attire and overall look. "Zero! Where the hell have you been? Ya really know how to make your man test his patiance."

"Oh you know. I've been all over with travelin' and battle requests. Recently though, I've been recruited ta do a really big job and it seems I need a team of pilots that are just as skilled as me...You up for it Zeke?"

"You're kidding, right? Since when have you ever needed to ask me if I'm up for anything you do? Ya know I'm behind you one hundred percent no matter it is. Just one question though before we get into the details of what you've gotten yourself into this time." That was when Zeke finally lifted his head to look over the girl's head and gave a suspicious look towards the two other males a few meters behind Zero. "Who are the guys with you? Don't tell me you're creating a harem here or something? Ya know you only need me and besides...They don't even look like your type."

"And like you fit her type any better pinky?!"

"Better than you do smallfry!"

"What'd you call me?!"

Zero sighed softly as Raze and Zeke actually began to argue back and forth over her head. Rolling her eyes at the childish banter and name calling, the girl reached up and yanked on Zeke's ear; being mindful of where his piercings were so she didn't actually hurt him. "Zeke, throttle down. I'm not making a harem or whatever else you wanna call it. The boy behind me is Raze and the guy with us is the commander of the Aerial Faction, Falcon."

Now that got his attention, causing Zeke to quickly glance down at the girl before him with his brows knitted together. "The Aerial Faction? What are ya doing with someone from the Battle Comission's military?"

"That's what I was wanting ta talk ta you about. It's the job I've been chosen ta deal with. Come on. Everything'll get explained ta you on the way back ta the main base facility." With that, Zero turned around and walked off to get her Dark Spiner with the two males that came with her following while Zeke returned back to his Decalto Dragon; hopping himself into the cockpit before it closed over his head along with the harness lowering itself to lock into place over his shoulders. His dragon then raised his head back up and straightened his stance from his previously bent down position.

As Zeke left through the massive gates of the arena to head outside of it, he allowed his gaze to drift over to the picture he had attached to the control panel; the picture being of himself and Zero from five years ago along with their very first zoids, which had been a modified dark blue Rev Raptor and a black Redler. Of course the Redler had been his while the Raptor had been Zero's. Both of them had looked so different back then in comparrison to now, but what made the picture stand out so much was that standing behind the two with his hands resting upon their heads despite the different heights of the two younger ones was a young man of about twenty-one with short dark silver hair and his eyes gently closed as he had a big cheeky grin upon his features to match the equally cheeky ones on Zeke and Zero's own. That day seemed so long ago now; much longer than it had actually been because not long after that picture had been taken, Zero's older brother, Laiser was killed in a request battle piloting his own Geno Saurer when the opponent's attack hit a previously damaged area in the t rex-type's armor that was never fixed beforehand; the shot hitting the zoid core as it exploded.

Sighing softly to himself at the memory that changed not only his life, but Zero's life especially, forever, he faced the front view screen once more as he and Decalto made it out of the arena where a Dark Spiner, black Konig Wolf, and Storm Sworder FX were waiting for him; the pilots already within the cockpits.

'Zero...Just what have you gotten yourself into this time...?'

To be continued.

Little Tsu: Ok, so Zeke has been introduced along with a somewhat introduction of the commanders of the three special factions. Falcon is gonna be one of the more major appearances outta the three commanders, but the other two will be throughout the story too. Zeke is ta be one of the four members of the new team, which Zero will be chosen ta lead it. Zeke has been Zero's best friend since childhood despite the four year age difference & he's also in love with her even though Zero tends ta write it off as him just jokin' around with her like he usually does, not realizing that he really does wanna be with her. She'll realize it eventually though...Maybe.