Summary: After a set of unusual circumstances, the BF5 find themselves with a new member. Although they're glad for the extra manpower during the war, there's still something off about their new teammate. Vert can't quite put his finger on it, but he knows there are secrets to be found. There's little time to figure it out, however, as tensions rise between the BF5 and the Reds. All they can do is hope their newest member doesn't have something to do with it.

A/N: Welcome to my new and much improved version of this fic! Leaving behind the original was hard but it was for the best. My writing style has changed drastically since then, at least to me, and I just couldn't get back into it no matter how hard I tried. So I scrapped it altogether and only kept key points/scenes and moved on. This version is more plot focused than the original and focuses far less on romantic subplots, though some will still be hinted at if you really, really squint. This is mostly done, I currently have 22 completed chapters and don't think I'll need much more, but I'm prone to changing my mind so take this with several pounds of salt. Right now I'm just testing the waters with the 1st chapter, but I will probably post a couple more, finish it, then post the rest.

Anyway, without further adieu, my rewritten fic!


"Zoom! Head for the Key. Agura and I will cover you," Vert ordered over the radio. The scout gave an affirmative and shot off to the right; Agura pulled up alongside the Saber and stayed level as they rumbled towards a group of Vandals, kicking up desert dust.

"Oh, no you don't," Agura said as one of them swerved to chase after Zoom. She slammed on the brakes and launched a grapple at him, dragging him to her front tire before batting him away like a pest. She turned in time to see Vert send his car into a spin, blades out, knocking away several Vandals. She charged at the remaining group, ramming two aside before launching into the air to pounce on the last one, engine roaring. The poor thing barely knew what hit him.

"That takes care of that," Vert said, adrenaline still coursing. "How're you guys holding up?"

"Everything's good over here," Spinner said, giving his younger brother a high five after they took out Krocomodo. "How about you, AJ? Did that cat give you trouble?"

A groaning Kalus lay in a heap beneath his chariot. AJ rumbled past him to join up with the Buster. "Nope. Not a scratch."

"And I've got the Key," Zoom added, popping a wheelie on his way back to Vert and Agura.

"Alright, team, meet up at the Earth portal so we can head out of here." He waited until the scout was nearly caught up to put the pedal down, and the three of them rode back into the canyon.

The Zone had an unusual layout; large, open spaces the size of a football field before winding, narrow canyons. A bit like massive crop circles, to put it in Sherman's words. They'd gotten a reading on the Key pretty early on but had to split up due to not knowing which path was correct. It took some trial and error, and numerous run-ins with the Vandals, but nothing they couldn't handle.

Vert rode through the portal first, followed by Zoom, Agura, Sherman and Spinner, and AJ. When they were all out the scout grabbed the Key, tossed it and slapped it on the front of his bike.

"Good job today, guys," Vert said, taking his first calming breath in a while. "Now let's head on home so we can–Huh!"

In the distance, a black car was racing away. A cloud of dust was left in its wake.

"Who is that?" Agura asked, already scoping them out. "Do you think they saw us?"

"Whoever they are, they're sure in a hurry," AJ said, feeling uneasy. "Should we, like, go after them or something?"

"Maybe they didn't see us," Spinner offered. "They could've just been out driving. It wasn't like they were right here."

"I can go check it out, if you want, Vert." Zoom had his hand on the throttle, ready to go.

Vert thought about it. "No," he said finally, trying not to sound worried. "Spinner's right. If they were closer I'd say yeah but... they were already pretty far. The Salt Flats are perfect for racing. It's probably nothing."

"If you say so," said Agura, still on edge.

"It didn't take us that long to exit the portal," Sherman reasoned. "It's really unlikely they saw anything. And even if something does come up, like a video, we can always just deny it and say it was special effects for a movie."

"C'mon, guys, let's get back to base." He didn't want to stay out here any longer than necessary. Sure, it probably was nothing, and more than likely his nerves, but that didn't make him feel any better.

They went about their usual business upon returning, each of them branching off to spend the rest of the evening relaxing. The next morning was nothing out of the ordinary either, though it did see Spinner get into an argument with Tezz about having 'borrowed' one of his gaming devices for an experiment. All in all, nothing noteworthy.

Vert strode through the Hub and found Sage sorting through files by the Mobi. He walked over to her. "Morning," he said, getting her attention. "Everything alright?"

"Yes, everything is fine," she said after a brief hesitation.

Vert recognized the pause all too well. "You seem worried." Ever since the whole Mobi 3.0 ordeal, she'd been getting far more expressive. At this rate, she'd be easier to read than Stanford.

Sage took a second to process how she wanted to respond. "There is something that's been... confusing me," she admitted. Embarrassment wasn't something she had personal experience with but she knew the feeling when it arose.

"What could possibly confuse you?" he asked, worry gnawing its way to the surface. Was it something to do with Krytus? The Sark? Was the planet in danger from some sort of catastrophe?

"It is nothing of life-threatening concern," the Sentient said, seeming to read his mind. "It is just some abnormal readings I've been getting."

"From what?"

She pulled up several screens showing charts and graphs, and divided them. "These readings are from the Storm Shocks," she said, pointing to the graphs on the right side. "The initial burst of energy from the portal opening combined with the electromagnetic waves they generate upon interacting with the planet's own electromagnetic field. All perfectly normal."

"And the weird ones?" he questioned, eying the other screens. The activity there was much lower, hardly a blip compared to the massive impact the Storm Shocks had.

"These are not from Storm Shocks. At least, not from the kind we need to worry about." At his bewildered look, she added, "Sometimes a portal does not open fully and only a mere spark is produced, so to speak. It is quite normal, however, it should not be so frequent. What I'm picking up could merely be residual energy, but it is unlikely. The locations are inconsistent with those of the Storm Shocks and it is appearing at different frequencies. It is most perplexing."

"Sounds like it's worth checking out. Is there anything we can do to help?"

"You can see if you find anything at the locations of the anomalies. Perhaps Sherman and Tezz could be of assistance."

"Got it. We'll head out right now."

"I will send the coordinates of the most recent one to your cars," she said to his retreating form.

A few minutes later saw the Buster, Splitwire and Saber roaring into the desert. Tezz took the lead, his need for answers kicking in, while Vert and the Cortez brothers flanked him.

"Hey, Vert," Sherman said when they were halfway there. "Take a good look at where that most recent anomaly was."

He glanced at the map, not getting it until he zoomed out a bit. "That's where that car was," he said in shock.

"What car?" Tezz questioned, curious as to how an ordinary vehicle could cause such a reading. It wasn't high-powered like theirs, it wasn't even close to the level he was sure his project car had managed. But it was there nonetheless, and that should've been impossible.

"Oh man," Spinner said, "that means that guy does know something."

"We don't know that, bro."

"Why else would his car be leaving such weird readings?"

Vert cut in before Spinner could draw anymore conclusions. "Relax, Spin. That's what we're going to find out." To Tezz, he explained, "Yesterday when we exited the portal there was a car racing away from us. It was too far to say he was waiting but after what Sage said about those readings..."

"You think they might be involved somehow," he finished.

"Exactly. We can't let people find out about this. It's too dangerous and could cause some serious problems." He eased off the gas as they approached the area. They slowed to a stop and he got out. "Nothing out of the ordinary so far. Sherm?"

"Aside from the odd readings Sage picked up, nothing's wrong here."

"He is right. There's no trace anyone was here." With nothing but miles of rocks and sand, it wasn't worth getting out and looking either. Tezz typed on his console, trying to track where the mystery driver may have went, but the trail fizzled out after several hundred feet. There were a few nearby towns some miles away and a near day had passed; they could be anywhere by now.

Vert took in the surrounding area and hummed. Radioing in to base, he said, "Agura? We could use your hunting skills out here."

"On my way," came the response.

"What are we gonna do?" Spinner wasn't one to question Vert's leadership, but he couldn't see the point in this.

"We're gonna trace their tracks as far as we can and hopefully get some answers." He hopped back into his car to wait. "If anyone can track this guy, it's Agura."

Ten minutes later the Tangler skidded to a stop beside them and Agura stepped out. "What have we got?"

"So far, nothing," said Sherman. "The residual energy they left behind stops about seven hundred feet West. After that, they might as well have vanished."

"There's no tire tracks left either," Spinner added.

She scoffed. "I don't need something as easy as tire tracks. If there was a car passing through here, I can find it, even if it sprouted wings and flew."

"And that's why I called you. Lead the way."

They drove to where the energy trail died and let Agura do her thing. She inspected the ground and took a quick reading on the wind. "They went further West," she said. She brought her binoculars up. "Actually, I'd say about half a mile down, they turned Southwest. It's out of the way of Handler's Corners, but there is another town out that way. That's gotta be where they're staying."

"I don't know how you do it," Vert said. He didn't think he'd ever get tired of watching her work. She never ceased to amaze him. "Alright, team, let's go do a little reconnaissance."

"You want to go to the town? Isn't that taking a risk? I thought you said they might be involved." Scientific interests aside, even he knew not to risk exposing the BF5. Even if he was dying to know what was causing these anomalies.

"We're not gonna go into the town. Let's just see if we can pick up any readings. If we don't find anything by the time we reach the outskirts, we'll turn back." They drove off full-throttle, Vert in the lead.

Sometime into their journey, Sage called in to check on them. "Have you found anything, Vert?"

"We know the anomalies are being caused by a person. We're trying to see if we pick up anymore readings from a nearby town. We think that's where they're at. I'll let you know if we find anything else."

"Understood," she said before disappearing.

"I don't have anything so far, Vert," Sherman said in preparation of the sure-to-come status report. "Actually, my scans haven't picked up anything since we left that last one."

"I do not have anything unusual either," Tezz supplied. "We're getting close to that town as well. Perhaps we should turn back?"

Agura hummed in agreement. "Yeah, Vert. Knowing this guy's out here doesn't really help us that much. It isn't like we can follow him into town. If there's nothing else out here we really should head back. What if a Storm Shock opens?"

"You're right. We'll have to try something else. BF5, head back to base." They spun around and raced back to Handler's Corner's.

Sage met them as soon as they arrived. "I have found a pattern in these anomalies," she said, drifting over to the gathered Battle Force. "It seems they occur most commonly at night. Whoever is causing this is being very careful not to be observed."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to catch them in the act," said Vert. "We'll have to set up a stakeout. We're gonna find out what's going on here no matter what."