Pointy Muses Fic 8 - Live Whinge

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Pointy Muses Fic

Chapter Nine - Live Whinge

By Rick R.

*****

As he strode into the ZBC office, Miles Slate couldn't help but have a certain spring in his step. While his little plan to beat out the Broken Chairs in the last round had failed, he knew that what was about to come would be infinitely better. His whole day, probably the rest of this week and, for that matter, possibly the entire season had been given a huge boost by the message he'd received from the ZBC earlier that morning.

They'd asked him and his entire team to come down to the ZBC headquarters. The reason was that they wouldn’t be fighting a regular battle this round. No, instead they would be facing off against another team in a special new battle, an exhibition match to test out some new arena or rule that the ZBC was unveiling. The information had said that they'd still get the regular competition points for the battle, but the money would be a lot more then they'd get for a regular win. And, furthermore, it would be beneficial to their fame to appear in such a battle.

But he didn't want to just appear in it. No, he wanted to win it.

"So boys." He began as the team marched in. "You know how I'm feeling?"

"Horny?" Crystal replied as she put her arm around his.

"Always, babe." He smirked. "But besides that, do you know how I am feeling?"

"Um, you're feeling good, right?" Eliot began.

"Damn right I am." He confidently stated. "I am feeling incredibly good. And do you know why I am feeling incredibly good?"

"Because this battle, whatever it is, will provide a unique challenge to our team's skills and abilities." Drake finished.

Miles snorted to himself. While he knew that it was true, and he knew that it was what Drake was certainly thinking of, he also knew that it wasn't the reason he was thinking of. "Of course it is, Drake." He replied. "You've hit the nail right on the head." Miles was really in it for the money, and he suspected that Drake knew that. But it sounded better.

The four of them approached the main reception desk. Miles lent on the desk, leering at the receptionist sitting behind it. "Miles Slate and the Firestorm Team." He began. "We were invited here for a meeting about a special match."

"Let me see." She began as she checked over her records

"Miles," Crystal hissed. “Stop leering at her."

"I'm not, babe." He replied, putting his arm around her. "I'm not checking her out."

"You totally are." She needled.

"Ah yes." The receptionist spoke up. "You're on the fortieth floor. Take these and go into the lifts behind me." She handed Miles a quartet of cards. "Those visitor’s cards will get you up to the floor where someone will meet you."

"Thanks for that." Miles replied. He handed the cards to his four team Members, then proceeded to the lifts. After a brief wait, a lift arrived, the four of them steeping in. Miles swiped his card through the reader, then selected the appropriate floor. The lift started up, three of its four sides illuminated by a holographic display of the city around the building, mimicking windows.

"So what do you think that this is about?" Eliot asked. "This match, I mean."

"The story goes that they've been constructing some sort of big arena outside the city." Drake replied. "One that's far bigger then any of the other ones in the city itself. I suspect that, if it is true, this special event has something to do with that."

"A special arena, huh?" Miles asked. "Now that sounds realy interesting." he rubbed his chin, stroking his beard as he thought over it. "Very interesting indeed."

The lift stopped, the doors sliding open. The four pilots stepped out into a large room. Half of it was open glass, with a sloped roof. The place was sparsely furnished with several large couches and plants, while a hall lead off to several offices on one side. As they stepped into the room, a woman with reddish-brown hair, dressed in a rather sharp suit approached them. "The Firestorm team, correct?" She began. "I'm Elisa Claybourne, head of ZBC special projects."

"Miles Slate, leader of the Firestorm team." He replied as he quickly sized her up. She was in her early thirties, and of above average height. He'd heard the name before and was trying to place it. "Pleased to meet you. These are my team, Crystal Lake, Drake Stone and Eliot Morgan."

"Pleased to meet you all." She nodded.

"I must say that it is an honour to meet you, Ms Clayborne." Drake spoke up. "I've studied your career with some interest. You had one of the best championship runs ever."

Crap, that's who she is! He thought, feeling suddenly caught out. Elisa had been champion six years ago, but had retired undefeated. He'd heard that she had some ZBC official job, but didn't realise what. He quickly recovered. "Likewise." He hastily added.

"We're still waiting on the other team I've invited to this meeting." She continued. "If you'd like to take a seat, I'm sure that they shouldn't be-"

"Look, for the last time, the answer is no!" A voice shouted, cutting Elisa off.

"But why not?" Another voice replied. "You're an official. Surely you can look after this! It's not like it's a difficult request."

A sharp-faced man in his mid thirties with short black hair and dressed in a suit walked into the room. He was arguing with another man who Miles instantly recongised; Karl "Slash" Schnautzer, one of the more infamous pilots in the ZBC. His infamy derived from his constant temper tantrums whenever he lost, and the lengths he had been known to go to in order to get even for some perceived wrong against him. This looked like one of those moments. There was a second man behind Slash that he didn't initially recongise; a rather plain looking guy with short hair.

"All I am saying is that this project is out of my hands, Karl." The official looking man continued. "This has come under special projects, which is outside-" He looked over at the others here. "Look, that's the woman you should be seeing about this, not me."

Slash took one look at Elisa, then marched straight towards her. To his surprise, Slash then walked straight past her and straight over to him. "You." He began. "I demand that you withdraw your team from this battle and let mine take its place."

"Say... what?" Miles asked, moderately surprised by this.

"Didn't you hear me?" Slash continued. "I want to fight in the next battle in place of your team."

"I heard ya, mate." He slurred back. "But the question is, why the hell do I want to do that?"

"Because I have a need for revenge." He sneered. "And my needs transcend your petty concerns for wealth or competition points. I need to prove myself against the opponents that you will be facing. Thus I should be in this battle rather then you."

"Look, mate." Miles replied. "I was invited to this battle, not you. I'm going to be participating in it, not you. So if you don't like it, you can just rack off and stop acting like such an arse."

Slash snarled at him. "I want to be civil about this. Surely you can see why my need to be in this battle far outstrips yours."

"While I can understand your needs," Drake interjected. "At the same time, the choice was up to the Battle Commission. Surely you understand that they would have had good reasons for making this match."

"That's what I was trying to tell him." The ZBC official interjected.

Slash turned to Drake. "Whatever the ZBC's choices were, they didn't think them through enough." He continued. "I've got more right to be in this battle then you do."

"I can only assume that their choice of our team was based on our overall performance in the season so far." Drake offered. "No offence, but your team is lower ranked then ours. That's the most likely reason why we were chosen over you."

Miles used this as an opportunity to quietly slip away from this conversation and have a look around, He wanted to see if there was anything here that would clue him into what the ZBC were planning. Instead, the first thing that caught his eye was Crystal. She was talking to the other Member of Slash's team present, the boring looking man. Wondering what was going on, he sidled on over to her. "Hey, babe. What's up?"

"I was just catching up with an old friend of mine." Crystal offered. "Miles, this is Bill Peterson. We were both on the Blue Dragons last season."

"Oh really." Miles began. He put an arm around her waist, while offering the other one to Bill. "Nice to met ya, Bill. Any friend of Crystal's is a friend of mine." Especially if they're hot.

"Nice to meet you." Bill replied. "I was just catching up with Crystal, talking about old times."

Mines nodded. "Got a lot to go over?"

"You could say that." Crystal added. "Bill's my ex-boyfriend. We were together while we were on the team."

"Well there ya go. Small world, isn't it?" Miles grinned. He slipped his arm lower, wrapping one hand around Crystal's firm rear end, and giving it a gentle squeeze. As he hoped, she gave a brief 'oh' and grinned like an idiot. "Crys and me have been together for a while now."

"That's... nice." Bill replied, suddenly looking a little off-put.

"Yeah. We hit it off not too long after Crys joined the team." Miles continued.

"I'll say." Crystal added. "And me and him, well, I think we're pretty hot together, if you catch my drift."

"Oh, I see."

"And boy does she really, do it for me." Miles continued. "I can tell that you and her must have had a pretty wild old time yourselves, if you know what I mean."

"Well... yeah." He glanced over at where his team leader was arguing with Drake, Elisa and the other official. "Excuse me." Bill walked over to Slash and tapped him on the shoulder.

"That was pretty mean of you." Crystal commented.

"Ah, come on, babe." He replied. "You said it yourself that he was an arrogant *Watch your language!* and crap in bed."

"Well... yeah."

"And it looks like there's one benefit. Maybe we can get things going." He pointed over to Bill, who was walking towards the lift, Slash following after him and the official following the pair of them. "Maybe now we can get somewhere."

"I'm so sorry about that." Elisa began. "I don't know how they found out or got in here. Hopefully, the real opponent team will be here soon and we can get started."

"Who are they anyway?" Eliot spoke up. "Because I know it's obviously not the Black Hands."

Elisa was about to reply when the sound of a lift arriving and opening cut her off. "Hey!" A female voice called out from behind. "It’s them Cheese-Lovin' Surrender Monkeys."

"Don’t tell me that they're our opponents for this match." Another woman added.

Miles spun around to look at the lift. The four Members of the Broken Chairs were stepping out of the lift, passing by Slash and Bill. He instantly clenched his fist as he saw them step into the room, the Hands departing. Of all the other teams in the ZBC, the last that he wanted to see here and now was that one. He quietly hoped that it was some sort of mistake, or that they were here for something else.

"Good to see you." Elisa began. "I'm Elisa Claybourne, head of ZBC special projects. Now that we're al here, we can get started."

Damn it, he thought. All of a sudden, his good week wasn't looking so good.

*****

Elisa lead the two teams into a large meeting room off one side of the main room. The windows left them with a spectacular view of the surrounding city, the office far above the crowded streets below. The room itself was dominated by a single massive table with a row of chairs on either side and a screen at the far end of the room.

Stephen sat down at the far end of one of the rows of chairs, the other Members of the team sitting on the same side as him. Miles sat at the end of the other row, sitting opposite him. Drake, he noticed, was sitting opposite Rose. He'd noticed the two of them talking to each other at the ZBC party a few weeks back, and began to wonder if there was something going on between the pair of them.

As long as she's got no qualms with shooting at him, I don't mind, he thought to himself as he looked over the two teams and turned to Elisa.

"Thank you for coming here today." She began as she stood at the end of the table. "Your two teams have been selected from all these currently in the competition for a special demonstration battle. Your teams were chosen not only for your current performance in the competition, but for the degree of skill and versatility that the pilots from both teams have shown. Each one of you has shown a remarkable degree of ability, especially the pilots of the Broken Chairs who are all still amateurs. At the same time, you have also all shown a considerable degree of versatility, often adapting to difficult or unusual circumstances."

"The match we have selected you for is one that we feel will test both of these attributes to their limits. We felt that your teams were the best suited for this because you would adapt well to the conditions you faced, and be able to demonstrate the best of what the ZBC's warriors can do."

She pressed several buttons on a console at the far end of the table. Curtains slid shut across the windows, blacking out the room. At the same time, a projector on the table switched on, creating an image floating in the air just above it and slowly rotating.

The eight of them peered at the picture. It looked like an arena, but not like any they knew. The arena was hexagonal in shape, but very different in structure. Rather then an open arena, it had a maze of buildings formed into a simulation of a city; a very tightly-packed, dense one. There was no clear line of sight form one side to another; just a labyrinth of twisting streets. A pair of Whale Kings parked at either end of the arena gave some impression of scale; the place was massive, far bigger then a regular arena.

"Wow." Neil spoke up. "It's our own private inner-city hellhole."

"So we're fighting in that?" Miles added, peering down at the maze.

"Fascinating." Drake spoke up. "An artificial urban battlefield. Your plan is to simulate city combat here, correct?"

"That it is." Elisa explained. "What we aim to do is to create a representation of urban warfare to add an element of challenge to the battlefield. The battle is effectively a 'blind' one. Unlike in the arenas, the two sides have no idea of where each other is located within the battlefield. Furthermore, the city’s layout is structured so that the two teams must hunt each other; you cannot just charge across it to the other team's deployment area."

"So it becomes a game of cat and mouse." Miles continued. "I like it."

"Yeah..." Tasch added. "Except that instead of claws you've got guns and such, and instead of cats and mice, you got Zoids. And there's no real case of one chasing the other. So it ain't too much like that." Miles glared at her, but she continued regardless. "Well, I mean, if it was like that, then only one side would be fightin' and the other side would be runnin' from them."

"Well, I've got the cat." Rose added, a smirk on her face. "In case you wanted more metaphorical support."

"Yeah, but none of them have mouse-type Zoids." Tasch replied.

"So this is what you chose us for, then." Stephen glanced at Elisa. "It’s impressive, and certainly will provide a challenge to us."

"That's right." Elisa explained. "We want your two teams to fight a rematch this round in this arena. We think that your pilots, with their range of abilities, would bring out the best of what this arena has to offer."

"Challenging doesn't begin to say it." Neil added. "This is going to be a tough battle."

"Isn't it a bit unfair that they have a flying Zoid?" Eliot pointed out. "I mean, it can just fly over the battlefield."

"Under the standard rules for the battle, flying Zoids are limited to traveling no higher then the top of the arena wall. Any higher and they're disqualified." Elisa explained. "We'll give you a full run-down of the rules and stipulations before the battle, if you agree to it. We do not wish to force you into this. If you decide not to accept it, you will be reshuffled into the regular competition for the round."

"Not accept it?" Miles stood. "Hell, the Firestorm team would be proud to take part in this battle. Not only does it show how good we are, but it also shows what the ZBC can accomplish." He smirked and glanced at Stephen.

You tool, he thought. You didn’t even ask the rest of your team what they wanted.

"It'd take a very, very brave team to try this place out, Ms Claybourne." He continued, turning to face her. "I think that my team is up to that challenge. Certainly, I’m not afraid of this battle.”

So you don’t give us any choice. We have to accept it or look bad. He didn’t want to go ahead and make a decision without the team, however. “So, what do you guys think?”

“Well, I don’t know.” Neil spoke up. “It sounds like a difficult battlefield to say the least. And any extra prize money we get would probably all go on repairs and ammo afterwards, regardless of who won.”

“I can’t decide either, really.” Rose added. “Like Neil said, it’s a difficult battle. But at the same time, it’d be a great opportunity for us. We’re already on the up and up, and this would be a real boost for us and a great way to get noticed. And even if we loose, it’s a great help for our reputation.”

“Great. We can get noticed as we get blown up.” Neil commented. “You ever think that life is not just about looking good, Rose?”

“I dunno.” Tasch interjected. “Y’see, I think that it could be… what’s the world I’m lookin’ for…” She thought about it. “Yeah, that’s the one. It’s kinda, well, kinda unique. It’s kinda different. It’s not what we expect to be doin’. And I kinda like that.” She glanced over the other Members of the team. “An’ that’s why I’m a Zoid pilot, y’see. I like the challenge. An’ I like to do things that are different and unusual in a battle. An’ that’s why I pilot a Zoid, an’ why I wanna be in this battle.”

From across the table, Drake nodded at her. Miles, however, turned to Elisa. “If either team backed out, would you get a replacement?”

“We would, yes.” Elisa replied. ‘Of course, we’d need to know as soon as possible.”

“I see.” Miles turned back to Stephen, grinning.

Stephen looked over his team, trying hard not to scowl. “So?” He asked.

“I’m for it.” Rose began. “Like I said, I like the sounds of it.”

“An’ I like the challenge, so that’s me too.” Tasch added.

“I guess I’m in.” Neil admitted, shrugging. “I see no sense in letting the rest of you get exploded.”

“Then we’re decided.” Stephen turned to Elisa. “Count is in.”

*****

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The Chairs had spent the next day going over their plans for the battle, then going over their Zoids again to make sure that everything was in working order. And then they'd gone over it all again. In truth, they weren't exactly prepared for this battle. Nobody in the team had any experience with urban combat, and nobody knew exactly what to expect.

In the end, they'd just decided on a simple approach. They had a plan for the battle and knew that they could follow that. And that was all they were going to do. The rest of the week was set aside for rest and relaxation and, above all else, not stressing about the battle. They'd get nowhere by worrying about it, so they simply decided to take it easy.

"Hey Tasch." Rose began as she strode into their living room. "Mind if I borrow your computer for a second?"

"Sure." Tasch looked up from her seat across the room where she was writing. "I ain't usin' it." Nobody else was either. They were in a quiet moment right now.

"Thanks for that." She replied as she sat down at the bench where the computer was usually kept. "We really, really should get another one in here."

"Oh sure." Neil quipped from his seat. "As soon as we can afford one, its the first thing we'll do."

Rose poked her tongue out at him before turning back to the computer. "I'm just saying that it'd be nice. I mean, we end up spending all our time on Tasch's computer; it'd be nice if we each had one so nobody ends up hogging it." She shrugged. "And besides, we could use them for the odd networked game or other stuff like that."

"Great." Neil commented. "More ways for you guys to beat me."

"Not up for another game of Corona then?" Stephen jokingly asked.

"No fear. I'll let you guys take on more dangerous opponents, like small children and grandmothers."

Rose smirked as she worked on the computer. "Come on, Neil. It’s not that bad."

"Not that bad?" He commented.

"Yeah. You do manage a kill on one of us on occasion." She smiled and turned back to the computer.

"Nasty. I'll pay it." He finished. "So what are you up to? Online lingerie shopping"

"Very funny." Rose shot back. "Actually, I'm updating my Online Journal."

Stephen looked over at her. "I didn't know you had one of those things." He commented. "You didn't strike me as the type."

"Come on." Rose quipped. "Just because I'm good looking doesn't mean I can't write or try expressing myself. You'd be surprised."

"Well, you just don't fit the image that one associates with an OJ user." Stephen explained.

"...which is?" Her blue eyes narrowed as she glared at him.

"What I think Stephen means is that you're not like what people expect from an OJ user." Neil offered. "Fourty percent of OJ users are lefty whiners who cry because the majority of voters don't agree with their pigeonhole views. Fifty percent of OJ users are angsty would be goth poets who cry because their shop ran out of their favorite black lipgloss. The final ten percent are fic bitches who cry because the majority of 'net fiction is written by marginally literate fourteen year olds or, for that matter, the other two groups."

"I think that's a little unfair." Rose commented.

"Certainly that's all I got when I had one." Neil shrugged. "My 'friends' list degenerated into a mess of bunfights every time anyone posted anything. Eventually I just got sick of wading through the piles of crap in order to find anything interesting and ended up de-freinding them. Then they all started yelling at me for taking them off my list. So in the end I left it to rot. I haven't touched it in years."

"Well what about you, Stephen?" Rose asked. "Do you agree with him or what?"

"I don't like the whole OJ user mindset." He explained. "You've got a problem and what do you do? Rather then talking to friends or family or the like, you decide that the best thing to do is blurt it out in public and hope for half-baked advice from any random stranger who happens to be reading your post. It’s an extension of the Talk Show logic where you don't feel comfortable talking about something unless the whole world is listening in."

"Ouch." Neil commented. "Score one to him."

"I think that's a bit rich coming from the guy who had to take anger management courses." Rose shot back.

"One all." Neil dryly added. Stephen muttered something then stood up and walked off.

"So what do you think, Tasch?" Rose asked. "You seem to be the creative type. I see you as the sort to write down all your thoughts and stuff like that."

"That's right." Tasch replied. "An' I do that."

"And you traveled with a laptop, right?" Rose continued.

"Yep. That's why I write it all down in this." She held up the small notebook she was writing in.

"...you don't keep an online journal?" Rose asked.

"Naw, that'd be silly." Tasch offered. "I mean, I can't access it everywhere I go, like if I'm halfway up a moutain or rock climbin' or something like that. An' besides which, they're my inner thoughts and stuff. I got no reason to go around shoutin' them at everyone, especially people who don't wanna hear 'em."

Rose looked at Tasch for a moment. "So... when there's something bothering you, or something up, who do you talk to?"

"My parents." She offered. "Or my friends. Or my sister, 'cept she's very hard to track down. She travels even more then me an' almost never writes."

"Well done, Tasch." Neil offered. "You've just shot down the whole OJ culture in..." He checked his watch. "Seconds."

"Do you mind?" Rose asked.

"Uh..." Neil glanced around. "Tell you what, I'll just go... place. Yes." He quietly shuffled out, avoiding eye contact.

Rose shook her head. They just don't get it, do they? In fact, she very much doubted that either Neil or Stephen kept a journal of any sort, and was amazed that Neil had used to have one. Sighing quietly to herself, she turned around to the computer, logging into her journal.

She'd put in a big post about the team being selected for the Special battle this round, and how she felt about it. She didn't want to sound like she was bragging, but it was a very big and very important thing for her. A rookie team being chosen for a battle like this was quite unusual, to say the least. The fact that there was a certain pilot in amongst the opponent ream was, well...

How she felt about Drake was one of the few things she hadn't mentioned in her Journal. She didn't want to complicate things, especially in the unbelievable off-chance that he actually was reading it. So instead she'd kept it entirely to herself. That being said, Rose had to admit that the other Members of the team would have noticed something. She'd kept tight-lipped about matters, but knew that it wouldn't be hard to figure it out.

Even for them, she added as a silly afterthought. Okay, so that was a bit unfair. They were pretty decent people after all. It’s just that, well, some days they could be a little difficult. Stephen being moody, Neil being snarky and Tasch being, well, Tasch, made things awkward some times.

She went through her friends list, which was mainly composed of people she knew from high school and a few others. There was not much to report there; people bitching about their jobs, two of them fighting with each other by journal and someone going on about some indy film that Rose absolutely had to see because it would change her life in some unfathomable way. After only a cursory glance, she went to her own journal.

Her post had garnered some degree of attention. A number of her friends were commenting on how cool or how exciting it was for her. It was what she had expected, with nothing too interesting or exciting there. But, more interestingly, there was a rather long, anonymous post. This caught her attention, Rose immediately wondering who it was. She scrolled down it, reading over it to try to figure who it was.

A special battle. Oh, how exciting.

Look everyone. The ZBC is trying another twist on its usual diet of bland pulp for the brainless masses. They say that they're doing something 'different' or 'innovative' that will be 'all different' and 'exciting.' But we all know that we've seen it all before, that it will be no different from every other ZBC battle out there.

You must be so proud of yourself. Every week you parade around, swanning about and prostituting yourself to the lowest common denominator in the name of mindless bland entertainment. You go out and fight your unbelievably clean, TV-friendly, kiddie-safe battles for a few minutes then retire for canapés and product endorsements. It must be a truly rewarding experience, managing to be so vapid and so bland. Every week, day in and day out the same, like some dead-end office job.

Of course, its not just an office job, is it? Because office workers aren't driven by the mindless desire for some fame, no matter how fleeting it may be. Its that singular desire to be reMembered but without having to work for it that drives you on, your urge to have your name up in lights and splashed all over the covers of the glossy pulps without having to do any hard work to achieve it. Just like some vapid movie star that churns out the same repetitive formula blockbuster for each season, you aim to do it without any thought, any effort or even the vaGuest hint of originality.

I'd be sickened by the spectacle of it all, but that would require a degree of effort that I can't be bothered wasting on you. In fact, I suspect that you haven't even gotten this far, your tiny little brain being overloaded by all the big words I've used above. In fact, you've almost certainly deleted this by now. Or, instead, you're probably having a little cry, demanding to know who this person is who has intruded into your happy little fantasy world and kicked over your sandcastle. I'm not going to give you that satisfaction.

I hope your battle is as "special" as you hope it will be. Who knows? Maybe the ZBC might just have had an original thought. But even then, I doubt that any will have gone through your head.

"Whatever." Rose muttered. She contemplated deleting it for a moment, but then decided to leave it. She didn't want the poster, whoever it was, to think that they'd gotten her angry or the like. In fact, she just didn't care.

*****

"Damn them!" Karl shouted as he stormed back into the team's main living room, a phone in his hand. "Damn it, can't they understand the seriousness of this situation?"

"What's up, Slash?" Kuro Onishi asked, looking up from the couch were he was sitting. He'd been rather worried about Slash for the last few days; he'd been very angry, spending hours on the phone and shouting a lot. Kuro had no idea what was going on, however. All he knew was that it had something to do with the ZBC.

"It’s those morons at the ZBC, that's what it is." Slash snarled angrily. "They don't understand my needs at all. I make a simple request of them and they snub me."

"Why's that?" He asked.

"Because the ZBC is run by a bunch of mindless pencil pushers and bureaucrats who fail to understand what piloting a Zoid is all about." Slash angrily began. "They live up in their lofty ivory tower offices and make arbitrary decisions that affect our lives and our careers, but they don't even think about what its like to be the men inside the machines. They make their money off out efforts, but fail to understand what it is we do for them."

"I heard that the head of the ZBC is a former Zoids battle champion." Kuro replied. "And that several of their other big officials are former Zoid warriors as well."

"Well..." Slash started, then paused. "That may be the case, but they have lost tough with their roots. They've become soft and weak by living off the labours of us Zoid warriors, to the point where they don't even understand what its like to pilot a Zoid. I bet I could easily beat any of them in a real Zoid battle."

"So what's the problem then?"

"The problem is that those ignoramuses don't appreciate our skills." Bill added as he walked in from their Zoid hanger. "They passed us over for a special promotional battle in favour of some other teams."

"Well..." Kuro glanced at the pair of them. "I'm sure that thy had some good reason for it."

"Their only reason is that they don't understand our needs." Slash continued. "There is a team that I need to battle, and they are denying me that opportunity."

"Exactly." Bill replied. "I feel the same way."

"So then." Slash looked at him. "We're agreed then. We must do everything in our power to beat the Broken Chairs and bring them down."

"The Broken Chairs?" Bill asked. "I was talking about the Firestorm team."

"Why them?" Slash glared at him. "What have they done to you? It was the Chairs that have twice beaten us."

"In case you didn't notice, it was the leader of the Firestorm team who took my girl." He snapped back. "I have my own needs here. I need to win her back from them."

"Well your needs are superseded by the needs of the team." Slash continued. “We all want revenge against the Broken Chairs, Bill. You can't just run off on your own doing whatever you damn well like. We need to be focused, to be driven towards our goals."

"Actually, I don't." Kuro spoke up.

"What?"

"I just want to be a good Zoid warrior, that's all." He continued.

Slash glared at him, then turned back to Bill. "But you see what I mean. We must remain focused and driven towards our goals."

"Yeah, and it just happens that we have different ones." Bill replied. "But the thought occurs to me that we're going about this the wrong way."

"It does?" Slash asked. "Then what would you do about it?"

"Well, the thought occurs to me that we have two teams that we both dislike in the one battle." He began, slowly walking away from where Kuro was sitting. "The thought occurs to me that there has to be some way to take them both out... like if we attacked them while they were in the middle of their battle or something like that. That way we could show them all."

"Say what?" Slash looked at him. "Take them out both at once?"

"Of course, we couldn't actually do that." Bill continued. "I mean, the arena will be locked down and there's no way we'll be able to get access to it."

"Hmmm." Slash considered matters. "Give me a moment. I think I may have an idea..."

He walked off, phone in hand. In the last few days, he’d been trying any number of people he knew who had a connection to the ZBC to try to get into the battle. None of them had succeeded, not even Ron who was usually good for anything. However, there were still people that he knew outside of the ZBC who wielded some degree of influence. This time, he was going to the top, to the one person who he knew would be able to solve his problem.

He walked into his own private room, securing the door behind him. Pausing for a moment to calm himself, he waited then dialed the number. After a few rings, the other end picked up.

"Karl? Is that you?" The woman on the other end began.

"Yes, Mother." He replied, a touch sheepishly.

"I see." She replied. "So, what is it that you need from your mother today, Karl?"

"Well..." He began. "There's this battle, you see. And I need to get my team into it, even though, well, uh, we're not invited to it."

"Well..." There was a pause. "Karl, I can't arrange for you to get into a ZBC battle. My influence doesn't stretch that far. However, I know someone who can."

"Oh?"

"Here are the details..."

*****

The Broken Chairs' two rented Gustavs crawled through the desert, heading out form the city towards the arena. The ZBC had released the details of its location to them only late yesterday. It still gave them enough time to secure the two Gustavs, but it also gave them some measure of the degree of security that was involved in this event.

Stephen glanced down at the navigational display in his Gustav. "Well, according to the map, we should be there pretty soon. In fact, we probably should be able to see it about... oh wow." Ahead, on the horizon was a large blob, jutting out of the desert. At first, it didn't seem like anything, but, as they approached, they began to make out details. The blob part of it was, in fact, the massive walls of the arena which completely enclosed the city within. Only a single central spire jutted out of it, the only sign of what lay within.

The massive complex loomed out of the desert, dominating the landscape around it. It was the only thing visible for miles around, a solitary sign of human civilization in the middle of the otherwise empty expanse. As they approached, the arena loomed up over them, towering above their transports.

"Wow." Neil spoke up. "I'm impressed."

"Yeah, it's pretty big." Tasch commented. "Its the biggest arena I've ever seen... but then, I haven't seen too many of 'em, so I don't know if that's fair or not."

"Next thing you'll say it remind you of home." Neil added.

"Naw, it ain't like home at all." Tasch replied. "I mean, I come form a small town."

"Silly me."

"But when we get inside, then I'll take a look at the place." She finished.

"Well there's a nicely foreboding sight." Rose spoke up.

"Don't forget, you wanted to come here." Neil quipped. "So don't get all wobbly on us."

"Okay, guys." Stephen butted in. "That's enough. Let's just keep focused on what's coming up." He knew that he'd be lying if he said he had no doubts about the battle. Their last fight with the Firestorm Team had been incredibly close, a lot more then he was comfortable with. This arena would make coordinating their actions a lot harder, which would mean a much tougher battle. And with Tasch unable to fly, then they'd be without their biggest single advantage over their opponents.

The Gustavs stopped outside a large sealed gate, a ZBC-Registered Godos standing on either side of it. The Gustav's communicator crackled to life as the two Zoids turned to face them. "This is restricted ZBC property." One of the pilots spoke up. "Identify yourselves."

"This is the Broken Chairs team." Stephen replied, watching the two Zoids. "We were invited here by Elisa Claybourne."

"Just a moment." The line went silent for a minute, then the Godos stepped back. "Proceed inside to hanger A1." The gates opened, allowing the two Gustavs to enter.

"Their security is more then I'd have expected for an arena." Neil observed. "And a bit trigger-happy."

"Its a big investment for them." Rose replied. "They probably spent millions building this place. The last thing they want is for anything to go wrong."

"It seems like a reasonable level of security to me." Tasch commented. "I don't see what the fuss is about."

"You wouldn't." Rose dryly finished as the Gustavs entered into the hanger.

The crew of technicians awaiting in the hanger had their Zoids were unloaded and prepped in relatively short order. Within minutes, the pilots were inside their machines, ready to go. The Zoids marched to a large elevator, then waited as it was slowly raised up to the surface, much like the standard Zoid lifts in the arena. The elevator stopped outside a pair of massive doors which then slid open, allowing them to step out and into the arena proper.

"Wow." Rose began as she looked around. "This place is massive."

Their four Zoids were standing on a street in the middle of a row of uniform, featureless grey and brown buildings. The street they were on abruptly ended in a junction, while others snaked off in different directions. All around them, all they could see were more of the same-looking buildings. It was like a city, stripped of all the life, reduced to a single, gloomy, almost sinister maze.

"Now this is more like home." Tasch commented. "Well, actually, it's kinda like New Valhalla. Yeah, I went there once, and it was a lot like this."

"Why am I not surprised?" Neil asked.

"Well, the Imperial palace area... that’s not nearly as packed." She continued. "But this certainly reminds me of what the rest of it was like."

"Lovely." Rose smirked. "Remind me never to go there."

"Okay, guys." Stephen spoke up. "Let’s keep focused and go over the plan again." He glanced over his team. "Neil, you're the scout. Use your radar to locate enemy Zoids. Don't engage unless pressed. None of them are stealthy or have optic camouflage, so they're not going to be able to completely loose us. Tasch, your job will be to explore the city, less searching for opponents and more of finding our way. Rose, you and I will try to stay close but not together. That way we can cover more ground. We can also get to each other reasonably quickly in case the other gets into trouble."

There was a chorus of affirmative replies from the other Members of the team. "Good. Now all we have to do is wait."

As if on cue, the voice of a ZBC monitor drone cut into the communications channel. “The Broken Chairs versus the Firestorm Team.” The electronic voice began. “Blind City Battle. Both teams confirmed. Arena confirmed. Contestants ready… fight!”

*****

[Deadborder]

"You heard the man!" Miles called out. "Lets go!"

The four Zoids of the Firestorm team leaped away from their starting position at the opposite end of the city, turning in towards its center. Miles' plan was simple; the other Members of his team would flush the Broken Chairs out from hiding, then he would move in for the kill. His Zoid was the fastest on the team, which meant that he could easily respond to any battle that started.

He knew that everyone would be watching this battle, so he wanted to look as good as possible during it. What he really wanted was not just for his team to win, however, but for him to do the best from it. The more kills he got, the better he looked to the public and the better his points stacked up. Besides, it would feel good to wipe out as many of the Chairs as he could himself.

The battlefield heavily favoured his Death Raser, which made him feel confident. His Zoid was fast and relatively agile, and designed with close combat in mind. In this battlefield, he could be on top of an enemy before they knew it, and slicing at them with the plasma blades or electron claws. Of the Broken Chairs' Zoids, only one of them possessed stronger melee weapons his Zoid did; their Iron Kong. Of course, he had is own plans for how to deal with it. And if someone caught him out in the open, well, the Death Raser's deflective armour meant it wouldn’t be an issue.

"This is gonna be so good." He began, grinning to himself. "I'm holding all the cards here. There's no way you guys can beat me now." The Death Raser thundered into the city, searching for its prey.

*****

The maroon Double Arms Lizard hissed as it opened fire with its back mounted cannon, the shots tearing into the damaged Brachios' flank. The Zoid bellowed as its legs collapsed out from underneath it, sending it stumbling forwards onto its side.

"The Battle is over!" The ominous electronic voice of the NUBG monitor called out. "The winners are CJ Tan and Butch Harrison!"

"Looks like two heads are indeed better then one!" An announcer called out as the DA Lizards stood over its fallen opponent. The pair of Zoids were in the center of a relatively small arena, made up of bare concrete and completely enclosed. Twisted scrap metal jutted out from the walls, forming an array of wicked spikes designed to impale any who came too close. "Our sinister Lizard has prevailed in yet another bloody struggle against its opponent."

"That match was a pile of total crap." Michael Heywood commented as he sat back in his armchair. He was in a private booth, watching the battle on a massive flat-screen monitor that took up the entire wall. His NUBG 'command' staff were with him, seated around him; Cole and Rachel on the seats next to him, while Shane and Julian were in the back row. "Stuff that one on the end of the video, Rachel. No sane person would pay to watch it as a feature event."

"Certainly." She replied as she made a note on a portable computer.

"And if Tony ever makes that 'two heads' crack again, have him fired." He added. "And, oh, I dunno, see about having someone break his arm for good measure."

"Of course." She replied as she made another note.

"Still, this next one should more then make up for it." He grinned. "We're about to make NUBG history, boys. The ZBC has got a huge event planned and we are about to crash it." He pressed several buttons on one arm of his chair. "Ken, this is Michael. Is your team ready?"

"We are." Came the voice on the other end. "They've just started the battle now. We're moving into position and will be ready to go in a minute."

"Good work there, Ken." Michael replied, a satisfied smirk on his face. "Take 'em all out. Let's make the ZBC's big night an even bigger one for the NUBG."

"Of course, boss. Marsh out."

The line hissed with static and then closed. "Ladies and gentlemen." Michael began as he stood, looking over the assembled senior Members of the NUBG "Today is truly a great day for us. We've just gotten a team into the ZBC's big battle, a team that specialise in the sort of combat that the ZBC built their arena for. Our team will face not one but two ZBC teams and, using their superior skills, take them both out."

He grinned. "Can you imagine it? Our team against two others in a tense battle to the finish, the three groups stalking each other, each trying to locate and terminate the others. All this while crashing the ZBC's big event. The revenue form the betting alone will be a fortune. Then think of the subsequent sales of this match. Everybody will want to see how the NUBG took on the ZBC's best and brightest, and humiliated them."

"This should be good." Julian began. "And if one of them is the team I think it is, I can't wait to see their punk-arses getting busted." He smirked.

"Likewise." Shane added. "They deserve what's coming to them."

"They do indeed." Michael continued, grinning. "Which is why I've arranged for a little extra something to be in this battle."

"Something... else?" Rachel looked up at him. "You mean besides the Night hunters?" She glanced at Cole, who shrugged.

"Yeah." He grinned broadly. "There's an extra special treat in this for our hapless heroes. This is going to be one sweet, sweet battle. Trust me."

*****

The main gates at either end of the arena weren’t its only entrances. There were several more service entrances located around its rim, some of them large enough for Zoids to enter or leave. It was towards one of these that a trio of Zoids headed, having apparently run across the desert to get here.

"Here it is." Slash began from the cockpit of his Blade Liger Mirage as sit stopped in front of the gate. "Just like my contact said it would be."

Bills' Command Wolf and Kuro's Saberlion both pulled up behind the larger Zoid. "Impressive looking place." Bill began. "And you say that they're in there?"

"That's correct." Slash replied. "So we need to get in there and then get to them."

"But..." Kuro's Saberlion looked back and forth at the two Zoids. "Um, guys?" He asked, a little nervous sounding. "Um, what is it we're doing, exactly?"

"We're breaking into the arena so we can take part in the battle." Slash simply replied. "Since those fools in the ZBC chose to deny us a place in this battle, they have forced our hand. We're going to be in this, regardless of what it takes."

"But..." He paused. "But isn't that, um, illegal?" He asked. "I mean, its what the NUBG does, and they're criminals and all..."

The Blade Liger turned to face the Saberlion. "What's that?" Slash asked. "Are you afraid, Kuro?"

"Well not afraid." He explained, nervously. "But, um... I don't think we should be doing this."

"If you have a problem, then you can leave." Slash angrily stated. "But if you do, I don't want to find you back at our base when I get back. So you’re either coming with us, or you can go now."

The Saberlion looked at the two larger Zoids, then abruptly turned around and ran off. The smaller Zoid sprinted off across the desert, trying to put as much distance between itself and its two teammates as possible.

"Wasn't that a bit harsh, Slash?" Bill asked.

"If he was too afraid to join us, then he had no place in our team." Slash simply stated. "Now, open the door and we'll be in. I'll send you the access code."

A few minutes later, the two Zoids found themselves inside the arena proper, standing in amongst the maze of buildings that made up its terrain. "I had no idea that they were doing something like this." Bill began. "Slash, how are we going to find them in this maze?"

"We will use our warrior's instincts." He began. "We will hunt them down ourselves, regardless of what it takes."

"Yeah, but this is a pretty big arena. How are we meant to find them in all this?"

"The two teams enter form each end." Slash observed. "Thus they are more likely to meet in the middle. So then that is where we will go."

"I guess that makes sense." Bill replied.

"Good." Slash finished as he opened up the Liger's throttle. "And if you see the Liger Zero, leave it for me!" He called out as the Zoid bounded off, hading further into the city.

"Sure... " he replied. "Hey! Wait for me!" The Command Wolf ran off after the Blade Liger, desperately trying to catch up with it.

*****

The Members of the Night Hunters team had actually been in the arena longer then the two teams taking part in the battle. They had been smuggled in under the guys of "equipment" and "Building supplies, and their Zoids had been dispersed into the city to pre-planned ambush points. Each of the team's Members knew what they had to do, and had specific plans for the battle.

They had a number of advantages over the two ZBC teams that were taking part in the battle. They had already spent some time going over the battlefield, mapping out the city and figuring the most likely paths for the enemy teams to take. Additionally, they had far better electronic support then the two teams in the battle had access to. That would give them a better chance to spot their opponents, and allow them a far better degree of communication.

Thomas Stahl had set his Snipe Master up in a prime ambush position overlooking an intersection. He'd been patiently waiting there for hours, observing the location and preparing to take out anyone who dared enter into his line of sight. He was a professional sniper, and this was his environment. He had originally been in the military, but had been kicked out for insubordination. That had marked his record, which meant that he couldn’t get a decent job, and couldn't join the ZBC.

And then the NUBG had found him. He'd immediately taken a liking to the way that they did things, and had readily joined them. But even that hadn't worked out. The way he fought, his patient sniping style didn't suit the NUBG with its violent, close-ranged, brutal and showy battles. He'd been considering other options for some time. But then they told him about this battle. And he was hooked.

As he watched the streets below, his Zoid's sensors bleeped to indicate an approaching target. Glancing around, he quickly identified his target as a cannon-armed Arosaurer. He knew that it was a part of the Firestorm team. A mid-sized Zoid, reasonably agile, decently armoured and, with the booster cannons, well armed. In an open battle, it'd be holding a lot of advantages over him.

Of course, he wasn't going to take it on in an open battle.

"Hunter three to hunter one." he radioed. "Have located the Arosaurer. We haven't taken over yet, but I can take it out right now if you want."

"Go for it, hunter three." Ken Marsh, the leader of the team replied. "Hunter two, prepare to lock out and take over."

"Affirmative." The female voice of hunter two responded.

"Everyone else be ready." Ken continued. "Engage enemy Zoids on sight."

"Yes, commander."

"Affirmative."

Thomas nodded, then lined up a shot on the Arosaurer. The enemy Zoid pilot clearly hadn't noticed him. Too easy, he thought as he fired. The shot struck the Arosaurer on the side of the neck, ripping through its armour. The Zoid roared, then collapsed, crashing forwards onto its belly, clearly out of action.

"Target eliminated." He reported.

*****

Margo sat in the cockpit of her Dimetrodon, listening into the radio conversation between the Members of her team. She'd been patiently waiting for this moment, which was her time to strike. She wasn't a fighter and she knew it. Instead, she was a thinker and a doer. Or, as she liked to call herself, an activist.

Unlike most Members of NUBG who just wanted to fight their own way or do their own thing, she was in it for her own, rather different reasons. Margo hated Zoid battles, pure and simple. She found the whole idea of safe, sanitised, family-friendly violence to be, well, stupid. The fact that the masses just lapped it up only served to confirm what she'd always thought; that the average person was a mindless moron who needed to be shown the truth.

She'd started by organising protests at Zoid battle events, but found that they were usually small and, more to the point, ignored. So she instead decided to try a different approach. She'd tried using online petitions, and then when that failed, lengthy posts in her blog to attract attention.

The attention she'd attracted was not what she'd expected, however. A Member of the NUBG had found her blog and, more to the point, agreed with what she had to say. They'd explained their position as being the 'alternative' to the ZBC. She began to like what they saw and realised that it was her duty to support them. So she'd turned her online activities to supporting the NUBG. Not only did she help to promote them, but she served as a venue for distributing videos of their battles.

At the same time, she'd also learned to use a Zoid. While she wasn't expected to take part in battles, she had instead trained as an electronics specialist. Her role had been to help the NUBG in taking over battles by jamming ZBC communications and sensory systems. And now she was taking an active part in a battle; Her task was both to shut out the enemy Zoids communications, while at the same time providing both sensory and communications support for her team.

"Oookay then." She began as she pressed several buttons on her control panel. Her Dimetrodon's fin began to wave back and forth as it began broadcasting its jamming signals across the arena. "Enemy signals are down. And we are live and on the air." She smiled to herself as she sat back in her cockpit. "The NUBG is now in charge of this little battle. Let's show those mindless morons what we can really do."

Margo would have been the first to admit that she didn't fit the image of the stereotypical Zoid pilot. She was short, with limp black hair and dull grey eyes. She had both her ears, her right eyebrow and her tongue pieced and, rather then dressing in a supposedly fashionable pilots suit, she instead preferred to wear a baggy black and purple shirt and matching torn pants. It was a statement, a rejection of the image that the ZBC peddled.

She just wanted to see the face of that Liger pilot whose journal she’d spammed when they found out what was happening. It would be priceless.

*****

Located deep in the heart of the arena, the control center was the heart of the ZBC's operations there. From here, every single camera across the city, both the fixed ones and the remote drones could be monitored and observed. Through them, the battle would be recorded and eventually broadcast; today's battle was not going out live, due to the complexity of the event and its nature as a trial. None the less, it was important to observe what was happening.

Elisa stood amongst the row of monitors, observing the battlefield as the two teams stalked each other. So far, everything was looking good. The teams were responding just as she expected them to, each cautiously moving into the city and watching out for their opponents. While the battle was initially slow, she figured that it would speed up dramatically and soon.

Then something strange happened. The Arosaurer suddenly collapsed, as if it had been shot. "Zoom in" She began as she looked over a tech's shoulder. "I want to see what happened there." The camera focused on the Zoid's neck. Sure enough, there was a gaping hole, indicative of a projectile round, most likely a sniper. "That's not right. They couldn't have started shooting already."

She glanced across the row of monitors. "Where's the Gunsniper?" She asked.

"West 32nd street." A tech called out. "On the move."

"Odd." She looked over a display of the map. There was no way the Gunsniper could have taken the Arosaurer out. And the only other Zoid in the battle with a projectile weapon was the Koenig Wolf, whish she knew wasn't the attacker. "We have an intruder." She suddenly began.

"Ms Claybourne?" A tech asked. "I'm loosing my signal."

She glanced over to his monitor, finding that it was dissolving into static. Then the one next to it went off, and another one. Watching the whole room, she could see screen after screen going off. "What the hell?" She began as she looked over them. "What is going on here?"

"The signals are being cut off," a tech called out. "It looks like somebody's jamming them."

"Jamming them?" She asked. "But who..." She narrowed her eyes as she quickly figured it out; a first one of the Zoids was taken out by a mystery attacker, then they lost the signal. "It must be NUBG."

"So what do we do?"

"Try to get the signal back." She replied. "Then call for help. Those pilots are out there and, from the looks of things, completely unaware of what is about to happen."

*****

The Broken Chairs were taking a cautious approach to their movement through the city, remaining as a relatively solid unit rather then splitting up too much. They followed Stephen's initial plan; Tasch flew ahead of the unit, remaining at or below the height of the arena rim and keeping her eyes open for the enemy. Neil followed her up, watching things as they occurred from the ground. Rose and Stephen followed behind them, relying on the other Members of their team to make sure nobody got behind them.

So far things had been quiet. They hadn't seen any signs of the Firestorm Team as yet, instead the city was eerily quiet. Their Zoids advanced slowly and cautiously, their pilots constantly watching their surroundings for any sign of enemy activity. While they had the advantage form Tasch's airborne support, the Firestorm Team had smaller, more elusive Zoids.

"Hey guys." Tasch began over the communicator. "The area ahead of us looks pretty clear; I ain't seen no signs of any activity so far. I'm gonna head over to the center of the town to get a better look at what's goin' on over there."

"Sure thing, Tasch." Stephen replied. "Just keep your eyes open."

"Ah will." She finished.

"Neil, how's it looking where you are?"

"Wonderful." Neil commented. "If this was a slasher film, I would be so dead by now. I'm alone, its dark, its quiet and there's no sign of any life. I'm chainsaw murderer food all right."

"Just answer the question." he sighed

"Then it’s a big clean no." He finished. "Either the Firestormers are being just as cautious as we are, or they just got lost on the way over here."

"Right." He didn't like it when it was quiet. Too much silence got on his nerves; it mad him very tense. In a way, he almost preferred to be in the midst of a raging battle. At least then he knew where his opponents were. But in this urban battlefield, they could be literally anywhere. "Just everyone keep your eyes open and let me know when anything, and I mean anything happens."

"Yeah, yeah." Neil replied. "Just as long as they don't - " He trailed off into static.

A loud explosion cut off any reply Stephen could have made to his comment as a building right next to his Zoid was struck by a round and exploded. "The hell?" He shouted out. "I'm under attack!"

Instead of a reply from any of his team, all he got was static. Looking around, he couldn't see any signs of the attacker, nor could the Iron Kong's composite sensor locate anything. So who attacked me? He asked himself. It has to be the Koenig Wolf; none of the others have any explosive weapons. Looking around, the Iron Kong searched around for any signs of its attacker. But where is it?

A lout whistling sound from the sky caught his attention. He opened up the Zoid's throttle, the massive Iron Kong breaking into a run. The shot hit the Iron Kong in its left shoulder, shaking the massive Zoid. Checking his board, he could see that the shot had damaged the armour, but not penetrated it.

"That was no missile." He muttered. "Then who..."

The Kong was rocked again as a pair of shots struck it in the back, sending it staggering forwards. Reacting to the attack, Stephen twisted the foot pedals, the Iron Kong spinning around with surprising speed for its size. As he turned, he bought up the wrist guns ready to fire - but there was no sign of his opponent on either sensors or visuals.

A pair of electric blue blasts ripped out from just over a low building, again slamming into the Iron Kong's chest. The Zoid staggered back, but managed to remain upright despite the force of the blow. Stephen opened fire with the wrist cannon, spraying shots in the general direction of his attacker. They were largely concealed, with only their top cannons showing, making them difficult to hit. However, whatever it was, it wasn't showing on his sensors.

The shots tore into the side and top of the building, peppering it with fire. He squeezed the trigger again, one of the rocket-propelled grenades mounted on top of the cannon launching and sailing over the roof, slamming into something on the other side with a loud explosion. The twin cannons ducked down under the building, vanishing from sight.

"You're not getting away that easily!" He called out as he opened up the throttle. The Iron Kong stomped forwards, then leaped into the air, slamming down on the roof of the building. However, there was no sing of his attacker. Glancing around, Stephen saw something out of the corner of his eye; a bit of green armour disappearing around a corner.

"Green? The hell?" He knew that it certainly wasn't one of the Firestorm team's Zoids. Which made him wonder...

A loud whistling noise cut off his train of thought. He fired the jets, the Iron Kong leaping into the air and twisting out of the way of the shot. The round sailed straight past him, instead slamming into a nearby building near its base. The Kong landed nearby, its pilot again searching for any sign of his attackers. There's a Zoid with an artillery piece and a stealthy Zoid at least. He figured. So that's at least two. I'd guess more.

"I don't know if any of you can hear this." He began, over the communicator. "But I think we have a problem."

*****

[Deadborder]

Eliot's Parablade cautiously advanced through the city streets, its pilot keeping an eye open for any sign of enemy activity. He'd been sent ahead of the rest of the team to act as a scout; since his Zoid was the smallest of the team's machines, it made sense. He had the best chance to avoid detection and, if discovered, escape from the enemy. Besides, his Parablade was rather well armed for its size, and could put up a fair fight against most of the other team's Zoids.

Miles had given him his task because he knew that he could rely on Eliot to get it done. He and Miles had been friends since back in high school and knew each other pretty well. They'd always been there for each other since then; when they both got into Zoid battles it made sense for them to form a team. The pair of them worked well together, with him always there to support and back up Miles.

Now that they were in one of the biggest battles of the year, heck, of their career, he knew that Miles and the rest of the team, would be relying on him more then ever. He had to remain alert and stay on the lookout for the other team.

"Miles!" Crystal called out over the team's communications net. "I've been knocked out!"

"What happened?" Miles called back. "What's your situation?"

"I don't know!" She all but whined. "I think it was a sniper or something. I just... he took me out in one hit and I didn’t see him until it was too late."

"It has to be the Gunsniper." Miles snarled.

"How did it get here so fast?" Drake asked. "Unless they somehow know this battlefield better then we do."

"Okay, everyone, just stay calm and keep alert. And keep your eyes open!"

"Yes, boss." Eliot managed to get out. "I can't see any signs of the enemy yet but... they could be anywhere in this place." He nervously looked around the maze of buildings. He couldn't see any sign of the enemy Gunsniper, but then that was to be expected. The enemy Zoid could use the higher ground to get to an advantageous position and then take him out. He had to stay focused and alert.

"I can't see any signs of him yet." Eliot continued. "It looks to be all clear."

"Just keep your eyes open." Miles snapped back. "I don't want us all taken out by one lucky clown."

"I can't see anything here either." Drake added. "Its unusual... the enemy Gunsniper pilot didn't strike me as the type for this sort of attack. What I've seen of him so far didn't speak much for his gunnery skills."

"Well maybe he's a better shot then he looks." Miles snapped. "Just keep your eyes open and stop messing abou..." The end of the message trialed off into a crackle, then static.

"Miles?" Eliot asked. "Are you there?" There was no reply. "Come on, Miles." He checked his communicator again; there was nothing but static. "Drake? Crystal? Is anyone there?"

This was unexpected. As far as he could tell, the enemy team didn't have any electronic warfare Zoids, which made him wonder what was going on. "Anyone?" He asked again. "Are you there? Can you hear me?"

Before he got as reply, his Zoid was rocked by a sudden hit form behind. The Parablade staggered forwards under the impact, red lights coming on across its status board. A second hit struck the Zoid, tearing through the leg armour. The Zoid honked out in pain as he fought to keep it upright, then spun it around. "Who's there?" He called out as he looked around for his attacker.

There was a blur of red as a small Zoid dashed away from him, disappearing in between a pair of buildings, then darted off down a side-street. Opening up the throttle, he set the Parablade off after it. The machine lurched to the right as it started off with its damaged leg, but managed to hobble after the smaller Zoid.

"There you are!" He called out as he sighted the other machine ducking around a corner. "You won't get away again!" He shouted as he opened fire with the Parablade's twin railguns. The two cannons spat shots at the enemy Zoid, but instead only carved chunks out of the wall of a nearby building. The Zoid sprinted away from him, again vanishing into the darkness between buildings.

"I'm under attack by a single unidentified Zoid." He called out. "Whatever it is, it’s small and mobile. I'm not sure if it’s a part of the other team." He wasn't sure if the others could hear him, but he was determined to report it anyway. "I'm moving to engage it."

The Parablade lunged around the corner, then opened fire again with its twin cannons. The shots tore up the alleyway, but there was no sign of the enemy Zoid. "Huh?" He asked. "Where'd it go?"

As if to answer his question, the enemy bolted out from its hiding place between a pair of buildings. The large cannon mounted on its back opened fire, tearing into the Parablade's damaged flank. The Parablade's right leg, already damaged by its first attack, collapsed under the impacts, sending Eliot's Zoid crashing to the ground.

"I'm down!" He called out over the communicator. "Repeat, I'm down."

He desperately searched around for some sign of his attacker, only just sitting them as they leaped away from his Zoid and scampered off. He recongised the small Zoid as a Guntiger, a machine designed for urban combat. Because of its small size, very few pilots in the ZBC used them - and certainly none that were in either of the two teams that were in this battle.

What the hell is going on? He asked himself.

*****

The Blade Liger charged through the city, its pilot driving the machine towards its center. By his figuring, the two sides should now be engaged in combat with each other. While this was an opportune moment for him, he also knew that it could work to his disadvantage. Karl knew that, if he let the battle go on too long, then somebody else might take out the Zoid he was targeting. If so, then all he had done so far would be for nothing. Vengeance was meaningless if somebody else did the work for you. No, he figured that he had to take out that single annoying Zero, and its pilot, himself.

He'd decided to go with an unsubtle approach to the situation. His plan was to simply charge into the battle and cut down anyone who got in the way. He knew that he had the element of surprise, which would give him a considerable advantage; certainly he knew that nobody on the battlefield would be expecting him to appear.

He privately hoped that the first Zoid he came across was either the Iron Kong or Death Raser piloted by the two team leaders. Taking them down would weaken their respective teams, and he knew that, after the Zero, they were the most dangerous Zoids on the battlefield. It would make him look good and prove his capabilities if he could defeat the leaders of both teams and then his own greatest rival. But first, he had to find them.

The Blade Liger's sensors beeped at him, indicating the presence of a nearby enemy Zoid. While he couldn't identify it, he knew that, whatever it was, it would be his first target. He opened up the Zoid's throttle, the Liger tearing along the city street before skidding around a corner to face its foe. "You're mine now!" Karl sneered as he prepared to attack.

When he sighted the Zoid, however, it was no what he expected. The enemy machine was a blue and green Molga, mounting a massive CP-07 Shot Cannon on its back. The Zoid was side on to his, and seemed to be unaware of his presence. Instead, it fired its cannon, the shot arcing up over a building and out of sight.

Slash didn't recall either ream having a Molga, but, at the same time, he didn't really care. It was his first target, and his first step on the path to revenge against those who had humiliated him. The Liger charged at the enemy Zoid, opening fire with its dual-barreled impact cannon. The shots tore into the Molga's thick armour, blasting apart the plating over its flank, leaving a gaping hole in its side.

The enemy Zoid frantically tried to turn, its caterpillar-like design hampering its ability to move in the tight confines of the city. "You won't escape from me!" Slash called out as his Zoid charged straight at it. The Liger leaped at it, then slashed downwards at the Molga. The claws sliced through the Molga's shot cannon, ripping the weapon apart and scattering debris across the street.

Slash's Zoid landed on the far side of the Molga and skidded, coming around for another attack. The enemy pilot, clearly aware of his chances of defeating the Blade Liger, jettisoned the remnants of the cannon and instead crawled away as fast as possible. The Zoid charged straight at a nearby building, opening fire with its quad head-mounted cannons. The shots blasted apart the concrete wall, doing enough damage to allow the Molga to crash through it, vanishing inside the building and into the darkness.

The Blade Liger skidded to a halt in front of the damaged building, Slash glaring at the hole in its side where the Molga had retreated to. He considered ways to get in there and flush it out, but then figured that it wasn't worth his time. The small Zoid posed no threat to him, and he had more important things to deal with. The Blade Liger turned and walked away from the Molga, then burst into a run.

*****

The Cannon Caesar's top mounted dual beam cannons opened fire, spitting shots at the Iron Kong. The two blasts smashed into the Zoid's massively armoured chest, tearing up some of the armour but not apparently doing anything else. Staggered from the attack but not out of action, the massive Zoid turned to face its attacker.

Not waning to go toe-to-toe with such a massive opponent, Ken Marsh opened up the Cannon Caesar's throttle. The Zoid broke into a strange, hopping run, springing away from the Iron Kong and ducking behind a row of buildings, just as the Kong opened fire with its main beam cannon. The beam blasted through a building right behind him, puncturing through it and sending chunks of concrete flying. Several spanged off the Cannon Caesar's hull, but didn’t do too much more then chip its paint.

The Zoid squatted down, using its low profile to duck behind a row of buildings to hide it from the Iron Kong's line of fire. At the same time, its stealth armour and signature suppression helped conceal it from the enemy Zoid sensors. His plan was simple; use the fire from the Cannonry Molga to keep the enemy busy, then loop around and attack them from behind.

"That'll fix those bastards good." He muttered to himself. "Goddam self-aggrandizing bastards."

Like many of the other Dark Hunters, Ken wasn't a typical criminal or thug recruited into the NUBG. In fact, he'd been a mercenary pilot for several years before he heard about NUBG. Initially he didn’t care for them; to his mind, competitive Zoid warriors were weaklings regardless of if they were ZBC, NUBG or whatever. Of course when NUBG had approached him with an offer to head up a team for a very large sum, he'd suddenly been a lot more interested.

His team hadn't done much more then fight a few matches so far; it was good money and he had no reason to complain. Of course, when the boss had approached him about setting up a battle against not one but two ZBC teams in his favorite environment, he'd leaped at the opportunity.

Besides it was giving him a chance to work on the other love of his life; comedy. He'd always wanted to be a comedian, but nobody ever seemed to laugh at his jokes. Nobody seemed to understand the pressures that comedians were under, especially those struggling to find a name for themselves. However, after today he thought he'd have some great material.

"What do you get when you cross two ZBC teams with a NUBG one?" He muttered to himself. "A big fat cash bonus." Perfect. And then the next volley from Des's Molga should punctuate the punchline.

Instead, nothing happened. However, his sensors wanted him that the Iron Kong was getting a lot closer to him.

"Damn it, Des!" He shouted into the communicator. "Where's that fire support?"

"I lost me gun!" Des shouted back. "Some bloody Blade Liger came along and ripped it off me!"

"Blade Liger?" He asked. "You mean a Liger Zero, right?"

"No, I mean a fricking Blade Liger!" He snapped. "The damned thing came out of nowhere and attacked me! I've had to bolt to keep myself alive!"

"That can't be right." He shook his head. "The boss didn't say anything about a Blade Liger."

"Well there's a fricking Blade Liger in this fircking arena!" He called out. "And he's trying to fricking well kill me!"

"Right." He figured the way the odds were shaping up. "Right. Keep an eye out for that Gunsniper and take it if you can. I'll try to handle things here." He changed channels. "Thomas, Kyle! Hurry up and finish off the rest of the Firestorm team and get over here. There's a situation developing that I want capped ASAP. Margo, keep an eye out for any stray communications. I want to know everything that happens here."

"Yes, boss." She replied.

"Right. Lets try and get this back under control."

The Cannon Caesar hopped down the street, trying to stay out of the Kong's line of fire. Figuring that he could no longer reply on fire support, Ken tried to figure a new plan for his next move. Taking the Kong suddenly got a lot harder, but he figured that he could still manage it.

The Caesar’s sensors bleeped as a Zoid literally stepped out in front of him at a crossroads. The two pilots saw each other at more or less the same time, however Ken was able to react before the enemy Command Wolf did. Not bothering to figure who the pilot was or where they came form or how they got into this battle, he simply swiped at it with the Caesar’s claws. The three long blades slashed across the back of the Wolf, literally ripping apart the top mounted cannon turret.

The Command Wolf's pilot reacted to the destruction of its cannons in the way he expected. The Zoid fired its smoke dischargers and broke into a run, loping away from the Cannon Caesar. Ken opened fire with the top beam cannon, firing blindly into the smoke. He was aiming less to hit the Wolf and more to discourage it from coming back. The shots seemed to have the desired effect; there was no sign of the enemy machine.

"Good." He muttered, bringing his Zoid around. He couldn’t be bothered dealing with this attacker now; they were crippled and he had more pressing matters to deal with - like winning the battle. Still, this little… incident had its upside.

"What do you call a guy who interferes with an NUBG battle?" He asked himself. "Dead."

*****

"Stephen, come in." Rose began as she hammered her communicator. "Can you hear me?" There was no reply. He'd been off the air for several minutes now, which worried her. "Tasch, are you there? Neil? Anyone?"

This was definitely not good. She couldn't reach anyone, even the ZBC command center inside the arena. At the same time, her sensors were being erratic, with a lot more clutter and junk on her screens then she'd expect, even in a city. She knew enough to know when she was being jammed, which made her wonder who it was. Does one of the Firestorm Zoids have a jammer, she asked herself. Maybe they modified one of them...

Her Zero cautiously moved towards the center of the city, looking around for any signs of an opponent. She didn't like the way the city had remained so... quiet. She was almost expecting something to leap out and attack her, especially after Neil's comments about slasher movies.

Now you're going nuts, Rose, she thought to herself. Just remain calm.

The liger stepped into a large intersection where six roads crossed each other. As she looked around, a second Zoid stepped into the intersection, a blue Koenig Wolf. "Oh..." She began. "It's you."

"I'd hoped to meet you again." Drake replied.

Okay, think, Rose. You're faster then him and, when he's carrying those weapons, more agile. You're not going to win a shooting match with him by a long way. Only one thing for it.

She opened up the throttle and fired the boosters, the Liger charging straight at the Koenig Wolf. As she charged, she opened fire with the Impact Cannon, aiming less to knock him as to suppress him or tie him down. Drake reacted quickly, the Koenig Wolf leaping to one side the opening fire with its twin assault rifles.

Rose slewed the control as a line of shots tire towards her. Several rounds struck the Liger in the flank, while the others went past it, tearing a line in the pavement and the side of a nearby building. Keeping the throttle open, she charged again at the Wolf, the claws glowing a brilliant golden colour as they charged up for the attack.

Before she could attack, however, the Wolf did something unexpected. Drake launched one of the missile pods, firing them off at near point blank range. Lacking the time and distance to properly arm themselves, most of them went wide. Two of them, however, struck the Liger in the chest, enough to throw both it and its pilot off their attack.

Seeing a chance, Drake charged at her Liger, swiping at it with the Wolf's claws, raking them across the Liger's leg. The Zoid stumbled, giving Drake an opportunity. The Wolf lunged at the Liger, its jaws open, ready to bite down on the Zero's neck. Twisting the controls, Rose barely managed to evade the attack, her Zoid leaping out of the way.

For a moment, the two Zoids circled each other, each of them staring and snarling at the other. "I must admit," Drake began as he stared down Rose's Zoid. "Your plan is rather sound. Jamming all our communications so we couldn't coordinate was a very good move."

"Us?" Rose asked. "I thought you were jamming our communications. We haven't been able to reach each other."

"That's odd..." Drake commented. "So if you're not jamming our communications... then who is? And who would want to disrupt both of our teams?"

"Ah hell." Rose began as she instantly realised who it could be. "It’s got to be NUBG." She quietly muttered under her breath as she figured what it meant. "Damn it, how did they get in here?"

"We'll have to worry about that later." Drake replied. "For the moment, I suggest that we may not want to continue our battle. There may be more pressing concerns."

"I agree." Rose replied. "They've got us in a bad, bad situation as it is; we're spending all our efforts on fighting each other."

"So then here's what we'll do." Drake began. "I know that one of our team is out of action. We'll try to round up the rest of yours first, then try to get them back together. The Redler will be very useful in tracking down whoever's causing the jamming. Then we'll-"

"Drake, look out!" Rose shouted out as a small Zoid burst out from cover, charging at the pair of them. The small red Zoid ran at the Koenig Wolf from behind, the muzzle of a cannon protruding form behind its head. The cannon fired, its shots slamming into the Wolf's lower leg. A chunk of metal tore away, along with one of the bright green gyrocaps. The Wolf yelped in pain, stumbling as Drake tried to stablise it.

Rose turned to open fire on the fleeing Guntiger, rippling off several shots from the impact cannon. The blasts narrowly missed the Tiger, instead blasting apart the road around it. The Liger roared, then leaped off after it before Drake shouted out. "Rose! Don't follow him."

"Why not?" She called back, the Zero poised to take off after the Guntiger. "I mean, he's from the NUBG team, right?"

"Yes, but he wants you to follow after him." Drake explained. "That way, he can lead you into an ambush and, at the same time, separate us and make us more vulnerable."

"Crap." Rose paused. "I didn't think of that."

"No, its okay. You're fighting in a very unfamiliar environment." He explained. "Urban combat is far from easy. You can't anticipate their every move."

"So what's our next move?" She asked. "We can't just stand here."

"My Zoid is damaged but it still can move." Drake offered. "Let's try to find the rest of your team first."

"Um, sure." Rose replied. She didn't want to admit it, but she was actually a bit surprised that Drake wanted to work with her. This is... wow! I never dreamed that something like this would happen. I mean, him and me fighting alongside each other... its just incredible. Wow. The Liger growled to itself and set off, the Koenig Wolf limping along after it.

"Keep your eyes open. Rose." Drake continued. "We have no idea what the enemy force has, nor where they are. If you see anything that could be an enemy Zoid, let me know."

"Uh, sure." She replied. "I'll do what I can." Despite the seriousness of the situation, she was pretty sure that she was blushing.

After only a minute of walking - it seemed like longer - the pair of them approached an intersection, the road branching off in three different directions. "Which way do we go now?" Rose asked as she glanced around. "I don't know where the rest of my team will be."

"I think we have a more pressing concern." Drake replied. "Look up ahead."

Another Zoid emerged from an intersection ahead, and turned to face the pair of them. Larger then either Zoid, but similar in shape and colour to Rose's Liger, she instantly recognised it. "A Blade Liger Mirage..." she began. "Ah, crap. It’s Slash."

"Slash?" Drake asked. "Oh yes. But I thought that he wasn't meant to be in this battle."

"Neither were the NUBG." She commented. "And this guy has a mad-on against me."

"You in the Koenig Wolf." Slash called out as his Zoid turned to face the pair of them. "I have no quarrel with you. You can leave now."

"You've illegally entered this battle." Drake replied. "It is you who should be leaving."

"Very well then." He replied. "But I won't be responsible for what happens." The Blade Liger roared loudly, then charged at the two Zoids, its two attack boosters leaving brilliant white flares in its wake. The Zoid thundered towards them at high speed, eating up the distance.

"Go!" Drake shouted. "I've got a damaged leg. You don't!" The Koenig Wolf leveled its win rifles at the charging Blade Liger and opened fire. The Shots bounced harmlessly off the other Zoid's energy shield, its momentum unaffected by the attacks.

Rose watched what was happening, then figured out her plan of attack. "Right!" She called out. The Zero leaped away from the damaged Koenig Wolf, running off down a side-street away from it. The Blade Liger suddenly stopped in mid charge, skidding as it tried to come around to chase her down. The Zoid turned to face her, leaving the Wolf behind.

Seeing his chance, Drake opened fire with one of the missile pods on his Zoid's forelegs. The missiles arced out of their launcher, spiraling away from the Koenig wolf and heading for the Blade Liger's exposed flank and rear which were not covered by the shield. Karl must have realised what was happening, as at the last second he tried to veer away from the attack. Unfortunately, it was too late; the missiles slammed into the Blade Liger's rear, sending it sprawling across the street. The Zoid crashed into a building on one side of the road, then bounced back, slamming into the pavement below it. The Zoid skidded propelled by the momentum of its own attack boosters, then came to a halt in the middle of the street.

"Sucker." Rose began as she bought the Zero around in a tight turn. Her own Zoid roared as it charged at the Blade Liger, the claws again glowing in readiness to strike. Slash seemed to have been not too badly shaken by the crash, as he managed to bring the Zoid to his feet before she could attack. The Liger flipped its blades out, then prepared to charge.

Fortunately, Rose was faster. She swerved the Zero to one side then ran at the Blade Liger, just as the larger Zoid was leaping into its charge. Rose's Zoid leaped over the Blade liger, then bought its claws down on the other liger's side. The Strike Laser Claw cleaved through the Blade Liger's flank, shredding the armour and then tearing through the mounting for the blade and attack booster. The dismembered components crashed to the ground while the Blade Liger continued its charge.

As she landed, Rose fired off several shots form the tail-mounted beam cannon, firing wildly in the direction of the Blade Liger's rear section. At least one of the beams found its mark, slicing though the Zoids already damaged rear armour and clearly striking something vital inside it. The Blade Liger stumbled, black smoke billowing from its damaged flank.

"Now, Slash." Rose began in a mocking tone. "You've got no place in this battle. You can go now."

here was a pause for a moment, then finally he spoke up. "This isn't the end between us. You can count on it." The Blade Liger fired its body-mounted boosters, leaping away from the pair of them and vanishing into the maze of buildings.

"Not bad, huh Drake?" Rose asked, then turned back to face him. "I mean, we showed him... what are you doing?" The Koenig Wolf's cannons were deployed, and pointed straight at her Zoid. "Drake? I thought we were meant to be working together."

"I know." He coldly replied. The Wolf's cannons fired, the shots whipping past her Zoid and instead striking something behind her. Rose glanced over her shoulder, then saw what he had been aiming at; a Gun Tiger lay in the street, its side a tangled mess of parts. "He'd been watching us for the entire battle."

"Watching us?" She asked. "Why didn't he attack us when we were busy with Slash?"

"I don't know." Drake replied. "But I think that we need to find out."

******

[Deadborder]

Tasch's Black Redler flew through the narrow streets, its pilot keeping its speed low to improve her maneuverability. She was keeping her eyes on her sensors, looking for any trace of the enemy; so far she’d found very little. But what she had seen had worried her. Her Zoid's sensors were playing up and her communications seemed to be out of action. This seemed to indicate that there was somebody jamming her, the question was who.

She knew that none of the Firestorm Team Zoids had the sort of electronic warfare equipment they'd need to block out the entire city like this. In fact, none of them had any advanced electronics save for the Koenig Wolf's optical systems. This had made her wonder if there wasn't something else going on here.

The Redler swooped down across another street, Tasch using the sensors as well as her own eyes to search the area for any signs of enemy activity. She sighed something ahead which instantly caught her attention. Lying in the middle of the road was the Firestorm team's Arosaurer, knocked out of action by what looked like a single shot to the side of the neck. "Now that's odd." She said to herself as she flew over it. "Wonder how Neil got that close to the enemy?"

The Redler banked around, Tasch making sure to keep the Zoid well below the roofline so she didn't accidentally disqualify herself. Apart from the disabled Arosaurer, the area appeared to be clear of enemy activity. Of course, now she was getting suspicious of what was actually going on. "Heck, Arosaurers don't explode themselves. So I gotta wonder what was... the heck?"

Something passed over he Redler, leaping from the top of one building to another, then heading off down another row of buildings. Tasch didn't get a good look at it, however, but wanted to see more. That ain't gonna be the Parablade, 'cause they don't have any sorta boosters, she figured. So what in the heck is it?

She banked the Redler at the next intersection, climbing to get as high up as she could to the buildings without going above the rim of the arena. As the Redler climbed, she spotted something; a small Zoid sprinting across a row of buildings, leaping form rooftop to rooftop. She moved closer to it, trying to get a look at it.

"Hey, that ain't a Gunsniper!" She called out as she spotted the enemy Zoid. She recognised it as being a Snipemaster, one equipped with the same cannons as her own Zoid. Immediately she knew that it wasn't on either her team or the enemy one. instead, it had to be... "Goddam NUBG." She muttered. "Can't stand 'em!"

The Redler pulled level with the running Snipemaster, flying on a course parallel to its path. Leaving the boosters off, Tasch slewed the twin cannons towards the enemy Zoid, then opened fore. The weapons spat fire at the Snipemaster, shots tearing into the roof near it.

The Snipemaster's pilot fired his own boosters, leaping away form her Zoid and dashing off in a different direction. Not wanting to let him get away, Tasch pushed the Redler around a tight turn, trying to keep him in her sights. Instead he dropped down off one of the roofs, disappearing into the streets.

"Dangit." She swore to herself. The Snipe Master, like her own Redler, was a stealthy Zoid. Now that it was down on the street level, it would be almost impossible for her to find it. Still, she didn't want to let it get away. She banked the Redler around another corner, heading towards the center of the city. If he's gone anywhere, she figured, it's there.

The Redler dived down closer to the street level, searching around for any signs of the enemy machine. Instead, her sensors beeped as they registered something a lot larger ahead of them. "The heck?" She commented to herself. Whatever it was, it wasn't the Snipe Master. It was a lot larger but, due to the interference, she couldn't figure what it was. However, she did figure that it was hostile.

The Redler dived towards the enemy Zoid, its pilot trying to get a visual identification on it. As soon as it came into view, she recognised what it was; a Dimetrodon. "Hey! He's the one jammin' all our stuff!" She called out as she headed for it. Fortunately for her, the enemy Zoid seemed not to have seen her approach. "I guess this stealth stuff really does work," she added.

The only problem was that her twin beam cannons wouldn't do too much against the Dimetrodon's thick hull. Which meant that she needed some other way to take it out of action. Quickly figuring out a plan of attack, she dived towards the enemy Zoid, seemingly heading straight for it.

The Dimetrodon's pilot must have seen her approaching, opening fire at the last second with the twin tail-mounted cannons. The shots narrowly missed her Redler, which continued to dive at the Dimetrodon. Tasch's Zoid raked its claws across the Dimetrodon's back, shredding the array of fins mounted there. The Dimnetrodon bellowed out in anger as Tasch pulled back on the control stick, climbing away from the damaged enemy Zoid.

"Hey guys, can y'all hear me?" She called out over the communicator. "Y'know how we've all been kinda jammed? I think I’ve fixed that now."

*****

"Say what?" Neil commented, then checked his radar scope. "Hey yeah, Tasch, I can see... stuff." He grinned broadly. "Whatever you did, you're amazing.

"Ah heck." Tasch called back. "I didn't do nothin' too special."

"So what was happening?" He called out as the Gunsniper turned to head back towards where Stephen and Rose had last been. "Why did we all go off the air?"

"Well, there was a Dimetrodon in the middle of the battlefield and it was messin' with all our electronics and stuff."

"A Dimetrodon?" He asked. "Firestorm doesn't have one of them."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinkin' too." Tasch continued. "Then I figured it out that it had to be NUBG 'cause I couldn't think of who else it could be... 'cause nobody else woulda appeared in the middle of our battle like that."

"I guess that makes sense." Neil called back. "So what do we have besides the Dimetrodon."

"I dunno." Tasch commented. "I did see a Snipe Master, however."

"Ah great." Neil rolled his eyes. "A Snipe Master in a city. That's all we need."

"I dunno." Tasch replied. "'cause it wouldn't be all we'd need. If there was a Snipe Master in a city, you'd want a good electronics Zoid like a Gorheks to locate it with."

"...don't you ever change, Tasch." He added with a grin.

"Why? Do y'all want me to?"

"Never mind." He replied. "Right. I'm heading back towards where Stephen and Rose were. Let's meet up and see what those two are up to." Neil opened up the throttle, the Gunsniper sprinting through the crowded city streets.

Another Zoid pased across a crossroads just ahead of him, dashing out of his sight before he could get a good look at it. What was... hey, the Snipe Master! Firing the Gunsniper's boosters, he turned his Zoid around the intersection and headed after the other machine. Just as he thought, it was indeed the Snipe Master that Tasch had warned him about. "Well, at least I hope it is." He commented to himself. "I'd hate for there to be two of them on the loose in here."

Neil opened fire with the two wrist-mounted gattling cannons, spraying shots at the enemy Zoid. Several hit it in the back before it fired its own boosters, suddenly swerving out of his way. The Zoid ducked in between a pair of buildings, Neil turning to follow it. Those are the same boosters that Tasch uses. And it looks like this guy knows how to use them as well as she does.

The Snipe Master took a running leap, using the boosters to vault itself up onto a low building, and then another higher one. Neil opened up the throttle, leaping at the building with his own boosters. The Gunsniper came short, however, instead trying to reach for the edge of the building with its claws. "Oh hell." Neil muttered as his Zoid flailed around, then fell back to the street Level. The Zoid landed on its feet with a bone jarring crunch.

"Now what?" Neil asked himself. He knew that the Snipe Master would be hiding somewhere above him, but he had no idea where. More importantly, he knew that it could easily spot and pluck him off before he could do anything about it. He desperately searched around for any cover, trying to find a place to hide.

The Gunsniper broke into a run, dashing away form the blind alley where it had been hiding. Just as it set off, a shell slammed into the wall just behind where it had been, spraying his Zoid with concrete shrapnel. "Ah hell!" He called out as the Zoid darted across an empty street and ducked into another blind alley. "This is not my day."

He glanced around at the roofline, trying to see if he could find the Snipe Master. He had a rough idea of where it had fired from, but he was hoping to get a better look at it. If he could find it, then maybe he'd have a shot at returning its fire. "Of course, I'd need to find a good angle to shoot form. And he's on higher ground. And I've never used the tail gun."

He glanced around, then spotted something on the top of a nearby building. There was something up there that didn't blend in with the featureless grey boxes that accounted for the city's structures. Most of them were just boxes and, as a result, didn't have the usual deagree of rooftop clutter that a normal tower black would have. But one of them had something up there... and it could easily be another Zoid.

"And me with bugger all of hitting him." He commented. Then a plan began to form in the back of his mind... he knew where the other Zoid was, he just had to get to it. "Hey Stephen!" He called out over the communicator. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, what is it?" Stephen shouted back. "I'm a little busy right now."

"Damn... I need some support over her. I've got a rooftop sniper to deal with."

"Hang on a sec..." Stephen paused. "Tasch, he's over there! Get him!" There was a sound of something flying past the Iron Kong's cockpit, followed by the sound of gunfire. "Okay, you've got a few seconds. Make it good."

"I'm going to send you targeting information." Neil called back as he pressed several buttons on the Gunsniper's control panel. "Do whatever you want with the info."

"Gotcha." Stephen replied. "Okay, I have it. Just stand well back." There was a dull roaring noise from somewhere near him, followed by another one a second later. "Just keep your head down."

"Thanks, Steve. I owe ya." He called out as the Gunsniper slinked further back, only the tiniest amount of its face visible around the corner. There was an instant of movement form the top of the roof; the Snipe Master had seen him and was turning to face him. "Ah hell!" He called out. "Come on.. .come on..."

There was a dull rumble that steadily increased in volume from above. Suddenly, the Snipe Master's barrel vanished from the top of the roof; but it was a bit too late. A pair of tactical ballistic missiles slammed into the top of the building, blowing it apart in a spectacular fireball. Chunks of concrete and steel rained down onto the streets as the top half of the building simply collapsed, vanishing in the explosion.

"Okay Steve. I think he's suppressed now." Neil added, mentally reminding himself never to annoy Stephen again.

*****

"Good." Stephen called back over the communicator. "I could use some help here myself."

"On my way." Neil replied. "Give me a minute... oh. and its great to hear your voice again."

"Whatever." He muttered, then turned his attention back to the situation at hand. The Cannon Caesar was still out there, hiding somewhere nearby. Tasch had managed to keep its head dow with her strafing runs, but the Zoid seemed to have eluded her for the moment. He wasn't surprised; it had done a very good job of being evasive, and it was a stealthy design. however, without the jamming form the enemy Dimetrodon, he knew that he had a much better chance against it.

He searched around, looking for any sign of the other Zoid, wanting to get off a shot at it before the enemy Zoid got a chance to strike. Unfortunately, he figured, the other Zoid was going to get the chance first.

As if to prove him right, the Ceasar again opened up from seemingly nowhere with its dual beam cannon. The shots slammed into the Iron Kong's arm and chest, blasting through the already damaged armour. One more hit like that and I’m in real trouble. Only one option now...

Stephen stomped on the foot pedals, the iron Kong's jets firing and lifting it into the air. As he lifted off, he dropped the targeting sights onto the enemy Zoid, opening fire with the missile pod concealed in his left shoulder. The missiles streaked towards the enemy Zoid, which quickly ducked behind another building. As Stephen had expected, the missiles struck the building, blowing it apart rather then the enemy Zoid.

As he landed, he flicked on the Iron Kong's composite sensor system. The sensors managed to find the rough shape of the enemy Zoid inside the smoke and debris of the ruins. "Not so smart without your electronic support, are you?" He asked as he dropped his sights onto the other Zoid.

He opened up with the Hyperbeam Cannon, the shot streaking straight at the enemy Zoid. The Cannon Caesar tried to twist out of its line of fire, but was not completely successful. The shot tore through its side, ripping the right arm apart and leaving a long scar across the side of its body. The Cannon Caesar staggered back, but quickly regained its feet. The Zoid broke into a run, dashing behind a row of buildings.

"Now, Tasch!" Stephen called out. "Let him have it!"

"Sure thing!" She replied. The Redler dived down, opening fire on the damaged enemy Zoid with its own beam cannons. The shots tore into its back, blasting apart the dual barreled cannon mounted on top of it. The enemy Zoid stumbled forwards, but managed to retain its footing despite the damage it had taken.

The enemy Zoid replied with hte triple cannon array mounted on its back, opening up on the Redler. Several shots struck Tasch's Zoid, shredding amour off its wings and fuselage. The Redler pulled away from the attack, trailing smoke form several hits.

"Tasch, are you okay?" He called out.

"Yeah, I'm good." She replied. "He's yours now. Go get 'im!"

Stephen didn't need to be told twice. With its main cannon out of action, the Cannon Ceasar would be an easy target for him. The Iron Kong knuckled its way across the street, heading after the enemy Zoid. Seeing it limping across an intersection, Stephen dropped his sights onto the damaged Zoid. "You arses have messed with me once to often." He snarled. "And I, for one am damn well getting sick of-"

Before he could fire, Miles' Death Raser leaped out from a nearby side-street, charging at the Iron Kong. Its plasma blades ripped through the Iron Kong's damaged arm, slicing through the structure. The arm collapsed, the Zoid shifting and then collapsing onto its side.

"Miles, you bastard!" Stephen called out. "I was about to get him!"

"Yeah, but you're worth competition points." Miles replied, a smug tone in his voice. "And he isn't." The Iron Kong struggled back to its feet, its damaged arm creaking ominously. "Oh no, you don't, Stephen." He replied, the Death Raser hissing at his Zoid. Its quad plasma blades sticking out from the sides of its body, crackling with energy. "I'm gonna see that you go down hard."

Abruptly, the armour on the back of the Death Raser's neck exploded apart. The Zoid let out a loud roar, then collapsed, falling flat, its head crashing to the ground. Its blades crackled ofr a moment, then quietly fizzled off.

"Wha?" Stephen asked. "Who was that?"

"Well what do you know." Neil commented. "I can actually hit something with this thing."

*****

[Deadborder]

Ken kept the Cannon Caesar’s throttle open as far as he could, pushing the battered machine to go as fast as possible. He knew a bad situation when he saw one, and he was looking at one now. "All units, report in!" He called out. He needed to asses their status and see if the situation could be salvaged.

"This is Hunter Two." Margo began. "My arrays out of action. They’ve got all their sensors and comms, and the ZBC can see us now."

"This is Hunter Three." Thomas continued. "My Zoid is out of action. Request pickup."

"This is Hunter Four." Des reported. "My Zoid is damaged with my Shot Cannon disabled. I'm no longer combat effective."

"This is Hunter Five." Kyle finished. "My Zoid is also disabled. I need to be picked up as well."

So they were finished, he figured. He'd had the whole battle planned and knew exactly what should have happened. However, it didn't occur; instead it had all fallen apart. And if he could figure the specific moment, he'd have to say it was when that Blade Liger and Command Wolf showed up. So what were they doing there? he asked himself. Was there something that the NUBG hadn't told me?

He'd have to asses this later. Right now, he had more pressing concerns. "All units, withdraw via the entrance we came in through. Hunter Four, collect our downed pilots and then join us. Do not engage hostiles unless attacked first. As soon as we're out, disperse and then regroup at our drop-off point. Maintain radio silence until then." He glared over his status board. "Out."

This battle had gone form a well-planned sure thing to a total disaster. He felt lucky that he had been able to get away with three Zoids, even if two of them were damaged. Certainly he'd need to figure out exactly what had happened, and he suspected that would involve asking a few questions about who set up the battle. He'd need to find out where those other Zoids had come from and how hty'd gotten in there. He didn't know if they were also NUBG Zoids, but he wanted to find out.

All of a sudden, he didn't feel like laughing.

*****

Despite the best efforts of all the other participants in the battle, both Bill and Slash had managed to escape from the arena with their Zoids more or less intact. They'd managed to evade the combined enemy fire for long enough to get to the same gate they'd entered by and then leave the arena.

"Well that was an outrageous screw up." Bill shouted out over the communicator as the two Zoids limped away, Slash's Blade Liger in the lead. "We went in there at your suggestion and got our arses kicked!"

Slash snarled to himself, but didn't bother to look at the communicator. "I didn't exactly see you helping me out there, Bill." He calmly stated. "Don't blame me fro your failiure."

"That’s because I had the damn weapons torn off my Zoid!" He snapped. "What was i meant to do, go after, what, twelve Zoids with just my Zid's teeth?" He didn't mention his CP-06 Unit.

"You knew what our aims were. And you agreed to them. So don’t blame me for your inability to fulfill them. You were the one who wanted to go after both teams after all."

"Both teams, Slash!" Bill yelled out. "I said both, not, well heck, all three of them. Because in case you didn't notice, there was a third team in there. One that you failed to mention to me. One that promptly proceeded to kick both our arses rather soundly."

"I didn't know anything about that other team either, Bill." He shouted back. "Don't blame me for what happened in there. My contact didn't say anything about there even being a third team in the battle. The ZBC must have changed their plan for the battle or something like that."

"So nice of your contact to tell us then." Bill muttered. "So the pair of us got our Zoids trashed for what... nothing. We didn't get any points for that, any prize money, any publicity or any crap like that. And now our team is down another member because you drove him off."

"He wasn't going to be any use to us anyway." Slash snapped back. "He was nothing but a coward, unable to do his duty for the team."

"Yeah, right." Bill continued. "Admit it, Slash. This plan was total crap from the beginning. I don't know hwy I went along with this stupid, hair-brained scheme."

"Because you had the same needs as me, Bill." He continued. "You had the same need for revenge against those that had wronged you. It was that need which drove you forwards and what continues to motivate you. No matter what the issue is, the need for vengeance is a strong calling that cannot be ignored. We must use it to drive ourselves on, Bill."

He waited for a moment, but there was no reply. "Bill?" He glanced down at the communicator, then looked back to his Command Wolf. The machine was no longer following behind him, but, instead, was lying on its side. There was a huge gash torn straight though its side, while there was debris from the machine scattered around it.

"Bill?" He asked again, a slightly nervous tone in his voice. "Bill?"

There was a sudden lour roar, followed by an electric crackle. The Liger was slammed from the side, rocking on its feet. As he fought with the controls, an ear-shattering metallic screech filled the cockpit. The Blade Liger was thrown sideways as every system on the status board seemed to light up at once. Slash was slammed against the side of the cockpit as the liger hit the ground, then slumped in his seat.

"Whu..." He gasped out as he looked over the console. His Zoid was clearly out of action, having suffered massive damage. "What happened?"

*****

Not too long after the Dimetrodon had been disabled, the ZBC had tried to regain control of the situation. They'd broadcast messages to all the participants in the battle, ordering them to stand down until they could figure what had happened. It didn't really matter; only one of the Firestorm team Zoids was still operational at the time. Drake had voluntarily surrendered, knowing both that his damaged Zoid didn't stand much of a chance against the four Broken Chairs members, and that the NUBG attack would invalidate the result of the battle.

A squadron of ZBC security Zoids had swept the arena, looking for any signs of the NUBG team and hoping to detain them. They hadn't had much luck; it appeared that the NUBG force had abandoned the arena soon after the Dimetrodon's jamming array had been disabled.

Following the battle, the two teams had been given a chance to clean up. They then had been called into a briefing room so that they, and the ZBC, could get a better idea of what had happened.

"First of all, I wish to apologise for today's events." Elisa began as she stood before the eight pilots. "We're launching a full investigation as to how the NUBG were able to infiltrate the arena and evade our security precautions. Rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to find the persons responsible."

"From what we've gathered, the arena was infiltrated by a force of seven Zoids. Evidence from both the wreckage we found and the information you provided us has allowed us to pinpoint the types used." A series of images came up on the screen behind her. "Two of the enemy team's Zoids, a Guntiger and a Snipe Master, were disabled." The screens showed the wreckage of the two machines. "Both pilots escaped."

"Nice job on the building there." Neil added.

"Yeah, yeah." Stephen muttered.

"Another two were encountered by your teams and damaged, but both escaped. These were a Cannon Ceasar and a Dimetrodon." Another image came up, showing the torn wreckage of a large cannon. "A fifth Zoid took part in the battle, armed with a CP-07 shot cannon. We believe that it was a Molga, and that it also escaped the battle."

"I sure as heck didn't see a Molga." Tasch began. "An' I'd know if I had."

"I don't tink that any of our team did." Stephen continued. "How about you?"

"Nobody here did either." Drake replied, the only member of the Firestorm team even attempting conversation. MIles appeared to be sulking, while both Crystal and Eliot were watching him.

"So then what about Slash, er, Karl Schnauzer?" Rose asked. "Was he a part of this?"

"We don't know." Elisa replied. "We found the wreckage of a Command Wolf's weapons turret, which we believe was taken from one of his teammates." She bought up another image on screen. "It looks like it was ripped off the Zoid by a melee weapon."

"I know that none of us encountered a Command Wolf." Neil called out. "If I'd seen one I would have known to run away from it."

"So it would appear that the Black Hands team attacked the Molga, and were in turn attacked by one of the other NUBG Zoids, most likely the Cannon Caesar." Elisa continued.

"So we had two different groups invading the battle." Drake observed. "Fascinating."

"I'd hazard to say that each was not aware of the other." Stephen continued. "If they'd been working together, then they would have done a lot more damage to us."

"And Slash said he was after me, not anyone else." Rose added. "Which doesn't sound like NUBG."

"While we can't definitely state that it was Schnauzer’s team, we will have to look into matters." Elisa continued. "Certainly we have ample grounds to suspect them."

"Given that NUBG seems to not like us, y'all think that it was their reason fer comin’ here?" Tasch asked.

"I can't say for certain." Elisa replied. "I suspect that their aim was to disrupt this match both to hinder the ZBC and promote their own battles. The presence of your team here may have been incidental to their aims."

"I guess... otherwise they wouldn't have attacked the Firestormers." She glanced over at the other team. "Unless... any of you ever been in trouble with the NUBG? Like walked into one of their secret arenas and walked out again?"

"Us?" Drake asked. "Not that I know of." He looked over his team, but got only non-committal shrugs. "I'd say that the answer is no, however."

"Oh. So they only dislike us then."

"It’s great to be wanted." Neil dryly quipped.

"Only if it’s a good enough reward." Tasch replied. "Cause then you could turn yourself in and claim it. 'cept then you wouldn't get to spend it, though..."

"Tasch, don't think about it." Neil continued.

"Sure. I won't."

"We won't detain you any further." Elisa spoke up, trying not to think about the conversation either. "We'll escort you back to your bases, and arrange for a PKB watch on them, just in case." She nodded to the assembled group. "Unfortunately, this match has been a bit of a disaster for us. We obviously cannot award any competition points for this battle; of the three competitors Zoids taken out, only one was by a legal participant in the battle."

"Who loves ya, baby?" Neil asked the room.

"We will however arrange suitable compensation for the battle; we certainly will over repairs and possibly figure some reward based on the original prize money. Above all else, we want to thank you for your participation and your help in our investigation."

The two teams stood, heading out of the room. "*Watch your language!* NUBG." Miles muttered. "Damn it, I had this all figured out and they screwed it all up."

Rose quietly walked over to Drake as he was leaving. "Um, I, uh, I wanted to say thanks for helping me out there with Slash, even when you didn't need to. And also for getting that Guntiger before it could get to me."

Drake nodded his head. "It isn't a problem, Rose. I'm just glad that I could assist you. I only wish that we could have had the chance to finish our battle."

"Yeah, I guess." She sighed. "Say, um, are you doing anything this week? Like, uh, if you had some time off or something, i was wondering we could, uh, I dunno, do somehting."

Drake smiled at her. "Well, I'll see what happens and let you know." He walked out of the room. "See you later."

"Bye." Rose casually replied. And then, in spite of all that had happened so far that day, she grinned.

*****

By the time the Broken Chairs got back to their base, nobody was in much of a mood to go over the condition of their Zoids. Stephen and Tasch had declared that they would look after it 'tomorrow' and leave it at that. In truth, everyone was exhausted after a very grueling battle, one that they would rather not think about again.

Despite that, Rose was stil in a good mood after her earlier discussion with Drake. Of course, she didn't want to say much about it, as she didn't want to read too much into it. At least, not yet. She'd see what happened this week, then decide on whether she should tell the whole world about it.

She logged into her journal, and went over the entries. Her friends list didn't seem to have moved at all; just the same few fights and the same old stuff. There was another comment on her own earlier discussion about the battle, the same one that had been spammed by the anonymous poster before; in fact, it was a direct reply. Checking on it, she could see that it was also anonymous and had been posted within half an hour of the end of the battle. Interested, she scrolled down to it.

Now that’s a rather empty boast, given what just happened to you.

Oh, don’t think that you can hide from me. I know who you are. I know what you do. I know where you live.

Its time for you to get bitten.

Rose quietly shuddered to herself, and then closed the tread.

*****

Authors Notes:

Matt Groening is a genius. He created a satirical LiveJournal Whinger before LiveJournal was invented.

[Tilly]

...oops. All that work, and I miss "close the tread".

*is a bad evil editor*

[Orange]

I liked it, but I felt the whole 'womanizer' thing went a tad overboard. Other then that, a decent fic. It was a bit streached though, I found myself skimming at a few parts.