Fan Fiction / Zoids Fan Fiction / Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction / Outlaw Star Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ The Reaper ❯ The New Ally, Gathering at the Toros Base ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Zoids, I would like to be pals with the people who do own it though. Real good pals. I do own a few things in this story though. I own Nate Sindel, the Death Raptor, the Blue Fury, the QPC, the Zeros team, the Stakara Desert, and the Zarochi Flats.

In the last chapter Mayuka tried to defeat an entire army of Zoids on her own. Leyon was saved from the hospital by Oscar Hemeros. Leyon and Toros settled their differences in a rather short amount of time. Mayuka was doing pretty good, but got hit by a War Shark. This gave the enemy a chance to turn the tide. She was saved by Nate at the last minute. And later at the base they found out something extremely odd about their Zoids.

** ** Zoid talk

( ) Author's note

Chapter 5: The New Ally, Gathering at the Toros Base

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Zinoby, town 10 miles from Zeros base

The two dinosaur Zoids stopped in front of a restaurant. This specific restaurant, called Danni's, is owned by Nate's cousin. They walked around back and opened their cockpits. Nate was amazed that they were doing this all on their own, he had no idea their sentience went this far. Nate jumped down and put on a pair of sunglasses and a Gilligan style hat. He caught Mayuka when she jumped, and she gave him a strange look when she saw what he had on.

"What are those for?" she asked.

"So I'm not recognized," he said kissing her on the cheek, "Happy birthday."

They walked around front and went inside.

(I haven't told you what Mayuka was wearing, have I? Sorry. She is wearing a pair of brown cowgirl boots, a tight gray skirt that goes down to her calves, a slit down the side lets her walk, and a white long sleeved button up shirt. The sleeves were so long that they covered most of her hands.)

"Hey, Nate," Danni said, coming around from behind the bar counter, with her heavy southern accent. She was only 17, but her restaurant was already thriving. She was a head shorter than Nate, roughly Mayuka's height. Her dirty blonde hair, which normally fell loose around her shoulders, was pulled back, and tuck under a hairnet. Her auburn eyes shone like little amber pellets. She hugged him and he hugged back.

Mayuka, not knowing they were cousins, got a little offended.

"Hey, what are you doing hugging him?" she said getting in between them.

"Nate, you haven't told her?" Danni asked giving him an innocent look. A lot of people give him those looks.

"Told me what?" she asked turning to give Nate a death glare.

"Maya, Danni is my cousin," he said now it was his turn to have an innocent look on his face.

"Oh," she looked at the ground. She felt ashamed that she had jumped to conclusions.

"Come on," Danni said putting her arm around Mayuka, "have a seat." She then gave Nate a look that said `you better have a damn good reason why you didn't tell her.'

Mayuka took a seat at the end of the bar and Nate sat next to her. Danni was behind the bar talking with them. Not many people were left, so it didn't matter that no one was served. They ordered their drinks while they talked. Mayuka had a coke and Nate had a root beer. Nate told them everything he knew about these advanced Ultimate X's capabilities.

"So, what you're sayin' is that your Zoids feels more emotions than just victory and defeat?" Danni asked.

"Yes, it's almost as if they're truly sentient," he said taking a sip of root beer.

"Mine is the same as the Raptor, right?" Mayuka asked.

"All parts of it are based on the Raptor, right down to the organoid system. I had to slightly alter it to allow you to be the pilot."

"Hey Nate, think you could make me a Zoid like that?" Danni asked curiously.

"No," he answered in a flat tone of voice.

"Why?"

"I will not make another Zoid with that much power."

"Nate, why do you have to wear those in here?" Mayuka asked pointing to his hat and glasses.

"Fine," he took off the hat, but left the glasses.

"Much better, now why not let me see your eyes?" Danni asked trying to see through the dark lenses.

"You'll see them, when the time comes."

"Why not now?" a deep voice asked from behind.

"Because," Nate said to the voice.

At this the owner of the voice tried Mayuka.

"You really wanna be seen with an amateur Zoid pilot who hides behind glasses? Why not leave with me and save yourself from making a big mistake?"

Mayuka ignored him, but Nate couldn't stand being called certain names, one of them was amateur.

"You really, really wanna see my eyes?" he asked with hints of rage and amusement.

"Yeah, I do," the man said turning back to him, he had his arm around Mayuka. This got Nate even madder.

"Okay," and he lifted the glasses off to reveal his separately colored eyes. The man let out a gasp and stumbled back. Nate's eyes were his trademark as The Reaper.

"Y-y-y-you're h-h-h-him!" he managed to stutter.

"Who, who am I?" Nate asked a mad glint of enjoyment in his right eye.

"It's The Reaper!" the guy yelled and ran out the door.

"You know, Nate, that's not good for business," Danni said putting her hands on her hips and smiling.

"Had to do something, so I gave him what he wanted," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"What happened to your left eye?" she asked figuring Mayuka already knew, which she does.

"It was during a test of the Quantum Particle," he began, "I wasn't testing it inside the Raptor yet, but I was in a saferoom. I had the particle in a contained cylinder surrounded by shields. When the particle ball was reaching critical mass something happened to the left aileron of the shield modulator. Before I knew what was happening Quantum Particles were leaking out through the damaged shielding. The tiny stray particles passed through the protective glass and one hit me in the eye. My vision went dark and before I blacked out I shut off the reaction chamber and hit the alarm. Mayuka knew something was wrong and rushed me to the hospital. When I woke up I was in a room and could see clearly through both eyes."

He stopped to sip his soda, then continued.

"Mayuka was there and a whole bunch of doctors. They were all talking about how the color was off. My normal eye color is very rare, so they couldn't get it right. They handed me a mirror and when I saw my reflection I started laughing at how scarred I was. They had actually cut down, then across the top, and across the bottom. They repaired the top and bottom scars, but the couldn't heal this one without damaging my new eye. They offered to replace my right eye, but Mayuka stopped them saying I looked just fine. `No one will notice the difference,' you said. Now I'm feared because of this eye, but it does have its uses."

Danni was listening intently to the story the whole time. For so long she had thought his eye had been damaged in the gate accident.

Their attention was turned to the TV, which now had a special news bulletin one it.

"It has been confirmed that the Backdraft Organization does have seven Deathsaurers. This was confirmed in an interview with one Dr. Leyon at the Toros base earlier today." The TV showed a picture of a Deathsaurer and how it had been modified. Danni let out a slight gasp at it.

"We believe that the Backdraft will use these Zoids to attack the Blitz team. We also have information that during the afternoon of this day an unsanctioned battle took place between the Backdraft and the Zeros team. A new Zoid was spotted fighting, and winning, against odds that would make some of the best warriors cringe. We estimate that the Backdraft lost 300 of the 1100 Zoids it brought to this blue Zoid. It was winning until a surprise attack caught it off guard and turned the tide. The leader of the Zeros team's Death Raptor rescued it before it could be annihilated. The two Zoids destroyed a combined total of 787 drones."

"You destroyed 487 in that short an amount of time?" Mayuka asked wide-eyed and shocked. Nate just looked away and blushed a little, very little.

"If it's true, and they are going after the Blitz team, then you two should help," Danni said rushing to get the phone.

"Who are you calling?" Nate asked looking at her, although he had an idea who she was calling.

"I'm calling Ricky, her White Blade Liger could be a big help," she said hitting the speed dial.

Nate's assumption was correct. The thought of Ricky helping them made him feel a bit better. She would be able to handle the ground troops, while he and Mayuka worked on the Deathsaurers.

"Hey, Ricky, it's Danni," she said in an urgent voice, "Did you see the news?"

"We got to get going," Nate said getting up.

"Where?" Mayuka asked.

"To see if the Blitz team wants some help."

Danni hung up the phone at that moment.

"She's gonna be waiting at your base so you can explain the details to her," she said, "and you better not just leave her hanging."

"I won't, trust me," he said and winked with his left eye, "We have to pick up some stuff anyway." He left the money and rushed out the door with Mayuka right behind him.

Once they were in their Zoids and out of the town limits, they hit the throttle and broke the sound barrier, wanting to get there as fast as possible.

Meanwhile: Toros base

"This isn't good team," Toros said as he stood watching the news report. The rest of the team was sitting staring at the Deathsaurer picture on the TV.

"Dad, what are we gonna do? Those things are way too big," Leena said in a calm but scared-out-of-her-wits voice.

"We have to call for some help," Bit said getting up to go to the phone, "I'm gonna call Stoller, he left me his number in case I wanted to battle again."

"I'll call Naomi and Leon," Brad said getting to get another phone, "Leena call the Lightening team, we'll need them too."

"Right," she said and pulled out a cell phone.

"Jamie," Toros said, "Call that freelance pilot, Pierce. The one who used to work for the Backdraft."

"Right Doc," Jamie said and he ran to the computer to place the call. "Doc, who are you gonna call."

"Ghostbusters," he said with a laugh, "But seriously, I'm going to call the Champ Corporation, see if they can send Mary over. She as trigger happy as Leena."

"That spoiled brat?" Leena asked, "As trigger happy as me? Not a chance."

They all laughed as their calls connected.

"Leena!" a familiar voice screamed from the doorway, "I'm here to protect you!"

"Harry! Just the man I wanted to see!" Toros said.

"What about?" he asked looking confused.

"I need you to call your sister, see if she'll come and help. Tell her to bring lots of ammo."

"I'm on it, for a slight fee, of course," he said looking over at Leena.

"Fine, I'll go on the date with you," she screamed at him, "I'm only doing this because it's for the common good!"

Back at the Zeros base: 8 PM

A shadowy figure appeared at the doorway of the hangar. Her black hair was cut just short of her shoulders, and her amber eyes were the image of her sisters. Behind her was the silhouette of the White Blade Liger. Imagine the Schneider, now make it white. She stepped in and watched Nate and Mayuka attach the Wild Weasel to the Death Rapter and the Dober guns to the Blue Fury. Her spike-heeled boots made a clopping sound as she walked over to him at his console.

"Hi cousin," she said right in his ear.

"Hey Ricky, how's the battling going?" he asked now loading missile pods on the legs and arms.

"It's going okay, I just won my tenth win in a row," she said looking over at the Blue Fury. "Where did that come from?"

"I made it as a birthday present for Mayuka."

"You mean it's," she started.

"One of a kind," Mayuka yelled from her console. She had loaded to two Dober guns onto the Fury's flanks and was now placing a long-range rifle on its back.

"Do you think they'll accept our help?" Ricky asked looking at his left eye.

"They need all the help they can get. If they don't let us help them, then we'll help ourselves," he said.

"Can you move it independently from the right?" she asked staring at his left eye. He turned to look at her, his right eye looked one way and his left moved the other. "That answers my question."

"We can move out less than an hour, is that good for you?" he asked Ricky moving his left eye to look at her.

"How long exactly?" Mayuka asked finishing the installation and walking towards them.

"When I'm done here, we can leave," he answered, "and I'm almost there." He attached a few rear-facing missile racks and a buster rifle. "Done."

"Then let's move out!" Ricky yelled already halfway to her Zoid.

Nate and Mayuka climbed into their Zoids; even with all the armaments their speed would not be lessened by too much. They were out of the hangar and into the night in less than a minute. Mayuka, at this time, was wearing something out of her own closet, and Nate's closet. She had on a pair of his baggy pants, her calf-high boots, and a blue tank top. Nate was wearing his usual clothes; baggy pants, green tank, and a pair of leather hiking boots.

"This is going to be fun," he said as the three Zoids ran under the two full moons.

"I still don't think they'll want our help," Ricky said in a bit of an enthusiastic voice.

"Deal with it!"

"So if they don't want our help, we'll give it to them anyway?" Mayuka asked from the Blue Fury's cockpit.

"Exactly!" he said and punched the throttle. The Death Raptor sped up ahead of the other two Zoids. "We've got to move fast, there's no telling when the Backdraft will strike."

"We can expect most of the Zoids to be drones, but there are some piloted ones," Ricky said hitting the throttle on the White Blade Liger's controls. It roared and moved closer to the Raptor, though it was about a quarter of a mile behind it and the Fury.

Toros base: 30 minutes later

"Thanks for coming, everyone," Doc said as the last team, the Lightening team, arrived. They were all outside the hangar getting prepared for the coming battle.

"You guys hear that?" Naomi asked looking behind her while she finished unloading her Gun Sniper.

"Hear what?" Leon asked looking up from his control system. He then looked at the horizon, and the sinking sun. A flash of movement caught his eye, but before he could tell anyone.

"Someone's coming!" Bit yelled from on top of the Liger Zero. He pointed in the direction that Leon was looking. There was a roar that shook the very base on which they stood.

Into the lights of the base stalked three Zoids. The Blitz team recognized one of them.

"What do you want, Reaper?" Leena yelled at the lead Zoid. The cockpit opened and he stepped out.

"Ta' help," he yelled back, "You're going to need all the help you can get."

"LEON!" Ricky yelled jumping out of her Liger and running up to the Red Blade Liger. "Do you mind if we help?"

"RICKY!" he yelled back and jumped down, they hugged. "I don't mind, DO YOU MIND DAD?" he yelled over to Toros.

Toros didn't hear him, he was busy looking at the White Blade Liger with wide, eager eyes. He was admiring the blue blades and the head armor.

"It's like a white Liger Zero Schneider," Bit said looking at it with a hint of concern. `If a Zoid like that exists, then there are rarer Zoids than mine,' he thought.

"Toros, do you mind if we help?" Nate asked allowing Leena to look at his arsenal.

"Sure, the more the merrier," Toros said turning away from the white Liger to oogle the Blue Fury.

Mayuka had climbed out already and was standing next to Nate. The two Tasker sisters were giving her a bit of a glare. Stoller and Pierce were standing off to the side with their Zoids. Leon and Ricky were talking about things, I don't know what. Naomi was with Brad behind the Shadow Fox talking to him; once every so often she would point in Nate's direction. Jack Sisco was talking to Mary Champ, who had agreed to come only if she could battle the Liger again. Surprisingly, she had improved to the point where she was better than Harry was; which isn't much, but it's something. Jamie was on the hover cargo coming up with different battle plans.

"Why are you here? Don't you know that when Harry Champ is involved, help is not needed?" Harry yelled at Nate, even though he was only a meter away.

"Come closer and yell at me, Harry. Or are you afraid?" Nate asked with a slight laugh. He knew exactly why Harry was keeping his distance.

"Why should I?" Harry asked, "You'd probably run away in terror."

Nate took one step forward, Harry took a step back. Another step forward, and another step back. One more step forward, and Harry tripped on a rock.

"You're one of the lowest ranked warriors in the league. You're sister is better than you are, and she's a beginner. I should be asking you why you're here," Nate said standing over him his left eye was looking from person to person, expecting them to jump on him.

"Mr. Reaper, if you don't mind letting my brother up," Mary said from behind him.

"Yeah, sure," he answered going slightly red at being called Mr. Reaper. He helped Harry up and gave him a look. "Stay out of my way Harry Champ, unless you want to get hurt," he said glaring at Harry then turning to Mary, "And you…just call me Nate. I don't think I'm old enough to be called mister, yet."

She smiled and walked over to talk to Mayuka about her Zoid.

"So, you want to help?" Bit asked walking up to Nate, "Why would you want to help us?"

"Same reason as most of these warriors are here," he answered looking from group to group, "I respect the Blitz teams record; yours and the Liger's abilities especially. To see such an amazing team to be wiped off the face of Zi would be truly inhuman."

"Well, thanks," Bit said, "A weapon like yours is going to be a great asset."

"It's going to be all we need."

"How d'you figure that?"

"I need you and the others to hold off the smaller Zoids while I charge up and take out the Deathsaurers. I should be able to get at least two with each shot; as long as I can stay conscious," he turned to look at the Raptor.

"What do you mean `stay conscious'?" Chris Tasker asked walking up to him. She had a strange look on her face, like she wanted to say something, but couldn't.

"The weapon on my Zoid are somewhat connected to myself. The more energy the Raptor uses, the more is drained from me. That's why I only use one shot ever match."

"I see, would you mind if I took a look at the schematics of that weapon?" she asked fluttering her eyelashes. This was actually very strange behavior for her.

"No," a flat tone to his voice.

"I thought as much, oh well. Just to see it used will be enough for me."

"Good."

"Is there something going on here that I should know about?" Mayuka asked suddenly appearing next to Nate.

"Nothing," Chris said and walked off.

"That's good to hear!" Mayuka yelled after her.

`Tomorrow is going to be a very long day,' Nate thought to himself, `but a short battle with what I have in store for them.' He smiled and turned to walk back to his Zoid.

"What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing, just thought of something funny."

They walked back to their Zoids, which had moved to stand as close together as possible. Neither of them were phased by this. Nate helped Mayuka climb on top of the top cannon of the Wild Weasel. They sat there and looked at the fading sunlight.

"I wonder how Ricky knows Leon Toros," Nate said lying on his back and looking at the moons.

"They probably fought each other at some point," Mayuka said laying down next to him.

Meanwhile on the ground the other teams were discussing what to do if the Zeros turned.

"They can't be trusted," Bit said, "I mean, who comes and just offers their help?"

"Obviously someone with a lot more to lose than you Bit," Leon said in their defense, "They probably have some score to settle with the Backdraft."

"Our team has been on the news a lot during the past few days," Toros said, "Ever since Layon confirmed the existence of the Deathsaurers."

"They won't turn on you, if that's what you're thinking," Ricky said from beside Leon. "He's my cousin and I know him. Of course, knowing him, he's gonna do something drastic tomorrow."

"How drastic?" Jack asked, the Tasker sisters nodded.

"Deadly drastic," she said in a very serious tone. "He would do anything to make sure that girl survives. If she dies, he'll be hunted down by the Jurai Royal Family. That's the last thing on his mind though, he loves her and she loves him."

"You mean she's Juraian?" Naomi asked, she was now regretting accusing them of treason.

"She's in line to the throne of Jurai. She is a princess," Ricky continued, "that is how important she is."

"Then why is she battling?" Leon asked also in a serious tone.

"I'm just guessing that she has something to prove to herself, and Nate," she said, "Just like you wanted to prove yourself to your father."

Leon went slightly red.

"If he's going to do something as drastic as you say, then we should give him a wide birth in which to do it in," Jamie chimed in.

"This is obviously just a way to impress my Leena," Harry said and he was promptly hit on the head by his sister.

"Thank you Mary," Leena said, "What do you think these drastic measures will be?"

"I think, now this is just a theory," she stated calmly then paused, letting the suspense build, "he's going to fire that main weapon at full power."

Everyone gasped and stared at her. At full power nothing would survive, not even the Raptor itself.

"How could he be that crazy? The result of that blast would be devastating!" Leena screamed. "Even I'm not that crazy!"

"Leena, you are that crazy," Bit said backing off slightly, "you just don't have the Zoid to do it."

She was about to jump on him when they heard a sound.

"If you all think I'm crazy, then why are you allowing me to help?" Nate asked from behind them.

"How long have you been there?" Toros asked in surprise and alarm.

"Long enough to hear what Ricky's theory was. She does know me well," he said walking up and giving Ricky a hug said, "Say good bye to Danni for me, if I don't come back."

Her arms hung limp, she couldn't believe what her own cousin was doing. He was planning to die, to save them, a bunch of strangers. She managed to whisper, "Sure thing."

He backed off from her and saw that she was crying. He wiped away her tears and turned around. Then he turned back.

"Since you all know what my plan is, I'm hoping you'll all accept it. Just get out of the blast range in enough time to not get hit by the shockwave."

"How will we do that?" Mary asked, she had become wiser in the time she had been away.

"The explosion radius is only about three miles, but the shockwave expands for a good twelve miles. I ran a simulation on the way here."

"So we have to be at least ten miles away to sustain minimal damage?" Toros asked doing the calculations in his head.

"Exactly, it would be best if you didn't bring the hover cargo. It's too slow to escape the blast radius."

"I'll have to call Leyon and find out if we can use his Whale King," Toros said. "It should be fast enough to outrun an explosion like that."

"Come on everybody, we should go inside and get some sleep," Bit said yawning. "We all want to be rested for the battle."

"Knowing the Backdraft, they'll probably expect us to expect them at night," Nate said, "Which means we can expect them in the morning. They're going to think we've stayed up all night waiting for them."

"Nate," Kelly Tasker started to ask, "do you have something against the Backdraft?"

"They rigged the gate to explode seven years ago, they gave me this scar," he said then got all quiet, "They killed my father."

So far the only people who haven't said anything were Stoller and Pierce. They weren't here to be consulted, they had no idea there was a Deathsaurer project. They only came because of their hate for the Backdraft.

As everyone went inside Nate went to get Mayuka from on top of the Raptor. She jumped, he caught her, they went inside. When everyone was settled the Zoids were brought into the massive hangar.

TBC

I'm not telling you people anything about the next chapter. You're just gonna have to wait. If you think the story is getting to be a bit too much of a romance, tell me. To let you know, the story is about change. And how you are always the opposite of what you've become. Look at this way, say you were a cold-hearted killer. No matter how much you change, when the situation comes around, you're still that cold-hearted killer. As always please review.