Fan Fiction / Zoids Fan Fiction / Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction / Outlaw Star Fan Fiction / Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ The Reaper ❯ The Battles Commence ( Chapter 15 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Zoids, but I do own this story and all characters you do not know. They are mine and mine alone, but if you ask nicely I might let you use them.

In this chapter I'm going to make up for the info lost in the last chapter. I know that the thought of the Liger Zero and the Gun Sniper evolving at the same time is a little strange, but you have to think. 7+ years is a long time for a team to exist, even the Zeros team (14 years), Bit was getting so good at piloting the Liger that Liger couldn't keep up with his reflexes, so it evolved; same thing with Leena. The two battles commence at the same time, but Isa's ends much quicker than the Blitz team's. Renee and her Gungyarados, long name I know, have been watching them since the very beginning. She knows all about the Liger Zero's capabilities, but she is in for treat with the Liger Zero X. Leena has finally settled her differences with Naomi. Turns out it was about the amount of weapons that Leena put on her Gun Sniper, not her skills as a pilot. They've agreed to just let the whole matter go and Naomi would never make fun of her choice of weapons again. I might make a fusion between the Blitz and Flugal teams.

***** scene change

Chapter 15: The Battles Commence

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You all know the time, place, and date.

They all ran outside to see the crystalline structure around the Snipe Master begin to crack and shatter. The pieces fell away from the very top, and as they fell they slowly disintegrated, as if they never actually existed. Those that made it to the ground just shattered into an innumerable number of pieces and disappeared. Larger and larger pieces started to break off, falling to the ground with ominous thuds, before they shattered.

When the crystal was completely gone there stood the Zoid. It was a raptor type for sure. The long legs, over-sized claws between two other long, straight claws. Small arms with large claws for fingers. A short neck with a head slightly like the Gun Sniper's; like a cross between the Gun Snipers' and Rev Raptors' head. It had a single white horn on the back of its head. The long black tail rifle, with securing struts, and a sniper scope. The small lay-down cockpit mounted on the back. It also had the weapons that Leena had on her Gun Sniper. The two Vulcan cannons were attached to the hips; the missile pods were attached to the bottom of the Vulcans. Two more missile pods were on shoulders, and on the wrists were the triple barrel mini Vulcans. The dual laser cannons of the Weasel unit were attached just below the back-mounted sniper cockpit, and the stabilizer disc was split in two, and one half was on one side of the sniper cockpit, the other on the other side.

The cockpit opened and Leena stood up, yawning and stretching, like she had been sleeping the whole time. She jumped down and swooned slightly, Bit caught her before she could fall over.

"How ya doing?" he asked.

*****

"What do you mean Naomi has to be the sniper?" Leena asked causing the room to shake. They were all inside and the Snipe Master was in the hangar, safe and sound.

"What's the problem Leena?" Nate asked understanding her outburst. "You still have all your armaments, but what makes the Snipe Master an exceptional Zoid is its ability to pick off enemies with ease."

"So? I can do that without Naomi's help."

"What do you know about being a sniper Leena?" Naomi asked cooly. "Your strategy is to shoot and shoot and shoot and hope you hit something. And seeing how you did against the Storm Sworders, your tactics won't work."

"Leena, she has a point," Mayuka said moving her queen into the open, she was playing chess against Nate.

"I'll take aim this time."

"Leena, the Gungyarados exceeds the speed of your missiles. Even on the ground it's extremely maneuverable," Nate said seeing Mayuka's trap and instead took the rook that was stationed behind the queen. "Either you let Naomi help, or you don't battle."

"WHAT? YOU CAN'T MAKE A DECISION LIKE THAT FOR ME!" she screamed at him.

"But I can," Toros said from one of the chairs. "It's true Leena, you need to set aside this little rivalry you and Naomi have going on. You clearly have the superior Zoid now."

Leena pouted, she was getting ganged up on and she didn't like it. Bit wasn't even jumping in to defend her.

With a hefty sigh she said, "Fine, Naomi can snipe, but only when I run out of ammo."

"Then it's agreed," Naomi said extending her hand to finalize it. Leena looked at it but didn't shake it. "Okay, it's a verbal agreement."

"Checkmate," Nate said moving his final piece into place. Mayuka's king had been cornered; Nate's rooks were in the corners adjacent to her king, and his queen was diagonal from it. None of her pieces were in a position to counterattack either.

"Dammit," she said frustrated that he always beat her. "Next time we play good old Zian Chinese Checkers."

"Fine," he said smirking. He always beat her at that too.

"Nate, have you ever battled Renee?" Toros asked, looking for advice.

"Nope, we never accepted each other's battle challenges," he said shaking his head. "It was like an unspoken means of respect for the other's skills. Some people say she can read minds."

"Oh well, I guess we're on our own."

"We'll be rooting for you," Isalina chimed in from the kitchen. Her aunt was teaching her to cook, and a few methods of self-defense.

"You know what?" Leena said.

"What?" Bit asked, this being the first thing he said in a while.

"We should go visit Harry, we haven't seen him in a long time."

"Yeah, ever since you two got hitched he's been showing up less and less," Nate said a stupid looking smile on his face. "Didn't he get married?"

"Yeah, but I never met his wife," Leena said. "If I did I'd have to congratulate her for actually being able to marry him."

"I think I read somewhere that he had a son," Toros said sifting through the newspaper.

They all had a good laugh at that till Leena bit Bit (no pun intended) on the shoulder; everyone but Bit laughed harder at that.

"I guess Isa's Liger is now the Liger Zero, seeing as the name is no longer taken," Nate said completely off subject, he did that a lot.

"I guess so," Bit replied massaging his shoulder.

"We don't need to see him," Nate said resetting the chess pieces. "You need to get the feel of your new Zoids."

*****

Bit sat in the Liger Zero X's cockpit, looking out the front viewer. Something was different about this Liger. He was aware that this was not the Liger Zero, he felt out of place. He looked down at the new control panel, some of the controls were completely foreign to him. A small, out-of-the-way button was flashing a light green color. He pressed it and a headpiece was secured to one of his ears. It was round, with a small mike jutting out across his cheek, and a lens in front of his right eye. There was a band around his head that looped around, not covered, his left ear.

"What's this?" he asked, expecting an answer from the Liger, who, at the moment, didn't know either.

"It's a mental interface," Nate said as his face appeared on the screen. "The Raptor Zero has one as well, but it causes some side affects."

"Like what?"

"Insomnia, agitation, disruptions in visual acuity and concentration to name a few."

"What exactly does it do?" he asked removing it from his head and looking at it.

"It allows you to control your Zoid as if it were an extension of your body," Nate explained. "You won't have to use your controls. But until you've mastered those, you shouldn't use the link."

"Understood."

The interface retracted back behind the seat, to wait until it's needed.

Leena was having an easy time getting used to the Snipe Master. The controls were exactly like the Gun Sniper. Naomi was finding the Snipe Master's sniper seat was more advanced and accurate than even her Gun Sniper.

"Leena, stop here," she said over the two-way radio.

"Right," Leena pulled the controls and turned them slightly. The Snipe Master stopped and skidded till it was turned around, the tail end pointing off a cliff.

Naomi took aim and fired at a small rock about 300 meters away. The rock was blown to smithereens. Naomi let out a whoop of triumph; with her Gun Sniper, she never would have been able to hit something that small.

Bit ran past them and jumped off the cliff. He ran on the desert below with a speed that he didn't think the Liger could reach without the Jager armor. He hadn't even tried the micro-ion boosters on its back. He skidded to a halt and raised the blades in a vertical position.

"EM Lightening!" he yelled and a blue bolt of electromagnetic energy cut through the air and destroyed several rocks at once. "Nice."

The Liger turned and headed straight for a cliff. The cliff had such a steep grade that it was unclimbable. Bit was slightly worried because nothing was displaying on the screen.

`Bit, spread the blades, open the boosters,' a voice in his head said, `and fly!'

He did as the voice said, he opened the blades fully, pushed the boosters to full power, and started the EM generators. There was a slight lift feeling underneath him, and then he was up. The EM surges were pushing against gravity and lifting Liger off the ground.

"Narza doesn't stand a chance now," he said smirking.

*****

The Blitz team's hover cargo had just arrived at the battlefield, but Narza was nowhere to be seen. Something was amiss, and Bit could feel it inside the Liger X's cockpit. The catapult opened and he was shot out and ground to a stop on the sandy surface. The Snipe Master ran out of the open chamber on the front of the hover cargo and stood next to the Liger.

"Where is she?" he asked looking left to right.

The battlefield was a desert surrounded by a canyon, and it had the occasional rocky outcropping. The sand would make it difficult for the Liger to run, and the Snipe Master to get a good grounding.

"You can't expect someone with her reputation of making an entrance actually be early, Bit," Toros said.

The judge capsule landed then.

"The area within a 30 mile radius is a designated Zoid battlfield. This zone is now restricted; only competitors and personnel have authorized entry. Danger! All others must leave the area at once. Area scanned. Battlefield setup. The Blitz team versus the Crusher team. Ready…FIGHT!"

The sand beneath the Liger began to shift. A giant sinkhole opened and the Liger slipped, falling to the ground. Almost instantly it was lifted off the ground by a large serpentine form. It was caught between the Gungyarados' PPC and the wings. A screeching roar erupted from the flying Zoids mouth as it did a small loop and dropped the Liger.

Bit quickly opened the blades, punched the boosters, and started the EM generators. A small aura of lightening surrounded the Liger as it took flight. Leena was taking aim and firing everything she had at the Gungyarados, but nothing was hitting it. The Zoid was too fast and her aim was shifted slightly, as not to hit Bit. After firing all her shots she turned around and let Naomi have a turn.

Narza looked down at them and noticed that such a Zoid could hit her. She turned the Zoid sharply and flew towards Bit. He was charging his EMP blades, and planned to take her out in one pass. But just as he passed her, she turned to the side; this happened just as the Snipe Master fired. The Liger narrowly escaped being shot down.

"Am I too tricky for you?" Renee asked with a laugh.

"Not a chance," Leena retorted.

Naomi aimed again, but Renee had gone into a dive, with the Liger right behind her. Both hit the ground, but the Gungyarados had pulled up enough that it was actually skimming along the ground; heading straight for the Snipe Master. It charged it's PPC and fired, on low power, easily incinerating the bullet fired by the Zoid, and disabling the Zoid itself.

"Shoot," Naomi said slumping in her chair, "looks like it's up to Bit now."

"Liger, fire the EM Lightening!" bit yelled and a blue bolt of lightening fired from the Liger's blades. It struck the Gungyarados in the wing, which was promptly blown off. The flying Zoid landed and stood onto it's hind legs, the other wing dropped off, and the PPC's platform was raised to point forward instead of up.

"I don't plan on losing to someone like you," she said charging the massive cannon resting on the Zoid's shoulders.

"Doubt that," Bit responded landing the Liger and pointing the gold blades forward. "EM Lightening!"

The blue lightening fired at the dragon Zoid again. Renee fired the PPC at the same time. Both attacks slammed into each other in the middle, and the particle beam mixed with the EM bolts of lightening. Both pilots cut off the power to the guns and a ball started forming from the plasma particles and the EM lightening.

"Doc, what's going on?" Jamie asked in the command room of the hover cargo.

"The electromagnetic pulses are combining with the plasma particles," Toros said slamming his hands on the console. "GET OUT OF THERE, IT'S GONNA BLOW!"

"Starting the shield," Brad said from his console.

Leena and Naomi got the Snipe Master moving and maneuvered it behind the shield. Two flaps on the sides of the Gungyarados' head opened and a purple shield formed in front of it.

"Now's our chance Liger!" Bit yelled and the Liger began to run forward. The blades retracted behind it and the claws began to glow.

"What's he doing?" Renee questioned herself, no answer came from her Zoid.

The Liger ran past the growing ball of energy, almost at critical. If it blew, then all the warriors would be out and the match would be a draw. But if he could take out his enemy now, before the explosion, he would win it.

"LIGHTENING LASER SLASH!" bit yelled as the Liger leapt into the air, its claws glowing brighter than ever before. Yellow lightening flashed all around the Liger Zero X, emanating from its claws and blades.

The Liger cut through the electrostatic shield that Renee had put up and sliced the Gungyarados in half. It then skidded to a stop and the blades opened, a dome of blue lightening spread over the Liger and the fallen dragon. The shield hardened just as the giant ball of energy exploded.

When the smoke, fire, and stray particles cleared, the judge was still standing. I have no idea how the hell he does it, but unless he's hit from above, the judge always survives. Surveying the now devastated battlefield, he spotted the Liger still standing. Also he saw the two halves of the Gungyarados lying in front of it.

"The battle is over, the battle is over," he said turning from side to side, "The winner is the Blitz team!" He raised his right hand to signal the winner.

*****

At the same time, in another location, another battle was going on.

"The area within a 12 mile radius is a designated Zoid battlefield," the judge said. "This zone is now restricted. Only competitors and personnel have authorized entry. Danger! All others must leave the area at once. Area scanned, battlefield setup. The Zeros team versus the Grappler team. Ready…FIGHT!"

The lower hatch of the Whale King opened and the black armor of the Stelan was launched. Isa surveyed the battlefield. It was rocky terrain, no sand or dirt, just rock. This was good because she wouldn't be able to be found. The traditional way to find stealth Zoids was by watching its footprints. But it didn't matter either way.

The three Iron Kongs stood before her, ready to charge. They were crouched and their guns were all taking careful aim.

"I've never seen that armor before," the leader said.

"There's no information on it either," the one to the right said.

"What do you suppose it does?"

"You're about to find out," Isa said switching on the stealth shield.

The Liger disappeared from their viewers.

"Stupid girl," the leader said, "men, switch to infrared monitors."

They did, but nothing was registering on the monitors.

"This isn't right, where is she?" the one on the left said.

"Split up, we'll find her."

They did. The leader went forward, the one on the right went right, on a path 45 degrees to the leader. The one on the left went on a 45 degree angle left of the leader.

"Blade attack!" Isa yelled, as the invisible Liger jumped, opened the blades, and sliced lefty's Zoid. The Iron Kong fell, sparking on it left chest panel.

"FIRE!" the lead Kong yelled. The other two Zoids fired every weapon they had in the direction of their fallen teammate. Every shot missed the Liger entirely.

The blades on the Liger's back flipped forward, and it fired the small cannons on the blades. The shots hit their mark, the Iron Kong on the right. After taking that one down, Isa turned off the stealth shield. The leader saw that the Liger was behind him, only 30 meters away.

"How did you ever make it to Class S?" she asked starting the Liger forward. "Now for the finishing move. Strike Laser Claw!"

The Iron Kong was down in one swift motion. The Liger skidded to a stop, the claws still had a faint glow to them, and roared loudly. The battle was over.

"Battle over, battle over," the judge said, "the winner is the Zeros team."

*****

Back at that undisclosed location I spoke of last chapter the cloaked figure was watching the battle that had just taken place. There was a half-worried expression on his face seeing that someone so young could pilot so well.

"She could pose a problem to our plans," he said to the ops controller. "No matter, soon he'll be under our control."

"When should I start the transfer?" the ops controller asked, his hand was on a small red button.

"Not now, we've waited this long, we can wait a little while longer," he said seating himself in a large chair. "Good things come to those who wait."

*****

"Dad," Isa said in the hangar as she got out of the Liger, "I did just what you told me. I used the Liger's speed and maneuverability to confuse them."

"Good," Nate said placing his hand on the top of her head. "That's exactly what you should do with the Stelan."

Sen dropped from the bottom of the black Liger with a light thud. He ran over and nudged Isa, who patted him on the head. Nate smiled at them, Isa and Sen reminded him of the way his mother and Ronak looked in his memory.

"Hey, the results are in," Mayuka said coming into the hangar. "The Blitz team won."

"Against Renee, now that's something to be proud of," Nate said looking over the pad she handed to him. He placed the pad into a slot under the computer screen, and the information was uploaded.

*****

"Congratulations Bit Cloud," Renee Narza said placing her hand on his shoulder.

After the battle Toros had invited Renee to dinner at the hover cargo; something about keeping her as a friend. The dinner was also to celebrate Isalina's first victory as well. All the teams were gathered there, except the Champ team. Everyone was shaking Bit's hand and messing up Isa's hair.

"Not many people have been able to get the best of me," she said.

"Thanks, but Liger did most of the work," Bit said smiling.

Leena was having a drink with Naomi, and the Chris Tasker. Jack Sisco was asking Nate just what he had taught Isa. Mayuka was talking with Pierce about what she was going to do about Stoller. Mary Champ, the only member of the Champ team who was invited, was talking with Kelly Tasker. Leon was talking with Stoller and Brad about upgrading his Blade Liger with a storm unit. Ricky was talking with Danni and Jamie about wedding preparations. She was going to be the maid of honor, like Danni had been at her wedding. Eric was talking to Isa about what it was like to pilot such a powerful Zoid. The only Zoid he'd piloted was his mother's Gun Sniper.

"I'm getting a Genosaurer," he said, "so be ready for some competition."

"When we're older we should start a team," Isa suggested.

"Yeah," he said then stopped. "But what would we call it?"

Both were at a loss for a name.

TBC

Finally, it's finally over. I've ended the chapter, thank god. The party will continue in the next chapter, and the rest of the Champ team might show up. Either during the party, or later on, but they will be in it. I am so very sorry for this taking so long, I have had such writer's block. It makes my head hurt. If it isn't any trouble how about some ideas, I'm running seriously low. I'm also working on like 3 stories on ff.n, so that's really taking its toll on my imagination. Another reason this took so long was because of my finals, driver's ed, and my cousin from Texas is visiting. The next chapter, and remember I need ideas, will be up within the next month. The people who review with ideas, well those I use, will have their names mentioned in the disclaimer as the ideas not being mine. Also, Isalina and Eric need a team name. Thank you.