The Red River, [Closed]

[Timber Okami]

Augh this RP is gonna suck but I wanna get it outta the way.

A single King Barron thundered through the valley, looking almost as if it was flying as it ran along. The Zoid almost seemed to be smiling as he bounded over the rocks, running next to the valley.

Perched on his nose like a demented hood ornament of some kind, the black and gold cat Organoid was streamlined against the wind so she wasn't thrown off. Sekhmet was enjoying the feeling of freedom as much as he Zoid... and the boy piloting the cat Zoid seemed to be rubbing off on them. He had a huge smile, despite everything that had happened so far, as the Zoid flew along.

"Jump it again," he said, tugging the controls towards the valley. The Barron chuckled deeply, but did as he was asked and leapt the gap gracefully, landing on the other side and running. The Organoid had to sink her claws in and crouch, but she stayed on the Zoid's nose.

What a silly child, she chuckled and shook her head, but was enjoying the ride. She scanned around for Alpha and Alfred and Obsidian, since they would no doubt be able to keep up.

Up ahead, where the valley opened up and the river cut deep into the rock and was narrower, a hulking black, blue, and gold Zoid stomped along the edge, scanning around.

Here we go. Get ready boys, she hissed to both of them, flicking her tail anxiously.

Well behind them, limping and trying to at least keep them in sight, the damaged Zero Jager roared after them, the Organoid in his cockpit barking too. Hey guys, wait up!

[Emily Cirano]

Unlike the valley - jumping Barron, Alpha was electing to stay on one side of the canyon and keep it that way. This was fine with Alfred, who didn't feel like bouncing all over the place anyway when he was nervous because they were potentially marching to their doom.

Or running. Whatever.

Obsidian was crouched on Alpha's head behind his horn, using it as a break against the wind. The black organoid was not pleased with the current turn of events and being in the process of heading towards a battle of epic proportions. In a Zoid she couldn't really help with, to say the least. Cerberus' permafusion had rendered the Energy Liger incapable of accepting other organoids, which was ordinarily fine with her. Though not in this case.

~We should've brought Ace, or Torrent. Something else I can fuse to,~

"Too late for that now, isn't it?" Alfred mumbled, looking up at the ceiling of the cockpit to where he knew his organoid was crouching. "Could have some faith in Cerberus, at least."

~Honestly. You insult me, Obsidian.~

Obsidian snorted, digging her claws into the red metal a bit. Alfred rolled his eyes in her general direction, since there was no use in fretting over things now. They'd had plenty of time for that back in...oh, the desert.

[Timber Okami]

The King Barron looked back at Alpha running along, watched them for a second or two, before they decided to jump back over to them. Ra growled, running to a point where the two sides were closer together, and made a soaring jump to run next to Alpha again.

"We can take it, I bet. Don't worry so much Obsidian!" Toby laughed a little bit. He'd obviously recovered enough from hitting his head, or the Organoid peering back at Ra's cockpit was blocking it out, whichever.

She glanced over at Obsidian, and shrugged her shoulders, looking away. What a silly boy he was... but oh well. Heart was in the right place and that was all she really cared about. She just needed the boys for now, then she could have some peace.

Slowly, the multicolored cat came to a stop, peering down at the King Gojulas a little ways away, stomping around as if looking for something. The Whale King was nowhere in sight... but they could find it. Ra had his eyes peeking up over a rock ridge, as directed by Toby, and the young pilot glanced over at his friend.

"Ready?" he whispered, despite not needing to. The Organoid perched on his Zoid's nose sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

[Emily Cirano]

Alpha looked a little warily at the King Barron as it hopped over next to him, sliding over a bit so he wouldn't be quite so close to all the blades and guns. Matrix had told some horror stories about Fenrir, and the Fury knew all about getting mauled from firsthand experience. Alfred sighed and shook his head a little, slouching in the seat. The emotional poles of optimism and pessimism were running in extreme directions here.

Eventually they came upon a better view of the Kingy, and Alpha crouched down behind the natural rock barrier to keep with camoflauging and following the trend. Alfred and Obsidian blinked over at Toby, the former slowly opening his mouth for a moment.

"Um. Shouldn't we have a plan or something?" He asked, looking back to the black Zoid stomping around. "It's a King G Toby, if we rush in it's gonna maul us."

[Timber Okami]

Ra pulled his head back down and looked over at Alpha, kneading his paws in the dust. Toby seemed a little baffled for a moment, and started to say something, when Sekhmet tapped her tail on the canopy to get his attention, Plans are good, dear, listen to the Zoidian, she said, peering intensely down at the boy.

Toby wisely closed his mouth and looked back at Alfred and Alpha. He wasn't good with plans. He was good with running in and slicing things to ribbons! Kind of, anyways. ...he was better at that then coming up with plans, let's say.

"Well, what do you guys think then?"

Sekhmet was happy just sitting and watching for now. If the King hadn't started shooting at them yet, then perhaps they hadn't been noticed yet.

[Emily Cirano]

Alfred glanced back in his direction, since he wasn't much for plans either. The great brains of the operation he was currently sitting in. "Cerberus?"

~Hm.~ The Liger tilted his head, studying the proximity of the King Giggles to the canyon around it while Alfred sat and fidgeted and Obsidian continued to sit and be emo. About two minutes passed this way.

~How long are you planning to stew in there? :<~

~Quiet, child.~ Cerberus whuffed softly, now ready to line out his plan of attack and all that. ~Well, we know they want her,~ he said, nodding his horn at Sekhmet. ~So if she flies out and distracts him, we can probably creep around and fire on that cliff he's standing next to. The rocks will either crush him, or damage him to the point that we can crush him.~

~...and that's your brilliant plan?~

~We can make you go too, Obsidian.~

[Timber Okami]

Toby found it really hard to keep quiet and not do anything while Cerberus was thinking, so he busied himself poking buttons and flicking switches that he really should have left alone. Though, luckily, nothing he did alerted the King G to where they were, so he learned some of the controls and made the Barron wiggle and twitch around in the mean time.

"Works for me!" he said as soon as Cerberus had finished. Any plan was good for him, really, as long as they did something! He didn't want to keep sitting here much longer.

He did look up at the person that the plan depending on, seeing Sekhmet peering back at him. Feeling his eyes on her, she shrugged her shoulders and stood up, stretching a little.

Good enough for me. Just make sure the G gets suitably destroyed so I won't have to worry about it again, she instructed to the boys, flicking her tail.

She hopped up onto the rock ridge they were sitting behind, and waved her paw at them to start sneaking around. Only then would she fly out and make a big shiny target of herself.

[Emily Cirano]

~Right. Let's go then, and keep a low profile,~ Cerberus grumbled as the Liger began to slink around to the other side of the canyon to get into a good position to fire on the rocks. As long as they kept close to the ground, they shouldn't be detected too easily by radar.

In the meanwhile, Alfred checked all his seatbelts again to make sure they were nice and tight and he wouldn't get any whiplash, then went about monitoring the power level in the energy charger. The Liger body gave it a whirr, charging tachyons for energy inside the chamber. "Well, isn't this going to be fun,"

~Dry sarcasm does not suit you, dear,~ Obsidian rumbled, turning her head so she could watch the activity going on across from them while Alpha slunk his way around behind rocks, until he reached a nice bluff that would provide a good firing angle. ~So, any day now..~

[Timber Okami]

Ra watched as Sekhmet left, drooping slightly as the Organoid skittered out of sight, knowing that the King Barron wouldn't follow Alpha if he could still see her. Sighing, the gun coated Zoid slunk after Alpha, keeping as low as he could too.

Toby could sense the unease in the Zoid, and patted his controls to try and be comforting, "C'mon Ra, don't worry, she'll be alright,"

He gave a huff in response, stopping when Alpha did and poking his head up too. Tobias looked over at his friend, grinning with excitement despite the situation, "Aw, c'mon, it might be. Alpha there is a pretty awesome Zoid, and so is Ra, so with all their firepower, they shouldn't have too much of a problem,"

As long as we avoid that screech, the Barron pointed out, poking his head over the rocks to look out over the landscape...

Which Sekhmet was currently flapping over. Hearing the two cats move on, she opened her wings and pushed off of the rock, taking to the air and making a bright, shiny target of herself. Luckily for her, it didn't take the King G and its pilot long to notice, and go to chase after her to catch her.

Delirious with power, maybe? Desperate? RPer is sick of this plot? Who knows. Either way, like they hoped and expected, the behemoth Zoid turned and watched the Organoid, gears in the brain turning like he was trying to figure out how to catch the thing.

[Emily Cirano]

"Yeah, it's the screech I'm worried about," Alfred grumbled, wincing a bit at the thought. The sound was the most painful thing he'd ever experienced in his life, even worse than almost getting his arm torn off by Avarice. Obsidian rumbled comfortingly, even though she knew she'd be hitting the dirt as soon as that sound hit her systems and out like a light.

~Passing on the Dr. Doom predictions for a moment, get ready,~ Cerberus rumbled softly, taking aim at the King G's head, most notably the cavernous mouth and its eyes. Blinding the big Zoid and taking out its most damaging weapon in one go would be very nice, yes. Alfred checked over the targeting screens while Cerberus manually aimed everything, so there wouldn't be any lock on warnings for the big Zoid. ~Fire when ready.~

"I'm never going to be ready," the Zoidian grumbled, and just punched the fire button so he could get the crap and doom over with. Obsidian sighed and flattened herself on top of the Liger's head as he began to spew charged plasma at the King Giggles. Hopefully his power plus Ra's plentiful weaponry would be enough to take out his primary targets. Once those were out of the way, it would be easier to take the big Zoid apart without worrying about the screech.

[Timber Okami]

Good idea... just shoot at the thing's face, Ra growled, seeing what Alpha and Alfred were up to. The heavily armed cat aligned his weapons over the ridge of rock he was hiding behind, and Toby (as carefully as he was able), aimed manually at the King G's head. What an itty bitty target.

"Don't worry Alf, this'll be fun," Toby whispered over at his friend, ignoring Ra as he grumbled something quietly. When the Energy Liger cut loose, Toby jumped a little and pulled down the trigger too, sending blasts of bullets and beams and whatever else the Barron had for the King G's face.

Sekhmet just about fell out of the sky at the sight of all the gunfire, instead dissolving into a ball of golden light and shooting off into the sky, shooting back over to the boys. The big baddie turned his head to follow, and got smashed in the face with gunfire. It screeched a little, enough that Toby threw his hands to his ears, and Ra ceases fire and cringed, though it was only for a few seconds. Ra's systems were static for about half a second before everything came back online as if nothing had happened.

Ra and Toby peaked over the rock again from where he'd fallen back, blinking at the King that wasn't moving, and all the smoke.

"...did we get 'em?"

Heavy, huge bullets and beams punched through the smoke, slamming into the rocks they were hiding behind. Boy and Barron squeaked and ducked down to hide, watching bits of dirt and rock rain down around them as the King G's chest weaponry slammed into the area they were hiding behind.

"I guess not,"

Meanwhile!

That went well, the black and gold Organoid woozily rumbled, landing behind the rocks and sitting down heavily, head wobbling. Oog, that hadn't been pleasant. Not at all.

[Emily Cirano]

"I think we have different definitions of fun here,"

Alpha ignored the chatter and kept firing, up until the short screech sounded out. The Liger froze, twitching a bit as Alfred yelped and covered his ears, curling up in a ball in his seat. Obsidian let out a long, drawn out hiss of pain as she writhed on top of Alpha's head, up until the noise stopped. The black organoid crooned down to her Zoidian, who remained stubbornly curled up with a headache that had yet to fade.

After a moment, the frozen Liger gave a soft rumble and a brief shake, just in time for gunfire to slam the rocks in front of them. Lovely. Simply lovely, Alpha grumbled, slowly getting to his paws and starting to slink away along the edge of the canyon to find a new hiding spot. Hopefully the G's eyes had been taken out, but they wouldn't know until the smoke cleared.

[Timber Okami]

Ra watched as the Energy Liger slunk away, and decided to go another direction, since the G's main weapons were all on its front side. It'd give the other person the chance to attack the King if they split its attention. If it could even see, like Alpha was wondering. So they stood, and turned to go in the opposite direction.

"Hey, Alf, Alpha can fly, right?" he asked curiously. Maybe they could fly around behind it and cut loose... or something.

While the two boys and their Zoids were busy with that, Sekhmet shook her head, letting the disorientation fade. Now... Toby was really only here because he wanted his Tigers back. Fair enough, she supposed, and she figured that she could help him out while he helped her out with her own little problem.

Seeing the blue and black Jager gimp-galloping to join them, finally, the black and gold Organoid smirked at a thought.

Oh Loki, dear, we have a job we need to go do...

While the black and gold Organoid was scheming, Toby pulled Ra to a stop to get a good look at the King G as the smoke cleared. Their gunfire had ignited the missiles in the mouth, just about blowing the whole head apart. It was a wonder that it could even still function, but it still had a radar.

So much for that pilot. Good riddance, Ra grunted, hearing Toby's little gasp of horror. He'd just about forgotten about the pilot of the thing, so caught up in the situation. Now, he sort of felt sick. "Wait... your name is Ra, right? What about-"

Hold on and try not to think about that, the Barron rumbled, running at a cliff and leaping off, firing the flight boosters and taking to the air like a brick with wings.

The G's face was mostly destroyed, but it still managed a roar, contemplating the two targets on the radar. It shuffled around, not sure who to target, before just picking Ra and turning to open fire. The shots were luckily rather sloppy, and Ra ducked them by killing the boosters and going back down to the ground, galloping along there after hitting the ground running. Toby was starting to think this wasn't quite so much fun anymore.

[Emily Cirano]

Alfred blinked and looked down at the controls somewhat accusingly. "Supposedly,"

NO.

~YES.~

"Give it a rest, you two," the Zoidian grumbled as the Energy Liger galloped along the cliff in the opposite direction from Ra. Now that the head of the Zoid was revealed, Alfred could see the damage they had inflicted was severe, but apparently not enough. Feeling Toby's faint distress wafting through him, Alfred winced a bit and frowned. Surely there was a way? His thoughts turned upwards to Obsidian, who gave a murderous sounding hiss.

~SLIME. If I had been capable of doing so then, he would have died,~ she snarled, reflecting on Alfred's memory of being ripped from a cockpit by Avarice. Shaking his head a little in light of the RAAAAAGE seeping from Obsidian, Alfred pressed his question a little harder alongside the memory. ~...I suppose I can try,~ she rumbled grumpily after a moment, spreading her wings and taking to the air.

With Obsidian gone, Alfred sighed and leaned back in the seat to target the G's chest guns as it tried to fire on Ra. ~You're not having her do what I think you are, are you?~ Cerberus inquired as the Liger ripped his powerful plasma weaponry at the G's chest to take out the guns and whatnot there.

"Well, yeah. I mean... I don't want him to know about it," Alfred mumbled, looking over in the direction of the Barron on the ground. "He's still just a kid. Kids...shouldn't kill people."

~Fair enough.~ The Liger regarded the black organoid floating in the sky, waiting for her opportune moment to swoop down from above.

[Timber Okami]

Toby found he didn't really like flying in a brick with a flight pack, so he decided against suggesting flying to get behind the King G. He didn't figure the Energy Liger flew too much better then the Barron did... and it didn't seem like Alpha liked the idea too much in the first place.

That, and he was sort of busy trying not to get shot and keep his breakfast down. They didn't notice the dot in the sky, instead he pushed Ra hard to the side, making the cat leap out of the way directly in front of the King, skidding on the ground to get closer and spam the Gojulas's leg with gunfire.

The Zoid had other plans, feeling the plasma bolts strike the chest cluster, the King crouched and spun around, thwacking the Barron with his tail and sending the older Zoid flying across the ground, skidding to a stop a good ways away. Aligned with Alpha now, the King G cut loose again, chest weapons only getting minimal damage from his attack before, though holes littered the shoulders and neck, but didn't seem too bad.

Meanwhile, over behind the rock edge from before, Crow poked his head up, antenna head things twitching as he watched. The two Organoids had left him behind, and his leg was crippled, so he didn't think he was going anywhere. But, well, he could help mess with the King G's radar feed, or something, so he crawled up over the rock and gimped towards the battle, firing his vulcans and watching them ping harmlessly off of the big Zoid's armor.

[Emily Cirano]

Incoming enemy fire was high on Alpha's DO NOT WANT list. When the big Zoid spun around to face them, the Liger promptly turned and ran away, streaking down the edge of the valley as massive plasma bolts chewed up the rocks behind him.

~You won't like this Alpha, but tough beans.~

"What are you doi - " The Energy Liger's wings extended outwards, lighting up with shining blue energy as the red Zoid leaped into the air and shot up, up into the sky. It was a very nice fact that the fixed weapons on the King G's chest could not aim upwards.

Alpha gave a loud, surprised yeowl of fright, temporarily flailing before Cerberus stilled his little fit. ~If you flail, I can't fly.~

CATS ARE NOT MEANT FOR FLYING. D:

Alfred had little experience with flying Zoids himself, outside of Shinon, but the Liger was just hovering there and watching to see what the big Zoid below would do now. Hopefully no midair antics would be required that might make him lose his lunch. "Toby, are you okay down there?"

[Timber Okami]

The Barron pulled himself to his feet, shaking and feeling how badly his chassis was bent from that strike. Apep... that power hungry guy had to have grabbed you, didn't he? Ra hissed, flicking his tail. Toby shook his head, trying to clear the weird, irritated feeling he was getting from the Zoid. He surely wasn't used to being in such a powerful Zoid. He could only imagine what it was like for the King's pilot.

...had been like.

"I...I guess?" he managed, though he obviously wasn't really fine at all. Concentrate, he thought, had to disable this thing before it disabled them.

Going up, Ra said suddenly, seeing the King turn his attention onto them now, with guns ready. As the bullets smashed into the ground, the Barron jumped up, circling around a little to fully get into the air and hover near Alpha.

Let us knock it into the canyon. We don't want a long battle, he looked to the sky, seeing the sun sinking towards the west. He wasn't sure how their powers had shifted over the years, but he didn't want to chance a fight at night, when Apep was stronger.

Crow yowled and scampered away from the King as it turned to fire at the gimp Jager, bringing their attention down to him for a second. Toby frowned, and looked around for the two Organoids, "Where'd those other two go?" he asked, not seeing Sekhmet and Loki anywhere.

[Emily Cirano]

~Sounds like a plan.~ The Liger twitched his tail and tried to think where striking the G might most easily knock it off balance. Certainly the chest, but all the weapons were sitting on the chest.

"Hang on a sec, Cerberus. Obsidian!" Alfred called up to his circling organoid, who flicked a wingtip in acknowledgement. The next second, she was a diving teal streak that descended upon the King Giggles' head for a moment before shooting out like a falling star, heading in the direction of the Red River base.

~We're going now.~ Alfred didn't have much time to agree to that decision or even tighten his seatbelt before the Energy Liger was diving through the air at a speed that plastered him quite firmly against the back of his seat and his stomach right up next to his kidneys. Alpha's horn collected a glowing, spiraling energy that formed outwards in front of it into a red energy prism, just a little extra precaution so the Liger could protect himself from incoming fire and not turn into paste against the King's armor.

The plan, of course, being to hit it in the chest and knock it into the canyon. Fairly simple.

[Timber Okami]

Ra nodded his head, gathering his energy up for the strike, watching the Blind G shoot around at Crow (who had hidden behind a big rock... that was slowly getting worn away). Well, that was good, it was slightly distracted.

Toby also became distracted, wondering where Obsidian had disappeared to, and what she was doing. He saw the streak of light flash down, then back up again, and looked over at Alpha in surprise.

"What wazzat?" he babbled, just seconds before the Barron rumbled deep in his chest and dove after Alpha, his own shield flickering on in front of him, bits of his face shifting to summon the barrier.

Huh... that was... admirable, the black and gold Organoid said, watching the teal streak shoot off towards the base, ignoring the yelping in the background as an angry looking Brastle Tiger tried to stomp on the little blue canine Organoid running around, with a Rayse and Whitz nearby just not sure what to do. She could only ignore it for so long, though, eventually sighing and looking over her shoulder. Come along, Anubis, we should bring the boy his kitties back,

Quit callin' me tha- his bark ended in a squeak as he barely dodged getting his tail flattened, and raced off after her, yelping with the three Tigers following him.

The two flying brick cats with their shields slammed into the King G as it turned, realizing that they were streaming towards him, but not knowing for sure what was coming. The G's tail swished over the sheer drop of the canyon, claws inching around on the ground as the beastly Zoid adjusted. But any wild gunfire wasn't going to do much good, instead just streaming under Alpha and Ra as they slammed into the upper part of the big Zoid's chest, setting it off balance. Normally the G would just use its tail against the ground, but when it started to tip into the abyss, it seemed to realize its mistake, and screeched as best it could as it dropped down and fell out of sight.

The Barron landed on the edge, and peered down, just in time to get a splash of water to the face, somehow. He huffed, shaking the water off as Toby stared down into the canyon, his mouth open slightly.

"That's... uh, a long way down,"

[Emily Cirano]

As the King toddled and then fell over the edge, Alpha's pent up momentum kept carrying him forward as the Liger worked to decrease the booster power without falling from the sky like a large metal brick. Much to Alfred's Not-Satisfaction, the Liger ended up doing a sharp U-turn in midair and floating his way back to the edge of the canyon to perch next to Ra and fold away his wings. ~Well, that certainly was interesting. How are you two doing?~

Alfred managed something of a squeak, still plastered flat against the back of his seat.

OH DEAR EVE WE WERE FLYING IN THE AIR AND THAT WAS SCARY AS HELL DON'T YOU EVER MAKE ME DO THAT AGAIN YOU ARE SO SIIIIIIIIIICK.

The Zoidian let out another squeak at all the noise, before taking a few deep breaths to make sure his lungs weren't collapsed in his chest cavity. Slowly, Alfred managed to pry his fingers off the controls and flex them, working the stiffness from his joints. "I...guess it is," he mumbled slowly, not really caring to look down. Anymore heights anywhere and he might be sick.

[Timber Okami]

Ra had gotten his fill of staring down at the dark shape slowly disappearing under the water, and turned to look at Alpha, hearing the Liger half yell for a bit. Toby hadn't realized that he'd been breathing as hard as he was, and slumped back in his seat as the Barron trotted over to Alpha standing away from the edge.

HEY HEY QUIT TRYING TO STOMP ON ME WILL YOU?

Good job boys, Sekhmet flew in to land on the Barron's head, trying not to look over at Loki as he scrambled away from the angry Brastle Tiger. Toby looked in the direction of all the noise, and lit up like a Christmas Tree when he saw the three Tiger Zoids, "You found 'em! Xi, Alpha, Omega!"

Toby undid the restraints and climbed out of Ra, waiting only long enough for the Barron to put his head down to the ground before climbing out completely and running over to them, getting scooped up by the Whitz Tiger. Toby! You're alright!

The Rayse sighed, slumping a little bit, Well, that's good,

Grr, c'mere you little squishable thing, the Brastle growled, stomping at the ground, only to get clocked in the face by the Rayse, who proceeded to make faces at him. With the threat of being stomped on gone for the moment, Loki ran over and scrambled up Alpha to hide behind his horn and stick his tongue out.

Scary Tiger,

[Emily Cirano]

Alpha padded himself a little further away from the cliff edge until he was on nice solid ground, just in case the stomping of the King Giggles had happened to weaken the stone somewhat. While the Liger was making sure surprise plummeting doom was not an order, Alfred very slowly proceeded to peel himself off his seat and sit up straight, bend all his limbs and try to rid himself of the feeling of being made of jelly.

It wasn't working very well thusfar, but time would make that pass, he supposed.

"Looks like mission accomplished," he sighed faintly with relief when the three Tigers suddenly came rounding the bend along with the two organoids. Well, that explained where they all went, anyway. A sudden sigh in the back of his head and a woosh of wings signaled the return of Obsidian, who swooped down and perched on the top of Alpha's head blade. "What'd you do with him?"

~Dumped him down at the Red River base. Kinda nasty burns, but he'll live,~ Obsidian rumbled, doing a little verbal censoring for the benefit of all involved. 'Kinda nasty' was not exactly the correct choice of adjectives. The black organoid gave Loki a rather severe look with his proximity to the cockpit, mantling her wings at her sides and growling. ~Where's your Jager, hm?~

[Timber Okami]

The Barron was surprisingly relaxed, the first time he had been since awakening again. He sat down and took a second to look around, wondering what they were to do now. It was going to be awfully lonely without the rest of the Zoids and people, but there'd be new people to meet out here, he figured. It was almost exciting to the old Zoid!

So tightly bonded to the Zoid, Sekhmet caught onto his train of thought and couldn't contain a little giggle from her perch on his head. Now that it looked like they were free, she wasn't sure either...

Toby only knew that his kitty Zoids were safe, and that was just about all he cared about. Xi put Toby down on her head, and he looked the three of them over from where he was standing, seeing that they looked fine, "You guys aren't hurt. They didn't do anything to you, did they?"

Under his shoes, Xi chuckled, They tried to control us, but that didn't work too well. Omega there nuked part of their base, and those two Organoids found us as we were escaping, the Whitz Tiger wiggled her ears, making the boy grin. He looked over at Alpha and Omega, who were looking down into the valley, since the Brastle had all his fun ruined by his brother. Toby watched them for a second, realizing how wild they were. Sure, he and Xi had bonded tightly, but he could tell that Alpha and Omega could take off right now and they'd be fine, and perfectly happy.

He shook off the thought for this second, looking over at Alpha the Energy Liger, "Yeah, looks like that's all of it. Where did Obsidian go anyways?"

During all this, Loki was hiding behind the flying cat's horn, and twitched his big ears back at the black and teal Organoid, I think he's still cowering behind a rock over there,

My bloody legs are crippled, what did you expect me to do? Crow poked his head out, ear antennae bits first, before starting to limp over to them, grumbling.

[Emily Cirano]

Alfred watched the little group over there interact, relaxing in the cockpit and trying to ignore the ache in his bones caused from going too fast in a short period of time. The general outflow of positive emotions from around him helped soothe his mind, even with Obsidian sitting up there making faces at Loki.

"Um. I had her go rescue the King pilot," he said after a moment, shrugging. Obsidian whuffed from on top of Alpha's head, giving her wings a ruffle. "She just dropped him at the base over there."

So everything is all sorted out now, right? Alpha asked, apparently having gotten over his identity crisis and going back to being one creature. This means we can go home.

"I suppose. I don't really want to travel right now, though," Alfred sighed, wondering if he could somehow magic Rosie and her Gilvader out of thin air.

[Timber Okami]

It looked like everything was sorted out, which was good for Toby. He wanted to go home too. Something was unsettled somewhere in his brain as he watched Alpha and Omega, the Brastle looked like he wanted to jump in the canyon and explore a bit.

"Alpha, Omega!" he called over to them, getting their attention, "Go on. I know that you guys like to be out running around, so go ahead," he turned to slide down Xi's armor to the ground, and patted her paw, "Go ahead and go with them, I know you want to. I don't want to keep you guys cooped up anymore,"

He'd kind of been thinking about the whole matter for a little bit now, ever since he'd gotten Alpha and Omega, and figured this was for the best. They were still wild Zoids and seemed to be happier out here anyways.

Alpha and Omega stared, but the Brastle nodded his head and eagerly bolted off, heat shimmering off of his body. Alpha hesitated a bit more, If you insist, Tobias. We'll always be around somewhere to help, if you need it, the Rayse said. Toby waved, and Alpha took off after his brother.

Oh, I'm gonna miss you kid, Xi leaned down and nuzzled the boy as best a giant mechanical tiger could, "Come visit?" he offered, patting her on the nose. She grinned at him, and took off after the other two, roaring for them to wait up.

With the three Tigers gone, he walked over to Alpha!Energy Liger and Ra, hands behind his head. "That's good... he mighta been a bad guy, but he didn't deserve to be killed,"

Loki poked his head out from behind Alpha's horn, happy to see that the angry Tiger was gone. I guess so, he twitched his ears and slid down the Energy Liger's face to plop on the ground by his Jager, who made faces down at him. You do realize that your ride just ran off, right? he pointed out, pointing off at the dots of the three Tigers in the distance.

Toby stopped abruptly, just now realizing this. Er...

We can take you home, Sekhemt said from her perch. Oooh, can I come?

No. You have to go repair Nut and set her free,

Loki's jaw dropped open, Bu-

Now.

The Jackal's ears slicked back in defeat, and he grumbled before turning into a ball of light and shooting off. Left behind, Crow's head spikes stood straight up before flopping down. Oi. The crippled Liger grumbled to himself and limped off after the streak, cursing under his grumbles.

Sekhmet looked pleased while Ra looked blank. And Toby just looked unsure. He shook his head. "So... you live in the desert, right?"

[Emily Cirano]

Ah, the touching ending where the young boy frees his pet dog/horse/bird/giant metal tigers, and they go romping joyfully off into the sunset. This was a Kodak moment if Alfred ever lived one.

"Um...yes. Not too far from where we first encountered the King out there, actually," he said, shrugging a little as Alpha rumbled agreement. "I could show you where it is, if you wanted to see."

It's going to be a rather long journey home, though, Alpha sighed, giving his tail a flick as he thought about days of alternatively walking and running. Alfred patted the controls comfortingly.

"Don't worry. I bet if we wish hard enough, Rosie will conjure Shinon up from somewhere and fly us home."

...I think I'd rather run, actually, the Liger was turning a bit green at the prospect of more flying, while Cerberus heaved a rather exaggerated sigh from the core chamber.

[Timber Okami]

And no doubt the first thing Omega was going to do once they got out of sight was nuke something. Ah, yes, touching moment.

"Yeah, sure," he scrambled up Ra's foreleg, nearly slipping until the Barron ducked his head and shook Toby off of his armor and into the cockpit. "Though I don't think we'll be able to keep up with Alpha there,"

Tch... nonsense. the cat flicked her tail from her perch on Ra's ear. We could,

"If you say so, kitty cat," he sighed, buckling himself in. "And who's Rosie?" he asked, since he really didn't mind having the Zoids run home, and Ra didn't seem to mind too much either.

[Emily Cirano]

"She's a big, fat, ugly organoid," Alfred commented, while Obsidian snickered from her spot wound around Alpha's horn. "She eats garbage."

OH HOW YOU WOUND ME ALFRED. The Liger made a groaning sound as something heavy went THUNK between his boosters. To think you'd say such hurtful things. I am not fat.

"'s the fastest way to get you to appear, though," Alfred said as the big twisted snout loomed up over the back of Alpha's head. Obsidian lifted her head and hissed warningly, while Rosie made a face at her and dribbled some slime.

Still. Now I will make you fly home as punishment.

AlfrEEEEEEEEEEEED, Alpha hissed, cringing a little as a dark speck appeared overhead. This is all your fault. Dx I don't want to flyyyy,

"You can't do a manual override again, Cerberus?" Alfred mumbled, facepalming lightly before the loud roar of flight engines gradually drowned out other sounds. Shinon set himself down some distance away, fitting his wings in awkwardly among the canyon and kicking up a large amount of dust that left the two organoids on Alpha's head wheezing.

All aboard Gilvy Airlines, flight leaves in thirty seconds, Shinon grouched, extending one foreleg out a bit to allow a Zoid to scramble up it. Alpha nervously skittered over to the Gilvader and began to claw his way up the armor into a perch on the dragon's back. Watch what you're clawing back there, you twit.

"Coming up, Toby?" Alfred offered, while Shinon grumbled. "'s faster than running."

[Timber Okami]

Toby was just about to ask how an Organoid ate garbage when the literal walking garbage disposal appeared. "Aw, I think she's pretty. Like a really shiny penny!"

I don't even know if pennies exist on Zi, just go with it.

Toby listened to the exchange like he was watching a heated tennis match, looking from Alpha's head to Rosie to Alpha and back and fourth. Ra and Sekhmet, who had her claws sunk deep into the orange armor, were more interested in looking up at the speck that was steadily and quickly getting larger before it formed into a big shiny lump.

Sekhmet pinned her ears back as the dust and wind blew around them, and Ra looked surprised at the Gilvader before them. That was just Shinon's appearance. THEN Alfred said something about riding the thing.

What.

"Sure!"

The Organoid yowled and was thrown clear from Ra in a head over tail spin, as Toby jammed the throttle forward and the Barron thundered after Alpha and up Shinon's leg to find a place to cling and/or hold on for dear life, depending on who you asked.

"Ready!" he said with great excitement, making Ra perk up a little bit too.

Boy's going to get himself killed, Sekhmet sighed, flapping over to wedge herself somewhere on Ra's body so she wouldn't get sent flying by anymore wind.

[Emily Cirano]

Shinon continued to grumble and snarl as pointed kitties scrambled all over him to find their respective perches. Finally all loaded down with one kitty clinging to his shoulders and the other gripping on his hips, the Gilvader straightened up and gave himself a brief shake to make sure no one would go falling off.

Alpha gave a panicked yowl and sank his claws into Shinon's rump, which made the Gilvader jump and bellow, shaking the canyon walls.

Can we please take off before your melodrama breaks the environment? Rosie grumbled, curling herself around one of Shinon's masers tightly. Shinon whuffed and curled his lip, clomping over to the edge of the canyon and crouching, wings spread wide.

Everybody hold on tight, and no screaming like a girl, the Gilvader warned. You scream, I do a barrel roll.

"...what's a barrel r - "

The Gilvader abruptly jumped off the edge of the canyon wall, eliciting some muffled yeowls from Alpha and some temporary heart failure from Alfred as Shinon flapped his wings hard, flight engines coming online as he skimmed over the surface of the Red River and rose up, up, uuuuuup into the sky. First to go drop this kid home, and then fly over the ocean and dump off that psychotic clinging pointed cat.