Our ride to the village had been a silent one. We all had the same neutral expression on our faces. Some of us were sleeping, others were just resting. I was sitting next to Gen, holding her hand. She was leaning on my shoulder half asleep. Akume looked at us and nodded. I nodded back to him. We arrived at the village. As soon as we got our gear off and to our huts Axum told everyone to pack up.

"Where are we going?" I asked Axum.

"We\x92re going north to follow your troops." Axum replied.

"Whose orders?"

"Jed\x92s." By now, Axum knew Jed was the leader of the area.

"Right, then let\x92s get a move on it."

I went back to my hut and began to pack everything up. I had grown to like this area, it was peaceful. I knew after our strike, though, it was best that we move our base of operations elsewhere. I began packing everything. I left only my sleeping bag and weapons out. Those would always be needed. I made a final check of anything I hadn\x92t packed that should be but found nothing. The great part about being with Loupians is that you learned how to \x91rough it\x92 quickly. That involved setting up shelter, packing, unpacking, and cooking. My cooking skills had gotten significantly better. I stepped outside so that I could go groom Reiki and was stopped by Akume.

"What can I do for you?" I asked.

"I need a place to stay for tonight." Akume said, meekly.

I paused a minute before I got what he was asking. "Oh\x85 Right. I\x92m sure you can crash at my place for tonight. We\x92re going to head out north tomorrow though."

"All I need is tonight."

"My place then. I have an extra sleeping bag."

"Thanks."

I felt a little uneasy, having someone who is bisexual sleeping next to me and Gen. Then I remembered how he saved my life and I hit myself for thinking anything negative about Akume. A hand touched my back and I jumped a little. I looked behind me and found it was Gen.

"My, aren\x92t we the jumpy one?" She said.

"Yeah, well\x85 still haven\x92t gotten all the adrenaline out yet." I replied.

"I heard what you said."

"And?" I gave her the look a toddler gives her mother when he wants a new toy.

She looked at me hard before giving in. "Fine. Make sure you make some more room though. It\x92s crowded enough with all your gear lying around."

I kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks!"

"C\x92mon, I wanna show you something."

"Oh, what?"

"It\x92s a surprise."

Gen led me through a crowd and to the entrance. Someone important was coming. I could make out the figure, it was definitely Lupine. I could make out the outline of wings. Could it be\x85 Manawolf? It was. She came to the crowd and told everyone except me to leave.

"What in the name of the Guardian are you doing here?!" I asked, surprised.

"I have a warning to tell you. It couldn\x92t wait." She replied, obviously disturbed by something.

I could feel my Sense now. It was lighting up like an old 20^th century Christmas tree. "What\x92s going to happen?" I asked, worried now.

"A squad of Chattan troops is headed this way. You won\x92t be able to stop them."

"What?! How are they able to get a counter-offensive so fast?"

"The troops you didn\x92t kill followed you here. They\x92re about twenty minutes out from here. They\x92ll hit from the southwest area of this village. You must get your people out."

"Oh lord\x85"

"Trust me, to stay is suicide. Leave now. I may be able to help."

"What? You, stay and fight alone? No chance in hell!"

"I can take out this entire planet if I wish, I can hold them off."

I was shocked and in awe. "You wouldn\x92t"

"Of course I wouldn\x92t. Not only would that be against everything I am, but it would mean my death as well."

"Why don\x92t you help the Loupians fight then?"

"Because, I know that my power would be wasted."

I thought a minute. "I won\x92t let you fight alone."

"You will leave!" She said, fiercely.

"I will evacuate, but not completely. I\x92ll stay behind with you."

"You realize the risks?"

"I wouldn\x92t have signed up to fight if I didn\x92t."

Manawolf nodded. "Fine. Get your men out and your weapons ready."

I told Axum to get everyone out. Xiangshua, Dave, And Gen looked at me in total and utter disbelief. Axum was in somewhat of a panic, and Akume nodded. It had been a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity, before anyone spoke.

"I\x92m staying with you." Gen said, anxiously.

"Me too." Dave said.

"Same." Xiangshua and Akume said.

"I\x92m not going to let the Chattans attack us like that." Axum said.

"No, you will ALL go without me. ALL of you." I said.

"We\x85" Dave began, but I cut him short.

"ALL of you, will leave." I said, firmly.

I gave each person in the room a fierce look. Axum nodded and clapped his hands. Everyone left the room and spread the news. Soon, the entire village was being taken down and moved. I felt some emptiness in me. I knew my chances were slim, but I liked them nonetheless. I got my weapons ready. I felt fear come over me, but it was soon replaced by a sense of knowing; knowing that I would help save the lives of everyone in the village. I had my assault rifle, sniper rifle, and katana. To back me up, I had five fragmentation grenades, two flashbangs, and three HE grenades. I would hope that I wouldn\x92t have to revert to Plan X, AKA Kamikaze. I went to Manawolf, who had a sullen expression. I had a look of total seriousness. The entire village had left behind now. It was only the two of us.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked.

"Because." Manawolf replied.

"But why? What have I done for you?"

"You show respect and intelligence."

"Is that all? What have I done to deserve any of your kindness?"

"You have been kind to me. That is all you need to do."

"I don\x92t know\x85"

"You need to learn to relax more."

I thought about what Gen told me. "Yeah\x85"

I could hear the distant shouting of the enemy troops. I readied my sniper rifle with its infrared scope. I looked around with it and could see a few heat signatures. I aimed upward toward one of them and zoomed in. It was definitely Chattan. I dialed him in and fired. The loud report of the rifle sounded and I could see the figure fall. Everything got eerily quiet as the others ducked down for cover. I aimed for hem and fired. I don\x92t know if I killed any of them but it kept them down until my 30 round clip ran out. I began to reload when the bush in front of me erupted into a wall of plasma and energy aimed for me. I ducked down and finished reloading. Manawolf was busy kneeling down chanting something.

I began to shoot in the direction of the enemy fire with my sniper rifle again. I had zoomed out enough so that I could spot things in the more general area. I couldn\x92t find anything. My eyes were deceiving me. The enemy might have a ghillie quit on. I closed my eyes and relied on my Sense. I could picture everything then. I knew what belonged where and what didn\x92t. I aimed a little to my right. Brought my rifle up a bit, then down. I waited until I knew I had my target, and fired. I opened my eyes and took cover. A stream of energy surged through the air my head had once been in. I cocked my assault rifle and put my sniper rifle away in a safe spot behind me. I turned my shield on. I looked around me. It was a fairly clear area, with grass only as high as my knees. There were some dense woods fifty feet in front of me though, and I knew that\x92s where they would come in from. I wish that I had left an auto cannon behind, to distract them.

I looked around again, tensely. The adrenaline was coursing through my veins. I could feel death around me, biting at me, ready to take me. Then, the woods in front of me began to fade out. Everything began to come into a new light. I turned around, drew my katana, and thrust the blade forward. I had stabbed into the gut of a large lynx. He fell to the ground with a loud scream. I let loose a volley of rounds at the jungle in front of me before turning around to fire at the enemy in front of me that had rushed while I was busy. I kept shooting until I ran out of ammo. I pulled out a frag grenade, pulled out the pin, and threw it. There was the distinct \x91bang\x92 when it exploded. Then there was a sudden roar from the jungle in front of me. Twenty Chattan soldiers came at me.

I took another frag grenade and threw it at ground in front of them. It exploded in the center of the group, killing most of them. The rest I gunned down. I could hear one of them scream in pain just before they died. A smile came across my face as I crossed over the line from normal sanity to becoming psychotic. I waited a little, still jumpy. I had a grenade in one hand and my assault rifle in the other. I looked like Rambo. I was tense, and about ready to snap. Manawolf was still kneeling, chanting an old prayer. She was totally relaxed.

I was about to calm down a little, when the forest in front of me burst into enemy fire. It was total hell. The air in front of me was nothing more than the energy of the Chattan weapons. I could swear there was a sniper rifle in there with them. I took cover. I got up when it was over and saw an entire platoon rushing my position with their swords drawn. I screamed for Manawolf to help but I don\x92t think she heard my cries. I began firing into the crowd when a sudden arc of fire and lightning plowed through the crowd of Chattans that was rushing at me.

I looked at Manawolf, who was flying six feet above the ground. She had both arms pointed toward the troops with her palms facing them. She opened her eyes and I could see them glow a deep red. Her grey fur had changed to a shade of crimson. She looked upward, screamed, and I could see the electricity dance from her fingers before becoming a bolt of lightning. A stream of fire and lightning shot out from her hands and at the Chattans, engulfing them and everything in its wake. I could smell the charred flesh and fur. The stench made me sick. I looked at Manawolf in awe and dropped to my knees. She opened closed her eyes and landed on the ground. She fell to her knees. I went over to her side and let her lean back on me. When her eyes opened, they were back to their normal colors. Her eyes had different shades. Her fur had gone back to grey and her wings were now folded behind her.

She got up and began to meditate again. She meditated for a good hour while I checked for more soldiers. When she finished, she stood up. She extended her arms, made circular movements with her hands, and chanted something that sounded ancient, possibly Latin. A portal surrounded by energy appeared in front of her.

"Go, into it." She said.

"Where does it go?" I asked.

"To your friends. Now go, while I repair the damage done to this area."

"How can I thank you?"

"Live, and come back to this planet in peace. Now, go."

"Thank you."

I left through the portal. I stepped in and found myself sitting on Reiki with Gen behind me on Bianka. We were riding fast and it took some times before anyone realized that Reiki wasn\x92t riding alone. Everyone stopped in shock.

"HOLY SHIT! WHERE DID YOU COME FROM!?" Dave screamed, nearly falling off of his unicorn.

"Manawolf did something and I ended up here." I replied, a little dazed.

"But you\x92re supposed to be holding the other guys off." Xiangshua said, a nervously.

"There are no others. Not now anyway." I said.

"What?"

"They\x92re all dead or running by now."

"You mean to kill me you took out an entire platoon?"

"Two platoons actually. Manawolf did most of the work. Thank her when you can."

"Right\x85"

"Let\x92s just go. I don\x92t want anything to happen now."

"Yes sir! MOVE OUT!"

I was feeling a little hung over when we reached a spot that we could set up camp. We had traveled a good portion of the day and night. It was fairly late into the night and going into the early morning when we finished setting up the village. I don\x92t know if it was going through the portal Manawolf had created or the fact that I was just tired, but I felt like I could be shot and I wouldn\x92t know it. When I rolled out my sleeping bag I just fell into it and passed out.

I woke up feeling hung over. Gen was out on a patrol, so I had nothing to do and no one to do anything with. Akume was with Gen, Dave, and Xiangshua helping them patrol the area. He was an expert with navigating and orienteering. He could map out the area fairly quickly. Axum came to me and told me Jed wanted to speak with me. I went to the radio room and got on the line with him.

"ALPHAwolfOMEGA, nice job."

"Thank you, sir."

"I\x92m sending a group of mechs over to your location. I have it pinned right now."

"Thank you, sir. We can use the extra support."

"That\x92s why I\x92m sending them over. Make sure to take good care of them."

"Sir, yes sir!"

I waited all morning to see the mechs. I knew there was a lot to them, there were different types for different purposes. I had heard about the types that could cloak and take out an entire base. I would hope I would see those. I was hungry and went to the mess hall. It was fairly busy. I got the usual rations and sat down to eat. I was about halfway done with my meal when I heard some commotion. I knew the mechs had arrived. I rushed over to see them.

What I saw was incredible. There were ten mechs, each of the same model. They were about 25 feet high and looked lethal. They were humanoid. The legs were fairly thick and looked like they could kick down the defensive walls of a city. The arms held a plasma rifle that had a scope of some kind on it. There were rocket pods on one shoulder and a flak cannon on the other. It was like something you would see from the game Mech Warrior. The pilots got out and greeted me. They were all Lupine.

"Sir, Sergeant John O\x92Neil reporting!" The leader of the squad said, saluting.

"At ease." I said, saluting back.

"Our orders, sir?"

"Get to know your fellow soldiers and Axum will show you your huts."

He looked at me, confused. "Sir?"

"This is a platoon that relies on trust and knowing each other. You know how to pilot well enough, I hope, so I\x92m asking you to go and learn from these people so you know what to do during battle."

"Sir, yes sir!"

"And stop calling me \x91sir\x92. You\x92re not in front of a general or anyone of that kind of rank. Call me Shaul."

He loosened up a little now. "Ok. Any other orders?"

"Teach me how to pilot one of those."

He snickered. "C\x92mon, it\x92s not that hard.

O\x92Neil spent the entire day teaching me the basics. It was almost like a video game. The cockpit looked confusing but it was much simpler than I thought. If I wanted, I could let the onboard AI do all the piloting. When we finished Gen was waiting for me, grinning.

"Have fun?" She asked as I got out.

"Hell yeah! I gotta get me one of those!" I said, smiling widely.

"I think you\x92ll be interested to know we just took out a few hidden bunkers."

"Oh? Akume show you them?"

"Yup, he\x92s pretty cool. I would swear he\x92s Lupine."

"Yeah, I know. He\x92s a lot like an old friend I knew."

"Let\x92s get some dinner, OK?"

"Yeah."

We went and got our dinner. Akume and Axum were talking about something, probably politics. It seemed to be a hot topic between those two. I never understood politics too well. I just knew I had to follow my orders, usually. Some orders I\x92m not too sure about, though. I went to the river to bathe, Gen came with me. We washed each other and helped brush each other\x92s fur. She seemed to like doing that to me. I got out and dried off quickly. Gen came out, reluctantly. She enjoyed the water. She dried off a little slower but dressed a lot quicker than I did. I don\x92t know how, but she could get all her clothes and gear on faster than I could get my leg wrappings done. She never ceases to amaze me.

We went to our hut. She got in bed and looked at me devilishly. I gave her the same look and jumped in bed with her. I kissed her and then there was a knock on my door. I let out a long sigh and got out of bed. I went to see who it was and much to my surprise it was Akume with O\x92Neil and his squad.

"May I help you?" I asked.

"Umm\x85 we can\x92t find a place to sleep." Akume said.

"You\x92re kidding me." I said, as I shook my head.

"No, we\x92re not."

"I had the villagers build you guys five huts. They\x92re over by Dave\x92s and Xiangshua\x92s."

"Well, we can\x92t find them."

"Oh lord\x85 follow me." I said, a little frustrated. They had to tell me this now?

I led them to the area and showed them to their huts. They were a little hard to find, ill admit that. When I mean hard to find, I mean it took an hour to figure out where they should be. It took another thirty minutes to figure out where they really were. I sprinted back to my hut and nearly broke down the door when I came in. Gen was there, waiting. She smiled at me and jumped on me, knocking me down. I was surprised that she was that strong. I was even more surprised when she, literally, ripped off my clothes. I\x92m not too sure what followed after that but I was lying next to her, panting hard. I felt dazed and tired. I managed to pick Gen up and tuck her in. I picked up the clothes that were lying around and then went to bed.

I woke up early the next morning. I went outside and went to find a calm spot to meditate in. I found a spot in the woods. It wasn\x92t too far from the village. I sat down in the dew that was still fresh in the grass. I could smell the sweetness in the air and feel the cool dampness of the ground. I closed my eyes and let my mind wander. It seemed like an hour but couldn\x92t have been more than thirty seconds when I snapped my mind and focused it to a razor edge. I could see myself outside of my physical body. There was a bluish haze around me. It enveloped me like a fire, but was cool to the touch. I looked around and saw everything engulfed in the energy. Everything had its own color. I felt the most intense feeling of awe and humility. I opened my eyes and thought I could still see everything the way I had seen it when I meditated. But no, everything became normal again. I went back to the village.

I went to the mess hall and made myself something to eat. I noticed that the mech pilots were already up and I offered them something to eat. They took up my offer and I fixed them some pancakes. I was able to find some boxed pancake mix and made a few stacks for the crew. They ate happily. I sat down next to them with my own stack and we chatted.

"So what do we owe you for this?" O\x92Neil asked, his mouth full.

"Nothing. Just keep teaching me how to pilot a mech and I\x92ll keep cooling breakfast for you guys." I replied.

"Sweet\x85" One of the others said.

"So when are my lessons going to begin today?"

"As soon as we finish eating." O\x92Neil said.

"Great."

"You know, yesterday, you learned more in that three hours than most of us did in an entire week?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. You got a natural talent with piloting those things."

I just grinned. "I got a way with things."

"You\x92re telling me. I think you should be able to do pretty well in a week."

"Awesome."

From there on I cooked for them and they taught me. We did that for an entire week and a half. There had been no fighting in our area so we had plenty of free time. O\x92Neil said I was about as good as his second in command, Chad Drax. I was just happy to be able to say I could pilot a mech. I learned that the mech they had was a Ripper type. They were meant for heavy offense and defense. They\x92re specialty was taking out bases and reeking total havoc on cities. I was told that if I could pilot one of them then I could pilot almost any mech.

It was now three weeks since our move. We had mapped out the entire area and encountered very little resistance. We had heard news of a Chattan force setting up base in our area, and they were totally unaware of our presence to the area. Gen, Dave, Xiangshua, and Akume went to check it out. I had to go help get more food and supplies so I wasn\x92t able to help Gen and her group check for Chattans. I was a little sad about it but decided to suck it up.

Everything was pretty boring. We had gotten the supplies from the drop point. The only real trouble we had was getting them out of some mud. There was a nearby pond that they landed by. The mud had made it difficult moving the crates they were in. Each crate weighed at least 150 lbs. Some of them were about twice that weight. We spent most of the morning moving them along. When we got back to the village there was a large commotion in the medical area. At first I thought there was an accident during an exercise or snakebite. Then I remembered Gen and her group went off to check for a Chattan base and my Sense went bezerk. I rushed to the medical bay and ran over to where the doctors where. I saw Gen, she was bleeding, and badly.

"WHATS GOING ON?!" I screamed.

"Sir, please calm down." A medic told me.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" I was in total panic.

"Sir, please calm down. We\x92re doing the best we can."

"WHAT HAPPENED?!

"She was shot. Please calm down."

"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN?! GEN!" I went over to her side and grabbed her hand. It was still warm and I could feel a faint pulse. "Gen, please speak to me baby. C\x92mon, say something."

"Sir, please. Let us do what we can."

Xiangshua came over to me. He had his arm wrapped up and in a sling. He patted me on the shoulder and had a tear in his eyes. He walked me over to the exit where Dave was waiting.

"Where\x92s Akume?" I asked, my voice shaky.

"He\x92s getting fixed up." Dave said, in a low tone.

"What happened?"

"The ambushed us. We barely got out. Gen got hit bad. It\x92s all my fault man." Xiangshua said.

"No, it\x92s my fault. I didn\x92t check behind me enough." Dave interjected.

"Enough! Is there a base?" I asked.

"Yeah. They\x92re pretty well in. It\x92s like they rebuilt the last base."

"Does Jed know?"

"Yeah. We radioed in before we got ambushed."

"Good. If I\x92m not back by tomorrow, don\x92t come looking for me."

They tried to ask what I was about to do but I had already sprinted off for the mechs. O\x92Neil couldn\x92t stop me, Jed couldn\x92t stop me, and even Manawolf couldn\x92t stop me in the rage I was in. I jumped in and got everything ready to go. Every system checked out and I had a full weapons load and a full fuel supply. I floored it and headed for the area that Gen and her group were in. I linked up with the Jed\x92s navigation computer and found the location of the base. I got the specifications on what I was about to obliterate and found it was ten bunkers, four mechs, twenty heavy tanks, and four platoons of infantry. I knew that I had enough missiles, 50 incendiary and 20 armor piercing, to take out the infantry and bunkers. I also had a plasma rifle with a high caliber sniper round as a secondary fire mode. The clip for the sniper rounds was only six rounds but they could know out a mech from a mile out. The fuckers were going to pay for the harm they did to Gen.

I was about two miles out from the base. I could see the bunkers on my HUD. I slowed my mech down and cloaked it. I would only uncloak when I was low on energy or began to overheat. I slowly made myself to the base until I was three quarters of a mile out. I toyed with the controls so that I was in a prone position. I switched firing modes on the rifle I had to sniper mode. A screen with crosshairs came up on my HUD and I aimed for the first mech. I took careful aim for the cockpit and squeezed off the first round. It hit home and I could instantly see the cockpit shatter. There were no flames or any special effects, much to my disappointment, just a quick death to a mech. I aimed for the other next to it and fired. My aim was a little off that time and it hit the missile pod on its shoulder. The missiles went off ripping the upper half of the mech into nothing more than scrap metal. By now the third mech knew what was going on and was firing in every direction. I aimed for its leg and took out its left knee. It went down and tried to get up. It looked like a child having a fit. I aimed at its chest and fired. I took out the power to the mech making it completely open for a final shot. I took careful aim and shot the cockpit.

I switched firing modes and ran at the base. There was a small wall that I kicked down. I looked around and saw the bunkers lying about fifty yards from each other. They were lined in two rows of five. The first two looked like they housed troops. The others looked like they held munitions of some sort. I ran up to the first one and fired an armor-piercing missile into it. The missile went through the reinforced concrete and blew a hole large enough to see the troops that were inside it. I fired off two incendiary missiles into it and watched the flames torch everything inside it. I did the exact same thing to the other bunker. By now, the troops hat weren\x92t inside the bunkers were getting into the heavy tanks. A few came out and knew my location. They shot at me but their weapons were useless against the massive armor the mech had. I aimed my plasma rifle at them and melted the tanks with the crews inside them. I had taken out about thirty tanks in that manor. I knew that there couldn\x92t be any left and that reinforcements were on the way. I looked at the other bunkers and went to them. I flexed the mech\x92s right hand a little and then tore the roof off of the first bunker. I looked inside and saw Lupine troops. It was a prison camp! I knew that my mech was useless now and called in for backup.

Backup arrived quickly. The troops were evacuated and the rest of the base was being destroyed. I took out a few more bunkers before I left the rest up to Jed. I went back to the village to find a very excited Dave and a very pissed off group of mech pilots. O\x92Neil knew what I was going through so he calmed down the rest a little. I still had to explain myself. I did so and they let me off the hook. They were just glad I wasn\x92t dead and that their mech only had a few scratches on it. When I finally got to Dave, he had good news.

"So?" I asked.

"Gen, she\x92s gonna make it." He said, excitedly.

I nearly fainted. "Thank you\x85" I said, in a whisper.

"There\x92s a down part though." His excitement dropped.

"What?" I knew there was a catch.

"She\x92s in a coma."