“Bye-bye wolfie!” Kris fired at Zane’s Stealth Wolf, hitting the polished jet-black armor, disabling it with one blast. It fell to the ground, as pillars of smoke engulfed its fallen form.

Zane looked at the read outs of his zoid, the truth of what was happening to him finally coming to light. He read the words ‘System Freeze’ on the holoscreen.

“Blast it!” He hit the control panel in a fit of rage with his gloved hand. “Of all the friggin’ luck…” He took off his black bandana, exposing his perfectly corn rowed hair, and sighed wearily.

“I guess I’m out for the count.”

Suddenly, the Saix that hit Zane received a direct hit as well. It fell to the ground, much like that of a wounded animal, with a great smoking hole in its side.

“Kris!” cried Kelly. “Where the hell did that come from?”

“Good question.” Jack said. “It appears that the third Stealth Wolf has made its presence known to us.”

“That’s for my brother, you little witch!” Orisha said, not knowing Kris had criticized her driving skills earlier.

Orixas appeared to his sister via the holoscreen. “Good shooting, Orisha.” She had to uncloak her zoid to fire and was now vuliable to attack, which worried him.

“Thanks.” She grinned. “Now, lets get the other two.” She cloaked out of sight, again.

“Right! Lets do it, sis!” Orixas confronted his foes. “Looks like we’re still even, two for two. So, what’s it gonna be?”

A holoscreen of Jack Sisco’s image appeared to Orixas. “Kicking your sorry ass, of course.”

Orixas nodded. “So, its like that, huh? So be it except it will be I who shall be kicking your sorry ass, Sisco.”

Jack smirked. “Ever the dreamer, huh, Orixas?”

While Jack was preoccupied with dealing with the team leader, he kept a look out for the third member of the Stealth Team. “I know you’re out there, Orisha. You can’t hide from me forever!”

“Where’s the third member of your team?” he questioned him.

Orixas snorted in response. “Like I’m gonna tell ya. That’s for me to know and for you to find out, by that time it will be too late.”

Jack narrowed his eyes. “Did you by any chance forget I’m a mercenary and tracking down people happen to be one of my specialties?”

Orixas snorted. “Like I care?”

“You should.” Jack said. “And oh, by the way, look behind you.”

“You expect me to fall for the oldest trick in the book? You must think I’m really stup-AAAH!!” Kelly had shot down Orixas’ zoid, knocking it out of commission.

Jack shook his head and sighed. “Will, you ever learn? I was trying to warn you. Oh, well.” He could imagine how Orixas felt but his communicator was off-line. It was better that way. Jack didn’t want to hear the few choice words Orixas wanted to tell him. The two men had always hated each other with a passion, mainly because of the unlikely friendship that had developed between Jack and Orixas’ sister, Orisha.

Kelly’s zoid stood along side Jack’s “What’s our next course of action?”

“Hmf, finding that third zoid of theirs.” Jack scanned the landscape. “It has to uncloak to fire its shock cannon you know. Huh?” The sensor in Jack’s cockpit made a toning noise. A holoscreen came up showing a heat source. “Well, hello. Look what we have here.” He studied the readings it gave him, smirking afterwards. “Looks like I found the third teammate. Its coming from over there.” He motioned with his chin. “Its over on that high ridge a couple of clicks away. It must have just uncloaked.”

Kelly gasped in shock, her eyes widen in realization. “Isn’t it getting ready to fire, again?”

“Somehow, I doubt that or it would have done so by now. Its almost as if, the pilot is waiting on something.” He heard a toning noise from the control panel, again. Smirking to himself, he replied. “Looks like I was right, the pilot is hailing me.”

“Say what?” Kelly frowned. “I have a bad feeling about this. I’ll go check on Kris and see if she’s okay.” Kelly’s Saix leaped away to go check on her sister, leaving Jack to deal with the last member of the Stealth Team to complete their win.

Jack opened a hailing frequency and a holoscreen popped up. What he saw was the image of an attractive dark skinned woman with long black hair, wearing a black battle suit. Surprisely, she appeared to have a look of confidence in her dark eyes, despite the fact this was her first zoid battle.

“Mr. Sisco.” Orisha said.

“Ms. Estus, I presumed.” He smirked at her. “Looks like you’re all alone, now.”

“Hmf, that may be but at least I have the upper advantage.”

“Really? It doesn’t appear that way to me. You could save yourself a lot of unnecessary grief if you just surrender.”

“Nah, I don’t think so. The battle is not over, yet.” She target her crosshairs on his Saix. “Now, I have you right where I want you.”