In Africa, a large number of Headon troops were crossing the desert in tanks. Catac and Tony were leading the way. The assassins were in their own tank at the rear (Sheere had joined Chris and Travis, but Keith and Tron hadn't), keeping everyone in line. Tony looked out at the Sahara, barren and desolate. The sun began to sink below the horizon.

"Well," Tony said to Catac. "Think Aaron's gonna find his top five pilots?"

"I know so," Catac said with assurance. "This is too crucial a battle for Ub's best pilots to miss."

"Yeah," agreed Tony. "And Xelonite's supposedly coming, too."

"I see," Catac said, lowering his eyes. "Aaron's taking a big risk. I suppose it's time he and I settled the score…"

At the Ub base, Aaron, Elise, Mech, Jeff, and Xelonite were all in the docking bay. Troops in the infantry and lower classes were suiting up for battle, loading tanks onto 3 carriers.

"Brent had to stop for fuel, but he should be here soon," commented Aaron. At that moment, a green jet began to draw nearer and nearer to the bay.

"Speak of the devil!" Xelonite remarked.

Forestfire chugged into the docking bay and parked in its reserved space.

"He's back," Aaron said, as he, Elise, Jeff, Mech, and Xelonite walked over to see him. The cockpit opened and Brent stepped out onto the steps leading to the ground. He stopped for a moment and looked down at the others. Jeff locked eyes with him and the two stared at each other, not saying a word.

In another part in Africa, a pickup truck was speeding away through the desert sands. Two Egyptians were driving it. Behind it, Sever was running as fast as possible, trying to catch up with it.

"NO! STOP!" screamed Sever. "I need a ride to the Cairo Airport!!"

"Sorry, buddy! We're running late!" the Egyptian driver said, as they continued faster into the night.

"Late?! Late for what??!!" yelled Sever in fury. But they drove away hurriedly. Sever slumped over, panting. "You sons of bitches!" he shouted angrily. Suddenly, from behind a nearby dune came Joshua, breathing hard. He suddenly caught sight of Sever and nearly fell over in surprise.

"Holy shit!" he said, astonished. Sever, taken by surprise, wheeled around to face Joshua. "Sever! You're still alive!" Joshua yelled. "We thought you died!"

"Oh. Oh, hey, Joshua," managed Sever, out of breath. "No. It's been confusing, but I stayed alive."

"Yeah, after you just ran off to the colony with no explanation and never returned, Aaron was ticked. But he's calmed down now - he'll just be relieved you're alive!" said Joshua, rushing his words.

"I crashed somewhere here in the desert a couple of days ago in a makeshift shuttle. From the looks of it, Blizzard's destroyed. Gone. So I tried to get to an airport to find a jet to hijack and take to Ub. But no luck yet."

"Well, good thing you didn't," Joshua added. "Aaron is trying to gather everyone together, and get an army over here. A ground battle is soon to take place north of here, for possession of a valuable Headon fortress, Fort Uc. So you couldn't have returned at a better time!"

Sever shook his head in mild confusion. "Also, I've got a lot of money - er - cargo - to get to General Aaron back at that shuttle. So that's gonna have to wait."

Joshua looked confused. "Sure thing, dude. Oh - almost forgot - your little girlfriend is being tested in this upcoming ground battle," he said.

"Loni?"

Joshua nodded. Sever shook his head again. "Wow. So much I've missed… Hey, by the way, what are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh, me?" Joshua said. "Well, I'm here with Telinoss, and we were here in Egypt on a mission that - let's just say - got really complicated. We were captured by Headon forces and nearly drowned in a pit of ice cold water. But Telinoss picked the lock that released us from the chains binding us. We narrowly escaped and have been wandering the desert for a day. Mech has our jets and took them away for repairs - they were in bad shape." Then he and Sever heard a man running closer and closer. Joshua peered through the darkness and was able to make out the face of Telinoss.

"Telinoss!" yelled Joshua. "I found Sever!! He's okay!"

Telinoss emerged from over the dune. He stared darkly at Sever for a moment, then muttered, "Good to see you alive."

'Thanks," Sever answered abruptly.

"Oh - one more piece of news - since that moon mission, Jeff and Brent never turned up," Joshua said grimly.

Sever's face hardened. "Oh. Great," he muttered. He gazed up at the starry sky. "I need to rest." He lay down on the sand dune. "This is too much to comprehend at once."

Joshua and Telinoss settled beside him, and very soon all 3 had fallen into a deep sleep.

Scoute leaned back in his chair. "Right now, I don't think Ub and Headon take us seriously," he told Sally, who was with him in the office. "They don't really even see us as a threat to them."

"Well, they do have superior forces," Sally remarked.

"Yeah, not too many people have been eager to join our army," Scoute said. "That would change if we could get a decisive victory!"

Suddenly Omar Johnson, their radar captain, ran in. "I think you should see this!" he exclaimed.

They walked down to the radar room. "Now look here," Omar explained, pointing at some satellite photos. "You know Fort Uc, Headon's major African base in Egypt?" Scoute and Sally nodded. "Well, if you look here, you see that they are bringing heavy reinforcements. Why, you ask? Because if you look to the south of the base, you see that Ub is advancing on Uc.

Scoute's eyes went wide as if he had just had an epiphany. "This is the chance we have been waiting for!"

"What do you mean?" Sally inquired.

"We can let Ub and Headon beat each other to bits, and at the end, we come in and take the field!"

"Hey! Stop! STOP!" Joshua screamed at the top of his lungs. The car he was yelling at just passed on by.

"Why the hell won't anyone stop for us?" he shouted in frustration. "Where is the decency!? Where is the love!?"

"Where is the mute button?" Telinoss asked, with a straight face.

Joshua's jaw dropped several inches. "Wow! Usually when I needlessly ramble, you just tell me to shut up! But that had a little wit to it, a little pizzazz! I think I'm rubbing off on you -"

"Shut up," Telinoss responded with a scowl.

"Well, touché," said Joshua.

Suddenly, a black car screeched to a halt. Jamie Smithson was driving it.

"You're still - I mean… what the… I mean… what are you three doing way out here?!" Jamie asked, his eyes wide with surprise.

"Well," Joshua stated quickly, "Telinoss and I almost died, and Sever crashed here a little while ago. With that aside, would you be willing to give us a ride to the battle, Jamie?"

"Of course!" Jamie exclaimed.

"If we enter the battlefield in jets, we'll be outnumbered for sure," Aaron explained. "Fort Uc controls all of Africa and supplies tons of weaponry and aircraft to the country. We have to use infantry, tanks, and rovers; there are less of them in Headon's power."

"So we're fighting a ground battle?" Brent asked.

"Yes. You all will get special hovercraft called rovers for quick strikes. They're much easier to operate than tanks or jets, though, so no problems there." Suddenly, his transmitter beeped. Jamie was calling, so he left the room.

"General Aaron speaking."

"General, sir!" Jamie said, his face appearing on the monitor. "I have news. I was patrolling the outskirts of the battleground, right?"

"Yes. Did you find anything valuable?" asked Aaron.

"Well, if you consider Joshua Meder, Telinoss Cortese, and Sever Abedare valuable, then yes I have."

"No shit," Aaron said after a long pause, his voice trembling. "If it wasn't due to those faulty Pilot Trackers, I would have known. But this is amazing! Sever is alive?"

"Yes sir," Jamie said, with the slightest melancholy tone. "I'm really nervous about this battle."

"Don't be. Jeff and Brent are here with me now!" Aaron said.

"G - good!" Jamie stammered in shock. "Well, sir, I have to go. Marina wants me for something. Over and out."

Aaron left his office and returned to the room where Elise, Xelonite, Mech, Jeff, and Brent were. "Guys? Sever Abedare is back. It's time to head out!"

Aaron's cold, grey eyes scanned the desert landscape. "There's Fort Uc in the distance," he pointed out, indicating a small silhouette sitting on the horizon. "It may appear small from here, but it's gigantic - far larger than our own headquarters. It's gonna take a lot of work to bring the fort down.

"We have a very large ground infantry assembled, and reinforcements as well. This won't be an easy battle, however." He turned back around to face Jeff, Joshua, Sever, Brent, and Telinoss, who were all gathered together now around Aaron, Elise, and Xelonite. Aaron continued: "This is the strategy: the infantry will go first, to fight Headon back and push toward the base. Then, in the midst of the hand-to-hand combat, the five of you plus the secondary pilots will provide a second wave on your rovers. Snipe and obliterate as many soldiers as possible, and try to create a hole in Headon's forces. Finally, after the numbers dwindle lower, the tanks will enter and sweep the area.

"However, the majority of the weight of this battle depends on the quality of your performance on your rovers. You are the key to tipping the balance. However, I do not know what Headon's vehicle of choice will be. Prepare yourselves for the worst.

"One final thing: if any of you are at the point of certain death, run. Do whatever it takes to stay alive, even if that means deserting the battle. Any further questions that need to be answered?"

"Sir -" interrupted Joshua. Aaron turned to him.

"Yes, Joshua?" Aaron said.

"What about the assassins?" At the thought, the faces of each pilot became contorted with some visible amount of fear.

Aaron sighed gravely. "They will all be here, for sure. That's another thing: if you can, make sure you take them out early. That will be all. Our forces will attack tomorrow at 10 A.M. Get your rest."

"Yes, sir," echoed the five pilots, and they went their separate ways. The sun was quickly setting. Jeff headed over to the quarters where his tent was. A number of troops, most of which he didn't recognize, were around a fire. Already feeling cold, and slightly afraid of tomorrow, he joined the group. He realized, after running aimlessly for the past 3 months, that all these people around him had been valiantly defending Ub and fighting Headon. He'd been missing in action, presumed dead, and since all the pilot trackers had been down, no one had known for sure. He'd have to succeed in battle to make up for his absence.

"Jeff?" a gentle voice said. Jeff went rigid, then realized it was Marina. He calmed, then turned to face her.

"Marina…" he said, at a loss for words. He hadn't seen her for three months, and it turned out to be an unexpected shock to see her face-to-face. He was speechless.

"Hi," he said quietly.

"I'm glad you're back," she said.

"Thanks."

"Can I sit down?" she asked. Jeff moved over, and she took a seat next to him. He was silent for a moment. Suddenly, he spoke.

"Marina, I know I don't show it, but you are important to me." He again fell silent.

Marina studied him with her glistening green eyes. "Oh, Jeff," she said, her voice trembling, barely above a whisper. "Don't get lost again."

She rested her head on his shoulder and the two sat in silence.

The sun came far too quickly for Jeff's liking the next day. But he knew it was time. There was no turning back.

Bitterly, he kicked the sheets from his cot, already tangled around his sweat-covered body. Jeff could have lived forever in the desert and still never adjust to the extreme temperature changes of the Sahara. How was it so cold last night and so blistering hot now?

He sighed. It was going to be a long day. Sever lay asleep next to him, obviously exhausted from his 3-month absence. Jeff was just glad that Sever was alright. He thought better of waking him up and proceeded to the municipal showers.

For whatever reason, Jeff felt a compelling urge to just run away. Just run and never look back. But why? Looking around him, he saw the lowly Ub soldiers he'd never even taken the time to meet. He was their "superior," though, top ranked in the army, and they both knew it. But he simply didn't feel their superior at all. They had been bravely risking their lives to help bring down Headon's Dynasty for the past three months of the war. The past three months had been the hardest since the military draft had taken place. They had been there through it all even if they got no recognition whatsoever. What had he been doing? Running aimlessly and stupidly, lost and thinking only about his own life. What good was he as a top pilot in Ub?

Moreover, he was scared. Scared for his own life today. But he hadn't even considered the lives of all these noble, eager, naïve troops until now. How many of them, those troops that he was showering with right now, side-by-side, would be dead by the end of the day?

Jeff cringed. For the first time ever, he felt a tiny fragment of war's heartlessness. Why had it taken so long for him to feel it, though?

Could he be becoming more human?

He shut off the cold water, as if to shut off his own thoughts. Brent was approaching now. Jeff covered himself in a clean towel, eyeing Brent wordlessly.

Brent, in return, said nothing. The two walked past each other in silence.

Jeff shook his head in dismay. War had hardened everyone so much already. Jeff knew he couldn't forgive Brent for the murder but the fact that he couldn't find any words to say at all disturbed him.

He caught sight of his watch. It was 9 A.M. One hour till the games began. He trudged back to his tent, feeling uncomfortably alone.

It couldn't have been hotter as Jeff, Sever, Telinoss, Brent, and Joshua approached Uc, surrounded by tanks. General Aaron, in the lead tank, kept a careful watch on the horizon for any sign of activity from Fort Uc. The infantry, in a dense pack, slowly advanced towards the base. Slowly, he watched Headon troops pour from the interior of the base and take their places in a long line.

"It's time," he said. He called to the five pilots. "Brace yourselves guys. They're ready for us."

Along with the five were Trent Willis, Brett Fetley, Jack McShane, Howard Briggs, and Jamie, as well as the five tertiary pilots that Jeff still didn't know by name. Manning the 10 or so tanks were Aaron, Marina, Elise, and Lieutenant Costas and Sergeant Paterson (both of whom rarely ever fought with the pilots). Loni Reel was manning her own tank as well, under careful watch of some Ub officials. Xelonite brought up the rear in his own rover, heavily protected, eyes focused intensely on the battle already beginning in the distance.

Someone fired the first shot from Ub's side. Whether it was on purpose or propelled by the nerves of some shaky soldier, or whether it was ordered, nobody knew. Regardless, that one shot began the action. The Headon soldiers armed their weapons and fired as Ub set into a sprint towards the opposing side.

From the other side of the desert plain, Catac and Tony carefully oversaw the infantry in tanks. So Aaron had the same idea, Catac thought. We'll just have to see who carries it out the best…

From behind the tanks came five men in trench coats and shades, calmly floating through the infantry. Written on the faces of each was a maniacal intensity that spelled certain death.

"Steady!" Aaron warned the ten pilots. "Wait for it! Don't attack just yet!"

"Roger," echoed all ten in unison. By this point, the infantries had met. Guns, automatic and manual, could be heard resonating all across the desert. The thousands of troops on Ub's side were holding out quite well, and Headon's men were getting mowed down much faster. However, reinforcements continued to pour from Uc's interior, and it was clear that Ub was grossly outnumbered.

Jeff watched as the frontline gradually fell apart in the wake of the enemy machine guns. Still, brave and undaunted, the Ub infantry pressed onward. To Headon's surprise, Ub had, within those first 10 minutes, made a massive dent in Headon's wall of troops and were steadily pushing toward the gates of the base.

And he was just standing there.

Within a short while, the tables had turned. Headon had begun to force Ub backwards. "Now!" called Aaron. "Follow the battle plan!"

Jeff accelerated, armed with explosives and guns of all sorts. The strategy was for Brent, Trent, and Howard to split left and for Joshua, Brett, and Jack to split right. From there, Jeff, Telinoss, Sever, and Jamie would attack through the middle, dividing Headon's forces and creating a path to Uc's gates. He followed Sever and Telinoss through the Ub soldiers. Jamie brought up the rear.

Within a few minutes, all ten had crossed into Headon territory, taking the majority by surprise. Jeff immediately set to work, pulling out to mini-automatics and firing to each side, gunning down countless troops and creating a hole in the Headon forces. Quickly, he veered to the left and accelerated to about fifty miles per hour, proceeding to rampage through the Headon infantry, scattering grenades and firing with focused precision into the masses. Several shot at him, their bullets harmlessly dinging off his rover. But one was lucky enough to hit Jeff in the right leg. Jeff staggered and lost control of his rover for a split second. That was all the time needed for his rover to skid to the ground. The Headon troops dog piled him. Jeff took several bullets to the side.

Nearly overpowered, he heard someone firing at the troops surrounding Jeff. One by one, the men fell away from Jeff. Without hesitation, he revved up his rover and turned to see Sever, firing rapidly from his own rover at the Headon infantry surrounding them.

Elsewhere, Joshua, leading a nervous Brett and Jack through the infantry, aimed a grenade at a particularly tight cluster of Headon troops; upon collision, it exploded, and several heads went flying.

"Direct hit!" Joshua shouted, a sickened expression on his face. Brett and Jack unleashed round after brutal round of ammunition at the ensuing Headon troops, who, like Ub's own men, were becoming increasingly spread out. Grenades began to miss troops entirely if not carefully projected, creating massive craters in the coarse, sandy ground.

On the other side of the infantry, Brent, Trent, and Howard were slowly inching toward Uc, but a fairly large wall of dispersed but armed troops stood between. As expected, the better of the soldiers were stationed in the back. Brent swiftly maneuvered his rover, quickly striking the men in his way while avoiding almost all projectiles. Trent and Howard helped hold off the ensuing soldiers and kept Brent on his way through.

By now, more than an hour had passed. The infantry had begun to dwindle lower. Out of breath and suffering from a severe bullet wound, Jeff joined Sever and Telinoss in the center of the battlefield. There were several hundred troops and about 15 tanks between them and Uc. Ub had decisively pushed extremely close.

Catac was worried. "Bring out the remaining soldiers!" he called to the Uc headquarters. "We have to hold Ub's forces off a while longer!"

The gates to Uc opened up once more, and about 300 more Headon infantry men swarmed out to back up the surviving Headon troops. Simultaneously, the Headon tanks roared to a new life, as if a sheet of ice that had been in their way had just melted.

"Oh, good," retorted Sever. "This is gonna be tough."

He, Jeff, and Telinoss reassembled a distance back. Jeff was struggling for energy, clutching his wound. Suddenly his eyes widened. "It's Jamie! He's in trouble!"

Jamie was coming full-speed on his rover toward the three, tank fire trailing him very closely, While they were watching intently, wondering what to do to help, Jeff's rover was hit by an explosive. Telinoss and Sever sprang into action, turning to face the assailant. Standing and facing them were their assassins Chris Bergson, Sheere Rollins, and Tron Young. All three were wearing shoes, but they were each two inches off the ground.

"Hello again, Telinoss," Tron said lightly. "I guess it's time to settle the score!"

"We'll see," Telinoss said, surging forward on his land rover towards Tron, his pistol drawn. Tron went into action, pulling out his pistol as well and swiftly sidestepping the rover.

Jeff, meanwhile, had fallen off his rover and was still trying to muster enough strength to stand up. Carefully, he wrapped his wound in thick gauze and rolled onto his back. He found himself staring into the ice cold eyes of his assassin.

"Afternoon, Jeff," Chris snarled, and aimed a huge gun right at his head.

This got Jeff up quickly. "Holy shit," he gasped. "When did you get here?"

Chris said nothing. He fired point-blank at Jeff. Quickly, Jeff hit the sand, rolled to the left, and found the refuge of his rover. He ignited it and began moving in it, but Chris had already moved to its front and blasted ten missiles at Jeff. As fast as possible, Jeff rocketed upward and avoided all the missiles. At the same time, he pulled out his quad-barrel automatic gun and shot back at Chris. Chris counterattacked and their projectiles collided in midair, neutralizing each attack. Jeff returned to ground level to face Chris head-on.

Jeff was breathing in enormous gasps and sweating uncontrollably. I'm too wounded, he thought in panic. I'm not gonna get lucky this time…

"Push! Push!" Trent called out, barraging the oncoming infantry from Uc with shells and bullets and hitting a handful down. He advanced on his rover, leading the remaining Ub infantry alongside Howard, Brett, Jamie, and Jack. Ub's forces were dwindling quickly, and the Headon soldiers began to turn the tables.

Trent drove his rover amid a volley of missiles from Headon rifles and machine guns, taking a shot to the arm and leg. But it didn't faze him enough. "C'mon!" he shouted in pain to his fellow pilots. "We're gonna make it to the gates!"

Jamie and Howard flew close together and aimed to either side, firing round after round of missiles at the Headon soldiers. The double team tactic worked quite well, and they carved a gap in the slowly shrinking number of soldiers. Trent had to retreat from his pursuit towards the gates, slowly becoming overwhelmed by the waves of firepower being directed at him. From each side, Brent and Joshua appeared and gunned down a handful of troops. All seven swiftly moved back and formed a solid line. And following Brent and Joshua's lead, they all advanced and mowed down as many ensuing troops as they could.

Brent, bleeding from a side wound, suddenly caught out of the corner of his eye about twenty men on similarly designed rovers emerging from Uc's interior.

"Alright, guys!" Brent shouted. "Time to take down the best of the Headon soldiers."

"SWARM, YOU GUYS!" yelled Joshua to the infantry. The infantry behind the rovers rushed eagerly and forcedly at their opponents as the seven veered to the back to reorganize and regroup for the new arrival of the troops on rovers.

"Alright, we split ourselves up again in order to divide the twenty or so of them," said Joshua. "Then we surround the circle and attack till we've got nothing left." They all hastily reloaded their weapons.

"Everyone got that?" Brent said, but stopped cold. His eyes took on a very fearful demeanor. "Joshua… look out!"

Just in time, Joshua turned his head to find an all-too-familiar metal sword sailing straight at his head. He veered left seconds before it impaled his throat. Astonished, they all turned around. Amidst the troops and soldiers now stood Keith and Travis, dressed head-to-toe in black and wearing dual expressions that left no room for mercy.

"Go, you guys!" warned Brent to a dumfounded Trent, Jack, Jamie, Howard, and Brett. "Handle them on your own!"

Travis fired up his beam cannon and unleashed a powerful blast at Brent's rover. Both noticed that their assassins were, like the other three, floating off the ground several inches.

"Headon patented Gravitatio shoes!" Joshua yelled to Brent. "The only person I've ever seen use them is Scoute!"

All five of the secondary pilots quickly left to take on the other troops in rovers.

Keith had already drawn his two other swords, and ran with them at Joshua. Immediately Joshua pulled out his pistol and began firing. Keith, swift as a cheetah, evaded everything Joshua threw his way. He reached Joshua and swung one sword toward Joshua's neck. Joshua ducked but received a heavy blow to the side, leaving him weak and struggling to fight. Using his instincts, he leaped off his rover, tackled Keith to the ground, and began wrestling him for one of the swords.

Keith was far stronger, though. He easily threw Joshua off of him and got ready to charge. Joshua whipped out his double-barrel machine gun. Keith was hit! But even as he staggered, he deflected nearly every bullet with a few swift sword twirls.

The bullet had hit his neck. Joshua reloaded as Keith pulled the bullet clean out of the wound. He then wrapped his neck in gauze rapidly, and both faced one another gain.

"Not good enough, Joshua," said Keith, raising his swords.

While the pilots and infantry were busy with Headon's best soldiers, Aaron and Eldren were leading their band of tanks straight towards Ub. But Catac and Tony were pushing harder.

Loni, in her tank, was shaking uncontrollably. She had just been clocked by another tank's grenade and had done a complete midair flip in her tank. Fortunately, she had landed right-side-up and tried her best to continue fighting. Flanked on each side by other Ub "supervision" tanks, she hastily moved through the battlefield.

Ub's and Headon's tanks were decimating the area, blowing massive craters into the ground and scattering the sand every which way upon impact with their nonstop rapid gunfire.

"Not enough proper training back in your army days," Loni scolded herself. "Why didn't you just complete the courses on army vehicle driving instead of enrolling in face-painting lessons? Just because it was easier…" An explosion in front of her cut off her thoughts. She swerved and nearly hit the Ub tank to her left. It rounded on her, pointing its (firer?) at her tank. Loni contacted it and apologized.

Suddenly she saw Tony's Headon tank headed straight for General Aaron. Aaron saw him coming and rounded on him. What she saw that Aaron didn't was two more tanks rushing him from behind. Rapidly and shakily, she turned left.

"Taking me on now, are you, Tony?" Aaron called out. Tony couldn't hear, of course, but was moving forward at him with a look of persistence and deadly concentration.

"FIRE!" Aaron shouted. Eldren appeared at his side and both slammed the rocket launch buttons. Immediately two rockets projected from the tanks and advanced on Tony. Tony flinched, and was forced to retreat a bit. Eldren pursued him.

"So far, we're hanging in it," Aaron said in a very serious tone. As if his words had betrayed him, a tank advanced and hit him hard with a missile. His tank tilted off the ground but luckily rebalanced.

"Dammit!" Aaron said in surprise, and turned to aim at his new adversary. But he was too slow. A second projectile sent him careening backwards. His tank, without warning, flipped and landed upside-down in the sand. The two tanks had him cornered.

"I can't die like this!" Aaron frantically yelled to himself, hastily throwing open the cockpit door. He ran to it, but suddenly his uniform shirt snagged on a control mechanism. He was stuck. "God dammit, why!?" he shouted.

The tanks took careful aim. Suddenly, one was knocked back by an immense blast of gunfire. The other flinched from the sound of the blast and missed Aaron's tank. Before it could fire again, a second blast collided with it, knocking it off balance. It was Loni, advancing form the other side of Aaron's fallen tank.

"NOW!" she said loudly, firing off four rockets. The imbalanced tank fell over with a loud, resonating thud. The other hit the tank, puncturing a hole in its side. Wires could be seen fizzling, and the tank lost all power.

Loni patched into Aaron. "General, sir!" she called. "This is former Headon spy Loni Reel. You're good to go." Using her (firer?), she forced Aaron's tank upright again.

"Ms. Reel?" Aaron said, barely able to speak coherently. "I'm pleased to announce that you're accepted into the Ub Military."

"What do you have to say now, Abedare?" a triumphant Sheere taunted.

Sever, his endurance shot and his right arm a bloody, mangled mess, raised his head to, once again, face the weaponless, but hardly injured, Sheere.

"Africa is ours!" said Sever with force, and aimed for another assault. Sever pulled out identical pistols and rapidly fired. Sheere had braced himself, though, and nimbly dodged everything. He charged at Sever in a zigzag, Sever not being able to follow closely enough to land a good blow on him. Sheere landed a swift low kick, sending Sever sailing into the sand. Doggedly, he stood up again. It's time, he thought. He gripped his most powerful weapon, a precision-enhanced ray gun, and removed it from its holster.

He fired and singed some flesh off of Sheere's arm. He grabbed it in pain, but sucked it up and charged at Sever. Sever still could barely keep up. Suddenly he found himself in a headlock between Sheere's arms.

"I thought I killed you at the colony," growled Sheere into Sever's ear. "But this time I won't just think. I'll know."

Sever struggled in vain like a fish out of water, too weak to break free. But with all his strength, he smashed his gun over Sheere's head. Sheere fell to the floor after letting go of Sever's neck.

"Not yet," Sever retorted, and prepared hastily for Sheere's next martial arts assault.

Telinoss had it worse than Sever did, however. His hardest efforts to successfully attack Tron proved futile against the terrifying mental manipulation he possessed. Wearily, Telinoss raised his head to face Tron once again. Tron was nowhere to be found.

"God dammit!" he shouted, revving up his rover. He thrust himself forward, then wheeled around. Tron was hovering two inches in front of him. Telinoss didn't hesitate to charge straight at him, but quickly found himself sailing right through him. The real Tron suddenly materialized before his eyes a distance ahead.

Telinoss clutched his head, gripped his pistol, and fired. He missed by a fair amount. Before he had time to blink again, there were several Trons surrounding him. They cocked their pistols.

"He's not gonna fire - that would give him away because I'd know which one fired." Telinoss spun around, almost in hysterics. He gripped his black hair and squinted his eyes. "Focus, focus, Telinoss, focus. There's only one real Tron. You're just seeing things, none of this is real…"

He centered his pistol on one of the Trons, pressed, and released. The bullet sailed towards him and went right through. The real Tron suddenly emerged as the others stepped back and vanished before Telinoss's eyes.

"Nice gamble, but no luck!" Tron said. Telinoss charged again. Tron hovered over his rover easily, and Telinoss found himself off his rover with Tron holding a gun to his head. "Your luck is your life," he said.

Telinoss blindly swung at Tron, knocking the gun out of his hand. Tron released his grip on Telinoss's arm, and he was instantly on his rover again. Tron appeared again, this time to Telinoss's left. Upon receiving a heavy blow to the jaw, Telinoss careened off the rover. Tron hovered above him, pointing a double barrel machine gun at him with a look of stone cold malevolence.

Ub's tanks were decimating the scene. Most of Headon's were already down, although Ub's infantry was getting ripped to pieces by Headon's.

Aaron, still leading the assault, gunned down a few pursuing Headon soldiers on rovers. The last of the active Headon tanks were the only thing standing between Ub and the gates of Fort Uc.

"Fire! Fire!" Aaron yelled, launching several missiles at Tony's tank. Tony accelerated and avoided, and the missiles tore a hole in the ground. Tony rapidly returned fire. Aaron wheeled around quickly and narrowly missed the barrage of missiles.

Elise and Marina joined Aaron's side, barraging all the same towards both Tony and Catac.

Loni, whose tank's power had been killed earlier, had managed to make it into Elise's tank safely. Elise quickly launched detonation missiles at Catac.

"There. I'd been waiting the whole battle to unleash those," Elise muttered. Catac's tank was hit by each and tipped over. Catac could be seen fleeing to the safe interior of Tony's tank.

"Damn! Almost had him," Loni shouted.

"Keep quiet, Reel," Elise said harshly. "I'm only helping to save your ass because Sever cares about you."

* * *

A distance from the tanks stood Brent and Travis. Travis's beam cannon was now matched by an identical one. He charged both up. Brent, his rover wrecked long ago and his side would still seeping blood, attempted to stagger to the side to avoid the blasts.

Travis unleashed the beams. They soared through the air. Brent backed up quickly as the beams passed him by. His cheeks were both singed from the head. In pain, he fell over. Travis, floating in his Gravitatio Shoes, advanced like a wolf on a piece of raw meat. Brent, defeated, covered his face. Travis fired and hit Brent in the stomach. Brent writhed in pain. Then, out of nowhere, Xelonite appeared on his rover and collided with Travis at top speed, sending him flying. He landed motionlessly a distance away.

Xelonite picked Brent up, wrapping his wounds in heavy gauze. "Stay alive, Brent. Stay alive. The battle's almost over."

The battle, which had been raging for nearly four hours by now, was truly drawing to a close. While Ub's infantry was gradually shrinking away before Headon's bulk, Aaron, Elise, Marina, and Costas's tanks pressed ever closer to the gates, with Tony's tank and one other Headon tank still standing firmly and resolutely in their path.

"Thanks, Xelonite," Brent managed to say. He got to his feet. But Xelonite had become distracted upon seeing a man floating towards him from the area where Tony's tank was.

"Keep yourself safe now. I have business to do," Xelonite said hastily. Brent nodded and took off towards Travis's direction, but Travis himself had already vanished from sight.

The man, true to Xelonite's expectation, was Catac. He alighted to the sandy ground. Xelonite shut off his rover and climbed down.

"Unarmed?" Catac asked.

"Unarmed. Yourself?"

"The same. A fair fight."

Xelonite broke into a run at Catac, swinging his fist. Catac blocked it swiftly, but Xelonite had simultaneously tripped him. Catac threw down his hand, then swung himself in a circle, knocking Xelonite back. He flipped and landed on his feet. Without delay, Catac charged at Xelonite in fury. He moved in for a low kick, but Xelonite grabbed his leg in mid-motion. But Catac had anticipated that and swung his other leg around, uppercutting Xelonite in the jaw. Xelonite flinched! Catac slammed his fist into Xelonite's stomach, sending him reeling. Catac easily and gracefully landed on his feet.

"Not as strong as we once were now, are we?" Catac taunted. "What with all the hiding you you've been doing. Now TELL ME WHERE YOUR BASE IS!"

But Xelonite had recovered by then and ran at Catac again. He jumped onto Catac and latched himself tightly, coiling his legs around his midsection. He proceeded to land two heavy blows to Catac's neck with his elbows. Catac staggered slightly, but easily threw Xelonite off him. Xelonite swung at Catac's left cheek but he ducked too quickly. Spinning around on the ground, he tripped Xelonite and sent him to the dirt. He punched Xelonite in the face three times. Blood flew everywhere from his face. But he stopped Catac on the fourth time and grabbed his hands. Bloodied and bruised, he threw himself onto Catac, hands wrapped around his throat. Catac sputtered and nailed Xelonite in the stomach with his knee. He was free.

Defeated, Xelonite took into a run toward the heat of the battle. Catac pursued him quickly, easily catching up in his Gravitatio shoes.

"Face it, Xelonite!" Catac screamed. "Your history ends at my hands!"

Xelonite turned around. "Over my dead fucking body." He slammed both of his fists into Catac's face. Catac, who had been advancing at high speed, slumped to the ground unconscious. Xelonite had broken his jaw.

Weak and barely able to move, Xelonite ran painfully back to his rover.

By now, the battle had raged long enough for it to be small. Most weren't even fighting anymore. Several of Ub's remaining ground soldiers were running from battle.

Aaron nailed the second-to-last Headon tank with an explosive, and a gaping hole appeared in its side. Tony's tank was now the only tank left standing to face the Ub line of tanks, manned by Aaron, Elise, Marina, and Costas.

Tony called out to his men. "Don't stop now! Hold 'em!" Headon's infantry roared to new life and overpowered Ub's completely. Aaron let off several missiles and charged at Tony. Tony moved aside to avoid them. Aaron was through.

"CHARGE!" he yelled. Jeff, Sever, and Joshua, who were all barely holding off their assassins nearby, drove headlong at Uc's gate. Elise followed Aaron in suit, but Tony sniped Marina and Costas' tanks quickly. Their tanks tipped over onto their sides. But Aaron and Elise had meanwhile barraged the gate with all they had. The steel began to bend under the volleys of missiles and bombs. Finally, the door broke. But Tony had caught up. He easily gunned Aaron down. Elise was the only tank remaining.

Aaron patched into Elise's line from his fallen tank. "We made it. Don't surrender!" he yelled.

"What am I supposed to do then?!" Elise said, clearly in a state of panic.

"Open fire!" Aaron yelled. "Anything! We have this! And we can't just…"

"General?" Joshua called suddenly through the transmitter. "What's coming over those dunes?"

Aaron turned to see the entire S.S. army, led by two tanks that were undoubtedly Scoute and Sally, rapidly advancing onto the battleground. With their size, they would easily crush Ub's and Headon's forces.

Tony had noticed this as well. "S.S.! When did - how did they - how did nobody notice their presence?!"

Scoute and Sally, with Red Ashes, Chrome Jacobson, Harry Edgewater, Jerry Allen, and Sam William behind them, drew closer.

Scoute announced to the whole of the soldiers on the battlefield, with more than a hint of smugness in his voice: "We have you both outnumbered for sure, now that you have blindly blasted one another to bits without considering us - the third army involved in this war. I'm afraid you both have no other option but to surrender Fort Uc - and all of Africa, obviously - to our power."

With little other choice, Aaron and Tony quickly consulted each other and agreed. Tony and his men returned to the base's interior, empty of any other troops.

Chris, Sheer, and Keith pulled away, leaving Jeff, Joshua, and Sever clinging to their lives.

Aaron contacted the three. "Get into Elise's tank right now," he ordered. "You guys, Marina, Lt. Costas, and myself are escaping with her. We're not going to be prisoners of war!"

Tony had spotted Catac, lying unconscious on the sand, and rescued him quickly. He then solemnly drove his tank back to Uc's base to gather Headon's valuables. "We were screwed over on this one, General," he said to Catac, who obviously couldn't hear a sound. "But I assure you - and the rest of them - that it won't happen again."

Jeff, nearly unconscious, studied the battleground, now deserted, with blurred vision. Mangled, bloodied, and dead bodies dotted the sand as far as he could see. The surviving soldiers, a few hundred, were picked up in a helicopter flown by Mech and carried back to camp.

Scoute and Sally had surrounded the area, securing it, with their army. "Aaron, leave quickly and quietly and no harm will come to you. That means leave now," said Scoute.

Mech radioed into Aaron. "General, I'm taking the survivors to camp, and I have Xelonite, Brent, and the secondary pilots safely with me."

"Thank the lord. I was scared for them," Aaron said, sounding extremely relieved as he boarded Elise's battered tank. "How are they?"

"Brent and Xelonite? Both unconscious but breathing. Over and out."

Aaron waited as Jeff, Joshua, and Sever dragged themselves aboard the tank one by one. Once inside, Aaron and Lt. Costas saw to it the three were looked properly after and taken proper care of. They left the battlefield in a hurry, with S.S. escorting them away.

"Telinoss," Aaron said suddenly, his face hardening. "Where the hell is Telinoss?!"

While the battle had been drawing to a close, Telinoss had been completely overpowered, physically and mentally, by Tron but unable to flee to Ub's protection. At the point of almost certain death, Telinoss had fled the battlefield and had driven through the desert at lightning speed. Tron had given up chasing him long ago.

Now Telinoss was alone in the desert, racing nobody but his shadow through Egypt.

The sun was setting, and there wasn't a sign of civilization in sight. Dune after dune brought to his eyes the same repetitive, sandy emptiness. He was without food, water, or any communications device whatsoever.

There was nothing else to do except go forward into the desert. If he hadn't hit anything by dawn, he didn't know what he'd do. And rovers' batteries only lasted so long.

"At least I'm alive, though," Telinoss thought aloud. "At least I'm alive."