Building Zoids in a World of Titans

The Stalker's heat signature pulsed like a dying star, then went cold.

Alex watched his displays cycle through empty data, the predator gone from scanner range. Not dead. Never that lucky. Just hiding again, melting back into the rocky scrubland that gave it life.

"RRRROOOO-AAAA..."

The Liger's growl vibrated through the cockpit, frustrated and alert. Alex could feel its impatience, the same restless energy that had driven him to bring them out here in the first place. They both wanted this hunt to mean something, not chase shadows across a ridge until dawn.

Alex pulled up their route on the holographic display. Five kilometers of ridge stretched ahead, all of it perfect Stalker territory—rocky outcroppings, scrub-covered slopes, places where something that size could disappear and wait for hours.

Something moved below them, a flicker of displaced stone that didn't match the wind's pattern.

"There."

Alex didn't wait for confirmation. The Liger Zero surged forward, claws eating up the distance as they dropped down the slope. Rock shattered under their impact, sending a cascade of debris tumbling into the darkness below.

The Stalker launched from its burrow like a cannon shot. This time, Alex was ready. The Liger twisted mid-leap, claws extended as they met the predator's charge. Metal rang against hardened hide, the impact driving the Stalker backward.

But it recovered fast, scrambling away with that unnatural grace that made Alex's teeth ache. The creature dropped into another depression, loose stones cascading after it like a landslide seeking its heart.

"Damn it."

Alex's fingers tightened on the controls. The Stalker was learning, adapting to their rhythm, just like the Liger had said it would. Time to change the equation.

He keyed his comm, voice tight with concentration.

"Liger. Ion boosters. Maximum output. We circle wide and come in from the east slope—"

"Grrr—?"

"Trust me. If this works, we flush it out or it runs for good."

The Liger's response was a single, rumbling note that vibrated through their shared systems.

Alex guided them upward, using the Liger's superior mobility to gain altitude while staying downwind. From this angle, he could see the Stalker's burrow clearly now—a depression in the earth barely wider than the creature itself, carefully camouflaged with stones and debris.

The Liger's Weakness Scan painted highlights across his HUD, showing structural stress points in the burrow's edge, loose stones that might give under pressure.

"Perfect."

Alex brought the Liger Zero to a halt on a narrow ledge, positioning them directly above the burrow. Below, the Stalker remained motionless, a statue carved from shadow and stone.

"Come on," Alex whispered. "Show me you're smarter than the average predator."

He activated the Mane Blast.

Blue-white energy crackled along the Liger's mane vents, building to a crescendo that made the very air hum.

"RRRRRAAAA-SHKRAAAAAAAA!"

The blast erupted outward in a directed wave of electromagnetic energy. Stone exploded beneath them as the shockwave hit the burrow, throwing debris fifty meters into the air. Alex's HUD filled with alerts—structural damage to the ledge, displaced rockfall, thermal spike from the discharge.

Something screamed below.

"SKREEEEE-YEEEEOOOOW!"

The Stalker burst from the ruins of its hiding place, claws extended and hide crackling with residual electricity. Its movements were frantic now, wounded pride driving it to attack before it had fully recovered from the blast.

Alex didn't wait for it to settle.

"Now, Liger!"

The predator launched itself upward with desperate speed, but the Liger was already falling, a streak of white and blue dropping like judgment from the heavens. Their claws met in a shower of sparks, the impact driving the Stalker backward until stone met sky.

"RRRAAAA!"

The Liger's roar echoed across the ridge as they pursued, claws raking across the Stalker's flank and sending it tumbling across the rocky ground. But even as Alex watched it roll and stagger to its feet, he could see the predator's mind working, calculating angles and escape routes even as its body shook from the impact.

It wouldn't hide again. Not like before. But it could still run.

"Liger..."

Alex felt the Liger's response before he gave the order, the fierce agreement that resonated through their shared will. Whatever game the Stalker wanted to play, Alex was done letting it set the terms.

The chase resumed, but this time, the Liger was running the pattern.

The Liger Zero's pursuit carried them down the ridge slope in a controlled fall, claws digging into stone as they matched the Stalker's desperate speed. Behind them, loose debris tumbled in the wake of their passage—rocks, scrub, anything that could mask an escape route.

But Alex wasn't chasing anymore.

He was herding.

The Liger's Weakness Scan painted the Stalker's stress patterns across his HUD in flickering amber highlights. The ambush predator's hide was rated for ballistic impacts up to medium caliber, but the joints showed vulnerabilities—especially the shoulder articulation where the Liger's first real strike had landed. The Stalker knew this. Its movements were becoming more defensive, more careful about exposing its weak points.

Good.

Alex guided them into a shallow wash, one that curved back toward a natural amphitheater of rock walls. The Stalker took the bait, sprinting for what it thought was freedom ahead. Instead, it found the Liger waiting at the wash's end, positioned between the creature and open ground.

"RRRAAAA!"

The Liger's roar echoed off the stone walls, a challenge that carried the authority of earned dominance. Something that had spent years hiding in shadows suddenly found itself cornered, with nowhere left to run.

The Stalker's response was a high-pitched shriek that set Alex's teeth on edge. It reared back on its hind limbs, foreclaws extended in a threat display, but even through the holographic overlay Alex could see the fear in its posture—it was calculating odds it didn't like.

The Liger moved first.

Ion boosters ignited with a white-hot flare as they surged forward, closing the distance faster than the Stalker could react. Their Strike Laser Claws found purchase along the creature's ribcage, sparks showering across the stone as bio-electric energy discharged against mineralized hide.

"SKREEE—"

The Stalker's scream cut off as Alex drove them upward, using the Liger's superior mobility to land on the creature's back. The Liger's claws dug deep into vital tissue, and Alex felt the Titans beginning to struggle less.

The Stalker twisted, trying to dislodge them, but the Liger's grip held. Alex could feel the core's approval through their shared neural pathways, that fierce, predatory satisfaction that came from a hunt well-executed.

One final strike.

"SZRIIIIING-CLACK!"

The electron fangs found their mark, driving deep into the Stalker's neck joint where the spine met skull.

The Redridge Stalker went still beneath them.

Alex exhaled, tension draining from his shoulders.

"Good job, Liger."

The Zoid's triumph roared across the ridge

"RROOOO-AAARRR-GHRRR!"

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