"Darren, we need you to start with zydrate anatomy." one of the admins of the shadow cast and good friend of mine, Kris-B said.
I got up from my seat. "Alright, everyone ready?" I asked.
"Hold on, let's get the song going." our other admin and also close friend of mine, Raven, said as she pushed a button on the remote.
"Alright, let's do this." I whispered to myself and took a deep breath. I grabbed my friend Susan's wrist for this scene and waited for the music.
Suddenly, a hole of white light appeared under my left leg. I was so surprised that I let go of Susan's wrist and yelped. Then the hole got bigger and I looked around franticly. All of a sudden the hole expanded to fit my whole body. The last thing I saw was my sister, Donny, Kayla, Kris-B, Raven, She-Sam, He-Sam, Susan, Brandon, Troix, Malissa, Scott, and Paper all looking at me in shock as I fell through the hole.
When I was completely submerged in the light, I looked up to find the hole closing. I fell through another hole and found my self in front of a huge cave on a dark and rainy night.
"Huh?" I looked up and jumped to try to go back through the hole I dropped through, but I was met with a face full of rain. "WAIT!" I yelled. The hole had closed and stranded me. I looked frantically around, but then took into account that it was poring and I was already drenched.
I ran inside the gigantic cave to take cover. I got under the rocks and shivered as I felt despair creep throughout my whole body.
A boy? I heard a voice whisper in my head. I spun around to look into the darkness.
"...Who's there?" I asked tentitivly.
He can understand us?! Another voice bellowed in my head, but this time I heard a loud growling noise.
"Yeah, why shouldn't I?" I yelled while covering my ears from the loud voices.
My head was filled with incoherent whispering and growling. Then the voices stopped.
This is why, child. A light was turned on and in the distance of the cave, I saw a large metallic, wolf. It wasn't just any wolf though. It was grey with a large cannon on it's back. I instantly knew it was a zoid.
A command wolf.
I gasped and fell back on my butt.
"A c-c-com-m-mand wolf?!" I stuttered.
It looks like it's just a young one. A deep rumbling voice resonated in my head.
More and more lights turned on and one by one, more command wolves and different styles of it appeared in front of me. All around me, wolves seemed to line up until the whole cave was lit except the very back portion. Thousands upon thousands of wolves were lined up and the cave seemed to look more like three foot ball stadiums put together.
My breathing shallowed, and I began to inch back.
Don't be afraid. A soft and reassuring woman's voice called through my head. We won't hurt you.
I stopped inching back, but my breathing grew faster. "Why should I believe you?"
You're right, you shouldn't believe us. A teenage male's voice said to me.
It's all in if you do believe us. A deep baritone called.
I swallowed, stood up, and took a deep breath. "What do you want with me? Where am I."
A command wolf AC with a gentle woman's voice stepped forward. You are on planet Zi. We called you here because you are a chosen one.
"Chosen one?"
Indeed. The deep baritone voice said. Since the dawn of zoids, there have been humans to pilot them. A select few of humans are completely compatible with certain types of zoids. They can speak to us and when piloting them can even enhance the zoid's combat abilities to increase exponentially. We call them the chosen ones.
"Okay, I'm following you so far... but why me? I'm not even from this planet. I can't even pilot a zoid."
You will learn, all chosen ones have overwhelming potential. One would only need to unlock it. You'd never know unless you try it. Spoke the woman's voice.
"Right, so I could in theory I could pilot any zoid here?"
Correct, any wolf-type zoid, but you will have to start out with the zoid we give you. The deep rumbling voice from before said.
"Which one will that be?" I said curiously as I started to get jittery.
You will take the me, alpha of the command wolf model AC pack. Each model has it's own pack and in turn, it's own alpha. As our only chosen one, you'll be using the best of the pack to fight. The command wolf AC from before said as she stepped forward. She walked straight up to me and lowered her head. Get in. She commanded as the cockpit opened.
I cautiously walked up to it and climbed up. I sat in the seat and the controls lowered as well as the hatch. I grasped the handles and my body set itself into position. I felt as if I had been piloting this thing all my life.
"Whoa." I said in amazement. I took a step forward and began to relax into the controls.
Hmm, it seems like your potential has already been unlocked. Now, you must hone your power and become even stronger. Said the deep baritone with an air of amusement. Now go. Your destiny awaits.
I stood still. "Wait, I understand that I'm the chosen one, but there must be some other reason for bringing me here now."
We sense that in the coming future, your assistance will be needed. That much is certain. When we feel you are ready, we will call you. The deep baritone answered
"What do you mean ready?"
When your skill becomes too much for that zoid. Now leave. He said with finality.
I turned around and jumped into a sprint. The speed at which I was going was incredible, but I couldn't stop thinking about the events that have happened so far. I began to seriously doubt that I would return to earth.
Is there something wrong young one? The blue wolf asked me.
"...Do you think I'll be able to return to my home world." I asked sullenly.
I'm sure there is a way. You just have to find it. The most important thing is to never give up.
I smiled. "Thanks... you know, all in all, this is actually one of the coolest things that has happened in my life." I said cheerfully.
I'm glad you think so young one.
"By the way, my name is Darren, Darren Phillips. Do you have a name?"
No, wolves can tell each other apart by instinct. But if you'd like, you may give me one.
"Hmm, how about... Ula? It's short for Ulrica, which mean power of the wolf. I think."
Yes, I like that name.
With that, our conversation ended as we ran through the night rain.
The next day.
In the morning, we'd found a large building that turned out to be a popular rest stop for zoid pilots judging from the amount of zoids there were. When we approached it, I noticed my stomach grow loudly. Then I remembered, we ran through the night without anything to eat or drink. My stomach growled again at the memory.
Maybe we should stop here?
I looked at my lap bashfully. "But I don't have money."
Then we have to hunt for food. Ula said simply.
"But I can't hunt." I said pitifully.
Then it's time to learn. And with that, she started to run in a random direction. I sat back and let her lead me around.
Close by
In a hover cargo near to Darren and Azure was driving down a narrow road in a forest. Five people sat there in the same boat as Darren.
"Hey Dad, are we there yet?" a girl with long orange hair whined.
"You just asked that 5 minutes ago." another girl with blue hair in a long ponytail said.
"Can you blame her?" a short girl with tan skin and short blond hair added.
"All of your complaining is getting on my nerves." a big, muscular man with spiky brown hair said.
"Will all of you stop it? Look I know we're hungry, but the next city is a six hour drive north so we'll have to endure until then." a short boy with spiky red hair said.
The girl with long hair sighed. "Yeah, you're right Aidan." with that the room quieted.
Suddenly, the radar started going off. Aidan sat up in his chair. "There's a medium size zoid heading straight for us and it's approaching fast."
"Don't they see us?" The girl with blond hair asked tiredly.
"No, the forest is too thick for him to possibly see high enough." the big man said
The girl with blue hair sat up and leaned to the microphone in front of her. "Hey, slow down, you're heading straight into us." her response was static.
"HOLD ON EVERYBODY!" the red headed girl shouted.
With Darren
"How am I supposed to hunt in you anyway?" I complained.
By using your instincts. Ula responded.
"Regardless, my point is that if I hunt in this, it'll be like using buck shot on a squirrel." I argued.
Then out of nowhere, the trees cleared out and in front of us appeared a hover cargo. It was too late to stop and we were going way too fast. Something in me kicked and time seemed to slow. Immediately I jumped on the side of the hover cargo and wall ran to the front. At the front of the hover cargo I leapt right over the cockpit. It stopped as I landed and skidded around to stand face to face with it.
"Whew, that was close." I sat back and wiped the sweat off my forehead.
A screen appeared and a picture of three girls, one boy, and a man appeared.
"WHAT KINDA STUNT ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL HERE?!" a red head girl screamed at me.
"Huh?" I said dumbly.
"Why don't you watch where you're going next time!" the girl with blue hair said scathingly.
"Sorry, I didn't see you."
"SORRY?! Do you have ANY idea what might've happened if you crashed into us!?" the girl with blond hair yelled.
"Now now settle down let's just be happy nobody was hurt." the man said. He eyed me with a curious expression.
"I thought for sure that it was a lightning saix. How do you get your command wolf to go so fast?" the red haired boy asked.
"I don't know." I answered nervously.
Simultaneously, all six of our stomachs grumbled. The blue haired girl bent over, the red headed girl fell over backwards, and the blond moaned in pain.
The man laughed nervously. "You wouldn't happen to know where we could get food do you?"
"Yup." I answered.
At that moment the girls' faces were pressed close to the screen. "REALLY!?"
"Yeah just a couple miles back."
"CLIMB ABOARD!" they yelled happily.
I laughed and the right side opened to let me in.
In the hover cargo.
The doors to the dock opened for me. Immediately, the girls were pushing me to the screen in front of the boy.
The boy laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. "Hehe, sorry, we're just a little hungry."
"It's no problem. The place is just around this area." I pointed at the map in front of me to the rest stop a little outside of the forest. The boy zoomed in on the map a couple times and found it.
"Whoops I guess I missed that." he laughed nervously.
The red headed girl started grinding her knuckles into his head. "Whoops guess I missed it MY ASS!" she yelled. She noticed me laughing and put him down. "Oh, by the way, I am Ceara O'Brian." she said sweetly. I took this time to look at her more clearly. She was tall enough to reach my chin and she had light brown eyes. She wore a black jacket with red on her shoulders and sleeves, red shorts with black stripes on each side, and red and black tennis shoes. Her long orange hair went down to her waist and had a hair clip with a blue flower. She had a pretty face and smooth slightly tanned skin. Her waist was small and she had an average sized bust and a nice butt.
The girl in front of me was replaced by the girl with blue hair. "I'm Raine Fleur." Raine was taller than Amber, as she stood only a few inches under me and had dark blue eyes. She wore a blue strapless dress with one white stripe down the front that went down mid-thigh, white and blue striped socks that went mid calf, and black and white running shoes. Her tied back blue hair flowed down to her shoulders and had a hair clip with a yellow flower on it. Her face was slightly longer and more womanly than Amber with very pale skin. She was thin, but had a larger butt and bust than normal.
Next, the blond girl stepped up. "My name's Sheba Sellick." Sheba was shorter than both of them, as she only made it up to my collar bone and has sharp green eyes. She wore a yellow short sleeved spandex shirt with gray circles on her arms, yellow cargo shorts, gray shoes, and gray fingerless gloves. Her short blond hair is tied in to small ponytails with a hair clip with a red flower in it. She has a small and cute face and unusually dark skin. She was thin and has a smaller bust and butt.
The sight of these three together made my face heat up. They were definitely personifications of three types of beauty. My musings were interrupted my a moan of pain from the floor. I looked down to see the boy on the floor, nursing his head. I bent over and offered a hand to the kid. He took it and wiped the dirt off his pants. "Thanks, I'm Aidan. Amber's my big sister." he said with a small smile. Aidan was short enough to be short enough to be six or seven with light blue eyes. He wore a green tee shirt with a big white stripe down the middle that looked way too big, beige shorts, and strap sandals. Unlike his sister, his hair was literally red and his skin was pale.
I felt a big hand slap my back and I stumbled forward. I turned around to see a big man laugh heartily. He put an enormous arm around my shoulder. "And I'm Mullen and the owner of this team. Ceara and Aidan are my real kids, but I think of Raine and Sheba as my children just the same." This gigantic man spoke with a heavy Irish accent and his bright blue eyes shone with playfulness. He wore a bright orange hoody with a big red skull surrounded by a circle with a line through it, camouflage cargo pants, and black skate shoes. His short spiky brown hair was a surprise from his kid's flame colored hair and his muscular body was slightly tanned.
When he released me I smiled nervously and waved. "Er hi. I'm-"
"WAIT!" Mullen put a hand on his chin and took a thinking pose. "You know what? I'm gonna give you a nickname."
"Why?" I asked flabbergasted.
"Cause I want to. Now let's see... How about Conan."
"No thanks."
"Faolen?"
"Do I have to have one?"
"YES! Alright, this one will be the one no questions asked."
I looked for help from the rest of the crew for help, but they all shook their heads, shrugged, and sighed. I sweat dropped. "Go ahead."
"Conri. Your new name is Conri." I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "It means king of wolves where I come from."
How fitting. Ula commented in my head.
"Alright sure."
"GOOD! Now we get FOOD!"
At the mention of food my stomach roared in pain. I doubled over and held my stomach. I looked to find all eyes on me. "Er... I have no money."
Ceara, Raine and Sheba's eyes glinted in malicious intent. "A freeloader?" They said in unison.
I started to sweat bullets until Mullen laughed and put his hands on Sheba's right shoulder and Ceara's left shoulder. "It's alright, after all you showed us where it was in the first place. Am I right?" Aidan nodded happily, and Raine, Sheba, and Ceara huffed in defiance. "Then it's settled. You're coming with us Conri." he smiled victoriously and made the peace sign. I bowed my head and thanked him profusely.
At the rest stop.
The restaurant part of the building was large and spacious with green carpet, a bar in the middle, large TVs all around the room, too many tables and chairs to count, and glass walls that over looked the surrounding area. We were seated quickly and ordered immediately.
"So, you mentioned you were a team before. What kind of team were you talking about?" I asked after gulping down a glass of water.
"We're a team of zoids warriors." Aidan answered happily.
"Really? What do you pilot?" I asked.
"I pilot the liger zero." Ceara exclaimed happily.
"Mine's a berserk fury."Raine said proudly.
"I use a storm sworder." Said Sheba as she smirked
Mullen smiled. "I'm retired."
"I can't pilot a zoid so I mainly give out tactical support." Aidan said.
"Wow, so you must be winning a lot of battles with such good zoids right?"
The table went silent after my comment. The girls looked away sheepishly and Mullen and Aidan looked pointedly at them.
I sighed. "Fail." I whispered and stood up to go to the bathroom when my chair hit a passer by and spilled his drink all over himself.
"HEY WATCH IT!" He yelled.
I turned around. "Sorry about that." I said apologetically.
"Sorry ain't gonna cover the jacket you just ruined punk." he got up in my face. Three other guys dressed similar to him stood by his sides. "I challenge you to a 3-on-1 zoid battle."
I almost laughed in his face at his immaturity and the unreasonable conditions of the battle. But instead I just sighed and opened my mouth to speak when Mullen interrupted.
"Fine, but we want 3 times as much as the normal prize money." he smirked.
"Accepted. See us at 1600 and 10 miles north." they walked away but not without the guy on his right spit near my feet.
I turned to Mullen and glared at him. "Who gave you the right to accept the match?!" I yelled.
"The same guy who is paying your bill." he said as the waitress placed the food on the table. "Not to mention that your zoid is currently in my hover cargo." he laughed heartily
I looked at my burger I ordered and sighed. "Fine I'll do my best." I sat down and started to eat my food.
Sheba turned to Mullen and whispered. "But, that was the red impact team."
"I know what I'm doing." Mullen whispered back confidently.
"Dad, they're in the c-class and we're in the d-class." Ceara whispered.
"I'm confident that he'll win and break us out of the loosing streak."
"We've only just met him and you're adding him to our team?" Raine whispered incredulously.
All eyes save for Mullen's were turned to me yet again. They watched in silence as I devoured my meal. They sighed and I could practically hear them think negative thoughts.
4:00.
I stood there in Ula with the other team across from me. I studied the field. It was mostly barren with two towering cliffs parallel to each other with quite a bit of space in between. Next I studied my opponents. There was 2 rev raptors and between them was a red horn.
Nervous? Ula asked.
"No, not really. I doubt they really are any good."
It's good you're resolute, but overconfidence may be your downfall.
"Gotcha." A screen appeared with the leader's face smirking.
"You ready to loose like your useless team?" he asked confidently.
"That's odd coming from the guy who's overcompensating for something by using his red horn." I taunted.
He growled. "WHY YOU!" at that moment the judge arrived.
He spouted his usual calling of the regulations before preparing the beginning of the battle. "Reeeeaaddy, FIGHT!"
Immediately, the red horn charged in front. I suppose it was a front for the real attack from the two rev rapters directly behind it.
I sighed. "Let's go Ula." she howled for effect and I ran to the left and the rev raptors ran to corner me against the wall.
"Okay, if that's what they want." I ran to the cliff. The rev raptors charged the place where I would meet the cliff. I got to the cliff and started to run up it. The raptors ran straight into the cliff. I jumped and righted myself in mid air. I shot 1 round to each at their joint that keep their center of balance, effectively freezing their battle systems.
Back at the restaurant, everybody who was watching gasped in amazement. Within the span of a minute I had taken 2 zoids down with 2 shots.
"NO Kyle, Ryan!" the leader yelled. He growled. "Alright smart guy, I'm gonna mangle you." he charge at me, guns blazing.
Time seemed to slow down as I dodged the incoming bullets. He let out a cry of anger and the red horn's horn glowed. At the moment of impact, I dodged to his left and slammed my side into his causing him to topple over. I stopped using the front legs and used the momentum to swerve myself to his direct side where I shot once just behind his front leg.
He growled even louder. "GET UP YOU USELESS PIECE OF TRASH!" he yelled. His zoid got up but immediately stumbled forward because of the damage to the exposed circuits behind it's leg.
"I bet you say that a lot when you look down." I joked. I bit his horn and began to swing him around until his horn broke and he was sent flying to the cliff. He slammed into the wall and his system froze, ending the battle.
"Battle over! Battle over! The winner issssss... the ULTIMA TEAM!" the judge shouted. And raised his blue hand.
"Well that was boring." I said, but then I looked at the other zoids and realized, I did that all alone.
I stood up and gave a loud and long whoop. Ula sat, raised her head, and howled to the open sky.
The spectators all cheered loudly. Mullen stood there smiling proudly and the rest of my teammates stood there flabbergasted.
How do you feel? Ula asked.
"Like I need some more food." Ula laughed and I sat down and set off toward the rest stop.
Back at the stop.
I exited the elevator door and was immediately confronted by a group of patrons crowding around me and asking questions. Some asked how I got to be so good, some asked my name, but most asked if I would join their team. I tried to fight my way through, but to no avail.
Then a single man stood and made his way through the crowd towards me. The crowd silenced when he got up to me. He was a suave man with brown hair that covered one eye and a bright white suit.
"Greetings. I am lord McEvens I believe you've heard of me." he said smugly.
"Nope."
I swear I saw his eyebrow twitch in annoyance but you couldn't tell by his facial expression. "Well anyway, I am the owner of the b-class team, the McEvens team."
"I wonder where it got it's name." I said sarcastically.
"Yes, well. I would like you to consider leaving your current team in favor of joining mine. I guarantee that we will pay you much more than what you're paying now."
I could see from behind his shoulder, my team looking ready to leave. Save for Mullen. I looked back at him. "No can do. These guys payed for my meal." I walked past him, but was immediately confronted by what seemed to be the owner.
"Wait. I am the owner of this restaurant." I knew it. "and I was amazed by your performance. I won't accept a penny from you or your team for the entire night."
"So I can eat here for free?" I asked excitedly.
"Yes." the owner said equally excited.
McEvens put a hand on my shoulder. "What were you saying about paying for your meal?" he asked.
"Nope. Besides," I threw a ring of keys to Mullen who caught them. "I already have my zoid inside their hover cargo." I strode forward and sat down at our table. "Hey waiter! I'll take another of what I just had." The crowd seemed to break up and return to their original positions. "Come on, sit down, tonight we eat for free right?" I said to my team. Aiden jumped up and whooped. While Ceara, Sheba , and Raine glomped the unsuspecting me.
We laughed and Mullen ordered a round of drinks. He raised his cup. "For ultima team." and we shouted "FOR ULTIMA TEAM."
I could hear Ula howl through the now approaching night.
End of chapter 1.
Darren Ookami: hiya. It's good to be back. But unfortunately I haven't started on the next chapter of my other story, the twin hound blade. Fear not, I will eventually. Ahem, well then, down to buisness. The names:
I chose Ulrica because I has the internet and I found it on 2 sites as a feminine name for power of the wolf so I think it's legit.
Ceara means fiery red like her hair and also because she is the fire of the team.
O'Brian means son of Brian which means high and noble.
Raine is because of he being the water of the team.
Fleur because it's french for flower and it's a fitting last name.
Sheba because it's the name of the female wind adept in golden sun 2 and she's the wind on the team.
Sellick because it's a british last name that means a wide open veiw... I think.
Aiden is irish like Ceara, O'Brian, and Mullen and Aiden means fire again like his hair.
Mullen means warrior which is symbolic in that he's so fucking huge. I mean armstrong from full metal alchemist big. Yeah that big.
Conri means just as I said it did. King wolf. Fitting no?
McEvens is a name I honestly pulled out of my ass.
And yes I would go out of my way to find names for my characters. But only in this one. The rest I will shit out letters and put them together to make words and they will stick.
Anyway, something you might or might not have heard about is that my friends will be entering this fic, that is true and they will be chosen ones. As for the cast part in the beginning, I am part of a shadow cast(which is like a play, only the movie you're imitating is playing behind you.) of repo the genetic opera. I suggest you rent it... NAO! Also the names included in the list are members of the cast. It's not all of them but we're growing so I'm not gonna change it.
Let's see, that about wraps it up for now. If you have any questions just ask me in your review. Now I want to give a shout out to some people.
Triad Orion, Grey Goose 74, and Jetslinger: you all have brilliant fics but I wish you would fucking finish them. And I mean finish them, not just stick a complete on the end and leave with a cliffhanger... Jetslinger.
Paper: …. nevermind.
The Yu-Gi-Oh abridge series creators: keep up the good work.
Donny, Kayla, and Matt: prepare to be used.
My cast: I'm sorry if I missed your names. T.T
end