ZOIDS:
Eisen Dragoons
This is my first fic so go easy on me
Disclaimer: I don't own zoids; otherwise it would still be on the air!
Chapter 1: What's lost, is found
Living out in the desert is, at most, a boring and lonely life; but for Scorpio Cortez, he was never alone. He always had his mothers' journal with him. The journal of Rachael Cortez would have been a holy grail of scientific knowledge had any one other than Scorpio found it. Scorpio knew that if his mothers' journal fell into the wrong hands, it would spell disaster for Zi. Neatly placed between the pages of the journal were the schematics for many weapons, armor, ECM, cooling and shield systems; all of which were highly advanced. The deadliest of these was a weapon system that his mother had said would "…make the Charged Particle Cannon look like nothing more than a pea-shooter." That weapon was the Ion Cannon.
His mother had devoted twelve different blueprints to the incredibly complex components that made up the cannon. The last two, numbers 13 and 14, showed ways the cannon could be implemented. The first showed how it could be mounted and fired from orbit on a judge satellite, but the second showed, with a few modifications, how the cannon could be mounted onto a zoid chassis.
Over half of the blueprints in her journal were part of a single, master, blueprint. The blue print was of a zoid that his mother had called the "Dark Spiner." What Scorpio wanted to do more than any thing else was to create that zoid. He really didn't know why, but he wanted to be the pilot for that zoid. He wanted to be the greatest zoid pilot ever. He knew that sounded cliché, but the truth was that he really wanted to do it.
Scorpio closed his mothers' journal. 'That's enough reminiscing about the past' he thought. He opened his duffel bag and placed the journal in a spot where, if someone tried to steal it, they would make a lot of noise doing so. He sealed the main zipper and pulled a newspaper out of one of the side pockets. He sighed; the paper was three days old.
"Well," he said "better to read it now rather than never, right girl?"
The 'girl' he was referring to was an organoid, and her name was Succubus. You could consider her a look-alike to Specula, except while Specula was blue with yellow eyes, Succubus was black with blue eyes. And instead of having the jets like Specula, Ambient and Zeke, Succubus had wings like Shadow, making her appear very dragon-like. She was lying on her front with her short, stubby arms to her sides and her legs and tail drawn out behind her. She didn't move; instead she let out a snort to show that she really didn't care.
"Just seeing if you were awake girl." Succubus merely snorted again. Scorpio returned to his paper, not really reading it word for word, but just getting the main idea, important names and what not like: Backdraft Busted for Good… Vega Team receiving official pardon from ZBC for any involvement with the Backdraft… Blitz team achieving Class S through Victory at Royal Cup… Dr. Layon being injured and his Great Wale King destroyed during Genosaurers attack on the Berserk Fury… Scorpio paused for a moment.
'Dr. Layon' he thought, 'that name sounds familiar.'
Scorpio gave himself a headache trying to remember where he heard Dr. Layons name before it finally clicked. His mother had mentioned his name once in passing, and when Scorpio had pushed her for details on who that was, Rachael had been, at best, elusive with her answers. It usually wasn't very hard for him to remember things; he had an amazing photographic memory. Scorpio flipped to the front page of the paper and found Dr. Layons photo. Dr. Layons appearance could at best be described as odd; his head was slightly egg-shaped and was covered in messy black hair.
'Just like mine' Scorpio thought. Unlike his mother, who had perfectly straight blond hair, his was like Dr. Layons. That is to say very short, very messy, and the darkest black you could imagine. Dr. Layons face was a different matter, for the expressions he wore seemed to say that he knew something that you didn't, and his grin said that he was pleased with this. Scorpio also noted Dr. Layons thick stocky build; which seemed to be the exact opposite of Scorpio, his physique was more like his mothers, that is to say powerful with well toned muscles.
He remembered one person saying that he had the perfect form for a zoid warrior. Only problem was, in order to become a zoid warrior, he needed a zoid; but he only wanted to pilot the zoid his mother had designed. Scorpio turned back to the article. '…Designed the Neo-Warshark, worked on the Berserk Fury's armor system, and was the creator of the Shadow Fox…' he thought as he continued to read. By the time he had finished the article, his mind had been made up; he would find Dr. Layon and get him to create the Dark Spiner.
Scorpio put the newspaper back in the side pocket and took out two folded papers, his blood and DNA test results. Scorpio had also decided that if his mother had known Layon, then he might know who his father was. He made sure everything was secured in his duffle bag before he looped the strap over his shoulder. From what he read, Dr. Layon was being treated for charged particle burns at the general hospital in Neon City, which just happened to be the city Scorpio was headed to next.
"Come on Succubus, if we're going to make it to Neon City before night fall, then we'll have to start walking."
When Scorpio looked over, he found that Succubus was already up and had her wings extended. Scorpio was skeptical at best, it wasn't that he didn't enjoy flying; it was that their first flight ended in a crash. He shrugged his shoulders. Since they had been walking all week, flying, despite its bad memories, sounded like a good idea. Readjusting the strap so it was now across his chest, he checked to make sure that his CD player and tests were secure before fishing a light-blue bandanna from his left pocket. He tied it around his head so that it kept his hair out of his eyes and kept his headphones secure while he was flying. Making sure every thing was secured and hitting the play button on the CD player, he hoped onto Succubus's back. With a terrific roar, they were off into the early morning sky. Scorpio couldn't describe how it felt to fly peacefully. The last time they had flow together, they had been trying to get away from some wacko in a Sand Stingray. Their flight ended when they both face-planted themselves into a sand dune. 'Well,' he thought 'at least we got rid of that nut job.'
Succubus purred, signaling him to turn up the volume on his CD player. Scorpio knew why she wanted him to do that, for their favorite song was about to play, and how Succubus knew it was coming on. Succubus, like Specula and Ambient, had a unique ability. While Ambient could mutate zoids, and Specula could bring out their full potential, Succubus's ability was ultra-unique. She could control and channel massive electrical currents through her body and could sense what was happening in any electrical circuits that were near her body, like Scorpio's CD player.
As the song came on, there were no words, just a steady rhythm. Suddenly, just as the short rhythm ended, some one hit the electric guitars. Scorpio smiled, the first time they heard a sample of the song, both of them felt one thing: aggression. The song focused, channeled, and gave off pure aggression. When the 30 second sample had finished, Scorpio felt as though he could take on the entire ZBC in nothing more that a Molga. He asked Succubus if they should get it and she agreed. That same day they purchased Papa Roach's Getting Away with Murder.
Succubus started flying lower and faster as the lyrics began to play…
Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate
what creates my own madness
and I'm addicted to your punishment
and you're the master
and I am waiting for disaster
At this point Succubus shot upwards at a steep angle. In truth, Succubus wasn't truly listening to the song; rather, her brain was interpreting the electrical signals that were traveling to Scorpios headphones as sound. Succubus decided that now was the time to perform a few stunts that she had wanted to do for a long time.
I feel irrational
So confrontational
To tell the truth I am
getting away with murder
it isn't possible
to ever tell the truth
But the reality is I'm getting away with murder
(Getting away, Getting away, Getting away)
Scorpio lost count of the number of times that they dived, turned, barrel-rolled, did loop-de-loops and corkscrews while still making good time to Neon City. Succubus was enjoying herself and so was Scorpio.
I drink my drink and I don't even want to I feel irrational
I think my thoughts when I don't even need to
I never look back cause I don't even want to
and I don't need to
because I'm getting away with murder
So confrontational
To tell the truth I am
getting away with murder
it isn't possible
to ever tell the truth
But the reality is I'm getting away with murder
(Getting away, Getting away, Getting away)
Five minuets later, they landed in Neon City. As soon Scorpio jumped off of Succubus, he took off his bandana and head phones while Succubus folded her wings down into her usual wing stubs.
"You really know how to start a party, don't ya girl?" Succubus purred in agreement.
It was still early morning so there weren't many people out, but those that were out gave him odd looks when he landed. Scorpio ignored them, for, when one has an organoid, odd looks come with it. The general hospital was easy to find thanks in part to the signs and the fact Succubus landed near it. When they got inside, the hospital looked like what they expected a hospital to look like; white tile floor, white walls and fluorescent lights. Except for the head nurse, there was nobody else around. First thing was first, since his info was three weeks old, he had to make sure that Dr. Layon was still being treated there.
When Scorpio walked up to the front desk he discovered that the head nurse was either completely bored out of her mind or in some sort of trance. She was looking at the computer screen with half-closed eyes, while idly tapping at the keyboard. Scorpio decided to break her out of her revive. He cleared his throat and she quickly returned to reality.
"Sorry, must've been daydreaming there, what can I do for you?
Scorpio smiled, now that there was something to do in this boring town, the head nurse seemed a little to eager to do something.
"Yes, I'm here to see Dr. Layon. The paper said he was being treated here for charged particle burns."
"Yep, he's here," Scorpio let out the breath he had been unconsciously holding, "but I can't let you see him unless you are a friend of his, a family member, part of the media or ZBC."
"I'm a friend." he replied.
The nurse continued to type on the keyboard, not really caring if Scorpio was telling the truth or not. After a few minuets, the head nurse got up.
"OK, just…follow…me…" He knew what caused her to suddenly go quiet and stand perfectly still, that reason was Succubus staring at her. Tapping the nurse on the shoulder, he said "It's ok, she's with me and she won't harm anybody." This seemed to lessen the nurses' fear, though as they walked through the labyrinthine of halls, she continued to look over her shoulder just to make sure Succubus wasn't about to attack her.
Scorpio could tell that they had arrived at Dr. Layons room because on either side of the door there was a ZBC guard. Scorpio remembered that the newspaper said that in exchange for not confiscating his lab, zoids, and getting no jail time, Dr. Layon would tell the ZBC the names of the major contributors of the backdraft and its hidden supply depots. The remnants of the backdraft now considered him a traitor and were now trying to get back at him. Fortunately, the guards look bored so they wouldn't mind if an organoid walked into the room.
Scorpio was about to go into the room when the nurse stopped him, "hold it kid, rules are rules." The nurse walked over to the guards and told them something that Scorpio couldn't hear, but the effect of whatever she said could be seen immediately. Both of the guards' faces lit up like children on Christmas Day, before they both suddenly ran down the hall toward the entrance to the hospital. They both yelled a 'Woo-hoo!' as they rounded the corner.
Scorpio was confused, what did the nurse say to get those guards to leave so suddenly?
"What did you say to them?" he asked
"I told them it was their break time."
He smiled and said 'thanks' before heading into the room. The room was a standard hospital room, that is, that there were two beds, one next to the window and the other next to the bathroom. Dr. Layon looked very out of place in the room; he had apparently refused to take off his black over coat, purple under-shirt, and red tie. Dr. Layon was too absorbed in eating his cup of chicken noodle soup to notice Scorpio taking a seat on the right of his bed, nor did he notice Succubus on the left side of his bed sniffing at the cup of soup in his hand.
"Excuse me, Dr. Layon?" Scorpio asked, trying to get his attention.
Dr. Layon tipped his head back and drained the remains of the soup in one gulp. As he moved to put his cup on the table next to his bed, which held five other soup cups, he froze as a look of shock and awe grew in his face. Shock because a large, dragon-like creature was sniffing his hand and awe because he realized that it was an organoid; a rare creature not seen for hundreds of years, since the days of Van Flyheight the Hero.
"Uhh, Dr. Layon?" Scorpio's second attempt to get Layon's attention was successful as Dr. Layon realized Scorpio was there.
"Oh, sorry, I was…" Dr. Layon said as his eyes were drawn back to the organoid.
"Distracted by Succubus? Ya, she tends to do that."
"Succubus, that sure is an odd name for an organoid," Dr. Layon replied, his attention now diverted fully to Scorpio.
"Then again, people say my name is as odd as hers."
Dr. Layon suddenly realized how rude he was being. He didn't even know the kids' name.
"Sorry, you didn't come here to listen to me talk about your organoid, and I don't even know your name, let's start off on the right foot for once, my name is Dr. Layon" he said as he held out his hand. Scorpio took his hand and shook it. Dr. Layon was surprised at the boys' incredibly firm grip.
"My name's Scorpio, Scorpio Cortez."
'Could it be…?' Layon began to think until Scorpio started to speak again.
"My mother was Rachael Cortez."
At that moment, Dr. Layons face lit up. 'Rachael, I knew it!' he thought. Unfortunately, Dr. Layon didn't catch the 'was'.
"Well I'll be darned, how is that old viper anyway?" Dr. Layon realized he said something wrong when he saw Scorpio's shoulders droop.
"You didn't hear, did you?" Dr. Layon merely gave Scorpio a confused look while thinking 'OK, was there something I missed?'
"My mother she," Scorpio paused and took a deep breath, for this was very hard for him to say, "She died, eight years ago."
Scorpio's words hit him like a sledge hammer. He was so shocked that he only managed to chock out one word, "How?"
"It was a lab accident, I was there when it happened, and I was ten years old at the time." This further shocked Layon. "I didn't actually see her die; I remember that my mom was going to open the pod Succubus was in without the other scientists. It was the weekend; the other scientists only came on the weekdays. I remember that I kept asking her what was in the pod until she said it was a surprise."
Scorpio simply and slowly shook his head. Layon was surprised the Scorpio was able to tell him this much without breaking down and crying. 'He must've come to terms about her passing away.'
"After she told me that," he continued, "I hid behind one of the machines in the lab, usually, when mom said she had a surprise for me, we played a little game of hide-and-seek before I could find out what the surprise was. I remember hiding there with my favorite book when I heard my mom activate the pod, but, then something happened," again he shook his head, "I heard what sounded like a machine powering up, then was an explosion, I remember hitting my head and blacking out, but my memory's pretty blurry and spotty after I woke up, I can recall seeing Succubus standing in the middle of the lab, swaying as though she was sick and," Scorpio paused, for this truly was the most painful memory of all, "my mom was standing right next to the pod when it exploded."
At this point, Dr. Layon put his hand on Scorpio's shoulder.
"You don't need to go on Scorpio; I realize how painful it is for you." Scorpio smiled, he was already starting to like Dr. Layon. What happened next surprised both of them. Dr. Layon had just taken his hand of Scorpio's shoulder when he felt something heavy be placed in his lap. He looked down and found that Scorpio's organoid, Succubus, had placed her head in his lap and that she was purring like a cat.
Scorpio's left eyebrow arched, "odd, she normally doesn't do that. To put it bluntly, she isn't friendly with strangers."
Dr. Layon carefully placed his hand behind the crest on her head and was rewarded by her purring just a bit louder. 'She must be comfortable' thought Layon. Scorpio unzipped his bag and started digging in it.
"The reason I came here is that I'm going to compete in zoid battles, and in order to do that, well, I need a Zoid.
Layon smiled "I'm sorry to inform you Scorpio, but I no longer have the shadow fox."
"I didn't want the Shadow Fox." Scorpio had found what he was looking for, and from what Layon could see it was a folder and Rachael's journal. As Scorpio started to flip through its pages, Layon remembered why it was Rachael's. Unlike most diaries, which had very ordinary markings on the covers, the front cover of Rachael's was adorn with the crest of the Cortez family. The crest was of a dragon coiling counter-clockwise in a never ending circle. The dragon was red in color and showed no signs of arms or legs, just three large spines fanning off its head. Layon also noted that Scorpio had the crest tattooed on his right bicep.
"This is the zoid that I want to pilot" Scorpio was somewhere near the back of the journal when he pulled out a neatly folded blue print and handed it to Layon. When Dr. Layon designed the Shadow Fox, he probably only had about three extra blue prints detailing the very complex components. But this 'Dark Spiner' zoid had about 20 ultra-complex components from what Layon could tell and one of them was very familiar.
"Why that sly dog!" he said with the biggest grin on his face.
"What?" Scorpio was confused, why would Dr. Layon say something like that?
"Your mother has integrated an invention that we worked on into this zoid." Scorpio looked at the part that Layon was pointing to; it was simply labeled 'Ion Array'
"That is short for the 'Ion Control Array', it was the one invention that your mother needed our help on, trust me that thing was a bitch to figure out." Dr. Layons face still had that grin plastered all over it.
"I have absolutely no doubt that this zoid would give the Shadow Fox a run for its money."
"So now the only question is will you help me create the Dark Spiner and sponsor me so we can see which one's the stronger zoid?" Dr. Layon looked Scorpio square in the eye, for this just too good to pass up, he only had one question.
"Are you a good zoid pilot?"
Scorpio almost looked insulted "Good? I passed the Empires' elite piloting test with flying colors, so I'm better than good."
With that, Dr. Layon held out his hand and said "Then you got yourself a deal, Scorpio." They shook hands, and Scorpio handed Layon the folder he had pulled out of his bag.
"This has all the forms in it; I've filled out the team name, symbol and what not so you don't have to." When Layon opened the folder he was pleasantly surprised. In the box for the team symbol was the Cortez family crest, and over top of it, written in elegant cursive writing, was the words 'Eisen Dragoons'. Dr. Layon continued to peruse the forms until he arrived at the warrior application form, here Scorpio had to fill out info on his parents. The info on his mother was filled out all right, but the space for his father's info was completely blank.
"Hey, Scorpio, what happened to your father?" he asked. Scorpio shrugged his shoulders.
"My mom said that he couldn't come with her to the Empire because he was doing research here in Europa."
"Did your mother say anything else about him?"
Scorpio thought for a moment before nodding his head. "Yes she did say something else about him; she said that he was the only man to ever touch her." Dr. Layon felt his skin grow cold; he knew what Scorpio meant by 'touch her'. 'But could it be, I mean sure he looks like a younger, slimed-down, egg-head-less version of me, but she said that there was no harm done…' Dr. Layon stopped thinking, jumping to conclusions wasn't going to help, finding proof would.
"Scorpio, did you have your DNA tested at any time?"
"Ya, I actually have the test right here." Scorpio said as he handed the test to Dr. Layon. Layon hit the 'call nurse' button on the side of his bed, a minuet later the head nurse walked in.
"Did you need something Dr. Layon?"
Layon handed her Scorpio's test. "Could you please compare my DNA that you have on file against Scorpio's here?"
"Sure thing Dr. Layon" and with that, the nurse left to complete her new assignment.
Scorpio was confused to say the least. 'Why on Zi would Dr. Layon have our DNA compared?' Succubus had moved her head from Layon's lap and was now sound asleep on the unused bed next to the window. She looked so calm and peaceful, while Dr. Layon looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown. Scorpio suddenly figured out what was making Layon so nervous.
"Dr. Layon is there something you're not telling me?" questioned Scorpio. 'Damm he's fast, just like Rachael, well better to get this over with' thought Layon. He took a moment to compose himself before, after taking a deep breath, once again looked Scorpio in the eye.
"The reason I'm having the nurse do that is I believe that I may be that man your mother was talking about." He took another deep breath and diverted his gaze away form Scorpio. "It was the day before your mother was to leave for the empire, when we finally completed the Ion Control Array, trust me, it was the most challenging thing we had ever done. We were all so happy to get the thing over with that we all decided to get some drinks, unfortunately a 'couple' for me turned into about a half-dozen shots of Champ's whisky." He sighed, and Scorpio could feel a lot of guilt coming from Layon.
"When I woke up and realized what I had done, to put it in laymen's terms, I felt like dirt." Dr. Layon paused, one could see the guilt on his face, and he sighed.
"Your mother was so beautiful and so innocent, and for me to take that away from her…" again, Dr. Layon stopped, and shook his head. "When I tried to apologize, she said that there was no harm done, and what happened was what she wanted to have happen. That morning, she left for the Empire. And, as you can tell, I never saw nor heard from her again." After that, Dr. Layon stopped, for the head nurse walked into the room with what had to be the dumbest grin on her face.
"Well, Dr. Layon, the results came back and I wanted to congratulate you, it appears that Scorpio here is your son." and with that she walked back out of the room after handing the results to Layon.
Dr. Layon was stunned, one thought ran through his head, 'Scorpio is my son?'
Before Dr. Layon could say any thing, he felt Scorpio wrap his arms around him and whisper in his ear "You don't know how long I've been looking for you." before resting his head on Layons' shoulder. Immediately, thoughts began to zip through his head, 'He's been looking for me, his father, this whole time? And all this time I've been either trying to get revenge on Toros for that simple mistake of Oscars, thank god he told me about it, or doting on Leena when I had a son that needed his father more than anything else in the world. This is a second chance for me, and I'm not going to mess it up.'
"Scorpio," he began, determined to set things right and struggling to keep the tears back, "could you forgive me for not being there?" As Scorpio pulled back, Dr. Layon could see to tear streaks on his face, as well as the smile he wore.
"There's no need to ask for forgiveness, when I forgave you so long ago." Replied Scorpio, who wasn't even bothering to hold back the tears. At that moment, Dr. Layon felt happier than he ever felt before.
"Excuse me, Dr. Layon?" it was the nurse "ZBC News is here to do their final interview, should I tell them to come back later?"
"No send them in; I'm sure that they'll enjoy this new development."
Wow, man that took a while to finish!
Thanks to Dragon-Raptor for beta-reading this for me!
Now, R&R!
