Zoids: Tales of the Scavenge team.
Chapter 1: Bael's beginning
A very late Happy new year everybody! I hope you like this story. There will be some inconsistencies with the anime made to make the story better, it is also slightly mixed in with the battle story in later chapters. I have planned that every chapter be about 12,000 words long and that there would be at least 26 chapters, the same as the number of episodes as New Century. Some parts are a little choppy, I really lost my will to write a few times, but, I'm just disracting you from reading. I do not own Zoids or any of the canon characters that appear in this story. Remember to let me know what can be changed or improved. Now without further adieu, enjoy the story, and all that good stuff.
Organized under strict rules and regulations, Zoids battles are fighting competitions held on enormous battlefields using mechanical combat units known as Zoids. The enthusiastic young warriors put their pride on the line, and sharpen their skills against one another. Battlemode approved. Area scanned. Battlefield set up. Ready? FIGHT!
Across a desolate lifeless desert on planet Zi, a Gustav Zoid was making quick time for a Zoid of it's type. It had a unique paint job, it's shell was cyan while the head and antenna were blue. It's back transport trailers were empty, save for a lot of heavy lifting apparatus in the back one. Inside the cockpit it's sat it's pilot. A young man around the age of seventeen with short redish-brown hair and a gray vest over a blue shirt and some black sweat pants. He was a desert scavenger, a guy who made a living off of what he could find and sell in the desert, usually in past Zoid battlefields. His name was Bael Comet, and he was happily cheering himself on.
"WOOHOO! BEST FIND EVER!" He'd recently taken up finding and restoring old broken down Zoids and then re-selling them when he was done. His more recent findings had been... Mediocre at best, the biggest thing he'd found in the last three months was an old command Wolf. A really old one, white colored from the old war times. It had been a very long and expensive restoration for a Zoid most people didn't even want, and who could blame them? It's hydraulics were way too tight with no way of loosening them, it's weapons took ammo that wasn't made anymore and had to be specifically ordered from a specialist. In the end it had cost him twice as much to restore as he was paid for it. But Bael wasn't doing it for the money, he was doing it for the joy of working on Zoids. He'd had his own Helcat as a kid until some guy came into town with a Rev Raptor and challenged him to a battle, he'd accepted and ended up with his Helcat completely totaled. He wanted to fix his old buddy but he never learned to do so until five years later and it had already been sold as spare parts. But this was today, and it would be a big day. Today he'd made a big find in the desert and he was excited about it, a black Great Saber. One of the greatest variants of the Saber Tiger there was. He'd found it scouting earlier in the day and he just had to get a hold of it.
"I've always wanted a Saber Tiger, and now I find a Great Saber? This is the best day of my life!" He'd cranked up the strength of the Gustav's wheels just for this. The wreck was partially buried in the side of a sand dune. It would take some very careful digging to get it out. After a few hours of placing small explosives at the base of the dune, Bael returned to the Gustav and moved it a few tens of meters away. Flipping up a small plastic cover on a detonator, Bael slammed his thumb down on to the button, triggering a series of small explosions at the base of the dune. Sand collapsed around the gigantic robotic tiger in an avalanche, freeing it's body just enough for it to fall free from the dune, despite the sand, Bael could still feel the vibrations of it hitting the ground. Wasting no time, he lined the Crane on the back trailer of the Gustav, lifting the mighty mechanical beast onto the trailer, grains of sand still falling in human sized wads. Slowly and carefully he loaded it onto the front trailer, all his lifting machinery took up too much space in the back. He immediately began on his way to the warehouse that he had made his home and workshop on the outskirts of a city.
"This is going to be a great restore. I might just keep this one myself!" Making his way to his warehouse he managed to turn some heads on the road. Only the best Zoid battlers there were had the money to afford the CP-02 assault unit attachment for a Saber, even one as old and run down as his looked cool with it.. He pulled the Gustav into the open doors of the warehouse, parking it next to another large collection of cranes and parts. He had Saber Tiger parts scattered all around the area, he'd been waiting for this day for a long while and collected enough parts to build half of a Saber Tiger. He quickly went to work on replacing the destroyed parts with better repaired parts and attaching parts where missing. Weeks of hard work passed and all that was missing now was some important hydraulics for the left rear leg and supports. He had to go to the city to get it. He got in his transport truck and left the warehouse for the parts store. Driving through town there was an unusual amount of Zoid based advertizements. He finally made it to the parts shop and stepped through the door. The place was flooded with more people than he'd ever seen there, at least since the Royal cup.
"Ey', Bael, ova here!" A voice called out over the crowd. Bael looked around, trying to peer around the writhing mass of people. Not far away he saw an employee of the shop that he'd come to know over the last few months sitting in a chair.
"Matt!" Bael called back. He had to muscle his way through the crowds to make it to him. After another large push he fell out of the other side of the crowd. Sitting up, Bael rubbed his head, that fall hurt. He looked up at Matt, who was laughing at him.
"Hehheh, ya' always crack me up Bael." Matt stood up and extended his arm to Bael, grabbing his hand and helping him get to his feet. Bael took a look back to the crowd, no one ever realized he was there.
"Yeahuh. So Matt, what's up with all the business?" Matt led him over to a sign the was attached to the window of the shop, tearing it down and handing it to Bael. He looked it over and smiled. It was a new Zoid's battle tournament, not quite the royal cup, but still a big showdown. Any team could apply, and the prize money was good for the winner. This gave Bael an idea. He was surprised he'd never thought of it before, If he entered Zoid's battles he wouldn't have to keep selling the his favorite Zoids that he restored, he could start his own private collection and still work on his favorite pastime after every battle, win or lose.
"Hey, you got any rear leg hydraulics and supports for a Saber Tiger in?" His eyes didn't leave the paper, he just turned his head slightly. Matt thought for a moment before holding up one finger, signaling for Bael to wait. He walked off to a door, unlocking it with his key and disappearing behind it. Bael sat down in a waiting chair next to a woman with long brown hair, not unlike his own, but her's was a darker, more basic brown.
"Hi." If he was going to have to wait he'd at least make small talk with someone. She turned her head to him for a moment.
"Hello." Her voice was a little bitter, she might have been in a bad mood.
"So, you gonna enter that Zoid tournament?" He asked. The woman let out a sigh.
"I would, but I don't have a Zoid. I found one In the desert, but I haven't been able to move it." Bael perked up, his eyes filled with wonder and interest. He almost stood up upon hearing it.
"Really? I find and restore Zoids for a living, can you take me to it?" She herself perked up for a moment before looking away and resting her jaw on her palm.
"Forget it, I've done everything I could and I couldn't get it free, how do you plan to?" Bael donned a cocky grin, she obviously hadn't seen his work before.
"I've never found a Zoid I couldn't find, uncover, and restore." The woman returned her gaze to him, her look was now changed from one a boredom to one of curiosity.
"Alright then Mr. scavenger, meet me at these coordinates tomorrow morning if you're so sure of yourself." The woman handed him a piece of paper with some numbers on it before standing up and walking to the exit, looked back at Bael for a moment before walking out. After a few more minutes, Matt finally emerged from the door he'd left through.
"Bring ya' truck 'round back, we got a few parts for ya'." Matt walked back through the door and Bael rose to his feet, walking around the shrinking crowd and got in his truck, driving down
the back lot and parking next to a large door. As he came to a stop, the door began to lift up, rolling in on itself at the top. Bael stepped out of the truck to walk up the ramp leading up
to the storage half of the building. Matt was operating a crane holding up some parts, rods, springs and pistons. Around the room there were plenty more parts, even whole arms, legs and tails from a wide array of different Zoids.
"Hey, I don't remember you having these big sections in last time." The heavy machine Matt drove moved out of the door, lowering the parts into the cart in the back of the truck. After dropping the parts off in the truck the crane returned to the storage room and Matt climbed down off out of the crane.
"Some guy came in with the parts, sold 'em to buy some Zoids for the Grand cup." Bael took some better looks at the parts. The entire back section of a Stealth viper, was among the parts. An old style Saber tiger's tail, even parts for a Shadow Fox, a Zoid only recently put into production. Bael shook hands with Matt.
"Thanks bud, charge it to my tab." Bael stated, relieving his grip on Matt's hand. He waved his friend goodbye before returning to the warehouse in the truck, he worked overnight as hard as he could so he could finish the Saber by morning. All throughout the night light shined out of the warehouse as the sounds of machinery filled the empty desert around it. Metal sliding, torches cutting, components of the Zoid colliding. He worked hard, he worked carefully, and most of all he worked fast. By the time the sun had rose, casting away the darkness, the Black Saber Tiger emerged from the warehouse, Bael seated comfortably in it's head. It's red eyes reflecting sunlight and he wanted to give this thing a test run as soon as possible. Slowly, he eased the two handles that were gripped within his hands forward, the Zoid stepping forward just as slowly. As the handles went further, the Zoid's speed began to increase. Feeling more adventurous, he pushed the handles as far as he could, the Saber swiftly reaching it's top speed. The Zoid was a black blur racing across the desert. It had been such a long time since Bael had felt this, the pull, a g-forces of a Zoid running at full speed. But his Helcat could never compare to this feeling, he was going at least twice as fast as it, and as Bael was about to realize, even faster than that. Bael looked at the display screen to see that there were rear mounted thrusters attached to the back of the assault unit. Bael flipped the small cover on the handle, not unlike the one on the detonator and pushed the button. Bael was slammed against the seat as the Great Saber accelerate fast enough to clear over a hundred feat with each bound it made. With all of his strength, Bael forced himself forward against the Zoids g-forces. He took each handle in his hand, pulling back as hard as he could, bringing the beast to an immediate stop. The thrusters stopped firing and cooled down. That had been the most exhilarating thing he'd done since he piloted his Helcat against the Rev Raptor. Checking his personally inserted electronic map, he found that he was pretty close to the location the woman had chosen to meet him. Punching a few codes into the Zoid's computer, he sent a signal to his Gustav to take itself to the selected coordinates and began on his way with the Saber. It led to a very old city, formerly surrounded by rare hertz signals that would mess with a Zoid's control systems and make them aggressive, now there was nothing but dust an echoes. The former streets were being taken back by the desert around it, sand filling them. Finally, he reached the coordinates that had been marked by the woman, it was a giant pile of ruble from a collapsed building. Bael lowered the Great Saber to the ground, it's canopy raising. Bael stepped out of the Zoid to look it over, he couldn't make out what kind of Zoid was in it, but he could clear this easily. He began to walk around the pile when a sent wafted into his nose. Smoke. With it came the crackling sound of fire. He sped up, going around to find a campfire, the woman he met the other day sitting on a metal beam sipping noodles from a cup.
"Bou tuhm yuh goth hur." She sucked the rest of the noodle's strands into her mouth before swallowing them.
"I almost thought you weren't coming." She joked. The sun was hardly in the sky yet, only a few minutes since it peeked over the horizon.
"Well the traffic was horrible!" He joked
"So, does my customer want to tell me her name?" He asked in a formal voice, bowing and pitching his arm across his chest. The woman smiled, amused by his little act.
"Jill." She said bluntly, not wanting to waste time in getting him to recover the Zoid.
"Alright then Jill. So where exactly is it? I can't make out any Zoid from what I've seen." Jill put the cup of noodles down, standing up and pointing to a section of the junk pile. Bael turned his head to see a Zoid's leg, but not just any Zoid, a very rare and very powerful Zoid. Blueish-black armor. Red base, red vents and giant silver feet. This was the leg of a Genosaurer. Not an average paint job for one, but this was not an average Zoid. Powerful back-mounted double barrel pulse rifles, a nose mounted laser gun and, best of all, the devastating charged particle cannon. Bael squealed like a little girl, this was a dream come true, a powerful, borderline legendary Zoid, and he was going to restore it, he took a moment to look the pile over, the pile of debris looked pretty heavy, but his Gustav could probably pull it free.
"THIS IS WHAT YOU FOUND?" Bael yelled in excitement. The woman took a moment before she answered, she uncovered her ears and replied.
"Is there a problem with that?" She asked, not sure the meaning of the yelling. The widest smile in Bael's life arched across his face. If the smile wasn't an answer, his swift shaking of his head was enough of one. Jill's face once again turned to curiosity. Bael motioned her to follow him, he led her to the Great Saber.
"Nice Zoid, where'd you buy it?" Bael burst into laughter, his then laugh faded to a chuckle, then a giggle, then a series of light heaves. Bael turned around to see her staring at him like he'd gone mad.
"I found this Zoid buried in sand a few weeks ago, I just finished restoring it last night." Bael leaned back against it's leg with a smirk firmly cemented on his face. Without any warning, a loud crashing noise rung into both of their ears, followed by a series of loud bangs and booms. A building had just fell over somewhere in this city. Soon another sound began to rumble into their ears.
"Uh oh." Beal whimpered. Jill eyed him suspiciously.
"You wouldn't happen to know what that sound is would you?" She asked in a very demanding tone. Bael looked up at the Saber's canopy.
"Just one moment!" He yelled before stammering up the face of his Zoid. Climbing as fast as his arms and legs could allow. The rumbling sound began to grow louder as more booms came echoing around the weak buildings. Soon it emerged from behind a building. Bael's Gustav was at full speed, his improved motor that moved the wheels firing away deep inside the Zoid's chassis, driving it toward the mass of ruble that buried the Genosaurer. Bael had not properly programed the path finder into the Gustav's computer, so not the Gustav was an uncontrollable force. He quickly pushed a button on the Saber's dashboard, not to send a signal for the Gustav to stop, but to turn on the megaphone. Bael had an idea to save time in the excavation process.
"You're gonna want to back up!" He called out to Jill, who was still standing at the feet of the Tiger. She peered around the massive metal front leg of the Zoid, seeing the Gustav charging faster than any Gustav should ever move. She looked back to the mass of concrete in front of them. She'd left her bike next to that campfire. She sprinted over as fast as she could, the Great Saber's head turning to her.
"What do you think you're doing!" Bael's voice bellowed from the speakers in the Tiger's mouth. She didn't turn back, she had to get to her bike. She jumped on to the seat of the motorcycle, repeatedly slamming her foot down on a pedal, trying to kick-start the vehicle. The Gustav quickly drew closer to the pile of debris, about to plow directly through it.
"C'mon girl, START!" Jill exclaimed at the still silent bike. Pushing down on the pedal harder. Bael turned the Saber toward the Gustav. Even with a Saber, it would be neer impossible to stop the Gustav at that speed. With a sigh he trotted the Saber Tiger over to Jill, who was still trying to kick-start her bike.
"Move." His Great Saber towered above her, dwarfing both her and the motorcycle she was so desperately trying to start. Jill looked up, and made great time jumping off of her bike and puting a lot of distance between the pile of concrete and herself. Bael lightly pushed the bike forward with the Saber's foot, moving it far enough away from the pile for safety. He proceeded trot the Tiger away from the pile, turning around and bracing for the show. The Gustav slammed into the debris, sending much of it flying in all directions while sending others simply collapsing. A cloud of dust and sand raised into the air, and concrete and metal fell off of the pile, the form of the Genosaurer toppling over. As it came down, it's formerly curled in tail extended, slamming to the ground right where the bike had been moved. Jill stared on in horror, her only means of transportation was just destroyed. The Gustav had stopped directly in the center of where the debris pile had once been. Once again Bael lowered the Great Saber to the ground, the canopy lifted and he exited the Zoid. Jill slowly walked over to the Genosaurer's tail, looking at to few pieces of her bike that were now scattered in all directions.
"Glad I got you to move in time! A few more seconds and you'd be a Jill sand-" Bael was forced to halt his words as Jill turned around, her eyes were filled with fiery anger. Bael took a step back in fear, the anger in Jills eyes was making him feel very, very small.
"I HAD THAT BIKE SINCE I WAS SIXTEEN!" Bael took another step back, he needed a way to defuse the situation and he needed it fast.
"Hey! I... Uh, I restore Zoids for a living, I can put your bike back together!" He was, of course, lying. He knew nothing about bikes. 'Well...' He thought, 'Bikes and Zoids, how different could they be?'. Jill calmed down to some degree, but it could still be seen in here eyes that she was angry. Bael spent the rest of the day clearing debris so the Gustav could get at the Genosaurer of Bael inspecting the site, he came to three conclusions.
"Hey Jill, I got some good news, and a bit of bad news." He stated timidly, not wanting to invoke her anger once more. Jill was sitting by a new campfire, now on a concrete slab from the pile. She averted her gaze from the fire to look at him.
"Now what?" She asked, bitterness very obviously staining her voice. Bael sat down on a different slab of concrete.
"Well for the first point of good news, the Genosaurer is completely clear and ready to go." He began.
"But there's one small... Very little problem..." Jill furrowed her brows.
"And that is?" Once again, anger was very apparent in her voice. She must have really loved that bike. Beal looked back at the Genosaurer, now in the grips of the Gustav's heavy duty cranes.
"Well... It's head is missing." Jill leaned to the side slightly, looking past Bael at the Genosaurer. It's head was, in fact, gone. Quite jaggedly severed too.
"But there is some more good news, I know where the head is." Jill crossed her arms. She knew there was more bad news if there was more good.
"And the other bad news is that it's up there." Bael stood up and extended his arm, his finger following suit. He was pointing at a building, a really old, very weak, very hard to the get to the top of. He walked toward the building, looking intently at the feint shape of the Genosaurer's head, trying to work out the best way to get it down. Bael considered his options. In one way, he'd need some very careful work to get the Genosaurer's head without it plummeting to the ground, but it would take a very well trained Pteras pilot and he didn't want to pay for one. On the other hand, he could just go up there and VERY CARFULLY blast it down, save time, and risk damaging the head and making his job harder. It was a very difficult choice. He wanted to start work soon, but he already restored a Zoid this week and his job was going to be hard enough. He thought for a moment, maybe he should ask the customer, of course, the customer is always right. He turned to Jill, now staring into the fire again.
"Hey, got a question!" Bael called out, he didn't really feel like walking over again. Jill raised her head.
"What?" She didn't sound angry anymore, just bored.
"We got two choices, either I go up there and blast it out and have it now, or we could hire a Pteras pilot to get it and have it tomorrow." Jill sighed before looking at the now flickering fire again.
"Just blow it up, this day can't get much worse." Bael cringed. As a mechanic, he never dared to speak those words. It's bad luck. Trying to cast of the possible misfortune, Bael made his way inside. It was dark. Really dark. Bael frantically tried to reach into his bag, trying to find the flashlight instead of an explosive. Finally finding the metal stick, pressed a button, illuminating the room. Everything had pictures on it, not like graffiti, but like engravings. Everything was built into the walls. He looked around it, seeing many different images, Zoids, people, and odd small Zoids, just a little bigger than a person. He'd heard about things like this in history class when he was younger, an ancient race on Zi who no longer exist. The Ancient Zoidians. They lived in harmony with Zoids until a series of wars and natural disasters wiped them all out. Apparently there was a single Zoid that had a hand in it somehow. He wondered if this building used to be a museum or something. As he walked up several flights of stairs he wondered if he was getting any closer. It had felt like an hour had passed. He'd explored every floor and only found some more of that Zoidian stuff. Soon he began to wonder if this was worth the long and boring walk. At last, something he's never thought would be such a beautiful sight, a floor covered in broken glass and the metal and cement that most likely once stood strong bent and broken. The Genosaurer's head sat just outside the room, all he had to do now was plant just the right amount of explosives. Sifting through his bag, it seemed he'd need to just clear the area beneath it for it to fall. A few minutes later Bael was back outside and about to detonate them.
"Hey Jill, want to watch the fireworks?" Jill ignored him. Bael frowned.
"You don't know what you're missing!" Jill just waved him off, she wasn't in the mood for anything right now. Bael heaved a sigh. More entertainment for him he guessed. He opened the cover on the detonator, not wasting any time in plunging his thumb down on the button. There was a slight delay as the signal flew to the bombs. As it reached, an explosion erupted around the Genosaurer's head, much of the wall was destroyed as it was propelled out of the building, flying down toward... Bael's Great Saber... Bael had no time to do anything as the momentum pulled the Genosaurer head down and smashed through the upper chassis of the Saber. Bael's jaw dropped, he'd managed saying up for almost three days to ensure that this Zoid would get done, and now in one fowl swoop it may have been completely ruined. Along with the assault unit. Bael ran over to his Zoid, looking up through the burning whole through it. Bael once again heaved a sigh, but this time it was one of relief. He almost though himself the luckiest guy on Zi. The damaged had somehow missed the core, his Saber wasn't going to be turning into stone any time soon. But, man was it going to be a pain to fix. Jill couldn't help but laugh when she saw this, she saw it as karma for his Gustav managing to wreck her motorcycle. Bael had to use the cranes in the back to move eachother around and make enough room for both Zoids, his Saber Tiger may not be down, but it wasn't going anywhere for awhile. In the end the Genosaurer's tail was still hanging off the back of the back trailer.
"Alright, we're loaded up, guess you'll be riding with me." Bael and Jill got into the the Gustav, Jill taking the back seat. As they drove across the darkness of the desert, a though just crossed Jill's mind.
"So how much is this gonna cost anyway?" He never did specify a payment. Bael though about it for a moment.
"Usually with a rare Zoid like this, it would probably be more expensive than a Iron Kong fresh off the production line, but tell ya what, with that big tournament coming up, I'm going to need a team, you interested?" It was Bael's recollection that she wanted to enter anyway. Jill thought it over.
"Hm... It's either pay you an outstanding amount of money, or pay nothing and get money after Zoid battles... Tough call." Bael laughed. Sarcasm was always funny to him.
"So it's a deal?" Jill nodded in agreement.
"But if you think I'm paying you to fix my bike you've got another thing coming to you." Bael reached his hand back over his head.
"You got yourself a deal!" Beal happily stated. As Jill extended her hand to meet his, a handshake confirmed a new alliance. A few weeks came and went, Bael repaired his Saber while juggling work on the bike and the Genosaurer. Jill spent most of her time at Baels warehouse, watching as her new Zoid slowly took shape again. It was a difficult task, he couldn't get parts specifically for a Genosaurer, he had to constantly check pictures and museum exhibits and mold already existing parts to match. On top of that, there was a pretty nasty A.I. program built into the Zoid he had to remove, it was most likely a drone in the old war times, although using such a powerful Zoid as a drone made little sense in his mind. After a month of hard work the head was finally re-attached and all that was left was to fill in some blast damage to the neck and work on the charged particle gun. In the mean time he almost finished repairing the bike with new parts, most of the old ones were completely destroyed by the impact. The grand cup was drawing near and they were still met by a problem, the rules still only permitted a three team member minimum. The pressure was mounting to get a third member AND finish repairs. He began putting up posters in the city, hoping to get someone's attention. More time passed, there were only four weeks to the Grand cup. Bael got the Genosaurer as good as it was going to get. The charged particle gun just needed some serious hardware that was far too difficult to get. Bael entered the cockpit in the chest and began to run diagnostic tests. He moved the tail, he took some steps, he tested the locks in the back of the feet. Nothing seemed to be wrong with it other than the charged particle gun. Shame really, the main feature of the Zoid could not be used.
"Hey Jill! Get in here!" Jill sat in a small room inside of the warehouse. A television and some couches where the only thing in it, save for a refrigerator, a microwave and a small light on the ceiling in the center of the room. Jill stood up, she couldn't believe she had to spend her nights in there, the motels she stayed at when she'd lived on the road were better. Upon leaving the room, she turned her head in Bael's direction.
"What is it? I finally found a comfy spot on that couch." She growled. The last month had been horrible to her, she'd spent most of her nights sleeping inside the Gustav. Bael stood in front of the Genosaurer, triumphantly standing with his arms pointed out, only to curve in at the elbow and end with his fists at his ribs.
"Your Zoid is ready!" Bael announced, raising his right arm and stepping to the left. For the first time in over a month, Jill smiled. She'd been patient and now she wouldn't have to sleep in the Gustav or that horrible little room. Bael told her that that room felt like home to him, but she couldn't really see why. It was small, it was hot, even during the cold destert night and it was still warm and uncomfortable. She really hoped that they could make enough money from Zoids battles to buy a Whale king or a Hover cargo. But that was neither here nor there. She had a new Zoid and she wanted to test it out immediately. Jill ran past Bael to enter the pilot seat of the Genosaurer. It was the most beautiful sight she'd seen in a long time. The armor glinted despite the lack of sunlight, it's color looked incredible and on top of that, it was one of the most powerful Zoids in existence. As she stepped up to the seat she felt a tug at her arm. She looked back to see Bael holding on to her.
"Let go!" She demanded, when Bael released her arm she pulled it away from him. What had gotten in to him?
"First, I got to tell you something." Jill knew exactly what what coming next.
"Listen, I've heard it before, you're going to confess your love to me right? Well I'm sorry, I'm not ready for a relationship." Jill closed her eyes, bracing herself for sadness and anger of rejection that a few people had shown her before, but it never came. As she opened her eyes, Bael just stared at her, one of his eyebrows raised. Jill was a little confused.
"Well? Aren't you sad or something?" Bael continued to stare, he looked just as confused as her.
"Thats... Not what I was going to say." Jill's eyes widened. That's how every other male she ever spent more than ten minutes with her acted that way. So what? She wasn't good enough for him? Jill was actually a little insulted.
"I was gonna tell you, you can't use the charged particle gun, if you do, you may cause a series of explosions that will destroy the Zoid beyond repair, even by me." 'Good to know.' Jill thought. That was a very good reason to grab her arm instead of confessing his love.
"So... Why will it do that... Exactly?" Bael let go of her arm and walked her over to the side of the Genosaurer, the the welding was pretty obvious but it was the best that Bael could do.
"See that point? Where the neck's attached?" Jill looked closely, not noticing anything too special. Just welded spots and other such things.
"Yeah... But I don't see anything wrong with it." She honestly didn't. Though, she didn't really know much about Zoids other than piloting them.
"The neck joint was originally developed to attach directly into the CPG, it was made to reduce kickback, since the neck was severed, all the hardware was fried. Makes me wonder what could have done that though." His voiced seemed to take a strange tone as he said it, it was a very strict tone, one that you shouldn't interrupt. He really knew what he was talking about, he'd always go off about Zoids whenever he could. Jill nodded to agree not to use it before the cockpit opened and she climbed inside, turning the microphone on.
"I'm gonna go show off, I'll be back tomorrow." She announced. The Genosaurer's eyes began to glow a peircing red as it began to spark to life, a loud and powerful roar erupting from it's mouth. It's leg began to lidt as it slowly began to walk over to the door of the warehouse. The boosters in it's heels ignited, the force of it knocking Beal off his feet. As it began to lift off of the ground similar boosters in the bottom of it's feet also ignited, allowing it to hover. It stayed in place for a moment, then in a quick lean forward, it jetted off into the desert, much faster than any other Zoid it's size normally could. Bael stood up and patted the dust off of his clothes, he felt like this had been a job well done. He also really hoped that she hadn't just suckered him into giving her a free Zoid. Either way, he got to work on an ACTUAL Genosaurer. Who else could say they got to do that? Not many, and that was a great experience for him. Bale once again returned to the small room, sitting down and watching some Zoid battles on the TV. A few hours passed and the sound of a Zoid outside caught his attention. Bael stepped out of the room, expected Jill to be back early when he was met by a better sight, a man standing in the doorway finally it happened, someone showed up holding a peice of paper, obviously one of their ads.
"I'm here about your ad." The statement was the greatest thing Bael had heard all month.
"So you're looking to join the team?" Bael excitedly asked, just being sure that it was really about joining the team and that his adds weren't in violation of something. Bael also noticed that he'd left a Command Wolf outside, it's color was interesting, it was a dull red with a blueish-gray base under the armor, on top of that, it had a dark green canopy. It was also mounted with a long range cannon.
"Yep. So, what kinds of Zoids you got?" He asked. Bael was in every kind of mood to gloat. He led him over to the Great Saber, still intimidating with it's jet black armor and red eyes in it's canopy. Bael was actually considering giving it a new paint job, it was cool, but it was also a little creepy in those colors. Maybe gold.
"This is MY Great Saber. Jill's out breaking her new Zoid in." Bael gloated and informed. The guy looked at the Saber with great interest.
"Nice. Y'know, I had a Saber Tiger once. Never seen one with an assault unit up close before though." Bael liked that, the guy had experience but not enough to show him up in a Zoids battle.
"You got a name?" Bael asked. The guy extended his arm for a handshake.
"Rick." Bael did likewise.
"Bael" Bael was happy, his team was complete and over the course of that day he did a quick checkup on the Command Wolf, it had a lot a damage, especially in the hind quarters. It would take some work but it could be repaired in time for the Grand cup. Night fell and Bael was asleep on the couch in the small room. Rick was watching TV He looked over to Bael for a moment, seeing him to be sound asleep. He slowly crept out the door, making a direct turn to the Saber Tiger. A smile crossed his face as he slowly walked over to it.
"Heh, can't believe how easy this one was." He chuckled. He began to climb up the platform that led to the Saber's cockpit. He pushed a small button next to the canopy, opening it. As he sat down he took the controls in his grip and immediately thrusted them forward. The Saber charged forward, crashing through the wall and making a LOT of noise as the wall crumbled and fell to the ground around it. Bael shot up from the couch, running right to the door of the small room, finding it slightly ajar. He flung it open to find a gaping hole in the side of the warehouse. The Great Saber was long gone. Bael was pretty sure that Rick wasn't taking it for a leisurely stroll to get some of that fresh night air. He'd been conned. Bael couldn't help but feel enraged. He'd put a lot of time, money, work and heart into restoring that Zoid. For the rest of the night, Bael tried to follow where the Saber's tracks in the ground, but to no avail. As morning came again Bael only had one thing to do to keep his anger in check, working on repairing the Command Wolf. As he stood atop a lift, welding some parts, a familiar sound began to fill his ears as the jets of the Genosaurer draw near. Jill steppe down from the cockpit, looking around the warehouse.
"I leave for one day and you trade the Saber for a Command Wolf? What's wrong with you!" Jill yelled. Bael squinted his eyes.
"I didn't trade it, it was stolen." His words were fast and he seemed to want to yell as he said it. Jill pulled back, hearing this she realized how cruel what she'd said had been.
"Oh... I... I'm... So sorry." She quietly muttered. Bael heaved a sigh, he didn't entirely hear what she'd said, but he'd snapped at her, the only person other than Matt he could feel comfortable trusting at this point. He pushed a button to lower the crane. As it brought him to the ground, Jill looked over, only now noticing the gaping hole in the wall. Bael opened a small latched door on the side of the small platform and stepped out.
"Sorry for snapping, you didn't know what happened." He was feeling more sorry than she did now. He'd trusted her to go out with the a Zoid without any form a payment given and she came back. She'd put up with living in his rundown warehouse in one small room. She was a friend. Later the two sat down in the small room, they both needed to think and talk about this. Bael described what happened and eventually as the frustration subsided, they began talking of the Grand cup.
"So what are we gonna do?" Jill asked. Bael sat on the floor, his elbow planted on a lone table with his thumb to his chin.
"I don't know. The Command Wolf is battle ready, but damaged, and the Genosaurer is more than enough for three other Zoids, but without a third member we still can't enter the cup." This was quite the predicament. The Grand cup was closing in fast, they only had two members and two Zoids, and on top of that, Bael couldn't trust anyone but Jill and Matt. It wasn't like a trustworthy teammate would just fall into their laps. They'd have to go out and actually look for a teammate. After a deciding on a teammate screening method, Bael left the room, Jill staying inside to take a rest. It had been a long night and morning for her. She needed it. Bael was going to test run the Command Wolf, make sure that all the systems would work properly. Bael took the Command Wolf out on the Gustav. It ran and jumped over dunes well, as Bael prepared to pack up he realized he only had one more system to test. The gun. That bandit had at least had the common decency to leave an ARMED Command Wolf. Quite a nice gun too, a Long-range Cannon. He calibrated the sights and took aim at the side of a dune. He fired one shot, hitting dead on in the center. Sand from the top of the dune crashed down, filling and falling from the newly formed hole. Bael smiled. The Zoid was definitely ready for use. Before he turned the Command Wolf back to the Gustav, he noticed something. There was a tall shape, towering from the sand like a spire. Bael knew what it was, this was a special Zoid. A Zoid almost as rare as the Genosaurer. The part that protruded from the ground was a blade. Not just any blade, but the glorious golden blade of a Blade Liger. Although not as rare as Genosaurers, Blade Ligers are a very sought after Zoid. The last he'd seen of a Blade Liger was when he was watching the Royal cup. They had a third Zoid, as long as it wasn't in too bad of a condition, they could definitely use it, but this Zoid was deep under the sand. It would probably be hard to get free, even for someone with Bael's expertize. Bael thought for a moment. Explosives wouldn't help much with it being a buried as it was, and he couldn't just pull it free with the Gustav, and he didn't have any kind of digger. Bael was quickly struck by an idea. He didn't have a digger, but Jill did. The Genosaurer's jets could easily clear most of the sand, and it's feet could clear everything else. Bael returned to the Command Wolf and piloted it to the Gustav's trailer. After a swift ride home, Bael was surprised to see a Whale King outside of his warehouse. Stepping out of the Gustav, all he could hear was Jill yelling at somebody.
"I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE, YOU CAN'T HAVE IT." She sounded absolutely enraged. Just outside the the doors, a man stood leaning on the building with his arms crossed. He was tall and had red hair. Bael began to walk over, looking at the Whale king. The Whale king wasn't the standard red. It was a shining gold with blue eyes. As Bael stopped next to the doors, the man with red hair looked up.
"You don't want to go in there, that chick's crazy." Bael assumed that by chick, he, whoever he was, meant Jill.
"Who are you, and who's she screaming at?" Bael asked. The man raised on of his arms, his thumb motioning to the inside of the warehouse.
"That guy in there's Percival. He came here to make an offer on that Genosaurer she has." Well, that explained the yelling.
"My name's Ran, he hired me to be on his team and now he's not going into any battles because he can't find a Zoid that fits his taste." Bael leaned over to look inside. Jill was still screaming her head off at him.
"Isn't that kind of a-" Bael tried to begin.
"Waste of money? Believe me, this guy's loaded. He owns like twelve Gojulus that he just leaves to collect dust." Bael would have done a double take if he'd heard that in passing. Not many people can get a Gojulas, mostly the rich and lucky, very few have more than two or three. Bael leaned to the side, gazing into his warehouse. Jill was holding on to the cockpit of the Genosaurer and still screaming at this man, he wore a white outfit with black shoes, his hair was blond and well kept.
"Be reasonable! I didn't want to have to do this but... I'll give you ten Gojulus, eight Dibison, and My whole set of twenty Gun Snipers." Jill climbed up, seating herself in the pilot seat of the Genosaurer.
"I'm not going to tell you again. I. AM. NOT. INTERESTED!" The hatch to the cockpit closed and the Zoid's eyes lit up the same bright red as when It first walked out of the doors. Soon Jill's voice boomed through the microphone.
"Have I made myself clear?" The nose mounted gun of the Zoid took aim at him, asking her question for her. Percival took a step back. With a little intimidation he finally seemed to be getting the message.
"Randal, we'll be returning to the Whale King now." Percival turned around and began walking away. Ran growled under his breath, he hated when people called him that. Pushing away from the wall of the warehouse, Ran stretched before looking back to Bael.
"Guess I'll be off then, and if Percy ever gets his act together, I'll see ya' on the battlefield." Ran began to walk toward the Whale King, soon joined by Percy. As the Whale King began to take off, Bael returned his attention to Jill, still inside of her Zoid.
"Hey Jill, I found another Zoid, I'm gonna need some help getting it!" Bael installed a third trailer to the Gustav, he needed both the Zoids to dig the Liger up. Over the course of the rest of they day they cleared sand. Several tons of sand and a few scratches on the armor of the Liger later they'd cleared enough of the sand to load it onto the the front trailer of the Gustav. Jill fell asleep in the back seat of the Gustav while Bael set up a path for the Gustav to follow before laying down and watching the night sky on the Gustav's middle trailer, at the foot of the Command Wolf. He'd always loved the desert at night, Zi's larger moon always cast a nice blue color over it. Just watching sand blow through the cold night wind showed how much beauty a lifeless wasteland can have. The sounds of the desert at night also relaxed him, the wind, the shifting sands, even the small things like the chirp of a cricket. Among the desert sounds another noise began to fill his ears, it was faint, but unmistakable. The sound of a Pteras, in fact, a LOT of Pteras. Bael sat up and looked in the direction of the sound, he saw a very large group of Pteras in the distance, closing in fast. This may not of been cause for concern if it were just one Pteras and if it wasn't for the strange attachments to the chests of the Zoids. As the glow of their wings became more viable, Bael used the lift on the side of the trailer to get to the Command Wolf's cockpit. The first Pteras passed over as the canopy closed. For a moment Bael thought he'd overreacted, but this was quickly disproved as the Pteras turned around and began to circle the trailers. Bael turned on the radio system and began trying to communicate with the quickly growing horde of Pteras, maybe he was somewhere he wasn't supposed to be in.
"Pteras pilots, state your business." Instead of an answer, Bael got a different reaction. One of the Pteras swooped down, a hatch on the odd chest attachment opening. A long wire descended from it, a hook attached to the end. It came down and hooked into the Genosaurer's leg. The Pretas made a quick upward climb until the line went straight, then It began to hover, it's Magnesser system keeping it in place. It was soon followed by another, and another. This was when Bael decided to stop gawking and take action. The Command Wolf leaped from the Gustav's trailer took aim at the Pteras with it's long-range gun. Bael began firing wildly into the night sky, the Pteras weaving around his shots. More of them passed over the Genosaurer, more hooks going into it's sides. Bael looked around the sky, trying to get a good shot. Soon he spotted what seemed like the leader, a silver Pteras, made for high speed and stealth. He lined up his crosshairs, leading it a little ahead of the Zoid before taking another shot. As the shot flew by Bael thought he'd missed again, but little to his knowledge, he'd managed to graze it's armor, much to the dismay of it's pilot. He called out over his radio.
"The boss said this wouldn't be any trouble! Zack! Get in there and deal with that Command Wolf!" A Zoid began to come over a nearby dune, stopping at the top. A Gun sniper. The Zoid turned around, larger clawed toes locking it into place. It's tail extended, the armor panel at the base raising. Bael was to busy shooting at the Pteras to notice. The pilot took aim at Bael's Command Wolf, locking it's sights on it's hind leg. The pilot's finger began to pull the trigger when something fired on him. A series of small rounds were fired at the dune, causing the pilot to lose his footing, his Gun Sniper tumbling backward down the dune.
"Bael, you need to pay attention! That sniper nearly shot you down!" Jill's voice came over Baels radio. She definitely chose a good time to wake up, and it was definitely a good idea for Bael to install that machine gun to the Gustav. One more Pteras made a dive toward the Genosaurer, releasing it's hook and swerving to avoid the other wires. As the it hooked on to the Genosaurer, the Pteras began lift higher, the Genosaurer slowly moving with them.
"What are you waiting for Bael? DON'T LET THEM TAKE MY Zoid!" Bael began firing at them again, but his shots continued to miss, they were all flying too fast and too far apart. Bael attempted to give chase but the speed of the flying Zoids was too great. They disappeared over the horizon in only a few minutes. Jill had stopped the Gustav and approached the Gun Sniper. Either the fall had knocked the pilot unconscious or the command system had frozen, or both. Pressing a small button on the located next to the canopy, it opened, revealing the unconscious pilot. Bael returned to the Gustav, getting the Command Wolf back to the trailer. He quickly join Jill at the Gun Sniper.
"Jill, they got away." Jill didn't want to get angry, after what happened to Bael the yesterday Bael had gone through the same, clenching her fists, she tried to contain her frustration.
"Let's just get this guy, we're taking him back to the warehouse." After returning to the warehouse and tying up the pilot, Bael and Jill began to discuss what they were going to do with him, Jill was in every mood to take that helmet off of hill and start hitting him with it, but, Bael had other ideas.
"Jill, I know you're mad, but we need to be realistic about this. If we can just talk to him, we might find out where they took it." Jill stood up, turning to the door. They had tied him to the leg of the Command Wolf.
"Well then let's get some answers, the sooner I get my Zoid back the sooner we'll have a functional team." Jill walked to the door, opening it before looking back at Bael.
"You coming?" Bael was looking at the floor. He raised his head to look at Jill, seemingly snapped out of a trance.
"Oh, yeah, I was just... Thinking." Bael got up and walked to the door, after stepping through, they both walked over to their 'guest'. Who'd been awake for about 10 minutes. Jill lifted his helmet from his head, revealing the pilot's messy blond hair and blue eyes. He was clearly younger than Bael, sixteen or or fifteen. Jill grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.
"Where'd they take it? Huh? Where's my Genosaurer!" Jill was shaking him back and forth, fortunately for him, the was at least at an angle where his head wasn't hitting the metal of the Zoid's leg.
"I... Don't... Knowwhoah! I was just... Hired to watch and help if anything went... Wrong!" His words sentence was partially broken up from being shaken. Bael put his hand on Jill's shoulder, urging her to stop. Jill looked over, letting go of the pilot. Lightly pushing Jill away, Bael tried a less violent approach.
"Do you know why they took it?" Bael asked lightly. A lighter approach is sometimes better, just as when digging up an abandoned Zoid.
"I don't know exactly, but I think that over the radio I heard one mention someone hiring them to steal it." Jill furrowed her brows. This statement told her all she needed to know.
"It was the Percival guy, I KNOW IT!" Jill turned to the Gustav and began running to it.
"Jill, what do you think you're doing?" Jill looked back, coming to a stop the the side of the Gustav.
"Getting my Zoid back." Bael's face fell into his palm.
"And just how do you intend to do that without knowing where he lives?" Jill, now sitting in the pilot seat of the Gustav. As much as she hated it, this was true. Jill sighed. Exiting the Gustav, Jill returned to Bael.
"So, what are we supposed to do with him?" Jill asked. She didn't want to just let the guy go, he did help with the theft of her Zoid. Bael had been thinking something over for awhile and he had a bit of an idea.
"Well we could let him go." Bael suggested. Exactly what Jill didn't want to do.
"WHY? He helped steal my Zoid!" The mere thought of it made her angry. A very small grin began to form on Bael's face, it was hardly visible.
"What's he gonna do, attack us?" Jill noticed something sounded off when he said that.
"I mean he's clearly not a good sniper, what harm can he do?" The Gun sniper pilot, who'd just sat... well, hung quietly next to them cocked his head over to Bael. That comment had struck a nerve.
"Don't you dare insult my sniping skills! I AM THE RED COMET INCARNATE!" Both Jill and Bael looked at him, that was the most energy he'd shown since he'd woken up. It actually made Bael jump a little.
"The red comet? Ha! Comparing yourself to her! That's the funniest thing I've heard all week!" Jill was laughing, something she thought she wouldn't be doing that day. The pilot struggled in the ropes, that was a swing at his pride and he was none too happy about it. It was time for Bael to put his idea in action.
"Jill, I think we've made him mad, maybe we should take back what we said." Jill stopped laughing and gave Bael one of the most questioning looks she'd every given somebody. It didn't really dawn on her what he was trying. Bael grabbed the knot in the ropes.
"Tell you what, we'll take back what we said AND set you free if you'll do us a favor." The pilot tried to inhale, the ropes making it harder to catch a lung full, before heaving a small sigh.
"What is it?" It was obvious in his voice that he'd probably be answering yes to the next question.
"Join our team." Jill's jaw dropped and the pilot's eyes widened. For a moment there was a mutual silence between them. Jill was shocked, after all the effort they'd put into a complex teammate screening process, he'd just asked a random guy, a random guy who not even one hour ago helped in the theft on one of their Zoids, it was mind blowing.
"That's all? You didn't have to go through the trouble of kidnapping me, I've been looking for a team for awhile now. I need to get out of all having to pay favors back to people." That was all Bael needed to hear. He pulled at one point in the knot, the ropes going slack and the pilot landing at his feet. Jill just, could not believe what she was seeing. How could Bael be so trusting of someone that they'd one, just met. Two, only known as a guy who helped to steal their Zoid, and three, said yes to a 'yes results in freedom' question without any second thought. The pilot extended his arm to Bael.
"Call me Zack, sniper extraordinaire." Bael did the same, bringing no end to Jill's utter shock.
"Bael, desert scavenger." Their hands locked together, just as Bael and Jill's had before, to signify the start of a new team. Releasing his grip Zack extended his arm to Jill. Jill didn't want any part of it. She was not going to shake hands with a thief, she did not trust him, and she didn't want a thief hanging around the warehouse. Zach shrugged, if she didn't want the handshake, that was fine. Bael and Zack went to the small room, Jill following behind. For Jill, it would be a long and sleepless night. She watched Zack, not letting him out of her sight. Once again morning came and the sun rose over the horizon, Jill was still awake, having woken up in the middle of the night insured that she still wasn't tired. Bael stretched on the couch before sitting up. The hair on the right side of his head was pressed down from sleeping. He yawned before looking around the room, as he usually did, to be met by Jill's eyes, it was as if she wasn't looking at him, but through him. Her gaze was still adhered to Zack. Bael got up and began fixing his hair, Jill clearly wasn't going anywhere so he figured he should go into town. He let Matt barrow his computer quite awhile back. Bael got in the transport truck and began on his way back to the city, on his way there he saw a large billboard on the side of the road, Bael remembered that it used to be for the place he went to get parts, but now it was a picture of a Judge with it's arms crossed, next to it was text stating that the royal cup begins in three weeks. There were some obvious sliders to change out the times but that wasn't what interested Bael, he needed to get to the shop. Stepping inside Bael was not met by the large crowd, in fact, there wasn't a lot of everyone. Matt was nowhere to be seen either.
"Hey Matt! You in!" He waited for a response, which came in the form of a door opening on to the back room. A woman with black hair stood there. Matt was not the only employee that Bael knew, this woman's name was was Lizzy.
"Hey Liz... What's up with this place? It's like a little ghost town." Bael had come to that store with his dad since he was ten and with Bael's very regular visits everybody there seemed to know him, or at least hear of him in passing. Lizzy lead Bael over to the windows, across the street there were tons of cars parked, and another shop. On a massive screen on the front, a Zoid battle was unfolding on it. A recently designed Zoid, the Dark Spiner was tearing up the battlefield. The Zoids that it was fighting were falling one by one. A Helcat crushed, a Command Wolf thrown, a Shield Liger's shield shattered.
"Ever since they sponsored that Zoid team, they've been stealing all our business." It was a simple yet effective business strategy. 'This pilot is using our parts, look how awesome he is!'.
"Well you guys know you've still got your number one customer!" In Bael had almost lost track of his goal in conversation.
"Oh yeah, is Matt in?" Jill shook her head.
"He's off today, what did you need?" Bael shrugged, it didn't matter much if Matt wasn't at the store.
"I needed to use that computer I gave him, Guess I'll head off to his place." Before Bael could walk away Liz stopped him.
"He keep's it in the back, first door on the right, you can't miss it." Bael ran over to the back room door.
"Thanks Liz." It was a pretty narrow hallway, he'd always thought that the doors just opened directly into the storage facility. Walking down the hall he found it decorated with a lot of pictures, mostly employees and even some pictures of himself. Mostly in the customer of the month section. Coming to the door he found that, interestingly enough it was the only door on the right. As he reached for the doorknob Liz threw the door he'd entered threw open.
"Wait! I meant the left!" Bael pulled his hand away from the door and walked over to the left one closest to the entrance. Liz, seeing that he was at the right door whipped the sweat from her
head. Whatever was behind that door must have been pretty important if she was that freaked out about it. Throwing open the correct door, Bael found a dark room, flicking on the lights, Bael found the room to have one wall completely covered in boxes for that model kit series going around, a shelf filled the the brim with model kits. Bael knew he collected them, but he didn't know he collected so many. On other side of the room was a fairly neat desk, papers, a chair, the computer. Bael sat down and turned on the computer and began checking searching for Percival's name. It was a pretty common name but there was only one known for being rich. The Stonewell family, their most recent heir to the fortune had been throwing the money around like it was nothing. From the looks of the pictures, it was the right guy. Finally, Bael found what he was looking for, a location. After leaving the room and getting past the mass of people Bael returned to the transport truck, he needed to get home and tell Jill. When he got there he was met with a familiar sound. The sound of Jill yelling, unlike last time, someone was yelling back. Bael walked in to the warehouse to find Jill and Zack arguing about something.
"It's weird! You can't just follow me around like that!" Zack complained. It was unclear who was winning but Bael couldn't get a word in, each time he tried to speak up, he was quickly silenced by either Jill or Zack's yelling.
"I am NOT going to let a little thief like you walk around without someone to keep an eye on you!" Both Bael and Zack knew a bit of this statement.
"You sound just like my Mom!" Beal decided to take action, stepped between the two, pushing them away from each-other.
"If you guys cans stop it for just a few moments, I have an announcement." Jill and Zack were still trying to hold eye contact. But Bale served as a good enough wall against this.
"Now, I know where Percy lives, now are you two gonna argue, or are we going to take back the Genosaurer and have a full set of Zoids?" Jill and Zack turned away from each-other, both walking to the Gustav, Jill entering the back seat of it while Zack laid down in the front trailer. Bael heaved a sigh. Something told him this kind of thing would only get worse as time went on. Bael detached the two back trailers and programmed the path finder for the Gustav. As the Zoid pulled out of the Warehouse, Bael pressed a button on the console. remotely closing the doors. Some time passed and Jill decided to ask the obvious.
"Why did you let him on the team? He's a thief!" Bael shook his head. He could understand where she was coming from, he'd been too trusting before and he payed for it. But with only three weeks to the Grand cup they didn't have many options.
"I don't see a thief. I see a teammate when we REALLY need one." Jill knew that this was true, but he was there, he was helping the thieves, if he wasn't a thief then she wasn't a Zoid pilot. A building began to come into focus in the distance, it was clearly large, standing tall enough to be seen over a large stone wall circling it. The Stonewell estate. Bael prepared to take manual control when the Gustav made a wild and random turn, throwing him to the left. He looked at the screen on the dashboard. The radar of the path finder was spinning. Trying to pull against the random turns, Bael did he best to grab the controls. After stopping the path finder he quickly pulled up to the estate gates. Bael jumped out of the cockpit, soon followed by Jill. Bael looked up to the radar panels at the top of the Zoid, they normally told it which way to go on auto-pilot.
"Can someone get me down from here?" On the ride over Zack had no view of where they were going, so he had decided to climb the radar mast. After the difficult task of getting Zack down, Bael pressed a button next to the gate, turning on the speaker. Before Bael could speak up, Jill leaned in.
"We're here to see Percival." Her voice was oddly calm and lacking in anger. It was like she'd forgotten the event of the theft completely. The gates opened slowly, before the three of them could walk up a clear road leading to the front door. Across the lawn were Zoids in battle positions, from Godos and Iguans to Helcats and Command Wolves. All paired off against a opposing alliance based counterpart. As they drew near the front door, it began to open, both Percival and a butler stepping outside to meet them. Jill quickly stepped ahead of the others, She had a few choice words for him.
"Where. Is. My. Geno. Saurer?" Her voice quickly became strict and demanding. Unlike when she had the Genosaurer with her however, Percy was not intimidated.
"If I remember correctly, you wouldn't let me have it." His snobby voice scratched at Jill's ears, and this statement just made her even angrier. It was so obviously him.
"You listen here you spoiled, stubborn, creep. I know you sent those Pteras to steal my Zoid, now GIVE IT BACK." Her harshness dropped again, now more of a mildly annoyed tone.
"I have no Idea what you're talking about, no leave my property before I'm forced to call for security." With the last word of his sentence, a pair of Rev Raptors on the lawn began to move, turning to them and taking aim. Jill clenched her fist for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.
"This isn't over." She mumbled, before they all returned to the Gustav. It was a long and unhappy ride back home. They didn't get the Genosaurer back and on top of that, they were simply thrown out. As they arrived back at the Warehouse Bael remotely opened the door and stepped out of the Gustav.
"Jill, It's gonna take a few weeks to restore the Blade Liger, but we're still going to need the gear to get our team registered, get the transport truck and go to the pick some them." Bael decided that they couldn't join the grand cup, they'd at least have the Zoids nice and ready for combat in an actual battle. As Bael and Zack walked to the Warehouse, Jill began to walk to the truck. Bael would just have to hope that they could win enough damage-free battles. At least then he'd only have to pay for ammunition. He couldn't afford repairs for all the Zoids if they're damaged in combat, he'd been doing too much restoring and too little selling since he'd found the Great Saber. His reserves of money were running dry and he needed the extra prize money of the Grand cup. Bael and Zack stopped in the warehouse's massive doorway. What they saw inside was... Interesting. There were a LOT of people inside, all of whom seemed to be... Repairing the Blade Liger? One person of the group of people noticed them, breaking off from the group to run toward them. As they got close, Bael recognized him.
"Matt? What... Uh... What exactly are you doing?" How did Matt know about the Blade Liger? He hadn't told anybody he had it other than Jill and Zack, and neither of them had been anywhere to tell anyone. On top of that, how did he, and all those people for that matter get in?
"I was on my way to yer place last night and, then I saw dat Blade Liger on your trailer. I knew ya' ain't been making much money, so think of this as a gift for our number one customer!" This slightly confused Bael more.
"And why were you coming over?" Matt raised his hand, extending one finger, his other hand reaching into his pocket. After a second of his arm shifting, he pulled his still empty hand out.
"Uh... Gimme a second." Matt started to check his other pocket. Nothing. Soon he began checking every pocket he had, it was starting to become more of a question of why he had so many pockets.
"Uh... Just a minute..." Matt turned around and ran to his team, still working on the Liger. Bael didn't know what to think. It was odd to say the least, sure they were friends, but this was a bit... Excessive. Jill and Zack were a lot more confused than Bael, Jill had only seen him once before and Zack had never seen him at all.
"You... Know this guy?" Zack bluntly asked Bael.
"Yeah. He's a friend of mine." At this point, Matt returned from his team, his arms wrapped around foUr small boxes, handing one to each of them, losing grip on one and dropping it. Bael was the first to open one of the boxes. Inside was a small device, a small screen and several buttons on it.
"Zoid gear! YOU GOT US Zoid GEAR?" This was the BEST piece of news all day. It saved his money, they could get registered AND with the team at work on the Blade Liger, he'd have plenty of spare money for repairs, if he wasn't the guy he was he'd give Matt a giant hug. Matt judged by Bael's expression of pure joy, his answer to the next question would be yes.
"And now, the catch." Jill and Zack stopped opening their own boxes and Bael's smile shrunk.
"As ya' may already know, the shop's fallen on hard times. We need more business, so we're gonna sponsor ya'." A though crossed Bael's mind at this moment.
"Okay, so where exactly is the catch?" An arguably evil grin crossed Matt's face.
"We get half of all yer prize money!" Bael thought about this for a moment. They didn't have much to lose. They'd be paid enough for repairs and ammo, and their half of the prize money could keep Bael working his normal job of restoring broken down Zoids.
"Well Jill, Zack. We don't have a lot to lose, are you ready to do this?" Jill nodded and Zack pumped his fist.
"We're a team!" He cheered. For the next week, Bael and Matt's team restored the Blade Liger, the blades were sharpened, the E-shield generator was repaired, the burns and scratches were buffed out. Lastly, a symbol of the team was painted on each Zoid. A number one on the cheek of the Blade Liger, a two on the Command Wolf's cheek and a three on the neck of the Gun Sniper. It was two weeks from the Grand cup and the team was, for the most part, ready. All with enough time to get into practice for battle. Today was the day to make the teams official, Bael, Jill and Zack were in the pilot seats of their Zoids, about to register at the same time.
"Alright everybody, on three... One, two, three!" The tree installed their Zoid gear into their Zoid's computers, and after a moment a Judge appeared on the screen.
"My name is Bael Comet, I'd like to register a team for the Zoid's battle league." Bael wanted to sound nice and official for their introduction to the league.
"Deliberating... Team submission accepted, state the name of your team." Bael thought this over for a moment.
"Hm... I got it! Put us down as the Scavenge team." The name worked in his opinion, he was a desert scavenger, it WAS his team. Finally, the sweet music of his registration number rang into his ears.
"Registering Zoid warrior Bael Comet, registration number nine, three, four, C, one. Affiliation: the Scavenge team. Welcome to the Zoid battle league warrior." All that was left was for Zack and Jill to complete their registration.
"Registering Zoid warrior Zack Helios." The Judge began to read off his registration number as well.
"Registering Zoid warrior Jill Sonada." As the Judged read off the final points of information Bael knew he had done it. THEY had done it. He'd formed a team, registered in the league and made some new friends. The battles in the Grand cup wouldn't be easy, but Bael was ready, Bael was sure, their team would go on to do great things. The Scavenge team.
To be continued...
Hope you all had a happy new year, and that the rest of the year will be great for you. This took a little over two months of writing and laziness, but if this becomes popular enough I won't be so inclined to be so lazy between chapters. Now, with that said, I'm going to note the first inconsistency with the canon of the anime. Jill's Genosaurer is based on one of the three that Raven fought at the end of Guardian Force, the one that got it's head cut off by the X-breakers. Of course, in scene you can see that the head simply falls of, but in this story's canon, an explosion propelled it into the side of a building. Also, just to add, No, Bael's Blade Liger is not Van's. I gave him a high performance Zoid, I'm NOT trying to make a mary sue. Reviews are welcome, as with such a long story, I may make mistakes that I won't notice right away. I've only got one person to pre-read my work other than me. And now...
Bael: "Argh! Using a Zoid in real combat's harder than it looks!"
Jill: "You've never actually piloted a Zoid in battle before?"
Zack: "And you guys said I was bad!"
Jill: "Hey, we can help you get better, it'll just take some practice!"
Bael: "Thanks guys, I just hope the training's not too hard... Next time on Zoids. 'Bael's training; Piloting 101' See ya' on the battlefield!"