A/N: Behold. The first of my Insanity Series. Despite having GZverse themes, it is not totally true to GZ. 's not totally true to anything, rly. Just...kinda read and dun take anything seriously. And I still dun own Kouki. ;A;
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Unusual for the middle of the day, it was dark out.
Fog lay thick over the crater area, an ominous yellowish fog that billowed and wrapped around everything in sight, smothering radar and effectively blocking sunlight. The old crater area wasn't always like this, not since the Terra Geist had decided to move in and flood the place to block the entryway into their hideout.
There was the sound of crunching rock, and then a black shape appeared on a small cliff above the fog-filled area. Even on the edges, it was murky brown-yellow and impossible to see anything beyond five feet of one's nose. As the black form took another step, a pair of pricked ears came into view, then a pair of twin blue smudges that turned out to be a pair of blazing irate optics. Claws wrathfully kneading the ground with evident distaste, the Konig Wolf looked down into the darkness, even though nothing could be seen.
More crunching, then another Zoid showed itself, mutant head appearing alongside the black Konig. Long silver fangs, bigger than the head itself, gleamed dully in the fog. The assault-type Proto Zaber's green eyes snapped, or attempted to, tiger Zoid growling softly as it contemplated what lay hidden in the abyss below.
A minute passed in total, meditative silence…and then what could be considered insane laughter broke out.
"…what the heck are you ON?!" The Proto Zaber pilot spluttered, inching his Zoid away from the Konig Wolf. Sighing, the canine Zoid cocked its head in contemplation of the noise coming from the cockpit, ears drooping slightly.
…oh dear Eve, we're screwed.
"We're not SCREWED, Lady," the Konig pilot interjected, slightly insulted (even though her eyes were rather bloodshot at the moment).
"At least, not yet…" The Zaber pilot muttered, his Zoid figeting on the rock. There was a snort from the other direction, followed by what sounded like dejected muttering.
"No, we're not screwed, we're freaking SUICIDAL, that's what we are! Traveling hundreds of miles because the 'effing HoverCargo dun wanna get into radar range and spoil the mission, going a day and a half without sleep because we freaking have to hurry! When I get back I'm gonna PLANT MY FOOT UP THE POSTERIOR OF THE IDIOT WHO SUGGESTED THIS!!"
The Konig sighed again, wondering why she had to be paired with a crazed idiot. Maybe because when Emily was going psycho, she didn't quite care so much if Lady went to work ripping things to pieces. But that was beside the point. The Konig swung her head around and down to look into the foggy crater, ears twitching as she ran over the mission specs.
Five assault Rev Raptors and a Dark Spiner, shielded by seven radar turrets with 360 degrees firing range, and we have to nuke them all.
"ALL of them?"
Yes. All of them.
"Get yer ears cleaned out, Kouki."
While the Zaber pilot pouted and pretended to be miffed, Lady jumped over the edge of the crater, bouncing from rocky ledge to ledge in an insane crackish attempt not to slip and fall on her stomach, which would lead to rolling down the hill and likely exploding upon hitting the bottom. Luckily for the Wolf, her amazing flexibility and ability to work in darkness yielded a safe landing with a crunching sound as the canine Zoid hit the ground. Things did not go so well for the Proto Zaber, which tripped about a meter before the dirt and landed on its nose, flipping onto its back and flailing around like a turtle. Nobody dared ask why the equipped CP-02 unit hadn't exploded. Ask the freaking plotbunnies, they know. In light of this, more crazy laughter resounded from Lady's head.
"Would you SHUT UP, freaking LUNATIC?" Kouki yelled, rocking the controls side to side. His Zaber snarled, rolling over until it could find its feet and shake some dirt off. Lady gave them a blank look that said 'deal with it', and flattened her ears, getting up and padding off. It was going to be another one of those days…
"Now, we have to make sure not to get sep-" Kouki paused, looking around wildly in the smog. Lady had simply blended into the noxious radar-eating cloud, black and dark purple paintjob doing the rest. "-erated. Well, now this is just great!" The Proto Zaber grunted and walked off as its pilot threw a tantrum in the cockpit, cursing anything on the color spectrum darker than white.
Meanwhile, Lady blithely trotted along through the fog. There was really no way to get lost, as cliffs surrounded the entire area. So, in theory, if they hugged the wall they would eventually circle the whole of the crater field, and presumably either find Kouki and the Proto Zaber, or something yummy to chew on. Emily didn't care either way, she was rocking neurotically in the cockpit and singing the Wild N' Out version of 'Mary had a Little Lamb'.
"Mary had a loooootta meeeen, loooootta meeeen, loooooootta meeeeen! Mary had a looooootta meeeeeen, she took off her-"
Lady grunted and shut down her audio link to the cockpit. Personally, having her pilot kill the lyrics was like carrying around the equivalent of a diseased chicken in her head.
As the Konig continued her little private tour of Fog City, there was a bright beam up ahead. Lady glanced at it, looked down, then yanked her head up to flip her goggles down, and then shot right like a rocket as an energy blast the size of a HelCat came rocketing down near the black Zoid. It impacted with the ground, blowing chunks of rock into the air and covering Lady with debris, effectively ruining her paint job. The Wolf snarled angrily, peering through her goggles into the fog to find their attacker.
Emily, who had her singing interrupted, canceled that out. That was bad news for who (or what) ever had just attempted to blow the Konig Wolf to smithereens. Yelling some inane battle cry with more profanity than one could shake a stick at, Lady found herself charging straight forward…towards another energy blast.
Wtfareyoudoing?! TRYING TO GET ME KILLED?!
Lady was ignored, and the Wolf found herself getting thrown at the canyon wall. Acting on instinct, her legs came and pushed the Zoid off the rock as it was imploded by the shot, blowback from the force hurling Lady through the air. Emily yanked the controls and shifted the Zoid's weight, leading in Lady doing a rather nice flip in midair and landing on her feet.
"Y'know what the co-name of our mission was, Lady? SUICIDE RUUUUN!" Emily announced in a singsong voice, sending Lady charging forward at 290 kph, the black Wolf almost literally flying over the ground through the fog. As she ran, her front paws charged with crackling, rippling golden laser energy, leaving golden streams behind the Zoid as she ran. By now, both of them could see one of the seven 360 gun turrets in front of them, lining up to fire another shot. One that wouldn't make it out the barrel, sadly.
"STRIKE LASER CLAW!"
Lady's laser-charged front paws sheared right through the turret, ripping off most of the rotating top half along with the gun barrel. As the Konig hit the ground and skidded for a few meters, the rest of the thing exploded into flames.
"Ah-HA! Yes! Who owns butt? WE OWN BUTT!" Emily crowed, practically parading around the cockpit, victory cries getting shriller each time. Lady groaned and looked around the shadowy area, ears twitching. There had to be someone around who heard that explosion.
Would you and your ego SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE?! That's only one turret down, six to go, and we still have FIVE FREAKING REV RAPTORS AND A DARK SPINER!
Emily shut up as her Zoid shrieked this out, one eyebrow rising. "…wow, Lady. I think I've gone deaf. CAN YE HEAR ME NOW?" She yelled into an audio speaker, crazy grin spread all over her face. Lady yelped and jumped in shock, shaking her head about.
Don't DO that! You'll wreck my sensors!
Apparently her sensors were already damaged beyond repair, because a literal storm of missiles suddenly rained down from the sky. Both Zoid and pilot went 'WTF? D:' and split, Lady weaving rapidly across the ground as missiles imploded behind her.
When the last one exploded, the Konig Wolf slid to a halt, panting. Her hind legs and sides were peppered with scorch marks, and one big burn hole in the end of her tail. Lady snarled wrathfully as she noticed that damage, being very fond of her tail. Emily wasn't scared; more…there's not really a word for it. A delayed psychotic reaction to an extremely stressful moment might sum it up.
"Holy hopping Heldigunners, WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!"
An assault-type Rev Raptor, I would presume…
Lady jumped out of the way with less grace than customary as a pair of glowing scythes materialized in front of them and slashed, attempting to make off with the Wolf's head. Lady landed and jumped up again, corkscrewing over the Raptor and swiping at it with her front paws, only to have the little burgundy thing smack the side of her face with its tail. It then wheeled surprisingly quickly, driving the edge of one scythe into the base of Lady's left shoulder before jumping away. The Konig Wolf howled shrilly with pain, then dropped into a crouch, ears pasting flat against her head and optics gleaming a bright, dangerous sort of blue.
Okay, this thing dies now…
"I wonder if Kouki's having as much fun with his friends as we are," Emily muttered, working on keeping Lady steady as the Wolf tore across the ground, snarling something profane.
Kouki, as a matter of fact, was not having a good day. Not good at all.
His Proto Zaber was sandwiched in between three gun turrets, and every time he tried to target one and shoot it, the other two would shoot him. And the Zaber was getting tired of acting like a ballerina, trying to dodge energy blasts the size of a truck in midair.
Snarling irritably, the Zaber landed and fruitlessly fired off a few shots in the general direction of one gun turret, before stepping back to avoid three blasts at once. Kouki grunted as he was rattled around in the cockpit, then growled along with his Zoid and set the targeting system to work.
"I was saving these for that Dark Spiner," he mused, checking the amount of ammo in the twin C-type missile pods located on the Proto Zaber's front shoulders, "But I guess we'll have to waste 'em here instead!" The targets whirled green on the screen, and Kouki smacked the trigger button, sending six missiles flying through the air towards their respective turrets. Those in turn exploded on impact, so now the Proto Zaber was surrounded by three smoking heaps of wreckage.
"Woot! Score!" The redhead pilot grinned crazily, Proto Zaber giving the equivalent of a raised eyebrow at the cockpit. "So that makes four to go, unless Emily and Lady got a few…" Kouki then took a moment to ponder that statement. "…naaah. Everybody knows Lady's a weaponless weakling."
She'll eat your face for that.
Kouki screamed as his Proto Zaber rumbled and padded off, incoherently spluttering sentences that made no sense whatsoever.
DIE, LITTLE MISFIT CAN-OPENER!
Lady's glowing paws missed yet another slash, the Rev Raptor cackling wildly and darting away. Emily growled along with her Zoid, frustration and adrenaline kicking in.
"Well, if we can't get him this way it's time to try and different route," she mumbled, before opening up a broadband link to the Raptor. "Say, you pilot pretty good…for someone who has anal warts."
The result was interesting. "What the heck kinda complement is that!"
"Dunno. What's it like having anal warts?"
"I do not have anal warts!"
"Suuuure. Then why are you sittin' like someone jammed a golf club up yer butt?" Lady lunged forward and made a sweeping downward slash with her paws, almost succeeding in knocking the Raptor off its feet. "That's a sure sign of anal warts, right there!"
"I DO NOT HAVE ANAL WARTS!"
"Sheesh, cranky. Must be those anal warts…"
The Rev Raptor flailspasmed as the pilot had a minor tantrum in the cockpit, leaving Lady free to jump up and grab the smaller Zoid around the neck. Emily let out an evil Dracula laugh, and then the Konig's jaws came together, crushing the Raptor's throat. The tiny burgundy Zoid flailed around some more, then stopped struggling and Lady threw it aside.
Well, I never thought that'd actually work…
"But it did! I'm a genius," Emily cackled, nearly bouncing around in the cockpit. Lady groaned and ruffled her ears, eyes rolling blue.
And now you're on crack, right?
"Nope. Adreeeeeeeenaliiiiiiine rush!"
Ack…
Lady loped off into the mist, heading down for the center of the crater area and hopefully towards the Proto Zaber.
"You…y-y-you TALKED!" Kouki finally managed to sputter after five minutes of nothing but seizures, hands rigid and shaking on the controls. His Zaber stopped, tilted its head, and then shook it a bit.
Yes. I talked. I'm NOT a mindless machine. Now would you MIND taking your hands OFF the controls? Your NEUROTIC SHAKING is THROWING ME OFF COURSE.
Kouki almost fell over backwards in his haste to comply, taking his hands away and shrinking back from the controls, regarding them like something dangerous. "N-now I think I know what Emily feels like…"
Feel lucky. I'm actually a lot nicer than Lady.
The Proto Zaber was about to go on, but a gleam in the distance caught its eyes. Growling softly, the Zoid padded off into the fog, rock only distantly crunching under its paws. Bellying over a ridge, the Zaber looked down to regard what normally was called aqua sea-green death, a.k.a. the Dark Spiner.
Oho. Found the big fish first.
"D'ya think we should attack it?" Kouki asked gingerly.
Heck no. Lady'll have to jump that thing before I will.
Unable to decide whether his Zoid was just a coward or wanted to see the homicidal Konig Wolf dead, Kouki was forced to sit there in the cockpit and watch the Dark Spiner stomp around, looking evil and ominous.
"I tell you Lady, these guys MUST be overcompensating for something," Emily remarked, watching the three Rev Raptors storm forward like troopers on a mission. Which they were.
Gee, ya think?
"Mmm…no. I know." Letting out a rusty sigh, Lady easily flipped over one barrage of missiles, sliced a laser claw through another, and ducked under the third, looking bored.
So we wait until they run out of ammo?
"Meh, pretty much." Emily yawned and jerked the controls randomly while doing it, resulting in the Konig Wolf actually rearing up on her hind legs and moonwalking away from some more missiles. Yes, moonwalking. That was enough to get the attention of the Rev pilots.
"..what the heck is she on?"
"Your mom," Emily answered promptly, with a semi-psychotic grin chucked in afterwards for the heck of it. "Who's over fifty, has anal warts and more STDs than I can remember because she worked as a bar maid in a seedy dump in Guygalos." All the Rev Raptors snarled dangerously.
"Take that back, or we'll open fire!"
"Like you haven't been doing that for the past five minutes… Neo-Zenebas retards," Emily remarked calmly, her Konig Wolf nodding in agreement. "And for that matter, you on the left need to brush your teeth, you on the right need to take a bath, and the center retard needs plastic surgery to reconstruct his balls."
The resulting missile wave sent Lady packing behind the crest of a hill, whooping in delight as her tail slipped behind the natural barrier.
"Oho, didn't like that did you, little retards?" Emily snickered maliciously over the broadband connection. "I know somethin' else you're not gonna like…"
"Bring it on, coward!"
"Coward? Me? Psh, that's just rude. I was just gonna ask if ya'll wanted to take a break and refill yer steroid dose…"
Yet another missile wave, bigger than the first swept forth, smacking into Lady's bunker and blowing off huge chunks. But the Konig was no longer there, taking advantage of the distraction to slink off and blend right into the radar-eating fog.
"Funny thing about fog that blocks radar-"
All the Rev pilots froze and looked around. The left Raptor had the distinct misfortune of seeing what looked like a glowing ring emerging from the mist, only realizing that it was a set of electrified teeth when they clamped around the cockpit and crushed it.
"-ya never quite know-"
The middle Rev was scanning the front when something hit his Zoid's head and bounced off. The pilot looked down at the crushed, mangled mess that once passed for a Raptor's cockpit, then yanked his Zoid around in time to expose the throat to a ravenous Konig Wolf, who dug in and ripped it out in no time flat.
"-where yer enemies are-"
The final Raptor squealed and looked around rabidly, swerving side-to-side looking for their attacker. After almost a minute the pilot sighed in relief, only to scream as one big blue optic appeared right alongside the cockpit.
"-do ya?"
Lady roared and latched onto the Rev Raptor's head with her electrified jaws, crunching down and through the armor as the small burgundy Zoid's body spasmed, wracked by the overload of electricity coursing through it. The Konig stood there placidly holding her catch until it stopped wriggling, then ripped the head free of the body and trotted off with her tail in the air.
And another one bites the dust!
The Proto Zaber crouched low on top of his little mini-cliff, sheltered from the fog as it watched the Dark Spiner, waiting. The minute Mr. Sea-Green got close he was gonna nail that sucker in the head…with fangs that defied logic, of course.
I do wish you'd stop shaking. You make it awfully hard to stay still.
Kouki tried to relax at his Zoid's order, but it was HARD. After all, he'd only just found out his Zaber could…well…'talk', and that took some getting used to. Also thrown in was the fact they were about to take on something that could proverbially rip the Proto Zaber limb from limb, and then pick it's teeth with their tail.
"I thought you said Lady'd have to get that thing first," Kouki muttered, brown eyes narrowing slightly to squint at the Spiner through the fog. His fingers tightened slightly around the controls, his safety valve against his nerves. The Zaber shrugged and wagged its tail, jaws lightly gnashing.
…eh. So I lied. Bite me.
As the Spiner tromped ever closer to their hiding place, something suddenly flew out of the air and smacked into the side of the dinosaur Zoid's head. Red optics flared as the Dark Spiner grunted and looked down at the thrown object, which made itself out to be a Rev Raptor head. During that moment of pondering, a golden blur came crashing down and through the middle of the Spiner's electric spine array, severing three outright and cracking two others before bouncing away and landing in a skid on the ground.
Kouki's jaw sagged as the Spiner screamed and nearly fell over. Trotting around the screeching saurian Zoid like she was hot stuff was Lady, tail in the air. The Proto Zaber smacked itself in the forehead with a front paw, groaning.
Woohoo! Lookit me now, ya ugly sea monster! Nyah nyah!
I don't believe her…
Lady's ears twitched as she looked up at the ridge, fanged maw splitting into an evil grin as she spotted the Proto Zaber.
Oho! There you are, chicken-cat! I thought you'd be off hiding…
I wasn't hiding, mangy Wolf! You're just a showoff!
And you're just a sore loser P
Nnargh…
The Zaber grumbled some more as Lady made faces at him, bright blue eyes sparking in the yellow fog. A stream of plasma machinegun rounds cut her goofing short, however. That was accompanied by a shrill roar, and then Lady had to duck as a long glowing sea-green maw snapped shut just short of her ears.
"Fool! Now you shall pay for the damage you've done!"
"I beg to differ," Emily replied calmly, as Lady's hind legs shot up and kicked the Spiner hard in the base of the jaw. "Lady is a master of SnarkyWolf-Fu."
"Snarky…Wolf…Fu?" Kouki asked, one eyebrow twitching. His Proto Zaber looked on the verge of digging a hole in the ground and sticking his head in it. "What is WRONG with you?"
"Absolutely NOTHING!"
The Dark Spiner flailed backward, screeching through it's mangled jaw. Twirling around on one paw, Lady did the human equivalent of a handspring over the Spinosaurus Zoid, landing on her hind legs on the other side to do some boxing jabs with glowing laser claws to the ribs of her opponent. The Spiner roared and swung around the Smash tail, slamming the Konig Wolf in the side and sending her flying off into a nearby crater.
"Take THAT, infidel!"
"That has got to be one of the lamer comebacks I've ever heard," Emily muttered through clenched teeth, one hand holding her ribs while the other yanked Lady upright. The black Konig snarled, and then flicked her ears at the spectating Proto Zaber.
Going to help, useless kitty
"Yeah Kouki! GET YER ARSE DOWN HERE!"
"And if I don't feel like it?" Said pilot responded, before his Zaber hotfooted it off to the left as plasma rounds streamed towards his Zoid.
"You're involved now, slacker. GET. DOWN. HERE."
A hesitant pause.
"NOW."
"Oh fine, fine," Kouki muttered, his Zaber charging down the hill as the missile pods popped open and fired a set at the Dark Spiner. Said Zoid hissed and ducked under them, scooting towards the Proto Zaber even as missiles streamed towards Lady.
"Ack! Kouki! Don't hit ME!" Emily yelped, Lady jumping forward over the missiles to land on the back of the Dark Spiner, which promptly bucked and dumped the Konig Wolf on top of the Proto Zaber. Both Zoids yowled, Lady flailing around on top of the Zaber while the Spiner peppered them both with plasma bolts. All in all, it was quite the clusterfisk of d00m.
Said clusterfisk ended when Lady finally managed to flail off the top of the Zaber and do a limping leap to the left, landing unsteadily on her damaged legs. The Proto Zaber fared somewhat better, having been partially shielded by the Konig Wolf. As it leapt away, it released another missile wave at the menacing aqua Zoid with a roar. The Spiner hissed and splattered the missiles with golden plasma blasts, before stepping forward to snap long jaws together and glower.
"Yanno, something tells me this is not working," Emily commented almost casually, minus the fact that her breathing was a little ragged and her body felt like it'd been through a cheesegrater. Lady huffed and then snarled, tail sticking straight up like a flagpole.
"Gee, you're so smart," Kouki replied, sarcasm oozing from his words. "What gave you that idea?" His Proto Zaber growled and started to slink away, tail low. Chicken-cat indeed. It froze when the Spiner snarled, and the started to slink back to a previous position. Over on the other side, Lady looked like someone'd whacked her upside the head with a wet fish.
Why, oh why did we have to get the cowards on this mission? WHY?!
"If I knew, I would tell you. But I can't. So shut up," Emily grumbled, thinking. Since the spine array was gone, so was the jamming EMP wave…but the Spiner was still plenty lethal without it. And it still had it's own missile boxes left to use. Sighing, the teen cast a look at the forward HUD screen. "Lady, I think it's time we revert back to plan B."
Plan B? What, run away?
"No, not that plan B. The other plan B."
Other plan B? Oh Eve no, you're not seriously going to…
"Lady, we have no choice," Emily stated firmly, before opening a line to Kouki. "Hey, coward. Hide in those rocks up there and play along, wouldja? Oh, and when the time comes, commence nuking with those missiles of yours."
"Play along? With what?" Came the response from the other end, even as the Proto Zaber started to inch up the hill towards the safety of the rocks. Emily said nothing, only grinned rather evilly as Lady sighed and rolled her eyes.
I don't want to go to purgatory for this…
"Hopefully, you won't. OY, NESSIE!" The Dark Spiner turned around to stare at Lady for a moment, glaring as it took aim with the machineguns. The black Konig offered what she could best describe as a cocky grin, fangs showing.
Ugly sea monster wanna cracker?
Streams of plasma bolts erupted from the Spiner's shoulders, even as Lady yelped and ran, weaving up and down on the hill to escape the blasts. Sparing a quick glance behind them, Emily gave a small grin. "I think it's working."
Pour on the juice; I don't have any immediate wishes to resemble laser Swiss cheese.
"Yeah, I know you don't…" Sighing, Emily opened a radio line on the Spiner's frequency, thinking how best to rattle THAT pilot. Time to get creative and go with the Yo Momma jokes… "Hey, loser. Didja know yer mom's a better pilot than you are?"
"Yeah, I'll bet she is…"
Both Emily and Lady nearly fell over in shock. "Holy crap, you're a girl! And they give weapons of mass destruction to you guys over there? Whoa, I wanna join. Anything's better than this junk heap right now!"
And just who are you calling a junk heap?!
"Mm, I'm afraid only senior officers get the big toys. Sorry, little girl."
"WHAT did she just call me?" Emily growled, bristling. Lady rumbled, ears flicking as she danced around in front of the Dark Spiner.
She called you little, Shortie. What now?
"Well now we engage in all-out kamikaze warfare," came the tense response, the Konig pilot clenching the controls so tight Lady thought they'd crack. And the black Wolf knew very well that Emily hated having her height pointed out. It made her go nuts. Hence the added 'Shortie' barb. "Oh, and Lady?"
Yes?
"You're becoming a waffle iron the moment this is over."
Oh, joy. Just what I always wanted…
Ears lacing back against the sides of her head, Lady let out a roaring howl as she charged forward towards the Spiner, her pilot's rage searing inside her. The green Zoid opened fire with both the chest and shoulder guns, golden slugs filling the foggy air. But then the Konig goggles flipped down, and Emily took to the scope. Blue-grey eyes saw every detail, right down to the trajectory path of the bullets.
The Dark Spiner roared and flailed in surprise as Lady expertly began to weave through the shots, her movements very minimal and yet very precise. Fangs bared in a grimace of hatred, the black Konig's fangs began to route electricity to the tips. Seconds later, Lady's teeth began to glow, and look even bigger and pointier than before. That was never a good thing.
"Kouki! Missilenuke NOW!"
"What? Are you crazy? You'll get hit too!" The redhead squalled, Proto Zaber peeking out from a rocky outcrop overhead.
"I dun care, just shoot! Lady and I'll be fine!"
"Well, if you say so…" Kouki muttered, Zaber stepping out into the open. The twin shoulder pods popped open, and the Flight pack opened up to display an array of missiles on the back. Targeting everything on the Dark Spiner, including the shock and beam cannons for good measure, the Empire pilot smacked a button and everything cut loose to rain down from above on the enemy below.
The Spiner was blissfully unaware of the doom hurtling down from above, more focused on the charging Konig Wolf with very dangerous-looking teeth. Screeching, the Zoid sent energy into it's own fangs, when the first of the missiles came down and tagged the Dark Spiner right on the tail. The Spinosaurus quickly swung its snout up to look at the sky, and then saw the missiles falling down. It was during that moment that Lady sprang up, and fastened her fangs into the neck of the Dark Spiner.
Metal ripped, and then the smoke of nearly forty missiles hitting their designated target obscured everything.
After a very cautious moment, the Proto Zaber inched towards the edge and peered down into the thick smog, grunting in curiosity.
"I wonder if they survived," Kouki mused to himself, and then squeaked as a battered and scarred paw latched itself onto the edge of the cliff, silver claws digging in and ripping chunks out of the rock. Another paw, and then the soot-streaked head of a black Konig Wolf followed that. Lady's eyes blazed a satisfied blue as she hauled herself up to stand next to the Proto Zaber, and it wasn't hard to see why. Still clenched tightly between her jaws was a huge hunk of the Dark Spiner's neck, and the Wolf chewed vigorously on it.
"Woo! Now that was a ride," Emily grinned crazily, flipping back a bit of her ponytail before slumping down in her seat and laughing. "Total suicide. And we pulled it off!"
I'm so glad you're happy, Lady muttered through her crunching on her prize. The Proto Zaber whined pleadingly at the Wolf, and then drew back as she snarled at him.
…please?
Get your own food! E
"H-how did you survive that?" Kouki stammered, casting a glance at the smoking wreck below. "That was everything I had!"
"And half the muck down there is from Lady's dischargers. I think I blew out the boosters when we ripped that sucker's neck apart and then used the Spiner as a springboard to get up the hill," Emily chuckled, flipping some switches. On the back of Lady's neck, a cooling fan whirred to life and set to venting the excess heat building up in the Wolf's core.
Kouki just goggled at the Wolf for a minute as she gnawed away on her prize like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. For sure, Lady's back dischargers were now smoking heavily out of the ends, and the metal was badly tarnished, but other than that the Zoid was fine. Finally, he stopped staring and shook his head. "…now I know why Zan said you were a psycho."
"Yep. Let this be a lesson to you, never insult my height," Emily said as Lady trotted past, still holding her hunk of Spiner neck. Both Kouki and the Proto Zaber watched them warily, before they followed. At a safe enough distance, of course.
"I didn't know she was height-sensitive," Kouki whispered quietly to his Zoid, who shrugged.
Me neither… But now we know, so, for Eve's sake, please don't ever call her short.
"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME?"
"Nothing, nothing!"
Later that evening, the Konig Wolf and Proto Zaber finally found their way out of the valley and met up with the HoverCargo, which had somehow miraculously found a way around the treacherous valley instead of going through it.
Of course, you can probably imagine how that turned out.
Both Emily and Kouki were given high praise and a big meal, but no pay raise. Upon his return, Kouki was given a shiny new Liger Zero EM for a job well done, and Emily got…new parts for Lady. While this made the Wolf happy, there was a tiny bit of heck raised about unfairness towards women in the army.
On the side of the Republic, anyway…