Episode Three
The Diamond Arrives—A Best Friend?
"Stuck a feather in his hat,"
Harry was piloting his gargantuan Iron Kong through the endlessly stretching desert plains on a path towards a certain Hover Cargo where he would present the love of his life with a painting of herself. She was sure to appreciate it—it had taken him a fair amount of time to perfect the shading on her upper lip.
He hummed happily to himself as the giant blue shell came into view. The sun set just perfectly on the horizon and lit it up like a…glowing snail. The wind picked up and blew a funnel of sand lightly over the hands of his beast. Despite the abundant sights, however, what really caught his eye was a very much hated Liger Zero poised with its back to him and staring off into the sunset.
He's back already?
The king-to-be ambled up in his cumbersome Zoid and noticed the sad reason the Ultimate X was standing so still. The silhouettes of two people were atop its head. From the looks of it their backs faced him. (Meaning of course that their faces backed him as well.)
He placed a hand on the chair of his seat to steady himself and prepare for what he was about to endure, then sat up. Opening the glass to the cockpit, he squinted at the figures. One, obviously, was his rival Bit Cloud, but the other—the one that made his knees tremble and the blood drain from his face—was his beloved.
The two talked softly, and with all his being he wanted to hear exactly what was being said. At the same instant of his yearning he realized he never wanted to know because it would probably torment his dreams for the rest of his life.
Then, to his ultimate horror, stray bubbles and pink hearts fell from the sky, and the wind whisked back her red hair, oh so red, and he was able to see their heads getting oh so close, and their lips, oh so closer…
"NO!" Harry shot up in his bed, clutching at his sheets with one hand and reaching out imploringly with the other. "LEENA MY LOVE!"
Benjamin and Sebastian who had been folding laundry at the moment of awakening looked up from their robotic task to sigh mournfully for their master.
"It was one of those dreams again, I bet." Sebastian beeped, and set a shirt down.
"Poor guy," matrixed the taller AI, "he will never know the joy of holding a true love in his arms…Oh!" He overheated and steam rose from his dual vents as he imagined the battle judge draped over his tentacle-like three fingered arm.
Both good friends micro chipped to their mechanical feet as they heard the patter of Harry's footsteps on the marble. They watched him skid past them and quickly hurried after.
Not until he reached the main quarters did he pause for breath, albeit while dialing the telephone.
It rang twice, three times, four. Then a "Hello?" with a lilt on the end as if hopeful.
"Leena!" Harry shouted, relieved.
"Oh, it's you." Her voice took on its usually gruff tones and she yawned. "Why are you calling me in the middle of the night?"
"Oh Leena! I had a dream…you died!" He almost broke out into hysteric sobs. 'Almost' being the word used because both robots knew that when this guy was in hysterics over this girl he was completely un-understandable. "You died on the inside!"
The two could almost hear the girl roll her eyes. "Okay, Harry."
"Please don't hang up! I can't stand not seeing you. It's driving me crazy! Come to my battle against the Tigers Team tomorrow, for my sanity."
"Er…" Her voice was muffled by the phone and they had to strain to hear it. "Sorry, Harry, but we just left the Moonbay Mountains, I'm probably not anywhere near you…so I'm going to get back to some well-deserved beauty—"
"But I'm near the Moonbay Mountains." The man destined to be king interjected, "I was coming to meet you."
The walking computers heard her choke while their friend continued to remain oblivious to her attempts to end the conversation. "How do you consistently find me so easily? Is there a chip in me?"
"Our love transcends miles, my soulmate! We are connected! Leena, please!" The lovestruck fool fell on both knees, as if she stood in front of him.
She mumbled and grumbled for a few seconds. "Fine, I'll be there. I'm bored out of my mind as it is."
"Thank you my love!" He was almost in a sort of hysterical happiness.
"Bye, Harry." She hung up.
"Goodbye, and goodnight, my sweet!"
"Oh, Harry," circuited Sebastian, the shorter of the robots, and whirred over to place a fake hand on the human. "Why do you place all of your emotions on this girl, it's not healthy!"
"Sebastian!" The other robot zeroed and oned over and slapped the retractable arm away from their host. "What do you know anyway?"
It would have sweat dropped in response, but since that proved mathematically impossible, the sane one (for we know love makes no sense) kilobyted, "Alright, alright. But staying up all night isn't good for your health at least. Try and get some rest for the battle tomorrow."
"Okay! Benjamin, Sebastian, see you in the morning…the beginning of the day Leena and I finally become engaged!" He practically skipped off to his room.
'Practically' because they knew he wasn't exactly skipping because he only did that when she flirted with him. At least skipping is what it usually looked like—it was a very un-understandable skip.
And thus the night drew to a close, bubbles, pink hearts and all.
. . .
Standing on a steppe, a prelude to the Moonbay Mountains at her back, and with the wind in her face, Leena felt like the queen of the world. Especially since the dual court-jester and slave was running in circles trying to please her far far below. An occasion for a smug grin was a welcome reprieve; her ego needed a boost now that they were 'vacationing' with Naomi.
Benjamin had just knocked out one of the Fuzzy Pandas, surprisingly. (She had taken to calling them that since Bit never could remember their real names.) It seemed like Omari had been caught off guard by the immasculine robot suddenly choosing to pirouette. An Iron Kong just wasn't made for that type of balance and had tipped over and squashed (thoroughly she might add) half of the down-and-out pilot's Zoid.
Kirkland and Lineback seemed to be having a bit more luck. At least, whatever you called 'still standing' for the team whom the Blitz team had trampled over, sucked the prosperity out of, and sent mice to gather scraps in the aftermath.
Harry's Kong was slightly angled and seemed to be yelling at Sebastian for aiming in the wrong direction or something. She would have ridiculed the blatant disregard for the match, but knew the situation oh too well from her own battles. Of course, it had always been Bit and Brad's fault, and sometimes they just needed a good stern talking to. Kirkland, the leader of the Tigers Team, took this time to pounce on the fallen Benjamin and tear a limb off which ended up being enough to paralyze the gorilla.
Harry bellowed and pounded his chest while crouching. He allowed his opponents to back up against her cliff before racing towards them.
The two were obviously sizing up their target and getting a good trajectory…any second now Harry would be flat on his face…THERE! A giant wave of sand and…Harry had stopped just in time. After getting over her melancholy she noticed it was because he had seen her and started waving with an ungainly Zoidian palm.
"Leena, my maiden, thou art so lovely that thy knight has found himself paralyzed with adoration for your sweet face." (Adoration? Harry was upgrading his speeches.) "If I could have but a small token to wear close to my heart, or…"
"How about a few choice words? Get back in the game, moron!"
Too little, too late. Another well-aimed blast from the cornered Tigers and Harry was out of commission. And probably slightly banged up. Oh well.
Sebastian, the sensible one it seemed, shot Kirkland down from the side during the moment of victory, and caught Lineback by pure chance (the idiot had freaked and started running in circles).
Leena was happy to say she had expected them to go out that way when she saw how close they had been standing. It had pained her a little that she couldn't have blasted them with her own barrage.
It reminded her of the various times she had hit the enemy by 'pure chance' as she had been aiming for her teammates. Close quarters really weren't a good thing when she was concerned…like that one time…when she had forgotten she had that wrench in her hand...he had gained bruises for weeks...
As she was pulled into memories Harry was pulling himself out of a foggy state of consciousness resulting from the unwanted attack.
He glanced back up to where he'd seen his princess and had to blink his eyes to even get them to focus.
She was half-smiling at the ground. He took it as her being abashedly happy that he was alright and swelled with pride.
He just as soon deflated when she beamed a full-fledged smile and reached up to delicately remove the hands that had covered her eyes. She spun slowly and, giggling, wrapped her arms around a blonde's neck, and Harry watched, horror-stricken, as the blonde in turn slipped his hands onto the small of her back—then the rest was obscured by a sudden influx of pink hearts and bubbles.
"Harry…" Sebastian bleeped tiredly over the speaker, "would you hurry up and help me carry this effeminate carcass back to the base?"
The prince shook his head and took in his surroundings with new eyes. Sebastian's Alamazer M1896 was making its way over to Benjamin's junk heap and the two tiger Zoids lay in front of him—sparking. Obviously, a new Harry had arisen out of the subconscious of the one distracted by Leena and had pounded these two into oblivion. Leena!
His vision pushed him into action and he jumped out of the Iron Kong and raced to beat her retreating back to the bottom of the rock hill she stood on. He couldn't let the luck that had caused her to actually answer the phone in the middle of the night (which she hadn't done since the Friday the thirteenth incident), and that caused him to win a battle in front of her, go to waste.
He immediately slid his hand into his pocket and fingered the ring he had planned to give her the last day of the Royal Cup. He hadn't had a chance then, but today was just as good. Any day that had her in it was just as good or better.
"Sweetiepie!"
She paused in her aimless walk towards the parked Gunsniper. She had been staring at her feet lost in thought, and when she picked her head up the angle left her staring up at him through her eyelashes. Her sparkling eyes and long eyelashes. All his befuddled brain needed to do was add a slight blush to her cheeks and he could stammer out no more.
"What Harry?" She replied tiredly, "I'm suddenly not in the battle mood anymore, so let's keep this brief."
Briefs and Leena didn't go well in his mind either and he spluttered again.
She waited a few more moments out of her infinite politeness before walking the last few feet to her ferocious Urson destroyer and leaning her weight against it.
The space allowed his mind to clear and he thusly cleared his throat. The oration he had planned over many a long night bubbled to his lips as she stood entranced by the horizon.
"Dearest Leena," he began, stepping closer but then thinking better of it. Backing away he knelt on one knee like he knew his princess would like. "I love you in the morning, and in the afternoon. I love you in the evening, and underneath the moon. I loved you so much that I disobeyed my father. I love you so much that Zoid battling has lost its oomph. And I will love you so much that you will never have a sad moment in your life. Leena, darling, honey, please, MARRY ME?"
He held his breath in anticipation and his vision blurred. He shut his eyelids.
"I like you." He heard her murmur, and his heart jumped out of his chest.
"We've had a lot of fun together." Tears of joy sprang to his eyes.
"But I wouldn't go on a vacation just with you."
"Huh?" He had just stood up to embrace her in their first romantic hug as a couple but was forced to open his eyes. She had her head tilted up—and she was talking to the Gunsniper.
She stretched languidly. "You're not interesting. You don't even talk back."
He spluttered.
"But I guess an Ultimate X would."
"Leena! I just professed my undying love for you! Why aren't you listening?" He screamed—clawed at his throat in frustrated vain.
She turned to look sharply at him. "And, for the millionth time, I'm professing my indecision. Or indifference."
"Leena, I would die for you! He would never!" He waved his arms emphatically and took on a pleading tone.
"He who?" She said sharply, raising her voice to match his.
"He-Bit! He-Man! He-Who-Stole-All-The-Glory-From-Me!" He threw his fists in the air.
"When did he come in the conversation?"
"When you mentioned him!"
"No I didn't!" She was red from the argument, not from blushing…in embarrassment (cough).
"Leena! I would've died for you at the Royal Cup! He was off gallivanting on his pony!"
"What are you talking about? Laon's the one that saved my life!" Suddenly, she sobered, looked thoughtful. "I should thank him. He's tried to save me so many times. I should at least be courteous enough to go to the freaking hospital and thank him." And with that she climbed into her Zoid and started off for that horizon. (In the direction of the Hover Cargo of course.)
Harry watched for a few moments before bringing his hands up to sigh with an air mournful enough to make Romeo proud, then began his dejected walk—not skip, traipse, or anything of the sort—back to the two robots that he called friends.
After talking to them he'd feel better. They'd eat soup together, then he could go take a relaxing bubble bath and get some sleep. Actually—
Fuck the bubbles.
. . .
Next time on Zoids:
"Steve Toros, at your service. I knew I had reason to be proud of my little girl—she's decided all on her own to go visit my old friend. I don't know exactly how that's going to go, but now I have a great excuse to show off this new Zoid model! The Tigers Team (or was it the Fuzzy Pandas?) don't help much on the rebuilding-my-friendship part, however. Next time on Zoids, the uncouth—of underhanded comments and the Undrafted. Deceit's a tricky thing my friend! Ready! Fight!"
AN: I LOVED writing this chapter, it was so much fun. I got to write Harry's hilarious BL moments (which helped get it out of my system) and I got to make up a bunch of verbs for Benjamin and Sebastian, ahhh so fun. I've actually really tried to do a lot of research for all the characters in the show, because I want to make this as IC as I can. I've studied the robot's personalities, and have been watching the zero scenes Chris and Kelly Tasker are in so I can tell the difference.
Although, these types of characters were never fleshed out, and are similar in their groups. You might notice that I'll attempt to give them traits they can call their own—in order to make their character more substantial.
Unfortunately, there weren't a lot of descriptions focused on the Tiger team's differences. They'll be around soon, I promise.
Disclaimer: I forgot to disclaim Zoids! I, obviously, do not own any of the characters, or any of the Zoids so far.
I waited a long time for just one tiny review, but I didn't get one :( Maybe a future chapter will win someone over... Next chapter is when the plot really starts picking up, and I'm excited to share it. What do you think about Harry? Too goofy? Perfect? Deserves more lovin'?
