ZOIDS
CUSTOMKING
I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO ZOIDS
THIS STORY IS A FANFIC CREATED WITH
NO THOUGHT OF BENEFIT TO MYSELF
ENJOY!
The day of the big race dawned on a field of two hundred and thirty zoids of varying sizes and shapes, artillery bristled in the morning sun as Cyrus soaked up the atmosphere, being the only pilot in the crew without a ground zoid Cyrus was elected to run the pit lane for his team mates and his only help in the matter was Thomo whose desire to see the Gogu-dragon advertised was his only form of commitment, Cyrus still didn't like him. The main grandstand, seating over twenty thousand screaming fans, sat on the home straight and opposite an enormous screen that would display a raynos-view of the race for most of its duration. Cyrus tapped the keys to unload the zoids from the pit garages where they had spent the night, not a cheap exercise housing six zoids for a night, Cyrus had argued against this saying the zoids could spend the night outside, but Jhese had wanted to run system checks and Thomo had taken his side and things had snowballed from there until Cyrus had agreed on the terms that the pilots had to pay seventy percent of the costs, much grumbling had followed but cash had been forked over in the end and expenses were paid.
…………………..
Four command wolves, a lightning siax and the Gogu-dragon slid from their bunkers under the stands, the conveyer belt whined a bit but Cyrus wasn't worried, both bunkers and belt were designed to cater for much larger zoids than the ones it was currently moving. The three wolf-pack command wolves were the latest tribute to Jhese's custom prowess; newly dubbed the vendetta wolves they sported all the same arsenals as before and some added on speed enhancers, zabat thrusters mounted behind the shoulders provided thrust and stabilizing fins had been created to keep the V-wolves on the ground. The 'pack had spent the last week practicing with their new zoids at every opportunity and had discovered that the thrusters were only good for a short charge before overheating, this didn't seem to bother them as Jhese had suggested using the thrusters to accelerate rather than for extended top speed.
Cyrus operated the grappler to unload each zoid off the belt and place it at the dock where the pilots could board their craft and take them to the starting grid, each zoid carried one toolbox of basic tools meaning that some repairs could be made on the course but major repairs could only be done in pit lane.
Finally all Cyrus's teammates were in their zoids and lined up in their positions on the grid, the grid was arranged by a qualifying lap of a much shorter track and the fastest were placed at the front and slowest at the back, the track had been fairly smooth and flat so the front was mostly made up of 'siax's and even a zero schneider, with Kat among them, the rest of the crew were scattered in the middle of the pack, Cyrus watched wistfully as a raynos buzzed the grandstand thinking how much good practice it would be to be part of the raynos camera crew who would be filming the race; fifty raynos armed with tri cannon cameras plus the permanent units scattered around the course would capture the action allowing the monitor in the pit quarters to see almost any competitor at any point in the race, and allow Cyrus to monitor their status and progress and have any repairs work ready to go before they limped back to pit lane where Cyrus and Thomo would fix them up for the next lap. The banging door heralded Thomo's arrival to the pit quarters and Cyrus didn't even look up from the monitor as the older man flopped down in front of the console that he would be using, along with the Comm. System., to tell the team members when they were able to be accepted.
"You ready, Rip?" grunted Thomo "because this is where the action gets hot".
…………………
Colby sweated on the controls, ready to blast the lightning siax in front to bits as soon as the starting gun was fired, he watched the official raise the starting pistol and squeezed the trigger in anticipation.
BANG!
Colby fired and almost immediately yelled in frustration as a metal plate fell from the 'siax's double laser and blocked the shot, falling to the ground in front of his shadow fox XS. Colby swerved just in time to avoid the debris and the 'fox bounded out of the path of a Koning wolf which copped the shrapnel square in the face, but a koning wolf is a large zoid and what counts as a race ending blow to a 'siax or a shadow fox was just a momentary delay for the unlucky competitor. Colby accelerated hard without the boosters knowing that too much speed off the line might be slower than too little- SKREEE! A hell kat in front of Colby bit the dirt as its legs were blown from under it, the lightning siax kicked and jumped in a move that meant it could only be Kat at the controls, soaring over the zoid carnage and bounding away over the tops and backs of other zoids, not a bad idea thought Colby and followed suit, launching his 'fox onto the back of a nearby hell kat and knocking it to the ground before springing into the air and firing his thrusters, Colby couldn't help himself, he swung around to look at what kind of carnage he had caused, disappointment, the field behind Colby had vanished, blanketed by a thick cloud of dust, Colby returned his sights to the road ahead and prepared for the first turn madness.
………………
Jhese fought with the controls, trying to regain some stability and prevent his 'dragon from careening into the stands, not the best way to start a race Jhese thought; not something Jhese could have expected but he still believed that it could have been avoided, when Jhese had overtaken their 'wolves David and the others had released the smoke dragon; a trailing cloud of thick smoke that blanketed the track and blinded the trailing competitors, one of whom had seemingly panicked and engaged his booster pack shooting forwards and glancing Jhese on the side before slamming up the back of the leader pack as they entered the first turn. The only thing that Jhese could see as a bonus from the whole exercise had been when Kat had whooped for glee when the flying zoid had crashed through and taken out another lightning siax and a shadow fox in her way before crashing into the ground and suffering a system freeze.
Finally Jhese caught the 'dragon and eased forwards on the acceleration, the massive mechanical legs pumping him back onto the track and into the first turn.
Jhese pulled both controls and grinned as his zoid leaped cleanly over a fallen zaber fang, an obvious victim of a Vulcan laser gun, Jhese then pulled both controls to the left and tapped the thrusters to swoop sideways and avoid being shot down himself, he then backed off the left side power and turned sharply into the second turn, a long sweeping monster that favored zoids of medium size and those with pivoting artillery, and the shadow fox pilots knew it, there were only five in the race including Colby and they were making mincemeat of the leader pack, Jhese hoped that Kat was not in the line of fire, a feeble hope, Jhese knew that Kat would be trying to get a killer fang into Colby's ass.
Finally the sweeping corner became terrain that was more suited to his 'dragons abilities a steep hill that became a cliff towards the top, this was usually where zoids like iron Kongs and rev raptors would catch the speedier cat and wolf zoids as they tried to find a way that would take them over the treacherous hill, even the dark horns and gordos would catch up here, making use of the trails painfully discovered by the smaller more nimble zoids or simply barreling their way to the top, picking off the straggling and struggling as they bulldozed through the dense trees, shrubs and rocks that blocked the smaller zoids progress, Jhese's zoid had this part in the bag, rocking back on its hind legs the 'dragon grabbed the rock, steel talons bit deep and mechanical muscles pulled; hauling the zoid up the steep rock face, this was risky as many of the more nimble zoids would wait for the climbers to start their dash for the lead and pick them off while they waited for the bigger zoids to bulldoze a path, Jhese fired the thrusters and instead of slowly climbing his 'dragon leaped from rock-face to ledge to rock-face faster than even the small hammer rocks could manage, a well aimed shot glanced off the wall beside Jhese and he put the shield up just in time to deflect the next shot that had more luck than the first and flicked it off again as he topped the hill, igniting the thrusters again to pull as much lead as he could from the faster zoids and defiantly move away from the heavier artillery zoids, suddenly a rev raptor sprang from the trees beside the trail and slammed side-on into the 'dragon scoring the electric blue paint with its shoulder mounted blades,
Jhese swept the combat controls with his fingers "so, you want to trade paint?" he inquired over the open channel "red ain't my color so I'll take the silver" the gogu-dragon grabbed the 'raptor with its fore-claws and continued running on its hind legs, a slower method that forced the 'raptor pilot to compensate, just not quick enough, the 'dragon pulled back and reefed the smaller zoid from its feet and onto its back, then dropped back to all fours and sped away, leaving the rev raptor to its fate.
