Episode Twelve

The Fire Phoenix—A Token for the Weak

"And there we saw the men and boys, as thick as hasty pudding."

"Dad! That's what you're wearing?" Leena Toros' face grew more aghast by the second as she took in Dr. Toros' fancy outfit. He was equipped with a purple jacket with fantastic ruffles near the collar, as well as some thick blue jeans and a belt "from, like, the 3500s or what?"

"Why don't you borrow my jacket, stud?" Brad walked into the common room carrying a simple black coat slung over his shoulder.

"Infinitely better," commented Bit from his cross-legged position on the couches.

"Agreed," continued Jamie as he popped a kernel of popcorn into his mouth and flipped through a few more channels.

"Oh, dad, your fashion sense is terrible."

"Your fashion sense is terrible." Bit snickered, trying to irritate the resident firecracker. She allowed him a second of glare time.

"You were better off wearing your lab coat," nodded Jamie, oblivious to Bit's commentary.

"No way, that thing is filthy!" The only girl flipped her red hair over her shoulder, propping her fists on her hips.

"I completely agree!" The blonde warrior (with a death wish? Brad wondered…) teased again, tossing his hair in a mock replay.

She turned to him again, her annoyance almost evident. "Oh, where have you been my entire life?"

"Avoiding you, most likely."

She huffed, but didn't let herself get too distracted by that idiot and instead continued her rant against her father, as she dragged him out of the room to change into more "date friendly attire."

"I can't believe you got away with that." Jamie said, raising his eyebrows at a still grinning Bit Cloud.

"Of course I did. Obviously you don't know her patterns."

Brad raised his eyebrows as well as he slid into a seat near his teammates. "I will now refrain from commenting."

The phone rang loudly and Jamie clicked it into being using the remote.

"Hello, TEAM BLITZ!" Crowed Steve Toros over the loudspeaker.

"Why are you calling us from the other room!" Cried their youngest member, who was slightly disappointed to be missing the documentary on early plane designs.

"Because he's got a hot date to hurry and get to."

"Bring back a pic?"

"That's gross!" The young boy declared again, covering his eyes for no apparent reason. "She's probably old enough to be our moms."

"Your mom maybe," Bit and Brad laughed as they high-fived over the traumatized child's head.

"Chill Jamie, these two bozos don't know what makes up a real woman."

"I wish I could see this kid the morning after he discovered what a real woman was like."

"Even so, I don't see how Leena pertains to something like that." The two broke out in raucous laughter again, sharing another complementary slapping of the skin. Jamie blushed deeply, and attempted to then cover his entire face and ears with his hands.

"Just wait till I get back over there, you perverts!"

"Of course we're kidding! You could teach him all about the female anatomy!"

"As in, 'this is a womanly belly button.' And then, 'Augghgh my eyes!'"

The resident redhead steadily built up volcano power as her father pushed her out of the way, but before he could say anything Bit interjected, "Oi, Doc, could you pick up the Liger on your way back?"

"Why, of course. Unfortunately I'll be forced to pilot it back to the base."

The Ultimate X pilot deadpanned, "You better ask him first."

"Anyway, I just wanted to remind all of you to lock the windows, don't answer the door to strangers, and that bedtime is at ten o' clock, okay?"

"Oh don't mind him," his daughter disclosed after a beat of uncomfortable silence. She straightened his tie and pushed him on his way. "Have fun dad, don't forget to pay for her meal!" She stood in the screen, waving, then adapted a ponderous face. "Now, I know I was planning on doing something, but I've completely forgotten."

Brad raised a finger and wormed his way into her thoughts, "Wasn't it, 'abuse Bit'?"

"Don't you mean, 'build this awesome Ultrasaurus puzzle'?" The aforementioned punishment-deserving young man interjected hastily.

The impassioned female might have realized this was said to distract her had their youngest teammate not turned around excitedly and shouted something strange like, 'Yippie!'

After that, a few hours passed with little to no import. They finished the border and a few other random segments. Unfortunately, an impasse was reached betwixt the children of the team. Meaning, of course, Bit and Leena. Jamie was happily putting the clouds together.

"The sky should definitely get done first."

"No way. That is just a bunch of blue pieces. There is no way to tell where any of them go." Leena held up a smudgy yellow one. "We need to do the Ultrasaurus first, at least you can differentiate between them!"

"Uh, hello. There's no way to tell whether that's a neck or a tail piece. It could go anywhere! It could be an eye socket!"

"Or it could be an ass. Oh, wait, that's you."

Bit rolled onto his side so he could level a good stare in her direction. She stuck her tongue out from where she lay on her belly, working on the bottom right hand corner.

"So…my idea's better. Let's do the sky."

"Were you in the middle of ear surgery for the past thirty minutes? I will not waste my perfect eyesight staring at monochromatic puzzle pieces! Ultrasaurus first. My idea. Better."

"I have an idea. Everyone do their separate corners while playing the quiet game. What, never heard of it? It means, after I snap my fingers, the first person to make a sound has to clean the hangar." Bit opened his mouth to argue, but let it hang after the mercenary made a loud Snap! He could have risked it…but better to just avoid having the rest of the Blitz force him to do housework.

Brad was working on the ground pieces, and he was starting to notice that even though most of his segments were brown, they were of different shades. They were finding their places easily now that he had more clues to go by. It was very zen-like. He noticed Bit had picked up on the idea as well. As Brad reached an impasse where an Ultrasaurus foot should go, Bit and Jamie connected a cloud and a new section of sky with a silent cheer. Then Bit leaned over the entire puzzle to pick up a pad of paper from the coffee table. He soon shoved it in Leena's face.

Fufufufu

Excuse me? Need I get the soap?

Not fu as in "Fuck" "You" but fu as in…"foo."

Ok? Well… ok as in "O" "K" not ok as in "ock." And question mark as in "what the hell."

It's…like laughing derisively. You mean you've never heard of it?

You might as well have said it in Ancient Zoidian for all the laughing it made me do.

The eldest member grabbed the notepad from them and took a moment to write something down. He handed it back to them furtively.

(insert pixelated crude drawing of a male…organ.)

"BRAD!" The two shouted, upsetting the puzzle pieces near them.

. . .

Steve Toros laughed loudly as he and his date shared a last glass of champagne. She clung tightly to his right arm and giggled happily. She was no great beauty as his wife had been, but her black curls left him at least a little flustered. He wiped a bit of drool from his mouth. What? No! He hadn't been drooling.

And she had seemed fairly impressed with his Doctorate of Zoid stuff. "That's a nice way to look at it," she said, finally siphoning off her giggles. "What a surprising thing for a manager of the Blitz team to say!"

"There are a lot of things about me that are apparently quite surprising," Doc shrugged, raising her head closer and further from his own since her chin now rested on his shoulder. "Everyone seems to forget that I designed all of the Liger's armor pieces!"

"You designed those?" She flicked her bangs out of her eyes as best she could.

"See, everyone forgets!"

She smiled affectionately. "Take heart in the fact that you've added something original to this worldthe most I've done is arrange flowers!"

"Hey, don't put yourself down. I'm sure the members of my team don't know the first thing about such a delicate art."

"Oh, you're making me giggle!"

Dr. Toros extricated himself from her grip and put his hands on her shoulders. "I have a surprise for you, alright? Wait here. Don't move!"

She nodded happily as he hurried off. "Don't take too long, I can't wait to get out of these heels!"

. . .

Bit Cloud walked back into the living room of the base, zipping up his green and red jacket. "I'm assuming Doc is having a hard core make-out session with this girl right nowso I'm going into town to pick up Liger. Who's coming with me?"

"You need a babysitter?"

"I need someone to drive the truck back."

Brad reclined into the couch and studied the dark-haired youth still humming happily and connecting puzzle pieces. "I'm feeling lazy. Ask Leena."

"She's in her room painting her toenails or whatever she does. Pleaaasseeee Brad?"

"Well, when you insist on embarrassing yourself like that..." He heaved himself from the curved chairs and ran a tired hand through his tousled hair. "Have you seen my vest anywhere?" He asked as they both passed through the automatic doors and skirted past their sole female in the hallway.

"Hmm. Oh! I think I saw it slung over Naomi's bedpost."

"Hah," the mercenary groused in response, giving the blonde a healthy shove.

Pop! The doors slid open again as Leena entered and fell with a dramatic sigh onto the spot Brad had just been. She reached out and ruffled the young aviator's hair. "Wanna go to Leon and Naomi's?"

He stuck out his bottom lip. "Can't we just stay in the base for once?"

"And do what? Talk?"

The boy fit another piece in and shrugged.

She rolled onto her back and pulled her skirt down as it had rode up in the process. "What's your favorite color? Oh, let me guess. Blue?"

"I never spent time thinking about that."

She stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Boys. You can never make decisions." The lights above them held her gaze and she twined her fingers through his short black hair. It was absentminded, yet sensual, and it left him blushing. He made sure to keep his back turned.

"Have you...ever dated anyone?"

Her eyes popped as she grinned, "That sure is a question! You couldn't deduce it after having lived with us half your life?"

"You're very secretive."

"True." She noticed his ears were red, then mistook it for a completely different emotion. The redhead gave him a half-hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning far enough over to give him a teasing glance. "Is little Jamie in love? Does he need help wooing Mary?"

He squawked, "I already said she's way older than me!"

She waved her hand dismissively. "What's a few years here or there? After a decade of happiness and companionship who could tell the difference?"

"But..."

"Let me introduce you to the list of ways to impress and flatter your future queen." She settled back into her reclining position on the couch and raised a finger into the airmaking declarations to the ceiling once again. "Firstly, flowers"

"Oh how did I get myself into this one?"

. . .

The night was cool and windy, despite it being the dead of summer, and Dr. Toros was happy to settle into the quiet cockpit of the Liger Zero. "Yeah, baby, let's see what you can do." It growled back in extreme annoyance and intentionally froze in place.

"A hah, hah." He laughed nervously, raising his hands into the air in surrender. "Just kidding of course. But if you do me a huge favor I'll be sure to get you a nice…"

He heard the whistle before he saw anything. The Liger seemed to know they were coming, but was forced to rely mostly on Toros' slower reaction time to dodge them. They fell with a crash on their right side as the Homing missiles shot over their heads. The Liger growled againenraged and trying to hurtle back onto its feet.

"I've got this, I've got this." He repeated as he maneuvered them back into standing position. Two Sinkers rushed past the Ultimate X's legs, moving in and out of the light from the street lamps, and causing them to resort to stomping around like an Elephander.

Inside the two stingrays, the Undrafted members continued communications as they weaved and disoriented the bigger Zoid. "This is too easy." Jubon said, cackling.

"Yeah, we don't even need the Large Booster Guns the ma'am gave us!" Kishon laughed as well, feeling like a winner for once. "I thought this was supposed to be an Ultimate X?"

An old man popped onto their vid-screens. "Hooligans!" He cried, shaking his fist before they cut him off. They shared puzzled glances.

"Well that explains a lot."

At this point, the Liger Zero was doing its best trying to show his engineer how to activate the Strike Laser Claw attack, however, the man appeared less apt in the field of battling, and mostly was making shooing motions.

"Got it!" He shouted suddenly, moving the controls to slightly raise the leg of the white Zoid, however, he attacked thin air. The strike laser claw lit up and discharged into the pavement, leaving a misplaced, albeit cool, scar. "Well, what do you expect? The most you ever let me do was wash you a few times."

Then a large net flew from the top of a building and the Sinkers near his feet scattered. His hands weren't on the accelerator in time, and they were trapped, shot down like a duck. The electricity pounded through the Liger's system, sending shocks out of the data board and dehumidifying the air in front of him.

The Ultimate X gave one last weak growl of reproach before it succumbed to the onslaught. As the electricity died from the air, the night darkened. The alleyway froze, transfixed and soundless almost immediately. The skirmish had alerted no one, and it was with the sluggish creep gained by a power with no fear of censure that a claw reached down from the sky and pulled the Ultimate X into the belly of the beast.

. . .

The young aviator woke to the sound of shooting.

He moved quickly, pulling his yellow and white battle shirt over his plain white one. It was a little bulky feeling but it would work. He threw his pants on as he was running, and just pulled up the zipper as he swung wide the hangar door, a frantic pant on his lips.

Bit was slouched over at a table he'd erected with a sour look on his face. Following the trail of his gaze, Jamie found his other two team members jumping around and shooting targets. It was a common training they did—attaching targets to their Zoid's bodies and seeing who could break the most. He groaned at himself for jumping to conclusions and pulled an empty barrel over to sit next to the Ultimate X pilot.

"Yo."

Bit didn't answer, if anything his frown deepened, and he glowered resolutely at the Shadowfox and Gunsniper.

"Any word from Doc?"

"NO." He snapped and stood up angrily just as Leena's tail smashed their table to smithereens. The dark haired youth shrieked and checked his toes for broken bones. "And the Liger's missing too. If he drove his date around in the cockpit, I will destroy him."

"Especially since you haven't pulled that move yet."

The green of Bit's irises flashed darker as he leveled a finger at Jamie, "You're too young to be talking about moves!"

"Talk about unbalanced." Leena said sticking her lip out judgmentally. She shouted in surprise as the Shadowfox landed a hit on her left knee. Her Zoid teetered for a moment.

"Don't mind if I do. Appreciate the irony?"

"Hey, there wasn't a target there!"

The battle recommenced and the blonde stomped off, entering the base impatiently as the doors whirred closed behind him.

. . .

Fuma usually wore her hair down, even in battle; it was a form of vanity. Yet tonight she had tightened a zip-tie at the base of her skull, thus piling her hair into a ponytail. A few brown curls framed her face but otherwise she was pure business. When she scowled, the prisoner surely got the full effect.

"Again, Ehga." The sound of flesh hitting flesh is nothing like in the movies. It's much quieter and leaves you feeling disappointed unless you order a few extra punches.

He stopped when the old man groaned. She almost wanted to call him a gentleman, because to sit and look at her with this sort of calm when your lip was bleeding and your left eye indubitably swollen shut required class of the extreme caliber.

"The Ligers were created by the Guylos Empire, yes, way back then. Making the X at least as old as the hushed Organoid Wars." She moved closer, scrutinizing his face. "You're telling me you didn't know this?"

"I might have heard rumors." Steve Toros licked the blood from his lip and swallowed it with a grimace.

"Then tell me about the black box. No point in hiding, the scans are underway as we speak. Save yourself the pain."

"Why ask me at all then?"

"I prefer to cover my ass."

"You want me to cover your ass? Sounds provocative. Sorry, I'm taken."

"Negola would appreciate this one," Egha grumbled as he licked his palm and flattened his short mohawk.

The blood vessels in the female leader's eyes must have expanded, because she truly saw red. Should she overreact? No, not yet. She spat in his face instead.

"I hate you." She straightened and pulled her zip tie a notch tighter, stretching her scalp almost painfully. It helped her rearrange her thoughts. "I've heard people call it an Ultimate X. The Liger Zero units were manufactured by both the Republic and the Empire, but the Empire were the ones who created the Liger Zero X's. Why call it an ultimate when X's are already CAS capable and equipped with a high-tech AI system? What makes it so different?"

"How would I know, I'm not its engineer."

"That's precisely what you are, you idiot." She tried her breathing exercises but choked on them. "Ehga, hit him again, please."

. . .

If you've never seen someone sweep angrily, then you've probably lived a very sane life. Being a trigger happy red-head aptly lead away from most sensibility, and so it was with no great surprise that Leena walked into the hangar expecting to do maintenance and was met with her favorite thief sweeping sawdust—angrily.

She giggled happily to herself. Here, finally, was a reason to put up with him. He made a good housewife. "Finally, you're cleaning this old table up."

"You were the one who broke it." He replied, glowering at the hard bristles that weren't doing much good.

"Well you shouldn't have had it in the middle of the battlefield."

"It was—"

"Don't argue; I've got statistics on my side. At least I didn't trip over your truck."

He stopped speaking and just kicked a pile of the dust out into the desert. Leena stood by, not really having a reason to leave, perhaps even wanting to pick the fight. A warm wind blew in, ruffling her green skirt and pushing her hair behind her shoulders. Bit kept his back turned tensely towards her and propped his chin on the neck of the broom. His shirt shifted slowly as his muscles clenched tighter, strangely growing angrier by her mere presence.

"Why are you still here?" He ground out, tossing the broom into a corner.

She scowled thinking things like Two can play this game and allowing the unsettled feeling that had lurked in the back of her mind all day to manifest itself in her anger. "Bit, relax. Stop being so sour because your precious Zoid isn't here to keep you company."

"Excuse me? Why shouldn't I be? Doc has run off with the Liger somewhere without my permission. I deserve to at least be asked. I'm not a child."

Fists clenched, knees locked. It was hard to move her jaw without grinding her teeth. "Pardon me, King Bit, but has it occurred to you Doc, i.e. my father, hasn't contacted us in over 24 hours? He could be hurt or in trouble and all you do is sit around and mope about some machine."

His scowl didn't vacillate, but his eyes widened just enough to prove that he hadn't thought of it while he did his best to appear like he had. "Liger isn't just some machine, he's my friend. You'd expect me to be worried if you just up and disappeared right?"

"Because I'm A PERSON."

"He's got a personality too, he holds grudges or finds things funny!"

"Look, I get it, he's great. But it's just a hunk of really smart metal."

"No! There is something else! I know there's a piece of him that's…organic..." His voice faded, and his eyes started to swim. Leena started to say his name in confusion just as he collapsed, falling forward until her toes caught in his hair.

It wasn't until she bent down to turn him over that she noticed the dart in his neck. Then it was chaos.

She might have shrieked as she looked up to see a net already unfolding above their bodies. She scrambled and ducked, clawing her way out of the fibers. She rushed away, stumbling on hands and knees as a ferocious metal claw appeared out of the dark and moved to pick up Bit. It hesitated. Then it came for her.

It grasped her knees hastily and irritated, dragging her along the ground as her limbs searched for purchase amidst the cracks. Pain stabbed into her body as a dozen wooden splinters pierced her skin—somewhere, either her arm or her back. Then the claw swung her, quick, out through the hangar door and upside down.

The blood steadily pumped to her head, and she tried to keep her modesty by holding her skirt and shirt in place. She did her best, really, but soon her brain started to ache and her voice lost its edge, and she slowly, slowly, lost her vision to the night.

. . .

"Why me?" Beseeched the good doctor as he tried in vain to wriggle from his bonds. Dried blood glued his hair to his forehead, and it was really starting to itch.

He hadn't seen Lady Fuma for hours, and he could only hope that it was because of difficulties instead of breakthroughs.

However, the idea she seemed so preoccupied with seemed fairly obvious to him. Of course the Liger's black box contained an organoid. What other Zoid had ever chosen its own pilot? It was the most obvious conclusion he'd ever had to come to in his life. What other reason to call it an Ultimate X?

And how would you spend hours figuring that out from scans? Something didn't add up. He got the feeling there was something else she was after that she hadn't let on. There was a wool she was pushing over his eyes.

He heard the heavy latch unclick from outside. Yes! Maybe now he could get a clue— "Laon!"

"Stop screeching like a banshee or you'll get me caught."

The door shut behind him and the room grew dark again. They stared at each other.

"I like you in this prone position." He snapped out a knife. "Prepare to die, old friend."

Steve Toros let out a girly squeak as his widow-peaked rival leapt at him, but felt no pain. The knife sunk into his bonds and his hands came free.

"Oops, missed. I suppose luck was with you today."

The father of two wriggled on the ground, stretching happily. "Thanks, Laon! Now let's go save the Liger and tell Fuma to lick our—"

"There's no way we're getting Bit's Ultimate X out of here; she's got half of the base analyzing the poor beast."

He sat up, cleaning his face with spit, akin to a cat, and stared imploringly at Laon. "What are they really looking for?"

"You think I would tell a sneak like you?"

Toros vaulted over, latching onto the ankles of his friend. "Tell me tell me tell me!"

"Get offa me, you sorry excuse for a man!" He reached down and grabbed the brunette by the hair and yanked him upwards. "If I tell you, Leena spends Father's Day with me."

"What!"

Laon dropped the engineer and crossed his arms petulantly.

"Fine! For the fate of the world, why not. So what's Fuma up too?"

"She's interested in how the black box is connected to the Liger Zero, not really the black box itself. I think we can all agree what's going on up in there." He made a 'crazy' motion by circling his finger about his ear.

Toros nodded understandingly, then shrugged. "Weird."

.

Steve and Laon peeked around a doorway into the Undrafted hangar. Pieces of Laon's Great Whale King hung on the left wall and many a Zoid littered the space between them.

"Alright, a couple of heavily armored Iron Kongs should do the trick." They'd pulled the stunt where their heads stacked up on one side of the door, so Steve had to look up at Laon. "Hey, why are you on top?"

The evil doctor raised his eyebrows so high that he wrinkled his widow's peak. "With a brain like yours, how did she ever choose you?"

"I'm a doctor."

"So am I! And we're in the Hammerhead, thus, we're FLYING—no Iron Kongs will be doing any tricking! Also, because I'm better than you." He did a flip and scuttled into the room, soon closely followed by Toros. He pointed to a red bird that sat nearby. "Take the Fire Pheonix."

"I've never heard of that Zoid."

"It's a piece of junk I picked up; it can't stand up to the Stormsworders like I expected. I doubt they'll notice it missing."

"You can come with me you know."

"I need to play the matyr. I bet after this Leena would gladly choose my courageous self as her surrogate father."

Steve deadpanned while he crawled into the cockpit of the bird. Laon moved to the control panel, tapping a soldier on the shoulder and thumbing him out of the room. He hit a few switches and the doors cracked open a tad.

Steve Toros gave his old friend a salute as he moved towards the opening. Laon responded in turn, with a slightly less gentlemanly one-fingered salute.

.

"Lady, there's an unauthorized activation of hangar bay 2."

She raised a delicate eyebrow as she leaned away from the screens she had been looking at. "What's leaving?"

"Some flying Zoid."

"I see; it's probably the prisoner." She waved her hand dismissively. "Fire a few warning shots but otherwise let him go. Now that I have his armor system I'll soon have all the information he could have ever given me."

.

He ducked and rolled, expanding the wings at the last second and gliding further downwards.

All on accident.

"Oh, man, Jamie! You've got to help me land this thing!"

"Doc? Is that you?"

Smoke rose from a few places where he had been hit with bullets and the cockpit was cracked a little. Steve Toros pouted at the young pilot through the comm-link. "I promise I didn't trade the Liger for this heap of junk."

A sad look came across the kid's grey eyes, but he just nodded. Commands lit up the screen and the bird landed under autopilot outside the Hover Cargo. Steve walked it like a chicken through the garage doors.

His eyes adjusted to the dark and he gasped audibly. "What happened in here?"

. . .

Next time on Zoids:

"Oscar speaking, over. Jamie called me in, understandably, knowing that he'd need another pilot for an attack on this flying base. Sounds like I'll have to go a little faster than I'm used to. Lucky for me, my bestest friend Laon is willing to help us out, and hey, what's this he brought with him? Next time on Zoids, Part two—Hemeros' vs the Hammerhead. The famous trio reunites! Wait, you mean we aren't the star characters anymore? Ready? Fight!"


No true battle scene.. hyuk hyuk.

Soooo did you like it? Did you? Did you? Dude, this thing got way big and had to be split in half! How exciting is that? Wasn't Fuma a badass? What's her plan EH?

Anyway, done acting like a fool. My favorite part is Laon rescuing Toros and being like, "Prepare to die" and then saying "oops I missed." hehheh. Are you excited about Doc having a date??!! I am obviously. Okay, maybe I wasn't done acting like a fool. But that's probably because I'm having a ton of fun with this Backdraft saga. Fuma is so much fun to write.

I hope you're wondering why I would give the Blitz team a Fire Pheonix.

Reviews: YES, Gojiralee! I'm so glad you noticed that it was the token ghost episode! T_T ("Speaking of ghost episodes, who else preferred Chaotic Century's episode with that dead kid who helped Van to NC0's chainsaw killer episode?"-Gojiralee) Let's see how people respond! Personally, I think the chainsaw episode opened a can of worms. And that can of worms was Brad's supposed coffee addiction. Brad drinks coffee in 75% of NC0 fics because of this episode. Randomcat, I'm glad you liked the countdown; I was getting nervous thinking that it was lame. And I'm glad the Kirkland amused you! Poor Tigers Team, they'll always be the comic relief.

Anyway, hope you enjoy! Oh, one question. What's the best way to keep you notified of how soon I'll be updating (how the next chapter is coming along etc)? In the summary of the story, or at the top of my profile page? If it makes no difference to you then I guess..uh.. nevermind? ^.^U

Oh, and this "images" that go along with stories. I'm no artist, so obviously my picture isn't as cool. I'm too worried that I'll get in trouble for using a Google Images picture.