The Ballad of Team Black Egg
Author Junk: This is the part where I'd normally come up with an excuse for the delay, but I'm not going to waste your time with that nonsense. I have no excuse because the only reason this is so late is because I've convinced myself that somehow, suddenly this story will take off with the popularity I always expected for it. I can see now that I've been childish in concern to that ordeal. I even missed my own stories one year anniversary with my last update.
What kind of author am I?
But you didn't come here to hear me whine. Instead, I'd like to thank killr noob for taking the time to review my story in depth, it means a lot. Maybe I can add my input and respond to your constructive criticism.
Ch 1- It was only obvious that Takeshi eventually take up Rocket G's legacy. The idea of multiple Rockets is what brought on the idea of an arrogant someone trying to take the title by force, prompting the creation of Vance.
Ch 6- I'm not sure how cutting out an unnecessary sequence that we all have seen before plenty of times is such a bad thing. The countdown is fine and good for the anime because in animation, it holds a level of drama and suspense, but when in words... numbers, it is just arbitrary. I don't feel that they would add anything to my story.
Ch 7- I too have questioned the necessity of this sequence. It stems from my need to add depth to what would otherwise be background characters. Donald is a showboat of a kind, and his companions are more reserved, leaving less space for them to bloom into their own characters. I don't know why I made them gay, an impulse maybe... maybe foreshadowing. Ironically, almost every other aspect of Team Windy Bird comes from Disney movies, even the name.
Ch 8- Wow, quite the reaction. Would you hug your father who abandoned you and made your mother very unhappy? If anything Kale can't understand herself why she isn't furious with him and hate him for all he's done. Inside she feels like she should cause him physical harm to make up for the emotional pain he caused her mother, like she herself would have done in her heyday. Maybe that has to do with not making those same mistakes she made...
Ch 10- I must admit that I far more enjoy writing character developing scenes than races. Races are fun, but their so much story to these characters that's begging to be revealed. I know its an IGPX story... But there's only so much that six robots can do on one track. I'd hate to overuse the racing element now and bore everyone with it later when it really matters and is crucial to the plot.
And I don't take that as a flame, its a pleasure as an writer to see the opinions of the readers, because I was sadly born with only one set of opinions and I don't exactly know how other people will see things.
Ch 12- How is Luca becoming Amelia's partner a bit off? Luca would never cooperate with Kale properly, they are too independent. If you haven't noticed, Mel and Amy have a bit of a connection, even that should seem fairly obvious from them both being smart, young, female Midfielders. Luca going to her was the obvious choice... but you will have to wait and see if a few quirks shared with an old partner is enough to allow the two of them to work together.
Now, once more into the fray...
Unlike what some people had begun to think about him, Rye did have a conscience. The fact that he had asked out a girl he really just didn't like in order to gain some leverage on an IGPX team he didn't like much either was a constant stab in his morality. He'd considered telling everyone the whole truth, but then Mel might cry and he really wouldn't be able to live with himself.
Pops was telling him something important, he could tell because he was acting like it wasn't a big deal, but Rye couldn't focus. He had far too much on his mind for it, even if it would really help in two days when they raced Rocket GTS. He nodded apathetically and let himself out of the manager's office. He hailed down one of the particularly greasy young mechanics and asked about the game last night, there had to be at least one.
The cheerful wrench jockey babbled on, clearly quite enthusiastic about that particular game. Rye could not for the life of him, figure out what sport he was talking about, but then again he wasn't really listening. He motioned to the young man to inform him that he was too busy for his life story and started walking to his mech as the man kept talking about something, clearly not quite ready to be cut off yet.
He intended to get back to the tuning he had been almost been doing when Pops called him in, but he noticed Kale peering into Mel's cockpit, which he found odd when he considered they hadn't seemed to have talked to each other since the Forward had attacked him after their last race. He climbed up the other side of the parked IG Machine and peered in, almost hoping for a fight.
"It's settled then, Luca can be a part of our team!" Mel said with a wide grin.
"Wait, I think I might have changed my mind," The digital cat said hastily from the old video game.
"Well, it's not like you have anything better to do right?" Kale asked with a smirk.
"… I hate you all…" The cat said after a pause.
"Right then, I'll go tell Pops." Kale said and straightened herself up. When the Forward was gone, Rye realized it might be his only chance to get his fault off his chest.
"Mel, there's something I want to tell you…" He said slowly. The girl looked at him intently and Rye felt like he was going to explode. Now, now, now, do it now, was all he could think about and he almost forgot what he had to admit.
There was a loud tremor which sent the repenting boy's head into a very hard part of his girlfriend's mech. He stumbled back but caught himself before he fell off. Clutching the side of the cockpit Rye let out a sigh of relief.
"What's all that racket about?" Mister Hakioka shouted grumpily and ran outside with gruff, but unwise valiance.
For a few moments it was silent until the old mechanic's voice echoed back into the room, but it wasn't intelligible except for a few curse words. Then there was a mechanical whirr and the man shouted out in pain. Amelia shrieked suddenly and Rye thought his ears would explode considering how close she was.
The machine suddenly transformed, this time, really knocking the poor boy off. The girl sped outside leaving her boyfriend on the floor, nearly blinded by the pain of the fall. He swore when he was finally well enough to think of one word expressive enough.
He looked up and saw an oily face above him. He shot up into a sitting position and looked out the large doors Mel had raced through. When he squinted he could make out the shapes of at least three racing mechs out in the darkness. He was on his feet and in his own mech in record time.
When the hulking machine had finally sped out there Kale was close behind, obviously informed by the ruckus. The defender took that as a good sign that he hadn't been on the cold floor of Black Egg HQ too long and made it out to the point where Amelia was.
"Don't do that, you'll hurt him!" Mel shrieked as two IG Machines tossed the old man Team Black Egg they called their Head Mechanic around. One was of the Forward distinction and the other was a Midfielder. They were covered in things that would be easily outlawed in any self-respecting IGPX league. The machines had also seemed to have been customized to extremes by hand, giving them unnecessary bulk and made them just a general sight to behold. Their spray-painted coloration was starting to make Rye's mind itch, like he'd seen that combination of blue, purple, black and grey somewhere before. The Black Egg Midfielder made idle snatches at Mr. Hakioka realizing there wasn't much way to get him without hurting him.
The Midfielder-type robot caught the mechanic, but didn't toss him again. "Hey DD, I'm getting bored of this! What'dyou say we throw him in the bay?" The name struck Rye like a bullet and a wave of memories flew back to him.
"Great idea, Arch. Mind if I have the honors?" The one called "DD" said.
"Not at all, boss" The other one responded and tossed the old man to him. The Forward robot made like a backwards basketball shot and poor Mr. Hakioka was sent flying.
Amelia shrieked again and quickly transformed and sped off between the two laughing hooligans in flash.
"You!" Rye shouted and rushed them like an out of control freight train.
He recoiled back onto the hard concrete with a crash and looked up to see what he hit. Standing in his way was a Defender mech of the same coloration as the others. It stood there with out even a hint of being hit by him. There were three of them, just like an IGPX team and they were.
"Wolfbelt!!" He shouted in a rage, eager to get on his feet and take on all three.
"Rye!" Kale shouted commandingly from behind him, "What the hell's going on?"
"Mind your own business!" He shot back at his captain. He charged again, but didn't even get as much momentum as last time and the mysterious Defender easily knocked him off of his feet.
"Gragh!" He shouted in anguish.
"What's your problem, little boy?" Said a female voice, Rye didn't realize at first that it was coming from the brick wall of an IG Machine that stood above him. She turned to her teammates, "You didn't do that much damage without me did you?"
The Forward shrugged, "We was only having a little fun and he just came at us, Mincie, I swear,"
The Midfielder nodded and looked at the fallen Defnder, "Who are ya? What makes ya' think you can jus' charge the boss like that, huh?"
"You guys…" Rye said slowly as his IG Machine rose up from the street, his voice quavering with anger and frustration, "Wolfbelt… you… you…"
He started yelling, he couldn't hold it in any longer, "You killed them! You killed my teammates!"
"Teammates? Hey! You're the Team Sulblaze kid. How's life been treating you?" The one called "DD" said.
"Don't patronize me, Duchamel, I'm going to return the favor soon enough,"
Duchamel laughed, "You kill me? You've got a wild imagination, there kid, I'll give you that."
"Stop calling me kid!" Rye shouted as he charged the threesome again and the Defender and Midfielder easily slid out of his way. Duchamel caught him mid-charge and slipped back letting his mech fall onto his mechanical knee. He spun around behind and a large chain slipped out of a hidden compartment in the Forward's arm and wrapped around the Defender's neck. Try as he might he couldn't get his hulking claws around the Forward's own neck.
Kale charged the other two, she had been standing back, hoping she wouldn't have to violate IGPX rules and get in a fight outside of the track, but these assholes weren't giving her a lot of options. The duo was like lightning and soon they had their own chains on both her arms. They dug her mech into the concrete with a quick jerk.
With a flash the chains snapped and she quickly got to her feet to see a mech standing behind the IG Machine who was holding her teammate captive. It was silver with goldenrod accenting, she recognized him instantly. Before she could even wonder how he got there, his arm was pulled back palm open and buzzing with an erratic energy in it. The palm smashed into the rogue Forward and without so much as a pop, one of his arms came clean off at the shoulder.
Rye broke free and slugged Duchamel with all his might. He looked at his savior who stood there without saying a word.
"A little in over your head there, Little Rocket?" Vance said to Kale, barely noticing the Defender in front of him, "Try to work out your aggressions on the track, next time."
"It was self-defense," Kale told him solemnly. At her side to other silver machines held her attackers in an effective hold.
"That's for the League to decide." Vance said and took hold of the Wolfbelt Forward, "Scram!" He threw him off to the side and then tossed him his arm, which he caught ungracefully.
"Don't let him get away! Hey!" Rye shouted and began to chase him, but Vance stopped him, "He's a murderer and an illegal street racer!"
"But how can you prove he's a murderer without showing yourself as an illegal street racer as well?"
"Since when do you care about my well-being?" Rye asked condescendingly. Who was Vance to tell him this, he barely knew him.
"You're right, I don't give two shits about you, but if there's any reason why Black Egg won't be racing us, it better not be because their Defender is an irresponsible street urchin."
"Why you!" Rye shouted as he threw a sloppy punch at the champion racer which was caught with ease. The sound of pounding, mechanical footsteps could be heard behind the angered pilot and he turned to see his team captain coming towards them.
"No one talks to my teammate like that, Vance. I may not like him very much, but he's part of my team and if you mess with him, you mess with me! Got it?" Kale said with a certain machismo for someone of her gender.
"I hoped you'd say that, Little Rocket… But let's save it for the track, shall we?" The man in the silver mech said and rounded up his teammates and sped off.
The trio stood in the blaringly white room silently. The looked awkwardly off in different directions, feeling somewhat responsible and guilty. Charles Sinclair entered and took off his hat, he did something that was a cross between a smile and a chuckle and went to the side of the bed.
"The doctors say you're a tough old coot." Pops said to the old mechanic lying uncomfortably in the hospital bed, "Just don't take too much time off, or you might get replaced."
"Don't be ridiculous," Mister Hakioka said gruffly, "Those kids you have me working with couldn't tie their shoes without me around. Not like they'll have too much work to do without me, since we'll be cleaning the floor with Rocket GTS, right?"
With the last part the gruff old man looked at Team Black Egg's Forward, who tried to smile. The mechanic laughed loudly, but was cut off by a coughing fit. When he was done he clutched his chest and smiled, "You guys have got nothing to worry about. Vance is all talk,"
Kale smiled a bit wider now, wishing she could have the same confidence as the man in the white hospital bed. He hadn't been there, that old fool didn't see what Vance could do, she thought. She looked at Mel, who met her eyes but quickly looked away. She turned to Rye, but his gaze never left the same tile on the ceiling. This is a disaster, she thought to herself.
Soon the smiles faded from both Pops and Mr. Hakioka's faces.
Next Time: Razz