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 Dark Spiner growled and stretched, testing its repairs, perfection. His pilot sat at his feet; opposite the creature that called itself a Zenobian; a member of the race that created zoids and made them able to reproduce, under certain conditions.
Yes, in our arrogance we thought our tribe could rule the world with our zoid armies, bring in a new era of peace and prosperity, a golden age. But all we accomplished was to nearly wipe out the Zenobian population, millions died, so many from all tribes that we all simply gave up and went into hiding. Then the humans came, so full of life and mortality, they lived life to the fullest, short attention spans, short lived grudges and short lived in general, we Zenobians came out of our hiding to introduce these new creatures to the beauty of zoids. But humans also have short tempers and some are so despicably self-important that they believe they have the right to rule others, in short Earthlings were so much like ourselves that we went back to our hiding.
The bar exploded.
Beer glasses and bottles that once contained some of the finest liquor on planet Zi became weapons, clubs and projectiles. People hit friends by mistake, chairs were broken over backs and fists flew in many styles, and directions.
Kat slid under a table and rolled out the other side avoiding the chair as it crashed behind her.
"You BITCH! THIEF! I'm gonna skin you, ALIVE!" the bounty hunter threw the table aside and reached for Kat "maybe I'll have some fun first, tho' god only knows how much money we could have made of that farmer" Kat rolled again and evaded his wild grab, this time she planned the roll better and came up on the far side of two brawling hard men, the giant leered and yelled more unmentionable suggestions at her then grabbed the two brawlers and slammed their heads together before he tossed them aside.
"Shit!" Kat cursed and sprinted for the bar, throwing herself over and hunting for a weapon, a hand reached over and caught her waist, the giant bounty hunter's hand was so large that his fingers seemed only millimeters from his thumb as they wrapped around her body, finally she saw her chance and grabbed the hot element from the fryer, holding her lifeline by its power cord she pressed it to the giant's wrist; the man howled and squeezed before letting go and Kat hit the floor, breathless. The giant cursed and stuck his wrist in the ice bin, a look of relief spreading across his face, Kat scrambled on the wet floor; trying to put as much distance between her and the bounty hunter and his team as possible, her movements reminded the giant that she was still about and he pulled his hand from the ice and chased her once again, this time Kat found herself cornered against the bar, with nowhere to run and nothing that even remotely resembled a weapon, the giant grinned and reached for Kat once more then howled as his fingers spasmed.
Kat looked at the old man, he was small and white haired, and as wrinkled as a prune, he wore dark green pants and jacket; tipped with white cuffs, a small white stringy moustache and an immaculately plaited goatee, he was also wildly, raving drunk. Kat's sense of smell reeled from the alcoholic stench the man gave of, he even smelled stronger than Kat who had just scrambled and rolled her way through several varieties of rum and whiskey.
The giant swatted at the old midget, thinking to simply send him flying with his enormous arm, the old drunk midget leaped from his chair and landed on the giant's forearm plucking another hair and making the giant roar with pain, the little man then performed a tight somersault and landed back on his stool, grinning up at the giant. The giant bounty hunter glared back at him still holding his arm.
"You don't 'grab' a lady, it ishn't nishe, uh nice" the little man's speech slurred and he swooned a bit as he stood on the stool, the bounty hunter glared at him then at Kat and back to the old man.
"I can't have a girl who's seen me beaten by another person, so it's your funeral midget" the giant swung his fist at the little man who ducked under the bar to avoid the blow and popped up holding a flute.
"We can't danssss yet shonny, there ishn't any music" with that the old drunk put the instrument to his lips and began piping a lively melody, the giant stared for a moment then roared and lunged, still playing the drunk leapt high and slammed both feet down on the giant's head, propelling it into the bar-top. The little drunk stopped playing and using the flute as a drumstick tapped some more lively beats on the giant's skull "thank you sir, a song needs percussion" the giant rolled, hoping to crush the drunk under his back, but the little man took to the air and slid across the bar-top to continue playing his flute in front of a dumbfounded Kat. The giant rose and the little man stopped playing "you have to sherrinade, um… serenade a girl my friend" the giant grinned and held up a bar stool.
"I ain't interested in her feelings runt, just revenge"
"That is a sad way of living life" the little drunk replied mournfully "females are always so much more cooperative with those they like" the stool whistled through the air and the little man stiffened, Kat gasped as the stool smashed across the bar, the little drunk hadn't stiffened, he had simply moved to pass between the stool's legs, allowing them to shatter around him. The giant gawped in surprise, then choked and slumped as the flute jabbed him in the neck "come young lady, let us go somewhere that you can tell me why an underage person is drinking and starting fights in a bar" with that the little man jumped down from the bar and threaded his way through the brawlers to the door, vaulting the bar Kat followed.
……………….
Kat sat across the fire from Matt Wing, telling her story; the mercenary, her argument with Cyrus, leaving the Crew, she had gone to Margin town where she had gotten her 'Siax repaired, she had then travelled further into the desert where she had come across a farm, the owner was a rich old man, but his money was being lost to damage being caused by wild zoids, upon seeing Kat's 'Siax he had told her about the bounty hunting team he had hired to deal with the rogue zoids, about how he had been unable to contact them for nearly a week and asked her for help, Kat had dealt with every single wild Attack Kat she could find, she had collected a reward from the farmer and taken a heap of spare parts to the town and rented a storage area where she had dumped the components and weapons, and her Lightning Siax, and gone to the bar to find a buyer, that was where the bounty hunters had found her.
"Quite the story young lady" said Matt, whose stench and slurring words had disappeared soon after exiting the bar "so, a 'Siax pilot eh?" Kat nodded "I'll show you something tomorrow, but for now I'm sleepy and you'd probably appreciate a shower. In the trailer, second door on the left. It ain't fancy or anything, but it's clean and so are the towels" Kat nodded and left the fire. Matt Wing sighed "if only I were fifty years younger" and went to sleep.
……………….
Kat stretched and yawned, then gasped.
Standing over her was a Lightning Siax, black with gold trim. Kat scrambled to her feet and backed away from the zoid, the zoid bobbed its head as it gave a rumbling chuckle, so similar to her own 'Siax. Kat stared warily at the zoid.
"Morning young lady" came a voice over the speaker "this is my Lightning Siax" the head dipped to Kat's level and the canopy opened to reveal a broadly grinning Matt Wing "well, get in. Or am I going to have to show off to myself?"
Kat looked at him suspiciously "where are we going?"
"I'm taking you to the desert where I can steal your valuables and leave you to rot" Matt replied sarcastically "kidding" he assured upon seeing Kat's horrified look "I want to show you something and you'll need to be in your 'Siax to learn it, now get in"
Kat started to climb the 'Siax's head but pulled up short "how do you pilot this zoid anyhow? You're way too short"
"Look between my legs and I'll show you" Matt smirked.
WHACK!!!
Kat slapped Matt hard.
"Ah, my two favorite pass times always seem to get me hurt. Although what could you expect from fighting and making crude jokes about the differences between males and females" the bruising on the side of Matt's face made his grin seem all the more adorable, Kat waited "the beauty of customization, the pedals and control column have been modified for my…did I mention I'm vertically challenged?"
"Vertically challenged?" Kat repeated.
"Short"
"I never would have guessed" Kat let the sarcasm drip. She climbed into the cockpit behind Matt and he closed the canopy and raised his zoids head.
"Hi ho SILVER!!!" Matt yelled and his zoid yawned in a way that clearly begged the question why me?
…………………
Kat chased the 'Siax but couldn't seem to catch it, her 'Siax roared in frustration "yeah I know we should be able to catch him" the 'Siax growled "now that's a bit much, how is it my fault that he made an after image" the zoid growled again "hey you fell for it too tin-head" once again they closed the gap on the gold trimmed Lightning Siax, Kat watched hard as the Lightning Siax became four zoids, three of them had to be fakes, Kat fired the Vulcans and swept the fire across all four zoids, they all responded the same way, a slight waver as the bullets passed through, disrupting the air and the after-images.
"Behind you Kat!" Kat looked around and found that somehow Matt had once more gotten behind her. Kat's 'Siax yowled in frustration.
"Okay, I give up. How do you do that?"
"I'm not telling until you can catch me, try again"
………………..
Jhese pounced on the hapless prey and flicked it into the air, opening his mouth to catch it as it fell; Stalker's hand whipped out and caught the biscuit, popping it into his own mouth and munching a few times before giving Jhese a disgusting smile, full of chocolate crumbs and bits of cream. Jhese sighed and leaned back, his appetite gone. He looked up as David rushed into the room his face alive with excitement.
"We have a battle challenge!" he waved the printout victoriously "the Fawkes team, two flying types and a possibility of three ground units; all use flame based attacks, napalm, explosives and lasers"
"They're an elemental team?" Stalker inquired in a bored voice "amazing that they made it past class B"
"They're a damn skillful elemental team" David replied "do you have any weapons that will instantly nullify a fire attack?" Stalker growled but didn't speak "thought so, not many weapons can stop a fire type zoid instantly, and the fact that two of those zoids might be airborne just makes them harder to deal with"
"We go out with guns blazing and blow 'em into next week, how hard could it be?" Stalker grumbled impatiently.
"They are the top scoring team in group A and a victory against us would put them into group S, how's that for hard?" Cyrus walked into the room "which means no solo heroics, we stick together and work as one, even if that means sacrificing individual points" he looked hard at the mercenary "please don't screw us over, it looks bad on you too"
………………..
Jhese sat in Shad's cockpit; it felt good to be wearing the Gogu armour again, the control system responded just the way he liked it and everything seemed so much more…direct.
Looking out over the battlefield Jhese realized that it had been purpose chosen to suit the flying type zoids, not that the Crew team were at a loss for flying zoids; the Buster Eagle soared overhead with Cyrus at the controls. Its incredible canons shone in the afternoon sun. Jhese grinned as he remembered his only visit to a museum; they had a display of Earth artifacts recovered from the landing ships that had dropped the Humans on planet Zi, the display had contained some national emblems; including an American Bald Eagle. Briefly Jhese wondered at how planet Zi had produced creatures similar to those of Earth when it was millions of light-years away.
The present came back as the Judge Satellite hit the ground, the Judge himself gave his usual speech then called "READY...FIGHT!"
Cyrus rocketed skyward as two shapes descended towards him side by side; cutting a hard left and turning skyward again to avoid the stream of fire that the leading zoid shot from its mouth, as he passed by the two zoids Cyrus caught a glimpse of the fire slinger; a zoid he had only heard of in stories, fairytales really. The zoid was between medium and large in size category, its magnificent wingspan easily matched or bettered that of his Buster Eagle. The paint scheme was unlike anything that Cyrus had seen on a zoid, the paint seemed to have its own light, a soft crimson glow that both highlighted the zoid up close and made it vanish in the sun, its red and gold colour scheme gave Cyrus a warm sensation and he couldn't tear his eyes off the zoid; the legendary Fire Phoenix.
A small niggle caused Cyrus to roll to the side, not a moment too soon; fire filled the space where Cyrus had been, he could feel the heat as the flames licked past his zoid.
Clever bastards, the two zoids had never been side by side, the red Pteramander was so much bigger than the 'Phoenix that Cyrus had believed them to be identical zoids flying side by side rather than staggered by several hundred feet. The Buster Eagle shrieked at the Pteramander as it flew past, the enormous zoid responded with a roar of its own.
……………..
Jhese had only caught a glimpse of the Fawkes team's ground zoid but he had to guess it was the Gun Scorcher; a custom Gun Sniper that packed incinerating bombs, napalm launchers, if reports held true then the zoid's main integrated rifle had been converted to a type of long range flamethrower. Moving cautiously would get Jhese and Stalker burned to a crisp, they needed to stay fast and stay evasive.
Whew, hard week slack Drewbie. Sorry if the style has changed somewhat, can't guarantee the permanance of that change; it just needed to happen to make the story go forwards...
Besides, what is a story without a drunken lecherous master?
