Title: One for the Road
Author: Neev
Rating: Pg-13
Warnings: None really, unless you object to kind of bitter-sweet, sappy fics. Possible shounen-ai later, though if it does show up it will be very light and probably very easy to ignore if you don't go for that sort of thing.
Summary: It's been ten years since the Blitz Team first won the Royal Cup. Things are changing for all the people who battled back then, but some people are having trouble accepting it.
Notes Beforehand: First of all, I didn't know the ages of any of the characters during the series, so I just estimated. However, since this is set twelve years after the series, everyone is considerably older. For reference:
Bit: 29
Jack: 41
Tasker Sisters: You should know better than to ask ladies their ages. Probably about the same as Bit though.
Of course, there are others, but they aren't really important.
Secondly, since it's hard to find Zoids info on the net, I've made a few guesses as to how things work. (Zoid's battle systems, the battle "seasons," and some of the long-term effects that piloting a Lightning Saix might have on its pilot, mostly.) I've done my best to base them off fact and make logical guesses, so I guess it works out well enough. However, if there is anything blatantly wrong or anything like that, please email me so I can correct it.
----
It was the adrenaline rush that had always driven Jack to battle, the feeling of pure power in his hands once he touched the controls of his Zoid. Power totally under his control, power to do whatever he wanted if he were quick enough and smart enough to make it happen. So far, he almost always had been. He was perfectly at home with the rush and speed of battle, the flow of it, the pure and beautiful symmetry of it all. Strike and counter-strike, or more often, strike and instant death under the claws of his Lightning Saix. Everything so quickly that it all became a blur of split-second emotions and reactions. No time to think really, just time to do.
In the twenty-five years that he had battled, never had he wanted for a battle to be over. Never had he been profoundly glad that a battle was…over…finished…done. And yet, as his hands, slow and trembling ever so slightly, finally released their death grip on the controls of the Lightning Saix, Jack Sisco felt nothing but exhaustion and relief that it was finally finished. So much exhaustion that he could barely bring himself to move even to get back to camp. And that scared him. It scared him in a way that shot past his brain almost entirely and went straight to his body. It made him feel sick inside, twisting in his insides like some horrible beast.
----
The Lightening Saix moved into the campsite slowly and settled down into its spot next to the other two with less than its usual grace. Jack's hands rested on the controls with the same competent firmness as always but his movements were tired…sloppy. He knew they were but he didn't care. It had been a hard battle for the whole team and Jack was tired beyond all belief – even his own. He wasn't sure how he was still moving, beyond the fact that he refused to let himself collapse were he was. That would be far to embarrassing. He could never face the Tasker sisters again if that happened.
His whole body ached though. Even his eyes hurt, making it hard to focus on the screen in front of him. He sat back in the seat of his Lightning Saix as the Zoid's command system shut down and shut his eyes, which didn't seem to help them much. At least he didn't feel so light-headed any more. He'd felt stuffed with cotton by the end of the battle, which was certainly not normal. Well, hadn't been normal. The last few battles the Lightning Team had fought had been more taxing on him than usual and he'd finished feeling light-headed and tired more than once. This last battle had been the worst by far though. He'd never felt so utterly drained before. He suspected that he knew the reason, but he didn't really want to think about it. It was too painful to think of such things.
The cockpit of his Lightning Saix opened with a smooth swish sound. Jack left the cockpit with more care than normal, even so his legs seemed to feel the shock of hitting the ground more keenly that usual. He straightened up and turned to look up at the Lightning Saix. It wasn't too far up, only a ten-foot jump from the machine's cockpit with it crouching down as it was. He'd never felt the jump before. Had it always been that way and he was only noticing it now? He couldn't tell.
Jack's eyes narrowed as he continued to look up at the machine, then he turned and stalked away into the tiny camp with a frown on his face. They had won their battle against the Feuer Team but Jack felt strangely detached from it. He was never one for excess shows of emotion, but he couldn't even bring himself to get excited at all from the defeat of the other team. He should have been excited after all. The Feuer Team was an S class team trapped in A class due to a stroke of bad luck at the last Royal Cup. To beat them was a big accomplishment, even for the Lightning Team. And yet, Jack felt tired more than anything else. He was happy at their victory to be sure, but exhaustion and a sort of nagging worry that sat in the back of his mind and refused to go away till he acknowledged it overshadowed the victory. He refused to acknowledge that worry though, making himself believe it was a passing thing.
"Jack!" It was Kelly, seated on a tiny campstool by the small fire that had been set up. The fire crackled merrily and a pot of water for the tea was already bubbling slightly. Jack wondered just how late he was getting back to camp.
"You look beat, Jack," Kelly commented. "Want some tea? It'll be ready in a few minutes."
Jack shook his head. "No, I'm going to go take a nap," he told her, turning to leave. Kelly shrugged pragmatically and reached over to take the pot off the fire.
"Okay, whatever," came the reply. Then she laughed suddenly and Jack stopped and turned back to look at her. "Hey, Jack, you aren't getting old are you?" Her voice was teasing but Jack winced at her words all the same.
"God forbid," he murmured as he headed off towards his tent.
Ducking inside his tent and pulling the flap shut a moment later, Jack was very tempted to just lie down and sleep. His bed called to him, but he made his way to the back of the tent where he had a small, makeshift table up to hold his few belongings. He was almost afraid to pick up the tiny shaving mirror that lay on the table, but he did so anyway. A pale face – even more so than normal – with bloodshot eyes starred back at him. Those same eyes opened wide as Jack continued to stare at the almost ghost-like reflection of his face.
Jack sat down on the edge of his cot, hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees and the tiny mirror clutched between his hands. The blood shot eyes were an effect of high G-forces on the body. Tiny capillaries in the eyes burst under the pressure, an annoying but not really threatening condition. The paleness was probably from exhaustion. Also annoying and also not truly serious. At least, most people would not have considered it serious. Jack's insides twisted with uneasiness at the sight of it though. He'd always prided himself on his ability to take the high G-forces and physical demand that came with using a Lightning Saix. From the first time he had used the machine, he had been perfectly at home with it. It was like a second skin to him, fitting with his body perfectly and effortlessly, right from the very beginning. Few could claim the same with any Zoid, let alone a Lightning Saix. Never before had he felt the ill effects a Lightning Saix could have on its pilot.
He set the mirror back slowly, eyes still riveted on the pale image reflected in it. Was that pale, tired person in the mirror really him? Could he really be getting that old? He was only…forty-one? Yes, forty- one, far too young to be feeling like this after a battle.
Jack gave a tired sigh and rubbed his face with his hands, trying to rub way the fatigue he felt. It didn't work and he fell back, making a tiny "oomph" noise as his back hit the thin mattress of the cot. Maybe he was just working too hard. They'd had three battles in as many days and A class teams were getting harder to beat. They had newer Zoids, newer weapons, and…younger pilots. The old teams that Jack remembered from only five or six years ago were fading away and the even older teams? Long gone for the most part. The Champ team had been dissolved several years back. Jack knew this only because it had made the news in the wake of the death of Harry's father, but he knew they weren't the only ones, just the most obvious. There were so many old teams that were leaving, yet were one fell, two sprang up to take their place. Zoid battling was bigger than ever. Not that Jack minded in the least. New suits and pilots meant new challenges in battle. His Lightning Saix might be old, but it was in perfect condition. There was only one person, even after all these years, who had managed to beat him twice. There was also only one team that Jack had bothered to follow the exploits of, following the Royal Cup ten years ago. The Blitz Team. He hadn't heard anything about them lately though. As he began to drift off to sleep, he wondered about that…
----
The sun had almost set; it's brilliant show of colors in the clouds beginning to fade away into dark blues and purples. Rock formations in the distance had become black silhouettes, back lit by the last tiny sliver of the sun. To the west a few stars could already be seen in the darkened sky. The tiny camp that the Lightning Team had made was so far from any sort of civilization that there were no lights to blot out the stars, each one seemed clear and sharp, getting more distinct as the twilight faded into true night.
"Where in the hell is Jack?" demanded Chris Tasker. The fire cast flickering shadows across her face as she looked around the silent camp. The huge shadowy shapes of the three Lightning Saix loomed up off to her left. Near them stood their two tents, both of them silent and dark. "He's supposed to stand guard tonight."
"I don't know, I haven't seen him since the battle," replied Kelly. She poked at the burning wood with a stick, stirring up the fire and causing it to flare up slightly. "Did you check his tent?"
Chris glanced over at her sister, looking confused. "No, why would he be there? He's never there."
"I saw him right after the battle. He said he was going to take a nap," explained Kelly. Chris frowned.
"A nap? Since when does he sleep?"
Shaking her head in bafflement, Kelly just shrugged. "I don't know. I wonder if he's feeling okay…" She glanced over at the silent and apparently unoccupied tent.
"He couldn't possibly have slept this long. It's been nearly six hours since the battle," said Chris as she rose from the ground. She too looked over at the tent as she idly brushed some dirt off the back of her pants. "I'll go check though."
Jack was always very protective of what little private space he had and as such, Chris lifted the tent flap cautiously as she went to peer inside. However, her intrusion did not get an angry response or any response at all in fact. The inside of the tent was dark, but Chris could see enough to tell that there was in fact someone sleeping on the tiny cot and that someone could only be Jack. She stared at the form sprawled out on the cot for a moment, trying to get it to match up with her mental image of Jack. It didn't work.
"Chris?" called Kelly, questioningly. Chris sat back on her heals, turned around slightly so that she could see her sister.
"He's still sleeping, Kelly," she replied. A look of concern passed over Kelly's face, mirroring the expression Chris already had.
"That's not good…" murmured Kelly. Chris could only nod in agreement.
Author: Neev
Rating: Pg-13
Warnings: None really, unless you object to kind of bitter-sweet, sappy fics. Possible shounen-ai later, though if it does show up it will be very light and probably very easy to ignore if you don't go for that sort of thing.
Summary: It's been ten years since the Blitz Team first won the Royal Cup. Things are changing for all the people who battled back then, but some people are having trouble accepting it.
Notes Beforehand: First of all, I didn't know the ages of any of the characters during the series, so I just estimated. However, since this is set twelve years after the series, everyone is considerably older. For reference:
Bit: 29
Jack: 41
Tasker Sisters: You should know better than to ask ladies their ages. Probably about the same as Bit though.
Of course, there are others, but they aren't really important.
Secondly, since it's hard to find Zoids info on the net, I've made a few guesses as to how things work. (Zoid's battle systems, the battle "seasons," and some of the long-term effects that piloting a Lightning Saix might have on its pilot, mostly.) I've done my best to base them off fact and make logical guesses, so I guess it works out well enough. However, if there is anything blatantly wrong or anything like that, please email me so I can correct it.
----
It was the adrenaline rush that had always driven Jack to battle, the feeling of pure power in his hands once he touched the controls of his Zoid. Power totally under his control, power to do whatever he wanted if he were quick enough and smart enough to make it happen. So far, he almost always had been. He was perfectly at home with the rush and speed of battle, the flow of it, the pure and beautiful symmetry of it all. Strike and counter-strike, or more often, strike and instant death under the claws of his Lightning Saix. Everything so quickly that it all became a blur of split-second emotions and reactions. No time to think really, just time to do.
In the twenty-five years that he had battled, never had he wanted for a battle to be over. Never had he been profoundly glad that a battle was…over…finished…done. And yet, as his hands, slow and trembling ever so slightly, finally released their death grip on the controls of the Lightning Saix, Jack Sisco felt nothing but exhaustion and relief that it was finally finished. So much exhaustion that he could barely bring himself to move even to get back to camp. And that scared him. It scared him in a way that shot past his brain almost entirely and went straight to his body. It made him feel sick inside, twisting in his insides like some horrible beast.
----
The Lightening Saix moved into the campsite slowly and settled down into its spot next to the other two with less than its usual grace. Jack's hands rested on the controls with the same competent firmness as always but his movements were tired…sloppy. He knew they were but he didn't care. It had been a hard battle for the whole team and Jack was tired beyond all belief – even his own. He wasn't sure how he was still moving, beyond the fact that he refused to let himself collapse were he was. That would be far to embarrassing. He could never face the Tasker sisters again if that happened.
His whole body ached though. Even his eyes hurt, making it hard to focus on the screen in front of him. He sat back in the seat of his Lightning Saix as the Zoid's command system shut down and shut his eyes, which didn't seem to help them much. At least he didn't feel so light-headed any more. He'd felt stuffed with cotton by the end of the battle, which was certainly not normal. Well, hadn't been normal. The last few battles the Lightning Team had fought had been more taxing on him than usual and he'd finished feeling light-headed and tired more than once. This last battle had been the worst by far though. He'd never felt so utterly drained before. He suspected that he knew the reason, but he didn't really want to think about it. It was too painful to think of such things.
The cockpit of his Lightning Saix opened with a smooth swish sound. Jack left the cockpit with more care than normal, even so his legs seemed to feel the shock of hitting the ground more keenly that usual. He straightened up and turned to look up at the Lightning Saix. It wasn't too far up, only a ten-foot jump from the machine's cockpit with it crouching down as it was. He'd never felt the jump before. Had it always been that way and he was only noticing it now? He couldn't tell.
Jack's eyes narrowed as he continued to look up at the machine, then he turned and stalked away into the tiny camp with a frown on his face. They had won their battle against the Feuer Team but Jack felt strangely detached from it. He was never one for excess shows of emotion, but he couldn't even bring himself to get excited at all from the defeat of the other team. He should have been excited after all. The Feuer Team was an S class team trapped in A class due to a stroke of bad luck at the last Royal Cup. To beat them was a big accomplishment, even for the Lightning Team. And yet, Jack felt tired more than anything else. He was happy at their victory to be sure, but exhaustion and a sort of nagging worry that sat in the back of his mind and refused to go away till he acknowledged it overshadowed the victory. He refused to acknowledge that worry though, making himself believe it was a passing thing.
"Jack!" It was Kelly, seated on a tiny campstool by the small fire that had been set up. The fire crackled merrily and a pot of water for the tea was already bubbling slightly. Jack wondered just how late he was getting back to camp.
"You look beat, Jack," Kelly commented. "Want some tea? It'll be ready in a few minutes."
Jack shook his head. "No, I'm going to go take a nap," he told her, turning to leave. Kelly shrugged pragmatically and reached over to take the pot off the fire.
"Okay, whatever," came the reply. Then she laughed suddenly and Jack stopped and turned back to look at her. "Hey, Jack, you aren't getting old are you?" Her voice was teasing but Jack winced at her words all the same.
"God forbid," he murmured as he headed off towards his tent.
Ducking inside his tent and pulling the flap shut a moment later, Jack was very tempted to just lie down and sleep. His bed called to him, but he made his way to the back of the tent where he had a small, makeshift table up to hold his few belongings. He was almost afraid to pick up the tiny shaving mirror that lay on the table, but he did so anyway. A pale face – even more so than normal – with bloodshot eyes starred back at him. Those same eyes opened wide as Jack continued to stare at the almost ghost-like reflection of his face.
Jack sat down on the edge of his cot, hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees and the tiny mirror clutched between his hands. The blood shot eyes were an effect of high G-forces on the body. Tiny capillaries in the eyes burst under the pressure, an annoying but not really threatening condition. The paleness was probably from exhaustion. Also annoying and also not truly serious. At least, most people would not have considered it serious. Jack's insides twisted with uneasiness at the sight of it though. He'd always prided himself on his ability to take the high G-forces and physical demand that came with using a Lightning Saix. From the first time he had used the machine, he had been perfectly at home with it. It was like a second skin to him, fitting with his body perfectly and effortlessly, right from the very beginning. Few could claim the same with any Zoid, let alone a Lightning Saix. Never before had he felt the ill effects a Lightning Saix could have on its pilot.
He set the mirror back slowly, eyes still riveted on the pale image reflected in it. Was that pale, tired person in the mirror really him? Could he really be getting that old? He was only…forty-one? Yes, forty- one, far too young to be feeling like this after a battle.
Jack gave a tired sigh and rubbed his face with his hands, trying to rub way the fatigue he felt. It didn't work and he fell back, making a tiny "oomph" noise as his back hit the thin mattress of the cot. Maybe he was just working too hard. They'd had three battles in as many days and A class teams were getting harder to beat. They had newer Zoids, newer weapons, and…younger pilots. The old teams that Jack remembered from only five or six years ago were fading away and the even older teams? Long gone for the most part. The Champ team had been dissolved several years back. Jack knew this only because it had made the news in the wake of the death of Harry's father, but he knew they weren't the only ones, just the most obvious. There were so many old teams that were leaving, yet were one fell, two sprang up to take their place. Zoid battling was bigger than ever. Not that Jack minded in the least. New suits and pilots meant new challenges in battle. His Lightning Saix might be old, but it was in perfect condition. There was only one person, even after all these years, who had managed to beat him twice. There was also only one team that Jack had bothered to follow the exploits of, following the Royal Cup ten years ago. The Blitz Team. He hadn't heard anything about them lately though. As he began to drift off to sleep, he wondered about that…
----
The sun had almost set; it's brilliant show of colors in the clouds beginning to fade away into dark blues and purples. Rock formations in the distance had become black silhouettes, back lit by the last tiny sliver of the sun. To the west a few stars could already be seen in the darkened sky. The tiny camp that the Lightning Team had made was so far from any sort of civilization that there were no lights to blot out the stars, each one seemed clear and sharp, getting more distinct as the twilight faded into true night.
"Where in the hell is Jack?" demanded Chris Tasker. The fire cast flickering shadows across her face as she looked around the silent camp. The huge shadowy shapes of the three Lightning Saix loomed up off to her left. Near them stood their two tents, both of them silent and dark. "He's supposed to stand guard tonight."
"I don't know, I haven't seen him since the battle," replied Kelly. She poked at the burning wood with a stick, stirring up the fire and causing it to flare up slightly. "Did you check his tent?"
Chris glanced over at her sister, looking confused. "No, why would he be there? He's never there."
"I saw him right after the battle. He said he was going to take a nap," explained Kelly. Chris frowned.
"A nap? Since when does he sleep?"
Shaking her head in bafflement, Kelly just shrugged. "I don't know. I wonder if he's feeling okay…" She glanced over at the silent and apparently unoccupied tent.
"He couldn't possibly have slept this long. It's been nearly six hours since the battle," said Chris as she rose from the ground. She too looked over at the tent as she idly brushed some dirt off the back of her pants. "I'll go check though."
Jack was always very protective of what little private space he had and as such, Chris lifted the tent flap cautiously as she went to peer inside. However, her intrusion did not get an angry response or any response at all in fact. The inside of the tent was dark, but Chris could see enough to tell that there was in fact someone sleeping on the tiny cot and that someone could only be Jack. She stared at the form sprawled out on the cot for a moment, trying to get it to match up with her mental image of Jack. It didn't work.
"Chris?" called Kelly, questioningly. Chris sat back on her heals, turned around slightly so that she could see her sister.
"He's still sleeping, Kelly," she replied. A look of concern passed over Kelly's face, mirroring the expression Chris already had.
"That's not good…" murmured Kelly. Chris could only nod in agreement.