Swishy Fiend Fantasies presents:
Daughter of the Blue Demon: The Enchantress
Jack Sisco was sleeping soundly in his bed. Suddenly, his eyes opened. But not to awake. He had been summoned. Summoned by the Lady of Shadows. Summoned by Serci, mistress of Zoids. He arose. But not to get up and get dressed. He had been summoned. The daylight still lied sleeping in its bed. The birds had not even begun their song. But that didn't matter. Serci had called for him. The Lady of Shadows favored the dark anyways. He had been summoned. An expression void of it was hung upon his face. He walked slowly, like in a trance. For he was. He tripped over the table in the dark. The lamp hit him squarely in the face. But it did not matter. He had been summoned. He walked slowly to his Lightning Saix. It was waiting for him. The Mistress of Zoids always prepared them for her summoned. He got in and begun departure. He had been summoned.
THUMP! A newspaper was dropped on the front porch. Doc Toros leaned over, coffee in one hand, and picked up the paper. Opening it, he scanned the headlines; which read: ZOID PILOT GOES MISSING IN NIGHT, SIXTH ALL MONTH. Doc brought the paper inside. "Well, gang," said Doc to those at the breakfast table, "it looks like that they still haven't figured out why all these pilots are disappearing." "I wish who ever it is would make Bit disappear." said Leena, glowering at Bit from over the cereal box. "It wasn't my fault my breakfast ended up on your head." said Bit defensively. "Have they found out anything else about the disappearances?" asked Jamie, attempting to change the subject. "Well, they haven't found any clues, but they have found some similarities between the people disappearing. All the victims are males Zoid pilots between the ages of 12 and 20." Jamie gulped. "Relax, Jamie. It's slim to none that it would ever happen even close to here; let alone you." stated Brad coolly, not to make Jamie feel better. "And if it did come here," said Bit "I'd destroy it before it could ever get through the hanger." "If it were here to get you," said Leena "I'd help it to your room." "Oh, yeah?" countered Bit. "Well, I would...." "The fact of the matter," interrupted Brad, obviously not in the mood for on of Bit and Leena's squabbles, "is that we will most likely never see it. There are so many Zoid pilots that fit that description that the odds are reduced to practically nothing. They'll probably figure out what's happening within a few days." "He's right." said Doc, "and anyways, I have to get back to my model..er, work." He finished his coffee and walked out of the dinning room.
THAT NIGHT Jamie couldn't sleep. He kept having nightmares that this shadowy monster climbed in the window and kidnapped him. He knew it wasn't real, but it still scared him. The fact that somewhere, someplace, something was lurking about; sneaking in to someone's house and.... Jamie shuddered. The though of something kidnapping him and his Raynos frightened him badly. He lied there, shivering and scared, hoping that morning would come three hours earlier. Suddenly, the night's silence was shredded with the sound of... *SQUEAK* Jamie jumped. Oh. It was just the springs in Bit's bed. He was probably getting up to get a midnight snack. He was about to tell Bit to get back in bed when... *SQUEAK* Now Brad was out of bed. Why was he up? And, more importantly, why didn't he and Bit notice each other and say something about it? He was standing right in front of him. Jamie had almost decided to go investigate when Brad mumbled under his breath: "...Lady of Shadows....needs me...go to her..." Jamie froze. Brad and Bit were under some kind of trance! He thought about waking up Doc when Brad and Bit walked in the room. "We shall take you to the Lady of Shadows." whispered Brad. "The Mistress of Zoids is waiting for you." said Bit in an almost identical voice. Just as Jamie let out a yell, Brad rendered him unconscious (always wanted to say that).
The first thing Jamie could remember was a splitting pain in his forehead. The following sensation was the fact that he was tied up. He opened his eyes. Brad and Bit were carrying him through a stone building of some sort. Small torches weakly lit a series of hallways. Both of his captors seemed to knows which way to go by heart. What was wrong with them? Why were they taking him here? Had anyone heard him? But these questions would have to wait. Bit and Brad were taking him into a larger chamber. A cold breeze wafted through this large room. This did nothing to help the chills that when up and down his spine. Torches dimly lit the chamber, casting sinister shadows against the wall. A tall figure cast its shadow from one end of the room to the other. "I'm glad you could make it." said it's chilling, cold voice. The door through which he had come through slammed shut. "Please, sit down and make yourselves comfortable." said the figure with its icy voice. Brad and Bit sat Jamie down in a wooden chair and cut the ropes. They then proceeded to sit down at the table. "Where am I?" asked Jamie to himself. "You are in the castle of the Shadow Lady. Your friends brought you here. Please, help yourselves to the drinks." answered the girl. Bit and Brad immediately began to drink from the cups placed at the small table. Jamie, however, hesitated. "How can I trust you?" said Jamie. "Here." said the blue-haired girl. She poured some of Jamie's glass into her own, then gulped it down and finished it in one swallow. "If there was anything in your drink, then I have drunken it too." She sat down at the table. Jamie examined the goblet, then proceeded to drink a little. Reluctance made the milk taste sour. "What's your name?" inquired Jamie. "My name is Serci." replied the girl. "Why am I here?" asked Jamie. "Because," said Serci "you're about to be part of the Game." "Huh?" said Jamie "The what?" Serci did not respond. Instead, she snapped her fingers three times. Then, several things happened at once. First of all, Brad and Bit snapped out of it. "Wha? Huh? Who?" said Bit in a half-dazed voice. "Where am I?" asked Brad, looking around. The second thing that happened was a strange Zoid-like creature walked out from the shadows. It looked very much like a miniature image of Vega's Zoid. If he hadn't known better, he would have said that that's what it was. But he knew what it was. It was something from a history book he had once read. "An organoid? But how....?" gasped Jamie. The answer Jamie received was a growing envelop of darkness.
Bit awoke from his dreams suddenly. "Wha? Huh? Who?" he stuttered, only half awake. Where was his pillow? Why wasn't he in bed? And, most importantly, what in the world was he doing in the dead of night in some strange place with only his pajamas on?!??!??!? "Where's the kid? I know I heard him." came Brad's voice. Bit's head cleared. "You mean Jamie? No clue." replied Bit. "Now here's one for you: Where are we?" "You came of your own free will," said a girl with long, blue hair. "and brought your friend with you." "That sure helps clear things up." grumbled Bit. "I don't remember coming here. What did you do with Jamie?" asked Brad. "Oh, he's fine. Just sleeping." said Serci, motioning to a sleeping Jamie. "What's your name?" asked Bit, a bit demandingly. "My name is Serci. And you," she said pointing to Bit and Brad "are about to become my new pets."
YAAAAAH!-- Leena jerked awake. Someone was yelling. At first, she couldn't figure out who it was. But then, her head cleared. Jamie! Leena flew out of bed. She ran into Jamie's room. He wasn't there. The kidnapper had taken Jamie! Leena rushed to Bit's room, being the closest room to Jamie's. "Bit!" shouted out Leena. No response. "Bit! Wake up, you lazy..." She kicked the covers off- ....thin...air... Great. The kidnapper had Bit and Jamie. She walked to Brad's room. No Brad. That kidnapper had be very thorough in taking out reinforcements. She took two steps towards her dad's room, then stopped. Nah. Her dad would probably drift right of to sleep and tell her he'd deal with it in the morning. She loved her dad, but he wasn't exactly the most reliable person in the world. Besides, he wasn't exactly a great fighter. Leena grabbed a coat and dashed out to the hanger to find the Lyger 00 and the Shadow Fox missing. Obviously the kidnapper had taken them along with Bit, Brad, and Jamie. However, something was bugged her. Why just those two? Why not Jamie's Raynos as well? But questions would have to wait. She hopped into her Gun Sniper and mobilized. "OK, all set." said Leena. She started out of the hanger. The first thing she picked up was two sets of tracks, heading north-east. "Who ever that kidnapper was," thought Leena "wasn't very good at hiding their tracks." A blind Command Wolf could find those tracks. She headed off, following them all the way to the ruins.
"Right." said Brad in a tone of sarcasm. "Yeah. Pets. So tell me, how did you escape from the asylum?" "You have got to be joking." said Bit. "Make pets? Out of us? We're not even leash trained." "You think I'm joking, am I correct?" asked Serci rhetorically. "You are absolutely correct." said Brad. "Making a pet out of me is 100% impossible. Now, making a monkey out of Brad..." joked Bit. Brad shot a glare at Bit. "Do you see this clock?" questioned Serci. They both nodded hesitantly. "At 12:00 midnight, we shall see who's right and whose mistaken. But as for now, I think I would like to play a game. We will have a battle? One- on-one, first system to freeze loses. If you win, I'll let you go. But if you lose, not only do you stay my captive, but the loser shall become my pet instantly. So, whose first?" said Serci. Bit could tell from the tone of her voice that she wasn't asking them. They would fight her. It wasn't a question at all. "No volunteers?" said Serci, giving them not time to reply "Very well. I shall fight you first." she said, pointing to Brad. "Your Shadow Fox is in the hanger. Follow me. Both of you." Her last comment was directed at Bit, who was raiding the table full of food. "Don't think you can escape me because I am not near by." said Serci as she left with her organoid.
11: 00 PM - One hour 'till midnight As the moon cast its light upon the earth, Brad mobilized the Shadow Fox. "All systems go." muttered Brad under his breath. He hated battles like these. No prize money. Just "I'll set you free unless you lose.". She sounded overconfident. He wasn't even sure she'd let him go if he won. Oh well. Win first, and worry about that later. Another thing that bugged him was this whole pet idea. Not that he thought she would be able to, but it made him edgy. He had no clue what she meant other than it would probably involve a collar and being humiliated at her whims. "Well, let's get this thing over with." said Brad. He exited the hanger and entered the battle field.
Bit was bored. Serci had stuck him in a storage room with a bunch of covered boxes and had locked the door. He wandered around the room looking at boxes. After about five minutes, Bit sat down on one of the boxes. *Rustle, rustle* Bit jumped straight up. He had been sitting on some sort of cage. He pulled off the cover. There was a full grown cheetah, sleeping soundly. "What's a wild animal doing here? And an import from Earth, too." asked Bit, frowning slightly. He pulled several more covers, revealing a lion, a wolf, a tiger, and a hawk; all in cages. The tiger, the wolf, and the hawk were sleeping soundly, just like the cheetah. The lion, however, was pacing franticly; back and forth, back and forth. "You must want to get out of here really badly, don't you?" said Bit; more to him self than the beast in question. The lion stopped, looked at Bit; then nodded its head. "That's weird," thought Bit "it looked almost as if it were agreeing with me." Bit's thoughts were interrupted by a huge screen in the corner turning on. It displayed a rocky, desert-like place lit by the moonlight. The Shadow Fox was standing in the center of the screen. "There's Brad." thought Bit, "But where's Serci?"
"Where is she?" said Brad out loud to himself. She was probably hiding somewhere. Brad started looking for her Zoid. The Shadow Fox searched in a 360° circle; picking up everything within sensor range of it. Nothing. This made Brad nervous. It was highly unlikely that she wasn't showing up. He checked up in the air. He turned the noise sensitivity of the microphone to max. Nothing. No Zoid or Serci. He was beginning to grow tired of waiting. What was she trying to do, bore him to death? He had just finished the third sensor sweep and was about to leave when-- What was she trying to do, bore him to death? He had just finished the third sensor sweep and was about to leave when-- EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! "AHHHHHH!" Brad crumpled over in his cockpit in pain. What was that awful screeching noise? It seemed to slice through him, cutting into his mind and exploding his eardrums. He couldn't bear it. The Shadow Fox's instruments were going haywire, just like his mind was. And darkness swallowed over the screen, just like the one that was enveloping him.
"YEOW!" Bit couldn't help it. That noise was so horrible! He doubled over in pain. When he looked up at the screen, he saw that the Shadow Fox had fallen over. Serci's beetle-like Zoid landed. It looked like a cross between two similar Zoids he'd seen before in a book. He tried to remember their names. but before he could remember, the screen fell blank. Bit sat back down on the floor, and began thinking things over. What was that noise that made Brad's Shadow Fox's system freeze? He could see why it would cause a system freeze. It sounded like someone dragged paperclips across a chalkboard only amplified a billion times louder and higher. He had never fought against a weapon like this one. How in the world would he defeat he if he never got a chance to even blink? Bit was stewing over these thoughts and ideas when Serci entered the room, carrying a pet carrier. "You have one minute to talk things over with...... your comrade." Serci set the carrier on the floor. Bit leaned over and peered into the carrier. There was a scruffy-looking fox, which was sleeping soundly. Its ruffled fur was a blend of light brown and dirty blonde. It also had collar-like object around its neck, which looked almost exactly like Brad's necklace.
11:45 PM- 15 min 'til midnight. Leena walked uneasily around the ruins in her Gun Sniper. She was hoping that they were outside the ruins and not in them. It wasn't that she was scared or anything, it was just those ruins gave her the creeps. All of the sudden, there was a sudden movement to her left. She quickly turned to see the Lyger 00 dashing away from the ruins. She hurried along to catch up. "Leena?" Bit asked over the radio, "Is that you?" "Of course it's me." said Leena, a bit irritated due to lack of sleep. "Who else would it be? Santa Claus?" Bit quickly told her what had happened. He saw Leena's expression grow more serious. "And now she's going to try to get me." said Bit "Any suggestions?" Leena though for a while, then a smile grew on her face. "I have a plan." she announced "Good." said Bit, slightly relieved "Just as long as I'm not use as--"
"...bait." grumbled Bit as he waited on the battle site. Why did Leena's plans usually involve him being used as bait? Bit glared at the Gun Sniper up on the hill. He hoped that Serci had -- EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! The noise was worse than before. Bit though he was going to pass out when Leena finally fired. BOOM! The good news was that Leena destroyed the device that was emitting the sound. The bad news was that the Lyger 00's system froze. The worst news was that Serci's Zoid (aka. Double Crosser) didn't freeze. "Oh. No." groaned Bit. "We're toast." "We are not." argued Leena "I'm just as good a fighter as you'll ever be. I'll finish her off with my Total Assault." "Wait, Leena..." "Total Assault!" yelled Leena. BOOM!!!!! There was a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared, there was not a single scratch on it. "Now can I say we're toast?" asked Bit. "Uh-oh." gulped Leena. This fight could turn messy.
Jamie began to wake up. Where was he? Suddenly, previous events came rushing back to him. He had to warn everybody! He leaped to his feet. Serci had moved him to some storage room. Crates and cages were piled everywhere. Some of the cages had animals in them. Besides one of the cages was a pet carrier. Curiosity nudged at him to look in the pet carrier. He leaned over and stared into the darkness. Inside was a sleeping fox. At first, he thought about waking it up; but then he decided not to. It looked so peaceful, snoozing there. He was about to go look in some of the other cages when the fox woke up. It yawned, then stretched. The fox stopped, looked puzzled, then looked around. "Hello." said Jamie quietly. The fox gave one look at Jamie, then nearly knocked itself silly when it jumped and hit its head on the ceiling. "Sorry." said Jamie "I didn't mean to startle you." He felt kind of silly, talking to a fox. The fox gave an indignant look, then began to examine its surroundings. It looked at itself, and paused. "What's the matter?" asked Jamie. Even though it couldn't understand, it made Jamie feel better. The fox looked up at Jaime, then began to panic. It made strange noises and pawed at the cage door. "Ok, ok. Calm down. It's ok." said Jamie gently. It kept up the peculiar noises: "Yeek! Yad! Ripe! Yelp!" "Slow down." said Jamie, a bit nervous himself. It sounded like the fox was trying to talk to him. The fox calmed down, then said slowly: "Yrim Yad! Gret gree yout ooh yeerr! Yelp!"
What was that? Jamie didn't get it at first, but slowly he started to decode -with help from the fox- what it was saying: "Gret .. get?" Nod from fox. "Yelp .. help?" Nod. "Yout .. stout?" Shake of head. "Ok. Um ...pout, stout, doubt, out!" Nod. "Out?" Nod. Ok. Now, what did the message say so far? Yrim Yad. Get gree out ooh yeerr. Help! He could figure out now that "Gret gree yout ooh yeerr." was "Get me out of here.". But what in the world was "Yrime Yad"? The fox was looking annoyed over him trying to decode the message, so Jamie wanted to hurry up so he wouldn't have to bother it any more. "Yrime, prime, time, thyme, I'm, lime...." The fox stopped him. "Lime?" he guessed. The fox shook its head, looking very annoyed. "I'm?" The fox nodded its head with relief, as he was almost finally done. "The last one. Yad." "Add, fad, cad, mad, sad, bad...." Jamie's eye's widened. "Brad??!??" he gasped. The fox nodded. Before the fox (aka, Brad) could react, Jamie had fainted from shock.
Leena was every percent right when she said "Uh-oh.". For they couldn't have been in deeper trouble. Bit shouted out instructions while Leena ran and yell things back at Bit like : "Duh!" and "Who do you think you are?" and "Cut it out! I'm trying to run here." and "Why don't you try that?". Serci was hot on her Gun Sniper's tail. This lasted for about 30 seconds, as then the Double Crosser started shooting. And then Leena started screaming. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Bit decided he wanted to add to this tune by yelling along with her screaming. "AAAAHHHHHH!" Serci kept shooting. Leena kept running. Bit and Leena kept yelling their head's off. Until Serci shot her Zoid in the leg. Now the Gun Sniper couldn't move. Leena decided to save her voice and let Bit do the yelling for her. Serci's Double Crosser seized the Gun Sniper in it's pincers and began squeezing. Leena was scared. "Help." she whimpered quietly to herself. "No one can help you." sneered Serci "Your puny little Gun Sniper has absolutely no close-range attacks. With out ammo, it's totally helpless. Now, prepare to say 'Bye, bye' to your sorry Gun Sniper." The pincers squeezed tighter then-- POW!
Leena opened her eyes. The command system hadn't frozen. Serci's Zoid had backed off in pain. But how...? That's when Leena saw on the screen DEFENSIVE SPIKES: ACTIVATED. She looked outside the window. There was a long row of spikes on the Gun Sniper's tail. One on each joint. And two on either side of its head. Leena was stunned, overjoyed and relieved. But she had little time to treasure these emotions. Serci was shooting at her again. She looked at the screen again. VENGEFUL SPINES was an attack on the screen. It was her best shot. "Vengeful Spines!" shouted Leena. The spines launched themselves at the Double Crosser. "No." gasped Serci. The command system froze. "YES!" jubilated Leena. "Wohoo! Take that! Oh, yeah! Whose number one? Me! Ha-ha!" She quickly climbed out of her cockpit as Bit got out of the Lyger. They shortly captured Serci and "handcuffed" her with some rope. Then, they took her back to the ruins.
After getting to the storage room, with help from a humiliated Serci, they found Jamie and got the full story from him. "So, she was turning the kidnapped pilots into animals?" asked Leena. "That sound oddly familiar..." "How do we change them back?" asked Jamie. "The vial of liquid. On the desk." said Serci. Jamie walked over and picked it up. The clock struck midnight. Bit turned into a lion. "I think Bit better try it to make sure it isn't poison." joked Leena. (At least, Bit hoped she was.) She gave him a little. Bit became Bit once again. All at once, Serci began laughing. "You think you've seen the last of me?" she taunted "This is only the beginning! Majestic!" The green organoid swooped out of nowhere and landed. It wrapped her in cord like ropes, then carried her away.
There was a long moment of silence. Then the Brad fox said "Hewoew? Gret gree yout ooh yeerr." "Hmmm." said Bit "To open or not to open?" "He makes a very cute fox." said Leena smugly "Maybe we should keep him as a pet." Brad beamed a death glare at Leena. Why did Bit and Leena have to make a case out of everything? Sometimes, they could make the simplest things take forever. Jamie opened the cage and pulled out Brad. He gave him some of the vial. Brad was himself again. Everything was happy after that, except one detail. Jamie forgot to put Brad down when he fed him some of the vial. And as you hopefully know, there it a big difference between a 7 pound fox and Brad who weights at least 14 times as much. (Good thing Jamie was holding under his arm and not with one hand.) But other than that, everything went with out a hitch. They rescued the pilots, received a small thanks (very small from some of them), and got their Zoids systems unfrozen. After that, they went home and lived happily ever after. Well, at least, until next episode. (Muhahaha!!)
EPILOGUE Doc woke from his sleep. He had had a wonderful night's rest and was ready for the day. He walked into Leena's room. "Good morning, Leena! Ready for today's clean-up?" "Dad?" came Leena's voice, muffled by her pillow. "What is it, Leena?" "Dry up. Go back to bed." _______________________________________________________________________
Like my story? Have some comments? Contact me at swishy_fiend@yahoo.com. I will even accept criticism as long as it isn't too bad or too much.
Jack Sisco was sleeping soundly in his bed. Suddenly, his eyes opened. But not to awake. He had been summoned. Summoned by the Lady of Shadows. Summoned by Serci, mistress of Zoids. He arose. But not to get up and get dressed. He had been summoned. The daylight still lied sleeping in its bed. The birds had not even begun their song. But that didn't matter. Serci had called for him. The Lady of Shadows favored the dark anyways. He had been summoned. An expression void of it was hung upon his face. He walked slowly, like in a trance. For he was. He tripped over the table in the dark. The lamp hit him squarely in the face. But it did not matter. He had been summoned. He walked slowly to his Lightning Saix. It was waiting for him. The Mistress of Zoids always prepared them for her summoned. He got in and begun departure. He had been summoned.
THUMP! A newspaper was dropped on the front porch. Doc Toros leaned over, coffee in one hand, and picked up the paper. Opening it, he scanned the headlines; which read: ZOID PILOT GOES MISSING IN NIGHT, SIXTH ALL MONTH. Doc brought the paper inside. "Well, gang," said Doc to those at the breakfast table, "it looks like that they still haven't figured out why all these pilots are disappearing." "I wish who ever it is would make Bit disappear." said Leena, glowering at Bit from over the cereal box. "It wasn't my fault my breakfast ended up on your head." said Bit defensively. "Have they found out anything else about the disappearances?" asked Jamie, attempting to change the subject. "Well, they haven't found any clues, but they have found some similarities between the people disappearing. All the victims are males Zoid pilots between the ages of 12 and 20." Jamie gulped. "Relax, Jamie. It's slim to none that it would ever happen even close to here; let alone you." stated Brad coolly, not to make Jamie feel better. "And if it did come here," said Bit "I'd destroy it before it could ever get through the hanger." "If it were here to get you," said Leena "I'd help it to your room." "Oh, yeah?" countered Bit. "Well, I would...." "The fact of the matter," interrupted Brad, obviously not in the mood for on of Bit and Leena's squabbles, "is that we will most likely never see it. There are so many Zoid pilots that fit that description that the odds are reduced to practically nothing. They'll probably figure out what's happening within a few days." "He's right." said Doc, "and anyways, I have to get back to my model..er, work." He finished his coffee and walked out of the dinning room.
THAT NIGHT Jamie couldn't sleep. He kept having nightmares that this shadowy monster climbed in the window and kidnapped him. He knew it wasn't real, but it still scared him. The fact that somewhere, someplace, something was lurking about; sneaking in to someone's house and.... Jamie shuddered. The though of something kidnapping him and his Raynos frightened him badly. He lied there, shivering and scared, hoping that morning would come three hours earlier. Suddenly, the night's silence was shredded with the sound of... *SQUEAK* Jamie jumped. Oh. It was just the springs in Bit's bed. He was probably getting up to get a midnight snack. He was about to tell Bit to get back in bed when... *SQUEAK* Now Brad was out of bed. Why was he up? And, more importantly, why didn't he and Bit notice each other and say something about it? He was standing right in front of him. Jamie had almost decided to go investigate when Brad mumbled under his breath: "...Lady of Shadows....needs me...go to her..." Jamie froze. Brad and Bit were under some kind of trance! He thought about waking up Doc when Brad and Bit walked in the room. "We shall take you to the Lady of Shadows." whispered Brad. "The Mistress of Zoids is waiting for you." said Bit in an almost identical voice. Just as Jamie let out a yell, Brad rendered him unconscious (always wanted to say that).
The first thing Jamie could remember was a splitting pain in his forehead. The following sensation was the fact that he was tied up. He opened his eyes. Brad and Bit were carrying him through a stone building of some sort. Small torches weakly lit a series of hallways. Both of his captors seemed to knows which way to go by heart. What was wrong with them? Why were they taking him here? Had anyone heard him? But these questions would have to wait. Bit and Brad were taking him into a larger chamber. A cold breeze wafted through this large room. This did nothing to help the chills that when up and down his spine. Torches dimly lit the chamber, casting sinister shadows against the wall. A tall figure cast its shadow from one end of the room to the other. "I'm glad you could make it." said it's chilling, cold voice. The door through which he had come through slammed shut. "Please, sit down and make yourselves comfortable." said the figure with its icy voice. Brad and Bit sat Jamie down in a wooden chair and cut the ropes. They then proceeded to sit down at the table. "Where am I?" asked Jamie to himself. "You are in the castle of the Shadow Lady. Your friends brought you here. Please, help yourselves to the drinks." answered the girl. Bit and Brad immediately began to drink from the cups placed at the small table. Jamie, however, hesitated. "How can I trust you?" said Jamie. "Here." said the blue-haired girl. She poured some of Jamie's glass into her own, then gulped it down and finished it in one swallow. "If there was anything in your drink, then I have drunken it too." She sat down at the table. Jamie examined the goblet, then proceeded to drink a little. Reluctance made the milk taste sour. "What's your name?" inquired Jamie. "My name is Serci." replied the girl. "Why am I here?" asked Jamie. "Because," said Serci "you're about to be part of the Game." "Huh?" said Jamie "The what?" Serci did not respond. Instead, she snapped her fingers three times. Then, several things happened at once. First of all, Brad and Bit snapped out of it. "Wha? Huh? Who?" said Bit in a half-dazed voice. "Where am I?" asked Brad, looking around. The second thing that happened was a strange Zoid-like creature walked out from the shadows. It looked very much like a miniature image of Vega's Zoid. If he hadn't known better, he would have said that that's what it was. But he knew what it was. It was something from a history book he had once read. "An organoid? But how....?" gasped Jamie. The answer Jamie received was a growing envelop of darkness.
Bit awoke from his dreams suddenly. "Wha? Huh? Who?" he stuttered, only half awake. Where was his pillow? Why wasn't he in bed? And, most importantly, what in the world was he doing in the dead of night in some strange place with only his pajamas on?!??!??!? "Where's the kid? I know I heard him." came Brad's voice. Bit's head cleared. "You mean Jamie? No clue." replied Bit. "Now here's one for you: Where are we?" "You came of your own free will," said a girl with long, blue hair. "and brought your friend with you." "That sure helps clear things up." grumbled Bit. "I don't remember coming here. What did you do with Jamie?" asked Brad. "Oh, he's fine. Just sleeping." said Serci, motioning to a sleeping Jamie. "What's your name?" asked Bit, a bit demandingly. "My name is Serci. And you," she said pointing to Bit and Brad "are about to become my new pets."
YAAAAAH!-- Leena jerked awake. Someone was yelling. At first, she couldn't figure out who it was. But then, her head cleared. Jamie! Leena flew out of bed. She ran into Jamie's room. He wasn't there. The kidnapper had taken Jamie! Leena rushed to Bit's room, being the closest room to Jamie's. "Bit!" shouted out Leena. No response. "Bit! Wake up, you lazy..." She kicked the covers off- ....thin...air... Great. The kidnapper had Bit and Jamie. She walked to Brad's room. No Brad. That kidnapper had be very thorough in taking out reinforcements. She took two steps towards her dad's room, then stopped. Nah. Her dad would probably drift right of to sleep and tell her he'd deal with it in the morning. She loved her dad, but he wasn't exactly the most reliable person in the world. Besides, he wasn't exactly a great fighter. Leena grabbed a coat and dashed out to the hanger to find the Lyger 00 and the Shadow Fox missing. Obviously the kidnapper had taken them along with Bit, Brad, and Jamie. However, something was bugged her. Why just those two? Why not Jamie's Raynos as well? But questions would have to wait. She hopped into her Gun Sniper and mobilized. "OK, all set." said Leena. She started out of the hanger. The first thing she picked up was two sets of tracks, heading north-east. "Who ever that kidnapper was," thought Leena "wasn't very good at hiding their tracks." A blind Command Wolf could find those tracks. She headed off, following them all the way to the ruins.
"Right." said Brad in a tone of sarcasm. "Yeah. Pets. So tell me, how did you escape from the asylum?" "You have got to be joking." said Bit. "Make pets? Out of us? We're not even leash trained." "You think I'm joking, am I correct?" asked Serci rhetorically. "You are absolutely correct." said Brad. "Making a pet out of me is 100% impossible. Now, making a monkey out of Brad..." joked Bit. Brad shot a glare at Bit. "Do you see this clock?" questioned Serci. They both nodded hesitantly. "At 12:00 midnight, we shall see who's right and whose mistaken. But as for now, I think I would like to play a game. We will have a battle? One- on-one, first system to freeze loses. If you win, I'll let you go. But if you lose, not only do you stay my captive, but the loser shall become my pet instantly. So, whose first?" said Serci. Bit could tell from the tone of her voice that she wasn't asking them. They would fight her. It wasn't a question at all. "No volunteers?" said Serci, giving them not time to reply "Very well. I shall fight you first." she said, pointing to Brad. "Your Shadow Fox is in the hanger. Follow me. Both of you." Her last comment was directed at Bit, who was raiding the table full of food. "Don't think you can escape me because I am not near by." said Serci as she left with her organoid.
11: 00 PM - One hour 'till midnight As the moon cast its light upon the earth, Brad mobilized the Shadow Fox. "All systems go." muttered Brad under his breath. He hated battles like these. No prize money. Just "I'll set you free unless you lose.". She sounded overconfident. He wasn't even sure she'd let him go if he won. Oh well. Win first, and worry about that later. Another thing that bugged him was this whole pet idea. Not that he thought she would be able to, but it made him edgy. He had no clue what she meant other than it would probably involve a collar and being humiliated at her whims. "Well, let's get this thing over with." said Brad. He exited the hanger and entered the battle field.
Bit was bored. Serci had stuck him in a storage room with a bunch of covered boxes and had locked the door. He wandered around the room looking at boxes. After about five minutes, Bit sat down on one of the boxes. *Rustle, rustle* Bit jumped straight up. He had been sitting on some sort of cage. He pulled off the cover. There was a full grown cheetah, sleeping soundly. "What's a wild animal doing here? And an import from Earth, too." asked Bit, frowning slightly. He pulled several more covers, revealing a lion, a wolf, a tiger, and a hawk; all in cages. The tiger, the wolf, and the hawk were sleeping soundly, just like the cheetah. The lion, however, was pacing franticly; back and forth, back and forth. "You must want to get out of here really badly, don't you?" said Bit; more to him self than the beast in question. The lion stopped, looked at Bit; then nodded its head. "That's weird," thought Bit "it looked almost as if it were agreeing with me." Bit's thoughts were interrupted by a huge screen in the corner turning on. It displayed a rocky, desert-like place lit by the moonlight. The Shadow Fox was standing in the center of the screen. "There's Brad." thought Bit, "But where's Serci?"
"Where is she?" said Brad out loud to himself. She was probably hiding somewhere. Brad started looking for her Zoid. The Shadow Fox searched in a 360° circle; picking up everything within sensor range of it. Nothing. This made Brad nervous. It was highly unlikely that she wasn't showing up. He checked up in the air. He turned the noise sensitivity of the microphone to max. Nothing. No Zoid or Serci. He was beginning to grow tired of waiting. What was she trying to do, bore him to death? He had just finished the third sensor sweep and was about to leave when-- What was she trying to do, bore him to death? He had just finished the third sensor sweep and was about to leave when-- EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! "AHHHHHH!" Brad crumpled over in his cockpit in pain. What was that awful screeching noise? It seemed to slice through him, cutting into his mind and exploding his eardrums. He couldn't bear it. The Shadow Fox's instruments were going haywire, just like his mind was. And darkness swallowed over the screen, just like the one that was enveloping him.
"YEOW!" Bit couldn't help it. That noise was so horrible! He doubled over in pain. When he looked up at the screen, he saw that the Shadow Fox had fallen over. Serci's beetle-like Zoid landed. It looked like a cross between two similar Zoids he'd seen before in a book. He tried to remember their names. but before he could remember, the screen fell blank. Bit sat back down on the floor, and began thinking things over. What was that noise that made Brad's Shadow Fox's system freeze? He could see why it would cause a system freeze. It sounded like someone dragged paperclips across a chalkboard only amplified a billion times louder and higher. He had never fought against a weapon like this one. How in the world would he defeat he if he never got a chance to even blink? Bit was stewing over these thoughts and ideas when Serci entered the room, carrying a pet carrier. "You have one minute to talk things over with...... your comrade." Serci set the carrier on the floor. Bit leaned over and peered into the carrier. There was a scruffy-looking fox, which was sleeping soundly. Its ruffled fur was a blend of light brown and dirty blonde. It also had collar-like object around its neck, which looked almost exactly like Brad's necklace.
11:45 PM- 15 min 'til midnight. Leena walked uneasily around the ruins in her Gun Sniper. She was hoping that they were outside the ruins and not in them. It wasn't that she was scared or anything, it was just those ruins gave her the creeps. All of the sudden, there was a sudden movement to her left. She quickly turned to see the Lyger 00 dashing away from the ruins. She hurried along to catch up. "Leena?" Bit asked over the radio, "Is that you?" "Of course it's me." said Leena, a bit irritated due to lack of sleep. "Who else would it be? Santa Claus?" Bit quickly told her what had happened. He saw Leena's expression grow more serious. "And now she's going to try to get me." said Bit "Any suggestions?" Leena though for a while, then a smile grew on her face. "I have a plan." she announced "Good." said Bit, slightly relieved "Just as long as I'm not use as--"
"...bait." grumbled Bit as he waited on the battle site. Why did Leena's plans usually involve him being used as bait? Bit glared at the Gun Sniper up on the hill. He hoped that Serci had -- EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! The noise was worse than before. Bit though he was going to pass out when Leena finally fired. BOOM! The good news was that Leena destroyed the device that was emitting the sound. The bad news was that the Lyger 00's system froze. The worst news was that Serci's Zoid (aka. Double Crosser) didn't freeze. "Oh. No." groaned Bit. "We're toast." "We are not." argued Leena "I'm just as good a fighter as you'll ever be. I'll finish her off with my Total Assault." "Wait, Leena..." "Total Assault!" yelled Leena. BOOM!!!!! There was a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared, there was not a single scratch on it. "Now can I say we're toast?" asked Bit. "Uh-oh." gulped Leena. This fight could turn messy.
Jamie began to wake up. Where was he? Suddenly, previous events came rushing back to him. He had to warn everybody! He leaped to his feet. Serci had moved him to some storage room. Crates and cages were piled everywhere. Some of the cages had animals in them. Besides one of the cages was a pet carrier. Curiosity nudged at him to look in the pet carrier. He leaned over and stared into the darkness. Inside was a sleeping fox. At first, he thought about waking it up; but then he decided not to. It looked so peaceful, snoozing there. He was about to go look in some of the other cages when the fox woke up. It yawned, then stretched. The fox stopped, looked puzzled, then looked around. "Hello." said Jamie quietly. The fox gave one look at Jamie, then nearly knocked itself silly when it jumped and hit its head on the ceiling. "Sorry." said Jamie "I didn't mean to startle you." He felt kind of silly, talking to a fox. The fox gave an indignant look, then began to examine its surroundings. It looked at itself, and paused. "What's the matter?" asked Jamie. Even though it couldn't understand, it made Jamie feel better. The fox looked up at Jaime, then began to panic. It made strange noises and pawed at the cage door. "Ok, ok. Calm down. It's ok." said Jamie gently. It kept up the peculiar noises: "Yeek! Yad! Ripe! Yelp!" "Slow down." said Jamie, a bit nervous himself. It sounded like the fox was trying to talk to him. The fox calmed down, then said slowly: "Yrim Yad! Gret gree yout ooh yeerr! Yelp!"
What was that? Jamie didn't get it at first, but slowly he started to decode -with help from the fox- what it was saying: "Gret .. get?" Nod from fox. "Yelp .. help?" Nod. "Yout .. stout?" Shake of head. "Ok. Um ...pout, stout, doubt, out!" Nod. "Out?" Nod. Ok. Now, what did the message say so far? Yrim Yad. Get gree out ooh yeerr. Help! He could figure out now that "Gret gree yout ooh yeerr." was "Get me out of here.". But what in the world was "Yrime Yad"? The fox was looking annoyed over him trying to decode the message, so Jamie wanted to hurry up so he wouldn't have to bother it any more. "Yrime, prime, time, thyme, I'm, lime...." The fox stopped him. "Lime?" he guessed. The fox shook its head, looking very annoyed. "I'm?" The fox nodded its head with relief, as he was almost finally done. "The last one. Yad." "Add, fad, cad, mad, sad, bad...." Jamie's eye's widened. "Brad??!??" he gasped. The fox nodded. Before the fox (aka, Brad) could react, Jamie had fainted from shock.
Leena was every percent right when she said "Uh-oh.". For they couldn't have been in deeper trouble. Bit shouted out instructions while Leena ran and yell things back at Bit like : "Duh!" and "Who do you think you are?" and "Cut it out! I'm trying to run here." and "Why don't you try that?". Serci was hot on her Gun Sniper's tail. This lasted for about 30 seconds, as then the Double Crosser started shooting. And then Leena started screaming. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Bit decided he wanted to add to this tune by yelling along with her screaming. "AAAAHHHHHH!" Serci kept shooting. Leena kept running. Bit and Leena kept yelling their head's off. Until Serci shot her Zoid in the leg. Now the Gun Sniper couldn't move. Leena decided to save her voice and let Bit do the yelling for her. Serci's Double Crosser seized the Gun Sniper in it's pincers and began squeezing. Leena was scared. "Help." she whimpered quietly to herself. "No one can help you." sneered Serci "Your puny little Gun Sniper has absolutely no close-range attacks. With out ammo, it's totally helpless. Now, prepare to say 'Bye, bye' to your sorry Gun Sniper." The pincers squeezed tighter then-- POW!
Leena opened her eyes. The command system hadn't frozen. Serci's Zoid had backed off in pain. But how...? That's when Leena saw on the screen DEFENSIVE SPIKES: ACTIVATED. She looked outside the window. There was a long row of spikes on the Gun Sniper's tail. One on each joint. And two on either side of its head. Leena was stunned, overjoyed and relieved. But she had little time to treasure these emotions. Serci was shooting at her again. She looked at the screen again. VENGEFUL SPINES was an attack on the screen. It was her best shot. "Vengeful Spines!" shouted Leena. The spines launched themselves at the Double Crosser. "No." gasped Serci. The command system froze. "YES!" jubilated Leena. "Wohoo! Take that! Oh, yeah! Whose number one? Me! Ha-ha!" She quickly climbed out of her cockpit as Bit got out of the Lyger. They shortly captured Serci and "handcuffed" her with some rope. Then, they took her back to the ruins.
After getting to the storage room, with help from a humiliated Serci, they found Jamie and got the full story from him. "So, she was turning the kidnapped pilots into animals?" asked Leena. "That sound oddly familiar..." "How do we change them back?" asked Jamie. "The vial of liquid. On the desk." said Serci. Jamie walked over and picked it up. The clock struck midnight. Bit turned into a lion. "I think Bit better try it to make sure it isn't poison." joked Leena. (At least, Bit hoped she was.) She gave him a little. Bit became Bit once again. All at once, Serci began laughing. "You think you've seen the last of me?" she taunted "This is only the beginning! Majestic!" The green organoid swooped out of nowhere and landed. It wrapped her in cord like ropes, then carried her away.
There was a long moment of silence. Then the Brad fox said "Hewoew? Gret gree yout ooh yeerr." "Hmmm." said Bit "To open or not to open?" "He makes a very cute fox." said Leena smugly "Maybe we should keep him as a pet." Brad beamed a death glare at Leena. Why did Bit and Leena have to make a case out of everything? Sometimes, they could make the simplest things take forever. Jamie opened the cage and pulled out Brad. He gave him some of the vial. Brad was himself again. Everything was happy after that, except one detail. Jamie forgot to put Brad down when he fed him some of the vial. And as you hopefully know, there it a big difference between a 7 pound fox and Brad who weights at least 14 times as much. (Good thing Jamie was holding under his arm and not with one hand.) But other than that, everything went with out a hitch. They rescued the pilots, received a small thanks (very small from some of them), and got their Zoids systems unfrozen. After that, they went home and lived happily ever after. Well, at least, until next episode. (Muhahaha!!)
EPILOGUE Doc woke from his sleep. He had had a wonderful night's rest and was ready for the day. He walked into Leena's room. "Good morning, Leena! Ready for today's clean-up?" "Dad?" came Leena's voice, muffled by her pillow. "What is it, Leena?" "Dry up. Go back to bed." _______________________________________________________________________
Like my story? Have some comments? Contact me at swishy_fiend@yahoo.com. I will even accept criticism as long as it isn't too bad or too much.