Disclaimer – Refer to chapter 1

Bar fights & White Ligers



Here I am, once more behind the scope; then again… I would have it no other way.

Scanning the dessert floor, I cringed slightly as I saw the two fallen zoids of my teammates. Nozomi and Haruka are nice enough, but they seriously needed to learn that being stationary for too long, unless you were sniping, was a bad idea. They'd been sitting targets for the three Hel Digunners: I doubt they even knew what hit them. Then again .. those two wouldn't have known about the Hel Digunner's ability to burrow.

That one ability however, was really beginning to annoy me. Zoids that were underground were notoriously hard to spot. Combine that with the fact that they were armed with a 72-mm main cannon and you had a game of whoever spotted the other first wins. With this in mind, I continued the task of scanning the desert floor, tedious as it was. I was finally rewarded however, by three newly-dug grooves in the ground; too uniform to have been caused by natural forces- I had finally found their trail.



"Be careful men, this isn't your average Gunsniper we're up against. The pilot is some person who hasn't lost a single battle yet. They call her the Red Comet."

"I see you've done your homework, cowboy. Very impressive." I said, smirking at the leader's remarks. Knowing my name wasn't going to give them any advantages -- however, my having to shoot through the ground to get at them, did.

The trick with shooting something that's underground is all about timing. You'd have to shoot the target without being able to actually see where it was. This was definitely a challenge, especially when the target was constantly moving.

Taking quick note on how fast the furrows were forming, I did a minute calculation on how fast they were moving. Thankfully they weren't moving very fast, and the concept of moving in zigzags hadn't occurred to these three. Adjusting my sight for their movements, I took aim at the closest one and fired.

A Hel Digunner surfaced, seeming to have jumped from the ground, smoke billowing out a hole in its back; its combat system frozen. Another shot and another Hel-digunner later, the leader's disbelief at having his two teammates sniped was really quite loud. He didn't get to say much more however, as my final shot knocked out his zoid a moment later.

It was several minutes later before I climbed out of my cockpit. The judge capsule was already flying off into the stratosphere, and the other team had already packed up and left. The battlefield, where moments ago had been filled with the sounds of battle, now seemed so peaceful.

"If only dad could see me now." I murmured.

*****

I was beginning to question whatever had possessed me to enter this "establishment". Well, if you could call it that. The whole building absolutely reeked of unwashed bodies, alcohol, tobacco and something I could not and did not want to identify.

"Cockroaches," I said to myself as I observed the inhabitants of the bar. A good majority of them I would've put in the same class as sidewalk scum.

"Whatya wanna drink?" The beefy bartender asked, looking at me while cleaning a not-so-clean mug with a not so clean cloth. Figures.

"Lager please." I smiled vaguely as I noticed the bartender's surprised look. Obviously, 'please' was a word he didn't hear very often. His harsh demeanor towards me softened slightly, giving me a toothy grin before pouring me a beer in a clean mug.

"It's been awhile since I've met someone…" He said, pointing a calloused finger at a drunk who had passed out in his own filth. "…with manners. In here, that's usually all you get."

I found myself grinning at his commentary.

"Well never hurts to be polite once in awhile." I said before taking a sip of my beer. It actually wasn't watered down. It must've really been a long time since he'd met a polite person, "So how's business?"

"Doesn't change." the barkeep replied, shrugging indifferently before hastily excusing himself to deal with two drunks on the verge of a brawl.

Watching with mild interest, I noted how efficient the barkeep was at dealing with drunken brawls. Unceremoniously grabbing both drunkards by the scruff of the neck, he then proceeded to throw them out. Dusting his hands together, he turned and walked back to his place behind the bar as if nothing had happened.

"Like I was saying, it doesn't change. What your name's miss?"


I liked this man.

"Name's Naomi. Why do you even bother working here? I'm sure you'd be able to do better than this."

"Marcus O'Neil, and this place was given to me by my old man. It was always his dream to run a bar, and he finally did. Saddest thing was, the day after he got the deed, a drunk ran him over. Hasn't been able to walk since. Someone had to take over the bar, so here I am."

"I'm sorry."

"That's all right. Things happen, sometimes good, sometimes bad. You can't let the bad things drag you down, or you'll constantly be living in the past. So what about you? What does a lady like you do for a living?"

I smiled at Marcus. He seemed a lot more than a simple barkeep.

"Zoid pilot. One of the best." I said with more than a little bit of pride.

"Only in your own mind I'd wager," He replied, grinning as he saw the look of outrage that crossed my face momentarily. as I tried to think up a quick retort.

This however was interrupted by a bigger than average man entering the bar. Heavily muscled arms bare, he looked like he was going to rip off someone's head, and seemed perfectly capable of doing so. Walking determinedly to the bar, he stopped only when he was standing less than ten centimeters from where I was sitting with my back facing him. Close enough that I could smell him, and he did not smell good.

"Hey bitch, you're sitting on my seat." The man growled.

"Didn't see a name on it." I said, not even bothering to look at him. I noticed however that Marcus's face seemed to tense up. His lips formed a hard line where a few moments back he had been grinning.

The man however was anything but smiling. "Maybe I didn't make myself clear. You're sitting on my seat. No BODY sits on my seat. No BODY!" He shouted, veins bulging out of his arms.

I just ignored him.

"Are you listening? Get out of my seat!"

Turning to face the now-seething man, I looked indifferently at him

.. before uttering two words. "Make me"

I could see Marcus's surprise at my boldness, out the corner of my eye. Then again, he probably wouldn't have known my hatred for people like the behemoth before me. People who had no respect for others, and more importantly who had no qualms about hurting others, just so that they could feel big. The type of people dad had spent his life fighting. Had died fighting.

"Why you little…" The man growled, swinging a meaty palm towards my cheek. He obviously had no problem with hitting women. Then again, I had no problems with hitting men.

Ducking under his wild swing, I neatly stepped behind him before giving him a swift kick in the rump, sending him flying into the bar headfirst. Marcus looked ready to interfere, but I gave a swift shake of my head, signaling I would handle it on my own. He nodded, obviously displeased about my decision but letting me have my way.

In the seconds it took for me to motion to Marcus not to interfere, the man had recovered from his initial shock, and now came charging at me. With a lunge, he swung a savage right hook at my head, which grazed my cheek as I jumped backwards. Pain shot through the area where skin made contact with knuckles.

For a moment I questioned whether I had made the right choice. I didn't have much time to think about that as he quickly followed his first punch with a straight left aimed at my head.

This time however, I was prepared for him. As his fist came flying towards me, his arm fully extended, I sidestepped once again. However this time, I grabbed his fore arm, slightly below the wrist, with one hand, while simultaneously using my other forearm to push down on his elbow. The result of which, I swung him shoulder first into the bar. His own momentum had been used against him. I followed this up with a hard kick to his exposed temple. This time, he did not get up.

I returned to my seat, smirking at the surprised look on Marcus's face. He had not expected me to dispatch the man as quickly as I had, if at all.

"That was some move there. You've been in your share of fights haven't you?" He asked, his voice piqued with curiosity. "I've never seen a woman pull off what you just did."

"Guess you won't charge me for the mess then," I said as I finished my beer, before standing up and walking through the door. " See yaz later Marcus."

*****

That night was dry, warm, but not oppressively so[;] yet for some reason, sleep did not seem to want to come to me tonight[.] So with the prospect of a sleepless night looming before me, I did what I always did when faced with such an option..

I took my Gunsniper out for some target practice.

Surrounded by the familiar cockpit of my zoid, I couldn't help but feel nostalgic as I remembered the times when dad and I used to do the very same thing. Dad would be sitting beside me, and we would challenge each other to see who was the better shot; he always won, of course.

I could even remember how mum would always give us a chewing-out for being so late home, and how a "proper young lady" shouldn't be learning how to shoot targets a thousand feet away. The nights of racing under the night sky with him, and only our two zoids for company, were some of my happiest memories.

I chuckled to myself. If people knew that the "tougher than old boot leather" Naomi Fluegel was once a daddy's girl, they'd probably kill themselves, from laughing too hard.

Then again, the key word was once. A lot had changed since the times when I could hear him laugh, or hear him make a joke, or even hear him tease me bout my inability to hit the broadside of a barn. A lot had changed since I was "daddy's girl". Too much had changed, and no matter how much I wished it… things were never going to go back to the way they were.

Sitting in the cockpit of the one thing I had to remember my past by, I did something that would have shocked anyone who knew me even more than the revelation of me having been a daddy's girl ever could.

I cried.

*****

Groaning, I opened my eyes, the early rays of sunlight having roused me from my sleep. Stretching out, I remembered why I never slept in my Gunsniper. Its cockpit had not been designed for a good night's sleep, and I was feeling the result of it. My back ached, my neck ached, heck, even my toes ached. At least my emotions weren't running rampant anymore.

I usually held my emotions in check, mainly because it served me better that way. An emotional sniper tends to make mistakes. Last night was an anomaly, and I hoped the memories dredged up would fade into obscurity. Soon. Some things were best left forgotten.

*****

Whoever invented coffee and hot showers should be given sainthoods. Brushing my now damp hair with one hand and sipping a larger than usual cup of coffee, I was feeling much better.

Switching on the computer console in my living room, I took a glance at my scheduler. I had a battle scheduled for the day after tomorrow. Battle mode 0988, just the way I like it.

The Blitz team wouldn't even know what hit them.

Or so, at the time, I thought…

*****

"Goodbye winning streak." I muttered glumly to no one in particular as I looked at the unfamiliar figure in my team's statistics. Underneath the column that recorded the number of times my team has been defeated, stood a lone, solitary vertical line.

"Well one defeat isn't that bad… I guess." I sighed, this did not make very good bed time reading.

Turning off the monitor, I sighed: those statistics were beginning to depress me. Still I couldn't stop myself from thinking about my defeat and more importantly, the one who'd caused it. Bit Cloud. That kid probably didn't even know what planet he was on half the time. True, that might be a harsh thing to say about a person, but first impressions do last, I guess.

You see… you had to be there to understand. It was the night before the battle, and I was just about to get into another fight with two buffoons that I would have put into the category of the goop I'd scrape off my shoe. Bit had walked by, carrying the barrel of a long-range cannon, and in what I would call the flukiest next few seconds, he proceeded to knock the two out.

To say that I was surprised would have been an understatement. I mean, he didn't even know he had just leveled two grown men. And that's what bugged me.

To be honest, of the members of the Blitz team, I would have thought that it would have been their mercenary, Brad Hunter, which posed my biggest threat. He seemed competent, and was definitely good looking in a roguish kinda way. Mind you, being good-looking didn't exactly matter in the battle; but I certainly didn't mind.

Even Leena Tauros should have posed a bigger threat to me. She may've been  trigger happy, but at least she could aim. Bit's designated six shots came nowhere near me, slamming into the cliff below my feet.


Then, of all things, he dumped his only weapon and come charging at me.

Now at the time, he posed no threat, so I'd proceeded to take out his two teammates, deciding that an unarmed Liger would be my easiest target. You know, something to be saved for last, like a savory dessert?

To say I was surprised at the amount of ground that the unarmed Liger had covered would've been an understatement. In the time it'd taken me to take out the Dibison and Command Wolf, Bit had reached the base of the mountain. It made no difference to me though; I could shoot him just as well from the base of the mountain than from anywhere else. If anything it was going to be easier.

Yet... I had an extraordinarily frustrating time trying to lock onto this 'easy' Liger. And when I finally did get a lock on the damned thing, the ground upon which my Sniper'd been locked decided to give way. This sent me sliding down the cliffside, and within reach of my opponent's claws.

I suppose someone else at this point would've thrown in the towel. 'Oh well, I tried', they'd think. But not me, mm-mmnh. The story isn't over yet.

You see, I was down to my last shot, and at such close range, it was all I'd have a chance for anyways. But good news to this all was: there was no WAY I was going to miss. With a certain ire I pulled the trigger, the shot from my Sniper ringing out and heading directly towards the Liger.

Yet once more this thing's pilot managed to pull off a miracle. I saw the flare of boosters, heard the crack of sudden speed -- but no bullet's clean strike. No contact at all. I didn't have time to hardly register my shock at the fact, before .. well ..

The battle's outcome is pretty obvious.

I was reminded of this as I stared blankly at the monitor I'd turned off, thinking about the stats that the dark screen obscured."

Still I just didn't understand it. Had it all been a fluke? Or had he missed all his shots on purpose so as to weaken the cliff I was standing on[?]  Even then, how had he managed to dodge my shot? For an veteran zoid warrior, the timing involved would have been difficult to the point of almost being impossible, but for some kid like Bit? It just didn't make sense.

I sighed; I probably wasn't ever going to find out tonight, or any other night for that matter. Dragging myself to my room, I flopped onto my bed, hoping like anything that when I woke up, I'd forget all about Bit, his white Liger and his unbelievable luck.

*****

A.N. Well here's another chapter finally done. Heh~ probably could have been done ages ago, but I'm on holiday. *shrugs* Anyways, big thanks to my pre-readers Zinou and CGAdamW4. Specially Zinou… man its not my fault that I can't write proper tenses ^_~ hmmM~~

Next chapter – We find out what exactly did happen to Naomi's dad. And YES, I'll finally get to the Br/N mush… so till next time!!!