THE CONVENTION
By: Matt Taylor
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, some company in Japan does, I make no money from their use.
******************
"Yo, Jamie!"
Jamie Hemeros looked over the side of his Raynos, from where he sat in the cockpit.
"Hey Bit. What's up?"
Bit climbed up the small ladder that led to the head. Jamie was leaning back in his seat, looking nonchalantly through a pile of papers. Bit looked over the side, and at the paper on top. There was a profile shot of a young man, and across from his was a black and white of a Raynos in flight.
"You okay?"
"Huh? Yeah, why you ask?" Jamie said.
"Leon says you walked right by him without saying anything."
"Oh, sorry. I've just been looking through these papers." Bit took one from the bottom of the stack, and saw that it was another profile shot, and Raynos, along with personal information, and Raynos stats.
"Who are these guys?"
"These guys are my opponents in the race."
"The Raynos race?"
"Yep."
"So you're gonna take part?"
"Yep."
"Hey hey!" Bit slapped him on the back and grinned. "That's great man, you'll blow them away."
"Don't be so sure of that." Jamie said, gloomily. "These guys have incredible records, This one broke the national air-speed record last year. And this one has been flying in Zoids since my dad's heyday."
"Geez, Jamie, you sound like you've already lost."
"For all intents and purposes, I already have. Look at these guys Bit!" her shoved the papers into his teammates hands, almost causing Bit to fall off the ladder. "I should just go and withdraw now."
"Well, if you don't want to be in the race, why don't you?"
Jamie just hung his head in his hands, and remembered Pierce smiling at him.
"I.I have to." Bit just shrugged. Both of them remained silent for several minutes, before Bit spoke up.
"Hey! I know what'll loosen you up a bit."
"What?"
"Why don't you take Raynos out for a run?" Bit said.
"Technically, Raynos doesn't "run" Bit, it flies."
"Whatever. An hour or so behind the wheel, and you'll feel a lot better." Bit smiled, and patted him on the back again. "I always feel better after I take Liger for a run."
"Well, I suppose it would be nice to get out for a bit." Jamie said, sounding unsure of himself.
"Exactly." Bit said, starting to climb down the ladder. "You watch, you'll feel a whole lot better."
As Bit walked off, Jamie sat in the cockpit for a few more minutes, Fist on his chin, thoughtfully. Finally he shrugged, and closed the hatch. Jamie pressed several buttons and began to move his Raynos towards the open gates.
*****************
What do you know, Bit was actually right.
Jamie smiled as he felt his Zoid glide effortlessly through the clouds. He checked his instruments and saw he was about two miles out of the hangar, and gliding at a casual pace. Nevertheless he wished he could feel the air as he flew by.
Jamie felt much calmer that he had a few hours ago, talking to Pierce. Calmer, and more clear headed.
Jamie looked down as a break in the clouds formed, and he saw rolling fields and the coast below him. He turned on his rear screens, and saw the skyline of Imperial City in the distance. Jamie breathed deeply, and relaxed back in his seat, allowing the feeling of flight to wash away his worries.
Jamie wasn't sure, but he felt his eyes close, he couldn't tell how long he was under, but all of a sudden, he snapped awake. Jamie looked around the cockpit, and noticed his instruments. Jamie jerked up, and saw he had been flying for over two hours, and it was starting to get dark.
Jamie turned the Raynos in a u-turn, and put on the gas. Raynos roared back towards Imperial City. Jamie looked towards the horizon and thought that he could see the lights in the distance. Jamie concentrated on flying for a few moments, before looking down at the pedals near his feet.
'You know you want to do it.' He heard a voice in his head say. Jamie stepped on the gas, and Raynos speed increased immeasurably. Jamie felt himself start to grin, as the land slammed by.
Finally, he found himself in the hangar again. Jamie opened the hatch, and stood up. The hangar was deserted. Jamie smiled and let out a laugh.
He spoke, and the voice sounded markedly different from his own.
"Jamie, old buddy, wait till you see what we're gonna do in this race." Wild Eagle laughed.
******************
And so the first day of the convention ended. The entire hotel quiet, only the slight hum of the heaters, and every now and then, someone on the fifth floor would hear someone yell out "Where are you Leena, my love!?"
Otherwise, the night was quiet.
*******************
"And so, as you can see, my new weapons frames can greatly improve either the speed, strength or the firepower of even the most common Zoid." Dr. Toros said from his place on the stand. Behind him were several large screens of Liger Schneider, Yager and Panzer in action, and next to him was a huge green Gunsniper, equipped with an frame different from it's usual. Attached to it's sides were a pair of large gatling guns, on it's head was a pair of long sharp heat tusks, on the back near the end were powerful looking thrusters, and on the back was a large beam cannon.
"Putting aside the additions I made for the Liger Zero, and it's pilot Bit Cloud, which you'll remember, took the Blitz team to the S class just a "bit" ago." Dr. Toros said with a slight chuckle. In the crowd, Leena put her hand on her forehead, and hoped no one recognized her as this mans daughter.
"I told the doc that it would be better if he got rid of the jokes." Jamie said.
"You know how dad is." Leon said.
"This is the first of the new weapons frames I made, as you can see it's designed for use with the Gunsniper, and is called "the Tyrant." As you can see it's armed with a pair of beam gatling guns, and a large beam cannon, also there are the heat tusks for close range combat, and these pulse thrusters triple it's speed."
"Dr?" A man in the crowd asked.
"Yes."
"Most of the weapons seem to be beam based, isn't there a problem of it running out of power during battle?"
"The beam cannons are connected to an on board power generator, separate from the Zoids own, running out of power should not be any real problem."
Dr. Toros droned on for the next half hour, answering questions and pointing out various parts of the new frame. The Blitz and Fluegel Teams stood in the crowd, watching him work.
"Dad's actually doing pretty well." Leena said, recovering from her own embarrassment, earlier.
"Dr. Toros. You said that you built this model frame for a specific person?"
"Why yes. I built it for my daughter Leena. She's right there in the crowd. Hi Poochey-kins! Daddy's up on stage, see?"
"Everyone in the crowd turned, as well as most of the Blitz team. Bit looked next to him, but for some reason Leena was gone, replaced with a diminishing trail of steam, and an empty space. As they did this the sound of the door banging closed rang out.
Dr. Toros had an embarrassed look on his face, and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well that's all for this presentation, next presentation will be at noon. See you then."
********************
"Which way do you think Leena went off to?" Jamie asked, as he, Leon and Bit walked through the lobby
"Don't worry, we're sure to run into her sooner or later." Leon said. "hey Jamie, a question."
"What?"
"Where were you last night, anyway?"
"Yeah." Bit put in, "We found you asleep in your Raynos cockpit this morning."
Jamie rubbed his forehead, unsure of where he had been last night.
"I remember turning Raynos around to get back to the hotel, but I don't remember landing or anything that happened afterwords."
"Strange."
"Well, maybe you were so tired, that as soon as you landed, you knocked off." Bit suggested.
"But wasn't the pit hatch open?" Leon said.
"That's true."
"Ah, I really don't wanna think about it. I skipped breakfast to see Doc's show, and I'm starving." Jamie said.
"Not me." Said Bit.
"Me neither." Leon added.
"Okay. I'll see you guys later then?"
"Right. Catch you later." Bit said as Jamie walked towards one of the hotel's indoor restaurants.
"So what do you wanna do now Bit?"
"Well, you want to try out the new Zoid simulator battles?" Bit pointed across the room to an large doorway opening on a room with a pair of cockpits positioned on movable stands.
"A rematch, huh?"
"Why not, you aren't afraid are you?" Bit said smirking.
"Afraid? Of you? You wish!" Leon said, smiling.
With that both were off.
*******************
"I love the sea."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Naomi stood at the end of an long pier, with Brad a few feet behind her. Both had been standing out here for awhile now. After Dr. Toros show ended, Naomi had asked Brad to bring her out here. He wandered for a moment why she, an (pretty much) full grown woman would need a man to take her here, or at least he did, until she put on her innocent look, and he hastily agreed.
"I always said that if I ever leave Zoid fighting, I'm gonna live by the sea." Naomi said, leaning over the rail to feel the air of the ocean. Brad looked at her, and thought she was beautiful, leaning out like that, the breeze in her hair. He found himself staring at her so long, that he almost didn't hear her speaking to him.
"Brad? Brad you in there?"
He snapped out of it, and noticed her looking at him oddly.
"Oh, sorry Naomi, I was just.uh." he said. Suddenly she grinned mischievously.
"See something interesting?"
"Maybe." He said, trying to look cool, and failing. Naomi laughed a bit, and pulled him forward into an embrace. She leaned her head against his chest, as he slowly put his arms around her.
"I'm really glad you guys could all come out here. It would have been boring with just Leon." She said.
"Well.I'm glad you're here to." He said. Brad blushed, reprimanding himself for sounding foolish in his own ears. Brad always tried to put on a cool, mature exterior, but he had little real experience with girls. He had dated one girl for three months, when he was fifteen, but soon she gave him the "maybe we should just be friends" talk. Since then, part of him had decided that women just weren't worth the trouble.
Then he met this woman. Brad had heard many woman claim to be strong, and he had gained the opinion that women believed that strength=being a bitch. But this woman was different.
"Hey. Why don't we take a walk?" She asked, looking up.
"Along the Beach?"
"Yeah, there's not many people out now." Brad looked out and saw it was true, everyone was inside seeing the new exhibits. Brad took her hand, and led them down to the beach.
"Let's go."
*******************
Leon and Bit stood in front of a long line of people. In front of them was a long velvet rope, separating the crowd from the two simulator cockpits. The two cockpits were moving all around in their stands, simulating the maneuvers of the Zoids they represented to the pilots inside. Above them was a large board showing stats and final scores.
"Jeez. Would you look at those scores." Leon said.
"Yeah, whoever's in there is good."
Just as Bit spoke a buzzer sounded, and one side of the board started flashing "system crash" and the cockpit stopped moving. The hatch opened and a young man stepped out.
"Shit." He said quietly, breathing heavily. The man was blonde, and wore an old fashioned bombardiers jacket. Across from him, the other cockpit opened, and the winner exited. Suddenly Bit spoke up.
"Vega!?" True enough, Vega Obscura, pilot of the Berserk Fury stood across the room from Bit.
"Bit Cloud!" He said, he rushed over and the two shook hands, and patted each other on the back.
"Man's it's nice to see you again." Bit said.
"Same here. You here for the convention?"
"Any Zoid pilot worth his salt comes to this thing." Bit said, laughing.
"Who's your friend?" Vega asked, pointing to Leon.
"This is Leon Toros, he's part of the Fluegel team." Bit said. "He's also Doc Toros son."
"Oh yes, I've heard of you. You fought Bit right before me." Vega said, shaking Leon's head. As he did this, the blonde man who had lost against Vega came up and stood a little bit away from him. Vega noticed.
"Ah yes. Bit, Leon this is Allen Somers, a dear friend of mine and the first member of my team, The Four Divine Kings." Somers stepped up and shook Bit's hand, smiling.
"Pleasure, especially to meet someone as famous as Bit Cloud."
"Ahem, gentlemen." Said a voice to the side. A tall heavyset man came up, and spoke to Bit and Leon, "If you two are getting on this I suggest you do it now, you're holding up the line."
"Oh sorry. Talk to you later Vega" Bit said, as He and Leon walked towards the simulators.
"The Four Divine Kings?" Leon asked.
"Ah, It sounds like the type of name Vega would choose." With this, the two of them entered their respective cockpits. Once inside, a screen came up, asking them to choose which Zoid they wanted. Bit, since it didn't list his Liger ZERO, chose a Command Wolf, While Leon went with a Blade Liger. With that, the battle began.
As this took place, Vega and his teammate walked to the back of the room.
"This should be interesting." Allen said.
"Definitely. In fact." Vega looked over into the line, and spotted two people, who he started to motion to come over. The two did. One was a slender, somewhat gaunt young man, of medium height, with grey-black hair held back by a red string behind his head. Despite the grey in his hair, he was no older than Bit. The other was a stunning young woman with blonde hair that fell to her waist, and a set of visor sunglasses over her eyes.
"What is it?" the man asked, in a thin, slightly raspy sounding voice.
"You see simulator number one?" Vega asked.
"Yeah." the girl asked.
"You two really need to watch this. It's Bit Cloud." Vega said, smiling.
"THE Bit Cloud, the one who beat you?" The man asked.
"The same. We'll be facing this man some day."
"We haven't even made our debut yet Vega. And you're already planning to challenge the Blitz Team?" The woman said.
"Don't worry. But nonetheless, we may want to pay attention to this."
******************
At any normal time you could expect that a beach in a city the size of Imperial City would be packed. And on a normal summer week it would be, but this week was the week of the Zoid convention, and the place was practically empty.
Not that Brad and Naomi cared, mind you.
Even now the two of them where laying on the sand underneath a pier, kissing like the world was going to end. They had started this after a walk that had lasted all of two minutes, until Naomi told him that there was "something she always wanted to do under a pier."
Brad finally pulled away from her.
"Brad, what's a matter?" She asked.
"Uh nothing.It's just, this is kind of public." Naomi looked amused and brushed his cheek with the back of her hand.
"I don't mind." She said in a low seductive voice.
"We've already been here for two hours, and all."
"I'm in no hurry." With this, she pulled him down into another kiss, and Brad forgot about his objections.
*******************
"Have you been hiding in the ladies room ever since then, Leena?" Bit said as he, Leon, and Leena walked to a restaurant.
"Yes! You would have done the same if you had been that embarrassed!" She sputtered. Leena had finally worked up the courage to leave the bathroom, just as her brother and Bit had left the simulator room. Leon had lost again, but seemed to be in good spirits, anyway.
The three sat down and ordered.
"Well, at least one good thing has happened to me today. I haven't run into Harry."
"What was that my love?" Harry said, running so fast he seemed to appear out of thin air behind her.
"Gah! Don't do that Harry!"
"The power of my love gives me the speed of the gods, my Leena." He said. "Here let me rub your shoulders."
Leena managed to contain her anger, as Harry tried his best to give her a massage, despite his lack of massaging skill. Leon, ever the diplomat, spoke up.
"Harry, would you like to join us?" Leena looked at her brother like he had just started to grow a second head out of his forearm.
"I would gladly join my dear Leena for supper. Though I prefer it was just the two of us, candlelight, filet mignon, and a man behind us playing a violin." He said, looking at Leena with a dreamy expression. Leena seemed to be very interest in anything else in the restaurant as long as it wasn't Harry.
"So Harry, you bring your Zoid along?" Bit asked.
"I brought my Dark Horn along." Harry said.
"Hey, you wanna fight me in the battle arena, sometime?"
"A duel? For the hand of Leena?" he said, standing up and putting his hand over his heart.
"Now I didn't actually say that.."
"I gladly accept!" Harry said, pointing to the sky dramatically. "Bit Cloud! Until tomorrow!"
With this, Harry gallantly walked off.
"Funny, I thought he was going to join us for supper." Leon said. Leena grabbed Bit's collar, and dragged him over to her.
"Bit I can't believe you did that!?"
"But.but I didn't." He stammered.
"For your sake, you better win tomorrow." She said, letting him go and folding her arms over her chest. Bit sighed.
"You know, sometimes I really need to keep my mouth shut."
TO BE CONTINUED.
By: Matt Taylor
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, some company in Japan does, I make no money from their use.
******************
"Yo, Jamie!"
Jamie Hemeros looked over the side of his Raynos, from where he sat in the cockpit.
"Hey Bit. What's up?"
Bit climbed up the small ladder that led to the head. Jamie was leaning back in his seat, looking nonchalantly through a pile of papers. Bit looked over the side, and at the paper on top. There was a profile shot of a young man, and across from his was a black and white of a Raynos in flight.
"You okay?"
"Huh? Yeah, why you ask?" Jamie said.
"Leon says you walked right by him without saying anything."
"Oh, sorry. I've just been looking through these papers." Bit took one from the bottom of the stack, and saw that it was another profile shot, and Raynos, along with personal information, and Raynos stats.
"Who are these guys?"
"These guys are my opponents in the race."
"The Raynos race?"
"Yep."
"So you're gonna take part?"
"Yep."
"Hey hey!" Bit slapped him on the back and grinned. "That's great man, you'll blow them away."
"Don't be so sure of that." Jamie said, gloomily. "These guys have incredible records, This one broke the national air-speed record last year. And this one has been flying in Zoids since my dad's heyday."
"Geez, Jamie, you sound like you've already lost."
"For all intents and purposes, I already have. Look at these guys Bit!" her shoved the papers into his teammates hands, almost causing Bit to fall off the ladder. "I should just go and withdraw now."
"Well, if you don't want to be in the race, why don't you?"
Jamie just hung his head in his hands, and remembered Pierce smiling at him.
"I.I have to." Bit just shrugged. Both of them remained silent for several minutes, before Bit spoke up.
"Hey! I know what'll loosen you up a bit."
"What?"
"Why don't you take Raynos out for a run?" Bit said.
"Technically, Raynos doesn't "run" Bit, it flies."
"Whatever. An hour or so behind the wheel, and you'll feel a lot better." Bit smiled, and patted him on the back again. "I always feel better after I take Liger for a run."
"Well, I suppose it would be nice to get out for a bit." Jamie said, sounding unsure of himself.
"Exactly." Bit said, starting to climb down the ladder. "You watch, you'll feel a whole lot better."
As Bit walked off, Jamie sat in the cockpit for a few more minutes, Fist on his chin, thoughtfully. Finally he shrugged, and closed the hatch. Jamie pressed several buttons and began to move his Raynos towards the open gates.
*****************
What do you know, Bit was actually right.
Jamie smiled as he felt his Zoid glide effortlessly through the clouds. He checked his instruments and saw he was about two miles out of the hangar, and gliding at a casual pace. Nevertheless he wished he could feel the air as he flew by.
Jamie felt much calmer that he had a few hours ago, talking to Pierce. Calmer, and more clear headed.
Jamie looked down as a break in the clouds formed, and he saw rolling fields and the coast below him. He turned on his rear screens, and saw the skyline of Imperial City in the distance. Jamie breathed deeply, and relaxed back in his seat, allowing the feeling of flight to wash away his worries.
Jamie wasn't sure, but he felt his eyes close, he couldn't tell how long he was under, but all of a sudden, he snapped awake. Jamie looked around the cockpit, and noticed his instruments. Jamie jerked up, and saw he had been flying for over two hours, and it was starting to get dark.
Jamie turned the Raynos in a u-turn, and put on the gas. Raynos roared back towards Imperial City. Jamie looked towards the horizon and thought that he could see the lights in the distance. Jamie concentrated on flying for a few moments, before looking down at the pedals near his feet.
'You know you want to do it.' He heard a voice in his head say. Jamie stepped on the gas, and Raynos speed increased immeasurably. Jamie felt himself start to grin, as the land slammed by.
Finally, he found himself in the hangar again. Jamie opened the hatch, and stood up. The hangar was deserted. Jamie smiled and let out a laugh.
He spoke, and the voice sounded markedly different from his own.
"Jamie, old buddy, wait till you see what we're gonna do in this race." Wild Eagle laughed.
******************
And so the first day of the convention ended. The entire hotel quiet, only the slight hum of the heaters, and every now and then, someone on the fifth floor would hear someone yell out "Where are you Leena, my love!?"
Otherwise, the night was quiet.
*******************
"And so, as you can see, my new weapons frames can greatly improve either the speed, strength or the firepower of even the most common Zoid." Dr. Toros said from his place on the stand. Behind him were several large screens of Liger Schneider, Yager and Panzer in action, and next to him was a huge green Gunsniper, equipped with an frame different from it's usual. Attached to it's sides were a pair of large gatling guns, on it's head was a pair of long sharp heat tusks, on the back near the end were powerful looking thrusters, and on the back was a large beam cannon.
"Putting aside the additions I made for the Liger Zero, and it's pilot Bit Cloud, which you'll remember, took the Blitz team to the S class just a "bit" ago." Dr. Toros said with a slight chuckle. In the crowd, Leena put her hand on her forehead, and hoped no one recognized her as this mans daughter.
"I told the doc that it would be better if he got rid of the jokes." Jamie said.
"You know how dad is." Leon said.
"This is the first of the new weapons frames I made, as you can see it's designed for use with the Gunsniper, and is called "the Tyrant." As you can see it's armed with a pair of beam gatling guns, and a large beam cannon, also there are the heat tusks for close range combat, and these pulse thrusters triple it's speed."
"Dr?" A man in the crowd asked.
"Yes."
"Most of the weapons seem to be beam based, isn't there a problem of it running out of power during battle?"
"The beam cannons are connected to an on board power generator, separate from the Zoids own, running out of power should not be any real problem."
Dr. Toros droned on for the next half hour, answering questions and pointing out various parts of the new frame. The Blitz and Fluegel Teams stood in the crowd, watching him work.
"Dad's actually doing pretty well." Leena said, recovering from her own embarrassment, earlier.
"Dr. Toros. You said that you built this model frame for a specific person?"
"Why yes. I built it for my daughter Leena. She's right there in the crowd. Hi Poochey-kins! Daddy's up on stage, see?"
"Everyone in the crowd turned, as well as most of the Blitz team. Bit looked next to him, but for some reason Leena was gone, replaced with a diminishing trail of steam, and an empty space. As they did this the sound of the door banging closed rang out.
Dr. Toros had an embarrassed look on his face, and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well that's all for this presentation, next presentation will be at noon. See you then."
********************
"Which way do you think Leena went off to?" Jamie asked, as he, Leon and Bit walked through the lobby
"Don't worry, we're sure to run into her sooner or later." Leon said. "hey Jamie, a question."
"What?"
"Where were you last night, anyway?"
"Yeah." Bit put in, "We found you asleep in your Raynos cockpit this morning."
Jamie rubbed his forehead, unsure of where he had been last night.
"I remember turning Raynos around to get back to the hotel, but I don't remember landing or anything that happened afterwords."
"Strange."
"Well, maybe you were so tired, that as soon as you landed, you knocked off." Bit suggested.
"But wasn't the pit hatch open?" Leon said.
"That's true."
"Ah, I really don't wanna think about it. I skipped breakfast to see Doc's show, and I'm starving." Jamie said.
"Not me." Said Bit.
"Me neither." Leon added.
"Okay. I'll see you guys later then?"
"Right. Catch you later." Bit said as Jamie walked towards one of the hotel's indoor restaurants.
"So what do you wanna do now Bit?"
"Well, you want to try out the new Zoid simulator battles?" Bit pointed across the room to an large doorway opening on a room with a pair of cockpits positioned on movable stands.
"A rematch, huh?"
"Why not, you aren't afraid are you?" Bit said smirking.
"Afraid? Of you? You wish!" Leon said, smiling.
With that both were off.
*******************
"I love the sea."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Naomi stood at the end of an long pier, with Brad a few feet behind her. Both had been standing out here for awhile now. After Dr. Toros show ended, Naomi had asked Brad to bring her out here. He wandered for a moment why she, an (pretty much) full grown woman would need a man to take her here, or at least he did, until she put on her innocent look, and he hastily agreed.
"I always said that if I ever leave Zoid fighting, I'm gonna live by the sea." Naomi said, leaning over the rail to feel the air of the ocean. Brad looked at her, and thought she was beautiful, leaning out like that, the breeze in her hair. He found himself staring at her so long, that he almost didn't hear her speaking to him.
"Brad? Brad you in there?"
He snapped out of it, and noticed her looking at him oddly.
"Oh, sorry Naomi, I was just.uh." he said. Suddenly she grinned mischievously.
"See something interesting?"
"Maybe." He said, trying to look cool, and failing. Naomi laughed a bit, and pulled him forward into an embrace. She leaned her head against his chest, as he slowly put his arms around her.
"I'm really glad you guys could all come out here. It would have been boring with just Leon." She said.
"Well.I'm glad you're here to." He said. Brad blushed, reprimanding himself for sounding foolish in his own ears. Brad always tried to put on a cool, mature exterior, but he had little real experience with girls. He had dated one girl for three months, when he was fifteen, but soon she gave him the "maybe we should just be friends" talk. Since then, part of him had decided that women just weren't worth the trouble.
Then he met this woman. Brad had heard many woman claim to be strong, and he had gained the opinion that women believed that strength=being a bitch. But this woman was different.
"Hey. Why don't we take a walk?" She asked, looking up.
"Along the Beach?"
"Yeah, there's not many people out now." Brad looked out and saw it was true, everyone was inside seeing the new exhibits. Brad took her hand, and led them down to the beach.
"Let's go."
*******************
Leon and Bit stood in front of a long line of people. In front of them was a long velvet rope, separating the crowd from the two simulator cockpits. The two cockpits were moving all around in their stands, simulating the maneuvers of the Zoids they represented to the pilots inside. Above them was a large board showing stats and final scores.
"Jeez. Would you look at those scores." Leon said.
"Yeah, whoever's in there is good."
Just as Bit spoke a buzzer sounded, and one side of the board started flashing "system crash" and the cockpit stopped moving. The hatch opened and a young man stepped out.
"Shit." He said quietly, breathing heavily. The man was blonde, and wore an old fashioned bombardiers jacket. Across from him, the other cockpit opened, and the winner exited. Suddenly Bit spoke up.
"Vega!?" True enough, Vega Obscura, pilot of the Berserk Fury stood across the room from Bit.
"Bit Cloud!" He said, he rushed over and the two shook hands, and patted each other on the back.
"Man's it's nice to see you again." Bit said.
"Same here. You here for the convention?"
"Any Zoid pilot worth his salt comes to this thing." Bit said, laughing.
"Who's your friend?" Vega asked, pointing to Leon.
"This is Leon Toros, he's part of the Fluegel team." Bit said. "He's also Doc Toros son."
"Oh yes, I've heard of you. You fought Bit right before me." Vega said, shaking Leon's head. As he did this, the blonde man who had lost against Vega came up and stood a little bit away from him. Vega noticed.
"Ah yes. Bit, Leon this is Allen Somers, a dear friend of mine and the first member of my team, The Four Divine Kings." Somers stepped up and shook Bit's hand, smiling.
"Pleasure, especially to meet someone as famous as Bit Cloud."
"Ahem, gentlemen." Said a voice to the side. A tall heavyset man came up, and spoke to Bit and Leon, "If you two are getting on this I suggest you do it now, you're holding up the line."
"Oh sorry. Talk to you later Vega" Bit said, as He and Leon walked towards the simulators.
"The Four Divine Kings?" Leon asked.
"Ah, It sounds like the type of name Vega would choose." With this, the two of them entered their respective cockpits. Once inside, a screen came up, asking them to choose which Zoid they wanted. Bit, since it didn't list his Liger ZERO, chose a Command Wolf, While Leon went with a Blade Liger. With that, the battle began.
As this took place, Vega and his teammate walked to the back of the room.
"This should be interesting." Allen said.
"Definitely. In fact." Vega looked over into the line, and spotted two people, who he started to motion to come over. The two did. One was a slender, somewhat gaunt young man, of medium height, with grey-black hair held back by a red string behind his head. Despite the grey in his hair, he was no older than Bit. The other was a stunning young woman with blonde hair that fell to her waist, and a set of visor sunglasses over her eyes.
"What is it?" the man asked, in a thin, slightly raspy sounding voice.
"You see simulator number one?" Vega asked.
"Yeah." the girl asked.
"You two really need to watch this. It's Bit Cloud." Vega said, smiling.
"THE Bit Cloud, the one who beat you?" The man asked.
"The same. We'll be facing this man some day."
"We haven't even made our debut yet Vega. And you're already planning to challenge the Blitz Team?" The woman said.
"Don't worry. But nonetheless, we may want to pay attention to this."
******************
At any normal time you could expect that a beach in a city the size of Imperial City would be packed. And on a normal summer week it would be, but this week was the week of the Zoid convention, and the place was practically empty.
Not that Brad and Naomi cared, mind you.
Even now the two of them where laying on the sand underneath a pier, kissing like the world was going to end. They had started this after a walk that had lasted all of two minutes, until Naomi told him that there was "something she always wanted to do under a pier."
Brad finally pulled away from her.
"Brad, what's a matter?" She asked.
"Uh nothing.It's just, this is kind of public." Naomi looked amused and brushed his cheek with the back of her hand.
"I don't mind." She said in a low seductive voice.
"We've already been here for two hours, and all."
"I'm in no hurry." With this, she pulled him down into another kiss, and Brad forgot about his objections.
*******************
"Have you been hiding in the ladies room ever since then, Leena?" Bit said as he, Leon, and Leena walked to a restaurant.
"Yes! You would have done the same if you had been that embarrassed!" She sputtered. Leena had finally worked up the courage to leave the bathroom, just as her brother and Bit had left the simulator room. Leon had lost again, but seemed to be in good spirits, anyway.
The three sat down and ordered.
"Well, at least one good thing has happened to me today. I haven't run into Harry."
"What was that my love?" Harry said, running so fast he seemed to appear out of thin air behind her.
"Gah! Don't do that Harry!"
"The power of my love gives me the speed of the gods, my Leena." He said. "Here let me rub your shoulders."
Leena managed to contain her anger, as Harry tried his best to give her a massage, despite his lack of massaging skill. Leon, ever the diplomat, spoke up.
"Harry, would you like to join us?" Leena looked at her brother like he had just started to grow a second head out of his forearm.
"I would gladly join my dear Leena for supper. Though I prefer it was just the two of us, candlelight, filet mignon, and a man behind us playing a violin." He said, looking at Leena with a dreamy expression. Leena seemed to be very interest in anything else in the restaurant as long as it wasn't Harry.
"So Harry, you bring your Zoid along?" Bit asked.
"I brought my Dark Horn along." Harry said.
"Hey, you wanna fight me in the battle arena, sometime?"
"A duel? For the hand of Leena?" he said, standing up and putting his hand over his heart.
"Now I didn't actually say that.."
"I gladly accept!" Harry said, pointing to the sky dramatically. "Bit Cloud! Until tomorrow!"
With this, Harry gallantly walked off.
"Funny, I thought he was going to join us for supper." Leon said. Leena grabbed Bit's collar, and dragged him over to her.
"Bit I can't believe you did that!?"
"But.but I didn't." He stammered.
"For your sake, you better win tomorrow." She said, letting him go and folding her arms over her chest. Bit sighed.
"You know, sometimes I really need to keep my mouth shut."
TO BE CONTINUED.