Ok, finally we get past the introduction chapters and into the story, sort of. This chapter is a bit of an introductory chapter abut it's also a bit more developed. Instead of raw facts you'll get some more detail, and hopefully a well told battle. Please review, thanks.
Section 1
Chapter 3
The bleeping sound coming from the terminal alerted Rayne to an incoming message. Apprehensively she tapped the button that completed the link-up.
"Well hello there, Spades." Rayne's shoulders slumped. It'd been a week since she saw him at the Eatery.
"Hearts… great to see you…" She loved being sarcastic towards him.
"Same to you. Now, down to business. The Crimson Team wishes to challenge the Ace Team to a battle in 0400 hours. It'll take place exactly thirty miles away from your base in the middle of the Unnamed desert. Got all that? So what's your reply?"
"Ryan, Lyle!" Sai smirked.
"Can't make a decision without them?"
"Shut-up, Hearts." Ryan and Lyle came into the room. They both took one look at the screen and assumed they knew what was up.
"I say we battle. More cash for us when we win."
"Besides… He's only Hearts. What damage can he do to Spades, Clubs, and Diamonds?" 'A lot…' Rayne thought silently.
"You're on, Hearts. See you then." The link closed. "We need a strategy." Everyone nodded their consent. Time to work. Rayne had already told them about the mysterious woman from the other night. All that was left was to come up with a winning strategy. They worked for hours completing their plan and eventually they had it figured out.
"Alright, so Saix and I will worry about Sai's Terrace. Ryan and his Iron Kong will take out a Rev Raptor and then come to assist me. Same with Lyle and his Gunsniper. Then we'll converge in on our target from three sides. Simple enough." Lyle snorted.
"Sorry… I just can't get over how you call your Lightning Saix just Saix. Most people actually use the full name." Rayne shook her head. There was no point in arguing, though, so she kept her mouth shut. Ryan cut the silence.
"We'd better rest up. Sorry, but Sai doesn't exactly have a clean record on terms of cheating. In fact, I think his is probably the most soiled I've seen. If we're going to counter his cheap shots we're going to have to have our wits about us." Rayne stood up and walked outside. This wasn't going to be a good battle; it was going to be a horrible. She had a feeling that they were going to lose, miserably.
Morning came upon them slowly. The battle was today.
The Crimson Team's zoids lined up in a row on one side of the battle field, while the Ace Team's did the same on the other side. Rayne opened a communications link with Sai.
"You'd better not try anything illegal this time. I want a clean fight, got it?!"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Spades." An object came crashing down from the sky, throwing up dust, dirt, and sand. In the center of the crater a judge capsule protruded from the ground. The capsule opened and a judge began making its announcements.
"This area is now a designated Zoid Battlefield. Only personnel have authorization to be in the area. All others must leave. Crimson Team versus the Ace Team. Battle mode 0982. Ready? Fight!"
Sai's Terrace instantly took off into flight, avoiding the few shots from Rayne's Lightning Saix. Ryan went straight for the nearest Rev Raptor, piloted by Kristie, and let loose with a barrage of shots. The Rev Raptor dodged them with ease.
"What?! I missed every shot! Impossible! They weren't this fast last time we fought them!"
Lyle was busy worrying about his own target. Kelley's zoid was chasing him, and gaining too. Lyle spun and got a few quick shots in before tuning around again. "They are to fast! She's going to catch me!" Kelley smirked as she extended her zoids dual blades and continued to charge. Her right blade clipped the leg of the Gunsniper, sending it crashing to the ground.
"Command system freeze" appeared on his screen, but Lyle wasn't awake to see it.
"Lyle's out of the battle!" Ryan paused to double check that his partner's zoid was frozen before moving after the much more agile Rev Raptor that he was tailing. The gorilla-like zoid was far too sluggish to keep up with the Raptor-style one. And it definitely couldn't beat two. Kelley and Kristie, the Jackson Twins, both had their blades extended and charged. Ryan pounded one away with his zoids fist before the other one sliced through the metal that was his zoids back mounted weapon. Ryan's zoid was now frozen as well.
The battle between the Ace and Crimson teams was being broadcast all over Zi. Every diner, bar, or public place with a TV was tuned in. From a corner of the After Battle Eatery the Blitz Team watched the battle. It was going to be a crushing defeat to the Ace Team if they lost so early into the match. It was likely they'd stay in Class A, but unlikely that they'd decide to go to the Royal Cup tournament. Bit Cloud leaned back in his seat.
"With one zoid left against two, the Ace Team is toast."
Rayne was following behind Sai cautiously, perfectly aware of the state of the rest of her team. Gin had done a wonderful job on the zoid's controls. It took little more than a light push to move the zoid to the side and it happened as soon as the controls were turned. She eyed the small monitor on the right side of her console. The other Rev Raptor was trying to move in front of her. Rayne quickly decided her course of action.
Kristie carefully planted her zoid to intercept the Lightning Saix that was fast approaching. One hundred meters. Ninety meters. Eighty meters. Seventy. She was closing the gap fast. Sai passed the Rev Raptor over head. Twenty meters. Ten meters. 'Now or never…' Rayne pushed the black button on each of her controls and her thrusters instantly came on, flying so quickly past the Rev Raptor that the enemy zoid was thrown onto its back. Now it was one on one.
"That was an impressive move." Leena kicked Bit under the table.
"Ow! Hey what was that for?!"
"You said the Ace Team was toast. It's one on one now."
"But it's a Terrace against a Lightning Saix," Jamie explained, "The Crimson Team still holds the advantage."
"We'll just have to see how this plays out." The Blitz Team continued to watch the battle between the siblings.
Sai accelerated his zoid as well, pulling even farther ahead and pulling a U-turn. He dove low to the ground and charged straight at her. It was an impressive show of daring, but as the zoids passed it was unclear who had scored a hit and who had taken one. In fact, each zoid continued moving for about forty more meters before something happened.
"See you later, Spades."
Rayne's Lightning Saix fell to the ground, a gash in its leg.
"Damn… You win this time, Hearts. But next time it won't end this way." She wasn't one to bear a grudge, but she was going to make an exception for her brother.
"The battle is over! The Battle is over! The winner is… The Crimson Team!" The judge announced before taking off back to the judge satellite.
"It was a valiant effort on their part, but the Ace Team just couldn't compete." Bit stood and stretched.
"I guess not." Leena sighed in defeat as the entire Blitz Team stood and left the Eatery, herself included. The match had been amusing, but the winner had been determined at the start.
Rayne was sitting in her zoid making a few of the many repairs the Lightning Saix would have to undergo. Lyle was off loafing somewhere and Ryan's contract with the Ace Team had expired with that battle. After tightening a particularly difficult bolt, Rayne was teetering on the edge of sleep. With nothing to do but worry about her zoid and the team's status she was quickly overexerting both her mind and body. She reached down for a wrench but knocked it out of the cockpit with the back of her hand. She sighed and leaned out to see where it fell and instead was forced to catch the flying tool as it neared her head. She looked down at the ground, surprised both by the wrench and what she saw.
"Gin! Hold on a sec! I'll be right down!" She jumped down from her cockpit and approached the older woman, a weary smile on her features. "What happened to you a week ago? You just up and disappeared on us."
"I had things to do and places to be. I do work, you know. I watched your battle from the store. You all put up a good fight."
"I guess it wasn't good enough, though. But it's alright. We've just got to get these repairs done and then we can get back to battling and try to regain our rank."
"You didn't lose any rank. You lost to a team that was ranked higher than yourselves."
"They were ranked higher than us? But they were B Class last week!"
"I know it sounds amazing but it's true. Since you saw them a week ago they managed to improve a lot. If they had challenged you back then you would have won hands down. They drastically improved their zoids' speed and power. Even if they retained their new skills as pilots, if they had normal zoids you would have won that battle."
"But how'd they improve them so much?" Gin shrugged and then walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry about it, things happen. You lost this time, but the result doesn't have to be the same next time." Rayne nodded and looked out the hanger door at the zoid standing there.
"You have a Hell Cat?"
"Yeah. I'm too old to handle the Storm Sworder any more. So I use that Hell Cat to get me around."
"But you can still pilot a zoid. Otherwise you'd just have a Gustav or a car."
"Yes. I can still pilot a zoid fairly well. Where're Lyle and Ryan?"
"Lyle's off somewhere, probably sleeping, and Ryan's contract expired."
"That's right, he's a mercenary." Both women seated themselves at the foot of the Lightning Saix. "You know, I still have that old Storm Sworder. You can have it, if you think you can handle it."
"I couldn't take your zoid. Besides, aerial zoids have different controls than ground based ones. I'm positive I'd lose control and probably crash it."
"Nonsense. I'll bring it over tomorrow. You can try it out then. And no use arguing with me," She stood and grinned lightly, "I'm very headstrong."
"Gin… If you can still pilot, who don't you belong to a team?"
"No one's ever asked me to join one."
"Well if you could handle a Storm Sworder you've got to be pretty good. What do you say? Want to join the Ace Team?" Gin nodded swiftly and then walked over to Rayne.
"I'll see you tomorrow. And don't worry about repairs; I'll handle those when I get here." She turned and left without another word, Rayne staring after her for a moment before heading inside the base.
Okay, end of chapter 3. Please notify me if I screwed up on any of the battle stuff, specifically the Judge. I haven't seen the Slash Zero series in a while. Please review. Thanks in advance!