Okay, Chapter 7. Just so you know: I originally planned 14 chapters but it looks like 15 right now. I doubt it'll get any higher. Anyway, I haven't done a disclaimer in a while so here: I do not own zoids (although I wish I did) and I have made my own setting to avoid any law suits (why would anyone want to sue me?!) and so don't bother accusing me of copyright entrenchment, okay? Okay. Please enjoy and uh *coughpleasecoughreviewcoughmycoughstorycough*. Excuse me, now with the story.
Part 2
Chapter 7
Rayne turned at the sound of someone calling out to her from a table near the back. She smiled lightly, recognizing the voice of Bit Cloud.
"Bit! It's been a while!" Lyle and Gin were grinning beside her, happy to get a chance to talk to Bit again. He was alone this time. At first Rayne was going to ask where the rest of his team was but she decided against it, shaking her head. The three of them walked over to him and seated themselves at the same table.
"Tell me about it. How've things been going for you all?"
"Pretty good, except for a few minor incidents."
"Hm, well I hope things get better for you. Did you all hear about the base in the Unnamed Desert that took an attack from an unknown Whale King yesterday?"
"Naturally… It was our base." Lyle sighed after he'd finished speaking and leaned back in his seat.
"Really?!"
"And it happened again today." Gin did the same as Lyle, mocking his position fairly well.
"Well you all are awfully calm about it."
"It was Sai, so we know that the attacks are over for now." Rayne picked up the conversation again.
"Are you sure?" She nodded. "Well then, why was he attacking you all? I've never heard of sibling rivalry going that far before."
"He joined the Backdraft."
"But the Backdraft was arrested, all of them. Right?"
"Supposedly, but it might be possible that some members slipped through the cracks. We know that Sarah, Count, Layon, and the other head leaders were successfully apprehended but there were plenty of low ranked members ready to take the reigns if necessary."
"I see… So nondescript soldiers assumed leadership."
"Basically."
"I wonder why they haven't come after us yet…"
"Because you are in Class S, we have reason to believe that they haven't attacked you because they don't think they have the skill or firepower to beat you."
"And you know this, how?"
"It's just speculation."
"Do you have to talk like a scientist?"
"It's a sign that she's worried." Lyle grinned, pleased with himself for knowing his partner so well. Gin tapped him on the shoulder and, as he turned to look at her, popped him upside the head with the back of her hand. They were all worried, and Gin was not in the mood for Lyle's antics. Rayne leaned back and looked at the ceiling.
"I wonder if we should have left our zoids back at the base… Maybe we should have brought them with us… I don't trust Sai."
"We can't fit four zoids onto the back on the Gustav. We probably couldn't even fit three, let alone Sworder." Bit perked up a little at then mention of a fourth zoid.
"Sworder? A Storm Sworder?"
"Yeah, a gift from Gin who couldn't pilot it anymore. It's already beginning to be known as my second zoid, though I've only used it once."
"A Storm Sworder and a Lightning Saix. You've got some fairly impressive zoids. Add to them Lyle's Gunsniper and Gin's Hell Cat and you all are a force to be reckoned with."
"Perhaps, but we still lost to Sai the first time-"
"But we wiped them out the second time. You should have heard Kelley and Kristie shouting about how we cheated to win." Lyle seemed to enjoy butting into the conversation.
"I wish I could have but-"
"You were too bust lecturing your brother and kicking his ass." Gin couldn't resist, it was the perfect time to mention Rayne's dominance over her older brother. Rayne's tension was released a little, though it was obvious she was still worried. She turned to Bit.
"You've had a couple of unsanctioned battles with the Backdraft before, is there anything we should expect soon?"
"Well, as long as they don't show up with an Ultimate X or something you all should be fine. Just do what you did last time. Sounds like you all really dominated." Lyle and Gin grinned while Rayne flushed under the praise of the more experienced warrior.
"Bit." Gin looked around at everyone before continuing, making sure she had everyone's attention. "Rayne's Storm Sworder is… um, unique. After I had it checked out after a particularly grueling battle it was found to have a mysterious black box in it."
"An organoid system?"
"Most likely. And, though Rayne hadn't piloted it before, it knew exactly what to do against Sai's Terrace. It went down with ease, though she had never fought in any aerial zoid before."
"Did you fight against a Terrace when you piloted it?" Gin nodded. "Then it's probably an organoid system. It remembered the capabilities of the Terrace and used the data to pull off a win. But I don't see how an Ultimate X could choose two pilots…"
"I don't think it did. It was particularly unruly when I piloted it, but I never stopped to consider that it was anything more than a normal, slightly rambunctious zoid. But it showed no signs of its earlier playfulness when Rayne was piloting. I believe she was the intended pilot."
"Sounds that way."
"Gin, why didn't you tell me anything about this before?" Rayne looked worried, and her tension was gradually increasing again.
"You never asked, and I pushed it out of my mind long ago." The younger woman sighed at the words that came out of the older woman's mouth, recognizing her own dialog from earlier that day. Lyle couldn't hold in anymore. He let loose with uneasy laughter as though someone had made a joke but he stopped slowly.
"Sorry… I just like to laugh when I get worried… Damn… Why did Sai have to do all of this?!" He punched the table, letting all of his rage out in that easy motion. Rayne jumped at his action and Gin put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. Lyle continued apologizing for a full five minutes before he realized that everyone understood and wasn't holding it against him. With an uneasy smile he slunk down in his seat as if were trying to disappear.
Their conversation with Bit lasted a little longer and ended on friendly terms as Bit announced his departure. They all said polite farewells and Bit left, leaving the Ace Team alone to think for a while. No one said anything when the food came. They all ate quickly and, when Lyle finally finished his one-half pound burger, they stood to leave, leaving their payment on the table. Just as they reached the door it flew open revealing a flustered, tired, oddly dressed man with brown hair. He blinked as he stood before the Ace Team who, in turn, blinked back.
"Hah! I found you!"
"And you are…?"
"I'm Harry Champ. I'm a man destined to be king!"
"And you were looking for us… why?"
"I want to challenge you to a zoids battle. Two times the normal prize money!" Lyle and Gin looked to Rayne, who glanced back to them before answering.
"Hm… Send the details to our base and we'll consider it." Though he balked for a moment, Harry regained his composure and nodded and held his hand to his chin as though mulling over what she had said.
"Alright then. See you in battle, Ace Team." Harry went in, the Ace Team went out, and neither said another word as they went their separate ways.
Later on… Rayne, Lyle, and Gin were in the Gustav, each thinking about their own things. Eventually Lyle spoke up.
"Didn't the Champ Team challenge Bit's team a lot back when they were in Class A?"
"Come to think of it, yeah." Rayne looked out at the rolling dunes of the Unnamed Desert.
"Didn't we watch a lot of those battles?"
"Yes."
"And what'd we learn from them? I… Uh… Can't remember…"
"That the Champ Team relies a little too heavily on their money to win and that Harry has a major crush on Leena."
"Is that all?"
"And he's Bit's rival." Gin added her input quickly and quietly. Everyone then lapsed back into their thoughtful silence until they reached their base.
Once all three of them had passed through the hanger and into the main body of the base, Rayne signaled a quick team meeting. The data from the Champ Team had arrived. Rayne flipped through it quickly, almost nonchalantly, before the rest of her team arrived. When the door to the operations room opened and Lyle and Gin stepped inside, they were greeted by a grinning Rayne.
"I've just gone over the data that the Champ Team sent us. I believe that accepting their battle offer will probably be in our favor."
"Lots of prize money?" Lyle was obsessed with earning money.
"He wasn't sure if we'd accept just double the normal amount so he tripled it." Lyle's jaw dropped, but Gin was more interested in statistics than the overwhelming amount of prize money.
"But what about their capabilities?"
"From the data they'd best be classified as… pushovers. Judging from the stats I looked up on them… If they had any less than half a million dollars to spend on their zoids, they'd still be in class C."
"Ah, come on! Nobody relies on money that heavily!"
"They do, but that's just the data. We don't know how well they'll fight against us."
"What zoids do they have?"
"Three Iron Kongs."
"Hm, really?" Lyle glanced up at the screen and then to the ceiling. "I say we accept, but let's confront someone who knows a lot about Iron Kongs before we actually fight."
"Who were you thinking of?" She had an idea, but she wanted to make sure.
"Diamonds, of course. We haven't talked to Ryan since his contract ran out."
"Yeah, it'd be nice to see him again…" Rayne quickly entered the words "We accept" into the console and sent them to the Champ Team base before she stood and, with Lyle and Gin, left the control room. Rayne went straight to her room to change into something more casual while Gin went to the living room with her laptop in hand, ready to look up anything she could about Iron Kongs and the Champ Team. Lyle, being unusually helpful, went into the kitchen and picked up the phone, dialing Ryan's number. The phone rang a couple of times before the answering machine clicked on. Lyle sighed as the message played through and, when it was finished, left a message.
"Hey Ryan. It's Lyle. I guess you got a contract. Listen, we've got a battle we're going to go into but we need some… uh… instructions. We're taking on three Iron Kongs. Think you could give us a few pointers? Yeah, well call us back. Later, Diamonds." He hung up and sighed. Ryan likely was off battling. He went into the living room with Gin and turned on the TV, tuning in to see if there were any battles going on. There were a ton, mostly low class ones, but one caught his eye. He listened carefully to what the announcer was saying.
"The Iron Kong is proceeding to the opposite end of the battle. It hasn't shot at any of the opposing zoids yet. We're not exactly sure what this tactic is. It has now reached its intended destination. And it had finally started firing. We've just received some data on the Iron Kong. It's piloted by the mercenary named Ryan Bennings. And what amazing skill! He's already taken down two of the opposing zoids by himself! By why did he go to the opposite end of the battle field, I wonder?"
"Same old Ryan. He went to the other side to get the other team's attention off of him. While his team mates charged in, he went around and fired from the back." He leaned back and watched as Ryan's Iron Kong took out the last of the opposing forces. Then he stood to leave, glancing over to Gin who stared at her laptop screen intently. Lyle shrugged and walked into the kitchen, grabbing an apple out of the basket on the table. He looked at it for a moment before biting in. 'I wonder how Rayne is? She just went straight to her room… Shouldn't she have come out by now? Don't bother her, Lyle. If she wants to be alone, she wants to be alone. Let her have her space…' He tore off another chunk of apple before seating himself at the table. 'What is it between Sai and Rayne that tore them apart? Damn it, I don't think I'll ever figure them out…'
The clock ticked down as the beginning of the battle between the Ace and Champ teams approached. The Gustav rolled onto the battlefield with Rayne's Storm Sworder and Lyle's Gunsniper on the back. Gin and her Hell Cat walked along beside it. The Champ Team arrived in their usual fashion; Whale King touching down with zoids ready to unload the instant the transporter touched soil. The Ace Team was mild in comparison, the pilots jumping into the zoids and preparing themselves for combat with little communication. When all six zoids stood facing each other on the small battlefield, Harry Champ addressed the opposing team.
"I'm Harry Champ! I'm a man destined to be king!"
"Listen, we didn't come here to hear you give speeches. As soon as the judge gets here you can wear your lips off giving orders to your partners but for now, keep quiet." Lyle wasn't in the mood for games, needless to say. Harry was flustered.
"W-well… I-"
"Oh just shut up already"
"It feels good to see someone put Harry in his place," Leena mused, leaning against the table and smiling at the TV screen in the After Battle Eatery. Brad, Doc, and Jaime nodded their consent. "Hey, where's Bit? Shouldn't he be here by now?"
"Yo!" They all turned to see Bit striding over to them grinning.
"For a second we thought you were going to miss the battle."
"I wouldn't miss this for the world! Okay, maybe for the world but- Anyway, it was me who dragged you all over here. Did you really think I wouldn't show?"
"We knew you'd show. We just didn't know why you wanted us to come here, until we arrived anyway. Why'd you take such an interest in this team?"
"They let me in on a little secret about on of their zoids, so I want to see if it's true."
"What little secret?"
"Shh, not now. It's starting."
The judge landed and gave his own little speech while everyone waited impatiently. As soon as the words "Ready? Fight!" were uttered, the teams were at each others throats. Gin went for Sebastian while Rayne went at Benjamin, leaving Lyle to deal with Harry. And Lyle was perfectly content to go after the leader. He was in the spotlight for once, and he wasn't going to screw up.
He let loose with a flurry of random shots, used to trap the lead Iron Kong in its place, and then charged, guns blazing. A couple more shots and the Iron Kong was nearly incapacitated. Harry was working furiously to try and get his zoid to get out of Lyle's line of fire.
"What?! I can't go down so soon! Not with my Leena watching!"
Back at the Eatery, the Blitz Team was having a hard time keeping Leena from putting her foot through the TV.
"Your Leena?! Since when have I been your Leena, huh?!"
Harry's Iron Kong was down for the count soon after, and Rayne and Gin cleaned up the robots pretty quickly. It was a well fought battle, if not a little one sided. By the time the Ace Team had reached the Eatery for their victory dinner, the Blitz Team had already left. However, a waiter was still cleaning up the table where they had sat.
"What happened here?" Rayne asked, walking over to the waiter.
"The Blitz Team came and watched the battle that was on today. One of their pilots - Leena I think - got angry over something one of the team leader's said. She tried to tear the TV off of the wall."
"What was it she got mad at, do you think?"
"Not with my Leena watching!" Lyle said in a mocking tone, sounding almost exactly like Harry. "Think that might've been it?" Rayne and Gin smiled before they started laughing.
"P-probably!" they managed to gasp through sporadic bursts of laughter.
And yet another (long) chapter completed. It took a while but I'm satisfied. Please review and include any comments/complaints/compliments/suggestions/etc. that you can think of. Hope you're enjoying my story!