Okay. Since I finished chapter 10 only moments before, and still have about thirty minutes before I have to jet off to soccer practice, I figured I'd start chapter 11. This is going to be another "relaxation chapter" but don't worry, future chapters get much more exciting. Please read and review!
Part 3
Chapter 11
Rayne's fingers slid easily and confidently over the controls in Saix's cockpit. She'd done the upgrades at least a hundred times before. Her expression was stoic and impassive but there was something eating away at the back of her mind.
'Did Sai leave the Backdraft or not? Damn it, if he didn't… He's going to get arrested…' She jammed down on a particular button harshly, too far lost in her own thoughts to notice the searing pain that abounded as a result. When she finally came back to her senses, no less than a full minute later, she muttered some harsh words under her breath and shook her hand vigorously. She paused and looked down at the screen for a moment, checking on the status of the upgrades. She was about ninety percent completed, but she still had Sworder to do, and that would take even longer. She sighed loudly and went back to pressing buttons, pulling up information on her beloved zoid. Gin walked in a few minutes later, carrying two cups of lukewarm tea.
"Rayne! You said you'd be coming in soon! Come on, take a break!" She shouted up. Rayne glanced to the clock on the wall and then her own watch.
"I really need to get this fixed…" she said, shaking her watch a little. "I'm coming soon, Gin!"
"Don't worry… I brought your tea out. Come on down and have a chat with me! The upgrades will take care of themselves!" Rayne scrambled down the side of her zoid will skill gained from practice. She seated herself at Saix's feet while Gin stood.
"What's up, Gin? Is something the matter?" She asked. All of the time she'd spent working on Saix instead of sleeping was showing in her tired expression and sunken eyes.
"Rayne, look at you! You look exhausted! Take a break before starting on Sworder."
"Something just occurred to me, Gin…" She looked directly up at the older woman, staring her in the eyes. "If Sworder has an organoid system, doesn't that mean he'll learn from his past battles?"
"Yes, it does and-" She paused and a slight grin spread over her features. She was going to change the subject, though she wanted to know why the younger woman had asked her question. "How long have you been calling Sworder a 'he'? I think that's a sign of a bond starting!"
"Naturally. Sworder is an amazing zoid. I can hardly believe I was frightened to pilot him in the first place."
"It's understandable to be frightened though. Especially in the heat of battle."
"I know, but fear is something I hadn't known for a while. Oh well…" she drained the last few drops of her tea. "I'd best be getting back to the upgrades."
"Come on; take a longer break than that!"
"I promise that as soon as I'm done I'll take a nice, long, extended nap and when I wake up, we'll finish this conversation."
"Alright. If there's no talking you out of it-"
"There isn't…"
"Alright then. I'll see you sooner or later. Here, let me take your mug back in." Rayne handed over the mug and climbed back into the cockpit. Due to her absence, the screen had gone blank, though the upgrades were still completing themselves. She pressed a few buttons and the screen popped back on, revealing a bright green "completed" screen. She sighed and closed the terminal display, jumping back down to the ground and rushing inside. She was going to take that nap… now.
The next day saw Lyle and Gin upgrading their zoids with Rayne resting inside. The day after that was when Rayne completed Sworder's upgrades, though it took less time because of the organoid system. It wasn't until the day after that when they all went out together to purchase some good weaponry, armor, and ammo. Rayne was looking through a window at one particularly good gun and she was considering purchasing it, though the price was a little steep. Lyle came up on her from behind, leaned forward and whistled in her ear.
"Hey! Stop that, Lyle! You made me jump eighty feet!" Lyle grinned and then swapped to a more serious expression.
"Eighty feet?"
"Not literally…" She sighed, pushing him lightly out of her way as she walked inside the store to purchase the gun. She ended up purchasing it and a few other zoid components. As she loaded them into the back of the Gustav she looked around for Gin. Finding only Lyle she posed a simple question.
"Where's Gin?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen her since we arrived, or shortly after. Now that I think about it, I saw her last near that ZBC office at the entrance to the town."
"ZBC office? Hm… Let's head back there, alright?"
"Sure. I need to consult Gin about some parts anyway…"
It was only about fifteen minutes before they found themselves outside of the ZBC office, but Gin was no where in sight.
"Where could she have gotten to?" Rayne pondered, turning around to face the other side of the street.
"Rayne, Lyle! W-What are you guys doing here? Weren't you looking at Zoid parts?" Rayne and Lyle turned to face Gin, who stood just outside the office with a large stack of papers in her hands.
"We were, but you ran off on us! What's with the papers?"
"Registration! For the Royal Cup!" She said hastily.
"Gin, we already took care of all of that, remember?"
"Oh, yeah well… You know!"
"No, we don't." Lyle said, raising an eyebrow. "Something you want to tell us?" Gin didn't like being caught off guard. In fact, she hated it. She was always on top of things and when someone caught her in a slip up, she always felt defeated.
"I have a bad memory, alright? I forgot we took care of all of this!"
"Gin, you rarely forget anything. Just tell us what's up and we'll back off." Just then, a young ZBC officer strode out of the office. He looked over to the quarreling team.
"Gin, we need those files back by tomorrow afternoon."
"Yes sir."
"Sir?" Rayne blinked a few times and Lyle just gawked. "Sir?!" They both repeated at the same time. Gin realized that she's made a big mistake. The officer looked at all three of them and then shrugged, walking away.
"Um… I can… explain…"
"Gin?! You're a member of the ZBC?!"
"Um, yes."
"Does that mean you turned Rayne's brother in?" Lyle asked, dazed. Rayne was practically fuming, though fearing the worst.
"Of course not. In fact, I managed to get him off the hook. I did some research. That attack on your all's town was a horribly misdirected ZBC assault on a Backdraft stronghold. The people at HQ sent them east instead of west and realized it too late to stop the carnage. Your brother must have found out it was the ZBC, and so joined the Backdraft. The guys up top understood and let him off."
"That's good…" Rayne said softly, letting out a quick sigh. "Gin, why didn't you tell us?"
"I didn't think about it all that much, really. In fact, during all those battles, work was the farthest thing from my mind."
"Alright… Whatever… I just don't want to bother with it right now. I'll be back at the base if you need me…"
"Have you gotten everything you need?"
"And more." That was the end of that conversation, and before long the Ace Team was back at their base.
Inside the base, Rayne sat at the computer terminal, working away at strategies against the teams they knew they would be facing. She had just finished a plan to beat the Champ Team when Gin walked in, fresh out of the shower.
"Still working? You've been at it for hours." She said, looking up at the simulation running on the screen.
"I know, but it beats lying around bored. Besides, we can't just charge in blind. And when I'm done with this, I get to load that new gun onto Saix. I might practice a little with both of my zoids after that…"
"You really are a workaholic. Take another break! One nap three days ago isn't going to help you much now."
"I know, but the tournament is in four days! I'll be ready in two, so I can relax on those last two."
"Alright… Whatever you say…" Gin started to leave, but Rayne stopped her.
"Oh, and Gin-"
"Hm?"
"No hard feelings or anything, right?"
"Right." They both smiled and went their separate ways. Rayne finished the last of the tactics - the Omega Team - and went out to start installing the gun onto Saix. Lyle was already in the hanger working on his Gunsniper.
"There, almost done now." He muttered as the new armor he was installing clicked into place. "All I have to do is run a few tests and then - bingo! - I am done!" He jumped down from his zoid's back and jogged over to Rayne. "You're going to do more to your zoids? Man, you really need to learn to relax a little."
"Sorry, Lyle, but not everyone can be laid-back every second of every day like you."
"I'm hurt, Rayne! I can be very tense!" He went off into the base, waving over his shoulder, and Rayne proceeded over to Saix. She moved the lightning-fast zoid over under the equipment she needed and loaded the gun onto the back, where she jumped up and started bolting it in. She finished in near-record time, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and sighed in relief.
"Tests and practicing is all that's left. I'll do those tomorrow…"
It was the next afternoon and Rayne was sitting inside Saix's cockpit, eyeing all of the controls and making sure everything was aligned.
"Okay, everything's set on this end. Gin, is the program ready?"
"Sure is. Now, a bunch of paper and plastic targets will pop up. They're shaped like Zoids, and hard to miss. Hit the red area and the target will fall, allowing you to move onto the next. Hit either yellow or green and the target will stay up. Hitting yellow twice will cause it to fall. Hitting green four times will do the same. Are you ready?"
"Yes. Let's do this." A loud horn sounded and the first of thirty targets rose up. She downed it with a single shot. The next was the same, as was the third and forth. By the time the practice was over, Rayne had downed twenty-four of them by hitting the red mark and she only hit the green area twice. Overall it was an amazing show of marksmanship. She did the same practice routine with Sworder and got nearly the same score, only slightly worse since she couldn't stay in the same spot in an airborne zoid.
"Now for the agility test. We can only run this with Saix, alright? Now, just run through the course, avoiding the obstacles and jumping over the hurdles, in less than two minutes and you pass. Ready? Go!" Rayne cleared it in a minute and twenty seconds. Gin rushed out to greet her when she jumped out of her cockpit. "Amazing! Simply amazing! You truly are the Ace of Spades! Now, come inside and celebrate! You get to relax!"
"Finally…" Rayne muttered as she allowed herself to be lead inside and sat down at the table for a mug of coffee. "I think I'll take a nice, long, resting nap when I'm done with this." She set it down on the table and rested her head on her hand. Well, she had that nap before she finished the coffee.
Okay, now I know it took me forever to get this chapter finished… I started to get bored with writing it since I hadn't seen the series in a few months at least. Since Cartoon Network brought it back to a time in which I can view it, I have found renewed interest in this fic. Alright, please review and another chapter in less time than this one took, promise!