Disclaimer: I don't own Zoids. This is also only a Trilogy that introduces my own original character before I get into my more intense stories.
Chapter One: Encounter
The wind blew calmly over the open desert plain, whistling as it went. In the distance, a large transport approached. It appeared to be a white snail with a large blue shell, made of steel and coated in zoid-magnite. On the bridge, five humans sat, one in his forties, and the rest, close to twenty. All anticipating the event about to take place.
"This should be good." the second to tallest of the younger men said. He was blonde with intense hazel eyes. He wore a green shirt with a red jacket, blue jeans, and brown gloves. He had an excited look on his face. 'Lets win another one."
"Bit. This always happens. You get to cocky and excited, then go and end up way in over your head." the youngest of them said, sounding rather annoyed. He was dressed all in grey with a thick yellow vest. He was sitting at the helm with a worried look on his face. "And we're up against a team purely of Gun Snipers. We use to have trouble with just Naomi's one."
"Yeah, but there is no way they could be in league with Naomi." The young woman stated, looking very anxious. "I love comparing my Sniper against others."
"Let's just wait and see how things turn out." the tallest and oldest of the zoid piolets put in, ending the conversation.
***
In a vacant, sandy plane, a meteorite-like object crashed to the earth. Out of the crater rose a white capsule. As it opened, a white figure began to quote regulations: "The area within a thirteen mile radius is a designate zoid battle field. Only competitors and personal have authorized entry. Danger, danger. All others must leave." At this point, both teams had deployed their warriors. On the Sharp Shooters Team, three blue gun snipers stood. One armed with basic weapons, while the other two had multiple missile launchers, Gatling guns, and other highly destructive weapons. The Blitz Team, on the other hand, had deployed the Shadow Fox, Leena's gun sniper with its weasel unit, and the Liger Zero Schneider. "The Blitz Team verses the Sharp Shooters Team. Battle mode 0982. Ready...Fight!" the judge finished, crossing his arms.
"Bit, the lead gun sniper is headed of that plateau. Try and stop it from taking up any kind of position." Jamie instructed from the Hover Cargo. "Brad and Leena, keep the other two engaged so that they can't stop Bit."
"Roger that." the three said in unison.
The Liger's thrusters burned to life as it gave chase to the Raptor-like zoid. With ease, both zoids climbed the steep cliff. As Bit closed in on the enemy the five rushing blades snapped forward and began to glow with energy. "Buster Slash!" he cried. But at the last second the snipers boosters switched on, burning the Liger's face, and it escaped, aided by a few missiles that had made it past Brad and Leena and crashed around the cat zoid. "Hey, what are you two doing. I had him." he shouted at his teammates.
Suddenly, a bullet hit the earth next to Bit, fallowed up by three more, one of which hitting the zoid on the side and sticking into the armor, another one piercing the armor in his front right leg. Bit looked up to see the Gun Sniper open the missile pods on its sides and release a hailstorm of explosives.
"This isn't working." Bit said to himself out loud. "Doc, get the Jager ready."
"Alright." Tauros replied.
***
"Liger, activating the system, Jager!" Bit said as he twisted the controls of his zoid up. The mechanical arms that had stripped the Liger of the Schneider now replaced it with the sleek, midnight blue armor. The platform Bit stood on rose to the open catapult. "Goooooooo Jager!" The blue feline zoid launched into the air and ran off towards the battle field.
***
Brad had managed to put up a smoke screen to protect him. This had, however, made Leena the center of the enemies attention. She was fighting on the ledge of a small cliff, firing away with everything she had, but her ammo consumption was ridiculous, and she wasn't doing so well. He crouched, raised the angle on his gun, took aim so careful that the chances of missing were next to none. Then again, he needed those odds. He only had one chance. He fired three shots. One hit the torso of the one closest to the edge, one hit the knee, forcing it to bend and buckle, and the last one hit the shelf under its foot. The blue zoid bent over and toppled to the ground. The other Sniper turned to see what had happened, giving Leena the chance she needed tho empty everyone of her guns on her opponent and send it crashing to the ground to join its friend.
"Nyahahahahaha!" the red-head cackled at the crumpled mess of metal. "See, my Gun Sniper is the best ever built. Ah-hahahahha....Wha-aaaaaaaaaaaah!" Her laughter was cut off as the final Sniper struck her in the side, making the pile at the bottom of the cliff three. On instinct, Brad jumped back and set up another smoke screen, and immediately set to work trying to locate the opposition.
"Ah. A little help here!" he said to no one in particular.
"Sure thing." another voice said over his intercom.
"Bit? Where have you been?"
"Relax. I've got it all under control. Just tell me where he is." Bit returned.
"Try that hidden ridge over to the left." Bit looked up to see that there was, indeed, a ridge that blended into the rest of the cliff so well, that he couldn't see it without really trying.
He took off at the Jagers top speed without the use of the Ion Boosters, but he sensed that something wasn't right. "Liger, lets do it in five..." he said as he danced around bullets that whizzed at him. "Four...Three...Two..." Another shell grazed his side, scraping away a piece of armor on his right leg. "One...Go!" he shouted, twisting the controls inward and pulling. The two massive boosters on his back blazed to life, lunging him forward, and the quickening the pace of his run. He was climbing the cliff when his front leg landed hard and buckled, sparks flying from the elbow-like joint, tumbling Bit and the liger. "What's wrong Liger?!" he asked his zoid, violently pulling on the controls. He looked over to the leg that had crumpled to find that the bullet that had hit the Schneider was still embedded in his zoids leg. Then, being grazed by that last one had hit a few major wires. Combined, the leg was trash, and Bit, a sitting duck. Another bullet hit him on the other front leg.
"Ha. Now I've got you." The snipers pilot laughed. "I must say, you were more of a challenge than most of my previous opponent, but I'm tired of this dragging on. Good bye." Another bullet hit him behind the back right shoulder, paralyzing the Liger with a combat system freeze. "Now all I have to do is find that Shadow Fox and....What?! He's on top of the cliff?" he shouted, looking up to see a blur of black and gold come down on top of him. The Strike Laser Claw slashing the zoids most vulnerable places, and crunched it into the earth.
"The battle is over. The battle is over. The winner is...the Blitz Team!" the judge announced. The white capsule closed and blasted into space.
Bit jumped down from the cockpit of his zoid. He looked up and surveyed the damage. His two front legs were in bad shape, plus, the Jager had was pretty beat, and the Schneider was gonna need some repairs. This did not bode well.
***
"Everyone, we've got another battle announcement." Jamie said s he entered the living room at the Tauros base. Everyone was there, relaxing after the previous day.. Less than twenty-four hours had transpired since the match. The Liger's armor components were in repairs, while the other two had been mostly restored, having received little external, and no internal damage. Brad was playing chess against the computer, Dr. Tauros was looking at a zoids parts magazine, drooling all over the pages, and Leena had Bit in a bear hug, crushing the life out of him for eating her bag of candy corn (Hey, its Halloween week. I'm a sucker for Candy Corn. (^_^)). "It's in two days against an independent named Lance Celeric, in battle mode 0963." he read off the clipboard.
"What's 0963?" Leena asked as Bit struggled to get up off the floor after Leena had dropped him.
"It's a rather intriguing battle mode," Tauros started up. "It has no limitations on arsenals, or the number of zoids and piolets per team."
"Translation?" Bit returned.
"While he only uses one zoid, we could use as many zoids as we wanted." Jamie explained. "And, he's asked that we use at least three zoids in our match."
"Well he's pretty confident. At least three, hmm." Brad finally spoke up as he trashed the computers queen.
"Let's give him what he wants. I may have only the basic Zero armor for the Liger, but that's all I need. After all, I beat the Berserk Fury with that. Time to show you guys just who's over confident." Bit nearly shouted.
***
"The area within a twelve mile radius is a designated zoid battle ground. Only competitors and personnel have authorized entry. The Blitz Team verses the Stratus Team. Area scanned, battle field set up, ready...Fight" the Judge said.
The Blitz Team advanced slowly, fully alert and causeous, but mostly because the Liger had donned the Panzer armor, slowing it down dramatically. Before long, though, there radars found an object racing toward them.
A fox type zoid charged the Blitz Teams three worriers. It was white, with a slight tinge of blue in it, like a star. It looked similar to the Shadow Fox, but was very different from any other fox-type zoid know, like how the Liger Zero looked rather unique in comparison to other Liger's. The only visible armament with a laser Vulcan gun on its back.
"Everyone, watch out. One thing I've found is that he's good. Really good. Don't play around." Jamie commanded from his post in the Hover Cargo.
"Roger that." they all returned.
The Gun Sniper stopped in its tracks and opened up with her Gatling rifles and the various smaller guns on her wrist. The agile fox just danced around the shells as they grazed the dirt to its sides. The Liger tried to keep up with its movements, the insanely heavy Panzer armor slowed his reflexes to much.
Before long it was face to face with the Liger and Fox. It leaped over the Liger and tackled the Shadow Fox, then bounded off before turning around to fire the back mounted weapon at the Liger Zero's turning body, but the beams just shattered on contact with the dense metal. So, it took off towards the Gun Sniper instead, blowing right passed the other two, much to the annoyance of the Liger's piolet, who had just turned all the way around.
"How can he have reflexes like that. In a matter of seconds, he knocked our two best down and is closing in on the Gun Sniper. That shouldn't be possible!" Jamie was nearly shouting. Even Dr. Tauros had stopped playing with his zoid models to watch the match for a change. However, after a few moments, his gaping jaw closed and curled his lips into a smile that meant that he understood what was happening. "Bit, according to the computer, you only have ten minutes until you hit critical and have to switch armor. Hurry up." Jamie commanded.
"Easy for you to say." Bit returned. "You aren't the one sweating his life away." Bit inhaled a deep breath as the scope for the Hybrid Cannons slid in front of his eye.
***
Brad was not having fun. The opposing zoid was always ahead of him, dodging every attack, while Leena just fired madly, and to no avail. Brad leaped again, trying to come down on Lance from above, but the enemy just jumped backwards, Brad's claw hitting earth. Brad pulled his paw free and turned to face the enemy fox, and was about to try again when some thing caught his eye and he tore off to the left. Lance simply looked around for the cause of this sudden development. Unfortunately, he didn't notice the twin lasers of raw golden energy blazing towards him in time, and only avoided a direct hid, being thrown by the intense shockwaves that fallowed.
***
Rolling and tumbling on the earth, Lance contemplated his current situation. "Rrr. Starlight, please stay with me. We have a match to win. Don't freeze on me now!" he pleaded with the mechanical fox. It stood up, the damage minor to what it could have been. Mostly scratches and dents in his armor.
He looked over at the Liger Zero. "What awesome assault power. But I wonder, just how long can he hold out with the abnormal heat that that armor must be emitting. How long till he has to..." He was cut of with the answer as the Liger's armor broke off and crashed on the ground. The basic body of the cat creature shook itself, enjoying the new freedom from the insanely heavy steel plates. It then bounded off towards the team transport, what ever it was they called it, as the Gun Sniper charged out, fully reloaded. "Must be off to change his armor. It's the only logical explanation." Lance sighed. "This could be the chance I need to focus on the other two."
He jumped from side to side, trying to avoid Leena's relentless assault. However, her accuracy had improve to a degree, forcing Lance to completely focus on her, giving Brad the lack of attention he needed to carefully aim at his prey. The black fox's back mounted canon opened fire on the white enemy, punching into his side, knocking him down to the ground. Leena ran over and promptly started to stomp him with her zoids massive foot as Brad charged in, his front paws lighting up the same way they had only three days ago.
"Strike Laser Claw!" he cried as he jumped into the air, claws stretched forward.
"Right. You wish." Lance said out loud. He twisted his controls, and the two ion boosters ignited and, throwing him out from under Leena, and away from Brad.
***
"Brad, watch it!" Leena shouted over her com as Lance pulled away, tripping her and making her fall to the ground in his place. But it was too late. Brad's strike hit home, just on the wrong person. Leena was out of the battle. "BRAD!! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!"
***
"Leena's been knocked out?!" Bit cried as the white armor locked in place.
"Uh, yeah." Jamie exclaimed. Things were definitely not going their way. Lance was using them to attack each other, which caused confusion and disunity with one another. "Listen Brad, don't get to close. Try and stay one step ahead of him until Bit can get back."
"Alright. But if this doesn't work Jamie, I'm taking your next paycheck." was the reply.
***
Brad opened fire, running along the side of his rival at the same time. But the other fox did the same, holding them at a stalemate. Then, an idea began to form within the mercenaries mind. He pulled a small trigger in his controls, and thick black smoke poured out, swallowing himself, and billowing out around Lance's zoid. He could tell from the way that Lance was moving that he lacked the same scanning equipment as the Shadow Fox. Be moved over to the right in as stealthy a way as possible, but Lance still jerked his zoids head in that direction. Brad moved one foot to the left, and Lance opened fire. Brad easily avoided, and dashed towards the edge of the smoke.
'Now's my chance.' he thought to himself as his front paws lit up. He jumped almost strait up and out, startling hie adversary.
***
"What's this?!" Lance screamed inside of his cockpit. Brad had disappeared within a thick shroud of smoke. He turned on a heat censor, but nothing showed. "The smoke must be hot enough to hide his heat signature. Well then," he smiled, flipping a switch. Everything inside the cockpit was drowned out buy the sudden burst of noise. He had turned his sound receivers up to their max. He listened hard, trying to pinpoint Brads location. He heard it faintly. A step off to the left. He turned to face it, and maxed out his cameras to get as clear a view as he could, but the cloud was all to thick. Then, he heard a louder one just over to the right. His gun blared to life at the new target, but he had no way of knowing weather or not he had managed to make contact. Then, his attention was forced up as the Shadow Fox burst out above him, claws ready for a Strike Laser Claw.
"Good thinking, but it wont work. You've left yourself quite vulnerable actually." he grinned as he aimed his gun up at the Shadow Fox. "You need some way of quickly changing your position before you can pull off a move like that. Without them, you wont survive." he fired, pummeling Brads zoid, who fell off balance. He then charged in and used his zoids skull to smash right into Brads, flipping him over his back and crashing him.
This victory was shot lived though, because only a few seconds after did a green blur race overhead, showering him with bullets.
"What the..." he was cut off again as a white Liger rammed his left side.
"Hi, it's me." Bit smirked. "Hey Jam...Wild Eagle. How you doing?"
"Ha ha ha. The Wild Eagle fears no man or pilot. He will crush all opposition." the Raynos pilots alter-ego exclaimed. He turned and flew into the back of what remained of the cloud. When he raced out, he was met by several rounds of shells, tearing through his armor. Jamie, or more correctly, the Wild Eagle, crashed and skidded to a halt.
"Three down, one more." Lance muttered. "But the damage I've sustained..." he said as he punched a few keys. "My head armor, front legs, and left side are all down over thirty percent. I'll have to end this as quickly I can."
***
Bit watched as Jamie was taken down only minutes after entering the fray. But, he had done a good deal of damage to Lance. And, Bit had a plan.
"Hey you! I'm challenging you to a one charge battle!"
"I accept." came a calm, almost frightening reply, but no face to match it with. It really was spine tingling.
'This will be easy. With the Liger's Strike Laser Claw, I can end this pretty easily. No sweat.'
Bit took off at a run, charging the opposing fox-type zoid head-on. "Let's do this right." The Liger's front claws burned to life. "Strike Laser Claw!" He leapt high into the air, but when he tilted his head down to check his aim, Lance wasn't in the correct spot. He was directly under him. He jumped up and smashed into the Liger Zeros stomach, knocking it off balance, and into the ground.
***
Lance charged in, just as Bit did the same. He watched as Bit prepared for the Stike Laser Claw, playing directly into his hand. "Thank you, Mister Cloud. That's exactly what I expected, and wanted you to do. Starlight. Let's do this!" he moved in. He jumped right into Bit, catching the young pilot off guard. He looked down on the fallen zoid. "Your pathetic. I thought that the mighty Liger Zero would do better than that. I'm ashamed. And so, I'll end this." He vaulted into the air.
Bit looked up in horror. He saw and all to familiar light blaze to life above him. Then, a very familiar command was heard.
"STRIKE LASER CLAW!" Lance's attack cut both the Liger's right legs off, freezing his battle command system.
"Battle over! Battle over!" the judge decreed, raising his arms. "The winner is, the Stratus Team."
"WHAT?!" Bit shouted, slamming his fist onto the console. "We lost?! NOOOOO!"