I'm With You Chapter 5: Zoids: Chaotic Salvage Shop-Morning Hours

I am so bummed out!

Reason 1: I'm not the only ShadowSpinner! My dad was looking for my name in the alphabetical author index, and three ShadowSpinner's showed up. The other two have been members longer than I have! I thought I was being original with my name, but I'm not! I'm just a copycat who didn't even know she was copying! That's so depressing! Reason 2: I haven't been getting the same response for my later chapters as I have for chapters 1-2. Wassup with that? Are they really that bad? Reason 3: I'm sick. It's only October/November, and I'm already missing my fifth day of school for illness. Reason 4: I missed Inuyasha not last Saturday, but the one before that! It was supposed to be something like 'The Toad Who Would Be Prince' and I missed it! We were stuck in traffic because of the sniper shooting in Ashland, and Inuyasha was over by the time we go home! u__u (that is supposed to be a sad face *points to face, to the left*) Reason 5: THEY TOOK ZOIDS OFF TOONAMI! THEY REPLACED IT WITH ONE OF THOSE DRAGONBALL SHOWS! No offence meant to Dragonball/Dragonball Z lovers, but that show is just overplayed. I can't watch Zoids in the morning, either, because I have to catch my bus at 6:30. I can't believe Toonami took it off in the middle of the series! Now I don't know what happens! I could cry...

On the upside, however, there are some things bringing me a bit of joy. LIKE THEY CAUGHT THE SNIPER!!!! And like you reviewers who did bother to review. Thank you SOOOO much! I love ya! Oh, and congratulations to CoupleKeeper for partly guessing what happened to Jamie's Raynos. An even bigger, super-dooper congratulations to poetry_freak for guessing almost EXACTLY what happened to the Raynos. Well done! Another thing that I'm happy about is that my sister got a new hamster. We named it Jager, because it's a fast lil' bugger. Can you tell we love Zoids ^__^? And we got a new kitten, too. Her name is Roxanne, Roxy for short! Enough of me, on with the fic! I don't have a co-author this time, so I have to do the disclaimer myself.

DISCLAIMER: YES! I DO own Zoids! They're all mine, and I've gotten so rich off them that I have officially retired early, and I write these fan fictions as a hobby. I also own Hamtaro, Digimon Seasons 1-3 (Season 4 sucks, in my opinion), Inuyasha, Sailor Moon, Cowboy Bebop, Cardcaptors, Monster Rancher, and Mon Colle Knights.

Puh-lease. If you believed any of that, get your head checked. If I owned Cowboy Bebop, Spike would NOT die. Digimon would not have a sucky Season 4. The truth is, I own nothing! Yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah, and on with the fic!

Oh ya: thoughts Just so you don't get confused. Not that you would. And also, capitalized words in the middle of a sentence are emphasized words, because I can't get bolds or italics to show up.





Anyone standing outside of Chaos would have heard a few disturbing noises. First, the scream of a little girl. Then, the shouting of an older girl. Next a door slamming. Then laughter from a large group of people, followed by a high-pitched scream, ending in a wail.

"NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"



The sight inside Chaos was even stranger. The whole group was standing in the hangar, near the Raynos. Bit and Leena were practically rolling on the floor in laughter. Yolanda and Jeremy were hugging each other for support, laughing. Nicole was leaning against Travin (A/N: Not only 'cause he's the closest person to her...), and was turning as blue as his hair from laughing so hard. Travin was laughing too, his arm around Nicole's shoulder, occasionally patting her back to make sure she was still breathing. Brad was chuckling a bit, 'cause God forbid he ever actually laugh. Doc Toros and Angela looked as if they didn't know whether to laugh or be horrified. Vera looked very serious and angry, and kept throwing disapproving glares at the laughing group. Cheryl crossed the room and put her hand on Jamie's shoulder, trying to keep her face sympathetic, or at least straight, but failing horribly. Jamie stood hunched over, his face one of disbelief. His mouth was wide open, and he was speechless. His gaze traveled over his Raynos.

It was pink, bright pink. Multi-colored flowers, smiley faces, and rainbows were everywhere, along with the occasional polka dot. Veatrise stood nearby, standing straight up and trembling like a leaf in the wind. She was covered in paint, and held a dripping paintbrush. Her expression was unreadable.

Finally, Angela managed to speak.

"That was a naughty thing to do, Veatrise, honey," she said, trying not to giggle.

Veatrise was silent. She nodded slightly. Her eyes were riveted on the Raynos. Suddenly, she spoke.

"But now it's nice an' prettyful, Momma," she said. "Pink is much more prettyful than green."

"Yes, it's very pretty. But I think you should apologize to Wild-Jamie- Eagle-person over there." Angela said sternly.

"I'm sorry," Veatrise said softly.

Jamie said nothing. His eyes were threatening to leap out of their sockets.

Veatrise's eyes began to tear up. "YOU DON'T LOVE ME!" she shrieked suddenly. She started to run out of the hangar. Angela reached out to grab her, but the little girl easily evaded her hands. "Veatrise jus' tries t' help, but no ones 'ppreciates it!" she was bawling. She disappeared from the room, her screams still audible.

"Poor kid," Leena said, suddenly sympathetic.

Jamie suddenly snapped out of it.

"POOR KID?!" he exploded, Wild Eagle coming out of dormancy. "POOR KID?!" he repeated. "THAT 'POOR KID' JUST RUINED MY RAYNOS!" The Wild Eagle persona passed on through, and Jamie, now back to normal, slid to the ground. "My poor Raynos..." he was moaning. He shuddered slightly. "I'm sorry I blew up like that," he finally muttered. "Guess it was the shock/stress."

"S'ok," Angela said. "I understand completely. Luckily, the paint is still wet, so we can wash it off relatively easy."

"Really?" Jamie said hopefully.

"Oh, yah," Yolanda said, getting her breath back and pulling away from Jeremy. "It'll come off easy. Me an' Jeremy here'll help."

"Are we feeling guilty, perhaps?" Bit questioned her, a glint in his green eyes.

"Oh, yes, Yolanda, what were you and Jeremy doing while this happened?" asked Cheryl, gesturing toward the Raynos. "You two were supposed to be watching Veatrise."

Both Jeremy and Yolanda blushed and started to stutter.

"Well, you see...ummm...I..."

"What she's trying to say is...um...well, I..."

"As I thought," Angela announced, holding her head high. "You two were having another make-out session."

Jeremy and Yolanda got even redder.

"Who, UUUUUSSSSSS?! Never! We wouldn't even dream it!" they said quickly, at the same time.

"Yeah, right!" Bit, Nicole, and Travin snorted. Yolanda gave them the death-glares.

Vera stepped in. "It doesn't matter what they were doing," she said firmly, "although I do NOT approve. What's done is done. Now, we have to find a way to fix it."

"Right," said Yolanda and Jeremy quickly, nodding their heads.

"So what do you suggest, Vera?" asked Travin.

"I believe," she said slowly, "that Jeremy and Yolanda should wash it their selves."

"WHAT?!" Yolanda and Jeremy screamed at the same time.

Vera nodded her head. "It's obvious. It's your fault that it was painted in the first place, so you should clean it up. Something we call, 'Taking Responsibility For Your Actions'. Or, in this case, your lack of action." There was a hint of a smile on her face, as if she was enjoying the whole affair.

Jeremy's jaw dropped, and Yolanda's eyes began to water. Just before she could start crying, Nicole stepped in.

"Don't worry, you two," she said, placing a hand on Yolanda's shoulder. "I'll help you."

"Me, too," said Travin, crossing over to them and standing behind Nicole. She craned her head backwards to look at him, and he smiled down at her. "It's nice, having someone like you around," he said, smiling and ruffling her hair slightly.

Nicole blushed. "W-w-why is that?" she asked, trying to sound calm, but failing miserably.

"Because you're so short!" he exclaimed. "I can see over you so easily, and make fun of you for not being able to reach the blowtorch!" He pointed to the blowtorch, which was hanging above them, out of reach of Nicole. At least, it usually was.

Nicole's face turned a different shade of red, an angry shade.

"Don't make fun of my height," she said to him.

"What height? You don't have any height to make fun of! Go get some height, and then I'll make fun of it," Travin teased, pinching her side. (A/N: I got the last two lines from an episode of M*A*S*H. Hawkeye was making fun of Radar for his lack of height. I don't remember exactly how the lines go, but that's close enough.)

In a sudden movement, Nicole leaped straight up, three feet, and grabbed the blowtorch off the hook. Landing, she whirled quickly and hit Travin right across the face with it. He fell to the ground with his arms and legs in the air, and twitched.

"DO. NOT. EVER. MAKE. FUN. OF. ME!!!!!!" she shouted slowly, enunciating each word. With that she stomped out of the hangar and into the living room, and who-knows-where after that.

Travin was still twitching. "Was it something I said?" he asked, making no attempt to get up.

"I'd have to say, yes," Brad said. He walked over and held out a hand to Travin. Travin grabbed his hand, and Brad hauled him up.

Travin dusted himself off and touched the red spot on his cheek gingerly, wincing. Cheryl smiled at him.

"Nicole has a huge crush on you, you know," she said.

"Oh, really," he said sarcastically. "I couldn't tell."

"You should stop making her so mad. It's not healthy," Angela said.

"Not healthy for her, or for me?" Travin asked, straightening up.

"Both, probably," Doc said, "though it does seem to be more dangerous for you."

"It's not healthy to have someone with a temper like hers stay mad at you, either," Bit said. "I should know; I have experience." He pointed at Leena.

"All right, all right, I'll apologize to Nicole," he grumbled.

"It's late," announced Angela. "We should get you all to bed. Jeremy, Yolanda, Cheryl, Travin, Nicole, and I will get started on your Raynos, Jamie-Eagle. Vera, you have work to do with the computers in the morning, so go to bed. Jeremy, go get the hose. Yolanda, start wiping off the excess paint with some paper towels. WAIT! DON"T START! I want a picture of this! Cheryl, get my camera!"

Cheryl ran to the desk and grabbed a camera. Racing back, she handed it to Angela, who quickly snapped a photo and handed the camera back to Cheryl, who raced to put it back.

"All right!" Angela shouted. "Now start! Cheryl, get the buckets of paint remover ready! Travin, go apologize to Nicole and drag her butt back in here! When you get her here, you two start moving things that we don't want to get wet out of the way. Jeremy will help you, after he gets the hose in here."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just move the Raynos outside, where you won't have to worry about getting things wet?" asked Leena.

"No way," said Yolanda.

"Why not?"

"Starting up the Zoid will cause it to warm up," Vera said, "and that will cause the paint to set, which will, in turn, make it much harder to get off."

"Oh," said Leena.

"Come on," said Angela, gesturing to the Blitz Team. "You all can stay here tonight. I'll show you you're rooms."

"Oh, that isn't necessary," Doc said hastily.

"Yes, it is," Angela said. "Go get your sleep things from the Hover Cargo and meet me here. You can use our bathrooms for tonight."

"Wow, thanks," said Leena.

"No problem. Call it payback for putting up with my son for so long."

The Team went into the Hover Cargo and grabbed their pajamas, along with some clothes for the next day. Bit took some pictures of some of the Zoids Teams they had fought against in the past, to show his family. Leena took her shampoo, conditioner, favorite brush, body lotion, and the romance novel that she was currently reading. Brad just made sure his safe was securely locked. Jamie grabbed his cookbook, because you never know. Doc carefully crammed six Zoid models into his bag; a Gojolas (A/N: How do you spell it?), a Command Wolf, a Gunsniper, a Redler (A/N: Spelling?), a Shield Liger, and a Pteras. He was going to bring more, but Leena dragged him out in time.

When they got out, Angela and Vera were waiting for them.

"Got your stuff?" she asked. When they nodded, she turned around. "Good. Follow me." She led them through the living room and the kitchen, and into a long hallway. They took so many turns, twists, and staircases that Leena, Jamie, Brad, and Doc were totally disoriented. Vera left the group after the third staircase and continued down another hall on her own. Finally, Angela stopped.

"Here are your rooms," she announced. "The bathroom is down this hall and the last door on the left." With that, she turned around and left, going to assist with the washing of the Raynos.

"Me and Leena get those two rooms," said Bit, pointing to two side-by-side doors.

"I'll take this one," said Brad, pointing to the one right across the hallway.

"I get the one near the bathroom," Jamie said.

"Then I guess I'll take the one next to Brad," said Doc.

Each team member walked into the room they had claimed. All the rooms were pretty much the same, one bed, a nightstand with a digital alarm clock next to the bed, three chairs, a dresser, a mirror, a closet, and five lamps, to light up what the overhead light didn't reach. Since the rooms were in the interior of the building, there were no windows. In most of the rooms, there were two doors, one leading into the hallway, and the other into the closet.

Leena, however, found that there was a third door in her room. Curious, she opened it and found...Bit's room.

Bit was sitting on his bed, grinning at her. "I was wondering how long it would take you to figure that out," he said. His green eyes twinkled mischievously

"You knew about this door?" asked Leena.

"Of course I knew. These are the only two rooms in Chaos on this level that have adjoining doors. That's why I picked them for you and me."

"You devil," Leena laughed, and turned back into her own room, shutting the door behind her. She leaned against it and smiled evilly to herself. This could be fun she thought.

Bit, however, was starting to get worried, hoping that she wasn't getting any evil ideas.

The Team prepared for bed. Leena changed into usual purple tank top and shorts. She brushed her hair, and applied her lotion. Knocking on the door, she found Bit also ready for bed. They said looooonnngggg goodnights, and went into their own rooms, and went to sleep and dreamed about each other.

Brad changed into his pajamas, grabbed the wallet out of his pants pocket, kissed it goodnight, and placed it under his pillow. Then he went to sleep and dreamed about money, coffee, and Naomi.

Jamie changed into his p.j.'s, made sure everything was nice and neat in his room, and went to sleep. He dreamed about his Raynos in its original, green color.

Doc was going to change, but decided to set up his Zoid models on the dresser, first. He then played with them for almost an hour. Then he fell asleep, and dreamt about Zoid Battles, Zoid Models, and food.

Meanwhile, Jeremy, Yolanda, Travin, Nicole, Cheryl, and Angela stayed up most of the night, washing off Jamie's Raynos. They were used to staying up all night, however, and this was an easy job, so it didn't bother them.



(The Next Morning...)



Leena yawned and stretched her arms above her. She glanced at the alarm clock. It was 7:30 AM.

There was a knock at the door between her room and Bit's.

"Come in," she called groggily. The door opened, and a fully clothed Bit appeared in her room.

"I suppose you thought that drawing on my face in marker was funny," he said to her.

Leena giggled. "I just couldn't resist it! I had to use the door for something! You looked so cute in little red heart freckles."

"Yeah, well, lucky for you it was Magic Marker, otherwise you would be in trouble," Bit grumbled.

Leena giggled again. "Out," she said, "I need to change."

"Ohhh," Bit complained, "can't I stay for that?"

"NO! OUT!" she yelled.

"Tell me when you're done," he said, stepping out of the room and shutting the door.

Shaking her had slightly, Leena changed into her usual yellow shirt and blue skirt. (A/N: That's what she wears, right? It's been so long since I've seen the series.)

"You can come in now, Bit," she called, running her brush through her hair.

"Good morning, gorgeous angel," Bit said, walking up to her. "Did you sleep well?"

"Good morning, handsome devil," Leena replied, smiling. "I slept very well, mostly because I had sweet dreams about you all night."

"And I dreamed about you," Bit said. Smiling, they embraced and kissed. (A/N: OOOHHH! FLUFF!!)

"We'd better get going," said Bit, breaking off the kiss. "I think the others are up, so we should leave from our own rooms. We wouldn't want them to think that something bad was going on." He winked at her.

"'Kay," said Leena.

Bit left, and closed the door. She heard him open the door in his room that led to the hallway, and she heard greet Jamie and Brad. She waited a couple minutes, and then made her appearance in the hallway.

"Hi, Leena," said Jamie, who was obviously in a much better mood this morning. "Did you sleep well?"

"I slept fine," said Leena. "And how are you, Brad? You haven't said 'good morning' yet."

"Morning, Leena," Brad said, and that was it from him. Leena sweatdropped. Well, Brad never really was much of a talker, she thought to herself. Besides, he isn't a morning person, and he hasn't had his coffee yet.

"Where's Doc?" asked Bit.

"I dunno. I haven't seen him yet," said Jamie. "I wonder if he's even up."

"Let's check," said Leena. The group walked to Doc Toros' door. "Dad? Are you up yet?" Leena called, knocking on the door. There was no answer. The team walked in and found Doc fully dressed. He was sitting cross- legged on the middle of his bed and was playing with his Zoid Models...again. He was concentrating so hard on his game that he didn't realize that the others were in the room until Leena shoved her face into his line of vision.

"DAD!" she screamed. Doc jumped.

"AAAAHHHHH!!!" he yelled.

Downstairs in the kitchen, Angela, Travin, Yolanda, Jeremy, Cheryl, Nicole, and Vera all raised their eyebrows and stared up at the ceiling.

Vera was the first to speak. "How immature," she said.

"I wonder what's going on up there?" Travin asked, partly to himself.

"I don't think I wanna know," said Nicole, sipping her hot cocoa, and tossing her pink paint-covered ponytail over her shoulder.

"Me either," said Yolanda. "It could be anything, with Bit."

Meanwhile, back in Doc's bedroom, Doc was laying flat out on his back, clutching his heart and gasping loudly.

"Leena," he finally managed to work out, "please don't do that. You could give a man a heart attack!"

"Sorry, Dad," Leena said, running a hand through her magenta hair and sweatdropping slightly. "It's just that we're ready for to go downstairs...or wherever the kitchen is...and get some breakfast. You didn't answer when we knocked on the door."

"Yeah, Doc, hurry up," Brad said. He was starting to get impatient. "I need my coffee!"

"Calm down," said Doc, "I just need to get dressed."

"You ARE dressed," said Jamie, pointing.

Doc looked at himself. "Oh, NO, this is what I wore to sleep."

"You don't change for bed?!" asked Bit incredulously.

"Oh, no, I do, but I forgot to last night." Doc explained.

"I see," the Team said at the same time. Which was a lie, but, hey, who cares? They filed out of Doc's room and leaned against the walls of the hallway, waiting for him. Half a minute later, he came out, wearing the same clothes he was wearing before.

"I thought you said you were going to change," said Brad.

"I changed my mind," Doc said simply, shrugging. "I decided that I am just too hungry."

"Oh."

"C'mon," Bit said, leading them down the hallway. "The kitchen is this way."

Leena and the rest of the team, excluding Bit, prepared their minds to remember the way to the kitchen. It was...down the hallway, down two flights of stairs, left, and the first door on the right.

"THAT"S IT?!" the Team yelled.

"Huh?" asked Bit.

"I KNOW that there was more to it than THAT!" said Leena.

Bit was clearly confused. "What are you talking about?" he questioned.

"The way to get to our rooms," said Brad. "I definitely don't remember it being that simple last night."

"Oh," said Bit, uncertainly. "OHHH!!" A sudden look of understanding crossed his face. "Momma took us the BACK way last night!" he explained.

The Team sweatdropped. "There's a BACK way?" they asked, at the same time.

"Yep," Bit replied cheerfully. "Momma was just trying to confuse you, and obviously, it worked. And now that we're here, let's go INTO the kitchen, shall we?" He pressed a button on the wall, and the metal door slid open, to reveal Angela, Nicole, Travin, Cheryl, Yolanda, and Jeremy staring at them curiously. Vera was too polite and proper to stare.

"What was all the noise about?" asked Travin.

The Team walked into the kitchen. Brad rushed to the coffee machine and began to drink from it.

"Hey, do you think that you maybe want, oh, you know, a coffee mug to drink that from?" asked Yolanda, crossing the floor, opening a cupboard, and holding out a clean mug.

"No, that's okay," said Brad, finishing the contents of the pitcher-thing that has the coffee in it. (A/N: What's that thing called?)

Cheryl sweatdropped. "You are gonna be jazzed all day, ya know," she said.

"What makes you say that?" asked Jamie, blushing slightly as he made eye contact with her.

Nicole answered. "'Cause that's Ms Angela's special super-strong drink- because-you-were-up-all-night-working-on-Zoids coffee."

"Oh," said Jamie.

He suddenly noticed Veatrise. She had been at the table the whole time, but had been so quiet that nobody had noticed her.

"Umm, hi, Veatrise," he said, hoping she wouldn't be mad at him.

She glanced up from her cereal bowl. "Hello, Friend of Big Brother's," she said. She directed her attention back to her cereal bowl, and ate a huge spoonful of whatever was in there...hey...what IS in there?

"Veatrise, honey, what exactly are you eating?" asked Angela.

"Breakfast," she replied, not bothering to look up.

"And what's IN breakfast?" inquired Travin.

Veatrise considered her bowl before answering. "Froot Loops, Trix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, salt, pepper, cheese, toothpaste, tomato, and milk."

Jamie, Leena, Brad, and Doc gagged. Everyone else rolled their eyes.

"Is this common?" Jamie managed to gag out.

"Very," said Travin. "In fact, you shoulda seen what she ate for lunch yesterday. It was so disgusting! She had-"

Nicole had clapped her hand over his mouth. "They REALLY do not need to know that!" she hissed at him.

"Okay, okay," he hissed back, wiggling out of her grasp.

Nicole blushed. "Ohhh, sorry about that," she mumbled, staring hard at the table.

"'S'ok...just be more careful 'round my injured face." He pointed to the large bruise swelling up. It was a mixture of blue, purple, red, green, and yellow. (A/N: EWWWW!!! GROSS!! But I had a bruise on my leg that looked like that once.)

Nicole straightened up. "Well, I'm NOT sorry about that one! YOU asked for it!"

"She has a point," said Cheryl. She gestured to Jamie. "C'mere, sit down, and join Travin in the injured face club. In fact, why don't all y'all sit down and have some breakfast."

"We aren't having what Veatrise is having, are we?" Brad asked, gulping, as the team seated themselves around the large table.

"Nah," said Angela, waving her hand dismissively. "We're gonna have leftover pizza."

"Oh, a gourmet," Doc said teasingly.

"Like it or not, that's what we're serving," Angela said sternly. "If you want something else, feel free to use the kitchen to cook it yourself."

"I will," Jamie volunteered. He stood back up and walked over to the stove. "We'll have...pancakes, waffles, french toast, toasted bagels, regular toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, sausage, and ham."

Cheryl's eyes bugged out. "OOOHHH, a REAL breakfast!" she squealed. "If I help you make it, can everyone else have some? Please please please?!"

"Umm, sure," said Jamie. "If that's okay with the rest of you," he added quickly.

"That's fine," said Angela, looking quite impressed. "We usually don't have formal-ish breakfasts like that."

Jamie found an apron and put it on, and gave one to Cheryl to put on. He turned on the oven. Expertly, he filled a measuring cup with water. Pushing his black hair out of his eyes, he bent down to check the amount. Cheryl hovered nearby. Straightening, he poured the water into a pan. Soon, he was buzzing around the kitchen, seeming to do everything at once, and all the while giving orders to Cheryl. Smells of bacon, syrup, butter, sausage, and pancake batter soon filled the room.

Finally, after only twenty minutes, breakfast was done. The table was almost bending under the weight of the food. Everybody's eyes gleamed, but they waited for Jamie and Cheryl, who were washing their hands and faces. They came and sat down at the table. Everyone watched Jamie, whose eyes were closed. Suddenly, his eyes shot open.

"Dig in!" he said.

With a cheer, everyone...well...dug in. Except Veatrise, who had, of course, already eaten and disappeared. Food was disappearing much faster than it had been made. It was, of course, delicious, and everyone made sure that Jamie knew that.

In only ten minutes, all the plates had been cleared.

"That was great!" Nicole groaned, patting her stomach.

"Yeah," Cheryl agreed. "I should cook more often!"

"If you ever learn to cook as well as Wild-Jamie-Eagle-person over there, be my guest," Angela said, getting up from the table. "I want somebody to clean up the kitchen. After that, feel free to look around Chaos. I, meanwhile, have to take a shower and go to work." She left through the door that led into the hallway. "The rest of you should shower, too," she called over her shoulder.

The Chaos workers looked at themselves. All of them were covered in pink paint. Travin's blue hair had some purple in it, and there was light green all over Nicole's face, along with the pink in her hair. Cheryl's soft brown hair had red in it. Yolanda and Jeremy both had a good amount of orange, too. Vera, because she had gone to sleep last night instead of cleaning the Raynos, was the only normal looking Chaos member that morning.

"I'll help clean up the kitchen," Nicole volunteered.

"I will, too," said Travin. "After all, you two cooked it. It's the least we can do."

Nicole ran to the sink. "I'll wash, you dry and put away," she directed.

Travin followed. "How come I have to do more than you?" he complained.

Nicole spun around, the fire of a challenge sparking out of her dark green eyes. "Fine," she said calmly. "You can wash the dishes."

"Ummmm, that's okay," Travin said, regretting that he had spoken. "I'd really rather not."

"THEN STOP COMPLAINING AND SHUT UP!!" she shrieked at him.

"All right, all right, just please don't hit me again," he begged.

"I won't if you do what you're told," Nicole said dangerously.

She began to wash dishes. She handed the done ones to Travin, who rinsed them off, dried them, and put them in the appropriate cupboards.

Suddenly, Vera spoke up. "Nicole, you CAN"T wash the dishes, because you are supposed to help me re-program the Chaos computer system."

"Oh, that's right." Nicole put down her rag and rinsed off her hands. "Let me go take a quick shower, and then I'll be right with you."

"I'll wash the dishes!" Brad yelped. Jumping up, he leaped around the table and began to wash, at a particularly high rate of speed.

Everybody sweatdropped.

"See, I told you he was going to be pretty jazzed," Cheryl finally said.

"That must be REALLY strong stuff," said Doc.

"Yeah," said Jamie, Bit, and Leena.

"After all, he drinks coffee all the time at the base, and NEVER gets like this."

"I told you," was all that Cheryl said.

Nicole left. Brad washed the dishes so fast that Travin couldn't keep up with him. Soon there was a huge pile of washed dishes lying in the sink. Travin was drying as fast as he could, but he was just no match for a coffee-hyped Brad. Cheryl and Jamie rushed over to help. Together, they managed to put all the dishes away. Brad was still hyper, though, and started to pace in circles. Suddenly, the door to the hallway opened. Brad rushed through and was last seen in this chapter running through the hallways of Chaos, and entering random rooms. Nicole, who had been pushed aside when Brad ran through, entered the kitchen. She was brushing her wet hair. She pulled it into a high ponytail, then looked around at the people in the kitchen. Finally, she spoke.

"So that coffee finally got to him."

"Yes, it did," said Vera. She turned to Jeremy, Yolanda, Cheryl, Travin, and the rest of the Blitz Team. "Now, if you'll excuse us, Nicole and I have work to do." With that, the two girls left the room.

"What exactly are they going to do?" asked Leena.

"They're upgrading and re-programming the computer systems," Cheryl replied. "You see, Vera isn't very good at fixing external damage on Zoids, but she is a computer genius. She's really good at fixing the Command and Combat Systems on Zoids, when they're damaged. Nicole's pretty good with computer's too, so whenever a Zoid comes in with a damaged system, or the computers around here are broken or need upgrading, we call on those two."

"Cool," said Jamie.

"And it's a good thing we have them," said Travin. "Most of us Chaos employees are better fixing cracks and dents and stuff, so when a bad computer system comes in, we usually end up making it worse."

"That reminds me!" Yolanda exclaimed suddenly. "I have to go to work. See ya!" Yolanda ran into the living room, then the hangar, and soon, they could hear her jeep starting up.

"Don't you think you should catch her before she leaves?" Doc asked Jeremy.

"Oh, no. I work here."

"Oh."

"Hey, I've got an idea," Bit said suddenly. "How about we take you on a tour of Chaos?"

"That sounds great!" Jamie, Doc, and Leena replied enthusiastically.

"Yeah!" said Cheryl. "Me, Travin, and Jeremy will go get cleaned up and come with you. Why don't you go into the hangar while you wait for?"

"YES! I want to check on my Raynos!"

Walking out into the hangar, the first thing that caught the Blitz Team's attention was the fact that the Raynos was its original green color. Jamie ran up to it and embraced one of its legs, rubbing his cheek on the cool metal.

"Oh, my beautiful Raynos," he was sobbing.

Meanwhile, Bit was asking his mother if it was all right to take a tour of Chaos.

"Fine, fine," she said. "Just don't get into trouble and don't get in anybody's way. You can take Cheryl, Jeremy, and Travin, too. It's goin' to be a slow day, so I can spare them."

"Thanks, Momma!"

Jeremy, Cheryl, and Travin entered the hangar.

"Hey, ready to go?" Travin called.

"Yeah, we're coming," Bit yelled back.

And the Blitz Team-minus Brad- set off the explore Chaos...









At long long last!! Chapter Five is up! I'm sorry it took so long! I had serious writer's block! I tried to make up for it by making this chapter longer. Another reason why I'm bummed out: I think I blab too much in my fics. I'll try to stop. Please Read and Review! And don't expect the next chapter to be out for a while. I'm still going through writer's block. This chapter was written during several different increments of time, and I kept adding things, so if something doesn't make sense, tell me, and I'll fix it!

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