I'm With You chapter 6: A Tour of Chaos
By ShadowSpinner
At long last, another chapter! Sorry it took so long...schoolwork and writer's block is a killer...
I changed a few things that didn't make sense in the last chapter, just in case anyone was confused.
On with the story!
DISCLAIMER: I can't think of anything terribly clever, so...Zoid's isn't mine. Nicole belongs to Sick Little Fiend. Travin belongs to Michiru Wheeler. Bit's family belongs to me, however, and so does Chaos.
"Hey, ready to go?" Travin called.
"Yeah, we're coming," Bit yelled back.
And the Blitz Team-minus Brad- set off the explore Chaos...
"This is the main hangar," Cheryl started, waving her hand around the room they were standing in.
"No, duh," Leena said. "We've been here already."
Cheryl ignored her. "The hangar can fit fifteen Zoids comfortably, and seventeen in a pinch. It has three different machines able to work on Conversion Armor Systems, making us the most highly equipped salvage and repair shop on this side of Zi. We have all the necessary tools of a shop, as well as some newer, hi-tech ones and some that we don't really need."
"Impressive," said Doc.
"Thank you," said Cheryl.
"This way," said Travin, leading them out of the hangar. They went into the living room. "This is the living room," he said. "We have satellite television, over a thousand channels. We have Playstation 2, Nintendo Game Cube, X Box, and all others that you can think of. We also have several games to play, anything you can think of. We also have a lot of board games. We have a bookshelf over there, with a whole bunch of books and magazines. This is, like, the coolest room in the whole place."
"I'll agree with that," said Jamie, looking around.
The group started moving again.
"As you know, this is the kitchen," said Jeremy. "Ms Angela is actually an excellent cook, she just doesn't like doing breakfast. I think it has something to do with being so early in the morning. She loves sweets, so that's where Bit and the rest of kids get it. This kitchen, however, isn't quite big enough to sit all the employees of Chaos in it."
Leena was munching some cookies. "So what if you want to have a fancy, formal dinner for everyone? Where do you eat?"
"This way," said Cheryl, leading them out into the hallway and through a huge pair of double doors. The Blitz Team stopped and gaped at the room.
"It's huge!" Doc gasped.
They were in a long dining room, with a long, narrow table, stretching almost a hundred and fifty feet. The room itself was about two hundred feet. The table was covered with a fancy, intricate tablecloth. The chairs were magnificently carved from some sort of dark wood, and the walls were covered in extravagant paintings.
"Very fancy," Leena commented.
"Yeah," said Bit. "My grandma designed for my mom, before I was born. She said Momma needed to add some class to the place. Momma hates eating in this room, though. She says it's too fancy for her tastes."
"I could believe that," said Jamie. "This must have cost a fortune! How did your grandma pay for this?"
"She was really rich," Cheryl answered. "She died before Bit was born, so we've never met her, but she left all her money to Momma, and that's how we managed to get Chaos started. Without it, I think Chaos would probably have gone outta business a long time ago. So we like to think of grandma as our guardian angel."
"That's sweet," said Leena, smiling softly.
"Let's take them to the other hangar," Travin suggested, ruining the quiet mood.
"There's another hangar?!" Leena, Doc, and Jamie said incredulously.
"Yeah," said Cheryl, closing the double doors. "It's for storing our Zoids and extra parts, not for working on Zoids."
They walked to the end of the hallway and turned left, exploring various rooms on the way. They saw Bit's old room, a storage closet, a few guest rooms, and a huge award room, filled with various plaques and trophies. They turned again and followed another hallway. Suddenly, a door burst open, and a figure collided with Doc, knocking them both off their feet.
"Sorry!" the girl yelped. She quickly stood up and helped Doc up. "Sorry!" she said again. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," said Doc, "just surprised. Who are you?"
The girl nodded her head respectfully. "My name's Lisa," she said. Lisa looked to be fourteen, and was dressed in the same attire as all the Chaos females they had seen so far. Her hair was dark blond, and her eyes were brown. "I'm so sorry, but I'm in a hurry. I'm late, see," she explained. She glanced at a clock on the wall and paled. "Really late!" she exclaimed. She raced past the team and down the hallway they had just come from. "Sorry!" she yelled again, over her shoulder.
"Don't mind her," said Jeremy. "Lisa is always late. She has a big heart, though, and she tries to be on time."
"Anyway, the other hangar is this way," said Travin, leading through the door that Lisa had appeared through, which led to yet another hallway.
After a few minutes of walking, yet another door burst open, ahead of the group. Veatrise walked out, carrying a huge jar stuffed full of chocolate chip cookies.
"Veatrise, where are you going with that?" asked Cheryl. "We just had breakfast not too long ago."
The little girl looked solemnly at the group. "It's for my tea party," she answered.
"You're having a tea party?" Jamie asked.
She nodded, then cocked her head, looking speculatively at Jamie. She then straightened and walked forward, catching Jamie's hand with her own, dragging him with her. "You have to come, too," she said, leading him back the way he had just come.
"Wait," said Jamie, slightly flustered. "I can't; I'm supposed to go with the others-" The little girl ignored him.
"Vea, can we come?" Jeremy asked, jogging to catch up with her. She nodded, but didn't stop. She led the group up a flight of stairs, and to a door.
"This is my room," she announced, opening the door. Going inside, the group saw something that made their jaws drop.
"This is Mrs. Hunter. She'll be having tea with us," said Veatrise, pointing.
Brad was seated at a small table. He was wearing a woman's red sparkly evening gown, which was much too small for him. He had on a sparkly necklace and makeup, which had been sloppily put on. His feet, one of which was tapping nervously, were clad in red high heels. His hair had been brushed and swept up into an elegant bun, and clip-on earrings dangled from his ears.
"Brad?" Leena asked. She was trying to keep from laughing, as was everyone else.
"My name is Bridgette, darling," said Brad in a high voice, presumably supposed to sound like a woman's.
"Please be seated," said Veatrise, pointing. There were no more chairs, but the table was low enough to be reached if one sat on the floor. They sat, still trying hard not to laugh at Brad/Bridgette, who smiled at them. Veatrise passed out plastic teacups and poured very real, very hot tea into them. Bit took a sip and spat it back out.
"Is that salt I taste?" he asked, gagging. Veatrise nodded happily, gulping her tea and pouring herself some more. Everyone else grimaced and put their teacups down.
"The cookies!" Veatrise suddenly exclaimed. She quickly dumped out a bunch of cookies onto a plate, and passed it around. As Brad/Bridgette passed the plate to Cheryl, she noticed that his nails had been painted red. This was too much for her. She leapt up.
"I'm sorry, but we can't stay," she said quickly, her face turning red with the effort of keeping her laughs in. She fled the room, with everyone except Veatrise and Brad/Bridgette following her. Once outside, the entire group burst into laughter.
Finally, they started making their way to the second hangar, laughing the whole way.
"I am so sorry for what she did to Brad!" Cheryl said, gasping for air.
"I can't believe he let her do that," said Doc.
"It's the coffee," said Bit matter-of-factly. Travin. Jeremy, and Cheryl nodded sagely.
"Finally, here we are," said Jeremy. "This is where we store Zoids and some parts. Some belong to employees, others are used to test parts. You know, to make sure we fixed them right."
The room was only half the size of the main hangar. It had two Command Wolves, a Pteras, three Rev Raptors, and two Gustavs. Miscellaneous junk was piled in various places.
"The Pteras is mine," Cheryl said proudly. "I love flying Zoids!"
"Really?" Jamie asked happily. Cheryl nodded. "Me too!"
"Well then, I guess we have something in common," said Cheryl, smiling at him. Jamie blushed and looked at his feet, muttering incoherently. Leena grinned and winked at Bit, who looked confused. Leena sighed.
"One of the Rev Raptor's belongs to Lisa, and one of the Command Wolves belongs to a guy called Owen. Everything else is owned by Ms Angela. Most of the people who work here either walk or drive." Jeremy said.
"That explains why there aren't as many Zoids in here as I expected," Doc said.
Suddenly, an alarm went off, resonating through the base. Everyone jumped and covered their ears.
"WHAT IS IT?!" Leena screamed, trying to be heard over the siren.
"A SIREN! BUT I DON"T KNOW WHY IT'S GOING OFF!" Travin yelled to her. Just as suddenly as it began, the alarm stopped. Everyone sighed in relief.
"Sorry about that," came Nicole's voice from an intercom. "Pushed the wrong button."
Travin sighed. "Shoulda known,"
"Oh, and Travin," came Vera's voice, "please come to the main control room. Now."
"Guess we're going to see the main control room next," Travin shrugged. "I wonder what I did this time..."
He led the group up a spiral staircase at the far end of the storage hangar and through a short hallway. At the end was a huge pair of double doors. They opened automatically as the group approached, and they closed behind them. Inside was a huge room, lined with computer screens, wires, outlets, and various keyboards. Nicole was seated nearby, staring at a screen and typing the keyboard in front of her rapidly. She didn't notice the group come in. Vera was seated across the room, and was waiting for them expectantly. The group carefully picked their way over, trying not to trip on any wires.
"Ah, Travin," she said, "how good of you to come." Nicole jumped slightly, glanced at the group, and resumed her typing.
"Yeah, whatever," said Travin. "What do you want?"
Vera smiled slightly, ominously. "I believe you were helping us upgrade the computers last time?"
"Yeah..." said Travin slowly.
"Thought so. Here, catch!" Vera kicked something at him. He caught it, looked at it, and dropped it with a shriek.
"EWWWWWW!!!! That's unsanitary, Vera!"
It was a sandwich, rotten and moldy with age.
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?!" Vera screamed, suddenly angry. "NO FOOD IN THE CONTROL ROOM!"
"You don't even know it was mine!" Travin protested, wiping his hands feverishly on his pants.
"Oh, please," said Nicole, turning away from the screen. "Who else but you eats peanut butter and baloney sandwiches with ketchup?" Travin was at a loss for words, trying desperately to think up an argument for that one. Nicole watched him for a while, then said, "I thought so."
"Okay, so maybe I had a sandwich or two up here," he said, "but I don't see what the big deal is."
"You had tucked it under the keyboard this whole time, and it's WARM under there. It spoiled and spread over the whole underneath of the keyboard. It will take hours to clean, and the wires will probably be corroded! YOU JUST COST ME AT LEAST FIVE EXTRA HOURS OF WORK!!!!!!!!!!" Vera screamed. Her face was flushed with anger.
"Make Nicole clean it up," said Travin, shrugging. "She's good at that sort of thing."
"Excuse me?" Nicole said, narrowing her eyes. "What exactly is THAT supposed to mean?"
"You're a clean freak. I've seen your room; it's totally spotless. I'm just saying that keeping clean is easy for chicks like you, who program computers all day. I mean, it's not like you ever do anything else."
"I see," said Nicole. "Well, could you please fetch me the sponges and bucket? They're through that door. Just go down the stairs and take a left." She pointed to a small door.
"Sure," said Travin. He opened the door, stepped through, and disappeared with a shriek. Everyone rushed to the door, looking down. Nicole pushed her way to the front, grinning and eyes sparkling with mischief.
"Oh yeah, Travin, you'll have to skip the first couple of steps. They're being replaced," she called down, grinning wider.
"I'm all right," Travin managed to call up, trying to pick himself up.
"Right?" asked Nicole. "No, it's a left."
"Ha, ha, ha," said Travin sarcastically. "Very funny, Nicole. You're a riot."
Grinning, Nicole turned around, to be faced by the Blitz Team. Jeremy, Cheryl, and Vera, staring at her. "What?" she asked innocently.
Vera shook her head. "I'll agree that he had it coming to him, but don't you think you were a little harsh?"
Nicole snorted. "No."
"Oh. Okay." Vera shrugged, unconcerned. She sat back down and resumed typing.
"Where should we go next?" asked Cheryl, turning towards the group.
"Actually," said Leena, rubbing her stomach, "I'm getting kinda hungry."
"It is almost noon," said Doc, glancing at his watch.
"Yeah," said Jeremy, "let's go back."
"We'll come too," said Vera.
"Yeah," Nicole agreed, "we could use a break." She walked over to the door. "Hey, Travin, feel free to join us after YOU clean up the sandwich mess." There was a groan from the bottom of the staircase, and Nicole smiled in satisfaction. "Let's go," she said.
The group of eight left the room, down the spiral staircase, through a door, etc,, etc., and entered the kitchen. Angela was already there, making sandwiches. She looked up as they entered and smiled.
"Ah, hello," she said. "I was just making some sandwiches for lunch. Want some?"
"Yeah!" the group chorused. With Angela's help they made up a batch of ham and cheese sandwiches, with potato chips to go on the side and lemonade. They seated themselves at the table, along with Lisa, Curt Haskins, some people they didn't know, and Yolanda.
"Hey, 'sup?" Yolanda greeted them cheerfully. "I'm on break, so I decided to come visit."
The group ate their lunch, chattering happily. Suddenly, the door opened and Brad walked in, looking normal again. He sighed and sat down, putting his head down on the table. He raised it quickly to glare at everyone and growled "Don't you DARE say a word!", then placed it down again. Everyone who had been in the group during the tea party giggled, and everyone else looked bemused.
After lunch, everyone went back out into the main hangar and sat around, since there was nothing else to do, and the electronics in the living room weren't working, thanks to the sandwich incident.
"We really should think about heading back to the base," Doc said.
"Aw man, I don't wanna go yet!" Leena whined. "And neither does Bit!" Bit nodded in agreement.
"I don't want to leave, either," said Jamie, glancing in Cheryl's direction and reddening.
"We'll stay one more day, but then we have to leave," said Doc. "If that's all right with you, Angela," he added quickly.
She waved her hand dismissively. "Sure, sure, stay as long as you want. Glad to have you."
"Thanks," Doc said, and Leena beamed at her.
Suddenly, a large red Whaleking landed outside the hangar, and Angela sat up straight and beamed. "Work!" she said happily.
A tall man, in his early forties, stepped out of the Whaleking. He had short brown hair and aquamarine eyes. He smiled when he saw Angela and waved in greeting. "Hello, Ms Angela!" he called.
"Doesn't that guy look familiar?" asked Brad. The rest of the Blitz Team nodded.
"Mr. Champ! How good to see you here!" Angela exclaimed.
"Mr. Champ?!" the Blitz whispered in unison.
"Good to be here," said Mr. Champ. "And I brought my son along for you to meet." He gestured towards the Whaleking, where a very depressed looking Harry Champ was emerging from the mouth. He looked up and went pale. Suddenly he started running.
"LLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed.
There ya'll go, another chapter. I'm really not proud of this one. Sorry it's so short. I worked through writer's block the whole time, trying to force my way out of it. It didn't really work. I'll really try, but don't expect the next chapter out for a while. I think the next one will probably be the last one, too, unless I get more ideas. R&R please!
Oh yeah, join my friend's message board! You can find it at http://dreamofanime.conforums.com/index.cgi so come check it out! It's totally awesome, with places to discuss your favorite animes. There are also a good number of Zoids fans on there, too. Hope to see ya there! My user name is ShadowSpinner, and I'm one of the co-administrators, so feel free to email me to ask about it.
'Till next time! ^_^
-ShadowSpinner
By ShadowSpinner
At long last, another chapter! Sorry it took so long...schoolwork and writer's block is a killer...
I changed a few things that didn't make sense in the last chapter, just in case anyone was confused.
On with the story!
DISCLAIMER: I can't think of anything terribly clever, so...Zoid's isn't mine. Nicole belongs to Sick Little Fiend. Travin belongs to Michiru Wheeler. Bit's family belongs to me, however, and so does Chaos.
"Hey, ready to go?" Travin called.
"Yeah, we're coming," Bit yelled back.
And the Blitz Team-minus Brad- set off the explore Chaos...
"This is the main hangar," Cheryl started, waving her hand around the room they were standing in.
"No, duh," Leena said. "We've been here already."
Cheryl ignored her. "The hangar can fit fifteen Zoids comfortably, and seventeen in a pinch. It has three different machines able to work on Conversion Armor Systems, making us the most highly equipped salvage and repair shop on this side of Zi. We have all the necessary tools of a shop, as well as some newer, hi-tech ones and some that we don't really need."
"Impressive," said Doc.
"Thank you," said Cheryl.
"This way," said Travin, leading them out of the hangar. They went into the living room. "This is the living room," he said. "We have satellite television, over a thousand channels. We have Playstation 2, Nintendo Game Cube, X Box, and all others that you can think of. We also have several games to play, anything you can think of. We also have a lot of board games. We have a bookshelf over there, with a whole bunch of books and magazines. This is, like, the coolest room in the whole place."
"I'll agree with that," said Jamie, looking around.
The group started moving again.
"As you know, this is the kitchen," said Jeremy. "Ms Angela is actually an excellent cook, she just doesn't like doing breakfast. I think it has something to do with being so early in the morning. She loves sweets, so that's where Bit and the rest of kids get it. This kitchen, however, isn't quite big enough to sit all the employees of Chaos in it."
Leena was munching some cookies. "So what if you want to have a fancy, formal dinner for everyone? Where do you eat?"
"This way," said Cheryl, leading them out into the hallway and through a huge pair of double doors. The Blitz Team stopped and gaped at the room.
"It's huge!" Doc gasped.
They were in a long dining room, with a long, narrow table, stretching almost a hundred and fifty feet. The room itself was about two hundred feet. The table was covered with a fancy, intricate tablecloth. The chairs were magnificently carved from some sort of dark wood, and the walls were covered in extravagant paintings.
"Very fancy," Leena commented.
"Yeah," said Bit. "My grandma designed for my mom, before I was born. She said Momma needed to add some class to the place. Momma hates eating in this room, though. She says it's too fancy for her tastes."
"I could believe that," said Jamie. "This must have cost a fortune! How did your grandma pay for this?"
"She was really rich," Cheryl answered. "She died before Bit was born, so we've never met her, but she left all her money to Momma, and that's how we managed to get Chaos started. Without it, I think Chaos would probably have gone outta business a long time ago. So we like to think of grandma as our guardian angel."
"That's sweet," said Leena, smiling softly.
"Let's take them to the other hangar," Travin suggested, ruining the quiet mood.
"There's another hangar?!" Leena, Doc, and Jamie said incredulously.
"Yeah," said Cheryl, closing the double doors. "It's for storing our Zoids and extra parts, not for working on Zoids."
They walked to the end of the hallway and turned left, exploring various rooms on the way. They saw Bit's old room, a storage closet, a few guest rooms, and a huge award room, filled with various plaques and trophies. They turned again and followed another hallway. Suddenly, a door burst open, and a figure collided with Doc, knocking them both off their feet.
"Sorry!" the girl yelped. She quickly stood up and helped Doc up. "Sorry!" she said again. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," said Doc, "just surprised. Who are you?"
The girl nodded her head respectfully. "My name's Lisa," she said. Lisa looked to be fourteen, and was dressed in the same attire as all the Chaos females they had seen so far. Her hair was dark blond, and her eyes were brown. "I'm so sorry, but I'm in a hurry. I'm late, see," she explained. She glanced at a clock on the wall and paled. "Really late!" she exclaimed. She raced past the team and down the hallway they had just come from. "Sorry!" she yelled again, over her shoulder.
"Don't mind her," said Jeremy. "Lisa is always late. She has a big heart, though, and she tries to be on time."
"Anyway, the other hangar is this way," said Travin, leading through the door that Lisa had appeared through, which led to yet another hallway.
After a few minutes of walking, yet another door burst open, ahead of the group. Veatrise walked out, carrying a huge jar stuffed full of chocolate chip cookies.
"Veatrise, where are you going with that?" asked Cheryl. "We just had breakfast not too long ago."
The little girl looked solemnly at the group. "It's for my tea party," she answered.
"You're having a tea party?" Jamie asked.
She nodded, then cocked her head, looking speculatively at Jamie. She then straightened and walked forward, catching Jamie's hand with her own, dragging him with her. "You have to come, too," she said, leading him back the way he had just come.
"Wait," said Jamie, slightly flustered. "I can't; I'm supposed to go with the others-" The little girl ignored him.
"Vea, can we come?" Jeremy asked, jogging to catch up with her. She nodded, but didn't stop. She led the group up a flight of stairs, and to a door.
"This is my room," she announced, opening the door. Going inside, the group saw something that made their jaws drop.
"This is Mrs. Hunter. She'll be having tea with us," said Veatrise, pointing.
Brad was seated at a small table. He was wearing a woman's red sparkly evening gown, which was much too small for him. He had on a sparkly necklace and makeup, which had been sloppily put on. His feet, one of which was tapping nervously, were clad in red high heels. His hair had been brushed and swept up into an elegant bun, and clip-on earrings dangled from his ears.
"Brad?" Leena asked. She was trying to keep from laughing, as was everyone else.
"My name is Bridgette, darling," said Brad in a high voice, presumably supposed to sound like a woman's.
"Please be seated," said Veatrise, pointing. There were no more chairs, but the table was low enough to be reached if one sat on the floor. They sat, still trying hard not to laugh at Brad/Bridgette, who smiled at them. Veatrise passed out plastic teacups and poured very real, very hot tea into them. Bit took a sip and spat it back out.
"Is that salt I taste?" he asked, gagging. Veatrise nodded happily, gulping her tea and pouring herself some more. Everyone else grimaced and put their teacups down.
"The cookies!" Veatrise suddenly exclaimed. She quickly dumped out a bunch of cookies onto a plate, and passed it around. As Brad/Bridgette passed the plate to Cheryl, she noticed that his nails had been painted red. This was too much for her. She leapt up.
"I'm sorry, but we can't stay," she said quickly, her face turning red with the effort of keeping her laughs in. She fled the room, with everyone except Veatrise and Brad/Bridgette following her. Once outside, the entire group burst into laughter.
Finally, they started making their way to the second hangar, laughing the whole way.
"I am so sorry for what she did to Brad!" Cheryl said, gasping for air.
"I can't believe he let her do that," said Doc.
"It's the coffee," said Bit matter-of-factly. Travin. Jeremy, and Cheryl nodded sagely.
"Finally, here we are," said Jeremy. "This is where we store Zoids and some parts. Some belong to employees, others are used to test parts. You know, to make sure we fixed them right."
The room was only half the size of the main hangar. It had two Command Wolves, a Pteras, three Rev Raptors, and two Gustavs. Miscellaneous junk was piled in various places.
"The Pteras is mine," Cheryl said proudly. "I love flying Zoids!"
"Really?" Jamie asked happily. Cheryl nodded. "Me too!"
"Well then, I guess we have something in common," said Cheryl, smiling at him. Jamie blushed and looked at his feet, muttering incoherently. Leena grinned and winked at Bit, who looked confused. Leena sighed.
"One of the Rev Raptor's belongs to Lisa, and one of the Command Wolves belongs to a guy called Owen. Everything else is owned by Ms Angela. Most of the people who work here either walk or drive." Jeremy said.
"That explains why there aren't as many Zoids in here as I expected," Doc said.
Suddenly, an alarm went off, resonating through the base. Everyone jumped and covered their ears.
"WHAT IS IT?!" Leena screamed, trying to be heard over the siren.
"A SIREN! BUT I DON"T KNOW WHY IT'S GOING OFF!" Travin yelled to her. Just as suddenly as it began, the alarm stopped. Everyone sighed in relief.
"Sorry about that," came Nicole's voice from an intercom. "Pushed the wrong button."
Travin sighed. "Shoulda known,"
"Oh, and Travin," came Vera's voice, "please come to the main control room. Now."
"Guess we're going to see the main control room next," Travin shrugged. "I wonder what I did this time..."
He led the group up a spiral staircase at the far end of the storage hangar and through a short hallway. At the end was a huge pair of double doors. They opened automatically as the group approached, and they closed behind them. Inside was a huge room, lined with computer screens, wires, outlets, and various keyboards. Nicole was seated nearby, staring at a screen and typing the keyboard in front of her rapidly. She didn't notice the group come in. Vera was seated across the room, and was waiting for them expectantly. The group carefully picked their way over, trying not to trip on any wires.
"Ah, Travin," she said, "how good of you to come." Nicole jumped slightly, glanced at the group, and resumed her typing.
"Yeah, whatever," said Travin. "What do you want?"
Vera smiled slightly, ominously. "I believe you were helping us upgrade the computers last time?"
"Yeah..." said Travin slowly.
"Thought so. Here, catch!" Vera kicked something at him. He caught it, looked at it, and dropped it with a shriek.
"EWWWWWW!!!! That's unsanitary, Vera!"
It was a sandwich, rotten and moldy with age.
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?!" Vera screamed, suddenly angry. "NO FOOD IN THE CONTROL ROOM!"
"You don't even know it was mine!" Travin protested, wiping his hands feverishly on his pants.
"Oh, please," said Nicole, turning away from the screen. "Who else but you eats peanut butter and baloney sandwiches with ketchup?" Travin was at a loss for words, trying desperately to think up an argument for that one. Nicole watched him for a while, then said, "I thought so."
"Okay, so maybe I had a sandwich or two up here," he said, "but I don't see what the big deal is."
"You had tucked it under the keyboard this whole time, and it's WARM under there. It spoiled and spread over the whole underneath of the keyboard. It will take hours to clean, and the wires will probably be corroded! YOU JUST COST ME AT LEAST FIVE EXTRA HOURS OF WORK!!!!!!!!!!" Vera screamed. Her face was flushed with anger.
"Make Nicole clean it up," said Travin, shrugging. "She's good at that sort of thing."
"Excuse me?" Nicole said, narrowing her eyes. "What exactly is THAT supposed to mean?"
"You're a clean freak. I've seen your room; it's totally spotless. I'm just saying that keeping clean is easy for chicks like you, who program computers all day. I mean, it's not like you ever do anything else."
"I see," said Nicole. "Well, could you please fetch me the sponges and bucket? They're through that door. Just go down the stairs and take a left." She pointed to a small door.
"Sure," said Travin. He opened the door, stepped through, and disappeared with a shriek. Everyone rushed to the door, looking down. Nicole pushed her way to the front, grinning and eyes sparkling with mischief.
"Oh yeah, Travin, you'll have to skip the first couple of steps. They're being replaced," she called down, grinning wider.
"I'm all right," Travin managed to call up, trying to pick himself up.
"Right?" asked Nicole. "No, it's a left."
"Ha, ha, ha," said Travin sarcastically. "Very funny, Nicole. You're a riot."
Grinning, Nicole turned around, to be faced by the Blitz Team. Jeremy, Cheryl, and Vera, staring at her. "What?" she asked innocently.
Vera shook her head. "I'll agree that he had it coming to him, but don't you think you were a little harsh?"
Nicole snorted. "No."
"Oh. Okay." Vera shrugged, unconcerned. She sat back down and resumed typing.
"Where should we go next?" asked Cheryl, turning towards the group.
"Actually," said Leena, rubbing her stomach, "I'm getting kinda hungry."
"It is almost noon," said Doc, glancing at his watch.
"Yeah," said Jeremy, "let's go back."
"We'll come too," said Vera.
"Yeah," Nicole agreed, "we could use a break." She walked over to the door. "Hey, Travin, feel free to join us after YOU clean up the sandwich mess." There was a groan from the bottom of the staircase, and Nicole smiled in satisfaction. "Let's go," she said.
The group of eight left the room, down the spiral staircase, through a door, etc,, etc., and entered the kitchen. Angela was already there, making sandwiches. She looked up as they entered and smiled.
"Ah, hello," she said. "I was just making some sandwiches for lunch. Want some?"
"Yeah!" the group chorused. With Angela's help they made up a batch of ham and cheese sandwiches, with potato chips to go on the side and lemonade. They seated themselves at the table, along with Lisa, Curt Haskins, some people they didn't know, and Yolanda.
"Hey, 'sup?" Yolanda greeted them cheerfully. "I'm on break, so I decided to come visit."
The group ate their lunch, chattering happily. Suddenly, the door opened and Brad walked in, looking normal again. He sighed and sat down, putting his head down on the table. He raised it quickly to glare at everyone and growled "Don't you DARE say a word!", then placed it down again. Everyone who had been in the group during the tea party giggled, and everyone else looked bemused.
After lunch, everyone went back out into the main hangar and sat around, since there was nothing else to do, and the electronics in the living room weren't working, thanks to the sandwich incident.
"We really should think about heading back to the base," Doc said.
"Aw man, I don't wanna go yet!" Leena whined. "And neither does Bit!" Bit nodded in agreement.
"I don't want to leave, either," said Jamie, glancing in Cheryl's direction and reddening.
"We'll stay one more day, but then we have to leave," said Doc. "If that's all right with you, Angela," he added quickly.
She waved her hand dismissively. "Sure, sure, stay as long as you want. Glad to have you."
"Thanks," Doc said, and Leena beamed at her.
Suddenly, a large red Whaleking landed outside the hangar, and Angela sat up straight and beamed. "Work!" she said happily.
A tall man, in his early forties, stepped out of the Whaleking. He had short brown hair and aquamarine eyes. He smiled when he saw Angela and waved in greeting. "Hello, Ms Angela!" he called.
"Doesn't that guy look familiar?" asked Brad. The rest of the Blitz Team nodded.
"Mr. Champ! How good to see you here!" Angela exclaimed.
"Mr. Champ?!" the Blitz whispered in unison.
"Good to be here," said Mr. Champ. "And I brought my son along for you to meet." He gestured towards the Whaleking, where a very depressed looking Harry Champ was emerging from the mouth. He looked up and went pale. Suddenly he started running.
"LLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed.
There ya'll go, another chapter. I'm really not proud of this one. Sorry it's so short. I worked through writer's block the whole time, trying to force my way out of it. It didn't really work. I'll really try, but don't expect the next chapter out for a while. I think the next one will probably be the last one, too, unless I get more ideas. R&R please!
Oh yeah, join my friend's message board! You can find it at http://dreamofanime.conforums.com/index.cgi so come check it out! It's totally awesome, with places to discuss your favorite animes. There are also a good number of Zoids fans on there, too. Hope to see ya there! My user name is ShadowSpinner, and I'm one of the co-administrators, so feel free to email me to ask about it.
'Till next time! ^_^
-ShadowSpinner
