Zoids Fuzors: Faerie's Beginning
Chapter III: Thieves
"Flame?" I laughed. He laughed too. "What are you doing here?"
"Trying out a new job. Rounding up wild Zoids didn't pay enough for the effort," he explained.
"But you're rich!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah, well, you inspired me to be more independent. I'm not accepting money from Mom and Dad unless I absolutely need it. They seemed a bit upset by that, but they'll get over it," Flame admitted.
"How are -?"
"Well, enough chit-chatting," Cho interrupted. "Let's get to work. Rapter, you're just learning what to do as a courier today. Simple enough. Pegs, you're going to be his teacher. Here's you first assignment."
She handed me a piece of paper with an address on it. I looked at it. When I was done, I stuck it in my pocket.
"Let's go, Flame," I said, heading to the Zoid garage. Flame and I split up to go get our Zoids. Why did I park so far away from the door? I thought, seeing spots that I'd missed in my race to get to work.
I finally reached the Palomino Hope in a spot where I knew I didn't park her. I got into the cockpit and she turned herself on.
'Where do we go now?' she wondered.
"Right now? Well, we need to find Flame first," I replied. I began steering her to the exit of the garage. Flame was waiting for me. His Blaze Rapter gleamed in the sunlight. The video communicator flickered on.
"What took you so long?" Flame growled. I brought Hope next to his Zoid.
"Sorry. Forgot where I parked," I lied. Flame sighed and rolled his eyes.
"My brilliant girlfriend," he muttered.
"WHAT!?" I shrieked.
"I meant that you're a girl and you're a friend, that's all!" Flame exclaimed quickly. I could see he was trying to cover it up. I shook my head. He took that as an "All clear" signal and asked, "Um… Where's our first stop?"
I pulled out the paper again and looked at it. "Twelve-thirty-five North Liger[1] Drive," I answered. I punched it into the Palomino Hope's navigator. "We need to take a west by northwest route."
"Already on it!" Flame declared, running down a side street. I rolled my eyes.
"Men!" I sighed, following him.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
-*~*-*~*-
We reached our destination in a fair amount of time. I climbed out of the Palomino Hope and knocked on the door. Dusty answered it and did a double take when he saw me.
"Faerie? What're yeh doin' here? How'd yeh get my address?" he questioned.
"You asked for a courier, right?"
"Yeah, bu' – Oh, I get it now! Yer my courier, aren't yeh?" I nodded. "Then, who's he?"
"I'm sorry. Flame, this is Dusty. He gave me the Palomino Hope. Dusty, this is Flame, a friend of mine and a new courier. I'm teaching him how to be a good courier, since this is his first day on the job," I explained. "So… Onto the courier business. What do you need us to deliver and to where?"
"Hang on a sec," Dusty said, going back inside. He came out a few minutes later with a big cardboard box. "Here's some spare parts I need yeh ta deliver ta Misty Rose on th' other side o' town. Here's her address." He handed me a slip of paper. I read it and nodded. Flame put the box into Hope's cargo hold and got into his Zoid. I got into the cockpit of my Zoid.
"See you later, Dusty," I called.
"See ya, Faerie!" Dusty called back. I closed the cockpit. Flame's face flickered onto my screen.
"Where to now?" he asked. I looked at the piece of paper again.
"One thousand thirty-first street," I replied. "Let's go!"
"Right!"
-*~*-*~*-
Flame and I had an uneventful ride until we got to the Zoid's highway. I was about to fall asleep and let Hope do the driving when a Shadowfox jumped in front of me. Hope and the Blaze Rapter screeched to a halt. As soon as we finished stopping, five Command Wolves formed a circle around us with the Shadowfox. The Blaze Rapter roared. Hope reared and whinnied. The Shadowfox and Command Wolves howled. A man's face appeared on my screen.
"What do you want?" I demanded. The man laughed sinisterly. "Who are you?"
The man stopped laughing and droned, "I won't tell you my real name." He looked harder at me. "But I'm also known as Josef Rudolf."
"What do you want!?" I repeated.
"Patience, child," Rudolf said in a bored tone. "I want your Zoid."
"What do you want with her?" I snapped.
"Well, my data printout says she's a prototype, a one-of-a-kind Zoid. I figured she should be very powerful, since there aren't others like her. I could use a powerful Zoid like that," he drawled.
I didn't like this man. All he wanted was power, and he was going to steal for it if he had to. Apparently, Hope didn't like him either; She reared as high as she could go.
"REEEEEEE!!!" she neighed. I glared at Rudolf.
"Looks like Hope wants to beat you just as much as I do!" I declared. "Let's battle to settle this."
"Team Pyrite, get ready!" Rudolf ordered. The Command Wolves readied their weapons.
"Get ready, Flame!" I shouted. Flame and I readied our weapons.
"Fire!"
[1] Turns out Ligers are real. A liger is an animal with a lion father and a tigress mother. Cool, huh?
