Zoids Fuzors: Faerie's Beginning

Chapter VI: The Start of the Legendary Warriors Team

            I gave my bosses at the ranch and used parts store my two-week warning, and after I worked those last two weeks, I visited Dad again.  This time, Flame came with me.

            "So, you mean to tell me that Dusty the used Zoids salesman is actually your father, Dustin Pegs the Zoids World Champ?"  Flame asked for about the hundredth time.  I sighed.

            "Yes, Flame, now can you please stop asking that question??" I growled.

            "Sorry…  So, Dusty is really -?"

            "THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" I roared.  Flame fell silent.  I sighed.  "Listen.  I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, okay?  I'm just… confused, I guess."

            "How so?" Flame wondered.

            "I…  How did the Palomino Hope know I was his daughter?"  I stopped, looking at my feet.

            'I didn't know,' Hope admitted.  I looked up.  'It was a lucky guess.  Now, let's go see your dad.'

            I nodded and Hope began moving again.  We caught up with Flame at Dad's house.  Dad was talking to Flame excitedly, Flame's Blaze Rapter parked by the front door.  I parked Hope, warned her not to go anywhere, and joined them.

            "Hey, Faerie," Dad greeted warmly.

            "Hi, Daddy," I replied.  Dad smiled and shook his head.

            "It's been a long time…" he sighed.  "Let's go inside.  We three need to talk."

            "Okay," Flame and I chorused, following Dad inside.  Flame looked around with wide, curious eyes filled with questioning, but said nothing.  Dad shut the door behind us and led us to his own personal Zoid garage.  I gasped in awe.

            "All the Zoids we'll ever need in our Zoid battles," Dad said proudly.  I stepped up to a picture of an orange-red bird-like Zoid.

            "What's this one?" I wondered.  I had never seen a Zoid like it before.

            "That's the Fire Phoenix," Dad replied.  "I've only ever heard of them being wild, and I'm dying to catch one."  I looked at him.

            "Why?" I wondered.

            "One flew by me as I was training with my Liger Zero one day.  My Liger gave me a read-out on the Zoid with a picture.  Turns out the Fire Phoenix is the Liger Zero's Fuzor partner," Dad explained.  "I need a Fire Phoenix to be able to fight these new Fuzor Zoids out there now.  Did you see how fast that Death Spiner[1] from the Black Assassins team wiped out every opponent thrown at them?  We won't stand a chance without a Fuzor Zoid!"

            I looked around some more.  Dad had about three Liger Zeros, four Helcats, seven Command Wolves, five Shadowfoxes, two Death Spiners, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.  I walked slowly back to Dad and Flame, but stopped in front of another Zoid I had never seen before.  It had no cockpit.

            "What's this?" I asked out of curiosity.

            "That's a custom made Zoid, made like the Fire Phoenix in the read-out.  I was hoping I could use it as a substitute Fuzor partner for one of my Liger Zeroes, but… no such luck," Dad sighed. "I dubbed it the 'Thunder Hawk'.  It doesn't need a driver, hence the reason it has no cockpit, so when it decides to help out, it's one more Zoid that can be in a Zoid battle without anyone guiding it."

            "What's the other one?"

            "The Fire Phoenix."  I went back to the picture of the Fire Phoenix, looked at it, and then walked back to the Thunder Hawk and looked at that one too.  The Hawk looked almost identical to the Phoenix, except it was light orange where the Phoenix was red, and where the Phoenix was bright orange, it was yellow-orange.

            "Well, how about we get to work planning our first Zoid battle," Flame suggested.  I tore my eyes away from the Thunder Hawk.

            "Right," I agreed.  I turned to Dad.  "What name have you decided on for our team?"

            "I was thinking the 'Legendary Warriors'," Dad answered.  I nodded.

            "Perfect.  Now we need an opponent," I said.  Flame, Dad, and I thought hard.

            "The Black Assassins?" Flame asked.  Dad and I gave him The Look.  "Oh, right…  We don't have a Fuzor.  Bad choice.  Hmmmm…"

            "I've got it!  The Lion-heart team!" Dad exclaimed.

            "'Lion-heart team'?" I echoed.  "Don't they have a Red Blade Liger, a Liger Zero X, a Liger Zero Schneider, and a Liger Zero Jaeger?"

            "Yeah, and the team is made up of four brothers: Chance, Zach, Josh, and Tom.  Their last name is Katz," Flame added.

            "I see you two have been studying," Dad remarked.  "So I'll go and ask them if they want to battle us or not.  You two go home and wait for the word."

-*~*-*~*-

            While I was watching the news that night, I thought about how I would stand up to the Katz brothers.  I wasn't a professional Zoid battler like them, and there wasn't enough time to practice.  Something the newscaster said caught my attention.

            "…A new team called the Legendary Warriors has just challenged the Lion-heart team," she was saying.  "With me is the leader of the Lion-heart team, Chance Katz.  Mr. Katz, are you planning on accepting this challenge?"

            "We never back down from a challenge!  Our motto is to never give in!" Chance declared.  "We'll even pay this new team ten thousand dollars to get on their feet… if they manage to beat us!"

            "You're very confident, aren't you?" the newscaster smiled.  Chance laughed.

            "Confident?"  He laughed harder.  "How could a bunch of rookies ever beat professionals like us on the first try?"

            I turned off the TV and breathed heavily.  I'll show them to poke fun at us, I thought angrily.  We'll win that fight Saturday.  I'll make sure of it.

-*~*-*~*-

            BRRRRRIINNGG!

            "Ungh!" I groaned, turning off my alarm.  I yawned, stretched, and looked at my clock.  7:20AM. Why'd I set it so early?  My brain finally woke up.  I had three hours to get ready for the fight.

            I went through my morning routine, tripping over Ajax[2] (my small black and white patched terrier), Ryan[3] (a small black terrier), Spotty and Squirrel[4] (my medium black and white patched terriers), Sweetie[5] (my sweet little black cat, smaller than most average-sized cats), Velvet (my male black Oriental shorthair cat), and Misty[6] (my female white and blue Oriental shorthair cat) at least twice each.  Gertie had enough sense to stay out of my way.  Jackie avoided me all morning.  I felt awful because he probably sensed he was going to be leaving.  I wished I could keep him, but my house was getting too crowded, and I needed to find homes for these animals.  I had promised myself I wasn't going to become too attached because I knew I couldn't keep all of them.  Plus, there might be more abandoned animals on Planet Z that needed my help.  I knew that there were.

            I finally finished getting ready and headed to the battle arena in Hope.  I was the first one there.

            "And it looks like one of the fighters from the Legendary Warriors team is eager for a good fight!" announced the announcer.  "We'll see how much of a legend these warriors are!"

            I heard Zoids walking up behind me and an Air Zoid flying into the ring.  Dad and Flame came onscreen.

            "We found a new recruit at the last minute," Dad said, smiling.  "She's very skilled in the air."

            "Who -?" I began, but then the Air Zoid flew into view.

            Decorated with painting of her favorite Zoids, the Storm Sworder zoomed in for a landing.  Jenna came onscreen.

            "Jenna!" I cried.

            "Long time, no see!  Sorry my job took me overseas," she apologized.  I nodded, smiling.  My smile soon disappeared as my face became serious.  The Katz brothers had arrived.

            "Get ready, everyone!" I ordered.  Jenna took to the air and the rest of us formed a line.  The Lion-heart team formed a line in front of us.  A man with green hair came onscreen.

            "Get ready to lose!" he laughed.  "You can't beat us!"

            "I get the guy in the Jaeger!" I declared.  The bell tolled, indicating the beginning of the match.

            'Let's do this!' Hope shouted, charging at the Jaeger.  It ran off with incredible speed.  Hope's booster packs turned on and we followed the Jaeger around the outer edge of the stadium.  We didn't see the Liger Zero X coming from the side.  I only noticed it when Dad blasted it from his Gun Sniper.

            "Close one!" Dad winked as the Liger Zero X came tearing at him at top speed.  Dad didn't have time to react in his slow Gun Sniper, and his Zoid was knocked out of the battle.

            "Dad!" I cried, Hope still chasing the Jaeger.  I looked around.  Jenna was out.  Now Flame was fighting off both the Liger Zero Schneider and the Red Blade Liger on his own.  The Liger Zero X came in for Round Two.

            "Keeer-er-er!" cried a hawk of some sort.  Everyone stopped fighting and looked up.  The Thunder Hawk was coming to help!

            "Amazing!  This seemingly wild Zoid is coming to help one of the two teams!" declared the announcer.

            Hope caught up with the Liger Zero Jaeger.  The Thunder Hawk circled in the stadium, calling to the Zoids.  Flame's Blaze Rapter roared.  The Thunder Hawk went into a spectacular dive, causing a sonic boom in its wake.  This was focused on the Ligers attacking Flame.  They were sent flying, but landed on their feet.

            "So, you want to play games, huh, little birdie?  Well, playing with the Katz means chicken wings for dinner!" a man with orange hair declared.  His Liger Zero Schneider roared.

            "Keeeeer!!" the Thunder Hawk challenged.  I paid no attention as Hope assaulted the Liger Zero Jaeger.  Her voice brought me back.

            'AHHHH!!' she cried.  I felt a lurch.  The Liger Zero X had attacked us from behind.  The Liger Zero Jaeger shakily got to its feet.

            "Laser Claw Strike Attack!" the Katz brother shouted.  Hope nimbly dodged his attack despite the hit she took.  The Laser Claw Strike Attack hit the Liger Zero X.

            "Why you -!"  The Liger Zero X lunged at the Liger Zero Jaeger and the two begin fighting.

            "Now two of the Katz brothers are fighting each other instead of their opponents!" the announcer shouted.

            'Thanks for stating the obvious,' Hope growled.

            "Purrrrfect," I purred as I got the two locked-on.  I fired my Particle Beam Cannons, knocking them both out of the fight.

            "EEEEER!" the Thunder Hawk cried.  I felt two Zoids hit the ground.  The Liger Zero Schneider and the Red Blade Liger came running at me.  I fired my Particle Beam Cannons expertly, knocking them both out of the match.  We won.

            "Amazing!  The Legendary Warriors have won!" cried the announcer.  "And the only one Zoid managed to knock out any of the Katz brothers Zoids.  She knocked out all of them, only taking one hit herself!"

            'Why do announcers always state the obvious?' Hope growled.

            "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the garage," I laughed, beaming.  "And, in answer to your question, I guess it's for the vision impaired so that they still know what's going on.  But who cares?  We won!"



[1] I think that's what it's called.  It's the Black Assassins' Fuzor Zoid.  I forget exactly what it's called.  It's part Dark Spiner, part crustacean-like Zoid.

[2] A real dog my Bubbie (Yiddish for grandmother) once owned.  Male.

[3] Another dog my Bubbie once owned.  Female – she was named after the officer who brought her in.

[4] My mom had these two dogs growing up.  Both female.

[5] My present-time cat. Female.  Born in 1995.  (Gertie was born in 1997.  Also female.)

[6] Velvet and Misty have the same father, but different mothers.  They're my Bubbie's present-time cats, about 14-15 years old.  Velvet – Male.  Misty – Female.