Tori the Hanyou: Okay, after receiving some encouraging reviews, I've
decided to continue this story, even though its not very popular . . .but
who cares? I never have, and I never will! Thanks you guys, for supporting
me! I've revised Chapter 1, so it's easier to read, and you can tell who's
speaking, so lets go!
DISCLAIMER: I didn't do this before, sorry, but I do NOT own Zoids, classical, or new whatever it is, or Fuzors.
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Zoids: The Unknown Ultimate-X
Chapter 1: The Mysterious Zoid
Lena Toros swerved to avoid the attack from the charging D-Bison, but it wasn't easy in her Gunsniper, fully loaded with ammo. She was lucky that Sebastian had been piloting the D-Bison; any other pilot would've hit her. Harry Champ was in a Zaber Fang, and his other robot, Benjamin, was in another D-Bison.
Bit Cloud and his Liger-Zero were having fun with Harry, running around boulders, dodging every one of his ammo assaults.
Brad in his Shadow Fox was having just as easy a time with Benjamin, who obviously wasn't very good at piloting. Brad ran behind some boulders to avoid the shots, and then fired back.
Lena eventually lost Sebastian in the boulder maze, and ran up to a high cliff, concealing herself behind some trees and yet another large boulder. She shifted the Gunsniper into Sniper mode, and took aim at Sebastian, who was still searching stupidly for her in the maze. She fired, and the D- Bison's back leg shattered, bringing Sebastian down. Lena then turned and aimed at Harry's Zaber Fang, but he was actually moving too fast for her to properly aim, which meant that Bit and the Liger must have been moving at the speed of light.
The Liger hadn't even needed to transform to take these guys on. Lena decided to rid Brad of his burden, and aimed at the remaining D-Bison, but Brad was way ahead of her, and he shot it down. By now, Harry had run out of ammo from continuously trying to shoot at the ever-evasive Liger. Bit came around a tight corner from behind, and used a Strike Laser Claw to take out the Saber Tooth. The alarm sounded, and the robotic judge announced,
"The battle is over! The battle is over! Victory goes to...the Blitz Team!" Bit laughed. Now the Blitz Team had been promoted to an even higher level. Harry, HaHfggdfghfgdghzdgHHPlus, all of them had earned a bunch of individual experience points. Jamie circled above in the Raynos, cheering. He hadn't needed to participate much in this battle, but he was happy, anyway. The Liger roared proudly. Lena jumped out of the Gunsniper, stretching. Harry climbed out of his damaged Zaber Fang and stormed up to Bit.
"This isn't over! We'll get you next time!" he yelled.
"What next time?" asked Brad.
"Next time we fight you!" answered Harry.
"There won't be a next time for you guys, at least not until you get a higher level," said Lena.
"Yeah, and until that happens, you guys aren't really worth fighting," said Bit. Still fuming, Harry stomped back to his Zoid to wait for his cargo ship. The Blitz team headed back to the hover cargo to repair any damages on their Zoids.
That night, Bit was up late, trying to figure out which transformation to use on the Liger in the next battle. He was looking over the blueprints of each transformation. "The Lightning Team has extremely fast Zoids, but I've beaten them before with the Jager. I could probably do it again, but they know the Jager's movements. The Panzer's out, definitely, since Liger can't even move with it on. Maybe Schneider..."
Suddenly, Liger woke up, alert. "What is it, boy?" he asked. The Liger opened up the garage door, and raced out. "Hey! Wait for me!" yelled Bit. Twenty black Raynos Zoids were outside, hovering over the cargo ship. The Liger growled at them, putting up his spikes. Bit caught up with Liger and glared at the Raynos. "They must be from the Backdraft Group. Six of the Raynos suddenly shot out a bunch of grappling hooks, attaching them to Liger, and slowly lifted him into the air. Liger thrashed, but it didn't help. "Liger!" yelled Bit. A Command Wolf stood nearby, surveying the project. Bit ran at it, and called out to the cockpit, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"The Liger-Zero belongs in the Backdraft Group. A novice such as you does not deserve to be its pilot."
"Shut up! Liger and I are a perfect team! You're just jealous 'cause Liger didn't decide to be in the Backdraft group when it had the chance to."
"Well, say goodbye to your Liger! He won't remember you when we erase his memory!" The Command Wolf turned and was about to vanish when a huge, dark shadow appeared in its path.
"I don't exactly approve of stealing, or erasing a Zoid's memory," said a girl's voice.
"Huh?" Bit looked through the darkness, trying to see what the shape was. It looked just like the Liger, but...
"I don't think my Ligress does, either. She seems to be pretty upset." A roar similar to Liger's echoed through the night. Liger answered the call from his position in the sky.
"Ha! Who do you think you are, trying to foil the Backdraft Group's plans? What's more, you think you can do it single-handed! This is priceless!" The Command Wolf pilot began to laugh, a horrible, shrill, wheezing laugh.
Two extra Raynos tried to fire at the shape, but it dodged the attack with super speed, and shot then down. The shape fired again, and the lines holding Liger snapped near the middle in a straight line, and Liger fell, landing on his feet. He got down on his stomach and Bit climbed into the cockpit. Bit aimed at the Raynos and nailed the six that had tried to steal Liger. The dark shape fired at the rest, and turned to face the Command Wolf. "You better watch what you do, especially if it's illegal," she said. The shape turned and ran off into the darkness. Bit looked after it, but Liger had other ideas. He took off after the vanishing shape.
"What are you doing, Liger?" Bit asked. Liger didn't answer; he kept running after it. "At least I'll be able to thank whoever that was for saving Liger. I wonder who she is." The shape stopped, and turned around. Liger caught up with it. The moon appeared from behind the clouds, and Bit saw the Zoid. It was almost the same as Liger, it had a white body, with gold claws, but it was slimmer. It looked almost like a white Zaber Fang, but there were more spikes on it, and you could definitely tell it wasn't one, even from far away. Bit squinted at the cockpit, trying to see who it was. He could only make out a girl's form, but nothing in detail. "Hey, I wanted to say thanks for helping Liger back there. What team are you with?" he asked.
"I'm solo," the girl answered.
"Oh, what type of Zoid is that?" he asked.
"This is the Ligress-Zero. I know about your Liger-Zero, he's an Ultimate-X Zoid, right?"
"Yeah," Bit answered. "Hey, you wanna come meet my team?" The Ligress turned her head toward the nearly full moon.
"Umm, it's late, I should get going," said the girl. She turned the Ligress and they disappeared into the night. Liger roared after them, but Bit told him to stay.
"Too bad, I didn't even get her name." Suddenly, Jamie and his green Raynos came flying overhead.
"Hey, Bit, how's the Liger? You guys OK?" asked Jamie.
"Yeah, we're fine, Jamie. Boy, did you miss something here! I'll tell you about it when we get back to the hover cargo."
When they reached the base, Bit took Liger into the garage and shut the door. Jamie landed the Raynos too, and they went up to the head cockpit, from which the hover cargo was piloted. The entire Blitz Team was in there; Dr. Toros, Lena's dad, was on the big screen computer, looking up info on the Lightning Team, their next opponent. Lena and Brad were on the couch across the room, drinking coffee. Bit got some coffee and sat down next to Lena.
"What the hell happened out there?" asked Lena.
"Liger was nearly stolen by the Backdraft group again. We were lucky, thanks to that girl."
"What girl?" asked Jamie.
"She was piloting something that looked like a girl Liger. I never got her name, but she sounded pretty young by her voice, and I never saw her face too clearly."
"A girl Liger? This I gotta see. Which way did she go?" asked Lena. "We can ask her to join our team if she could take down that many Raynos with a single assault, and move that fast."
"She said she was a solo-fighter, but I don't see what the problem would be in asking her to join. She was pretty tough, and really fast, but I don't know if you'd be able to catch her in your Gunsniper. She was headed east, by what I could tell."
"Whoever said I was gonna use my Gunsniper? I'm gonna borrow the Raynos and zip after her." Lena said.
"HEY! Who said you could use my Raynos?" Jamie asked adamantly.
"I don't see the problem, Lena, just don't crash it or damage it," said Doc. "But you can't search for her until morning. You can leave at dawn."
"Thanks, Dad. Night, guys." Lena walked out of the room and downstairs.
"But, Doc, Lena hasn't piloted the Raynos much. Heck, she's barely piloted any high-speed Zoids, for that matter. She's bound to crash it," complained Jamie.
"I don't see what you're worried about, Jamie. We've got a week before our next battle, so if she does damage it, we'll have plenty of time to repair it," said Doc.
Still muttering to himself, Jamie walked out of the room and went to bed. Bit explained more about the mysterious Zoid and its even more mysterious pilot. Doc perked up immediately when Bit mentioned that the Zoid was a Ligress-Zero.
"It can't be," he muttered to himself.
"What?" asked Bit.
"That can't have been the Ligress-Zero. No one has seen or heard of that Zoid in five hundred years. It vanished a long time ago, after ridding the world of a very powerful, yet evil Zoid. Some say it went to the center of planet Zi, others say it went to a ruin hidden from the naked eye. And still others say it wandered Zi, invisible. Nobody is sure where the Ligress has been hiding these past centuries, but to see it back again, Bit, that's really something. You sure you weren't dreaming?" Bit was adamant.
"Doc! Liger would be gone if I was dreaming! That girl and the Ligress saved him! In fact, I'm going with Lena to find that girl tomorrow, and even if she doesn't accept to being on the team, I'm bringing her back here to prove that I wasn't seeing things!"
"Fine, Bit, I'd like to see this Zoid myself, anyway," said Doc. Bit and Brad went off to bed, leaving Dr. Toros to his computer.
The next morning, Bit and Lena headed off in the Raynos and the Liger-Zero Jager.
"You sure she went this way, towards the east?" asked Lena. "Yeah, it was about 2:30 in the morning, so the moon was setting. She went in the opposite direction of where the moon was headed," explained Bit.
"Okay, we'll go for a few hours. Since it was that late at night, she couldn't have gone that far. Let's go top speed and see if we can catch her."
"I'm with you all the way. Let's go, Liger! Catch that Ligress!" Liger roared and shot off into the plains, the Raynos zipping overhead.
Bit searched the horizon for any kind of shape. Liger suddenly stopped, nearly throwing Bit through the windshield. "What's the deal, Liger? Jeez, you nearly killed me!" Liger lowered his head, sniffing. He turned and started running southeast. Lena suddenly turned the Raynos around, nearly losing control of the super speed Zoid.
"Where are you going, Bit? You said she went in this direction!" Lena called as she zoomed after the Liger.
"Liger's got the Ligress's scent. She's headed this way!" called Bit as Liger tore off into the desert. Lena followed quickly.
Suddenly, Bit's searching proved successful. A moving shape appeared on the horizon. "There she is!" called Bit. Liger put on his full speed and raced after the distant shape. Lena put the Raynos in high speed and followed Bit. The distant shape stopped and turned around. "Hey! She sees us!" yelled Bit. It was definitely the Zoid he'd seen the other night. Lena landed the Raynos next to her, and Liger skidded to a stop. Lena yelled out,
"Hi, there, I'm Lena!" The figure opened up the door and jumped out. On the ground stood a young teenage girl with shoulder-length dark blonde hair with light blonde streaks, brown eyes, and was about five foot seven inches tall. Lena jumped out of the Raynos and walked up to her. "You're a Zoid pilot?" she asked, apparently shocked.
"Yeah, why? Is there something wrong?" asked the girl.
"No, not really. How old are you, anyway?" asked Lena.
"Fourteen," answered the girl.
"Wow, you must be pretty good to have gotten your Zoid license at this young of an age," said Lena. Bit walked over.
"Yeah, I didn't get mine until a year ago," he said.
"So, where do you live?" asked Lena.
"Nowhere, Ligress and I just travel around," said the girl.
"What do you do out here by yourself?"
"The Zoid Battle Commission pays me to go bust illegal Zoid pilots and those who mistreat their Zoids. I find them, knock them around if they refuse to go quietly, and bring their Zoids back to the commission. I liked doing it at first, but it's getting boring now," she explained.
"Do they know how old you are?" asked Bit.
"Yeah, at first they tried to prove I wasn't a real Zoid pilot, and they tried to take my Ligress away, but she stood up for me. They almost just sent me away, but since they seemed to be really impressed about this thing called an Ultimate-X Zoid, they decided to put me to work, and it really pays, big time," explained the girl.
"What? They said your Ligress was an Ultimate-X??" cried Lena.
"Yeah, I don't see what the big deal is, though," said Tori.
"Are you kidding me?? You don't know what an Ultimate-X is?" asked Lena.
"You must have a lot of individual experience points," commented Bit.
"Yeah, but I really don't pay attention to that. The cash I've got is enough to last me for quite a long time. But I do wish I could really test my skills. Some of these bozos I take out couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag, and the most challenging one I've had to face took me a mere minute to take down," the girl said, sighing.
"Why don't you become a fighter?" asked Bit.
"I could, but I'd have to ask the Zoid commission, and even if they let me, I don't have a team I could join," said the girl.
"You do have a license, don't you?"
"Yeah, I'm registered as the Ligress's pilot."
"Well, then all we'd have to do is ask the commission," said Bit.
"But what about . . ." the girl began.
"You can join our team," said Lena.
"I can? Seriously?" asked the girl.
"Yeah, our boss already said it was okay," said Bit.
"Alright," said the girl.
"Great, you can come to our hover cargo and use our phone to call the commission. I'm sure they'll say yes," said Lena. "What's your name, anyway?"
"Tori," answered the girl.
"Hello, Tori, nice to meet you. You already know I'm Lena, and that's Bit," said Lena.
"Is that your Zoid?" asked Tori, pointing to the Raynos.
"Nah, that's Jamie's. He's actually about your age, about two years older. I thought I'd be stuck as the only female on our team forever," said Lena.
"Well, you won't be if the commission lets me fight," said Tori.
They all climbed back into their Zoids and headed back. It was late evening when they reached the hover cargo.
"Put the Ligress in here, next to my Gunsniper," said Lena. Tori moved the Ligress into the garage, but Ligress started getting a little antsy about being in there. Tori jumped out, but Ligress didn't want her to leave.
"Just stay here, girl, if the commission says we can fight, you'll have to get used to it, but if they say no, then we're out of here, ok?" asked Tori. Ligress made a small noise in her throat. Tori walked out of the garage and followed Bit and Lena up the stairs into the head cockpit. Doc was looking up all possible information he could find on the Ligress-Zero when they walked in.
"Dad, meet Tori, the Ligress-Zero's pilot," said Lena. Doc turned around.
"Hello, there. My! Aren't you young to be piloting an Ultimate-X Zoid?" asked Doc.
"The commission said it was okay," answered Tori.
"Dad, please explain to Tori what an Ultimate-X is," said Lena.
"She doesn't know?" asked Doc.
"No," said Lena.
"An Ultimate-X is a Zoid that far exceeds the average power limits of an ordinary Zoid, meaning it's faster, stronger, and has more firing power than normal," explained Doc.
"Oh, so that's why the Zoid commission was freaking out when they ran Ligress's first checkup, and they found a black box located inside her head and neck area," said Tori.
"That black box is sort of a symbol that a Zoid is an Ultimate-X. Some think it's the extra power-supply that gives them those advantages like speed and strength. So far, I only know of now three Zoids that have those black boxes, the Liger-Zero, the Berserk Fury, and your Ligress-Zero. I almost didn't believe it when Bit here told me about his encounter with your Zoid, since the Ligress disappeared about five hundred years ago, and no one's seen or heard of it since." Lena walked in just then, having left in the middle of the conversation.
"I just phoned the commission, and they said that Tori was more than welcome to join the Blitz Team, on one condition," she announced. The room was quiet. "She has to go to the commission tomorrow to take a test to see if she qualifies to be on a team." Tori smiled.
"I can do that," she said.
"Great! So, you can share my room tonight. There are two beds," said Lena.
"Okay," said Tori. Lena led Tori out of the room and down the hallway to her room. Bit, Brad, Doc and Jamie stayed in the cockpit to keep talking.
"Told ya I wasn't dreaming," said Bit.
"Hey, Doc, let's go see if this Zoid really is the Ligress-Zero," said Jamie, speaking for the first time since Tori arrived.
"Alright, I want to see it for myself as well. Imagine! Two Ultimate-X Zoids on our team! We'll be unstoppable! Not even those Lightning Sykes can keep up with the speed of a Ligress-Zero!" said Doc. They all headed down to the garage, Bit went on ahead while the rest of them talked. When Bit reached the garage, the lights were on over the spot where Tori had parked the Ligress, and he heard talking, along with the sound of a very restless Zoid. He hid behind a large crate to listen and watch.
"It's ok, girl, nothing's decided yet," came Tori's voice.
"What's the matter with her?" asked Lena.
"She doesn't like confined areas, she was locked up in a big, cement box for over five hundred years before I let her loose, and she almost went crazy when I had to leave her in the Zoid commission's garage to go talk to the people and got caught up for a few hours. When I came back, all the Zoids in there seemed very uneasy about something, and I heard roaring down the garage. When I arrived in the area where I'd left Ligress, there were many commission workers trying to tie her down, and she was thrashing around, roaring, hissing, slashing at the walls. I'll never forget the fear I saw in her eyes . . ." Tori sighed. Ligress calmed down after hearing Tori's voice, and lowered her huge head and nuzzled Tori. Bit watched, feeling sorry for her. He snuck back to the wall and turned on the main lights. He saw Ligress raise her head quickly and look back. Bit walked over to where Lena and Tori were.
"Hey, there, how's Ligress doing?" he asked.
"She's very uneasy about being in a confined space," explained Lena. The rest of the Blitz team arrived in the garage, and Doc inspected the Ligress.
"Yep, she's definitely the Ligress-Zero, and what an amazing Zoid she is, very similar to the Liger in shape, but slightly smaller and much slimmer. The coloration's almost identical as well! We have a very fine Zoid in our midst here!" reported Doc. After much talking, (Bit never told anyone he'd overheard the Ligress's story) everyone decided to get some rest.
"You've gotta take a test tomorrow," said Lena.
"Yeah, I know," said Tori. Everyone went up to their rooms. As Tori lay in bed, she couldn't help the sad memories flooding through her mind of Ligress's phobia of confined, closed areas. Her exhaustion finally overcame her and she went to sleep.
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Tori the Hanyou: Nothing new here, except for the revising, and the author notes! I've taken the discontinuation note off (yippee!) but I need some popularity on this story for encouragement, so please review people, so I can have some confidence on this. Cya! Tori the Hanyou
P.S. Here are the people I want to recognize for helping me:
Biddett da Pigeon Stalker: Thanks for your encouragement! I really appreciate it! Yeah, I'll use that idea you had about the brother being in the Backdraft group. I have a big brother, so I'll stick him in there. Thanks again! Be seeing you!
Silver: Yeah, I know about Inuyasha, I have a fic for it, you know, if you want to check it out. Anyway, thanks for helping me out, and I'll email you, mine is orcatori1202j@hotmail.com. Happy Holidays!
DISCLAIMER: I didn't do this before, sorry, but I do NOT own Zoids, classical, or new whatever it is, or Fuzors.
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Zoids: The Unknown Ultimate-X
Chapter 1: The Mysterious Zoid
Lena Toros swerved to avoid the attack from the charging D-Bison, but it wasn't easy in her Gunsniper, fully loaded with ammo. She was lucky that Sebastian had been piloting the D-Bison; any other pilot would've hit her. Harry Champ was in a Zaber Fang, and his other robot, Benjamin, was in another D-Bison.
Bit Cloud and his Liger-Zero were having fun with Harry, running around boulders, dodging every one of his ammo assaults.
Brad in his Shadow Fox was having just as easy a time with Benjamin, who obviously wasn't very good at piloting. Brad ran behind some boulders to avoid the shots, and then fired back.
Lena eventually lost Sebastian in the boulder maze, and ran up to a high cliff, concealing herself behind some trees and yet another large boulder. She shifted the Gunsniper into Sniper mode, and took aim at Sebastian, who was still searching stupidly for her in the maze. She fired, and the D- Bison's back leg shattered, bringing Sebastian down. Lena then turned and aimed at Harry's Zaber Fang, but he was actually moving too fast for her to properly aim, which meant that Bit and the Liger must have been moving at the speed of light.
The Liger hadn't even needed to transform to take these guys on. Lena decided to rid Brad of his burden, and aimed at the remaining D-Bison, but Brad was way ahead of her, and he shot it down. By now, Harry had run out of ammo from continuously trying to shoot at the ever-evasive Liger. Bit came around a tight corner from behind, and used a Strike Laser Claw to take out the Saber Tooth. The alarm sounded, and the robotic judge announced,
"The battle is over! The battle is over! Victory goes to...the Blitz Team!" Bit laughed. Now the Blitz Team had been promoted to an even higher level. Harry, HaHfggdfghfgdghzdgHHPlus, all of them had earned a bunch of individual experience points. Jamie circled above in the Raynos, cheering. He hadn't needed to participate much in this battle, but he was happy, anyway. The Liger roared proudly. Lena jumped out of the Gunsniper, stretching. Harry climbed out of his damaged Zaber Fang and stormed up to Bit.
"This isn't over! We'll get you next time!" he yelled.
"What next time?" asked Brad.
"Next time we fight you!" answered Harry.
"There won't be a next time for you guys, at least not until you get a higher level," said Lena.
"Yeah, and until that happens, you guys aren't really worth fighting," said Bit. Still fuming, Harry stomped back to his Zoid to wait for his cargo ship. The Blitz team headed back to the hover cargo to repair any damages on their Zoids.
That night, Bit was up late, trying to figure out which transformation to use on the Liger in the next battle. He was looking over the blueprints of each transformation. "The Lightning Team has extremely fast Zoids, but I've beaten them before with the Jager. I could probably do it again, but they know the Jager's movements. The Panzer's out, definitely, since Liger can't even move with it on. Maybe Schneider..."
Suddenly, Liger woke up, alert. "What is it, boy?" he asked. The Liger opened up the garage door, and raced out. "Hey! Wait for me!" yelled Bit. Twenty black Raynos Zoids were outside, hovering over the cargo ship. The Liger growled at them, putting up his spikes. Bit caught up with Liger and glared at the Raynos. "They must be from the Backdraft Group. Six of the Raynos suddenly shot out a bunch of grappling hooks, attaching them to Liger, and slowly lifted him into the air. Liger thrashed, but it didn't help. "Liger!" yelled Bit. A Command Wolf stood nearby, surveying the project. Bit ran at it, and called out to the cockpit, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"The Liger-Zero belongs in the Backdraft Group. A novice such as you does not deserve to be its pilot."
"Shut up! Liger and I are a perfect team! You're just jealous 'cause Liger didn't decide to be in the Backdraft group when it had the chance to."
"Well, say goodbye to your Liger! He won't remember you when we erase his memory!" The Command Wolf turned and was about to vanish when a huge, dark shadow appeared in its path.
"I don't exactly approve of stealing, or erasing a Zoid's memory," said a girl's voice.
"Huh?" Bit looked through the darkness, trying to see what the shape was. It looked just like the Liger, but...
"I don't think my Ligress does, either. She seems to be pretty upset." A roar similar to Liger's echoed through the night. Liger answered the call from his position in the sky.
"Ha! Who do you think you are, trying to foil the Backdraft Group's plans? What's more, you think you can do it single-handed! This is priceless!" The Command Wolf pilot began to laugh, a horrible, shrill, wheezing laugh.
Two extra Raynos tried to fire at the shape, but it dodged the attack with super speed, and shot then down. The shape fired again, and the lines holding Liger snapped near the middle in a straight line, and Liger fell, landing on his feet. He got down on his stomach and Bit climbed into the cockpit. Bit aimed at the Raynos and nailed the six that had tried to steal Liger. The dark shape fired at the rest, and turned to face the Command Wolf. "You better watch what you do, especially if it's illegal," she said. The shape turned and ran off into the darkness. Bit looked after it, but Liger had other ideas. He took off after the vanishing shape.
"What are you doing, Liger?" Bit asked. Liger didn't answer; he kept running after it. "At least I'll be able to thank whoever that was for saving Liger. I wonder who she is." The shape stopped, and turned around. Liger caught up with it. The moon appeared from behind the clouds, and Bit saw the Zoid. It was almost the same as Liger, it had a white body, with gold claws, but it was slimmer. It looked almost like a white Zaber Fang, but there were more spikes on it, and you could definitely tell it wasn't one, even from far away. Bit squinted at the cockpit, trying to see who it was. He could only make out a girl's form, but nothing in detail. "Hey, I wanted to say thanks for helping Liger back there. What team are you with?" he asked.
"I'm solo," the girl answered.
"Oh, what type of Zoid is that?" he asked.
"This is the Ligress-Zero. I know about your Liger-Zero, he's an Ultimate-X Zoid, right?"
"Yeah," Bit answered. "Hey, you wanna come meet my team?" The Ligress turned her head toward the nearly full moon.
"Umm, it's late, I should get going," said the girl. She turned the Ligress and they disappeared into the night. Liger roared after them, but Bit told him to stay.
"Too bad, I didn't even get her name." Suddenly, Jamie and his green Raynos came flying overhead.
"Hey, Bit, how's the Liger? You guys OK?" asked Jamie.
"Yeah, we're fine, Jamie. Boy, did you miss something here! I'll tell you about it when we get back to the hover cargo."
When they reached the base, Bit took Liger into the garage and shut the door. Jamie landed the Raynos too, and they went up to the head cockpit, from which the hover cargo was piloted. The entire Blitz Team was in there; Dr. Toros, Lena's dad, was on the big screen computer, looking up info on the Lightning Team, their next opponent. Lena and Brad were on the couch across the room, drinking coffee. Bit got some coffee and sat down next to Lena.
"What the hell happened out there?" asked Lena.
"Liger was nearly stolen by the Backdraft group again. We were lucky, thanks to that girl."
"What girl?" asked Jamie.
"She was piloting something that looked like a girl Liger. I never got her name, but she sounded pretty young by her voice, and I never saw her face too clearly."
"A girl Liger? This I gotta see. Which way did she go?" asked Lena. "We can ask her to join our team if she could take down that many Raynos with a single assault, and move that fast."
"She said she was a solo-fighter, but I don't see what the problem would be in asking her to join. She was pretty tough, and really fast, but I don't know if you'd be able to catch her in your Gunsniper. She was headed east, by what I could tell."
"Whoever said I was gonna use my Gunsniper? I'm gonna borrow the Raynos and zip after her." Lena said.
"HEY! Who said you could use my Raynos?" Jamie asked adamantly.
"I don't see the problem, Lena, just don't crash it or damage it," said Doc. "But you can't search for her until morning. You can leave at dawn."
"Thanks, Dad. Night, guys." Lena walked out of the room and downstairs.
"But, Doc, Lena hasn't piloted the Raynos much. Heck, she's barely piloted any high-speed Zoids, for that matter. She's bound to crash it," complained Jamie.
"I don't see what you're worried about, Jamie. We've got a week before our next battle, so if she does damage it, we'll have plenty of time to repair it," said Doc.
Still muttering to himself, Jamie walked out of the room and went to bed. Bit explained more about the mysterious Zoid and its even more mysterious pilot. Doc perked up immediately when Bit mentioned that the Zoid was a Ligress-Zero.
"It can't be," he muttered to himself.
"What?" asked Bit.
"That can't have been the Ligress-Zero. No one has seen or heard of that Zoid in five hundred years. It vanished a long time ago, after ridding the world of a very powerful, yet evil Zoid. Some say it went to the center of planet Zi, others say it went to a ruin hidden from the naked eye. And still others say it wandered Zi, invisible. Nobody is sure where the Ligress has been hiding these past centuries, but to see it back again, Bit, that's really something. You sure you weren't dreaming?" Bit was adamant.
"Doc! Liger would be gone if I was dreaming! That girl and the Ligress saved him! In fact, I'm going with Lena to find that girl tomorrow, and even if she doesn't accept to being on the team, I'm bringing her back here to prove that I wasn't seeing things!"
"Fine, Bit, I'd like to see this Zoid myself, anyway," said Doc. Bit and Brad went off to bed, leaving Dr. Toros to his computer.
The next morning, Bit and Lena headed off in the Raynos and the Liger-Zero Jager.
"You sure she went this way, towards the east?" asked Lena. "Yeah, it was about 2:30 in the morning, so the moon was setting. She went in the opposite direction of where the moon was headed," explained Bit.
"Okay, we'll go for a few hours. Since it was that late at night, she couldn't have gone that far. Let's go top speed and see if we can catch her."
"I'm with you all the way. Let's go, Liger! Catch that Ligress!" Liger roared and shot off into the plains, the Raynos zipping overhead.
Bit searched the horizon for any kind of shape. Liger suddenly stopped, nearly throwing Bit through the windshield. "What's the deal, Liger? Jeez, you nearly killed me!" Liger lowered his head, sniffing. He turned and started running southeast. Lena suddenly turned the Raynos around, nearly losing control of the super speed Zoid.
"Where are you going, Bit? You said she went in this direction!" Lena called as she zoomed after the Liger.
"Liger's got the Ligress's scent. She's headed this way!" called Bit as Liger tore off into the desert. Lena followed quickly.
Suddenly, Bit's searching proved successful. A moving shape appeared on the horizon. "There she is!" called Bit. Liger put on his full speed and raced after the distant shape. Lena put the Raynos in high speed and followed Bit. The distant shape stopped and turned around. "Hey! She sees us!" yelled Bit. It was definitely the Zoid he'd seen the other night. Lena landed the Raynos next to her, and Liger skidded to a stop. Lena yelled out,
"Hi, there, I'm Lena!" The figure opened up the door and jumped out. On the ground stood a young teenage girl with shoulder-length dark blonde hair with light blonde streaks, brown eyes, and was about five foot seven inches tall. Lena jumped out of the Raynos and walked up to her. "You're a Zoid pilot?" she asked, apparently shocked.
"Yeah, why? Is there something wrong?" asked the girl.
"No, not really. How old are you, anyway?" asked Lena.
"Fourteen," answered the girl.
"Wow, you must be pretty good to have gotten your Zoid license at this young of an age," said Lena. Bit walked over.
"Yeah, I didn't get mine until a year ago," he said.
"So, where do you live?" asked Lena.
"Nowhere, Ligress and I just travel around," said the girl.
"What do you do out here by yourself?"
"The Zoid Battle Commission pays me to go bust illegal Zoid pilots and those who mistreat their Zoids. I find them, knock them around if they refuse to go quietly, and bring their Zoids back to the commission. I liked doing it at first, but it's getting boring now," she explained.
"Do they know how old you are?" asked Bit.
"Yeah, at first they tried to prove I wasn't a real Zoid pilot, and they tried to take my Ligress away, but she stood up for me. They almost just sent me away, but since they seemed to be really impressed about this thing called an Ultimate-X Zoid, they decided to put me to work, and it really pays, big time," explained the girl.
"What? They said your Ligress was an Ultimate-X??" cried Lena.
"Yeah, I don't see what the big deal is, though," said Tori.
"Are you kidding me?? You don't know what an Ultimate-X is?" asked Lena.
"You must have a lot of individual experience points," commented Bit.
"Yeah, but I really don't pay attention to that. The cash I've got is enough to last me for quite a long time. But I do wish I could really test my skills. Some of these bozos I take out couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag, and the most challenging one I've had to face took me a mere minute to take down," the girl said, sighing.
"Why don't you become a fighter?" asked Bit.
"I could, but I'd have to ask the Zoid commission, and even if they let me, I don't have a team I could join," said the girl.
"You do have a license, don't you?"
"Yeah, I'm registered as the Ligress's pilot."
"Well, then all we'd have to do is ask the commission," said Bit.
"But what about . . ." the girl began.
"You can join our team," said Lena.
"I can? Seriously?" asked the girl.
"Yeah, our boss already said it was okay," said Bit.
"Alright," said the girl.
"Great, you can come to our hover cargo and use our phone to call the commission. I'm sure they'll say yes," said Lena. "What's your name, anyway?"
"Tori," answered the girl.
"Hello, Tori, nice to meet you. You already know I'm Lena, and that's Bit," said Lena.
"Is that your Zoid?" asked Tori, pointing to the Raynos.
"Nah, that's Jamie's. He's actually about your age, about two years older. I thought I'd be stuck as the only female on our team forever," said Lena.
"Well, you won't be if the commission lets me fight," said Tori.
They all climbed back into their Zoids and headed back. It was late evening when they reached the hover cargo.
"Put the Ligress in here, next to my Gunsniper," said Lena. Tori moved the Ligress into the garage, but Ligress started getting a little antsy about being in there. Tori jumped out, but Ligress didn't want her to leave.
"Just stay here, girl, if the commission says we can fight, you'll have to get used to it, but if they say no, then we're out of here, ok?" asked Tori. Ligress made a small noise in her throat. Tori walked out of the garage and followed Bit and Lena up the stairs into the head cockpit. Doc was looking up all possible information he could find on the Ligress-Zero when they walked in.
"Dad, meet Tori, the Ligress-Zero's pilot," said Lena. Doc turned around.
"Hello, there. My! Aren't you young to be piloting an Ultimate-X Zoid?" asked Doc.
"The commission said it was okay," answered Tori.
"Dad, please explain to Tori what an Ultimate-X is," said Lena.
"She doesn't know?" asked Doc.
"No," said Lena.
"An Ultimate-X is a Zoid that far exceeds the average power limits of an ordinary Zoid, meaning it's faster, stronger, and has more firing power than normal," explained Doc.
"Oh, so that's why the Zoid commission was freaking out when they ran Ligress's first checkup, and they found a black box located inside her head and neck area," said Tori.
"That black box is sort of a symbol that a Zoid is an Ultimate-X. Some think it's the extra power-supply that gives them those advantages like speed and strength. So far, I only know of now three Zoids that have those black boxes, the Liger-Zero, the Berserk Fury, and your Ligress-Zero. I almost didn't believe it when Bit here told me about his encounter with your Zoid, since the Ligress disappeared about five hundred years ago, and no one's seen or heard of it since." Lena walked in just then, having left in the middle of the conversation.
"I just phoned the commission, and they said that Tori was more than welcome to join the Blitz Team, on one condition," she announced. The room was quiet. "She has to go to the commission tomorrow to take a test to see if she qualifies to be on a team." Tori smiled.
"I can do that," she said.
"Great! So, you can share my room tonight. There are two beds," said Lena.
"Okay," said Tori. Lena led Tori out of the room and down the hallway to her room. Bit, Brad, Doc and Jamie stayed in the cockpit to keep talking.
"Told ya I wasn't dreaming," said Bit.
"Hey, Doc, let's go see if this Zoid really is the Ligress-Zero," said Jamie, speaking for the first time since Tori arrived.
"Alright, I want to see it for myself as well. Imagine! Two Ultimate-X Zoids on our team! We'll be unstoppable! Not even those Lightning Sykes can keep up with the speed of a Ligress-Zero!" said Doc. They all headed down to the garage, Bit went on ahead while the rest of them talked. When Bit reached the garage, the lights were on over the spot where Tori had parked the Ligress, and he heard talking, along with the sound of a very restless Zoid. He hid behind a large crate to listen and watch.
"It's ok, girl, nothing's decided yet," came Tori's voice.
"What's the matter with her?" asked Lena.
"She doesn't like confined areas, she was locked up in a big, cement box for over five hundred years before I let her loose, and she almost went crazy when I had to leave her in the Zoid commission's garage to go talk to the people and got caught up for a few hours. When I came back, all the Zoids in there seemed very uneasy about something, and I heard roaring down the garage. When I arrived in the area where I'd left Ligress, there were many commission workers trying to tie her down, and she was thrashing around, roaring, hissing, slashing at the walls. I'll never forget the fear I saw in her eyes . . ." Tori sighed. Ligress calmed down after hearing Tori's voice, and lowered her huge head and nuzzled Tori. Bit watched, feeling sorry for her. He snuck back to the wall and turned on the main lights. He saw Ligress raise her head quickly and look back. Bit walked over to where Lena and Tori were.
"Hey, there, how's Ligress doing?" he asked.
"She's very uneasy about being in a confined space," explained Lena. The rest of the Blitz team arrived in the garage, and Doc inspected the Ligress.
"Yep, she's definitely the Ligress-Zero, and what an amazing Zoid she is, very similar to the Liger in shape, but slightly smaller and much slimmer. The coloration's almost identical as well! We have a very fine Zoid in our midst here!" reported Doc. After much talking, (Bit never told anyone he'd overheard the Ligress's story) everyone decided to get some rest.
"You've gotta take a test tomorrow," said Lena.
"Yeah, I know," said Tori. Everyone went up to their rooms. As Tori lay in bed, she couldn't help the sad memories flooding through her mind of Ligress's phobia of confined, closed areas. Her exhaustion finally overcame her and she went to sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tori the Hanyou: Nothing new here, except for the revising, and the author notes! I've taken the discontinuation note off (yippee!) but I need some popularity on this story for encouragement, so please review people, so I can have some confidence on this. Cya! Tori the Hanyou
P.S. Here are the people I want to recognize for helping me:
Biddett da Pigeon Stalker: Thanks for your encouragement! I really appreciate it! Yeah, I'll use that idea you had about the brother being in the Backdraft group. I have a big brother, so I'll stick him in there. Thanks again! Be seeing you!
Silver: Yeah, I know about Inuyasha, I have a fic for it, you know, if you want to check it out. Anyway, thanks for helping me out, and I'll email you, mine is orcatori1202j@hotmail.com. Happy Holidays!