The Healing Power Of Music
Chapter 2: Get Up
Author Notes: Well....I looked at it a bit, and you guys suggested it...so I'm gonna attempt to extend this little one-shot. Plus my other computer has a number of viruses on it, and that's where my other fic is stored (the next chapter was half done!), so I can't finish that until I get my bro to fix it. So instead, I'll write this one from another computer. Wish me luck! On to the reviewers!
Careless Whispers - Hmm...this is what you get for inspiring me to write another chapter and extend this thing! Thanks for the input!
Mercenary Pen - I read an article on songfics a while ago...it's hard to do them right...but I like the challenge...if you can, tell me if what I'm doing in my other fic works or not (with the songs as themes for the each chapter). I need some input on that. Thanks for the review!
RaiKinoshin - Wow! I'm flattered! And here ya go! I continued it! Thanks for the review!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or world of Zoids.
Now! On to the story!
"Hi. I'm Leena, what's your name?" said the girl with bubblegum pink hair and violet eyes.
Bit scratched the back of his head nervously, "Uh, hi! My name's Bit, and the tall guy over there is Brad, and the short one is Jamie," he said, introducing his fellow band members.
"Who are you calling short?" came Jamie's indignant reply, while Brad simply nodded and went back to packing up his equipment, putting a case of patch cords away in his bass guitar's large carrying case.
Leena nodded back to the others, "It's nice to meet you," she said politely. She turned back to face Bit, who was beginning to pack away his guitar and amp.
"I just wanted to say your song really moved me," she informed him.
Bit was stunned. Usually if someone came up to him after a show it was to either to tell him something he could improve with his guitar playing, or someone asking for Brad's phone number. But this girl, she actually had felt something in his song. It was almost how he felt when he wrote songs and performed them for the first time. She saw what he was trying to portray through his music: his own visions and hopes, that others would listen to his messages.
"Th-thanks," he managed to get out, trying to get over his surprise.
Leena looked at her watch before a look of horror crossed her face, "Oh crap! It's late! If I don't hurry I'm gonna miss the last bus out of town! Then I'm really in trouble!" She turned to run out the back door of the stage, quickly turning back to wave goodbye. "I'll see you around!"
Bit numbly waved back before turning back to packing up his equipment.
"Who's the girl?" said the club manager, who had just finished thanking the crowd for coming out for the live music.
"I don't know," said Bit, "She just said she liked the music."
"Well, she should," said the manager, "It was great. The crowd loved it!" he opened his scheduling book, "That's why I want to book you guys to play in a few nights, how does that sound?"
For the second time in the same night, Bit was speechless. Fortunately for him though, Brad wasn't and he quickly stepped up to cover for Bit.
"That sounds perfect," said Brad coolly, "We'll be ready to play."
"Excellent," said the manager clapping his hands together, "We'll work out payment issues over the phone tomorrow. You know my number?"
"Yeah, I have it right here," said Jamie holding up his address book.
The manager laughed, "Well, here's the real one," he said, handing a slip of paper to Brad.
"Real one?" confusion was evident in Jamie's voice.
"The other number is just a contact for first time bands," Brad provided.
The manager nodded, "Correct. This one is the one I give to bands that we keep on payroll. Congratulations."
Brad nodded, "Thanks."
The manager shook each of their hands before heading back out to finish closing down the registers at the bar.
Bit finally found his voice, "Did what I think just happen?"
Brad cracked a rare smile, "Yeah, it just happened."
"We've been contracted!" exclaimed Jamie excitedly.
Bit smiled. For once in his life, something was going right.
"Battle over! Battle over!" the judge's artificial voice boomed, "The winner is: the Ace team!"
Leena groaned, hitting her hand off her forehead. She had fallen for such a simple trap.
Ugh, that was so stupid!
The Zaber Tiger of the Ace team had led her right over a sandy area where two hidden Guysacks pounced out of the ground and brought her Dibison down with fire to the leg joints.
She sighed, disappointed. I didn't even get to fire my new Megalomax blast that Dad installed.
She opened up the cockpit canopy, stepping down the joints in the Dibison's face and landing on the soft desert sand. Her brother, Leon, hadn't fared much better. She could see him jumping down from the cockpit of his downed Shield Liger, turning to survey the damage done. Leon hadn't lasted much longer than she did. With her out of the fight the three Ace team members ganged up on Leon, and though he managed to take out one of the Guysacks, he eventually fell to the extended fire from the Zaber Tiger.
"Leon, we can't keep going on like this!" she called to him as he sulked in front of his Liger.
"I know, but what can we do? It was three on two!" Leon complained, running a hand through his styled brown hair.
They used to have three team members, but the third, a mercenary (and not a very good one at that), had quit the team, citing the fact that he wasn't making enough money. The unfortunate thing was he had quit the night before the battle, leaving them with no time to find a replacement.
"Well, let's get the Zoids back onto the Hover Cargo," sighed Leon, booting up the systems of his command frozen Zoid.
"Alright," she agreed, jumping back up into the cockpit of her Zoid, restarting the systems and walking over to the approaching Hover Cargo. She stepped the Dibison into the side loading bay for heavy Zoids while Leon headed up the main ramp to the magnetic launcher platform. After her Zoid was shut down and in standby mode she headed for the main bridge. When she got there her father was already talking to Leon.
"We can't keep losing like that," said Doctor Steven Toros, "We really need the prize money to cover our expenses!"
Leena joined the conversation, "We know that Dad, but without another team member we won't do well in combat against full sized teams."
"Leena's right," agreed Leon, "It makes it easy for them to gang up on us."
The Doc turned back to the controls and sat down, "That's the thing guys, we can't afford another member. For that matter, we can't afford to loose again."
"What do you mean?" said Leon suspiciously.
Dr. Toros turned to face them, "The costs from the repairs to your Zoids will take up the last of our funds. If we don't win our next battle we'll be bankrupt."
"What!" Leena exclaimed, "We can't be bankrupt!"
"We will be if we loose again," Leon said ominously before leaving the bridge to start fixing what he could on his Zoid. Leena sat down in one of the cockpit chairs, a look of despair across her face.
I can't stop Zoid battling. It's what makes me different from all those other girls out there. It's my hobby, my passion.
She leaned her head against the head rest, about to drift off into a light sleep during the journey back to the base.
But what's the point, she thought as she lost consciousness, We can't win with just me and Leon.
Bit looked out through the curtain. The crowd was even larger than the one that they had the first time they played at Club Romeo. He pulled the curtain closed and walked over to where Brad and the manager were conversing about payment issues.
"Large crowd tonight," Bit said, to which the manager smiled.
"Oh yes, word has gotten around about how good you guys are," he beamed, "And you are playing at the best nightclub in Romeo City!"
"Well, we're ready to go," said Brad, imagining the large paycheck he had just negotiated.
Jamie finished tightening down the final locks on his snare drum, "I'm ready whenever you guys are," he said.
"Splendid!" said the manager, leaving to go tell the crowd.
"Ready guys?" said Bit as the curtain rose.
Brad nodded and Jamie smacked his bass drum in agreement.
"Well, then let's go!" shouted Bit as he jumped up to the microphone. He wondered if Leena was in the crowd as announced his first song, "This song is called Get Up."
With that, he and the band played, and as the hour they were playing for flew by the crowd got into it more and more. By the end, when it was time to leave the stage the crowd was roaring for them to stay. But unfortunately the club was closing, so the crowds had to leave.
As the band began to break down their equipment, Bit failed to notice the departure of a certain girl with bubblegum pink hair.
"The area within a five mile radius is a designated Zoid battle zone!" warned the Judge, "Danger! All unauthorized personnel must leave the area immediately. The Blitz Team VS. The Raptor Team, battle mode 0982. Area: scanned. Battlefield: set up! Ready? Fight!"
With the crossing of the judge's arms the battle was underway.
The three Rev Raptors of the other team charged right off the start, lowering their heads and letting out high pitched battle cries while extending their side mounted scythe-like blades.
Leena sat in the cockpit of her Dibison, mind not currently on the battle.
"We're just going to lose anyways," she said to herself. Her thoughts drifted back to Bit's performance the night before. She hadn't gone to see him after the show because she had to get home early so she could get a good night's rest before her battle. Still, she couldn't get one of his songs out of her head. She hummed along to the tune of the lyrics.
Well you think that you're safe. Well I just think you're a waste.
"Leena! What are you doing!" warned Leon, "Move!"
"Huh?" she snapped to attention on the battle around her, and barely moved out of the way as two of the Raptors streaked by with their blades screaming through the air. Still, she couldn't get the song out of her head. It was like Bit was in the cockpit singing.
Well you've been striving to win. Well you get knocked down again.
She managed to avoid another strike by the melee-type Zoids, returning fire with a few of her Zoid's many cannons. She chanced a glance at her monitor to see Leon in a cat and mouse game with the third Rev Raptor. She failed to notice one of the other Rev Raptors approaching her from the side, and she could do little to move before it rammed into her, surprisingly toppling her large Zoid.
"Come on! You have to get up!" she cried to her Dibison as multiple damage indicators flickered on her console.
Get up. Here's your chance now.
She launched her Zoid to its feet in time to catch the rushing Raptor with a ram from her Dibison's curved horns. The sharpness of said horns and the speed of the charging Raptor did the rest, as its midsection folded around the was dented heavily by contact with the horns.
All eyes are upon you. You better give your all.
Leena used all her strength to heave on the controls, tossing the head of the Dibison back and hurling the battered Rev Raptor up and over, sending it to crash hard into the side of a sand dune. She turned her attention to the other Raptor, while the other struggled to get up off the ground.
If you wanna rise up. You got to do what defines you.
Unfortunately for the Raptor pilot, Leena noticed this and struck out with a favourite move of hers: the donkey kick, which was essentially her kicking out behind her with her Zoid's rear legs. The problem with that was of course, her Zoid was a considerably heavy Zoid, so any other caught by a kick from her Dibison would be in trouble, much like a certain Rev Raptor was at the moment.
Cause if you give up, give in, you're gone
Her kick was well timed, and connected squarely with the rising Raptor's midsection, all but shattering its scythes and sending it to land hard on its back. The judge's voice chimed in, "Registration number 0-23XR, out of the battle!" The other standing Raptor's pilot appeared on her comm screen, "That was a weird tactic little girl, but then again, you're pretty weird yourself." Leena began to get angry, "What did you say!?" "You heard me, now prepare to lose."
Well they're calling you strange. Well it's more like deranged.
Leena smiled. She wasn't too bothered by his comment. Many of her old school friends had said she was strange for getting into Zoid battling at such a young age, but she didn't let that bother her. Still, others found her trigger happy, but that's what she liked about her style.
When they just push you aside. But it keeps you alive.
The other pilot's voice came across the comm again, "Well girly? Are you gonna give up or what?" Leena smiled and turned her vid comm on so her face appeared on his screen. Then, she simply smiled sweetly and flipped him the bird. "Megalomax fire!" she shouted, hitting the button on her console.
Get up.
The cannons on her Zoid's back lit up with energy and began to let out blast after blast at the hapless Raptor. Over one hundred blasts had been fired, peppering the sand, rocks, and of course, the enemy with shot after shot. By the time the smoke cleared, the Raptor was a smoking wreck lying in the dirt.
"Registration number 0-24XR out of the battle!"
"You bitch!" shouted the remaining Rev Raptor pilot turning to attack Leena. His strike was short-lived however, as a shield charge from Leon took him out of the battle. "Don't swear at my sister," said Leon menacingly.
"Battle over! Battle over! The winner is: the Blitz Team!"
"Yes! We did it!" Leena exclaimed. She couldn't help but think that maybe Bit had something to do with it.
Just wait until he hears about this battle!
Disclaimer: I don't own the song Get Up. It's written by Breaking Point
Author Note: Well! That was another chapter, like you guys wanted! I think this will turn into a story nicely don't you? Anyways, remember to read and most importantly, to tell me what you thought and what you would like to see next, REVIEW!