The Healing Power Of Music
Chapter 7: Ready? Fight!
Author Note: I hate my life sometimes! I can't get any work done either at work, school, or fan fiction! So nothing gets done and I fret about it all day. So you know what? I'm gonna just grit my teeth, bite the bullet, and write fan fiction. Though I should be working on a french essay (who writes essays in french?). Enjoy the chapter, and once again, I'm so sorry it took so long! On to the reviewers!
SulliMike23 - Lol, well I don't know if they're gonna face the Fuzzy Pandas, but we'll have to see won't we? And yup, Alteil has found out, and he is one pissed mofo. Keep reading! Sorry it's so late!
Mercenary Pen - Yeah, the wolf type Zoids are pretty cool, but I needed some sort of plot twist to keep the peeps interested, so back comes the Liger Zero! Yeah, I also realize my mistake about the Gunsniper...oops! Sorry this took so long!
Cluck the Chickin - The next chapter is here my friend! I hope you love it too! Thanks for the review, and sorry about the lateness!
ShadowLiger - I know the update wasn't soon, and I know it was a cliffhanger last chapter! I'm sorry! Keep reading and thanks for reviewing! And school does suck! Down with school!
Kitai Matsuru - Oh man, I took forever to update! I've become the thing I hate! Harry is simply fun to bash around, it's a plain fact of nature. He just begs for the opportunity to be beaten down with wrenches! Thanks for reading to this point, and keep up the reading! (AND UPDATE YOUR STORIES!!!)
RaiKinoshin - Yeah, Harry is a dork, Leena thinks Bit was there to see her, and this chapter will most certainly be awesome! Keep reading and forgive me for the lateness of this post!
Doctor Kiba - Ack! Please don't send ninja snipers to my house! Heh, the Doc is very juvenile is he not? And yeah, Bit will most likely kick some serious arse out there! Thanks for the review!
BladesDeath - Yeah man, you dropped off the face of the earth for a bit there. Don't worry, so have I for the past month or so, it's just freaking hard to write while at university and juggling clubs, my job, and of course, school work! But I'll find a way! Anyways, glad to see you back, forgive me for the lateness, and hope to see some more writing by you soon! (By the way, I'm doing a Christmas special, Brad/Naomi fic, so stay tuned for that one!).
Disclaimer: I don't own Zoids or its affiliates.
Now! On to the story!
It was a peaceful morning over the Blitz Team base, the sun rising lazily over the mountains to the east, casting warm rays upon the ground below. A few birds could be heard singing, and even an animal or two played happily in the forested area near the perimeter of the base. All was calm, all was quiet.
"Where the hell is my cookie!!!!" came a woman's irate scream.
In the living room, a blonde head perked up, cookie crumbs falling from his lips.
"Was that Leena? Bit asked aloud.
Leon Toros looked up from reading his magazine, taking note of the cookie in Bit's hand. "Where did you get that cookie?" he asked.
Bit frowned, "I got it from the kitchen this morning."
"Was it out of a pink cookie jar?" Leon inquired.
Bit nodded, "Yeah, it was. Why do you ask?"
Leon sighed, holding his face, "No reason really, but I advise that you start running."
"What?" Bit's face grew confused, "Why would I have to run?"
Just then a figure burst through the door, vein on her forehead threatening to explode with rage. Her eyes flew across the occupants of the room, first seeing her brother reading a magazine, then her father lost in a television program. Finally her eyes reached the third occupant of the room, a certain blonde haired pilot who had just joined their team. It was then that she noticed the nearly eaten cookie sitting on a plate on the coffee table beside him.
"Bit Cloud!" she screamed, "That was my cookie!"
Leena proceeded to rush the couch, causing Bit to yelp and dart out of her way. Leena, however, was not halted by this and began to chase him out the door.
"Get back here Bit!" she hollered, nearly catching him as he stumbled over a chair.
"What did I do?" he cried out loud, turning a corner and heading towards the hanger. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know the layout of the base and soon found himself stuck in a dead end. He whirled around to see Leena advancing slowly, purposely towards him.
Again, Bit asked, "What did I do?"
"Something that you won't ever do again," Leena said, cracking her knuckles.
Bit's screams echoed throughout the base for a full ten minutes that morning.
Brad sat at the bar in Club Romeo, sipping his coffee during his usual morning ritual of watching Zoid battle recaps on the television above the bar. Beside him sat a nervous and fidgeting Jamie who couldn't seem to sit still. Eventually Brad had all he could stand.
"Would you sit still!" he nearly yelled, eye twitching.
"Sorry Brad," Jamie apologized, "But the meeting gets underway real soon, and if Bit doesn't get here quickly then..."
"Yeah, I know," Brad cut him off, "It won't look good for us if we're trying to negotiate a contract and our lead member isn't here."
Jamie sighed. Their band had been gaining quite the amount of success and fame among the denizens who frequented the clubs of Romeo City, but they had yet to get further out into the musical society. It was true that they had begun recording their own CD, but without the national fame to drive sales they couldn't produce many even if they wanted to. So they were meeting with a local radio station that played music in many of the locales frequented by Zoid enthusiasts, hoping to get their music popular with a demographic that spent a considerable amount of money due to their massive prize winnings.
"Doesn't he realize that this is important?" he complained.
Brad took his eyes off the television, "I'm sure he does, but maybe something's come up."
"Maybe," Jamie agreed, "But what do we do for now?"
"Well," said Brad, turning from the seat at the bar, "We just say that Bit is currently talking with a rival radio station, because we've heard rumours that Radio Zi runs a shady business."
"Oh, I see," said Jamie, "And then they'll be so nervous that they'll hire us?"
Brad nodded, "That's right. We just have to hope that if Bit show sup, he does it before the meeting."
Jamie frowned. Bit where are you?
It was around noon at the Toros base when the Doc came to a realization.
"I just remembered that we have a battle today!" he said loudly, startling Leon who had been eating his lunch quietly. He nearly choked on his sandwich, sputtering and coughing before he could get out a reply.
"What?" he managed to get out while hacking up bits of bread crumbs.
"When were you planning on telling us that?" Leena said, slightly annoyed, but used to her Dad's eccentricities.
"Dad," Leon groaned, "You have to tell us these things beforehand."
Bit would have said something but he was nursing a sore jaw from his earlier beating, so he kept quiet.
"Well, I would have, but we got all caught up with looking for a new team member, and then we got one, and it just slipped my mind I guess," said the Doc scratching the back of his head.
"Well, I guess that's understandable," said Leena, "Who are we fighting?"
"Good question," the Doc said, "I don't know"
Everyone promptly fell on the floor. Leena was the first to get up.
"What do you mean you don't know who we're fighting?" she nearly yelled.
"I know who they are!" he protested, "I just forget their names. Aren't they the Fuzzy Cats, or the Fierce Pandas or something?"
"Oh," said Leon, "You mean the guys we fought when our battle was interupted by those Backdraft thugs."
"The Fierce Tigers," said Leena.
"So when do we battle," Bit finally said, his voice muffled by the icepack he held to his face.
"Ummm..." the Doc thought a few seconds more, "In two hours."
Everyone fell on the floor for the second time that day.
"That leaves us with practically no time to pack the hover cargo!" exclaimed Leon.
"Oh it's plenty of time, we just better get moving!" Toros said cheerfully.
Why do I have a bad feeling about this, Leon groaned.
Dust billowed out behind of the Hover Cargo as it made its way across the hard packed desert mesa that was soon to become the battlefield for the Blitz Team's rematch with the famed Fierce Tigers Team, who had as of late been ripping up the Class B circuit.
"Ready team?" came Steven Toros' voice over the intercom to each of the respective pilots of the Blitz Team. Leena Toros, who was situated in the Cargo's side bay for heavier Zoids, did a quick check on the Megalomax system installed in her Dibison. She had had the Zoid since she first started Zoid battling, and it had always served her well. She smiled to herself. She always enjoyed explosion and being the one to cause them, she couldn't explain why. All she knew was that she liked firepower, and the Dibison, already a considerable weapons platform, now had a weapon capable of downing multiple Zoids in one shot. She smirked slightly.
"Leena here," she keyed in as the side ramp folded outwards, "Ready to crack some skulls!"
Leon Toros sat within his blue Shield Liger on the Cargo's magnetic launch ramp, in line ahead of Bit Cloud's Liger Zero. He snorted to himself. His dad and Leena thought that Bit was a great pilot, but neither had seen him in action yet. He would only consider Bit a teammate when he saw how he performed on the battle. He checked his systems one last time before initializing the launch sequence.
"Leon, ready for launch."
Bit watched the blue Shield Liger launch out of the Hover Cargo and began to get slightly nervous. He had never used a magnetic launch system before, and he was worried about the landing.
"Uh, what do I do next?" he muttered to himself, hesitating over the proper stance to use for launch.
The Liger Zero grumbled uneasily. Apparently it hadn't used a system like the one employed on the Hover Cargo before either.
"Nervous too, eh buddy?" Bit said.
The Liger grumbled and then seemed to chuckle a bit, a picture of Bit's face appearing on the screen.
"Oh shut up," said Bit, "You try being beaten by a woman raving about a lost cookie."
Just then the floor began to move, guiding the Liger out into the sunlight. Bit felt a shift in the floor of the Cargo, indicating the magnetic field coming to life.
"Uh," he keyed his comm unit, "This is Bit, ready to launch?"
He felt the ground under him shudder as the magnetic launch system hummed to life. The Liger splayed its legs slightly on its own accord, the magnetic beams coming into contact with its feet. The launch triggered, flinging them up the ramp and through the air. Bit gripped the controls tightly, bracing for impact. They hit the ground, sending up a small cloud of dust and skidding across the desert floor. Bit was so worried with the landing that he didn't notice the Liger sliding towards Leena's Dibison. It wasn't till she shouted that he realized the danger.
"Look out Bit!" she hollered.
Bit froze for a moment, but then the Liger leapt up and over the Dibison, pulling a twist in the air, to land safely in line beside Leena.
"Wow," said Leena, who sounded impressed, "That was pretty slick!"
"Uh, thanks," Bit stuttered. Had the Liger just saved his butt? He sure didn't remember moving the controls during that little incident. The Liger grumbled, in what sounded like a chuckle.
"Are you laughing at me?" Bit asked.
"Huh?" Leena sounded confused.
"Uh, never mind," said Bit, laughing nervously. He had left the open communicator on. He flicked it off for a moment angrily. "Liger, what was that for?"
The Liger Zero offered no reply aside from a continued chuckling. Bit rolled his eyes and prepared to meet their opponents. Three shapes became visible, bounding towards the assembled members of the Blitz team. The three Zaber Tigers were painted a glaring golden yellow. the sunlight overhead reflecting harshly off their mirrored coats. The two flanking Tigers stopped a few feet behind the middle one, who Bit assumed was the leader.
"This is Kirkland of the Fierce Tigers Team!," the boisterous voice of Kirkland came across their communications systems, his obnoxious face appearing on their monitors, "Will there be no more tricks this time?"
Leon keyed his comm unit, "What are you talking about?"
Another face appeared beside Kirkland's, this one being the round headed Omari, "You know exactly what we mean!" he accused loudly.
"Yeah!" exclaimed Lineback, his face appearing last on their monitors, "No more help from your Backdraft buddies!"
Leena nearly blew up then and there, "What! They were attacking us more than you! Maybe if you hadn't been taken out right away you would've seen that!"
Kirkland took exception to this, "That is a strike against the honour of the Fierce Tigers Team! Prepare to be defeated!"
Bit was about to say something but he was cut off by the arrival of the judge satellite, streaking down to Zi like a meteor. It hit the ground hard, sending up a billowing cloud of dust. Through the billowing sands a lone figure could be seen rising through the cloud, its silvery skin gleaming in the dust storm. The form of the judge, with its arms ending in paddles of red and blue, resolved itself to the assembled teams.
"Attention, the area within a five mile radius has been designated a Zoid battlefield," the judge's raspy electronic voice said, "Danger, all unauthorized personnel must leave the area immediately. Area, scanned. Battlefield, set up. The Blitz team versus the Tigers Team, battle mode 0982! Ready? Fight!"
The Liger immediately jumped to life.
"Whoah!" exclaimed Bit, "Liger hold on a second!"
"Bit!" Leon yelled, "Get back in formation!"
He pulled hard at the controls, but to no avail, "I'm trying!"
The Liger made a straight line for Kirkland's Zoid, causing his opponent to jump sideways firing his back mounted medium cannons as he dodged. The blasts hit the Liger across the top of the back, causing it to growl in annoyance.
"Liger," Bit pleaded, "We can't just rush them blindly!" Unfortunately for Bit, the Liger Zero wasn't listening and continued to pursue Kirkland without even attempting to dodge his incoming fire.
Omari and Lineback took advantage of the other two Blitz members distraction and attacked. Leon was rocked by a pair of blasts from Omari's Zoid, and he cursed as his Zoid hit the ground momentarily. A red signal flashed on his monitor, indicating that his triple impact cannon was off-line.
"Leon are you alright?" Leena asked, moments before her Dibison was hit just above the knee by a trio of cannon shots. Lineback circled slowly, knowing that her Zoid's weakness was in its knees. He took his time in lining up the final shot that would put her Zoid into command system freeze.
"Can anyone help here?" Leena called frantically, trying to get her Zoid to struggle to its feet, but the stabilizer cap on the right front leg would not hold any weight.
"No one can help you this time silly girl," Lineback chuckled, "I-urk!" he was cut off by the force of something slamming into the side of his Zoid. The shield on Leon's blue Shield Liger sprang to life, its red field grinding into the side of Lineback's Zoid, crumpling armour plates and sending shards of metal flying. The Zaber Tiger hit the ground with a roll, casting off various parts as it finally came to a stop, unmoving.
"Registration number Z-086! Out of the battle!" the Judge reported, holding out his red paddle.
The Shield Liger's shield deactivated as Leon ran over to Leena's side, "You okay Leena?"
"Yeah,' she said angrily, "But I can't get my Zoid to move, I'm stuck here!"
Shots began to rain down around them as Omari sensed their moment of weakness. Leon activated his shield once more and began to absorb the shots so that they wouldn't hit Leena's prone Zoid.
"Haha!" Omari cackled, "You can't hold that position forever!"
"He's right Leon!" Leena pleaded, "You need to deactivate that shield or your Zoid will overheat!"
Leon gritted his teeth as he actually started to feel the heat rise in his cockpit. "Too bad sis, I'm not letting you get hit while lying prone."
"Bit," Leena called, "We need your help here!"
But Bit was still trying to get the Liger under control. Kirkland's annoying voice came across the comm again, "Just who are you warrior? And why don't you come back when you learn how to fight properly?"
This of course only got the Liger more angry and caused it to charge blindly once more. Kirkland dodged out of the way, hitting the Liger with another blast to its already damaged back. Bit watched nervously as the damage indicators began to near the red.
"Liger!" he pleaded again, "You have to listen to me! We need to help our teammates!"
The Liger grumbled, preparing to pounce at Kirkland again.
"Liger!" Bit called, "I don't want to fight like this! We need to work together! Like you used to with my father!"
The Liger Zero seemed to hitch in its step, growling softly at Bit questioningly.
"I want to make my father proud," Bit said passionately, "I've caused him too much trouble in the past."
The Liger said nothing, but flashed two images on the screen, one of Bit and one of his father. It then merged the two with a question mark appearing on the screen.
"Yeah," said Bit smiling, "I want to be just like him."
The Liger seemed to roar happily and the cockpit began to feel much more responsive to Bit's controls.
It was at that moment that Leon's Zoid began to emit arcing bolts of electricity and smoke before falling to the ground.
"Registration number SL-455 out of the battle!" the judge called.
Bit quickly realized that Leena was in danger of Omari's guns and he pulled back hard on the controls, igniting the boosters on the Liger's back.
"You're mine now," Omari said triumphantly, only to find his shots miss as he was knocked violently enough in the side to send his Zoid tumbling into a command system freeze, much like Lineback's had earlier.
"Who owns who now?" Bit asked with the Liger growling viciously.
"Registration number Z-085 out of the battle!" said the judge.
"Thanks Bit," Leena thanked him, "Is Leon okay?"
"Yeah, I'm still good," Leon said with a slight wince evident in his voice, "It's a little hot in here though."
"Hold on, we'll - look out Bit!" Leena warned, just as Kirkland's Zoid tried a claw swipe at the neck of Bit's Zoid. The Liger dodged to the left before turning and leaping at the Zaber Fang, and the two soon found themselves rolling across the ground, growling, swiping, and scratching and clawing at each other. They both rolled away to face each other.
"I'm going to finish this in one pass," said Kirkland, "But first-" he quickly fired two blasts at the ground in front of Bit, sending up dust and blinding his visual sensors. The Liger ran out of the dust cloud only to find that Kirkland had not tried to attack them. No, he was nowhere to be seen. Bit turned around only to notice Kirkland rushing towards Leena's Zoid.
"Dammit," he cursed, "Let's go Liger, we've got to stop him."
But the distance was just too great, and without and ranged weapons Bit could do nothing but watch as Kirkland lined up his shot with Leena's Zoid.
"I'll take care of you first," Kirkland boasted, centering his cannon on the Dibison's vitals.
"Oh yeah?" Leena said slyly, "You forgot one thing?"
"Yeah, and what's that?" Kirkland sneered.
Leena smiled sweetly, "A hurt enemy is not a defenseless enemy." Light began to build in the many cannon barrels on the Dibison's back. "Megalomax, fire!"
Leena's inanse sounding laughter filled the air waves as blast after blast rained down upon Kirkland's Zoid, blowing off bits and pieces of armour and weaponry with each hit. Finally a blast hit the weak point behind the Zaber Tiger's beck, severing the command links that the cockpit had with the rest of the body. The final Zaber Fang hit the ground, a misshapen blackened lump of what was once proud gold armour and weaponry.
"Out of the battle!" the judge called, "The winner of the match is: The Blitz Team!"
"We did it!" the Doc said happily over the comm.
"We sure did," said Leena as the Cargo came over to load up the damaged Zoids first.
Bit was smiling happily inside his cockpit, "Thanks buddy," he said to the Liger, who let out a growl that sounded almost like a purr.
Bit watched the retreating Zoid satellite fly back into the sky, heading for its home in space.
And thank you father.
Jamie sauntered out of Club Romeo, whistling a happy tune.
Well, that wasn't so bad! he thought to himself. The meeting had gone quite well, with the radio station all but agreeing to start putting a few of their songs in its hottest time slot, ensuring that they would be heard by audiences all over Zi. This of course, would only help them gain popularity and possibly allow them to begin selling CDs once they finished recording their first album. Jamie was jerked out of his dream world when an arm clad in black reached out of the alley beside him and pulled him inside. He found himself held against a wall with what looked like a gun pressed into his ribs.
"Be real quiet," his assailant said dangerously, "And no one gets hurt."
Jamie tried to get a good look at his captor, but the person was wearing a black mask. "What do you want from me?" he asked, his voice trembling.
"I want information," the person said, "Now will you cooperate, or will I get to make you cooperate?"
Jamie swallowed hard, "No, I don't want any trouble"
"Good," said the man, "Now, tell me, what is the name of your band leader?"
Jamie's eyes widened considerably, "Why do you want to know that?"
He was promptly hit across the face with a backhand blow. "Just tell me!"
Jamie squeezed his one eye shut. He was sure to have a black eye there. "His name is Bit Cloud," he said, in pain.
"There, now that wasn't so hard now was it?" the voice said evilly, "I hate to be rude, but I have to run." With that, the figure shoved Jamie hard into the alley wall before running off further into the system of alleyways. Jamie hit the wall hard, cracking his head off the brick before sliding down to land on his backside. He was too stunned to move, and he remained that way for over twenty minutes until Brad walked by the same alleyway on his way home. He noticed Jamie and hurried over, worry evident in his voice.
"Jamie are you okay? What happened?"
Jamie shook his head, still feeling woozy from his head hitting the wall, his eye still closed in pain, "He wanted to know about Bit."
"What?" Brad was puzzled, "Who wants to know?"
"The man," Jamie winced, "I think Bit may be in trouble."
"Commander Alteil," a figure clad in black bowed before him.
"Ah," Alteil smiled, a mere formality, "Do you have the information I seek?"
"Yes sir," the figure nodded, "The boy's name is Bit Cloud."
"Thank you," Alteil dismissed him, "You can go now"
He waited until the figure left the room before turning to the other occupant of the room. "Cloud, now where have I heard that name before?"
Major Polta stepped forward, "That is the last name of the current ZBC Commissioner my lord, and I believe he had a son who's name was Bit."
This time Alteil's smile was genuine, "Excellent, this may just coincide perfectly!"
A confused look crossed Polta's features, "I'm not sure I understand sir."
"You wouldn't," Alteil chuckled, "For this is a plan we've had in the works for a while now." He got up out of his chair and began to pace slowly around the room. "You see, Major Polta, the ZBC Commissioner is rumoured to have quite the extensive collection of rare and powerful Zoids, given to him by the governments of the world. Not to mention his own legendary white Liger."
"So you're saying we should steal these Zoids?" Polta surmised.
"I'm saying that not only are we going to steal these Zoids, but we will also be getting back at that Bit Cloud by hurting his father's image!" Alteil said proudly.
"So we enrich our resources and take care of the Cloud problem in one blow?" Polta guessed.
"Exactly, we kill two birds with one stone, cementing Backdraft as a force to be reckoned with!" Alteil stepped in front of the window looking out over the desert.
We'll show the ZBC what a group of bandits can achieve!
Author Notes: Yay! I finally finished it! I guess since I haven't written in a while it was much harder to write this chapter. Damn you school! Damn you to hell. Plus it doesn't help that I'm nursing a sake induced hangover (damn you Geikkiran sake!). Anyhoo, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to hear from you, so don't forget to REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!