Princess of the Zoids: Could it Be Me

Notes: Anybody find the inside joke in the last chapter yet? Post it in your review if ya do. If no one finds it by the time I upload Chapter 9, I'll tell ya what it was. And Team Nyan-Nyan is the Japanese name for the "Fuzzy Pandas." Quite frankly, "Nyan-Nyan" makes more sense than "Fuzzy Pandas" anyway, 'cause "Nyan-Nyan" is like "Meow" in English, so the picture would be of a big Tiger saing "meow," which is sorta like the team (doesn't do much).

Chapter 8: Twin Eagles

When Arasu woke up, it was late afternoon. As she sat up and tried to figure out why her head felt so groggy, she realized that she was still wearing the dress she'd wore to town. Why did I go to bed in this? she thought. And WHEN did I go to bed? I don't remember. I don't even remember coming back to the Whaleking. Or even much of being in town. Is this even the same day I went to town, or the next? Shaking her head, Arasu changed into her usual attire for working on the Whaleking, and decided to go find Dr. Raon.

"You said mid-morning, Doctor," a mad Raon told his companion.

"I said at least, sir. Don't worry, the girl will be fine, and will not be able to interfere with your plans," the Doctor replied.

"You'd better be right, or..." Raon started to reply, when he heard a knock on his office door. "Enter," he called, and was relieved to see Arasu walk through the door.

"Arasu!" he exclaimed, standing up and walking to her. "I'm so glad to see that you're feeling better."

"Feeling better?" Arasu questioned, noticing the doctor, as Raon pulled her into a big hug.

"Yes, when you returned to the Whaleking last night, you were quite ill. The doctor gave you medicine, but I've been worried about you, since you slept so late."

The doctor got up, following Raon's ploy, and felt Arasu's forehead and pulse, as if checking her health. "Yes, it seems as if you've slept out whatever you caught, so you should be fine. But take it easy for the next few days." With that, the doctor left the room, leaving Arasu and Raon alone.

"I was ill? I don't even remember coming back... last night?"

"The doctor said this might happen, Ara. He said that you were quite feverish last night that he had to give you a sedative, and probably wouldn't remember much from yesterday, as a side effect. He believes that there's a good chance that you've been pushing yourself too much lately. I can't have you doing that, so I'm assigning you a partner."

"A partner, sir?"

"Yes, a partner. Not only for strategies, but for battles as well, since you did so well. He's another aerial pilot, so we'll be able to install the programs in his Zoid as well."

"That's... wonderful, sir. When will I be able to meet him?"

"Actually, he's waiting in the other room." Raon took Arasu by the hand and led her to the door. When he opened the door, Arasu could see a figure standing on the other side of the room, back to her, looking out the window. "Arasu Hemerosu, may I present to you your new partner: Jiemi Hemerosu." Arasu stood there in shock as the figure turned around, and was revealed to be her own younger brother. "I'll leave you two to get reacquainted," Raon said, and left the room.

"Jiemi?!?!"

A couple of minutes later, after the obligatory hugs and exclamations of disbelief had passed, Ara asked Jiemi what he was doing there.

"I've missed you, Aneki. I want to work with you. That's why I'm here."

"But Jiemi, what about your old team, Blitz?"

Jiemi looked down, and it seemed to Ara that he was trying to find the answer himself. "They don't need me. I rarely go into battle, and no one pays any attention to my strategies. But you're here, and you're my sister!" Ara hugged her brother, and he smiled sheepishly up at her. "Hey, I hear that you have some awesome new programs that you've been working on. Can you show me?" Ara grinned down at him, and led the way to her lab.

Dr. Raon found Arasu and Jiemi amidst a pile of datapads, the girl explaining one to her brother. Both looked up when he entered the room. Arasu quickly jumped to her feet, and Jiemi followed in suit.

"Sir?" Arasu asked. At a look from Dr. Raon, she changed her mind. "Ese? Did you need something?"

"I've secured a second Reinosu for Jiemi to use. How long would it take to get the two programs installed, and to teach him how to use them?"

Ara looked at her brother quickly, before responding. "Less than a week. If we work hard, I'd say 5 days."

"Good. That would make it Thursday. I've scheduled a battle for you on Saturday."

"A battle already? Are you sure?"

"Of course. I have complete faith in the two of you. They say that siblings have a special rapport. Perhaps this will help us."

"Who will we be battling, Ese?"

"Team Tigers."

"Nyan-nyan," Jiemi said under his breath. Both Dr. Raon and Ara turned to look at him. "Bit started it. They're supposed to be Tigers, but they don't have much of a roar. So he calls 'em Team Nyan-Nyan. They hate it, of course, but it's stuck."

"Nyan-nyan..." Ara echoed. "I like it. What did you register our team as?"

"Twin Eagles. I thought it appropriate."

"Omari, you go left. Lineback, you go right. Let's get them!" Kirkland shouted at his team.

Arasu shook her head. No wonder the team had such problems, shouting their strategy over open channels. She made sure that the channel was private, then sent a message to her brother. "I'm going after the leader. Take out one of the others, and I'll have the leader take out the last one."

Jiemi's Reinosu peeled off to the side to take on Omari, and Arasu aimed right toward Kirkland. She dodged his missles, and launched her claws at him. Over the open channel, she could hear Kirkland yelling as he got hit by the electric charge, but there was nothing he could do. Taking a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw that Jiemi was almost done with Omari. Disconnecting the cables to the Zaber Fang, she dodged Lineback's missles as they came from her rear, and flew toward Jiemi and Omari's downed Zoid, and Jiemi took over the battle against Lineback. Using the distraction to take control of Kirkland's machine, she aimed him toward Lineback, and rammed the two Zoids together, freezing both.

As Arasu retrieved her Reinosu's claws, the Dark Judge gleefully announced, "The winner is... Team Twin Eagles."

"I guess they really are more of Team Nyan-Nyan than Team Tigers," Arasu snickered through the open line as she and Jiemi returned to the Whaleking.

Bit dropped his jacket on the couch and flopped down next to it.

"Any word on Jiemi?" Ballade asked him.

"No, but you should hear what's going around in town. Apparently there's this new team with the Backdraft Group that's unbeatable. Everyone says that all of a sudden their leader's Zoid goes nuts and takes out one of the other Zoids."

"That sounds almost like that battle we had," Rinon replied. "What teams have been hit?"

"Mainly minor teams, but the Tigers were apparently the first. Heard it from Kirkland himself. He said that one of the Reinosu shot its claws at him and sent an electrical charge through, then he couldn't control the Fang and rammed into Lineback."

"That's exactly what happened to us!" Rinon shouted, jumping to her feet.

"What's all the excitement about? Did you find Jiemi?" Dr. Torosu said, entering the room. No one needed to reply, the three downturned faces told him everything he needed. "Well, perk up, we've got a battle to prepare for. It's against the Twin Eagles team."

Sorry for how long it took me, this term was brutal... one more to go, and then I'm free!!

Okay, I'm sorry I haven't updated this in a while. I promise I will soon, now that I've graduated. Anywho, I've fixed all of the formatting problems and re-uploaded the whole thing.