Chapter 6: Woods Encounter
Khalsin's jaw dropped as the cold, hard metal dug into his skin. He could hear the faint hum of the photon bolt ready-to-launch within the pistol's dark barrel. Thoughts swirled through his mind too quickly to be registered, his mind numb despite its inner turmoil. He was afraid to move, afraid to breathe. He couldn't bring himself to speak. Khalsin found he could do nothing but stare silently forwards, a look of horrified shock in his eyes. The voice, feminine yet gruff and acerbically sarcastic sounded again. "What's this here? Some kind of new zoid? Looks like something that could pick up a pretty penny on the black market." She wanted the Emperor crab. His only real possession, his pride, the prize earned by all his hard work. She would take from him that for which he had fought and nearly died for several times. Was this the end of his quest, so soon? He let out a groan of despair, overwhelmed by misery as the aches and pains of his previous battle began to sink in again. All he had gone through. For nothing. He was going to lose it all again. The blurry form to his side moved cautiously forward, still crouched. Shifting his eyes in that direction, Khalsin could barely make out the thin form of a woman's arm arched upwards, still holding the pistol laterally. "So here's how its gonna go, little man," she began, as Khalsin could see the glint of a white-toothed grin in the corner of his eye. "You're going to sit here, nice and tight, while I go grab that zoid. Sound good to you?" Khalsin could say nothing, he trembled slightly, biting his lip as his eyebrows furrowed. His gaze hardened from its shock, regaining its stone- like quality. A wash of fury flooded through him, burning into his very soul. The smoldering bolt of lightning had returned. No. He couldn't let this happen. He would stop her. This was his zoid, his quest, his life. No one would take from him, nothing, not anymore. As the woman stood, Khalsin's pale left hand quietly slid across the ground, creeping through the thin, luscious green grass towards the heavy shaft of his fishing pole. He kept his grey eyes in the woman's direction as she slowly began to back away, her arm still maintaining the pistol's aim towards him. Khalsin stared forward a moment as a bead of warm sweat trickled down the side of his forehead, leaving a long, gradual, tickling trail across his skin. He had to take it slow, deliberate his actions first. His fingers tightened around the bamboo shaft as he tensed, leaning his head to the left by a few degrees to let his eyes better assess the woman's distance from him. As his gray eyes surveyed his chances, he quickly saw an opening. A small, nearly unnoticeable fault in her defenses. The woman, dressed in some kind of purple clothing, suddenly looked up at the great crustacean zoid a few yards behind him.
Khalsin gritted his teeth, moving upwards with a sweeping motion as he found himself rotating rapidly to one side. His abrupt movement brought a gunshot from the photon pistol which was dispatched with an airy thud and whizzed past him, shrieking through the air. Khalsin felt the scalding heat as it [moved past, before continuing his hasty rotation, the huge fishing pole moving around in a radial circle from his arm. He saw it edge towards her with immense momentum, as time once again seemed to slow in those brief fractions of a second. Now that he fully faced her, Khalsin could see the woman he had so promptly attacked.
She was perhaps an inch or two taller than he, looking a few years older at least. She wore a small plum-colored t-shirt minus the sleeves, ragged stretches of thread where they had once been. To replace these, he supposed, two black nylon sleeves climbed up her arms just above the elbow, branching from two fingerless black gloves on her petite hands. Her legs were covered only by deep black stockings patched by small rectangular plates of metallic armor, and at her waist a pair of purple shorts. Her face was oddly quite calm, her short hair spiked upwards and combed into a curved crest just above the forehead which drooped messy bangs before her eyes. Through these cluttered ebony strands, Khalsin saw a harmonious and somber look in the outlaw's ice blue eyes, her gaze chilling him to the bone even as his bamboo staff inched towards her skull. In the blink of an eye it had happened. The staff carried suddenly through the air with a loud, airy woosh, the expected recoil and harsh clack of the stunning impact completely absent. The woman's slender form ducked casually beneath the pole, standing again and raising her pistol. Khalsin grunted as the rods incredible inertia carried him onwards, stumbling awkwardly before struggling to regain balance. As he did so, he could hear the woman laughing as she once again raised the pistol. "Lets not make any trouble we don't need, buddy," she mumbled, raising one deep black, elegantly curved eyebrow. "It's not good to get yourself into this kind of-"
She was interrupted as Khalsin's gloved fist rushed at her suddenly, the woman leaning back to let his abrupt punch rush past her. Khalsin grunted as he launched another fierce blow towards her stomach, his fist burning for contact. In moments he found his rage denied again as the bandit knocked aside his thrust with a casual swipe of the hand. She looked as though she was simply swatting a fly. He grunted as he once again found himself using his own lack of balance to launch forward another attack. The woman jerked her head to one side as his tennis-shoed foot rocketed past, once again missing the target. Khalsin lurched in pain as the woman caught him by the leg, reversing his powerful kick in a mere instant. Her strong hands gripped one pale calf just below the elastic cuff of his pants, leaving him to struggle helplessly for a few agonizing seconds. Khalsin cried out again as he was flipped over backwards from a solid thrust of her arms in the upward direction. He could see the world swirl around him suddenly before a sharp, crushing pain burst through his back. Khalsin lay helplessly, facing the sky as the bright forest seemed to rotate constantly. His vision was blurred and unclear as he squinted quietly upwards at the blue sky and sunlight, the sudden flip having wrenched his stomach to a churning nausea. He blinked in bewilderment, squinting his eyes to regain focus. As soon as his vision had finally cleared, he stared up into the miserly grin of the bandit, the woman towering over him as she stood, letting out a lilting chuckle. "Hey kid, I like you, you certainly got a bit of spunk in ya." She drawled through her chuckles, the words carrying a sharp, disciplined annunciation that she seemed to try and hide with more lowbrow language. Khalsin could only stare up at her almost unconciously, groaning in the shock of pain that had run through his ribcage upon landing. His collision with the ground had been a harsh one, as if a wakeup call from his berserk rage. Now that he thought about it, it was clear that he had little chance of defeating the woman, she was far too fast for him. Squinting to focus his gaze, Khalsin looked back to his conqueror, taking in her features once again. The overhanging black bangs, plummeting stiffly from the wavelike bulge of her hair near the front of her head made her frosted stare seem even more intimidating, as if caged by the shadowy strands. He could see that gaze now, staring nonchalantly down at him, the same soft smirk still on the woman's smooth features. Her gaze softened slightly as her thin black brows drew downwards, the woman taking in the various wounds about his body. A concerned frown darkened her previously optimistic expression. "What the hell happened to you, anyway? That's definitely a photon burn on your arm.. as for the rest, I really cant say." She muttered, still scrutinizing his injuries. Khalsin groaned again, his dull eyes moving up to hers a moment as he looked up at the curious woman. He had just attacked her, she planned to rob him, yet she insisted on casual conversation? He went along with this anyhow, heaving a soft, labored sigh as he did so. "I... some soldiers were chasing me. They were armed, and there were too many too fight off. They opened fire at me when I started to run, but it wasn't exactly a simple escape." The woman's amused grin only widened at this as she crossed her arms over her chest, moving the gun's barrel in a swift circle as if to urge him on. "It's against the law for them to fire at people like that, you know." She muttered, her sarcastic tone ringing almost painfully in his ears. Khalsin closed his eyes at the statement before unleashing a furious glare on the woman. "Theft is illegal, too." The woman let out a soft, husky chuckle, before running her fingers back through her hair, the stiff strands shifting to one side from the sudden contact, before springing back into their original position; a show of incredibly resilience. "Hm, you've got guts, kid. I gotta hand it to you, you've definitely got some balls saying that to me." The icy gaze stayed on him, but it seemed to warm a little, as if softening to his stubborn defiance. Her gaze stayed on him as she continued, tilting her head playfully to one side. "So why were they chasing you, anyhow? You took somethin' of theirs?" Khalsin shook his head a little, sighing and submitting to the agonizingly casual dialogue. He rubbed a hand over his brow to ease the painful headache caused by his unexpected flight. "..No, they didn't want me near their establishment, I guess. They had something going on in the woods.. and when I went to look, they came after me." "In the woods?" she mused, the woman licking her scarlet lips a moment as if in thought. "Huh. Sounds like the backdraft to me. No one else would do anything that fishy, no other group has the guts to start something here... What were they doing?" Khalsin squinted up at her as she pressed on, scratching at an irritating itch on the side of his face. He supposed this may have simply been due to his nervousness, the sheer awkward feel of the conversation just after he had tried to hurt her, but he could do nothing about it. "They were digging, I think. When they saw me watching they tried to kill me, but I escaped." The woman shook her head with a sigh, quickly twirling the pistol over one finger and planting it firmly in the holster at her belt. "Damn, kid, are you in trouble. You've got the backdraft on your ass. Not a fun thing, let me tell you." Her blue eyes seemed to fill with concern, the woman kneeling down beside him as she set her hand on his arm a little, her intense gaze averting to his wound. "Jesus. They got you pretty good." She paused again to think, running her lower lip through her teeth before giving a short nod. Khalsin winced as her fingers gingerly touched the burn, his pale hand tightening into a fist. He felt the burning, electric fury within him slowly fading, being snuffed by the woman's odd, gruff kindness. He could feel his dislike for her dissipating by the second. "...the backdraft? Who are they?" She shook her head quietly, moving her incisive azure stare back to his own, giving a heavy scowl. "Only the nastiest bunch of bastards Zi has ever known," Khalsin narrowed his eyes, a confused look in his eyes as he watched her, his youthful grey gaze seeming to desperately pry for more. "but what..." The woman looked off to the side, wrenching her jaw before she looked back to him. "The Backdraft group wants to have complete domination of Zi and all zoid battles. They incredibly rich, they have connections all over the place. They're everywhere. They've got elite zoids, the best pilots, and no remorse..." she trailed off, a look of horror in her eyes. "I could tell who they were when you said they were digging. They've been doing it everywhere." Khalsin was almost shocked to see her like this, suddenly opening herself up to him, showing her fear all of a sudden. He opened his mouth, about to speak, before he swallowed nervously. He eventually succeeded in his struggle to meet her gaze, his eyebrows shifting downwards. "...The Backdraft is after you too, isn't it." She cleared her throat loudly, standing up as she straightened the black sleeves running up her arms, trying to seem distracted. She set her jaw a bit, trying to hide her fright. "...Yeah. You could say that." Khalsin squirmed a little on the ground, raising one leg as his knee bent upwards into the air. He could feel his senses slowly returning after the swift defeat. "What did you do?" he pried, his interest in the bandit being more aroused by the second. She glanced off behind herself into the forest, though Khalsin could not make out what it was she saw. The woman's confident smirk returned as she chuckled confidently. "I... borrowed some things." Khalsin quirked a brow at the response, finding himself grinning as well, before stifling a tentative laugh. He was about to speak, before the woman promptly took over again, reaching down with one arm as her hand opened. She held her hand confidently down towards him, her petite fingers extended in offering. "Come on, lets get you on your feet." Khalsin reached upwards, feeling his gloved hand abruptly enveloped in her strong, warm grip. With a powerful tug he was jerked onto his feet, groaning in bewilderment at the sudden movement, the forest rushing by. Khalsin scoffed to himself at her relative roughness, brushing himself off with a few brisk, sweeping motions of his hands. The woman's intentions were still quite unclear to him, but at this point he was but a prisoner. It was obvious he could not match her in combat, therefore escape from this situation was a trivial pursuit. The rapid flow of thoughts rumbling through his mind were abruptly cut off by her voice, that which seemed to soften even as it progressed. "So we're in the same boat, huh. Against the Backdraft and all." She chuckled at the irony and crossed her arms over her chest. "Its not pretty, having those guys after you, they'll stop at nothing to stop somebody from being a thorn in their side. I've been fighting off the bounty hunters for months." She shook her head again, jerking her head towards the slightly shorter, slender form of the boy before her. "Now that you're on the bounty list, what do you plan to do, kid?" Khalsin smiled inwardly, his grey eyes shifting over to his great zoid, taking in its enormous, red-armored bulk. The leviathan crab sat supported firmly on its eight arched legs, heavy plates of scarlet armor placed between their joints. He continued to study the gargantuan machine as he spoke, his eyes roaming across the mottling of the tree's shadows across its enormous shell. "I plan to be a zoid pilot, I want to enter the worldwide tournament.." This prompted a soft chuckle from the woman, before she scratched her chin a little, sticking out her lower lip and nodding at the prospect. "There's a lot of money in that, I bet, if you can get a good team and actually win a few battles." Khalsin quirked a brow at the odd tone in her voice, his stone eyes lingering on the woman's tanned features a moment as an intriguing thought came to mind. Khalsin split a knowing grin, tilting his head to the side as his short, upright hair shifted in the soft breeze of the forest pass. "You know, we could make a team, couldn't we? I mean, you have a zoid, right?" The woman gave a short and apprehensive nod, her lips parting to speak, though she never had the chance. A loud, high-pitched screech filled the air, the insectoid, eerie cry of an oncoming predator. A demantis burst through the dense foliage of the surrounding forest, sending leaves and branches everywhere. The small zoid moved into the clearing, firing heated laser blasts out from the double cannons fastened to its pincers. The four sharply curved legs worked vigorously as it came at them, bluish lasers tearing through the calm air and impacting the ground around the couple with a steady tempo of deep thuds, the grass being torn to shreds as earth flew in all directions. Khalsin covered his eyes with his forearm as the bandit pushed him by the shoulder towards the Emperor crab. "Run! Go!" came her powerful voice, cutting through the heavy boom of the impacting laser fire and the crashing roar of the many more Demantis working their way through the forest. Khalsin complied without resistance, considering the circumstances, finding himself delighted to carry out a swift and frantic sprint towards his zoid. The bandit drew her pistol quickly, loosing her own—though comparatively miniscule—barrage back at her opponents. The yellow bolts of photon energy rang out with heavy, airy thuds as they were dispatched, shrieking through the air towards the advancing and rapidly growing line of Demantis. The zoids, untouched, continued to advance, their increase in numbers causing a constant augmentation to the sheer amplitude of their bombardment. Khalsin swiftly scaled the many thin and spindly steps of the ladder leading to the cockpit, finding that the heavy laser fire followed him the entire way. He dove into the cockpit of the Emperor crab, hastily slamming the armored door shut and locking it, hearing the groan of metal and the sudden, satisfying clack of the door latch. Moments later and without a single conscious thought, he found himself back in the cockpit seat. Khalsin felt the chaotic power of his rage running through him, making his fingers tremble as they reached to grasp the advancing control console. The fiery bolt of lightning within him had been abruptly rekindled, shocking his entire body with a feeling of furious energy. He could hear the muffled, deep thuds of the many laser rounds impacting the hull of the great zoid, gritting his teeth in anger as the console swiftly locked in place infront of his chair. Looking out the crescent windshield, Khalsin glared into the purple-tinted forest, jerking the joysticks to one side with a smooth motion as he wheeled the crab around to face its opponents. Just as he did so he clamped down one index finger on the trigger button, the console splitting in half with a fluid movement and moving up infront of his chest, both halves turning sideways as the two robotic arms attached to them, the console's supporting frame retracting to the wall. The sightfinder locked infront of his eye just as the turn had completed, the same cages of green light locking in around the fleet of nearly 30 demantis pummeling him with their merciless fire. Laser rounds caught off the deep violet windshield with loud, echoing and high-pitched chirps as he flicked his wrists sharply, the tremendous ruby claws opening to reveal their terrifying bullet-driven vulcans. Within the blink of an eye the Vulcans had commenced their horrifying attack, causing great stars of white flame to burst from their many barrels, the claws and thick arms of the zoid trembling with the enormous kickback of the massive firearms. Khalsin could feel the entire zoid quaking, only its massive, flat bulk and powerful gripper legs keeping it on the ground. The thick chains flew endlessly into the crab's claws as empty shells flew from slots on the opposite sides, the flaming tracer rounds soaring through the air and raining an unforgiving rush of titanium rounds. The line of insectoids suddenly burst into flame as explosions tore through the comparatively feeble defenses of his opponents, hunks of armor and zoid parts flew in all directions, though the opponents continued their unrelenting assault. Khalsin gritted his teeth, holding down the trigger buttons as he slowly moved his arms in a lateral motion, sweeping his blazing punishment across the line of enemy zoids. The smaller security machines were torn to shreds by the fury of the huge guns, but they just kept coming. Khalsin's gray eyes widened as he moved the crab into a slow, sideways strafe, moving into a gradual retreat as his unrelenting fire did its best to keep the massive lines of the zoids at bay. He fired without remorse, simply destroying all that followed, his white-knuckled fists locked in a deathgrip around the black joysticks. The fisherman continued to guide the leviathan claws of his zoid as they loosed the furious fire out across the advancing line of mantid war machines. Khalsin felt himself beginning to sweat with fear, sizzling beads forming across his forehead. His fists grew hot with the shuddering ferocity of the massive miniguns, giving the oncoming legion all he had. Khalsin kept the crab in its awkward, semicircular retreat, all the while gunning down as many as he could. The rapidly skittering mantids continued to advance, holding the charge forward even as they were decimated by the hundreds. The much larger crab was being slowly overwhelmed as the terrifying swarms of green and black instectoids closed the distance, almost completely surrounding him. Khalsin looked out over the great army, seeing nothing but a sea of bulbous, luminescent crimson eyes, swaying back and fourth as the hundreds of zoids advanced. He craned his neck to look at the observation screens around him, the hovering surfaces showed the same on all sides. He was completely surrounded by a shrinking ring of solid Demantis. Khalsin panted heavily, grunting as he continued to fend them off, their overwhelming numbers coming faster than he could take them, the rapid miniguns still flaring their bright white stars as he felt the huge, solid legs of the crab dig into the ground to better stabilize it. He was running out of time. The endless lines of haunting, luminescent blood red eyes continued their advance, climbing over the scores of slaughtered wreckages that had once been their allies. Khalsin gritted his teeth in horror, moving his left hand out to one side, still tightly gripping the joystick. The crab's left claw shifted over as well, its quaking arm continuing to launch its vicious fire over at another advancing squadron of Demantis. The lines closed in rapidly, nothing could be done. Khalsin moved his arms rapidly, cutting off the advance of any Demantis that came too close, gunning them down as fast as he could. He had one hope, one chance of survival. He had to punch through. He had to make an escape. They were coming too fast.
With a cry of exertion, Khalsin jammed his wrists downward, the joysticks twisting abruptly before jerking with an elastic movement back to their original position. The rapid Vulcan fire abruptly stopped as the claws closed, turning laterally with a loud, metallic clank. Seconds later the claws moved back to their vertical arrangement, opening to reveal the huge tri-barreled grenade launchers. Khalsin's violet brows furrowed in his fury as he suddenly jammed his fingers on the triggers of the controls, suddenly letting out a slower barrage of hurtling lob grenades. Ice cold, bluish steam rose from the three cannons as they constantly rotated with each shot, the liquid CO2 within them hurling the explosives outwards with incredible velocity. Huge, bright orange explosions all occurred in rapid succession as Khalsin attempted to bore a hole in the ever-closing halo of impeding doom. The grenades continued to fly quickly from the barrels, each launch shaking the massive arms of the Emperor crab, each shot deepening the great indentation in the enemy ranks. He worked frantically to forge his sole escape, his chance to survive, like a cornered beast digging its way from a trap.
Khalsin closed his right eye to look through the heavy, thick smoke which rose high into the air from his sudden attack. He gently leaned the joysticks in its direction, while the crab yanked its legs free from the ground in one great jerk, quickly scuttling towards the gap it had opened. Khalsin's grey eye widened as it peered through the viewfinder, his jaw dropping. Now that he could see through the billowing abyss of churning smoke, he could see a towering, great form slowly approaching. The zoid looked like a much larger version of the Godos, its heavy legs slowly moving in alternating movements as its great jaw opened, the machine letting out a terrifying, mechanized roar. Khalsin felt a sinking horror settle in his stomach, a roiling terror that penetrated him to the very bone. Not only was his escape route abstructed, but it was barred by the intimidating form of a Gojulas.
The incredible machine stood upright on two thick, powerful legs, it's deep black, glossy armor glimmering in the dim light of past explosions. Its head was huge and rectangular, enormous teeth jutting from its jaws. He creature's broad shoulders held folded buster cannons, intimidating and massive weapons capable of destroying zoids in a single strike. The belly of the enormous saurian android housed a huge box filled with dead-on explosive rockets, each in their own individual minisilo. The sight of the robotic gargantua sent a rush of terror through his already frantic thoughts. He wrenched his jaw furiously, continuing to fire off grenade rounds into the circle of Demantis, fear itself spreading through his mind like a plague. Who was he dealing with? How great was this backdraft? A zoid as prestigious as a Gojulas would cost more than he could ever imagine. Khalsin spun the joysticks around suddenly, the crab responding in an instant as he shot off several grenades towards the huge machine. The grenades exploded harmlessly on the heavy, dark plates of armor covering the dinosoid's exterior. The zoid itself was terrifyingly huge, at least twice as tall as a Godos but with the same general build. It was thickly constructed, its arms powerful and better built than that of its predecessor. The huge explosions from his grenades failed to even slow the machine, as it let out another thundering bellow from deep within its cavernous and mechanized interior. The frightening tyrannosaur continued to close the distance, a dark and luminous form, moving through the smoke as if it was simply part of it. The darkness of the zoid itself sent a shiver down his spine, one that only fueled the leaping flames of desperate helplessness. Two enormous, black cannons began to slowly move downwards on the zoid's shoulders, descending to take aim in his direction. He could hear them loudly clank into place while double-barreled photon guns attached to the muscular arms of the mechanical monster opened fire with loud, blasting thumps which shook the air. The heavy fire bombarded the smaller crab with vigorous, quaking impacts, causing the entire zoid to shake with the incredible blows.
Casting one horrified glance up at the gargantuan zoid towering over his own, Khalsin gasped in shock and fright as he heard a deep, rumbling whine from the other zoid, its two enormous cannons locked on the trapped Emperor crab, a bright, orange light slowly intensifying deep inside the barrels of the humongous guns. Khalsin frantically shot in all directions, casting explosive lob grenades everywhere he could, blowing back the unstoppable and constant progress of the approaching mantids. Time was running out, it was over. Trapped, trapped like a rat. He had nowhere to go, nowhere to run, all options had been decimated, leaving only the chilling realization that there was no hope. Khalsin jerked one wrist downwards as he bit his lip, his eyes narrowed as he continued to frantically fight to survive. One claw closed as its partner continued its rapid explosive assault. The claw opened again as "Custom Vulcan" flitted briefly in bright green across the viewfinder. Khalsin opened up with a tremendous attack towards the oncoming demantis, the huge Vulcan holding them back to the brink of its power while he pummeled the titanic Gojulas with a barrage of spinning grenades. The enormous zoid was bombarded with a rain of heavy explosive capsules, constant, flaming detonations ripping across its seemingly impenetrable carapace. He fought frantically to hold back his attackers, struggling through sheer determination to stop his approaching doom; to halt the charging of the Gojulas' buster cannons. He felt himself reaching the very brink of his resolve, but continually pushed himself onward, letting his furious rage fuel his strength. Without warning, the earth seemed to shake beneath him, a tremendous shock carrying through the entire bulk of his zoid. A loud, explosive crack could be heard, the sound of an immense cannon firing that caused an earth-shaking crunch that split even the very air he breathed. Khalsin tried to gasp in surprise, but found he could not draw breath. The night lit up in one blinding moment, white light flying in all directions as an incredible explosion seemed to rip through his very soul.
Khalsin sat in shock and terror, staring only at white light. He couldn't tell if his eyes were closed or open, as all he could see was a constant, unwavering and unsullied abyss. Was he dead? What had happened? The deep sinking feeling within him only intensified as terror crept to his throat, he let out a choked whimper of horror.
Just as suddenly as it occurred, the tremendous explosion disappeared, the white being replaced by the same rush of colors that had preceded it. The bright red of the many Demantis' glowing orbs, the white blaze of the Emperor crab's Vulcan, the bluish steam rising from the grenade launcher. In seconds his senses returned, one by one. He could hear the rapid, deafening roar of the very end of the explosion, immense fragments of twirling shrapnel flying in all directions, enormous hunks of hardened titanium being blasted into the bright blue, midday sky. Khalsin's jaw dropped in shock as he saw the colossal zoid split in half, the Gojulas' lower body standing as flame and sparks spewed from a ragged edge where once its entire torso had stood. The decimated pair of legs plummeted to the ground with a heavy thud, shaking the ground around him as the space behind them came into view, a wide, open space once occupied by the Gojulas' leviathan frame.
Khalsin jumped in surprise at the figure of a small, lightweight and agile zoid standing behind the wreckage. The zoid itself was a thin, faded gray in color, sharply contrasting the bright orange and yellow stripes painted along its armored frame. It had powerful, lightweight legs, a slender body and long, segmented, thick tail. The raptor dinosoid looked light on its feet, huge claws attached to hydraulic cylinders on its triangular feet. The tip of a humongous, back-mounted chrome cannon was painted with fiery patterns of vermillion, the huge rectangular weapon steaming gently in the noontime breeze. It was thick at the base, before becoming thicker near the center, and vertically wider for a five-foot segment at its tip. The weapon itself looked awkward and misplaced even on a gun sniper; though he recognized it, he could not remember where he had seen the device before. The dinosoid charged forward with astounding speed and leapt into the air, its long, segmented tail holding its balance as it flew. The velociraptor- like machine landed beside the emperor crab, one smaller Vulcan at its left side swiveling rapidly in a sweeping motion, releasing a humming volley of soaring photon fire, the glowing yellow bolts carving a thick indentation into the crippled ranks of the demantis. A huge fraction of the zoids had been decimated when the Gojulas had fallen, but some still remained. The agile gunsniper beside him continued to pummel them with the rapid fire of its smaller photon Vulcan. The weapons themselves, the small minigun and immense, rectangular cannon were ones he had never seen mounted on a gunsniper, and seemed blatantly misplaced. Misplaced, yes, but still more than effective. The grey zoid, highlighted by sharp stripes of orange and yellow had a deep blue, long cockpit window where the face of the zoid should have been, just infront of a pair of dual crests coming from its saurian skull. The gatling gun moved with much more precision than his own, though it had considerably less power. It moved with swift strokes, casting each salvo with a chorus of airy thuds, so rapid they become one long, drawn out and indescribable sound. Khalsin sat quietly in awe, his own zoid doing the same, its guns finally idle while its pilot stood in shock. With a gentle click a vidscreen popped up before him, the gruff smirk of his companion filling his gaze. The ice blue, chilling stare locked on him as the woman raised an eyebrow, her head tilted to one side. The overhanging ebony bangs still barred one half of her face, hanging over nearly down to her chin. She let out an arrogant chuckle, jerking her chin towards him. "Hey, 're you awake? Lets finish this job and get the hell outta here!" Khalsin blushed a deep red at his own stupidity, quickly snapping out of his trans of shock. He shook his head a moment, jerking his arms towards the oncoming line of Demantis. He reached up with his thumb to the back of the joysticks, pressing a small, elongated ovular button with each finger. With a loud hum, two 18-shot rocket boxes rose upwards from the shell of the zoid, square sections of its thick armor raising to reveal the weapons. The tips of the eighteen rockets could be seen painted bright yellow, set in three near rows of six. Khalsin moved his gaze across the advancing yet tattered line of insectoid killing machines as the same boxes of green light locked in around them. This time they blinked red several times before turning a solid red tone, small red dots appearing in two places on the group. Khalsin shifted his thumbs again and pressed the blue buttons, as a sharp, shrieking hiss filled the air. Two small rockets suddenly launched from their cylindrical pods atop the emperor crab, shooting swiftly through the air and leaving a pair of thin, cloudy white trails behind them. The two struck at the exact points that the red dots were projected upon, while huge blue explosions suddenly tore into their lines. Khalsin pressed the button several more times as more and more rockets followed the first, the small cylindrical explosives moving with great speed in their linear paths, closing in on their designated targets. The demantis were forced to halt as a great amount of them were shattered by the sheer force of the attack, the shrapnel from their violent deaths causing the imminent demise of adjacent comrades. The swift, saurian zoid beside him dashed across their diminishing lines, sprinting with great agility on its powerful legs, moving with fluid, graceful speed as it ran. The minigun atop it pivoted to the side, sweeping its 70mm Vulcan fire across their ranks. Flames erupted as the woman's heavily customized gun sniper seemed to dance among them, moving with incredible fluidity as it gunned them down one by one, a flurry of grey and orange. The many android-driven demantis looked stationary in comparison to the incredible maneuverability of her gun sniper, the agile raptor dodging attacks and countering with skilled, conservatives strokes of its vicious 70mm photon Vulcan. The cannon itself was constantly moving, shooting down any survivors of Khalsin's heavy assault. The demantis were of equal size to the gun sniper, though it's pilot and weapons razed them without a hint of remorse nor restraint. A squad of the insectoid atrocities lunged for the sniper, opening fire with their many double-barreled laser blasters. The sniper itself dodged swiftly as it sprinted among them, firing one shocking blast from the great, silver cannon on its back, the rectangular weapon letting out a solid crack as it launched a smoldering ball of heated photon energy. The enormous projectile streaked across the distance between them in a fraction of a second, leveling a demantis by simply slicing it in two, before exploding its comrade behind it. The Vulcan cannon swept across the remaining foes, cutting them down with a merciless volley glowing yellow light.
Khalsin wheeled his zoid around suddenly, slamming his right fist downwards as the great crab turned on its curved legs. The right pincer plummeted downwards in the exact same movement, its enormous bulk smashing down onto a straggling demantis, crushing the android as sparks and bright green parts flew in all directions. Khalsin panted softly after the harsh battle, hearing in the distance the rapid, low rushing noise of the vulcan's photon fire. He glanced upwards with his grey eyes, finding himself combing the area in shock o the battle that had just taken place. Around him was a massive battlefield, a warzone, a steaming, charred wasteland where a battle to end all battles had been fought. He panted quietly, a tickling drip of sweat running down his nose, dripping from the very tip onto his lips, where it left a salty taste in his mouth. Khalsin quietly released the joysticks as he surveyed the sheer magnitude of the carnage he had caused. The slaughtered wreckages of thousands of Backdraft remote-pilot Demantis units lay sprawled across the earth, shredded and mottled with bullet holes. Millions of brass bullet shells lay scattered everywhere, enormous piles of the humongous cartridges mottling the landscape. Though low-tech, this form of ammunition had proved to be more than adequate as far as providing self-defense. Khalsin looked up as a loud crunch interrupted his thoughts, watching the final Demantis suddenly collapse as the slightly larger Gun sniper leapt atop it, crushing it to the ground. The zoid seemed to writhe in agony, its legs and claws flailing about as sparks sprayed from them. Khalsin watched the huge chrome cannon move down, firing a single, huge bolt of smoldering yellow energy down into the smaller zoid. The insectoid burst apart with only one shot, fragments of its frail carapace flying everywhere in a shower of metallic shrapnel. Khalsin moved the joysticks downwards, straightening them to a vertical position as they automatically came together before him. The two long, metallic arms slowly retracted behind his seat when the thin support bars extended from the front of the Emperor Crab. He tilted the joysticks to the right as the crab began to walk slowly in that direction, its huge claws closing and retracting inwards. The viewfinder screen over his eye flickered and dissipated, the robotic arm holding it there retracting upwards into the ceiling. The enormous legs of the zoid moved with fluids unison, carrying it in a scuttling movement across the steaming, black- charred ground. The place was riddled with the slaughtered corpses of nearly a thousand demantis, the site of an epic battle, to say the least. Khalsin shook his head at the immense destruction which had once been the peaceful forest outside Romeo city. Looking up, he could heard the familiar click of the vidscreen activating above him. The bandit's cold, merciless eyes bore into his retinas as he bit his lip, feeling pierced by her incisive gaze. The woman's grin softened her features, the same, unphased look she seemed to have carried with her since he first met her. She seemed, if anything, untouchable. The woman brushed her fingers across the stubborn, evenly curved locks of ebony hair dangling before the right side of her face, jerking her chin towards him again in appraisal. "Hey, you alright, kid?" Khalsin nodded quietly, finding himself unable to remove his hands from the joysticks. A burning ache sunk in through his knuckles, throbbing up into his wrists as well. He cleared his throat just after his unconscious and seemingly automatic nod, deciding it was better to speak. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just... just shocked, that's all.." The woman let out a hearty chuckle, her shoulders quaking slightly while she laid her fingers on her forehead, spreading one arm outwards in an all- including gesture. "Welcome to the world of the outlaw, kid. It's not fun having the Backdraft on your tail, let me tell you. These guys ain't gonna give up any time soon. Listen, kid, you did well out there, that's a hell of a zoid you got there. I couldn't bring myself to take it from you, especially with those sons of bitches after you." Khalsin smiled broadly, his erect, violet hair moving along with him as he nodded his head towards her. Before his eyebrows moved downwards slightly, the young man squinting one eye shut as he glanced up at the face in the viscreen."..Hey, I never got your name.." The woman's grin faded slightly, her head tilting to one side as she seemed to look down at her hands, or something else unseen on the vidscreen. "My name is Tolei. Tolei Valentine...how 'bout you?" The fisherman's brow furrowed at the last name. It seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He stroked his chin with one finger, before casting his smoky gaze back up to meet hers. "Khalsin Tarok, ex- fisherman and now... outlaw, I guess." He paused with a chuckle before running the last name through his head again. Valentine. Why was it so familiar? "Is there anyone I would know who also has your last name..?" The woman's grin faded slightly as she seemed to grit her teeth, pretending to be distracted by something out her cockpit window. "..No." she looked off to the side a moment, but Khalsin could still see an inner pain in her stare, something nearly undetectable but still so present. She cleared her throat uncomfortably before quickly brightening and looking up into the vidscreen again, her eyes still filled with some deep, inner turmoil. "Hey, what about that zoid team you were talking about?"
"Well," he started, deciding not to press any further on a subject that seemed so sensitive. Though it was difficult to get his mind off of her mysterious last name, it was necessary to simply stay on even, comfortable ground for now. "Yeah, I wanted to start a zoids battle team, you know, for the profits and such..."
Tolei seemed to nod sagely, the older woman seeming greatly interested in the idea. She rubbed one fist with the opposite hand, giving a soft nod to no one in particular. "I like that idea, Khalsin... you seem like a good fighter and I don't think I'm half bad myself... What do you say you and I make this team? It'd be great to join up, I've always loved fraggin' people, and if I get paid for it, well, that's a lot quicker than stealing from them."
Khalsin smiled thankfully that she had asked for herself, as he had been convinced at this rate he would have to invite her. Accepting this was the much easier part. "Of course," he began, scratching his chin again while looking out over the massive battlefield again. "You did an incredible job back there, I still feel in debt to you for saving my life. You're an incredible pilot." That was an understatement. She was unbelievable. The woman had done in seconds what he found he simply was incapable of doing.
She tilted her head to the side as she listened to his words, her unshakable grin still dominating her gorgeous features. "You didn't expect me to just leave you there, did you? A bandit's friends are in short supply, buddy. Not something to waste... and besides, I'd love to become a zoid warrior, you know, get some class, maybe work off a few bounty prices."
Khalsin gave an indifferent shrug, though on the inside he was positively ecstatic. What had began to appear as the end of his adventure had only become a great new step, the formation of his zoid team. The partner that would help to guide his destiny had been presented. An unlikely—yet still incredibly skilled—pilot with which he knew he would fulfill his destiny.
Khalsin looked into the eyes of his new partner, his triumphant grin breaking through his every restraint. "Great, then...we should be off searching."
"Searching?" the bandit asked, her features screwing up slightly. "..For what?"
"Opponents," Khalsin began, rubbing his black gloved hands together, his eyes seeming to brighten with his eager nature. "As a team, we should start fighting, yeah?"
The woman chuckled, quirking a brow as she leaned back in the seat of her cockpit, the grey and orange gun sniper coming to a halt beside the emperor crab. "Hardly, kid... we've got to register with the federation, first."
Khalsin's eyes widened as he let out a soft groan, slapping his hand on his forehead. In his immense excitement he had made a complete fool of himself, and the woman knew it. Listening to her entertained chuckle, Khalsin found himself laughing as well, his shoulders quaking a bit as he snickered at his own stupidity. He spoke softly through his own laughter, running his fingers through his hair again. "Register, right.. where do we do this?"
"I've been meaning to register for a long time, actually. It seems like a much more... profitable business path." She smiled a little, crossing her arms over her chest as she glanced upwards, squinting one eye as she thought. "We'll definitely need a team name," she began, the woman moving the gunsniper's controls forward as it began to walk across the charred battlefield, approaching a wide dirt road in the woods. "And our names, of course, as well as some more data about our zoids... you know, whether their weapons are legal." She waved a hand dismissively as she spoke, the agile gunsniper taking off at a slight trot.
Khalsin moved the controls in that direction while the enormous crab zoid quickly turned in a circular motion, moving laterally after the raptor. The great, powerful arched legs moved in staggered unison, keeping the crab at a fluid pace. Khalsin's eyes flitted between the screen showing the land before him and the vidscreen. "Speaking of legal.. what was that beam you fired? The force was... breathtaking, to say the least."
The woman chuckled haughtily, her toothy grin appearing again as she shook her head a little. "Perfectly legal, kid. I got it off of some rich guy's Iron Kong, it was an MkII model I believe... and actually, it wasn't as powerful as it looked." Khalsin cocked his head in confusion, his mouth open a little bit as he watched her. "It was really my aim that did it," she carried on, idly brushing at the strands of hair before her face. "With two fully charged buster cannons, that big thing had quite a bit of power in it already. When I took a shot at the cannon, the whole thing went up." She let out another gleeful chuckle while Khalsin simply stared in awe. Genius. Pure genius. "So really it was that guy's fancy guns that scrapped him... blew his armored ass straight to hell!" This prompted a hearty guffaw from the woman who seemed to roar with laughter, pounding at her controls as if begging for mercy. After a few minutes of this she looked up again, the two zoids slowly moving down the wide path, kicking up dust behind them as they moved. "Mm, anyway," she drawled, wiping a tear from her eye. "What were you thinking we should name our team?"
Khalsin stroked his chin a little bit, tapping his fingers at the armrests of his cockpit seat. "Hm...maybe the blaze team? The gunner team?"
The woman cringed a little, shaking her head before looking off to the side in thought. She wrenched her jaw a little. "Nah... those are kinda... they seem overused to me, man." Khalsin could only shrug in compliance, seeing the logic in her statement.
They continued to quietly bicker at one another as they traveled, the two warriors heading off down the thin forest trail, moving off towards their new future as a zoids team. Khalsin himself found that he paid little attention to their argument, simply gazing into the distance. He cared much more about what was to come than what they were to call themselves. The title, he mused, seemed trivial compared to their skills in battle. Now, he would begin his journey.
Khalsin's jaw dropped as the cold, hard metal dug into his skin. He could hear the faint hum of the photon bolt ready-to-launch within the pistol's dark barrel. Thoughts swirled through his mind too quickly to be registered, his mind numb despite its inner turmoil. He was afraid to move, afraid to breathe. He couldn't bring himself to speak. Khalsin found he could do nothing but stare silently forwards, a look of horrified shock in his eyes. The voice, feminine yet gruff and acerbically sarcastic sounded again. "What's this here? Some kind of new zoid? Looks like something that could pick up a pretty penny on the black market." She wanted the Emperor crab. His only real possession, his pride, the prize earned by all his hard work. She would take from him that for which he had fought and nearly died for several times. Was this the end of his quest, so soon? He let out a groan of despair, overwhelmed by misery as the aches and pains of his previous battle began to sink in again. All he had gone through. For nothing. He was going to lose it all again. The blurry form to his side moved cautiously forward, still crouched. Shifting his eyes in that direction, Khalsin could barely make out the thin form of a woman's arm arched upwards, still holding the pistol laterally. "So here's how its gonna go, little man," she began, as Khalsin could see the glint of a white-toothed grin in the corner of his eye. "You're going to sit here, nice and tight, while I go grab that zoid. Sound good to you?" Khalsin could say nothing, he trembled slightly, biting his lip as his eyebrows furrowed. His gaze hardened from its shock, regaining its stone- like quality. A wash of fury flooded through him, burning into his very soul. The smoldering bolt of lightning had returned. No. He couldn't let this happen. He would stop her. This was his zoid, his quest, his life. No one would take from him, nothing, not anymore. As the woman stood, Khalsin's pale left hand quietly slid across the ground, creeping through the thin, luscious green grass towards the heavy shaft of his fishing pole. He kept his grey eyes in the woman's direction as she slowly began to back away, her arm still maintaining the pistol's aim towards him. Khalsin stared forward a moment as a bead of warm sweat trickled down the side of his forehead, leaving a long, gradual, tickling trail across his skin. He had to take it slow, deliberate his actions first. His fingers tightened around the bamboo shaft as he tensed, leaning his head to the left by a few degrees to let his eyes better assess the woman's distance from him. As his gray eyes surveyed his chances, he quickly saw an opening. A small, nearly unnoticeable fault in her defenses. The woman, dressed in some kind of purple clothing, suddenly looked up at the great crustacean zoid a few yards behind him.
Khalsin gritted his teeth, moving upwards with a sweeping motion as he found himself rotating rapidly to one side. His abrupt movement brought a gunshot from the photon pistol which was dispatched with an airy thud and whizzed past him, shrieking through the air. Khalsin felt the scalding heat as it [moved past, before continuing his hasty rotation, the huge fishing pole moving around in a radial circle from his arm. He saw it edge towards her with immense momentum, as time once again seemed to slow in those brief fractions of a second. Now that he fully faced her, Khalsin could see the woman he had so promptly attacked.
She was perhaps an inch or two taller than he, looking a few years older at least. She wore a small plum-colored t-shirt minus the sleeves, ragged stretches of thread where they had once been. To replace these, he supposed, two black nylon sleeves climbed up her arms just above the elbow, branching from two fingerless black gloves on her petite hands. Her legs were covered only by deep black stockings patched by small rectangular plates of metallic armor, and at her waist a pair of purple shorts. Her face was oddly quite calm, her short hair spiked upwards and combed into a curved crest just above the forehead which drooped messy bangs before her eyes. Through these cluttered ebony strands, Khalsin saw a harmonious and somber look in the outlaw's ice blue eyes, her gaze chilling him to the bone even as his bamboo staff inched towards her skull. In the blink of an eye it had happened. The staff carried suddenly through the air with a loud, airy woosh, the expected recoil and harsh clack of the stunning impact completely absent. The woman's slender form ducked casually beneath the pole, standing again and raising her pistol. Khalsin grunted as the rods incredible inertia carried him onwards, stumbling awkwardly before struggling to regain balance. As he did so, he could hear the woman laughing as she once again raised the pistol. "Lets not make any trouble we don't need, buddy," she mumbled, raising one deep black, elegantly curved eyebrow. "It's not good to get yourself into this kind of-"
She was interrupted as Khalsin's gloved fist rushed at her suddenly, the woman leaning back to let his abrupt punch rush past her. Khalsin grunted as he launched another fierce blow towards her stomach, his fist burning for contact. In moments he found his rage denied again as the bandit knocked aside his thrust with a casual swipe of the hand. She looked as though she was simply swatting a fly. He grunted as he once again found himself using his own lack of balance to launch forward another attack. The woman jerked her head to one side as his tennis-shoed foot rocketed past, once again missing the target. Khalsin lurched in pain as the woman caught him by the leg, reversing his powerful kick in a mere instant. Her strong hands gripped one pale calf just below the elastic cuff of his pants, leaving him to struggle helplessly for a few agonizing seconds. Khalsin cried out again as he was flipped over backwards from a solid thrust of her arms in the upward direction. He could see the world swirl around him suddenly before a sharp, crushing pain burst through his back. Khalsin lay helplessly, facing the sky as the bright forest seemed to rotate constantly. His vision was blurred and unclear as he squinted quietly upwards at the blue sky and sunlight, the sudden flip having wrenched his stomach to a churning nausea. He blinked in bewilderment, squinting his eyes to regain focus. As soon as his vision had finally cleared, he stared up into the miserly grin of the bandit, the woman towering over him as she stood, letting out a lilting chuckle. "Hey kid, I like you, you certainly got a bit of spunk in ya." She drawled through her chuckles, the words carrying a sharp, disciplined annunciation that she seemed to try and hide with more lowbrow language. Khalsin could only stare up at her almost unconciously, groaning in the shock of pain that had run through his ribcage upon landing. His collision with the ground had been a harsh one, as if a wakeup call from his berserk rage. Now that he thought about it, it was clear that he had little chance of defeating the woman, she was far too fast for him. Squinting to focus his gaze, Khalsin looked back to his conqueror, taking in her features once again. The overhanging black bangs, plummeting stiffly from the wavelike bulge of her hair near the front of her head made her frosted stare seem even more intimidating, as if caged by the shadowy strands. He could see that gaze now, staring nonchalantly down at him, the same soft smirk still on the woman's smooth features. Her gaze softened slightly as her thin black brows drew downwards, the woman taking in the various wounds about his body. A concerned frown darkened her previously optimistic expression. "What the hell happened to you, anyway? That's definitely a photon burn on your arm.. as for the rest, I really cant say." She muttered, still scrutinizing his injuries. Khalsin groaned again, his dull eyes moving up to hers a moment as he looked up at the curious woman. He had just attacked her, she planned to rob him, yet she insisted on casual conversation? He went along with this anyhow, heaving a soft, labored sigh as he did so. "I... some soldiers were chasing me. They were armed, and there were too many too fight off. They opened fire at me when I started to run, but it wasn't exactly a simple escape." The woman's amused grin only widened at this as she crossed her arms over her chest, moving the gun's barrel in a swift circle as if to urge him on. "It's against the law for them to fire at people like that, you know." She muttered, her sarcastic tone ringing almost painfully in his ears. Khalsin closed his eyes at the statement before unleashing a furious glare on the woman. "Theft is illegal, too." The woman let out a soft, husky chuckle, before running her fingers back through her hair, the stiff strands shifting to one side from the sudden contact, before springing back into their original position; a show of incredibly resilience. "Hm, you've got guts, kid. I gotta hand it to you, you've definitely got some balls saying that to me." The icy gaze stayed on him, but it seemed to warm a little, as if softening to his stubborn defiance. Her gaze stayed on him as she continued, tilting her head playfully to one side. "So why were they chasing you, anyhow? You took somethin' of theirs?" Khalsin shook his head a little, sighing and submitting to the agonizingly casual dialogue. He rubbed a hand over his brow to ease the painful headache caused by his unexpected flight. "..No, they didn't want me near their establishment, I guess. They had something going on in the woods.. and when I went to look, they came after me." "In the woods?" she mused, the woman licking her scarlet lips a moment as if in thought. "Huh. Sounds like the backdraft to me. No one else would do anything that fishy, no other group has the guts to start something here... What were they doing?" Khalsin squinted up at her as she pressed on, scratching at an irritating itch on the side of his face. He supposed this may have simply been due to his nervousness, the sheer awkward feel of the conversation just after he had tried to hurt her, but he could do nothing about it. "They were digging, I think. When they saw me watching they tried to kill me, but I escaped." The woman shook her head with a sigh, quickly twirling the pistol over one finger and planting it firmly in the holster at her belt. "Damn, kid, are you in trouble. You've got the backdraft on your ass. Not a fun thing, let me tell you." Her blue eyes seemed to fill with concern, the woman kneeling down beside him as she set her hand on his arm a little, her intense gaze averting to his wound. "Jesus. They got you pretty good." She paused again to think, running her lower lip through her teeth before giving a short nod. Khalsin winced as her fingers gingerly touched the burn, his pale hand tightening into a fist. He felt the burning, electric fury within him slowly fading, being snuffed by the woman's odd, gruff kindness. He could feel his dislike for her dissipating by the second. "...the backdraft? Who are they?" She shook her head quietly, moving her incisive azure stare back to his own, giving a heavy scowl. "Only the nastiest bunch of bastards Zi has ever known," Khalsin narrowed his eyes, a confused look in his eyes as he watched her, his youthful grey gaze seeming to desperately pry for more. "but what..." The woman looked off to the side, wrenching her jaw before she looked back to him. "The Backdraft group wants to have complete domination of Zi and all zoid battles. They incredibly rich, they have connections all over the place. They're everywhere. They've got elite zoids, the best pilots, and no remorse..." she trailed off, a look of horror in her eyes. "I could tell who they were when you said they were digging. They've been doing it everywhere." Khalsin was almost shocked to see her like this, suddenly opening herself up to him, showing her fear all of a sudden. He opened his mouth, about to speak, before he swallowed nervously. He eventually succeeded in his struggle to meet her gaze, his eyebrows shifting downwards. "...The Backdraft is after you too, isn't it." She cleared her throat loudly, standing up as she straightened the black sleeves running up her arms, trying to seem distracted. She set her jaw a bit, trying to hide her fright. "...Yeah. You could say that." Khalsin squirmed a little on the ground, raising one leg as his knee bent upwards into the air. He could feel his senses slowly returning after the swift defeat. "What did you do?" he pried, his interest in the bandit being more aroused by the second. She glanced off behind herself into the forest, though Khalsin could not make out what it was she saw. The woman's confident smirk returned as she chuckled confidently. "I... borrowed some things." Khalsin quirked a brow at the response, finding himself grinning as well, before stifling a tentative laugh. He was about to speak, before the woman promptly took over again, reaching down with one arm as her hand opened. She held her hand confidently down towards him, her petite fingers extended in offering. "Come on, lets get you on your feet." Khalsin reached upwards, feeling his gloved hand abruptly enveloped in her strong, warm grip. With a powerful tug he was jerked onto his feet, groaning in bewilderment at the sudden movement, the forest rushing by. Khalsin scoffed to himself at her relative roughness, brushing himself off with a few brisk, sweeping motions of his hands. The woman's intentions were still quite unclear to him, but at this point he was but a prisoner. It was obvious he could not match her in combat, therefore escape from this situation was a trivial pursuit. The rapid flow of thoughts rumbling through his mind were abruptly cut off by her voice, that which seemed to soften even as it progressed. "So we're in the same boat, huh. Against the Backdraft and all." She chuckled at the irony and crossed her arms over her chest. "Its not pretty, having those guys after you, they'll stop at nothing to stop somebody from being a thorn in their side. I've been fighting off the bounty hunters for months." She shook her head again, jerking her head towards the slightly shorter, slender form of the boy before her. "Now that you're on the bounty list, what do you plan to do, kid?" Khalsin smiled inwardly, his grey eyes shifting over to his great zoid, taking in its enormous, red-armored bulk. The leviathan crab sat supported firmly on its eight arched legs, heavy plates of scarlet armor placed between their joints. He continued to study the gargantuan machine as he spoke, his eyes roaming across the mottling of the tree's shadows across its enormous shell. "I plan to be a zoid pilot, I want to enter the worldwide tournament.." This prompted a soft chuckle from the woman, before she scratched her chin a little, sticking out her lower lip and nodding at the prospect. "There's a lot of money in that, I bet, if you can get a good team and actually win a few battles." Khalsin quirked a brow at the odd tone in her voice, his stone eyes lingering on the woman's tanned features a moment as an intriguing thought came to mind. Khalsin split a knowing grin, tilting his head to the side as his short, upright hair shifted in the soft breeze of the forest pass. "You know, we could make a team, couldn't we? I mean, you have a zoid, right?" The woman gave a short and apprehensive nod, her lips parting to speak, though she never had the chance. A loud, high-pitched screech filled the air, the insectoid, eerie cry of an oncoming predator. A demantis burst through the dense foliage of the surrounding forest, sending leaves and branches everywhere. The small zoid moved into the clearing, firing heated laser blasts out from the double cannons fastened to its pincers. The four sharply curved legs worked vigorously as it came at them, bluish lasers tearing through the calm air and impacting the ground around the couple with a steady tempo of deep thuds, the grass being torn to shreds as earth flew in all directions. Khalsin covered his eyes with his forearm as the bandit pushed him by the shoulder towards the Emperor crab. "Run! Go!" came her powerful voice, cutting through the heavy boom of the impacting laser fire and the crashing roar of the many more Demantis working their way through the forest. Khalsin complied without resistance, considering the circumstances, finding himself delighted to carry out a swift and frantic sprint towards his zoid. The bandit drew her pistol quickly, loosing her own—though comparatively miniscule—barrage back at her opponents. The yellow bolts of photon energy rang out with heavy, airy thuds as they were dispatched, shrieking through the air towards the advancing and rapidly growing line of Demantis. The zoids, untouched, continued to advance, their increase in numbers causing a constant augmentation to the sheer amplitude of their bombardment. Khalsin swiftly scaled the many thin and spindly steps of the ladder leading to the cockpit, finding that the heavy laser fire followed him the entire way. He dove into the cockpit of the Emperor crab, hastily slamming the armored door shut and locking it, hearing the groan of metal and the sudden, satisfying clack of the door latch. Moments later and without a single conscious thought, he found himself back in the cockpit seat. Khalsin felt the chaotic power of his rage running through him, making his fingers tremble as they reached to grasp the advancing control console. The fiery bolt of lightning within him had been abruptly rekindled, shocking his entire body with a feeling of furious energy. He could hear the muffled, deep thuds of the many laser rounds impacting the hull of the great zoid, gritting his teeth in anger as the console swiftly locked in place infront of his chair. Looking out the crescent windshield, Khalsin glared into the purple-tinted forest, jerking the joysticks to one side with a smooth motion as he wheeled the crab around to face its opponents. Just as he did so he clamped down one index finger on the trigger button, the console splitting in half with a fluid movement and moving up infront of his chest, both halves turning sideways as the two robotic arms attached to them, the console's supporting frame retracting to the wall. The sightfinder locked infront of his eye just as the turn had completed, the same cages of green light locking in around the fleet of nearly 30 demantis pummeling him with their merciless fire. Laser rounds caught off the deep violet windshield with loud, echoing and high-pitched chirps as he flicked his wrists sharply, the tremendous ruby claws opening to reveal their terrifying bullet-driven vulcans. Within the blink of an eye the Vulcans had commenced their horrifying attack, causing great stars of white flame to burst from their many barrels, the claws and thick arms of the zoid trembling with the enormous kickback of the massive firearms. Khalsin could feel the entire zoid quaking, only its massive, flat bulk and powerful gripper legs keeping it on the ground. The thick chains flew endlessly into the crab's claws as empty shells flew from slots on the opposite sides, the flaming tracer rounds soaring through the air and raining an unforgiving rush of titanium rounds. The line of insectoids suddenly burst into flame as explosions tore through the comparatively feeble defenses of his opponents, hunks of armor and zoid parts flew in all directions, though the opponents continued their unrelenting assault. Khalsin gritted his teeth, holding down the trigger buttons as he slowly moved his arms in a lateral motion, sweeping his blazing punishment across the line of enemy zoids. The smaller security machines were torn to shreds by the fury of the huge guns, but they just kept coming. Khalsin's gray eyes widened as he moved the crab into a slow, sideways strafe, moving into a gradual retreat as his unrelenting fire did its best to keep the massive lines of the zoids at bay. He fired without remorse, simply destroying all that followed, his white-knuckled fists locked in a deathgrip around the black joysticks. The fisherman continued to guide the leviathan claws of his zoid as they loosed the furious fire out across the advancing line of mantid war machines. Khalsin felt himself beginning to sweat with fear, sizzling beads forming across his forehead. His fists grew hot with the shuddering ferocity of the massive miniguns, giving the oncoming legion all he had. Khalsin kept the crab in its awkward, semicircular retreat, all the while gunning down as many as he could. The rapidly skittering mantids continued to advance, holding the charge forward even as they were decimated by the hundreds. The much larger crab was being slowly overwhelmed as the terrifying swarms of green and black instectoids closed the distance, almost completely surrounding him. Khalsin looked out over the great army, seeing nothing but a sea of bulbous, luminescent crimson eyes, swaying back and fourth as the hundreds of zoids advanced. He craned his neck to look at the observation screens around him, the hovering surfaces showed the same on all sides. He was completely surrounded by a shrinking ring of solid Demantis. Khalsin panted heavily, grunting as he continued to fend them off, their overwhelming numbers coming faster than he could take them, the rapid miniguns still flaring their bright white stars as he felt the huge, solid legs of the crab dig into the ground to better stabilize it. He was running out of time. The endless lines of haunting, luminescent blood red eyes continued their advance, climbing over the scores of slaughtered wreckages that had once been their allies. Khalsin gritted his teeth in horror, moving his left hand out to one side, still tightly gripping the joystick. The crab's left claw shifted over as well, its quaking arm continuing to launch its vicious fire over at another advancing squadron of Demantis. The lines closed in rapidly, nothing could be done. Khalsin moved his arms rapidly, cutting off the advance of any Demantis that came too close, gunning them down as fast as he could. He had one hope, one chance of survival. He had to punch through. He had to make an escape. They were coming too fast.
With a cry of exertion, Khalsin jammed his wrists downward, the joysticks twisting abruptly before jerking with an elastic movement back to their original position. The rapid Vulcan fire abruptly stopped as the claws closed, turning laterally with a loud, metallic clank. Seconds later the claws moved back to their vertical arrangement, opening to reveal the huge tri-barreled grenade launchers. Khalsin's violet brows furrowed in his fury as he suddenly jammed his fingers on the triggers of the controls, suddenly letting out a slower barrage of hurtling lob grenades. Ice cold, bluish steam rose from the three cannons as they constantly rotated with each shot, the liquid CO2 within them hurling the explosives outwards with incredible velocity. Huge, bright orange explosions all occurred in rapid succession as Khalsin attempted to bore a hole in the ever-closing halo of impeding doom. The grenades continued to fly quickly from the barrels, each launch shaking the massive arms of the Emperor crab, each shot deepening the great indentation in the enemy ranks. He worked frantically to forge his sole escape, his chance to survive, like a cornered beast digging its way from a trap.
Khalsin closed his right eye to look through the heavy, thick smoke which rose high into the air from his sudden attack. He gently leaned the joysticks in its direction, while the crab yanked its legs free from the ground in one great jerk, quickly scuttling towards the gap it had opened. Khalsin's grey eye widened as it peered through the viewfinder, his jaw dropping. Now that he could see through the billowing abyss of churning smoke, he could see a towering, great form slowly approaching. The zoid looked like a much larger version of the Godos, its heavy legs slowly moving in alternating movements as its great jaw opened, the machine letting out a terrifying, mechanized roar. Khalsin felt a sinking horror settle in his stomach, a roiling terror that penetrated him to the very bone. Not only was his escape route abstructed, but it was barred by the intimidating form of a Gojulas.
The incredible machine stood upright on two thick, powerful legs, it's deep black, glossy armor glimmering in the dim light of past explosions. Its head was huge and rectangular, enormous teeth jutting from its jaws. He creature's broad shoulders held folded buster cannons, intimidating and massive weapons capable of destroying zoids in a single strike. The belly of the enormous saurian android housed a huge box filled with dead-on explosive rockets, each in their own individual minisilo. The sight of the robotic gargantua sent a rush of terror through his already frantic thoughts. He wrenched his jaw furiously, continuing to fire off grenade rounds into the circle of Demantis, fear itself spreading through his mind like a plague. Who was he dealing with? How great was this backdraft? A zoid as prestigious as a Gojulas would cost more than he could ever imagine. Khalsin spun the joysticks around suddenly, the crab responding in an instant as he shot off several grenades towards the huge machine. The grenades exploded harmlessly on the heavy, dark plates of armor covering the dinosoid's exterior. The zoid itself was terrifyingly huge, at least twice as tall as a Godos but with the same general build. It was thickly constructed, its arms powerful and better built than that of its predecessor. The huge explosions from his grenades failed to even slow the machine, as it let out another thundering bellow from deep within its cavernous and mechanized interior. The frightening tyrannosaur continued to close the distance, a dark and luminous form, moving through the smoke as if it was simply part of it. The darkness of the zoid itself sent a shiver down his spine, one that only fueled the leaping flames of desperate helplessness. Two enormous, black cannons began to slowly move downwards on the zoid's shoulders, descending to take aim in his direction. He could hear them loudly clank into place while double-barreled photon guns attached to the muscular arms of the mechanical monster opened fire with loud, blasting thumps which shook the air. The heavy fire bombarded the smaller crab with vigorous, quaking impacts, causing the entire zoid to shake with the incredible blows.
Casting one horrified glance up at the gargantuan zoid towering over his own, Khalsin gasped in shock and fright as he heard a deep, rumbling whine from the other zoid, its two enormous cannons locked on the trapped Emperor crab, a bright, orange light slowly intensifying deep inside the barrels of the humongous guns. Khalsin frantically shot in all directions, casting explosive lob grenades everywhere he could, blowing back the unstoppable and constant progress of the approaching mantids. Time was running out, it was over. Trapped, trapped like a rat. He had nowhere to go, nowhere to run, all options had been decimated, leaving only the chilling realization that there was no hope. Khalsin jerked one wrist downwards as he bit his lip, his eyes narrowed as he continued to frantically fight to survive. One claw closed as its partner continued its rapid explosive assault. The claw opened again as "Custom Vulcan" flitted briefly in bright green across the viewfinder. Khalsin opened up with a tremendous attack towards the oncoming demantis, the huge Vulcan holding them back to the brink of its power while he pummeled the titanic Gojulas with a barrage of spinning grenades. The enormous zoid was bombarded with a rain of heavy explosive capsules, constant, flaming detonations ripping across its seemingly impenetrable carapace. He fought frantically to hold back his attackers, struggling through sheer determination to stop his approaching doom; to halt the charging of the Gojulas' buster cannons. He felt himself reaching the very brink of his resolve, but continually pushed himself onward, letting his furious rage fuel his strength. Without warning, the earth seemed to shake beneath him, a tremendous shock carrying through the entire bulk of his zoid. A loud, explosive crack could be heard, the sound of an immense cannon firing that caused an earth-shaking crunch that split even the very air he breathed. Khalsin tried to gasp in surprise, but found he could not draw breath. The night lit up in one blinding moment, white light flying in all directions as an incredible explosion seemed to rip through his very soul.
Khalsin sat in shock and terror, staring only at white light. He couldn't tell if his eyes were closed or open, as all he could see was a constant, unwavering and unsullied abyss. Was he dead? What had happened? The deep sinking feeling within him only intensified as terror crept to his throat, he let out a choked whimper of horror.
Just as suddenly as it occurred, the tremendous explosion disappeared, the white being replaced by the same rush of colors that had preceded it. The bright red of the many Demantis' glowing orbs, the white blaze of the Emperor crab's Vulcan, the bluish steam rising from the grenade launcher. In seconds his senses returned, one by one. He could hear the rapid, deafening roar of the very end of the explosion, immense fragments of twirling shrapnel flying in all directions, enormous hunks of hardened titanium being blasted into the bright blue, midday sky. Khalsin's jaw dropped in shock as he saw the colossal zoid split in half, the Gojulas' lower body standing as flame and sparks spewed from a ragged edge where once its entire torso had stood. The decimated pair of legs plummeted to the ground with a heavy thud, shaking the ground around him as the space behind them came into view, a wide, open space once occupied by the Gojulas' leviathan frame.
Khalsin jumped in surprise at the figure of a small, lightweight and agile zoid standing behind the wreckage. The zoid itself was a thin, faded gray in color, sharply contrasting the bright orange and yellow stripes painted along its armored frame. It had powerful, lightweight legs, a slender body and long, segmented, thick tail. The raptor dinosoid looked light on its feet, huge claws attached to hydraulic cylinders on its triangular feet. The tip of a humongous, back-mounted chrome cannon was painted with fiery patterns of vermillion, the huge rectangular weapon steaming gently in the noontime breeze. It was thick at the base, before becoming thicker near the center, and vertically wider for a five-foot segment at its tip. The weapon itself looked awkward and misplaced even on a gun sniper; though he recognized it, he could not remember where he had seen the device before. The dinosoid charged forward with astounding speed and leapt into the air, its long, segmented tail holding its balance as it flew. The velociraptor- like machine landed beside the emperor crab, one smaller Vulcan at its left side swiveling rapidly in a sweeping motion, releasing a humming volley of soaring photon fire, the glowing yellow bolts carving a thick indentation into the crippled ranks of the demantis. A huge fraction of the zoids had been decimated when the Gojulas had fallen, but some still remained. The agile gunsniper beside him continued to pummel them with the rapid fire of its smaller photon Vulcan. The weapons themselves, the small minigun and immense, rectangular cannon were ones he had never seen mounted on a gunsniper, and seemed blatantly misplaced. Misplaced, yes, but still more than effective. The grey zoid, highlighted by sharp stripes of orange and yellow had a deep blue, long cockpit window where the face of the zoid should have been, just infront of a pair of dual crests coming from its saurian skull. The gatling gun moved with much more precision than his own, though it had considerably less power. It moved with swift strokes, casting each salvo with a chorus of airy thuds, so rapid they become one long, drawn out and indescribable sound. Khalsin sat quietly in awe, his own zoid doing the same, its guns finally idle while its pilot stood in shock. With a gentle click a vidscreen popped up before him, the gruff smirk of his companion filling his gaze. The ice blue, chilling stare locked on him as the woman raised an eyebrow, her head tilted to one side. The overhanging ebony bangs still barred one half of her face, hanging over nearly down to her chin. She let out an arrogant chuckle, jerking her chin towards him. "Hey, 're you awake? Lets finish this job and get the hell outta here!" Khalsin blushed a deep red at his own stupidity, quickly snapping out of his trans of shock. He shook his head a moment, jerking his arms towards the oncoming line of Demantis. He reached up with his thumb to the back of the joysticks, pressing a small, elongated ovular button with each finger. With a loud hum, two 18-shot rocket boxes rose upwards from the shell of the zoid, square sections of its thick armor raising to reveal the weapons. The tips of the eighteen rockets could be seen painted bright yellow, set in three near rows of six. Khalsin moved his gaze across the advancing yet tattered line of insectoid killing machines as the same boxes of green light locked in around them. This time they blinked red several times before turning a solid red tone, small red dots appearing in two places on the group. Khalsin shifted his thumbs again and pressed the blue buttons, as a sharp, shrieking hiss filled the air. Two small rockets suddenly launched from their cylindrical pods atop the emperor crab, shooting swiftly through the air and leaving a pair of thin, cloudy white trails behind them. The two struck at the exact points that the red dots were projected upon, while huge blue explosions suddenly tore into their lines. Khalsin pressed the button several more times as more and more rockets followed the first, the small cylindrical explosives moving with great speed in their linear paths, closing in on their designated targets. The demantis were forced to halt as a great amount of them were shattered by the sheer force of the attack, the shrapnel from their violent deaths causing the imminent demise of adjacent comrades. The swift, saurian zoid beside him dashed across their diminishing lines, sprinting with great agility on its powerful legs, moving with fluid, graceful speed as it ran. The minigun atop it pivoted to the side, sweeping its 70mm Vulcan fire across their ranks. Flames erupted as the woman's heavily customized gun sniper seemed to dance among them, moving with incredible fluidity as it gunned them down one by one, a flurry of grey and orange. The many android-driven demantis looked stationary in comparison to the incredible maneuverability of her gun sniper, the agile raptor dodging attacks and countering with skilled, conservatives strokes of its vicious 70mm photon Vulcan. The cannon itself was constantly moving, shooting down any survivors of Khalsin's heavy assault. The demantis were of equal size to the gun sniper, though it's pilot and weapons razed them without a hint of remorse nor restraint. A squad of the insectoid atrocities lunged for the sniper, opening fire with their many double-barreled laser blasters. The sniper itself dodged swiftly as it sprinted among them, firing one shocking blast from the great, silver cannon on its back, the rectangular weapon letting out a solid crack as it launched a smoldering ball of heated photon energy. The enormous projectile streaked across the distance between them in a fraction of a second, leveling a demantis by simply slicing it in two, before exploding its comrade behind it. The Vulcan cannon swept across the remaining foes, cutting them down with a merciless volley glowing yellow light.
Khalsin wheeled his zoid around suddenly, slamming his right fist downwards as the great crab turned on its curved legs. The right pincer plummeted downwards in the exact same movement, its enormous bulk smashing down onto a straggling demantis, crushing the android as sparks and bright green parts flew in all directions. Khalsin panted softly after the harsh battle, hearing in the distance the rapid, low rushing noise of the vulcan's photon fire. He glanced upwards with his grey eyes, finding himself combing the area in shock o the battle that had just taken place. Around him was a massive battlefield, a warzone, a steaming, charred wasteland where a battle to end all battles had been fought. He panted quietly, a tickling drip of sweat running down his nose, dripping from the very tip onto his lips, where it left a salty taste in his mouth. Khalsin quietly released the joysticks as he surveyed the sheer magnitude of the carnage he had caused. The slaughtered wreckages of thousands of Backdraft remote-pilot Demantis units lay sprawled across the earth, shredded and mottled with bullet holes. Millions of brass bullet shells lay scattered everywhere, enormous piles of the humongous cartridges mottling the landscape. Though low-tech, this form of ammunition had proved to be more than adequate as far as providing self-defense. Khalsin looked up as a loud crunch interrupted his thoughts, watching the final Demantis suddenly collapse as the slightly larger Gun sniper leapt atop it, crushing it to the ground. The zoid seemed to writhe in agony, its legs and claws flailing about as sparks sprayed from them. Khalsin watched the huge chrome cannon move down, firing a single, huge bolt of smoldering yellow energy down into the smaller zoid. The insectoid burst apart with only one shot, fragments of its frail carapace flying everywhere in a shower of metallic shrapnel. Khalsin moved the joysticks downwards, straightening them to a vertical position as they automatically came together before him. The two long, metallic arms slowly retracted behind his seat when the thin support bars extended from the front of the Emperor Crab. He tilted the joysticks to the right as the crab began to walk slowly in that direction, its huge claws closing and retracting inwards. The viewfinder screen over his eye flickered and dissipated, the robotic arm holding it there retracting upwards into the ceiling. The enormous legs of the zoid moved with fluids unison, carrying it in a scuttling movement across the steaming, black- charred ground. The place was riddled with the slaughtered corpses of nearly a thousand demantis, the site of an epic battle, to say the least. Khalsin shook his head at the immense destruction which had once been the peaceful forest outside Romeo city. Looking up, he could heard the familiar click of the vidscreen activating above him. The bandit's cold, merciless eyes bore into his retinas as he bit his lip, feeling pierced by her incisive gaze. The woman's grin softened her features, the same, unphased look she seemed to have carried with her since he first met her. She seemed, if anything, untouchable. The woman brushed her fingers across the stubborn, evenly curved locks of ebony hair dangling before the right side of her face, jerking her chin towards him again in appraisal. "Hey, you alright, kid?" Khalsin nodded quietly, finding himself unable to remove his hands from the joysticks. A burning ache sunk in through his knuckles, throbbing up into his wrists as well. He cleared his throat just after his unconscious and seemingly automatic nod, deciding it was better to speak. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just... just shocked, that's all.." The woman let out a hearty chuckle, her shoulders quaking slightly while she laid her fingers on her forehead, spreading one arm outwards in an all- including gesture. "Welcome to the world of the outlaw, kid. It's not fun having the Backdraft on your tail, let me tell you. These guys ain't gonna give up any time soon. Listen, kid, you did well out there, that's a hell of a zoid you got there. I couldn't bring myself to take it from you, especially with those sons of bitches after you." Khalsin smiled broadly, his erect, violet hair moving along with him as he nodded his head towards her. Before his eyebrows moved downwards slightly, the young man squinting one eye shut as he glanced up at the face in the viscreen."..Hey, I never got your name.." The woman's grin faded slightly, her head tilting to one side as she seemed to look down at her hands, or something else unseen on the vidscreen. "My name is Tolei. Tolei Valentine...how 'bout you?" The fisherman's brow furrowed at the last name. It seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He stroked his chin with one finger, before casting his smoky gaze back up to meet hers. "Khalsin Tarok, ex- fisherman and now... outlaw, I guess." He paused with a chuckle before running the last name through his head again. Valentine. Why was it so familiar? "Is there anyone I would know who also has your last name..?" The woman's grin faded slightly as she seemed to grit her teeth, pretending to be distracted by something out her cockpit window. "..No." she looked off to the side a moment, but Khalsin could still see an inner pain in her stare, something nearly undetectable but still so present. She cleared her throat uncomfortably before quickly brightening and looking up into the vidscreen again, her eyes still filled with some deep, inner turmoil. "Hey, what about that zoid team you were talking about?"
"Well," he started, deciding not to press any further on a subject that seemed so sensitive. Though it was difficult to get his mind off of her mysterious last name, it was necessary to simply stay on even, comfortable ground for now. "Yeah, I wanted to start a zoids battle team, you know, for the profits and such..."
Tolei seemed to nod sagely, the older woman seeming greatly interested in the idea. She rubbed one fist with the opposite hand, giving a soft nod to no one in particular. "I like that idea, Khalsin... you seem like a good fighter and I don't think I'm half bad myself... What do you say you and I make this team? It'd be great to join up, I've always loved fraggin' people, and if I get paid for it, well, that's a lot quicker than stealing from them."
Khalsin smiled thankfully that she had asked for herself, as he had been convinced at this rate he would have to invite her. Accepting this was the much easier part. "Of course," he began, scratching his chin again while looking out over the massive battlefield again. "You did an incredible job back there, I still feel in debt to you for saving my life. You're an incredible pilot." That was an understatement. She was unbelievable. The woman had done in seconds what he found he simply was incapable of doing.
She tilted her head to the side as she listened to his words, her unshakable grin still dominating her gorgeous features. "You didn't expect me to just leave you there, did you? A bandit's friends are in short supply, buddy. Not something to waste... and besides, I'd love to become a zoid warrior, you know, get some class, maybe work off a few bounty prices."
Khalsin gave an indifferent shrug, though on the inside he was positively ecstatic. What had began to appear as the end of his adventure had only become a great new step, the formation of his zoid team. The partner that would help to guide his destiny had been presented. An unlikely—yet still incredibly skilled—pilot with which he knew he would fulfill his destiny.
Khalsin looked into the eyes of his new partner, his triumphant grin breaking through his every restraint. "Great, then...we should be off searching."
"Searching?" the bandit asked, her features screwing up slightly. "..For what?"
"Opponents," Khalsin began, rubbing his black gloved hands together, his eyes seeming to brighten with his eager nature. "As a team, we should start fighting, yeah?"
The woman chuckled, quirking a brow as she leaned back in the seat of her cockpit, the grey and orange gun sniper coming to a halt beside the emperor crab. "Hardly, kid... we've got to register with the federation, first."
Khalsin's eyes widened as he let out a soft groan, slapping his hand on his forehead. In his immense excitement he had made a complete fool of himself, and the woman knew it. Listening to her entertained chuckle, Khalsin found himself laughing as well, his shoulders quaking a bit as he snickered at his own stupidity. He spoke softly through his own laughter, running his fingers through his hair again. "Register, right.. where do we do this?"
"I've been meaning to register for a long time, actually. It seems like a much more... profitable business path." She smiled a little, crossing her arms over her chest as she glanced upwards, squinting one eye as she thought. "We'll definitely need a team name," she began, the woman moving the gunsniper's controls forward as it began to walk across the charred battlefield, approaching a wide dirt road in the woods. "And our names, of course, as well as some more data about our zoids... you know, whether their weapons are legal." She waved a hand dismissively as she spoke, the agile gunsniper taking off at a slight trot.
Khalsin moved the controls in that direction while the enormous crab zoid quickly turned in a circular motion, moving laterally after the raptor. The great, powerful arched legs moved in staggered unison, keeping the crab at a fluid pace. Khalsin's eyes flitted between the screen showing the land before him and the vidscreen. "Speaking of legal.. what was that beam you fired? The force was... breathtaking, to say the least."
The woman chuckled haughtily, her toothy grin appearing again as she shook her head a little. "Perfectly legal, kid. I got it off of some rich guy's Iron Kong, it was an MkII model I believe... and actually, it wasn't as powerful as it looked." Khalsin cocked his head in confusion, his mouth open a little bit as he watched her. "It was really my aim that did it," she carried on, idly brushing at the strands of hair before her face. "With two fully charged buster cannons, that big thing had quite a bit of power in it already. When I took a shot at the cannon, the whole thing went up." She let out another gleeful chuckle while Khalsin simply stared in awe. Genius. Pure genius. "So really it was that guy's fancy guns that scrapped him... blew his armored ass straight to hell!" This prompted a hearty guffaw from the woman who seemed to roar with laughter, pounding at her controls as if begging for mercy. After a few minutes of this she looked up again, the two zoids slowly moving down the wide path, kicking up dust behind them as they moved. "Mm, anyway," she drawled, wiping a tear from her eye. "What were you thinking we should name our team?"
Khalsin stroked his chin a little bit, tapping his fingers at the armrests of his cockpit seat. "Hm...maybe the blaze team? The gunner team?"
The woman cringed a little, shaking her head before looking off to the side in thought. She wrenched her jaw a little. "Nah... those are kinda... they seem overused to me, man." Khalsin could only shrug in compliance, seeing the logic in her statement.
They continued to quietly bicker at one another as they traveled, the two warriors heading off down the thin forest trail, moving off towards their new future as a zoids team. Khalsin himself found that he paid little attention to their argument, simply gazing into the distance. He cared much more about what was to come than what they were to call themselves. The title, he mused, seemed trivial compared to their skills in battle. Now, he would begin his journey.
