I didn't pass out, thankfully. I sent a few messages back and forth, got the fine details. He's had a storm problem on the way back, both my Saix and that Raptor he was towing got fried. He'd gotten the legs fixed, tuned up the engine, and even replaced the cockpit glass. And now it was a piece of melted metal. I told him not to scrap it, I may be able to salvage some parts.

I pulled Riz out of the family reunion and gave her the news. She tired to hug me but I brushed it off. I just asked for a ride. This was the first time I was reacting to something brutally emotional, I just shut down. I found myself doing it more and more often in the upcoming events. I'd give you more details but I barely remember anything, I was just sitting in the Molga next to Clara, staring at the sunset. I'd watched the sunrise in the Saix just a few days ago, and now it was setting and my Saix was gone forever. An hour of silence and those thoughts.

We stopped at the warehouse, the guy had backtracked after the accident. Clara led me in, she probably knew how I felt. She seemed to love her liger after all. And this wasn't a bought zoid, it was a favorite possession. That I'd only ridden once. I saw in the center three zoids, well, two, and one melted mound of metal and paint. I remember just standing there. Clara eventually sidled off to leave me alone. Just a pile of metal. Not a single part was familiar. I couldn't even see any seams in the pile, just a huge piece of molten clay. There was some red tint on it, probably the engine rust I hadn't gotten around to cleaning. I stood there for about an hour. I heard from Clara a few days later I was in shock. Probably from the loss of a loved one. As I finally tore my eyes off it I reached in my pocket and pulled out the rusted remote card I had used to activate it so few days ago. I should have left the thing with my neighbors, a quicker death.

I heard Clara call me over to the other side of the warehouse, she was all excited, like she had forgotten I'd lost my only freakin' important thing in my worthless life. The shock was wearing off. I shuffled over, figuring she was going 'Wow!' over some fancy paint job. I didn't even look up at the thing, I saw it was black and tinted purple and grunted. I then just shuffled back over to the other side, taking out the remote card and throwing it at the melted pile. I heard it click against the sheet metal scraps. Then the sound of hydraulics rising. Wait, what? I must've hit some engine part. I walked onto the pile and grabbed the remote. I clicked one of the square tiles and I heard it again.

"Clara, can hydraulics survi-"

"TREY, GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"

My second ever curse word. I jogged over, going from my moody self to my usual curious perk quickly. I nearly fell flat on my face when I reached Clara. The zoid. . .

"Is that. . . is that a Saix?"

"No kidding. . ."

We were staring at a breed of zoid I'd never even dreamed of. Its shadowy shape just screamed it's type: Lightning Saix. Then your eyes adjusted. Black, all painted black. With off-purple highlights on the plate seams. And two icy eyes that would have stared through concrete if they had to. It was a bit larger and leaner than usual, like an adult cat compared to the kitten that is your basic Saix.

Then I looked at it's back and flank. Black vents. Vertical lines. Wait, they stuck out. BLADES?! Blades folded onto the back and sides of a freakin' Saix?! There was no way that was legal! Saixes go at least 180mph, a blade at that speed?! I saw a few small blasters tucked into the sleek armor on the back. The armor was fitted instead of strapped on like basic zoids. This thing had to be custom, or maybe one of those freak zoids.

"Blades. . . that armor. . . the size. . "

"And engine vents in the joints. . ."

Dang, Clara was right. How did I miss that? The joints were a good venting point, this thing couldn't overheat in a volcano.

"That is not a Lightning. . ."

I snorted in disbelief.

"No kidding. . . has to be an upgrade."

I dropped the forgotten remote card into my jacket pocket and folded my arms. This amazing zoid crouched down into a pilot-loading position. Wait. . . did I bump the remote? I grabbed it out of my jacket and pressed it again, this thing got to its feet like the panther it was. Clara looked pale.

"Okay. . . just don't. . . scream out the obvious. . ."

"THAT'S YOUR SAIX?!?!"

"Or do it anyway. . ."

Now a new dose of shock to the old nervous system. Then I heard some one stand behind us. I knew it was the guy who got my zoid fixed then fried.

". . . how did it happen?"

"Brought it in here fried. . . looked worse than that Raptor over there. . ."

The melted metal was the Rev Raptor he'd been borrowing?

"Woke up from a nap a couple hours ago and it was just standing there. . . checked the serial code, it's the same as before. The WTF-6890. That's Max's old zoid, alright. Those codes can't be changed, they're programmed into the core."

". . . so this thing just appeared in my license number?"

"Look at the head. The ears are kind of different, your old one had the same thing."

"Yeah, they have that point on the tip."

"How come you're not dancing around and screaming in joy?"

"Not my style."

It was Clara's though. She hadn't stopped screaming.

"This thing in the books?"

"Nothin' like it in every Saix book I got."

"So, it is mine, right?"

"You'd kill me and take it even if it weren't."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Hey, all I did was leave it out in the storm."

I then spent half an hour dancing around with Clara screaming at every angle looking at it. I had a zoid. I had a zoid! Months later I'd wake up from the shock and spend nights wondering where it came from. But honestly, you get a zoid from a mysterious act of Fate, do you give it to charity? I'll spend pages and pages trying to explain it later on, but for now just be happy for poor little me. When I first hopped into its cockpit I knew this thing was mine for good. New black leather interior, and screens everywhere. But not the standard screens like in the Liger and Molga, we're talking holo-frames. Just floating images in assigned squares. Made it look like something out of those sci-fi movies that never came true. A few other zoids had these panels, so don't get too excited.

When I started it up I swore to god it purred just like a cat. I had it roar, flex it's legs, trot back and forth in the warehouse before closing the cockpit, Clara opened the main door and I tore off, taking a few layers off the concrete of the flooring. I became even more of a zoid addict in a few seconds. This thing moved so fast the horizon blurred. I had to stop it so I wouldn't pass out and had it spin on its heel like I'd always wanted to in my dreams. I was hopping around like a kid with a new toy. Then I looked at the glowing radar. Where the heck was I? Ten minutes of wondering later the Molga pulled up. I opened a com link and Clara's head appeared in hologram form to my side.

"I clocked your take off. 190MPH. Off concrete."

190? This had to be a dream. I banged my head on the console a few times, nope, it's real. And I have the bruises on my scalp to prove it.

"Trey, you're one freaky little guy you know that? First you turn out like the way you do, and now your zoid comes back from the dead."

I'm pretty sure she was drunk or something. We calmed down and later spent hours just staring at this thing, but this is called the stages of Holy Crap as Narrated by Trey.

We got back to the city in an hour, mainly because I kept darting off and doing tricks. I went up to the Guard Tower and waved to the guy in charge of entrance. He nodded in response and popped the gateway, you always get respect with a ride like this. Or get shot out of envy, either way. I trotted through the aisles and popped down in the spot we had rented. I hopped down and took another look. Nope, still gorgeous. Relax, I calm down in a little while. I went down to the food court while the Molga was getting parked. I found Riz at the main office and told her everything that had happened. She pulled me over to a table and made me sit down. She asked if I'd eaten anything that came from a stranger's car.

There's nothing better than the site of two cousins hugging each other and dancing around a new breed of zoid. I figured later on it wasn't because of my good luck, more because it was an unmarked kind. Let's be honest, a Saix with blades? It's like a fairy tale. Blades on fast zoids are like white ligers, they don't exist. Yet here it was under my name and license. Now for a more serious commentary. My zoid had been replaced with/changed into this thing. Yes, I'm afraid. Yes, I kept it because of how fast and agile it was. Want an explanation? Give me a few years. Who honestly cares?

I had a zoid. An amazing, top of the line zoid. I've asked every bar-goer/scientist I meet how it happened. One guy says something about the lightning and the zoid core. Another said it evolved. How could it evolve without one of those dino things they had back in the Big War? I honestly don't know. A zoid just fell onto my lap. I didn't find it, this thing found me. That's what I say, and I'm sticking to it. If an Ultimate X could befriend a Salvage Bum, why couldn't a poor guy from the desert land himself a nice zoid? Oh yeah, one more time, I HAD A ZOID!

Author's Note

Eh, it ain't as peachy as it seems. . . zoids fall outta the sky all the time, but it ain't gonna help out Trey's personal life. Thanks for the reviews!