So, let the losers who think they're S Class challenge us? Sure, sounds great. We then had a long conversation about how lame the C zoids are. Then Riz walked into our Hanger area.

"Trey, Clara needs her Liger fixed or something. She's been looking for ya for a co-HOLY. . ."

She was staring at the three dark-tinted zoids standing over us. The Saix she hadn't gotten used to, and now she had to look at the Liger from the ghetto and a creepy sniper.

". . . You guys are just scary. . . "

"Thank you."

"Back at ya."

"Meh."

I re-aligned some parts on Clara's Blade, usual work. Riz kept by my side though. She had gotten her hair done I guess, it had highlights now. Still those huge earrings. She soon started talking about uniforms she'd been looking at.

"I mean, you could use a good jacket, that one guy is in a mechanic suit, and Sue needs to take off the sunglasses."

I argued a bit over my needs, their needs, and how Sue won't let go of those things.

Before I knew it Sue, Rax. And myself were in Riz's civilian car on the way to the fashion district. Do you really want to hear about six hours of fitting, materials, and suggestive tightness? Didn't think so. We managed to sneak off later, just to regroup in a bar. Hey, a battle was on the screens and being reviewed by the patrons.

". . . Those all the same teams are terrible, the Lightning Team is good but these copycats need to stop these trio-tactics."

"How come smoke-screens are so popular? A good radar and they're screwed."

"I just don't like the paint job on that Sinker."

Then Rax opened his jaw.

"Hey, we're a Team, any tips?"

Before Sue or me could knock him out everyone was looking at us, and asking what zoids, what area, what Class, everything. I sighed and answered a few.

"We have a few good zoids, we have to start out in C Class."

"You guys should try Doomwings, they're the top C out there."

"What they running?"

"Iguan, Stealth Viper, and a Redler."

". . . I'm serious. . ."

"So am I."

We talked it over back at the Hanger. Do we really take on such powerful zoids? I mean, what if the Redler uses its toothpick sized blades? Or the Viper wraps itself around out blade-covered zoids? Come on, take out some midgets, one step closer to S Class? Sure, why not.

One Week of 'Planning' Later

I always imagine our first battle from the viewpoint of a bar-patron who just got back from the office. He gets his usual stool, and hears from the guys they're watching C Class. Watching terrible pilots with terrible zoids fight each other is terribly fun. Hey, they got Doomwings coming up. The guys who are the best of the worst. The Judge touches down, and announces the standard battle mode. Doomwings walks up; they don't have a transport, and struts their zoids for the camera. The Redler is the leader, some hot shot guy who spends all his time in the air while his buddies are getting whacked. The other two are just his sidekicks, they never do any interviews. They all have these gaudy flight suits with huge logos on the chest. And the stupidest buzz cuts ever. They get into formation, waiting for the guys they challenged. Wait, what is that?! A Whale King?! A small one, but still, these guys must be rich punks or something. The mouth opens and the three shoot out onto the desert floor. The battle area is your basic flat desert, not a base or a canyon like the fun battles. Then the dust clears and the camera focuses on the new team.

Dear . . . god. . .that is the most beautiful cat zoid I've ever seen. . . BLADES?! Ten years I've been watching battles, and a Saix with blades?! It switches over, a Blade Liger. Covered in graffiti. And with the blades already out like they don't fold. And now a black Snipe Master, pretty standard looking. Then they do pilot info. That's the guy form the Sectors! Rax?! I was just watching that guy last week! He joined a team? Sue Ryder? Didn't she . . . whoa, they have a real mercenary for a change. What was this, a celebrity battle?

The judge waves the battle on, and Doomwings doesn't move, just staring at the new team. And the new team. . .just . . . looks at each other, like a few animals having a conversation. The Snipe eventually shrugs, turns itself around and in a flash the Redler across the arena is hit with a snipe blast. Then another. Then six more before it hits the ground and freezes. She hit the thing right on the weak points! Now with their leader gone, the Viper and Iguan just take off in the other direction. If they leave the Field they'll forfeit and it'll be a lot easier on them. Wait, the Saix is standing in front of them? Just a second ago it was miles away in the other direction! Instant replay. . . that thing is faster than the camera?! The network manages to slow it down just enough to catch a blurry Saix pouncing the Iguan, and then goes back to normal speed to see the lizard on its side and smoking.

The Viper takes off again, maybe it'll reach the border. No, it's headed the wrong way, the idiot. Now the Blade Liger just trots up like it's having a morning jog. Ten minutes later the viper is in pieces, that's Rax alright. That zoid was made for him probably, better than those raptors he uses. The judge goes to raise the red flag, but it's just standing there. It finally gets over the shock and announces the red team has won. They don't have a name? They won a battle in ten minutes, and they don't have a name?! Wait, what strategy were they using? The patron asks the others. Not a clue. They just took out one a piece and sat there waiting for the others. Either these guys are morons or the best guys since Team Checkmate. Wait, Isn't Trey Brand . . . these guys ARE Team Checkmate! They even have similar zoids! Max Brand trained the kid in the Saix, no wonder they fight like that.

Now the network is zooming in on the un-named team, the Saix pilot is sitting on the head staring at the judge. He has a black jacket on over a dark gray shirt, with baseball cap over his eyes and sunglasses on the bill. Ha, the kid looks like my son when he goes looking for girls. Now Rax leaning out of the Liger head, he just has a black jumpsuit on and that same bandana. Now that mercenary, skin-tight black leather with a jacket similar to Trey's. But the jackets are over their shoulders, it's the desert after all. Not too flashy.

The announcers are just silent, these guys are amazing. Then they kick up and start ranting about the pilots and the Saix. Then a window pops up advertising the fact these guys have no name, please send in ideas. Every guy in the bar takes out their PDA, laptop, cell phone, wrist watch, and starts sending in the same word. RECKLESS. That's what the other team is screaming at them from their smoking zoids on the air right now. Team Reckless.

Now back to my normal point of view. So we've been christened Team Reckless. Sounds better than Checkmate. Now, what the heck were we thinking in that battle? Just beat 'em. I just used the Saix's paws on the Iguan, Sue used her snipe, and Rax just did his thing. What's hard to get? Why are we in the papers? But how about that little Whale king? Just got it yesterday, it's half the size of a normal one, holds about twenty or so zoids, and a good deal of living space for when we travel.

"Yo, 'Chase', polishing the claws after that little match? You didn't even use the Blades."

I look up from my perch in the cockpit to see Clara walking into the Hanger on our new Whale King. It's huge; we could really have twenty zoids in here. And it came with a gift, a complete supply of tools and machines for maintenance. And Rax bought some junk parts from a scrap yard so we can experiment. How did Clara get up here anyway? We're what, 30,000 feet off the desert?

"Your owner let me in during the battle; he did some errands while you guys were dodging the papers."

"So he has a remote for this thing?"

"Yeah, fits in a shirt pocket no problem."

"Huh. Well, autopilot is all we need with something this big. Wait, 'Chase'? Were you talking to that old guy in the Hanger or what?"

"Yeah, actually. He was in the bar where we were watching and was laughing his head off. Come on, you had to break the sound barrier to catch those guys on the other side. You were just waiting there."

"I didn't clock it, just did it."

"Either way the bars are calling you Chase Brand. Max's old nickname."

"Eh . . . great, great."

I had my first battle three hours ago, and they already had a nickname for me? Rax has that LSOB thing, Sue is untouchable, but Chase? Honestly.

"So, how do you like our private Hanger in the sky?"

"It's nice, must be roomier than the Molga."

"Only by two hundred times, but yeah."

She laughed. She had her usual jacket and pants on; she was never a fashion critic like her cousin. Same ponytail braid. She hadn't changed her mind about me since she first saw me use her Liger a month ago.

"So have you told the Family?"

"Maybe after a while. It'd be funny if they call for a repair and I tell them you're off in A Class with your own team."

Hehe, it would actually. They probably thought I was just a mechanic.

"Your sister with the Desert Liger has been sending me messages; she is a bit odd ain't she?"

"Yeah, she's a bit clingy."

"So what did you think of the Blade Rax was using?"

"It doesn't work like mine at all."

"Exactly. I pretty much made it a knife with legs."

"The Snipe is pretty nice too. Too bad it's probably all the way evolved."

Evolved? Dear god, not this again. I took a seat on the nose of the Saix, I had been yelling my comments down to her about twenty feet. Max told me about how evolution worked, high sources of energy, specifications, abilities, all that jazz.

"What do you mean fully evolved?"

"Gun Snipers turn into Snipe Masters. Not sure if there's anything after that."

We had another boring conversation about it. Sorry for all this dialogue, I feel it's important somehow. She left after snapping some pictures, and I got back to my work. New tools, old parts, and one psycho mechanic.

For the first time in a month, I hadn't gotten any team offers. Just sponsor offers, interview requests, personal ads, and a few fans. All from one battle. Did that guy in the Liger Zero get all this after he had his first battle? So we set a few records. Don't any other new teams come prepared? I also noticed that I had nothing to fix. Not even Rax's Liger needed a dent cleaned. The gray Whale King was new, so no adjustments there. Spare time bad, must find work.

Six hours of sleep later I woke up to an email buzz, sleeping in the Saix has some bad sides.

"Trey. . .pick up."

"Huh?"

"It's a remote comm. System, Trey."

"Max?"

I banged a tile and watched as his head popped up in the usual hologram space. He had gotten a hair cut and hadn't shaved, but it was Max. Same old piercing expression, reliable face set, and eyes that either question you or ignore you. Except when you get to know him.

"Chase Brand. . .'bout time some one got the nickname since I quit."

"You saw the battle?"

"Six friends sent it to me ten seconds after they saw it was you."

"Eh. . . how did we do?"

"Did you waste any ammo?"

"Nah, one shot hit dead armor on Sue's part, me and Rax used combat."

"Good. Soon I want you guys to switch from ammo to lasers, it's expensive but it'll save you thousands."

"I'm working on it. But how did the Saix move out there?"

"You mean how did YOU move? Trey, that flash thing was amazing. Did you even use blades? The camera was too slow for that."

"Just pounced. It was just a lizard. And if I went from the side it would have started digging."

". . . Exactly. Love the paint job you guys have, by the way. You guys are sponsored, right? That one guy who did an interview?"

"Whatever his last name is, yeah. He's paying for most of this."

"Who's getting the prize money?"

"Three ways, and the repairs are covered by the sponsor."

"There are a few things you guys need, some of which your sponsor can't pay for legally."

"Go on. . ."

I wrote everything down and we chatted about his nephew, who had indeed went through the area and contacted me in the desert.

"He was learning how to use the boosters, he was calling everyone he saw. I should have snipped a few wires to save him the beatings. He's traveling around the area, and he's like what, thirteen?"

"Nice zoid though."

"It's mass produced, there's nothing like the real thing."

"He's really going to start a team?"

"His folks are buying a few more Genos for his friends."

"You're kidding me."

"A bunch of preteens with weapons of mass destruction."

"Why are you calling me at four in the morning anyway?"

"Figured you'd be sleeping, didn't want to catch you during a mechanic gig."

We talked zoids and patterns for a while before he had to leave, I was going to wake up before the sun anyway. We were currently on top of that one Hanger, in a spot reserved for aerial transports. Were we ever going to leave this dang garage once and for all? I got lost for an hour before finding the rooms where Rax and Sue were sleeping, and found there was a house inside this thing. A kitchen, living room, dining, library or something, and a few empty ones. I had a bedroom in here? I'll look into it later. I left a note for the guys and grabbed some creds from an envelope Guy left us. Then I got into the Saix, went down the mouth ramp and jumped off the Hanger roof into the line between the desert and the green meadows of the bay.