I was sleeping peacefully on my little couch, all spread out and comfy, when the intercom buzzed.
"Chase! The head's exposed on the Liger!"
"Gr. . . how many centimeters is it dilated?"
". . . . very funny. Seriously, the head is sticking out of the cocoon, I think you might want to hop in and do a scan."
So I pulled on a shirt, and lumbered barefoot toward the hanger. I flicked on the main lights so see Psy pacing, and the blue crystal Liger, with a perfectly normal head sticking out of the crystal neck.
"Holy. . ."
It was a dark colored liger head, one eyepiece with three sections. On each side of the mouth were two curved super-fangs, tusks, whatever. The teeth were just over the top. Yep. A Slash Liger, Rax was going to wet himself when he found out.
". . . now, we just wait for the rest of the cocoon to flake off. . ."
There was a pile of blue dust under the head, the cocoon must dissolve bit by bit. I activated a scan on a console, then ran up while it booted up. I grabbed a leg, shimmied up like a circus acrobat and flipped into the cockpit.
"Careful Robin, there may be booby traps. . ."
When did he watch that show. . .
"Up yours, Adam West."
I banged a bit on the three-piece glass until it opened, and I dropped onto a rather cold leather seat. Very nice cockpit, just like the other two. Cold as hell though, I closed the cockpit so it may be a bit warmer. This crystal stuff must be draining heat for energy. I looked around at the dead holo-screens.
"Nothin'. . ."
It must not have power yet. Not even a charging light. But hey, nice digs.
The seat itself was a bit over-sized, like an overstuffed reading chair. Softer than usual, not a pilot chair like in Psy. You felt like you were playing a video game in this thing, not flying a plane. It had the same super-consoles as the Snipe and my Saix, but they seemed a bit more casual.
"Psy, this thing is like a freakin' arcade game!"
"No kidding. . . Rax will be at home, eh?"
The cockpit was currently tinted, and in the dark Hanger I could barely make out Psy and the Snipe. Maybe it will have variable coloring, when the power comes on anyway.
"Batteries not included."
"Dang. . . hook up a bio?"
". . . the crystals may overload it. . ."
". . . I'll get the cable. . ."
Hey, I always loved shocking zoids to life. I hopped out while Psy dragged over the cable in his mouth. We managed to hook up the bolts to the weird tusks, the neck was still crystallized. Ten minutes of wiring later we were sitting near the console, the countdown ticking away.
"How does this feel to a zoid, anyway?"
Psy shrugged, probably remembering the time I removed his rust.
"Like a cold shower. . ."
Right on cue the Liger was swept up in purple light. Then a shocking blue light, I covered my eyes. By using my hand then jumping into Psy, where he turned on the sun-block screen. The blast lasted even after we turned the power off!
"Those crystals are going to blow?!"
". . . run?"
Right as he got into a pounce stance, it stopped. Just blinked out, like nothing happened. No explosion, no shattering. Still covered in crystal.
". . . check the console. . ."
". . . normal. It's in a charging state. You think we just pulled a Frankenstein, or did we just fry some brain cells?"
". . . stay on Eve's good side. . ."
I went back to bed an hour of scans later, not bothering to wake up Sue or Rax.
Sue shook me awake at a decent hour.
"Yo. . . it's a Slash. Several dozen tons, three ounces."
"I know. . .I delivered it."
She laughed and let me go back to sleep. Later on I saw it full-size. It was gorgeous. The head I described last night, plus two odd ears and three head-spikes. And those wings? They were folded on its back, ready to flip out and make sushi. Yeah, they were blades, I just always called them wings. And the legs, god, broad armored shoulders, boosters up to the wazoo tucked under every blade and limb! It had one large energy cannon tucked under the lion-like chin, short range but wide powered. The tail was a bit long, but it had a large blade hanging on the tip.
Now, the paint job. Rax was worried it would lose the graffiti, it didn't. An amazing, gorgeous zoid, covered in every color of street art. But not just signatures and pictures, art. Huge, colored murals of gang names and street names, sayings and mottos. Before they were done in regular spray paint. Now it looked like a street-punk became Da Vinci himself. I actually let a tear slip seeing it. This, was something we could use. A symbol. Hope for the under-privileged. Truthfully, wasn't that what this team was all about?
Rax, was speechless. We all knew it was his soul mate. I mean, he spent six hours just sitting in his little gaming chair, stroking the controls. He never even asked to try it out. I'd spent pages describing how he loved that zoid, but can't you just picture a little grease monkey sitting in the zoid of his dreams, with that tiny, amazing smile? Can't you? I'm going to go watch football in strip clubs until I can be a man again.
When Rax went off to his room to do whatever it is he does I hopped into the cockpit and wired the zoid into our system. Then I spent a few hours sitting in Psy, looking over the insides and out of our new weapon. Psy also shut up and read the stats and graphs.
"So, what's this thing's personality like?"
". . . eh. . . promise you won't laugh?"
". . . shoot."
". . . it. . . eh. . acts like Rax?"
". . . we fried its brain last night, didn't we?"
"I dunno. . . it seems kinda kickass, actually. A zoid and a pilot being so alike."
Right then a voice yelled form the Hanger floor.
"Don't they have mirrors where you two come from? Out in the desert?"
And it was Sue, making fun of the fact me and Psy WERE kind of similar. I mean personality, and the fact he is the zoid I used to dream about as a kid. Maybe Rax and his Slash would have a similar relationship.
"Sue, your Snipe yelled the same thing earlier."
That shut her up. Three morons and three high-powered moron zoids. How poetic. I got another email from Max. You know, I haven't seen him since I left the desert. He left before I did, so no good byes. Apparently he was planning to fix up the Saix so we could get into the ZBC. Would Psy have been caught in that storm if Max didn't have to leave me out on my own? Who cares. But back to the email.
His nephew talked his folks back into starting a team. The kid stopped listening to Max a while ago. I remembered seeing the kid in his Geno those two times, to think that was going to be a battle pilot. Hope they have insurance. Sue dragged me away from Psy and the Slash to dinner out in the city. Rax was who knows where, probably in the Slash still. Sue didn't actually take me to dinner, she took me to a bar with pool tables and buffet. We'd moved up to higher-class biker hang outs. We played billiards while shooting the breeze in our usual way.
"One more battle. . ."
Sue banked the eight ball into a pocket, leaving my lone solid ball on the table. I started to rack the balls for the next game.
"And we're already famous before we hit A Class."
"Must be luck."
I hadn't exactly told my team about Eve, Psy, and this whole our being used by the gods to start a revolution thing. It never came up.
"Hey, Chase, are we like involved with Zoid Eve?"
What?! What could've. . .
". . . damn it, Psy!"
That cat , was going to get sold to a violin maker.
Author's Notes
Another chapter done. But hey, I'm going to start fixing the grammar in the earlier chaps so when new people read it they aren't scared off. Reviews, advice, suggestions? And I have to thank you guys for not begging to have cameos, that was one reason I hesitated coming to this site.