DISCLAIMER: I don't own zoids, but I do own the original zoid designs/concepts in this chapter and story.

So how was A Class? Rax is off with his harem, sue off with her friends at the movies, and me trying to once again upgrade something. Today I was sitting in Psy's cockpit making blueprints of a cockpit suspension system for the zoids. Why do we need a shock absorber system? Beats me, I'm bored.

"What if you routed the neck support through the cable webs?"

"I'd need to rework the material pattern. . ."

I was staring at the biggest screen Psy had, currently featuring a cut-away 3D model of Sue's Snipe. Right now the focus was on the bird neck.

"Didn't the neck jerk a bit in that third simulation?"

"I thought that was the kickback."

"Nah, it was like whiplash."

Hm, it did jerk around a bit.

"Hey, you've got mail."

A text window popped up over the metal raptor model. Let's see. . . okay, this is worth writing.

'Trey

Max here. Nephew about to do stupidest thing on planet. Watch out for 'Neil Walker'.'

". . . eh, some guy in a black hat Max ran out of town?"

"Not sure who that is actually. . ."

". . . you got another one."

Another message, this one professionally published.

'Dear Mr. Brand,

We have chosen at random a pilot worthy of dueling us via Zoids. This is not a ZBC invitation, but a formal duel. Meet at attached coordinates, come alone tomorrow at sun-peak.

Sir Neil Walker of the Geno Rangers'

". . . okaaaay. . . Max's nephew just challenged me under a fake name. . ."

"And he could only come up with Neil Walker?"

"The kid's name is Raphael. . ."

"Oh. . . how eh. . ."

I didn't let Psy finish, I hopped out of his head and onto the Hanger floor. I had on my usual shirt, ragged pants with the tool belt, and my little black watch/zoid control that I never use. I stamped my sleeping foot and jogged into the living quarters. Well, I had to run through six empty hallways first. All with empty rooms on both sides. Honestly, the emptiness is a bit creepy. Like a closed hotel or something. Then I turned a corner into the well-lit, furnished and lived-in house inside the belly of the Whale.

I typed in an address on one of the media screens and watched Sue's head pop up in the viewing window.

"Chase, what's up?"

I folded my arms and looked at her.

"Eh. . . remember how we thought it'd be funny if Raphael challenged us to a duel?"

"Max's whiny little nephew, with the Geno?"

"Yeah."

". . . just let Psy loose on 'em."

I raised a faint eyebrow at her usual frown.

"Isn't that a bit harsh for newbies?"

"Hey, they have Genosaurers. They deserve to die."

Dear Eve, Sue is still on that Geno thing?! We exchanged a few more pointless remarks and I closed the window. Well, this was our plan. We show up, and just let the Saix loose on all four of them. The kids need to learn a lesson, stay out of the ZBC. We have a week off before the ZBC processes our Class change, this'll kill time. I jogged back into the Hanger and straight to the main console.

"Psy, how do you feel about a four on one?"

"Sounds like a good day's work. . ."

I typed in some program orders.

"But there's a catch. . ."

"Eh?"

"You know Max doesn't want them in the ZBC. And they'll probably back out if their zoids get totaled."

"Gotcha."

". . . but keep them intact."

The cat leaned down to watch me type over my shoulder.

"What are you getting-Whoa. . ."

I expanded the blueprint window so he could see.

"Yep. Now, if we were to make a few. . . eh, customizations. . ."

I changed a few factors on the 3D model.

"Um. . . you're going to use regular plate armor over a field system?"

"Yeah."

"Why not ditch the outer armor and just use the fields?"

". . . then the thing would look. . ."

I suddenly tapped a few buttons.

"Son of a. . . Psy, great minds think alike. . ."

I watched the Saix nod, he could really mimic emotion well. Well, show emotion, he was alive after all.

"And I'm sure the ice queen will approve. . ."

The Next Day, Sun Peak

Since I'm going to be actually watching this battle from the Whale, our little bar veteran can go play golf for an afternoon. The coordinates 'Neil' sent us were quite a bit South, we had to fly three fours. The battlefield, surprisingly, seemed to be a large concrete plain. Maybe the foundation for a demolished base. But no caravan or zoids present, we must be early. I was in the Whale cockpit, where I'd get the best view. We hovered over the plain, waiting.

I leaned back in the captain's seat and watched a communication signal pop up. I of course accepted and watched what looked like a floating helmet pop up in hologram form.

"I see you have accepted. . ."

The kid must have a voice changer working. . . geez, that helmet was ugly. Bright red, shiny, no face visible, and made to look like a dinosaur.

(Schira Says: I grew up making fun of power rangers. . . Sue me. and I don't own them, eaither. Dang Disclaimers.)

"Yeah, I'm here. So this is one on one I'm guessing?"

". . . possibly. . ."

It was a bit obvious it was the whole team. . . these kids need to learn to act.

"Well, either way I'm going down alone. See you there."

I closed the link and locked the signal. They'd think I was in the Psycho Saix, the last thing we need is another Ultimate X sighting. I lowered the Mouth Ramp and Psy shot out, landing in a typical cat pose.

I watched a Great Whale King, at least four times the size of ours, flie up and drop four capsules. These exploded on impact to reveal four Genos. Dear. . . god. . . HA!

They were in four different colors, red, green, blue, and yellow. Red was their leader, of course. And it was covered in Blades, they must have just strapped on a blade to every limb! The green, mechguns. Chain guns hanging from every limb. I'm noticing a pattern. Blue, a sniping rifle. Why do they need a rifle? The tail has one built in! And yellow. Eh, boosters. That's it. All the weapons are boosters. It just. . eh. . goes fast I'm guessing. They all roared in harmony and started their jets, hovering straight toward Psy in a flight formation. Eh, this had to be a joke.

Well, Psy took off full sprint right toward them. I checked the console to see his speed was at least 400. Dear Eve, this was going to be-BAM! Like a bowling ball into the pins. . . all the Genos were scattered, trying to get back in formation. And Psy was just circling, probably toying with them. Then they all attacked. Well, used their weapons anyway. The red lit up all its blades and roared. The yellow took off at a speed near Psy's. Then fell over and skidded a mile. Okay, three left. The green emptied its ammo into thin air. The red just stood there. . .

The blue sniper started spinning around wildly, then fell apart as an invisible bladed Saix probably flashed by. I wish the human eye were faster. . .

The Green also was sliced cleanly in half. The Red was just. . eh. . posing. . . Soon the Saix appeared, finally stopping to stare down the leader. Heh, good thing I was recording this. The Red actually made a gesture to say 'Come on!'.

. . . and a second later Psy had it pinned to the ground, biting it's neck in half like a lion on a gazelle. Eh. . . battle over?

Well, the floating helmet appeared again. Sideways, as the red Geno head is lying in the dirt.

"you've beat us this time. . . we'll be back!"

". . . nice try, Ralph."

The deep, heroic voice changed to the voice of a whiny kid.

". . . you cheated!"

I watched some ant-sized people hop out the demolished zoids and run into their huge Whale. Leaving the wreckage of their Genos behind. . .

"Psy, Nice goin'."

I landed the Whale gently on the surface, opening the hatch.

"Hop in, I'll fire up the sleds and we'll start part two."

"Sweet. . ."

That Night

Sue and Rax walked in after a day of sight-seeing. Sue greeted me first.

"Hey Chase, how'd the battle g. . . why are you covered in oil?"

". . . eh. . ."

I was sitting in the kitchen drinking whatever was in the fridge, panting from a day of work. Rax stared at my blackened face.

". . . you have a fling with Sue's Snipe or what?"

I took the opportunity of Sue smacking Rax to sneak back to the Hanger. Which was currently filled with the wreckage of the Geno Rangers. All sorted into piles and rows by part and color. Well, actually the paint had been fried off by our Bio-generator. Sue's Snipe was currently on a raised platform with wires hooked up on every limb. And on the second raised platform, the thing I'd been working on all day. Psy was resting off to the side, looking over his own blueprints. When he pounced the Red his ear got nicked by a blade, his first major repair.

"Yo, while you were on break the Snipe went to sleep. The wires must have kicked in."

I picked up a welding laser and nodded.

"Great, we'll be done by the time she wakes up."

I walked up to the second platform where our creation was nearly complete. I'll give you a brief description. A Geno Saurer. A bit longer than usual, claws, tail, cannons, everything intact. We'd made it from the scrapped Geno Ranger parts. Now, the catch. It had been stripped of all outer plating, exterior features, and structure add-ons. The end result? A giant fully alive Geno skeleton. Like something out of a museum, metal bone structure, even a fully detailed skull-head cockpit. So it looked like a dead Geno, made out of silver bones. Now for the special features.

Why no armor? None needed. This thing had a surface-based shielding system, allowing us to strip off the extra weight for max-speed potential. And next to the spinal cord neck base were two extra skulls mounted on the shoulders, each housing small CPC cannons used for short range fire. The feet we'd added a Raptor-like claw for style and support. The tail, fully flexible and sniping-capable. And since there was no armor, charging for the Charged Particle Cannon was unstoppable. The trademark claws were now skeletal yet still battle-ready, in fact we'd made them larger for dramatic appearance.

Now for the fun part. I'd stripped some support ribs to make small, realistic looking but non-functional wings on the back. Just for looks, no flight capability despite the usual hover abilities. I did add extra jets into the joints though. Hidden, but more powerful than your average Geno engine. It hadn't been tested, so who knows how it will change performance. But now for the flaw.

You see, it was made from the inferior commercial Geno parts. It couldn't use a full fledged CPC, or the more brutal techniques. But as you will recall, Sue's Snipe houses the core of her first, and very, very original Geno Saurer. Therefore, everything the Snipe learned in its original and lesser form, this thing can do too. At least, after we transfer the zoid core into this body it will.

Now, later on I'll add all the gimmicks her Snipe already has. Mines, cloaking, an even better shield, etc. I'll also have to reprogram and rebuild the cockpit to match her battle style, and overall one-up the current setup. And after the zoid core is intact, we'll paint it a stained bone color. Maybe glowing or just black eyes, some more detail on the three heads, blood stains, the usual features. As I'm reviewing the features as I tell you them, I finished welding the jaw hinge on the far left head. I hopped off, sliding down a detailed spinal column and onto the metal platform. I walked to a console, activated some mechanical arms built into the walls to connect cables to the skeleton in the same way as the sleeping Snipe. I stayed back as I activated the Bio-generator, shocking the skeletal zoid in a rather impressive matter, keeping the charge until it shifted slightly. I waited for it to cool before activating a zoid core transfer sequence. Some machinery whirred to life, finally doing everything automatically. I woke up an hour later in Psy's cockpit, I'd fallen asleep on the console apparently.

"Kid, you nearly passed out there. Take the night off."

"Gr. . . how's the sequence going?"

"The Snipe finally caved when it saw the body. And Sue walked in and saw it."

So Sue had seen her future dream zoid. . .

"She fainted. . . Rax carried her to her room an hour ago."

I stretched a bit, leaning back in Psy's pilot chair.

"So I'm guessing she liked it. . . what are we going to name this thing?"

"You mean the Grim Reaper's zoid here?"

"Yeah, it needs a fitting name."

". . . Geno Reaper?"

". . . sure. As long as the religious market doesn't sue us."

Psy and I shared a nod as we watched the meter rise next to the newly named Geno.

"So, think this thing will let us get to S Class?"

"Heck yeah. When does Riz Start battling with us?"

"Pffft, ask her manager. She hired some tacky agent."

"Well, if she doesn't join how about we put a simulator program in that Command Wolf on steroids? Let it fight on its own?"

"Psy, please, no more living zoids!"

Author's notes

Well, Sue is going to have a nice zoid. and their first A Class Battle will be a four-person team, with Team Reckless and their new pilot, Riz in the Command Wolf Urban Assault. Who are they going up against? Anyone but the Blitz Team. Trey/Chase is staying true to his word. And yes, Sue was named after the t-rex skeleton in the chicago Field Museum, which I loved as a kid.And she has a skeleton t-rex zoid. Aee? That's the joke. Merry X-Mas, guys! Thanks for the reviews! Consider the drool-worthy Geno Reaper a present for all you zoid-philes.