Shortly after waking up in Psy I checked the core transfer sequence.

"99.7. . ."

"Good good, now go take a break. Fourteen hours of mechanic work is gonna drive you over the edge. Again."

I shuffled off like a kid back to the Pad, finding Rax gone and sue calling six of her friends at once in two rooms at once. She was showing them a picture she'd taken of her new zoid. She didn't notice me walk in, she was too busy talking about the jets or something.

"Well, glad to see you like it. . ."

I walked into my nearly empty room to try and find something to do. I wish I could decorate this place more. All I have is the futon, desk, and a shelf. A few books on said shelf, along with fourteen trophies and that little toy liger with the patched up leg. Wait, isn't the new leg a different color?

Well, twenty minutes of tiny paint-spray and newspaper I was repainting the little toy liger I've had since I was a kid. I painted it a nice shade of red, actually. But what kind of liger was it? I've been wondering that for years. It had similar body type to a Shield, no blades, but the external engine the shield was known for was missing. So it was just a liger. No special features on it at all. Did they even make 'plain' ligers? I left it to dry and wandered into Rax's 'toy room'. He had filled a spare room full of those several hundred zoid models. They were pre-made, so he wouldn't kill anyone. He more or less had them on the shelves that lined the walls. He even stacked them up by breed and type. I ran my hand over a shelf holding the Death Stinger family and brushed some dust off the Death Saurer. It's odd to see the biggest, most deadly zoid of its time standing at twelve inches tall to scale.

I looked to the center of the room to see a sturdy table holding several models, probably ones Rax was interested in. There was the pale Snipe Master. The Blade Liger. A purple Slash Liger, go figure. And there was a tiny, plastic image of the Psycho Saix. I picked it up to check the details. The ZBC sold models to attract the public, they must have made this one off the pictures they took of Psy. There was several Geno variations on the table, each one specialized to its field. I wonder how the Geno Reaper would look as a toy. Wait. . .

The Reaper wasn't a blueprint I downloaded like the Juggernaut, it was an original design. What did I know about this thing? I created it, but how would it work? I picked up a red Geno figure and tossed it between my hands as I walked back to the living room. Sue was still on the screen, Rax was probably out wherever. I walked back into my empty room, placed the red model on my desk, and took out the ZBC PDA I sometimes used to check my messages. I opened a text window and started to type out some thoughts.

'Concept design: Enhance a Geno using superior part formations.

Method: Construct with factory-made parts, infuse a living core of experienced Geno

Design Result: The speed-enhancing design somehow ended up looking exactly like a skeleton, is this normal?

Code name: Geno Reaper, named for Grim Reaper

Questions

Is the death-like appearance a coincidence?

Will it be able to move on its own?

Will its performance exceed hypothesis?

Should the appearance be 'toned down' as to not be terrifying?

Can it evolve?'

The last note made me stop writing. This was a man-made zoid, could it possibly evolve into something else? As I went back to typing Sue walked into my room.

"Hey, Doctor Frankenzoid."

I raised an eyebrow, sitting up on my bed.

"So, you don't think it's too. . eh. . ."

"Scary?"

"I didn't mean for it to look that way. . ."

She seemed curious.

"So. . . it was a mistake gone right?"

I shrugged.

"The whole skeleton thing may actually enhance a few things I didn't plan on."

Sue nodded, probably not listening.

"Yeah, yeah. But could you make me a remote for it? That watch thing you have for Psy is really nice. . ."

I looked at the black watch that used to be Psy's remote card.

". . . what shape you want it in?"

She suddenly waved her hand in front of my face, nearly impaling my eye on a very gothic-looking ring. It wasn't over the top like a skull head, just made of silver and crafted to look a bit old-fashioned. Sue wasn't a bit gothic, so why she wore that ring is news to me.

"Could you implant it into this?"

"The ring?"

". . . I'll order some tools, but sure, could work."

The Geno did need a remote after all. She thanked me then asked when it would be finished.

"Your Snipe's core is loaded into it. . ."

She just stared.

". . . I as going to ask if you could do that, actually. . ."

Sue must be attached to her former Snipe Master. . .

"Well, it's a Geno again. . . so it'll be easier to pilot from the start. Most likely easier than in your old Geno. I just have to run a scan, shock it with the Bio to activate the new features, and paint it."

Ten minutes later I was in the hanger, reading a chart from the scanned Geno.

". . . well, nothing wrong. . . few things I can't recognize, but it's fine."

We hooked it up to the Bio, shocked it, and moved it over to the 'cage' that would paint it automatically. I typed in the colors, Sue suggested a yellowed bone tint instead of white. I also added some dirt-stains for sport. Soon the Hanger smelled like spray-paint as the Reaper started to look like it just crawled out of a grave.

"Trey, how do I see out of the cockpit?"

She meant since the eyes looked like black, dead sockets.

"Cameras built into the skull, back, tail, pretty hard to ambush this thing."

A beep was heard and we admired the dinosaur from hell. The wings still looked great, even if it didn't fly. The two heads on the shoulders looked more realistic, as did the main head. This thing looked straight out of a museum, who would have guessed it was a zoid.

". . . this thing has regular lasers, cannons, CPC, all that?"

"More punch, but should look similar."

Sue was in awe at this thing. Soon the paint dried and she practically flew into the cockpit. I came with up the spinal column, opening the skull to see a high-tech cockpit exactly like the Saix and Slash, hologram screens, comfy chair, but they looked out of place in something so old-looking. I started tapping away, linking this thing into our system. Then I helped her program her stats into it. Soon it was rigged up exactly like her Snipe Master, with just a few minor improvements. God, no more improvements. . .

". . . can I take it out?"

I checked our location.

"I'll fly us over to a canyon, mind if Psy and me tag along?"

She just nodded and stroked the controls of the Reaper, probably off in her own world. I just shook my head slightly and hopped out, typing in a deserted location at the main controls and then hopping into Psy.

"Well, how's she like it?"

". . . two of a kind."

". . . it seems to be a trend in this team. . . me and you, the Liger and Rax, the image of death and her zoid."

". . . how does the zoid like the new body, anyway?"

"Think ten year old girl getting a pony."

We chatted until the mouth ramp lowered, giving us a view of open desert. I had Psy sprint and long jump off into the sand, and we watched our Geno-from-Hell hop off the ramp, activate the jets and glide a quarter mile before landing. Glide?!

"Eh. . . is that from the jets and the lighter frame or. . ."

As if to answer our question the Geno jumped, with a standing start, nearly a few hundred feet into the air, then started moving forward in a straight line. The jets were allowing it to fly somewhat, not the decorative wings.

"Ah. . . eh. . . a flying Geno Saurer. . .that wasn't in the blueprint. . ."

Sue's hologram head popped up next to me, screaming.

"Oh my god! This thing can freakin' fly?!"

"News to us. . ."

Sue kept whooping in a way that scared us.

"But the wings are just bolted on!"

"There are extra jets in every joint. . . the wings aren't doing anything."

Sue flew a shaky circle around us, like a bird leaving the nest.

". . . isn't this a good thing. . .? I mean, sure it trashed our theories, but we have a semi-aerial zoid. . ."

I leaned my chair back to I could watch closer.

"Well, it can hover and float pretty damn high. . . what if we re-did the wing structure to work like an airfoil?"

Psy seemed to mutter to himself through the speakers.

"Hm. . . wouldn't change the appearance. . ."

"Sue! Get back down here, we need to test ground speed!"

I watched the dinosaur float back down, landing in the sand without stirring any dust. Then it shot forward and was gone.

". . . that had to be 250. . ."

"270. . ."

". . . how fast does a commercial Geno go, like eh. . ."

"150. . ."

Great, we had another speed-demon. I started writing notes to myself as the zoid popped back at a similar speed. Sue's head popped up again.

"I got nearly 290!"

". . . don't get cocky, me and Psy got 500 last week. . ."

"You should have gone before we left. . ."

"Oh, like you know what it's like to have a bladder."

Sue's head broke up our bickering.

"GUYS! Geez . . . can I try the claws?"

Psy nodded his giant metal head. We watched the living skeleton flex its bone-claws and suddenly extend them nearly twice the length of it's body, then sending a purple charge through both of them.

". . . well, I'm scared shitless. . ."

When the claws retracted they spun around like an egg beater, then cinched the fingers into a make-shift stabbing object. Then the spinal-looking tail whipped about, ready to impale some one.

"Eh. . . any target to test the guns?"

Suddenly the skeleton spun on a dime, locked its claws easily into the desert, and started rotating perfectly around the horizon. Then she stopped, the tail going ram-rod straight. Her holo-head squinted.

". . . a rock about six miles off. . ."

A silent pulse of energy came out the tail tip and shot off into the distance.

"And. . . now it has my initials in it. . ."

Psy and me just stared.

"Um. . . we'll use our imagination about the CPC and the guns all over. . ."

Sue seemed a bit disappointed.

"Fine, fine. . ."

I had the Whale open its mouth, still nearly a tenth of a mile in the air. I got Psy into full sprint, and was near the whale in a millisecond. I pulled back a lever and we were airborne, then landing softly in the Hanger. We skidded a bit and spun to see the Reaper float like a feather into its parking space.

"Wow. . . a female who knows how to park. . ."

The claws flexed in our direction, I jumped out of the cockpit and sprinted for my bedroom.

"Please! Not the face!"

Author's Notes

The next chap will be a battle. I know most of you are probably spending their lonely nights fantasizing about the zoids I come up with. Well, too bad you perverts, this is science fiction. But seriously, thanks for the reviews. I only did this chap for people to understand the Geno Reaper, Psy had a chapter too when he came out. The Slash Liger is self explanatory but I'll try to give it some lime-light.