Max had invited us down South. He had just sent a casual email this morning, ten minutes later we were at 60,000 feet with the tail blasting the North. I was in the 'Command Room' in the captain's seat, Sue and Rax in one of the hundred chairs in the glass chamber. Rax was playing with a bright green liger model.

"Trey, what kind of zoid does Max have?"

I smirked as the clouds flew by.

"He had an old Lightning Saix…"

Sue and Rax looked over, just realizing where I got the Saix from. Sue looked a bit interested.

"I thought he just trained you…so Psy is the old WTF-model he used?"

"One and only…"

Sue reached over and grabbed Rax's Liger, setting it on her lap like a cat.

"…I saw one of his message printouts. He said he's after an Ultimate X."

Mercenaries…

"…he hasn't told me anything. He's been planning it for ever, leave town, get me in the ZBC, I help him find it, he gets back into battling."

Suddenly I had their full attention.

"…Team Checkmate…is gonna make a comeback?"

I adjusted my baseball cap and shrugged.

"Supposedly. I've met a few of his team mates when they visited him in the Desert, they've got some freakin' nice zoids."

Rax asked this time.

"…what kinds?"

"Well…you guys ever hear of a Desert Wolf?"

Sue shrugged.

"Seen 'em out West, yeah."

"They have one and the pilot is a freakin' genius. How about a Gun Sniper BOAS?"

"…the Leena Toros special?"

A Leena Toro was any ammo-hog. Heck, they were starting to be called 'Gun Sniper LTs' as in Leena Toros. But back to the model in question.

"Actually it's an upgrade, six extra side guns than the Toros. Back in the day they had a Great Sabre, not sure if it's still being used. And they had the Saix, which apparently Max wants to replace."

Rax grabbed back his model, and soon we separated to different parts of the ship. Sue to her room, Rax to his model gallery, I to my Hanger. Psy was waiting like a cat for the can opener to work.

"Chase, where ya been? I've been waiting all morning, I got some designs from Eve."

I ran up to him, the word Eve catching my attention.

"Spill 'em…"

The console I was closest to lit up and started loading designs, soon spewing out several blueprints.

"…an armor system…"

Psy nodded his cheetah-molded head.

"…who the heck is this for?"

It wasn't a zoid we had on our team…looked new.

"I was gonna ask you that…"

"…it's a Liger."

"…THE Liger?"

…these were plans for the Liger Zero X…three different armor designs identical to the Liger Zero.

"…it's for the X…"

…need a boost here? Well, the Liger Zero X isn't supposed to exist. It's just a ying yang theory that came up when the Blitz Team got to S class. Supposedly, the Backdraft has a clone or different breed of the Zero. Well, I guess it's not such an urban legend if Eve sent us armor plans for it. Wait…why the heck did we get these?

"Eh…why are we getting blueprints for a zoid we don't even own?"

"…Chase…you're not supposed to build it…you have to find a weakness."

I spun on my heel.

"…is that what Eve said?"

"Yep…"

I sighed, hunching back over the console as blueprint after blueprint flashed by.

"So the X exists…judging by the structure it's either a clone or the real thing…"

"Real thing?"

"…sometimes zoids are created with a complete opposite. A complete counterpart. Neither can beat the other. Sometimes they can fight for centuries, neither gaining any ground."

"…that's just a fairy tale, Trey…"

"Psy, this blueprint says otherwise. The formation of the Ligers is identical in the basis, but they also have differences that keep them matched."

"…Like?"

"…the X has energy attacks, the Zero has none in base form. The Zero can do serious damage close-up, but the X has some flaws hanging in the air."

"But these are armors…"

"…the CAS system wasn't a natural feature. That Toros guy somehow made the armor system compatible with the Ultimate X, to make up for the Liger's flaws."

"But it's a living zoid…that's like instant S Class, we learn more than the pilots."

"…the Blitz Team seems to need results fast, the armor system got them to S Class. But it's just an add-on, the zoid itself is a complete separate dimension."

"So it's a weaker Ultimate X with artificial help…"

"…it's not that weak."

True, just watch one of their battles without the armors.

"So there are two Zeros, one on each side. One has the armors, the other is making or has made them."

"…the armors may be the only way one will beat the other."

I zoomed in on a unique blueprint, Psy looking over my shoulder in his giant, emotional way.

"But without the armors, they'll fight for all eternity one on one."

"Bingo…now why did Eve send us this if we're not involved?"

"…this isn't some ZBC thing...those two Ligers are a chess piece in all this."

I nodded, agreeing silently and sealing the prints into a file. Honestly this whole affair was scaring the hell out of me.

"…wait…the X can't use energy attacks."

"…haven't you read the tabloids? They say it's black, blue and gold and uses lighting-style attacks."

My talking zoids looked doubtful.

"…Eve never uses Black and White…Red and White is more her style."

"…so you're saying the X originally has a Red armor, that's just like the White Zero…"

"..and the Zero should have another armor that uses lightning."

"…did Eve tell you this?"

"Nah, I just watch cop shows a lot."

…never mind him. Needless to say, I wrote all this down and ran off to call the ZBC. But I didn't tell them the whole thing, just a quick tip-off. That there may be another armor design compatible with the Zero, and that the X is very, very real. Within seconds I was in a video-chat with the ZBC President himself.

"…and then Max grabbed the shot, drank it, and asked the guy for ten bucks!"

"Um…sir, the Liger Zero X…?"

He got back to business.

"…so you have found evidence it exists."

"…well, it's not exactly like the tabloids are writing."

He held up one of the trashy magazines for the camera, showing an all-black Liger with lightning strikes. What a lousy photo-editing hack.

"…we believe that is just a CAS armor...the Backdraft has made the armor to match their own ztyle, and to use energy attacks…in its base form it is most likely Red and identical to the White Zero."

"…I apologize, but how is this useful to us?"

…I'll spare his life, somehow…

"Sir…I honestly don't know…can you give me the location of the Blitz Team, as of current?"

He checked a file.

"…they are traveling down South, they're attending a private battle."

I leaned back, thinking. Well, we were in the same area, front row seats for a great battle.

"Sweet…who they up against? We may watch the slaughter before I talk to Toros."

"…I believe the Geno Rangers Team."

…yep, the President of the ZBC and a zoid fan shared a two-hour laugh.

"…HAHA! Whew…seriously though, Chase, can I call you that?"

"…Max's old nickname? Sure."

"Well, I need a new zoid design, but it's a special order…"

"…what, special forces, underwater, aerial?"

He shrugged.

"Daughter turning sixteen…"

"…sure."

"She really loves zoids, and I want to get her a Liger, I'm a Republican after all."

(Get it? The Republic, Empire…Republican? They like Ligers?)

"…what model?"

"…you ever see a plain liger?"

I had a flashback to the model on my dresser.

"Sir, I'm doing this pro-bono."

I was going to enjoy this…

Author's Notes

...where are all the reviews? Usually I wait for two before getting another chapter done but I did this because by tomorrow, New Years Day, I'll be too wasted to tell my keyboard from my abs. Once you guys started reading again you can start suggesting zoids for Trey to modify, the Mad Thunder I'll keep in mind though, after he gains the ZBC's trust. And if you didn't like my Republican joke, you're going to wake up with the bloody heads of your zoids models next to you in bed.