"…so, there is a mini-bar, right?"
I shrugged as I pulled our suitcases down the carpeted hallway.
"Beats me, this is my first hotel."
Sue snorted to herself as I found her room and unlocked the door.
"Well, you'll know here is one if you don't see me until check out."
She grabbed her bags and locked herself in. I stared at her door for a moment before turning to look for my own room.
After I was settled in my decent-sized room I checked my organizer to see how things were going. Our main zoids were currently in a rented private hanger near the hotel. Our Whale King, according to Psy's report from Eve, would go into a giant cocoon tonight. So we cleared the hell out of there before we were trapped, booked a hotel and now we were in separate rooms watching the medium-grade entertainment channels.
I'll save you several pages of filler and cut to the blade. We were a hot topic in most bars and on most talk shows. Every talk show I found mentioned us at least once. One had a special going on how I could be Cicso's new rival.
Rival? They act like we're evenly matched. It was pure luck I didn't get cut down in the six hours we were sparring. And here was this fake blonde doing a monologue about my past. Apparently I'm Max's biological son. Or grandson. Or nephew. You'd think she'd notice we look nothing alike. Now a sports program debating who would have won the tied match. Fat guy with chili stains on shirt says Lightning, pale guy with bad hair piece says us. At least we chose to keep the Whale under the water, we'd have fans knocking on the mouth ramp day and night.
Speaking of our Whale, I have no clue what it's going to be like after the cocoon breaks away. I'll be honest with you, Whale Kings don't have a set evolution pattern. There are breeds, species, and mutations but no set path. Ours wasn't exactly very unique to begin with.
True, it was half the size of the usual whale, all dark gray, with standard green eyes. And the huge control room we never used was optional from the maker. Guy found this one somewhere. Speaking of our sponsor, we haven't seen him in a long while. He's been sending letter and payments, even a few personal notes but we haven't seen him in person. According to a guy in a bar his wife hates us. Why didn't we let Rax knock boots with her again?
I leaned back on the standard-size bed as I jotted down notes about our Whale. I spent an hour jotting before I fell asleep watching a movie. My team woke me up to get breakfast in the lobby with them, we signed a few napkins while we were down there. A few asked Clara for hers separately, she was a Sectors Contender. We haven't announced her joining us, so the fans figured this was just a coincidence.
A day of uneventful shopping later we were back in the hotel, the team in their rooms and me trying to find the vending machines in the maze of hallways. I was in my usual casual attire, faded gray jeans, black sleeveless and my hat/sunglasses on bill combo. I was barefoot, carrying my ice bucket in one hand as I looked down each branching hallway.
I heard the hum of a machine and walked toward it, turning a corner to see a row of machines. I sighed triumphantly before noticing some one in front of the snack vender waiting for their candy bar to drop. She had on a rather unusual outfit. An indigo leather jumpsuit, with the top cut down from below instead of at the neckline. Wait, I'd seen odd cleavage like that before…
Before I could run through my cleavage database she turned to look at me. Wait…she was one of the Taskers! The sisters from the Lighting Team!
"…Chase Brand…last person I'd expect to see looking for the machines…"
I blinked instinctively and stood up a bit straighter.
"Um…never been much of a drinker…"
The mini-bar was nothing but alcohol, annoyingly enough. To my surprise she nodded in agreement.
"…never met a good Saix pilot who drank…"
Can you blame us, really? I tried to remember which Tasker I was talking to…
"…I'm Chris Tasker, my sis and I ran into your Slash Liger the other day."
….crap…she remembered…I wondered if I should run the hell away without my precious sugar and caffeine when she picked up her candy bar from the drop chute and started unwrapping it in front of me.
"…You know you scared the hell out of Jack, right?"
…what…
"…pardon?"
She stared chewing the candy bar calmly.
"…well, we kept telling him you had an upgraded Saix…"
"…he was moving just as well as I was…"
She kept munching.
"…no kidding…we only told him that to keep his ego intact."
…wait…he felt the same way I did…
"…um, I'm guessing you could see me and him out there…"
She nodded.
"…yep, Saixes are easy to follow after a few years inside one."
I nervously stepped to the side, putting my bucket in the ice machine.
"…I got lucky…"
I pressed the ice button.
"…there's not gonna be a rematch, relax."
I sighed deeply. This girl could read minds.
"…hey, is Reckless sharing a room?"
I shook my head.
"No, why?"
She ordered another candy bar and a soda while my ice bucket topped off.
"Kelly and I are sick of talk shows, how about stopping by our room?"
…well, why wouldn't I accept? Thirty seconds later I was chatting with the Taskers about Psy and his acceleration patterns. Then, Kelly, I think, started an odd subject.
"…you don't battle much compared to some Teams…"
I shrugged, opening a soda. I was in a small wooden chair, the twins reclined on a couch.
"I takes a while to find a Team that accepts a match."
Both sisters shared a knowing look, I hate how twins do that. Chris asked the question this time.
"…you ever hear of party battles?"
No…?
"…is it a drinking game?"
Kelly looked at me with her face tilted.
"No, it's a special battle mode. Five or higher zoids on each team."
"…they have five-person teams?"
"…no, usually they have to call in friends or another team. Any number of zoids, as long as he number is equal on both sides."
…I'm staring to get the idea…Chris and Kelly looked at me expectantly.
"…you're asking if you guys get into one of those matches, could I get Team Reckless in on it…"
Kelly shook her head.
"…eh, we were just hoping for you, actually…"
…oh.
"…but that would be freakin' sweet if you did get your team on it."
…once again, oh. As I was about to ask the details there was a knock on their door. Kelly answered it to find Sue standing there. She knew the Taskers and had come for a visit. The she noticed me sitting in the corner.
"…why do you have my mechanic in your bedroom?"
The sisters shrugged in harmony.
"Just to chat about Saixes…"
Soon the Taskers broke their plan to Sue, who seemed interested.
"…three Saixes, Trey's Psycho Saix, my Reaper, Rax's Slash and the Juggernaut…"
….I swear to Eve I saw Kelly drooling…
We broke away to our own rooms later. I heard Jack was in his own room, he wasn't he kind of guy to share a room with a set of twins. Or they didn't let him, either way.
But I got an email, from who else by Psy. He learned to type. Attached was a blueprint of what our whale was going to look like within a few days. Well, an hour of my staring at it in awe later I showed it to Rax and Sue. Rax looked at the tiny sketch from an inch away.
"…that's a whale, right?"
Sue, reading one of my magazines, stretched out on my bed, answered.
"…it's an orca."
I looked up, eyebrow raised.
"…huh?"
She didn't bat an eye.
"…a Killer Whale."
"…oh."
Rax nodded, still staring at the screen of my organizer. I stared at the wall, trying to focus. A killer whale…pretty sure that's a new zoid…I didn't make it, but it does need a name.
"You guys okay with Killer Whale King?"
My co-pilots shrugged, they could care less. I figured it would work for now. Wait…we were going to be living in a new transport zoid…
Great, we may have to redecorate.
Author's Notes
Sorry for the short chapter. This little suburb I'm in on weekdays is in the middle of a crisis. And on top of all that I was sick as a dog all last night. There's a few people who in the last week have contarced the worst type of bacterial disease around. When I threw up ten times last night I was grateful it's just a stomach flu. So this quiet little town is going nuts. I'll edit this for typos later, i need some sleep.