DISCLAIMER: I don't own zoids, or any mainstream zoids characters and plots. But I do own all my original chars, zoid designs, and some plot elements. In fact I've gotten a copyright.
In my bedroom on the Whale, I brought Sarah and Vega in to ask them a few questions. Vega took a seat in my desk chair, Sarah leaned against the glass wall and I sat down on my futon with a PDA in hand set to take notes.
"Sarah, before I start I want to let you know my last goal is to endanger either of you."
She looked at me doubtfully.
"I'm sure it is, we do have the Fury after all."
I ignored the threat and turned back to Vega, who was playing with one of Rax's models.
"Vega, I'd like to ask a few questions about the zoid the Backdraft wanted you to pilot out in the desert."
He put down the toy to look at me curiously.
"Which one?"
I wrote down that he's a regular test pilot then looked back up at him.
"…it's a new one. A Black Liger."
He thought for a minute.
"…the weird one?"
I nodded, grateful a kid at his age remembered.
"They had me just do whatever they told me on the radio. I ran around a bit first. The legs were weird, I couldn't do sharp turns. Like the armor was holding the joints."
I jotted this down.
"So you think it had on an armor like the Liger Zero?"
He nodded quickly.
"Exactly like that. I saw some drawings of some more armors, just like on the Zero."
…those blueprints Eve sent me…
"But this armor was new."
"So you've piloted the Liger before?"
He looked at the toy while he spoke.
"Yeah, except it was all red and smaller before. They didn't say it was the same zoid but the controls were the same."
So this black armor is new…I put down a check mark and looked at the model he was holding. It looked like a Geno Saurer with scissors on its back, a replica of the original Geno Breaker.
"…you have good taste in zoids there…"
He smiled at my compliment. I had to read up on interrogating kids like this, hence why I sounded like a detective.
"The Backdraft said my ancestor used this zoid."
"…pardon?"
As he was about to answer, out of the corner of my vision I saw Sarah tense a bit. But instead of doing anything she let him finish, must be a reflex for her.
"The Backdraft said my ancestor used a zoid that looked like this."
I looked closely at the Breaker.
"…so you're a descendent of Raven…"
He shrugged, he probably didn't care. Well, that explains a whole freakin' lot.
"Trey, can I ask you something?"
I nodded, figuring what could it hurt.
"What happened to this thing?"
He pointed at the toy. I thought for a minute.
"…actually our historians lost track of it. No one is sure where it went, but we know now some Geno Saurers have evolved into Breakers on their own."
"…the Fury said it used to be a Breaker."
Both Sarah and myself stared. This was new…
"…um…you mean it evolved from a Breaker?"
He nodded.
"He said after he got stuck underground with those other zoids he evolved down there. Then he talked about a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand."
I dropped the PDA and leaned forward attentively.
"…Sarah, how old did they date those Genos?"
She shook her head slightly.
"…about the time of Raven's death…the soil told that's when they were sealed up anyway. Maybe as a tribute to him."
I stared at the black haired kid, comparing him to the paintings of Raven I'd seen. It was only slight, but still, it was a match. Give the kid a scar and it'd be plain as day. This was why he was one of the best pilots. And the reason only he could pilot the Fury. It was in his blood. And here was playing with the Breaker toy's claws, not a care in the world.
"Vega, the black liger you tested, what was unusual about it?"
He made the Geno look like it was running.
"The claws were just lightning generators. The guns were really fast. Oh yeah, it had these funny blades that hid in its back."
Hm, the stealth blades…
"What was funny about them?"
"They were only sharp on the front side, not on the tips and back. The mechanic said that was so it didn't hurt the armor when they were folded. They like fold up down the center."
…so they were made of folding sections, hence how it hid so well…but this sacrificed half the cutting power. It was genius, limited but genius.
"Did you meet anyone who said they helped make the Liger?"
"The guy who made the Shadow Fox."
Layon…the genius has a name. I jotted this down quickly and thought to bring this questionnaire to a close.
"Well, thanks for giving me these answers Vega."
He nodded in response, playing with the Breaker claws.
"…you know, Rax has six of those in the same color…how about you keep that one for helping me out?"
The next thing I knew he had me around the neck thanking me and he was gone, running off to the hanger to show the Fury what he used to look like. Sarah let loose a rare laugh as he disappeared.
"It's been a while since her got a real toy…"
I shrugged, straightening my jacket after he'd near strangled me.
"Don't mention it…but one thing, did Layon name this black armor?"
I got her in a good mood, so she answered.
"Hailstorm. He said when he was a child his house nearly got totaled in one, he wanted this thing to be the essence of fear, so he named it after a childhood trauma."
…I liked this guy already.
4 Hours Later
"Well, you've been staring at a picture of the Negative Zero for hours, and doodling. Having fun?"
He kept asking that every ten minutes. I grunted, still looking at a video still of the Liger Zero X. On another window inside Psy's cockpit, my usual office space, I was drawing up a blue screen.
Right as he began his questions again I laid back, finished.
"…um…"
The two screens I'd been using tilted slightly, meaning Psy was looking at them in his mind's eye.
I had taken video stills of the Negative Zero and replicated an exact blueprint of the thing. I should have been a police artist.
"…great, we have the freakin' DNA of this thing memorized, but how is this gonna help anything?"
"I consider it a back up. If they do find a killer pilot and take this thing outside the ZBC, we have one too."
"…what, are we gonna strap this shit onto the little Liger? How about me? I'd look good dressed up as a Liger, it'd be like cross-dressing."
"…or we could use the actual Liger Zero…"
"…that too."
I saved the blueprint into a hidden folder and wrote an email to the ZBC President (Chett) about it. Then I untinted the cockpit using a dial rigged in with the glass circuitry to see Vega sitting on the Fury's head, his toy Geno Breaker acting out the greatest battle ever fought on Zi.
"…if they did use this as a weapon they'd need a sociopath, this kid is…"
"…a kid."
I debated with Psy who they'd use. Layon wasn't a pilot. Stroller, strangely enough, left the Backdraft after we'd fought him that one time. Said they made a fool out of him. Well, actually we did but they got the blame. The Fumas don't do Ligers, we had them over for poker a few days ago. Well, who ever they get, the Fury is nothing to them now. Just a thrown out project that they couldn't auction off online, even. Vega was a part time now, living in the city with Sarah starting a semi-normal life.
I reached up and did a small flip out of the hatch, landing with my feet between Psy's ears. Acrobatics wasn't my thing, but it was fun as hell.
"Hey Vega! You wanna take the Fury out for a run?"
He hadn't gone for a real ride in it since I'd fully fixed it. Needless to say the kid agreed.
1 Hour Later
I was in Psy, with my breathing mask on, going nearly 650. Flat land, full force. I steered down slightly, giving the legs more leverage and getting to 660. Want to know something even scarier? I looked back to see a vague form almost keeping up with us. The Fury. It was going at a speed unheard of for anything but a Saix. It wasn't a Brand and a Psycho Saix, but it was fast. By the time we hit 670 I gently started applying the brake, within fifty or so miles we were back down to a jog. Another kilometer and we were at a stop. But the Fury kept going full speed, and stopped on a dime next to us. Okay, I admit I couldn't do that.
"Nice brakes."
His face popped up in video form next to the controls.
"Thanks! Sarah taught me how to brake before she even let me in a zoid!"
I chuckled and walked Psy over to the Berserk fury, so close the heads were touching. I hopped out of the cockpit and onto the silver dino head, tapping my foot on the hidden hatch. Vega popped it open and crawled out into the bright desert air. He looked around, seeing nothing but flat horizon.
"Why'd we stop here?"
I pointed out East, where several flat-topped bumps lined the horizon.
"What are those?"
I let my hand drop and answered.
"…that's a colony of criminals. That area is on the border, if they go out and live there they can't be touched."
He stared out at the distant town.
"…Sarah told me we were in the Backdraft so we didn't have to live there…"
I stripped off my jacket, now in just a sleeveless shirt, it as the desert after all.
"Sarah's a good person. I grew up there, I should know."
He stared at me with saucer eyes.
"…but you're…a smart guy, you work with the ZBC! You fixed the Fury!"
I nodded slowly.
"I lived there because my parents were criminals. They tangled with the Backdraft. I was born after they moved there. I was the first one to leave."
He looked up at me with his head tilted.
"…so you didn't like them out there…"
I shook my head, taking off my hat to wipe off some sweat.
"…Trey, Sarah said Brand isn't your real name."
I smiled and explained to him about Max. how I took his last name so I could start a new life.
"Don't you miss your parents?"
I stared at a dust cloud we'd left during our run.
"Don't you?"
I sighed, hating to do this. I turned around and took off my shirt, so he could see my back.
"…holy…"
He said it right. The first time anyone has seen me with my shirt off. I'm in shape, a weight lifter and all, but my back. It's covered in scar upon scar, making a web pattern of old wounds my folks, neighbors and superiors had given me out there. I'd looked into laser removal but I'd have to do six sessions just to scratch the first layer. After a minute I pulled my shirt back on and turned back to the kid, who was silent.
"…Vega, there are a lot of good parents out there. Like Sarah and Max."
He nodded, starting to understand. Then caught off-guard with an odd question.
"…did Max ever have a team?"
I nodded.
"…a good one…first Saix pilot to make it to S Class."
Vega was looking at me, but not focusing on me.
"Did Max have any kids?"
I raised an eyebrow.
"I met him after he retired, he moved out there to avoid the media. But yeah, he mentioned a daughter that grew up."
The kid kept staring.
"Did she like zoids?"
Actually he never said much about her. Just that she had grown up and left.
"…he never said…why?"
"Did he ever talk about finding paths?"
…how did Vega know…
"…yes he did…a lot, actually."
"…I think Max is Sarah's dad."
My hat slipped out of my grasp and floated onto the silver zoid's back. The...frick...
"…Vega, is this heat getting to you?"
He looked serious.
"Trey, Sarah taught me about zoids just like Max did. Same lessons even. Sarah says her dad never liked her going into the Backdraft. She hasn't seen him in a while."
He paused to let the words sink in.
"…Max went out there because the media found out his daughter started working for the Backdraft…She told me that when she got hurt and thought she wouldn't make it."
I let that ring in my head before answering.
"…it's possible…"
Vega nodded, seeing I was understanding.
"…and Max like adopted you, right?"
"…he said he'd eventually get the paperwork down…"
Vega started smiling.
"So you're Sarah's little brother. And she adopted me, but she doesn't tell anyone."
…isn't eighteen a bit old to be the younger child? Wait…does this mean…
"…and you're my adopted nephew…"
He broke into a grin. I even smirked a bit in response.
"…get back in the Fury."
With that I spun on my heel and walked back over onto Psy. Vega stared at my back as I slipped my hat back on.
"Where are we going?"
As I hopped down into the hatch Psy answered for me.
"You ever been to a sports bar, kid?"
Author's Notes
...well, this is a chapter. No major explanations, no twists, but do review. I'm still going to have Chase make zoids, so keep the suggestions up. And if my linking my chars to the anime ones bothers anyone, think of like this, only by law are they connected.