"…and if he doesn't manage to get up in ten seconds, the other guy wins the match."

Vega nodded at this, relieved that the term 'knock-out' was only slang, he thought the guy actually blacked out.

We were sitting at the counter of a particularly high-class sports bar, actually it was low class, but the owner just won his weight in gold at the track. I was teaching Vega about the real world. Okay, I was teaching him about junior-middleweight boxing. I probably mentioned ages ago the fact I was addicted to martial arts for years on end while raining with Max. Well, it didn't fade away after I left the desert.

"Now you see how he pushed off with his left there? Bad move, he let the acceleration of the punch carry his neck to the side, if he weren't a bulldog he'd be down on the canvas meeting the Man in the Hood."

Vega was barely following along as I pointed out every move on a flat-screen TV over the cash register, playing a high-ranking match. He was starting to pick up on boxing, but one question caught me off guard.

"Don't you mean the Chainsaw Man?"

…when I said Man in the Hood, I meant Death. Well, kids these days assume the Chainsaw Man and Death are the same guy.

"…that's for zoids, we're talking fighters."

We had gone straight from the desert to this place. We hadn't mentioned to anyone that we were now related. Actually, Sarah probably knows. She knew me by glance when she first stuck a gun to my back. And if she knows me she'll know Max. Do I need to go down the rest of the grape vine?

"Why is the corner man pressing that bar on the guy's head?"

"Well, Vegas, that piece of metal has been in a freezer for a few hours, it stops the swelling."

He munched on the free pretzels they have in a silver bowl and sipped his soda. I found out something scary. The Backdraft only gives out water and citric acids to drink. Sarah has been trying to get used to dairy and soda again. Hey, this kid blows away Zi someday, I'll be in the books for buying him his first cola.

So this was being an uncle. Wasn't that bad. Now being a younger sibling was going to be a walk in the radioactive, corpse filled pit surrounded by barbed wire…eh…park. Well, I'll handle Sarah later. This young lad needs to learn why two men in their baggy underwear are hitting each other and not falling down.

Twelve rounds of teaching later I took the kid through downtown and back to our parked Killer Whale. We have to cloak it even in public, actually. Too many zoidaphiles wanting to touch it. We hopped out of our zoids we walked back shoulder to shoulder to the living quarters. I heard Psy chuckle to himself as we walked into the elevator. I wonder why.

Sue and Rax were in the kitchen eating. Sarah was asleep. Usually she doesn't sleep much looking after Vega. Now that she's around trusted people, she's sleeping twelve hours a day. Sue looked up at us from her plate, nodded and then did a double take.

"…Chase, why is Vega dressed up like you?"

…okay, so he had on some jeans. And a black shirt. And a thin leather jacket I got him to explain what leather is. And a logo baseball cap with the Reckless logo on it. And my spare sunglasses on the brim.

"…eh…found out we're related?"

Rax and Sue stared. Rax raised a questioning, yet greasy finger.

"…um…but you don't look like each other."

I explained our little family situation. Clara walked in half way, so I had to start over once but she caught on fast and commented along with Rax and Sue.

"…so you're the adopted children of a mother and daughter…you could not be any less related."

Vega was adjusting his new jacket as I defended us.

"…um…you see….Damn, I always wanted a clone, okay?"

Rax and Sue actually nodded at this. They liked the idea of passing on your flaws, addictions and shortcomings into a child was essential to living a worthwhile life. Clara was too busy to argue, she'd taken out a camera and started taking pictures.

One Day Later

"So you see, the joint sections can easily be trimmed down."

I had just finished my latest project, and was showing Vega just what'd I'd done. He didn't seem impressed.

"…that's…just a Zaber Fang."

I stared at him, wondering if the cloning machine had been running on old batteries.

"…rule one of Zoids. Never trust your eyes."

I took out the bulky universal remote I used on zoids and tapped a button. The standard orange Zaber just stood there, flaunting its lack of guns and weaponry. In a second it charged up and twisted its neck like it was waking up. I hit a second button and it disappeared into thin air. Vega nearly let his eyes fall out onto his sneakers.

"…I got my hands on this prototype cloaking device, it's pretty powerful but reduced size. Figured this was a good test dummy."

A Zaber with a high-tech weapon? Call the evening news. I clicked it back into existence, loving the power trip and hit the next button. Soon the entire hanger was filled with an eerie, slow moving white mist. But you could breathe easily through the solid looking mass.

"…new smoke screen."

I heard Vega shift his feet from the cloud next to me.

"Hey, I can breathe…the Backdraft smoke usually gets me coughing."

I nodded as the smoke started to fade.

"This is made of water vapor, an idea I borrowed from an old design. The BD uses a thicker, more toxic industrial mixture. Good thing you didn't get a lung condition."

As the mist faded Vega was looking interested, finally.

"So, you just took a regular zoid, made the insides better and added stuff?"

Actually I gutted it, compacted all parts to allow a more efficient motor system and some new weaponry and features. The Twist? It was identical to any other Zaber. The Sleeper Fang.

After the demonstration we crashed in my room, waiting for Sarah to wake up. Eh, why were Sarah and Vega living with us? Well, we offered that they could stay the night, and Sarah took advantage of us. She's been asleep or resting the whole time, she must watch this kid like a hawk on Ritalin. I just asked them for some info on the Negative Zero, and they're milking us like a hotel with late check out. But Reckless seems to like having the Kid around. We didn't call him the King, that was a bit much for a kid of his size. The Kid was his usual code name. But if he really showed improvement in learning the Ways of Trey I called him Vegas.

Right as I was explaining with my hands how kickboxing differs from boxing Clara walked in holding a printout.

"Hey, Mister Miyagi, ZBC called. We finally got a battle."

I calmly turned to her, took the printout and scanned it to my brain in three seconds. Lesse, it was surprisingly a mountain valley area. A four on four, hopefully the Wolf freakin' evolves by then! I swear, if it doesn't come out tomorrow I'm getting a crowbar. Then I noticed the team name.

"Quickstrike Team…pretty well rooted in A Class."

Clara leaned over my shoulder to look. I wish we didn't have these really tall female pilots on the tam, sometimes I like the responsibility of getting things off shelves.

"What machines they running?"

"Pretty sure one has a Salamander. But these guys switch zoids like every month, all I can be sure of is they want speedsters."

"Well, whatever they're packing we got two weeks to wait. The ZBC has been on hiatus. The Judges are doing recon work, I've heard."

I gave her back the printout and sat down at my desk. Vega was on my bed examining a boxing glove.

"That should be enough time to work with Psy on the new project…"

Clara immediately hopped up and parked herself on the corner of my desk like a sleezy secretary.

"Whatcha workin' on, Mr. Bwand?"

…she was into old comedy movies…I chuckled and tapped up a file on the desk screen.

"…air foil wings for the Reaper…Psy thinks he has a formula that'll make the thing fly, not hover."

Clara had pulled out a nail file and started doing her nails.

"Does Sue know how to work an aerial zoid?"

"…she's a Jill of all Trades. She only signed on as a sniper even though she has background in sniping, weapon mastery, close combat major, and aerial fighting."

My secretary stared.

"…um…what else does she do?"

"She's taking a course in underwater piloting, and she's a damn great cook."

I was suddenly aware Vega was staring at us.

"…eh…don't repeat that to Sarah…"

He laughed a bit, not the kind of kid to rat us out.

"Sarah doesn't even talk like that with Stroller."

Max never cursed either. Must be genetic. Then my ears perked up and I swiveled in my chair at that name.

"…you know Stroller?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, when I lived in a whale King he used to stop by and take me places."

Unseen by Vega, I hit a button on the tape recorder taped under my desktop.

"…what kind of places?"

"Like old ruins. But we didn't dig or anything like the Backdraft usually does, he just gave me tours and taught me about stuff."

"Stuff you'd use as a pilot…"

He shook his head, he oversized boxing glove was now on his left hand.

"Nah, more fun stuff like Zoid Eve and old zoids."

I raised an eyebrow, causing my low-set hat to move slightly.

"…he taught you about Eve…"

Vega nodded and kept pretending to box.

"Did the Backdraft ever talk about her?"

"No, Stroller just said once that I needed a better education."

I nodded slowly. Rax ran by yelling he had some new models, an instant later Vega was on a beeline to the toy room. Clara, still filing her nails and doing a Jersey Accent, looked at me.

"Ya think Stroller was trainin' the little fella'?"

I shook my head.

"….actually it sounded like a father-son thing…."

…so Stroller was into Zoid Eve, and taught Vega about it. I wasn't aware these great pilots, Backdraft and all, lived and socialized like this. I shook off that thought and went back to Psy's design for the Reaper.

"So we're thinking, of making the Reaper partially aerial. That way it could take advantage of all of Sue's areas of talent."

"…and keep up with the Salamander next battle."

"Precisely."

Shortly after I showed her the blueprint, we parted ways to the living room and the Hanger.

"…so the Elephander guy is religious, and took Vega out for a guy's day out."

I nodded as I buffed out a bolt on Psy's unusual ear. Even as a normal Saix, his ears had these little points on the tip like a bobcat.

"Yep. Good to know the kid got a good education a least."

"But what if Stroller finds out we're housing Vega?"

"We're not, Sarah is using us as a cheap hotel."

I felt the ground shake under me as Psy chuckled. He's been working on miming his mouth as he talked, it looked kind of realistic, even though the sound still came from speakers.

"Well, if he does get pissed I'm not taking on that zoid."

…who would want to take on the Elephander?

"Well, I'm prettty sure he ain't gonna be charging in here for Vegas."

Another chuckle, this one nearly toppling me off his head.

"You always did suck at names...first the Psycho Saix, now Vegas."