I don't write authors notes for no reason. Double negative, bad.
Raven: Yes, your grammar is atrocious.
DarkMetalist: For once, I agree with you.
Hey, I thought you were the nice one.
DarkMetalist: Well you thought wrong, mwahaha!
Raven: I'm starting to like this guy.
I don't own Zoids.
Multiple scenes, try to keep up.
Chapter 3
Lunch
Thomas goes into town to look for the perfect piece of jewelry for Fiona. He left his D-Bison just outside the border of the town and walked. He came up to a small, two story store with the name bearing "Jewels and Gems"
"Well, here I am again." Thomas thought as he looked through the storefront window "This time I can actually buy something."
Thomas let his thoughts wander as he walked in. The store was mostly in low light, and it was cool. The overall atmosphere was comfortable. There was classical music playing lightly around the store and the only light came from the display cases. Paintings were hung and each depicted beautiful scenery from all parts of Zi, from the coastline to fields of flowers. He looked around and noticed the display cases all around the walls. The layout was broken in three places, separating each section from the others. Watches lined the left, items with pins to the right, and in front of the far back wall was the section on rings. Thomas approached the rings section and looked at the different designs.
"Is there anything I can help you with sir?" asked a gentleman from behind the counter.
"I'm looking for something that will let someone know that I love them" replied Thomas
"Ah, is she a girlfriend, wife, or someone you admire from a distance?"
"Uh, she is someone I admire from a distance."
"So, she's a girl who already has someone after her and they are obviously closer to her than you are."
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"Sir, we are a jewelry store, we get things like this every now and then. So have you made a decision?"
Thomas took one more glance over the rings. "Yes, that one" He pointed to a silver ring in the corner. It had the design of a small humming bird and a piece of emerald in place for its eye.
"A very good choice sir, it is one of our most popular rings. It's fortunate that you got here early; this is our last piece for this month. Each shipment comes around once a month and it's only the fifth day."
The owner took out the ring from the display case and took it into the back to find a box for it. He re-emerged with a purple box with the name of the store written in fancy cursive gold writing.
"That will be one thousand dollars, sir."
"A thousand dollars! I could buy two rings for that price."
"Sir, please remember that this is a popular selling ring and the hummingbird design is hand sculpted into the silver, it is very exquisite."
"No one is on the waiting list?" Thomas asked
"Apparently not. Most people come in and look for this ring, but end up finding something better for a lower price."
"Well, I guess there are better rings here and I don't have a lot of money..."
Thomas remembered about the thousand dollars that he had received from the old man and slapped his head for forgetting something like that. He gave the money to the gentleman and Thomas got his ring. He checked the box to make sure the ring was there and left the store.
"See you another time!" the gentleman said as the door closed behind Thomas.
In the desert:
Van was far enough from the base to have some quiet and he got some thinking time about this morning.
"Man, I can't believe I threw up after eating those pancakes, I could usually get through a stack that big and be fine afterwards." Then his thoughts shifted to Fiona. "Oh Fiona, it was nice of her to care about me enough to clean up after me. Wait a minute, Fiona, cleaning up a mess I made. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" At each "Stupid!" Van would mentally hit himself. "I really should get something for her with that dinner I promised." Next came a thought so brilliant, Van surprised himself. "Salt, Fiona can't get enough of the stuff."
Van went into town, went to the "Spice Shack" to pick up a fifty kilogram sack of salt. It only cost him fifty dollars because salt was an abundant seasoning.
"What in the world are you going to do with all that salt?" the shopkeeper asked "You wouldn't happen to be a cook, would you?"
"Nope, not a cook." replied Van "Just a gift for someone special."
"Who'd want that much of the stuff anyways?"
"Someone special who appreciates it."
Van loaded the sack into the back seat and he started to return to the base. He got halfway to the base when his watch went off.
"It's noon, lunchtime. I've got to pick up the pace or else there won't be anything left to eat by the time I get there."
At the base:
Thomas and Van had just gotten back from their gift buying adventures and headed for the cafeteria.
"Hey Thomas, what did you do this morning?"
"Oh, I went on my usual patrol of the area and a little something extra. What about you?"
"I went out to think for a while and did something else too."
They entered the cafeteria area only to find it full and the two had to stand up while everyone else sat.
"Man, you'd think there would be less people here since most don't have the time to come here and eat." said Van "Wouldn't you think so?"
"My theory is either the vending machines are broken or they prefer the cafeteria slop." replied Thomas
Unfortunately Thomas said that just a little bit too loudly and got angry stares from the cooks. Thomas just stood tensed on the wall while Van slowly moved away from him. Just as Van had finished moving there was a wave of food being thrown at Thomas from the cooks. Van couldn't help, but laugh his head off as Thomas shook off the food and there were some mashed potatoes still in his hair.
"I've got to go clean up."
Thomas hit Van in the arm on his way out for not helping him out of the mess.
"Hey! It's not like there was anything I could do to help you, you set yourself up for that one."
Later that day the control tower:
"What is our status O'Connell?"
"Everything is status quo, no problems so far Colonel Herman. No strange anomalies or events."
The control tower was relatively empty that afternoon since most of the other officers had gone to lunch.
"I can't blame those guys." said the Colonel "It's been quiet these days. Whenever there is no action there is no need for the entire team to be here. Hey O'Connell"
"Yes sir?"
"What do you say we go to lunch ourselves? We can just grab a quick lunch and eat it up here; it shouldn't take more than a minute."
Some time later:
Colonel Herman and Captain O'Connell returned to the tower with their cafeteria "slop", there was a blinking light from the base answering machine. Colonel Herman pushed "Play".
beep Message 1: "Rob, this is the president. Did you change your underwear? It's been weeks since..."
The message was cut off when Colonel Herman pushed "Delete". Captain O'Connell stifled a laugh while Colonel Herman had a deep red blush.
"You didn't hear that." ordered Colonel Herman
"Yes sir." Captain O'Connell responded, then laughed
beep Message 2: "Red River Base, we need assistance. We're under attack from a...static."
"We better send out a Pteres to do a recon and decide what to do from here." suggested Captain O'Connell.
Minutes later:
"Sir, I think you are going to want to see this." reported the Pteres pilot.
On the main viewer came a live feed from the Pteres. It showed the town under attack covered in a mass of gooey orange slime. The people were alive, but stuck in the slime. Suddenly, the camera started to fall exceedingly quickly toward the ground. The picture went out with static.
"Pilot, are you alright?" Colonel Herman asked over the radio.
All he got in response was nothing other than more static.
"We better put the base on alert." suggested Captain O'Connell.
The alarms blared all over the base and all soldiers were told to report to their stations and prepare for an imminent attack.
"All Guardian Force operatives report to the briefing room immediately." came from the loudspeakers.
The briefing room:
"We are currently in danger from an unknown hostile." started Colonel Herman "It has already attacked a town a few kilometers from base and is most likely moving this way."
"Do we have any clue as to what exactly is coming our way?" Thomas asked.
"Currently we have no more information as to what is coming." responded Colonel Herman "All we have is this earlier recording of the first attack."
Colonel Herman turned around to activate the view screen behind him. The earlier footage came on with the town.
"So that's all? Just a town covered in slime?" Thomas asked "It could have come from anything; a chemical plant in the area or maybe a..."
"..flying papaya!" exclaimed a soldier reporting back from the control tower.
"A flying papaya!" shouted Thomas in disbelief.
"Yes sir. Colonel Herman, we have just received this video clip from the Pteres."
The soldier put the disk in the monitor as the images played across the screen. The camera was on its side and sinking into the orange slime. Before the camera sunk completely in, a giant flying papaya came into view. That shocked everyone and made Van drool where he was standing. To everyone's disbelief, there was a flying papaya. It had gotten larger from the last time Van saw it, since he was the only one to see it back in the fog at Mt. Iselina.
"That could be a problem." stated Thomas.
There, something relating to the title.
DarkMetalist: That was weird.
Raven: What? The story or the author?
DarkMetalist: I didn't know papayas could fly. I thought the title was figurative.
Well I said there would be flying papayas in this chapter.
DarkMetalist: Right, I forgot, sorry.
Raven: What happened to you hating the author and being allies with me?
DarkMetalist: Really? I don't remember that either.
What do you do when a flying fruit attacks? Find out in the next chapter.
Review and thanks.