I don't own Zoids.
Raven: What else is new?
DarkMetalist: I found a nickel.
Raven: What's so new about that?
DarkMetalist: It's shiny.
Pairs and locations:
Van and Irvine - outside
Thomas and Fiona - inside
Moonbay and Dr. D - inside
Col. Herman and Capt. O'Connell - inside.
Chapter 7
The Hunt
"Dr. D, are you sure these 'ray' guns will work?" O'Connell asked over the radio.
"They're not ray guns.." Dr. D started.
"Alright, microwave weapon things." O'Connell corrected.
"They will work, or else I wouldn't have developed them."
"Like Van's new booster engines?"
"That was an accident!" Dr. D responded. "Now maintain radio silence until there is an emergency."
"So then Col. Herman, do you believe these weapons will work?" O'Connell asked his superior.
"I've worked with Dr. D before, and he has yet to disappoint, though those booster engines did malfunction according to the reports."
The pair of officers continued to walk down a hallway when they hear a sound in the storage room in front of them.
thump
"What was that?" asked O'Connell
Col. Herman quietly responded "It came from the storage room, c'mon, let's investigate."
They advance upon the room and open the door to find out what's going on. Col.Herman finds the switch for the lights and they scan the room full of boxes. Slowly, they enter the room and clear the door.
whoosh...click
"What the..." began Col. Herman
He turns around and tries to unlock the door with no success.
"Damn, those papayas locked us in." he finished
A papaya zooms past behind them , and O'Connell turns around and blasts it with the gun.
"Well, this might not be a bad thing." Col. Herman stated "Sure, we have a limited amount of sight with all the boxes, but we could still shoot these things easy."
O'Connell tries his radio.
"Something wrong?" the Colonel asked
"I can't use my radio, the room must be shielded or something. I can't call for help or reinforcements."
"We wouldn't need reinforcements," Col Herman affirmed. "We're military men remember? In the event that we have lost contact for and extended period of time, they'll start looking for us. You shouldn't worry."
Capt. O'Connell and Col. Herman walked through the storage room to find any more papayas that might be there. Two wiz by, but they are easily taken out. Moments later the main lights flicker out.
slap
"Uh, Colonel, I'm sure that's not your tongue on my arm would it?"
"No...Why would I do something like that?"
Col. Herman pulls out a flashlight and points it at O'Connell to find out what he could possibly be talking about. What he sees behind O'Connell is an oversized papaya with some sort of appendage coming from the inside of the fruit attaching itself to O'Connell's arm.
"Umm O'Connell, turn around slowly."
O'Connell turns around with an "oh no" look and he nearly passes out. But before he even could, the papaya rolled in its long slippery arm and pulls O'Connell inside.
Capt. O'Connell's "HELP!" was muffled by the papaya.
Col. Herman grabbed O'Connell's leg before it disappeared into the papaya, and he tried to pull him out. However, the fruit let out another appendage/arm and pulled Col. Herman in by the leg. The papaya then floated to its destination, crashing through the door and reemerging with a bruise on its front side. Meanwhile on the other side of the base, Moonbay and Dr. D were on the run from a mass of flying papayas that were attacking them.
"Where are we going Dr. D?" Moonbay asked. "The papayas are in the other direction and I want a chance to get 'em."
"What are you stupid?" Dr. D retorted "Sure we have these fancy microwave guns, but even these are no match to take out that many papayas."
"THEN WHY DID YOU GIVE EVERYONE THESE GUNS IF YOU KNEW THEY WOULDN'T HELP MUCH?" Moonbay furiously said.
"NOW SEE HERE, THESE GUNS WERE DESIGNED TO BLOW UP AN OBJECT IN THE LINE OF SIGHT!" he responded. "With that many other papayas behind the others, it would be futile to use these guns. After we finish off the first lines, there would be more and more lines right behind it. That's why we're heading back to my lab to grab some enhancers to intensify the beam."
"And you didn't think the others might need this?"
"Well, the enhancers are really dangerous. A regular microwave stops short of walls, but the enhancers let the beam go through walls." Dr. D began. "If the gun was aimed at a single papaya on the wall..."
"It would blow up anyone else on the other side and then some." Moonbay finished.
"The enhancers would not be used unless there was a thick wave of papayas, something I would not have expected to happen in any part of the building. And that's why I didn't give any enhancers to anyone else; I thought there would be no need for them."
"Well then, I guess it's off to the lab." Moonbay stated. "You think we should radio this information to the others?"
"We could do that in the lab, right now there is no time to run, carry an oversized weapon, and push a button to talk on the radio."
"Of course."
They reach the lab and once through, they lock the steel door behind them just in time for the papayas to crash into the door. There is a constant pounding afterwards as papayas after another continue to throw themselves at the door.
"You hold up the door and radio the others." Dr. D ordered Moonbay. "I'll get the devices from the safe."
Moonbay broadcasts her message over the radio.
"This is Moonbay calling for everyone else to just listen. We have a situation on the north side of the base, there is a large swarm of flying papayas here and they seemed pretty mad. I think we stumbled onto their hive of some sort."
"Where are you now?" Thomas asked.
"We're in Dr. D's lab getting some enhancers for our weapons."
"Why didn't we get enhancers?" Irvine inquired.
Dr. D, while entering the combination to the safe, responds: "It's a long story, but to put it simply, it was too dangerous for you to have them."
"It was too dangerous for me?" Van asked.
"No Van." Dr. D stated "Since you have a different model than the others, to activate the built-in enhanced microwave function, just flip the switch on the side of the trigger. Just be careful with it, don't aim it at other people's head..."
"I SAID I WAS SORRY, WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT?" Irvine shouted.
"...or aim it in their general direction because the microwaves will go through walls, effectively killing them also." finished Dr. D.
"Wow, I guess I shouldn't turn it on if it's that dangerous and there is no immediate use for it."
"That's right, and that's why I trust you with the more advanced weapon, you are very responsible."
"Uh, Dr. D?" Moonabay interrupted "I'd hate to ruin this moment of a father-son-ish talk of responsibility, but...WOULD YOU HURRY UP WITH THAT SAFE?"
"Sorry, sorry." Dr. D muttered.
"Now if any of you guys can come over to assist us that would be greatly appreciated." Moonbay said.
"Sure, we're on our way" the others said.
"Got it!" exclaimed Dr. D.
He takes out two enhancers and leaves the others behind, just in case the papayas might use them. Dr. D tosses one to Moonbay and she slips it on the end of the barrel, like a silencer, but it acts as an enhancer. She steps away from the door and joins Dr. D on the other side of the lab. They position the guns so that they are aimed at the door and prepare to fire as the door starts to give way. Moments later the door falls to the ground as wave upon wave of papayas flood the doorway. The guns did an effective job of blowing up the papayas for several minutes, but the guns started to run low on energy. Once the beams faded out, the doctor and Moonbay braced themselves against the papayas. They were knocked out and taken away.
Thomas and Fiona were on their way to save Moonbay and Dr. D.
"Do you think Moonbay and Dr. D are alright Thomas?" Fiona asked.
"I'm not sure Fiona they could be in trouble since they haven't radioed in yet." Thomas responded.
"So you know where we're going, right?" she asked.
"Of course I know where I'm going. What gives you the idea that we're lost?" he said
"Because the lab is the other way."
"..." was Thomas' response to that situation.
Soon, Fiona and Thomas reach what's left of Dr. D's lab.
"Oh...my...God." stated Fiona.
What they found was a large pile of orange papaya matter blocking half the doorway. They stepped over the pile and Thomas, being the gentleman that he is, carried Fiona over the pile. The lab was a disaster area. There were broken test tubes and beakers everywhere. The electronics were scattered all over the floor and the lights were dangling from their wires and flickering from above.
"There was a battle going on here that was for sure." said Thomas.
"Thomas look, their weapons."
Thomas picked one up.
"It is obvious that they were fighting for a long time, their microwave guns ran out of power." He threw the gun on the ground. "Well there's nothing we can do here, we should leave."
Once again Thomas took Fiona into his arms and took her over the mass of papaya matter. As they turned away from the doorway Fiona spotted some orange water droplets on the ground.
"Van come in." Thomas said over the radio.
"I'm here Thomas, what is it?"
"The lab is a mess, you don't want to come over here. Fiona and I are following some droplets of what might be papaya juice out of the lab now. It looks like it leads to the hive they were talking about since the droplets just lead us to a bunch of giant puddles of the juice."
"Alright stay where you are and we're coming over, over."
Thomas got the message, but he continued to follow the droplets.
"Thomas...where are you going? Van told us to stay." Fiona said
"I need to find the others Fiona, they may be in trouble and we can't afford to wait any longer than we have for Van. You stay in this closet and wait for Van, don't worry I'll be fine."
"Oh Thomas you are so brave, hug. Good luck."
Thomas follows the orange puddles further until he comes to an abrupt stop around the corner. Suddenly, a large plop of papaya juice appears in front of him. He looks up to see a swarm of papayas hovering overhead.
"Uh oh, uhh hi?"
The papayas came down on Thomas and they took him away also, his screams muffled by the papayas.
Van and Irvine were on their way to get inside the base from the outside. They had eradicated most of the papayas coming into the base from the air and were covered in papaya juice. Van, being very hungry since this morning, had some flying papaya once no more showed up. They were just about to reach the outer door when a bullet ricocheted off the door. Van and Irvine quickly sought shelter behind some barrels and military junk as the shots continued.
"Who do you think could be shooting us at a time like this?" Irvine asked.
"It must be a papaya. We might have missed one when we were heading for the door and it got up to the watchtower." Van speculated
"I have an idea. I'll distract the papaya by running out into the open and you take it out with your gun." Irvine said
"No way, forget it. I'm not going to let you risk your life."
"So you're going to do it?"
"NO!" said Van "We need to find an alternative way of doing this without risking our lives."
"Okay, how about I get into a barrel and start running around out there, then you can shoot. In that was neither of us is risking our lives."
"But there is still the possibility of you getting hurt, steel doesn't protect you that well from bullets."
"Van, we don't really have much time here, people's lives are in danger and the quicker we get this done, the faster we can help them."
"I have a better idea, Irvine take off your shoes."
The papaya was waiting for some movement to begin shooting again. It didn't have to wait long when two barrels started to roll on their sides from the pile towards the door. Since this papaya was somewhat smart, it thought the barrels were a distraction and aimed the gun other way, but it saw the shoes sticking out of the barrels. The papaya let loose a volley of gunfire to the barrels effectively turning them into Swiss cheese. The papaya suddenly felt warm and it exploded. Van was aiming at the tower from the corner of the main pile of barrels and junk.
"Great job Van. Can I get my shoes now?"
"Yeah, go ahead and get them."
They quickly got their shoes and headed for the door. A single heated bullet blew from the tower and it shot towards Irvine.
"Argh!" yelled Irvine.
"Irvine! Are you alright?"
"Yeah, the bullet just grazed my foot, but it still hurts."
"Can you walk?" Van asked.
"I can walk, but I don't think I can run if it becomes necessary."
"I'll take you to the infirmary and you can stay there until I come back for you."
Van and Irvine finally got inside the base and Van took Irvine to the infirmary as promised and Van left his gun.
"Wait Van, don't you need your microwave gun?"
"No, not really. I can handle myself with my knife and you need this gun more than I do if you can't escape."
Van closed the door and headed towards Dr. D's lab alone.
"Thomas! Fiona! Where are you?" Van shouted into the halls.
"I'm in here Van." came Fiona's muffled response.
"Where?"
"In the closet."
Van opened the door to see Fiona huddled inside, crying.
"Oh Van I'm so happy to see you! Thomas left to look for the others himself and he hasn't come back since. I was afraid that no one would be out there to come get me."
"Well, you can stop crying now Fiona, I'm still here. You want to come with me to find the others?"
Fiona gives a small nod.
"Alright then, let's go." said Van
Van and Fiona followed the same puddles that Thomas did, but they didn't encounter any swarms of papayas. The trail of papaya puddles lead around many other corners and through other hallways until they stopped short of some massive hangar doors. Van found a side door, which also lead into the hangar. Through that door they could get in the hangar unnoticed. Once inside, they hid behind some crates as they watched the events unfold in front of them.
Cliffhanger, wow I'm bad.
Raven: No you're not, stop lying.
You're right, I'm too nice. I'll try to get a nice ending but don't expect too much.
DarkMetalist: Please review.