The battle was going badly for the Flügel team, their opponents- the Darklords team- had upgraded their already powerful zoids since their last battle and were inflicting almost impossible amounts of damage to Leon's red Blade Liger and Naomi's red Gunsniper.
The zoids arrayed against them were as follows: A Dark Horn- equipped with the new Theta-series armaments, which turned the already tank-like zoid into a slower variation on the Dibison, armed with weapons that covered every flank the Black zoid had; an Iron Kong, modified into an upgrade of the Mk2 design which neither pilot had even heard of before- the Dark Ravager, whose gunnery and missiles were radically different to allow for a more sustained onslaught; thirdly and finally, the Dark Blazer- a faster, more-heavily armoured version of the Ice Blazer, sporting specialist weapons that could, for short periods of time, rip through energy shields and disrupt all combat systems, dealing minimal permanent damage to the actual zoid.
It was all that Leon could do to evade the artillery being sent in his general direction, let alone strike back, for his opponents were being very careful against him, mounting a cautious assault that saw each of their zoids protected apart from occasional seconds where they had to change formation to counter an unpredicted tactic. The Iron Kong was already severely damaged, having taken a number of direct hits from Naomi's red Gunsniper before her zoid had been disabled- rather forcefully- by a focussed Megalomax attack from the modified Dark Horn…
Leon was growing desperate now, and his stress levels were rising rapidly, urging him to risk everything on some dangerous- but incredibly Liger-like- assault…
To hell with this, he thought, letting out a roar of frustration that sounded more like Bit than it did like himself.
When, he wondered, confused at the line of attack that his own thoughts were taking, did I stop thinking like myself and start thinking like Bit?
He flicked a single switch, the Liger's blades dropping to its sides, pointing forwards as he dodged another onslaught from the six leg-mounted Pulse cannons of the Dark Blazer. His shield flickered on, and he rammed his control yokes forward, turning to face the damaged Iron Kong as the boosters of the Blade Liger kicked in, ramming his zoid towards the Primate zoid before him.
The Iron Kong reared up, too late to jet-jump using the manoeuvre thrusters, but in perfect time to slam a fist down upon the shield of the incoming Liger, extending and energising the short blade mounted in the forearm just above the wrist, hoping to punch through the shields and attack the neck of the zoid, its other arm slamming down and digging into the sandy wastes that made up this battlefield, trying to hold its ground against the 305 kilometre an hour onslaught that hit it square in the chest, impeded momentarily by the arm of the Iron Kong, but punching past this in seconds as the armour began to heat up, the outer layers melting slightly with the application of energy from the Liger's shields. Then, the 12-shot rockets- mounted to the chest of this Iron Kong in place of the more normal quadruplet of 20mm repeater cannons- were launched, battering the shield of the red Liger, but also- in the enclosed environment in which they detonated- dealing massive damage to the arms and main body of the Iron Kong… Finally, as a final note of defiance, the Iron Kong let loose its payload of ten Hellfire Missiles, mounted to the back of the simian zoid in place of the paired ballistic missiles and heavy missiles of the Iron Kong, the last launching just a fraction of a second before the Iron Kong was borne to the ground by the enraged Liger and pilot, disabled.
Much to his disgust, however, Leon's moment of triumph didn't last, and the ten Hellfire missiles slammed into his zoid in quick succession, overloading the already overtaxed shields just as the 'needler' 37mm Pulse Cannons of the Dark Blazer opened up again, their rapidly firing darts of energy each finding their mark and slamming into the Blade Liger from behind, overloading the damage suppression systems of the zoid and disabling the motors that powered the back legs of the Leonine zoid, turning it into little more than a sitting target as the remaining two opposing zoids closed in for the kill, each taking up positions where the immobilised Liger's forward-facing armaments could not hope to target them and opening fire- the Dark Horn with the trio of impact cannons that had been fitted to the belly of the zoid, the Dark Blazer with the twin 96mm 'Faust' wave-disruption cannons that would stall the Liger's internal systems, removing any vague chance of Leon's fighting back.
"The winners," announced the tinny voice of the judge mechanoids, "are the Darklords team!"
Leon slumped in defeat, knowing that- at this rate- they would never have the money to keep up with repairs upon their own zoids, let alone to pay the wages of a third pilot and the payments for the zoid of said additional pilot. What was more, he had to go back to looking after that kid they had rescued in the desert the previous night, whose inability to remember even his own name was already beginning to drive Leon and Naomi alike to tears, simply through the frustration of trying to talk to him- getting the occasional hazy memory out of him (as well as some hallucinations about being a saurian zoid which neither Leon nor Naomi gave much credence to), but never any indication of what his name might be.
Elsewhere, the Lightning team had just begun their own battle, facing off against the Champ team in a battle that they expected to be a walkover. The Champ team were facing them with the trio of Iron Kong PK units that they reserved for some of their toughest battles.
"Can the chatter," came Kelly Tasker's voice over the comms- she was being oddly assertive recently. Daunted, Jack and Chris complied immediately, giving their opponents an eerie communications blackout as they opened up their drives, bringing their Lightning Saix trio up to full speed with their practised slipstream formation.
"Missiles at three o'clock," Jack announced calmly.
"Copy that," came the reply from the other two and the three pilots scattered, the missiles hitting the ground where they would have been and rattling the three cheetah zoids ever so slightly with the shockwave from the impact.
Moments later, and with chilling precision, they were back in formation, charging towards the narrow gap- barely wide enough to fit two of their zoids through side-by-side- between Harry's Iron Kong and that of Sebastian. Sure enough, Harry turned, trying to fire upon them as they went past, just two seconds too late. His gunfire blazed to life, tracking behind the three Saixes and straight into the left arm of Sebastian's Iron Kong, almost rendering the arm useless.
Sebastian, however, had been trying to trip the Lightning team as they passed through, sticking the limb of his zoid in their path. But this obvious move had been anticipated, and countered almost before he made it, as each Saix sprang into the air, soaring over his badly positioned limb to achieve freedom on the other side of the enemy group.
They doubled back before Harry's guns were reset to attack their tail-end, splitting up to tackle separate Iron Kongs just as the gatlings of the Iron Kong PK's opened up behind them. They streaked back towards the battle, each with the seeming purpose of a bullet- and twice the speed- as they picked their targets and engaged.
Kelly was taking the centre of the formation, going head to head with Harry Champ himself, the Lightning Beam cannons on the back of her zoid firing continually until she broke right, forcing him to waste still more ammunition for the slightest chance of hitting her zoid as it darted left and right, using more conventional evasive moves to avoid the incoming barrage since she was devoid of her colleagues on this run.
Chris took the already damaged zoid that was Sebastian's Iron Kong, a surgical strike defeating the semi-crippled zoid as her own Lightning beam cannons cut through the damaged arm of the zoid, sending it crashing to the ground and, as she passed over with a bound, tearing the missile launcher from the stricken zoid with the teeth of her zoid.
It was nothing more than circumstance that sent Jack Cisco to take down Benjamin's Iron Kong, but once he was on course, there was nothing that could be done to stop him as he sprang at the mechanised gorilla's head at full speed, knocking the zoid backwards with the combination of phenomenal forces and the perfect place to apply them. Jack landed cleanly on the other side of the Iron Kong, cutting his boosters and skidding through a half-circle to shed momentum quickly, his guns lashing out to finish what he had started. He was pretty certain that he had dented one paw of his Lightning Saix, but this was damage that he could put right with an hour's hard work at the most (as opposed to damage that would prevent his zoid from running right for weeks).
The three metal cheetahs converged upon Harry's damaged zoid, firing as they came- each protecting the other two from being shot at by laying down a continuous barrage that was far beyond Harry's ability to outmanoeuvre- until finally the Iron Kong crashed into the ground, head first, disabled.
Bit blinked awake, his eyes still blurry as he fought with a monstrous headache. He was aboard the Whale King of the psychotic spoons team, and it was one in the afternoon- give or take a few minutes.
Beside him, Leena and Jamie had also been laid out on simple bunks in the crew quarters of the massive transporter zoid. They were all fully clothed, which Bit assumed was just as well under the circumstances.
The events of the previous night were somewhat- hazy, yes that was the word- in his mind, memories of sitting and chatting over a drink becoming ethereal now that he tried to remember them. He stretched and sat up, his head pounding and throbbing as he did so, fighting off a feeling of dizziness that threatened to overwhelm him. Finally, he stood, his legs continually trying to give way beneath him- only force of will keeping him upright as he staggered out into the corridor of the vast transporter.
He made his way, staggering to one of the viewports in the outside wall of the Whale King and, briefly peering through it, confirmed his suspicions… They were in flight.
"Oh, you're finally awake," came Myriam's voice from behind him, she saw his puzzled face as he turned groggily to face her, "Don't worry," she continued, trying to reassure him, "we agreed last night that we'd take you guys back as far as Romeo city. It's not far out of our way to get you there… Besides, we wanted a better look at your Liger and the Shadow Fox." She tossed off that last as if it were an inconsequential aside, and given the apparent wealth and reputation of the Psychotic Spoons team, Bit was willing to take her word that the two unique zoids weren't being stolen from them by means of some dastardly clever ruse.
"I'll tell you what, though," Myriam continued, "it took a lot of planning to fit that Hovercargo of yours into the Whale King… We had to hover over the thing with our belly hatch open, then winch it inside- trust me, that transporter of yours is more trouble than it's worth."
"The Doc likes it though," Bit replied, feeling strange trying to defend the team's transport zoid…
It was then that Jamie and Leena stumbled out of the bunkroom they had all been sharing, both looking bleary-eyed and remembering very little from the night before. Bit quickly explained what the arrangements were, flinching backwards as Leena, groggier and more irritable than usual, glared at him out of instinct- before conceding mentally that her current state probably wasn't his fault.
To pass the time, Myriam took them to the hangar of the Whale King, showing them all of the zoids that the Psychotic Spoons team possessed. Alongside the Gunblaster, the Blade Liger AE, the Stealth Dragon and the Salamander, there were other zoids, many of them rare models that few pilots saw in their lifetimes, let alone owned or piloted. These included: the Lidier, an ancient forerunner to modern Liger designs, still powerful given its combination of weapons and speed; the Snipe Master, seemingly a stripped down Gunsniper, but with specialist stealth and targeting equipment that made it a formidable opponent; the Godkaiser, a bizarre saurian war machine, most of whose main weapons faced backwards; the Juggernaut-model Command Wolf, the addition of four mortar cannons to the standard command wolf proving very deadly; the Zeek Dober, a fast canine zoid with blades, cannons and heavy armour; the Barigator, a low-slung crocodilian zoid, and possibly the weakest zoid (by most people's standards) that they possessed; a Saicurtis, the insectile form proving unusual and unexpected in many zoid battles; a silver-painted Spinosapper, whose deadly chainsaws were capable of ripping through just about anything; a Warshark, whose presence improved the chances of the psychotic spoons team in aquatic battles; a Sinker- present for much the same reasons as the warshark, and a stormsworder- which increased their airborne presence when they needed to.
Leon was getting tired of going over the same argument again, but Naomi wouldn't back down on the fact that they couldn't hope to afford a third member…
"Look," Leon said, "I'm pretty sure they owe me a big enough favour over at Morgan, Finchley and Slye to lend me a functional zoid for our next battle, and we can offer to pay the third guy a percentage of whatever winnings we get."
Naomi flinched at the thought of borrowing a zoid from Morgan, Finchley and Slye for their next battle, distrusting the used zoid dealers with anything that they could possibly strip-down to the barest workings, but Leon was beginning to make a lot of sense. She knew in her heart that he was right- she had known this for months in fact- but that wasn't the issue. Much as it pained her to admit it to herself, she couldn't bear to lose an argument, even one such as this, which would be important for her future career. But, as she recognised her unwillingness to concede defeat for what it was, she overcame it, grudgingly replying, "We'll see what you can get from those con merchants before planning any further ahead."
She then took over behind the controls of the Gustav, allowing him access to the phone in the front passenger seat when a voice came from the back, "I'll pilot for you."
It was their passenger from last night, the amnesiac teen whose unconscious form they had rescued from the desert last night.
"That's a generous offer, son," Leon interjected gracefully- seeing the youth as practically a son- before Naomi could respond, "but we would need to test you out on a zoid first. Also, it doesn't help that we don't know your name, because we'd need to register you as a pilot- by name- with the zoid battle commission."
"Call me- Ryan," the youth replied, "Ryan Blanche, I think I always liked the name Ryan."
"Fair enough," Leon replied. Naomi caught his eye for just a split-second. The look on her face spelled out, in words that nobody could fail to understand, that the pair of them would need to talk later.
Leon picked up the phone, digging in his pocket for the scrap of paper he had with the number for Morgan, Finchley and Slye's office. He tapped in the number quickly, but with precision, getting a response after only two rings. The communications screen flickered on, revealing a pale skinned man in a cheap white shirt and an even cheaper black suit and tie. His hair was black, but thinning out a little at the top.
"Good Afternoon," he began, "Morgan, Finchley and Slye, Slye speaking, how can I help? Oh, it's you…" Slye's face fell, knowing this was going to be 'difficult' at best.
"Yes," Leon continued, "it's me. I seem to recall you gentlemen owing me a favour- over the matter of some dodgy shield Liger parts about seven months ago. Armed police as I recall, raided these parts from me and I barely got away without a charge for possessing stolen goods. Moreover, I managed, despite my anger, not to breathe the names Morgan Finchley or even Slye whilst in the presence of said policemen. In short, Slye, I need a functional, safe," he raised his voice now, "and above all, fully legal zoid. More to the point, I have here the crime reference number for the event I mentioned and a phone number for the investigator who was handling that case, so you will either provide me with a zoid that fits my requirements or I shall get that case re-opened."
"Yes, yes, certainly," Slye muttered, sweating profusely, "never let it be said that Gerald Slye has no sense of fair-play." The connection went black and switched off.
Naomi chuckled to herself, knowing that she would probably have gone in person, and threatened them in different ways.
Kit Tsunami had been running simulators for five hours now. She had reported for aptitude testing at ten o'clock on her first morning at the Backdraft headquarters facility, and had- apart from the occasional drink of water- been spending every moment of that time in the combat simulators on the base, training with everything from the Zabat and the Stealth Viper up to powerful machines such as the Shield Liger, the Stormsworder and the Gojulas…
She stepped out of the latest simulator, that of a Command Wolf Juggernaut, and placed her feet squarely upon solid ground, preparing to go over to the head instructor once more to try and find something that suited her just a little better.
"Is this the hotshot pilot who's been re-writing the manual for each zoid she's done a simulator run in?" came the incredulous question.
"She sure is," came the reply of the head instructor, seemingly proud of her, "she took a bit of time to get the hang of piloting the first few simulator sessions she ran, but then she just suddenly picked up the knack in the middle of a simulator run using the Zaber Fang simulator, and she's excelling at every zoid she does a simulator run for. Her forte seems to be using zoids with high speed and high mobility, but she'd also do well behind the controls of some heavy-artillery zoid."
Suddenly, the instructor called her over and, without skipping a beat she was soon standing to attention in front of his desk.
"Cadet Tsunami," the instructor, a portly man named Marco Jacobson, addressed her, "I'd like you to meet Doctor Layon, just come back to active duty in the organisation after a period of extended injury. He wants to put you through a few tests of his own to gauge your potential as a pilot."
The Doctor, newly introduced to her, slurped some instant noodles from the cup he was holding, then spoke to his new charge in person. "Pleased to meet you cadet Tsunami, I just hope that you have half the piloting potential that the instructors seem to think you have, because if so, you might end up piloting one of the greatest zoids that the backdraft organisation can offer any pilot. If you'd care to follow me."
She did, and followed him from the main simulator facility to one of the less-used parts of the pilot training section. There, she was strapped into a chair attached to a rotating arm- a G-force simulator the doctor called it- and various electrodes were attached to her body to monitor her vital signs.
Then, from an operations gallery above the assembly, the doctor sat down- still slurping his instant noodles- and ordered that the test commenced. Slowly, the machine began to rotate, the chair on the end of the arm picking up speed under the watchful eye of the operator.
"Lifesigns fully stable at 5G doctor," the operator announced, slowly increasing the rotation speed even further. This looked promising, given that most Backdraft trainees were heavy-set brutes with a tendency to pass out under even 3G of force.
Dispassionately, Doctor Layon looked on, his hopes hidden beneath a mask of professionalism as the G-force simulator rotated steadily faster and faster. Finally, she passed out under the strain, a full 0.01G after Brad Hunter had faked his own fainting under similar circumstances.
This, he mused to himself, might be the best person for the job he had in mind, the resurrection of the Shadow Fox. However, he told himself, there was only one way to be certain of this- Testing her use of the zoid itself.
But, of course, the next stage would have to wait until cadet Tsunami was conscious again. Like it or not, doctor Layon would have to wait before giving his pet project the chance to rise again, even in the simulators…
"This," Naomi said critically, "is the fully-functional zoid that the infamous firm of Morden, Finchley and Slye has found for us?"
She stared, her eyes wide, at a battered Hound Soldier that had seen far better days. It had been painted red- the same shade of red as Leon's Blade Liger and her own Gunsniper- but this seemed, to her trained eye, to be merely a way to try and disguise the spots of rust and corrosion that covered the body of the zoid intermittently. However, as well as not doing a good job of covering over the rust and corrosion, it did an even worse job of hiding the occasional missing plate of body armour, and the fact that the middle barrel of the Hound Soldier's vertically-mounted triple impact cannon had been smashed inwards was distressing to say the least.
"Well," whined Morden, having drawn the short straw and found himself handling this tricky assignment, "your partner did say he wanted a machine that wouldn't lead to certain legal complications, and the better zoids on our lot tend to have shadier pasts than this Hound Soldier. We did," he went on, his voice growing more confident as he regained his salesroom professionalism, "however, fit a couple of extra parts to the zoid- nothing that will involve legal entanglements I assure you- just a pair of Strike Laser Claws (I'm sure a pilot of you're stature knows that they're all the rage amongst pilots in cat, wolf and dog zoids these days), and a couple of third-hand vectored assault boosters, you know, the ones developed for the abortive Command Wolf Desert Fury modification…"
Now that Naomi had heard the sales pitch, she could just about spot the small unobtrusive boosters, and she finally realised what was different about the front paws of the Hound Soldier. Leon and Ryan had been hanging back until now, following to the letter the agreement that had been made with Naomi following the phone conversation earlier, but now Ryan stepped forward.
"He seems anxious," Ryan blurted out suddenly, talking about the Hound Soldier in front of him, "anxious to prove himself, to be once more the paramount warrior he once was."
"Hey," Morden asked, disconcerted, "how d'you know so much about this 'ere Hound Soldier?"
"It just seems obvious," Ryan replied, his voice getting quieter as he thought about his words, thinking about how silly they sounded… He blushed furiously and stood, silent, wishing he hadn't said a word.
"Well," Leon announced, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over the group, "we'll test it. What have we got to lose?"
Author's Note:
Sorry y'all had to wait so long for this latest chapter, but I got a little preoccupied again… Anyhow, as per usual, remember to read, review and recommend, and I'll see y'all on the flipside.