ZOIDS:
Eisen Dragoons: Home and Questions
Reviews:
-DR- They may be slow; but their next to impossible to destroy. As for Devastator, think of her as a star destroyer as you will see in the next chapter.
Shadow Fox777- I gave the team that name after watching 'Godzilla vs. Destoroyah', which in my option, is the best Godzilla movie ever, you got to see it to believe it. As for Red X, I um, kinda 'borrowed' him (hears the sound of wild hammering on the inside of his closet). Red X was spooked by the Atlas, I mean, come on, wouldn't you be spooked if a towering, pissed off looking machine of destruction was starring down at you?
Chapter 4:
Dr. Layon eased off the gas, not because he thought he was speeding, but because he wanted Scorpio to see the scenery of Mount Iselina. Having lived in the desert for ten years of his life, the change from barren, lifeless dunes to the beautiful life filled forests was drastic. He grinned as he watched Scorpio's head turn left and right trying to take in all of the sights at once. Even Succubus, who would usually be napping right about now, had her head up and was looking around. As far as Layon could tell, she was trying to catch sight of small animals that she would later chase for some fun.
He remembered when he first was deciding for the location for his lab, he had considered many places, and even went so far as to build a house out in the desert just to trap Leena in, but Mount Iselina was his real home, and were his lab was stationed. When he joined the Backdraft, they built their own base on the other side of the mountain and moved his personal over, but when the Backdraft fell, he made a quick call from the hospital to get his personal to move back to his lab before the ZBC raided the bd base. Hopefully, they weren't caught when the ZBC did raid the base.
Suddenly, two red, black and silver blurs crossed the path of the jeep. Dr. Layon hit the break so hard Scorpio and Succubus were nearly thrown from the jeep. When they were able recover their senses, they saw that the blurs were in fact two rev raptors, and the fact that they were staring down their gun barrels.
Commissioner Hancock of the ZBC impatiently drummed his fingers; he was sitting in one of the many questioning rooms used to, of course, question prisoners. When he had first woken up, he didn't get many details, just that their facility in Capital city had been attacked. As the day progressed, he got filled in on what happed; three zoid were stolen out of the impound hanger, half the facility razed to the ground, over a thousand small zoids were launched by what reports claimed to be a super sized whale king, and to top it all of, when the mysterious whale king activated some sort of cloaking tec and vanished, all of the zoids that it launched that weren't already knocked out all self-destructed.
The door opened and the Count was escorted in by two, instead of the usual one, guards. The count almost looked funny in his orange jumpsuit and without his odd looking shades. As he was brought in, the Commissioner noticed that the count was avoiding his gaze at all costs by pretending that there was something incredibly interesting on his shoe. Hancock realized that the count knew about what happened.
After telling the guards to wait out side, the commissioner put his feat up on the table and waited; before he became commissioner, he was a master interrogator for the Republic, so he knew how to get the answers he needed. One minute passed, then five. The Count, who was already sweating and on the verge of breaking down, decided to speak.
"How many died, in the attack?" his voice was still shaky.
The commissioner's glare got harder, but he answered.
"Thirty nine men died, three of them were shot in the head, the rest died behind the controls of their zoids."
The Count lowered his head and muttered 'dear god.' The commissioner decided that now was the time to get the answers he needed.
"Count, I'm not here to fool around or to waste time, I need answers: first off, I want you to tell me everything you know about 'Red October', and second, since you seem to know about what happened last night, I need to know what the hell hit us."
What the count did next surprised him, for the count didn't look up but instead started unscrewing the handle of his cane. As the count spoke, the commissioner could hear the fear in his voice.
"'Red October' and the 'thing' that attacked your facility, are one in the same."
The commissioner felt as though someone had thrown a buck of cold water in his face. 'That was Red October!' he thought. The count continued speaking.
"'Red October' was just the code name for the project's completion date, the vessels actual name is Devastator, all of the information on the ship and her crew, the one's who were responsible for the attack, is in this data rod."
The count had finished unscrewing the handle off of the cane and was in the process removing a 6-inch long silver rod from the shaft of his cane. The commissioner immediately recognized the data rod by its silver color, and the fact that they were very rare. Data rods weren't known for just being rare, but for the fact that they could hold hundreds of gigabytes of information.
"The password," the count said as he handed the rod to the commissioner, "is 'no return'."
"Thank you count, that will be all" he replied as he pocketed the data rod "Guards?"
'Rev Raptors!' Scorpio thought.
He had managed to catch a glimpse of them when they jumped out from behind the trees, and nearly smashed his head against the windshield when Layon slammed on the break. When Scorpio was able to make sense of things again, the Raptors had stopped only a few yards in front of the jeep, their guns point at point-blank range. Scorpio did admit that the pilots did know how to use their zoids properly.
Rev Raptors weren't very popular with many teams because they were weak and standard unit didn't come with any ranged weapons. Most lesser ranked teams didn't have a choice, weather it was that they were down on cash or what, which was why so many low ranked teams used Rev Raptors and Guysacks. But these pilots knew the ins and outs and all the little quirks of their Raptors. Scorpio had noticed that they had waited until the very last moment to pounce, thus putting them at the greatest advantage.
As Scorpio watched, one of the raptors lowered it guns and cocked its head to one side as its external speaker clicked on. The voice that came on over the speaker sounded confused.
"Dr. Layon, is that you?"
Dr. Layons face changed from pure terror to that amusement.
"Marcus, I should have known it was you!"
As Layon said this, both raptors lowered their guns and heads to allow their pilots out. The pilot of the Rev Raptor on the left, the first one to lower its guns, was of average height and had curly brown hair, while the second pilot had above average height, dull red hair that he had pulled into a pony tail, and an exceptionally large nose. As the pilots walked over, both Scorpio and Dr. Layon got out of the jeep to go meet them; Succubus decided to stay due to the fact that she had found an incredibly comfortable spot on the back seat that she would rather not give up just yet.
As the pilots came closer, Scorpio could see that the one called 'Marcus' was at least a head shorter than the other, as of yet unnamed, pilot. As soon as they were close enough, Dr. Layon pulled Marcus into one of his signature bear hugs.
"Good to see you again Marcus!"
Marcus didn't seem the least bit surprised when Layon did this. After Dr. Layon was done squeezing the life out of poor Marcus, he turned to the other man.
"Jurgis, good to see you're still around."
The man with the pony tails only response was a grin.
Marcus chuckled, "The only reason Jurgis is so happy is because he can't wait to get behind the controls of the Spinosapper we picked up from the hidden supply base you told us about."
Scorpio grinned and looked at Dr. Layon.
"Supply base? I thought that you were supposed to tell the ZBC about all of the Backdrafts supply depots."
Dr. Layon returned the grin and replied "I knew that the depot I told them about didn't contain much, and the fact that we need that spinosapper in order to create your zoid and I knew this depot had one," he shrugged, "Besides, I consider the other zoids payment for the info on the Backdrafts sponsors that I gave the ZBC."
Scorpio shrugged his shoulders, he really couldn't argue with that, besides it was one less thing for them to worry about. But, like most of us, Scorpio couldn't help but be just a bit curious.
"Exactly how many, and what type of zoids, did you find in the depot?"
Marcus smiled, "Nothing dangerous if that's what you're thinking."
Jurgis thought differently, and he showed this by elbowing Marcus in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
"We did find one powerful zoid in the hanger that we didn't expect to find, a Neo-warshark; but don't worry, we already registered the zoid with the ZBC as one of the zoids of the Eisen Dragoons."
Scorpio's left eyebrow arched.
"So I take it you two have been watching the news reports then?"
Marcus had managed to get air back in his lungs and spoke.
"Ya, that and the fact that I picked up your zoid gear that the ZBC dropped off at the post office."
As he spoke, he pulled the slightly-bigger-than-a-palm-pilot sized device out of his back pocket and tossed it to Scorpio. Without missing a beat, Scorpio caught the blue and silver device and brought it up to his eyes to take a closer look at it. The green screen on it was small, only four inches wide by two inches tall. The zoid gear's face was covered by sixteen buttons; ten were numbered from zero to nine, four were red, while the last two were black and had no markings on them. When he turned the gear over, he discovered that there was a belt clip installed in the zoid gear. 'Must be a new thing' he thought as he clipped it onto his right side.
Marcus opened his mouth to speak when he was cut off by a very annoyed sounding growl. Scorpio looked over his shoulder to see that Succubus had poked her head out of the jeep and that she didn't look too happy. She growled again and this time Scorpio was able to understand her.
Can we please get going 'cause it's very boring just sitting here listening to you talk.
Scorpio chuckled, Succubus wasn't known for being very patient, especially if they had somewhere to go.
"I think we should get going, Succubus is getting a bit edgy."
Both Jurgis and Marcus nodded and started walking back to their Rev Raptors as Scorpio and Dr. Layon returned to the jeep. Succubus was still sprawled out on the back seat when the got into the jeep. Scorpio sighed, Succubus wasn't only inpatient but very, very lazy. As Scorpio was about to fasten his seat belt, he heard Jurgis yell.
"Follow us, we found a short-cut that we think you guys will enjoy, and we'll slow down so we don't lose you."
As Scorpio thought, he realized why that was a good idea; Rev Raptors had a top speed of 210 km per hour, while the jeep could only reach 120 km per hour on flat ground. The Raptors started off at a slow trot, the jeep keeping pace about 20 feet behind them. As they drove on, Scorpio noticed that his eyes were being drawn to the raptors. It wasn't the first time he noticed this happening, he remembered as a little boy how he used to marvel at the zoids of the imperial army when ever they passed by. There was something fascinating about how they moved, mechanical, yet at the same time, natural. The Rev Raptors were the no different.
After a good half hour of driving, during which they passed some dirt trails which wound off into the forest and a grassy hill that sloped down to a crystal clear blue lake (Scorpio made a mental note that if he needed a place to relax, to fide that hill again) they finally arrived at their new home. Dr. Laon had explained how when he first started his lab, he discovered a small cave in the side of the mountain. He decided that instead of starting from scratch, the cave would be his starting point, and he would just dig his way from there. It turned out that the cave was a real help, until he needed to expand the lab in order to fit larger zoids in to experiment on.
As Scorpio stepped out of the jeep, he could see that the entrance could easily accommodate a Gojulas, with a little room to spare.
"So dad, the only question is where did you park your whale king when you got home?"
Dr. Layon chuckled, while both the Rev Raptors stop as both Jurgis and Marcus rolled with laughter.
"I didn't park the great whale king anywhere, when I got it, I moved all the equipment and personnel into the whale king. After I joined the Backdraft, I moved the equipment back into the lab, and after the Backdraft fell, I ordered my personnel back to my lab. Come on Scorpio, I think it's about time you got to know your new home."
As Scorpio, Succubus and Layon walked into the hangar, Marcus and Jurgis parked their Rev Raptors next to a line of zoids. The first zoid in the line was shorter than the rev raptor by about a meter when the raptors held their heads high. Its body was black while the legs, arms, head and tail were white. Its head was decorated by a single, short horn and an orange visor where the eyes should have been. But the most notable feature on the zoid was the massive, rectangular laser powered chainsaws on its back.
Scorpio could see why Jurgis wanted to pilot the Spinosapper instead of his rev raptor, not only was it superior in close ranged combat because of the saws, but it just looked cooler than the raptor. The zoid that sat to the left of the Spinosappers was the Neo-warshark. It looked odd out of water/sand since it was standing on its fins, but even then it still was sleek and powerful. Scorpio was pleased to see that Jurgis and Marcus had already painted the team symbol above its left fin.
A loud clanging sound drew Scorpios attention to the middle of the bay, where two maccurtis with large boxy things on their backs were engaged in some sort of arm wrestling contest with their larger claws. The one that was losing decided to even the odds by banging on the head of its opponent. Marcus, who had just excited his raptors cockpit, noticed the battle as well. His face contorted into a look of rage that would have scared even the Berserk Fury. He charged at the Maccurtis like a rampaging Gojulas, while screaming at the top of his lungs.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU EGG-HEADED-ASS-HOLES THINK YOU'RE DOING! I SAID NO TOUCHING THE ZOIDS! NOW, BECAUSE OF YOU FUCK-TARDS, I'M GOING TO HAVE TO SPEND THREE GOOD HOURES OF MY TIME POUNDING OUT THE DENTS YOU MADE!"
Both Maccurtis stopped grappling with each other and looked at Marcus. Seeing that Marcus looked about ready to kill them both, the pilots decided not to risk fate. The Maccurtis started moving off to take their places in-between three Demantis and a Guysack. To say that Scorpio was surprised was an understatement; he didn't think that Marcus would be the one to suddenly go nuts like that. Dr. Layon chuckled when he saw the look on Scorpios face.
"Marcus, in addition to being a guard, also fixes the zoids and takes great pride in keeping them in perfect condition all the time."
'Ah,' thought Scorpio, 'that explains the little outburst there.' As the Maccurtis pulled into their spaces and shut down, Scorpio saw that the front of the boxy constructs on their backs looked like they had some sort of intake. As the maccurtis finished shutting down, the cockpits opened to reveal the trouble makers. The first one (the one with the dents on its head) was piloted by a man that seemed to be older than Dr. Layon. His hair was a smoky grey and seemed to be oiled back, while his face was lined with wrinkles. The other pilot was female, her frizzy brown hair and large, thick glasses framing her face. Both wore tan colored lab coats and kaicky pants, so it was easy to tell that they were both scientists.
Dr. Layon grinned as he, Scorpio and Succubus walked over to meet the trouble makers, now that both of the pilots were on the ground, one could see that the young lady was at least a foot shorter than her companion. Dr. Layon introduced them as Kelly Potter and Ryan Francis, and Scorpio was very pleased to hear that Ryan had worked with his mother.
"You've probably heard this a lot, but you have your mothers' eyes." He said.
Scorpio noticed that Succubus was poking around behind the first row of zoids. Since Dr. Layon was still talking with Kelly and Ryan, Scorpio decided to see what she was poking at. When Scorpio walked around Jurgis's Spinosapper, he saw row upon row of a zoid made infamous by the Backdraft. The Zabat, as it was known, was small, cheap to produce, and could be remotely piloted when needed. Scorpio could tell that there had to be at least fifty of the small flying zoid housed in the hanger.
"Ah, I see you found our 'stockpile'." In was Jurgis.
"Now why would you guys have all these Zabats here for?"
Jurgis merely shrugged as he went back to waxing 'his' Spinosapper.
"When Dr. Layon called us, he said to get all the zoids from that hanger to the lab. It just so happened that the majority of the zoids in that particular depot were Zabats."
Scorpio was about to answer back when he heard Dr. Layon yell his name. He turned around and discovered that not only was there another man standing next to Dr. Layon, but that Succubus was now standing over by Kelly while getting her crest petted. Scorpio sighed, not because Succubus was getting attention from other people, but the fact that she was looking for attention.
As he walked over, he noticed that the third man was of Asian descent and, by the way he was holding him self, very nervous. Had the man not been hunched over, he would have been taller than Kelly, but not as tall as Ryan.
"Scorpio, I would like you to meet Professor Chang, my personal assistant during the time when Brad stole the Shadow Fox."
Scorpio noticed that Chang visibly cringed when Dr. Layon mentioned the name 'Brad'.
"Bad memories?" Scorpio asked.
Chang gave him a nervous smile and said "let's just say before he stole the zoid, he decided to use me as a punching bag."
Everybody, except Scorpio and Chang, laughed at Changs' misfortune. Dr. Layon gave Scorpio a slap to his back, one powerful enough to send Scorpio forward a few feet. He gave a small chuckle at what he did before talking to the scientists.
"Did you guys get the samples from the spinosapper as I asked?" He merely received a nod from Kelly and Ryan.
"And is the birthing chamber prepped as well?"
Chang motioned to the back of the lab and said "Everything is set up as you asked for back there."
As Scorpio looked in the direction that Chang pointed, he saw what appeared to be a large cylinder shaped construct in the very back of the lab, accompanied by three very large tanks and other machines attached to either side of the construct. Scorpio realized that the construct he was looking at was in fact the front of the zoid birthing chamber.
"OK, last question; did you get the scavengers to work?"
"The Maccurtis? Ya and they work like a charm." Kelly answered.
"What exactly are 'scavengers'?" Scorpio asked, as far as he knew, the Maccurtis wasn't commonly referred to as the 'scavenger'.
Dr. Layon pointed to the boxy constructs on the backs of the Maccurtis.
"Those are the scavengers" he explained, "the backdraft was tired of people like Bit making a profit off of the parts that they left on the battle field after an unsanctioned battle, so they developed the scavengers."
"At the end of a battle, these 'scavenger' type Maccurtis would submerge themselves in the sand and circle the battle site, slowly spiraling inward toward the center of the battle field. The devices will pick up parts that flow into them, yet at the same time tell the difference between the desired parts and unwanted rocks and rubble."
Dr. Layon suddenly shook his head, and then grinned. "There I go rambling on again and you probably only wanted the bare bones version of what I said. Come on; let me show you your room before I start talking in riddles!"
As they walked towards the right wall, Layon explained that the living quarters were in part connected to the birthing chamber. The top, or third, floor had a viewing window into the birthing chamber, some lab equipment, and a control center that was connected to the numerous security scanners around the mountain.
The second floor contained a living room, workout room, kitchen, briefing room, dinning room, entrainment room, and a medium sized indoor pool. When asked, Layon said that the pool and entrainment room were their so those who were doing research could relax and have some fun every once in a while.
"That's one of the things that I learned from your mother," he said, "was that no matter how concentrated one was with their research, that every once in a while they needed to get out and have some fun, other wise they would lose sense of what life was really like."
Finally, the first floor contained the bedrooms and an infirmary. Scorpio was a little surprised to learn that they had many unoccupied rooms, but pleased none the less; once he started competing, he would need team mates. It was a well-known fact that single zoid teams struggled up in the higher ranks. When Dr. Layon showed him his room, Scorpio found himself, once again, pleased with what he found.
His room wasn't too big nor was it too small, in Scorpios option; it was just the right size. His bed was pushed up against the right wall, while an extra mattress was laid out opposite that. In between the bed and mattress there was an empty book shelf that doubled as a night stand. The closet wasn't very big, but that was something Scorpio wasn't very concerned about. As Scorpio sat down on his bed, Succubus growled comfy?
Scorpio merely nodded and watched as Succubus walked onto the mattress on the floor, hopping on it three times to see if it was soft enough before lying down. Scorpio smiled before lying down on his bed. After all this time, not only did he finally have a father, but now, he finally had a home as well.
(Rubs his aching hands) sorry for the slow update, my typing still needs work.
I am open to suggestions, but nothing that will radically change the story line.
Now R&R or I'll send HK-47 here (Points to crazed assassin droid) after you!