Hi Everybody, Welcome to Chapter 3 of this little saga. As the time of me writing this, I have no reveiws- Please, PLEASE Reveiw, I'm in need of feedback. Anyway, I'm fighting the continuous war on Typos, so please bear with me. A little more character development here, don't worry, I'll get some battles going after the team gets formed. They will soon-This chapter, in fact. Oh. And I don't own zoids, although I do own my unique characters, and teh Cup o' Noodles reference is to a fic I may post here later... Short Blitz team cameo, I needed filler, okay? Geez...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up on the bed in the Gustav, and glanced at my watch.6 PM. I rolled overonto my back, and looked at the steel celing before getting up. As I stepped out into the hall, I Became aware of a howling noise. As I stepped out of the Gustav, it became much more familliar. The sandstorm had finally hit, and was whirling around the hangar in a maddening dervish. The maind doors where being closed behind a large Double Sworder zoid that was so covered with sand that the only indication of it's color where it's titular blades/pincers. As It stomped off out of my field of view, I heard Jenny call from somewhere- "Hey Garrett! Yeah! Up here!" I looke around until I saw her perched up on her Scout Fox. I clambered up the huge metal canine, and sat down next to her. "Quite the veiw, huh?" she asked, and as I turned around, I had to agree. Even though Scot Foxes wher far from the hugest zoids, I could see att throuought the garage, and it was a lot larger than I had origionally thought, it had to be at least eighteen acers. Zoids rested, moved, roared and where repaired throuought. I remembered what Grandpa had said about zoids being alive. Staring out over the garage, it was easy to see it more as a zoo with normal animals rather than a garage with machines several meters high.

"But why the large hangar? Your bother said that Crane was a pretty small city. Speaking of Eddie, hwre is he?" I had just noiced the abscence of metal pumping through the surrounding area. "Eddie? He's down at the ZBC terminal, looking for teams. As for the Garage, most of the ZBC battles take place in the deserts around here, it's a focal point for pilots in the lower classes." Another howl, it sounded like the wind was getting even worse outside. I looked around and spotted the ZBC terminal, dwarfed by a ZBC-Logo-inscribed Genosaurer. I could tell, even from where I was sitting, that it was a mass produced Geno, not as good as the real thing, but capable of putting most zoids out of a fight quickly. As the ZBC Geno powered up, I rememberd that I needed to get myself registered. "I'll be right back, Jenny. Can I get you anything?" "Yeah," She replied jokingly. "A team."

I hopped down (not in one jump, obviously) from the scout fox, and worked my way through the crowds of techs, pilots and zoids in the hangar until I reached the terminal. A blonde attendant with a seemingly frozen-in-place smile and a tight ZBC uniform greeted me. "Yes? How may I help you sir?" Resisting the temtation to make a fool of myself, and forcing my eyes on her face, I responded. "Yes, I'd like to register myself in the ZBC." She smiled, if it was possible for her to do it any more so than she already was. "Certainly. Name please?" I'll spare you the thirty minutes it took to register, and another twenty of filling out forms, and trying to avoid oggling. She handed me a spiffy new ID card, (How they got the ID picture, I'll never know), another ID for my zoid, Zoid core data and all, a complimentary official ZBC Wallet and ZBC cuff links. Why they gave me cuff links? I dunno. I dont even own a jacket or suit to put them on. I came back to the Gustav to see a small group staring at my Zaber. Some random guy was on the legs of my big metal cat, and I arrived in the middle of his rant.

"These legs are incredible! It would take a direct hit from a blade liger to even begin to damage them! And look at that cockpit! Ferrocious! Primal! This is without a doubt an origional Proto Zaber! I want one, too!" The guy was farely pale, like he spent most of his time indoors. He had a somewhat rediculous haircut, but then again, who am I to judge people? I rarely even comb my hair as it is... A Redhaed was standing at the base of my Zaber as well, as was a taller guy with long brown hair and a muscular build. The redhead was talking to the guy on my Zaber. "Come ON dad... The pilot will be back any minute, besides Jamie says the Hover cargo's ready..." A vein pulsed in her forehead "COME ON, GET OF THE DAMN ZOID!" "And look at that three barreled cannon- Simple, but effective!" "DAD!" The taller guy with the long hair shrugged and turned around. He saw me, and walked over. "That your zoid?" "Um...Yeah. That your crazy guy?" He laughed at that one. "Good one. Yeah, don't mind the Doc, he's on the wierd side, but he's good with zoids." A loud crack came from the diretion of my zoid, the redhead had dropped the "Doc" with a well timed punch. "Ok, Brad, time to earn your keep. You carry him." The long haired guy sighed. "I HATE my job... Sorry about the trouble." I shook my head. "No sweat... Err, he didn't touch anything, did he?" "Brad" shook his head in turn. "Just the legs. I don't think he could have climbed your zoid if he tried, anyway." The redhaed was getting impatient. "Come ON Brad, before he wakes back up!" He sighed again, and went to go carry the "Doc". I got the distinct impression that the redhead was not one to cross, and I shivered at the prospect of her in a zoid, whatever she piloted, it would be big on overkill.

As I walked to the door of the Gustav, I noticed it had a small note attached to it. "Hey Garrett, we've decided to brave the sandstorm and head over to my appartment. Jenny says there is some good food somewhere in the fridge, just pick past the stuff you know you won't be able to eat. Like Sis's cooking." There was a red spot that looked suspiciously like a injury-induced nosebleed, and then the handwriting changed. Jenny must have picked up from where her brother left off. "Anyways, we also have a TV in the front of the gustav, I think the ZBC's putting on the week's highlights, you might wnat to take a look. We'll be back in the morning, Jenny and Eddie"

I walked into the snail zoid, quested the kitchen, and then immersed myself in the higlits of the week. The TV in the gustav was a hundred times better than the one back home, It had color, got more than 4 channels, and was, get this, IN COLOR! (Yeah, I know, color TV, big whoop. But I had been living in Belaqua, for pete's sake, give me some credit...)

The next morning, Jenny walked into the cokpit of the gustav and found me out cold , surrounded by empty Cup 'o Noodles (tm), and the TV was playing a slow motion shot of a Classic Lightning saix cutting a Gojulas down. The announcer was ranting about how that's just what you should expect from team Lightning, skill and effecientcy, and, of course, speed. Especially from famed pilot Jack Cisco. She turned it off, and I snapped awake. "Hey! I was watching that!" She gave me a sarchastic look. "Suuure you where. There's a guy out by your Zaber, says he's looking for you." I groaned. "Is it some crazy guy? With a wierd Haircut?" She gave me an odd look. "No, he's a ZBC pilot, I think he owns the Geno parked by the terminal." I stood up, and patted my hair down. As i stepped out of the Gustav, I noted the storm hadn't died down yet. Long sandstorm, probably would play havoch with any Radar. And it would ground flyers of all stripes, as well. There was the guy, decked out in oficial ZBC flight armor, not the street clothes of civilian pilots. He looked like a soldier, right down to his buzz cut. He was staring up at my Zaber, a look of awe, respect and... something i couldn't place on his face. Was it Reminicence?

He noticed me walking up and turned to me. A broad shouldered man, very stong in the jawline which was addorned with a blonde/brown soul patch. He spoke first. "You're Garrett, Right?" I nodded, and he smiled almost as broadly as his shoulders. "Second Lutennnant James Ryson" he gave me a strong handshake, and I could almost feel the bones fracture in my hand. Then his demanor became one of buisness. "There are things we need to talk about, but not here. There's a bar here, we'll talk there instead of standing out here." I followed him to the bar, the "Crane's Jewel" and stepped inside. A couple of TVs poured out the most recent battles, one of them playing live- The Flugel team versus the Chaos Edge Team. The 'Edges where being diced to peices. The Second Lutenant led me to the very far edge of the bar, and then faced me directly. "Let me begin by saying that I knew your father, and that he was a great man." I did a double take, although, in retrospect, this wasn't too surpriseing, I guess. I nodded mutely. "I actually piloted with him, back when he was in the leauges. I remember that Zaber like I was fighting alongside it yesterday. Damn beautiful machine as I ever saw. I always prefered 'saurs, but he could rip it up like no-ones buisness..." We chatted for fifteen minutes about "The glory days", if you will, and then het told me how he'd followed dad into the ZBC enforcement companies. A few more minutes of that, and then I had to ask. "Lutenant.." "Call me james" "Ok, James... You knew my fatehr, but why did you track me down?" He laughed. "I guess I've been sidetracking myslef... Garrett." He set his gaze straght on me. "Your father entrusted me with something, right before he took... his last mission.." A shadow passed over James's eyes as he remembered. then he dug into his pcoket, and handed me a pristine letter. "He told me to give it to you when you "Came of Age"... And I think your Zaber symbolizes that better than anything else..." His watch comm buzzed suddenly, and he looked at it. "Aw, crap... Garrett, i gotta go, but I'll be back. Keep isnide, that sandstorm is something fierce." He stoo up, and strode out the door.

I hadn't opened the letter by the time I got back to the Gustav, but it was quickly driven from my mind when Jenny ran up to me, tears in her eyes. "GARRETT! BRO'S GONE! THEY-THEY MIGHT HAVE HURT HIM!" WHAT? My mind spun. "Jenny, JENNY! Calm DOWN!" I had never seen her liek this, I didn't even think she could break down like this. "What happened?" "These...These members of a team Eddie tried to get us signed on to showed up here, personally rejected us, and tehn called Eddie a balless coward in a tin can zoid. He- he punched one of them out, and he challeneged their leader one-on-one! But I'm sure they where drunk... And He's been gone for HOURS!" I grabbed her by the shoulders. "I'll go look for him, where did he cahllenge them?" "O-Out near blood peak." "Sit tight, I'll be right back." "No." She said flatly. "I'm coming with you."

Fifteen minutes later, we where out in the middle of the worst sandstorm I had ever seen, heading for Blood Peak. We had been truging hrough the shifting sands for an hour when Jenny suddenly shouted over the comm. "I've got something! It's His Liger!" She accelerated her Fox and bounded over the sands, and I followed suit, albeit slower than she was going. And then we could see it. Laying on it's side, oil and elctricity fluctuating and pouring out of it like a gutted beast, was Eddie's Liger, Marcia. A faint channel blinked on. "Jenny! Garrett! Get back! I-GHAYSGTSGSFZZZ" "Eddie! What? What are you saying? The channnel's weak-like it's being..." Jammed... That voice in the back of my mind again! Then, as if on que, My communications screen died and the channel fell appart. My radar flickered and died. And then they where right on top of us. Two Hel Digunners, a Hevily modified Sand Zpyder and a Warshark popped out of the sands and bellowed their challeneges. They where on is in a second, and I heard the vouce of the enemy captain, apparently unjammed. "So, you're his buddies, huh? Well, none of you will live after the Sand Devils Finish with you!" Jenny ran in front of her brother's liger and unloaded on the Sand Zpyder, but the arachnid Zod burrowed underground, and her bullets where lost in the sandstorm's dervish, which had seemingly increased in strength. I pounced on a Digunner, and it disareaed from under my paws, and the rest of the team followed suit. Soon, we where apparently alone, but my senses told me otherwise. Suddely a digunner turret popped out from the sands and unloaded a torrent of bullets into my Zoid. But the patchetic submachinegun shells just bounced off. "Thank god for all-nighters" I said quietly to myself. The Little Gecko Zoid tried to escape again, but I somehow managed to get my Zaber's fangs sunk into it's neck. I pulled it bodily out of the sands and shook it until It suufered enough internal damage to shut down. I threw it into the surfacing Zpyder, breaking the fragile joints in the spyder Zoid's legs, and sending it into shutdown. I saw the pilot paniking as this canopy gass cracked under the weight of his comerade's Digunner. But, miraculusly, the glass held.

Jenny was having a shootout with the other Digunner, trading rounds, doging fire, and shooting again. The sneaky lizard ppped up behind her, not expecting the turret to sight it... But after last night's modifications.. well... The Digunner flooped down, a hail of bulletts digging into it's armor. Jenny's chaingun reset to defaut condition, and we looked left and right for the last zoid.. the leader's Warshark. Jenny turned, and as she looked to the left, the blasted fish made it's move. Grabbing the Fox's weak back legs in it's razor teeth, and started draging it under. He was out to kill her! There was no seperate oxygen for her cockpit, she would suffocate! I was too afr away and I knew it. But I launched into full run, regaurdless. I watched in terror as the Wrashark's head almost dissapaer under the sands... And then I saw a golden-brown blur to my right. The Desert Liger launched itself at the fish zoid, and clamped it's head in the signature liger fangs. The commchannel opened suddenly, and the enemy was screaming bloddy murder as Eddie closed the liger's jaw ever tigter. The Warsahrk's head began to collapse. "AAAAAAHHHH! NO! DON'T KILL MEEE! I SURRENDER!" I heard Eddie's voice, a cold, sharp edge to it. "You almost killed my SISTER, and you beg for mercy? Give me one good reason not to beak your zoid in half and crush you into paste." Jeny was on the comm. "Eddie STOP! Don't...Don't kill him..."

Our zoids stood out there in the sands, the sandstorm still going at full fury. Then, suddenly, a hulking shape bashed though the clouds of sand. 2nd Lt. Ryson's Genosaurer, flanked by two smaller Aurosaurers. He popped up on the open channel. "Put the zoid down, Mr. Rayne." Eddie reluctantly complied, and I could feel his zoid was just as , if not more, reluctant to do so than he was. "Thank you. We saw the whole thing, I'm sorry we didn't get here earlier." His little holographic image winked, I assume at me. "Incredible shooting out there kid, you're your father's son alright." "But why are you here, Lt.?" Ryson laughed. "These pilots spend their spare time as a bandit gang, apparently. I was posted here to round them up. Unfortunately, I don't get the bounty for cleaning their clocks- that goes to you guy's team." "Huh?" We three where shocked. He thought we where an official team! "Something wrong?" "No, not at all." I said, and got incredulous looks form the other two. "Good, You all look pretty banged up. I'll call in a transport, if You don't mind sitting tight for a sec.." he didn't notice we weren't listening. After a quick confrence amongst ourselves, I spoke up. "Hey, Lt..." "Yeah, Garrett?"

"Can you make sure the check is out to... Team Sandstorm?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Woo yeah! They have a name! And a team! Read on in the next cahpter for the coninuing saga of Team Sandstorm!

And please R&R!