Ok, as usual, you all know that I own nothing of zoids, but I do own my origional Characters.

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Two weeks. Two weeks since our fiasco with the so-called "Sand Devils" in the snadstorm that inspired our name. Two weeks of Reparing Marcia with Eddie. Two weeks sleeping in the Gustav's spare bed. And two weeks of filling out ZBC paperwork, wich was quickly becoming my eternal nemisis. One was more a survery really, asking me my favorite food, if my hair was in it's natural color, and if I could translate a quote from latin. WHAT DOES LATIN HAVE TO DO WITH PILOTING A ZOID! Well, It all led up to this moment-our first battle as a team in the ZBC. We got to the area early, and had time to take stock of the battlefield. As with all Class-C battles, this one was out in the middle of the desert. You know, I never quite figured out why they always post the lower classes out in the desert. Less chance of newbie pilots killing themselves by smashing into a building, I guess...

I sat in the Zaber's cockpit, the AC on full blast. That's what I spent a large potion on my cut of the reward from the Sand Devils on. From grandpa's stories, I could tell we'd be out here in the desert battles for some time to come. The rest of the award went into my account- wait, let me explain this first. It was after the Sand Devils battle, I had finally opened dad's letter. it wasnt much, I have it on hand, so I'll write down what it saud.

"Garrett. I'm going on a dangerous mission- the ZBC has had unconfirmed reports of the location of the Backdraft Group's main base. They're sending my company to investigate. While I'm writing this, your tearing around outside, playing with your zoid figures. You are your mothers son, that's for sure. You wouldn't understand this right now, I'll leave it with a good friend of mine- Private James Rayson. You can trust him Garrett. When you recieve this, I can only hope you've already become a pilot. Garrett, I may not survive this. I can sense.. something, I'm not sure what. But I know the zoids feel it, too. But, if this is just harmless paranoia, this letter may never be needed.

Much love, your father, Jack Hart.

(PS, I've opened an account for you just to be sure. It has about 3000 credits, use them well.)"

It shed more light on how dad had died, and I still have it tucked in my wallet. I really miss him, heck, I miss all of my family... I shook my head and returned to the present as a white capsule burst into the ground and out came.. the Judge. This was the first time I had seen one, and I was transfixed. He began in a mechanical voice: "Battle mode A779. 3 vs. 3 team battle. The red team: Team... Sandstorm! The blue Team: the Ligtning Hussars Team! A battered,early model hover cargo had pulled up while I had been thinking of my family. It launced 3 zoids- all small class zoids. A Revolver Tiger, a black Helcat, and a Hammer Rock. We looked like titans compared to them, two large class zoids (my Zaber and the Liger) and a medium (The scout fox). The judge raised his arms, and then let them drop. "FIGHT!"

Eddie launched his liger forward, and theopposing team scattered. At first it looked like they where running away... And then a blast from the Revolver Tiger smashed into my zoid's left torso, and the fight was on. The comm channel opened on our frequency. Eddie was in his combat stance, nameley a vein twitching in his forehead as metal pumped through his speakers. Jenny was in serious concentration, and I could see why. Since she was in the fastest of our zoids, she was trying to track down the fastest enemy- The Helcat. It was the classic dog chasing cat scenario- The fox would get close, and the Helcat would put on another burst of speed, cutting away as fast as it could, taking pot shots with it's single, small turrett. The pilot was accurate- even with the small cannon, Jenny's center torso armor was starting to show signs of collapsing.

Eddie was having just as much luck with the hammer rock. The miniature Kong zoid just kept out of his liger's reach, barraging it with machine gun, misslie and laser fire. Eddie popped open his covered machine guns- a recent addition- and unloaded a torrent on the little gorilla, following it up with a barrage of short range misles. The Hammer Rock diisapeared in a cloud of explosions, and I saw Eddie mout "Take that, ya bastitch!" over the commline (remember, I have him muted, for the sake of my ears) But, out of the clouds came the Rock, it's front armor little more than a memory. It jumped, and before Eddie could react, smashed it'ts fist into the side of the Liger's head. And it doesn't matter if you outweigh it, when a Kong Zoid hits you, it hits HARD. Eddie's zoid spiraled onto it's side, and he was cursing so loudly, I swear I could hear it in my zoid, almost half a kilometer away, cahsing the blasted revolver tiger across the sands. And that little cat could RUN. I Had been chasing after it after it had broadsided me, and had been running ever since. However, since it's turrets where all forward-facing, all I had to do was hit it. And that was about as easy as driving a Saix at 200 mph... With your toes. This continued on for three hours...

It was 11:30, almost six hours after the battle, when our battle got itself a little clip on ZBCBC (Zoids Battle Commission Broadcasting Chanel). We hwre sitting in the bar at the garage, spending some of our hard earned cash. Eddie was drunk out of his skull, and was passed out on the bar, a "Helfire Special" stil in his hand. I'm not sure what was in that hellish concoction, but I was three stools away and I could smell it like I had my nose in it. Jenny was only slightly beter than her brother, resting her head on her ahnds, staring at the blaring TV screen and mumbling in Haiku about Cats and Foxes. I, for one, was not drunk. I usually tried to avoid alchohol- I got drunk once in high school, and woke up in a bed with three girls. No idea how it happened. Not neccicarly a bad experience, i guess, aside from them never talking to me again. But what can you do? So I sat there, taking occasional shots of water. Jenny laughed giddly, and I looked up at the screen. it showed our killing strikes on the three Hussars- How jenny ran the Helcat until it tripped, and surrenderd before she could shoot it to peices. The Hammer Rock was clawed viciously by the liger after it tried another punch and Eddie activated the shield. And then it showed me pulling off a lucky shot with my cannon, and taking the Tiger's leg clean off, and then my Zaber riping into the smaller zoid like a cat attacking a fish. I should give Saix piloting a shot...

The bartender tapped me on the shoulder, sensing taht I was the only sober one of my group, and told me it was closing time. Then he asked me if I wanted help hauling Eddie back to the Gustav. Fifteen minutes later, As I said goodnight to the bartender and opened the Gustav's door, I realised I had no idea who'se room was whose.Setting the giggling Jenny down in the hal, I dragged eddie to the first available door. It was dark, so Ijust dropped him inside, mades ure he hadn't broken anything when he fell, and closed the door behind me. I helped Jeny to her feet, or rather had to pick her up, and went to what door seemed the most likeley, I.E, the next door down the hall. It was hers, thankfully, and I walked over to her bed. She giggled again as I set her down on her bed. I looked around at the decor as best I could in the dark. A few posters, or at least dark spots on the walls, a desk, and..well... that was about it. As I turned to leave, she spoke up. "G'nighty, Gawwet..." I hadn't noticed, but she spoke with a childish wisp, i mean lisp, when she was drunk. "Goodnight jenny." "Awww, don't go. C'mere..." Now, this was what was going though my mind. For your sake, I'll divide it into the two voices arguing over my morality. Good and Evil, if you will. Yes, let's go with that.

Good Side: She's drunk Garrett, just back out the door.

Evil Side: No, come on man, Drunk Girls are FUN!

Good Side: We don't ned highschool repeating itself here.

Evil Side: You know... I bet you'll regeret this if you don't.

Good Side: You'll regret it more when she nails you with that wrench tomorow morning.

Evil: Pansy.

Good: Anarchist

Evil: Boyscout

Good: Lecher

Evil: OOOH, I'm so afraid of your big words. Seriosuly, I'm gonna break out in tears, NOT. Come get some, lightweight. I'll knock you out with one hand.

Good: FIGHT you? Why would I waste my- WHAM Ok, you psycho, you asked for this!

As the two sides of my concious came to blows, I heard Jenny softly snoring, and quiely excused myself from the room. The next morning, I woke up, did my usual stretches, and then moved on to the kitchen. Edie was in there, drinking the classic ant-hangover. He raised his glass of eggyolks in greeting and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "Morni'n Garrett.Hey, you have any Idea why I woke up in the middle of the bathroom floor?" ...Oops... "Um... No." He rolled his neck and swallowed another gulp of egg. "Ugh, If it came down to getting the origional Deathsaurer or killing this headache, It'd be a close one... Hand me the pepper, will you?" SOmehow, he caught the flyng pepper shaker, unscrewd teh lid, and poured half of it into the egg youlks. He shook the glass a little, and then gulped teh entire mix down. Noting my disgusted expression he laughed and said. "What? Me and my buddies used to do this all the time back in college."

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Sorry for the short chapter, but i was busy today. More later.

R&R please!