DR: Okay, here's the main part of our story, with everyones favorite Zoid Team...

Disclaimer: I do not own Zoids or Earthseige2.

Chapter 2: Tantrums, Thoughts and Oversight

It started as any other day in the Blitz Team base: Brad sipping coffee, flicking though the latest news. Jamie was down in the hanger, polishing his Raynos. Doc played with his models, making gun sounds like a little kid. And Bit and Leena…

"BIT, YOU GIVE THAT BACK NOW!"

Bit Cloud raced past Brad, who brought his feet up out of the way without looking up from his paper. He lowered them once Leena rushed past.

'Will he ever learn...?' He thought, as the pair of them raced down the corridor to the hanger. He continued to peruse the paper. The headlines were still talking about the demolition of a large chunk of the Backdraft, two months after the Royal Cup. There were many articles about the Berserker Fury, Vega Obscura, and the Blitz team. Brad had found the last ones a mixture of amusement and disgust. The stuff about Vega was however interesting. The young lad, barely fifteen, had been exonerated of all charges against him. Seems the ZBC didn't what to seem like a heartless monster that punished children for adult crimes. Sarah, his guardian and it turns out mother, had been given a suspended sentence. She was not locked up with the other Backdraft higher ranks, but was on parole to allow her to take care of Vega. She had to report her every move to the Security Services and the ZBC: any failure and straight into prison she'd go.

Vega himself was allowed to go free, since he was only a kid. He was not yet allowed to battle, since he had to both learn the rules first, and show that he had no intention of returning to his ways back in the Backdraft. After that, no one was sure. But the odds were no team would take him on: people were afraid of him.

Jamie heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps, and turned to see a blond headed streak race into the hanger, closely followed by a red-haired one. He shook his head then turned back to his polishing.

"At it again. I don't know, somehow I'd expect that after almost two years that things would have changed. Bit stops taking Leena's sweets, she giving up chasing him, or him leaving…"

Jamie paused at that thought. The idea of Bit leaving was one he rather not contemplate. Bit had been the one that had brought the Blitz team out of the gutter, and brought them fame and fortune. Well, fame at least. The fortune was being used to cancel the Blitz Teams debts. If it wasn't Leena and her wastage of ammo, it was Doc buying anything that looked cool, rather than practical, even when they couldn't afford the item in question. The rest of the team had agree that Jamie would handle the finances, and to keep Doc out of the loop. He didn't even know the codes to the new accounts. Unfortunately that didn't stop him sometimes, as he still had control over the original accounts.

Jamie sighed, while down below Leena continued to charge around after Bit. Now they were racing around the Liger Zeros legs, whose face showed both amusement and exasperation, had you known how to read zoid faces. The Liger had seen this same pattern repeated time and time again over the last two years. Bit always ran to the Liger to hide, but Leena had figured that out now. The Liger was never concerned over why the two fought so, but he knew the root cause. The Liger, or rather the two minds that had merged to form the Liger's, could see that both humans cared deeply for each other. They just didn't know it yet.

Leena's Gunsniper, standing across from the Liger, was also feeling despair. Although it knew that Leena did not believe zoids to be alive and had forced it into a role that was anthem to how the Gunsniper preferred to fight, it had grown attached to the fiery redhead. She had such a passion for life; she seemed to brighten any situation. She had beauty and intelligence, a rare combination.

Too bad she also had one hell of a temper. The Gunsniper had cringed – mentally – whenever she had raged in a battle. And that maniacal laugh… It was enough to send shivers down any zoids spine.

Bit by now was running out of breath. He knew that he couldn't stay ahead of Leena for long. He paused behind one of the Ligers legs, catching his breath. Leena slowed and approached the leg from the other side.

"Bit, you can't hide behind there for ever…" She was watching, waiting for any clue as to which way he would go.

"Maybe…" Bit replied, before feinting left. As Leena reacted, he switched direction and headed right, round behind her and back towards the main base.

"BIT! YOU…" Leena cried as she took after him.

Jamie, who had finished his work and was now returning for a quick clean, paused just to the side of the door as Bit raced past. He waited till Leena had dashed past before he made his own way into the base.

Brad heard the oncoming pair, and sighed again. He shifted his weight before moving his legs again to allow them to pass unhindered. He heard a door slam shut, followed a by a thud… on his side.

"Oww! Why, when I get my hands on you Bit Cloud…" Brad smirked as Leena picked herself up. Jamie watched in shock as Leena ripped the door off the wall before charging into the other room.

"That's going to cost us." He sighed.

Leena meanwhile had passed though the second door into the main corridor of the base. Bit was nowhere in sight. She paused, unsure which direction he would have taken. Then she heard a clatter from the right. He was back in the kitchen, most likely stealing something else of hers! Her eyes narrowed as she took off down the corridor.

Jamie, as he turned to the kitchen, watched as Bit dashed out and headed for the hanger. He paused before entering the corridor, just long enough to turn to Jamie and put a finger to his lips, grinning. Then he was gone. Jamie had little time to wonder about that when an enraged Leena raced past and into the kitchen.

"Bit! If you have…" She stopped mid-rant.

Jamie walked in to see want was up. He found Leena staring at the breakfast bar. On it, a small plate stood with a chocolate cream cake sat on its wrapper, untouched. Leena's eyes were wide, her mouth hanging slightly open. Jamie was almost as surprised that Bit appeared to have returned the stolen item, but he didn't let that faze him.

"Uh, Leena, you might want to put that away somewhere…" She snapped out of her trance.

"Oh, err, yea right." She replied absentmindedly before stepping up to the counter to rewrap the cake. Jamie sighed again as he washed his hands. Distantly he heard the Liger roar, before the distinctive sound of the hanger doors opening.

'Bit's off for another run…' Jamie glanced at Leena, who had also heard the roar and was glaring daggers in the general direction of the hanger. '…Good idea…'

X-X-X-X-X-X

Bit leaned back in his seat of the Liger, content to let the Liger pilot for a while. Bit needed time to think, and taking a run with the Liger was about the only time he could so freely without any interruptions...

Lacing his hands behind his head, Bit focused on the main item bouncing round inside his head: Leena. Over the past year, His perception of Leena had changed subtlety. While he still thought of her as a wild, untameable creature, there was something that attracted him to her. Certainly she had been figuring in his thoughts more often lately.

'That's simply because we haven't been fighting for a while now.' He told himself. Certainly the Royal Cup signalled the end of the Zoid battle season. The ZBC was careful to ensure that all teams had a chance to unwind and relax for while each year. It gave time for teams to adjust to the changes made in ranking, allowed pilots to switch teams and adjust, upgrade zoids and a thousand and one other things that would be difficult during the battle season. Even the Backdraft had cooled during the break, though at the moment it was also reeling from the heavy losses incurring during the Royal Cup. 'Yea, that's it. Not much happening…'

But deep down, Bit knew the real reason. Leena had been figuring in his thoughts for a while before the Royal Cup. And when it had looked like she would be killed when those three biped zoids had attacked the Berserker Fury with Charged Particle Cannons, his heart had been in his throat. Only the timely intervention of Dr Layon of all people had saved her, though he lost his Whale King in the process. Layon, who had helped the Backdraft with the Berserker Fury, and who had a long running rivalry with Leena's father. Sometimes Bit wished he knew what that was all about.

Leena was still an enigma in some areas though. What had happened to her mother for instance, and where she acquired her inferno like temper. Neither her father nor her brother Leon had such tempers. In fact Leon was the most level headed and calm person he had ever met. The only person who even came close to having such a twitchy temper was Harry.

Bit smiled as he thought about Harry, laid up in hospital after he had tried to shield Leena from the charged particle explosion. Though his Iron Kong would have made no difference. It had taken out most of Layons Whale King; a single Iron Kong would have been swallowed without a trace. He had heard rumours that the recovery crews had found a shattered ring in the cockpit with Harry. If true, Bit could easily guess what had been in Harry's mind.

'He wins the Royal Cup, beating me in the process, and then asks Leena to marry him.' Apart from the fact that Harry couldn't beat Bit on his worst day, He would have had to deal with Vega and his ultimate X, the Berserker Fury, too. And it had taken all of Bit's, and Ligers, strength to defeat the Fury. Particularly when Vega had fallen unconscious and the Berserker Fury was out of control, intent on total destruction.

'Besides, she doesn't love him at all. Hell, she doesn't even like him, only his money.' Bit chuckled as he thought about Harry being kicked all around his great home by Mrs Leena Champ, while she spent all his money on ammo for her zoid. 'He wouldn't know what he had got himself into…'

Dangerous to know, absolutely lethal to annoy, but oh so worthwhile if you could survive her anger. That was Leena. She was extremely beautiful and highly intelligent, but with an itchy trigger finger and a very short fuse. 'So why do I keep on teasing her… and why did I give back her cake today…'

Bit frowned as he thought about this, for even he did not really understand the emotions that ran though his head around Leena. She made him do foolhardy, dangerous things, just by being in the same room. He just had to poke her, get her focused on him. The only thing that fired his blood as much was zoid battling, particularly the tough ones against people like Vega, Jake Cisco and other elite pilots.

Thinking about battles, Bit wondered when the ZBC would start the new season. He knew that the gap between their last two seasons had been about a month, but this was getting on for more like two. Bit guessed it was simply because of the Royal Cup, since it was held every four years and tended to take a lot out of teams. They needed more time to get back up to fighting strength.

But Bit had enough of sitting around. "You ready for the new season partner?" He asked the Liger.

The Liger responded with a positive sounding roar, which to Bit came across not just as a roar but also as words.

#Hell yea! I'm just itching for some action!#

Bit laughed heartily. "You and me both partner." He glanced at his watch, and whistled when he saw the time. "We'd best head back now. It's been longer than I thought."

The Liger responded happily, since it enjoyed the company of the other zoids, and began to turn back towards the valley that held the Blitz Team base.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Far away to the north of Europa, deep within a mountain range, a man sat watching a screen in front of him. On it the Liger Zero ran across a dusty plain, its course tracked by the sand kicked up by its feet and slowly settling again. As he watched the Liger roared twice before turning away.

"Checking up on them again dear?"

The man smiled at the voice, turning his chair round to face the owner. "Maybe…"

"Oh, you are so predictable sometimes." Came the reply as the owner stepped forward before sinking into his lap. They quickly shared a passionate kiss before both heads turned to the screen. The tiny camera tracking the Liger zoomed in till it filled the screen, showing how the sunlight reflected off the white armour and edged the dark sections underneath.

"He always looks so graceful these days. Look at him, not even making an effort. Bit Cloud really suits them both."

The man looked down at his wife's face, as she leant on his chest. "Better than I did?" he asked.

She looked up at him, crimson eyes wide. "No, just different. You burned with a passion to right wrong, at any cost. You fought in actual warfare, where there is no second place." She waved at the screen. "Now it's sport. Bit burns with a similar passion, a passion for zoids…"

"Wonder where he got that from." he teased.

She smiled back. "…But he also loves the thrill of fighting. When you fought, you held nothing back, since lives hung in the balance."

She watched as her husband chewed that over. "True, though I wouldn't say Bit holds back much, if at all. Look at that last fight between them and the Fury."

She sighed. "When you fought, it was warfare. You battled to defeat the enemy, to destroy them and their means of waging war. When Bit fights, the aim is only to beat the other team, not annihilate them. He fights, but not as ruthlessly as you had to."

"You make me sound like Raven!" He laughed.

"Not at all, you're a product of your time. Bit's a product of his. Now…" She stood up and stepped back to the door, pale blond hair flowing behind her. "…You coming to bed?"

"It's only seven in the evening…" He trailed off, seeing the mischief in her eyes, the way she stood.

"Oh, I see." He grinned as he stood up and wrapped his arms round her waist. "If I had known that you would be this wanton…"

"…You would have married me years before you did." She finished as they backed into their bedroom.

On the forgotten screen in the study, Liger Zero slowly shrank away into the distance.