And now here's chapter three of Alpha Team! This one's not quite as long as some of the others, but it'll give you a few things to think about as the story progresses. FYI: I'm writing this a chapter ahead of what I'm posting. Chapter 4's already done, but I'm going to wait until I finish chapter 5 before I post it up.
Dislaimer: I do not own Zoids or any of its official characters. I only own Krater, Virilia and the two new guys you'll see soon.
Chapter 3: A Midnight Stroll
"V-Virilia!" Krater grunted as he awoke with a start. His dreams had started off alright, but before long they had carried him into the more perverted possibilities of their new relationship. A little embarrassed and very glad that it was still fairly early in the morning, the young mercenary rushed to the bathroom, grabbing a towel on the way in. Half an hour later he emerged again with the same towel wrapped around his waist, his boxers balled up in his left hand and looking noticeably refreshed. He started down the hall and opened the door to his room, pausing only when he heard Virilia's door click and she stepped out wearing a blue shirt that hugged her torso and accentuated her chest with the sleeves so long that they ended at the palms of her hands. Covering her slender legs was a pair of what must have been pajama pants with little Pteras dotting it and she was barefoot.
He also noted with an amused grin that her hair was a mess, held up in an equally messy ponytail and that she obviously wasn't a morning person with her tired expression.
Virilia blushed at the site of his lean frame in a towel and quickly apologized with a brief bow and darted into the bathroom as Krater laughed, his own cheeks flushed slightly. He closed the door to his room and started to get dressed, pulling on a pair of simple blue jeans, a white t-shirt with a crimson over-shirt, white socks and a comfortable pair of red sneakers.
He headed down the stairs, passing the bathroom and taking note that Virilia was still in the shower, and found the kitchen right where he expected it to be. It was fairly sized with all the needed accompaniments such as the stove, dish washer, kitchen sink, various cabinets and appliances and the refrigerator.
Familiarizing himself with Virilia's kitchen, he began preparing breakfast in the form of eggs, bacon, sausage and rice. Fifteen minutes into it, he heard his beautiful roommate descending the stairs and step into the kitchen as he set out all of the food on an island counter in the middle of the kitchen.
He looked to her and was pleased by her surprised look. He took this chance to get a good look at her outfit, which consisted of the same shirt he saw earlier, a black choker, a short blue pleated skirt and white thigh-high stockings. Her hair was in order again now, held in the same high ponytail he'd seen it in when they first met.
She started speaking by the time he was done and fumbled over saying, "Y-you didn't have to make breakfast..." As she walked inside and looked over the spread he'd prepared.
Krater smiled and shrugged, "Well, I figured since you're letting me live in your house I should do something in return." He replied as he grabbed a plate and placed something of everything, then grabbed another plate and glanced at Virilia, "What would you like?" He asked with that same smile.
Virilia blinked before she said, "...Um, eggs, rice and two sausages..."
He put what she asked on it and handed the plate to her as he picked up his own and they walked into the dining room where they set their plates and silverware down and Krater asked, "What would you like to drink?"
His gorgeous friend had obviously decided not to object and happily replied, "Orange juice, thank you." With a brilliant smile as she picked up her silverware and began eating. Krater returned with a glass of her desired drink and a glass of milk for himself, setting the first in front of her before sitting down next to her and beginning his own meal.
Virilia turned and gave him a beaming smile, "It's very good! You're a very good cook. What else can you do?" She asked at the end with renewed curiosity.
Krater laughed and answered, "Thanks. My dad always told me I should learn to be self-reliant, so I learned to do a lot of things. I can do my own laundry, although I have the nasty habit of letting it pile up before I get to it... I have some basic electric and plumbing skills, I can hunt to an extent, and I can do first-aid and know how to handle a handgun pretty well."
The girl's red eyes were wide and fixated on him the entire time as she ate and listened to him talk. He went on for a while longer describing some of his various skills and she quickly came to notice how humble he was about it. He talked like they weren't that big a deal and picked at his eggs until he finished talking.
Virilia smiled another of her beaming smiles and wiped her mouth with a napkin. She then leaned over and pecked Krater on the cheek with a quick kiss. The young man was clearly taken aback and whipped his gaze around to look at her, slack-jawed with half chewed eggs still in his mouth. The young woman giggled and pushed his mouth shut with one hand as she said, "Call it a reward." She winked and returned to her breakfast.
Krater spent the rest of that meal in silence with a faint blush on his cheeks and Virilia talked about the different things she could do, the biggest of which he noted being her knowledge of the specifics behind zoid battles and strategy, as well as her investigative abilities.
When they were done, they took their plates and silverware to the kitchen to rinse them off and stuck them in the dishwasher before they went into the living room and sat down on the couch together. Virilia picked up a remote from the table and turned on the TV, tuning into the ZBN or Zoid Battle News channel and watched that for about a half hour.
As it turns out, others had noticed the Zabre Team's strange spike in victories as well and, from what he could get from the reporters, people were curious about the mercenary that had been the driving force behind their victories. Krater couldn't help but grin. Virilia noticed this out of the corner of her eyes and smiled as she voiced his thoughts, "You definitely started your career with a bang. They're all abuzz talking about you." Krater looked at her as she spoke with the same grin.
She winked and said, "Just wait until they hear you and I are working together, they'll have a fit." She smiled and turned the TV off again before standing up. She turned on one foot and flashed him another brilliant smile, "Come on, I need to run a few errands in town." She said as she held out a hand.
Krater made a motion to turn down her offer until he once again noticed her body language practically daring him to turn her down. He smiled a little nervously and took her hand as he stood up. Virilia slipped on her boots at the door and the two went out to her car, clambered inside and drove into town at about 8:30 AM.
While in town, they spent the morning going from shop to shop getting some groceries for the house, filled her car up with gas, placed an order for ammunition for her command wolf and Raider. She also dragged him to a clothing shop to get him some new clothes when she heard he only had a couple outfits aside from what he was wearing and bought him some new clothes.
By lunchtime, they stopped at the zoid pilots lounge to eat. There weren't too many people there so they soon had their food and sat in a booth across from the vid screen which was displaying another two battles going on in the area at the same time. They ate and chatted cheerfully the whole time and watched the battles, often commenting on how the different teams were fairing and obvious mistakes they made.
Virilia really surprised Krater; she was able to point out every mistake in every battle she watched down to the slightest maneuver. Wow... good thing we're on the same team now! He thought in wonder to himself.
About an hour and a half later, they left the lounge and headed home. They put away the groceries, Krater put his new clothes into his drawer and the two of them spent the rest of the day lounging around the house.
During those hours, Krater took note of a few of Virilia's other eccentricities. For one, in addition to her strong desire for a spotless house and contradictory body language, she would start fiddling with her fingernails every time things got awkward or something embarrassing happened like say she spilled or dropped something. Also, he noticed that every time she would go to enter the bathroom or his bedroom she would knock precisely four times in a diamond shape, regardless of whether or not someone was actually inside, before entering. He couldn't help but chuckle every time he thought about that last one and it made him wonder where that got started.
Later that evening after dinner, Krater walked outside the front door and went over to where Raider was standing behind the gustav and sat down at the zoid's left foot with a sigh. The rev raptor's eyes shimmered a moment and a quiet rumble carried through the air. Krater shook his head with the wave of a hand, "No Raider, I'm fine. Just thought I'd step outside and pay you a visit since I didn't talk to you yesterday." He answered as he rested his back against the cold metal of the zoid's leg. "So tell me, what do you think? Virilia's quite a gal isn't she? Do you think it was a good idea for me to join up with her?" He asked curiously with a smile.
Raider's eyes flashed again and another low roar sounded in response and Krater laughed with a slight blush, scratching the back of his head, "Haha... yeah, ya' got me there. It's hard not to like her... I mean, she's beautiful, pretty nice, playful, smart... she gets a little timid whenever something awkward happens, but that's okay, I kind of like that myself..." He sighed and glanced up at the darkening sky. The sun was almost out of sight and the stars were beginning to blink into view.
A smile spread across Krater's face as he said, "Hey Raider, wanna go for a midnight stroll?"
Ten minutes after midnight, Krater and Raider were some distance from the town, running full speed across the vast wastelands. Virilia was sound asleep when he left, so he was quiet about leaving so they didn't wake her up. After a while, Krater opened the cockpit while they were running and let the wind blast him as the distance between them and a small hill rapidly shortened, finding the feeling refreshing and let out an excited shout.
They reached the foot of the hill and Raider quickly began ascending to the top when Krater noticed light shining dimly up ahead. Curious, he had his mechanical companion slow down considerably and they soon crested the hill, which actually turned out to be a cliff that dropped down a hundred and fifty feet to more flat wasteland. However, at the bottom of the cliff were an assortment of tents and vehicles. Krater also quickly noticed the presence of other zoids in the camp: five command wolves, two red horns and a dozen guysaks. He could also see a single gray shield liger next to one of the larger tents.
"Huh, that's strange... what're these guys doing out here? And why are there so many?" Krater mumbled to himself as he had Raider close the cockpit so he could make use of the scope. Down below he noted that there were a lot of guys dressed in what almost looked like uniforms but none that the young pilot recognized. "They're not from the ZBC and I know those aren't the Backdraft's men down there... so who the heck are they? And what exactly are they up to?"
He swept his scope across the camp, trying to find some hint of what was going on, when the shield liger he'd seen earlier began to move and, much to his dismay, looked directly at him.
"...Uh oh... looks like they know I'm here." He mumbled as he watched the shield liger, two command wolves and four of the guysaks take off along the base of the cliff. "They're gonna get here soon... I wonder what I should do. If these guys are doing something shady they'll probably attack me first and ask questions later..." At that he turned Raider to run down the side opposite to the one the shield liger's group was approaching and began the descent towards the bottom. "Hopefully they won't chase me, because I highly doubt I can handle that many zoids in a fight by myself..." He frowned, nervous now that he could possibly be in a very dangerous situation.
He was almost at the bottom when a command wolf suddenly appeared from behind a large boulder and aimed its AZ 50mm Dual Barrel Rifle at him. Krater's comm. link crackled and an image of a man wearing a fairly plain black jacket with an equally nondescript helmet came up on his display, "Whoever you are, stop right there!" He barked furiously.
Krater complied and quickly hit the brakes, bringing Raider skidding to a stop as it reached the bottom. His zoid gave an uneasy roar as he watched the command wolf. The young pilot decided it would probably be best to try and explain things now before that shield liger got here, "Hey, look, I was just taking my zoid out for a run and I found this camp of yours by accident. I don't even know what's going on, much less who you guys are." He said to the man calmly.
"Shut it!" Snapped the stranger. Krater flinched at the shout. "The others will be here in a moment and then we'll decide what to do with you." He finished a little more calmly, though his frustration was obvious at this point.
Krater sighed and mumbled, "What's his problem?" He certainly didn't like the sound of what the guy meant by 'what to do with you'. Judging from his harshness, maybe these guys were doing something shady... heck he didn't know, but if that was true he wasn't going to be getting out of here very easily. He could already hear the thundering footsteps of the other zoids approaching and he was in no mood to try and deal with that kind of force alone.
He had to act fast. Let's see... I could fire at him and then run, but he'd probably just chase me and alert his allies... so I'll need to disable his zoid... He nodded to himself and turned off his comm. channel. "Alright Raider, listen up. We're gonna blast him and use your blades to damage one of his command wolf's legs... then we run for it. There's no way we can fight all these guys by ourselves." He quickly said as he watched the enemy command wolf carefully. Raider roared in response, making the other zoid noticeably uncomfortable.
"Now!" He shouted and Raider fired off a round of shots into the command wolf, hitting the ground at its feet and its left shoulder, jostling both zoid and pilot for a second. That gave Krater all the time he needed and Raider rushed forward with a roar. The rev raptor's blades shot out and connected with the command wolf's front left and hind left legs causing severe damage and the zoid collapsed instantly.
"Okay, now let's bail! Full speed!" Krater shouted as Raider roared and took off into the darkness.
It was just in time too, because the shield liger and its escorts soon arrived to find their companion damaged. The gray shield liger took a few steps forward and the cockpit lifted to reveal a young man of maybe twenty dressed in dark gray pants, black combat boots, a bulky black jacket and black fingerless gloves with short spiky black hair and dark brown eyes. "Jrouler you alright?" He called to the damaged command wolf as its cockpit lifted up.
The pilot clambered out and sat on the damaged zoid with a huff, "Yeah I'm fine, but my command wolf's got some pretty serious damage thanks to that stupid brat." He replied angrily.
The shield liger's pilot hummed thoughtfully as he looked off into the distance, "Do you think he knows what we're doing out here?" He asked almost absently.
Jrouler took of his helmet off to reveal he was a little younger then the other man, maybe eighteen at best with a slightly rounded face, blue eyes and short messy hazel brown hair, "Pah, of course not. I talked to him before he took off; he was apparently taking a joy ride out here when he found us. I could tell he wasn't lying, the guy was like an open book." He then set his helmet down beside him, "But he's gonna talk about what he saw here and I just know the ZBC or someone is gonna be dispatched to this area."
The black haired man shrugged, "Well, it's no good now, he's already gotten away." He then sat down and said, "Come on, we'll get a gustav over here to pick up your command wolf. We need to move to the secondary campsite now that this one's been discovered." Jrouler nodded and clambered up into the shield liger's backseat and the group disappeared back into camp before retrieving the damaged command wolf.
Within two hours, the entire campsite was gone without a trace.
Meanwhile, Krater and Raider immediately returned to Virilia's house after their encounter with those strangers. The black haired youth tried to be quiet about it, but he soon noticed it wasn't needed; Virilia was standing in the doorway in her pajamas and that long sleeved shirt and looking half tired and annoyed. He parked Raider on the gustav again and jumped down from the cockpit as his tired partner came up to greet him.
"Where have you been? I woke up half an hour ago to get a drink of water when I noticed Raider was gone." She asked quietly with a half-lidded gaze.
Krater scratched the back of his head, "Me and Raider went for a run."
"Raider and I" She instantly corrected him.
"Right..."
"Well come on back to bed... I've been up waiting because I thought something might have-" She yawned and turned back to the door, "Hm, excuse me... I thought something might have happened so I was worried..." She stated as she rubbed her eyes.
Krater couldn't help but smile, she looked so cute like that, especially since her hair was a mess again. This was a side of her that nobody else would probably ever see and he felt almost privileged to know that.
"Alright. Sorry for making you wait up on me..." He apologized as he led the tired young woman back inside. Virilia mumbled something incoherent in response and swayed on her feet before he caught her by the arm. Seeing that she was too tired, he simply picked her up in his arms and carried her back to her own room, laid her in her bed and returned to his own bedroom and went to sleep.
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And there you have it. The end of Chapter 3. Have I provided you with a decent mind teaser? Remember those guys because they'll be back soon enough. :P