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RandomCrappyZoidsFic pt 20 - New Character Introduction Episode

By Rick R.

Disclaimer: Zoids is copyright Tomy, Takara, Hasbro, Kenner, Irwin, JNH and any other company that may or may not have released them at some stage, and boy have there been a few of them. This page is solely for fun and not for profit or anything like that.

This fic is created by me; ie Rick R aka Deadborder aka That Guy. Don't steal from me. People who steal from me will be thrown in the Deadborder Pit.

Tilly, Zogster, Rocke, Byron and Rantinan were created by themselves. You get the idea. They're pretty irrational people, and if you steal from them they may yet do something horrible to you, possibly involving badfic coffee.

*****

In the last year the Fish City Unclear Reacotr hadn't changed that much. It had gained a few new cracks and leaks, but has lost a few of the Redler-shaped holes in the roof (But not all of them). The grass out the front has grown a little, but had, for some reason, not reached the stage of wildly out of control that it probably should have with nobody attending to it; certainly it was faring a lot better then Tilly's windowbox project which had withered and died in minutes.

In fact, save for being a little quieter, the place hadn't really changed much at all.

(intro - one year later)

(Hiring Rant)

-----

"I don't know why we had to come to this stupid show." Ryu muttered as he and Clarence trudged through the rows of booths. "I mean, we're the best team in the universe. It's not like we need anything that we'd get from here."

"Well, Logan said we had to come here." Clarence casually replied, strolling behind his dour teammate. "And its not that it's bad that we're here or anything."

"It isn't?" Ryu sneered. "Look at this place, Clarence. Look at all these... people!" He gestured widely at the milling crowds around him.

Clarence looked around him, clearly nonplussed. "Yeah, they're people, so?"

"Do you know how oppressive it is to be hemmed in by so many mindless sheep?" He replied, turning around to face Clarence. "To be surrounded by those unwitting masses who do not appreciate the pain and suffering that I have endured? To be confronted by the blank stares and dull gazes of those who fail to fathom the darkness that eats away at my soul? They are oblivious to the dark abyss that I must constantly stare into, unwilling to acknowledge the inner strength that I possess to overcome it and continue with my life!"

"You just can't handle people, can you?" Clarence flatly stated. "You don't like human interaction"

"No!" He yelled.

"Or is it 'cause you're afraid someone will recognise you for your pink Liger?"

"It is not pink!" He shouted. "It is light red!"

"Dude, everyone's staring at you."

Ryu looked around to notice that the pair of them were, indeed, surrounded by a crowd of people who had stopped to stare at them and their argument in progress. He blushed bright red, then stormed off.

"Loser." Clarence shot back.

"I am not!"

"Yeah, whatever." He replied, then looked around. The show wasn't that bad, actually. Certainly there was lots of cool stuff to look at here, not just Zoids and weapons but Zoids related paraphernalia such as uniforms, flightsuits, accessories and so forth. Of course, the Zoids showroom was still interesting; as cool as his Genosaurer was (With its awesome Charged Particle Cannon that could totally one-shot anything), he was still holding out for his dream Zoid, a Genobreaker Jet. The fact that very few had appeared on the market in the last few years and the few that had were so expensive as to be out of his reach only made it that much more desirable.

But still, he could hope.

He continued walking through the displays, looking around when something caught his eye. One booth was decorated with a number of life-size photos of a rather attractive red-haired woman dressed in a variety of what could only be described as very colourful, very tight and very minimal outfits.

"Hey..." He began as he looked over them, noting not her acres of exposed skin but her face. "That's..."

"The latest products from M. Rabbit Sportswear!" Another voice interrupted his train of thought. Turning around, he could see a rather buxom (It was hard not to notice, given how much of her cleavage her outfit revealed) black-haired woman in similarly tight and revealing attire. "As per modelled by myself, the incredibly talented and attractive Reven of the infamous Red Wings team."

"Sportswear" seemed to be an inappropriate term here. Certainly what Reven was wearing was not designed for any sort of strenuous activity like running, jumping or piloting a Zoid. In fact, it probably wasn't designed for walking or breathing.

"What's that guy over there for?" He asked pointing at another figure sitting at the booth next to her.

She glanced at the man. He was wearing a baggy flight suit, a helmet and a bandanna that served to completely conceal his features, save for his nondescript brown eyes. At the moment, he was loudly drinking a fruit smoothie through a straw that he had threaded under his bandanna.

"He's the before model." She dismissively replied. "He's what you will look like if you don't wear M. Rabbit Sportswear. You don't want to look like him."

"Yo." He replied with a wave, presumably between slurps.

"I see." He looked around. "And the girl in these photos..."

"Is irrelevant." She cut him off. "Besides, wouldn't you rather look at a real person then at some silly photo?" She swanned around a bit, moving with an undue amount of caution lest her outfit try to escape.

"I dunno..." He looked closer at one of them, intently studying her face. "Just wondering who she is."

"Woo, you lost to a photo." The masked man commented. "Way to go, boss."

"Shut up, you." Reven replied, tapping the top of his helmet. "And go get me a Fruit Smoothie."

"Hey Clarence!" Ryu stormed back in. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"Oh." He replied, barely noticing his team mate. "Say, this girl in the photo-"

"Who cares?" Ryu fumed. "I'm bored and there's too many people here, let's go." He all but dragged Clarence away. "And where the hell is Logan anyway?"

-----

At the moment, Logan was in the middle of a berserker rage, one that was threatening to in mere moments undo all the work that he had done over the last year.

Two years ago, the Crimson BLades had been one of the top teams in the WZBC. They'd been feared by all because of their deadly, powerful Zoids; but it was more then that. They had a reputation for crushing their opponents, mercilessly grinding them under their metal claws, heaping victory upon victory.

And then it had all changed. The team had been soundly defeated by an opposing team that was their inferior in every single way. In doing such, they had been humiliated and made a mockery to the whole league. That had triggered off a near terminal downhill slide; the team had lurched from one humiliating defeat to another, being constantly effortlessly put down by that one particular team. And it wasn't just that one team besting them, they mocked them as they did it - everything form their derisive nicknames to the shirt their Storch pilot wore. These jokes blew out of proportion, making them a laughingstock of the league.

To make matters worse, their constant losses all but destroyed their finances. Having to do a lot of repairs on very expensive Zoids while not winning nay matches quickly drained their reserves. Their constant losses meant that their sponsors also pretty much pulled out - nobody wanted their products to be associated with such a team of losers. Ryu's spending their entire cash reserve on his stupid pink Liger was the last straw, leaving them all but broke.

But Logan had a plan. He'd voluntarily taken them down a peg, reducing them to competing in the bottom feeder league. They were getting quick and easy one-sided victories over helpless squash teams that didn't stand a chance against them. And while it wasn't much, it had helped rebuild their finances and get them back into shape. They had money, they had some success and they were ready to move back into the big leagues.

As a part of their preparation, he'd splashed out, trading in his old Koenig Wolf for a new Koenig Wolf Heavyarms. It had cost him a lot, but, to his mind, it had been well worth it. He'd also splashed out on stockpiling ammunition for its rifles and missile pods; he knew neither system was still in production, and as such, the already outrageous prices for the munitions would only go up. Again, it had cost a lot, but was well worth it.

Except then, something had happened that had upset him a lot.

A new model of the Koenig Wolf, the Mk II, had been released. Not only did this model come with both weapons systems built into the Zoid, but the whole package retailed for about the same price as his original Koenig Wolf - sans weapons - had. The average buyer off the street could now pick up a brand new, fully armed Koenig for less then the price that a standalone CP-22 system was going for a few months ago. As a result, the massive amounts of cash he had plopped down for his Heavyarms was now a waste - and the stockpiled munitions he had paid a fortune for were worthless.

In other words, he'd just blown all their cash for nothing.

The end result was that he really, really didn't like the Koenig Wolf Mk II. He'd tried to make excuses; he didn't like the colours, he didn't like the fact that now just anyone could own one or he didn't like the fact that unsold packs of tem were cluttering warehouse floors only further devaluing his own Zoid. But, the simple fact was, he just didn't like them.

So when he saw one wobbling across the road like its pilot had no idea what he was doing, he snapped. Even though he was on a public road, even though he was not in a sanctioned battle and even though it was very much against the law, he had decided that he was going to take that puppy down.

"Die, you neon monstrosity! Die, bub!"

His Heavyarms broke into a run, its rifles folding down as the targeting goggles swung into place. Drawing only the loosest of beads on his opponent, he began blazing away, spitting out the once pricelss bullets as fast as the autoloader would feed them. The other Zoid broke into a run, managing to weave and bob between the shots as they instead tore up the pavement around it.

"Damn it, bub. Why'd you have to be so damn aware of what's going on?" He snarled, biting down on his cigar. "Ah well, I'll just take ya out the old fashioned way."

He opened up the throttle, charging at the other Wolf as fast as he could, still firing on his target. Charging his Zoid's formidable melee wepaons, he lunged at his enemy, aiming to finish them off as quickly as he could.

Except they seemed to be ready for him. They ducked under his pass, Logan's Zoid just barely missing them. Swearing profusely, he bought his machine around as quickly as he could, turning to face his enemy. The other Zoid was standing in front of him, its goggles down but its weapons still stowed.

"Yer gonna fight?" He asked. "Fine then, Bub."

-----

Bluey ambled his way though the air, cruising along at a pleasant, casual pace, seemingly completely unaware of his pilot's own desire to be moving a lot, lot faster.

"Ah, come on, Bluey!" Rocke began as she jammed his throttle to full open with no result. "We're late enough for the show as it is! Don't make me any later!"

Bluey's only reply was a casual "Clunk" that suggested that he was perfectly happy with his current pace, thank you very much for asking.

"This is deliberate, isn't it?" She continued. "First you wouldn't boot up this morning, BSODing every time I tried to switch you on. Then once we got you working, you decided that you didn't want to move until you had some tea. And since Storch had drunk all the tea, I had to go get more. Of course, you knew that, didn't you?" She suspiciously eyed one of Bluey's main monitors, which was currently scrolling through BASIC code.

"What is it, hmm?" She narrowed her eyes. "Is it you want to keep me from Sadaki, lest I try to sneak off and edit her, is that it? Can't handle that there may be someone else who might be taking my attention from you?"

Bluey replied with a rather innocent-sounding "Clunk?", the monitor flickering and briefly changing to the tiddlywinks scores before blinking out again.

"Worst part is, if I know Tilly, they're probably gone and hired someone without me simply because they have a shiny Zoid or something." She snarled, then bapped the console again, changing the display back to a comms screen. "And I bet if I try to raise them, not a single one will be listening. Or Zog will be using his A-Phone to watch bootleg Animu again."

She pressed a couple of buttons. "Hey guys, this is Rocke. I'm coming, really."

"Hello?" A rather frantic voice shot back in reply. "Are you the police or the fire department or the WZBC or the student union or something? 'cause I'm in a lot of trouble here!"

"What's... going on?" She asked, strangely curious.

"I'm in my Zoid and I was going to the trade show but then I got attacked by another Koenig Wolf who's pilot keeps shouting at me and calling me bub and I have no idea whatsoever why he's doing it!"

"Bub?" Rocke narrowed her eyes. "There's only one Koenig Wolf pilot in the universe who says 'Bub'. Or, at the very least, I hope so. Gee, I'd be really, really worried if there was more then one." She cocked her head as she considered the options. "Yeah, that might just be too disturbing for me to-"

"Hello, are you there?" The voice interrupted again "Um, getting attacked by crazy guy."

"Oh yeah!" Rocke snapped back. "Where are you?"

"I'm, um, heading north along Fishway Drive. I just passed a McBurger Roo. I'm in a bronze Wolf, he's in a Blue one. Help me!"

"Righty-o!" Rocke shouted. "Help is on its way! Sit tight!"

She adjusted her rainbow hat to an appropriate level of badassery and grinned. "Okay, Bluey, let's kick some bottoms."

Bluey replied with a satisfactory "Clunk"

"Gonna work now?" Rocke asked, furiously CNTRL-ALT-DELing the Combat System. She then bashed the top of the console again, kicked it and, for good measure, adjusted the air conditioner.

The result was dramatic. Bluey opened up his engines, the two booster cannons also firing off, sending him from a leisurely cruise to his maximum speed in a distressingly short burst, with little more then a frightened "CLUUUUUUUUUNK". Instead, he shot across the sky, a small red blur trailed by a thick (and certainly indicating not good for his system) pillar of smoke.

Mere minutes later they were over the drive; looking down, Rocke could see that they were headed in the right direction. The road was pockmarked and torn up, with a number of cars strewn by its side where their drivers had swerved to in order to avoid the gunfight in progress. Further ahead, she could see the two Koenig Wolves; the blue one firing away crazily, and the bronze one busy dodging and weaving in a way that put her in mind of her usual combat tactics - see whatever Bluey's malfunction of the day would allow her to get away with.

"Sit tight, help's here!" She called out. "Okay, Bluey, let's go!" She nosed down, diving at the blue Koenig Wolf, dropping her sights onto its back. As far as she could tell, its pilot (And she was 99% sure of who that was) had no idea of her presence. Too easy. She squeezed the trigger.

There was an agree beep from the console, followed by a read warning. "What?" She gasped. "What do you mean 'Grievous Error?' Come on!" She pulled out of the dive, hammering away at the console. It in turn suggested that she contact her vendor or call the handy twenty-four hour support centre.

"Fine then." She replied, angrily. "It worked for those Zenebas guys and it works for that black Redler on the TV. Tailblade, gooo!" Bluey looped around, folding out his tailblade with a smooth hum of machinery. She again dived towards the Wolf, rolling over to use the blade - which was accompanied by a sudden shake of the Zoid and it lurching. "Ah, don't tell me..." She glanced back at one of the monitors which confirmed that, yes, the tailblade had fallen out and was plunging towards the earth.

"Well now what?"

"Clunk?"

"Point." She replied. "Okay, claws work. Claws rarely fall off. Claws require you to be upright. Claws."

Bluey rolled around, again diving towards the enemy Zoid. This time, Rocke chose to come in from the side rather then from behind, just to give herself a little more response time for when bluey screwed up. "Okay, here we go..." The Redler swooped down, heading straight for where the blue Wolf was running.

Or rather, that was the plan. Instead, Rocke found that she was passing way too low. "CRAAAAAAAP!" She called out as she pulled back on the stick, desperately trying to get her Zoid back under control and stop it form ploughing into the ground. Bluey reared back, trying desperately to pull up just as the Koenig Wolf passed right in front of it.

There was a loud crash as Bluey simply headbutted the other Zoid in the side, both flipping into the air. Desperately, Rocke killed the throttle, shifting to VTOL flight while managing to disengage the boosters by the simple expedient of sticking a fire axe into the console. As a result, Bluey did a small flip and ended up hovering in mid-air a few meters off the ground.

The blue Koenig Wolf, on the other hand, flipped, rolled over and eventually crashed to the ground, upside-down. It rocked for a moment before coming to a rest, all four legs comically sticking in the air.

"Perfect. Just as I'd planned it." Rocke lied to herself. "Ow, my ears."

-----

"Come on, dude." Matt Hurley began with a sigh. "Now you're being silly."

"I am not." Kang Lee replied from behind a potplant. "I am being a ninja."

The pair of them were by the side of a trade booth on the showroom floor. Well, more to the point, Matt was by the booth, Kang was hiding behind a rather conspicuous potplant that was sitting in the middle of the floor for no apparent reason other then for him to hide behind. "Dude, you're a ninja behind a plotplant."

"I am hiding. It is what ninjas do."

Matt sighed. "Kang, dude, we've been paid big moneys to go on stage and endorse the Zeekdober. The company loves us and thinks we're the best things ever, and they want all three of us to do this."

"I cannot go on stage. I would be far too visible. A ninja can never be seen."

"Think of the moneys."

"Moneys are irrelevant."

"Think of Stone shouting at us if you don't." There was an embarrassed shuffling of leaves. "'coz you totally know he will."

"This is very true."

"So come on, dude."

There was another pause. "Can I go back to the potplant after?"

"Sure, why not?" Matt shrugged. "It's not like he needs us for anything else today."

Kang stood up, nervously glancing around. "Very well then, I shall perform the secret Zoid Endorsement Technique."

"Awesome, dude. Let's go."

Behind another trade stand (Advertising heavily discounted Neo-Blox Zoids – Buy two Brave Jaguars, get the third free) a pair of shadowy figures watched the pair of them leave. "Is that him?" The first, male, figure asked.

"Hai." The second, female one replied. "It is."

"His technique seems strong. You were right to follow him."

"Of course it is. He is, after all, the greatest one of our kind."

"Shall we follow?"

"Hai."

"..or should we get slurpees first?"

There was a pause. "We shall watch the Zeekdober Endorsement Technique, for I feel that it will be most enlightening. And then, verily, there shall be slurpees for all."

-----

"What the hell are you doing, Bub?" Logan shouted as le looked over his Koenig Wolf. Its hull was bettered and dented, having rolled over numerous times. "Just attacking me like that!"

"Well, I think more to the point, what were you doing attacking me?" The pilot of the Mk II asked. Of average height, he had short, scruffy hair and thick glasses. "I was just driving along and minding my own business and you jumped on me! If not for this wonderful young, ah-"

"-woman-" Rocke interjected.

"Woman, I could have been hurt or killed!"

"Yeah! You shouldn't go shooting at strange people you don't know." Rocke stated. "Someone could get hurt that way."

"You stay out of this, bub." He glared at Rocke. "This is a private matter between him and me. You shouldn't have gotten in the way."

"I don't think so." Rocke offered. "From what I saw, you came out of nowhere and attacked this young man for no reason. I was just doing my duty as a good Samaritan and helping him out. Heck, I'm pretty sure that what you were doing is considered illegal by the Zoid Police and the WZBC."

"Oh I get it now, bub." He snarled at Rocke. "Yeah, this all makes perfect sense."

"It does?" She asked.

"It does?" The young man added.

"Yeah, bub." He continued. "This was all a setup, Your damn team has been trying to ruin mine for ages. This is all some ploy to get me to fight you again. Well let me tell you this much bub, it ain't gonna work at all."

"What's he going on about?"

"Oh, it's simple." Rocke explained. "He's the leader of a team of black-obsessed madmen that we've fought a lot. We keep on beating them."

"Yeah, right. You guys keep on cheating on us."

"Oh, and he comes up with ludicrous excuses as to why we keep winning." She nodded. "Last time we fought, I think he blamed my hat."

"Oooh, right."

"Yeah, right, bub." Logan continued. "I worked hard to put our team back together, and you're not gonna mess it up for me."

"And by that he meant that they spent a season in the kiddy league, beating up on C-list cannon fodder. Only way that they could score a win." She nodded.

"Hey! You messing with my team, bub?"

Rocke shrugged. "Just explaining the facts."

"Yeah, sure you are." He snarled. "Listen here, bub. The Crimson BLades-"

"BLades?"

"There was a typo on their entry form"

"Ooh."

"-are in the best fighting form they've ever been." He continued. "We could easily rip you guys apart, and I know I should for this unprovoked attack, bub."

"Well then why don't you?" Rocke asked.

"I think I will." He snarled back. "Tell ya what, bub. Me and the BLades will take on you, the kid here and anyone else ya want. That is if ya brave enough to take us on in a stand-up fight, bub."

"I think I'll accept that, Logan." Rocke shot back. "If only to get you to shut up and quit with the macho posturing."

"You're on, bub." He finished. "I'll get the WZBC to send ya the details." He stormed off to his inverted Koenig Wolf, stopping next to it. "Ah hells, bub."

"Well then!" Rocke began. "Are you registered with the WZBC?"

"Um, yeah." The young man replied.

"Good! Then you'll bwe working with me and the team to fight the Black Obsessed Madmen. Should be a great battle!"

"Yeah, I guess."

"One thing…" She paused. "Um, what's your name?"

"Byron."

-----

(Rant/Byron/Rocke/? vs BLades - Rant jams everything, people are more out of control then usual, etc)

(Wrap up, the new team)

Description
RandomCrappyZoidsFic pt 20 - New Character Introduction Episode

By Rick R.

Disclaimer: Zoids is copyright Tomy, Takara, Hasbro, Kenner, Irwin, JNH and any other company that may or may not have released them at some stage, and boy have there been a few of them. This page is solely for fun and not for profit or anything like that.

This fic is created by me; ie Rick R aka Deadborder aka That Guy. Don't steal from me. People who steal from me will be thrown in the Deadborder Pit.

Tilly, Zogster, Rocke, Byron and Rantinan were created by themselves. You get the idea. They're pretty irrational people, and if you steal from them they may yet do something horrible to you, possibly involving badfic coffee.

*****

In the last year the Fish City Unclear Reacotr hadn't changed that much. It had gained a few new cracks and leaks, but has lost a few of the Redler-shaped holes in the roof (But not all of them). The grass out the front has grown a little, but had, for some reason, not reached the stage of wildly out of control that it probably should have with nobody attending to it; certainly it was faring a lot better then Tilly's windowbox project which had withered and died in minutes.

In fact, save for being a little quieter, the place hadn't really changed much at all.

(intro - one year later)

(Hiring Rant)

-----

"I don't know why we had to come to this stupid show." Ryu muttered as he and Clarence trudged through the rows of booths. "I mean, we're the best team in the universe. It's not like we need anything that we'd get from here."

"Well, Logan said we had to come here." Clarence casually replied, strolling behind his dour teammate. "And its not that it's bad that we're here or anything."

"It isn't?" Ryu sneered. "Look at this place, Clarence. Look at all these... people!" He gestured widely at the milling crowds around him.

Clarence looked around him, clearly nonplussed. "Yeah, they're people, so?"

"Do you know how oppressive it is to be hemmed in by so many mindless sheep?" He replied, turning around to face Clarence. "To be surrounded by those unwitting masses who do not appreciate the pain and suffering that I have endured? To be confronted by the blank stares and dull gazes of those who fail to fathom the darkness that eats away at my soul? They are oblivious to the dark abyss that I must constantly stare into, unwilling to acknowledge the inner strength that I possess to overcome it and continue with my life!"

"You just can't handle people, can you?" Clarence flatly stated. "You don't like human interaction"

"No!" He yelled.

"Or is it 'cause you're afraid someone will recognise you for your pink Liger?"

"It is not pink!" He shouted. "It is light red!"

"Dude, everyone's staring at you."

Ryu looked around to notice that the pair of them were, indeed, surrounded by a crowd of people who had stopped to stare at them and their argument in progress. He blushed bright red, then stormed off.

"Loser." Clarence shot back.

"I am not!"

"Yeah, whatever." He replied, then looked around. The show wasn't that bad, actually. Certainly there was lots of cool stuff to look at here, not just Zoids and weapons but Zoids related paraphernalia such as uniforms, flightsuits, accessories and so forth. Of course, the Zoids showroom was still interesting; as cool as his Genosaurer was (With its awesome Charged Particle Cannon that could totally one-shot anything), he was still holding out for his dream Zoid, a Genobreaker Jet. The fact that very few had appeared on the market in the last few years and the few that had were so expensive as to be out of his reach only made it that much more desirable.

But still, he could hope.

He continued walking through the displays, looking around when something caught his eye. One booth was decorated with a number of life-size photos of a rather attractive red-haired woman dressed in a variety of what could only be described as very colourful, very tight and very minimal outfits.

"Hey..." He began as he looked over them, noting not her acres of exposed skin but her face. "That's..."

"The latest products from M. Rabbit Sportswear!" Another voice interrupted his train of thought. Turning around, he could see a rather buxom (It was hard not to notice, given how much of her cleavage her outfit revealed) black-haired woman in similarly tight and revealing attire. "As per modelled by myself, the incredibly talented and attractive Reven of the infamous Red Wings team."

"Sportswear" seemed to be an inappropriate term here. Certainly what Reven was wearing was not designed for any sort of strenuous activity like running, jumping or piloting a Zoid. In fact, it probably wasn't designed for walking or breathing.

"What's that guy over there for?" He asked pointing at another figure sitting at the booth next to her.

She glanced at the man. He was wearing a baggy flight suit, a helmet and a bandanna that served to completely conceal his features, save for his nondescript brown eyes. At the moment, he was loudly drinking a fruit smoothie through a straw that he had threaded under his bandanna.

"He's the before model." She dismissively replied. "He's what you will look like if you don't wear M. Rabbit Sportswear. You don't want to look like him."

"Yo." He replied with a wave, presumably between slurps.

"I see." He looked around. "And the girl in these photos..."

"Is irrelevant." She cut him off. "Besides, wouldn't you rather look at a real person then at some silly photo?" She swanned around a bit, moving with an undue amount of caution lest her outfit try to escape.

"I dunno..." He looked closer at one of them, intently studying her face. "Just wondering who she is."

"Woo, you lost to a photo." The masked man commented. "Way to go, boss."

"Shut up, you." Reven replied, tapping the top of his helmet. "And go get me a Fruit Smoothie."

"Hey Clarence!" Ryu stormed back in. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"Oh." He replied, barely noticing his team mate. "Say, this girl in the photo-"

"Who cares?" Ryu fumed. "I'm bored and there's too many people here, let's go." He all but dragged Clarence away. "And where the hell is Logan anyway?"

-----

At the moment, Logan was in the middle of a berserker rage, one that was threatening to in mere moments undo all the work that he had done over the last year.

Two years ago, the Crimson BLades had been one of the top teams in the WZBC. They'd been feared by all because of their deadly, powerful Zoids; but it was more then that. They had a reputation for crushing their opponents, mercilessly grinding them under their metal claws, heaping victory upon victory.

And then it had all changed. The team had been soundly defeated by an opposing team that was their inferior in every single way. In doing such, they had been humiliated and made a mockery to the whole league. That had triggered off a near terminal downhill slide; the team had lurched from one humiliating defeat to another, being constantly effortlessly put down by that one particular team. And it wasn't just that one team besting them, they mocked them as they did it - everything form their derisive nicknames to the shirt their Storch pilot wore. These jokes blew out of proportion, making them a laughingstock of the league.

To make matters worse, their constant losses all but destroyed their finances. Having to do a lot of repairs on very expensive Zoids while not winning nay matches quickly drained their reserves. Their constant losses meant that their sponsors also pretty much pulled out - nobody wanted their products to be associated with such a team of losers. Ryu's spending their entire cash reserve on his stupid pink Liger was the last straw, leaving them all but broke.

But Logan had a plan. He'd voluntarily taken them down a peg, reducing them to competing in the bottom feeder league. They were getting quick and easy one-sided victories over helpless squash teams that didn't stand a chance against them. And while it wasn't much, it had helped rebuild their finances and get them back into shape. They had money, they had some success and they were ready to move back into the big leagues.

As a part of their preparation, he'd splashed out, trading in his old Koenig Wolf for a new Koenig Wolf Heavyarms. It had cost him a lot, but, to his mind, it had been well worth it. He'd also splashed out on stockpiling ammunition for its rifles and missile pods; he knew neither system was still in production, and as such, the already outrageous prices for the munitions would only go up. Again, it had cost a lot, but was well worth it.

Except then, something had happened that had upset him a lot.

A new model of the Koenig Wolf, the Mk II, had been released. Not only did this model come with both weapons systems built into the Zoid, but the whole package retailed for about the same price as his original Koenig Wolf - sans weapons - had. The average buyer off the street could now pick up a brand new, fully armed Koenig for less then the price that a standalone CP-22 system was going for a few months ago. As a result, the massive amounts of cash he had plopped down for his Heavyarms was now a waste - and the stockpiled munitions he had paid a fortune for were worthless.

In other words, he'd just blown all their cash for nothing.

The end result was that he really, really didn't like the Koenig Wolf Mk II. He'd tried to make excuses; he didn't like the colours, he didn't like the fact that now just anyone could own one or he didn't like the fact that unsold packs of tem were cluttering warehouse floors only further devaluing his own Zoid. But, the simple fact was, he just didn't like them.

So when he saw one wobbling across the road like its pilot had no idea what he was doing, he snapped. Even though he was on a public road, even though he was not in a sanctioned battle and even though it was very much against the law, he had decided that he was going to take that puppy down.

"Die, you neon monstrosity! Die, bub!"

His Heavyarms broke into a run, its rifles folding down as the targeting goggles swung into place. Drawing only the loosest of beads on his opponent, he began blazing away, spitting out the once pricelss bullets as fast as the autoloader would feed them. The other Zoid broke into a run, managing to weave and bob between the shots as they instead tore up the pavement around it.

"Damn it, bub. Why'd you have to be so damn aware of what's going on?" He snarled, biting down on his cigar. "Ah well, I'll just take ya out the old fashioned way."

He opened up the throttle, charging at the other Wolf as fast as he could, still firing on his target. Charging his Zoid's formidable melee wepaons, he lunged at his enemy, aiming to finish them off as quickly as he could.

Except they seemed to be ready for him. They ducked under his pass, Logan's Zoid just barely missing them. Swearing profusely, he bought his machine around as quickly as he could, turning to face his enemy. The other Zoid was standing in front of him, its goggles down but its weapons still stowed.

"Yer gonna fight?" He asked. "Fine then, Bub."

-----

Bluey ambled his way though the air, cruising along at a pleasant, casual pace, seemingly completely unaware of his pilot's own desire to be moving a lot, lot faster.

"Ah, come on, Bluey!" Rocke began as she jammed his throttle to full open with no result. "We're late enough for the show as it is! Don't make me any later!"

Bluey's only reply was a casual "Clunk" that suggested that he was perfectly happy with his current pace, thank you very much for asking.

"This is deliberate, isn't it?" She continued. "First you wouldn't boot up this morning, BSODing every time I tried to switch you on. Then once we got you working, you decided that you didn't want to move until you had some tea. And since Storch had drunk all the tea, I had to go get more. Of course, you knew that, didn't you?" She suspiciously eyed one of Bluey's main monitors, which was currently scrolling through BASIC code.

"What is it, hmm?" She narrowed her eyes. "Is it you want to keep me from Sadaki, lest I try to sneak off and edit her, is that it? Can't handle that there may be someone else who might be taking my attention from you?"

Bluey replied with a rather innocent-sounding "Clunk?", the monitor flickering and briefly changing to the tiddlywinks scores before blinking out again.

"Worst part is, if I know Tilly, they're probably gone and hired someone without me simply because they have a shiny Zoid or something." She snarled, then bapped the console again, changing the display back to a comms screen. "And I bet if I try to raise them, not a single one will be listening. Or Zog will be using his A-Phone to watch bootleg Animu again."

She pressed a couple of buttons. "Hey guys, this is Rocke. I'm coming, really."

"Hello?" A rather frantic voice shot back in reply. "Are you the police or the fire department or the WZBC or the student union or something? 'cause I'm in a lot of trouble here!"

"What's... going on?" She asked, strangely curious.

"I'm in my Zoid and I was going to the trade show but then I got attacked by another Koenig Wolf who's pilot keeps shouting at me and calling me bub and I have no idea whatsoever why he's doing it!"

"Bub?" Rocke narrowed her eyes. "There's only one Koenig Wolf pilot in the universe who says 'Bub'. Or, at the very least, I hope so. Gee, I'd be really, really worried if there was more then one." She cocked her head as she considered the options. "Yeah, that might just be too disturbing for me to-"

"Hello, are you there?" The voice interrupted again "Um, getting attacked by crazy guy."

"Oh yeah!" Rocke snapped back. "Where are you?"

"I'm, um, heading north along Fishway Drive. I just passed a McBurger Roo. I'm in a bronze Wolf, he's in a Blue one. Help me!"

"Righty-o!" Rocke shouted. "Help is on its way! Sit tight!"

She adjusted her rainbow hat to an appropriate level of badassery and grinned. "Okay, Bluey, let's kick some bottoms."

Bluey replied with a satisfactory "Clunk"

"Gonna work now?" Rocke asked, furiously CNTRL-ALT-DELing the Combat System. She then bashed the top of the console again, kicked it and, for good measure, adjusted the air conditioner.

The result was dramatic. Bluey opened up his engines, the two booster cannons also firing off, sending him from a leisurely cruise to his maximum speed in a distressingly short burst, with little more then a frightened "CLUUUUUUUUUNK". Instead, he shot across the sky, a small red blur trailed by a thick (and certainly indicating not good for his system) pillar of smoke.

Mere minutes later they were over the drive; looking down, Rocke could see that they were headed in the right direction. The road was pockmarked and torn up, with a number of cars strewn by its side where their drivers had swerved to in order to avoid the gunfight in progress. Further ahead, she could see the two Koenig Wolves; the blue one firing away crazily, and the bronze one busy dodging and weaving in a way that put her in mind of her usual combat tactics - see whatever Bluey's malfunction of the day would allow her to get away with.

"Sit tight, help's here!" She called out. "Okay, Bluey, let's go!" She nosed down, diving at the blue Koenig Wolf, dropping her sights onto its back. As far as she could tell, its pilot (And she was 99% sure of who that was) had no idea of her presence. Too easy. She squeezed the trigger.

There was an agree beep from the console, followed by a read warning. "What?" She gasped. "What do you mean 'Grievous Error?' Come on!" She pulled out of the dive, hammering away at the console. It in turn suggested that she contact her vendor or call the handy twenty-four hour support centre.

"Fine then." She replied, angrily. "It worked for those Zenebas guys and it works for that black Redler on the TV. Tailblade, gooo!" Bluey looped around, folding out his tailblade with a smooth hum of machinery. She again dived towards the Wolf, rolling over to use the blade - which was accompanied by a sudden shake of the Zoid and it lurching. "Ah, don't tell me..." She glanced back at one of the monitors which confirmed that, yes, the tailblade had fallen out and was plunging towards the earth.

"Well now what?"

"Clunk?"

"Point." She replied. "Okay, claws work. Claws rarely fall off. Claws require you to be upright. Claws."

Bluey rolled around, again diving towards the enemy Zoid. This time, Rocke chose to come in from the side rather then from behind, just to give herself a little more response time for when bluey screwed up. "Okay, here we go..." The Redler swooped down, heading straight for where the blue Wolf was running.

Or rather, that was the plan. Instead, Rocke found that she was passing way too low. "CRAAAAAAAP!" She called out as she pulled back on the stick, desperately trying to get her Zoid back under control and stop it form ploughing into the ground. Bluey reared back, trying desperately to pull up just as the Koenig Wolf passed right in front of it.

There was a loud crash as Bluey simply headbutted the other Zoid in the side, both flipping into the air. Desperately, Rocke killed the throttle, shifting to VTOL flight while managing to disengage the boosters by the simple expedient of sticking a fire axe into the console. As a result, Bluey did a small flip and ended up hovering in mid-air a few meters off the ground.

The blue Koenig Wolf, on the other hand, flipped, rolled over and eventually crashed to the ground, upside-down. It rocked for a moment before coming to a rest, all four legs comically sticking in the air.

"Perfect. Just as I'd planned it." Rocke lied to herself. "Ow, my ears."

-----

"Come on, dude." Matt Hurley began with a sigh. "Now you're being silly."

"I am not." Kang Lee replied from behind a potplant. "I am being a ninja."

The pair of them were by the side of a trade booth on the showroom floor. Well, more to the point, Matt was by the booth, Kang was hiding behind a rather conspicuous potplant that was sitting in the middle of the floor for no apparent reason other then for him to hide behind. "Dude, you're a ninja behind a plotplant."

"I am hiding. It is what ninjas do."

Matt sighed. "Kang, dude, we've been paid big moneys to go on stage and endorse the Zeekdober. The company loves us and thinks we're the best things ever, and they want all three of us to do this."

"I cannot go on stage. I would be far too visible. A ninja can never be seen."

"Think of the moneys."

"Moneys are irrelevant."

"Think of Stone shouting at us if you don't." There was an embarrassed shuffling of leaves. "'coz you totally know he will."

"This is very true."

"So come on, dude."

There was another pause. "Can I go back to the potplant after?"

"Sure, why not?" Matt shrugged. "It's not like he needs us for anything else today."

Kang stood up, nervously glancing around. "Very well then, I shall perform the secret Zoid Endorsement Technique."

"Awesome, dude. Let's go."

Behind another trade stand (Advertising heavily discounted Neo-Blox Zoids – Buy two Brave Jaguars, get the third free) a pair of shadowy figures watched the pair of them leave. "Is that him?" The first, male, figure asked.

"Hai." The second, female one replied. "It is."

"His technique seems strong. You were right to follow him."

"Of course it is. He is, after all, the greatest one of our kind."

"Shall we follow?"

"Hai."

"..or should we get slurpees first?"

There was a pause. "We shall watch the Zeekdober Endorsement Technique, for I feel that it will be most enlightening. And then, verily, there shall be slurpees for all."

-----

"What the hell are you doing, Bub?" Logan shouted as le looked over his Koenig Wolf. Its hull was bettered and dented, having rolled over numerous times. "Just attacking me like that!"

"Well, I think more to the point, what were you doing attacking me?" The pilot of the Mk II asked. Of average height, he had short, scruffy hair and thick glasses. "I was just driving along and minding my own business and you jumped on me! If not for this wonderful young, ah-"

"-woman-" Rocke interjected.

"Woman, I could have been hurt or killed!"

"Yeah! You shouldn't go shooting at strange people you don't know." Rocke stated. "Someone could get hurt that way."

"You stay out of this, bub." He glared at Rocke. "This is a private matter between him and me. You shouldn't have gotten in the way."

"I don't think so." Rocke offered. "From what I saw, you came out of nowhere and attacked this young man for no reason. I was just doing my duty as a good Samaritan and helping him out. Heck, I'm pretty sure that what you were doing is considered illegal by the Zoid Police and the WZBC."

"Oh I get it now, bub." He snarled at Rocke. "Yeah, this all makes perfect sense."

"It does?" She asked.

"It does?" The young man added.

"Yeah, bub." He continued. "This was all a setup, Your damn team has been trying to ruin mine for ages. This is all some ploy to get me to fight you again. Well let me tell you this much bub, it ain't gonna work at all."

"What's he going on about?"

"Oh, it's simple." Rocke explained. "He's the leader of a team of black-obsessed madmen that we've fought a lot. We keep on beating them."

"Yeah, right. You guys keep on cheating on us."

"Oh, and he comes up with ludicrous excuses as to why we keep winning." She nodded. "Last time we fought, I think he blamed my hat."

"Oooh, right."

"Yeah, right, bub." Logan continued. "I worked hard to put our team back together, and you're not gonna mess it up for me."

"And by that he meant that they spent a season in the kiddy league, beating up on C-list cannon fodder. Only way that they could score a win." She nodded.

"Hey! You messing with my team, bub?"

Rocke shrugged. "Just explaining the facts."

"Yeah, sure you are." He snarled. "Listen here, bub. The Crimson BLades-"

"BLades?"

"There was a typo on their entry form"

"Ooh."

"-are in the best fighting form they've ever been." He continued. "We could easily rip you guys apart, and I know I should for this unprovoked attack, bub."

"Well then why don't you?" Rocke asked.

"I think I will." He snarled back. "Tell ya what, bub. Me and the BLades will take on you, the kid here and anyone else ya want. That is if ya brave enough to take us on in a stand-up fight, bub."

"I think I'll accept that, Logan." Rocke shot back. "If only to get you to shut up and quit with the macho posturing."

"You're on, bub." He finished. "I'll get the WZBC to send ya the details." He stormed off to his inverted Koenig Wolf, stopping next to it. "Ah hells, bub."

"Well then!" Rocke began. "Are you registered with the WZBC?"

"Um, yeah." The young man replied.

"Good! Then you'll bwe working with me and the team to fight the Black Obsessed Madmen. Should be a great battle!"

"Yeah, I guess."

"One thing…" She paused. "Um, what's your name?"

"Byron."

-----

(Rant/Byron/Rocke/? vs BLades - Rant jams everything, people are more out of control then usual, etc)

(Wrap up, the new team)