Fan Fiction / Zoids Fan Fiction ❯ a tale of (now) three warriors ❯ Royal Cup part II: Genocide ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: I own none of the Zoids in this fanfic, but most of the characters are mine. I'll be broke from when the people behind Metroid come after me, so there's no point trying to sue me. That's all.

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"Strike Laser Claw!!"

The Helcat hit the ground with a thump, leaking power from its severed pieces. The remains of its teammates were strewn across the immediate area.

"The winner is the Blitz Team!" announced the judge.

"I don't know why we bother," Brad said irately, "We've already been told where we're going, we're already a Class S team, so why are we getting into these pointless fights, except to waste ammo?"

"I've noticed that the only one of us that's actually used ammo is Leena," Bit replied, returning the Liger Zero to the Hover Cargo and shutting it down, "Both of us have used nothing but close combat, and Jamie's Raynos hasn't been used yet."

Bit hopped down from his zoid. Brad walked up to him from the Shadow Fox.

"That doesn't answer my question."

"We're supposed to make it hard for the other teams," Toros said, suddenly appearing in the hangar. "But Brad has a point. We should save Leena's ammo for when we fight the final team."

"We should save our zoids in general for when we fight that team," Brad commented.

"But that'll be boring!" Leena yelled.

"That'll be logical," Jamie noted.

"Explains why Leena doesn't like it." Leena death-stared Brad, "Or Bit for that matter."

Bit shrugged, "It shouldn't matter. Against these inferior teams, me and Liger won't have a problem."

"Remember, just because we're Class S doesn't make us invincible. The Lightning Team, Flugal Team and Blade Team are still out there, and there's every chance that they'll put up a hard challenge," Brad continued, "On the other hand, if we went straight for the finish point in the Hover Cargo just about everyone will spot us."

"And our zoids won't get there under their own steam," Jamie added.

"Even then we'd be spotted," Brad said, "Liger Zero in particular is probably the most recognisable zoid on Zi, especially now."

"What do you suggest, then?" Bit wanted to know.

"We can head for the finish, while destroying anyone who sees us on the way," Dr Toros suggested, " We don't want to lead any one there, do we?"

Everyone thought about that for a moment.

"No, that won't work." Brad sighed, "We're going to be spotted regardless, so there's no way we're going to be able to fight through so many teams."

"You know, we aren't too far from the finish anyway. That's why we got dumped here in the first place - the whole point is so that no one gets too close too soon," Jamie said.

"We're the cheat weeders, I know," Brad replied, "But it's almost halfway through the tournament. At least half, but I'm guessing more at two thirds, of the teams have been eliminated by some way or another."

"So we head for the finish line?" Toros said.

"Yeah," Brad relented, "We head for the finish line."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"This is getting kind of boring," said a pilot wearily.

"Not to mention repetitive," said another.

"I like it as much as you do," replied their leader, "But it's necessary. We entered as a regular team, so we have to find our way to the finish like a regular team."

"We signed up as a regular team but I think we're anything but," smirked the second pilot.

"I know," said the leader, "But we're two battles away from getting all the info we need."

The three zoids found another judge soon, and were delighted to see that there was another team waiting for them already.

"Battle mode 0200, Royal Cup Battle. The Decimus Kong Team versus the Genocide Team!"

"I've heard things about this team of Iron Kongs. Apparently their original team leader retired early after an epilepsy episode," commented the first pilot.

"Ready…FIGHT!!"

"Charge!!" yelled Rem, Conan's replacement.

Kyal and Rys replied in kind, and the Iron Kongs surged forward, firing punishing salvos of fire at their opponent's zoids. But their opponents, as large and relatively bulky as they were, evaded the shots easily.

"I'll say it again, this is boring," Rogan, the first pilot, said, as his Genosaurer swept in for an early kill, its leg thrusters allowing it the necessary speed.

Kyal yelped in surprise as the red and black zoid flew past. He opened his eyes to find his Iron Kong face down in the dirt, having suffered a tail clubbing from Rogan's Genosaurer. That same Genosaurer now towered over the fallen zoid, and raised a taloned hand to the air.

"Still, a win is a win, no matter how easy it is," Liko, the first pilot replied, as his own Genosaurer, coloured in two contrasting shades of blue, clamped its mighty jaws onto the barrel cluster of Rys' gatling cannon.

Rys pulsed the trigger desperately, but the cannon's drive system only overloaded and exploded. Rys tried to aim his wrist-mounted guns, but his view was covered entirely by the dinosaur zoid aiming its paired back mounted guns at his chest. The long cannons fired twice each, and the zoid was disabled. But Liko didn't stop. He loomed over the revealed internals of the Iron Kong, firing his two smaller nose mounted guns into the circuitry, destroying it entirely. The cockpit popped manually with a tinny bang, and a figure dropped out of it. Liko was tempted to kill him, but he didn't. That was why he'd gone to jail in the first place.

Ignoring the fact that his team mates had just fallen without much of a fight, Rem attacked this third zoid relentlessly, alternating between pulse rifle and gatling cannon. Nothing worked; the red zoid was too fast. Rem screamed as it charged straight towards him. The narrow blade mounted on its nose impaled the Iron Kong's neck, and menacing pincers revealed themselves from the oval shaped attachments on either side of the red zoid's back, cutting through the Iron Kong's arms and leaving it weaponless, except for the long cannons on its back. But those were rendered useless as soon as the red zoid threw the Iron Kong to the ground, effectively mangling the cannons.

Serth shook his head with a smile, observing the damage he had done to the Iron Kong, "Will I ever find someone who can challenge my Genobreaker?"

The nose mounted blade folded up so it ran parallel with the Genobreaker's tapered head, and the pincer blades folded back into their places. Essentially it was a Genosaurer, lacking the back and nose mounted guns but armed with the blade and pincers. A cluster of small machine cannons were fixed to hardpoints on the zoid's leg armour, but they were generally not used. Serth tended just to use his leg thrusters to get into close combat - the nose blade and pincers were deadly weapons in their own right, as the Iron Kong had just discovered. And he also had the charged particle cannon.

"None of us have used a single charged particle shot for the whole tournament," Liko complained, "I'm getting restless from withdrawal."

"Deal with it," Serth snapped, "We only use it if we have to, or if we're at the finish. I told you that before."

"Yeah, I know," Liko said.

"The winner is…The Genocide Team!" announced the judge, "Information on the whereabouts of the finish point will be uploaded to your team's computers now."

"I'm still surprised we got away starting away from everyone else," Rogal said, "That dummy Genocide Team that we paid did a good job."

"It was an easy job. They had to start, then immediately change their transponders to show their real name. I'm just surprised the battle commission didn't notice that a team marked as DNS before they began suddenly appeared in the midst of the Tournament," Liko replied.

"Bless ignorance," Serth said with a chuckle, "Shall we be going?"

"We shall."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Much later on that day, another shooting star blinked across the sky. Atop a flat cliff, three figures, who had not moved for the tournament, noted it with satisfaction.

"The time seems to be finally upon us," said a figure, a slender and immaculately dressed man.

"Finally indeed," replied the second, a striking crimson haired woman, just as slender and well dressed as the man.

"Lydia, Gaston," said the third, a tall and imposingly powerful man dressed in a military uniform strangely stripped of all insignia, "You couldn't be more correct. It is time to show all those fools at the Zoid Battle Commission that the Backdraft will never die! The time is upon us. Let the Backdraft Revolution be known!"

"When do we get what we're after, Gil?" Lydia asked.

"Soon, Lydia. Very soon…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There it was again, the slightest blink in the sky, but it was so much more obvious this time since it was night.

"Did any of you see that?" Ruby asked. When she got no reply, she turned to face her team mates. Her sleeping team mates. "Damn you all."

She shook her head, and wandered slowly to a seat in the rec lounge of the Whale Prince and picked up her book. The other three members of her team were splayed around the room in an interesting fashion, all of them sleeping and oblivious to the shooting star that blinked across the window. Heck knew where Gorden was, but there was a good chance he was sleeping too. Ruby checked the time with a sigh: it really was getting kind of late. But there were only a few pages until the end of the chapter, so she yawned and kept reading. It didn't take long for her eyes to drop shut. She didn't notice Gorden switch off the lights with a shake of his head. He checked again that his pistol was ready in the holster under his jacket. The transporter was landed and locked down, but there were still plenty of ways to break in. Through the window in the rec lounge, for example, so Gorden had decided early to ensure the security of his employers. Still, there was little need to be armed. Then again, he'd rather have his gun and not need it than need it and not have it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Naomi stretched out her back with feline grace, feeling the cracks of her tired body.

"I like it when you do that," Leon commented with an appreciative smile, "Except maybe the cracking noises."

Naomi was vaguely aware that stretching out like she was doing thrust out her chest and proud bust in an interesting fashion. She paid no mind to her team mate, instead stretching her back the other way, aware this time that she was showing off her backside.

"Nice rump too," Leon continued.

Naomi sat down on the trailer, facing the other pilot. "How nice of you to notice," she said in a way that did not flatter.

"How vulgar of you to show it off," Leon countered.

"Touché."

Naomi rubbed her tired feet absently, staring up at her Gunsniper. She was actually surprised that it was still relatively unscathed - the battle today with the Lightning Team had been far from clean. Or fun, for that matter. Either way, one of its arms was missing, but the sniper rifle still worked, and either way they had won.

"Do you think your Liger's gonna be ok for the rest of the Tournament?" Naomi asked.

"I'd say so," Leon replied, "The entire assembly is still perfectly intact, it's just that my left side will have lost half of its range, that's all."

In the final duel against Jack Sisco, Leon had managed to disable the Lightning Saix, but the much faster zoid's momentum had succeeded in snapping the last half of the Blade Liger's left blade. However, the assembly was still intact and operational, lest minus a bit of range. But the right side was still in good condition.

"We'd better get some sleep," Leon said, "I don't fancy fighting drowsy tomorrow."

"Yes dad," Naomi giggled playfully as she stretched her arms one last time.

"I wish," Leon murmured, tearing his gaze away from Naomi's bust for the second time in the space of ten minutes. He reached over and switched off the glow lamp before crawling into his sleeping bag.

Naomi slipped her legs into her own sleeping bag, rolling over onto her stomach and watching the stars, feeling the breeze on her back through the Singlet she wore. She smiled at the sight of a shooting star, before frowning. She wasn't quite sure whether it was an ill omen or not. She decided to pay no mind to it, instead curling up and closing her eyes.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Tomorrow we begin," Gil smiled.

"It's about time, in my opinion," Gaston said, "We've waited for so long."

"How many more?" Lydia asked, "How many more pods have to be deployed?"

"It doesn't matter, it's not the pods which will be doing most of the work. We will," Gil replied, glancing back at the trio of zoids standing inert behind them.

"I'm still blessing our lucky stars that we found these zoids," Gaston said, "It's almost a miracle that we found zoids at all, let alone ones of this calibre."

"Trust Gil and his connections," Lydia grinned.

"Good ol' Gil knows people," Gil said with a cold chuckle.

"But still, it's just a Zaber Fang, a Dark Horn and a Dibison," Gaston said cautiously, "If we have any hope of overthrowing the Battle Commission, are you sure that only three is enough?"

"Don't forget, the drone zoids in the pods will be backing us up. We'll have an army helping us out, we're just the leaders," Lydia pointed out.

"Guysacks, Molgas, Demantis, Macurtis, a few Pteras and Rev Raptors…" Gaston sounded strangely uncertain.

"Do you want to back out?" Gil asked, a glint flashing across his eye.

"No…" Gaston said quickly, "It's just…nothing. On second thoughts, there are enough in the pods to just sweep away anyone that gets in the way."

"For a minute I thought you'd lost your nerve," Lydia sneered.

"For a minute I did," Gaston smiled, "But then I thought about it."

"Wonder, that."

"Screw you!"

"Please," Gil cut in, "We are so close. Do not kill each other yet. Maybe after we succeed, you can do whatever you wish to one another, but until then we must be focused."

"Understood, sir!" Lydia and Gaston returned.

"Good. Now, the best we can do is wait until tomorrow. Then, it all begins."