Fan Fiction / Zoids Fan Fiction ❯ Return of the Death Stinger ❯ The Death Stinger Cometh ( Chapter 2 )

Just before we took off, we told Harry that we would be by to pick up his zoid later. After lifting off we headed towards Zed's place when we received a transmission from the Blitz team.

"Drake! We need your help! The backdraft remnants are attacking the base! We are holding them as best as possible, but they just keep coming! Please help us!"

"Laura, turn the ship around. We need to help some friends."

"Yes sir."

We flew the whaleking at top speeds towards the Blitz team base. We were about ten miles from the base when we noticed an army of zoids, both in land and air.

"I need your help Laura. Get in your Storm Sorder and we will defeat them as a team."

"You got it. I thought you'd never ask."

The whaleking was put into hover and the security system armed itself once we had both launched.

"Wing leader to wing one, come in wing one."

"Reading you loud and clear wing leader. Orders, sir?"

"Concentrate on the air units, wing one. I will eliminate the ground threat."

"Roger that, wing leader. Over and out."

Laura and I broke formation and I strapped on my oxy mask. I banked in low, my wings already charged. I flew in a straight line, slicing up any zoid in my path. I then banked to the left and destroyed at least ten more before pulling up. I flew high and switched to stealth mode. The dragon now completely invisible, I punched in the code for initiating the total assault. The dragon began to lock on to hundreds of zoids. After a minute or two the lock on stopped. I pushed the trigger button on the control stick and my zoid dumped most of the missiles. They spread out, and one by one the zoids on the ground shook as the missiles pierced the armor. It was a waiting game now. I watched as a single storm sorder shot down zabbats, other storm sorders, an a raynos or two.

"Wing leader to wing one, come in wing one."

"Whats up?"

"I want you to stay away from the ground at all costs. It is about to light up down there. If your zoid has a stealth mode I suggest that you watch."

"Roger that wing leader."

The countdown screen in my cockpit reached zero and zoid after zoid began to blow up below me. Only fifty or so of their forces remained.

"Time to clean up the rest."

I began firing shots with my laser rifle. It didnt take much longer to take care of the ground threat.

"Wing one, you done up there yet?"

"Just chasing down this last zabbat, sir."

"I will meet you back in the ship."

"Roger that, over and out."

I flew the dragon back to the ship. This was the most ammo I had ever used and the mini missiles I lost would cost a bundle. I had already locked the dragon down and was halfway done with the missile order forms before Laura's storm sorder flew into the main hangar.

"Took you long enough, Laura."

"Zabbats are easier to hit in groups. They are a lot more agile when they are by themselves."

"Sounds like you need practice with your aerial accuracy."

"Lets just head back to the base."

We turned around and headed for home. By the time we arrived, it was dark. The whaleking was put into the hangar and we headed into the living quarters.

"How about some dinner?"

"Sure Drake, what do you have?"

"Lets see, how about a pizza?"

"Frozen or delivery?"

"Frozen, it'll take less time."

"Good point, I'm starving!"

I unwrapped a pizza and stuck it in the oven. A few minutes later both Laura and I were eating pizza. It was down to two slices when there was a knock at the hangar door. At this hour we didn't get many visitors, so we figured it must be important. Jogging out into the main hangar, I punched in the key code to slide the door up. There stood two zoids, a storm sorder and a dragon type zoid, the silver blade dragon.

"Good evening dragons team. Rumor has it that you helped the blitz team destroy a thousand or more zoids belonging to the remnants of the backdraft. If this is true, we would be honored to join your team and make it even stronger. My sister and I are both experienced zoid pilots and we have had these zoids for a very long time."

"Very impressive speech. Welcome to the team. Move your zoids over there and come on in. We were just eating dinner."

"We?"

"That's right. Come on in and I'll introduce you."

After placing the zoids in the hangar, the two pilots jumped out if their cockpits and began walking in the direction of the living quarters. Once inside, I noticed that Laura had eaten the last two pieces of pizza.

"Laura!!!"

"What? I said I was starving, I meant it! Who are these two?"

"These are our newest recruits-"

"David," said the boy.

"and Ashley," said the girl.

"Well welcome to the team guys. Sorry about the lack of food. I hope you have already eaten."

"Oh we have."

"Ok good. I have enough room s for everyone. David, your room is on the far left. Ashley, yours is the first on the right. I'm on the far right, so Laura you get the first on the left. Breakfast is at 7:30, don't be late. The base security arms itself at 11:00 no one gets in or out without the keycode. I will give you all the code one week from today. By then I think I will be able to trust you."

"You got it."

"Yes sir."

"Alright," Ashley said with a wink.

Confused, I dismissed them. I wasn't quite sure, but I think Ashley liked me. It's too soon to tell right now, though. I headed to the hangar to polish off the scratches to the paint the backdraft had caused. I grabbed a buffing cloth and some water and went to work. Ashley, dressed in her pajamas, walked into the hangar alone.

"What are you doing?"

"Polishing my zoid."

"Why?"

"Because he likes it."

"He? What do you mean?"

"My dragon is an organoid. He has a personality and he enjoys being groomed."

"Organoid, hmm…care if I help?"

"I don't but lets see what dragon has to say."

The dragon turned his head and growled at Ashley.

"I don't think he likes me," Ashley said.

"its not that he doesn't like you, he just doesn't trust you. Organoids have a tendency to be very picky and untrusting. They usually trust their pilots and no one else,"

"Oh, ok. I'll be in my room, come and say goodnight when you're done."

I polished the dragon for what seemed like forever and once he was shiny I headed towards my room but stopped at Ashley's. The light was on so I knocked on the door. When it opened, a very sleepy Ashley was standing there. She was wearing next to nothing, which surprised me.

"I just came by to say goodnight," I said, trying to keep my eyes on Ashley's face.

"Well thank you. Sorry that I fell asleep."

Ashley then realized what she was wearing, and then shut the door in my face to go put on something decent. She returned shortly, covered up in a bathrobe.

"I am so embarrassed," Ashley said, blushing.

"Try to imagine how hard it was to keep my eyes on your face!"

Ashley laughed and said goodnight. I went back to my room and fell fast asleep.

The next morning I got up earlier than I used to. I began frying bacon and eggs. I mixed some batter and made pancakes as well. It was hard to do all three but luckily Laura heard me and woke up.

"Good morning Drake. Ooh, something smells good!"

"Its not going to smell that way for long if I don't get some help!"

"Oh! Sure!"

Laura ran over and began helping with the pancakes.

"Thanks, Laura."

"No problem. You managed yourself for quite a while. I'm impressed."

I finished the eggs and went to wake up David and Ashley. I repeated the same message after pounding on each of their doors.

"Wake up! You overslept and we have breakfast ready!"

Ashley, more clothed this time, wandered into the dining room, followed by her brother.

"Good morning, Drake," said Ashley with a yawn.

"Good morning, Laura," said David sleepily.

"Both of you are late, but I will excuse that for now. Good morning to you both. I hope you slept well. Pancakes are on the table along with bacon and eggs. Dig in."

All of my recruits seemed suddenly very hungry and grabbed food quickly. I sat down and began eating as well. after breakfast, a message on the computer let me know that I had mail.

"We can read it in the strategy room. Come on."

My team and I headed to the strategy room. They took their seats on the sunk-in fllor while I opened the mail with a remote that operated as a mouse. It was from the Zoid Battle Commission. I had sent the message that three new team members had been added and they already had a battle for us.

"Well team, our first battle together has already been set up. Our opponents are the sharks team. Battle mode 0982. That means that there will be four sharks to deal with. the battlefield is the tomino sea, a legendary area. Long ago that ultimate zoid was destroyed there by an ultrasaurus with an ancient an powerful weapon known as the gravity cannon the pilot secretly vowed to return but he was killed along with his zoid. Interesting story, but it really has nothing to do with us."

"Drake, how are we supposed to hit the warsharks if they are underwater?"

"Good question Ashley. I have thought of a plan though, not to worry. The warsharks must break the surface to fire their weapons. We wait until they do, dodge their fire and fire back. Repeat the process until they are gone."

"Sounds like a good plan Drake."

"Thanks David."

We dismissed and began loading the zoids into the whaleking. By the time all four were loaded, it was lunch time. We ate lunch then lifted off for the tomino sea.

On the way there, I sat around reading up on the sharks team. They were in class a, so if we beat them we would be in class a since we were in class b already. They would be tough, they have the home field advantage. Ashley walked up behind me and read over my shoulder.

"Hi Ashley," I said.

"Hey. You reading up on our opponents?"

"Yeah. They are gonna be tough to beat, especially in the water. Did you know that the tomino sea used to be a plateau? The waters rushed in and never left."

"That's kinda strange, isn't it?"

"It is. I think it may have something to do with the gravity cannon."

"Maybe."

As our ship approached its destination, I put the whaleking into auto-pilot.

"All right guys! Lets get this show on the road!"

We jumped into our zoids and launched from the whaleking. We formed up. Ashley was on my left, Laura to my right and David behind me.

"Remain in formation and switch to sonar. The sharks should show up on screen."

"Roger that, wing leader," said all three at once.

The judge capsule hit on the nearby shore.

"ATTENTION! ATTENTION! THE AREA WITHIN A FOUR MILE RADIUS IS A DESIGNATED ZOID BATTLEFIELD! ONLY COMPETITORS AND PERSONNEL HAVE AUTHORIZED ACCESS! ALL OTHERS MUST EVACUATE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY! BATTLEFIELD SET UP! BATTLEMODE, 0982! READY…FIGHT!!!"

The starter bell rung and I initiated my orders.

"All units break formation and fire at will!"

I headed down, Laura and Ashley banked in opposite directions and David pulled up. I watched as the warsharks would jump above the water and take a few hits. I began using the plan myself. It was working, just not causing enough damage. And then the warsharks stopped jumping.

"Wing leader to all units. The plan worked for a while but I don't think it will work any longer. New plan. Fly as low as possible and try to lock on to one of the sharks. Then drop a missile and pray that it hits them."

My team did not respond so I assumed they got the message because they were now all hugging the water. I was preparing to do the same when a light flashed on my screen. It said: sub conversion.

"All right dragon, initiate the sub conversion!"

the dragons tail opened up to reveal a propeller. Its wings folded back and I was plunged into the water. I was still moving fairly quickly, and I could see silhouettes of warsharks swimming. They must not have noticed me yet. Another light flashed on my screen. It read: blade boomerang. Oh cool, I thought to myself.

"Initiate the blade boomerang!"

The blades on the wings of my dragon were flung of towards a warshark. His teammates watched as the shark was sliced in two by the blades and they returned to me

"Impressive!" one of the warshark pilots said.

"Got you!" David said and a second warshark was destroyed. I heard a scream over the radio. The third warshark was gone. One left and it was heading deeper, out of the range of my teammates, but not mine.

"You're mine, warshark!" I locked on and deployed a mini missile. The shark had reached the bottom by then and the missile pierced the armor. I accelerated the countdown and the shark exploded. I could hear a muffled judge voice declare us the winners but the sea floor was still shaking from the explosion.

"Something's happening down here…"

The sea floor bulged and a blue scorpion zoid emerged from the silt.

"THE DEATH STINGER!!!"

It fired a charged particle cannon blast right out of the water. I surfaced and watched in horror as a storm sorder was shot down due to the shock wave from the blast. It was Ashley's.

"Ashley!"

Luckily it didn't land in the water. It bounced twice like a smooth stone and skid to a stop I switched back to air mode and soared over quickly, David and Laura close behind. I pried open the cockpit . Ashley was unconscious, her head bleeding.

"David, Laura, go get the whaleking. We need to get her to a hospital."

"Yes sir."

"You got it."

The other storm sorder flew off along with the blade dragon. I out Ashley in the back seat of my cockpit and waited for the whaleking. The transporter soon landed and began loading the trashed storm sorder. I took off in the dragon towards the nearest hospital. At mach two it didn't take long to reach one. Ashley was rushed into the ER leaving me in the waiting room, worrying…

Meanwhile back at the battle site, the trashed zoid was finished loading and the whaleking took off to meet up with me. In all of the confusion everyone forgot about the death stinger which was swimming to the other side of the sea to finish destroying every city on the planet like it did long ago…