Fan Fiction / Zoids Fan Fiction ❯ Return of the Death Stinger ❯ Rampage ( Chapter 3 )

I was in the waiting room, sweating bullets, when a whaleking touched down outside. David and Laura were here. My mind quickly shot back to Ashley. Was she okay? She looked badly injured when I pulled her from the cockpit. I vaguely noticed David and Laura come through the sliding front door. A million questions were running through my mind and I suddenly had a headache. My teammates sat down on the couch beside me and didn't say a word. When the doctor came through the door all three of us jumped up.

"Ashley is going to be fine," said the doctor, "She has a minor concussion and a fractured lower left arm. She should be able to behave normally within six weeks."

"Six weeks!!!"

"Yes. You said she was in a zoid accident, didn't you?"

"Yeah, her storm sorder was shot down."

"A storm sorder?! What could destroy a storm sorder so badly that it could cause that much damage to the pilot?"

"In all honesty, I'm not joking, it was the death stinger."

"But that's just a legend! The death stinger was destroyed!!"

"I'm telling you, it was the death stinger! I saw it with my own eyes!"

"You can believe what you want. Ashley is resting now, we'll call you back when she's awake."

The doctor went back through the double doors. As we waited, the station on the television switched automatically to the news. A reporter was standing next to some ruins.

"This is Mia Storm, reporting live from West City. A blue scorpion zoid is wreaking havoc on this once peaceful metropolis. The local protectors, the thunder road team were destroyed in an attempt to stop this seemingly invincible zoid."

The camera panned around to show the source of the destruction and death being rained on the city.

"The death stinger!!!"

"This zoid has destroyed half the city already, and-oh god, it's doing something now! Its tail is glowing with energy! It looks as though it's about to fire somethi-"

The feed went blank. It was obvious, the death stinger had fired the charged particle cannon, and there was no denying it, West City was gone.

"Wow, West City…"

"The death stinger is repeating its actions, doing what it never got to finish!"

the doctor came back through the doors. "Ashley is awake now. You can go see her one at a time." he pointed to me and told me to follow him. We walked down several winding hallways and eventually stopped at a room. I stepped through the door and Ashley was there, hooked up to an iv machine. She had a bandage across her forehead.

"Don't look at me I look horrible," Ashley said with a sigh. She still looked sleepy.

"No you don't, you look as beautiful as ever."

"Liar."

"I'm not lying. I will do my best to keep you looking that way, too. Just say the word and I'll be there." I lightly kissed her on the cheek and she smiled.

"What did this to me?"

"You don't remember?"

"No I don't. the last thing I remember was pulling up after failing to lock on to that last warshark. The rest is a blur."

"The zoid that did this to you and trashed your storm sorder is the same who just now devastated west city; the death stinger."

"My storm sorder and west city, gone…destroyed by the death stinger!"

"I saw everything myself so I'm not making this up. And your storm sorder isn't gone, just trashed beyond repair. It doesn't even look like a zoid anymore. you'll have to trade it in for another zoid."

"I'll have to see it before I make that decision."

"Whether you trade it in or not, the doctor says it will be six weeks before you can fly again. I have to leave for now and let the others see you. I'll see you later."

I left the room and worked my way back to the waiting room. David was allowed back next, then Laura. We headed back to the whaleking and I saw the wreckage for the first time that I wasn't blinded with panic. A crumpled piece of silver metal lay on the main hangar floor.

"Hard to believe that used to be a stormsorder."

Ashley then walked in through the main entrance, her left arm in a sling, and gasped at the sight of her destroyed zoid. She ran as fast as she could towards the totaled storm sorder and ran her good hand over the fractured metal.

"What did this!"

"The death stinger Ashley, I told you that already."

I could see her anger build as I looked in her eyes. "I swear I will get revenge. The death stinger will feel my wrath once I get a new zoid."

"Are you allowed to leave yet? We need to get going."

"They released me, so yeah I can."

We then lifted off and headed back to the base. Ashley immediately began searching for a new zoid. She was mad and didn't need to be bothered. I poked my head in the doorway where she was working and watched her. She was reserching every zoid dealer on Zi. Screens were flashing as she rapidly accessed zoid dealer sites and closed them when she didn't anything she liked. The screens then stopped flashing and I could see Ashley's face in her reflection on the screen. It was a look of excitement. She turned around and caught me peeking. "I was just curious and didn't want to bother you."

"That's fine, come on in. Take a look at this. The darkfire dragon. They have a silver version as well, ask Laura if she wants to trade hers in. This zoid is a heavy hitter and really fast, almost as fast as yours. It has the zero system, very similar to the organoids but not quite there. Its most powerful weapon is the quantum particle cannon, or qpc. Its power is similar to the charged particle cannon but with no shock wave and it fires more quickly. Two wind generators, one on each wing, superheat the air on the intake and store it. this air can be fired in a jet stream at the opponent, melting the armor and making it easier to pierce. Its last weapon is the virus missile. Similar to your mini missiles, they are small, undetectable by radar, quick and armor piercing. But instead of causing an explosion, it sends a virus into the zoids system that may cause the command system to freeze. The magazine for these is 3000."

"Impressive zoid. They wouldn't happen to have any spare qpc's in stock would they?"

"One. its pricy, yu could buy another zoid with the cash you would spend buying and installing it."

"I don't care. I have enough money to buy both the qpc and install it."

"You're gonna install it yourself? "

"It's a lot easier than it sounds with an organoid."

"I guess you're right. I can't wait!"

As the weeks passed, Ashley became more and more mobile. We spent most of our time together, watching the news of how the death stinger continued to destroy city after city. The protectors of the cities were dropping like flies and only a handful of teams were remaining when Ashley and I flew back to get her cast removed. As we were leaving the hospital, we ran into David and Laura.

"Hey guys," I said.

"We need to talk. David and I are leaving the team. We really feel like we're not wanted anymore. So I guess that this is goodbye," said Laura.

"But bro, you promised that you would protect me," said Ashley.

"Well it seems you have Drake for that now," responded David.

Both stunned, asley and I watched as the storm sorder and blade dragon flew off.

"What just happened here?"

"I think they're gone for good."

"Okay, I was just making sure I wasn't dreaming."

"You know, your zoid should be coming in soon along with my qpc."

"Cool."

We flew back to the base and ate lunch. News on the death stinger's rampage was still going. I was beginning to lose hope. Grant City was now being destroyed and the lightning team had been defeated. It was hard to believe but I was becoming accustomed to the destruction. I looked over to see if Ashley had the same look but she was gone. I walked out into the hangar to find two boxes, one large and one small. Ashley was signing for them. She turned around, an excited look on her face and shouted for me to come over. "My darkfire dragon is here!"

"And my qpc."

"The death stinger's rampage ends now!"

Ashley opened the box and her new zoid was standing there. Shining black armor with jet engines on the wings which were folded down over the body like an extra suit of armor. It walked on four legs and was armed with a qpc on the inside of the mouth like a cpc. Its eyes a piercing red, claw-like spikes turned slightly inward at the corners of the mouth with three rigid spikes sticking out of the back of the curved spikes. The armor on the back of its head and neck flowed in wave like segments and continued along the tail but the main body was just normal armor.

"Wow that's menacing, remind me never to challenge you to a fight."

"I think you had better start installing that cannon. As soon as you're done we're going after the death stinger."