Fan Fiction / Zoids Fan Fiction ❯ Run With Me ❯ Chapter 1

Okay...so this is an odd fic, I admit. I was playing with ideas late one night at work, and then this one popped into my head. I'm not sure if animals are rare on Zi, but since I can't remember having seen one in the show, I'll just say they are for the purposes of this fic. Anyhow, it's a weird one, so keep that in mind. Later parts will explain more, I promise.

Disclaimer: I don't own Zoids or any other Zoids characters, much to my sorrow. ^^;;

Anyhow, feedback is greatly appreciated!

//Italics// is mind speech...(>_<)

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Run With Me - Part 1

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The first thing he realized when he came to was that he didn't hurt anymore. His head was blessedly free of the throbbing ache behind his eyes, and he could breathe without hearing that horrible rasping gurgle that meant a punctured lung...or worse. Cracking open an eye, Brad blinked in surprise when he realized he wasn't in the Shadow Fox's cockpit.

He was braced against the trunk of a lone tree, surrounded by endless miles of flat plain covered in tall grass that would have reached his knees when he stood. The sky was dark, save for the light coming from the moons that hung low in the sky. There were no signs of his Fox or anything or anyone else he knew.

Moving to sit up, Brad froze as the heat pressed against his side and the feel of silk-soft fur on his exposed skin. Looking to the side, Brad felt a spike of fear, and wonder at the sight that met his eyes.

Animals were rare on Zi, a precious commodity that the black marketers profited handsomely from. Only the truly wealthy had the luxury of a pet such as a cat or dog, but the more exotic animals were unheard of. Perhaps that was the real reason zoids were modeled after animals, so that the people of Zi would never forget them.

Lifting its head the tiger, with beautiful snow-white fur graced with a spill of elegant ink black markings, turned bright green eyes on him.

His breath clogged in his throat, fear gripping his chest. The big cat shifted almost lazily, green eyes glinting with what he would have called amusement, if the tiger had been human. He was startled at the almost human intelligence he could see in those painfully familiar eyes, and he knew that he should have been able to recognize those eyes. They called to him.

Closing his eyes, Brad turned his focus inwards, trying to remember what had happened and how he'd gotten to wherever it was he was. Frowning as bits and pieces of memory flashed before him, flitting out of his grasp before he could catch more than a glimpse, Brad felt an alien presence in his mind.

//Run with me.//

Brad started as the words faded from his mind, eyes snapping open.

The tiger watched him silently, the tip of its tail gently brushing Brad's leg.

//Run with me Brad. Run with me.//

"Wha...what?"

He had to be crazy, to think that the tiger was talking to him. Everyone knew that animals couldn't talk. Even telepathically, or whatever that had been. Maybe he'd hit his head harder than he'd thought or something.

"I was in a zoid battle..." Brad said, as thought hearing his own voice would drive the phantom voice from his thoughts.

The tiger cocked its head to the side, green eyes questioning.

His attention drawn to the motion, Brad stared at the tiger. He knew instinctively that it wasn't acting the way a normal tiger should. It seemed almost...protective of him. Something that was driven home when he realized that it had been curled around him, using its body heat to keep him warm.

"What happened?"

The tiger yawned, revealing gleaming white fangs, although Brad couldn't find it within himself to be alarmed by such a sight. Somehow, he felt safe with the tiger. As though it wouldn't' let any harm befall him. It was an unnerving feeling...Brad Hunter didn't need anyone or anything to make himself feel safe and secure...he had himself and that was all he needed.

The tiger growled low in warning, green eyes narrowed. The tip of its tail twitched almost angrily.

//Is that so?//

The mental voice slithered through his thoughts, tangling with them until he was no longer certain if he'd thought the words himself, or if they'd come from some other source.

//Then why are you still here? Why haven't you left, if you don't need anyone? Why are you still with the Blitz team?//

Brad stared at the tiger, at a loss for words. There was no denying that the tiger was the one speaking to him. Just as there was no denying the fact he had no answer for that question. If that was truly how he felt, why had he stayed where he was for so long? Why had he stayed with the Blitz team for as long as he had?

"What are you?"

The tiger drew back, ears flattening against its skull in annoyance.

//I am what you make of me, Brad. Don't you know that yet?//

Feeling frustrated and annoyed himself; Brad ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the ends lightly. Why couldn't he remember what had happened? He remembered being in a zoid battle, and in his mind's eye he could just make out the form of a larger presence beside his Fox. He couldn't see who it was, but his mind told him that it was a familiar and welcome one that set him at ease.

"Why can't I remember?"

If things had been normal, Brad would have found it utterly ridiculous to be talking to a tiger as though it could understand him. As it was, things were far from normal, a fact proven by the tiger leaning against him showing a level of human intelligence in its green eyes.

Well...that and the whole telepathy thing. Brad mused sourly to himself.

The tiger got to its feet and walked a few steps away, pausing to look back at Brad.

//Run with me, Brad. Run with me.//

The words called to him, like the tiger's eyes had. The mental voice that slid into his mind was a low, seductive purr, beckoning to him to shed his human body and rejoice in the untamed wildness that lay at his core. The part of him that longed to take his Fox and run until he came to the end of the world.

"How?"

The tiger's eyes seemed to bore into him, and Brad pulled back as he felt mental fingers grasping at his thoughts, at the part of Brad's mind that was him. A wave of reassurance washed through him, and he let go of his fear, reaching towards that maddeningly familiar voice.

//Like this.//

There was a sensation that was like being pulled and pushed at the same time, like being squeezed and stretched all at once. For a brief, horrifying moment that seemed to last for an eternity, there was nothing.

No light, no darkness, no sight, no sound. Nothing. Absolute nothing.

It terrified Brad to the core of his very being. It touched that part of him that feared fire and worshiped the sun. That part of him driven solely by primitive instinct that feared the dark and worshipped nameless gods.

//Here. Follow me, Brad.//

The tiger's voice broke through the barrier that led to the void, shattering the silence and bringing light and sound with it.

Fumbling, frantic, Brad reached for that voice, fear and desperation making him clumsy.

//Where...?//

//Here.//

And he felt the fire of the white tiger envelope him, driving away his fear. Driving away the darkness. Forcing the void back.

//Open your eyes.//

Brad did.

The tiger was watching him, green eyes narrowed in a way that nudged at the back of Brad's mind, telling him that he should know that look. But he didn't.

//What...what was that?//

//The void. Nothingness. Death.//

Brad took a step back, and froze as his eyes landed on his body resting a few feet away as though in sleep.

The tiger snorted, green eyes gleaming with amusement.

//You're not dead.//

Tearing his gaze from his body, Brad stared at the tiger incredulously.

//But you said...//

Padding over to him, the tiger leaned in to brush its cheek against Brad's face reassuringly.

//You passed through it, Brad.//

Brad relaxed as the tiger's words registered in his mind.

//And if I hadn't?//

The tiger looked away, unable to meet his gaze.

//You know the answer to that.//

Brad did. And the knowledge was like a physical blow.

//Run with me, Brad. Run with me.//

Looking back at the tiger, Brad felt that seductive pull again, and this time he didn't fight it.

//How?//

The tiger's eyes seemed to laugh at him, the tip of its tail twitching in amusement.

//Look at yourself.//

Brad did, eyes widening in something like shock as he finally noticed his new form. It was small and compact, slender legs and narrow fox-like muzzle. Dark red-gold fur that faded to a light tan on his underbelly, a bushy fox-like tail.

//What...what am I?//

//Here, you do not appear as you would in the waking world. Here you manifest in your spiritual form.//

Brad growled low in his throat at the tiger's less than helpful answer.

//What does that mean?//

//You thought that perhaps you would be a wolf, or even a fox?//

Brad nodded. The possibility had occurred to him. He had been called one or the other a great deal of the time in the past.

//You are both and neither at the same time. The wolf is a majestic animal that guards all that he considers his with a savage fierceness and undying loyalty. The fox is a born trickster, quick-witted and sly. You carry those traits...and more.//

Giving himself a shake, Brad glanced down at himself.

//What am I, then? If I'm not a wolf and not a fox, what am I?//

The tiger seemed to smile at him.

//Jackal.//



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TBC...?

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