The Chimera Team

 

“Let‘s get ‘em, Liger!” I yelled as I dove at the Dibison.  My shields went up as the Shield Liger smashed the Dibison and froze its command system.

“What are you?  You went through my shield like it wasn’t even there!” the Dibision’s pilot raged.  My teammates in their Venomer and Pteras had already taken out his other two teammates with relative ease.

“Just your everyday warrior,” I laughed.

“And the winner is…the Chimera team!” the judge called.

“That was too easy.  Those Dibisons are so slow I could beat them without your energy shield,” I said to the Shield Liger.  “Oh well, time to head back.”

* * *

“To victory!” I said as we teammates clinged our glasses together.  I’m Sara, and I’ve got long blond hair and blue eyes.  My skin is pale and I’m thin, but don’t take my thinness for a weakness.  The last person to do that ended up in a gutter with a couple of broken bones.  On a lighter note, I’m positive and I always speak my mind.  I’ll do anything for my friends, and right now we were back at their base and celebrating our win.

“To our winning streak!” Rianna said.  Rianna had long, medium brown hair that she had, for some odd reason, dyed the ends purple.  She was about 5’2”, and had light skin and freckles.  Her brown eyes were always sparkling, and she was almost constantly smiling.  She’s really sweet most of the time, until you get her mad.  Then run for your life, she’s all muscle.

“Yeah, thirty wins in a row!” Emily smiled.  Emily was another story.  Her blond hair fell to her shoulders around her very pale face, and her blue eyes were cold.  Her smiles were rare, and creeped me and Rianna out.  She was about 5’ even, and was too thin to be healthy.  She had an obsession with weaponry, and loved to equip Zoids.  Contrary to how she looked, she had a good personality once you got to know her.  “You’d think there’d be someone who could stand up to us in the B class.  But we’ll have new opponents now that we’re in class A.”

“Do you think I could get a new Zoid soon?  My Pteras’s okay, but I’ve had my eye on that new Wind Slash in the parts shop…” Rianna asked.

“I think we could all use new Zoids.  We’ve got the money now,” I said.  “We’ll go there tomorrow and check them out.”

“I’ve wanted one of those Pythos for a while too.  I can’t wait!”  Emily rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

* * *

“Do you think we could take a look at the stored Zoids?  We’re looking to buy,” I said to the salesman.

“Normally I wouldn’t let you, but seeing as you’re the Chimera team I’ll make an exception.  Your last battle was great!” he said and led us to the Zoid storage area.  “There you go.  We just got some new ones in.”

“Thanks,” Rianna said.

“No problem,” he said and went back into the main store.

“The Pythos!” Emily said as she looked up at it.  It was a green and brown snake Zoid, over thirty feet long.  “This’ll be awesome with new weapons and armor,” she trailed off, listing power components and ammunition types.

“That’s it!  The Wind Slash!” Rianna cried, running  toward it.  It was a black eagle Zoid that didn’t seem to be very special.  “I can install this with energy blades!    This is going to be a great Zoid to pilot!”

“I read about those.  Can’t they-” I started.

“Exceed the sound barrier?” Rianna finished.  “You bet!  Gotta be careful not to run into your own ammo with this.”

“You still finish my sentences,” I shook my head, walking off to look at other Zoids.  Raynos?  The Wind Slash was better.  Cannon Tortoise?  Too slow.  Gun Sniper?  Lots of ammo, very little maneuverability.  Iron Kong?  Not my style.

“Come on, Sara.  It can’t be that hard to find a Zoid you like,” Emily said impatiently.

“What’s this one?” I asked no one in particular as I looked at a gold lion Zoid.  I’d never seen this kind before.

“That’s the Leo,” the salesman said from behind me.  “I got it from a guy yesterday.  Said he couldn’t keep it any more, wouldn’t say why.  I checked it over but there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with it.”

“I’ll take it,” I said.

“What?  Just like that?”

“I’ve always wanted a Zoid like this.  I take it you know what my teammates want?”

“Yeah, just come out and sign the papers and they’ll be yours,” he said.

“Okay.  Oh, and we’ll be selling our old Zoids too…” I said as we started back to the main store.

* * *

“When’s our next battle set for?” Emily asked.  “I’ve got to test out my Pythos.”

“Are you sure that thing can still move with all the junk you installed on it?” Rianna asked.

“I did not install ‘junk’.  I installed a double vulcan gun, a mini particle beam cannon, chain energy blasters, kinyan armor, a energy fang system, and made sure everything was stabilized to the ounce and streamlined so I can battle in water or underground.  Now try to say it’s all junk.”

“It’s all junk,” Rianna laughed.  “But she has a point, I want to test my Wind Slash too.  When is our next battle?”

“Tomorrow, against the Champ team,” I said.

“They’re in the A class?” Rianna asked skeptically, raising one eyebrow.

“I know, it’s hard to believe.  Let’s push them back a few ranks,” I said.  I wasn’t too sure about my new Zoid, though.  It didn’t seem to have any weapons at all, and I never liked to add arsenal to a Zoid.  There had to be something it used, otherwise it wouldn’t have been made.

“What’s with you, Sara?  You just got a brand new Zoid.  Don’t look so glum.  The only team easier than the Champ team is the Fuzzy Pandas team!” she laughed.

“Who’re the Fuzzy Pandas?”  Emily asked.

“You didn’t hear?  Some warrior noticed the Tigers team’s losing streak and gave them a new name.  They’re the Fuzzy Pandas now!” she laughed.

“You’re right.  Let’s go all the way to the top!” I said.

“Yeah!  The A class better watch out for us!” Rianna said.

“We’ll attack with anything,” Emily started our battle saying.

“Anytime,” Rianna said.

“Anywhere!” I finished.

* * *

We arrived at the site of the Zoid battle and unloaded their Zoids from their new hovercargo.  Emily had said that their old Gustav was out of date and we needed a new carrier, but I think she just wanted to show off how much money we had.  The Champ team was already there, with an Iron Kong, a Cannon Tortoise, and an unimpressive Venomer.  The judge capsule came down moments later.

“ATTENTION.  THE AREA WITHIN A FIVE MILE RADIUS IS NOW RESTRICTED.  ANYONE OTHER THAN COMPETITORS AND PERSONELL: LEAVE THE AREA AT ONCE,” the judge ordered.  “AREA SCANNED.  BATTLEFIELD SET UP.  BATTLE MODE 0952, THREE ON THREE COMBAT.  THE CHAMP TEAM VERSUS THE CHIMERA TEAM.  READY…FIGHT!”

Rianna instantly launched as the Cannon Tortoise began to fire.  Emily tunneled underground and headed for the Venomer.  I tested the controls on the Leo, they were fairly light and immediately responsive.  I rushed at the Iron Kong.

“Ha!  Try me!” Rianna shouted as she powered up her energy blades and flew at the Cannon Tortoise.  She sliced through its armor easily and it fell after a single slash.  She soared up into the clouds and said, “I’ll leave the other two for you.”

“Take this!” Emily screamed as she slithered toward the Venomer.  It fired its energy cannons at her but they ricocheted off her armor.  She bit down with her Zoid’s fangs into the Venomer’s back.  They cut straight through it, freezing the Venomer’s command system.

All this time the Iron Kong and I had been circling each other.  Now we started at each other and he fired his cannons, but I dodged them easily.  “Come on, Leo, give me something to work with here,” I said as I dodged into the Iron Kong’s blast again.  A blip appeared on my screen reading ‘Gold King’s Claw’.  “What the heck is that?” I asked.  The Leo roared and - without me controlling it - charged the Iron Kong.  “Okay then, Gold King’s Claw!” I shouted as the Leo’s claws glowed.  I dove at the Iron Kong and my claws went straight through its left side.  I landed behind it and it toppled.  “So that’s it, built in weaponry.  I like it!”

“THE BATTLE IS OVER.  THE BATTLE IS OVER.  THE WINNER IS…”          he raised his left hand, the one with the red marker on it, “THE CHIMERA TEAM!” then his capsule closed and he shot off back to the judge satellite.

“Oh no, after all that work we did to get to get into the A class,” Harry groaned as he came out of the Iron Kong.

“Just goes to show you don’t mess with the Chimera team!” Rianna said as she headed back to the hovercargo.

“Don’t worry, Harry.  To get back up to the A class you’ll only have to wait another…MILLION YEARS!” Emily laughed as she and I went back to the hovercargo.

* * *

“When’d you install laser claws on the Leo?” Rianna asked once we were back at the base.  Emily was back on the computer, tapping away.

“I didn’t, they were just there,” I answered.

“Come on, Sara.  You know that guy we get our Zoids from strips them down to the command system before he sells them,” she went on.

“She’s telling the truth,” Emily broke in.  “I didn’t think you’d mind, Sara, so I checked the Leo over.  It turns out it has an interchangeable armor system and an organoid system.”

“Is that good or bad?” I asked.  Emily made the simplest things confusing with her knowledge of Zoid systems.

“Seriously, don’t you ever read weaponry articles?  Interchangeable armor systems are really rare, and there are only two other organoid systems in existence.  One’s in the Liger Zero, and the pilot’s not that bad either…” Emily started.

“Get on with it, Emily,” Rianna said.  Emily would go on forever and never tell you what you want to know if you let her.  “What’s an interchangeable armor system?  And an organoid system for that matter.”

“An interchangeable armor system lets you equip completely different types of armor and weapons with relative ease.  An organoid system lets your Zoid learn new attacks with certain types of armor.  The Liger Zero has three IAS: the Jager, with high speed: the Schnider, with great close range attacks: and the Panzer, which has the best long range capabilities and armor.”

“You’re serious?  The Leo has an IAS?” like she had said, only the best Zoids had them.  I’d heard rumors about them, but they were just rumors and I had never believed them.

“I took the liberty of getting you some new armor.  Let me show you,” she tapped a few keys on the computer and a holo of my Leo appeared.  “This is the Leo now, or - as the registration says - the Leo Zero.  If we install this armor,” she tapped some keys and the Leo’s gold armor disappeared and was replaced by silver armor that had ion boosters on the sides, “it’ll be the Leo Kala, which has very high speed and good close range attacks but very little armor.  This one,” the armor and ion boosters were replaced by extremely heavy looking bronze armor, “is Leo Amla.  It’s got tons of armor and long range weapons, but it can’t move very well.  They’re all I could find, but I think they’ll help.”

“Emily, I’m going to buy you the biggest, best power component you’ve ever seen for this,” I said in awe.  Emily smiled her I-knew-you’d-say-that-and-that’s-why-I-did-this smile, and turned off the holo.

“Next battle is set for Friday, and you’ll never guess who we’re up against,” she said.

“You’re kidding,” Rianna said.

“No way,” I gasped.

“None other than the Blitz team themselves.  Battle mode 0999; no restrictions.”

* * *

Friday seemed so far away.  I studied the charts on my Leo that Emily had made, and I soon knew them by heart.  Rianna was jumpy, something unusual for her, and Emily got on the computer early and didn’t leave it until late at night.  We checked the Zoids over a dozen times each and cleaned the hovercargo and our Zoids obsessively.  Rianna started calling the Blitz team the Bimbo team, and that loosened us up for a while, but then we were back into the waiting game.  Emily got her power component; a monstrous long-range buster cannon that turned out not being compatible with her Pythos.  That didn’t stop her, though, she dismantled the cannon and used its parts to improve her Zoid.  Time seemed to go so slowly I thought we’d all go insane before Friday came.

While we were waiting Emily told us her battle plan.  “Okay, the Bimbo team has a Raynos, a Gun Sniper, a Shadow Fox, and, of course, the Liger Zero.  Rianna, I’ll trust that you can take care of the Raynos pretty quickly?” Emily asked.

“No problem,” she answered.

“Okay, after you get the Raynos I want you to go for the Gun Sniper.  Yours is the only Zoid fast enough to get by its ammo.  Don’t think it’ll run out of ammo fast either, the pilot is notorious for how much she equips on her Zoid.  Her drawback is that all the weapons cut down her maneuverability to practically zero.  If you can take those two out fast enough then go for whoever’s left.  I’ll take the Shadow Fox.  Sara, you take the Liger Zero, obviously.  The way I figure it, it‘ll either use its Jager or Schnider unit.  That means you’ll need to use the Kala unit.  The Kala’s high speed will let you evade his attacks, and the close range attack’ll let you give more than you get.  The Schnider, if you remember, is orange and has good close range, and the Jager is blue and has high speed.  Either way you’ll still have the advantage by your dual armor type.”

“Okay.  It’s a good thing you spend so much time on that computer, otherwise we wouldn’t know all this,” I said.

“Hope we can get some good prize money from this,” Rianna said.

“The A class prize money is great, almost double the B class’s,” Emily said.

“Awesome.  That means that since we’ve never really needed many repairs we’ll be racking up the cash,” I said.

Finally, Friday came.  We checked our Zoids one last time and headed to the battle site.  We looked out at the Blitz team’s Zoids, there was the Raynos, the Gun Sniper, the Shadow Fox, and -of course- the Liger Zero.  The Liger Zero was in its Jager armor, just like Emily had thought.  We launched our Zoids and the judge capsule landed.

“ATTENTION.  THE AREA WITHIN A FIVE MILE RADIUS IS NOW RESTRICTED.  ANYONE OTHER THAN COMPETITORS AND PERSONELL: LEAVE THE AREA AT ONCE.  AREA SCANNED.  BATTLEFIELD SET UP.  BATTLE MODE 0999; NO RESTRICTIONS.  THE BLITZ TEAM VERSUS THE CHIMERA TEAM.  READY…FIGHT!”

“Go for it, Leo!” I said as the Leo roared and rushed at the Liger Zero.  Emily held her position and fired on the Shadow Fox, who dodged the blasts and headed straight for her.

“Back off!” she yelled and fired again, hitting the Fox dead on.  But the bullets ricocheted off its armor and he kept coming.  Emily dove underground and reappeared under the Shadow Fox, firing into its main system.  ‘COMMAND SYSTEM FREEZE’ appeared on Brad’s screen and the Fox toppled.

“Haven’t seen you before,” Bit said as the his holo appeared on my left screen.

“Figures.  Guess that means you’ll just have to play this battle by ear,” I said.

“I don’t need to know everything about someone to win a battle,” Bit said.

Meanwhile, Rianna was going at it with the Raynos.  “Come on, you moldy pile of junk.  Show me what you’ve got!” Rianna said as she flew at the Raynos.

“My Raynos is not a moldy pile of junk!” Jamie pouted as he dodged Rianna’s attack.  He suddenly sped up and away from her.

“Oh, you want to race, do you?” Rianna laughed as she flew after him.

“Weasel Unit Total Assault!” Leena called and fired.

“What?!” Rianna said as she noticed the missiles trailing behind her.  She pulled away and the missiles smashed into the Raynos.

“Leena!” Jamie yelled as he spiraled down.  “You attack the other team, not me!”

“Sorry!”  Leena winced as Jamie skimmed the ground and stopped.  She moved over to his fallen Zoid and asked, “Are you okay, Jamie?” But the crash had knocked him unconscious.

“Strike Laser Claw!” Bit yelled..  The Liger Zero’s claws glowed as he rushed at me.

“Gold King’s Claw!” I yelled at the same time.  Our Zoids crashed together in midair, sparks flying, then we fell back to earth in an undignified heap.  The cockpit shook so hard I bruised my ribs on the safety harness.  “Come on, Leo!  Get up!” I said as I worked the controls.  I looked around at the rest of the battle as the Leo slowly got up.

Rianna was heading for the Gun Sniper.  She charged her blades as she dove toward it and Leena fired, but Rianna dodged the missiles with relative ease and flew into the Sniper.  Her blades cut through the Sniper’s cannons and froze its command system.

“Ohh, I’ll get you for that!” Leena said as her Zoid fell onto its side.

“Somehow I doubt that,” Rianna laughed.

Finally, My Leo got up.  “Need some help, Sara?” Emily asked.

“No, I can handle this,” I said as I watched the Liger get to its feet.

“If you say so,” Rianna said.

Suddenly, a dark judge capsule crashed down over the judge.  Our judge’s last words before it short circuted were, “THE BATTLE IS CANCELLED.  THE BATTLE…ISS…CANN…CELLLL…”

“THIS BATTLE HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY THE BACKDRAFT GROUP,” the dark judge sneered as its capsule opened.  A Whale King was floating nearby.

“Not again,” Bit groaned.

“The Backdraft Group?” I asked.

“They take over battles and steal any Zoids on the defeated team,” Bit said.  “Wait a sec, now I recognize you.  Sara, Right?  Is that the Leo I’ve been hearing about?” Bit asked.

“Took you long enough,” I said as a Zoid dropped from the Whale King.

“THE BERSERK FURY VERSUS THE BLITZ AND CHIMERA TEAMS.  BATTLE MODE: NONE.  READY…FIGHT!”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m not fighting in any unsanctioned battles.  I’ll take care of this stupid Zoid so we can finish our battle,” Emily said and rushed the Berserk Fury.

“No, wait!” Bit called, but it was too late.

“Thousand Snake Fang!” Emily yelled.  The Berserk Fury dodged every missile and headed for her.  “Get away from me!!” Emily shrieked as she fired off more ammo, desperate now.  The Fury took probably one hit before it got to Emily and whipped its tail around, nearly breaking the Pythos in half.  Emily was unconscious.

“Emily!” Rianna yelled as she dove at the Berserk Fury.  She charged her blades as she neared it, and the Fury fired off one shot.  The shot hit Rianna’s Wind Slash and she crashed next to Emily.

“Man, that thing’s lethal when its got its armor!  Doc, get the Panzer ready!” Bit said as he headed back to his hovercargo.  “Sara, can you keep it occupied?”

“No problem,” I said as I started my ion boosters.  I ran at the Fury, but before it attacked me I dodged to the side.

“You think you’re so tough just ‘cuz you’ve got an ultimate X,” a little kid said as his holo appeared next to me.

“I’ve earned my reputation,” I said as I made another pass.  Then Bit dropped out of the hovercargo with his Panzer armor installed.  “About time you got back.”

“Do you have an armored unit?” he asked as I came back toward him.

“What do you call this?” I asked testily.

“No, you’ll need protection from that Zoid’s Charged Particle Cannon,” Bit said.

“Okay,” I said and raced back to my hovercargo.  I installed the Amla armor as fast as I could, then went back onto the battlefield.  Bit was firing the cannons on his back at the Berserk Fury, but they just crashed against its shields.  I tried to move over to a better position, but the Amla’s controls were so heavy I could barely keep it balanced, never mind move.  It was getting hotter in the cockpit even as I sat there, the screens told me it was over a hundred degrees.  The Fury cut off its shields as Bit stopped firing and turned toward me.  He opened his mouth and started powering up the Charged Particle Cannon inside.  “AAAAHHH!” I screamed as I tried to move the Amla, but it wouldn’t budge.  The Fury fired off the blast and it hit me dead on.

“Burning Big Bang!” I heard Bit yell as the light from the blast faded.  My Zoid was still standing, somehow.

‘Bronze Blast’ came up on one of my screens.  I didn’t know how it was possible for me to have survived the attack, but I had to get back into the fight.  “Bronze Blast!” I yelled and my armor seemed to lift off to reveal tons of stored missiles.  They fired off and flew straight at the Berserk Fury, smashing into it before it could get its shields up.

“You’ll be sorry you messed with me!” the kid in the Fury yelled as he opened the Fury’s mouth for another Charged Particle Cannon blast.  Then he suddenly turned and ran off.  “I’ll get you next time!”

I jettisoned the Amla’s armor as the cockpit got up to almost 150 degrees.  It immediately started to cool off, and as I opened the cockpit I saw Bit do the same.  “Man, that was the best Zoid battle I’ve had in a long time,” I said as I jumped to the ground.

“Yeah, you’re a great pilot,” Bit said.  “Wish there were more teams as good as yours around.  Why don’t you join up with us?”

“Nah, I can’t leave Rianna and Emily, and you’ve got enough people on your team anyways.  Would be cool to have another organoid on the team, though.”

“Oh well.  Hope we can battle it out again sometime,” he gave me a thumbs up and got back into the Liger.

* * *

“So he offered you a place on the Blitz team?” Emily asked, stunned.

“And you turned him down?” Rianna said.

“Of course.  I wouldn’t leave you two for the world,” I answered.

“Too bad me and Rianna won’t be in any Zoid Battles for a while,” Emily said as she held up her broken arm.

“Yeah, it stinks,” Rianna said.  She had a broken leg.  “This’s the most damage I’ve taken from a Zoid battle since we first started.”

“I think we deserve a nice long vacation anyways,” I said.  “I’m thinking-”

“The beach,” Rianna said for me.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a sandy beach, only the rocky ones you get up North.  I think that’s exactly what we need,” Emily said.

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” I said.  “I just can’t wait to fight the Blitz team again.”

“Yeah, sure, talk about Zoid battles with someone who can’t go into one.  Real nice, Sara,” Emily said sarcastically.

“Once we’re back in action I’m gonna find that stupid Berserk Fury and rip it limb from limb for wrecking my Wind Slash,” Rianna said.

“Yeah,” Emily agreed.  “We’ll attack with anything,”

“Anytime,” Rianna said.

“Anywhere!” I finished.