Explosions and screams echoed through a large town as fireballs rained down upon it. Several large zoids that resembled giant green tortoises fired shots from large cannons on their backs. The shots rained down upon an army of silver zoids that charged towards the mostly barren land that surrounded the town, with the shots dissipating on impact, leaving no damage upon the invaders.
The skeletal, silver, raptor like zoids quickly began tearing down the defenses, while others fired searing orange flame into the town, ignoring the cries of pain and screams for help.
Upon a ridge far outside of town stood a larger, stronger looking silver raptor with golden claws, watching the scene with what seemed like disinterest. Another smaller raptor approached the leader and quickly bowed to him before a robotic voice blared out.
“GENERAL, OUR FORCES HAVE FINISHED ELIMINATING HOSTILE DEFENSES. WE ARE NOW BEGINNING TO ROUND UP THE REMAINING CIVILIANS.”
“Good,” A cool, impartial voice responded from the larger raptor. “That is to be expected of Digald’s first armored division. I assume that you have something actually worth informing me of?”
There was a slight pause before the other raptor responded. “ONE OF OUR SCOUTS HAS FOUND INFORMATION INDICATING THAT A GENERATOR MECHANIC IS IN THE CITY.”
The general seemed to pause at this. “This makes things interesting. Start organizing the work camps and begin gathering up all the survivors. Start sending patrols around the area, I want everything in a hundred miles to be checked for refugees. Also, set up a patrol around the forest and start organizing our Bio Raptor Gui’s to do reconnaissance over it. I want every man woman and child found and in chains. Do I make myself clear?” The man said in a strict, deadly tone.
“UNDERSTOOD, SIR.” The raptor quickly ran off to inform the rest of the forces as the general continued to gaze at the chaos.
“I wonder how many of these rats have already managed to escape my grasp.” He muttered, as he watched the city continue to burn.
“What have you gotten yourself into Pippin?” I muttered to myself, listening for any signs of soldiers or zoids as I caught my breath while hiding behind a tree. “Japapa’s dead, the city has fallen, and now an entire army is looking for you!”
The sound of foot steps filled the air and I slowly lifted my head up, the last of my hope disappearing. “M-maybe they’ll go easy on me if I surrender? T-they could probably use an apprentice generator mechanic.”
Before I could bring myself to my feet, the source of the foot steps called out. “Pip? Pippin is that you?”
“Tony?” I asked in disbelief, before scrambling to my feet and turning towards the voice.
Before me stood my old friend, Tony Amarichi. He was pretty tall for his age, already taller than most adults. He was only three years older than Pippin, making him thirteen, but he acted with the maturity of any of the adults in the village.
Right now his cheeks were bright red, probably from the heat and all the running. He wore a loose open brown vest and baggy tan pants that were held up by a piece of rope tied around his waist. Slung over his shoulder was a sack that no doubt contained the few possessions he had managed to grab before his escape.
Tony was staring at me with a mixture of relief and horrified concern. “Pip, what happened to you? You look like you just crawled out of a zoid wreck!”
I glanced down, whipping some of my brown hair out of the way. My clothes had seen better days. Tears, blood stains, and burn marks covered my grey cargo pants and dark brown work jacket. I had the misfortune of being inside the zoid workshop, right before the Digald army bombarded it.
I was lucky enough to have landed underneath a piece of steel girder that ended up holding the collapsed ceiling off of me. Japapa and the other workers, however… I tried my best to free them, but the fire was closing in and the sounds of battle kept drawing nearer. The screams of the dying workers still echoed through my head, while Japapa told me his final words. “Run, and never give up.”
After that, I just got up and ran, not even bothering to dump my heavy, warm work jacket as I ran out of the burning building. The next few minutes were a blur, until I had finally found myself out here.
“Japapa’s dead.” I blurted out, causing Tony to stare at me in disbelief.
Tony shook his head and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear that, but right now we have got to get moving. The Digald army are moving those strange zoids to surround this forest. If we don’t get out of here before they surround it, we’ll be trapped like fish in a barrel.”
“What’s the point?” I muttered, much to Tony’s shock. “Their zoids are fast. If they’re even half as fast as a beam tortoise, they’ll have the forest surrounded by now. M-maybe if we surrende-GAH!”
I fell back to the ground, stunned, as I stared at Tony, who was now rubbing his fist. “You felt that right? That pain. Do you know what it means?”
Tony didn’t give me a chance to answer. “It means that you’re alive. That alone is enough reason to keep trying. No matter the opposition, no matter the odds, as long as you’re still alive then you have to try. As Japapa would say, ‘Never give in, and never give up!’ Now c’mon, we’re getting out of this forest.” Tony finished that sentence while holding out a hand to help me up.
I rubbed my cheek idly before cracking a grin. “You know, you still hit like a girl.”
“Only if that girl is Angelina.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me of her. Those slaps of hers are probably one of the only things I wont miss about the village.”
That got the two of us to chuckle as we made our ways further into the forest.
“I think the trees are getting bigger.” I said as Tony tried to remain stoic.
“...We’re lost, aren’t we?” This managed to get Tony to react.
“We are NOT lost. We’re just a little bit sidetracked.” Tony muttered, even though we both knew it was a lie.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been to this part of the forest.”
“Yeah, well that’s probably because its part of the dark forest.” He said with a hint of nervousness.
“Isn’t the dark forest the place that Japapa told us to never go to?” I asked idly, gazing at the huge trees that would dwarf even large scale zoids.
“Yeah. From what I heard, this place was once blessed by a powerful force, causing all the soil to become magically fertile.” Tony paused, leaning against a tree root as he opened a small water bladder.
“The legend goes on saying that all that live and grow in this forest grow to enormous sizes, rivaling even zoids. As a result, no one is allowed to enter, since its just too dangerous.”
“But that’s just a bunch of superstition, right?” I asked as he took a sip from the bag.
“I dunno, but something had to cause them to build that wall around the town. Plus I’ve seen the shadows of a few of the things out there. If they’re not animals, then I don’t wanna find out what they were.”
Tony capped the bag and gestured back to me. “Come on, we need to keep moving.”
I can’t really tell how much time had passed, but my new found hope was dwindling as we came upon yet another obstacle.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Tony yelled as he gazed down into the small valley that had a river in the middle.
“Oh boy, looks like we’ll have to find a crossing point. The roots of the trees may have stopped some of the soil from eroding, but I doubt it’s strong enough to climb down.” He said.
Not two steps later, did a low rumble filled the air as the ground beneath Tony fell away.
“Tony!” I yelled, as I rushed toward the rockslide.
“Stay back! I’m alright, but the ground is probably still unstable. Try and find a branch or something to pull me up.” Tony called back.
After a bit of searching, all I could find was a few twigs, dirt, and the largest acorn I had ever seen. Had it been any other situation, I probably would have tried to bring the two foot long thing back as a souvenir.
I was about to give up, putting my hands in my pockets, before I realized I still had my work jacket on. A quick check of the pouches revealed that I still had most of my tools, including a long length of safety cord.
I ran back to the cliff and tossed an end over the ledge.
“Will this work?” I called out.
“Sure. Is it long enough to brace it around anything?” Tony called back.
A quick glance around revealed an exposed root that looked close enough. I walked over to it and wrapped the cord around it once, before calling back. “Alright, I have it braced.”
There were a few small tugs before I felt his full weight on the cord, followed by a few grunts as Tony started pulling himself up. Suddenly, another rumble filled the air as the cord nearly pulled me face first into the tree root.
“Tony! Are you alright?” I called out, only to see Tony, albeit a bit dirtier, climbing up the slope that had formed.
“That cord really saved my hide back there.” He said with a cocky smile as I rushed to meet him, nearly tackling him with the fierce hug I gave him.
“Whoah there pipsqueak, it’ll take more than a rockslide to take this Amarichi out.” He said as I pulled myself back.
“I’m just glad you’re okay.” I said, returning his cocky smile.
“Still, it’s a good thing that I found something sturdy to stand on, otherwise I probably would have fallen with the rest of that debris.” He said.
I cast a questioning gaze at the now visible ledge he had been standing on, when a glint of metal caught my attention. Without thinking, I took a couple of steps towards it, only for a fierce tug on my wrist to snap me out of my daze.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing? The grounds still unstable over there!” He all but yelled at me, only for me to turn to him with a small spark in my eyes.
“Tony, I think you just stumbled upon a zoid!” I quickly broke free from his grasp and ran over to the exposed root that still had my safety cord wrapped around it. I had just finished tying it into a knot when Tony rushed over.
“And so what if it is?” He said as I tied the other end around my waist. “We don’t have time to mess around with an ancient zoid that probably has more dirt than wiring at this point. We have to get out of here before the Digald army finishes closing their trap!”
I turned to him, a bit of irritation in my eyes. “News flash Tony, their trap’s already set. You told me that they started surrounding the forest, that was hours ago! In that time we managed to get lost and only wind up deeper in the forest. Our only chance now is to either try to hide and hope they don’t find us, or to break through their forces while they are spread out at the forest's edge.”
Tony let out a sigh. “We don’t even know if that thing has weapons, let alone if it has any reggel left to power it. How are we supposed to break through in it?”
I paused for a moment. He had a point. If the zoid wasn’t functional, then it would just be a waste of time. The alternative however…
“Look, we don’t have any options here. I still got my reggel container from the workshop. It should be enough to get us to the forest’s edge, assuming the zoid still works. That would at least be faster than trying to walk there from here. If it has any weapons, or maybe special abilities, then we can worry about how we’re getting out of the forest.”
Tony thought for a bit before releasing another sigh and nodding. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I just wish we didn’t have to bet our lives on a gamble.”
“You and me both,” I said with a nod. “Now help lower me down. I’m going to try and find it’s reggel lid.”
I began to make my way over toward the rockslide, while Tony double checked the knot I tied to the root, in case he slipped and let me fall. The metal wasn’t very visible, but the lack of any rust gave me a bit of hope.
I double checked the knot at my waist before Tony lowered me over the edge. I was surprised by how much of the zoid was visible. The river must had eroded the dirt from around it, revealing a rather mossy exterior. The general shape appeared to be some sort of hoofed animal with strange appendages mounted to the back, but I couldn’t tell what they were, since a thick layer of dirt covered that section.
The most noticeable thing was the gigantic cockpit. The head was completely disproportionate to the body. The head was large enough to fit on a liger, yet it was mounted to a body that looked to be a bit smaller than it!
“I’ve never seen anything like it before.” I called up. “It looks like some sort of recon or research zoid. It has a large cockpit with plenty of room for instrumentation, might mean that it will have targeting and sonar systems exceeding the Digald’s zoids.”
“And what good does that do us?” Tony called down.
“It means we should be able to avoid Digald patrols and slip through their grasp.” I replied.
“Lower me a bit more, I think I can see a reggel port on the shoulder.”
It took a bit of swinging once I was lowered down, and several failed attempts to find a point to grab onto on the moss covered zoid, but I eventually managed to find a hand hold by my target. Once I was in position, I gazed at the moss covered indentation. Just as with most zoids, I saw a manual lid release mechanism by the side, although I had to pick the moss and dirt out of the way before I could get to it.
With a few turns of the pop out crank, the lid began to open in an iris fashion. Why anyone would make a reggel cap so complicated was beyond my understanding, but I had to admit it looked cool.
I quickly pulled out my small reggel container. It was basically a glorified gourd, but since reggel was known for hardening after a day or two, it was best to rely on cheap containers. I popped the cork on one end, then brought it against the reggel port before popping the cork on the other end. I then gently blew into the second end, forcing the sap like reggel into the zoid.
After a few more blows, I capped the two ends of the gourd and slapped the release crank shut. To my luck, the port automatically closed as the reggel began restoring power to the zoid.
“Looks like the basic subsystems are intact. If the minor ones that are exposed to the elements are working, it means the main systems are probably still operational.” I said with a smile.
“Alright, bring me up.” I called up as I heard the sounds of grunts and groans from above.
After a bit of scrambling, and an unending stream of comments about “How can such a lil guy weigh so much,” I was finally back up on the cliff again.
“So what’s the next step?” Tony asked.
“Well, now we gotta uncover the cockpit and try to find the release switch for the canopy.” I said as I began shoving handfuls of dirt off the zoid.
“Are you sure it’s safe to be standing on that thing? There were two rockslides there, afterall.” Tony said as he made his way over.
I paused in my digging. “The zoid is pretty far into the cliff side, so it should be stable, but you’re right.” I glanced at the pile of safety cord to his left and said, “let’s retie the knot so it’s in the middle, then you can tie the other end of the cord around your waste.”
“Alright sounds good.”
A few minutes later and the two of us hadn’t even put a dent in the massive pile of dirt on the canopy.
“Ugh, what I’d give for a shovel.” I groaned, while Tony perked up a bit.
“Hey, I think I found the release latch!” Tony exclaimed.
“That’s good, but we still have to uncover the canopy.” I said.
“Oh c’mon! What’s a few tons of dirt to a zoid?” Tony asked as he reached for the release.
“Click...”
“Well that was anti-climatic.” He said, while my eyes were drawn towards the dirt.
“Is that dirt… glowing?”
The next few seconds were a blur of motion and screams. (To this day, I never thought I’d find out, but Tony DOES in fact scream like a girl.) A few seconds later we were both dangling from the safety cord, with me glaring directly at the groaning Tony.
“Oh, man that hurt.” he said as he gently rubbed his waist
“This is why you should learn how to tie a harness, and why you shouldn’t hit switches when you don’t know what they do. Now come on, I think it’s open now.”
About a minute later, we had both managed to get back onto the cliff and were now inspecting the cockpit.
“Ya know, I was expecting something a bit… bigger.” Tony said, gazing at the single chair surrounded by more gauges, dials, and displays than I had ever seen before.
“It’s a bit odd though.” Tony said nonchalantly. “I can’t read any of the gauges in this thing.”
“Most zoids are written in an ancient dialect, but they are usually still similar to our language. Whenever an old zoid is found and brought to the shop, we usually update the dials to our language. But these… I’ve never seen anything like this dialect before, and I’ve been in plenty of old zoids.” I said as I gazed at the multitude of displays.
“Well, no harm in trying it out.” Tony said as he leapt into the cockpit.
“Oi, do you know how to pilot this thing?”
“Nope, but it can’t hurt to try.” He said as he started to hit buttons randomly.
He kept this up for a few seconds before he slammed his fist into the side of the cockpit. “C’mon, work you hunk of scrap metal, WORK!”
“It’s no use,” I said “not every person can activate every zoid, and not every zoid can be activated.”
“Are you telling me that all that work could have been for nothing?” He asked incredulously.
“Not exactly, but I’m more surprised that you didn’t know that. Now scoot over.” I said as I climbed into the cockpit.
“Since a zoid can suffer severe damage, they have back up systems that allow you to manually operate the limbs and bypass the zoid core. It’s just a lot harder.” I said as I reached towards the controls, only for them to light up the moment I touched them.
“Wow, you’re pretty good at this.” Tony muttered, until he noticed the look of shock on my face. “What’s up Pipsqueak?”
“I… I didn’t do that.” I stammered.
“Huh, guess that means you activated it.” He said, shrugging it off.
“But, that can’t be! I’ve been in hundreds of zoids, and not a single one of them ever responded to me!” I said in disbelief.
“There’s a first time for everything. Now c’mon, let’s get this thing moving.” Tony said as he leapt out of the cockpit, allowing the canopy to close.
He quickly ran toward one of the large trees as the ground began to shake as I fiddled with the controls. Abruptly, one of the front legs ripped free of the cliff, followed by one of the back legs. The entire zoid strained for a second before it ripped its head out of the dirt and then pulled the rest of itself out.
During this entire process, I was busy chanting a mantra in my head. I don’t know what this does, err… that didn’t sound good. How about this? Nope, definitely not. How about-OH what the #### am I doing!?! These thoughts continued until I heard the unmistakable laughter of Tony outside the cockpit.
“Just what are you laughing at?” I called through the speakers.
“*snicker* Just at the adorable abomination you call a zoid!” Tony kept laughing like this while I managed to get the zoid to clamber up the cliff face.
“What do you mean ‘adorable?’” I called back, after finally getting the thing back on stable ground.
“Oh man, this would be so much funnier if this wasn’t our only chance at survival.” Tony muttered to himself, as he started to gather himself back together.
“Well for starters,” he yelled back. “You look like a chibi silver unicorn with wings!”
My face paled. “You have got to be kidding me.” I muttered to myself, but that didn’t stop Tony from continuing his rant.
“You’re only about as tall as a beam tortoise, the wings are colored like a rainbow, and the entire thing sparkles in the sunlight!” He fell over laughing again as he finished this sentence. Meanwhile, I was trying not to drown in all the of sour luck I was having.
“Just shut up and climb on.” I said as I made the zoid lay down.
Tony all too happily obliged, scrambling up and next to the cockpit with a stupid grin on his face.
“So what are you gonna call your monstrosity?” He said as I popped open the canopy.
“Call it Pipsqueak. Maybe then you’ll stop calling me by that stupid nickname.” I said as he clambered in next to me.
“Pipsqueak… I like it. Kinda fits in a way.” He said as the zoid leapt across the small valley.
An hour later we were standing on a hill as the sun was setting in the orange sky, scanning the surrounding area.
“So how’s it look?” Tony asked as I tapped on various panels.
“Well, I’ve finally managed to set the displays to our language through the use of some sort of built in translation software, but I can only pray that the readings I’m getting are wrong.”
“It’s that bad?”
“Yep. I’m picking up about four large zoids, probably bio raptors, in the area. They’re all within visual range of each other, just like the rest of them, and have the perimeter well guarded. They seem to be arranging transports to be sent out as they find survivors. I’m also detecting the occasional aerial unit flying over head, no idea what those things are, but they can easily outmaneuver the Pipsqueak’s limited flight capacity.”
“This thing can fly?”
“Yeah, don’t ask. I have no idea how either.”
I then continued browsing through the displays. “I was able to locate the weapon systems and I’ve got to say, I’m impressed. This thing has several forms of projectile weapons available from the horn... I mean, energy emitter. Unfortunately, you said that they shrug off energy weapons?”
“Yep. I was on the wall when they attacked. They just shrugged off everything that we threw at them. The only possible weakness was a luck shot to the cannon in their mouths. It’s unarmored and you can detonate the ammo in it.”
I just sighed. “Then I’ve got nothing. The only other available weapons are the wing blades and the… harmonic cannon? Anyways, it just doesn’t seem like enou…” A massive grin began to form on my face.
“I know that look. That’s the same look you got when you invented the reggel cake bomb and put it in Angelina’s birthday cake.” Tony said with a grin.
“In my defense, it was totally called for. Now then, I have a plan, but you’re not going to like it...”
“This is a terrible idea.” Tony muttered as he ran out towards one of the bio raptors.
“Hey! Over here!” He yelled, getting the attention of the bio raptors.
“HALT. YOU ARE NOW UNDER ARREST AS A PRISONER OF WAR,” The bio raptor began, before Tony cut in.
“Yeah yeah yeah, I surrender. But that’s not important! You’ve gotta help my friend, he’s trapped under a tree in the forest!”
Upon receiving no answer, Tony turned up the drama. “Please! You’ve gotta help him! He’s like a little brother to me.”
The bio raptor glanced at one of the others before nodding and turning back to Tony. “VERY WELL, TELL US WHERE HE IS AND WE WILL SEND SOMEONE TO RETRIEVE HIM.”
“Okay… okay… he’s in the forest, about a mile north from here.”
The bio raptor turned and nodded to two of the others as they began to head into the forest. An ominous silence fell over the group.
“So… know any knock knock jokes?”
In the forest, two bio raptors moved swiftly through the trees, able to avoid the larger ones while simply knocking over the smaller ones.
The path of destruction, although loud and crude, allowed them to reach their target within a minute of entering the forest.
Of course they didn’t know it was their target until a voice called out from an overturned tree.
“Hello? Is anyone out there? I’m stuck in an alcove, there’s a tree in the way and I can’t get out!”
One of the bio raptors urged the other on, so it reached down and tried to lift the tree with its front claws, only for it to not budge.
The bio raptor strained for a moment before reaching down with it’s mouth and trying to lift it that way, only for the tree to still no budge.
The other bio raptor, probably due to impatience, walked over and started to bite at the tree as well, this time causing it to shift with a subtle click.
“How does he know so many knock knock jokes?” Tony groaned to himself as the now rather talkative soldier went on about an orange at the door.
KRA-KOOM!
A deafening explosion erupted from the direction the bio raptors had gone, the other two bio raptors instantly turned to the sound.
“Well, that’s my cue.” Tony muttered to himself as he pulled a small sphere coated in a sticky resin from his now very sticky pocket.
The memory of Pippin’s voice echoed through his head as he gazed at the ball.
“Alright, when the bio raptors fall into the trap, I want you to toss this into one of the remaining raptors mouths.” Pippin said as he handed Tony a sticky ball of some sort of powder.
“eww, what is it?” Tony asked as Pippin began lacing a downed tree with some sort of radio.
“According to the computer, it’s a mixture of some sort of metal powder and rusty metal powder called thermite. When the two combine they create a powerful fuel source, as well as a catalyst for the beam emitter.”
“Say what now?”
“Umm, it means that when I shoot a beam at the stuff, it will rapidly heat up until it is hot enough to melt through just about anything. It should be strong enough to set off the ammunition in the bio raptors mouth.”
“Then why are you only giving me one?”
“Because you’ll only have one shot at this and I need the rest for the trap. We’re lucky to have any of the stuff left at all, every other system is out of ammo. So make it count.”
“Make it count he says, all you gotta do is chuck it a hundred feet in the air he says.” Tony grumbled as he made a makeshift sling out of the vest he was wearing.
He quickly dropped the ball in before rapidly swinging the sling above his head. The moment the bio raptor opened its mouth to roar, he let the sling go as the projectile flew overhead and into the zoids mouth with a barely noticeable clunk.
“I did it. I can’t believe I did it!... aww man, now my vest is covered in tree sap.” Tony muttered to himself, right before a blaster shot flew out of the forest, bouncing off the head of the other bio raptor.
“That’s my cue to evac.” Tony muttered as he ran away from the bio raptor, now that it’s attention was drawn elsewhere.
Meanwhile, inside the Pipsqueak, Pippin was dealing with his own issues.
“Well, that got it’s attention. Ugh, the energy emitter has great versatility and all, but the spread is so large it’s nearly useless for precision aiming.” Pippin muttered to himself as he exited the forest. “Guess it’s time for plan B.”
With that, he tapped the display in front of him and switched to the beam weapon. “Let’s just hope that Tony was able to pull it off.”
The pony zoid bent down and braced itself, before firing a stream of multicolored energy at the two bio zoids. The stream passed harmlessly over one, but the others mouth began to glow bright red before its entire mouth burst into flames. Seconds later, the zoids mouth exploded, followed by a chain of explosion going down the throat until it collapsed and the silver coating began to dissolve away.
“Haha! Way to go Tony! Now onto the dangerous part of the plan. Can I take out a single bio raptor, having no previous experience piloting a zoid, before it takes me out?... Would that impending sense of doom please get off my back?”
The bio raptor began charging at the much smaller zoid, which proceeded to duck back into the forest. Pippin began piloting his zoid deeper into the forest, swerving and zigzagging to avoid enemy fire, only to realize that the bio raptor wasn’t firing at him.
“What’s going on? I thought for sure that it would use its ranged advantage, unless… He doesn’t want to set the forest on fire!” This revelation was quickly cut off by a weightless sensation as his zoid was roughly knocked to the ground by the faster bio raptor.
The cockpit shook as the bio zoid began to stomp on the overturned zoid, something that would have easily crushed another, similarly small zoid. Red lights and damage indicators began to light up around Pippin as he quickly flipped through his available option before activating the wing blades. With a quick jerk, a wing flipped up and sweeped the bio raptors legs out from under it, unfortunately causing it to collapse onto Pippin’s zoid.
Pippin grunted as the zoid shook, but quickly forced it back onto its hooves as he lashed out with the wing blades again, flipping the bio raptor off of him.
“If I can’t hit it at range, I’ll just have to attack from point blank!” He yelled as he charged at the recovering bio raptor.
The bio raptor looked up at it’s charging opponent and appeared to get the same idea, opening it’s mouth and unleashing a torrent of flame. The displays became a sea of flames as the cockpit rapidly heated up, but Pippin ignored it as he rammed his zoid’s horn straight into the bio raptor’s mouth. With a quick push of a button, the beam emitter released a large blast of energy, causing an explosion to engulf the two.
As the smoke cleared, the pony zoid was left standing in front of a pile of bleached white bones, all that remained of the bio raptor.
“I can’t believe that worked.” Pippin said as he collapsed in his cockpit.
Tony was standing outside of the forest, a cocky smile on his face as he watched the transport Gustav roll in. It was a simple design to be sure, with a grey half circle dome over the top of it made out of heavy segmented plates and a maroon underbelly, but it was capable of hauling massive loads without losing any speed.
The Gustav was pulling a large cage behind it, filled with people Tony recognized from the village, which only made his smile grow.
“In the name of Digald, freeze and put your hands behind your head!” Said the driver of the Gustav.
“Alright, alright. Keep your pants on.” Tony said as he raised his hands up, until one of the guards got out of the Gustav.
“Whoops my mistake, you’re the ones who are supposed to be doing that.” He said as a zoid leapt out of the forest, lifting the Gustav up as a multi colored glow surrounded it.
“What the? This is Gustav transport 1-19, come in scout squad eight… scout squad eight come in!” The guard in the Gustav practically yelled into his radio. Only static came back over the line.
“Sorry but I had to jam your transmission.” Pippin said from his zoid. “Squad eight has been destroyed anyways.” Pippin continued as he tilted the Gustav sideways, dumping the pilot out.
“Alright Tony, they’re all yours. I’ll be unlocking the cage if you need me.” Pip said as the sound of a small fist fight raged.
After a minute, both of the guards had been disposed of and the cage was opened, however, the people were still inside it. Tony was busy messing around in the Gustav’s cockpit, and soon enough the vehicle sprung to life.
“And we’re in business!” Tony cried as he pulled the zoid forward a few meters.
“Good, that’s the only thing that can actually carry all the people to safety. You’re the best navigator we got, so take the Gustav toward one of the closer towns and ditch it when you find some cover. They probably got a tracker on that thing so only use it to cover as much distance as you can.”
“Alright just follow *KABOOM*”
Tony was cut off as an explosion knocked the Pipsqueak off to the side.
“Pippin!” Tony cried out as a shadow passed by overhead.
“Gah. I’m alright, but we’re in big trouble this time.” I said as I gazed up at the flying bio zoid.
“That things got air superiority on me and the last bio raptor damaged the wings. I wont be able to protect you and fight that thing at the same time. I’ll just have to use the Harmonic cannon on it.”
“I am not leaving you here.”
“Do you want those people to die? Look, they don’t know it’s been hijacked yet, so take the Gustav and get out of here, I’ll be right behind ya.”
“You better be, or I’m coming back for ya.”
“Deal, now get going!” Pippin called out as the bio raptor gui turned back around for another bombing run.
Pippin flipped through the weapon settings before stopping right before the harmonic cannon. There was another reason he had sent Tony away. According to his research, the harmonic cannon’s power output well exceeded anything he had ever seen before, including his zoids safety threshold. In all likelihood, the harmonic cannon wasn’t so much a weapon as it was a last resort, destroying the zoid when it fired.
“Here goes something.” Pippin muttered as he selected the cannon.
Suddenly, the zoid began to hum. A bright light formed on the tip of the horn as both one and a half wings raised up in an offensive position. Suddenly, a small explosion rang out from the energy emitter, followed by electricity coursing through the zoid. Inside the cockpit, dozens of warnings began popping up, indicating heavy damage throughout all the zoid’s power systems.
“What the? Oh no, I must have damaged the beam emitter when I rammed the bio raptor!” Pippin exclaimed as he began overriding warnings and rerouting power lines.
Okay, the beam emitter is still functioning, but with it’s current level of damage, I’m not sure I will be able to turn it on again. That means I really only have one shot at defeating this thing. Pippin thought as he ignored the warnings and focused on keeping the bio zoid locked on.
A glow began to surround the pony zoid as it slowly rose into the air, much to Pippins confusion. The air began to ripple as the now blinding glow from the zoid’s horn grew larger than the zoid before releasing a massive wave of rainbow colored energy that seemed to wrap itself around the bio raptor gui. Had Pippin’s eyes been better, he would have noticed the small sphere of blue light leaving the zoid and disappearing into the sky.
Once the beam died out, Pipsqueak fell back to the ground, although it was not alone. The bio raptor gui also began falling towards the ground, specifically towards the now grounded pony zoid.
“Come on, come on! Activate!” Pippin practically yelled until he noticed the falling bio zoid.
“Oh ####! Looks like it’s time to bail.” Pippin said as he slammed the canopy release, only for nothing to happen.
Pippin paled when he realized that all the power lines to the canopy had been fried. He could bypass the short, but by then the bio raptor gui would have fallen. Time seemed to slow as a moment of clarity hit him, revealing to him an unfortunate fate.
“Never give up.”
Those words seemed to echo through his head, as pippin switched on the radio.
“Tony? Tony are you there?”
“Yeah Pip? I saw that cannon thing you mentioned earlier, that thing was awesome!”
“At least it looked cool.” Collision alarms began blaring through the cockpit.
“Pip? Pippin what’s wrong? You sound like you’re on your deathbed.” Tony said with worry straining his voice.
“Tony, how far out are you?”
“About a mile, why?”
“Darn… Tony, my zoids lost all power and the Bio raptor I shot down is coming at me… I don’t think I’m going to make it.”
“Pippin… hold on, I’m coming back for you.”
“Alright, just… keep the radio on… I want someone to talk to, if this really is the…”
“Don’t talk like that, I’m coming for you. Just hang tight and I’ll have you out of there before you know it!”
Pippin glanced up at the falling zoid. It could now easily be seen without magnification. It seemed like the blast had knocked out the pilot, making the zoid continue on its last given path.
“No matter what happens, promise me you’ll get those people out of here. They were a family to me when I had none. So help me, I will haunt you if you don’t get them to safety.”
“Pippin stop talking like that! I can already see your zoid and… oh ####.”
Pippin glanced up one more time, the bio raptor filling his entire screen as his heart filled with adrenaline.
“Goodbye, Tony.”
A crack echoed through the air as the falling zoid collided head first into the smaller zoids horn. Time seemed to slow down as a blindingly white light filled the air, forcing Tony to look away. As the light dimmed, a huge explosion rocked the Gustav. All that Tony could see when he looked back was a smoking crater and a few zoid parts scattered across the ground.
“Pippin?”