van and mercenary chapter 7, a zoid fanfic, in which the century's Van meets Bit Cloud and others

Very clever fanfic. It makes it so that characters from two eras which are hundreds of years apart end up meeting. The main Zoid in here, called The War Wolf, is very believable. Tim Seltzer, seltzer@seltzerbooks.com

Sakura's Disclaimer: This goes for all chapters,so I don't have to write this dislaimer again...I don't own Zoids and don't get paid for writing this.Thank you.

Chapter Seven

"Wolf Pack"

Well,once again,Sakura and I had found ourselves traveling across the seemingly endless stretches of desert.We had just left the city a couple of days before in the freshly repaired War Wolf,and boy was Sakura ever happy.She hated not being able to pilot her Zoid.She was starting to annoy me a little,though...she was singing her theme song again...geez,maybe she reminded me TOO much of Moonbay...

I think she realized my agitation before long though and opened up the CD tray,putting in one of her compact discs.I was gonna ask what she was putting in,but was cut off when the music started with...

"The Warden threw party at the county jail!The prison band was there and they began to wail!Come on,Van!Sing it with me!"

Sakura called to me from the front seat as she sang along with the song.I had to admit,this Elvis guy she listened to was great.And this was one of my favorite songs since I had been listening to it.

"The band was jumpin' and the joint began to swing!You shoulda heard those lockdawd jailbirds sing!Let's rock!"

I chimed as I started to sing with her.Sure,we did'nt sound like the best in the world.Definately not as good as Elvis,but it was fun all the same.Sakura has good taste in music,that's for sure!

"Number 47 said to Number 3,'You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see!I sure would be delighted with your company!Come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me'!"

Sakura and I laughed some as we sang the song.Man,were we ever having a good time to be traveling across the desert!Then...

My aqua eyed companion said as she pointed forward through the windshield.I followed her gaze to the biggest city I had ever seen!

I asked as my dark eyes locked on the city that laid ahead.Sakura smiled and replied,

I repeated as we drew closer,observing the tallest tower in the middle of the city,which had two large sculptures of the Twin Moons of Zi in the first quarter sitting on the top.It was easy to see why they called it Moonlight City.Erm...Tsukino...Hikari...whatever!It's too much of a mouthful!I'll just call it Moonlight City...

Anyway...*ahem*...Sakura and I entered Moonlight City and hit a tavern straight away.I was'nt partial to taverns...but this was where Sakura got her jobs,so I figured I'd best bear with her.

We took a seat at a secluded table and ordered a couple of Vanilla Cokes.We got a few strange looks,but hey,we were'nt gonna drink any alcohol,that was for sure.And besides,why would they serve stuff besides alcohol if no one ordered it?Sakura and I did'nt really pay any attention to them as we sat there.

I watched Sakura as she sat there.She seemed like a different person.Like a Wolf ready to pounce.I guess she expected to fight in here.I doubted she had to worry though,with what I had seen her do.I figured she could take any guy in the place easy if she had to.

Then,after about an hour or so passed,three guy finally came up to our table.Sakura raised her aqua eyes to them,brushing back some of her blonde hair.

She asked,looking ready to take all three of them down,which I knew she could,if they made any wrong moves.

All three of these men looked similar,apparently part of a team.All of them wore angel white tank tops and black pants.Two of them had their short,jet black hair pulled back into a low,curled ponytail while the other,apparently the leader,had an almost shaved head of stark white hair.This leader stepped forward to Sakura and smiled at her.

He asked Sakura as he looked down at her with these cat-like,yellow eyes that kinda creeped me out.

"They call me Alpha,and these are my teammates,Quicksilver and Swift.They're twins,as you can probably tell.Well,anyway,we're the Wolf Pack Team and we need you for a battle tomorrow against the Jurassic Team.You up for it?"

I turned my eyes back to Sakura.She seemed to think about this a minute.Finally,she said,

"Jurassic Team...pretty tough team...I fought against them once before with the Vesuvius Team..."

Vesuvius Team...had'nt that been the team she had been battling with that day I fell out of the sky and into her cockpit?I did'nt remember any Jurassic Team,though...I wondered if she had been with the Vesuvius Team more than once.

"If my memory serves me right,the Jurassic Team's got a Rev Raptor,a Raynos,a Redler and that dark blue,custom,souped-up Gun Sniper they call the Gun Sniper Nightmare..."

Alpha said just before receiving a slap across the face from Sakura.I blinked in confusion before she huffed and said,

"Don't ever call me a name like that again.Now then,how much are you willing to pay me for this battle and what kind of Zoids do you have?Command Wolves,by the sounds of your names and team name..."

"Command Wolves?Hah!Command Wolves are good Zoids,but not our style.We all have Konig Wolves."

I watched as Sakura smirked.I guess she liked the sound of other Wolves,seeing as she piloted one herself.

"If we win,you get 25,000 AND you can join the Wolf Pack Team permanently if you like."

Sakura seemed to think about this a moment.She then looked up at Alpha with a smile.

"You got yourself a deal.I doubt there'll be any permanent joinings though,so don't get your hopes up."

"All right,now you're talkin'.You'll probably change your mind and join our pack after you battle with us,though."

"The area withing a five mile radius is now a designated Zoid battlefield.Only competitors and personnel have authorized entry.Danger!All others must leave the area at once!"

"Area scanned.Battlefield set up.The Wolf Pack Team versus the Jurassic Team.Battlemode 0982.Ready...FIGHT!"

With that,all 8 of the Zoids raced out into battle,all of the Wolf-type Zoids giving a howl as this was done.

I held on tight as he rode in the back seat of Sakura's War Wolf.Of course,I was'nt a competitor,as I was'nt battling,but I passed off as personnel and managed to ride during Sakura's battles as a coach,or so was said anyway.

"But the War Wolf is quite the swift ground Zoid.This is gonna be a piece of Banana Cake..."

The Raynos flew down toward her in a blur of green as the wing rifles flared.This did'nt phase Sakura though as she brought the War Wolf into a quick,reversed jump and lifted the hidden panels on either side of her Zoid,letting out the Wild Weasel Units.

She said with a smirk,taking quick and accurate aim before ripping loose with the missiles.

The Raynos pilot rolle and didged from right to left,trying his level best to evade the oncoming barrage.But his attempts were in vain,as he finally took a crippling hit to his side,sending the Pteranodon-type Zoid to the ground.

The two of them looked around from the cockpit,seeing several Zoids littering the ground.I counted them and took into account what they were.

She was cut off as something suddenly hit the War Wolf full force!It rocked from side to side a moment before Sakura growled the last part of her sentence.

She pushed the controls forward,sending her Zoid into such a fast accelaration that I was thrown back into my seat.

"THERE IS NOW WAY I'M GONNA LET MYSELF GET PUSHED AROUND BY SOME METALLIC VELOCIRAPTOR!!!!!!"

She yelled in an enraged voice.Apparently...she was'nt about to give in.I just held on as she brought the War Wolf around left and right to keep from getting hit by the bullets that seemingly came out of nowhere.

"Just glad it's not Naomi...she woulda already wiped me out with that first hit.She'd've hit a more vital area..."

I wondered who this 'Naomi' person was that she mentioned for a second,but literally only for a second.Afterwhich I wondered how Sakura was gonna pull this off.We had no idea where the bullets were coming from!It kinda reminded me of the invisible Guymelefs in that Escaflowne show that Sakura watched when we were in a hotel before.Unfortunately,we did'nt have Hitomi to point them out for us,so we'd just have to try and work with what we had.

Of course,that was exactly what Sakura intended to do.She looked over her shoulder at me and yelled,

She then kicked in some new Quad Ion Boosters, bringing the War Wolf into a velocity that I had never seen it in before!It had to be going at least 400 Kilometers an hour!I thought I might actually HAVE to hang on to my underwear as I felt myself being pressed deep into my seat,making next to impossible to breathe.

That's when Sakura pulled her move off,leaping at least 100 feet into the air with the velocity and spinning around in mid-air,And,even while she did all this,she whipped out the Wild Weasel Units again and fired them around wildly,blowing hot,desert sand and dark smoke up everwhere.What the heck was she doing?!I thought she had lost it,as I felt like i'd lose it any second now with the fast spinning...

Finally,she came back down to the ground,much more softly that I had expected.The Wild Weasel Units retracted back into their hidden panels on either ide and Sakura looked about,her eyes finally resting on what looked like clumps of sand just floating in the air!

She smirked,coming at the sand clumps and lighting up her Zoid's paws to a glowing hot temperature.

She yelled,taking the War Wolf into a leap and coming down on her target.The sound of bright,glowing claws ripping into metallic flesh could easily be heard as she did this,letting me know fully just what she had been doing with that move back there.

"It was using a cloaking device and Sakura blew all that sand up to make it show..."

I thought to myself as the Gun Sniper nightmare's cloaking shield faded,revealing the dark blue armored Velociraptor as it fell to the sand,system frozen.

"That was fairly a challenge.How the Jurassic Team managed to get their hands on such an advanced cloaking device is beyond me.But,oh well.So long as it provides a worthy challenge."

I just sighed with relief as I leaned back in my seat,glad that was over.I hated to admit it,but man Sakura took me for one heck of a ride that time!

Alpha told her a while later at the Zoid hangars as the Konig Wolves went under some serious repair.

"You managed to beat the odds when the rest of us went down.You have the true cunning of a Wolf,and we'd be honored to have you in our pack.What do you say?"

Sakura was silent at the moment,seemingly considering this.Was she actually gonna join their team for good?She seemed to enjoy being a mercenary so much,it shocked me to see her even considering permanently joining a team.Even if they did all have Wolf-type Zoids.

"Come on,girl.The team and me are all like brothers,and you could be our sister.Whaddya say?"

Sakura blinked her aqua eyes.She opened her mouth to speak.No sound came out at first,but one word finally escaped her lips.

She asked,reminding me of a curious little kid the way she asked it in such a soft voice.

Hers had always been taken away in the past and she had to grow up without one.No Mom.No Dad.No brothers or sisters.No family at all.Just herself.Right now,Sakura must have been overjoyed that someone wanted her as part of their Family.

But something smelled fishy to me.This guy seemed to know a little too much.It was like he knew to target her want for Family.Did he know her past somehow?No way.Sakura only told her past to one person and that was me.How would this guy know?

Sakura had said yes to joining the Wolf Pack Team and their 'Family',as you can probably guess.Even though I still did'nt feel cool about the idea as the five of us all sat out by the campfire that night.They seemed okay,though.They were all laughing and carrying on just like me and Sakura would do.

Quicksilver grinned and put his arm around Sakura's neck,swinging his soda bottle in the air.I kinda wondered if what he had been drinking WAS soda,seeing as he was acting kinda drunk...

He said as he took another swig of his drink.I saw Sakura nose twitch and her eyes go a little sour.I knew now the guy was drinking alcohol,'cause Sakura apparently smelled it.I REALLY was'nt cool with hanging out with anyone who drank alcohol.But,if Sakura really wanted to stick with them,I guess I could let it pass,so long as they did'nt get too terribly drunk...

The three 'brothers' went on and on trying to think of some nickname for her.I finally decided to intervene,knowing the sort of name she'd like,and said,

Sakura smiled and opened her mouth to apparently agree with me,but the three others cut her off,looking at me like I had committed some kind of sin!

"Listen,boy.You're not part of the pack.You don't make any of the decisions or help with the decisions."

I backed up a little,shaken somewhat by his actions.Man,this guy looked ready to kill me just for saying four words!He gripped the front of my shirt and pulled his fist back.

He started bringing his fist forward full force.I closed my eyes shut,waiting to feel the immense pain that would no doubt engulf my head.But...nothing happened.

I opened one eye,then the other,looking up to see that Sakura had single-handedly stopped Alpha's fist from alsmming into my face!

"What is your problem,Alpha!All he did was make a suggestion!Geez,you make it sound like he committed some kinda crime!"

"Stay out of it,sister.If he interferes with our pack then it is a crime.He's not one of us."

"We don't want him,Sakura.We want you.And if you ever stop me like that again,you're going to get hurt yourself."

"Good.Come on,Van.Let's get out of here.This is no Family.I should have known better than this."

With that,the two of us started back towards the War Wolf to head out.But apparently,the Wolf Pack did'nt want us leaving as Quicksilver and Swift blocked our path,Alpha stepping up behind us.

He sneered,reaching forward like lightning and grabbing Sakura's wrist.She was'nt gonna go down that easy though and kicked him between the legs hard,causing him to let go.She then leapt back in a Kung Fu San Soo stance and looked around.

"It's apparent to me now that you guys had an alterior motive.You never wanted me as a sister,so what DID you want me for?"

He said,reaching into his pocket and drawing two nasty looking,super-sharp daggers.

"You're the best Wolf-type Zoid pilot around,and since our team has'nt been moving up in the ranks,we needed a little something to spice it up.That little something was you.Now,let's avoid any bloodshed here.You stay and pilot for us,and the kid with the spikey ponytail leaves."

Sakura drew her 357 Magnum,ready to fight it out now and I knew it.I just wished I had a weapon to fight with.

Then,as though she had read my mind,Sakura knelt down just enough to reach into the side of her combat boot,drawing out a sharp looking,shiny dagger.She handed it to me without a word,keeping her aqua eyes on the three that surrounded us.

As I got a closer look at the weapon handed to me,I saw that the whole thing;blade,hilt and all;was made entirely of pure,clear Crystal!Where on Zi had she gotten a weapon like this?!?!

I did'nt have much time to wonder about it as the three charged in at us from all side,Sakura not hesitating to open fire.

Swift lived up to his name as he came at me fast and hard,ready to bring his fist into my stomach on the run.But I saw his move and leapt to the side,slashing down with the crystal dagger and leaving a deep gash in his arm.

He growled at me angrily and brought his other fist up,connecting firmly with my face.I stumbled back a little,but managed to regain my balance and came right back forward,bringing the dagger into an upperut and managing to leave an even deeper gash in his chest.

My attacks just seemed to make Swift mad though,as he grabbed my arm right after the slash and threw me down.I hit the ground hard,falling right onto my own weapon.It was the worst pain I had ever been in as it had deeply cut my tomach,but I don't think it hit anything internally,thank the Lord.I managed to get myself together and held my breath,not moving.

"Heh.Nice try,kid.But nobody make me bleed and lives to tell about it.Now,about that pretty blonde friend of yours..."

He turned away rom me and started towards Sakura's fight,which ended up being a big mistake for him.I silently got up and leapt at him,digging my dagger into his shoulder.Swift yelled in pain and whirled around,throwing me off and back to the ground.With a good bit of pain from my dagger injury,I got right back up,ready for more.

Swift glared at me a moment,looking as though he actually were a Wolf for a moment,ready to pounce.

He never got the chance.In the next instant,he had fallen over unconcious on the ground from my surprise attack before.

I sighed with relief and thanked the Lord I had one down,then looking over to Sakura.She had managed to take down Quicksilver apparently,but was now being pushed around by Alpha.He must've surprise attacked her,because she had been deprived of her weapon and was taking hits fast and hard.Ho she still held conciousness was beyond me!

As you can probably guess,this officially cheesed me off,seeing my best friend getting beaten up like this.Before I really knew what I was doing,I was running forward full-force,dagger in hand.Alpha barely had time to look at me before I brought the dagger up and swiped the blade at his neck.

The whole world seemed to stop as I stood there after the attack,blade still in hand.Everything around me was dead still for a few seconds.Then,Alpha fell to the ground,breaking the silent moment.

Sakura stood there in amazement,not believing that I had just pulled that off.She turned her aqua eyes to me.Well,one of them anyway.she had apparently taken a hard hit in her left eye,as it was closed and the skin was black.

I forgot everything else for a moment and dropped the dagger,walking over to her and placing my hand under her chin so I could get a better look at her eye.

It surprised me to see her come to tears again,but I pushed down the surprise and put my hand up,brushing a lock of stray,blonde hair back behind her hear.

With that,the two of us climbed into the War Wolf's cockpit and left,not really knowing or caring where we were going.We were just glad to be getting away from the battlefield we were just on.

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Van and the Mercenary

Chapter Seven

"Wolf Pack"

Chapter Seven

"Wolf Pack"