The Stone Dragon - Prologue, Chaps 1, 2, & 3

[Kavid]

Prologue

I swore to myself that I’d never go the route of the scoundrel, of the downtrodden, of the…the bounty hunter. But I had a big mouth to feed, and my friends and I--“The Castaways of the Republic,” as we called ourselves--liked to eat. Finding work in Guylos is difficult, especially for ex-soldiers. We couldn’t join the Imperial Army; we tried that once already and were chased out of the country for being spies. Once back in the Helic Republic, the Republic’s Army found us and chased us back into Guylos for being traitors. We figured we’d have an easier time staying out of site in Guylos, since less people know us there, but we also had no friends.
Kavid Deen, Kellar Sifen, Harley Mansod, Bruno Saltus and I—Jeremy Kelt--drifted through town taverns trying to scrape up any information we could on bounties. We focused mainly on Helic Republic bounties, as a gift to our old home, but they were hard to find out about in Guylos, so we tracked down a few Guylos bad-guys now and then. We didn’t find many at first. People don’t like to share information with strangers.
Our saving grace came when Bruno bought an old bar in the town of Klaylos. It wasn’t very far from the Southern Frontier, so business was good--frontiersmen liked to drink. More importantly, the information was excellent. Drunken guys who trust you will say anything.
Our need for strong Zoids was pretty intense until about a year ago when Sifen and I went back to the Bay of Rocks and looted the Death Sniper’s old cavern--we figured he owed us. The Sniper had quite the supply of weapons, to be sure, but the Zoids were the true prizes.
A fully armed Red Horn was in the bunker, as well as a Hel Digunner and two Rev Raptors. The Redler we found was nearly complete, and after a couple of months we were able to buy parts for it and finish the work.
The golden prize was the Zoid that I now pilot: a Lightning Saix. The robotic cheetah was in perfect condition, with no flaws or weaknesses to be found. I have to say it puts my old Command Wolf to shame.
Mansod was happy to take the Hel Digunner, but I felt there would be a fight for the Red Horn. To my surprise, Kavid wanted the Redler. I had always assumed he hated to fly, but he has thoroughly enjoyed the little dragon. He has also enjoyed the beer bottle a bit too much. Something is hurting him, but he’s usually too drunk to say what.
I’m not sure if Sifen likes his Red Horn--he’s never showed much enthusiasm towards it--but he doesn’t complain, either. But that’s just his way.
We miss our old lives in the Helic Republic, but the Guylos Empire is not the source of evil that the Republic’s politicians always make it out to be. To be honest, the war is escalating; everyone can feel it. Both governments are looking for whatever reason they can find to scale their massive Zoid armies against each other. Planet Zi is a tense place to live, no matter which side of the Europa Continent you live on.

[Kavid]

Chapter One
Bounty Hunting

Let’s just say keeping an Imperial-built sixty-five-ton steel robot quiet is a piece of cake. These guys in Guylos know how to shut a Zoid up. In the two years I’ve lived in the Guylos Empire I’ve never once come across a well-maintained Zoid that wasn’t stealthy. Well, except maybe that Iguan, but I only drove that for a little while out of desperation.
One nice thing about the Guylos Empire’s southern countryside was it was very hilly. It was actually possible to keep Zoids out of sight along the twisty-turny roads and high sloping hills.
I slowly walked my Lightning Saix through the trees, carefully keeping the hill and brush between my prey and myself. Imperial Zoids may be quiet, and there may be hills, but Zoids were still huge.
Our prey-of-the-day was a convoy of Zoids controlled by Crotius Rykur. He was a wealthy scum ball who, naturally, acquired his wealth through crime and thievery. After he stole a group of five Imperial Army Supply Gustavs on their way to Gellenos, the newest town on the edge of the Southern Frontier, the Empire slapped a massive bounty on his head. They wanted what he stole back. Badly.
Apparently the Gustavs didn’t just carry a standard supply of food and weapons. Rumor had it Crotius got his hands on some valuable Zoid or Zoid weapon, and was making a break for the Cengari Desert with it. There were also rumors it was stashed somewhere. No one knew for sure.
Even with a plethora of bounties and bounty hunters out there, the Southern Frontier was filling up with thieves and criminals. It was a shame, too; I kind of liked the place. Of course, it was still a frontier for one basic reason: No one wanted to live there. It was mostly desert with a few mountains, but nothing of much value…at least on the outside. Thieves like the Death Sniper had stashed their goods throughout the land, and there were treasures to be found. But finding them was too dangerous for the average man. That’s another reason we stayed in Guylos.
The convoy was on the other side of the hill, and was poorly guarded with only pairs of Red Horns, Molgas and Hel Digunners. Sifen was staying far across the hills on the other side of the convoy, and Mansod was way behind making sure the convoy didn’t turn around on us. Kavid? Who knew where he was.
When the convoy reached a tight stretch of road between the hills, it was time to attack.
I flicked on my HUD-Comm to Sifen. “RH-3, confirm your position.”
Sifen responded with audio only, “Ninety west, sir. Waiting for command.”
I opened a line to Mansod, “HD-4, start tightening things up, we go in fifteen.”
“Yes, sir.” He’d been training with Sifen too long. Always too proper.
I really wished I knew were Kavid was, but we had to stay out of sight and keep the Comm transmitter power as low as possible to avoid interception. I just hoped Kavid’s eyes were as good as he said they were.
After fifteen seconds, I made my move.
My Lightning Saix jumped the hill and ran sideways like a crab, then jumped the hill, strafing the two Red Horns in the lead. The shots didn’t break their armor, but it sure confused the heck out of them. The tight roadway didn’t give them enough room to turn around, leaving them unable to counterattack.
Sifen’s Red Horn came stampeding over the other hill, leapt into the air and smashed down upon a Molga. The slithering Zoid was crushed under the styracasaurus’ weight and exploded. The Red Horn emerged from the smoke and fire and rammed the lead Gustav, flipping it over and blocking off the roadway.
Rykur’s Red Horns were chasing me with laser blasts but quickly assessed Sifen as the greater danger and spun their main cannons back at him. Unable to turn their bodies around, however, their firepower was limited.
The remaining Molga and pair of Hel Digunners climbed up the steep hillsides to get around the flipped Gustav and its trailers, and took firing positions against Sifen. Before they could start their barrage, however, Mansod scampered up in HD-4 and shot a hole through the Molga and blew the cannons off of the Hel Digunners. That new Null Ray Cannon of his was worth every penny.
My Saix had an excellent firing position on the hillside and destroyed the weapons array of the right Red Horn without taking any damage. RH-3 destroyed the weapons of the left Red Horn. Victory was ours.
I opened an all-frequency hail channel to Rykur. “Crotius Rykur, you are now placed under citizen’s arrest for crimes against the Empire. Please come with us peacefully to the town of Klaylos where we will deliver you to the proper authorities.” Man that sounded cheesy.
“The hell I will!” barked Rykur. The left Red Horn roared and charged down the road. One shot from Mansod’s new gun sent it sliding on its stomach, out of commission.
“Great job, guys.” I said to Sifen and Mansod, trying to forget about Kavid. “Now lets—.”
Before I could finish my compliments, Kavid’s face appeared on the HUD-Comm. He looked dead drunk.
“Don’t worry guys! I got ‘im!” Kavid’s Redler fell out of the clouds like a meteor. Its wings were folded up and its hybrid booster cannons were painting a trail of exhaust across the sky.
“Kavid!” I screamed, “No! Get out of here! We don’t—!” But it was too late. The Redler's wings unfolded and the cannons began raining explosive hail onto Rykur’s Red Horn. The Zoid was engulfed in fire as chunks of armor rocketed off of the body.
Then, it exploded.
The eruption knocked my Lightning Saix over; the shrapnel scraped and punctured my Zoid’s damage-free body.
“Yeehah!” cheered Kavid as his Redler swooped up and flew back into the clouds. He was probably going off to go get drunk again.
“damnit, Kavid!” I cursed. My old friend had ruined a big catch, and his fall into idiocy was costing us more than money.

[Kavid]

Chapter Two
Rock Bottom

I slammed Kavid hard against the wall. “You stupid asshole! What the hell is wrong with you?”
His body was limp and he spoke annoyingly quiet. “I didn’t know.”
“Didn’t know? Didn’t know? You didn’t even try to find out! How could you come to a battle like that drunk? We’re lucky we didn’t need your help!” I let him go and he slid down the wall to the floor.
“Damn!” I cursed. “How are we going to afford new ammunition now? How are we going to repair our Zoids? The Zoids you damaged with your stupid attack!”
His face was a void, even emptier than Sifen’s. Normally I’d be worried, but right then I was too mad.
“And how are we gonna pay off Nevets?” asked Mansod. It took all the strength I had left not to punch Mansod through the wall. As ill timed as his question was, it was a valid point.
Major Erem Nevets was the local law authority in the town of Klaylos. He was the stereotypical corrupt military man: he ruled with an iron fist, but he could be bought off. He recognized us the day we moved into town, but agreed to let us live there if we paid him a hefty fee every month. With the loss of the Rykur bounty, there was no way we could pay him now.
“Where do you get all that alcohol anyways, Kavid?” His eyes were closed.
Sifen entered the room. “Jeremy, I have some moderately good news for you. A couple of Rykur’s henchmen had bounties on them.”
I didn’t even want to look up. “How much?”
“Enough to pay off Nevets for another month, but that is about it. Nothing left for ammunition or repair. Nothing even for food.”
The room was dead quiet as I thought, but there was really only one answer. “Then we need to find another bounty.”
Sifen tried to sound neutral, but I could here his frustration. “The Redler and Hel Digunner are out of ammunition, and the Saix and Red Horn need repair work.”
I heard loud snoring and looked at Kavid. “What about the Rev Raptors?”
Mansod answered this time, “They’re in pretty good shape. Number one is one-hundred percent, but number two still has a broken left claw and needs a new blaster.”
“Then we use the Rev Raptors.” I said bluntly. Sifen looked doubtful, but couldn’t offer any other ideas. “Let’s get over to Bruno’s and find some info.”
Sifen and Mansod left the room first, but before I left, I laid Kavid onto the couch. He really stunk, and I really wanted to beat the crap out of him, but I couldn’t just leave him there to rot. He…used to be my friend.

“So, how was the haul today?” asked Bruno as he slid us over a couple of beers.
“Lousy.” Was all I wanted to say.
“Yeah, Kavid screwed it all up by killing Rykur!” said Mansod. That ignorant nimrod needed to learn when to just stay quiet. A couple of patrons heard Mansod’s comment and looked our way. I stared at him and he quickly started drinking his beer.
“Did you get anythin’ then? What about Rykur’s ‘Secret Prize?’”
I froze solid. I was so mad a Kavid the last couple of hours that I had totally forgotten about the supposedly awesome Zoid that Rykur had stolen. “I…I don’t know.” I looked at Sifen, who was budgeting our money accounts while sipping wine.
“The local authorities found nothing in the Gustavs or the cargo crates on the trailers.” he said, “If Rykur had anything, it wasn’t in that convoy. I had a difficult time convincing Nevets that we didn’t take it.”
“Indeed!” said an annoyingly high-pitched voice from the doorway. “And you proved your honor most excellently, Mr. Sifen.” I knew who it was. His voice always hurt my cyberphonic implants.
“Hello, Major Nevets!” Said Bruno as painfully cheerful as possible, “Would ya like a refreshment today?” Bruno asked that every time Nevets walked into the bar, and it really annoyed the heck out of the Major. Thanks, Bruno.
“No, Mr. Saltus, as usual, I do not. I came here only to talk business with Mr. Kelt.”
I started seeing little shapes in my beer bubbles. They looked like little Molgas.
“Mr. Kelt? Excuse me?”
Sifen butted in. “He can hear you just fine, Major. What would you like to talk about?”
“Very well. I have come for your monthly…” he looked at the other bar patrons, “’rent’ payment. I trust you have it?”
“It’s not due for two more days!” cried out Mansod.
“Yes, well, I’m sorry to say that I need it now, and am unable to wait any longer. I’m sure you understand?” He sneered at me. I hated his sneer.
“Give him the money, Sifen.” Sifen nodded and handed him a bundle of cash. Nevets quickly counted it and freaked.
“There is only half the amount here!”
“That’s all you’re going to get, Major.” I said quietly. “That’s all we can afford. I’m sorry.”
Nevets slammed his fist onto the bar and turned me to look at him. “Sorry? Really? Why don’t I believe that?” he actually did the tough-guy thing pretty well. “You don’t call the shots, Mr. Kelt, I do. I’m getting sick of you and your stupid friends trying to patronize me. You either give me the money or I’ll have the Imperial Army drag your dead bodies back to Mt. Hoploy behind a couple of rusty Helcats. Do I make myself clear?”
As much as I hated it, he was right. Either we paid him or we died. Pretty simple concept. I began to see that our situation had developed far beyond bribery.
I looked at Sifen and nodded again. He handed the Major the rest of the money. Once he had counted it, the Major was much calmer.
“Very good. But I’m afraid your poor attitude has just doubled your rent. Next month I want twice this much.”
“What?” gasped Mansod. I stood up and stared face-to-face with Nevets.
“You know that we can’t afford that! What are you trying to do? Run us into the ground?”
Nevets sneered again. “I don’t think I need to answer that.” He turned around and started walking towards the door. He stopped and looked at us again. “Of course, you could always come work for me. Then your ‘rent’ would be much less.”
That wasn’t the first time he’d proposed such a thing, but it always made me laugh. “Not on your life.”
“Indeed. Just make sure it’s not on your life, Mr. Kelt. Ta-ta!” He pocketed the cash and walked out the door with a stupid victorious grin on his face.
I grabbed my beer and started feeling a lot closer to Kavid.

[Kavid]

Chapter Three
Treasure Hunting

One of the bar patrons got up and walked over to us. “Hello, gentlemen. Sounds like you’ve got trouble.”
I glared at him. “What do you want? If you’re looking for some kind of financial deal, get lost.”
He smiled almost as annoyingly as Nevets. “No, no, not financial. I just want revenge.”
I turned back to my drink. “I don’t help with that.”
“You want ‘Rykur’s Prize,’ don’t you?”
I turned back at him and studied him. Sifen and Mansod took interest as well. “What do you know about it?”
“I used to work for Rykur, about a year ago, and if I know Rykur, he would have put it in his largest cavern stronghold, out by the Plateos Mountains.”
I ushered Bruno to give the guy a beer. “Where is it?”
His smile got bigger. “Just follow Snake Trail up from the Utri River. It’ll take you right there.”
There had to be a catch. “Why are you telling us this?”
“Rykur tried to kill me. Said I was a traitor. But I got away.” Boy did I know that story. “Since you guys killed him, I figured I owe you the favor. Besides, what would I do with a big Zoid?”
I started feeling anxious. “Thanks.” I got up and Sifen and Mansod followed me to the door.
“No introductions?” asked the patron.
“We don’t have time.” I stopped at the doorway. “But if this is a set-up, you’re a dead man.” I looked at Bruno while he was cleaning a mug. The patron saw Bruno’s stern face, and smiled.
“Don’t worry, I don’t lie. And my name is Skyler.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about, Skyler. Thanks again.” I waved to him and left the bar.

I hated Rev Raptors. I hated the way they looked, they moved and even the way they smelled. I told Mansod over and over to clean this thing, but it still didn’t smell right. This Raptor stunk of burnt metal, which wasn’t a surprise considering its entire body was burn-black. It must have been pulled out of a fire. Obviously it was a leftover from the swarm of Raptors that attacked us with the Geno Saurer out by the Shadow Fox Graveyard. I guess the Death Sniper wanted to keep a couple for himself, since he was just going to obliterate the rest.
This Rev Raptor, RR-1, hated me, too. I could feel it. Its movements were slow and resistant. By being a machine, it had to do what I wanted, but by being a Zoid, it could move at its own pace.
Rykur’s Stronghold was right where Skyler said it would be. The Snake Trail led right up to some massive metal doors blocking a cave entrance. This was too easy so far.
“Hold up, RR-2.” It always felt like I was laughing when I said that. Sifen was in the other Raptor. “This looks fishy.”
“Agreed.” he said.
The scanners in the Rev Raptors were very poor quality, so I figured I needed to do things the old fashioned way. My Raptor’s claw sliced off a tree branch, then lobbed it at the doors. Before it even touched the ground, four robotic sentry cannons popped up from the brush and vaporized the branch with rapid fire.
“Yikes!” I said to myself. I opened a HUD-Comm channel to Sifen. “It would have been nice if Skyler had given us a few warnings.”
“I don’t believe he had the time, sir.” Ouch, a slap from Sifen. “I recorded the locations of the sentries if you wish to toss another branch.”
Slick thinking. “I’ll use a rock this time. It’ll last longer.” RR-1 threw in a boulder, re-activating the sentries who in turn were happily attempting to destroy it. RR-2’s single blaster took the cannons out in four clean shots.
Our Rev Raptors cautiously approached the doors, fearful of mines or possibly other sentries. Once we reached the metal walls, my Raptor scraped them with it claws.
“So, where’s the door knob?” I joked.
“I could try transmitting number combinations and see if they work.”
“Go for it.” As soon as Sifen started the transmissions, an alarm started screaming and a thunderous stomp came bellowing through the metal. Somebody was coming to answer the door.
The doors swung open, smacking Sifen and I into the brush. A deep Zoid-roar soon followed. When I looked over the bushes, I nearly crapped my pants.
A Dibison, not exactly in the best of shape, but a Dibison nonetheless, stood roaring in the doorway.
I quickly contacted RR-2. “Uh…Sifen? Any ideas?”
“Our only hope lies in the fact that the Dibison is in poor condition. Over half of its cannons are missing, as well as one horn, and the armor is very damaged.”
“Must be something Rykur picked up off a battlefield. Is it a sleeper?”
“Considering it hasn’t left the doorway to chase after us, I’d say yes.”
“Ummm…do we have any Rev Raptor attack patterns?” That stupid Zoid wouldn’t stop roaring.
“Mansod and I were practicing one.” Sifen explained it to me but I wasn’t getting my hopes up. Damaged or not, it was still ten-times bigger than we were.
RR-1 ran out of the brush firing at the massive Zoid’s front right leg. The Dibison started firing at me, and sent me sailing up into the air and back into the brush. RR-2 used the distraction to run at the Dibison’s blind side and jump up onto its back. This really got the Zoid roaring and bucking now.
I ran from the brush again and took more shots at the front right leg. I was avoiding the left side, since that’s where the one full horn still stood. Sifen used his Rev Raptor’s claws to walk across the Dibison’s back until he reached the cannons. Once there, he used RR-2’s one good claw to start hacking away at the still-firing cannons. The rusty old metal in the cannons made the cutting easy.
As Sifen started tossing cannons I made a slashing run at the Dibison’s leg. The Rev Raptor’s back blade stabbed into the Zoid’s leg and snapped off. The Dibison roared in pain and back-kicked RR-1 into a tree.
Sifen snipped off the last cannon and jumped down from the massive bison’s back. RR-2 then ran around and made its own run at the ankle. Sifen missed the right leg as it kicked up but stabbed the left leg. His blade snapped as well. The Dibison began a seesaw stomping pattern trying to get over the pain of being stabbed in the feet but also to try and smash Sifen.
RR-1 was pretty banged up, but could still move. The guns still worked, so I started firing again at the ankles. The Dibison’s feet were cracking from the damage, and then finally, they both broke off. The large Zoid came crashing down onto its stomach hard, creating a thunderous boom. It wasn’t out, but it was down, and that was good enough for me.
“Great job, Sifen!” I cheered. “What is that attack called, anyway?”
“Mansod wanted to call it ‘Piggy Back,’ but I think we should call it ‘Raging Bull.’”
“Sounds good to me.” I was smiling, but then I remembered our task. “Let’s get into the cavern, find what we need and get out of here.
“Yes, sir.”

There were no more little surprises or traps on our way into the cavern. It was just a big mess fluttered with massive cargo crates, many never opened. We weren’t sure where to look until we reached the farthest room back into the stronghold. Sitting in there was the biggest metallic cargo crate I had ever seen. It was the size of a small building…and smothered with the logos of the Guylos Empire. Chances were good that the prize Zoid was in there.
“How did they even get this thing in here?” I wondered.
“Rykur must be very resourceful.” Said Sifen.
“I guess.” RR-1’s claws scratched the surface as I looked for a way to open the crate. “Talk about Déjà vu. Any ideas?”
“Should I try random combinations again?”
“No way. What if we use our lasers to slice down the sides and let it fall forward?”
“It would open it, but the noise would probably collapse the cavern.” Dangit Sifen. Why did he always have to be right?
“I don’t see any other choice. Besides, it will make things more interesting.”
“Interesting?”
“Yeah, interesting. We can run out if need be. Come on!” I ran RR-1 too the left side of the crate and aimed. RR-2 hesitantly copied me on the right side. “Okay, let’s do it!”
I set the blaster for fixed beam and started slicing down the left side of the crate. Sifen was dead even with me, and when we reached the bottom, I closed my eyes.
Nothing.
The crate side didn’t fall. I walked up to it to give it a nudge, but right as I lifted my Rev Raptor’s arm, a moaning sound echoed through the cavern. Creaking and snapping sounds soon followed as the crate’s side towered over and smashed down onto the dry rocky ground.
Nothing again. I expected everything to start falling on top of me, but the stalactites stuck tight. We got off Scott-free.
When we walked our Raptor’s around to look into the box, my jaw almost hit RR-1’s control board. Sifen said it all in two words.
“Dark Spiner.”

[Tilly]

Kavid said:

We figured we’d have an easier time staying out of site in Guylos, since less people know us there

Fewerrrr. And sight...

Er...other than that, looking good again-gasp, a character actually having a flaw and not staying a perfect good guy :p.

Liked the reference to the first fic's beginning, too. Referencing previous fics is fun...

Also liked the Raptor not liking him either-I tend to personify Zoids a bit more, and it's nice to see someone else doing that without breaking the tone.

[Deadborder]

Nice work there, Kavid. I'm enjoying it. You've got the same mix of chracter and action that made the PAC-Wolves so good. Likewise you've got nicely flawed and belivable chracters. Keep at it.

Like Tilly, I tend to "personify" Zoids a lot. Its a little touch I enjoy; you've probably seen bits of it in the CrappyZoidsFic.

Can't wait for more...

Rick R.

[Kavid]

Yeah, you're right, Tilly. Something about that sentence bugged me, too. But I'd edited everything twice and was a little anxious so I left it as is. Should be a little more patient I guess.

I felt I shouldn't make so many threads this time and should put in more chapters at a time. Of course, this means it will take longer to post stuff. Hope you don't mind.

Thanks, guys!

[darthraider1]

Nice job, as usual! I like this already...adventures in the empire. That's alot of writing, but keep it coming.

[skatemonkey89]

Skatemonkey89 said it all in two words.
"Woot-ness."

;D