((Alright, pilots. Get ready to rumble.))

Crimson hair falling across his face as he ran, O’Cella prayed that he was not too late. He had only recently signed up to join in the Peasent Cup tournament and he’d only just remembered that it was soon to begin. Baggy pants were caught by branches, snapped off against bracers and greaves as he batted them away. His black cloak snagged on a stronger branch, almost strangling him as he attempted to keep running, but unsheathing his heavy-bladed knife he simply swung it upwards in an arc and took off the branch as close to the cloak as he could risk.

Sheathing the knife, the Trillstani simply pumped his arms and legs faster. He was well known in his village for his ability to run fast and long, that and his thirst to pilot the fastest land Zoid possible. His metallic blue Saberlion came into view, certainly not the fastest but the small Zoid was most certainly agile enough to place it’s blade through the side of a bigger opponent.

”Hey buddy.”

Climbing up the leg of the relatively small war machine, O’Cella shook his head to remove the last of the water from his hair. He had been drinking from a small stream, moving between cities without having something big to carry supplies in was not a good idea. Pulling himself into the open cockpit, then pulling off his black cloak and throwing it behind him, the warrior activated all of the systems and searched his mind for the battle site.

Checking a small map he had taped to the ceiling of the cockpit, the former hunter found it easy to find his own position and then mark different landmarks around the battle-zone.

”Time to go my friend.”

In just over a second the eight and a half meter long Zoid was traveling at a little over seventy meters per second. He pushed the Zoid, leaping over the tallest of trees and almost running vertically up a cliff-face at one point.

It wasn’t long before he had reached the battle zone, slowing to a halt and allowing the Saberlion to roar. It was quiet compared to a Shield Liger or any of its’ evolutions, yet loud enough for O’Cella to declare that he was there…

The Sheild Liger, Warshark, and Command Wolf UCT sit on trailers being pulled by the team's gustav. Ryu and Vincent sat back in their seats relaxing and clearing their minds while Jason sat in the pilot's chair and viewed the area. The Gustav came to a halt as they came to the battle field and the three exited the Gustav and entered their zoids. The three ran the necessary tests to make sure everything was in working order.

Ryu pressed a button and opened a private channel with his teammates.

"Guys lets show them what we're made of. The plan is we knock everyone else and THEN its just us. We stick with that plan and we can't lose.."

Jason nodded his head.

"We need to worry about Ivy and her partner whats his name...." Jason sat open mouthed as he tried to remember.

"Alex I believe..." Vincent added in.

"Yeah it was Alex...."

Jason shrugged and went back to work.

"Alright. Here's the plan: We go for the easy kills by taking out the Storm Riders, and then we gangrape O'Cella."
"Sounds reasonable." Angel was paying attention to driving, but she was listening to Gary listen to himself talk. "Did you get in contact with Lance or Aden?"
"Aden's a definite no-show -- again -- but Lance said he'd try to make it. I'm not holding out hope, though." Gary shrugged, watching the rain spatter the glass.

The massive sound of engines were heard as a ZBC Hammer Kaiser flew overhead it's rear exit opening as it hovered at a ten meter altitude. An Aro Saurer leaped out landing on the ground as the Hammer Kaiser pulled away making a speedy bullet towards it's original destination. Yare yare..... Lance idly typed in a few commands bringing up that shiney new HUD. Shiney. New. Lance liked the sound of that. The Aro Saurer stood beside Gary's zoid as Lance yawned for a moment and looked around.

"Yesh you think you threatened me enough Angel?"

Lance growled a surly growl as he seemed to be waking up still. The comms opened showing him sipping something out from a thermus the controls on two of the consoles undeployed making room to put his food for now.

"Gary, remind me to shoot him."
"Pretty sure the military's gonna do that, Ang." Gary grinned as he got out into the rain to walk over to his zoid. He waved at Lance as he did so. Once in the Guysack, he activated the controls. He heard a beeping in the cockpit, then realized the Judgeman was coming down.
It wasn't a Judgeman.
"Attention all ZBC pilots and personnel. This is Kyne Xaratan, speaking live from the site of the last battle in the Royal Cup Tournament. We did this for you, Dad." The broadcast ended.
"They won!" Angel's yell was audible from inside the Gustav. "Whoo-hoo!"
"Angel used to be on Dawnstar," Gary explained in an aside to Lance. "Her cousin, Hank, is their tactician and gunner. He's the one who'll be getting their new Zeta-class zoid."

*snaps fingers* Go go gadget admintopickymagic! ~Alex

Ryu sat down in the Command Wolf UCT's cockpit and looked at the competition. A name on the list caught his eye. It was the word Stonecutter. This was going to be a tough match now. With not just 2 zoids to worry about it was now 5. This was going to be very interesting.

Vincent sat back and relaxed in the Warshark's cockpit. Sides there was no point in worrying about this battle. If they lost then that was that as long as they tried their hardest.

Jason looked out of the Sheild Liger DSC-J's cockpit. This would be his first battle in this zoid. He leaned back and waited for the match to start.

Ryu opened a communications link and decided to speak with the other combatants. He said,

"Hello Angela and good luck today guys" in a cheerful tone and was merely talking just to hear himself talk to pass the time till the start of battle.

"And you are?" Angel looked at him quizzically as she opened a visual link to his zoid.
"Who cares?" Gary cackled. "It's a Storm Rider. They suck. Am I right, or am I right?"
" . . . " Angel fixed him with a cold stare.

O'Cella should of been fearful as the enemy Zoids began to arrive, small groups drifting towards the battle zone. It was easy to pick out the more common of the Zoids, a Shield Liger, Warshark and Guysack. Not as easy to figure out what he saw was an Aro Saurer; it was, after all, the first time he had seen the Zoid.

Should of been fearful... Yet all O'Cella felt at that moment was an eagnerness to get the battle started, to put his small Zoid up against the bigger and stronger ones he saw before him. He knew that the chances of him coming out as the winner of this small tournament were one in a million. It might be a free-for-all but team members were going to stick together until the last possible moment.

"But we'll show 'em buddy, don't need to be covered in guns to kick ass."

The Saberlion roared once more in agreement before crouching down slightly in a ready position, it's front legs almost running along the ground and its' nose actually touching it. The back legs were braced against the floor as well as they could be, claws had dug furrows in the dirt.

Ryu's smile faded as his right eye began to twitch.

"My name is Ryu, Ryu Cloud."

He begins to smile again as he says,

"Seems like your friend Gary has a very big mouth..."

"Very big," Gary agreed enthusiastically. "So big, in fact, that-"
"Gary, shut up." Angel sighed softly. "Somebody cue the Judgeman."
The Judge Capsule came rocketing down, landing softly with the hiss of retro-rockets.
"That works."
"Pilots, send out your data immediately or suffer dire consequence!"
"Judgeman nineteen-eighty-four. Wonderful." Gary sighed. "Gary Stuart, Class D Pilot of the Stonecutters, piloting a Guysack sportin' the Safecracker Javelins."
"Angelica Fisk, Class E Pilot of the Stonecutters, piloting a Leomaster."

"Ryu Cloud, Class E Pilot of the Storm Riders, piloting Command Wolf UCT"

"Vincent Malvado, Class E Pilot of the Storm Riders, piloting Warshark"

"Jason Mathews, Class E pilot of the Storm Riders, piloting Shield Liger DSC-J"

Due to circumstances, I'll go ahead and withdraw my entry before this gets too out of hand. Sorry, folks! ~Alex

((Thread murderer! Thread murderer!
. . . Okay, so actually I just got lazy for the past half-week or so and decided to not come to the library of d00m. But I'm here now!))

"Area within three hundred kilometers is unsafe. All personnel not related to the Teams, turn back now. Pilots will be advised to follow all standard ZBC regulations and local regulations for this fight. Let the battle begin!" The Judgeman dropped its paddles.

(sorry for dorping out of contact, bbut Mark and Atta sitll stuck adn Steve will bne with hhem, so jsut waiting for tsoemthign to happen to them. And Solk, yes, woill allow you to have the ZBC to come arrest Atta is need be to get them movign form hwere they are stuck inthe desert.)