On the northern end of the Eastern Continent the plains stretched far and wide, a perfect place for any Zoid to bound about at top speed. The most eager usually the faster-maneuvering Zoids, the Foxes and the Wolves, the Ligers and the Saixes, even the occasional Hound Soldier. But today there is one Zoid that is not happy to be out on the plains...

A red Lightning Saix stood with the straw target dangling from its mouth, tilting its head from side to side to force the two meter circle to swing like a pendulum on its wire tether. Its name was Pitch and standing fifteen meters away on a large crate was a human with a bow and arrow, her brown hair tied back with a few wisps blowing in the gentle wind, her name was Ceva. They seemed to be the only ones there and as such the only sound was the creaking of the wire the Saix held and the slight creak of a bow being drawn taut.

It's so peaceful, so quiet...gah, I hate this! Pitch thought as he growled and dropped the target just as the human let loose an arrow with red and black fletching. The arrow made a dull clank as it impacted with the Saix's neck armor and the Saix slammed its butt to the ground.

"Pitch!" Ceva snapped as she wobbled at the heavy impact. "What's your problem?"

"Ceva, could this be any more insulting?" Pitch broadcasted as its eyes glowed a demonic shade of green.

"You said you didn't mind helping me with target practice," Ceva noted as she adjusted her wrist guard. "Geneva never minds."

"Pfft," the Saix answered as it lay down and looked away. "I thought she meant practice for the Zoid, but I guess a slowpoke like her would enjoy this."

"Yeah," Ceva smiled as she hopped down from the crate and set down the bow, pulling on her gloves. "Never mind that when she activates her boosters she's faster than you. But since you want target practice, let's use your new cat toy."

The Saix growled at the comment, but as no cat could stay focused on anger when there's a toy around, he slowly looked over at Ceva. It was hard not to appear interested, especially when Ceva was tapping gently on the crate to keep his attention.

"You're evil, no one taunts a cat Zoid," Pitch tried to defend, but it was a half-hearted attempt as the Saix was already on its feet and inching closer. "Is it shiny?

"And round," Ceva said as she fingered the latch and the crate rattled.

Ooh, gimme, gimme, gimme...

Walking along at a slow but stedy pace was a single Geno Saurer as it makes it way across the plains. Inside was Angel, pilot of this beast. Angel was sitting back relaxing and reading some comics books he picked up in the last town. It was a wonderfully sunny day and nothing could go wrong. He reached out grabbing his bottle of rootbeer just moment before the sensors picked something up. Angel set the bottle back down and looked at the sensors.

"What have we got here Rok?"

"Looks like a Saix and it's pilot, Angel"

"Might as well go say hello. Turn on your boosters and head over at max burn if you don't mind Rok"

"No problem. I was finding this pace a bit slow and boring."

The Geno's boosters lit up leaving a scorch mark on the ground. Nothing that wont dissappear in a few weeks. Angel set his comic aside and put the cap back on the rootbeer bottlebefore taking the controlls. To both the Zoid and pilots surprise the Saix was looking anxious about something in a box. This may prove to be exciting.

"Alright now," Ceva said as she held the door to the crate. "Just try not to forget I'm here...and try not to trample anybody."

"You give me so little credit," the Saix said as it inclined its head, it jaw opening slightly at the sight of light glinting off metal from inside the box.

Arching a brow, Ceva released the door to the crate and narrowed her eyes against the dust as a silver and black blur shot from the inside. It came to a stop about ten meters behind the Saix, hovering silently as Pitch took in all of its inherent 'shiny-ness'. It was shaped like a ball for the most part, with odd little cylinders protruding from its surface; the black stripes on its circumference were actually vernier thrusters to keep it afloat. All in all, it was perhaps slightly wider than Ceva's straw bullseye.

"I'm activating the safety on your weapons," Ceva said absently as she took a controller from her pocket. "That little toy of yours was expensive and I'd hate to lose it when it makes you mad."

"Please, how is that thing going to--?"

The Saix never finished its comment. The floating orb had fired a pulse, little more than a slight ball or electricity, right into the Saix's rear end. Snarling at the violation, Pitch turned to face the orb, only it wasn't in the same place it had been. It was moving, at least 300 kph, away from the Saix, making whistling and kissing noises as it fled.

"Grrahhhh, get over here!" the Saix roared as it took off after the orb at top speed, the Lightning Beam cannons firing insanely with little aim.

Ceva stood coughing for a moment, actually spitting out small blades of grass in the process. She hadn't been surprised when the Saix had taken off that quickly, or that the orb had shot it in such a personal place (she had programmed that), but what did surprise her was that they had a visitor. A sole Genosaurer was approaching, its boosters making odd black marks in the grass as it advanced.

Hmm, nice Geno, Ceva thought as the Zoid approached, until the orb came into her line of sight followed closely by a crimson blur. Uh, oh.

The orb was heading for the Geno and Ceva knew that it would be able to veer off...but Pitch was so intent on the chase that he wouldn't see the Geno until the collision. Quickly removing her gloves, Ceva placed her fingers in her mouth and blew as hard as she could, the resulting whistle loud and almost painful to her ears. The orb immediately veered off towards her, leaving the Saix very confused...until it saw 113 tons of Saurer approaching.

"Son of a Konig!" the Saix gaped as it cut its boosters and veered to the Geno's closest side.

The clearance was close, little more than three meters to the Geno's right, but the Saix had managed to avoid it and come to a complete halt. It sank to its back knees while holding itself up with its front legs, looking very put out as it chanced a glimpse over its shoulder to the Geno. The Saix probably would have blacked out, but its pride wouldn't let that happen...at least not in front of anyone he didn't know.

"I'm so sorry," Ceva shouted as she ran to meet the Geno, the orb now circling her head slowly. "Had I known someone else was here, I would have waited. Pitch, come apologize!"

Sure, the Saix thought as its forelegs slowly slid from under it. Right after my core starts beating properly...I lost at least two of my nine lives on that one. Oy.

At the sight of the Saix Angel killed the boosters and stops the Geno dead. The footlock took hold to brace for impact. There was no impact. Thankfully the Saix was able to slide by with enough room to not scared Angel to death.

The footlocks came up and the cockpit lowered letting Angel out. He walked around Rok to see if everything was normal. "You ok Rok? Nothing broken?

"Everything seems to be alright. I should have activated the shield though. Sorry." Rok said in small roars.

"Don't worry about it Rok. No one is hurt and no zoid is damaged." Angel turned and looked at the girl shouting at him. He climbed back inside and grabbed his bottle of rootbeer and one more incase she wanted something.

"Hello. Quite the zoid you have there. Very good reflexes. This training or You just having some fun?" He had a smile on his face which was his normal. He held the rootbeer out. "Care for a drink?"

"Well," Ceva said as her face flushed bright red, "Pitch is something else. I little bit of a hot head but not a bad Zoid overall." Then she added, "Thank you" and graciously took the root beer.

The Saix had managed to get to its feet and was moving slowly towards them, still quite shaken but otherwise unharmed. It took a moment to look at them all before heaving and lowering its head.

"I'm sorry," Pitch started. "I was so caught up in that stupid thing that I didn't see where I was going."

"Perhaps that was a little extreme for target practice," Ceva admitted as she looked down at the root beer in her hands. "You don't even bother to aim, Pitch."

The Saix said nothing but glared at the orb still hovering a few meters above Ceva's head. It began shuffling its feet, looking quite awkward standing next to the massive Geno.

Looking over at Angel, Ceva gave a sigh and slowly opened her root beer. "Pitch has very little patience and good reflexes don't mean much if you don't have the patience to use them correctly. Thankfully no one got hurt, but today's practice could have been like running head-first into a brick wall."

Now that's an ugly image, the Saix thought as it visualized red armor flying in all directions after the impact and shuddered. Maybe I should slow down a little, but what good is a Saix without its speed?

"Can't blame him, he is a cat type zoid after all. They all love to chase shiney objects.", Angel said before taking a sip of his root beer and looking at the Saix. The sun gleamed off it's metal body making it look quite nice.

"I have to admit thought your Saix has great control. Most others would have crashed into Rok and myself. May I ask what you are doing way out here?", Angel asked quizzically being thr curious type.

Rok became curious as well and looked at the metal ball hovering in the air. He started to become attrached to it as well. "Oooo, it's so shiney.", Rok hissed as he stared at it.

"True, you can't always tear a cat from its toy. Hmm," Ceva said as she noticed the way the Geno was eyeing the floating orb. "I was trying to teach Pitch that speed wasn't always the best remedy for battle, but perhaps we should try a different sort of training, namely teamwork."

The Saix gave Ceva a wary look as she leaned over to Dragon. "How would you like to let your Geno participate? He seems rather taken by the vernier orb as well. You just have to put his weapons on safety though, that orb cost quite a bit of change."

"So we're doing something new?" Pitch hedged as he watched Ceva take a drink.

"A tagteam chase, where each of you take turns shooting at the orb. If I can't teach you patience, the least I can do is teach you how to work with another Zoid. Of course, with another Zoid present you have to pay more attention to your surroundings. Think you can handle that?"

"I could if I tried," the Saix said as it tapped its chin with a paw.

"So, how about it?" Ceva asked Dragon. "Up to helping me teach Pitch how to play nicely with others?"

"I promise I'll start out slow."

Angel finished off his bottle of rootbeer and looks up at Rok with a smile."Think your up for some teamwork Rok?"

Rok looked down at Ceva and Angel and they both could almost feel him smile at the thought. "I would love to try that. I have never worked with a Saix before so it will be quite fun."

"I that case I need you to turn your weapons onto safe mode and disable the Chagred Particle Gun.", a few clicks are heard as the weapons turn on their safety.

"Weapons are on safety. Can we start now?" Rok bobbed his head in excitment. The sun shineing off the orb wasn't helping as Rok stared at it a bit more

"Okay," Ceva said as she took the remote control to the orb and pressed some of the buttons. "This will be more like a game of tag I suppose. Since Rok is the guest Zoid of honor he can go first."

Pitch stood on its toes and eyed the massive guns on the Saurer's back, unsure whether there would be a target once the Geno was through, but trusting since Ceva was so certain.

"Rok will shoot at the orb until he scores a direct hit, I've programmed it to light up when a hit is scored. Pitch will take over from there and it will go back and forth like that."

"You're making it sound too easy," the Saix noted giving Ceva a stern look. "I hate it when you do that."

"Ok, you got me," Ceva admitted. "The catch is, while one Zoid is trying to score a hit on the orb the other Zoid has to keep the orb from getting away and you have to keep from hitting your teammate, exactly like in a real battle. Does that sound fair to everyone?"

"You're determined not to make this easy, aren't you?"

"Battles are never easy whether real or simulated, you remember that Pitch."

Angel looked up at Rok as he nodded and agreed.

"This sounds fun. Hope I don't hit the Saix." Rok said as he looked from the ball to the feline.

"It's seems both zoid are getting a bit impatient. Any place we can sit so that we don't get run over?" Angel asked as he looked around.

He looked up once more at the massive Geno. "Hey Rok if you plan on using the grappler claws try to make sure you are no where near myself or this young lady, alright?"

"Yeah yeah. Let's just start. I hate standing around."

Rok's impatience could be felt in the air as though something intense was about to happen. His guns were already taking aim.

Ceva smiled at Rok's eagerness, it reminded her of a crimson cat-type Zoid she knew. Motioning for Pitch to face ninety-degrees from Rok, Ceva looked to Dragon and then made a motion with her right hand. The orb immediately flew forward, moving almost a full 300 kph as it had been before. It fired some of its light shots at the Geno and alternatively at the Saix, purely harmless as it was concentrating more on not getting hit.

Pitch was moving in a wide arc, just behind and outside of the orb to keep it at bay. It was also watching Rok very carefully, determined not to get hit...because whether the ammo was fake or not the Geno's weapons were still awe-inspiring.

Come on, Pitch, the Saix thought as it varied its speed to keep the orb from getting away. Concentrate, concentrate. Don't get hit, don't let it get away. Don't get hit, don't let it get away...

(sorry it has taken so long. just starting a new job so time has been limited.)

"ACK! Too fast.", Rok growled as he activated the boosters and chased after the orb. The back mounted rifles could be seen taking careful aim as a shot ripped out. After the shot Rok relized he didn't keep an eye on where Pitch was.

"Watch yourself Rok. Make sure you know exactly what your doing.", Angel yelled out trying to help Rok.

Rok nodded to show he heard and alter his course trying to make sure he shots had no chance of hitting Pitch.

((Sorry for the slow response, exams just ended recently.))

They might be safety shots, the Saix joked as one of Rok's shots flashed a few meters in front of him, but they still scare the ball bearings out of me.

"Watch your speed, Pitch," Ceva called carefully as the vernier orb suddenly slowed and allowed the Saix to outrun it before firing a safety shot right into the Saix's tail.

Hey! I thought you said it couldn't shoot back.

"Wouldn't make much of a practice now, would it?" Ceva joked as the Saix doubled back to keep its tail from being a prime target.

Less than two minutes later the vernier orb suddenly began to flash blue and green as Ceva applauded. "Congratulations, Rok, you hit it. Pitch, your turn to chase is coming, just wait until the lights flash yellow before starting."

Cats are colorblind, Pitch declared proudly.

"You're mechanical, you can determine color...or you can just wait and get hit in the bum again."

The Saix grumbled and lowered its rear end to the ground. I'll watch then.

Rok let out a roar of success. He didn't stop for a moment though, oh no. He made sure to get about 50 meters away and start circleing it. He tried to predict where it would move.

Angel pulled a small microphone from one of his pockets. At the bottom was a small flashing light. He flipped a switch and began speaking into it.

"Very nice Rok. Just keep your guard up and react. Remember your bigger then the Saix so your much easier to hit as well."

"Right. Need to keep my eyes on the ball and react."

Once the ball took off Rok chased after at full speed trying to help trap it for Pitch. He made sure to watch where the orb was and where Pitch was so that no shots would hit him. When needed Rok would fire out a grappling hook arm in front of the rob to help coral it either towards Pitch or at least in another direction to help make it easier to hit.

I may be faster, but this thing might be too maneuverable for me to handle, the Saix thought as it fired its pulse cannons to keep the orb from getting too far away from Rok.

The Saix could feel itself getting frustrated and snarled as it gave a few shots with the laser cannons to vary its weaponry. Rok was obviously maneuverable enough to keep the orb from getting away, but Pitch was still trying to learn how to slow down in a battle situation. A sudden flash and a loud yelp issued from the Saix as the orb scored another hit on the cat Zoid's thigh.

"You're evil," Pitch growled at the orb as he came around in an arc. "That's exactly what you are, E-V-I-L!"

The orb actually began vibrating in midair and made a loud kissing noise in response, taunting the Saix even more to everyone's amusement.

"Curse your circuits, c'mere!"

With a second round of kissing noises, the orb veered away as Pitch tried to follow. Only Rok was keeping it from escaping and Pitch suddenly got an idea actually taking off to the opposite side of the Genosaurer as the orb.

"What is that Saix up to?" Ceva hedged as she stood on her toes. "I can't see past Rok, Angel."

Neither could the orb and Pitch suddenly came into view, standing completely still as Rok herded the orb past. A pair of shots streaked through the air and the orb suddenly began to whistle, its lights flashing and letting them all know that it had been hit.

"Whoo!" the Saix roared as it ran into position for the next round. "I told you no one taunts a cat Zoid and gets away with it! Alright, Rok, look alive it's your turn."