A New Perspective - A Zoids Fan-Fiction

Episode 1 - The Delivery Boy

A howling wind swept across the desert, stirring up sand so it blocked the light of the sun. This area, located in the desert band of Europa, was known for its sandstorms. Just like the entire continent itself was known for being the battle ground of two warring forces, the Helic Republic and the Guylos Empire, locked in their never ending conflict.

The sound of boots trudging through sand was barely audible above the noise of the wind. From out of a wall of sand appeared a shadowy figure. As the figure stepped closer, away from where the sand had been the thickest, it became clearer. A young man, not more than 20 years old, finally appeared. He had long, dark blue hair pulled back into a pony tail, with a few stray pieces that would have hung on either side of his face if not for the wind. Dark green eyes scanned the waste land. His name was Milo, and he was really no one special, just someone with a case of bad luck. Milo wore a long black coat, with a flap in the front, and one in the back split in half. It had red outlining, and golden cuffs. To tie it all together, he wore a light grey belt, and golden boots. Twinkling brightly with each glimpse of light it caught, was the Helic Republic's emblem.

Milo was a simple 'Delivery Boy' working for the Helic Republic. In reality a transporter of various things from weapons to messages, with the occasional need to transport something special. He had gotten lost when he stopped to check on a package, and the map had flown away in the strong winds. It took little time for him to become lost, but at least he had gotten the map back. Unfortunately, he was now separated from his Zoid, and would have to waste even more time to go looking for it. Yet, without it he was as good as dead out in the waste land. This surprisingly wasn't anything new to Milo, for he seemed to get lost, or lose his Zoid quite often. For what reasons, he could not explain, but it seemed as if he turned his back for only a few minutes, it was gone. That blasted Shield Liger. Just gone, never stolen like he had thought when he first received it.

"Just my luck, I have gone and gotten myself lost, again." Milo voice spiked with annoyance "I couldn't possibly have gone that far, running after this map." He looked around and listened. Perhaps he would be able to hear the footsteps of his Zoid, since he knew that it was not stationary. Surely enough, off in the distance, Milo thought he heard a faint roar.

"Chocolate!" he called. This was answered by another roar, this time a little closer. "Chocolate, Chocolate! Come here!"

This time, a shadow appeared of a medium sized Feline Zoid. It roared a few more times, before it finally became close enough to see clearly. It was a light grey Shield Liger, with black armor, and blue tinted claws and teeth. Its canopy was a similar, but lighter blue color. Chocolate, as the Shield Liger was affectionately known, often wandered off, especially when Milo was relaxing at some hotel or restaurant, or even worse, when she was needed. She seemed to act like she had an actual mind of her own, but that was impossible. Though, Milo had always wondered why some Zoids seemed to act like that. They couldn't have a mind of their own, could they? Of course not. Maybe if they had a more advanced computer, but those cost an awful lot of money, and they're near nonexistent these days. Milo shook his head. That Shield Liger was just a joke, a real piece of junk. Yet, he couldn't imagine getting another Zoid. Not like I could afford a better one anyways.

"Chocolate, you know how I hate it when you run off!" Milo scolded. It was as if he was scolding a little child. Chocolate's answer to this was to bend down, and open the canopy; her way of asking for forgiveness. If Milo wanted to get out of the sand and wind, he would have to forgive the ashamed Shield Liger. So, he climbed into the cockpit, closed the canopy, threw down the map on the control console, and headed off, brushing sand out of his hair. His destination was a Republican city to the west. It wasn't much further, only about a two hours distance in a Zoid. With the help of the map, he soon cleared the sandstorm, and headed west.

As he got closer to the city, memories of friends he hadn't seen for at least two years came back to him. All the pranks they pulled and all the places that they went. He especially remembered the time that he, Karol, and Nate went to the amusement park. He and Karol took Nate, the one who was afraid of roller coasters, on every single ride they could get on. And he screamed the loudest one every one of them.

Milo couldn't wait to see them, and hear all about what they had done after leaving the military academy two years ago. He wondered what types of Zoids they had gotten (if they could afford them that was. Zoids had become rare and pricey with the war), what jobs they had and so on. As he came closer to the city, his excitement grew. It certainly had been lucky he had been assigned a package to deliver to the base stationed there. It is just over this hill, Milo thought to himself. But when he got over the hill, it was not at all like he expected. Chocolate let out a small growl. Bright orange light reflected off her cockpit shield.