ZOIDS

ZOIDS

CUSTOMKING

I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO ZOIDS

THIS STORY IS A FANFIC CREATED WITH

NO THOUGHT OF BENEFIT TO MYSELF

ENJOY!

Chapter 1

Jhese rubbed his chin.

At only fourteen Jhese was the best bounty hunter who didn't use a zoid, actually he was the only one without a zoid. Instead he used a motor-cycle.

As a runaway Jhese had a home, but his father had died in the zoid wars and his mother had sold his zoid to buy food, even when Jhese had asked to pilot it against wild zoids for a fee his mother had refused, she didn't want him to die like his father.

So Jhese ran away, he believed his mother would be able to live easier without him, but life away from home proved incredibly difficult, finally he found a place to stay in the hanger of a kindly old aircraft mechanic, the guy had no zoids and was hopeless as a pilot, but as a mechanic he was untouchable.

Jhese earned his keep by keeping the house and hanger in reasonable order and learned heaps from watching the old man work on zoids and planes alike, when the old man got dotty he began to leave the work more and more to Jhese but when the war broke out all the pilots left and work dried up. The old mechanic had been invited to live with some friends in the next city but on his way over the bus he was riding was attacked by wild molgas; all aboard the bus were killed in the attack. In accordance with the old mechanics will everything now belonged to Jhese. But with no work coming in, Jhese knew if he didn't find an income soon he would have nothing.

Jhese took up bounty hunting, not the type that killed people but the type that exterminated wild zoids for a fee. With all the warriors gone the wild zoid population had exploded and younger people had "borrowed" their older bothers or father's civilian

Zoids and gathered into small hunting forces.

Having no zoid that he could borrow and a score to settle Jhese had armed a motor-cycle with a pair of gattling guns and joined a small band of three other hunters called the "Motley Krew" as they were as different in personality as their zoids were in appearance.

Cyrus the leader: a tall but young looking boy of sixteen years old, he wore military pants, a dark blue denim jacket over a bright red shirt with the words "trust me" printed in black, he had been sent away from the enlistment line because he didn't look eighteen. Pilot of a pteras.

Sixteen year old Kathleen "Kat" a wild tomboy, with red hair and a violent temper, she wanted the frontline but was offered a job as a nurse, Kat had borrowed one of the injured soldiers zoids and been sent home with an ace to her name. She now pilots an attack kat.

David, a thirteen year old was the long range assault specialist used a command wolf A.C. whose long range cannon had spent most of its life as a mounting for a long range camera. The camera had been left on the 'wolf by David as a memento of his deceased father and because he believed that it helped him aim his deathly accurate shots.

Jhese had been ribbed plenty about his bike, but after proving himself with his daredevil strafing runs the teasing had subsided a little.

Now he sat lost in concentration as he puzzled with the idea of adding the thrusters from a zabat that Cyrus had shot down earlier that week to his motor-cycle. It would have to point down otherwise he would lose all control of the bike as it attempted to fly… maybe he should upgrade the suspension to take the ext-

"JHESE!"

Jhese looked up to see David walking over to him

"Cyrus has just landed us a new gig in the forests near Mahabi town. He says that wild hell runners are attacking the edges of town. The loggers are trying to hold them off with their spinosappas but they need help, so they've hired us and the 'wolf pack".

Jhese gunned the engine and the bike leaped forward towards the hell runners; he had never seen so many, hell runners usually didn't run in packs but there had to be at least twenty of them, this gig would pay large.

Jhese's job in the crew was to act as a distraction to the wild zoids firing on them when they pinned down one of his team mates, the bike couldn't carry enough punch to fell a zoid without wasting large amounts of ammunition, and Kat was usually the one in need of help as Cyrus was airborne and David a good mile from the action.

David was in trouble now.

Three hell runners had broken from the pack and headed out to where David was choosing targets; although not bad at close range combat it wasn't David's strong point. Three was simply too much for one command wolf.

At three hundred yards Jhese opened fire spraying the hell runners with a healthy dose of lead and steel, they turned away from David, a big mistake two went down under the 'wolfs claws and teeth, the third made a break and was shot down at point blank by the 'wolfs cannon.

Jhese returned to the fray to find Kat had teamed up with three of the four wolf pack members to herd the last of the hell runners away from the town, while a fourth provided cover fire from a cliff four hundred yards north of David.

The battle was over, five command wolves, four spinosappas, a pteras, an attack kat and a kid on a motorbike had just beaten off thirty five hell runners. Not that there hadn't been casualties Jhese's bike had been scraped along the side and was now losing power, and one of the wolf pack zoids had lost a leg but no human injuries and a large pile of junk parts that Jhese could fix and sell or scrap for cash.

As the bike putted to a halt Jhese saw the problem a gash on the fuel tank had slowly dribbled fuel out the side. That would cost… cost? He was lucky he hadn't been blown to pieces.

Ah well, the bike and guns had only cost him two grand all up but even the smallest weakest zoid would cost at least three grand more than that.

David came up towing the trailer that Jhese had made from the wheels and frame of a molga unit, the command wolf easily hauled it when it was full, but it had an adaptation to hitch up the attack kat for easier hauling, and Jhese started throwing bits of hell runner that he considered usable into the hull, as an afterthought he also loaded the bike in and climbed in after it "I aught to charge you freight you bum" came David's voice over the bikes radio, Jhese pressed the button to reply "that would mean the end of your free repairs you realize?" he replied and heard David's laughter on the other end.

"We're swinging by the zoids shop in Killika city Jhese, I hear they have an open auction going and I want to pick up some new gear for the 'wolf, you could sell some of that junk to make some room for any guns I buy".