DISCLAIMER: I don't own Zoids or anything associated with them. They
belong to… the Cartoon Network? I think that's right. Anyway, they don't
belong to me. I just use them for my own amusement. I am not making any
money off of this. No infringement is intended.
CHAPTER ONE: The Wolf in the Shadows: Jamie makes friends with a stranger
The dark restaurant was not as crowded this Tuesday night as it usually was on a Friday or a Saturday. Only the occasional team just passing through the town or some lone warriors sat in the depressing ambiance. The dark haired boy sitting alone at one of the smaller tables was grateful for this. Accompanied by only a glass of water and gloomy thoughts, the boy slouched backwards in his chair and scowled at the ceiling, wondering as he did so weather anyone at the Torros base even realized he was gone.
/ The doc'll notice when he sees the half-completed maintenance reports, / he thought angrily. /Then he'll look around the base and get mad when he sees the Raynos gone./ He wondered if maybe someone, anyone, would worry for a moment about his absence besides the unfinished work he had left behind. He gave a derisive, internal laugh. The words "care about" and "Jamie" were never spoken in the same sentence among the Blitz team. Not when referring to him anyway.
And now… they hadn't even remembered. Not that he had been expecting them to. The only reason they'd noticed last year was because his father had dropped by two days earlier just for the occasion. But this year his father was off God-knows-where flying *his * old Pteras – the one the Doc had traded in behind *his * back – and wouldn't be able to make it. Oscar Hemeros had called up the Hover cargo that morning to send his regards, but no one had been around to hear it. Leena and Bit were too busy flirting… ahem, fighting, to notice, Brad was off counting his money or something and the Doc was somewhere playing with his model Zoids. Jamie had a feeling that call was the extent of the acknowledgment he'd get this year.
Jamie sighed. His life was so depressing. He took a long drink of water and sighed again.
"That bad, eh, kid?"
Jamie jumped and spun around in his seat. A man with long, raspberry colored hair that fell in a single thick braid down his back and dark glasses sat alone at the table next to him. His profile was facing the Raynos pilot; his high-collared black leather jacket and wrinkled olive complexion gave Jamie the slight creeps.
"Wh-who are you?" he stammered.
"No matter," the man replied in a gruff voice. "Not anymore. Yeh're a psychie, aren't yeh, boy?"
"A what?" asked Jamie, puzzled at the strange inquiry.
"A psychie. A sub-conscious pilot. Yeh've got an 'alter ego,' if yeh will, that fights for yeh." The strange man replied.
"How- how did you know that?"
"Yeh've got that look."
Look? What look? Jamie shook his head in bewilderment. How did this man know who he was?
"Dun worry about it," the man said with a faint trace of a smile. "Yeh learn to recognize the others after a while. We psychies need teh stick together."
"You- you mean, you're… a-"
"That's right, boy. Call me the Cunning Wolf. What's your name?"
"Jamie," the boy replied without thinking.
The Cunning Wolf scoffed and waved his hand impatiently. "Not that one. That's not who yeh are. I want your real name. The only one that's gunna get yeh anywhere in this worthless galaxy."
Worthless was right. Jamie found himself wondering if getting anywhere even through his other personality would ever happen. He was starting to like this man; at the very least he was growing less creeped- out by his mysterious air.
"The Wild Eagle."
Wolf smiled. "It fits yeh. That'd be yer Zoid then, the green one out there with the wings?"
Jamie nodded.
"Yeh like him, do yeh, Eagle boy?"
"Well, yeah. I guess so."
Wolf smiled again. It was a friendly smile, strange for such a dark- looking face. "Here, come sit with me, boy. Talk teh me."
"R-really?"
"Yeah. I ain't waiting for anyone, and yeh look like yeh could use the company." He winked as Jamie turned his chair around and reached into a black satchel beside his chair. "Here, have a drink." He set two white mugs and two tall bottles on the tabletop. "Special creation of mine. Very soothing it is – helps calm yer troubles." As he spoke he took the red bottle and poured a dark crimson liquid into one of the mugs. He pushed it across the table towards Jamie.
"What's in it?"
"Ah, yeh know. That one's strawberry flavored – with real strawberries that is. None of that sugar syrup stuff fer me, thank you."
Jamie bit his lip and pushed the drink back, "I'm allergic to strawberries," he told the Wolf apologetically.
"Ah, yeh are, are yeh? That's too bad. Here, have the raspberry kind, then. That okay for yeh?" Jamie nodded and took the mug Wolf had filled from the maroon colored bottle with a quiet thank you.
"So what brings yeh out here at this hour?" Wolf asked, taking a sip from his mug.
Jamie shrugged. "Just had to get away from things, I guess."
"Ah. I see. People gettin' yeh down?"
"Yeah."
"They never understand what it's like, do they?"
"No," Jamie replied with a scowl. "But it's not like they care, anyway."
"I feel yer pain there. They shove yeh on-teh the back burner without a thought, then just expect yeh teh cater their every whim when they need yeh."
"Yeah," said Jamie with the hint of a smile. He liked Wolf. Sure, something about his manner was a little creepy, but Wolf understood him. Besides, Jamie liked having the company.
"I haven't poisoned that drink, yeh know," said Wolf with another wink.
Jamie smiled and took a sip. It was actually pretty good. The tart raspberry taste lingered on his tongue as the cool, refreshing liquid went down his throat. It carried a funny smell, and something about it seemed a little too sour, almost bitter, but it was good anyway. He took another drink. His glass of water sat forgotten on the other table.
"So yeh like it?"
"Yeah, it's really good," Jamie replied. "What's in it?"
Wolf winked again. "Can't tell yeh that. My own personal recipe."
"Oh." Jamie paused for a second and looked down. "So how did you know about me and the Wild Eagle and all?"
"I told yeh," replied Wolf. "Yeh just learn to recognize it in people."
"How?"
"Yeh just do, that's all. Aren't many of us out there, yeh know."
"I figured that," said Jamie darkly.
"It's not a bad thing. Just means the others don't appreciate yeh fer who yeh are `cause they don't understand. Yeh've got something they don't, Eagle boy. Remember that. Yer a special one. They should be grateful they got someone like yeh on the team."
"Right," said Jamie with a dark, derisive attempt at a laugh. "Totally disregarding the fact that I get shot down *first * pretty much *every time * I'm battle. I certainly didn't help them get to class S. The Blitz team would have gotten here with or without me." He scowled at the floor, which, for some strange reason was starting to spin, if ever so slowly.
"Stop talkin like that," said Wolf sharply. Jamie shook his head and looked up. "That's just them talkin` again, and it's gunna get yeh nowhere in this lousy world. Don't listen teh them, Eagle boy. Yer a far better warrior than yeh realize. Better than they realize. Yeh just have teh find it in yerself. Listenin' teh their talk all the time ain't gunna help yeh, that's fer sure."
"How would you know?" Jamie asked him, "You haven't seen me or the Wild Eagle in battle."
"I got news for yeh, boy. *Yer * the Wild Eagle. Don't be talkin' about him like he isn't a part a yeh, cause he is. An' yer a fine pilot if I say yeh are. I see it in yeh."
"Really?"
"Course I do."
"It's not that I don't *like * thinking up strategies or anything," said Jamie quickly, "Because I do. I mean, I don't really mind staying on the hover cargo and monitoring the battle from there. I enjoy finding strategies and battle plans for the team."
"Never said there was anything wrong with that. S'yer job. If that's what you like teh do, then do it. They depend on yeh fer it."
"Well, no they don't," Jamie admitted glumly. "They don't exactly listen to me."
"They don't, huh?"
"Only once in a great while, like when they have no other way out." Jamie's last couple of words came out a bit wobbly; the room was starting to spin just a little bit faster now. He opened his mouth to ask Wolf exactly what was in the drink, but the older man cut him off.
"S'just like what I told yeh. They're takin` yeh fer granted. They won't realize how much they need yeh until suddenly they're stuck out there and they ain't got yeh around teh help 'em outa whatever mess they got themselves in."
"Tell me about it. It's nice to know there's someone out there who understands."
"That's why we got teh stick together. Them conscious pilots out there don't know what it's like. If yeh let them get yeh down yer just letting them win. Eagles don't let other people push `em around."
Jamie didn't know how to reply to this. He took another sip out of his almost-empty mug. Wolf was right. Whatever it was, it was certainly relaxing. He didn't really care anymore that by now the whole restaurant was turning so fast that he had to grab the edge of the table to steady himself. What did it matter if he passed out? It wasn't like anyone would worry about him, anyway.
"Well, I got teh be goin'," said Wolf. "Nice talkin' teh yeh, Eagle Boy. Keep yer chin up."
"Okay. Thanks for the drink," Jamie said weakly.
"No problem. Maybe I'll see yeh around sometime?"
"Yeah," replied Jamie vaguely. He shook his head, but found it hard to focus his eyes on anything. He gazed blankly into the brown table surface. The wood-painted lines across the top made him dizzy. "I'd like that."
He heard Wolf's gentle chuckle and felt a hand on his shoulder before the mysterious stranger left the dark café, and Jamie found himself alone.
The trip back to the Torros base was not one that Jamie would have described as fun. Right from the takeoff, he had to let the Raynos fly for him; the cockpit was spinning so fast he was beginning to see double and an unpleasant churning was starting to build in the pits of his stomach. Jamie leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.
/What did the Cunning Wolf put in that drink?/ he wondered, shivering at the sudden clammy chill inside the cockpit. He put a hand to his forehead and groaned when he felt it to be unusually warm.
/Hurry up and get back, Raynos,/ he thought desperately. He felt his arial Zoid increase speed by just the slightest margin. It seemed he didn't want his pilot to become violently ill in the cockpit any more than Jamie did.
Jamie literally collapsed to his hands and knees once he reached the floor of the hangar. He took several deep, shaky breaths used every ounce of strength he had to keep himself from throwing up right here and now. The garage gave a frightening lurch when he stood; he staggered drunkenly down the hallway and leaned heavily against a wall.
He gasped and cried out when Bit materialized directly between him and the bathroom.
"Jamie!" the older blond cried, "Where on Zi have you been? We've been looking all over for you – "
The rest of his words were lost on the young pilot, but Jamie was positive Bit was yelling at him for leaving the maintenance reports half- finished. Bit – the guy who *never * did *any * work for anyone – was lecturing *him * on leaving before his job was done. It made Jamie so angry that his blood began to boil. Or maybe that was just from his fever.
"Bit," he gasped, "Move… I'm gunna… be sick…"
But Bit didn't listen to him. No one ever did.
Finally, the young Raynos warrior couldn't take it anymore. He charged straight towards the Liger warrior, screaming "MOVE IT, I'M GOING TO PUKE!" so loudly that Bit froze mid-sentence in shock. Jamie stumbled loudly into the bathroom and threw up, thanking his lucky stars that it all made it into the toilet.
Black dots swam across his vision when he had finished. He flushed the toilet with a violently shaking hand and closed his eyes. He heard Bit's voice saying something incoherent – was that another voice with him? Jamie's vision was far too heavily blurred to see if there was one figure in the doorway or two. He didn't dare stand up, for fear of passing out before he got there. But it turned out not to matter anyway. Black and red dots exploded in front of his eyes, and Jamie gave himself to the welcoming darkness. He was able to feel his shoulder hit something – was it the floor or someone catching him? – before he lost feeling in his arms and legs and brain and gave himself to unconsciousness.
END CHAPTER ONE
NEXT CHAPTER: The Eagle in Captivity: Jamie faces his Teammates.
CHAPTER ONE: The Wolf in the Shadows: Jamie makes friends with a stranger
The dark restaurant was not as crowded this Tuesday night as it usually was on a Friday or a Saturday. Only the occasional team just passing through the town or some lone warriors sat in the depressing ambiance. The dark haired boy sitting alone at one of the smaller tables was grateful for this. Accompanied by only a glass of water and gloomy thoughts, the boy slouched backwards in his chair and scowled at the ceiling, wondering as he did so weather anyone at the Torros base even realized he was gone.
/ The doc'll notice when he sees the half-completed maintenance reports, / he thought angrily. /Then he'll look around the base and get mad when he sees the Raynos gone./ He wondered if maybe someone, anyone, would worry for a moment about his absence besides the unfinished work he had left behind. He gave a derisive, internal laugh. The words "care about" and "Jamie" were never spoken in the same sentence among the Blitz team. Not when referring to him anyway.
And now… they hadn't even remembered. Not that he had been expecting them to. The only reason they'd noticed last year was because his father had dropped by two days earlier just for the occasion. But this year his father was off God-knows-where flying *his * old Pteras – the one the Doc had traded in behind *his * back – and wouldn't be able to make it. Oscar Hemeros had called up the Hover cargo that morning to send his regards, but no one had been around to hear it. Leena and Bit were too busy flirting… ahem, fighting, to notice, Brad was off counting his money or something and the Doc was somewhere playing with his model Zoids. Jamie had a feeling that call was the extent of the acknowledgment he'd get this year.
Jamie sighed. His life was so depressing. He took a long drink of water and sighed again.
"That bad, eh, kid?"
Jamie jumped and spun around in his seat. A man with long, raspberry colored hair that fell in a single thick braid down his back and dark glasses sat alone at the table next to him. His profile was facing the Raynos pilot; his high-collared black leather jacket and wrinkled olive complexion gave Jamie the slight creeps.
"Wh-who are you?" he stammered.
"No matter," the man replied in a gruff voice. "Not anymore. Yeh're a psychie, aren't yeh, boy?"
"A what?" asked Jamie, puzzled at the strange inquiry.
"A psychie. A sub-conscious pilot. Yeh've got an 'alter ego,' if yeh will, that fights for yeh." The strange man replied.
"How- how did you know that?"
"Yeh've got that look."
Look? What look? Jamie shook his head in bewilderment. How did this man know who he was?
"Dun worry about it," the man said with a faint trace of a smile. "Yeh learn to recognize the others after a while. We psychies need teh stick together."
"You- you mean, you're… a-"
"That's right, boy. Call me the Cunning Wolf. What's your name?"
"Jamie," the boy replied without thinking.
The Cunning Wolf scoffed and waved his hand impatiently. "Not that one. That's not who yeh are. I want your real name. The only one that's gunna get yeh anywhere in this worthless galaxy."
Worthless was right. Jamie found himself wondering if getting anywhere even through his other personality would ever happen. He was starting to like this man; at the very least he was growing less creeped- out by his mysterious air.
"The Wild Eagle."
Wolf smiled. "It fits yeh. That'd be yer Zoid then, the green one out there with the wings?"
Jamie nodded.
"Yeh like him, do yeh, Eagle boy?"
"Well, yeah. I guess so."
Wolf smiled again. It was a friendly smile, strange for such a dark- looking face. "Here, come sit with me, boy. Talk teh me."
"R-really?"
"Yeah. I ain't waiting for anyone, and yeh look like yeh could use the company." He winked as Jamie turned his chair around and reached into a black satchel beside his chair. "Here, have a drink." He set two white mugs and two tall bottles on the tabletop. "Special creation of mine. Very soothing it is – helps calm yer troubles." As he spoke he took the red bottle and poured a dark crimson liquid into one of the mugs. He pushed it across the table towards Jamie.
"What's in it?"
"Ah, yeh know. That one's strawberry flavored – with real strawberries that is. None of that sugar syrup stuff fer me, thank you."
Jamie bit his lip and pushed the drink back, "I'm allergic to strawberries," he told the Wolf apologetically.
"Ah, yeh are, are yeh? That's too bad. Here, have the raspberry kind, then. That okay for yeh?" Jamie nodded and took the mug Wolf had filled from the maroon colored bottle with a quiet thank you.
"So what brings yeh out here at this hour?" Wolf asked, taking a sip from his mug.
Jamie shrugged. "Just had to get away from things, I guess."
"Ah. I see. People gettin' yeh down?"
"Yeah."
"They never understand what it's like, do they?"
"No," Jamie replied with a scowl. "But it's not like they care, anyway."
"I feel yer pain there. They shove yeh on-teh the back burner without a thought, then just expect yeh teh cater their every whim when they need yeh."
"Yeah," said Jamie with the hint of a smile. He liked Wolf. Sure, something about his manner was a little creepy, but Wolf understood him. Besides, Jamie liked having the company.
"I haven't poisoned that drink, yeh know," said Wolf with another wink.
Jamie smiled and took a sip. It was actually pretty good. The tart raspberry taste lingered on his tongue as the cool, refreshing liquid went down his throat. It carried a funny smell, and something about it seemed a little too sour, almost bitter, but it was good anyway. He took another drink. His glass of water sat forgotten on the other table.
"So yeh like it?"
"Yeah, it's really good," Jamie replied. "What's in it?"
Wolf winked again. "Can't tell yeh that. My own personal recipe."
"Oh." Jamie paused for a second and looked down. "So how did you know about me and the Wild Eagle and all?"
"I told yeh," replied Wolf. "Yeh just learn to recognize it in people."
"How?"
"Yeh just do, that's all. Aren't many of us out there, yeh know."
"I figured that," said Jamie darkly.
"It's not a bad thing. Just means the others don't appreciate yeh fer who yeh are `cause they don't understand. Yeh've got something they don't, Eagle boy. Remember that. Yer a special one. They should be grateful they got someone like yeh on the team."
"Right," said Jamie with a dark, derisive attempt at a laugh. "Totally disregarding the fact that I get shot down *first * pretty much *every time * I'm battle. I certainly didn't help them get to class S. The Blitz team would have gotten here with or without me." He scowled at the floor, which, for some strange reason was starting to spin, if ever so slowly.
"Stop talkin like that," said Wolf sharply. Jamie shook his head and looked up. "That's just them talkin` again, and it's gunna get yeh nowhere in this lousy world. Don't listen teh them, Eagle boy. Yer a far better warrior than yeh realize. Better than they realize. Yeh just have teh find it in yerself. Listenin' teh their talk all the time ain't gunna help yeh, that's fer sure."
"How would you know?" Jamie asked him, "You haven't seen me or the Wild Eagle in battle."
"I got news for yeh, boy. *Yer * the Wild Eagle. Don't be talkin' about him like he isn't a part a yeh, cause he is. An' yer a fine pilot if I say yeh are. I see it in yeh."
"Really?"
"Course I do."
"It's not that I don't *like * thinking up strategies or anything," said Jamie quickly, "Because I do. I mean, I don't really mind staying on the hover cargo and monitoring the battle from there. I enjoy finding strategies and battle plans for the team."
"Never said there was anything wrong with that. S'yer job. If that's what you like teh do, then do it. They depend on yeh fer it."
"Well, no they don't," Jamie admitted glumly. "They don't exactly listen to me."
"They don't, huh?"
"Only once in a great while, like when they have no other way out." Jamie's last couple of words came out a bit wobbly; the room was starting to spin just a little bit faster now. He opened his mouth to ask Wolf exactly what was in the drink, but the older man cut him off.
"S'just like what I told yeh. They're takin` yeh fer granted. They won't realize how much they need yeh until suddenly they're stuck out there and they ain't got yeh around teh help 'em outa whatever mess they got themselves in."
"Tell me about it. It's nice to know there's someone out there who understands."
"That's why we got teh stick together. Them conscious pilots out there don't know what it's like. If yeh let them get yeh down yer just letting them win. Eagles don't let other people push `em around."
Jamie didn't know how to reply to this. He took another sip out of his almost-empty mug. Wolf was right. Whatever it was, it was certainly relaxing. He didn't really care anymore that by now the whole restaurant was turning so fast that he had to grab the edge of the table to steady himself. What did it matter if he passed out? It wasn't like anyone would worry about him, anyway.
"Well, I got teh be goin'," said Wolf. "Nice talkin' teh yeh, Eagle Boy. Keep yer chin up."
"Okay. Thanks for the drink," Jamie said weakly.
"No problem. Maybe I'll see yeh around sometime?"
"Yeah," replied Jamie vaguely. He shook his head, but found it hard to focus his eyes on anything. He gazed blankly into the brown table surface. The wood-painted lines across the top made him dizzy. "I'd like that."
He heard Wolf's gentle chuckle and felt a hand on his shoulder before the mysterious stranger left the dark café, and Jamie found himself alone.
The trip back to the Torros base was not one that Jamie would have described as fun. Right from the takeoff, he had to let the Raynos fly for him; the cockpit was spinning so fast he was beginning to see double and an unpleasant churning was starting to build in the pits of his stomach. Jamie leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.
/What did the Cunning Wolf put in that drink?/ he wondered, shivering at the sudden clammy chill inside the cockpit. He put a hand to his forehead and groaned when he felt it to be unusually warm.
/Hurry up and get back, Raynos,/ he thought desperately. He felt his arial Zoid increase speed by just the slightest margin. It seemed he didn't want his pilot to become violently ill in the cockpit any more than Jamie did.
Jamie literally collapsed to his hands and knees once he reached the floor of the hangar. He took several deep, shaky breaths used every ounce of strength he had to keep himself from throwing up right here and now. The garage gave a frightening lurch when he stood; he staggered drunkenly down the hallway and leaned heavily against a wall.
He gasped and cried out when Bit materialized directly between him and the bathroom.
"Jamie!" the older blond cried, "Where on Zi have you been? We've been looking all over for you – "
The rest of his words were lost on the young pilot, but Jamie was positive Bit was yelling at him for leaving the maintenance reports half- finished. Bit – the guy who *never * did *any * work for anyone – was lecturing *him * on leaving before his job was done. It made Jamie so angry that his blood began to boil. Or maybe that was just from his fever.
"Bit," he gasped, "Move… I'm gunna… be sick…"
But Bit didn't listen to him. No one ever did.
Finally, the young Raynos warrior couldn't take it anymore. He charged straight towards the Liger warrior, screaming "MOVE IT, I'M GOING TO PUKE!" so loudly that Bit froze mid-sentence in shock. Jamie stumbled loudly into the bathroom and threw up, thanking his lucky stars that it all made it into the toilet.
Black dots swam across his vision when he had finished. He flushed the toilet with a violently shaking hand and closed his eyes. He heard Bit's voice saying something incoherent – was that another voice with him? Jamie's vision was far too heavily blurred to see if there was one figure in the doorway or two. He didn't dare stand up, for fear of passing out before he got there. But it turned out not to matter anyway. Black and red dots exploded in front of his eyes, and Jamie gave himself to the welcoming darkness. He was able to feel his shoulder hit something – was it the floor or someone catching him? – before he lost feeling in his arms and legs and brain and gave himself to unconsciousness.
END CHAPTER ONE
NEXT CHAPTER: The Eagle in Captivity: Jamie faces his Teammates.