Ronin accepted the drinking flask Deacon handed him as he sat on a crate not far from the Shadow Fox. He and Lidiya had returned to the hangar bay a couple of minutes ago, with Ronin choosing to agilely climb down the Fox to the hangar floor whereupon he was met by Aaron and Deacon.

“Thanks,” Ronin said, still wearing his cool-suit over the G-suit as he drank chilled water from the flask.

“Hot out there?” Deacon asked.

“A little. The Fox’s cockpit climate control can handle it. But I’d rather wear the cool-suite just in case.” He drank some more water, swallowed, asked, “Did Lidiya wear hers?”

“She did…after we told her you did.”

Deacon’s reveal appeared to puzzle Ronin for a few seconds, the latter then shook his head faintly before drinking down some more water.

Watching the exchange, Aaron folded his arms before his chest. “You made it look easy out there. You really put that Saix to shame.”

That seemed to catch Ronin by surprise, and he quickly disagreed. “No, it wasn’t easy at all. I can tell you that for sure.”

Aaron didn’t know what to make of that admission. “Are you serious?”

Ronin nodded. “I’m completely serious. It wasn’t easy. That guy”—he looked behind him in the direction of the empty Bay-43—“is really fast. I had the auto-lock turned off so that I could aim at his feet and not his Zoid. Between that and following him so that I could bring the Gatling to bear it was a real workout. I was talking big to him, but I knew he was going to be a problem before he showed up because I checked his profile on Friday. He’s a Class-B solo warrior on the verge of being promote to Class-A.”

It was Aaron’s turn to nod. “We did some online digging and discovered his real name’s Oliver Venture. He’s the eldest son of the Venture business family. They own Venture Mining.”

Ronin’s expression grew stiff. “Venture Mining? Are you sure?”

“We’re sure.” Aaron thought he saw worry behind the pilot’s eyes. He chose to press on with what he’d learnt. “Oliver’s the black sheep of the family. The younger brother is involved in the business, helping to run it with his father. And their younger sister has her own business ventures—no pun intended—that she runs with her mother. As for Oliver? He’s spending his fortune as a Zoid warrior. But like you said, he’s on the verge of going up to Class-A. And he’s been doing it on his own, which isn’t easy.”

“No, it’s not,” Ronin agreed while slowly nodding. “On my own, it’ll take me another two or three months before I come close to Class-A, and I’d need to win every battle along the way.”

Deacon argued, “But he’s been a Zoid warrior for longer than you have. All it means is that he had a head start on you.”

Ronin sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He drank another mouthful of water from the flask, then said, “That guy’s obnoxious and foolish but he’s a tough opponent with real skill and talent. If he hadn’t made that mistake—jumping right instead of left—I don’t think it would have ended so quickly in our favor. Honestly, I don’t want to meet him out there in the tournament. Hopefully he loses to someone else.”

Aaron smiled grimly. “If he loses to someone else, that someone else is going to be an even bigger problem.” He exhaled anxiously before a quick breath. “Anyway, we lodged a complaint with the tournament authority. I’m sure he’s doing the same. I’ll admit you were a little too ruthless sending him crashing back down into that ravine or canyon. That could work against us with the stewards.”

Ronin stared off into the distance. “He got under my skin. I should have just walked away from him.”

“In hindsight, that would have been wiser,” Aaron agreed. “But what’s done is done. Now we have to deal with it. Just promise me you won’t fly off the handle again.”

Sitting on the crate, Ronin once again looked behind him in the direction of the deserted Bay-43. “Rich boy’s probably going to sue us for damages.” He turned back around to face Deacon and Aaron before him. “I’m sorry. This is all on me.”

“No, it isn’t,” Lidiya said, giving them all a surprise when she spoke up.

Aaron quickly swallowed and asked, “When did you get here?”

“I’ve been standing here for a while listening to you all talk.” She scowled slightly and said, "Hey, where's my cold water?"

Deacon looked guilty and quickly replied, "I'll be right back."

"Ah, forget it," she told him as she stepped closer to the three men. "I'll get my own later."

Aaron hesitated before asking, "What did you mean earlier?"

Lidiya's expression darkened. "I meant that if Ronin hadn’t shot at him, then I would have. And I wouldn’t have deliberately missed.” She growled unhappily. “That guy—I hope we face him tomorrow because I’m going to kick his ass. Literally!”

Aaron’s pocket tablet chimed at him. He checked it to find a message from the tournament authority. “Well, here we go. We’ve been summoned to explain ourselves.”

Ronin took off his cool-suit apparatus. “I need to store this back in the Fox. We should lock up our Zoids if we’re all going.”

Aaron quickly shook his head. “No. Deacon, you can stay. They’re asking for the team principal—me—and the Zoid warriors involved to attend. Please watch over our Zoids.”

“Got it,” the lanky engineer replied.

Aaron then regarded his sister, noticing she looked worried. “Hey, where’d that fighting spirit go?”

Lidiya tried to work up a scowl and failed. “We’re not going to get thrown out, are we?”

After another sigh, Aaron shrugged and hid his unease the best he could behind a relaxed smile. “We won’t know unless we face the music.”

***

Aaron was grateful to Ronin and his sister for keeping their cool before the tournament stewards while listening to Olivier de Laventura berate and chastise them for their horrendous misconduct toward him. However, he did notice Lidiya clenching her fists repeatedly behind her back as she clearly warred with the desire to sock de Laventura in the jaw. As for Ronin, he succeeded in looking bored during the entire ordeal.

In the end, stewards only partially sided with de Laventura. Team Wildcards would compensate him for the cost of having to transport his damaged white Lightning Saix back to the pit compound. And both teams would both get a warning entered into their records. However, the stewards reminded de Laventura that he had forcefully intruded into another team’s practice zone. When he argued that Team Wildcards had shot first, the stewards reprimanded him for being ‘childish’ in the words of one official overseeing the complaints from both teams.

Ronin and Lidiya entered short, written apologies that they signed. De Laventura was forced to do the same or he’d be fined and docked points on his warrior’s license. Before being dismissed, the two teams were then reminded of the rules of conduct on the battlefield and warned not to cross the line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. De Laventura departed first in a huff. Aaron had half expected to find the man waiting for them outside the meeting room where the inquiry was held. However, the coast was proverbially clear when Aaron, Ronin, and Lidiya exited the room.

“I’ll pay the charge,” Ronin told Aaron. “This one’s on me.”

“Fine. In future, try not to be as hot tempered as my sister.”

“What was that?” Lidiya snapped.

Aaron regarded his sister over a shoulder. “We need to check up on your Saix before the next free practice session.” His pocket tablet chimed. A message from Deacon had arrived. “The tournament officials are announcing the draw after lunch.”

“Oh, great,” the young woman muttered, then brightened up. “I swear, I hope we get to pound that guy tomorrow.”

“You get to find out in about ninety minutes,” Aaron told her. “But don’t get your hopes up.”

“Yeah, I know, I know….”

***

They decided as a team to watch the live draw announcement from one of the pit building’s four cafeterias. The large eatery was crowded with Zoid warriors, and Aaron and party were fortunate to find themselves a table at all, ending up at the back of the cafeteria. But several large projecbeam windows floated in the air, so they'd get to see the announcement no matter where they were seated.

Taking a chance, Aaron left Lidiya with Ronin to mind the table while he and Deacon went to get lunch from whatever was on offer on the day’s menu. He chose quickly, feeling pressured to return to the table, second guessing his decision to leave his sister and the ex-Backdrafter together, then wondering if he was just being foolish and paranoid for no justifiable reason. Indeed, when he returned to the table, he found Ronin and Lidiya talking guardedly to each other but not at each other’s throats or giving the other the cold shoulder.

Deacon muttered, “You need to relax. They’re not going to kill each other.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”

Deacon looked shocked. “You’re not?”

Aaron sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know what I’m worried about….”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

As the two men sat down with their lunches, Lidiya folded her arms and sulked, while Ronin looked faintly confused and uncertain.

What were they talking about? Aaron mulled in his head. Clearing his throat quietly, he said to the pair, “Your turn. We’ll mind the table.”

For a couple of seconds, neither Ronin nor Lidiya made any effort to stand up. When they did so, it was kind of hurried and frantic. Deacon waited until he was certain they were out of earshot before asking Aaron, “You’re not going to tell them we listened in on their conversation?”

Thinking about what they’d overheard on the team’s encrypted comm channel made Aaron lose some of his appetite. “You mean about us knowing my sister couldn’t keep her lips to herself? No. I don’t plan on telling them. I’ll let them sort it out. They’re adults.”

“Are you sure about that?” Deacon wondered.

Aaron didn’t know what the lanky engineer was asking about but saw the man staring fixedly at the food serving counter at the front of the cafeteria. Aaron followed his line of sight and witnessed Lidiya jabbing a thumb into Ronin’s back while pointing at some item of food on offer as though she was torturing Ronin to choose it for lunch. All this while Ronin was already holding a tray with a plate of food on it and shaking his head.

Aaron sighed again. “And she calls de Laventura obnoxious.”

“Is she normally like that?”

“No,” Aaron was quick to admit. “No, definitely not. I mean she can get a bit loose sometimes, but I haven’t seen her acting that way in a long while.”

“So does this mean…she likes him?”

Aaron exhaled while looking at mashed potatoes and chorizos on his plate. “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it right now. Let’s just eat.”

Several minutes later, Ronin and Lidiya returned. Aaron noted with sympathy that Ronin had gone with Lidiya’s choice, though it didn’t look half bad. “What is that?” he asked the former Backdraft pilot.

“Something called…actually I don’t remember what it was called.”

“Paella,” Lidiya told her brother. “Chef said it was an ancient recipe from Earth. Said it was thousands of years old.” She had loaded her plate with the same selection she’d forced upon Ronin. “I had it yesterday, but today’s effort looks and smells even better.”

Aaron conceded it didn’t look bad. Lots of rice, beans, vegetables, and other ingredients that he didn’t recognize or couldn’t be certain of. He shrugged inwardly and went back to eating his lunch. However, now that Deacon had reminded him of what they’d overheard, Aaron had trouble swallowing down his food.

It’s not my concern. Stay out of it.

Yet he watched Ronin out of the corner of his eye as the man cut up his food into a small morsel that he cautiously ate. After munching on it for a while, Ronin looked both relieved and surprised, then cut himself another piece to devour. However, Lidiya was also watching Ronin discreetly, and she wore a faint smile when she saw him eating the paella without complaint. She then struck upon an idea and began sprinkling a reddish powder on his food from a small paper satchel.

“Here,” she said. “The chef recommended it. It’s a sweet chili grown in greenhouse farm outside of town.”

Ronin looked worried. “I’m not good with spicy food.”

“You’ll be fine. It’s mild. That’s what the chef said.”

Ronin asked, “Why aren’t you putting it on your food?”

“I will. I got another here.” She showed him a second small satchel. “Dig in. Tell me what you think?”

He gave her a bothered look, then appeared weary as he ate more of the paella now that Lidiya had ‘seasoned’ it. Again, Aaron watched Ronin cautiously out the corner of his eye. The man seemed to ball up his courage with a deep breath before eating some more of his lunch. He munched on it cautiously, swallowed, then reached for the cup of water on his tray. After taking a swig of it, Ronin declared, “I don’t know what passes for hot, but that wasn’t mild.”

Lidiya looked guilty and stared down at her plate. Before Ronin could say another word, she swapped his plate for hers. “Have mine.”

Ronin stared at her, blankly, then said, “But I was eating that.”

“It’s okay,” she told him. “I don’t mind. I like spicy food.” To prove her point, she started eating his paella sprinkled with the chili powder. “I like it.”

Ronin blinked slowly. “Is that so….” He quietly regarded her plate that was now on his tray. After a few moments of silent contemplation, he started eating lunch anew but looked faintly troubled and Aaron doubted it was because of how the food tasted.

Seeking a distraction, Aaron alternated his attention between his lunch and the floating projecbeams that were showing footage of Zoids in action. Thinking it was a long commercial on loop, he paid some more attention to it. When he read the scrolling captions on screen, he realized it was actually a news report, probably from the tournament’s PR department, and he almost choked on his food when he saw footage of a Shadow Fox wrestling with a white Lightning Saix on a craggy desert. The battle footage had been edited into a news segment that was succeeded by footage of other teams on their practice runs in the morning. However, it drew a noticeable reaction from some of the teams in the surrounding tables that included a few laughs and claps.

Deacon leaned partway toward Aaron and kept his voice low. “There must have been another drone up there.”

“I know,” Aaron replied in an equally hushed voice and darted a glance at Ronin and Lidiya but the two were busy eating lunch, preoccupied with their thoughts. “Let’s just get through lunch then back to the pit bay.”

But luck or good fortune was not on their side.

A large, hulking bear of a man with an ear-to-ear grin hurried over to their table. He stopped behind Ronin and clapped the ex-Backdrafter on the back, sending Ronin nearly into his plate of food as the large man laughed heartily.

“You never cease to entertain, Ronin,” the big man thundered during a gap in his laughter.

Ronin turned and looked up behind him. “Bron? What the Hell is the matter with you?”

“Didn’t you see the news report?”

“What news report?”

The hulking Zoid warrior pointed at a projecbeam. “The one that just played. That was your Fox wasn’t it?”

Ronin’s gaze sought out the nearest projecbeam window. It was showing news on regional Zoid battles from the past few days. Confused and visibly annoyed, he scowled back at the large man standing behind his chair. “Bron, care to explain what you’re on about?”

Bron? Aaron wondered. Where have I heard that name before?

The bear-sized warrior said, “Hombre, they showed a report of your Fox and a white Lightning Saix duking it out in the desert. Happened this morning, right?”

Ronin blanched and stopped breathing for a long moment. Sitting beside him, Lidiya sat frozen with her fork halfway to her mouth and shock plastered on her face. Their stunned reactions were uncanny and not lost on the big Zoid warrior who stared at them in turn, losing his grin in the process.

“What happened out there?” the oversized man asked them, starting to look concerned. “Did he threaten you?”

Lidiya looked lost for an answer. She reached out and nudged Ronin, which appeared to set the man into motion again.

After a couple of breaths, the former Backdrafter shrugged nervously. “He was being an ass and got under my skin. I lost my temper….”

Who is this guy? Aaron wondered as he watched the bear-sized man smile crookedly.

“Calling him an ass is on the money,” the Zoid warrior said.

“What?” Ronin studied the man’s face and grew suspicious of him. “Bron, do you know him? Have you run into him before?”

Bron’s crooked smile straightened and turned menacing. “The jackass barged into my training zone while I was calibrating my guns with some shooting practice. He pestered me so much I threw a boulder at him. He found it amusing and then ran circles around me, daring me to hit him until I got lucky and landed a blow with a smaller rock.” When Bron chuckled, it was like hearing thunder rumble. “Afterwards, he ran away so fast you’d think his tail was on fire.”

Ronin turned around in his chair to better face the big warrior. “He trespassed on you as well?”

“Damned straight, he did.”

With a start, Aaron abruptly noticed some of the warriors seated at a nearby table were staring at the Wildcards. After some hesitation, one of the men stood up and walked over to Aaron and his teammates.

“Hey, I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation,” the unknown Zoid pilot began, “but we had that asshole play the same game with us. Made us waste bullets chasing him with gunfire. Then he got tired of us and ran off.”

Lidiya asked, “Did you get him?”

The man shook his head, scowling hard. “That bastard avoided every shot. It was like shooting a ghost or the wind. Then I heard that some Lightning Saix use a holo-projector to trick a Zoid’s visual sensors.”

Aaron glimpsed the thoughtful look that sneaked across Ronin’s.

Meanwhile, Bron boasted, “Well, that did him no good with me. His luck still ran out. But he was certainly cocksure up until then.”

Ronin faintly shook his head. “No, he was cocksure when he trespassed on Lidiya and I. That’s partly why he grated on my nerves so badly. He’d probably walked off whatever blow you'd dealt his ego.”

The hulking pilot appeared to take in Lidiya again. “Oh, where are my manners? Greetings, little lady.”

“Little?” Lidiya looked peeved.

Ronin cut in. “From his point of view, we’re all little.” That made Bron laugh again, but the ex-Backdrafter quickly waved a hand to silence him. “So let me get this right. De Laventura went around this morning trespassing on team after team looking for a challenge?”

“And then he met you,” Bron answered, briefly chuckling some more. “I think word is going to spread.”

“Huh?” Ronin uttered, looking bemused. “About what?”

“About the little Fox that shamed the Lightning Saix.”

The unknown warrior from the other table spoke up. “Well, I’m glad someone kicked his ass and knocked him down a rung or two.” He gave Ronin a deep nod that the latter returned weakly, seemingly uncertain about how to respond. “Good luck out there.”

“Thanks. Same to you.”

With a polite wave, the Zoid warrior returned to his teammates at the other table.

Watching him go, Bron declared, “Well, then. I guess I’ll be going. They’re going to announce the draw soon.” He tipped his head at a projecbeam window showing a countdown of a few seconds remaining. “See?”

Ronin stood up. “Wait. Before you go, I’d like you to meet my teammates. You’ve met Lidiya already. But that over there is Aaron Rylos. And that’s Deacon Drexler, our chief mechanic.” He reached up to pat the big man’s shoulder. “This is Bron Kurdo. He took me under his wing when I first started out. A lot of what I know about Zoid combat I learnt from him.”

Kurdo exchanged handshakes with Aaron and Deacon, who watched their hands disappear then reappear after the greetings were over.

Talk about large hands, Aaron mused. How does he fit in his cockpit? That made him ponder what kind of Zoid would befit such a warrior. “Did you say you threw a boulder at him?”

“Hmm?” Bron hummed, then realized what Aaron was asking. “That’s right.”

“What Zoid do you have?”

“An Iron Kong. A Prozen model.”

Deacon gasped, then recovered quickly to whisper, “That’s a really big Zoid.”

“Ha, ha, ha.” Bron chortled. “That it is. I wouldn’t settle for anything less.”

“Quiet, quiet,” Ronin quickly said. “The draw’s coming up.”

The big, floating projecbeam windows began showing team names and their first-round opponents. A scrolling caption said the first round would be held over two days because it consisted of thirty-two team battles. At the same time, the various beeps, chimes, and melodies sounding out across the cafeteria indicated that Zoid warriors were receiving notifications on their personal pocket tablets and comm devices. Aaron also felt his small tablet chime and vibrate in a trouser pocket. Retrieving it, he opened the new message from the tournament authority, then took a minute to read it twice with a slowly sinking sensation in his gut.

Standing by the table, Ronin read the same message on his device and deadpanned, “Well this is going to be a challenge.”

Peering over his shoulder, Bron muttered in a deep voice bearing some sympathy, “Yeah, that’s a tough draw right off the line.”

Aaron fully understood why.

Team Wildcards would be up against an opponent fielding two Red Horns and a massive Dark Horn that looked awfully familiar.

“Hey, isn’t that the Dark Horn in our hangar?” Deacon asked. “The one with the twin Gatling guns and linear cannons.”

“That’d be the one,” Aaron agreed, his gut sinking a little more.

One positive note was that the match wasn’t scheduled until Tuesday. It was part of the second batch of sixteen battles to be fought in the first round. That gave Lidiya’s Saix another day to recover from the repair work it had endured. Nonetheless, Aaron was at a loss on how they would defeat such a formidable lineup of Zoids and was startled when Lidiya suddenly stood up and sent her chair scraping along the floor. The curly haired brunette then said to Ronin in a low, steely voice, “I can keep a secret.”

Distracted by what he was reading on his small tablet, Ronin mumbled, “What was that?”

Lidiya swallowed hard and leaned closer to him. “I said…I can keep a secret.”

Aaron didn’t know what she was getting at, however, Ronin finally caught on going by his guarded reaction. “I don’t want to go down that route again,” he replied to her. “It’ll just lead to more arguments between us. You made it pretty clear how you felt about it.”

Lidiya exhaled in a huff and rolled her eyes before staring at him through narrowed eyelids. “I’m not arguing with you. I’m simply saying that I’ve made up my mind.”

After a lengthy pause, Ronin muttered, “Ah huh.”

“Yeah, ah huh,” she repeated, then smiled wickedly at him. “So, when we do we get started?”