Apr 1, 2020
he’s a man destined to be king, whatever that means
seen from Bolivia
seen from United States
seen from Argentina
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Serbia
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from Bangladesh
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Maldives
seen from Malaysia
he’s a man destined to be king, whatever that means
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
“Strike Laser Claw!” Brad’s voice rang out over their shared channel, and Harry looked over his shoulder just in time to spot the Shadow Fox coming down on the Red Horn that had been chasing Naomi.
There was an explosion that shook Harry’s Dark Horn, causing it to falter mid-step and collapse to the ground—one of his pursuers had landed a solid hit on the Zoid’s near shoulder. “Come on, come on...” Harry wrenched at the controls, trying to get the Dark Horn on its feet before the pair caught up. The damaged shoulder groaned worryingly as the Dark Horn put weight on it.
No sooner had Harry gotten his Zoid up than a flurry of gunfire peppered its flanks. The Dark Horn shuddered and started to fall back to the ground as the remaining Red Horn charged in.
Harry was able to catch his Dark Horn before it could fall completely to the ground again and tried to turn toward his attacker. Frustration rose as his opponent continued to fire on him—he would be down for the count before he could even get his guns around at this rate. His Dark Horn stumbled again as it turned, and Harry grit his teeth and hit the pedal for the left side’s boosters.
In his haste he slammed the pedal to the floor, and his Dark Horn was launched into the air by the sudden burst.
The Red Horn skidded to a halt and threw itself into a turn, trying to get out of the way.
Harry screwed his eyes shut just before they collided. The noise was brief but deafening as the Dark Horn’s side slammed into the Red Horn’s shoulder, knocking the both of them to the ground.
‘COMMAND SYSTEM FREEZE’ flashed on Harry’s center console. The Dark Horn had finally reached its limit.
Finally got this chapter done! \o/ Lots of battles and lots of chatter in this chapter, and next chapter we’ll see the improvised team face off against Stoller!
As always big thank you to @junuve for beta reading! You’re awesome, Jun!!
Some WIP images from my April 13th stream. Building a Zoids model kit Live for a change of pace in self quarantine.
Decided that I needed a cover for my Zoids fic, so here it is! Probably one of the longest pics I’ve done in a while(though the other I’m still working on has taken quite a long time too).
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
It was a nice room, as far as personal libraries went. Nothing compared to his father’s library back home of course, but it was the perfect size for Harry and had become one of his favorite rooms once bothering Leena was permanently off his list of things to do. The outside wall was almost entirely window and gave them plenty of natural light to read by during the day, stretching the entire height of the open two-story room and with the balcony stretching across it as well. Shelves reached all the way to the ceiling, with rolling ladders granting access to everything both on the floor and on the balconies above. The deep red carpet still looked almost new despite the increased foot traffic in recent months, and it helped that Benjamin and Sebastian were very strict about keeping it clean.
Despite his lack of formal education, Bit could be quite the reader when he slowed down long enough to pick up a book. Today he was interested in history, namely a book that had reconstructed what scant details remained of the Ancient Zoidians and their final days as the Death Saurer brought about the end of their world. He eventually kicked off his shoes—Sebastian was adamant about keeping them off the upholstery—and brought his knees up, sitting back against the cushions so he could rest the book’s spine between them as he read.
Harry did what he could to keep his attention focused on his own book, but his gaze inevitably drifted over to the chair beside him where Bit was reading. He watched the subtle shifts in Bit’s expression as he read, the way his eyes widened or his lips parted slightly when he got to a particularly interesting—or horrible, given the book’s subject—part. The blush came back, and Harry tore his eyes away and slouched down in his chair so he wouldn’t be tempted to stare, holding his book mere inches from his nose.
Should I ask? But how do I do it?
Thoughts buzzed around Harry’s head as he sat there, the book acting more as a means to hide his face than as something to be read.
Maybe something like, “Do you like guys?” ...No, no, that’s too forward. Then maybe... “Have you ever dated someone before?” Harry sat up a little.Yeah, that might work! Now to just...
Harry sat up and lowered the book, finding that Bit was still oblivious to the inner conflict going on right next to him. His courage failed him the first time he opened his mouth to ask Bit the question, so he closed it and returned to his book. After a few moments Harry took a deep breath and tried again. “Hey, Bit?”
“Hmm?” Bit rocked slightly as Harry’s voice interrupted his reading, and he looked over at him. “Yeah? What’s up?”
“Um...” Harry’s voice wobbled as his courage threatened to fail him again, but he pushed through regardless. “Uh, s-so, do you like guys?”
NO YOU IDIOT! THAT WAS THE WRONG ONE!
Bit sat up so he could properly face Harry and tilted his head to one side, lifting an eyebrow in plain confusion. “Like as friends, or...?”
“Ah, n-nevermind!” Harry said quickly, waving the question away. His stomach was already doing its best to tie itself into a nausea-laden knot; this was turning into an absolute disaster. “I was just uh, thinking aloud! Yeah, that’s it!”
“But you specifically got my attention to ask it,” Bit said, starting to get a tad concerned.
“Well that was because I, uh—oh dear is that Sebastian calling for me I’d better see what’s going on bye!” Harry fled the library before Bit could say anything in reply and stopped just beside the door. He wanted to kick himself, cry, and crawl under a rock all at once, how could he have been so stupid as to blurt out the wrong question like that? Thank goodness Bit was oblivious to that sort of thing, but it was still a close call. Harry let out a miserable groan and rested his head against the wall.
Big thanks to @junuve, @flameroyalty97, and @ciphernetics for giving this a read and sharing their thoughts~! <3
Alternate Links:
Fanfiction.net
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Both Saber Tigers were still up, and one of them—flashy red with yellow accents and silver fangs and claws—had turned its attention on him. It surged in, leaping up for a claw strike as it came within range.
Bit smirked under the helmet and with a twitch of the controls the Shield Liger ducked left under the Saber’s leaping claw strike—a move he’d picked up from Leon some time ago. This next part, however, was completely new. He brought the Liger’s back legs up in a powerful horse-kick as his opponent came in to land, catching its back end with enough force to knock it off-balance.
The Saber landed hard as its front legs buckled under the unexpected burst of weight, its chest-mounted shock cannon gouging three large furrows into the ground and kicking up a spray of dirt. Its rump came up, and for a split second it looked like the Zoid would be tipped into a full-on somersault. The moment passed, the Saber’s back end listing to the right until it fell to the ground with a loud crash. A twitch of the head once the fallout of the tumble had stilled, and the Saber began to labor to its feet.
Bit was just turning to finish it off when gunfire peppered the Shield Liger’s right flank. He turned and found that a green Gun Sniper had decided to take advantage of his distraction.
The new contender hissed and opened the missile pods on its back as Bit turned to it, but any threat to the display was ruined when a Helcat jumped on it and knocked it to the ground.
That would be two for one, then.
Bit activated the energy shield and charged them.
The two were unable to disentangle themselves in time, and were both knocked flying as the shield slammed into them. The Helcat remained on the ground where it landed, electricity arcing over its body like brilliant blue snakes. The Gun Sniper tried to rise, only to be shot down by the Liger’s back-mounted gun.
A big thank you to @junuve for beta-ing this chapter! <3
Alternate Links:
Fanfiction.net
Wattpad
A couple WIPs from Zoids things I’ve been working on lately. Kara the Organoid and Harry Champ’s new battle outfit(because his old one is awful), both for my post-Royal Cup NCZ fic.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
“Good to hear you’re safe and keeping sharp, Bit,” Brad said, leaning back in his chair. “Better not be rusty by the time you come back or Doc might end up pawning the Liger off.”
“Don’t joke about that!” Bit cried. “Besides, what’ve you been doing to train? You guys can’t be lazy either.”
“This and that,” Brad replied, unfazed by Bit’s attempt at criticism. “We’ll be eligible for all local competitions now that we have someone to balance us out, and what you mentioned about using a different Zoid is givin’ me some ideas.”
“As long as Harry’s up to it, of course,” Naomi added. “Otherwise it’ll be just solo competitions.”
Harry looked at her, totally mystified.
“We were talking about it the other day, remember?” Naomi said, giving him a reassuring smile. “We asked the Battle Commission about it and they said we’d be able to do group competitions as long as you signed on with us.”
“Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that,” Harry admitted, giving them an apologetic smile. “I’m up for it, can’t let myself get rusty either!”
“Looks like we’re all getting set up for some good battles, then!” Bit said. “Should we check back with the results?”
“Sounds good to me,” Naomi said. “I’m interested to hear how you do without Liger Zero, should be a good gauge of your raw skill.”
“And you’ll be reporting first since you’re fighting tomorrow,” Brad added. “Should be enlightening.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let you down,” Bit said confidently. “Maybe I’ll even get a trophy to bring back.”
Also found on Fanfiction.net and Wattpad.
Big thank you to @sir-phobos-boa for beta’ing and tossing in ideas!!