Building Zoids in a World of Titans

Months gone by. The Godos build moved forward without a hitch. Alex handed the remaining units off to Borin, Ziya, and the other craftsmen. His hands were already on the next thing. The Liger Zero. The Lanstag. Two more machines waiting to be born.

Alex leaned against the workshop railing, arms crossed, watching two silver-white shapes tear across the training field. The Godos units moved with a heavy, mechanical gait that still made his chest tighten every time he saw them. Not his Arosaurer. Not his hands on every weld. But they moved right, and that counted for something.

Lyra's Godos pivoted with surgical precision, its twin autocannons barking in controlled bursts. Target after target — steel plates, scrap pillars, a derelict transport frame — erupted in sparks and shrapnel. The machine didn't waste a single round.

Fia's Godos charged straight into the cluster of targets, crusher claws swinging wide, smashing through the obstacles with brute force. It was effective, but the scoreboard mounted on the far wall told the story. Lyra was pulling ahead.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG.

Four more targets down. Lyra's Godos hadn't missed once.

"That's twenty-three to nineteen," Rhian said from beside Alex, her legs dangling over the railing as she consulted the tally sheet someone had rigged up. She was enjoying this far more than Alex expected a nine-year-old would enjoy watching machines destroy things.

"She's not even trying to make it close," Alex muttered.

Anya stood a few paces away, her arms folded, watching with the quiet satisfaction of someone who'd drilled both of them on targeting protocols. Seraphine sat on an overturned crate, her legs tucked beneath her, a faint smile playing on her lips.

Fia's Godos reared up and brought both crusher claws down on a reinforced target, splitting it clean in half. The crowd of craftsmen and onlookers who'd gathered to watch let out a cheer.

"Twenty-three to twenty," Rhian updated.

Lyra's Godos fired one last burst, punching through a target at the far end of the range. The autocannons cycled dry with a satisfying click-click-click.

"Twenty-four to twenty," Rhian announced. "Lyra wins."

The two Godos powered down simultaneously, their cockpits hissing open. Lyra climbed out first, her lavender hair plastered to her forehead with sweat. She didn't look winded. She looked like she'd just completed a moderately interesting calculation.

Fia dropped to the ground from her cockpit, her golden-yellow braid swinging as she landed. She jabbed a finger toward Lyra.

"That doesn't count. You had the high ground for half those shots."

"The terrain was identical for both of us," Lyra said, brushing dust off her gloves. "You chose to run in and swing. I chose to aim. One of those approaches is inherently more accurate."

"One of those approaches is inherently more fun."

"Accuracy is fun."

"You would say that." Fia crossed her arms, her lower lip jutting out in an expression that was more theatrical than genuine. "Next time, we do close-quarters only. No ranged weapons. Just claws and shields."

"That would just be you hitting things with a hammer. It's not a competition. It's a demolition."

Rhian giggled beside Alex. He felt the corner of his mouth twitch.

Anya stepped forward, her voice carrying across the field without effort. "Both of you performed well. Lyra, your grouping was tighter than last week. Fia, your closing speed has improved. You're learning the machine's weight."

Fia brightened immediately. "See? Anya thinks I did great."

"Anya said your closing speed improved," Lyra corrected. "That's not the same as great."

"It's practically the same."

"It's practically not."

Seraphine rose from her crate, brushing off her violet biosuit. "Fia, your instinct for direct engagement is valuable. Not every fight can be won from a distance. And Lyra, your precision saves ammunition and lives. You're both exactly what the team needs."

Fia pointed at Seraphine. "Thank you. At least someone here appreciates raw power."

"I appreciate raw power," Lyra said. "I just also appreciate not missing."

Alex pushed off the railing. The banter washed over him, familiar now in a way that still surprised him. Months ago, these were the Wardens who'd tried to hunt his machine. Now they were arguing about target scores on a Tuesday afternoon while his craftsmen rebuilt the workshop around them.

Rhian tugged his sleeve. "Are you going back to the Liger Zero?"

"Yeah." He glanced at the two Godos, standing silent on the field. "Borin's team has the frames ready. I need to start the core integration."

"Can I watch?"

"It's going to be boring. Lots of calibration."

"I don't mind."

He looked at her. She looked back with the same expression she'd had since she was small and leaving berries at his door. Patient. Certain.

"Yeah," he said. "You can watch."

They walked back toward the workshop together, the sound of Fia and Lyra's argument fading behind them.

The private room smelled like metal shavings and solder flux. Alex settled into his chair, pulling the Liger Zero schematics up on the display. The frame was waiting in the main hangar, a skeleton of white and silver armor plates with copper-orange joints. Beautiful machine. It just needed its heart and its muscle, and the muscle needed parts he didn't have yet.

Rhian hopped onto the stool beside his bench, her feet swinging. "So after the Liger Zero is done, what then?"

Alex picked up a calibration tool and began adjusting the core shell's lattice alignment. "What do you mean, what then?"

"I mean after. After you finish building everything here. What do you do?"

Alex's fingers paused over the calibration interface. He hadn't thought past the next build in a while. There was always a next build.

"Travel, probably," he said.

"Travel where?"

"Wherever the Titans are." He leaned back, the stool creaking under him. "The Arosaurer used an Allosaur core. Rank D-plus. The Lanstag's core came from a Timber-Crest Bull. Rank C. The Liger Zero is B-rank." He ticked the tiers off on his fingers. "If I want to build something stronger, I need stronger cores. And the Titans around here are mostly Rank D and below."

Rhian's brow furrowed. "So you'd have to leave Veridia."

"Yeah."

"The Stormclaw Liger was just passing through, wasn't it? You said so yourself."

"Right. If it hadn't come through, I wouldn't have a B-rank core at all." He turned back to the display, pulling up the Liger Zero's leg actuator specifications. "The stronger Titans don't hang around settlements. Too much noise, too many Wardens. You have to go find them. Deep foothills, volcanic zones, places where the big ones roam."

Rhian was quiet for a moment. Then: "I want to come with you."

"No."

"You didn't even think about it."

"I don't need to think about it. It's dangerous. You're nine."

"I'm almost ten."

"That's still nine." He glanced at her. Her jaw was set in that particular way that meant she'd already decided something and was just waiting for reality to catch up. He'd seen that look on engineers. Never a good sign. "Rhian. I'm not arguing about this."

"I didn't say we were arguing."

"You had the look."

"What look?"

"The look that means you're about to argue."

She didn't deny it. She just sat there, her small frame radiating a stubbornness that had no business being that effective on someone three times her age.

Before he could say anything else, the door opened. Ziya stood in the doorway, her expression tight.

"Alex. We have a problem."

He swiveled his chair around. "What kind of problem?"

"The Ion Turbo Boosters for the Liger Zero. The shipment's delayed."

Alex felt his stomach drop. The boosters were the Liger Zero's primary mobility system. Without them, the Zoid was a very expensive statue. "Delayed how?"

"The supplier's convoy route between Veridia and the eastern settlements is getting hit. Titan activity. A pack of something — reports are unclear — has been attacking supply lines for the past week. Two convoys already lost."

"How long until it's resolved?"

Ziya shook her head. "Nobody knows. The Wardens are stretched thin with the new Godos deployment. They can't spare anyone for convoy escort duty."

Alex stood up. The stool scraped against the floor. "I'll go get them myself."

"Absolutely not." Ziya stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. "That's reckless. You're a Rank 7 Warden with a contract and a workshop full of half-built machines. You're not a courier."

"I'm also not sitting around waiting for parts that might get eaten by a Titan pack." He was already moving toward the door. "If something happens to those boosters, I'm looking at another month of delays. Maybe longer. I'm not losing that time."

"Alex—"

"If anything happens to those shipments, I'm looking at another month of waiting. I'd rather spend a day retrieving them than a month staring at an incomplete machine."

Ziya folded her arms. "Even if you go, the Arosaurer isn't built for long-distance travel. You'd burn through its core output before you reached the eastern route."

"I'm not taking the Arosaurer."

Alex was already at the door. He pulled it open and stepped into the corridor, boots echoing off the stone.

Ziya exchanged a glance with Rhian. Rhian shrugged, her braids bouncing.

They followed him.

The corridor led to the main hangar, and Alex didn't slow down. His pace was steady, purposeful, the same walk he had when he was heading toward a problem he'd already solved in his head. Ziya had to half-jog to keep up. Rhian skipped.

"Alex, where are you—"

He pushed through the hangar doors.

Ziya stopped. Rhian stopped beside her.

The Arosaurer stood in its usual spot, cobalt blue plating catching the late afternoon light pouring through the open doors. And beside it—

Rhian's mouth fell open.

"What," she said.

The Lanstag stood fully assembled. White and silver armor plates gleamed under the hangar's amber lighting. The massive golden-yellow antler crest swept back from its head like a crown, the forward-facing silver points catching the light. Its four elegant legs were planted wide, copper-orange hinge caps bright against the white plating. The Thruster Lance was mounted and locked, the rocket booster at its base a dull gunmetal grey. The circular Rolling Spike Shields sat on its shoulders, silver teeth glinting. It looked like a knight from a story. A very large, very dangerous knight.

Ziya stared. "Since when is that finished?"

Alex blinked. He'd been working on the Lanstag in between Godos oversight and Liger Zero planning. The core integration had been three days ago. The final assembly, two days ago. He'd walked past it this morning and it had just been there, like it had always been there.

"Yesterday," he said. That was close enough to true.

"Yesterday," Ziya repeated flatly. "You finished a complete Zoid

"I've been busy."

"Busy." She looked at the Lanstag, then back at him. "It's beautiful."

Rhian walked a slow circle around the machine, her head tilted back to take in the full height. "It looks like a giant metal deer."

"It's a moose," Alex said.

"What's the difference?"

"Moose are bigger and meaner."

Rhian reached out and touched one of the silver hooves. The metal was warm from the hangar lights. "Can it run?"

"It can do more than run." Alex walked to the Lanstag's flank, running his hand along the smooth white plating. The machine hummed faintly at his touch, a vibration he felt in his palm. "Two hundred and ninety kilometers per hour. Thruster Lance hits like a freight train. Smart Guards on the shoulders track incoming fire and shift to block it."

Ziya crossed her arms. "And you were going to tell us this when?"

"I'm telling you now."

Rhian looked up at the golden antlers, her eyes wide. "Alex. This is amazing."

He looked at the Lanstag. The System overlay flickered at the edge of his vision, confirming what he already knew. All systems nominal. Core stable. Ready.

The machine stood silent in the hangar light, patient and waiting. Like it had somewhere to be.

Advance chapters on my p@tR$0n/Najicablitz.

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