Path To Reincarnation (Max)

[Marcus Takumi]

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The neon lights and the sounds of vehicles zooming the highways could be heard and seen as Romeo City had now lit up in full blaze, dusk upon the gigantic metropolis. Marcus Takumi returned from a rather reckless trekking in the desert, recovering his precious Rev Raptor's memory bank from the near-literal sands of time. His right hand in his pocket and his left arm hanging limp and useless, the boy simply wandered aimlessly around the city, watching as the lights glared fiercely into the boy's sapphire irises.

He had lost his Zoid, though Vee's practical memory was now in his grasp, which told him that he wasn't truly lost to time. The only problem was that he was now stuck in card-form, the memory bank being a few millimeters slim, and only a few inches long. It was safely stored into his pocket so nobody could snatch it from him. The only problem Marcus now faced, aside the main problem of not having any form of business set up as his mechanic status suggested -- he had no Zoid.

"See any you like, Vee?" he asked himself as if he were talking to his nonexistent Rev Raptor, the card obviously not making a sound. Looking at the various dealers that sold F-Ranked Zoids, he simply frowned. "Yeah, me neither." he answered his own question, obviously laced with the tone of loneliness.

Though he held no grudges against Max, now that he had a chance of keeping Vee alive, he still felt as if though a large hole was torn through his soul. "Pffft... I should be cracking jokes right now, not being such a sop." he mouthed back to himself, assessing his current state of mind. He obviously was depressed and alone. Being on his own wasn't really the luxury Marcus expected it would be, especially since he really didn't have many friends to begin with.

Sitting down at a bench near an outdoor ramen shop, which were rare these days, he flipped a few pieces of currency towards the chef and ordered the usual large bowl of miso ramen with extra beef, pork, and chicken -- the usual, carnivorous approach. Anxiously awaiting his bowl, he simply sat down, aimlessly staring at the neon signs that lined the alleys and main streets, watching the cars and Zoids fly and walk by.

[xX Max Xx]

[/b] yelled Max at a barkeep, clearly in a rush. It was about the tenth time he asked the question that day. He sighed, for the barkeep responded by shaking his head. Max groaned to himself, running out of the bar, hopping into the Shield Liger. He sighed, making the Zoid walk slowly through the streets. All this searching made him build up an appetite, something that guilted him quite a bit.

Seeing a ramen stand, he would park His Liger right in front of hit, the cockpit glass popping open as Max leaped out. Taking a seat on the bench, he would order himself some ramen as well. He would sigh as he glanced at the sky, yawning a bit. He would then turn his attention to the figure next to him, a complete stranger who he decided it would be fine to make small talk with.

"Heh, nice weather ai- eh!?" Max's eyes widened at the sight of Marcus sitting right there next to him. He resisted the urge to punch himself in the face for completely missing it. He sighed before laughing a bit nervously. After all, the situation was rather humorous. Though he still couldn't believe he just ran into Marcus after almost killing himself searching for the guy.

"Man, you work fast! I got to my Zoids remains, figuring I could salvage its memory drive. Then I checked your Rev Raptor. I'm guessing you got yours already?"

Max grinned a bit, receiving his bowl of ramen. He would proceed to dig into the food in a rather animalistic manner. Cyan hair flew as he raised his head for a quick breather, turning his attention to Marcus once more. He would raise a hand, pointing a single finger up to signal "one moment." Swallowing his food, he would breathe and relax himself.

"D'ya find a new Zoid to use the Memory Drive with?"
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[Marcus Takumi]

Marcus had kindly thanked and tipped the chef after receiving his appropriate, monster-sized bowl of ramen noodles, complete with chopsticks. Throwing the bowl in front of him, snapping the sticks so they were now two, seperate instruments, he weakly threw the left one into his right hand and expertly twirled both sticks within his right hand like a pair of drummer's sticks, gripping them as they landed properly within his hand and took the first bite of food he hadn't had in ages. Tch! Better than what the old man makes! he sighed happily, continuing to down the bowl of ramen until he had heard what sounded like small shouting:

"Have you seen a guy with black hair, a pony tail, around my age?"

Oh great! It was Max, the kid from not too long ago. By the way his cyan hair stood out, Marcus knew that this guy just wouldn't lay off -- first, he wrecks his Zoid, then he saves him from death, and now he wants to chat? Ah, just ignore him, Marc. Don't wanna start a scene, do ya'?

Allowing the boy to literally sit next to him, he wondered whether or not he had even noticed the obviously long, middle back-length ponytail that was practically Marcus' signature. "Heh, nice weather ai- eh!?" would be the starter of the "conversation" as Max had genuinely seemed surprised to see Marcus sitting there. From the way he looked, he looked as if he ran around the world just to find him. "Man, you work fast! I got to my Zoids remains, figuring I could salvage its memory drive. Then I checked your Rev Raptor. I'm guessing you got yours already?" would continue Max, whom seemed to be rather ecstatic to see Marcus.

Upon hearing Max claim that he had recovered his memory drive whist ravaging Vee's remains as well, it somewhat soured the expression on his face. "Dude, let's just drop it. Honestly, I'mma have enough nightmares about that already." he asked politely, giving off a weak smile, trying to assure his new acquaintance that he'd rather just forget about Vee's corpse. But hearing a question partaining to Vee's own memory unit, the black-haired boy slid his right hand into his pocket and flipped out the small, card-like instrument like a professional player. "Over nine thousand steps ahead of ya'!" he would playfully taunt Max, waving the unit around in the air before sheathing it back into his pocket.

Downing the rest of his bowl in record time, he had slammed the instrument down and beckoned the chef to fill it up with more ramen, extra chicken. Greeted by equally animal-like behaviour of the devouring of his food, Marcus could tell that this Max kid really wasn't so bad -- he reminded him of himself in a sort of really creepy sense. "D'ya find a new Zoid to use the Memory Drive with?" Frowning slightly, Marcus simply waved his chopsticks around in response. "Not so much -- the Zoids here, to be honest, are nothing but pure crap." he would express his opinion on the machines here, some of them were obviously rickety and rather dangerous to operate, while some looked only subtley damaged -- something Marcus had a trained eye for.

"I mean come on -- that Unenlagia's left leg's got a loose sprocket that's gonna bust out, that Iron Kong's fists are made of really cheap metal, and don't even get me started on that Energy Liger over there." he ranted and raved further, leaning in towards Max to list a peculiar defect on the aformentioned Energy Liger's cannons. It would obviously be revealed that this kid was an expert at mechanical work, both with vehicles and with Zoids. Sighing, he slightly leaned back, once again pointing to the seemingly flawless Energy Liger. "That Gungnir Horn's not gonna last long if it keeps wobbling like that." he added once more, watching very subtle jerking motions of the Zoid's spear-like attachment.

"In short -- none of these Zoids are of any decent quality for me to "reincarnate" Vee, if you catch my drift." he sighed, taking his second bowl and thanking the chef; turning towards Max to further engage in conversation; having fully forgotten about the insidious wreckage of his Rev Raptor.

[xX Max Xx]

[/b] muttered Max, furrowing his eyebrows as he scratched the back of his neck gently. His eyes averted from the male before him, feeling bad for bringing back the pain. Max merely assumed that Marcus would be just as fine as he felt since he retrieved the Memory Drive of his fallen Zoid. His gaze returned to Marcus, hearing him playfully taunt at him with the Memory Drive of his Rev Raptor.

This was one of his mental sigh of relief moments, glad that Marcus didn't dwell on the pain. His hands would clasp the ramen bowl, the youth deciding to just slurp down the rest of his ramen. The boy didn't want to let his food get cold while he talked to Marcus, so his effective solution was to fiendishly gobble it down before continuing the conversation.

Max nodded to the male's words, eyes focusing on what he said of the Zoids. While this guy seemed new to combat, he sure did know how to inspect a Zoid. Max pondered for a moment, remembering his childhood. Back on Farsa Island, there were plenty of decent wild Zoids hidden in various ancient ruins. In fact, that was where his Houndsoldier originated, before it was found by his family.

While it wasn't exactly easy to get the hang of, the Zoid was in very decent shape, passing inspection by his father fresh from the ruins after being dormant for who knows how long. His lips curled into a smirk as he stroked his chin, a look of him thinking clearly placed on his visage. He had heard that there were some ruins in the desert east of Romeo City. Perhaps they could find Marcus a decent Zoid there.

"Well, I think I know where we can find you a Zoid... My Shield Liger's a two-seater, so c'mon!" yelled Max, slapping the payment for his food on the table before running to his Shield Liger, scaling the leg and popping open the cockpit. He would sit in the front, seizing control of his Shield Liger as he awaited Marcus to join him.

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[Marcus Takumi]

Scratching the back of his head, he had just thought he had heard Max say he knew of a place where he could find a Zoid. The worst part was -- he, himself, already had a new one. Slightly frowning, he folded his arms in half jealousy, and half frustration. "Tch. You're lucky you can find a Shield Liger in this heap o' junk." he stated.

Hearing that the aformentioned Zoid was a two-seater, he sighed and shrugged -- maybe this would be best for him to just go somewhere, with some complete stranger, looking for random, wild Zoids. Armed with his obviously useless-against-giant-mecha knowledge of kick-based martial arts and a memory drive, Marcus was oh-so-prepared to kick ass and take names! (Sarcasm) Reluctantly hopping up inside of the blue Liger's cockpit and adjusting himself to fit the seat; considering his legs were freakishly long, he had clipped himself in and pulled out Vee's memory unit, simply gazing at it like a reflective mirror.

"F'you have any soft tunes, like that Nujabes stuff, can you play some? I'm still feelin' kinda nauseous..." he asked politely, clutching his left arm in wincing pain. It hurt like a mofo, that was for sure, and it was quite reckless for Marcus to take off the sling that prevented him from moving it. But he'd had worse; like the time an entire toolbox crashed down upon his skull when he turned ten years old. Rubbing his head in a reminiscent way, he simply awaited for Max to take him wherever the hell he had planned for them to go.

<Auto-Exits with Max upon his posting>

[xX Max Xx]

[/b] spoke Max in a somewhat playful tone. He would strap himself in and close the cockpit of the Shield Liger once Marcus had hopped in. Max was a bit surprised that Marcus decided to go along with his plan, especially since hadn't even explained it yet.

He would press a few buttons, flicking some controls to "wake-up" the Shield Liger for their travel. He would seize control of the Zoid's systems and push the throttle forward, causing the Shield Liger to speed forward. It would begin to gain speed as time passed until it was eventually running at two-hundred and fifty kilometers per hour. Hearing Marcus's request, Max would flip the radio on.

"How about... Reflection Eternal!" jeered Max, tuning to the song from his musical list. Good thing he decided to get the Houndsoldier's memory drive, or he would have lost all of the songs he downloaded for such events of travel. The Zoid would turn, heading in the direction of the ruins east of Romeo City.

"Just sit back and enjoy the ride!" Max would adjust the systems so that instead of going full speed the Liger would "cruise," making the ride easier on his nauteous comrade. After all, he did want Marcus to barf and pass out before he got to his new Zoid. A grin of excitement found its way to Max's face, the boy excited to get the chance to explore some ruins after so many years.

[exit w/Marcus ][/ul][/ul][/sup]