Zoids: Call of the Fire Cast List Written by Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@hotmail.com) http://www.angelfire.com/art/rcxshizuka/index.html Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Zoids, I am borrowing the names, settings, etc. under fair use and without making a profit. This work cannot be sold for profit or retransmitted and reposted without my express permission. ------------------------------------------------ The Fire Wheels Mizuki. AKA The Boss. Leader of the Fire Wheel Team. Owns and operates a black Guysack that once belonged to her father. Her father was a competent warrior who fought to earn money for the family in their poor village. She secretly trained herself to pilot the Zoid, which eventually came out into the open when bandits using Zoids raided the village. After chasing them off, Mizuki eventually won her father's approval to enter Zoid battles herself. Mizuki distinguished herself fighting by herself for a time, until she encountered the wanted criminal Shion by chance. Eventually the two decided to join forces, and suddenly Mizuki had a number of resources available to her in order to start her own team. Two years after formally creating the Fire Wheels she attempted to take the Royal Cup, but failed early on in the competition. She plans on winning the next Royal Cup, training her warriors and herself hard to make up for their obvious deficiencies after waking-up to the thought that they weren't as good as they thought they were. Mizuki is haunted by this failure and pledges to win the next Royal Cup if it's the last thing she does. A talented warrior Mizuki uses the aging Guysack with fierce loyalty, unwilling to settle for anything else. She wishes to use her talents to bring prosperity to her family and her village, using any excess prize money to help promote the impovrished children of her hometown to a better life. It is speculated that if she used a stronger Zoid her ability may be unmatched. Shizuka. AKA Silencer. Stealth Warrior. The Stealth Viper pilot hails from the same village as Mizuki; she was but a child when bandits raided it, and it left a strong emotional scar on her, orphaned. However, even early on in her career Mizuki recognized that Shizuka could become a fine warrior if trained properly, if only she could harness her fear and turn it into a weapon. Shizuka did not start piloting until after the encounter with Shion; she chose the cloaking device- equipped Stealth Viper as a mirror of her battle philosophy: strike when they least expect it. Under Mizuki's tutelage she miraculously defeats opponents much stronger than her, creating fantastic upsets in many battles. She has, to date, never used the cloaking device in battle, at the insistence of Kanna. On the battlefield Shizuka is quick on her feet and is able to come up with daring plans at times, despite her usual 'missing a few screws' personality. However, such a gifted warrior has one major weakness: she has a tendancy to go into shock. Due to the raid during her childhood Shizuka goes into shock out of fear of being the last one left alive, and then dying alone. If she does go into shock, Shizuka is almost useless for the rest of the battle-- the only way out of this is if someone (usually Mizuki) can snap her out of it. While her teammates try to help her recover and conquer it Shizuka finds it impossible to overcome. Therefore, her primary motivation to battle is to overcome this irrational reflex reaction. She looks up to Mizuki as both her mentor and her hero, and treats Kanna like an elder sister. Shizuka is also slightly jealous of Chika, having a crush on Shion, as Shion tends to pick on his sister more than her. Kanna. AKA Spider. Battle Tactician. This cunning pilot was attracted to the Fire Wheel base after learning of her friend Shion's alliance with Mizuki. She initially used Maccurtis exclusively until she learned that a Warshark can be modified to burrow under the sands of Zi. Kanna treats her Warshark like a submarine in absence of many bodies of water, even though she is arguably stronger with Maccurtis. With the Warshark, however, she utilizes hit-and-run tactics unavailable to the slower Maccurtis. Her combat style favors no casualties, as she is obsessed with devising the flawless battle strategy. Kanna is a brilliant strategist and tactician; her tactics are nearly foolproof as she dedicates much time on researching means to win. However, she is also slow to think, meaning that opponents can capitalize on her weakness by issuing battles earlier than she can compensate for. She is not known for coming up with strategies on the fly like Mizuki and Shizuka. Kanna gets upset when plans don't go her way. As second-in-command of the Fire Wheels Kanna has just as much authority as Mizuki. She treats Shizuka like a younger sister and watches over her paternally, wishing to cultivate her cunning in Kanna's image. Shion. AKA Warlock. Technician. Owner of the abandoned military facility the Fire Wheels now use as their base of operations, and pilots a Salamander. His abilities as a warrior are below average, and the Zoid and his technical expertise make up for this. Thoroughly hating the way Zoids freeze up all the time he wrote a program that helps guard against system crashes, effectively boosting durability of the computers by 50%. Shion also learned a great deal about the standard Zoid Operating System, and knows how to successfully trigger a crash in all but the latest system upgrades. Shion is known under alias as a cyber terrorist by the Zoid Battle Commission for computer crimes, and is not at all eager to draw attention to himself. He protests against the stranglehold the ZBC has over all walks of society, as nearly everything on Zi revolves around their organization. To that end he augments the Fire Wheel Zoids with better computer programs and viral weaponry (used sparingly in case the ZBC becomes suspicious) in order to get his message across. Shion supports maintaining a small army could accumulate enough strength to challenge the ZBC one day. His current guise, hiding under the ZBC's collective noses as a lowly warrior, helps protect him from discovery. Of the Fire Wheels he is the most sympathetic to the Backdraft cause, but only in that they, too, oppose the ZBC. Shion would much rather eliminate Zoid battles entirely and focus on revitalizing the deserts of Zi, feeling that the ZBC is ignoring the core problem of the planet and hiding it by distracting the people with such wasteful battles that continue to destroy the landscape. Rowan. AKA Ziel. Mechanic. A loner who transforms into a boastful braggart in the cockpit. He loves his Storm Sworder so much that he spends all of his free time polishing its armor or adding new parts, essentially treating it like people would treat their favorite car. Being a 'Zoid' person he naturally became friends with Shion, who held many Zoids under his possession. Ziel loves flying, plain and simple. Egotistically he believes he's the best fighter pilot in the world, and isn't afraid to prove it to anyone that challenges such a notion. He paints marks for each target he shoots down in battle on the side of his Storm Sworder. Johan. AKA The Dance Man. Mercenary Speed Demon. Obsessed with speed, therefore modified a Sinker to break the sound barrier. He does not enjoy high atmospheric flight nor does he enjoy the bumping around in bipedal/quadrupedal Zoids, as Johan tends to get sick in the stomach. He won't admit this, however. Johan was the last member to join the current group of Fire Wheels and therefore does not share the same dreams as Mizuki as the others tend to; Johan was more interested in accessing their facilities and equipment. Johan used to belong to a bandit gang, but left after its members chased him out for making his Sinker better than the others'. Convinced they were jealous of his abilities, he sold his services to the Fire Wheels, owing no true allegience to Mizuki's cause. He feels winning the Royal Cup will wipe the smug faces off of his old gang. For a brief time he broke off from the Fire Wheels and formed his own team, the Stardust Team, after a heated argument with Mizuki over the use of financial resources. He is later coerced back when the Fire Wheels rectify their financial situation, lured by the promises of money. Ayame. AKA Ferret. Aerial Support. She joined after the Fire Wheels lost the Royal Cup the first time, and pilots a standard, violet Redler. True to form she uses it for low atmospheric passes with her tail-mounted switchblade, which is difficult to avoid when the opponent is distracted. Ayame favors gang-up situations in her favor and does poorly in single combat; others tend to make up for her lack of personal ability in battle. Ayame serves as the cohesive force on the team, holding all the clashing personalities together most of the time with her simplistic personal charm. She goes nuts when people fight and make the organization dysfunctional. A good friend of Chika, who is the most rational, down-to-earth member of the Fire Wheels. Chika. AKA Weasel. Long-range Attacker. Her favored Zoid is the Cannon Tortoise because she is afraid of close-range combat; Chika would prefer to hit people from afar before they get close enough to hurt her. Ability not exceptional by any stretch of the imagination, and she questions why she is even on the team, when she is arguably the worst warrior on the team. Chika's advantage, however, is that opponents tend to underestimate her, as she strikes hard by the time they forget she's even around. Chika mildly dislikes her older brother Shion for teasing her, and is at odds with Shizuka because she makes fun of her for some reason. She gets bent out of shape when people mess around with her like that. The most 'normal' of the eccentric Fire Wheels. The Raijin Team (Backdraft Group) Colonel Martin. Leader of the Raijin Team. One of the highest-ranking officers in the Backdraft organization Martin leads the elite Raijin Team, which is at odds with the more skillful Fuma Team. He competes with the Fuma Team for the honor of being the organization's most valuable team, but the ninja-like warriors always seem to oust him somehow. Martin is a model soldier dedicated to the Backdraft Group, and fiercely defends its interests. He would like nothing better than to become a member of the Committee of Seven, however, in order to exert a more military bend in the organization. While his team tends to use Rev Raptors and cloaking device- equipped Helcats, Martin himself uses a souped-up Glaive Quama. ----------------------------------------------- Author's Rant Short reference list for the Fire Wheels. -- Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@hotmail.com) http://www.angelfire.com/art/rcxshizuka/index.html