ZOIDS ASTRAY ACT 024

 ACT 024: INT. CHELONIA – SYSTEMS LAB – NIGHT

The lab hums softly with the low buzz of monitors and cooling systems. Clair Wescott stands at the central console, arms crossed, sipping from a steaming mug. Her eyes are fixed on a looping scan of Drone 77’s final transmission. Danny stands beside her, scrolling through layers of data, his brow furrowed.

CLAIR (quietly, focused)
It stopped at the lake.

DANNY
Yeah. Looks like Gats tried to push it through—see this? Seems like an internal battle for almost seven minutes. But Virodahaka wouldn’t go in.

CLAIR
Looks like he stayed there until it got distracted by that blue Zoid.

Danny looks up, his eyes wide, the König Wolf on the screen.

DANNY (looking away)
Skarfi...

CLAIR (eyes wide)
I’m sorry. I’m a bit socially awkward and don’t... erm... mingle. I didn’t know him.

DANNY (a fake smile on his face)
It’s OK. He was a good friend.

He scrubs forward, highlighting the moment. Virodahaka paces at the shoreline, then turns and detours around.

CLAIR (sips)
So it’s not the water—Astray Zoids aren’t affected by it.

DANNY
Right. We saw that with a Barigator. So it’s not afraid of the lake, but it wouldn’t go in.

CLAIR (shakes head)
Because of gaps.

DANNY (confused)
What now?

CLAIR (excited)
It’s not watertight. Virodahaka isn’t a single Zoid—it’s a mass of fused bodies, barely holding together. If it went deep enough... the pressure could tear it apart.

DANNY
Like trying to sink scrap metal—too many seams, it’d just come apart.

CLAIR (grimly amused)
More like a bomb waiting to detonate under the wrong conditions.

Danny nods, then leans back from the console.

DANNY
We could use this. Drop it in a lake? Flood an area with it in?

CLAIR (sipping her drink)
That doesn’t seem viable, but if we cant stop it (she pauses for a moment) maybe we could move us.

DANNY (looking shocked)
The whole city?

CLAIR (thinking out loud)
Chelonia is the Elder Pantheon of Water—and a turtle. Makes sense it should be able to swim. We could move the entire city out into the ocean.

DANNY (eyes wide)
What would we need to do?

CLAIR (flatly)
We’d have to wake it.

Danny meets her eyes. The moment hangs, heavy.

DANNY
Yeah...

CLAIR (sets the mug down)
Chelonia’s been dormant for over a century. No pilot. No link. The Core’s still alive—we monitor it constantly—but it’s isolated. Reconnecting it…

DANNY
It risks Astray exposure.

CLAIR
Potentially, we don’t know if the Virus can infect an Elder Zoid. But worse still—if no one bonds with it... truly bonds... it could go rogue. An Elder Pantheon Zoid waking up after a hundred years? With no pilot to anchor it?

DANNY
It’ll do whatever it wants.

Clair taps the console, pulling up Chelonia's neural matrix display. A heartbeat-like pulse flickers faintly.

CLAIR (softly)
It’s dormant at the moment. But I’m not about to plug it in just to see what happens. Not without a bonded pilot.

DANNY
And we don’t have one.

CLAIR
We’ve never needed one.

She picks her mug back up, empty, she looks disgruntled.

CLAIR
Maybe it’s time to started looking.

EXT. CHELONIA – RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT 27 – EVENING

Neku walks with purpose. Paige follows closely behind, her head bouncing around as she takes in the sights—buildings, people going about their day, families chatting, children playing. The district bustles with life.

Paige’s eyes shine with wonder as she stares at the homes, restaurants, and stores nestled between tall residential blocks. She starts to lag behind.

PAIGE (skipping to keep up)
Where are we? Where are we going?

NEKU (smiling)
This is one of Chelonia’s residential blocks. There are forty in total.
(points ahead)
I’m taking you to my home. Inu and I have to attend a meeting soon—I need someone to keep an eye on you.

PAIGE (looking concerned)
Who?

NEKU (with a chuckle)
My dad. Zenko.

INT. CHELONIA – ROMANOVA’S HOME – EVENING

The room is cosy and cluttered—tools scattered across benches, old Zoid parts on shelves, and a faint blend of oil and herbs in the air.

Zenko Romanova, tall and grizzled with kind eyes, stands at a workbench, tinkering with a small component. He looks up as the door opens.

Neku steps in with Paige peeking out from behind her.

NEKU (casual)
Paige, this is mine and Inu’s dad—Zenko Romanova.

PAIGE (eyes wide)
Dad!?

NEKU (blinking)
What? No—our dad.

Zenko bursts into warm, booming laughter, wiping his hands on a rag as he turns toward them.

 
ZENKO (still chuckling)

It’s fine. If she’s staying with us, she can call me Dad.

PAIGE (beaming, rushing forward to hug him)
Dad!

Zenko lifts her gently into the hug, still chuckling.

ZENKO (teasing)
Well, I guess that’s settled. You’re mine now.

NEKU (flustered, quietly smiling)
This is gonna be chaos...

She nods to Zenko, then heads down the hallway, stopping at a closed door. She knocks gently.

NEKU (softly)
Inu?

INT. CHELONIA – INU’S QUARTERS – EVENING

Inu sits on her bed, knees pulled up, arms wrapped tightly around them. Her chin rests on her knees, eyes still red from crying.

NEKU (concerned)
You okay, sis?

INU (sighs)
I can’t believe he’s gone.
(she wipes her eyes)
He’s such an idiot...

Neku sits beside her, resting a hand gently on Inu’s back. She leans in to make eye contact.

NEKU
I’m sorry. But we’ve been called to the command room—strategy meeting. Next steps.

Inu exhales, slowly stretching her legs out.

INU (looking down at her feet)
Tilly has left the team. This has hit her really hard, She loves… loved (tears flow) Skarfi and all of us so much, I think its just too much for her.

Neku nods as she stands up from the bed.

NEKU
If you’re not up for it, you can stay here.
(smiling)
I’ll cover for you.

INU
(smiling faintly)
It’s fine. Let me get cleaned up.