Chapter 1-Reunion
Van awakes from his deep sleep sweating tremendously. He stares at the drab bare walls of his private bunk room in the new Stonyridge Base. The base was the new base built for the Guardian Force headquarters, and Van was the head of Guardian Force elite pilot evaluation program. The room was incredibly hot which must have been the cause of Van's sweating. He turns on his bed and walks to the bathroom near the door of his square room. He proceeds to wash his face in the sink. He walks back into the room noticing that the window by the head of his bed is letting in a small beam of light. He pulled apart the blinds blocking the window to reveal a hot sunny day in the desert.
Van dresses in his normal attire. It is the same jacket and pants he wore while traveling with Fiona. Checking the time Van realizes that he has ten minutes to reach his office before he is late. Walking briskly he heads for his office near the center of the base.
Once he arrives he begins to review the test results of all the candidates trying to be accepted into Van's advanced unit. The unit would be comprised of himself, another very advanced pilot, a co-pilot for this pilot, and a co-pilot for Van. All the same... no one has been able to pass the test, if only Irvine and were not in that special unit. Van thought to himself. He leaned back in his chair. Due to the massive failures of every tested pilot and the growing aggression of the new rulers of the Guylos Empire it became apparent to him that he must start the unit on his own without a wing man.
To do this he needed a highly capable co-pilot with a vast knowledge of zoids and how to repair them, as well as being able to control radar and other functions of the blade liger. He had thought over every aspect of these requirements and reviewing many profiles of pilots and soldiers he knew who his co-pilot must be.
"Kelly?" Van called.
"Yes Major Flyheight?" Kelly his assistant answered.
"Can you contact the person I mentioned yesterday and bring them to the base as soon as possible?" Van asked
"Of course major Flyheight." Kelly answered.
Van then walked to the hangar where the blade liger was. The blade liger had undergone many new improvements over the last year. Most of these improvements were to keep up with Van's advanced piloting skills. The liger's speed had been increased dramatically with new boosters and other changes. The blades were remade and redesigned to perform more functionally as well as improving the long range rifle and chain gun that had been added on the top of the liger next to the blades. Van had rarely used these parts because he was more skilled in close quarters combat, but the use of newer more advanced zoids by enemies required him to upgrade his arsenal and improve his fighting technique. Van began to wonder where this gang that had taken over the Guylos empire had come from, and where they got their zoids.
Zeke lay next to the liger resting. As well as improving the liger van had reluctantly allowed examinations to be done on Zeke in an attempt to improve any of his functions. Van would have never agreed to this but he was pushed by the top brass to eventually agree. As Van had predicted though there were no possible improvements to be made to Zeke and the tests only tired him out. The tests required so much of him he had rested for the last month or so.
***
Dust rolled through the air as Fiona attempted to brush off the remaining dirt covering the stone tablet. Although most of Fiona's memory had been restored after discovering zoid eve there were still many holes in her memory she still did not know who her family was or if she had siblings. She hoped that while searching to find more organoids and to find and destroy any destructive zoids like the Death Stinger and Death Saurer that she would come across something that would help her memory.
She continued to dust off the tablet until all the runes and characters could be seen. She looked at them for a long time hoping to be able to read them or that what was written would bring up a memory of her past. Nothing again, Fiona thought to herself. After almost a whole year of searching countless ruins not a single ruin had contained anything to help restore her memory. She was beginning to lose hope. She also disliked the company that she had. A few archaeologists and Dr. D were all she had for comfort and company.
She began to remember the old days where she and Van had just joined the Guardian Force. She remembered the joy she felt during this time and how safe she felt. Here with these people she felt melancholy and unprotected. She did not believe any of these men excluding Dr. D would protector her the way Van always did. O Van, how much I miss you, Fiona thought to herself. At that moment Dr. D came running out from a tent to the table that Fiona was working at.
"Fiona come quick." Dr. D said. "There is a message for you from Stonyridge Base."
Fiona nodded and followed Dr. D into a break tent where snack foods, water, and communication equipment was held. Fiona walked to the screen as Dr. D powered on the monitor once again. A female that Fiona did not recognize appeared on the screed.
"Ms. Fiona you have an order from a commander of the Guardian Force to return to Stonyridge Base immediately." The lady said.
"Of course m'am, but may I ask who issued the order?" Fiona asked.
"The order came directly from Major Flyheight himself." The Lady Answered.
Van, Fiona thought to herself which brought a smile to her face. She nodded and the transmission ended leaving Dr. D and Fiona staring at a blank screen. Fiona could not believe after all this time she was going to see Van again.
"Well go on, I can hold down the fort here." Said Dr. D "You heard her, directly from Major Flyheight himself." He finished with a smile.
"Thank You Dr. D." Fiona said.
She hugged Dr. D and ran to the tent she was staying in. As quickly as she could she packed all of her belongings, the thought of seeing Van again pushing her forward. She loaded her belongings into a small military jeep and drove off in the direction of Stonyridge Base. The trip would take about five days heading at a decent pace, but as excited as she was Fiona drove much faster then she normally would. Fiona came within sight of the base at the end of the third day of travel, but as much as she wanted to continue she could not drive another mile due to pure exhaustion. She fell asleep in the back of the jeep while fetching a tent to set up camp.
Fiona awoke to a beating sun glaring into her eyes. She jumped into the drivers seat of the jeep and was beginning to start it up when her ear was greeted by a familiar sound. The soft dull thud the reverberated in her ears was the sound of a running zoid. She turned to see running to her from the direction of the blaring sun a blue blade liger. This zoid was none other than Van's. She drove quickly to meet the zoid and when they were about a hundred yards apart both the liger and the jeep stopped. Van jumped out of the liger as Fiona climbed out of the jeep. They ran to each other as fast as their legs could take them. They met halfway embracing each other in a large hug. Van raised Fiona off the ground and spun her around once making her laugh. Both were very happy to see the other.
Van set Fiona back on the ground. He looked into her eyes for the first time noticing how pretty they were. He blinked and noticed how tired she was.
"Hey Zeke take the liger back to base. I will drive the jeep back with Fiona." Van said.
A roar came from the liger and it turned and ran back to the base. Zeke knew that Van and Fiona needed the time to catch up. Van sat down into the driver seat while Fiona took the seat next to him. On the drive to the base they explained what had happened to them in the last year. When the finally reached the base Fiona had fallen asleep and her head was resting on Van's shoulder. He did not want to wake her so he very lightly picked her up and carried her to her room. A soldier grabbed Fiona's bags and followed. Van laid Fiona down on the table and the soldier left the bags on the floor. Scribbling on a notepad Van wrote Fiona a note to come see him in the room across the hall when she had awakened. With that he left her room to get some sleep himself.