The title sucks, ignore it.

Disclaimer: Except for the original character introduced later on, I own nothing, poor me :(

Chapter 1

"Damn it, stupid military," Irvine cursed as he approached the base. He knew that his being summoned here wasn't for nothing. The Guardian Force had managed to get a hold of him and there just had to be something they wanted from him. He wasn't part of it anyway, so why didn't they leave him alone?

As his Lightning Saix stopped at the gate, Van's face came up on the screen.

"Hey Irvine, long time no see."

"Yeah, but you know the life of a mercenary, I'm always looking for the next big score."

"Heh, I figured, but you should stop by every once in a while, it's kinda boring here without someone good to fight. Defeating bandits and simulations just doesn't give me the same thrill as beating something like, say, the Deathsaurer. I'd say you're almost as tough."

They both had a good laugh at this.

"So Van, you going to let me in or what?"

Van's face flushed. "Oh, right, I'll give the order."

No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than the gates opened.

Van's face disappeared and Irvine walked in. As he jumped down from his Zoid, he noticed an all too familiar purple Gustav. This brought a smile to his face for some reason. He felt a lot better about coming here.

--

Van turned to Fiona after he shut off the screen. "Well, Irvine's here, Moonbay's here, all that's left are Raven and Reese."

"You think they'll come?" Fiona asked.

"No clue, I'm not even sure we'll need their help. Herman doesn't want to take any chances though, if we do need their help, they'll already be here."

"Yeah, I guess. It's kind of strange we were able to contact them."

"I suppose, but we shouldn't complain. C'mon, we should go meet Irvine."

Fiona nodded and began to follow him, but she suddenly realized something. "Van, where's Zeek?"

--

Raven looked thoughtfully out into the distance. He wasn't sure of what to do in this situation. He began ticking off the things that would make him not want to go. He didn't want to deal with the Guardian Force, and Van wasn't even his friend.

"What's wrong?" said a voice that was uncomfortably close to his ear.

Raven jumped and whipped around. The thought of Reese being so close sent a shiver throughout his body.

"What was that for?!" he demanded angrily.

Reese was quite pleased with his reaction, and didn't even bother hiding it. "I only asked what was wrong." She said innocently. "But really, you're acting strange, more so than usual."

"You're one to talk." Raven spat, "and it's none of your business anyway."

Reese put on her best puppy dog look, and he gave her one that clearly said 'What the hell are you doing?' either that or 'That's pathetic'. She wasn't sure which, though.

She sighed, Raven had changed somewhat since the battle with the Deathsaurer, but in some ways, he didn't. She had hoped she wouldn't have to do this, but he was being stubborn.

Raven immediately knew Reese had entered his mind, he was about to protest, but, it was calming, even if she was poking around where she shouldn't. It was so relaxing that he just waited for her to say something.

Finally she spoke, "Oh lets just go. We've been traveling around aimlessly for months, it's not like we have anything better to do. You might even get to fight Van."

She didn't seem done yet, so Raven remained silent. "This isn't none of my business Raven, when did you get the message anyway?"

"On the way to this village, you were asleep at the time."

"Oh" was all she could say. Wait a second, Raven was watching me sleep? I guess he wasn't really watching me, but, he did see me sleeping. Interesting…

The two were quiet for some time; finally, Raven broke the silence. "I guess we'd better get going then."

Reese was surprised at how compliable Raven was being. He wasn't such a bad person, really. Maybe a little dumb though, I've been traveling with him this whole time, and he still hasn't noticed.

Raven called to Shadow, yet received no response. Reese was suddenly aware that Specula was absent as well.

--

Irvine was led to the briefing room by one of the soldiers. As soon as he walked in, Moonbay, who was already there, hailed him over to a chair.

The only other ones there were the Schubaltz brothers, currently in a heated argument.

"Hey, Moonbay, didn't expect to see you here."

"Didn't you see the Gustav?"

"Yeah, but I meant before that."

"Well, it's not like I can go about my usual business, I'm sorta part of the Guardian Force now. If I wasn't, I couldn't look after MY Ultrasuarus."

Irvine shook his head. Not that again. "It's not really yours, you know. Besides, there're no more apocalyptic threats, what's the use of that thing anyway?"

"It's being used as a mobile base, big as it is, and with me as the pilot. And if another 'apocalyptic threat' comes up, what will we do then, hm?"

"Shoot Van out of a giant cannon, of course." He said this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"The giant cannon of MY Ultrasaurus? Hm? Hm?"

Irvine rolled his eyes and said, "Whatever." He looked around, "Where are Van and Fiona? I talked to Van earlier, so I assumed he was here."

"He's here, and so is Fiona, but apparently Zeek went missing and they're looking for him. That's what they told me anyway." Moonbay had a glint in her eye.

What's she getting at? "What do you mean?" Irvine asked suspiciously.

Moonbay giggled. WARNING. WARNING. Moonbay doesn't giggle, what's going on here?

"Oh, didn't you know? They're official now, probably wanted some 'alone time', and be away from their duties for a while."

Irvine raised his visible eyebrow. 'The hell is wrong with her? "Official what?" Although he had already guessed.

"You know, a cou-"

"Forget it, don't answer, I have a pretty good guess." He didn't like where this conversation was going. His gut feeling told him to discontinue it.

"Give you any ideas Irvine?" Moonbay asked mischievously.

He hadn't expected that one. EXCUSE ME? That was blunt, and not something Moonbay would say. Maybe she's high or something. He tried not to show the shock on his face, while thinking of a way to steer the conversation to somewhere else.

"Not really," he replied blandly, "It's about time though; it was so obvious they had feelings for each other. Van should've made a move sooner."

"Actually, it was Fiona."

"Really?" Irvine asked, glad his plan was working. "I thought Van would."

"Why? Because he's the guy?" Moonbay was a little annoyed at him.

"No, because Fiona has liked Van for a while, but never plucked up the courage. Not to mention Van usually meets all challenges head on. I just thought he'd be the braver one."

"What about you Irvine?"

"What about me?"

"Would you be the brave one and ask a girl out first?"

"I don't really think girls are worth the hassle." Not like I can keep a girlfriend as a mercenary anyway.

"Hard to believe you're still single." Moonbay said sarcastically.

She's said that before. "Who says I am?" HA! Mull that one over Moonbay.

Her expression was priceless, he was almost glad he said it. It had been purely on impulse, however.

"And just what do you mean by that?" Moonbay finally managed to splutter out. "Who is she?"

But Irvine decided to interest himself in the entertaining argument between the Schubaltz brothers. As he watched, he began to hum; the song was strangely familiar...

--

(I didn't want to put this segment in at first, its not really plot essential, but I thought it was funny. If the majority wants it out, I'll take it out, but if not, I won't.)

They had searched the whole base with no luck. Zeek wasn't anywhere to be found. Fiona had even tried contacting him with her mind.

Having one last look in the hangar, Van was about to give up hope. Fiona suddenly yelled for him, and he ran towards her voice, to find Zeek, right by the Liger.

"Hey buddy, where've you been? We were really worried."

Zeek only growled and nuzzled Fiona as she pet him. Hey, I've got a life too.

This made Fiona laugh as Van hadn't understood what Zeek said. He gave Zeek a good pat and said, "We ought to get to the briefing room, I expect Irvine and Moonbay are waiting for us." He stopped for a moment, "Don't disappear on us again, okay buddy?"

Zeek growled again. It's not like you own me.

Van struggled to make heads or tails of it. He decided it was acknowledgement and proceeded to go to the briefing room. "Let's go Fiona."

"Right, Van. C'mon Zeek."

--

How was that for a first chapter? Better than the Teen Titans one I hope? I'm not too proud of the first segment, but I didn't know how to start it, bleah. I've already got most of chapter two written down, I just need to type it up. I was originally planning on including more stuff, but I felt like ending the chapter there. I hope no one was OOC, though I think I made Moonbay a bit. I've never gotten a positive review before, so, tell me what you think! GO CLICK TEH BUTTON DOWN THERE! Also, the segment breaks messed up when I was loading the document, I fixed them, but I don't know what the final result will be, meh. I talk too much don't I? This took me 5 hours to write down and type and fix to load, just to let you know.