Takeshi Mori and GONZO own all characters mentioned and such. I lay claim to nothing aside from the situations they are placed into.

A/N: Takes place immediately after the 2nd Stage.

Growth of a Nation

Prologue:

As the transport shuttle slowly touched down, the mood of the occupants that were stationed inside changed.

Hibiki, Duero and Bart all simply stared out of the small windows that graced the sides of the vessel. Dita was chatting near the exit platform with B.C. Originally, it was supposed to be just the men that returned, but Hibiki had invited Dita along for the journey.

B.C. looked over to the group of men who were still staring out of the windows, "What are you doing? Come over here so we can all disembark."

Hibiki and Bart shivered at the sound of the commander's voice. She had reverted back to using the odd deep throated voice of a man over her normal, modified voice. Hearing it was a strange thing for both Hibiki and Bart, although for different reasons.

The commander noticed the slight hesitation and sighed, "What are you stalling for? The longer you stall, the longer we stay here. Is that what you want?"

All three men shook their heads and quickly joined both women at the exit platform. Bart was forced forward as Dita switched places with him to be by Hibiki's side.

"Isn't it so exciting?" she asked while looking at him with large blue eyes.

"Eh? You call this exciting? It's just returning to the dark wormhole again..." Hibiki muttered as he looked at the floor, "That's why I left. I hated this place."

Hibiki was pulled from his small pity trip as Duero cleared his throat, "That was before. Now that it's been proven you are one of the first generation, you should have little problems from here on."

"Yea! We can tell them off if they try to pick something up with you. No one messes with any of us, right guys!" Bart chimed in. His response was followed by Duero sighing and Hibiki putting his good hand to his head in disgust.

Before Bart got a chance to inquire what was wrong, he was stopped as B.C. told all of them to calm down and be quiet.

Everyone aside from B.C. jumped slightly as the platform started to move down and away from the ship. They were all amazed as they looked around the landing area. Two lines of armed soldiers were on either side of a small path that led to the Captain of the Tarak fleet.

As the small group started walking to the end of the pathway, Hibiki realized they were all there to welcome them back home. As the group passed each set of soldiers on either side, they quickly and stiffly saluted and held form.

"Welcome back mislead heroes! It is with great honor and pride that I welcome you back to the land of your birth; the land that our great leader Grandpa-sama established with his own two hands."

A loud cheer could be heard from behind the group, as the soldiers showed their support for their leader.

The Captain was about to continue, but noticed that someone was hiding behind the short man with a broken arm. He leaned in closer and squinted at the image, and soon fell back with a look of frustration and anger.

"What is that despicable woman doing here! Lead her away immediately!"

Hibiki stepped forward, "I'll kick the crap out of all of you if you try anything!"

The Captain seemed to pause and think before responding, "So this…woman, she is with you?"

"What about it? Eh! Weren't the negotiations enough to show you idiots that there's nothing wrong with them? We're all the same people; the only difference is the gender!"

Duero and Bart both nodded in agreement while B.C. simply smirked.

"I suppose that it is best we treat each other civilly…Very well! Let us all escort our honored guests to Grandpa-sama and their new homes!"

A second roar of confirmation came from the crowd as the Captain motioned for the group to follow him.

Hibiki was about to move on, but was held back by something tugged at his right sleeve. He looked back to see Dita clinging onto his shirt and looking at the floor.

"What is it?"

She seemed to hesitate slightly, but looked up at him with a slight blush and tears in the corner of her eyes.

"What's wrong with you? Did something happen? What is it?"

Dita shook her head and grabbed him in a tight hug, which he quickly broke while cursing under his breath and hissing slightly.

Dita quickly put her hands to her mouth and gasped, "I'm sorry!"

He gritted his teeth and murmured out, "It's nothing. Now what is it?"

Dita looked back at the floor again and whispered, "Thank you."

"Eh?"

She looked up to him and blushed a darker red, "Thank you Mr. Alien…For standing up for me."

Hibiki flashed her a lop-sided grin and scratched the back of his head, "It isn't a big deal. Now come on, we don't want to get left do we?"

Dita shook her head and grabbed his hand as they started to walk away. She glanced over at him slightly and smiled.

Just before they rejoined their group she quickly leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Thank you…Hibiki."

No one really noticed that both of them looked slightly awkward or that they were both blushing.

A/N: Yea, I don't really need a third project on my shoulders, but I couldn't help but write this.

Over winter vacation, I just happened to catch the dubbed episode #2 of Vandread on Encore at 4 in the morning. I realized I hadn't watched it in a while and pulled out the ol' episodes and watched everything from Episode 1 of Vandread to Episode 13 of Vandread: The 2nd Stage.

A huge bonus was finding OSTs and some vocal albums, as I really enjoy the music. A bad bonus was reading the manga…which really wasn't that good at all. If you haven't read the manga yet – don't. If you have…then maybe you can understand my anger towards them for publishing it. Fanservice manga series are always…half-assed.

The series still seems rather incomplete to me, thus I'm writing the continuation of it after the 2nd Stage. Hope you readers out there like my ideas when they come in the future.

And for those of you who have already read my other works, look forward to more of them in the future. But I'm not guaranteeing anything, as I still fall in and out of small depression cycles over periods of time. I've taken this semester off, as I don't want to screw up my education over personal reasons. It's more of a cooling period so I can regain my senses.

Until later!