A loud whirring all around them was muffled slightly by the Liger's sealed cockpit. There was the familiar part-lurch, part-bottoming out sensation in Bit's stomach as the Hover Cargo's great elevator surged them upwards through the shadowed channel, lights on either side passing by in bright smears.
Liger growled quietly.
"I know," Bit said, leaning himself back for a moment on the headrest. "I think about it all, too, sometimes." Right in front of him, caressed under his appreciative gaze, the familiar screens, switches, and controls - the tools with which they crafted victories. Always a wanderer, this very perch was the closest thing to the concept of home that he had ever experienced. It was strange, realizing that now. "I can't believe it's been only a couple of years since we first met. Sometimes it feels as though we've been together forever. There's been so much." He looked up at the ceiling of the cockpit, smiling. "Do you feel the same way, pal?"
Liger growled again, affirming. His nose raised slightly in anticipation. The light at the top of the elevator shaft was so bright and close now. Almost there. Almost time. He shifted his weight forward slightly, head up, tail alert.
"There is nothing else but this," Bit said softly as the last moments of darkness passed. "And I couldn't ask for anything more."
The elevator purred to a halt, and there, just ahead: a new opponent, a new battle, a new day. Energy crackled through the Liger's shining claws in preparation for the launch and the red marker lights on either side counted down. Bit could feel the Liger's excitement and sheer joy at what was to come. His own body felt electric, too, and his chest felt full to bursting. This was what he lived for, and there was no better partner in the world.
"Let's do it, Liger!" he cried as the light flicked green and his Zoid rocketed forward off of the Hover Cargo. Together, they soared gleaming into the sunlight and the endless possibilities before them.