Finale: In Every Story...
In every story there is an alpha, a beginning. In every story there is conflict; in every story there is love. And in this story there was much more than that. Emotions and feelings dominate the human personality. If you rule those out you are not left with an individual; you are left with nothing. A character that is normally an asset to the story becomes nothing but a stick figure that was just drawn. As minor details and traits are added, the figure changes dramatically from nothing but a few lines and curves to a beautiful, award-winning portrait.
But that leaves one question yet to be answered: are emotions really there? Are they really necessary? Zoids-were they real? Well, of course they were REAL, but the real question was, which did not belong on Zi: humans or Zoids? Organoids showed signs of personalities, however small they were. Trinity was often impatient and yearned to fight, but was she a living thing? Or should Akira look at her as a 'he?' Did organoids have genders, anyways? Should they be called 'its?'
Akira's thoughts were interrupted when Neos turned the corner of the abandoned warehouse and approached her. "Hey there," he said. "I'm here to relieve you of your watch, of course."
Akira mumbled something and looked up at Zi's moons, which were just beginning to show. "Have you ever wondered..."
"If the Kaiser's wrong about humans?" guessed Neos.
"Not what I was going to ask, but close enough."
"Hmm."
" 'Hmm?' "
"It's a human thing. Grows on you when you're around them too much."
"...oh. Even when your point in life is to make others miserable?"
"To make HUMANS miserable. Not other Zoidians. Most of the time. For Hitoshi, I'd make an exception."
Akira smiled at this. "For someone bent on getting rid of all humans, you're pretty funny sometimes, at least as funny as us Zoidians can be."
Neos managed to smile back. "Yeah, well, don't tell Hitoshi."
"I won't. If only he would shut up and quietly disappear..."
"Amen to that."
"So not only can you be humorous, you also believe in a higher being?"
"It's just a saying!"
"Hmm."
" 'Hmm' is right."
***
Kylie watched as the Black Geno Saurer slowly began to fade. "Are you just going to let him fade away from this world, just like that?!" she shouted. Sure, maybe she hated this man for trying to hurt her and her friends and her brother. Maybe he deserved to die. So why didn't she want him to die? Well, the term wasn't exactly die, but it was probably like dying. It was probably like living in a place in between reality and death. The answer to her question? Because. Because could be an answer to any question. Sometimes it made no sense, but when the real answer wouldn't make any more sense, a simple 'because' would suffice.
"He deserves to die," said Leena in reply. She glared at the Geno Saurer. "Destroying my Gun Sniper like that is inexcusable! And besides, he's not technically dying. Maybe his Zoid is destroyed, but he'll just be stuck as a Shadow forever."
"Not always forever," Sylvia reminded her.
"Besides, Leena, it's just a Zoid," remarked Bit as the two Ligers he and Leena had been piloting walked around for a moment, then turned back around and ran into each other, becoming just one Liger Zero X again. The black armor disappeared and Liger's blue armor came back on. "Sweet!"
"It wasn't 'just a Zoid.' " Kylie scowled at her brother. "Am I 'just a Zoid,' too?"
"Kylie, that's not what I meant! You're not a Zoid! You're a human being- oh dang..." shouted Bit quickly. His sister had always been somewhat judgmental and very emotional, especially when it came to family.
Too late. *Whoever that pilot of the Dark Horn was... who saved my life... I'll come back and figure out who you are. I promise.* Kylie closed her eyes and fused with the black Geno Saurer.
"What the heck do you think you're doing?!!" yelled Bit in distress. "Kylie!"
***
Kylie opened her eyes and placed her hands on either side of the Geno Saurer's Zoid Core (errm). Now that she was in it, what could she do? If she wasn't fast enough she would be a Shadow forever as well as Cid, but she couldn't let that happen to him. Not that she cared about him, but no one deserved to be a Shadow forever. What was she supposed to do?!! What did she have to do to save both herself and Cid?!!
An overwhelming pain struck Kylie as she felt herself being forcefully pulled out of the Geno Saurer...
*Don't do this to yourself, Nanase; not while you still have a family.*
***
"What's going on?" asked Leena as the Geno Saurer faded back into sight after almost disappearing. "But I thought we destroyed it!"
"And where's Kylie..."
"WHO IS KYLIE?!!" shouted Harry in an attempt to be heard. His attempt failed. Again.
The Black Geno Saurer roared once and then hovered away.
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "What was that about? I mean, you guys took it out, and then Nanase-"
"Kylie," corrected Bit.
"-Kylie wanted to help a guy who almost KILLED her, if it wasn't for Harry, and then the Geno Saurer is suddenly fine again? Did she do that on purpose?"
"I don't think Kylie did anything, really. She didn't have enough time to- " started Sylvia.
"WHERE AND WHO IS KYLIE?!!" asked Harry very loudly.
He was ignored. "As I was saying, she didn't have enough time to do anything." Sylvia shook her head. "...I don't think there's any way she could have made it out, and we would've seen her do that, anyways..."
"So what are you saying?" asked Bit.
"...either she's stuck in the Geno Saurer or she's..."
"..dead. Again," finished Bit.
"Again?" asked Sephiroth.
"Twilight or Neos or somebody said that she wasn't alive, like a Zoid."
"That's ridiculous."
"So, she did die, but the Backdraft sort of unintentionally brought her back to life with the experiment that made her a human organoid?" asked Leena. Bit shrugged. "Don't worry, Bit..." she murmured. "I'm here for you. Err, Harry, what were you saying?"
Harry and his badly damaged Dark Horn were already gone.
***
"Why did he just run off like that?!" shouted Commander Altiel. He was beginning to lose his temper. "He could have easily destroyed the Liger Zero!"
"If you didn't notice," replied the more sensible Count, "The Liger Zero is significantly stronger than it was when the Berserk Fury fought it. In fact, I'm not sure if that is the same Liger."
"Then what do you suggest we do?" asked Altiel, calming down a bit.
"Wait." The Count turned from the window and began to leave the room. "Eventually someone who can defeat that Ultimate X will turn up."
"Yes, Count," grumbled Altiel.
"I can, but it comes with a price." Someone stepped out of the shadows in the room and smirked, ginger curls covering one red eye.
"Ayumi Kroger..." muttered the Count. "Not again. I seem to have no choice. If I refuse, you'll kill me anyways."
The nineteen-year-old smiled darkly and agreed. "It is the inevitable. So is the destruction of the Ultimate X. And remember, I'm not doing this for you, Uncle. I do this for myself, and for a friend I call Kaiser."
The Count swore under his breath. Not another one of Kaiser Kage's thugs! They were always getting in the Backdraft's way. He had never been informed that his niece and Commander Altiel's cousin had met the Kaiser. The Shadow of Zi. Of course, there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. Ayumi would simply take advantage of her position and kill him easily; she did that a lot. She had done it five years ago, when she was only fourteen, helping Commander Altiel destroy the Wind Colony. Gun Snipers weren't exactly her favorite pick for a Zoid, but she was good with any Zoid, so that hadn't mattered. Back then she was a lot worse at piloting then she was now. No one defeated her and lived to brag about it for very long. "Fine. What do you want?"
"Let me think about it," she replied, long ethnic earrings making a wind- chime like sound as she turned her head to look out the observatory window. "How about I don't actually destroy the Liger Zero X for good, just disable it?"
"But that's the whole point- Liger Zero X?" Commander Altiel said.
Ayumi laughed and pushed her hair behind her ear. "Yes, Liger Zero X. Liger Zero's evolved form. I have one myself."
"But there's only one Liger Zero!" shouted Altiel.
"Not so. There are more than one, though they are very rare. But there is only one Ultimate X, and that is Bit Cloud's Liger Zero X. Until the apocalypse, see ya." With that Ayumi left the room, and probably the Whale King, as the Count could hear someone yell, "Hey! You can't steal that Hammerhead!"
"Of course I can."
In every story there's an alpha and an omega; a beginning and an ending. Usually stories start with "once upon a time," and end with "they lived happily ever after." But in this story, this is not the case.
Sephiroth immediately went to work developing new weapons for the ZBC. Sylvia went back to the Zoidian Guild, still as Bit's guardian. Ptolemy and Ehtelë also went back to their research and the archeology of another ancient Zoidian city. Brad left the team and joined Naomi and Leon's team. Bit and Leena's lives went back to normal-well, almost. Vega Obscura began to dominate Zoid battles again with his new blue Guysack. Mary was happy to take over the Champ team and continue Harry's losing streak, even though she actually won a few battles every once in a while. The three Zoidians, Neos, Akira, and Hitoshi, disappeared for a while. Ayumi went off to take care of a few old enemies and enhance her skill as a Zoid pilot. The Count kept putting up with Commander Altiel. Eira's family never discovered what happened to her, as did no one else except for the remaining citizens of Guyglos. Jamie Hemeros and Dr. Toros continued studying Liger's new armor. As for Harry, who didn't learn the answer to his question, and Kylie, along with others, their story shall be saved for later, when nothing makes sense anymore. Not that it ever did.
end part i of the shadow saga (a quadrilogy by me, loriena)(edited version)
In every story there is an alpha, a beginning. In every story there is conflict; in every story there is love. And in this story there was much more than that. Emotions and feelings dominate the human personality. If you rule those out you are not left with an individual; you are left with nothing. A character that is normally an asset to the story becomes nothing but a stick figure that was just drawn. As minor details and traits are added, the figure changes dramatically from nothing but a few lines and curves to a beautiful, award-winning portrait.
But that leaves one question yet to be answered: are emotions really there? Are they really necessary? Zoids-were they real? Well, of course they were REAL, but the real question was, which did not belong on Zi: humans or Zoids? Organoids showed signs of personalities, however small they were. Trinity was often impatient and yearned to fight, but was she a living thing? Or should Akira look at her as a 'he?' Did organoids have genders, anyways? Should they be called 'its?'
Akira's thoughts were interrupted when Neos turned the corner of the abandoned warehouse and approached her. "Hey there," he said. "I'm here to relieve you of your watch, of course."
Akira mumbled something and looked up at Zi's moons, which were just beginning to show. "Have you ever wondered..."
"If the Kaiser's wrong about humans?" guessed Neos.
"Not what I was going to ask, but close enough."
"Hmm."
" 'Hmm?' "
"It's a human thing. Grows on you when you're around them too much."
"...oh. Even when your point in life is to make others miserable?"
"To make HUMANS miserable. Not other Zoidians. Most of the time. For Hitoshi, I'd make an exception."
Akira smiled at this. "For someone bent on getting rid of all humans, you're pretty funny sometimes, at least as funny as us Zoidians can be."
Neos managed to smile back. "Yeah, well, don't tell Hitoshi."
"I won't. If only he would shut up and quietly disappear..."
"Amen to that."
"So not only can you be humorous, you also believe in a higher being?"
"It's just a saying!"
"Hmm."
" 'Hmm' is right."
***
Kylie watched as the Black Geno Saurer slowly began to fade. "Are you just going to let him fade away from this world, just like that?!" she shouted. Sure, maybe she hated this man for trying to hurt her and her friends and her brother. Maybe he deserved to die. So why didn't she want him to die? Well, the term wasn't exactly die, but it was probably like dying. It was probably like living in a place in between reality and death. The answer to her question? Because. Because could be an answer to any question. Sometimes it made no sense, but when the real answer wouldn't make any more sense, a simple 'because' would suffice.
"He deserves to die," said Leena in reply. She glared at the Geno Saurer. "Destroying my Gun Sniper like that is inexcusable! And besides, he's not technically dying. Maybe his Zoid is destroyed, but he'll just be stuck as a Shadow forever."
"Not always forever," Sylvia reminded her.
"Besides, Leena, it's just a Zoid," remarked Bit as the two Ligers he and Leena had been piloting walked around for a moment, then turned back around and ran into each other, becoming just one Liger Zero X again. The black armor disappeared and Liger's blue armor came back on. "Sweet!"
"It wasn't 'just a Zoid.' " Kylie scowled at her brother. "Am I 'just a Zoid,' too?"
"Kylie, that's not what I meant! You're not a Zoid! You're a human being- oh dang..." shouted Bit quickly. His sister had always been somewhat judgmental and very emotional, especially when it came to family.
Too late. *Whoever that pilot of the Dark Horn was... who saved my life... I'll come back and figure out who you are. I promise.* Kylie closed her eyes and fused with the black Geno Saurer.
"What the heck do you think you're doing?!!" yelled Bit in distress. "Kylie!"
***
Kylie opened her eyes and placed her hands on either side of the Geno Saurer's Zoid Core (errm). Now that she was in it, what could she do? If she wasn't fast enough she would be a Shadow forever as well as Cid, but she couldn't let that happen to him. Not that she cared about him, but no one deserved to be a Shadow forever. What was she supposed to do?!! What did she have to do to save both herself and Cid?!!
An overwhelming pain struck Kylie as she felt herself being forcefully pulled out of the Geno Saurer...
*Don't do this to yourself, Nanase; not while you still have a family.*
***
"What's going on?" asked Leena as the Geno Saurer faded back into sight after almost disappearing. "But I thought we destroyed it!"
"And where's Kylie..."
"WHO IS KYLIE?!!" shouted Harry in an attempt to be heard. His attempt failed. Again.
The Black Geno Saurer roared once and then hovered away.
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "What was that about? I mean, you guys took it out, and then Nanase-"
"Kylie," corrected Bit.
"-Kylie wanted to help a guy who almost KILLED her, if it wasn't for Harry, and then the Geno Saurer is suddenly fine again? Did she do that on purpose?"
"I don't think Kylie did anything, really. She didn't have enough time to- " started Sylvia.
"WHERE AND WHO IS KYLIE?!!" asked Harry very loudly.
He was ignored. "As I was saying, she didn't have enough time to do anything." Sylvia shook her head. "...I don't think there's any way she could have made it out, and we would've seen her do that, anyways..."
"So what are you saying?" asked Bit.
"...either she's stuck in the Geno Saurer or she's..."
"..dead. Again," finished Bit.
"Again?" asked Sephiroth.
"Twilight or Neos or somebody said that she wasn't alive, like a Zoid."
"That's ridiculous."
"So, she did die, but the Backdraft sort of unintentionally brought her back to life with the experiment that made her a human organoid?" asked Leena. Bit shrugged. "Don't worry, Bit..." she murmured. "I'm here for you. Err, Harry, what were you saying?"
Harry and his badly damaged Dark Horn were already gone.
***
"Why did he just run off like that?!" shouted Commander Altiel. He was beginning to lose his temper. "He could have easily destroyed the Liger Zero!"
"If you didn't notice," replied the more sensible Count, "The Liger Zero is significantly stronger than it was when the Berserk Fury fought it. In fact, I'm not sure if that is the same Liger."
"Then what do you suggest we do?" asked Altiel, calming down a bit.
"Wait." The Count turned from the window and began to leave the room. "Eventually someone who can defeat that Ultimate X will turn up."
"Yes, Count," grumbled Altiel.
"I can, but it comes with a price." Someone stepped out of the shadows in the room and smirked, ginger curls covering one red eye.
"Ayumi Kroger..." muttered the Count. "Not again. I seem to have no choice. If I refuse, you'll kill me anyways."
The nineteen-year-old smiled darkly and agreed. "It is the inevitable. So is the destruction of the Ultimate X. And remember, I'm not doing this for you, Uncle. I do this for myself, and for a friend I call Kaiser."
The Count swore under his breath. Not another one of Kaiser Kage's thugs! They were always getting in the Backdraft's way. He had never been informed that his niece and Commander Altiel's cousin had met the Kaiser. The Shadow of Zi. Of course, there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. Ayumi would simply take advantage of her position and kill him easily; she did that a lot. She had done it five years ago, when she was only fourteen, helping Commander Altiel destroy the Wind Colony. Gun Snipers weren't exactly her favorite pick for a Zoid, but she was good with any Zoid, so that hadn't mattered. Back then she was a lot worse at piloting then she was now. No one defeated her and lived to brag about it for very long. "Fine. What do you want?"
"Let me think about it," she replied, long ethnic earrings making a wind- chime like sound as she turned her head to look out the observatory window. "How about I don't actually destroy the Liger Zero X for good, just disable it?"
"But that's the whole point- Liger Zero X?" Commander Altiel said.
Ayumi laughed and pushed her hair behind her ear. "Yes, Liger Zero X. Liger Zero's evolved form. I have one myself."
"But there's only one Liger Zero!" shouted Altiel.
"Not so. There are more than one, though they are very rare. But there is only one Ultimate X, and that is Bit Cloud's Liger Zero X. Until the apocalypse, see ya." With that Ayumi left the room, and probably the Whale King, as the Count could hear someone yell, "Hey! You can't steal that Hammerhead!"
"Of course I can."
In every story there's an alpha and an omega; a beginning and an ending. Usually stories start with "once upon a time," and end with "they lived happily ever after." But in this story, this is not the case.
Sephiroth immediately went to work developing new weapons for the ZBC. Sylvia went back to the Zoidian Guild, still as Bit's guardian. Ptolemy and Ehtelë also went back to their research and the archeology of another ancient Zoidian city. Brad left the team and joined Naomi and Leon's team. Bit and Leena's lives went back to normal-well, almost. Vega Obscura began to dominate Zoid battles again with his new blue Guysack. Mary was happy to take over the Champ team and continue Harry's losing streak, even though she actually won a few battles every once in a while. The three Zoidians, Neos, Akira, and Hitoshi, disappeared for a while. Ayumi went off to take care of a few old enemies and enhance her skill as a Zoid pilot. The Count kept putting up with Commander Altiel. Eira's family never discovered what happened to her, as did no one else except for the remaining citizens of Guyglos. Jamie Hemeros and Dr. Toros continued studying Liger's new armor. As for Harry, who didn't learn the answer to his question, and Kylie, along with others, their story shall be saved for later, when nothing makes sense anymore. Not that it ever did.
end part i of the shadow saga (a quadrilogy by me, loriena)(edited version)