Vandread Fanfic - Until the End
Chapter III - Feeling Heart
Rating - G / Romance / Sci-Fi
Author's Note - Yeah! A space battle!

Speed up the night mikado
really the game I need
king of the light mikado
what you get is all I need - power!

Dave McLoud - Mikado from Initial D 2nd Stage
"There, after some modification, I managed to do some temporary repairs on the communication circuit. I don't know how long it will last though." Rick said as he takes a rest in the cockpit.

"By the way, why are you 'calling' me?"

There's a hum.

"You chose me to be your pilot? Hey, I maybe skilled in piloting spaceship and stuff, but piloting a war machine like you is different."

The Vanguard hummed again.

"You said they're in trouble? And you want us to help? Sorry pal, I've got enough problems to deal with. Being forced to stay on this ship is not what I had in mind. Now you want me to get killed in the middle of space?"

The Vanguard hummed louder.

"Stop that. I want to take a rest for a while."

The seat suddenly ejects by itself and sends Rick crashing to the floor.

"You're kicking me out? Fine! I'll be sitting here."

He then took his guitar and opened a small compartment behind it. He takes out a few pictures and looks at them.

"Sara...about my promise, I hope you can hold on until I found a way to save you."

Suddenly the vibrations becomes stronger. Rick almost lost his balance.

"Woo...this is not good."
"Darn!! They hitting at the ship!" Hibiki shouted as he cleaves an enemy.

"Jura, Barnette, your group will form a defensive formation to keep away enemy attacks on the ship." Meia ordered them both.

"Roger!"

"Dita, you and Hibiki circle the enemy flanks to attract their attention."

"Yeah, whatever." Hibiki replied.

"Roger! Uchuuji-san, let's 'attract their attention!"

"Somehow I find something's wrong with that phrase." Hibiki sighed.
"Shields down to 25" Belvedere shouted.

"Parfet, how are things over there?" BC said through the intercom.

"Not good. Explosions are all over the place. Many of them were injured. The doctor is doing what he can. Furthermore, the Paeksis is behaving rather strangely. It doesn't respond to any input." Parfet, the chief engineer coughed throughout the conversation.

"Boss..."

"Prepare to evacuate." Magno finally said after considering the available options.

"Evacuate? But..."

"Just do it! This is an order."
"This is really ticking me off," Rick cursed as he regains his balance. "How are you doing, buddy?"

The Vanguard hummed.

"I see, we're doing fine, I guess."

It hummed again.

"You want us to help them? Considering those vibrations, I'd say that this ship will be space junk in no time and we surely can't survive another one."

This time, it gave a louder hum, seems agree to what Rick said.

"I must be crazy, but what the hell..."

With that, Rick jumped into the cockpit and activates the Vanguard.

SYNCHRONIZING WITH PILOT'S BRAIN WAVE...DONE SYNCHRONIZING WITH PILOT'S NATURAL REFLEXES...DONE ADDING PILOT'S SPECIAL ABILITIES...DONE

"Okay, we're ready to raise some hell. Hey buddy, you have a name?"

The Vanguard hummed.

"I see...VX4. Okay VX4, LET'S ROCK!!!"

With that, the VX4 walks out of the room that keeps it hidden for a long time and launched into space.

"WOOOO!!! Not too fast, buddy!!"
"There's an unknown object enters the battle," Ezra shouted while most of the crew is preparing to evacuate.

"Bring it to the screen," BC ordered.

A black mech speeds towards the enemy's mother ship.

"Boss...is that a Vanguard? It seems different." BC said to Magno.

"Hmm...it must be 'him'."

"Him'? You mean...Xero...?"

"Heh...show me what you got." Magno gave a smile.
"Wh...what's that? Jura saw a mech enters the battle. It slipped through the enemy's defense line easily.

"Is it our enemy?" Barnette speculated.

"It's a Vanguard. But who's the pilot?" Meia said.

"A Vanguard? I've never seen that model before." Hibiki chipped in.

"It's approaching the enemy's mother ship!!" Dita screamed.

"That's suicide. Jura, Barnette, hold your positions. Dita, Hibiki, follow me in." Meia ordered.
"Hey, we're approaching the enemy!! What are you doing? I'm supposed to pilot you, remember?"

The VX4 gives a hummed and the monitor in front of Rick reads:

AUTO PILOT DISABLED MANUAL PILOT ENABLED

"You're very slick, you know that? Okay, let's do things my way." Rick lands VX4 on the surface of the mother ship.

"Hmm...it seems that we attracted a lot of attention." Rick says as the alien fighters approach from all sides.

Suddenly, Meia, Hibiki and Dita came in and shot down most of the fighters.

"Who are you?" Meia's voice echoed from the intercom.

"Don't shoot! It's only me, Maverick." Rick replied.

"You...what do you think you're doing?"

"Hey, I've got a plan, okay? You guys keep them busy while I try to disable this ship's defense system. When I give the signal, blast it with all you got," Rick says.

"I won't allow you to do that." Meia said disapprovingly.

"Don't be so stubborn. You guys can't even get near this thing before. All I need is some time." Rick screamed at the intercom.

"...Fine. We'll do this thing your way. Dita, Hibiki, keep them busy. When he gives the signal, the two of you will unite."

"Yay! Finally I can unite with Uchuuji-san!!"

"Please..." Hibiki sighed.
"Boss, it was confirmed that it is Xero that is using that Vanguard." BC said to Magno.

"BC!! The Paeksis finally responds. The backup shields should be up in no time!!" Parfet screamed through the intercom.

"Boss..."

"Seems that we don't have to evacuate after all." Magno gavea smile.
"Okay buddy. Let's do it. ELECTROCUTE!!!"

VX4 drove both it's hands at the surface of the ship and an electrical energy courses from VX4 to the ship. Rick's plan seems to working as the ship loses control and explosions are everywhere on it. It also attracts the other alien fighters that are attacking Nirvana.

"Shoot. The parts I repaired are failing. Better let it go, buddy. Okay you guys, NOW!!"

"Okay, there's the signal. Dita, Hibiki, the path is clear. Do it now!" Meia commanded.

"Let's do it, Uchuuji-san!!" Dita said excitedly.

"Okay, okay. Stop whining." Hibiki replied.

There's a light. Then, a large mecha is formed.

"Okay, let me handle this!!" Hibiki said to Rick.

"Good luck kid." replied Rick as VX4 releases its grip on the ship and speeds away from it.

"Now, for the finishing," Hibiki says as the Vandread forms a double-edge saber. Then it drove through the ranks of the alien fighters and buried the saber at the core of the ship. Then, the ship exploded to pieces.

"Okay, let's get out of here." Hibiki pilots it away from the explosion.

"SUGOI!!" screamed Dita.

"Heh. Congratulations, kid." Rick said to himself.
"Boss, the enemies were destroyed. No trace of them could be found." BC confirmed the situation.

"Another victory. Thanks to him." Magno said.

The crew on the bridge celebrates and the whole place suddenly becomes lively. Bart jumped out of the navigational room and sighs heavily.

"Huh...I'm relieved. Now, I really need some rest."
"Man, I'm beat...this space battle thing is really tiring." Rick sighs as he jumps out of the cockpit.

VX4 gave a hum.

"Yeah, I know. Your condition is a lot worse than mine. But I'm no expert to fix you up. I'll find someone to fix you. Right now, I need to rest."

"Hey you. Where do you find this Vanguard?" Hibiki approaches him.

"Well, I found it in some kind of hidden room over there." Rick pointed towards the hidden door.

"Funny. I found Pyoro lying over there." Hibiki said.

"Sorry about that. I hacked into Pyoro's system to get the password. Don't worry, it can be repaired." Rick assured.

"Who are you?"

"Sorry. We're not properly introduced yet. I'm Maverick Xero. You can call me Rick or Xero." Rick says as he extends his right hand.

"Hmmph, I'm Hibiki Tokai," Hibiki replied, ignoring Rick's friendly gesture.

"I see. You're great back there. What was that giant robot?"

"It's..." Hibiki's reply was cut short.

"It's called Vandread. A combination between Vanguard and Dread." Meia replies as she enters the hangar. She is followed by Dita, Jura and Barnette.

"You must be crazy, going straight at the enemy's defense like that." Barnette said.

"Excuuse me. It was not my idea. It was 'him'." Rick pointed at VX4.

"That thing...talks?" Jura asked.

"Yeah...sort of. Right, buddy?" Rick said as he tap its foot lightly.

"HUH..." VX4 gave a loud hum.

"Yikes! That thing really talks!" Dita screamed as she hid behind Hibiki.

"See? It really talks. But it needs to be repaired because most of its part is almost broken." Rick pointed at the damaged parts.

"But I've never seen this type back home. It must be some kind of prototype." Hibiki said as he examine VX4.

"Oh yeah. Maybe Pyoro have some data about it. I found the password for the hidden door from its memory, surely it knows about what's behind itd" Rick suggests.

"I'll fix it." Hibiki takes Pyoro away.

"Great. You'll do that. I want to take a rest." Rick then walked towards the exit.

"Where are you going?" Meia blocked his path and looked at him in the eyes. Her heart skipped again. She noticed that he had dark eyes, just like most of his clothes. She could see there's an emptiness and sadness in it.

(What am I doing?)

"I want to find a place to rest, of course." Rick answers after the short silence.

"You can use the men's living quarters. I'll show you the place. Follow me." Meia said after she shakes off her thoughts.

With that, Meia exits the hangar with Rick following her behind.

"Hey, have you noticed that Meia was acting strangely just now?" Jura said to Barnette.

"Yeah. Kind of. I thought she has get over the earlier incident." Barnette said approvingly.

"She's attracted to him. Just like me, attracted to Uchuuji-san." Dita said excitedly.

Hibiki crept away from the scene after he heard that.

"UCHUUJI-SAN!!!"

"Shoot. Better make a run for it," With that, Hibiki sprinted away towards the exit.

"UCHUUJI-SAN!!!" Dita shouted for him as she gives chase.

"I wonder, how long he will stay here?" Barnette wondered.

"I don't know. But he sure is good looking. I would love to have a baby with him." Jura clasped her hands hopefully.

"Yeah right. Like he wants to." Barnette sneered at her.
"This is it." Meia and Rick arrive at men's living quarters.

"Hey, this is like a storage room or something." Rick gave a comment after taking a look around.

"It used to be a detention area." Meia answered Rick's curiosity.

"That explains it. Well, I'm gonna take a rest for a while." Rick says as he leans his guitar to the wall. Then, he takes off his coat. Meia is surprised to see scars and scorch marks all over his arms. This triggerred something inside her.

"There's something wrong, err...shoot. I didn't catch your name," Rick said after he looked at Meia's surprised face.

"Meia. Meia Gisborn." she replied hesitantly.

"There's something wrong, Meia?"

"No...nothing. I'm leaving." With that, Meia walks away from the area.

As she left the area, Rick takes a long look at her butt which is moving left and right.

(What the hell am I looking? Okay, sure she resembles Sara. But I mustn't forget my promise...)

Rick shut off his eyes and falls into dreamworld.
Meia enters her room and sits on her bed.

(Why am I feeling sad when I saw those scars? Why must I bother about the matters concerning him? Am I going to be like Dita? Being attracted to a man so much? No. I must be tired. I must take a rest.)

She closed her eyes and falls into a deep slumber.
Tell me what you're thinking of
Tell me if you love me not
I have so much I long to ask you
But now the chance has gone
When your picture fades each day
In my heart the memory stays
Though we rant, you're always smiling
And I will hold it long

Joanne Hogg - The Words I Feel from Xenosaga