Chapter 6: Ultimate Evolution
Drake stood there on the edge of the cliff, miles away from Irvin and Fiona, watching them like an eagle watches its prey. The pink cocoon began to form around the Blade Liger, making one of the few Zoids ever to reach it's Ultimate Evolution. "The kid must be better then I thought." Drake smiled. Raven was useless to him, a tool for now till he had the two pilots he wanted. Drake looked into the sky, watching the stars and the moons. He smiled again. "There almost aligned, only two more nights, and ill have the path to the Zoids." 20 years Drake had waited, planning his moves to perfection, killing all he needed to kill. Yes, soon his time would come. The planet would suffer like it did 3,000 years ago, but with one difference. It lasted for only 5 years when the three men created the Zoids, it would last an eternity for him. No one except him understood the true power the Zoids had. Armies would fall, civilizations would die, and leaders will fade away. He was the last Zodian except for the girl. Drake laughed. Only Zodians understood power and death. Drake mastered both, but he would be tested. Anybody, especially a kid, who could bring out a Zoids Ultimate Evolution, was something special, something dangerous, something challenging. He had never had a true Zoid fight till he fought that kid today, he did win fairly easy, but he had to push. Drake saw the White Liger approach the area. One more time he smiled, turned around, and walked off.
"Hey, uhh sir." Van said, not knowing the strangers name. "There's a massive power reading Northwest of us, about 3 miles."
The man looked at his gauges. "There is, that's where your Zoid got destroyed."
Van nodded. It took only a few more second for them to see the pink glow in the night. Van couldn't believe what he saw. There in the middle of the desert, a Zoid was evolving.
"I don't believe it." The man said, looking at the pink cocoon. "Your Zoids evolving."
Van looked at him. "Can't be, the Blade Liger already evolved, no Zoid has a third form." At least, he didn't think so.
"Well kid, that Zoid does." The man smiled. "Ultimate Evolution."
Van looked at him, puzzled and confused. "What's that."?
He turned to him. "When the pilot and the Zoid have reached there potential, the Zoid brings out it last bit of energy into a new form. An Organoid can sense when the pilot has reached his or hers potential, then the Organoid permanently fuses with the Zoid, making it like two Zoids in one. Of course that's just a guess, Iv never seen it before."
Van thought about it, couldn't believe it. "That means Zeek will be gone for ever, doesn't it.?"
"Who the hell is Zeek?" The stranger said.
"My Organoid." Van didn't want to lose Zeek, he had been his friend since he found him next to Fiona.
"Yea, I guess so, but your Organoid wouldn't be doing it if he didn't think you were ready."
Van smiled, making him feel a little better. They White Liger came up to the evolving Blade Liger and stopped.
Irvin got up from his nap taking a look at the White Liger, ready to jump in his Lighting Siaex if necessary. But then he saw Van jump out and sat back down. "Hey Van, how you doing."
Van smiled. "What does it look like."?
Irvin saw the bandages on his head and the sling on his arm. "Look fine to me." Then Irvin saw another man come out of the White Liger, and it was the same man who jumped out the window. "You!" he screamed.
The man saw Irvin coming towards him and got ready to throw a punch if he had to.
"Slow down Irvin, this guy saved my life, I kind of owe him." Van said.
Irvin stopped, and backed away. "Fine, you're the boss."
"How do you guys no each other anyways?" Van said, looking at the stranger.
"He walked in, showed some type of stone to us, made Fiona faint and had her wake up talking about death and evil, then jumped out the window."
The man laughed. "Yea, well. If those guard wer…." He stopped in the middle of his sentence, looking at his friends Sabertiger. "Damn." Is all he said.
"You know that Zoid?" Irvin asked.
"Yea, my friend was in it trying to buy me some time to get out with Van. Worked, but he lost. But I had already known it." He walked over to the cockpit and saw what was left of his friend, torn up and ripped in half from Drakes Blade Liger. He began to dig up some sand, making a small grave to put his friend in.
"We all seem to be losing people this week." Van said, in a voice that sounded sad.
"Yea, shame we don't know who it is." Irvin replied slowly.
Van remembered the name the stranger said. "Yes we do." He paused for a moment looking at the stranger unlatching his friend's body from the Zoid and gently putting it in the shallow grave he dug. "Drake."
"Who's Drake?" Irvin asked.
"Don't worry about it." Van gave him a mad look.
Irvin didn't question, he knew if Van didn't want to talk, he couldn't do anything to make him talk. "Fiona's over by the Liger, cant believe it's evolving again. Didn't think it was possible."
Van looked over there and saw Fiona sleeping, he decided not to wake her. The man had finished filling the grave and began to walk over to them. "Sorry about your friend." Van told him.
"He knew what he was doing, it's a fate we all suffer sooner or later. Warriors like us feel it sooner, the people we fight to protect later." The man looked at the massive pink cocoon around the Blade Liger. "How long did it take to evolve into the Blade Liger?"
"Two days." Van said.
"Great, that slows us down."
"From what, where are we going?" Irvin asked.
"To the Ruins of the Sleeping Zodians." The man said, remembering that place all to well.
"Where's that?" Van asked, wondering what he meant by the sleeping Zodians.
The man began to walk over to his Zoid. "Same place you found Fiona and Zeek. Same place I found Drake. Same place where the other two Amulets are."
They both knew about the Amulets, Irvin heard it from Fiona, Van from the stranger. But they didn't know what he meant by the same place he found Drake, but they figured not to ask.
"Lets get some sleep, it's going to be a long day tomorrow." The man said, laying on the floor next to his Liger. They slept fairly well for the first time in days.
Moonbay was asleep, same with Thomas brother Karl. "Hey there Moonbay." She thought she was dreaming but woke up anyways to see Thomas sitting up in his bed. "Thomas!" she screamed, happy to see him alive. Karl also woke up, glad to see his younger brother all right.
"Glad to see your alive Thomas." Karl said. "Didn't think you would make it there for a while."
"I'm tougher then you. You should already know that by now." Thomas replied jokingly.
Karl smiled. "Maybe you are."
"So where's everyone else, I cant wait to see Fiona again." Thomas tried to get up but Moonbay put her hand on his shoulder, keeping him on his bed.
"They think Van got in some trouble so they went looking for him. I'm sure he's alright same with the rest of them." She smiled at him, she was so happy to see Thomas alive again.
"Oh." Thomas said, looking over to see the window broken. "What happened with the window?" He asked.
"So nutcase ran through it and onto the firescape. Kind of a weird man, he had Fiona faint and started talking about how evil a crystal he had was. I don't know, I'm just glad to see you alright."
Thomas smiled, he was glad to be alive. "Maybe I should help them look for Van."
"No you better stay here, they'll find him don't worry." Moonbay told him.
"Major Karl Schubaltz." A man walked in, with his head down. "I have some very terrible news. His majesty, Price Rudolph, was killed. His throat was slit, we believe by Raven."
"You have got to be joking!" Moonbay shouted, tired of all these people she cared about getting killed. "What the hell is going on."?
Both Karl and Thomas began to tear. There leader, so young and so caring was dead because of a monster. "How could he do that?" Thomas said. "Monster." "And when did Raven come back to life anyways?" he asked.
Moonbay looked at him. "He was never dead, and some guy came and freed him from the prison he was in. Now they're going to see what a mistake that was." She ran out the room, she had to contact Irvin and tell him what just happened.
Van woke up when he heard a buzz in Irvin's cockpit. He walked over and punched up the screen. "Hey there Moonbay." He said, not fully awake yet.
"Glad to see your ok Van, listen Rudolph's dead."
Van felt his heart drop out of his body. "Why, who."
"They said Raven did it. Most likely because he had been part of the reason he lost."
Van couldn't believe it, the little kid he cared for like a brother was dead. Van put his fingers over his eyes. "Why did this happen." He said softly.
"Thomas is alive, so I did have some good news." She said, trying to cheer him up.
"Makes me feel a little better." Van lied, he was glad Thomas was alive, but losing Rudolph was like losing his father.
"You ok Van." Irvin said.
Van looked up and saw Irvin, Fiona, and the stranger all standing outside the cockpit. "Ill talk with you later Moonbay."
"Ok." She said, ending the connection.
Van looked at them, trying to find words. But he said what he could. "Rudolph, hes…hes.. dead. Raven killed him."
None could believe it, especially Fiona. The little kid they had helped many times before was dead. Fiona began to cry again.
Irvin lowered his head and walked away, Fiona dropped to the desert floor, tears coming out of her eyes. Another dear friend of hers died, by the same man, for the same reasons. She hated some people, they were monsters, so heart, no soul, and no remorse. All they wanted was death and suffering.
Van climbed out of the Lighting Siaex and began to walk away, and the man followed him. "I'm sorry for your friend, I never wanted anybody to die for this." He said, trying to help Van, but he wasn't any good at helping.
"He was only 12 years old, Raven killed a child, and Drake encouraged it. He didn't deserve to die like." The man interrupted him.
"No one deserves to be murdered, no one deserves to die. Faith is the greatest killer of all, once it has you it will kill you. Your friend knew the risk of leading a faction, and he suffered the ultimate price for his followers."
"Go to hell." Van said, watching, as the man got ready to rip Vans head off. "Ever since you have gotten involved, everybody I care about is either dead, dying, or suffering. You came here telling me how you can help us by stopping Drake but all you have done is let Thomas get shot, let your friend die, and let Rudolph die. If you and Drake weren't here I could have saved him, I hate you, this is your fault." Van never said anything like that to anybody, but he was mad and didn't care what happened.
The man walked over to him and grabbed his head. "Listen kid, I never wanted to get anybody involved in this, I didn't choose you, Drake did. He's doing all of this to screw with your head, and so far he's done a damn good job." The man pointed to the torn up Zoid. "My friend died because he knew his one life could save millions. He wanted to keep life alive, 1 death is a tragedy, 100 deaths is madness, the death of a planet is extinction. He didn't want every single being on this planet killed so he took his life to save yours and give us a better shot at stopping this man who wants to see people suffer like you are right now." He then pointed over at the grave he dug, and then over to Fiona. "I'm not going to lecture about how brave men don't run and how cowards don't stay. You leave now, if you quit what you have started, then Drake will pick your friends like he was shooting bottles. Rudolph gave his life for his people, he died because he knew Raven would leave the Empire alone he had killed him. You can't bring a dead man back, I wish you could but you can't. Respect all he did for you, and respect what you did for him. See your Zoid, it's turning into one of the most powerful Zoids ever, because of you, because you respected it, because you respected your friends. If you run, you might live and the same with your friends, and if you stay you might die and the same with your friends. But either way you will all die someday, same with me. But would you rather die in a week and let a planet keep on living then live for a few more years until Drake has his way and kills us all anyways." He let Van go, this kid was his last hope of killing Drake, same with his friends. He knew he couldn't lose him.
Van thought about it, and finally understood what this man was talking about. He looked at Irvin and then Fiona, he was right they would all die anyways. He only had seen Drake in a Zoid fight but that's all he needed to tell he was mad. The stranger put out a hand and helped Van up. He didn't say anything, he just walked over to the smashed up Sabertiger and leaned up against it. He saw the blood from the man who let him live. Van hated people like Drake, people who craved death and chaos, he hated Raven for killing Rudolph, but he hated him even more for doing it because of Van. Drake and Raven were going to die, he promised that. And Van knew, he always kept a promise.
Raven was at the ruins Drake told him to meet him at. He didn't trust Drake, and he didn't like Drake. But for now, he would work with him, he wanted to see if he told the truth about the Zoids. "Well Shadow, if that madman is right, we wont have to worry about losing again." He smiled. On the horizon, he saw a Blade Liger coming. It was Drake. "It's about time."
Drake smiled. "I told you, you didn't have to come for 2 more nights."
Raven heard him but he didn't care what he said. "The beloved prince is dead, the brat got what he deserved."
"Good, that will, slow them down." Drake laughed. "Time is coming my friend, are dreams will be come reality. The Zoids will all be dead for you." Drake smiled, "And all humanity will be dead for me."
Raven looked at him, watching as Drake pulled a gun on him. "Well, so your even crazier then I thought. You freed me to kill Rudolph, that's it."
"To a point." Drake took aim at Ravens heart, but before he could fire Shadow came a knocked the gun out of Drakes hand.
"Lets go Shadow, well deal with him later." Shadow obeyed, but when Raven heard Drake laugh he turned around at saw Drake, staring at them, not going for the gun or charging them. Just standing there, giving that evil laugh and dark look. He was evil, more evil then Raven could ever be, Raven went to his Zoid and got out of there as fast as he could. Raven knew this man had to be destroyed, no matter how low he had to go.
As Drake watched the Zoid go off he walked into the ruins, there he opened up a box. Inside were the other two Amulets. The Amulet of Air and the Eye of the Tiger. Drake was close to what he wanted. His race had been destroyed years ago, and only two existed. "This planet was meant for my race, not these damn governments. They will all die slowly". Looking in the shadows of the night, he saw the bodies of the children he killed. They were the Zodians that were supposed to be used to help restore there race, but Drake wouldn't allow it. He spared only one, his sister. He grabbed the amulets, and walked to his Zoid, they were going to have Rudolph's funeral tomorrow, he wanted to see it, it would be, entertaining. Two more nights, the map would be drawn, the Zoids would be his, and life would die on Zi, and it would never come back. He loved that thought.