"It's gone!" Van shouted, scanning the area for Hilz and the GenoSauer. "Fiona see if you can find it."
"Van that thing has stealth abilities." Irvine said, slight worried.
"So this is like fighting a Hellcat with a GenoSauer's firepower." Van still looked around, waiting for Fiona to give him an answer.
"There's nothing Van." Fiona said, looking at a few statistics placed on a screen.
"He's got to be around." Van thrusted his Blade Liger forward. "Irvine keep moving, if we stop then he'll get a free shot on us."
"Got it." Irvine followed Van, making a large circle as they tried to spot the GenoSauer, or at least pick up any sign that it was still around.
"I found it!" Fiona shouted cheerfully. "It's five degrees left, 1.7 kilometers."
Van smiled as he opened fire at the targeted area, watching the GenoSauer become uncloaked. "Nice work Fiona." Van said, charging the GenoSauer.
"Ill cover you Van, just cut it with your blades." Irvine said, firing at the now clear Zoid.
"Alright." Van drew out the shield and pushed the throttles forward, activating the boosters. "Hang on Fiona."
Fiona nodded as she stared at the Zoid, watching it clamp it's back claws into the ground. "Its getting ready to fire its particle cannon."
Van smiled. "I know, but this shield has withstood blasts from a GenoBreaker and Death Sauer. It can stand up to that."
Fiona looked down, ready the energy level of the cannon and nodded. She grasped on to the seat, waiting for impact.
Hilz smiled, letting the cannon shots from the Lighting Saiex bash his Zoid. "Over confidence is your only weakness Van." Looking over at a small hill, he watched Ambient waiting patiently to be summoned. "Ambient, now!" Hilz yelled.
The red Organoid gave a loud growl as it merged with the GenoSauer, bringing its true power out.
Fiona watched the green, red, and yellow bars jump to the end of the screen. "Van, get away from it!"
"What?" Van said, looking back at her. Van turned and watched the glowing ball release its energy. The Blade Liger juked hard to the left, forcing the Zoid to lose its traction and crash into the ground.
"Van!" Irvine yelled, rushing towards the GenoSauer.
"You alright Fiona?" Van asked, getting the Blade Liger up.
Fiona opened her eyes and nodded. "I think so." She released a deep breath of air.
"Where did all that power come from?"
"Ambient." Fiona said, now worried about their chances.
"Damn." Van gritted his teeth, his shoulder now sore from the hard impact. "I wish we had Zeke now."
Fiona nodded in agreement.
"Irvine, get out of here. They need your help at the Palace, we'll take care of Hilz."
Irvine nodded and pulled out of his charge.
Hilz watched the Lighting Saiex pull away, but only smiled as he heard Ambient begin to hiss. "Don't worry Ambient, he isn't a threat." Hilz turned his attention on to the Blade Liger, which now stood. "They are the only concern."
"Any ideas Fiona?" Van asked, dodging the fire from the GenoSauer.
"We have to get up to it and cut it with the blades." Fiona said, reading the screen as more information quickly came up.
Van bit his lip and opened fire, but watched as the GenoSauer drew out a shield forcing the shots to take no effect. "I can', that Zoid is to quick." Van looked around, trying to come up with something.
Jason looked down at the battle, to him it was fairly boring. "Hilz has no idea what he's doing." He turned his head to Phantom. "Take control of the Blade Liger and kill Hilz." He listened to the protests of his Organoid, but in the end he agreed.
"I'm going to charge it again." Van said setting up for another charge.
"But the beam, the shield can't stop one that powerful."
"Only one way to find out, He isn't giving much of a chance anyways." Van pushed the throttle forward, releasing a quick burst of speed.
Hilz laughed. "Fool, don't you understand your Zoid can't survive a hit from the charged particle beam." Hilz clamped the back claws into the ground, and prepared to fire once again.
"Now." Jason said quietly. The gray Organoid burst into the air, merging quickly with the Blade Liger.
Van felt the Blade Liger quickly move like it had never moved before, forcing him to fall back to the seat barley able to get back up. He turned on the shield, watching the beam fire. "Hang on!" He shouted, crashing through the beam.
"How the Hell!" Hilz yelled watching the Blade Liger charge right through the beam as if nothing was there, and as the shield of the Liger crashed into the chest of the GenoSauer, knocking it to the ground.
The Blade Liger quickly turned around and cut the GenoSauer in half with its blade, Phantom leaving the Zoid as soon as he could.
Jason smiled. "Good Phantom, very good."
Van sat there, slowly letting go of the controls and turning back to Fiona. "What happened, the Blade Liger has never moved like that before."
Fiona stared at him, just as surprised at the speed and move it had pulled off. "I don't know." She said softly, trying to pull herself together.
Van got out of the cockpit and walked over to the GenoSauer, looking down at Hilz. "He's dead." Van said, feeling mixed emotions.
Fiona ran to the Command Wolf, looking for the first victim of the GenoSauer. She cleared the rubble, watching Van come and do the same. They found Roberts, though it was to late.
Van looked down, but stood up giving his fallen comrade a slow salute.
"We need to help stop Prozen Van." Fiona said quietly.
Van nodded. "Lets go."
Jason nodded as Van and Fiona hurried back to the Blade Liger. "They would have lost without you helping." He heard the Organoid growl. "No Phantom, it isn't there time to die. The Tiger will determine that, so will I." Jason closed his eyes. "But it is time for us to show them how much suffering a man can go through before he has died."
"Where's Van?" Moonbay asked, helping Irvine out of the Lighting Saiex.
"Fighting Hilz and a GenoSauer." Irvine walked right past her. "When are we attacking the palace?"
Moonbay shook her head. "There waiting for Van and Fiona to get here. As soon as they do they'll have a briefing and then make the attack."
"Is the Republic going to help?"
"Rudolph is going to see about that now."
"Alright, were is the briefing going to be at?"
"Command center." Moonbay watched as Irvine ran off, she shook her head again and smiled.
"I can not thank you enough Madame President." Rudolph said, giving President Camford a slight bow. "The Empire owes you dearly for this."
"It is nothing Emperor, I am glad to be able to assist you." Camford said, smiling at the young Emperor.
The transmission and Rudolph turned to Homaleff. "Is Van back yet?"
"No your highness, but he is on the way and he informed us that Hilz is dead." Homaleff replied.
Rudolph smiled, glad his friend was all right. "Ok. Is the Lama Bridge ready to invade."
"They will watch the briefing as soon as it begins."
Rudolph looked at General Kruger. "Can you take command of the briefing?"
Kruger nodded. "Yes your highness. I will assemble are troops immediately."
"Flyheight has returned sir." An officer shouted across the room.
Kruger nodded and turned to Hermann. "Alert every base that can reach the palace within two days."
Herman saluted and walked off.
Raven squinted his eyes due to the rays of sunlight bouncing off of his cockpit. He had destroyed another base easily, still searching for Van, destroying off every Zoid he passed. Raven had returned to his old self, cold and deadly. He knew he was doing exactly what Jason and Prozen wanted but it didn't matter anymore. His senses had returned, so had his anger and rage. Nothing to live for, nothing to die for, and nothing to fight for except the death of his greatest enemy and the metallic creatures he hated even more. But now he had the Zoid he desired so much, the Fury had returned to him and now they wouldn't be stopped. Van had lost, but he had nearly destroyed the powerful Zoid, which fit Raven perfectly. It was a creature of power, a creature of death, two things Raven loved.
"Shadow, how much longer until we get to Van." Raven gave a cold smile. Minutes seemed like hours, and hours seemed like days. The anticipation was growing strong, and he couldn't wait to kill Van again. And after Van was gone, then he would rid this planet of all the Zoids, continuing the same dark dream he wanted his entire life. Shadow gave a growl, and Raven smiled. "4 Hours." Raven knew he could wait four hours.
Ryss looked at the Tiger, the Zoid standing there staring at her. She hated it. The Tiger was massive, two hybrid cannons rested on its back, and a charged particle cannon under its neck. It also had a rail gun resting in the center of its back, and that alone gave it more firepower then most Zoids on Zi. The sleek orange body had black stripes running across it. Its large legs gave it much more support then needed. The head was the same as a Sabertiger, though it had no massive fangs hanging out of its mouth. Overall, the performance of this Zoid was much like a Liger except the weapons and speed of this Zoid was far superior, even to Van's Blade Liger. Ryss scanned the Zoid over again, looking at its claws, razor sharp, she knew they could cut through any Zoid. The red eyes and dark orange head gave it the appearance it was supposed to have, evil and sinister. She had heard stories of this Zoid, its ability to fight and kill. Ryss didn't know why Jason didn't use it now, Van and Raven would give it a fight, and defiantly make it work. After a few minutes though, she understood why. It was like Jason had said, they would have to work together to destroy this Zoid, and she was the one who had to make sure they did. Yes, everything was like Jason had said, in order to defeat the Tiger, they would have to work together and Jason was simply making that impossible. Ryss stood up and smiled. "Lets go Specula, we have a lot of work to do." She took another look at the Tiger, engraving its evil presence into her mind.
Van sat next to Fiona, Zeke walking behind them both. The command center darkened as Kruger stepped forward.
"As you all know, the Palace City was captured by Prozen and his forces yesterday." Kruger turned to a screen and watched as an overhead image of the city came up. "There forces a mainly here." He pointed to a red square on the map. "Mixed up with Hellcats and Dark Horns. They also have forces scattered outside the city, as well as a few Whale Kings overhead. We have three task forces." Kruger pushed a button and a new image came up, still an overhead view but with three colored arrows coming from the north, east, and south. "The green group, led by Lieutenant Flyheight and Irvine will consist of fast moving Zoids, there objective will be to charge the city and particpate in close combat. The red group, led by Commander Schubaltz will consist of Cannon Tortises and other heavy artillery Zoids, objective will be to provide support fire. Finally blue group, are forces from Lama Bridge and Diamond Lake, they will consist of Rev Raptors and Command Wolves with the objective of covering green group. We will also have an air raid, led by Rosso and Viola. They will attack the Whale Kings along with air to ground bombing." Kruger nodded to O'Connell who switched the lights back on. "Any questions?" He waited a moment, and saw nobody speak up. "Well then, good luck." Kruger turned and stared up at the screen.
Van smiled at Irvine. "Ready Irvine?"
Irvine smiled back. "When am I not ready."
"Lot of times, like when we fought Raven for the first time and when."
Irvine shook his head and laughed. "Lets go Lieutenant."
Van walked, but felt Fiona grab his arm.
"Be careful Van." Fiona's voice was soft and peaceful, it soothed Van to hear it.
"I will Fiona." Van then grabbed her arm and pulled her out of her chair. "When this is over, we'll go on a nice long vacation." Van said, holding Fiona tightly against him. "I promise."
Fiona smiled, and even gave a slight chuckle. "Are you going to keep your promise this time." She watched as Van closed his eyes and kissed her gently on her lips.
"Course I will." He said, bringing his head back slowly. "Don't want you to live without me." Van let her go, though Fiona still held on to his hand tightly. He smiled and looked over at Zeke. "Come on Zeke." The Organoid growled and did as it was told.
Fiona smiled, but was once again devastated to see him go off into battle again, fearing she would have to feel what she had felt a month ago. Fiona remembered that day perfectly, the pain she felt and the horror of watching Van die, by the hands of the other man she loved. Her eyes widened as that thought crossed her mind, the other man she loved. Raven was still in her mind, still lingering there in her heart though she didn't know why. Raven and Van, to her they seemed almost identical, as if they were brothers. Yet at the same time they seemed completely different, one dark and cold, the other warm-hearted and friendly. Then again, that was the only thing that separated them. Both had a passion to fight, both had a passion towards Zoids, both loved there Organoids, and both loved her. Both had lost there parents at young age and had seen there loved ones die away. It was an eerie similarity, something that didn't seem human, and something that just didn't seem possible no matter how hard she tried to believe.
"Fiona, we need your help over here" Hermann said, calling her over to the control console, waking her from her daydream.
Fiona walked over, turning it on and staring down at the screen. But she quickly went back to her thoughts. Trying to understand how she loved Raven, why she loved him and even now with Van back why she still felt something towards him. Pity, sorrow, loneliness, or the fact alone that he did remind her of Van. Fiona tried to forget about it, but this was like a bad dream, it kept haunting her, long after she awoke.