A/N: hey ho, all! thanks ssoo much to the people who reviewed my fic already!!!!! ^_^ sorry if any Van fans got offended, but it was meant to be humorous. . .*shrugs* ahhh well. sooo, i suppose this will be like a morning-after chapter. . . will Phoenix be caught?!!!! *gulps* i surrre hope not!

Chapter 2 - The Morning After. . .

The first thing Van noticed when he regained conscienceness the next day, was that he was extremely cold. Not only that, but why in the hell was his ass so sore? He shrugged away these thoughts from his mind and shakily stood up. Man, his head spinning! He could barely remember anything that had happened yesterday!

"Van!!! Van, where are you?!!" A voice rang through the early morning mist.

"I'm over here!!" Van hollered back. Boots could be heard running over the hard ground in his direction. Springing from the mist landed a young man with spiky brown hair. As he saw Van, however, he turned his head and clamped his hands over his eyes.

"Irvine, what's wrong?!!" Van started to walk towards his friend.

"What's wrong?!! WHAT'S WRONG?!!!! Dude, you don't have any damn clothes on, that' s what!!!"

"You're talking crazy Irvine, of course I have my. . ." His voice trailed off as Van looked down. . ."ARRRRGGHHH!!!!!!" he ran full pelt behind the nearest bush.

Opening his fingers a crack, Irvine glanced around. Whew! Honestly, who want's to see that right after they've eaten?!!

"Van," Irvine frowned at the bush and massaged his head with his fingers," We better find your clothes before Moonbay and Fiona turn up. . . " The bush shook in agreement.

"Well, just hurry up, would you? I'm freezing!" Irvine rolled his eyes and began searching. Presently, his boots stepped on something light and went crunch. Uhoh. . . he lifted his boot.

"Ummm...Van?"

"Yes?" came the irritated reply.

"I hope you like wearing the colour green. . ."

"What the hell do you mean?"

"Your clothes. . . " Irvine coughed to hide a laugh ,"They're all burnt!"

"WHAT?!!!!" Van practically screamed. "No, no, no! This can't be happening to me!"

"Well look alive little buddy," Irvine smirked, "Your impending doom approaches. . ." Right then, Van sank as far as he could into the bush with embarrassment. Moonbay and Fiona were jogging over to them, attracted by all the yelling.

"Irvine!" Fiona stepped towards him, her voice full of concern, "Did you find Van? Is he ok?"

"Yup." Irvine just crossed his arms against his chest and smiled. Moonbay was becoming agitated as she grabbed his shirt and shook him.

"Where the hell is he then?!" Irvine nodded in the bush's direction. Before he knew what was happening, Moonbay was stomping over there, her sleeves rolled past her elbows and a murderous look on her face. I'll teach him to run off and get lost! Stupid kid!

"Wait, Moonbay!" Irvine gulped," Y..you don't understan.." He was cut off by a woman's scream. Fiona had a confused look on her face and ran over to join her friend who was peering into the bush.

"Oh, hey Van!" she looked down at curled up ball, "I didn't know you were an activist!" (a/n fiona doesn't really know why it's wrong to be nekkid...remember she was in that pod thingy?! * shrugs *)

"I'm not." was the muttered reply into the dirt.

"Then why have you got, 'WHY AM I NAKED? WELL I'M AGAINST THE SLAUGHTERING OF FLUFFY BABY ANIMALS, IF YOU SUPPORT ME, JUST SLAP MY ASS!' written on your back?"

Van groaned. That's why his ass hurt so much! Damn perverted country hicks!! Moonbay however, once recovering from the initial shock, turned her face away and shuffled in her bag. She found what she was looking for. . . a capsule which once she pressed, exploded in a cloud of yellow smoke and sent clothes drifting down on top of the bush.

"You're damn lucky I had that spare capsule, Van! C'mon Fiona, Let's go talk to Irvine for a minute."

Fiona stared at her blankly.

"Can't I stay here?" Moonbay smacked her hand to her head, then slowly smiled.

"No ,I'll tell you when you're older."

Fiona glanced back at the bush and followed obediently behind the older female. Van exhaled the air he had been holding with a gasp. Finally! He grabbed clothes and began to roughly pull them on. What were those things that had attacked him? He had absolutely no idea, only that they *better* not be anywhere in the local vicinity once he got some food in his stomach. The amount of beating his pride had taken was almost too much to bear...

~ ~ ~

A/N: Phe has a number of baubles and hard candy hurled at her. well, after some complaints that i was 'too' mean to van, mayyybe he might be able to get his own back...*extends her arms and hugs van, who now has a 'kick me' post-it note stuck on his back* :P and yes, grins at one particularly irritated zoids fan- i know i am weird! but hey! wait for it......^_^ THEY'RE AIN'T NO SUCH THING AS NORMAL!!!!!!! ^_^ bweheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!!!!!!!! awwww, you can't all be that mad at me, can you? sighs. sorrrrrrrry! u_u no more van-bashing for a while, i promise!

ummmm....i don't think this chapter really went anywhere....maybe the next one will be more interesting...*tarka and phe stretch their muscles to get ready to flee for their lives* eep! o.O