Chapter XIX: I Wonder...
"I didn't think diving would be quite this... hard." (back to the quotes that may-not-actually-be-in-the-story and the divey things! what's with those anyways?!!!)
O Happy Days, both of my frequent reviewers have returned after my three months and five days of internet deprivation and I intend to keep them here for good!
Considering that I don't scare either away with endless ranting, too many characters, strange concepts, and confusedness (which is an actual, spelled correctly word).
Enjoy!!!
***
"Taro, what's wrong?" whispered Sayo as Yoko began to walk off. "You're acting so... strange..."
"Something's not right about him," said Taro, reluctantly. He looked at the ground. They were still just outside of the hospital, but he knew. He could tell! They wouldn't be together for all that long. Still, just to be sure that both were alive was good enough... wasn't it?
Sayo laughed a little. "To think that I spent these last few days yelling and yelling and yelling at some Dr. Toros guy... And you were only a few buildings away!"
"Dang it, I forgot about something." Taro glared, Yoko having come back. If the guy was a psychic Taro was dead. Ah, well... "It seems that neither of you have jobs anymore?" continued Yoko, not paying much attention to him.
Sayo nodded. "Yeah... I'm just not cut out to be a nurse. It's not worth it. And Taro-"
"Ah..." interrupted Yoko. "It doesn't pay that well, either. Listen, I met someone recently who could get you positions in the Sandstorm Unit, a little undercover ZBC thingy devoted to uncovering the Backdraft."
"Say no more, we're in!" shouted Sayo and Taro, however much he already hated this Yoko person. Perhaps he wasn't really a friend with whoever was in charge of the Sandstorm Unit.
***
Dive into the mind...
"Kylie-chan," mumbled Bit. "Are you alright? Suddenly you're so hostile."
"I didn't think diving would be quite this... hard, this painful..." answered Kylie. She managed a little smile. Though she was almost convinced that they had no relation whatsoever, Bit was willing to prove that they were. And if he was that determined, why ruin his dream that someone in his family was still alive? "Diving into my past, I mean..."
"Err..." began Bit. "Right..."
"If it helps, I DO still have my locket," said Kylie. "Even though I don't think I'm really part of your family, really a Cloud. By blood."
"It doesn't really help..." he said quietly. "But answer me this, why are you telling me this now? Why not back at the hospital? I mean-"
"I..." started Kylie. She hesitated. "I've suddenly been so overcome with... feelings, and... I know that the Deathstinger's back, so... That means that even though we're not related by blood, it could happen! Again!"
"What could-" He lowered his eyes, remembering. It'd been twice. Or maybe more, he wasn't really counting. "Oh. So you're acknowledging the fact that we could still be a family?"
"It's like you and the Blitz team," laughed Kylie. "Only... we've known each other longer. Better."
"You still can't possibly convince me that our Mom and Dad never had a second child," he said, almost as stubborn as Leena usually was.
Umm... thought Eira Champ, still watching. I'll just pretend I understand, like I usually do.
"Mm," agreed (mm isn't a word, but it doesn't show up as a word that's spelled wrong...) Kylie, grinning. "Sorry I swore at you, but it's so hard to explain. I'm confused, myself..."
"These days, we all are."
*"Neos!!!" shouted Kitai franticly, climbing up the rocky hill. She'd been running for a while now, hoping that by the time she got back to Yoko and the Orudios nothing had happened... But what could a Zoid do to its pilot, anyways? There was no telling- this planet was so strange.
"Huh?" The green-haired boy was standing at the top of the hill, watching a blue Shield Liger in the distance. "What is it?" he asked, studying her frightened face.
"Yoko," she began, panting. "He... huff huff... was in the Orudios, and... heave heave... Some crazy black organoid fused with it and locked him in the cockpit."
"He deserves it," answered Neos, shrugging. "But if it worries you that much... I mean, why was he in my cockpit in the first place?!! And what could happen to him when there aren't any other Zoids around to fight it?"
"I have this feeling that this will be one of the worst things to ever happen in our unfolding history of humanity on this planet," mumbled Kylie, exaggerating it for the sake of her friend's life.
"And are your feelings usually right?"
"Yeah, just do something!"
"You should be asking his sister," muttered Neos, frowning. He waved towards the Shield Liger, which stopped its pointless frolicking. "Hey, Lori!" he shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth in an effort to be heard.
"Lori!!!" joined in Kitai, jumping up and down.
It wasn't long before the pilot got the message and the Zoid started running over. Kitai sighed with relief. If they were too late, then...*
***
Dive into the heart...
"So you probably have information on the Backdraft, right?"
Sayo nodded at the young man sitting at his desk. He grinned, adjusting his glasses. "Great... we need some more people who've been with them before. And you obviously seem to need a job that pays, so... With the recommendations from Mr. Yoko... you're in." He stood up.
Neither of the twins had gotten a good look at him until now. Naturally, he didn't look like much of a diplomat slash politician, though that seemed to be his job. Maybe there was more to it than this.
"Err..." mumbled Taro, watching him rummage through a rather messy filing cabinet. "May I ask what you're looking for?"
"WHERE ARE THOSE DANG STICKY NOTE THINGS?!!!!!" he shouted, very much unorganized and thus frustrated to an exhausting extent.
"I think they'd be on your desk, sir."
He ran his fingers through his unkempt reddish-brown hair thoughtfully. "Oh... he he... thanks." It wasn't hard to tell that his face had reddened from embarrassment. "And please, don't call me sir..."
Sayo noticed that, his office and however short his temper, he seemed to actually only be about 19 or so and not very experienced in this field. "Then what should we call you?" she asked, watching those brown eyes dart back and forth to find much-needed sticky notes.
"Err... (when you've run out of good names, simply resort to those of your reviewers or just stop adding more characters) just Damion..." He smiled, scratching his head nervously.
"Umm..." began Sayo and Taro. "Right," said Taro after a moment of silence. "That's fine with me, Damion."
"I wonder..." thought Sayo out loud as they left the office hurriedly. "D'you think Yoko-"
"I don't care about Yoko!" shouted Taro. "He's getting on my nerves, don't make me hate him any more than I already do."
"You're jealous, aren't you?" asked Sayo sadly, though sounding somewhat amused.
"WHAT?!!" he cried. "How could I be jealous of some-"
"I don't blame you for hating me, I've made a lot of enemies over the years." The many years it's been, added Yoko in his thoughts as he walked up to them. "So how'd it go?"
*Yoko sat staring at the control panel of the Zoid, hopelessly. What was there to do? And what did this organoid hope to gain, anyways? There was nothing that it could do to him... but the Zoidians were always saying that if you didn't know how to pilot your Zoid, it could be more dangerous to you than to anybody else.
There was nothing else for him to do but... think. How many years had it been, anyways? Three? They'd only been on Zi for one of these, but it had been that long since he'd began to hate humanity, however human he may have been himself. There was so much ignorance. Ignorance was what had killed his parents. Ignorance of the dangers of exploring the universe. Curiosity... A love of knowing things, of explaining the unexplained. Emotions. Before that horrible day his heart had always told him what to do. He was beginning to doubt that he even had a legitimate heart.
There he went again, questioning what he knew was the real truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Emotions... dang them! Dang the incompetence of this foolish species.
Lori didn't deserve him as a brother. She'd done so much to help everyone get used to being stranded on this planet. It had been their original destination, but still... knowing that you'd probably never get a chance to go back home, to their real home, was a crushing blow to anyone. And Yoko hadn't done anything but sulk and all that. So what... he was only, like, ten years old, anyways. Pretty smart for his age, but still only ten.
This was too young of an age to die! He couldn't do this to himself. He couldn't let this organoid lock him up in here... and... and do whatever it was planning on. He couldn't let it do this to Lori!!! For heavens sake, she went and got ENGAGED to one of those Zoidians they had found!!! And was he happy for her? Sure! Had he shown it?!!!! No!!! Such an idiot, such a-
Realizing that he was probably worse than any of the other idiots stuck here, Yoko strained to hold back his tears. What a selfish brat he had been to his sister, and yet she still loved him way too much. He could never forgive himself for this.*
"Heck, I hate me, too."
"You're crazy," mumbled Taro. If his sister was falling for this idiot... which she wasn't, he assured himself...
*"Sayo?" asked Taro in fright, watching as she tried to fix the Helcat. "Are we gonna get out of here?"
Sayo stood up in the cockpit of the Zoid. She stared at him, solemnly, blank faced. "Why are you always like this..."
"Like what?"
"So scared...?" she mumbled.
"We're in the middle of escaping the Backdraft from one of their own Whale Kings and our Zoid just suddenly stopped working! Of course I'm scared half to death that we won't get out of here- a- aliv- dang it."
"But you're ALWAYS like this... you try to hide it, but..." Sayo was tearful. "Taro..."
"Please, Sayo..." started Taro. "Don't YOU go crying. I'm the one who always cries. I-"
"I wanna know why you cry, Taro!" cried Sayo. (At this point the author starts to cry because of her miserable efforts to write this part, her bashing of herself, the scene going through her head at this moment is much better and sadder than what has been typed, and because she knows she has to read more of that dang Jekyll and Hyde book this weekend. Or maybe it has something to do with whatever song I'm listening to... ah yes... probably) "I know why you do this."
"I- is it fixed, Sayo?" he asked, trying to stop her.
"Please, Taro! Listen to me!" persisted his sister. "Tell me, please!"
"It's because..." began Taro. He knew that Commander Altiel would be there soon, to stop them. Ever since Nanase had left, he'd been more careful, making sure he knew where they were at all times, watching for anything suspicious during battles... And ever since she'd left, they'd all been rethinking things. Not just Sayo and Taro, but the others, too. Even Altiel's own brother. "Because I don't want to lose you like we lost Mom and Dad in that fire or whatever they say it was!"
Sayo seemed to smile through her tears, laughing shakily. "Oh, Taro... I don't want to lose you, either, but somehow I know that nothing can keep us apart from each other-"
Nothing except the Backdraft, maybe. Commander Altiel burst into the hangar just in time to make a threat. Of course, neither were listening. They were grinning. He watched Sayo sit back down into the Helcat, which suddenly seemed to be working properly, and turn it around to fire a hole at the end of the Whale King's closed "mouth." He held onto the railing, not wanting to be swept outside by the strange vacuum that was created (I think that'd be what happens when a Whale King is flying and someone shoots a hole in it, right...?).
"Taro! C'mon!" shouted Sayo.
"Huh?" he asked, unsure of what to do.
"Just jump!" she tried.
Well, he was about to jump. But something unexpected happened.
"Don't do it-" cried Dr. Scott as he was dragged into the hangar with the Kokoro girl by some other annoying officials. "Please don't-"
Commander Altiel laughed. "Ha, there you are! These two are practically committing suicide, trying to get out of a moving Whale King in the middle of the sky with just a Helcat. It'd be much safer for them to just stay here, don't you think?"
"Dang it," muttered Sayo. "Taro!" she shouted. "Before it's too late!"
"It already is," laughed Altiel. "How could you two even think of escaping in your condition?"
Taro hesitated. "Sayo, I... I really wanna jump but I can't!!!"
"What?!!" cried Sayo. "Taro! Our lives depend on this!!!"
"I... I know, but..." muttered Taro, holding onto a rail for dear life. "I..."
"Uh?" asked Kokoro, watching them as Dr. Scott held her close. "I don't understand..."
"Hey, Kokoro!" shouted Commander Altiel. "Do your stuff already!"
"W- what?" asked Kokoro.
"I won't let you make her-" began Dr. Scott.
***
Kokoro rested her chin in her hands as she watched Robert and Sephiroth trying to get the huge Zoid to work. She smiled. It hadn't been all that long and already they seemed like they knew each other perfectly. Wow...
*"W- what do you mean?" cried Kokoro, staring at the Commander with wide eyes. He glared at them. "Why do you think we even funded my brother's project?!! There was a reason, you know!!!"
"C'mon, Taro, while he's distracted," said Sayo. Her brother hesitated once again.*
"Uh?" asked Kokoro, standing up from her chair.
"Kokoro?" asked Robert and Sephiroth.
"I..." she began. "I think... I need a little rest."
"Right," agreed Robert. "You've been up all night, trying to help, but..."
She smiled innocently. "I guess I really haven't done much, huh?" Kokoro giggled nervously. "But still, we need to get this thing up and running really fast... before... it's back again."
Sephiroth nodded. "Yeah. We all need a rest, but-"
"I'll go get you some coffee, or something," smiled Kokoro.
"They have coffee on this thing?" asked Robert. "It's probably gone bad-"
"No... that's alright, I'm looking anyways," assured Kokoro. "I bet there's a kitchen or something around here... if there's enough power to open doors, there's enough power to make coffee, yeah?"
*"I- I don't wanna!" pleaded Kokoro, struggling to get away from Altiel. "Please! Let me go!"
"Tell me, do you WANT your two friends to die?!!" he shouted angrily.
"Craig, please, I haven't finished programming-" began Dr. Scott.
"Enough with you and your programming, enough with your love of trying to make things that aren't living live!!!" yelled Craig. "I don't understand you, Scott! You lost both your wife and your children- can't you just let them go? You knew that you'd lose this one, too!"
"I... I... friends?" stammered Kokoro. "What are you talking about?!! Just- "
"Taro! Now!" shouted Sayo. "Please, I can't wait much longer!"
The hole in the Whale King was slowly growing bigger, large chunks of metal pulling off of it and being chucked out into the rain, down onto the wet sand. The vacuum grew slightly stronger. The Helcat strained to keep itself from being pulled out. "Taro!" cried Sayo. "You have to get in now, or- Ahh!"
One of the railings was practically pulled out of the hangar's bridgey thing and hit the Helcat. However small it was, it was enough. Sayo closed the cockpit as the Helcat was pulled out.
"Sayo!" cried Dr. Scott. Taro stared in silent disbelief, his face white. He felt sick.
"L- let go!" shouted Kokoro, wrenching herself free and trying to run. This was impossible, so she had to pull herself along the remaining rails as quickly as possible. "What are you doing, Craig?" hissed Dr. Scott. "You're going to get us all killed if you don't leave her alone."
"Ha, YOU'RE threatening me, of all people?" asked Craig.
"S- Sayo, you'd better be okay..." mumbled Taro. Nothing could possibly kill his sister, she was too strong-willed, wasn't she...*
"Ooh..." mumbled Kokoro when she had closed the door behind her. "My head, it's... so..." She shook it, sighing. "I'll be fine, I just need to find a kitchen or something. There should be one, somewhere around here..."
*Kokoro had found a control panel. She still wasn't sure what Altiel had wanted, but who cared? He wasn't her mentor OR her authority, Dr. Scott was. He said that... that Altiel was just a control freak, to stay away from him. Even though they were brothers. They obviously resented each other. Scott had once before mentioned something about him having already betraying another family member, that he wouldn't be tricked so easily.
Well...
"Please, forgive me, Dr. Scott!" cried Kokoro.
"For what?" he shouted back, trying to be heard over the wind.
"I can't- I- I know you don't want me to listen to the Commander, but if I don't, what're we gonna do?" she asked.
Altiel smiled in triumph. How interesting this girl was... this AI system was. So loyal to her creator, not wanting him to get hurt or killed, though she probably had no idea what she was anyways. If he could get rid of Dr Scott, there may be a chance that he could... manipulate her into being a REAL Backdraft agent! And it would work, too, he bet! Just like all his other plans... err... scratch that.
"I know that- that you want me to do something with this," said Kokoro, staring at the controls. "But... how?"
"Kokoro!" cried Scott, "No, you don't need to anymore, the Helcat already got away!"
The Zoid rocked and some lights went off, a siren blaring. That hole was causing a problem. They'd have to get out of there, back into the other rooms, before-
"Let her do it anyways!" contradicted his broth, shrugging. He laughed crazily. "Ha! Not like it'll make a difference. Consider it this way! Eventually, she'll have to anyways! You know the Committee's intentions!"
"What's wrong with you?!!" shouted Dr. Scott. "Are you out of your mind?!!"
"Apparently so, Scott, apparently so."*
***
"Harry," asked Fay once again, "Are you sure you want to find the Deathstinger, and Kage, that you wanna find out what this 'conspiracy' is all about?"
He nodded silently. Yeah, that and find Kylie and Leena. That was all he wanted right now. And his job not to disappear, of course, which it probably would anyway. Ah well, it was worth it, if all of this was true.
"Well, then..." she began. "We better get in our Zoids... We'll need them, surely."
"Uh? So where are we going?" asked Harry. "You KNOW where they all are?"
"Am I supposed to?" answered Faye with another question. "I guess I do. Most people would, something this important." She shrugged, climbing into the Salamander's cockpit. "Coming or not?"
"Where exactly are we going?" he shouted.
"We? I'm going to where the Deathstinger was, duh, to see Hitoshi, so if you want to follow me, be my guest!"
"Umm..." started Harry. He sighed. Everything was so... rushed these days. Well, he had nothing better to do, and he had a strange feeling that it wouldn't be very long before he had to confront Bit once and for all and WIN LEENA'S HEART BACK!!! Err, he he... Maybe not, but hey, you couldn't stop a guy from dreaming old dreams, even if he was starting to have new ones. Old love dies hard, after all. "Hey, wait, I'm coming!" he shouted struggling to get to his Zoid before Faye's could take off.
She grinned. What an idiot, she thought. Oh well, you couldn't blame someone like him for wanting to be where the action was.
***
"Why aren't they here yet?" muttered Brad angrily, leaning against a wall of the Hover Cargo's lounge. How long had it been, anyways, a few hours at least?
"I guess you can't rush the ZBC," said Hitoshi, shrugging. "Sometimes allies aren't really... well, your best allies."
"Whatever." Bit walked in, followed by Kylie. "I'm guessing Leena's still chasing whatshername."
"Prob'ly," agreed Kylie. "They'll get tired of it, eventually. Either that or they'll just get wet."
It had started to rain not all that long ago, forcing them all to take cover in the confined spaces of Dr. Toros' transport, which wasn't a very good idea. They still had a lot of grudges, of course, so being this close to each other for this long without snapping was pure torture.
"Yeah, well..." mumbled Spring. "I wonder how Neos is?"
Jamie was holding an ice pack to his head. "If any of us have gone crazy from this, he has."
"I can't help but feel sorry for him!" Eira shrugged, looking out the window. "I mean.. I've always hated him, an' wanted revenge for whatever dumb reason I could come up with, but now, because of me this all happened..."
"Because of you?" asked Kylie, sitting down on the sofa. "If you hadn't done what you did, Kage would've gotten to the Deathstinger first and things would be even worse." Eira glared for a moment, and then sighed.
"I admit it..." she muttered. "I suck at this. Zoids and all that."
"If you suck at it, then how could you have almost blown us all to heck?" asked Bit.
They sweat-dropped. Okay, so he had a point.
"I don't know about you, but I've had enough of this," said Hitoshi, standing back up. "Obviously we're all still enemies, but we all agree with one thing, right? We're not gonna work for Kage anymore and we'll do whatever it takes to get rid of him and the Deathstinger. I'm not sitting around to wait for it to suddenly surprise us while all of our Zoids aren't operable, 'cept the Liger Zero X and that Dibison."
"Of course not," said Sylvia, who didn't seem to be paying much attention until now. "There's no telling what it's doing now."
"Hey," said Jamie. "Excuse me for interrupting, but where's Sephiroth and Vivian gone to?"
***
"I wonder..." began Vivian, sitting in the cockpit of her Zoid. "...why am I even bothering? It's not like I really care about anything on Zi, anyways. So why do I want to stop the Deathstinger?"
She stared out at the rain. There was barely anything she could do, anyways. By the time she found the pilots she needed half the world would probably already gone. So why bother?
Why?!! Well, duh!
Why not? Vivian grinned. By Zoids Eve, she was getting good at this 'I- don't-freaking-care-what-I-am, I can still love someone' thing. Only, this wasn't doing much good. Adrian... he... didn't (she cringed) love her anyways. He liked Sylvia, of course, and that was so obvious. So why bother?
Why not?
***
Dive into... well, heck, just defeat the Deathstinger already so we can end this part of the story. At least TRY.
Kylie watched them argue with each other quietly. Well... this was about as close to home as she'd ever be able to get. She stood up and walked out of the room and down the hall. No one noticed. They were all too busy trying to prove the others wrong about nothing in particular.
Kylie opened the door to Dr. Toros' room and stood there, watching him tinker with his models for a while. He was so focused on it that he didn't notice her, either. She sighed. So what had happened back there, why had she suddenly decided to say all that to Bit? why was everything starting to come back NOW, after she had already determined that her family was Bit's?
She moved on down the hall, looking into another room.
"Hey..." mumbled Neos, sitting next to the bed where they had put Akira. "It's Kylie, right?"
Kylie nodded, walking in. "Mmhmm... but you might know me better as Kitai..."
Neos looked surprised. "Oh... do y'know what's gonna happen to her? Is Akira gonna die because I wouldn't let Twilight...?"
"She..." began Kylie. Why was he asking HER this, of all people? How was she supposed to know?
Suddenly, unexpectedly, Kylie reached out and put her hand on Neos's shoulder. "Neos Vert... I don't know," she said quietly. "Not only that, but I also don't know who I really am, though I thought I did for almost two years. I don't know why any of this is happening, why now, why here. I don't know why I'm here except that... it's all meant to be, I guess."
Neos lowered his eyes. Yeah... she was probably right. So why did he have this horrible feeling that it was all his fault, in the end? Why was he starting to think that this was all pointless? That, no matter what he did, Kage would get away with it all?
Kylie watched Akira. It was strange, really... it was a miracle that after what she had been doing she'd been able to tap into her Zoidian powers and make that shield work. Now it'd take another miracle for her to live. And yet another for Kylie to finally learn the truth behind all this.
***
Meanwhile, Cid tried to find a way out of the Champ team's base before Mary talked him to death. At least he was slowly getting used to it.
***
Another Meanwhile, Leena, however wet she was, was still pursuing after Ayumi for trying to kill Dr. Toros.
***
Weehee...
I wonder... why DO I bash myself, anyways? If anyone was ever to flame this story it'd probably me. I don't think I'd go that far, though. Sheesh. It must have something to do with the fact that I'm weird and have an abnormal fear of criticism, so I criticize myself before anyone else can? Who knows.
On another note, YAY!!!! So happy! I actually have an idea of where this is going and like it! And that doesn't happen all to often, mind you. It's taking a little longer to get chapters going now that I've run out of all the stuff I wrote during the IDP (internet deprivation period).
Ah yes, me friend Mike says that they're adding another anime on Toonami... .Hack//Sign... We have the first episode of .hack//lliminality or somethin' on our computer; I watched it. I think they're related... ah well, it was cool anyways.
When thinking of why on Zi I would bash myself, why do I keep adding more characters?!!!!! I guess it's become a habit. I spend a lot of time during school not paying any attention to the lesson whatsoever and just... thinking.
19 chapters... 118 pages... nice. To think that I started my first Zoids story only last July. Ja ne, watashi no tomodachi!!! which should say "later, my friends!!!" though it probably doesn't. Or, I could say, a bientot, mes amis! which DOES say "see you later, my friends!" (in French) if you put in the accents! Weehee!
Which reminds me (don't know how, though)... I've forgotten about my intentions to introduce Liger's other new armor, which we all know as Elen... star... Spring's nickname for Bit. I'm working on that.
No more rants; later!!!
"I didn't think diving would be quite this... hard." (back to the quotes that may-not-actually-be-in-the-story and the divey things! what's with those anyways?!!!)
O Happy Days, both of my frequent reviewers have returned after my three months and five days of internet deprivation and I intend to keep them here for good!
Considering that I don't scare either away with endless ranting, too many characters, strange concepts, and confusedness (which is an actual, spelled correctly word).
Enjoy!!!
***
"Taro, what's wrong?" whispered Sayo as Yoko began to walk off. "You're acting so... strange..."
"Something's not right about him," said Taro, reluctantly. He looked at the ground. They were still just outside of the hospital, but he knew. He could tell! They wouldn't be together for all that long. Still, just to be sure that both were alive was good enough... wasn't it?
Sayo laughed a little. "To think that I spent these last few days yelling and yelling and yelling at some Dr. Toros guy... And you were only a few buildings away!"
"Dang it, I forgot about something." Taro glared, Yoko having come back. If the guy was a psychic Taro was dead. Ah, well... "It seems that neither of you have jobs anymore?" continued Yoko, not paying much attention to him.
Sayo nodded. "Yeah... I'm just not cut out to be a nurse. It's not worth it. And Taro-"
"Ah..." interrupted Yoko. "It doesn't pay that well, either. Listen, I met someone recently who could get you positions in the Sandstorm Unit, a little undercover ZBC thingy devoted to uncovering the Backdraft."
"Say no more, we're in!" shouted Sayo and Taro, however much he already hated this Yoko person. Perhaps he wasn't really a friend with whoever was in charge of the Sandstorm Unit.
***
Dive into the mind...
"Kylie-chan," mumbled Bit. "Are you alright? Suddenly you're so hostile."
"I didn't think diving would be quite this... hard, this painful..." answered Kylie. She managed a little smile. Though she was almost convinced that they had no relation whatsoever, Bit was willing to prove that they were. And if he was that determined, why ruin his dream that someone in his family was still alive? "Diving into my past, I mean..."
"Err..." began Bit. "Right..."
"If it helps, I DO still have my locket," said Kylie. "Even though I don't think I'm really part of your family, really a Cloud. By blood."
"It doesn't really help..." he said quietly. "But answer me this, why are you telling me this now? Why not back at the hospital? I mean-"
"I..." started Kylie. She hesitated. "I've suddenly been so overcome with... feelings, and... I know that the Deathstinger's back, so... That means that even though we're not related by blood, it could happen! Again!"
"What could-" He lowered his eyes, remembering. It'd been twice. Or maybe more, he wasn't really counting. "Oh. So you're acknowledging the fact that we could still be a family?"
"It's like you and the Blitz team," laughed Kylie. "Only... we've known each other longer. Better."
"You still can't possibly convince me that our Mom and Dad never had a second child," he said, almost as stubborn as Leena usually was.
Umm... thought Eira Champ, still watching. I'll just pretend I understand, like I usually do.
"Mm," agreed (mm isn't a word, but it doesn't show up as a word that's spelled wrong...) Kylie, grinning. "Sorry I swore at you, but it's so hard to explain. I'm confused, myself..."
"These days, we all are."
*"Neos!!!" shouted Kitai franticly, climbing up the rocky hill. She'd been running for a while now, hoping that by the time she got back to Yoko and the Orudios nothing had happened... But what could a Zoid do to its pilot, anyways? There was no telling- this planet was so strange.
"Huh?" The green-haired boy was standing at the top of the hill, watching a blue Shield Liger in the distance. "What is it?" he asked, studying her frightened face.
"Yoko," she began, panting. "He... huff huff... was in the Orudios, and... heave heave... Some crazy black organoid fused with it and locked him in the cockpit."
"He deserves it," answered Neos, shrugging. "But if it worries you that much... I mean, why was he in my cockpit in the first place?!! And what could happen to him when there aren't any other Zoids around to fight it?"
"I have this feeling that this will be one of the worst things to ever happen in our unfolding history of humanity on this planet," mumbled Kylie, exaggerating it for the sake of her friend's life.
"And are your feelings usually right?"
"Yeah, just do something!"
"You should be asking his sister," muttered Neos, frowning. He waved towards the Shield Liger, which stopped its pointless frolicking. "Hey, Lori!" he shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth in an effort to be heard.
"Lori!!!" joined in Kitai, jumping up and down.
It wasn't long before the pilot got the message and the Zoid started running over. Kitai sighed with relief. If they were too late, then...*
***
Dive into the heart...
"So you probably have information on the Backdraft, right?"
Sayo nodded at the young man sitting at his desk. He grinned, adjusting his glasses. "Great... we need some more people who've been with them before. And you obviously seem to need a job that pays, so... With the recommendations from Mr. Yoko... you're in." He stood up.
Neither of the twins had gotten a good look at him until now. Naturally, he didn't look like much of a diplomat slash politician, though that seemed to be his job. Maybe there was more to it than this.
"Err..." mumbled Taro, watching him rummage through a rather messy filing cabinet. "May I ask what you're looking for?"
"WHERE ARE THOSE DANG STICKY NOTE THINGS?!!!!!" he shouted, very much unorganized and thus frustrated to an exhausting extent.
"I think they'd be on your desk, sir."
He ran his fingers through his unkempt reddish-brown hair thoughtfully. "Oh... he he... thanks." It wasn't hard to tell that his face had reddened from embarrassment. "And please, don't call me sir..."
Sayo noticed that, his office and however short his temper, he seemed to actually only be about 19 or so and not very experienced in this field. "Then what should we call you?" she asked, watching those brown eyes dart back and forth to find much-needed sticky notes.
"Err... (when you've run out of good names, simply resort to those of your reviewers or just stop adding more characters) just Damion..." He smiled, scratching his head nervously.
"Umm..." began Sayo and Taro. "Right," said Taro after a moment of silence. "That's fine with me, Damion."
"I wonder..." thought Sayo out loud as they left the office hurriedly. "D'you think Yoko-"
"I don't care about Yoko!" shouted Taro. "He's getting on my nerves, don't make me hate him any more than I already do."
"You're jealous, aren't you?" asked Sayo sadly, though sounding somewhat amused.
"WHAT?!!" he cried. "How could I be jealous of some-"
"I don't blame you for hating me, I've made a lot of enemies over the years." The many years it's been, added Yoko in his thoughts as he walked up to them. "So how'd it go?"
*Yoko sat staring at the control panel of the Zoid, hopelessly. What was there to do? And what did this organoid hope to gain, anyways? There was nothing that it could do to him... but the Zoidians were always saying that if you didn't know how to pilot your Zoid, it could be more dangerous to you than to anybody else.
There was nothing else for him to do but... think. How many years had it been, anyways? Three? They'd only been on Zi for one of these, but it had been that long since he'd began to hate humanity, however human he may have been himself. There was so much ignorance. Ignorance was what had killed his parents. Ignorance of the dangers of exploring the universe. Curiosity... A love of knowing things, of explaining the unexplained. Emotions. Before that horrible day his heart had always told him what to do. He was beginning to doubt that he even had a legitimate heart.
There he went again, questioning what he knew was the real truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Emotions... dang them! Dang the incompetence of this foolish species.
Lori didn't deserve him as a brother. She'd done so much to help everyone get used to being stranded on this planet. It had been their original destination, but still... knowing that you'd probably never get a chance to go back home, to their real home, was a crushing blow to anyone. And Yoko hadn't done anything but sulk and all that. So what... he was only, like, ten years old, anyways. Pretty smart for his age, but still only ten.
This was too young of an age to die! He couldn't do this to himself. He couldn't let this organoid lock him up in here... and... and do whatever it was planning on. He couldn't let it do this to Lori!!! For heavens sake, she went and got ENGAGED to one of those Zoidians they had found!!! And was he happy for her? Sure! Had he shown it?!!!! No!!! Such an idiot, such a-
Realizing that he was probably worse than any of the other idiots stuck here, Yoko strained to hold back his tears. What a selfish brat he had been to his sister, and yet she still loved him way too much. He could never forgive himself for this.*
"Heck, I hate me, too."
"You're crazy," mumbled Taro. If his sister was falling for this idiot... which she wasn't, he assured himself...
*"Sayo?" asked Taro in fright, watching as she tried to fix the Helcat. "Are we gonna get out of here?"
Sayo stood up in the cockpit of the Zoid. She stared at him, solemnly, blank faced. "Why are you always like this..."
"Like what?"
"So scared...?" she mumbled.
"We're in the middle of escaping the Backdraft from one of their own Whale Kings and our Zoid just suddenly stopped working! Of course I'm scared half to death that we won't get out of here- a- aliv- dang it."
"But you're ALWAYS like this... you try to hide it, but..." Sayo was tearful. "Taro..."
"Please, Sayo..." started Taro. "Don't YOU go crying. I'm the one who always cries. I-"
"I wanna know why you cry, Taro!" cried Sayo. (At this point the author starts to cry because of her miserable efforts to write this part, her bashing of herself, the scene going through her head at this moment is much better and sadder than what has been typed, and because she knows she has to read more of that dang Jekyll and Hyde book this weekend. Or maybe it has something to do with whatever song I'm listening to... ah yes... probably) "I know why you do this."
"I- is it fixed, Sayo?" he asked, trying to stop her.
"Please, Taro! Listen to me!" persisted his sister. "Tell me, please!"
"It's because..." began Taro. He knew that Commander Altiel would be there soon, to stop them. Ever since Nanase had left, he'd been more careful, making sure he knew where they were at all times, watching for anything suspicious during battles... And ever since she'd left, they'd all been rethinking things. Not just Sayo and Taro, but the others, too. Even Altiel's own brother. "Because I don't want to lose you like we lost Mom and Dad in that fire or whatever they say it was!"
Sayo seemed to smile through her tears, laughing shakily. "Oh, Taro... I don't want to lose you, either, but somehow I know that nothing can keep us apart from each other-"
Nothing except the Backdraft, maybe. Commander Altiel burst into the hangar just in time to make a threat. Of course, neither were listening. They were grinning. He watched Sayo sit back down into the Helcat, which suddenly seemed to be working properly, and turn it around to fire a hole at the end of the Whale King's closed "mouth." He held onto the railing, not wanting to be swept outside by the strange vacuum that was created (I think that'd be what happens when a Whale King is flying and someone shoots a hole in it, right...?).
"Taro! C'mon!" shouted Sayo.
"Huh?" he asked, unsure of what to do.
"Just jump!" she tried.
Well, he was about to jump. But something unexpected happened.
"Don't do it-" cried Dr. Scott as he was dragged into the hangar with the Kokoro girl by some other annoying officials. "Please don't-"
Commander Altiel laughed. "Ha, there you are! These two are practically committing suicide, trying to get out of a moving Whale King in the middle of the sky with just a Helcat. It'd be much safer for them to just stay here, don't you think?"
"Dang it," muttered Sayo. "Taro!" she shouted. "Before it's too late!"
"It already is," laughed Altiel. "How could you two even think of escaping in your condition?"
Taro hesitated. "Sayo, I... I really wanna jump but I can't!!!"
"What?!!" cried Sayo. "Taro! Our lives depend on this!!!"
"I... I know, but..." muttered Taro, holding onto a rail for dear life. "I..."
"Uh?" asked Kokoro, watching them as Dr. Scott held her close. "I don't understand..."
"Hey, Kokoro!" shouted Commander Altiel. "Do your stuff already!"
"W- what?" asked Kokoro.
"I won't let you make her-" began Dr. Scott.
***
Kokoro rested her chin in her hands as she watched Robert and Sephiroth trying to get the huge Zoid to work. She smiled. It hadn't been all that long and already they seemed like they knew each other perfectly. Wow...
*"W- what do you mean?" cried Kokoro, staring at the Commander with wide eyes. He glared at them. "Why do you think we even funded my brother's project?!! There was a reason, you know!!!"
"C'mon, Taro, while he's distracted," said Sayo. Her brother hesitated once again.*
"Uh?" asked Kokoro, standing up from her chair.
"Kokoro?" asked Robert and Sephiroth.
"I..." she began. "I think... I need a little rest."
"Right," agreed Robert. "You've been up all night, trying to help, but..."
She smiled innocently. "I guess I really haven't done much, huh?" Kokoro giggled nervously. "But still, we need to get this thing up and running really fast... before... it's back again."
Sephiroth nodded. "Yeah. We all need a rest, but-"
"I'll go get you some coffee, or something," smiled Kokoro.
"They have coffee on this thing?" asked Robert. "It's probably gone bad-"
"No... that's alright, I'm looking anyways," assured Kokoro. "I bet there's a kitchen or something around here... if there's enough power to open doors, there's enough power to make coffee, yeah?"
*"I- I don't wanna!" pleaded Kokoro, struggling to get away from Altiel. "Please! Let me go!"
"Tell me, do you WANT your two friends to die?!!" he shouted angrily.
"Craig, please, I haven't finished programming-" began Dr. Scott.
"Enough with you and your programming, enough with your love of trying to make things that aren't living live!!!" yelled Craig. "I don't understand you, Scott! You lost both your wife and your children- can't you just let them go? You knew that you'd lose this one, too!"
"I... I... friends?" stammered Kokoro. "What are you talking about?!! Just- "
"Taro! Now!" shouted Sayo. "Please, I can't wait much longer!"
The hole in the Whale King was slowly growing bigger, large chunks of metal pulling off of it and being chucked out into the rain, down onto the wet sand. The vacuum grew slightly stronger. The Helcat strained to keep itself from being pulled out. "Taro!" cried Sayo. "You have to get in now, or- Ahh!"
One of the railings was practically pulled out of the hangar's bridgey thing and hit the Helcat. However small it was, it was enough. Sayo closed the cockpit as the Helcat was pulled out.
"Sayo!" cried Dr. Scott. Taro stared in silent disbelief, his face white. He felt sick.
"L- let go!" shouted Kokoro, wrenching herself free and trying to run. This was impossible, so she had to pull herself along the remaining rails as quickly as possible. "What are you doing, Craig?" hissed Dr. Scott. "You're going to get us all killed if you don't leave her alone."
"Ha, YOU'RE threatening me, of all people?" asked Craig.
"S- Sayo, you'd better be okay..." mumbled Taro. Nothing could possibly kill his sister, she was too strong-willed, wasn't she...*
"Ooh..." mumbled Kokoro when she had closed the door behind her. "My head, it's... so..." She shook it, sighing. "I'll be fine, I just need to find a kitchen or something. There should be one, somewhere around here..."
*Kokoro had found a control panel. She still wasn't sure what Altiel had wanted, but who cared? He wasn't her mentor OR her authority, Dr. Scott was. He said that... that Altiel was just a control freak, to stay away from him. Even though they were brothers. They obviously resented each other. Scott had once before mentioned something about him having already betraying another family member, that he wouldn't be tricked so easily.
Well...
"Please, forgive me, Dr. Scott!" cried Kokoro.
"For what?" he shouted back, trying to be heard over the wind.
"I can't- I- I know you don't want me to listen to the Commander, but if I don't, what're we gonna do?" she asked.
Altiel smiled in triumph. How interesting this girl was... this AI system was. So loyal to her creator, not wanting him to get hurt or killed, though she probably had no idea what she was anyways. If he could get rid of Dr Scott, there may be a chance that he could... manipulate her into being a REAL Backdraft agent! And it would work, too, he bet! Just like all his other plans... err... scratch that.
"I know that- that you want me to do something with this," said Kokoro, staring at the controls. "But... how?"
"Kokoro!" cried Scott, "No, you don't need to anymore, the Helcat already got away!"
The Zoid rocked and some lights went off, a siren blaring. That hole was causing a problem. They'd have to get out of there, back into the other rooms, before-
"Let her do it anyways!" contradicted his broth, shrugging. He laughed crazily. "Ha! Not like it'll make a difference. Consider it this way! Eventually, she'll have to anyways! You know the Committee's intentions!"
"What's wrong with you?!!" shouted Dr. Scott. "Are you out of your mind?!!"
"Apparently so, Scott, apparently so."*
***
"Harry," asked Fay once again, "Are you sure you want to find the Deathstinger, and Kage, that you wanna find out what this 'conspiracy' is all about?"
He nodded silently. Yeah, that and find Kylie and Leena. That was all he wanted right now. And his job not to disappear, of course, which it probably would anyway. Ah well, it was worth it, if all of this was true.
"Well, then..." she began. "We better get in our Zoids... We'll need them, surely."
"Uh? So where are we going?" asked Harry. "You KNOW where they all are?"
"Am I supposed to?" answered Faye with another question. "I guess I do. Most people would, something this important." She shrugged, climbing into the Salamander's cockpit. "Coming or not?"
"Where exactly are we going?" he shouted.
"We? I'm going to where the Deathstinger was, duh, to see Hitoshi, so if you want to follow me, be my guest!"
"Umm..." started Harry. He sighed. Everything was so... rushed these days. Well, he had nothing better to do, and he had a strange feeling that it wouldn't be very long before he had to confront Bit once and for all and WIN LEENA'S HEART BACK!!! Err, he he... Maybe not, but hey, you couldn't stop a guy from dreaming old dreams, even if he was starting to have new ones. Old love dies hard, after all. "Hey, wait, I'm coming!" he shouted struggling to get to his Zoid before Faye's could take off.
She grinned. What an idiot, she thought. Oh well, you couldn't blame someone like him for wanting to be where the action was.
***
"Why aren't they here yet?" muttered Brad angrily, leaning against a wall of the Hover Cargo's lounge. How long had it been, anyways, a few hours at least?
"I guess you can't rush the ZBC," said Hitoshi, shrugging. "Sometimes allies aren't really... well, your best allies."
"Whatever." Bit walked in, followed by Kylie. "I'm guessing Leena's still chasing whatshername."
"Prob'ly," agreed Kylie. "They'll get tired of it, eventually. Either that or they'll just get wet."
It had started to rain not all that long ago, forcing them all to take cover in the confined spaces of Dr. Toros' transport, which wasn't a very good idea. They still had a lot of grudges, of course, so being this close to each other for this long without snapping was pure torture.
"Yeah, well..." mumbled Spring. "I wonder how Neos is?"
Jamie was holding an ice pack to his head. "If any of us have gone crazy from this, he has."
"I can't help but feel sorry for him!" Eira shrugged, looking out the window. "I mean.. I've always hated him, an' wanted revenge for whatever dumb reason I could come up with, but now, because of me this all happened..."
"Because of you?" asked Kylie, sitting down on the sofa. "If you hadn't done what you did, Kage would've gotten to the Deathstinger first and things would be even worse." Eira glared for a moment, and then sighed.
"I admit it..." she muttered. "I suck at this. Zoids and all that."
"If you suck at it, then how could you have almost blown us all to heck?" asked Bit.
They sweat-dropped. Okay, so he had a point.
"I don't know about you, but I've had enough of this," said Hitoshi, standing back up. "Obviously we're all still enemies, but we all agree with one thing, right? We're not gonna work for Kage anymore and we'll do whatever it takes to get rid of him and the Deathstinger. I'm not sitting around to wait for it to suddenly surprise us while all of our Zoids aren't operable, 'cept the Liger Zero X and that Dibison."
"Of course not," said Sylvia, who didn't seem to be paying much attention until now. "There's no telling what it's doing now."
"Hey," said Jamie. "Excuse me for interrupting, but where's Sephiroth and Vivian gone to?"
***
"I wonder..." began Vivian, sitting in the cockpit of her Zoid. "...why am I even bothering? It's not like I really care about anything on Zi, anyways. So why do I want to stop the Deathstinger?"
She stared out at the rain. There was barely anything she could do, anyways. By the time she found the pilots she needed half the world would probably already gone. So why bother?
Why?!! Well, duh!
Why not? Vivian grinned. By Zoids Eve, she was getting good at this 'I- don't-freaking-care-what-I-am, I can still love someone' thing. Only, this wasn't doing much good. Adrian... he... didn't (she cringed) love her anyways. He liked Sylvia, of course, and that was so obvious. So why bother?
Why not?
***
Dive into... well, heck, just defeat the Deathstinger already so we can end this part of the story. At least TRY.
Kylie watched them argue with each other quietly. Well... this was about as close to home as she'd ever be able to get. She stood up and walked out of the room and down the hall. No one noticed. They were all too busy trying to prove the others wrong about nothing in particular.
Kylie opened the door to Dr. Toros' room and stood there, watching him tinker with his models for a while. He was so focused on it that he didn't notice her, either. She sighed. So what had happened back there, why had she suddenly decided to say all that to Bit? why was everything starting to come back NOW, after she had already determined that her family was Bit's?
She moved on down the hall, looking into another room.
"Hey..." mumbled Neos, sitting next to the bed where they had put Akira. "It's Kylie, right?"
Kylie nodded, walking in. "Mmhmm... but you might know me better as Kitai..."
Neos looked surprised. "Oh... do y'know what's gonna happen to her? Is Akira gonna die because I wouldn't let Twilight...?"
"She..." began Kylie. Why was he asking HER this, of all people? How was she supposed to know?
Suddenly, unexpectedly, Kylie reached out and put her hand on Neos's shoulder. "Neos Vert... I don't know," she said quietly. "Not only that, but I also don't know who I really am, though I thought I did for almost two years. I don't know why any of this is happening, why now, why here. I don't know why I'm here except that... it's all meant to be, I guess."
Neos lowered his eyes. Yeah... she was probably right. So why did he have this horrible feeling that it was all his fault, in the end? Why was he starting to think that this was all pointless? That, no matter what he did, Kage would get away with it all?
Kylie watched Akira. It was strange, really... it was a miracle that after what she had been doing she'd been able to tap into her Zoidian powers and make that shield work. Now it'd take another miracle for her to live. And yet another for Kylie to finally learn the truth behind all this.
***
Meanwhile, Cid tried to find a way out of the Champ team's base before Mary talked him to death. At least he was slowly getting used to it.
***
Another Meanwhile, Leena, however wet she was, was still pursuing after Ayumi for trying to kill Dr. Toros.
***
Weehee...
I wonder... why DO I bash myself, anyways? If anyone was ever to flame this story it'd probably me. I don't think I'd go that far, though. Sheesh. It must have something to do with the fact that I'm weird and have an abnormal fear of criticism, so I criticize myself before anyone else can? Who knows.
On another note, YAY!!!! So happy! I actually have an idea of where this is going and like it! And that doesn't happen all to often, mind you. It's taking a little longer to get chapters going now that I've run out of all the stuff I wrote during the IDP (internet deprivation period).
Ah yes, me friend Mike says that they're adding another anime on Toonami... .Hack//Sign... We have the first episode of .hack//lliminality or somethin' on our computer; I watched it. I think they're related... ah well, it was cool anyways.
When thinking of why on Zi I would bash myself, why do I keep adding more characters?!!!!! I guess it's become a habit. I spend a lot of time during school not paying any attention to the lesson whatsoever and just... thinking.
19 chapters... 118 pages... nice. To think that I started my first Zoids story only last July. Ja ne, watashi no tomodachi!!! which should say "later, my friends!!!" though it probably doesn't. Or, I could say, a bientot, mes amis! which DOES say "see you later, my friends!" (in French) if you put in the accents! Weehee!
Which reminds me (don't know how, though)... I've forgotten about my intentions to introduce Liger's other new armor, which we all know as Elen... star... Spring's nickname for Bit. I'm working on that.
No more rants; later!!!
