The rows of trees seemed oblivious to the horror and disgustingness of it
all, for they swayed and shook as the fierce summer wind blew across them.
Blades of bright, green, grass rippled like an endless green sea. Bird
chirped in alarm, fearing for the safety of their chicks in the middle of
their daily flying lesson. But their incessant squealing went unheard and
uncared about by a certain black haired seven year old. She was far too
preoccupied with her thoughts to even begin to care about her surroundings.
Everything was just great, she had an organiod, a Blade Liger was right in front of her house not even a full mile from her bedroom window just waiting to be test driven, and she had the opportunity to miss the first couple weeks of school. Things were finally looking up. Everything was great, great until this morning that is.
~!*Flashback*!~
The sun was up and shining as Jade jumped out of bed, put on her usual outfit a pair of blue jean caprice and black sleeveless hoodie, and breezed down the hall and into the living room. That was where she saw it, the unspeakable horror. Something no child should see. No, something no one should ever see.
"Goood morning everyone!" Jade said cheerfully.
No one replied, all that meant her ears was a low moan. Blinking, she looked around half expecting to see a robber of some sort lying on the floor with his leg wrapped around his head. Instead she found the living room empty. So she bounded into the kitchen with her hands in karate chop mode.
What she saw next would send her falling to the floor, gagging. Her uncle Anthony had that singer Fiona pinned up against the wall, her arms flat against it, but she didn't seem to mind in the least. They were..they were kissing, passionately.
Jade stood there, completely stunned, her jaw open, and with her mind a blur. Then Fiona wrapped her leg around his and brought him closer with a soft throaty moan.....
Jade did the first thing that came into mind and screamed as loud as she could.
~!*End Flashback*!~
She shuddered at the memory. It was nothing short of disgusting. It was not right! How could they do that..in front of her..how on Zi could they do that! Gross! One thing was for sure, she had to get Fiona out of there and out of their lives fast. It was disgusting, there she was only at the tender age of 7 and she was exposed to the yuckiness of adulthood. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment. And for what, being Anthony's niece? Did she ask to be his niece in particular? No. It just kinda happened. Shesh.
But the weirdest was yet to come, in the midst of all this chaos, Jade had overheard them talking last night. (Hey, she wasn't eavesdropping, if that's what your thinking! They shouldn't have talked so loud at the exact moment she had to pee, if they cared so much about what being said!) Several times in the conversation she heard, Fiona called her uncle 'Van', and yet this wasn't the first time that crazy woman said it. She said that name in the temple as well right when Jade was watching Ambient. Something wasn't right here.could it be that Anthony had lied to Jade her whole life? No, she decided, he would never do that to her..because when he thought she was asleep, he went into her room and said,
"I'm really sorry about all this, Jade, it's not your fault. Something big is going to happen and I want to make the transition for you as easy as possible. I don't intend in leaving you behind here with everyone else, I could never live with myself if I did. I'm thinking about moving and I want you to come with me, I don't want to do anything too drastic for your sake, sweetheart. I wish you could hear me, but just know I love you very much."
Yep, Jade decided, Anthony was not the type to lie to little girls. Especially ones he loved. Apart of her wanted to tell him she heard every word he said while a much bigger part of her was hurt and enraged.
So here she was, walking in the middle of a soon to be storm zone with nothing more than a long sleeve under her hoodie, but she didn't care. You see, after Jade screamed bloody murder and ran to the safety of her bedroom with a very confused Ambient. Anthony came in and apologized, even though she didn't believe him for an instant.
"Jade," he had said. "Sorry, you had to walk in on that."
"What? Was I supposed to KNOCK before I left my bedroom and walk into MY kitchen? Oops, my bad," Jade had snapped.
"No, you weren't and you're absolutely right. I should have been more considerate of you because this is your house too."
"Is that all? Am I free to jump off a cliff now?"
"No jumping off of cliffs for you now, I want you to go to the gym and tell Bud I'll be a little late for the morning lessons today. Ok?"
"Fine. Whatever."
And so here she was, walking through storm territory and on her way to the gym where her good for nothing uncle taught part time. Before he got the jig with the Ancient Temple, he had a part time job. He taught mornings because those were the only times he could get out of the house without leaving Jade alone. He taught a new type of karate called "Tae Bo", it was world famous for being a fast and effective way to lose weight. Hn, like Jade cared. It was just an excuse to leave her troublesome home and mingle with older people, who couldn't care less about her even if she died.
"Tssh, late for the lesson he says. Hmph, fine have it your way. It's only a stupid excuse to get rid of me AND not be late for work, so he'd have more make out time with her." she grumbled.
After what seemed like eternity Jade had finally made it to her destination, the Que Gym. There were several levels with multiple sessions' rooms all going on at the same time. The first floor was the locker rooms and the two different Tae Bo rooms. Second was the kickboxing, karate, judo, and wrestling each sport had it's own session's room. Third was the weightlifting, total weightlifting action here. And finally, the top floor was the yoga, with at least four different classrooms. Jade had been in a yoga class only once, the teacher spoke in a soft almost monotonous tone that one had to strain his ears to hear her and yet everyone else except for Jade seemed to know what she was saying. The positions were hard and the way the teacher spoke put her to sleep, she was kicked out for quote, not being "centered" enough.
"Hey Jade," said Mike, 22 year old who manned the cash register. "It's gonna be a bad one." He eyed her windblown hair.
"Mmm hmm, uh hey Mike where's Bud. I needa talk to him for a sec, I've suddenly become the little messenger girl," Jade commented bitterly.
Mike laughed and glanced into the back room where the boss Bud, was talking on the phone. "Well he's in back but watch out he's on the phone, probably with his ex wife and it sounds ugly. So I bet he's not in the best mood. Say, where's Anthony? His class is getting impatient."
Her eyes instantly narrowed at the sound of that name. "Hey genius, let me ask you something. Why do YOU think he's not here?"
"Uhh..cause he got into another fight with your aunt right?"
She made a loud buzzer sound to make her disapproval evident. "Wrong! Do you want to know why? I'll tell you why, he uh, has company over..um yeah that's right."
Mike nodded and went about doing whatever it was he had been doing before. Jade arched a dark eyebrow as he mumbled something to the main computer slash/cash register. //That guy is so weird.//
She had had enough; she was going to go crazy if she watched Mike any longer. Besides, she had the cursed essay to write. At least now she had an excuse to lock herself up in the room dubbed the mini, (mini work office that is.)
"Well as much as I'd love to sit here and chat, I've got an essay to do.so later MUCH," and with that she swiftly walked under the wooden panel to the worker's area and slammed the mini's door behind her.
In the inky darkness, Jade tripped on what she thought was a loose board and fell flat on her face. The blackness seemed to take delight. Grumbling, she sat up and rubbed her now sore nose. If she was ever going to get that essay done, she'd have to first find the godforsaken light. if there was one. This was the first time in months that anyone in the morning needed any sort of light.
Jade groaned and smacked her forehead. "How am I ever going to get this stupid essay done if the world is out to stop me?"
"Having troubles, kid? I think I can help you," said a voice from the depth of the darkness.
Fear froze the little girl to the floor. She had thought she was alone.hardly anyone besides her, Anthony, Mike, and Bud, knew about this room. And this wasn't any of them. That she did know. Her words were stuck in her throat as she opened her mouth to say something but all that came out was an almost inaudible rumble.
"I'll take that as a yes, so you need help writing your essay. Eh? No big, kid, let me guess it's a "what you did over your summer vacation essay"?"
//Wow// Jade thought. //This guy is good, he must be physic or something.// Suddenly, her mind returned back to thinking order as a genius plan began to form in her mind.
"So you want to write my essay? It's gonna cost ya."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Fiona, I thought you knew better than to run off from your own rehearsal then you go and recruit another young girl to be in the concert.? What has gotten into you lately? Ever since we've come to the capital, you've been acting funny. All of your bandmates and I have noticed and quite frankly we're all very concerned," said Mortisha Hague, Fiona's manager.
But the blonde in question could care less of what these people said; she was in sheer bliss. The love of her life was back. So he had some extra, unexpected baggage with him, they could always work it out.
"Oh Mortisha, relax," Fiona made a dismissive motion. "I don't think you have worry about anything, I have everything under control. Besides if you keep worrying like this your going to get premature wrinkles and we all know how devastating that would be for business."
Mortisha gasped loudly, and in the blink of an eye pulled out her compact from her purse, and checked her face for any signs of foul creatures known as wrinkles. After that she raced to the nearest ladies room.
All eyes fell on the normally quiet, and very considerate, Fiona as she smiled broadly and skipped merrily to her dressing room.
"Something's up," said a random personal, leaning towards Kay, who crossed her arms in disapproval.
"You can say that again."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Where on Zi is that idiot? Honestly, how hard is it to kidnap a kid who's not even what? Ten?" fumed a certain woman with blue, shoulder length hair.
She placed her hand on her hip and tapped her foot impatiently. The harsh wind felt refreshing good on her soft skin, a storm was brewing and that bumbling idiot Raven was going to be caught in the middle of it. Ever since they saw Van in the capital, Raven had been completely obsessed with finding him. Rumor said that the Hero of Zi died mysteriously yet there he was with his daughter or someone walking down the street. Something was definitely up.
Her walkie-talkie beeped loudly snapping her out of her thoughts. Finally, that moron was checking in even if it was two hours later.
"Got it, mission accomplished. And stop your bitching already, Reese."
"Who said I'm bitching? You little piece of shit, just get your sorry ass here. A storm is brewing." With that Reese broke off the connection.
A soft growl met her eyes and Reese caressed her faithful companion, Specula's, chin. Behind them, the mighty not to mention legendary Genobreaker stood bored and tired.
Meanwhile 20 miles elsewhere..
"I can't believe she made me pay to write her damn essay."
Raven, his organiod, and the sneaky little girl attempted to make their escape from the Que Gym unnoticed. This was their 20th time to be exact and every time they were about to leave someone that knew that miserable brat showed up.including Van Flyheight himself.
Through the door crack, the maverick could see his sworn enemy walk up to the main desk, make small talk with the cashier and glanced in his direction.
"Yo Mike, did Jade ever get around to spreading the word to you?" Van asked casually, glancing around for his niece.
At his side, the little girl who's name was Jade clenched her teeth and glared daggers at that evil man. //Genius//, Raven thought gleefully, //the brat hates Flyheight's guts, yes!// Kidnapping her would easier than he thought.
"I take it you don't like him," Raven said in a low voice.
Bright hazel eyes full of emotion looked up at him immediately. "Don't like him! He's the devil himself!"
"Shhsh now, do you want him to find out where you are? I didn't think so. So what's his name anyways?"
If he could play it off like a coincidence that he met Flyheight's niece and she willingly went with him, then no one would ever suspect him, the most sought after mass murderer Raven. Genius. Pure Genius. Man, he even amazed himself with his genius.
"Anthony Lee," she replied, as if the name burned her lips.
"Anthony Le--?" Raven muttered to himself in confusion just before..
"Well, yeah and if your looking for her she's in the mini room," Mike jerked his thumb in the direction of the mini's door.
"Shit!" Raven and Jade cried in unison.
Shadow whimpered and covered his blue eyes with his paws, while his master dived into a basket of towels. Jade hid herself in the storage door, which was none too comfortable with a bunch of weights and random tools.
The door handle shook and screamed as the three held their breaths. After seconds of fighting, it gave in and let the intruder in.
"Jade! I have a surprise for you!" Anthony a.k.a Van called out, holding an ominous black bag in his hand.
Nothing but silence met his ears. Hmm, he decided Jade was still made at him. Not that he blamed her one bit. If he and Fiona were going to be together they'd have to be more careful of when and where their make out sessions took place. Laura was going to kill him once she found out what he had done in front of Jade. Oh god!
Van sighed and scanned the pitch-black room for any signs of movement. "Oh Jade, I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry about a half a million times now. What more do you want me to do? Please, just at least show yourself."
//Hmph, yeah in your dreams.// Jade thought angrily. The nerve of that guy! If she could help she would never talk to that Anthony Lee again.
Suddenly the drawer Jade was hiding in was pulled open. She gasped in surprise as she found herself looking into her uncle's face.
"You! Wh-a-at are you doing! You kinda WEREN'T supposed to find me," Jade folded her arms across her chest and thrust her nose in the air.
"Jade," Van picked her up and set her down on the table and began to dust her off. "C'mon, the drawer isn't particularly the smartest or safest place to hide."
She still refused to look at him. "So?"
Raven peeked his head up from the side of the laundry basket; a pesky yellow soak on his head slowly fell closer and closer to his nose. And he could smell it from where he was; it stunk. He was about to faint the stink was so powerful. There was his sworn enemy, the person he hated more than life itself, trying desperately to sweet talk the little girl. But she refused and continued to act like he had betrayed everything she ever believed in. Hmm.wonder what he did..
"Honey, I'm sorry. What more do you want me to say?" Van pleaded.
Jade's eyes snapped open and looked fiercely at his. "Promise me something."
Van didn't like where this conversation was going. The look on his niece's face was so sincere and so full emotion. He had a good idea what she wanted.
"I dunno, Jade.."
She grabbed him by his collar with strength that surprised everyone. "You said what more do I want you to say. Well, I have something I want you to say. And if you ever want to see me again you better promise me this."
Bright blue eyes shone in the dark. Oh, Anthony thought, Ambient must be here.wait a minute! Ambient had green eyes not blue. Only two other organiods had blue eyes. oh no. They weren't alone and in serious danger. This people meant business and must have been out for revenge.
"Honey, why don't we go home and discuss this? Right now, please?"
Her grip on his white collar tightened and she narrowed her eyes to make a point. "Promise me."
"Oh alright I promise.but what exactly am I promising to?"
"Promise me you never see that woman again."
Now Van was lost and he wasn't the only one, what woman? The only woman he ever saw in front of Jade was..
"..what woman? You don't mean Fiona do you?"
"The one and the same, now promise me you won't ever see her again. I don't like her one bit, I wouldn't trust her even if my life depended on it," Jade bit her lip to stop herself from doing anything she'd regret, like getting really really emotional and start crying.
What was Fiona going to say? He had just his freakin' memories back yesterday! But he couldn't lie to Jade, she would never trust him again and she meant the world to him. It was either Jade or Fiona. Why couldn't he have both?
"But Jade.. You don't understand..me and Fiona..we um, go far back. She was one of my best friends, am I not allowed to see one of my best friends?" Van protested softly.
~*~*~*~*~
Zeke yawned and stretched on the floor when Ambient paraded in the living room, looking really lost. The house was abandoned with the exception of the two organiods and had been that way for a couple hours already. Jade had promised Ambient she'd been back in one.two hours at the most, but that was five hours ago.
A loud roar came from somewhere in the distance and both organiods dashed to the window to see a red zoid fly right past the Liger and suddenly stop. Wait.Zeke recognized that zoid, it couldn't be but it was. The Genobreaker and that meant that Shadow and Specula were close by.
He growled for Ambient to lay low while he went and investigate and try to get Van to come.
~*I'm not gonna 'lay low' as you put it. Jade's there and your stupid master won't come, duh*~
Zeke was mildly surprised but persisted with his plan. ~*No, Van'll come. He's never let me down before..excluding the time he had amnesia for three years but that wasn't his fault! Now who's the elder organiod here? You or me? I do believe it's me so step aside, youngin'*~
~*Hmph, there should be a law against this kind of discrimination.*~
The silver organiod shook his head, like master like organiod. Some things never change. ~*Oh shut up and just do as I say.wait did you say that Jade was there?*`
Ambient smacked his red forehead. ~*Yes! Have you no ears, I said that like ten minutes ago! Jade's my lil' master and it's my job to protect her*`
~*What a real fine protector you are, letting your little master get kidnapped by a bunch of wanted criminals. Wow I wish I had a protector like you. Man*~
~*Shut up. Fine! Fine! I'll get that stupid Van and tell him to come here right away*~ the red organiod cocked it's head to the side in mock thoughtfulness. ~*Wait a minute, I forgot. He doesn't understand me*~
~*Actually*~ Zeke held his paw out. ~*If you think about it, Van CAN understand you but it would be difficult for him. But Van's a fighter, he'll figure it out!*~
~*Tssh, yeah in an alternate universe*~
With that Ambient slammed the door down with his tail and proceeded to find Jade. Leaving, Zeke to shake his mighty head and sigh. //Kids these days.// Still shaking his head, he proceeded to go to the telephone and attempt to get into contact with his master. Before he left, Van had said that if he needed anything to get the liger and get him.
The pesky telephone slipped and slid from those silver paws. With one loud sigh Zeke gave up and went into the Blade Liger's zoid core. The red Genobreaker was still there and no one inside seemed to notice the blue liger dashing off into the sunlight.
~*~*~*~*~
Van slammed his fist down on the counter once again. God, he was such an idiot! How could he have been so stupid? Jade had been kidnapped by none other than Raven, Raven! It's a small world afterall. Well, that solved the mystery of whether or not the bastard was still alive. A lot of people high in the social foodchain would kill for this information, some of which included Van's old partner, Thomas Shubaltz. Whom, he found out from Fiona the night before, had become a Major and was the head of the manhunt for Raven. Now the manhunt became personal.
So he decided to call Shubaltz with no answer. The ringing seemed to go on into eternity. You'd think the military would at least have an answering machine for cases like this.
"Dammit Thomas..pick up the goddamn phone!"
Finally, after what seemed like the millionth ring. Someone picked up.
"Major Thomas Richard Shubaltz," came the curt response.
Van blinked; he was suddenly speechless and for a good reason too. He was supposed to be dead! How would someone feel of their dead partner returned from the grave with a message about Raven's whereabouts? Freaky.
"Uh..Thomas?" he finally found his voice.
"Who is this? And speak up because I'm having a hell of a time trying to hear you. Oh and make it fast, solider, I'm a busy man."
"Thomas..it's me. Va-" Van stopped himself in mid-sentence, suddenly the idea of revealing his true identity became undesirable.
"Va? Look, I don't know anyone by that name that's because it isn't even a name! You have to have called for a damn reason now tell me before I come over there myself." The ex Lt couldn't control what popped out of his mouth next. "Oh? And what, seek BEAK on me? P-lease."
By the time he caught his mistake it was too late. Damn all those times he pushed Thomas' buttons!
Thomas gasped over the other line. Who the hell was this guy? His voice sounded so familiar..especially with that confident sneer. He nearly dropped the phone.
A loud unrecognizable sound met Van's ears. "Uh, hello? Thomas?"
There was a long pause. "Oh my god! Miss Fiona was right! Van Flyheight is that you?!"
"Uh huh! Thomas I'm so glad you remembered me, I thought with the whole me getting amnesia thing would make you think I'm just one of those wannabes pretending to me. Wow, people pretend to be me isn't that something? Who'da thought when I found Zeke and the Liger I'd be a world hero. But really, it's so great hearing your voice. I could just hug you right now-"
"Van, you can shut up now. You're talking at a million words an hour and it's a miracle that I can keep up with you. Listen, this line isn't secure. Can you meet me..first off where in god's name are you?"
"Some small village outside of the capital, and your there right?"
"Yes," Thomas replied, a hint of confusion evident in his tone. "How did you know?"
"Fiona told me. Didya know it's because of her, Irvine, who by the way went completely psycho on me? But as I was saying, it was because of her and Irvine and in part of Moonbay that I got my memories back," Van babbled on.
Whenever he got really excited, Van talked as fast as he could. It was just a little quirk he had, he'd been doing that his whole life. But he mentally told himself he couldn't be excited, a murderer had kidnapped Jade and who knew what could happen to her.
"Ok! Shut up already! I get it, now a small village..can you make it into town by say midnight? Then afterwards, we'll request an audience with his royal majesty."
"Rudolph!"
"Yes Rudolph. You gotta be discreet, can you do that, the mighty hero of Zi?"
"With pleasure.but wait.Thomas, you didn't say where to meet you at," Van pointed out. "And he has my niece!"
"I told you, this line isn't secure. You'll find out ok? What was that last part?"
Van groaned and smacked his forehead, earning himself weird looks from everyone in the lobby. He whispered into the receiver, "My niece has been kidnapped, that's why I called you. This line isn't secure, dumbass, so later."
And with that he ended the transmission.
Mike at the counter, who had been watching all of this, gently leaned over and patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, Anthony, we all lose them some times."
What the heck was he talking about? Van wondered, but tried to at least act like he knew. He nodded and went out the door.
A loud roar sounded from somewhere close by, the Blade Liger trotted to the black-haired young man. It threw it's head back and let out a big roar to make it's desperation obvious. The zoid knelt down and opened it's cockpit and Van hopped in.
"What's the sitch, Zeke?"
~*~*~*~*~*~
The wind howled ominously against the Lightening Saix's windshield, it pounded angry fists as if a sign to the pilot that what he had done was wrong. It seemed as though all of Mother Nature's many wonders were pissed off and beyond. And for a perfectly good reason too; because, without the heroic efforts of Van Mother Nature and all of Zi would be a wasteland were no life could live. But in the aftermath of that youth's supposed death, a lot of feelings were hurt, including the bounty hunter's. It was tough being attached to someone who put himself in a lot of dangerous situations.
Irvine folded his arms across his chest, still numb from the events of last night. He sighed and wished that stupid voice inside of his head would go away, more specifically to hell.
The Lightening Saix stopped dead in it's tracks and Irvine flung forward.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" he barked angrily.
The zoid growled and just as it did so, a big red zoid flew past. It looked oddly familiar.. Raven! That was Raven's zoid, Irvine thought. He maneuvered his zoid so it went at top speed right after that zoid. Thankfully, the Genobreaker didn't notice the oncoming zoid and just continued on it's merry way.
Irvine fired the twin cannons in an attempt to stop or at least get the zoid's attention. A window popped up on his screen, revealing Raven in front, and Reese behind him with a little girl with medium length black hair on her lap.
"Oohh, what does this button do?" the little girl parted her lips in the shape of an O.
Raven glanced over his shoulder and hissed, "Don't you touch anything back there!"
She blinked innocently then a big grin crossed her face. The Genobreaker fell forward onto it's large stomach.
Irvine just sat there blinking. Why did that girl look oddly familiar to him? It was obvious that Raven would never do something unless he had a plan, what was his plan for that little brat? Then he suddenly remembered, that girl that Van was talking to last night, the one he told to go to bed. Oh my god, Raven kidnapped her!
"Raven! You let that girl go this instant, it's the end of the line. Give it up, your going to be a dead man real soon, Raven, real soon," Irvine said calmly.
"Huh? Who said that?" Raven looked around, not realizing the com link right before his eyes.
The little girl and Reese both smacked their foreheads. "Hey genius, look in the com link."
"Huh?" Raven did so and his features no longer looked playful. The old merciless Raven was back. "You, bounty hunter, what do you and your petty zoid want?"
"Your under arrest, and this time I will personally make sure you don't escape again."
Irvine typed something on the keyboard, a message to all the nearest military troops and to the Blade Liger.
Raven just smirked and glanced back at Reese who returned the look. "What makes you so sure? You couldn't beat me before, what makes you think you can now? There's only one person in the whole entire world, who is worthy of fighting against me.and he's dead. So how are you going to stop? Enlighten me, I'd really like to know."
"Really? Your that strong?" Jade gasped, pulling herself so that the seatbealt snapped off and she jumped into his lap. Her hazel eyes big with hero worship.
He looked at her strangely, never before had a child even dared to get close to him let alone sit on him. Reese's voice filled his mind.
"Aww, isn't that sweet? She adores you."
He tossed a dirty look over his shoulder. "Uh, what are you doing?" Raven the mighty asked the little girl.
"That's so cool! You're a lot better than my lameo uncle!"
Irvine scowled and tried to think up a plan that could stop Raven from escaping. The odds seemed against him. Suddenly a booming roar sounded from nearby. Another com link flashed onto the bounty hunter's screen, this time revealing a young man with black spiked hair, wearing a confident smirk.
"You rang?"
~*~*~*~
Author's Note: Hey hey hey, I'm sorry I didn't get to finishing this sooner. My bad, I hope you guys forgive me. I've been sick for two weeks, then I got grounded (curse you slang terms.) and I guess I got so used to not going on the computer that I stopped. So now I'm back, you know the rules one review requesting more and your wish is my command. K? Well, gonna bounce oh and R&R ta bom?
PEACE OUT
~*Mi ChElLe*~
Everything was just great, she had an organiod, a Blade Liger was right in front of her house not even a full mile from her bedroom window just waiting to be test driven, and she had the opportunity to miss the first couple weeks of school. Things were finally looking up. Everything was great, great until this morning that is.
~!*Flashback*!~
The sun was up and shining as Jade jumped out of bed, put on her usual outfit a pair of blue jean caprice and black sleeveless hoodie, and breezed down the hall and into the living room. That was where she saw it, the unspeakable horror. Something no child should see. No, something no one should ever see.
"Goood morning everyone!" Jade said cheerfully.
No one replied, all that meant her ears was a low moan. Blinking, she looked around half expecting to see a robber of some sort lying on the floor with his leg wrapped around his head. Instead she found the living room empty. So she bounded into the kitchen with her hands in karate chop mode.
What she saw next would send her falling to the floor, gagging. Her uncle Anthony had that singer Fiona pinned up against the wall, her arms flat against it, but she didn't seem to mind in the least. They were..they were kissing, passionately.
Jade stood there, completely stunned, her jaw open, and with her mind a blur. Then Fiona wrapped her leg around his and brought him closer with a soft throaty moan.....
Jade did the first thing that came into mind and screamed as loud as she could.
~!*End Flashback*!~
She shuddered at the memory. It was nothing short of disgusting. It was not right! How could they do that..in front of her..how on Zi could they do that! Gross! One thing was for sure, she had to get Fiona out of there and out of their lives fast. It was disgusting, there she was only at the tender age of 7 and she was exposed to the yuckiness of adulthood. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment. And for what, being Anthony's niece? Did she ask to be his niece in particular? No. It just kinda happened. Shesh.
But the weirdest was yet to come, in the midst of all this chaos, Jade had overheard them talking last night. (Hey, she wasn't eavesdropping, if that's what your thinking! They shouldn't have talked so loud at the exact moment she had to pee, if they cared so much about what being said!) Several times in the conversation she heard, Fiona called her uncle 'Van', and yet this wasn't the first time that crazy woman said it. She said that name in the temple as well right when Jade was watching Ambient. Something wasn't right here.could it be that Anthony had lied to Jade her whole life? No, she decided, he would never do that to her..because when he thought she was asleep, he went into her room and said,
"I'm really sorry about all this, Jade, it's not your fault. Something big is going to happen and I want to make the transition for you as easy as possible. I don't intend in leaving you behind here with everyone else, I could never live with myself if I did. I'm thinking about moving and I want you to come with me, I don't want to do anything too drastic for your sake, sweetheart. I wish you could hear me, but just know I love you very much."
Yep, Jade decided, Anthony was not the type to lie to little girls. Especially ones he loved. Apart of her wanted to tell him she heard every word he said while a much bigger part of her was hurt and enraged.
So here she was, walking in the middle of a soon to be storm zone with nothing more than a long sleeve under her hoodie, but she didn't care. You see, after Jade screamed bloody murder and ran to the safety of her bedroom with a very confused Ambient. Anthony came in and apologized, even though she didn't believe him for an instant.
"Jade," he had said. "Sorry, you had to walk in on that."
"What? Was I supposed to KNOCK before I left my bedroom and walk into MY kitchen? Oops, my bad," Jade had snapped.
"No, you weren't and you're absolutely right. I should have been more considerate of you because this is your house too."
"Is that all? Am I free to jump off a cliff now?"
"No jumping off of cliffs for you now, I want you to go to the gym and tell Bud I'll be a little late for the morning lessons today. Ok?"
"Fine. Whatever."
And so here she was, walking through storm territory and on her way to the gym where her good for nothing uncle taught part time. Before he got the jig with the Ancient Temple, he had a part time job. He taught mornings because those were the only times he could get out of the house without leaving Jade alone. He taught a new type of karate called "Tae Bo", it was world famous for being a fast and effective way to lose weight. Hn, like Jade cared. It was just an excuse to leave her troublesome home and mingle with older people, who couldn't care less about her even if she died.
"Tssh, late for the lesson he says. Hmph, fine have it your way. It's only a stupid excuse to get rid of me AND not be late for work, so he'd have more make out time with her." she grumbled.
After what seemed like eternity Jade had finally made it to her destination, the Que Gym. There were several levels with multiple sessions' rooms all going on at the same time. The first floor was the locker rooms and the two different Tae Bo rooms. Second was the kickboxing, karate, judo, and wrestling each sport had it's own session's room. Third was the weightlifting, total weightlifting action here. And finally, the top floor was the yoga, with at least four different classrooms. Jade had been in a yoga class only once, the teacher spoke in a soft almost monotonous tone that one had to strain his ears to hear her and yet everyone else except for Jade seemed to know what she was saying. The positions were hard and the way the teacher spoke put her to sleep, she was kicked out for quote, not being "centered" enough.
"Hey Jade," said Mike, 22 year old who manned the cash register. "It's gonna be a bad one." He eyed her windblown hair.
"Mmm hmm, uh hey Mike where's Bud. I needa talk to him for a sec, I've suddenly become the little messenger girl," Jade commented bitterly.
Mike laughed and glanced into the back room where the boss Bud, was talking on the phone. "Well he's in back but watch out he's on the phone, probably with his ex wife and it sounds ugly. So I bet he's not in the best mood. Say, where's Anthony? His class is getting impatient."
Her eyes instantly narrowed at the sound of that name. "Hey genius, let me ask you something. Why do YOU think he's not here?"
"Uhh..cause he got into another fight with your aunt right?"
She made a loud buzzer sound to make her disapproval evident. "Wrong! Do you want to know why? I'll tell you why, he uh, has company over..um yeah that's right."
Mike nodded and went about doing whatever it was he had been doing before. Jade arched a dark eyebrow as he mumbled something to the main computer slash/cash register. //That guy is so weird.//
She had had enough; she was going to go crazy if she watched Mike any longer. Besides, she had the cursed essay to write. At least now she had an excuse to lock herself up in the room dubbed the mini, (mini work office that is.)
"Well as much as I'd love to sit here and chat, I've got an essay to do.so later MUCH," and with that she swiftly walked under the wooden panel to the worker's area and slammed the mini's door behind her.
In the inky darkness, Jade tripped on what she thought was a loose board and fell flat on her face. The blackness seemed to take delight. Grumbling, she sat up and rubbed her now sore nose. If she was ever going to get that essay done, she'd have to first find the godforsaken light. if there was one. This was the first time in months that anyone in the morning needed any sort of light.
Jade groaned and smacked her forehead. "How am I ever going to get this stupid essay done if the world is out to stop me?"
"Having troubles, kid? I think I can help you," said a voice from the depth of the darkness.
Fear froze the little girl to the floor. She had thought she was alone.hardly anyone besides her, Anthony, Mike, and Bud, knew about this room. And this wasn't any of them. That she did know. Her words were stuck in her throat as she opened her mouth to say something but all that came out was an almost inaudible rumble.
"I'll take that as a yes, so you need help writing your essay. Eh? No big, kid, let me guess it's a "what you did over your summer vacation essay"?"
//Wow// Jade thought. //This guy is good, he must be physic or something.// Suddenly, her mind returned back to thinking order as a genius plan began to form in her mind.
"So you want to write my essay? It's gonna cost ya."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Fiona, I thought you knew better than to run off from your own rehearsal then you go and recruit another young girl to be in the concert.? What has gotten into you lately? Ever since we've come to the capital, you've been acting funny. All of your bandmates and I have noticed and quite frankly we're all very concerned," said Mortisha Hague, Fiona's manager.
But the blonde in question could care less of what these people said; she was in sheer bliss. The love of her life was back. So he had some extra, unexpected baggage with him, they could always work it out.
"Oh Mortisha, relax," Fiona made a dismissive motion. "I don't think you have worry about anything, I have everything under control. Besides if you keep worrying like this your going to get premature wrinkles and we all know how devastating that would be for business."
Mortisha gasped loudly, and in the blink of an eye pulled out her compact from her purse, and checked her face for any signs of foul creatures known as wrinkles. After that she raced to the nearest ladies room.
All eyes fell on the normally quiet, and very considerate, Fiona as she smiled broadly and skipped merrily to her dressing room.
"Something's up," said a random personal, leaning towards Kay, who crossed her arms in disapproval.
"You can say that again."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Where on Zi is that idiot? Honestly, how hard is it to kidnap a kid who's not even what? Ten?" fumed a certain woman with blue, shoulder length hair.
She placed her hand on her hip and tapped her foot impatiently. The harsh wind felt refreshing good on her soft skin, a storm was brewing and that bumbling idiot Raven was going to be caught in the middle of it. Ever since they saw Van in the capital, Raven had been completely obsessed with finding him. Rumor said that the Hero of Zi died mysteriously yet there he was with his daughter or someone walking down the street. Something was definitely up.
Her walkie-talkie beeped loudly snapping her out of her thoughts. Finally, that moron was checking in even if it was two hours later.
"Got it, mission accomplished. And stop your bitching already, Reese."
"Who said I'm bitching? You little piece of shit, just get your sorry ass here. A storm is brewing." With that Reese broke off the connection.
A soft growl met her eyes and Reese caressed her faithful companion, Specula's, chin. Behind them, the mighty not to mention legendary Genobreaker stood bored and tired.
Meanwhile 20 miles elsewhere..
"I can't believe she made me pay to write her damn essay."
Raven, his organiod, and the sneaky little girl attempted to make their escape from the Que Gym unnoticed. This was their 20th time to be exact and every time they were about to leave someone that knew that miserable brat showed up.including Van Flyheight himself.
Through the door crack, the maverick could see his sworn enemy walk up to the main desk, make small talk with the cashier and glanced in his direction.
"Yo Mike, did Jade ever get around to spreading the word to you?" Van asked casually, glancing around for his niece.
At his side, the little girl who's name was Jade clenched her teeth and glared daggers at that evil man. //Genius//, Raven thought gleefully, //the brat hates Flyheight's guts, yes!// Kidnapping her would easier than he thought.
"I take it you don't like him," Raven said in a low voice.
Bright hazel eyes full of emotion looked up at him immediately. "Don't like him! He's the devil himself!"
"Shhsh now, do you want him to find out where you are? I didn't think so. So what's his name anyways?"
If he could play it off like a coincidence that he met Flyheight's niece and she willingly went with him, then no one would ever suspect him, the most sought after mass murderer Raven. Genius. Pure Genius. Man, he even amazed himself with his genius.
"Anthony Lee," she replied, as if the name burned her lips.
"Anthony Le--?" Raven muttered to himself in confusion just before..
"Well, yeah and if your looking for her she's in the mini room," Mike jerked his thumb in the direction of the mini's door.
"Shit!" Raven and Jade cried in unison.
Shadow whimpered and covered his blue eyes with his paws, while his master dived into a basket of towels. Jade hid herself in the storage door, which was none too comfortable with a bunch of weights and random tools.
The door handle shook and screamed as the three held their breaths. After seconds of fighting, it gave in and let the intruder in.
"Jade! I have a surprise for you!" Anthony a.k.a Van called out, holding an ominous black bag in his hand.
Nothing but silence met his ears. Hmm, he decided Jade was still made at him. Not that he blamed her one bit. If he and Fiona were going to be together they'd have to be more careful of when and where their make out sessions took place. Laura was going to kill him once she found out what he had done in front of Jade. Oh god!
Van sighed and scanned the pitch-black room for any signs of movement. "Oh Jade, I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry about a half a million times now. What more do you want me to do? Please, just at least show yourself."
//Hmph, yeah in your dreams.// Jade thought angrily. The nerve of that guy! If she could help she would never talk to that Anthony Lee again.
Suddenly the drawer Jade was hiding in was pulled open. She gasped in surprise as she found herself looking into her uncle's face.
"You! Wh-a-at are you doing! You kinda WEREN'T supposed to find me," Jade folded her arms across her chest and thrust her nose in the air.
"Jade," Van picked her up and set her down on the table and began to dust her off. "C'mon, the drawer isn't particularly the smartest or safest place to hide."
She still refused to look at him. "So?"
Raven peeked his head up from the side of the laundry basket; a pesky yellow soak on his head slowly fell closer and closer to his nose. And he could smell it from where he was; it stunk. He was about to faint the stink was so powerful. There was his sworn enemy, the person he hated more than life itself, trying desperately to sweet talk the little girl. But she refused and continued to act like he had betrayed everything she ever believed in. Hmm.wonder what he did..
"Honey, I'm sorry. What more do you want me to say?" Van pleaded.
Jade's eyes snapped open and looked fiercely at his. "Promise me something."
Van didn't like where this conversation was going. The look on his niece's face was so sincere and so full emotion. He had a good idea what she wanted.
"I dunno, Jade.."
She grabbed him by his collar with strength that surprised everyone. "You said what more do I want you to say. Well, I have something I want you to say. And if you ever want to see me again you better promise me this."
Bright blue eyes shone in the dark. Oh, Anthony thought, Ambient must be here.wait a minute! Ambient had green eyes not blue. Only two other organiods had blue eyes. oh no. They weren't alone and in serious danger. This people meant business and must have been out for revenge.
"Honey, why don't we go home and discuss this? Right now, please?"
Her grip on his white collar tightened and she narrowed her eyes to make a point. "Promise me."
"Oh alright I promise.but what exactly am I promising to?"
"Promise me you never see that woman again."
Now Van was lost and he wasn't the only one, what woman? The only woman he ever saw in front of Jade was..
"..what woman? You don't mean Fiona do you?"
"The one and the same, now promise me you won't ever see her again. I don't like her one bit, I wouldn't trust her even if my life depended on it," Jade bit her lip to stop herself from doing anything she'd regret, like getting really really emotional and start crying.
What was Fiona going to say? He had just his freakin' memories back yesterday! But he couldn't lie to Jade, she would never trust him again and she meant the world to him. It was either Jade or Fiona. Why couldn't he have both?
"But Jade.. You don't understand..me and Fiona..we um, go far back. She was one of my best friends, am I not allowed to see one of my best friends?" Van protested softly.
~*~*~*~*~
Zeke yawned and stretched on the floor when Ambient paraded in the living room, looking really lost. The house was abandoned with the exception of the two organiods and had been that way for a couple hours already. Jade had promised Ambient she'd been back in one.two hours at the most, but that was five hours ago.
A loud roar came from somewhere in the distance and both organiods dashed to the window to see a red zoid fly right past the Liger and suddenly stop. Wait.Zeke recognized that zoid, it couldn't be but it was. The Genobreaker and that meant that Shadow and Specula were close by.
He growled for Ambient to lay low while he went and investigate and try to get Van to come.
~*I'm not gonna 'lay low' as you put it. Jade's there and your stupid master won't come, duh*~
Zeke was mildly surprised but persisted with his plan. ~*No, Van'll come. He's never let me down before..excluding the time he had amnesia for three years but that wasn't his fault! Now who's the elder organiod here? You or me? I do believe it's me so step aside, youngin'*~
~*Hmph, there should be a law against this kind of discrimination.*~
The silver organiod shook his head, like master like organiod. Some things never change. ~*Oh shut up and just do as I say.wait did you say that Jade was there?*`
Ambient smacked his red forehead. ~*Yes! Have you no ears, I said that like ten minutes ago! Jade's my lil' master and it's my job to protect her*`
~*What a real fine protector you are, letting your little master get kidnapped by a bunch of wanted criminals. Wow I wish I had a protector like you. Man*~
~*Shut up. Fine! Fine! I'll get that stupid Van and tell him to come here right away*~ the red organiod cocked it's head to the side in mock thoughtfulness. ~*Wait a minute, I forgot. He doesn't understand me*~
~*Actually*~ Zeke held his paw out. ~*If you think about it, Van CAN understand you but it would be difficult for him. But Van's a fighter, he'll figure it out!*~
~*Tssh, yeah in an alternate universe*~
With that Ambient slammed the door down with his tail and proceeded to find Jade. Leaving, Zeke to shake his mighty head and sigh. //Kids these days.// Still shaking his head, he proceeded to go to the telephone and attempt to get into contact with his master. Before he left, Van had said that if he needed anything to get the liger and get him.
The pesky telephone slipped and slid from those silver paws. With one loud sigh Zeke gave up and went into the Blade Liger's zoid core. The red Genobreaker was still there and no one inside seemed to notice the blue liger dashing off into the sunlight.
~*~*~*~*~
Van slammed his fist down on the counter once again. God, he was such an idiot! How could he have been so stupid? Jade had been kidnapped by none other than Raven, Raven! It's a small world afterall. Well, that solved the mystery of whether or not the bastard was still alive. A lot of people high in the social foodchain would kill for this information, some of which included Van's old partner, Thomas Shubaltz. Whom, he found out from Fiona the night before, had become a Major and was the head of the manhunt for Raven. Now the manhunt became personal.
So he decided to call Shubaltz with no answer. The ringing seemed to go on into eternity. You'd think the military would at least have an answering machine for cases like this.
"Dammit Thomas..pick up the goddamn phone!"
Finally, after what seemed like the millionth ring. Someone picked up.
"Major Thomas Richard Shubaltz," came the curt response.
Van blinked; he was suddenly speechless and for a good reason too. He was supposed to be dead! How would someone feel of their dead partner returned from the grave with a message about Raven's whereabouts? Freaky.
"Uh..Thomas?" he finally found his voice.
"Who is this? And speak up because I'm having a hell of a time trying to hear you. Oh and make it fast, solider, I'm a busy man."
"Thomas..it's me. Va-" Van stopped himself in mid-sentence, suddenly the idea of revealing his true identity became undesirable.
"Va? Look, I don't know anyone by that name that's because it isn't even a name! You have to have called for a damn reason now tell me before I come over there myself." The ex Lt couldn't control what popped out of his mouth next. "Oh? And what, seek BEAK on me? P-lease."
By the time he caught his mistake it was too late. Damn all those times he pushed Thomas' buttons!
Thomas gasped over the other line. Who the hell was this guy? His voice sounded so familiar..especially with that confident sneer. He nearly dropped the phone.
A loud unrecognizable sound met Van's ears. "Uh, hello? Thomas?"
There was a long pause. "Oh my god! Miss Fiona was right! Van Flyheight is that you?!"
"Uh huh! Thomas I'm so glad you remembered me, I thought with the whole me getting amnesia thing would make you think I'm just one of those wannabes pretending to me. Wow, people pretend to be me isn't that something? Who'da thought when I found Zeke and the Liger I'd be a world hero. But really, it's so great hearing your voice. I could just hug you right now-"
"Van, you can shut up now. You're talking at a million words an hour and it's a miracle that I can keep up with you. Listen, this line isn't secure. Can you meet me..first off where in god's name are you?"
"Some small village outside of the capital, and your there right?"
"Yes," Thomas replied, a hint of confusion evident in his tone. "How did you know?"
"Fiona told me. Didya know it's because of her, Irvine, who by the way went completely psycho on me? But as I was saying, it was because of her and Irvine and in part of Moonbay that I got my memories back," Van babbled on.
Whenever he got really excited, Van talked as fast as he could. It was just a little quirk he had, he'd been doing that his whole life. But he mentally told himself he couldn't be excited, a murderer had kidnapped Jade and who knew what could happen to her.
"Ok! Shut up already! I get it, now a small village..can you make it into town by say midnight? Then afterwards, we'll request an audience with his royal majesty."
"Rudolph!"
"Yes Rudolph. You gotta be discreet, can you do that, the mighty hero of Zi?"
"With pleasure.but wait.Thomas, you didn't say where to meet you at," Van pointed out. "And he has my niece!"
"I told you, this line isn't secure. You'll find out ok? What was that last part?"
Van groaned and smacked his forehead, earning himself weird looks from everyone in the lobby. He whispered into the receiver, "My niece has been kidnapped, that's why I called you. This line isn't secure, dumbass, so later."
And with that he ended the transmission.
Mike at the counter, who had been watching all of this, gently leaned over and patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, Anthony, we all lose them some times."
What the heck was he talking about? Van wondered, but tried to at least act like he knew. He nodded and went out the door.
A loud roar sounded from somewhere close by, the Blade Liger trotted to the black-haired young man. It threw it's head back and let out a big roar to make it's desperation obvious. The zoid knelt down and opened it's cockpit and Van hopped in.
"What's the sitch, Zeke?"
~*~*~*~*~*~
The wind howled ominously against the Lightening Saix's windshield, it pounded angry fists as if a sign to the pilot that what he had done was wrong. It seemed as though all of Mother Nature's many wonders were pissed off and beyond. And for a perfectly good reason too; because, without the heroic efforts of Van Mother Nature and all of Zi would be a wasteland were no life could live. But in the aftermath of that youth's supposed death, a lot of feelings were hurt, including the bounty hunter's. It was tough being attached to someone who put himself in a lot of dangerous situations.
Irvine folded his arms across his chest, still numb from the events of last night. He sighed and wished that stupid voice inside of his head would go away, more specifically to hell.
The Lightening Saix stopped dead in it's tracks and Irvine flung forward.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" he barked angrily.
The zoid growled and just as it did so, a big red zoid flew past. It looked oddly familiar.. Raven! That was Raven's zoid, Irvine thought. He maneuvered his zoid so it went at top speed right after that zoid. Thankfully, the Genobreaker didn't notice the oncoming zoid and just continued on it's merry way.
Irvine fired the twin cannons in an attempt to stop or at least get the zoid's attention. A window popped up on his screen, revealing Raven in front, and Reese behind him with a little girl with medium length black hair on her lap.
"Oohh, what does this button do?" the little girl parted her lips in the shape of an O.
Raven glanced over his shoulder and hissed, "Don't you touch anything back there!"
She blinked innocently then a big grin crossed her face. The Genobreaker fell forward onto it's large stomach.
Irvine just sat there blinking. Why did that girl look oddly familiar to him? It was obvious that Raven would never do something unless he had a plan, what was his plan for that little brat? Then he suddenly remembered, that girl that Van was talking to last night, the one he told to go to bed. Oh my god, Raven kidnapped her!
"Raven! You let that girl go this instant, it's the end of the line. Give it up, your going to be a dead man real soon, Raven, real soon," Irvine said calmly.
"Huh? Who said that?" Raven looked around, not realizing the com link right before his eyes.
The little girl and Reese both smacked their foreheads. "Hey genius, look in the com link."
"Huh?" Raven did so and his features no longer looked playful. The old merciless Raven was back. "You, bounty hunter, what do you and your petty zoid want?"
"Your under arrest, and this time I will personally make sure you don't escape again."
Irvine typed something on the keyboard, a message to all the nearest military troops and to the Blade Liger.
Raven just smirked and glanced back at Reese who returned the look. "What makes you so sure? You couldn't beat me before, what makes you think you can now? There's only one person in the whole entire world, who is worthy of fighting against me.and he's dead. So how are you going to stop? Enlighten me, I'd really like to know."
"Really? Your that strong?" Jade gasped, pulling herself so that the seatbealt snapped off and she jumped into his lap. Her hazel eyes big with hero worship.
He looked at her strangely, never before had a child even dared to get close to him let alone sit on him. Reese's voice filled his mind.
"Aww, isn't that sweet? She adores you."
He tossed a dirty look over his shoulder. "Uh, what are you doing?" Raven the mighty asked the little girl.
"That's so cool! You're a lot better than my lameo uncle!"
Irvine scowled and tried to think up a plan that could stop Raven from escaping. The odds seemed against him. Suddenly a booming roar sounded from nearby. Another com link flashed onto the bounty hunter's screen, this time revealing a young man with black spiked hair, wearing a confident smirk.
"You rang?"
~*~*~*~
Author's Note: Hey hey hey, I'm sorry I didn't get to finishing this sooner. My bad, I hope you guys forgive me. I've been sick for two weeks, then I got grounded (curse you slang terms.) and I guess I got so used to not going on the computer that I stopped. So now I'm back, you know the rules one review requesting more and your wish is my command. K? Well, gonna bounce oh and R&R ta bom?
PEACE OUT
~*Mi ChElLe*~