Author's Note: Okay here's chapter nine to This is not enough! It's going
to be um, interesting, lol. Without further ado here it is!
*&*&*&*&
"This way, ma'am."
Fiona tugged at her blouse as the elderly butler that had seen her into the Emperor's office the other day, lead her into the red dining room. The ivory candles weren't lit and appeared to have been used a couple times in the past. She was dressed in a pink button up blouse with the top three buttons undone and a white skirt that fell on her knees. The microphone/recorder that Reese had made earlier was tucked securely in the center of her bra. She felt so nervous and wanted to turn and bolt, but knew she couldn't. Van and Reese were waiting for her outside the palace walls in his Jeep, both in disguise. A smile tugged at the blonde's lips as she remembered seeing Van with a baseball cap and thick sunglasses on.
Since the conversation was being recorded, Reese had created another device that allowed Van and her to hear everything that Fiona could hear. If anything went wrong Van had told her to just shout and he would come running for her, palace guards or not.
The butler walked ahead of her and opened a golden door that Fiona had not seen before at the end of the room. He extended his hand inside and bowed slightly. Here goes nothing, Fiona thought as she swallowed and walked inside.
"Your majesty, Miss Fiona is here to see you now," the butler said.
Fiona felt her heartbeat quicken as Rudolph stood up from his desk and strode gracefully to them. For the first time, Fiona noticed he was taller than she was and suddenly had the urge to laugh. Rudolph was probably as tall as Van was, give or take a few inches. Haha, she and Van really were short.
Rudolph smiled warmly at his guest and noticed that her eyes suddenly glittered with happiness; it was a refreshing sight to see. He nodded his thanks to Harold, who departed with a final bow and shut the door behind him. He led Fiona to a very expansive looking couch and sat down on one end while she sat on the other.
Apart of him was afraid that she would lash out again like she had done, but a larger part sensed that something was different about her. She seemed almost happy, blissfully so.
"So Fiona, what brings you here?" Rudolph asked happily.
She bit her lower lips and tugged at the bottom of her blouse. "Er..." Oh shit, what was she supposed to say? She had gone over this many times with Van and Reese, but her mind had suddenly drawn a blank. A big flat blank, like the kind that looks like a piece of white paper that seemed to extend to eternity. Like when the TV shuts down during your favorite program. Ok ok, I'll stop with that. When your in the middle of a very important meeting and it's your turn to present, but you discover that you'd lost all of your papers on the way to work. Okay, for reals this time.
Rudolph cocked his head to one side. "Pardon?"
"I...er.."
Suddenly Reese's impatient voice filled her mind, "What are you waiting for? He's getting worried, say something! Remember your there to apologize and then casually bring up the attacks, and once you get him started on that, drop in a line about it being identical to what happened to Flyheight!"
Fiona narrowed her eyes at the interruption and mentally hissed back, "I get it, Reese! I just lost my voice, shesh!" With that she blocked out the blue devil with a newfound respect for Raven, just think of how long he had to endure that.
Fiona suddenly realized that her glare had fallen upon the Emperor and laughed nervously. "Forgive me, your highness, I was caught up in my thoughts."
Rudolph nodded his coal eyes filled with confusion. What on Zi was up with her? But he smiled anyways. "Don't worry about it, Fiona, and how many times do I have to ask you to call me Rudolph?"
"Oh I'm sorry, it's just that.." She trailed off and stared at her hands that were on her lap. "I..er...I uh, came here to apologize for my actions the other day. I had no right to snap at you like that, it was very improper."
"Like I said earlier, don't worry about it. You've been under a lot of stress recently with the concert and the rumors going around that Van is still alive and what not. But if you don't mind my asking, have you gotten wind of these rumors?" he asked curiously, unable to help himself.
That's so rude! His mind protested loudly.
Fiona wanted more than anything to say, 'I started those rumors' but refrained from doing so. She couldn't help but smile, Van was listening to every word, she thought cheerfully.
"I've heard them," she replied simply.
Rudolph blinked and frowned for a moment, why was she smiling? Wasn't she just heartbroken a couple days ago? He wondered. Maybe she found a man and finally let Van rest in peace. But the thought didn't seem as comforting as he had hoped it would be.
"Yes," Rudolph said slowly.
"Rudolph, have you heard that Raven's back in town? Er.well, he would be if anyone knew where he is now," Fiona trailed off thoughtfully. "There was that big battle the other day with the Genobreaker and a blue Blade Liger."
"Yes I did and I found it quite odd, because who would be stupid enough to go up against Raven? The pilot of the Liger was really lucky, he seemed to anticipate Raven's next move before he even made them. From what I did find out was that that Liger, is actually...I don't know if I should say it..Van's Blade Liger. It was stolen on its way to a museum in New Helic City," he said sadly, hurt evident in his voice.
Fiona felt so bad about leaving the poor boy in the dark, everyone else knew except for him and he was the Emperor of the Gylos Empire! But the others never said anything about her telling Rudolph the good news...then again, if they didn't want her to, they were listening to the entire thing. Oh man, that wouldn't be good.
"Er..interesting, isn't it?" Fiona said awkwardly.
Rudolph tore his gaze from the window and met her eyes and nodded. "I suppose so, but luckily no one was hurt.well except for some reporters..then again no one cares about them, so yeah."
"Rudolph, I have a question," Fiona began, inhaling deeply. He nodded. "More like a question mixed in with a confession. I was in that battle.." She explained everything that happened, with the exception of a few details such as Van ever being there, the temple with Reese, and what not. All she said was basically, that everyone in the zoids had disappeared herself included, and landed in different places. That it was similar to what happened to Van.
The young Emperor was not only listening but truly absorbing every word. When she finished, he had a sinking feeling that she wasn't telling him the whole story but said nothing. Neither of them spoke for several minutes. Fiona'd look up at him several times and then return her gaze to her lap and tried to ignore Reese's attempts to break into her mind.
Just as Rudolph opened his mouth to speak, the golden door opened, revealing a very ticked off blonde bodyguard. He saluted and asked permission to speak. The Emperor just nodded.
"A couple of the guards have discovered two people outside the palace walls, when asked what their purpose was, the duo refused to reply and attacked the guards."
Fiona gasped louder than she should have and promptly received a disapproving glare from the bodyguard. She whirled around to Rudolph who was frowning and started speaking rapidly, so rapidly that the poor Emperor had no idea what she was saying.
"Fiona, calm down," he said soothingly. "Is there something you would like to tell me?"
Before she had the chance to reply, the blonde spoke again. "Your majesty, if I may as bold to ask you if you would like to speak with them?"
Fiona stood up instantly and screeched, "Rudolph! Don't let them hurt her! She's on our side now! Please, she is a good person!"
"What?" he asked blankly.
"She is a good person! Please, I can promise you that she is. I was going to tell you, I promise, but I didn't know if I could!" Fiona pleaded desperately.
Rudolph stood up also and glanced at the rash bodyguard, who was currently rolling his eyes and muttering something about women being stupid. He just sighed and shook his head; it seemed that hate was almost impossible to get rid of. Oh well. He looked back at Fiona, who had her face plastered against the window and scanning the area for something.
The guard eyed her with obvious dislike and grunted. Rudolph cleared his throat and tapped Fiona's shoulder, but before he did that he turned to the guard. "I will see the prisoners."
The guard nodded, saluted and left the room.
*&*&*&*&*&*
A late summer breeze flew easily under a large oak tree in the middle of a hot day in the Empire. It moved the green leaves and ruffled some people's hair. Van let out a content sigh and placed his hands behind his head and leaned back against the thick trunk, while Reese propped her feet on the dashboard in the Jeep. Both appeared to be peaceful, when really they were highly alert, taking in all the sounds of the area outside of the palace. Luckily for them, there was a large beautiful park right next to the palace, so they stayed there as to not attract any unwanted attention. Van's niece knew nothing of the plan so she stayed at Maria's house playing the neighbor children, under the assumption that they were just going to New Helic City to meet up with some boring military people.
The conversation between Fiona and Rudolph was rather boring in Van's opinion, although he did notice that the Emperor's tone was mournful when they spoke about him. He suddenly heard Fiona gasp and sat straight up, judging by the all the noise Reese had done the same thing. They exchanged looks as they waited for someone to say something.
Van exhaled loudly in relief, Reese and him hadn't been questioned by any palace guards. Thank goodness..but a thought crossed his mind, Fiona didn't know that. She probably thought it was them, he laughed softly.
Reese shot him a weird look. "Don't you think that the big hero should make an entrance to save his damsel in distress?"
Van grinned. "Hardly, I wouldn't be able to get past the guards under my own name because they'd believe that I'm a fake."
Reese shrugged and returned her feet back to their proper place on the dashboard. She looked up as a pair of blue jays fluttered above her, chirping cheerfully. She suddenly had the urge to blow them up, shoot an energy ball at them and watch those birds explode into dozens of unrecognizable pieces.
The conversation between the blonde and emperor had been cut short it seemed, because Rudolph quietly excused himself and departed. Fiona just took in a deep breath.
"I hope I'm wrong," she muttered.
Reese glanced over at Van, who had raised his brow and frowned. What was she doing with the likes of these people? She wondered, they were so different. They believed in the good in mankind, while she believed that everyone except for the Mormons were damned to rot in hell.
Tried as she might, she couldn't seem to tap into Fiona's mind. The girl had placed a block on her. Reese sighed and watched the blue jays chit chat over head.
"Hey, Reese," Van called out, his tone lazy.
Reese tossed him a quick glance over her shoulder. "What?"
"Do you think that anyone would have understood that mumbo jumbo Fiona said do you?"
Reese frowned, what on Zi was he talking about? "Elaborate."
"Well, what I mean is. When Fiona talked really fast, because she thought it was us who had been captured. Do you think anyone would have understood her?"
"I didn't understand her," Reese pointed out dully. "I take that you did."
Van nodded and closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, giving him a calm and relaxed look. "Yeah, but I guess it was obvious, ne? I live with Jade; you learn to comprehend that kind of stuff."
"I suppose..."
"Anything bothering you?"
Reese just stared at him, her mind awhirl. Was he actually asking her what was wrong? Did he really think that they were..friends? She had only thought the reason he was being friendly with her was because Jade and Fiona liked her, but the thought never crossed her mind that when she said, "friend", that they would really be friends.
"Nothing," she growled.
Van just shrugged his shoulders. "Suit yourself."
An Hour and Thirty Minutes later.....
"You guys!"
Reese sat up quickly from her spot on the car seat and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she quickly spotted the nuisance that had interrupted her nap. To her surprise she was still in the park and had fallen asleep, behind her Van was currently laying on his stomach his arms and legs spread apart, snoring softly.
Reese stifled a yawn as she straightened and proceeded to check out her hair in the mirror, well it wasn't too bad a few strand sticking up in the back but other than that her shoulder length blue hair looked great. The person responsible for waking her up ran over to the Jeep, placed their hands on the hood and panted heavily.
"What-did-you-guys-think-you-were-doing!" demanded a certain blonde starlit in between gasps for air of course.
Fiona straightened and placed her hands on her hips and shot the blue haired girl a dirty look. Reese just shrugged in reply and placed her hand over mouth to stifle another yawn.
"You fell asleep?!" Fiona screeched.
The volume of her voice awakened the Liger pilot, for his head snapped up and he muttered something and slumped down on the lush grass once more. He did this several times, before he was truly awake. Van rolled onto his back and yawned loudly as he sat up.
He blinked as he found himself staring into a pair of angry sunset eyes. Van placed his hand behind his head and laughed nervously. "Uh..h-hi, Fiona!"
Fiona glared at him and raised her hand but decided against it, she let out a screech and stomped every step of the way to the Jeep. Just as her finger tips brushed against the smooth handle, she turned around to Van.
"I was so worried that you two had been caught!! I found out afterwards that it was not you, when Rudolph returned and asked me if I was feeling alright! The least you could have done was give me a sign or something to let me know that you guys were okay! Not fall asleep!!"
Van scratched the back of his neck and was incapable of doing anything except laugh nervously like a clown on it's way to execution. While Reese on the other hand stretched her arms overhead, crossed her legs, and roll her eyes.
"We would have been able to inform you but someone placed a mental block on me," she said in a bored tone.
Fiona made a 'hmph' sound and plopped into the backseat. She sighed, it was hopeless to fight with them. The important thing was that they were okay. Just as she opened her mouth to apologize, someone's stomach roared. The two Ancient Zoidians looked over at the source of the sound just in time to see, Van grin and rub his stomach.
"I guess it's lunch time."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Now that I think of it, you never did tell us what Rudolph said."
Fiona glanced up from her cherry soda and pinched the straw with her fingers. The three were in a small neat little café in the heart of the Empire's glorious capital, sitting in the outside area beneath the shade of a small tree. Only a little pointed fence shielded them from the people crossing the sidewalks. Everything had gone smoothly, in her opinion, but then Van had to go and pop the question.
She ran her hand through her blonde hair, let out a sigh, and unwillingly met Van's eyes. She frowned, had he been paying attention like he was supposed to then they wouldn't be in this mess. From the looks of things neither had Reese. Strange, Fiona thought as she stole a glance at the blue haired woman, who was quietly bringing a cup of tea to her lips. Reese usually was on top at things like this. Fiona had always assumed that she enjoyed being one step ahead of the game. But now, it seemed, she was one step behind.
What did Rudolph say? Fiona wondered as she propped her elbows on the table and took a sip of her soda. Her free hand wandered to her blouse and brushed against the device that Reese had created, it was still there. Reese had said that there was a recorder on it, so they could always just replay the conversation. She guessed that Van was just anxious to find out, not that she could blame him.even though it was his own fault for falling asleep on the job. Since when was she this cynical? Fiona was never like this, she was usually so forgiving.
A thought shot through her head; back at the temple she had wondered why Reese was suddenly so nice, and now that she thought of it Reese hadn't snapped at either of them. She was being so sweet and friendly. But it was Fiona, who was doing all of the snapping. It was like they had changed personalities...Fiona nearly choked at the thought.
"Fiona, are you alright?" Van asked quickly.
She coughed but made a motion with her hand that she was fine. Oh. My. God. Fiona patted her chest a little, her mind awhirl. Something that temple made them change..but the question was what? She wondered if Reese was even aware of this....
Stealing another sideways glance at the woman, Fiona finally straightened. Reese was watching her with a concerned frown, her eyes shimmered with something that looked almost foreign to them. Yup, Fiona decided, something had definitely happened.
"Are you sure your feeling well?" Reese asked kindly, her voice filled with worry.
Fiona fought the urge to slap her across the face, and nodded while trying her best not to glare at her.
"I'm fine," she said in a low voice.
Van and Reese exchanged doubtful looks but each said nothing. Fiona frowned while she watched the two of them; they were being a little too chummy. While she had a mounting respect for Raven.. Things were just getting too weird for her liking, way too weird.
A big blue and white bus pulled up at the red light right next to them, the sign on the side read, "The most anticipated event of the year, Fiona Live on August 30th! Also available on Pay per View!" next to it was a picture of Fiona from the shoulder up, her hair was up in a bun except for two strands that were curled around her face with shimmering pink glitter. A soft shade of pink was on her lips, it appeared as though she was wearing a pink top. She was smiling, her head tilted to the side, and only closing one eye.
Fiona gasped as the bus drove away and quickly turned to Van, her palms lying flat against the table. "Do any of you know what day it is!"
Van looked down at his watch. "The thirtieth, why?"
How could she have forgotten her own concert? Her own concert! She had gotten so caught up in the mess with Van that she had forgotten her obligations to everyone else. Her heart ached at the thought of leaving her old friends, but she didn't have much a choice. She was in the process of committing career suicide.
Apparently neither Van nor Reese had seen the ad on the bus. Fiona growled under her breath and looked around for anything that looked remotely like a phone booth. Having finally located one on the next street in front of a bank, Fiona pushed her chair back and walked briskly towards her destination.
Van followed after her and stopped in front of her. "Dude, what's up with you? You've been acting strangely all day."
Fiona narrowed her eyes and attempted to push him out of her way, but he refused to budge. Tried as she might, Fiona couldn't stop herself from acting like a bitch. It was happening so fast, like watching a movie. She was witnessing her own actions and unable to stop them.
"Listen, dude, get out of my way. I haven't got time to play detective with you," Fiona said coldly.
She was just as surprised by the iciness of her tongue as Van was. Van frowned that worried sort of frown that always made her feel bad, and tried again to reason with her.
"Fiona, you're not yourself. Please let me help you," he urged softly.
Meanwhile...
Reese watched Van hold Fiona's hands in his own and say something while she tried to pull away. Why was the blonde suddenly so upset? She closed her eyes and decided to do some detective work of her own. Thankfully, the walls Fiona had built had fallen down so Reese was free to do all of the searching she could dream of. It wasn't hard to find, an image of a bus stop at the corner next them appeared in her mind. On it's side was a picture of Fiona followed by an advertisement for a concert on August 30th. So that was the reason, and that explained what Fiona had been doing for the past couple years since she was no longer with the GF.
A short waiter walked over to the table short of two people and set a piece of paper down in front of her. Curious, Reese picked it up and to her horror it was the bill. She was broke! How did they possibly expect her to pay! The waiter smiled and waited patiently for her.
Reese wondered why he was just standing there and looked over to see that she was the only there. She sighed helplessly and tried to think of a way to cover this one. She smiled sweetly as she broke into his mind, and uttered telepathically, "You forgot to feed your cat. You must go home and feed it. Go home now."
The waiter's eyes were still dull as he monotonously stated, "Cat...must go home and feed cat.." With that he turned a heel and walked away.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"Well look who decided to grace us with her presence," Kay said as Fiona ran through the glass doors to the stadium.
The blonde in questions skidded to a halt and placed her hands on her knees and panted. She had ran all the way here, but thankfully it wasn't more than just a couple blocks from the café. She couldn't have walked because Van was following her, well he said he would after he got Reese. She straightened and ran her hand through her hair to get it out of her face.
"Sorry, Kay," she said quickly. "But I haven't got time to be chided by you. The concert in is less than five hours and I need to get ready."
With that said, Fiona ran in towards the stage. Kay gasped at the outburst from the usually sweet and innocent Fiona, and promptly frowned. Fame had finally gotten to that girl, she decided, it was a damn shame too. Suddenly the doors bursts open again, revealing a man and a woman of about equal height. The man had black spiky hair and Kay recognized him from the ancient temple, his name was Anthony Lee if she was correct. While the woman had blue hair.
"Did a girl about yee high," the man named Anthony turned to her and made a motion with his hand to his chin. "With short blonde hair, ruby eyes, dressed in a white shirt and pink skirt come through here recently?"
Kay was thoughtful, the only person who had come through those doors recently was Fiona and she was dressed in a white shirt.. Oh no, they were looking for Fiona.
The blue haired woman placed her hand on his wrist. "She's in here. I know where she is, Flyheight, just follow me."
He nodded and they took off in the same direction that Fiona had gone only minutes earlier. Kay just blinked and dumbly waved after them.
"Your welcome?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Fiona nervously gazed at her surroundings, what had once seemed like home to her had suddenly become foreboding and unwelcoming. The aura of the place was no longer friendly but had turned threatening. Apart of her wanted more than anything to get away, but she knew she had to stay. Even if there was something terribly wrong with her. Various band members and technical people were sitting on the stage, conversing idly with one another. And Fiona felt her heart sink, she had gone after the life she had once led and in the process was destroying the one she had worked so hard to obtain. She hadn't even considered that other's peoples dreams were one the line here, not just her own. And in her selfish pursuit she was ruining theirs as well.
The personal didn't even bother looking up at her, just continued their moaning.
"Man, where could that woman be? I mean honestly, everyone who's anyone is going to be here. This has been called the most anticipated event of the year! Who could be stupid enough to leave when their so ahead of the game?" said one person.
Fiona felt the urge to snarl, 'for your information, I was dealing with my past! Am I not allowed a life or something?!' but amused herself by glaring at them instead. She hopped on the stage and ignored the shouts at her to get down. She walked calmly backstage where she knocked into Evan, her base player.
He looked surprised to see her. "Fiona? Is that you?"
Fiona just nodded and felt suddenly small as she looked up at him. It seemed like everyone had gotten a major growth spur and became taller than her. Her lips just couldn't form in a smile the position hurt, while in a scowl they felt more at home. She briefly wondered if that was how Reese felt on a daily basis.
"Er..yes it is. Evan, are you mad at me too?"
Evan blinked and scratched the back of his head, his aqua eyes shimmering with confusion. "Why would I be mad at you?"
Fiona looked down at her feet and returned her gaze to his eyes. "Everyone is," she said bitterly.
"Naw, I'm sure no one is truly mad at you. Probably just annoyed at the show's cancellation."
She gasped. "The show's been canceled?"
"Yeah, when you turned up missing the show had to be canceled. Well actually, it ain't truly canceled. Just until your back and in tip top form. And from the looks of things that could take some time."
"Don't be stupid, we can't reschedule! That's madness!"
"Well if someone hadn't pulled a disappearing act, none of this would have ever have happened."
Fiona frowned when she knew he was right, this was all her fault. She growled in disgust and turned away, folding her arms across her chest. If she hadn't gone after Van, then the concert would still be underway. Perhaps there was a way she could still keep the concert..
"Evan, please answer me this. Has everyone rehearsed?"
Evan shot her a strange look but nodded. She smirked at the brilliance of the plan forming in her head.
"Then there still might be a chance..." she muttered, before looking back up at him. "Could you please gather everyone and tell them to meet me at center stage in the next ten minutes?"
"Uh..yeah sure." with that he turned and dashed off.
Fiona rubbed her hands together and walked to the dressing room. The walls were hinted pink and smelled fresh of roses, there was a vanity mirror with lights on the sides of it and hundreds of makeup and what not. There were several racks of clothes spread out on various sides. Fiona stood in front the mirror and criticized her appearance; her hair was windblown due to all the running, she had no makeup on and had the beginnings of under eye circles. Her blouse was no longer neat and perfect but crumpled, and her skirt had torn while she was running. So now she had two huge slits that went to the middle of her thighs.
She noticed her cell phone laying on the vanity..but how did that get there? The last place she had it was when she was the battle, she had assumed it was lost or something. But apparently it wasn't. She picked it up and checked out any messages, two were from Kay, one from Mortisha, and the other from Moon. Blinking, she played the message.
"Fiona! It's Moonbay," there sound of someone talking in the background and Fiona heard Moonbay let out a sigh. "Fine, Moonbay AND Irvine. Where are you? Look, we've tried looking for you and Van everywhere! But obviously we haven't found you, if you get this message call us at the base or at the callback number. K?"
Fiona let out a small sigh, thank goodness those two were safe. Now all they had to worry about finding now was Raven. She frowned a little and quickly pressed on the call back number. Some one picked up at the first ring.
"Yeah?"
The voice didn't sound familiar and Fiona felt a ping of annoyance. "Is uh, Moonbay or Irvine there?"
"FIONA! THANK THE GODS YOUR OKAY!!"
Fiona had to hold the phone an arms length from her ear and it still was loud. Well that was Moonbay for ya. Once she was sure it was safe, Fiona brought the phone back to her ear.
"Moonbay, it is I who should be saying that. Van and I were so worried about you two! Where were you?" she asked.
"At the base. I was at the base at least; I woke up and found myself back in my bedroom. Weird, ne?"
"I'll say."
"What about you?" Moonbay asked anxiously. Fiona could tell she was eager to speak with Van, unfortunately he wasn't here.
"I was at the temple..where Van found Zeke and myself...with Reese.."
"With WHAT?!"
Fiona winced as she held out the phone again. Her ears buzzed as she slowly returned the phone back to it's place by her ear.
"Moonbay, please calm down. With Reese, but don't worry she's on our side now," Fiona added quickly.
"That's what you said last time, and then she and Raven attacked us!"
"Yes, but your forgetting that Raven was piloting the zoid. He couldn't have cared less about what she had to say. Besides that was then and this is now, Reese gave me her word and I believe her."
Moonbay groaned. "Oh Fiona, your too trusting for your own good. Well at least you and Van are okay..I guess. So where are you now?"
"Guigolos," Fiona replied.
"The capital? But I thought you said that you were in that temple...by Van's hometown in the Republic.."
"I was, Van and Reese made me come here to speak with the Emperor. Listen, I have a major concert tonight and I simply must get ready. That is, if they'll let me continue with the show. Please, I need your help."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Tag! Your it!"
The sound of childish laughter filled the air followed by a cry of, "Now your it!" All was peaceful in the little of town called the Wind Colony. The children were allowed to romp and play to their heart's content without the fear of playtime being cut short by annoyed adults.
Jade plopped down on the lush grass and stared up at the blue sky. Her playmate, a ten year old boy by the name of Timmy, fell down next to her. He rolled on his side and blew some pesky brown bangs from his face.
"That was fun," he said smiling. "None of the other kids here are that fun."
Jade grinned and flashed him a peace sign. "Well that's why you got me."
Timmy laid down on the bed of grass too, and the two of them stayed in a comfortable silence. It had been minutes since either of them had spoke. Timmy was the first to break the silence.
"So.how long are you gonna stay here?"
"Dunno. Just until my uncle tells me it's time to go home," she replied with a shrug.
"Oh. Well let's hope that doesn't happen soon."
"I'll say!"
A growl sounded from behind them, Timmy jumped up on his feet while Jade just rolled on her stomach to face the source. Emerging from the shadow of a house, was what appeared to be...
"Ambient!" Jade cried and leapt on her feet and raced to it.
Ambient growled again, but this time it sounded weaker than before. Various wires were sticking out of his legs and hissing like snakes. His red coat was no longer shimmering and smooth, now it was dull and cracked in several places. But it was his face that freaked Jade out the most, one of his green eyes was dark while the other one was bright like it was supposed to be.
"Oh my gosh! What happened?!"
Jade tried to steady the organiod but it was obvious that it didn't have the strength to continue. The organiod let out a small whimper before it fell to the ground.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Author's Note: hey hey! So there you have it, there's chapter nine! Wohoo! I'm finally done! Sorry it took me so long, school just started and I just got a new computer. But I'm not here to make excuses! I hope you all liked it. Tell me what you think okay? R and R!
PEACE!
~$hAdOwCaT*~
"This way, ma'am."
Fiona tugged at her blouse as the elderly butler that had seen her into the Emperor's office the other day, lead her into the red dining room. The ivory candles weren't lit and appeared to have been used a couple times in the past. She was dressed in a pink button up blouse with the top three buttons undone and a white skirt that fell on her knees. The microphone/recorder that Reese had made earlier was tucked securely in the center of her bra. She felt so nervous and wanted to turn and bolt, but knew she couldn't. Van and Reese were waiting for her outside the palace walls in his Jeep, both in disguise. A smile tugged at the blonde's lips as she remembered seeing Van with a baseball cap and thick sunglasses on.
Since the conversation was being recorded, Reese had created another device that allowed Van and her to hear everything that Fiona could hear. If anything went wrong Van had told her to just shout and he would come running for her, palace guards or not.
The butler walked ahead of her and opened a golden door that Fiona had not seen before at the end of the room. He extended his hand inside and bowed slightly. Here goes nothing, Fiona thought as she swallowed and walked inside.
"Your majesty, Miss Fiona is here to see you now," the butler said.
Fiona felt her heartbeat quicken as Rudolph stood up from his desk and strode gracefully to them. For the first time, Fiona noticed he was taller than she was and suddenly had the urge to laugh. Rudolph was probably as tall as Van was, give or take a few inches. Haha, she and Van really were short.
Rudolph smiled warmly at his guest and noticed that her eyes suddenly glittered with happiness; it was a refreshing sight to see. He nodded his thanks to Harold, who departed with a final bow and shut the door behind him. He led Fiona to a very expansive looking couch and sat down on one end while she sat on the other.
Apart of him was afraid that she would lash out again like she had done, but a larger part sensed that something was different about her. She seemed almost happy, blissfully so.
"So Fiona, what brings you here?" Rudolph asked happily.
She bit her lower lips and tugged at the bottom of her blouse. "Er..." Oh shit, what was she supposed to say? She had gone over this many times with Van and Reese, but her mind had suddenly drawn a blank. A big flat blank, like the kind that looks like a piece of white paper that seemed to extend to eternity. Like when the TV shuts down during your favorite program. Ok ok, I'll stop with that. When your in the middle of a very important meeting and it's your turn to present, but you discover that you'd lost all of your papers on the way to work. Okay, for reals this time.
Rudolph cocked his head to one side. "Pardon?"
"I...er.."
Suddenly Reese's impatient voice filled her mind, "What are you waiting for? He's getting worried, say something! Remember your there to apologize and then casually bring up the attacks, and once you get him started on that, drop in a line about it being identical to what happened to Flyheight!"
Fiona narrowed her eyes at the interruption and mentally hissed back, "I get it, Reese! I just lost my voice, shesh!" With that she blocked out the blue devil with a newfound respect for Raven, just think of how long he had to endure that.
Fiona suddenly realized that her glare had fallen upon the Emperor and laughed nervously. "Forgive me, your highness, I was caught up in my thoughts."
Rudolph nodded his coal eyes filled with confusion. What on Zi was up with her? But he smiled anyways. "Don't worry about it, Fiona, and how many times do I have to ask you to call me Rudolph?"
"Oh I'm sorry, it's just that.." She trailed off and stared at her hands that were on her lap. "I..er...I uh, came here to apologize for my actions the other day. I had no right to snap at you like that, it was very improper."
"Like I said earlier, don't worry about it. You've been under a lot of stress recently with the concert and the rumors going around that Van is still alive and what not. But if you don't mind my asking, have you gotten wind of these rumors?" he asked curiously, unable to help himself.
That's so rude! His mind protested loudly.
Fiona wanted more than anything to say, 'I started those rumors' but refrained from doing so. She couldn't help but smile, Van was listening to every word, she thought cheerfully.
"I've heard them," she replied simply.
Rudolph blinked and frowned for a moment, why was she smiling? Wasn't she just heartbroken a couple days ago? He wondered. Maybe she found a man and finally let Van rest in peace. But the thought didn't seem as comforting as he had hoped it would be.
"Yes," Rudolph said slowly.
"Rudolph, have you heard that Raven's back in town? Er.well, he would be if anyone knew where he is now," Fiona trailed off thoughtfully. "There was that big battle the other day with the Genobreaker and a blue Blade Liger."
"Yes I did and I found it quite odd, because who would be stupid enough to go up against Raven? The pilot of the Liger was really lucky, he seemed to anticipate Raven's next move before he even made them. From what I did find out was that that Liger, is actually...I don't know if I should say it..Van's Blade Liger. It was stolen on its way to a museum in New Helic City," he said sadly, hurt evident in his voice.
Fiona felt so bad about leaving the poor boy in the dark, everyone else knew except for him and he was the Emperor of the Gylos Empire! But the others never said anything about her telling Rudolph the good news...then again, if they didn't want her to, they were listening to the entire thing. Oh man, that wouldn't be good.
"Er..interesting, isn't it?" Fiona said awkwardly.
Rudolph tore his gaze from the window and met her eyes and nodded. "I suppose so, but luckily no one was hurt.well except for some reporters..then again no one cares about them, so yeah."
"Rudolph, I have a question," Fiona began, inhaling deeply. He nodded. "More like a question mixed in with a confession. I was in that battle.." She explained everything that happened, with the exception of a few details such as Van ever being there, the temple with Reese, and what not. All she said was basically, that everyone in the zoids had disappeared herself included, and landed in different places. That it was similar to what happened to Van.
The young Emperor was not only listening but truly absorbing every word. When she finished, he had a sinking feeling that she wasn't telling him the whole story but said nothing. Neither of them spoke for several minutes. Fiona'd look up at him several times and then return her gaze to her lap and tried to ignore Reese's attempts to break into her mind.
Just as Rudolph opened his mouth to speak, the golden door opened, revealing a very ticked off blonde bodyguard. He saluted and asked permission to speak. The Emperor just nodded.
"A couple of the guards have discovered two people outside the palace walls, when asked what their purpose was, the duo refused to reply and attacked the guards."
Fiona gasped louder than she should have and promptly received a disapproving glare from the bodyguard. She whirled around to Rudolph who was frowning and started speaking rapidly, so rapidly that the poor Emperor had no idea what she was saying.
"Fiona, calm down," he said soothingly. "Is there something you would like to tell me?"
Before she had the chance to reply, the blonde spoke again. "Your majesty, if I may as bold to ask you if you would like to speak with them?"
Fiona stood up instantly and screeched, "Rudolph! Don't let them hurt her! She's on our side now! Please, she is a good person!"
"What?" he asked blankly.
"She is a good person! Please, I can promise you that she is. I was going to tell you, I promise, but I didn't know if I could!" Fiona pleaded desperately.
Rudolph stood up also and glanced at the rash bodyguard, who was currently rolling his eyes and muttering something about women being stupid. He just sighed and shook his head; it seemed that hate was almost impossible to get rid of. Oh well. He looked back at Fiona, who had her face plastered against the window and scanning the area for something.
The guard eyed her with obvious dislike and grunted. Rudolph cleared his throat and tapped Fiona's shoulder, but before he did that he turned to the guard. "I will see the prisoners."
The guard nodded, saluted and left the room.
*&*&*&*&*&*
A late summer breeze flew easily under a large oak tree in the middle of a hot day in the Empire. It moved the green leaves and ruffled some people's hair. Van let out a content sigh and placed his hands behind his head and leaned back against the thick trunk, while Reese propped her feet on the dashboard in the Jeep. Both appeared to be peaceful, when really they were highly alert, taking in all the sounds of the area outside of the palace. Luckily for them, there was a large beautiful park right next to the palace, so they stayed there as to not attract any unwanted attention. Van's niece knew nothing of the plan so she stayed at Maria's house playing the neighbor children, under the assumption that they were just going to New Helic City to meet up with some boring military people.
The conversation between Fiona and Rudolph was rather boring in Van's opinion, although he did notice that the Emperor's tone was mournful when they spoke about him. He suddenly heard Fiona gasp and sat straight up, judging by the all the noise Reese had done the same thing. They exchanged looks as they waited for someone to say something.
Van exhaled loudly in relief, Reese and him hadn't been questioned by any palace guards. Thank goodness..but a thought crossed his mind, Fiona didn't know that. She probably thought it was them, he laughed softly.
Reese shot him a weird look. "Don't you think that the big hero should make an entrance to save his damsel in distress?"
Van grinned. "Hardly, I wouldn't be able to get past the guards under my own name because they'd believe that I'm a fake."
Reese shrugged and returned her feet back to their proper place on the dashboard. She looked up as a pair of blue jays fluttered above her, chirping cheerfully. She suddenly had the urge to blow them up, shoot an energy ball at them and watch those birds explode into dozens of unrecognizable pieces.
The conversation between the blonde and emperor had been cut short it seemed, because Rudolph quietly excused himself and departed. Fiona just took in a deep breath.
"I hope I'm wrong," she muttered.
Reese glanced over at Van, who had raised his brow and frowned. What was she doing with the likes of these people? She wondered, they were so different. They believed in the good in mankind, while she believed that everyone except for the Mormons were damned to rot in hell.
Tried as she might, she couldn't seem to tap into Fiona's mind. The girl had placed a block on her. Reese sighed and watched the blue jays chit chat over head.
"Hey, Reese," Van called out, his tone lazy.
Reese tossed him a quick glance over her shoulder. "What?"
"Do you think that anyone would have understood that mumbo jumbo Fiona said do you?"
Reese frowned, what on Zi was he talking about? "Elaborate."
"Well, what I mean is. When Fiona talked really fast, because she thought it was us who had been captured. Do you think anyone would have understood her?"
"I didn't understand her," Reese pointed out dully. "I take that you did."
Van nodded and closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, giving him a calm and relaxed look. "Yeah, but I guess it was obvious, ne? I live with Jade; you learn to comprehend that kind of stuff."
"I suppose..."
"Anything bothering you?"
Reese just stared at him, her mind awhirl. Was he actually asking her what was wrong? Did he really think that they were..friends? She had only thought the reason he was being friendly with her was because Jade and Fiona liked her, but the thought never crossed her mind that when she said, "friend", that they would really be friends.
"Nothing," she growled.
Van just shrugged his shoulders. "Suit yourself."
An Hour and Thirty Minutes later.....
"You guys!"
Reese sat up quickly from her spot on the car seat and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she quickly spotted the nuisance that had interrupted her nap. To her surprise she was still in the park and had fallen asleep, behind her Van was currently laying on his stomach his arms and legs spread apart, snoring softly.
Reese stifled a yawn as she straightened and proceeded to check out her hair in the mirror, well it wasn't too bad a few strand sticking up in the back but other than that her shoulder length blue hair looked great. The person responsible for waking her up ran over to the Jeep, placed their hands on the hood and panted heavily.
"What-did-you-guys-think-you-were-doing!" demanded a certain blonde starlit in between gasps for air of course.
Fiona straightened and placed her hands on her hips and shot the blue haired girl a dirty look. Reese just shrugged in reply and placed her hand over mouth to stifle another yawn.
"You fell asleep?!" Fiona screeched.
The volume of her voice awakened the Liger pilot, for his head snapped up and he muttered something and slumped down on the lush grass once more. He did this several times, before he was truly awake. Van rolled onto his back and yawned loudly as he sat up.
He blinked as he found himself staring into a pair of angry sunset eyes. Van placed his hand behind his head and laughed nervously. "Uh..h-hi, Fiona!"
Fiona glared at him and raised her hand but decided against it, she let out a screech and stomped every step of the way to the Jeep. Just as her finger tips brushed against the smooth handle, she turned around to Van.
"I was so worried that you two had been caught!! I found out afterwards that it was not you, when Rudolph returned and asked me if I was feeling alright! The least you could have done was give me a sign or something to let me know that you guys were okay! Not fall asleep!!"
Van scratched the back of his neck and was incapable of doing anything except laugh nervously like a clown on it's way to execution. While Reese on the other hand stretched her arms overhead, crossed her legs, and roll her eyes.
"We would have been able to inform you but someone placed a mental block on me," she said in a bored tone.
Fiona made a 'hmph' sound and plopped into the backseat. She sighed, it was hopeless to fight with them. The important thing was that they were okay. Just as she opened her mouth to apologize, someone's stomach roared. The two Ancient Zoidians looked over at the source of the sound just in time to see, Van grin and rub his stomach.
"I guess it's lunch time."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Now that I think of it, you never did tell us what Rudolph said."
Fiona glanced up from her cherry soda and pinched the straw with her fingers. The three were in a small neat little café in the heart of the Empire's glorious capital, sitting in the outside area beneath the shade of a small tree. Only a little pointed fence shielded them from the people crossing the sidewalks. Everything had gone smoothly, in her opinion, but then Van had to go and pop the question.
She ran her hand through her blonde hair, let out a sigh, and unwillingly met Van's eyes. She frowned, had he been paying attention like he was supposed to then they wouldn't be in this mess. From the looks of things neither had Reese. Strange, Fiona thought as she stole a glance at the blue haired woman, who was quietly bringing a cup of tea to her lips. Reese usually was on top at things like this. Fiona had always assumed that she enjoyed being one step ahead of the game. But now, it seemed, she was one step behind.
What did Rudolph say? Fiona wondered as she propped her elbows on the table and took a sip of her soda. Her free hand wandered to her blouse and brushed against the device that Reese had created, it was still there. Reese had said that there was a recorder on it, so they could always just replay the conversation. She guessed that Van was just anxious to find out, not that she could blame him.even though it was his own fault for falling asleep on the job. Since when was she this cynical? Fiona was never like this, she was usually so forgiving.
A thought shot through her head; back at the temple she had wondered why Reese was suddenly so nice, and now that she thought of it Reese hadn't snapped at either of them. She was being so sweet and friendly. But it was Fiona, who was doing all of the snapping. It was like they had changed personalities...Fiona nearly choked at the thought.
"Fiona, are you alright?" Van asked quickly.
She coughed but made a motion with her hand that she was fine. Oh. My. God. Fiona patted her chest a little, her mind awhirl. Something that temple made them change..but the question was what? She wondered if Reese was even aware of this....
Stealing another sideways glance at the woman, Fiona finally straightened. Reese was watching her with a concerned frown, her eyes shimmered with something that looked almost foreign to them. Yup, Fiona decided, something had definitely happened.
"Are you sure your feeling well?" Reese asked kindly, her voice filled with worry.
Fiona fought the urge to slap her across the face, and nodded while trying her best not to glare at her.
"I'm fine," she said in a low voice.
Van and Reese exchanged doubtful looks but each said nothing. Fiona frowned while she watched the two of them; they were being a little too chummy. While she had a mounting respect for Raven.. Things were just getting too weird for her liking, way too weird.
A big blue and white bus pulled up at the red light right next to them, the sign on the side read, "The most anticipated event of the year, Fiona Live on August 30th! Also available on Pay per View!" next to it was a picture of Fiona from the shoulder up, her hair was up in a bun except for two strands that were curled around her face with shimmering pink glitter. A soft shade of pink was on her lips, it appeared as though she was wearing a pink top. She was smiling, her head tilted to the side, and only closing one eye.
Fiona gasped as the bus drove away and quickly turned to Van, her palms lying flat against the table. "Do any of you know what day it is!"
Van looked down at his watch. "The thirtieth, why?"
How could she have forgotten her own concert? Her own concert! She had gotten so caught up in the mess with Van that she had forgotten her obligations to everyone else. Her heart ached at the thought of leaving her old friends, but she didn't have much a choice. She was in the process of committing career suicide.
Apparently neither Van nor Reese had seen the ad on the bus. Fiona growled under her breath and looked around for anything that looked remotely like a phone booth. Having finally located one on the next street in front of a bank, Fiona pushed her chair back and walked briskly towards her destination.
Van followed after her and stopped in front of her. "Dude, what's up with you? You've been acting strangely all day."
Fiona narrowed her eyes and attempted to push him out of her way, but he refused to budge. Tried as she might, Fiona couldn't stop herself from acting like a bitch. It was happening so fast, like watching a movie. She was witnessing her own actions and unable to stop them.
"Listen, dude, get out of my way. I haven't got time to play detective with you," Fiona said coldly.
She was just as surprised by the iciness of her tongue as Van was. Van frowned that worried sort of frown that always made her feel bad, and tried again to reason with her.
"Fiona, you're not yourself. Please let me help you," he urged softly.
Meanwhile...
Reese watched Van hold Fiona's hands in his own and say something while she tried to pull away. Why was the blonde suddenly so upset? She closed her eyes and decided to do some detective work of her own. Thankfully, the walls Fiona had built had fallen down so Reese was free to do all of the searching she could dream of. It wasn't hard to find, an image of a bus stop at the corner next them appeared in her mind. On it's side was a picture of Fiona followed by an advertisement for a concert on August 30th. So that was the reason, and that explained what Fiona had been doing for the past couple years since she was no longer with the GF.
A short waiter walked over to the table short of two people and set a piece of paper down in front of her. Curious, Reese picked it up and to her horror it was the bill. She was broke! How did they possibly expect her to pay! The waiter smiled and waited patiently for her.
Reese wondered why he was just standing there and looked over to see that she was the only there. She sighed helplessly and tried to think of a way to cover this one. She smiled sweetly as she broke into his mind, and uttered telepathically, "You forgot to feed your cat. You must go home and feed it. Go home now."
The waiter's eyes were still dull as he monotonously stated, "Cat...must go home and feed cat.." With that he turned a heel and walked away.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"Well look who decided to grace us with her presence," Kay said as Fiona ran through the glass doors to the stadium.
The blonde in questions skidded to a halt and placed her hands on her knees and panted. She had ran all the way here, but thankfully it wasn't more than just a couple blocks from the café. She couldn't have walked because Van was following her, well he said he would after he got Reese. She straightened and ran her hand through her hair to get it out of her face.
"Sorry, Kay," she said quickly. "But I haven't got time to be chided by you. The concert in is less than five hours and I need to get ready."
With that said, Fiona ran in towards the stage. Kay gasped at the outburst from the usually sweet and innocent Fiona, and promptly frowned. Fame had finally gotten to that girl, she decided, it was a damn shame too. Suddenly the doors bursts open again, revealing a man and a woman of about equal height. The man had black spiky hair and Kay recognized him from the ancient temple, his name was Anthony Lee if she was correct. While the woman had blue hair.
"Did a girl about yee high," the man named Anthony turned to her and made a motion with his hand to his chin. "With short blonde hair, ruby eyes, dressed in a white shirt and pink skirt come through here recently?"
Kay was thoughtful, the only person who had come through those doors recently was Fiona and she was dressed in a white shirt.. Oh no, they were looking for Fiona.
The blue haired woman placed her hand on his wrist. "She's in here. I know where she is, Flyheight, just follow me."
He nodded and they took off in the same direction that Fiona had gone only minutes earlier. Kay just blinked and dumbly waved after them.
"Your welcome?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Fiona nervously gazed at her surroundings, what had once seemed like home to her had suddenly become foreboding and unwelcoming. The aura of the place was no longer friendly but had turned threatening. Apart of her wanted more than anything to get away, but she knew she had to stay. Even if there was something terribly wrong with her. Various band members and technical people were sitting on the stage, conversing idly with one another. And Fiona felt her heart sink, she had gone after the life she had once led and in the process was destroying the one she had worked so hard to obtain. She hadn't even considered that other's peoples dreams were one the line here, not just her own. And in her selfish pursuit she was ruining theirs as well.
The personal didn't even bother looking up at her, just continued their moaning.
"Man, where could that woman be? I mean honestly, everyone who's anyone is going to be here. This has been called the most anticipated event of the year! Who could be stupid enough to leave when their so ahead of the game?" said one person.
Fiona felt the urge to snarl, 'for your information, I was dealing with my past! Am I not allowed a life or something?!' but amused herself by glaring at them instead. She hopped on the stage and ignored the shouts at her to get down. She walked calmly backstage where she knocked into Evan, her base player.
He looked surprised to see her. "Fiona? Is that you?"
Fiona just nodded and felt suddenly small as she looked up at him. It seemed like everyone had gotten a major growth spur and became taller than her. Her lips just couldn't form in a smile the position hurt, while in a scowl they felt more at home. She briefly wondered if that was how Reese felt on a daily basis.
"Er..yes it is. Evan, are you mad at me too?"
Evan blinked and scratched the back of his head, his aqua eyes shimmering with confusion. "Why would I be mad at you?"
Fiona looked down at her feet and returned her gaze to his eyes. "Everyone is," she said bitterly.
"Naw, I'm sure no one is truly mad at you. Probably just annoyed at the show's cancellation."
She gasped. "The show's been canceled?"
"Yeah, when you turned up missing the show had to be canceled. Well actually, it ain't truly canceled. Just until your back and in tip top form. And from the looks of things that could take some time."
"Don't be stupid, we can't reschedule! That's madness!"
"Well if someone hadn't pulled a disappearing act, none of this would have ever have happened."
Fiona frowned when she knew he was right, this was all her fault. She growled in disgust and turned away, folding her arms across her chest. If she hadn't gone after Van, then the concert would still be underway. Perhaps there was a way she could still keep the concert..
"Evan, please answer me this. Has everyone rehearsed?"
Evan shot her a strange look but nodded. She smirked at the brilliance of the plan forming in her head.
"Then there still might be a chance..." she muttered, before looking back up at him. "Could you please gather everyone and tell them to meet me at center stage in the next ten minutes?"
"Uh..yeah sure." with that he turned and dashed off.
Fiona rubbed her hands together and walked to the dressing room. The walls were hinted pink and smelled fresh of roses, there was a vanity mirror with lights on the sides of it and hundreds of makeup and what not. There were several racks of clothes spread out on various sides. Fiona stood in front the mirror and criticized her appearance; her hair was windblown due to all the running, she had no makeup on and had the beginnings of under eye circles. Her blouse was no longer neat and perfect but crumpled, and her skirt had torn while she was running. So now she had two huge slits that went to the middle of her thighs.
She noticed her cell phone laying on the vanity..but how did that get there? The last place she had it was when she was the battle, she had assumed it was lost or something. But apparently it wasn't. She picked it up and checked out any messages, two were from Kay, one from Mortisha, and the other from Moon. Blinking, she played the message.
"Fiona! It's Moonbay," there sound of someone talking in the background and Fiona heard Moonbay let out a sigh. "Fine, Moonbay AND Irvine. Where are you? Look, we've tried looking for you and Van everywhere! But obviously we haven't found you, if you get this message call us at the base or at the callback number. K?"
Fiona let out a small sigh, thank goodness those two were safe. Now all they had to worry about finding now was Raven. She frowned a little and quickly pressed on the call back number. Some one picked up at the first ring.
"Yeah?"
The voice didn't sound familiar and Fiona felt a ping of annoyance. "Is uh, Moonbay or Irvine there?"
"FIONA! THANK THE GODS YOUR OKAY!!"
Fiona had to hold the phone an arms length from her ear and it still was loud. Well that was Moonbay for ya. Once she was sure it was safe, Fiona brought the phone back to her ear.
"Moonbay, it is I who should be saying that. Van and I were so worried about you two! Where were you?" she asked.
"At the base. I was at the base at least; I woke up and found myself back in my bedroom. Weird, ne?"
"I'll say."
"What about you?" Moonbay asked anxiously. Fiona could tell she was eager to speak with Van, unfortunately he wasn't here.
"I was at the temple..where Van found Zeke and myself...with Reese.."
"With WHAT?!"
Fiona winced as she held out the phone again. Her ears buzzed as she slowly returned the phone back to it's place by her ear.
"Moonbay, please calm down. With Reese, but don't worry she's on our side now," Fiona added quickly.
"That's what you said last time, and then she and Raven attacked us!"
"Yes, but your forgetting that Raven was piloting the zoid. He couldn't have cared less about what she had to say. Besides that was then and this is now, Reese gave me her word and I believe her."
Moonbay groaned. "Oh Fiona, your too trusting for your own good. Well at least you and Van are okay..I guess. So where are you now?"
"Guigolos," Fiona replied.
"The capital? But I thought you said that you were in that temple...by Van's hometown in the Republic.."
"I was, Van and Reese made me come here to speak with the Emperor. Listen, I have a major concert tonight and I simply must get ready. That is, if they'll let me continue with the show. Please, I need your help."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Tag! Your it!"
The sound of childish laughter filled the air followed by a cry of, "Now your it!" All was peaceful in the little of town called the Wind Colony. The children were allowed to romp and play to their heart's content without the fear of playtime being cut short by annoyed adults.
Jade plopped down on the lush grass and stared up at the blue sky. Her playmate, a ten year old boy by the name of Timmy, fell down next to her. He rolled on his side and blew some pesky brown bangs from his face.
"That was fun," he said smiling. "None of the other kids here are that fun."
Jade grinned and flashed him a peace sign. "Well that's why you got me."
Timmy laid down on the bed of grass too, and the two of them stayed in a comfortable silence. It had been minutes since either of them had spoke. Timmy was the first to break the silence.
"So.how long are you gonna stay here?"
"Dunno. Just until my uncle tells me it's time to go home," she replied with a shrug.
"Oh. Well let's hope that doesn't happen soon."
"I'll say!"
A growl sounded from behind them, Timmy jumped up on his feet while Jade just rolled on her stomach to face the source. Emerging from the shadow of a house, was what appeared to be...
"Ambient!" Jade cried and leapt on her feet and raced to it.
Ambient growled again, but this time it sounded weaker than before. Various wires were sticking out of his legs and hissing like snakes. His red coat was no longer shimmering and smooth, now it was dull and cracked in several places. But it was his face that freaked Jade out the most, one of his green eyes was dark while the other one was bright like it was supposed to be.
"Oh my gosh! What happened?!"
Jade tried to steady the organiod but it was obvious that it didn't have the strength to continue. The organiod let out a small whimper before it fell to the ground.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Author's Note: hey hey! So there you have it, there's chapter nine! Wohoo! I'm finally done! Sorry it took me so long, school just started and I just got a new computer. But I'm not here to make excuses! I hope you all liked it. Tell me what you think okay? R and R!
PEACE!
~$hAdOwCaT*~