Author's Note: hey it's me again. Sorry it's taken me so long to update,
something truly depressing has arisen thus delaying my train of thought.
Forgive me. Y'know, I was thinking.I should update more often. And that is
what I will attempt to do, notice the word 'attempt'. Lol.. Any suggestions
for something that could happen? You're all free to tell me ^^. I love to
hear from ya'll.
Without further a do here's chapter ten, the big one o. boo yeah...
"Omigosh, Ambient! Are you okay, buddy?? Please just hang on!"
Jade threw a quick glance over her shoulder at her playmate before dashing off towards her destination, Maria's house. If anyone knew how to fix something, it had to be Maria, and if all else fails she could always get Van. He would know what to do. But the question was, who or what would attack Ambient? What did he ever do to anybody? Really.
She wasn't paying any attention to her surroundings during her sprint, her thoughts completely taking over her. When suddenly she ran smack into something really big, she fell backwards and looked up to see a tall man with messy sandy hair and bright green eyes dressed in a military uniform of some kind. He frowned at her and put his hands on his hips.
"You should be more careful, kid," he said in a harsh tone that reminded Jade strangely of her father.
But the little girl was not in the mood for this. Jade growled and got onto her feet, her hands balled into fists.
"Yo! I should be more careful?!" Jade suddenly thought of something that made her unclench her fists and put on her sweetest most innocent face. "Yo, mister..."
The man blinked and watched the girl curiously, why did that little girl seem so familiar to him? He was almost positive he had never seen her in his life but yet that nagging voice in the back of his head kept telling him otherwise. He checked his watch that had several other customized features that he had created himself, such as locater, map of local areas, and com link capabilities. At the rate things were going to it would take him longer to reach his destination then he had originally estimated. It had been a long flight from the Empire to the Republic, even in a zoid. His mission was to find that illusive Van Flyheight, for he had traced the com link signal to one of the houses in this small village.
Jade sniffled and amused herself by staring at her feet, her lower lip trembling. She folded her hands behind her back and continued to cross and uncross her feet.
The blonde sighed and placed his hands on his knees so they were eyelevel. "Can I help you with something, little girl?"
Her eyes flashed up at his and she shook her head, looking totally miserable. Her lower lip quivered as she spoke, "M-my uncle t-told me never to talk to strangers..."
He sighed again. "Well if I introduce myself would that still make me a stranger?" he felt so bad for the little runt, needless to say he was a sucker for the puppy dog look. And this girl was simply reeking pathetic lost puppy.
Jade shyly shrugged her shoulders while avoiding his eyes.
"My name is Major Thomas Shubaltz. And what's your name, sweetie?"
"J-jade..."
"Great! So now we're not strangers," Thomas said brightly, smiling. "So will you tell what's wrong?"
Big watery hazel eyes met his. "Oh mister! It's horrible! My friend is hurt and I-I don't know who can help him! My uncle is not here right now so he can't help me! But I can't let my friend die, I can't I just can't. Someone attacked him! Please you have to help him, mister!"
Thomas felt his heart break into a bunch of tiny unrecognizable pieces as tears starting streaming down the girl's face. Her lower lip trembled and she whimpered softly.
"Ok, ok. I'll try to help you..no guarantees though, alright so where's your friend?"
Jade suddenly brightened her eyes no longer where big and bright, and cheered. But instead of replying, she grabbed his hand and led him towards the field.
"This way!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~
There were so many people..did it really take THAT many people to set up a concert? She wondered as she approached the crowd that was anxiously awaiting her arrival to hear what she had to say. She noticed a couple of the band members were missing, perhaps they had gone out for food or something. But then something caught her eye; standing in dark corner below the stage were two figures.
Taking a deep breath and standing tall, Fiona marched into towards everyone. A wave of murmurs swept through the crowd like a tidal wave. Fiona cleared her throat and waved her hands in front of her to get everyone's attention.
"May I have silence, please?" she asked in a strong voice that was completely opposite to what she was feeling.
Her heart rammed against her chest while on the outside she appeared calm and at ease. Silence consumed the stadium for the first time seemingly in months. One could hear a pin drop, it was that silent. All eyes fell upon the small blonde.
"As you all may or may not have heard, the concert has been cancelled..at least for the time being. And I know it was because of me, although I can't inform you all of the specifics, I was having a bit of a crisis. But I'm better now."
//Liar!// screamed her mind, but Fiona ignored it. //Dirty, rotten liar...//
"So..I purpose that, perhaps if it's alright with you all, that the concert be back on schedule. I presume that you've all rehearsed?" several people nodded their heads while others rolled their eyes. "So would it be okay if we do some last minute rehearsals today and schedule the concert so it is tomorrow night? If this seems like a rush just say so and we'll just have to try again some other time."
Fiona gulped as she waited for some one to speak up, the silence seemed to have a life of it's own. She was sure if no one spoke soon, she would die of a heart attack. Her heart rate kept getting higher and higher.
Finally after what felt like an eternity, Kay walked to the front of the crowd with her hand on her hip. She stole a quick glance over her shoulder, receiving nods of encouragement, and smirked.
"Game."
~*~*~*~*~
"This...this doesn't feel right.." Van said softly.
"Will you shut it? This is the only way we can avoid being caught. In case you haven't noticed, Fiona's pretty mad at us," Reese hissed back in a high whisper.
There they were, seeking refuge in a dark inside of the Renaissance Stadium. Thankfully there wasn't much light, for most of it was scattered across the large stage. Van had his arms folded across his chest, while Reese had her hands in her pockets. They leaned against each other, partially because they didn't wish to be seen but also in a weird messed up sort of way, they found comfort in each other's presence.
Van stole a quick glance at the woman next to him. There was something different about her, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. She reminded him so much of a person he knew, but the question was, who? He was snapped out of his musings by the unfamiliar sensation of the heat burning in his cheeks. He shook his head several times until the burning stopped.
//Snap out of it! Think of Fiona! Fiona!// his mind screamed in protest.
"I'm sorry.." He muttered.
Reese tossed him a strange look, what was he talking about? She wondered as she searched his face for any explanation. Finding none, Reese stuttered, "Er..uh, yeah.It's okay, I think..."
Van smiled at her and to her surprise her lips curved upwards as well. Suddenly, images began flashing before her very eyes. Her lungs suddenly felt like an invisible hand had just grabbed him and squeezed them tight. She gasped and clasped her aching head. She tightly shut her eyes but the images refused to quit. She couldn't make any sense of them; it was like watching a movie in fast forward mode and then was clicked back into rewind, then back to fast forward again. But one thing stood out, a dark organiod.
The pain increased, her eyes burned and breathing was becoming a laboring task.
"Reese?" Van asked, panic evident in his tone.
He caught her just before she collapsed. He called out her name and tried shaking her but got no response from the blue haired ancient zoidian. This reminded him of all the times Fiona had passed out before she had obtained her memory, and it was becoming a little too déjà vu for his liking. Van looked around him in case anyone saw him, and not surprisingly no one was looking at them.
He bit his lip, what was he supposed to do? Reese's breathing was very shallow. He had a bad feeling about all of this. To his horror, Van noticed that all was silent; Fiona's voice was no longer in the air. He looked up at the stage to see the blonde staring at him wide-eyed just before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell backwards onto the ground.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"So? Can you help him?" Jade asked anxiously.
Thomas slowly removed his portable BEAK scanner from the battered organiod and returned it back to his pouch. He couldn't believe he was actually helping Hiltz's old zoid, even if it did belong to that little girl now. It wasn't right, almost as if Hiltz was making a mockery out of him. He had come here on a mission, not to play doctor to a beat up organiod. But the little girl's big watery eyes touched his heart and made him mentally scold himself for being such an ass. Needless to say, First Major Thomas Richard Shubaltz was one hell of a sucker for puppy dog eyes.
The scanners had shown that the damage was extensive but not completely unfixable. It would take some equipment that he didn't have to repair the zoid, but if he didn't act fast it probably wouldn't pull through. He would have to put his search on hold for the moment.
With a small sigh, Thomas turned to go back to his zoid to get some parts. Suddenly the little girl jumped in front of him.
"GAH! Where are you going? What about Ambient?! I thought you were going to make him better!" she cried in disbelief.
Real tears began to form and threatened to fall as Jade fought to keep herself in check, she couldn't afford to get all emotional in front of anyone except Van. It would destroy her sense of pride. But how could he just walk away and act like he wasn't involved? Jade's heart felt like it was being pulled towards her stomach. Not today, her mind told her not to cry, but she was powerless to stop those pesky tears that slid down her cheeks. That man was the one thing that could save Ambient and he was turning his back on them. She couldn't believe it, of all the rotten.
Thomas frowned in confusion as her shoulders hunched forward and her chest gave a sob. He suddenly understood why she was so upset. He knelt down so they were eyelevel.
"Don't worry, I'm only going to my zoid to get some supplies that will hold your organiod down until I can take it to a base. Okay?"
Jade sniffled and wiped her nose with her sleeve. "Are you sure?"
Thomas smiled and nodded. "Of course, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't do everything in my power to help..what did you say his name was, Ambient?"
Jade nodded and took in several deep breaths, trying to stop the breaking of her heart. She suddenly felt tired and a little nervous, but at the same time a bit excited too. Soon excitement overtook everything else she was feeling. Just as she opened her mouth to say thanks to Thomas, she noticed he was gone. Blinking, she found his retreating figure disappear behind a couple houses.
Filled with renewed strength, Jade held her head up high and walked over to where her organiod was. Her playmate, Timmy, was crouching next to Ambient and gingerly touching its muzzle. She bit her lip at the sight of poor Ambient, while a flame burned brightly in her eyes. Whoever did that Ambient was going to pay, big time.
~*~*~*~
"Please, it is of utmost importance that I get in contact with the old man. I have a heavily damaged zoid on my hands to put it lightly, solider."
"But sir, if that were the case then why do you require the old man's assistance when the repair crew can easily fix the zoid by themselves."
Thomas let out an aggravated sigh; good help was so hard to find. He was sitting in his Dibison's cockpit, trying to get a hold of that allusive Doctor D, the planet's reining expert on organiods. If anyone knew how to fix an organiod it was him. But as usual, the old geezer had waltzed off without a trace, leaving confused soldiers and personal in his wake.
This routine was getting old fast, the solider still refused to give the Major any information and interrogated him instead. It was as if he doubted Thomas's position, the fool.
"I have my reasons, private," Thomas growled, placing emphasis on the word 'private'. "Now tell me where Doctor D is before I'm forced to take action."
The solider gulped at his icy tone and reluctantly gave up the information. He sighed in defeat. "You win, sir, the good doctor told me that he was going some place called the Wind Colony for personal reasons."
Thomas swore under his breath and slammed down the receiver without so much as a thanks to the solider, but he didn't care. That old geezer was here and didn't even bother to alert him of his presence or anything. With a weary sigh, Thomas remembered he forgot to ask when Dr. D had left. Damn. He gazed out of the canopy in the faint hopes that the old guy would come bouncing up, but he never did.
Time was of the essence that was for sure. And he couldn't be wasting it daydreaming of all the possible reasons where the good doctor was. With a final sigh, Thomas hopped out of the zoid. But one thing kept obscuring his thoughts, who would take the organiod? The one containment center that had healed Zeke after that incident three years ago was all the way in the Empire, hundreds of miles from his current location. It would take forever to get there and that was precious time they didn't have. A couple days at the least, even the fastest storm sworder wasn't equipped to handle those kinds of missions, on either side of the border.
Without wasting another minute, Thomas jogged back towards the village. He had placed his Dibison on the outskirts of town just in case it made the locals a wee bit nervous. Everything was just the way he left it with the exception of...
"Old man?!" Thomas cried incredulously.
Looming over the fallen organiod was none other than Doctor D himself, he didn't even acknowledge Thomas's presence and just continued to examine the organiod. He had never seen anything like this, with the exception of Zeke all those years ago, but still it was almost as bad as Zeke. It looked as though it was attacked by another zoid, or perhaps organiods. Shadow and Specula were still on the loose as far as he knew, even though he was pretty sure Reese had switched sides.
Jade decided now was the time to but in. "So uh, grandpa, Ambient's gonna be fine, right?"
Tired ancient eyes met hers momentarily. "I'll be honest with you; I've never seen anything quite like this before. I know of a place that can heal Ambient, but first things first. Where's Van?"
Thomas gasped, why was Doctor D asking her where Van was? Did she know him or something?
Jade frowned thoughtfully. "I think he went to New Helic City with Reese and Fiona to talk to army peoples," she shrugged. "Well, that's at least what he told me."
"Miss Fiona?" Thomas cried yet again, but by now everyone had ignored him. "And Reese?!"
Doctor D nodded and returned his attention back to the matter at hand. "Alright, now we need to find a way to lift Ambient. I'm far too old and you are too young, Van would kill me if anything happened to you. So that leaves..."
All eyes fell upon a certain blonde haired First Major. Thomas blinked his brilliant green eyes as it slowly dawned on him what they wanted. Just as he opened his mouth to protest, the little girl's lower lip trembled.
"Oh alright," he said with a defeated sigh.
Twenty minutes later...
Jade plastered her face against the glass and watched her precious Ambient with worried eyes. The organiod was in a tube similar to the one that it had come out of only days earlier, only now it looked even more pathetic with various wires sticking out of it and a muzzle placed on its face, a bluish liquid filling up the tube.
"Are you sure he won't drown in there?" asked the little girl nervously.
Doctor D smiled and shook his head, long locks of white hair shifting around his shoulders. It was simply breathtaking the similarities between her and Van, there was no other way to describe it other than breathtaking. Their devotion to their organiods and loved ones was unwavering. Hell, they even looked alike! She could have passed for his daughter, if it weren't for her big expressive hazel eyes.
"Don't worry about it, this is based on a technique used by the Ancient Zoidians hundreds of years ago that I have modernized just for situations like this," Doctor D replied.
Jade cocked her head to one side and blinked. "You mean to save Ambient?"
"Uh, yeah. Not only Ambient but other organiods as well."
"Oh ok." She went back to staring at Ambient through the glass. She frowned thoughtfully, it seemed that whenever Jade was really really happy something bad happened to shake her up. First Van getting his memories back (although she wasn't sure if that counted as a good thing or a bad thing) and now this thing with Ambient. Guess this made her life a lot more interesting. She suddenly thought of something that sent her whirling around to face the two men.
Thomas frowned as he noticed Jade was staring at him. Well maybe not staring at him, it was like she could she right through him. The old man was in the process of filling him in on everything that had happened and made a point by saying that Jade knew more than he did.
"What is it?" Thomas asked, not even making an effort to keep the annoyance out of his voice.
Doctor D shot him a disapproving glare, while Jade said nothing and continued to gaze upon something only she could see.
Her head snapped up and she met each other their eyes in turn. "Where's Van?" she asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" questioned Doctor D, concern mixed with curiousity written on his time worn features.
"My uncle, Van! Where is he? I gotta talk to him!"
"Van's your uncle?" Thomas cried incredulously.
Doctor D glared at him once more, but other than that he ignored the Major.
Jade was getting bored of this routine fast; she impatiently placed her hands on her hips and scowled. She couldn't keep still for some reason, her body had to stay in motion whether it was drumming her fingertips on her thighs and tapping her feet on the ground, she could not stay put. She had to find Van; he was the only one who could help her now. But darn! Where on Zi was he?
Doctor D checked the scanners on Ambient's chamber and found (not that he was surprised) that everything was a okay. He then walked over to the computer on the opposite side of the small room and typed something on the keyboard. A loud 'beep' sounded. He looked over at Jade and Thomas who were watching him with bewildered looks on their faces.
"Come," at their blank looks, he continued. "You said you wanted to find Van, didn't you? Well let's go to the command center and get a hold of him."
Jade brightened and nodded excitedly, with a final look at Ambient, Jade placed her index finger and her middle finger to her forehead and quickly brought them down in the form of a salute. She raced over to the old man and followed him out of the organiod containment room and through various halls in the Hall Base located a good couple miles away from the humble Wind Colony.
"Well I see how it is, just ignore Thomas. See if he cares, let's just leave Thomas behind, it's just good ole' Thomas right? Who'll give a damn, right? Let's just leave poor Thomas in the dust without any clue whatsoever about what's going on and act like he's not there. Yeah, that sounds like fun!"
Grumbling to himself, Thomas stalked out of the room and made his way to the command center. Several minutes later he rejoined the others in the advanced room, filled with dozens of computers and two large monitors strategically placed on the wall. There were some command personal sitting in front of a couple of the computers, but other than that the room was fairly empty. Doctor D curtly told some random solider to get off the computer and as soon as the guy had gone, he took his place. Gnarled age worn fingers fluttered across the keyboard faster than the eye could blink, leaving some to speculate whether or not the old man had really gone senile or was just pretending like it just to get some laughs.
"Do you remember if he took the Blade Liger with him?" Doctor D directed his question to the little girl.
Jade titled her head thoughtfully and racked her memory, she tried to think of Maria's house and whether or not there was a huge Blade Liger standing behind it. But the image didn't come to mind, leaving her to think that it hadn't been there to begin with. She voiced that she had not seen the Blade Liger all morning, since Van and the girls had left around dawn.
The sound of more furious typing floated in the air. Doctor D stretched out his palms and cracked his fingers before returning them to the keyboard and typing some more.
"Alright," he stopped his typing and turned to face Jade. "Wherever they were going it would take them a while to get there by foot or by any other means of transportation. The fastest possible way would be by zoid and the Blade Liger has incredible speed on its side so it was a natural choice. Now I doubt Van would be foolish enough to even consider taking the Liger inside of the city, so he must have hid it somewhere. If we can locate the Blade Liger then we should be able to at least to get a good idea of where Van is. That shouldn't be that tough, all I gotta do is just type in it's information.."
More furious typing occurred followed by a shrill beep. "And bingo! We've got a hit." On both monitors were a map of the Gylos Empire with a big dot in north that read, 'Gygiglos' and almost right beside it was a small blinking dot, the words beneath it were, 'Blade Liger'.
"Gygiglos?" Thomas and Doctor D said in unison.
"I thought you said he went to New Helic City!" exclaimed Thomas.
"That's what he told me," came the stiff reply. Jade continued to stare at the screen as if it could tell her all the reasons she had been lied to. She knew that she had nothing to be mad about, but she couldn't help but feel betrayed. That was supposed to be her with him in the capital, not stuck in some military base didn't even have any zoids. Then again, Ambient needed her now more than ever in their short time of knowing each other. She wished that that little voice in the back of her head and the aching in her chest would cease, but neither did.
A smirk fell upon her lips; it looked like she was going on a road trip. She stole quick glances at the door and back at the older men. Jade licked her suddenly dry lips and put her hands in her pocket, while trying to hide the smirk that kept clawing at her lips.
"Well, uh, I think Ambient needs me," with that she dashed out of the room.
But she didn't turn right towards the organiod containment center; she kept running straight into the zoid hangars that they had arrived in hours earlier. Minutes later she walked into the large hangar, sparsely filled with zoids here and there. There weren't that many zoids or many that were still intact. On her right was a black dark horn, two spaces beside it was a Dibison (probably Thomas's). Followed by several once sparkling white Shield Ligers, but were now gray from dust.
"There isn't much of a selection, is there?" Jade said to no one in particular.
Talk about good luck! Stowed away in a dark corner was a dusty silver Jade sized Hel Cat. It wasn't much, but hey she wasn't complaining. Jade hopped into the cockpit and made another salute as the canopy shut.
"Good luck, Ambient."
~*~*~*~*~
All was dark as he came to, the only sound was of water dripping from various cracks in the ceiling and falling on the floor. Judging from the droplets he deduced that there must hve been a storm outside these mysterious walls. His mind felt like someone wrapped a terry cloth towel around his brain and tied it on real tight so that it fit snugly. Thus making thought a difficult process indeed.
His nose began to cause him discomfort so he moved his hand to scratch it. Or, he would have had he been able to move it. With his dim thought network that was steadily growing stronger with each moment that passed, he looked up and found that his hands were chained to the wall above his head. Blinking, he pulled them to his chest and with a shriek the chain easily gave way.
His hands felt cold, or they would have if he had anything feeling in them. He sore under his breath as he painfully massaged the circulation back into his hands. Sore fingertips came across a familiar marking on his palm, only now it had scabbed up as if it had been bleeding earlier. The scar was a sore reminder o his defeat, how he had screwed up everything, and nearly ended his life. Given to him by everyone's favorite hero, Mr. Perfect and well loved.
"You should take him off his high horse," said a female voice from somewhere in the inky depths.
Lavender eyes quickly scanned the dark for any sign of life, they darted to and fro while his breath caught in his chest. And tried as he might he couldn't exhale or even inhale. It was though the air was stuck inside of him.
"Fear not, Raven," said the voice almost teasingly. "I did not come to harm you."
Raven instantly scowled at being implied that he had been afraid. He racked his memory for if he knew that voice. His first that was that it was the Ancient Zoidian Reese, it couldn't have been her because she would have been by his side, freed him from this prison and already massaged his hands before he even came to. She was afterall ridiculously loyal like that. Second, the voice wasn't deep and husky like hers, it sounded more girly and high pitched.
Just as the maverick opened his mouth to question the stranger, a flash of light blinded his senses and he immediately pressed his hands over his eyes. A soft gloved hand brushed against his cheek and caressed the marking on his face. Curiousity was being to drive him mad, he had to know who was touching him. He opened one eye found himself staring into darkness, a dark hooded figure stood before him. The figure pushed the hood back revealing what appeared to be blue hair neatly cropped around the soft porclein face, and bright green eyes shone brightly in the dim light.
"Reese?" Raven breathed.
Reese smiled and said nothing. Her fingers traveled down to his adam's apple then her index finger made it's way up to his chin and rubbed against his lips. Raven looked at her strangely, trying to decipher her actions but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to move.
"Reese," he said softly. "What happened? Do you know where we are?"
She giggled and brought her hand before his eyes thus confusing him even more. She slowly removed the glove and it fell to the ground soundlessly. She pressed her hand against his cheek and the moment she did so Raven felt hundreds of shocks travel through his body before the world turned black.
~*~*~*~
Author's Note: Hey everyone! There's chapter ten! Sorry it's so short, but I've already started on eleven and man, have I got some great ideas! I've finally gotten back into the groove yay! Questions? Comments? Just review and tell me! I'd be glad to hear what you have to say. ^^ so now Review, hehe. I'm gonna try to get Eleven up as soon as possible, ok?
Later days
~$hAdOwCaT*~
Without further a do here's chapter ten, the big one o. boo yeah...
"Omigosh, Ambient! Are you okay, buddy?? Please just hang on!"
Jade threw a quick glance over her shoulder at her playmate before dashing off towards her destination, Maria's house. If anyone knew how to fix something, it had to be Maria, and if all else fails she could always get Van. He would know what to do. But the question was, who or what would attack Ambient? What did he ever do to anybody? Really.
She wasn't paying any attention to her surroundings during her sprint, her thoughts completely taking over her. When suddenly she ran smack into something really big, she fell backwards and looked up to see a tall man with messy sandy hair and bright green eyes dressed in a military uniform of some kind. He frowned at her and put his hands on his hips.
"You should be more careful, kid," he said in a harsh tone that reminded Jade strangely of her father.
But the little girl was not in the mood for this. Jade growled and got onto her feet, her hands balled into fists.
"Yo! I should be more careful?!" Jade suddenly thought of something that made her unclench her fists and put on her sweetest most innocent face. "Yo, mister..."
The man blinked and watched the girl curiously, why did that little girl seem so familiar to him? He was almost positive he had never seen her in his life but yet that nagging voice in the back of his head kept telling him otherwise. He checked his watch that had several other customized features that he had created himself, such as locater, map of local areas, and com link capabilities. At the rate things were going to it would take him longer to reach his destination then he had originally estimated. It had been a long flight from the Empire to the Republic, even in a zoid. His mission was to find that illusive Van Flyheight, for he had traced the com link signal to one of the houses in this small village.
Jade sniffled and amused herself by staring at her feet, her lower lip trembling. She folded her hands behind her back and continued to cross and uncross her feet.
The blonde sighed and placed his hands on his knees so they were eyelevel. "Can I help you with something, little girl?"
Her eyes flashed up at his and she shook her head, looking totally miserable. Her lower lip quivered as she spoke, "M-my uncle t-told me never to talk to strangers..."
He sighed again. "Well if I introduce myself would that still make me a stranger?" he felt so bad for the little runt, needless to say he was a sucker for the puppy dog look. And this girl was simply reeking pathetic lost puppy.
Jade shyly shrugged her shoulders while avoiding his eyes.
"My name is Major Thomas Shubaltz. And what's your name, sweetie?"
"J-jade..."
"Great! So now we're not strangers," Thomas said brightly, smiling. "So will you tell what's wrong?"
Big watery hazel eyes met his. "Oh mister! It's horrible! My friend is hurt and I-I don't know who can help him! My uncle is not here right now so he can't help me! But I can't let my friend die, I can't I just can't. Someone attacked him! Please you have to help him, mister!"
Thomas felt his heart break into a bunch of tiny unrecognizable pieces as tears starting streaming down the girl's face. Her lower lip trembled and she whimpered softly.
"Ok, ok. I'll try to help you..no guarantees though, alright so where's your friend?"
Jade suddenly brightened her eyes no longer where big and bright, and cheered. But instead of replying, she grabbed his hand and led him towards the field.
"This way!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~
There were so many people..did it really take THAT many people to set up a concert? She wondered as she approached the crowd that was anxiously awaiting her arrival to hear what she had to say. She noticed a couple of the band members were missing, perhaps they had gone out for food or something. But then something caught her eye; standing in dark corner below the stage were two figures.
Taking a deep breath and standing tall, Fiona marched into towards everyone. A wave of murmurs swept through the crowd like a tidal wave. Fiona cleared her throat and waved her hands in front of her to get everyone's attention.
"May I have silence, please?" she asked in a strong voice that was completely opposite to what she was feeling.
Her heart rammed against her chest while on the outside she appeared calm and at ease. Silence consumed the stadium for the first time seemingly in months. One could hear a pin drop, it was that silent. All eyes fell upon the small blonde.
"As you all may or may not have heard, the concert has been cancelled..at least for the time being. And I know it was because of me, although I can't inform you all of the specifics, I was having a bit of a crisis. But I'm better now."
//Liar!// screamed her mind, but Fiona ignored it. //Dirty, rotten liar...//
"So..I purpose that, perhaps if it's alright with you all, that the concert be back on schedule. I presume that you've all rehearsed?" several people nodded their heads while others rolled their eyes. "So would it be okay if we do some last minute rehearsals today and schedule the concert so it is tomorrow night? If this seems like a rush just say so and we'll just have to try again some other time."
Fiona gulped as she waited for some one to speak up, the silence seemed to have a life of it's own. She was sure if no one spoke soon, she would die of a heart attack. Her heart rate kept getting higher and higher.
Finally after what felt like an eternity, Kay walked to the front of the crowd with her hand on her hip. She stole a quick glance over her shoulder, receiving nods of encouragement, and smirked.
"Game."
~*~*~*~*~
"This...this doesn't feel right.." Van said softly.
"Will you shut it? This is the only way we can avoid being caught. In case you haven't noticed, Fiona's pretty mad at us," Reese hissed back in a high whisper.
There they were, seeking refuge in a dark inside of the Renaissance Stadium. Thankfully there wasn't much light, for most of it was scattered across the large stage. Van had his arms folded across his chest, while Reese had her hands in her pockets. They leaned against each other, partially because they didn't wish to be seen but also in a weird messed up sort of way, they found comfort in each other's presence.
Van stole a quick glance at the woman next to him. There was something different about her, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. She reminded him so much of a person he knew, but the question was, who? He was snapped out of his musings by the unfamiliar sensation of the heat burning in his cheeks. He shook his head several times until the burning stopped.
//Snap out of it! Think of Fiona! Fiona!// his mind screamed in protest.
"I'm sorry.." He muttered.
Reese tossed him a strange look, what was he talking about? She wondered as she searched his face for any explanation. Finding none, Reese stuttered, "Er..uh, yeah.It's okay, I think..."
Van smiled at her and to her surprise her lips curved upwards as well. Suddenly, images began flashing before her very eyes. Her lungs suddenly felt like an invisible hand had just grabbed him and squeezed them tight. She gasped and clasped her aching head. She tightly shut her eyes but the images refused to quit. She couldn't make any sense of them; it was like watching a movie in fast forward mode and then was clicked back into rewind, then back to fast forward again. But one thing stood out, a dark organiod.
The pain increased, her eyes burned and breathing was becoming a laboring task.
"Reese?" Van asked, panic evident in his tone.
He caught her just before she collapsed. He called out her name and tried shaking her but got no response from the blue haired ancient zoidian. This reminded him of all the times Fiona had passed out before she had obtained her memory, and it was becoming a little too déjà vu for his liking. Van looked around him in case anyone saw him, and not surprisingly no one was looking at them.
He bit his lip, what was he supposed to do? Reese's breathing was very shallow. He had a bad feeling about all of this. To his horror, Van noticed that all was silent; Fiona's voice was no longer in the air. He looked up at the stage to see the blonde staring at him wide-eyed just before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell backwards onto the ground.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"So? Can you help him?" Jade asked anxiously.
Thomas slowly removed his portable BEAK scanner from the battered organiod and returned it back to his pouch. He couldn't believe he was actually helping Hiltz's old zoid, even if it did belong to that little girl now. It wasn't right, almost as if Hiltz was making a mockery out of him. He had come here on a mission, not to play doctor to a beat up organiod. But the little girl's big watery eyes touched his heart and made him mentally scold himself for being such an ass. Needless to say, First Major Thomas Richard Shubaltz was one hell of a sucker for puppy dog eyes.
The scanners had shown that the damage was extensive but not completely unfixable. It would take some equipment that he didn't have to repair the zoid, but if he didn't act fast it probably wouldn't pull through. He would have to put his search on hold for the moment.
With a small sigh, Thomas turned to go back to his zoid to get some parts. Suddenly the little girl jumped in front of him.
"GAH! Where are you going? What about Ambient?! I thought you were going to make him better!" she cried in disbelief.
Real tears began to form and threatened to fall as Jade fought to keep herself in check, she couldn't afford to get all emotional in front of anyone except Van. It would destroy her sense of pride. But how could he just walk away and act like he wasn't involved? Jade's heart felt like it was being pulled towards her stomach. Not today, her mind told her not to cry, but she was powerless to stop those pesky tears that slid down her cheeks. That man was the one thing that could save Ambient and he was turning his back on them. She couldn't believe it, of all the rotten.
Thomas frowned in confusion as her shoulders hunched forward and her chest gave a sob. He suddenly understood why she was so upset. He knelt down so they were eyelevel.
"Don't worry, I'm only going to my zoid to get some supplies that will hold your organiod down until I can take it to a base. Okay?"
Jade sniffled and wiped her nose with her sleeve. "Are you sure?"
Thomas smiled and nodded. "Of course, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't do everything in my power to help..what did you say his name was, Ambient?"
Jade nodded and took in several deep breaths, trying to stop the breaking of her heart. She suddenly felt tired and a little nervous, but at the same time a bit excited too. Soon excitement overtook everything else she was feeling. Just as she opened her mouth to say thanks to Thomas, she noticed he was gone. Blinking, she found his retreating figure disappear behind a couple houses.
Filled with renewed strength, Jade held her head up high and walked over to where her organiod was. Her playmate, Timmy, was crouching next to Ambient and gingerly touching its muzzle. She bit her lip at the sight of poor Ambient, while a flame burned brightly in her eyes. Whoever did that Ambient was going to pay, big time.
~*~*~*~
"Please, it is of utmost importance that I get in contact with the old man. I have a heavily damaged zoid on my hands to put it lightly, solider."
"But sir, if that were the case then why do you require the old man's assistance when the repair crew can easily fix the zoid by themselves."
Thomas let out an aggravated sigh; good help was so hard to find. He was sitting in his Dibison's cockpit, trying to get a hold of that allusive Doctor D, the planet's reining expert on organiods. If anyone knew how to fix an organiod it was him. But as usual, the old geezer had waltzed off without a trace, leaving confused soldiers and personal in his wake.
This routine was getting old fast, the solider still refused to give the Major any information and interrogated him instead. It was as if he doubted Thomas's position, the fool.
"I have my reasons, private," Thomas growled, placing emphasis on the word 'private'. "Now tell me where Doctor D is before I'm forced to take action."
The solider gulped at his icy tone and reluctantly gave up the information. He sighed in defeat. "You win, sir, the good doctor told me that he was going some place called the Wind Colony for personal reasons."
Thomas swore under his breath and slammed down the receiver without so much as a thanks to the solider, but he didn't care. That old geezer was here and didn't even bother to alert him of his presence or anything. With a weary sigh, Thomas remembered he forgot to ask when Dr. D had left. Damn. He gazed out of the canopy in the faint hopes that the old guy would come bouncing up, but he never did.
Time was of the essence that was for sure. And he couldn't be wasting it daydreaming of all the possible reasons where the good doctor was. With a final sigh, Thomas hopped out of the zoid. But one thing kept obscuring his thoughts, who would take the organiod? The one containment center that had healed Zeke after that incident three years ago was all the way in the Empire, hundreds of miles from his current location. It would take forever to get there and that was precious time they didn't have. A couple days at the least, even the fastest storm sworder wasn't equipped to handle those kinds of missions, on either side of the border.
Without wasting another minute, Thomas jogged back towards the village. He had placed his Dibison on the outskirts of town just in case it made the locals a wee bit nervous. Everything was just the way he left it with the exception of...
"Old man?!" Thomas cried incredulously.
Looming over the fallen organiod was none other than Doctor D himself, he didn't even acknowledge Thomas's presence and just continued to examine the organiod. He had never seen anything like this, with the exception of Zeke all those years ago, but still it was almost as bad as Zeke. It looked as though it was attacked by another zoid, or perhaps organiods. Shadow and Specula were still on the loose as far as he knew, even though he was pretty sure Reese had switched sides.
Jade decided now was the time to but in. "So uh, grandpa, Ambient's gonna be fine, right?"
Tired ancient eyes met hers momentarily. "I'll be honest with you; I've never seen anything quite like this before. I know of a place that can heal Ambient, but first things first. Where's Van?"
Thomas gasped, why was Doctor D asking her where Van was? Did she know him or something?
Jade frowned thoughtfully. "I think he went to New Helic City with Reese and Fiona to talk to army peoples," she shrugged. "Well, that's at least what he told me."
"Miss Fiona?" Thomas cried yet again, but by now everyone had ignored him. "And Reese?!"
Doctor D nodded and returned his attention back to the matter at hand. "Alright, now we need to find a way to lift Ambient. I'm far too old and you are too young, Van would kill me if anything happened to you. So that leaves..."
All eyes fell upon a certain blonde haired First Major. Thomas blinked his brilliant green eyes as it slowly dawned on him what they wanted. Just as he opened his mouth to protest, the little girl's lower lip trembled.
"Oh alright," he said with a defeated sigh.
Twenty minutes later...
Jade plastered her face against the glass and watched her precious Ambient with worried eyes. The organiod was in a tube similar to the one that it had come out of only days earlier, only now it looked even more pathetic with various wires sticking out of it and a muzzle placed on its face, a bluish liquid filling up the tube.
"Are you sure he won't drown in there?" asked the little girl nervously.
Doctor D smiled and shook his head, long locks of white hair shifting around his shoulders. It was simply breathtaking the similarities between her and Van, there was no other way to describe it other than breathtaking. Their devotion to their organiods and loved ones was unwavering. Hell, they even looked alike! She could have passed for his daughter, if it weren't for her big expressive hazel eyes.
"Don't worry about it, this is based on a technique used by the Ancient Zoidians hundreds of years ago that I have modernized just for situations like this," Doctor D replied.
Jade cocked her head to one side and blinked. "You mean to save Ambient?"
"Uh, yeah. Not only Ambient but other organiods as well."
"Oh ok." She went back to staring at Ambient through the glass. She frowned thoughtfully, it seemed that whenever Jade was really really happy something bad happened to shake her up. First Van getting his memories back (although she wasn't sure if that counted as a good thing or a bad thing) and now this thing with Ambient. Guess this made her life a lot more interesting. She suddenly thought of something that sent her whirling around to face the two men.
Thomas frowned as he noticed Jade was staring at him. Well maybe not staring at him, it was like she could she right through him. The old man was in the process of filling him in on everything that had happened and made a point by saying that Jade knew more than he did.
"What is it?" Thomas asked, not even making an effort to keep the annoyance out of his voice.
Doctor D shot him a disapproving glare, while Jade said nothing and continued to gaze upon something only she could see.
Her head snapped up and she met each other their eyes in turn. "Where's Van?" she asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" questioned Doctor D, concern mixed with curiousity written on his time worn features.
"My uncle, Van! Where is he? I gotta talk to him!"
"Van's your uncle?" Thomas cried incredulously.
Doctor D glared at him once more, but other than that he ignored the Major.
Jade was getting bored of this routine fast; she impatiently placed her hands on her hips and scowled. She couldn't keep still for some reason, her body had to stay in motion whether it was drumming her fingertips on her thighs and tapping her feet on the ground, she could not stay put. She had to find Van; he was the only one who could help her now. But darn! Where on Zi was he?
Doctor D checked the scanners on Ambient's chamber and found (not that he was surprised) that everything was a okay. He then walked over to the computer on the opposite side of the small room and typed something on the keyboard. A loud 'beep' sounded. He looked over at Jade and Thomas who were watching him with bewildered looks on their faces.
"Come," at their blank looks, he continued. "You said you wanted to find Van, didn't you? Well let's go to the command center and get a hold of him."
Jade brightened and nodded excitedly, with a final look at Ambient, Jade placed her index finger and her middle finger to her forehead and quickly brought them down in the form of a salute. She raced over to the old man and followed him out of the organiod containment room and through various halls in the Hall Base located a good couple miles away from the humble Wind Colony.
"Well I see how it is, just ignore Thomas. See if he cares, let's just leave Thomas behind, it's just good ole' Thomas right? Who'll give a damn, right? Let's just leave poor Thomas in the dust without any clue whatsoever about what's going on and act like he's not there. Yeah, that sounds like fun!"
Grumbling to himself, Thomas stalked out of the room and made his way to the command center. Several minutes later he rejoined the others in the advanced room, filled with dozens of computers and two large monitors strategically placed on the wall. There were some command personal sitting in front of a couple of the computers, but other than that the room was fairly empty. Doctor D curtly told some random solider to get off the computer and as soon as the guy had gone, he took his place. Gnarled age worn fingers fluttered across the keyboard faster than the eye could blink, leaving some to speculate whether or not the old man had really gone senile or was just pretending like it just to get some laughs.
"Do you remember if he took the Blade Liger with him?" Doctor D directed his question to the little girl.
Jade titled her head thoughtfully and racked her memory, she tried to think of Maria's house and whether or not there was a huge Blade Liger standing behind it. But the image didn't come to mind, leaving her to think that it hadn't been there to begin with. She voiced that she had not seen the Blade Liger all morning, since Van and the girls had left around dawn.
The sound of more furious typing floated in the air. Doctor D stretched out his palms and cracked his fingers before returning them to the keyboard and typing some more.
"Alright," he stopped his typing and turned to face Jade. "Wherever they were going it would take them a while to get there by foot or by any other means of transportation. The fastest possible way would be by zoid and the Blade Liger has incredible speed on its side so it was a natural choice. Now I doubt Van would be foolish enough to even consider taking the Liger inside of the city, so he must have hid it somewhere. If we can locate the Blade Liger then we should be able to at least to get a good idea of where Van is. That shouldn't be that tough, all I gotta do is just type in it's information.."
More furious typing occurred followed by a shrill beep. "And bingo! We've got a hit." On both monitors were a map of the Gylos Empire with a big dot in north that read, 'Gygiglos' and almost right beside it was a small blinking dot, the words beneath it were, 'Blade Liger'.
"Gygiglos?" Thomas and Doctor D said in unison.
"I thought you said he went to New Helic City!" exclaimed Thomas.
"That's what he told me," came the stiff reply. Jade continued to stare at the screen as if it could tell her all the reasons she had been lied to. She knew that she had nothing to be mad about, but she couldn't help but feel betrayed. That was supposed to be her with him in the capital, not stuck in some military base didn't even have any zoids. Then again, Ambient needed her now more than ever in their short time of knowing each other. She wished that that little voice in the back of her head and the aching in her chest would cease, but neither did.
A smirk fell upon her lips; it looked like she was going on a road trip. She stole quick glances at the door and back at the older men. Jade licked her suddenly dry lips and put her hands in her pocket, while trying to hide the smirk that kept clawing at her lips.
"Well, uh, I think Ambient needs me," with that she dashed out of the room.
But she didn't turn right towards the organiod containment center; she kept running straight into the zoid hangars that they had arrived in hours earlier. Minutes later she walked into the large hangar, sparsely filled with zoids here and there. There weren't that many zoids or many that were still intact. On her right was a black dark horn, two spaces beside it was a Dibison (probably Thomas's). Followed by several once sparkling white Shield Ligers, but were now gray from dust.
"There isn't much of a selection, is there?" Jade said to no one in particular.
Talk about good luck! Stowed away in a dark corner was a dusty silver Jade sized Hel Cat. It wasn't much, but hey she wasn't complaining. Jade hopped into the cockpit and made another salute as the canopy shut.
"Good luck, Ambient."
~*~*~*~*~
All was dark as he came to, the only sound was of water dripping from various cracks in the ceiling and falling on the floor. Judging from the droplets he deduced that there must hve been a storm outside these mysterious walls. His mind felt like someone wrapped a terry cloth towel around his brain and tied it on real tight so that it fit snugly. Thus making thought a difficult process indeed.
His nose began to cause him discomfort so he moved his hand to scratch it. Or, he would have had he been able to move it. With his dim thought network that was steadily growing stronger with each moment that passed, he looked up and found that his hands were chained to the wall above his head. Blinking, he pulled them to his chest and with a shriek the chain easily gave way.
His hands felt cold, or they would have if he had anything feeling in them. He sore under his breath as he painfully massaged the circulation back into his hands. Sore fingertips came across a familiar marking on his palm, only now it had scabbed up as if it had been bleeding earlier. The scar was a sore reminder o his defeat, how he had screwed up everything, and nearly ended his life. Given to him by everyone's favorite hero, Mr. Perfect and well loved.
"You should take him off his high horse," said a female voice from somewhere in the inky depths.
Lavender eyes quickly scanned the dark for any sign of life, they darted to and fro while his breath caught in his chest. And tried as he might he couldn't exhale or even inhale. It was though the air was stuck inside of him.
"Fear not, Raven," said the voice almost teasingly. "I did not come to harm you."
Raven instantly scowled at being implied that he had been afraid. He racked his memory for if he knew that voice. His first that was that it was the Ancient Zoidian Reese, it couldn't have been her because she would have been by his side, freed him from this prison and already massaged his hands before he even came to. She was afterall ridiculously loyal like that. Second, the voice wasn't deep and husky like hers, it sounded more girly and high pitched.
Just as the maverick opened his mouth to question the stranger, a flash of light blinded his senses and he immediately pressed his hands over his eyes. A soft gloved hand brushed against his cheek and caressed the marking on his face. Curiousity was being to drive him mad, he had to know who was touching him. He opened one eye found himself staring into darkness, a dark hooded figure stood before him. The figure pushed the hood back revealing what appeared to be blue hair neatly cropped around the soft porclein face, and bright green eyes shone brightly in the dim light.
"Reese?" Raven breathed.
Reese smiled and said nothing. Her fingers traveled down to his adam's apple then her index finger made it's way up to his chin and rubbed against his lips. Raven looked at her strangely, trying to decipher her actions but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to move.
"Reese," he said softly. "What happened? Do you know where we are?"
She giggled and brought her hand before his eyes thus confusing him even more. She slowly removed the glove and it fell to the ground soundlessly. She pressed her hand against his cheek and the moment she did so Raven felt hundreds of shocks travel through his body before the world turned black.
~*~*~*~
Author's Note: Hey everyone! There's chapter ten! Sorry it's so short, but I've already started on eleven and man, have I got some great ideas! I've finally gotten back into the groove yay! Questions? Comments? Just review and tell me! I'd be glad to hear what you have to say. ^^ so now Review, hehe. I'm gonna try to get Eleven up as soon as possible, ok?
Later days
~$hAdOwCaT*~