Chp.15: The first battle

Van had returned home, but he still seemed pretty shaken up. No one could come up behind him unexpectedly and say "Hey, Van," without him freaking out a little. Fiona was extra careful with him and would often take him in her arms for no reason at all. It definitely helped him. It wasn't long until he was in his early morning training sessions with Raven again.

"Over here, Van," Raven said smirking as he dodged the Blade Liger's attack.

Van turned the liger and headed in his direction. He was just about to get him. This would be easy…. Until it happened.

"I hate you, Van. I'll kill you," entered into his mind. Suddenly, he was fighting with Han, little and defenseless…. And he couldn't do it.

He couldn't bring himself to hurt him. "Van?" Raven called. "Yo, hey, dude, I'm right here!"

"I-I can't- I can't do it…"

"What? Van?! Van! Get a hold of yourself! Are you okay?! VAN!" Raven crawled out of his Geno Breaker and went to the stopped Blade Liger.

He opened the cockpit. Van seemed okay. He was just sitting there, staring at the Geno Breaker. "I can't do it, Raven… I can't…."

Raven didn't know what he meant, but decided not to ask questions. After all, he didn't like asking questions. Raven did no more than cock an eyebrow at him and climb down.

"Let's go get some breakfast," He said and stomped off in his usual manner.

"O-okay…" Van said slowly and followed after him.

~~~~~~~

"Hey, you're just in time for breakfast," Reese said as Van and Raven walked in.

"Hopefully, that's what we're here for," Raven said.

"Well, come on, sit down," Fiona said.

"Okay…" Van sat down next to Fiona. He sat there silently going over what had just happened. He couldn't do it…. Why? Why did he feel guilty? This man tried to kill him, despised him, even being his own brother…. Van wouldn't let anyone see… he had been traumatized by the memories that had been returned to him. He now understood why Maria and his father had had them erased.

"Van?"

"Huh?"

"How do you like your eggs?" Moonbay asked.

"Uhhhhh… scrambled with cheese and pepper," Van said.

"Oh, okay," Moonbay said and began to get the needed supplies from the fridge.

~~~~~~~~~

Breakfast had just finished when out of the blue…

BOOM!

The entire place began to shake. It calmed down after a moment, but it didn't take a second for the boys to get to their zoids.

~~~~~~~~

Van rode out and looked around at the barren area he was in. Raven sat in silence, running his fingers through his sable hair.

A zoid landed. Crescent opened her cockpit and waved. "Ahoy, mates," She yelled. "I believe we should commence to fighting, ne?"

"Crescent!" Thomas yelled from the hangar.

"Hmm? Are you trying to get her attention?" Reese cocked an eyebrow at him.

"I thought--I-could---distract her," Thomas said dumbly.

"Suuuuuuurrrrrreeeeee," Reese nodded, rolling her eyes.

"Fighting?!" Irvine yelled. "Let's commence."

"No," Crescent said. "You won't be fighting me. I'll fight Raven. I have someone quite different in store for you. Someone more on your key level of fighting."

"Yeah?! Who would that be?!" Irvine yelled.

"Me…"

Irvine turned his zoid. His eyes widened…. Silverwolf's gray Command Wolf sat feet from his zoid.

"You mean-" Irvine began.

"What, you got a problem, Irvine?" Silverwolf smirked, the mark on his forehead glowing.

"-but, that means that….---that---that Moonbay is--she's---she is----against us…." Irvine felt sick inside.

"She put up quite a fight at first, but she's quieted down now. She finally joined us."

"NO! YOU'RE LYING!!!!! IT'S ALL LIES!!!!!!" Irvine screamed.

"Sorry, Irvine," Silverwolf said, the mark on his forehead glowing even brighter.

"No…"

Van turned toward Crescent in his Blade Liger. "What about me? Who am I supposed to fight?"

"Oh, we saved someone special just-for-you, Van. He's been-how do I say this-dying to fight you…."

"Van!" He heard over the com-system. He looked over in the distance. There was a red Blade Liger standing near, and when Van looked at the screen of the com-system…

"What's wrong, Van? Not happy to see your brother?" Han asked smirking with a somewhat crazy face.

"Han, wait-" Van began.

"No, Van. I'm not going to wait anymore…. It's time to die, Van," Han said and charged at him with his blades outstretched.

"Now, Raven, let's fight, shall we?" Crescent asked.

"No chance in hell I'll fight an amateur like you," Raven smirked. "I don't have to rely on my organoid to do my dirty work like you do, Crescent."

"How about this, then? I'll fight without my organoid, and you'll fight without yours as well. Do we have a deal, Raven?"

"Fine with me. Tell Satan I said hi," Raven said smirking.

"I'm sure he knows you very well… demon," Crescent said "demon" in a somewhat suggestive way.

"Shadow, take a break."

"Emerald, my precious, leave me."

With roars of agreement, Shadow and Emerald left the zoids and reappeared outside.

Crescent flew her zoid, now it being gray and much slower. She readied herself for any attack the Geno Breaker might throw at her, but deep down, she wasn't sure she would be able to defeat him without her precious organoid. She had never fought without it before.

"I must not lose…" She muttered. "I will win… for Hiltz."

"Let's begin," Raven said.

~~~~~~~~

Irvine stared in despiration, fear, and rage at Silverwolf. Irvine felt betrayed. He couldn't be serious, could he? Silverwolf was his best friend since childhood! Would he really just drop their relationship that quickly?

"Silverwolf… You can't be serious---" Irvine muttered.

"Irvine… I know we've been friends since childhood…. I don't wanna--" The mark on his head glowed again. "It's all over now….. The past is the past…. And now, it's time for you to die… Then, Moonbay will be mine forever without competition."

"Silverwolf! I'm not trying to take her from you! If it makes you and her happy, I don't care if you're together! I don't want to ruin our lifelong friendship because of this! Please! Don't make me fight you!"

"Irvine… I must…" Silverwolf muttered, his eyes shadowed out by his hair.

~~~~~~~~

Van faced his brother, staring into the red Blade Liger. He put his hands on the controls, and before his eyes flashed a jumble of memories. He let go of the controls and shook his head. Unfortunately, that gave Han just enough time to attack.

The blades scraped the side of Van's zoid. Van winced at the shaking of the zoid but recovered quickly and dodged the next attack.

"VAN!!!!!!" Han screamed as he made another run for his attack. He was extremely talented in his zoid. Van dodged again so that Han was behind him.

Han smirked. Van looked over his shoulder as Han came charging towards him. He put his hands on the controls to dodge when all of his memories started flashing like a camera in his head. He put his hands on his head.

Han hit the back of Van's zoid. The force of the hit was so hard that he broke through his seatbelt and was flung through the glass cockpit. "VAN!!!!!!!!!" Fiona cried. He flew through the air and landed in the dirt with a painful slide. The glass had torn up some of his clothes and cut his body. His hair was messed up now as well.

Han climbed out of his zoid and walked over to Van. He stared at his twin that layed there cringing in pain. He brought his foot back and began to kick Van. He kicked and kicked, harder and harder, and every time he did so, Van screamed out in pain.

Fiona couldn't take it anymore. She ran through the desert and jumped on top of Han. "STOP IT!" She cried. "STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!" She felt tears start running down her cheeks as she beat on his chest. Han layed there staring up at her in shock. This had never happened before.

"So, Van's lover cares about him. Long time, no see, Fiona," Han said smirking.

"L-lover?" Fiona looked flustered about the comment.

"Surely you wouldn't have been so foolish as to attack an enemy twice as strong as you otherwise. I'd say that you are a pretty brave girl, Fiona Alisi Lanet… too bad you're going to die…"

Han shoved her off of him. She fell to the ground and looked up at him in fear. Her eyes widened and filled with tears. "Don't worry girl… VAN WILL BE JOINING YOU SO-" He reached back to punch her, but stopped and stared at her. "No…" He whispered. "No! Leave me alone…"

~~~~~~~~~

Crescent's zoid had put up a good fight, putting some dents in the Geno Breaker, but it was no match for Raven's zoid. It crashed to the ground, slid a bit, then stopped and smoked.

Crescent shoved open her cockpit and practically fell out of it, cut, bruised, and covered in blood. Her hair fell in her face as she tried to push it out of the way so she could see.

Emerald flew up to Thomas. "Huh? Hey, what're you-waAAAAH!" She flew under him and forced him into riding her. "Where're we going?!" He yelled through the noise of the wind, not that it would matter, him not understanding organoid.

Emerald landed near Crescent as Raven hopped out of his zoid and walked over to her. "You little bitch," He said glaring at her. She looked up at him helplessly, waiting to be beaten or something.

"Stop it, Raven! You won! Leave her alone!" Thomas yelled. Raven ignored him and began to bring his fist down upon her when Thomas grabbed it.

"STOP IT!" Thomas yelled, then swung and punched Raven right in the jaw. Raven fell to the ground and held his cheek. He stared in shock at Thomas.

Suddenly, Crescent boxed Thomas in the back of the head, regaining her strength. Thomas fell over and looked up at her.

"I don't need you to save me," She glared down at him. Thomas just sat there on his hands and knees, staring up at her, as if unable to move or speak.

She turned and pulled herself up onto Emerald. "Come on, let's go home," She whispered to her and collapsed onto her. Emerald flew off, not as fast as usual though.

~~~~~~~~~

Han dropped to his knees and screamed. "I'm trying! I'm trying! Shut up! SHUT UP!" He yelled as he held his head. Fiona rose up onto her knees and watched him. She waited a moment before going to Van.

"Van, Van, are you alright? Speak to me!" She shook him. He was either unconcious or… she shivered. She didn't want to think about that.

~~~~~~~~~

Irvine had nearly beaten Silverwolf when suddenly Silverwolf backed off. "Sorry, Irvine, but the boss says that I must return. Let's play again soon," he said and rode off before Irvine could say anything. He finally took the time to turn around and saw Van and Fiona, plus the totaled Blade Liger. "Oh, man, Van!" He yelled and ran his zoid off in that direction. As he arrived, the red Blade Liger ran off.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Thomas stood up and brushed himself off, only to be knocked down again when Raven socked him in the mouth. Thomas looked up at the very angry Raven and wiped the blood from his lip.

"Let's go," Raven said looking off in the direction of Van's wreck site. "They might need our help."

"I guess that was returning the favor…" Thomas said.

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Holy crap… seven pages… that's a new record for me… wasn't that awesome?! ^-^ A lot a hatrid goin' on out there, mmhmm. Well, hope you enjoyed it. Ba Bye!