Hey everyone! I know it's been ages since I last updated and I'm SO sorry! XS I've had bouts with writer's block and I still do, so unless you guys help me out with ideas updates are going to stay this slow. Urk.-.-

Biddett da Pigeon Stalker

My eyes opened up to the gloom of the sandstone room. I don't know what woke me up. I just did. I rose off the rug on the floor of the hotel room and moved out to the main living area. It was still night, but the stars and the full moon were so bright that it didn't really matter. The light filtered in from the windows, and the balcony illuminating the otherwise dark room. Glancing around, my thoughts returned to that weird dream I had when I was first rescued from that pod. It had seemed so real, but not really. I was confused. It was like an important memory...

Something caught my eye out on the balcony. Something silvery was moving in the wind. I shifted out there and standing right there next to me was Flyer! She seemed a little distant though. Her deep purple eyes surveyed the town, the night sky, and the seemingly endless desert beyond. The desert air was quite cool and I shuddered. Flyer was completely lost in thought, her hair moving about in the wind.

Should I say something? She seems pretty peaceful though. Maybe I should just leave her be...

What is it she's thinking about, I wonder? Fly's so lost in her own little world I wonder if something's troubling her?

=Fly...? You okay?= I asked hesitantly. Flyer jumped at my voice in her head and wheeled around.

"Uh, yeah. Just thinking." She replied shyly.

=About what? You seemed pretty troubled.=

"Nothing in particular. You should get back to bed. We'll be leaving pretty early tomorrow morning to go find everyone else."

=Oh...okay.= We fell silent for a while.

"I'd better go back to sleep myself, actually..." Flyer told me. "Night, Mystic."

Fly left me standing out in the chilly night air, my eyes staring out into the shimmering night sky and the desert beyond the city...and my thoughts once again returned to that dream...that silver Redler...the bomb...those organoids...especially that black one...
------

"G'morning, Mystic!" Cat greeted. I stared placidly out at the village watching everyone. "...Mystic?" Cat waved a hand in front of my face. I barely noticed her. "Eh..." She wandered away.

"Riiight...how long has she been standing there, on the balcony?" Ryu wondered aloud.

"Beats me. We're going to have to do something though, we're gonna leave later today." Reja said, almost uncaring.

Flyer joined up next to me on the balcony, and smiled softly. "You haven't moved an inch since last night, have you? You're the troubled one, Mys..." Flyer bent down and said quietly to me.

"I'm going out for a while to stock up. See you later." Flyer announced and left.

=Wait! I'll go too.= It was weird. It seemed Fly and me connected somehow. Don't ask me why or how, I just feel more comfortable around her.

"Man...you think that organoid likes her?" Ryu asked Reja sarcastically.

"Nah, that's impossible..." She replied, just as sarcastic.

Flyer waited patiently by the entrance to the hotel room. As I caught up to her she turned and left. Suddenly an arm grabbed me.

"No...remember, you said you were coming with me today, remember?" It was Cat.

=But...I'm...going...with...= I spluttered. "Well, you're not anymore. C'mon!" She half dragged me out the door. Flyer was waiting for me outside in the corridor, but once she spotted me with Cat, she continued on alone.

It had just been me and Cat for three hours straight. We had been buying strawberries. Honestly, I didn't realise the importance in the different kinds of strawberries. And we were now only moving on to seeing if the town had any good zoid parts or anything.

Cat banged on the door of a sandstone building that had a "Zoid Parts" sign out the front of. She pounded and pounded and pounded until the door swung open suddenly.

"What?! Oh, sorry we're closed." The guy who I thought was the shopkeeper said, vexed.

"What the hell do you mean you're closed?! It's no public holiday! You're the only guy in town! You can't just abandon your customers like that!!" Cat hollered.

"Well, I'm sorry. You'd understand if you lived here." He replied bluntly.

=Maybe he means one of his family members passed away or something...?= I told Cat.

The shopkeeper's eyes widened as he heard a voice in his head. He glanced down at me, and his face paled. "Oh..." He cursed under his breath. The shopkeeper slammed the door and locked it.

"What's his problem...? Meh. Come on, Mystic." Cat walked off. She headed towards the bar.

=Uhhh...would you mind if I went and found Fly? You said we were only going strawberry shopping.= I asked timidly.

"Eh. Go knock yourself out, Mystic." Her voice was uncaring. "Just don't get caught again or I'll have to blow some heads off when I come get you."

='Kay.= I wandered off into the crowd as Cat entered the pub.

Okay, maybe crowd was the wrong word. There was a few people scattered about the markets under the blazing desert sun, and whoever was there tried as best as they could to get out my way. It was if they though I was a troublemaker or something. A couple of kids muttered amongst themselves and then one yelled out "LOOK!" And pointed at me. They ran right up to me. I stopped and watched their faces staring at me, rapt with wonder.

"Whaddya think it is?" A seven-year-old girl asked.

"Looks like a zoid." A boy who looked to be about the same age replied.

"But it's so tiny!" A five year old boy exclaimed.

"Maybe it's a baby zoid?" Another boy, this one looked about eleven, suggested.

"Maybe!" The seven year old girl said excitedly.

"Awww! How cute!" Another girl cooed.

"Get away from that...thing!" A voice barked. It was probably a mother of one of them, and the children jumped and glanced around.

A chorus of "Awwww!" was heard from the children and then they raced away.

I wonder what they're so worked up about? Oh, yeah. Maybe it's because I'm an organoid. Didn't Flyer say that organoids haven't been seen in over ninety years? That's probably it.

######

Flyer shifted the weight of a cardboard box full of supplies and watched the people go about their normal daily lives. They seemed uneasy, she noted to herself. Shops seemed to shutting up early and people didn't linger on the streets. Mothers herded their children off the streets, and teenagers didn't hang around and talk- they scurried about as quick as possible, not wanting to hang about.

She wondered what was going on. Something was up, that was for sure.

Flyer paused, and approached a shopkeeper closing up his zoid parts shop.

"Um...excuse me..." Fly began, apprehensively.

"I'm closing the shop. Sorry. Come back in a few days." He replied gruffly.

"No, no, I don't want to buy anything...but, uh, why are you closing early?" She asked, and then wished she hadn't, in case the shop keeper was about to do something drastic.

The shopkeeper glanced around nervously, bent close to Fly and then whispered, "Bandits. We normally get them around this time of year so we generally keep off the streets around night, but it's worse. They're after a...organoid. Yeah, I know, I don't believe it either. Some people have said to have spotted it here. I wouldn't stay here for long, to tell you the truth. If you're caught even looking at the organoid, those bandits will probably slit your throat or something. Get out of here as quick as you can..." The shopkeeper shuffled off into his shop quickly as he could.

Flyer shifted uneasily. Oh, no... She thought. Mystic...what if they... Flyer set off at a quick pace for the hotel. She would check there for Mystic if they had returned, give the supplies to Ryu and Reja and if Mystic wasn't there she would go look for her.

Mystic wasn't at the hotel. Flyer had instead packed the supplies into her Gunsniper and all three of them, her, Reja and Ryu, had split up to find Cat and Mystic.

####

Ryu jogged through the back alleyways towards the pub. If he didn't bump into Cat in a brawl here, she would most likely be at the bar. And Mystic shouldn't be too far off from Cat. Shouldn't.

Ryu opened up the door and found Cat glaring a drunk in the face, yelling, "YOU WANNA BACK THAT UP, BUDDY?!"

"CAT!!" Ryu bellowed.

"WHAT?!" Cat screamed back.

"Where's Mystic?!" He almost yelled.

"Went off to find Fly. Don't tell me she's got bandits on her tail!" Cat sounded angry.

"Not yet. But she might!"

"Dammit!" Cat thumped her fist against the bar and sprinted out the door.

"Hey!!! You're supposed to pay, you know!" The bartender called. Ryu turned on his heels and ran after Cat.

"HEY! CAT!" Another voice yelled. It was Reja. "Where's Mystic?"

"I DON'T HAVE A BLOODY CLUE, OKAY?!" Cat yelled back.

"Well, you're supposed to be looking after her!" Reja shot back.

"Well, that's your fault for leaving her with me." Cat calmed down a little.

"You're...you're the one who dragged her away!"

"MYSTIC!!!" Flyer ran from out behind them, at full pelt.

"Flyer, where the hell are you going?" Ryu called as the three followed behind the silver-haired woman.

"Mystic's....Mystic's..." She couldn't continue. She dashed into an alley.

"H-hey!" Suddenly Hunter appeared.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Reja screamed at him.

"Sheez...come on! Are we here to get Mys or are we gonna yell at me?!"

=FLYER!!!!!= Mystic screamed.

BLAM! A gunshot! From where Flyer had just ran into!!

###

Oh no, oh no, JUST GREAT!!! I was stuck! Bandits had cornered me against the back of the alley way. They had just snuck up on me, threatening me, guns in hands. So I fled. I...didn't get very far, though.

"MYSTIC!!!" A scream echoed through the town. Flyer!! Was she going to save me? Again? I hope so!!

In a flash, the purple eyed zoid repairer appeared behind a bandit, a knife pressed against his throat. The other two bandits immediately aimed their guns at her.

"Don't move an inch, or they're going to blow your brains out!" The first bandit growled, glancing down nervously at the blade against his throat.

Flyer withdrew the knife, and kicked the bandit out of her way, and reached for me. I breathed for a split second and then my eyes opened wide and my core just froze for a second. One of the other bandits aimed at Flyer.

=FLYER!!!!!= I screamed at the top of my voice.

BLAM!


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Okay, that cliff hanger wasn't just to annoy you; it was to keep my brain going. So I will at least have a small chapter up a bit sooner that if I had ended it peacefully. Just so I know I have to put up a chappy.

Oh...yeah. As I said earlier, ideas to help me would be appreciated. I still have my main plot, it's just that along the way there will be some people they will meet along the way etc etc, small chapter-long plot ideas. Any ideas there will be helpful. .

Anyhoo, leave a review! I'll be shocked if I get more than 5! It's been that long since I last updated!

Biddett da Pigeon Stalker