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Chapter Two

Raven sighed as they made their way back to the village in Zeke's huge form of the Shield Liger. It's massive paws crunched through the sand, and Fiona sat in the back, answering the questions Raven was free to now ask.

'Where are you from?'

'Dunno.'

'Why were you in the capsule?'

'Dunno...'

'Who are you?'

'Fiona.' She said, almost brightly.

Raven sighed. That was as much as he'd gotten from her in the hour they'd been walking. They hadn't directly gone back to the village; Raven had gone back to the ruins to pick up his hoverboard. Or rather, the pieces of the hoverboard. The device had cracked in half, and it could be repaired. But Raven wasn't going to wait that long before he left the pitiful colony behind, and walked out of the small existence that others would force upon him.

He turned his head as Fiona poked him in the back of his neck.

'What was that for?' he demanded, not rudely, more, inquiringly.

She grinned, a child's smile of delight appearing on her pale features, before pointing towards the one patch of green on the horizon. The Wind colony arrived in his view, and the black haired youth stubbornly refused to acknowledge the nagging guilt that he had left Maria way behind in his planning. She had, after all, cared for him when he was too young to fend for himself.

He shook his head, driving away the thoughts, and focussed his imaginings instead on what to pack.

Fiona frowned into a pout when Raven fell into a sulky silence. She instead began talking. Raven noticed it when she started acting like someone was responding.

'Whom are you talking to?' he asked when there was a lull in her chatter. She stared at him through her unnerving red eyes, and he stared back, just as intensely.

Finally, with a shrug and a smile, she pointed behind her. 'Zeke.'

Raven started silently, keeping eye contact with the mad girl. He looked around, quite sure that they were alone, and nearly gulped. But it wasn't in his character to gulp because he was all alone with a girl who was possibly insane. She had come from a capsule hadn't she?

She sighed, sensing his train of thought.

'I can hear him. And he can hear me.' She said, and smiled simply, as if this explained everything and anything. And to her, it did. Raven leaned back with s muted sigh. Just what had he gotten himself into?

Zeke roared into the quiet, and the four, being the Liger, Zeke, Fiona and Raven traveled quickly in comfortable silence.

'Raaaaaaveeeeeeeeen!'

Maria frowned tightly at the boy who stood defiantly in front of her, with a curious looking Fiona peering around Raven's shoulder. Zeke, in his original form growled inquiringly from under Fiona, where she was sitting. The trio had walked into the village, and had immediately been confronted in the worst kind of way.

By the parental figure.

'I can't believe you! Shirking your chores, racing off to god knows where, and bringing back some kind of deranged toy as a zoid? This goes beyond me Raven!' She grabbed his ear, and yanked. 'Ow! Watch it Maria!' he yelled, and she dragged him off. Zeke and Fiona glanced at each other, and snickered before following the two.

'OW! Let me go!'

'The Reverend should yell at you too young man!'

'Maria!'

The shrieks faded as the group left the village behind, along with the stares. Fiona's appearance generally excited a few rumors instantly, and both she and Zeke were happy to leave behind the swirling masses of activity.

A tall man with glasses and dark clothing immerged from a simple home, and glanced with weary amusement at the two who were making their way towards him. But he frowned in confusion at the two who were not known to him.

A girl riding a zoid that responded to the rider, not to programming? This was odd in extreme.

'Raven-' he said mildly, and the sibling-like bickering stopped completely. 'Who are your friends?'

Both Maria and Raven fell silent, turning in unison to see the girl and organoid, who halted at the attention. Fiona's sensitive skin stained red with an embarrassed flush, and Zeke snorted.

Raven snapped away from Maria's hold.

'Fiona.' He said curtly. 'Zeke.' He neither bothered to point or further introduce them. 'I assume you can figure out who is who for yourselves.' He said icily, fingering his ear with disdain. Maria had the grace to blush, but whether that was from anger that stemmed from his rudeness, or embarrassment, none knew.

The Reverend smiled at the two, before bending to look in the girl's eyes. 'You are no ordinary friend of our young Raven, I'm guessing?' Fiona grinned. The reverend smiled gently in return, and sat down on the grass next to the dirt trail that led to his humble abode.

Maria sat, folding skirts under her legs as she sat sideways. Fiona sat on top of Zeke, who plopped on the ground, and promptly curled up to rest, or to recharge his used batteries, as it were. He was exhausted. Fiona stroked his head as he went into sleep mode, and watched as Raven slid down as well. The grass wholly welcomed them, and Fiona felt the fibers gently, reveling in her sense of touch as the two semi-adults began to talk about Raven, her, and Zeke. She gently fell asleep, lulled by the voices, and by the quiet humming that revealed that Zeke was peacefully sleeping his fatigue away.

Raven watched silently as Fiona fell asleep across from him. The reverend, sitting next to Zeke and the girl, noticed too, but said nothing and let the exhausted pair dream away.

'So.'

The quiet voice of Maria made him look up, however, from Fiona's fluttering lashes. His eyebrow quirked in question.

'You're planning to leave now, right?' she asked, staring at the ground. 'You're planning to leave us all and adventure with someone you've only known a few hours.' Raven sighed.

'I've always wanted to leave this place.' He said, matter-of-factly. 'I've never wanted to farm, and you have always known this. Of course I'm leaving. And for Fiona and Zeke, we've saved each of our lives, and ironically enough, I want to make sure she and Zeke find whatever their missing.'

The Reverend interrupted.

'Yes, about that. Are you sure about her? Please tell the story I've sensed you know.' He asked lightly.

Raven sighed dramatically, though not loud, as to waken the sleeping duo. He carefully retold the story; fairly edited to make sure Maria didn't lock him in her kitchen, forbidding him to go anywhere. As he told about the wild zoid that he had somehow irked, he wondered why a pilot had been out alone, and had chased him of all people, on a hoverboard in the middle of nowhere.

'And, after I piloted the Liger, we both knew that we should journey away from the village, to make sure that the peace was protected, and no more angry wild zoids would hunt us to the Wind Colony.' He finished, rather blandly.

Maria snorted. But the holy man nodded in thought, and Maria gaped at him, incredulous. But all that was said between the two older people was a look, and a wink. Raven didn't comment. He saw no reason to.

As the Reverend opened his mouth to respond, a huge blast from the Wind Colony rocked everyone, and a great cloud of smoke rose from the village, which everyone was currently vacating. Raven rose to his feet at once, and a startled Fiona and Zeke were shaken out of their snooze. Maria watched as the one person she regarded as a brother vanished at a run towards the unprotected colony.

'Nice to meet you.' Murmured a small voice, and the blonde haired child raced away on the organoid for the Shield Liger. Raven was already inside, and searching with the scanners he knew about for the threat on the Colony. Fiona watched as Zeke turned himself into organic energy, and flew into the Liger, animating it significantly. Fiona smiled and waved, then ducked as a red bird-like zoid called a Redler flew low overhead, threatening the denizens with it's guns.

Dust, stirred by the zoid's attack, made the scene hard to see, and irritated eyes and throats. Many sought shelter inside their homes, and the Reverend and Maria were soon found directing children to their mothers, and ushering others into safety. Fiona, found by Maria, was shepherded into the church, where many others awaited the attack to end.

'People of the Wind Colony, and Citizens of the Elemia Desert. This is the Arcobaleno Tribe. We want the Organoid that you possess, and if it is not turned over in the next two hours to our Tribe's current base in the ruins west of here, our zoids will destroy your Colony.' A voice rang out over the loud speakers. Fiona watched the frenzy the words ignited and sighed. 'Zeke, where are you two?'

The dust had turned into an obstacle, and Raven couldn't see. So he waited for the dust to settle so that he wouldn't haplessly destroy the Colony. He waited much too long, for he heard the words that the Redler expelled, and he knew what his decision would be. He grinned.

'Let's go, Zeke.'

Hi everybody! Tis Fiona here, and great to hear from my fantastic reviewers again! (BIG wink wink!) It's 12;44 in the morning, and here I am, typing my little fingers away. Type in a review, and make it all worthwhile! Please?