Hello! It's been a while, ne? Sorry for that, but I'm here now. I've just been writing a lot of original fiction as of later. After all, I was on a role and I wanted to finish a story in two months, which I did. I wrote a 287 page story in exactly two months. Cool, ne? I'm happy.

Well, here's the next chapter, and I'm sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes there may be. After all, I don't have the time to reread it right now, but I will soon, so then it'll be perfect. Okay? Okay… And a happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Zoids, so you can't sue me.

Chapter 12: Sometimes It Hurts

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Hikari gave a deep sigh as she walked down the hallways of the hospital. After their little encounter with the Kaijin, they had rushed Tori to a hospital in hopes of saving his life. Things hadn't been looking too good for him, but according to the doctors, he'd live. Sure, he probably wouldn't wake up anytime soon, but that was expected. After all, he had just been shot.

When Hikari turned the corner, she found herself in the waiting room. The members of the Blitz team were sitting there, along with Tai and Kyouri. They were all just waiting around, hoping to hear more about Tori. It wouldn't be fair if he died. He was their future commissioner, the rightful heir to the ZBC. He needed to stay alive, if only for that reason.

"Hikari," began Leena, being the first to notice her there. "How is he?"

"He's alright," she answered softly. "For now, anyway."

"Do you know when he'll wake up?" asked Bit.

"Iya," she answered, shaking her head as well. She still found it hard to not slip up when she was speaking. Hopefully it wouldn't happen too often. She needed to be able to communicate with them.

She walked over and took a seat next to Leena, giving off another sigh. She really was worried about Tori. In reality, he was all she had left. Everyone she had known was dead, killed by the Kaijin. She couldn't let Tori go the same way. She had to keep him alive. She'd do all she could for him. He deserved his life, more so than most.

"What now?" asked Jamie a bit sadly.

"Good question," agreed Brad. "There really isn't much we can do, at least not right now."

"Why do you think Kageru would bother with Tori?" questioned Kyouri curiously. "After all, he's not really a threat to the Kaijin, right?"

"He is," stated Hikari, drawing everyone's attention. "All of us are…to a certain extent."

"Well Hikari," began Bit rather politely considering what he was about to ask. "Now that we understand you, do you mind filling us in?"

"Not at all," she began. "I guess you wanna know what I meant just now. We're all a threat to Kageru now. We know what the Kaijin is. If it's alive, it'll be easy to take down, because once it's destroyed, it'll never work again. Something that's alive can't be brought back to life. We're the only ones who know this, so we can exploit that. Tori and I, however…just like Kageru and I, Tori can control that zoid. It's part of him, after all…"

"So then…" began Leena, "Kageru wasn't lying about that." Hikari just hung her head.

"I'm afraid he wasn't," she said softly. "I wouldn't believe it myself…but I was there. I had to watch it happen. They were so horrible to him…it must have hurt so much." No one said anything to that. What could they say? There weren't any sentiments they could offer right now that would make any difference. Nothing they said could help. It just wasn't fair anymore. How come their lives had suddenly gotten so complicated?

"Gomen nasai," whispered Hikari sadly, earning her quite a few confused looks. "I'm so sorry. It's because of us…if none of you had ever gotten involved with me and Tori, none of this…would have happened."

"It's alright," assured Tai, who had been quiet this whole time. "It's not your fault. We all kind of got ourselves involved, I guess. Besides, something still bothers me. Kageru's acting on his own, right?"

"Hai," responded Hikari, offering a nod along with her response.

"Then where did he get those Hellcats? You know, the ones he used in that battle a few days ago?"

"Ano…" she began hesitantly. She really hadn't given that much thought. No one had, really. "Wakarimasen."

"What?" asked Bit.

"Gomen, ah, sorry," she apologized. "I was just saying that I don't know. I never really thought about it."

"So are you suggesting that Kageru is working with someone?" asked Jamie.

"I'm just saying it seems unlikely that he could just find people willing to cooperate with him. Maybe someone's providing forces for him."

"Only someone insane would do that," remarked Leena.

"That or someone with something to gain," added Brad, earning him everyone's attention. "Think about it. The Kaijin obviously has a lot of power, and who could benefit from that? Maybe whoever's working with Kageru made a deal with him."

"Still, who'd be that stupid?" asked Bit. He honestly couldn't think of anyone who would want to cooperate with that monster. What kind of psycho would want that much power? Then again, humans were all, too a certain extent, power hungry. It was just their nature. It was why they wanted it and how they used it that made them a monster, and in this world, there were just as many corrupt people as there were uncorrupt.

"I'm gonna go see how Tori's doing," said Hikari as she stood up and began leaving the waiting area. "I'll be back in a bit." No one objected to her suggestion. They all knew she was worried. They all were. If what Kageru had said was true, then Tori was going to have a hard time recovering. His body was a lot weaker now, thanks to the evil experimentation. Hadn't there been someone else though? Kageru had mentioned another name, but who was it? No one knew, and to them, it didn't seem to matter, at least not right now. Tori came first for the time being. They had to make sure he lived. He was their future commissioner, after all.

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Kageru sighed to himself as he jumped down from the Kaijin, shooting the zoid a rather disappointed scowl. How could his zoid do that to him? How could it obey Hikari? Wasn't he its rightful owner? And then there was Tori. He was just as big a threat now that he knew what was happening. Well, hopefully his body was too weak to handle that bullet. Can't have him ruining things now.

"Yami," called out a rather frustrated voice. A man was approaching him, one dressed in a business like suit.

"What do you want?" asked Kageru, sounding just a bit uninterested.

"Did you take care of it? Did you get Akari?"

"Not yet," he answered before shooting the man a glare. "And my name is Kageru. Remember it, Korran, or I won't lend you my services again. I'm the only reason you're leading the ZBC, after all."

"Yes, I know," snarled Korran. "I haven't forgotten the deal."

"Oh, here's something that might interest you." Kageru just turned around and began walking away, hoping that he wouldn't be drawn into a long lecture after this. "Tori Ragnarok is still alive."

"What?!" shouted Korran, running up behind Kageru. He grabbed the younger man by the shoulder and spun him around. "You're kidding, right? How's that possible? He died in the explosion, didn't he?"

"Not unless the boy I saw tonight was a ghost," remarked Kageru, still not caring too much. "He's no threat to you anymore, so what do you care?"

"The ZBC is mine, and I won't have him ruining that for me." Korran released Kageru, an angry scowl on his face. "You better take care of him, or else." Kageru just laughed.

"Or else what? What can you possibly do to me? Don't forget, Korran. I made you what you area, and I can take that away. I'll kill Tori, don't worry, but you better keep your end of the deal." And with that stated, he went back to the Kaijin, climbing into the now open cockpit. This time he was going to make sure he came back with experiment Akari. He was going to find a way to get to her. Somehow, he'd do it. He had to. His plans for the future counted on her presence within the Kaijin. Only then could they create the perfect future, one without the human race, without zoids, without anything. The planet could return to what it had once been. It could be natural and beautiful. He wouldn't let anyone destroy that future.

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It was now approaching dawn, and everyone was still at the hospital. It's not like they had anywhere to go right now anyway. They couldn't go back to their bases, considering the fact that their zoids were still at Tori's. Besides, they weren't about to leave their future commissioner while he was in such an unstable state.

"I'm gonna get some air," said Leena rather suddenly, standing up and walking away from them. Only a few seconds later did Bit get up to follow her. It didn't take him long to catch up.

"Hey, wait!" he called, and she slowed down until he was right next to her. "Something wrong?"

"Just tired," she responded, but her voice said differently. However, Bit didn't seem in the mood to pry into it. He would just let her deal with whatever it was on her own, but that didn't mean he was going to stop talking.

"How long do you think we'll be here?" he asked softly.

"I don't know," she answered, "but I don't think we should leave until Tori's up to it, but…that could take weeks."

"I don't think it'll take him that long to wake up," remarked Bit.

"That's not what I mean." Bit just stayed quiet and waited for her to continue. Leena just took a deep breath, exhaling rather heavily. "You saw him. You saw the way he was staring at the Kaijin. Between the death of his father, the take over of the ZBC, and now Kageru…I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't stable after this. I don't think I'd be."

"Tori's pretty tough though," commented Bit. "He'll be okay, I'm sure of it. Don't worry so much. It's so unlike you." Well, that got a reaction from her. She quickly got in front of him, stopping in his tracks. She was shooting him a rather threatening glare.

"Are you calling me heartless or something?" she asked in a rather icy tone.

"Maybe," he responded, giving her his signature grin. "I'm just saying that you shouldn't be so depressing. It's no fun." He took a step closer, causing Leena's rather vicious scowl to drop. He was standing just a little too close for comfort. "I like you better when you're like this." The way he was looking at her started making her a bit nervous.

"D-don't be stupid, Bit," she told him, turning away. There was a very soft blush on her cheeks, something that really was rather unlike her. "You're such an idiot."

Bit was about to say something, but the sound of hurried footsteps drew his attention. Both of them turned around and saw Jamie running towards them.

"Bit, Leena!" he called. "Come on. Tori's about to wake up." That quickly got their attention, so they began following Jamie down the hallway, heading for Tori's room. Hopefully he'd be okay. The last thing the young commissioner needed was a mental breakdown.

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Tori's eyes slowly opened, but all he could see were bright lights. Everything was a blur, but he already knew he was alone. Someone would have called out to him by now otherwise. Where am I? That last thing I remember… An image of the Kaijin flashed before his eyes and he slammed them closed. That was the last thing he wanted to see. However, even after shutting his eyes, the images wouldn't go away. In fact, they were getting worse. He could see it all now. He remembered how Korran and Kageru had strapped him to a chair, how they had placed tubes and wires into him. He remembered how much it hurt. He couldn't take it. Those thoughts, those images were consuming him. He suddenly felt a burning sensation in his chest, and he felt his mind snap. He was suddenly no longer in a hospital room. What he saw was the laboratory, the chair, those tubes and needles…and the Kaijin.

"No," he whispered as his eyes flew open. He shot up in his bed, which happened to be a huge mistake. His chest burned harder, and he fell back, a pained gasp escaping his lips. He looked to his arms and saw the IVs, but what he saw wasn't the hospital equipment. It was being replaced in his mental picture by the lab machines, the things that had nearly killed him. Tori quickly panicked and reached towards one, attempting to rip it out of his vein.

"Tori!" shouted a panicked voice. His eyes shot over and he saw Hikari. She ran to him and grabbed his hand, the one that was about to pull out the IV. "You can't. You'll die!"

"Let go, Hikari!" he shouted, his eyes wide. "I have to! They'll kill me." He tried to pull out of her grasp, but she refused to let him go.

"You've got it all wrong," she told him gently. "Tori, you're in the hospital. You were shot by Kageru." However, Tori just fought against her harder, nearly straining his healing wound. The bandages on his chest were slowly turning red. "Don't, Tori!"

"Let go!" he demanded. "I have to take these out! I have to!" Hikari couldn't keep fighting him like this. For a hospital patient, he still had a lot of strength left. Please, get here soon you guys. I can't hold him off like this. Hikari did the only thing she could think of. She leaned against him, resting her head against his chest. She used her body to pin him down since he was struggling and thrashing a bit in order to loosen her grip. He still wasn't calming down.

"Tori, onegai!" she shouted, pleading with him to quit. "You'll hurt yourself! You're just seeing things! It's not real!" He still didn't stop. "Yamero! Onegai! Shimasen, Tori! I don't want you to die!" Still he didn't stop struggling, and Hikari had had about all she could take. It was time to resort to drastic measures. She reached out and slapped him across the face. He ceased his movements instantly, now completely focused on the pain his face was causing him.

"Tori, omae wa bakayarou!" she shouted angrily at him. She just glared down at him a bit, still rather mad at the young commissioner. He needed to have more self control. However, she couldn't help but pity him. He was losing it. Slowly, but he was being driven insane.

"Sorry," he whispered. "I don't know…what got into me." Hikari just smiled a bit, forgetting her anger for the time being.

"It's okay," she assured him. "I'm just glad you're alright." Tori just lowered his head a bit, trying to remember what he had just done. What had gotten into him? He hadn't been seeing this hospital. He had seen the labs…he had seen those horrible people who had used him, nearly killed him. Now that he knew what had really happened, now that he knew that the Kaijin was part of him…what was he supposed to do? Things were getting so complicated. He was starting to miss his old life. However, he had only himself to blame. All of this was his fault. So many people were suffering because of his own carelessness. After all…it had been he who gave Kageru the Kaijin.

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Wow, another rather depressing chapter. Angst is just so much fun though. It's hard for me to write something without it. It adds to the drama, ne? Anyway, here's your glossary.

Iya -no

Gomen nasai –I'm so sorry

Hai -yes

Ano –um…

Wakarimasen –I don't know

Onegai -Please

Yamero –Stop it

Shimasen –don't do this

Omae wa bakayarou –you're such an idiot

Well, that's it for now. I'll see ya later, k?

Bye!