AN: Why is this up here? Oh well. Sorry to those who wanted some major action... this is kinda another filler. But it does patch up a few holes from the last chapter that some of you guys pointed out, so its not entirely bad... besides, my chapters are kinda short (approx. 2000 words each) and I like focusing on char. development. Buuuttt, there WILL be action next chapter (promise), which will be out... hopefully soon. (Holidays coming up! )

Do I need more descriptions of places and battles? I realise that I've been skimping on these, mostly because I haven't watched as many episodes of ZOIDS (especially GF) as I'd like, because there seems to be some conspiracy against me. Either it's on when I'm at school, or my TV blows up (or at least blows a fuse) when I'm skipping school, or its on at 6am on Sat, or they take it off to put FUZORS on. I don't like that series. The pilots tarnish the memories of Raven and Van, and even Bit and Vega, who could actually pilot their Zoids properly. Blake and RD are idiots. They look cool, but they can't pilot for crap. Grrr...

DISCLAIMER: I don't own ZOIDS!

Chapter 5: I am Van Flihite.

Van was woken the next day by muffled curses; he glanced briefly at the two bandits he'd managed to capture, then towards the open bedroom door. Berating himself for falling asleep in a chair again, he walked over and looked in, seeing Raven talk softly to his newly awoken patient while changing the bandages yet again. He judged from the sluggish movements (which were still so much quicker and graceful than his own) that his companion was tired and had slept little the night before. Then he smacked himself in the forehead, loudly. It was these little observations that had annoyed the maverick so much the night before. He really didn't need to bring that up again.

The bloodshot violet eyes viewed him critically as he nervously shifted, wringing his hands together behind his back. He could pick out barely concealed irritation, anger and contempt, peeking out from behind a calmly cold expression.

"I um, just... wanted to... check up... on you..."

"Don't sneak around if you can't do it quietly," was the acidly snapped reply, lacking all of the indifferent pretences on Raven's face, before he turned back to the old man. The shoulders -which were still starkly visible where the black fabric had been torn away- tensed, and his actions acquired a slight, angry tremble.

"Yeah... um, sorry about...that... I'll just go... now..."

Not even receiving a sign of confirmation, he stepped out and ducked around the doorframe. Leaning back on the cold stone wall, he sniffed, then scolded himself for the second time in five minutes. So what he'd heard Raven just say was hurtful... so what? Didn't he deserve such for snooping? Surely he was lucky he didn't receive anything worse than a few harsh words...

"Isn't that the kid who destroyed the Ultimate Deathsaurer... Lieutenant Van Flihite...?"

"He may be Lieutenant Flyheight to you, ji-chan, but he's no one to me. Nothing."

"Nothing?" Van whispered, wanting to disbelieve but not succeeding. "Was I always nothing, when I couldn't fight you all those years back? The times I defeated you -though admittedly never without help- and all those oppurtunities you had to kill me but didn't? And these last few weeks... nothing?" He drew a long shuddering breath, and managed a painfully wry smile. "I'm being melodramatic; with other people, I'm everything: hero, idol, friend. But you, Ryss, Shadow..."

Noticing the organoid sitting there, watching him with disapproval but not resentment, he finally slid to the ground on his knees. The black Zoid walked over to him, watching with the fierce intelligence all the organoids seemed to emit, then growled in an almost gentle way. He tentatively reached out a shaking hand; Shadow let it stay on his icy metallic head for a moment, long enough to demonstrate acceptance, before shaking it away and stalking off to the bedroom. Again, as Van absently observed the oddly human-looking bandages adorning the broken tail, he could sense the organoid's intention to communicate with him.

Van would have really liked to tell him that the feeling was mutual.

The sniffling was driving him crazy. He knew he was the cause, and he wanted it to stop, now. But he wasn't prepared to actually go over and tell Van to shut up, as well as adding any more harsh words that happened to be on his mind. It was enough punishment for the sentimental pilot to feel guilty about what he'd done, though with logical hindsight, Raven could see that it wasn't entirely his fault. He'd seen how curious his companion was about him and let it continue, even at times almost encouraging it. Then, he'd told him to get the pills himself, when he was well aware of what else was in that bag.

His own fault then, that those little pieces had been looked through. His own fault from the start. He shouldn't have opened up to Van at all. The instructions; the short random conversations; the questioning looks directed frequently from both sides. These would all have to stop, if he wanted to keep Van well away from him. That... was a big if.

Finally, the incessant sound from the other side of the wall stopped. The old man -whose hearing was nowhere near as sharp as his own- had not noticed the sound, having faded into a light slumber after swallowing two pills, bringing the bottle's total down to fifteen; two had been taken by the patient during the night, while he had gulped down a few himself. He'd need to get more soon.

"Shadow," he acknowledged. The organoid didn't respond, glaring at his owner uncharacteristically for a few moments before stomping loudly over to the bed. Raven disregarded the odd reactions, then listened to the muttered growls with growing irritation. He turned to his partner, and waited until the blue eyes moved to his own before haughtily speaking, with a good deal of annoyance.

"What's wrong?"

/What kind of IDIOT are you?!/

Something shattered at the shouted snarl, incomprehensible to all except Raven. He looked at the organoid with shock and confusion, then composed himself and coolly asked, "What do you mean, Shadow?"

/There was no need to do that to him./

"Sure there was. He snooped."

/You encouraged it!/

"You're mistaken, Shadow. I did no such thing."

His partner gave a short, barked laugh. /Come off that, Reivun. Don't I know you better than anything? You want him to find out more about you, just as you want to find out more about him./

"Back off."

/Go and talk to him./

"Back. Off."

Satisfied that his insight had been successfully delivered, the organoid moved away, leaving his owner to chew on what he'd just conveyed.

He winced when a finger bled on the broken cup, trying to quickly clean up the mess before someone saw. Except that there wasn't anyone to see, except the four bandits he'd managed to keep from the battle yesterday, and had just woken up. He needed to interrogate them; ask what they wanted, where they were from, how long they'd been following him, that kind of thing. And he really couldn't be stuffed, at least until he moved all the little shards of porcelein into the bin. The clink of piece on piece hinted to him of metal on tiled floor, and prompted once again the memory of that sound he'd just heard.

/...IDIOT.../

He knew the feeling, could remember it so well despite not communicating mind to mind with an organoid for so long. 'Zeke,' part of his mind whispered. 'You haven't talked with Zeke for so long.' He dismissed the thought, instead preoccupied with the joy of finally, finally understanding something Shadow had said. It didn't matter that it had been unintentional, or that it had been a mere word in a sentence; he had actually comprehended the black organoid. This was awesome.

Finishing with the useless crockery, he turned to the bandits who struggled in their rope bonds and hissed abuse at him. One hand pulled the newly sharpened knife out of its sheath, while the the other picked up a whetstone. He walked slowly over, holding their attention fully as he slowly brought forth his items, showing them off proudly to his captives. Perhaps it was the shining edge of the blade that stilled their movement, or perhaps it was the toothy smirk he'd sculpted onto his face. Flicking his tongue over the sharp canines, he summoned his spookiest voice.

"Good morning"

"What the hell do you want?" asked one of them, a feisty female who tried to glare. Cocooned as she was in twisted hemp, it was unconvincing.

"To play 20 questions, of course. But I'll only be asking five. You will oblige?" he asked, not leaving room to argue as he started the game immediately. "What are you after?"

"None-" Her answer was overridden by the screech of knife blade on whetting stone.

"I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?"

"Don't say anything!" a different bandit commanded, jerking his bald head for emphasis. Van simply turned to the man coolly, and cocked his head in interest.

"You want to answer instead." The mockingly husky voice rang with the second scrape, spraying tiny grains of metal up into the defiant face. "Come now, don't be like that. Otherwise I'll have to invite my partner to ask. You don't want that; he's not too happy about you hitting his tail."

He reclined in a chair, casually placing the knife on the table and replacing it with a short metal pole that was twirled with a killer's ease, sadistically reminding the bandits of the battle. A battle which they had lost, despite their superior forces and advanced weapons. Twenty bandits armed with guns had not withstood the assault of a single boy armed with a metal pole, a stack of plates, pots, mugs, and a black Zoid. The last they had laughed at. Such a tiny Zoid could not be piloted, and without a pilot, what good was the machine? But it had received their comments with a vicious glow of blue in its eyes that had warned, but was not heeded.

Their mistake.

They had been shocked to find themselves under attack by seventy kilos of fast-moving sable metal, glowing a blinding blue as it tore through their ranks too quickly to follow, without direction from a pilot. Had they been mistaken then? To think of this Zoid as merely a remote-controlled toy? What the hell were they fighting? This was no mindless machine of a Zoid, but certainly no toy either. It was too powerful, more powerful than anything they'd ever faced before. Even the Zoids of the most powerful members of the Guardian Force were surely nothing compared to this... thing.

The bandits looked again at their adversary. This boy -who looked to be no older than sixteen to them- had been scarcely easier to combat. He knew the element of surprise so well it could have been his twin. The ammunition had been thrown more to increase the confusion then to do any actual damage; that was the pole's job. The rounded length of metal, maybe a metre in length and sharp on one end, had gouged and struck wherever the Zoid had previously missed or neglected. Their sixteen companions had been downed instantly, and they had been knocked unconscious, though a few lucky hits had managed to scratch them a little. He'd fought with a skill only their boss possessed, and even then, the old man would be hard-pressed to take this kid down.

They now wondered who the brat was, and feared to know.

"What was that thing?" A man who had yet to speak suddenly asked, then seemed to cringe at the vibration of his own voice. A raised eyebrow requested clarification, and he found himself elaborating, "That... black thing that was fighting. It can't be a Zoid."

"He is an organoid," replied Van, placing a casual emphasis on the last word, which was again used on the first word of the next. "Shadow, his name is."

"O-organoid?!"

Organoids were beings placed on a par with the recently departed Deathsaurer. Though the bandits knew little of the actual workings of the organoids, they did know that only the very best pilots in the world could command them. Only the Guardian Force had a universally known organoid, a white organoid who had fought side by side with Van Flyheight in his battle against the Ultimate Deathsaurer. But Van Flyheight had quit the Guardian Force and left his partner behind, though he had kept his Liger...

"Y-y-you..." A horror spread over the bandits' faces, as they guessed who he was.

"Yeeesssss?"

"V-van Fl-fl-flih-hite!"

"That's my name," he confirmed sarcastically, wincing inwardly at the altered pronunciation as he bowed. Letting the smirk grow slightly, he prodded, "Now that that is cleared up, my questions...?"

He did not finish his sentence before the information came pouring out, each bandit desperate to get on the good side of the hero sitting in front of them. He in turn acted the part of the idol, nodding at their answers as he recorded them mentally, occasionally pausing the babble to clear up a point. He was charismatic, elegant, smart, powerful... everything a hero should be. At the end of it, he let them go after extracting a promise not to join another bandit gang. They agreed eagerly, and would comply; farming, peacekeeping or mechanics would be their new jobs. And so, the bandits rode away in their Zoids with a bright, lawful future ahead.

Van Flyheight watched them go, sickened to his core by the hero-worship that had allowed them to view his most sarcastic comments as heartfelt advice. At least he'd gotten what he'd needed from these idiots, though it was a high price to pay. Soon the whole country would know he was running around this part of the world with a black organoid. His friends would immediately figure out who he was with, and would either lament his shift in alliance or plan some elaborate rescue scheme.

He spat with disgust, then turned and walked back into the house. Suddenly, Van wanted to see them all. Irvine, Moonbei, Fiona, Zeke, Rudolph, Dr. D, Thomas... he wanted them to see his new life. They might congratulate him, or more likely yell at him, but he wanted them to know. "Maybe after we get the Genobreaker back," he mused, feeling more optimistic. Okay, maybe Raven was still mad at him for snooping, and would never talk to him again, but they were both still here. Maybe Raven hadn't given up on him completely. Maybe...

"I'll make it up to you Raven."

AN2: Oh, another thing. I jump around with the spelling of Raven and Van's names. This is intentional. You're supposed to look at it in context. When Van's being hero-worshipped, he's got Flihite instead of Flyheight attached to his name. It's the manga's fault. As for Raven... if I say that its a major plot thing, I'd be lying. But I'm sure I'll think up a plausible reason somewhere along the way...

Review responses:

tYp0- I'm sorry that you might not agree with me if I do decide to do a Raven/Van pairing, though currently no pairing's on the agenda. Currently though, the only other suggestion I've had is Van/Ryss, and I have NO idea how to do that. Suggestions will be helpful. Van'll definately have a confrontation with his former pals, especially Fiona, since I want to shoot and bury the possibility of Van/Fiona in this fic. And I'm happy that you like maverick-mode Van. Two Ravens have gotta be better than one!

Taltos- Yeah, sorry about the whole choppy plot and no descriptions thingy. I'll try and do better. bows Though I really don't know what the landscape and things should look like, because I've really only seen maybe 15 episodes of CC/GF. I've only seen 1 episode of GF, and it was the last one. Like I said above, my TV blew a fuse, and my mum didn't fix it for a couple of months, even though she could in about 2min. XX So any factual inaccuracies would be because of that. Usually when I have to describe something I draw it, but I can't draw landscape. I like characters a lot better.

Mercenary Pen- I'm so sorry that its yet another filler chapter! But hopefully it remedies the missing stuff from last chapter and has a LITTLE plot progression? And there WILL be definite plot progression next chapter, which WILL be out sometime soon. I think. I'm getting more into this story now, though I still haven't got a long term plot planned. Bear with me? Yeah... I hope I've improved the time flow and mentioning, though I may need to be reminded... thick skulll...

Hannah- Van finding out about Raven's past will be a combination of both snooping and telling, I suppose, especially if asking is counted as snooping. I'm sorry about the whole pairing thing, because I might decide to put shounen-ai in this, though you probably should be warned about the amount of shounen-ai or yaoi fanfiction, especially in anime and manga. If I write any pairing in this (which is starting to look more and more doubtful) I'll warn people beforehand, just in case.

wyrd- ...that is a long review that deserves an equally long reply. Unfortunately, I have parents. Anyway, I guess I should work on my plot flow better. I'll try. The gun thing is a bit odd, but considering that Raven could beat the hell out of Shadow when he was little, I don't think a inanimate metal gun stands a chance. Still, that was a bit odd, venturing more into humor/parody territory. It's my friend's fault, I swear! I think there would be something wrong with a completely mature Van or Raven, even if they're around 20 now. Besides, it's a little more amusing when they're still childishly fighting.

Drogan- short but sweet review. Thank you for it!