Chapter 3: Honesty


When Raven had woken up during the night, she was surprised, and also incredibly relieved. He had seemed a bit confused, but that was only understandable given that he had a concussion. The fact that he was able to wake up that soon means he is recovering well, and fast.

After Raven fell back asleep, she grabbed the empty water canteen and headed out of the tent. She looks up at the sky, noting that it was starting to get lighter. She had slept for longer than she expected. Shadow was still sleeping beside the tent.

"Specula, any news?" she asked through their connection, sensing her organoid's presence closer to the canyon entrance. She feels Specula's reply, telling her that everything was clear, and that she hasn't seen any zoids since the two Redlers.

She walks towards the Geno Breaker, refilling the canteen from the water reservoir tank in the storage compartment. She drops off the refilled canteen just inside the tent entrance before heading over to Specula's position. Upon reaching her, Specula greets her with a hum. "It's your turn to get some rest. I'll take over." The blue organoid hesitated, and Reese rolls her eyes. "I got enough sleep, I promise." Reese smiles and shakes her head as Specula walked away, amused at her organoid being such a worry wart over her.

She kept watch for almost two hours, until the sun finally rose. When it became bright enough, she decided to prepare some breakfast, deeming it safe to use a fire now. She walks back to the camp site, and sees that everyone is still sleeping. She is the only one awake, so she makes a mental note to keep her senses sharp as she works.

She takes out a portable stove and a small pot. She fills the pot halfway with water and brings it to a boil. She then opened a military ration packet of freeze-dried beef stew, and pours the contents into the pot to reconstitute it. She would have to keep stirring it until it was ready.

Once it was done, she takes the pot off of the fire and sets it aside, its lid keeping it covered and warm. She then takes a thermal carafe, adds a packet of coffee and some water into it, then places it on the fire.

As she waits for the coffee, she looks toward the tent, wondering when Raven would wake up. It was already approaching late morning, and they still have a lot of distance to put between them and the authorities. He would want to head out immediately, as soon as he woke up.

She lets out a sigh, he really needs to rest, and the only way he can get that while staying on the move is if she pilots the Geno Breaker or if Specula or Shadow take control. Without any Zoidian magnite, however, it'll take a while longer for Shadow to fully recover, and she doesn't think Raven likes the idea of Specula in control either. She'll just have to make sure he doesn't push himself too hard and just see where they go from there.


When Raven opens his eyes, it is bright outside. His head feels clearer, if he can ignore the mild headache. He remembers waking up in here before…he really must've been out of it. He remembers…Reese… "Where is she?" he thought, as he glanced at the corner by the entrance. Not there, but there is that water canteen.

He tries to get up, carefully this time. He does remember what happened last time. He rolls a little bit onto his right side first, this time using his right arm to slowly push himself up. He grimaced at the pain he felt all along his chest and sides. Once he gets to a seated position, he takes a minute to adjust. He waits for the throbbing pain in his head to subside as he regains his equilibrium, and he waits for his body to become inured to the constant pain. He lifts the blanket to look at his state, and is surprised to see himself all bandaged up. He touches his forehead and feels the bandage there as well.

He remembers everything now. He must have passed out while they were on the run after the battle. He frowns, annoyed with himself for having been so weak. If it wasn't for Reese, they would have been caught by now. Hmm? That last thought caught him off guard…it's like he feels…glad to have her around.

He decides not to dwell on it, and instead tries to put on his military jacket that had fallen off to the side when he got up. He slowly puts it on, one arm at a time, wincing at the twinges of pain in his ribs when he lifts his arms. Once he is done, he reaches for the canteen and takes a drink; slowly this time…he also remembers that last coughing session. He straps the canteen onto his belt and gets ready to head out.

When he gets outside, his eyes squint and strain against the brightness. It wasn't even that sunny, considering they were shaded by tall canyons. His headache intensified, and he could barely open his eyes.

"Hey, you're awake." He hears Reese's voice somewhere to the right. He slowly forces his eyes to open. He sees Reese walking towards him, a mug in hand.

"You had a mild concussion. Your eyes might be sensitive to the light for while." She explained.

"Here. Have some coffee, it might help." He takes the proffered mug from her, nodding his thanks.

"Where are we? How long have I been out?" he asked, drinking his coffee.

"I'm not entirely sure where we are. We were heading south from Eviopolis for about 6 hours before we had to stop." She explains, as she starts to serve the rest of the beef stew into a bowl for him.

"It has been almost 15 hours since then." She hands him the bowl. He takes it without thinking, more distracted by the fact that he has been out of commission for fifteen hours.

"We need to get moving. We've lost too much time." He said, quickly finishing his coffee and setting the bowl down by the pot, still full. Before he could make a move for the Geno Breaker, however, he hears a roar and sees Shadow and Specula walking towards them.

"Hey Shadow." He greets his organoid with a small smile, glad that he's alright. Shadow bounds over to him the rest of the way, relieved to see his partner has recovered, after being so guilt-ridden for the past fifteen hours. He touches Shadow's muzzle, amused at the organoid's unusual happy behavior.

Specula approached her master more calmly, seemingly rolling her eyes at the other organoid. Reese strokes her muzzle in greeting. "Did you find out anything, Spec?" Specula relays the new information she acquired during her reconnaissance with the black organoid. Reese nods at her organoid and updates Raven on their situation.

"There were two Redlers last night, Imperial soldiers who caught up to us. They didn't spot us though, and kept moving south. Since then, they've now backtracked and started searching for us in the east. It's only a matter of time before they start looking in our direction." Reese finished explaining.

She still doesn't like the idea of Raven moving about so soon, not with the extent of his injuries, but she knows that Raven can be quite obstinate, and likely won't listen to her if she told him he needed to rest. She figures the best way to help him now is to make things easier for him. If she opposed him now, her resistance would only cause him more aggravation.

"What's wrong?" Raven suddenly asked, pulling Reese out of her thoughts. She looks up at him, wondering if he was talking to her or to Shadow. He was looking right at her, with an intense look on his face. "Am I that easy to read?" She thought to herself.

"It's nothing, it doesn't matter. Come on, we have to keep moving, right?" She says as she starts to dismantle the tent.

Raven frowns at her response, not liking the idea that she is withholding something from him.

"Reese, if we're going to be travelling together, I need full transparency from you." He said, not removing his eyes off of her form, still somewhat mistrusting of her.

She looks up at him again, surprised and…a little hurt at the mistrusting look in his eyes. She sighs before straightening up to fully face him. If he wants her honesty, then so be it.

"I think you need more rest, you shouldn't be pushing yourself, not with the injuries you have. You'll only end up hurting yourself even more if you don't take it easy." There. She said it. She looks at him straight in his eyes, no doubt her stubbornness also showing through.

He quietly stands there, looking at her, just a slight hint of disbelief on his face. "That's it? That's really what was bugging her?" He thinks to himself, not expecting her earlier avoidance to be about her worry for him. He can see she is telling the truth though, preferring the look of resolve in her eyes at this moment, rather than the look of hurt he saw earlier. He also didn't expect the twinge of guilt that hurt look had stirred in him.

"What exactly would you suggest then? You said so yourself, we need to get going, and I sure as hell ain't taking the back seat in my own zoid." He said, with a challenging undertone to his words.

"And like I told you, it doesn't matter. I knew you wouldn't listen anyway." She threw him an annoyed look and continued to pack up the tent. "A new era of peace and we start our first day by arguing." Reese thought to herself, shaking her head at the irony.

Raven stood there a moment longer, not really sure what to say. He had expected her to keep insisting, just as she had done many times before. What is there to listen to anyway? The only other member of their little group he'll allow to take the controls of the Geno Breaker is Shadow, and he had already resolved not to order Shadow around like he did before. Shadow is also still recovering, and he'll rather push himself to the limit than get Shadow hurt again.

He sighs, not really understanding why she's worried about him, but deciding to assuage her anxiety anyway. "Listen, I'll be fine, okay? We're just traveling. If we run into any trouble, I won't engage."

Reese looks at him in surprise, not at all expecting him to say anything like that to her…as if he was trying to soothe her. It was her turn to be speechless, only giving him a small nod in response.

With Reese finishing up packing the tent and the blankets, Raven moves to gather the rest of the supplies. Before he could reach the stove and the pot, however, Reese calls to him, stopping him midway. She approaches him, the bowl of beef stew in hand.

"Here, you could at least eat something before we leave. We'll finish up here." She said, a no-nonsense tone to her voice, handing him the bowl without another word. She picks up the stove, pot and carafe, and then heads over to the Geno Breaker with Specula carrying the bag. He shakes his head and starts to eat. He quickly finishes the food, not realizing how hungry he actually was. Shadow hummed beside him, also satisfied that his master had something to eat.

"Hm. So you think it's a good idea to keep them around then?" He asked his partner, not removing his eyes from the two blue figures by his Geno Breaker putting away supplies. Shadow gave another approving hum, also looking at the other two in the distance.

"Yeah…I think so, too." He softly added, as they moved to catch up to them, ready to head out.