A/N: Welcome to chapter 2 for my little experiment, as I like to call it. While this chapter does have some romance in it, it should be the last glimpse of it in large doses for a while. Really, it's setting the tone for this chapter: happiness and obliviousness until the house of cards comes tumbling down, as it was. Enjoy, and Happy belated Holidays!
"…" – conversation/worlds
'…' – thoughts
"…" – Zoids and Organoids talking
Chapter 2: Islands and Words
Lumière Island, Florecia Ocean, Planet Zi, 6 December ZAC 2104 – 2:00 pm
The sun shone down on Lumière Island, the spot where Van, Fiona, Zeke, Dr. Dee and Ryss had been when an ancient Zoidian city rose from the depths of the ocean six years ago, though the latter present for different reasons than the previous four. The island hadn't changed much since that incident… except that it was more populated. The group who was now hailed as the "Deathsaurer Killers" had anonymously bought the island as their own getaway, for when things became unbearable on the mainland. Of course, this meant that no one knew the location of the island except for those who purchased the island or anyone they told, plus Dr. Dee received unlimited time with those ruins that were exposed at low tide for more research.
"Come on in! The water's great!" Van exclaimed surfacing from what had been a perfect dive off a rather large cliff. The group had decided to sneak away to the island for the entire month of December… which meant that Van, Fiona, Thomas, Raven and Ryss had had to very carefully leave their jobs without arousing suspicion. What they didn't know was that anyone who noticed their absence said nothing still grateful to the group for all that they had done years ago in their elimination of the UltimateDeathsaurer. This, of course, meant that their jobs were in absolutely no danger; no one in their right mind would fire or punish a member of the "Deathsaurer Killers"! It just wasn't done!
Raven, from his position on a rock snorted. "No way in hell, Flyheight." What was of most interest to the people of Zi was the apparent transformation of two well-known killers into people… well, as decent of people as was gotten when their past wasn't taken into consideration. Raven had decided to become something of a mercenary-slash-Guardian Force member, the last only because it was part of his court-ordered community service. Until that order ended, Raven had resigned himself to being one of Van's… ugh, groupies.
Van seemingly pouted before a large smirk broke out onto his face. He dove beneath the water once more the surface showing nothing except a small ripple as to where he had entered the ocean. Raven narrowed his eyes. He knew Flyheight was up to something; what, he wasn't sure but he would find out.
Ryss, who was sitting with Fiona tanning (or, trying to, as apparently their genetic makeup prevented extreme tanning; the epidermis just didn't tolerate it) shook her head and grinned. Fiona raised a pale eyebrow at her friend, silently asking what was going on.
"Your husband is about to upset my boyfriend," Ryss stated, smirking. Fiona sighed.
"When will he learn?" Looking over to where Raven was sitting, she sighed once again. "No warning him this time?"
Ryss shook her head. "Nope. He needs to get wet anyway; it's been a while."
"Honestly, Ryss. Do you have to talk about whatever Raven and you do when not working here?" Fiona asked exasperatedly only to giggle when she caught the dreamy expression on her friend's face. "He's that good, huh?"
Ryss looked shocked. "Fiona, how dare you talk about such things here in public!" The two Zoidian women giggled. The two had been working together for a little over four years with Dr. Dee, and with both sets of memories more was known about the Zoidian culture then there had been before, including the disproving of the well-known theory on the destruction of the Zoidian civilization. It wasn't due to the falling of the planet's third moon to the surface but the Ultimate Deathsaurer's reign of terror before its sealing in the ancient city of Eveopolis. As a result, Fiona had become more sarcastic and outspoken while Ryss more prone to joking and random instances of full-fledged smiles and happiness; Raven had remarked one time that it was that side of Ryss that sometimes unnerved him. He'd earned three nights on the couch along with Shadow's teasing for a week straight for his remarks.
The two women looked up when a splash followed by a scream of outrage emanated from where Raven had been sitting quietly, enjoying the calmness of the ocean. The dark-haired warrior had been soaked by his rival in a series of rather large splashes. Raven, after a moment of vehement cursing suddenly smirked, causing a laughing Van to suddenly get nervous.
"You want to play, Flyheight? Let's play." With these words Raven suddenly jumped into the water, splashing Van in the process. Van looked around wildly, wondering where in Zi his rival-turned-friend had gone… then felt himself being pulled under. Van barely had time to yell before he was dragged underwater, a ripple marking the spot. As the two Zoidians watched smaller ripples were seen on the water's surface, a sure sign that the two Zoid warriors were fighting fiercely underwater for dominance over the situation.
A few minutes later, both warriors emerged from the water, soaked and glaring at each other. Both smirked before beginning what seemed to be a race towards the cliff from which Van dove earlier. The women shook their heads at the men's actions before returning to their tanning. Apparently, the old adage "boys will be boys" still held true; Van and Raven certainly proved it.
Meanwhile, Thomas was sitting further from the ocean, tinkering with a device that he was hoping would act as a deterrent to Zoids' natural desires to fight until they were destroyed when not piloted. There were still a lot of bugs to work out but like any good scientist he could be patient. He would continue working on it until it was perfect. Then he saw a body flop on the ground next to him out of the corner of his eye.
"Heya, Thomas!" chirped the voice and Thomas inwardly grinned. His partner-in-crime was here.
"Rosa," Thomas acknowledged glancing over. Viola's younger sister had finally convinced said older sibling to allow her to leave the small, remote village on top of Mt. Iselina to venture into the "real world". Due to her gift with machinery, she had been placed onto the research team working under Dr. Dee and had excelled at it, becoming attached to the ex-Republican scientist in the process. It was through Dr. Dee that she had met Thomas and though there had been a few arguments at first (over machinery and their uses with Zoids, you understand) they were, more often than not seen working together on something, heads put together in thought.
"When did you arrive?" Thomas asked picking up a small screwdriver from a portable toolkit; he never left home without it and Beke.
Rosa shrugged, flipping her rather long brown braid over her shoulder. "Hmm, a few minutes ago. Parked over there." She pointed over her shoulder and Thomas, glancing over his shoulder saw the very top of a black StormZorder. He raised an eyebrow.
"Since when do you pilot, much less own a StormZorder?"
Rosa grinned. "Since I blackmailed Sis into getting me one." It was true, of course. She had caught her sister and brother-in-law Rosso making out on the desk of a minor bureaucrat whom almost no one liked one time too many. The man was a remnant of Gunther Prozen's reign as regent and although he was eligible for dismissal no one wanted to take on that task. Rudolph, as of late had been considering letting the man go, though it was not recommended as he still had a lot of information on the inner workings of Prozen's regime that needed to be retrieved, meaning that he had to be watched at all times in case he let something slip.
Therefore, Rosa had discreetly collected evidence of what she had seen and a few weeks before her twenty-second birthday had asked Viola to get her a StormZorder. When protests had been raised, Rosa had nonchalantly pulled out her blackmail evidence and a week or two later had received her new Zoid.
Thomas returned the grin. "I see. Congratulations are in order, I suppose." He quickly looked around for a moment before asking, "Is your sister here?"
Rosa, catching on to Thomas' slight nervousness on the subject of her sister smirked. "She's right behind you, Thomas." The young Imperial officer literally jumped to his feet and stood ready to salute the "Sword of Storms", as Viola was known, only to find nothing but thin air. Eyes narrowing he glared down at Rosa, who was vainly trying to smother her laughs.
"Think that's funny, do you?" Thomas asked only to receive stifled laughter as an answer. A smirk soon overtook Thomas' face after a minute, causing the cessation of Rosa's laughter. Kneeling, he quietly and quickly put away the project he had been working on before picking up the materials and placing them on a nearby towel. Then, taking off his headpiece that held the connection to Beke's position in his Dibison Thomas placed it next to his tools, all of which were soon covered by his tee-shirt. Rosa couldn't help but stare at the young man's back where a faint scar could be seen, running from his left shoulder down to his right hip. Of course, the toned muscles also caught her attention…
Rosa quickly turned her head away when Thomas spun around to face her, a bewildered look taking over his smirk when he saw that his friend was staunchly refusing to face him. Did he have something on his face that he hadn't noticed earlier?
"Ready for some fun?" Thomas asked deciding to put Rosa's strange behavior in the back of his mind for the moment a smirk once more appearing on his face. Rosa, having turned back to him saw the gleam in his eyes and began realizing what he was going to do.
"Thomas, no, I really don't want to –" Rosa was abruptly cut off when Thomas swept her into his arms and took off running for the ocean, Rosa's fists on his chest an ineffective attempt to stop him. Pretty soon she found herself flying through the air only to land roughly in the water, accidentally swallowing some of it. Quickly making her way to the surface she glared at the chuckling Imperial soldier, who was still nice and dry.
"Thomas, how dare you! That wasn't very nice!" Rosa complained crossing her arms while treading water.
"Neither was tricking me into believing that your sister was here," Thomas replied cheekily obviously not caring in the least that his friend was soaking wet and glaring at him in a way that, if it had been possible to glare daggers would have had him impaled to the nearest tree. Her angry look was soon replaced by a sly smile causing Thomas to quirk an eyebrow.
"What are you smiling about?" he asked warily having come to realize that that type of smile almost always foretold something bad was going to happen… usually to him. Before Rosa had time to formulate a reply, Thomas felt himself flung forward and with a rather loud splash landed in the ocean.
"What on Zi," Thomas began spitting salt water out of his mouth stopping when he saw a laughing silver Organoid on the beach. "Zeke…" Said Organoid merely looked at Thomas with the equivalent of a lopsided smile before turning and trotting away towards the small cove where Van, Fiona, Raven and Ryss were hanging out.
"Well, I guess we're both wet," Thomas sighed trying to keep his attention off the deep blue swim suit underneath Rosa's white tee-shirt, which had been on at the time of her impromptu trip into the ocean. Really, it was inappropriate to wear a tee-shirt on top of a swimsuit when one went swimming; it was impractical! Of course, Rosa looked really nice wet…
'Stop that!' Thomas mentally told himself managing to forcibly repress the blush that had tried to appear on his face. 'That's not the gentlemanly thing to do!' Rosa apparently hadn't noticed Thomas' silence, too busy wading towards the shore where she quickly shucked off her tee-shirt, tossing it onto a beach towel she pulled out of her bag. Then, making her way back into the water she dove under the surface, coming up a few feet in front of Thomas' face, startling him.
"Rosa! Don't do that!" Thomas exclaimed once more embarrassed to have been caught unawares.
Rosa merely shrugged, obviously not too concerned with Thomas' reaction. Grinning, she sent a wave of water at her friend, who blinked it away from his eyes.
"So it's that way, huh?" Thomas proceeded to splash Rosa back before diving underwater and setting off for the cove where Van, Raven, Fiona and Ryss were, Rosa hot on this tracks. Every so often, they'd resurface to take in air before continuing their underwater swimming race, each determined to beat the other.
In the meantime, on top of the cliff from which Van had dove earlier, Irvine was seated a stiff breeze ruffling his hair. Although he had helped defeat the "Ultimate Deathsaurer" six years ago life was still the same for him. Now, though, he tended to do more work in cooperation with the Guardian Force than plain old mercenary work. Free work on his Saix whenever needed was also nice; less money he had to spend. In addition to his money-saving tendencies, he tended to spend more time with his friends than he had in the year-long absence between Prozen's first and second deaths.
'Anyone other than those who lived through it wouldn't believe me if I said that Prozen died two times; they'd think I'm insane.' He chuckled. 'No more so than the rest of the group.'
"Irvine!" came a voice and Irvine lazily turned his head catching a glint of white. The sound of footsteps was heard as well and soon enough Moonbay was next to him.
"Moonbay, to what do I owe the honor of your presence?" Irvine asked a smirk gracing his face. Moonbay scowled before plopping on the ground next to Irvine stretching out her legs, which were bare of her typical skirt but were covered by a pair of tan shorts.
"Just wanted to enjoy the breeze," Moonbay retorted eyes narrowed. Catching the playful look in Irvine's eyes she grinned. "If that's okay, your Highness."
"Now, Moonbay, you know better. His Highnesss is in Guygalos right now, not here in front of you," Irvine scolded smirking. Moonbay laughed. Honestly, it had been too long since she and Irvine had gotten a chance to just sit down and talk. She had been extremely busy with her transporting business in the past few months to really interact with Irvine, and even though she was an unofficial member of the Guardian Force, she almost never saw him. Sure, she saw Van, Fiona, and Thomas, plus Raven, Ryss and Rosa often enough, but Irvine was almost never on base when she was, or was just leaving as she was pulling in or vice-versa. It was quite vexing.
"True, but who says that you're not royalty in your own way," Moonbay teased grinning. "For all we know you could be some long-lost cousin of the Madame President. Just think, you'd be related to Rob Hermann!" She laughed at the faintly disgusted look that crossed Irvine's face at the thought.
"Ugh. Don't make me gag." Irvine looked from Moonbay to the expanse of ocean in front of him, the wind once more ruffling his hair. "It's really nice here. Totally understandable why the old geezer sent Van and Fiona here all those years ago." Moonbay nodded in agreement.
"Definitely. It's really nice here." She drew a knee up to her chest and rested her arm on it the hand dangling loosely. "So warm and relaxing; just what we need after a few stressful months." She paused a moment before continuing, "So, Irvine. What have you been up to lately?"
Irvine, smirking, proceeded to tell her about the dozens of rogue groups he had stopped (emphasizing the moves he and the Saix had done, of course), the caravans he had escorted from Republican to Imperial territory (even after seven years of peace there were still people in both nations uneasy with the alliance between them) and the training missions he had gone on with Van, Thomas, and Raven.
"It's like I was drafted or something," Irvine grumbled gray eyes staring out over the horizon. "It's not like I'm an official Guardian Force member or something."
"Then why have you stayed with them for so long?" Moonbay asked slyly eyes twinkling. Irvine snorted.
"Hell if I know. Mercenary jobs seem to have dried up," Irvine answered after a moment before continuing, "Money's all I need." For some reason, Moonbay was upset with this answer.
"Really Irvine?" Moonbay asked softly looking at Irvine seriously. "That's all that matters to you?"
Irvine, realizing that he had just given a stupid answer groaned. "No, 'Bay, that's not what I meant."
"What did you mean?"
"Well, I, uh," Irvine began before stammering. Damn it, why was it so hard to say this?
Moonbay cocked her head somehow managing to look cuter in Irvine's eyes. 'Cuter? What the hell!'
Before Irvine could try to formulate an answer, he was interrupted by a yell. Looking down, he and Moonbay saw what appeared to be a small contingent of Zoids heading their way, amongst them what appeared to be a rather old-fashioned Shield Liger on a floating platform pulled by two small War Sharks, and behind them flew two StormZorders and a Republican Terrace.
"What in the hell?" Irvine asked getting to his feet, Moonbay next to him. A piercing whistle suddenly sounded causing the two to put their hands on their ears in an effort to block out the sound. It also caused them to look into the sky where they found a surprise.
"Yoohoo, Irvine! Moonbay! How are you today?" came the cheerful voice of Dr. Dee, who was floating down to the cliff with a rather… "interesting" frog parachute while waving happily. Irvine gritted his teeth.
"Can it old man! You could have blown out my ears!" Dr. Dee merely laughed.
"It wasn't that loud, Irvine!" The ex-Republican scientist landed gracefully the parachute billowing down behind him. Quickly detaching himself from the contraption the old man grinned. "Now, I believe that we have friends to greet. Follow me!" Dr. Dee proceeded to walk towards the stone staircase built naturally into the cliff. Irvine growled under his breath, ready to do something rather nasty to the man but Moonbay laid a hand on his arm, her touch managing to reign in his anger.
"Let's just go with him for now, Irvine," Moonbay declared before smirk;ing. "We can torture the guy later." Irvine thought this over for a moment before grinning.
"Done." He turned around and grabbed the discarded parachute rolling it into a messy ball. "I think I have an idea."
Moonbay, catching on grinned as well. The two then proceeded to make their way down off the cliff with Moonbay almost losing her balance on the smooth stone. Luckily, Irvine caught her by the arm, with a quiet exchange of thanks the only sound between them.
After a few minutes, they arrived at the small cove only to be greeted by a rather large contingent of friends and fellow warriors. Rosso, fire-red mane slightly flattened by his helmet, grinned at the two newcomers, his wife Viola smiling in greeting as well. The female StormZorder pilot had her arms crossed across her chest, leaning against her Zoid's head. Major Generals Rob Hermann and Karl Shubaltz stepped out of the two War Sharks taking a moment to readjust to land before smiling at the group of young adults. Colonel Jake O'Connell, grinning, helped Van's sister Maria out of the Terrace, the latter looking around excitedly. It was obviously her first time on the island. Finally, Five Star General Ian Kruger stepped out of the cockpit of the Shield Liger (obviously his, Irvine realized belatedly) a small grin on his face.
"Very nice place to relax, Captain Flyheight," Kruger remarked looking around. Those with him nodded appreciatively as well, many having not been to the island previously.
"General Kruger, sir!" Van, Thomas and Rosa said instantly snapping to attention, Raven and Irvine reluctantly following suit. This was done for Major Generals Hermann and Shubaltz and Colonel O'Connell as well, the latter a tad embarrassed, apparently still not used to his higher ranking. Kruger waved them off.
"Bah. Enough of that; that's not why I'm here."
"Then, pray tell, why are you here?" Raven asked arms crossed. Shadow, behind his master cocked his head as well. Granted, he had come to accept Raven's… "extended family" into his pack but it never hurt to be cautious. Who knew what could happen to his master if he was not paying attention?
Kruger didn't answer for a moment head bowed in thought. Before he could answer, however, Dr. Dee popped out from behind Thomas, startling the Imperial officer. He was sure that there hadn't been anyone there before…
"We thought we'd all come and join you!" He grinned ignoring the groans from the male populace. "Won't it be fun? All of us here together!"
"Yeah, so much fun. I can hardly wait," Raven muttered glaring at the old man. He had never quite learned to get along with Dr. Dee, even though he had found out that the man knew his parents before Ambient murdered them. The old man plain out annoyed him; that's all there was to it.
Dr. Dee ignored the mutterings from the raven-haired youth; he was quite used to doing it by now. After all, the kid's mother had been much the same way. Always hell and brimstone, that one. Fumiko had been a handful; amazing really that Blake had been able to handle her without getting seriously injured… Ah well. No use in getting caught up in the past.
"I know! It'll be so fun!" Dr. Dee exclaimed throwing an arm around a less-than-pleased Raven. Fiona, sensing danger quickly dragged the doctor off Raven – whose eye was beginning to twitch – and began leading him towards another small cove where she and Ryss had discovered some tablet fragments earlier in the day, with Ryss detailing what she had found to an excited Dr. Dee.
Van heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that murder was not good for the doctor's health... especially when he may have been the victim. Glancing over to the remaining soldiers, he cocked his head and asked, "So, is there a secondary reason that you're here?"
Maria frowned and had just begun to open her mouth to berate her brother for his rudeness when Rob Hermann interrupted. "Actually, Van, my mother sent me here to see if there was a location suitable for the construction of a small house." He received an interested look from the Blade Liger pilot and continued, "She needs a change of scenery and when she heard the rave reviews from Dr. Dee over there," a jab over Van's shoulder had the Zoid pilot turning around and wincing; the good doctor was currently talking about something he found interesting, if the wild gesticulations were any indication, "she knew that this island was worth investigating. So she sent Jake and me over to check it out."
Jake O'Connell inclined his head, agreeing with his superior and best friend. "Any ideas on where the best location is?"
Van glanced over at Raven who cocked an eyebrow, obviously unconcerned with what the President of the Helic Republic wanted to do. Shadow, mimicking his Master copied the action, much to the amusement of O'Connell, who stifled a chuckle.
"We might know a few areas," Van replied cheerfully; too cheerfully.
'Why am I on good terms with him again?' Raven sourly thought arms crossed across his chest. Shadow laid his head on the dark-haired pilot's shoulder, offering him comfort and some words of wisdom through a series of short growls. 'That's right. He is, unfortunately, the only decent competition out there, one that I will beat one day.'
"We, Flyheight?" Raven asked skeptically. Van nodded in agreement with his previous statement, causing Raven's annoyance to grow. "Why should I play any part in this farce?"
Rather than reply, Van turned to Hermann and asked, "The Madame President prefers peace and quiet, right?" At the blonde-haired general's nod, Van smirked and, returning his attention to Raven said, "I know for a fact, Raven, that you are familiar with the majority of the more private locations here on the island; therefore, it is only correct that you give me aid in this search."
Raven snorted. "Big words, Flyheight. What'd you do, swallow a dictionary?" The glare that he received for his words made the dark-haired pilot feel so much better. Sighing in disgust, he said, "Fine. I guess I can help… for a price." Shadow nodded his agreement, causing Zeke to tilt his head to the side in confusion.
Van scowled but before he could shoot a reply back at Raven, Hermann quickly grabbed the Blade Liger pilot and, motioning for O'Connell and Raven to follow began leading the small party off away, asking such questions as the average temperature of the water year round and were there instances of snow?
Irvine and Thomas simultaneously blinked in confusion at Hermann, wondering if he was sane. Kruger, catching on to the two men's thoughts chuckled.
"Rob recently got himself engaged," Kruger confided. Thomas nodded in understanding while Irvine snorted.
"Poor sap." The ex-mercenary received a jab in the chest from Moonbay who, ever the romantic was unable to tolerate such blatant insults against a recently engaged man… even if it was Rob Hermann.
"Karl, why are you here?" Thomas asked drawing attention to the two Imperial soldiers. Rosa, standing next to her partner nodded in agreement, having found time earlier to once more don her tee shirt, though it was still damp.
Maria giggled, attracting the attention of those remaining. "I asked him to come, Thomas."
Thomas gaped, shocked, and was even more surprised when Karl didn't deny it. The man merely shrugged eyes remaining carefully blank. Rosa, on the other hand, grinned.
"How long, Maria?" Curious thing: upon meeting Maria for the first time a few months previous, the two women had instantly clicked and for Rosa it felt as if she had another sister to add to her growing collection (Viola, of course, plus Fiona, Moonbay and, at times, Ryss) and for a young woman who had grown up in near isolation with few playmates her age and her sister leaving to join the Imperial Army, no number of sisters was enough.
Maria thought for a moment, not responding. Karl, still stoic, continued to remain standing next to the female Flyheight, face not giving away anything. Thomas, on the other hand, was musing over how to politely ask his brother if he and Van's sister were involved because if it went so far as an engagement then marriage… dear Zoid Eve, he and Van would be, be, uh, related… Oh no…
"Karl," Thomas began haltingly drawing attention to him. Irvine, sensing that he knew the nature of the upcoming question smirked, leaning against a palm tree to enjoy the upcoming show. He cursed underneath his breath when the opportunity was ruined by Maria's reply to Rosa.
"Just a little under two months, actually. It's still kind of new." The woman acquired a faint blush at the thought, to which Karl allowed a small – miniscule, really – smile to etch itself across his face. Thomas was greatly relieved at the news that this relationship was still new, as he knew that there was a high probability that it would break apart and he would not have to be related to Van. He grinned and upon noticing his brother's questioning look shook his head, indicating that he'd been absorbed in his thoughts too much.
"Nice!" Rosa breathed and, glancing at her partner figured that he and his brother could use some "brother-to-brother time". "Tell me about it?" Maria nodded in assent and allowed herself to be dragged off by the Mt. Iselina native to be interrogated, the two brunettes chatting as if they had known each other their entire lives.
Karl, letting his gaze rest on Maria for a fraction longer than usual missed the knowing glance that Moonbay shot Irvine, the ex-mercenary shrugging in response. This, of course, earned a scowl from the transporter who was severely tempted to hit Irvine for his nonchalant attitude.
"Thomas," Karl spoke suddenly spooking his brother. "Let's move somewhere else to talk, hmm?" At Thomas' nod, the Imperial general motioned for his younger brother to take the lead, he being more familiar with the island.
Rosso and Viola watched these interactions with nonchalant attitudes and, looking at Irvine and Moonbay answered the unspoken question of their presence on the island. "Rudolph gave us the day off and when we heard that Karl was hitching a ride over here, we decided to tag along."
Viola tilted her head at Moonbay, asking, "Know anywhere quiet, Moonbay?" The transporter grinned and quickly led the two StormZorder pilots off to yet another small cove (apparently, the island came equipped with a decent number of coves) that she'd previously discovered, and as she did so she showed off her impeccable balance by proceeding to walk backwards, hand gestures enhancing her tale of how she'd found the cove with Ryss and Fiona at low tide a few days earlier while exploring and attempting to find the starfish that were rumored to live in the coves.
Of course, this left Kruger and Irvine, the former of whom was beginning to get nervous. Irvine, oblivious to all this pushed himself off the palm tree and moved over to the ancient-looking Liger, which was situated on the sand a few feet above the tide line.
"Desert Liger, huh? That's an old model, to be sure," Irvine commented running a hand along the front paw of the Liger carefully, making sure not to irritate the large feline Zoid. Said Zoid was watching the human below him carefully, knowing that although he meant no harm caution was still necessary; after all, ambushes were always possible.
"Yes, I know." Kruger moved so that he was beside the ex-mercenary running a hand along the Liger's upper leg. The Zoid growled in pleasure. "In fact, this is the same Liger that I had at the commencement of the last war between the Empire and the Republic; the one in which Van's father fought and died."
"No kidding." Irvine sounded impressed, and why shouldn't he be? The Desert Liger had, of course, been repainted and upgraded with the latest weapons possible so that he'd still be a considerable force to be reckoned with but to someone like Irvine, who made a living out of battling various Zoids for the highest bidder and, in turn, being offered the opportunities to casually "borrow" various Zoid parts as part of his payment the differences between the Desert Liger and, say, Van's original Shield Liger were easy to see. The paint was a much darker blue, more in tune with the camouflage-nature of the Zoid and the shield generator was an older model, made for quickness of use rather than raw power. The joints were older yet better taken care of than even those on newer Shield Liger models, and there were some artillery weapons fused into the Zoid's main body, particularly those attached to the Liger's front legs that talked of additions to boost the maneuverability and overall deadliness of the Zoid.
"Indeed." Kruger paused then plowed on, "This Zoid has been through some of the most challenging times in recent history, among them Prozen's dual attempts to control the world and Hiltz' same attempt. Yet, for all that he has been through the Desert Liger is still as war-ready as he was when I tamed him in the Wastes so long ago."
Irvine was impressed. The Wastes were located at either end of the planet, near the poles and were where some of the more powerful wild Zoids existed. To travel there and tame a Desert Liger… that was beyond amazing. "How long did that take?"
Kruger paused. 'Eve, that's been decades! Hmm… let's see. Liger here has been under my command for a good thirty-five years… and the war began a few years after I graduated the War Academy as a foot-soldier at the age of nineteen, and I didn't get to see any action until I was twenty-one, so that means that I tamed Liger at the age of twenty.'
"Well," Kruger began slowly, "I don't quite remember the length of time it took for me to tame Liger here, but I do remember that I was twenty when I did."
Irvine whistled in appreciation. "Wicked, old man." He moved around to examine the Liger's tail and, after some coaxing the feline obliged. Irvine made some comments about the set of small laser guns that Kruger had had attached to the Zoid's tail a good twenty years previous in an attempt to increase the deadliness of the Liger. Of course, he'd been successful.
"I agree." Kruger knew that he was being a coward; he had come to the island with a mission, damn it, and he was going to accomplish it, Eve be damned!
The Desert Liger, almost as if sensing his pilot's distress softly growled,
"Master, do not be upset nor fret about what is to come. You must have confidence in yourself if you are to succeed in your personal mission."
Kruger took a deep breath, nodding in agreement with his Zoid. Deciding that he'd not try to play around the bush, so to speak (he was very confident that Irvine would see through that deceit, which, if not handled correctly could lead to even more stress), the Republican Five Star General came to an informed decision: bluntness would be his tool of choice.
"Irvine, do you mind me asking you a rather… personal question?"
A pair of coal gray eyes ('So similar to mine,' Kruger realized with a start) regarded the Republican before curtly nodding in assent, though the silent warning that he had the right to veto any request was communicated as well.
"Very well. Irvine, what do you remember about your parents?"
Irvine frowned. 'Why in Eve does he need to know that? Is this some new shit that I have to do for me to continue getting access to free mechanics and my friends? If not, then what on Zi is it?'
"Why do you want to know?"
"Indulge an old man," Kruger responded smoothly, gaining confidence from each word that fell from his mouth. Irvine rolled his eyes and, mumbling something at Kruger that suspiciously sounded like him being infinitely nicer and more sane than Dr. Dee being the only reason that he'd answer agreed.
"I don't really remember them. Mom died early on, Dad left us, and my kid sister Helena died from some kind of viral infection and fever. I was kicked out of about seven orphanages before the age of ten, so I learned how to live on the street. Became a mercenary at the age of thirteen and almost lost my head by not paying off a gambling debt; thank God for Moonbay and her quick thinking. She saved my ass." Irvine chuckled grimly eyes looking out to the Florecia Ocean before continuing. "'Bay and I have been a duo since then, meeting up every few months for a few drinks and some reminiscing. She helped me get through an addiction to alcohol and I helped her out of her engagement to that bastard McMann." Kruger noted that Irvine's fist was clenched so hard that it was white.
"We've been best friends since, and then we lost touch for a while," Irvine continued unwittingly giving Kruger more information than he had asked but for Kruger, it was like he had found an oasis and was drinking from it greedily. The more information he received from Irvine, the easier it'd be for him to learn more about him. "We only got back into touch when I ended up helping her out of some sleeper trap that she'd unwittingly gotten herself involved in, somehow dragging Van and Fiona into the mess as well. We ended up traveling together and now, well, here I am." He stopped speaking then glanced over to Kruger, eyes narrowed.
"Why the sudden need to hear my entire back story, old man?" Kruger didn't respond for a moment, contemplating how to break the news to the ex-mercenary.
"Irvine, what do you know of the Kojo Clan?" Kruger turned to look at the young man, eyes remaining carefully blank, what Dan Flyheight had referred to as his "Stone Face Look".
Irvine crossed his arms and thought for a moment, knowing that the name sounded familiar... but from where, he couldn't tell you even if offered a Gustav full of bills.
"Sounds familiar, but I have no clue," Irvine shrugged obviously believing that the matter was closed. He was caught off guard, then, when Kruger sighed and moved closer, placing his hands on his shoulder. "Uh, old man? What on Zi are you doing?"
"Irvine, I am so sorry for what has happened in your life." Kruger tried to keep his voice even, really he did, but it was just too much. "I should have been there for you so that you would not have had to suffer."
Irvine, if asked as to what was going on in his mind at that very moment of time would have received a blank look followed by the statement that Old Man Kruger was going crazy. "What in the seven hells are you talkin' about?"
Kruger seemed to draw strength from somewhere as he took a deep breath and answered, "Irvine, I don't know an easy way to say this but, well, I recently found out that I am your, well, your father."