Creation began on 10-20-22
Creation ended on 01-16-24
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Welcome to your Escape: Special for Not Being Special
The town of Laudarant was quiet at night, as though its people were less active when the sun went down. But not everyone was calling it a night right away, as Nico and Burt were meeting with the previous owner of Liger Rogue now, to learn more on the mysterious Zoid and its nature.
"What more about Liger Rogue could I possibly tell you about?" The man, Liger Rogue's previous owner, sporting a red triangle mark on his forehead and two blue rectangles on his cheeks, wearing a blue shirt and dark pants, asked the father and daughter as he set a tray of tea on the table in front of them. "I was never able to get it to work when I had it. The lady I got it from said that it was special, but she never elaborated on what made it so special. It doesn't seem to conform to any other liger-type Zoid in existence, but it's not that unusual; a lot of Zoids stand out in one way or another."
"So, you didn't know about its Organoid Preservation System?" Nico asked him.
"Its what?" He responded. "It has something like that?"
"I'm guessing you never thoroughly examined it when you had it," Burt expressed.
"Since it never saw combat, I saw no point in trying to find out what it could do. It had plenty of power to move around, but…it never really did anything."
"What about the woman who sold it to you?" Nico suggested. "Is she still around to ask about it? Maybe she knows something you might've overlooked."
"Unfortunately, Mariah Saltpeter-Zafroni passed away fifteen years ago from natural causes."
"So, she's gone. There goes any chance of learning more about Rogue."
"But you could probably ask Lupin Holmes about it; the two were close before her death."
"Who's that?" Burt asked. "A friend of hers?"
"No. Lupin Holmes was her stepson who was orphaned at fourteen years due to an earthquake that devastated the town of Vangeance thirty years ago."
"Yeah, I remember that day. The quake lasted thirty minutes and caused substantial damage to the town because of its geological instability. The entire town had to be rebuilt."
"From what I understood, he still lives there, working on aftermarket care parts for open-air cockpit Zoids. Mariah must've told him things about the Zoid that she never told anyone else."
"Thank you," Nico praised the man as she finished her cup of tea. It feels like whenever we come close to finding out about Liger Rogue, we end up with another stopgap at best. But now we have another shot at finding out exactly what is up with this particular Zoid that stands out and may be the only one of its kind. It is one of a kind, like Drake's G-Rex, Valerie's Geno Saurer, Geisha's Storm Sworder…even my Gustav. We all stand out in our own way.
"There was just one thing Mariah told me about that Zoid the last time I saw her alive," the previous owner of Liger Rogue said to the two. "She said, 'Greatness is not the fact that a Zoid is rare. Greatness is the power unleashed within a Zoid. To understand what greatness is, you must work with the Zoid you seek to pair with. Only then will you realize its true value above all else'. I don't know what she meant by that, but she must've known something that others could scarcely comprehend about Liger Rogue."
"Greatness…" Nico repeated. "Greatness."
She and her father left the man's home and walked down the street. The town of Vangeance was a few miles away from Laudarant, but the two were exhausted from the trip to Laudarant that they would rest up before heading to Vangeance.
"Body language says it all, Nico," her father told her.
"Huh?" She responded.
"You're beat."
"I don't think I've ever walked as much as we did to get here today. I've exhausted muscles I didn't even know I had."
Burt picked her and carried her on his back as he walked towards a hotel.
-x-
Running. He never remembered running so much before, even in a dream, and this had to be a dream; he didn't remember anything hitting his pillow after returning to his quarters. How else could he be running down a highway at night, trying to get away from something he couldn't explain in any other way? But here Shinji was, running as though his life depended upon him doing so.
"You can run all you want, boy!" He hears his father's voice, enraged like a sadistic lunatic with a megaphone, yelling at him, "but you can't hide from me! You ruined my life! I will end yours!"
And then, Shinji realized something else: There was a stomping noise behind him as he ran, indicating that something was behind him, chasing him. Turning his head around, his eyes widen in horror, seeing a…a monster of some sort. It looked like some sort of dinosaur, but it was covered in blocky armored with a pair of large claws on its back, and glowing, red eyes.
"Aaaahh!" He screams as he tries to run faster.
At first, he suspected that his father had somehow taken Valerie's Geno Saurer, but realized his error because her Zoid's armor was blue, and this Zoid's armor was white or gray.
"I will get you!" His father yells at him, and he feels the Zoid getting closer to him. "I will get you and put you in the ground!"
He suddenly lost his footing and fell to the ground. Looking up after turning around, Shinji saw the right foot of the Zoid coming down on him.
"Aaaahh!" He screams.
Stomp! The foot came down on him.
"Aaaahh!" Shinji gasps as he wakes up, drenched in sweat, looking around his room and seeing nobody. "Aah…aah…aah…"
It was just a dream, but it felt real, like some sort of…warning. He got up and went to his desk, turned on his computer and updated his profile page with information regarding his nightmare. Even if it got him criticism in the process, he wanted people to know that he felt like his father wasn't going to leave him alone so long as he obsessed over his absence because he wouldn't do as he wanted of him to do. It was his hope that he was just overreacting and this bad dream of his was nothing but his imagination playing games on him.
Unfortunately, as soon as he had completed his update, he received a response from what he wrote down. It was from someone that was a fan of his rebellion against his father and they stated in their message that unless he felt it was nothing but a dream, he should be on his guard in case his father was not going to leave him be.
"Oh, great," he sighs and sends a reply to the messenger. "And what if I don't know what to expect from him?"
Beep! The messenger sent another message.
"You're a Zoid pilot heading for the Royal Cup. It's normal to be fearful of those that refuse to leave you alone. Your father isn't a rarity if he's pursuing you out of spite or some other form of vendetta. It would be reasonable to fear him if he decided to do the one thing he realized would save him time: Come get you himself. But that's only if he made such a choice; if he would rather honor the gamble he made earlier to wait until your team loses five battles in a row, he's stuck waiting for results that may never come. If he chooses not to, then I would worry if he decided to go to Zi and make trouble directly towards you."
Shinji felt worried now. The gamble his father had made on him losing five times in a row was still in force, unless he decided to remove it and give up on Shinji. So long as Gendo still followed the rules of the gamble, and so long as the Clover Team remained unconquered for five consecutive matches, Shinji was safe from having to go back to Earth against his will. So long as Gendo still took a chance with the gamble and lost each time an opposing Zoid team lost to the Clover Team, Shinji was off limits to him and anyone else that might've wanted him on Earth. But Shinji had to make sure.
He had to make absolutely certain that his father wasn't going to…try something different. Checking the ZBC website, Shinji looked under current gambles related to him and the Clover Team. So far, the All-for-One Risk Gamble his father had instigated to try and reclaim him was still active, meaning Gendo couldn't do anything else unless he decided to terminate the gamble and give up. He should've felt like he could breathe again…except that he didn't.
-x-
Stripped of his command, unable to manipulate the Zoid Battle Commission, not even able to know what was going on at NERV, Gendo felt like a lowly civilian with no ties to anything. He hated this. He hated his son for abandoning him, and he wanted him to answer for his treason. Although this was mostly because of that little girl that sought him out and hacked the MAGI and provided Shinji with everything he would need to know on why his father wanted him at NERV to begin with, Gendo blamed Shinji for accepting her offer to join her Zoid team and not returning to Earth to pilot the Eva against the Angels. No matter what the truth or belief was, Gendo held his son responsible for all his wrongs that led to his disgrace.
That petulant brat, he thought as he looked at the profile of his son, which had been updated with talk of a recent dream the boy had regarding his father…and how someone had responded to it with empathy towards his concerns. Go to Zi? I have other concerns than to waste time on a selfish fool that refuses to accept that there is more at stake than some…
Gendo stopped when he realized something; all he had was time after being relieved of his authority at NERV. Because of the complaint made by Captain Katsuragi, the Committee decided that he was in no condition to continue running NERV and suspended him until he straightened out. This, in effect, left him unable to do anything until he decided to give up on the Third Child that had given up on them. He was basically free to do something else with his time.
"This isn't over," he utters as he checks the ZBC website, finding what he was looking for. "This isn't over by a longshot."
-x-
"…Shinji, you look like Hell turned over," Valerie tells Shinji upon seeing him step out of his quarters, his eyes full of lack of bedrest. "Couldn't sleep?"
"More like, every time I tried to, I had a bad nightmare about my father," Shinji explains. "I'm running down a highway at night, and I hear his voice behind me. I turn around, and I see this Zoid that looks similar to your own, but in different-colored armored."
"A dinosaurian Zoid like my Geno Saurer, but with different armor? Was it…white or grayish armor it was wearing? Blocky from the looks of it?"
"Yeah."
"I think you saw a Berserk Fury. They were rare back in the old days of the Guylos Empire. Even to this day, there's not that many of them wandering around. Some are laying around in personal collectors' museums or buried underground or in the oceans. By some accounts, there's only a total of five in existence."
"Didn't members from your family have one?"
"No. Most were Rev Raptors and Command Wolves and Buster Eagles. My acquisition of the Geno Saurer was a shot in the dark due to my compatibility with it."
"Is that normal, fearing that my father will…come here?"
"Yeah, it is normal to fear that happening. If your father's the type to be unwilling to let go and make last-second choices that are based more off of negative emotions than actual desires of reconciling with people he hurt…or lost…because of his past choices, I would definitely find reason to worry about him coming to Zi. But that's only if he made the choice to come here. And even if he did, it's not like he can make an impact on anyone; he's never piloted a Zoid, he's older than most pilots currently alive, and he doesn't have a Zoid or even a sponsor affiliated with the ZBC. The chances of him making trouble for you here as a result of his being on Zi are astronomically slim."
"Aaaaahhh!" They heard Geisha's voice down the hall, and saw her running up towards them. "We got a problem up our ass end of space!"
"Huh?!" Shinji reacts.
"Drake periodically checks the status of the ZBC for anything current, and the All-for-One Risk Gamble your father had on your defeat was listed as being terminated by him," Geisha explains, "and it gets worse."
"Worse than his father ending a gamble?" Valerie questions.
"Shinji, your father somehow found a loophole in the Zoid pilot registry related to the Royal Cup. If he can beat five Zoid teams all at once in a sanctioned match, he will automatically qualify for competing in the Royal Cup. He filled out the entry form necessary for him to enter and added himself as a participant."
Shinji's expression became full of dread.
"What are… Hold on, Geisha, are you saying that…" Valerie tries to speak, holding her hands up. "Are you saying that…"
"Yes," Geisha answers. "Gendo Rokubungi-Ikari…is on his way to Zi right now to try and enter the Royal Cup."
-x-
"…He just left?!" Fuyutsuki asks Ritsuko when he learned that Gendo had left for Zi.
"Apparently, with his command authority of NERV suspended, he found he had more time to focus directly on the Third Child's lack of presence," Ritsuko explains this turn of events, "terminated his previous gambit on making the boy return to Earth and packed up to head to Zi. It's not illegal for him to do what he did; he filed the paperwork and everything."
"Did he say how long he'd be gone?" Misato questions.
"Knowing Ikari, he'll probably be gone for as long as it takes to resolve this issue he perceives and isn't likely to return until he resolves it."
"It's not like he can operate a Zoid when he gets there."
"Actually," went Kaji in response to this, "there's nothing to restrict him from piloting a Zoid. He just needs to be compatible with one. If he's trying to gain entry into the Royal Cup, he'll need to do three things, two of which are on him to do."
"Which three things?" Fuyutsuki asks.
"Operate a compatible Zoid, face five Zoid teams at once and win…and find a sponsor within the ZBC. If he can do the first two, the third one will resolve itself if he impresses someone there enough to enable him to either operate on a Zoid team…or as a soloist."
"Soloist," Ritsuko states coldly. "If he can't trust others as much as can manipulate them, he'll work alone."
"Say he manages to pull it off," Misato asks her, "say that he manages to do everything he needs to do to get where he's going…what are the chances that he's…not going to go too far on his kid just because he refused to cooperate?"
"He refused to tell his son the truth," Fuyutsuki reminds them. "Shinji rejected him as a result of his refusal to own up to why he wanted him here to begin with. But no matter which way you choose to view it, Ikari treats his son's refusal to return as someone enabling him to rebel against him…and refusal, rebellion or even rejection…are something some parents simply will not tolerate forever."
"The way you say it," Kaji utters, "it sounds like the kid's father has nothing but hatred towards him…and wouldn't put it past him to try and scratch him off."
Even though nobody said anything in response to Kaji's opinion, it was beginning to sound exactly like that.
-x-
Unlike the terrestrial transportation that dealt with aerial vessels, the vessels owned and operated by the people of Zi were more efficient and powerful enough to travel through space in a manner similar to the aircraft of Earth. For Gendo, it felt no different from an airplane, just the constant humming under his feet as he looked outside the viewing windows at the light blue environment the ship was traveling through. These were tunnels of distortion that their Zoidian ships could move through safely and travel to and from other parts of the Milky Way galaxy within mere hours. Sighing, he wonders if this was how the Third Child reacted when he traveled to Zi on a ship like this one.
"First time to Planet Zi?" He hears a man on his left ask him.
"Yes," he responds.
"I'm told the planet's way better than Earth is these days, and the business ventures there are thriving more than they ever could on Earth. Most people are relocating to Zi these days because the post-Second Impact times being difficult to get by."
But Gendo didn't care what reasons made people from Earth move to Zi; his reasons for going were for closure towards his son's rebellious behavior. He put most of his affairs on Earth in order before he left, and all he had to do was play his cards right and he'd be in the Royal Cup of the Zoid Battle Commission where he'd face his son. Once he did that, he would make sure that Shinji knew the consequences of turning against him. While Nico Megumi was the one that enabled him, Gendo couldn't take out his vendetta on an eight-year-old girl when he was angry at his son, a fourteen-year-old boy, that chose to accept her proposition instead of showing up at the Geo-Front and piloting the Evangelion against the Third Angel, which ended up being taken out by the JSSDF at the suggestion of the girl, something that he couldn't believe prevailed.
She might've interfered with my scenario, he thinks as he looks out at the tunnel-like environment around the spacecraft, but you were the one to turn away from me. You…ruined my scenario by abandoning us to participate in a game. Well, now the game becomes a different sort that I hope you'll find discomfort in playing.
-x-
"…Yeah," Shinji hears Drake say behind in the hangar as he sat in one of the chairs after breakfast, "it sucks to know that your old man wants to take part in the Royal Cup."
"More like the nightmare father that wouldn't stay on Earth," he responds. "What, does he hate my choice to stay here so much that he wants to make life here suck when it already sucked so much in Japan just being related to him and my mother? There's nothing to be gained doing what he wants. Doing what they want."
"It's spite, Shinji. It's all he understands if he can't let leave you alone if he resents your decision to refuse him."
"Have you ever had to deal with something like this before?"
"No. My parents have never drove me to rebel against them when they make choices that I have felt no reason to question or challenge them over. But know that we're all in your corner regarding your father. We got your back."
"Thanks, Drake."
Looking out at the big expanse of rocky terrain that practically represented nothing, Shinji ponders what to do when and if he would face his father on the battlefield. So far, all he could do was hope that his father was paired with a Zoid that was not powerful or efficient; the fear of him operating a Zoid like the Berserk Fury still haunted him.
Geisha and Valerie came outside sometime later and brought drinks with them.
"You know what I love about this awful view out here?" Geisha asks them.
"No, tell us," Shinji says.
"It's beautiful…even when it isn't."
Shinji looks out at the terrain and admits that Geisha was right about what she said. The terrain was beautiful to look at, even when it wasn't.
"Hey, Drake," went Valerie, "how long until this Gendo Ikari shows up on Zi to get into the ZBC for his new risk?"
Drake checked his watch and answers, "About two in the afternoon, why?"
"I feel like meeting this jerk in the flesh and making sure he knows whose world he's stepping into with his vendetta."
"Hmm!" Geisha reacts with her canned beverage in her mouth. "I'm nobody's retainer, but I will say that this man…is an unimportant piece of filth I need to scrape off my sandals!"
"Shinji?" Drake asks.
"Are y'all asking or y'all telling?" Shinji responds.
"Telling!" They all respond.
"Then let's go do this."
They got up and got to their Zoids; Drake went with Geisha in her Storm Sworder since his G-Rex wasn't exactly a runner.
-x-
Nico, having woken up from her slumber two hours ago, was looking out the backseat of her father's Raynos as they flew towards Vangeance.
"Why does it feel like every time we come close to knowing more about the Liger Rogue, we are met with these barriers of hindrance?" She utters.
"Some people love keeping secrets, Nico," her father replies. "Some people love keeping secrets. Makes them feel like they're holding something significant that someone else desires."
"But if this secret is bad and it endangers Shinji, I'll have to suspend the Zoid's service…and I don't want to do something that makes Shinji feel like a fifth wheel of an all-terrain vehicle."
"We're nearing Vangeance now, so it's only a matter of time before we meet with this Lupin Holmes and he'll be able to tell us what he knows about Liger Rogue."
Nico looks out again and sees the town they were heading to. The town that had been devastated by a great earthquake and had to be rebuilt from the ground up. She was really hoping that the guy they were trying to find would provide them with insight into what made Liger Rogue the special Zoid that it was.
It would be better if this Zoid was simply special because it isn't special, she thinks.
-x-
Oh, how the ride between Earth and Zi felt no different from a flight between Japan and some other country. As Gendo stood outside the airport and looked around the city he was currently in, he didn't see any difference whatsoever between the people of Zi and the people of Earth; they both seemed the same, with the minor exception of some Zoidians having tattoo-like markings on their faces, like they were some sort of fad for them. At least the environment was a match for humans to thrive around in. If there was even a chance of living conditions being unfit for him, he would've had to find a proxy to do his business.
"What really brings you here, old man?" He hears a woman's voice and turns to his right, seeing a young woman dressed in the manner of a geisha, and was reminded that one such woman on the Clover Team did this.
"Business," he responds.
"Big business or small business?" A man's voice asks, and he looks to his left, seeing a young man dressed in casual clothing, recognizing him as Drake Toros. "Big business means an extended stay. Small business means a short trip. Which is yours, Gendo Rokubungi-Ikari?"
"That is my business," he tells them.
"Just so that you know," he hears another woman's voice behind himself, and turns to see a young woman in a skintight suit with pouches on her wrists and legs…and beside her was a young boy with a pretty face, like an androgynous person. "None of us are happy that you're here. You should have stayed on Earth."
"My reasons for being here are within legality," Gendo told these four, looking at Shinji. "I'm within my rights to be here."
"True," Shinji responds, having no choice but to accept his father being here for the time being, "but you're not here for something as trivial as a tournament or to start a business venture. You can't hide your intentions. And just because you're here…it doesn't mean you're in control of what happens here. That's the reality. We're not in control. We don't have any influence or some kind of secret government agency waiting in the wings underground with giant cyborgs ready to face giant monsters. We're just regular people participating in a tournament directed towards two things: People's entertainment and turning overlooked underdogs into next-generation winners."
"And yet, you chose this meaningless game over what was more important. Probably the most important thing that will ever matter in the history of the human race."
"Everyone says that every so often, but does anyone truly believe it if they don't know the whole truth behind anything others say is important?"
"It was never for you to know anything beyond what you were expected to do."
"You know, that's why Shinji rejected you after he found out why you wanted him in Tokyo-3 that day things were going to Hell in Japan," Geisha told him. "And did you ever learn that, because of how his childhood was after you left him with those in-laws of yours, Shinji really hated his life in that nation? That he didn't want to go to Tokyo-3 to see you or even be around that country? That he…just wanted to be someplace else for a while?"
"Not really knowing your own kid takes the blessing out of parenthood," Valerie tells Gendo, "and you don't know anything about Shinji to the point that you can't comprehend why he took the road less traveled, similar to how you did all those years ago."
"I made a choice that was more important than the needs of one child. I made sure he was cared for and watched after."
"That's bull," Shinji tells him. "They hated you. They hated her. And they hated me. But deep down, I think you already knew that…and you still made that choice that carried repercussions. As much as I hate each and every one of you with the name Ikari, I…I am grateful for being alive…because I at least matter to those that don't have hidden agendas that are messed up and one-sided. I am hoping that our team wins the Royal Cup in the end…because I don't really want to go back to Earth and be reminded of why I made the choice to leave. You, her, and the rest of the Ikari family that's akin to an omen of regret."
"You really are a coward, boy. Cowards are always useless."
"He was given an actual choice, something you were adamant on making sure he didn't have the instant he showed up in that so-called fortress city," went Drake. "How is Shinji a coward when he makes a choice that was actually given to him and he was given the time and space to make? How is he a coward when he decides not to get involved in something you were clearly involved in from the very start, that you chose to get involved in…and chose not to inform him of until it was practically too late for him to walk away?"
"Yeah, you should explain how he's a coward," Valerie tells him. "How is Shinji the coward?"
"How?" Geisha wanted to know, as well.
"How am I the coward, Father?" Shinji asks him. "How?"
Gendo can only frown as he takes his suitcase and walks away. This was an unexpected turn of events that he had no knowledge of. It was one thing to come to Zi, but another thing to be ambushed by the Clover Team and his son. But his answer to them on how Shinji would've been the coward during a situation that he had no knowledge of…would've been the same had he answer them. Except now, he had more important things to do while he was here.
Shinji sighs as he watches his father get into a taxi and drive away.
"That was intense," he tells, Drake, Geisha and Valerie as he faces them. "I kept feeling like I was the one being intimidated instead of him."
"Oh, he was intimidated," Valerie assures him. "He didn't expect you to be in a team. If it had been you on your own, he wouldn't have been intimidated in the slightest. No one is a failure if they have friends rather than stand alone."
"Yeah," he agrees with her. "Let's get out of here."
-x-
"…Liger Rogue," went Lupin Holmes, the adopted son of Mariah Saltpeter-Zafroni in front of Nico and her father. "I've heard of the recent success of a Zoid team that has Liger Rogue among the ranks. I must confess, the original armor was the worst ever, and the new armor is better-looking."
"We have Shinji Ikari to thank for that," Nico expresses. "Blue and silver makes Liger Rogue both beautiful and intimidating."
"As for the Organoid Preservation System within Liger Rogue, my stepmother alluded to that being the only thing that made the Zoid unique. Other than serving as a vessel for preserving Organoids for later revival, Liger Rogue isn't powerful without a pilot that she deems worthy of herself. Her fury is tied to whoever she chooses as her operator. The more time she spends with her owner, whoever that is, the greater she'll become over time because of their bond."
"So, Liger Rogue…isn't all that different from a regular Zoid?" Burt asks him. "Nothing hidden or dangerous to whoever pilots it? Pilots her? No Ultimate X-based qualities or the like?"
"It's just an ancient Zoid from the olden days that the Saltpeter and Zafroni families held onto ever since they acquired it," Lupin explains. "They studied it from top to bottom and, with the exception of its ability to preserve Organoids for a time when they'll return in the future, it's no different from any other liger-type Zoid, just older than most other liger and dinosaurian-types."
"So, then…beyond that…there's nothing special about it?" Nico made sure she understood. "I mean, it's special…because it's not special?"
"More or less," Lupin responds. "Her greatness depends on this Shinji Ikari; if she chose him, then it's because she believes in him. Let him know that her greatness is up to him being worthy of her. The strength of belief goes a long way."
Nico and Burt look to one another, confirming everything they had learned from this man that held the answers they had been looking for. Maybe not all the answers they were looking for, but they were the answers they would have to make do with. If the OPS and its advanced age were all that made the Liger Rogue stand out among the Zoids they possessed, then it was no different from a regular Zoid that was still in service among the masses. Maybe it was best to remove the OPS later on, but if it couldn't be removed, Nico saw no harm in Shinji continuing to pilot the Zoid, as it was already fond of him, as was she.
"Thank you," she praises him, and then feels her phone vibrating under her dress, and reaches into her left pocket. "Oh, no."
"What's wrong?" Her father asks her.
"Gendo Ikari," she responds. "He's here on Zi and is applying to participate in the Royal Cup."
"He must've removed his gambit towards his son and is trying to deal with him on his own terms. That jerk. He must not have the patience of this Job person the people of Earth refer to in the Bible."
"The young man's father that gives him trouble for refusing him?" Lupin asks them, having read the young man's profile and learned of his father's uneasy quarrel with him. "If he's trying to hurt his son, then he must have any measure of patience or restraint if he's out to get him."
"He's likely only doing this because I enabled Shinji to turn against his parents with the information I provided him with that he deserved to know about because his father was never going to tell him anything until it was too late for him to turn away."
"But whether you enabled him or not, his father is likely targeting him because he desires to be antagonistic towards his son."
-x-
Unfortunately, while the ZBC had several Zoids that were eligible for soloist participants, as Gendo wasn't willing to work with others, he had gone through eight of them…and had yet to find the Zoid that would accept him as a pilot. He was eligible to participate in the Royal Cup, but he needed a Zoid first. At first glance, Gendo was a man that clearly preferred power over skill, and there were only a dozen or so Zoids left in service that represented power in various ways. But he wasn't one to give up just yet; he couldn't afford to go back to Earth and be labeled a loser because of one setback after another because of his son's rebellious behavior and causing him to become an embarrassment of sorts to people that felt he was a disgrace for being unable to manage his own son. But he had time to find the right Zoid for himself, and once he did, he would be another step closer to his new goal: Revenge against Shinji.
To be continued…
A/N: The method of travel between Earth and Zi stems from the Star Wars franchise; we only know that Shinji had gotten to Zi in the first chapter after being approached by Nico through Drake's mother, but not how he got there before the Third Angel attacked. So now we know a little more about Liger Rogue and how it stands out, and that it's no different from a regular Zoid that is capable of becoming a powerhouse under the right pilot. And as for Gendo, the Zoid he'll pilot will depend on the Zoid with the most votes on the current poll on my page. This will also give Shinji another reason to be weary of his father; the man that hates his own son for turning against him drives a wedge further in between jealousy and desire, with neither coming from a place of reasonable logic.