Disclaimer: I don't own zoids
The room was dark and dry. There were no windows only bars that replaced the east wall. Inside sat a man. His back leaned up against the far wall so he could see down the hall. It was a narrow hall with one steel door. The Door opened and three figures came in. Two of them were in Military uniforms that belonged to the Republic. They were escorting a young woman. The one on the right unlocked the cell door and the one on the left pushed her in. After that the two soldiers locked up and left. The man looked up and into her crystal blue eyes.
"Paige." He paused and looked down the hall at the big metal gray door. Never taking his eyes off the door. "Think they got away?"
She smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood. "I hope so Nero, I sincerely hope so." She sat down on cold metal floor of the cell.
Outside on the observation deck the Captain was monitoring them through the surveillance camera. His second came up behind him. "Report. Did you get anything out of them?" He turned to his Second. She handed him his daily status report.
"No sir, neither of them said anything." Her eyes also wondered to the monitors. "Also we've completed the repairs on the Zero just as you ordered. The damage wasn't too major, none of the vital systems were damaged."
"Good." He flipped through the report. "What of the location of Mr. Auden? He couldn't have gotten for on foot"
"We haven't found yet sir. We have three squads deployed within a 2 kilometer radius its only a matter of time before we get him sir." The Captain turned around to face her.
"I want you to head the search yourself." He smirked. "Besides you've been drooling over new boosters we got for the Storm Sworders. Here's your chance to try them out." The lieutenant smiled and left the observation deck. The Captain turned to the Sergeant at his post. "Give them an hour before you escort them back to the interrogation room."
"Yes sir." The Captain patted him on the shoulder left the deck.
~ Outside the Ultra Saurus~
John was lying down in the tall grass as he watched the zoids and trucks go by. He had to find a way to get in the mobile fortress and get Nero and Paige to safety. As he looked on he noticed the supply trucks coming from the port had been stopped by soldiers. The last truck was about 40 meters from his position.
"Dam my luck," He quickly got to his feet and jumped into the back of the truck. He used all his will power to not scream as he landed on what looked liked spare parts for their zoids. He held his right shoulder as tight as he could, hoping the pain would subside soon. "Dam my luck."
Up ahead the soldiers started waving the trucks to board the gigantic zoid. He kept his head down as they entered the main hanger. At the first opportunity he jumped out and hid behind a Command Wolf. He saw a door not too far away from him so he carefully made his way over. Most of the crew was too busy with repairs and supplies to notice him. He quickly closed the door behind him and found himself in a locker room. He just shrugged and grabbed a uniform. "How did Nero pull this off the first time?" John wondered.
~ The North Passage, 5 kilometers away~
Jayde finished wrapping a bandage around the woman's leg. She was still unconscious as the same with her companion but that didn't stop Jayde not matter how much Savanna protested. Gun still in hand she grabbed a radio from inside Penny.
"Where you going?" Jayde eyed her friend. "I need your help here, especially when they wake up." She put the roll of bandages back into the med-kit.
"Relax I'll be back I'm just going to have a look around and maybe spot John." She waved without turning around and left the temporary campsite. At that moment the guy started to shift and come around. Jayde stood up, grabbed a water bottle and walked over to him. She placed her hand on his forehead and wiped the sweat and dirt away. He slowly opened his turquoise eyes.
"Here drink this." Jayde brought the bottle to his lips. He readily accepted the drink. After a few gulps she took the bottle away from.
"Thank you," He said in a scratchy voice. He slowly sat up. "Who are you?" He spoke slowly; his vision was still adjusting to the light. He had been out for almost half a day.
"I was about to ask you the same thing, but since you asked first. My name is Jayde and my paranoid friend is Savanna." She looked in the direction that Savanna took off. "So who are you and your friend over there." He looked over his shoulder and saw his unconscious comrade laying a few meters away from him. He slowly turned back to face his savior.
"I'm." He paused briefly. "Nicholas Hatsuharu and my young friend over there is Rei Neko." Jayde handed him the bottle again. He gladly accepted.
"Can you tell me what happened Nicholas Hatsuharu." She looked at him and Rei with concern. He took a few sips before trying to speak again.
"First call me Nico and I'm sorry my memories pretty vague right now. Ask me again sometime." He smiled as he closed his eyes. The smile quickly vanished as he remembered how they got where they are.
~ Interrogation room~
The Captain slammed his hand on the table and said in a very stern voice. "I'll ask again. How did you get into your possession this zoid?" He showed Nero a picture of the Zero. Nero took one look at the picture.
"Told you already, it was a trade." Nero smirked as he pulled on his restraints. His arms and legs were strapped to the chair as a security precaution.
"That's bullshit and you no it." The Captain sat down. "Now I'm willing to make a deal with you. You tell me everything and I'll see that you and your friend are taken care of."
Nero just laughed. "Now who's taking bullshit Captain Gilman?"
~Two decks below~
John entered another storage room and leaned against the wall. This was getting him nowhere. There was a one and a million chance of finding them by wondering the ship aimlessly. "There must be a way to speed this up." He kicked the vent. Suddenly he heard a voice.
"John is that you?" He recognized it immediately and dashed to the vent.
"Paige! Oh my god I can't believe I found you. I've been searching the ship for hours. Where's Nero?" By then he pulled the grate off.
"He's being interrogated. Where are you?" Paige now was sitting with her back against the grate trying to hide her enthusiasm from the cameras.
"I'm in what looks like a storage room. Dam this vent is too small to crawl through." He stuck his head in the vent. "Wait I got an idea." He took one of the boxes and opened it. Looking through it he took out a bolt of some kind. He went back over to the vent and threw it as hard as he could. He heard a noise coming from the other end of the ventilation shaft a few seconds later.
"What the hell was that John?" She said angrily while gently rubbing her lower back.
"You felt that?" He smiled. "Good that means these two rooms aren't that far apart." He sighed this was the first good news all day and in truth it wasn't very good news.
"Oh for your sake they better not be." Paige was glaring at the opposite wall.
"We don't have time for this Blue. Listen there's got to be something in these crates that can get you out of there. I'm going to check. Hit the grate or something when Nero comes back." He got to work.
~ The North Passage~
Savanna came back to the camp finding only Jayde sitting by the fire preparing dinner. She looked up at her hopping to see the Zero behind her. Savanna looked around wondering where their two mystery people went.
"Rei, the girl started to shiver so I put her in Penny's cockpit and Nico, the guy is watching over her. Don't worry I locked the controls so they can't steal her." Jayde said without even flinching. Savanna nodded and sat down next to her.
"There was no sign of John or the Liger. However there were about four Raynos and a couple of jeeps in the area so I'm guessing that they haven't found him." Jayde sighed with relief. "Now the bad news, Nero's Whale King is gone." Savanna avoided eye contact.
"What do you mean gone." Jayde turned to face the back of Savanna's head. "You mean gone as in they escaped right? Right!" Savanna covered her mouth as she coughed.
"I mean gone as in lying on the desert floor in little pieces." She said quietly. Jayde couldn't move, couldn't breath. Savanna put her arm around her not really knowing what to do. "Let it out Jayde, just let it out." Jayde rested her head on Savanna's shoulder with tears streaming down her face. For the rest of the night the only thing Savanna heard her say was two words. "Not again."
~The Ultra Saurus~
"There's got to be something here I can use." John muttered to himself as he searched through yet again another box. And then as if lightening struck he got an idea. He ran back to the vent. "Paige? Hey blue." He whispered.
"Quiet, someone's coming." She whispered back and moved away from the vent to see who it was. It was two guards bring Nero back to the cell. After they threw him in they left. "Nero, look who I found." She smiled at him and tapped the vent while he just eyed her back.
"Are they gone Blue?" Nero's eyes went wide. Paige shifted back over to the vent slowly.
"Yeah, you got something? Nero careful about the eyes." She hinted toward the camera. Nero went back to his usual self.
"Nero's there? Anyways I've got an idea but you're going to have to trust me."
"I trust you, now what is it"
"I want you to give them the code that unlocks the Zero, it's 'Once in a blue moon'."
"You call that a plan? That's not a plan that's idiocy. Once they unlock the zoid they don't need us anymore."
"Just do it, trust me I got it all worked out. Okay somewhat worked out. Listen we don't have much time, I need an hour to set things up. Trust me, what do we've got to lose." With that he took off carrying a wrench under his jacket.
"Great think we should do it Nero." She blew a piece of her hair out of her face. He just let out a sigh.
"What choice do we have, John's already gone. We have to follow his lead."
Paige squinted her eyes. "If we get out of this remind me to kill him." Nero smiled at her comment and nodded. The two sat there in the cell, since neither of them had a watch Nero decided to count the seconds and Paige was trying to think of why he wanted her to give them the code. It was a very long hour.
~The bridge or whatever its called~
The Captain sat in his chair; the crew had just finished repairs and restocked their supplies. The door opened and a man approached him. "What is it Lt. Williams?"
"The prisoners request to see you Sir. They say they want to make a deal." This caught his attention greatly.
"Hmmm.bring them both to the interrogation room now. I'll be there shortly." Gilman sat back wondering what they had to offer but quickly got up; he was curious to see what they offered. When he entered the room he saw Nero staring at him but the girl, Paige was looking down at the floor. "So what do you want?"
He looked over at Paige for a second and then back to him. "We want our freedom, and we're willing to make a trade."
The Captain smiled. "Good, if you give me the location of Mr. Au.." Nero interrupted him.
"No. We're not giving you John. The deal is the Liger Zero in exchange for our freedom." He never took his eyes off the Captain.
"Interesting, but we already have the zoid"
"You've been having trouble lately with it haven't you. The operating system perhaps?" The Captain sat down willing to listen. "We'll give you the code that unlocks the operating system in exchange for our freedom."
"Deal. Williams escort them to the main hanger." He stood up. "But understand me I do not like games. If this is a trick, you two will never see the light of day." He knocked on the door and two guards came in. Together they proceeded to the main hanger. Paige and Nero looked in awe they still couldn't believe how immense this Zoid was. They were standing a narrow catwalk. Paige looked below and saw the Liger Zero being brought up on a platform. Both Nero and Paige were shocked at its appearance. The orange armour had been stripped and replaced with white with blue stripes. The cannon had also been replaced.
"What did you do to Liger?" Paige demanded and glared at Gilman.
"We finished it Mam." A tall man with a beard came up behind the Captain. He was wearing an engineer's uniform. "When we began repairs on the Liger we noticed that some of the parts and systems weren't in the original design plans. They were impressive but only allowed about 85% of the Ligers potential to be realized. We remedied that problem."
"Excellent work Chief." Gilman turned his attention to Nero. "Now give us the code and well see about your freedom if this works."
Paige continued to look at Zero. She looked up and saw an engineer on the other end of the Catwlk. She was startled; she swore that the man tips his hat to her. But before she could get a good look at the man he was gone. "The code is 'once in a blue moon'."
"Good, radio that to your man inside." Gilman motioned the man next to him. He nodded and held up his radio.
"Yo, Bill the codes 'once in a blue moon'. You copy. I repeat 'once in a blue moon'."
The liger let out a roar and began to move. Gilman smiled upon seeing this and motioned the guards. The three soldiers held up there guns. "What's going on we had a deal."
"Yes we did and I attend to keep my part of the bargain. We'll let out leave in the morning but for security reasons you'll have to spend the night in the cell again." Paige just glared at him. The Captain was about to comment on her when he heard shouting below them. The liger wouldn't stop it ran into the side crushing the platform mechanism. "What's going on down there?!" He turned to Chief.
Below both workers and soldiers were running around frantically. "Sir the zoid is out of control and nothing seems to be working." The Zero suddenly opened its cockpit and threw out the engineer.
"I want that thing under control now!" Gilman yelled and the Chief nodded and ran toward the elevator. About the same time the entire Zoid began to shake and the bay doors opened. The Captain turned to Nero and Paige. "You knew this was going to happen. Take them to there cell now!" Suddenly an engineer appeared out of nowhere and tackled the Lt. Williams and tossed a wrench to Nero. Nero grabbed it and nailed the other guard in the head and grabbed his gun. The last guard aimed his rifle at Nero warning him to part it down. The Captain wasn't about to just sit there and watch his prisoners escape. He tackled the engineer and his hat flew off. It was John. Just when the soldier was about to fire Paige shoved him over the rail and he fell hitting the ground hard. Gilman got the upper hand and punched John in the gut. John hit the floor of the catwalk pretty hard. The Captain stood up just in time to see the barrel of Nero's gun.
"That's enough, we don't want any trouble." He motioned Gilman to turn around. The Captain reluctantly did so. "Sorry about this but I hope you understand." He hit him in the back of the neck with the butt of his pistol knocking him out for the next several hours. Paige grabbed the rifle from the ground as well. "Come on." John picked himself up and the three of them hurried down the ladder. In the mist of all the havoc John whistled and Zero calmed down and walked over to them.
"How did you do that?" Paige looked not knowing what to say.
"Lots up of programming and work. I'll explain later get on it'll be tight but it'll only be for a little while. I managed to secure both you're zoids from the wreckage." Paige's eyes lit up and she hugged him as the three got into the one seater and jumped down from the Ultra Saurus. The Liger took off in incredible speed. "Wow, what they do to you. You're faster than ever." John smiled. They got behind the Tail of the remains of the Whale King where Paige's shield liger and Nero's command wolf stood. Paige and Nero both got out and in their zoids.
As Nero started up his wolf something hit him. He contacted John. "What are we going to do? We can't out run the range of those cannons."
The three took off toward the north passage hoping Jayde and Savanna were still there.
~The North Passage~
Savanna just sat there holding Jayde. She didn't know why she was doing what she was doing considering the situation but she didn't want to let her go right at that moment. Jayde kept her eyes closed fearing that if she opened them she would start crying again. "John, Paige, Nero." She whispered to herself. Suddenly the ground started to rumble. Savanna raised her head and then looked at Jayde.
"Jayde you have to get up. Can you do that for me? Please get up." She said in a soothing yet panicky voice. Jayde nodded and they both got up slowly. Savanna opened the cockpit and Nico looked at them for a second. Savanna put Jayde in the back with Rei who still hadn't woken up yet.
Nico moved to the front passenger seat. "What's going on?"
"Let's just say some unwelcome guest are coming and we need to be not here when they arrive." Savanna unlocked the controls and started Penny up. At that moment a white liger with blue stripes came into view. Savanna froze at it walked up to Penny. Nico unconsciously reached into his empty holster while Savanna slowly reached for her gun. The cockpit opened and John poked his head out.
"Hey I hope I'm not too late. I had to get a paint job." Savanna felt a huge wave of relief rush right through her. "Oh and I brought some friends." A green Command Wolf and Black Shield Liger came into view as well. Jayde finally came back from her thoughts and as she looked up she saw the tree zoids. She jumped out of her seat.
"You're all okay!" She yelled with tears of joy.
"What'd you expect?" Paige yelled from her zoid. "Hey I would go down and catch up but we got to get out of here."
"Paige is right. Come on follow us." Paige, Savanna and John closed their cockpits.
Jayde leaned over and opened up the comlink. "Some day you three better tell me what happened!"
A/n: whew! That was the longest chapter I've ever written. It just kept going and going anyways. I'll update soon this time. At least I'll try.
The room was dark and dry. There were no windows only bars that replaced the east wall. Inside sat a man. His back leaned up against the far wall so he could see down the hall. It was a narrow hall with one steel door. The Door opened and three figures came in. Two of them were in Military uniforms that belonged to the Republic. They were escorting a young woman. The one on the right unlocked the cell door and the one on the left pushed her in. After that the two soldiers locked up and left. The man looked up and into her crystal blue eyes.
"Paige." He paused and looked down the hall at the big metal gray door. Never taking his eyes off the door. "Think they got away?"
She smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood. "I hope so Nero, I sincerely hope so." She sat down on cold metal floor of the cell.
Outside on the observation deck the Captain was monitoring them through the surveillance camera. His second came up behind him. "Report. Did you get anything out of them?" He turned to his Second. She handed him his daily status report.
"No sir, neither of them said anything." Her eyes also wondered to the monitors. "Also we've completed the repairs on the Zero just as you ordered. The damage wasn't too major, none of the vital systems were damaged."
"Good." He flipped through the report. "What of the location of Mr. Auden? He couldn't have gotten for on foot"
"We haven't found yet sir. We have three squads deployed within a 2 kilometer radius its only a matter of time before we get him sir." The Captain turned around to face her.
"I want you to head the search yourself." He smirked. "Besides you've been drooling over new boosters we got for the Storm Sworders. Here's your chance to try them out." The lieutenant smiled and left the observation deck. The Captain turned to the Sergeant at his post. "Give them an hour before you escort them back to the interrogation room."
"Yes sir." The Captain patted him on the shoulder left the deck.
~ Outside the Ultra Saurus~
John was lying down in the tall grass as he watched the zoids and trucks go by. He had to find a way to get in the mobile fortress and get Nero and Paige to safety. As he looked on he noticed the supply trucks coming from the port had been stopped by soldiers. The last truck was about 40 meters from his position.
"Dam my luck," He quickly got to his feet and jumped into the back of the truck. He used all his will power to not scream as he landed on what looked liked spare parts for their zoids. He held his right shoulder as tight as he could, hoping the pain would subside soon. "Dam my luck."
Up ahead the soldiers started waving the trucks to board the gigantic zoid. He kept his head down as they entered the main hanger. At the first opportunity he jumped out and hid behind a Command Wolf. He saw a door not too far away from him so he carefully made his way over. Most of the crew was too busy with repairs and supplies to notice him. He quickly closed the door behind him and found himself in a locker room. He just shrugged and grabbed a uniform. "How did Nero pull this off the first time?" John wondered.
~ The North Passage, 5 kilometers away~
Jayde finished wrapping a bandage around the woman's leg. She was still unconscious as the same with her companion but that didn't stop Jayde not matter how much Savanna protested. Gun still in hand she grabbed a radio from inside Penny.
"Where you going?" Jayde eyed her friend. "I need your help here, especially when they wake up." She put the roll of bandages back into the med-kit.
"Relax I'll be back I'm just going to have a look around and maybe spot John." She waved without turning around and left the temporary campsite. At that moment the guy started to shift and come around. Jayde stood up, grabbed a water bottle and walked over to him. She placed her hand on his forehead and wiped the sweat and dirt away. He slowly opened his turquoise eyes.
"Here drink this." Jayde brought the bottle to his lips. He readily accepted the drink. After a few gulps she took the bottle away from.
"Thank you," He said in a scratchy voice. He slowly sat up. "Who are you?" He spoke slowly; his vision was still adjusting to the light. He had been out for almost half a day.
"I was about to ask you the same thing, but since you asked first. My name is Jayde and my paranoid friend is Savanna." She looked in the direction that Savanna took off. "So who are you and your friend over there." He looked over his shoulder and saw his unconscious comrade laying a few meters away from him. He slowly turned back to face his savior.
"I'm." He paused briefly. "Nicholas Hatsuharu and my young friend over there is Rei Neko." Jayde handed him the bottle again. He gladly accepted.
"Can you tell me what happened Nicholas Hatsuharu." She looked at him and Rei with concern. He took a few sips before trying to speak again.
"First call me Nico and I'm sorry my memories pretty vague right now. Ask me again sometime." He smiled as he closed his eyes. The smile quickly vanished as he remembered how they got where they are.
~ Interrogation room~
The Captain slammed his hand on the table and said in a very stern voice. "I'll ask again. How did you get into your possession this zoid?" He showed Nero a picture of the Zero. Nero took one look at the picture.
"Told you already, it was a trade." Nero smirked as he pulled on his restraints. His arms and legs were strapped to the chair as a security precaution.
"That's bullshit and you no it." The Captain sat down. "Now I'm willing to make a deal with you. You tell me everything and I'll see that you and your friend are taken care of."
Nero just laughed. "Now who's taking bullshit Captain Gilman?"
~Two decks below~
John entered another storage room and leaned against the wall. This was getting him nowhere. There was a one and a million chance of finding them by wondering the ship aimlessly. "There must be a way to speed this up." He kicked the vent. Suddenly he heard a voice.
"John is that you?" He recognized it immediately and dashed to the vent.
"Paige! Oh my god I can't believe I found you. I've been searching the ship for hours. Where's Nero?" By then he pulled the grate off.
"He's being interrogated. Where are you?" Paige now was sitting with her back against the grate trying to hide her enthusiasm from the cameras.
"I'm in what looks like a storage room. Dam this vent is too small to crawl through." He stuck his head in the vent. "Wait I got an idea." He took one of the boxes and opened it. Looking through it he took out a bolt of some kind. He went back over to the vent and threw it as hard as he could. He heard a noise coming from the other end of the ventilation shaft a few seconds later.
"What the hell was that John?" She said angrily while gently rubbing her lower back.
"You felt that?" He smiled. "Good that means these two rooms aren't that far apart." He sighed this was the first good news all day and in truth it wasn't very good news.
"Oh for your sake they better not be." Paige was glaring at the opposite wall.
"We don't have time for this Blue. Listen there's got to be something in these crates that can get you out of there. I'm going to check. Hit the grate or something when Nero comes back." He got to work.
~ The North Passage~
Savanna came back to the camp finding only Jayde sitting by the fire preparing dinner. She looked up at her hopping to see the Zero behind her. Savanna looked around wondering where their two mystery people went.
"Rei, the girl started to shiver so I put her in Penny's cockpit and Nico, the guy is watching over her. Don't worry I locked the controls so they can't steal her." Jayde said without even flinching. Savanna nodded and sat down next to her.
"There was no sign of John or the Liger. However there were about four Raynos and a couple of jeeps in the area so I'm guessing that they haven't found him." Jayde sighed with relief. "Now the bad news, Nero's Whale King is gone." Savanna avoided eye contact.
"What do you mean gone." Jayde turned to face the back of Savanna's head. "You mean gone as in they escaped right? Right!" Savanna covered her mouth as she coughed.
"I mean gone as in lying on the desert floor in little pieces." She said quietly. Jayde couldn't move, couldn't breath. Savanna put her arm around her not really knowing what to do. "Let it out Jayde, just let it out." Jayde rested her head on Savanna's shoulder with tears streaming down her face. For the rest of the night the only thing Savanna heard her say was two words. "Not again."
~The Ultra Saurus~
"There's got to be something here I can use." John muttered to himself as he searched through yet again another box. And then as if lightening struck he got an idea. He ran back to the vent. "Paige? Hey blue." He whispered.
"Quiet, someone's coming." She whispered back and moved away from the vent to see who it was. It was two guards bring Nero back to the cell. After they threw him in they left. "Nero, look who I found." She smiled at him and tapped the vent while he just eyed her back.
"Are they gone Blue?" Nero's eyes went wide. Paige shifted back over to the vent slowly.
"Yeah, you got something? Nero careful about the eyes." She hinted toward the camera. Nero went back to his usual self.
"Nero's there? Anyways I've got an idea but you're going to have to trust me."
"I trust you, now what is it"
"I want you to give them the code that unlocks the Zero, it's 'Once in a blue moon'."
"You call that a plan? That's not a plan that's idiocy. Once they unlock the zoid they don't need us anymore."
"Just do it, trust me I got it all worked out. Okay somewhat worked out. Listen we don't have much time, I need an hour to set things up. Trust me, what do we've got to lose." With that he took off carrying a wrench under his jacket.
"Great think we should do it Nero." She blew a piece of her hair out of her face. He just let out a sigh.
"What choice do we have, John's already gone. We have to follow his lead."
Paige squinted her eyes. "If we get out of this remind me to kill him." Nero smiled at her comment and nodded. The two sat there in the cell, since neither of them had a watch Nero decided to count the seconds and Paige was trying to think of why he wanted her to give them the code. It was a very long hour.
~The bridge or whatever its called~
The Captain sat in his chair; the crew had just finished repairs and restocked their supplies. The door opened and a man approached him. "What is it Lt. Williams?"
"The prisoners request to see you Sir. They say they want to make a deal." This caught his attention greatly.
"Hmmm.bring them both to the interrogation room now. I'll be there shortly." Gilman sat back wondering what they had to offer but quickly got up; he was curious to see what they offered. When he entered the room he saw Nero staring at him but the girl, Paige was looking down at the floor. "So what do you want?"
He looked over at Paige for a second and then back to him. "We want our freedom, and we're willing to make a trade."
The Captain smiled. "Good, if you give me the location of Mr. Au.." Nero interrupted him.
"No. We're not giving you John. The deal is the Liger Zero in exchange for our freedom." He never took his eyes off the Captain.
"Interesting, but we already have the zoid"
"You've been having trouble lately with it haven't you. The operating system perhaps?" The Captain sat down willing to listen. "We'll give you the code that unlocks the operating system in exchange for our freedom."
"Deal. Williams escort them to the main hanger." He stood up. "But understand me I do not like games. If this is a trick, you two will never see the light of day." He knocked on the door and two guards came in. Together they proceeded to the main hanger. Paige and Nero looked in awe they still couldn't believe how immense this Zoid was. They were standing a narrow catwalk. Paige looked below and saw the Liger Zero being brought up on a platform. Both Nero and Paige were shocked at its appearance. The orange armour had been stripped and replaced with white with blue stripes. The cannon had also been replaced.
"What did you do to Liger?" Paige demanded and glared at Gilman.
"We finished it Mam." A tall man with a beard came up behind the Captain. He was wearing an engineer's uniform. "When we began repairs on the Liger we noticed that some of the parts and systems weren't in the original design plans. They were impressive but only allowed about 85% of the Ligers potential to be realized. We remedied that problem."
"Excellent work Chief." Gilman turned his attention to Nero. "Now give us the code and well see about your freedom if this works."
Paige continued to look at Zero. She looked up and saw an engineer on the other end of the Catwlk. She was startled; she swore that the man tips his hat to her. But before she could get a good look at the man he was gone. "The code is 'once in a blue moon'."
"Good, radio that to your man inside." Gilman motioned the man next to him. He nodded and held up his radio.
"Yo, Bill the codes 'once in a blue moon'. You copy. I repeat 'once in a blue moon'."
The liger let out a roar and began to move. Gilman smiled upon seeing this and motioned the guards. The three soldiers held up there guns. "What's going on we had a deal."
"Yes we did and I attend to keep my part of the bargain. We'll let out leave in the morning but for security reasons you'll have to spend the night in the cell again." Paige just glared at him. The Captain was about to comment on her when he heard shouting below them. The liger wouldn't stop it ran into the side crushing the platform mechanism. "What's going on down there?!" He turned to Chief.
Below both workers and soldiers were running around frantically. "Sir the zoid is out of control and nothing seems to be working." The Zero suddenly opened its cockpit and threw out the engineer.
"I want that thing under control now!" Gilman yelled and the Chief nodded and ran toward the elevator. About the same time the entire Zoid began to shake and the bay doors opened. The Captain turned to Nero and Paige. "You knew this was going to happen. Take them to there cell now!" Suddenly an engineer appeared out of nowhere and tackled the Lt. Williams and tossed a wrench to Nero. Nero grabbed it and nailed the other guard in the head and grabbed his gun. The last guard aimed his rifle at Nero warning him to part it down. The Captain wasn't about to just sit there and watch his prisoners escape. He tackled the engineer and his hat flew off. It was John. Just when the soldier was about to fire Paige shoved him over the rail and he fell hitting the ground hard. Gilman got the upper hand and punched John in the gut. John hit the floor of the catwalk pretty hard. The Captain stood up just in time to see the barrel of Nero's gun.
"That's enough, we don't want any trouble." He motioned Gilman to turn around. The Captain reluctantly did so. "Sorry about this but I hope you understand." He hit him in the back of the neck with the butt of his pistol knocking him out for the next several hours. Paige grabbed the rifle from the ground as well. "Come on." John picked himself up and the three of them hurried down the ladder. In the mist of all the havoc John whistled and Zero calmed down and walked over to them.
"How did you do that?" Paige looked not knowing what to say.
"Lots up of programming and work. I'll explain later get on it'll be tight but it'll only be for a little while. I managed to secure both you're zoids from the wreckage." Paige's eyes lit up and she hugged him as the three got into the one seater and jumped down from the Ultra Saurus. The Liger took off in incredible speed. "Wow, what they do to you. You're faster than ever." John smiled. They got behind the Tail of the remains of the Whale King where Paige's shield liger and Nero's command wolf stood. Paige and Nero both got out and in their zoids.
As Nero started up his wolf something hit him. He contacted John. "What are we going to do? We can't out run the range of those cannons."
The three took off toward the north passage hoping Jayde and Savanna were still there.
~The North Passage~
Savanna just sat there holding Jayde. She didn't know why she was doing what she was doing considering the situation but she didn't want to let her go right at that moment. Jayde kept her eyes closed fearing that if she opened them she would start crying again. "John, Paige, Nero." She whispered to herself. Suddenly the ground started to rumble. Savanna raised her head and then looked at Jayde.
"Jayde you have to get up. Can you do that for me? Please get up." She said in a soothing yet panicky voice. Jayde nodded and they both got up slowly. Savanna opened the cockpit and Nico looked at them for a second. Savanna put Jayde in the back with Rei who still hadn't woken up yet.
Nico moved to the front passenger seat. "What's going on?"
"Let's just say some unwelcome guest are coming and we need to be not here when they arrive." Savanna unlocked the controls and started Penny up. At that moment a white liger with blue stripes came into view. Savanna froze at it walked up to Penny. Nico unconsciously reached into his empty holster while Savanna slowly reached for her gun. The cockpit opened and John poked his head out.
"Hey I hope I'm not too late. I had to get a paint job." Savanna felt a huge wave of relief rush right through her. "Oh and I brought some friends." A green Command Wolf and Black Shield Liger came into view as well. Jayde finally came back from her thoughts and as she looked up she saw the tree zoids. She jumped out of her seat.
"You're all okay!" She yelled with tears of joy.
"What'd you expect?" Paige yelled from her zoid. "Hey I would go down and catch up but we got to get out of here."
"Paige is right. Come on follow us." Paige, Savanna and John closed their cockpits.
Jayde leaned over and opened up the comlink. "Some day you three better tell me what happened!"
A/n: whew! That was the longest chapter I've ever written. It just kept going and going anyways. I'll update soon this time. At least I'll try.