Comics Index

Volume 3

Chapter 5: The Desert Cyclone

Reverend finds Maria at her father's grave and they discuss Van's choice to leave the village. Maria of course worries about her little brother going out in the dangerous world. Reverend knows that Van is just being Van. He assures Maria that Van will be fine, and that their father and his Zeke will be watching out for Van from heaven.

In the desert, Van and Fiona cling tightly to Zeke as it runs away from a huge cyclone. After Fiona says they probably won't make it, Van spots some shelter within some rocks. The cyclone passes and disappears. Unfortunately they've lost most of their supplies and are low on food and water. As Van plans what to do, the ground beneath them starts to rise, and out pops a Venomous Viper. It fires upon the kids and the pilot tells them to go home. Angry, Van pursues the Viper, saying he's going to demand an apology as well as get directions.

Just then, a large blast hits the ground beside the Viper. A Redler passes overhead, telling the Viper it's surrounded. Undeterred, the Viper coils up into a spring, rises like a tornado, and attacks the Redler, damaging its wing. The Redler retreats.

Impressed by the pilot's skills, Van still approaches, wanting his apology. A gunshot stops him in his tracks though. The pilot, a spiky-haired man with an eyepatch, emerges from the cockpit and demands that Van hands over Zeke. Van refuses to give Zeke over to a thief, saying Zeke only listens to him, and is then showered with more warning shots. The thief says Zoids will listen to any human. Fiona says it's true Zeke doesn't just listen to Van... that Zeke also listens to her. Surprising the thief, Zeke bites down on his gun, destroying it.

Van attacks the thief with fists flying, but gets a flying backhand to the face. Van takes a lot of beatings, but the fight is interrupted by another large blast. A Redhorn has entered the area, after the thief. The thief climbs back into his Viper and tells Van they can finish their fight if Van makes it out of the Zoid battle alive.

Fiona says the Viper's chances of escaping the Redhorn's fire are very slim, but Van wants to be the one to defeat him. He merges with Zeke and they charge at the Redhorn. Unable to get a lock on the small target, the Redhorn takes the assault, but doesn't lose its footing. Now within firing range, the Redhorn gets a direct hit on Zeke. Just as the enemy is about to finish off Zeke and Van, something new enters their radar zone. Before they can turn around, a Shield Liger pummels them into the ground.

Chapter 6: The Family Treasure

The thief is surprised that the Shield Liger has shown up so soon. It takes out the Redhorn with ease. Van and Zeke are very impressed. The Liger then takes off after the Venomous Viper. Figuring he can't outrun the Liger, the thief decides he'll need to had something over to make his getaway.

Van has other plans however, still expressing his desire to be the one to defeat the Viper. He and Zeke race over the back of the Shield Liger to face its pilot. But once on top of the canopy, they discover there's no pilot at all. The Liger shoves them off with a flip of the canopy. Van decides to try melding with the Liger, but it refuses him. Fiona tells him that in order to meld with a Zoid, it has to open its heart to him.

Van stubbornly refuses to let the Liger defeat the Viper, so Fiona suggests another idea - melding with the Viper instead. This time being successful, Van takes control of the snake type Zoid, spirals over the Liger, and picks up Fiona. They disappear under the ground, leaving a very frustrated Shield Liger behind.

Now that Van, Fiona and the thief are all crammed in the one man cockpit, the thief asks Van about his weird little Zoid that can merge with humans and Zoids, and also why they rescued him. Van says it wasn't them, that it was his Viper that let them merge, because it wanted to save him.

Up top, the men who were in the Redhorn search for the Viper and the Liger. Apparently they have some sort of tracking device to help them out. They want to get their hands on the "treasure" that the thief, Irvine, has taken.

The Viper resurfaces, and Irvine says they're near the area where he had planned to meet with the person who got him into the whole mess. Unimpressed, another voice expresses resent for what Irvine has said. Finding themselves near a Gustav, a young lady comes over to greet them. Noticing something seems odd, she opens a panel on Irvine's Viper, Tornado, tweaks something, and Zeke unmerges with the Zoid, making the cockpit even more cramped.

The lady starts treating Irvine and introduces herself as Moonbay. She offers to make everyone some dinner. After Van tells the story of his journey, Moonbay explains the story of the treasure that Irvine was after. The Shield Liger guards the grave of its pilot, and the treasure that he left behind. After hearing that bandits were after the treasure, she asked Irvine to get it for her.

Irvine tosses the small, wrapped up treasure over to Moonbay, unsure what she wants with it. After a moment, Moonbay breaks down and spills her story. She says the Shield Liger's name is Caesar, and its pilot's name was Jadow - her brother. Fiona wants to see Jadow's treasure, but before they can unwrap, the bandits attack. Moonbay decides it's not worth everyone's life to keep it, but as she brings it over, the treasure slips from its wrappings and falls to the ground. The mysterious black object seems to hold a resemblance to Shadow.