Search and Seizure



As soon as Fei and Aireel entered the desert, they saw two large Gears hopping about, going to the northeast.

"Looks like a fight's about to start in that direction," she said a bit warily.

"I'm getting worried about doc now," Fei agreed.

"We can't find him standing around here."

"Let's follow those Gears before they get too far," he said and lead the way.

After a few minutes of walking northwest, a group of 3 men dressed in brown clothing carrying mace-like weapons jumped in front of them.

"Just great," Fei muttered and said, "Doc told me about these guys. They're bandits."

She nodded and said in an almost dangerous voice, "I never did like even odds."

He inwardly shuddered at that as they quickly took out the three men, each using their own style of martial arts.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" he asked.

"My father and a couple other people taught me the basics, but I later changed it a little."

Fei nodded and they continued on in a northeastern direction, fighting similar bandits along the way.

A few hours later, Aireel said a bit grimly, "I don't see those two Gears anywhere."

"Me neither. I sure hope doc's all right. We had better find him soon," he replied then noticed a large shadow slowly surround them from above.

Both looked up and Fei asked, "What is that?"

Aireel shook her head and said, "I don't know, but it looks vaguely familiar."

Above them was the strangest thing they had ever seen: a large, round, metal object surrounded by a orange glow with little white flashes of light flew above them in a speed that was not too slow, but not too fast either. Neither of them could see it too well for it was too high in the air to see the details.

"That thing is huge," he said after a moment, "Wonder what it's doing around here?"

She shook her head, saying, "I don't know, Fei but it gives me the creeps looking at it."

The item flew past them, going in a northernly direction, allwoing them to breathe sighs of relief.

As they continued walking northeast, Fei asked, "So...you really knew doc when you two were kids?"

"Yes. I was five years old when we were separated and he was nine," she replied quietly.

"Whoa...separated? How?"

"It's a long story."

"So, do you have any embarrassing childhood stories about him?" he asked, a wicked gleam in his eye.

"Well, there are a few I could tell you but they're not really that embarrassing--"

"Come on, Aireel! They've got to be good ones, I'll bet."

She sighed and thought for a moment before saying, "Well, there was one time he went on his usual trips into the garbage chute. He did that a lot, you know."

"He went into trash?"

"Yes. After all, he said, there was plenty of metal things he could use that were thrown away, so he'd go in every night with a big bag and take the trash. Where he stowed it to build things was even beyond me."

"Heh. Even as a kid, he was playing with that stuff...did things blow up on him?"

"Lots of times," she replied with a laugh, " and who do you think would patch him up every time?"

"You?" Fei asked.

"Yep. Half the time he'd bring in Gear parts, sometimes he'd find a discarded weapon and take it apart to see if it'd tick," she continued with a smile.

Before Fei could reply, they heard a noise and ducked behind a wave of sand.

"What was that?" Aireel asked.

"Look!" he replied, pointing towards the south.

She turned and saw a pair of Gears hopping about close to them. Luckily, the machines didn't seem to see them and continued in a northeastern direction.

"This is too odd," Aireel said.

"That silver saucer thing, now Gears are going in the same direction that thing went..." Fei mused out loud then said, "It looks like it'll dark soon. We've got to find doc!"

She nodded and they followed the two gears, Aireel adding, "We better not lose sight of these."

"So," Fei asked as they ran towards the northeast, "What were you going to say about doc in the garbage chute?"

"Well, he went in with the usual big bag and usually he finds about only half capacity. This night, he found a large pile of junk and decided he'd try to pick all of it up on one trip. As soon as he was almost back to the topside, he got stuck in the chute's door because of that big bag," she replied with a snicker.

"That must have been a sight."

"Oh, it was! It took me and a few others to get him unstuck and then his mother gave him a loud lecture about it, which I heard from my residence."

The young man laughed and said, "Any others?"

"I'll tell you them later."

The little girl that had been at the performance earlier saw the man dressed in green that had been with Aireel before.

"Exuse me, mister," she called out, "Are you looking for your friends?"

"Yes...have you seen them?" the man asked.

"They went into the desert some hours ago. They looked real worried and were talking about battles and you."

He shook his head and muttered, "Still stubborn," before asking, "Which way?"

The girl pointed out the direction and said, "It's almost sunset."

He nodded and quickly ran.

It had become dark in the desert and neither of them had seen any activity, other than the usual fights with bandits and sand creatures, for quite a while.

"We'll never find him at this rate," Fei grumbled.

"He should be around here somewhere. The desert doesn't circle the world, you know," Aireel replied, looking about her.

"It sure seems like it does--wait a minute," he said, "I hear motors running...and coming this way."

She nodded and quickly moved behind one of the bigger sand dunes while Fei moved to one side, watching as some people on motorcycles sped by.

"What are you doing, fool boy," she muttered and watched as he tripped one of the motorcycles, sending its driver flying.

"Come on out, Aireel," he said, "We can borrow this for a while."

She nodded and got on behind Fei.

"Uh, Fei?" she asked, raising her voice.

"What? Get ready," he said to her.

"Fei, do you know how to drive this---," she managed to say, then screeched, "thiiiiinnnnggg!" as the motorcycle took off rather quickly.

"Hey, relax," he shouted back.

"You drive like a madman and you tell me to relax?" she shouted, quite afraid for her life, which in itself surprised her.

He didn't reply but continued to drive over the sand, jumping over some of them, which alarmed her.

A short time later, the motorcycle stopped so that the riders could look around.

"Why, you--You may be a good fighter, but your motorcycle driving stinks!" she said.

Before Fei could comment, the tailpipe from one of the Gears that was silently approaching made a loud sound, and the sudden force from the backfire caused him and Aireel to be sent backwards a short distance.

"You okay?" he asked her as they got up.

"I'm fine...but watch out!" she exclaimed, pointing at a large Gear whose head turned towards them and whose "eye" suddenly glowed.

"We've been spotted," he grumbled then said after trying to move to the right and finding a Gear there, "Hey...aren't you overreacting just a little bit for stealing a motorcycle..."

"We're in trouble," Aireel said in a low voice.

"I thought you said you liked uneven odds," Fei retorted.

"I do, but I'm not stupid either."

Right then, both of them were alarmed to hear the sounds of gunfire and even more surprised to see the Gears that had surrounded them were now falling backwards on the sand.

Fei looked about, trying to find their benefactor when Aireel looked behind them and said, "Fei, over here! This weird black Gear saved us."

Weird black Gear? he thought as he turned in the direction she was looking at, then saw the said Gear kneel and the cockpit, which was located in the chest, open up, revealing the pilot.

Aireel grinned and ran to the Gear, saying, "H--Citan, thank goodness! We were worried sick about you."

Fei followed close behind her and watched as Citan walked out onto the hand.

"Fei, Aireel! I have been looking everywhere for you two!"

"Who was worried about who, eh?" the younger man asked, "Least you didn't get stuck in a garbage chute door."

The doctor looked at both of them with an expression of amusement and a bit of a blush and asked, "Aireel, what have you been telling him?"

"He asked if I knew any childhood stories about you," she replied with an angelic, innocent mannerism.

"Most likely asked if you knew any embarrassing ones," he said, then was cut off by a rather loud sound as the two Gears he had shot at were getting back up.

"It seems we do not have anymore time for conversation...Fei, come on, quickly!"

"And do what?" he asked, puzzled.

"I cannot use Weltall very well. Only you can use its full potential," he replied, keeping an eye on the rising Gears and jumping down to the ground.

Fei paused for a moment then said, "All right..." before jumping onto the hand and went into the cockpit.

Aireel and Citan both stood back and watched as Fei, in Weltall, went into battle against the two Gears.

"I didn't embarrass you, did I?" she asked in a teasing tone.

"What are you up to?" he asked her, tone a bit more gruff than he intended.

"I wasn't lying. Fei asked me if I knew any stories about you when we were kids," she replied.

"I had just remembered that time while I was looking for you two. Aireel, I thought I told you and Fei to stay in town!"

"We were worried about you, especially when we saw four sets of Gears headed northeast as well as that giant silver saucer," she retorted, "How can you even think we'd sit by while something bad may have been happening to you!"

"That is just like you. You are still mule-headed and you still rush into things blindly. When will you ever learn?" he snapped at her, although a second later, he regretted it.

The look on her face was one of shock and anger as she said, "How dare you! Just because you lived most of your life up there doesn't mean you can treat us like inane slabs of meat! We surface people have feelings too or have you forgotten that!"

He looked at her, face unreadable as she continued, "For all we knew, you could have gotten killed by Gear crossfire or by one of the enemy's Gears."

"Aireel."

That single word, or perhaps the way it was said, cut her off before she could finish saying what was on her mind.

Citan looked at her and said in a rather quiet voice, "I am sorry."

Before she could reply to that, the sounds of battle had ceased...but only for a short time before she, Citan and Fei heard evil laughter coming from close by.

The two on the ground looked and found a large Gear and a strangely costumed person standing on a solitary mountain-like rock nearby.

Although neither one of them said it out loud, they thought that the red moon made the strange scene rather frightening.

For a couple of moments, everything was dead quiet and then it was broken by Fei exclaiming on the Gear's intercom, "You're the one from...Lahan!"

Citan shook his head in disbelief and said as the wind suddenly picked up, "Here we go again..."

Aireel turned to him and said, "I thought you said that Fei destroyed Lahan."

He turned to her, puzzled and asked while the strange fellow and Fei spoke, "When did I...ah. The dream. Yes, Fei's Gear went berserk, causing Lahan's destruction, but that Gear's actions were the catalyst."

In the background, at least it was the background to Aireel, she heard the strange man, who now introduced himself as Grapf, start talking about how he had purposely instigated Fei's berserk outburst by destroying some of his friends...something that thoroughly made her seethe, as well as who the "blame" truly fell upon...then he spoke of Fei's father.

"This sounds a bit ridiculous," she muttered, "Like the argument of if a gun that went off or a person who pulled the trigger is at fault."

He quietly agreed and then saw suspicious movement in the sand in front of them as Grapf said, "Anything unusuable must be tried until it becomes suitable..."

"Is that a--" she asked, trying to peer at the type of movement.

He quickly pulled Aireel backwards just before a strange, mutated worm surfaced.

"So, what will you do? If you will die here, so be it. You may gain some happiness from not knowing, although that isn't what you want. If you want to know the truth...and that is what you want, isn't it, Fei...here is what you must do," Grapf droned on, "You must show me that you have the strength that I require by destroying others. When you do, you will have recalled everything that was forgotten in exchange for that scream of death!"

Aireel and Citan watched as Grapf and his Gear took off while Fei grumbled, starting the fight with the unusual worm-like creature.

Just what did I land myself into? she thought, Oh well...I was drawn here by fate for a reason.

"How does he know how to use that Gear?" she asked out loud, "He's a Lamb...I mean a civilian, after all."

"I do not know...he should not be able to as he has amnesia. Aireel, are you sure coming with us is what you want?"

"I'm certain, Citan," she replied firmly.

He sighed and nodded but she thought she heard him mutter, "Stubborn."

Before she could reply, she heard a shriek she had heard often...the shriek of a large monster dying, then saw the large Gear suddenly drop to one knee in a way that she knew wasn't good.

She and the doctor ran to Weltall, the latter shouting to Fei if he was all right.

The young man in question come out of the Gear after a long moment, seemingly stunned.

"Fei?" they both asked, now worried.

"I'm fine..." he replied after a minute, "But the Gear seems to have broken down again."

Citan sighed in relief and said, "I am so relieved that you are safe. The Weltall only had temporary repairs made on it. They were not supposed to survive an outright battle like that."

Before anyone could say anything else, a pair of Gears suddenly dropped from their left and right, weapons pointed at them.

The doctor looked about them and grumbled, "Oh, no...the Aveh Military! Not now!"

Aireel simply glared at the Gears and for a minute, Citan was afraid that she just might try to take them on.

"Fei, Aireel, I think that we should stay calm," he continued, then noticed that Fei had neither made a sound nor seemed to move...as if he wasn't really there.

"Fei?"

No reply.

As it was, the young man and the doctor made no resistance when the people inside the Gears arrested them and Aireel simply glared at the Aveh personnel.