Picture in the Pocket, BoC and THoL Crossover

[Aerowyn Mynydd]

The Holder of Lightning Prelude

The trek from the continent Nyx to Delpoi took Aerowyn and Basch the better half of the month to reach Windeen Lake. The deep blue water looked like liquid crystal in the heat of the day. Across the lake were the ruins of a large base. The forest was off behind the base. Something felt strange to Aerowyn about it. She shrugged it off to nerves and excitement. "I cant believe we are actually here" She said with wonder. "Yes Miss Mynydd this is it. Have you never seen a lake?" Basch asked. "No...No I dont suppose I have. Its glorious isnt it?"

Aerowyn and Basch set up camp for the night. Basch sat and regaled her with stories of the past and of legend. They sat up talking until the stars started to disappear. Aerowyn yawned and said "Thank you for the stories Basch but tonight I need proper sleep". With a sigh Aerowyn turned over and was fast to sleep. In the deep of the woods that night though was an unexpected guest who listened avidly to the same stories as Aerowyn. He sat up sniffing the air, It was near morning again and they would wake soon...

Aerowyn woke early the next morning to watch the embers die out as the sun rose. She wrapped up in a warmer jacket and started into the forest. Aero had walked only about 100 yards into the forest before she heard a deep rumbling growl. She started to back out to the camp when suddenly a gigantic Shadow Fox leapt from the depth of the forest to land on Aerowyn, pinning her to the ground.

[Thomas Jensen]

It had been two weeks of almost nonstop running now from the deadly assassin. Thomas and Jacob had made it out of Terrone town by the skin of their teeth and finally made it to Windeen Lake. They had set up camp in the woods feeling the lakeside would leave them far too exposed to the woman who was surely still hunting them. This was the first chance the group had to get some sleep in nearly a week though only Jacob and Katulu could really sleep. Thomas had been trying to sleep but every time he closed his eyes all he could see was the assassin that was chasing them. The unbelievable intent she had in her eyes to kill him and his family. It would make him wake with a start covered in a cold sweat his heart pounding out of his chest.

Though it was not his own death that worried Thomas he had no fear of this assassin killing him. What really scared him was the thought of his family being killed, there was no way he could handle losing them.
Saix could feel the sheer sense of fear and dread emanating off of Thomas. She could not bring herself to rest with her partner so distraught; sitting by him she did her best to comfort him. We will get away from this nut. You know that right? Thomas turned to look into one of Saix's shining emerald eyes smiling at her. At the end of day the Zoid was the one being in the world Thomas could always count on to comfort him. This ordeal had actually brought the pair closer than ever by causing them to be even more dependent on each other to stay alive.

Despite this Thomas was beginning to have real doubts about their chances of getting away from their pursuer. Honestly, old friend, I am not so sure. That woman is definitely a professional killer. How are we going to get away from her? No matter how far we run she catches up. Saix let out a heavy sigh she didn't want to admit but she was having similar thoughts about their situation. At the same time they were both avoiding discussing their other major concern: Luciana, Takine, and Zekeo. They had not seen the rest of their family since their flight from New Helic city and had no idea of the assassin was chasing them as well.

The pair looked out towards the forest to avoid breaching the subject preferring to sit in silence as the sun rose in the distance. Sitting at their campsite they wanted desperately wanted something to happen to help them keep their minds off their current problems. Suddenly off in the distance this hope became reality as they heard a terrible growl from the depth of the forest. They soon saw a Shadow Fox appear from nowhere to attack a young woman. Two weeks of constantly being on edge paid off for Thomas who jumped at lightning speed to wake Jacob and Katulu yelling at them to wake.Oi Jacob, Katulu we got trouble! The young boy and his Zoid were up in an instant believing the assassin had caught up with them. Where is she Thomas?! Jacob yelled his eyes wide and searching for the danger his adopted father had warned him about.

He finally spotted the Shadow Fox and the woman that it had pinned to the ground. Working on pure instinct Jacob jumped into his Gun Sniper cockpit just as Thomas jumped into Saix's seat. They took off at a near dead run towards the Shadow fox yelling over the comm. link for it to get off the woman.

[Aerowyn Mynydd]

The fox lifted his head to the north, hearing loud crashing through the forest. Aerowyn felt a tingling jolt race up her spine into the back of her head. As she opened her eyes Aerowyn was greeted by the cold unfeeling stare of the shadow foxes yellow eyes. "Who are you?" resounded in her head shaking her to her core. It was a very powerful voice, smooth and silky with a razors edge. "I will not ask you again woman" He growled.

Aerowyn was shocked into silence but she still forced her lips to move. "Aerowyn. But what are you?" The fox growled once again, moving away from the girl he gave her one last look before bounding back into the forest. Basch hadnt even risen yet when Aerowyn stumbled back into camp. She laid back down in her bed roll with every intention of going back to sleep when she heard more crashing in the forest. She sat up quickly expecting to see the black fox again. Instead of a fox though stood a Gun Sniper and a Lightning Saix. At this point Basch woke with a start saying "Aerowyn into the trees behind us. This could be trouble".

[Thomas Jensen]

Thomas and Jacob were relieved to see the Shadow Fox let the woman go as they drew near even more so to see her head off apparently unharmed. They could see through the trees she had made camp by the lakeside with a man, who judging by the look on his face had spotted them. “What do you all want to do now? Should we see if their okay or get while the getting is good?” Thomas asked never taking his eye off the stranger’s camp. “I don’t think we should be getting anywhere near people we don’t know right now. They could be working with that crazy woman.” A response that Thomas fully expected from the Gun Sniper Katulu, she was more of a shoot first ask questions never type of Zoid.

“I say we go in. If they were working with that assassin the woman probably would not have been so easily pinned by that fox earlier.” Jacob said. Saix then made a point that raised everyone’s tensions. “Speaking of that Shadow Fox how do we know it’s not with the woman after us?” No one had an answer her for that only fears that it was a scout for their pursuer. They all stood there for several minutes in silence considering what to do, when finally Thomas interjected with a plan. “If that Zoid was with the assassin then those people are in danger so we should make sure their ok. After that we should see if we can’t hunt down that Shadow Fox to discover if it’s a scout or a coincidence." They all agreed this was their best option and made their way into the camp. Jacob and Thomas jumped down to properly introduce themselves.

“Hello there.” Thomas began addressing both the man and woman. “We are very sorry to intrude on your camp but we saw you being attacked by a Zoid a moment ago and wanted to be sure you were alright. My name is Thomas Jensen and this is my son Jacob.” Jacob gave a slight smile as he waved at the camps occupants. “Hey there, how are you doin?” Though they were acting nice as possible both the pilots were ready to defend themselves were the strangers to attack. Their Zoid partners were also ready to make a quick escape were things to take a turn for the worse.

It dawned on the group then just how edgy they had become over the last two weeks. Any other time thoughts like these would have never crossed their minds in the presence of people like this who seemed to be no more than simple travelers. The assassin had effectively stripped them of their peace of mind at this point making them question the motives of everyone they met; something that deeply disturbed the group. How could one woman have so much power of them?

[Aerowyn Mynydd]

Basch sat tensed, waiting for the zoids to strike. "They might not mean any harm you know" Aerowyn said to Basch. "You need to relax you know that? We arent a threat, we dont even have zoids." The Lightning Saix and Gunsniper advanced out from the trees in a slow but smooth gait right towards their camp. Aerowyn got up and walked to the small clearing where the zoids had paused. The cockpits opened to reveal two men, one each sitting in their respective zoids.

Greetings were passed and introductions made from the two pilots. "Welcome to our camp Jacob, Thomas. My name is Aerowyn and the man behind me is Basch my navigator. We traveled from Mount Iselina to Windeen Lake over the last month in search of some zoidian ruins. We are explorers of sorts." Having finished the introductions the two parties sat down by the dead fire pit.

Aerowyn was still being haunted by the image of the fox that had attacked her just an hour before. "What are you four doing here anyway?" Aerowyn asked the zoids and pilots. "Did you see the fox that attacked me? It was very strange. Maybe he is a guardian of the local zoid strongholds." Aerowyn felt drawn to finding the fox. She knew he would be back again.

[Thomas Jensen]

"Its nice to meet you aerowyn, basch. Not very often that a person runs into explorers in this day and age, nice to see the practice isn’t totally extinct.” Thomas said as he sat down although the young woman’s next question stopped him from being anywhere near comfortable. Jacob looked over to his adoptive father with a mixed look of fear and confusion. Thomas knew exactly what the teenager wanted to ask him. “What are we gonna tell them?”

After their flight from Terrone town all four of them had agreed it was best to avoid mentioning that they were on the run. Telling people about their current situation seemed a good way to put themselves and whoever they told in danger. Better they lie and leave as few clues for the assassin to follow as possible. “We are just traveling towards New Helic to meet up with rest of our family.” A simple lie that they hoped would the woman and her navigator would go along with.

Aerowyn’s question about the wolf gave them a convenient way to change focus away from what they were doing at the lake. “That’s actually why we all came running towards your camp. We saw it pin you to the ground and feared it was going to hurt you.” Saix began though Katulu finished her thought. “Near as we could tell it was a wild Zoid with a bad attitude.” Thomas nodded thoughtfully. “You know that fox is still bothering me. Wild Zoids don’t usually attack people for no reason, Aerowyn may have a point perhaps it is guarding something around here.” Jacob picked up where Thomas left off. “The strange thing is that there really are not any military bases around here anymore. The only thing it could really be protecting is either an abandoned base or ruins.”

The group couldn’t help but continue worrying that the Shadow Fox was working for the woman chasing them. It could have very well been attacking the woman in a failed attempt to gather information from her. Surely the assassin would know the only place they could really run to was Windeen Lake since New Helic would still be a big risk. The only real way the group could know for sure was to find the fox, see what it was doing in the area. “You know if you want we could all go out to the forest and search for that Shadow Fox.” Thomas offered hoping the woman and her navigator would accept. He knew it was wrong to potentially drag these innocent people into a dangerous situation but he couldn’t help wanting to have some company.

“We don’t have enough seats in the cockpits for four but if you like Aerowyn you could pilot my Lightning Saix. I think she might appreciate having someone less frustrating at her controls.” Thomas looked over at Saix with a wry smile. “Just for that snarky little remark I am going to agree. You deserve to have to walk alongside.” The mercenary figured that would be the Zoids response. “Your navigator could travel with Jacob and his Gun Sniper Katulu. What do you say maybe we can find you both some ruins to explore?”