Memory

Summary written by John (Channel Zi) . He has graciously given me permission to post several of his summaries.

Van and Fiona are trudging through the desert. The wind is stiff, and the blowing sand makes it difficult to see...

Suddenly, they are confronted by a black Command Wolf. Startled, they begin to back away when Fiona is sucked into a sand trap. As she sinks, Van makes a vain effort to reach her. The cockpit of the command wolf opens, and a man with a rifle appears. The stranger tells Van to get out of the way and fires the rifle at Fiona...Van jerks away from the shot, and it turns out to be a safety line. Fiona grabs the line and is pulled to safety.

Van & Fiona thank the stranger, who in turn offers them a safe place to camp out for the night. As they sit around chowing down on a meal of corn-on-the-cob, Van explains his situation to the stranger. While loking for food, Van & Fiona got lost in the dust storm, adn were separated from Zeke & the Shield Liger. The stranger perks up when Van mentions both the fact that he owns a shiled liger and Zeke's ability to merge with it. When Van presses the stranger for an explanation of what he is doing in the desert, he brushes the question off and turns over to go to sleep, and recommends Van & Fiona do the same.

Morning. With a very painful pinch on the cheek, Fiona wakens Van from his blissful sleep. Fiona tells Van that the stranger has gone, and left them alone. The trail of his command wolf tapers off in the distance. With nothing else to do, Van & Fiona continue their search for Zeke & the Shield Liger.

Eventually, Van & Fiona find Zeke (or he finds them) and the shield liger. Van runs to greet his partner...who promptly runs right past him straight to Fiona. Fiona is happy to see Zeke, and Van is left wondering what it is that's so special about Fiona... Now reunited, the group continues on their way.

Eventually, Van & Co. make their way into a hidden desert valley/oasis. Towards the rear of the oasis, they see the ruins of a fortress, surrounded by lush vegetation. As they approach the fortress ruins, Zeke runs off into the undergrowth. Van & Fiona begin to follow but they are startled by a noise behind them. They turn to see a white Gordos, roaring at them and charging. Van jumps and pulls Fiona out of the way of the charging Zoid just in time. The Gordos then turns to charge again. Both kids then notice that there is no pilot at the controls of the Gordos...it is acting on its own. Van can see also that the Gordos has damaged right front leg, and starts to try to approach it. Van & Fiona retreat to a ditch along the fortress perimeter, and the Gordos pins them there with cannon fire. Van vainly makes an attempt to get to his shield liger, but the Gordos quickly sends him back into the ditch with more cannon fire. Fiona notes that the ditch they are in is actually and aqueduct, and it probably would lead them into the fortress and away from the attacking Gordos. With no other real option, they crawl in.

Van & Fiona exit the aqueduct system within the greenery of fortress grounds. Now out of range of the Gordos, they are free to explore the fortress ruins. They make their way inside the main tower, where they begin nosing around. Trees and vines have grown up through the interior of the ruins. Fiona finds a diary in a desk drawer in one room and begins to read. Elsewhere, Van looks around and notices a noise coming from a pair of lockers. He opens the right one, but it's empty. A quick sigh of relief gives way to new hesitation, as Van slowly begins to open the left locker. Throwing the door open, he finds...ZEKE! Who growls at him. Van is spooked silly. And Zeke is amused.

Outside, a familiar figure is surveying the ruins from the perimeter of the compound...and decides it's time to make his move.

Fiona and Van begin reading the diary, which belonged to the fortress Commander, a member of the Helic military. Fifty years ago, the Fortress Commander and his troops had been forced to hurriedly evacuate the fortress in an effort to regroup their forces. Much to his chagrin, the Commander has to leave his Zoid partner behind because the Zoid's damaged leg would slow down their retreat and risk their capture. It was a painful decision. But in leaving his partner, the Commander hoped that his Zoid would one day find peace from the war that they had been fighting for so long. As Van & Fiona finish reading, a photo falls out of the diary...it is a picture of the Commander and his Zoid...a white Gordos...the same Gordos that had attacked Van and Fiona earlier. Suddenly there are explosions outside...

Van & Fiona rush out to see the Gordos under attack from the stranger's black Command Wolf. Van manages to get to his shield liger and starts to face off against the stranger. The stranger brushes him off, and the Gordos and Command Wolf go head-to-head. The already injured Gordos can't withstand the attack, and falls. But, in pressing his attack, the stranger has damaged his command wolf. By this time, Zeke has merged with the Shield Liger and come to the defense of the Gordos. The stranger, seeing Zeke merge with the Liger, realizes he is an Organoid. Seeing that the odds are stacked against him, the stranger retreats to repair his command wolf. After the stranger leaves, Van expresses concern for the damaged Gordos. Then Van sets to repairing the Gordos as best he can, without his tools.

Elsewhere, the stanger is fixing his command wolf, noting that an Organoid is just what he needs...

Back at the fortress, Van has set about gathering some of the fruit around the ruins. With an armful, he heads back into the main tower, but finds Fiona and Zeke missing. He searches around, and sees a trap door opened in the floor of the old commander's office, with stairs leading downward. Zeke pops up from the stairs, and prompts Van to follow him. Van follows, deep into a sub-basement of the complex. There, Fiona is standing transfixed in front of a single column covered in writing. Van approaches her, but then, the letters begin to glow, and Fiona is thrown into a trance. She is assaulted by images and words, but can only make sense of one thing: Zoid Eve. Overwhelmed by the experience, Fiona faints. Van catches her and takes her back upstairs.

Back upstairs in the Commander's Office, Van helps Fiona get her bearings again. Fiona tells Van about this Zoid Eve, but has no clue as to what it is. She does feel that if they find it, it might help her regain her memory. So, Van vows to help Fiona find Zoid Eve. But just then...the stranger returns, firing his rifle throughout the fortress to bring out Van.

Van rushes out to the Gordos to prompt him to get up and defend the fortress. Hearing Fiona call out, Van turns to find that the stranger has taken Fiona hostage. The stranger tells Van that he has searched the world over for an Organoid, and demands Van turn over Zeke to him in exchange for Fiona. Zeke sees this and attacks the stranger by demolishing the rock he is standing on. Fiona is thrown free, and she, Van, and Zeke make a run for cover. The stranger recovers and begins firing at them. As they run, Van falls behind, and the stranger manages to trap him under falling debris loosened by one of his shots.

The stranger continues to pursue Fiona and Zeke, who have gone back down into the aqueduct system to escape outside the fortress perimeter. Meanwhile, Van is struggling to free himself, but the rubble is too heavy. Suddenly, the white Gordos appears, and begins to help Van free himself by moving the rubble away. Van thanks the Gordos for his help and sets out after the stranger.

Fiona and Zeke emerge from the aqueducts well outside the fortress, but only to find the stranger waiting for them in his command wolf. The stranger repeats his demand to hand over Zeke. At just the right moment, Van shows up in the shield liger. Zeke jumps up to merge with it, and they go to attack the stranger. But, their attack is repelled, mostly due to Van's lack of combat experience. The stranger has them down and fires his cannon at the liger, but...the shot is blocked at the last minute by the white Gordos, who has stepped into the line of fire. Not liking the odds against him, the stranger retreats.

Afterward, the white Gordos turns to head back into the fortress valley. Van pleads with it to leave, because the war is over, but the Gordos refuses to listen. It runs back to the fortress, to continue waiting for his owner to one day return...and Van and Fiona move on in their quest to find the Zoid Eve.