ZOIDS ASTRAY ACT 028

 ACT 028: CHELONIA – MORNING

Two days have passed since the meeting. Teams have been formed and dispatched to their assigned positions for the next phase.

Neku, Inu, Danny, and a small crew work on setting explosives along the valley walls.

Nyssa leads a team of long-range Zoids to intercept.

Clair works with the Librarian, Nicholla, and Irie, searching for someone who can bond with and pilot the City Zoid, Chelonia.

Everyone has a job. Everyone moves with purpose.

ZOIDS ASTRAY ACT 027

 

ACT 027: INT. ROMANOVA RESIDENCE – NIGHT

Neku sits on the sofa, exhausted, her head in her hands. Inu, in the kitchen area, prepares hot drinks for the three of them. Zenko stands nearby, looking down at his daughter.

ZENKO (concerned) 
She’s asleep now, but she’s only been here a few hours and she’s already one of the kindest people I’ve met.

Neku looks up at her father.

NEKU
But she’s not a person, Dad. She’s a hybrid—a Zoid.

ZENKO
And that changes what, exactly?

ZOIDS ASTRAY ACT 026

 ACT 026: INT. CHELONIA – COMMAND ROOM – EVENING

The room is quiet, everyone stunned and lost in their own minds, pondering the information that was just given to them.

Nicholla rubs the bridge of her nose, then sits up straight, stretching. She places her hands on the table and regains her composure.

NICHOLLA
You want to wake Chelonia and get it to move out into the ocean?

ZOIDS ASTRAY ACT 025

 ACT 025. INT. CHELONIA – COMMAND ROOM – AFTERNOON

Neku and Inu enter the Command Room. Everyone is already waiting, seated around a long table with a large monitor on the far wall. Nicholla sits at the head, Irie Meilin standing behind her. Danny is next to Clair, reviewing data. Nyssa sits alone, arms crossed and face tight with anger. Brandt is present beside an old man known only as the Librarian. Several other figures — unknown, silent — observe without speaking.

NEKU (as she sits)
Sorry we’re late.

NICHOLLA (nods)
You’re not late, so please don’t worry.
(she looks at the door and back to Neku)
Paige?

NEKU (looking directly at Irie, a bite in her voice)
I’ve left her somewhere safe.

Irie nods. Nicholla smiles. Danny glances up from the data slate and offers Neku a small smile.

NICHOLLA (with a deep breath)
Lets start. Clair and Danny have been analysing the data from Skarfi’s drone. We also retrieved footage from a drone-controlled Pteras we dispatched for recon. (she gestures to the monitor)

The monitor flickers to life. Virodahaka walks below, slow and ponderous. As it brushes against trees and rocks, chunks of greyed Zoid fall from its body, only to be retrieved and re-assimilated by thick tendrils. Wild Zoids nearby flee at its approach. An Astray Zoid willingly walks into the creature and is absorbed.