Zoids: Wild Domination

08 - Unexpected Ally Joined Crown Princess Vivianna's Guerilla Force -

1st Lt. Richie Haston, the pilot of the Wild Eagle, jumped into the ester and grabbed Cassandra's barefoot.

1st Lt. Richie Haston reached out and grabbed hold of Cassandra's bare foot, pulling her towards him in the water. He could feel the roughness of her foot against his hand, a reminder of her vulnerable state.

"Hang on!" Richie said as she grabbed her body and pulled her out of the river and laid her on the shore.

"I'll take you to an inn in order to keep you warm." Richie said.

1st Lt. Cassandra nodded, still dazed and disoriented. She felt vulnerable and cold, the water having soaked through her clothes. The feeling of her bare feet against the rocky shoreline made her shiver even more.

At the old inn, Richie set a firewood under the chimney while Cassandra is lying on her wooden bed, her boots is already under her bed.

Richie built a fire in the fireplace, the flames starting to crackle and dance. He looked over at Cassandra, who was lying on the bed, her bare feet visible beneath the blankets. He couldn't help but notice how small and vulnerable she looked without her boots on.

"Don't forced yourself, somone from Red Dragon Empire did this to you, you've been backstabbed by the officers who were the masked emperor's men, trying to assassinate you as part of his order, a while ago. That's why you have minor bruises on your body and legs." Richie said.

Cassandra looked up at Richie, confusion written across her face. "Backstabbed?" she repeated, her voice hoarse. "You mean... the Empire tried to kill me?

"There was something suspicious about the emperor that ruling, he tries to get rid of you by throwing you to the river to drowned, he already picked someone to replace you in the Imperial Air Force, the emperor might make the alibi by claiming that the Republicans were responsible for your death." Richie said.

Cassandra's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "Replace me in the Imperial Air Force?" she repeated, her voice shaking. "He wanted me dead?" She tried to wrap her mind around the idea that the Empire she had served for so long would turn on her like this.

"The Emperor is only manipulating or using you as pawn for his own sevret motive while controling the empire and controling the war conflict." Richie said.

Cassandra felt a sudden pang of anger and betrayal. "Using me as a pawn?" she repeated, her voice filled with a mixture of hurt and frustration. "I've given so much to the Empire, to the cause. How could he do this to me?"

"He's not the type of leader fitted in this throne, I'm certain Crown Princess Vivianna leading hthe guerrila in order to get her rightful throne back by overthrowing the masked emperor's forces." Richie said. "She's with your mentor Sgt.Christopher Klaws."

Cassandra's eyes widened at Richie's words. "Crown Princess Vivianna... she's the one leading the guerrila against the Empire?" She couldn't believe it. She had heard rumors of a group fighting against the Empire, but she had never dreamed that it was led by the missing princess herself. And Sgt. Christopher Klaws was with her? Her mentor, who had always been like a father figure to her. The thought of it felt surreal.

"She wanted to avenged her father, who was the active Emperor, assassinated last year." Richie said.

Cassandra's mind was swirling with thoughts and emotions. The thought of the Princess leading the resistance, and her mentor being by her side, filled her with a strange mix of hope and nostalgia. But the mention of the assassinated Emperor brought a wave of sadness and anger. "Her father... killed by the Empire?"