[b]THIRTY MINUTES LATER[/b]
___________________________________
Under the frozen sky and constantly shifting blizzards, the sinkhole was proving something of a hassle to find. It didn't help that the planet's environment prevented both satellite and tectonic mapping, and to top it off neither the pair's machines nor the Nova were equipped with more than their respective bare minimum navigation packages, Simply put, Ryoma and Ray were flying blind.

[color=f26522]"...You know, it's kind of funny."[/color], Ray spoke as they rocketed through the perpetual storm, [color=f26522]"I used to eat that kind of stuff up, back in my Gallop days. Now just hearing the word "justice" sets my stomach churning."[/color], Ray banked his machine left to avoid scraping a glacier, [color=f26522]"Justice... It's easy when you're just hunting down some violent, no-name thugs, but-"[/color], he sighed, [color=f26522]"-ah, never mind. You've got better things to do than to listen to an old soldier's rambling."[/color]

Besides, Ray had seen the glint in Ryoma's eyes. There was bloodlust, yes, but it was something more than that. Something deeper. Ray had seen eyes like those. Eyes that qualified you to pilot the R-13.

Those were the eyes of a man who had something worse to fear than death.

[color=f26522]"So how'd you end up with Sandman's unit? Pardon my saying this, but you don't seem the type to buy into all the justice talk."[/color]