Dr. D and some Republican officers are waiting for two people to arrive. They see a truck in the distance, and wait for it to arrive. They then let the two people, a man and a woman, get into two Storm Sworders. The Storm Sworders are launched into the sky, and then they fly off.

Meanwhile, Van and the others are traveling towards Guygalos City. Van and Irvine have a fight about which route to take, which ends up with Irvine strangling Van. After a long discussion, they decide to split up, with Irvine, Moonbay, and Rudolf taking the long but safe route, and Van, Fiona, and Zeke taking the shorter route that has one Imperial base along the way. They split up, and shortly after that, it turns out that Rudolf snuck into the Blade Liger so he could go with Van.

At the Imperial base along Van's path, Major Karl Schubaltz is training with three black Redlers. He does some impressive maneuvering and shooting in his modified Saber Fang. Later, he and some other Imperial officer are talking about Prozen and what they think about the Empire. Then they go into the base, where they detect Van's Blade Liger running along in the distance. Karl recognizes Zeke from when Van, in the Shield Liger, and the Organoid ran past him in a battle. Black Redlers are sent out to attack Van, and Fiona manages to contact the base. Rudolf talks to them, and Karl, being the only smart person in the ENTIRE Imperial army, recognizes that Rudolf is not a fake. Rudolf remembers Karl, and they start talking, but the rest of the Imperial officers still think he's a fake. They cut off the transmission and sieze Karl to restrain him.

Meanwhile, Irvine and Moonbay wonder if Van and the others are alright, and Raven destroys some more Zoids and moves deeper into Republican territory. Shadow sees something in the sky, which turns out to be the two Storm Sworders from before. The two people, which are really Rosso and Viola, get a transmission from Dr. D and the Republican officers telling them to come back, but they turn off their radios and basically steal the two Zoids. They then fly off at top speed to find Rudolf.

Van's trying the best he can to fight the black Redlers, but he's not doing to well. Fiona tells him that they sould seek cover in the forest, so Van heads for it. Zeke gets hit while trying to follow, and Van stops to go back for him. Then three Redlers are about to attack him head-on, but another one tries to attack Van from behind. When it's about to hit him, it gets shot down by none other than the two Storm Sworders.

The two pilots introduce themselves as the heroes of the sky, and then proceed to tear up all the Redlers. Van runs away, followed by the two Storm Sworders, who contact Van and ask him if Rudolf is okay. Van and the others don't recognize the two pilots, even though it's obvious who they are. The Imperial officers at the base want to go after Van, but Karl breaks away and hits the self-destruct button for the base, letting Van get away. Van then meets up with Irvine and Moonbay, and Irvine says that he was right and Van was wrong because Van was attacked on the route he took, so now they have to go where Irvine thinks they should. Van doesn't agree so Irvine starts to strangle him again.

Quotes:

"That is the real Crown Prince Rudolf!" -Karl Schubaltz
"I almost feel bad taking out these Redlers like this, but bye bye." -Viola
"Your highness, it's been a pleasure to assist you today." -Rosso