Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters/places/anything mentioned from Zone of the Enders and everything belongs to its respective owners.

Too Warm

Before Ken knew it, she was falling. Well, more precisely, Ardjet was falling. The iron beams beneath her Orbital Frame had given way, causing gravity to take its toll as she floated ever faster towards the lava brewing below. She cursed her pride, knowing that it was the main reason she was in this situation. She didn't want to say sorry to Dingo, so she would have to pay the consequences.

I don't want to die because of my pride though, she thought, quickly trying a few more controls.

Ardjet didn't move like she had wanted, but the descent did seem a bit slower. At least she had thought so, but was proved wrong when the humanoid frame slammed into another metal platform. The impact caused pain to spread through her back, but the damage was at least minimal.

"Dingo's right; I don't know how to do much without an AI," she muttered, the control panel indicating the damage to her Orbital Frame. Ardjet wasn't damaged much, but it wouldn't help if she couldn't pilot it.

"Ken?" Dingo's voice came over the intercom, causing her to gasp slightly in surprise. She half expected him to have flown off already…

"Over here, Dingo!" she shouted, not sure if the volume was even turned up so that he could hear her. Is there even volume control for Orbital Frames?

She sighed, wishing that BAHRAM would have had more extensive courses on controlling the humanoid frames. Dingo was right again; rookies weren't taught much without the help of an AI.

"Where? I can't see you," Dingo's reply made her realize that there was something she knew how to do: use the sub weapons that Ardjet had in the vector traps. She quickly prepared the wisps as she felt the metal between her and the lava start to give way a bit.

The wisps were released a moment later, heading towards Jehuty. Relief ran through her when she realized she had gotten the aim right; the wisps latched on and brought the larger Orbital Frame over to her.

"You use weird things," Dingo commented as they came face to face. The wisps released Jehuty and reformed behind her. She resisted the urge to scoff, instead extending Ardjet's hand towards the other Orbital Frame.

"Here, this is useful. Take it," she sent the program over to him, marveling a bit at the blue light as it was transferred. Despite being able to pilot an Orbital Frame, the technology and abilities that they were capable of never ceased to amaze her; "Catch me if I fall, alright?"

Jehuty's gaze was cast upwards as the warning lights flashed inside of Ardjet's cockpit. A screen appeared showing the approaching Raptors.

I bet they're not alone either; her thoughts were interrupted as Dingo spoke.

"I'll carry you to the top. Let's go."

She didn't have a chance to say anything; the next moment Jehuty grabbed her Orbital Frame and started to lift upwards. The Raptors fired a shot at him, causing them to have to lower towards the lava to avoid getting him.

Ken thought that Dingo would lift off immediately, but she had a feeling the Raptors weren't the only thing keeping him near the lava. As the heat entered her cockpit, she realized that he was getting a little bit of payback first.

"Dingo, it's getting hot in here!" she shouted, feeling as though she could hear his smirk through the intercom. The heat continued to rise, making it very uncomfortable in the cockpit; "Dingo, hurry up!"

Two Raptors disappeared from the identification screen, but Dingo still hadn't moved very far away from the lava; his actions causing her to mumble. "How are you not roasting?"

She was pretty sure he could hear her, but no answer came back. The answer did come to her however and she realized another problem: she didn't know how to turn on the air conditioning. If such a thing exists.

"You are going to regret this," she muttered angrily, reaching back to unzip her body suit. She slid her arms out and pushed it down to her waist, hoping to relieve herself of the heat.

Jehuty made a quick burst upwards, causing her to nearly fall off of her seat. He was finally relenting, and she hoped it was the last of his payback. Sure enough, Dingo got them to the top quickly, but the enemies still followed them.

She gasped in surprise as he let her go, but then realized that Ardjet was stabilized by another metal platform. And I thought he was just going to let me drift…

With Jehuty's superior power over the unmanned frames, the Raptors were quickly taken care of. He came to float a few feet away from her, causing her to feel an intense burst of embarrassment, for a number of reasons.

"Here we are," Dingo's image appeared on the screen, making her look away. She seriously hoped that she wasn't blushing; she couldn't even tell because of the lingering heat.

"Uh yeah," she avoided his gaze, knowing that he wasn't done with his remarks. She figured that he would be at it all night…

"I can't believe you have managed to survive this long," his jab made her look up to meet his gaze.

"Well, it's only normal-" she started to argue, but a flashing light on the control panel made her stop, "wait, I'm getting a communication."

She disconnected before Dingo could say anything about an excuse. At least she knew how to do that much. The message was received and on the other end she saw one of the commanders of BAHRAM.

This definitely doesn't look strange, she thought sarcastically, thinking over what she must look like: a nineteen year old girl with her suit zipped down to her waist; definitely not.

The commander, however, did not remark on her state. "Aumaan has been activated. Report to your post."

"Yes, sir." The message was cut off a moment later, causing her to sigh. She really hated having to show respect to them.

Especially after they… she bit her lip, cutting off any emotion that would have come with the unfinished thought; sorry BAHRAM, but I quit.

She restored the connection to Jehuty, seeing a slightly amused look on Dingo's face. She didn't have time to wonder what had caused such a reaction from him; they had to get going.

"They've activated Aumaan. We have to get going," she explained quickly, but then realized that she most likely wouldn't be going anywhere. She still didn't know how to pilot Ardjet without an AI…

"There's somewhere I need to go first," Dingo's clear cut answer made her eyes widen, but he cut her off before she could argue, "We have no means of resisting Anubis. I need a function to combat its speed. We can ask Lloyd for his help."

"Lloyd certainly is an odd fellow," she remarked, but understood what he meant; Lloyd was the one who had calculated the battle strength of Anubis, so certainly he would be able to help with the program that Dingo needed.

"Get in," Dingo's command made her pause for a moment; what would happen to Ardjet? She shook her head, knowing that such personal attachments couldn't be helped. Transferring from Ardjet to Jehuty took no time, and as Dingo piloted Jehuty towards the cliff, she looked back at her Orbital Frame.

Maybe I can ask Dingo if we can pick Ardjet up later.

Feeling slightly satisfied at the thought, she then realized another problem: she had been too warm inside of Ardjet, so the temperature difference in Jehuty made her a bit cold.

I had the idea for this one after I unlocked Ken's alternate outfit in the game (really I was just wondering what she was thinking about Dingo's 'payback'). Also, I was curious about who Ken was actually talking to during the transmission. Not sure if that was a good estimate, but you can leave your ideas in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9