Pilot and Copilot
Cybertron, Pan Pacific, 13th Gygaxian 3224, Iacon, 3:30 am
Alpha didn't reply immediately, instead, he just looked away, as he stayed in silence. I was awaiting, but he didn't seem to have any intention to retort something back. I was about to repeat it when he just talked.
"You drove me up the wall." He stated, serene. I opened my mouth to respond, but I shut it up as I knew he was right, diverting my gaze. "You wondered for long who should the pilots be, daydreaming of yourself becoming one, and now you've got the chance, you quit." He looked at me. "Why, Knockout, why?"
"I almost offlined a mech today." I said bitterly. "What kind of mech makes me that?"
"It could have happened to anyone." He replied, calmly. "A participant from the tatami eight got hurt too. And the mech who inflicted that is right behind us, proud of his acts."
I looked over my shoulder lightly, trying to figure out who that might be. "Sorry, but I'm not like him. I'm not proud of what I did. I should have stayed in the lab."
"Maybe, but then you would have being pining over it once and again." He just resumed. "You have a good chance right before you. Are you letting it go?" He taunted. I gave a thought about it. I really wished I could take the chance, but I wasn't sure I would be the best candidate right then. Like a read thought, Alpha replied again. "Give a try. There are still two more tests. If you pass them, we will talk, if not, you will have your answer."
I just nodded, getting back with the other candidates. I straighten up lightly, trying to push up my spirit. I sighted and kept going on. A huge servo laid on my shoulder, what almost made me jump. I turned to look the mech by my side just to discover it was the big blue one. "Hey, you right?" He asked concerned, sincere glare on. "You looked quite disturbed."
"Fine." I just said silently.
There was a silence. "Good moves you have." He admitted. "You are nimble in combat."
"So could I say from you." I just replied, not really wanting to talk.
"Nah, it just became I have height and some muscles. Nothing else." He laughed. "I would offer you some energon goodies, but and I have none right now, plus it seems it goes against the rules... Sorry." I shrugged.
"It's ok. Thank you."
"Hum, not the talkative type, huh?" He grinned. I turned to look at him, an opticbrow up. "Don't worry, all you need to do is relax and rest a bit, and you will be as good as new!" He grinned. I just frowned, he was getting a bit tiresome. If I had being in good mood I would have loved to chatter with him, but right then, I just felt like locking into my room and hid under my sheets. "Where are you from?" He asked curious.
"Long story short. I'm from Crystal City, but I've been in Pan Pacific for almost eight years now." I stated, bored.
"Oh, Crystal City, I thought you were from Kaon! You know, red optics, sharp claws..." He pointed out. "Besides, I've never been there, I mean your home city. Is it beautiful? Is it true everything is made of glass?" His optics shown in excitement.
"Gorgeous it would be the word, and it's not made of glass, its made of crystal, a much more resistant material. There's a difference, but only we Crystalines distinguish it." I instructed him, half annoyed. "And yes, I'm half Kaonian."
"Awesome." The mech gave a thought about it for a moment and then he just looked at me curiously, talking back again. "Hey, don't take it bad, but aren't you a bit short for this?" He asked innocently while measuring me with his servo. I almost reached his torso as I straightened up. "I mean, it's impressive the fact you faced mechs much bigger than you and you won them, but..." He silenced, not really knowing how to put it, trying not to offend me. "You don't really look like much of a thing." The mech half closed an optic, rising his other opticbrow as he bend lightly. Ok, still what?
"Believe me, if I were you, I would be concerned about the little ones." I answered back, ironic tone in my voice. I was pissed, but yet I kept that for myself.
We got to the simulation room, but before we entered in, we were stopped in the corridor. "Since there are only five simulators, we will take two batches. You'll go in pairs, selected randomly, but you won't know who your partner will be." Alpha informed us. "Once in, you will be given instructions to complete your mission, though you might already know how it works. Any question?" We reminded silent. "Well, then, we will start calling you out. If you're not named, you will remind here."
Candidates went in, and soon I discovered I would go in the second turn. Alpha entered in, and he left us alone with another supervisor, to make sure we didn't take any substances nor change with anyone else, or so. If this was a full simulation, it would take hours, so I sat down against the wall, big blue also sat down, at the other side of the corridor, in front of me. I just stood there in silence, arms folded over my chest, legs lightly bent towards me, helm lightly dropped and optics half closed.
Other candidates also took a sit, and soon we were all over the floor. None said a word, we only stayed there in silence, each one thinking in our things, mostly the next test. My processor slowed down, refusing to process any more information at all, so I just made myself comfortable and I closed my optics, falling into a pleasant recharge after all the accumulated tension... And sore frame.
Cybertron, Pan Pacific, 13th Gygaxian 3224, Iacon, 5:30 am
When I finally came online I didn't even know where was I. It took me a whole klick to star up my systems, only to discover I had been recharging over Prowl's shoulder guard. I stretched out, relocating my plates from the bad posture I had had while resting. I looked at him still confused as he grinned back.
"Wakey-Wakey." He just replied, laughing. "I didn't know if you're to wake up or not before the test."
"How many... Much time... Had I been recharging?" I asked, yawning wide.
"Two hours, I guess." He snickered. "That if you fell into recharge as soon as you got here, of course. I just came here few klicks ago, and you really made yourself comfortable, Kiddo!"
I got completely blushed at that, and big blue snickered sanely at me. I just replied by scratching my helm, smiling embarrassed. I noticed the other candidates were still there. Good, at least I didn't miss the test. I turned to Prowl again. "So, anything new?"
"Yes." He answered. "But I'm not allowed to tell you anything. Rules." He resumed. "Only thing I can say is first turn candidates are still taking the test, but you might have gotten that by yourself."
"Can we take some energon?" I asked, hopped.
"I'm afraid you can't." He rested a servo on my shoulder guard. "You know the test is not just physical. Your psychical will be tested too. They are keen on find out if you can stand a long fight without refuelling, like in a real combat."
"But all of us here we had the chance to rest while the others didn't." I wondered as I gave a thought.
"You were lucky." He shrugged. "But do you really think they haven't taken that into account?" He added tricky.
"It will be more difficult missions..." I whispered.
"You will find out when you go in there." Prowl leaned back on the wall, both servos now on his lap. "So, have you met someone here you would like to have as partner once you get into the real Gipsy Danger?" He taunted, gossipy.
I leaned forwards, having a look at the other candidates, analysing them quickly. I got against the wall once more and I gave a side look at the mech in front of me. He had closed his yellow optics for a moment, most likely evading himself for boredom by travelling somewhere else in his mind.
"Him." I answered softly, signalling the big blue with my helm. "He appears to be wholesome, agreeable, besides of intelligent."
I would have love to hear Prowl's opinion, but the door just opened and Alpha reappeared. We all sat up, hardly. I started to feel again that unpleasant sore all over my frame. I cursed silently, straightening up as I could.
"Prowl, just in time." He greeted. "We will proceed to suit you up and you will get into your simulator. You're not allowed to talk between you. Is it clear?" We nodded. "Good. Then, you will start coming in one by one." There was a short pause. "Knockout Sky." I was called first. Ok, I was about to face the second part. I took a deep vent and I followed Prowl in.
There were quite a lot of people out from their simulator, waiting sat on some improvised grandstands, observing me. They were the ones who had finished their test. I could see that there was a Tygerian mech looking at me defiantly. I just returned him the look as I passed by. He must have done it well, so I had to do it better if I wanted to pilot the real Gipsy Danger.
There were some screens to see what was happening inside the fake Conn-Pod, but at that moment there was no one taking the test. Ultra Magnus was there too. He must had come while I was recharging. Prowl guided me to my simulator and he put my armour on. Then he helped me into the simulator 2 and started connecting the respective cables to my suit. Meanwhile, he took advantage of the situation and he murmured me some advices, taking a big risk.
"Don't move, don't reply, just listen." He started, looking down my harness. "Remember, Knockout, like the ones we have done. You know you will have to guide your partner as you did with me. That's why I'm placing you here." He secured me well, and pulled strongly to make sure I was well secured. "There's just one difference, it's a blind test. You will only see the screen, you won't see your partner as well as their voice will be distorted, a secure measure in case someone had prepared some kind of plan or so, but apart from that, there's no difference." He just checked once more my cabling. "Remember, faster you do, better the results." The secured my feet. "Give a try. Are you comfortable?" I tested it and I nodded. "Well then, go for it. You're doing it great." He added before leaving.
I waited few minutes, and soon I heard the Cybertronian next to me, supposed to be my partner, had been secured too. Now we were both in the same simulator, ready to go. I just hopped it was a good partner. We heard the instructions, given by a femmenine electronic voice. "You're not allowed to identify yourself. You will not have a real neural drift. You're not allowed to cheat. If you do so, you'll be disqualified. Everything clear?"
"Yes." We both answered with distorted voice.
"Your test starts now."
I was the pilot, so I had to start. I first made sure the Jaeger was fully operational, like in the practices. That was something people tend to forget as well as the drift, but not me. Prowl had been a good master, and I was gonna make him proud. I proceeded with the protocol. "Gipsy Danger ready the for mission. We request information about the Terrorcon we will fight, the launch pad, the city it's heading to and the distance." I asked to the computer, as always.
The electronic voice answered me. "Terrorcon Cat. II, code name... Shatterhorn. City heading, Paxus... Distance left... 3.460 miles. Getting out from... Pan Pacific Shatterdome, Iacon." This mission wasn't easy, as I suspected, like the last ones Prowl and I practiced. I wondered if everyone had the same mission, but then dismiss it
"Pilots ready for the neural drift." I ordered.
"Establishing neural handshake... Neural Handshake strong and working." The voice answered. The drift was stablished.
"Calibrating the Jaeger." We both knew the movement we needed to do, as Prowl had taught me.
"Jaeger calibrated." The voice informed again.
"Gipsy Danger, ready to leave." I said as the last part of the protocol.
"Green light." The voice replied. "Launch bay 2."
"Aerial Transport requested." I immediately asked, in order to gain time.
"Denied." The voice said.
"Ok, it seems that we're on our own." I talked to my partner. "Is a bit far, so I hope you're fit, because we will suffer a bit more." I added with sorrow. I knew how hard was to do that distance on a simulation. "Let's start walking with right leg." I ordered. We both moved simultaneously. "Left... Right... Left..."
We left the base and as soon as we were out, I suggested to run. "We should increment our speed if we want to reach the city." I informed the copilot. "Right, Left, Right, Left..." We were moving.
"Pilot, do you know this song?" The other suggested, as he sang it briefly.
"Yes, why do you ask?" That had no sense right then.
"The rhythm we have is the same, but it will also help us to keep up and not falling behind. It will be good to cheer us up too." Now I saw where did it wanted to go.
"Good one!" I admitted. I would have added a dude there, but since I didn't know whether was a femme or a mech, I just omitted it. "Ok, in three... Two... One..." We automatically we started signing the chorus.
At the outside, the other candidates were in front of the huge screen, watching how did the others confront their mission. The Tygerian was looking close every move of the red mech he had seen before. The couple wasn't doing it bad at all. They could hear them talking, but not really interacting at all. Suddenly, it could be heard the couple was singing a tune. 'Singing during a serious mission? They will not pass the test.' The Tygerian thought vainly, smug grin on face.
"Are they singing?" Ultra Magnus asked raising his gaze from the data pad.
"Just let them do it." Alpha walked beside him. "I know both of them, and I'm more than sure they are capable of doing it perfectly well." The white mech explained. "After all, who will control the Jaeger better than his own creator and a mech who coordinates well with him?"
We continued like that for a while, until we saw the monster far away. Good thing they were huge. We had such rhythm, we were gonna reach the city a quarter hour earlier than what we were expecting. That was a point for us. Now we were about to start the action.
"Ok, when we approach the Terrorcon, what do we do?" The voice of my copilot was heard.
"I would suggest to try to dissembled at least one of the legs, that would make it slow." I explained. "We could use the main weapon." I talked again to the computer. "Computer, is the weaponry active and working?"
"Affirmative." That was good.
"Activate the plasma canyons." I asked.
"Denied." Oh, scrap. I wasn't expecting that.
"Activate the chain sword." I tried.
"Denied." Ok, that was on purpose. I could heard my copilot swearing in Paxian.
"Changing plans. We're doing it the old style." I decided. "Let's try to attract its attention away from the city and attack it from the back, using our weight to pull it backwards." I tried to figure out as we positioned behind the beast. "If we managed destabilise it, it will be an easier target."
"K!" It agreed. "We should grab a hold there, over those plates." He suggested. Really smart.
The monster was still far from the miracle mile of the city. Great! We prepared to jump over the Terrorcon, our gazes focused on some projecting back plates it had. We rushed and jumped over it. Securing ourselves like there was no tomorrow. The platform moved briskly, as the monster tried to shake us off. We couldn't hang around much longer, so we moved our knees to the chest and then to the beast's spine, applying pressure and leaning ourselves backwards. It hurt, as I restrained a cry, but I had to be strong. My partner relied on me and I wasn't gonna give up on him. Not now.
"Pilot, the beast is relinquishing." He informed me. "We should be disengaging now, if not, we will be smashed under it."
"Disengaging in three... Two... One... Now!" I shouted, as we let it go of out servos, and pushing out pedes strong. The Jaeger flipped on air, making us land on the ground and skid, but fortunately upstanding. The monster growled, rolling over slowly, to face us. We didn't wait. "Let's try to knock it out." I suggested.
We moved fast, not letting the beast react. We succeeded on connecting twice our fists with its thick helm, but we didn't saw the tail coming as we were pushed forcefully backwards, falling to the ground several metrons away. The monster growled as it tried to jump over us, but we managed to roll out of the way. We hurried to stand up again. We made mental note to avoid the tail, though the tail wasn't the only unpredictable thing this beast had. We still needed to be careful with the head. We discovered it the bad way.
We had a difficult part when the monster launched its tongue and caught the ankle of our mecha. We stepped back all we could, resisting the creature's force to pull us towards it. If we let it pull us close, it would smash out Jaeger's leg, leaving us defenceless, therefore, deceased.
Red alert started sounding around, something to do with metal pressure. "We need to try to find something to cut that thing out and free ourselves." My copilot replied, fast thinking.
"It's time to try weaponry again." I suggested, denta gritted due to the effort. "Activate chain sword now!" I demanded firmly, feeling my muscles burn.
"Denied." The computer answered.
I growled in frustration. "Fine! Raw way." A suicidal idea crossed my mind then, something I had never practiced before, but something I equipped Gipsy with, and if we played it well, we could still have a chance. "You take lower control I take upper control of the Jaeger." I decided. "Tug as strong as you can from the ankle, and don't let go of the other pede, like if you were hammered into the ground." I instructed him. "I need let go of my pedes to try to free us with the servos. You will have to stand big pressure, you think you can handle it without me?" Was concerned about him.
"If disengaging your pede control and redirecting it into mine gets us free, for Primus sake, do it!" He shouted, struggling lightly.
"Get ready, redirecting hemisphere controls in three... Two... One... Now!" It felt heavy as I took the whole control of the upper part. We were dragged lightly forwards, as my partner adjusted to the new situation, but he managed to walk few steps backwards. I bend low to take a hold on the sticky tongue, trying to keep equilibrium, and once I had it strongly grabbed, I pulled forcefully upwards, gaining a roar from the beast. I tangled it around the forearms.
"If you keep doing that we will lose our limbs." The copilot informed concerned.
"Trust... Me." I managed to said betting ragged vents.
"Ok, but whatever your doing, do it fast. I think... The Terrorcon is preparing to charge, and... If we don't get ride of its glossa, we... Will be scrap metal."
I saw it coming. I could see it on those big alien optics. I gazed up in anger gaze, and I adjusted my servos over the tongue. I pulled both ends forcefully, with all my strengths, only to discover, for my horror, I couldn't manage to get us free. The monster rushed towards us.
My copilot was about to move when I stopped him. "Wait!"
"It will decease us!"
"Get ready to move when I tell you." I didn't have time to explain it. When the beast's jaws where almost on us I shouted, "Now!" He just moved the Jaeger to the side when the beast chomped, cutting the tongue with its sharp denta. The beast shrieked, in pain, and I hurried to get the tip of the glossa out of our ankle, so that my partner could move naturally. I untangled the forearms and prepared to fight back again.
"I'm back, partner." I said, cheering him up as I regained the control of the whole right hemisphere.
"Good to hear that!" He chuckled. "I was starting to think I was leading the mech on my own!" He joked.
"Glad to see you still conserve the humour." I smirked. "But we need to get rid of this monstrosity." I said as the jaws of the thing came into view again. We managed to keep it in place, occasionally struggling, but there we stood firmly.
"Then let's make honour to its name." He replied. "I don't like that horn of its. It could cause enough damage to let us powerless, so why don't we shatter it?" He said punching the helm away as we backed away lightly as we thought.
"We don't have weapons."
"Let's get one then." He replied again. It didn't took me long to discover what he meant.
"Good point." I admitted. "We should grab the thing firmly by the horn. If we managed to ground the huge helm down, we will have a chance."
We ran towards the beast, connecting few times our blows, and dodging its limbs. We managed to launch a pede to the audio receptor zone, making the Terrorcon fell, lightly disoriented. It was our chance. We hurried to sat down its neck, securing us with us thighs and resting our pedes on its shoulders, we had a firm hold on the horn. The Terrorcon growled, gaining full consciousness, and jumped and struggled forceps, unsuccessfully.
We tighten our grip, this time passing a servo behind the jaw, and the other one on the horn, letting us a better grip. We pulled strongly, until the appendix got free. It was said the only way to extract raw energon mineral out of a mine wall was by using another mineral from same mine. If that theory was right, the best way to defeat a terrorcon was with its own weapons, right?
"Let's just finish with it already!" My partner huffed, aware of the meaning of that.
"Let's not wait any longer and let's put his Terrorcon to rust!" I shouted victoriously. We sat up, still over the shaking beast, and grabbing the horn firmly, we both motioned down our arms in a fast movement.
The beast stopped moving. We took a moment to react. "You think is offlined?" I heard at the other side.
We moved away from the frame and started down it. "I think so." We checked it, just in case. "Pan Pacific, here Gipsy Danger. Terrorcon down. We're getting back home." I finally announced, big weight out of my shoulders.
"This is the end of the test." The electronic voice announced. "Time valance... 02 : 37 : 45. Coordination... 93%... Protocol respect... 99'9%... Overall valance... 95%... Well done. Congratulations." The simulation voice informed us. I vented relieved, right then, I didn't care if we had being the worst fighting or the best. The thing was over and I was glad. I let myself hang lightly from the harness, as my legs shook in lack of energon.
Soon, Prowl entered in and started taking all the cables out. I grinned at him as I fought to vent after the effort. "Congratulations, you two have done it wonderfully. Good job." He freed me and then he added, "You may face the most difficult test now, so just relax, and if you do have any trauma, don't think about it, just let it flow." He advised me silently as he helped me out.
"Thank you." I nodded.
We got out and we saw the other groups were already waiting for us. Did they finished earlier than us? I could see some of them looked upset, and a mech was sat on the ground as his femme partner fulminated him. There was no other group doing the simulation. The only one left was my partner, who was been disconnected then. I heard some heavy footsteps behind me. I turned around to see big blue whistling the song we had used before.
I looked at him sheep. "Yo." He greeted, satisfied. "How was it?" He asked in general. He gained some angry glares.
I instead answered back naturally. "Great." I wasn't sure yet if he had being my copilot, so I just asked back. "And you?"
"Wonderful!" He replied laughing. "I have no idea who was with me but, hey, the cyberteonian had good come backs! Well, not to mention about the incredible solution to split controls." He admitted. "I hope your partner was as good as mine." He added, rocking me lightly. He thought I had been in another simulator.
"You could tell me." I smiled sincerely, laying a servo on his forearm. "You have a good sense of rhythm, partner." I wondered if Prowl had had something to do with him being my partner.
"Oh, were you my pilot?" He asked surprised.
"Yes, he was." Prowl answered. "And you two have done it pretty well." We grinned at that.
"What happened to them?" I asked signalling the other candidates.
"Lot to tell, but I will cut to the chase." The cop answered. "Quite different results in both groups. The first round, the pilots of the sim.1 were killed because they did not have coordination. The sim.2 fell over the city bunker, smashing all citizens in the way. The sim.3 did it pretty well, with good coordination." I stiffed lightly. "The sim.4 forgot to apply the base protocol, so they hit themselves against the hangar gate. And the sim.5 got its Conn-Pod crashed." He resumed the first group.
"Now, your group." He continued. "Sim.1 made an stupid mistake that led them to lose the city. Sim.2 you did coordinate very well, we liked it. Sim.3. Lost three limbs during the first fifteen minutes of combat. Sim.4 lost its power core, leaving them like a pile of dead metal. And the sim.5 forgot to establish the neural handshake."
I was quite surprised by the silly mistakes someone could do when they were nervous. But I was even more surprised about the calm and cold helm my partner and I had had during the test.
"We are fortunate we did had a quite easy mission compared to others." Breakdown stated analysing the results.
"You didn't. You all had the same mission programmed, just changing the city. You even had the same Terrorcon." He clarified.
"Not only that." Alpha approached us, followed shortly by Ultra Magnus. We turned to face him as silence was settled in the room. "You were the only ones who were not allowed to use the weapons during the test."
"Why not, sir?" My blue copilot asked confused.
"Because Knockout was the only one who knew what the robot was equipped with." All the candidates looked at me. Some of them accused me of cheating. Alpha silenced them. "He did not cheat. He did know what Gipsy Danger is equipped with because he had designed the Jaeger."
"You gotta be kidding." Breakdown's optics went wide. He turned to me, curiously. "Did you really...?" I nodded shyly and I promised him I would tell the whole story. "No way!" He laughed.
"Candidates, we have made the selection. Only two couples have passed the test." Ultra Magnus talked then. "Raid Acid and Stargaze Bolt... With an 80%..." He silenced for a while, as the two candidates came to the front. "... And Breakdown Hammer and Knockout Sky... With a 95%. Congratulations." Magnus informed us. I jumped on my partner, screaming in joy, as my copilot hugged me tight. They looked at us like if we were a pair of lugnuts, but we didn't care, we were a pair of happy lugnuts. We finally recovered our composure under the strict R.R.D.C. representer's glare.
"Sorry, Sir." We replied, still snickering light.
"You will be lead to the next test, in the Med Bay." The blue mech added before turning around to leave.
"Follow me." Alpha asked us. We followed him, almost walking coordinately as we chattered more animated, and from time to time, singing our song.