Chapter 2

[The First of Many]

~Within Angel's Room~

"Damnit, I have to get used to a new room again," said Angel. "Just when I settled into college I have to get f*ckin moved." Angel got up and he lay down on his bed. He looked at the ceiling, and just when he was about to fall asleep, he heard a knock on the door.

* Knock Knock *

"Who is it?" asked Angel.

* Knock Knock *

"What?" said Angel. "Is this some kind of a dream?" Angel again, got up and walked over to the door.

He opened it, and there was a note upon the floor. It read:

Votal Pilots:

Training will be needed soon. You must all train hard, and fight well in order to become and stay a pilot. Report to the Briefing Room again at 6:00. Forget the previous orders, and head to the Briefing Room at 6:00.

"Damnit, what do we have to do?" Angel complained. He looked at his watch as it read 11:25.

"Crap, I have to sleep now, what the hell…" He started to mumble as he walked back toward his bed and collapsed on it. He could do nothing but look at Anna's picture and remember what happened before…

"Hey Angel.," was all he could hear. Anna's beautiful, loving, voice. Then, he saw an image of her in his mind, and then he looked around the area he was in. It was a wide open space, all these crumbled buildings, blood everywhere, and the sight was unbearable.

"What the hell is this place?" screamed Angel. "Why am I here?" and then, a voice came from nowhere.

"To defend the human race…"

Almost instantly, Angel's surroundings changed, and he was in the base.

"A war is approaching, Angel," came from the voice. "You and the other four are the chosen, a four that will shield the human race from it's once thought allies…"

"Take this with you, it will bring you luck…" Suddenly, a charm in the form of a lion appeared in front of him.

"Protect the human race… Angel…." And suddenly everything faded into darkness.

~Later that morning, at 5:45~

"Ack!" screamed Angel. "I have to prepare for the meeting!" He started dashing around his room and took a shower, brushed his teeth, and got dressed in the uniform that was in his closet. Running down the hall, he bumped into Claude.

"Hey, Angel," said Claude. "What's up?"

"Dude!" Angel started to say, "We have a meeting at the Briefing room in five minutes!"

"I know," came from a calm and sincere Claude, "I'll see you there, you should get something to eat in the cafeteria before you go."

"Sweet," said Angel, as he ran off in the direction of the cafeteria. He again, looked at his watch as it was 5:59, and he dashed back down towards the briefing room.

He made it just a couple of seconds before 6:00, when everyone was there.

"Damn, why is it that I always run?" Angel mumbled to himself. He looked around and saw everyone there. Anna was sitting in a chair, looking at the pamphlet that was given yesterday, Claire was stretching in the back, Jonathan was talking to Claude, who ignored him while reading a book. Angel ran down the aisle and jumped into the seat next to Anna.

"Ah……." Angel said, relieved to be resting for a bit. "Hey Anna, what's up?"

"Mn… nothing, Angel… just reading this pamphlet…" said Anna, completely enveloped into reading the book.

"Good Morning, Ladies and Gentlemen," Mr. Perry said as everyone's instructor walked into the room.

"Instructors, and Pilots, please pay attention," came from Mr. Perry. "Training will be skipped and you will all be sent to colony sixty-five, and will be trained there. You and your Votals will be taken there by a carrier, which plans to leave at 6:30. Then, training will begin there. After that comment, the room was filled by many mumbles and moans, since most of Angel and his friends got used to the rooms, and then they would have to leave and head off again.

"I don't want to hear anything out of any of you!" screamed Mr. Perry. "I demand your full and complete cooperation and support. Now, pack up your supplies and you will meet here in fifteen minutes. Dismissed!" Everyone, went back to their rooms and started to pack up what they brought, and had already set up.

"God Damnit!" screamed Angel. "why the hell do I have to keep on moving?" kept coming out of Angel's mouth as he stuffed everything he had back into the bag he brought. Once everything he had brought was stuffed into the bag, he went back to the briefing room to find that he was too early. When he started to walk out, he bumped into Anna.

"Hey, babe!" screamed Anna as she hugged him and she kissed him on the cheek. "gosh, why do we have to keep moving?"

"Haha, that's what I'm wondering also, what the hell!" said Angel as he exchanged the kiss. "have you seen your Votal yet?"

"Yeah, kinda weird… how'd they find out everything about us, anyway?" said Anna.

"Quite easy…" came from Mr. Perry, who was standing behind them. "all of you have valuable personalities that we could use to help attack the Guarods. Angel, you have superb leadership capabilities, and you are unbelievably seasoned in decorations for academic studies." Mr. Perry paused, as he took a breath. "Anna, your strength and athletic abilities would be also a help, along with your academic achievements." Just then, the rest of the Votal Pilots entered the room. Claude, Claire, and Jonathan.

"Many of you have a lot of reasons why you were chosen for this project," Mr. Perry stated. "Now, since all of you are here, you and your instructors will be transported to Colony Sixty-Five and training will resume there and start on the carrier."

"Yeah, but what are we here for?" asked Jonathan.

"To protect the Earth with the weapons we are giving you, Votals." Said Mr. Perry. "Follow me, and we will head to the carrier bay. In passing the laboratories, and the Votal Hangars, the pilots saw the Votals being transported into the carrier. Upon enterance, we all were supposed to go into the cafeteria and await further instructions.

Around an hour later, the carrier started to lift off and head into space. Amidst the pilots and instructors, Angel maintained a steady calm and sat next to the window and looked out the window as he saw the Earth start to fade from distance. The colonies were still from view and also, along with the Earth. The dark, coldness of space seemed too calm and when he was a child, he always dreamed of heading into space and leaving the Earth behind.
"Looks like my wish is coming true…" mumbled Angel.

"What'd you say, Angel?" asked Anna.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Suddenly, the ship started shaking violently, and stopped. The large sound of the engines could barely be heard and a siren automatically started blaring. Then, a voice came over the loudspeaker.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, defense spots, Votal pilots, please report to the cargo bay. I repeat, All personnel take defense spots and Votal pilots report to the cargo bay."

"Let's go, Anna!" Angel grabbed Anna's hand as they dashed down through all the rushing men and women to get to their defense spots. Upon reaching the Cargo bay, Angel and Anna spotted their Votals and they ran toward them. Once passing through the crowd, they saw Jonathan, Claire, and Claude.

"Their instructors were talking to them, and Angel ran towards Jun, and Anna ran towards Joseph.

"Look, I know this is your first time operating a Votal," said Jun. "it may look hard, but the first-time operation program inside the cockpit will familiarize you with the controls and such."

"Are you sure?" said Angel.

"Yes, I am very sure," said Jun. "Climb up the ladder and get into your Votal and get familiarized, you will be launched in about 2 minutes." At that exact moment, Angel rushed up the ladder not caring what happened, and he jumped into the cockpit. Suddenly, lights and buttons started flashing, and a voice came from inside the Votal.

"Hello, Angel." The Votal spoke. After one minute of learning controls and how to use weapons, the screen flashed and he saw his instructor's face.

"Angel, we are launching all of you now, and you have to fight what's out there," said Jun. "Are you okay with that?"

"What the f*ck?!?!" screamed Angel. "You're telling me to fight this fight without any practice?" Right then, the Votal started to move, and he was then out in space. The screen changed to a view from the Votal's eyes.

"Oh shit…" Angel looked on as he saw most of the enemy gathered before the carrier, which was not heavily damaged. Turrets were firing to no avail, and most of the shots didn't really pierce the other Votal's armor. Angel sent a transmission to his instructor in the carrier, and started talking.

"Are these the guarods?" Angel asked.

"You betcha…" said Jun. "Good luck!" He saluted Angel, and he returned the military gesture.

Suddenly, the enemy Votals turned toward him and his friends.

"You guys ready?" screamed Angel.

"You bet!" said Anna.

"Let's Rock!" said Claude

"Kickin Ready!" screamed Jonathan.

"Let's kill em'!" said Claire. All of the pilots started to scream as they charged the enemy, and the enemy stood there. Once the attention of the Guarods was held, they charged at the five pilots. Anna and Jonathan both stood in fear of what would happen, as Xero, Meteor, and Windsought charged toward the Guarods with amazing speed.

"It's time we put these pieces of scrap to use!" screamed Claude.

"Hell Yeah!" replied Claire. At the same time, Angel stood at the back line, arming his Reitan Rifle.

"Take this, B*tch!" screamed a tense and angered Angel, as he shot the rifle, and it made a hole straight through one of the Guarod Votals.

"Earth one, Alien psychotic b*tches, zero!" mumbled Angel as he charged in with his double katanas.

Angel, Claude, and Claire were burning up the Guarods like there was nothing there, and Anna was starting to get revved up.

"Okay, that's it!" she screamed as her Votal flew into the action. She armed her hypersonic missiles and fired at any Guarod that wasn't fighting. After that, she ended up demolishing most of the Guarod squadron, and Jonathan, rushed in.

"Air rush!" came out of Jonathan so loud, a blast came out of his Votal that hit a Guarod, then sucking it into a vacuum and then it exploded.

"Biatch!" screamed Jonathan as he felt good taking out a Guarod. The five pilots looked around the area, to their surprise; they found that they destroyed all of the Guarod forces attacking the carrier. Wreckage was floating around, and silence and the black cold of space engulfed them.

"Wow, we… did this?" asked Anna.

Just then, a voice came up on all of their headsets.

"Head back into the carrier for repairs, the carrier's engines are up and ready and we are ready to continue on to colony sixty-five."

"Yessir!" the pilots replied altogether, as the Votals, one by one headed into the cargo bay.

Once the pilots exited their Votals and made it back onto the main deck of the cargo bay, massive sounds of shouts, whistles, and cheers greeted the five pilots. Practically the whole ship rocked of the noise that was made all over the carrier. Smiles could be seen all over and the first victory for the new Votal pilots was marked. This was the first day in humanity that we would fight back and win, to prosper.

~Later that night~

The watch on Angel's wrist read 10:10. He sat at the observatory deck, at the top of the ship. Anna slipped a note into his room 15 minutes ago to meet her up at the observatory deck. He sat down in a chair and looked toward the stars, which were surrounding him. They all looked so familiar, so weird in a way. And also it was that the Votals did not really seem new to him, either. His past was so hard to remember, but it looked like it was right under his nose. Something about robots that were so similar, but nothing came to him.

"Surprise!" whispered Anna as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. She caught him off guard, all the time, usually when he never expected it.

"Why is it that you always manage to catch me off guard?" whispered Angel into Anna's ear as she slipped into the seat next to him.

"Well it's because you're turning soft on me," Anna started to say, "Along with the fact that Claude told me, you're obsessed about me…"

"Hey, what the hell?" said Angel. "s…so? I guess I am but it's only I'm in love with you…" Angel wrapped his arms around her and he kissed her on the cheek.

"Nothing will ever separate us… always fight, remember that," Angel whispered into her ear as she listened with the curiosity of a cat. "you know I love you and nothing will ever separate us… you are my everything…"

Suddenly, the silence was broken, along with the mood when Claude walked upstairs.

"Oh, you're up here?" said Claude. "I'm so sorry…"

"No, that's okay," said Anna. "We were just talking,"

"I should go," said Claude, as he ran downstairs. Since the mood broke when Claude came up, Angel and Anna stood up.

"Uh, yeah," said Angel. "you know, we should get some rest."

"Yeah," replied Anna. "we should." They hugged and Anna walked downstairs. Angel stood in the dim lights of the carrier and looked deep into space. Angel lay down upon the chairs and he looked deeper, yet he could still see nothing but the endless number of stars that lay in the beyond.


~Meanwhile~

Claude was busy tinkering with his Votal and looking through the cockpit. His head was looking through the engine and he was checking the output. Then, he heard a voice.

"Hey Claude!" said the voice. Claude, responding to the voice, lifted his head and hit it upon the engine.

"Ack!" screamed Claude, as he took it out of the engine and looked in the direction of the voice. It was Veronica.

"Hey!" Claude responded and many times he thought in his head: "be cool, be slick, be sweet." "what's up? He said as he raised his hand and he dropped the wrench down about 30 feet.

"Crap!" was all Claude said as he dropped the wrench. He started to climb down the ladder and he jumped down and landed next to Veronica..

"Hey, what's up?" Claude tried to keep cool and keep slick.

"Nothing, really," said Veronica as she looked at the floor, and had her hands behind her back. "what are you doing with the Votal?"

"Just checking it out, you know… upgrading it…"

"You know, it's fully upgraded, and nothing else can be done."

"Whoops…" said Claude. "so what was the reason you guys dragged us to nowhere, and into space?"

"Well, it's a long story, and the government has kept the war under wraps for a while, until they started to inch nearer and nearer to our solar system, and now is when the government decided to react to these "Guarods"." Said Veronica. "You all were picked for a very special reason, and you all have the duty to yourselves, and the whole planet to protect it and it's colonies. It's a bad thing that we cannot find anyone else like you five to mass produce and send all over the galaxy."

"Well, well…" said Claude. "quite a long story…"

"Yeah," said Veronica, as she looked into Claude's eyes. Claude felt uncomfortable, so he broke the silence.

"Anything else that I should know about?"

"Nothing else, really."

"Heh, *yawn* I have to go to sleep, I'll see you tommorow."

Veronica started to walk off and Claude looked after her.

"Gosh, she's so hot," said Claude. "heh, I wonder if she likes me," Claude mumbled again.

"You know, you're cute too," said Veronica, just before she left the hangar. Claude sat there on his Votal's arm, stunned.

"Whoa!"