Chapter 9

[The Beginning of the end]

The silence throughout space was greatly spread. The eerie glow of the stars slowly floated by. Anna and Angel sat next to each other, embraced.

"Pretty quiet…" said Angel, smiling at Anna.

"Isn't it pretty late?" said Anna, meeting his gaze. They both kissed playfully and both held each other closer.

"I love you, Angel…" said Anna, smiling. Angel could not help but gaze into her deep brown eyes. He leaned in, and kissed her softly.

"I love you too…" he smiled and started to cuddle with her.

// She's so warm… // He smirked and again looked into her eyes. Suddenly, the ship was jolted as if it were shaken like a rag doll. Angel fell over, and the pain in his leg sent shocks up his spine.

"Ahh!" shouted Angel, grabbing his leg in pain. Anna held him, to comfort him. Angel grabbed onto a chair, and looked at Anna.

"Come on," said Angel, "Let's get to the Votal bay," Angel grabbed his crutches and started to limp aside Anna, who was running toward the bay. Upon entering the Votal Bay, all of the pilots were waiting for Angel and Anna.

"About time…" said Sean. Out of nowhere, a couple of more explosions occurred and the ship shook again.

"We need to retaliate, and most of our forces have been taken out," said Sean, looking at the men scrambling into Votals or their defense stations. "Including you, Angel." Angel looked up.

"Yeah, I gotcha…" Angel clasped his fist and looked up again.

"Let's go!" shouted Sean as the pilots split up and headed toward their Votals. Then, a scientist suddenly stopped Angel.

"Yeah?" said Angel, turning around. The background blared sirens and warning horns.

"Come with me." Angel slowly followed, dragging behind the running scientist. Suddenly, Angel came within the midst of a totally new Votal.

"Shit, what the hell is this?" said Angel.

"This is Neo Archangel Votal," started the scientist. He smirked, then started again. "Outfitted with electrical razor tips upon the ends of the wings like Angel Xero, it can short circuit anything the spears come in contact with." The scientist took another breath and started again. "It's also fitted with Neo-buster rifles on the forearms." He took another breath. "Everything else about it is almost exactly like Angel Xero." Right before Angel took off up the ladder, the scientist turned around.

"Angel!" the scientist shouted. Angel turned around, with his attention drawn. "Good luck." Angel nodded his approval, then started to struggle his way up the ladder. Inside the cockpit was a completely new experience. Then, he heard Sean's voice upon the headset.

"Let's go, we should be launching now!" screamed Sean.

"Let's rock!" shouted Claire, who was hyped up. The old feeling of movement sent them floating through space. Suddenly, Angel's Votal took flight and spread it's wings throughout space.

"Shit, man!" said Claude in astonishment as he flashed a smirk across his face.

"Stop gawking guys, let's kick some ass!" said Sean, starting off toward the fleet of spaceships.

Meanwhile

"They're coming, Mr. Perry." Jonathan smiled and climbed up the ladder.

"I'll see you after this…" Perry said as he jumped into the cockpit and soon after, they were launched into space.

The sight of the five pilots charging toward the EvA's was a terrifying sight, especially the sight of Neo Archangel, a new addition to the pilot's arnaments. Everyone pulled out their hand-to-hand combat weapons as they flew toward the EvAs. Suddenly, the sight of sparks flew everywhere as the pilots easily cut down the mass-produced EvA types.

"Grr…" said Claude. "This is getting annoying…" The sound of metal grinding together then flying apart rang all over as the pilots wreaked havoc against the weak EvA pilots.

"They fly like novices!" laughed Claire, who had a smirk upon her face as she ripped through six or twelve Votals. She smiled again, then flew off towards a squadron of unorganized EvAs. Out of nowhere, a check sent Angel off balance.

"Shit!" screamed Angel as he struggled to gain control of his Votal. At the same time, Jonathan came out of nowhere and hit Claude. They both regained balance and hovered near each other. Suddenly, Jonathan's and Perry's Votal appeared out of nowhere.

"Remember me?" said Jonathan, who started to laugh uncontrollably.

"Jonathan?" said Claude, who started to notice.

"It's not you… you died…" Angel started to speak, with a low hoarse voice.

"You fool!" Jonathan screamed, coming out of laughter. "That was a decoy!" He started to laugh again.

"Shut up, damnit!" Angel pointed a wing at Jonathan. Not knowing, Jonathan kept taunting him.

"Ooh, I'm scared now!" said Jonathan. "Are you going to flap at me?" He started laughing again.

"Laugh at this, bitch!" shouted Angel as he fired a couple of spears at him. They stuck into his Votal, and his Votal started to illuminate the small black area as the electricity field increased.

"Bastard!" screamed Jonathan, who was trying to keep power stable. Angel smiled and turned up the heat. Flipping a switch, the electricity started to increase by ten thousand volts. Jonathan started to scream as the inside of his Votal started to heat up and melt. All of a sudden, a large sound came from nowhere as a giant fireball engulfed Neo Archangel.

"Shit! Perry, you'll pay!" screamed Claude, as he could do nothing for his best friend. Then, a soot covered Votal floated alone in space.

Meanwhile

The other three pilots started to steadily reduce the EvA fleet. Out of nowhere, the EvAs started to reduce their attacks and fall back.

"What the hell?" Claire questioned as she charged after the retreating Votals.

"Claire, no…" said Sean. "It's wrong to hit someone from behind. It's dishonorable…" Claire stopped in her tracks and shut off her weapon. She hovered back toward the other two pilots. She smiled, and then she started to laugh. Anna smiled, then looked in Angel's direction.

"Something's wrong…" Anna's look suddenly changed, and she headed toward Angel.

"Nnnnn…" came from Angel, as he floated through space.

Claude's voice came onto Angel's headset.

"Man, are you okay?" questioned Claude, in a concerned tone of voice. Thoughts flew through his head, as he struggled to stay awake. He lifted his hand to his head and lifted it off. The sight of blood was only familiar. Only this time, it was all over his clothes, and he started to see that blood covered most of the cockpit. His head started feeling light, and he collapsed to the floor, the chair pinning him down. The pain in his mind did not really show as that he was already in more pain, along with some debris upon his broken leg. He did not scream, nor did he say anything at all. Silence filled the cockpit, except for the small chatter that came into his ear every so often.

"Angel!" shouted Anna into his receiver. "Angel, are you okay?" Her voice became tenser as she came nearer to his Votal. As she came closer, she saw the blackened remains and started to become more scared.

"Angel!" she came closer and closer to breaking out in tears. "Please, tell me you're okay…" Suddenly, the light from flares off of Medic ships that came out to retrieve Angel's Votal. With everyone retreating, Anna was close to tears and Claire was with to her, sharing her pain. All the pilots were in the meeting room, awaiting Angel's status.

Six Hours Later

A nurse in a small tidy uniform walked out slowly, and everyone, almost half awake. Anna, darted up and asked automatically,

"Is he going to be okay?" Her eyes widened with a certain amount of hope in her eyes. The nurse lowered her eyes to the floor.

"He has a severe concussion," the nurse started. "He might be okay within a couple of days, with a little bit of luck." She took another breath, and started again. "He lost a large amount of blood, so he should stay with us for a couple of days after he wakes up." Anna nodded and sat back in her chair. A smirk came onto her face, and she started to cry.

"He's okay, why are you still crying?" said Sean, leaning over.

"I'm happy that… he's okay…" she smiled, and then she buried her face in her hands. Everyone had a breath of relief that their buddy, their best friend or their closest friend wouldn't die today.

The Next Day

A small argument broke out in the meeting room, as two pilots argued what to do to replace their leader.

"No, what the hell do have you done?" shouted Claude, who had an accusing finger in Sean's face.

"Well…" started Sean.

"Ha!" Claude shouted. (( lol, wtf am I doing with this story?! ))

"Fine, whatever…" said Sean, admitting defeat.

"Look, was that really Jon we fought last night, that it wasn't really some wanna-be or trained person sent by Perry?" Claude stated, sitting in a chair.

"He did sound like him, but he didn't speak like him," said Claire. "His voice was exact, but he never, ever talked like that before." She paused to think, then started again. "He would usually never curse so much, or threaten, at all…"

"His fighting style became more aggressive…" added Claude.

"So it can't be him… could it?" said Anna. Sean sat behind everyone, not knowing anything.

"We can't say it really is him unless we actually see him…" said Anna. Sean, shook his head in agreement.

"Good." Said Claude. "Let's all get some sleep…" The pilots all got up and separated and went off to their own rooms.