Chapter 14: Till the end
The dome rocked at the explosion, shaking the very foundation. The elite group of ravens had just arrived when the explosion occurred, all of them looking at each other in puzzled looks. Count One looked at his timer and scratched a line on the inside wall of his AC, exactly 111 ravens dead, at 1:11. "triple digits" he said.
"Renee." I said in disillusionment, my mind was still stuck in PLUS and everything was still surreal. I strained my eyes to keep her AC in my sights but the red and yellow flames kept the orange hidden. Reeling back in my seat with my arm over my blinded eyes I clenched my fist and teeth, this cant be happening. Everything was still in slow motion, what felt like 30 seconds was in actuality 3, I wanted my time with Renee to last. The blue goo evaporated into flaming bubbles and searing heat, not doing any damage to my AC but everything else that it had seeped into evaporated along with it. Buildings either toppled by the explosions or were engulfed by them, along with everything within this dome, all affected in one way or another; all for worst. I didn't know if the tears falling down my check was from the flames that had blinded my eyes, or the thought of Renee within them.
Time speed up and slowed down in my mind, one second there would be a slow growing rumbling the next, quick rapid boomings, and then silence. I hated the PLUS that was me, the ability to use time at will but useless to go back and change all this. As the rumblings outside my core softened and the image on my monitor began to come into view I knew it was all over, hell had just past me by. "Renee." I spoke out, choking back the tears, trying to keep my voice steady, "Renee..Renee." "Chr.s." "RENEE!" She was alive! ALIVE! Waking up from my trance like state I looked hard into my monitor, my eyes darted all over for any sign of orange. "HANG ON RENEE!" swiping my eyes with my sleeves, my AC shifted thru the destruction. Dropping my Kawasawa and blade, I needed to get Renee out of there. Joy began to seep into me as her AC came into view, it was no longer orange, the heat had melted the paint away, her AC was a mess, but she was alive and that was all I needed to continue. When her core was free of the rubble I exited my AC and ran toward it, every second counted. Feeling around for the trigger that would open her core and bring her cockpit out of its protective, I wenched in pain from the heat of the metal. The blast had heated the metal up and clearly it wasn't cool enough to lay a hand on it but I continued to search none the less. "Hold tight." I said to myself, imagining her safe and sound within the cell I was trying to get into. Switching hands I finally found the switch, my right hand cooked enough to take a bite out of it. A hiss from the hydraulics within the core and the steam geyser that erupted from the radiator drove me back, but not enough to keep me from her. The front half of the AC core opened up and more steam ensued. The cockpit slowly slid out of it's housing and opened its contents, the greatest prize of all. "Renee.your safe now" jumping into the disarrayed cockpit, holding her closly "ugh..chr.s." I heard, her eyes shut, the words jumbled out of her mouth, she had been cooked and sautéed alive in this oven, she was alive and that's all that mattered "shhh.its alright" eyes beginning to water, "I wont let you go" brushing my hands thru her hair I began to cry
I didn't notice the shadow behind me, my sobs had covered the man's foot steps, he pulled his arm back and released the force upon me, I remember orange that slowly swirled to black.and endless black that engulfed Renee.then it was all gone
"Are you up?" I heard, my head pounded and caused me to grab it in pain "wha-?" "good.good.now we could begin." "Who are you? Where am I?" I snapped out of my concussion, no doubt with help from my PLUS, everything suddenly came back into view, I was in a cockpit of an AC that much was certain, but when I looked into my monitor it was all dark, "hey bastage!" "Bastage? My my what a nice vocabulary you have, the last person to defeat me didn't even have a voice" the one talking sounded familiar, then it hit me "Klein." "the very one.or should I say technically the same one" He opened the vid link, what I saw was not an old man but a middle-aged one, and his voice wasn't sickly anymore "Another PLUS I see." I spat into my vid screen, he looked better with spit on his face "Surprised? My old husk died long before your 'Operation' began, I am the 5th of the noble original, the one you knew was the 4th" "How do you live knowing you're a fake?" I said, eyeing the spit face "I view my time spent here as a continuation, as you could see we all live separate lives, but we share the same common goal which ties us all" "and that would be?" "the original once aspired to be a great raven, when that was achieved long long ago, he wanted something more.what could be more then the destroyer of worlds?" He smiled, tilting his head to the right and left, cracking his neck bones, are you familiar with your AC setup?" I inspected my cockpit, it was a replica of my Adrenaline AC, all the bells and whistles. "what of it?" "I thought you would feel more comfortable to die in an familiar AC" he responded, his voice was now becoming colder, eager for something "So why not let me use the one I came in here with?" I was fully awake now, my mind wondering to Renee "Irrelevant, the one you are in now is a better design and would there fore produce a more.lasting fight" "Ahh, now I know why I'm in here" he saw my crooked smile despite the spit on the screen, "you wanna finish off what the one before you couldn't do" "correct" he turned off the vid link, "I hope you prove a worthy fight.the one that preceded you was an exceptional pilot, even defeating the 3rd who was using a disorder battle suit" he pushed a button, the arena then lit up from all the lights embedded around the perimeter, the roof shifted and groaned, revealing the sky. It was blood red, in my mind it was red from the Ravens who had fallen this day, soaking the sky with blood as they fell to the ground. The sight was astounding, the lights reached out to the red sky, mixing with it and illuminated my path to Klein, the blood soaked trail that lay before me was the sacrifice my comrades had pained, now it was time to collect. I saw a ghost of Renee walking that path, it may have been real or just from my imagination, I knew Renee was still alive.and I also knew that she was with me now in spirit, this one was for her.this one was to avenge the pain they had inflicted on her.I swallowed hard, sweat dripping down my temple, and focused on the AC that stood before me at the other end of the Arena. "lets go" I replied, I heard him respond
"NOW DIE"
The dome rocked at the explosion, shaking the very foundation. The elite group of ravens had just arrived when the explosion occurred, all of them looking at each other in puzzled looks. Count One looked at his timer and scratched a line on the inside wall of his AC, exactly 111 ravens dead, at 1:11. "triple digits" he said.
"Renee." I said in disillusionment, my mind was still stuck in PLUS and everything was still surreal. I strained my eyes to keep her AC in my sights but the red and yellow flames kept the orange hidden. Reeling back in my seat with my arm over my blinded eyes I clenched my fist and teeth, this cant be happening. Everything was still in slow motion, what felt like 30 seconds was in actuality 3, I wanted my time with Renee to last. The blue goo evaporated into flaming bubbles and searing heat, not doing any damage to my AC but everything else that it had seeped into evaporated along with it. Buildings either toppled by the explosions or were engulfed by them, along with everything within this dome, all affected in one way or another; all for worst. I didn't know if the tears falling down my check was from the flames that had blinded my eyes, or the thought of Renee within them.
Time speed up and slowed down in my mind, one second there would be a slow growing rumbling the next, quick rapid boomings, and then silence. I hated the PLUS that was me, the ability to use time at will but useless to go back and change all this. As the rumblings outside my core softened and the image on my monitor began to come into view I knew it was all over, hell had just past me by. "Renee." I spoke out, choking back the tears, trying to keep my voice steady, "Renee..Renee." "Chr.s." "RENEE!" She was alive! ALIVE! Waking up from my trance like state I looked hard into my monitor, my eyes darted all over for any sign of orange. "HANG ON RENEE!" swiping my eyes with my sleeves, my AC shifted thru the destruction. Dropping my Kawasawa and blade, I needed to get Renee out of there. Joy began to seep into me as her AC came into view, it was no longer orange, the heat had melted the paint away, her AC was a mess, but she was alive and that was all I needed to continue. When her core was free of the rubble I exited my AC and ran toward it, every second counted. Feeling around for the trigger that would open her core and bring her cockpit out of its protective, I wenched in pain from the heat of the metal. The blast had heated the metal up and clearly it wasn't cool enough to lay a hand on it but I continued to search none the less. "Hold tight." I said to myself, imagining her safe and sound within the cell I was trying to get into. Switching hands I finally found the switch, my right hand cooked enough to take a bite out of it. A hiss from the hydraulics within the core and the steam geyser that erupted from the radiator drove me back, but not enough to keep me from her. The front half of the AC core opened up and more steam ensued. The cockpit slowly slid out of it's housing and opened its contents, the greatest prize of all. "Renee.your safe now" jumping into the disarrayed cockpit, holding her closly "ugh..chr.s." I heard, her eyes shut, the words jumbled out of her mouth, she had been cooked and sautéed alive in this oven, she was alive and that's all that mattered "shhh.its alright" eyes beginning to water, "I wont let you go" brushing my hands thru her hair I began to cry
I didn't notice the shadow behind me, my sobs had covered the man's foot steps, he pulled his arm back and released the force upon me, I remember orange that slowly swirled to black.and endless black that engulfed Renee.then it was all gone
"Are you up?" I heard, my head pounded and caused me to grab it in pain "wha-?" "good.good.now we could begin." "Who are you? Where am I?" I snapped out of my concussion, no doubt with help from my PLUS, everything suddenly came back into view, I was in a cockpit of an AC that much was certain, but when I looked into my monitor it was all dark, "hey bastage!" "Bastage? My my what a nice vocabulary you have, the last person to defeat me didn't even have a voice" the one talking sounded familiar, then it hit me "Klein." "the very one.or should I say technically the same one" He opened the vid link, what I saw was not an old man but a middle-aged one, and his voice wasn't sickly anymore "Another PLUS I see." I spat into my vid screen, he looked better with spit on his face "Surprised? My old husk died long before your 'Operation' began, I am the 5th of the noble original, the one you knew was the 4th" "How do you live knowing you're a fake?" I said, eyeing the spit face "I view my time spent here as a continuation, as you could see we all live separate lives, but we share the same common goal which ties us all" "and that would be?" "the original once aspired to be a great raven, when that was achieved long long ago, he wanted something more.what could be more then the destroyer of worlds?" He smiled, tilting his head to the right and left, cracking his neck bones, are you familiar with your AC setup?" I inspected my cockpit, it was a replica of my Adrenaline AC, all the bells and whistles. "what of it?" "I thought you would feel more comfortable to die in an familiar AC" he responded, his voice was now becoming colder, eager for something "So why not let me use the one I came in here with?" I was fully awake now, my mind wondering to Renee "Irrelevant, the one you are in now is a better design and would there fore produce a more.lasting fight" "Ahh, now I know why I'm in here" he saw my crooked smile despite the spit on the screen, "you wanna finish off what the one before you couldn't do" "correct" he turned off the vid link, "I hope you prove a worthy fight.the one that preceded you was an exceptional pilot, even defeating the 3rd who was using a disorder battle suit" he pushed a button, the arena then lit up from all the lights embedded around the perimeter, the roof shifted and groaned, revealing the sky. It was blood red, in my mind it was red from the Ravens who had fallen this day, soaking the sky with blood as they fell to the ground. The sight was astounding, the lights reached out to the red sky, mixing with it and illuminated my path to Klein, the blood soaked trail that lay before me was the sacrifice my comrades had pained, now it was time to collect. I saw a ghost of Renee walking that path, it may have been real or just from my imagination, I knew Renee was still alive.and I also knew that she was with me now in spirit, this one was for her.this one was to avenge the pain they had inflicted on her.I swallowed hard, sweat dripping down my temple, and focused on the AC that stood before me at the other end of the Arena. "lets go" I replied, I heard him respond
"NOW DIE"