He had finally done it. After all that time spent looking for them, he had finally found them. He was elated. I supposed I should give you a bit of history first though.

A long time ago there was an elite group of AC pilots known as Raven. Probably the best out of all of everyone was someone called Hustler-1, with his AC Nineball. Not much is known about Hustler-1. At one point though, he and a lady named Laine Meyers dissapeared. Shortly after, the Ravens Nest crumbled. It was rebuild a little later, but they had stopped recruiting only elite pilots. Because most of the Ravens had become bad pilots, the Nests reputation plummeted.

The new Nest lasted a while. But because of the bad reputation that they had gotten, they eventually crumbled. Nobody was surprised. Nobody even cared. It has been a long time since then.

One day, I heard a rumor about a new Nest that was only letting in pilots with actual skill, like in the old days. I even heard some crazy rumors about Nineball being back, and a part of the new Nest.

After I heard about the new nest, I started poking around, trying to find out as much as I could about it. For a long time, nothing turned up. I had started to believe it was only a crazy myth.

Then all of a sudden I found something. A black and red AC had appeared near an AC part production plant and promptly laid waste to it. There was a picture of the AC, my hear skipped a few beats when I saw an emblem that looked like a Nineball on the AC's left shoulder.

After that, I started asking everywhere about the new Nest. Then one day, I had a strange e-mail saying "Show up at the arena at noon tomorrow. This is your one chance." It was signed "Meyers/Ravens Nest"

I couldn't believe my luck. But I was a bit cautious. This could just be a ruse leading to a trap. It wouldn't have been the first time. I decided to go. If this really was the real deal, I couldn't afford to blow it.

So the next day I was at the arena at noon. The people at the front desk had been expecting me. I had been scheduled for an arena battle. The guy I was to fight, I found out later, was from the Nest.

I was given a moderate AC that the Nest had rented for me from the arena. The guy I was fighting had his own custom AC. It was a very nicely designed gold and black medium weight AC. His AC was superior to mine in every way.

I fought a good fight against him. But in the end I lost. Although, satisfactorily, I took a good chunk out of his AC before going down.

Apparently my performance at the arena had been good enough to impress the Nest. The next day I had an e-mail waiting for me with the details about what I need to do to get into the Nest and become a Raven. All I had to do was follow the instructions and pass my test.

That is where I am at now. Freshly emerged from the test as a new Raven. I haven't been this happy in a long time.

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Hope your enjoying this so far. Please R&R. I need commentary on how I'm doing before I'll start the next chapter.