Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Armored Core series. That belongs to Agetec and From Software. I only own the original characters. Thank you.

In TALON's Grasp

by: T.R. Fanatic

Chapter 5: Allies: Part 2

"New pilot! New pilot!" cheered the young female pilot in the uniform (1) with the blonde pigtails as she ran down the hallway to meet up with the four pilots exiting the AC design room.

"Hey, Hyper." Rebel called. "You saved us the trouble of finding you!"

"Great!" the energetic girl replied before she turned her gaze at the newcomer. "So, what's your name?"

"K-Kaze." the stunned pilot said with a very slight blush. "And yours?"

The young girl saluted to the newcomer. "My name is Hyper Fangirl!" she announced. "Hyper for short. I pilot AC-195: a mid-weight bi-pedal AC, armed with beam weaponry! (2) And I also came here to inform that lunch will be ready soon and the last one at the table has to clean the dishes!"

"Oh, no!" Pyro said as he ran down the hallway that Hyper came from. "It's not gonna be me this time!"

"Come back here!" Rebel and Bug yelled as they pursued Pyro, while Hyper merrily skipped along behind them.

...While Kaze stood with a stunned face. Strange people... he thought.

"You are Kaze," a cold voice said from behind him. "correct?"

The startled Kaze turned around to find the person with that voice. A tall, thin built man dressed in a gray uniform with white hair that went to his shoulders and an unemotional blue-eyed stare that sent a chill up Kaze's spine.

Kaze swallowed nervously. "That's right."

The tall pilot closed his eyes. "It would seem that you excel in laser blade maneuvers quite well... almost as good as me." He opened his eyes once more. "However, your left hand is not your dominant hand..."

"Yeah." the stunned Kaze replied. "How did you know that?"

"I watched a recording of your first two battles. ...I am sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Tsubasa. I command Silent Blade: a medium-weight bi-pedal AC that is able to master close-range combat with ease..."

"I guess you're one of the best pilots on the team, huh?" Kaze asked.

"...Based on the arena rank of this team itself, I am considered to be the best. ...However, based on the Nest's arena rank, I am only among the top ten..."

Kaze was stunned by the fact that he was in the presence of one of the top-ranked pilots. "T-that's amazing!" he said.

Tsubasa nodded silently. "...We should go eat. ...Everyone is waiting."

With that said, the two pilots walked down the hallway, that held the team's sleeping quarters, out to the meeting room that also served as the dining room.

"Attention!" Kaze heard Chief say. "Salute!"

As he looked over, he saw that he was being greeted by the entire team, standing as though they were military officers, saluting to him.

"Kaze," Chief continued. "on behalf of myself and the rest of the team, we welcome you to The Aggressive Line Of Newcomers!" He walked over to Kaze and presented him with a small box. "This is a gift from all of us. We hope you enjoy it."

"Um... Thank you." Kaze said with a polite bow.

"Well, go on!" Pyro said. "Open it!"

Carefully pulling away the cardboard cover and the tissue paper, Kaze discovered that he was given a pair of black finger-cut gloves with TALON's emblem, a swooping Raven and the word "TALON" encased within the moon, on the back of each glove.

He slipped each glove on the respected hand when he noticed that everyone on the team was wearing the exact same pair. He also had to admit that the gloves matched well with the black pants and the red shirt that he wore.

"Let's hear it for Kaze!" Hyper said before the entire base exploded with cheers and applause.

For the first time in two years, Kaze felt like he was accepted...

To be continued...

In case you were wondering...

(1). A Federation uniform(?)

(2). If you think of Wing Gundam (see Bonus: AC Designs), then you got an idea of what her AC looks like.

And to be on the safe side, I don't own any of the Gundam series (UC, AC, etc.), so please don't sue...