Chapter 8 the Arena calls
I opened my eyes and as usual I was blinded by the sunlight shining through the window in my room. "why do you people always do this to me!" I got out of bed and closed the blinds over the window. I stepped into the bathroom to take care of business then headed downstairs for some food. I grabbed my robe and put it over my bare shoulders. Walking down the stairs I looked over and saw blaze sitting at the table drinking what I assumed was coffee and eating a pancake.
"hey you, want some?" she lifted her fork-full of pancake to offer me some.
"I just may. What flavor pancakes do we have here?"
"blueberry and cinnamon." She took another bite.
"eww. How did you come up with that combination?"
"this is my favorite, its really not bad."
"well I would guess it cant be that bad if you keep eating it." I stood for a second, "where's the batter?"
she laughed, "I made a few extra, they're in the fridge." She poured some more syrup onto her pancakes. "these damn things are like sponges."
I opened up the fridge and pulled out the pancakes which were in a large plastic baggie. I pulled two out and threw them on a plate then put them in the microwave. While I was waiting by the microwave I heard a yawn coming form the stairs and a knock at the door. I looked over to the stairs and angel was standing at the bottom of the stairs with a large duffel bag. "perfect timing." she said as she walked over to the door and swung it open. I looked further over again and morrow was standing in the doorway. "hey, could you grab this bag for me?" she said to him as he stepped inside.
"what's going on?" blaze said with her mouth half-full of pancake and looking over my shoulder. She swallowed the food, "oh, hi morrow! What are you doing here?"
"kinda what I was wondering." I stepped forward into the entrée-way.
"angel didn't tell you guys?" he picked up the bag at angels feet without much effort at all. This guy was stronger than I had thought for a long time. "angels gonna come and stay with me."
"oh?" I said as I raised an eyebrow to angel. "don't like it here?" I asked her.
"no, I like it here. But I wouldn't want to get in between you and blaze." She threw blaze a nasty look then put her nose to the air and walked out the door, leaving morrow, blaze and I all standing together with dumb looks on our faces.
"what?" we all said in unison.
blaze walked after angel outside. "what do you mean 'in between Xero and I?' huh? What is that supposed to mean exactly?"
"well, it seems you two have been getting along quite nicely recently and I don't want to see it!"
morrow and I were standing side-by-side in the doorway silently thinking 'cat fight'.
"getting along nicely! What the HELL!?!? Holy Christ angel! What the hell is wrong with you! What's wrong with making friends? Holy god! If I had known you would have been this jealous I would have stayed in the apartments at the garage!"
morrow and I shot each other an excited glance. The only thing he managed to say was: "this is gonna be so hot."
"jealous! Why would I be jealous of you two?!" they were yelling at each other now. And the neighbors were probably watching. "oh my god. I am NOT going to put up with this! Morrow! Lets go!"
he looked at me with a dreaded look in his eyes. I patted him on the shoulder, "good luck buddy. I'll see you tomorrow."
he made a fake crying sound like an injured dog and made his way out to the car.
Angel was about to get in the truck when blaze yelled her name which made angel stop getting in the car and look over to her, then she stormed over to me. I just stood there waving my hands in front of me like I was trying to stop a car coming at me. "don't bring me into this! Please!"
She grabbed my arm and pulled me out onto the lawn so that angel had a clear view of both of us. "hey angel! You want to be jealous! Here! have some of this!!" blaze reached up and grabbed the front of my shirt, right below the neck. She pulled me down and kissed me. Tongue and all. She held it for about five seconds as she put her other hand on the back of my head and kept it there. She finally released me and then turned to angel, "how was that!? Huh?" I just stood there dumbfounded.
"FUCK YOU!!" was all she screamed as she threw herself into the car and slammed the door.
Morrow was standing at the rear door of the car and had the duffel bag halfway in the backseat of the car. He stood up straight after blaze's little performance and just stood there with a shocked look on his face for a second. Then he kinda shook his head and gave me a huge thumbs-up with both hands before getting into the drivers seat of the car and driving away.
Blaze waited until they were well out of site before grabbing my arm again and pulling me inside. I went somewhat willingly this time however. she pulled me through the door, and slammed it shut as we passed. She pulled my to the couch, swung me around then pushed me onto the couch on my back. Then she straddled my chest then she leaned in real close, "sorry about all that." she leaned in that last little bit and kissed me again. This one she held me for a while though. I wasn't quite sure as to how long it was but who cares? After a while she lifted her head and I saw that she had tears in her eyes.
"hey its no big deal really." Her hair had fallen all around her head. She was about to drop tears too. "hey, calm yourself down, its alright." We stayed there silent, staring into each others eyes for about two minutes. I decided to break the silence, "hey, if its any consolation." I dropped to a whisper, as if she (Angel) would hear me, "I wasn't all that interested in angel anyway, I'm kinda glad she's gone."
blaze kinda coughed a laugh which caused the last of her tears to fall from her face. I sat up with blaze now sitting on my lap.
"want some pancakes?" she busted up laughing. She got up off me and walked back to the table, grabbed her plate of now cold pancakes and put them in the microwave after I got mine out.
The rest of the day was rather uneventful. We watched a pay-per-view of some arena matches then watched a movie. The day was pretty much a couch potato day.
It was about seven-thirty in the evening when I got a call from morrow.
I picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Xero? That you?"
"yea."
"oh, ok, good, its me, morrow."
"oh hey, what's up? I guess angel hasn't murdered you then. It looked like she was ready to kill when you guys drove away this morning."
"yea, she's been in a pissed mood all day. She doesn't talk normal, she just yells. how's blaze?"
I laughed, "she's good. She calmed down after you guys left. so, you got a reason to call me?"
"lucky bastard. Anyway, yea I have a reason to call you. I need to meet you in the nest tomorrow at lunch. Say around noon lunch? I know some people eat late."
"that's fine. Yea I'll see you there." I could hear angel scream in the background.
"morrow! Who the hell are you talking to!?" she yelled. "get over here! Hurry!"
"uh.nobody!" he yelled back. "god help me Xero, I gotta go. C'ya."
"later." I could hear him yell back at angel before he clicked the phone down on the receiver:
"what is it angel? I'm coming." I put my phone back on its receiver.
"who was that?" blaze asked from atop the banister that crossed the living room of the house.
"that was morrow. He wants to meet me in the nest tomorrow for lunch."
"oh, alright. Think I could come along? I have nothing to do here. and with angel gone I have nobody to fight with."
"what do you mean? No one to fight with? Is that all you and angel would do when I was gone?"
"yea pretty much." She said with a sigh.
"well, that explains a lot. yea, I don't see a problem with it."
"ok, good." She yawned. "well, I'm gonna go lay down alright love?"
"ok. I'll be up in a minute." . Wait. did she just call me 'love'? .and I went along with it? Oh god. whatever. I shut down the computer and grabbed a quick drink before heading upstairs myself. "why did she tell me she was gonna go lay down?" I got my answer as I reached the top of the stairs and could see lights flashing in my bedroom. "why is the T.V. on in my room?" I got the answer to that question when I walked into my room. I looked over and the T.V. was indeed on, and blaze was lying in my bed watching it.
She looked over, "I thought you wouldn't be up for a while?"
"well, I figured I better get to bed early. The last time I had to go to the nest the next day I stayed up to late and was draggin ass." I stood in the doorway for a second. "wait, what are you doing in my bed? Don't you have your own?"
"oh? So you want me out huh?" she cocked her head sideways and sat half- way up in the bed.
"well, not really." I scratched the back of my head even though I didn't have an itch and I wasn't so sure if it was a good idea for me to be in the dark room right now. I wasn't sure if my undeniably red face was lighting it up.
"I didn't think so." She gave a sly smile and sat up in bed so that she was holding herself up with her elbows on the pillow behind her. The blankets slid a little more down her chest and I still didn't see any form of clothing. "are you gonna get in bed?"
I just stood there, "uh."
I still hadn't gotten fully dressed from this morning. So all I had on were my flannel pants and my bath robe, no shirt or really anything else. So I walked to my closet, hung the robe back up and walked back around the bed to get in. As I was walking back around blaze laid back down on one shoulder and pulled the blankets up to her neck. I climbed into the bed, half nervous, half excited. I got in and put my head on the pillow. I rolled over and blaze was there, three inches from my face. I gulped, "hi."
"hi." she responded. She somehow moved closer without touching me at all. Her face was now about an inch from mine.
"so. what's up?" I couldn't think of anything else to say, although the answer was painfully obvious.
"well, I could guess." She said with another sly smirk.
"alright then." I went to roll over again in the other direction. The nervousness now far outweighed whatever excitement I had harbored moments before. Before I could get halfway over however, I felt a slender hand on my shoulder.
"where do you think your going?"
"well, I don't know, that's the problem."
"that's a problem?"
I rolled back over and seemed even closer than I was before. "kinda."
"are you nervous Xero? You pilot a giant mechanized monster and destroy things with cannons and the like. Then you get nervous about being in bed with a girl?"
"uh-hum, woman." I corrected her, motioning my eyes to her chest.
"oh, I'm sorry, forgive me." Her hand that was still on my shoulder she now used to push me over so I was on my back. again. "you like that position don't you?"
"well, there isn't really much I can do about it. Or would do about it."
"I see." she climbed over on me and kissed me again.
I woke up the next morning and found myself lying behind blaze with my arms around her shoulders. "hello there." this was new. I slowly removed my arms from around blaze so I could get out of bed. It took a few minutes but I eventually got my arm out from underneath her. I got out of bed and felt a strange draft. I looked down and then smacked my palm to my forehead. "now I remember." I looked back to blaze who was still sleeping silently in bed. "too late." I walked into the bathroom and took a shower. I let the warm water run down my body and in my face. I got out and dried off. I put some jeans and a t-shirt on then looked back to blaze again. "time for you to get up." I walked back to the bed and sat down on the edge of the bed right in front of her. I put my hand on her shoulder. "hey! Its time to get up!" I shook her gently. Which obviously wasn't enough as she didn't even stir. I repeated the sentence and shook her a bit harder. Still nothing. "ok. sorry blaze." I put my other hand underneath her other shoulder and sat her up, then proceeded to shake her as hard as I could. Finally! Some results!
"wha-? What's going on? Is it an earthquake?"
"no, we need to work on waking you up in the morning."
She gave a short laugh. "we do huh?" she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulled me in and kissed me. Then she fell back onto the bed, pulling me with her. "lets go back to bed. I'm still tired." She yawned and closed her eyes.
"hey! HEY!! No more sleep! Get up and take a shower!" I sat up and brought her with me. "c'mon blaze! We need to meet morrow at the garage remember!?"
she woke up this time. "alright, alright, I'm up. wheres the shower?"
"right in there." I pulled her out of bed and pointed her to the bathroom. She was wearing the same thing I was when I woke up. which was well. nothing.
"alright, hurry up Xero, we don't want to be late."
"Uh-huh." She stepped into the door of the bathroom then stepped back and opened the door. Then she tried to walk through again.
"and how long did you live on your own?"
"what was that?"
"oh, nothing." I stepped out of the room. And began walking downstairs. I got to the kitchen and checked the time. "ten forty-three. I stayed up too late again. But I guess this time it wasn't exactly my fault." I walked to the fridge and pulled out the last pancake, and put it in the microwave. I poured myself a cup of coffee from the automatic maker and added some cremer to the mixture. Then sat down and waited for the last thirty seconds for the pancake. I could hear the water running upstairs the whole time. The microwave rang and I got the pancake out and grabbed the syrup and a fork on my way back to the table.
I sat quietly eating my breakfast when I heard footsteps on the stairs. "that you?" I stood and walked over to see blaze half-way down the stairs with her head drooping every now and then. "I guess you stayed up a little too late too huh? Well. not your fault either." I gave a short laugh and walked back to my pancake.
She hobbled over to me and put her hand on the top of my head. "good morning." Her head drooped again.
"hey, you look like you would like some coffee!"
"yea, tell me about it." she reached over and grabbed my cup of coffee from my hand and proceeded to chug it, somehow.
"what are you doing?" my jaw dropped as she lowered the empty cup to the table. "hey! That was mine! Wait a second? How the hell did you do that?! That was hot coffee!"
"pure skill. And its not yours anymore, but if you really want it that bad I guess there is a way you could get it back." She gave me her signature sly smile and walked over to the coffee maker. "Moooorrre! you want some?"
"eh. not really, I guess I had enough. Thanks for finishing it off for me." I ate the last of the pancake and picked up the plate to put it in the sink.
"you ate the last pancake! Damn you. Oh well, can we stop by McDonalds on the way to the garage or something?"
"If you don't want to try and get that pancake back, yeah sure if you don't want to eat at the garage or anything."
"I'm not a big fan of cafeteria food."
"its like a subway and stuff. Eh, whatever, you don't like cafeteria food but you can stomach McDonalds. I don't want to understand."
"fair enough."
A few more cups of coffee later and we were in the truck on our way to Cercall. We went through a drive-through for blaze in Trene and then we were on the freeway on our way to the garage.
When we did get to the garage we were a few minutes late somehow. "I told you stopping was a bad idea!" we walked in the front doors and went straight for the elevator.
"what floor please?"
"the nest." We both said at the same time as the doors hissed closed and I took my usual spot at the rear of the lift. I leaned against the back wall as I felt myself being smashed into the floor, followed by a rising feeling. A few moments later I heard the 'ding' and the doors hissed open again.
We stepped out of the elevator and took the whole seven or eight steps to the door of the nest. I opened it and held it open for blaze. I followed her in and we immediately saw morrow in a booth across the room. "why does everybody sit as far from the door as they can?" I said with a sigh and walked over to the table with blaze closely behind me.
Blaze sat first and I followed her. "oh, isn't that sweet?" morrow said in a sharp mocking voice.
"screw off morrow." Blaze said to him as she settled herself in the chair.
"promise or a threat?"
"oh, you would be lucky if it were either." she shook a fist at him with her eyes.
I decided to cut in before they started a war. "ok! So, what's up morrow?"
"alright, alright. Well, before we get started. um, Xero, you didn't have any real future plans in store for you and angel did you?"
"not really." I thought for a second. "Why?" I asked, half not wanting to know the answer.
"well, I've never had sex like that in my whole life." he said before he started laughing. He was laughing so hard he almost fell out of the booth.
"what? I thought you said she was acting hella pissed?" I was kinda confused.
"well, she was. She was pretty forceful too. But I guess she took all of her anger out on me! The only thing is. the way she took out her anger, was in no way a bad thing."
"wow. whatever. But, how is she acting now?"
"oh, she was in a perfectly good mood this morning!" he started laughing again.
"so, are you two like 'together' now or something?" blaze asked.
"well that's the thing that confuses me! When she got up this morning, she was in a perfectly good mood, yes. But she acted like nothing ever even happened!" he only chuckled at this one.
"heh. whatever man. I stand by my statement, good luck with that one."
"yea thanks, I'll need it."
"so morrow, do you have any real reason for dragging us out of bed before we could get our full quota of sleep?"
"oh, yea. Well actually Xero, you're the only one I need to talk to really." He continued upon seeing the look on blaze's face. "well, I have been challenged in the arena. These two guys mailed me yesterday and challenged me to a two-on-two battle."
"you want me on your team?"
"well, yea. I kinda do. Your one of the best pilots I have ever seen! I mean. you beat the A-1 raven on your first flight in an AC!"
"eh. I'm gonna give that one to lady luck. Anyway, I would love to be on your team morrow but I have no AC. I dropped Revolution off with an AC mechanic the day before yesterday."
"what for?"
"He's gonna do some upgrades for me."
"oh really? Nice. But that still leaves us at the initial problem. Huh. back to square one." He sat back and put his hand to his chin.
"anything I could help with?" somebody who had just walked up to the booth asked.
We all looked up and said in unison, "Dash!"
"hey guys, what's going on?"
"holy god! what good timing dash!" morrow said, scooting over in the booth to make room. "here buddy, have a seat!"
"thanks morrow." He sat down. "so, what's the problem here?"
"well, I have been challenged to a two-on-two match in the arena. And I am only one person. I have no one else for my team. I was gonna ask Xero here but he dropped his AC off with some guy for upgrades."
"but I thought you guys didn't sign into the arena?" dash pointed out.
"that's what I said when I called them to talk about it. And they said that challenges were exempt from the arena. You don't have to be in the arena to challenge or be challenged."
"well then, I guess I could go in with you. If that's cool with you morrow, I mean you were the one they challenged." Dash offered.
"that would be great! Oh my god, well this is the last thing I expected. That would be a good team. I have Remembrance with the huge firepower, and then you with your speed."
"yea, sounds good to me."
"sweet, sounds like a plan!"
"when is the battle?"
"that is another part of the problem."
he kinda looked away a little, we all bore into him with our eyes. I spoke up, "don't tell us its today."
"eh." he dropped his head to the table.
"damnit morrow!" I hate it when people do this. "and you already accepted, huh?"
"yep."
"ah, don't worry about it Xero, I'm ready to go. My AC is all good and ready to get the crap beat out of it."
"so morrow, when exactly is the match?"
"in an hour."
"great, well lets get to the arena then." Dash said standing up.
"you ready to go just like that?" morrow asked as he made his way out of the booth as well.
"well, it cant be helped." Dash said shrugging his shoulders.
"well, I'll call up these two guys and tell them I accept." Morrow walked away towards the vid-phone center in the corner of the room.
"hey dash." I said before dash got away.
"yeah?"
"I was wondering, what happened the other night when you gave me time to get away?"
"oh that? Well, I ran into some more unexpected resistance." He paused in his sentence. Like he was thinking deeply, "but I got rid of the rest of them and then jammed out." He finished with a reassuring smile and walked away. I turned back and folded my hands on the table.
"what's the problem Xero?" blaze asked, putting her hand on my shoulder.
"well, the other night when I broke morrow out, and dash came and helped me out." I thought for a second. "when it came time to go, dash insisted to stay behind and hold them back while I got away because he could outrun them easily whereas I could not."
"and?"
"well, I was just wondering what happened. He didn't call or anything the next day or anything. This is the first time I have seen him since the incident."
"so what is the problem other than that? It seems like something else is eating at you."
"I don't know myself. I just have a bad feeling." I stood from the table.
As soon as blaze stood up out of the booth the intercom system came online and an announcer's voice rang throughout the entire garage. "attention all persons within the garage, there is a special arena challenge event being held in one hour. All who wish to observe please make your way to the pillars. Would the following ravens please report to their respective ACs and then proceed to the pillars on the edge of the city: Morrow, Dash, Soulrage, and Tetra. Thank you."
Morrow walked back over to us. "well, that's my queue, wish me luck!" he walked off briskly, dash was waiting by the door. They both took off for the garages. "well, I guess we better head to the arenas?" blaze said walking toward the door.
"I guess so." I followed.
*note* *ok, I'm not trying to steal any material here but the arena In my story operates in somewhat the same manner as the arena from "Kur's Dissension". Except that instead of one big pillar, there are three. Each with a couple different arenas in it. The first is the natural pillar. This one holds arenas such as the dark forest, the tropical forest, and an arena that is an array of platforms suspended above water. The second is the desert pillar. This one holds arenas such as the great wasteland, the dunes, and the canyon arena. And then the final pillar is the main pillar. This pillar is called the metal pillar. This pillar holds arena like the standard arena which is the most popular. It also holds the structure and parking lot arenas.* *get it? Alright, then you wont try to kill me for thinking that I stole the arena thing from Kur.*
we made it to the pillars with about forty minutes. The traffic was terrible. "I guess they rang that notice throughout the whole damn city!" I said as I smashed the horn and gave the guy who just cut me off the finger. Blaze I guess was just trying to survive the drive. She sat next to the window quietly with her hands folded in her lap.
When we finally made it to the arena, I parked the car in the raven lot. and we walked up to the front door. Blaze and I showed our raven licenses to the front desk and they showed us in to the special V.I.P. area. Being a raven has its advantages other than getting to blow the crap out of stuff with giant mechanized monsters.
The challenge was being held in the standard arena. Which came to no surprise to really anyone. It was the most widely used arena. We took our seats and waited for the match to begin. After about ten minutes the lights in the stands dimmed and the enormous water arena was lit up. There were about twenty platforms that were arranged in a semi hexagon and then spiraled out from that in four separate 'arms'. Kinda like the milky way with four arms instead of two. Aside from that there were a few scattered platforms that were just placed anywhere. At the ends of each of the four spirals was a large AC sized door. The announcer came over the line, "welcome to the lake arena! Todays even is a special arena challenge match! A real treat today especially as todays challenge if from two well ranked ravens who are well versed in team combat. They are always ready to challenge the newcomers to the fold as well. And that is exactly what they are doing today folks! The challegees are two brand new ravens that have barely had a chance to open their wings and they are already in the arena!"
"Now lets meet todays challengers!" the door on the east side of the arena opened and a mid weight black AC walked out. It held a rifle in each hand and had a solid ammo, mid-weight core. On its back were two thirty percent ammo additions. "and we have the leader of the red team, lets hear it for Tetra!!" the crowd went into an uproar as he walked out of the doorway and waved to the crowd with rifle in hand. "and then lets see the red leaders partner!" the door on the west side of the arena opened and inside stood a four legged white AC that had spread laser arm weapons and a dual missile launcher in its back. "now lets give a warm welcome to the red team, Soulrage!" the crowd again was in an uproar of cheer and clapping. He walked in through the door and waved to the crowd by swinging one of his arms up in a spiral. The doors closed behind those that had entered and they were effectively locked in.
"now lets hear it for those that have been challenged!" luckily blaze and I were sitting in the south-east corner so we could see the entrances of everyone. The door on the south side of the facility opened and inside stood a blue, heavy-weight AC that was holding a KARASAWA in the right hand and had a MOONLIGHT blade on the left. It also sported a huge cannon on the back. "now lets hear it for the newcomer, Morrow!" the crowd did not explode in an uproar as it had done before, but there was a fair amount of cheers. Morrow stomped in, leaving cracks in the platforms where he stood. "that would be the blue leader there people, now, lets get the blue team in here!" the western door opened and dash's AC was floating in the doorway. "this is Dash who is the blue team, lets hear it!" his orange AC floated in amongst the cheers that greeted him. His AC didn't make a move, other than what was necessary. It was like a stone. His blade arms heated and resting at his sides. His cannons folded but ready to go on his back. The doors closed behind the two of them, locking them in until victory or defeat release them.
"all pilots, signal when ready to begin the match." the comm. went silent.
After a moment, tetra's arm raised, signaling his readiness. A few seconds after that, Soulrage's arm lifted.
A few moments later Dash's blade arm lifted and ignited. Making the crowd collectively go 'oooo'. The tension was at the breaking point. A moment later, Morrows heavy arm holding the KARASAWA lifted into the air.
Then it began, "pilots! BATTLE!!"
Tetra started off by going straight after morrow. He flew into the air and began firing both of his rifles at the same time. One after another, and then two at once. The bullets merely bouncing off of morrows armour. But eventually they began to find soft spots that were hit repeatedly and started sinking in. but morrow didn't move, the only movement he did make happened after about ten seconds of the pounding had passed. He looked up and stepped back with the left leg. Then he lifted his right arm and started firing KARASAWA shots at tetra. Tetra was doing an excellent job of evading but like all ACs, had to land sooner or later. And when he did, he would have to regain his balance, that is when he would be taken.
Dash wasted no time in waiting for his prey to come to him and immediately turned and hit the overboost. The orange AC called streak lived up to its name by leaving only an orange streak to distinguish it from the background. It shot towards Soulrage at speeds that would make sonic jets jealous. Soulrage saw him coming though and jumped straight up into the air as dash passed beneath him and left two large blackened gorge marks in the ground where Soulrage just was. Had he not jumped, soulrage would have been in four pieces.
On the other side, Tetra was running dangerously low on energy and morrow was still keeping him under constant KARASAWA fire. He decided to risk it and cut his boosters completely. Just as he did, a KARASAWA shot went right through the air that his core had occupied only milliseconds before. He dropped like a rock onto the platform below him. Morrow followed his movements perfectly, KARASAWA shots firing just above Tetra as he dropped. Right when he landed he used his momentum to do a cammando roll. As he rolled away a huge blue plasma stream plowed into the platform, decimating it. Morrow was standing at the entrée platform with his linear cannon lowered over his shoulder.
Dash turned around to be met with a cloud of energy shots. He endoured the light damage and listened as the plasma melted away the armour of his AC. He looked up and ignited both of his blade arms. The crowd was holding their breath collectively. Dash boosted up into the air and crossed the blades over his chest. Soulrage cut the boosters and opened the missile launchers on his back. As he dropped, Dash was getting closer and closer, just as they were level Soulrage fired a volley of eight missiles. Dash reacted by hitting the overboost and taking three hits to the core and he cut down three others, the rest were destroyed by the plasma from Dash's overboost.
Tetra came out of his roll onto the next platform. He stood in time to boost up and back as that platform, too, exploded. He landed on the platform behind him and jumped again as a massive pillar of furious blue energy destroyed that platform as well. But this time Tetra did not jump back, he jumped forward and hit his boosters. He was flying straight at morrow and he activated his EOs. The dual rifle orbits came to life and began landing shots onto morrows AC, the same time he was firing his arm rifles for a total of four shots at a time. Morrow stood motionless, his linear cannon charging for another shot, a shot to end this battle. Just as the energy gauge reached a full charge, Tetra took careful aim with his arm rifles and began firing into the barrel of Morrow's cannon.
Dash flew away at unheard-of speeds. Soulrage took the advantage and landed on the nearest platform. His preferred leg part, combined with his weapon arms meant that his AC had terrible energy consumption problems yet he refused to change. He began locking onto dash with his missiles again. Dash had stopped the overboost and landed over another platform. Soulrage launched another set of eight missiles in dash's direction. Dash ignored the missiles by igniting his blades again and pressing the overboost yet again.
The linear cannon on morrows AC began shaking violently. Tetra, satisfied, landed about one-hundred meters in front of morrow and stood there. He lowered his rifles and deactivated his EOs. Morrow stood up and dropped the whole left cannon assembly off of his AC. He lifted his arms and dropped the KARASAWA. He looked back at Tetra and activated his overboost to Tetra's horror. Morrow was flying right at him. Somehow morrow was traveling almost as fast as dash. He almost hit Tetra's AC but veered to the right just in time, he swung his left arm up and grabbed tetra's head as he flew by, yanking tetra from a standing position to eight-hundred KPH in a millisecond.
Dash flew right through the cloud of missiles and was hit by three of them, the rest were swallowed by the plasma from his back. Soulrage raised his arms and began firing his spread lasers at the closing fury. Dash ignored the sizzling and melting sound and flew right past Soulrage. Soulrage just stood there for a second as dash cut his overboost and drifted to a stop behind him. It looked as if dash had missed completely. until Soulrage tried to move. Soulrage turned to face dash again and his right arm, the two right legs, the front half of the core, and the right back missile launcher fell off, cleanly cut.
Tetra's right arm was ripped off by the force of the acceleration, he also dropped his left hand rifle. Morrow flew through the air, pulling Tetra behind him by the head. As he flew morrow increased his grip on tetra's head, eventually crushing it. Morrow approached the opposite arena wall and swung tetra around and smashed him into the wall, back first, destroying his back weapons. Morrow remained hovering in the air with his hand holding up tetra's battered AC by the head. Morrow pulled him back and smashed him into the wall again, then began slugging the AC in the core with his free hand. He landed about ten blows before he swung tetra around again and threw him back, onto the platform waiting five-hundred meters behind and below. Tetra's AC landed hard on its back, the core was unrecognizable and the head was crushed. The right arm was missing, various wires and conduit sticking out of the joint hole. Its back weapons were smashed from the confrontation with the wall and the left arm weapon was missing.
The announcer came back over the line, "WOW! I think we have ourselves the winners!! Give it up folks!! Wow! What a battle! I have never seen anything like that!!"
Morrow flew back and landed next to his fallen opponent. Dash floated four platforms over and the cut down AC of Soulrage lie in pieces three platforms from that.
I opened my eyes and as usual I was blinded by the sunlight shining through the window in my room. "why do you people always do this to me!" I got out of bed and closed the blinds over the window. I stepped into the bathroom to take care of business then headed downstairs for some food. I grabbed my robe and put it over my bare shoulders. Walking down the stairs I looked over and saw blaze sitting at the table drinking what I assumed was coffee and eating a pancake.
"hey you, want some?" she lifted her fork-full of pancake to offer me some.
"I just may. What flavor pancakes do we have here?"
"blueberry and cinnamon." She took another bite.
"eww. How did you come up with that combination?"
"this is my favorite, its really not bad."
"well I would guess it cant be that bad if you keep eating it." I stood for a second, "where's the batter?"
she laughed, "I made a few extra, they're in the fridge." She poured some more syrup onto her pancakes. "these damn things are like sponges."
I opened up the fridge and pulled out the pancakes which were in a large plastic baggie. I pulled two out and threw them on a plate then put them in the microwave. While I was waiting by the microwave I heard a yawn coming form the stairs and a knock at the door. I looked over to the stairs and angel was standing at the bottom of the stairs with a large duffel bag. "perfect timing." she said as she walked over to the door and swung it open. I looked further over again and morrow was standing in the doorway. "hey, could you grab this bag for me?" she said to him as he stepped inside.
"what's going on?" blaze said with her mouth half-full of pancake and looking over my shoulder. She swallowed the food, "oh, hi morrow! What are you doing here?"
"kinda what I was wondering." I stepped forward into the entrée-way.
"angel didn't tell you guys?" he picked up the bag at angels feet without much effort at all. This guy was stronger than I had thought for a long time. "angels gonna come and stay with me."
"oh?" I said as I raised an eyebrow to angel. "don't like it here?" I asked her.
"no, I like it here. But I wouldn't want to get in between you and blaze." She threw blaze a nasty look then put her nose to the air and walked out the door, leaving morrow, blaze and I all standing together with dumb looks on our faces.
"what?" we all said in unison.
blaze walked after angel outside. "what do you mean 'in between Xero and I?' huh? What is that supposed to mean exactly?"
"well, it seems you two have been getting along quite nicely recently and I don't want to see it!"
morrow and I were standing side-by-side in the doorway silently thinking 'cat fight'.
"getting along nicely! What the HELL!?!? Holy Christ angel! What the hell is wrong with you! What's wrong with making friends? Holy god! If I had known you would have been this jealous I would have stayed in the apartments at the garage!"
morrow and I shot each other an excited glance. The only thing he managed to say was: "this is gonna be so hot."
"jealous! Why would I be jealous of you two?!" they were yelling at each other now. And the neighbors were probably watching. "oh my god. I am NOT going to put up with this! Morrow! Lets go!"
he looked at me with a dreaded look in his eyes. I patted him on the shoulder, "good luck buddy. I'll see you tomorrow."
he made a fake crying sound like an injured dog and made his way out to the car.
Angel was about to get in the truck when blaze yelled her name which made angel stop getting in the car and look over to her, then she stormed over to me. I just stood there waving my hands in front of me like I was trying to stop a car coming at me. "don't bring me into this! Please!"
She grabbed my arm and pulled me out onto the lawn so that angel had a clear view of both of us. "hey angel! You want to be jealous! Here! have some of this!!" blaze reached up and grabbed the front of my shirt, right below the neck. She pulled me down and kissed me. Tongue and all. She held it for about five seconds as she put her other hand on the back of my head and kept it there. She finally released me and then turned to angel, "how was that!? Huh?" I just stood there dumbfounded.
"FUCK YOU!!" was all she screamed as she threw herself into the car and slammed the door.
Morrow was standing at the rear door of the car and had the duffel bag halfway in the backseat of the car. He stood up straight after blaze's little performance and just stood there with a shocked look on his face for a second. Then he kinda shook his head and gave me a huge thumbs-up with both hands before getting into the drivers seat of the car and driving away.
Blaze waited until they were well out of site before grabbing my arm again and pulling me inside. I went somewhat willingly this time however. she pulled me through the door, and slammed it shut as we passed. She pulled my to the couch, swung me around then pushed me onto the couch on my back. Then she straddled my chest then she leaned in real close, "sorry about all that." she leaned in that last little bit and kissed me again. This one she held me for a while though. I wasn't quite sure as to how long it was but who cares? After a while she lifted her head and I saw that she had tears in her eyes.
"hey its no big deal really." Her hair had fallen all around her head. She was about to drop tears too. "hey, calm yourself down, its alright." We stayed there silent, staring into each others eyes for about two minutes. I decided to break the silence, "hey, if its any consolation." I dropped to a whisper, as if she (Angel) would hear me, "I wasn't all that interested in angel anyway, I'm kinda glad she's gone."
blaze kinda coughed a laugh which caused the last of her tears to fall from her face. I sat up with blaze now sitting on my lap.
"want some pancakes?" she busted up laughing. She got up off me and walked back to the table, grabbed her plate of now cold pancakes and put them in the microwave after I got mine out.
The rest of the day was rather uneventful. We watched a pay-per-view of some arena matches then watched a movie. The day was pretty much a couch potato day.
It was about seven-thirty in the evening when I got a call from morrow.
I picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Xero? That you?"
"yea."
"oh, ok, good, its me, morrow."
"oh hey, what's up? I guess angel hasn't murdered you then. It looked like she was ready to kill when you guys drove away this morning."
"yea, she's been in a pissed mood all day. She doesn't talk normal, she just yells. how's blaze?"
I laughed, "she's good. She calmed down after you guys left. so, you got a reason to call me?"
"lucky bastard. Anyway, yea I have a reason to call you. I need to meet you in the nest tomorrow at lunch. Say around noon lunch? I know some people eat late."
"that's fine. Yea I'll see you there." I could hear angel scream in the background.
"morrow! Who the hell are you talking to!?" she yelled. "get over here! Hurry!"
"uh.nobody!" he yelled back. "god help me Xero, I gotta go. C'ya."
"later." I could hear him yell back at angel before he clicked the phone down on the receiver:
"what is it angel? I'm coming." I put my phone back on its receiver.
"who was that?" blaze asked from atop the banister that crossed the living room of the house.
"that was morrow. He wants to meet me in the nest tomorrow for lunch."
"oh, alright. Think I could come along? I have nothing to do here. and with angel gone I have nobody to fight with."
"what do you mean? No one to fight with? Is that all you and angel would do when I was gone?"
"yea pretty much." She said with a sigh.
"well, that explains a lot. yea, I don't see a problem with it."
"ok, good." She yawned. "well, I'm gonna go lay down alright love?"
"ok. I'll be up in a minute." . Wait. did she just call me 'love'? .and I went along with it? Oh god. whatever. I shut down the computer and grabbed a quick drink before heading upstairs myself. "why did she tell me she was gonna go lay down?" I got my answer as I reached the top of the stairs and could see lights flashing in my bedroom. "why is the T.V. on in my room?" I got the answer to that question when I walked into my room. I looked over and the T.V. was indeed on, and blaze was lying in my bed watching it.
She looked over, "I thought you wouldn't be up for a while?"
"well, I figured I better get to bed early. The last time I had to go to the nest the next day I stayed up to late and was draggin ass." I stood in the doorway for a second. "wait, what are you doing in my bed? Don't you have your own?"
"oh? So you want me out huh?" she cocked her head sideways and sat half- way up in the bed.
"well, not really." I scratched the back of my head even though I didn't have an itch and I wasn't so sure if it was a good idea for me to be in the dark room right now. I wasn't sure if my undeniably red face was lighting it up.
"I didn't think so." She gave a sly smile and sat up in bed so that she was holding herself up with her elbows on the pillow behind her. The blankets slid a little more down her chest and I still didn't see any form of clothing. "are you gonna get in bed?"
I just stood there, "uh."
I still hadn't gotten fully dressed from this morning. So all I had on were my flannel pants and my bath robe, no shirt or really anything else. So I walked to my closet, hung the robe back up and walked back around the bed to get in. As I was walking back around blaze laid back down on one shoulder and pulled the blankets up to her neck. I climbed into the bed, half nervous, half excited. I got in and put my head on the pillow. I rolled over and blaze was there, three inches from my face. I gulped, "hi."
"hi." she responded. She somehow moved closer without touching me at all. Her face was now about an inch from mine.
"so. what's up?" I couldn't think of anything else to say, although the answer was painfully obvious.
"well, I could guess." She said with another sly smirk.
"alright then." I went to roll over again in the other direction. The nervousness now far outweighed whatever excitement I had harbored moments before. Before I could get halfway over however, I felt a slender hand on my shoulder.
"where do you think your going?"
"well, I don't know, that's the problem."
"that's a problem?"
I rolled back over and seemed even closer than I was before. "kinda."
"are you nervous Xero? You pilot a giant mechanized monster and destroy things with cannons and the like. Then you get nervous about being in bed with a girl?"
"uh-hum, woman." I corrected her, motioning my eyes to her chest.
"oh, I'm sorry, forgive me." Her hand that was still on my shoulder she now used to push me over so I was on my back. again. "you like that position don't you?"
"well, there isn't really much I can do about it. Or would do about it."
"I see." she climbed over on me and kissed me again.
I woke up the next morning and found myself lying behind blaze with my arms around her shoulders. "hello there." this was new. I slowly removed my arms from around blaze so I could get out of bed. It took a few minutes but I eventually got my arm out from underneath her. I got out of bed and felt a strange draft. I looked down and then smacked my palm to my forehead. "now I remember." I looked back to blaze who was still sleeping silently in bed. "too late." I walked into the bathroom and took a shower. I let the warm water run down my body and in my face. I got out and dried off. I put some jeans and a t-shirt on then looked back to blaze again. "time for you to get up." I walked back to the bed and sat down on the edge of the bed right in front of her. I put my hand on her shoulder. "hey! Its time to get up!" I shook her gently. Which obviously wasn't enough as she didn't even stir. I repeated the sentence and shook her a bit harder. Still nothing. "ok. sorry blaze." I put my other hand underneath her other shoulder and sat her up, then proceeded to shake her as hard as I could. Finally! Some results!
"wha-? What's going on? Is it an earthquake?"
"no, we need to work on waking you up in the morning."
She gave a short laugh. "we do huh?" she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulled me in and kissed me. Then she fell back onto the bed, pulling me with her. "lets go back to bed. I'm still tired." She yawned and closed her eyes.
"hey! HEY!! No more sleep! Get up and take a shower!" I sat up and brought her with me. "c'mon blaze! We need to meet morrow at the garage remember!?"
she woke up this time. "alright, alright, I'm up. wheres the shower?"
"right in there." I pulled her out of bed and pointed her to the bathroom. She was wearing the same thing I was when I woke up. which was well. nothing.
"alright, hurry up Xero, we don't want to be late."
"Uh-huh." She stepped into the door of the bathroom then stepped back and opened the door. Then she tried to walk through again.
"and how long did you live on your own?"
"what was that?"
"oh, nothing." I stepped out of the room. And began walking downstairs. I got to the kitchen and checked the time. "ten forty-three. I stayed up too late again. But I guess this time it wasn't exactly my fault." I walked to the fridge and pulled out the last pancake, and put it in the microwave. I poured myself a cup of coffee from the automatic maker and added some cremer to the mixture. Then sat down and waited for the last thirty seconds for the pancake. I could hear the water running upstairs the whole time. The microwave rang and I got the pancake out and grabbed the syrup and a fork on my way back to the table.
I sat quietly eating my breakfast when I heard footsteps on the stairs. "that you?" I stood and walked over to see blaze half-way down the stairs with her head drooping every now and then. "I guess you stayed up a little too late too huh? Well. not your fault either." I gave a short laugh and walked back to my pancake.
She hobbled over to me and put her hand on the top of my head. "good morning." Her head drooped again.
"hey, you look like you would like some coffee!"
"yea, tell me about it." she reached over and grabbed my cup of coffee from my hand and proceeded to chug it, somehow.
"what are you doing?" my jaw dropped as she lowered the empty cup to the table. "hey! That was mine! Wait a second? How the hell did you do that?! That was hot coffee!"
"pure skill. And its not yours anymore, but if you really want it that bad I guess there is a way you could get it back." She gave me her signature sly smile and walked over to the coffee maker. "Moooorrre! you want some?"
"eh. not really, I guess I had enough. Thanks for finishing it off for me." I ate the last of the pancake and picked up the plate to put it in the sink.
"you ate the last pancake! Damn you. Oh well, can we stop by McDonalds on the way to the garage or something?"
"If you don't want to try and get that pancake back, yeah sure if you don't want to eat at the garage or anything."
"I'm not a big fan of cafeteria food."
"its like a subway and stuff. Eh, whatever, you don't like cafeteria food but you can stomach McDonalds. I don't want to understand."
"fair enough."
A few more cups of coffee later and we were in the truck on our way to Cercall. We went through a drive-through for blaze in Trene and then we were on the freeway on our way to the garage.
When we did get to the garage we were a few minutes late somehow. "I told you stopping was a bad idea!" we walked in the front doors and went straight for the elevator.
"what floor please?"
"the nest." We both said at the same time as the doors hissed closed and I took my usual spot at the rear of the lift. I leaned against the back wall as I felt myself being smashed into the floor, followed by a rising feeling. A few moments later I heard the 'ding' and the doors hissed open again.
We stepped out of the elevator and took the whole seven or eight steps to the door of the nest. I opened it and held it open for blaze. I followed her in and we immediately saw morrow in a booth across the room. "why does everybody sit as far from the door as they can?" I said with a sigh and walked over to the table with blaze closely behind me.
Blaze sat first and I followed her. "oh, isn't that sweet?" morrow said in a sharp mocking voice.
"screw off morrow." Blaze said to him as she settled herself in the chair.
"promise or a threat?"
"oh, you would be lucky if it were either." she shook a fist at him with her eyes.
I decided to cut in before they started a war. "ok! So, what's up morrow?"
"alright, alright. Well, before we get started. um, Xero, you didn't have any real future plans in store for you and angel did you?"
"not really." I thought for a second. "Why?" I asked, half not wanting to know the answer.
"well, I've never had sex like that in my whole life." he said before he started laughing. He was laughing so hard he almost fell out of the booth.
"what? I thought you said she was acting hella pissed?" I was kinda confused.
"well, she was. She was pretty forceful too. But I guess she took all of her anger out on me! The only thing is. the way she took out her anger, was in no way a bad thing."
"wow. whatever. But, how is she acting now?"
"oh, she was in a perfectly good mood this morning!" he started laughing again.
"so, are you two like 'together' now or something?" blaze asked.
"well that's the thing that confuses me! When she got up this morning, she was in a perfectly good mood, yes. But she acted like nothing ever even happened!" he only chuckled at this one.
"heh. whatever man. I stand by my statement, good luck with that one."
"yea thanks, I'll need it."
"so morrow, do you have any real reason for dragging us out of bed before we could get our full quota of sleep?"
"oh, yea. Well actually Xero, you're the only one I need to talk to really." He continued upon seeing the look on blaze's face. "well, I have been challenged in the arena. These two guys mailed me yesterday and challenged me to a two-on-two battle."
"you want me on your team?"
"well, yea. I kinda do. Your one of the best pilots I have ever seen! I mean. you beat the A-1 raven on your first flight in an AC!"
"eh. I'm gonna give that one to lady luck. Anyway, I would love to be on your team morrow but I have no AC. I dropped Revolution off with an AC mechanic the day before yesterday."
"what for?"
"He's gonna do some upgrades for me."
"oh really? Nice. But that still leaves us at the initial problem. Huh. back to square one." He sat back and put his hand to his chin.
"anything I could help with?" somebody who had just walked up to the booth asked.
We all looked up and said in unison, "Dash!"
"hey guys, what's going on?"
"holy god! what good timing dash!" morrow said, scooting over in the booth to make room. "here buddy, have a seat!"
"thanks morrow." He sat down. "so, what's the problem here?"
"well, I have been challenged to a two-on-two match in the arena. And I am only one person. I have no one else for my team. I was gonna ask Xero here but he dropped his AC off with some guy for upgrades."
"but I thought you guys didn't sign into the arena?" dash pointed out.
"that's what I said when I called them to talk about it. And they said that challenges were exempt from the arena. You don't have to be in the arena to challenge or be challenged."
"well then, I guess I could go in with you. If that's cool with you morrow, I mean you were the one they challenged." Dash offered.
"that would be great! Oh my god, well this is the last thing I expected. That would be a good team. I have Remembrance with the huge firepower, and then you with your speed."
"yea, sounds good to me."
"sweet, sounds like a plan!"
"when is the battle?"
"that is another part of the problem."
he kinda looked away a little, we all bore into him with our eyes. I spoke up, "don't tell us its today."
"eh." he dropped his head to the table.
"damnit morrow!" I hate it when people do this. "and you already accepted, huh?"
"yep."
"ah, don't worry about it Xero, I'm ready to go. My AC is all good and ready to get the crap beat out of it."
"so morrow, when exactly is the match?"
"in an hour."
"great, well lets get to the arena then." Dash said standing up.
"you ready to go just like that?" morrow asked as he made his way out of the booth as well.
"well, it cant be helped." Dash said shrugging his shoulders.
"well, I'll call up these two guys and tell them I accept." Morrow walked away towards the vid-phone center in the corner of the room.
"hey dash." I said before dash got away.
"yeah?"
"I was wondering, what happened the other night when you gave me time to get away?"
"oh that? Well, I ran into some more unexpected resistance." He paused in his sentence. Like he was thinking deeply, "but I got rid of the rest of them and then jammed out." He finished with a reassuring smile and walked away. I turned back and folded my hands on the table.
"what's the problem Xero?" blaze asked, putting her hand on my shoulder.
"well, the other night when I broke morrow out, and dash came and helped me out." I thought for a second. "when it came time to go, dash insisted to stay behind and hold them back while I got away because he could outrun them easily whereas I could not."
"and?"
"well, I was just wondering what happened. He didn't call or anything the next day or anything. This is the first time I have seen him since the incident."
"so what is the problem other than that? It seems like something else is eating at you."
"I don't know myself. I just have a bad feeling." I stood from the table.
As soon as blaze stood up out of the booth the intercom system came online and an announcer's voice rang throughout the entire garage. "attention all persons within the garage, there is a special arena challenge event being held in one hour. All who wish to observe please make your way to the pillars. Would the following ravens please report to their respective ACs and then proceed to the pillars on the edge of the city: Morrow, Dash, Soulrage, and Tetra. Thank you."
Morrow walked back over to us. "well, that's my queue, wish me luck!" he walked off briskly, dash was waiting by the door. They both took off for the garages. "well, I guess we better head to the arenas?" blaze said walking toward the door.
"I guess so." I followed.
*note* *ok, I'm not trying to steal any material here but the arena In my story operates in somewhat the same manner as the arena from "Kur's Dissension". Except that instead of one big pillar, there are three. Each with a couple different arenas in it. The first is the natural pillar. This one holds arenas such as the dark forest, the tropical forest, and an arena that is an array of platforms suspended above water. The second is the desert pillar. This one holds arenas such as the great wasteland, the dunes, and the canyon arena. And then the final pillar is the main pillar. This pillar is called the metal pillar. This pillar holds arena like the standard arena which is the most popular. It also holds the structure and parking lot arenas.* *get it? Alright, then you wont try to kill me for thinking that I stole the arena thing from Kur.*
we made it to the pillars with about forty minutes. The traffic was terrible. "I guess they rang that notice throughout the whole damn city!" I said as I smashed the horn and gave the guy who just cut me off the finger. Blaze I guess was just trying to survive the drive. She sat next to the window quietly with her hands folded in her lap.
When we finally made it to the arena, I parked the car in the raven lot. and we walked up to the front door. Blaze and I showed our raven licenses to the front desk and they showed us in to the special V.I.P. area. Being a raven has its advantages other than getting to blow the crap out of stuff with giant mechanized monsters.
The challenge was being held in the standard arena. Which came to no surprise to really anyone. It was the most widely used arena. We took our seats and waited for the match to begin. After about ten minutes the lights in the stands dimmed and the enormous water arena was lit up. There were about twenty platforms that were arranged in a semi hexagon and then spiraled out from that in four separate 'arms'. Kinda like the milky way with four arms instead of two. Aside from that there were a few scattered platforms that were just placed anywhere. At the ends of each of the four spirals was a large AC sized door. The announcer came over the line, "welcome to the lake arena! Todays even is a special arena challenge match! A real treat today especially as todays challenge if from two well ranked ravens who are well versed in team combat. They are always ready to challenge the newcomers to the fold as well. And that is exactly what they are doing today folks! The challegees are two brand new ravens that have barely had a chance to open their wings and they are already in the arena!"
"Now lets meet todays challengers!" the door on the east side of the arena opened and a mid weight black AC walked out. It held a rifle in each hand and had a solid ammo, mid-weight core. On its back were two thirty percent ammo additions. "and we have the leader of the red team, lets hear it for Tetra!!" the crowd went into an uproar as he walked out of the doorway and waved to the crowd with rifle in hand. "and then lets see the red leaders partner!" the door on the west side of the arena opened and inside stood a four legged white AC that had spread laser arm weapons and a dual missile launcher in its back. "now lets give a warm welcome to the red team, Soulrage!" the crowd again was in an uproar of cheer and clapping. He walked in through the door and waved to the crowd by swinging one of his arms up in a spiral. The doors closed behind those that had entered and they were effectively locked in.
"now lets hear it for those that have been challenged!" luckily blaze and I were sitting in the south-east corner so we could see the entrances of everyone. The door on the south side of the facility opened and inside stood a blue, heavy-weight AC that was holding a KARASAWA in the right hand and had a MOONLIGHT blade on the left. It also sported a huge cannon on the back. "now lets hear it for the newcomer, Morrow!" the crowd did not explode in an uproar as it had done before, but there was a fair amount of cheers. Morrow stomped in, leaving cracks in the platforms where he stood. "that would be the blue leader there people, now, lets get the blue team in here!" the western door opened and dash's AC was floating in the doorway. "this is Dash who is the blue team, lets hear it!" his orange AC floated in amongst the cheers that greeted him. His AC didn't make a move, other than what was necessary. It was like a stone. His blade arms heated and resting at his sides. His cannons folded but ready to go on his back. The doors closed behind the two of them, locking them in until victory or defeat release them.
"all pilots, signal when ready to begin the match." the comm. went silent.
After a moment, tetra's arm raised, signaling his readiness. A few seconds after that, Soulrage's arm lifted.
A few moments later Dash's blade arm lifted and ignited. Making the crowd collectively go 'oooo'. The tension was at the breaking point. A moment later, Morrows heavy arm holding the KARASAWA lifted into the air.
Then it began, "pilots! BATTLE!!"
Tetra started off by going straight after morrow. He flew into the air and began firing both of his rifles at the same time. One after another, and then two at once. The bullets merely bouncing off of morrows armour. But eventually they began to find soft spots that were hit repeatedly and started sinking in. but morrow didn't move, the only movement he did make happened after about ten seconds of the pounding had passed. He looked up and stepped back with the left leg. Then he lifted his right arm and started firing KARASAWA shots at tetra. Tetra was doing an excellent job of evading but like all ACs, had to land sooner or later. And when he did, he would have to regain his balance, that is when he would be taken.
Dash wasted no time in waiting for his prey to come to him and immediately turned and hit the overboost. The orange AC called streak lived up to its name by leaving only an orange streak to distinguish it from the background. It shot towards Soulrage at speeds that would make sonic jets jealous. Soulrage saw him coming though and jumped straight up into the air as dash passed beneath him and left two large blackened gorge marks in the ground where Soulrage just was. Had he not jumped, soulrage would have been in four pieces.
On the other side, Tetra was running dangerously low on energy and morrow was still keeping him under constant KARASAWA fire. He decided to risk it and cut his boosters completely. Just as he did, a KARASAWA shot went right through the air that his core had occupied only milliseconds before. He dropped like a rock onto the platform below him. Morrow followed his movements perfectly, KARASAWA shots firing just above Tetra as he dropped. Right when he landed he used his momentum to do a cammando roll. As he rolled away a huge blue plasma stream plowed into the platform, decimating it. Morrow was standing at the entrée platform with his linear cannon lowered over his shoulder.
Dash turned around to be met with a cloud of energy shots. He endoured the light damage and listened as the plasma melted away the armour of his AC. He looked up and ignited both of his blade arms. The crowd was holding their breath collectively. Dash boosted up into the air and crossed the blades over his chest. Soulrage cut the boosters and opened the missile launchers on his back. As he dropped, Dash was getting closer and closer, just as they were level Soulrage fired a volley of eight missiles. Dash reacted by hitting the overboost and taking three hits to the core and he cut down three others, the rest were destroyed by the plasma from Dash's overboost.
Tetra came out of his roll onto the next platform. He stood in time to boost up and back as that platform, too, exploded. He landed on the platform behind him and jumped again as a massive pillar of furious blue energy destroyed that platform as well. But this time Tetra did not jump back, he jumped forward and hit his boosters. He was flying straight at morrow and he activated his EOs. The dual rifle orbits came to life and began landing shots onto morrows AC, the same time he was firing his arm rifles for a total of four shots at a time. Morrow stood motionless, his linear cannon charging for another shot, a shot to end this battle. Just as the energy gauge reached a full charge, Tetra took careful aim with his arm rifles and began firing into the barrel of Morrow's cannon.
Dash flew away at unheard-of speeds. Soulrage took the advantage and landed on the nearest platform. His preferred leg part, combined with his weapon arms meant that his AC had terrible energy consumption problems yet he refused to change. He began locking onto dash with his missiles again. Dash had stopped the overboost and landed over another platform. Soulrage launched another set of eight missiles in dash's direction. Dash ignored the missiles by igniting his blades again and pressing the overboost yet again.
The linear cannon on morrows AC began shaking violently. Tetra, satisfied, landed about one-hundred meters in front of morrow and stood there. He lowered his rifles and deactivated his EOs. Morrow stood up and dropped the whole left cannon assembly off of his AC. He lifted his arms and dropped the KARASAWA. He looked back at Tetra and activated his overboost to Tetra's horror. Morrow was flying right at him. Somehow morrow was traveling almost as fast as dash. He almost hit Tetra's AC but veered to the right just in time, he swung his left arm up and grabbed tetra's head as he flew by, yanking tetra from a standing position to eight-hundred KPH in a millisecond.
Dash flew right through the cloud of missiles and was hit by three of them, the rest were swallowed by the plasma from his back. Soulrage raised his arms and began firing his spread lasers at the closing fury. Dash ignored the sizzling and melting sound and flew right past Soulrage. Soulrage just stood there for a second as dash cut his overboost and drifted to a stop behind him. It looked as if dash had missed completely. until Soulrage tried to move. Soulrage turned to face dash again and his right arm, the two right legs, the front half of the core, and the right back missile launcher fell off, cleanly cut.
Tetra's right arm was ripped off by the force of the acceleration, he also dropped his left hand rifle. Morrow flew through the air, pulling Tetra behind him by the head. As he flew morrow increased his grip on tetra's head, eventually crushing it. Morrow approached the opposite arena wall and swung tetra around and smashed him into the wall, back first, destroying his back weapons. Morrow remained hovering in the air with his hand holding up tetra's battered AC by the head. Morrow pulled him back and smashed him into the wall again, then began slugging the AC in the core with his free hand. He landed about ten blows before he swung tetra around again and threw him back, onto the platform waiting five-hundred meters behind and below. Tetra's AC landed hard on its back, the core was unrecognizable and the head was crushed. The right arm was missing, various wires and conduit sticking out of the joint hole. Its back weapons were smashed from the confrontation with the wall and the left arm weapon was missing.
The announcer came back over the line, "WOW! I think we have ourselves the winners!! Give it up folks!! Wow! What a battle! I have never seen anything like that!!"
Morrow flew back and landed next to his fallen opponent. Dash floated four platforms over and the cut down AC of Soulrage lie in pieces three platforms from that.