Chapter 9
We waited twenty minutes after morrow and dash had left the arena to get out. The crowd just wouldn't let us go. The safety crews and medics had long since been bustling around and over the two ruined ACs of Soulrage and tetra.
We finally made it out of the arena and out to the car. I unlocked the doors and got in, blaze followed.
"where do we go now?" she asked. "do we go home or back to the garage?"
"I'm not sure really." I replied. But no sooner had I replied did my phone ring.
"hello?"
"Xero? This is morrow."
"oh hey! That was a great battle!"
"yeah, thanks, if you guys head back to the nest we can talk about it. I'm on a transport headed back to the garage."
"oh, alright. We'll do that then. C'ya there." I closed the phone.
"what are we doing now?" blaze asked.
"we are gonna go the nest and have dinner with morrow and dash. We're gonna discuss the battle as well."
"great! I'm starving." She sat back against the seat and pulled her seatbelt around her chest.
An hour later we were at the garage. The traffic again was horrid. We parked the car and ran inside, praying to god that they hadn't left yet. We ran through the office, down the hall, into the elevator.
"what flo-"
"the nest!" we both said at the same time, cutting the computer off.
We didn't relax until the doors had opened and we found ourselves inside the nest, being flagged down by dash and morrow. We walked over to sit down. They were seated at the same booth we sat at before the match.
"Xero! What now!!!" morrow jumped up and ran over.
"that was freakin' awesome morrow!! You have got to tell me about that!" I patted him on the back and we sat back down.
Dash was a bit more composed. "so Xero, not to bad for our first match huh?"
"not bad at all dash. Amazing really. You were awesome, I couldn't even see your AC when you overboosted! How can you control something that fast?"
"well, that is something called skill." He joked, "but, it was hard to keep up with it most of the time. I'm still working on perfecting it."
"I guess you are." Blaze cut in, "if you had perfected it, then Soulrage would have been out of the match after that first charge."
"yeah, probably." He laughed.
"but ok morrow, you have to tell me how you got your AC to go that fast. And I don't know how you kept your cool that whole time, the way you just stood there and fired away." I put both my arms on the table and faced morrow.
Dash started laughing his ass off.
"oh that! Well, that's the good part." He replied, obviously excited about the subject. "when the battle first started, I was actually scared shitless! I couldn't move, I was so scared."
Dash cut in, "I could hear his breath shuddering over the comm.!!" he was still laughing.
"shutup dash! Damnit, anyway, when I finally was able to move I couldn't move very much. I just raised my KARASAWA and started firing."
My jaw dropped, "you were scared! That's what happened!"
"well, hang on, it gets better!" dash interrupted again.
"yeah, really. So after I got him to land and stuff, I brought out my linear cannon. I stil couldn't move so I was just like 'get away from me!' so I brought out the cannon and fired at him when he landed but he rolled and I hit the platform, then I fired again, and again. But then he started coming at me. He was making a bee-line for me so I thought maybe I could hit him finally. But right before my cannon discharged, he started firing into the barrel!"
dash was about rolling on the floor.
"the cannon started overloading and was about to like explode or something. And that bastard tetra just stood there in front of me! So what I did wa- "
"what he did was started cussing like a damn sailor and after about twenty cusses he just went with a solid scream." Dash cut in yet again before going back to laughing.
"damnit dash! God, anyway, needless to say I was hella pissed. And I forgot about being freaked out at all and I told the computer to disconnect the cannon from the energy condenser on the right side of my back and ejected the cannon completely. I did not want to be attached to the thing if it blew. So what I did was had the computer to reroute the energy made by the energy condenser for the cannon into my main booster systems and strength amplifiers for the AC. And the best part is that after I did this my energy gauge turned yellow and went through the freakin roof! I was so pissed at this guy for wrecking my cannon! It wasn't that he really destroyed it, but how much it was going to cost me to fix it or, god forbid, get a new one! So I hit the overbooster and my speedometer shot up to 934 MPH!! my eyes blurred majorly and I flew right at tetra. I was lucky though because my arm was through out by the force of my acceleration and I caught his head in my hand. So I grabbed his head and squeezed it as hard as I could. I was sooo mad! I wanted to kill the bastard! I mean, first he challenges me, then he wrecks my linear cannon! So after I grabbed his head I thought I ripped it off but my speedometer went down a little, so I look behind me and he is being dragged along! I was thinking, I'm gonna go with this! And then I look at my energy gauge and its not going down at all!"
"at all?! For all that speed and strength, your gauge didn't move!?" blaze blurted out.
"nope, didn't drop a millimeter. And I was going so fast that before I knew it I was at the opposite wall. So I turn off the overboost and swing him around, bash him into the wall a few times, punch him in the core a bit, then I threw him behind me." He paused for a moment. "but now that I think about it, I hope I didn't kill the guy. He was a good pilot, he just challenged the wrong guy." He said proudly.
"well, morrow, I wouldn't be surprised if you did kill him." I said. "I cant see a way anybody could have survived that. I mean, he might have died right when you ripped him from zero to nine-hundred forty-three in zero seconds. And another thing is that I am surprised you didn't go blind from that kind of speed and acceleration."
"well, I am not to sure about any of that myself either. I have no clue how I could have survived that myself." He replied.
"but morrow," blaze spoke up. "you do know that the arena covers all the costs to repair whatever damage you receive and they replace all damaged or destroyed weapons that you may have had during an arena battle, right?"
"what!?" he yelled. "so I got all mad about nothing?!"
"apparently so." Dash said, finally regaining himself. "so, anybody up for some diner?"
morrow slumped in his chair. "yeah, he'll have some." Blaze said for him.
We all laughed.
After dinner we all went our separate ways. Blaze and I wished morrow good luck when he left to go home to angel. "yeah, I'd rather face a hundred tetras in the arena than face angel at home! But ya-know maybe when she finds out I won." he said, walking to his car.
Dash went back to the garage area to check on his AC for some reason.
Blaze and I got into the truck to go home.
The next few days were uneventful. We went out to diner on the fifth night before I would have to pick up my AC the next morning. And sure enough when we got home there was a message on the answering machine:
"Xero? This is Matt. I'm just calling to let you know that your AC is done and ready to be picked up. I must say I am rather pleased with this one. And I also have a few little somethings for you and your friends. I'm afraid I won't have time to upgrade all of your ACs. So just stop by tomorrow sometime between ten in the morning and ten at night and I'll hand her back over to you. Later."
"sweet! Fixed AC tomorrow. Gonna be sweet!"
blaze patted me on the shoulder. "I'm going to bed. Are you coming?"
"you better believe it." I followed her up the stairs into my room.
I woke up the next day at about eleven in the morning. I got up briskly and got ready fast. I was to excited to be hungry so I got dressed, grabbed my glock, my keys and I was out the door.
It took me about two and a half hours to get to Matt's house. But once I got there I parked and got out of the truck. I walked up to the door and knocked three times like always. I stood in front of the door rocking back and forth between my toes and my heels.
About fifteen seconds later, the door opened and I saw Matt standing there with his wife standing behind him with her arms around his shoulders. "Xero! I thought it was you." He said, opening the door the rest of the way. "oh, come in, come in!"
"thanks matt." I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. His wife had gotten off him and gone to the kitchen.
"so, xero, you must be excited as all hell to see her!"
"well ye-"
"here you go Xero. It was a long drive no doubt." His wife had come back with a cup of apple juice in hand.
"oh, thank you. Yes it was. But anyway," I took a drink. "yeah, I'm just dying to try her out."
"I bet you are. Alright, lets go out to the garage and check her out. I'll give you the rundown on what I did." He turned on his heel and walked to the kitchen.
I followed him through the kitchen and out the back door. I followed him over the backyard and into the garage. We walked up to the door and he stepped aside and bowed to me as I walked up to the door, motioning his hands to the door. I smiled and opened the door. As before when I opened the door it was pitch black in the garage but when I took the first step all the lights in the garage ignited themselves and I was blinded. I took a few steps in and as soon as my eyes adjusted I saw her. Standing right there in the middle of the garage was revolution.
"Xero, I give you, 'New Revolution'. What do you think?"
"it looks the same?"
"well, duh, what did you think I was gonna build you a new AC?" he laughed. "alright, now let me tell you what I did." We walked up to the elevator that I had seen him use five days before. "ok, now the first thing is I gave you about 12 inches of extra armour. And its as think as 15 in some places. Also, I have given you a new generator that I built myself. I modified the boosters quite a bit."
"so they have even higher output now?"
"yes, they use half the energy, but I have tripled the output. I did the same to your overboost systems. But be careful, the higher output means a lot of plasma running through those things okay? So that means that they can overheat really fast. But, I countered that by adding a new radiator and coolant system for the boosters and overboost."
"nice."
"I also tweaked the cockpit system. Let me show you something." He stepped off the walkway that the elevator had risen to onto the front core of Revolution. He opened the hatch and jumped inside. I followed. "okay, now what I am about to show you is the mod that I am most proud of." He pointed to a small button pad that was a part of the leg braces.
"what is it?"
"that my friend, is a control for the AI. I have never put one in an AC before but I put it in here in the spare time that I had last night and it kicks ass. It takes your battle data and transmits it to another AC of yours in the garage. The only thing is, you'll have to buy another AC and set it up for combat and then give it weapons that are similar to the ones you have equipped.
"what do you mean? Similar weapons?"
"well, lets say you have a rifle on your main AC and you use it at medium to long range. Well it connects then but lets say that your AC has a shotgun on the same weapon hardpoint as the rifle on your main AC. so, whenever your AI fires its shotgun, it will do so from medium or long range like you do in your main AC. now we all know that firing a shotgun at long range will do a whole lot of nothing."
"ah, I understand."
"Ain't that bitchen?! next, I put in a new CAR system for some increased reaction speed from your computer." We jumped out of the cockpit and stepped back out onto the catwalk. "oh, there is something else I have to show you! Come on, we have to move the scaffold around your AC. This next mod is also a first for me in an AC but I have put it through so much testing it isn't even funny." I followed him back onto the elevator and he lowered us back to the ground. After safely on the ground he walked over to a console that was back near the door and began pushing buttons. "hey, you might want to step back towards me." I did as was told and the scaffold around my AC began folding back along the hangar walls. He stood and watched the scaffold move. As soon as it was done he went back to typing into the console. "ok, tell me if you see any difference in appearance on your AC." He clicked a few last buttons, "alright. See anything?"
I looked up and down the AC, being careful to check for any subtle changes. "no, I don't see a difference." I looked up and down Revolution once more. "why?"
"This is why." He said as he began yet again pushing buttons onto the console. "see that plasma rifle over there?" he waved his head to a ceiling mounted cannon.
"yeah, why?" I had a strange feeling.
"now watch Revolution." He pushed a few more buttons and the cannon fired right at Revolution.
I spun around at him like a top, but as soon as I opened my mouth to scream he waved his head back to Revolution.
I looked back in time to see the pulsating beam of energy plow into Revolution with a deafening shockwave. I was so mad, but as I watched I noticed that Revolution was taking no damage and that the beam was merely hitting a blue energy sphere that surrounded Revolution. I turned back to matt. "what the hell?"
He looked at me and just beamed a huge smile. "the first AC mounted shield system. What do you think?"
"I don't know what to think. I'm blown away!" I was almost speechless. "I thought ACs weren't big enough to house the generators and emiters for those things?"
"hey, you have your gun on you right?"
"yeah, why?"
"shoot at her."
"what?"
"just do it."
"okay." I unclipped my gun and fired a few rounds at my own AC. only to duck for cover when I heard the bullets ricochet and another shield pulsate around Revolution, Except this shield was red instead of blue.
"okay, I'll explain it to you. The first shield is specially designed to absorb energy. It has a battery bank in the legs of our AC that store power stolen from enemy attacks. When you enemy fires an energy weapon at you. It will hit that shield, provided you have it on, and the shield will basically absorb the shot and store the energy in a spare battery bank. Once the bank is full, the energy will be automatically reverted over to your booster systems. So you don't waste any energy. Now, the battery bank is used to start up the shields and the red shield fully runs off of the battery bank. The red shield reflects incoming solid rounds. Obviously it can't absorb the shots that it will be reflecting so it uses the banks. If the banks run out then you lose on the red shield, sorry. Now, to keep you from running out of energy to even start the shields in the bank, I have built in a safety that shuts down the battery usage except to start up the blue shield."
"but how did you-?" I started to ask.
But he cut me off. "wait, I'm not done. Two more things about the shields: Even though they have been through extensive testing and such, they are still not perfect. For example, if you get shot at with a linear cannon shot. Your blue shield will doubtfully be able to absorb it all. It will probably deflect whatever it can't absorb but you will probably end up shorting out your batteries in the process. Same goes for the red shield, if you get a grenade or two fired at you, I doubt that it will be able to hold more than two off. And, they have a tendency to heat up the battery banks. So watch your internal heat temperature." He pushed a few more buttons on the console and the catwalk came back across the chest of Revolution. "now, if you get a laser blade swung at you, don't count on the blue shield to hold it off. It will probably hold off the lesser blades, but should you get a moonlight too close, don't even try the shield. The emmiters are built into your armour all around your AC if that is what you were going to ask."
I opened my mouth then closed it. Then I opened it again, "can I try her out now?"
He laughed. "go right ahead. Go jump on the lift."
I ran over to the lift and just before I stepped onto it he yelled back at me.
"you might want this." He balled something up and tossed it to me.
I caught it and unrolled it. A new flight suit. "thanks matt."
"no problem. Go get in there, let me know what you think."
I jumped up on the lift and he started it upwards. Once it got to the top I ran to the cockpit of New Revolution. I opened the hatch and dropped in. I landed on the small platform and put on the flight suit. "computer, initiate startup procedure."
The main cockpit HUD turned on and again thousands of tiny red lasers traced over my body from my feet to my head, the suit self-tightening as the lasers got higher. "Welcome back Xero." The computers voice was now very much like a normal female's. In fact, had I only heard the voice and not seen the mechanical exoskeleton, I would have thought it was a real woman. After the computer said this, the platform that I was standing on broke apart and buckled up my legs as the braces.
"I gotta remember to ask dash how these things work for those weird hover legs." I said as I took the gloves from the small dish that extends outward from the panels in front of me. After I put them on the cockpit screens all around me flashed a bright white then after I opened my eyes, was looking at a mirror image of the outside world. I moved my head and the AC's head moved as well. I moved my arm up quickly to test the reaction speed. It was impeccable. Before the upgrade you could notice a very minute lag in the response. But now, there was no doubt that the lag was gone completely. "computer. Initiate normal mode." I heard Revolution's new generator roar to life and I saw my energy gauge fill almost instantly. "damn, nice generator. Revolution, initialize startup systems check."
"initializing. new generator detected, output 45000, redzone 10000, maximum capacity 70000. generator operating at full power. New radiator detected, cooling 25000, forced cooling 40000. radiator operating at full power. Shield systems. check. Overboost. check. Boosters. check. Back weapons. none. Arm weapons. none. Warning! Suggest equipment of weapons before battle mode is initiated!"
"hey, matt! What's up? Where's my weapons?"
"oh, shit, forgot to tell you about those! Hey, walk her out here." I watched as he ran over to another console and started pushing more buttons. "here they are." Another wall opened up on the side of the garage and my weapons were held within.
I walked Revolution over and looked inside. There was a shotgun, a machine gun, my missile launcher, and my laser cannon. "what are the others?"
"okay, I modified your shotgun, and your machine gun. Your laser cannon is pretty much as tricked out as possible stock, and your missile launcher I can't really do anything else with. It's a pretty good unit by itself. Go on, put them on."
"alright, alright." I reached forward and picked up the missile launcher and moved it over by my right shoulder. "Revolution, equip right back weapon, 8 lock, missile launcher."
"equipping. complete."
I picked up the laser cannon and raised it to the left shoulder. "Revolution, equip left back weapon, laser cannon."
"equipping. complete."
I reached forward now and picked up the shotgun with my right hand. "this thing feels lighter. What did you do to it."
"well, it just feels lighter because of the improvements to your CAR systems. It's actually about three times heavier."
"really. Well it doesn't feel like it. Anyway, so, I'm down to one shotgun and my machinegun."
"yeah, sorry, if I had done both shotguns then it would have been way too heavy."
"I can understand that. So, do I get to test this stuff out or do I only get to hold it?"
"look to your left."
I did as was instructed and gazed at on open hangar. "alright then." I walked out of the hangar.
"go for it. I'll send out some MTs in a few minutes."
"sweet." I hit the boosters and my eyes blurred as I accelerated forward. I checked the speed gauge and it read five hundred and seventy-six miles per hour. "WHHOOO!!!!" I screamed as I flew forward. I tried to turn and spun around on my left foot as I dipped it into the ground. The turning was unbelievable. I had been boosting and turning for about three minutes when I checked my energy gauge and saw that it was still three-quarters full. I turned off the boosters and looked back to my gauge. But by the time I looked at it I saw it top off. "damn! That's crazy!" I was now facing back towards the hangar. I turned back out into the plains. "oh god, here we go!" but before I could hit the overboost switch, matt came over the comm.
"hey Xero! Don't use your overboost yet. It is just too powerful for you to handle."
"than why did you make it that powerful?!"
"well, the sign of a good raven is their ability to adapt to changing conditions around them. If you are as good as I believe you are, then in a while, you will be able to use that overboost without even thinking about it. But until then, try to avoid using it. And when you do start using it, turn on your red shield before you initiate the overboost."
"why?"
"just trust me on this one. You'll know what I mean when you try it for the first time."
"alright, alright."
"ok, well, with that out of the way. I'm gonna send out some MTs for you to try your hand against."
"okay, send them on out."
It took a few minutes but after a while the plains just beyond his garage began to crack and open. The ground swelled and an enormous hatch swung upward.
"ok, Xero, try it against these. They shouldn't even make you break a sweat."
The hatch began to shake as rows of four MTs began marching out of the hatch. Just row after row, they kept coming.
"how many are you gonna send out?"
"just about twenty more!"
"what!"
about thirty seconds later the MTs were out of the hatch and had all filed up in a column.
"alright Xero, in a few seconds I am going to set these things to auto attack. The A.I. will collectively fire at the first thing that fires at them."
"like in the raven test."
"yes, just as in your raven test. Except that this time, there are about five times the amount and you have no limit and no teammates."
"alright. Bring it on!"
"there set!"
I boosted towards the MTs. They just stood there, watching me come at them. I kept boosting until I was standing right in front of the closest MT. I put my machinegun on the clip on the back of my legs and grabbed the MT by the head with my right hand. Upon gripping the MT, the others all raised their weapons, but none fired. I picked up the MT by the head, sparks were rushing out of the joint that desperately held the head onto the chest. The MTs didn't relinquish their weapons, and neither did they fire. I eventually had the MT above my own head and pulled it back behind me.
"the AC is so much stronger!" I said, getting excited.
"no shit."
I whipped the MT around in front of me like a club, taking out the five or six MTs that were directly in front of me. Then I swung it up above my head and threw it straight into the crowd as I activated my red shield. The MTs fired as the MT left my hands but most of their shots were directed away and some back at them by the shield. I pulled the machine gun off the clip and brought my shotgun up.
I started unleashing machine gun fire into the group. It was interesting watching the shots from my weapon fly right through the shield like a drop in water as the various rounds of the MTs tried desperately to get to Revolution's armour.
I lifted the shotgun and hit my boosters. Revolution raced forward as I fired my shotgun at point blank into their heads, turning them to swiss cheese. I had my shield on and I boosted right into an MT, the shield ripped it to pieces and threw the pieces behind me. I watched as small bolts of electricity waved throughout the shield just as a static ball.
"this is getting boring, Matt." I said as I plowed through another MT and used my shotgun to render another immobile by knocking the legs off.
"well, what would make it more interesting for you?"
"I think I need a blade, or two."
"or two? Well, if your gonna think, think big I guess. I could hook you up. I'm gonna deactivate the battle mode on the MTs, come on back and I'll equip a blade for you."
"alright." I crushed the MT that I was holding in my hand and threw it behind me. Then I turned a boosted back towards the garage. The boost was starting to have less and less effect on me. My eyes only blurred a small amount and my reflexes were getting better to get myself back under control after I initiate the boost.
I made it back to the garage in about six seconds and matt already had the hangar door open and the grappling arms holding two blades up in the air, ready to be equipped. I stepped inside and held my arms out so he could equip the blades to my forearms.
"alright, hold still. These should auto recognize and fit well with the system you have in place already. All arms have a slot for equipping a blade. Sadly you have a lot of upgrades on your AC already that make your standard stuff especially heavy, so, these are not the best blades. They aren't the worst, but don't count on these to cut through any really heavy duty armour or pierce any high quality shields."
"can I use these with my energy shield on? Will they go through or am I gonna kill myself trying?"
"eh, actually I don't know. They should work. The polarity is completely opposite on the blades from the shield, that partially how it is able to absorb the energy from other weapons. But, I would like to see what that shield would do to a blade that came in contact from the outside."
"that would be something special. Do you have any test units with blades?"
"well, I have an AI AC that has blades. That is the only thing that it is equipped with."
"I thought you said that you hadn't used an AI system on an AC yet?"
"well, not an a customers AC. I have had it on some of my test MTs before I got rid of the ones with blades so I still have at least one good opponent to spar against."
"You? You pilot?"
"of course I pilot! You don't think I would let you guys have all the fun."
"where do you keep your AC?"
"I have kept it at a few different places. It is usually kept here to keep it away from prying eyes, but right now it is at the garage. It's a great AC. all it has is blades though."
"well, if you skilled enough to use them then that shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"yeah, your right." He was silent for a few moments. "well, there you go Xero. Two new blades for you."
"hey, I'm gonna leave my weapons here so I can have some fun with these things, alright?"
"yeah, sure. Have fun. As soon as you get to within one hundred meters the MTs will activate battle mode again."
"okay." I set my weapons down on the ground of the hangar and turned to boost back out to the battle area.
I faced the direction of the MTs and hit my booster. I flew back out to the area at an excess of six hundred MPH. I closed in on one of the MTs and they all opened fire once again. I turned on my red shield and got a warning after thrusting my right blade through the head of the nearest MT.
"warning, battery bank for shield systems, running low." The computer warned. I looked down at my generator gauge and saw that it wasn't even an eighth used.
"computer, re-route energy systems for the shields over to the generator."
"confirmed." The computer replied.
"I hope that worked." I boosted forward and used my blades in unison to cleave the MT in front of me into two pieces at the chest. A shell flew at me from the right and was thrown aside haplessly by the red shield. "I guess it worked." I boosted away as the MT exploded behind me.
I kept this up for about another hour, never reaching half charge on my energy gauge. Then I headed back to the garage.
"so, how do you like it?"
"I think its great. The only thing is that it makes things a little too easy. Ya-know?"
"well, it may be too easy against my test MTs but just wait until you get out to the real world and have to fight in the arena and have to go on some B to A ranked missions."
"yeah, I guess your right."
"well, I thank you for the chance to work with you Xero and for allowing me to work on your AC. Revolution gave me some interesting moments." He said, glancing to the side. "freak'n hydraulic pumps spitting at me."
"so, is there anything else you would like to do? Or can I go ahead and take her back to the garage?"
"you can go ahead and take her. But the one thing I would appreciate is if you could bring yourself and your girlfriend and come over to our house for diner tonight. Think that would be okay?"
I had never heard anyone refer to blaze as my 'girlfriend' but I really didn't mind. "Yeah, I'm sure we can make it."
"that would be great. Be here by seven, alright?"
I looked down at my watch, making Revolution look as if she had a watch on as she mover her arm up to match my movements. It read five thirty. "well, I'll have to leave now. And even then it might be a close call."
"well, bring your ACs back if that would mean your on-time. I hate late guests."
I found it funny that he would say this after giving me such a strict and close arrival time, but whatever. "we might have to do that." I stepped into the garage to grab my weapons. I picked them up and stepped back out o the garage. "well, I'll see you at seven."
"C'ya later Xero." He looked back down to the console and began closing the hangar doors as I stepped out of the garage and outside. I boosted up and over his house. Picked up my truck, and began boosting back.
"well, blaze is gonna be surprised when I tell her I want to race to this guys house." I boosted away, leaving a huge blue plasma trail behind me.
We waited twenty minutes after morrow and dash had left the arena to get out. The crowd just wouldn't let us go. The safety crews and medics had long since been bustling around and over the two ruined ACs of Soulrage and tetra.
We finally made it out of the arena and out to the car. I unlocked the doors and got in, blaze followed.
"where do we go now?" she asked. "do we go home or back to the garage?"
"I'm not sure really." I replied. But no sooner had I replied did my phone ring.
"hello?"
"Xero? This is morrow."
"oh hey! That was a great battle!"
"yeah, thanks, if you guys head back to the nest we can talk about it. I'm on a transport headed back to the garage."
"oh, alright. We'll do that then. C'ya there." I closed the phone.
"what are we doing now?" blaze asked.
"we are gonna go the nest and have dinner with morrow and dash. We're gonna discuss the battle as well."
"great! I'm starving." She sat back against the seat and pulled her seatbelt around her chest.
An hour later we were at the garage. The traffic again was horrid. We parked the car and ran inside, praying to god that they hadn't left yet. We ran through the office, down the hall, into the elevator.
"what flo-"
"the nest!" we both said at the same time, cutting the computer off.
We didn't relax until the doors had opened and we found ourselves inside the nest, being flagged down by dash and morrow. We walked over to sit down. They were seated at the same booth we sat at before the match.
"Xero! What now!!!" morrow jumped up and ran over.
"that was freakin' awesome morrow!! You have got to tell me about that!" I patted him on the back and we sat back down.
Dash was a bit more composed. "so Xero, not to bad for our first match huh?"
"not bad at all dash. Amazing really. You were awesome, I couldn't even see your AC when you overboosted! How can you control something that fast?"
"well, that is something called skill." He joked, "but, it was hard to keep up with it most of the time. I'm still working on perfecting it."
"I guess you are." Blaze cut in, "if you had perfected it, then Soulrage would have been out of the match after that first charge."
"yeah, probably." He laughed.
"but ok morrow, you have to tell me how you got your AC to go that fast. And I don't know how you kept your cool that whole time, the way you just stood there and fired away." I put both my arms on the table and faced morrow.
Dash started laughing his ass off.
"oh that! Well, that's the good part." He replied, obviously excited about the subject. "when the battle first started, I was actually scared shitless! I couldn't move, I was so scared."
Dash cut in, "I could hear his breath shuddering over the comm.!!" he was still laughing.
"shutup dash! Damnit, anyway, when I finally was able to move I couldn't move very much. I just raised my KARASAWA and started firing."
My jaw dropped, "you were scared! That's what happened!"
"well, hang on, it gets better!" dash interrupted again.
"yeah, really. So after I got him to land and stuff, I brought out my linear cannon. I stil couldn't move so I was just like 'get away from me!' so I brought out the cannon and fired at him when he landed but he rolled and I hit the platform, then I fired again, and again. But then he started coming at me. He was making a bee-line for me so I thought maybe I could hit him finally. But right before my cannon discharged, he started firing into the barrel!"
dash was about rolling on the floor.
"the cannon started overloading and was about to like explode or something. And that bastard tetra just stood there in front of me! So what I did wa- "
"what he did was started cussing like a damn sailor and after about twenty cusses he just went with a solid scream." Dash cut in yet again before going back to laughing.
"damnit dash! God, anyway, needless to say I was hella pissed. And I forgot about being freaked out at all and I told the computer to disconnect the cannon from the energy condenser on the right side of my back and ejected the cannon completely. I did not want to be attached to the thing if it blew. So what I did was had the computer to reroute the energy made by the energy condenser for the cannon into my main booster systems and strength amplifiers for the AC. And the best part is that after I did this my energy gauge turned yellow and went through the freakin roof! I was so pissed at this guy for wrecking my cannon! It wasn't that he really destroyed it, but how much it was going to cost me to fix it or, god forbid, get a new one! So I hit the overbooster and my speedometer shot up to 934 MPH!! my eyes blurred majorly and I flew right at tetra. I was lucky though because my arm was through out by the force of my acceleration and I caught his head in my hand. So I grabbed his head and squeezed it as hard as I could. I was sooo mad! I wanted to kill the bastard! I mean, first he challenges me, then he wrecks my linear cannon! So after I grabbed his head I thought I ripped it off but my speedometer went down a little, so I look behind me and he is being dragged along! I was thinking, I'm gonna go with this! And then I look at my energy gauge and its not going down at all!"
"at all?! For all that speed and strength, your gauge didn't move!?" blaze blurted out.
"nope, didn't drop a millimeter. And I was going so fast that before I knew it I was at the opposite wall. So I turn off the overboost and swing him around, bash him into the wall a few times, punch him in the core a bit, then I threw him behind me." He paused for a moment. "but now that I think about it, I hope I didn't kill the guy. He was a good pilot, he just challenged the wrong guy." He said proudly.
"well, morrow, I wouldn't be surprised if you did kill him." I said. "I cant see a way anybody could have survived that. I mean, he might have died right when you ripped him from zero to nine-hundred forty-three in zero seconds. And another thing is that I am surprised you didn't go blind from that kind of speed and acceleration."
"well, I am not to sure about any of that myself either. I have no clue how I could have survived that myself." He replied.
"but morrow," blaze spoke up. "you do know that the arena covers all the costs to repair whatever damage you receive and they replace all damaged or destroyed weapons that you may have had during an arena battle, right?"
"what!?" he yelled. "so I got all mad about nothing?!"
"apparently so." Dash said, finally regaining himself. "so, anybody up for some diner?"
morrow slumped in his chair. "yeah, he'll have some." Blaze said for him.
We all laughed.
After dinner we all went our separate ways. Blaze and I wished morrow good luck when he left to go home to angel. "yeah, I'd rather face a hundred tetras in the arena than face angel at home! But ya-know maybe when she finds out I won." he said, walking to his car.
Dash went back to the garage area to check on his AC for some reason.
Blaze and I got into the truck to go home.
The next few days were uneventful. We went out to diner on the fifth night before I would have to pick up my AC the next morning. And sure enough when we got home there was a message on the answering machine:
"Xero? This is Matt. I'm just calling to let you know that your AC is done and ready to be picked up. I must say I am rather pleased with this one. And I also have a few little somethings for you and your friends. I'm afraid I won't have time to upgrade all of your ACs. So just stop by tomorrow sometime between ten in the morning and ten at night and I'll hand her back over to you. Later."
"sweet! Fixed AC tomorrow. Gonna be sweet!"
blaze patted me on the shoulder. "I'm going to bed. Are you coming?"
"you better believe it." I followed her up the stairs into my room.
I woke up the next day at about eleven in the morning. I got up briskly and got ready fast. I was to excited to be hungry so I got dressed, grabbed my glock, my keys and I was out the door.
It took me about two and a half hours to get to Matt's house. But once I got there I parked and got out of the truck. I walked up to the door and knocked three times like always. I stood in front of the door rocking back and forth between my toes and my heels.
About fifteen seconds later, the door opened and I saw Matt standing there with his wife standing behind him with her arms around his shoulders. "Xero! I thought it was you." He said, opening the door the rest of the way. "oh, come in, come in!"
"thanks matt." I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. His wife had gotten off him and gone to the kitchen.
"so, xero, you must be excited as all hell to see her!"
"well ye-"
"here you go Xero. It was a long drive no doubt." His wife had come back with a cup of apple juice in hand.
"oh, thank you. Yes it was. But anyway," I took a drink. "yeah, I'm just dying to try her out."
"I bet you are. Alright, lets go out to the garage and check her out. I'll give you the rundown on what I did." He turned on his heel and walked to the kitchen.
I followed him through the kitchen and out the back door. I followed him over the backyard and into the garage. We walked up to the door and he stepped aside and bowed to me as I walked up to the door, motioning his hands to the door. I smiled and opened the door. As before when I opened the door it was pitch black in the garage but when I took the first step all the lights in the garage ignited themselves and I was blinded. I took a few steps in and as soon as my eyes adjusted I saw her. Standing right there in the middle of the garage was revolution.
"Xero, I give you, 'New Revolution'. What do you think?"
"it looks the same?"
"well, duh, what did you think I was gonna build you a new AC?" he laughed. "alright, now let me tell you what I did." We walked up to the elevator that I had seen him use five days before. "ok, now the first thing is I gave you about 12 inches of extra armour. And its as think as 15 in some places. Also, I have given you a new generator that I built myself. I modified the boosters quite a bit."
"so they have even higher output now?"
"yes, they use half the energy, but I have tripled the output. I did the same to your overboost systems. But be careful, the higher output means a lot of plasma running through those things okay? So that means that they can overheat really fast. But, I countered that by adding a new radiator and coolant system for the boosters and overboost."
"nice."
"I also tweaked the cockpit system. Let me show you something." He stepped off the walkway that the elevator had risen to onto the front core of Revolution. He opened the hatch and jumped inside. I followed. "okay, now what I am about to show you is the mod that I am most proud of." He pointed to a small button pad that was a part of the leg braces.
"what is it?"
"that my friend, is a control for the AI. I have never put one in an AC before but I put it in here in the spare time that I had last night and it kicks ass. It takes your battle data and transmits it to another AC of yours in the garage. The only thing is, you'll have to buy another AC and set it up for combat and then give it weapons that are similar to the ones you have equipped.
"what do you mean? Similar weapons?"
"well, lets say you have a rifle on your main AC and you use it at medium to long range. Well it connects then but lets say that your AC has a shotgun on the same weapon hardpoint as the rifle on your main AC. so, whenever your AI fires its shotgun, it will do so from medium or long range like you do in your main AC. now we all know that firing a shotgun at long range will do a whole lot of nothing."
"ah, I understand."
"Ain't that bitchen?! next, I put in a new CAR system for some increased reaction speed from your computer." We jumped out of the cockpit and stepped back out onto the catwalk. "oh, there is something else I have to show you! Come on, we have to move the scaffold around your AC. This next mod is also a first for me in an AC but I have put it through so much testing it isn't even funny." I followed him back onto the elevator and he lowered us back to the ground. After safely on the ground he walked over to a console that was back near the door and began pushing buttons. "hey, you might want to step back towards me." I did as was told and the scaffold around my AC began folding back along the hangar walls. He stood and watched the scaffold move. As soon as it was done he went back to typing into the console. "ok, tell me if you see any difference in appearance on your AC." He clicked a few last buttons, "alright. See anything?"
I looked up and down the AC, being careful to check for any subtle changes. "no, I don't see a difference." I looked up and down Revolution once more. "why?"
"This is why." He said as he began yet again pushing buttons onto the console. "see that plasma rifle over there?" he waved his head to a ceiling mounted cannon.
"yeah, why?" I had a strange feeling.
"now watch Revolution." He pushed a few more buttons and the cannon fired right at Revolution.
I spun around at him like a top, but as soon as I opened my mouth to scream he waved his head back to Revolution.
I looked back in time to see the pulsating beam of energy plow into Revolution with a deafening shockwave. I was so mad, but as I watched I noticed that Revolution was taking no damage and that the beam was merely hitting a blue energy sphere that surrounded Revolution. I turned back to matt. "what the hell?"
He looked at me and just beamed a huge smile. "the first AC mounted shield system. What do you think?"
"I don't know what to think. I'm blown away!" I was almost speechless. "I thought ACs weren't big enough to house the generators and emiters for those things?"
"hey, you have your gun on you right?"
"yeah, why?"
"shoot at her."
"what?"
"just do it."
"okay." I unclipped my gun and fired a few rounds at my own AC. only to duck for cover when I heard the bullets ricochet and another shield pulsate around Revolution, Except this shield was red instead of blue.
"okay, I'll explain it to you. The first shield is specially designed to absorb energy. It has a battery bank in the legs of our AC that store power stolen from enemy attacks. When you enemy fires an energy weapon at you. It will hit that shield, provided you have it on, and the shield will basically absorb the shot and store the energy in a spare battery bank. Once the bank is full, the energy will be automatically reverted over to your booster systems. So you don't waste any energy. Now, the battery bank is used to start up the shields and the red shield fully runs off of the battery bank. The red shield reflects incoming solid rounds. Obviously it can't absorb the shots that it will be reflecting so it uses the banks. If the banks run out then you lose on the red shield, sorry. Now, to keep you from running out of energy to even start the shields in the bank, I have built in a safety that shuts down the battery usage except to start up the blue shield."
"but how did you-?" I started to ask.
But he cut me off. "wait, I'm not done. Two more things about the shields: Even though they have been through extensive testing and such, they are still not perfect. For example, if you get shot at with a linear cannon shot. Your blue shield will doubtfully be able to absorb it all. It will probably deflect whatever it can't absorb but you will probably end up shorting out your batteries in the process. Same goes for the red shield, if you get a grenade or two fired at you, I doubt that it will be able to hold more than two off. And, they have a tendency to heat up the battery banks. So watch your internal heat temperature." He pushed a few more buttons on the console and the catwalk came back across the chest of Revolution. "now, if you get a laser blade swung at you, don't count on the blue shield to hold it off. It will probably hold off the lesser blades, but should you get a moonlight too close, don't even try the shield. The emmiters are built into your armour all around your AC if that is what you were going to ask."
I opened my mouth then closed it. Then I opened it again, "can I try her out now?"
He laughed. "go right ahead. Go jump on the lift."
I ran over to the lift and just before I stepped onto it he yelled back at me.
"you might want this." He balled something up and tossed it to me.
I caught it and unrolled it. A new flight suit. "thanks matt."
"no problem. Go get in there, let me know what you think."
I jumped up on the lift and he started it upwards. Once it got to the top I ran to the cockpit of New Revolution. I opened the hatch and dropped in. I landed on the small platform and put on the flight suit. "computer, initiate startup procedure."
The main cockpit HUD turned on and again thousands of tiny red lasers traced over my body from my feet to my head, the suit self-tightening as the lasers got higher. "Welcome back Xero." The computers voice was now very much like a normal female's. In fact, had I only heard the voice and not seen the mechanical exoskeleton, I would have thought it was a real woman. After the computer said this, the platform that I was standing on broke apart and buckled up my legs as the braces.
"I gotta remember to ask dash how these things work for those weird hover legs." I said as I took the gloves from the small dish that extends outward from the panels in front of me. After I put them on the cockpit screens all around me flashed a bright white then after I opened my eyes, was looking at a mirror image of the outside world. I moved my head and the AC's head moved as well. I moved my arm up quickly to test the reaction speed. It was impeccable. Before the upgrade you could notice a very minute lag in the response. But now, there was no doubt that the lag was gone completely. "computer. Initiate normal mode." I heard Revolution's new generator roar to life and I saw my energy gauge fill almost instantly. "damn, nice generator. Revolution, initialize startup systems check."
"initializing. new generator detected, output 45000, redzone 10000, maximum capacity 70000. generator operating at full power. New radiator detected, cooling 25000, forced cooling 40000. radiator operating at full power. Shield systems. check. Overboost. check. Boosters. check. Back weapons. none. Arm weapons. none. Warning! Suggest equipment of weapons before battle mode is initiated!"
"hey, matt! What's up? Where's my weapons?"
"oh, shit, forgot to tell you about those! Hey, walk her out here." I watched as he ran over to another console and started pushing more buttons. "here they are." Another wall opened up on the side of the garage and my weapons were held within.
I walked Revolution over and looked inside. There was a shotgun, a machine gun, my missile launcher, and my laser cannon. "what are the others?"
"okay, I modified your shotgun, and your machine gun. Your laser cannon is pretty much as tricked out as possible stock, and your missile launcher I can't really do anything else with. It's a pretty good unit by itself. Go on, put them on."
"alright, alright." I reached forward and picked up the missile launcher and moved it over by my right shoulder. "Revolution, equip right back weapon, 8 lock, missile launcher."
"equipping. complete."
I picked up the laser cannon and raised it to the left shoulder. "Revolution, equip left back weapon, laser cannon."
"equipping. complete."
I reached forward now and picked up the shotgun with my right hand. "this thing feels lighter. What did you do to it."
"well, it just feels lighter because of the improvements to your CAR systems. It's actually about three times heavier."
"really. Well it doesn't feel like it. Anyway, so, I'm down to one shotgun and my machinegun."
"yeah, sorry, if I had done both shotguns then it would have been way too heavy."
"I can understand that. So, do I get to test this stuff out or do I only get to hold it?"
"look to your left."
I did as was instructed and gazed at on open hangar. "alright then." I walked out of the hangar.
"go for it. I'll send out some MTs in a few minutes."
"sweet." I hit the boosters and my eyes blurred as I accelerated forward. I checked the speed gauge and it read five hundred and seventy-six miles per hour. "WHHOOO!!!!" I screamed as I flew forward. I tried to turn and spun around on my left foot as I dipped it into the ground. The turning was unbelievable. I had been boosting and turning for about three minutes when I checked my energy gauge and saw that it was still three-quarters full. I turned off the boosters and looked back to my gauge. But by the time I looked at it I saw it top off. "damn! That's crazy!" I was now facing back towards the hangar. I turned back out into the plains. "oh god, here we go!" but before I could hit the overboost switch, matt came over the comm.
"hey Xero! Don't use your overboost yet. It is just too powerful for you to handle."
"than why did you make it that powerful?!"
"well, the sign of a good raven is their ability to adapt to changing conditions around them. If you are as good as I believe you are, then in a while, you will be able to use that overboost without even thinking about it. But until then, try to avoid using it. And when you do start using it, turn on your red shield before you initiate the overboost."
"why?"
"just trust me on this one. You'll know what I mean when you try it for the first time."
"alright, alright."
"ok, well, with that out of the way. I'm gonna send out some MTs for you to try your hand against."
"okay, send them on out."
It took a few minutes but after a while the plains just beyond his garage began to crack and open. The ground swelled and an enormous hatch swung upward.
"ok, Xero, try it against these. They shouldn't even make you break a sweat."
The hatch began to shake as rows of four MTs began marching out of the hatch. Just row after row, they kept coming.
"how many are you gonna send out?"
"just about twenty more!"
"what!"
about thirty seconds later the MTs were out of the hatch and had all filed up in a column.
"alright Xero, in a few seconds I am going to set these things to auto attack. The A.I. will collectively fire at the first thing that fires at them."
"like in the raven test."
"yes, just as in your raven test. Except that this time, there are about five times the amount and you have no limit and no teammates."
"alright. Bring it on!"
"there set!"
I boosted towards the MTs. They just stood there, watching me come at them. I kept boosting until I was standing right in front of the closest MT. I put my machinegun on the clip on the back of my legs and grabbed the MT by the head with my right hand. Upon gripping the MT, the others all raised their weapons, but none fired. I picked up the MT by the head, sparks were rushing out of the joint that desperately held the head onto the chest. The MTs didn't relinquish their weapons, and neither did they fire. I eventually had the MT above my own head and pulled it back behind me.
"the AC is so much stronger!" I said, getting excited.
"no shit."
I whipped the MT around in front of me like a club, taking out the five or six MTs that were directly in front of me. Then I swung it up above my head and threw it straight into the crowd as I activated my red shield. The MTs fired as the MT left my hands but most of their shots were directed away and some back at them by the shield. I pulled the machine gun off the clip and brought my shotgun up.
I started unleashing machine gun fire into the group. It was interesting watching the shots from my weapon fly right through the shield like a drop in water as the various rounds of the MTs tried desperately to get to Revolution's armour.
I lifted the shotgun and hit my boosters. Revolution raced forward as I fired my shotgun at point blank into their heads, turning them to swiss cheese. I had my shield on and I boosted right into an MT, the shield ripped it to pieces and threw the pieces behind me. I watched as small bolts of electricity waved throughout the shield just as a static ball.
"this is getting boring, Matt." I said as I plowed through another MT and used my shotgun to render another immobile by knocking the legs off.
"well, what would make it more interesting for you?"
"I think I need a blade, or two."
"or two? Well, if your gonna think, think big I guess. I could hook you up. I'm gonna deactivate the battle mode on the MTs, come on back and I'll equip a blade for you."
"alright." I crushed the MT that I was holding in my hand and threw it behind me. Then I turned a boosted back towards the garage. The boost was starting to have less and less effect on me. My eyes only blurred a small amount and my reflexes were getting better to get myself back under control after I initiate the boost.
I made it back to the garage in about six seconds and matt already had the hangar door open and the grappling arms holding two blades up in the air, ready to be equipped. I stepped inside and held my arms out so he could equip the blades to my forearms.
"alright, hold still. These should auto recognize and fit well with the system you have in place already. All arms have a slot for equipping a blade. Sadly you have a lot of upgrades on your AC already that make your standard stuff especially heavy, so, these are not the best blades. They aren't the worst, but don't count on these to cut through any really heavy duty armour or pierce any high quality shields."
"can I use these with my energy shield on? Will they go through or am I gonna kill myself trying?"
"eh, actually I don't know. They should work. The polarity is completely opposite on the blades from the shield, that partially how it is able to absorb the energy from other weapons. But, I would like to see what that shield would do to a blade that came in contact from the outside."
"that would be something special. Do you have any test units with blades?"
"well, I have an AI AC that has blades. That is the only thing that it is equipped with."
"I thought you said that you hadn't used an AI system on an AC yet?"
"well, not an a customers AC. I have had it on some of my test MTs before I got rid of the ones with blades so I still have at least one good opponent to spar against."
"You? You pilot?"
"of course I pilot! You don't think I would let you guys have all the fun."
"where do you keep your AC?"
"I have kept it at a few different places. It is usually kept here to keep it away from prying eyes, but right now it is at the garage. It's a great AC. all it has is blades though."
"well, if you skilled enough to use them then that shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"yeah, your right." He was silent for a few moments. "well, there you go Xero. Two new blades for you."
"hey, I'm gonna leave my weapons here so I can have some fun with these things, alright?"
"yeah, sure. Have fun. As soon as you get to within one hundred meters the MTs will activate battle mode again."
"okay." I set my weapons down on the ground of the hangar and turned to boost back out to the battle area.
I faced the direction of the MTs and hit my booster. I flew back out to the area at an excess of six hundred MPH. I closed in on one of the MTs and they all opened fire once again. I turned on my red shield and got a warning after thrusting my right blade through the head of the nearest MT.
"warning, battery bank for shield systems, running low." The computer warned. I looked down at my generator gauge and saw that it wasn't even an eighth used.
"computer, re-route energy systems for the shields over to the generator."
"confirmed." The computer replied.
"I hope that worked." I boosted forward and used my blades in unison to cleave the MT in front of me into two pieces at the chest. A shell flew at me from the right and was thrown aside haplessly by the red shield. "I guess it worked." I boosted away as the MT exploded behind me.
I kept this up for about another hour, never reaching half charge on my energy gauge. Then I headed back to the garage.
"so, how do you like it?"
"I think its great. The only thing is that it makes things a little too easy. Ya-know?"
"well, it may be too easy against my test MTs but just wait until you get out to the real world and have to fight in the arena and have to go on some B to A ranked missions."
"yeah, I guess your right."
"well, I thank you for the chance to work with you Xero and for allowing me to work on your AC. Revolution gave me some interesting moments." He said, glancing to the side. "freak'n hydraulic pumps spitting at me."
"so, is there anything else you would like to do? Or can I go ahead and take her back to the garage?"
"you can go ahead and take her. But the one thing I would appreciate is if you could bring yourself and your girlfriend and come over to our house for diner tonight. Think that would be okay?"
I had never heard anyone refer to blaze as my 'girlfriend' but I really didn't mind. "Yeah, I'm sure we can make it."
"that would be great. Be here by seven, alright?"
I looked down at my watch, making Revolution look as if she had a watch on as she mover her arm up to match my movements. It read five thirty. "well, I'll have to leave now. And even then it might be a close call."
"well, bring your ACs back if that would mean your on-time. I hate late guests."
I found it funny that he would say this after giving me such a strict and close arrival time, but whatever. "we might have to do that." I stepped into the garage to grab my weapons. I picked them up and stepped back out o the garage. "well, I'll see you at seven."
"C'ya later Xero." He looked back down to the console and began closing the hangar doors as I stepped out of the garage and outside. I boosted up and over his house. Picked up my truck, and began boosting back.
"well, blaze is gonna be surprised when I tell her I want to race to this guys house." I boosted away, leaving a huge blue plasma trail behind me.