Disclaimer: See chapter one
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AN: Sorry. This chapter is kind of short.
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Chap. 7
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Hanger...
After the battle, the Nightwatch clan regrouped to collect their pay. Charles had appeared a little later with the credits from the defeated clan.
Baron grinned, "Alright. Payday."
Charles nodded to the three Ravens responsible. "You three did very well. Not a bad start for the clan."
"Yeah. No one will mess with us now." Koemai gloated.
Charles shook his head slightly, "Don't get ahead of yourself. That was just one victory. But it still made an impact." Looking back at the credits, "Anyway, here you guys go."
Koemai quickly swiped his share of credit and gave Elijah a light elbow, "Oh is this a time to celebrate or what?"
"I guess." Elijah replied softly
Koemai blinked, "Hey, what's up?"
Elijah shook his head and grabbed his credits, "Oh nothing. It's nothing."
Charles continued to pass out the credits until he was finally done. Cain was the last to take his and after receiving it, he simply turned and left. While a few of the others looked at him strangely, Koemai turned to Elijah once again.
"Okay, seriously. What's the problem?"
"Well..." Elijah scratched his head, "I missed seeing him in action. I wanted to see what he could really do." He then frowned, "But by the time the battle was over, I missed it."
Koemai shrugged, "Oh, I see. Well, there's always next time."
"I guess." He shook his head and looked back at the credits, "Hey, what am I so upset about? Let's go get a drink." He grinned, "Your treat."
"WHAT!?!?!"
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Next day...
Elijah was called in for his next training session. He had a great time parting with the other Ravens (Minus Cain and Charles) and Cain had allowed him an extra couple of hours of rest before resuming at nightfall. Now rested, Elijah climbed into his Havoc and activated the systems. Havoc moved out and into the arena for its next target. As the doors on the other end opened, Elijah felt a little giddy at the moment ready to take on whatever Cain could throw at him.
Boy was he in for a shock...
"What...is that?"
"A new AC AI. Elijah, meet Dark Glaive."
An AC was stationed right across from him. It was colored in sleek black with dark red areas. But what made it shocking was that it had the same exact equipment and parts that Glaive has. Extra boosters in the back, a grenade launcher on the right arm and a Moonlight blade on the left. Its eyes gleamed in crimson red.
"Dark...Glaive?"
"This AI is equipped with my data, just like the MTs before." Cain announced from the control booth. "Difference is you're facing an AC now, one equipped with the same parts as my Glaive. Let's see how you do."
Cain pressed a button on the control booth and the AI soon shot into action. Elijah blinked and automatically let out a stream of gunfire. The AI took the shot briefly before zipping away. While he moved, Elijah calmed himself. He dealt with this before, when he fought the MT AIs. But this would be different. This would be like battling Cain himself. A strange grin formed on his face. 'Now I can really show him what I can do.'
Havoc raised his machine gun and let out a full stream on Dark Glaive. The AI flew back and out of Havoc's lock range. Havoc gave chase and continued to fire when suddenly he noticed that D. Glaive was beginning to glow. Before Havoc could react, D. Glaive had overboosted right for him. Havoc unloaded another round of gunfire, but the bullets were missing due to D. Glaive's speed. But Havoc was familiar with this tactic. The white-blue blade shone in the air and lashed out, but Havoc suddenly shot off to the side, avoiding the deadly blade. With its back now turned, Havoc clicked on both machine guns and let them loose on D. Glaive.
'You're mine.'
But he had forgotten about the shoulder booster extensions, which ignited and spun him around, causing him to face Havoc once again. Havoc was shocked as D. Glaive's grenade launched glowed and blasted right in his face. Havoc fell back and tried to recoil from the blast. But within the fire, the blue-white energy blade shimmered to life again.
"NO!"
Panicked, Havoc rushed back, barely avoiding the deadly Moonlight slash. Reacting to the miss, Havoc activated his EOs and unloaded both his machine guns on D. Glaive. The mixture of solid and energy fire swarmed the AI, damaging it in several areas and causing it to move back. But Havoc continued to move in, unleashing his fury on the dark AI. D. Glaive flew away and fired another grenade round, but Havoc sidestepped the blast and continued firing. Elijah moved in more on the wounded machine and Elijah was more than ready to finish it when...
Beep, beep, beep...
Elijah suddenly looked at his fuel gauge. It was on red. 'No, not now. How...?'
It was then that he realized that he drained his energy by overusing the EOs and the boosters. Now he was stuck on walking power. But that's okay. He still had...
"What?"
He also saw that his left machine gun was out of ammo and his right had only 150 rounds left. 'That should still be enough to...'
His thought was soon interrupted by the glowing white slash across the screen...
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"Alright, you win."
Elijah was now out of his AC, which had a heavy slash across its core. It was fortunate that the machine was also equipped with safety options that prevent the AI from killing him. But his machine didn't have the same luck and would take three days straight to fix. Cain stood beside him as he gazed at his AC.
"What do you mean?"
Elijah sighed, "You've shown me that I'm just not ready to see you fight yet."
Cain simply shook his head, "That wasn't the purpose of this test. I just wanted to see how you would fare against a high level opponent. I want you to practice fighting him so that you can get used to fighting under harder strain."
Cain turned and began to walk out of the hanger. Elijah thought about it for a moment and then asked the retreating figure...
"So you weren't trying to avoid me when we fought the Animalz?"
Cain stopped briefly and then resumed his walk out of the hanger, leaving his student in slight confusion. Cain strode outside. The sun was beginning to set, but his dark shades remained on his face.
"You still didn't show him what he wanted to see."
Cain stopped again, recognizing the voice of Ellie. Turning his head, he saw the dark-haired woman leaning on the garage door with her arms folded.
"I showed him a glimpse." he replied softly. "I don't want to show any more than that. Not yet anyway."
"Why?" she questioned. "What are you afraid of showing him?"
No response...
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*******
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Next day...
Koemai awoke to the morning with a slight headache. He had been drinking again, but not much. However, it did leave an impression which was becoming evident on his head. Growling, he set a pot and heated some water. As he did, his gaze wavered to the window and outside, where he saw Cain stuffing a credit pad in his pocket.
'Huh? Where is he...uggghh...damn headache..."