Disclaimer: See previous chapters

Chap. 21

Ruins Arena

Havoc entered the decaying area. Stone pillars were all over the place, some of them laid out on the ground. Vegetation was everywhere as far as he could see as the machine stalk within. Sounds of metallic steps soon accompanied his and from behind one of the pillars came his opponent. The AC Cobra. It was a fiery red machine with four legs. He was equipped with flame-throwers on both arms, rockets and a slug gun on his back. Elijah most noted the EO's his core was equipped with. Like his… 'Even though they did me no good.' he frowned inwardly. The two machines came face to face and turned around, as per the starting rules of this particular arena. It gave the opponents time and confused them somewhat too. Elijah however waited for his opponent to turn around first. He heard about the Raven within, Apophis, and that this guy played dirty.

-"What's the matter? Afraid of me? You had better be."-

The red machine turned around and Havoc moved in and turned as well. The toll soon rang for the battle to begin and Havoc shot forward, away from his opponent. He reached the wall and veered off to the left, looking for Cobra all the while. Cobra had turned off the side as well and was now coming at him. The EO's shot up and Havoc was soon under fire. Havoc shot back and Elijah let a full round loose. But he was a bit unsteadied when he realized that he was only firing with one machine gun. His back soon ran up against one of the pillars, leaving him stuck for a moment. Enough for Apophis to use his favorite weapons; the flame-throwers

-"Burn! Piece by piece! Limb by limb!"-

Elijah tried to move his AC to the left, but there was only a wall there. The flames licked across his core, heating the machine and the pilot inside. In near panic, Elijah jerked the controls to the right this time, escaping the torrent of fire. His machine began to cool down, but the AP was dropping rapidly in the meanwhile. 'I can't believe this. All that training and I'm still losing!' His rage caused him to send out another round of bullets at Cobra. Cobra evaded most of the fire and crawled back behind a pillar to regroup. Still furious, Havoc pursued him with the machine gun, firing when he saw so much as a speck of red. But when Havoc saw him again, he was faced with a rocket flying right at him. The projectile nicked the mid-shoulder of the machine and Havoc was forced to stop his assault. Pressing the advantage, Cobra switched to his slug gun and shot a spread of weapon fire. At the same time, he activated his EO's and stalked in on him. Havoc backed away and hid behind a pillar. 'Now what? This gun isn't enough.' His gaze wandered from his machine gun over to the left arm. 'The Moonlight…'

"It may show you the truth and light."

'Was this what he was talking about?' He didn't understand what his mentor had been saying, but he knew the power of the Moonlight blade. If he could get close enough, he could finish off Apophis in one strike. Nodding to himself, Elijah made ready to go out in attack but Cobra came in from above, unleashing his flame-throwers once again. Havoc backed away and lifted his left arm, ready to attack with the Moonlight, but Cobra switched to his rockets and launched them. Havoc backed away again, unable to get close enough to use the blade. Even worse, Havoc was backed into another pillar. Cobra reverted back to his flame-throwers and began to move in for the kill.

-"I think I've toyed with you long enough, boy."-

Without thinking, Elijah switched on the EOs, sending beams of laser fire at Cobra. The machine stopped briefly in its tracks, surprised by the hidden weapon. Taking advantage of his hesitation, Havoc rushed forward, the blue-white blade aglow in a slash.

"Rahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!"

The blade sliced across front of Cobra, scaring the core and slicing one of the flame-throwers in two. Cobra backed away and settled down for his slug-gun again. Havoc was surprised that Cobra was still active. He should have been defeated with that attack. And now that he was in close range, the slug gun's fire will destroy him. With no time to get in close, Havoc raised his machine gun again and let loose his fire. At the same time, his EO's joined in the fire on the immobile AC. Cobra was unable to fight back and by the time it got a lock on Havoc, it exploded in flames, thus signaling his defeat. Elijah took a deep breath and slumped back in his seat, wiping the sweat from his brow. 'That was too close. Why didn't the Moonlight finish Cobra to begin with?' He would have been killed if not…for his EO.

Havoc stood over his defeated opponent in silence while his pilot contemplated this revelation…

"That's usually my stance."

Cain met up with Koemai outside an hour after Elijah had left for his battle. Koemai was leaning on the back of the hanger door, arms folded and head lowered slightly. The spiky-haired Raven lifted his head up when his friend caught his attention.

"Huh? Oh it's you."

"Something's on your mind." he stated.

"You could say that." he responded. "It's…Diana."

"Uh, what now?" he sighed lightly, figuring that they had yet another one of their arguments.

"No, it's nothing like that."

"Hmm." The tone in Koemai's voice secretly told Cain what he had guessed the whole time. The arguments gave evidence, but he wasn't totally sure until now. It was a feeling he was well away of. Still, he had to make sure. So he went out on a limb and blurted it out.

"You still love her, don't you?"

After a moment of silence, Koemai nodded slowly, "Yeah...."

Another moment of silence passed before Cain spoke this time, "Some time ago, a wise man gave me these words of wisdom." Suddenly, he yelled, "Then tell her!!!"

Koemai blinked out of his passivity, "Hey!"

But Cain didn't let up, "You had that coming a lot time now. Spare the rest of us some headaches with your arguing already."

"You're a lot of help." Koemai grumbled.

"It's the truth." The dark Raven soon stood beside him and folded his arms. "You guys have been bouncing off of each other for too long now. Don't waste your feelings. You'll only hurt yourself. Whatever you guys argued about, it clearly wasn't enough to make you stop caring about her. " His gaze drifted out into the sky. "And remember we're Ravens. Second chances are rare. Don't waste it."

Koemai didn't know what to think this moment, aside from the fact that his comrade was acting quite out of character. Or perhaps he was speaking from experience. In any case, his words gave him quite a bit to think about.

"I…I just feel like I screwed it up with her."

"To err is human; to forgive is divine."

Koemai chuckled, finally hearing the old Cain speaking now, "Oh, man I've forgotten how weird you are."

Cain gave a brief smile, but that disappeared when a low rumbling caught both their attentions. Looking up, they saw a truck carrier pull in to the hanger. The door of the massive vehicle open and out stepped Havoc. It was singed in various areas, but beyond that, no real damage. The AC settled into its bay and the cockpit opened, letting the Raven inside step out.

"Welcome back." Koemai called as Elijah came down, "How did it go? Did you kick butt?"

"Yeah." Elijah replied softly.

Again, Cain noticed the tone and turned to Koemai, "You should get going, Koemai." He then repeated, "Don't waste it."

"Yeah. I'll keep that in mind."

Koemai strode away as Elijah came down and came before his mentor, who was still on the wall with his arms folded. Elijah had his head down for a while, but soon lifted it back up.

"You knew, didn't you? You knew I wouldn't be able to use the Moonlight. You wanted me to find my own strength again. You were telling me that I had to focus on the task and continue to survive."

"Did I?"

Elijah frowned, "Huh?"

"I may be you teacher, but I'm not a sage. All I knew was that you needed some encouragement. We all suffer losses and humiliation. We simply get up as soon as we can and move on. I was just lending you a hand. Anything you learn from it will be on your own." He then looked away, "A self-taught lesson."

Elijah blinked once, then twice. 'A self-taught lesson?' Elijah shook his head, "You mean… You are so weird."

"So what else is new?" was the stoic reply.

"Hey Di."

Later on, Koemai approached Diana while she was working on he AC. Currently, she was rearranging the active optional parts with the new one she had recently acquired.

"Koemai." She suddenly realized that he had called her by her shortened name and asked, "What is it?"

"…I…I don't know." He frowned openly, "Damn it. Diana, I still…still…"

Diana watched him carefully and gave a slight giggle, "Heh. You never were good with expressing your feelings with words."

His frown deepened, "That's not funny."

"It is true though." She then looked away and sadly added, "I think that's part of the reason we broke up."

"Are you blaming me?"

"No…I mean..." She turned away fully as she struggled to organize her thoughts. "I didn't know what to think. At first, you were just a fun guy to be with. Fun… and a crazy." she added with another giggle. She turned back to him slowly, "I never expected to actually love you enough to…well, you know."

Koemai nodded solemnly and took a step closer to her, "Neither did I. But things happened and before I know it…you're…we're…thinking about…"

Now Diana took a step closer to him, slowly raising her hand to his face. Koemai watched, but did nothing as her hand inched closer. It was about to touch when…

"Hey guys, come quick! You have to see this."

The both of them jumped as they were snapped out of the moment. Looking down, they saw Elijah had come in and call to them. 'Great timing, kid.' Koemai thought grimly. Looking back at Diana, he only saw her hand drift away and she moved down the ladder. Koemai sighed mentally and followed them into the adjourning room where the others had gathered as well.

"What's going on?"

"A clan battle." Ellie answered. "The Way is taking on the Death Dealers."

The two of them looked at the screen where it showed the space arena. Within it, groups of Armored Cores were locked in a fierce and intense battle with one another. Koemai recognized most of the ACs from both sides as did Cain, who was watching nearby.

"So it has finally happened."

That comment came from Charles and upon saying it, the others turned to him.

"What has?" Baron asked.

"Those two clans have been in opposition for the longest. This isn't like our battle with the Animalz. This is very different. For them, this will be their deciding battle."

"To decide what?"

Charles looked back at the screen and solemnly answered, "Which clan survives."