Chapter 20: A Real Ending
The girl sat huddled in her dark rugged cockpit. Tears started running out from her sorrowful light blue eyes. Her small pale hands gripped at the cold control panel in front of her. The screen flickered a bit. Her chest heaved and burned like fire. Having seen the image of her companion's mech explode, sadness overtook her. No! Not again! First my parents...now him! How could I let this happen! Sara sulked in her cockpit. Her hair cascaded over her face and fell towards the ground like a black curtain. The air around her suddenly felt cold. Why! Why him! He was right in front of me and I couldn't do anything! She clenched her fist, which lay on the control panel. Her fingernails dug deep into her skin. He was just in front of me! I could have done something! I'm so useless...Sara felt a pain in her chest, she grabbed her chest in an attempt to stop the pain. Her hand felt something cold smooth. She held the object that hung around her neck to see what it was, it was the dragon shaped necklace that Windbreaker had given to her before as a gift. It was now a memorial of the one she loved. She suddenly felt a sudden flow of determination flow back into her. But...if I just keep sulking around like this...Wind's death...I accepted this mission...I'm going to carry it out...for Wind's sake...I'll end this here and now. The crimson AC started descending atop of the platform that it sat on. A loud thump echoed throughout the large empty corridors before the platform came to a complete halt. The large gates let out a slight moan as they began sliding back into their slits. A room behind the doors was littered with grey mechanical corpses, all lifeless and limp on the floor. In the center of the room, stood a large pillar that connected up to the roof. The center of the pillar was gouged out, revealing brilliant flashing lights that bounced inside the glass shields which covered the gap in the center of the pillar.
"Remarkable, is it not? Ancient technology is very fascinating, don't you agree?" A gruff voice interrupted the magnificent sight. Sara was a bit startled to hear the voice and turned her AC around at the direction where the voice was coming from. A large black spider like mech descended slowly to the ground. Its pitch black armor was only interrupted by the illumination of the large ghostly blades that protruded from its arms. A large gaping hole could be seen in its right side torso. "I know what you're thinking," the man gave a light chuckle, "You thought Windbreaker took me with him. Did you honestly think that the Lancar could be defeated so easily by an insect like that?"
Sara glared at the pitch black form in front of her. It floated above the ground as if it was on water. Her anger suddenly rose at the sight of the horrid being, "You...bastard!"
Once again, the man let off a chuckle of amusement, "What? Its not my fault that your companion is dead. He brought it upon himself to challenge me in a battle...how pathetic,"
"Bastard!", Her temper exceeded that of what she could contain. A high pitched sound echoed throughout the room, indicating the initial charge for an overboost. Crimson Tear sped to the right, firing its sniper rifle at the core of the large unit. It was a direct hit, but the shot merely bounced off like it was nothing. Reacting to this, the mech called Lancar immediately dashed towards the spot where Crimson Tear would eventually land after its overboosting as if it had already predicted everything. Sara was startled by the Lancar's speed but the fact that it sped straight to the place where her AC was intended to land. She was a bit frightened, put Crimson Tear into a retreating tactic. Lancar had already flew to her location with its arm raised, ready to cut its prey in half. The crimson AC would have been in pieces if Sara hadn't retreated quick enough. Still, the blade had made a deep cut into the ACs core.
The pilot of Lancar laughed maniacally, "Its hopeless! Why don't you give up now!" Lancar continued to slash at the retreating AC with fury of no limit. Its assault had stopped when Crimson Tear was cornered, its back was mere inches against the wall. Still staring at the black mech in front of her, Sara tried desperately to escape...somehow.
What can I do? He's way too fa-! She was cut off when Lancar suddenly sped to her left with phenomenal speed. The young Raven could not react fast enough to avoid the next assault. A large blue energy sword had pierced through Crimson Tear's left shoulder and embedded itself in the wall behind the AC. Only moments later did the ACs left arm explode, detaching itself and leaving wires hanging out of the crimson ACs left side. Metal shrapnel started to fly in every direction inside the cockpit. Some had slashed Sara's skin, leaving her bleeding heavily in her left side. "Ahhhhhhhh! Ughhhhhh!" She screamed and cried out, writhing in pain from the many metal pieces that lay imbedded in her left side now. The female Raven groaned a bit before taking the controls again. To her surprise, the Lancar had already made its way to the fallen AC and was hovering above the AC, its right blade poised, ready to pierce right into its opponent. Oh, crap...why do I even bother, She smirked a bit at her own useless self, I only got in the way...what the hell did I ever do! Now Winds...dead...because of me...and he died for nothing...She desperately tried to fight back her tears. Her eyes glistened through the image display's illumination. I'm so sorry, please forgive me. I couldn't do anything right. Expecting a the touch of searing heat making contact with her skin, the female closed her eyes tightly, ready to embrace the end. The explosion never came, in fact, there was a loud crackling sound that was being emitted from outside the cockpit. Sara opened one of her eyes to look at what was awaiting her. To her surprise, the monstrous mech had halted in its movements. It staggered backwards in the air, its arm seeming to shake with intense fury, as if in pain. The eerie blue blade that used to protrude from its arms no longer existed, only thin air lay in place while the mech shook furiously.
"This can't be! How can this be? The energy level is depleting rapidly! And the Lancar is sustaining heavy damage!" The gruff voice managed to sputter, the hint of panic was apparent in the voice. Wide eyed in shock, Sara stared as the pitch black form started fizzing with spark around its body. Without much of a warning, its right shoulder exploded, causing the right arm to shoot into a nearby wall. The young Raven was as shocked as her opponent. A sudden bleeping could be heard, coming from her display panel. Bright lines pointing towards the core of her AC indicated a large energy fluctuation.
The core? But what could...? Wind's part! She suddenly realized that the stone her companion had given to her was causing all this. Before she went on this mission, she had imbedded the stone into the generator core of her AC as instructed. It seemed the little stone did hold a special power of some sort.
"No...the energy level isn't depleting...its being suppressed by an opposing energy. But that's impossible! The only type of energy capable of even negating it could only possibly be the Alus's, but I've destroyed it already!" The pitch black armor of the Lancar began to crack, some of it already crumbling to the floor. Its form was that of a mutilated state and already jerking in its movements, half dead on the floor. "I refuse to accept it! This can't be my fate! I've two year plan can't fail! Not like this!" Another piece of armor started to chip off from the mech itself, various pieces went flying about. The voice let out a low growl, "If I have to die then I'll take you all to hell with me!" The wrecked Pulverizer started to rise upwards, slowly in a sluggish manner, its remaining arm dangling lifelessly against the floor. An explosion that came from the gaping hole that still remained in its right side had caught the pilot off guard. Still, the blast did not seem to even phase the mech and it continued its ascension to the brilliant flashing lights, where the weather device's core was situated. Replaying, the explosion in her mind, Sara suddenly realized that the weak spot had lay in front of her the entire time, left by her dead companion.
The hole! Wind's last attack! With that the dark red form unmounted the mini-grenade launcher that lay on its back and aimed for the gaping hole in the Lancar's torso. The lock-on targetting system on her screen took only a few seconds to adjust, keeping the intended target in its center. Finally launching a bright explosive shell from the cannon barrel, the AC skidded backwards slightly from the recoil. A direct hit to the Lancar's torso laid waste to the monstrous mech. Brilliant pillars of light came spewing out of it. Flames of hell gushed out form all sides of its torso as the form struggled to get to its destination. In final desperation, Lancar reached out with its right arm and attempted to slash at the core of the weather device, only to have shattered the glass that encased the brilliant lights. What came afterwards was the inevitable, the black form descending slowly to the tiled floor as if it was a bird that had just been shot down. The moment the cindering form made contact with the floor, it immediately exploded, metal shrapnel flew about in bits and pieces. Silence overcame the room, nothing but the sound of the wisping energy core in the center seemed to stir in the room. The struggle had subsided, the crisis was over before it even began.
In light of the events, Jack-O had deliberately recorded the whole thing. Announcing that the corporations were hiding ancient technology and trying to use it for their own wicked purposes. Gathering the last of the Ravens Ark after the crisis. The administrator rose up, forming a faction that was only composed of Ravens called Vertex, pushing for the freedom of Ravens. On the other end, the corporations used its publicity to sway the people in their favor. Making the Ravens seem as though they were the ones that caused the whole incident. Under the leadership of an long lost ex-Raven who calls himself Evangel, the corporations banded together to form the Alliance faction. The Ravens were split apart, some joining the new factions, others remained their true to their freelancer ways. As time passed, these two factions began doing battle against one another. Large scale wars were inevitable as each faction grew stronger with every second. One Raven, named Sara Landfield, had held the title of Ninebreaker for sometime until disappearing. Her sudden disappearance was not a shock seeing as how many events had unfolded in her life. Some say that she grew tired of fighting everyday and decided to quit, others say that it was the grief of losing a loved one, few say that it was a promise to a special person in her life.