A familiar young voice answers. "Indeed. Passed the arena test with amazing results, and demolished two ACs in his first mission as well."
"I expected he'd be quite a raven. The higher-ups in the arena won't look idly too much longer."
"We'll see what happens, I suppose."
"Indeed."
A thick, black smoke seeps through the empty space of the arena, slipping off against the dome-shaped forcefields surrounding it. Following the gaseous pillar down, a silver quad-legged mech sits in the center of the floor. Across its arms stretch a long, rippling crack in the metal, dividing the traditional symbol of a raven in the sky on the left arm. Its arms are long-barrelled machineguns, looking almost like gattling guns. A warm hum still echoes around the machine, a missile pod shifting up beside the head and openning, immediately sending four of the explosive vessels into the air to chase a rapid black figure.
Shining orange plates give the audience something to watch as they cheer rabidly, watching three of the pods crash into the side of the forcefield and explode in a magnificent display. The other continues chase after a rapid turn by the black machine. The mechanical man stalls in mid-air for a split second before launching at incredible speeds at the silver mech. Heat waves flow out of the back of the machine, the generator seeming ready to explode as a beam of red energy appears in the black AC's left hand.
A loud slicing sound echoes, ripping the right shoulder and attached arm off of the silver quadroped machine. The black mech slides quickly in place, to one side of the silver machine. Orange gleams show across the cockpit of the smaller mech, watching the black behemoth land directly in front of it. An orange glow shines in the tips of the machinegun arms, but is interrupted quickly by a strayed missile, flying into the open metal wound the right arm left as it slid off. Several expensive-sounding explosions later, the entire left arm flies off into the wall, and the rest of the machine falls to the ground in a thump. Izzy's machine is declared the winner of the match, with the worst damage being a bit of burnmarks on the side from sliding across the barriers of the arena.
"If more pilots were as good as this young man, the repairmen would run out of business!" an announcement said over the loudspeakers. The crowd cheers in excitement. "Izzy has advanced to the third of the G ranking."
Two fairly large machines fly out, using poweful magnets to lift the wreck of the silver AC to the deployment area. Izzy's machine simply flies over to the narrow corridor, which quickly begins moving upwards to the shop hangar. Several minutes later, mechanics begin work on removing several parts, interior and exterior, from the machine.
"I've redesigned it as a larger machine using my money from the mission, and my arena matches today. I, err, hope it works out right, it should be perfect." Izzy says, watching large steel towers slide across the floor magnetically as the arms are removed and placed on them.
One of the mechanics in a group looks over a holographic monitor nearby, then turns to Izzy. "It'll take a bit of time, but it should be ready by tomorrow. It'll be a fine machine."
"Yeah, thanks."
"I watched one of your matches earlier today, you're quite a pilot. This should be a great asset to you in battle."
Izzy makes a silent grin, nods, and walks away, down to the cafeteria. After getting a simple slice of pizza, he sits down and watches another match on a monitor from his table. A large, tan man dressed in a camoflauge vest and white pants sits next to him, a hamburger nestled in his large hand. "You're Izzy, I take it...Pilot of that black mech that was in the last match?"
Izzy looks over from the monitor, taking a bit of his pizza before answering. "Yeah, that I am. And you are...?"
"Call me North. I was the pilot of that silver quad you just took out."
"Ah, I see. You're not here to try and threaten-"
North interrupts after a moment, "Nope, I came to congradulate you. We haven't seen a pilot like you in a long time. Seems like you can make it big-time, you know?"
Izzy chuckles for a moment, taking another bite of the pizza. "You think so, eh?"
"Yeah. Last guy who whooped me that bad got all the way to the second rank before he retired on his fortunes."
"What about the guy in rank one?"
"He's still the same. He's always been there, I guess, as long as anyone's known. He gets custom parts for everything, and the Arena comittee pays for it all as long as he rips a few people up every so-often."
"Tough fight, then, I guess."
"Yeah, got that right." After this, North takes a rather large bite out of the hamburger in his hand, watching another match on the monitor with Izzy.
