"You're sure you want to do this, Cedric?"

"Yeah, even though I probably won't win, I'll give it a shot."

"...Alright."

"May the best man win."

A hail of burning metal slams into the green forcefield beside Izzy's towering black mech. A frail-looking blue machine flings itself across the arena floor, adjusting its aim closer towards the black mech. Stripes of a lighter blue trail the wiry joints and hands of the machine. The black mech takes aim, stopping as the glowing metal stream approaches him from the side. A single burst of blue energy forces its way out of the gun, stopped by a small orange energy dome generated by the left arm of the blue being.

The bullet forces the blue mech back a bit before it flings forward, trailed by two green flames. Three missiles pour out of its back as it changes direction to the side, each met by a precise blue stream of energy from the rifle. Two rockets fly out of the back of the black machine as it takes to the air, readjusting its rifle before firing a shot from it as well, the three bullets making a spiralling triangle as they descend towards their target. The blue metal being hurls forward quickly, the rockets landing to its side with twin explosions, and the bullet slamming into the ground several feet before it. Another stream of bullets flings towards the black mech as the blue machine readjusts itself. A rifle shot flings out the rifle's barrel, and moments later, descends into the machinegun's, hurling the brass gun onto the ground far away. Several shots fling into the hard carapace of Izzy's AC, but leave miniscule amounts of damage. A green beam grows in the hand of the comet-like descending black being, which is met by an orange shield. The green beam pulls back for a moment, then slams back into its target, flinging Cedric's mech back. Another swing flings it back again, this time countered by two missiles. One of them flings off into the distance, later slamming into the green barrier, the other rips across the back of Izzy's mech, ripping the rocket launching device off.

The green beam of the black metal man pulls back, slipping into a horizontal position before making a precise jab into the device in the center of the orange dome, splitting the entire left arm in two unusable pieces and disarming the shield completely. The blue machine backs down, flinging backwards into the air and landing in the center of the arena, dodging two blue bullets in the process. The blue mech lands in a near-sideways position, regaining its stability moments later with the fallen machinegun in its hand. A purple beam appears behind the black mech, hurling it to the side of the blue machine, then changing direction and hurling it towards its target.

A hailstorm of bullets rams into the center of the black mech, ripping through the plates seconds before the left fist of the black mech ripples across the metal plates of the blue machine's right arm, pulling the entire structure off of its host. The black mech's left arm opens, grabbing the barrel of the now aerial machinegun and flipping it to fit the trigger into the dark left hand's trigger finger. A hail of bullets rips through the remains of the blue mech, the sparking mass falling onto the floor moments after its disembodied arm.

"We've never had any competitor make use of the opponent's weaponry like that before...but it took a bit. He didn't want to win, I think." a familiar young voice begins.

"Got any proof of this?" a deep voice returns.

"Well...We can clearly see Izzy is overriding the FCS' targetting system. It's not made to target missiles like that...And if he can hit missiles, there's no reason for him to miss such a large target that's hurling through the air. He also waited for a moment before disengaging the shield, his rifle was idle at that point. Finally, when he ripped the right arm off of his opponent, he didn't have the blade engaged. He could've swung that and ripped the machine to pieces in an instant."

"I see. So he's not a completely emotionless one either."

"No, but we can only wait and see where this takes us..."

The cafeteria is the normal place, yeilding the normal large number of monitors, with quite a few of them displaying the match Izzy was just in. It's an amazing view, where the sparks aren't showering on the cameras. Izzy sits down, his usual meal of pizza on a plate in front of him. Cedric soon joins, moving his robes out from underneath him before sitting across from Izzy, a meaty salad covered in an odd foreign dressing before him.

"I didn't realize you were pushing your way through the arena so fast." Izzy says, taking a chunk out of the pizza in front of him. Cedric nods, sticking a sharp fork into the leaves of his salad.

"Yeah, I've been pretty busy there. You're still as great a pilot as ever."

"I've been getting practice too."

North makes his way to the table, sitting down beside Izzy, a hamburger engulfed in his large paws. "That was a great match you guys just had." he says, glancing over at Cedric. "I don't suppose we've met. The name's North. I take it you're Cedric, the challenger of that match?"

"That's me." Cedric says, slipping a dripping glob of meat and leaves into his mouth.

North takes a bite out of his hamburger before speaking again. "There's a team tourney coming up, you know. Three people per team...I figured with our combined skill, there's no way we could lose!"

Izzy glances over towards North, swallowing the oily glob in his mouth. "I don't see a reason not to join...But what're the details?"

"You use your ACs, the matches will take place across a large amount of terrain stretching through space, Earth and Mars. Everyone can participate as long as they have a team, the qualifying rounds start tomorrow. You guys in?"

Cedric nods. "I'll go. It sounds fun."

Izzy takes a final bite out of his pizza, pushing the rest of it through his teeth and down his throat. "Alright then. I'm gonna go do a few modifications to my AC, can you sign us up, North?"

"Already done."

"Alri-...Hey, wait a minute..."

North stands up, his hamburger finished up already while he was talking. "Well, gotta go, see you guys later!"

"Well...I suppose I'll go do a few things to that machine. See you later, Cedric."

"Yeah, see you then." he says, taking another bite out of the salad. Izzy sprints off down the hall, bumping into a few people in the process and sending a few into the steel walls before he yanks someone out of the elevator and proceeds.