Chapter 5: In comes the Phantasms
The round dome of the arena had been kept the same over the past years. Titanium supports that held the bullet proof glass that could withstand more than enough punishment encased the arena in a large spherical area. Outside of the crystal sphere, the seats were huddled with people, bustling about with the excitement of today's spectacles, an arena match. Two large figures began to rise from the two holes that were on the opposite sides of each other. One of the figures was of a slender build with reverse joint legs. It held a grenade rifle in it's right hand and a shotgun in its left. The paint on it's shining armor was tinted with a dark grey with trimmed out by crimson on it's edges. The other was a heavy machine...dark green, big and had a set of powerful weapons on its back and its arms.
"Hey kid! You ready to have some fun?" A cocky male voice spoke abruptly through to the brown haired youth who sat inside of his dark rugged cockpit. In front of him, the display image showed the other AC...the reverse joint AC with its intimidating appearance. The identification of the unit flashed across the young man's display screen in bold and large letters that read, "AC IDENTIFIED AS GHOST!"
"Ahhhhhhh...no," The young man replied, scratching his thick dark brown hair. It was the fifth time Jayden had to go up against Wraith, all five times ending in miserable failures. Wraith was on of the middle rankers, not elite or amateur, but just in the middle. Jayden was probably at rock bottom. He could clearly remember the events that occurred the last time he went up against Wraith, an explosion from a nearby canister that he misfired at had put him to shame the last time he tried hitting Wraith. This time, however, there were no canisters or flammable objects that he could use for an accidental suicide. Nevertheless, it was apparent even before the match started that Jayden would lose either way.
"Awww, come on Jayden! Have some back bone! I need a challenge this time!" The man inside the AC called Ghost had a rough feature to him, tanned skin with really short black hair that was jelled upwards. A grin on Wraith's face made him look all the more confident. On his display screen, was the identification of Jayden's normal AC, Corsair. It was a random name given to an unlikely AC. The AC itself was actually overweight...but Jayden would be more focused on surviving a match than the statistics of his AC. Hence, another reason for Jayden's constant losing streak. The reverse joint AC took one step forward with its mechanical leg. A beeping from the stereos outside that echoed through the glass signaled for the start of the match. As if on que, Ghost immediately took to the air, creating a rain of hell through it's solid shells on the heavy weight AC.
"Scion, I don't see the point of this. I mean, these guys are complete amateurs compared to us! Why even bother watching them?" Beatrice asked, leaning against the railing with her shoulder length gold hair hanging down across her face. Her companion, Scion, was sitting down beside her on top of the stairs, eating a sandwich. The crumbs of the white bread would trail off onto his face from time to time and he would have to wipe them off with his navy blue sleeve.
"Because we need to get information on the enemy..." Beatrice shot a blank stare at Scion, as if she had been expecting a longer sentence. Eventually, the staring would irritate Scion to the point where he would reveal another one of his goals for coming to the arena. "...all right! All right! It's also because there was free coffee." He shrugged with a light and tender grin on his face.
"Scion! Even if we were trying to gather information on Raven statistics, these wouldn't be the best match-ups to look at...or candidates! Look at the heavy weight AC! It's getting it's handed to it! It can't even walk properly! I'm willing to bet that it'll be over in a matter of seconds!" She snapped, pointing an accusing finger at the large dark green AC that was being pummeled on by a rain of shells that came from the lighter reverse-jointed AC. The hulking AC kept stumbling from the constant contact of grenade shell impacts. Once again, a playful grin was cast on Scion's face.
"I'll take that bet. I'm willing to bet about 500,000 credits that the heavier AC will win!" Stunned by Scion's sudden statement, she almost felt like hitting the big idiot...if he wasn't paying her.
"What the hell makes you think that AC could win! It can barely stand!" If the arena stadium had been empty, her voice could have been audible through out the entire complex. Fortunately, the stadium was full and bustling about with excited people, so Beatrice's voice was merely a whisper compared to the cheering crowds.
"Watch, the heavier AC will win by some God-made-miracle that nobody would even think was possible." The odd captain said, with a teeth bearing smile.
What a...total whack...Beatrice thought to herself.
"All right! You shouldn't have much armor left in that heavy load of yours so I'll just..." Wraith's voice trailed off as the reverse-joint AC dropped both it's armaments and pulled out an ELF3 blade from it's hangar. "Finish you off!" Ghost immediately charged forward towards it's crippled opponent, it's short-ranged bright orange beam already extended from the component on it's left arm. Wraith himself was aiming at the higher torso of the core so that he could end the match for good. The dark green hulking AC stood affixed in place. Sparks jumped out of numerous places from it's cracked ashened armor. It's left leg gave off a floating mist of black smoke.
"Ahhhhh, crap...I knew this would happen again...!" It was unexpected however that the legs of Corsair would give way. Not collapsing, simply bending over into a kneeling position. The movement was so sudden that Wraith didn't even have time to adjust his blade and missed his target, just barely skinning the top of Corsair's SPIDER head.
"What the-! How did he-?" Before realizing anything, the reverse-jointed AC rumbled, falling backwards on it's mechanical legs from the impact between Ghost...and the heavily fortified glass wall. So hard was the impact that Wraith's head jolted forward from the sudden stop of the AC and hit the control panel then bouncing back onto the cushioned surface of his pilot chair. "Ow!" He rubbed his forehead, griping in pain. The AC itself had received major damage, surprisingly, from the impact. A missing head, the U4 core being flattened out or just seriously mutilated to the point of no return. Corsair on the other hand seemed fine, with a few sparks jumping about here and there but it still seemed to be in the match. Jayden looked back, to his rear, staring blankly at the fallen AC with a blank stare of disbelief and shock. It only occurred to what had transpired when the loud beeping of the sirens echoed throughout the complex, he had won an arena match with one of the middle rankers. In fact, he had one his first match since a couple months. With the tender excitement in his eyes, he cheered himself on saying usual lines like "Sweetness!"
The whole stadium was cheering about, some people disappointed, some people dismayed, others just cheering for the heck of it. But, and unusual silence surrounded one golden-haired girl, who wore a blank and pale stare. With wide eyes focused on the large transparent dome in the center, she seemed the most shocked out of all the audience. She hadn't noticed a hand extended towards her with the palm facing upwards, a gesture for receiving something usually. Beatrice averted her blank gaze to the pale hand.
"Told ya, now I think you owe me..." A small grin on Scion's face would denote that he was enjoying this all too much. A little stunned by the events, Beatrice averted her gaze between his pale hands and his grin of amusement. Suddenly, she burst into an all out rage.
"To hell I don't! You're cheating! You probably rigged the heavy AC legs with explosives and set it off just at the right moment and...and...!" Flustered from trying to reason with the situation, she stormed out of the arena. Scion merely gave off a frown of disappointment.
"Alright fine, I'll get you a sticky saying "I owe you" eh?"
A small wooden cottage stood on the grassy plains. The wind blew the grass blades, making little waves in them like the ocean currents. Shadows of the clouds that floated up above would fly by the cottage time and again with a ghost like motion. The front door, carved out in wooden oak, creaked open, revealing a tall slender being bathed in an angelic air. It was a female, with long brown hair, tinted with a slight red that could only be seen in the sunlight, stepped out into the sunlight. She wore a long light violet gown, an innocent light would play over her tanned face and hazel eyes. She would look up at the morning sky with a gentle smile on her face, expecting a cool, breezy normal day. The day was anything but normal when a navy blue entity started to come into view. Demonic, ominous and monstrous were the words that described them. From what the woman could tell the figure had a demonic head, it's two eyes emitted a brilliant green light. On it's arms, were two claw like structured components. Blowing the dust and grass behind it, the giant floated forwards at a speed that even the eye could follow. It halted in front of the small wooden cottage, only a few feet away. The demonic head would glare down on the small woman, still she stood with no fright in her eyes.
"Naomi..." A gentle male voice could be heard echoing from the machine.
"Marneas?" The woman replied in a soft yet loud voice, audible to the pilot insid the machine.
"It seems Scion has stirred up quite a bit of trouble, I think we need to go check things out."
Naomi bit her lower lip infuriated by the news, That immature bastard child! Can't he leave us be for just a couple of months!