It might seem strange to some; but he always got the shakes before launch. Of course it seemed more than a little strange; after doing this so many times already, one would think he'd gotten over these shakes by now.

[MOBILE SUIT MAIN SYSTEM ACTIVATED]

Ashbourne had this psychiatrist he used to see - used to have them monitor his brain-waves before a fight or before he was deployed somewhere for a contract. Every time they'd ask him those silly routine questions of theirs and eventually they'd tell him something along the lines of him not being afraid — they'd say those shakes were just the tremblings of an eager race horse at the starting gate. Honestly he wasn't too sure about that; after all he'd never seen a race horse in his life and he was pretty sure he hadn't been one in a previous life.

[ALL WEAPON SYSTEMS ONLINE]

Sure, he found some truth in those worlds, there was some eagerness, but more than anything he was scared out of his mind.

[GENERATOR, RADIATOR, FCS, ALL GREEN]

Right now was no exception.

[OBELISK ENGAGING COMBAT MODE]

Knowing that, Fayt just took a moment to breath as he calmed his nerves before heading out into the Arena, a sealed dome of metal decorated with scars from countless old battles. The controls still felt a little heavy but he'd gotten somewhat used it now…. He could work with this.

Waiting for him on the opposite side of the Arena rested Goliath as Fayt took a moment to look at it for a moment, checking what weapons he could make out of the suit.

Front side of the right shoulder had a Combat knife resting on it Right side of the backpack had a buster Sword resting on a backpack arm while the left side had a missile launcher. Left arm had a shield with a gatling gun mounted under it while the right one had a mortar.

His quick check done Fayt went over his own equipment on screen.

OBELISK LOADOUT

R. ARM: 120MM LONG-RANGE RIFLE

L. ARM: 105MM ASSAULT RIFLE

R. SKIRT: ASSAULT KNIFE

L. SKIRT: COMBAT KNIFE

REAR SKIRT: -

R. SHOULDER:

L. SHOULDER: -

R. BACKPACK ARM: - 220MM 5-BARREL MISSILE POD

L. BACKPACK ARM: LONG SWORD

Nothing he wasn't unfamiliar with in a fight. "Alright partner." Fayt whispered as he took a breath. "Hope you're ready…" He muttered as stared ahead.

"Fayt; Obelisk."

[Battle; start!]

"Let's do this." Fayt opened up with a volley of fire from his assault rifle before suddenly moving to the side as the Goliath raised its gatling and opened fire, a rain of bullets chasing after the mobile suit. Using his thrusters Fayt managed to dodge, sliding across the arena floor as bit his lips. He hadn't adjusted to the slight change in weight yet, he was dragging his feet against the floor. He took to the air before dropping as the rain of bullets passed underneath him and backed away, firing his long-range rifle as he put some distance between him and the other machine.

The Goliath responded by bringing out the backpack arm as they fired the missile launcher before bringing it back. Fayt just continued sliding along the ground as he dodged, letting them slam into the floor and detonate as he raised the rifle in his off hand before Goliath raised its shield to protect itself, letting the gatling arm take the shot as it started trudging forward before it's boosters started up and it shot across the field.

"Fast…" Fayt weaved to avoid getting tackled, with the other mobile suit grinding to a stop as it raised its right arm as the mortar fired and slammed into Fayt's Mobile Suit and caused it to stumble as it started sliding back. Fayt noticed the same arm reaching up to grab the buster sword as it was moved forward. He moved before that massive blade came down but lost his long-range rifle as it was cit in two. He responded by firing with his assault rifle and reset his balance before using his thrusters to help him jump over another swing.

The Goliath responded by aiming its gatling up and fired, only for the Obelisk to dart to the side and drop out of the sky. Landing behind the mobile suit it shot forward, rifle firing in one hand as the other reached for the assault knife and detached it. The Goliath swung his gatling arm around, pointed and fired as the other mobile suit darted to the side with a few bruises on its chassis.

Obelisk got some much needed distance before its feet started grinding against the floor and made a small ruckus before stopping. The pilot fired with the assault rifle and Goliath responded with a mortar Obelisk dodged, thrusters launching it to the side before it charged forward and swung its knife.

"Too shallow…" Fayt's strike may have grinded itself against the armor but that was it. The Goliath charged forward, slamming itself into the other mobile suit as it started to fall back. The buster sword was raised again as it was brought forward. Fayt responded by unloading its missile launcher at near point blank-range. The missiles hit home and the explosion helped propel the Obelisk backwards for a bit more breathing room. "Not yet." A caution message popped up as Fayt launched his suit back to avoid the gatling fire that punched through the makeship smoke screen and the Goliath stepped forward despite the new dents and tears in its armor.

"Not bad…" From behind a bulletproof viewing screen Zelkova just released a nod as he stated. "You really have improved since your first bout."

"You shouldn't be surprised." Zelkova glanced to the side to see Mila leaning back in her seat. "We did train him after all."

"You're right." Zelkova made a noise. "But remember we held back when we were training him, so it's nice to see how well he's progressed without us giving him a handicap." He admitted. "Still…"

The Obelisk slammed into the ground as it skidded back, aiming its rifle forward as it pulled the trigger before moving, to dodge a volley of gatling fire. "Not yet…" Fayt returned fire again as he continued racing around the field as a hail of bullets chased after him. "I'm slowly getting better with the new legs, but…this isn't getting me anywhere…" He muttered before getting as far back as he could and put his rifle on his rear skirt. "I'm gonna have to get close if I want to do any real damage." He muttered as he grabbed the knives and held them ready. "I'm gonna hit really bad… but to be fair I was always better at close-range anyway." He muttered as he hit his thrusters and charged forward.

A volley of missiles were launched from the Goliath as the Obelisk continued to race forward before suddenly launching itself like a bullet, dodging the volley as it bolted past it. "You dodged with an Overboost huh…" The Goliath raised its gatling as it opened fire. Obelisk responded by throwing its knife forward, letting the blade dig into the gatling mounted arm as it forced the suit to re-aim its weapon.

[Head Damaged]

[Core Damaged]

[Right Arm Damaged]

"I… got you!" Using its assault knife the Obelisk swung at the Mobile Suit only for it to dodge to the side. "I missed?" Raising its sword it brought it down on the Mobile Suit's left side. Fayt grit his teeth, pain wrecking the left side of his body as he lost his mobile suit's arm before a tear formed on part of his cockpit.

[Obelisk function ceased]

A message called out as Fayt took a breath as his mobile suit slumped forward.

[Further combat is impossible.]

[Victor, Goliath]

[Pilot Name, Roads!]

"I had a feeling he'd lose…" Hikaru just turned away as the match concluded; a sigh leaving him as he scratched his head. "That strike though, he might have made it if he was used to the new changes he'd put on the mobile suit." He muttered. "I told him to push things back until he was ready…" He muttered before pulling out his phone. "Maybe next time I'll heed Odrevi's warning." He checked something on his phone. "Till then I have some work to do…"

Getting his Mobile Suit hauled back to the hanger wasn't a new feeling. Still, it wasn't one he wanted to experience at the moment. Feeling his mobile suit get parked up against the end of the hanger, Fayt took the time to unhook himself from his machine as he pulled himself from the cockpit.

Still instead of pulling himself from his craft, he just… sat in his mobile suit for a bit as he pulled his helmet off his head and let it rest in his lap. The compression had messed with his hair a bit, and he was covered in sweat, but… he didn't really mind at the moment.

He headed down the walkway and pulled his helmet off, finding that his hair had gotten kind of messed up and he was covered in sweat from his previous bout in the arena. "Damn it…" He muttered, tightening his hand on his helmet. "God… damn it!" He raised his helmet, getting ready to throw it before stopping, grit his teeth and just looked at it for a moment before pressing it against his head in frustration.. "I messed up…" He muttered. "I can't believe I messed up!" The youth shouted as he slowly lowered his helmet and just let it rest in his lap. He sighed in annoyance before finally opening his cockpit and stepped out.

"There you are." Looking up, Fayt saw that Zelkova was waiting at the end of the walkway and just leaning against it. "Was beginning to wonder if you'd ever get out of that thing."

"Zel…" Fayt muttered as he looked away from his boss and stared elsewhere. "I fucked up." he muttered as Zelkova just stared at him.

"You did." He agreed as he pulled himself off the walkway railing and started walking towards the youth. "But that doesn't mean that it's the end of the world, you know." He stated. "You fucked up sure, but you can always unfuck a situation." Zelkova stated as he raised one of hand and revealed that he had two water bottles trapped between his fingers. "Anyway, care to join me for a drink?"

Out of all the things he'd seen on the battlefields of this war torn world… he'd found the MS, the Mobile Suit, to be the true dominant force. These towering giants of cold steel, there are times when these man made apparitions seem more like a natural disaster than anything that could be molded by human hands.

To be fair, perhaps they were, in their own way.

Truly there was something uncanny about these iron colossi; something that didn't seem 'human', rather simply something that had been forced into a human shape, and try as it may, it could not accurately emulate what a person of flesh and blood was capable of.

Their movements weren't jerky or unnatural, or anything along those lines; rather they were far too precise and smooth - not in the way that a human would move, rather a machine of sorts copying the movements thanks to a combination of systems and subsystems.

They were too noisy as well, countless tons of metal and circuitry moving together in perfect harmony, creating this… 'noise' you couldn't accurately describe or explain to others, but at the same time it was something you'd never forget.

They're 'eyes' glowed like wild animals that just stare directly at you in the middle of the night, never blinking and just… watching.

Their 'skin' was cold, layers upon layers of refined iron draped over them like clothing, and it's all the color of a steel like gray often dented, often scarred from the injuries they had shrugged off in battle.

Mobile Suits… truthfully these traits that they shared made one question if there really was a person inside them or if it was just a hollowed hunk of metal born with the singular purpose of bringing conflict.

Every Mobile Suit gave off this impression, it was something they wore like a badge of honor.

The Obelisk was no different.

Staring at the battle-scarred mobile suit, Fayt and Zelkova just watched the mechanics get to work. Sparks were flying where metal met the heat of a torch, and other dents were buffered out. The scars would remain of course, the little scrapes and the sights where massive welding had to be done would show themselves, but at the end of the day, the Obelisk would live to fight another day.

"Look at that, you're lady's already looking better." Zelkova took a drink as Fayt seemed to trace the opening of his water bottle with his thumb. He nudged the youth. "Hey, you hear me?"

"Yeah I hear you." Fayt grumbled as Zelkova made a face.

"What, you ain't happy that your partner getting treated? And here I thought you two were close."

"I am happy that Obelisk is getting fixed up…" Fayt muttered. "I'm just… angry."

"At the fact you lost." It wasn't a question. "It's ok to be angry you know. Everyone wants to win and no one wants to lose. Just don't let your loss be the only thing you focus on." Zelkova took another drink."

"What's there the focus on?"

"The fact that your alive." Zelkova stated. "You're still here, you can learn from defeat and make yourself better." The leader of ashbourne stated. "That's something to focus on after all… your story doesn't end until you die." Fayt actually rolled his eyes at that. "What, you don't believe me?"

"My story isn't that interesting."

"Yeah it's not." Zelkova stated. "What chapters you've written so far are the same as a bunch of others - give or take a few lines. But where it's gonna go -"

"It's still going to be the same as a bunch of others." Fayt grumbled. "The story of Debris."

"Debris that's working to reclaim his right to be human." Zelkova stated.

"Again, not that unusual." Fayt stated as he finally took a drink. "Your company basically made it a rule that we were allowed to try working to regain our status as humans." He admitted.

"True."

"You know, you never told us why you made that rule." Zelkova just shrugged as he took a drink.

"You know I can't even remember." Fayt gave him a look. "That's not gonna slide, is it?" Zelkova chuckled as he answered his own question. "No, I guess not." He muttered. "Oh well." He mused before looking at the youth. "Everyone deserves a chance to reclaim what they lost. It doesn't matter if it's their home, their family, or even their humanity." He stated.

"And yet I can't seem to regain mine." Fayt muttered as he took a drink and downed half the bottle in his hand. "I want to be seen as human again."

"And you will." Zelkova stated. "So long as you continue to work towards that goal, you'll definitely reach it." He declared. "Just know you're gonna keep falling along the way." He stated as he seemed to think. "Nana korobi, ya oki." Fayt looked at Zelkova for a moment.

"What?"

"Nana korobi, ya oki." Zelkova repeated. "It's an old proverb I heard once. It means fall down seven times, stand up eight." He translated the words. "When you fall down you gotta get back up. Keep pressing forward no matter how bad things get.. Keep trying, keep moving and never give up hope." The man stated. "You fell today, so are you going to stay down and in your lane or are you going to get back up and try again?" Zelkova asked.

"Of course I want to try again…" Fayt muttered. "It's just… it's hard."

"Nothing worth accomplishing is easy." Zelkova admitted. "But so long as you keep working towards it, you'll eventually accomplish what you set out to do." He stated as he ruffled the youths' hair. "Anyway, I've probably kept you long enough, why don't you hit the showers." He asked. "You stink."

"Well you did catch me right after I got out of the Arena." Fayt countered as Zelkova just grinned at him.

"Get cleaned up, no way am I letting you go back home smelling the way you are." Fayt smiled slightly as he brushed Zelkova's hand off and got to his feet.

"Thanks Zel." The man just smiled as he watched the youth head off, leaving his boss to watch after the machine that was undergoing repairs.

"How was your talk?" Turning, Zelkova looked to see that another one of his members was walking up to him. Raphael had this sort of concerned look on his face as he stared at his leader and got a nod sent his way.

"Not bad." He admitted. "Not great, but not bad." He stated as he went back to looking at the machine while Raphael settled down next to him.

"Kid really wants his humanity back…"

"All of them do." Zelkova stated with a sigh. "The problem is how they go about it." Raphael just nodded as he took a drink from his flask and made a noise. "They think making coam from piloting mobile suits is the only way to go about it." Zelkova stated. "Sure it's the 'quickest' as it makes the most coam out of all the options, but there are other ways too. Ways that play to their strengths."

"And Fayt's strength isn't piloting." Raphael muttered.

"Yeah." Zelkova agreed. "Make no mistake, he's improved over the years; but piloting isn't his strong suit."

"To be fair though it doesn't have to be." Raphael stated as Zelkova nodded his head. "I certainly wasn't when I started out."

"Neither was I." Zelkova laughed. "But you know how it is out there." His smile disappeared. "Wars happen every single day. And I'm not even sure if it's more for profit or survival or whatever resources they manage to scavenge together. Either way you want to survive them you gotta learn how to fight and survive."

"Those are lessons we all learned." Raphael muttered. "And there are lessons that we have to pass on to ensure that our kids survive as well."

Fayt ran a hand through his hair as he threw his pilot suit in his locker and left it behind. He stretched for a moment. A bit of annoyance on his face as he cracked a few joints and headed out. "It's gonna be a few weeks before Obelisk is patched up, so I won't be able to fight in the Arena for a while." He muttered with a frown. "Not sure what I can do in the meantime…" The youth muttered as he stared off into space as he continued walking down the halls. "Don't really have many hobbies." He muttered. "Guess I can just…" Coming to a stop, Fayt noticed that someone was waiting at the end of the hall. He didn't recognize them, the red eyed figure was just looking at him with this slightly annoyed look on his face.

"Looking for someone?"

"I should be asking you that." Fayt countered as he stared at the figure in front of him. Looked around his age, and had this weird air of familiarity about him, just couldn't understand why. "Can I help you?"

"Yes actually." The figure muttered as they pulled themself off the wall and stepped forward. "Roads." The figure stated as Fayt twitched slightly.

"So you're the Goliath pilot." He muttered as he put his hands in his pockets and clenched them. "What do you want?"

"You're Fayt right?" Roads muttered as he looked at him. "If possible, I'd like a moment." He stated. "Are you free?"