-Chapter 3-

"Man, this new pressgun rocks!"

Kale adjusted her aim and opened fire on another group of stationary practice targets using her new pressgun. Once the wooden mock golems were turned to dust, she lowered the barrel of her weapon held in her right arm, turning her golem's head towards Karith. "Did you see that? I could never dish out that much firepower with my old pressguns!" she said over the unit's radio.

Karith turned the volume down on her radio since Kale was practically shouting over the channel. "Take it easy, Kale. Don't blow your ammo all at once. We've just entered the training range, so save some for later," she said, gripping her golem's controls.

"Roger that!" said Kale as she returned to the group. She readied her pressgun and made her way back over to the others, taking her place within their diamond formation.

Karith and the rest of Foxhound Squad were conducting their first live-fire exercise after having spent a couple days to get familiarized with their new golems. She didn't have too much trouble getting acquainted with the controls and preferences of the Reynard, so she was able to get back into the groove of things in no time. It was as if she was piloting an upgraded Requin, and a severely upgraded one at that, she felt.

Mikael and Kale were right behind her, getting comfortable with their new golems shortly after Karith did. Leena, on the other hand, had trouble adjusting despite her renowned status as a pilot. Her old Requin was modified so specifically to her preferences that the technicians had a hand time modifying her Reynard. As a result, she had to adjust her new unit manually, which was harder considering the enhanced capabilities her new golem had over her old one.

Karith and the others were at the main golem live-fire training range, working out the final quirks and kinks of their golems before deploying. By then, they had a basic comprehension of their golems' movements and capabilities. Karith led the squad of four onward into the range with Kale and Leena situated in the center and Mikael picking up the rear. It was located in a large, controlled area with several obstacles and terrain to traverse. They had been there before, so they were familiar with the range and what it had to offer.

"Keep your eyes peeled. We need to be prepared for anything out here," said Karith as she continued on, her custom pressgun at the ready. It was designed to look like a revolver, but it operated like a normal pressgun and used armor-piercing ammunition instead of standard issue bullets. Her Reynard was painted orange like her old Requin; however, since her new golem resembled a fox, like the rest of the Reynard models, she had the lower legs and forearms painted black, which was done to mimic the color scheme of the animal the golem was designed after. Along with her personalized pressgun, Karith wielded a small sabre and a shield mounted onto her left arm, which had a blade integrated into it for additional close combat capabilities.

Foxhound continued to advance, traversing through a small canyon and flanked on both sides by walls of rocks. Suddenly, an OPFOR or opposing forces golem jumped down on the formation from above, positioning himself behind Karith but in front of Kale and Leena.

"Karith, look out!" said Kale as she raised her pressgun. "Urgh! I can't get a shot!" she said, trying not to get Karith in her sights as well.

"Oh please. Stand aside," said Leena as she acted without hesitation and dashed towards the enemy. Before Karith could turn around to engage the enemy, Leena charged in and kicked the golem away from her, hitting him against the canyon wall. The enemy recovered from the blow, and was about to strike with his longsword, but Leena skillfully parried the attack with her spearhead then counterattacked , scratching her halberd across the golem's chest which signified a kill.

Leena's golem wielded a lightweight halberd that could be broken down into two pieces for easy storage on the back. On one side was the traditional halberd head and on the other was a spearhead. Leena had it that way so she could either fight in close quarters with the halberd in two separate pieces, or as a single piece for long range melee combat. She also had a double-barrel pressgun integrated into a gauntlet mounted on her left arm, which was the prototype for the pressgun used by the Jaeger model.

In the time it took Karith to raise and aim her pressgun, Leena was able to dispatch her foe with ease. "So much for keeping your eyes peeled, eh, Foxy?" said Leena, poking fun at Karith's new paint scheme as she tossed her halberd half in the air. She then caught it flawlessly and returned back to formation, snickering to herself along the way.

Kale lowered her pressgun and returned to formation as well, walking passed the defeated foe. "Wow, that was close, Karith. I would've had him if he wasn't between you and me," she said.

Karith scoffed at Leena then continued on, occasionally looking up to prevent from getting ambushed again which would have been extra embarrassing for her. Foxhound proceeded through the course, occasionally fighting more OPFOR golems and taking them down with ease. Once they were on open ground, Karith was able to better engage the enemy, raising her shield/sword combo and her revolver pressgun. Mikael and Kale got a piece of the action as well, rising his personalized rapier and her heavy pressgun respectively. After successfully clearing the course, Foxhound brought their golems back to the maintenance hangar for repairs, resupply, and any last minute modifications they may have wanted.

"Dang, that was so great! I think I'm ready to fight the Athenians with this new bad boy," said Kale as she exited her golem, admiring her new pressgun courtesy of the Research and Development Department.

Karith disembarked from her golem as well, slicking her hair back with her hands. "Well maybe if you didn't use all your ammo halfway through, I'd agree with you," she said as she rode a hoist down to the ground.

"Hey, at least I got to test out my CQC skills with my trusty combat knife," said Kale as she waited on the ground for Karith. "I took down that last guy like… POW, and… BAM!" she said as she energetically punched the air.

Karith chuckled at her liveliness as Kale melodramatically reenacted their last battle. Once she was on the ground, she headed over to Mikael's golem to see what he was up to. "How's it going there?" she asked, looking up to see him inspecting his golem's head.

After giving a nod of approval, Mikael quickly grabbed a hoist and quickly descended to the hangar bay floor, landing right in front of her. "Perfectly fine," he said. He then looked back up to his golem, smiling slightly with content. "The Reynard is a fine golem. I actually enjoyed myself during the exercise."

Mikael's golem was painted gray, the standard color for the military police in which he was a former captain in. He wielded a personalized rapier, boating a custom Pappen handguard, and a pressgun integrated into a shield mounted on his left forearm. On his shield he had the military police insignia painted on it, a nod to his previous comrades.

Karith kicked a loose screw on the ground as she meandered around the golem bay, watching as Mikael examined his golem. "So… you think we're ready for action against the Athenians?" she asked out of the blue.

"I sure hope so. But with Gen. Borcuse now active in the field, I doubt High Command is as confident as they were initially about their invasion plans. Everyone who's been in the service long enough has heard about Gen. Borcuse and his tactics. I don't even think the four of us could take him out," said Mikael.

Gen. Borcuse was one of Athens' top military commanders and tacticians. Feared throughout the continent, he used tactics and approaches in combat that made even some of his fellow Athenians feel uneasy. Up to that point, he had been in forced retirement with his golem and unit put under administrative lockdown; however, with the latest engagements in Krishna, the Athenian Secretary of Defense ordered Gen. Borcuse to lead his men into the country to provide assistance.

Even though Gen. Borcuse was infamous on the battlefield, Karith wasn't deterred by the mentioning of the individual. "Whatever the case may be, we'll storm into Athens with or without Gen. Borcuse standing in our way," she said with a haughty chuckle.

"We'll see, but based on what I saw out of you today, I'm a little more than concerned about your ability to handle yourself when we deploy," he said, taking off his white, leather piloting gloves.

Karith scoffed at the comment, turning to face him with her hands on her hips. "What do you mean by that?"

Mikael raised his hands up defensively, trying to defuse the situation. "All I'm saying is that you weren't exactly on the ball today. After that one guy got on your blindside, you just seemed to be off beat."

Karith raised an eyebrow and pointed towards him, jabbing him in the chest with her finger. "Hey, buddy, how about you worry about your own hide. But to be honest, I was fiddling with my controls, so I wasn't exactly paying attention. Don't you worry. Once we're in actual combat, I'll be the usual death-dealing, killing machine you all know me as," she said, staring him straight in the eye.

"Okay okay, I believe you," he said with a wily smile. "Just try not to let that incident get to you."

Karith withdrew her finger, standing up straight as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Good. So…" she momentarily glimpsed down at the ground, trying to gather her thoughts. "You wanna- you wanna go get something to eat?"

Seeing her standing there, all flustered made Mikael a tad bit confused. He hesitated to speak for a moment, but gathered himself. "Are you… hitting on me? You know I'm a married man, right?" he said with a snicker, giving her a playful wink.

Karith immediately blushed a bright shade of red and turned her head away. "What? No! I-I'm not hitting on you! That's just crazy! I just- I just wanted to get some food and chat is all, you idiot!" she said, still refusing to face him out of embarrassment.

Mikael just stood there, unsure on how to deal with the situation. He was just kidding but after seeing her reaction, he realized she was indeed trying to flirt with him. All he could do was smile in a friendly manner and pat her on the shoulder. "Sure. Dinner sounds nice," he said.

Surprised by his response, Karith quickly regained her composure and slowly turned back towards him. "Huh? Really?"

He gave a nod and reached into his pocket, pulling out his pack of cigarettes.

"Oh, uh. Okay. Any place in particular you were thinking of going?" she asked, fidgeting slightly in front of him.

Mikael shrugged, lighting the cigarette in her mouth with a match. "I'll follow your lead. You want to invite Kale along as well? You know, so it doesn't make it weird or anything?"

Karith began to blush again and quickly turned away towards Kale. "Hey, Kale! We're going to grab some food! Wanna come with?"

Hearing someone shouting at her unexpectedly, Kale almost dropped a tool she wasn't supposed to be fiddling with. Recognizing Karith's voice, she quickly placed the object back on the table and turned to her. "That's okay! I've got to finish up tweaking my golem! Go on ahead without me!" she said.

Disheartened that she didn't want to join them, Karith looked back to Mikael and smiled nervously. "Guess we're on our own," she said.

"Looks like it," he said as he walked over to her. He then patted her on the back and started walking towards the exit. "C'mon, let's go. You'll be fine," he said with an inviting smile.

Karith shook off her nerves and followed after him, walking alongside him as she tried to start up another casual conversation.