Episode 2

Episode 2

A/N: I must say, you guys make me sad. This so far is my worst-accepted story with the fewest hits and no reviews. But, until I get negative feed, I'm going to continue whether you want me to or not.

Also, I won't say it every chapter, but please review!

Next morning at the Satomi headquarters, the pilots were in the conference room for their next briefing. Andre sat in his usual chair.

"Ok, everyone. Our next race is against this year's rookies: team Fire Fox." He pushed a button on his remote and three mechs appeared on the screen. They were all red with each sporting different colored stripes. The mech's design imitated parts of a fox. The head was lengthened in a snout, there was a protrusion that Takashi guessed was a tail, and each hand had several "claws." Andre pushed another button and a person appeared beside one oversized mech. "Their defender is Shingo Magoto, a.k.a the Fox Demon. This guy has incredible reserves. You could pummel him all day and he'll come at you like he just came from the shop." The pilot looked absolutely crazy. He sported a fiery jacket and spiky red hair. He was clearly Japanese and had a huge grin.

Andre pushed another button and another pilot/mech appeared. "Midfielder is Shana Regolez." She looked a bit Irish, except her hair was pink. "Back home she's called the Trickster. She's well known for catching her opponent off-guard with various tricks. But these two probably aren't going to pose a threat one-on-one. Our real threat is this man."

Andre pushed the remote again. An American with short black hair came up. His face showed absolutely no emotion at all. "This is Vince Hugo, their forward. This man is going to be quite a match, even for you Takashi."

"How can that be?" Takashi asked. "Even we didn't beat Velshtein in our first race."

"Well, there's something about this kid that puts him on a completely different level. Watch this video from their last IG-2 race."

A video appeared on a screen. The red mech with deep blue stripes was facing off against a mech from team O2. The red mech suddenly flickered out for a split second. In that split second, the H2O mech shivered and collapsed onto the ground. The red mech reappeared in the same place it vanished from as the green machine tumbled into the distance. All eyes in the room popped. "How'd that happen?" Liz asked.

"Watch it again is slow motion." The video restarted. This time, the red mech could be seen zipping back and forth, making hits on O2 that were still barely seeable even in slow-mo. Andre shut the video down. "What you just saw was a technique known as Keashin (pronounced kīshin), loosely meaning 'mind melt'."

"I think I've heard about that," Amy spoke. "Isn't it supposed to be some kind of mind fusion?"

"Keashin is a way of the pilot syncing with his mech on an incredible level," Andre explained. "When done properly, the mech and pilot essentially become one being, moving and thinking faster than anything else possible. And, since it is technically not hardware, it is still legal by IGPX regulations."

"How are we supposed to beat that?" Liz asked.

"Well, it isn't going to be easy, and to be honest, you may not be able to beat it this race. But I do have a way to beat it should we face it again." Andre looked straight at Takashi. "I'm going to teach you how to perform the technique."

Takashi's face lit up. "Really? That's awesome!"

"Yeah, yeah. You can thank me later. Right now, let's all head down to the simulators."

They all went down a few floors and Mark fired up the simulator machine. Takashi went in first.

"Aren't you going to teach us?" Liz asked.

"Well, not to rain on you girls, but I think Takashi has the best chance of pulling this off, since he's the closest to getting it. You're welcome to stay and watch, but if you want to you can go the gym or something."

"Gee, thanks."

"All set, Mark," Takashi said as his virtual mech sped down the course.

"Give him a level five combatant," Andre told Mark.

A Black Egg mech appeared in front of Takashi. Without hesitating, the simulation attacked. Takashi swerved to avoid the attack and came back around for an offensive, but the other mech slammed into him first. Takashi fell back from an onslaught of punches. "Come on, Takashi," Andre called. "You can do better than that."

Takashi screamed, spun his mech around into a blur, and slammed into the other mech. In a flash, he had his mech back under control and pounding the Black Egg machine. With one final attack, the machine fell back and vanished.

"Good," Andre said. "Did you feel it? You're mind had begun to fuse with the machine."

"It did?" Takashi hadn't really felt anything. He was simply doing what felt natural.

"Yes. Now you have to do the same thing again, but on command. Try going back and forth on the track, touching one wall, then the other in quick time."

"O…Ok." Takashi began to move his mech back and forth between the walls. He was slow at first, but he began to pick it up a bit.

"Come on, we don't have all day."

Takashi focused and pushed the machine to go faster. It did. For several seconds, its speed accelerated until the legs were starting to blur. Now Takashi could feel it. He didn't even have to tell the machine to do anything. It was just reacting to his thoughts.

"Faster!" Andre said in a yell.

"I'm trying," Takashi grunted.

"No, you're not."

"Ugh!" Takashi pushed harder. Sweat began to roll down his forehead. One drop fell into his eye and he blinked it out. When his eyes reopened, he could have sworn that he was outside to mech; just for a moment, then it was gone and out of his mind. The mech continued to move faster. The screens were having a hard time keeping up.

"FASTER!"

Takashi gave his mech one great shove. His mind raced and he felt himself fly through the metal. He suddenly saw a vision he never thought he'd see. He was flying along the course outside. He looked down and held up his hand. He was looking into his mech's fist. Then he looked at the ground. It was flying by, but Takashi could pick out nicks and bangs and register them. His mind made everything move in slow motion.

Suddenly his leg exploded. Takashi screamed as first him, then his mech was thrown of the course. He found himself back in the cockpit just as the screen blackened and the red lights came on. "FATAL CRASH!"

The door opened and the chair slid out. Takashi just sat there in complete shock. Everyone around him except Andre had the same look on their faces.

"You did it," Andre said in a low voice. "It was only for a split second, but you did it."

"Dude, that was incredible," Liz said, her voice shaking. "We couldn't even follow you you were moving so fast."

"Really?" Takashi asked finally looking up. "Everything was moving so slowly in my head."

"That's one of the effects of Keashin. When pilot and mech become one, they share brains, eyes, muscles, everything. This gives you the brain speed of a supercomputer, the incredible resolution of the mech's sensors, and many other advantages. But you also witnessed firsthand both of the dangers."

"Right as you entered the state," Mark said as he read his readings. "Or, at least where I think you did, the mech's functions sped up exponentially. You completely burned out the leg joints."

"Performing this technique will unlock things in the mech never before possible," Andre explained. "Including extreme speed. You must learn to enter the Keashin state while keeping the mechanics under control. If you don't, that same thing will happen out on the track."

"But when the leg blew, it actually felt like MY leg exploded." Takashi began to rub his leg. It was tingling underneath his suit.

"That is danger number two. When you become the mech, its pain becomes your pain. The safety protocol that is normally supposed to protect you from that can't react in time to pull you out of the Keashin. If you thought a blown leg was bad, imagine what would happen if you lost your arm or head out their."

"Oh, man." Takashi couldn't even think about what would happen.

"What do you mean?" Liz asked. "It doesn't actually happen. It's all done to the mech."

"But the brain is stupid," Andre returned. "The brain thinks that it is the mech. So if the brain thinks that its arm has just been ripped off, it will in essence kill the arm itself to make that true. And if it thinks the head is gone, then the brain stops itself to make it reality." Andre gave Takashi a sullen look. "That's the danger." Takashi was absolutely speechless. Andre stretched his arms way over his head. "Well, I think I'll go catch some lunch. Johnny, I want you to get some simulator time and the rest of you know what to do." He then turned and walked out of the room.

Everyone stood for a moment, sinking in what Andre had told them. "Is this really worth it?" Takashi asked to himself.

Takashi changed and went into the gym wearing his Kendo outfit. Amy was running on the treadmill. "Hey, Amy."

"Hi, Takashi."

"Where's Liz?"

"She said she had something else to do." Amy stopped the machine and got off. Takashi had gotten down into his meditation stance. Amy dropped down in front of him. "What happened yesterday? Did you ask her?"

Takashi closed his eyes for a moment. "No. Not really."

Amy was taken aback. "What? But I thought you said you were ready."

Takashi opened his eyes slightly. "I thought I was."

Amy took a deep look into his eyes. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure."

Amy continued her penetrating stare. "I hope it's not another girl."

Takashi shut his eyes and turned away. "Quit bugging me, will ya?"

Amy let out a sigh and stood. "You've got something special with Liz. Try not to ruin it." Amy and Luca walked out, leaving Takashi kneeling on the mats.

Several hours later, Takashi walked into the simulator room. Mark was there overseeing Johnny. Takashi took a look at the screen.

Johnny was playing defensive. He angled his mech's arm and the next punch sent the opponent off balance. Johnny took the opportunity to take a swing. It connected and sent the other mech to the floor. He quickly turned and raced down the track.

"Nice job," Mark said. "You'll be ready to race in no time."

"Hey, Mark, do you mind if I get some more time in?" Takashi asked.

"Sure, man. No problem."

Johnny slid out of the seat. Takashi gave him a high five. "Nice job, bro."

"Thanks, Takashi. I can't wait to finally prove myself out there."

Takashi sat down and the machine purred to life. Within minutes he was flying down the track and staring into the eyes of his opponent. He quickly charged and began to wail on the robot. All the time, he kept trying to push himself deeper into the mech. He finally pushed himself into Keashin. One massive punch later, the screen blackened with a single red line. "FATAL CRASH!"

"ARGH!" Takashi would have hit his head in he wasn't stuck in the machine. "Run that again, Mark."

Mark was surprised a bit. He had never heard Takashi's voice so angry. Without a word, he started up the program again.

Takashi spent another hour in the simulator, which amounted to about seven matches and seven crashes. He finally pulled himself out. "How am I doing?"

"Well…" Mark's voice sounded skeptical. "You've been going into Keashin much faster, but every time you do, something on the mech malfunctions and blows."

"Thanks." His voice was stone cold. Takashi turned and walked out of the room.

Mark and Johnny watched him go. "That was strange," Johnny said. Mark was thinking the same thing but didn't voice it.

"I've never seen Takashi like that." Mark eyed the data screen again. "I wonder if this Keashin thing is causing it. Let's hope Takashi can cope with whatever it's giving him."

To Be Continued…

A/N: I now have a special challenge. There are 2 Easter Eggs in this chapter. If you think you see one, send it to me in a Personal Message. Those that send correct answers may get a special prize. Good luck!