I walk into the training room at 8:00am. They called me here to tell me if I have passed the drift compatibility test. I hope I have. After meeting Cherno, I know that he is the perfect Jaeger for me to pilot which isn't surprising really as he was my parents Jaeger.
In the training room, I am in for a shock because not only are all the people that took the test are there but some of the older pilots. That must mean we are going to be doing Physical compatibility today. I wish they had given us time to prepare.
Marshall Hopcroft steps forward and begins reading off the names of people who passed the test and who we will be fighting against. I am just hoping and praying that my name is on that list. Then,
"Luca Kaidonovsky." Yes! I did it!
"Here Marshall." I reply.
"You will be against James Hansen." Really? He is the best of the best of the trainees here at the Shatterdome and I am going to be hard pressed to beat him. Of course, if he thinks I am an easy fight then he has got a shock coming to him. I go and stand in the center of the room and he comes forward.
"Hello." He says.
"Hi." I reply and catch a sparring stick than someone tosses to me. He is already holding his so I guess they told him last night.
"Begin!" Says Marshall Hopcroft and I lunge towards his left shoulder, hoping to catch him off guard, but he dodges and sidesteps around me. I turn around quickly and block his block towards my hip.
"Your fast." He says and I nod. We circle around for a bit and he slashes towards my left arm but I spin around, lunge forward and score a hit on his right shoulder. He doesn't pay any attention to it instead going for a place where I let my guard down for half a second and hitting my right arm as I raise it, trying to block his hit.
He brings his stick around and we exchange a parry of blows before taking a step back and resuming the circling. I can't land another hit on him and he can't land one on me. We are pretty evenly matched and the only way Im going to get him down is to try and trick. I feint to the left, purposefully letting my left arm go unguarded for half a second and he lunges forward. I slash upwards, scoring a heavy hit.
His guard slips and I slash at his other shoulder and before he can recover, I slash his leg. When he tries to step forwards I trip him and he falls over. He rolls over though and is back on his feet before I can land a hit. Whoever said he was the best trainee fighter certainly wasn't lying.
I try again and again to trick him but he doesn't fall for it. Then I have an idea. I feint and allow him to score a hit. He knocks me down and I see him come in for the ending blow and I roll quickly and his stick points at the ground and I turn and point it at the back of his neck.
"Dead." I say and stand back. He stands up and turns around. He offers his hand. I take it and he squeezes it. He doesn't seem at all angry that I beat him.
"Alright, I have made up my mind. Luca, James, report to simulation centre tomorrow to start training together. Dismissed." I nod and follow James out of the room.
"So since I have to pilot Cherno and you're my co-pilot I think I should introduce you." I say. He smiles.
"Ok then." And we go to the hangar side by side.