Chapter Six:

Mario strapped himself into his cockpit, the clicking sound that rings when the buckle locks into position became an addiction. He felt alive when he was in the cockpit; it wasn’t about the battle just the anxiety that occurs right before an encounter. Normally he is calm; his nerves don’t often freeze still and his stomach never aches but this time was different. Mario never fought in space before; he wasn’t sure how he’d react to the lack of gravity. His fingers perpetually tapped on the edge of Anima’s control panel, he bite his dry chapped lips as he awaited the green light to head out into the unknown. His opponent, Rebel358 wasn’t known to most people. His records that were on display in the Genesis information system state that he has no affiliation to either the TA or the EAP. The fact that he had been out in space fighting other MF pilots for 12 hours straight didn’t help ease the mind of Mario. He became concerned over it, Rebel’s MF, Shadow was only equipped with two weapons which doesn’t offer a tremendous variety of attack patterns. He sighed shaking off his anxiety; he began to try and sooth his soul, telling himself that he would prevail. As he glanced to the side wiping off the sweat that was dripping down his face and around the natural crevices of his face he noticed Michelle who was standing in front of the glass panel waiting for the battle to begin. Even though it was only a training match he took it with the utmost importance.

“I won’t lose. Who does this guy think he is, claiming how everyone here is worthless…I’ll show him!” Mario’s pupils dilated; he was green for launch. His feet lightly angled forward putting pressure on the accelerator while Mario’s hands firmly clutched the throttles. Shadow hovered just outside the launch panel, its mechanical arms interwoven across the chest in a seemingly relaxing state.

“Will you be the one? Will you be the one to satisfy my thirst?” The words ran out of the lips of Rebel358 with a fierce sharp tone. It was soft but at the same time powerful.

Rebel358 slowly brought his arms out from his armpits placing them on the throttles. Anima burst out of the launch panel, at first Mario was fully aware of the lack of gravity. Anima felt lighter, a lot lighter than usual but that was the extent of the difference. Mario let off the accelerator draining the energy supply to the boosters. As the flames of energy slowly dimmed Anima continued to hover in the darkness of space. A smile quickly gleamed on Mario’s face until he jumped out in a fit of joy.

“Perfect! Anima is so much lighter now which means I’ll be so much faster! Hehehe…you’re in for it now!”

Rebel358 smirked refusing to respond to what he deemed an immature gesture. He lived for three simple things, fight, grow and to survive, anything else was trivial.

“Not saying anything huh? I get it; you’ve just realized who you were fighting against. I give you mad props for having such a high level of endurance. But you must be drained from fighting so long. You may be a skilled opponent, but you are no match for my speed!” Mario continued to scream in anticipation. His own confidence had quickly turned into arrogance.

“Pathetic. Your MF is indeed agile, I can tell just by looking at it. And you’re offensive capabilities are high indeed, but your armor is fragile, you had to sacrifice good armor for speed. One must begin to wonder if that was such a brilliant idea.” Rebel358 replied calmly.
Mario couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“What’s the point of armor if you’re not going to be hit?!” Mario screamed. He pushed the throttle forward as Anima exploded out of its hovering position. The white MF dashed forward holding the dual plasma cannon outwards. It was a simple tactic, one that Mario liked to use in order to get a good feel for his opponent. However this time wouldn’t be like any of the others, Shadow suddenly appeared inside the defenses of Anima. Mario was appalled and fell back into the cushion of his seat. As he snapped out of his trance he quickly began to move Anima’s left arm. Just as the energy whip began to move out from its hatch a blinding ivory flash sliced through the elbow joint of the left arm. As the left arm exploded leaving Anima with a single arm while the MF floated backwards in a horizontal position Shadow quickly sped away from Anima leaving Mario to float defenselessly. Mario struggled to force Anima to stand up in its normal vertical position. It was obvious that the previous attack caught him off guard, it managed to stir up that fear he felt earlier once again in the pit of his stomach. It was a nauseating feeling that affected his breathing rate and his vision. The cockpit began to spin in his eyes; Shadow became nothing more than a silhouette in the backdrop of the ominous wallpaper of space. Electric sparks continued to fly out from the severed joint, the cut was clean, perfect, and there were no rough edges.

“I guess you are not the one.” Rebel358 muttered.

“You…”

“You still wish to fight? Amusing, have you not yet deduced the fact that I am much faster than you’re eyes could follow?”

“I don’t care how fast you are…you are nothing more than a target, an obstacle to me now!” Mario screamed. Anima flipped upwards jumping into an offensive position.

The massive plasma cannon detached from the back of Anima’s core flipping under the right armpit and into the right hand of his MF. Energy quickly began to formulate around the humming barrel. The bright crimson balls of energy lit up the area around Anima. Rebel358 smiled while tucking his arms neatly across his chest. Shadow soon reflected this, both of its legs extended fully while the metal arms moved across the core. Mario’s lips parted moving into his burning cheeks.

“How dare you insult me! TAKE THIS!” Mario fired the cannon with all of his anger and frustration.

As the massive beam of crimson energy zoomed across space Shadow remained motionless. Just as the beam approached Shadow a tingling sensation arose through Rebel’s mental being. His eyes burst open with intensity never before seen. Raging torrents of flames engulfed his already crimson pupils. Shadow moved too fast for the human registry to pick up, within a tenth of a second Shadow deflected the beam back towards Anima. Mario’s eyes shook with fear, every bone in his body began to tremble, he soon fell numb unable to defend. As the beam prepared to engulf the ivory MF Shadow sped past and knocked the beam away once again. The fuchsia flames emanating from his boosters sparkled dimly in front of Anima as the black MF descended.         

“It would be a shame for you to die before the tournament began.”

His voice would normally infuriate Mario even more but he was still is a state of shock and denial. His head arched looming over his chest and legs. The dark brown pupils continued to quiver while has hands refused to move from the throttles. It was clear to him now that this Rebel358 was no mere pilot.

“I do hope there is someone out there that can quench my thirst.” Rebel replied one final time until he took Shadow away heading for the re-entry station. Anima continued to hover, lingering in the depth of space.

“I…I…lost….”

            Michelle stood leaning against the pane glass window, her hands imprinting themselves onto the frigid translucent layer. She didn’t know what to think at the moment. Her attention was soon diverted to Zach chuckling under his breath. Michelle turned around, her raven hair floated through the air as her head turned.

“Why are you laughing?!”

Zach forced his mouth shut in an attempt to stop laughing, his cheeks turned red and his eyes shut leaving a crescent like shape.

“I’m sorry, but he had it coming. I mean, I tried to warn him but he just wouldn’t listen.”

“Leave him alone. He tried his best! I’d like to see you do any better.”

“…” Zach’s turned away from her piercing eyes only to gaze at the floor. “I did try….he was much more than I could ever hope to handle…it’s funny you know. You think you’re on top of everything and then suddenly you get knocked back down to reality. I got beaten pretty badly in the past few weeks, that’s why I joined up for this tournament. I know there’s a lot more for me to learn, arrogance gets you no where.”

“I see…”

“That pilot…Rebel358, he’s no ordinary pilot. His reflexes are above average, I don’t think anyone could match him.”

“I’m sure there’s someone who can.”

“Maybe…but there’s something not human about that pilot…when we fought I was scared, for the first time in my life I was actually afraid; he has a demeanor about him that’s calm it’s frightening.”

“Do you think he’s going to win the entire tournament then?”

Zach’s head slowly rose to look at Michelle in her eyes. He sighed; before he even began to spoke she knew what his answer would be. Michelle moved over to him placing her hand on his shoulder. Her instincts told her to move away as their skin touched, he felt empty in her opinion. She ignored it; to her it didn’t make much sense since he happeared to be a lively energetic boy.

“Sorry…” Mario’s voice mumbled. His tone was dull and sullen. Michelle and Zach quickly turned around to see Mario stumbling into the room with his crimson helmet hung over his shoulder. He looked horrible, his skin which was normal vibrant and dark was now pale and sickly. Michelle ran over to Mario just as his knees buckled causing his body to collapse to the ground. Mario glanced up at Michelle, her face began to fade blending into the background his eyes became heavy and they slowly shut as his consciousness faded.

“Hey…what the hell happened to him?!” A familiar voice rang; the last sound he heard before he passed out.

            Mario was placed in the infirmary shortly after he passed out from the match. He laid peacefully under the ivory blankets under the careful supervision of the nurses. Michelle sat by his side in a plastic chair, she rested her head on the shelf nearby, it wasn’t comfortable, but it gave the support she was looking for.

“So what exactly happened to him anyway?” Adam’s voice echoed in the room. Adam stood at the door along with Stephen. Their shuttle had arrived 30 minutes prior, they were in the process of heading to their rooms when they came across the training room where they saw Mario stagger to the floor.
Michelle sighed briefly as she sat up.

“There was this pilot…Mario rushed out to face him and ended up losing…pretty bad.” Michelle mumbled.

“So he got beaten. He does tend to take those kinds of things seriously. He’s a bit melodramatic at times.” Stephen replied.          

“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any one pilot an MF quite like that pilot before.”

Adam’s eyebrow raised, it was hard for him to admit that his interest had been tugged.

“Really? What’s this pilot’s name?” Adam asked.

            “Rebel358.” A boyish voice blurted out from behind the door. Adam and Stephen stepped to the side as Zach entered the infirmary along with Reine.

“Hey….Reine right?” Adam asked.

Reine smiled and nodded.

“The pilot who did this to your friend is called Rebel358. No one really knows anything more about him aside from his name.” Zach mumbled.        
Adam glanced at Zach tilting his head. His fingers softly brushed against the skin on his face while his head tilted from side to side as he looked at Zach. Zach’s right eyebrow raised in confusion.

“What?”

“I remember you…you’re that kid from the EAP that I fought in the South Western Territory right?” Adam mumbled.

“Huh?! Then that means…you?! You’re the Azure Knight?!” Zach screamed in shock. Paying little attention to his surroundings he stumbled backwards bumping into the wall.

“Hehehe…yeah.” Adam replied meagerly as he scratched his head.

“Wait a minute, you’re Adam Novus?” Michelle interrupted.

Adam turned looking at Michelle and nodded.
“Yeah, don’t see why it’s such a big deal. More importantly, tell me more about this Rebel358.” Adam replied.

            Reine stepped forward away from the wall.

“I fought him and he defeated me within seconds. I don’t know what to say about him other than he isn’t human. There’s no way he could be, his reflexes are way too fast. When his MF moves you can’t detect it. And just like that!” Reine pounded his fists together, “It’s over.”

Adam began to smile as he glanced at Stephen.

“Really, sounds like he’s quite the pilot. So I hear the tournament matches are all held out in space, is that true?” Adam changed the direction of the conversation; he always liked doing that in mid sentence.

“Uh yeah…there’s a training facility on the other side of the hallway.” Reine replied.

“I see, pity though, my MF is still be transported from Mars. It should be here within the week. Although I wish I could go train now.”

“Well, they have standard MFs in the hanger that can be signed out for use.” Zach replied.
Adam’s eyes lit up.

“Good. That’ll do just fine for now. Hey you…umm, sorry I didn’t catch your name.” Adam said pointing over to Michelle.

“It’s Michelle..” She replied.

“Ah ok, nice to meet you Michelle. Take care of Mario; I’m going to get some hours out in space!” Adam replied. Without giving her the chance to reply Adam jumped out in the hallway grabbing hold of the handle on the side of the wall. The pathways in the space station were void of any gravity; each side of the walls came equipped with a handle that would guide a passenger through the hallway to their destination. Stephen just looked at Adam with a blank expression; he couldn’t understand why he couldn’t wait for his MF to arrive.

“Is he always like that?” Michelle asked.

Stephen looked over at her and chuckled.

“Yeah, he’s very impatient.”

“So is it true?” Zach interrupted.

“Huh?” Stephen just stared back at the young pilot.

“I mean is it true that he defeated the Chimera; the MF that was said to be a god in its own rite?”

“Well I don’t know about the Chimera being a god, but yeah…Adam defeated it…(but at what cost…)

            The transport handles in the hallways were not only effective but extremely fast. Within a couple of minutes Adam stood staring into the hanger. So far at least 50 customized MFs filled the garage. The hanger itself was massive, filled with pathways and wires all connecting to each MF. It was dark and surreal but Adam entered it anyway.

“You looking for something?” A voice quietly echoed.

“Oh, yeah I was wondering if I could use one of the standard MFs. You see I would like to try piloting out in space but my MF won’t be arriving for about a week.” Adam mumbled.

“Oh yeah that’s fine. I apologize but I don’t work here. I was just finishing some diagnostic tests on my MF. But you don’t have to ask, just take one out.” The man replied.
Adam nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate the information. I’m Adam Novus.”

“Adam Novus? The Azure Knight?” The man mumbled as he stepped out from the shadows. The man was about 6’1 with long charcoal and crimson hair tied in a pony tail.

His skin was pale; the lack of color in his skin accentuated the crimson eyes that pierced through the darkness. He was already in a pilot suit holding his helmet close to his thigh.

“Yeah…why does everyone seem to know who I am? I’m not anything special.”

“Oh but you are special Adam, you’re unique. You defeated the Chimera, the original and its successor. Not many people could perform the feat that you did, that alone makes you unique.” The man replied. His voice was soft, but still managed to send chills down Adam’s spine. Thin hairs stood up along Adam’s arms and neck, there was a certain vibe emanating from this man, something wasn’t right but Adam didn’t know what.

“I see…”

“Maybe you are the one…”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“I know you do not have your MF but still, would you like to partake in a match?”

“A match huh? Well I don’t see the harm in that, I mean it will help me get used to fighting in space. Yeah sure, I’m game.” Adam replied.

“Excellent. I will meet you out there. Don’t forget to configure the MF’s OS for space combat. If the OS remains in a mode that is accustomed to gravity it won’t perform to its full potential” The man replied as he began to walk back into the shadows towards his MF.

“Thanks….HEY! I don’t even know your name.” Adam replied.

“Heh…people just call me Rebel358, it’s funny how our destinies have intertwined.”