Chapter Eight: War’s Escalation

The lights flickered briskly while shadows danced in the corners of the room. Adam lay underneath the cloth blankets staring at the frail ceiling. He had been resting for a day since he met with Rebel358 in battle; never had he believed that someone as skilled as Rebel existed. Two layers of medical tape wrapped tightly around his forehead, the only significant injury that he sustained in the fight. Sharon had been in and out of the room the entire day; she too had collapsed under what the doctors referred to as unnoted chest trauma.

“You’re awake?”

Adam glanced at the door, there was his brother leaning against the plastic frame around the edge of the door.

“Yeah…”

“Took quite a beating out there didn’t you.” Stephen moved away from the wall and took a seat near the right side of the bed. Adam chuckled, it wasn’t just a beating; it was a massacre; he was outmatched.

“Just a bit.”

“Well either way, I tried to dig up some information on this Rebel358 character.”

Adam’s eyebrows tweaked with intrigue, his arms pushed downwards as his torso slid up against the back support of the bed.

“And?”

“I didn’t find out much. Except that he doesn’t have any form of identification that clearly puts him in any nation on Earth. There are no records of his birth or his existence for that matter. This guy, who ever he is, has made it his life living in the shadows of our world.” Stephen replied.

“I see…so he doesn’t existent then…heh heh.”

“You ok?”

“I’m fine. I’m not sure there’s any point of us staying here any longer. That guy, he’s going to win this tournament.” Adam mumbled.

Stephen sighed looking away from his brother. His dark brown eyes stared blankly at the tiled floor.

“I know…but it’s much better than being on either Earth or Mars at this point. That stupid war would just continue to get out of hand. At least being up here we can find out some information on Genesis.” Stephen replied.

“That’s the only reason I’m still here.” Adam replied.

“You’re awake!” Reine’s youthful voice broke through the room interrupting the two brother’s conversation. Both Adam and Stephen turned to the door where Reine and Zach both stood.

“Yeah, the injury wasn’t serious.” Adam replied.

“So what do you think of him?” Zach blurted out with no sign of restraint. His eyes were thinned focusing solely into the depth of Adam’s pupils; into his very soul.

“You really want to know?”

“Yes!” Zach’s response was crisp, clear and loud. His nerves were on edge, his body shaking and heart rate pulsating quickly.

“He’s going to dominate this tournament. No one is going to come close to beating him.” Adam replied.

That wasn’t the answer Zach wanted to hear, even though he didn’t say it, his expressionless face said everything. Reine’s eyes were wide while his mouth was gawked.

“You’re kidding. I mean it’s true you lost, but that’s only because you don’t have your MF!” The innocence of a child never ceased to amaze Adam, the purity that Reine held onto through his ignorance sparkled in his pupils. He remembered when he was that naïve, before his life was ripped to shreds.

“I wish. He’s on a different plateau than me; even if I was in Blue Dragon I couldn’t beat him. I could do much better, but it wouldn’t be enough.” Adam replied.

“You’re lying!” Reine screamed.

Adam sighed. “No I’m not. You need to understand that there is always going to be someone better than you. But at the same time you need to grow for that experience.”

“You’re just giving up! What happened to you? You didn’t give up when you lost to the Chimera!” Reine yelled. Adam didn’t know how to respond to that, not many knew of the Chimera and what had really happened behind the mask of the media, it wasn’t for people to know. But that did not justify the fact that people didn’t know, and here was this kid not much older than he was when he encountered Chimera, his brother.

“That…that was different.”

“How? How was that different? Rebel beat you just like Chimera did, but then you just came back stronger to win! You refused to give up! So what’s different this time?”
Stephen did nothing but watch as everything continued to drag on. There wasn’t much he could do, this wasn’t his battle to face.

“There…there were more personal strings attached to Chimera. This, my encounter with Rebel was a match, a meaningless match and nothing more. We’re all here for this tournament, to find out who is the best MF pilot in the world. But just because we’re not on either Earth or Mars does not give us the right to forget about the war that is consuming our humanity. We are soldiers; most of us left to participate in this tournament hoping that the absence of MFs would limit the battles and eventually call for an end.”

Reine remained quiet but couldn’t stand listening to what was being said. With a quick tug he dashed out of the room. Zach just shrugged his shoulders and followed suite.

“You ok?” Stephen asked.

“I’m fine. He’s a kid.”

“A kid? He’s 2 years younger than you. Stop acting like you’re an adult, you’re 18. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“You think that by shunning your youth, your adolescence that you’ll be able to find the answers quicker. But all you’re doing is trying to carry the weight of everyone’s burdens on your shoulder. The death of Amy, Mike, Sean, Christina, Jen, Nick, and Sharon’s father, I know you blame yourself for all of them. You think that just because 2 years has passed that you’ve changed?”

“…”

“You haven’t, just because you hide the pain beneath the surface doesn’t mean it isn’t there. I agree that there is no real need to pursue Rebel358 based only on the fact that you lost…but on the fact that he doesn’t exist.” Stephen replied.

Adam turned to his brother, he was confused.

“What are you suggesting?”

“Well, it seems kind of odd that a pilot that skilled doesn’t exist on paper.”

“You think something isn’t right?”

“Yeah. And I’m also concerned about what you told me, about how Genesis has a good amount of cloned humans in their closet. That and the connection between them and the Chimera still bothers me. It’s worth investigating.”

“I see. So what do you suggest Stephen?”

“That’s simple. The longer we stay in the tournament the more time we have to search for clues. So let’s make it to the finals.” Stephen replied.

“Heh…to the finals then.” Adam replied.

            The television screen scared the darkness away, sending it into seclusion behind objects in the room. Luscious sat as the sides of the leather cushions conformed around his ribs. It always bugged him, the constant squeaking that came with any slight movement in a leather chair or couch. His right leg crossed over his left as his right hand rested with a glass of merlot clutched in between his fingers. He smiled, things had been going exactly as he had planned for the past 5 years of his life, and the war between the EAP and the TA had become public knowledge through the backstabbing technique employed by the TA. Luscious had taken away the very thing that made the wars in the AR period a gleaming spectacle; the MFs. Without MFs at either side’s disposal the war was diminished to fighting with armored tanks, fighter planes, and soldiers on feet with advanced fire arms. It had been documented that the battles that took place with MFs that causalities were at an all time low, under the hundreds even. MFs fight until their generator either shuts off or the pilot ejects. Most of the times MF pilots realize when they’re out match and end the fight, by doing this, deaths during missions and battles have gone down. But now without equal battalions there are no more restrictions, soldiers continue to gun down their enemies without mercy. Fighter planes fly through the sky in unique formations alongside other fighter pilots as their turrets fire, shooting down other planes. The fragile frame of a fighter plane can not protect the life of the pilot like the heavily armored MF can, planes crash into the ground exploding into a sea of flames as their pilots scream for help. This kind of brutality during battle had not been seen since the late 21st century, before the development of the Mechanized Frame. Luscious continued to sip his distilled wine as his space satellites fed him live videos of battles occurring on Mars. The carnage, the bloodshed seemed to invoke ecstasy within himself; there was no other feeling even close to this.

“Humans…easily manipulated, quick to pull the trigger, to kill their own brothers and sisters for the sake of their own greed; they continue to fight for a land that they could never possibly fathom. The South Western territories as these factions call will never open for the likes of them.” Luscious mumbled to himself.

A squadron of fighter planes soared steering to the right, their thin wings slicing through the ivory clouds as they passed. Emblems of the TA singed onto the nose of the planes were apparent as the planes passed through the crimson dusk. The lead pilot’s eyes thinned, a lock on box rotated around an object that was hidden behind the think layers of nimbus clouds in front.

“Heh, gotcha you son of a bitch!” The pilot screamed. His index finger, quivering, pulled back on the trigger. The reaction caused two missiles attached just under the wing to launch. As grey hued spherical bundles of smoke trailed from the back of the missiles the squadron strafed to the right in hopes of getting around the object that was their target.

Suddenly the pilots were rocked in their cockpits as a tremendous explosion forced the nimbus clouds to disperse allowing torrents of fire to spiral outwards. It was a horrendous sound, the explosion of a target, it wasn’t the crackling sound of singed metal that ate at the souls of the pilots, it was that one second, in that one second they could hear the voice of their enemy screaming in agony as his flesh was burned and his insides ruptured from the force of the blast. It was a single second, one that would normally pass without anyone giving it a second thought, but up in the air things were different, an entire life can be replayed in a single second.

“Nice shot Otium!” His comrade screamed.

Pilot Third Class Eric Otium was an up and coming ace in the Air Force; he had managed to take out 6 bogeys in a single sortie by himself. He was a near perfect shot with a hit percentage of 96.9 %. Since the MF pilots had moved to the Prosperity space station the USAF were transferred to Mars in hopes of gaining an edge in the war against the EAP. Unfortunately for them the EAP also transferred their Air Force to Mars. There hadn’t been many battles since the MF teams for both sides left; any minuscule battle that took place always took place at the edge of the South Western barrier. 

“Otium what do you think that was anyway?” His fellow 3rd Class pilot, Anthony Ramiro exclaimed. The two had been stationed together since they joined the military at 18, they were now 22. They both managed to climb the ranks into the USAF’s top flying battalion, known to all as Red Fury. They were lead by the a 3-time USAF Ace, Carlos Redentore a 23 year old who had flying encoded into his DNA. He was a natural born flyer.

“Keep quiet you two! We’re not out of the woods yet. Those BXTs are doing some heavy damage, our AT’s can’t stand up to them!” Carlos screamed out.

“BXTs? Those behemoths, what the hell can we do? Our missiles might be able to dent their armor but we’re like paper in comparison to their overwhelming fire power!” Anthony screamed.

“That may be true, but look at it this way; we take them down then we’re heroes. Now there are 3 all together, it would be suicide for each of us to try and take one down alone. So we’ll stick together and assault one at a time. Our other team from Fury is already moving to intercept the EAP’s air force.” Carlos replied.

“So those Euro-Asians brought their flies to Mars as well huh. Damn, I was hoping to get a shot at them.” Eric mentioned.

“Don’t worry about them. You’ll get your chance when the time comes. Right now we need to stop those BXTs!” Carlos screamed.

“Roger!” Both Eric and Anthony replied.

The three planes cut to the side and began their descent towards the first BXT. Armored Tanks were exploding into pieces left and right, the slow moving weapons were unable to stand up to the high intensity grenade cannons. Soldiers jumped and ran their way away from the BXTs, assault rifles flopped to the ground as each soldier disregarded their weapons so they could flee to safety. The battle was a massacre; the EAP continued to march their way through the TA forces like they were not even there. EAP ATs treaded along the grounds as soldier stood on top of the machine firing rounds through the flesh of TA soldiers. Snipers lay hidden in the hill tops surrounding the energy barrier, their scopes constantly zoomed in allowing each patient sniper a clean head shot. The TA soldiers continued to fall like bugs, the only thing keeping the TA in the fight was their Air Force; they were second to none.

The first BXT slowly moved forward crushing the ATs under its metallic glistening feet; soldiers flew through the air as the ATs exploded sending a force of energy outwards. The BXT stumbled as it was bombarded with 6 missiles that collided with the core of the titanic machine. As the BXT stumbled the three fighter planes zoomed past while unleashing streams of golden bullets. The bullets did nothing but bounce off the bronze armor.

“Damn, that attack had no affect!” Anthony screamed.

“We’ll aim for the joints connecting the grenade cannons to the core. Those are the weak points. Every machine has a week point!” Carlos yelled back.

The three planes cut sharply in a tight formation tearing through the clouds as they prepared to fall back onto the single BXT. The pilots in the BXT did nothing but grin. The two grenade cannons rotated upwards and with a gigantic jerk fired. Carlos’ eyes widened as the massive blast approached at tremendous speed.

“SEPARATE!” Eric screamed at the last second. The orange blast seared through the air as the planes tilted to their sides, flying nearly perpendicular to the horizontal clouds the planes dispersed at separate directions. As they avoided the blast they quickly regained formation.

“That was close! You guys ok?” Carlos beckoned.

“Yeah, I’m fine…just a little shaken up.” Anthony replied.

“..*huff* yeah…*huff* I’m good.” Eric replied.

“Good, let’s finish this!” Carlos yelled.

Rectangular lock-on boxes solidified around the spherical joints connecting the cannons to the core. The BXT began to fire random grenade rounds into the sky hoping to connect, but each time the planes of Red Fury managed to avoid them only to draw closer. As the planes came less than 100 meters away from the BXT their lock-ons turned red from green, they were good to go.

“FIRE!” Carlos yelled. And with that single command each remaining missile on their planes burst of all heading for the specific joints. In that single second tensions were high as the missiles connected with their target. The first two missiles exploded into the joint causing flames to erupt through the armor, but the cannon still remained until the next two missile shot through the joint lodging the warheads into the wound which ultimately lead to the outer brim of the BXT cockpit. And once again there was that scream, refusing to be late for its performance. Flames began to rupture out from various angles of the BXT as the massive machine fell to the ground in shambles. The three fighter planes flew through the smoke that loomed over the fallen beast, they had been victorious.

Hundreds of soldiers on both the EAP and the TA lay on the ground soaked in their own crimson blood, their lives expunged and neither campaign truly victorious. A single BXT taken down by mere fighter planes left a sense of fear etched into the hearts of the EAP soldiers.

            Luscious began to smile once again as he placed his empty wine glass on the coffee table in front of him. He hadn’t been able to see such a site where human despair and hope was at an all time high along with fear of death.

“Can you believe that this is happening all in an effort to make it into our paradise?” Luscious questioned.

“No, I can. Humans strive to understand what is foreign to them. But what puzzles me is their need to rip away the one thing that made them so curious in the first place only to replace it with what is more familiar to themselves. Once they made it to Mars they began to treat it like the Middle East, they tried to rape it for its resources and went to war because of it. They must be purged.” The voice spoke.   

“Ah, you are correct. Humans must be extinguished so we can recreate this world without sin. And you are the first of many human-like beings void of sin. Revel in that fact; you are the first success of many.” Luscious continued to talk as he began to fill his glass with more merlot. 

“I see nothing special about this Adam Novus Luscious…” The voice continued on. Luscious’ attention was grabbed, his eyebrow arched upwards at an angle. He put down the bottle and wine glass; he reclined back into the couch and crossed his legs while he stared at the man that stood before him.

“Well what did you expect? He was in a defective standard MF. Plus it was his first battle in space, I could have told you that his performance was going to be poor…but that isn’t the case though. He did manage to out maneuver you a few times, and he was more of a challenge than the ones you fought; pilots who used their own MFs. Just wait until the tournament begins, and then you’ll begin to understand why I want the Dragon.” Luscious replied.

“This tournament is nothing but a child’s game Luscious. I am going to win; no one here is good enough to even keep up with my attacks. So if you know the outcome, then what is the point of going through with it?”

“Hmm, you still don’t understand. It’s the journey that counts, not the beginning or the end. In time you will understand. Be patient. The first round starts in 3 days.” Luscious replied.

            “Adam! You’re alright!” Sharon’s voice boomed outwards as he and Stephen entered the main lounge for the pilots. Adam nodded his head but continued to move forward.

“I’m fine. It’s of no concern.” He replied.

“I know…by now I’m used to you ending up in the hospital. But…but I felt you this time. I felt you when you got hurt, and it affected me as well.” Sharon mentioned.

Adam glanced at her with an awkward stare, he wanted to laugh it off, but he wasn’t sure she was completely off. Just before he passed out from his injury he felt a soothing presence wrapping around his body as if to protect him from danger. He smiled at Sharon and patted her shoulder gently as he walked past her. The lounge was full of MF pilots all staring at a massive LCD screen that listed the matches for the first round of the Azure Cup Tournament. In total there were 128 entrants into the tournament, a much bigger number than everyone had originally expected. With a number this high every pilot had their work cut out for them.

The structure of the tournament was broken down into 8 sections, starting with the letter ‘A’ and ending with the letter ‘I’, each section was then broken into 2 subsets, ‘1’ and ‘2’ each subset contained 8 pilots. Each group has their own final round to determine the champion of that group, and then the champion from each group fight against one another until there would be only one pilot remaining at the top. Adam smirked; he couldn’t wait for the tournament to begin in 3 days.