Fanfiction ^w^

Three figures stood around a small screen. They were speaking amongst themselves...
"...are you sure that's the one? He seems kind of weak."
"There's no doubt about it. The radar points straight at him, and there's nobody else in that area."
"I bet he'll make a lot of friends here. He looks nice enough."
"Don't jump to conclusions just yet. Do you remember what happened with Ivis?"
"None of us saw that coming. The vast majority of our recruits weren't like her. I highly doubt this one will be either."
"Even if he IS like her, I'd be willing to bet he'd join our side sooner or later."
"Only you would think that way, cat boy. Your'e too optomistic for your own good."
"For the millionth time, I'm a LION! NOT  A CAT!"
"You don't  have to shout. We're right here."
"Sorry...our envoy has reached the target's planet."
"Let's just hope that there are no surpri-"
Red lights start flashing. "HOSTILE FORCES HAVE ENGAGED OUR ENVOY."
"Damn it! Run!"
"Why doesn't she just fight? She IS one of our heroes, after all."
"There weren't supposed to be any enemies! This is a recruitment mission, not an assault or rescue!"
"And? What's your point?"
"I didn't want her to scare him, so I sent her without any weapons."
"WHAT?! YOU IDIOT!"
"I'm sending in reinforcements. She's going to need backup."
*sigh* "You REALY need to think more before doing this sort of thing on your own."
"I know I'm not as smart as either of you, but you don't need to rub it in..."
"How far is our envoy from the target?"
"Less than a hundred meters."
"That's not good. He'll get caught up in it for sure."
"Can SOMETHING turn out right for once?!"
"...you know, your name really doesn't suit your personality."
"Now is NOT the time, muscle head!"
"WHAT did you call me, midget?!"
"Seriously, you two. We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves. Right now, we need to believe in her..."

It was sunny at a parts dumpsite on planet Bricabrac. A small humanoid robot with light skin and black hair could be seen climbing over the clutter.
"...aaand here's another repair pack. Whatever, mine now..."
Yup, that's me. My name's Rexir. Right now, I'm what people would refer to as a dumpster diver. I have goggles for when I'm digging through junk. I wear light armor over my body, forearms, and forelegs. I have a small booster on my back for flying, nothing fancy there. I wear reinforced boots, in case I step on something not meant for stepping on, and underneath it all I have a zero-suit. What, did you think I go commando under my armor? You dirty person...
Being a dumpster diver isn't very bad at all. Every other day or so, a delivery truck dumps more junk onto the ever-growing heap. Believe it or not, some of the stuff is still in usable condition. Testing the stuff isn't too hard. I keep a small collection of whatever works back at my shack, which is not very far from here.
Speaking of not far from here, I could hear some gunfire. "That's strange. Nobody comes here other than to throw stuff away..."
As I climbed over the mountain of trash, a girl with red mechanical parts soared overhead, smoke coming from the boosters on her legs. Missiles soon followed, exploding as they hit her from behind. She crashed into a heap of  junk behind me.
"Oh crap!" I yelled out. She was hurt pretty badly, and all I could think about is that I needed to help her. As I picked her up, I heared feet scuffling over the other side of the junk.
"TARGET HAS BEEN SHOT DOWN! ALL UNITS, FORWARD!"
"Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap-"  I ran down the hill and made my way to my shack, which looks much like the junk all around it. I built it into the side of a large junk heap, and it looks like junk. Nice hiding place, huh?
I laid her on the bed and quickly closed the entrance. Not too long afterwards, I heared the pounding of footsteps and sounds of garbage cluttering around. I could make out a voice...
"WHEN ROBOTS EXPLODE, THEIR PARTS GET SCATTERED IN THE GENERAL AREA! SHE ISN'T DEAD YET, OR  SHE WOULD HAVE BLOWN! NOW FIND HER!"
Scary. What did these guys want with this girl anyway?
Now that I got a good look at her, she's really pretty. Long orange hair, a cute face, fair skin, and that cleavage...
NO! Not the time for that. She's badly hurt and not moving, but she's breathing. What to do...She can't drink repair packs while she's out cold...There's that staff I pried off of a broken arm not too long ago, and it ended up fixing a damaged part when I tested it. Let's see if it'll work again.
After grabbing it from my tool room, I took aim and began charging the repair shot. After the pink flash, the girl moaned softly and began to stir...
"...mmm..." Heh, she had a cute voice too. She opens her eyes, "...huh? Where am I?" She looked at me. "Who are you?"
"My name's Rexir. This is my shack in the junkyard. You crashed nearby, and I brought you here. There are some guys outside looking for you. Are you alright?"
"Yes, I think so," she said. "My name's Crimrose. Do you mind if I call you Rex-kun?"
"Sure thing," I replied. "Mind if I call you Crim-san?"
"Sure thing!"
"I've got some questions to ask you."
"Okay. Go on."
"Why are you being chased by those robots?" I asked.
"I was ambushed," she explained. "As soon as I stepped off the stargate, they attacked me. I didn't bring any weapons, so I had to run."
"That doesn't explain why they attacked you. The last dump truck passed through there about an hour ago."
She sighed. "I'm a hero from the Cosmic Ark. I was sent here to scout out one of the locals here that was giving off a lot of Cosmos Energy."
"Yeah, about that," I began, "I'm the only local here. This is a universal dumping site. This planet didn't have any usable resources, so everyone brings their junk here. You'd be surprised what people throw away-"
"Hang on," Crim interrupted. "You're the only one here?"
"Yes. I take it that I'm the one you're looking for?"
"Let me double check really quick," she said. She looked at a screen on her arm and spoke into it. "Crimrose to base. Please come in."
Another female voice crackled in. "Icy to Crimrose. We hear you. We're trying to send reinforcements, but something is wrong with the stargate on your end."
Crim sighed. "Understood. I think I found the target. Can you check him for me?"
"Sure thing, Crim-chan" said a young man's voice. "Just let us see him on the monitor."
A third, deeper man's voice said, "You really need to memorize these things. There WILL come a time when we won't be able to check for you."
"Don't be so hard on her, Dracken-san," the young man spoke up. "We DID kind of rush her through the briefing."
"Whatever, Lios. Crimrose, let's see him."
"Roger!" Crim replied. She then pointed the tiny screen towards me.
Inside, I saw a pink girly robot, a yellow lion robot, and a large red reptillian robot.
"I see him," the pink one said. "Yeah, that's him alright."
Crim squealed with glee. "Okay! Thanks! Crimrose out!" She looked towards me with confidence in her eyes.
I was a bit nervous. "So I'm the one your'e looking for. Okaaay...so, now what?"
There were a number of uncertainties swirling in my head. She said something about me having a lot of something called Cosmos Energy. Was she going to extract it? How would she do it? Is she going to kill me?! Will she-
She smiled. "Rex-kun?"
I froze. "Yes, Crim-san?"
"Would you like to be a Cosmic Hero?"
"...Huh?"
"The reason why I came here was to recruit you as a new Cosmic Hero. Didn't I say that earlier?"
"No, you didn't!" Dang, she's adorable, but she's also one heck of a bubblehead! "For a second there, I thought you were gonna kill me!"
Her eyes grew wide. "Eh?! I'd never do that to you!"
I needed an answer. "So how do you collect this Cosmos Energy you were talking about?" At that, her gaze softened.
"That's easy. We fight each other and we help others in missions."
I was dumbfounded. "...That's all?"
She smiled again. "Yep! Oh! We do other things, too, like go shopping..."
As she began to talk about her daily life, I started to think about my options. I could be a Cosmic Hero, fighting the forces of Chaos, helping others, sparring with my peers, and making a difference in the fate of the universe. On the other hand, I could stay here...
"...Rex-kun?"
"Huh?"
Crim pouted. "You weren't listening, were you?"
"Y-yes, I was!" I needed to change the subject. "And about me being a Hero..."
Her eyes lit up. "Yes?"
I took a deep breath. "Count me in."
"YAY!" Crim pretty much tackled me as soon as she heared my answer. Her skin was really soft, but her mechanical parts were hardly that.
"Ack!" I wasn't sure if I was enjoying her hug or enduring the pain that came with it. She sure was hard to predict.
I felt something shaking the ground as it made footsteps. "Crim-san, be quiet!" I whispered to her.
After the whatever-it-was passed, we both sighed in relief. We needed to make a plan to get to the stargate.
"I doubt that whoever was after you broke the gate. They would be stranded too if they did."
Crim nodded. " We're up against Delvins, Ranbots, and a big Delgon." She shuddered. "Those Ranbots are really strong..."
"I take it that those shoot out missiles?"
Crim blinked at that. "Y-yes, they are." She then smiled. "Rex-kun, you're pretty smart, aren't you?"
"Thanks." Suddenly a thought popped into my mind. "Crim-san, why don't you have any weapons with you?"
"Eheh, about that..," she began, "I didn't want to scare you, so I left my beam gun and rapier back at the Ark."
I face palmed. "I have some things in the back. I tested them all and they should work."
"Great!" Crim then made her way to the back room.
I sighed. How could this girl be a Cosmic Hero? She seemed rather clumsy...oh crap!
"Crim! Wait!"
Crim stopped. "Huh? What's wrong?"
Whew! She didn't notice the stack of Playbot magazines I left out. I need to be more careful.
"The weapons are over here," I said as I directed her away from the dirty books.
Crim pouted. "You didn't need to yell..," she mutterred.
I passed her a beam gun. As I reached for a rapier...
"Rex-kun! How did you get a Beam Gun Mod?! These are so hard to find!"
I turned around with the weapon in hand. "Huh? Mod? What's the difference?"
She stared at me, fire in her eyes. "There's a big difference! A modded beam gun has a lot more power than a normal one!"
Dang. For a cutie, she made a big fuss over one gun. "If you like it so much, you can keep it. Oh, and here," I said as I handed her the rapier.
"Yay! Thank you!"
I smiled. Seeing her happy made me feel good inside. "So this is how it feels to help someone..."
"Rex-kun, did you say something?"
That snapped me out of my thoughts. "Just thinking out loud," I said as I grabbed my bayonet gun. I still had my staff in my other hand. This way, I could fight AND heal. Not a bad combo, I think.
"Alright, Crim. Let's think about our strategy..."
----------
A small squad of Delvins ran up to a massive Delgon. "Sir, we've been searching for an hour now. We would've found her by now if she was still alive..."
"IF SHE WERE DEAD, YOU WOULD HAVE FOUND BITS OF HER LYING AROUND!," bellowed the giant. "THE FACT THAT YOU HAVEN'T MEANS SHE'S STILL OUT THERE SOMEWHE-"
"Looking for me?!," Crim shouted as she took off from behind a hill of trash. She fired a barrage of beam shots at the robots as they scrambled from the surprise attack.
"RANBOTS, FIRE!," the Delgon commanded.
A group of small robots launched missiles at Crim. Before they could reach her, however, gunshots were made, and the missiles exploded before hitting their target.
The Delgon was dumbfounded. "BEAM GUNS CAN'T INTERCEPT MISSILES! WHO FIRED THOSE SHOTS?!"
Some Delvins rushed to where the gunfire was heared. "There's nobody here, sir!"
"RANBOTS, KEEP FIRING!" There was no response. "RANBOTS!"
The Delgon turned towards his artillery squad, and found piles of scrap metal where it once stood.
One of the Delvins ran up to the Delgon. "Sir, we're taking too much damage! We need to retreat!"
The giant growled as he watched Crimrose pelt his minions with beam shots. "I CAN SEE THAT!," he boomed. "PREPARE THE STARGATE! I'LL COVER YOU!" At that, the tiny robot ran off.
"Rex-kun! They're pulling back!" Crim reported. She began to give chase when-
"NOT SO FAST!," bellowed the Delgon, machinegun blazing. "I'M YOUR OPPONENT!"
Crim fired her beam gun at the colossal robot, her shots colliding with an equally massive shield.
"Surprise!," I yelled, as I shoved my bayonet into the Delgon's unprotected back.
As the giant turned to deal with the new threat, a flurry of rapier jabs met his rear.
"ENOUGH!," yelled the Delgon, as he unleashed another barrage of bullets at Crim.
"KYA! Rex-kun! I'm hit!"
"I'm on it!" I responded. After a brief charge-up, a pink blast fired from my staff, healing Crim on contact.
The Delgon couldn't believe it. He was being flanked AND his enemy was being healed by a combat medic. "YOU!," he boomed, as he charged at me.
"Leave Rex-kun alone!," yelled Crim as she shoved her rapier into the giant's back again. Sparks began to fly.
"He's gonna blow!," I shouted. The two of us dove for cover as the giant exploded into scrap metal.
...huh? I landed on something soft...
"Rex-kun," Crim said. "You're heavy..."
Oh crap! "S-sorry!" I replied as I jumped off Crim. I needed this embarrassing moment streak to stop.
As we got up, a squad of different robots made their way towards us. "Backup's here!," one of them stated.
Crim giggled. "Thanks, but it's already over."
One of them looked at me. "Crimrose, who's this?"
"Ah! This is Rex-kun." After that, I introduced myself to the group.
One of them was doing something else. "Hey, these are hard to find! Looks like it works, too!"
"I know, right?!" I blurted out. After ranting for a while, someone tapped my shoulder.
It was Crim. "Rex-kun, are you ready to go?"
My stuff was still in my shack. "Uh, I can't carry all of my things at once..."
A large robot patted my back, which made me stagger. "Don't worry! We'll get all of your stuff for you. Just show us where it is, and we'll handle it from there."
"Thanks," I said. I pointed out where my shack was. Soon afterwards the robots and I walked out with my things (I carried my magazines in a box).
We stopped at the stargate. I looked back at the junkyard that was my home. Crim stood next to me.
"You know," she began, "there are a lot of neat things here. I'll be sure to let the Guardians know about this place."
"The Guardians?"
Crim smiled at me. "Don't worry. You'll meet them soon."
After glancing back at the junkyard one last time, we stepped through the stargate, leaving Bricabrac. Next stop, the Cosmic Ark!

 As we stepped off the stargate, we were in a completely different place. It was so...clean. There were a few trash cans here and there, but there were no sign of any garbage heaps anywhere. The ground was completely solid, and the air was a little tastier than Bricabrac's atmosphere. It made my head spin...
  I collapsed. I could tell that people were rushing to me, but everything was so blurry, then so dark...
----------
  The next thing I knew, I was in what seemed like an infirmary. I was laying down in a bed, with an IV in my left arm-
  I screamed. Yes, seriously. A girl with pink, swirly hair rushed in to find my arm bleeding from having the IV ripped out.
  "What the-?!," she cried. "Stop! You're hurting yourself!"
  Three words: I, HATE, NEEDLES! I hate them with a passion, I've hated them for as long as I could remember, and not without my reasons.
  Since the door was blocked by this sadist, I bailed out the window. Unfortunately, we were three stories high, and I was only wearing my zero suit. When I hit the ground, the world got blurry again.
  As my vision failed, I saw something like a blue horse run up to me...
----------
  I woke up in the hospital again. This time, however, there were four robots in the room with me. One of them was Crim. The others were the small pink robot, the yellow lion, and the large red lizard-thing from Crim's communicator.
  "...so," Crim said, "he fainted from climate shock?"
  The pink robot nodded. "It's pretty common with new heroes, especially the ones that lived on a planet completely different from the Central Area."
  "Okay, but why did he-" Crim began as she looked towards me.
  "Rex-kun!," she yelled, leaning over me, "what's wrong? Why did you jump out of the window like that?! You could've died!"
  "There was a-" I began, but then I noticed the IV in my arm again.
  Suddenly I started struggling against straps that were holding me down in a futile attempt to remove the needle from my body.
  The red lizard robot sighed. "These bonds were designed to hold our strongest warriors. You aren't going to break them."
  "Dracken-san!," yelled the lion, "Something's setting him off!"
  "The needle!" exclaimed the small one. "He's afraid of needles!"
  "Rex-kun!" Crim shouted as she grabbed my head. "Look at me, Rex-kun!"
  I stared into her face, at her concerned expression, for what felt like an eternity. Slowly, I regained my ability to think.
  "Crim-san," I whispered through panicked breaths, "the needle..."
  She nodded. Quickly, she reached for it when-
  "Don't pull that out!" The nurse from hell was back.
  "If I don't, he'll freak out again!," Crim cried.
  The pink robot spoke up. "Aide-san, I'm siding with Crimrose this time."
  The nurse blinked. "Well, if you think that's what's best, then I'm alright with it. Just let me remove it."
  Crim sighed as she backed away from me. Medi Aide then went to my side and took the needle out. After being distressed, twice, I felt my body finally relax.
  After the nurse left, the four visitors turned back to me. "You gave us quite a scare," said the lion. "For a moment there, I thought you WERE like Ivis-san!"
  I blinked. "Ivis-san?"
  "Lios," Dracken began, "he just got here. He wouldn't know who Ivis is."
  Lios looked down. "You have a point there..."
  "Rexir-san," the pink one said, "my name is Icy. I'm the Guardian of Wizdom, the Ark of Wisdom."
  I smiled. "Nice to meet you, Icy-san."
  Icy motioned towards her larger collegues. "These two are Lios-kun, the Guardian of Bladine, the Ark of Courage, and Dracken-san, Guardian of Dostrex, the Ark of Strength."
  "Normally," Lios chimed in, "we would discus this in the Angel Force headquarters, but..."
  "I think he understands his current situation," Dracken finished. "Anyway, the three of us are working together in order to revive our Arks, which will end our war with the forces of Chaos. We have a big issue, though."
  "In order to revive an Ark, a lot of Cosmos Energy is necessary," Icy continued. "So much, in fact, that there will only be enough to call upon one of them."
  Lios started talking again. "Heroes like yourself produce this energy through combat. We'll need your help in order to revive our Ark."
  "To decide which Ark will be revived," Dracken explained, "the heroes choose which Ark they want to support, and compete against each other. The scores are recorded, and once enough Cosmos Energy is available, the Ark of the winning Union will be revived."
  It was so much information to take in at once. "Okay," I said, "I think I understand what's going on. Are there any requirements for joining one of these Unions?"
  Dracken grunted. "If you're going to join DOS, you will need to be strong."
  "Dracken-san," Lios complained, "don't lie to him like that! There are no restrictions to joining a Union."
  Icy turned to her yellow friend. "Lios-kun, there IS some truth to what Dracken said."
  Lios looked confused. "What do you me- AH! I get it."
  Icy sighed. "You just realized this?"
  I laughed. That caught their attention. "W-what's so funny?!" Icy stammered.
  "Hehehe, it's just that, you get along so well. It's really fun to watch!"
  Crim smiled. "So, Rex-kun?"
  I looked at her. "Yes, Crim-san?"
  "Which Union are you going to join?"
  I blinked. "Do I have to choose now?"
  Crim shook her head. "No, but it will make things easier if you do. The Guardians are usually busy, so you should make your choice while they're all here."
  "Hmm..." I thought about the choices in front of me. When I opened my eyes, I said, "I choose Bladine."
  Lios cheered. "Great choice, Rex-kun!" Icy and Dracken were less enthusiastic.
  Crim was also brimming with joy. "YAY! Rex-kun is in the same Union as me!" She hugged me, but pain flooded my body.
  "OW! OW! CRIM-SAN!" I yelled. Aparrently, falling from three stories high without wearing any safety gear took its toll on me.
  "AH! I'm sorry!" Crim cried out as she released me from her embrace.
  The nurse ran in. "Is everything alright here?!"
  Icy nodded. "Yes, everything's fine. Crimrose-san was just hugging Rexir-kun."
  Medi Aide didn't look too happy. She sighed as she turned to walk away when I spoke up.
  "Excuse me," I said, "but it's kind of uncomfortable with these straps here. Could you please take them off?"
  "If I do, will you behave?"
  "If you keep the needles away from me, then yes."
  The nurse removed the bonds holding me to the bed. I could breathe again!
  "Aide-san," Crim asked, "how long will Rex-kun be in bed?"
  Medi Aide looked at me, then at a clipboard. "He'll be out by tomorrow. He would have been fine by now if he didn't pull his little stunt earlier."
  "Well, since Rexir2 chose his Union," Icy said, "I think it's time we went back to our own Areas."
  Dracken and Lios nodded. The three Guardians left the room, leaving Crim and me alone together.
  "Rex-kun?" Crim asked.
  "Yes, Crim-san?"
  "We'll bring your things over to your new garage in the BRD area." She paused. "When you fainted, some magazines spilled out of the box you were carrying."
  Oh crap! I could feel my face turn red.
  Crim smiled. "You must have been bored, all by yourself on that planet. Don't worry, there are lots of people here at the Cosmic Ark, so you can make lots of friends. It's really fun here!"
  I'm so glad that she didn't say anything else about the magazines. Knowing her, she probably didn't notice just what they were. My heart calmed down.
  "I see. That's not a bad idea. I'll do my best."
  "Get well quickly, Rex-kun."
  "Thanks, Crim-san."
  "Oh! Before I forget," Crim said, "one of my friends from the Union helped get you back to the hospital after you jumped out the window. Her name is LazFlamme, and you should thank her for that. I'll introduce you tomorrow."
  I nodded. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll look forward to that."
  Crim smiled. "Your welcome!" And with that, she left me to rest...
----------
  It felt really good to be back on my feet. Being stuck in bed on my first day on the Ark was NOT how I anticipated this new life to be like.
  I made my way to the Union Area gates, following the directions the nurse gave me. After a short while, I was looking at the stargate leading to the BRD area.
  "Well, here goes nothing," I said to myself. After taking a deep breath, I stepped on the teleporter pad and warped.
  After a moment, I opened my eyes. The BRD area had a comfortable temperature, with some greenery here and there. In the center of the area, there was a HUGE sword, jammed into what looked like a pedestal. At its base, Lios was waiting for me.
  "Rex-kun!," he said, "I'm glad you chose us as your union. We'll need all the help we can get!"
  I smiled. It felt nice to hear that from someone. Up until now, I've been living by myself on Bricabrac, with only the routine visits from dump trucks and their drivers.
  Lios pointed at a row of small house-like buildings. "Your garage is over there, the sixth from the left."
  "Thank you, Lios-san."
  When I opened the garage, I found three robots standing in the center, with my stuff in the back, left packed. I went straight to my stuff and started looking for my staff and bayonet gun, finding the gun but not the staff. After double and triple checking, I sat there, confused. I was sure that the hospital gave me back all of my gear that they had, so where was it?
  Crim stopped by. "Hi, Rex-kun!," she greeted. "How are you settling in?"
  I turned to her. "Hello, Crim-san. I'm having trouble finding the staff I used to heal you. Do you have any idea where it is?"
  Crim thought for a moment, then said, "I think the Guardians took it, saying something about illegal modifications made to it..."
  Just my luck. My most useful tool, confiscated. I facepalmed. "I'll need to speak with Lios-san about it later." I looked at the three robots in the middle of the room. "Any idea why these guys are here?"
  "Ah! They're for your Commando," Crim said.
  I blinked. "My what?"
  "It's a small squad of robots that you take with you to missions, quests, and union wars."
  I looked back at the robots. I gave one a shove, and it fell over. "Crim, I don't think these will work as teammates. Are they even alive?"
  "These robots are mass-produced versions that can't run on their own," Crim explained. "When you take too much damage, you're body will be evacuated from the area through an emergency recall system, and it will be replaced by one of these. While your body is being repaired, you'll continue the fight as that robot until either the fight ends or that robot takes too much damage and you switch again."
  Dang, that's a lot to remember. I looked at the big robot, then the small one, and finally the medium-sized one. Changing between these things? It was hard to imagine.
  "Hey Rex-kun, are you free later on?," Crim asked.
  I looked back at her. "Yes, I am. Need something, Crim-san?"
  Crim smiled. "I wanted to introduce you to a bunch of my friends. We're meeting up in the Central Area. Could you join us there in about an hour?"
  I nodded. "Sure thing. That'll give me enough time to ask Lios-san about my staff." Then something came to mind. "Oh! I also have to thank your friend that helped me yesterday. This'll be the perfect opprotunity."
  Crim giggled. "I'm glad you remembered. We'll be over by the fountain. See you there!"
  I waved as she left my garage. "Okay," I said to myself. "First, I need to speak with Lios."
  I made my way to the giant sword. "Hey, Lios-san!"
  Lios turned towards me. "Hi, Rex-kun! Is there anything you need?"
  I got straight to the point. "Yes, I heared from Crim-san that you know something about the staff that I had."
  "Ah, yes!" Lios replied. "There was a modification issue concering that staff. We had to confiscate it, but we're working on a new weapon to give to you. I take it that you like healing?"
  "Yes," I said, "it was really helpful when Crim-san and I had to fight a huge Delgon. It's definately something that I want to keep doing."
  Lios nodded. "Alright, then. We'll make sure you get your tool by the end of tomorrow. We have one of our best engineers working on your weapon right now, so I'll let her know what you want to do."
  "Okay then. Thanks!" With that out of the way, I started making my way towards the Central Area.
  When I stepped off the stargate, I immediately bumped into a girl with greenish hair tied into pigtails and a blue and white outfit. When we collided, she let out a high-pitched "nano!"
  "Oof! Sorry about that," I said. "Are you alright?"
  She looked up to me and beamed. "Yes, nano!" She looked at me for a moment. "Are you new here, nano?"
  I guessed that "nano" was her catchphrase. "Yes, I got here yesterday. My name's Rexir. What's yours?"
  "Nice to meet you, Rex-kun nano! I'm CS-chan, nano! Let's be friends, nano!"
  Odd, there weren't a lot of people that referred to themselves with honorifics. "Are you heading to the BRD area, CS-chan?"
  She saluted. "Yes, nano! CS-chan has important business there, nano! See you later, nano!"
  I waved as she disappeared into the stargate. What a strange girl...
  I looked at the map on my new communicator. The fountain was to the west of the Angel Force base, so it wasn't too far away.
  When I got to the fountain, I saw another girl there, facing away from me. She had blonde hair and light skin, but what caught my attention were the blue mechanical parts that made her look like a centaur. She just had to have been LazFlamme.
  As I ran up to her, I called out, "Hey-!"
  *KLANG!*
  I was interrupted by a sudden back-kick. The next thing I knew, I was sailing through the air. Soon after that, I hit the ground, hard.
  It all happened so quickly, my mind couldn't keep up. I just laid there, staring up at the sky. Then the girl's face came into my view with a shocked expression.
  "I am so sorry! Are you alright?!" Her voice was slightly lower than Crim's, and it had a more mature tone. I could see the worry in her blue eyes.
  Slowly, I stood up. "Yeah, I think so." I'm glad I had my gear on, otherwise I would have probably ended up back in the hospital.
  "Rex-kun!" I heared Crim calling as she made her way to us. She had a big smile, which faded as she got closer. "Laz-san, did you kick him?!"
  Laz looked down in shame. "Sorry." She turned to face me. "I have a bad habit of kicking things that startle me from behind. It helps me on the battlefield, but it causes a lot of problems off of it. I'm sorry for kicking you. I'm LazFlamme."
  I smiled. "Don't worry about it, Laz-san. I'm Rexir." Then I thought about something. "Crim-san, how did you know she kicked me?"
  Crim pointed at my chest. When I looked down, I saw a pair of large dents in my armor. Forget the hospital, she could have killed me!
  Hospital...Oh yeah! "Laz-san, didn't you bring me back to the hospital yesterday after I jumped out the window?"
  She blinked. "That was you?" When I nodded, she got a bit angry. "What were you thinking?! You could have been killed!"
  "I was too busy freaking out to think." I smiled at her. "Thank you for helping me."
  She blushed lightly, then turned away to hide her face. "D-don't mention it."
  I chuckled. Even though she sent me flying, she was really cute too, even though she was showing almost as much skin as Crim was. She didn't show much cleavage, but I could see her underbreasts...
  "I-I'm here," a quiet voice said.
  I took another kick, since the voice came from right behind me. Luckily, I flew over the new person, even if it meant I had to endure this ordeal again.
  "LAZ-SAN!" Crim yelled.
  "I'm sorry!," Laz called out. "Are you alright, Rex-kun?!"
  "I'm fine," I said as I laid on the ground. I looked forward to see who got me kicked.
  This girl had blue hair tied into pigtails, light skin, and teal parts. The ones around her waist looked like a four-piece skirt. Her front was mostly covered up, but her sides wre still visible, especially her breasts, and her zero-suit made it look like she was wearing lacy underwear...
  "Lily-san," Crim began, "you shouldn't sneak up on us like that, especially with Laz-san here!"
  Lily looked down. "I-I'm sorry," she said quietly.
  Laz turned towards her. "Don't worry about me. I ended up kicking Rex-kun again because he was between us. If anything, you need to thank and apologize to him."
  Lily nodded and turned to me. "Thank you, Rex-kun. I'm sorry about you getting kicked." She regained her composure. "My name is Lily Rain."
  Heh, she seemed like a sweet girl. "No problem, Lily-san." I slowly stood up again. "My name's Rexir."
  "Laz-san," Crim said, "you really should try to control yourself. It would be bad if you kicked a civilian."
  Laz turned to face her. "I know, but it's a reflex I've had since I was little. It won't be easy-"
  "HI!" shouted a voice. At that time, a girl with short pink hair, light skin, and pink and green parts flipped the back of Lily's skirt.
  "KYA!," Lily cried.
  *KLANG!*
  Not this again.
  "Rex-kun!," Crim yelled.
  *CRASH!*
  I closed my eyes. What did I do to deserve this? "Hmm...maybe if I stay lying down she won't kick me...," I said to myself.
  "Rex-kun!" It was Laz's voice. I could feel myself being sat up and pulled into an embrace. "I'm sorry! Please wake up!"
  I opened my eyes to look at her. "Don't worry, I'm alright."
  "Laz-san..."
  Laz and I looked at Crim. We could almost see the air bend from her rage. I felt Laz tremble at the sight of her angry friend.
  Laz yelled at the new girl. "Berryl-san! We've asked you not to do that anymore! Lily doesn't like it! How many times do we have to tell you?!"
  I'm sorry," Berryl said through a grin, "but it's more fun this way!"
  Lily made her way behind Crim, as if to put some distance between herself and her violator.
  Crim took a deep breath. "Berrl-san, Rex-kun got kicked by Laz-san because you scared her!"
  "Rex-kun?" Berryl looked at me. "Ah, she must mean you. The name's Regina Winberryl. Nice to meet ya!"
  I nodded. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Rexir." I got a better look at her. She also showed a lot of skin, but unlike the other three, she was small-breasted. I could see lacy underwear sticking out from behind her armor, too.
  "It's gonna be so much better with another guy around!," Winberryl exclaimed. When she saw my confused look, she added, "There are so many girls here, but only a few guys. You're like an endangered species!"
  "By the way," she continued as she grinned wider, "since when did you two get so close? Rex-kun, you sure work fast!"
  I realized that Laz was still holding me. Her skin was very soft and warm. I felt my chest heat up. What was this feeling? It was really nice...
  "Th-th-this isn't what it looks like!," Laz stammerred as she blushed deeply.
  "I'm not saying that it's a bad thing," Berryl teased. "You two look cute together!"
  "S-stop it!," Laz yelled, gripping me tighter.
  Lily's stomach growled. When we all turned to look at her, she blushed and quietly said, "P-pardon me."
  Crim giggled. "It's just about lunch time. Let's go get something to eat!"
----------
  The sun was beginning to set in the Resort Area. The four of us were lying in the grass, looking up at the sky.
  Crim stretched. "Today was really fun! Let's do this again some time!"
  Lily nodded in agreement. Berryl was fast asleep. Laz nudged her, which didn't do much.
  I smiled. This was the first time I really spent a lot of time with anyone. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.
  "Rex-kun," Laz asked, "could you give me a hand with Berryl-san?"
  "Sure thing. Should we wake her up or just bring her to her garage?"
  Crim blinked and then giggled. "We dont stay in our garages, Rex-kun! We live in the barracks. It's a lot more like a dormatory than anything."
  I thought for a moment. "Berryl-san said that there are only a few guys, right?"
  Lily nodded. "It would have been wasteful to construct a whole barracks for just the boys, so we all stay in the same building. You'll be on the first floor with Hu-kun."
  Seriously? It almost sounded like trouble waiting to happen. "Are we allowed on the upper floors?"
  "You'll need special permission from the manager," Laz explained, "but it is possible. In Hu-kun's case, he can visit his sister Long-san on the second floor, but he did get into trouble when Crim brought him into her room to talk about something."
  Crim pouted. "I was allowed into his room, so I didn't see any problem with that. Besides, that was so long ago..."
  "It was just last week," Lily corrected.
  I chuckled. "So basicly, I'm not allowed upstairs. That sounds about right." I wasn't too sure about the other way around, though...
  "Anyways," Laz said, "let's get Berryl-san to her room. She's on the second floor with the rest of us."
  I nodded. Laz and I hoisted Winberryl onto our shoulders, and the five of us made our way back to the BRD area.
----------
  Lios looked over CS-chan's shoulder. "How is it coming along?"
  "Almost done, nano!," CS-chan replied. "The Bachulus Boost Gun just needs to be tested so we can record all of its stats, nano!"
  "Are you sure that we should call it that?," Lios asked.
  CS-chan looked insulted. "Of course, nano! CS-chan's names are always sugoi, nano!"
  Lios sighed. "Well, if you say so."

  When I woke up, I still felt sleepy. The beds in the barracks were so comfortable compared to the one I scavenged on Bricabrac that I wanted to sleep in them for longer. Sadly, an alarm clock buzzed annoyingly at the other side of the room, forcing me out of the covers.
  Someone knocked on my door. After turning the alarm off, I opened the door to find CS-chan waiting for me.
  "Good morning,Rex-kun nano!," she said with a smile.
  "Hello, CS-chan. Do you need something?"
  She pulled out a box from behind her. "This is for you, nano!"
  "Ah, thank you." I opened it to find an odd-looking handgun. "CS-chan, what kind of gun is this?"
  She beamed. "It's the Bachulus Boost Gun, nano! CS-chan designed it to heal robots quickly and efficiently, nano!"
  Dang, I would have never guessed that CS-chan was the one working on my tool. Then again, great minds were often really quirky.
  I smiled in my excitement. "Thanks! It's just what I needed. I can't wait to test this!"
  "No problem, Rex-kun nano! CS-chan has other important things to do, so see you later, nano!," she said as she waved and left.
  I sat down to examine my new gun. It was medium sized, quite large for a handgun. As I pulled it out, I noticed a sheet of paper on the bottom of the box. After getting a better look at it, it turned out to be the gun's status sheet.
  According to the notes on the sheet, the gun took a moment to charge, and it would fire four shots in quick succession. It took about two seconds to cool down. Each shot would repair twenty hit points, and the gun's battery could hold eighty rounds. It could shoot one hundred and fifty units away, and the shots would fly pretty fast.
  "Wow," I said to myself. "This thing seems really useful."
  After signing out of the barracks, I made my way to the Arena counter. When I got there, I found Crim and the others signing up for a round.
  I called to them. "Hey-!"
  *KLANG!*
  Crap. How did I forget about Laz's bad habit?
  "Rex-kun!"
  The four girls made their way to where I landed. Laz got to me first. "Rex-kun, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?!"
  I sat up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you all signing up for the Union Wars?" The girls told me about it yesterday, and I wanted to try it out.
  "Yup!," Winberryl replied. "Wanna join us? We're gonna be in one of the random team match-ups."
  "Sure thing! Just let me setup my Commando."
  I pressed a button on  my communicator and a holographic screen appeared in front of me. Four robots were displayed: myself, a Zero Saber, a Mecha Jetter, and a Destructor. Obviously, I was going to go as myself first...wait. How was I classified as a small bot? I was definately taller than Zero Saber...meh, whatever. I decided to bring the little guy and Destructor with me. Growing up, I never relied on my booster much, and I preferred to keep my feet on the ground.
  With that done, I walked up to the arena counter and looked through the rooms I could join. After finding the girls, I signed up for their game. Laz, Lily and I were on the Alpha team, while Crim and Berryl were on Bravo.
  "How come we're on different teams?" I asked.
  Crim turned to me. "It's supposed to help us adapt to various situations."
  "Different robots fight differently," Berryl continued. "This way, we learn more about our strengths and weaknesses as well as how others can fight."
  That made a lot of sence. "I see. Good luck to you, Crim-san, Berryl-san."
  A bunch of other people signed up for our match-up. After a couple of minutes, we were warped to the Green Field.
----------
  This place was rather nice for a battlefield. Blue skies, a big, open field of grass with young Damtrees dotting the sides, hills on all sides of the map, and not a single scratch on the place. It seemed devoid of conflict...
  When I asked Lily about it, she replied, "This place is a simulation set in a room in the Cosmic Ark. If you try to leave the battlefield, you'll run into a wall instead." When I held out my hand at the edge of the area, sure enough, I felt one.
  When a voice in the communicators said "Ready," everyone got back into place. I felt an item get stuffed into one of my pockets. It was a Hypershot. After a few seconds, the announcer yelled "START!"
  Everyone started moving all at once. Land bots ran off, airs took flight, and the rest of us did our best to keep up. In the distance, I saw robots ramming into each other and shots flying everywhere.
  After a short while, one of our teammates radioed in "I need repairs!" I answered back with a "roger." A girl I hadn't seen before ran up to me. She had brown hair, caramel eyes, light skin, and yellow parts. She carried a large saber and a magnum.
  She waved to me. I fired my new healgun at her, restoring her to a stable condition. "Meet up with me over at the Power Spot!," she yelled to me over the sounds of gunfire.
  "What's a power spot?," I yelled back.
  "Follow me!," she replied.
  When we got to the foot of our hill, I saw a large hovering machine, sending out some kind of wave under it. The girl motioned for me to stand inside of the field. When I did, my guns started to glow.
  "Now try healing me!," she said.
  When I pulled the trigger, a flurry of shots burst from my gun. She moaned in pleasure as they hit her.
  "Thanks!," she said as she ran back to the front lines.
  I looked at the number on my gun's screen. 66...that ate up ten shots?! I would need extra ammo if that was how fast I'd run out!
  Lily called out, "Someone, help me!" She wasn't too far from where I was, and I could see an enemy land-type chasing her on my radar. I ran to intercept the attacker, and saw a girl with silver hair, light skin, and a black dress. She had what looked like a mechanical arm with a rapier in hand. She also had a strange red aura coming from her...
  As Lily passed my hiding spot, I lunged at the girl with my bayonet. One problem: she didn't even flinch.
      "You dare challenge me?," she said calmly. She slashed at me with her rapier, the sheer force of the swing knocking me off my feet. The power this girl had seemed too much to be real, yet the pain was too real for me to not keel over.
  The girl slowly walked over to me. "You must be new," she said in a soft, yet cruel tone, "otherwise you would have known not to cross me." As she raised her weapon to finish me, her red aura vanished. "My name is Ivis," she continued. "Remember it."
  *KLANG!*
  Ivis flew out of my view as Laz came into it. As she reached her hand out to me, she asked, "Are you alright, Rex-kun?"
  The warm feeling I felt before came back as I grabbed her hand. "Yeah," I replied, "I think so."
  "You took a lot of damage," Laz said. "Let's get you back to the power spot. I'll cover you."
  I smiled at her. "Thanks, Laz-san."
  "D-don't mention it." she said, blushing lightly.
  Ivis was making her way back, with anger in her red eyes and her aura up again. Laz yelled into her communicator, "I need backup! Ivis is here!"
  Suddenly, I felt myself being dragged away from the fight. When I looked behind me, Winberryl was shooting me with her drawgun.
  "You're not going anywhere, Rex-kun!," she said teasingly. She then deployed her binding field, trapping me in thorns.
  "Don't count me out just yet!," I yelled at her. I pressed the button on my Hypershot, charging up my guns. I fired my handgun at her as if it were a machinegun. After taking a lot of hits, she dove for cover, releasing me from my thorny prison.
  Crim soared overhead. "KYA!," she cried as a missile blew up behind her, making her fall on me. I quickly rolled on top of her, my bayonet raised, and then...I stopped.
      Crim openned an eye a little, and said, "What are you waiting for, Rex-kun? Aren't you going to finish me?"
  I sat there, unable to land the final blow. My weapon was ready to dive into her, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.
  At that moment, the announcer called out, "Game set! Alpha team loses!" From Crim's communicator, it said "Bravo team wins!"
  I looked at my wrist. Alpha team's BP was reduced to zero, while Bravo's had barely anything left. Ivis was the last attacker, and had ripped through most of our BP.
----------
  The four girls and I met up in the Resort area. They were talking about how the battle went, as if it were no big deal.
  "...you should have seen how serious Rex-kun got when I bound him!," Berryl said. "I nearly peed myself when he popped a Hypershot and fired at me!"
  Laz laughed. "Rex-kun nearly beat you? He was the Best Supporter, not the Game Warrior!"
  "He did save me from Ivis," Lily added. "He was really brave, especially for a support-type." She turned to me. "Thank you, Rex-kun."
  I nodded as I continued to stare into space. "No problem, Lily-san."
  Laz noticed my behavior. "Rex-kun, is something wrong?"
  I closed my eyes. I couldn't find the words to tell her that we lost because I didn't attack Crim.
  Crim spoke up. "Near the end of the match, Rex-kun had the chance to finish me, but he stopped right before he did. If he did do it, you guys would have won."
  Laz grabbed my shoulders and turned me towards her. "What happenned? Why did you freeze up like that?" I could see the concern in her eyes.
  I sighed. "It wasn't the same as ripping through Ranbots and a massive Delgon," I said. "Crim is a sweet girl and a really good friend of mine. I couldn't bring myself to hurt her."
  The girls blinked, looked at each other and smiled. Crim hugged me and said, "You're a really nice guy, Rex-kun. Thanks for worrying about me."
  Laz nodded. "If that's how you feel, then we should do some missions together. That way, you won't have to fight against us.
  "You could be a dedicated healer," Lily added. "There usually aren't enough medics in the arenas, so you could help your team that way."
  "There he is!," a familiar voice yelled. When I looked in it's direction, the girl I healed earlier and two others were facing us.
  She ran up to me as she talked to her friends. "This is the guy that healed me. He's really good at it!" She turned to me. "Thanks for healing me in the arena! Are you new here? What's your name?"
  She sure had a lot of energy. "My name's Rexir. What's yours?"
  She grinned widely. "You can call me Seiba. It's really nice to meet you!"
  One of her friends caught up. "Seiba-san, it isn't good to leave Desuko-san behind!"
  Desuko finally got to us. "You two are mean..." she said in a quiet voice.
  "We're sorry, Desuko-san," Seiba said. She turned back to me. "These are my friends, Jetta-san and Desuko-san!"
  I nodded. "Nice to meet you two. I'm Rexir." Huh, the three of them looked oddly familiar...
  "Rex-kun, which union did you join?," Jetta asked.
  I looked at her. "BRD. How about you three?"
  Desuko smiled. "We're in the same union, then. I'll look forward to working with you, Rex-kun."
  "Desuko-san," Seiba fussed, "don't keep him for yourself! I wanna join in, too!"
  Jetta giggled. "I'm sure that we'll all get a chance to be with him. See you all later!"
  As the three of them left, I noticed that it was getting late. "Let's head back for today," I suggested my friends. The girls nodded in agreement.
  "Oh, one last thing," I added. "Thanks for cheering me up."
  "No problem, Rex-kun," Laz said as she smiled warmly.
  Winberryl grinned widely as she eyed us. "Getting cozy again, Laz-san?"
  "W-w-what do you mean?!," Laz retorted.
  Berryl laughed. "Don't worry about it, it's nothing."
----------
  We were in the middle of a rolling plains, just the two of us. I couldn't stop looking at her vague, smiling face as the wind flowed through her golden hair. I felt that I knew who she was, but I couldn't see her clearly. I stepped forward and-
  *BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!*
  Dammit, alarm clock! I was just getting to the good part!
  I rolled out of bed in an attempt to approach my rude accessory. I had strategicly placed it on the far side of the room so that I had to actually get up to turn off the irritating buzzer. If I didn't, I'd have went right back to sleep. I was really looking forward to seeing if that was really my mother, too...
  As I stepped out of my room, half-asleep, I walked right into someone standing at my doorway. Silver hair and a black bow...why did these look familiar?
  "You must be either very brave or very stupid to walk right into me," said an annoyed Ivis.
  Oh crap! "S-sorry," I sputterred. Of all of the people to run into, why did it have to be her?!
  She pierced me with her gaze. "You've been spending a lot of time with Crimrose lately, correct?"
  "Yes, I have. Why do you ask?"
  Her red eyes narrowed. "I'm going to say this once. Stay away from her, or you will regret it."
  I guess now is a good time for me to tell you a little bit more about myself. Growing up, I was picked on by my peers. I didn't like it, at all. I would get into fights over being bullied, most of which I would lose because I would often get ganged up on. In my early teenage years, they stopped soon after I learned how to properly use a handgun.
  I felt my anger begin to bubble up inside of me. "And why is it so important that I stay away from her?," I retorted.
  Ivis blinked, then returned my glare. "That is a private matter." She turned to walk away and said, "You've been warned."
  "You think you can just waltz up to my room and boss me around, just because you think you're strong?!," I spat out.
  "I don't think I'm strong. I am strong, and you are weak."
  Something inside me snapped. "Oh, WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT!," I yelled.
  Ivis stopped and looked back with a small grin. "Is that a challenge?," she asked.
  "You bet it is!," I replied. At this point, my temper was the one doing most of the talking.
  "In that case," she began, "at noon, let's have a private match, you and me. The loser has to obey the winner's orders for a week. The password is 2746."
  I typed the number into my communicator. "Fine. I'll see you then."
  After Ivis walked away, I noticed Seiba, Jetta and Desuko making their way towards me. "Rex-kun," Desuko said, "did you just-"
  "Challenge Ivis to a duel?," I finished for her. "Yes, I did. Why do you-"
  "NO!," Seiba shouted as she tackled me. "Don't do it, Rex-kun! I don't want you to die!"
  I was taken aback by the sudden outburst. "Seiba-san, I'm not going to die."
  Jetta spoke up. "Rex-kun, suicide and dueling Ivis are almost the same thing. We learned that the hard way."
  "We took her on three against one," Desuko continued, "and she still beat us. Please reconsider this."
  I could feel myself getting irritated again. "Do you all think that I don't stand a chance at beating her? Is that it?!"
  The three girls got really quiet. In the pause, I heared someone coming down the staircase down the hall.
  Jetta broke the silence. "Rex-kun, it's not that there isn't any hope at winning against Ivis, but your chances are very slim." She looked down. "I just don't want to see you get hurt..."
  I couldn't stay mad after hearing those words. These girls were my friends, even if I met them not too long ago. They cared about me, and that was what mattered. It made me smile.
  "I see. I'm sorry about getting upset with you all." I paused, and then said, "I won't go back on my word, but I'll take any advise you can give me. I plan on winning, even if not by brute force."
  Seiba perked up. "Land-types are weak to beam weapons!"
  I chuckled. "I know that, Seiba-san."
  Desuko closed her eyes. After a while, she opened them. "Rex-kun," she said, "I have an idea..."
----------
  When the promised hour arrived, I met up with Ivis at the arena counter. She still had that taunting smile from earlier.
  "At the very least," she began, "you either have courage that Bladine would be proud of or enough honor for you to keep your promises. Either way, it won't change the fact that I'll win."
  I looked right into her eyes. "Oh, really?" A smug smile broke my poker face. "We'll see about that."
  After she pressed a few icons on the holoscreen of her communicator, we warped off to the battle arena.
----------
  This place was rather small, with a pit in the center and ledges around it. The air was rather cool, and stars dotted the sky.
  Ivis popped up on my communicator. "You know," she said, "you can still surrender. At the very least, nobody would see you do it. I can tell that you're afraid to fight me."
  I looked at her. "Yes, I'll admit that I am afraid. Anyone in my position would be terrified. Tell me, what is courage?"
  She gave me an uninterested look. "So what if you can face your fears? As a support-type, you have no hope of beating me."
  I returned  her gaze with my smug look again. "That's where you're wrong. It's because I'm a support-type that I'll win."
  Ivis smiled darkly. "I see that you are masochistic enough to want to be slain. Very well, I'll make sure to end this quickly." With that, she vanished from the screen.
  Soon afterwards, I saw her dashing towards me, boosters blazing and aura glowing. I readied my secret weapon at her, waiting for just the right moment. Right before she got into melee range, I fired it at her, landing a direct hit.
-----Flashback-----
  "So long as you stay away from a land-type," Desuko suggested, "it won't be able to hit you with its melee attacks. Based on our previous battles, Ivis uses her melee weapon exclusively in order to inflict the most damage in the shortest time possible."
  Jetta sighed. "I was fine when I was airborne, but she got me when I ran out of boost."
  I thought for a moment. "That sounds good in theory, but land-types move the fastest on the ground. I won't be able to outrun her."
  I noticed that whoever was coming down the stairs was listening in on the conversation. "Can I help you?," I asked.
  Laz and Berryl walked into the hallway. "Morning, Rex-kun!," Berryl said. Laz blushed a little, probably from being caught.
  "Hey, you two," I replied. "Good timing. There's something I'd like to ask you both."
  They looked at me with interest. "What's up?," Berryl asked.
  "If I had to fight one, what would be the best way for me to deal with a melee attacker?"
  Berryl grinned. "That's easy! A shock weapon would be your best bet."
  I turned to Laz. "What does a shock weapon do that'll help me beat a melee bot?"
  "Shock weapons short-circuit auto-lock sub weapons and numb the body, making sub missiles and melee attacks useless," Laz explained. "I've accidently jumped into Bugsycait's shock shield on various occasions, and none of those were pleasant."
  "A shock weapon," I thought out loud, "I think I have one of those..."
-----End of flashback-----
  Sparks flew as the shock bazooka round zapped Ivis. Caught off guard, she ended up tripping over a stone sticking out of the ground. The momentum of her charge made her collide with me, the velocity knocking me off my feet. We fell to the ground, in an awkward position. And before you ask, no, I did not really enjoy that.
  I rolled myself on top, over her trembling body. "Does it shock you that I know your fatal weak point?" After making my bad pun, I fired both the zook and a beam machinegun at her. Pinned by our postioning, she was forced to take it all in, unable to fight back.
  When I finished unloading everything into her, she didn't even have the strength to move a muscle. I dismissed my weapons and picked her up as if she were a fragile princess. "It looks like I win, Ivis-san," I declared.
  "By the way," I continued as I whispered into her ear, "the joke's on you. I told one of the girls the password to our room. This fight was broadcasted to the entire Ark!"
  Ivis's eyes shot open, tears flowing from them. Sobs of despair escaped her as we made our way back to the BRD area.
----------
  "Ivis-san," Crim asked her friend, "what's wrong?"
  Ivis looked like a broken doll, following me as though she had no will of her own. I brought her to the Resort area after the fight.
  I turned to Crim. "Ivis-san lost a bet with me. She's pretty much my slave for a week."
  Crim pouted. "That's mean, Rex-kun!"
  "You don't understand," I said as I giggled, "She's the one who made the terms of our bet."
  Winberryl laughed. "Looks like her pride got the better of her this time, huh?"
  Lily looked at me suspiciously. "Rex-kun, you wouldn't force her to do anything like...that...right?"
  "Nah, I wouldn't do anything to her." I looked at Lily from the corner of my eye and said, "Lily-san, you're a bigger pervert than I thought you were!"
Lily blushed a bright crimson, unable to retort. The rest of us (minus Ivis) laughed.
  "Don't worry about it, Lily-san!," Berryl said, reassuring her friend. "It's not that hard to imagine a guy with a slave girl doing naughty things to her."
  It only made her blush more deeply.
  I looked at Ivis and felt a twinge of pity. "Excuse me, girls. I need to speak with Ivis, privately." The two of us made our way from the group to a more secluded spot.
  Once we were alone, I asked her, "Ivis? What's wrong?"
  When she didn't respond, I ordered her to. "Everyone knows..." she muttered.
  "About the fight?," I finished. "Hehe, about that...I lied."
  Ivis blinked. "...huh?"
  I stared into the distance. "I was really frustrated with how you were treating me earlier. I wanted to get back at you, but this was way more effective than I thought it would be." I looked into Ivis's eyes and said, "Nobody deserves something like that. I'm sorry for hurting you, and for making you cry like you did."
  I braced myself for her retribution, but it never came. Instead, she broke our eye contact. "I can't believe I let you trick me..." she muttered. She looked up at me. "I kind of hate you for it, but it was sort of my fault too. I can forgive you this time," she said as she frowned, "but don't you dare do it again."
  I smiled, but then something came to mind. "Ivis-san," I asked, "please tell me, why are you against me seeing Crim-san?"
  "Do I have to?" Ivis complained. When I nodded, she sighed. "Ever since we were little, Crim has been my best friend." She looked into the distance with sadness in her eyes. "We were orphans. She was the one that would always play with me, even as the other children disappeared, one at a time. When I thought I had lost her, I gave into the power if Chaos so nothing could come between us ever again." Slowly, a blush began to appear on her face. "That's when she saved me again. Even though the entire Cosmic Ark hated me, she never gave up on me."
  "Ivis-san, do you love Crim-san?," I asked abruptly.
  Suddenly, Ivis's rapier was at my throat. "How do you know my secret?!," she whispered.
  I chuckled, even at swordpoint. "You just told me! It's also written all over your face when you think of her."
  Ivis blushed furiously. Slowly, she lowered her weapon. "Tell anyone and I WILL end you," she said quietly.
  "It's all starting to make sense," I continued. "I take it that you didn't want me to take her away from you, right?" At that, Ivis nodded.
  "Then there's nothing to worry about!" I exclaimed. "Crim-san's cute, and she's a good friend, but that's all that's between us. If anything, she's more like a sister I never had!"
  Ivis looked up at me, her eyes lit up. "Is that true?! Do you mean that?!"
  I smiled at her. "Yes, I mean it." After a moment, I added, "If anything changes, I'll let you know first, okay?"
  She eyed me a little darkly. "Do you promise?"
  "Yes, I promise."
  "Good," Ivis said as she looked up at the sky. "It's getting late. Let's get back to the others."
  When we got back, Laz had joined the others. I waved to her so that she wouldn't be surprised to see me.
  "Laz!," I called out from the distance. Whe she heared me, she turned and waved back.
  "Hey, Rex-kun," she said with a smile. "It's good to see you still in one piece!"
  "It's thanks to your and Berryl's advice from earlier that I managed to win," I said as the warm feeling came back. "Thank you, Laz-san."
  "You're welcome," she said as her gaze met mine.
  Winberryl giggled as she watched the two of us...
----------
  We stood in the field again, with the wind still blowing gently. The girl was there again, still smiling at me. This time, I didn't waste a moment and walked up to her. As I held her in my arms, with a warm feeling in my chest, I looked deep into her blue eyes. In an instant, I recognized her.
  She wasn't my mother; her eyes were green, not blue.