A New Weapon

by Daemon

Chapter Nine: Gaining Friends

Yet another week had passed on the GOA. All was calm and there had only been 2 Victim attacks. Skai’s voice had come back but it didn’t matter, she never did talk anyway. Everyone was in the hanger and that’s when things started going wrong. Rioroute had made his move on Kazuhi and Yuu was having a fit. They were on another level of the hanger. The hanger had different levels to make it easier for the repairers to repair the mecha’s. Yuu and Rioroute were around the top because Kazuhi had been working in the cockpit.

“You jerk! Leave my sister alone!” Yelled Yuu. While throwing a punch and hitting Rioroute in the mouth.

“Let her decide for herself!” Rioroute shouted pushing Yuu off of him.

Yuu hadn’t expected this and there fore went flying. There was no rail on the level so Yuu fell off the side.

“YUU!!!” screeched Kazuhi. And before anyone could do or say anything more, Skai had jumped off of the level above Kazuhi, Yuu and Rioroute and was now picking up speed as she fell towards Yuu.

“SKAI!!! YUU!!!” everyone yelled in unison.

He was falling and falling fast. Skai vaulted over the rail of her level and sped towards Yuu. Yuu couldn’t see her because he had his eyes closed. Everyone screamed there names and Gare and Ernest were ready to catch the two. Suddenly, Skai had locked her arms around Yuu’s and she closed her eyes. Just as she closed her eyes a pair of blue wings sprouted from her shoulder blades giving her the ability to fly.

The others watched in awe as she slowly landed and placed Yuu upright on the ground. She landed herself and turned to look at the others. Her eyes had changed from the emerald green they were to the sapphire blue they were now. She smiled and closed her eyes. She looked up towards Kazuhi and Rioroute. The wings started to sink into her back. The feathers landed in a neat pile behind her and she slowly opened her eyes. They were back to the emerald green. She looked at the people on the ground and they stared at her. She looked down with embarrassment and panic.

Gare approached her and put his hands on her shoulder and her eyes darted around the room. No one’s supposed to know! She screamed at herself. Ernest heard her and looked at Erts. He had heard it too. Gareas looked into her eyes and said slowly:

“Skai, how did you do that?”

Skai looked at him and her eyes turned to an emerald blaze. Gareas almost stepped back in shock but he held his ground. She turned on him and started yelling at him:

“YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW!!! NONE OF YOU SHOULD!!! I SHOULDN’T HAVE SAVED YOU!!!” she screamed pointing at Yuu. “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!! ALL OF YOU PEOPLES FAULT!!! I NEVER SHOULD’VE COME HERE!!! I NEVER SHOULD’VE SAVED YUU!!! DAMN THE COLONY THAT SENT ME HERE! DAMN MY PARENTS FOR DYING! DAMN THE MERCENARIES FOR KILLING THEM! DAMN THE GOA FOR FINDING ME! AND DAMN YOU PEOPLE FOR PUTTING ME IN ALL THESE POSITIONS!!! YOU’VE BEEN NOTHING BUT TROUBLE FOR ME EVER SINCE I CAME HERE AND NOW THIS!!! WHY CAN’T YOU JUST STAY OUT OF MY WAY!!! WHY CAN’T I GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD!!! WHY CAN’T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?!?!?! THAT’S WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO BE!!! ALONE!!!…” She yelled furiously. As soon as she was done yelling she kneed Gareas you-know-where and kicked him in the stomach sending him flying into Ernest. She then ran out of the hanger crying and everybody watched as she disappeared down the hall.

When she was gone Leena ran over to Gareas asking if he was okay and asking if he needed anything. Ernest was lost in thought, Kazuhi and Rioroute were running down the stairs to see if Yuu was alright, Yuu stood there trying to digest some of the screaming Skai had done and Erts and the other repairers just sort of stood where they were wondering whether or not to say anything. A deadly silence swept over them and they all looked at one another.

“I shouldn’t have gotten all uptight about Rioroute.” Yuu admitted softly.

“I probably shouldn’t have tried to make a move on Kazuhi up there.” Said Rioroute looking down.

“I shouldn’t have asked her how she did that.” Said Gareas still with his hands between his legs.

This went on for a while on how each shouldn’t have said or done something. Finally Ernest and Erts left. They knew where Skai was but they dared not approach her. They walked together in thought avoiding the relaxation room. They both knew a while ago she had told Rioroute something. They could hear his thoughts and he was thinking something about bigger problems. They wanted to know what she meant as well but they didn’t want to ask her now.

She ran to the relaxation room. This was a calm place she could cry in. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately, crying that is. She sat near the waterfall, knees tucked up to her chest, arms around her legs, and chin on her knees. She watched the water as it flowed over the rocks and fell onto more rocks. She should just leave. She didn’t have to be here and the Sora-Novus can walk under Zion’s gravity. She’d be fine, so why didn’t she leave? She put her face down and cried into her knees. Why was she always alone? Here she wasn’t alone in reality but she was emotionally. She always felt like she didn’t belong.

She should really be getting back to class. Not that she needed it. She should be a full pledged goddess pilot by now. But she had missed so much that they couldn’t pass her. Damn the GOA, the GOA and their stupid rules.

She heard footsteps coming towards the relaxation room. She rocked a little and sat quietly. She waited for the doors to open and for someone to come in and ruin her silence, not on purpose of course. She listened to the opening doors. She could make out a bit of a scraping sound. It wasn’t too noticeable; she just wanted to avoid the person coming in. She heard the footsteps come to a halt as the person saw her sitting there.

“What do you want?” she asked the person coming in.

“Just to talk.” Said Rioroute, she’d know his voice anywhere.

“Why?” demanded Skai.

“Just about what you said to Gare.” He replied calmly.

“You really do get too concerned. What I said was directed towards all of you and that’s why you’d like to know more. You strive for information but nobody sees that. All they see is Mr. Happy-pants, Mr. Happy-go-lucky-don’t-have-a-care-in-the-world. Nobody knows the real you. Isn’t that right?” she asked turning to face him.

He was sitting on the couch with a serious look on his face. Skai knew she was right. He put his chin in his hands and looked at her. “So what if you’re right I just like to keep the energy flowing.” He noted closing his eyes.

“And the information coming. You have your own methods to finding things out.” She returned to the waterfall.

“Why are you so sad?” he asked out of he blue. “Why must you be alone?”

“Because if I get close to anybody I’ll feel that I need to protect them. This could lead to my defeat or my death.” She put her hand under the small waterfall. “I didn’t choose to live alone. I was just sort of made to be alone.” She looked at Rioroute with the saddest of eyes. He could see all the pain she had endured while being on Zion, all the loneliness. He thought he could almost feel it but knew he really couldn’t.

“Well here on GOA you’re not really alone are you?” he asked looking past her.

“Well yes I am. While in reality I’m not, in here I am.” She pointed to her heart and looked away again.

This wasn’t really making sense to Rio but he knew he could get something out of this. “Well we could be friends couldn’t we?” he asked sceptically.

“You could think we were friends but we may or may not really be.” She said playing around with the water.

“Well I’ll consider myself your friend and you mine.” He smiled. He was definitely going to get something out of this, a new friend.

“You can consider me your friend but you’ll never know if I really am.” She didn’t look at him, just focused on the water. Suddenly she lifted some water out of the little pond and dumped it on Rioroute’s head. “If we’re friends then you won’t mind me doing that.” She giggled and ran out of the relaxation room leaving a stunned Rio to look at his wet clothes and watch his new friend disappear.

Well he did get a new friend, didn’t he?

“Why are you all wet?” asked Gare as Rioroute walked into the mess hall.

“Long story.” Said Rioroute trying to get the water out of his ears.

“I’m not going anywhere.” He said looking at his soaked comrade.

“I had a talk with Skai and apparently we’re friends.” He said. “To make a long story short.”

“The water?” pressed Gare.

“Eh, she dumped some water on me and ran away giggling.” He was ringing out his bandana.

“And you talked about…” Gare kept going.

“…Stuff. Like why she thought she was alone and why she’s sad. Stuff like that. If you’re nice to her she may actually give you a straight answer.” He looked at his shirt and wondered how he was going to dry it off.

“Well my chances are ka-put.” He looked at Rioroute and smiled. “But you could always find things out for me.”

“Eh? No. I don’t think so. You made a mistake and now you gotta correct it.” He started sitting down just as the other pilots started coming in. “And she’d know if someone was doing it for you.” He winked and got up to get lunch.

“Hmm…she would, would she.” He breathed softly. This was something to sleep on.

“Hey Azuma I decided to come to training even if you all ask me stupid questions.” She said as she walked through the doors.

“Well you’re just in time for your match against Hiead with the Pro-Ings.” He scowled.

“Eh, whatever.” She shrugged and walked over to her Pro-Ing. She had just finished working on it yesterday as much as she despised it. She hopped in and prepared to battle Hiead.

“Ready to lose?” Hiead asked smirking.

“You mean lose more of my mysteriousness? Yes.” She grinned.

“How do you intend on fighting without a repairer?” he asked in a know-it-all tone.

“My Pro-Ing was specially made to run straight from my EX strength. And if you were smart enough, you’d know it takes a lot of EX to power anything.” This put a smile on her face. “Now enough talk let’s rock.” She started up her Pro-Ing and they headed out into space because it would be safer to fight out there. “Now all I have to do is pull out your power pack right?” she asked daringly.

“It’s not like you’re gonna.” He said matching her tone.

“At least you’ve got some guts.” She smiled and launched towards him in a gust and swiftly pulled out his pack. “I win can we go back now?” she turned towards Azuma in the launching area.

“Uh…ya…yes you can come back.” He stammered.

She headed in and got out of her Pro-Ing. “I don’t feel like watching the rest of you amateurs battle out this whatever it is so I’ll just be going. I’ll be in the gym if you need me.” She waved and walked away.

“That girl seriously bugs me.” Yamagi said to Roose.

“Better not tell her that or she’ll be after you.” He whispered back.

“I heard that Yamagi!” the girl yelled from down the hall.

She walked into the gym and started punching the punching bag. ‘This was pointless. Being here on GOA. She was better than everyone here and she knew it. Why didn’t she just wander the galaxies killing victim everywhere? That would be a fantasy.’

She had been working out for about 2 hours when the break bell rang and a stampede sounded outside. Skai ignored it and kept on doing her flips she was practising. She was getting quite good at it actually. She got up onto the bar that was in the middle of the room and did a back flip off of it. She landed square on her feet and then started doing some karate moves. Just as she was finishing she heard someone walk in. She didn’t look at them.

“It’s polite to knock you know.” She said figuring it was a boy.

“Ya but I’m not polite.” He said. She could tell it was either Force or Hiead.

She turned around and looked at him, it was Force. “What do you want?” she asked putting exaggeration into ‘you want’.

“Nothing. Just wanted to ask you why you didn’t just kill me when you had the chance?” he said sitting on a mat watching her.

“Well lets start things off with I never wanted to fight you in the first place, I knew I would beat you, and I had to show you I wasn’t a wimp.” She picked up a stick and started practising her kendo.  “I don’t understand why you’re so concerned, considering that it was 2 months ago.”

Force thought for a moment. He watched Skai as he thought. Her movements were swift and smooth. She would never miss her target and she would never lose on purpose. She’d never back down from a challenge and somehow she would never use all her energy. “Aren’t you going to eat?” he asked suddenly.

Skai looked at him and then focused on her imaginary target. “No I’m not hungry.”

“Why don’t you come to classes?” he asked. He was just randomly asking her any question that came to his head.

“Because I have no use for them. They don’t help me in any way so I don’t see why I should attend.” She decided to answer his questions.

“Why do you do all this training?”

“Because I have to keep up my sense for battle and when I go out I have to be prepared.”

“If it’s just for that reason why don’t you come to class.” He anticipated.

“I can learn a lot more on my own than from your stinkin’ classes.” She retorted.

“But if you don’t pass the test you won’t be able to become a goddess pilot.” He pressed.

“Look I don’t need you to pry into my life and reasons! I can handle things on my own and I don’t need you to try and convince me to attend your stupid class. I have my own mecha and I can leave whenever I want. I don’t even know why I’m staying here. I should leave you know! Just leave me alone!” Skai was getting frustrated with Force’s arrogance.

“But why would you want to-” Skai cut him off.

“SHUT UP! GOD YOU DON’T KNOW WHEN TO STOP DO YOU?” she threw the stick down and it broke into hundreds of pieces. She stomped out of the room and headed to the next floor to relax in the observation room.

Skai walked into the observation room. As she walked in she noticed one of the girls from her room, Ikhny was her name. She headed over to the bench and sat down beside her.

“Hey.” Skai said.

“Hm.” Ikhny jumped a little but smiled. “Oh hi!” she welcomed.

“Is Force always annoying and rude?” Skai asked out of the blue.

“Well I don’t really know him much so I can’t really say.” Ikhny answered after thinking a bit.

“Well that kid makes me so mad…” she started.

“You can’t really call him a kid though. He is the same age as you.” Ikhny looked at her.

“Must you always be so right?” she glared. Ikhny cowered in her seat.

Skai got up and walked to another bench expecting to be alone. But she wasn’t. Rio came up and sat beside her. “What do you want?” she asked flatly.

“Well I’d really like some lunch and then some snack and then maybe an afternoon dessert.” He looked at her and smiled his goofy smile.

“You really know how to bug a girl don’t you?” she asked looking out the window. 

“Oh I do? Yay! another thing I can tell Phil I know how to do.” He said childishly.

“What do you want me to answer now?” she asked emphasizing on ‘now’.

Eyes around the room gawked as Skai acted so disrespectfully to the goddess pilot.

“I don’t need your eyes around the room either.” She said to the window but everybody knew she was talking to the people around the room.

“Huh? Anyways I wanted to know if you’re still my friend.”

Skai looked at Rio and his childish request. “I told you, you can never really know.” She continued to stare out the window.

“You’re not going to dump water on me again are you?” he asked with a sad puppy face.

Just then some water dumped on top of Rio’s head and Skai started laughing. “Sorry I was going to drink that but you made me laugh.” She giggled.

“Ha ha very funny Skai. Now I’m all wet again.” He looked at his soaking clothes and suddenly it looked as if time was reversing. The water was being plucked off his shirt and was forming into a ball above his head.

“I can’t drink this! It has bits of cloth in it. Thanks a lot Rio.” She said hinting the sarcasm.

“What? What’d I do?” he asked obliviously.

“Ugh.” She walked out the door with the water trailing along slowly behind her.

“What? What’d I do? I’m sorry I apologize for whatever I did. Come on Skai.” Rio followed her.

“Stop it! You’re going to make me laugh and drop the water on you again.” She walked into the girls’ washroom and put the water into the sink. She made a small cup of water and drank it. She needed that. She walked outside and Rio was no longer there. She headed back to the observation deck. She liked it here. A shadow appeared behind her.

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