Finally, school is back in session. I walk to my afternoon AMS training class after a good lunch. My right eye with a black ring around it and a couple of scratches on my face. It appears Genevive does wear rings on a daily basis. Found that out the very hard way. Seraphina seems to be trying to ignore the whole situation and hasn't spoken to me but did do a morning workout with me. I still find the whole situation hilarious, but I will admit, that was a little bit in poor taste of me to say.

I walk into the hangar about forty-five minutes before class to see what they did to Wendigo. The hangar is empty except for support staff and I make my way to my other half. Surface level Wendigo looks no different from usual but upon closer inspection, the way the main armor plating sits looks a bit odd. I can't explain it exactly as I truly don't understand what it is now but there seem to be random tile-like patterns. I shrug and start to move on but I notice my bushmaster isn't there anymore. Instead, it's a much bigger gun and one I recognize quickly. A Bofors 40mm autocannon with upgrades making it look very similar to a battle rifle, vaguely m14 looking but the flared open barrel was replaced with a tight muzzle break.

I let out a long whistle looking the massive cannon up and down. I don't know the exact model but I know the classic cannon anywhere. I touch the cold metal and find a sticky-not on it. I remove it and it reads,

'Hey Mike, the 57mm broke during testing, don't ask how. We found this old hardware in a back room and made it work for ya. Our friends over at Bofors are making us a special one for later. The L/70 seems to really rely on a heavy turret so they are making one for AMS usage. Anyway, have fun!'

-Kassandra

I take the note and put it in my pocket before climbing the ladder. I hop onto Wendigos back and slide down my hole. Inside is no different really, just a chair and a very cramped cavity. I take note the walls seem to possibly be made of a different material. Possibly an anti-spalling coat of some kind. I sit in my chair and it adjusts to my body and I take a deep breath before kicking the pedal.

The agony washes over me before it goes away as quickly and suddenly as it appears. Systems slowly come online and I feel different as my limbs lengthen and become steel and my skin composite armor. Yet something is up.

[Long time no see me. How have you been?]

(Good, how are you?)

[I'm doing okay, they haven't lobotomized either me or you yet. Thankfully she is slowly dripping old memories into you. I'm tired of carrying all the killer instinct]

(Yeah, yeah. Shut the fuck up Mr.ones and zeros)

[Oooohh low blow. I see even without memories we are still retarded with women.]

(How do you know that?)

[I can literally access your mind]

(That's no fair)

[So? And?]

(Whatever. What new features you got for us?)

[Well most upgrades have been in the survivability department. First, our shield is now stable. This means we have a set value and power to keep track of, not just how it feels to be for the day. Still don't recommend getting hit though. It's a super-advanced shield, but still in the prototype phase. Most important is the ablative armor coat on top of our regular hull armor. It means we can just shrug off lots of energy-based damage like that horrible laser from before. The downside is the armor does chip away as we take damage. Once the ablative layer is gone we have maybe three-quarters of what we had before. Since we don't face many kinetic threats this is manageable, but I assume you can potentially dodge a direct hit from any regular gun or cannon. Aside from that really nothing has changed, reliability stuff and ease of repairs. Nothing to affect us so long as we don't take too much damage. They also resharpened our predator blades.]

(I see, thanks for the rundown. I guess we gotta go walk around like children for a while)

[Yeah... that's one way to put it.]

I pick up the heavy cannon and I am alerted that it carries fifteen rounds per magazine and my ammo stowage holds nearly fifty extra magazines, another ammo explosion waiting to happen considering the explosive filler in 40mm is far greater than that of 25mm. Also, the 40x311mm projectiles have a bigger payload than the 40mm grenade pistol. The big cannon is a little more unwieldy than the bushmaster due to the massive shells, but the barrel seemingly was cut down to decrease the overall length. I know the barrel moves to compensate for recoil so overall shouldn't be too bad to fire, just will have worse accuracy when on the move. I think the correct caliber I should have for a gun is 30x173mm like used by the GAU-8 avenger Gatling cannon. Sadly the only thing chambered in that for me is the absolutely massive cannon itself.

I would describe the feel of the 40mm in my hands as like carrying a full-length rifle rather than the more carbine feeling 25mm. I step outside and the optical sensors automatically adjust for brightness keeping my vision perfect. I loiter around outside for a bit as I got through my checks much quicker than expected and slowly everyone begins the show-up for class.

Nothing of major note happens during class unfortunately for me except during live-fire drills I learned the true power difference between my original and new cannon. The familiar dull thudding of the 25mm is now replaced with a very bass-heavy "Thunk" which is soon followed by an impressive splash on the target. I take note that for training fights and other non-combat operations the explosive filler might need to be reduced considering our quarter-inch-thick steel plate targets were instantly blown to bits with only a couple of shots.

As the daily training winds down Dusty calls for attention for everyone and details a large event coming up on our schedule I hadn't heard about before.

"Alright, pilots. Upcoming in the future before we restart the ranking tournament, there will be a very important training event. This event is the emergency escape and survivability course. Your school schedule for the next week or so will be shifted to fit important survival and evasion training. The event is to teach you how to evade capture or getting shot in the event your AMS is taken offline in combat as well as survive in the wilderness and navigate to a safe zone. I hope you all are ready..."