Elizabeth frowned at the message on her phone. Yukiko as she always did, had decided to cut right to the heart of the matter of Elijah’s odd test results. While she disagreed with the way Yukiko wanted to handle the situation there weren’t many viable options available to them. As she turned to Lydia to get her opinion she noticed that the woman seemed distracted.

“Everything alright Lydia?” Elizabeth asked her as they made their way towards the final area on their testing trip.

While Each door had their own private, linear areas, all the testing rooms led to this last one. The room was cavernous by necessity. Along a wall was a set of berths each occupied by a different Vain Glory and facing those berths was a desk with a holographic display and single chair.

“Lydia.” Elizabeth said again, trying to get her attention.

Lydia looked over at Elizabeth, still rubbing her arms as if to ward off a chill. “Sorry ma’am, I suppose I’m just a touch distracted.” She said, unbuttoning the collar of her jacket and properly putting it back on.

“That’s fine. This is frankly a shocking development. I hoped Bianca wouldn’t lie about something like this but still… Actually confirming it is something else entirely.” Elizabeth said.

“Things are probably about to change very quickly.” Lydia muttered

“I doubt it. Human beings are adaptable but not necessarily quick to do so. At best pilot affinity will probably be added to boys physicals on the off chance that lightning will strike a third time.” Elizabeth responded. “At least I hope that’s as far as it goes.”

“Wishful thinking. How many men have gone off half cocked since Yukio’s existence was revealed? Elijah is just going to make things worse.” Lydia responded.

“Possibly.” Elizabeth replied. “What do you think about Yukiko’s desire to step in?”

“Do you see my face ma’am?” Lydia asked.

“What about it, dear?”

“You’ll take note of the complete lack of surprise.”

Elizabeth shook her head a bit before stopping near the desk and swinging her wheelchair around to face everyone else.

“Alright everyone, here you’ll find what we have on offer for the combat test. This will be a mock battle with training weapons but accidents can happen.” Elizabeth explained. “Each unit here has been specially tuned with a few standard loadout options though customization is not entirely out of the question as far as weapons go.”

“And will my opponent be similarly equipped?” Elijah asked.

Elizabeth smiled before replying. “Normally yes. The instructor would make their decision based on the unit you chose.”

“What makes this test abnormal then?” Elijah asked.

“Well you seem to have drawn the interest of our combat instructor, and she usually abstains from this test…”

“Who would that be?” Elijah asked with a tilt of his head.

“Yukiko Arai.” Lydia answered.

“Fuck.” Elijah, Bianca, Nadia, and Penny said in near unison.

“Right. Elijah, take a seat and get to deciding . Everyone else? Follow me, let’s pick out good sturdy arena seats. If you have any more questions Lydia will be here to answer them.” Elizabeth said.

======================

“It’s happening!” Sunny cried out from the corner of the fabrication lab she had just installed a camera and motion sensor in.

“What’s happening?” Lumi asked.

“Fight time!” Sunny shouted as she turned around and ran forward to grab Lumi’s arm. “Mom just messaged me! Elijah is picking out a test VG to fight in! We’re cleared to go watch!”

“Nope, we’re not done here yet Sunny. You can head off if you like but I’ve been given a job and I intend to finish.”

“C’mon! We can finish the dorms after the fight! The containers are biometrically locked up tight, with the usual precautions and nasty surprises, the design studio and fab lab is all done, and I just set the camera and guard drones to begin patrolling the perimeter and hangar space!” Sunny said while bouncing from foot to foot. “Evona!”

“Yes Sunny?” Evona said from the nice chair she was occupying.

“Help me pull the stick out of Lumi’s ass!”

“I’m afraid I don’t have the strength.” She responded with a smile.

“Saif!” Sunny yelled, pointing a finger at her.

“While I certainly posses the strength, I’m afraid I do not at all have the interest.” Saif said from her position behind Evona’s seat.

“Fine, but we’re gonna go watch big bro wreck a teacher yeah?” Sunny said, letting go of Lumi’s arm.

“I would be honored and delighted to accompany you.” Evona responded.

“I personally will look forward to watching Winter getting smacked about. Could you imagine it Evona?” Saif asked.

“Imagine what?” Evona said.

“Yeah, imagine what!” Sunny exclaimed.

“The look on his face as he sees his loved ones and me. Sitting in the stands cheering or passively sitting and watching. But oh no. There’s Evona, and Sunny, and his mother, and the vision of strength and beauty that is myself. But where’s Lumi? Where’s his night light? Certainly not bothering to watch his debut into the world of high octane Vain Glory combat. His heart is shaken and his performance suffers. Oh how sad. Boo hoo. It is to weep.” Saif said in her completely flat voice.

“That won’t work on me.” Lumi said.

Unfortunately it absolutely worked on Sunny.

“Lumi! No! How could you?” Sunny cried. “Elijah needs our moral support!”

Esperanza, Jennifer and Benaiah poked their heads out of the design studio at the sound of the ruckus Sunny was making. Quickly understanding the situation Esperanza decided to step in.

“You know, it’s not like the hanger will be devoid of human presence.” She said. “Or is it that you think the three of us are inept in some way?”

Lumi sighed at the predicament set before her and decided to do what she always did when indecisive. She flared her power and waited, as expected nothing happened. She waited a beat before committing one hundred percent of her being to going to watch Elijah then unleashed her power once more. Once more her danger sense was silent.

“Fine.” Lumi sighed. “Zaza, finish up the hanger berths. J, B, get the dorms set and if there’s time start probing and double checking our set up.”

“Yes ma’am!”

“You got it boss.”

“If I haaave to.” The three replied.

“Yes!” Sunny cheered as she led Evona in one arm and Lumi in the other towards the elevator.

“Saif lamented her lot in life. The promise of a well earned shopping trip cut short by cruel fate. Someone would pay for this. On the other hand getting to watch Elijah Winter flail about uselessly would potentially be a cherished memory for some time to come. Perhaps this would reveal what the Crown Princess Evona Al Aziz saw in the odd young man. Time would tell for sure.”

“Stop that Saif.” Evona said without looking back. “

"Saif gave no reply but Evona was sure that she could feel the smile in her heart.”

======================

Elijah Carefully considered his options as he scrolled through the various Vain Glories specs. While a GM was available he knew there was no way it would be able to stand up to whatever Yukiko Arai would bring to bear. The various units to choose from all had their pros and cons, and many were of a make and model he was unfamiliar with. Eventually he settled on three stood out above the rest.

The Oni was an all black close combat specialist designed by Glory. If he remembered correctly Asherah was hyper specialized for speed and close combat, enough so that he doubted his chances of being able to tag it at range. If he could get her to close the distance with him maybe he could land a few well timed counters.

The second option that drew his eye was a unit he was unfamiliar with. It was a mottled white and gray, heavily armored, and covered in what looked to be speakers. Llorona was apparently an anti pilot/capture specialist and the thought of taking out Yukiko rather than taking on her Vain Glory was appealing.

The final option was a bit of a wild card. As far as he could tell it was a fully custom unit focused on high speed precision maneuvering. It’s navy blue body and pink highlights stood out from the rest of the VG’s lined up in front of him. The default loadout was a set of missile launchers on the hips, Bladed arms, and thrusters on the back, legs and shoulders. Apex Valkyrie was tempting but would it be enough?

Lydia peered over his shoulder and smiled at the sight of his choices.

“Apex Valkyrie doesn’t stand a chance.” She said.

“Damn, it’s a good looking unit.” Elijah replied.

“Looking good is rarely enough. Apex and Asherah is a clash that has played out before and it’s not one that would end up any different with you piloting it.” Lydia wistfully explained.

“That’s disappointing, it looked like the only unit to have a decent speed. Not that I’m not grateful for the heads up, but this isn’t gonna affect my test is it?”

“Kid, you are a fucking unicorn. You could refuse this test entirely and we’d still be obligated to offer you whatever you want to keep you here.” Lydia said with a laugh. “Really, you don’t have to do this.”

“Yeah, but when will I ever get the chance to fight Yukiko Arai without the threat of imminent death weighing on me?”

“Solid point, but she won’t be using the safety weapons up there. I can almost guarantee she’ll be using Asherah with her usual loadout.”

“Oh it’s not the death per se that worries me, I just don’t want to be kept alive artificially. So win win for me.” Elijah replied hoping that he came off as casually aloof.

“I like you kid.” Lydia said with a smirk “and I would love to see Yukiko’s nose bloodied for once. So take this, and spend ten minutes of your allotted acclimation time watching it.”

“What’s on it?” Elijah asked.

“Confirmation of what I’m about to fill you in on. Asherah is fast. Faster than anything available here is, but it’s made Yukiko complacent. Whether or not you can react or tank the first ten blows they will always be the same. The first strike is always a diagonal slash from the top to bottom aimed at your left shoulder.”

“You’re kidding.” Elijah muttered in disbelief.

“Nope, the woman in fact has used the same attack pattern for as long as anyone has been able to track.”

“Then how does she get away with it?”

“Does it matter what she throws at you if you can’t react in time?”

“I guess it doesn’t.” he grudgingly admitted as he accepted the data stick. “So if the custom unit is no good, what chance do any of these other units have?”

“No chance probably. You’re not gonna win.” Lydia bluntly stated. “But maybe you can lose with some style and grace.”

“Thanks for the help.” Elijah said as he finalized his mech choice.

Lydia gave him a curt nod and a smile before she headed towards the door that lead to the arena stands where everyone else had gone.

Once Elijah was sure that he was alone he plugged the data stick into the desk and began to watch the provided footage. It seemed it wasn’t just one over analyzed encounter but dozens of them first showing a mech get ripped limb from limb by a silver blur then showing still frames of a Vain Glory surrounded by swirling blades cutting into its opponent like it wasn’t even there. He noticed that while the opening strike was indeed always the same there was a bit of variation in the follow ups. Mostly the variation was based on whether or not the target was in vacuum or atmosphere and whether or not the target was standing on solid ground.

Feeling like he had absorbed all he could from the data stick he unplugged it and headed over to the unit he chose.