Elijah had no idea what had hit him. One moment he was firing off a trick shot, the next he had crashed and the screens in the cockpit had all flashed a bright blue before a message scrolled by informing him that the test was complete. The same smiley face he saw during the first test appeared as the screens went dark. He took a moment to gather his thoughts and decided whatever data Llorona had been able to gather would be invaluable so with a flex of his will he used his power to begin gathering up the data he wanted.

[Prepare the requested data for transfer.]

[…]

[acknowledged, transfer recipient?]

[GM-E - 01100010 01100101 01110011 01110100 01101100 01100001]

[awaiting connection]

Connecting to Llorona still felt wildly different compared to his Great Machine. Was it because of the differences between a first generation core and a fourth? It was an Interesting question but as far as he could tell not a pressing one. He would rather not experiment too openly in his current environment. Before too long a message scrolled across his screens telling him that his borrowed Vain Glory had been docked and that it was safe to exit.

Elijah reached for a switch at the side of his chair and waited as it turned around, because of all the specialized sensors and speakers mounted on the Llorona’s chest the pilot exit was on the units back and Elijah idly wondered how safe that was compared to the more standard placement. He vaguely remembered a now defunct company that put cockpits in the head. It sounded like a special kind of hell. All that needless movement when the sensors swept left and right? No thank you. He figured Sunny might get a kick out of some old footage of them and made a mental note to dig some up for her. The company’s last unit before they had gone bankrupt and had their assets cannibalized by other groups was named Dullahan or something close to that.

The back armor plates slid open but as Elijah removed his input and moved forward to exit he immediately noticed an issue. The wall was too close to his cockpit for him to get out. With a deep sigh he carefully removed the seal from one of his loaned pilot suit’s gloves and removed it. Then grabbed the input with his bare hand and flexed his power once more.

[Broadcast openly]

[…]

[acknowledged]

Unfortunately Elijah was not as careful in his instructions as he should have been. Much to the horror of everyone gathered in the hanger the armor plating around Llorona’s chest parted to reveal the speakers and Elijah’s voice came booming forth.

“I HAVE HAD A TRYING FUCKING DAY. MOVE ME AWAY FROM THE WALL.”

After a brief moment a grinding noise rang out and to Elijah’s relief there was now adequate space to exit. He checked the cable ladder then released the input and clambered down. Before his feet could even reach solid ground he was impacted in the chest by a ballistic little sister.

“Jeez Sunshine, careful. I’m still armed.” Elijah said while checking to make sure his pistol was still firmly holstered at the small of his back.

“You were supper cool for a loser!” Sunny exclaimed.

“What she said.” Lumi chimed in giving him a brief side hug.

Elijah firmly pressed the button under his helmet and waited for the hiss of air before removing it.

“Gee thanks.” Elijah said, ruffling Sunny’s hair.

Taking in the group that was standing around him he caught sight of Evona and Saif, it had been a while since he had seen either of them and a smile rose unbidden to his face. He noticed that Evona’s eyes were firmly glued to the dagger at his waist and flushed a bit in embarrassment remembering that she had gifted it to him. He hoped it wasn’t too obvious but the slight cocking of Saif’s head dashed those hopes.

“Do you see you hangers on and extras?” Saif proclaimed, louder than usual but still emotionlessly. “At just the mere sight of me his heart is aflutter and his cheeks are inflamed. While I can not return this beast’s feelings he can not control what his heart desires. Neither of you stands a chance. My mistress might shift his affections though.”

“Saif, stop that.” Evona said weakly, blushing just hard as Elijah was.

Chloe and Holly looked to each other, communicating silently through gaze and gesture before Holly sighed and stepped forward.

“Hello, It’s an absolute pleasure to meet another talented pilot. My name is Holly Grace Felgate and this is my dear friend and fellow pilot, Chloe Dubois. Watching Asherah in combat was amazing, I can only imagine what actually fighting her would be like.” Holly said dropping into a curtsy. Behind her, Chloe smiled and waved.

“Elijah Winter. Charmed.” Elijah said giving the pair of girls a nod.

“Hah! I knew that was the right response.” Sunny shouted.

“Response to what?” Elijah asked her.

“To meeting such a prim and proper young lady! Charmed. Hah.” Sunny said with a bright smile before leaning in to whisper to her brother. “Stop flirting in front of Evona.” She said as she hit her elbow into his waist repeatedly.

“It must have been quite the honor to take on Yukiko Arai, but I know you Elijah and you shouldn’t sulk for losing to someone of that calibur.” Evona said.

“Total honor.” Chloe said. “I hear lots of people are into being stepped on.”

“Is that how you got the black eye?” Elijah asked her.

“As touching as this all is, we still have much to take care of before we’re done for the day.” Lydia cut in. Behind her stood Nadia and Bianca who was leaning her arms on the back of Elizabeth’s wheelchair.

“Indeed, would you girls mind waiting here a moment while we discus the results of Elijah’s tests? I’d rather not keep Yukiko waiting.” Elizabeth said, while fiddling with a tablet in her lap.

“Oh, of course we don’t mind ma’am.” Holly said. Chloe quickly nodded in agreement.

“Would it be alright if I saved the combat data first?” Sunny asked.

“You’re going to be remaining on campus?” Elizabeth asked.

“Sunny Winter, genius engineer and future despoiler of the Vain Glory’s tactical significance. Oh, Head Mechanic too, no matter what Zaza says.” Sunny smiled and gave a lackadaisical salute.

“Then I don’t see a problem with it.” Elizabeth said. “You should find what you’re looking for on the desk in the center of the room. You can either save that data directly or have it sent to the student account attached to Elijah’s personal hanger.”

“Fantastic, thanks!” She said before turning to Elijah. “Watch?”

Elijah nodded his head in his mother’s direction and sunny turned to her in time to catch the watch in question as it was lobbed towards her. Elijah tucked his helmet under an arm plucked the watch from her grasp for a second. He quickly typed out a message on the screen saying that he had Llorona send the data over once his watch was in range but Sunny could double check and check in on Bestla if she liked. Then showed the screen to her.

She read the message, pouted at him but nodded and sped towards the desk.

“I guess I’ll see you all once this is all set up?” Elijah asked the group, then without waiting for any particular response he walked towards Elizabeth who smiled at him before turning her wheelchair around and heading towards a side door. As they approached their destination Elijah felt a gentle warmth build in his head.

“You did incredibly well against Arai.” Bianca sent.

“Thanks ma, But I cheated just a bit.” Elijah sent back with a shade of guilt.

“How so?”

“Ms Lazzaro gave me some useful data. Apparently Yukiko always opens a fight with the same ten moves.” He sent.

“That seems like a terrible habit to have.”

“I guess, but it’s not like knowing the steps did any significant damage.”

“Moving on, how is accepting good intelligence cheating?” Bianca asked with a brief shade of curiosity.

“I used that new application of my power to memorize the data and imprint it into the Llorona unit.”

“That seems like an excellent use of the talent.” Bianca replied, unable to shield the amount of pride she felt from the connection she currently maintained with her son.

“I’m not so sure, It feels like it’s going to be difficult unlearning some of the responses I made automatic.”

“Well that’s why you’re here son. To safely learn.”

As they entered the room Elijah first noticed Penelope with a dreamy look on her face, her phone in one hand and her cheek in the other.

“It’s really no problem. It’s so rare to find a fan of my work outside a Vain Glory these days.” A woman standing beside Penny said. She wore a black pilot suit with gold accents. Her black hair came to just below her chin and was oddly flat, presumably from being in a helmet for some time. Elijah paused a moment before realizing who she must have been.

“Ms Arai. I’ve been told that losing to you is an honor.” Elijah said.

Yukiko laughed and moved to shake his hand. Her grip was firm and Elijah briefly wondered why he assumed it wouldn’t be. She leaned against the desk in the room casually before speaking.

“That was a fantastic match and you’re going to have a bright future. I can tell.” She said. “As you know, I’m Yukiko Arai and I am the combat instructor here at the academy. Your instincts seem solid, but you lost track of me once I went airborne.”

As they began to talk shop, Penny moved to stand behind Elijah while Nadia and Bianca found seats at the back of the room. Lydia seemed to take up the furthest possible corner away from Yukiko and Elizabeth moved to occupy the space behind the desk.

“Yeah, I was a bit more focused on avoiding getting skewered. Not that it’s an excuse at all but my personal unit has a three sixty display. The Llorona was a bit more limited. I assume because of how difficult it is to shield it’s internals from it’s own sonic weaponry?”

“Partially, why didn’t you utilize the aural mines to save your hip mounted weapons?”

“They had limited uses, and really the cannons were mostly there to tank any hit that would threaten the waist or legs.” He said.

“Let’s change tracks for a second, you mentioned a personal unit. What is it you pilot currently?”

“A heavily customized Great Machine. I very much admire Robert Becks and the work he put into Crux.”

At the mention of the GM which used to belong to her Penny couldn’t help but scowl for a brief moment.

“Interesting. Given the opportunity would you pilot a custom unit made by Gloria?”

Elijah hesitated before responding. “Honestly? While I’m sure Glory maintains it’s lead as the industry standard for good reason I don’t think I’d be comfortable piloting anything by them long term.”

“And why is that?”

“Because the way your wife presents herself to the public doesn’t exactly inspire confidence or trust.” Elijah said with a sigh.

Behind him Lydia did her best to suppress her laugh.

“Agreed.” Yukiko said with a small smile. “Her sister is attending the Academy this year try not to let her know how you feel about Gloria.”

“Too late for that, another student she was in a group with baited it out of me.”

“Let’s get back to the test. Were you aware that I’d be your opponent?” Yukiko asked.

“Yes ma’am.” Elijah said with a nod.

“How did that affect your choice in Vain Glory unit?”

“It really narrowed the options down for me. A Great Machine was obviously right out.”

“Why do you say that?”

“The potential load outs were frankly trash and like I mentioned, my GM is heavily custom. The unit with the best specs was an interesting one, Apex Valkyrie, but it had the same issue. The load out was nothing spectacular. I picked Llorona hoping that you’d have limited experience against it’s more unconventional weapons.”

Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed and her fists clenched at the mention of Apex Valkyrie. She was unaware that it had been part of today’s rotation.

“Good thinking.” Yukiko complimented. “That’s all I needed to know, was there anything else you wanted to add Elizabeth?”

“Yes actually, could you leave the room for a moment Lydia?” Elizabeth asked with a sympathetic expression.

“Of course.” Lydia replied, wasting no time.

Elizabeth waited a few seconds after the door had closed before continuing. “We had two anomalies come up during testing. The first of which involves what we call the pilot suppression system. During the affinity test it was supposed to be active so that we could gauge your reaction to it and determine if it could be safely used during the combat test if you had decided to be less than reasonable and needed to be stopped for whatever reason.”

“I see.” Elijah responded.

“Our readings indicated that it should have been clearly working, yet you were able to sit up and speak without issue. Is this the result of anything you did directly?”

“Not to my knowledge.” Elijah lied.

“Alright, there are many different factors at play here. Just you being able to pilot as a man throws many of our assumptions about the way things work out of whack. The second incident involves your choice of weaponry.”

“What about it ma’am?”

“The weapons were supposed to be set to training levels, the lasers in particular were supposed to have limiters active, did you change the settings or otherwise tamper with those.”

“Not even a little bit ma’am.” Elijah said.

“Oh. That was me. Sorry.” Yukiko jumped in.

Elizabeth blinked slowly before turning to her. “You, what?”

“Yeah, I figured since none of my equipment was nerfed his shouldn’t have been either. Sorry Lizzy.” Yukiko casually stated.

Elizabeth’s only response was to lower her head to her desk and groan.