章 14: There’s No ‘I’ In ‘Team’

"A straight shot from Alice!" An oddly dressed narrator commented.

Countless people watched a combat of huge robots, which was broadcast on screens placed at strategic points in the arena. The battle was also broadcast via a holographic device to people from the lower and upper cities, who were unable to attend the academy.

On the screen, two girls fought incessantly in a fierce combat, both were inside of combat units of the same model, but which differed in the color of their exteriors, making it clear who piloted which ANON.

Alice had the combat advantage, carrying a huge, thick rifle that had a greenish-white tint. She had fired a few shots just now, which had done massive damage to the opposing unit's metal protective shell, which had been damaged for some time.

Isabel, however, didn't give up, making a risky maneuver with her unit, which consisted of using the weight of the armor to propel her attack, taking down and penetrating through Alice's ANON armor.

The girl made one last move in an attempt to end the battle that had been going on for more than 5 minutes that felt like an eternity, tightening her grip on the huge reddish colored spear as she advanced without thinking twice towards Alice.

Alice positioned one of her unit's legs at the back of the field as she braced for the impact that was coming soon. She fired some powerful shots at Isabel, which destabilized the girl's attack a little, but Isabel didn't stop as she continued to pick up speed and finally, in the blink of an eye, her spear pierced Alice's armor, going completely through the right arm of the battle unit.

Alice felt a huge impact inside the cabin she was in, when several alarms and warnings began to sound and stream in mass in the visors, warning her of the damage that the attack had caused. Alice's unit had lost an arm, while Isabel's was already completely destroyed from the numerous shots it had taken in the past few minutes.

Alice threw herself backwards, dodging Isabel's second attack, and then fired 4 shots precisely into the center of the unit's unprotected chest (as the armor had already been completely shattered a while ago) of the unit. That was where the main cabin where the pilots were stationed was put, and in an instant the field was silent, only after a few seconds that Alice and the spectators had confirmation from one of the narrators of the end of the battle.

"Alice K. Linjol emerges victorious from the first battle!" The man shouted, as the greenish field disappeared along with the equipment and units made available in that place.

Alice opened her eyes, she was disconnected from the virtual field while listening to a huge amount of awed screams from the people in the stands.

"This is one of the academy's 'golden age' trump cards!" One of the narrators commented.

''A stupendous victory for the Veritas Class!'' A narrator responded to the other commentators.

The girl was a little embarrassed that even though she was popular in both cities, she had never dealt with so many people and attention simultaneously. She passed through the field where the stands were, and stretched her arm toward Isabel, intending to congratulate her.

"You fought really well." Alice said, with a smile on her face.

"Thanks, you fought well too." Isabel smiled at her opponent.

"Now go there, rest and then win!" Isabel said, as she walked out of the arena a little crestfallen.

Alice looked back, witnessing the multitude of people who continually praised her for her stupendous display of battle skills.

She sought out her friends once more, finding them a little far from where they were originally from before the 1st match. Alice waved at them, as everyone, including Quagmire, made a like hand sign, signaling that she fought very well in that match.

She felt a little more relieved as she looked at the screens that showed messages of the next round: 'COMBAT MATCH 2, CLAY CLASS VS MULTI CLASS'. Alice decided that she would watch the battle while resting in the room prepared for the competitors, located inside the academy's premises.

"It was fun." She muttered under her breath.

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Quagmire watched the match along with his friends, who were impressed by any simple move Alice and Isabel made. The boy admitted that they were both great pilots, acknowledging that they easily surpassed any pilot-in-training he had worked with when he was still a scientist.

However, he felt agony whenever one of them performed an unnecessary attack, locking the mechanical joints that significantly aided the combat units' movements.

The boy also didn't understand how one could pilot the ANONS without even studying the important points of the equipment first, which would come in handy in a battle if you had to face a combat unit (like the current situation), or just for know the places you should avoid leaving too much exposed during an armed conflict. The two competitors simply didn't care about anything, as they only attacked points they considered important, such as the head, feet, hands and finally the only hit they both had, which was the chest, where the cockpit where the pilots were was located.

'Attacking the thighs of the legs would be smarter.' He thought, as Alice shot at Isabel's feet once more.

The boy showed knowledge from the inside out of the ANONS, because even with his memories completely shattered and vague, he still had knowledge of some projects he had worked on, such as the 'Innovation and Unification of Systems and Gears of Battle Units', which later came to be known as SHIELD due to being related to the general defense of the Republic.

Exactly 5 minutes and 45 seconds passed from the beginning of the battle to the end, where Alice was victorious. She certainly was much better than Isabel as a pilot, and far exceeded the gross amount of assimilation rate of the other competitors, however she constantly aimed at two very predictable points from the opponents. Quagmire assumed, no, he was sure that the next combatants of the classes that would face the Veritas Class paid attention to that detail, which frankly, was very visible if you paid even the least attention to the combat.

He decided that he would not advise Alice of this problem, as he did not intend to strive or stand out in any way, and he had also considered that this would be a great learning experience for the girl to not make such blunt mistakes as that in real battles, as this could result in her death and perhaps even the rest of her squad.

Quagmire didn't think about it anymore, when another match of the virtual confrontation started. For the first time in a long time, the boy was showing real interest in something, as he found the virtual battles very interesting.

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"Is that the target?" asked a middle-aged man, as he smoked a cigarette while sitting in a bar chair.

"Exactly, it's that girl." Someone else answered him, pointing to the photo the man carried in his right hand. ''You must capture her, avoiding detection.''

The photo showed a girl with medium black hair tied in locks and a long ponytail, she had blue eyes and was small and very pretty. The middle-aged man carefully observed every detail of the photograph when he finally answered the person who requested his services.

''You can leave it to us, tomorrow we will start the service.''

"The king will be happy with this news." the man's customer said, putting a suitcase full of money in the middle-aged man's hand and turning to leave the establishment.

"This is going to be a very interesting job," The middle-aged man spoke up, putting out his cigarette and gesturing for his henchmen to follow.

"Let's begin preparations." The man said, his voice already muffled as he'd left the establishment.