Rex was like a stray puppy. He was everywhere on the island, following anyone he found interesting, bouncing between encampments, and touching everything possible. He had been booted around the place, kicked out of almost every area as he pestered people with questions, or accidentally broke something. And every time he was knocked to a different part of the island, Shotuku would be there to scold whomever had kicked him out.
Porter grumbled through all of it, nearly beaten to death on numerous occasions by Shotuku for scaring off Rex. There was something troubling and unsettling about the youth. Perhaps it was his exuberance towards everything, or the favouritism shown towards him by the elder teacher, but Porter didn't like it. The thing he noticed the most though, the part of Rex that really stuck out to him...
"Like a young Chase, isn't he?"Rick stood next to Porter, sipping at a cup of tea. The man had burst into Porter's thoughts, ending them abruptly right as he had been reaching the same conclusion. "He is brash and bold, daring with Miss Nami, and yet he is eager to learn. It is a slight departure from the departed."
"It's strange, Rick, strange in ways I hadn't imagined-"
"And you don't like it?"Rick tilted his head to glance at Porter before he resumed his drinking. "When I was in my earliest days, training as a Circuit Breaker, I had a rival. We would butt heads daily, always trying to surpass the other, fighting for everything, and he was constantly beating me. Always I was trying to catch up, to show everyone that it was my turn to be the best." Rick paused for a moment, his eyes drifting out over the ocean. "But before I could, he was killed during a mission. Just like that it was over."
"Rick, I'm sorr-"
The man held up his hand, cutting off Porter, and symbolizing that he was not finished. "A year or so later, a new recruit showed up around our facilities. He was a hotshot, young and arrogant, ready to prove he was incredible. I saw so much of my former rival in him, so much of what I had once hated and fought with, and I brought it all out against the rookie. And he bit back, as he should have, until him and I grew to loathe one another. It was only later, walking away from it all, that I realized I had a chance to make it all right, that I had a chance to treat him properly, to shape who he was and work with him, not to simply fight a new fight. Do you see what I mean Porter?"
The teen nodded his head in agreement. "It is a touching tale, with a strong message. It is a shame you made the whole thing up."
"The whole thing," Rick echoed, nodding and sipping at his tea, his hands shaking the entire time, making his ruse quite clear.
"You're an awful liar, but for someone who once tried to kill me, you're a decent friend." Porter patted the man on the back, leaving him to his drink. The story may have been fabricated, but the moral was quite obvious. Rex was not inherently evil just because he was new and favoured; if anything, Rex was a stray, a lost dog looking for affection and direction. If Porter could get his hands on the young boy, could show him the proper path, could make him respect and worship Porter, everything would be fine.
Porter struck out in search of Rex, and it didn't take him long to find him. Unfortunately, the youth was not alone, and was completely surrounded by the other students, who had gathered to admire Rex's Goliath. And so Porter had to shuffle in among them, grumbling to himself about missed opportunities, his attitude immediately shifting back to how Rex was definitely inherently evil and here to steal his thunder. At the very least, Porter did have to admit that Rex's Goliath was an incredible marvel of technology, and it was like nothing he or any of the other students had seen before, save for pictures when studying.
Since Dalarcya did not have any strong chi users, or even a concept of chi as a whole, the battlesuit was powered only partially by the life force of its pilot. The rest of it was all a feat of engineering, and it showed in the sharp design of the warmachine. Its edges were smooth and round, much like an Artisan craft, yet it was slightly bulky, similar to the Enian constructs. Along its body were channels of blue circuits, coated in bullet-proof glass, and all the networks ran up to the shoulders, equally exposed and capped with glass. The head was a hybrid, the lower half reminiscent of Porter's White Storm, while the upper half was nothing but more circuits. It seemed that the wiring struck a chord with Ardwen, Nami, and Gretta, who had never seen anything like it before, though Porter had no idea just how complex a Dalarcya machine was. He wasn't even sure how complex his own machine was, to be fair.
The portion of the Goliath that stuck out to Porter, the same that Raul had noticed, was the massive broadsword the machine wielded. The design for the weapon was more intricate than the battlesuit itself, built from a conglomeration of metal, alloys, and the blue-glass. It looked like a weapon built by a computer, meant for a computer, something that Sigma would hold in his hands, were it not fifteen feet long. It hummed as it sat in the hands of Rex's machine, power flowing through its electronic components, calling out to Porter, mocking him. He knew his own twin blades were unique and he was quite confident in their power, but there was something about this sword that seemed to dwarf Porter. Its very existence simply usurped him, without having done anything.
Rex was standing at the base of his Goliath, bashfully playing with his hair in embarrassment. He had never been fawned over like this before, and while he was always boasting about himself, nobody had ever taken notice of it like this. And Porter simply ground his teeth together as he watched it all. Already he was calculating how he could beat this machine, how he would out-duel it and show Rex who the boss was. Sure, that sword was enormous, but it couldn't possibly be moved at any great speed, could it? Porter's pure speed would be able to outmaneuver anything Rex could throw at him. After all, what good was a big weapon that never hit anything?
"I would hope you aren't scheming anything, Porter," Riya whispered as she slid up beside the young man. Porter scrambled a bit in reaction, spinning around and quickly composing himself, trying his best to wipe any hints of evil off his face. "No, not at all, what would give you that impression?"
"You were hunched over with your fingers together about three seconds ago."Riya giggled as Porter scolded himself in front of her, his thoughts having been caught. "He hasn't even done anything yet, you know, and you're already treating him like Chase."
"But just...I mean he...how can...fine..."Porter folded his arms and gave out a sigh, giving up on trying to clarify how he was somehow justified in his beliefs.
"Someone being likeable and talented is not a reason to hate them. I know you haven't exactly always felt that...way..." Riya trailed off as she realized she was being slightly insulting to Porter, even if it was the truth, painfully referencing his more unpopular days at the academy. "Anyways, Rex seems like a good kid, and he has a lot to learn from us. He's going to be valuable no matter what as another person supporting us, and why not right? Your message got out there, all the way to Dalarcya, and it brought in our first freedom fighter. This is the consequence of your actions, Porter, and it's a very good one. So why not take pride in your work and come enjoy things with us?"
Porter mumbled for an answer, and Riya shrugged before walking away. It seemed that Rex had already gotten to Riya with his innate charm, meaning Porter would be on his own in the fight to show off how much better than Rex he really was. Questions had begun to pour out from the rest of the group around Porter, and Rex was trying his best to field the barrage that Nami and Ardwen produced.
"Do you know what the top speed of this thing is?"
"What kind of drive engine is running your hydraulics?"
"Is the operating system a completely different version?"
"What's the flexibility in the plating like?"
"How many joints run down the legs?"
Rex's eyes started to spin as he attempted to keep up, and Shotuku had to finally intervene, dragging Ardwen and Nami away as they contioinued to throw out more inquiries. Raul stepped in to take their place though, staring down at Rex with his hard eyes. It was clear he was an intimidating force, especially to anyone who wasn't familiar with him like the other students, and Rex made an audible gulp. "What is its name?"
"Its name?" Rex nervously looked around, panicking a little in front of Raul, and Porter suddenly found himself enjoying the spectacle.
"Yes, its name," Raul repeated, his face set.
"Well I liked to call it the Blue Blur a lot..." Raul's eyes narrowed in response, obviously displeased with the answer. "But its official name was Whisper," Rex spat out in a panic, backing into the foot of his battlesuit.
"Why is it called Whisper?" Riya asked, poking around Raul and softening the mood immediately.
"I don't know," Rex shrugged, his demeanour fading back to his former naive arrogance with Raul's pressure alleviated. "That's the manufacturer's name. It is very quiet when it is running, maybe that's why. I just like to drive it around."
"Enough with the questions," Shotuku yelled, tired of holding back Nami and Ardwen. "All of them can be answered with a simple display." Shotuku nodded to Rex, who clambered into his battlesuit when he received the signal. "Porter, head out to the Bump for a duel then, since you seem to be constantly scheming over there."
"Do I actually look that obvious?!"Porter cried, and was greeted with a round of nods from the rest of the group.
* * * * *
Off the coast of the island, there was a second little mound of dirt that rose out of the ocean, an offshoot from the volcano beneath them that had peaked earlier. It was empty, nothing but a pile black earth, and Sigma had named it the Bump. It was a hundred metres away from the main island, and was a walk that was waist-deep in water to most.
It was there that the group could practice duels with their Goliaths, though only two could fit at a time. They had enough space to move around and jostle for some positioning, though a machine like Porter's could not make full use of its mobility. Shotuku often placed additional restrictions on touching the water, using it as a sort of border for their ring, and also to prevent them from making waves that would destroy equipment on the island.
Whisper stood on one side of the Bump, with the White Storm staring it down from the other side. Porter's jaw was locked in his cockpit, his mind made up to completely decimate Rex, to the best of his abilities. Prodigy or not, Porter needed to show this kid what it meant to be a Goliath pilot, and he knew Rex had almost no training anyways when it came to combat, compared to Porter. While the arena wasn't ideal, and was on the small side, limiting Porter's extreme speed, it was more than enough for him to take down a rookie."
Match is over when a forfeit is declared, when a Goliath touches water, or when any damage is dealt to the hull of either machine." Shotuku looked down at Gretta as he threw in the last condition, as her anger at how reckless they were with the battlesuits, at her expense, was well-known around the island nowadays. "All other techniques are in play. You will fight upon my mark."
Porter's eyes narrowed, his focus zoning in on his machine and the fight at hand. While his mind was clouded with frustrations, he knew how to handle himself in a battle. His earlier duel against General Artemis, along with his continued training, had helped show him how to generate the focus required for every fight he was in, and he was drawing closer to perfecting entering such a state. It was rough around the edges, but he didn't mind; it was time to show Rex who was boss.