Porter groggily opened his eyes to stare up at the ceiling of his room. His body ached all over, muscles groaning and begging him to return to sleep. He would have complied were there not an important meeting today for the members of the Crisis Rescue Unit. And so he managed to roll over and topple out of his bed to the floor, satisfied that falling from the bed constituted "getting up."
It had been a week since the Gremlins had struck the academy, leaving the school scrambling to improve its external defense systems to prevent such an attack from occurring again. Chase, Ardwen, and Porter had all been hospitalized after the event, and treated with the most advanced rapid healing techniques they had. Most of that had meant going into vats and being suspended in liquid, with tubes down their throats, something that always bothered Porter immensely but he could never place why.
Chase had taken the longest to recover, getting released just yesterday from the nursing ward. He still was having troubles with his ribs and his wrists were bound and bandaged but he was cleared to operate a Goliath. As soon as that had happened, Mr. Shotuku had called for the meeting to take place. So Porter was now standing in his room, putting on his uniform to go out.
Once Porter had been freed from the medical vats, Shotuku had resumed snatching Porter from his daily routine and dragging him off to secret training sessions. It was why Porter was in pain every morning when he woke up. But he was certainly feeling a lot stronger and more confident in his driving skills. Training did pay off in the end, even if he hadn't had a chance to pilot the White Storm since the training began. He just wished it wasn't so painful.
The pilot stumbled down to Mr. Shotuku's classroom and slipped past the sliding door. All of them had been excused from their classes for the day for such an event, meaning something big was going down on Earth and they were going to be a part of it (or Mr. Shotuku just wanted to give out a mass punishment to them all for not doing a better job of defeating the Gremlins).
Porter came in to find most everyone else already waiting. Chase was sitting next to Nami, the two of them quietly holding hands in the corner. Both of them had been far less talkative since the attack, sharing in the experience they had undergone. Chase had been the only person to face a Gremlin single-handedly, without a weapon, and had subsequently taken the largest beating but it was one of his only accomplishments that everyone else in the group actually respected him for, yet the only one he wasn't actively boasting about.
Gretta was near Ardwen, the two of them going around a large object taking up one corner of the room that was covered in a large white sheet. The two of them had disappeared to work on some sort of secret project for much of the week though the rumour was it was a dating cover up. Porter had never been interested in involving himself in the gossip mill of the academy and so he was out of that loop and didn't care to be in it. What mattered was that none of the Goliaths had been damaged when the pair had been in the hangar and Ardwen had returned to being the leader of the squad.
Riya was sitting at the front, looking over at Porter with a small smile on her face. The two of them had not had a chance to really see each other much since that night at the dance and thus had never solidified the feelings they had admitted to. Porter had been busy training in his spare time and Riya had returned to being the shy girl amidst popular friends. It was depressing that Porter just couldn't catch a break with the girl he loved but maybe now he might finally have a chance to talk to her.
"Uhm Riya...I....hey."
Riya slowly tilted her head to look up at him, a little crack near the bottom of her face forming, a small smile. It was weak and shy and soft and tiny but it was a smile. It was all she did though as Raul hurried into the class, brushing past Porter as he scrambled for a seat.
Before Porter could react, Mr. Shotuku called them all to order, stifling any further conversations Porter would be having with Riya. "Attention everyone, attention." Fearing a slipper, everyone did exactly that, pulling in to desks and sitting especially straight. "Like the last time we met, Gretta would like to make an announcement before we begin."
Shotuku stepped aside and Gretta took to the front of the class. Here was a unanimous groan from the CRU as they all remembered the last time the little girl had gotten up to speak. They quickly reformed to good behaviour after a glare from their teacher. "Well first of all I would like to thank everyone for finally sorting out exactly who it was they were chasing after and like! I won't need the flowchart anymore!" Porter and Chase both smashed their heads into their desks while Gretta did a little wink and wave to an increasingly red Ardwen.
"Otherwise," she continued, "I would like to inform you of the Gremlin I managed to salvage from the attack. Ardwen if you could please." She nodded at the leader, who got up and pulled the sheet off the object in the corner. Beneath it stood a headless Gremlin, which was still a good foot and a bit taller than Ardwen, even without its top. Chase seemed to shudder a little at the sight of the machine and was quickly comforted by Nami beside him. "I'm going to work on getting to be fully functional, under our command here. The school thinks it would be in our best interest to have a possible defender like that around. You know, in case this happens again!" Gretta skipped back to her desk, blissfully unaware of the trauma she had caused to the rest of the group, all of whom had grappled with one of the robots in one way or another.
"Yes well, that was slightly less embarrassing than last time," Mr. Shotuku said as he resumed his position at the front of the class. Behind him, the chalkboard lit up, its screens coming to life and beginning to show images of satellite feeds orbiting Earth. It zoomed in on a more northern section of the Enian Federation, heading towards the snow-capped mountains that were mostly inhabited by native people. "This is not a mission given to you by the academy. This is not an assignment as directed by our governing bodies. This is something that I am telling you, and thus it will not be discussed outside this room. Do we understand?"
Everyone nodded in response, their eyes growing wider by the second as the satellite continued to close in on a location behind the senior. "This is the northern territory of the Enian Federation, as you have probably figured out. It is here that there is a small village called Roda." The image on the screen displayed an overhead view of the village, the same one where Ochenkov had been held captive. There was wreckage strewn across the streets now, and some buildings appeared levelled. In the midst of it all, a giant "S" was burned onto the ground, clear for all of them to see. "Over a week ago, there was a large event here, one that was picked up by many of the governments around the world, including our own, that pertains to this marking on the ground." Shotuku turned to face the screen and circled the "S" with his finger. "But it is not what we are interested in. Just prior to this occurring, something different happened." Shotuku touched the screen and zoomed out a little, dragging his hands around to get the device to respond. "Just prior to the 'S' event, there was a great blizzard that went through the area that lasted just a couple of hours."
As the elder spoke, the screen responded, rewinding in time until dense clouds swirled above the little town. "This storm appeared from nowhere, and vanished in much the same fashion." Porter looked over at Chase and could see the fiery youth was biting back snide remarks and responses. Regardless of the Gremlin incident, Chase couldn't help being Chase. "The storm is irrelevant....to the untrained mind." Shotuku whirled around in dramatic fashion, his beard clinging to his body and trying to twirl with him. "But to one such as myself, I recognize its origin. It is a unique event, one that only a very specific individual could have caused."
"Woah woah woah, wait a moment," Ardwen cut in. "You're saying a person caused a natural disaster like that go off? A person? Like a nonchalant, everyday, roaming around person?" Ardwen's musings were cut off by a slipper that narrowly missed his face (on purpose, as a warning shot).
"There are many things about Spiritual Techniques that none of you understand. Some have greater power than others, and in some cases, more volatile power. There was one I once knew, an old student of mine, who had such powers. They exceeded near anyone else and then some. His potential was limitless it seemed, as was the destruction he could cause."
"What happened to him sir?" Riya asked, her quiet voice barely audible in the room.
Shotuku stood still for a moment, his aged eyes staring out from under the folds of his eyelids. Slowly, they closed, and the teacher sighed before sucking in a breath. "A terrible thing happened to him, something that is unimportant though. It scared him, enough to make him lock away much of his powers for good. His chi has thus been held in check ever since. That is, until this occurred."
"So then what are we going to do about it?" Porter inquired, wondering if his serious question would come off sarcastically and would be met with flying footwear. "Is he a danger? On the loose?"
"No, no. He is in danger though. Or was. He would never release such copious amounts of chi energy were it not completely necessary. Something happened down there at Roda, though I'm not sure what. And now we have the 'S' symbol. I need your help, all of you. This is an old friend of mine, an ex-student, just like all of you." Shotuku looked around the room, finding he held the eager attention of everyone in it. "I need you to go down there and save him, to rescue him from whatever it is that is going on down there. And it must happen soon. Because of what happened after, I fear the wrong parties may begin to snoop around the area."
"Who is this person then Shotuku?" Ardwen stood up from his seat, ready to take charge.
* * * * *
"General Ochenkov?" Namio scratched at his chin as he looked over the images in front of his desk. They were satellite feeds of the area around the small village of Roda. They had been of some interest for quite a while in the capital building as everyone tried to make sense of them. The storm had been glanced over for its anomalous nature and sudden appearance but it had been forgotten when the "S" was revealed.
That one letter burned onto the ground was a very clear reminded of what the Enian Federation had lost and what they were searching for: Sigma. He was out there still, somewhere, and this big indicator gave them a half-decent lead. There had already been a squad sent out to the area to investigate but, as was mused beforehand, Sigma was long gone or at least hiding his signal.
The revision of the satellite images though, prior to Sigma's arrival, were very interesting. As soon as the android had flown into the area, the screen would blur and go fuzzy, making it impossible to make out anything. Sigma himself was non-existent, his form not appearing on the camera because of his combination cloaking and hacking. But just a fraction before the cyborg entered the frame, as the clouds cleared, the village could be seen, and in great detail. Congregations of people massed round a single house, an exodus of them pouring from the church, things being flung at an obvious target.
Hours of zooming in, of fixing up the image, of scanning over it a hundred times, finally revealed the figure standing on top of the home, the one that so much anger was being directed at. And now the news was delivered to Namio.
"So this is where he ran off to after he fled the hospital?" Namio continued to itch at his chin, part of it a thinking mechanism, part of it him worrying about a rash forming there. "Has he ever made any move to try and return to claim the Siberian Rhino?"
"No sir, I'm afraid we hadn't seen him up until now," Christian answered from the other end of the table. "We have watched in case he ever made a move in that regard but otherwise we had assumed he was either dead or returned to his people in the north." Christian was scowling on the inside. The "S" meant that Sigma had gotten to Ochenkov and Ochenkov had information from his visit in the base, information Sigma would kill to get his hands on.
"Do we have anything on where he might be now?"
"Our best analysis is that Sigma flew by the village, saw the commotion, and decided to cause some of his own, leaving that blazing insignia for us to stare at later on. Ochenkov was presumably in the wreckage since the blast cuts straight through the building he was on. We assume he was incinerated or gravely injured and those villagers were already angry at him. If he survived they probably finished him off."
"Did the scouting report bring back anything?" Nami tapped his fingers against the table, holding off from continuing to rub at his chin, in case it made a potential rash worse. His nose tingled and twitched a little and he had to scrunch his face in a mental effort to repel his scratching fingers.
Christian pulled up some virtual files, holographic copies lighting up the air in front of him as they projected out of the table. He pushed them down towards the Kaiser, and they glided smoothly through the air until they stopped before Namio. "They did a survey of the area but couldn't find anything. The villagers were less than helpful about the whole thing. They refused to speak, refused to do just about anything. It's a wonder they're even considered part of the Enian Federation at all."
"Our borders may be drawn far, but our reach sometimes falters. Perhaps we should send a few missionaries there to re-establish Saint Ishiyama's guidance."
"No, the reports are fairly clear they were devoted to their church and the priest there." Christian shook his head at the whole thing, all the while mulling over the Ochenkov situation in his head.
"Well maybe they just don't like Goliaths stalking around their territory. Not everyone appreciates a military presence." Namio felt his hand slowly sneak back up to his chin and he disguised his scratching by trying to look as philosophical and wistful as he could. "So Ochenkov is in the area when Sigma strikes. Perhaps that was cause for the attack then? To lash out at a General?"
Christian brightened at hearing this. "Yes sir, that would make a lot of sense sir." That worked perfectly in resolving the issue of explanations. With that cleared, there would be no further inquiries into the mess. "With that being the case, Sigma is probably no longer in the area, especially if he caught on to the scout team."
"True, he can sense them miles away. He wouldn't want to stay in an area he left so plain a symbol in."
"Exactly, so the north is the last place he would be at, correct?"
"Then let us focus our search for him elsewhere. In the meantime intensify the forces at Narrius. I want to make a statement there against the Artisans, even without our best weapon."
"Yes sir, right away!" Christian gave a little bow before turning and leaving, barely able to conceal the grin on his face...
* * * * *
...that was wiped away as the shuttle approached the mountains. Porter had been full of smiles and joy to be free from the school and back into the battlefield, until he saw Earth's terrain once more and was reminded of the many horrible things he had experienced down here.
Things would be different this time though. With the training he had endured, the experience and knowledge they had gained from their previous fights, everything would be better. Still, it wasn't easy to think about it positively anymore. He looked over at Riya who was softly talking to Nami and he wondered if he could protect her this time, unlike the last when she had been impaled by Cain.
Chase must have been feeling the same thing next to Porter as the teen shifted uncomfortably in his chair. The youth and excitement they used to bring with them to the battlefield was being worn away, eroded by the pain of trauma and the wisdom of experience. They were starting to know better than to take things lightly down here. Even the simple extraction of General Ochenkov could go very, very wrong very, very fast.
That was why they had to do it quickly and efficiently. It was why Shotuku and Ardwen had gone over plans before they had descended, and why Ardwen had reiterated those plans on the entire trip. It was critical that they moved properly, and followed instructions. They didn't need to attract unwanted attention. They just needed to grab the lost general and get out.
Porter sucked in a deep breath as the ship landed on the snow-covered flats of a frozen lake, their Goliaths sitting silently around the edges, waiting for their masters. The door slowly slid open and the bright light of the sun, reflected off the white of the snow, bursting through the opening into the darkness of the ship.
It was time for them to return to Earth.
A/N: The collision between Porter and Sigma is finally set in motion. Will it be a happy reunion of two brothers or will darker forces play their parts first?
The Goliath Garage contest is still running and the contestants are coming in! Remember, you don't have to draw in order to compete! Just describe!