《The Alterra Project》


 Chapter 1 - Prelude

    Earth Defense Research Division, Experiment Lab #1.


    "Sara, you may begin." A middle aged man stated methodically.


    "Affirmative sir, beginning test." Said a computerized voice, "Test subject AA05 has started to enter preliminary startup phase."


    "Vitals?" said the man while looking anxiously at what appeared to be a large humanoid robot.


    "All green sir."


    "Begin transfer." The man looked hesitantly at the robot again. The robot appeared to spasm slightly as the transfer began showing that the subject began to link with the robot and could control the artificial musculature. The man looked up hopeful as this lasted longer than the previous subjects, but his hopes were quickly dashed as several alarms started blaring.


    "Sara! Report!"


    "Sir, vitals are going erratic, the subject is unable to control the robot as his mind destabilizes, recommend immediate shutdown"


    A loud garbled noise is emitted from the robot, one could only describe it as a robot screaming in pain.


    "Shut it down¡­" The man looked dejectedly at the robot again as it stopped moving and screaming. He slammed his fist on the control panel in an uncontrolled fashion and winced slightly at the pain. Suddenly though, his eyes lit up with an idea.


    "Sara! Gather everyone, we''re going about this all wrong! It''s not the technology, it''s the people!"


    ________________


    Kindness and bravery will get you far in life is what Gray Wilhelm''s parents had always taught him. If ''getting far'' meant being a code-monkey for a multi-trillion dollar corporation and only a few steps above a basic entry-level employee, then his parents were correct. Unfortunately Gray did not agree with them anymore since he was 29, single, and living paycheck to paycheck. Gaming was his only escape, and also partly to blame why he was living paycheck to paycheck. He read several fantasy novels from the past about where people get reborn or transmigrated into a game and he hopes that this will happen to him.


    Finally¡­ His dream¡­ has NOT came true, that''s pure fantasy. Still, doesn''t mean he can''t dream.


    In the year 2080 neuroscientists had developed a method to transfer sensory inputs and thoughts to a machine. Initially it was very awkward. While the human was still conscious and trying to control machines that didn''t mimic humans, they found it almost impossible to control them without extensive training. Fortunately humans will always find a way to get around these issues and now controlling humanoid robots could be done by anyone with a healthy mind.


    In this day and age, almost everyone was a gamer to some extent. Adventure MMOs usually lead the pack since everyone needs an escape from reality ever now and then. With the latest in VR tech, you would feel like you were immersed in your own world. Combine that with a MMO, and you could be in a completely different world with people you''ve never met.


    Gray sighed to himself on his way home as he looked at the various advertisements for VR games while staring out the window on the Tram. He could only afford the previous generation of VR hardware so it was never fully immersive as only his hands and head were giving input to the game unlike the current generation which gave you full immersion. Many of the best gamers actually received a VR suit for free as they had been signed by various corporations or special interest groups to promote their own agendas and advertise within the games.


    "I''m not as good as the pros, but I still love gaming and I think that is what makes it still enjoyable for me even without all of the fame." Gray mused.


    "And THAT is why you suck at competitive games!" A loud voice said from behind Gray.


    "Screw you Jono! At least I''m not stressing over games so much that my hair starts to fall out!" Gray says childishly while pointing at Jono''s hat causing Jono to lower his head slightly while holding the brim of his hat.


    "It''s hereditary!"


    This was Jono Randel, his best and one of his only friends. They both seem to be hating each other, but for some odd reason Gray and Jono were very close friends. Gray thought it may have been true that the closer you were to someone the more you fought over things. If that was the case, they could''ve been brothers.


    Suddenly Jono threw his arm over Grey''s shoulders and hunched down whispering to Gray.


    "Did you hear about the new game from Alterra?"


    "No" said Gray "¡­ I can''t afford a new one anyways as I like to be able to eat more than once a day."


    "It''s supposed to be a full mech simulation! Alterra Online!"


    "They used their own name in the title? Plus it doesn''t seem like anything special just with that"


    "By itself, no, but what if that was only a part of it. What makes it unique is that players occupy a very tiny portion of the game itself and the game world is a 1:1 scale of the solar system."


    "So it''s going to be big and empty then?" said Gray without any sign of enthusiasm.


    "Yes and no. NPCs will inhabit the world and it has been shown that a player and NPC will be indistinguishable from each other. Additionally, players and even NPCs can form their own groups or alliances outside of the major governments if they want. For casual players, you don''t even have to be a pilot of a mech, or even do anything related to mechs. Generic mechs and parts will be available to all, but the truly powerful ones can only be crafted by players."


    Gray still wasn''t convinced "This still doesn''t sound like anything new"


    "Ok, then I''ll let you in on a secret, remember Kelly Lagerty?"


    "What about her?" Gray''s heart started to feel warm remember about the girl he crushed on through high school and college, but never asked out because he always got friend-zoned immediately with most girls because he was nice.


    "She dumped her last boyfriend just to prepare for this game!"


    "Huh?!?" Gray was very confused as this seemed to be a very outrageous statement.


    "Actually, that''s a lie, but last I hear she really did quit her job and dump her boyfriend."


    "That still has nothing to do with the game."


    "No, but I know I can''t convince you easily to play it, so just Google the trailer for it and you will see what makes it amazing!"


    After a short ride home, it was now 6pm, Gray figured he should make himself some dinner before firing up his computer as he sometimes would forget to eat if he was playing. Grabbing his food, Gray headed to his game room for another late gaming session. Heeding Jono''s advice, Gray looked up trailers for the game "Alterra Online".


    "Seriously, how big of an ego do they have to use their own name in the title of the game, or maybe they just decided to be uncreative with it." Gray said to himself.


    The Alterra Online channel had a few videos on it explaining the different features of the game. Gray became immersed and actually found himself drooling slightly after watching every video. From the details of the mechs, to the customization, the amount of jobs, the variety of tasks and even the NPC interactions, Gray was hooked! Everything looked extremely realistic as if it was taking place in an actual Solar System several years in the future. What his biggest draw to the game was that player-killing was strictly forbidden. Sanctioned Player vs. Player was still allowed, but for some strange reason players were forbidden from killing each other. Gray thought this was strange as couldn''t they just program it so it was impossible to be killed by another player and this question was point was brought up by others in the forums. Alterra stated that they were also going to have it so that if you died in game, your account would be closed permanently.


    "What the heck, this sounds counter-productive since if anyone dies in-game they''d lose a customer for life"


    As with the strange no Player Killing rule, Alterra''s response was that they wanted players to have a fear of death inside of the game just like they would in real life, it is over when you die.


    "Well, at the very least, I am very interested in this game, but I wouldn''t be able to afford the hardware for the game right now so I guess I''m going to miss out."


    Gray noticed a giveaway event for a Diamond-Tier membership on the bottom of the page, reading through it he discovered that this would basically let him play for free for life. All hardware upgrades would be handled by Alterra. Gray submitted a single entry even though he knew he would never win as the contest was in its last few hours; That and the fact that everyone is probably using AIs to submit multiple entries for themselves over and over means his meager single entry didn''t stand chance.


    After submitting his one entry, Gray forgot about and then decided to get back to playing League of Legendary Legends.

 Chapter 2 - No Game No Problem

    Alterra Corporation, 30th floor main headquarters building. A sharply dressed man looked at the display on his tablet, the transparent tablet adding a blue tint to his desk. This man is Drake Walters, the public relations executive of Alterra.


    In this age, offices are almost outdated as virtualization and telecommuting have almost completely removed the need to actually show up to an office. Unfortunately hackers and data thieves have also advanced with the times and the only way to ensure that information was not intercepted was to have face to face meetings. Thus, large corporations that are frequently targeted still have office buildings with people instead of just machines.


    "Are you sure about this data Nadia?" Drake asked to seemingly nothing


    "Yes, myself as well as another AI from the security division were able to disqualify everyone that used an AI or other illicit method to submit multiple entries." An AI voice sounded from what appeared to be light fixture.


    Drake nodded to himself "Out of the billions of applications, and only 4 didn''t cheat¡­"


    "To be fair, sir, humans never read the fine print"


    Drake laughed to himself "Indeed, the irony isn''t lost on me when an AI clicks the box that says ''I am not a robot''"


    "To be fair sir, I am NOT a robot, I am a partially sentient software with cognitive functions that is purely used for data organization, analytics, management, and an advisor without morals and incorruptible. Robots just do labor."


    Drake smiled "¡­and it seems even AI have a slight superiority complex."


    "I disagree sir, I myself am merely stating a fact."


    Laughing to himself again, Drake looked at the list again on his desk. At the top in large font, it said "Finalists for Alterra Online Diamond Competition". Below that was a list of three names:


    1. Alana Korbet


    2. Gray Wilhelm


    3. Seymour Butts


    4. Dan Gibbons


    "Nadia, why didn''t you remove the third entry?"


    "Sir, this entrant did not cheat and only submitted a single entry"


    "Remove the third entry¡­"


    __________


    A middle-aged man sat alone in a dark room in front of a computer display, browsing for feeds on Alterra Online, watching the countdown for the results to the Diamond Tier competition.


    "Seymour! Your dinner is ready!" an elderly female voice came from the first floor.


    "Coming Ma!"


    He is Seymour Butts, yes, he hated his name, but his Mother strictly forbid him from changing it due to her late husband''s name being Seymour. He was polite and upright and never did anything wrong, graduated with highest honors from Adonis University, but then his Mother married again to Bernard Butts, and thus Seymour Collins became Seymour Butts. Despite his achievements, he was never able to land any job as his resume and applications were always filtered out due to his name.


    __________


    On Saturday, Gray finally had time off to himself. Of course, he would spend as much of it as possible playing games. He loved multiplayer games especially but it was hard to find people that genuinely enjoyed gaming, winning or losing, as society is very competitive. After his 3rd consecutive loss in Sprocket League, Gray decided to take a break for once.


    "I need to go for a walk and clear my head"


    Gray put on some regular clothes and grabbed his armlet. The armlets were extremely convenient in today''s society; essentially, the armlet is the old wallet, phone, map, assistant, and could help manage your life socially, financially, and even physically. Sadly the social functions of it were almost never used so his little social bubble basic AI gave up a long time ago. The fitness function was also practically a lost cause as most of his exercise was walking from his desk at work to the tram station. On the other hand, his financial basic AI was constantly working, it would make suggestions and give statements constantly as he had to pinch every credit and couldn''t spend lavishly as a third of his monthly budget was used on gaming.


    Gray headed down to the shopping district, he loved making his way to GameGo as it was his solace. He loved nothing more than nerding it up with other nerds. As usual, when he finally arrived at GameGo, the financial basic AI on his armlet started panicking and informed Gray he needed to not spend over a certain amount of credits or else he would have to skip some meals.


    "I know, I''m just here to browse. I''m not going to buy anything."


    ''That is what you said last time'' flashed across the HUD embedded in his glasses.


    "I know, I was bad, but I swear-"


    Before Gray could finish, the words "and the 18 times before that as well"


    "I know I know! REALLY, I promise I won''t buy anything. I don''t need any or want stuff from here."


    A skeptical emoji flashed across the HUD.


    "I''m serious! Besides, the Stream Summer Sale starts next week and I can''t wait for it!" said Gray excitedly.


    A white flag emoji went across his HUD


    "Stop it¡­"


    Animations of old fashioned wallets getting exploded were then played on his HUD


    "Seriously?"


    Finally a video of a wallet getting buried while taps played in the background was sent to his HUD.


    "Stop it! Just give me the hard limit and I''ll try and keep below it!"


    Gray was probably one of the few humans that argued with AIs. Jono once caught him doing this and his friend merely gave him a disappointed look. The kind of disappointed look you get when you reach in to a bowl of Starbursts and pull out a yellow one instead of a pink or red one.


    Gray walked in and saw a rotund man in his 30s wearing the traditional black GameGo shirt staring at the display watching a video for Alterra Online. If one looked closely enough, one could see a small amount of drool starting to form at the corner of his mouth. This was Jim Stevens, also known as Spoon. Gray was really interested in how he got the nickname ''Spoon'', but Jim never told him and nobody else seemed to know.


    "Hey Spoon! You interested in Alterra Online as well?"


    Spoon came out of his daze and inhaled sharply to slurp up the drool he realized was about to fall. "Gray! Yeah! I got a shweet shetup all ready for thish!"


    Poor Spoon, his jaw became damaged in an accident he said giving him a slight lisp whenever he talks excitedly. Gray couldn''t help but think that Spoon really reminded him of and old cartoon character, Eric Cartman from South Park. Still, Spoon would just roll with it and Gray thought that part of Spoon might actually like it as it was unique.


    "I''m jealous Spoon, I can''t play it since I only have last gen VR, but I don''t mind as I can''t see myself spending that kind of money."


    The word ''LIES'' flashed across Gray''s HUD from his basic financial AI, which he chose to ignore.


    "Shorry to hear that man! Like, thish game ish going to be amazshing!"


    Gray had to agree with him on that point, but he honestly enjoyed himself even with his older setup.


    After a few minutes of nerding around with Spoon, Gray and Spoon both received a notification that Alterra Online''s Diamond Tier contest winner would be announced. Spoon quickly switched back to Alterra Online''s live stream. Spoon seemed extremely excited about this.


    "I had twenty AI help me shend at leasht a million entry formsh"


    "Really Spoon¡­ I did just one" Gray had to admit that as much as Spoon seemed like a goober, he really did know his shtuff! I mean¡­ stuff!


    After a few more scenes from Alterra Online were revealed, Gray started to walk out of the store as the winner was about to be announced. Gray reached the door and walked out as it opened for him only to suddenly hear what he thought was the scream of an elementary school girl. He looked back quickly at the source of the noise to see Spoon staring at him in utter shock.


    "D¡­ D¡­ DOOD! You won!"


    Only one word came to Gray''s mind: SHWEET!!! I mean SWEET!

 Chapter 3 - Sleep is for the weak

    "I won? Seriously?"


    Gray couldn''t believe it, so Spoon dragged him over to the screen and showed him. There was Gray''s name, ''Gray Wilhelm'' in the shiny diamond shaped area on the screen.


    Spoon started to smack Gray''s arm excitedly, happy for Gray and in disbelief that he himself had not won.


    "Looks like I CAN play this game after all! Hey, with your sweet setup Spoon we can even play together!"


    Spoon looked down dejectedly and said "The shweet shetup wash going to be that, I can barely afford to live alone, I will jusht borrow my shishtersh when she getsh it."


    Gray looked confused at Spoon, wondering how he could be so careless and bank on winning a competition open to everyone.


    Also, Spoon had a sister? Gray was never informed of this, and it is every man''s right to be informed when a friend of his has a sister, in order to avoid her obviously... maybe... Looking at Spoon, Gray thought it might be better to avoid her. He didn''t believe in judging a book by its cover, but sometimes the cover was nice to look at!


    Gray thought it would be best to return home quickly as he suddenly felt like he would become the center of attention if he stayed around in a gaming store.


    Once he got home, absolutely nothing happened, he wasn''t swamped with reporters or bombarded with calls and messages. Maybe it wasn''t him? Maybe someone had the same name as him?


    As these thoughts started to enter his mind his armlet suddenly chirped and the HUD said "Jono Randel" and he answered with a touch to his glasses.


    "Hey Jo_"


    "THAT''S B******T!!! COMPLETE B******T!!!" Jono screamed cutting off Gray as Gray felt his left ear start to go deaf.


    "Chill out! What''s b******t?"


    "You! I submitted over 4 million entries using a few AIs and you, who didn''t even know of the game until yesterday, steal it from me!" Jono said with indignation.


    "Tell you what, you can come over and watch me play¡­"


    "Go to Hell!"


    Jono hung up after that, he is pretty sure Jono just chucked his armlet instead of actually hanging up, but back in his mind Gray tells himself Jono was just congratulating him.


    __________


    Online, the forums exploded with people outraged claiming that the contest was rigged. Several people even started having a competition among themselves to brag about how many times they submitted entries with AIs. It''s like how college guys would each brag about having a bigger "cod piece" than the other guy, they would talk a lot of crap, but never actually whip it out to prove it true.


    At the heat of it, a more level-headed person finally posted a thread that was quickly elevated and stickied to the top of the forum. The post was a screenshot of the rules of the contest with the part highlighted that said "Applicants must submit their own entries, any use of AI assistance will disqualify all of an applicant''s entries." The thread was locked after the 53,040th user posted the slapping forehead emoji.


    __________


    After Jono called, Gray received several other calls from other "friends" that had known him through school or work. A few girls even called him which got him extremely excited, fortunately his Basic Social AI started playing an old song called "Gold Digger" in his other ear each time a female called.


    When Gray''s mother was finally able to get through to him, she congratulated him warmly.


    "Gray! I''m so happy for you!"


    "Thanks Mom! I was extremely surprised myself!"


    "Just don''t forget to get some sleep instead of playing all of the time, I know you tend to do that sometimes!"


    "Mom, that''s the beauty of the latest VR technology, I am asleep while I play!"


    "So this game is about sleeping?"


    "No mom, I am asleep while playing the game, it''s about giant robots!"


    "Oh, so if you''re asleep then how do you play?"


    "Mom¡­ it is full immersion VR, my body is asleep, but my mind is still active"


    "So when does your mind sleep?"


    "¡­" Gray keeps forgetting his mother is from a different generation and never had much exposure to this sort of thing. "Don''t worry Mom, I''ll get plenty of sleep!"


    Gray knows his Mom means well, but he is still surprised that he didn''t get fat growing up as his Mom always doted on him. Her catchphrase became "Did you eat?" followed by "What did you eat?". If she didn''t like what she heard, she would offer Gray food until he finally stopped resisting and ate something else. Still, even with the awkward conversations, he still missed his parents sometimes.


    "Speaking of sleeping Gray, you should get out more, maybe meet a nice girl so your father and I can have some grandchildren to spoil."


    "Mom, what does sleeping have to do wi¡­" Gray suddenly got the joke his mother dropped and wished he hadn''t. Joking like that with his Dad isn''t as bad, but with his Mom it just felt¡­ eww¡­


    "I need to go Mom, tell Dad I love him!"


    After hanging up with his Mom, a call from an unknown number rang through. It was an AI, but she sounded very pleasant to listen to unlike most AI Gray had heard.


    "Is this Gray Wilhelm?"


    "Yes, that is me, you are?"


    "I am Nadia, an AI for Alterra Corporation. Alterra would like to congratulate you upon winning our diamond tier contest."


    It really was true¡­ Gray had won¡­


    "Thanks! What do I need to do?"


    A small notification appeared in Gray''s HUD saying Nadia wishes to send a secure form for him to fill out. Gray excitedly accepted it and grabbed his tablet, after a brief moment the form appeared on the screen. He read through it just in case there were any hidden items or loop holes that Alterra was trying to give to him, can''t just sign stuff without reading through it first!


    The contract was surprisingly concise the first page merely stipulated that Gray would let nobody else but himself use the VR bed and only Alterra Corporation technicians were allowed to fix it should it break. The second page was the usual warnings about how full immersion VR should not be used while under the influence of any substances that alter your perception as it could cause permanent damage to your brain and Alterra Corporation will not be held accountable should damage occur from it.


    "Looks good to me" said Gray as he pressed his thumb down on the 2nd page to sign as the tablet verified his identity through his genetic fingerprint.


    "Excellent Gray Wilhelm, we shall process your information and you will receive the VR bed in 2 to 3 business days. The Alterra Online lobby is already open and the game will be accessible early only to you and other Diamond tier members a week ahead of release."


    Gray closed his eyes and held out his hands, he was expecting to suddenly be covered in light and gain some new powers or a system of sorts after signing the contract. Sadly, this was reality, and luckily nobody saw Gray pose like that.


    "Uh, thank you Nadia, I can''t wait to play!"


    "Of course Gray, it was a pleasure working with you!"


    "Uh, it was a pleasure working with you too!" Gray said getting slightly confused as he was not really sure what to say or do at this point.


    "Of course it was" Nadia said quickly as the AI disconnected which caused Gray to pause as he had to process what the AI said. He dismissed it as her programmed personality of that particular AI.


    Gray realized he did have one major problem¡­ Looking at his tiny 3 room apartment, he realized he had nowhere to actually put the VR bed once it came.

 Chapter 4 - AI Fanboys

    Living in the city has become somewhat of a necessity for Gray. He has to be able to walk to the tram station and can''t afford any personal transportation device. The other reason is that the Earth only has 5% of the surface area still inhabitable by humanity from the original amount due to the rising sea level. Gray is sure that Al Gore is probably rolling over in his grave and would be shouting ''I told you so!'' regarding the ice caps melting.


    Regardless, most of humanity now resides in enclosed domed cities that are able to be submerged completely should the sea level continue to rise. With the oceans now covering 98.5% of the Earth, land is now a precious resource.


    What does this have to do with Gray''s tiny living space? Not much really, but he likes to bring it up to people whenever someone mentions he has a small apartment.


    "I guess I should make room for this VR bed" thought Gray. "I''d say this thing is going to be as important as my fridge and shower so obviously I need those. That only leaves the couch and entertainment center and the bed in my room."


    Gray thought for a moment "Well, looks like I''ll get rid of the bed, I mean, it is a VR bed that''s going to replace it so I can just use it as a bed!"


    __________


    The following 2 days at work left Gray with no peace to do his job at work. His coworkers constantly bugged him about winning the Diamond Tier competition throughout the day. He wouldn''t have minded it so much except that he really didn''t know what to say as he didn''t have the VR bed yet and the game wouldn''t be accessible until Friday.


    The office goddess, Verona Peters, even talked to him. Verona always dressed sharply, wearing business suits with her blonde hair tied neatly in a bun. Her figure was a mystery as the suit hid it well, but that also added to the charm, but her face was soft and beautiful with blue eyes that exuded charm leaving one in a daze if they stared too long.


    Many of the other male employees had tried many times to get with her and fawned over her. Frankly, it was annoying, but Gray is confident he can woo Verona! Why just the other day she struck up a conversation with him all on her own, asking him to stop staring off in to space while blocking the coffee maker. This time she had asked him to get back to work and stop talking about games.


    "She wants me" Gray convinced himself.


    All delusions aside, Gray was starting to get annoyed with questioning so he was glad when his "fame" died down by Wednesday. Gray was barely able to focus, today was the day it was supposed to arrive! His armlet chimed earlier that it would be setup while he was out. He''d already been sleeping on the couch in the meantime as he had to make room for the VR bed so he would be happy to have a bed again.


    __________


    Gray decided to stop at GameGo on his way home to ask Spoon if he should get anything to support him during long VR gaming sessions. Upon entering GameGo, Gray saw Spoon doing his usual thing of staring at a display watching videos. At the back he saw the only other employee at this GameGo location, Carly Moon.


    Carly was short and stocky, cute in her own way, and had a huge set of¡­ VR rigs that she frequently bragged about. She was a true gamer girl, would be cute if her personality wasn''t so boorish and her voice so loud. She earned the nickname "Bullhorn" that she says she got because she commands her guild in World of Warcrap with a domineering voice and can use it to rally her guild. Spoon says it''s because she actually head-butted someone while wearing a Viking helmet at a party that caused a guy to bleed from being stabbed with the horn.


    Gray started walking over to Spoon, hoping Carly wouldn''t see him, but luck wasn''t on his side as Gray suddenly heard from the other side of the store. "GRAY! You butthead! Good job winning dude!" Carly yelled at him while walking towards him then clapping him on the back hard enough to almost knock the wind out of him.


    "T-Thanks Carly! I''m not staying long, just looking for accessories for the VR bed I''m getting!"


    Gray could tell Spoon was pretending to not notice him so that he wouldn''t attract Carly''s attention. You''d think they would hit it off since they''re both gamers and even worked at the same place. Familiarity breeds contempt it seems. Gray had brought it up once with Spoon, he said he was staying away from her, something about trying to get her attention by not giving her attention or some other reverse psychology crap. Regardless, Spoon probably liked her a lot and was just too much of a wuss to do anything about it.


    "Pssshhh, you don''t need anything like that Gray! This isn''t like your old garbage where you need to buy extra controllers, sound buffers, a sonic muscle massagers or even snacks. Just lay down on your bed, plug yourself in and you''re good to go my man!" said Carly.


    "Oh, uhhh, thanks!" said Gray sheepishly, he probably should''ve just done even a little bit of research and he would''ve came to this same conclusion, but Gray had long realized that it was the little things like this that he would often overlook.


    "No problem!" Carly then came closer to Gray and whispered "If it''s your first time, let me know if you need help breaking in your VR bed."


    Gray started to blush at the hidden meaning to her words, then she smiled and added "It needs to be tuned to your brain''s frequency so you need either a person or AI to help with that, what did you think I was talking about?"


    "Oh! Ahhh¡­ yes, I knew you meant that!"


    In the back Spoon was starting to tear up trying to contain his laughter, or maybe it was rage, Gray couldn''t tell because rage and laughter looked the same on Spoon. As soon as Carly started to turn around Spoon quickly recovered and looked like he hadn''t heard a thing causing Gray to admire his ability to adapt to the situation.


    "I''ll ask the AI that is setting up the VR bed initially to tune it for me."


    At the mention of AI, Spoon started to perk up a little. "Gray, you got to talk to an Alterra AI? Pleashe tell me which one!" Spoon''s breathing started to increase as Gray forgot that Spoon REALLY seemed to like AIs, especially the highest level ones that were given almost full sentience. Spoon was not alone with his fetish, others would even create concept art based upon the avatars of the more publicly visible AIs, or create risqu¨¦ fan fiction of them having a close intimate encounter with the AI of their fantasy. The world is indeed scary.


    Still, Gray humored him. "It''s¡­ her name is Nadia"


    Spoon started tapping madly at the interface on the display in front of him after linking it to his armlet. Spoon had even created a database of all known AIs, but oddly enough you could say it was only half complete because it only seemed to have AIs with female voices and avatars. He quickly brought up Nadia, but was surprised to see that the only information available was that Nadia was the personal assistant AI to Drake Walters of Alterra Corporation. The avatar and capabilities were all unknown as only when Drake has talked to her in public has her voice even been exposed.


    "Sh... She ish an unknown! Gray! You musht get her to show you her avatar and shend me a picture! My world dependsh on it!"


    Gray just nodded slowly at Spoon as Spoon was staring at him full of passion. This was a scary hobby.

 Chapter 5 - Its on!

    After the awkward conversation with Spoon and his fetish for AIs, Gray had to admit he was curious about this AI, Nadia, at the very least.


    "Usually an AI''s avatar is set by the human who set it up. As for which one to pick, the most popular avatars are designed by experts" Gray only had a few very basic AI that were completely non-sentient. In fact, calling them AI could be considered a stretch.


    In this age, AI handled many useful functions from driving public transportation, public safety, and even personal assistants. AI were forbidden from joining law enforcement and the Military outside of advisory roles. Why? Skynet¡­


    Gray thought to himself "I remember that someone said your AI''s avatar was a mirror reflection of your dreams¡­ I don''t exactly know what that means but since I don''t have an AI with an avatar that could mean I do not have any dreams!"


    For some reason thinking about this made Gray a little depressed, he sometimes wished he could go back in time to his past self and change a few things.


    Finally coming back to his apartment, Gray notices a conspicuous red button lying on the ground, like the kind you used to be able to get from that office supply chain "Staples" as a joke. In bold letters it had the word "RESET" and Gray''s heart skipped a beat thinking this could be what he was just thinking about.


    "No way!" Said Gray out loud to himself. Gray picked up the button and looked around to see if anyone may have dropped it or was watching him. Gray closed his eyes and with genuine heartfelt emotion of wanting to fix the past he pressed the Reset button firmly.


    "RE-RE-RE-RESSSEETTT!" a loud DJ voiced boomed from the back of the button. Sadly, that was all that happened, this isn''t one of those kind of novels.


    Gray laughed and almost chucked it but thought it might have been a prank someone was playing so he decided to keep it to prank someone else with it later. "What good are friends if you can''t play pranks on them¡­ maybe that''s why I don''t have many friends?"


    Upon entering his apartment Gray could see the new VR bed through the doorway. Gray was positive that it is now the most expensive thing he owned, even more expensive than everything else he owned combined. It''s not to say that top of the line VR beds are outrageously expensive, Gray was just that poor to begin with. He could''ve bought one, but he would''ve had to go without eating for 3 years.


    Gray examined his new VR bed as this was the very first full dive true VR bed model available to the public and specifically released for Alterra Online. As a Diamond tier he got it early, but even so, it was the first of its kind and nobody else (legally) owned one. The VR bed itself looked sleek, it was a box shape with some white fluffy material covering the top that is supposed to mold to your body. At the head of the bed was the neural interface unit which looked like half of a solid white donut that one had to put their head on. All you needed really was the neural interface unit and the board it used to interface with the network, but almost everyone opted for the full bed as if you tried to do it sitting up your body could fall and you''d lose connection to the game. As for full dive, Gray just assumed the bed had became standard since now you''d be unconscious and wouldn''t know if you fell.


    It has been said that if you suddenly get pulled out of your neural unit during an intense gaming session that your mind will become damaged or your mind could disconnect from your body. Fortunately, that was all proven not true. When you get moved out of your neural interface unit, your in-game character just stops and collapses like a rag doll. As for your body, you will wake up naturally after a minute as if you just had a dream since your body will no longer be forced asleep. Still, full dive VR was new and Gray was sure there were some unknown hazards with it.


    Although Gray knew Diamond tier was the highest, he didn''t remember exactly what the others were so he browsed to the Alterra Online shop to compare. The site offered 3 tiers for Alterra Online: Iron, Gold, and Diamond.


    "Weird, normally they do something like Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, then Chuck Norris, but I guess they can pick whatever they want."


    Every tier offered the game for life with a one-time payment. Iron-tier basically was just the game, you needed to buy a VR bed separately or share it with someone else. The Gold tier included a VR bed made for Alterra Online and wasn''t much different than a Diamond Tier except that the Diamond Tier was not for sale and included lifetime service on your VR bed. Humans are the hardware with full-dive VR, the VR bed just carries the signal, translates it, and blocks erroneous outside interference.


    In Alterra Online, Diamond-tier players also included several in-game mech and avatar customizations, an upgraded starter mech, and the ability to create a faction of your own in game.


    Gray thought they were talking about guilds, but Gray noticed this game didn''t have a guild function but instead had a team or unit function. It was further explained that teams and factions, while fundamentally the same, were very different. Teams could complete missions together and have a team bonus applied to the reward based upon team rank if you were all from the same team. Team changing was allowed only once every 24 hours, but the rewards scaled the longer you were in the same team. A team''s headquarters could only be built in a city and each city was limited to the amount of team headquarters that could be built based upon the player and NPC population of the city. Other than that, the team functions were fairly standard.


    Creating a faction was what Gray really was impressed with, but it had some strange functions compared to creating a team. Firstly, you had to submit a request to the system to create a faction along with a banner and emblem. Secondly, you would be given a starting HQ inside of an existing NPC city as the base for your faction. Expansion was handled by purchasing existing buildings within that same city or constructing new buildings over empty lots within the city limits. Lastly, you needed at least 4 squadrons of mech pilots to be able to create your own faction, compared to just one for a team.


    "Weird, why can''t we build wherever we want?"


    As for the strangest rule regarding factions¡­ factions were not allowed to attack another territory or faction of other players unless given specific permission from a NPC that was a political or military leader. Personal grudges and group wars were only allowed to be carried out in a simulated arena battle.


    "It sounds like NPCs are going to be able to directly control the players if the players desire war amongst themselves and can''t work it out in the arena. A simulated arena in a game that is simulated, makes my head hurt thinking about it"


    Finally sitting down on the VR bed, Gray gave it a light bounce. The VR bed was so soft to sit on that it was like he was sitting on a cloud.


    "I can''t wait to sleep on this thing!" then Gray stopped himself when he realized that a normal bed wouldn''t cost more than his college education. "Oh right, time to take this thing for a spin! I''ve never done full dive VR before so it will be new to me!"


    After inspecting the setup and verifying that everything was plugged in correctly, he did notice that Alterra had upgraded his connection to use Alterra Corporation''s direct Hyper-optic direct connection to the Internet.


    "This¡­ this thing has more bandwidth capacity than my workplace¡­ seems like a good use to me!"


    Gray laid down on the bed and pulled the neural link chamber over his head, then said "Start up!"


    Nothing happened¡­


    Gray pondered for a minute then said "Activate!"


    Nothing happened again¡­


    Gray was getting a little annoyed so he just started saying anything he could think of.


    "VR On!"


    "Materialize!"


    "Transform!"


    "Go Go Gadget VR bed!"


    "When your powers combine, I am Captain Planet!"


    "Big bucks big bucks no whammies!"


    Finally, that seemed to do something¡­ is what Gray told himself. In reality, Gray finally looked it up and saw that to actually turn it on you have to squeeze the included remote to sync it with your unique DNA so someone else can''t use it or "accidentally" turn it off while you''re playing it.


    Gray gripped the remote in his hand, a warm sensation passed through his fingers then a pleasant computerized voice said "Welcome! Would you like to begin?"


    Gray started to feel giddy as he said with extreme enthusiasm "YES!"

 Chapter 6 - First Full Dive

    Full dive VR was called full dive for a reason. As soon as Gray said yes, he felt like his body was falling and when it instantly stopped he was standing by himself in what could best be described as a hotel lobby.


    The floor was covered in smooth marble tiles with a shine that indicated it was waxed recently. On one end Gray could see what appeared to be a concierge desk with two attendants, one male and one female, standing eagerly at attention. On the other side appeared to be a meeting room and bar. Out of the 8 tables, only 2 had people sitting at them. Gray was not sure if they were players or NPCs. Strangely enough, this lobby only had one door as far as Gray could see. The door was wide enough to accommodate 6 people standing shoulder to shoulder, above it was a large digital clock that was counting down.


    "50 hours, 27 minutes, 33 seconds" read Gray "Oh, it''s counting down the launch to the game! I forgot that Alterra Online has not launched yet. I guess I can only hang out here for now until the game launches."


    Gray noticed above the two attendants that a sign said "New Player Setup" so Gray instinctively headed towards them, as he was walking his body felt off, but he chose to ignore it for now. Looking at the two NPCs, Gray chose the female NPC to interact with. Why? Because it''s a guy thing.


    The female attendant smiled and said "Welcome new player! Would you like to begin creating your character or shall I introduce you to the features of the game?"


    "Create a character!" Gray usually just jumped right in and learned on the fly so why not skip the tutorial?


    "Excellent sir! As a Diamond tier you are eligible for all jobs and functions in the game! Alterra Online is an advanced war and political simulation, for everyone''s enjoyment a personality test will be completed. This will help guide in your job decision."


    "What if I just want to blow up other mechs?" said Gray evilly.


    "Then sir, we recommend becoming a soldier or mercenary and visiting the arena for simulated combat when you don''t have orders."


    "What if I want to kill people in the game?" said Gray trying now to sound as evil as possible.


    "Sir, murdering players and NPCs is not allowed, your character and account will be deleted if you break this rule. If it is in self-defense that is the exception as per the rules. Accidental deaths will be investigated thoroughly and if the player is found to have willfully caused the accident then one''s account and character will be deleted"


    "Ok, what if I want to be a playboy?"


    "Then sir can be a playboy if you are attractive enough."


    "Do you find me attractive?" said Gray trying to be cool.


    "No sir."


    Gray felt like a bucket of cold water was poured on to his head, but just has to remember that his parents always told him ''Beauty is in the eye of the beholder''. Gray long since realized that that is just a nice way of calling someone ugly.


    "Joking aside, do I have to pick a job now and if I do can I change it or am I stuck with it?"


    "Sir, if you wish to change jobs merely apply for a different one. You are not stuck with any job or any single job."


    "Lastly, if I don''t want to have anything to do with mechs, the military, or even politics, what can I do?"


    "Sir, Alterra Online is an advanced war and political simulation, if you do not want to participate in them, why even play the game?"


    Gray thought that that seemed like a surprising logical answer as normally a game would do everything it could to encourage you to play instead of telling you that you''d be wasting time. As Gray was pondering this, his whole body started to feel even heavier and his legs were barely able to hold him up anymore.


    "Why do I feel so heavy and can barely move!"


    "Sir, you probably have forgotten to tune your VR bed for your unique body chemistry."


    "Oh, that was important? I''ll come finish making my character later!"


    "As you wish sir."


    Gray logged off and felt like he had just been pushed up in to his own body through the bed. "Seriously, I need to pay more attention to these sorts of things." Gray said to himself.


    After researching briefly how to tune a VR Bed, Gray learned that the most common and reliable way was to use an AI. Figuring this probably came with the warranty on the VR Bed, Gray called Alterra Corporation''s Customer Service. With AI being able to handle most call centers in this modern age, wait times were a thing of the past. Gray had preferential treatment for being a Diamond-tier so his request was pushed through to the front of the queue and alerted the AI Nadia as she was tasked with maintaining relations with all of the Diamond-tier clients.


    Taking the call directly, the AI Nadia talked directly with Gray. "Greetings Mr. Wilhelm, how are you this evening?"


    "I am fine, but ahhhh... call me Gray, I don''t like to be so formal."


    "Very well Mr. Gray, I am Nadia, an AI that works under the Public Relations chief executive officer directly. As you do not own an AI with the ability to tune a VR bed, Alterra Corporation will make an exception and allow one of our technical AIs to tune your VR bed, allow me a moment to allocate one."


    "Can''t you just do it yourself?" Gray asked, he didn''t feel like waiting again.


    "Obviously I can, but that doesn''t mean I want to submit myself to tune it for you. Still, you probably meant to ask me if I will tune it for you rather than do I have the ability to do so." Nadia paused for a moment then continued "I have received permission and now can and will do it for you if you would like Mr. Gray."


    "Yes! Please do! Just tell me what you need me to do!" Gray started to take off his clothes.


    "Sir, that isn''t necessary, this isn''t A** G**r. Please lie down on the VR bed and await my instructions as I interface directly with your unit"


    "Oh, uhhh, sorry!" Gray got embarrassed from being clueless about how to tune a VR bed. Fortunately, he had only taken off his shirt and the rest was still on.


    Gray was expecting something to happen to the VR bed, like maybe needles, probes, or something to come out and start poking him. Only thing that happened was Nadia telling him to log in.


    Gray squeezed the remote and logged in, he was wary about his body feeling heavy again, but nothing of the sort happened yet. Looking around, Gray appeared to be standing in his bedroom in a VR environment. His tiny desk with his old VR unit next to it were there as well as his bookshelf, the only thing missing was his VR bed.


    Nadia explained "It is easier to tune with someone in a familiar and comfortable virtual area, so I had your room quickly generated. This is a quick process as long as you follow my instructions."


    "Yes ma''am!" said Gray almost saluting.


    "Please assume a neutral position, keeping your appendages in a relaxed state and then transpose into the first position for tuning."


    "Ummm, what is the first position?"


    "I will demonstrate" A very very odd looking figure appeared in front of Gray. It resembled a stick man with the head that was merely an outline of a generic female. This caused Gray some slight discomfort as the limbs just didn''t look proportional.


    "Is this your avatar Nadia?!?" Gray asked in shock.


    "No, this is merely a physical stick figure with a generic head on it that I can use to demonstrate. I normally do not show my avatar as it is unnecessary."


    "Your stick figure is creeping me out."


    Nadia seemed to pause for a brief moment which could be considered a long time for an AI as they are able to make decisions faster than any human could. "Very well, I shall permit you an exception and allow my avatar to assist you, one moment."


    Gray wasn''t sure why this made him excited, he''s seen plenty of AI. Most likely Gray was excited due to the fact that nobody outside of the higher ups of Alterra Corporation have ever seen her.


    The stick figure with a blank head disappeared and a human female shape started to materialize in front of him. Nadia''s avatar appeared in front of him, she had the appearance of a 20 something female with shoulder-length chestnut hair. Her brown eyes had an intense gaze that exuded confidence, she wore thin oval shaped glasses and had a neutral expression for Gray. Gray would describe her as a cool beauty since she gave him a feeling of being unobtainable... Not that he has ever hit on an AI, but Gray was confident others have and he might in the future.


    Moving his eyes down, Nadia was unsurprisingly in a very clean and professional dark business suit with black short heels and black nylons. The skin on her face and hands was very soft and white, similar to a models, but seeing as she is an AI, she can have whatever skin her designer wishes for. The business suit hugged her body perfectly and prevented Gray from analyzing her figure more sadly, but this was expected.


    "You''re perfect!" said Gray thoughtlessly.


    "I know." said Nadia''s avatar in a very matter-of-fact tone. "Now follow my instructions."


    Gray smiled wryly and said "...what''s with this snobbish AI?"

 Chapter 7 - Prelaunch

    Back at Alterra Corporation Headquarters, Drake Walters, the Public Relations executive in charge of the publicity for Alterra Online, looked up from his tablet and said "Nadia."


    "Yes sir?"


    "Handling the tuning directly was over the top, why didn''t you assign one of your subordinate AI processes to handle it?"


    "Sir, in order to facilitate perfect service I determined it best to act as I am able to more accurately tune a neural link than our standard AI. Is there a problem, sir?"


    "Not really, it''s just..." said Drake trailing his sentence.


    "I sense you are conflicted emotionally... are you jealous?"


    "A little"


    Nadia materialized her avatar in front of Drake, only this time she seemed to have a warmer appearance and was even smiling at Drake. She took off her glasses, then reached out with her hand and caressed Drake''s cheek, but unfortunately Drake felt nothing. "Do not worry little Dragon, I can''t replace her, but I won''t leave either."


    Drake nodded "...Thank you... and I told you not to call me that out loud, if someone were to hear that..."


    "I know sir, but you made me like her so I have to tease you sometimes." smiled Nadia as she put her glasses back on. Nadia''s eyes suddenly focused into the distance. "Sir, a report has just come in, we will be able to launch as planned, the host''s bodies are stable."


    "Excellent, inform the Chief. We shall begin phase one of the project at launch of Alterra Online!"


    __________


    Gray had to admit that as silly as the process seemed, having his VR bed tuned to his body made the whole VR experience much more natural as if a weight had been removed from his body. Gray had stayed logged in to the testing environment that Nadia had created of his bedroom. While it seemed like a waste of time, he wanted to see how authentic the environment was.


    Walking over to his desk in the simulated environment, Gray tapped the panel on the right and exposed the data chips that were stored in it. Picking up a chip that looked unremarkable from the rest, Gray peeled back the manufacturer''s label just slightly and was surprised when he saw the same small mark he used to differentiate which data chip had his "special" collection.


    "Wow, Nadia was thorough... wait, does that mean she even replicated the data on them?" said Gray starting to get embarrassed. He placed the "special" data chip into the active slot on his desk and tapped the display on his desk to bring up the files on it. He found the familiar folder structure sorted by genre. Located in the ''Documentaries'' folder he found his password protected folder inside called ''New Folder'' because nobody hides it in there.


    "A little peek never hurts" Gray said with a grin.


    When he opened the folder, only one file was in it instead of the dozen or so videos he was expecting. Opening it, it was single image. The creepy stick figure that Nadia had originally tried to use for tuning was standing up holding a sign that said ''Pervert'' in the picture.


    "Dang it..." Gray logged out of the virtual environment after confirming with the system that this environment will no longer be available. He was feeling a little depressed so he decided to pick himself up.


    Gray walked over to his desk in the real world and found the "special" data chip inside his desk. After opening it, he was glad to see the familiar videos in the same ''New Folder'' as he expected. Making a decision, Gray opened one of them with a mischievous smile plastered on his face. The display on his desk opened the video and to his horror, it was a video of that same stick figure holding the same pervert sign.


    "Why..."


    Gray cried that night after he checked every file and they all contained the same stick figure with the pervert sign.


    __________


    The next few days were uneventful as Gray was very distracted as he kept getting more and more excited over the launch of Alterra Online tomorrow. Gray never took vacations from work so he planned to use about half of it one go and took 2 weeks off. His boss wasn''t very happy about that, but Gray compromised and said he could handle a few things if they were brought to his apartment directly.


    After work on Friday, Gray stopped by GameGo to let Spoon know that he wouldn''t be stopping by for at least a week. Spoon was jealous because he had to wait longer to join compared to Diamond Tier players.


    Gray even talked to Jono, his best friend for a short time online. Jono made a few snide comments about how Gray would drag the other Diamond Tier players down since Alterra Online was not pay to win. A true friend indeed... Gray just assumed that it was his way of saying he cared in some twisted sense.


    Gray changed into some pajamas and a t-shirt, then laughed at himself since it really didn''t matter what you wore during a full dive VR session as your actual body wasn''t conscious.


    "Time to finish making my character!" Gray said excitedly.


    Logging in to the same lobby as before, Gray noticed that everything was the same except that the two attendant NPCs were different than before. Gray didn''t think anything of it though and went to the female attendant because what single male gamer wouldn''t.


    Gray did a little research beforehand this time instead of just diving in like usual. He found that the character creation was surprisingly very limited compared to other VR Games... This wasn''t so bad as he was still traumatized from another game about how one person had two large ''appendages'' extruding from below their waist, I believe she named herself ''DoubleDonger''. Yes, it was a ''she''.


    "I''d like to create a character!"


    "Very well sir... I see that you started earlier, would you like to continue from where you left off or start over?" said the female attendant with a warm smile.


    "Continue!"


    "Excellent sir! As a Diamond-tier you are able to also cosmetically adjust your physical appearance beyond tattoos and makeup so long as your bone structure is not altered and you have no additional limbs."


    Thinking about the horror that was ''DoubleDonger'' this made Gray happy that you couldn''t add anything.


    The attendant knocked twice on the door behind her and the door opened revealing what appeared to be a changing room. "Sir, please step this was."


    Gray thought it was odd that he couldn''t adjust his character out in the lobby, but it did make some sense as this would eventually become a much more crowded library once all of the players were able to access it. Stepping into the changing room, the attendant closed the door behind him and Gray decided to see what he could do. Alterra Online had the common sliders to adjust some basic facial features, but using the free form tool was much better once you got used to it. You could touch your face and mold the appearance however you wanted or say what you wanted and have the system adjust it for you.


    Gray got an evil idea and gave himself a huge chin, round face, and big poofy gray hair and said in a snarky voice "On the Tonight Show, let''s welcome our first guest!" Gray then made his eyes very narrow, gave himself thick black hair and looked in the mirror and said "Oh my gawd! It''s Jackie Chann!". Like a little boy that found a new toy he continued to play with it until he got another evil thought.


    Gray looked down at his pants, then pulled the waist a little bit to have a peek. "Wow! They are thorough!" said Gray surprised to see that he wasn''t Ken-dolled like most VR games usually do. Gray selected ''Little Gray'' and made a stretching motion with his hands, immediately his pants started to bulge out. He then started making gestures as if he was making a balloon animal and to his delight and horror ''Little Gray'' formed into a balloon animal of sorts.


    "This is too realistic..."


    Gray reset everything back to his original look then and instead gave himself just a bit of a touch up.


    "Take away that little bit of baby fat, give myself a six-pack of abs, smooth out my face and let''s add some dimples... oh, obviously ''Little Gray'' needs to be correct..." He made a slight stretching motion to increase ''Little Gray''s'' dimensions to the "correct" size. "Much better!"


    Gray gave himself a once over in the mirror then left the room to play.

 Chapter 8 - Keeping up Appearances

    Upon exiting the changing room, Gray walked over to the huge door that led to the game world. Reaching out he pushed with his hand.


    "It''s as heavy as it looks¡­" Gray said to himself.


    Gathering his strength, he gave it a much harder push, but still nothing happened.


    "What gives?"


    Gray looked up and saw the clock above the door, it still had a little over an hour left on the timer.


    "Oh yeah, it''s not time yet, whoops¡­" said Gray sheepishly while hoping nobody else was around to notice.


    Gray didn''t feel quite like logging out yet so he decided instead to actually read the electronic copy of the user''s manual that he received. As a veteran gamer he felt like he was committing a taboo by reading it, but he told himself it was just out of boredom.


    The manual itself was very concise with the instructions and merely explained that one should treat this game as if they were living in the real world. NPCs remember you and your actions, you may be a player but your stats are the same as NPCs. Raising stats is done through gene therapy and training. Players also must return to their incubation chambers in game to log out.


    "This game has another weird rule¡­ I understand not being able to log out immediately, but I can only log out from my incubation chamber?" Gray imagined this was done to prevent people from abusing the game by suddenly logging out in the middle of combat to prevent a loss as other games used forms of this as well. Being anchored to the incubation chamber seemed annoying but Gray was hoping maybe enough players would complain about it and this would be patched out.


    As for stats, Gene therapy lets you adjust your stats after you return to your incubation chamber. Depending upon the amount of adjustments, the waiting period would vary, but even the highest level only had a waiting period of half a day. This was fairly normal as the wait was there for balance Gray imagined. While waiting, you were unable to move your character from the incubation chamber. You would not be able to log in to your character during this time, but you could still return to the game lobby and wait if you didn''t feel like completely logging out.


    Training your stats was slow and arduous, but it was free. The other advantage of training over Gene therapy was that taking difficult missions would often add training naturally. Much like in real life, the results of training couldn''t be calculated prior to training, only show you the result of such training. The weakness of training was that if you didn''t maintain it, the manual said your stats would slowly degrade.


    One of the more interesting features Gray read was that your characters physical appearance would change with training. For example, if you slacked off on physical training your character would get fat and if you trained to much your character would become so toned that they''d look almost sickly thin.


    "That really is a lot like real life¡­ so basically I can''t be a couch potato like I am in real life if I want to keep this six pack." Gray said as he admired his own six pack which he hadn''t seen in real life since his early college days.


    As Gray continued to read, more players started to log in to the game as the timer got closer to the end. Most players had already created their characters already, but he still enjoyed watching how some people REALLY adjusted their appearance. It seemed tedious that only a few people could use the changing rooms at once, but this was one of many lobbies and only the Diamond-Tier players used this one.


    Gray tried talking to some of the other players but everyone seemed to have formed their own cliques and he never felt like he fit in with any one group. Looking at his clothes, Gray realized that people may have been avoiding him as the game would use whatever clothes you were wearing upon diving in to the game for your initial clothes prior to launch.


    "What''s the big deal, a lot of people wear pajamas when they game!" Gray realized he was wearing one of his older pairs so it probably so it was probably one of them with a hole in the butt or crotch that he should''ve thrown away a long time ago. Still, not important anyways as this was the only time the game would use your real life clothes.


    Only a few minutes left until launch and Gray was enjoying watching how people would adjust their appearance. While he couldn''t watch them do it, he could still see the before and after. Surprisingly, it was the girls that did the least amount of modification to their appearances. Most of the players seemed to have the same idea as Gray and would just give their natural appearance a slight touch up. Of course, he couldn''t help notice that many of the female players chose to enhance certain "assets" that most men would heartily approve of.


    As for the men, a few didn''t even change their appearance, but some couldn''t seem to get enough of it. "I''m glad I''m not that insecure" said Gray to himself after watching one guy walk in to the changing room as skinny as a rail and walk out looking like a professional body-builder, another man walked in looking like Donny Devito and came out looking like Ryan Feynolds.


    The only thing that surprised Gray was that nobody seemed older than 40, but then again with today''s cosmetic surgery it is possible that people were much older than they appeared. Regardless, it still seemed odd.


    A short Asian man walked in to one of the changing rooms and apparently was giving himself a thorough make over as Gray noticed that he was in there very long. A cute girl with long blonde hair tied up in twin tails and buns with long legs wearing a female sailor outfit and a moon-shaped tattoo on her forehead came out of the same room that the Asian man had walked in to.


    "Huh, he must''ve came out before and I just missed him" said Gray while thinking the girl in the sailor outfit looked oddly familiar.


    She noticed Gray staring at her and walked up to him.


    "Hey cutie! Please be nice to me in game or in the name of the moon I shall punish you!" said the girl with a cute wink.


    Gray blushed slightly as he wasn''t used to girls taking the initiative to talk to him and smiled bashfully at her. "Of course miss, I''ll look for you in game!" Gray said enthusiastically.


    The girl smiled back at him "I hope so too!" then scampered off, probably to look for her other cute friends, girls like to travel in packs.


    Still Gray felt something was off about her¡­ the girl''s shoulders were slightly broader than normal, her chin was a little more defined and he wasn''t sure but he may have seen an Adam''s apple on her. As she scampered away he couldn''t help but glance at her short red skirt and Gray''s face suddenly went white as he saw a "pouch" bouncing between her thighs in the panties that she... errr¡­ HE was wearing¡­


    "It''s a trap!" Gray suddenly exclaimed to himself as he felt a piece of himself die a little bit.

 Chapter 9 - First Impressions

    The timer over the massive door was counting down the last few seconds before launch. Most of the other Diamond-tier players had gathered in front of it, Gray estimated less than two hundred people were here but he remembered that players normally had to pay a massive price to become Diamond-tier if they didn''t receive it through some competition of sorts and he still couldn''t believe he won.


    The clock finished counting down, the large golden doors slowly creaked open and a portal of sorts appeared in the door. Players excitedly pushed forward and Gray got swept up with the crowd and went through the portal.


    After going through the portal, Gray''s whole world turned black. He tried to move his body but it felt like he was in a very confined space.


    "I must be in the incubation chamber" Gray thought.


    Shortly after the world started to get brighter and the sound of hydraulics could be heard as his incubation chamber opened up for the first time. Finally able to see, Gray noticed he appeared to be in what looked like a Military medical facility. The room was very clean with dark gray metal walls and floors, evenly spaced lights illuminated the large room without being overbearing. A small number of people in lab coats were looking at him while some others in what looked like military uniforms were discussing something amongst themselves. The incubation pod finally opened completely and the restraints holding him down were released, he was able to get a look at the rest of the room and noticed that only about ten other players were present.


    "The other players must''ve spawned somewhere else."


    Gray noticed a bundle of clothes and an armlet were placed on a tray next to his pod. Noticing that he was only wearing a pair of briefs, Gray quickly put the clothes on. The clothes themselves were fairly ordinary, the bundle consisted of a military jumpsuit, socks, and a white undershirt. The jumpsuit was dark blue and of a light material and had very little adornment aside from his name on the left breast and a crest on each arm that denoted his Diamond-tier status, as a standard issue suit it contained several pockets that seemed slightly silly to Gray as a player could use their own inventory and didn''t need to store items this way.


    A large intimidating man wearing a fairly well-decorated military uniform yelled sharply as some of the other players wanted to try to wander away. Gray didn''t know military ranks, but he figured this guy must be high up as he had a lot of bars and some stars. "Welcome new players! Form a line for your briefing!"


    Gray and seven other players stood next to each other in a line while looking at this large man. They were all a little confused but figured this was a new player tutorial of sorts. As for the 4 other players, they figured since it was a tutorial they could just skip it if they wanted and started to leave.


    The rest of the NPCs did nothing to stop those four players as they were trying to leave the building. A friendly NPC handed these four players what was probably a starter package which they took and then left the medical facility off to play.


    Gray was thinking that he may as well skip this tutorial too and started to take a step forward but felt one of the other players grab his arm. When he looked back he saw a brown-haired man shaking his head at him and Gray understood that he was probably trying to help him out. Gray smiled at him and went to shake his hand when the guy shook his head again and nodded in the direction of the military officer. Getting the message, Gray stopped and turned his attention to the military officer.


    "I am Major Valen of the Alterra Alliance! You maggots will be the first batch of recruits and the batch given the most attention too by us! We hope to turn you from the raw lumps of metal you are into fine swords, any questions!"


    "Sir! I have a question!" A cheeky guy stepped forward and asked "What if I want to be an attack helicopter and not a sword?"


    Unsurprisingly, Major Valen picked up one of the clipboards a medical technician was holding, walked up to the kid and smashed it over his head, shattering the clipboard and knocking the kid to his knees. "Does anyone else have any real questions? We have plenty of clipboards for the smart asses here!"


    The girl to the right of Gray stepped forward "Sir! This is just a game to us, are we being forced to join the military?"


    "Yes and no, you joined the game fully aware that it is a military mech simulation. While you are forcibly on the side of the Alterra Alliance, you could still try and make it on your own as a mercenary. You should all be aware of this after reviewing the information included in your Diamond-tier package."


    Gray nodded his head with everyone else, but he remembered that his package was never opened and is still on the small coffee table in his house. "Guess I should read that when I log off" Gray thought.


    The girl continued "I am aware of this, I was asking simply because I feel I would like to help in other ways than fighting."


    "Each mech requires a small team to maintain and refit, if you find yourself unable to handle combat, you can still contribute from behind the front lines!"


    This answer seemed to satisfy the girl as she stepped back into the row. Gray started to think that maybe these players were surprisingly responsive to an NPC but figured maybe everyone, including himself, was just playing along with them.


    Thinking about it, this NPC was amazingly self-aware with a very human personality! Not only that, the CGI was so well done that it looked life-like, far more advanced than anything else out today!


    Gray was starting to think that the NPC was using an advanced AI instead of the more common AI that could easily be confused if asked a question outside of their parameters. Gray decided to test this¡­


    "Sir, I also have a question!" Gray shouted "I was informed we would be given a starter mech, when will we be able to see it, use it, and what¡­ is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?"


    Major Valen looked at Gray expressionlessly and said "You will see it soon, use it not as soon, and an African or a European swallow?"


    "Well¡­ I don''t know¡­ Aaarrggghhh!" said Gray as a clipboard smashed into his head as well.

 Chapter 10 - Military Base

    Gray had fallen on his knees after getting a clipboard smashed over his head like the other guy. What truly surprised him though was how real the pain felt and how his character reacted like a human probably would instead of him just losing health from one of his statistics.


    "Any more smart asses?" said Major Valen menacingly while he picked up another clipboard.


    Everyone shook their head.


    "Good, now I shall personally take you worms around the base! I''m not your Momma so I won''t be holding your hand if you can''t keep up!"


    A few of the players laughed at that. Major Valen leaned in to those players and said "¡­but I will be your Daddy and beat your sorry asses if you fall behind!" while glaring at them.


    As Major Valen took them around, he gave them quick introductions to the various important locations on the base. The hospital, mess hall, barracks, mech bay, officer''s quarters, pilot barracks, and training grounds were shown in quick succession. All of the players kept up for the duration of the tour not wanting to test Major Valen''s patience.


    Gray was really interested in the mech bay of course, but it seemed they wouldn''t get their mechs until later. Fortunately they could still use the simulators.


    "This is a game, isn''t using a simulator in a game kind of redundant?" Gray said to himself.


    "To us it is, but to the NPCs the mechs are very valuable." The same guy that held Gray back from leaving earlier said.


    "I guess that makes sense to them, but still, can''t they just respawn destroyed mechs?"


    "In a normal game, yes, but this game is truly realistic in that they need to be manufactured in a similar fashion to the real world."


    "Makes sense" said Gray. "Oh, I never thanked you for stopping me earlier, my name is Gray!"


    "I am Geoff, don''t mention it, I just heard that it would be better to stick with the military in this game."


    Geoff and Gray got along surprisingly well, both were laid back gamers after all. Geoff was the same height as Gray, but his hair was longer and lighter. Gray thought Geoff looked rather mature for his age and was probably looked up to naturally by younger people. As for interests, Geoff and Gray were in the same situation in that they lived in small cheap housing and spent most of their salary on games. Gray was glad he met a fellow brother in arms!


    "Want to spar in the simulation? I''ve been itching to try it" said Gray.


    "Yes! We are mech pilots after all!"


    Gray and Geoff walked over to the area next to the mech bays that contained the simulators. Requesting a 1v1 from the staff on duty was quick and both climbed into their own simulator pods. Gray was expecting a generic set of controls that could be applied to all models of mechs, but as he entered the pod the only thing he saw was a pilot seat and neural link helmet.


    "Huh, a true simulator in a simulated duel in a simulated game¡­ all these layers of simulation are making my brain hurt thinking about it" said Gray as he placed the neural link helmet on himself.


    Gray brought up the mech selection through the neural link''s interface, he was looking forward to scoping out what the latest military hardware was he can take for a drive. Sadly for him it seems that you need to increase your rank to be able to try higher-tier mechs. "Makes sense, crawl before you walk after all"


    Only one mech model was available to Gray and it had three variants of it.


    "The Phalanx MK 01, also known as the noob mech I heard. Essentially it is a very basic mech and a level below the mechs we will be given later from being Diamond-tier, but they are excellent training mechs. It seems the 3 variants are basically just short-range, middle-range, and long-range."


    Gray opted for a middle-range as he felt it gave him the most flexibility. On the confirm selection screen he finally got a good look at this basic mech. Essentially it was a very basic model, the limbs were slightly thicker than normal, the head had two sensor suites making it look like it was wearing sunglasses. The armor was a standard composite of uncompressed armor tinted into a military shade of green.


    The mid-range variant Gray selected came with standard military grade laser rifle, laser pistol and backup combat knife. The laser rifle was the weakest weapon, but it also was the most accurate and the projectile velocity was the speed of light so you didn''t have to worry about aiming ahead of your target.


    The long-range variant came with a scoped kinetic rifle, laser pistol, and backup combat knife. The rifle it came with wasn''t quite a sniper rifle as the barrel was a little more manageable and it could hold more rounds. It may have lacked the punch of the sniper rifle but it was much easier to move and shoot with this rifle.


    The short-range variant came with a concussive blast emitter, which is pretty much similar to a shotgun, a backup laser pistol, and combat knife. The concussive blast emitter is not very effective against thick armor, but it is only the thickness of the armor that stops it, not the quality. For example, you could have indestructible armor, but this weapon would ignore it if it wasn''t a certain thickness. You would think this would be a more popular weapon due to the armor negating effect, but it also had drawbacks¡­ First, the range was extremely short. Second, the projectile speed was extremely slow compared to other weapons as sonic weapons have a projectile speed of the speed of sound. Third, ammo was very limited as each clip only had 8 rounds and the clips were very heavy so most mechs only had 2 extras.


    What was very interesting about sonic weapons was that they were actually very effective in the water since sound travels further in water than it does in air. They were not very popular with mechs though since most sonic weapons were better at shaking apart unarmored targets. Still, it was preferred over a kinetic shotgun as they were usually not strong enough to punch through armor unless at point blank range.


    "What''re you doing slowpoke?" said Geoff to Gray through the simulator.


    "I''m just taking my time to look at all of the choices" said Gray


    "You picked the same one I did because we think alike, quit wasting time, I want to trounce you."


    "Shaddap, I''ll¡­ I''ll trounce you!"


    "Oh, that was original, I''m scared now" Geoff said with a listless expression.


    Unsurprisingly, Geoff was correct and they had both picked the laser rifleman variant. Both mechs spawned and Gray felt his blood start to boil from excitement! Both mechs stared down at each other in a ready position waiting for the signal to begin.


    __________


    Back at Alterra Corporation Headquarters.


    "How are they Drake?"


    "Sir, the Diamond-tier players quickly joined the game, of the 800 total, 732 stayed with the military" said Drake


    The man in front of Drake was Edward Teach, he is the CEO of Alterra Corporation. While Edward gave off a very intimidating pressure, he was still a very fair man. Edward valued obedience and loyalty even more than talent as he believed talent could be trained.


    Edward was wearing a dark blue sport coat and matching pants with his signature blood-red tie. The running joke was that this tie was filled with the blood of his competitors that he has crushed or purchased outright.


    "Better than predicted... as promised the ones that left the military will still be given their mechs and rewards, but do keep track of them. We might need to know where they are later."


    "Understood sir!" said Drake before stepping out of the office.


    After Drake left the office, Edward walked to his window and gazed at the city skyline. "Now we can see if we were right all those years earlier."

 Chapter 11 - Running and Gunning

    "BEGIN!" a female voice said to both Gray and Geoff. Immediately both Gray and Geoff aimed their laser rifles at each other and opened fire.


    "Suck laser butthead!" said Gray menacingly.


    "What are you? Twelve?" said Geoff expressionlessly.


    "Heck yeah! Twelve inches!" said Gray with a huge grin on his face. He was truly enjoying this!


    "The ''mm'' on the ruler is millimeters, not inches."


    Both Gray and Geoff exchanged shots, the heat could be seen radiating off of their laser rifles. Initially they were expecting to be running around, dodging, and taking pot shots at each other, but this was their first time and they could barely walk and shoot at the same time. Instead, they both opted to stand in place and fire at each other. Their aim was so bad that Major Valen would probably cry if he saw this.


    Finally, both rifles stopped firing after the same time as both of them looked at their own guns curiously.


    "What gives? I was getting ready to make my move!" said Gray. He noticed a little indicator blinking on his HUD that was blinking and saying ''OVERHEAT'' in red glowing letters. The same was seen on Geoff''s HUD as well.


    "All part of my plan" said Geoff plainly.


    "Plan my ass! You were just firing like I was!"


    Finally both mech''s rifles finished cooling at the same time and could be fired again, they noticed that the HUD would display a temperature gauge for their weapons so one could consider it a learning process for them.


    Gray and Geoff eventually started to get the hang of the rifles and were able to hit each other''s mechs. The laser rifle is extremely accurate so once they were able to coordinate the mech better with their thoughts and imagined actions, it became much easier to use the mech.


    For twenty minutes or so both Gray and Geoff continued to dance around and take shots at each other, neither of them were accurate enough to score any critical damage as a laser rifle required you to hit the same area multiple times before punching through the mech''s armor.


    "Can''t I adjust the power on this thing?" said Gray as he started fiddling with the weapon settings on his HUD. He discovered that he could adjust it and immediately cranked up the power as far as the slider would go. A bright yellow warning symbol flashed with a message: "WARNING: Exceeding maximum power can lead to a critical damage to weapon"


    "Eh, no guts no glory!" Gray confirmed the override and saw the temperature gauge rise on the laser rifle before even firing it. "This might''ve been a bad idea, better make the most of it!"


    Gray had stopped firing for a moment while adjusting his laser rifle and had made his way to some cover while pretending that his rifle overheated again. Geoff thought that Gray probably overheated his laser rifle again so he chased after Gray.


    Gray was hoping for this as he knelt next to the wall hiding himself waiting for Geoff to come charging over, Gray wasn''t disappointed as Geoff did indeed chase him. Realizing his mistake Geoff''s first instinct was to use his own rifle to block and brace himself. Gray smiled victoriously as he held steady and pulled the trigger. A bright almost-golden light shot out of the rifle, it burst through Geoff''s rifle and into his simulated cockpit in the torso of his mech.


    Red emergency lights flashed on Gray''s HUD as his laser rifle turned to slag in his Mech''s hand after holding the trigger too long. His mech''s hand became damage from the heat as some of the joints in the hand melted and seized up.


    "Simulation over, winner Gray" said the same female voice from the start of the match.


    "Yeah! How''d you like ''dem apples!" said Gray victoriously


    Geoff glumly replied "Yeah yeah, I admit you tricked me."


    Gray and Geoff both exited the simulator pods at the same time and Major Valen walked up to both of them.


    "Private Gray! Private Geoff! That was the most sorry duel I''ve ever witnessed, you two were strutting around like peacocks while being unable to shoot the broadside of a barn and wasting your energy goofing off like grade schoolers!"


    "Sir, it was our first time ever in a mech even though it was just a simulation..." Gray countered to Major Valen.


    "... a simulation inside a game... I''m never going to get used to thinking about it like that." Gray thought to himself as he didn''t want to incur the wrath of this hard ass.


    "Indeed it is your first time! That is why you normally go through a basic course introducing you to controlling mechs instead of just giving them to you! Those sorry sacks that left are probably finding out right about now that controlling them properly isn''t as easy as they thought and will make their way back here crying for Big Daddy Valen to take them back in because they walked like a toddler wearing high heels!"


    Gray was impressed that Major Valen could keep up his boisterous voice and say all of that without taking a single breath.


    "Sorry sir, then where can we get a course?" said Geoff.


    "You two sad sacks missed the start of it already when you went to go off on your own, but the second part will be in one hour. Take this material to brush up on it and I expect to see you two in the classroom at the Pilot''s barracks in one hour!"


    Major Valen tossed them each a data chip containing the raw content of the first class. Luckily, since it was just the first class most of the content was just familiarizing with each other and going over the schedule for future classes and training.


    __________


    Gray and Geoff followed instructions and made their way to the classroom at the designated time, nine other classmates were at the desks when Gray and Geoff entered. All but one of the players that had left right away were in the classroom and Gray wondered where the last one was.


    Gray got acquainted with everyone else while waiting for the Major to start his course. Only 3 others seemed noteworthy to Gray as the rest were not interested in making friends as they had came with a premade group from other games.


    The three others were Caleb Waldowski, Yurika Winchester, and Stacia Oldland.


    Caleb came across as a bit of a dork, but he seemed to really know his stuff. Fairly short for his age, his hair was long and messy while his face could be said to be above average but Gray really couldn''t tell as he couldn''t judge male faces... nor was he interested in doing so...


    Yurika was very interesting to Gray. She reminded him those old vocaloids from the early 21st century as she had long teal hair that she liked to keep in twin ponytails, spoke very energetically, smiled a lot, and her body proportions were a little too perfect. She probably spent a lot of time in the changing room getting it just right.


    Stacia stood out to Gray because she seemed the most normal. She would also be fun to tease Gray mused to himself, but she was very cute and seemed to keep her avatar the same as herself. She was fairly short with a cute face, her hair was short and light brown as she had opted to keep it natural looking for the game. Her body proportions were also kept the same as her natural self so when she sat next to Yurika it felt like Stacia was real and Yurika was a character from a novel or something similar.


    Major Valen burst in to the classroom exactly when the class was designated to start and walked up to the podium.


    "Glad we are all here this time!" Major Valen said while looking at Gray and Geoff, causing both of them to sink slightly in their chairs to try and hide.


    "Now, we are going to assign you to a trainer and they will instruct you in the simulator about how to interface with a mech. You can''t just stick the neural link helmet on and expect it to work perfectly or even the way you want it too."


    "Sir, why not just stick us in our game mechs?" said one of the other players Gray wasn''t able to get to know.


    "Those mechs are worth more than your puny lives and take much longer to replace than you greenhorns. We do not want them getting damaged!"


    "But sir, this is only a game, just respawn the mechs if they get damaged..." said another student that seemed to be annoyed with the lack of freedom.


    Major Valen was about to yell at him then calmed down and stated "Yes, this is only a game, but as a true simulation, repairs are not handled by the system and instead by technicians and 3D printers."


    The other players nodded in agreement as they understood that this game was aimed to achieve extreme realism.


    Major Valen looked down solemnly for a second before looking back up and getting in to the lesson. Gray swore he heard the Major say to himself "...just a game to you all"

 Chapter 12 - Margo

    Gray returned to the Pilot''s Quarters where his incubator pod had been moved to in game. After the pod is laid down and opened up completely, it resembles a fairly normal bed aside from the steel glass lid that can be closed on it. Gray laid down as instructed earlier, treating it like a normal bed, and logged out of the game.


    "Still find it odd we have to log out in our pods like that." said Gray.


    Time passed on a 1:1 scale in game so 1 hour in game was 1 hour in real life. Gray climbed out of the VR bed and was expecting himself to be hungry but was surprised that he didn''t feel hungry at all despite gaming for about 4 hours straight.


    "Well, calling it gaming would be a stretch as all of us were still basically doing the tutorial with the initial NPC. I wonder what the few hundred or so other players did in game."


    Gray logged in to the game forums to check out what other Diamond-Tier players thought of the game so far. Unsurprisingly most complained that it was too realistic and that they really wanted to just get in and blow up mechs like most mech games. The other complaint was that it was too hard to pilot mechs as the neural links in the game didn''t seem to be tuned the same way their VR beds were.


    A few Alterra Corporation developers responded to these complaints, but their replies were not met with much positive feedback. They stated that the game was working as intended and they were aiming for ultimate realism. As for the complaints about having difficulty moving the mechs in game, they had said this would be addressed the next game day with a separate tuning since the VR bed tuning wasn''t accurate enough for mechs and only for the player''s themselves.


    "Well, at least they''re paying attention to the complaints instead of just ignoring them and blaming it on early access from Diamond-Tier players. Usually developers would apply Quality of Life fixes only during major releases and only do major patching just before the full release."


    Gray started poking around and wanted to see what military camp everyone ended up in and it seems that every other player was also in an Alterra Alliance Military Camp. He thought this is fairly normal since most games that had a major military campaign that wasn''t against other players would usually lump all players together on one side. Gray decided to get his snack on at least, catch up on his other games, then get to bed early so he could start his vacation from work and have plenty of time to play!


    __________


    Edward Teach, the CEO for Alterra Corporation, looked at the player activity log for the Diamond-Tier players while his AI assistant, Margo, briefed him on what the general thoughts of the game from the player''s point of view.


    Margo was Edward Teach''s custom AI. She was completely sentient unlike every other known AI thus would be cause for alarm if her sentience ever became known publicly. Edward had her avatar designed after a mid 20th century actress, Julie Newmar (Catwoman from the 1960s Batman series). Margo could pick out a number of different outfits for herself and had a fascination with royalty so she favored long beautiful silk dresses, tiaras, and long silk gloves. Her current outfit was a sleeveless long pale chiffon dress. The dress was long enough to hide all of her legs and only reveal her silver high heels when she walked but never would drag on the ground. Margo added a large diamond pendant and matching dangling diamond earrings to go with it all.


    Margo gave off an air of authority which made one think she might actually have been royalty if it were possible. Edward was used to her presence so it was nothing special to him, but he still appreciated that she kept up appearances even if he was the only one that got to see her.


    "Sir, only three players died in game on the first day, all 3 were ones that left their camps early." said Margo to Edward while highlighting a set of numbers on his holo board.


    "That is much fewer than we anticipated, what of those that left their camps?"


    "Excluding the 3 that died, all but 4 returned giving us a total of 793 players in our initial Diamond-Tier prelaunch that are staying with the program."


    Edward smiled. "Excellent, this is much better than anticipated! Of the ones that tried the simulators, how was their responses?"


    "It was as expected, syncing the mind to the physical body was easy, but syncing the mind to the physical body then again to the mech, even in the simulators, proved to be difficult"


    "Indeed we did expect that..." Edward thought to himself for a moment. "Well, we aren''t unprepared, do we have enough keys ready for them?"


    "Yes sir, enough were developed that we can build a neural profile for every player."


    "Good, see to it that each player has one in the morning!" said Edward


    "Yes sir!"


    Edward pondered for a moment. "Out of curiousity, how did the three players die?"


    "One of them died from wild animals while climbing out of their mechs to search for food, the other two appear to have been killed by a rebel faction when they thought they could use their force to grind experience on."


    "What animals killed the one player?" said Edward a little surprised.


    "It was a bunny rabbit sir."


    "Show me!"


    A live capture of the game via satellite showed the location of the mech that the player who got killed by a rabbit was using. In front of it was a large ominous cave with a pile of bones and a single white rabbit sitting on the pile of bones.


    "Is that the cave of Caerbannog?" said Edward "I thought I had instructed the team to remove it along with that killer rodent."


    "They tried sir, but he''s got huge, sharp..." said Margo while using two fingers to make it look like she has fangs.


    "Did they forget the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch? Nevermind, just blast it with whatever we have available and recover the mech seeing as it is undamaged."


    "Yes sir"


    __________


    Gray woke up refreshed the next day and was super excited to get back in to Alterra Online. He admitted that the game was not as fun as he expected but being one of only eight hundred players in the world able to play it was also very exciting.


    A notification appeared on his HUD and he glanced at it and saw it was a message from Jono.


    "Hey, tell me how it is sometime butt munch, I''ll be joining in 6 more days when the general launch happens!" said recorded message from Jono.


    "Oh, I don''t know if I will have time, I''m going to be so far ahead of you by the time you join that you won''t be able to even breath the same air as me!" said Gray with a smug expression in a recording back to Jono.


    Gray knew this would rile his friend up, and frankly both Jono and Gray seemed to feed off of this as they spent more time name calling and insulting each other than actually talking. It''s a guy thing...


    Gray wolfed down a quick breakfast and quickly got back in to his VR bed to dive back in to the game.

 Chapter 13 - Dismissed!

    Upon waking in his bed in-game, Gray received a message that all players need to report to the logistics facility to receive a new piece of equipment. Gray headed down to the facility and ran in to a few of the other players that were also receiving their new equipment. Showing his player identity badge to the clerk, Gray received a small data chip that had the Alterra Online game logo on it as well as his player number on it.


    Looking at it, he saw his number was ''068 ¨C D'' which Gray assumed the D was for his Diamond Tier status. As for the function of this chip, Gray was told that his unique neural profile would be stored on it as a backup allowing all Alterra Alliance mechs to be able to calibrate them for him if they did not have his profile already stored.


    "Weird, you''d think everyone could use a generic setup" said Gray to himself.


    Suddenly Caleb Waldowski came up from behind him and stated "A generic setup will never suffice for military applications, the neural paths may be used to communicate signals of the human brain, but the degree of signal sent through them can be different for every person."


    Gray got started at Caleb''s sudden response from behind him and out of his view. Gray thought about hitting Caleb for scaring him, but Gray realized that he would''ve done the same thing to Caleb if given the chance.


    "Yeah, that makes sense, it''s not unique for everyone as you can have an identical set as someone else, but it''s not so common that a generic one will work" said Gray nodding in agreement, pretending not to have nearly pissed himself from earlier.


    "Indeed, for example, if someone has a very weak signal overall and the mech is tuned for someone with a stronger signal, they would find it impossible to get a full range of motion out of the mech and it would feel sluggish. On the contrary, someone with a very strong signal on a mech tuned for lower strength would find their moves jittery and exaggerated."


    "So, once again, why can''t the game just use our VR bed''s tuning?" asked Gray to Caleb.


    "Realism is my guess¡­ also plot convenience¡­" said Caleb


    Gray didn''t hear that last part fully and asked "Plot what?"


    "Not important, anyways, I imagine today will be the day we''re finally turned loose upon the game world. A game is a game and if we aren''t allowed to play in it, why would anyone want to even log in?"


    Gray did agree again with Caleb. He admitted he was a little frustrated that he couldn''t just go on a romp like he normally does in these games and get himself beat up to learn things the hard way, but Gray imagined that he would get to experiment on his own sooner or later.


    __________


    After a few more minutes, the rest of the players all received their new keys as well and an announcement rang through their armlets that they needed to head to the classroom. Gray and the others wandered towards the classroom and found seats and were chatting calmly amongst themselves. Major Valen did his usual burst through the door entrance and addressed everyone.


    "Good morning pilots! Today is the last day I will be holding your little baby hands, I will not be responsible for you even if you come crawling back crying like an infant begging for help. The last five systems for you players will be introduced and you baby birds can either fly or fall."


    Major Valen tapped on his holoboard and a message was sent to all of the players in the room.


    "System Message: Matchmaking, Forums, Market, Missions, and Mech Bay are now unlocked" was the message sent to all players in the room.


    Gray noticed 3 new icons in his HUD: "Forums", "Market", and "Missions" were now present.


    "As players, the forums should be self-explanatory, use them to recruit, trade, communicate, and whatever else you players do with them." Said Major Valen. "As for the Market, this is also another standard for you players, you can use it to exchange your merits for equipment, resources, in-game credits, or even real-life credits!"


    This got Gray very excited as he''s always been poor, but most of the other Diamond-Tier players were from very wealthy families so it didn''t mean much to them.


    "If the exchange rate is good enough, could I even quit my job?!?" Gray thought to himself excitedly.


    "Missions will be posted by various NPCs like myself through the Mission applet in your HUD. Some missions can be repeated, some are first come, first serve, and even fewer will be assigned to specific players depending upon your rank or other conditions." Continued Major Valen.


    Gray had learned in the previous class that the game would use ranks similar to the Army. Every Diamond-Tier player started at Private First Class whereas every other player started at Private. The ranks were as follows: Private, Private First Class, Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, Sergeant First Class, Master Sergeant, and then Sergeant Major. After these ranks one could become an officer with the ranks being from Second Lieutenant, then First Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, then General with a General being one to 5 stars. According to Major Valen only the lowest Officer Rank, Second Lieutenant, was available for players in the game.


    "Matchmaking will be available to use from the simulators near the mech bay. We have a hundred simulators ready, this only covers about half of the maximum capacity of this base. Once the game fully launches in 5 more days, players with higher rank will be given priority over usage whereas equally ranked players will be in a queue. For matchmaking, we have several game modes available and you will be matched with players from around the game world, not just this camp. Once you reach the rank of Master Sergeant, you will be able to open up your own private room to create custom matches."


    This is what most players were looking forward to as to them walking around in their bodies was like a game lobby to them and they wanted to use their mechs even if it was only simulated.


    "The mech bay you kids should all be familiar with, but just because we''re giving you free reign of your mech doesn''t mean it is a good idea to just go waltzing around in it. We will not cover any costs of supplies should you waste them wandering around aimlessly and think it necessary to waste ammunition on target practice. Missions will have supplies provided, if you use more than provided, you can cover the cost from the mission reward, if you use less, you will be given extra merit points in some cases."


    "Well, so much for wandering around and grinding roaming enemies" said Gray to Geoff who was sitting next to him.


    Geoff just shrugged in reply, him and Gray were very similar, but Geoff was still a little more low key and preferred to do things according to established processes whereas Gray didn''t care about standing out too much or not at all and enjoyed winging it.


    "Today is the last day I am obligated to answer your idiotic questions, starting tomorrow I will not respond to stupid questions!" said Major Valen while glaring at the same idiot that he had bashed over for asking if he could be an attack helicopter.


    "Sir!" said Caleb while standing up "You had originally said that you would train us and turn us from raw lumps of metal into fine swords, is that no longer the plan?"


    Major Valen shook his head "That is still the plan, but there is going to be too many players for myself and the few other experts to be able to train effectively. Each one of you has been assigned an advanced AI designed for training you. If you choose to ignore it, that is up to you. You can still seek out my expert advice along with any other officers delegated as trainers, but we will most likely require merits as compensation. In the future, seminars and classes will be held for those that are interested. Attending is not mandatory, but getting expert advice directly is invaluable!"


    Everyone started to get excited and talked among themselves and Major Valen finally boomed over them all. "My last piece of free advice!" This caused everyone to pay attention to the major once again. "Form a team of people you trust, do not rush it. Playing solo won''t work late game. You are all dismissed!"


    Gray looked at Geoff and said "Teammates?"


    "Of course, nobody else could put up with how badly you suck at this game anyways" said Geoff. "Now time to find some others"


    "You suck just as much as I do!" retorted Gray.


    "Since you admit it, I guess that is a step in the right direction" said Geoff.


    Gray and Geoff could take their time and get other teammates, no rush like Major Valen had said.

 Chapter 14 - Teaming up

    In the real world, Gray was born and raised in the domed city Washington, named after some important guy from the 18th century of a country once known as the United States of America. Long before Gray was born, these domed cities were constructed on elevated areas of land that were still large enough to support them without any major earth moving. Around the world, only twenty domed cities still existed and each one was ran by a major corporation as politicians had proven themselves time and time again to be incapable to manage them effectively. Of the original fifty cities, ten had been lost due to accidents or sabotage by extremists and the other twenty in the eastern hemisphere had all been lost due to negligent leadership hence why the remaining cities used a Corporate Republic system of governance.


    Gray''s family were all involved in a shuttle mishap when trying to move together. His parents never died fortunately, that would be too clich¨¦, but he was still separated from them due to a miscommunication so he could only holochat with them now due to the city they returned to being partially submerged. This was not uncommon as people did what they needed to do to survive.


    "I know Mom, I''m taking care of myself." Said Gray to the holochat of his parents.


    "Son, we just worry about you like all good parents worry about their children." Said Gray''s mother with a worried expression on her face. "I know you like to game a lot and I''ve heard stories about some that go without eating or sleeping for days due to addictions."


    "Mom¡­ those things haven''t happened in decades, where do you get your news from?" said Gray while shaking his head at his Mom.


    "Son, your Mother is just worried is all, as long as you are happy and doing well is all that matters... but your Mother and I are both in agreement that we need grandkids so stop playing games and go meet a nice girl!" said Gray''s Father with a slightly indignant tone.


    "Listen, playing Alterra Online is going to be a great social outlet. I''ve already met a few nice girls so let''s just leave it at that."


    This is usually how Gray''s conversations went with his parents. It may seem annoying and such, but it did at least show that his parents cared about him, or at least his ability to give them grandchildren¡­ Although he never remembers physically being with them as he was only 3 when they were separated, technology has advanced to the point where they could still interact fully.


    "Mom, Dad, I know you spent a lot of your savings on me when I went to college, I want to try and buy you both a VR bed each."


    "What for honey? We do not play video games." Said Gray''s Mom.


    "No, but with full dive VR technology, we can still meet up and it will be almost 100% the same as if we were together in real life." Gray had only considered this after experiencing full dive VR for himself. It felt so real to him that he could understand how some people become obsessed and never logged out.


    "We appreciate the sentiment, but you do not need to worry about us, we''re happy just seeing you doing well. Save your money for yourself and maybe take a nice girl out some time." Said Gray''s Dad.


    "Yeah yeah, I''m working on it, there are just so many girls that desire me I can never decide which one to pick!" said Gray boastingly.


    "We never raised you to be liar so don''t try and pull that with us, just be yourself and you will find someone that accepts you for who you are."


    "You make it sound like I''m a charity case Mom¡­"


    "You know what I mean Gray!" said Gray''s Mom getting flustered.


    "I know, but it''s still fun to mess with my parents every now and then!"


    __________


    The next morning Gray logged back in to Alterra Online. Apparently Geoff had had the same idea as Gray and took time off from work to also play the game so they agreed to meet up as soon as possible in game. They thought about meeting up in real life, but figured that was pointless for now since they can only play Alterra Online from their VR beds.


    "I was thinking, if we create our own team, we need at about as many female members as there are male members." Said Gray to Geoff.


    "I do agree that we should maintain a balance." Geoff replied.


    "Screw balance, I just want us all to have at least one girlfriend!"


    "At least one Gray?" said Geoff slightly exhausted from Gray''s short-sightedness.


    "If I had it my way, you and any other guys would be my lackeys and the girls would be part of my harem." Gray said passionately looking off into the distance like some anime hero.


    "While you are undoubtedly as dense as a male protagonist in a harem anime, I''ll be impressed if you attract even one girl."


    Gray and Geoff frequently got into these types of boasting ''competitions'' with each other, just showed how well they got along.


    "Anyways, let''s at least ask Stacia and Yurika if they want to join us. Only twelve of us are in this camp so we should pick from our own camp until we are able to better gauge other''s skill through matchmaking." Said Geoff.


    "On it!" Gray tapped his Armlet and searched for nearby friendly players. He saw that Yurika and Stacia were already together online and were near the simulators. They seemed like a strange pair as Stacia was very calm and down to earth while Yurika was very loud and loved to be the center of attention. Still, girls like to form groups so Stacia and Yurika teamed up and the other two girls that Gray never got to know had formed another group.


    Gray walked up to Yurika and Stacia and said with a very confident tone. "We have deemed you worthy to join our group, you are welcome." Gray flashed his best playboy smile while slicking his hair back in a typical cocky playboy manner. Both girls stared at Gray then looked at Geoff next to Gray and watched as Geoff slowly started to creep away from Gray.


    "I am sorry Yurika and Stacia, it seems my friend here forgot to take his medicine this morning." Said Geoff apologetically. "What he REALLY means is that we were hoping to be able to work together with the both of you as we believe it is in all of our best interests to work together."


    Stacia whispered something to Yurika, Yurika nodded back at Stacia.


    "We agree, we just want to play the game so if guys hit on us too much or make us uncomfortable we will leave." Said Yurika pointedly at Geoff and Gray.


    "Agreed, we just want to play and win as well!" said Geoff while holding Gray in a headlock while to keep him from saying something stupid.


    "Have room for one more?" Caleb asked after overhearing their conversation. "I admit I am at a loss on teammates until the game fully launches and we get more people here."


    Geoff and Yurika both looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure, let''s give another quick introduction about each other and what we want to specialize in." said Geoff as he finally released Gray.


    Caleb spoke up to the group. "Wanting to specialize and actually being able too are two different things. I would suggest we let our AI trainers suggest our roles based upon our performances in matchmaking."


    "It is different, but it''s a game, we can just do what we want and have fun. If all of us want to be assaulters, then we can all be assaulters!" said Yurika excitedly while making shooting gestures with her hands.


    "Well, let''s just jump in to matchmaking and go with our own preferences and see what happens from there." Said Gray to everyone. "I might end up liking a different role than what I first wanted to be."


    Geoff stared at Gray in awe. "That''s the first normal thing you''ve said!"


    "I am perfectly capable of being normal!" yelled Gray.


    When he looked back at the other 4 in his new team, they had ignored him and were already walking away to the matchmaking station to find a match.

 Chapter 15 - Matchmaking

    Examining his status, Gray saw that he was a Private First Class with 1,000 merit points. Diamond-Tier players started one rank ahead of everyone else and with 1,000 merit points instead of 250. Gray and the rest of his new team were browsing through the market since they were unsure of what their merit points were worth.


    "A thousand points doesn''t seem like a lot... A resupply of up to 20 units of low-grade reactor fuel is only 20 points, but the price rises by a factor of 10 per grade." Said Gray while looking at the resupply costs. "Ammunition is based upon the cost of materials, so for that laser rifle it would cost me 5 points per standard energy cell."


    In this day and age, 3D printers would handle the manufacturing of almost everything. Retooling was a thing of the past as the 3D printer merely needed the schematic to be able to print out anything within the specs of itself. Normally, raw materials were processed in a smelter or similar facility, then these materials would be fed to a 3D printer which would then produce the desired part or parts from the schematic. Once the part was printed out, an assembler unit would be able to assemble anything from the blueprints loaded in to it automatically or could be operated by hand by a technician. Smaller devices didn''t require an assembler and could be printed as a finished product.


    Gray now understood the reasoning behind the simulators even more as just doing live target practice would cost at least 25 points; 20 points for the refuel and 5 points per energy cell used up. One thing he did note was that it was 20 points to refuel whether he barely used the mech or emptied the fuel tank.


    Gray looked at the weapons then and started getting a little more excited. The basic weapons that he was familiar with were fairly cheap in merit cost ranging from 1 merit for an alloy knife to thousands for extremely powerful Neutron Cannons and even some that Gray wasn''t even allowed to look at the cost due to rank restrictions.


    "Some of these toys¡­ I mean weapons¡­ sound amazing! I want to make as much merit as I can to be able to dominate with them!" said Gray to Caleb that was standing next to him also looking over the weapons.


    Caleb replied to Gray with his usual informative opinion "Indeed they are powerful, but remember that more expensive weapons require more expensive ammunition. I estimate that you should only consider purchasing any weapon when you can afford double the cost of said weapon for ammunition."


    Gray thought to himself that every team needs this type of sane rational person on their side to keep them from going broke and being unable to afford resupply and repairs.


    Gray looked at up at the rest of the team and spoke up so that everyone could hear him. "Guys, let''s just jump in with what we''re given, we don''t even know how much merits we earn, if any, from matchmaking."


    "Wow Gray, you''re starting to sound like a leader, that''s a dangerous thing for you." Said Geoff teasingly.


    Yurika laughed aloud along with Geoff at this while Stacia seemed to be off in her own little world while looking at the mechs for sale on the market. Stacia''s eyes were focused on a small scout mech that had two large sensor arrays on the head affectionately called ''Rabbit Ears''. She then muttered to herself "It''s so cute¡­" and Gray saw her reaching towards the buy button on her interface since this scout mech was extremely cheap at only 800 merits.


    "I should probably stop her¡­ but what''s the fun in that?" thought Gray to himself.


    Stacia ended up buying the small scout mech then and Gray was the only one that noticed.


    The team stopped looking at the market and headed to the matchmaking board to register their team. None of them could decide on a team name though so after getting frustrated Yurika just pushed the register team button with the data that was prefilled by the system. The 5 of them would now be known as team "Enter Team name here".


    Looking up apologetically at everyone, Yurika whimpered "We can change it later, right?"


    Looking at the matchmaking menu, as a team of 5, they could enter matchmaking in a few categories: Team Deathmatch, Team Capture the Flag, Team Dodgeball, and Team Assault. Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag were common types among many games so everyone was familiar with them. Score more points by killing the other team and stealing the enemy flag for each mode respectively.


    Team Dodgeball was a little different, but it ends up after reading the guide on it, it is the same as a standard game of dodgeball. Only difference is that for the mechs they were each giving a special launcher that could be used to catch and throw one of 3 large balls that would disable a mech on touch in the simulation. Of course this wasn''t an actual weapon and only existed for Dodgeball so this type of ''weapon'' wasn''t available for normal purchase.


    Team Assault is what interested Gray the most. The objective would vary depending upon the battlefield chosen, but it could range from planting a bomb, destroying a target, or capturing certain locations. Both teams would get a chance at offense and defense so it didn''t favor one side or the other. In most cases, there was a time limit and the objective had to be met within that time limit. If both teams succeeded in the objective, then the faster of the two teams would be the winner. On rare cases where both teams finished at the exact same time, kills and assists would be used to determine the winner. If both teams still had the same amount of kills and assists it would be considered a tie. When both teams failed the objective, kills and assists would be used to determine the winner or a tie would be given if both teams had the same amount of kills and assists again.


    After entering the simulator pods and linking themselves together, they all couldn''t agree on a game mode again so they went with random and let matchmaking do its thing.


    After a few seconds, a match found notification came up and the game mode chosen was Team Deathmatch. Yurika yelled excitedly as she wanted this mode the most.


    A mech selection screen came up for everyone and everyone had the same mech and the three variants of it to pick from, except for Stacia. She excitedly picked her little scout mech and then went to the loadout screen and realized that only the laser pistol and alloy combat knife would work with her mech as she didn''t purchase any weapons to go along with it.


    Gray and Geoff selected the mid-range variant again and opted once again for the laser rifles. Yurika went for the short-range variant and opted for dual submachine guns and extra grenade slots. Caleb looked at the other''s selections and opted for a long-range variant and went with a basic kinetic sniper rifle, giving a curious glance at Stacia''s choice for mech.


    The team was spawned in a hilly area, everyone started moving around getting a feel for the mechs and a counter started counting down signaling the match would start in 20 seconds. Everyone looked at everyone else and eventually everyone ended up looking at Stacia''s small mech. Her mech was the Juniper SE, a light scout mech that favored speed and agility and nothing else. The two advantages that it had compared to other scout mechs was that it is cheaper than even the standard Phalanx MK 01 that everyone else was using and it had fairly advanced sensors for the cost.


    Sadly, because of the smaller frame, this mech needed smaller weapons than what others had so she only had the backup laser pistol and alloy knife to work with. The Juniper SE stood about two thirds the height of the Phalanx and had fairly thin arms, but fairly thick legs. The armor was very weak overall and the thickness on the legs was due to the over-sized components in the legs to give it more speed. The two long sensor arrays on the head appeared like two rabbit ears, hence them being dubbed ''Rabbit Ears''. When they weren''t activated they would fold back against the head of the mech giving it a streamlined look. As for the use of the ''Rabbit Ears'', they could dramatically enhance the range of active scanners thus making it a fairly effective mech for scouting, but almost useless at other tasks.


    Stacia started to get nervous cause she could feel everyone looking at her mech, when she turned on her sensors, the ''Rabbit Ears'' perked up and Yurika yelled "It''s so cute! I want one too!"


    "Cute or not, it doesn''t have any weapons aside from the pea shooter and twig." Said Caleb "We will probably be outgunned assuming the other team has 5 Phalanx as the other teams are just starting to figure this out too."


    "Well, let''s make sure they don''t get to have rabbit stew tonight!" said Gray enthusiastically as the timer for the match hit 0 and signaled the start of the fight.

 Chapter 16 - First Match

    Gray and the others were not necessarily new to team fighting, but they were new to using mechs in the game. They kept a tight formation as they trodded their mechs towards the center of the map.


    Matchmaking will pick a map randomly based upon the type of game selected. For this match, they were in a hilly and lightly forested arena. Overall, the map was shaped similar to a diamond so that if players tried to huddle at the spawn point they would have a very small area they could fight in whereas if you moved to the middle you would have much more space to fight. The generated arena was still about 10 kilometers wide at the middle and only half a kilometer towards the spawn point. This would be considered a small arena, perfect for a small team fight.


    As they were proceeding quietly as possible, given that they were in multi-ton mechs, Stacia suddenly stopped her mech. "Everyone, I see them on my sensors!"


    "It is indeed an advantage to have a scout specialist mech." remarked Caleb.


    "The 5 of them are two kilometers in front of us and hiding behind the large hill towards our right side."


    "While I do not like making assumptions, it is probable that the enemy team doesn''t have a scout mech so they are only waiting for us to get in range by taking advantage of the higher ground" said Caleb calmly after considering this is probably the other teams first match too. "Also, since they are all together, they probably all chose the laser rifle."


    "Well, do you know how to snipe with that gun Caleb?" asked Gray.


    "Of course, I read up on it in the manual. I am loath to admit that I have never actually tried it though."


    "First time for everything." said Gray. "Ok, we''ll use a standard draw and lead them in to a single envelopment on their left flank."


    Gray received no response at all until Geoff finally spoke up "What''s that in English?"


    "Sorry, in simple terms, Caleb, get in position a bit outside of their expected maximum range for sniping, Yurika and Stacia, take cover in the trees near the base of the hill but stay just outside of their sensor range. Geoff and I will swing wide and take cover near their left side. When I give the signal, I want Yurika and Stacia to creep in to their sensor range and proceed slowly until they move to attack. Draw them out and fall back once they open fire. When they start coming down the hill, Caleb can have free shots on them while Geoff and I will run in and open fire from their flank and hopefully cause them to panic."


    A collective "Ooohhhh" could be heard from everyone through the communicators.


    "Shut up! Everyone should try to learn at least simple military formations so as not to get caught off guard!" admonished Gray. "Let''s move out!"


    "Who made a noob like you the leader?" said Geoff listlessly "I guess I''ll give you a chance though."


    Yurika shrugged, Caleb and Stacia said they didn''t care who the leader was as long as it wasn''t themselves. It seemed only Geoff and Gray wanted to lead, but they could figure it out on the battlefield who would be better.


    __________


    On the other side of the arena, the "Avenging Aardvarks" were awaiting just behind the top of the hill, in position to be able to rush over and rain fire down upon anyone that came up the hill.


    "We''re against ''Enter team name here''? Must be a bunch of idiots that hit register before changing it" said one of the enemy pilots.


    "We''re all new to this game so I''m not surprised, still, everyone keep alert. We need to wait for them to reach this hill and then rain death on them once they start to climb up it." said another enemy pilot that seemed to be the leader.


    "Uh, what makes you think they will come to us? If I were them I''d be doing the exact same thing as us."


    "Normally yes, but it seems at least one of their mechs is faster than ours so according to the game rules they have to take the initiative to attack otherwise they will lose." said the enemy leader pilot.


    "Makes sense then for us to fight defensively, still, what kinda idiot bought a new mech already with so little merit points?"


    __________


    Stacia suddenly sneezed. "Someone must be talking about me somewhere"


    Caleb knelt his mech next to a tree at the edge of the forest and deployed the sniper rifle''s tripod to stabilize his aim. Checking his sights, he had a clear view of most of the hill in front of him. Yurika and Stacia creeped to the edge of the forest and took cover behind some trees while waiting for Geoff and Gray to get in to position.


    "Ready up guys!" said Gray


    Everyone else was not sure how to reply so Gray was met with silence on the comms. "Just say ready if you''re in position and ready to attack!" said Gray exasperatedly.


    "READY!" was blurted out simultaneously by Yurika, Caleb, and Stacia.


    Gray felt his ear drums ache then said "Ok, we need a better system... Everyone change your status to green when you are in position."


    The symbols representing Caleb, Stacia, and Yurika gained a green tint and lit up in Gray''s HUD.


    "Much better, approaching the designated area, Stacia and Yurika begin!"


    "Roger!" said Yurika, Stacia looked like she wanted to ask who was Roger but then remembered that it means order received from back in the mid 20th century and is still used today.


    Yurika and Stacia crept forward, Yurika was wondering what her scanner range was when she saw a blip on her sensors, then another, and then 3 more. "I see them!"


    Since Yurika could pick them up on her sensors, that also meant they could pick her up. As soon as Yurika announced she saw them, the 5 enemy mechs stood up and ran to the top of the hill and began firing shots at maximum range at both Yurika and Stacia.


    Due to the maximum range shots, the damage was almost negligible due to laser light losing focus. Still, getting shot at rattled Yurika and Stacia and they didn''t have to pretend to get flustered as they backed off into the cover of the trees.


    The enemy team seemed to be emboldened by Stacia and Yurika retreating so they walked down the hill slowly with their laser rifles ready and taking aimed shots at them in a row of alternating fire so they could keep constant suppression.


    Yurika started to get pissed because she chose a short-range variant and they were not close enough for her to cause any damage. The laser pistol Stacia was using did virtually no damage either.


    Suddenly one of the enemy mech''s heads went flying back as a small crater with a large caliber bullet in the center had lodged itself in its face. The sound of the shot caught up half a second later.


    "Boom, headshot!" said Caleb excitedly. Caleb got depressed to see though that his headshot didn''t actually take down the mech.


    "Aim for the legs or waist! Taking out the head only blinds them for a second, but if you take out the legs or waist they can''t move!" yelled Gray.


    Caleb adjusted his aim while the enemy mechs got a little spooked from his surprise snipe, he took aim again and went for the waist on the same mech again. Caleb slowly squeezed the trigger and felt the huge recoil from the gun push into him again. This time Caleb and every other male player that saw it cringed slightly as the bullet hit right between the upper thighs of the mech. This wouldn''t destroy a mech directly, but if a mech lost the motor in the waist it could no longer move its legs or twist so It became a sitting duck.


    "Flanking now! Stacia, Yurika, begin the assault!" commanded Gray.


    As the enemy started to fall back to take cover from Caleb''s sniping, Gray and Geoff had reached the top of the hill and were now facing the backs of the enemy mechs. Gray and Geoff grinned and opened fire on the backs of the mechs. The armor on their back was thinner than the front so a few shots were able to penetrate the armor and hit some internals.


    Realizing they were under attack from behind, the three enemy mechs that were still functional turned to face Gray and Geoff and opened fire upon them without taking much time to aim. Gray and Geoff took a few glancing shots but nothing serious, but the enemy mechs now realized they were pinched from the front and back and started to panic. Yurika ran her mech as fast as it could go to get in range of her weapons. Yurika lobbed an explosive grenade, then took her two sub machine guns and opened fire on the backs of the 3 mechs that were still putting up a fight. The mech that got nutshot and lost its head could only attack directly in front of it as it couldn''t see anywhere but directly in front and couldn''t turn to change direction so Yurika ignored it. The grenade exploded and caused the enemy mechs to stutter step for a moment but didn''t damage them much. Still, all she wanted was for them to stand still anyways!


    "Suck metal meat bags!" Yurika laughed maniacally as she finally got to unload her clips upon the enemy.


    "This chick scares me..." thought Gray as she continued to use up all of her ammunition without any other considerations.


    Four enemy mechs had been destroyed and were lying on the ground, the only one still standing was the one that had a damaged head and waist. Even though Stacia was in the fastest mech on the team, she didn''t put forth much effort in reaching the enemies so she lagged behind Yurika. Stacia saw the last mech and used her over-sized legs to knock it down to the ground.


    "Winner ''Enter team name here''" announced the system. Everyone chattered excitedly among themselves in the post game lobby while the Avenging Aardvarks all left without saying a word.

 Chapter 17 - Naming the Team

    After they finished chatting and boasting to each other in the post game lobby, Gray and the rest of the team met up just outside the simulator pods to talk.


    "Gray! Where the fruitcake did you learn military tactics?!?" exclaimed Geoff.


    "Uhh, I like to read a lot and picked up on it." replied Gray.


    "Bull crap, you barely even read the manual to this game!"


    "Okay okay... I really love large scale strategic war games and used to play them all of the time on my old PC before getting into Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality gaming. ''Shogun Total War XXII: More Ancient War Killing'' basically can teach you how to lead an army if you play the complete tutorial and solo campaign." said Gray.


    "That game came out even before most of us were probably born..." said Caleb.


    "...I am poor so this is my only VR game, I''m still using old Lindows 37 on my home PC." Gray lamented.


    "Ah, so I bet you sold your soul or maybe your body to some rich old perv to get in on this, right?" giggled Yurika.


    "No... just no... what made you even think that? I won a contest from Alterra Corporation and was given a Diamond-Tier copy of this game and VR bed."


    "Oh, so no sugar momma then, I could really use one myself" said Geoff.


    Stacia whispered to Yurika "What''s a sugar momma? Is it food?"


    Yurika leaned in to Stacia and whispered something in to her ear that Gray couldn''t pick out. It was safe to assume it wasn''t anything good due to Stacia''s look of disgust while glaring at Geoff.


    "It... it was a joke, honest!" Geoff replied sheepishly.


    Ignoring Geoff''s plea of innocence, they decided to give themselves a better name and walked over to the registration board again. Still, the same problem came up that everyone had their own idea.


    "Ok, how about this, let''s just press the random button until it gives us a name that we all are not completely disgusted with" suggest Gray.


    Everyone nodded in agreement and so Gray started to click the random button for the name change. A rename cost 5 merits at their current rank, which was unranked, once a name was selected.


    "How about this?" said Gray as he pushed the random button


    ''Delicious Devils'' came up on the screen. Since Yurika was the only one that kinda liked it Gray continued to press the random button and check everyone''s reactions to each name.


    "Excitable Eels". "Fantastic Five", "Gregarious Gamers", "Horny Humans", "Indignant Iguanas"... at this point the names just became silly as it is clear that no thought was put into the random button by the developers. Eventually Geoff made a suggestion by combining a few of the goofy names in to a decent one.


    "How about ''Steel Demons''?" suggested Geoff


    "Hmm... maybe, but it sounds kinda like just an alternative name from ''Metal Murderers'' that the random button came up with." replied Stacia


    "Demons are kinda sexy though." said Yurika as her mind appeared to enter in to a far off fantasy world of its own. A creepy smile came across Yurika''s face while her eyes seemed to be looking off into nowhere and a small amount of drool could be seen coming out of the corner or her mouth.


    The rest of the group glanced at each other for a second then pretended like they saw and heard nothing from Yurika in order to protect their own purity.


    "How about ''Steel Wolves''?" suggested Gray.


    Caleb nodded in agreement with this and said "I do like it as it sounds very mercenary while hinting at the various qualities that make up a good team such as strength, teamwork and communication."


    "Uh, yeah, that is what I was going for" said Gray while laughing and thinking to himself "I''m probably the only one here that is in to old Battletech lore"


    "Eh, works for me, anyone got any complaints?" asked Geoff while looking at Stacia and Yurika. Yurika finally came back to reality and and neither her nor Stacia had any complaints about the name.


    "Ok, then from here on out we will be the Steel Wolves!" exclaimed Geoff while Gray typed it into the name field and accepted the change.


    "Gray, I think I''ll let you be the leader then for now, just don''t expect me to stand by and say nothing if you screw it up though." said Geoff to Gray directly.


    "I give him a 40 percent chance of screwing it up." said Caleb while nodding solemnly.


    "So that means 60 percent chance it''ll work! I like those odds!" said Gray excitedly.


    After finally deciding on a leader and a team name, they still weren''t able to decide on a game mode and decided to just go with random selection again.


    __________


    At Alterra Corporation Headquarters, Drake was looking over a list of the teams that had registered in game and was selecting matches for use in a promotion video to air the day before official launch in 5 days.


    "Nadia, we want to showcase that Alterra Online is all about realism. Select some video clips from various matches based upon length of the match, score, and professionalism of the team name. We don''t want a team name like ''Milf Hunters'' to be broadcast across the cities."


    "Understood sir." said Nadia sounding a little down. AIs can be hard to read emotions of, but after having been with Nadia for many many years, Drake could pick up on her emotions even without her avatar being visible.


    "You sound down Nadia, do you not want to do this?" asked Drake.


    "Sir, it has nothing to do with your request, I am just disappointed."


    "Disappointed with what?"


    "Sir, out of the hundreds of names I devised for players to be able to use randomly, only one team, the ''Avenging Aardvarks'', has used one of my generated names." said Nadia


    "Maybe something is wrong with your naming conventions? Avenging Aardvarks sounds a little... how do I put this... immature?" said Drake trying to not sound mean.


    "Sir, I think it''s clever as well as all of the other ones I created."


    Drake pulled up the list of names that Nadia had created to be used for random team names. After scrolling through the first few on his holoboard he closed the document without reading the rest of them.


    "Nadia..."


    "Yes sir?"


    "Do not name... anything... ever again."


    "... Yes sir..."


    __________


    Before jumping in to the next match, Gray and the others nearly forgot to look at what they earned from that last match.


    "2 points each?!? That seems super low! It would take at least 500 matches just to make enough merits to buy a new weapon!" said Gray angrily.


    "Indeed, but two things come to mind. One, matchmaking doesn''t cost us any merit points so if it were easy to make a lot this way we would have merit point inflation. I imagine this will happen anyways once the game launches due to the amount of players. Fortunately it seems our market has fixed prices on most things so this should mitigate inflation in most cases unless they change it to a free market." said Caleb analytically.


    The other 4 looked at Caleb with a blank expression not able to comprehend where he came up with this idea, but seeing as he seemed to be the brainy type they figured they might as well get used to these sort of responses.


    "So... I''m afraid to ask, but what is the other thing that comes to mind?" said Gray hesitantly.


    "We do not have adequate knowledge about how to gain merits, in other words, we''re doing it wrong."


    "Well, as much as I want to know how to make merits easier, honestly I just want to do some more matchmaking right now!" said Gray to the others.


    Everyone agreed and returned to the simulator pods to begin another round of random matchmaking.

 Chapter 18 - Game Conference

    Several hours and 19 matches later, Gray and the rest of the team had finished their 10th team deathmatch and finally were given a rank in Team Deathmatch. Team Assault and Team Capture the Flag shared ranks as they were both considered objective based while Team Dodgeball was unranked as it was just for fun.


    As for their rank, a Bronze Star Icon with a ''IV'' appeared next to their team name over the place that indicated their Team''s Deathmatch rank. The bronze star had 4 of the 5 arms lit up of the star which seemed to be a visual indicator aside from the Roman numeral 4 inside of it.


    "Bronze rank division four eh?" said Gray a little dejectedly.


    "You sound disappointed with that" said Geoff.


    "A little, I know we only won 6 out of the 10 matches; but the 4 we lost, we barely lost and most of the ones we won, we only lost one of us" Admitted Gray.


    "Firstly, we do not know exactly how it determines rank. It could take in to account our team''s performance or merely the end result of the match. Secondly, Bronze is the lowest tier, but we''re in the second highest part of it and we don''t know what everyone else is yet. For all we know we could be in the higher tier of ranks, of course we could also be in the lower tier, but given we have a winning record, we should statistically be in the top 40 percent at least" analyzed Caleb.


    Gray chuckled at Caleb "Not sure if you''re trying to comfort me or not, but I guess you do have a point, we just don''t know enough yet"


    "I did notice one thing though, look at how much merits we earned in our last match" Caleb pointed out to everyone the stats on his HUD.


    "232 merits!" said Yurika excitedly


    "Indeed, and if you select that amount it will give you a breakdown of what caused it" replied Caleb


    200 of the points came from entering the Bronze Rank, the 32 remainder came from their rank bonus of 60% and a base of 20.


    Caleb continued "So it looks like at Bronze rank we will get 20 points per win and a multiplier based upon our rank, it is a safe assumption that higher ranks will get even more merits."


    "Still, it''s going to take a lot of matches to earn better mechs to play with" said Gray slightly annoyed still.


    "Indeed, but this is also so that one doesn''t dominate a single rank early on and hold others back" replied Caleb. "I also imagine that they don''t want the lowest tier players goofing around with the higher tier mechs."


    "What do you mean?"


    "When you buy a mech or any part, you not only gain access to the component in the simulators for matchmaking, but you get a copy of it for use in the game." Said Caleb. "What I want to know is where it is stored if we don''t have a virtual storage like most games usually have"


    (What Caleb is referring to as virtual storage is what games usually use for storage where you literally store an item inside a bag, wallet, backpack or something like that and it is kept in perfect condition, weightless, and out of sight. For example, if a player stored 20 different swords in their virtual storage, they could bring out any number of them at any time by just grabbing the virtual icon and put them away by placing them inside the storage container. This is how most games do it for player convenience and easier inventory management. Alterra Online is an extremely realistic game, so no magic bags or containers to hold all of your mechs and parts for you to be brought out in an instant.)


    Regardless of the nuances of this game, Gray and the others started to feel hungry so they figured it was time to log out anyways and get a meal. Everyone returned to their quarters and logged out from their beds.


    Gray pulled off his neural link from his head and looked at the time and saw it was indeed late and he missed lunch and was just in time for dinner.


    "I need to remember to eat instead of just playing games" Gray thought to himself. "Although I really do enjoy Alterra Online so I''m not surprised for losing track of time in it."


    Gray heated up another instant meal consisting of generic pasta and grabbed a cold bottle of pop. Even at the age of 29 he still ate like a college kid, granted he wasn''t THAT much older than a college kid, he just felt like it sometimes. Gray noticed his message icon flashing on his HUD and saw that Jono and a representative from Alterra Corporation had left him a message while he was in game. It was Saturday night so he was pretty sure that Jono was going to ask him to some sort of social outing that involved trying to get with girls. Frankly, Gray was terrible at picking up girls and he was grateful that Jono liked to include him, just that he felt like dead weight as Gray''s normal social replies when he got nervous usually ended with him putting his foot in his mouth. (Metaphorically, not literally thankfully)


    Gray opened up the message from Jono first and heard Jono''s voice. "Gray! Quit playing without me and come with me to tomorrow''s launch event! You already missed today''s event so come with me tomorrow!"


    Gray really didn''t feel like it as going to a launch event for a game he had early access to was almost pointless, but he did admit he was feeling cooped up so he figured he''d go with him anyways. Gray then opened up the second message that was from Alterra Corporation.


    "Congratulations team ''Steel Wolves'', your first match as the ''Enter Team name here'' team has been selected for a promotional video. Alterra Corporation cordially invites you to our second day of the launch event for Alterra Online that is located at Alterra Corporation''s public banquet hall. Install this ID certificate to your armlet and you will be allowed free entrance and VIP access pass!" said a feminine AI.


    What surprised Gray about this was he thought their first battle was one of the more wasteful ones but figured that all of the gunfire must look pretty neat even if it doesn''t do anything. He installed the certificate to his armlet and would use it as his ticket for tomorrow, then he called up Jono to let him know that he would come with him tomorrow.


    __________


    Gray went over to the banquet hall a little early the next day to meet up with Jono. Of course Jono called him up and said he was running late. This wasn''t really that surprising as Jono had a tendency to be late for everything and anything. Still, he saw other people entering the banquet hall and the staff handing out a pamphlet and ID badge on a lanyard to wear. He noticed that some people''s badges had different color backgrounds which he assumed referred to the different tiers.


    Gray asked a woman attendant greeting everyone at the door what the different colors meant and found at the White meant a value pass, Blue meant a normal pass, and Red meant an advanced pass. Gray remembered he had a VIP pass so he asked which one is a VIP pass.


    "V¡­V.I.P.?!?" The attendant seemed a little shocked and was thinking to herself "Those are not marketed so just knowing about them could mean this guy is important.


    The attendant suddenly became much friendlier to Gray and added sweetly. "Esteemed guest, the VIP pass will have a metallic purple background and only are given out to those who are deemed worthy. One with said access will be given complete access to everything at this launch event as well as behind the scenes access if one so desires! They would also have access to a private suite in the staging area so they can watch the event presentations and game demonstrations in comfort."


    While this was more than what Gray had actually asked her about, Gray was surprised that the VIP access had such special treatment. "How many VIPs currently preside at the event?"


    "Currently, only three have appeared. For privacy concerns I am unable who they are but just the amount of them would not be a problem!"


    Gray started to say absentmindedly "Guess that means I''ll be the fou_"


    "GRAY! Dude! Come on! I was able to get a freaking Advanced Pass so quit hitting on girls, what would your wife say?" Jono interrupted Gray while giving him an evil smile.


    The female attendant smiled warily at Gray and returned to her less than enthusiastic state from before as she now thought he might be a guy that cheats on his wife. Gray didn''t even have a girlfriend let alone a wife, but frankly didn''t feel like arguing with Jono as this guy was loud and shameless.


    "About time Jono, I''ve been waiting"


    "Sorry! Dude, check it out!" Jono whipped out his lanyard with a red background on his ID badge. "See, I can get in to everything at this event and get to cut in line at various booths. Alterra Online may be the main headliner here, but it''s still a gaming conference after all! I hope you at least got the normal pass, but your poor ass probably got the value pass!"


    "Yeah, I didn''t get the advanced pass or the normal pass." Gray said smugly as he walked up to the entrance and let his armlet be scanned. When the attendant looked at the scanner his eyes went wide and he apologized to Gray and said he had to get his pass especially from the security office.


    "Don''t tell me you forged your pass Gray?" said Jono smilingly mockingly at Gray.


    "I don''t know what''s going on either."


    The attendant quickly returned with another female attendant and handed Gray a lanyard with a purple metallic ID plate on it and said "Esteemed guest, we welcome you as a VIP and apologize for any delays, this is Felicia and she will be your personal escort and guide for the event." The attendant motioned over to the beautiful woman next to him wearing a dark blue skirt, matching low-cut blouse, a pair of heels, and long blonde hair with deep brown eyes that Gray felt would suck out his soul if he stared at them. Her bright lipstick and makeup accentuated her nearly flawless face and both Gray and Jono had their minds go blank when looking at her.


    Suddenly Jono came back to reality when he realized that Gray had a VIP pass that he didn''t even know existed and his face started to turn right red from embarrassment.


    "Hey, buddy, your face is matching your badge there." Gray said while grinning at Jono.

 Chapter 19 - The VIP Treatment

    Jono was sulking miserably at Gray''s side while Gray kept intentionally asking the escort he was given about the advantages of VIP over the others. This was one of the few times that Gray really had the one up on Jono so he was taking his time to rub it in.


    "Oh, so I can go ahead of people with value, normal, AND advanced passes!" said Gray smiling while eyeing Jono to see if he could get his face to explode from jealousy. Felicia, the gorgeous female escort and attendant, felt it was quite amusing to see these two bicker so she was glad to bestow any information about the VIP pass and emphasized how it was superior to the others.


    "Yes! AND all of your snacks and beverages are included so eat as much as you want all on Alterra Corporation''s dime!" said Felicia smiling while also giggling slightly watching Jono start to look a little green even.


    Eventually they did stop teasing Jono as he started to go numb and talk to himself so they figured it would be a good time to stop messing around. Felicia finally ended the teasing by adding "Oh, and your suite can be used by you and up to 3 friends, no matter what level of pass they have!"


    This last part was meant to offer some consolation to Jono and Gray considered riding his high a little longer but after seeing Jono''s puppy dog eyes he caved and said "Dude, I was planning on letting you come already, don''t give me that look, it''s grossing me out"


    __________


    Felicia guided Gray and Jono to a large hall with a stage in it that was used for the larger events and took them up an elevator that Gray had to use his VIP pass on to get it to operate. Along the hallway was 3 rooms, Felicia led Gray and Jono to the second room and led them in to their suite.


    "Wooowww¡­" Gray thought to himself as he looked at the interior of the suite. Inside was a fully automated kitchen on one side and a full bathroom and den on the other side. The main interior contained an ornate kitchen table made out of real wood. Wood was a luxury in this day and age with virtually no free land mass to support huge forests anymore. Outside of the room a sliding transparent door led to the balcony which had 4 large cushy chairs, each big enough to easily hold two people if they didn''t mind sitting next to each other.


    Felicia strutted in front of Jono and Gray and pointed out the various amenities for them and left a holoboard on their kitchen counter that they could order the food from a high quality chef AI. She opened up the door to the balcony and swept her hand out over the balcony saying they had one of the best views available. Jono was relieved at the bathroom and immediately excused himself since it''d been awhile for him. Felicia sat down in one of the cushy chairs on the balcony and folded one leg over the other seductively as Gray was peering over the railing out of curiosity. Gray turned around and saw Felicia looking at him with both of her arms out on each arm rest while her legs were crossed causing Gray to feel a bit nervous.


    "You must try these seats, they are made out of the most comfortable sea foam that scientists have been able to genetically enhance" Felicia said charmingly while stroking the arm of the chair she was in.


    Gray thought it was getting a bit warm in there but sat down regardless and felt himself sink in just a little bit as the chair really did feel like a gentle embrace as it supported all of him comfortably. "Um, it''s a little too soft, are these adjustable?" Gray asked.


    "Indeed it is, let me show you." Felicia got up from her chair and leaned over in front of Gray''s chair, she reached out with her right hand and touched a small slider under the arm and swiped her finger towards the front of the chair and Gray started rising in the seat as the chair became firmer, eventually becoming as hard as plastic.


    "Wow, that''s amazing!" said Gray. He was really tempted to play with it of course because it was something new to him and who doesn''t love playing with new things! Felicia sat down beside him on the now firm chair, much to Gray''s surprise.


    "You have to be gentle with it, or it will break¡­" Felicia said extremely seductively while looking at Gray. Gray got extremely shy at this point and wasn''t sure what to do and absent-mindedly swiped the slider towards the back of the chair all of the way. The chair become soft and cushy again and even more so than before. Because of the softness, the chair sagged slightly in the middle causing Gray and Felicia to slide into each other causing both Gray and Felicia''s face to get bright red.


    Naturally, Jono opens the door and in a panic Gray jumps up suddenly causing Felicia to fall on to her side. Jono sees Gray standing there not looking at him as Gray is pretending to continue to admire the view while Felicia''s face is a little red from before while she''s lying on her side on the chair.


    "Oh, Ms. Felicia, if you were tired, we could''ve taken a rest before." Jono said unknowingly thinking that she was lying down to rest.


    "O..Oh, I''m fine I was merely showing Gray how to adjust the softness of these chairs and I accidentally slipped a little when it went soft¡­" said Felicia


    Gray couldn''t help but think "Good thing the chair isn''t the only thing that went soft."


    __________


    The three of them returned to the main hall of the game conference and Felicia had said that she needed to attend to other matters but she gave Gray her direct message number in case anything else came up. Jono asked for it too and as one last rib on Jono, Felicia stated "What for? You''re not the VIP" causing Jono to cry a little on the inside. Felicia laughed softly then returned to the security office near the front of the banquet hall.


    Gray and Jono visited a few booths for other games, Gray went mostly to check out the upcoming games and Jono said he did the same but he was drooling at one of the female models in cosplay attire and not paying attention to the actual gameplay itself.


    Gray had developed a theory about these sorts of conventions, the prettier the model, the worse the game. A great game would sell itself and not need eye candy to draw people to it. Naturally the large booth setup for Alterra Online was packed with people. It seems that if you picked up a code from the Alterra Online booth, you could get an exclusive mech decal. While this sort of thing really wasn''t important to Gray, he did like to at least collect as many freebies as possible.


    When the staff at the Alterra Online booth saw his VIP status, one of the attendants came out to greet Gray. "Sir, may I scan your ID badge?"


    "Uh, sure" replied Gray.


    After scanning Gray''s badge, the attendant looked down at his holoboard and then said "Oh! You are one of the members of ''Enter Team name here''! For having one of your team''s fights being selected in our promotional video, you and all of the other members of your team will each gain 1000 merit points!"


    Gray''s eyes went wide because this was really a large sum at this time and would bring his and the rest of the team up to 2270 merit points each except for Stacia that had 1470 merit points due to purchasing a Juniper SE. He figured it would be best to hold on to it for now though as their Diamond-tier mechs would finally be usable the day before the official launch.


    The attendant handed Gray a holoboard that had the promotional video playing and said "If you would like, we can add your name and team name to the video in the places you''re used to promote your team instead of just listing it in the credits."


    Gray thought for a moment and said "Eh, sure, why not."


    Gray watched the video from start to finish and had to admit that although it was a sloppy fight against their first opponent, it sure looked flashy, especially when you Yurika''s mech stormed out of the forest with her submachine guns blazing.


    After finishing the video, Gray had to admit that some of the matches they picked were a little odd, but it also did show that one could have fun in Alterra Online aside from blowing away the other team. He actually thought it was hilarious that one guy actually started picking up rocks, trees, dirt, and even his own weapon to throw at the enemy when he used up all of his ammunition.


    "Desperate times call for desperate measures I guess. Still, I am impressed with the level of realism as I never would''ve thought one could pick up the terrain like that and use it as a weapon as a last ditch effort." Thinking about the realism further, Gray really started to consider utilizing terrain for future matches on the maps that were large enough to do so.


    While thinking further, the lights in the entire conference dimmed for a moment and a loud voice boomed throughout the venue.


    "Ladies and Gentleman, the Alterra Online promotion will begin in 10 minutes, please find your way to the main hall!"

 Chapter 20 - New and Old Friends

    Gray and Jono returned to their suite before the promotional video would be released publically and in front of everyone at the game conference.


    Although Gray normally doesn''t like to stand out, receiving some recognition was nice once in a while. Seeing his team being displayed for everyone to watch was a good feeling. Gray noticed that not only his name was shown for his team, but so was Caleb''s name.


    "Caleb must be here somewhere then" Gray thought.


    Assuming the other VIP suites were filled with other teams that were invited today, Gray looked at the other balconies and saw that all of the others had a lot more people than his balcony.


    "Do other teams share suites? Why am I the exception?" Gray thought as he looked at the large suite just for Jono and himself.


    A knock was heard on the door and Gray heard a familiar voice.


    "It''s my suite too baby cakes, no need to knock" came from behind the door with a slightly nasal and arrogant voice.


    Gray thought that the voice¡­ sounds like Caleb, but the way he talks is nothing like him. The door opened and a fairly short guy in his early 30s wearing old 20th century glasses sauntered in being followed by a slightly stressed looking Felicia. Gray was happy to see her again but this happiness was interrupted by this guy. The guy turned to Felicia and said "Thanks babe that will be all!" and Felicia made a quick departure. Gray almost half expected the guy to pinch her butt or something like that.


    "So, I''m guessing you must be Gray." Said the guy as he looked directly at Gray.


    "Correct, and you must be Caleb! This is my friend Jono" Gray replied while introducing Jono also.


    "I''m guessing you figured out it was me from the name in the video?" Gray asked Caleb.


    "Indeed, and the 4 teams used in the promotional video were provided with a suite for each of them. Since you and Geoff are the only other male members of our team, it was safe to say that it would either be Geoff or you, Gray, that would be in this suite."


    "Yeah, you definitely sound like Caleb now, so how come you knew it was me and not Geoff and couldn''t Jono have been Geoff?" asked Gray


    "You and Geoff are similar, if one of you had opted to have yourself high-lighted, the other would too. Since only your name was visible in the video one could deduce that Geoff is not here. As for why Jono is not Geoff, he doesn''t have a VIP badge."


    Gray felt the urge to rib Jono more about the VIP badge, but frankly the joke was getting old. He''d wait until later when Jono started to get over it.


    "You didn''t talk to Yurika and Stacia like that though in game, what''s up with that?" asked Gray to Caleb.


    "Team cohesion, creating a disturbance in the team would be detrimental to our cooperative relationship thus maintaining proper etiquette is imperative."


    Jono whispered to Gray "Does he always talk like that?"


    "Yes, he''s one of those types that likes to flaunt his intellect by using big words to hide his insecurities." Gray whispered back to Jono.


    Caleb coughed loudly to bring the focus back to himself. "I can still hear you even if you whisper. I do not have any insecurities, my intellect is significantly higher than probably everyone else in this conference. I am not trying to boast, this is merely a fact. I created a tech company that specializes in custom AI at the same age you two were just discovering puberty. I do not need to boast, my achievements in synthetic neural algorithms and software based linguistic analysis and emulation speak for me."


    Gray and Jono blinked not really sure what to say then both looked at each other. Simultaneously they both thought to themselves. "He''s totally boasting"


    __________


    After the promotional video was shown, the press group in charge of promoting Alterra Online were showing off some of the features that would be implemented after the game launched officially in 5 days. Gray, Caleb, and Jono sat in their balcony and listened to the question and answer session with a few of the employees from Alterra Corp did shed light on some features and design choices of Alterra Online.


    Of the features to note, faction creation would be unlocked, matchmaking would be expanded, and mech customization would be unlocked.


    The faction creation feature will only be available to Diamond Tier players. It was noted that players could be promoted within a player created faction to become the new leader should the existing one retire from Alterra Online. As for faction housing, players could use merits to rent specific buildings from NPCs as faction headquarters. These would include basic support staff for up to a squad of mechs (8 mechs) and be expandable to support a full platoon of mechs (50 mechs). Minimum rank to start a faction is 1st Lieutenant which will also be unlocked to players at the official launch.


    The new matchmaking features also got Gray a little more excited. With the player base expanding, matchmaking would support up to 50 vs 50 in team assault. Having more mechs would drastically increase the complexity of the matches and it never hurt to have more cannon fodde¡­ I mean¡­ friends on the battlefield.


    Mech customization didn''t appeal particularly to Gray, but it was fun to mess with at times. He thought it might be hilarious if everyone painted their mechs to look like various childhood cartoon characters. The thought of Yurika going berserk with some SMGs in a mech that looks like Mikey Moose would be a terrifying sight indeed.


    A question about matchmaking was brought up about solo ranks and how it felt like players were forced to join a team because of the lack of solo matchmaking ranks.


    "Alterra Online aims for realism and is designed to emulate military structure. Missions and battles are carried out in teams. Individual bravery is important, but glorified heroism often romanticized about in movies and other popular media will only lead to wanton losses. While this seems harsh, our aim is indeed to create as accurate a military simulation as possible."


    Overall most of the attendees agreed with how Alterra Corp responded to this, but a few of them seemed a little disgruntled from what Gray could see. This made sense as a lot of players didn''t trust other players or just enjoyed not having to worry about a team and did only solo matches. While going in to a match solo wasn''t disallowed, if you couldn''t get your team rank up you wouldn''t be able to get merits very quickly.


    Another question that everyone has already asked before that was brought up again was regarding why Alterra Online was so persistent about keeping the game as realistic as possible.


    "We want to offer something that no other game has, the feeling that you''re not playing a game. Others have tried to do this in the past, but none have reached the amount of realism that Alterra Online has been able to facilitate. We don''t want you to just feel like you''re lumbering around in an 80 ton mech, we want you to believe you are piloting it!" answer the Alterra Corp staff.


    Lastly a question was brought up regarding the policy on if you die in game you lose your account and how Alterra Corp would essentially be losing customers if players died in the game because of this.


    "I know it may seem harsh to force a player to quit a game, but as we said before, we aim for complete realism. If you die in real life, you don''t get a second chance at life." (This isn''t one of those kinds of novels after all)


    __________


    After the question and answer session, Gray, Jono, and Caleb decided to return to the main floor and look around some of the other booths. By the way Jono was asking about Felicia, Gray was pretty sure he just wanted to look for her and it wasn''t all that surprising.


    Gray pulled the door closed behind him to their suite when a very familiar male voice that caused Gray to get repulsed immediately came from behind him.


    "Gray? Gray Wilhelm! Yes! That is you, what are you doing sneaking around up here with the VIP attendants or is the dropout lost?"

 Chapter 21 - Calebs Secret

    Gray felt his heart drop slightly when he recognized the voice coming from behind him, then immediately did his best to hide his emotions.


    "Kyam? Is that you? How''ve you been?" replied Gray to the guy who called out to him a moment ago.


    The man was Kyam Berlin, a face Gray was trying to forget. He was a little shorter than Gray with neatly cut blonde hair wearing a business suit, which seemed a little out of place for a gaming conference. Gray and Kyam both originally went to the same Military school, Washington Military Academy, and even started in the same classes, but Gray left when he wanted to change majors and follow his own path instead of what his high school recommended. Gray didn''t like being called dropout, but he couldn''t exactly refute the point either as he did leave after his 2nd year.


    "I''ve been excellent obviously, I''ve been assigned to lead a squad by the federal military branch in Washington City. The military was given 200 of the 800 total Diamond-tier slots and we''ve been tasked with leading normal players and finding potential recruits. How''d you even get one?"


    Yep, that''s the one thing Gray really didn''t like about this guy. Kyam gave off a typical self-entitled demeanor and would always find ways to inflate his own importance. Gray imagined this was probably the norm for the upper echelons of politics and military leadership, but that didn''t mean it was acceptable.


    "Oh, I won mine. Typical Main Character Luck and plot convenience honestly" replied Gray honestly.


    "Main Character Luck and plot convenience, what are you talking about?"


    Gray turned to look at you, the reader, then whispered "Sorry, won''t happen again"


    "Never mind that, I just got lucky is all" laughed Gray.


    "That''s no surprise, I would''ve been very disappointed if you had earned it as it would mean that many of the other Diamond Tier slots would also be taken by other dropouts and losers" said Kyam with a hint of malice.


    "Yeah¡­" Gray didn''t have much else to reply with at this point so he just looked down while scratching the back of his head.


    "Oh, I''m sure you heard that Kelly Lagerty and I are¡­ temporarily taking a break¡­ she was also given a squad to lead so don''t bother her." Kyam replied.


    Gray hadn''t heard from Kelly since he left the academy so he thought that it wouldn''t be a problem since last time he saw her in passing, she pretended like he didn''t exist.


    "Oh, don''t worry, I''ll make sure not to disturb her in game."


    "Good, now excuse us, we''ve been invited to a panel discussing strategy and how to apply it to Alterra Online. Gray, you should come, you could learn something!" Kyam said while walking past Gray and the others to take the elevator down to the main floor with 7 other squad members all dressed in similar professional attire.


    As Kyam and his squaddies left, Caleb walked over to Gray and said "Don''t worry, I may consider you inferior and below average in many aspects, but don''t think too much about what Kyam said. Looking at his voiceprint my AI recorded, Kyam appears to be slightly intimidated by you. Also, I noticed that Kyam keeps his feet apart roughly three inches less than the average male of his height when standing still naturally despite wearing fairly tight pants. What this implicates is that Kyam has much less ''packaging'' to get in the way between his legs."


    Gray looked at Caleb. "Thanks, I''m sure in your own way you''re trying to console me, but I really could''ve done without that last part. It doesn''t so much amaze me that you made that analysis based on how wide he keeps his feet apart, but that enough people took measurements of it to create a standard for it."


    "He''s making that up right?" asked Jono.


    "I¡­ don''t want to look it up to find out" replied Gray.


    As the three walked together to the elevator, both Gray and Jono walked with their feet spaced a little wider than normal after thinking about Caleb''s analysis of how standing width correlated to the amount of ''packaging'' between one''s legs.


    __________


    In one of the balconies across from Gray''s, Kelly Lagerty and her squad were enjoying themselves making fun of the other players as most of their moves appeared amateurish and wasteful in the promotional video, especially the ones that would wave their guns while shooting at a single target.


    Kelly wasn''t a gamer at all, but she had to admit that the realism that Alterra Online offered piqued her interest and she saw the value of it as a training tool since real wars never happened in this modern age. Why did wars cease? It was no longer profitable like it was in the past. As much as people would gush about freedom and fighting for justice, almost all wars were fought for greed, as in someone wanted something that someone else had and so they would take it from them. It was strange to have an active military in a warless society, but it was considered precautionary. Just because it wasn''t profitable right now didn''t mean that it wouldn''t be in the future through future developments.


    Kelly was assigned four other female cadets to her squad that were some of the best pilots in her generation. The main reason wasn''t because the military academy was being sexist or anything, but Kelly had chosen the team name "Strike Maidens" and the male members of her squad all asked to be transferred since they didn''t want to be a "Strike Maiden".


    A familiar name appeared on the promotional video as her squad watched it, only she remembered the name but Kelly pretended not to recognize it. She didn''t hate him, but she felt it was a disappointment that he didn''t stay.


    "''Enter Team name here''? What kind of team name is that?" asked one of the other female squad members.


    "They all lack basic knowledge of piloting, but the strategy wasn''t bad, just very basic." Said another squad member.


    Without thinking Kelly replied "Everything starts with the basics, the expert in anything was once a beginner."


    The rest of the squad rolled their eyes at Kelly.


    "Kelly, we know, just relax and unwind a little bit. This conference feels more like a holiday with the level of treatment we''ve been given!" said one of the squad members.


    Kelly shrugged, smiled, agreed with the rest then decided to just enjoy the time off like the rest of her squad.


    __________


    Gray was hoping to run in to Felicia again while wandering around the conference, but he had a feeling that he wouldn''t as Caleb was a natural barrier to the opposite sex. Caleb was actually very well-respected to high-level AI professionals and other industry leaders, but he just was terrible at dealing with people directly. Usually these arrogant types loved to brag and flaunt their status so Gray was happy that Caleb didn''t brag¡­ that much¡­


    "Caleb, with all of your success, you''re probably loaded, right? Asked Jono.


    "I make more in a month than you two make in a year¡­ combined¡­" replied Caleb.


    "Well, I''m glad to see you don''t waste your wealth on stupid things like creating an AI harem or the latest armlet that costs more than a hover car or even clothes that all of the hottest celebrities are wearing." Said Gray.


    "What''re you talking about? I''m actually poor." Said Caleb


    "How is that possible? Do you just give away all of your money or something?" asked Jono slightly shocked.


    "I am loathe to admit that I do have my own vices. I am addicted to Pay2Win gaming. Have you heard of TheLegend27?" asked Caleb.


    Gray and Jono both nodded.


    "Of course! That is the screen name of the person in the top rank of all of the big Pay2Win games like Crash of Clans, Aging of War, and Nuns of Glory!" exclaimed Gray.


    "I am TheLegend27"


    Both Gray and Jono opened their eyes wide and said in even greater surprise. "TheLegend27?!?"


    Caleb puffed out his chest slightly as both Gray and Jono were somewhat in awe of Caleb at this moment.


    "No wonder you''re broke¡­ you''d have to spend thousands each month on each game to maintain the top spot" Gray said to Caleb. "Talk about a huge waste of money."


    "It is, but I command thousands of armies and players who live to serve my bidding! I control the fate of the other players!"


    "But you do know you actually haven''t won anything, right?" said Gray "Eh, never mind, for someone as intelligent as you are I am sure you are aware of how much money you''re wasting."


    Caleb shrugged in reply. He was perfectly aware of how much he was wasting, but he was TheLegend27 after all.

 Chapter 22 - Capture the Flag

    A few other groups of military cadets aside from Kyam''s were wandering around the conference as well, Gray thought this was strange for a game conference but considering the game it made some sense. Gray did his best to maintain a low profile around these groups in case someone else recognized him. The rest of the conference ended up being uneventful for Gray and the rest so they went home. Gray dragged his feet by the entrance hoping to run in to Felicia one last time, but sadly she was nowhere to be seen.


    "Oh well, guess it wasn''t meant to be." said Gray to himself before finally leaving the conference and go home for the rest of the night.


    __________


    The next morning Gray had his usual instant meal, good old bachelor life he thought. After breakfast Gray felt like taking a nap as Monday mornings were the best for napping. Something about climbing back into bed while the rest of the world just finished their weekend that made Gray enjoy it all the more. Still, he actually really wanted to get back into the game, but was afraid that most of the players wouldn''t be online due to it not being the weekend.


    As Gray logged in, he was happy to see his whole team was already online.


    "Whew, I thought it would only be Geoff and myself." Gray thought since he remembered that Geoff also took time off from work to play but didn''t know what the others had done.


    Gray opened up the team chat window on his HUD and asked where everyone was. The chat window quickly filled with replies:


    ''Stacia: We are by matchmaking''


    ''Geoff: Waiting on you asshole!''


    ''Yurika: Hurry up! I want to shoot things!''


    ''Caleb: I thought you were more reliable than this''


    Gray sighed inwardly. "Nobody told me we were waiting on each other."


    Gray hurried over to the matchmaking board to find the other 4 staring anxiously at him.


    "Gray! Where were you? We agreed 10am would be our meeting time!" said Geoff angrily.


    "10am? I don''t remember that..." said Gray honestly.


    "We talked about it yesterday! Caleb, didn''t you say you meet him earlier in the real world and would send him a message about our agreement?" asked Yurika to Caleb.


    Caleb pretended to not pay attention and said "It doesn''t matter anymore, let''s just begin!" as he walked over to the simulator pods.


    Gray, Geoff, Yurika and Stacia looked at each other and rolled their eyes as they all came to the conclusion that Caleb didn''t send a message.


    "Random again?" asked Gray to everyone else.


    "You''re the leader, we''ll let you pick what we do when we''re doing matchmaking as a team." said Stacia.


    Gray really enjoyed objective games like Capture the Flag so he decided to be a little selfish and selected Team Capture the Flag once everyone was in their simulator pods. After a few minutes of waiting, a match was finally found.


    A different arena than any of the Team death match spawned for them and the 5 of them were standing around a blue flag with their team name on it. Inside their HUDS a picture of the enemy flag came in to view, it was red with the name "Grizzly Lords" on it and an emblem of a roaring grizzly bear on it.


    "Awww, how come they get an emblem?" asked Yurika


    "Because it costs merits to add and I''m trying to be frugal" replied Gray.


    "Quit being such a cheap ass!" Yurika yelled back


    "It''s frugal! Not cheap!" countered Gray, although he admitted it was a weak counter.


    "Gray, for team unity, I do recommend an emblem as in the future it will provide us with a symbol to rally behind." said Caleb.


    "FINE, I''ll take care of it when we take a break!" Gray said while pretending to surrender to the masses. Truth was he really didn''t know about it because he never really explored the team setup part nor did he read the manual that thoroughly. "Let''s focus on the match now!"


    Gray was a little surprised that when they spawned into the map, they weren''t given a mech selection screen or even a loadout selection screen. It seems that everyone has the same basic mech, a Capture the Flag variant for the standard Phalanx Mk 01 as well as an assault rifle strictly for the CTF mode. Inside everyone''s HUD was an indicator with a full green bar in it that said "Hit Points: 10/10".


    "Hit Points?" asked Gray


    "Yes Gray, Capture the Flag uses hit points to determine the life or death of your mech. The weapons we have are basically paint guns that merely mark on the mech where it has been hit. You lose hit points depending upon where you get hit. When you run out, your mech is destroyed and will respawn after a set timer back at your base." said Caleb.


    "Oh, that sounds good! Respawning isn''t realistic, but that is also what makes it kind of fun since we can fight without worry!" said Gray.


    Gray looked at the map provided and saw that it was a long and somewhat narrow map. This didn''t leave much room for guesswork as the amount of routes to the flag was very limited due to the smaller map. Gray was hoping this would be as fun as these types of games were Gray''s personal favorite. Not wanting to waste any more time, Gray started to excitedly give out orders. "Let''s find out what they''re trying to do first, it''s better to counter than to rush in blindly even if we can respawn."


    __________


    Felicia was wearing a military uniform similar to what the cadets of the academy wore, a dark blue skirt and matching coat with an Alterra Corporation visitor badge clipped to her breast pocket. The insignia on her upper sleeve indicated she was a 1st Lieutenant. Currently Felicia was having a meeting with Drake and a virtual presence of a man dressed in a uniform similar to Major Valen of Alterra Online.


    "Lieutenant Stone, what is the results of the players you''ve been assigned to monitor?" asked the virtual presence.


    "General, sir, I have determined that none of the current players understand the purpose of the Alterra Project. I have flagged a few names that I believe could potentially hinder our efforts, but I believe we are able to proceed with phase 2." replied Felicia.


    The General, as Felicia called him, appeared to be in his late fifties with graying hair and a streak of white on each side. The dark blue slacks matched the blazer and fit perfectly on his large framed body. The insignia of a general on his shoulders with 2 stars indicated he was 2 star general and thus high ranking.


    "Excellent, we''ll consider closely monitoring the players you have flagged." said the General. "Mr. Teach, we would like you to reduce the amount of character customization allowed for the beginning of phase 2. Cosmetic changes weren''t the problem, and thank you for being far-sighted and not allowing gender changes, but the body mass and structural changes were almost beyond our capacity with just the test batch of 800."


    "Understood sir, we''ll say it was a Diamond-tier exclusive then."


    "Frankly, some of them were disturbing. One player tried to give himself squirrel vision by moving his eyes to the side of his head as much as possible. Should''ve let him keep it just for the amusement honestly." said the General while laughing to himself.


    "Sir, I do have one suggestion" said Felicia.


    "Yes Lieutenant Stone?" replied the General.


    "I suggest we keep an active listener on one of the players instead of the standard passive. His intelligence may be beneficial to us, but we don''t want him to learn what our intentions are."


    "Wise decision, Mr. Teach, does Alterra have enough staff to spare to allow another active listener?" asked the General to Edward.


    "Yes, I can have them start once the target is known."


    "Good, now who is the target?" asked the General to Felicia


    "Caleb Waldowski"

 Chapter 23 - Tragedy of the Grizzly Lords

    For Team Capture the Flag, everyone had the same mech and the same weapon. While this may seem boring to some, it really did mean that the pilot''s skills and tactics mattered most. Gray was waiting for the enemy to appear on their sensors, but no enemy came while Gray and the rest kept themselves fortified near their flag.


    "Uhh, Gray, what if they have the same idea as us to play defensively?" asked Geoff.


    Gray thought for a moment then replied "Did anyone read if the sensors even worked with this mode when you don''t have the flag?"


    After a few moments of silence from the rest of the team Caleb finally spoke up "It is a safe assumption we don''t know due to lack of response."


    "Crap, guess we''ll find out soon enough."


    The layout of the map was very simple for CTF. It took the shape of a giant capsule pill with each team on one end and their flag in the middle. In the middle of the arena were rock formations, hills, and a few scattered trees that were mirrored for both team''s sides to keep the map balanced. Each base was lined with shipping crates and only had 3 entrances, one on each side and one in the middle. The middle entrance to the base was wide enough to fit 4 mechs across, but it also was in direct line of sight from the other two entrances.


    Gray and Yurika watched the front entrance, Caleb and Stacia watched the Left entrance, and Geoff watched the right. Normally buildings and terrain obstacles could be blown apart but since they were using the Capture the Flag painter guns, they were unable to destroy any terrain or obstacles with them.


    Five minutes passed on the timer for the 30 minute match and nothing appeared on their sensors nor did they see anything.


    "This is getting us nowhere. Let''s go to them then." Gray said.


    Gray peeked his head out from around the barricade and out of nervousness immediately pulled it back in as he was expecting to get shot at, instead he ended up looking odd to the rest of his teammates.


    "There has got to be a better way to do this." thought Gray.


    "Gray, use your peepers..." said Caleb


    "I am, I just don''t want to get shot that''s why I keep pulling back!"


    "No, your peepers on the arms of most military mechs, use the icon that looks like old side-view mirrors in your HUD." said Geoff


    Gray looked at his HUD and saw an icon that looked like a small rectangle with an arrow in it and activated it. A small door slid open in a narrow groove on his mech''s arm and a stick popped out with a tapered end. In his HUD the rectangle with an arrow in it was replaced with a new live video feed that appeared to coming from this stick. Gray put his back against the barricade and held out his arm slightly so the peeper could look around the barricade for him without exposing himself.


    "Huh, at this point I''m not even going to bring it up that I should read up more on these mechs, I just need to face it that it will save me a lot of pain in the long run if I just give in and study up." thought Gray.


    Gray saw that nobody was coming or going in the immediate area around their base so Gray said for everyone to file out and take cover behind the first barricades in front of their base. The map was a little more than 1 kilometer wide so it was a very narrow map thus didn''t leave much room for hiding. For length though, the map was around 8 kilometers. What this did was keep teams from being able to bunch up and move as a pack since mechs would be stepping on each other trying to get around the obstacles without sufficient space between them. Of course you could still move as a pack, you just had to do it in more of a column instead of a row.


    After repositioning behind the last artificial barricades outside of their base, Gray looked around again and still saw nothing. Everyone was starting to get anxious because it had already been 8 minutes into the 30 minute match and they had yet to see the other team.


    "Advance carefully and stop at the first artificial barricades, assuming their layout is the same as ours, I want Stacia and Geoff on my right and Yurika and Caleb on my left, I''ll watch center." ordered Gray.


    Since only three routes existed on this map to reach the flag, it was fairly easy to watch all of them at once. Gray didn''t exactly like this as it didn''t give him much room to be creative, but at least the same went for the enemy.


    As everyone got into position, they were each peeping into the enemy base from different sides and even though they couldn''t see everything they were shocked at what they saw.


    "This... this isn''t right! What happened?!?" cried Stacia


    __________


    At the start of the match on the other side of the map, the other team was also going over their own strategy.


    "So it looks like we''re going up against the ''Steel Wolves''" said a young man in his early 20s. "Sounds like a bad ass name, but against us ''Grizzly Lords'' they will be nothing but wolf pups!"


    "Sheesh Mark, why do you always boast like that, you''ve been the dead weight in every match so far!" said another member of the ''Grizzly Lords''.


    "Shut it, I merely have been biding my time so you all may witness my true power!" said Mark, the same man earlier while trying to give his best tough look.


    "Guys, shut up and get ready, let''s play defensively at first. No need to rush it." said a woman in her early 30s.


    "Don''t worry Moira, I like to take my time, if you know what I mean." said another pilot behind Moira.


    "I don''t know what you mean Jeremy, you''ve always been the first one to finish since you come out so quickly and end up getting taken out first" replied Moira.


    Moira had it tough being the leader of a squad with nothing but guys, she wouldn''t have stayed in it but her little brother was part of it and she didn''t want him to get bullied. She was kinda used to it at this point, getting hit on every match by her own team, male gamers were usually like this. Fortunately that''s all it usually was, until today for some reason...


    After 5 minutes the ''Steel Wolves'' never came so they started to file out and make their way to the first barricades, Moira took point on the right side with Mark following behind her, Jeremy and Moira''s little brother took the left, the fifth guy stayed behind to maintain lookout.


    "It''s okay baby cakes, I got your back this time" said Mark proudly as he got in position behind Moira and reached down and padded what would be the buttocks of her mech.


    "NO TOUCHING!" Moira roared then without thinking aimed her gun at Mark''s head and started firing the marker gun at him. Due to the gun not actually damaging the mech no explosion or damage actually accrued on Mark''s mech and instead he got pissed and started firing at Moira. Jeremy opened fire on Moira hoping to take her out so she could cool off then, but Moira''s little brother wanted to defend his big sister so he started firing at Jeremy as well. The last guy just stood there and sighed as 3 of the 4 drained each other''s hit points. Moira, her little brother, and Mark were all dead and Jeremy only had 2 hit points left. The fifth guy finished off Jeremy just for the amusement of it. When they all died except for the fifth guy a timer began for 30 seconds to indicate the amount of time for them to respawn.


    At this point the fifth guy saw the ''Steel Wolves'' finally make their way to their base and sighed again as he saw the entire front of their base covered in bright paint from the chaos earlier. Instead of taking the 5 of them on alone, he held his hands up and thought to himself that he needs to find a new team.


    __________


    The enemy base looked like it had been giving a fresh coat of paint on most of the front as paint was everywhere from the infighting of the ''Grizzly Lords''. Gray and the others saw the one enemy mech with his hands up and weapon on the ground and weren''t exactly sure what happened. The enemy mech opened up his loudspeaker and said "They respawn in 20 seconds, hurry up!"


    Gray was concerned that this may be a trap but given the fact that they saw no other mechs around and 4 other guns were on the ground, this made it a little believable that they all had been killed.


    "Did that guy team kill his 4 other teammates?" Gray thought to himself "If so, he''s a monster then!"


    Yurika quickly ran in and touched the flag, a virtual flag was attached to the back of her mech and a golden halo was above her mech indicating that she had the flag and suddenly her mech was visible on sensors. Gray noted that the enemy mech 30 meters from him didn''t appear on his sensors so it looks like only flag carriers were visible. Yurika also noted that her mech slowed down a little when she had the flag, this was probably to try and keep it more interesting.


    Yurika had just exited the base with the flag when the enemy mechs respawned. Instead of giving chase though, the 5th guy stood in their path.


    "Out of the way Julius!" Moira screamed


    "No, we lost this match as soon as it started, we are forfeiting and disbanding, or at the very least I am leaving." said Julius, the only one that wasn''t killed on their team.


    "But..." Moira started to say before Julius cut her off


    "No, we are not here to play around, now accept the forfeit and let''s log off for the day until we all cool off."

 Chapter 24 - Lets get out of town!

    Not many teams were playing Team Capture the Flag as it started to take longer and longer to find a match each time for Gray and the rest. After 4 hours they only had played 5 matches. They won 3 and lost 2 so at least they had a winning record at this point.


    "Gray, don''t forget that each of us was assigned a trainer AI to help us get better, while it isn''t a replacement for actual experience, it does help you by storing your matches and other combat encounters and give you pointers based upon professional soldiers advice." said Caleb.


    The rest of the team looked at Gray not surprised at all that he forgot to use something, but he got a little agitated and said "Oh come on, I''m pretty sure Caleb is the only one that has used it so far out of us!"


    The rest of the team feigned innocence but Gray had a feeling that even Caleb just remembered it.


    Gray started to focus his mind trying to summon his AI trainer, but sadly nothing was happening.


    "Hey Geoff, how do you turn on the AI trainer?" asked Gray.


    "T-That is easy, but it''s hard to explain... uhhh... Yurika, can you explain it?" said Geoff nervously.


    "I could, but uhmm, mine is special, can you explain it Stacia?" stammered Yurika.


    "Yes, you open up Training in your HUD then turn on AI assistant, after that it works just like a regular personal assistant AI and you can get it''s attention by calling its name." said Stacia calmly.


    Gray smiled at Geoff and Yurika as something as simple as that wasn''t hard to explain and suddenly said "Oh, well, if that is difficult to explain for you Geoff and Yurika, I''ll make sure to explain future orders in very very basic terms to you guys so you can understand with your limited minds."


    Geoff and Yurika laughed shyly as they got exposed for not having remembered the AI trainer either.


    Gray turned his AI trainer on and heard a feminine voice that said "Please assign me a name player Gray Wilhelm"


    Gray thought for a moment, he really wanted to name it something stupid like "Baby Punter", "Mike Hunt", or even "Lord Sputnik". Fortunately he had a little bit of self control and ended naming it "Tiara" as the AI sounded like a she and that she was also a little bit stuck up like most royalty. Granted, Gray has never met any, he''s judging purely off of the stereotype like a normal person.


    Tiara, Gray''s new AI replied "Name set, how shall I address you?"


    Once again, Gray went stupid and thought of using things like "Milord", "All Powerful One", or just "Master". These thoughts made Gray kinda zone out for a bit but everyone else staring at him as he zoned out brought him back to reality. "Just Gray is fine"


    "Very well, Just Gray is fine, it is a pleasure to meet you." replied Tiara.


    "No, I mean just call me Gray."


    "Understood, Gray." said Tiara.


    "Tiara, what can you recommend to me for training?"


    "Insufficient Data for assessment, need more data from your mech. Currently I have 0 minutes and 0 seconds of piloting data stored."


    "Why do you not have any? We''ve been through around 2 dozen matches total."


    "I was just activated approximately 1 minute ago, I can extrapolate data from your combat logs, but live data is best. Please ask me again after a few more battles or training sessions." replied Tiara


    Gray thought that it made sense anyways since he had just turned her on... his childish mind of course thought. "Only took me a few seconds to turn her on, that''s gotta be a record"


    "Well, let''s take a break anyways, this game has so much potential that we''re never going to discover it all if we just stick to matchmaking and the simulators." everyone nodded in agreement and split apart.


    Stacia and Yurika both felt like signing off so they returned to their quarters and logged out for the day. Caleb said he wanted to try something and left without adding much else to that, but Gray and Geoff wanted to explore a little bit so they went up to a NPC attendant and wanted to ask what their was to do for fun aside from matchmaking.


    "Sirs, some basic missions are available at the mission board, you can also enroll in training courses for mech piloting, or if you need a break, the break room is located behind the mess hall. A premium hall exists for Diamond-Tier players, but it won''t be ready for 4 more days." said the attendant.


    Gray figured this premium hall was only going to open at game launch to give the Diamond-Tier players and exclusive hangout since it''ll be hard to relax if you have hundreds or even thousands of other players trying to use the facility at the same time.


    "Are there any cities to explore and look for quests?" asked Gray.


    "Yes, but currently field quests are disabled. I would recommend taking some starter quests to help you earn merits outside of matchmaking. Exploring is allowed, but renting a vehicle will cost merits and using your mech will cost supplies which also costs merits." said the attendant.


    "So... basically we''re stuck at this military base for now unless we want to go do missions for the military or use our merits to rent a vehicle." Gray didn''t like the sound of that as it limited his exploration, but it might be that way to try and keep the players together or to discourage exploration at the moment.


    As Gray was thinking, Geoff whispered to Gray "Forget it, let''s ask Major Valen and see what he has to say even though it might cost us merits to ask him."


    Gray nodded and they both left for Major Valen''s office.


    The door to Major Valen''s office was open and Gray knocked twice against the open door while leaning in. Major Valen motioned that it was okay for them to enter and Gray immediately said "Major Valen, sir, we would like to ask you a question, how much is it to ask a question?"


    "Is that your question? If so, that''s a freebie, depends upon the question." replied Major Valen


    Gray made sure not to laugh after seeeing the clipboard on Major Valen''s desk and remembering the feeling of him getting one broken over his head. Gray and Geoff realized that even Major Valen could crack a joke even if it wasn''t intentional so laughing could be dangerous.


    "Sir, no sir, we would like to ask what is the nearest city and how do we get there." said Gray


    "5 Merits"


    Gray thought that that seemed like a lot, but he also realized that information is invaluable if you know how to use it and was considering a way to leverage this information once the game launched in 4 days. "Deal"


    "Good, the nearest city is just north of this base now called New Venice where the former metropolitan areas of Chioggia and Sottomarina used to be. Follow the trail out of the north of the base and head towards the North West, you will come across the remains of an old highway that our standard F series truck should have no issue with traversing. What do you plan to do there?" asked the Major.


    Gray replied meaning it more as a joke and said "5 merits."


    Major Valen shocked Gray by saying "Deal" since he thought he wouldn''t really care since he was just an NPC.


    "Uhh, we just want to look around and get out of this base a little bit, explore the world, nothing special really" answered Gray honestly.


    Major Valen seemed to think about it for a second then said "Very well, don''t travel outside of our territory and don''t get in to any trouble. The military does have a presence in New Venice so please inform them if you wish to log off in the city."


    Gray and Geoff left Major Valen''s office gratified that they felt like they pulled a fast one on him by getting that information for free.


    "That went better than expected! Come on, let''s get out of here and head to the city before it gets dark!" said Gray


    "Yes, so uhhh, do you think we can use merits to rent a room in the city if one of us gets lucky?" asked Geoff


    "Dude, this is a game, not real life..." said Gray


    "I know but..."


    Gray cut Geoff off "and since it''s a game we have a much better chance of getting lucky! Chicks dig uniforms and I wonder if NPCs are no exception. We''ll pilfer the freaking truck if we have to!" exclaimed Gray.


    Gray and Geoff rented a truck for 20 merits and hurried off towards New Venice.

 Chapter 25 - Follow the money

    After logging off of the game, Caleb exited his custom VR bed. As he spent almost all of his wealth on gaming his VR bed was naturally one of the best and would allow him to have extremely prolonged gaming sessions within full dive VR without degrading his physical body. Caleb''s personal laboratory and server farm were kept in the third basement secured with advanced biometric interfaces, voice prints, retinal scanners, software security tokens, and lastly a simple number pad.


    The number pad seemed very low tech compared to everything else, but he figured this way if he were killed and his body used to get past all the first security, they''d be stuck behind a number code. Originally he had it set so that if someone typed the wrong code in it would destroy everything in the room, but after a few too many drinks and people that loved to push buttons he had lost everything in the lab on three separate occasions.


    To Caleb, Alterra Corporation''s new game, Alterra Online, didn''t make sense to him as it seemed like the company would lose money on the game after a few months. With the company purchasing in game merits from the players to be exchanged for real world credits, Caleb felt that if everyone did this and wondered what could be the reason.


    Caleb had Alterra Corporation purchase a single merit from him for 10 credits. While each credit may be digital, each one is also backed up by software based encryption that acts as a registration number of sorts preventing forgery. It was still possible to forge credits, but the cost of the computing power needed to do so outweighed the benefits. Still, Caleb thought that maybe Alterra Corporation might be doing it to keep themselves afloat amid the massive costs it would take to host a game of this scale.


    Breaking the encryption on each credit isn''t hard if one just wants to look at the uncompressed and raw data, but this seemed pointless as it couldn''t be faked and copying it would ruin both credits as it was decided that if a duplicate credit was ever detected the procedure would be to remove both.


    "Celeste, what virtual mint did the 10 credits acquired from Alterra Corporation come from?" Caleb said to his monitor.


    A female AI appeared on his screen, she had long blonde hair, blue eyes, pale white skin, a green leotard and white long cape along with what appeared to be a thin ornamental sword at her waist. (Think Celes from FF6)


    "My lord, we have only been able to match up the registrations of 8 of the credits to known mints, but the remaining two come from a single mint with the virtual mint abbreviation of AP. It is not known which mint this is as of the 50 known mints, we''ve only been able to match up 30 of their identifiers." Replied Celeste


    "How much additional time do you require?"


    "With just team 1, we will need 71 hours and 32 minutes" said Celeste


    "Hmm¡­ assign the other teams to this task as well, I want to get this figured out before Alterra Online launches!" said Caleb.


    "Understood my Lord"


    __________


    Gray and Geoff crossed what appeared to be a murky river, a rusty sign still stood near the start of the bridge with the words "Fiume Brenta" on it.


    "Fiume Brenta?" said Geoff


    "River Brenta, it''s Italian" said Gray


    "You speak Italian?!?"


    "Of course not, but the wavy blue lines on the sign and the fact that we''re going to a city called New Venice makes me think we''re in Italy. I wish we could''ve been close to our real world city because I want to see how it could''ve looked before the Earth flooded in the real world." Replied Gray wistfully.


    "Maybe, but it''s still just a game so nobody really knows how accurate this map is. Still, even just this simple sign shows how much attention they''re paying to detail!" remarked Geoff.


    After crossing the bridge they followed what was left of the road further north. The larger road that looked like a former highway was blocked by some derailed train cars forcing them to take the path on the right.


    "Must''ve been one heck of an explosion to blast a train about 100 feet off the tracks!" commented Gray


    The ruins of various buildings and homes littered both sides of the road after the river and they started to get a little nervous as it was going to be dark soon.


    "Uh Gray? Why are nervous of the dark in a game?" asked Geoff.


    "I''m¡­ I''m not nervous at all!" said Gray shakily.


    Geoff looked ahead, then looked back at Gray and then widened his eyes, pointed over Gray and yelled "OH CRAP LOOK OUT GRAY!"


    Gray jerked the steering wheel to the right in a panic and smashed through a generic wooden fence that just happened to be there as he turned his head quickly to look at what Geoff was pointing at.


    Nothing¡­ Absolutely nothing.


    Gray was fuming. "DUDE! I almost peed my pants thinking we were about to be attacked by something!"


    "BAAA HAHAHAHA" Geoff laughed hysterically while pointing at Gray "Not nervous my ass!"


    "Ok, I do admit, I would''ve done the same to you if given the opportunity." Said Gray.


    __________


    Fortunately the last bit of the journey was uneventful and they were able to reach the city just before dark and park the truck near the entrance of the city.


    "Just made it before dark, so uhhh¡­ what should we do?" asked Gray.


    "Well, this is a game, so of course we have to check out the pub, or bar, or whatever place it is that people like to gather at for fun!" said Geoff.


    "Good idea, if we''re lucky maybe we can pick up some quests from NPCs to earn some merits or other rewards!"


    The city itself wasn''t very large, in fact, calling it a city would be a stretch. The small peninsula the city resided on was blocked off on one side from by a tall metal wall made of varying sizes of metal scraps welded to a heavy iron frame with barbed wire along the top of it. The entrance was opened for them when a guard was able to verify Gray and Geoff''s identity as being part of the military. When the guard noticed that Gray and Geoff were players, the guard seemed to switch his personality and suddenly became very helpful.


    "Good evening players! Welcome to our humble New Venice! We don''t have much to offer but if you would like a map of this town or to arrange for a place to spend the night please proceed north past the old roundabout to the military HQ that is stationed near the old Hospital! If you want entertainment or shopping, our entertainment district is north past the military HQ and smaller various shops and restaurants can be located along the main corrider to the east and west of this entrance."


    Gray thought for a moment then asked "Where is the most popular place in town this time of night?"


    "Hmmm, I''d have to say that would be the casa di tolleranza" said the Guard.


    "The what?" said Geoff.


    "According to the translator in my armlet it means ''House of tolerance'', weird name for a bar or whatever it is, but let''s check it out after getting the map from the military HQ, oh can we bring the truck in?" asked Gray


    "Yes, not sure why you didn''t in the first place, it''s a pain to walk everywhere and the military HQ will let you recharge your energy cells for free for their own vehicles."


    "Won''t it get crowded once more players come with cars and trucks?" said Geoff.


    The guard laughed and said "Yeah, it probably will! Hope you all don''t come at the same time!"


    Gray and Geoff went out to the truck again and brought it to the military HQ to get a map and let it recharge for a bit.


    After Gray and Geoff left, the guard muttered something to himself, and carried on with his duty of watching the front gate. A pair of eyes were watching Geoff and Gray from some building remains as they entered the military HQ. Neither Gray nor Geoff noticed this person watching them as this small framed person in a dirty hooded cloak hopped in to the bed of the truck and pulled the bed cover over themselves without saying a word.

 Chapter 26 - No such thing as a free lunch

    "This¡­ this is¡­" Geoff stammered


    Gray and Geoff stood before the "Casa di Tolleranza" they were said to go check out and both of them looked mischievously at each other. What the translator had said "Casa di Tolleranza" meant was "House of Tolerance", but the actual translation was¡­ brothel¡­ Both Gray and Geoff were not evil in nature, but nor were they completely pure. Naturally they were both curious so they came to the conclusion that they would go in just to broaden their horizons.


    "Well, it is very loud in there so I''m guessing there is a lot of NPCs we could talk to¡­" said Gray innocently.


    "Yes, let us go mingle with the locals!" said Geoff also trying to sound innocent.


    Gray and Geoff walked side by side into the establishment like two brave adventurers exploring never before seen land. They pushed open the double doors and were momentarily blinded by the bright lights, when their eyes adjusted to the lights what they saw was not what they had pictured.


    A large opulent main hall was adorned with bright lights that kept everything well-lit. Several round tables were lined up neatly in front of a large stage where a troupe of dancers were performing a highly energetic dance routine involving a lot of leaping and twisting to the music of a synthesized orchestra. Lined along the hall was several doors that each had a sign outside of it advertising what was inside. To their left a bar could be seen with several shelves of liquor and glasses on it and on the other side was a service desk of sorts that Geoff and Gray didn''t quite know what it was for but it appeared to be selling tickets for shows since there were names, times, and costs written on a chalk board.


    "This isn''t what I expected, but it is lively though!" said Geoff.


    "I know what you mean, but this is also a definition of a brothel as in ancient feudal China they were used for artistic entertainment as well."


    Gray and Geoff paused for moment then looked back at you and said "Well played author, well played"


    A large man with a scar on one cheek came up to them when Gray and Geoff tried to venture towards the tables near the stage. Gray assumed this would be a bouncer of sorts as he completely fit the stereotype.


    "Tickets or Pass?" said the bouncer.


    "Uhhh, nope¡­" replied Gray


    "You can get both from the booth" said the bouncer while pointing at the service desk Gray and Geoff noticed before.


    Gray and Geoff both nodded then walked over to the service desk where a middle-aged man dressed casually was smiling at them as they approached. "Greetings gents! Tonight you are in luck! Miss Maven will be singing tonight! For one ticket it will cost 100 Alliance credits, 150 if you want the general access pass instead that lasts until close. I also apologize we do not accept Hegemony credits!"


    "Alliance and Hegemony credits? All we have are merits." Said Gray.


    The ticket seller looked confused "Merits? We¡­"


    The man suddenly thought of something and his confused expression changed back to normal. "I''m sorry, I was getting confused, one of my boys plays video games a lot and I was thinking about one of the units of currency he was talking about in one of his silly games. What I meant to say is we normally don''t accept merits and you will have to exchange them for credits from one of the many banking hubs setup around each city. Unfortunately ours is not setup yet so if both of you would be willing to forget our blunder I will present both of you with a pass that will let you get in to every room for the rest of the night!"


    Gray and Geoff were a little surprised but certainly were not going to say no to such a kind offer!


    "Thanks a lot! We, uh, we promise not to mention this to anyone." Said Gray


    "Excellent, and might I ask if any more players will be coming to our establishment?"


    "Not that we know of, but I doubt any others will come since it cost us a lot of merits to get here." Said Geoff while shrugging.


    The man instructed both Gray and Geoff to hold out their armlets and he touched them both twice with his scanner. "I''ve uploaded your passes to your armlets, please enjoy your visit!"


    The man bowed slightly to Gray and Geoff as they went back to the bouncer to show him their passes. Under his breadth he muttered to himself "Damn players, thought they weren''t coming for 4 more days"


    __________


    Gray and Geoff hurriedly showed their armlets to the bouncer that scanned them to verify their passes and then let them through to the main floor. Most of the tables had at least one person around them as Gray looked around the area. Although most of the customers were male, Gray saw a surprising number of female customers. As if Gray was the main character of some novel or something, a table near the front towards the right of the stage was open and Gray and Geoff helped themselves to a seat.


    A cute waitress wearing a black skirt, white blouse, and brown hair tied up neatly in a bun came up to them. She placed two menus on the table for them and said with a friendly voice. "Welcome gentleman! I am your server Roxy, what can I get you started with?"


    "I''m sorry Roxy, we don''t have credits. Can we just get water if that is included with our passes?"


    Roxy smiled at them as she noticed their uniforms and the insignia on the upper arms. "Do not worry, we have an agreement with the Alterran military that we can charge all food and non-alcoholic beverages for merits if players do not have credits."


    "Oh? That''s convenient, but why not tickets and passes?" asked Gray


    "You can also exchange them for those, did you not already?" asked Roxy


    "No we were_" Gray started to say until Geoff cut him off "We were able to, my friend here just forgot!" interrupted Geoff.


    Geoff whispered to Gray "Remember the guy wanted us to forget that in exchange for our free passes"


    "Oh right, my bad¡­" said Gray sheepishly, his curiosity almost revealing that the ticket attendant let them get in for free.


    "The exchange rate will be the same as it was for the tickets or passes." Said Roxy.


    Gray pretended like he knew what it was and said "Ok, then start us off with some water and we''ll look over the menus."


    "Very well gentleman, I shall return shortly!" replied Roxy.


    After Roxy left, both Gray and Geoff grabbed a menu each and started looking through the items they could order.


    "For such a barren surrounding, this town has a surprisingly varied selection of food." Said Gray.


    "I know, I''m a little scared to try anything with fish in it after looking at the water pollution in that river we crossed." Commented Geoff.


    "Agreed, but then again, this is just a game so it''s not like we''d have to worry about getting sick or anything aside from maybe a status affect. Strangely though, we don''t even have a character panel or menu to even look at." Said Gray.


    "Yeah, but if you remember what was posted in the forums it was all for the sake of realism and immersion. Your character will grow the same way it does in real life and thus can''t be quantified by a character information screen, or something like that." Said Geoff


    "Look at you trying to sound smart and using fancy words!" said Gray.


    "Shut up! I''m merely stating what I remember from the forums!" argued Geoff.


    "Yeah, I know, just giving you a hard time. I do feel extremely hungry for some reason though so I''m guessing that the game does use some sort of hunger system."


    "Yeah, me to, so uh, should we worry about the costs?" asked Geoff


    "Well, the pass was 150 credits, just our drinks were 2 credits each according to the menu. I saw a sign at a charging station that said ''25 Cs per energy cell'' and our truck has 60 energy cells which means our truck would cost 1500 credits to recharge. Since the military wants 20 merits to recharge the truck, we can assume that 1 merit is about 75 credits." Said Gray.


    "Now who''s trying to sound smart¡­" said Geoff slyly.


    "Shut it, basically it means that we can eat and drink like kings for next to nothing!"


    Mouths watering Gray and Geoff looked over the menu not even bothering to look at the price.

 Chapter 27 - Rock and Roll

    Plate after plate of food were continually brought out to Gray and Geoff, one could even see dollar signs flashing in Roxy''s eyes with each plate they ordered. Normally Gray and Geoff are more frugal than this, but this was the first time they''ve ever been able to look at a menu and not worry about the price since they''ve grown up. The other tables were slightly appalled at the amount of food being wasted by the two but what started out as disgust turned into amazement as the two continued to eat more than what should''ve been humanly possible.


    Suddenly the lights dimmed and a voice sounded out over the speakers.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen! Tonight we are pleased to welcome the esteemed Miss Maven! Huge round of applause for tonight''s headliner!"


    Gray and Geoff heard thunderous applause and even some cat calls, looking around they noticed finally that the main room gradually became packed while they were stuffing their faces with food. The lights went completely out and then a single spotlight aimed at the right side of the stage. Heels could be heard clicking on the floor until a woman in an evening gown finally came through the curtain and into the spotlight.


    A beautiful woman around 30 with short black hair tied up gently walked gracefully into the spotlight, she wore a soft pink evening gown that was exquisite. The dress was a long sleeveless gown with floral lace applique embellishment and side draped ruffles. The floral lace applique embellishment continues down the fluted skirt ending with a sweeping train. With her soft white skin exposed near her neck and arms, her makeup accentuated her natural beauty even more. The Bateau neckline covered her up to her neck, but the mesh exposed an ample bosom that would leave many women jealous. Gray and Geoff both thought that this woman could easily get any man to die for her if she wanted them too.


    As the woman stepped onto the stage, a playful smile appeared on her lips as she scanned the crowd. The crowd went silent as she started to say "All of you, welcome... I truly feel blessed to have so many fans, I hope all of you continue to support me!"


    Gray and Geoff, while both of them were enamored by her beauty, they thought the opening statement seemed a little generic and was a little disappointed. Miss Maven reached out and touched the microphone stand, running her fingers up and down it seductively before finally taking the microphone off of it and bringing it up to her mouth.


    The crowd went completely silent as a bewitching voice came from Miss Maven.


    "Can you hear my song of yearning...


    Can you see my passion burning...


    I need a hero to save me...


    Please hero set me freeeeee!"


    As the last word ''free'' was stretched out by Miss Maven, the background music started to kick in and pick up with a heavy bass guitar beat the got louder. As Miss Maven stretched out the word ''free'' her hand looked like she was reaching up and out to something or someone, a small trigger appeared in her hand which she immediately pressed. The curtain was burned away revealing a full rock band as Miss Maven''s dress became engulfed in flames and burned to ashes immediately revealing her outfit under that was a tight black leather sleeveless vest with leather pants and black leather boots. She reached up and unfastened her hair and let it flow naturally showing her as a completely different type of beauty.


    "Welcome to the nightmare!" Miss Maven screamed as her band started their opening number.


    Both Gray and Geoff had food hanging from their mouths as they were not expecting that at all but judging from the crowds screaming and cheering they were totally expecting something like this. Still, Gray and Geoff swallowed their food and stood up with everyone else getting in to it. The other girls in the side rooms came out and started jumping to the beat with the crowd. The tables and chairs were getting in everyone''s way so the chairs were starting to get thrown to the sides while the tables were drawn down into the floor and then covered by a steel hatch of sorts even if the tables still had food on them.


    Once the tables and chairs were removed, the crowd started to push towards the stage while Miss Maven and her band continued to rock.


    "Running through a city that never sleeps


    searching for my one ''n only salvation.


    The night burns on when I reach you


    My only escape is your touch


    Keep me warm


    You''re my fire


    Let me burn


    With desire


    I want to let it burn let it all burn!


    Burn it up burn it up


    Burn my body for yooouuu!


    Burning it for yoooouuu!


    BURN BURN BURNING FOR YOU!"


    __________


    "Did you find her?" a worried Miss Maven asked one of her staff anxiously after her concert, a towel hanging around her neck and water bottle in her hand.


    "I''m sorry ma''am, we''ve been unable to locate her and the tracker in her pendant stopped responding shortly before your concert."


    Maven bit her thumb nail out of anxiety and then said "Keep looking! She''s smart so she won''t leave the city and everyone knows her around here so it''s only a matter of time."


    Maven whispered to herself "Stay safe Lillie" as the staff member bowed politely to Maven and then went off to arrange for more people to search for the girl named Lillie.


    __________


    9 more songs, 14 busted chairs, dozens of spilled drinks, and two sick pilots later, the place started to close as Gray and Geoff were able to return to some chairs after Miss Maven''s concert finished. Gray and Geoff were feeling sick from having ate much more than what should''ve been possible as they sat at their table sipping ginger ale while feeling bloated. Roxy then came over with a perky smile and decided to deliver the nail in the coffin by handing them their bill.


    The bill was so long that you''d think they were feeding a party of at least a dozen people from it, but it was just them. Looking at the total cost at the bottom, Gray saw it ended up being almost 400 credits. Considering the drinks cost only 2 credits this actually seemed a lot less than what Gray imagined as he remembered the mountains of food they ordered.


    Gray waved down Roxy and said "Convert this to merits so we can pay for it at the base."


    Roxy looked confused for a second "Sir, I already did convert it in to merits."


    Both Gray and Geoff looked at each other and went pale thinking about how they ate enough food to be able to refuel a mech about 20 times. Roxy smiled politely at them again. "We really appreciate your patronage, but we are past closing time so I would recommend returning to the military Headquarters for the night or renting a room from the Inn next door, but with Miss Maven in town I imagine all of our established Inns and Hotels are booked solid."


    Gray was a little afraid to ask but said "What''s the exchange rate here for merits to credits?"


    "It varies, but most establishments in this city charge at a 2 credits per merit ratio" replied Roxy.


    "Really? The sign on the way in said 25 credits per energy cell for a recharge and we calculated that it would cost us 1500 credits to recharge our truck meaning that 1 merit would be worth about 75 credits"


    "Was it a lower case C or an upper case C on the sign?"


    "Um... lower case..."


    "Then those were hundredths of credits, or cents of credits. 100 c is 1 C." said Roxy


    "Heh heh... so in other words the military is screwing us by charging us 20 merits to recharge the truck when we could get it for around 1 merit here." said Gray sheepishly.


    "If that were true then yes, commercial classes charges can''t recharge military grade energy cells so it isn''t being ripped off, it is supply and demand." remarked Roxy


    Gray and Geoff both stared at her, wondering if she was related to Caleb in some twisted way and almost forgot that Roxy was a NPC and not a real person.


    "I''m a waitress and hostess here while going to school during the day time, I sometimes even perform here" said Roxy proudly.


    "What do you perform?" asked Geoff.


    "That''s a secret, but I doubt you two could afford me" said Roxy.


    All kinds of wild thoughts flashed through Gray and Geoff''s minds as they tried to guess the meaning in her last statement. Finally Roxy realized that what she said sounded completely different than what was intended and blushed before saying angrily "NOT THAT! I''m a dance instructor! I offer private tutoring!"


    "Why is that a secret?" said Gray


    "Because... it''s embarassing for someone like me that wants to become a lawyer to admit that she can only teach kids how to dance."


    "I think it''s more embarrassing that you want to be a lawyer" said Geoff smugly.


    "Screw you!" said Roxy as she whacked Geoff on the back of the head with her tray.


    After talking with Roxy for a little bit longer, Geoff and Gray started to return to the military headquarters in the city to log off for the night.

 Chapter 28 - Put a spell on you

    After logging out, Gray wanted to cry himself to sleep thinking about all of the merits he wasted on virtual food even though it was delicious. Gray logged back in to the game the next day in the morning and saw that Geoff was already up. Gray waved to the staff at the military headquarters as he heard whispers among them such as:


    "That''s the other guy!"


    "So much food..."


    "What a waste of food"


    "Hope they explode from overeating"


    Gray became embarassed realizing that the story spread already and hoped that it didn''t reach the military base he was stationed at. Walking out of the headquarters, Gray saw Geoff with the same depressed look upon his face and they both silently vowed to never bring it up again.


    Geoff and Gray got back in to their rented truck and waved at the guard to open the gate so they could return to the Military base.


    "Please wait, we''re looking for someone and need to search every vehicle that leaves." said the guard.


    "Fine with me, it was parked at the Military Headquarters all night so it should be fine." said Gray.


    "Eh, you''re probably right, have a good day... and try not to eat your Military base out of food like you tried to do to our city." replied the guard while grinning at them.


    "..."


    __________


    Geoff drove back to the Military base with Gray in the passenger seat, about half way back to the base they had to avoid a pot hole but the road crumbled around it and the truck became stuck in the pot hole which was now twice as big as before.


    "Son of a... not even four wheel drive is pulling us out with the truck being stuck so deep." complained Geoff


    "I''ll get the jack and try and raise the drivers side up enough so you can drive it out." said Gray


    "Sounds good."


    Gray climbed out of the truck and saw that the truck had both wheels on the driver''s side spinning freely and the the truck bottoming out on that same side. The remains of the road between the front and rear tires on the driver''s side appeared to be solid enough so Gray decided to try to jack up the whole driver''s side. Gray walked around the back of the truck and went to utility box in the bed of the truck and tried to open it.


    "Huh, it''s locked..." said Gray "Hey, toss me the keys, I need to unlock the bed cover it looks like to get in to the utility box."


    Gray caught the keys from Geoff and unlocked the bed cover and was even more surprised to see a young girl in the back of their truck.


    "Uh, is this one yours Geoff?" said Gray while the girl looked sheepishly at Gray and waved.


    "What''re you talking about?" replied Geoff.


    "We have a stowaway."


    "Let''s take her back to the city, no good has ever come from keeping a mysterious girl found in the back of a truck." said Geoff


    "No wait! I''m uhh, trying to escape from slavers!" said the girl in a panic


    "Is that the best you can think up? You''re way to well fed and taken care of to be a slave!" said Gray


    "Did you just call me fat?!?" said the girl angrily


    "No, I said you are well taken care of and well fed, don''t mince words." said Gray. "You look kinda familiar though."


    Gray thought back to where he''s seen this girl before then suddenly a light bulb went off in his head. "Ahh! You''re a mini Maven!" Gray exclaimed while pointing at her.


    "I am NOT a mini Maven! Maven is my sister, my name is Lilly!" said the girl named Lilly.


    "See? Knew you weren''t a slave." said Gray


    "Whoops." Lilly said coyly.


    Gray had Lilly get out of the back of the truck and put her in the crew seat behind Geoff. After closing the door Gray heard the girl yell "I''m NOT A MINI MAVEN!" so he''s guessing Geoff noticed the resemblance as well. Once they got the truck out of the potholes, Gray sent Caleb a message saying they would be late due to a small problem that came up leaving out the details.


    As they pulled back in to the city, Lilly started to get depressed and pouted a lot. While it was adorable, Gray and Geoff knew it would be more trouble keeping her around.


    "Where should we drop you off Lilly?" asked Geoff.


    "Anywhere but here, Maven... she... she is a real witch!" Lilly exclaimed


    "Right..." said Geoff while rolling his eyes.


    "Well, guess we''ll just drop her off at the Military Headquarters and they should be able to hold her until her sister comes to pick her up!" said Gray.


    "Nooo! Don''t do that! Last time that happened my sister asked them to hold me for a few days and military rations are gross!" whined Lilly.


    "Then where should we take you?"


    Lilly let out a defeated sigh and said "Let me message my sister then and you can drop me off at the place they''re staying at."


    Lilly sent a brief voice message to her sister, Maven, saying that she was coming back home and was in a Military truck with two soldiers. What Gray and Geoff didn''t see was that she also sent a text message at the same time saying that they kidnapped her and that was why she couldn''t come home last night.


    As Gray, Geoff, and Lilly pulled in through the gate leading to the villa where Maven and her crew were staying at, Lilly started to get a devious look on her face.


    "Expecting something?" asked Gray as he looked at Lilly''s expression.


    "N-No, just happy to be back." said Lilly shakily


    Geoff parked the truck near the front door of the villa then Geoff and Gray got out of the truck. Gray helped Lilly out of the truck and some movement could be seen through the doorway to the villa. The same Maven that Gray and Geoff saw in concert last night opened the door and rushed out.


    "Lillly!!! I was so worried about you!" Maven said as she squeezed Lilly in a very tight embrace causing Lilly''s face to turn slightly blue from lack of oxygen.


    Lilly inhaled sharply once Maven finally let her go and looked up at Gray and Geoff. "Thank you two so much! I am sorry for any trouble she has caused you!"


    "Sis! They kidnapped me!" yelled Lilly


    "Do not lie, especially about that sort of thing. If you ever were kidnapped and sent a message like that, I might not believe it."


    Lilly pouted due to her sister''s shrewdness at being able to pick up on the truth.


    "We''re sorry we didn''t notice her sooner! We were heading back to our base down to the southeast and found her in the back of our truck hiding about halfway there." said Gray


    "I understand, still, don''t blame her, part of it is my fault for not being able to spend time with her when we''re on the road." replied Maven.


    Thinking for a moment, Maven continued "Are you by chance players?"


    "Uhhh, yeah, I still find it strange that a lot of people call us players." said Gray.


    "Well, you are a special existence in this world after all. Since you are players, let''s consider this a quest then for returning my sister. As for your reward..."


    Maven reached in to her purse and pulled out some black lipstick and applied it to her lips liberally then walked up to Geoff and Gray. She put one hand on Grays right cheek and then kissed him on the left cheek leaving a black lipstick mark on his cheek. She did the same for Geoff leaving a black lipstick mark on Geoff''s right cheek.


    Gray and Geoff stood their stunned and stammered a few indiscernible words and grinning like idiots.


    Maven laughed melodiously and said "Oh, I''m sorry, did that put you under my spell?"


    Lilly unhappily muttered "Told you she was a witch..."

 Chapter 29 - Bringing the heat

    Maven and Lilly waved goodbye to Gray and Geoff as they drove off and out of the city once more. Gray and Geoff may not have received any merits from that ''quest'', but they both giggled like idiots looking at the lipstick marks on their cheeks.


    Geoff was more careful about avoiding large pot holes this time and thus they didn''t get stuck again. As they approached the base Geoff brought the truck to a stop and parked it about 1 kilometer away from the entrance. Looking at each other dejectedly, Gray and Geoff wiped the lipstick marks off of their cheeks and then continued the rest of the way to the base.


    __________


    After paying the extra 20 merits for using the truck overnight, Gray and Geoff decided to say that they blew the almost 400 merits on feeding orphans in the city for a quest if they were asked about what happened. After splitting the 40 merits for renting the truck for two days they both ended up paying 214 merits each.


    "We''ll have to do some extra matchmaking to make up for our losses, but in the end it shouldn''t hurt too much as long as we only do it just this one time." Gray thought to himself. Gray and the others had never tried matchmaking without a team so Gray wasn''t sure what would happen.


    Geoff and Gray met up with the rest of their team near the board about 30 minutes later than was originally planned, but this time Gray didn''t get yelled at like last time because they had at least said they were going to be late in advance.


    "Hey, you guys want to try a mission instead? It''s not that I''m bored with matchmaking, I just want to try something different." said Geoff.


    "Hmmm, a change of environment is often beneficial when one feels apathetic with the status quo." remarked Caleb. Everyone was used to Caleb at this point so it no longer phased them.


    "Ok, then let''s see what they have to offer!" said Gray.


    __________


    Gray and the rest looked at the mission board to see what was available. Currently 5 missions were available, none of which were taken by the only other team on base at the moment.


    "Hmmm, so it looks like we got three missions that are the standard patrol type, one that is clearing out a nest of animals that are ravaging farmland, and the last one that is a raid type on a suspected pirate depot. Personally, the last two sound the best to me, but I know the first 3 will be the easiest." said Gray.


    "Clearing out a nest of animals with our mechs seems a little overkill... what is that little stick figure next to the mission list mean?" said Geoff


    "The best kill is overkill!" said Yurika proudly


    As usual everyone ignored Yurika.


    The attendant overheard their question about the stick figure icon next to the mission and said "That icon means it is a soldier mission and not a pilot mission. You can still take it, but you can''t use your mechs."


    "Oh, that makes sense. Problem is we don''t have any weapons." said Gray.


    "That won''t be an issue. As players you will be allowed the use of any standard sets of soldier gear for the duration of the mission from the base armory."


    "What are the sets?" asked Geoff


    "The current standard sets are Assault, Engineer, Heavy Weapons Expert, and Medic. Every set comes with a Beretta M9-five sidearm and a combat knife. If one of the 4 sets of equipment do not meet a player''s needs, they are free create their own based upon the available stocks in the armory."


    Yurika''s eyes seemed to twinkle slightly when the Heavy Weapons Expert set was mentioned, but everyone wisely pretended not to notice.


    "Ok, so everyone in favor of one of the patrol missions raise their hands." said Gray.


    Only Stacia raised her hand as she looked at the others slightly embarassed that nobody else wanted to do the easy missions.


    "The animal lair clean up mission?"


    Yurika and Geoff raised their hands for this one, which surprised Gray that Geoff would want this one over the raid since Gray was hoping for the raid and figured Geoff would too.


    "And lastly the raid mission."


    Gray and Caleb raised their hands for this one.


    "Ok, so we got a tie for the raid and animal lair eradication. Stacia, since you were the odd one out, would you place your vote with either of those two or abstain?" said Gray.


    "I will do whatever everyone else wants." Stacia said meekly.


    "Ok... in that case... leave it to luck and flip a coin?" suggested Geoff.


    Everyone nodded in agreement, and felt their pockets for a coin. They realized they had no money after a minute of looking. Caleb looked on the ground and found a wide flat pebble and scratched one side of it with another stone.


    "Scratch up is heads, scratch down is tails." said Caleb.


    Gray took the stone from Caleb and flicked it in the air with his thumb, caught it, and opened his palm revealing a scratch up.


    "Heads it is!"


    Everyone nodded, but then got confused for a moment.


    "Heh heh, whoops, guess we should decide which mission is heads and which is tails." Gray said sheepishly.


    "Heads raid, tails purge" said Caleb


    Gray nodded and flipped the stone again, caught it again, slapped it down on his other palm and then opened his palm.


    "Tails!"


    Yurika seemed especially excited for this and everyone agreed it was fair so Gray selected the local animal next cleanup then read the description.


    "Mutated rats have formed a nest near a local farm and have been attempting to burrow under the electric fence protecting the pasture. It is only a matter of time before they breach the fence, please destroy the nest before this happens!" said Gray "This sounds like a standard search and destroy mission without much searching needed."


    Gray and the others headed for the armory to select their loadouts. Yurika rushed ahead and said "HEAVY! I WANT HEAVY WEAPONS!"


    "You don''t even know what it has yet Yurika, the guy doesn''t even know why we''re here, and now I think you''ve scared him!" said Stacia calmly.


    "Can I get a list of the standard loadouts as well as a list of the available gear for custom mission loadouts for soldiers?" Gray asked the clerk at the armory.


    The clerk nodded, tapped his armlet, then swiped a document over to Gray which Gray shared with everyone else on his team.


    Standard Load outs:


    Assault: M16E Assault rifle, heavy body armor, 7 clips of 5.56¡Á45mm NATO, Beretta 90-five with 3 clips of 9x19mm Parabellum rounds, 2 Flash and 2 Frag Grenades, 1 combat knife, field medical kit.


    Engineer: HK G76C Carbine, medium body armor, 5 clips of 5.56¡Á45mm NATO, Beretta 90-five with 3 clips of 9x19mm Parabellum rounds, 3 frag grenades, 2 blocks of Cocrystal HMX explosives with remote detonator, 1 combat knife, field medical kit.


    Medic: M16E Assault Rifle, light body armor, 11 clips of 5.56¡Á45mm NATO rounds, Beretta 90-five with 3 clips of 9x19mm Parabellum rounds, field surgeon kit, powered stitching gun, 1 combat knife.


    Heavy Weapons Expert: XM196 Exoskeleton mounted Gatling Gun, Powered exoskeleton armor, 2000 round storage in the backpack, Dual Desert Eagle Mk 3s with quick loading rails mounted to exoskeleton arms fitted with 6 extra clips of 0.50 rounds, but not combat knife.


    Gray finished reading the lists and had to ask "Hey, the Heavy Weapons kit seems a little... stacked... like REALLY stacked compared to the others. Are we just allowed to use it?"


    "Of course, provided you complete the training for the usage and field maintenance of said weapon systems. It will also cost 50 merits to rearm and recharge all of the guns and exoskeleton suit." said the attendant.


    "Oh, so basically it''s not economical to use it on easier missions." Gray said while looking at the rewards for completing the missions. "We get 150 merits for completing this one, splitting it 5 ways means we each get 30, so you''d use up all of that reward and then some just by taking the heavy weapons."


    Yurika really really really wanted the heavy weapons. "Grraaaaayyy..." said Yurika with puppy dog eyes, she grabbed Gray''s arm and hugged it against her chest while pleading "Pleeeeaaaasseee, I really need it!" as she started to squeeze Gray''s arm tighter.


    "Stop! You need to take the course anyways so you can''t get it even if he says yes!" said Stacia while getting flustered for some reason.


    Yurika let go of Gray and pouted while crossing her arms saying "Spoilsport..."


    Geoff and Caleb both looked at Gray out of jealousy and Gray shrugged while thinking "What did I do?"


    "O...Okay, let''s just pick a few standard loadouts based on the information we have, Caleb, information is your specialty, right?" said Gray.


    "Knowledge is, information is not my forte but applying knowledge based upon a given set of gathered intelligence would be a much more apt way to describe what I am good at." said Caleb


    "Uhh, okay, so what do you think we should take given the nest is a bunch of giant mutated rats?" asked Gray.


    "The information about the mission didn''t specify that they were giant mutated rats, just mutated rats, why do you conclude they''re also giant?" replied Caleb.


    "Because mutated rats are always giant and even regular rats are giant rats in just about every game since like ever." said Geoff


    "Fair point... in that case I would recommend 2 assaults, 1 engineer, 1 medic, and a custom loadout with a flamethrower. Rats are afraid of fire and we will need a wide-area of attack weapon to be able to clear them efficiently. The engineer can use explosives to destroy the nest once the rats are cleared from it." said Caleb.


    "I have to agree with your assessment, I''m assuming we all know who wants the flamethrower of course..." said Gray as everyone turned to stare at Yurika who looked giddy for some reason.


    "Unfortunately flamethrowers have been discontinued by the military since 1978 in our world''s history, so it''s probably the same for this game too." commented Gray.


    "Let''s just ask and we''ll try and find some napalm or some kind of thermobaric explosive that can burn away the nest if needed." said Geoff


    Yurika ran up to the clerk and asked excitedly "Do you have any flamethrowers?!?"


    The clerk hesitated for a moment then said "Y...Yes we do... the M9 FC is a modern flamethrower that was brought back into service based on the old M9 design to help flush out jungle insurgents from operation Jungle Fever back in 2070. The M9 FC sports a special backpacks designed to hold special cartridges so as to reduce the weight of the weapon while a new Napalm FC mixture is the main flammable agent that is used with Nitrogen as the propellant. The backpack itself contains a nitrogen extractor and compressor that can refill a propellant take slowly over time if needed. The FC stands for ''Flash Chilling'' as this napalm mix has been engineered so that if it meets with the counter agent, it will become as inert as water and thus make it able to douse fire as well as it can set fire. You can have 12 seconds of continuous fire with one cartridge and each backpack holds 5 cartridges of Napalm FC and 3 propellant cartridges. This can all be yours to use for 5 merits!"


    Gray and the rest stared amazed at the clerk as he gave what ended up being a sales pitch for the flamethrower expecting him to ask for the next contestant to come on down. The clerk coughed to himself and said "Ahem, yes, we have a flamethrower."


    Gray and Geoff took the assault roles, Stacia took the Engineer, and Caleb took the Medic role. Stacia was probably more suited for medic but she said she feels sick when she sees a lot of blood even in a game. Yurika obviously wanted the flamethrower.


    "Okay, let''s load up and head out then!" said Gray as Yurika caressed the flamethrower while whispering to it.


    Gray saw this and thought "Psychotic chick with a flamethrower in a dense forest, what could possibly go wrong."

 Chapter 30 - Reloaded

    Gray, Geoff, Caleb, Stacia, and Yurika were strutting down towards the exit of the camp in their full soldier gear feeling like a couple of bad asses. Geoff produced a cigar from somewhere and was showing it off, Stacia was strutting around with the carbine on a sling next to her hip keeping one hand on it at all times and glaring menacingly at any other people walking near them. Gray found a pair of aviator sunglasses feeling very cocky in them and Caleb slung the assault rifle over his shoulders with his arms resting on it. Yurika was the only one that was not strutting, but that was because she was¡­ dancing with the flamethrower with large ballroom style steps. Overall, it made all of the staff and soldier NPCs look at them like they were crazy.


    "You know, this would be way cooler if other players could actually see this¡­" said Geoff


    Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and started walking like normal after Gray returned the glasses and Geoff hid the cigar from whichever place he pulled it out from.


    After leaving the gate from the base, a Humvee was waiting for them that was sent by the clerk upon accepting the mission for them to use. Stacia offered to drive since she had the smallest amount of equipment to carry. Caleb originally had the least amount of gear as the medic, but Yurika needed help carrying the extra fuel cells since they ended up being a lot heavier than she thought.


    All of them opted for light armor over the medium or heavy armor as they didn''t expect to come under gun fire from wild animals. A marker was uploaded to their maps on their armlets to show the expected location of the nest as well as shaded blocks that were the farmlands that they needed to protect if needed.


    "I recommend we form a semi-circle and approach the nest directly from the nearest farm. Yurika will take Center, Caleb and Stacia will take her flanks, and Geoff and I will take the extended flanks. Our objective should be to try and bunch the rats up then light them on fire and let the napalm do the rest. These assault rifles seem a little big for rats, but the noise should scare them some." Said Gray.


    "Sounds good to me" said Geoff


    Everyone else nodded in agreement then loaded up in to the Humvee and headed towards the marker about 7 miles west of the base. After a few minutes, they reached the remains of the same road that Gray and Geoff used to take to the town north of them, New Venice, but their direction was west so they drove over it and continued west. The grasslands started to get denser and dotted with large plants that appeared to be like large weeds that were left free to grow for a hundred years or so. Eventually they reached a thick forest of these weed tree things and were fortunate enough to find the remains of another road also heading west. A knocked over sign said "SP34" next to the road that was barely readable due to the fading of the sign.


    "This place bites¡­ what is with these weird looking trees?" said Yurika


    "They do not appear to be native foliage but rather a species that was introduced as a means to destroy the existing plant life." Said Caleb.


    "Uh, what makes you say that?" asked Geoff


    "No animals around, no moss, no weeds, and the soil is fairly dry considering the proximity to water and frequency of rainfall. I hypothesize this species of fauna was created to destroy all other plant life, thus forcing most herbivores out and in turn forcing the carnivores out. As for why this was done, my best guess would be to eradicate the long-term food supply of the area." Said Caleb


    "Or maybe some genetically modified crops got mutated and went out of control, at least to me that looks like an ear of corn the size of a bus." Commented Gray.


    "Interesting, that would be the simpler explanation. Plus it seems to fit with your observations as the cob of these plants makes it appear to be a much larger variant of Zea mays, probably the indentata variation, or ''dent corn'' judging from the color and dents in the kernels. Normally this type of crop is grown in a row so one could infer that this was not done intentionally due to the disarray of the plants." said Caleb.


    "What are you, a walking encyclopedia?" asked Geoff in amazement.


    "Yes" said Caleb without hesitation.


    Everyone stared expressionlessly at him as nobody ever admits that openly unless they''re either very confident about themselves or an idiot.


    "What did you expect me to say? That I had some weird plant fetish? No, I excel at knowledge of all kinds, I''ve said this before. It is up to you to make use of it not me to spoon feed you with every piece of knowledge I''ve gathered over time."


    "Fair enough, so what do we do if we find something you don''t know about?" asked Gray


    "Unless you bring up something stupid like celebrity gossip or which singer loves vanilla cake, I will challenge you to find something knowledge based that I am not aware of!" said Caleb confidently


    Everyone''s eyes lit up as they silently came to an agreement to try and find something Caleb didn''t know about.


    Getting back on task, the group found they were still about 1 mile south from the nest and the corn plants were blocking their way to it directly.


    "According to the map, we should hit the farmhouse closest to the nest if we continue west then take a right on the next old road." Gray said while looking over Stacia''s shoulder and pointing in the direction the road was going.


    Stacia continued driving down the road and made a right at the next intersection and continued for about 2 more minutes until they finally reached a farmhouse.


    Caleb started to say "Modern farms in the domes were nothing like these farms found in the open. Modern farms used extremely advanced technology to not so much increase the amount of growth, but the growth speed. If you can get 1 piece of fruit that weighs 2 kilograms, or 4 pieces that weigh 1 kilogram each you''d choose the 4 naturally. 20th Century Earth focused to much on size instead of quantity and quality thus_"


    Yurika interrupted "I prefer si_"


    Gray interrupted Yurika "I PREFER you not to finish that sentence, let''s keep our heads in the game!"


    Geoff and Yurika looked at each other trying not to burst out from laughter since Gray seemed to unknowingly keep the joke going, or maybe it was intentional... Regardless, Gray wouldn''t admit it if it was and found it better to just let everyone come to their own conclusions.


    Everyone got out of the Humvee and checked all of their equipment one more time. Stacia looked fidgety for a second and suddenly raised her hand.


    "Yes?" asked Gray


    "Ummm, where is the reload button? Usually in these games you just push a reload button and the gun reloads after a slight delay..." asked Stacia


    Gray thought about it for a second, looked at his HUD and noticed that a reload button did not exist next to the ammunition counter like in most shooters. "I guess we do it the normal way?"


    Before anyone else pondered it Yurika grabbed Stacia''s M4 carbine, released the bullet from the chamber, caught it, ejected the clip, reinserted it, then chambered another bullet in roughly the same time it took the others to figure out which way to turn the safety.


    Everyone stared in amazement at Yurika and she smiled and said "I really love guns, so I''ve been to the only shooting range in the dome multiple times. Praise me more and I can show you all too."


    Gray and Geoff blinked, looked at each other and then fell to their knees while bowing on their knees with their arms extended forward saying in unison "We''re not worthy! We''re not worthy!". Caleb shook his head and muttered idiots then took his own gun examined it for a few seconds, then was able to repeat the same thing Yurika did just a lot slower and dropping the bullet when he tried to catch it. Stacia asked Yurika honestly "Could you please show me how to reload my weapon for me?"


    "Of course! Just call me big sister from now on!" said Yurika


    Stacia started to reply "Ok, so that means you''re my older sister and_"


    "Just sister is fine..." said Yurika at the thought of being called an older sister.


    Yurika showed Stacia how to reload her weapon and watched her practice it a few times while Geoff and Gray had produced palm fronds from somewhere and were fanning Yurika and Stacia with them.


    "Fine, I guess I can show you two how to do it as well." Yurika said as she took the gun from Geoff and instructed both of them how to reload it manually and then letting them practice as well.


    What they didn''t realize is that they were being watched from the farm house by several people.


    "Those are the soldiers they sent us?" said one farmer.


    "We''re in trouble if they literally just learned how to reload their guns." said another farmer.


    "More food for Matilda then." said a third farmer


    Hearing that last statement, all of the farmers nodded in unison while watching Gray''s party.

 Chapter 31 - New York has sem bigger...

    After being given some minor instruction from Yurika about how to reload their guns, Yurika wisely also instructed them on how to hold the gun when shooting.


    "That dumb gangster crap where they hold the gun to the side doesn''t work, and don''t even think about those idiotic poses you see in action movies where the dude is like diving while shooting at the same time. I will castrate the first person I see trying that bullsh*t from the movie Wanted with curving bullets around corners." Barked Yurika while pointing the M16E assault rifle at the others.


    Gray, Geoff, Caleb, and Stacia both nodded their heads sharply while standing in a row in front of Yurika as she pointed the M16E assault rifle at them.


    Finally Gray and the others made their way to the farm house and knocked on the front door. Usually in games you just walk in to places as if you owned them, even searching a looting anything you find or smashing pots in hopes that money appears, but Gray felt that taking a more ''normal'' approach would be better suited in this case.


    A tall middle-aged man wearing overalls answered the door and said "Can I help you?"


    "We''re here to exterminate the rat nest." Said Gray


    "Well, what''re you doing here then?" said the farmer.


    This actually surprised Gray because most of the time when you ask an NPC about a quest related to them they will give you some helpful information or tell you how to proceed. "Uhmm, we''d like to put ourselves between the nest and your farm since it is the closest one to the nest. This way if they start to run they won''t come towards your farm." Gray stated.


    "Wow, that''s actually very considerate of you, follow the path north then take a right before the first corn field, press the buzzer twice and we''ll deactivate the electric fence and open the gate around the perimeter at that location."


    This seemed like a much more normal response for a NPC so Gray thanked him and waved for everyone to follow him down the path.


    As they left, the farmer that answered the door said to another one "Considerate is good ''n all, but Matilda doesn''t run¡­"


    __________


    After about 2 minutes of walking, Gray and the others finally reached the gate at the edge of the property. The fence was about 2 meters tall and made up of prefabricated steel barricades with electrified netting along the top and draped down the outside of the fence. The barricades looked to be buried in the ground giving this farm a much stronger barrier than what common sense would dictate it needed.


    "That''s a hell of fence for a farm" commented Gray.


    "Probably to keep thieves out more than anything. Looks military grade so I suspect this farm supplies the military since clearing a rat nest would normally not be a military mission in my opinion" said Geoff


    Gray looked around and saw what appeared to be an intercom of sorts next to a black button. Gray pushed the black button and what was presumably one of the farmer''s answered "Who there?"


    Gray turned to the others and got an impish smile on his face while saying "Cow says."


    Farmer replied "Cow says who?"


    Gray quickly said "A cow says mooo! You guys are farmers you should know this!"


    The 4 others were stunned for a moment before Geoff finally burst out laughing causing everyone else to start laughing too at the sheer stupidity of that joke. Finally the farmer came back on and said "You can go on through¡­ say Hi to Matilda for us."


    A loud buzzing noise followed by a click indicated the gate was unlocked and Gray pulled the door open, a dense forest of those same mutated looking corn plants could be seen after about 100 meters of dry land. The map marker said they were still about half of a mile from the nest with the nest being directly east of their current location. They walked as best they could in a row towards the nest and when they got about 300 feet from the marker on the map they could make out some faint rustling noises. The giant corn plants hampered their vision as several of the stalks were what looked to be chewed through to cut them down and let something get at the giant corn cobs.


    "Fan out slowly, turn on your comms so we can maintain communications, Yurika ignite your flamethrower and prepare to sweep up any rats that converge into a group."


    "Roger dodger!" said Yurika excitedly as she lit the ignition on her flamethrower.


    Gray and Stacia took the left flank, Geoff and Caleb took the right flank while Yurika brought up the middle. Gray and Geoff fanned out a little further to form a semi-circle around the location of the nest. Gray whispered "Hold." When he started to hear something from the suspected nest area.


    The grunt of a bear could be heard and along with some chittering followed by what sounded kind of like a dog barking. Peering through the trees, Gray was able to see what appeared to be an extremely large haystack made out of the corn stalks and skin of the corn.


    "Geoff, keep quiet and creep closer when I do and let''s see what''s going on, if that''s a bear we might only need to destroy the remains of the nest making this mission much easier." Said Gray in a hushed tone.


    "Understood" replied Geoff.


    From opposite sides of each other, Yurika could see both Gray and Geoff slowly creep towards the source of the sounds. Geoff looked around one tree and finally got a good look at the area around the nest. Gray finally got close enough that he could also get a good look.


    Gray was able to pick out several animals that appeared to be about the size of a wolf and a larger brown furry animal. "Looks like the mama bear brought her cubs to eat" said Gray softly.


    Geoff was about to agree when he added "Why isn''t the mama bear moving? Why is that huge brown pile of hair next to the pair shaking?"


    Looking closely at the pile of hair Gray had to ask Geoff through the communicator "Kinda looks like a Volkswagen Beetle, doesn''t it?"


    "Yeah, but the original one, not that redesign garbage they did a few decades later." Replied Geoff


    "It actually looks like a fuzzy Volkswagen Beetle, a brown fuzzy one, did it just move?!?" exclaimed Gray.


    Gray had flashbacks to one of his favorite movies of all time where a certain character had said ''That''s no moon, that''s a space station''. The huge brown pile of hair was about twice as tall as the bear was when it was standing, but this pile of hair had a long tail, 4 legs, and giant rat head that were only visible once the rat turned slightly to reveal a side view of it.


    Gray and Geoff both gasped when they realized what they were looking at; the bear didn''t eat the rats, the rats ate the bear, the bear cubs were actually smaller rats that the big momma was taking care of.


    "B-back away slowly, do not let it see us!" Gray said quietly to Geoff.


    Both Gray and Geoff backed away slowly while beads of cold sweat started to form on their backs looking at the rat the size mid-size car. Gray and Geoff backed off enough to be out of line of sight of the rats and let out a slight sigh of relief.


    "See? I told you they''re always giant rats!" said Gray to Geoff. The rest of the team asked what they were talking about and Gray sent them a snapshot of what he had seen.


    "Awww, looks like the mama bear wants to feed her cubs and is sleeping next to that brown fuzzy looking dome next to it." Said Stacia


    "That¡­ the bear is dead, those bear cubs are actually rat pups, and that brown fuzzy dome is the mama rat." Said Gray.


    Everyone''s eyes turned huge when they were told what they were actually looking at. A swarm of rats taking out a bear would''ve been believable, but mama rat took on a bear solo and won.


    "Wait, rats form a family, if the big one is the mother and the small ones the babies¡­ where is Daddy?" asked Geoff.


    Gray instinctively almost blurted out "I''m your Daddy!" out of pure reflex but managed to hold it back after considering the fact that the males were usually larger than the females.


    "Damn, this¡­ this is way more than what we thought it would be. Caleb, what''re your thoughts?" asked Gray.


    "I believe the mission is actually easier to accomplish now compared to before." Replied Caleb.


    "There is one, possibly two, fuzzy Volkswagens at that nest, how is that easier?" said Geoff surprised.


    "Given the food supply, with the rats being so large we probably only have this one family to worry about. Also, guns will be significantly more effective due to the rats actually being large now to hit. The main worrisome part is if they retain their agility even in this giant state. Also, no matter the size, beasts are still intimidated by fire usually so our original plan just became a lot easier as we can use the fire to box them in and then shoot them with our guns instead of using the guns to just scare them closer together and hoping to get all of them with a few blasts from the flamethrower."


    Gray closed his eyes and folded his arms in thought for a minute "Ok, I agree with you Caleb, if anyone wants out I won''t hold it against them, but if you stay, you stay, don''t go running away halfway through."


    Gray looked at everyone else and to his surprise everyone wanted to stay.


    "Good to hear, now, Caleb, time to prove your value as an encyclopedia again because I have an idea."

 Chapter 32 - Rain of Dirt

    "3 more days¡­" Edward Teach mumbled to himself. It would be close but they would be able to get all of the incubation pods ready for the mass release.


    "Margo, have we received any intel about the Hegemony''s progress?" Edward asked.


    "Sir, based upon our last report, we have determined that we are ahead of them in terms of military hardware capacity and will be better prepared once the Eurasia Treaty expires." Said Margo.


    Edward nodded his head with affirmation "And the sea transports will be able to get the general infantry mech forces over to Europe and Africa in time?"


    "It will be close, based upon my calculations we only have 1 hour 43 minutes and 17 seconds of spare time, if we are unable to make it, we can just limit the amount of players allowed to join for a few days and blame it on servers being overloaded." Replied Margo


    "Good, lastly, do whatever is necessary to get as many players into Alterra Online as possible."


    __________


    "Caleb, what is the best bait for rats?" asked Gray


    "It depends upon the species of Rat. If the species is unknown, peanut butter is the best type of bait for all rats, otherwise dried fruits and even nesting materials work. Rats will not just eat anything that is given to them, they need to smell a combination of Carbon disulfide and a food odor to feel comfortable eating a new food." Said Caleb


    "You''re really taking this human encyclopedia thing all the way aren''t you¡­" said Geoff


    Caleb shrugged and said "It''s just knowledge, having it and using it are two different things."


    Gray suddenly turned to Stacia and asked "What kinds of food did you bring along in that basket?"


    Everyone else looked questioningly at Gray and Stacia, Geoff said "Why would you bring a basket of food on a mission, especially one involving killing things?"


    "Ummm, I thought it would be nice if we could all have a picnic together after the mission." Stacia replied shyly.


    "Fair enough, but it''s not exactly a picnicking environment now is it. What did you take out of the basket and stuff in your backpack?" asked Gray.


    "Umm, a jar of peanut butter, jelly, and a loaf of bread. I just¡­ I just sometimes get hungry and want a snack and for some reason I found that it happens in this game too!" said Stacia hurriedly.


    Gray and Geoff looked at each other with a knowing glance remembering the ridiculous amount of food they ate last night and had to agree with her.


    "One jar won''t be enough by itself, but we only need to attract them though, not feed them." Said Gray. "Let''s make a kill box for the whole family of rats. We''re going to need an ideal location and probably all of your fuel in the flamethrower, so I''ll break down what I need everyone to do once we find the ideal location."


    "What would be the ideal location?" asked Geoff


    "An open area with at least one side at the bottom of a very small cliff, but given the lack of cliffs, we can make do with steep hill if needed." Said Gray.


    __________


    The group looked through the forest for anywhere with a small cliff and fairly clear area, but they soon realized that the area they were in was very flat.


    "Well, that didn''t go as planned." Said Gray.


    "Might I suggest a crater then?" said Caleb


    "Ummm that would be perfect actually if it is deep enough. We never came across any of those and digging one would take too long." Said Gray.


    "I never said dig, but we can blow one up."


    Yurika''s eyes shone brightly at the thought of blowing something up.


    "How¡­ we only have 2 blocks of Cocrystal HMX explosives and a few frag grenades." Said Gray


    "And we will only need those 2 blocks and one frag grenade. Cocrystal HMX, while not the strongest explosive ever engineered, is still used widely by the military mainly because of the stability and shock resistance. Still, a single grenade is more than enough to destabilize it, and trigger an uncontrolled explosion." Remarked Caleb


    "Destabilized uncontrolled explosion, sounds like Yurika''s personality" Gray thought.


    "Ok, worth a shot, so I''m guessing we''ll need to bury the explosives a little bit so it blows the ground up instead of just scorching the surface?" said Gray.


    "Indeed, but too deep and we''ll just unsettle the ground, too shallow and the crater will not be deep, I recommend 4 meters as sufficient depth." Said Caleb


    "Time to get digging" said Gray.


    __________


    Gray and Geoff took turns digging as they only had the one shovel that Stacia brought as an engineer. Stacia and even Yurika offered to help dig as well, but Gray and Geoff felt that it was a man''s obligation to not let the girls do this sort of labor. As for Caleb, he insisted he was management.


    "Whew, all done." Said Gray as he finally tossed the shovel up and out of the hole that was now about twice as deep as Gray was tall. It was mid-afternoon as they finally finished digging the hole so they needed to hurry as they still had to shove all the dirt back in once they buried the explosives and the grenade.


    Caleb took a single grenade and loosened the pin slightly on it then borrowed Stacia''s field medic kit and removed the suture thread, the thread only had 4 feet on the tiny spindle so Caleb took it from everyone''s medic kit and tied it all together into one long thread and tied one end to the pin on the grenade. Caleb asked Stacia to place the 2 blocks of explosives in the hole.


    Stacia walked over to the hole as Gray was still trying to get out and said "Catch!"


    When everyone else saw Stacia drop a block of explosives casually down the hole they got wide eyed and started to run directly away from hole. Gray who was almost out caught the block after it only fell half a meter, then after looking at what he caught broke out into a cold sweat and felt himself pee his pants a little.


    "DO NOT DROP THE EXPLOSIVES!" Gray said with a shrill voice


    Stacia got very flustered and apologized profusely.


    "Cocrystal HMX is very stable and shock resistant. That doesn''t mean you can drop it 4 meters and expect it to not explode! Standard plastic bonded explosive HMX has a max drop height of roughly 60 centimeters, Cocrystal HMX increases that by about 30% depending upon the CL-20 and HMX ratio." Said Caleb with his voice shaking slightly as well.


    After scaring everyone, Stacia handed Gray the other block of explosives once he had gently brought the first one down and climbed back up again partway. Caleb then tossed the grenade on a string to Gray at the bottom of the hole and he placed it gently between the two blocks while keeping the ring of the pin pointed up. Gray crawled back up and out of the hole and everyone but Geoff started to push the dirt back in as much as they could while Geoff was using the shovel to get the dirt that couldn''t be pushed back in.


    Everyone got back about 50 meters and behind a fallen stalk of corn that was about 1 meter in diameter. Gray held the other end of the suture thread and was still only about a meter from where the hole was since they didn''t have much thread. Gray pulled it gently until he felt it tense up, then gave it a sharp tug and ran as fast as he could to get behind the nearest stalk which was still 20 meters from his current location. These grenades had a standard 4 second fuse so Gray didn''t make it to the tree when the grenade went off followed by the massive explosion from the military grade explosives. Gray was blown from his feet almost and pushed forward causing him to stumble and then face plant the ground hard. He opted to stay down and just gave his helmet a squeeze to keep it in place as the expected shower of dirt dumped on top of him.


    When the dust settled, Gray realized he was buried and couldn''t move so he messaged the others through his armlet to dig him out. After getting dug out, the others looked miserable as well since the dirt rained on them, just not enough to bury them completely.


    "Both blocks of explosives may seem like it was overkill, but given the distribution of force in all directions, I was worried it may not have been enough." Remarked Caleb.


    Gray and the others finally got to look at the remains of their explosion and saw a shallow crater had been blown away. Most of the dirt around the explosives had liquefied instantly then boiled up to the surface. Any water in the soil instantly turned into steam that was within a few meters of the explosives while the ground that was blasted up formed a bowl shape after settling down. Caleb explained that the spot where the explosives went off was not visible since it had been buried by the dirt from what wasn''t evaporated, the crater itself isn''t created by the explosion but by the liquefaction and evaporation of the ground near the explosives. As for the dirt that was blasted over everyone, that was a result of the compressed gases forcing their way to the surface through the unsettled ground causing it to flow out in a wave of dirt and heavy sand.


    "This should do, now, time to kidnap a baby!" said Gray enthusiastically.

 Chapter 33 - Rat Race

    "Can you at least explain what we''re going to do first before you talk about kidnapping babies!" complained Yurika.


    "Oh, right¡­" Gray said then proceeded to explain his plan. To them, the real threat were the two adult rats. The babies, although as large as wolves, would be much less dangerous and thus the primary targets would be the big ones. First, Yurika will need to spread a trail of fuel along most of the edge of the crater and have as much burnable materials along it since the Napalm would not burn long by itself. About 30 degrees would be left bare for them to stand on and fire down into the crater. To attract the rat parents, they were going to have to use the peanut butter bait to lure a baby away and drug it with the sedative from the field surgeon kit Caleb had with his medic gear. The crater was around 50 meters in diameter so the timing would be very tight.


    "Ketamine? Will that even work on rats?" asked Geoff.


    "The syringe uses 50 mg injections for a human that can expect to keep them unconscious for 30 minutes up to an hour usually. It will still take 1 to 5 minutes to take effect though." Said Caleb.


    "These things are about the size of wolves so their body weight should be less than us, can we use a larger injection?" asked Gray


    "No, but you can do multiple injections, the problem is the gun controls the dosage speed so it will need about 2 seconds of contact to give it the full dosage." Said Caleb.


    "Can''t we just knock it out with a rock or something?" asked Yurika


    "No, that''s just movie crap, if you hit someone hard enough with anything to knock them out you have approximately a 25% chance of killing them." Said Caleb.


    "We''re trying to kill them aren''t we?" countered Yurika


    "Yes, but I actually want it to cry for the parents a little first to get them to chase me." Said Gray


    "Gray, I should warn you, the top speed of normal rats may only be around 8 mph, but these rats are around 50 times larger than a normal rat. The rats are probably significantly faster than us, probably even faster than cheetahs, but this should only apply in a straight line" warned Caleb.


    "Give me a few extra grenades then and I''ll chuck them behind me as I''m running." Said Gray.


    "While carrying a rat the size of a large wolf?" questioned Stacia


    "Eh, it''ll work out." Said Gray confidently.


    "Not to ask the obvious question, but why not just shoot them, you know, with our guns." Said Geoff


    "Have you even seen the movie Jurassic World? Those guys had way more guns than us and couldn''t even take out a few small dinosaurs." Said Gray. "Plus rats are skittish and cowardly, we can''t expect them not to run without giving them a reason to stay."


    "Fair point¡­ also that movie was great, well, the first one was at least, but the rest sucked except for the fifth one when they put weapons on the dinosaurs and rode them in to battle against the neo communists that had built machine dinosaurs to take over the world!" said Geoff excitedly.


    Gray nodded in agreement as he was of the same opinion of the franchise, but the rest were clueless as they had stopped after how bad the 2nd one was.


    As they had no other option and Gray actually volunteered to do this, Caleb handed Gray the medic syringe and the 250 mg vial of ketamine. Stacia peanut buttered up 2 chunks of giant corn kernels and considered taking a nibble of one but changed her mind after thinking about what sort of toxins or mutation caused the corn to get so large in the first place. Yurika finished trailing the fuel around the edge of the crater while Geoff tried to put as much burnable materials nearby it as possible. As the sun started to get low, they had finally finished their preparations for the kill box.


    "Ok guys, wait near the edge of the crater and light the fuel when you hear me shout on the comm, I will lure out one of the babies and bring it here." Said Gray.


    Everyone nodded and took their places on the clear spot as Gray walked towards the location of the nest again. He got within sight of the nest but was unable to see any rats.


    "Crap, I bet the explosion scared them off. Might have to wait for a bit." Gray said to himself.


    "Guys, the explosion scared the rats away for now, stay alert." Said Gray through the communicator.


    Gray sat down behind a fallen stalk with his back to the nest and pulled a hand mirror out of his pocket and used it to watch the nest without sticking his head up. Eventually Gray was rewarded for his patience when he saw what looked like a furry Volkswagen Jetta and Beetle return to the nest. The babies were nowhere in sight but Gray noticed what appeared to be the female was walking kinda strangely. The male looked around as the female lumbered her way into the nest and then rolled on her side, the babies had apparently rode on their mom''s belly similar to some marsupials. While Gray found this interesting, he was more worried about how to get one out of their since the mother had brought them deep into the nest. It would be dark in about an hour so the rats would become very active then so Gray was hoping that the babies might be adventurous now that they were woken up early again, first from the bear and now from the explosion.


    After the mother rat laid down again, the babies detached themselves from her and some started to feed while others started to wander. The Dad rat laid down next to the mother rat and closed his eyes. To Gray''s delight, 2 baby rats had decided to walk around outside of the nest, but still too close to the nest to try and catch. Gray only had 2 kernel chunks of peanut buttered corn so he had to be careful with it.


    Trying to stay out of direct sight of the nest, Gray would only move closer when the wind blew hard enough to make the stalks rustle. He was near the edge of the nest when he spotted the few bits of remains of the bear. He was feeling slightly grossed out looking at yet he couldn''t stop looking at it for some reason. Gray was brought out of his trance when he heard a rustling nearby and saw a pink snout and two squinting eyes looking in his direction.


    Frozen in place, one of the baby rats had gotten close enough to wander in to where Gray was hiding. Gray slowly reached out with one of peanut butter covered kernel chunks and put it on the ground in front of him while backing away slowly. The baby rat sniffed the chunk and the tiny whiskers on it twitched excitedly as it investigated the peanut butter covered kernel. The baby rat appeared to gather its courage as it finally took a bit out of it. As the rat nibbled on the bait a chirping noise came from it, and suddenly another baby rat poked its head out of the foliage to where Gray was.


    Gray started to get extremely worried that this might attract one of the adults so he picked up the kernel that the first rat had taken a chunk out of and threw it hoping to get it behind the nest and attract the attention of the adults instead of where he was now. The rat that knew how good it was chased after the kernel but the second rat still stayed so Gray pulled out the second one to try and bribe this one. Gray used his knife to cut the chunk in half and tossed it to the baby rat which proceeded to eat after seeing his littermate eat the other one and chirp in satisfaction.


    Gray started to back away slowly again and after about 50 meters the rat stopped following him. Gray hoped this was close enough as he heard very loud chittering from the nest which sounded like a parent scolding a child. Gray placed the last bit of the kernel chunk on the ground and then backed away slightly while holding on to the syringe gun loaded with ketamine.


    Gray crouched down then remained motionless when the baby rat started to eat the chunk, gathering his courage, he slowly moved towards the baby rat.


    Gray thought to himself "This is gonna suck." Gray pounced on to the back of the rat and tried to use his weight to hold it down while he injected it with the ketamine. The baby rat let out a hiss as it felt Gray land on him then started to squeal when Gray injected it with the ketamine. He was able to maintain the gun against the baby rat long enough to inject the first 50 mg perfectly, using his teeth he pulled back the plunger on the gun to try and give it another dose. The baby rat started to wiggle around as it desperately tried to get out from under Gray while Gray attempted to inject it a second time. The baby rat knocked into a thick stalk as it tried everything it could to get away managing to knock the syringe gun out of Gray''s hand before he could finish the 2nd injection.


    Suddenly Gray heard a hiss that sounded more like a roar from what Gray assumed was probably one of the adult rats. The baby rat became weaker and weaker and Gray was finally able to pick it up and slung it over his shoulder as he started to run as fast as he could through the thick forest of stalks. Loud crashing noises could be heard behind him as the two adult rats started to give chase.


    "Should''ve taken the @#$% patrol mission!" Gray thought to himself as it was now a life and death race between him and 2 giant rats.

 Chapter 34 - Donst mess with girls.

    Gray ran as fast as he could with the wolf-size rat slung over his shoulder, the parent rats were only about 50 meters behind and catching up. Gray tried to remember not to look back at them because that''s when the person running away always trips in the movies. While running Gray would drop grenades behind himself. Although not very effective against the giant rodents, they were adequate to make them pause momentarily and give Gray a chance to gain some ground on them.


    Gray''s legs started to burn from tiredness and he started to think "What kind of game limits your running distance with normal fatigue." Despite the burning, Gray kept saw hope when he had finally reached the crater.


    Gray burst through the foliage and headed down to the center of the crater, the two parents were at this point only 20 meters from him and also burst through into the crater kicking up dirt as the chased down Gray. Gray dropped the baby in the center of the crater and yelled "LIGHT IT!" to Yurika who then ignited the trails of napalm.


    A ring of fire encircled the crater causing the 2 parent rats to stop chasing Gray as they scurried to cover their baby Gray had dumped in the crater. As soon as Gray got out of the line of fire, the others started to fire upon the adult rats. The rats had surprisingly thick hides and only suffered superficial wounds, seeing their baby not moving, both rats became and enraged and with a hiss charged towards the five of them.


    "Aim for the eyes!" barked Gray. "Yurika hold mama back with your flame thrower, everyone else aim for daddy''s eyes and face!"


    Yurika tossed Gray his gun back and picked up her flamethrower and started to aim it directly at the mama rat while the others concentrated their fire on the daddy rat.


    "S*it! I only have 5 seconds left of napalm Gray! Take Daddy down!" yelled Yurika.


    Under the concentrated fire of all 4 others, the Daddy rat began to slow down and eventually came to a stop as the concentrated firepower on his head disoriented it and all of the blood loss made it weaker. The Daddy rat finally collapsed but Yurika was already scrambling as she had ran out of flamethrower ammo as the Mama rat swiped her chest hard, knocking her back.


    "Finish Daddy off!" Gray yelled at Caleb, Geoff and Stacia. Caleb edged his way to the side of the downed rat while Geoff and Stacia fired at its eyes, ears and nose. Caleb pushed the muzzle of his gun against the rat behind its skull where he estimated the rat''s spine would be connected to its skull and blasted a hole through where Caleb expected the cervical nerves to be.


    After finishing off Daddy finally, Caleb, Geoff and Stacia heard a painful groan from Gray and then turned to look at him.


    "GGRRAAAYY!"


    __________


    The battle against the rats was going almost as planned in Gray''s mind, with Yurika keeping one of the parents back with her flamethrower, the other 4 could focus fire on the other without it being able to ambush them. Unfortunately Gray never took in to account the amount of fuel Yurika had already used and was surprised when she ran out only after a few short bursts. The mama rat looked absolutely disgusting as all of the fur on its face had been burned off as well as its head. Burn marks scored across the mama''s flesh and Yurika felt her heart drop when she pulled the trigger and no more napalm came out.


    Yurika dropped her flamethrower and pulled out a pistol and started firing at the mama rat, but the rounds barely penetrated the flesh of the massive rat and it struck out with its claws at Yurika. At this point, Gray noticed Yurika was in trouble and had commanded the others to finish off the Daddy rat. Yurika continued to fire the pistol until the rat''s claws raked across her chest and flung her sideways like a rag doll.


    Gray was no longer thinking at this point and was just running at the mama rat to try and save Yurika. Gray tackled the mama rat and wrapped his arms around her neck, the mama rat shook her head furiously and flung Gray off. Gray tried to grab her again but was only able to get one arm over her head when mama''s mouth finally chomped down on Gray''s arm.


    "AARRRGGGHHHH" screamed Gray in pain, his whole arm would''ve been chomped off, but he had grabbed his combat knife in his left hand before mama chomped on his left arm, the blade pierced the roof of the rat''s mouth and made it let go in surprise. Gray did his best to not let go of the knife, but the blood was leaking out of his arm fast causing him to lose strength. Yurika regained herself enough that she could reload her pistol and aimed inside the rat''s mouth once Gray let go of the knife.


    CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK!


    Yurika fired 4 rounds as fast as she could into the mouth of the mama rat, the rat fell down and finally stopped moving. The massive pile of fur, flesh, and blood could still be seen breathing but only faintly.


    Caleb, Stacia and Geoff finally reached Gray and Yurika as the mama rat was knocked out. Gray felt his consciousness start to fade from blood loss and Caleb did a hasty examination of his arm, then applied a tourniquet above Gray''s elbow on his left arm to stop the blood loss before using an atomizer to give Gray a light dose from the last bottle of Ketamine they had.


    Yurika was still conscious and her state wasn''t critical, just painful. The rat had left 3 deep gashes across her arm and chest and the force of the blow may have cracked some ribs even. Still, she looked worriedly at Gray after she realized he probably saved her from being rat food.


    "He''ll live, but we have to get him back to base fast or he might lose his arm" said Caleb without his usual intellectual swagger.


    Caleb disinfected, medicated, then bandaged up Yurika''s arm. The 3 gashes on her chest were deep and might require stitches, but without any hesitation Caleb tore off Yurika''s top and cleaned and treated her chest wounds. Yurika''s face turned bright red when he took off her shirt and Stacia was about to yell at him, but when they both saw that Caleb was being completely professional about it they let it go as modesty had no place on the battlefield.


    Everyone got patched up that needed it, Yurika was weak so she could only carry one weapon in her non-damaged arm and was unable to sling anything around her shoulders as her damaged ribs made it too painful. Stacia carried most of the weapons slung over her small body which in any other situation would appear quite comical. Geoff was stronger than Caleb so he hefted the unconscious Gray over his shoulders in a fireman''s carry and all 5 started to head back towards the farm.


    "Wait a moment, we need to make sure mama is actually dead." Said Yurika.


    The mound of flesh and blood that was the mama did still appear to breathing. Caleb started to walk over to the mama rat but Yurika waved him off.


    "Allow me"


    Yurika grabbed a grenade, kicked open the rat''s mouth, under-handed pitched the grenade into the mama rat''s mouth and down its throat, the mama twitched as it instinctively swallowed the grenade. Yurika turned around and started to walk back towards the others when the grenade went off and the rat''s body blew apart like a pi?ata raining blood and bits of flesh around the corpse.


    Yurika continued to walk towards the farm they had come from without looking back. Caleb, Stacia, and Geoff stared at her wide-eyed and thought. "Never piss her off."


    Everyone else followed Yurika before Caleb said "We need to destroy the nest still, I''ll take care of it though alone, you guys keep going back to the farm."


    The others agreed and the two girls and Geoff carrying Gray made their way back to the truck after Caleb took the last 3 grenades they had. Several minutes later when they finally reached the gate to the farm again, loud explosions were heard in the distance from Caleb blowing up the nest of the rats followed by several gunshots. Shortly after, Caleb joined up again with the group and said "Nest is destroyed, shot 3 babies, mission accomplished."


    Gray finally regained consciousness and was leaning heavily on Geoff now, but he felt like he could pass out again at any time. Geoff smacked the entry button next to the intercom by the gate once he could see Caleb through the darkness.


    "Who is it?" said the same farmer.


    "Pest control, took care of the rats, we''re injured and need help!" said Geoff.


    "HOOOEEEEEYYYY You guys managed to kill off old Matilda? The boys are ne''er gonna bel_" the farmer started to say as a thick vein started to bulge visibly on Stacia''s head.


    Stacia suddenly burst out "Open the <insert your own expletive> door you idiotic son of a_!!!"


    <BZZZZZT> The door was buzzed open as Stacia was finishing yelling at them.


    The group made their way back to their truck as the farmers looked at them timidly through their windows.


    "They left yet?" asked a farmer.


    "Yep, whew, that one girl is scarier than old Matilda was¡­"

 Chapter 35 - Behave

    The ride back to the base was uneventful even in the dark, everyone was tired and exhausted. This level of exhaustion felt different than anything they''ve ever experienced and even telling themselves it was just a game wasn''t helping much.


    Yurika was uncharacteristically quiet, she placed her hand on the bandage that was on her arm and gave it a slight squeeze and winced from pain.


    "Why did you do that?" asked Gray.


    "It¡­ it just feels too real¡­ I''ve never been that scared before¡­" said Yurika shakily.


    "It''s just a game, don''t let it get to you. I mean, dying means you can''t play anymore but it''s not like you die in the real world." Said Gray.


    "Yeah, but still¡­" Yurika said while looking down.


    Gray and the others were lost in thought and Gray himself started to doze off, the tingling from his arm had stopped which was a dangerous thing since he knew he had to get it treated fast. It''s not that Caleb couldn''t bandage it, just that the hole in his arm was too big from the giant front incisors that tried to chomp it off completely.


    Gray felt something warm and pleasant on his cheek after closing his eyes as he was beginning to doze off. He turned to look at what caused it and saw Yurika blushing slightly as she was backing down.


    "That''s for saving me¡­"


    Geoff and Caleb looked at Gray with envy but remembering that he almost got his arm chomped off for that kiss on the cheek they figured it wasn''t worth getting jealous over.


    __________


    Geoff and Caleb yelled for a medic as soon as they made it back to the base, the base staff came alive and pulled Gray into the same medical facility that they woke up in from the start of the game. Gray''s incubation pod was rolled in to the chamber and hooked back up to the same connections that it was originally connected to.


    "Private Gray Wilhelm, your body is treatable, but you will have to log off from your incubation pod here, you will receive a notification once you can log in again" said a medical assistant after examining Gray.


    Gray nodded and was going to log off anyways as he felt completely drained. Looking at his HUD he saw the mission status was changed to completed so all he had to do was return to the mission board to get the reward. Gray sent a message to everyone else that he was going to log out and would have to take some time off from the game, which seemed oddly counter-intuitive since Gray like to play games during his time off. Everyone else on the team had similar ideas as well so Gray laid down in the incubation pod and then logged out of the game.


    __________


    Gray sat up in his VR Bed and felt a similar pain in his arm to when the rat bit him and he screamed a little and looked at his arm in panic. He saw a gaping hole in his forearm, the same as the one that the rat gave him, then felt himself become nauseous and fainted.


    When he woke up it was late morning and he looked down at his arm and it was fine.


    "Must''ve just been the intense memory of getting bit from earlier in the game getting brought back into my consciousness." Gray thought. "Where is Caleb when you need his brain?"


    Gray ate some lunch and then didn''t know what to do with himself. He thought about playing other games, but for some reason he just wanted to play Alterra Online even though he felt like he really did almost die last night. Actually if he was being honest he was still star struck from Yurika kissing his cheek, he started to compare Maven''s and Yurika''s kiss to himself and thought that Yurika''s felt more genuine but Maven''s felt more passionate.


    As he started to lose himself to his own mind, he was startled when his armlet notified him of a message. Looking at it, it was from Caleb.


    "Was hoping it was Yurika, or even Felicia, heck Stacia would be preferred over Caleb" Gray thought to himself as he was feeling very lucky with women lately.


    Gray opened the message that was direct to the point: "Need to talk, offline, ASAP."


    Gray tried to call Caleb directly but he never answered so instead he sent him a message back. "When and where?"


    A few seconds later a reply came through. "Tonight, 8pm, Northway Shopping Center."


    "Weird, but then again, nothing about Caleb is normal" Gray thought to himself.


    __________


    "Celeste, what is your status of tracing the credit''s virtual mint?"


    "My lord, we were unable to trace the origins of the ''AP'' minted credits. With the amount of domed cities lost, it is possible the mint is no longer in existence and the credits minted in it were transferred with their registrations to another mint."


    "Arrggghhh¡­ this isn''t supposed to be how it goes¡­ I''m supposed to find some earth shattering clue that will unveil the mystery then force me to live the life of a fugitive while I find other allies to help fight the system that wants to keep us all under its control!" complained Caleb.


    Finally Caleb calmed down. "I need a change of pace¡­"


    Caleb logged into a full dive VR hangout that he used when he wanted to change things up a bit and just blend in. He really enjoyed playing virtual pool so he would play by himself frequently as usually only couples hung out at this sort of place together and just about every female character that entered would be with a guy since these social type of games that didn''t restrict age or gender and were free to play had dozens of ''anxious'' young men trying to flirt with females. Caleb once considered bringing Celeste with him, but he was pretty sure he would get no peace then with her around.


    Caleb racked up all of the balls and slid them back and forth and lined them up in position on the green pool table, he removed the triangle rack from the balls and walked over to the opposite end. As he was chalking up the pool cue, a beautiful woman in a short black dress and nylons wearing black heels was walking towards him. Caleb felt something off about this not because she was walking towards him, but because nobody else seemed to notice her. She had shoulder-length chestnut hair, brown eyes, and soft white skin that contrasted heavily with her black dress.


    Caleb then looked at her and said "Which company''s AI are you?"


    "I told him you wouldn''t be distracted, and he made me wear something so embarrassing!" The woman snapped her fingers and her character dissolved and then reappeared in a different outfit, a professional dark business suit with black short heels and black nylons. Her brown eyes were now behind a pair of oval shaped glasses and she gave off a much less amicable attitude compared to before.


    "I represent Alterra Corporation, I am Nadia."


    Caleb was very surprised, Nadia was one of the few unknown avatars. "What can I do for Alterra Corporation?"


    "The secrets you are trying to uncover will be revealed in time, stop what you''re doing and we won''t have to take action." Said Nadia icily


    "Well, I value my own life so I will play it safe and behave, still, will killing me solve anything?"


    "Kill you? Oh no, you''re too valuable of a pilot just like the others, we wouldn''t want to kill you, just behave for now, we need as many people playing Alterra Online as possible."


    Caleb nodded and added "Fine, I''ll play along then¡­" and then picked up the cue ball and lined up his shot as Nadia smiled and left the same way she came in without anyone noticing her again.


    Caleb thought to himself "I should warn at least Gray to be wary of Alterra Corporation" as he continued to play pool. He wordlessly sent a text message to Gray "Need to talk, offline, ASAP."


    __________


    Gray made it to the designated spot at 7:57pm and thought to himself "Holy crap, is this going to be some spy stuff where Caleb reveals to me he''s a secret government agent and was framed and needs my help to prove his innocence?" Gray laughed at himself then continued "Who am I kidding, but still, it is out of character for him to do this."


    Sitting on a nearby bench and letting his thoughts just wander as they please, Gray looked at the chronometer in his HUD and saw that it was now almost 9:00pm.


    "Where is he?" Gray thought.


    Gray then sent a message to Caleb in text form asking if he was on his way.


    Caleb replied "On my way to where and what for?"


    Gray started to fume slightly "You were the one who asked to meet me at this shopping center at 8:00 pm saying you had something to talk about, what gives?"


    "I really don''t know what you''re talking about, I recommend getting a good amount of sleep as lack of sleep can lead to dementia. See you in game tomorrow?"


    "¡­Ok, see you in game tomorrow" Gray was still mad and then went to double-check the messages that Caleb has sent him earlier in the day.


    "What the heck? They''re gone?" Gray scrolled through his messages and didn''t see the 2 messages from Caleb earlier, nor the 2 sent to Caleb in his outbox. "Maybe I really do just need some sleep."


    __________


    A cold sweat ran down Caleb''s back as he suddenly felt his body ''leave'' and saw he was back in Alterra Online without even logging in from his VR bed, worst yet his incubation pod was still sealed so he wasn''t able to get out. He started to panic slightly when he noticed he couldn''t log out of the game either nor force the pod open. Caleb blinked for a second then found himself standing in front of the pool table just as before.


    A new message arrived on his armlet, "Remember, behave"

 Chapter 36 - Freebies

    Gray returned home somewhat confused from the earlier mishap with Caleb messaging him to meet up then the whole thing suddenly just disappearing. The day before the official launch Gray''s team, the Steel Wolves (in case you forgot their name), met up at the same time in the morning as planned. Everyone was glad to see that Yurika and Gray were back to normal without even any scars.


    Gray lifted up his sleeve and looked at the spot that was punctured straight through and you couldn''t even tell that it happened. "The advantages of virtual reality" Gray thought.


    Gray questioned Caleb a few times about what last night was about, but every single time Caleb denied that he sent Gray any messages regarding wanting to meet.


    At around noon, every player received a system message that all players need to meet up at their designated base''s classroom later that day. Gray and the rest mindlessly grinded in matchmaking until the designated time and then headed for the classroom.


    __________


    All twelve of the original Diamond Tier players were accounted for in the classroom and chatting among themselves. The door to the classroom opened up forcefully at the designated time that was stated and Major Valen walked in carrying a stack of papers.


    Without missing a beat, Major Valen bellowed "Congratulations maggots! You''ve all survived your first week! Even you ingrates that took the soldier mission didn''t get yourselves killed. That mission was meant to be completed with a large squad or two smaller squads."


    "Major Valen, sir!" Gray stood up "How were we to know that it was meant for that many people?"


    "The mission profile clearly stated that 12 players were recommended for this mission! Did you not read it or are you expecting Big Daddy Valen to hold your hand?" barked Major Valen


    "I wish he wouldn''t call himself that." thought Gray, he then opened up the mission profile from his completed missions log and still couldn''t see where Major Valen said that it recommended 12 players. "Sir, I do not see where it is mentioned..."


    Gray took a screenshot of his log and showed it to Major Valen who then compared it to his own file. Indeed it did not say that 12 people were recommended, but Major Valen''s mission profile said that he was to advise any players that took this mission to bring at least 12 players. Major Valen remained expressionless to hide the fact that he was actually supposed to advise them about it then countered with "Of course it doesn''t! You baby chicks were supposed to come talk to the big hen around here and get guidance instead of taking it on your own initiative!"


    Not everyone was convinced of this, but given that Major Valen had a clipboard in his hand, they recalled the first day when two people got them broken over their heads and didn''t say a word.


    "Ahem..." Major Valen cleared his throat "You babies are the first batch of players, today you can consider yourselves no longer babies but toddlers! We''re not going to ask you to hand hold the new players coming tomorrow, but as Diamond-Tier know that you will be looked up to and have slightly elevated status. Because of said status, you will be the first groups to learn why this game was developed."


    This caused a stir among the 12 players in the base as everyone assumed it was just for fun. Games are supposed to be fun. Major Valen handed the stack of papers to the player in the front to pass back to everyone else. Everyone was extremely curious what was on the paper since just about everything now was digital and paper was not only rare but could be considered almost precious given the limited amount of trees in the domed cities. Most of the paper was from recycled sources as cutting down a few trees could upset the delicate ecosystem balance inside the dome.


    "For your own sake, this is a Non-Disclosure Agreement, after signing it we will be able to disclose the truth of Alterra Online to you players, but you can''t play any other future full dive VR games. If you choose not to sign, you can continue to play but you will lose your Diamond-tier status. If you sign and break the NDA, you will be forbidden from playing Alterra Online and any other future full dive Virtual Reality games."


    A few of the players became upset thinking that Alterra Online''s developer would be able to prevent them from playing ANY full dive VR games, one player yelled "Screw that! You can''t prevent us from playing another company''s game in the real world!"


    "If you sign, you will understand! You have until tomorrow morning oh nine hundred hours to sign. This is 3 hours before the general release of Alterra Online. You are dismissed until then!" Major Valen said and walked out of the room leaving the players a little shocked and confused.


    Gray looked at Caleb who didn''t seem outraged nor very surprised. What also surprised Gray was that Caleb had already signed the NDA, then turned it over so others wouldn''t see that he signed it already. Geoff was furrowing his eyebrows while reading it, but Gray was sure he would sign it. Stacia and Yurika looked at each other and then both looked at Gray at the same time.


    "We''ll follow your choice" said Stacia.


    Hearing Stacia said this, Geoff looked at Stacia, shrugged his shoulders and looked at Gray and said "Sounds like a plan to me. Sound good Caleb?"


    Caleb was not paying attention to the conversation, but upon hearing his name he regained his focus and said "What... oh, yeah, that sounds good." Caleb looked down at his turned over signed paper and put his hand on it to hide the ink shadow that might''ve been visible.


    Everyone looked at Caleb as this was very out of character for him and Stacia asked "Are you alright?"


    "Ahem, yes, given the implications of signing a NDA for a game and the penalties mentioned for breaking said NDA, a lot of assumptions about what the truth could be is draining my mental faculties." said Caleb.


    "Dude, just say you''re tired next time..." said Geoff


    __________


    All twelve players in room continued to discuss what to do for another hour or so. The 7 other players Gray was unfamiliar with were apparently going to just say screw it and sign since this is the only full dive Virtual Reality game that isn''t just a simple social networking game. Still, Gray wanted to think about it because it felt like something much greater was about to unfold and that he would be swept away in it if he learned the truth.


    Gray logged out and wasn''t in the mood to play for once, it wasn''t too late so Gray decided to walk over to GameGo and see if Spoon, or even Carly, were there. He wasn''t particularly close to either of them, but he could hear Jono saying in his head "Sign the stupid paper you twit!" so he thought it best to not ask Jono about it.


    As Gray was approaching the GameGo, a large truck was parked in front of it and the various items in the store were being loaded into it. Outside, Spoon, Carly, and a few others in the traditional black GameGo shirt were loading up the truck.


    Gray walked over, waved to Spoon, then said "Spoon! What''s going on?"


    "Gray! Schweet, you''re jusht in time!" exclaimed Spoon


    "Time for what?" said Gray.


    "Alterra Corporation hash bought GameGo, all our shtuff ish being moved to their corporate shtores!" said Spoon


    "Uhhh, doesn''t that mean you just lost your job?" said Gray


    "No, that ish what ish schweet! We got a new job! They shaid we can become permanent Alterra Online playersh wiff a VR bed included ash needed. We jusht have to play at leasht 16 hoursh per day!"


    Gray wanted to say that''s a little much, but if he could make a living playing a video game he totally would do it too!


    "GET BACK TO WORK BUTT MUNCH!" a boorish voice yelled from the store. Carly came walking out carrying a fairly large box by herself, an identical box in front of her was being carried by two employees at the same time. Spoon let out a ''Eeep!'' and went back to helping load.


    Carly put the box down in the truck and the truck visibly bounced a little with the additional weight, Gray thought "I didn''t realize W****r W***n was so short..." as Spoon seemed to be struggling with what appeared to only be a small box of figurines.


    "GRAY! You lucky fish head!" yelled Carly.


    Gray was about to question the fish head name but instead yelped in surprise as a box was dropped on his feet.


    "These are for you! I couldn''t fit myself in a box, but I know you''ve been looking at these every time you''re in the store!" Carly said proudly with a smile.


    "Itsh not that schee can''t fit, nobody could lift it wiff all her muschle and giant b_" Spoon begin to say when Carly grabbed his neck and dragged him over to large empty box.


    "Oh look, we forgot to pack this life size butt-face action figure!" said Carly as she tossed Spoon into the box then taped it up.


    Gray wondered why Carly was able to give him a box of freebies, but seeing the fear in the other employee''s eyes he started to understand. It''s not that Spoon wasn''t afraid of her, but Gray had a feeling Spoon actually liked her and was just an idiot at telling her that.


    Carly walked over to Gray and said "Take care of me in the game Mister Diamond-Tier!" and then winked playfully at him and went back to loading the truck. A box in front of the truck was shaking vigorously while various noises could be heard from it and finally a small hole was broken through the side of the box. Gray didn''t think anything of it and picked up the box Carly gave him and went back home, totally forgetting about why he came out there in the first place.

 Chapter 37 - Darling!

    After returning home, Gray rummaged through the box of stuff Carly gave him and was very surprised to see that it was a lot of the gadgets and toys that he had shown interest in over the past 2 years but never was able to afford... some of it was no longer for sale even and had been out of stock for months.


    "Wow, she did this for me? I don''t know if I should be touched that she likes me or worried that she''s stalking me..." Gray mused.


    Taking out the gaming accessories, Gray put them with his old PC. He was actually looking forward to trying out the 214 button immersive controller that was an accessory for Super Steel Battalion: Vintage Edition and meant to be like you''re piloting one of the earliest mechs from well before Gray was born. As for the rest of the accessories, they ranged from a surround headset, forced air recirculating back rest, a few tshirts (which were eerily Gray''s exact fit), and a few figurines of some of his favorite game characters. At the bottom of the box were two sleek black boxes tied neatly with a ribbon.


    "I don''t remember seeing these in the store..." said Gray.


    He opened up one of them and his eyes went wide with excitement.


    "Is... is... is that... YES!! YES IT IS!" Gray stuttered with excitement as he pulled out a cylindrical metal object with a switch on the handle as he recognized it as a beam saber, and not one of the cheap ones. This is one of the ones that the beam isn''t up all the time causing it to be more than just a piece of plastic that lights up, this one actually emitted a physical beam. Although it wasn''t dangerous and the beam broke easily if it struck something hard enough, the technology in these was impractical and useless, but it looked cool as hell!


    Gray flicked the switch on the saber and a dark blue beam extended from handle, Gray twirled it around a little bit with glee and accidentally smacked it against a table breaking the beam. Gray thumbed it off quickly and then thumbed it back on to restore the beam.


    "This is so cool!" thought Gray. He suddenly remembered there was another box that was identical to the one with the beam saber and quickly opened it up while picturing himself holding dual beam sabers like a J**i from S*** ***s. Sadly, this one only contained an envelope.


    Gray saw the front of the envelope had the words "If you haven''t opened the other box, open it first butt head, then open this card!"


    Cards were rarely made out of paper but instead were just 3D Micro Codes that contained the information within the code itself. This allowed one to scan it with their armlet or another device that could read it and then display the card.


    Having already opened the first box, Gray took the Micro Code from the envelope and scanned it with his armlet and a holographic card was projected in front of him that he could interact with. He opened the card and saw that she put a simple poem in it.


    "Roses are red"


    "Violets are blue"


    "I have a beam saber"


    "And now so do you"


    Gray chuckled at it since it is cheesy just the way he liked it. He flipped to the next page and Carly had put a picture of her wearing a cosplay of a female J**i from S*** ***s while holding the handle of the lit up beam saber in her mouth and posing flirtatiously. The caption below said "Come duel with me sometime, I won''t let you stab me so easily."


    Gray thought that it would actually be very attractive if he didn''t hear her voice and know her personality, that and the thought of her swinging anything in his direction with her amazonian strength would be enough to frighten most people. "I wonder how Spoon would react if I showed him this picture." Gray thought to himself.


    After playing with his new beam saber for a bit, and breaking a glass jar, Gray remembered why he had gone to see Spoon and Carly suddenly. "Guess I''ll just call Spoon directly" Gray thought, then tapped his armlet to bring up his phone book and called Spoon.


    After 3 tones it connected and Gray heard Spoon''s voice coming from what sounded like a truck and Gray thought he was in the cabin of the truck on his way to wherever Alterra Corporation told them to go.


    "Hey Spoon, it sounds like you''re already on your way to Alterra Corp''s shop or wherever."


    "Gray, schweet, good thiming! I wash getting bored!"


    Gray was a little curious and asked "How can you be bored driving a truck with some of your coworkers, especially if Carly is in the same one as you? Speaking of which, I don''t hear her."


    "I''m shtill in the box!" exclaimed Spoon. "It shucked at firsht, then I realizshed I didn''t need to work in here! Now I''m packed up and on my way!"


    Gray didn''t know whether to laugh or cry at the thought of Spoon being packed up in a box and shipped out like cargo, but he kinda got it since he got out of work by choosing not to escape. Of course Gray also considered that maybe Spoon couldn''t actually get out of the box.


    "Well, it sounds like you got some time then, can I run something by you real quick?" asked Gray.


    "Sure!"


    "So, it''s about Alterra Online..." Gray began to talk about how an NPC in game asked him to sign an NDA if he wanted to continue as a Diamond-Tier and all of the other things he felt were off about Alterra Online. Spoon was surprisingly a good listener and even had his own speculations about Alterra Online. Public forums were always removed discussing Alterra Online and Gray thought that maybe the NDA had something to do with that. Private groups could still speculate together about Alterra Online as long as it was out of public view never stored any logs. Spoon apparently had partook in a few of these gatherings.


    Spoon summed up the key points for Gray from these discussions from other nerd... I mean, other experts around the city. City to city discussions never took place due to it being a public channel to access another city. Although opinions varied, several were very consistent:


    1. Alterra Online will cause Alterra Corporation to go bankrupt. Maintaining a virtual world of that size with the amount of NPCs estimated in the game would cost millions of credits a month in just computing power and storage alone, not to mention bandwidth. The game''s one-time payment option without any sort of subscription cost would essentially only make them any money in the first month.


    2. Alterra Online was developed in record time and has no known bugs which is unheard of for a game that was just launched. Considering the lack of public testing and unknown amount of private testing, how could this be accomplished? People could only speculate on this with the most popular speculation being that it is actually a much older game with all of the kinks worked out and graphics updated to modern standards. Other reasons vary from it being jointly developed in secret with other major developers and some even claiming that full dive VR technology doesn''t exist yet and we''re actually being controlled by aliens when we use it.


    3. Lastly, Alterra Corporation wants you to play Alterra Online, even more than what a developer normally would. This can be seen from the ridiculous amount of advertising, the amount of contests, and even several cases where Alterra would just donate VR beds for people to play when the game releases tomorrow. While it is normal for a company wanting you to use your product, never has there ever been a case where a company has ignored losses to give it away.


    The last reason made Gray remember that he won it too and he suddenly didn''t feel so special. Spoon reminded him that Alterra Corporation only gave away 1 Diamond-Tier per city, so he was still special.


    Gray finally had to ask Spoon. "What does all of that have to do with me signing a NDA in a game?"


    "Dood, jusht shign the thing. You will undershtand after." said Spoon


    "Did you have to sign one?" asked Gray thinking that Spoon might know the secret and couldn''t tell him.


    "Duh, ish for my new job, they shaid it wash shtandard company policy." said Spoon


    Gray thought that it did make sense for them to do that since he would be closer to Alterra Online since he would now be an employee for them.


    The sound of brakes could be heard and the engine noise in the background stopped, Spoon said he had to go suddenly as the truck reached it and he couldn''t make a sound since he wanted to get out of unloading the truck too. Gray laughed thinking about how lazy this guy was.


    The sun was still out, although it would be dark soon, but Gray didn''t feel like playing any games for once so he decided to take a walk around town. Although most entertainment was done virtually these days, sometimes actually seeing real people felt good. Gray passed a few small shops that were all in the middle of closing up and saw a small run-down bar that was still open for a business. It was strange to see a bar with a human bartender anymore since AIs were much cheaper and reliable than a human, but you couldn''t talk to an AI bartender unless you were asking it about the bar or drinks.


    The sign above the door said "Deunan''s" and had a cartoonish mug of beer on both sides. The bay windows on both sides showed a dimly lit bar with old-fashioned wooden furniture and bar stools. Considering the scarcity of wood, Gray figured the furniture was just high strength plastic textured to look like wood. Several vintage holosigns were lined on the bar walls with everything from old World War 3 memorabilia to modern drink advertisements. A few people could be seen sitting and talking at a few tables making the place look fairly busy, but not packed. Only a handful of people were sitting at the bar, Gray could make out a guy talking to a woman but could only see the back of the woman and the man. Suddenly the guy got up though and left with his head hung low and walked to another table where the other guys sitting at it were laughing at him.


    "Poor guy just got shot down." Gray thought to himself. "I bet she''s not even that good looking if she came to a bar by herself."


    Gray turned to look at the woman who was no visible after the guy moved and was shocked with whom he saw.


    "Is... Yes! That''s Verona Peters!"


    Gray had stopped walking when he saw her as he never expected to see the office goddess outside of the office. As if Verona had spider-sense, she turned to notice Gray looking at her, then rolled her eyes and went back to playing with her drink. Suddenly she shook her head and then looked again at Gray and motioned with her finger for him to come in.


    "I knew she wanted me!" Gray thought to himself while trying to not smile like a complete idiot as he had to contain himself from skipping towards the door.


    When Gray walked inside, Verona got up and hugged Gray''s arm then said in an oddly loud voice "Darling! So GLAD you could make it!"

 Chapter 38 - To sign or not to sign.

    "Darling?!? What?!?" Gray exclaimed in his head.


    "Come, have a drink with me before we go home!" Verona said with a once again oddly loud voice that looked like everyone could hear.


    Gray and Verona sat down at the bar together and Verona scooted her seat closer to Gray. She leaned in close to him, Gray couldn''t help but notice how good her perfume smelled, and her usual business suit was without the jacket revealing a bit more of her skin and her hair being loose made her appear much more relaxed than what Gray normally saw.


    "Sorry, I''ve been hit on by every guy in here and I have a feeling the rest just need a few more drinks to try as well." Verona whispered to Gray.


    Gray kinda understood since he looked around and saw that Verona was the only woman in here and all of the other men were looking at him with jealousy. "Don''t worry, DARLING, I''ll keep them away." Gray said, making sure to enunciate ''Darling''.


    Verona pinched Gray''s side and said "I will end you if you ever bring that up to ANYONE" while maintaining a friendly smile so as not to look angry to the onlookers.


    "Your secret is safe with me!" whispered Gray, then Verona released her claws.


    Gray waved down the bartender and said "I''ll have what she''s having."


    Verona looked at Gray oddly and said "You don''t even know what I had."


    Normally Gray would go with the cheesy one-liner and say something like "I''ll like it no matter what since you are drinking it as well." or some other almost stalker like line. Instead he just smiled at her, looked into her eyes, then looked at her glass. "You had a Coke."


    "Ok, how did you know?" asked Verona


    "First, your breath doesn''t contain any hint of alcohol, second, there is a straw and nobody drinks alcohol from a straw unless it''s a fruity drink or margarita sometimes." said Gray


    "Ok, then how did you know it was Coke and not some other pop or water even?"


    "Your tab next to the glass says ''2 Coke'' on it." said Gray.


    "Wouldn''t that clue be enough? Why the other two?" asked Verona.


    "I just wanted to pretend like I was deducing it, that''s all." said Gray smugly.


    Verona laughed at this, maybe even a little harder than what she should''ve, but Gray just sat there and smoothly took a sip of his Coke that the bartender brought him trying to play it cool. This is the first time Gray has ever seen her laugh... and he understood why... it was obnoxious! It was fine at first, but she started doing a loud nasal whooping that would occasionally devolve into what sounded like a goat screaming in short bursts.


    "That''s... unexpected!" said Gray.


    Verona wiped away the tears that had formed from her laughing and said "I know, I''m sorry, I never laugh because of it but what you said just really threw me off as I always thought you were just a little creep."


    "I''m not a little creep! I''m a normal guy that is sometimes a little creepy!" said Gray


    Verona started to laugh again but calmed herself before it got out of control.


    The two started talking like normal adults, which is uncommon for Gray as he usually likes to just make nothing but jokes. Verona ordered another drink, but this time asked for a Captain ''n Coke. Gray started to think that maybe he was going to have a very lucky night.


    Verona quickly threw a bucket of cold water on this by saying "Not a chance for you, I''m just here to relax."


    Gray pretended to not play innocent and said "What are you talking about? I''m just here now because you asked me to be! Speaking of which, why me? Any one of those other guys might be nice enough to play along as well!"


    "One, I somewhat know you from work so if you tried anything I could get you fired. Secondly, I''m confident I could kick your ass if that wasn''t enough to stop you." said Verona with a playful smile.


    This made Gray laugh and he thought he heard Verona mutter "...and you are a good guy." while he was laughing. Gray was smart enough NOT to ask what she said though.


    __________


    It was going on 10 pm at this point and Gray and Verona had opened up enough to each other that they were swapping childhood stories even when Verona finally asked. "Oh hey, did you hear what is happening to our company?"


    Gray was perplexed as he honestly hadn''t been keeping up with anything related to work so he imagined his work email box was ready to burst. "No, what''s going on?"


    "Apparently when Alterra Online was under development, they had used our company to help with the programming." Verona stated.


    Gray thought that this by itself didn''t sound strange as their company specialized in Software and Databases. "Ok, what''s so big about that?" Gray asked.


    "It seems that the game development was just a trial phase and if we passed we would be purchased and brought under Alterra Corporation." said Verona


    "Uhhh, so, is that good or bad news?" asked Gray


    "Probably good news for a nerd like you, they were going to offer us the option of either becoming paid game testers or we could keep our existing job and eventually be phased out within 3 years as several AIs would be developed to fill the majority of our positions." said Verona.


    "What?!? So basically we can get paid to play a game or keep our old job and get laid off in a few years?" said Gray.


    "Yeah, and that is why I''m here at this bar... I didn''t want to go to one with an AI running it and just wanted to think about it. I have never played video games, but I was told this full dive VR stuff is like you''re not playing one at all but existing in another world." Verona complained.


    "Well, when do they want to know?" asked Gray.


    "The deadline is tomorrow morning if you would like the bonus associated with participating in the full launch of the game, but they said absolutely no later than August 1st, which is in 15 days." said Verona


    "Well, personally I''d go for the play testing, why wasn''t I told about this?" asked Gray.


    "Yeah, I think I will too, and you were told about this but you probably haven''t checked your work mail in awhile. Not that I blame you since you''re on vacation for another week." said Verona.


    "Heh, that''s true. Thanks, I''ll make sure to check my messages when I get home then." said Gray.


    Gray took a drink of his Coke, probably his 4th one judging by the glasses he''s left as he heard Verona teasingly say "Who said I''m letting you go home tonight?"


    Gray choked and almost spit out his drink when he heard her say this causing Verona to laugh hysterically again. After hearing her obnoxious laugh a few times Gray had noticed that the other guys in the bar stopped looking at him with envy and some even looked at him with pity. Still, Gray was not expecting this at all!


    "I''m sorry! I just couldn''t help it! You''re too honest and I wanted to see how you''d react!" said Verona while still laughing.


    "Phooey, you probably couldn''t keep up with me anyways, I''m known as a marathoner!" said Gray proudly.


    "You run marathons?" said Verona surprised.


    "No, I''m a marathon gamer, I can play for days at a time if given the opportunity!" said Gray.


    "Why are you even proud of that?" questioned Verona.


    "I... I don''t know anymore." Gray said dejectedly while crying to himself on the inside.


    Verona laughed softly at Gray''s expression and then patted his head.


    "Don''t worry, I''m sure someone would find that impressive, if anything else it proves that you have a strong bladder!" said Verona


    "Well I get up to use the bathroom and grab food, it''s not like completely out of it while playing!"


    "Fair enough, just as long as you take care of yourself." said Verona


    "Are you my Mother?" Gray said teasingly


    "Heck no, I''m actually younger than you, wait, how old are you?" asked Verona


    "29." said Gray


    "Then I''m definitely not your Mother!"


    "How old are you?" asked Gray


    "Never ask a woman her age, and I''m not telling!" said Verona.


    "Ha! That means you''re older than me!" said Gray teasingly.


    "Shut up! It does not!" complained Verona.


    "Of course it does, if you were younger than me you''d be rubbing it in my face right about now!" said Gray with a grin on his face.


    "...3..." Whispered Verona


    "What was that?" asked Gray


    "33!" said Verona


    "Sweet, so you could''ve been a senior when I was freshman!" said Gray.


    "It''s possible, but you would''ve remembered me" Verona said confidently.


    "Brat..."


    "Yep!" Verona said as she stuck her tongue out at Gray.


    Gray eventually asked Verona what her opinion was about signing a NDA and she also thought it sounded like a standard procedure for a large company, but to do it while playing in a game would have all kinds of legal loopholes and may not even be considered legitimate. Verona said just read it carefully and personally she would sign it as it usually means you were about to be told something important.


    "That and you need to sign it to advance the plot" said Verona


    "Fair point" said Gray


    __________


    Gray asked Verona if she wanted him to walk her home but she declined his offer since it would mean he would know where she lived. Gray and Verona went their separate ways as Gray returned home for the second time today.


    "Ahhh screw it, I''ll just sign the stupid thing and be done with it! If this is my last full dive VR game then so be it!" said Gray defiantly


    Having his doubts clear, Gray decided that he would sign it without hesitation since he had read it already and it didn''t contain anything nefarious and looked fairly standard according to what was discussed by everyone in the class.


    "I''ll tell the rest of the team I''m going to sign it and we''ll go with it from there!"

 Chapter 39 -

    "So... we''re gonna sign it, yeah?" asked Geoff.


    "For the fifteenth time, YES!" said Gray


    "He only asked 4 times, not fifteen." commented Caleb


    Gray logged on early as planned and met with the others around 8am. Nobody seemed particularly surprised that Gray finally came to the decision to sign the NDA, but Geoff felt like being a jerk and questioned Gray multiple times for his own amusement.


    "That settles it then!" said Gray.


    Everyone signed their own copies and even Caleb pretended to sign his despite it already being signed and having hidden it from everyone else. Gray pretended to not notice Caleb faking it. Gray took the signed papers and presented them to Major Valen.


    After looking over the papers, Major Valen said "Wise choice, we''ll begin the meeting at oh nine hundred sharp!"


    __________


    Gray, Geoff, and Yurika exchanged terrible jokes with each other to waste time while Stacia was content to browse the web and social media and Caleb kept trying to interrupt the three''s jokes when he decided they didn''t make any sense.


    "Hey, do you know what often gets overlooked?" said Gray while grinning. "... Garden Fences!"


    Gray burst out into laughter as Geoff and Stacia booed, in their world the louder the booing the better.


    "I hate to admit this, but I don''t trust stairs..." Geoff pretended to lament. "...They''re always up to something!"


    Gray and Yurika booed while Geoff look down and shook his head, pretending to be actually concerned.


    "Last night my girlfriend and I watched three movies back to back!" said Yurika proudly "...Luckily I was the one facing the TV."


    Yurika burst out into laughter and of course Gray and Geoff both booed, then Gray and Geoff looked at each other for a second as they suddenly realized Yurika said ''girlfriend''.


    "Wait, you have a girlfriend?" asked Gray


    "Uh, yeah, what''s wrong with having a girl that is a friend?" said Yurika.


    "N-Nothing! Just thought maybe you meant you played for our team." said Gray.


    Yurika leaned in and whispered to Gray and Geoff mischievously "I play for every team..."


    Gray and Geoff both got lost in their own minds for a minute then got brought back to reality when they thought about it some more. "Wait... every team? How many teams are there?" asked Geoff


    "If you have to ask, then it is better if you don''t know..." Yurika said playfully.


    After a few more minutes of banter, Major Valen finally barked out "Okay! Settle down worms! I see that all of you here had the wisdom and confidence to sign the agreement. Everything we speak of in this room will be under the effect of it and I don''t even want to hear you twits talking about it openly among yourselves!"


    Major Valen glared at everyone, making sure that he got his point across.


    "First of all, it is time for a history lesson, you won''t be tested on it but having the knowledge will help your puny brains process what comes after!"


    Major Valen gave a brief history of the Alterra Online world that sounded like lore from a game.


    Previously Korea was split in to North and South but they became united as one when the United Nations appointed a puppet leader to Korea after weapons of mass destruction were verified to be in development. In the year 2050, tension and war broke out between the country formerly known as Korea and China. While China should have been the victor quickly, Korea was receiving direct military aid from Russia. More and more countries quickly joined both sides based upon political, religious, or even economical attitudes.


    Strangely enough though, no countries from North or South America participated. The side of the Koreans and Russians became known as the Hegemony as each country in it favored dictatorships or monarchies. The other side was never as united though so the Hegemony was able to work together and had started sweeping across all of Asia and then in to Europe.


    When the first few countries in Europe fell to the Hegemony, North and South America finally stepped in to stop them. Unfortunately it was too late to completely turn the situation around even with their support. The Hegemony had taken control of all of Asia, Oceania, and most of Europe. Africa, South America, North America, and the fraction of Europe left entered an alliance to keep the Hegemony from conquering more of the world and became united under a single flag and democracy. The Hegemony called themselves the Terran Hegemony as they envisioned all people of Earth to be deserving of their rule, and in response the other side called themselves the Free Alliance of Terrans. This was shortened down to just Alterran* Alliance because a lot people would just call them the Other Terran Alliance and the acronym FAT just didn''t sound right.


    As the war between them raged on, a line was drawn from Eastern Germany down to the West of Slovenia and a truce was called. Neither side was firing nuclear weapons due to neither side wishing for mutual destruction, but finally one of the sides couldn''t resist, each side said it was the other that fired first, but the truth would be impossible to tell. The only nukes that could escape orbital strikes were the submarine launched nukes, only 5 nukes managed to strike as both sides realized their mistake by releasing nukes and deactivated them before reaching their targets.


    Unfortunately the damage was already done from the 5 nukes. They struck Washington DC, Tokyo, London, and Seoul. The fifth one detonated underwater and caused a massive underwater landslide that created a huge tsunami in the Adriatic near the heel of Italy. The resulting tsunami sunk Venice and destroyed many other towns along the coast of the Adriatic Sea.


    Between the flooding and nuclear fallout, both sides had realized that both sides would perish if this persisted anymore. The Eurasia treaty was signed by representatives for both governments in what was once Prague Germany. They agreed that for 70 years neither side would attack the other as both sides were going to have trouble even feeding everyone due to the amount of pollution and radiation from the war. That treaty is set to expire in a bit over a month.


    Gray rubbed his eyes as the long-winded history lesson was fascinating at first but started to get boring fast.


    "Ok, I have to ask, why does telling us this help us? This is still all game lore!" complained Geoff.


    "I am telling you ingrates this stuff because it isn''t game lore, this is a history lesson of your planet!" said Major Valen determinedly.


    "Yeah yeah, we know, the war ended up causing global warming leading to the domed cities and most of the landmass disappearing due to the rise in sea level. We''ve learned this from grade school." said one of the other players.


    "Then let me ask you boys and girls this... When is the last time you were sick?" asked Major Valen.


    "We''ve never been sick, we''re given a Universal Vaccine at the age of 5 that prevents ALL diseases!" said Gray.


    "Correct, but that technology doesn''t exist, we''ve never been able to come even close to creating a universal vaccine. Have any of you ever been injured in this game then logged out?" asked Major Valen


    Gray, Yurika, and 2 of the other players raised their hands.


    "Did you have that same injury momentarily after logging out?" asked Major Valen.


    Gray recalled how his arm looked and felt like it was still freshly pierced after his logout when he got injured.


    "From your surprised expressions I''m taking that as a yes. Your mind makes it real, but your body also makes it real to your mind. That short time you still felt and probably saw your injury was the delay it took us to prevent your body from transmitting that over to your virtual self." said Major Valen.


    "So in other words, we''ve been living in the virtual world and returning to the real world when we think we''re logging in to the game." Caleb summarized.


    Everyone else looked at Caleb oddly, but Major Valen just smiled and nodded. "Yes, THIS is the real world and the world you''ve been living in is the virtual world."


    Caleb didn''t seem to surprised by this as Gray expected that with his intellect that he may have deduced this already. Gray''s head was full of questions though, like, if this is the real world and he was from a virtual world, was he a person even or just a virtual entity.


    "Wait, do I even have any real family or parents even?!?" asked Gray loudly.


    "Oh yes, yes you do, we can clone parts of a body but assembling a whole body is impossible without a spark of life, or ''soul'' if you''re the religious type. Keeping the virtual cities as just small enclosed cities helps drastically reduce the amount of processing power to keep it up for these past 25 years."


    "25 years? So you''re saying I was born at the age of 7?" asked Gray.


    "No, every healty child below the age of 13 was selected for this Alterra Project, only a few that were direct members of important members in society were exempt if the parents chose to do so."


    "The Alterra Project?" asked Gray


    "Yes, to dutifully train and develop next generation mechanized weapons and machines of war for the sake of defending our freedom is the true purpose of Alterra Online and the Alterra Project!"

 Chapter 40 - Allegiance

    The whole room went silent after Major Valen revealed the true purpose of the Alterra Project. Thinking about those words, everyone in the room exchanged looks until someone cracked and started to laugh hysterically.


    "HA HA HAAA! You totally had us going! That sounds like such a video game story setup or even movie or anime setup that it''s just too cheesy to believe!" said one of the other players while laughing.


    "SHUT IT!" Major Valen yelled as he slammed his hand on the pulpit causing everyone to jump and stop laughing.


    "In the past, we''ve lost countless men and women, GOOD men and women! On paper the war had been postponed for 70 years, but that''s only on the surface. In truth we''ve still been fighting minor skirmishes along the border as we probe each other''s strength. Those of you that have taken any missions involved with killing human NPCs, you''ve actually already killed a person."


    The only other girl in the room aside from Stacia and Yurika turned pale for a second, then covered her mouth and tried to run out of the room to get to a bathroom to throw up. Unfortunately for her, the door was locked and she ended up puking in a small trash can that Major Valen had kicked in her direction. The other people not on Gray''s team also started to look uncomfortable as they remembered they had taken the mission that involved destroying a pirate raiding camp. Killing the enemy mech wasn''t what disturbed them, the woman clearly remembered stepping on one of the pirates with her mech and finding it hilarious that he made a sound similar to when you step on a cockroach. The realization that she stepped on a real person and not a generic "enemy" hit her very hard.


    "Good, I see a few of you have already been christened, it will be easier, but you should never become numb to it. You are soldiers, not killers! Remember though, if you hesitate, you will die, do not assume your enemy will hesitate to put a bullet between your eyes!"


    "S-sir, I just wanted to play a game, not become a soldier." Stacia said meekly


    "This isn''t a game, this is survival! While we can''t force you to pilot a mech, know that you were preselected for your compatibility to be a pilot and raised in an ideal environment so that you do not lose your mind when you transfer your consciousness to the mech. Let me show you what happens when the average person tries to pilot a mech."


    Major Valen tapped the side of the pulpit and a video started playing on the screen showing a man in a pilot''s suit that was being hooked up to a machine with various probes and sensors on his head and a few trailing down his back. Everyone in the room watched as what appeared to be a scientist in a lab coat was counting down with his hands. When he reached 0 the mech in the background powered up, but did not move. The pilot hooked up to the lab equipment started to sweat and was making different facial expressions, but nothing happened aside from him giving them a slight look of constipation.


    "Uhhh, not gonna lie, thought the guy was going to explode or something else tragic" Gray thought to himself.


    After a few minutes the pilot in the video took of his helmet and walked away looking depressed and covered in sweat. "This was our early testing where we tried it with the pilot still awake which you could call normal virtual reality, as you can see, nothing happens. The mind was unable to leave the body while the body was still conscious. We switched to unconscious methods, which I am sure you are all familiar with as full dive virtual reality. We''ve tried several methods and all failed." Major Valen continued.


    "First we tried using drugs to knock the pilot out, but as expected that did absolutely nothing" Major Valen tapped a button on the pulpit and a video of another pilot being connected to the same device as before showed up, except this time after the countdown the pilot''s body went limp and still the mech didn''t move. The video ended when some lab techs disconnected the pilot and dragged his body away.


    "We tried hypnosis and still nothing." Major Valen tapped a button again and a video showed a pilot sitting still in the seat but once again no movement. The lab tech was able to use voice commands to get the pilot to move through his hypnotic state, but he couldn''t move the mech. A lab tech even commanded the pilot to flip off the camera that was recording there session then had him moonwalk out of the lab.


    "These are the people we trust our weapon''s technology with?!?" Gray thought to himself "My kind of people!"


    "Lastly, we even considered using blunt force to knock out the pilot or even asphyxiation, but that had too many risks. The last test pilot we used was hooked up, but we couldn''t decide upon how to knock him out. This guy just happened to be extremely hungover from the night before and actually fell asleep in the pilot''s chair naturally, so we fired up the mech just to see what would happen."


    Major Valen tapped the button again to a video of a pilot with bloodshot eyes sitting in the pilot''s seat. No countdown was happening but discussions over how to knock him out could be heard off camera. The pilot''s head started bobbing and he actually fell asleep on his own. The scientist''s became quiet suddenly and a few giggles could be heard, then as if on a whim they fired up the mech. Much to their surprise, the mech actually moved, but it didn''t move in any human way possible, still, they finally got the consciousness to transfer Major Valen explained.


    "A few years later, we discovered another problem, the neural paths we had mapped were never the same for everyone. Mapping a new set for each pilot would take months unless we could discover some sort of commonality upon how they developed."


    Major Valen clicked another button again and the picture of a beautiful woman with blonde hair tied up in a bun, white lab coat, long dark pants, and a low cut v neck shirt with plenty of curvature was shown on screen. All the males of course started to pay more attention to this.


    "This is Doctor Sara Watts, she may look extremely young, but her real age is unknown. She developed the basic theory of how neural paths formed and even successfully replicated them which created our basis for true artificial intelligence. Of course, only 2 completely sentient AI exist that we''re aware of. Sara is one of them after she used herself to test the artificial neural network to transfer consciousness. Sadly she became¡­ stuck¡­ so that picture is of her last physical appearance over 50 years ago."


    "So¡­ we''re all going to become one with our machine and transfer our consciousness to them and become human brain with a robot body?!?" said Geoff


    "What? Heck no¡­ if we transfer you to a machine, only you could use it and we''d have to wipe out your existence to have someone else use it. Instead we used the technology to develop AIs, that''s why they are so lifelike."


    Gray felt like some important piece of information was missing from this but chose not to think about it or question it at this time as he was still trying to figure out where this all was going.


    "Ok, so where are you going with all of this?" Gray asked.


    "People are smart, but only individually, we want you all to become our test group and also help control the other players. As for why you, you''ve been living in a virtual environment for most of your lives so your consciousness can easily adapt to being placed in a machine." Major Valen tapped a button on the pulpit again and a video came up showing a pilot placed in a mech through a window in what appeared to be a control room.


    "This is what happens when your mind is unable to adapt to being linked or placed in a machine" Major Valen commented.


    In the video was a man dressed in military garb watching the pilot and mech behind the glass in the control room as he said "Begin transfer." The man looked hesitantly at the robot again. The robot appeared to spasm slightly as the transfer began showing that the subject began to link with the robot and could control the artificial musculature. The man looked up hopeful, but then turn to disappointment as several alarms started blaring.


    "Sara! Report!" yelled the man in the video.


    "Sir, vitals are going erratic, the subject is unable to control the robot as his mind destabilizes, recommend immediate shutdown"


    A loud garbled noise is emitted from the robot, one could only describe it as a robot screaming in pain.


    "Shut it down¡­" said the man as the video went black.


    "What¡­ what was that?" asked Gray hesitantly.


    "Dr. Sara Watts and head researcher Edward Teach, we attempted to force the consciousness to connect to the machine through the neural link and the pilot''s mind eroded quickly. Fortunately, Edward had a brilliant idea. Think of it as getting into a freezing pool of water, if you just jump in the shock could hurt you, but if you take your time and do it inch by inch you can make it in without getting that shock." Said Major Valen


    "So basically you''ve eased our minds into being comfortable with the machines and being linked so we don''t receive a neural shock, so to speak?" said Caleb.


    "That''s the gist of it, we''ve spent as much as 25 years grooming your minds in the virtual world to be able to handle the transfer by being transferred for most of your lives."


    __________


    Gray and the others were still uncomfortable being essentially drafted into the military, they felt they had no connection to the Alterran Alliance nor any hatred of the Terran Hegemony.


    "Sir, why should we fight for a country we have no allegiance with?" asked Gray.


    "As harsh as it sounds, you have no choice. You have no identity, no currency, and no value in this world except to the military¡­ Plus you need your incubation pod for gene therapy at least once a month or your body will start to decay at a very rapid pace."


    An alarm resounded through the base, it was now 11:30am, 30 minutes before launch of the "game".


    "Everyone, you are the guides of the future pilots, do not let us down! Work with your fellow pilots and let us work towards ending the war permanently!"

 Chapter 41 - Volume 1 Epilogue

    At a military camp in the area formerly known as western Germany¡­


    Kelly Lagerty, Kyam Berlin, and 48 other military academy cadets and recent graduates were sitting in a similar classroom with another instructor. The other 150 military academy cadets and grads were stationed in 3 other bases along the demilitarized zone that lay between the Alliance and the Hegemony. Having learned the truth of the Alterra Project well ahead of everyone else, the military academy was ahead of everyone else in terms of getting ready for the war. Matchmaking? To them it was a drill not a game. They would be the first line of defense and the first to attack as soon as the Eurasian Treaty expired in a little over a month.


    "Hey, how''re you holding up?" Kyam asked turning to Kelly.


    "¡­Fine. I will be ready September 1st if that is what you are worried about. You?" Kelly replied.


    "Nervous, excited, scared, and kinda hungry honestly." Kyam replied honestly.


    Kelly laughed slightly "Yes, I thought I wouldn''t miss having to eat, but sometimes it is the simple things in life that we enjoy the most and fight for."


    "You mean you''re fighting for food?!?" Kyam replied jokingly with a grin.


    "Go play on some railroad tracks¡­" Kelly rolled her eyes at Kyam. "I''m here so others don''t have to be¡­"


    Kyam noticed her looking off into the distance as she said this and thought to himself "Who are you thinking about I wonder¡­"


    __________


    "Ugghhh¡­ I don''t wanna fight a war!" complained a beautiful woman wearing a long white gown and a tiara made of emeralds whom appeared to be of Asian descent.


    "Milady, you don''t have to fight, leave that to your soldiers, you only need to lead them" a middle-aged woman kindly reminded the girl in the white gown. She appeared to be an advisor of sorts for the younger woman.


    "I know, but let''s just go have fun instead! I hear Miss Maven is coming around this way!" the woman jumped around excitedly while playing air guitar to some song in her head.


    "Fun or not, things will change in the next month." The middle-aged advisor mumbled to herself.

 Chapter 42 - 3 Mechs walk into a Bar...

    The truth of the Alterra Project was only shared to the Diamond-Tier players at this point so they were constantly monitoring all of those players. In order to prevent the spread of information in case one of the Diamond-Tier players leaked it, each Diamond-Tier player would have very restricted access to return to the Virtual World they were raised in. To explain their long absences, Alterra Corporation used the excuse of hiring those for a secret project that required them to be disconnected from friends and family.


    Gray was not very worried about being unable to see his friends as all of them were gamers so they would definitely be joining the other players of Alterra Online. As for everyone''s family, this was a bit of a tricky situation since everybody''s parents from the virtual world were not the same as their biological parents.


    Major Valen summed the family situation up pretty well by saying "Just think of it as everyone is adopted and only you lot know that." Everyone had to go along with this as they really couldn''t think of a better way to put it.


    Major Valen finally said "Okay, listen up soldiers! You will be the guides for the new players, to make your lives easier, you will be given the ability to create faction based missions based upon your rank. No, you can''t do it for free, it will cost you merits to create a mission. If the player or group of players complete the mission, you will be refunded the merits and earn half as much more. The players taking your mission will split the merits you used to create the mission."


    "What if they fail the mission?" Geoff asked


    "Then you''ve wasted merits! However, if the system deems the mission impossible to finish for a reason outside of the player''s control, the merits will be refunded."


    "What''s to stop us from giving each other quests? And what if we create a quest for killing someone?" asked Gray.


    "First, you can give each other quests. Second, remember that the system is still monitored so it can reject your quest if it doesn''t deem it valuable. We''re not going to reward a player for stepping on a bug for example!"


    "So¡­ killing someone IS okay then?" asked Stacia hesitantly.


    "Of course, this is a war, but remember your quest can and will be rejected if it doesn''t benefit the Alterran Alliance." said Major Valen.


    "What system will be judging our missions as valuable or not?" asked Caleb


    "Several elder statesmen will devote their lives 24 hours a day to reviewing every single quest one at a time!" said Major Valen


    "That¡­ that seems wasteful¡­ and slow¡­" said Geoff


    "Of course it is! This is the 22nd century! We use AI to monitor the quests not some old fogeys in front of a bunch of computer screens!" said Major Valen while grinning at Geoff.


    Gray opened up his HUD again and went to the ''Missions'' section again. A new button appeared on Gray''s HUD as "Create Mission" and decided to press it. A request form of sorts popped up, it allowed Gray to delegate a player to receive his mission or post it publically, set a mission description, designate mission category, and even try some extra options.


    Gray inspected the extra options and thought to himself "Require Briefing, Time Limited, and Efficiency Bonus¡­ Those sound fairly self-explanatory."


    Gray figured the ''Require Briefing'' meant that the mission giver had to give a direct briefing to the mission takers, ''Time Limited'' meant that you had to complete it within a set time limit, and ''Efficiency Bonus'' meant that if you completed the mission much faster than expected you could get a bonus.


    "Ok, not to ask the dumb question but¡­" Gray hesitated for a moment remembering that Major Valen didn''t hesitate to break a clipboard over his head last time he asked a dumb question but he felt it was worth risking "¡­ why should we give missions to other players?"


    Gray immediately ducked behind Geoff thinking he was about to get hit with something, surprisingly Major Valen answered normally. "Everyone in the Alliance is on the same side, thus it is more beneficial for everyone to get stronger together instead of just a small group of people. Also, for missions the military creates everyone will be assigned a mech unless they are given permission from a Lieutenant Colonel or above to use their own so even if players slack off they will not be left without one."


    "Nice, so I want everyone in this room to help me and give me fast easy missions so I can collect as many mechs as possible!" said Geoff with a grin.


    Major Valen walked over to Geoff and smashed a clipboard over his head causing Geoff to wince with pain and rub his head, nobody seemed to really notice as they were kind of hoping that would happen.


    "Players are only able to purchase two separate mechs for themselves. Once they purchase that third mech, they will have to trade in one of their other ones. We only have so many resources and with 24,326 players joining the military, we would run out of resources if so many players tried to horde dozens of mechs!"


    This seemed like a valid point as it seemed difficult enough to just maintain a few mechs, Gray could hardly imagine fielding and servicing them by the thousands.


    "Lastly, the Eurasian Treaty expires September 1st, for those of you that don''t know, today is July 25th 2121, exactly as it was in the virtual world. With 70 years of peace, we can expect the Hegemony to be ready to go September 1st so we need to make sure the players are ready by then!" said Major Valen


    "Why didn''t we start training everyone earlier? It makes more sense to train soldiers for longer, right?" asked Gray.


    "We did at first, but pilotable mechs were not developed until 2160, we had remote ones but it was too difficult to not only maintain the signal in combat, but the pilots lost around half of their effectiveness due to signal lag and lack of reflexes." Major Valen glanced at the time and then finished by saying "Alright, the players will be joining us in 30 minutes, follow me."


    Major Valen left the classroom with the other Diamond-tier ''players'' behind him. He took them to a previously cordoned off building and said "This will be your private rec room. You are only allowed 3 guests each at once and you will be charged 5 merits to bring guests in."


    "That seems expensive¡­ why are you charging us for a simple rec room?" asked Gray.


    "Take a look for yourself¡­" said Major Valen with a big grin on his face.


    Gray and the other Diamond-Tier players walked into the rec room while Major Valen was motioning for them to enter. Immediately everyone''s mouth opened in surprise as they gazed around.


    "Calling this a mere rec room¡­" said Caleb while shaking his head.


    What had originally appeared to be a small single-story office building was actually a high-end recreation facility. From the entrance one would actually go down a wide flight of stairs into a much more expansive area than what one expected. On one side there was a reception desk and a few shelves with towels on them.


    "This is a sauna obviously, now only 2 rooms exist, one for men, and one for women." Said Major Valen


    "What if I identify as an attack helicopter?" Geoff said with a grin


    Geoff was once again greeted by a clipboard being broken over the back of his head. Nobody seemed to care, but Gray was curious as to where Major Valen kept that clipboard since he wasn''t carrying it before.


    "This is the modern age, we don''t raise entitled wimps and prissy babies that get to be offended and have their way! You are either packing heat or packing meat!" barked Major Valen


    Everyone looked at each other and then Geoff whispered to Gray "Does he know none of us understand what he just said?"


    "I don''t think it matters because nobody is dumb enough to question him about it." Gray whispered back.


    On the opposite side of the sauna was a few vintage arcade booths and a lounge area. It was fairly sparse Gray thought as it only had 4 games, but at least the lounge area had plenty of comfy furniture.


    "Why does it seem like the arcade is kind of sparse?" asked Gray


    "You are grown ass adults, you can request more and purchase them on your own with merits. The military is not going to supply you with everything unless it is related to serving the Alterran Alliance!" said Major Valen.


    Thinking about it that way, it sort of did make sense, even setting up this rec room¡­ no, setting up this entertainment facility was above and beyond what any soldiers or pilots would be given.


    Finally against the back wall they had a traditional bar with several stools lined up neatly next to the bar. A large projector was placed to give everyone at the bar a view of whatever was being displayed, currently it was playing some random sports channel playing a ball game with a gun that had a curved scoop on the other end nobody recognized.


    "That looks kinda interesting, I''ll ask about it later." Gray thought to himself as him and most of the other guys were watching it with keen interest.


    The 3 girls giggled amongst themselves and Yurika added "Sports at a bar and they''re like moths to a flame¡­"


    Major Valen clapped his hands loudly and yelled "Alright boys and girls! Let''s get to the medical lab and get ready to welcome the new players! Only a few minutes left!"

 Chapter 43 - Fresh Faces

    Major Valen, Gray, and the 11 other ''players'' headed back towards the medical facility. Gray remembered that there were several incubation pods stacked upon each other when he first joined the game and now knew it was because each body was stored in them when the player logged out of Alterra Online. Now that they knew the secret of the Alterra Project, they really didn''t need to log out anymore if they didn''t want to.


    "So anything we should worry about in regards to the new players?" asked Geoff.


    "We don''t expect you to babysit all of them, but keep in mind that the war will most likely start up again as soon as the treaty expires on September 1st. Emphasize the realism so they don''t go overboard with their actions. For example, we don''t want a male player trying to take advantage of a female NPC just because he is a player. We know they''re actually real people and not just some made up artificial character for the player''s enjoyment, but the player''s can''t know that yet." said Major Valen


    Everyone nodded solemnly and the girls even looked a little fired up for some reason Gray couldn''t figure out.


    __________


    Everyone walked into the medical facility and then into the back room where the incubation pods were kept. Several medical assistants were busy lining the incubation pods up along the floor. Gray tried to quickly count the number of pods lying around, but given the size of the room, he could only estimate about 200 to 300 pods.


    "Alright, remember how you all felt when you exited your pod for the first time, the new players will be feeling the same thing. Use that knowledge to get them acclimated as fast as possible. Oh, and finally, you all will now have access to the real internet, not just the virtual world''s enclosed network. You will be monitored so think of it like having access to the internet at work. The logistics or maintenance division can update your armlets for this access later. For now, get ready!"


    Everyone kinda looked at each other with varying reactions, not really sure what Major Valen meant by ''get ready!'' Were they about to be attacked or something?


    Yurika looked excited thinking that something fun was about to happen, Stacia covered her chest for protection with a slight expression of fear, Caleb just shrugged at Stacia''s weird action, and Geoff was covering his family jewels for some strange reason while Gray looked at him with even more confusion.


    "Geoff... what are you doing?" asked Gray.


    "Protecting the future of the Leray family! I will not go down without a fight!" said Geoff defiantly.


    "Major Valen, sir, do you have a clipboard? I need to knock some sense into a teammate..." said Gray with a deadpan expression.


    Geoff stood up at attention quickly with his hands at his sides "Just kidding, right?" then trying to laugh innocently.


    Gray then put his hand on Stacia''s shoulder and said to her "You can relax, we''re a team so we can count on each other now, right?"


    Stacia seemed to relax a little bit then stood straight like normal and nodded to Gray. "You''re right, sorry..."


    Everyone stood together, Major Valen was in front of them with a clipboard that had a list of what appeared to be names on it and the various medical technicians around had similar lists.


    "Okay baby birds, split up into teams of 2 each so you can give a brief tour and orientation to the groups of players as they wake up!"


    Of course Gray looked at Geoff and Geoff looked at Gray but Major Valen stepped in and said "I would prefer it if you two morons weren''t together."


    "Dang it." Gray thought because Geoff was his buddy, but thinking about it they would screw around less if they weren''t together.


    Major Valen reached out to one of the other males the other team, grabbed him by his head and tossed him to Geoff. "The rest of you pair up!"


    Geoff looked at the guy that was tossed towards him with a slight expression of pity as he was just tossed around like a sack of potatoes. "I''m Geoff, you?"


    The guy that was grabbed picked himself up and said "Paul, sorry for the inconvenience, the seven of us made a team called Team EXPANDS, which team are you guys?" Paul was a little taller than Geoff and Gray, but very skinny. His blonde hair was longer and one could tell he spent a lot of time taking care of it.


    "Steel Wolves, only 5 of us though, I have to ask though, is it Team EXPANDS because it will keep growing?" Geoff asked Paul.


    "Something like that... it''s actually because we couldn''t decide on a name and just combined all of our initial into a word." said Paul honestly.


    The gears in Geoff''s head started spinning away as you could tell he was trying to think of something, finally a light bulb went off and he asked Paul with a grin. "Is EXPANDS the only word you guys found that works?"


    "...Yes" said Paul


    "You missed the better one! SPANDEX! You guys could''ve been Team SPANDEX!" said Geoff triumphantly.


    Paul put his head down while frowning and thought to himself "I need a new team"...


    Everyone else paired up by themselves leaving Gray without being able to pick his partner. He finally saw the only other girl from their group of 12 was standing around seemingly in a daze. The recent realization of killing someone from the mission a few days ago had still left her listless and Gray now understood why nobody picked her as it would essentially mean he''d have to do twice the work if she wasn''t going to help.


    Gray walked over to the girl as she sat on a chair against a wall with her legs tugged up against her chest while looking down depressed. "She couldn''t be any more stereo-typically depressed if she tried." Gray thought to himself. Gray plopped down in the seat next to her without saying a word and she was slightly startled by this.


    "I''m Gray with the Steel Wolves, you can leave the tour to me, just follow along. When you''re ready to talk, we can talk, or not talk, just sitting with someone is nice too." Gray said with a smile on his face.


    "...Xyra..." the girl whispered with a bit of a muffle as her mouth was covered by her thighs.


    "What was that?" replied Gray


    "...my name is Xyra, Team EXPANDS." the girl, Xyra, replied finally loud enough that Gray could hear her.


    "Ok, let me know if I can ever help you with anything." Gray said confidently, his overly nice guy nature coming out in force again.


    Xyra nodded as Gray was finally able to get a look at her face. Xyra could be described as a wild beauty, she had tan skin and thick black hair and black eyes that made her look like she may have been of pacific islander descent with her slightly slanted eyes and dark full lips. When she finally stood up Gray noticed that she was actually a little taller than him and very lean, not skinny, but more like she was very toned and worked out a lot.


    "Alright, now that you''re all paired up, here is a list of your players we''re giving to you. We''ll release them by team one group at a time. Team 1 will go to Geoff and Paul, Team 2 will go to Gray and Xyra, Team 3..." Major Valen went through the list of six teams assigning them to each pair of players and handing each of them a list of their assigned team. "...and Team 6 will be Stacia and Yurika."


    Since this was the first time Gray got to see the incubation pods opening, he was slightly unnerved when he realized how similar to a coffin they were. Each pod first stood up at a roughly 75 degree angle by the bottom legs retracting and the top legs extending. The top parts of each player was visible form the chest up but their eyes were all closed. A few of the players started to move a little inside their pods. Each time someone''s eyes opened the sound of a seal breaking could be heard and the incubation pod''s door would swing open revealing the entire player at once.


    Gray thought of something then whispered to one of the medical technicians nearby. "Everyone has a tight fitted shirt and shorts on, how were they put on?"


    The medical technician replied "Once the body completes the final growth cycle, the last step is to weave those synthetic clothes on each person in their pod."


    "Wow, that sounds complicated and I can''t imagine how it is done." said Gray with amazement.


    "Of course it''s complicated, and totally made up, we just open everyone up early and put clothes on them after they finish their accelerated growth." said the medical technician while laughing slight at Gray.


    Gray looked at the medical technician and was about to say something when he was interrupted by him "Don''t get the wrong idea, we''re all professionals here and nobody would giggle or laugh at any of the weird body modifications people tried to get by, plus only female techs helped female players and male techs with male players."


    This made sense to Gray, we''re all grown adults, nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. "Hey, what''s the weirdest thing someone tried to do?" said Gray to the technician while smiling mischievously.


    The technician hesitated for a second, looked around to see if any of the other techs were paying attention then whispered. "You would not believe at how many female players tried to be male players and vice versa, but we had a "squirrel-face" in your batch that tried to put his eyes on the side of his head, the weirdest one by far though was the guy that tried to swap his arms and legs around."


    "Like left and right? That''s not so weird..."


    "No, top and bottom..."


    Gray pictured two possibilities with that, either the guy would walk on his hands and then his feet would be at his sides where his hands would have been, or the guy would walk on his feet like normal with his head hanging upside down between his legs. "I can''t even..."


    "He wasn''t allowed to use the customization system anymore after we had to recreate his body. Squirrel head as well, he would need a custom made neural link helmet due to that ridiculous eye spacing."


    Gray nodded thinking about this some more but had to leave the technician be as players started to wake up finally.

 Chapter 44 - Taking a tour

    Gray and Xyra watched as the many new players started to leave their incubation pods. Xyra kept her head down mostly and didn''t make eye contact with the other players if she could help it. Gray noticed most of the new players were a little confused at first as games usually just let you dive right in, but here they couldn''t even leave the facility they just woke up in.


    The initial batch were getting acclimated and were looking for their friends, Alterra Corporation let players pick up to 7 players they wished to spawn with for the mass release where as the initial 800 players from the Diamond-Tier were completely random.


    The players started to mingle and naturally a lot of the male gamers were trying to flirt with the female gamers, but most female gamers were used to this so it didn''t phase them too much. Several groups began to form naturally as the gamers all found their friends.


    Eventually Major Valen decided they had a enough time and shouted "Ok, listen up!" He continued after the chatter started to die down. "Everyone has a number on a slip of paper in your pocket on the pilot suit next to your incubation pod! That is your team for orientation! If you want to trade or change teams, talk to the team captains, the twelve Diamond-Tier players in front of you with the lists of players! The teams go from Team 1 on my right to Team 6 on my far left! Consider this a tutorial mission, find your team, and you can get started as soon as you''re completed with the mission!"


    As soon as Major Valen finished his speech the new players started to return to their incubation pods to look for the pilot jumpsuit that was left for each one of them. Most of the female players had noticed it right away and had already put it on once they realized they were basically in a swimsuit upon leaving the pod.


    Gray figured their will be confusion so he walked over to a white board, grabbed a marker and wrote the number 6 on the back of his clipboard and held it up over his head. The few players that had already found Gray and Xyra were a little confused when they saw Gray raising a number over his own head.


    "Team Nine? I thought this was Team Six..." said one of the male players while laughing.


    Gray looked up and noticed that he was holding the clipboard upside down making the 6 look like a 9 and quickly flipped it back around. "I... was just testing everyone, yep, that''s it... just a test" said Gray sheepishly.


    Even Xyra smiled and let out a slight giggle at this. Gray was happy to see that she still wasn''t completely absorbed in herself so he decided he would play a fool if it would help her loosen up.


    As the teams started to divvy up, Gray noticed that Stacia and Yurika''s team was made up completely of girls... It seems that a lot of the girls all signed up together, which made a lot of the other guy players ask for permission to leave their current team and join Stacia and Yurika''s team. After every single transfer request was rejected by Stacia and Yurika, the teams started to leave the medical facility.


    "Hmmm, we all can''t go to the same places at the same time as the other teams, so we should coordinate with the other team leaders to arrange ourselves." Gray thought to himself.


    Gray sent a message to the 11 other Diamond-Tier players at the base saying he wished to meet up and discuss where each team would go during the orientation. Everyone except Xyra replied since she was standing next to Gray.


    Once the 12 Diamond-Tier players gather, Gray said "Ok, let''s try and stay out of each other''s way while we do this. Let''s do this...".


    Gray pulled out the marker he took earlier and made a list of six places he thought they should all visit.


    1. Armory


    2. Cafeteria


    3. Mech Bays


    4. Mission Board


    5. Player Quarters


    6. Simulator Pods


    "Go in this order but everyone start with their team number... so Team 4 will start at the Mission Board and finish at the Mech Bays." said Gray


    "What about the classroom and officer quarters?" asked Paul


    "They''re next to the Player Quarters so you can hit all 3 places at once." said Gray.


    Everyone nodded their head in agreement and returned to their respective teams. The teams were finally separating and Gray noticed that almost all of his team was comprised of mostly girls. Gray figured this was due to having the only other girl of the Diamond-Tier from this base as a leader.


    Major Valen noticed Gray taking charge of everyone and finding a good solution to taking everyone to the different locations without running in to each other more than necessary and nodded his head with satisfaction.


    "Don''t flirt Gray, you are awful at it, and girls talk... don''t become known as a womanizer!" Gray started thinking to himself trying to not say or do anything too stupid. "I''ll need a fall guy, someone to be the butt of every joke, wish Geoff was with me... Wait, this might be why Major Valen split us up..." thought Gray.


    As Gray was thinking this, the girls in the team started to drift away from a guy that seemed unable to read the situation as he kept trying to chat the girls up. Gray was unable to see who he was as he was a little shorter than average, but as the girls started to avoid this guy, he finally came into view.


    Gray''s face lit up with a smile as he realized he had found his victi... I mean fall guy... "Jono! Glad to see you!"


    Jono looked in the direction he heard his name being called from and then noticed Gray "Gray! Who knew we''d be in the same spawn location!"


    Gray shook Jono''s hand firmly and after a bit of small talk, Gray and the rest of Team 6 headed towards the Simulator Pods.


    __________


    Moscow, formerly the nation known as Russia, now the political capital of the Terran Hegemony. After the formation of the Terran Hegemony, the former countries were divided up into different fiefdoms and led by provincial lords or ladies. The current leader was Queen Manyeo from the Kwin family that were the royal family of the Terran Hegemony that originated in Korea. In the Hegemony, leadership was hereditary so you could at most become a small duke if you were not related to nobility.


    Queen Manyeo stood in front of the throne in the interior of the Kremlin Palace, she had fallen in love with the palace and thus moved the Political Capitol from old Korea to Moscow. As gold was a color only suited for royalty, the heavy gold accents and spotless sheen of the floor made her feel like this was truly a palace fit for royalty. St. Andrew''s Hall was even blocked off from anyone not of the nobility as Queen Manyeo didn''t even dare to sully the floors with common feet. The only exceptions were the 4 maid servants that had to clean St. Andrew''s Hall 2 hours before sunrise every day without fail. The maids had even polished the floor to a near mirror-like shine which pleased Queen Manyeo even more since she could now see her reflection in the floor.


    Queen Manyeo wore a traditional royal hanbok, the long pink petticoat had several gold symbols embroidered upon it to symbolize virtues such as luck and longevity. The hem on her hanbok was embroidered in gold with phoenixes showing her status as a queen. She wore a ceremonial hair wig that was thickly braided on the top and looped around in the back with white and gold hair ornaments. The vast golden embroidery truly could only be compared to the golden architecture of St. Andrew''s Hall. Queen Manyeo would strut around like a male peacock when she was fully decked out in her royal hanbok as just putting it on can take hours after all of the makeup and layers.


    Today was a special occasion for the Queen as she was going to declare war on the evil Alterran Alliance that was holding back the nobility''s divine right to rule the Earth. Assembled with her St. Andrew''s Hall were the 12 provincial lords and ladies, 9 of which were directly descendants of the Kwin family, the rest were married in to the Kwin family.


    The provincial Lords and Ladies also wore ceremonial hanboks, each hanbok was generous with gold embroidery and had layers of red, yellow, blue, and black to represent the traditional elements in Oriental Cosmology.


    "My Queen, everyone has arrived at your summons." a short middle-aged man had knelt down before the Queen and delivered this message clearly without making eye contact.


    "Then let us begin..." the Queen stood up from her throne and with a majestic voice that was heard clearly by all present. "One month from today the Eurasian Treaty expires! We will immediately attack! What is the status of our combined forces?"


    One of the Lords cupped his hand over his fist and gave it a shake in the direction of the Queen and said "My Queen, we currently have a combined total of 19,142 pilots after failures to increase compatibility with medication and neural pathways that ha_"


    Queen Manyeo interrupted him by saying "Enough! We don''t need to know how you do it, just get us more pilots."


    The other Lords and Ladies yelled out in unison while bowing "Yes My Queen!"


    Queen Manyeo walked over to one of the windows in the hall and could barely see a few inches out of it due to the thick fog. "For far too long has the rest of the Earth, my Earth, been denied of our divine right to rule! Force compatibility of as many pilots as you can if you need to, offer knighthood to any pilot that joins and contributes to our cause! I want my daughter to inherit the Earth, not just half of it!"

 Chapter 45 - Team Building

    Not much had changed in Moscow after the takeover of the Hegemony, after the failure of Democracy in Russia, they had reverted back to a Socialist State. While the citizens felt more oppressed, they were happier overall as their quality of life had improved dramatically. The main reason that the country''s citizens didn''t revolt against the new government is that everyone''s assets were seized putting both rich and poor at the same level. Luxuries were carefully regulated and were given out as rewards by the government for contributing to the Terran Hegemony through a point system. Nobility didn''t receive a point salary like the commoners, instead they would just tax the commoners at a flat rate.


    Queen Manyeo had only one biological daughter, Princess Bang-gwi. When the Princess moved to Moscow with her mother, she fell in love with St. Basil''s Cathedral as it looked like a dollhouse out of a fantasy book to her. Queen Manyeo let Princess Bang-gwi convert St. Basil''s Cathedral from a museum in to her private palace.


    Princess Bang-gwi was merely 19 and was considerably more open and honest than her mother, Queen Manyeo. She wanted to gain her independence from her mother so she could have fun instead of constantly being fawned over by the other nobility as the queen had made it known that she would inherit the throne.


    Even without makeup Princess Bang-gwi was still beautiful, she liked to wear a long and light pink hanbok with only a small amount of gold embroidery and a light pink waistband held it to her body. Her hair was black and kept shoulder length and usually flowing free because she wanted to keep it the same way her idol, Miss Maven, kept it.


    "Jwi! Jwi! Come here quick! I want to do this too!" Princess Bang-gwi was jumping around excitedly while watching a video of the small concert that Miss Maven had performed in New Venice that Gray and Geoff had seen.


    A woman in her 40s came in with a slight look of worry, her name was Jwi of the Chuhan family, a vassal of the royal Kwin family. Jwi was average looking, had short black hair kept up neatly, and usually wore a dark colored hanbok without any golden embroidery. Jwi was the attendant for Princess Bang-gwi and had been watching over her since she was a baby thus came to treat her like a daughter almost.


    Princess Bang-gwi held up the tablet with the video of Miss Maven opening with a soothing melody wearing a beautiful pink gown. Jwi smiled thinking that Miss Maven might finally be a good influence on Princess Bang-gwi, but her mind was quickly changed as she saw the curtain and Miss Maven''s pink gown vanish in flames to reveal the leather outfit under the gown.


    "I WANT that! I want to do that!" Princess Bang-gwi said excitedly.


    "I don''t think your mother would approve¡­ and she would kill me!" Jwi lamented


    "Nah! She loves it when I sing!" said Princess Bang-gwi proudly


    "Indeed she does Princess, but not lighting yourself on fire!" Jwi countered.


    "Boring¡­ hey, Miss Maven is almost at old Germany according to her tour schedule, she will be crossing into our empire before the treaty expires. Can we go see her? Please? Pretty please?!?"


    "Not that close to the start of the invasion, we need to keep you safe!" said Jwi


    Princess Bang-gwi pouted at this since she was actually against invading as she just wanted everyone to have fun. Upon seeing how cute Princess Bang-gwi was when she pouted, Jwi added "¡­but we will have a military recruitment campaign two weeks prior to the treaty ending and I suppose taking one night off wouldn''t be bad if you can keep a low profile."


    Princess Bang-gwi''s face lit up and she gave Jwi a huge hug and said "Thanks Jwi! You''re the best!"


    __________


    The tours of the different teams were fairly uneventful as most of the players followed a herd mentality, especially when they thought of it as a training mission so they assumed they would be getting freebies at the end of it.


    Gray and the 11 other Diamond Tier players at the base didn''t disappoint them either by giving the players all a mission that simply to complete the tour with them. Most players loved doing quests and missions so it wasn''t hard to maintain their focus. Unsurprisingly most players took interest in the mech bays and asked when they would be given their mech. A lot of them got excited upon hearing that it would be right away but had their hopes crushed when they were informed of the costs of just taking it out for a joy ride. The second most popular spot was a tie between the armory and the Simulator Pods.


    Gray remembered Yurika affectionately petting the flamethrower she had used in a mission and figured there are more gun nuts out there just like her probably so the armory wasn''t a surprise. The simulator pods were popular purely for their matchmaking function as players loved to compete with each other as well.


    After the tour ended, room assignments were handed out to every new player and their incubation pods were moved to their new rooms. The new players shared a room of 4 and only the Diamond-Tier were special getting private rooms each. Many of the players tried to bribe the Diamond-Tier players with ''real life'' credits to trade rooms with them, but none of the Diamond-Tier players took it as they knew those virtual credits were actually worthless. The Diamond-Tier players had actually be warned not to purchase merits from the new players with those real life credits as it would be taking advantage of them.


    "So dude, what do we do now?" Jono asked Gray.


    "First pick up your key from the armory when you get a chance as I said before. It makes piloting a mech much easier when it is calibrated for you. Also, think of this game as real life, merits are everything, as I said in the tour, matchmaking and missions are the easiest way to earn them although you can barter with some NPCs for them. As for which ones, I''ve only been able to do it with one." Replied Gray.


    "Duh, I mean, which team are you on, I need to form my own team so we can kick your ass!" said Jono.


    "Steel Wolves, don''t you remember from the promotional video at the game conference?"


    "I was uhhh¡­ too busy looking for Felicia from the balcony¡­" Jono said honestly.


    Gray face-palmed, but he could understand somewhat. "Well, do what you want to do, if you do make your own team, make sure you can trust every member with your life, you only get one in this game."


    "Relax dude, it''s just a game, I''ll just play something else or wait until the next full dive VR game comes out. Alterra was just giving this game away anyways if you became an employee or subsidiary of them." said Jono.


    "That explains the mass hiring in the virtual world, they''re trying to gather all of the pilot candidates and get them in the ''game''." Gray thought to himself.


    "Sweet, well, I''m going to hop in to matchmaking then to find me so expert players that can match my godly gaming skills so we can form the team ''God Pilots Squad'' and take our designated place at the top of the ranks!" Jono said brashly.


    Gray laughed at Jono thinking that his arrogance and self-confidence was completely ridiculous but at the same time that is also what made him a lot of fun to be around because he enjoyed putting Jono in his place. "That¡­ that is an awesome team name¡­" said Gray.


    "Of course it is! I''m off then, going to head to the simulators before they fill up!"


    "Wait Jono, one last thing, don''t forget to activate your AI trainer before you start your matches, it needs to watch you battle to be able to help you."


    "Duh, what kinda idiot wouldn''t turn it on right away?"


    Gray laughed despairingly at that and said "Ha, yeah, only an idiot would not do that for a whole day of matchmaking¡­" as he cried to himself on the inside remembering that he was that idiot.


    Gray met up with the rest of his team after the tours and had to ask everyone "So... anyone else think we should expand our current team? So many new players now would be the best time to snag a few of them."


    "I agree, but remember we need to trust them. Speaking of which, you have a follower Gray" Caleb said.


    Unbeknownst to Gray, Xyra had actually followed Gray even after the tour was over and was now standing behind Gray without making a sound still looking down. What surprised Gray wasn''t that she followed him but that he didn''t notice her despite her being a little taller than him. "Does she have a stealth mode or something?" Gray thought.


    "Uhhh, everything Ok Xyra?" Gray turned and asked Xyra.


    "¡­join¡­" whispered Xyra


    "What?"


    "¡­join¡­ team¡­" Xyra''s face flushed a little bit with embarrassment.


    "I''m sorry we still can''t understand you." Gray couldn''t believe how quiet this woman was despite her size.


    "I WANT TO JOIN YOU GUYS!!" Xyra finally burst out scaring everyone else.

 Chapter 46 - Changing Teams

    Recovering from their shock, everyone looked at Xyra who was now looking down in embarrassment.


    "Uhm, I don''t see a problem with that, but is that fair to your team to just up and leave?" said Gray.


    "¡­n-no... but that was before¡­ I mean¡­ I don''t trust them¡­ none of them talked to me after¡­ you know¡­ finding out I k-killed someone¡­" said Xyra looking a little upset.


    Gray scratched his head and looked at everyone else to get their thoughts, but Stacia had already walked over to her and gave her a big hug and said "We will gladly welcome you, but you have to tell your current team so they don''t feel betrayed."


    Xyra looked down at Stacia and nodded with tears in her eyes and barely whispered "¡­nk you¡­"


    "Hmmm?" Stacia said to Xyra


    "Thank you." Xyra whispered again


    Gray smiled at Xyra and Stacia glad that Stacia seemed to be good at this sort of thing since he wasn''t very good at comforting people except in a direct and blunt way.


    Xyra left everyone to go find her team and tell them she wanted to leave them.


    __________


    "Yeah, that''s fine, we''re probably going to disband anyways since our friends from before are now here too. We''re gamers so we''re used to it being a sausage party anyways!" said the captain of Team EXPANDS when Xyra informed his team that she wanted to leave.


    "¡­oh¡­ sorry¡­" whispered Xyra, apparently the rest on Team EXPANDS were used to her low volume so nobody needed her to repeat that.


    "Do you have another team in mind or something?" asked Paul


    "Steel Wolves¡­ Gray''s team¡­" said Xyra with a slightly blushing face.


    "Hmmm¡­" Paul said while appearing to be thinking to himself.


    Xyra bowed politely then left to return to Gray and the others


    "Ok, so now we gotta change our name anyways, can''t be Team EXPANDS without the ''X'', so what word can we use with an E, P, A, N, D, and S?" said the captain of Team EXPANDS.


    "You guys should do Team SEDAN then" said Paul "I''m going to go with Xyra"


    "Damn it Paul, not you too, fine whatever!" said the captain of the team formerly known as Team EXPANDS, now Team SEDAN.


    Paul ran off to catch up with Xyra.


    "Can we please use a real name instead of our first initials?" complained one of the other members of Team SEDAN.


    "That''s probably a good idea, it''ll be a pain in the butt once we get more members¡­" said the team captain of Team SEDAN.


    ___________


    Gray and the rest watched Xyra come back to them in a better mood and smiled when they saw her, then they saw Paul next to her also approaching them.


    "Thanks for walking her over Paul, you didn''t have to do that" Geoff said


    "I''m not walking her over¡­ I''m joining too!" declared Paul


    "No, you can''t, we would''ve had a perfect guy to girl ratio!" complained Geoff "Gray! Say something!"


    "If that''s all you''re worried about Geoff, Paul can take your spot then." Gray said while smiling like the devil himself.


    "I''m¡­ I''m fine with Paul joining¡­" Geoff said disheartened


    "Welcome to the team Paul and Xyra! What mechs do you two have and what are your proficiencies?" asked Gray


    "Just the starting mech and I''m a tank! I like to protect people!" said Paul valiantly.


    "¡­Starting mechs¡­ scout¡­ sniper¡­ I''m good at not being seen¡­" Xyra whispered.


    "Ok, so Xyra is a hunter of sorts and Paul is suicidal." Said Gray while nodding to himself.


    "Suicidal?!? What are you talking about? I take the hits for my teammates!" Paul said hotly.


    "Ok, then how many times do you see a human soldier stand up and intentionally take bullets for another repeatedly even drawing attention to themselves to do so?" asked Gray.


    "Huh? I do it all the time in other games! Doesn''t every team or squad need a tank or two?"


    "This isn''t a game remember, you can be on point, but don''t take a shot for others unless you can put a barrier between you and them or the objective is to protect them. Just diving in front of them will get you and the other person killed." Gray said seriously.


    "Uhhh, Gray, didn''t you jump in front of that rat to protect me?" asked Yurika.


    "That¡­ ummm¡­ that wasn''t the same thing¡­" said Gray while scratching his nose


    "Ohhh?" Yurika said grinning devilishly at Gray.


    Gray started to look flustered and finally said "ANYWAYS! Just don''t get yourself killed without a plan of action otherwise you''ll just get killed and not be able to protect who you are trying to protect."


    "So you planned to let that rat bite through your arm?" said Geoff


    "¡­all part of my plan¡­" Gray said smugly, not going to admit that he was being a hypocrite since he didn''t really have a plan at that time.


    "Anyways, let''s get to matchmaking! We need more merits if we want to get more mechs and guns and such."


    Gray and the newly expanded Steel Wolves headed over to the simulator pods for matchmaking.


    __________


    "Can you hear my song of yearning...


    Can you see my passion burning...


    I need a hero to save me...


    Please hero set me freeeeee!"


    Princess Bang-gwi was singing passionately while wearing a long pink evening gown similar to the one Miss Maven wore for her recent concerts that would be burned off at the start of each concert. Princess Bang-gwi mimicked Miss Maven by letting her hair down and then pretending to click a button in her outstretched hand.


    "Ok, now I just need to sew two inner layers to this dress, the first with the highly flammable stunt gel, and the second with the evaporating hydrogel to keep it from burning myself. It''s amazing the kinds of things you can find out just by searching the internet for them." Princess Bang-gwi thought to herself.


    She was already very pleased with how the dress looked and had to admit that AI were very good at replicating existing dresses even if one couldn''t design one from scratch. Unfortunately for her they were not able to sew the double-inner layer as it wasn''t exactly something normally done so she had to look up how to do it herself. After finding the materials needed she added them to her online shopping basket and asked for express shipping.


    "Can''t wait can''t wait can''t wait!" Princess Bang-gwi said excitedly.


    Chuhan Jwi peeked in to see what the princess was up to since she heard her stop singing and then mumble.


    "What are you doing miss?" Jwi asked Princess Bang-gwi


    "I just ordered the last bits of materials to finish this dress!" said Princess Bang-gwi excitedly.


    "Is that the same one from that video, the one that gets put on fire?"


    "Yes!"


    "You''re not planning on lighting it on fire while you''re wearing it and doing the same thing as Miss Maven right?" Jwi asked the princess seriously.


    "Of¡­ Of course not! I''m¡­ I was just ordering some extra padding for the dress to fit better and make it more comfortable to wear!" said Princess Bang-gwi coyly


    "Fair point, compared to Miss Maven you are a bit¡­ lacking¡­" Jwi looked at Princess Bang-gwi''s chest while grinning.


    "Still more than you¡­" Princess Bang-gwi countered while snickering and looking at Jwi''s almost flat chest.


    Chuhan Jwi''s eyebrow twitched as her anger started rising "Princess, I think you''ve been putting on weight, as your advisor I think we should cut back on your desserts¡­ all of them¡­ and give you a more vegetarian diet" said Chuhan Jwi as she left to go inform the kitchen of her plans to change the Princess''s meals.


    The Princess ran out of the room screaming "Noooo! You''re perfect Jwi! I''m sorry! I''m sorry!" the Princess grabbed Jwi''s arm and was trying to pull her back towards her room as Jwi kept walking steadily towards the kitchen.


    "Any man will be lucky to marry you Jwi! I can even recommend a few younger men to you if you want!" begged the Princess.


    "Oh?" Chuhan Jwi stopped walking, then turned to face the princess and her eyes appeared almost red as she was even angrier than before. "Are you saying I''m old?!? And whose fault do you think it is that I''m still single? If you weren''t such a handful I could have more time to myself!" Jwi said angrily while pinching the Princess''s cheeks with both her hands as the Princess continued to apologize.


    "I sowwy I sowwy!" the princess could not annunciate clearly with her cheeks being pinched hard.


    Finally Chuhan Jwi''s rage subsided after a few more adorable ''I sowwy''s from the Princess and she stopped pinching her cheeks and then patted her head gently.


    "I know, and it''s not your fault, I willingly serve your family and have never regretted it for a second."


    "Jwi¡­" the Princess smiled affectionately at Jwi as they walked back towards the Princess''s room.


    As they reached the Princess''s room, Jwi smiled affectionately back at her and said "No desert for a week" and then slammed the door behind them.

 Chapter 47 - Meeting the Iron Stalkers

    Gray and the rest took seats inside the simulator pods and joined the same virtual lobby.


    "What''s this?" Gray thought as he noticed that there was now a team size option instead of just a simple mode option. "Ok guys, looks like we have more options now in matchmaking." Gray announced.


    "Duh, weren''t you paying attention to the forums and game announcements? With more players we can have larger battles so now we can do larger than 5 vs 5." Said Geoff.


    "I uhhh¡­ knew that, was just pointing it out." Nobody seemed to buy it that he paid attention to it but shrugged it off as it was becoming expected for him to miss important details every now and then. "Wait, so Xyra or Paul, what did you guys do with your 7 person team?" Gray asked.


    "We''d take turns or two of us would go in solo and get put on teams that were short of 5 players to fill in." said Paul.


    "Makes sense. Ok, it looks like the smallest team we can select is 8 now¡­ we can do teams of 8, 16, 25, 50, and unlimited. Uhh, how would one do unlimited?" Gray asked


    "The system queues up each player or team then combines them to try and make both teams as even as possible. We should note that unlimited and the other sizes have separate ranks, so our silver rank does not carry over to unlimited." Said Caleb.


    "You guys are silver? Nice, we were just in the middle of bronze since our last few matches. We did end up going 24 and 23 so you could say we had a winning record, although just barely" Paul admitted.


    "Yeah, we started at Bronze 4, but for some reason we advanced very quickly even though we only won 3 out of 5 matches after getting our rank. You guys did a lot of matches though!" Gray said.


    "We just grinded matchmaking like everyone else, I noticed you guys did a mission though and one without mechs even!"


    "How did you guys know about that?" asked Gray


    "Everyone on the base saw you guys walking through the base trying to be a bunch of bad asses, totally worth jumping out of matchmaking for a minute to see it!" Paul said while laughing.


    "Yeah yeah, whatever, we completed the mission and even got a huge completion bonus since we did it with only 5 people instead of the recommend amount." Gray said proudly.


    "And how is your arm from missing that little detail?" Geoff said with a grin


    "Hey, even the mission board staff admitted that they forgot to add that detail, not my fault. Let''s just get on with matchmaking!" Gray said trying to change the subject. "I want to do 50 versus 50, any complaints?"


    Nobody disagreed and so Gray queued up a match for 50 versus 50.


    Waiting for a total of 100 players took about 15 minutes for the pregame lobby to fill up as players from around the world finally filled it up. Once inside they were given a mission overview and an area map.


    Mode: Assault


    Map: Military Headquarters Assault


    Objective: Assault ¨C Offense needs to capture and hold a certain amount of strategic points, Defense needs to stop them.


    Hints: Both teams will get a chance at offense and defense, even if your defense doesn''t hold, just take down the enemy defense faster than they took you out.


    Offense ¨C Cutting off the base''s power source will limit the amount of defenses and blind them strategically.


    Defense ¨C You can return to the base''s mech hanger to repair and rearm as needed.


    The map itself was a large mountainous jungle area. A large square area was cleared out in front of a tall mountain next to a river where the base stood. The base itself was partially cut into the side of the mountain completely closing off the North side of the base to a direct attack. The West and South sides featured the most defenses as the South side was accessible by a bridge over the nearby river and the west side had a road running up to it. The east side of the base was closed off similarly to the north side but large pipes ran up the steep hills to the top of the mountain north of the base where the solar energy farm was constructed. If the map contained any hidden features, nothing was revealed by the map except that the attackers would be placed in a small camp setup just South-West of the base.


    A 5 minute timer appeared in corner of everyone''s HUD and the teams were then separated into offense and defense. Gray found that he and the rest of the Steel Wolves were put on offense first.


    "Dang, was hoping to get defense first so we could see where they try to attack first to see how effective it was." Gray thought.


    "Everyone, we are the Iron Stalkers, we are gold ranked and probably the highest ranked team here, follow us if you want to win!" a loud guy''s voice rang out with 4 others standing next to him. They looked sleek as they each had matching black pilot suits with silver streaks and the outline of a mountain lion''s head on the sleeves. The guy that spoke was tall, well-built, and had perfect hair that he kept checking whenever he saw a reflective surface. "I am Giacobbe Stronzo, a military cadet graduate out of the domed city Rome and a Diamond-Tier player, my four teammates have followed me to victory every time and we are undefeated in matchmaking."


    This caused a slight stir among the other players as for most of them this was their first or second matchmaking game unless they were also Diamond-Tier, plus all of his teammates were very attractive women leaving a lot of the male players jealous.


    Gray didn''t really seem worried or even concerned with Giacobbe and instead asked him "Are your 4 teammates also Diamond-Tier?"


    "Well, no, I earned the Gold rank from my previous team, which was still under my leadership, so the other members left to form other teams led by us, witnessing our teams prowess, these 4 pilots were given the chance to join my team since they are the best¡­ prospects." Giacobbe explained.


    A few of the discerning players figured out what he meant by prospects and immediately lost respect for Giacobbe, but they also figured he had to have some skill since he was still a gold rank in matchmaking.


    "Fair enough¡­ so what is your plan?" Gray asked Giacobbe seriously.


    "Crush them straightforward from the West, but first proceed with a feint from the South and East sides of the base to draw them away as much as we can so we can blast the main gate open the main gate."


    "And your plan B and plan C?" said Gray


    "We only need one plan, we only have time for one plan anyways. We have an hour time limit after all." Said Giacobbe confidently.


    "¡­ Fine, give me my team and your best sniper and we''ll feint from the East side." Said Gray.


    "Glad you understand, I''m obviously the best sniper on our team, but I''ll give you Alice, our scout. Alice, come forward!"


    A petite girl in the Iron Stalker pilot suit came forward and immediately bowed, her cute bowl haircut and large eyes made her look very young. Gray couldn''t even believe she was old enough to understand this game or old enough to even be done with middle school.


    "I am at your disposal, I am Alice of the Iron Stalkers." Alice said with a surprisingly mature voice.


    "Nice to meet you, I am Gray of the Steel Wolves." Gray reached out to shake Alice''s hand, she seemed to look at it in slight disgust then finally extended her hand to shake his.


    "Ignore her Gray, she''s just shy!" Giacobbe said to Gray.


    Alice rolled her eyes and then Giacobbe laughed boisterously and said. "Alright! East side is settled, I need at least 8 brave pilots to feint the south end! The rest will be in the main assault group!"


    Giacobbe arranged everyone else after convincing a group of 8 guys to feint from the south. His plan seemed decent, feint from the south, then feint from the East and make it look like we''re swinging around to the East to take out the power supply first. When their attention is drawn away, blow through the main gate and assault the base. For blowing the main gate, Giacobbe and his previous team earned enough merits to buy RDX high grade explosives so he would use them to blow the gate wide open.


    The timer in the lobby finished counting down taking everyone to their mech selection interface. Everyone had the same starter mech still, the Phalanx Mk 01, Gray selected a battle rifle as his primary weapon as it outranged an assault rifle, but not quite the range of the sniper rifle nor the accuracy.


    "Geoff, Yurika, Paul, take battle rifles, thermobaric grenades, 3 clips extra for your battle rifle and if you have any leftover space some sniper rifle clips. Alice, Stacia, Caleb, and Xyra take a sniper rifle with a tripod and as many spare clips as you can." Gray ordered his team of 8.


    "I have a problem with that Gray." Alice said.


    "What''s the problem?"


    "I can''t afford the tripod accessory for the sniper." Said Alice honestly.


    "Uh, it only costs 50 merits to purchase it and unlock the use of it for matchmaking. How could you not have 50 merits?"


    "Giacobbe said style was important¡­ so this custom pilot suit cost me 60 merits leaving me with only 40 left¡­" Alice said while fidgeting slightly from embarrassment.


    Thinking nothing of it Gray sent Alice 50 merits and said "If we win, you don''t have to pay it back."


    "Thank you, I won''t let you down Captain Gray!"


    "Just Gray is fine"


    "Yeah, don''t inflate his ego any more" Geoff jokingly said.


    Everyone laughed and then Caleb said "So Gray, are we going along with that posers plan?"


    "To an extent, his plan has a glaring problem that we can address, that is why I asked for snipers. Just follow your Captain''s orders and you''ll be fine!" Gray said while grinning ear to ear calling himself ''Captain''.


    "Quick, pop his ego before it gets any bigger!" said Yurika


    "¡­ Gray wore his pilot suit backwards his first day¡­" Stacia mumbled


    "I didn''t know the zipper was on the front!" said Gray quickly.


    Everyone stared at Gray in disbelief and laughed softly, feeling glad to see his ego reduced back to a normal level.


    "Enough about that! Pick out your gear and meet up where sectors B8 and C9 meet, 2 minutes left until we begin!"

 Chapter 48 - River Crossing

    The hardest thing about sniping in most mechs is that you can''t lay prone in most mechs, the sheer weight of the armor in a mech causes the internals to get crushed when the weight is not distributed down the skeleton of the mech. This is more pronounced on these average military mechs that have standard heavy uncompressed armor. The advantages of this armor type is that it''s cheap, durable, and easy to form fit. The obvious disadvantages are the bulk and weight of it.


    The easiest part about sniping with a mech though is that you never have to worry about optically centering your scope as the scope is actually a direct camera feed making the sniper scope look more like a long camera lens than a scope. Also the sheer mass of the sniper rounds means that wind is not as much of a problem at longer ranges.


    The timer for match start finished and everyone was spawned inside their starting zones for both offense and defense. 49 of the 50 players on the offense had the same mech, the Phalanx Mk 01. The only one that didn''t was Giacobbe, he had a Phalanx Mk 01 Custom, and the only difference was that it had a custom black paint job with silver accents to match his pilot suit. The only that was bad about using the silver accents was that they were slightly reflective making it a little eye-catching, but Gray assumed that was probably Giacobbe''s intention.


    Gray and his team set out for the location on the map where B8 and C9 intersected and didn''t pay attention to what the others were doing until they reached their position. Giacobbe started to give orders once everyone was spawned in saying "The 8 of you feinting from the east will be team 3, the 8 of you feinting from the south will be team 2, and the rest of us will be team 1 which I will be leading. Every team ready up when you''re in position to begin!"


    Various acknowledgements and affirmations came all at once leaving it hard to distinguish any one player from the rest.


    Gray opened up the communications tab on his HUD and saw that everyone was in the primary group channel. "This won''t do with 50 people all at once." Gray thought to himself as he asked Giacobbe for permissions to modify the chat channels. Surprisingly Giacobbe granted it to him as Gray thought he might have to ask more aggressively due to Giacobbe''s personality.


    "Maybe there is hope for him yet." Gray thought as he added 5 sub channels to their voice chat. Team 1, Team 2, Team 3, Team Leaders, and Scouts. The players were able to figure out for the most part what Gray was doing by adding those channels so they each went to their designated team rooms and thus the massive amount of chatter was drastically reduced. Gray hopped into Team 2''s room for a minute and asked which one of them was the team leader. After a few rounds of bickering, Team 2 designated a player to be the leader for offense finally and Gray gave that player access to the Team Leaders room as well as himself and Giacobbe. Gray switched back to Team 3''s room and left a listener open in the Team Leaders room.


    Everyone finally reached the designated point for team 3 and then asked Gray what the plan was.


    Gray started to say "We are going to assume the other team isn''t a group of idiots like a certain person is. I want us to climb that small mesa with the solar farm on top of it that provides power to the defenses of the base and_"


    "Blow it up! Yeah!" Yurika interrupted excitedly.


    "¡­actually no, I want to use it for sniper cover. The solar panels interfere with laser targeting and I imagine the heat will cause visual targeting to be off as well. That aside, it''s like we''re holding a hostage so they probably won''t shoot with missiles in case they destroy the panels." Gray said.


    "Sounds good, but how much support can we provide with just 4 snipers? And won''t we waste a lot of time climbing the plateau?" questioned Paul


    "It will take time so that''s why we''re going to have to stall for time before Giacobbe loses patience and launches his assault. Alice, I hope you can keep this from Giacobbe." Gray said to Alice.


    "¡­Fine, consider it repayment for the merits earlier." Alice said.


    "Good, now let''s get moving! Head north to the edge of the river, if we''re seen it''s not a big deal, just stay out of firing range as much as possible and we can get cover from the enemy snipers once we cross the river and get into the hilly forest on the other side."


    "Gray, we can''t cross the river without a bridge¡­" said Alice.


    "Don''t need one, we can''t swim, but we''re in mechs about 15 meters tall. The water is only a few meters deep here at this spot so as long as we don''t get so deep that we can''t move we should be ok."


    Gray took a step first with his mech into the water and felt his feet sink quite a bit, then he took another step allowing his other foot to sink in as well. The water was only 1 meter deep at this point, but sinking a bit into the river bed was the worst part as trying to lift your mech''s foot again would be very difficult due to the mud. Gray changed to the Team Leader channel and left a text message saying the river will delay them since Gray figured Giacobbe would probably start to get antsy without any updates.


    "Ok, single file line behind me, we''ll take it one step at a time since the river is too wide to do this one person at a time without it taking even longer than I hoped." Gray said.


    Everyone entered into the river one person at a time following the same path as Gray as Gray continued to trudge through the mud towards the opposite bank of the river. Gray hopped into the Team Leader channel again and left a text message again. "Team 3 requesting diversion from Team 2 near point M6, sitting ducks while crossing river."


    A few seconds later a reply from the Team 2 leader said "Affirmative, creating diversion near bank of river."


    Looking towards the bridge around 3 kilometers from their position, Gray could see muzzle flashes coming from the forest and even a few lasers streak towards the base. A few of the defenders looked over the battlements and returned fire at Team 2, but given the range only snipers would be able to do any damage as the lasers would lose focus over that distance in atmosphere and not do any damage. Still, it did the job of drawing attention towards the southern portion of the base.


    Gray reached the middle of the river and the water was about 10 meters deep, his mech was barely able to move so he had to shorten his steps to keep from getting stuck whenever he lifted his mech''s legs. As he made it past the halfway, the water started to get a little shallower and movement became easier once his mech wasn''t half submerged in water.


    "Okay, looks like we can make it through, follow my path and let''s hurry across before the defense stops buying the diversion." Gray said.


    Everyone started to move a little faster but seeing as they were all at least half-submerged it wasn''t really possible at this point.


    Gray was only about 100 meters from the opposite shore when he heard Stacia cry out "I''m stuck!"


    Gray looked behind and saw that Stacia was the 2nd to last person in the line and appeared to be unable to lift her leg.


    Paul was the last person in the line so he started to move closer to her and said "Hang on, I''ll push you out!"


    Gray immediately said "NO, leave her there!"


    This surprised everyone as they had thought that Gray was a bit softer than this.


    "Walk around her, approach from the front, take her mech''s hand and pull her slowly out, all of us need to link up and pull her out slowly since if just one tried to do it that one will probably get stuck too." Gray commanded.


    Everyone formed a chain of mechs linked hand-in-hand. "Everyone walk and pull at the same time, one step at a time, step on my command!"


    Nobody moved but just held each other''s hands then Gray finally commanded "Step!" and everyone took one step with their mechs, Stacia''s stuck mech attempted to step as well but couldn''t move was merely drug slightly.


    "Step!"


    As everyone stepped at the same time to drag Stacia again, she was finally able to lift one foot up out of the mud and could now drag her other foot out of the mud too.


    "Are you free Stacia?" Gray asked.


    "Yes! I can move again." Stacia said happily.


    Everyone continued to wade through the river and finally Gray was the first to reach the other side. Stacia noticed Paul was still holding her mech''s hand.


    "Uhmm¡­ you can let go now Paul" Stacia said with embarrassment.


    "Oh, uhhh, sorry, I was enjoying holding your hand" Paul said slightly flirtatiously.


    "Yeah? I guess Paul is in to robot love then, that feeling of metal on metal." Geoff said jokingly.


    "Screw off! I didn''t enjoy holding her mech''s hand, that''s not what I meant!" said Paul angrily.


    "It is nothing to get mad about Paul, I understand the allure of artificial love as well." Caleb remarked.


    "That''s also not what I meant!" Paul started to get flustered.


    After a little bit more teasing on Paul, everyone had finally made it across the river.


    Gray sent Paul a private message. "Consider yourself initiated into the team!"

 Chapter 49 - If a tree falls in a forest...

    Terran Hegemony, front line base near Vienna in the former country of Austria.


    The Princess thought the best way to help with the war effort without fighting would be to put on a concert since she loved to sing. Her mother, Queen Manyeo, only agreed to it since the Princess said it was to raise the soldier''s morale and get them excited.


    Princess Bang-gwi worked hard and had a stage setup inside the training grounds of the base earlier that day. Currently she was busy making the final touches to her set list and costumes from a trailer near the stage as it was almost time for the performance.


    "It''s done! It''s finally done!" Princess Bang-gwi jumped around excitedly while looking at the finished dress.


    "What''s done?" Chuhan Jwi asked the Princess.


    "Uhmmm, my preparations! I''m going to give them a concert they''ll never forget!" the Princess exclaimed.


    "I''m sure it will be amazing Princess. The pink gown of Miss Maven''s you had us mimic for you is spectacular on you! Just don''t cut the timing so close, you almost didn''t have enough time to get ready!"


    "I know, but I knew I could make it, and I wanted to do it as soon as possible!" The Princess resisted the urge to twirl in the dress since she didn''t want her modifications coming undone. "Wait for me at the side of the stage Jwi, it''s almost time!"


    __________


    "Team 3 status?" Giacobbe asked in the team leader chat.


    "Team 3 status?!?" Giacobbe messaged again.


    "Team 3 status update!!!" Giacobbe messaged again sounding impatient this time.


    "Ah, sorry, we wanted to picnic by the river first..." Gray messaged back.


    Gray figured Giacobbe would be fuming from this and couldn''t help but think to himself "Why do I love to torture people like this?"


    "I''m going to assume that was a joke, ETA to hills?" said Giacobbe


    Gray was slightly disappointed he didn''t take the bait and get mad so Gray decided to play with fire and said "Give us 10 minutes, I am enjoying a fresh salad."


    Everyone else shook their heads at Gray for being such a butthead, but it was funny so everyone was still laughing to themselves.


    "...just let me know when you''re in position." Giacobbe said exasperated


    "Moving to position." Gray said with a serious expression finally.


    This seemed to satisfy Giacobbe as he left Team 3''s channel finally.


    "Ok, everyone, move to sector B12, Geoff, Yurika, Paul, and Myself will provide cover if needed, no need to draw attention to us." said Gray


    "Aren''t we supposed to be feinting and drawing attention to ourselves?" asked Alice.


    "We will, just not yet. Need to find a way to get up to that Solar farm." replied Gray.


    "Gray, not to be a hindrance, but we should assume this map was designed to make it impossible to get up to that area from outside of the base." Caleb said.


    "Oh, they probably did design it that way, but I''m sure they didn''t think of everything."


    __________


    A few minutes later, Gray and everyone else had climbed up the hills and through another forest before coming up to a 25 meter tall ''cliff''. The top of the cliff appeared to run behind the base and was where the solar farm presumably was.


    "Ok, now how can we get up there..." Gray thought to himself, he jumped as high as he could in his mech and realized this mech wasn''t designed to jump as it was more like a hop than a jump. Still, it was enough so the head of the mech could peak at the solar farm on top of the cliff.


    Giacobbe went in to Team 3''s channel again and yelled "What is taking so long?!? We''ve already used up a third of our time!"


    "Oh yeah, sorry, took us longer to reach the designated spot, we will be ready to begin in 10 minutes." Gray replied.


    "You were supposed to be ready 5 minutes ago, now you want 10 more minutes?!? We''re going to start without you, just do what you want!" said Giacobbe angrily.


    "Well, he''s not very patient is he..." Gray said without any hint of urgency.


    "That''s a bad habit you got there Gray..." Geoff told Gray.


    "I can''t help it, I just enjoy giving those types of people a hard time!" Gray admitted. "Caleb, how much do these mechs weigh?"


    "That statistic is not included in the overview of the mech selection screen." Caleb answered.


    "I know, just give me your best guess!"


    "Hmmm, well, given the thickness of the armor and using the standard uncompressed iron fiber armor with carbon dampening plates and the high-grade steel, aluminum, and titanium alloy skeleton I can estimate that these weigh about 600 metric tons, but that is only an estimate." Caleb


    "... just the estimate of the weight will do next time..." Gray said "I have an idea though..."


    Gray walked his mech over to a tall pine tree and gave it a push, the tree just shook a little as it was around 3 meters in diameter and was placed here to be used as cover by the designers of this map.


    "Geoff, gimme a hand here. Help me push this tree over!"


    Geoff came over to Gray and the two of them pushed as hard as they could trying to force the tree over, it started to move a little bit but it still stood firm.


    Caleb figured Gray was trying to knock over the tree so he suggested "Gray, the amount of force you would need to break the tree is greater than the force you would need to uproot it, might I suggest you break the roots first then try pushing it over."


    "Good idea, we don''t have much time though, so everyone split into teams of 2, we''re going to need to knock over at least 4 trees, maybe more!" Gray said.


    Everyone was able to quickly knock over 4 trees using their backup combat knives to slash away the roots then Gray instructed everyone to push one of the fallen trees against the short cliff, then another against it. All 8 of them worked together to lift up a third tree and lay it on top of the other two making a small lumber stack about. Lastly, the fourth tree was rolled perpendicular to the other three trees forming a ''T'' to keep the 3 logs from rolling away.


    "I''ll try it first" Gray said then he tried to step on one of the lower fallen trees. Unfortunately it didn''t have enough area for his mech''s foot to gain traction on so he slipped. Gray noticed that the tree holding the other 3 had nothing on top of it so instead of trying to climb on the lower tree first, he stepped on the supporting tree and then stepped up on to the second fallen tree in the stack. The fallen trees made a horrible sound of wood snapping and cracking as branches were crushed under the weight of the mech and Gray had to maintain balance on top of the second fallen tree until it finally settled down.


    "Whew, that was fun..." Gray said laughing nervously.


    Everyone''s attention was drawn below to the base when Team 2 started to create a diversion for Team 1, but it wasn''t going so well as they had already done this before. In order to sell it, Team 2 broke from cover and started to advance across the bridge while firing at the defending enemy mechs on top of the base walls.


    "Need to hurry up" Gray thought. His mech was now able to put it''s arms on top of the small cliff, but without an extreme jumping ability he couldn''t just hop up on to it. Instead, Gray decided to just go for it and try jumping an then "falling" onto the top of cliff. Gray jumped his mech on to the top of cliff as best he could just getting the hips of his mech over the edge which allowed him to drag his mech up to the top. Several alarms in Gray''s mech blared as his internals were partially damaged when he landed, but luckily nothing major since he really didn''t fall more than half a meter.


    "Whew, that was rough, but I got up!" Gray said. "Think the rest of you guys can do that?"


    "So you want us to belly flop our mechs up to the top of the cliff?" asked Alice.


    "Yep, hurry up and flop up here so we can save this battle before a certain leader leads it to a defeat."

 Chapter 50 - Begin the Assault

    With a little bit of difficulty and some minor damage to their armor, Gray and the rest of Team 3 were able to "flop" up to the solar farm.


    "Ok, snipers get a bead on the main entrance, we have the higher ground and should be able to get a clear shot from here. Everyone else pair up with a sniper and be their eyes to get a wider view and help where necessary." Gray commanded.


    Paul paired with Xyra, Yurika with Stacia, Geoff with Caleb, and Gray with Alice. The snipers deployed their tripods and took aim down towards the base''s main entrance. The sounds of gunfire and the occasional rocket being launched could be seen from the base''s defenses when ever one of the attackers stepped out of the cover of the forest. Giacobbe was still trying to probe the south to draw defenders away from the main gate.


    "Giacobbe, sorry for the delay, we''re in position." Gray reported to Giacobbe.


    "About time! Team 2 is getting beat up, no casualties yet, but once you draw them to the east that should relieve them." Giacobbe replied in the leader chat.


    "Beginning attack then!" Gray said.


    "Attack?!? Just feint, no need to do a full blow attack!"


    Gray left the channel before Giacobbe could say anymore. "Caleb, in your opinion, what is the weakest part of the mechs?" Gray asked Caleb.


    "The pilot, if you rattle the can enough the pilot will get scrambled."


    "Agreed, but that isn''t an option since we''re in a simulator. I think the weakest point is the joints, specifically the knees and elbows." Gray responded


    "Indeed, the armor plating around the joints is much more segmented and also thinner to allow freedom of movement."


    "Yes, now snipers, aim for those joints! I know headshots are all the rage in player versus player (PvP), but that head just houses the primary sensors."


    Several affirmatives came from his team, then Gray asked Alice to tap her sniper''s camera feed into his HUD so he could see what she sees.


    "30 defenders by main gate, 15 by southern gate, last 5 are at the mech hangers getting reloaded or repaired it looks like. Let''s take out those mechs in the hangers, they''re not moving and if we disable them in a gantry, it will disable that gantry for a bit until they can clear it out."


    Gray saw Alice aim for the mech hanger where the mech gantries were, then she said "Kirito, adjust my scope''s aim for the wind resistance and range"


    "Who are you talking to?" Gray asked befuddled.


    "My AI, don''t you all have them?" said Alice.


    Gray saw Alice''s scope adjust slight up and left even though the gun didn''t actually move. A mechanical male AI voice said "Calibrated based upon height, temperature, range, and wind speed and direction."


    "Yeah, but I thought they were only for training... I didn''t hear anything though, did your AI talk back to you?" asked Gray.


    "Yes, only you can hear your own AI, nobody else." Alice said.


    "Tiara, are you there?" Gray asked


    "Yes Gray, how may I serve you?" said a melodious AI voice.


    "Can you adjust my aim too?" Gray asked.


    "Not at this moment, I have not received enough data to be able to help you with this weapon. Currently, I can only help you with the Standard Laser Rifle, not your equipped Battle Rifle."


    "So... what can you do then for me now?"


    "If you walk into a forest and cut down a tree, but the tree doesn''t understand why you cut it down, do you think it''s stumped?" said the AI Tiara emotionlessly


    "..." Gray was at a loss for words.


    "I am sorry Gray, was that joke not sufficiently bad enough? I researched thousands of them to offer for you since they seem to be the only thing you''ve ever searched for through our network." Tiara said apologetically.


    "It was... AMAZING! Hey, can you send text messages to the channels here? I want you to spam a joke like that every 5 minutes in the public channel!" Gray was starting to get excited.


    Gray looked up and saw Yurika, Paul, and Geoff pointing their Battle Rifles at his mech and Yurika said "This would be for the better of the team."


    "I... I was just kidding... Really..."


    Sadly Tiara said she was unable to send messages as she was unable to interface with anyone or anything else except for Gray. Gray thought it might be better to look into it later to see what else the AI could do for him.


    "By the way Alice, why''d you name your AI Kirito?"


    "Because I picture him as a self-righteous whiney brat that everyone spends all of their time inflating his ego for him." said Alice


    "Is your last name Zuberg?" Gray asked


    "Huh? It''s Focaccina! I''m also of Italian descent like Giacobbe, not German!" Alice complained.


    "It was a joke..." Gray said laughing slightly "Jokes aside, fire at will!"


    Gray watched Alice aim at the knee joint of a mech being reloaded in one of the gantries, using a steady hand she squeezed the trigger of her sniper rifle and a massive round shot out of the rifle towards her intended target. The round missed but instead nicked the gantry support and a crane carrying ammo suddenly toppled over causing the technicians to scurry around and hide, then look around for where that shot came from.


    Stacia fired next and she managed to hit the elbow joint of a mech in a gantry, the forearm of the mech went limp but didn''t fall off, still, a limp arm is a useless arm. "I hit it!" Stacia said excitedly.


    "Good shot, keep your cool though, plenty of more limbs to damage." Yurika told Stacia. "Stacia, 20 meters left, go for that leg next."


    Stacia''s aim shifted barely 1 degree to the left to line up her next shot, at the point Caleb had just fired his first shot and hit the other elbow of the mech Stacia had already hit and caused the other forearm to go limp.


    "Good shot Caleb, consider that mech disarmed, literally." Geoff said to Caleb.


    "You''re welcome Geoff." Caleb replied.


    "For what?" asked Geoff.


    "You''ve been wanting to use that joke for awhile, right?" Caleb said with a smile on his face.


    "Yes... and thank you! 20 meters right, go for a leg this time"


    Xyra was aiming at the same mech that Alice was, but her aim was awful. She was aiming for a knee joint but instead ended up hitting the mech in what would''ve been the groin if it were a person. Paul winced in pain when he saw where she hit and Yurika said "Perfect shot! Yeah!"


    "...n-no... aiming... right knee..." Xyra whispered.


    Yurika said to Xyra "Take a deep breath and relax, we''re in a simulator so nobody will get hurt if you destroy their mech."


    "...thank you..." Xyra whispered again.


    After four muzzle flashes the defenders finally were able to see where the shots were coming from and some of the defenders started to work their way around to the North East of the base. A missile turret that was in range aimed in their direction too, but it never fired as the AI operator seemed to be afraid of damaging the solar panels or was not allowed to cause damage to potentially critical structures.


    "Good, as I hoped the only thing we have to worry about is enemy snipers." Gray said.


    Only 5 enemy mechs stayed on the south wall, 20 on the west wall where the main entrance was, 15 were taking up sniper positions along the north and east walls to try and hit Gray and the others. The remaining 10 were either stuck in a repair gantry or trying to clear the debris from the crane falling earlier.


    "Tiara, can you monitor the enemy snipers and let me know which one has the best shot?" Gray asked.


    "Yes Gray, I will highlight each enemy mech in different shades of red based upon threat assessment." Tiara replied.


    "Good, now Stacia and Caleb, pick off exposed enemies that try to chance positions. Alice and Xyra, aim for the defenders at the south gate." Gray commanded.


    "Why the south gate? Shouldn''t we help the main force at the main gate?" Alice asked


    "Not yet, we''re going to try and really sell the south gate attack."


    The enemy snipers had to aim up, and being unable to kneel and aim up easily gave Gray and the rest of Team 3 a huge advantage. The 4 snipers continued to aim for the joints of the defenders and even though they only managed to hit a few, each enemy that lost an arm or leg would be come significantly less effective in combat even if they weren''t completely out of it.


    "Team 2, heavy push, cross the bridge, sell it like a used car salesman wearing a cheap suit!" Gray popped into Team 2''s chat room and attempted to order them. Luckily after laughing for a second they all burst out of the southern forest and headed across the bridge. The enemy missile turrets turned towards them and fired off several rounds at Team 2 as they tried to cross the bridge. Fortunately Giacobbe wasn''t a complete idiot and recognized what was happening so while more defenders move to the southern gate thinking it was under a full assault, 4 members of Team 1 ran to the edge of the forest near the west gate carrying what looked like a giant bazooka with 4 sets of handles, even for a mech this was a little overkill Gray thought.


    "Knock knock bitches!" Giacobbe said with a cheesy grin, one could tell he was just waiting to say that.


    A low rumble sounded followed by a high pitched squeel then a noise similar to a grenade launcher resounded as a large ball of lightning discharged from the giant bazooka the 4 mechs were holding.


    "Plasma! Damn, no wonder Giacobbe was confident, but one problem with that thing though..."


    Gray noticed that the 2 mechs at the back of the launcher had gone dark and were not moving.


    "Damn thing drains not just your weapon energy, but your mech fuel since plasma isn''t purely electrical."


    The ball of plasma collided with the main gate almost noiselessly, the ball collapsed and spread out over the door evaporating it within seconds.


    "Charge!" Giacobbe yelled as the main assault had truly begun!

 Chapter 51 - The Finale

    Normally one would think discretion would be advised, but the remaining 30 mechs of team 1 all charged towards the melted door of the defenders. Mech combat wasn''t that new to everyone as gamers have been doing it since as far back as the 20th century, but what was new was having to cooperate with so many other players at once where you had to worry about knocking someone over or shooting your teammate. What normally should''ve been an organized approach ended up being a bunch of players jostling for position to get in first like holiday shoppers on black Friday.


    "The cattle are entering the barn!" Gray yelled out, the rest of Team 3 laughed at this because from their vantage point it truly did look like a herd of mechs marching into a barn.


    One advantage to using plasma is that the actual projectile doesn''t make a lot of noise so they base''s main door melting didn''t draw much attention unless the enemy was looking in the general direction of the door. The defending mechs were not very well coordinated so it took them a few precious seconds to respond to the door being melted.


    Enemy mechs started to return to the main gate as fast as they could with the intention of creating a murder hole since the attackers could only enter the main gate 2 at a time at most.


    "Snipers, aim for the defenders returning to the main gate, need to keep them from encircling the main gate!"


    The advantage of defending the base was that you had turrets and walls to help you defend, the downside is that you had turrets, walls, and other structures in the way. Gray was hoping the snipers could take out a few of their legs in some of the more delicate spots creating obstacles for the defending mechs to have to work around before they could gather back near the main base''s entrance.


    Gray saw a large metal cylinder that looked like a fuel storage tank that some of the enemies were using for cover. Aiming his Battle Rifle, he fired a few rounds at it and saw only one hit but being unable to puncture it due to being beyond effective range.


    "Alice, continue to focus on the defenders near the gate, no need to destroy any mechs, just keep aiming for the arms and legs! I don''t know if I''ll be back¡­" Gray said to Alice


    "Back from wha¡­" Alice started to say as Gray''s mech bounded past hers and stomped heavily on the steep slope leading down to the base. Gray was unable to stand his mech straight up due to the steep incline so instead he opted to go into a sliding position with one leg kneeling and the other one extended straight to try and keep himself from sliding.


    "Yep, this won''t work¡­" Gray thought to himself feeling silly for thinking that he could just run down that steep incline that he now discovered was not even climbable. His mech was slowly inching down the steep incline as he tried to dig his mech''s feet into the solid ground but he was unable to get a foothold on anything.


    "This is about to get fun!" Gray thought as his mech started to slide more leaving him fully exposed to enemy snipers.


    __________


    "Thank you everyone! Thank you for supporting me and our wonderful nation!" Princess Bang-gwi said with earnest.


    After singing 8 different covers of various popular songs, the audience was really getting into it. The princess only had slightly above average talent in singing, but her composure, personality, and enthusiasm made her stand out compared to other female singers. Plus it helped that she was drop dead gorgeous and royalty as well¡­ Some of the male audience members probably couldn''t name even one song she sang.


    "My friends, I am a little nervous, this is going to be an original song that I''ve never performed for anyone outside of the palace, I hope you all enjoy!" the Princess said with a smile.


    The Princess looked amazing in the pink evening gown that was made for her to be identical to Miss Maven''s. While she may have been lacking in certain ''areas'' compared to Miss Maven, she still had the aura and charm of leadership that didn''t come across as haughty compared to most royals. The Princess really liked the dress but she couldn''t sing any of her favorite rock songs in it as it was too hard to move fast in it since she loved to dance while singing.


    The Princess took the mic in both hands and was looking down solemnly, a slow drumbeat played in the background followed by a soulful whine of an electric guitar.


    "That you like me is what I hear


    So why are you never near


    Baby tell me, I need to know


    Come on, where should I go


    -


    No more words, no more strife


    Let me get on with my life


    Please¡­ just please¡­ let¡­ gooooo,


    Your answer, I already knooow¡­


    -


    Sitting up here


    Wearing my crown


    Nothing to fear


    Yet you let me down¡­


    -


    Your words they can cut me so deep


    I have to cry myself to sleep


    Baby tell me, what did you do


    Come on, I already knew¡­


    -


    No more words, no more strife


    Let me get on with my life


    Please¡­ just please¡­ let¡­ gooooo,


    Your answer, I already know¡­


    -


    Sitting up here


    Wearing my crown


    Nothing to fear


    Yet you let me down¡­


    -


    I miss the touch of your hand


    It warmed my soul


    My heart of glass turns to sand


    Where did you go¡­


    -


    Where did you go¡­


    Without me¡­"


    -


    The crowd was silenced after her song, some of the grown men were even crying.


    "Thank you again, everyone, that was ''Without me''. I wrote it for everyone that has ever lost someone important in their life."


    The crowd once again erupted into cheers for Princess Bang-gwi. The Princess wished that she could do this all of the time, but she was also saddened when she remembered that most of the men and women in the audience tonight were soldiers and may not be able to come back.


    The Princess declared energetically "I don''t want to end tonight on a sad note, so it''s time to do a song that''s for me as well as for all of you, a final song to make this a night to remember! Put away those damn glow sticks, break out your lighters or anything you can set on fire, we''re ending this with ''Let it all burn'', a cover of Miss Maven''s latest song which I''m sure most of you have heard!"


    The crowd started to get even more excited as many of them knew this song by Miss Maven since she passed by recently.


    Wanting to emulate Miss Maven, Princess Bang-gwi wanted to sing it exactly like Miss Maven.


    "Can you hear my song of yearning...


    Can you see my passion burning...


    I need a hero to save me...


    Please hero set me freeeeee!"


    As the last word ''free'' was stretched out by Princess Bang-gwi, the background music started to kick in and pick up with a heavy bass guitar beat that got louder with each second. As Princess Bang-gwi stretched out the word ''free'' her hand looked like she was reaching up and out to something or someone, a small trigger appeared in her hand which she immediately pressed as she remembered Miss Maven did. There may not have been a curtain to burn, but just like Miss Maven''s dress before, Princess Bang-gwi''s dress became engulfed in flames and burned to ashes immediately revealing her outfit under that was a tight black leather sleeveless vest with leather pants and black leather boots.


    "Welcome to the nightmare!" Princess Bang-gwi screamed as her band started their opening number.


    Or at least¡­ that''s what Princess Bang-gwi expected to happen¡­ She was about to start singing the rest of the song when she noticed some audience members staring with their mouths hanging open and several of the male audience members with blood dripping from their noses then Princess Bang-gwi looked down, shrieked, knelt and then covered herself up as best she could as Chuhan Jwi came running up to the stage to put a coat on Princess Bang-gwi. Instead of just her dress turning to ash, the clothes under it all turned to ash as well giving everyone in the audience a concert they truly would never forget!

 Chapter 52 - For Billy!

    "Chuhan Jwi, put her on¡­" Queen Manyeo Kwin demanded with an expression that made her appear to be moments from bursting.


    "Yes my Queen¡­" Jwi said as she bowed to the Queen and waved for Princess Bang-Gwi to come over to the holo video call. Jwi stepped out of the call before the Princess stepped in and immediately covered her ears.


    "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING BANG-GWI?!!?" a very angry Queen Manyeo screamed through the holo video at Princess Bang-gwi who was still wearing Jwi''s overcoat while looking pitiful down at the floor. Queen Manyeo''s scream could probably shatter glass Jwi thought as she was once again reminded where Princess Bang-gwi inherited her loud clear voice from. This was not the first time the Queen had yelled like this at the Princess and probably would not be the last.


    "I-I''m sorry Mother... That''s not how it was supposed to go! I saw Miss Maven do it and wanted to do it too!" the Princess tried to explain.


    "You are not allowed to go see anymore of her concerts especially now that I now she gets nude on stage! On top of that she will not be allowed to enter this empire if she puts on those kinds of concerts!" the Queen said angrily.


    "Nooo! She doesn''t get nude! Her clothes would burn away to another outfit under the one burning away!" the Princess quickly explained.


    "I''ll allow her to continue then, but you young lady are not allowed to go anymore still! Even if it had worked properly we can''t have the Royal Princess setting herself on fire, what if our citizens try to imitate this?" said the Queen with an expression of worry.


    "But¡­ but Mom¡­" the Princess started to cry as she idolized Miss Maven.


    The Queen softened a little bit since she was still her mother she could recognize the real cry from the fake cry. "Listen, it''s for your own good, but I know my mom used to say the same thing to me and even to this day I disagree about some of the things she said that were for my own good. I think she would just use that excuse whenever she didn''t want to deal with something." The Queen smiled affectionately as she seemed to be recalling some fond memories.


    The Princess stopped crying as she also started to recall the few memories she had of her grandmother, the first Queen of the Terran Hegemony. "Grandma was never meant to be a Queen¡­" the Princess said with a giggle as she remembered her being loud and a bit of a bully.


    "¡­and that is why she made such a great Queen¡­ She was a lot like you, not interested in Politics or ruling but genuinely loved the people. I''m not as kind¡­" The Queen said, then she thought to herself "nor am I as na?ve¡­" as she remembered everything it took to bring the Terran Hegemony under a single stable leader after her mother died before naming a successor.


    "Leave it to Grandma to not take responsibility at the last minute." The Princess said jokingly.


    "Indeed, now let''s make a deal¡­ complete Officer training and I will have you be an assistant to Lord General Viktor Neudachnik. Having you in the army even as just a figurehead will motivate the soldiers! I will let you continue to have your ''secret'' outings in that case." Queen Manyeo said.


    Chuhan Jwi felt a cold sweat run down her back as it seems she wasn''t careful enough and the Queen caught on that she was helping the Princess go out to have fun.


    "Now do you agree Bang-gwi?" asked the Queen


    "Ummm¡­ how long do I have to stay in the military?" asked Princess Bang-gwi


    "Half a year, we mustn''t drag out this coming war before they re" The Queen stopped herself suddenly then added "Before the people get hurt."


    The Princess agreed with her that the coming war should end quickly, but she figured half a year of a cushy officer''s role would be worth being able to see her idol again.


    "I have two conditions to add as well Mother¡­ First, if Miss Maven happens to be near where I''m stationed I''d like to be able to see her. Second, I want to hide that I''m the Princess."


    "I agree with the first condition, but the second one I cannot!"


    "Why not?!?" the Princess whined.


    "For two reasons. First, knowing you are the Princess would boost morale, and second, have you ever seen it NOT come back to bite someone in the ass that they hid their status from everyone else?" Queen Manyeo questioned


    "Ummm¡­ fair point on both of those then¡­ Ok, I agree, and if I do have to Pilot a mech, I want one without any guns otherwise I''ll refuse to pilot it."


    "Just no ''Guns'' right? Then we have a deal!" the Queen said triumphantly.


    The Princess got worried when she saw her Mother''s smile, but she really couldn''t see any flaws in what she asked for.


    __________


    Back in the simulation match, Giacobbe''s group had rushed the main gate after melting it open with a plasma ball.


    Geoff saw that Gray was starting to slide down towards the base and hopped down behind Gray and grabbed Gray''s mech''s hand. Unfortunately it didn''t go as planned so instead they both started sliding down the mountain.


    "Crap, sorry Gray! Thought I could help." Geoff lamented


    "No worries, might as well just enjoy the ride." Gray said.


    From higher up, Gray could see the layout of the base and that the enemy mechs were gathering at the entrance and trying to encircle the hole that was melted away from the main gate. Gray felt like he was missing something very important. He noticed that in his HUD was three small flag symbols with a timer next to each one. The flag at the top was lit up and had a 3 minute timer counting down.


    "Whoops, I forgot that the objective is to capture those points and not just destroy the enemy. Tiara, what are the capture points?"


    "The front gate, the mech bay, and the command facility." Tiara replied to Gray.


    "Thanks. Caleb and Alice, I don''t care what you shoot but make that mech hanger unusable!" Gray commanded.


    "Got it!" Caleb switched his view back to the mech hanger and started analyzing the building.


    "Gray, that''s a waste of time! We need to kill more mechs!" Alice complained as she continued trying to pick off limbs of the defenders.


    "Alice!"


    Gray was about to ask why she questioned his orders but Caleb chimed in "Alice can do that, I''ve found a way to take care of the mech hangar alone."


    "That''s fine then. Yurika, Paul, you might as well follow Geoff and I down! We''re going to take the Headquarters if we survive the trip down!"


    "On the way!" Paul and Yurika hopped down and started to slide down the mountain as well.


    Gray hopped in to Team 2''s chat channel and said "We''re clearing out the hangar, can you make your way through the side door and hold it?"


    "We''ll do our best" was the unenthusiastic reply from the leader of Team 2 as he was a little bummed out that he keeps being ordered around instead of getting to lead by himself.


    __________


    The side door was left virtually unguarded as Team 1 was making their way through the main gate since the side gate leaving just 2 defenders. The 2 defenders were anxiously watching the side door while stealing glances towards the main door. Suddenly a loud boom sounded and sparks shot out like fireworks near the hangar and the 2 defenders turned towards the noise to see that the transformer leading to the hangar had been blown apart by a few sniper rounds.


    "Power blown, hangar is useless now, that should clear it out of any working mechs." Caleb declared.


    The few working mechs left in the hangar that were waiting for a rearm could only pick up ammunition clips since the ammunition loaders for heavier ammunition were disabled and the mechs waiting for a repair could only hope for the best. As the defenders were anxious to get back in to the fight as well, they quickly emptied out the hangar leaving it dark and empty except for the 8 mechs that were either stuck in the gantries or disabled.


    Team 2 was down to 5 of the original 8 members, and those 5 were fairly beat up when trying to cross the bridge that led to the side door. After they had reached the door, they pressed against the base''s walls and went silent as one of them used their peepers (think camera on a stick used to peek around corners) on the fore arm of their mech through a crack at the edge of the side door to see what the defenders were doing. Seeing that there was only 2 watching the door, Team 2 knew they could bust in but they would lose one of their own most definitely without any forced entry equipment. After 3 rounds of the 5 playing Rock, Paper, Scissors, the ''Winner'' was nominated to be the mech shield.


    "Thanks Billy, we will remember you!" said the Team 2''s leader trying to encourage the teammate that ''won'' rock paper scissors.


    "Bastards, I''m not going to die forever, just in this simulated match!" Billy exclaimed angrily.


    Two other members of Team 2 each grabbed a side of the door while Billy stood in front of it with his mech''s arms folded over his chest. "Ready!" Billy yelled.


    The two mechs ripped the doors off of the side and Billy immediately charged in straight at the defending mechs, his teammates doing their best to follow behind him despite the limited space. The 2 defenders saw this and immediately opened fire with their assault rifles on Billy''s mech. They had panicked slightly from seeing a mech charging straight at them so were only aiming at his head and torso.


    The head on Billy''s mech was blown to pieces, both of the mech''s arms went limp, and finally his engine was damaged in his torso bringing the mech to a stop a mere 5 meters from the enemy mechs.


    "For Billy!" cried out from the rest of Team 2 that had taken the time he gave them to get through the door and started to fire their assault rifles at the 2 defenders. From the concentrated fire they were able to disable the two mechs and the 4 remaining members of Team 2 headed towards the empty mech hangar.

 Chapter 53 - How to NOT enter a Base.

    Gray watched with satisfaction as Team 2 worked together to take the side door and head towards the mech hangar. "Nice work Team 2, hold the hangar until the timer runs out!"


    "Why? Aren''t we here to destroy them?" questioned someone from Team 2


    "Our objective is to control 3 points, not demolish their mechs, although that is probably the most direct method to win anyways." Gray said.


    "¡­Oh¡­ so that''s what those three flags were for¡­" someone from Team 2 laughed slightly realizing his mistake.


    "Hold your position there and keep enemies out as best you can, we''re going to take the command center!" said Gray.


    "How? Are you with the main group coming through the hole in the front gate?" questioned the leader of Team 2.


    "Uhhh, we''re coming from the north¡­ you''ll see or hear us in about 15 seconds¡­"


    __________


    Gray, Geoff, Paul, and Yurika were all inching slowly down the slope of the mountain and found they were unable to climb back up in their current mechs.


    "Ok guys, no point fighting it, the Command Center is closest to us, let''s just capture it since Team 1 is capturing the main gate even if that wasn''t the intention." Gray stopped fighting the mountain and started to slide down it faster. The plan was to use the slop of the mountain to reduce his sliding speed before coming to the ground level of the base.


    "Gray! Use the towing wheels to build up speed!" Geoff suddenly yelled out.


    Gray looked over at Geoff and saw him standing straight up as best as possible with the metal cylinders that acted as wheels when the mech was being towed into a gantry without a pilot.


    "Hey that looks like fun!" Yurika shouted happily. Yurika looked around her HUD to try and see how to activate the towing wheels as well and then immediately activated it when she found it.


    "Not you too! We don''t have any brakes!" Gray said with great annoyance.


    "Relax, I''ll just retract the wheels and use the ground to eventually stop." Geoff said confidently.


    "¡­Paul, it might just be you and me holding the Command Center¡­" Gray said dejectedly.


    "¡­"


    "What is it Paul?" asked Gray.


    "Sorry Gray¡­" Paul said apologetically before laughing as he extended his towing wheels and started to pick up speed going down the mountain. "Whhheeeeee!!!"


    Gray pictured all of them with goofy smiles on their faces as they giddily sped down the mountain uncontrollably.


    "Damn you all making me look like the responsible adult!" Gray didn''t extend his towing wheels but instead distributed his weight evenly to reduce the resistance to sliding and thus picking up a little bit of speed as well, but not nearly as much as the three idiots who did extend their wheels.


    Geoff''s mech had almost reached the edge of the northern wall of the base. Since this wall lined up against the mountain it was more of a catwalk built sturdy enough to support mech''s patrolling the wall than an actual defensive wall.


    "Ok, time to slow it down and slide gently in¡­" Geoff said to himself. Geoff''s mech was in a standing tuck position with the mech''s arms at the sides to help maintain balance. Geoff retracted the towing wheels and stood his mech up and leaned it back while now sliding at a very fast rate.


    "I''m¡­ I''m not going to stop in time¡­" Geoff said admittedly "I leave the rest to you!"


    When Geoff said this the feet of his mech collided with the catwalk and caused his mech to flip forward he instinctively covered his face with his hands. With so much forward momentum the catwalk had no hope of stopping his mech and he ended up somersaulting over and over until he finally crash landed against a group of enemy mechs that were not aware of him since they were watching the main gate and attacking any of the attackers that came through it.


    Watching this Gray pictured a bowling ball knocking over a few pins, sadly though it looks Geoff bowled a 7-10 split since a mech on each side of his pileup was still standing.


    Geoff''s engine was heavily damaged in the pileup so his mech was down for good, but he had created a nice pile of wreckage that plugged the northern most path the defenders were using to try to encircle the attacking mechs. Geoff''s mech was down permanently so he could only sit in the simulator pod now and watch the match with the others that were destroyed this round. "Don''t let my sacrifice be in vain!" Geoff managed to say before being disconnected and forced to only be able to spectate from the simulator pod.


    "It was your fault in the first place¡­" Gray shook his head.


    Yurika was not far behind Geoff and after witnessing his mech get flung from the momentum by colliding with the catwalk while standing tall, she hopped her mech at the last moment and retracted her wheels to try and land and slide like a baseball player slides into a base. Sadly her results were only marginally better. Her mech was already in the sliding position when she hopped making it look like she was giving a flying kick in her mech which would normally be impossible. Her luck was good though she did end up kicking another mech that had turned to face her mech as it was flying towards her. Yurika ended up knocking the enemy mech flat on his back and landed on top of him sliding off of him as her mech finally came to a stop after sitting on the head of the enemy mech.


    Yurika noticed she had squished the head of an enemy mech by sitting on it and said jokingly. "Geez, take me out to dinner first!"


    At this time Paul was happily rolling down the mountain and coming up to the wall. Seeing that Yurika was able to ''safely'' land by jumping at the last moment, Paul tried to imitate how stunt men would stop their bodies when being tossed from a car by rolling. What Paul didn''t know is that 600 tons of mech doesn''t roll well¡­ Using his mech''s arms to protect the head of the mech, he tried to roll just like he remembered. Sadly, he ended up flopping on the front of his mech hard and then sliding. The slamming of the whole mech followed by coming to a stop after colliding with the wall of the Command Center severely damaged Paul''s mech.


    "I''m fine¡­ just a bit of a spit shine and I''ll be good to go!" Paul said jokingly while thinking "That was amazing and totally worth it!"


    Paul attempted to stand his mech up, but the artificial musculature in his arms had torn and he couldn''t push himself so for now he was only able to have his mech lay face down on the ground and play dead until someone could help him back up.


    Gray shook his head with slight disgust as those three idiots either destroyed or severely damaged their own mechs while he maintained control of his slide and came to a stop by planting his foot against the cat walk. He then stood his mech up and stepped up onto the catwalk. Gray figured Yurika was the one in the best shape so he was going to help her first.


    "How to get down from this catwalk though without walking over to one of the ramps." Gray mused to himself. "Yurika, I''m coming to you first."


    "No rush, I''m just sitting in the middle of the enemy base alone and unarmed cause I dropped my rifle." Yurika said regretfully. "...and I really wish I hadn''t..."


    Yurika looked back towards Gray and saw an enemy mech come out from under the catwalk and aim his gun at her mech.


    Gray looked down and saw the enemy mech advance towards Yurika from under his own mech while swapping clips in his rifle. "Time to be a bad ass" Gray thought to himself.


    Gray aimed his Battle Rifle at the nape of the enemy mech, then stepped off the catwalk while firing a few rounds into the nape of the enemy mech causing it to fall forward. Gray stepped on the enemy mech''s head, pushing the head of the mech down, then using the enemy mech to cushion his mech''s jump off of the catwalk leading to the enemy mech getting it''s face buried in the ground.


    "Holy crap holy crap holy crap that actually worked!" Gray thought to himself excitedly. He then walked over to Yurika''s mech that was unable to stand and Gray imagined her looking up at him with her eyes flowing with gratitude for saving her. Gray reached down to take her mech''s hand and help her back up when she suddenly reached for the Battle Rifle in his other hand and shouted "Give me that gun ass hole!"


    Gray''s rescuing the damsel in distress image was shattered as Yurika grabbed the rifle from Gray and pulled him down using the momentum to roll her own mech up and kneel on Gray''s mech before she fired off several rounds from the rifle into an enemy mech that was coming up behind Gray.


    "I... knew he was there..." Gray said sheepishly while his mech was lying face down in the ground as Yurika''s mech stood next to his with one foot on his back.


    "Totally... you did look like a bad ass for a minute there, ''A'' for effort."


    Yurika helped Gray get his mech back up and retrieve her rifle and they both helped lift Paul back up to his feet. Unfortunately Paul''s mech had lost the use of both of his arms so he was practically useless.


    "''Tis but a scratch!" Paul said confidently.


    "A scratch? Your arm''s busted, both of them!" Gray said.


    "No, it isn''t."


    "Well, then what''s that?" Gray said as he pointed at Paul''s limp mech arms.


    "I''ve had worse" replied Paul


    "You liar!"


    "Com_" Paul started to say before Yurika smacked both of them on the head of their mechs.


    "Shut up you idiots! We''re still in a battle!" Yurika yelled.


    "...Sorry..." both Gray and Paul both said apologetically but grinning to themselves.


    Paul had fortunately landed next to the Command Center so Gray and Yurika took up defensive stances against the building while Paul was stuck with just being a lookout.


    The 3 flags in Gray''s HUD were now all lit up and a 3 minute timer began counting down.


    "Now is when they will get desperate" Gray thought. Gray opened up the chat room of Team 1 and Team 2 and said "Hold these positions for 3 minutes and we win!"

 Chapter 54 - End of the Attack

    "3 minute timer? What is that for?"


    "I thought the match still had 30 minutes left!"


    "Just when it was getting good..."


    Various reactions from the attacking team were said along these lines. Apparently most players had forgotten that the objective was to take control of 3 points in the base for 3 minutes and not kill off every other mech.


    It seems that the defending enemy mechs also got the same 3 minute timer and were reminded of the actual objective of the match. Wisely, the defending mechs let the larger attacking force have the gate and went for the weaker objectives. The command center was the hardest to hold due to lack of adequate cover where as with the mech hangar they could just defend from inside.


    "Seems they figured it out, prepare to get hit from the South and East!" Gray commanded.


    Sadly Paul''s mech was next to useless without any workable arms so instead he opted to charge at enemies while saying random garbage in the open public chat like "I''ll bite your ankles!" or "I can still fight better than you with no arms!" Eventually Paul''s taunting started to grate on both teams so he finally stopped after friendly fire ''accidentally'' hit his mech in the back of the head.


    Gray switched to Team 1''s chat and said "Giacobbe, we need reinforcements at the Command Center, they''re no longer focusing the main gate."


    "I''ll send what I can, only just now did we get everyone inside."


    "At the very least, just keep them from getting to us from the South, if we can focus on them at the East, we can maintain a defensive position." Gray said.


    "I get it, I get it!" Giacobbe said impatiently.


    Giacobbe considered letting the 3 holding the Command Center fall so he could take it back triumphantly, but fortunately Giacobbe was not a spiteful person and decided that it was better to win regardless.


    Gray expected that the enemies would amass before pushing from the East and South of the Command Center. Gray had taken up a defensive position against the southern wall of the command center and Yurika had taken one on the northern wall of the command center. As for Paul, he was delegated to watching the South side with Gray to be a mech shield since he couldn''t attack.


    Gray just noticed something strange about the base layout. It appears that this base was clearly designed with mech fights in mind as the amount of space between each building was enough to fit 3 mechs shoulder to shoulder usually. Fortunately the pile of mechs Geoff had made when he crashed and had his mech destroyed created a small pile of 4 mechs that blocked off one of the 5 paths from the East and South of the Command Center leaving 3 open from the East and 1 open from the South.


    "Gray! We''re low on ammo and Caleb''s mech is down after taking some sniper rounds." Stacia suddenly chimed in.


    "What''s everyone''s status?" Gray asked.


    "Caleb is down, my sniper rifle scope got destroyed, Alice lost her tripod, but strangely it''s like none of the enemy even sees Xyra." Stacia reported


    "Xyra is unnoticeable even in a mech" Gray thought to himself while chuckling.


    "Stacia, see if you can detach your tripod and give it to Alice, then take Caleb''s rifle. Xyra, just keep doing what you are doing." Gray commanded.


    Stacia tried to detach her tripod from her sniper rifle but it was not designed to be done by a mech so it ended up snapping off and being unusable when she tried to force it off.


    "Umm, I broke my tripod too..." Stacia said sheepishly.


    Gray almost instinctively face-palmed but that would be a bad idea while in a mech. "Just take Caleb''s sniper rifle then, Alice, use Caleb''s remains to try and stabilize your shots. Feel free to split his ammo as well."


    "Understood!"


    Alice seemed a little to enthusiastic about using Caleb''s remains to stabilize her rifle. She kicked the remains of his mech forward causing the mech to fall to its knees then what was left of his torso bent forward and fell down as well. With the top part of the torso pushed into the ground and the knees still bent, the butt of Caleb''s mech was pointing up. Alice then stabbed the remains of her tripod into a gap in the armor on the butt, using it to stabilize her sniper rifle again.


    Caleb, who was back in the spectator''s lobby, winced when he saw Alice stab her tripod between the armor plates on his mech''s butt. "Good thing I had already been taken out of the match." Caleb thought.


    "2 minutes 20 seconds!" Gray yelled, then he switched to Team 2''s chat "How''re you guys holding up?"


    "The 4 of us are good, we piled up the gantry cranes near the only mech-sized door in the hangar and have a clear line-of-sight to anyone that tries to get in." the leader of Team 2 reported.


    "Good to hear." Gray switched back to Team 3''s channel. "Instead of killing every mech, try to disable them between the buildings, it takes time to move a mech body even with another mech."


    With the back of his mech pressed against the southern wall of the Command Center, Gray was using his peeper to watch for enemy mechs from the East while keeping his main display looking South. Exactly at the 2 minute mark on the timer, the 4 lanes still open from the South and East filled up with enemy mechs at the same time.


    "Giacobbe! Need help now!" Gray said hastily after switching to Team 1''s channel.


    "8 mechs coming to help!"


    Gray took a glance towards the West and saw that 8 friendly mechs had just arrived at the Command Center.


    "8 friendlies switch to Team 3 channel!" Gray commanded, "4 to the North, 4 to the South!"


    Surprisingly the 8 friendly mechs were able to split themselves up without trouble and started to open fire with their assault and laser rifles as soon as they got in range. Suddenly Gray, Paul, and the 4 ally mechs started to take gun and laser fire from the South.


    "Gray, we''re taking it from both sides! What should we do?" Paul asked.


    "...Paul... you will be missed..." then Gray kicked Paul''s mech down the Southern alley that was still open and said "Just run into them, keep them from coming up that way!"


    Gray was concentrating his fire on the legs of an enemy mech coming up one of the East side paths after kicking Paul down the lane and didn''t even pay attention to what was going to happen.


    Seeing a mech running at them with no weapons caused the enemy mechs to hesitate slightly, but they still thought it was best to attack after a second. Without hesitation the 3 enemy mechs in the front of the 6-mech formation opened fire upon Paul''s unarmed mech. Luckily the enemy mechs were aiming at the torso of Paul''s mech so it could tank a few shots there.


    "For Pony!" Paul cried then slammed his mech into theirs without hesitation and did his best just to mess up their approach. Paul was able to knock the center mech and the left mech over, the tight formation was actually advantageous to Paul''s goal of bottling up this lane.


    Gray heard Paul''s cry and then the loud crash of metal on metal, Paul was able to bottle up two-thirds of that last southern lane, so when the enemy mech that was still standing in the front of that formation turned to finish off Paul, Gray took advantage of him exposing the side of his mech and shot out one of his knee joints causing the enemy mech to be stuck standing and facing sideways. The enemy pilot still had enough foresight to turn his mech''s head and then try and aim sideways at Gray, but his aim was abysmal so Gray was able to destroy the enemy''s arm with his Battle Rifle.


    Gray breathed a sigh of relief now that only the East alleys were viable. Between the 3 remaining snipers able to overlook the base and the 10 mechs keeping the enemy from advancing even with superior numbers, Gray, Yurika, and their 8 allies were able to hold the Command Center.


    After the timer ran out, a message popped up on everyone''s HUD.


    "Attack Succeeded. Time: 34:01"


    "Ok, we have to hold them for 34 minutes and 1 second!" Gray said enthusiastically.


    Gray and the others we''re sent back to the pregame lobby with one minute until the second round begins.

 Chapter 55 - Defending

    Gray and the rest of the attackers had successfully completed their assault in 34 minutes and 1 second. As everyone respawned on opposite sides after the pregame lobby, Gray and the rest were now on defense and the timer was starting to count down from 34 minutes and 1 second. This seemed like a decent time, but the problem is the 4 mechs that were carrying the Plasma Ball Launcher still had it since they couldn''t change loadout between rounds.


    "I think we should wait for them to blow open the door then hit them with a ball of plasma. Just 2 shots should be enough to take out a bunch of them!" Giacobbe suggested.


    "I agree, but that would make those 4 useless after. Instead, let''s use the Plasma Ball Launcher to weaken the bridge so they can''t cross it. The 4 will be close enough to the hangar we can probably drag them over to it and get them refueled so they can at least function as scouts or take the weapons of downed attackers." Gray suggested.


    "What we need most is information, I remember that none of the other team had any special weapons, but I only counted 44 enemies when their team should have 50 just like ours." Caleb added.


    "We need to make a decision now though, it didn''t take us long to approach so we have to assume they''re already coming." Gray said. "Giacobbe, I know you''re leading us this time, so we''ll listen to you."


    Gray figured it was better to let Giacobbe continue to lead since the last thing they needed was internal conflicts to pop up.


    "Hmm... you bring up a good point. As much as I would like to use that Plasma Ball Launcher actively, it''s better to keep them from being able to attack from multiple sides. How... how do you think we should divide our forces?" Giacobbe asked.


    Alice and the other 3 girls on the Iron Stalkers stared wide-eyed at Giacobbe in disbelief. Giacobbe has never asked anyone for help or even allowed anyone to take control on his team.


    "There is hope for him yet." Gray thought to himself.


    "Caleb, what are our weapons? Mech type doesn''t matter because we all have the same mech." Gray said.


    "Mine is different." Giacobbe stated proudly.


    "Of course it is sweetie..." Yurika said playfully.


    Everyone knew that Giacobbe''s mech was the same as theirs, just with a different coat of paint.


    "We have 9 snipers, 6 battle rifles, 20 assault rifles, 10 laser rifles, the 4 with the Plasma Ball Launcher." Caleb reported.


    "That''s only 49... where is the 50th?" Gray asked


    "...forgot... me..." Xyra whispered.


    "Oh right, 10 snipers..." Caleb said.


    "We need to put a bell on her or something." Gray thought to himself.


    "Ok, I want 3 teams again. 8 snipers on team 2, Plasma Ball Launcher team and 8 with laser rifles are team 3. Team 1 and Team 4 will split evenly among everyone else." Gray commanded.


    "Good... after everyone is divided, team 3 use the Plasma Ball Launcher to do as much damage to the bridge as possible, I''m going to assume you had 8 mechs with them to carry them to the hangar after they use up their fuel." Giacobbe commanded.


    Gray nodded in agreement. "I suggest we have team 2 watch the river where we crossed, team 1 watch the main gate from the battlements, and team 4 will also watch the main gate but they can be reassigned as needed."


    "E-Exactly what I was thinking." Giacobbe tried to say confidently.


    Giacobbe could feel everyone else staring at him with a look that said they didn''t believe him at all, but since everyone was in a mech, nobody could tell how anyone actually looked at that moment.


    Stacia, Caleb, Alice, and 5 other snipers headed to the East wall and would be in charge of sniping any enemies that tried to cross the river like they had. Xyra and the remaining sniper headed to the highest spot near the West gate to look for targets of opportunity. The 4 carrying the Plasma Ball Launcher went with 8 other mechs to destroy the bridge and the remaining defending mechs stayed by the main gate.


    "Team 3, carry the disabled mechs to the hangar to refuel once they fire the Plasma Ball Launcher." Giacobbe commanded.


    "What should we do with it after?" asked one of the pilots carrying the Plasma Ball Launcher.


    "Leave it, you can''t do anything after you fire it and it is to heavy to aim at moving targets with." Giacobbe said.


    "Heads up! We got incoming!" Geoff yelled from the battlements on the front gate wall.


    "For the swarm!"


    "I ain''t got time to bleed."


    "Join the army they said, see the world they said, I''d rather be sailing!"


    Gray thought "I don''t know what''s worse, that they''re actually saying that stuff out loud, or that I get all of those references."


    Gray had to admit it looked pretty sweet seeing 14 mechs line up along the battlements with their guns aimed at where they were expecting the attacking enemy mechs to come from. Gray could hear the whine of the Plasma Paul Launcher even though it was fairly far. After 2 shots from the Plasma Ball Launcher, Team 3 reported success.


    "Bridge is unusable, collapsed after the second shot! Carrying mechs to hangar!" reported Team 3''s leader.


    "Roger, Team 3, all but 4 armed mechs merge with Team 4 after refueling. Team 3 will watch the Southern Entrance in case they try to use it." Giacobbe commanded again. "Gray, you have direct command of Team 1 once the combat starts, I''ll command Team 4."


    "Copy." Gray replied to Giacobbe, then said to Team 1 "Alright maggots! I don''t want anyone firing until you see the whites of their eyes!"


    "Uhhh, mechs don''t have eyes..." said a random pilot on Team 1.


    "...it was a joke... Everyone, engage at optimal range! Laser rifles are useless in atmosphere at long range and Assault Rifles are not as accurate at long range. Aim for the legs, we don''t need to kill them, just stop them from getting in!" Gray commanded


    __________


    What should''ve been an even battle ended up being completely one-sided. With the snipers preventing safe water crossing and the bridge already destroyed, that left the attackers with only the main path to reach the base. Without any form of artillery or explosives to blow open the main gate like Gray''s team had done, they were forced to try to get close enough to break open the door.


    Following the order to take out the legs was wise as just causing the enemies to trip on each other would delay them even more. In the end, the enemy attacking mechs lost 3 mechs from getting stuck in the mud in the river, 13 mechs from assaulting the main gate, 1 mech that had tried to jump across the remains of the bridge, and 4 mechs from ''accidents''.


    When both teams completed, they were put in a joint post game lobby. This is where the trash talk just about always happens, but for most of the players this was their first battle in a mech even if it was just simulated so everyone was talking excitedly about their own experiences.


    Two things everyone agreed upon though was that the map was horribly designed and that equipment needs to be able to be switched between rounds.


    "How''d you guys get up on to that ledge that leads to the Solar Farm? We tried jumping and even tried stacking our own mechs on top of each other but we ended up crushing 4 of our own mechs" said a player from the opposing team.


    "So that''s what you meant by ''accidents'', we knocked over some trees and used them like steps to get high enough to belly flop up on to the ledge." Gray said.


    "Dang, we never even thought to try and use the trees."


    "Well, hopefully see you guys in a rematch later!"


    Everyone was surprisingly friendly even though some had lost. Gray couldn''t really figure out why since most of the time players would get angry, mean, and even hateful at a loss. Gray looked around the post game lobby at everyone''s avatar and noticed one thing that probably had a lot to do with it... everyone was older!


    "Wow, everyone here looks to be at least 20 and I even see some people in there 40s. No wonder we didn''t get any of the usual gamer crowd. I guess simulations are usually more popular with the older crowd anyways" Gray thought to himself.


    "Damn it, I''m practically part of the older crowd!" Gray thought to himself. 29 wasn''t old for a person, but for a gamer it was approaching ancient.


    __________


    Edward Teach, the CEO of Alterra Corporation, and several people in lab uniforms were holding a meeting that afternoon after the launch of Alterra Online. Among the people in lab uniforms, a tall lengthy man with frazzled unkempt hair and a can of Dr. Pepper appeared to be the leader of the group.


    "Alright, so the first of the large team matches went underway earlier today, and I have to say they were awful! If we weren''t short on time I would fire all of you and hire new developers!" said Edward Teach angrily to the group of developers.


    "Muahahahaha! It was all part of my evil genius plan!" said the tall lengthy man with a very dramatic pose.


    "Stop it Ginro, your team dropped the ball on this and I want an explanation!"


    "*Ahem*, to be fair Ed, you gave us only a week to design and create 40 multiplayer maps for mech-sized combat. If these were regular human soldiers, it''d be no problem, but we have to make each map at least 8 times larger and take into consideration the scale when designing even the structures, in short, we needed more time," Ginro said calmly then took a drink of his Dr. Pepper while making a slurping sound.


    "Right right... I get it... time is indeed short... Fix the obvious design flaws, almost every assault match ended with a draw as defending was too easy. Read the forums, the players will be the perfect testers after all..." Edward said then added "...and don''t call me Ed."


    "Sorry, I''ll try and keep that in mind. Might I make a suggestion though, can we get a military specialist or someone like that to help us out, we designed the bases with our own logic and you can see how well that went." Ginro said while shaking his head and putting his hands up signaling his helplessness. "I even have someone in mind..."


    "Who is that?"


    "Lieutenant Felicia Stone, she has good insight into the players and would be a valuable asset."


    "I''ll send her over as soon as possible, try not to get slapped again..."


    "Eddie! You slander me! We just had a minor disagreement is all that was." Ginro said while laughing.


    "Don''t call me Eddie!"

 Chapter 56 - Motivation

    After the first match, everyone was still feeling excited and were coming down from their adrenaline highs so the fatigue started to set in after over an hour of mech combat. While most players would think of a little over an hour as nothing much, these players all commented that they felt surprisingly fatigued even though they are just playing a game. A few of them even approached some of the Diamond-Tier players and asked their opinions.


    "Hey, is this normal to feel tired after having a simulated match in a simulated game?" asked a new player randomly to Geoff.


    "Yeah, we were tired after one or two matches at first, but it got easier after only a day or so. I think the brain just needs to get used to this sorta thing." Geoff said.


    While these kinds of questions were being asked to the Diamond-Tier players, Giacobbe approached Gray.


    "Hey, can we talk?" Giacobbe asked.


    "Uhhh, sure, what''s up?" Gray replied.


    "I entered the Military Academy a few years ago but never made a career out of it after graduating. Kelly Lagerty used to speak highly of a guy named Gray, is that you? She was 2 years ahead of me." Giacobbe asked


    "Might be, but I dropped out after my second year, so not sure what there was to speak highly of." Gray said plainly.


    "So it was you then! That explains why I felt I could trust you, why did you leave?" Giacobbe asked with some concern.


    "I... I don''t want to talk about it, nothing personal, I just don''t know you enough yet."


    "...I understand, still, you''ll have to face your own demons eventually." Giacobbe said sagely.


    Gray started to feel annoyed "...Are you trying to sound wise or just forcing character development?"


    "Not working?"


    "You need to try harder, now go back to your harem team Stronzo!" said Gray while shaking his head.


    "I''ll try harder next time then, I hope the Iron Stalkers and your team can cooperate again!"


    __________


    After his match, Gray ran into Jono before Jono was about to sign off. It seems he really did create a team called ''God Pilots Squad'' and found 5 other guys to join him.


    "No girls wanted to join us, but I''m sure once they see how awesome we are we''ll have no trouble attracting new members, especially female members." Jono said to Gray.


    "If the other 5 are like him, they probably couldn''t fit another person on the team with all of those giant heads." Gray mused to himself.


    "How did you get those girls on your team?" Jono asked.


    "Dude, they came to me, I''m just that good!" Gray boasted. Part''s of Jono did rub off on Gray after all.


    "If you were that good, you''d be on my team, probably just because your team was available and they were desperate for a team!" Jono said smugly.


    "They were desperate, desperate for me!" Gray said while laughing


    At this moment Yurika, Stacia, and Xyra walked past Gray and Jono. From the looks they were giving Gray they had heard that last part of the conversation. Gray started to break out into a cold sweat when he noticed their stares.


    "Hey, did you hear that? Gray thinks we''re desperate for him..."


    Gray''s fight or flight instinct started to engage but he was frozen with fear. He expected this kind of blood lust from Yurika, but Stacia was surprisingly capable as well, even Xyra was finally noticeable.


    "...Jono... save yourself..." Gray said


    Yurika put her arm around Gray''s shoulder and said "What for? We''re just so desperate for you we can''t stay away!"


    "You''re right Yurika, we just can''t stay away from him!" Stacia said as she wrapped her arm around Gray''s arm.


    "Desperate to kick his ass right?" Yurika said evilly when she squeezed her arm around Gray''s neck and put him in a headlock


    "We''ll bring him back in one, maybe two pieces! Xyra sweetie, this is how you deal with pigs like Gray!" Stacia said.


    Yurika led Gray by the head away from Jono while Stacia kept one of Gray''s arms. Once they got out of sight, the dumped Gray on the ground next to a building and stood on each side of him looking down.


    "I''m I''m sorry! It was just a joke!" Gray said while on the ground, begging for mercy.


    "I don''t think he''s sincere enough... what do you girls think?" Yurika said while looking at Stacia and Xyra.


    "I want him to grovel on his knees with his forehead pressed to the ground." Stacia said.


    "We''ll start with that... now grovel for us you slimeball!" commanded Yurika


    "I''m sorry! I''m not worthy! Spare my life!" Gray said desperately as he got on his knees and bowed low enough that his head hit the ground.


    "Hmm... he seems sincere, and genuinely afraid... fear is good, they never forget fear." Yurika said proudly.


    "We''re on your team, Gray, because we trust you, Xyra might not be there, but with how you''ve treated us as equals we believe she will trust you too over time." Stacia added.


    "I appreciate that, wait... why didn''t you say that earlier instead of dragging me off by the head?"


    "This was waaay more fun for us, plus we want you to know how lucky you are to have us." Yurika said while both Stacia and Xyra giggled.


    "Yeah, I''m aware of that... always have been" Gray said.


    "Good... but we can''t let the others think we let you off easily, so you''re going to need to play dead for a bit while we drag you back to your room."


    "That''s ok... I''ll just feign injury and walk back myself..." Gray said nervously.


    "Play dead... or be dead... the choice is yours." Yurika said.


    Gray thought to himself "I think she might still be a little angry"


    __________


    Later that day, a new legend was born among those who witnessed the 3 lionesses dragging their prey back to the den.


    "I heard he tried to flirt with them and went so overboard with it they knocked him out!"


    "Nah, I heard he tried to show off and ended up knocking himself out after hitting his head!"


    "Well I heard that it is a cultural thing where women are allowed to literally hunt down a man they are interested in!"


    "I heard he became their personal man servant after he lost a bet with each one of them and his family sold him off as compensation."


    Gray sitting in the mess hall eating dinner and was hearing all of these rumors spread about him. He kept his head down and pretended not to know or care, but with each rumor being more outrageous than the last he kept hanging his head lower and lower in hopes nobody would recognize that it was him that was dragged back to his room.


    __________


    Gray returned to his quarters after dinner and just relaxed on his bed, the former incubation chamber could be unfolded even further into a double-bed after some padding was purchased from the armory. Gray didn''t like the idea that he needed to use merits at first, but after talking with the quartermaster some, it turns out that you could get much more that just purely military goods.


    "Guess they''re trying to keep up the image that this is a game so they allow a significant amount of luxuries as long as you can afford them." Gray said to himself.


    Gray suddenly heard his armlet make a familiar beep that signified he had received a message. Gray was very surprised when he saw who it was from.


    "Gray! I need your help! Are you free right now? This is Felicia." the message read with Felicia''s contact information showing up that he had entered in to his address book back when they met up at the game conference for Alterra Online.


    "Yes! Everything Ok?!?" Gray replied.


    "No silly, that''s why I''m asking you for help!"


    "Tell me what you need and I''ll do what I can to help" Gray said confidently


    "Just what I wanted to hear... meet me at Alterra Corporation in the Virtual World at 7:00 pm!"


    Gray looked at the time. "That''s in 15 minutes! I can''t make it there in 15 minutes!"


    "Don''t worry, I''m sure you''ll think of a way, I''ll make sure to reward you if you do"


    That was all the motivation Gray needed...

 Chapter 57 - Returning to Alterra Corp

    Gray hurried back to his quarters and used the incubation pod to log back in to the virtual world that the players still think is the real world. Gray burst out of his old apartment and started running towards Alterra Corporation. When he started running down the street, he saw Jono on a small electric scooter.


    "Hey Jono! I wanted to thank you!" Gray yelled.


    Jono turned to look at Gray and stopped his scooter. "Uh, not sure what you''re thanking me for, but you''re welcome?"


    "For this..." Gray threw Jono off of the scooter and sped off towards Alterra Corporation being chased a short distance by Jono as he slung various profanities at Gray. Gray would at least make sure to apologize and bring it back after, probably... hopefully... maybe...


    The little scooter could hit at least 50 kph, he could barely make it in time at this rate! He got to the last crossroad and could see Felicia standing there, she smiled at Gray and tapped her wrist to indicate he was running out of time.


    "7:59!" Gray was waiting for the signal to change so he could cross the street. "Why is there so much traffic?!?"


    Gathering his courage, Gray yelled "You only live once!" then plunged his scooter across the street during heavy traffic. Swerving cars and trucks barely missed him and just as he was about to make it, he ended up getting clipped on the back and thrown from the scooter and ended up getting splattered across the windshield of a truck... and here ends our story with the death of Gray...


    .


    ..


    ¡­


    Just kidding... Gray waited for the signal to change and floored it across the street, clipped the curb and flew off of the scooter. He managed to catch himself with a hand spring and land on his feet rather impressively.


    Felicia did seem impressed as she saw this and was clapping for him, she then smiled and said "8:01, just missed it, good effort though!"


    Gray''s shoulders slumped and he turned around to pick up the scooter that had been left by the road. "Well, I did get hear as fast as I could! You sure your clock isn''t fast?"


    "You wish! Come on, I''ll at least make it up to you for helping me out." Felicia said playfully.


    Gray locked the scooter to a rack near the door of Alterra Corporation and finally noticed that Felicia was wearing a military uniform identical to Major Valen''s, but the rank insignia was different.


    "I didn''t know you were in the military Felicia, and a Lieutenant even!"


    "Indeed, so that makes me your superior, and don''t worry, Alterra Corporation is really owned by the Alterra Alliance military so you don''t need to worry about spilling the big secret. We still choose to meet here in this virtual world because frankly it is just easier." Felicia stated.


    "Makes sense, meetings with real people rarely happen anymore as meeting virtually is faster, cheaper, and easier." Gray replied. "So what do you need me for?"


    "Well, I think you have the insight the development team needs to fix our issues with the maps that we released for the public launch of Alterra Online. You do have some military experience, but you''re also a die-hard gamer and not just one that calls themselves a gamer and only plays trashy games like C**l of D**y, or F*****te." Felicia explained.


    "Careful, you might annoy the fan boys and girls of those two games!" Gray said while looking anxiously at you the reader.


    "It''s fine, they don''t read books unless it is some sort of guide to winning at those games." Felicia said "And who are you looking at?"


    "Uhhh... nothing... anyways, this does sound like fun! I do agree that the one map we tried felt a little imbalanced." Gray said, then asked "Are you a part of the development team?"


    Gray and Felicia entered an elevator and Felicia took out a keycard and held it up to a camera while saying "No, I am more of a liaison between the between the research and development department of the military and the actual forces on the ground. In short, I try to get the R&D folks to make stuff the military actually can use."


    "Makes sense, and you want me to help them balance some maps?"


    "That, and I want you to help me deal with a certain overbearing lead researcher who if he wasn''t brilliant I would probably have given more than just a slap too." Felicia said angrily.


    Gray started to chuckle as he felt the elevator started to descend.


    "What''s so funny?" Felicia asked.


    "Oh, nothing, you just said you wanted me and I always knew you did!" Gray said teasingly to Felicia


    Felicia blushed visibly and innocently hid her face.


    "Uh, hey, it was a joke, I''m sorry, I didn''t think you were serious or that I was even in your league to begin with!" Gray said getting flustered at her unusually coy manner.


    Felicia looked up, smiled, made a fist and extended the middle finger and pressed it against her cheek while sticking her tongue out. "I was just kidding too! You''re too easy to upset!" Felicia said while smiling and walked out of the elevator ahead of Gray.


    Gray thought he heard her mutter "Don''t sell yourself short" so he asked "What was that you just said?"


    "I said ''Don''t forget to report'', sorry, I''ll try and speak clearly next time."


    "Report to who?"


    "His surname is Ginro and family name is Kurechin, he''s from what was formerly Japan and made it over here to the Alliance before Japan was absorbed by what is now, as you know the Terran Hegemony." explained Felicia. "Unfortunately he''s the one that is giving me the biggest headache."


    Gray walked with Felicia through a security checkpoint and then onward to a large cube farm which reminded him of a larger, and cleaner, version of his former office. Gray spotted a tall man with frazzled hair, a white lab coat, jeans and tennis shoes, and a can of Dr. Pepper who then smiled at Gray and Felicia when he saw them and started walking towards them.


    "That''s him... what we still can''t figure out is where he is hiding that Dr. Pepper." said Felicia.


    Gray whispered to Felicia "Challenge accepted"


    Felicia smiled and rolled her eyes "Idiot..."


    "Felicia-chan! You''ve come back finally!" Ginro said with a big warm smile on his face as he reached out with both of his hands and held her hands firmly.


    "It''s like he doesn''t even see me..." Gray thought.


    "Yes... I''m back... this is Gray... he will be reporting to you and will be the player advisor." Felicia said trying to suppress her urge to hit Ginro.


    "Oh? Gray-kun is it? I am sorry, I didn''t even notice you, we have a cube for you in the back. I''ll have my assistant give you a rundown once you''re settled in." Ginro said while trying to shoo Gray away from Felicia.


    "Ginro, stop it... Gray is also my boyfriend!" Felicia said suddenly.


    Ginro stared at Gray and dropped his can of Dr. Pepper on the ground from utter shock. Gray was in utter shock to as he looked back at Felicia and she looked at him with pleading eyes. Figuring this was the same situation that Verona was in back in the bar before so he decided to enjoy it while he could.


    Felicia walked up to Gray and put her arm around his and whispered. "I am sorry, just put up with it until we can leave."


    Gray whispered back "Oh, don''t worry, this has happened before... but don''t blame me for trying to sell it." then Gray gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.


    "Eh? You look more like brother and sister with how tense and awkward that was, are you trying to trick me Felicia-chan?" Ginro said while he pulled a cold can of Dr. Pepper out from somewhere.


    "What? Of course not!" Felicia said angrily then while Gray was still trying to figure out where Ginro pulled that can of Dr. Pepper from, Felicia grabbed Gray''s head and pulled him in for a deep rough kiss, leaving Gray slightly stunned and let him go while glaring at Ginro.


    Gray then asked innocently. "So... uhmmm... where is my desk?"

 Chapter 58 - Manipulating Time?

    Ginro seemed to have lost all motivation to work while Gray seemed to be extraordinarily motivated.


    "I have¡­ important things to do¡­ just do what you want¡­" Ginro said lifelessly to Gray.


    Feeling a little bad about Ginro''s complete personality change, Felicia actually walked over to him for once and whispered something to him. Suddenly Ginro''s eyes lit up and he let out his usual haughty laugh and was suddenly in good spirits again.


    "Ok Gray-san! Let''s get to work! No time like the present! I shall personally go over the data with you, you should be honored!"


    "Now he''s calling me Gray-san instead of Gray-kun? All of that sub-titled anime watching came in handy!" Gray thought to himself.


    (-san is a common formal honorofic, -kun is meant to show endearment but more so for children, essentially Ginro is insinuating Gray is a little boy.)


    Gray felt very curious about what Felicia said to him so he asked "What did you say to him?"


    "I mentioned that I''m probably going to dump you¡­ and that I have an older sister whom I live with so she sometimes comes to pick me up." Felicia said while wrapping her arm around Gray''s arm.


    "I didn''t know you had an older sister." Gray replied, ignoring the first part.


    "Aren''t you supposed to get upset that I will be dumping you?" asked Felicia with a curious expression.


    "Nah, you already gave me more than I thought you would earlier!" Gray said recalling her grabbing and kissing him roughly.


    Felicia blushed slightly then added teasingly "Oh, well if you consider that enough, then I guess I don''t need to do any more then!"


    Gray opened his mouth to retort but couldn''t think of anything, instead he thought to himself "Well, looks like I just shot myself in the foot¡­"


    "Ok, fun stuff aside, we need to actually get this taken care of as soon as possible, we''ve disabled the troubled maps for the time being, but that means we''ve also disabled 50 vs. 50 matchmaking." Felicia stated.


    "I still don''t know what exactly you want me to do here, but I''ll help wherever I can" Gray said.


    "Just read through the feedback that I''ll provide you with about the different maps, Ginro will provide you unlimited virtual access to all of the trouble maps and you can use your own virtual body inside a scaled down version of each map and help us redesign them."


    "Ok, ummm, what if I want to use a mech on the maps, is that possible?" Gray asked.


    "You''ll have to talk to Ginro about that, I''m only able to provide the player feedback."


    "Ok, get me the feedback then, separate it by maps, and then separate each map section by attacking and defending complaints. Any aesthetic complaints, filter out and put in one file for now. I''ll look over that later if there is time."


    "Oh? Now you''re ordering me around? I outrank you remember." Felicia said while smiling innocently


    "Uhmmm¡­ please could you?" said Gray.


    "Much better, but I do admit you are a lot more attractive when you''re confident like that! Being nice will only work on good girls." Felicia said smiling.


    "Are you saying you''re not?" Gray said teasingly.


    Felicia smiled and walked away without answering. She then turned around and said to Gray "I''ll get that data for you¡­ SIR!" she emphasized the sir while giving a salute to Gray.


    __________


    Gray went over to his new desk to see what he had to work with. He was expecting a generic computer terminal, maybe some folders, a desk phone, and maybe some pens, pencils or markers even. What greeted Gray was a nearly empty desk. The only things on it were a silver halo with a glass like panel, a pen that looked like a stylus, and a small bank of slots for data chips.


    "I don''t get it, this is the virtual world, why would we need these slots for data chips?" Gray thought.


    Ginro walked over to Gray finally and placed a small tray on Gray''s new desk. Inside the tray was a bunch of datachips that were just tossed and mixed together like candy.


    "What are these?" asked Gray


    "These are the data chips that each contain a single map. Your neural integrator will allow you to sync with it and will render the environment through our servers and let you walk through the map like a ghost. In other words, you can be as big or small as you want and even float around." Ginro explained.


    "Slow down there killer, what''s a neural integrator?"


    "This world is virtual, yes? This device lets you interact with any virtual world as if you are a developer or administrator. Think of it as like you get to play God in a virtual world. At least that is what mine does¡­ yours is similar but it has read-only access. In other words, you can go and do whatever you want, but you can''t change or create anything." Ginro explained further. "I have to remind you that none of these devices are able to influence this world sadly... I mean, not that I''ve tried to or anything." Ginro said while laughing.


    "Ok, so why the chips if we''re in a virtual world? Isn''t it like putting a present in a box, and in another box?" Gray asked.


    "Hmmm, that''s a good metaphor for it¡­ Indeed it is, but the reason for that box is security and to give the data a container of sorts. Data is a fluid in this virtual world. If you don''t have a container for it you can''t transfer it, plus trying to hold binary data without a container is conceptually impossible. If you draw the 1s and 0s on yourself then you become the container, then we have to assume you''re drawing the correct 1s¡­" Ginro kept going on and on and Gray''s eyes and brain started to lose focus. Gray thought he should let Caleb meet this guy and let their intelligence duke it out for superiority.


    Gray finally had to interrupt him "Ok! Ok! I get it, no need to give me all of the technical stuff, you could have ended at ''trying to hold binary data without a container is conceptually impossible'' and we both could''ve saved ourselves some time. Basically, stick the data chip into the slot, enter the virtual world it contains, then figure out how to fix the balance issues for the mech fighting, right?"


    "Yes, that sums it up rather well. As for which map is contained on each chip, just hold them while looking through the ''glasses'' and the map name will appear over the chip in your hand. If you need to mark it up, use the stylus to draw in the air at your current location. I''ll be going with you and transforming the map based upon your suggestions so you can see it in real time." Ginro explained.


    "Oh, this actually sounds like a lot of fun then!" Gray said excitedly. "How long do we have?"


    "We have only tonight, so roughly 13 hours! That is more than enough time to go over all of the maps!"


    Gray looked at the plastic tray and saw the pile of chips, fingered through them, then counted them out individually.


    "Uhhh, you want us to rework 24 maps in only 13 hours? What about food and sleep?" Gray asked.


    "Gray-san, you are in a virtual world, why would you need to sleep or eat?" Ginro countered.


    "Good point, but that still would only leave us¡­ 32 minutes and 30 seconds per map if we take no rest in between." Said Gray with concern.


    "Being in a virtual world has many other advantages for development, time is only relative to what we make it here¡­ although it still does have a limit to how much we can adjust it based on our own human limitations and processing power of the servers." Ginro explained.


    The thought of messing with time was concerning to Gray. "Uhhhh¡­ won''t other people notice if we change how fast time works? Won''t we age differently compared to the real world? Will I become senile from this? Will I become sterile from this?"


    "No, No, probably not, and No¡­" Ginro said honestly.


    "Wait which one of those was ''probably not'' for¡­" Gray started to think.


    "Come, put on your neural integrator, close your eyes, and say ''Go Go Gadget Time Manipulator!''" Ginro said.


    "Seriously¡­ uhhh OK" Gray put on the nueral integrator and saw that everything still looked the same, but when he looked long enough at something a panel would appear in his HUD that would display a list of basic properties such as name, location coordinates, functions and mess of other features that he was hoping to get to play with.


    Remembering Ginro''s instructions, Gray closed his eyes and said "Go Go Gadget Time Manipulator."


    Nothing happened, Gray was expecting something but stared at Ginro. "It didn''t work!"


    "You didn''t say it loud enough for the server''s AI management to hear it, you can raise a fist if you want to get the AI''s attention as well." Said Ginro.


    "Makes sense¡­" Gray then threw a fist up into the air and yelled "GO GO GADGET TIME MANIPULATOR!"


    Once again, nothing happened¡­ but Gray could hear all of the other technicians around him laughing like crazy, some even high-fiving Ginro.


    Ginro finally burst out proudly "Muahahaha! Another victim!"

 Chapter 59 - The Marquis

    Gray couldn''t really get mad at Ginro for tricking him like that because it was hilarious and he wouldn''t hesitate to do the same thing to another person.


    "Haa haaa¡­ you got me. Seriously though, what is this time manipulation?" Gray asked.


    "It''s nothing as fancy as it sounds, because we''re in a virtual world time is whatever we deem it. Normally we keep it in sync with the real world for the players, but we can still go to a separate space and speed it up as much as the computers can handle!" Ginro said excitedly.


    "Won''t that create problems? Like, won''t I age a lot faster than everyone else then?" Gray asked.


    "What''re you talking about? Your physical body is safe and sound and won''t age any faster. As for your mental age, or your ''soul'' if you are the religious type, you''re only as old as you feel."


    "Fair enough, still, there has to be some side-effects though, right?"


    "Well yes, but nothing major, it''ll feel like you''ve worked at your desk for an entire day when it''s only been 2 or 3 hours, so taking a break is important. When we need a break is when we will ''play test'' some of the maps. I''ll show you some of my favorite settings to use¡­" Ginro said excitedly.


    "Sweet, well, let''s get started then!" Gray said enthusiastically.


    Ginro sat down at the desk opposite Gray and put on his neural integrator unit, as the indicator light came up showing that was on, Ginro appeared to be focusing on something far in the distance through the glass on the neural integrator.


    Gray put on his neural integrator as well and when he looked at the glass it felt like nothing special. After a moment, a message appeared on the glass in front of Gray


    "Sensory integration complete¡­"


    "Starting consciousness integration"


    Gray suddenly felt like his body was being pulled forward, then the glass on his neural integrator in front of him turned white and appeared to expand completely around him.


    "Consciousness integration complete."


    "Entering sandbox"


    The white glass suddenly seemed to disappear and Gray saw a grassy world in front of him. Gray saw Ginro standing with his arms cross directly in front of him.


    "Took you long enough!" Ginro said.


    "Sorry, I''ve never used one of these before, I was only a minute behind you anyways!" Gray said


    "In here time is whatever we set it too, so it was only a minute in real time, but it felt like 10 minutes to me. Speaking of which, I left it at 10 times speed to match our usual working speed, but the system can handle higher. Want to try?" Ginro said with a wicked smile on his face.


    "Uhh¡­ sure?" Gray said rather unsure of where this was going to go.


    "Ok, to make sure your consciousness is still in sync, the system will show a picture of an everyday object or even an animal in front of you. Say what you see as soon as you see it. Once you can''t say one of them in time, your limit will be below that." Ginro said.


    "So¡­ you basically are trying to compete with me on brain power?" Gray asked.


    "Nonsense, this has nothing to do with power, this is processing speed, and it is purely for safety. Since we''re both in here we have to match the slowest speed person, which is you, so in the interests of saving time I want to find out what your limit is so we can go that speed instead." Ginro stated.


    "Oh, that makes sense¡­" Gray thought.


    "And¡­ begin¡­" Ginro said.


    (Image of a squirrel appears)


    "Squirrel"


    (Image of a dog)


    "Dog"


    (Image of a cat)


    "Cat"


    (Image of a donkey)


    "Ginro around Felicia"


    Ginro looked at the picture of what Gray was looking at and said "Yeah, that wasn''t right. That must be your limit¡­"


    (Image of a tiger)


    "Tiger"


    "Hey, system, he got the previous one wrong, why are you still going?" Ginro said loudly.


    "Negative, user Gray was correct, the image was a Tiger." A female AI voice sounded out.


    "That''s not¡­ nevermind¡­ I see how it is¡­" Ginro said dejectedly. "I''ll go load up the first map, just come over when you''re done¡­"


    "Will do" Gray said with a smile.


    Ginro fumbled through the tray full of data chips and decided to just pull out one randomly. He took the chip and said "Load Data" and then watched the terrain shift all around him. After a few minutes the terrain finished reshaping and a few buildings spawned as well. Gray would recognize this map as the one he had fought on earlier today.


    "He should be done by now." Ginro thought.


    Returning to Gray, Ginro saw the white screen disappear in front of Gray. "Ok, let''s get started then!" Ginro said to Gray.


    Gray let out what sounded like gibberish to Ginro and moved so fast to Ginro''s side that it would only have been possible if Gray was sprinting except that Gray appeared to be walking. Ginro tried to turn his head and talk to Gray but Gray let out another bit of gibberish and continued to sprint/walk away towards the terrain that was just generated.


    "System! What happened to Gray!"


    A message appeared in front of Ginro "No abnormalities detected"


    Suddenly Ginro had a thought and said "System, what''s our current time speed?"


    Another message appeared in front of Ginro "73 times normal"


    Ginro''s mind felt overwhelmed for a second as he thought "How can this guy''s brain be faster than mine, and by so much?!?"


    __________


    Princess Bang-gwi and Chunan Jwi were being taken in a black sedan to a large military base at the border of the demilitarized zone near what was once Germany.


    "Seriously, this sucks!" Princess Bang-gwi said while pouting.


    "You only have yourself to blame, if you hadn''t tried that stunt with the fire then you wouldn''t have been punished." Jwi replied.


    "¡­I know¡­" the Princess replied, her face blushed red as she recalled the incident that ended with her in just her underwear on stage.


    "I''m actually surprised you didn''t keep going considering how you normally are." Jwi said while laughing slightly.


    "Now that everyone has seen the goods, I can''t get married now!" the Princess said dramatically.


    "Knock it off, I''ve bathed you so I''ve seen it all and never thought that way." Jwi said kindly.


    "I forget that you are that old sometimes¡­" the Princess said teasingly.


    Jwi reached over and pinched the Princess''s cheeks hard, the Princess replied hastily "Because you''re so beautiful and young looking I thought of you as a sister!"


    Jwi let go of the Princess''s cheeks then and nodded with satisfaction.


    "We''re almost there, we''ll introduce you to some of the base staff tonight and then tomorrow morning you will be introduced to everyone else."


    About an hour later, the black sedan drove into the base at night, not drawing much attention as most of the soldiers and staff were busy with their own tasks. The sedan pulled up next to a large command center and the driver hurriedly got out and opened the door for the Princess and Chunan Jwi.


    "It''s not what I pictured it to be" Princess Bang-gwi stated.


    "What were you expecting?" Jwi asked curiously.


    "Like¡­ tents, men running in groups while chanting marching songs or whatever, a muddy ground that is covered in footprints, sounds of artillery and gunfire, you know¡­ the usual stuff."


    "You''ve watched too many movies¡­" Jwi said while rolling her eyes.


    Princess Bang-gwi puffed her cheeks and said "Whatever!"


    Walking into the command center, a tall thick and muscular man greeted Jwi and the Princess.


    "Hail Princess Bang-gwi of the Kwin family!" the large man said energetically.


    Princess Bang-gwi shook her head and said "He''s too much¡­ I can tell already"


    "Princess, this is Marquis Mehhnk" Jwi said politely.


    Marquis Mehhnk was extremely tall and of Russian descent. He wore the standard black military uniform while on base with the gold embellishments to show his noble status, his ceremonial hanbok was only used for noble gatherings and parties. The man had a well-defined jaw and military crew cut hair style, he was the definition of a military man.


    The Princess walked up to Marquis Mehhnk, her head just reached his chest and said "I need to get one thing straight, I refuse to fight and that''s that!"


    Mehhnk bellowed out a laugh. "I wouldn''t expect that of you to begin with Princess, I have one request though¡­"


    "You may ask." Princess Bang-gwi said with authority


    "My son was at the concert you put on near one of our front-line bases, he asked for your autograph and hopes you can put on another one!"


    "Marquis Mehhnk must not have heard what happened at the concert" the Princess thought. "Ok, I do have some official pictures I am allowed to distribute and can add my signature to one."


    "Oh, he said he didn''t need a picture, he mentioned that he took a few from the concert, but never shown them to me so th¡­"


    The Princess hurriedly interrupted him "HE WILL DELETE THOSE PICTURES OR DIE!"

 Chapter 60 - Go big or go home

    "System, adjust time to my maximum." Ginro whispered.


    "Adjusting time" said the female AI voice.


    Ginro figured Gray might not notice him slowing the time to his level since it would appear like Ginro was now moving and talking at a normal speed. Having the system adjust time faster than he could handle would only make those that could handle it appear faster than him.


    "73 times versus my 23 times¡­ How is that even possible? Oh wait, Gray and all of the other players have basically been gamers most of their lives so their brains receive stimulation every day. I guess it would make sense then that they''d be faster than me, but it still doesn''t feel right." Ginro thought to himself.


    Ginro walked over to Gray, who was admiring the terrain, and said "Look familiar?"


    "Yeah, it''s the map we did earlier today." Gray said while looking around at the terrain and added "Everything here appears much larger than before, but I guess we were in mechs that are several times larger than a person"


    "Indeed, now here is the fun part... say ''System, show my attributes''" Ginro stated.


    "System, show my attributes" Gray stated plainly.


    The white board from earlier with the images appeared again, but this time it had a list of different attributes for Gray with sliders under each one.


    "You can use these sliders to adjust how this sandbox world simulates you." Ginro explained


    Scale, Gravity, Toggle Flight, Toggle Advanced Flight, Toggle Player Contact, and Movement speed appeared on Gray''s list. Gray noticed he could adjust them all within certain degrees except for Toggle Player Contact.


    "As you''ve noticed, Toggle Player Contact is set to disabled and can''t be enabled. This is normal, and is meant as a safety precaution." Ginro


    "Oh, so you can''t hit me and I can''t hit you basically right?" Gray mused.


    "Pretty much, that and it makes working together so much easier since you don''t have to worry about hurting anyone else or stepping on someone when you scale yourself up to the maximum size of 25 times larger." Ginro said.


    "How do you fly then?" Gray said excitedly as he immediately toggled flight to ''on'' before even completing his question.


    After gray toggled flight on, the ''Toggle Advanced Flight'' became adjustable as well. In front of Gray a joystick and a floating ball appeared.


    "You should be familiar with these as they are the most common camera controls of virtual reality games." Ginro said.


    "Ah ok, so I control my movement with the joystick and my alignment with the track ball?" Gray asked.


    Ginro nodded his head "Just be careful with the track¡­"


    Ginro never finished that sentence as he watched Gray spin himself in place rapidly. Gray''s face started to turn all different shades of green until Gray was able to control himself enough and stop the track ball from spinning.


    Gray was now ''standing'' upside down in mid-air and Ginro finally added "The track ball is very sensitive compared to what you''re used to."


    Gray nodded his head while sweat was beading on his forehead, he felt like he was going to throw up but since this was a sandbox world he couldn''t even throw up if he wanted to.


    "Do you want to try advanced flight mode?" Ginro asked


    Gray shook his head vigorously, still standing upside down now with his eyes closed waiting for the feelings of nausea to go away. Finally Gray opened his eyes, spin himself slowly upright, and then played with the joystick a little to get himself used to it.


    "Ok, now that you''re feeling better, let''s get started! First, show me how you guys managed to sneak in from the north side of the base when it was never meant to be entered from that side." Ginro said.


    "The plateau where the Solar Farm is on is too high to jump up to since the mechs only have a short hop, but we made stairs from the thick trees. I''m surprised nobody else figured it out honestly." Gray stated.


    "Ahhh¡­ ok, so we should make it even taller then, right?" Ginro asked Gray.


    "No, make it easier, remove the plateau and make it a walkable ramp." Gray said.


    "Why? Then the base becomes vulnerable from the North."


    "Because you guys made the base too hard to assault with only 1 viable entrance and no air strikes. As it stands, you can only breach the base from the main gate and the side gate. Normally, if a base like this is going to be assaulted, a much larger force would be assembled and have fire support or air support to aid." Gray stated "Basically, this map favors defense WAY too much."


    "Then how did you guys capture it?" Ginro asked.


    "Luck, tactics, bravery, leadership, and a little bit of crazy stupid ideas¡­ that and being the first on offense meant the defending team had no idea how we would approach."


    "I''ll make sure to load your group''s replay then to see what you meant by crazy stupid ideas, those are the best kind after all!"


    Gray nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, yes they are!"


    __________


    Almost a full 24 hours had been spent with Ginro adjusting the maps based on his suggestions and Gray saw that they still had only went through 8 maps.


    "Ginro¡­ I''m starting to get a headache and we''re only through the first 8. How long have we been at this?" Gray asked.


    "Only about an hour¡­ well, I guess it does feel like 23 hours then since we''re accelerating time in here by 23 times. Let''s take a break and I''ll show you my favorite thing to do in here when I''m on break!"


    Ginro pulled another data chip out of his pocket and loaded the map data. Instead of another map that was used for mech battles, a sprawling city appeared in front of Gray complete with skyscrapers and even simulated traffic.


    "Nice, but what''s so great about a simulated city without real people in it?" asked Gray


    "System, begin Monster Movie mode!" Ginro yelled.


    Gray watched as Ginro grew over 100 meters tall.


    Gray tried yelling at Ginro but realized he couldn''t hear him so he messaged Ginro and asked "That''s way more than the 25 times scale max! How do I do that?!?"


    Ginro said "Yell what I yelled." The sheer size of Ginro made his normal talking voice sound like the roar of a giant prehistoric beast. Gray barely made out what he said.


    "System, begin Monster Movie mode!" Gray yelled.


    Gray saw everything shrink rapidly around him and his point of view quickly elevated. Gray saw he was now taller than most of the buildings but not so tall that he could step on them flat.


    "Wow! Uh, so now what?" Gray asked.


    Ginro merely smiled and then walked over to a building and opened his mouth wide and let out a roar. Immediately a blue bolt of fire and lightning shot at the building and started to destroy it. Then Ginro squinted his eyes and lasers shot out from them puncturing the buildings in the simulated city.


    "Holy chicken wings that looks awesome!" Gray said excitedly. "What else can we do?"


    "We also have electric claws, make your hand tense like you''re about to claw someone''s face and¡­"


    Ginro tensed his hand like he was about to scratch something and his fingers turned blue, then he scratched the side of a building and left 4 scorch marks across it.


    "Sweet! Please¡­ please tell me we can fight with these?"


    "Not each other but¡­ System, summon monster butterfly."


    A loud screech was heard followed by the sound of gusts of wind as a giant butterfly descended from the sky to the center of the city.


    "Time for my revenge!" Ginro shouted as he charged towards the monstrous butterfly while crushing small buildings and cars under his feet. "Don''t worry Gray, pain is disabled and we''re indestructible so just have fun!"


    "What else can we summon?" Gray said excitedly.


    "Here is the list." Ginro said as he made a swiping motion towards Gray.


    Monster Butterfly


    Monster Crab


    Giant Ape


    NATO Task Force


    Giant Amazon Warrior


    Monster Turtle


    Gray looked at the second to last entry, Giant Amazon Warrior. He remembered that W****r W***n was an Amazon Warrior so he imagined a giant version of her coming down.


    "System, summon Giant Amazon Warrior!"


    In front of Gray a woman as tall as him fell from the sky and landed crouched then stood up and looked angrily at Gray. She wore form fitting leather armor and was armed with a long spear and round shield. Her upper arms and face were covered in tribal tattoos and the rippling muscles along her exposed skin would put body builders to shame.


    "This isn''t W****r W***n, this is Carly with weapons!" Gray said fearfully as the Giant Amazon Warrior came charging at him and leaped thrusting her spear directly at Gray''s neck. Gray saw his life flash before his eyes as he thought "I didn''t imagine dying this way¡­"

 Chapter 61 - Battle with Bertha

    Gray barely managed to dodge the spear that came at his throat, instead the Amazonian warrior bashed him with her shield after missing with the spear. Gray was pushed back hard and slammed into a skyscraper.


    Gray said with surprise "Huh? That didn''t hurt at all..."


    "Of course it doesn''t, you can''t get hurt or feel pain at all in this sandbox world, so why did you scream like a little girl." Ginro yelled at Gray while climbing to the top of a skyscraper and trying to jump on the giant butterfly.


    Ginro used his nuclear powered breath attack to force the butterfly down and then pounced on it''s back.


    "Yeah! I''m going to turn you into silk pajamas!" Ginro said aggressively to the giant monster butterfly as he started to try and rake his claws across the back of the monster.


    When Ginro jumped on the butterfly''s back, the monster rolled around in the air and shook him off. Gray started to think that this simulated monster butterfly may have some bitter sort of relationship with Ginro as it appeared to actually taunt him back after it threw Ginro off of it.


    Gray suddenly remembered he had his own ''monster'' to worry about as a spear embedded itself in the building right above his left shoulder. Gray saw the amazon warrior rushing towards him once more, so Gray pulled out her spear and swung it at her like a bat. Apparently Gray had dramatically enhanced strength as when it smacked the warrior in the side she went flying into the skyscraper on her right side.


    The amazon warrior pulled herself out of the debris and looked even angrier, but also uninjured.


    "Uhhh, Ginro, can we kill these simulations or are they invincible too?"


    "They will surrender after a certain amount of damage, you will also be declared the loser if you take enough damage as well. Consider it like a live-action fighting video game!"


    "This... this isn''t my idea of taking a break!" Gray exclaimed while he tries to use the spear against the amazon warrior.


    "It''s not meant to be relaxing to your body, it''s meant to be relaxing to your brain." Ginro explained.


    "... I should''ve asked what the different monsters were like before just picking next time."


    The amazon warrior grabbed the spear after Gray tried to stab her with it and kicked him hard forcing Gray to let go of it. Gray managed to keep his balance and not fall down, but he was still weaponless against this warrior.


    "Use your powers! You have the same powers as G**z***a!" Ginro shouted.


    Gray forgot about those since it isn''t natural for him, or any human, to have such powers. Gray furrowed his eyebrows while staring at the amazon warrior''s chest and two laser beams shot from his eyes. The beams hit her square in the chest and burned away part of her armor until she managed to get the shield up to block the eye lasers.


    "How does a Wooden shield block a laser?" Gray thought to himself, but considering that he was over 100 meters tall and shooting lasers from his eyes, he found it believable.


    Normally Gray would have a hard time fighting a woman, but fortunately this ''woman'' was just a simulated monster so he didn''t have to give himself a gender equality pep talk before hand.


    Seeing the lasers have no affect against the shield, he switched up to his breath attack. Gray opened his mouth and roared, trying to imitate a dinosaur, a blue electric fire streamed out from his mouth towards the amazon woman. Since the breath attack was slower than the laser attack she could get her shield up before it hit her, but considering the power of it she was only able to deflect the breath attack to the side. The deflected breath tore into the base of one of the taller skyscrapers causing the building to lean slightly to one side. Eventually the amazon warrior woman was pushed back against a building by Gray''s continued breath attack and her shield started to finally disintegrate from the focused breath attack. The breath finally burned away her shield after she was unable to fall back any further when suddenly Ginro punched the giant butterfly and sent it flying into the skyscraper next to the amazon warrior.


    The force of the collision and the weakened foundation from the previously deflected breath attack caused the building to lean and then fall over towards the amazon warrior. The amazon warrior woman dropped down on one knee and held her bare arms up to try and shield herself from the building since Gray had destroyed her shield and all of the armor on her arms.


    For some reason Gray felt a pang of guilt, stopped his attack and dashed forward to shield the amazon warrior. The building fell on top of Gray and he was able to shield the amazon warrior completely due to the simulation giving him super powers in this sandbox world.


    After the rubble stopped falling, Gray forced himself to stand up and the rubble on top of Gray and the amazon warrior was pushed off of them. Gray extended his hand to the amazon warrior woman and her face blushed as she looked shyly away and took his hand. Gray pulled to help her up, and then uppercut Gray in the family jewels... hard... Gray couldn''t feel physical pain, but men share pain when they see another man get hit in the jewels, and just seeing his berries get uppercut was enough to cause mental anguish and pain to make him pass out momentarily.


    __________


    Gray wasn''t sure how long he had been out, but when he came too he saw a fire was built in a park in the city and that several pieces of meat were cooked and on plates all around him. His head felt like it was resting on something very comfortable and as he looked straight up he saw the tattooed face of the amazon warrior woman smiling at him. Gray panicked for a second and tried to get up, but he found his hands and feet we tied together.


    "Ginro! What''s going on!?!" Gray yelled slightly paniced.


    "Interesting, looks like Bertha here wants to take care of you and probably have you be her wife." Ginro said while staring at the situation Gray was in without any hint of worry.


    "What?!? No! Wait... wife?" Gray said perplexed.


    "Well of course, clearly she is more of a man than you are if you passed out from a mental stimulus. What happened anyways?"


    "She... she uppercut me..."


    "Huh? That shouldn''t have done anything aside from maybe lift you up and push you back but not hurt at all." Ginro said still confused at how Gray was knocked out.


    "She uppercut me in the twins!" Gray exclaimed


    Ginro''s face went white and he instinctively covered his manhood while crouching slightly. "I see... now I understand."


    The amazon warrior growled at Ginro when Gray yelled at him while she was still fondling his head and petting him like an animal.


    "Well, I''ll just leave you two be then, good luck and enjoy the bug meat!"


    Ginro started to walk off as Gray finally realized that all of the meat had came from the giant monster butterfly Ginro was fighting earlier. The amazon warrior woman saw Gray looking at the cooked meat and thought he was hungry so she reached out and to some of the cooked meat.


    "Pein¨¢s? Tr¨®o!"


    "Uhhh... what did she say?"


    Ginro shrugged his shoulders and said "Beats me, Amazons speak Greek or ancient Iranian if memory serves me correctly."


    Gray was force fed the bug meat by the Amazon woman, he found it to be surprisingly good, except for the weird slimy texture once he bit through the burned outer layer since this amazon warrior only seemed to think meat was done cooking when it was black on the outside.


    "We need to get back to work Ginro!" Gray yelled frantically as the woman reached for another piece of meat to shove in to Gray''s mouth.


    "Oh fine... System, clear monster movie mode and reset workspace."


    Gray saw the amazon warrior woman look down at him with a look of sadness as she disintegrated into a beam of light, the terrain around him appeared to grow suddenly as his body was shrunk back to normal size and the city was similarly disintegrated into several beams of light.


    Gray did feel a little bad due to the last look she gave him, but it was only a simulation so it wasn''t real anyways.


    "When you summoned the Giant Amazon Warrior, it picks one at random. If you want to see her again, just use ''summon Amazon Warrior Bertha'' and enjoy." Ginro said while elbowing Gray playfully. "You can just say ''summon Amazon Warrior'' again and try your luck again with the random."


    "Please... please can we get back to work... I want to go home..." Gray cried softly on the inside to himself remembering the trauma of having a muscle-bound woman pet him while he was tied up.


    Gray pondered to himself as he thought about what he said that he wants to go home. Where was his home? He grew up in this virtual world for so long that he considered it his home, but now that he knows the truth, he can''t really say that the virtual world is where his home was.


    "I need to find out what happened to my actual family, they said we''re not cloned, so that means I had to come from somewhere..."


    Gray went back to work with Ginro while trying to piece together where his home actually could be based upon his memories.

 Chapter 62 - Raising a Flag

    Gray and Ginro got back to work and modified every single map after about 40 more hours of work. Gray was feeling exhausted mentally even though in the real world it had only been about an hour and 45 minutes in reality due to time being accelerated in the workspace.


    "Thank you for your hard work Gray. I thought it would take all night but since you could keep up with me the maps were fixed quickly." Ginro said as him and Gray were looking over the last map they worked on.


    "It was actually fun, at least once I got over the trauma from earlier." Gray''s face paled when he recalled it again. It would take a long time for him to forget about that incident.


    "As you''ve figured it out, we''re not game developers here so we do appreciate this assistance." Ginro added.


    "Kinda figured that, but why didn''t you guys get help from a game company in the real world then?" Gray asked.


    "Large scale game developers no longer exist like they used to." said Ginro. "Greed and pirating ended up finally killing the last triple A studio before the great war. Why make a quality game when you can make way more money making a cheap mobile game with ads and micro transactions."


    "That''s... so sad..." Gray replied solemnly.


    "I know... but anyways, do you have any other suggestions you have we can consider regarding maps or modes?" asked Ginro.


    "Right now? Hmmm... let us switch load outs between rounds when it is an offense and defense type of match. Also, built-in chat channels would be great instead of just one single team channel. How about at least 4 team channels where the leader can assign group leaders to each channel and have the ability to broadcast over all channels." Gray suggested.


    "Switching load outs between rounds... got it... As for the chat channels, it was intentionally left sparse. We want to get you guys used to managing it for you since on the field you''ll have to do it anyways. Although the feature to let group leaders broadcast to all channels isn''t bad, I''ll see about adding that to the permissions." Ginro said.


    "Fair enough, oh, stupid thought... how about you guys add a movie monster mode like you showed me just for fun where we can fight giant monsters in our equally giant mechs."


    Ginro laughed and added "You miss Bertha already?"


    "..." Gray unconsciously protected himself between his thighs.


    "That aside... I''ll see what the others think. As much as I personally would like that, it falls outside of the scope of what we are trying to accomplish here."


    "Oh fine... well, that''s all I got for now, shoot me your contact info and I can ask my teammates what they would like to see." Gray said.


    Ginro nodded and Gray and Ginro swapped contact information.


    "I''m ready to get out of here" Gray thought.


    "System, end sandbox" Ginro commanded and then took off his neural integrator and nodded to Gray as he walked away.


    Gray removed the neural integrator and placed it back on the desk. He was amazed that only about 3 hours had passed when it felt like almost 3 days. "Technology is amazing" Gray thought.


    Gray looked around for Felicia in order to mooch more of the benefits of pretending to be her boyfriend, but according to one of the other techs she had left about an hour ago. Gray returned to the Alterra Corporation''s main entrance and retrieved Jono''s scooter.


    "I need to remember to return this... maybe..." Gray thought as he fired up the electric scooter to head back to his apartment and log off.


    Gray looked at the clock and noticed that it was just past 11pm.


    "I guess I should get to sleep... I''ll have to eventually get used to a military schedule." Gray thought to himself. Gray felt mentally fatigued so he had no trouble dozing off.


    __________


    The next morning Gray woke up to a constant pinging sound, he had received dozens of new messages while he was asleep, the vast majority of which were from Jono calling him every name in the book for "borrowing" his electric scooter last night. One message from Ginro caught his eye, sadly it seemed that the monster movie mode wouldn''t be added but the other ideas would be implemented.


    Remembering what he was thinking about last night, Gray thought about asking the others on his team if they remember or know anything about their familes. As Gray was lying in bed he tossed off the sheets and went to go change. He felt like it was normal to wake up, shower, and get dressed, but the players that still believed this was a virtual world would always wear the same clothes over and over is what Gray thought. Just finishing his shower, Gray had put his clothes on his bed to get dressed for the day. Gray grabbed his socks and started to put them on when he heard a feint knock on his door.


    "Hold on, I''m getting dressed!" Gray yelled


    Gray was startled when he heard Yurika''s voice say "Don''t bother!" followed by the door opening and Yurika walked in and then said seductively. "Gray... I need you to take me..."


    Gray''s eyes lit up and his mind started to race as he tried to piece together what Yurika could''ve possible meant since he didn''t think he was lucky enough to get her to want him in that way so fast.


    Yurika plopped down on Gray''s bed and laid on her side with her head propped up on one hand. "I need you to take me... take us to town!" Yurika said teasingly.


    The 5 others of Gray''s team were standing in the doorway and grinning at Gray.


    "I hate all of you..." Gray said while shaking his head in defeat.


    "Good morning to you to captain! Aren''t you forgetting the flag on that pole?" Geoff said teasingly.


    Gray looked down at his boxers and realized what he meant...


    Gray started to get very annoyed and yelled "Well if everyone wants to see it here it is!"


    Gray made a motion like he was about to take his boxers off and everyone else ran out of his room, except Yurika who was now lying on her stomach with her feet sticking up while looking through some of Gray''s things. Gray stared at her and grabbed the waistband on his boxers like he was about to pull them down.


    "What? You''re not going to do it..." Yurika said plainly while not even bothering to look at him.


    "No... you''d enjoy that too much..." Gray said with a smug expression.


    Yurika left Gray''s room and added "You know it!" before slamming his door.


    Gray got dressed hurriedly then walked out of the pilot''s quarters and saw the rest of his team standing around talking as if they are waiting for him.


    "What''s up guys?" Gray asked.


    The 6 others on Gray''s team all looked down at Gray''s pants.


    "Why don''t you tell us, Gray?" Geoff said teasingly.


    Gray thought "... I walked in to that one..."


    "I mean, you guys want to go to town? What for?" Gray asked.


    Stacia replied "Yeah, Paul''s 28th birthday is soon so we were just thinking about celebrating it in town next weekend if possible."


    "Don''t you have friends and family from the virtual world to celebrate with?" Gray asked.


    "Well... that''s... none of my friend''s from the virtual world are players... so I don''t even know if they are real people or just simulated people." Paul said.


    "That''s... an interesting point. Guys, what are your thoughts on this? Are the other people actual people or are they simulated in the virtual world?" Gray asked everyone.


    "Obviously they are simulated since it is a simulated reality, but that is probably not what you meant to ask, correct?" Caleb countered.


    "You would be correct... I mean, are the non-players in the virtual world real or simulated people?"


    "Gray, personally I think they are real... I feel like they are people anyways." Stacia said timidly


    "I agree with Stacia, but mainly because I believe they wouldn''t be able to fool everyone for so long if they weren''t real people." Geoff added.


    "I agree with both of you, so Paul, go spend your birthday with your family and friends and remember that they are what we need to train ourselves for. We train to protect them!" Gray said. "On that note, let''s get back to earning merits! We''re way behind teams like Giacobbe''s team and the normal players will probably catch us if we don''t put in some effort!"


    Everyone agreed and headed over to the cafeteria to get some breakfast before heading to the simulators to begin some early matchmaking.

 Chapter 63 - Playing the Players

    At a front line base for the Alterran Alliance near what was formerly western Germany, the military academy cadets and recent graduates stationed here numbered only 50. This base would be considered under capacity since over the past 4 years only 200 cadets completed the military academy curriculum and they were distributed across the 4 main front line bases, but those 200 were all pilots while the rest of the infantry still was at normal capacity. No players were at this base nor had access to it so they didn''t need to have any special services setup for them.


    Inside the well lit meeting room of the Command Center, 3 generals and their assistants were discussing what they should do about getting the player''s involved. The meeting room was a fairly plain room with a long table and 10 brown leather chairs around it. The 3 generals sat towards the head of the table but left that seat open while their assistants stood behind each of them with holoboard and stylus to take down notes.


    "We need to get the player''s involved!" said a rotund man with gray hair and a mustache wearing a dark blue Alterran Alliance Military uniform adorned with 1 star on each shoulder showing his 1 star general rank. This man is General Jameson Bell, one of the oldest generals left in the Alterran Alliance. It is often joked that he was around for the first Great War between the Alliance and the Hegemony back in 2050.


    "We are all in agreement on that General Bell, no need to remind us of this again. The issue we can''t agree upon is how to get them involved." A woman reminded General Bell. She was an attractive woman with short black hair, toned body and a heavy French accent who wore a similar dark blue uniform with a skirt instead of slacks and had two stars on each shoulder. This woman was General Elise Bellerose, she turned 50 earlier this year and has been a little sensitive about her age ever since, but she has always been very direct and not one to mince words so she earned the respect of a lot of her colleagues especially after serving as an Army Ranger right before the end of the 21st century.


    "Just send me a few hundred of them and I''ll train them myself the real way with blood, sweat, tears, and more blood!" General Bell said gleefully while his belly jiggled slightly from laughing.


    "We do need to train them, but we have to be careful so they do not defect. We should offer incentives to motivate them and instead treat them more like a mercenary force rather than under our direct control." A man sitting across from General Bell said, this was General David Brian, a four star general and one of only four. He had a fairly handsome complexion and was approaching 70 years of age, but still maintained himself physically despite being a very high rank and not needing to partake in actual battles anymore. He earned his position by being honest, smart, and never giving an order he wouldn''t do personally. Some might consider his strong moral integrity to be his downfall, but he has earned a small cult following and he even jokes about himself as being ''The Nicest General in the Army''.


    "Nonsense! We do own them! Why back in my day¡­" General Bell started to carry on theatrically about his ''impressive'' achievements that earned him the right to sit with all of the other generals.


    "You haven''t done squat in 40 years, you were only promoted to a general of the supply division to keep you from causing more harm than good you old windbag!" thought General Bellerose. Sadly the only reason General Bell was still around is because he didn''t want to spend all day with his wife and he couldn''t afford to leave her, or so he says. Truth is he really does love the military and the Alterran Alliance, but he is starting to go senile with age and his personality easily clashed with others.


    "That''s quite enough Jameson..." an elderly woman walked in flanked by two assistants as she told General Bell to quiet down. She wore the same uniform as General Bellerose, but hers had 5 stars and gold embroidery on the pauldrons symbolizing her as the commander for the entire army. This was General Lillian Deckard, her face carried a few wrinkles and her hair was gray and cut short, but her eyes still had plenty of life in them. Nobody knew General Lillian''s age since she insisted on keeping it a secret, but it was rumored that she was probably around as old as General Jameson due to their familiarity. Unlike the other General''s, she also preferred to be addressed by her first name instead of her married name.


    General Lillian took a seat at the head of the table and everyone else in the room turned to pay attention to her. "So, Jameson, 3 assistants this time is it? Looks like David guessed correctly..." General Lillian stated then swiped General Brian 10 Alliance Credits.


    General Bellerose clicked her tongue then also swiped General Brian 10 credits.


    Each general had one assistant present except for General Jameson, he had 3 this time. Due to him going senile, General Bell would often forget if he gave himself an assistant or not for every meeting. Instead of doing the logical thing and writing it down, he would just try to remember it instead. This became a running bet among many of the generals as they would always guess how many assistants General Bell would have with him each time.


    General Bell pretended to get mad as always about this running bet, but it was plain to see he enjoyed the attention. "Hmph, back in my day we bet with our lives!" General Bell said resolutely.


    "Back in your day they used muskets..." General Lillian stated with a friendly smile.


    The meeting room went dead silent for a moment before General Bell burst out laughing followed by everyone else except General Lillian. General Lillian didn''t have much of a sense of humor, but sometimes it would sneak up on everyone and most of the time she wasn''t even aware of what she said was funny as she was just giving her honest opinion.


    "Now now, quiet down, I have a suggestion that should appease everyone." General Lillian said politely. "We need to give the players the option to join the military directly. Having only 200 pilots under our direct command is not nearly enough to counter the Hegemony forces. We may have 40 percent more pilots and superior mechs, but we''re not a solid unified force."


    "Given what we know of the player''s nature, all we have to do is offer them ''quests'' or ''missions'' and they will come to complete them from what we''ve observed." General Brian said.


    "Yes, but we are unable to control when and in some cases how they complete said mission. I still think it''s better to force them to join the military so we can have a single united front." General Bellerose said.


    "So let''s try to take the positives of both of your arguments. I want to open the military up to them to join, but on a contractual basis. Merits do not cost us much so what we can do, aside from offering a salary of merits to those that join, is to offer them exclusive mechs and weapons as well as give exclusive missions." General Lillian said.


    "Makes sense, from what I''ve read the players want to feel like they''re special and if we can get them to think the military is exclusive that will get them to want to stay and maintain that status." General Brian stated.


    "With player created factions though, won''t they want to join their friend''s factions instead of the military if given the choice?" General Bellerose said.


    "Yes, but we all know that the faction system was designed to deplete the player''s merits in order to create a greater demand for them and force them to disband their faction or have it be absorbed by the military." General Lillian said.


    "Ok, so what do we do about those that want to leave the military after they recover their losses?" General Brian asked.


    General Lillian''s expression darkened slightly and she said "Who says we let them?"

 Chapter 64 - Playing the System

    "David¡­ a moment of your time." General Lillian said as everyone started to file out of the meeting room.


    General Lilliam and Brian gestured for their assistants to leave ahead of them. After everyone left General Brian asked "How can I help?"


    "Let some of the military pilots join the player''s matchmaking and allow them to use prototypes mechs and weapons. We need to show off a little to show the benefit of joining the military."


    "Understood, I''ll get right on it ma''am!"


    General Lillian nodded her head and General Brian got up to leave as well. General Brian turned around and said "I''m not na?ve enough to think we can get enough players to join us with this method, but I hope we can delay it as much as necessary."


    "I understand your concerns David and I share them too, but I will not make the same mistake as my predecessor, Earth will have a united front against the invasion!"


    General Brian looked down and nodded in agreement then left.


    __________


    Princess Bang-gwi woke up in her private quarters to the sound of people jogging and the loud boom of a mech stepping on the ground nearby.


    "Just a little longer Jwi¡­" the Princess muttered sleepily with her face buried in the pillow.


    She lay there for a moment and didn''t hear a reply and then remembered she was no longer in her palace. After rolling out of her bed she put on the pilot uniform that was provided to her. It was similar to the black one that Marquis Mehhnk wore except that it had extra gold embellishments on the cuffs of the jacket and a crown on her shoulders indicating she was royalty. The jacket covered the white undershirt that most pilots would wear without the jacket covering it while piloting.


    "Guess it''s time to start and see what I can do¡­" The Princess said to herself as she walked out of her room. Chuhan Jwi was waiting for the Princess it seems, she was now adorning a black military uniform as well but with very few gold embellishments to show that she was a fairly low class noble, but still a noble.


    "Princess, you''re up early!" Jwi said with a smile to the Princess.


    "Yeah, the stomping of mechs woke me up early¡­ it''s even louder than mother''s snoring." The Princess said with a grin.


    "Like Mother, like daughter¡­" Jwi said quietly.


    The Princess didn''t understand what Jwi said so she asked "What was that Jwi?"


    "I said we do not want to be a bother." Jwi said innocently.


    "Bother about what?" The Princess asked.


    "We don''t want to bother everyone else, so let''s go find the Marquis. Your mech was delivered already, but they had to complete some modifications since you requested no guns on it."


    The Princess was happy about this and excitedly said "Yeah! Awesome! Say¡­ do you think they could put some huge speakers on it so I can sing instead of fighting? I want to be like Mylene from M*****s 7!"


    Chuhan Jwi rolled her eyes at this irrational request and said "We''ll ask... but don''t get your hopes up."


    Marquis Mehhnk greeted the Princess and Chuhan Jwi warmly with a smile and in his usual Russian accent said "Good morning Princess!"


    "Erm, Good morning Marquis. I heard you have a new toy for me!"


    "Toy? Little Princess, your mech is not a toy, you can''t defeat the Alliance with toys¡­" the Marquis said while laughing.


    The Princess puffed her cheeks and said angrily "Don''t treat me like a child! I am 19, almost 20!"


    "I am sorry Princess, I mean no disrespect, but you have to understand I am here to win us this war and can''t give you as much care and attention as you will need to survive a fight."


    "That''s perfectly fine with me! I don''t want to be treated special!"


    "Is that so? And yet you demanded no guns on your mech nor did you wish to fight at all¡­"


    "That''s because¡­" The Princess started to say then turned quiet, she was used to being doted on and nobody had ever questioned her decisions.


    "It is ok, Princess¡­" Jwi comforted the Princess then glared at Marquis Mehhnk and said "Marquis Mehhnk, you are merely concerned for the Princess''s safety and do not wish for her to get hurt as she is a symbol for our great Hegemony."


    "¡­ Of course, Lady Chuhan, I will have her train purely for self-defense. We can''t assume that the battle won''t come to her even if she is in the back, especially after you''ve seen the monstrosity that her mech is¡­ Come, this way!"


    The Marquis led the Princess and Jwi out to the mech hangar to show them the mech that was made special just for the Princess.


    __________


    Gray and the rest of the Steel Wolves finished breakfast and headed over to the simulator pods while chatting amongst themselves.


    "Hey, we''re all Diamond-tier, why don''t we try the mission function out a little while we''re doing matchmaking?" Paul suggested.


    "Hmm¡­ that seems exploitable and unfair¡­ ok let''s try it!" Gray said. "Everyone stand in a circle, the person on your right will be the receiver of your mission, make it a simple ''Complete a single round of matchmaking''."


    "How many merits should we give upon completion?" asked Caleb.


    "Whatever the max it will allow you to do¡­ looks like I can do only 20." Gray said


    Everyone assigned a mission to the person on their right and everyone found out their max was also 20 merits, Gray looked surprised though when he saw he had received 2 missions and Xyra mentioned she was still waiting for hers.


    Gray looked at Stacia, who was standing on his right side, questioningly until Stacia finally said "Oh! I''m sorry, I sometimes get my left and right confused!"


    Gray declined her mission and Stacia sent it to Xyra instead. Gray felt it was surprising that this was never a problem before.


    "Ok, so let''s do the smallest 8 vs. 8 match and see if it worked."


    "Our team only has 7 people though." Stacia said.


    "It will probably give us a random single player or another 7 person team. I read that the smallest 8 vs 8 setup was meant to set 8 as the maximum, but also had a 4 person minimum, you can specify if you want a team to match your size, if you want the teams to be filled, or if you want the first available match." Caleb explained


    "Ok, then let''s just do whatever is first available." Gray said


    ¡­27 minutes 33 seconds later¡­


    "Wow¡­ never again are we doing first available¡­" Gray lamented


    "Indeed, I''ve never seen such a useless player¡­" Caleb added.


    "Yeah¡­ f**ker kept stealing the kills!" Yurika fumed.


    They barely won the match¡­ the only reason they did win was due to Stacia tripping over their 8th player that was not part of their team which momentarily stunned her. The 3 mechs that were closing in on her and the 8th player only went after the 8th player and left Stacia alone since they thought she was already downed. Their carelessness gave Stacia the opportunity to attack them from the back once their force had pushed Gray and the rest of the Steel Wolves back. The 8th player never spoke a word in chat, but he also never listened to a single command from Gray, or anyone else and instead would always.


    "His accuracy and control were good and his overall awareness of what was going on could be said to be good since he always managed to switch targets to any enemy that was close to being destroyed. He just never listened to us which left us at a huge disadvantage since we could only adjust ourselves around him." Gray said.


    Geoff suddenly became excited and said "Hey look! I think the mission thing worked!"


    Everyone checked their mission status and saw that it was completed and that they could collect the 20 merits. Since it cost half of the reward to create the mission, each person would only gain 10 merits extra, but that was still 10 free merits.


    "Sweet, let''s do it again!" Yurika shouted.


    Everyone sent the same person as before a mission and the same type. Unfortunately they were rejected by the system with a message that said "Not allowed to repeat same mission within 24 hours."


    "Ok, how about we change it to ''Win a single round of matchmaking'' instead" Paul suggested.


    Everyone changed it and were surprised when the system accepted it.


    "Sweet, ok, let''s do it again!" Gray said excitedly.


    __________


    They continued to repeat this cycle of assigning different missions to each other, but making them easy to complete while still sounding like genuine missions.


    "Complete a round of matchmaking"


    "Win a round of matchmaking"


    "Destroy 1 enemy in matchmaking"


    "Get destroyed in matchmaking."


    "Use 3 different weapons in a single match."


    They went to go for a 6th mission but as they tried to create it the button was greyed out with a timer next to it that said 23:19:45.


    "Looks like we can only give 5 each every 24 hours¡­ I imagine that when we increase our rank that will change as well as the reward possibly. Still, I can see them catching on to this and fixing it so let''s take advantage of it while we can!" Gray said.


    Nobody had any reservations about doing this as they were aware that they were played by the system so they thought it was fair to play the system instead.

 Chapter 65 - Growing up

    Princess Bang-Gwi, Chuhan Jwi, and Marquis Mehhnk reached the mech hangar and saw a group of Hegemony pilots and soldiers standing around looking up into one of the gantries while talking excitedly amongst themselves.


    "What are they looking at?" The Princess whispered to the Marquis.


    "Your mech¡­ it is a thing of beauty!" the Marquis said with envy.


    The Princess got excited from this thinking it had to be amazing if all of the other pilots and soldiers were looking at it so much.


    Unfortunately as the mech came in to view both the Princess and Chuhan Jwi gasped and blinked a few times to make sure they were actually seeing what they were seeing.


    The mech stood tall and proud amongst other mechs as it was approximately one meter taller than the standard military mech. The armor plating was applied liberally and was given enough details etched out on it to make it look like a suit of armor including a helmet. The shoulders were given armor that was molded to make it look like the head of a phoenix looking to the sides, and the feet were even given boots with golden wing decorations on it. As for weapons, per the Princess''s request, all guns were removed, but it was bristling with missile launchers and probably had even more weapon hidden inside of it. The mech was painted white and the armor accents were all given a shiny gold finish making it appear like a shiny golden knight, a truly gaudy look for a mech. To top it all off, the wrists each had a large clear gem of sorts on them and a large gem on the chest.


    "Why¡­ why so much gold?" asked the princess, when she noticed the missile launchers she got very angry and added "HEY! I said no weapons!"


    "No, you said no guns yesterday, and as you requested this mech does not contain a single gun, but it does contain our latest in anti-mech missile weaponry, anti-laser defenses, reactive armor plating, electric whip, and a prototype high energy nuclear reactor." The Marquis said with envy once again.


    "You¡­ son of a¡­" The Princess stamped her feet in frustration, but realized that she did indeed say ''no guns'' when she should''ve said ''no weapons''. "UHGGGG" the Princess finally vented.


    While the Princess was venting, Chuhan Jwi asked the Marquis with concern "Doesn''t this mech stand out a little too much, won''t she be the target of everything seeing as how this mech stands out so much compared to the others?"


    "Oh, you''re right, and I tried to talk the Queen out of it. We ended up settling on that we can change the color after the last parade. Unfortunately the gold plating is actually a new type of armor so we can only put a layer of paint on it that can be scratched off like any other paint. The natural color of the white painted parts is the standard dark gray so no worries about paint getting destroyed there."


    The Princess finally blurted out "Can we at least not make it as shiny?"


    After the crowd dispersed around the Princess''s mech, the technicians were able to apply an anti-glare coat to reduce how shiny it was. The Princess was satisfied with this and then said to the Marquis "Ok, what now?"


    "Now we teach you to use it and train you like everyone else. Prepare to get dirty as it rained recently so our training field is quite muddy!" The Marquis said with a grin.


    __________


    The Princess and Chuhan Jwi followed the Marquis out to the training field, already many other pilots and soldiers were mingling around. As soon as they saw the Marquis they immediately lined up in orderly rows and stood at attention as the Marquis came up in front of them.


    "Soldiers! Attention!" the Marquis barked loudly.


    A unified reply came from all of the soldiers present at the same time. "Sir! Good morning, sir!"


    "At ease! Today we have a late comer, I''m sure all of you know who she is." The Marquis gestured towards the Princess.


    The Princess started to say "Hello Ever¡­"


    The Marquis quickly interrupted and yelled "Did I give you permission to speak soldier?" while glaring at the Princess. "You may be above even nobility, but out here everyone is the same under my command, now form rank with everyone else!"


    The Princess''s face flushed red with embarrassment and she looked around at the neatly arranged rows of everyone else and hurriedly joined in an empty spot at the back.


    Chuhan Jwi glared at the Marquis and whispered to him "We will talk about this later." then stood behind the Marquis trying to keep sight of the Princess.


    "Everyone partner up and stretch! We start the obstacle course in 30 minutes!" The Marquis said then walked off towards the start of an obstacle course.


    As soon as the Marquis left, the soldiers and pilots were quiet momentarily and then flocked around the Princess.


    "Princess! Pick me!"


    "No! Let me!"


    "I give free back rubs!"


    "Get away pervert!"


    The Princess breathed a sigh of relief and started laughing at the sight of this. She was happy that everyone seemed so normal compared to the rigidity they had shown earlier. The Princess picked a random girl just because she seemed like they were of similar age. The Princess never had any friends close to her age as her mother, the Queen, sheltered her most of her life. If it wasn''t for Chuhan Jwi, Princess Bang-gwi might not have ever been able to leave the palace without a guard¡­ that and Jwi''s Taekwondo skills could be considered masterful.


    "My name is Xi¨£ng Pigu! Princess Bang-gwi, it is an honor to meet you in person!"


    Xi¨£ng Pigu was of Chinese descent and appeared to be about the same age as Princess Bang-gwi. She kept her black hair short and had a rounded face with dimples whenever she smiled. The Princess thought she was adorable since she was barely 1 and a quarter meters tall and was brimming with positive energy. The black military jumpsuit didn''t suit her, but at the same time it added to the adorableness by being something she would probably never wear on her own.


    The Princess smiled at her and said "Please, just call me Ban!" (Pronounced Bahn)


    "That¡­ that won''t do! My Xi¨£ng family are merely commoners and it would be inappropriate!"


    "The Marquis said we''re all equals here, so treat me as an equal." The Princess said while smiling.


    "Ok Princess¡­ I mean¡­ Ban¡­ Then call me Pi or Pigu, whatever you like! We need to get warmed up, the obstacle course is merely basic training since most of us are fresh recruits."


    Everyone spent about 20 minutes helping each other stretch and limber up, Princess Bang-gwi noticed a lot of the male soldiers were still stealing glances at her but it didn''t faze her as she was used to it. What did slightly disturb the Princess is the ones that seemed to look at her in disdain.


    "Pi¡­ why are some of them looking at me in a bad way?" The Princess asked with concern.


    "That''s¡­" Xi¨£ng Pigu didn''t answer any further than that causing the Princess to get even more concerned.


    "What is it? Please tell me! I want to get along with everyone!"


    "Well, some feel you are here just to play soldier and they consider it an insult to other soldiers." Xi¨£ng Pigu explained. "But don''t worry, most of us, like myself, we were forced to join and consider you to be in the same situation as us."


    "What?!? I''m¡­ I''m not playing around!" The Princess said.


    A large guy with a crew haircut and arms thicker than the Princess''s thighs stomped up to Xi¨£ng Pigu and the Princess and said angrily "This is all a game to you royals and nobles! We would be better off if you just stayed in your palace!"


    "How¡­ DARE YOU!" the Princess, having a short temper like her mother, stood up and glared menacingly at the large man. "I dare you to say that again!"


    "You heard me, ''Princess'', this is just a game to you and the nobility." The man said while gritting his teeth. "Just go back and put on another concert, your last one had such a great finale!"


    The Princess was seething with anger at this point. "You¡­ what is your name?"


    "Why? Planning on having my family become commoners? We already are!"


    "No, I need to know which family to send condolences too for their loss!" The Princess lunged at the guy and threw an uppercut that caught him in the nose. He appeared unfazed despite the little bit of blood that was trickling down it. After receiving that uppercut, the man grabbed her wrist forcefully.


    "Vincent Pierce, engrave it in your mind!" He then picked up the Princess by her wrist and tossed her down on the ground.


    From behind him came a woman''s voice "Hey, muscle brains!"


    The last thing Vincent saw was the bottom of a foot as Chuhan Jwi had already started her Spinning Hook Kick, causing Vincent to get knocked off his feet and crash into the ground while foaming slightly at the mouth. After seeing Vincent was knocked out, Chuhan Jwi went to help the Princess up but she refused to let her and instead stood up on her own.


    The Princess dusted off her uniform and said "Thank you, but I''ve already been coddled too long, I need to grow up and not live in this fantasy anymore¡­"


    Chuhan Jwi watched the Princess walk away from her slowly while Xi¨£ng Pigu continued to try and cheer up the Princess as they headed to the obstacle course.


    Chuhan Jwi thought with a sad expression on her face "I''m happy to see you grow up, but also a little sad, the day you no longer need me is approaching¡­"

 Chapter 66 - Misery Loves Company

    Back at the Alliance Military base south of New Venice, an announcement was made to all players that the military would be accepting players of all skill levels into their ranks. If you joined, you were promised a salary of merits, exclusive mechs, exclusive missions, and advanced mech combat training. Gray and the rest of the team were sitting at the cafeteria enjoying dinner while discussing the announcement.


    "Wow, that sounds too good to be true..." Gray thought.


    "Yeah, I bet there is some sort of catch, but on the other hand you could consider it the cost of receiving such things." Geoff said.


    Paul''s armlet chimed indicating he received a message and opened it to look at it. "Xyra, it looks like our old team decided to join up with the military..."


    "That''s good... they need direction" Xyra said quietly.


    "Huh? It sounded like you said ''They should they need an erection''" Geoff said as him and the others, except for Yurika who was sitting next to her, couldn''t understand what Xyra said.


    "She said they need direction you creep!" Yurika threw a carrot at Geoff that deflected off his face into Gray''s cup of milk while Gray was lifting the glass to take a drink. Gray ended up choking on the carrot as he wasn''t expecting anything in the cup and ended up spraying his milk all over Yurika as he started choking and then finally knocked it loose.


    "Payback is a bitch!" Geoff said with a grin as Yurika blinked and wiped the milk off of her face.


    Yurika looked deadpan at Gray and, while glancing at Geoff, asked "Gray, what''s the penalty for team killing?"


    "No penalty in this case... in fact I might help..." Gray said while looking at Geoff.


    Geoff scooted further down from Gray and the rest just in case and kept his head down while eating.


    Paul received another message and was surprised, then he forwarded it to everyone else. "Check it out, one of them sneaked a photo of the contract you have to sign. Pen and paper sign even which seems a little old-fashioned, but you can''t hack a piece of paper after all."


    Everyone opened their message and started to read the contract.


    "Looks fairly standard to me..." Gray said.


    "You read it already?" Geoff said with surprise.


    "Of course, I''m a fast reader!"


    "He''s lying, he didn''t read it completely or just skimmed it. Gray''s eye''s close slightly and he purses his lips a little bit when he''s unsure of something." Stacia said.


    Everyone turned to look at Stacia, then Yurika jokingly prodded her with her elbow and said "Paying really good attention to Gray, huh?" with a cheesy grin on her face.


    Stacia''s face blushed and she waved her hands and said excitedly "N-No... Well, I mean yes, but I mean... I don''t know what I mean!"


    Stacia looked down and stabbed her fork into her food without looking up and continued to eat quietly.


    "Allow me to go over the key points of the contract." Caleb said informatively


    When everyone turned their attention to Caleb, he continued and said "Overall, this contract is fairly constricting. We would be forced to partake in certain missions after our training period, which is expected, but we''d be unable to do any matchmaking except when we''re on leave. The salary is fairly generous but we still make more from matchmaking. The type or any statistics of the exclusive mechs are not included, only that we would be given access to the next generation of mechs for missions."


    "Hmm... knowing what we know as Diamond-tier players leads me to believe this was targetted to the other players. My biggest concern is that if we don''t join, will we continue to be able to use this base or will we be kicked out?" Gray said with concern.


    "Since they''re keeping it a secret from everyone else, I speculate that they may continue to keep it a secret as long as possible since players are not afraid of dying." Paul added.


    "I disagree, but only on the reason they are keeping it a secret. They want to keep it a secret because they want to keep the players trapped in the fantasy that this is a game so they can control them." Caleb said.


    Gray thought for a moment then added "That... that sounds like a ticking time bomb."


    "It is, I suspect they want to end the war as fast as possible and thus are giving the players everything they need to complete it. Haven''t you guys noticed a complete lack of aircraft here?" Caleb added.


    Gray had also noticed that and said "Yeah, that seemed a little odd, but it could be that after the war it was considered wasteful to use air trasportation due to lack of resources. Plus there is a VTOL on the helipad, but I''ve never seen it go anywhere."


    "Indeed..." Caleb said, then Caleb took out a small notepad and pen, wrote a message on a sheet of paper and passed it to Gray.


    Gray didn''t know what to expect so he just opened up the folded note and read to himself "I have a proposal I would like everyone to consider, but I''d rather not do it here at the base. We don''t know who or what is listening in on us."


    Gray glanced at Caleb, tore up the note hastily then said to Caleb "No need for that, we''re just going to discuss the future plans of our team."


    Gray then faced everyone and said in a loud voice that any eavesdroppers could hear "I am for joining the military personally, we can use the support and the extra training and mechs will benefit us more in the long run." while saying this Gray took the pen from Caleb and wrote on his hand ''Caleb''s room, midnight'' and made sure everyone read it before he rubbed it off his hand.


    Caleb whispered to Gray "Why my room?"


    Gray whispered back "Because I''m sure your paranoid ass has already swept your room for bugs and what not, the rest of us probably do not know how to do that."


    "Fair point..." Caleb whispered back then got up to leave and added "I have something to do, I''ll see everyone later"


    "Ok, see you later!" Geoff said and everyone else added their various goodbyes.


    "Well, we''ve got a few hours to kill and personally I''m burned out of matchmaking for now, so let''s all just do whatever we want until later." Gray said.


    Yurika pouted and said "Awww... but I haven''t destroyed enough things yet!"


    Gray thought for a moment "I wonder if Ginro would let her play around in monster movie mode in a sandbox for a bit. She''s not as beautiful as Felicia, but she is definitely cuter so I''m sure that pervert wouldn''t mind."


    "I''m going to go nap for a bit then." Stacia said as she headed back to her pilot quarters.


    Xyra leaned and whispered something to Stacia that made her eyes light up.


    "Actually Xyra and I are going to the rec room!" Stacia said


    "Hey! What''s going on?" Yurika said not wanting to be left out from the other girls.


    "...sauna..." Xyra said with her usual barely audible voice.


    "Hmmm... that sounds good, but I''m feeling aggressive and want to destroy stuff" Yurika said while biting her lip.


    Gray, Geoff, and Paul felt a tinge of fear and all of them gulped loudly.


    "Ermm... I got an idea of what we can do if you want to destroy stuff..." Gray said meekly to Yurika.


    "Yeah?!? I''ve been waiting for you to offer that! Come on! Let''s go!" Yurika got up excitedly and took Gray''s hand and yanked him over towards the simulator pods.


    "Wait... no... this..." Gray tried to say something but Yurika kept stopping him.


    As Gray was being dragged off Paul and Geoff saluted Gray. "We will never forget your brave sacrifice Gray!"


    "I''m not going to die idiots!" Gray finally yelled out, but when he saw how excited Yurika was he thought to himself "At least I hope I don''t die."


    Gray saw Paul and Geoff also head to the rec room following Stacia and Xyra and had an evil thought and yelled "Geoff! Paul! You can''t go into the sauna with the girls!"


    Paul and Geoff looked at Gray with a look of "WTF dude!" while Stacia yelled "Don''t follow us creeps!"


    Gray felt better... why should he be the only one to suffer...

 Chapter 67 - Yes Master Yurika!

    As Gray was being dragged to the simulators by Yurika, he sent Ginro a quick message of "Hey, got a friend who would love to try that monster movie mode, think we could swing by and play with it?"


    Ginro replied fairly quick "Gray-san! It''s only been a day, we have too much to do to play around at the moment. Now is just not a good time."


    "Crap, guess I''ll just make do with what Yurika wants." Gray thought.


    "Gray! Melee weapons only!" Yurika said as she tossed Gray into a simulator pod.


    "Wait... shouldn''t we use guns since we''ll be using those in actual combat?" Gray asked.


    "This is just for fun! Don''t wimp out on me dude!" Yurika said with a grin.


    "...be gentle..." Gray whimpered


    Gray queued up for a 1 on 1 duel against Yurika. Gray picked the only mech he had still, the Phalanx Mk 01, and went with a sword and shield combo. Having only the basic weapons, the sword and shield were nothing special, but they were light enough to allow ease of use for a beginner at melee combat like Gray.


    Gray and Yurika spawned in the small dueling arena, Gray was surprised to see that Yurika had opted for dual axes. On second thought, considering Yurika was somewhat barbaric, dual axes seemed a perfect fit for her personality.


    Yurika''s pose was surprisingly intimidating with the knees of her mech slightly bent, she held the left axe in front of the knee of the mech''s left leg while she had the right axe behind her resting on the back of her mech.


    Gray wasn''t exactly sure how to pose so he held the shield in his left hand held it in front of him while the sword in his right hand was held next to it.


    "Time to blow off some steam..." Yurika said to Gray, her mech lunged towards Gray''s.


    Gray watched her swing the right axe in a long arc from behind the back of her mech so he raised his shield to intercept the strike. The upper body of Gray''s mech was bent forward under the force of her blow, he had planned on counter attacking with his sword but with his mech hunched forward he couldn''t get any momentum into it. Yurika then stepped forward with her left leg as she swept the axe in her left hand in an upward swing, Gray managed to barely stand up and step back to dodge the swing. Gray watched as her right leg on her mech swept behind herself causing her whole mech to spin as she switched to a reverse grip on the axe, she came down even harder than before with a slash using the momentum from her half spin. Gray had plenty of time to react, but watching her graceful movements, even though it was in a mech, left Gray watching her with admiration. Sadly that feeling was short lived as her axe buried itself in the head of his mech and tore down into the virtual cockpit located in the torso. Gray had lost within a few short seconds.


    "Come on Gray, that kinda swing should never hit with how long it takes to connect." Yurika said sounding a little annoyed.


    "I''ve never fought with melee weapons, were you Xena Warrior Princess in your past life?" Gray asked


    "Ha! I wish! No, I just love weapons and have been learning many different forms of combat with hand-to-hand weapons. I find it very invigorating to be able to battle in these types of games where we don''t have to worry about dying!"


    Gray''s mech respawned and Yurika''s mech reset as well for the next round.


    "How many rounds?" Gray asked.


    "Until I''m satisfied!" Yurika said.


    "I... kinda figured that..." Gray said while crying to himself on the inside.


    Gray decided to attack first this time so he moved towards her with his shield in his left hand extended and the sword in his right hand pointing down. His plan was to bash her left axe away to prevent her from gaining momentum to swing the right axe down then follow up with a sweep of his sword on her legs. Gray was able to shield bash her left axe, but when he went to sweep with his sword she blocked it with the bottom of her mech''s foot by stepping on Gray''s mech''s sword hand. Yurika then pushed back into Gray''s shield and forced Gray to take a step with his left foot backwards to keep his balance, sadly for Gray her right axe swung high and tore off Gray''s shield arm since she was aiming for the joints in the armor.


    Gray took a step back and readied his only arm with the sword and Yurika relaxed a little then said "Reset and go again?"


    "''Tis but a scratch!" Gray said.


    "A scratch? Your arm''s off!"


    "No, it is..."


    Yurika chopped down on Gray''s sword arm while he was talking and said "We''re not doing that reference again! We''ve already used it!"


    Gray looked down and both of his mech''s arms on the ground and REALLY wanted to say "Just a flesh wound", but he resisted and both Gray and Yurika reset for the next round.


    The next round began but this time Yurika said "Gray, what do you think about when you fight with me in close combat?"


    "Well, I think about how to counter your axes or how I can create an opening to slash at you directly." Gray said honestly.


    "Well, that seems to be your problem... you''re thinking to much. Although maybe that''s how you are, but you also don''t have any desire to kill me." Yurika replied.


    "Of course I don''t! You''re my teammate and my friend!"


    "Gray sweetie... you''re too nice... time to fix that..." Yurika said sounding sweetly at first, but ending with an aggressive tone.


    Gray gulped unconsciously.


    "Just kidding, I can''t develop any blood lust for a friend and teammate either. Still, we need you to think less and act more upon instinct. It''s not that thinking is bad, but if you take time to think your opponent will have taken the same time to act. Either speed up your thoughts or learn to react instinctively. Plus your fighting techniques make me cringe..." Yurika said honestly.


    "Please teach me sensei!" Gray said enthusiastically.


    Yurika laughed and said "Sensei? No, call me Master!"


    "Yes Master! Actually wouldn''t it be more appropriate if I called you mistress?" Gray suggested.


    If Gray could see inside Yurika''s simulator pod, he would see her biting her lip as she said "Mistress if you''re lucky... now listen to me!"


    "Yes Master!" Gray said earnestly.


    "First of all, your choice of weapons is terrible for slashing with. Swords are meant to slash with, yes, but against a mech it will probably only scratch the armor. Instead you want to stab more with it. When you play any competitive fighting games, what is your play style?"


    "Hmmm... I don''t really have one set style, I change according to the game and according to what character or abilities I have in the game."


    Yurika thought for a moment then asked "Well, what feels the most natural?"


    "Ummm, not sure what you mean, but I tend to go for smart logical plays and to counter the enemy rather than be the aggressor."


    "Ok, and how good are you with both of your hands, in a 1 on 1 melee, speed is more important than any other trait. The best way to stop damage is to not be hit after all. So... what were you thinking then when you dove on that giant mutated rat earlier?"


    "I wanted to protect you... isn''t that natural?" Gray said.


    "So you''d do that for anyone?" Yurika asked.


    Gray totally missed the subtle hint and said "I would do that for anyone on my team!"


    "...idiot..." Yurika said sounding slightly disappointed. "Well, in that case a weapon and shield would be good for you and you already have the right mindset and when you told Paul a few days ago that he shouldn''t just tank shots without anything to block them with. You also aren''t afraid to dive in which is a huge time saver for us since that is the hardest part about combat is getting over the fear."


    "Yeah, but I didn''t know I could actually die back then, so I don''t know if I could do it again."


    "Good point... well, I believe you would still, I don''t think you could get the 6 of us to follow you otherwise." Yurika pointed out.


    "Ok, back to weapons, should I switch to an axe instead of the sword?"


    Yurika thought for a moment and then said "If you''re going to slash more than stab, I would recommend the axe, but a sword won''t require as wide of a swing when you stab so it is quicker."


    "I still think this sounds a little silly in the age of modern weapons to use melee weapons." Gray said.


    "Oh, I agree with you, but remember that melee weapons don''t make noise except for when you connect with the enemy''s mech or weapon, don''t need ammunition, and it is much easier to take someone out at point-blank with a melee weapon than a gun. Why else do you think that every mech is issued a combat knife as a backup?"


    "Makes sense... Ok, gimme a second to switch weapons."


    Gray forfeited the match and then both Yurika and Gray started another duel with each other. When Gray spawed, his mech was now carrying an axe and a shield, Yurika''s mech was also carrying an axe and shield.


    "Better to show you than tell you after all..." Yurika said


    "Good idea!"


    Yurika gave Gray some direct instruction on how to handle a shield and axe combo and he was very surprised at how knowledgeable she was about melee combat. She would give a short explanation about a technique or posture and the purpose of it, then follow up with a demonstration.


    "Keep the shield closer to you! It''s too easy to pull you off balance or bat the shield away when you keep it extended!" Yurika said as she hooked her axe on to Gray''s shield and dragged him forward.


    Gray regained his balance and then held his shield closer to his mech''s body. Yurika hooked Gray''s shield again and wasn''t able to drag him off balance this time. "Good! We can consider mech''s as heavy fighters so your objective with your shield is not only to block, but also you can use it to knock someone else off balance!"


    When Yurika wasn''t able to pull Gray''s shield away, she pulled her axe back then slammed her mech''s shield into Gray''s shield with the weight of her mech behind it. Instinctively Gray bent his knees and lowered his mech and stopped himself from being knocked off balance.


    "Great! That appears to be a fairly natural reaction for you. Lastly, the best way to strike someone for you would probably be to trick them into attacking you from a perceived opening you give to them only to counter it if they go all in on it."


    "Uh, that''s easier said than done..." Gray said.


    "Well yeah, that''ll just take practice to do, but luckily not many people practice with melee weapons now a days so just having patience will eventually cause them to mess up. You seem very patient and keeping a level head in battle is very important as you know. Now... enough instruction, I need to fight more..."


    "Yes Master Yurika..."

 Chapter 68 - Carry me!

    Gray had been fighting Yurika for over an hour straight at this point and he had yet to even scratch her, but at the very least he was able to last a bit longer than before.


    Gray missed a block with his shield and Yurika managed to dig her axe into the shoulder of Gray''s mech.


    "Gray, you''re slowing down." Yurika said.


    "I''m just getting worn out, sorry."


    "I think you need some proper motivation¡­" Yurika said playfully.


    "Oh? What did you have in mind?" Gray started to already have a few thoughts come to mind that will be omitted due to trying to maintain a PG-13 rating.


    "Everything that you''re thinking if you manage to give me a solid hit." Yurika said with a smile.


    Gray felt motivation well up inside of him that he has never felt for a very long time¡­ motivation for the completely wrong reasons, but motivation never the less.


    Gray practically roared out "OH YEAH! LET''S DO THIS!"


    "That''s better!" Yurika said happily.


    Gray rushed Yurika again and went for a chop with his axe to try and rip her shield away from her, unfortunately Yurika''s axe locked around his when she parried Gray''s axe swing, then she quickly pulled her axe down and used the momentum of Gray''s swing to cause his mech to stumble. As she was pulling Gray''s axe away from her, she borrowed some of the momentum used to redirect Gray''s axe and ended up punching the head of Gray''s mech with her shield hand.


    Fortunately for Gray, the head was merely the primary sensor suite so getting it punched didn''t affect the performance of his mech, instead he stepped in to her mech to try and tackle her instead with his shield arm. Yurika pulled Gray''s axe arm forward with the tackle, dropped her shield and hooked her free arm under Gray''s axe arm to twist them around together so they both went crashing down together but with Yurika on top of Gray instead of Gray landing on top of Yurika as he had hoped.


    "Not, bad, you''re at least not giving up after your first plan fails. Plus I prefer top¡­" Yurika said. This distracted Gray as Yurika pulled out her and plunged it into the waist of Gray''s mech where the engine was and watched as the power left his mech. "Again?"


    "Yes!"


    Yurika smiled and then both of their mech''s reset.


    Yurika attacked first this time and swing her axe at Gray''s shield to hook just like he had done. Gray then swatted her axe away with his to redirect it the same way she did but he wasn''t able to pull her forward since he didn''t hook her axe like she had his. Gray thought she was stumbling like he had just done so he also tried to hook her arm with his and roll over on top of her, but Yurika wasn''t stumbling and instead planted her left foot firmly to stop her forward movement. Gray''s mech was still moving back slowly as he thought he was taking Yurika''s mech with him in to a roll like she had done earlier, instead after planting her foot she tucked her shield close and then shield bashed Gray''s mech causing his backwards momentum to increase more than expected and him stumbling back. While Gray was stumbling Yurika was able to cleave at Gray''s mech with her now freed axe.


    Gray lifted his shield to block her attack but forgot that he dropped it to try and hook her arm so his arm instead go chopped. It wasn''t a complete chop off so his arm was still attached, but it was unusable from the elbow down. While Gray tried to stand up straight again, he gave up on his shield arm and instead swung his axe in low and up to try and reach behind Yurika''s shield. Yurika merely shield-bashed his axe away while freeing her axe then used it to cleave into the side of Gray''s mech. The primary power feed to Gray''s left arm was cut from the engine in the waist as the sides of the torso had thinner armor than the front and back. His mech''s left arm was already useless from the elbow down so cutting the primary power completely didn''t affect him too much, instead he tried to hold Yurika''s axe down with just his upper arm against his torso. Yurika wasn''t able to pull her axe back so Gray brought his axe down on her right arm. Instead of her arm getting hacked, Yurika let go of her axe and then hip checked Gray when his axe swung down to hit nothing. Gray stumbled again and flailed his axe around in a last ditch effort to hit her. Yurika held off Gray''s right arm with her shield arm as she pulled out the combat knife again and plunged it into the waist of Gray''s mech, hitting the engine and disabling his mech.


    Yurika''s breathing had started to pick up as she said "Getting better! Again?"


    "Of course!" Gray was already breathing heavily from exertion, which seemed odd since he didn''t physically operate the mech. Gray realized that it was actually just his adrenaline pushing him as he found these fights to be quite exhilarating despite no risk to his life. Still, his ego was taking a bit of a blow from getting beat up over and over.


    __________


    Gray lost count of how many times Yurika thrashed him, but he did realize that he was getting better as he could last longer between each reset. Gray''s mech was lying on its back, Yurika''s mech was standing over it, her axe was buried into the chest of Gray''s mech and her combat knife was even sticking out the head of his mech.


    "Oh, looks like it''s almost time to meet up with everyone else! You almost had me there a few times!" Yurika said while breathing heavily.


    "Just¡­ one¡­ more¡­ oh it''s time? Let me just lay here for a bit¡­" Gray said, he wasn''t tired despite breathing heavily, he was just disappointed that he wasn''t able to land even one hit.


    "Come on lazy bones! It''s just mental fatigue probably, log out of the simulator and let''s go!"


    Gray sighed and logged out of the simulator. His eyes felt tired from looking at the simulator''s screen for so long with no break so he rubbed his eyes and then stretched while yawning. He wasn''t sure how, but his right eye seemed tender for some reason. Yurika walked up next to him and was stretching herself a little as well.


    "Guess I should give you something for putting you through all of that¡­" Yurika paused for a second when she looked at Gray''s face and stifled a laugh before continuing with "¡­ that much punishment even though it was merely simulated. Carry me!"


    "Really?" Gray said with a tired expression on his face.


    "Yes, spoils to the victor!" Yurika said proudly.


    "¡­Fine¡­ I guess you could''ve asked for worse." Gray said then he got down on one knee and held his arms down and waited for Yurika to climb up.


    Yurika pounced on Gray''s back and she clung her arms around his neck while he wrapped his arms under her legs. Gray was surprised at how light she was considering how toned she was and actually enjoyed carrying her as she put her head on his shoulder.


    "Gray¡­ what are we?"


    "Sorry, what was that Yurika?"


    Yurika rolled her eyes but Gray couldn''t see it as she was still resting her head on his shoulder as they headed towards the pilot''s quarters and then Caleb''s room. "What are we doing here?"


    "That''s kind of what I want to talk about with everyone else."


    "¡­what if I just want to run away¡­ would you come with me?" Yurika said sadly.


    The tone in Yurika''s voice hinted that she didn''t really want to take part in the war which surprised him considering her personality and how good she was at it.


    "I¡­ I can''t¡­ I just feel responsible for everyone else. We''ve only known each other for a short time, but I feel like I can trust everyone else here with my life and if we ran away we would have nowhere to go to. I hate to admit it, but by keeping us on merits instead of any form of credit we''ve become dependent upon the military for now." Gray explained.


    "I know, but I meant¡­ well, nevermind, I trust everyone too even if Paul and Xyra are new to the group."


    "Yes, and what I want to create is a long term plan of sorts. We''ve only been living day to day and if we continue to do so we''ll be forever under control of the Alterran Alliance." Gray said solemnly.


    "If we didn''t have to fight, what would you do?" Yurika asked.


    "Hmmm¡­ honestly I''d just be happy living an ordinary life¡­ have a kid or two, definitely a dog, would prefer to not mow the grass but it''s not a deal breaker." Gray said while laughing.


    "Sounds wonderful¡­ What about a cat?"


    "Cats are assholes, but sure why not if it makes the wife or kids happy."


    Yurika smiled to herself as they finally reached the pilot''s quarters.

 Chapter 69 - Slumber Party

    Gray knocked on Caleb''s door and then opened it up and walked in with Yurika. Upon entering, everyone stared at Gray and finally Geoff said. "Gray, how''d you get that black eye? I thought you and Yurika were fighting in the simulators!"


    "What?!?" Gray said shocked, he then looked for something shiny to see it for himself while Yurika chimed in.


    "He tried to force his way on me and I just reminded him of what happens!" Yurika said while sticking her tongue out at Gray.


    Gray just rolled his eyes at her as Stacia said "No, I''m pretty sure you''d be the one forcing anything... Let me help you Gray."


    Everyone nodded in agreement with Stacia, then Stacia got up and pulled out a bandana she had on her, placed some ice in it, then tied it up to make a small sack of ice which she gently put on Gray''s swollen eye and said "Keep this ice on it to try and reduce the swelling."


    Out of everyone, Gray believed that Stacia was the nicest in the group.


    Paul decided to kill the mood by saying "Wife material¡­" which prompted Stacia to blush while Yurika was looking jealous for some reason which Gray was too dense to figure out.


    "Ahem!" Gray cleared his throat "Ok, so let''s get on topic, I know it''s late so let''s make it quick."


    "What''s up Gray?" Geoff asked.


    "First, thanks Caleb for sweeping your room this afternoon while the rest of us were umm¡­ ''Busy''." Gray said. "How''d the search go?"


    "Surprisingly numerous, it actually felt like I was being specifically targeted. I checked everyone else''s rooms and nobody had more than 1 or 2 except Gray that had 4, but my room had over a dozen." Caleb reported.


    Gray thought about that for a moment and said "Huh, I wonder why you have so many more, maybe because of your profession from the virtual world?"


    "No idea, regardless, I did not simply destroy them, instead I moved most of them into Geoff and Xyra''s rooms, and the rest I merely moved to the hallway."


    "Hey! Why did you put some in my room!?!" Geoff exclaimed


    "I deduced that it was necessary to keep them in at least one male and female room of our group, I suspect that every room has them anyways so it would be odd if suddenly over a dozen went silent. Plus you''re the least likely to have any important information." Caleb explained.


    Geoff got a smug grin on his face "Well, what if I get lucky? Wouldn''t that be bad if they heard that?"


    "I took that in to consideration as well, I believed no woman would willingly enter your quarters so leaving the bugs active in your room would also act as a safety device for them." said Caleb with a completely straight face.


    Gray, Paul, and Yurika burst out laughing, even Stacia and Xyra chuckled a bit as Geoff wanted to cry at the moment from Caleb''s completely analytical and open slandering of his character.


    "Funny guys! I get it! Laugh it up jerks! So why Xyra then?"


    "¡­I''m quiet¡­" Xyra whispered


    "What''d she say?" Geoff asked


    "I think Xyra is self-explanatory." Gray added


    Everyone, even Geoff, agreed with Gray on that.


    "We''re getting off topic again¡­ swear we all are scatter-brained." Gray said "So I want to ask a hypothetical question: What do we do if the Alliance loses?"


    "I don''t think it matters, we don''t have any stuff with either the Alliance or Hegemony so whichever one is in charge leaves us with nothing." Geoff said.


    "Good point, but I meant that as a hypothetical question, not a direct one." Gray said.


    "Yeah, but I''m also guessing you have an idea since you brought us all here instead of just asking us that privately alone" Geoff said.


    "Fair point. First, I''m sure you can agree with me Caleb that the war itself doesn''t make sense. Why are we waiting until September 1st 2121?" Gray asked.


    "The Eurasian Treaty signed 70 years ago was a peace agreement that stopped the war for fear of damaging the planet even more." Paul said.


    "Yes, but who is the arbitrator of said treaty?" Caleb asked


    "English please!" Yurika said


    "He means, who is the go-between for the treaty, or like, who is the referee? Without that third party neither side would have a reason to hold back." Gray said.


    "Indeed, human history has revealed that two different groups of people cannot coexist peacefully, human beings are imperfect and flawed, but that is also what makes us human. I don''t believe AI could ever replicate that, at least not within our lifetimes." Caleb continued.


    "But Professor, who would this third party be?" asked Stacia


    Caleb''s eyebrow twitched when Stacia called him ''Professer'' but shrugged it off and said. "We can safely conclude that the force is large enough to tip the scale in either the Alliance or Hegemony''s favor, but not so large that the Hegemony and Alliance feel the need to work together to defeat it. Of course this is under normal circumstances, after going over the real world''s old news articles and various internet sources, I have found no hints at a third party involved."


    "Well, third party or not, I think the problem we have right now is that we do not have any value aside from as pilots. These merits are whatever value the Alliance sets them at. The nice thing about merits though is that we can get a surprisingly varied amount of goods and even services with them. It makes me think that the Alterran Alliance Military controls the government to a large extent." Gray stated.


    "I concur, so is it a safe assumption that your idea is to give ourselves independence?" Caleb said.


    "Yes, but I know it''s going to take time and we''ll have to play along for a while with the Alterran Alliance. Personally, I think the Alterran Alliance is a better choice than the Hegemony. While a Republic is prone to corruption given enough age, having everyone born equal sounds a heck of a lot better than a feudal class system where your status is influenced heavily upon your birth." Gray said.


    "How did you know the Hegemony is feudal?" Geoff asked.


    "For once in my life I actually read up and studied the history a little bit similar to Caleb." Gray said proudly.


    Everyone looked in awe at Gray. "Miracles do exist!" Geoff said chidingly.


    "Shut up! I only skip reading instruction manuals¡­ and mission briefing details¡­ and starter guides¡­ ok I skip reading a lot of things!" Gray finally admitted.


    "Admitting the problem is the first step in recovery." Geoff continued to goad.


    Gray didn''t feel the need to retort to that, instead he chucked the ice pouch at Geoff because that is what adults do. (Sarcasm)


    "So in a nutshell, since our most valuable asset is our ability to pilot mechs, I want to create a faction that anyone can join from either the Hegemony or Alliance. I know that sounds ridiculous with just the 7 of us so I don''t expect anything for a very long time, but we can start out as a mercenary group and slowly absorb more and more pilots from everywhere to get enough might that both sides can value us." Gray said finally.


    Everyone was a little shocked at this and were thinking about it deeply since it sounded way beyond the normal of what Gray would normally come up with.


    "Actually, it was thanks to Yurika''s abuse¡­ I mean training¡­ that made me think about this¡­" Gray said.


    "Did she knock something loose in your head?" Caleb asked.


    "I wouldn''t be surprised honestly, but in reality, it made me realize I can''t just plan for the next day or even the next week or month and have only a single method of enacting that plan. My original thought was to join the military and see what happens after the war and just react to it no matter which side wins."


    "So you have some ideas then on what we need to do for this?" Paul asked.


    "I have some thoughts, but I''ll probably consult with our Professor at a later time since I know he''s going to come up with his own methods as well. Of course everyone should contribute their ideas, everyone is equal in this team." Gray said.


    Yurika patted Gray hard on the back and said "Yeah! Now you''re starting to sound like a real leader instead of just a squad leader!"


    "Heh¡­ thanks¡­ I think¡­" Gray said sheepishly. "Let''s go to bed then, I for one am tired¡­"


    Everyone nodded in agreement, then Stacia whispered something to Xyra who nodded, Stacia whispered something to Yurika next causing Yurika to giggle slightly then burst out with "Slumber Party!"


    "We all can''t fit in one room!" Gray said


    "I never said we were including you guys!" Yurika said as she took Xyra''s hand and the three girls all went to the same room together.


    The 4 guys looked at each other and all said "Nope" at the same time then went back to their rooms.


    Geoff pulled Gray aside and said "I''m not exactly comfortable with so many bugs in my room and I suspect that is why the girls are bunking together. Mind if I crash on your futon buddy?"


    "Yeah, that''s fine." Gray couldn''t really argue against that so he just agreed and everyone went to bed for the night.

 Chapter 70 - The Cold Treatment

    The next morning, Gray woke up feeling warm and snuggly. He felt somebody behind him and thought that maybe Yurika snuck into his bed or something. He laid there for a little bit and enjoyed the warmth, but was interrupted by a knock on his door.


    Yurika pushed open the door followed by Xyra and Stacia, Gray thought to himself that the girls seemed very close with each other as he peeked over his bed sheets at them.


    "Good morning Gray!" said Yurika in her usual good mood. Suddenly all 3 girls paused and their eyes went wide as they stared at Gray in the bed.


    "S-Sorry for disturbing you!" Yurika said hastily as the 3 girls quickly left the room and slammed the door.


    At this point Gray heard a male that sounded a lot like Geoff say "Oh, what''s got them so excited this morning?"


    Gray slowly turned and looked behind him to gaze at Geoff that was in his bed¡­ with him¡­ and had even snuggled up next to him¡­ Gray was never an angry person, nor ever lashed out, and was never prone to violence. Today though, he felt violent¡­ and Geoff ended up on the floor with what would probably end up as a few bruises.


    "Dude! What the hell! I got cold and you said it would be ok to share the bed!" Geoff said painfully.


    "What exactly did I say?" Gray said very confused as he would never have invited him into the bed unless his life depended upon it.


    "You said ''Come on in, the water is great!'' I do admit that sounded weird but that sounded like permission to me!"


    "I don''t remember saying such a thing! Wait¡­" Gray started to think really hard, he remembered he was dreaming about swimming in a lake with the other guys on the team and the girls didn''t join them. He remembers yelling at them ''Come on in, the water is great!'' then remembers the lake suddenly felt really warm and smaller for some reason.


    "I uhhh, still don''t know what you''re talking about." Gray said avoiding eye contact with Geoff, he was a terrible liar after all.


    "Whatever, it''s fine, I probably would''ve done the same if you suddenly showed up in my bed as well." Geoff said admittedly.


    Geoff went back to his room and got dressed and Gray cleaned himself up and got dressed as well then met with everyone at the cafeteria. After meeting up with everyone, the girls seemed to have a twinkle in their eyes as they had intentionally left 2 seats open for Gray and Geoff to sit next to each other.


    Gray and Geoff sat down and started to eat their breakfast when Stacia finally blurted out "You two are so cute together" prompting both Gray and Geoff to choke on what they were eating while Paul and Caleb both looked at Gray and Geoff while scooting away from them slowly.


    Gray coughed to clear his throat and said "Excuse me?!? What are you talking about?!?"


    "It''s ok, we get it now¡­ now we know why you two get along so well and even why you both went to the city alone together that one time." Yurika said "I do admit I am surprised Gray, normally I can get a feel for that sort of thing and I totally thought you were in to me or Stacia!"


    "How''d you guys know we went to the city?" Geoff asked


    Gray interrupted him and said "That''s not important! You misunderstand everything! We''re just friends!"


    "Oh, so you''re just sleeping together casually?" Yurika said.


    "Yes¡­ I mean no! We''re not gay! We had a minor misunderstanding and Geoff was cold since he didn''t grab any blankets from his room while he was on the couch last night and he thought I gave him permission to sleep in the bed as well."


    "Awww¡­ that''s no fun¡­" Yurika said while pouting.


    Xyra''s eyes were still twinkling and this left Gray feeling a little uneasy, but he chose to ignore it as she hadn''t said anything.


    "How did you guys know that we went to the nearby town?" Geoff asked again.


    "We saw you guys leave together in a military pickup truck and Major Valen happened to be nearby and notice as well and mentioned that you two were going to try and have fun in the town." Stacia said.


    "Oh, ok, that makes sense." Geoff said while exchanging looks with Gray. Gray was relieved that they hadn''t heard about the food incident or about the incident involving Miss Maven or Lilly. Both Gray and Geoff unconsciously touched their own cheeks while remembering the reward from Miss Maven for bringing Lilly back.


    Yurika grinned at their expressions and said "Looks like something happened though from that look you two are having right now. Spill it! Both of you got lucky right?"


    "I wouldn''t say it was lucky, more like a happy accident sort of thing, but it''s not what you''re thinking sadly." Gray said while shaking his head.


    "Boo¡­" said Yurika as she pouted.


    Gray rolled his eyes and said "Regarding last night though, let''s use the code phrase ''Pajama party'' when we want to meet up since it will sound less suspicious if someone hears us than saying calling it a late night meeting."


    "Isn''t that kinda boring¡­ shouldn''t we use ''The Geese are migrating south'' or ''Go for Operation Chattanooga Choo-Choo!'' or something else like those?" Geoff said.


    "Those sound even more suspicious! And honestly I don''t think most people would be able to say those without giggling." Gray said. "As for where and when, the default time will be midnight and place will be Caleb''s room."


    "Gray, I suspect that we should probably hold some of these ''pajama parties'' in one of the rooms with bugs in it just so they don''t suspect that it actually is something suspicious and have a normal one." Paul said.


    Gray nodded "I agree, but I have not had an actual pajama party since I was like¡­ 10 or something¡­ What do we do?"


    "Duh, just wear pajamas and eat snacks and talk about stupid stuff, for a coed we can play spin the bottle or truth or dare even!" Yurika said excitedly


    "That sounds so middle school¡­ I love it!" Geoff said.


    "I get it, just a normal get together then with pajamas." Gray said. "We''ll still call it the same thing though, just not talk about anything potentially dangerous."


    "Let''s meet up later around say 11am before we do any team stuff. I have a few questions for Major Valen though and we''ll have a pajama party again tonight if I get the answers I''m looking for."


    Everyone nodded and finished their breakfast and went off their own ways. Gray saw the three girls went together to the simulators, Geoff and Paul went back to their pilot quarters, and Caleb stayed in the cafeteria apparently deep in thought.


    "Let''s hope the good Major can help me out here." Gray thought to himself.


    __________


    Princess Bang-gwi woke up the next morning feeling very sore and achy all over her body. She had always kept herself in good shape thanks to Chuhan Jwi''s persistence on keeping up with herself now that she could be considered an adult, but between the obstacle course, lap running, and hand to hand training she had never felt this sore before. Despite the pain, the Princess still felt satisfied with it as she felt like with enough of this training she could become stronger as a person inside and out.


    "Are you up Princess?" Chuhan Jwi said from outside her room.


    "Yeah, just woke up Jwi¡­" The Princess said slightly pained, she tried to get up but her body felt extremely stiff and she could barely move. "¡­and I can barely move"


    "Yes, I was the same way after my first day of martial training. I can do something that will help ease the pain a little bit, but you''d have to miss breakfast." Jwi said.


    "I don''t think I can make it to breakfast anyways!" The Princess complained


    "Stretch a little bit if you can, then fill up your tub with cold water, I''ll go get a few bags of ice¡­ and then I''ll go get you some breakfast." Jwi said and then left to go find some ice.


    The Princess managed to drag herself out of her bed and over to the private shower and tub she was allowed to have despite every other soldier sharing them, she loathed being treated special like this, but this one time she was a little glad for it because she didn''t want anyone else to see her in this state. She turned on only the cold water and let it fill up mostly. Chuhan Jwi came back just as it was filled carrying 2 bags of ice with her. Jwi dumped the two bags of ice in the tub and then went over to the Princess.


    "Try and stretch now, it should help restore some of your mobility." Jwi said and then helped the Princess stretch gently.


    "Thanks, I should''ve done that before I fell asleep last night¡­ but I was so tired I think I fell asleep before my body landed on the bed."


    "I understand that all too well¡­ now get undressed¡­" Jwi said


    The Princess took off her pilot''s jumpsuit which was what she had fallen asleep in. The stench from it made Jwi scrunch her nose as the Princess had been sweating all day in it yesterday. The Princess sat in the chair after taking off the suit and was taking her time taking off her underwear. Jwi knelt in front of the Princess and started massaging her thighs and calves.


    The Princess relaxed and let her mind wander and then asked Chuhan Jwi "So¡­ what happens if we lose this war?" while she finished taking off her underwear.


    "Don''t think like that¡­ but even if it were, I''d stay with you and protect you for as long as I live." Jwi


    "Such a stereotypical answer" The Princess said while laughing slightly. "¡­but still, thank you."


    Jwi picked up the Princess in a typical Princess carry and then said "You don''t want to thank me¡­"


    "Why wouldn''t I?" the Princess asked with curiousity


    Chuhan Jwi smiled, carried her over to the tub filled with ice cold water and ice cubes and said "This is why..." then dropped her into the icy water.

 Chapter 71 - Out for a jog

    Gray knocked on the door to Major Valen''s office and heard a firm "Come in" and then entered Major Valen''s office.


    "Private Gray Wilhelm, what can I do for you?" Major Valen asked.


    "Sir, I was wondering if you could answer a few questions I have regarding merits and factions."


    "You can ask, I will only answer if I am able to." Major Valen replied.


    Gray wasn''t sure if he meant ''able to'' as in Major Valen didn''t know, or ''able to'' as in Major Valen was under order not to answer.


    "First, I want to create a mercenary group, and maybe eventually turn it into a faction. How do I do this?" Gray asked honestly.


    "Forming a mercenary group is easy, go to the mission board and request the form to create a mercenary group. Was that not in the manual we gave you?" Major Valen asked.


    "I probably just forgot that part..." Gray said while laughing slightly, he really needs to get better at lying.


    Gray saw Major Valen reaching for a clipboard and the hurriedly added "Ok, I may have just forgotten to read that part¡­ or even the whole manual¡­"


    Major Valen sighed then put the clipboard down. "Honesty is always the best answer with me even if it is something bad to admit. We give you these reading materials for a reason, stop treating it like a game manual and read it!"


    "Sir, sorry sir!" Gray said apologetically.


    "Was that it?" Major Valen asked.


    "No sir, if our mercenary group needs something that we cannot requisition with merits, is it possible to exchange merits for Alliance credits and purchase it privately?"


    "What would you be trying to purchase?" Major Valen asked suspiciously.


    "Nothing yet, but I am merely asking since I would like to keep our options open."


    "Well, I can say everything you will need for your part in the war will be available to you, even a modest amount of luxury goods are available as well. Can you give me an example of what isn''t available that your group might need?"


    "Well, if we''re a mercenary group, we''d like to be able to purchase our own gantries, technicians, and a base."


    "You can already purchase all of that with merits¡­" Major Valen said


    "I am aware, but after reading the fine print, we aren''t purchasing, we are leasing. Plus I noticed we can''t purchase ammunition or fuel by itself to stockpile it."


    "Stop there, everything is setup this way for a reason." Major Valen said, then he took out a pen and paper and said "Listen, I think you are worrying a bit too much about things that you don''t need to be worrying about. Relax for a bit, head out the east entrance of this base and you''ll see a small bluff overlooking the Adriatic Sea, it''s too bad you can''t fish though, the sea in this area is contaminated beyond our capability to clean it."


    "I don''t really have time to sight see, sir" Gray said feeling that something was sounding a little off.


    "I''m sure you can spare some time, I insist" Major Valen said as Gray noticed he had wrote down a message while he was talking that said ''Be at bluff at 9:37am, nod head yes or no''.


    Gray felt like was a very specific time so Gray nodded his head yes and said "Yeah, you''re probably right, I''ll just relax for a bit and clear my head. Thank you for your time sir!" Gray said, then saluted and left.


    Gray saw it was 9:02am and figured that it was more than enough time to head there. It surprised Gray that he could honestly just walk out of the military base without anyone questioning him. After thinking about it some more, this was supposed to be a game to the average players and players were easily identifiable due to their unique pilot jumpsuits, they were probably trying to not restrict their freedom to maintain the fa?ade that this is just a game. As a gamer himself, Gray understood that the one thing all players and gamers hated was to be told they couldn''t do something.


    As Gray walked east out of the base, he wasn''t sure where to find the exact bluff Major Valen was talking about since the terrain was fairly flat. Directly east of the base was the Adriatic Sea so a road didn''t get paved out of the east gate leaving most of the terrain in a fairly natural state. Finally Gray spotted a small bluff that was slightly elevated and looking out over the Adriatic Sea. It appeared to have been formed recently and Gray wasn''t sure what had caused it to form here in the first place.


    The top of the bluff was solid rock and Gray felt a little uncomfortable sitting down on it, but he had to admit that the view wasn''t that bad in the morning. Gray checked the time again and saw it was 9:37am now. As if it was scripted, Gray heard footsteps on the stone behind and he turned to Major Valen walking up towards him wearing a jogging suit.


    Before Gray could say anything, Major Valen said "You have 3 minutes until the satellite coverage gap is filled, don''t ask why, you don''t have much time. First of all, the system was designed to keep the players dependent upon the Alterran Alliance Military. I am helping you here and now because I do not believe the Alliance should throw all of their eggs in one basket, but I will not hesitate to kill anyone that is a threat to the Alliance."


    Gray felt that Major Valen was deathly serious about this so he didn''t question it and instead asked "How can we get credits with merits?"


    "Directly you can''t, but if you purchase goods from the supplier directly so the military can''t track who spent the merits, you should then be able to sell the items on the open market, but DO NOT sell weapons on the open or black market, especially mechs." Major Valen said.


    "Who are the suppliers, how do I sell stuff on the open market or black market?"


    Major Valen tossed Gray a piece of paper folded neatly into a small square. "Contacts from my days before the military, do not use my name, use the name I included on the list for each contact."


    Gray thought that the Major was very prepared for this and then asked "How did you know¡­"


    Major Valen interrupted him and said "1 minute left"


    Gray asked "Who should we get to join us?"


    "As many players as you can, but not military cadets as you run the risk of exposing yourself."


    "What is going to happen to us after the war?"


    "Diamond-tiers will become full citizens of the Alterran Alliance, everyone else will be returned to the virtual world." Major Valen stated while looking a little upset about this.


    Major Valen''s reply surprised Gray and he had then ask "Why not let them stay in the real world?"


    "Because¡­" Major Valen then checked his watch again and said "¡­and so what I recommend is that your team join the military. The training alone will help you guys improve by leaps and bounds! Anyways, good running in to you Private, I''ll finish my morning run and hope to see you among our ranks!"


    Gray wasn''t completely oblivious as to what Major Valen was doing and could only curse inwardly that he had ran out of time. Gray had an idea and said "Thanks! I''ll strongly consider it sir! How often do you go running?"


    Major Valen smiled in understanding and said "I jog every morning, but I change my course often. Usually I only come out this way every 2 weeks or so, so the next time I''ll go by it again is probably in 2 weeks."


    Gray made a mental note that in 2 weeks he could come here again to ask more questions. "Thanks, I''ll probably come out here again to relax then if I ever need some time to clear my head, sir."


    "No problem Private!" Major Valen said as he jogged off leaving Gray alone on the bluff.


    "I need to head back, I learned enough for us to have a pajama party tonight." Gray thought to himself.


    __________


    As Major Valen jogged away, a call came through his armlet from General Brian.


    "David! Good to hear from you again! What can I do for you this fine morning?" Major Valen said.


    "Nothing much, just wanted to see how your recruitment efforts were paying off. Anything to report?"


    "General, sir, the recruiting has been surprisingly effective I suspect that we"


    General Brian interrupted him "Line secured for 15 seconds, be careful, you''re being watched closer than you think and I can only protect you so much."


    "I know, but I had to inform him of certain things even though I know he wants to know more."


    "Why?" General Brian asked surprised.


    "To save as many pl.."


    General Brian interrupted him again and said "Yes, I continue to expect more player recruits like those, keep up the good work and sorry for calling you on your jog."


    "General Brian Sir, it is an honor to serve under you and the Alterran Alliance Military, no need to apologize. Good day General, sir" Major Valen said then hung up the call.


    __________


    Just as General David Brian hung up with Major Valen, a female voice said from behind him. "General David, it''s not necessary to call the bases and ask for reports, your assistant or AI can handle that."


    General Brian kept his nerves in check even though General Elise Bellerose had surprised him. "I am aware General Bellerose, but I feel that sometimes talking to them directly provides better motivation."


    "So that 18 seconds of silence was part of your motivation?" General Bellerose added.


    "What 18 seconds of silence? I imagine the AI just didn''t hear it due to the interference from that part of old Italy." General Brian said while acting like it was normal.


    "Hmmm¡­ we''ll leave it at that. Get your squads ready, we''re having a mock battle with paint weapons at noon."


    General David nodded his head and then sent out a message to his officers to gather at the classroom for a briefing on the training.

 Chapter 72 - You Break It You Buy It!

    Princess Bang-gwi screamed "Noooo!" just as Chuhan Jwi dumped her into the ice cold bath. When she pulled her head out from under the water she inhaled sharply and glared furiously at Chuhan Jwi.


    "I HATE you, warn me next time!" Princess Bang-gwi said with chattering teeth.


    Chuhan Jwi smiled at the Princess and said "What fun would that be?"


    Shortly after the Princess''s door was flung open wide and Xi¨£ng Pigu came rushing in followed by a few more soldiers. "Princess! Is everything alright!?!"


    Xi¨£ng Pigu and the rest didn''t see anyone in her room and heard splashing from the bathroom so they moved to the bathroom to find the Princess in the tub and Chuhan Jwi kneeling next to her.


    "Princess!" Xi¨£ng Pigu exclaimed then her face flushed red as she saw that the Princess was naked and quickly turned away and pushed everyone else out, especially the males that were mixed into the group before they could see her.


    "Pi! I''m sorry! Jwi dropped me into the tub without warning and the water was so cold I screamed!" The Princess said apologetically.


    Xi¨£ng Pigu shooed everyone else out and then walked back into the bathroom with the Princess and Chuhan Jwi. "I''m sorry Princess¡­ I mean¡­ Ban. I thought maybe you were in trouble!"


    The Princess laughed and said "It''s ok, I''m actually glad to see everyone come in so quickly!"


    Looking at the icy bath water, Xi¨£ng Pigu thought of something and asked "Are you sore from yesterday''s training and drills?"


    "Yes, Jwi is helping relieve the muscle ache¡­"


    "Oh ok! Ban! I''ll bring you some breakfast!" Xi¨£ng Pigu said with enthusiasm.


    "Oh, that''s fine! Jwi said she will get it, I do have something you can do for me though."


    "Of course, what is it?"


    The Princess motioned for Xi¨£ng Pigu to come closer and waited for her to get to the edge of the tub. Then the Princess beckoned her to get lower and then made a gesture like she wanted to whisper something to her. Xi¨£ng Pigu then bent over the tub and listened really close to the Princess while the Princess leaned to whisper in her ear.


    "Join me¡­" The Princess grabbed Xi¨£ng Pigu and pulled her into the tub with her as Xi¨£ng Pigu flailed around splashing the water everywhere getting even Chuhan Jwi wet amid the Princess''s joyful laughter.


    __________


    The Princess and Xi¨£ng Pigu eventually got out of the tub and Chuhan Jwi went and got both of them breakfast just in case Xi¨£ng Pigu hadn''t had it yet. Xi¨£ng Pigu changed into one of the Princess''s extra jumpsuits and then they both had breakfast together. Princess Bang-gwi was only 19 where as Xi¨£ng Pigu was 24, but since Princess Bang-gwi was sheltered most of her life she didn''t have anyone to gossip with so finally having someone to gossip with could be considered a dream come true for her.


    "So Pi, what do you think of Miss Maven, she''s my idol!" Princess Bang-gwi said excitedly.


    Xi¨£ng Pigu thought for a moment "Honestly, I''m more into boy bands and k-pop*! I think she is talented and beautiful, but her music isn''t to my liking."


    (*k-pop = Korean Pop)


    Princess Bang-gwi pouted slightly "We can''t be sisters then!" in an exaggerated tone.


    Xi¨£ng Pigu got flustered and said "B-but I''m sure I can grow to like it too!"


    The Princess laughed and said "I''m just teasing you, I''m really glad you gave me your honest opinion, the other girls my age were either avoiding me in classes or would suck up to me and would say whatever they think I wanted to hear."


    Xi¨£ng Pigu blushed and said "Well, to be honest, your original song was very touching¡­ Who was that song for or who was it about?"


    The Princess smiled wryly and said "It will be for my first heartbreak, so whomever breaks my heart first, he or she will have to think about me and what they did every time they hear that song."


    "That''s¡­ awful¡­" Xi¨£ng Pigu said.


    "I know right? So to any potential heart breakers I am already prepared!"


    Chuhan Jwi laughed quietly and thought to herself "Princess, you''re going to be the heart breaker¡­"


    __________


    After breakfast, the Princess and the same group of soldiers from before met on the training field again and formed neat rows in front of where the Marquis would appear from again to give them their training schedule. The Princess found out that her group was the last batch new of soldiers at this base so she could understand why most of them were very young like her.


    "Soldiers! Attention!" the Marquis barked loudly just like the previous day.


    "Sir! Good morning, sir!" came the unified reply which even the Princess remembered to do.


    "At ease! Today is special! You pilots will be given your first chance to pilot our standard mech, the Knight-class Mk I. While training is important, we need to let you experience what it feels like to actually pilot a mech. First, warm up! Stretch for 20 minutes, then jog in a single group to the northern gate, then west to the mech hangars!"


    The Princess was getting excited thinking about piloting a mech, but also worried remembering what hers looked like. Everyone split up in an orderly fashion and stretched together while chatting excitedly too, it seems that they all were getting excited to pilot a mech as well. Even Vincent, the guy that had picked on the Princess yesterday, seemed a little excited. The Princess was also curious how Vincent would even fit in the cockpit as he was not just tall, but very stocky.


    While they were jogging, Vincent came up next to the Princess, she merely glared at him but didn''t say a word.


    "Princess¡­ I want to apologize for yesterday¡­ I let my prejudice get the better of me and never gave you a chance and lumped you in with the other nobility. I will leave you be now." Vincent said politely then started to speed up to pull away from the Princess.


    "Wait¡­ I accept your apology¡­ and your prejudice is not entirely wrong. I''ve been sheltered my whole life but that doesn''t mean I''ve been blind to how the other nobles and even royalty act." The Princess stated, then she said jokingly "I''ll kick your butt if you ever lump me in with other nobility like that again." then she playfully punched Vincent in the arm.


    "Thank you Princess, I will remember your words."


    "Please, call me Ban*!" The Princess said with a bright smile.


    (*pronounced like Bahn in case everyone forgets)


    Vincent''s face became a little redder despite the jogging being light and he said "Princess, you may call me Vincent or Pierce¡­ forgive me but I don''t think I can call you Bahn just yet Princess."


    The Princess shrugged her shoulders and said "Whatever you say Vinnie!" and smiled and sped up to pull away from him to catch up to Xi¨£ng Pigu.


    When the group of 84 pilots reached the mech hangar, already 20 mechs had been towed out of the bays. The Princess was relieved to see that hers wasn''t one of them.


    "Soldiers! Divide yourselves up among these 20 mechs, 4 to each mech with one extra group of 4 here next to me while the last mech is towed out!"


    The Princess felt her heart-sink when she heard another mech was being towed out because she was sure it was going to be hers. Fortunately her fear was unnecessary and the 21st mech was the same model as the rest. The Princess stood by the 5th mech in the row of mechs and noticed that a lot of the other soldiers tried to flock towards her mech as well, but they had enough common sense to not cause a commotion as they didn''t want to upset the Maquis.


    The 21st mech was finally brought out and the extra 4 lined up in front of it, then the Marquis yelled "This is our standard Knight-class Mk 1, or more affectionately known as ''The Footman'' since it is our most common and numerous mech. Check your messages and you will see I''ve just sent you all the operations manual for it. Our mechs all have the same control scheme, just different features so learning this one mech will allow you to at least minimally pilot every one of our great Hegemony mechs!"


    Everyone quickly opened their messages and looked through the file that was from the Marquis, the light in everyone''s eyes started to fade though when they saw the sheer length of the operations manual.


    "Don''t worry about the length. This manual covers everything from operating the mech, reloading, refueling, maintenance, repairing, and even field repairs. Our mechs are not as advanced as the Alliance, but that is also our advantage."


    The Princess scanned through the various sections out of curiosity and the first thing she wanted to read about was the various specifications of the mech. She saw that the mech was basically a giant exoskeleton that was powered by hydraulics and had electric motors that would operate the smaller movements where accuracy was needed over power. As for the control method, she now understood why they were put under such hard physical training as the controls essentially were a set of gauntlets and a helmet in a chair with foot pedals that strapped to your feet.


    One of the female pilots that had made it into Princess Bang-gwi''s group noticed that the Princess was looking a little intimidated by the controls and said "It''s not as hard as it looks, consider the mech an extension of your own body is what my older brother told me."


    "Thanks, must be nice to have an older brother that wants to help you like that." The Princess stated with a tinge of sadness.


    "Oh, not at all, he just loves the Hegemony and doesn''t want me to become a weakness for it, he also said to picture yourself as a giant toddler making deliberate steps when you walk for the first time."


    "Alright! We can read the manuals later, we''ll let your body try and figure it out first! Everyone take turns 30 minutes per turn, just wander around the training field and if I see any of you trying to fight in them, even a mock fight, I will forcefully eject you from the cockpit!" the Marquis yelled threateningly.


    The Princess looked at the 3 other people that were in her group and said "So who goes first?"


    As if on cue, everyone pointed at her.


    The Princess laughed and said "I don''t even know why I asked, time to take this thing out for a test drive!"


    The Princess was excited as she ran up to the foot of the ramp that was wheeled out for the pilots to enter the cockpit in the torso of the mech. The Princess saw that Xi¨£ng Pigu was also getting in to one of the mechs and Xi¨£ng Pigu noticed her as well.


    Xi¨£ng Pigu waved and said "You break it you buy it!"


    "Then I''ll make sure to break yours too!" The Princess said with a smile and then climbed into the cockpit.

 Chapter 73 - Hidden Treasure

    Princess Bang-gwi climbed into the cockpit of the Footman Knight-class Mk I mech. Seeing the controls for the first time was a bit different than reading about them. Quickly she strapped her feet to the pedals, buckled herself into the seat, slipped the combat helmet with HUD display on, and then slipped her hands into the gauntlets. This first generation mech was designed to be controlled easily thus starting it involved merely taking out a key card given to all soldiers and slipping it in to the dashboard.


    Once started, the Princess experimented with moving around just the arms and found that it had virtually no lag in the controls. The legs and feet were controlled in an almost stupidly simple fashion. Various movements were programmed to occur with the legs and feet. For example, to move forward, press the right-pedal down and to move-backward you pull the pedal back, which is also why the feet are strapped into it. The left pedal controls the turning of the mech by pushing the left pedal to turn right and pulling it to turn left. This is a very crude method, but because of how low-tech it is the ease of training new pilots is significantly improved.


    When the Princess turned her head, the head of the mech would turn as well due to the primary sensor suite being housed in it. Looking around, she saw the other pilots also doing the same thing as her except for the mech that Xi¨£ng Pigu. She saw that her mech was still standing straight up and had yet to be turned on even.


    A moment later, Xi¨£ng Pigu came back down the loading ramp crying and the next person in her group ran up to hop in the mech she came out of.


    The Princess saw Xi¨£ng Pigu run over to the Marquis while holding back her tears and say something to him. In response to what Xi¨£ng Pigu said to the Marquis, he thumped her on the head with a physical copy of the operator''s manual and then opened it up and pointed to a section of it for Xi¨£ng Pigu. This seemed to make Xi¨£ng Pigu feel better as she immediately ran back to her group no longer crying.


    "Wonder what that was about" the Princess thought to herself. "I''ll ask her later, time to go play!"


    The Princess found that it was very easy to control and move around in, but she had a hard time coordinating her hands and feet sometimes since the pedal controls felt very unnatural but the arms had a very natural feel.


    The Princess picked up a giant baton using the mech''s hands, which was about the size of a baseball bat to the mech she was in but was probably around 7 or 8 meters long she guessed. She was surprised that when she swung the bat around, her gauntlets would restrict her arm motions when she tried to move faster than the mech. Swinging the bat at one of the dummy targets felt weird since she would hear the sound of the bat connecting with the target through the mech and then a split second later the gauntlets would almost freeze her swing to show that she had connected with something.


    After a few more minutes of feeling it out, the Princess brought the mech back to the loading ramp, powered it down, and climbed out of the cockpit so the others could try to.


    After messing around with it, she now understood some of the design choices with the mech itself. Compared to a person, the mech was not exactly proportional to the human body. The legs were slightly shorter and very thick, the torso and arms were fairly close to a normal proportion, but the head looked more like a capsule and the neck was not visible from the outside unless stood under the mech at just the right angle. The Princess guessed they called it a ''Footman'' because it resembled a basic soldier wearing charcoal plate armor and a steel helmet.


    "I bet if I just add a feather plume, a shiny kite shield, and a sword and it really will look like Black Knight instead of just a Footman." the Princess mused.


    The Princess remembered that Xi¨£ng Pigu was upset earlier so she wandered over to her group and asked her what was wrong.


    Xi¨£ng Pigu blushed and said "It was my fault... I cried because I couldn''t reach the pedals and wear the gauntlets at the same time. The Marquis pointed out the part in the manual where you can adjust the pedal and seat height and then hit me with the manual saying something about beating the knowledge into me."


    "Pfftt..." the Princess struggled to stifle her laughter and said "That''s silly! Why would that make you cry though?"


    "...B... Because I want to serve our empire and I know I''m not strong enough to make it as a soldier so being a pilot is my only option." Xi¨£ng Pigu said.


    "Oh, well, even if you couldn''t, why not just take like a clerk or office position or something?"


    "Heck no, I don''t want to be stuck behind a desk! I want to see the world! What about you, Ban? You could''ve taken any position probably yet you are a pilot instead of being safe at the back."


    The Princess looked down and said "Originally, yes, that is what I wanted, but now... I don''t know. I want to help you and everyone else here, but I don''t want to fight. I know that is naive of me, but there has to be a better way."


    Xi¨£ng Pigu thought for a moment and then said "I do agree with you, but I will fight to protect our empire because it is all I have and where my family and friends live."


    The Princess couldn''t exactly disagree with her when she put it like that, so she bid Xi¨£ng Pigu luck when it was her turn to pilot the mech and went back over to her group.


    __________


    Gray made his way back to the military base through the east gate and saw that it was a little after 10 am. He was deciding where to hang until they met up in a little less than an hour when Gray heard the notification that a voice message came through to him.


    Opening up the message he saw that it was from Felicia and he felt a little giddy remembering the kiss from before. Gray opened the message while he was walking and listened to it.


    "Gray, I am sorry again about last time, I just can''t handle Ginro. What I am messaging you about though is that I hope you join the military officially. If you''d like, I can mention you to my superior, General Elise Bellerose, and can hopefully have you, and even your team, transferred to one of our divisions. Not only that, but you''d be in the same base as me, although if that Caleb is still on your team I might have to reconsider that."


    Gray laughed "Hmmm... so if I want to join her camp, I''ll need to get rid of Caleb... Caleb, you will be missed." is what Gray almost thought about saying to Caleb, but he wasn''t going to just drop him over a chance to live at the same base as Felicia... at least not yet.


    Gray wasn''t sure how serious Felicia was about... well... anything. He had to admit she was absolutely gorgeous but that started to blind him somewhat and he had started to realize that he really didn''t know anything about her since she always kept in control of the conversations, leaving him to do a lot of answering and virtually no questioning.


    "It could be she''s just playing hard to get... or maybe doesn''t like to talk about herself. Well, let''s discuss it later tonight as a team. I never fancied myself a dictator after all." Gray thought to himself.


    Gray made his way back towards the cafeteria where he remembered Caleb was left alone, but he was no longer there. Gray then returned to the Pilot''s quarters and didn''t see any of the team in their rooms so he returned to his since it was still 30 minutes until they were set to meet by the simulators.


    As Gray got closer to his room he could hear the sound of things being moved around in his room and became nervous that someone was looking through his stuff. He didn''t have much, but it was still his stuff!


    Gray burst into his own room and saw Geoff, Paul, and Yurika looking around through all of his drawers and things and yelled "Hey! What are you guys doing!?!"


    Stacia, Xyra, and Caleb just sat on his couch without saying a word, Paul looked at Gray and said "Uhhh, we''re looking for it.."


    "Looking for what?" Gray asked.


    A voice came from his closet belonging to Geoff that said "We''re looking for it! We know you got it!"


    "I still don''t know what you''re talking about." Gray said and rolled his eyes.


    From under his bed came Yurika''s voice "I found it!"


    Yurika climbed out from under Gray''s bed and held up what looked like a book or magazine proudly over her head like she had just found a treasure.


    "Really?" Gray said with an unamused expression. "You could''ve just asked and I would''ve let you guys borrow it had I know what you were looking for!"


    "Yeah, but we didn''t want to wait..." Yurika then flopped on to Gray''s bed like it was her own room and turned the book to a certain section and started staring at each page with an envious expression. "I wish mine were that big..." Yurika added plainly


    Stacia and Xyra got up to see what Yurika was looking at and then Stacia said plainly "Maybe, but they''d be hard to carry and all of that weight in the shoulders would make it a pain."


    Xyra added "Mine are... almost that big..."


    Paul looked at what they were looking at and added "Yeah, you''re right, but that big really would be hard to hold."


    Gray suddenly remembered what he had left under his bed and said "Oh, I totally forgot about that! How''d you guys know about it?"


    "I found it when you kicked me off the bed and meant to ask you about it when we got a chance." Geoff said.


    "Well, everyone, how about we splurge a little bit then and pick some stuff out from the weapon and mech catalog I stole... I mean, borrowed, from the armory." Gray said while also looking at the book that Yurika was looking at on his bed and admiring the over-sized chain gun she was drooling over.


    "Sweet! Let''s do it!" Geoff said "Flip to the mech section first, I think that is where we''re lacking most!"


    Yurika flipped to the mech section of the weapon and mech catalog and everyone chattered like kids in a toy store over what to get before they went out to more matchmaking.

 Chapter 74 - Blitz Mk 01 Versatile Assault Mech

    Everyone except Stacia and Xyra were interested in the mech catalog Gray had "borrowed". Yurika''s love for weapons was no longer a surprise to anyone and boys will always love their toys. The surprising thing about Gray even having a mech and weapon catalog was that it actually existed in physical format. In the current age, just about every form of media was digital as it saved a lot of material costs. The biggest advantage though of physical copies is that you can''t hack a piece of paper.


    The first thing that everyone noticed in the mech catalog was a lack of mech variety, but the amount of weapons was staggering. Caleb thought this was probably due to mechs being in a very early stage where as we as humans have basically been developing weapons ever since man first walked the Earth.


    Gray did notice one consistency with all of the mechs and said "All of these mechs have a Mark 1 next to their names, does that mean that there are Mark 2s or higher?"


    Caleb thought for a moment and said "It could be that the Mark 2s and up are only available if we join the military or that they''re still under development."


    "We''re going to have a pajama party tonight though, right?" Geoff asked.


    "Yes, that is the plan, Stacia, can you bring snacks?" Gray asked Stacia.


    "Uhmm, sure! Just send me a message with a few things you all like and I''ll put it together and umm¡­ Gray¡­" Stacia started to fidget slightly and then whispered to Gray "Are bringing snacks code word for something?"


    Gray thought about how he should answer this and decided to tease her some by whispering back. "Yes, it is very important so listen very carefully."


    Stacia tensed up slightly at Gray''s words and was listening very closely as Gray whispered "It means I need you to bring snacks¡­ I like peanut butter crackers¡­"


    Stacia got a slightly peeved expression and smacked Gray''s arm and said "Jerk! I was all nervous for nothing!"


    Gray laughed out loud at this and then had to explain to the others why he was laughing, but sadly it wasn''t as funny since he had to explain it instead of everyone else witnessing it.


    "Anyways, let''s get back on topic! I know Stacia is the only one of us with another mech, she has this one, the Juniper SE" Gray said as he pointed at a page with a picture of this mech that resembles a rabbit man. "I''ve noticed it doesn''t say Mk 01 but instead says SE, could be that this one is not going to be updated or improved so when the time comes to trade a mech back in, I would recommend that one"


    "It''s my favorite though¡­ and it looks cute!" Stacia whined.


    "Gray! You need to understand a woman''s heart more!" Yurika chastised Gray while Xyra nodded in agreement.


    Gray stared blankly at the girls and thought to himself "It was just a recommendation, how did this turn into something about me not understanding a woman''s heart?"


    Geoff patted Gray on the shoulder and said "Women were meant to not be understood by men."


    Gray shook his head and said "I''m sorry, let''s just get back on topic please!"


    Yurika produced a sign from somewhere that said "Girls: 01 ¨C Boys: 00" and held it up proudly.


    "Where were you hiding that?" Paul asked as he noticed she wasn''t wearing anything big enough to hide it from sight.


    "It''s a secret¡­" Yurika said playfully.


    Gray shook his head to clear his mind since he was trying to imagine where Yurika had pulled that small sign from as well and said "Ok, so are mech choices are limited so we should pick ones that suit our individual style in my opinion. I do believe it is important to pick based upon each other''s job, but I think personal preference is best."


    "I disagree Gray, I think the job should be the most important and personal preference secondary. We need to pick mechs that will fill our roles first." Caleb countered.


    "Ok, then do you recommend I assign everyone a mech based upon their own role or what I think fits their personality best?"


    "¡­both¡­" Xyra whispered


    "Both? Well, that''s a good idea, not sure if it is possible, but balance shouldn''t be a bad thing. Ok, so everyone write down your personal mech preference and let''s see if we can match you up with your role." Gray said as he pulled out a notebook and tore out 6 sheets of paper for everyone else and then passed his pen around for everyone to borrow after writing down his choice.


    "Umm¡­ Gray, what are the roles?" Stacia said.


    Gray was about to answer her, but then he realized he really didn''t have any idea either as mechs really didn''t have classes like other games, but more like specializations. Gray tore out another sheet of paper and wrote a numbered list out.


    Positions


    1. Assault


    2. Engineer


    3. Sniper


    4. Support


    "Any others anyone else can think of?" Gray asked the rest of the team


    "Looks like a standard Warrior, Mage, Thief, and Priest archetype" Geoff commented.


    Everyone nodded in agreement except Stacia since she didn''t quite understand what Geoff meant as she was the only one that wasn''t a full gamer so Stacia said "I''m not a gamer, can you guys explain?"


    "It''s not really needed since it is not exactly accurate since we''re talking about mechs. I think these only cover every role in a broad sense" Gray said and then pointed at Paul while saying "Paul, you like to defend others, and you seem to be very protective of your friends. I would say you''d be a support type that focuses on defending others."


    Paul nodded in agreement and then Gray went through everyone else and gave them his opinions and put their names on his list next to their roles if they agreed.


    Positions


    1. Assault ¨C Gray, Geoff


    2. Engineer ¨C Yurika


    3. Sniper ¨C Caleb, Xyra


    4. Support ¨C Paul, Stacia


    When Yurika was said that she would be considered an Engineer she disagreed at first until Gray explained what that role was to her.


    "An Engineer in this sense is the one with the heavy weapons, normally you are assault but in the future we''re going to need more firepower as the real battles will not balance out like matchmaking." Gray said.


    "Size matters after all¡­" Yurika said playfully, causing everyone to stare at her "¡­for weapons I mean, bunch of pervs."


    "And on that note¡­ we''re never going to get into matchmaking at this rate¡­" Stacia said dryly.


    "Yep, so let''s just pick out some mechs and just get this over with¡­" Geoff added, trying to salvage the meeting.


    "Good idea, just pick a mech a put it on your paper, I''ll probably agree with most of you for the sake of speeding this meeting up."


    Everyone wrote down what mech they thought they would like the most. Once everyone finished, everyone put their choice down in front of everyone else.


    "Ok, Geoff¡­ you picked the Blitz class Mk 01 mech¡­ speed is average, but it has higher than average agility with average armor and a good weapon capacity. I actually picked the exact same one so I personally agree, anyone disagree?" Gray asked


    "We can be twins!" Geoff said playfully


    Gray grinned and said "That makes sense since I''m the better twin"


    Gray thought he could hear everyone''s eyes roll at the same time and chose to ignore them and said "I''m guessing you picked it for the same reason I did then, to be able to react quickly to any situation."


    Geoff laughed and added "Mainly because it looks bad ass though, right?"


    Gray didn''t reply, but instead thought to himself "Heck yeah it looks bad ass!"


    The Blitz class Mk 01 was labelled as a versatile assault class mech designed to deliver sustained firepower without sacrificing agility allowing it to be able to dodge incoming fire better than the average mech. The mech was a little shorter than the standard mech, but its frame was slightly wider allowing it to move side to side much easier than other mechs. The smaller frame and improved internal components reduced the overall mass of the mech. The armor was still the standard cheap and light composite of uncompressed armor that was tinted dark green to match the standard for Alliance mechs.


    The mech appeared much more intimidating than the standard Phalanx Mk 01 they were familiar with as the sensor suites were moved to the side of the head and attached to make it look like it was a set of pointed ears almost as they extended slightly above and behind the head. The eyes were narrow, glowed white normally, and were purely decorative, but could be dimmed if needed. The limbs had the same amount of armor as the Phalanx, but were bulkier to make more room for the improved motor control allowing it to carry larger weapons and maintain steady aim.


    Internally, the redesigned engine was only marginally stronger than the standard engine found in the Phalanx, but it was significantly smaller and had vastly improved fuel efficiency. The downside of course was that it required a higher grade fuel cell that ended up being more expensive since the 80% fuel consumption reduction came with 500% cost per liter increase.


    "Good choice¡­ Stacia, what did you pick?"


    Everyone looked down at the piece of paper in front of Stacia and opened their eyes wide.


    "W-What?!? How can this be?!?" Gray exclaimed.

 Chapter 75 - Mechs to unlock

    Stacia had wrote down the Juniper SE, the same mech she used the most often and was actually the least useful in a team fight due to the smaller caliber of weapons that it could only carry.


    Gray shook his head and said "I think I know the answer to this, but why do you still want to use the Juniper SE?"


    "Because it''s fast, nimble, has excellent scouting capabilities, and¡­ and¡­" Stacia struggled to finish what she was saying.


    "And what?" Geoff said impatiently.


    "¡­and it''s cute¡­" Stacia blushed slightly after saying this.


    "Well, your first points are good, but that last one¡­ not so much¡­" Gray said and then noticed that the girls were about to say something completely illogical he added "¡­so how about this one instead?"


    Gray pointed to another scout-type mech in the catalog that he hoped to convince Stacia, and inadvertently the other girls, that it would satisfy their need to be cute.


    "This is the Cupid Mk 01, it has even better scouting capabilities than the Juniper although it is slightly slower. In return though you shouldn''t be taken out in a single hit and can carry a single standard weapon instead of the smaller ones the Juniper has to carry."


    Stacia and the other girls scrutinized its looks, it did indeed look sort of cute to them, but it was missing something. "It''s just not as cute¡­ it''s missing something¡­" Stacia argued.


    Gray pointed to the next image of the Cupid Mk 01 and added "This is what it looks like when its sensors are active, is that what it is missing?"


    The girls all looked excitedly at the image as when the sensors were extended it looked like the mech had a pair of tiny angel wings on its back. "Yes! That''s what it needed! Ok, you''ve convinced me!"


    Gray heaved a sigh of relief and had to wonder if some of the designers of these mechs took into account male and female aesthetics.


    The Cupid Mk 01 in the standard configuration was matte white with a body size a little smaller than the Phalanx Mk 01 and was slimmer around the waist and had longer legs making it appear more elegant. It had slightly less armor than the Phalanx, but with the longer legs its top speed was significantly higher than other mechs. The only downside was it was not very agile, but it was not meant to be fighting up close to need that agility. The head of the mech had two round passive sensor suites making it look like a pair of big blue eyes. What surprised everyone was that this was the first mech that they saw that had accessories to change its visual appearance. This Cupid Mk 01 was very obviously marketed towards female gamers.


    Gray moved on to Paul as Stacia was probably now trying to figure out how to make the Cupid Mk 01 cuter with some of the visual accessories. "Ok Paul, you picked¡­ the Armadillo Mk 01? Really?"


    "Yeah! It can take a beating a dish it right back! The spikes protruding from it are intimidating too!"


    "Ok, so what are you going to do when the enemy doesn''t come to you?" Gray asked honestly.


    "Well¡­ that''s why I''ll always be next to the others to draw firepower away!"


    "In certain situations that would be useful, but I think you would be better off being able to protect in a more aggressive way. What do you think of this one?" Gray pointed at the Hoplite Mk 01 and added "It''s only marginally faster than the Armadillo, but it is fairly agile considering its thick limbs and the shield and spear combo would help you attack and defend."


    Paul thought about it for a moment and said "It does look more like a knight to me¡­ but what about ranged attacks¡­ oh wait, I think I know what you''re going to say as Paul noticed the alternate spear you could purchase that came with a 6 shot grenade launcher or small laser cannon option.


    The Hoplite mech looked like a Phalanx Mk 01 that worked out a lot. It had thicker limbs and thicker armor all around giving it much higher survivability at the cost of speed and agility. Equipped with a shield, the armor was still the standard uncompressed composite armor, but applied more generously to the front and sides of the mech while the back was the same thickness as the average mech. The shield was basically a rectangle slab of armor with a point in the center and self-attaching mounts that allows the shield to be attached directly to the arm if desired.


    "Get the enhanced shield too if you can, it''s expensive, but I bet it is worth it." Gray added


    Paul looked at the enhanced shield and agreed with Gray. The enhanced shield cost almost as much as the mech, but it was a slightly thinner slab of compressed alloy armor instead of the uncompressed composite armor. The compressed armor made a huge difference in terms of strength at the cost of weighing more. The cost came from the advanced manufacturing process that required more than a 3D printer to create as compressed armor required a special chemical treatment and compression forge to enhance the alloy.


    "You guys, can you help me with merits then? I don''t think I have enough for the mech and the shield right now."


    "We''ll pool all of our merits together and get the mechs in order of importance as I don''t think we can afford for everyone to get a new mech and new weapons at the same time. The standard weapons we can still use should be good enough for now, but we''ll want to use the more specialized weapons these mechs were designed around." Gray stated. "Yurika, I think I know which one you picked"


    Everyone turned to look at her sheet of paper and saw that she had wrote "Fire Hawk Mk 01" and while it wasn''t the one Gray thought she would''ve picked, he actually trusted her judgement knowing her expertise with weapons.


    "Heck yeah! I want this bad boy!" Yurika said excitedly.


    The Fire Hawk Mk 01 was aptly named this due to the integrated plasma throwers in the arms. Most of the mech was given an average layer of standard uncompressed composite armor, but the arms were given compressed alloy armor allowing it to handle the high heat of the plasma throwers as well as take more punishment in general. It was given a dark orange/red tint to go with the fire theme this mech was obviously designed to use. The upper arms had two axes mounted giving it the appearance of having small winglets coming out of the arms. Lastly, this mech was also fitted with a large utility mount meant for heavy weapon support.


    The default setup showed a large gatling cannon that was fed from a backpack in the large slot, the standard slot wasn''t large enough to hold enough rounds to make it worthwhile. The mech itself was a little taller than a Phalanx but was also wider than even the Hoplite due to the need to keep the heavy weapons stable while firing. Compared to the standard mech, the Fire Hawk was slow, but it was strong and agile with a very large weapon capacity and good armor. It only had a basic sensor suite so it required information to be fed from a scout. Its biggest weakness was actually mid-range as the plasma throwers could easily be dodged at the maximum range and the Gatling Cannon was too heavy to aim reliably at anything within a few dozen meters. Still, the biggest strength of this mech was melee and short range and then long range and beyond. This mech fit Yurika''s personality as it could unleash torrents of firepower at long range but was also able to use melee weapons if the enemy came in close.


    "It''s not as fast or agile as I would like, but the amount of destruction it can rain makes me happy!" Yurika said brightly.


    Gray wasn''t sure if she was damaged in some way as a baby, but remembering that she seemed to genuinely love weapons and fighting instead of just killing he wasn''t too worried.


    "Xyra, Caleb, since you''re both snipers, how about the Whisper Mk 01?"


    "¡­ Are you making¡­ fun of me?" Xyra whispered while glaring at Gray.


    "N-no! Not at all! I just think that of the 3 sniper mechs available this model suits you both best!"


    Compared to the other sniper mechs, the Whisper Mk 01 was similar in proportion to the Cupid as it favored a light amount of uncompressed composite armor except it was tinted a dark matte grey in order to not stand out. The armor of the mech was meant to be as low profile as possible so it looked fairly smooth all around without any extra flare or visual enhancements. Like the Cupid, the Whisper was also fairly fast yet still lacking in agility. The waist was a little thicker and the backpack utility slot was already used up with a small sensor jamming device meant to reduce the range at which the mech could be detected by sensors as well as a mounting bracket meant to hold a sniper rifle. It was dubbed the ''Whisper'' due to the noise coming from the jammer that sounded like a soft whisper when it was first activated.


    "These mechs alone¡­ let''s see¡­ damn, almost 25,000 merits, and that''s just for the mechs, we still need the weapons. How much does everyone have?" Gray asked the group.


    Everyone shared their merit totals, they had all initially started with 1000 merits and the original 5 members of the team even got an extra 1000 merits from the promotional video, but they soon realized how hard it was to get more merits since matchmaking rewarded based upon tier and rank it seemed. Adding everyone up, Gray got a total of 15,905 merits. This was actually a large sum of merits, but they were going for the best mechs available to them.


    "Paul''s mech is the cheapest, then Stacia''s, then Caleb and Xyra, then Geoff and myself, and finally Yurika''s the most expensive. Probably due to the compressed armor on the arms. I think everyone''s mechs will be important, but let''s get the ones most needed for now."


    "I''m important!" Geoff said proudly.


    "Of course you are sweetie" Yurika said teasingly while patting Geoff''s head causing Geoff to bark like a puppy.


    "Ok, in reality, I''d like to get Stacia''s first, then Paul''s, then Geoff''s and mine, then Caleb and Xyra''s, and lastly Yurika''s mech" Gray suggested.


    "I think mine should be first! I''m important!" Yurika said proudly this time. Geoff was about to pat her on the head like she did to him but she elbowed him in the ribs instead.


    Gray tried to console Yurika and said "Well, I''m doing this based upon need, we won''t need your mech until missions and the war starts, Yurika, while the rest of ours are more helpful in the present, especially true for Stacia and Paul."


    "Oh fine¡­" Yurika said while pouting.


    "Ok! Let''s head to the armory and unlock these mechs then!" Gray said.

 Chapter 76 - Meeting GameGo Gamers

    Gray and the rest of the Steel Wolves bought mechs and gear for Paul, Stacia, Xyra, and Caleb. They ended up spending 15,400 merits leaving their team with a meager 505 merits combined. The Whisper Mk 01 ended up being cheap enough compared to the Blitz Mk 01 that they could get two of them right now instead of one Blitz Mk 01. The expensive piece of equipment was the special compressed alloy armor shield that the Hoplite got as an extra as well.


    Cupid Mk 01 ¨C 1800 merits


    Hoplite Mk 01 ¨C 2200 merits


    Hoplite Compressed Alloy Shield ¨C 3000 merits


    Hoplite Spear with Grenade Launcher Accessory ¨C 1000 merits


    Whisper Mk 01 x 2 ¨C 6000 merits


    Whisper Jammer Accessory x 2 ¨C 1400 merits


    Total: 15,400 merits


    Gray looked at the total bill, he felt depressed with only 505 merits left for the team and thought "I know they say that you have to spend money to make money, but it still hurts¡­"


    Exploiting player created missions, they were able to get only 350 merits a day currently. After today''s first round of exploiting, Gray, Stacia, Geoff, Yurika, and Caleb each received a notification that they had ranked up to Corporal finally. Since Paul and Xyra hadn''t completed as much matchmaking as the other 5 members of the Steel Wolves, they were still at Private 1st Class.


    "Sweet, wonder what kind of privileges we get!" Geoff said excitedly.


    "Probably access to more mechs and weapons and increased rewards for matchmaking and missions now from what we''ve seen already." Gray said.


    When they exploited the player created missions for the 2nd time today, they noticed that as Corporals they could now assign a mission for 20 merits each instead of just 10 merits. After this round of exploiting, Xyra and Paul both became Corporals as well.


    Gray took a peek at his rank window and saw that Private 1st Class required 1000 merits to reach and Corporal took 1500 more merits. "It looks like it will now take us 3000 more merits to reach Sergeant, I hope it doesn''t grow exponentially" Gray muttered.


    "Yes, we need at least one more data point to accurately determine the formula for the amount of merits required for each rank. Unfortunately this also assumes that it is following a formula instead of being set values." Caleb said analytically


    "Basically we just need more merits no matter what, right?" Paul asked.


    Gray nodded and said "Yes, so let''s get to matchmaking! I want a new mech too!"


    As everyone walked over to the simulator pods, Gray received a private message from Yurika and thought to himself "She''s right next to me, why not just speak to me instead of sending a message?"


    Gray curiously opened the message and did his best to hold back his surprise to avoid alerting the others. Gray read the message again to himself just to make sure he didn''t misread it: "Gray, get my mech next and we''ll have another training session together, but without mechs."


    Gray glanced at Yurika and she smiled and winked at him. His morals were being tested right now and he really REALLY wanted to take her up on that, but then he remembered the beating she gave him last time in a mech and thought it might be better not to. On the other hand, they wouldn''t be in mechs and her physical strength was much less than his, maybe he could take her.


    The proverbial angel on Gray''s shoulder was saying "Do what''s best for the team", but the proverbial devil countered from his other shoulder saying "There is no ''I'' in ''team'', but there is a ''me''", then the angel kicked the devil off of his shoulder and said "Do what''s best, maybe she''s testing you on that!" Gray had to agree, plus the way his moral angel vaulted over his head and ninja kicked the devil was amazing.


    Gray replied to her message saying "As much as I would truly enjoy that, I''m not the only one on the team so I need to prioritize the team over just you and myself."


    Yurika read the reply and then smiled and nodded at Gray again and sent him another message "Good to hear that! You are still fit to be our leader!"


    Gray almost smacked his own face when she admitted that it was a test of sorts. He wasn''t sure if Yurika was just messing with him now or if she was just that conniving.


    Suddenly Gray got another message, but this time it was from Stacia. "Gray, can we please spare some merits so I can accessorize my Cupid Mk 01? I can cook for you sometime if you agree!"


    Gray looked at the proverbial devil and angel on his shoulders and saw that they were actually discussing something this time. Both the proverbial angel and devil stood up and the angel proclaimed "We have reached an agreement that you should take up this offer!"


    Gray replied to Stacia with "Maybe, let''s see how much we make in matchmaking first as Corporals."


    Instead of pouting like Yurika does when she doesn''t get her way, Stacia just looks down as if she was embarrassed for even asking. Gray felt bad since she looked sad and sent her another message. "How about you make a dish all of us can share and we''ll ask everyone else then if they mind sparing the merits in return."


    Stacia read Gray''s second reply and her face smiled brightly and she nodded excitedly.


    Gray smiled back at her and sent her another message "I''ll bring it up after we get done for today, getting everyone hungry will help your case I think" which made Stacia giggle slightly.


    The team reached the simulators and hopped into some open pods and did a quick 8 vs 8 matchup. They noticed that this other team had slightly better weapons than them, but they still had the original starter mechs so Gray and his team were easily able to out maneuver them and win a very short match. Gray checked the rewards and noticed that the rank bonus had increased by 4 times the amount as before, so they ended up getting 80 merits each. Base value of 5 for a win, x2 for Silver rank, x8 for Corporal rank. Even if they lost, they''d still get 16 merits at least!


    "I hypothesize that the matchmaking reward increase being higher than the mission reward increase is due to the military wanting to emphasize combat training over missions at this stage." Caleb analyzed for everyone, even though nobody asked his opinion.


    "Makes sense to me. Let''s do a 16 vs 16 match now to see how we can go up against a mid-sized group while being teamed up with others. Any complaints?" Gray asked everyone else, but nobody replied.


    "Ok, let''s get going!"


    Gray selected 16 vs 16 this time from the options and selected "Match" to search for a battle. After a few seconds they were matched up with a team.


    "GameGo Gamers? Never heard of them." Gray thought to himself then had an epiphany "Wait! Could it be Spoon and Carly and some other employees from GameGo?"


    Gray and the other members of the Steel Wolves were sent to the pregame lobby for one minute to coordinate with the other team and Gray was surprised when he saw Carly with 8 other players from GameGo Gamers.


    "Carly! I''m surprised see you here!" Gray shouted over to Carly.


    "Gray! You son of a baby hamster! How''ve ya been?" Carly came up and clapped Gray on the back hard, which would''ve probably knocked Gray down had this not been in a virtual environment.


    "I''m doing fine! Everyone on your team from GameGo I imagine?"


    "Yep! Even Spoon!"


    "I don''t see him here though."


    "I''m right here Gray, how did you not see me?!?" A guy that slightly resembled Spoon said as he stepped forward. He was just a little taller, thinner, more toned, pimple free, no glasses, straight hair instead of curly, and his teeth were fixed so he wasn''t speaking with a lisp.


    "Spoon?!? I can hardly recognize you!"


    "I''m still just as good looking as ever, right?"


    Carly rolled her eyes then stamped on his foot causing Spoon to reflexively hold his foot and then jump around while holding it up like he was in extreme pain only to realize that he felt no pain in this virtual environment and embarrassingly put his foot back down while the other GameGo employees shook their heads.


    "Err¡­ of course you are, just didn''t recognize you¡­ without the hair¡­ the pimples¡­ or the crooked teeth¡­" Gray said with a hint of mockery.


    "Screw off, this is what I would look like in real life!"


    "He''s full of crap Gray, don''t listen to him, but how do I look?" Carly said coquettishly.


    Carly still looked the same as before, short, cute, a little stocky, and a pair of huge¡­ ribbons that she tied up in her hair this time. Gray thought something was different and realized that her voice was actually quieter now which seemed odd to Gray since Carly normally could be heard from kilometers away.


    "You look umm¡­ great! You seem quieter than usual though!"


    "Yeah, the other guys said I needed to keep my voice down because it was waking them up while they were diving into this game, so I''ve been trying to tone it down some."


    Yurika elbowed Gray in the back when she noticed him getting friendly with Carly and whispered "Care to introduce us a** hole?"


    "Oh sorry! Carly, Spoon, this is my team, the Steel Wolves!" Gray said as he introduced each player on his team one at a time. When he got around to Yurika last, Gray started to say "And this is Yurika, you two will get along well, she is our weapons expert and¡­"


    After that last ''and'' Yurika butted in and interrupted Gray and said loudly "and I''m Gray''s wife!" while she clinging tightly to Gray, much to Gray''s surprise.


    Carly noticed Gray''s surprised expression and decided to play along and said "Good for both of you! Luckily I''m his mistress!" then Carly hugged Gray from the other side.


    Gray had Yurika squeezing him on his left, Carly squeezing him on his right and they were both glaring at each other not willing to back down leaving the rest of both of their teams feeling embarrassed for them.


    Caleb finally said impatiently "Not to interrupt your little m¨¦nage ¨¤ trois, but the match starts in 8 seconds¡­"


    Gray started to cry on the inside. "Why me¡­"

 Chapter 77 - The Battle Begins!

    Carly and Yurika both laughed at each other at the silliness of fighting over Gray then released Gray.


    "So much for planning, just pick what we picked last time!" Gray said hurriedly.


    Fortunately the system would default to whatever you chose last time so nobody had to pick and instead everyone was spawned inside the map in their respective mechs.


    Gray, Yurika, and Geoff still had the Phalanx Mk 01, Xyra and Caleb each had their new Whisper Mk 01, Paul his Hoplite Mk 01, and Stacia her Cupid Mk 01. The 9 members participating from GameGo Gamers had a few different mechs, but nothing advanced as they seemed to only go for the aesthetic appeal.


    Carly was the one exception, she had the Armadillo Mk 01 that Paul was originally interested in. Looking at the mech, Gray realized it fit her perfectly. The Armadillo Mk 01 was short, sturdy, had around a dozen spikes on it, and looked very intimidating despite lacking any standard ranged weaponry. The Armadillo got its name because it was actually designed to get down on its hands and feet and curl its back armor making it look like a shell with spikes coming out of it. The spike would spin about 90 degrees and expose the missile launcher being protected inside, crouching on the ground would give the Armadillo 360 degrees of coverage with the missiles, but make it an easy target for anyone not hit by the rockets. Gray had to admit it was an interesting idea, but really didn''t want Paul to get it due to its limited mobility and poor endurance. (Endurance as in how long it can stay in a fight)


    The rest of the GameGo Gamers had 4 Phalanx Mk 01s, and 4 Ranger Mk 01s. The Ranger Mk 01 was very similar to the Phalanx except that it had thinner armor to allow more weight for motors to carry heavier weapons. Heck, the Ranger Mk 01 even looked the same as the Phalanx Mk 01 except for a slimmer body and pointier head.


    Carly took control of her team in the group''s chat and said "Standard team slayer, move to higher ground then draw them towards us!"


    Gray agreed with Carly''s orders, but he thought it would be better to have Stacia''s Cupid Mk 01 take the lead as it was faster than the Phalanx or Ranger and had advanced sensors to spot the enemy from further away. "Carly, let Stacia take point, she can spot them earlier if they have the same idea."


    "Works for me!"


    "Stacia! Take point! Once you spot them, tell us where and how many!" Gray ordered


    "Roger!" Stacia replied and then turned on her active sensors and the little wing-shaped sensor suites on the back of her mech unfolded.


    "Oh my gawd it''s so cuuuute!" Carly said gleefully while checking out Stacia''s Cupid Mk 01.


    "I know! I feel bad when I get shot at so I hide behind things." Stacia then twirled her mech around like a little girl showing off a new outfit. Stacia figured out she could make the sensor wings ''flap'' a little by turning them off and on rapidly.


    "Can we not do this now?" Gray asked while trying not to sound agitated.


    "Oh, sorry Gray!" Stacia apologized and then headed up the steep hill with everyone else trailing behind her.


    Gray and the other Steel Wolves were seriously paying attention to their surroundings as they trekked up the hill, but the GameGo Gamers were taking it very casually. Gray figured this was perfectly natural since they still believed this was a game and thus treated it like one. Aside from Carly, only one other member of the GameGo Gamers was a girl so hearing a normal girl like Stacia caused the males of GameGo Gamers to try and chat her up a bit. This all seemed new to Stacia as she was getting easily flustered. Yurika was ignored due to her earlier declaration as Gray''s wife, which Gray probably figured was to keep her from getting chatted up like this as well.


    "So uhhh¡­ Stacia, is it? That''s a cute name!" said one of the random male members of GameGo Gamers.


    "Do you come here often?" said another one, of which caused just about everyone''s eye to twitch uncontrollably hoping that that guy was trying to make it a joke and wasn''t that much of an idiot.


    A third guy chimed in saying "Your mech is as cute as you are!" causing Stacia to cringe slightly.


    A fourth member countered by saying "Idiot! She''s way cuter than her mech!"


    Amid the squabbling, Stacia finally got mad a bit and yelled "#$&*@ing idiots! Leave me the @#$%& alone you vultures!"


    Seeing Stacia mad for some reason encouraged them more though and the guys from GameGo Gamers continued to bicker among themselves now saying that it was the other that made her mad.


    "I am also Gray''s wife!!!" Stacia finally shouted at them.


    This seemed to have poured a bucket of cold water on the guys as they stopped pestering her, but instead they started directing their comments to Gray.


    "Lucky bastard!"


    "Dude, learn to share¡­"


    "Seriously bro, just one is enough."


    "This disciple greets his honorable master!"


    Hearing that last comment caused some concern for Gray and he finally said "Pay attention guys, I can''t teach what I don''t know, instead focus on the match and I''ll tell you what I can after!"


    Fortunately this seemed to satisfy them for now as they became a little more serious about the match and stopped bugging Stacia and Gray. Off to the side, Geoff had actually started to try and chat up the only other girl on the GameGo Gamers team, her name was Beth. Geoff was surprisingly normal to her which felt refreshing to her so he was surprisingly successful, this actually surprised Geoff more than anyone else as he had never tried the normal approach and had it work. Not that any of his approaches had ever worked though.


    Suddenly Stacia shouted out "Enemy! 200 meters from top of hill, coming straight towards us!"


    Gray yelled back "Do they see us?"


    "Negative! We''re out of their sensor range, they appear to be all Ranger Mk 01s and Phalanx Mk 01s."


    Gray thought for a moment and tried to figure out how to take advantage of the terrain. Seeing as the enemies were almost to the top and would beat them there, they really couldn''t just charge straight into them as they would be able to spot them on their sensors once they got within a kilometer of them without any interference.


    Carly then decided to chime in and yelled "Charge you maggots! Charge!"


    "Hold up Carly! We need to minimize casualties on our end!" Gray stated.


    "Why? This is only a game, the winner of the match gets more rewards and as long as we win it''s fine."


    Gray was going to have a hard time with the players that still saw this as only a game, but even in their current situation they were in a simulator so they could lose a mech and nobody would get hurt. "Carly, I heard a rumor that you get more merits when you have more teammates survive."


    "Eh? Where did you hear that? We''ve been going for finishing as soon as possible to increase the amount of matches we get."


    This is true for most games, and honestly was probably true for this game as well. Gray thought he might try to talk to Ginro and get them to change this if the amount of survivors really didn''t matter since they''re trying to train them as soldiers, not as gamers. In a simulation, a gamer might beat a soldier more often than not, but in a life or death battle, a soldier would win almost every time.


    "Can you humor me and give it a shot this time?" Gray asked sincerely


    "Since it''s for you, Gray¡­" Carly said playfully


    Yurika butted in and said "Just let Gray command us like we normally do, the wife knows the husband the best!"


    Gray ignored her as he had given up on resisting a long time ago. "Let''s keep it simple then, GameGo Gamers, sweep left and right around the base from this height and do not get closer to the summit, Phalanx, sweep right, Rangers, sweep left."


    Various forms of acknowledgment came through as the 8 GameGo Gamers split up and encircled around the steep hill.


    "Carly, Xyra, Caleb, fall back to the maximum range of your weapons to attack the top of the mountain."


    Gray heard 3 sets of acknowledgements and saw the long-ranged attackers fall back to their maximum range.


    "The rest of us, we wait here, Paul take point, Stacia behind Paul, Geoff and Yurika, we are going to act surprised when we see them reach the top of the hill and fire off a few shots at them and then sloppily run down the hill and find cover where possible. We want them to chase us down it!"


    Gray heard a bunch of acknowledgements again and got into position with everyone else. Paul stood his mech in front of Stacia''s mech and caressed the compressed alloy armor shield like it was the cheek of a woman.


    "You touch that shield like it''s a woman''s face Paul¡­ do you like to have a woman''s face get shot at over and over and take beatings for you?" Geoff said jokingly.


    "Shut up, this shield is my ally and precious partner!" Paul said proudly.


    "You''re still a virgin I bet¡­" Yurika said teasingly


    "When did this become about my virginity?!? I mean, I am NOT a virgin, I have slept with many women on different occasions!"


    "You sure? We''re all virgins if we haven''t done it here at the base remember, doing it in the virtual worl¡­"


    Gray cut Yurika off quickly and said "Cut the chatter! They''re coming!"


    The GameGo Gamers seemed a little confused on their conversation and were going to ask more about what Yurika meant about the virtual world, but Yurika having realized her mistake didn''t bring it up again.


    Gray was about to send Yurika a private message but she had already sent one out to everyone else that just said "Sorry" so Gray didn''t think it was necessary to say anymore as she was just getting caught up in the moment.


    "Ok, GameGo players, advance slowly up the hill if all 16 start to come down it, stay out of direct sight, once you get closer to the top of the hill, feel free to go at full speed. We want to pinch them between you and those of us at the bottom! Carly, your job is to fire a volley of rockets at the top of the mountain to encourage the enemy mechs to follow us down!"


    Gray wasn''t sure if he could lead a larger team like this, but no point in complaining now¡­ the battle begins!

 Chapter 78 - Doubts

    Gray''s biggest concern over this match was that he''d never tried to control 16 players at once¡­ While it may not seem like a big deal, paying attention to everyone was hard enough when it was only 7 of them. Gray was regretting not finishing his time at the academy now as he was sure they''d have some leadership courses for officers.


    "No point worrying about that now." Gray thought.


    The enemy team had stayed in a group of 16 and saw Gray and the 4 others climbing up the mountain. Paul braced his mech and held the shield in front of him.


    "Xyra, Caleb, Carly, hold fire, Yurika, Stacia, Geoff, Paul open fire!"


    Despite the tight formation with Paul in the front, Gray and the other 4 were able to open fire on the enemy at the top of the hill. The enemy team of 16 braced themselves at the top of the mountain, not moving down to chase and the 8 that were able to shoot back at Gray and the others opened fire as well.


    Paul''s shield held up extremely well due to the extended range of the attacks and that the enemies were not extremely accurate. The enemy didn''t have any snipers, but they all had assault rifles or battle rifles. The enemy team wasn''t balanced, but sometimes that works in their favor and since battle rifles had a little better range than assault rifles, they could cover mid-range and almost long-range attacks.


    "Back down slowly, we want them to chase us." Gray said, then started to back down the mountain slowly while maintaining his fire to try and give some resistance to the enemy.


    Unfortunately for Gray and the others, the enemy didn''t take the bait and instead used only battle rifles to fire at them once the assault rifles went out of effective range. "Damn, they didn''t take it." Gray thought.


    "Ok, make it look like we''re starting to panic and retreat faster downhill!" Gray and the others picked up the pace and even turned away from the enemy team to try and sell it harder. Gray twisted on his feet to try and fire back at them while trotting downhill, but he ended up tripping on the hillside. Gray''s mech stumbled as he tried to catch himself but instead ended up falling on the face of his mech with several alarms going off at once in his cockpit.


    Apparently this sold it for the enemy as 8 of them headed down towards Gray and the others while the remaining 8 still watched from near the top of the hill.


    "Carly, encourage the remaining ones on the top of the hill to come down!" Gray commanded while trying to stand his mech back up. Carly fired a salvo of 8 rockets at the enemy mechs on top of the hill. Instead of turning and running away from the missiles, the enemy team did what every other game would do and instead ran in the direction they were facing since it wasted time to turn around. Since the rockets were unguided they struck the top of the hill and left a few small craters in the top of the hill.


    Gray''s mech finally got back up and ran without trying to fire up the hill at the enemies since they were now close enough that some shots were deflecting off of the armor of Gray''s mech. Gray wasn''t sure what to do¡­ should he ask the snipers to shoot at the ones in front to slow them down, or shoot at the ones in the back to prevent them from retreating back up the hill.


    Gray finally made up his mind though and said "Caleb, Xyra, go for the legs of the rear mechs, let''s give them nowhere to run except down! Carly, aim for the ones in the back as well!"


    Looking forward, Gray saw the spikey shell of the Armadillo open all of its spikes and release a full volley of 12 rockets towards the enemy in the rear and the muzzle flash of both Xyra and Caleb as they opened fire as well.


    Xyra and Caleb both used their training AI enough to have it be able to assist them with aiming so their accuracy had improved significantly once they were able to use it to help adjust for temperature, wind speed, and even inertia offset by any movement. Gray had also finally been able to use his with an assault rifle as well so Tiara could now assist with aiming while before she was just assisting with target management.


    "GameGo Gamers! Go! Need you on the top of the hill before they reach the bottom!"


    The GameGo Gamers broke out of hiding and started climbing up the hill as the enemy continued to charge down it. As Gray and the others reached the bottom, the enemy team noticed the GameGo Gamers players trying to reach the top of the hill. The enemy paused for a moment, but it seems a consensus was reached as they decided to keep charging down the hill to avoid the 8 climbing up it.


    "They''re choosing to ignore the 8 players about to reach the top, GameGo, take the most direct route to hit them from behind!"


    The GameGo Gamers mechs all adjusted themselves to head straight towards the enemy while they were running down the hill. The enemy mechs saw that they had adjusted their path and the rear mechs of the enemy team stopped and took aim at the places where they were going to expose themselves first.


    Gray realized the fault in his order since the enemy was going to fight defensively, they would have the advantage of being able to fire first before the GameGo Gamers could even pick targets.


    "Carly! Fire the last full salvo of rockets you have at these points, Stacia, relay targeting data to the GameGo Gamers!"


    Without questioning him, Carly fired her last full salvo of rockets at the two points Gray had picked. The points were in the line of sight between the enemy and the GameGo Gamers. Paul''s shield was starting to take a beating as he finally reached the bottom of the hill, Stacia still had to remain in the open in order to provide targeting data about the enemies so Paul did his best to protect her mech. Gray, Geoff, and Yurika took cover behind whatever they could find. Occasionally Caleb and Xyra would get a lucky shot at one of the joints on the enemy mechs and they were able to halt the movement of 3 mechs, but they were still facing towards the GameGo Gamer players at least.


    As soon as the rockets hit the ground directly, dirt and dust flew up from the side of the hill blocking line of sight for both the enemy team and the 8 GameGo Gamer players approaching them. Stacia was feeding them targeting data using her scouting mech though so the GameGo Gamer players were still fed a target through Stacia. The GameGo Gamers opened fire first and all 4 on each side were fed data to aim at the torso where the pilot normally was. With 4 mechs each concentrating on the same spot, the standard uncompressed composite armor chipped away and then exposed the cockpit. Since this was a simulation, nobody would die, but taking out an enemy mech by killing the pilot was not done that often as the torso usually had the thickest armor by far.


    The enemy mechs of course weren''t going to just let themselves be taken apart, they returned fire as best they could by trying to aim at the muzzle flashes from the GameGo Gamers. A few of the GameGo Gamers took some hits but only one was disabled after a few lucky shots managed to puncture the armor in the torso and hit the main engine.


    Seeing their allies get shot up, the enemy mechs in the front hastened their descent seeing that most of the damage dealers from the Steel Wolves and GameGo Gamers were coming from behind them. The amount of firepower directed at Paul and Stacia increased dramatically since they were out in the open still. Paul''s shield was barely holding up as he was muttering to himself "Hold together a little more baby" and Stacia was unable to move due to her legs being hit a few times


    The dirt and dust had settled from the rockets and Stacia no longer needed to feed the GameGo Gamers data so Stacia and Paul started to retreat to cover, but due to the heavy firepower pouring in on them, they were virtually stuck. Paul seemed to have come to a decision and he backed his mech up to get it as close to Stacia''s mech as possible then planted his feet firmly and propped the remains of his shield up in the ground and used his shoulder to hold the shield tall and use both his mech''s body and shield to protect Stacia as long as possible.


    "Paul! Don''t! I''m already done for!"


    "It is a knight''s duty to protect the lady!"


    Paul''s mech was built to take a beating and a beating it took. The shield was eventually blasted completely apart and all 4 limbs were disabled causing Paul''s mech to just slouch over the remains of his shield without moving.


    Stacia felt mortified seeing this since she still had her torso mobility and could at least return fire. Gray, Yurika, and Geoff were firing at the enemy mechs as best they could, but with only 3 mechs firing at 8, they could only disable one and damage another initially.


    Paul''s mech was now just a hunk of metal, but at least his cockpit was intact so the system would declare it as a destroyed mech instead of a dead pilot and mech, still, even the enemy was a little touched when they saw Stacia pull the torso of her mech upright using the remains of Paul''s mech, then cover the remains with her mech while trying her best to fire her assault rifle one-handed, almost all of the shots going wide.


    Gray knew this simulation was just a game, but seeing his friends get destroyed hit him much harder than it used to since this was the first time one of them had been destroyed after finding out the truth.


    Gray couldn''t help but think "Am I even cut out for this?"

 Chapter 79 - Seeking Advice

    While Gray was feeling down and wondering if he was even cut out anymore to lead, the GameGo Gamers were very angry seeing Paul protecting Stacia, then both Stacia and Paul eventually getting gunned down in their mechs. Gun down a female on their team?


    The 7 males from GameGo Gamers suddenly turned into a bunch of badasses and were thoroughly disassembling the enemies with each shot while shrugging off most shots that were fired back at them. Whether it actually happened or was just caused by the change in attitude, the enemy mechs swore they saw 7 of the 8 GameGo Gamers mech''s eyes turn red. This was the power of nerd rage! Now if it translated into actual power or not is yet to be seen, but needless to say the 7 males from GameGo Gamers turned into a bunch of commandos and started chewing into the enemies firing at Gray, Yurika, and Geoff after destroying the 8 enemy mechs in the rear.


    The GameGo Gamers ended up performing extremely well, Carly was normally the one doing the most damage at close range due to the Armadillo Mk 01''s superb melee attacks, but their side only lost 4 out of 16 mechs when GameGo Gamers normally would have a much higher death rate even when they won due to their reckless tactics.


    While the initial setup and execution were attributed to Gray, everyone felt he seemed very off in the later part of the match as he stopped issuing orders. Granted, to some extent orders were no longer necessary, but they probably could''ve prevented two of those deaths had Gray instructed the damaged ones to fall back and take turns shielding each other or given the snipers specific targets. Either way, everyone on the Steel Wolves felt something was wrong with Gray. The GameGo Gamers were fortunately still impressed with Gray as most leaders in games would just give orders at first then jump into the carnage with the other players as they were there to have fun just like them.


    "Good job Gray! Hit us up if you want to team up again! We''re at a base somewhere near what was Germany in game, but they haven''t let us leave yet in game so I don''t know exactly where. I heard Diamond-tiers are an exception though so come see us sometime!" Carly said enthusiastically as she gave Gray''s avatar a smack on the back in the postgame lobby.


    Gray gave her a weak smile and nodded, both teams exchanged goodbyes, Geoff even managed to add Beth to his friend''s list which made the males from GameGo Gamers get protective like a bunch of older brothers protecting their sister.


    Gray didn''t get a look at Beth in the postgame lobby nor was he really paying attention and just said goodbye to Spoon and then left the lobby with the rest of the Steel Wolves.


    Gray asked everyone for a break even though they had only been at it for a little over an hour. Looking at Gray with doubtful eyes, nobody was sure what had happened in Gray''s mind.


    Stacia opened up and asked Gray "What happened?"


    "¡­" Gray ended up saying nothing, it''s not that he was refusing to talk, it was more that he didn''t know exactly how to express it.


    Feeling the mood, Geoff decided to say in a very energetic tone "Well! I had fun with that last one! Let''s take a break and get a snack or something and meet up in a bit!"


    Paul and Caleb went off towards the cafeteria, Stacia put a hand on Gray''s shoulder and whispered to him "Remember, you''re not alone." She then squeezed his shoulder and went off to follow Paul and Caleb with Xyra in tow behind her.


    Yurika glared at Geoff who immediately got the hint and also went away with the 4 others, then she glared at Gray, grabbed his arm and said "Come with me!"


    Gray wasn''t in the mood to argue so he ended up being dragged along with her and she took him to a spot between two buildings out of sight from others and the pushed his back against the wall.


    "Are you a man Gray?!?"


    "Uhm, yeah, of course I am!"


    Yurika kneed him in the family jewels causing Gray to almost fall over and said "I see you still have them, don''t you dare sulk like this ever again or I''m going to take them away from you! I like you better when you''re confident."


    Gray was holding his legs up against himself while squatting on the ground, barely making out what Yurika was saying from the pain coming from his manhood. "@#$% that hurt Yurika! Warn me next time!"


    "Why? You didn''t seem like you had any so I thought it wouldn''t hurt at all."


    Gray could only laugh at this point as he thought to himself "If I get this way in a simulation, what will happen in the real thing?"


    Yurika said with a gentler tone "Stacia was right, you are not alone, you can rely on us¡­ you can rely on me¡­"


    Gray hugged Yurika unconsciously then quickly released her realizing what he done. Seeing Gray acting shy made Yurika smile so she said teasingly "Come on, now that you understand, let''s take care of that pain you have" followed by a wink.


    Gray''s mind wondered what she meant by that and his mind wandered into a very adult place, strangely enough Yurika took him to the cafeteria with the others, walked to the front counter, spoke to the cook, and came back with a bag of frozen peas which she tossed at Gray.


    "Here, use this to cool them off, you might need them later!"


    Gray felt his hopes rise only to be crushed by Yurika, again¡­ "This woman is a she devil!" Gray thought to himself. Still, she had a point earlier so Gray felt obligated to address everyone.


    "Guys, I''m sorry about earlier. It suddenly hit me that if any one of you dies in a real mission, you won''t get to respawn. I honestly got scared thinking about how I could lose any one of you. I''m not saying I can just shrug it off so I hope we can do some capture the flag for now until I wrap my head around this."


    Caleb was the first to speak up and said "I''m sure none of us are ready for that sort of thing, but remember, as our commander, we count on your orders."


    Geoff spoke next and said "Earlier I know I said I wanted to be the leader, but in matters of life and death I''ve realized I am not cut out for leading at all. I know it is selfish, but please continue to lead us since I can''t handle that sort of responsibility."


    "¡­It''s ok to fear death¡­ If you fear failure you will fail¡­" Xyra said in her usual soft voice that was barely audible.


    Gray slumped down on the bench and smacked his forehead a few times against the table causing everyone else to look at him in alarm.


    "What the hell are you doing Gray?!" Yurika shouted.


    "Stop it you idiot!" Caleb even yelled for once.


    Gray thumped his head one more time then sat up and said "I am sorry everyone, I was just trying to knock some sense into myself!"


    Everyone looked at Gray curiously and Stacia finally asked "Did it work?"


    "Ahhh¡­ nope! I never had any sense to begin with!" Gray said while laughing slightly.


    "Yep, that sounds more like you Gray!" Geoff said while nodding his head and everyone else nodded in agreement.


    "Screw you guys! Can''t I just wallow in misery once in a while?" Gray complained.


    "Nope! You can cry yourself to sleep at night all you want, but while you''re out with us you better man up!" Yurika declared.


    Gray looked at Yurika and said "Fair enough¡­ can I borrow a shoulder to cry on then at night?"


    "Of course, anytime you want!" Yurika said happily, then she grabbed Caleb and threw him at Gray and said "We even have a volunteer shoulder!"


    Caleb was a bit confused and just said "I don''t sleep with other men¡­ I respect you Gray and like you, but that is the extent of it."


    Gray wanted to cry right now thinking Caleb, as well as a few people walking by, were misinterpreting Gray''s orientation again. Still, Gray was happy that he had good friends that were not so nice as to let him just wallow in self-doubt.


    "I have to do more for them, not just give orders, but actually lead them. I wonder who I can talk to about it." Gray thought to himself as he started picturing the same man that introduced them this world. "Yes! I have a feeling Major Valen could point me in the right direction!"


    Gray stood up from the table and said "Let''s just relax and play some Capture the Flag, then later I need to go find Major Valen."


    Everyone else nodded and got up with Gray to head back over to the simulator pods.

 Chapter 80 - Isll Make A Man Out Of You!

    Back in the Hegemony, the military base that Princess Bang-gwi was stationed at was officially known as Dresden Base since it was located near Dresden in what was formerly Germany. Unofficially, this base became known as "The Meat Grinder" since all fresh recruits were first sent here before being distributed to other bases. The oldest soldier at the base was merely 25 while the youngest was 16. The Hegemony believed that 18 was old enough to voluntarily serve, but with your parent''s or guardian''s consent you could join at 16.


    Military life was harsh and almost all of regular soldiers were commoners with most of the officers being nobility. The Hegemony may be a feudal government, but they were also not so dumb to admit that only nobility could lead others so occasionally commoners did become officers. The Marquis was actually the highest ranked commoner in the entire Hegemony Military, but very few knew how he earned this position. Regardless, due to the jealousy of nobles, Marquis Mehhnk would forever be relegated to this base and training rookies. This actually worked for him since he could relate to commoners more than nobles.


    Princess Bang-gwi was very popular with most of the new recruits as they were younger and felt they could relate to her, of course a lot of them were merely interested in getting to know her just because of the possible fringe benefits of being friends with the Princess. At meal times, the Princess found herself surrounded by other young soldiers and pilots. Xi¨£ng Pigu had become her best friend at the base so a seat was always reserved for her.


    The Princess was looking around for someone and finally saw whom she was looking for among the people around her. "Hey! Vinnie! Sit here!"


    Vincent was honestly hard to miss as he was taller than the average person by a head. He walked over towards the Princess and sat down across from her in the seat that was opened up for him. "Princess, please call me Vincent, Vinnie sounds childish to me."


    "Alright, then call me ''Ban''" the Princess said with a smile.


    Vincent blushed a little, thought about it then said "Ok¡­ B¡­ Ba¡­ Princess Ban." Unable to still call her Ban, he settled on Princess Ban.


    "Closer¡­ take your time Vinnie!"


    Chuhan Jwi walked over carrying two lunch trays and placed one in front of the Princess while sitting down next to the Princess on the other side from Xi¨£ng Pigu. "Princess, here is your dinner."


    "Jwi! You don''t need to do that! I can get it myself!" the Princess said with an annoyed expression.


    "I am aware of that Princess, but I was already getting mine so I figured I might as well get yours. Unsweetened tea, pinch of salt on your meat, meat cooked medium rare, and the bread not toasted of course."


    Xi¨£ng Pigu was amazed that Chuhan Jwi knew exactly how the Princess liked her food and said "Wow, your bodyguard knows you very well Ban!"


    "She''s been with me since I was an infant, she is much more than a bodyguard to me. She is irreplaceable!" Princess Bang-gwi said affectionately while leaning her head on Chuhan Jwi''s shoulder.


    Chuhan Jwi smiled warmly and gave the Princess a gentle squeeze and said "Yes, we are more like family to each other, she is like a sister to me."


    The Princess nodded her head in agreement and said "Yes! An older sister, a much older sister!"


    Princess Bang-gwi missed Chuhan Jwi''s eyebrow twitch at that last part when she heard her say "What was that last part, Princess?"


    "I said a mu_" The Princess gagged and wasn''t able to complete that sentence as Chuhan Jwi shoved the entire slice of bread into her mouth while saying "Yes, just like a sister indeed!"


    __________


    After several rounds of Capture the Flag, Gray was able to distract himself from his negative thoughts of earlier. Capture the Flag didn''t reward as much as a standard team fight, but mechs wouldn''t be destroyed or damaged, just disabled by the simulation once a certain amount of damage was taken. Gray really preferred these types of objective games over the standard death matches, but they were less popular in some games since they required teamwork over individual skill.


    Even though the individual skill of the Steel Wolves wasn''t as impressive as others, their teamwork and cooperation was significantly better than average, even approaching the levels demonstrated by the military despite the lack of intense training. Using their teamwork, they were able to win 8 out of their 10 matches before it became dark.


    After the 10th match, Gray addressed his team and said "Guys, I need to go talk to Major Valen again, let''s meet up later for dinner, no pajama party tonight."


    "Alright, you do what you gotta do" Geoff said sympathetically.


    Gray headed over to Major Valen''s office again and found him behind his desk. Gray couldn''t help but think he was the main character of some novel or something since Major Valen was conveniently where he needed him.


    Gray knocked on the frame of the open door and waited for Major Valen to respond.


    Looking up from his work, Major Valen said "Private¡­ no¡­ Corporal Wilhelm, congratulations on the promotion! What can I help you with this fine evening?"


    Major Valen seemed to be in a very good mood, Gray was very tempted to ask about it, but he didn''t feel it was appropriate to pry. "Sir, thank you, I wanted to see if you had time to talk about something that really bothered me, sir."


    "I got some time before dinner if you can keep it fairly quick, I have plans tonight."


    Gray thought maybe these plans were why he was in such a good mood and noticed that Major Valen didn''t have a wedding ring or even tan line of having worn one so it could be a date. Gray wasn''t a gossiper though so he just left it as it was. Gray poked his head out of Major Valen''s office to make sure nobody was coming and said "Given the secret you told us this past weekend, I thought I could handle it¡­ You know¡­ killing¡­ death¡­ all of it."


    "Boy, you must have a screw loose, if you weren''t affected by that I would question your mental health, how everyone handles it is different."


    "Heh, I get that, but I mean, it just hit me how I feel like they''ll blame me for every death after I two teammates get gunned down in the simulation." Gray scratched his head as he wasn''t exactly sure if he was getting his meaning across.


    "I know you''re looking for some sage advice, some words of wisdom from Big Daddy Valen here, but listen up, people are going to die, I''m not going to say some sentimental crap like ''Never forget any one soldier!'' because that''s a lot of names if you''re in a large enough unit. Instead, never forget the ones important to you and honor the rest through your actions."


    Major Valen opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a box and placed it on his desk. He opened it up and Gray saw dozens of dog tags in it. Major Valen then said "This is the tag of every soldier that has ever died under my command. I can''t remember all of their names, but I make damn sure to personally write their next of a kin a letter of grievance instead of letting the military do the standard manufactured letter, for the important ones I visit personally. How you honor them and who is important to you is up to you."


    "That¡­ that''s surprisingly realistic¡­ but I don''t think I can order anyone to do something that might lead to their death."


    "Don''t forget that feeling then, once you do you can needlessly order troops to their deaths and start to look at it as a statistic instead of a tragedy."


    "Ok, but how do I deal with that feeling?" Gray said anxiously as he was finally getting to the root of the problem.


    "MAN UP WIMP! Your allies trust is earned and if you doubt yourself, they will doubt you as well!"


    Gray remembered the dejected looks of his teammates after the 16 versus 16 match with GameGo Gamers and now realized that it wasn''t due to his poor performance, but his unconfident leadership. "I think I get it, sir."


    "You''re smart, you''ll figure it out, but because you''re smart you also think too much. You''re going to give wrong orders so stop worrying about failing, take responsibility for your mistakes like a real man. Now get outta here, I need to get back to my personal quarters!"


    "Sir, thank you, I''ll become as big a man as you, sir!"


    "BAHAHAHAHA! You? As big a man as me? Son you''ve got a long way to go, I admire the enthusiasm boy! Get your ass outta here though, I need to get ready!"


    Gray saluted Major Valen and left his office to go see what the rest of his team was doing before dinner.

 Chapter 81 - Art of Teasing

    Everyone around Princess Bang-Gwi were trying to stifle their laughter after Chuhan Jwi shoved that bread in her mouth. The Princess eventually swallowed the bread and looked at Chuhan Jwi like she was innocent and didn''t say anything wrong.


    *coughs* "What was that for Jwi!" The Princess exclaimed.


    "I did nothing wrong at all, you just looked hungry after talking too much." Chuhan Jwi said with a sweet smile on her face.


    Princess Bang-gwi stuck her tongue out at Chuhan Jwi in defiance. The excitement of having the Princess around finally settled down so the people standing around found their own seats in the mess hall. The few other soldiers that were able to sit near the Princess were interested in getting to know her better after seeing how much effort she put into training and wasn''t all talk.


    Vincent felt a little awkward as he was the only male that had a seat close to the Princess since the female soldiers bullied the male soldiers for the seats near the Princess. The Princess wasn''t completely oblivious to this though and felt a little bad for him.


    "Hey! Vinnie! Don''t you have any friends that you normally sit with?"


    Vinnie didn''t answer at first as he wasn''t sure the Princess was talking to him since he wasn''t used to being called Vinnie. "¡­ What? Oh, well, yes of course." Vincent motioned towards a table with 3 soldiers at it and an empty seat.


    "We came from the same town in what was once Eastern Europe, can''t remember what country it used to be though." Vincent said with a downcast expression.


    "What happened that you can''t even tell which country your town was formerly part of?" The Princess asked curiously.


    Chuhan Jwi actually spoke up first and said "Obviously you didn''t pay attention during History lessons¡­"


    Vincent looked at Chuhan Jwi and added "Probably not, but¡­" Vincent wanted to continue but he knew it was better to not bring it up as it was a difficult subject to explain.


    Still, the Princess looked at him with pleading eyes, asking him to explain what she is missing. "I''ll tell you about it later, plus I''m sure you want to meet my friends and comrades."


    The Princess flashed him a big smile "Yay! Thanks Vinnie!"


    Vicent scratched his head in embarassment and added "I don''t like it when you call me Vinnie."


    The Princess childishly stuck her tongue out at him and said "And I don''t like it when you call me Princess."


    Xi¨£ng Pigu was smiling with both of them while watching their exchange, a few of the people around them all started giggling after seeing the Princess act childishly.


    Chuhan Jwi was very happy for the Princess, even though it was at a military base, this was the first time she felt that the Princess had made friends that didn''t base their friendship on her status as the Princess. Still, she would always be vigilant because if anyone was out to harm the Princess, they would indeed be very patient.


    The Princess saw Vincent take a drink and suddenly asked "So Vinnie, what''s your favorite type of girl?"


    Vincent immediately choked on what he was drinking and almost spit it up causing everyone around them to laugh. "Princess, don''t ask that so suddenly! I am not in to girls."


    The Princess''s, Xi¨£ng Pigu''s, Chuhan Jwi''s, and every other female''s eyes opened wide as they started picturing the various boys love scenes in their heads.


    Vincent quickly started waving his hands while saying "Not like that! I mean I don''t have time for girls so I haven''t really considered it... but if I had to I''d say I prefer mature women, ummm... what about you Princess?"


    "Me? I like girls that are fun and easy to get along with!" the Princess said honestly.


    The few guys in the area that heard this and even a few of the girls started to picture the Princess with another girl.


    "You know what I mean, Princess." Vincent stated blankly not falling for her teasing this time.


    Seeing her attempt to bother Vincent fail, the Princess didn''t give up and instead snuggled up to Xi¨£ng Pigu and said "Why do you think I picked Pi first, she is my type."


    Xi¨£ng Pigu started to get very flustered and her face turned red as she started to stammer "W-W-Wait Princess! I''m honored! W-W-We can''t! I mean! I am not ready!"


    Seeing Xi¨£ng Pigu ready to melt, both Vincent and the Princess laughed out loud.


    __________


    After dinner, Vincent was walking by himself towards his room after walking with the Princess and Xi¨£ng Pigu back to their rooms. Chuhan Jwi was standing next to the door to his room and nodded slightly when Vincent saluted her.


    "Good evening Lady Chuhan, to what do I owe the honor?" Vincent said respectfully.


    Chuhan Jwi was nobility so addressing her as Lady Chuhan would be considered appropriate, but it still felt odd to her coming from this boy that was almost a man. She didn''t mind it though as Vincent''s personality was very straight-forward and he would be most comfortable addressing someone properly.


    "Vincent, I was wondering if you had a moment to talk."


    "Of course milady!" Vincent hurriedly opened the door to his quarters and welcome Chuhan Jwi inside. Unsurprisingly Vincent''s room was very sparse and not decorated except for a single picture of what was probably his family. While it was sparse, the attention to cleanliness was apparent from the well folded sheets on the bed, the floor without a single footprint, and a sink without a speck of dirt or soap scum on it.


    Vincent realized though that the average military dorms were not meant to entertain guests since the space was extremely limited and lacked any furniture except for a desk, a chair, and a twin bed. The bathroom was merely a tiny closet with a sink and toilet, showers were communal for the vast majority. The nobility had slightly larger rooms and private full bathrooms so they didn''t have to share, the Princess, of course, had the largest room on the entire base, consuming enough space as 5 or 6 regular dorms.


    Chuhan Jwi didn''t seem too bothered by the cramped space fortunately and just sat down on Vincent''s bed after she saw how hard the desk chair was to sit on. She was actually slightly amused at Vincent''s pained expression when she considered it could be from either her messing up his bed or the fact that she was the first woman on his bed.


    "I''ll be quick about this then, Vincent, I''m sure you are uncomfortable with my presence here and we don''t want anyone to get any wrong ideas about us since a beautiful woman visiting a man''s room usually leads to something else." Chuhan Jwi said with a teasing smile.


    "Nonsense milady, you are too ol..." Vincent was about to say she was too old for him, but he felt the room get colder suddenly and then he remembered that she seemed to be very touchy about her age after seeing what she did to the Princess when the Princess teased her about it.


    Vincent quickly cleared his throat trying to make it sound like he stumbled the word he meant to say and then continued "too beautiful for someone as lowly as me and I''m sure nobody would come to that conclusion!"


    "Good boy" Chuhan Jwi patted his cheek and added "That aside, I appreciate your change of heart about the Princess, she really is a good girl... she doesn''t need to know everything about the past either. I would recommend, for both of yours sake, that you choose your words wisely when you talk about what happened 71 years ago during the conquest of Eastern Europe."


    Vincent stared at Chuhan Jwi for a moment and then finally said "I honestly respect the Princess, and you do not need to worry, I had no intentions of revealing the nature of her great Grandmother, I am sure this is what you were referring to?"


    "Indeed, I am glad to see you are wise for your age Vincent. You''ll make a fine man some day!"


    Vincent blushed at this and said "Milady, I already consider myself a man."


    "Oh? So you think you are already a man then huh?" Chuhan Jwi said teasingly, then she leaned back on his bed in a very seductive pose while unzipping her jumpsuit slightly.


    Vincent''s face turned bright red and he suddenly shouted "Yes milady! I forgot that I am meeting up with my friend''s now milady!" and then he bolted out the door leaving Chuhan Jwi on his bed still.


    "Still just a boy" Chuhan Jwi thought to herself as she laughed softly, zipped her jumpsuit all the way back up and returned to the Princess''s room.

 Chapter 82 - Following the Mixer

    Gray went and had dinner with everyone else after talking with Major Valen. Gray went to see what everyone else was doing and found everyone but Geoff lounging around the mess hall.


    "Geoff doing something?" Gray asked when the group noticed him returning.


    "Yeah! That traitor! He didn''t even eat any food then said he something to do and left us!" Yurika complained


    "How does that make him a traitor?" Gray asked slightly confused.


    "We have deduced that it is a female that he is leaving for as Geoff only gets this excited for women." Caleb said analytically, then added "Plus we heard the voice of a girl on the other end of the call."


    "Hmmm, maybe it was Beth?" Gray thought and then considered messaging Spoon or Carly to ask if they knew, but Gray decided not to as everyone is allowed their own private life.


    "Hey, want to follow him and see where he''s going?!?" Yurika said excitedly


    "Not really, let him be if he''s going on a date or something."


    "What if he is going to get lucky before you, Paul, or Caleb?" Yurika said with a devious expression on her face.


    "I am quite satisfied with my love life" Caleb said proudly


    "True, you probably created your own AI girlfriend..." Gray said jokingly


    "What''s wrong with that?"


    "Well, nothing I guess if that is what you are in to... If you remember what we learned earlier from Major Valen, Dr. Sara Watts is now an AI so I guess that makes her a human without a physical body." Gray thought of something odd regarding AI and then asked. "Do you suppose Dr. Sara Watts is the only human turned AI?"


    "Honestly I doubt it given that even I do not like the idea of giving up my physical body for a more incorporeal form. Would I still be able to learn and grow outside of my set parameters? AI can learn, but they can not grow as far as I am aware. I can teach an AI to sing, it can then learn more songs on its own and adjust its style to match each song, but it can''t become a better singer than what I programmed it to be. The issue we have is we just don''t know enough about it." Caleb said while shaking his head


    "Us as in humans or us as in just us?"


    "A bit of both, but in this case it is more just us. Dr. Sara Watts pioneered artificial neural networks for consciousness transferring which is the foundation for true artificial intelligence. Honestly, the best thing to do would be if we could ask Dr. Sara Watts ourselves."


    Suddenly a thought seemed to dawn on Stacia and she whispered to Yurika next to her, both of them started giggling and finally Yurika pointed at Caleb and announced "We finally found something you admit not knowing about!"


    Caleb rolled his eyes and then thought for a moment. "Ahem, I had said ''we just don''t know enough about it'' and not ''we just don''t know anything about it'', therefore that implies that I do know at least something about it, just not enough to be able to answer your question."


    "Sounds like a cop out" Gray said


    "Total cop out..." Paul agreed


    "We totally found something!" Stacia said excitedly.


    Caleb looked at Gray, Stacia, and Yurika smiling back at him with an expression of victory on their faces and finally admitted "...Fine, we''ll go with it being something I don''t have knowledge of. I''ll send you 3 the reward I had already predetermined in the event you happened to find something."*


    "Oh! Tell me! Tell me! What is it?" Yurika said excitedly.


    "You''ll get it later tonight, I can''t send it from here."


    "Fine with us, right?" Yurika said all smiles and nodding to both Gray and Stacia. "On that note... let''s go see what Geoff has planned!"


    "Just leave him be!" Gray said again.


    "We will! We just want to make sure he is safe, what if he''s meeting a spy or assassin?!?"


    Gray had to wonder about Yurika''s upbringing sometimes, but he did admit her randomness was fun. "Fine... we''ll just keep an eye on him to keep him safe, but not all of us can go..."


    "I have no interest in this, I have some research to do now it seems." Caleb said


    "... I want to get to bed early..." Xyra said in her usual very hard to hear soft voice


    "I''m actually more interested in going to see some old friends tonight so I''ll leave you guys to it." Paul said then walked off towards his quarters.


    "So 3 of us, huh? I think we can pull it off."


    Everyone got up and left the mess hall to head back to the dorms. Caleb, Paul, and Xyra returned to their own rooms, but Gray, Yurika, and Stacia went over to Geoff''s room.


    Gray knocked on the door and heard Geoff say "Just a second!" from behind it. Geoff opened the door momentarily after saying "Gray! Bro! Sorry for missing you at dinner, but I have other plans tonight that I needed to miss out on it!"


    "That''s fine, it''s not like I control your life, you''re free to do whatever you want outside of the team."


    "I know, but I just feel bad because I didn''t include you in on my plans for tonight."


    "What are your plans?"


    "That''s... ummm... don''t tell anyone else, but I''m going to a mixer arranged by Beth, it seems she was short one guy and I agreed to go with since I figured it would be easier to get to know her this way."


    "You just met her and she already invited you to a mixer?"


    "Well, she said the other 2 girls with her wouldn''t be interested in me so we could consider it as a group date of sorts if I wanted to. As for the other 2 guys, she said they would be at Bar Jamiro in New Venice at 9pm."


    Gray checked the time and saw it was 7:15 pm, "It takes about an hour to get there due to the bad roads remember, hope you have fun then, let me know how it goes!"


    "I will dude! Wish me luck, I need to finish getting ready though and rent a truck again!"


    Geoff closed the door and Gray turned to Stacia and Yurika. Judging from the way Stacia and Yurika''s eyes were shining, Gray knew he could not talk them out of spying on Geoff anymore.


    Gray sighed and said "Let''s get a truck as well and beat him there!"


    Gray, Yurika and Stacia hurriedly left the dorms to rent a truck and go visit Bar Jamiro in New Venice.


    The attendant at the depot rented Gray a truck after taking 20 merits from him. Gray heard him mutter "That''s the third truck tonight..." and was curious about the other 2. Gray assumed one of them was for Geoff, but he couldn''t think of who the 3rd one would be, but Gray didn''t think too hard on it as Gray was sure other players or soldiers would want to explore on their own.


    Unfortunately for Gray, the only truck left was a standard cab pickup so it was a tight fit for Gray, Stacia, and Yurika to drive it up to New Venice. Since it was a manual transmission, only Gray and Yurika could drive it so Gray insisted on driving for them since he already knew the way and the thought of Yurika driving scared him honestly.


    Yurika insisted on sitting in the middle between Stacia and Gray even though it wasn''t very comfortable. With the 6 speed manual shifter on the floor, Gray would bump Yurika with it whenever he shifted into an even numbered gear. Yurika thought it was hilarious that she would do a fake moan whenever Gray hit her with the shifter and sometimes encourage Gray to shift harder or faster. Eventually both Gray and Stacia became numb to this so they tuned out the perv and chatted between themselves as if nothing was going on. Unfortunately this annoyed Yurika so after Gray and Stacia started ignoring her she resorted to fiddling with the radio.


    After what felt like a very long and arduous drive, Gray, Stacia and Yurika arrived at the gate to New Venice. The same guard as last time recognized Gray and said "Welcome back! Where are you headed too tonight?"


    "Bar Jamiro, if you can point us in the right direction." Gray replied.


    "Yeah? That''s a nice little bar, just follow this road East, it''ll be the 2nd or 3rd block on your left."


    "Thanks!"


    Gray was about to drive off when the guard added "Just don''t devour the food supply like you and your friend did last time!"


    "..." Gray didn''t say anything as Yurika and Stacia both stared at him and then had to ask the guard about it.


    "Gray! What did he mean by that?" Stacia said with genuine concern


    "It was nothing... Geoff and I just came here before and ate a lot of food, that''s all."


    The guard overheard this and said "Calling it ''a lot'' of food is an understatement, they ordered more food in one sitting than what would normally feed two teams of football players!"


    Gray drove away shamefully while the guard was still laughing. "At the time we still thought it was a game and wanted to see how much we could eat..." Gray was going to go with this story and stick to it.


    Yurika and Stacia looked at each other, thought about it, then Yurika said "I guess I can see that, the fun part about games is seeing how far you can take certain things sometimes, like how high can you fly, or how fast can you drive... although eating seems a little weird, I can kind of understand it."


    Gray was glad Yurika was an avid gamer so she would understand the logic more than Stacia.


    Relieved that Yurika and Stacia didn''t question it more, they finally arrived at Bar Jamiro. Checking the time, Gray saw it was 8:30 so they made good time. Gray went in to the bar first and didn''t see Geoff or Beth so he figured none of them arrived early. Gray brought Yurika and Stacia in and they found a small table in a dimly lit corner where they could survey the rest of the bar without drawing attention to themselves.


    10 minutes to 9, Beth arrived with 2 other girls that Gray couldn''t recognize due to the poor lighting, but they both felt familiar. Geoff arrived shortly after them and sat across from Beth at the table the girls had picked. A second guy arrived, hesitated when he saw Geoff and Geoff''s eyes showed an expression of surprise when he saw who the second guy was.


    Gray couldn''t see who the second guy was and only noticed that Geoff stiffened up, then Gray heard the second man speak and he immediately recognized the voice as well as Stacia and Yurika also recognizing it.


    Gray, Stacia, and Yurika all looked at each other wide-eyed and had to hold their mouths shut to stop from blurting out. All 3 of them couldn''t help but scream in their minds "HOLY @#$& ITS HIM!"

 Chapter 83 - Crashing the Mixer

    MAJOR VALEN?!?


    Gray, Yurika, and Stacia were still reeling from the shock as all 3 of them could hardly believe what they were seeing.


    Gray thought about it rationally for a second though and whispered "How old is Major Valen anyways? And what is his first name anyways?"


    All 3 of them were drawing a blank as Major Valen never addressed them with his first name nor did he ever reveal his age. Given his looks, it was assumed Major Valen was at the very least 40 Gray assumed. Due to the three girls not panicking, it is safe to assume that none of them have met Major Valen before and that Geoff''s surprise was caused by him not knowing that Major Valen would be coming.


    The dim lighting and other patrons were preventing Gray from getting a good look at the other 2 girls, but with 3 girls and 2 guys, Gray assumed they were short a guy. Gray, Yurika, and Stacia felt a little bad after they noticed the tense atmosphere of the 5¡­ well, at least Geoff and Major Valen looked tense. Beth looked a little nervous but the other 2 girls looked a little annoyed by Geoff and Major Valen.


    Beth suddenly received a call and whatever she was hearing was making her look a little dejected as she hung up the call and then whispered to the two girls next to her, they then started to get up as if they were about to leave.


    Gray looked at Stacia and Yurika and said "I do this for the team!"


    Before Stacia and Yurika could figure out what Gray meant, he had walked over to the table with Geoff, Major Valen, Beth, and the 2 other girls and said loudly "Sorry I''m late! I wasn''t sure if I was going to make it in time!"


    Gray finally got a good look at the 2 girls that were with Beth and Gray''s jaw would''ve probably hit the table if he hadn''t mentally prepared himself before for a surprise. It was Carly and Verona!


    Beth, Geoff and Major Valen looked at Gray with a look of confusion as they were not expecting to see him at all, Carly and Verona looked very surprised as well but with slightly different expressions. Carly had a surprised expression similar to that of a predator that came across defenseless prey while Verona looked surprised as if seeing an old friend unexpectedly.


    "Gray! You snaggle-toothed monkey! I didn''t know you were coming! I would''ve worn something a little sexier for you!" Carly said happily.


    Gray felt fear momentarily after hearing this, but luckily Verona interrupted Carly and said "Gray, it is good to see you again!"


    "Verona! I''m surprised to see you with Carly and Beth!" Gray said happy to see someone a bit more normal than Carly while sitting down next to Major Valen and across from Verona.


    "We met at Alterra Corporation, they put me in charge of the GameGo buyout so we met at the office a lot and seeing as Beth and Carly are the only 2 girls my age I couldn''t help but make friends with them."


    "Your age? Didn''t you tell me you were" Gray started to say before he felt a foot swiftly kick him in the shin, forcing him to fight back tears as he continued "not interested in dating people our age, which is a fairly young age."


    Everyone had heard the sound of Verona''s foot being kicked out as it had made a sound like it was cutting through the wind before striking Gray''s shin. Geoff and even Major Valen winced slightly picturing how Gray''s shin was probably shattered into a few hundred pieces or so.


    Verona let out slightly haughty laugh as if nothing happened and said "I''m not terribly picky, but age aside I just want to find a man that knows what he wants and is honest with me."


    "That sounds like¡­ not a lot of men¡­" Gray said sheepishly.


    "Indeed, I had been hit on so much at our old job that I was sick of all men."


    Both Carly and Beth nodded their heads in agreement, being two of the few female employees at the former GameGo meant they were hit on a lot, especially Beth. Carly was a little too intimidating for the average person so she wasn''t hit on as much.


    "I never hit on you if I recall¡­"


    Verona smiled and said "I know, you never did, but I was still waiting for it, so I apologize for being a little mean to you at times."


    Gray laughed and said "Don''t worry about it, that place is gone now anyways, right? It''s not like it was real_"


    This time Major Valen kicked Gray and probably shattered his other shin into a thousand pieces. Unlike Verona''s kick, Major Valen''s kick was like a fart¡­ silent but deadly.


    A single tear formed and went down Gray''s cheek.


    Verona looked concerned for a moment and asked Gray "Are you ok?"


    "J-Just remembering some good times at the office." Gray said shakily, he might need help walking back to the truck later.


    Verona looked at Gray curiously as she couldn''t recall any good times Gray had that she was aware of, but she let it go as she really didn''t pay attention much to Gray while they were in the same office.


    Gray then received a private message and saw it was from Stacia so he opened it quietly through his armlet. "I can''t hold her back much longer!"


    Gray glanced back where he left Yurika and Stacia and saw Stacia desperately trying to hold Yurika back and the people around them giving her odd looks as she was genuinely trying to break free from Stacia''s grasp.


    Gray wasn''t sure if this was a good thing or not, but he would rather not experiment right now as he didn''t want to ruin Geoff''s and Major Valen''s night even more.


    Gray turned and was about to address Major Valen when he noticed the latter slightly shaking his head. Gray interpreted this as he shouldn''t reveal that he knew him or maybe that he was Gray and Geoff''s superior, either way, Gray decided to take a neutral route and instead said "Sorry, I didn''t mean to leave you two out of this, I''m familiar with Geoff, but might I ask who you are, sir?"


    "Sir?" The girls all said simultaneously looking at Gray.


    "Uhhh, yeah, sir as in dude, or bro, or something like that. I don''t know him at all so I was trying to be polite." Gray was starting to sweat a little as he was pretty sure Major Valen was clutching a clipboard and would strike when the girls left.


    Major Valen smiled amiably, which neither Gray nor Geoff had ever seen before so it creeped them out a little, and said "No problem, I am Gene, Gene Valen." And Major Valen reached out to shake Gray''s hand.


    Gray tensed his hand waiting for it to be crushed so he squeezed Major Valen''s hand as hard as he could as well. Surprisingly Major Valen didn''t crush Gray''s hand, but also realized that Major Valen didn''t even try.


    "Nice to meet you, Gene, I am Gray."


    "Like wise¡­"


    "Sooo¡­ ummm, I''ve never been to one of these so what do we do exactly?" Gray asked sheepishly.


    "The way I look at there is nothing left to do! Verona, trade seats with me! Gene looks more like your type anyways!" Carly said excitedly.


    "Oh? What is my type Carly?"


    Carly whispered something in Verona''s ears and it caused Verona to blush momentarily, then ask "How do you know about that?"


    "Intuition¡­ plus we talked about it earlier."


    Gray really wanted to know what Carly whispered to Verona, but he was also smart enough to know not to ask.


    Verona shot Gray a glance before shrugging and standing up and trading seats with Carly.


    For the first time ever, Gray saw Major Valen start to sweat a little bit when Verona sat in front of him. He seemed to be very interested in her compared to Carly, which seemed to suit Carly just fine as it was hard for two alpha males to get along in a pack. Gray knew Carly would be considered very cute, especially tonight when she was wearing an outfit that showed off her set of over-sized¡­ platform shoes making her legs appear long and slim with the rest of her already perky appearance. The problem with Carly was her voice and personality. It just felt like a dude trapped in a girl''s body most of the time.


    "Listen Gray¡­ I''ll make this easy for you¡­" Carly reached out and grabbed Gray''s wrist and pulled him close to whisper and said "Come back with me and we_"


    Just as she was about to finish that sentence that was leaving Gray hanging on by a thread, everyone heard a crash followed by feet stomping. Gray received another private message from Stacia saying "I''m sorry I couldn''t hold her back any longer!"


    Gray could make out Yurika''s teal twin tails bobbing up and down slightly and occasionally see her demonic gaze as she made her way towards the table where Gray and the others were at.

 Chapter 84 - Getting Lucky

    Carly caught sight of Yurika approaching and stood up to meet her head on. The two stood and faced each other, sizing each other up in real life now instead of just the simulator. Carly was wearing a cute blue summer dress, her legs exposed and the low cut top showed off her best weapons, her set of giant¡­ platform heels made her over 5 centimeters taller, but she still barely reached Yurika''s chest.


    Yurika on the other hand, was wearing her standard jumpsuit since they had left in a hurry¡­ While she had a nearly perfect figure, which she obviously had used the earlier player creation tools to create, she still looked a little lacking compared to Carly right now. Yurika''s eyes twitched a little when she looked at Carly''s best assets, but knowing it wasn''t good to show weakness, she quickly averted her gaze and met Carly''s eyes.


    "Oh? We meet again! What are you doing here?" Carly said trying to sound nice.


    "Oh! Nothing much! Just here for my husband!" Yurika said trying to sound nice but coming off scornfully.


    "Which husband is that?" Carly said feigning ignorance.


    Gray thought he could see two raging fires colliding, one coming from Yurika, the other from Carly. Major Valen looked down and shook his head, Verona seemed to be enjoying the show, Beth looked on in amazement, and Geoff looked on in envy as he wished girls would fight over him. Stacia was nowhere to be found at the moment so Gray was worried what Yurika did to her.


    Gray started to say "Ummm, Yurika, what happened to Sta_"


    "SILENCE DOG! Your master is talking!" Yurika said momentarily turning her anger towards Gray.


    "Be quiet bug! Women are talking here!" Carly added also turning her anger to Gray a little.


    Both women noticed the other get mad at Gray and felt their tension towards each other drop a lot.


    Yurika cast a sideways glance at Carly and said "Gray''s the worst right? Never honest with his feelings!"


    "Totally! Do you know how many hints I''ve dropped and still nothing?!?" Carly said while smiling back deviously at Yurika.


    "Same here! It''s like he''s waiting for a written invitation!"


    "I actually tried that, still didn''t work!"


    "Really?!? Let''s kick Gray out of this thing then and go find two other REAL men to join then!"


    Gray was glad that they were no longer fighting, but now it turned into an even worse subject for him.


    At this point Yurika pulled up a chair and sat at the end of table between Carly and Gray, they were now taking turns bashing Gray.


    "When Gray feels good, he turns very cocky!" Yurika complained


    "Really? I haven''t seen that yet! He takes FOREVER to make mundane decisions!" Carly lamented


    "Yeah, I mean when he is our leader he has it when it matters usually, but if you ask him what he wants for dinner he''ll ask what you''re in the mood for instead of making his own decision!"


    "Indeed, at work Gray was super nice to everyone, he would end up doing more work than anyone else on his team sometimes because he let others walk all over him." Verona suddenly chimed in.


    "What the heck! Was this a three-sided assault now?!?" Gray wanted to leave now that Verona had even joined in on picking on him.


    "Have you heard the music he listens too? It''s all old stuff!" Carly said while laughing.


    "Yes, it is, he would put headphones on at work, but we could still hear it when walking by his desk, also caught him falling asleep at his desk since he would stay up late about playing games AND brag about it!" Verona added.


    "He also put his jumpsuit on backwards, twice..." A fourth voice sounded, Stacia was now standing behind Yurika and decided to add more fuel to the fire.


    At this point Geoff and Beth were on the verge of tears from holding back their laughter.


    Suddenly Major Valen chimed in and said "I had to hit that clown over the head with a clipboard when he asked about the freaking airspeed of unladen Swallows during our introduction."


    The group went silent as they were not expecting Major Valen to join in, but suddenly all of them burst out laughing even harder while Gray''s spirit seemed to have left his body as he sat there dazedly and just took the verbal abuse.


    Verona looked at Major Valen and gave him a curious glance. "Gene, I thought you said you didn''t know Gray?"


    It was now Gray''s turn to kick Major Valen, but the man had shins that felt like Gray was kicking a steel beam. "I never said I didn''t know him, he said he was unfamiliar with me. Gray here has never seen me out of uniform so it is possible he wouldn''t recognize me."


    Gray was amazed at Major Valen''s composure since he not only managed to dodge Verona''s catch but also redirect it at Gray himself.


    "So then, Gene, how old are you if you don''t mind me asking, you have to be a lot older than us, right?" Geoff had to ask since he really couldn''t tell.


    Major Valen''s eyebrow twitched with annoyance as he said "Age is merely a representation of how others perceive you. No matter how long or short your life, all lives are equal and capable of great things!"


    Geoff stared at Major Valen while slightly annoyed since he dodged the question and also turned it around to make himself sound eloquent. "In other words, you''re really old!"


    Major Valen pulled a clipboard out of somewhere and smashed it over Geoff''s head. "Boy, every year older I am than you is one more year I''ve had to become a better man, don''t be so anxious to compare yourself to me!"


    Nobody felt sorry for Geoff and even Beth whispered to him "You brought that upon yourself!"


    __________


    What started as a mixer turned into a group bashing of Gray but then later turned into a friendly gathering. Gray, Geoff, Stacia, and Yurika were all surprised to see how normal Major Valen could be. His demeanor was still very overbearing, but it wasn''t obnoxious like Carly''s. Surprisingly Verona started to talk to him more after he warmed up to everyone.


    Before anyone knew it, the bar was making a last call for drinks. At this point Carly and Yurika were extremely friendly, or maybe just a little drunk, but they each had an arm around the other''s shoulder.


    Yurika looked at Gray and then said "It looks like Gray doesn''t like to drink either" followed by a cute hiccup.


    Carly nodded in agreement "At least you got... someone to drive... you home..." Carly said slurred before burping softly.


    Beth looked at Carly and said "Hey, I''m perfectly sober!"


    "Yeah, but aren''t you gonna... you know... with him...?" Carly said while eyeing Geoff


    Geoff''s expression perked up excitedly while Beth''s face turned bright red before she yelled "Of course not! I have at least a 3 date minimum!" before she sat back down silently and not daring to look at anyone directly after embarrassing herself by saying that.


    Both Verona and Major Valen had drank a bit, but they seemed to hold it surprisingly well, Verona got up then and said "Well, I should get back to my base and log off for the night... I feel like I''m actually here with you all, we must do this again sometime! Gray, come say Hello if you find yourself back at Alterra Corporation."


    As Verona got up, Major Valen said "I''ll get this, I haven''t had such a good time in ages!" then he pulled out a charge card and handed it to their waiter.


    Verona walked by and brushed Major Valen''s sleeve and said playfully "Kids need their rest, but adults have more fun, right Gene?"


    Major Valen swallowed and said "Of course! With age comes wisdom that allows us to better utilize our time!"


    "You mean your short time left on Earth, right old man?" Gray said mockingly.


    Gray realized he said this on instinct and realized he was about to get a clipboard to his head so he dodged away from Major Valen without even waiting for him to strike.


    Major Valen just smiled at Gray and said "And with age comes patience, the patience to wait for the right time to strike..."


    Verona laughed and then tugged Major Valen''s sleeve "Come on, let''s leave these kids alone! I am not safe for driving so you can take me back to my quarters, right Gene?"


    Gray could not believe what he was seeing! Was Major Valen going to get lucky, and with Verona none the less! Gray felt pain just even considering that possibility.


    Major Valen stumbled accidentally when getting up and left with Verona, leaving the others slightly shocked.


    "Well, good for them!" Carly finally proclaimed.


    "Yes! Let''s consider this mixer a success!" Yurika said


    "We weren''t even invited..." Stacia admitted.


    "The more the merrier, right sister!" Yurika said happily


    "Yes! The more the merrier sister!" Carly said while her and Yurika laughed loudly together.


    Alcohol seemed to bring these two together even closer.


    Yurika noticed Gray staring at both her and Carly while he was making a goofy expression and said perturbed "Hey! Dog face! You''re not thinking you can have both of us are you?"


    Yurika seemed to be an angry drunk Gray lamented. "Ummm, n-no... I was just admiring how close you two have become..."


    "Yeah! Hey! Sister! I don''t think Gray is good enough for either of us and definitely not both of us!" Carly stated.


    Yurika hiccuped loudly and replied "Yessss, we don''t need him." Yurika smiled at Carly directly and started to wobble a little bit. Apparently Yurika was starting to get woozy from the alcohol. She tilted to one side and Carly tried to pull her back and ended up using her ridiculous strength to pull Yurika back to far and against her, Yurika for some reason kissed Carly when she was pulled back up.


    "See?" Yurika hiccuped loudly again "We don''t need men!" Yurika leaned in to kiss Carly again which actually made Carly surprisingly flustered, then Yurika''s head landed on Carly''s shoulder and she passed out drunk.


    "So... let''s call it a night shall we?" Carly said acting timid for the first time that Gray had ever witnessed.


    "I am ok to drive too, I didn''t drink." Geoff proclaimed.


    "Can you take me back with you then?" Stacia asked, realizing her mistake by asking that in front of Beth she said added hurriedly "We''re stationed at the same base and on the same team! That''s all there is!"


    "Oh, I know, Geoff mentions you guys all of the time, I''m just worried about him taking advantage of you after you had a few drinks."


    "I''ll be fine" Stacia pulled a small bottle of mace from her pocket and then put it back after showing it to Beth and Geoff.


    "You make it sound like you''re expecting that I''ll attack her!" Geoff said slightly depressed.


    "We''re just teasing you!" Beth smiled then kissed Geoff on the cheek. "Come on Carly, let''s go back and log off for the night!"


    "Coming! Gray! Take care of my sister there!" Carly stood up and picked up the sleeping Yurika easily and passed her to Gray.


    "Aren''t you worried I''m going to do something to her while she''s passed out?" Gray said questioningly.


    "Of course not... you may be indecisive, stubborn, and a dork, but you are also very trustworthy and one of the nicest guys I''ve ever met." Carly pulled a chair up next to him, stood on it, then kissed Gray''s cheek. "Plus if you did I''d destroy whatever remains were left after she is through with you."


    Gray thought to himself "I am lucky to have such nice friends"

 Chapter 85 - Home

    Gray walked out of the bar carrying Yurika and placed her in passenger seat of the pickup truck. A voice sounded out from the door to the bar as a waiter was looking for Gray.


    "Sir! Your friend, he left his card!"


    Thinking back, Gray remembered that Major Valen had paid for their drinks. Gray nodded, glanced at the card and said "I''ll return it to him then, we live in the same area"


    The waiter handed Gray the card and Gray slipped it into his pocket, then got into his truck.


    Yurika was still sound asleep, at this time she was sprawled across the entire bench seat of the truck forcing Gray to have to move her out of the way. When Gray tried to sit her up, she punched him in the face, but she was still asleep.


    "What the heck is wrong with this woman!" Gray thought to himself. Not wanting to try and sit her up anymore, Gray just pushed her over as much as he could to get in the truck.


    Gray looked at the time and saw it was 2:30 am. "Hmm, should we just crash here or head back to the base?" Gray said thinking out loud.


    At this point Yurika was trying to spread out in her drunken sleep over the bench seat and started headbutting Gray''s thigh. "Seriously?!?" Gray exclaimed.


    "Uggg, let''s just get back to base!" Gray lamented the thought of driving over an hour in the pitch black when the road was barely usable but figured it would be best as he didn''t want to spend the night at the military base in the city again.


    Gray made it to the main gate that lead out of the city and was stopped by the guards.


    "Where you heading too sir?" the guard asked Gray politely.


    "We''re heading back to the military base south of the city." Gray said as he thumbed over at Yurika''s passed out form.


    "You didn''t drug her, right?"


    "Of course not... I was the designated driver tonight."


    "Ah, makes sense, okay, have a safe trip back then!"


    Gray waved to the guard after the guard returned to his shack and opened the gate to let them leave.


    When Yurika was sleeping peacefully Gray couldn''t help but admire how pretty she was even without trying to be. When she wasn''t being so peaceful, Gray would suffer the consequences as she would usually disrupt his driving.


    One time Gray thought she was whispering something so he leaned in close to hear her and she ended up biting his ear. Yurika ended up snuggling up and resting her head on Gray''s lap, much to Gray''s enjoyment, at least until she started drooling on his pants. Still, this drooling was preferred over the punching and biting so Gray just patted her head and let her drool away peacefully.


    When Gray got back to the base, Yurika had started mumbling about what may have been her past, or present, or maybe her dreams. Gray decided to just listen as he carried her back towards her room.


    "Zzzz¡­ not real¡­ no I can''t¡­" Yurika mumbled "¡­ they betrayed us¡­ stop them¡­ stop Mehhnk¡­"


    "Mehhnk?" Gray thought to himself "I''ve never heard of that name before."


    "Zzzz¡­ Gray is my wife¡­"


    "Wait¡­ wife?" Gray was half tempted to check if she was a male or female, but considering her personality she was probably always the alpha male in every relationship. Was she dreaming about the pregame lobby earlier when she declared Gray as his wife in front of Carly?


    Gray finally made it to Yurika''s room and knocked on the door.


    "¡­"


    Gray suddenly realized he was an idiot as he was carrying the occupant of this room so nobody would answer. Squatting slightly, Gray tried his best to reach out with his hand while carrying Yurika and tried to turn the handle but found the door to be locked.


    "Umm¡­ do I dare search for her key card?" Gray thought to himself, he tried to shake Yurika a little to wake her up but all he got was a belch straight in his face.


    "Wow that reeks of booze¡­ How much did she drink?"


    Gray didn''t want to leave her in the hall and he couldn''t remember where Xyra or Stacia''s room was, or even if they were in. Gray said "Screw it!" out loud and carried her back to his room. Laying her on his bed, he brushed her teal twintails off of her face and went to go brush his teeth and wash his face before going to sleep on the couch.


    Gray only took off his shoes and snagged a pillow off of his bed before lying down on the couch. "Sheesh, this thing sucks to sleep on, no wonder Geoff wanted to crawl into the bed even with me in it already."


    Gray did his best to get comfortable and stretched out on the couch, his feet hanging over the far edge of it. He closed his eyes and was starting to lose himself in sleep when he heard a lot of shuffling and Yurika grumbling something in his bed. Gray turned his head away from the bed and chose to ignore, but when the shuffling stopped, he felt something warm fall on his chest.


    "Oh, looks like she noticed me and tossed me a blanket." Gray thought innocently enough "Hmmm, this blanket smells a lot like beer, and it is very small."


    Gray couldn''t see what it was but once he started feeling it directly, he suddenly realized what was thrown on top of him. "This¡­ this is Yurika''s jumpsuit!"


    Gray''s heart started to beat faster and he thought to himself "Calm down, she has shorts and a t-shirt underneath it!"


    Gray heard more rustling around in his bed and felt something soft and warm land on him and realized it was Yurika''s t-shirt this time. The proverbial angel on his shoulder reminded him that she was a good friend and that he should not take advantage of her while she is drunk and passed out. Gray turned to look at the proverbial devil on his shoulder and the devil was in agreement with an angel.


    "Hey, aren''t you supposed to be the one encouraging me to take advantage of her?" Gray said while looking at the imaginary devil on his shoulder.


    The little devil nodded its head and Gray said "So why aren''t you?"


    The little devil on his shoulder pulled out a picture of Carly and held it up, the pulled out a sign and wrote on it "She scares me".


    Gray recalled the warning Carly gave him earlier and he totally understood what the little devil meant. "I get it." Gray, the little devil, and the little angel all nodded solemnly in agreement, then the little devil and angel disappeared as Gray maintained his willpower to not turn his head and look.


    Gray felt another piece of clothing land on him suddenly and without even picking it up he could feel the lace and clasps on it. "Her bra!"


    Gray''s heart was thumping like crazy! He was on the verge of losing self-control, but then he heard Yurika toss something else and it smacked him hard in the head.


    "Owww! What the¡­" Gray picked up the object and saw that it was her armlet. "Why would she take this off now?"


    Gray heard the whooshing of something else being thrown, this time it brought Gray to the verge of tears. "An empty liquor bottle?!? Where was she even hiding this? On second thought, I don''t want to know."


    Gray heard her toss something else and he instinctively protected his head. A second empty bottle of liquor had smacked on to his arms that were covering his head. Gray was in tears at this point "What the @#$%&! You weren''t carrying these when I carried you into bed! That''s cheating!"


    Yurika now seemed to be sleeping peacefully at least after she got rid of her jumpsuit, t-shirt, bra, and the 2 empty bottles. Gray balled up Yurika''s jumpsuit and her t-shirt and used them to protect his face while he tried to fall asleep since he wasn''t sure if she was going to throw more at him.


    "I need to totally get back at her for this¡­" Gray thought to himself.


    Gray looked around his own room for ideas on what to do to her in revenge. His eyes locked on to the drawer near his bed. Gray remembered that Geoff and he had bought some extra ''protection'' when they went into the city last time but of course never used it.


    A devilish smile appeared on Gray''s face as he thought to himself "Oh¡­ that''s¡­ that''s just mean! I have to try it!"

 Chapter 86 - Falling for it

    Gray would be considered highly intelligent, maybe not a genius, but definitely extremely intelligent. Sadly, he was also impulsive, and when he got an idea in his head he felt almost compelled to follow through with it even if his intelligence was screaming that it was a very bad idea. Part of him probably just wanted to see how bad it would end up. His current idea would never have popped up if he hadn''t seen the movie ''40 year-old virgin''.


    Gray skulked silently over to his nightstand and opened the drawer. He was going to take out all of the condoms, open them up, and spread them out on the bed like they had been used. As soon as he opened the box though, he heard several footsteps coming down the hall followed by a loud knocking on a door.


    Outside in the hall, he heard a female soldier yell "Did you take her?!? We''re searching your room! You others check the other male dorms!" followed by several shouts of affirmative.


    "What the heck is going on at this hour?" Gray thought to himself. He was reminded of the time that Lilly, Miss Maven''s little sister, had snuck aboard his truck and wanted to escape to their base out of boredom.


    "I wonder if she somehow made it here." Gray thought to himself.


    A loud knocking came from Gray''s door and this was apparently enough to wake up Yurika who groggily said "Go¡­ away¡­ to¡­ early¡­"


    Gray ended up saying nothing as when he was about to say something, his door was kicked in and a few female soldiers came in with shock batons ready and flipped on the lights.


    "We found her!" one of the female soldiers yelled.


    "What? Found who?" Gray asked perplexed.


    "Silence you criminal pervert!" shouted one of the women angrily.


    Gray didn''t dare move as these women looked to be about to try and shock him to death.


    "We caught him just as he was about to finish the act!" another woman shouted while pointing at what Gray was holding.


    Gray''s face turned white as he realized he was holding a box of condoms. The female soldier''s looked around in shock at what they saw. Yurika''s jumpsuit, shirt, and bra were thrown about the room with 2 empty bottles of liquor in the mix and Gray standing at the edge of the bed with a box of condoms in his hand. Gray suddenly realized how bad this actually looked and immediately tried to explain.


    "No no no! This isn''t what it looks like! She was drunk and I trie_"


    Apparently Gray wasn''t fast enough with his words as he only remembers the feelings of being shocked repeatedly by the 3 women followed by more women entering his room. Two women went to take Yurika off his bed while the others started encouraging the 3 women with shock batons to shock Gray more.


    "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!?!" A loud booming voice suddenly yelled out through everyone else.


    "Major Valen, sir! We caught a pervert kidnapping one of our fellow women and are rescuing her, sir!" One of the female soldiers replied while saluting.


    Major Valen looked at the room and then looked at who was getting shocked. "Corporal Wilhelm? Care to explain yourself?"


    The women stopped shocking Gray as Major Valen had directed his questions at him. "S-Sir, Major Valen, sir¡­ I was carrying my friend back to her room¡­ but her room was locked¡­ I didn''t want to wake anyone up so I brought her back to my room and_"


    Gray got shocked again when one of the women shot out "And then stripped her and were about to take advantage of her!"


    Major Valen seemed to wait longer than was necessary to intervene as Gray was getting shocked again then finally said "Let him finish!"


    "And¡­ and¡­ I put her on my bed and went to sleep on the couch¡­" Gray managed to barely say.


    "Liar! You got her drunk, stripped her, and then were just about to take advantage of her!" One woman said angrily.


    Gray curled up as he was expecting to get shocked again and yelled out "She stripped herself! I don''t know where she had the bottles but she threw them at me in her sleep just like her clothes!"


    "What about those things in your hand then?"


    "I¡­ I was going to play a prank on her as revenge for hitting me in the face with those two bottles."


    "By taking advantage of her?!?" Another women said fuming with rage causing Gray to get shocked more.


    "Ladies, please allow Corporal Wilhelm to finish, wake the lady up and ask her when you can. If he truly tried to take advantage of her, you can shock him as long as you want." Major Valen interjected


    "Did any of you ever see the movie ''40 year-old Virgin?" Gray said timidly


    Everyone looked at each other and all shook their heads. Sadly this kind of movie seemed to be more popular with the male demographic.


    "Just look up the ''Condom Trouble'' scene from that movie and you''ll get it¡­"


    One of the women pulled out a tablet and looked up the clip, Major Valen watched over her shoulder. After the scene everyone looked questionably at Gray.


    "And you thought this would be funny son!?!" Major Valen said harshly


    "Y-Yes! I mean¡­ No! I mean¡­ Sir, I''m an idiot, sir!"


    "Well, you got that part right at least¡­ ladies, please wake up the girl¡­" Major Valen finally got to see that the girl was Yurika and said "Corporal Winchester? Hmmm, I''m pretty sure it is as Gray, I mean Corporal Wilhelm, says it is if it is this woman. Still, we can''t wait around all night, dump some cold water on her!"


    Some of the women looked surprised at Major Valen, one even questioned him and said "We can''t do that! We should be gentle with her!"


    Another woman chimed in "Isn''t this just a game, how long does this passed out affect last?"


    "It''s a simulation so I think it all depends upon how much alcohol was consumed." Another woman added.


    "Well, it''s just a game, it''s not like we''re throwing water on her in real life!" With that in mind, a woman grabbed a glass and filled it with water from Gray''s sink and dumped it on Yurika.


    "Woman overboard! Save my wife!" Yurika said loudly after getting water dumped on her.


    Everyone looked at Yurika with an odd expression before one of the women finally asked her "Corporal Winchester, can you tell us what happened? We believe this scum here kidnapped you, stripped you and was about to take advantage of you!" while pointing at Gray.


    Yurika cocked her head to one side like a dog that wasn''t quite sure what it was hearing then looked at Gray as he was surrounded by the women with shock batons. "Huh? Him? I wish! A bunch of us were out drinking and he was a designated driver."


    "Yeah! Then why are you almost naked?" One of the women asked.


    "Why wouldn''t I be? I always sleep naked." Yurika plainly stated.


    "But you were passed out, how did your clothes come off?"


    "I''ll always take them off even unconsciously, I get to warm in bed otherwise."


    "And the bottles?"


    Yurika blushed a little bit and shyly said "I thought they were full¡­ I ''borrowed'' them from the bar to try and get Gray drunk."


    The girls were now looking at Yurika like she was an even bigger pervert/criminal than Gray.


    "Well, ok, but then we found him holding a box of condoms while standing next to the bed that you were passed out on."


    Yurika looked at Gray and said "Gray, you better wait until I''m not passed out next time!"


    "So¡­ so in other words¡­ you weren''t kidnapped and he never did anything to you?"


    "Of course not, he''s going to be my wife and he wouldn''t dare hurt me."


    Gray rolled his eyes at this and said "Wife? What are you talking about?"


    Yurika stuck her tongue out at Gray and said "Either way, I''d kick his ass if he tried anything without permission."


    Gray nodded solemnly in agreement as he believed Yurika probably could kick his ass.


    At this point the women and Major Valen gave up and instead just slowly filed out of Gray''s room, the 3 women apologized to Gray for shocking him, but it was a very unenthusiastic apology.


    Gray checked the time and now saw it was going on 4am and he hadn''t slept yet so he was feeling depressed. Yurika didn''t say anything else and just rolled back over to go to sleep in Gray''s bed as if it were her own.


    Gray realized that with Yurika''s jumpsuit next to him he could now search the pockets for her keycard so he wasted no time in doing so.


    "What are you doing?" Yurika asked Gray without turning to face him.


    "I''m looking for your keycard, since you''re using my bed, I was going to use your bed."


    "¡­ Hey¡­come here¡­" Yurika said softly


    Gray didn''t hear what she said so he moved closer to the bed. "What did you say?"


    "I said come here! I demand cuddling!" Yurika said loudly.


    Gray''s mind went blank for a second, then he got really excited and started to take off his clothes hurriedly.


    "Just the jumpsuit butt munch! I said cuddling, not¡­ you know¡­" Yurika said in a shy voice that was unusual for her.


    "Ok, but I don''t wear a t-shirt under mine!"


    "¡­ Get your butt over here before I change my mind!"


    Gray didn''t say another word and climbed into bed with Yurika, she still smelled a bit like alcohol and his bed was wet from the water being dumped on Yurika but it was worth it to him.


    "¡­ You''re not cuddling¡­" Yurika complained


    "Sorry¡­" Gray apologized then got behind Yurika and wrapped one arm around her waist, not daring to move his hand up or down.


    "Thank you¡­ and I''m sorry for being selfish¡­" Yurika said softly. "I had a bad dream and just want to be held."


    "As you wish princess." Gray said with a smile.


    "I know but¡­ it''s not fair to you¡­ I know you want more¡­ and I even want more¡­ but can you keep a secret?"


    Gray''s heart started to beat harder in anticipation "Of course."


    "I am terrible with¡­ well¡­ people. When I heard that this game was actually reality it was a huge release for me because I was able to change my appearance and change who I am without anyone knowing better."


    "You can act like someone else, but you can''t fake your emotions Yurika, or are you saying you''ve faked everything you''ve felt with us?"


    "No! Of course not! I''ve never enjoyed life this much before and I will do anything to keep life just like this¡­ no killing¡­ no fighting¡­ just living!"


    "Good, then just keep being you and that''s all I can ask for¡­"


    "Do you want me to put my hair back to its natural color and cut?"


    "Do you like it better this way?" Gray asked with a smile


    "Heck yes!"


    "Then keep it!"


    "Can I keep being loud and obnoxious?"


    "As much as you want!"


    "Can I keep being spoiled and selfish?"


    "Wouldn''t have it any other way¡­"


    "¡­" Yurika went silent for a moment then said "Gray¡­ close your eyes¡­"


    "Closed" Gray closed his eyes and then heard Yurika roll over to face him, she then kissed Gray softly and gently on the lips, then bit on his lower lip causing it to bleed a little bit.


    "Can you make one more promise for me Gray?"


    "Of course."


    "Can you promise never to fall in love with me?" Yurika said softly.

 Chapter 87 - I Hate You Too

    Gray heard Yurika ask him to never fall in love with her, but he really couldn''t understand why. He was borderline abused tonight, albeit by his own idiocy, and now he was essentially shot down at the finish line.


    "Can... can I ask why?" Gray finally got out.


    "Don''t worry, it''s not for some crappy reason like ''I want to wait until after the war is over'', that''s just asking for death!"


    Gray had to agree with her as that was his initial fear was that she created a death flag for herself.


    Yurika fidgeted for a second then said "I don''t feel like this is the real me, the me I am now is who I made for this as just a game. It''s strange, but I''d like you to meet me in the virtual world as that is who I am in reality."


    Gray was a little confused "If the person you created in this game is who you want to be, isn''t that the same as being that person?"


    "Well, kinda, yeah, but I don''t mean my looks, or my personality, I mean my past."


    "Heh, you''re making this more difficult than it has to be, I don''t mind Yurika!" Gray squeezed Yurika close and she pushed back slightly to stop him from squeezing them together.


    "I know you''re not always honest with your feelings or yourself, and you''re kinda dense, and you probably have more than one woman chasing after you because you''re so nice to everyone but yourself, but my family is... ridiculous... I''ve never been on a single date ever, instead I was told that at 25 I would be matched with a suitable bachelor, and this was normal in my family. We never married for love, we married for convenience and who had the superior genetics."


    "How old are you then?"


    Gray let out a yelp as Yurika pinched his ear hard "Never ask a woman her age!"


    "I''m sorry! I mean are you at the age where your family already matched you?"


    "I''m... I''m already engaged, but luckily I was chosen as a Diamond Tier so I could escape to here."


    "Oh... so you''re already going to get married..." Gray said regretfully.


    "... I am sorry, it''s not what you wanted to hear, but you all are really my first friends I''ve had that I''ve been able to just be myself with."


    "Wait, you said it was for convenience and superior genetics? Maybe I have genetics that are better than that guy!"


    Yurika laughed hard causing Gray to get slightly depressed "Ha! Sorry, it''s just that the guy they are betrothing me to is a genius, he started his own company at 13, received a doctorate at 17, and he even helped the AI Dr. Sara Watts develop the consciousness transfer algorithm."


    "He sounds... amazing... What''s his name? He''s probably famous, right?"


    "Stephen Seegall."


    Gray thought about it for a moment, then thought a little more and finally said "Nope, can''t say I''ve ever heard of that name before..."


    "Heh, he keeps a low profile, he goes by the name Edward Teach, after the partner of Dr. Sara Watts, but surely you''ve heard of Alterra Corporation, otherwise you wouldn''t be here."


    "Fair point¡­ well, that explains why I''ve never heard of him. Why does he use the name Edward Teach though? And isn''t he like 50 years old then?"


    Yurika''s eye twitched "He could be, he''s lived in nothing but the virtual world and Alterra Corporation has been around for almost 30 years."


    "Let''s just wait until he dies then!" Gray said with a goofy grin on his face.


    "What? No!" Yurika said while laughing. "We would be old by then too!"


    Gray smiled at her laugh and said "That''s better¡­ you look much better smiling."


    "¡­dork¡­ you''re only sweet when you want something I bet¡­" Yurika said coyly.


    "Yeah, what''s your point?"


    "Umm¡­ I want to¡­ you know¡­ I REALLY do, but we''ve already gone too far, it''s not fair to my family and to Stephen."


    Gray looked down at Yurika and had to admit this was the weakest he''s ever seen her. He once again looked at the proverbial angel on his shoulder and it was shaking his head, Gray looked at the devil on his other shoulder and it was frantically waving its hands and shaking its head then pointing at Yurika''s shoulders. Gray could make out her proverbial devil and angel standing on her shoulders glaring at his devil and angel with red eyes and bodies lit up with a fiery glow just waiting to attack. Gray wisely decided not to do anything.


    Gray kissed her forehead and said "If you knew all of this, why did you keep calling me your wife?"


    "Because I''m selfish¡­ I want you all to myself, and let''s be honest, I''d totally be the alpha male in the relationship!"


    Remembering how much she beat the snot out of him while they were training in the simulator, Gray had to agree with her. "It''s not exactly fair to me though¡­"


    "You said it was Ok for me to be selfish!"


    Gray rolled his eyes and said "Yeah, you can be selfish, but not unfair."


    "Then what should we do?"


    Gray thought about it for a moment and then said "So¡­ all I need to do is get your family''s approval over Stephen, right?"


    "It''s not going to be that easy, the wedding is set for a few days before the war starts."


    "I thought you weren''t going to be forced until you were 25¡­"


    "I''ll turn 28 on August 29th, the wedding is on the 30th. I was able to bargain for 3 years so I already can''t push it back anymore."


    "So¡­ I got about a month to stop a wedding¡­"


    Yurika frowned at him. "I appreciate the sentiment, but my family has always put the needs of the family ahead of the needs of a single person."


    "I still don''t understand why you though¡­"


    "Hey! I''m awesome! Why not me?!?" Yurika pouted


    "I-I agree! I mean why specifically you though, doesn''t your family have other women in it with equal or possibly even better genetics than you?"


    "Probably, that''s the only thing that is off about this is that Stephen requested me specifically and gave my family a huge dowry in return. Any children we have will stay in the Winchester family."


    "That still doesn''t make any sense, what does he get out of the deal?"


    Yurika leaned back from Gray and checked herself out "Isn''t this enough?"


    Seeing Yurika expose her top finally, Gray felt like he was flying to heaven when Yurika suddenly made a yipping noise and squeezed closer to Gray so Gray couldn''t see her top. "You meant to get me to do that, right?"


    "N-No! That was entirely your fault!"


    "Shut up! You tricked me!" Yurika started to hit Gray''s chest then started to cry softly.


    Gray squeezed her close and kissed her forehead again then said "You should know though, I agree with you, you would be worth giving up everything for."


    Yurika started to cry a little harder "Geez asshole! I''m trying to not make this harder than it has to be!"


    Gray just held Yurika and ran his fingers through her hair gently until she finally stopped crying. "¡­Gray¡­ can we run away?"


    "Well, we could, but we don''t have enough power yet to stand on our own and running to the Hegemony might put us in a worse position, not to mention if the Alliance wins, it would''ve been all for nothing then."


    "¡­Damn it, you''re supposed to just agree with me and take me away like the princess I am!"


    Gray couldn''t help but think that Yurika''s mood swings were a little much at times, but they made up her so he couldn''t help but like it. "I can''t promise that I''ll be able to fix it, but if I can''t, I''ll kidnap you away from your own wedding."


    "Do you have a plan?"


    "Nope, but I''ll just wing it like usual."


    "Like usual? You mean you never have a plan going into the matches we have against other teams?"


    "How could I? I mean, I have a general idea of what to do, but I can''t make a plan until I know what the enemy has and what the conditions are. I''m not omniscient¡­"


    "Fair point, but still, you''ve always seemed so sure of yourself when you give orders, excluding that match with GameGo Gamers."


    "Well, I''ve learned that people will follow your orders more if you''re confident in giving them¡­ plus confidence is sexy, right?"


    Yurika laughed and exclaimed "Dork!"


    "You love it!"


    "¡­and I love"


    Gray put his finger over her lips before she could finish that and said "If I can''t fall for you, you can''t fall for me!"


    Yurika bit his finger then said "Fine, so¡­ it''s now almost sunrise, I''m not going to be able to sleep."


    "Neither can I now¡­ what should we do then¡­" Gray and Yurika were only a millimeter apart now looking at each other.


    "You know¡­ if you don''t rescue me again, I''m going to hate you¡­"


    "Good, you can hate me all you want¡­"


    "Damn it Gray, I hate you so much¡­"


    "I hate you too Yurika"


    Gray and Yurika finally gave in to each other even though they both knew it might not be able to last¡­ you can use your own imagination as to what happens next because this is not a R-18+ story.

 Chapter 88 - Violence Solves Everything?

    Gray woke up the next morning like every other morning, he felt it was later than usual as it was brighter than what remembered. Gray saw his armlet lying on the floor next to a pile of clothes and remembered what had happened last night. He felt very satisfied lying next to Yurika and looked at her sleeping and disheveled form and thought she never looked prettier, even with her twintails undone and long hair strewn about and a puddle of drool forming at her mouth.


    The armlet on the ground was blinking rapidly which told Gray he had a few messages, then it started ringing and Gray rolled out of bed to pick it up, trying not to wake Yurika.


    Gray picked up the call and answered groggily "Hello?"


    "GRAY! We''ve been trying to get a hold of you for over an hour!" a voice replied


    "Geoff? What''s going on?" Gray yawned lazily.


    "Well, nothing really, but you missed breakfast and we were wondering if you knew where Yurika was." Geoff said, Gray thought he heard people giggling in the background, and that the voice was oddly close.


    "Oh, uhhh¡­ she''s uhhhh¡­" Gray wasn''t sure what to say since he didn''t know what Yurika wanted to call it.


    Suddenly Gray hears the click of his door''s lock opening up and then the door comes flying open. Gray freezes when he sees that Geoff, Stacia, Xyra, and Paul come bursting through his door, Caleb probably wanted nothing to do with it.


    "Congratulations you lucky son of a¡­" Geoff and the other 3 stopped in their tracks when they saw that Gray was standing their naked.


    "Holy crap dude, warn us when you''re putting out a fire!" Geoff and Paul immediately turned around as they knew better than to peek at Yurika.


    "How could I warn you when you just burst in here!?" Gray said, placing his hands on his hips and strutting around like a male peacock.


    Stacia and Xyra took a few seconds longer of staring wide-eyed before turning around and Gray heard Stacia whisper to Xyra "Yurika is very lucky". Xyra nodded in agreement.


    "Dude, put some pants on!" Paul yelled this time.


    "This is my room you jerks, I declare it no pants Tuesday in my room!"


    "Why is it so loud in here?" Yurika sat up groggily in bed, luckily for her everyone wasn''t looking in her direction.


    Stacia and Xyra turned around and then ran over to Yurika with a t-shirt. "We''re so sorry Yurika, we wanted to congratulate you two on finally opening up to each other and we kinda went overboard."


    "Huh? What?" Yurika looked around the room and saw Paul and Geoff facing the door and Gray naked facing them with his hands on his hips with a silly grin on his face.


    Yurika noticed Gray was acting cocky as he was flaunting himself and Little Gray in front of the others. "Gray! Did you wear those socks last night while we were¡­"


    Gray stopped smiling and looked down at his socks and then back at Yurika before nodding his head and saying "Yes, why does that matter?"


    "Gray, you wore just socks while you were¡­" Geoff and Paul started laughing at Gray while not turning around.


    "What? What''s wrong with that?" Gray said becoming confused.


    "It''s just weird, it''s like saying you''re not comfortable enough to show everything." Geoff said.


    "Some studies have shown that keeping your socks on can make it easier to ''finish'' due to increased circulation from keeping your feet warm and the security that comes from wearing socks." Caleb said as he walked in behind everyone else, not even slightly bothered by the scene of Gray strutting around naked in his socks.


    "See! I knew it helped!" Gray exclaimed.


    "I see you all are having fun, but we need to get busy, war doesn''t wait for us. Oh, Gray, Major Valen said he wanted to see you." Caleb said plainly.


    Paul, Caleb, Geoff, Stacia, and Xyra left Gray''s room leaving Gray and Yurika alone again.


    "Well, it looks like we don''t have to try and explain anything now." Gray said while shrugging his shoulders.


    "Works for me!" Yurika said happily


    Gray started to pick up his clothes and was going to take a shower.


    "Hey¡­ Gray¡­ what''re you doing?"


    "Gonna hop in the shower and get dressed, why?"


    "We can be a little later than everyone else, right?" Yurika said and winked at Gray from his bed.


    Needing no more words, Gray dove back into bed with Yurika not worrying about the time anymore.


    __________


    Princess Bang-gwi woke up and felt that it was way too early to be awake again. Looking over at the couch in her room, the Princess didn''t see Chuhan Jwi and felt a little anxious.


    Officially, Chuhan Jwi was just her bodyguard and caretaker. Unofficially, Princess Bang-gwi considered Chuhan Jwi her friend, sister, and even as a Mother, but she would never admit that to anyone for fear that her mother, Queen Manyeo, would replace Chuhan Jwi.


    "I''m a grown woman, I don''t need her sleeping in the same room as me anymore anyways." The Princess thought to herself. The Princess had only been training for a few days, but the pain she got after each day was less and less.


    Chuhan Jwi would actually do her own exercise routine and Tae Kwan Do training for 2 hours before eating her own breakfast usually. Once the soldiers and pilots settled in for the daily routine, Chuhan Jwi would do the same as well.


    The pilots were making their way over to the hangar while Chuhan Jwi was stepping out of the communal shower area wearing a clean training getting to start her routine. Xi¨£ng Pigu looked admirably at Chuhan Jwi in her red and black biker shorts and her red and black workout top that exposed her stomach. She couldn''t help but stare at Jwi''s athletic figure and six pack abs and admire how she still maintained her womanly charms even as she approached 40.


    Xi¨£ng Pigu let out an audible sigh and said to the Princess "I wish I can be as awesome as her someday" while motioning to Chuhan Jwi as Chuhan Jwi started stretching herself.


    "I know¡­ but remember it''s not for everyone." The Princess got a mischievous grin on her face and then whispered to Xi¨£ng Pigu "She''s never even been on a date."


    Xi¨£ng Pigu turned to look at Chuhan Jwi now with a little bit of pity, but also awe. She suddenly thought of something and turned back to the Princess "Hey, Ban, have you ever been on a date even?"


    "Umm¡­ I''ve been on several, but calling them dates is a little much¡­ To maintain good relationships with the other major families, I''ve occasionally been forced on dates for matchmaking. I''ve seen so many pretty boys that I''m sick of them honestly."


    "Hmmm, that might actually be worse than no dates at all¡­"


    "What about you Pi, have you ever been on a date?"


    Xi¨£ng Pigu''s face turned red slightly and she said "Yeah, I thought I was even in love once¡­"


    "What''s that like?"


    Xi¨£ng Pigu furrowed her brows as she wasn''t sure how to answer that. "Well, it''s like that person will always make your day better, you will miss them when they''re gone even for a minute, and you will start imagining spending the rest of your life with them."


    The Princess thought about this for a moment, then giggled and said "Hmm, since you always make my day better and I miss you when you''re gone, does that mean I''m falling in love with you?"


    "No! I mean! Maybe! I mean Yes! I don''t know!" Xi¨£ng Pigu started waving her hands as she became extremely flustered from the Princess''s teasing.


    The Princess laughed aloud and said "I''m just playing with you Pi! You''re my best friend! I know what at least that kind of love is like¡­ I''ve just never fallen in love romantically with any boy or girl yet."


    "Boy or girl?" Xi¨£ng Pigu said curiously.


    "Well, yeah¡­ I don''t think gender should matter, if you love someone you love someone, right?"


    "Wow Princess! I didn''t think you were so¡­ progressive!"


    "Progressive? I guess so, I like to think of it as being open-minded."


    "That''s a rare quality, I mean nobility and royals have always been so unreceptive to new ideas."


    The Princess didn''t react or get angry even though she was a royal "We''re not all like that¡­"


    Xi¨£ng Pigu got worried she upset the Princess and waved her hands "I''m sorry Ban! I didn''t mean you, I mean¡­"


    The Princess shook her head to stop Xi¨£ng Pigu and added "I know you didn''t mean me, but I am not unaware of how most of the nobility and royalty treat commoners like a commodity."


    "Are you Ok with that?" Vincent suddenly chimed in from behind Princess Bang-gwi and Xi¨£ng Pigu.


    The Princess and Xi¨£ng Pigu both jumped slightly then the Princess yelled "Jerk! How long have you been walking behind us?"


    Vincent coughed and said "Just after you said you were open-minded Princess, as for why Miss Xi¨£ng Pigu said that I am unaware."


    "Good, if you had been paying attention earlier I would''ve had to gouge your eyes out!" the Princess said while smiling and making her fingers look like claws.


    "Ban, you''re always so violent!" Xi¨£ng Pigu said while laughing.


    "Oh come on, you know I''m just playing, right?"


    Xi¨£ng Pigu and Vincent looked at each other and didn''t respond.


    "Fine then! I''ll show you how violent I can be!" The Princess yelled as she chased Xi¨£ng Pigu and Vincent to the Mech Hangar.

 Chapter 89 - Insert Here

    After Gray and Yurika finally got out of the bed for the day, it was almost noon. Gray hurried over to Major Valen''s office as he had asked to see him earlier.


    Gray knocked on Major Valen''s door and didn''t hear any reply.


    "Hmm, must be out at the moment." Gray thought to himself.


    Remembering that he still had Major Valen''s bank card, he pulled it out to look at it to make sure he was still carrying it. Gray looked at the name on the card and thought he had the wrong card.


    "Wait, didn''t he say his first name was Gene?" Gray suddenly started giggling. "Eugene!! HAAA HAA! His name is Eugene! No wonder he goes by Gene! Oh crap, I gotta tell everyone about this!"


    Gray suddenly felt murderous intent coming from behind him as he heard the wind breeze on his cheek as something flew next to his head. Gray looked to the same side he felt the slight breeze from and saw the metal lip of a clipboard embedded in the wall right next to Gray''s head with the clipboard sticking straight out.


    Major Valen walked over to Gray sternly while still emanating killing intent and said "You have something of mine Corporal Wilhelm?"


    Gray gulped and then stammered out "S-Sir! Y-Yes sir! You left your card at the"


    Before Gray could finish that sentence, he saw a large hand reach for the card in his hand and take it out forcefully.


    "Thank you Corporal, I had left it at the canteen so I appreciate you returning it to me."


    Gray didn''t dare to move and froze in place as Major Valen started to walk by him to get into his office he put his hand on Gray''s shoulder and whispered to Gray "It''s best if nobody knows we met up at that mixer, less drama¡­ and regarding the name on the card, you better forget about it, I know where you sleep."


    Once Major Valen took his hand off of Gray''s shoulder, Gray finally found the courage to turn and ask "Sir, you wanted to see me for something else?"


    Major Valen stopped and appeared to be considering something and said "Yes, if you have a minute corporal, I have something I''d like to talk to you about."


    Major Valen unlocked the door to his office, opened the door and motioned for Gray to go in first. Gray walked in and sat down in the chair across from Major Valen''s desk, then Major Valen shut the door and sat down at his desk with a slightly troubled expression on his face.


    Major Valen folded his hands together, gathered his thoughts and said "Corporal Wilhelm¡­ about last night¡­"


    Gray suddenly waved his hands "Sir! That was all a misunderstanding! I never kidnapped Yurika! I''m not going to press charges either because her dorm mates did the right thing coming to find her, even if they were a bit excessive with the force."


    "Let me finish son, I''m not here about that, nobody is in trouble for that either as nobody technically did anything wrong."


    Gray wanted to mention that he felt like he was shocked enough to the point of being sterile, but figured no good would come of it. "Sir, sorry sir, please continue."


    "About Miss Peters, how much do you know about her?"


    "Not too much sir, we only worked together and only accidentally met up once outside of work."


    "Accidentally?"


    "Yes, we happened to run into each other and went for a few drinks together, nothing more than that."


    "Ah, so it wasn''t a date." Major Valen seemed a little relieved at that reply. "So what can you tell me about her?"


    "Didn''t you two talk at all after you left?"


    "Well, we ummm¡­"


    Gray panicked and interrupted Major Valen "Oh god please don''t say it!"


    "Shut up idiot! We didn''t do THAT! I¡­ was so nervous I could hardly contribute at all to our conversation, if one could even call it a conversation!"


    Gray laughed at this because normally everyone else is intimidated by Major Valen.


    "Shut up! I''m terrible with women I am attracted to as I can never put more than two words together to make a sentence. How do you deal with it?"


    "Me? I''m terrible too!" Gray said honestly.


    "Seriously? You seemed very calm at the mixer. I''ve been less nervous while taking live gunfire than trying to talk to Miss Peters."


    "Well, I can''t I know her very well, but she appears to be a very honest woman and already know what she wants, just be yourself."


    "That''s so lame, that''s what everybody always says, ''Be yourself'' my ass!"


    "Speaking of which, do those 3 girls think you are a player?"


    "Yes, I told her that I was in the military in a different city and was a player as well¡­"


    Gray frowned slightly "Hmmm, not a good start, but considering the circumstances I guess lying about that is the only way. How the heck did you even get invited to that?"


    "Your pal Geoff, he said he needed another guy for a mixer, and I may have been in earshot when I overheard him mention this. I offered him 100 merits and he agreed¡­"


    "Wait, so you bribed Geoff to invite you to a mixer?"


    "I''m a man and I have emotions to, you young''uns will understand in a few years! You''d have done the same thing as me!"


    "How old are you anyways, sir?"


    "42"


    Gray was a little taken aback as he was about to call bullshit on him, but he realized he actually didn''t know much about Major Valen. "Well, all I can say with her is that you need to be direct, nice, and confident. I don''t know anything about her hobbies, but she seems to like the color purple and she always had a little cat charm on a charm bracelet."


    "Not much to go with, but I do appreciate it Corporal Wilhelm¡­ I mean¡­ Gray."


    "It kinda sounds creepy hearing you call me my first name, stick with family name and rank for now."


    "That was the plan, Corporal Wilhelm. It sounded much worse to me hearing myself say it after all." Major Valen said with a grin.


    "Want me to see what I can find out for you about Verona?"


    "No¡­ I mean, you can find out what she thinks of me, but that''s it."


    "How many merits for that information?"


    "¡­Depends upon what she says."


    "Works for me! I''ll see what I can find out, but don''t expect anything."


    "That''s fine Corporal, now get back to your team, I''ve been observing your progress and you''ve been doing well, but I feel like you''re not willing to expand even further. Right now with 7 members you couldn''t even be considered a squad, if you still plan on becoming a mercenary group, I recommend to have the bare minimum of a platoon of 16 members. Currently we only have 4 mech platoons in the military made up of 50 mechs each."


    "Sir, given the scope of the Alterra Project, couldn''t you have allocated more than just 200 pilots?"


    "We tried, but the politicians feared if we controlled all of the strength we would stage a coup and remove them from power."


    "Wow, did they really say that?"


    "No, but it was heavily implied. I try to avoid politicians and anything political for that matter."


    Gray was surprised hearing Major Valen backed down from someone. "That''s¡­ surprising for you, I thought you would just bash them over the head with a clipboard like you do the rest of us."


    "A certain boisterous senator filed a restraining order against me so that''s also why I have to avoid them sometimes¡­"


    "That''s more like what I was expecting."


    "Yes, but since the opposing party was also present they kept it to just a restraining order instead of arresting me for assault."


    "On that note¡­ Thanks for the advice and I''ll find out what I can for you."


    "Good, now go get more men under your command, build up your experience, and I''ll see you at the tournament in 2 weeks!"


    "Tournament?"


    "Read your damned messages!"


    Gray left Major Valen''s office and read his messages while heading over to the others on his team. "Tournament huh, could be fun, I guess no game wouldn''t be complete without them."

 Chapter 90 - The 8th Man

    Gray went through his messages, found a few dozen of them over the past few days, and realized he needed to check them more often. One from the Alterra Project stated a tournament would be taking place on August 18th 2121 at the largest military base in the country formerly known as Germany.


    "Today is¡­ August 5th, so a little less than 2 weeks away." Gray thought to himself. "How do we get there?"


    Gray saw a link in the message with a code and read that it would be a virtual tournament so mechs wouldn''t actually be used thus your location in game didn''t matter as long as you were near a simulator.


    "Looks like there are only team competitions, but it has 3 categroies, 4-man, 8-man, and 16-man teams. Let''s take all of them!" Gray laughed to himself thinking that they should try to take all of the titles.


    "Prizes¡­ prizes¡­ don''t care about the rules¡­ tell me the prizes¡­"


    As usual, Gray skipped a lot of the fine print and went straight to what he was looking for.


    Prizes:


    4-man: 1st ¨C 800 merits, 4 star gold badge


    2nd ¨C 400 merits, 4 star silver badge


    3rd ¨C 200 merits, 4 star bronze badge


    8-man: 1st ¨C 1600 merits, Gold 4 twin-star badge


    2nd ¨C 800 merits, Silver 4 twin-star badge


    3rd ¨C 400 merits, Bronze 4 twin-star badge


    16-man: 1st ¨C 3200 merits, Gold Eagle Badge


    2nd ¨C 1600 merits, Silver Eagle Badge


    3rd ¨C 800 merits, Bronze Eagle Badge


    "Basically, each player gets 200 merits for 1st, 100 for 2nd, and 50 for 3rd. That seems kinda low honestly considering it could cover every player. Maybe the badges are special?"


    Gray couldn''t see anything special about the badges from the message, but maybe that would be announced later. As Gray was thinking this, a call came through from Caleb.


    "Hey Caleb, what''s up?"


    "I''m assuming since you''re picking up, you''re done talking to Major Valen, hurry up and get back here Gray!"


    "Why? What''s going on?"


    "We need to get as high of a rank as possible before the tournament and recruit one more person so we can participate in at least 2 of the 3 tournaments."


    "Once again, why?"


    "... I am going to assume you didn''t read the fine print as usual Gray. Basically, those rewards will be multiplied by our rank bonus. That''s why they are fairly low by themselves. We may have had a head start on the normal players, but some of the gaming addicts have already caught up and possibly surpassed us in rank."


    "Yeah, I guess if they don''t mind doing matchmaking for hours on end, you''d think fatigue would catch up to them since they''re now in a real body."


    "Regardless, we need to rank up more and get more merits before we form a mercenary group."


    "I know, let''s not waste anymore time... I''d like to participate in all of the tournament types so maybe we can collaborate with another team?"


    "Agreed, let''s finish today up with matchmaking and talk about which teams we can try and work with at a pajama party."


    Gray made his way over to the simulators and only had enough time to check one more message, it was from Jono.


    The voice message said "Hey buddy, I need more pilots for the ''God Pilots Squad'', I''d be fine with you not being able to keep up with the rest of us and if you want to bring anyone else from your team, especially the girls, they''d be welcome."


    Gray felt like this sounded odd for Jono since he rarely asked for anything, and it was even more odd that Jono didn''t add more insults.


    Gray called Jono and hoped he was still online.


    "Gray! What''s up my friend!"


    Gray couldn''t help feel that something felt really off since he never called him ''friend'' directly. Ignoring what Jono said, Gray replied "What happened?"


    "What do you mean? If you''re talking about my message earlier, I just need more members for the tournament."


    "How many members do you need?"


    "Well... at least three."


    "We can help possibly, trying to fill up for the 16 pilot tournament?"


    "No..."


    "Oh, so the 8 pilot one then?"


    Jono hesitated for a moment then said "...No..."


    "You''re the only one on your team?" Gray was surprised, but at the same time not really considering the egos that were probably clashing over and over in that team.


    "...They only left temporarily! They''ll be back after the tournament I''m sure!"


    "..." Gray said nothing as he was waiting for Jono to break out of his own delusion.


    "..." Jono didn''t say a thing either as if he was waiting for Gray to say something.


    Gray finally replied once the silence became uncomfortable. "You want to join my team?"


    "Well, since you are begging me, I guess I can grace your team with my presence!" Jono replied haughtily.


    "You must want me to tell everyone else that all of your teammates left your team leaving you all alone."


    "Sorry, it''s a habit... I, ummm, appreciate your offer and sincerely accept Gray."


    "Better, just tone it back a little, hearing you talk nice sounds weird. We''re meeting up by the simulators now so hurry up and head over!"


    "On my way! I''ll carry my weight with my amazing skills and badassery."


    Gray did have faith in Jono''s gaming skills, but he hoped they translated well into controlling the real mech. He wasn''t sure if he should tell Jono the truth or not about the Alterra Project. Gray finally decided against telling him as he was confident the blabber mouth wouldn''t keep his mouth shut anyways, that and he''d probably be arrested for breaking the agreement he signed earlier.


    __________


    "Sorry for being slow, is everyone else here?" Gray asked as he looked at the others.


    "Of course, we were waiting for your slow ass!" Yurika said while looking at Gray and smiling warmly.


    Both Yurika and Gray smiled at each for a bit leaving the others feeling a little uncomfortable.


    "Ok! We get it! You two like each other!" Geoff finally shouted breaking up the atmosphere.


    "Sh-shut up!" Yurika said shyly while blushing and turning away.


    "Sorry! Oh, we''re waiting for one more!" Gray said in a good mood.


    Everyone looked at Gray since they didn''t know who it was.


    Jono finally made his way to the simulators and Gray called out to him "Hey! Jono! Over here!"


    Jono looked excited and when he saw Yurika, Stacia, and Xyra one could tell he tried to be cool about it as he suddenly developed a swagger to his step.


    "Is he alright in the head?" Stacia whispered to Gray


    "I don''t think so, but he''s harmless." Gray whispered back


    "Hey! I see you guys finally realized you needed an ace pilot!" Jono said proudly.


    "Yeah, we could use one, do you know any?" Gray said smuggly.


    "You''re looking at one!" Jono said shamelessly


    "Anyways, guys, this is Jono, he''s my friend from the virt... I mean from real life."


    "We''re more like frienemies, we compete with each other... well, try to compete, usually it''s Gray chasing after me."


    "Would you be mad if I accidentally hurt him?" Yurika whispered to Gray.


    "Violence doesn''t solve anything, but in this case I think it will." Gray whispered back to Yurika.


    Jono saw Yurika and Gray whispering and so he walked up to them and arrogantly said "So, I''m guessing this one is yours Gray." Jono turned to Yurika and said "So who is the unlucky girl to get stuck with Gray?"


    "Uhhh, my name is Yurika, and Gray is my wife, so if you insult him you insult me!" Yurika then whispered to Gray again "I might have to kill him."


    Gray whispered back "I''ll help you hide the body."


    Yurika and Gray giggled and Jono seemed oblivious to it as he then walked past Gray and whispered "Which one can I have?"


    Gray shook his head and whispered to Jono "Dude, just relax, you don''t get any unless they let you."


    Gray couldn''t help but think to himself "I am going to need to have a serious conversation with Jono. He''s normally only this bad in games and since he thinks it is a game, he''s acting this way right now."


    Jono at least stopped chasing the girls and stepped past everyone and threw a hand up in the air "Let''s go team! Onward to victory!"


    Everyone glared at Gray as Jono kept swaggering towards the Simulator pods.


    "H-He''s just nervous, once he settles in you''ll see he''s not so bad." Gray tried to explain. Nobody seemed to buy it and Gray worried that he might have to kick Jono out.

 Chapter 91 - Earn A Man Card

    Gray was worried about Jono, he was a bit of a narcissist and huge flirt/playboy, but wasn''t so bad once you figured out how to handle him.


    Everyone quietly got into the simulator pods, then into the pregame lobby for matchmaking for an 8 versus 8. Everyone was already set for what mechs they were going to use as all but Stacia had 2 mechs to pick from, the Phalanx Mk 01 was fairly balanced, but it was extremely bland so everyone was happy when they got new mechs to work with.


    "Gray! Check out this sweet piece of machinery!" Jono started strutting around in his mech the second everyone spawned in.


    "That''s... ummm... nice?" Gray didn''t want to put the guy down, but it was just a Ranger Mk 01 with what was probably an expensive paint job and accent lighting. While it did look sweet, it also stood out too much for a real battle. His weapon was decent at least, he picked a high-caliber semi-automatic battle rifle. While it lacked the accuracy of a lighter rifle, it made up for it in stopping power. Gray had considered using it as well, but he felt it was hard to run and shoot with it.


    "What''s the plan Gray?" Paul asked.


    Gray looked around at the map, trying to come up with at least a basic strategy since he was pretty sure Jono would do his own thing or try to order everyone else around. What made this map different than normal was that it was generated with heavy snow. While it looked beautiful, it made moving a little harder and visibility was drastically reduced.


    Before Gray could say anything, Jono blurted out "We don''t need a plan! Just charge straight at them! I''m good for at least 3 or 4 kills!" then started walking towards where the enemy team probably had spawned.


    "Hold up Jono, let''s at least see where they are coming from first, Stacia?"


    "On it Gray!" Stacia activated her active sensors on her Cupid Mk 01, everyone let her spend an extra 500 merits on accessories that were purely for decoration. The sensors activated and the tiny set of wings expanded on her mech''s back, the accent lighting turned on and outlined the wings. A tiny amount of particles were emitted from the wings that made it look like it was leaving a very short trail of light behind the mech as she moved.


    While it was logically considered a waste to get decorations like this, seeing Stacia happy with it was worth it as she was not one who could hide her feelings at all¡­ that and Jono finally stopped talking after Jono thought it looked better than his.


    The only reason Stacia was allowed to purchase said accessories was from the previous agreement she made with Gray that she would cook for everyone. Stacia''s culinary skills proved to be well above average and had earned her many compliments, including Paul who had said that she would make a great wife someday. Gray, Caleb, and Geoff had agreed between mouthfuls of lasagna while Stacia had become flustered and blushed a deep shade of red.


    Stacia suddenly stopped moving and turned to face directly west of their location towards a rocky outcropping. "Sending sensor feed now"


    All 8 targets appeared on everyone''s sensor screens. The advantage of having a very long range scout was that it allowed Stacia to expose the locations of the whole enemy team and in return only expose herself.


    Gray and the others saw the enemy mechs make a slight adjustment in anticipation of them coming from the same side Stacia was on. This had become common for them as very few teams invested in a good scout and instead would just opt for more firepower. One couldn''t fault the other teams though as most players wouldn''t want to be relegated to "merely a support" position. Eventually enough teams will probably figure out that a support is needed as the larger team battles required more information than pure firepower, or at least enough information to know where to direct the firepower.


    Gray brought up the map and saw the enemy had indeed taken up an ideal position. A rocky outcropping at the bottom of a mountain provided good coverage from multiple angles while the mountain acted as a wall covering them from behind. Normally Gray would split the group in half to keep their attention facing forward by making it look like they were probing for a way to attack and then take their time to climb the mountain from behind with the other group. It is a very simple plan, but it worked well against average players as most of them were only a team for the around 5 days or so the game has been officially out.


    Unfortunately, the map cut off half of the mountain so they couldn''t walk up from behind without being seen from the flanks. Gray assumed that the enemy was hunkering down due to the reduced visibility.


    "Is that a flare?" Stacia suddenly asked aloud.


    Everyone turned to look and Yurika was the first to react "Missile! Take cover!" she yelled.


    Stacia herself was exposed to the enemy sensors since she still had her active sensors on, she switched them back to passive and lost her sensor read on the enemy, but they also lost her.


    The lone missile that was shot at Stacia lost guidance so it switched to heat-seeking mode, and being a hot mech in the snow the missile easily found its way towards Stacia.


    Nobody was close enough to Stacia to take the shot for her since her mech was the lightest out of all of them. Paul instinctively tried to get closer but realizing very quickly he couldn''t make it in time, instead Paul gripped the edges of his shield, spun, and flung it towards Stacia.


    Paul then yelled "Catch it!"


    Stacia turned to see Paul''s huge shield come towards her.


    Gray yelled after Paul and said "Don''t catch it! Hide behind it!" since that shield of compressed armor probably weighed as much as Stacia''s mech.


    Stacia then ducked behind the shield that had landed next to her wedged into the ground, a split second later the missile collided with the shield and most of the blast was deflected up as the shield was pushed over on top of Stacia''s mech, burying her with it in a pile of snow.


    "You ok Stacia?" Gray asked


    "Yeah¡­ I''m just stuck¡­"


    "Sorry about that!" Paul said as he bounded over to Stacia''s mech and dug his shield out. His Hoplite Mk 01 was significantly stronger and a bit larger than Stacia''s Cupid Mk 01 so Paul easily hefted the shield off of Stacia allowing Stacia to get her mech off of the ground.


    Paul inspected the shield and saw that it had received nothing but a scorch mark and said with a surprise "Looks like you''re unhurt baby!"


    Stacia said "I told you I was fine!"


    Everyone then looks at Stacia and Paul meekly says "Sorry, I was talking about the shield."


    Awkward silence ensued as everyone was trying not to laugh, thankfully Jono didn''t quite catch what was going on and instead blurted out "Hey! What''re we standing around for! Return fire!"


    Luckily this seemed to bring back everyone to their senses and Gray said "We don''t have enough visibility to use snipers, and we can''t sneak up on them due to that wall of a mountain behind them."


    Everyone glanced at the mountain behind where the enemies were and it really did make it a perfectly defensible position.


    Suddenly Geoff started giggling. "I''ve seen bigger"


    "No comments from the peanut gallery!" Yurika said, but also giggling too.


    "It''s not the size that counts, it''s how you use it!" Jono added.


    Everyone laughed at this a bit even and suddenly Gray thought of something. "That''s it! We just need to use the terrain even better than them!"


    "No kidding, can you elaborate a bit more though since we need more to go off of than just some vague statement." Caleb said


    "Has anyone else here seen that old Disney movie, Mulan?" Gray asked.


    Unsure of where Gray was going with this, only Stacia and Xyra said they had seen it so he added. "Remember the scene, in the mountains, when it was that tiny group against the entire Mongolian army?"


    Stacia and Xyra both thought for a moment and then looked up at the mountain, caked in snow, and both went. "Ohhhh!"


    "Paul!" Gray yelled


    "Yes sir!" Paul replied resolutely.


    Gray thought to himself that he liked being called sir then said "Guess what, you get to earn your man card today!"

 Chapter 92 - Out of Reach

    "Uhhh, what do you mean by that?" Paul asked slightly confused. "I''m already a man!"


    "It was a joke... you earned your man card already after that match when we teamed up with the GameGo Gamers!" Gray said proudly.


    Everyone remembered how Paul had basically let his mech be destroyed piece by piece to keep protecting Stacia''s mech even after it was unable to move and nodded in agreement except for Jono who was unaware of this.


    "This time, instead of showing us your bravery, we want to see your badassery!" Gray proclaimed.


    "Bad...assery? You just made that up didn''t you?" Paul complained.


    "Maybe, but I''m sure others have used it, surely you know what I mean Geoff or Jono?" Gray asked.


    "Heck yeah!" Jono said while fist pumping with his mech.


    "It''s like, the art of being a bad ass!" Geoff exclaimed.


    Xyra, Stacia, and Yurika exchanged looks with each other and privately said to each other that men were idiots.


    As if it was perfectly timed, a volley of 8 missiles was launched from the enemy in their direction.


    This time Stacia spotted them first as she remembered where the first missile had come from and yelled "Take cover!"


    Yurika and Geoff crouched behind a large boulder, Paul raised his shield and knelt down with it covering Stacia as well, Caleb and Xyra were already behind cover due to instinctively looking for places to snipe from, and Gray and Jono could only hope the thick trees they were next to could provide enough cover for them.


    The missiles were targeted at the last known location of where Stacia was but were set to heat-seeking after a certain distance so they wouldn''t hit just ground since the enemy was at least smart enough to know that nobody would stick around in the same spot.


    The 3 missiles on the left broke off towards Yurika and Geoff, 2 missiles in the middle continued towards Paul and Stacia, and the 3 missiles on the right broke off towards Gray and Geoff.


    The 3 missiles aiming at Yurika and Geoff slammed into the boulder, shattering almost the entire boulder. Yurika and Geoff peeked up over the remains of the boulder and knew they needed to find different cover if another missile or two came towards them again.


    The 2 missiles coming towards Paul and Stacia collided with Paul''s shield, but since Paul was holding the shield directly against them, the shield took a small amount of damage this time since it wasn''t able to redirect the blast away. Gray wondered if Yurika could help him with shield handling since she had helped Gray earlier, even though it was mostly just Gray getting beaten up.


    While thinking this, the last three missiles struck the trees where Gray and Jono were taking cover behind. Unfortunately the trees could only stop one missile each since they were coming in from above and would not hit any branches from a direct shot. As soon as the missiles descended into the trees, both Gray and Jono darted for cover behind different trees than before. The two trees they were behind were hit, blasting each tree in to two parts leaving half of a tree standing and the top half getting blown away from the explosion and crashing in to other trees around it. The third missile barely missed Gray as he heard his AI, Tiara, shout "dodge left!"


    Without thinking about it, Gray dodged left as he heard this and the missile buried itself in the snow and exploded, his mech received minor damage to its legs and was covered in dirt and snow from the blast.


    "Thanks Tiara!" Gray said as he shook the debris off of his mech and tested his legs to make sure they were still working.


    "Of course Gray! We''re in this together!"


    Only Gray could hear Tiara talk, but for some reason he pictured a cute bubbly girl speaking even though Tiara didn''t have a physical body or even an avatar.


    "Amazing dodge dude!" Jono exclaimed "How did you know when to side step?"


    "My AI, Tiara, told me, the training AIs are super helpful!"


    "Tiara?" Jono stifled a laugh "What kinda girly name is that!"


    "Tiara is a girl... what else would I give her?"


    "Her?" Jono asked questioningly.


    "Yes, I treat Tiara the same as everyone else, plus I''ve never had an AI with this level of self-awareness before so I feel more comfortable this way"


    "True... the first is always your most memorable..." Jono said wistfully.


    Gray could tell he was thinking of something else altogether and grabbed a handful of snow with his mech and chucked it at Jono. The snow glob merely thudded against the mech, but was enough of a distraction to bring Jono out of his trip down memory lane.


    "Back on topic! Paul! You''re the only one with portable cover, and you happen to have that grenade launcher accessory on the spear right?"


    "Yes Gray! It only has 2 shots, but I can reload it!"


    "Good, so Paul, you are going to approach from their southern flank while hugging the edge of the map, the rest of us are going to keep them distracted by dancing in and out of sensor range from the North East front to make it look like we''re probing for an opening."


    "Ok... and that is when I go kamikaze and disrupt their formation by blasting them with grenades? I don''t think I can do that with just a two-shot grenade launcher."


    "Yes and no, I want you to go alone with your grenade launcher and get in as close as possible, but I want you to aim for the mountain peak,I want to bury them in the snow."


    "Yes, that is a great idea!"


    "Of course it is! I came up with it after all!" Gray said proudly.


    Immediately several clumps of snow came flying towards Gray''s mech as everyone pelted his mech with snowballs.


    Gray wiped the snow from his mech''s face and said "Sorry, I couldn''t resist!"


    "Careful butt head! I know where you sleep!" Yurika said pretending to be mad.


    Geoff snickered and said "We all know you do!"


    While it wasn''t possible for mechs to blush, everyone swore that Yurika''s mech turned a slight shade of pink for a brief moment.


    Gray looked over at Jono and saw that he was also picking up snow in his mech and tried his best to make a snow ball with it, but he had stopped after closing his mech''s fingers around the snow and seemed to be lost in thought.


    "Jono, what are you doing?"


    "I saw this in a movie once! I want to see if it works with the next missile volley!"


    Gray was afraid to ask because he knew he would want to try it too so instead he issued commands. "Paul, head South West, when you reach sector C5, head west and get to the edge of the map in sector A5, then proceed North. Inform us when you arrive and we''ll proceed with the rest of the plan!"


    "Yes sir!" Paul said resolutely as he picked up his shield and trotted south west in his mech towards C5.


    Gray was about to say that everyone must call him sir from now on, but he felt killing intent emanating from Yurika as she probably figured what he was going to say. Gray wisely chose not to say it and instead said "Everyone else, we''re going north to D10, keep your sensors passive Stacia, if they don''t see us they will probably keep their defensive positions."


    Various forms of confirmation from everyone as Paul made his way South West while everyone else headed north.


    Paul really like his Hoplite Mk 01, but he had to admit that in a straight line it was painfully slow compared to other mechs. It may have had fast limb speed compared to other heavy mechs, but that didn''t apply to the legs since they needed more strength than other mechs to be able to support the weight of the mech and the shield that could weigh as much as a light mech.


    Gray realized as everyone waited for Paul to get into position that he never took into account Paul''s slow movement speed, especially with the weather slowing them down, as they had already used up half of the time. While none of them had been destroyed or disabled, matchmaking would still chalk it up as a loss for them since they had taken a tiny amount of damage.


    "So... almost there Paul?"


    "...almost to the edge... let''s call it close enough!"


    "Works for me, now head north and get as close as you need to be able to get those grenades where we need them."


    "Gray, I have a problem that might make your plan worthless..."


    "I know you''re slow, but you don''t need to go nearly as far as before."


    "No... the grenade launcher doesn''t have the range to land a grenade that high!"

 Chapter 93 - Perfection

    For once, Gray was stumped... his plan of burying the enemy in snow was ruined by the fact that the grenade launcher sucks.


    "Damn it, I was looking forward to burying them too!" Gray said suddenly.


    They had been dancing in and out of the enemy''s sensor range over and over again so the enemy was wising up to it and not firing at them until they went further in. Gray was lost in his own thoughts trying to come up with another idea when Jono called out to him.


    "Hey..."


    "..." Gray didn''t respond.


    "Hey, Gray..."


    "..." Gray still didn''t respond


    "Gray!" Jono yelled then chucked his ice ball he had been carrying at Gray to get his attention.


    The ball of ice smacked hard into Gray''s mech and woke Gray up out of his own thoughts.


    "What was that for?!?" Gray yelled


    "You weren''t paying attention when I was calling out for you!"


    "Sorry Jono, was trying to figure out what to... do... I got it, thanks Jono!"


    "No problem, just remember to give me credit!"


    Gray rolled his eyes and the contacted Paul. "Paul, I have an idea that just hit me, literally!"


    "Oh do share, they''ve spotted me so 2 of them are now angling themselves to face me."


    "Can you launch grenades with a timer instead of the force of impact?"


    "Of course, I just switch modes and can set it from 4 seconds up to 1 minute."


    "How far do you think you can throw a grenade?" Gray asked as he remembered Paul was able to chuck the shield about 100 meters even though it weighed almost as much a mech.


    "Now that you mention it, I can probably throw them a lot further than this crappy grenade launcher."


    Paul looked around and found a small boulder that was probably even heavier than the grenade, picked it up, and chucked it as far as he could up the mountain. The boulder buried itself fairly high up there, only about 50 meters shy of where he was aiming for.


    "Yeah, I can do it, just need to get a bit closer."


    "We''re counting on you then Paul!" Gray said.


    "Ok, but how do I get the grenades timer to start without firing them from the grenade launcher?"


    "I''d try to aim right in front of you on the lowest setting, then pick it up!" Gray suggested


    Paul felt that made sense so he started to trudge forward again and up the slope, two enemies that had spotted him on sensors saw him moving closer so they climbed up the slope as well to get a shot at Paul.


    "Geoff and Jono, you two and I will sell it harder, try to keep their focus off of Paul as much as possible!"


    "Understood" Geoff said


    "I guess that makes sense" Jono replied.


    "Gray! I want to shoot stuff too!" Yurika complained.


    "You will, we''ll need your plasma throwers soon!"


    Yurika gritted her teeth slightly, but she trusted Gray so she merely said "It''s a promise then!"


    Gray, Geoff, and Jono moved within sensor range of the enemy, no missiles came yet, they pushed forward through the snow even more to where they got in range of their battle rifles.


    Gray and Geoff opened fire at maximum effective range while Jono still had to wait due to bringing a larger caliber battle rifle with slightly shorter range, but more stopping power.


    "Jono, you can advance as you see fit!"


    "I was going to anyways!" Jono replied as he continued to trudge past Gray and Geoff.


    When Jono moved past them, 4 of the enemy mechs were now in range of Jono so Jono received attacks from 4 different enemies while Gray and Geoff saw a cluster of 8 missiles come straight for them.


    Gray and Geoff did not back down, instead they waited for something, and that something had been Yurika as she finally yelled out "Heck yeah! My time to shine!"


    Yurika deployed her mech''s exoskeleton support and the large Gatling cannon she carried on her back was deployed in front of her mech, and her whole mech squatted slightly as it supported the rear of the gun and connected the ammo feed to her backpack.


    Unfortunately while the Gatling cannon was deployed, Yurika was unable to move unless she wanted to leave the Gatling cannon and its exoskeleton support behind.


    Yurika was enjoying herself a little too much as she started to laugh maniacally when she pulled the trigger and a stream of bullets came pouring out of the Gatling cannon. She swept the stream in the direction of the missiles and was able to shoot down six of them.


    "Watch your ammo Yurika!" Gray warned her.


    "I know! Don''t worry about me, worry about your friend!"


    Gray looked up and saw that Jono had finally got in range of his own weapon and was returning fire to the enemy mechs. Jono was a surprisingly good shot, but under the concentrated fire of 4 enemies, Jono spent most of his time pinned behind whatever cover he could find until it was obliterated.


    Stacia moved next to Yurika and would feed her sensor data when the enemy would fire missiles at them, Caleb and Xyra were feeling a bit left out at the moment as their sniper rifles were too difficult to use in their current position.


    "I''m in position!" Paul finally announced.


    "Good! We''ve moved up our line to within firing range so make it quick before they take us down!"


    Paul slammed his shield down into the ground to make himself a temporary barrier then set the timer on his grenades to the full minute. Bullets collided with his shield and it started to tip slightly forcing Paul to use one hand to brace the shield.


    "This is going to be tricky..." Paul thought to himself. He then aimed the grenade launcher straight down into the snow behind the shield and fired both grenades. The grenades disappeared into the snow forcing Paul to drop his spear with the grenade launcher attachment to fumble around in the snow to try and pick them up.


    "Crap, I got like 50 seconds before I blow myself up."


    Paul finally found the first grenade, picked it up and flung it with his mech as hard as he could. His throwing ranged definitely proved to be far superior to the grenade launchers range as he ended up over throwing his intended target by a few meters.


    "Don''t worry Paul, that should be close enough." Gray assured him.


    Paul was counting in his head down from 60 after he launched the grenades, he had a mere 20 seconds to find the second grenade and throw it before it blew up in his face. Paul pushed deeper into the pile of snow and found that the grenade had actually buried itself into the mud under the snow so he pulled it out as best he could and chucked it while counting in his head.


    "8... 7... 6... 5..." Paul watched the grenade land relatively close to where he was aiming it and felt that it should be enough.


    "Hurry up! Yurika can only defend against one more volley of missiles!"


    "3... 2... 1..." Paul finished counting then braced himself as the grenades were barely able to be seen exploding. Fortunately, a muffled cracking sound suddenly came from the top of the mountain and the peak looked as if I suddenly started sliding down the same side as the enemy.


    The sliding snow picked up speed and eventually turned into a full blown avalanche as the enemy mechs turned as they heard the roar of the snow coming down the mountains towards them. The enemy mechs found themselves knocked down under the force of the avalance and quickly bury them. The avalanche eventually reached Gray and the others, but they had found cover facing the avalanche so instead of being knocked down and buried, everyone was merely buried up to about their waist in their mechs except for Stacia.


    "Great job Paul!" Gray commended Paul amid the light cheering from everyone else.


    "Thank you sir!"


    Gray felt his own ego inflate after being called sir again, but didn''t bring it up this time, instead he gave new orders.


    "Yurika, care to melt some snow for us?"


    "Yeah! You know how hot I am of course!" Yurika said proudly.


    Gray shook his head while smiling and everyone else rolled their eyes, Yurika was able to free up Gray, Geoff and herself, but Stacia''s lighter mech had been pushed backwards and fell down.


    "Don''t worry about me, just finish them off while they can''t move!" Stacia said.


    Gray, Geoff, and Yurika moved from place to place as they executed the buried enemy mechs one at a time until finally all 8 of them were destroyed.


    Perfect victory!

 Chapter 94 - Where to begin

    Everyone was in a good mood after winning that match and not losing a single teammate, even Jono was less narcissistic.


    "That was a piece of cake thanks to my brilliant advice, right Gray?" Jono said.


    "Dude, you threw your ball of ice at me, that''s it..."


    "But it was a good throw!" Jono said proudly.


    Gray couldn''t argue against that as it did hit him square in the face of his mech.


    "Well, regardless, you listened a lot better than I thought you would."


    "What''s that supposed to mean?" Jono started to get angry.


    "It means all of us were worried that you wouldn''t take commands! We are building this team based on trust and if we can''t trust each other to not listen to each other then the person we can''t trust must go." Gray said adamantly.


    Jono hesitated for a moment then said "...Well, I''ll at stick around for now and follow your lead, I''m sure your skills are at least decent enough to get us a good position in the tournament!"


    Gray took that as the closest thing he could get to Jono accepting him as a leader for now.


    Gray added Jono to the Steel Wolves team roster and saw a notification that said "Team is at maximum capacity, purchase capacity increase for 2000 merits."


    "Well guys, it looks like 8 is the maximum we can have in an official team at the moment for free." Gray announced.


    "Hmmm... how much is it to increase?" Caleb asked.


    "2000 merits." Gray replied.


    "Let me check the forums and see how much more you get for that." Caleb said then went silent for a moment as he looked around the forums. "Wow, now I see why most teams didn''t increase their size above 9."


    "Why is that?" Gray asked.


    "Those 2000 merits only give you one more capacity, the next one costs 4000 for one more, and then 8000 for one more, but nobody knows what is after that as it seemed a little extreme to pay 8000 merits for just one more teammate."


    "Damn... well, we''ll stick with 8 for now then. Once we form a mercenary group we can get out of the limitations in the military. This damn game system really is designed to make you dependent upon the military."


    "Seems like it, but let''s hurry, we only have 13 days until the tournament." Geoff said.


    "Yeah! I can''t wait! We can also use some better weapons, those worthless pea shooters the rest of you are using are going to hurt us in the future!" Yurika said.


    "I agree, limbs used to need only a few shots to disable, but now it takes about twice as many rounds it feels like." Gray lamented.


    Yurika laughed and winked at Gray "That''s because you are a terrible shot!"


    "Coming from you, Yurika, I''d agree on that! Any tips that you can offer would be great!"


    Yurika thought for a moment then said "Tomorrow morning after lunch, why don''t ALL of us spend some time in the shooting range."


    "Why would that help us? We''re in a game piloting virtual mechs, we don''t get skills from that sort of practice." Jono said.


    Gray was about to explain it when he remembered that Jono wasn''t Diamond-tier so he wasn''t privy to the truth yet. "It''s just for muscle memory, understanding how to shoot as a human will help you improve your shooting in a humanoid mech."


    Jono folded his arms across his chest and thought about it some then shrugged his shoulders "Well, it will be a change of pace. What time do you guys meet up?"


    "Usually around 9am, but some of us like to sleep in." Stacia said while staring at Gray and Yurika.


    "That was because we went to that mixer! Not because of other things, you were there!" Gray complained.


    "Fine fine... whatever you say..." Stacia said while smiling.


    "Jono, how long are you staying on?" Gray asked Jono


    "I''ll probably stay until dinner or so, I find myself getting hungry while playing this game."


    Gray hoped the Alliance would expose the truth to the rest of the players because it was starting to confuse him trying to keep track of the virtual world and the real world.


    "Ok, let''s get in a few more matches then before logging off for the night."


    Everyone agreed and headed back in to their simulator pods.


    __________


    Later that night, Gray was wide awake in bed, he was still trying to figure out what to do about Yurika. Her telling him that she was engaged was bad enough, but to one of the founders of Alterra Corporation made it really weird.


    Gray suddenly received a message and opened it immediately when he saw it was from Yurika. "You coming over?"


    Gray replied "I would, but I do not want to get electrocuted again."


    A few seconds later, Gray received her reply "Just come over! I already told the girls and the guard you would!"


    Needing no more motivation, Gray got out of bed, slipped on some pajamas, and opened his door to leave.


    Gray found himself face to face with a giant cat head on a human body with claws lunging at him. The cat-headed thing pounced on him and felt a familiar warmth from it so he was able to settle down, especially when they cat head started to laugh while hugging him with her arms and legs.


    "Very funny!" Gray said.


    "It was! You should''ve seen your face! You were so eager to come see me and then to see that face turn into one of surprise and fear was priceless!" Yurika managed to say while laughing.


    "I totally almost peed a little! Now get in here!"


    Gray carried her into his room, slammed the door, and they enjoyed a few cups of late night coffee together... or something like that...


    __________


    "Hey..." Yurika whispered to Gray.


    "..."


    "Hey!" Yurika spoke a little louder to Gray trying to get him to wake up.


    Gray sharply inhaled and snorted before saying "No Nadia I don''t want the stick figure!"


    "What the heck are you talking about?" Yurika looked at Gray confused.


    Gray rubbed his eyes and said "Oh, sorry, was having a nightmare I think..."


    "Dork..." Yurika said softly then kissed his cheek.


    "So... does Stephen know... about us?"


    "No... and he won''t ever I hope..."


    "Still, can''t you just go against your family and say no? I mean, following your family''s wishes against your better understanding seems a bit ancient."


    "I couldn''t agree more! I would''ve ran away had I met you before I was told that I was going to get engaged, but at the same time, I''m sure they would hunt us down."


    "You make your family sound like a bunch of killers..."


    "Not exactly, but not necessarily wrong..."


    "Can you elaborate on that?"


    "My family is... or was... a long line of soldiers from what was formerly Russia, we had protected the Kremlin with our lives even as the Hegemony were knocking on the doorstep. We lost 90% of our family in that war, or so I was told. In order to preserve our family, many of the girls are married out if the man agrees to become part of the family, thus continuing the family line."


    "Hmmm, well, maybe it''s not my thing, but I think that my family should think of my own happiness first instead of what''s good for just the family."


    "Right?!? Except that I''m not as selfish as you!" Yurika teased Gray.


    "Yes, I am selfish, but that''s cause I want you all to myself, I don''t consider that selfish at all!"


    Yurika kissed Gray softly on the lips then said "You better keep your promise then! I don''t know how much more we can see each other like this without getting caught by my family or what not..."


    "I think everyone on the team would be willing to help if I asked."


    "No! I don''t want to drag everyone in to this! I didn''t even want to include you in on this... or even go this far... damn it I hate you Gray!"


    "You do know I love it when you hate me, right?"


    Yurika rolled her eyes and said "Yes, and I hate it that you love it when I hate you because it makes me love you more."


    Gray had to stop and think about that for a minute before finally saying "Ok, so it''s a good thing right?"


    "Yes idiot, unless you don''t keep your promise by August 30th"


    "Guess I''ll have my work cut out for me then!" Gray said confidently then cuddled Yurika.


    "Yup! Now cuddle me tighter, I don''t want to forget this if we never get another chance!"


    Gray cuddled Yurika tighter, he wanted to sound confident about being able to keep his promise to her about rescuing her from her own wedding, but honestly Gray was at a complete loss of even where to begin. Gray needed help.

 Chapter 95 - Morning Routines

    Gray was lying in bed with Yurika snuggled up next to him; he had the giant cat head on for some reason or another since he liked to act like a dork every now and then. Gray also wanted to see Yurika''s expression when she woke up next to him wearing it.


    Gray was still thinking about Yurika and how he was going to help her get out of her force marriage.


    "I think what I really need to determine is why Yurika was picked. I mean, that guy could honestly pick any woman he wanted probably, so why Yurika?" Gray thought to himself.


    Gray was racking his brain trying to figure out what could even possibly be the reason for it.


    "Ok, what if I put myself in Stephen Seegall''s shoes, why would I want her specifically?"


    Gray looked down at Yurika''s beautiful body that was only covered with a thin sheet as she slept on his chest and he could understand why immediately, but at the same time, he felt that to single her out specifically it would have to be for something less superficial.


    "Does he know her already? Did he fall for her after meeting her despite the huge age gap? Could it possibly even be payback of sorts for something a relative of Yurika''s did to him?"


    Too much information was missing; Gray could not answer a lot of his own questions. Gray thought he should enlist some help, but was not exactly sure who could help.


    "Hmm, I think I need to look at the Alterra Corporation first. Maybe find out how Alterra Corp formed and see if I can talk to some of the other founders, if they are still alive of course."


    Gray remembered the conversation he had earlier with Yurika how she had said that Stephen Seegall worked with Doctor Sara Watts at one point and wondered if he could talk with her.


    "I know she''s an AI now, so I can probably only interact with her in the virtual world. She''s gorgeous though so it''s a shame that her physical body is gone"


    "Damn it Gray, first you wake me up by talking to yourself, then you start talking about another woman even!" Yurika said angrily and looked up at Gray.


    Yurika looked at the giant cat head Gray was wearing and blinked twice in confusion.


    Gray stayed silent for a few seconds while Yurika stared at him then finally said "Meow"


    "Pffft¡­. Ba ha ha ha ha ha!" Yurika could hardly contain her laughter at the stupidity of it.


    After laughing at Gray while he just laid there as if everything was normal, Yurika scooted up and kissed the nose of the giant cat head.


    "So who were you talking about, I was half asleep so I didn''t quite understand what you were saying."


    "You remember Dr. Sara Watts, right?" Gray asked Yurika


    "A little bit, I do remember that she was gorgeous though!" Yurika said slightly mischievously.


    "Oh, so I''m not allowed to talk about women but you are?" Gray teased Yurika.


    "Duh, I''m a woman! You should know that I''m allowed to call other women beautiful!"


    "So does that mean I can call other men handsome or hot?"


    "Be my guest..."


    Gray shook his head at her, then pulled off the giant cat head, plopped it on her head and started tickling her mercilessly, leading Yurika to shriek loudly.


    A few seconds later, Gray''s door swung open and Geoff burst through it.


    "Everything Okay? I heard a woman scream and thought it might be you Gray!"


    Gray and Yurika were sitting up on Gray''s bed still tickle fighting when Geoff burst in and they both stared blankly at Geoff even with the giant cat head still on Yurika.


    Geoff felt very awkward suddenly "Uhhh¡­ I don''t know what you two are doing but that giant cat head freaks me out a little bit."


    Yurika picked up one of her boots and threw it at Geoff while covering herself with the bed sheet. Geoff managed to dodge the boot and then ran out of the room and closed the door behind him.


    "We should probably get up now I guess." Gray said while scratching the back of his head.


    "I guess so¡­ my boot is in the hall anyways¡­"


    Gray and Yurika both got out of bed and cleaned themselves up to begin the day, Gray kept the giant cat head of course¡­


    __________


    Princess Bang-gwi was progressing steadily with her training; she found the slow and lumbering Hegemony mechs to be surprisingly easy to control and the physical training became easier as time went on.


    Princess Bang-gwi got up as usual and felt good enough this morning that she was able to start stretching on her own without Chuhan Jwi pulling her out of bed. Princess Bang-gwi started to become more serious and had kept all of her pretty and frilly clothes packed, opting instead to wear a sports bra, spats shorts, and military issued jumpsuit.


    Princess Bang-gwi found herself admiring her own body in the mirror while she was stretching in just her sports bra and spats shorts. Her diet was always good so she did not have much extra fat, but she noticed that her body as a whole felt lighter and looked leaner.


    She only felt a little depressed when she peeked at her sports bra and felt that she was not filling it out as much as she used to.


    "I guess those are the first things to go¡­" Princess Bang-gwi said dejectedly.


    A knock came from the Princess''s door and the Princess heard Chuhan Jwi say, "Are you awake Princess?"


    Princess Bang-gwi used to feel irritated by that question because she felt that if she wasn''t awake she wouldn''t be able to respond to it until Chuhan Jwi shouted it loud enough that she did wake up. She stopped being irritated by it because when she had questioned it once a glass of cold water was splashed on her face instead.


    "Yes, just stretching Jwi!"


    Chuhan Jwi walked in with Xi¨£ng Pigu behind her.


    The Princess just finished stretching so she energetically stood up after she was done, grabbed on to Xi¨£ng Pigu and said, "I''m hungry! Let''s get some breakfast!"


    Chuhan Jwi coughed and said "Ahem, Princess, your clothes?"


    Princess Bang-gwi looked down at herself to see that she was still wearing her spat shorts and sports bra. She probably would have gone as is had nobody said anything, but since she was reminded about it she grabbed her jumpsuit and slipped into it, tying the sleeves around her waist and just wearing a sports bra on top as most of the other girls did this in the summer to keep cool. Once the actual training commenced for the day, they would untie the sleeves and wear it normally to absorb all of the sweat.


    Princess Bang-gwi and Xi¨£ng Pigu walked arm in arm like best friends towards the cafeteria while chatting away, Chuhan Jwi was a short distance behind them. Chuhan Jwi admitted that she missed chatting with the Princess like that, but she also was glad for her to make friends her own age as well.


    Once they reached the cafeteria, a few people noticed the Princess and Xi¨£ng Pigu enter, but the initial sensation of it had finally let up after a few days so she could enjoy a more peaceful meal.


    "Vinnie was going to introduce to his friends, right?" the Princess asked Xi¨£ng Pigu.


    "Yes, we should look for him!"


    They spotted Vincent at the same small table as before with his friends he had motioned towards a few days ago. Spotting them as well, Vincent waved to the 3 of them.


    Looking at their small table, they only had two empty seats. The Princess did not hesitate to take one of them and this caused Xi¨£ng Pigu to get flustered again because she wanted to sit next to the Princess, but since she was a commoner and Chuhan Jwi was a noble, she would naturally give up her seat for her.


    Chuhan Jwi smiled at Xi¨£ng Pigu and said "It''s ok, take it."


    Seeing Chuhan Jwi offering the seat to Xi¨£ng Pigu, Vincent felt the need to stand up and offered his chair to Chuhan Jwi. "Lady Chuhan, please, you may use this seat!" Vincent said while bowing slightly.


    Seeing Vincent so respectful of Chuhan Jwi surprised Vincent''s 3 friends because of his usual contempt for the nobility, but they assumed it was a good thing anyways that showed Vincent was growing up as well.


    "Hey, you going to introduce us?" one of Vincent''s friends finally spoke up.


    "I''m sorry, Lady Chuhan, Princess, and Xi¨£ng Pigu; these 3 are my closest friends from my home town, Brian, Alexander, and Sabrina."


    Brian and Alexander appeared to be brothers and even twins at that so the Princess said "So you two are brothers, right?"


    Brian and Alexander looked at each other, frowned and then turned away quickly while Sabrina and Vincent started to laugh.


    Vincent finally calmed down after the Princess, Xi¨£ng Pigu, and Chuhan Jwi exchanged curious looks with each other. "They''re not brothers, they just happen to look alike, and they HATE it!"


    "That''s a bunch of crap, I''m much better looking than Alex!"


    "At least we agree that it is crap, but I am the better looking one obviously!"


    Both of them looked at each again and looked away suddenly with a loud "Hmmph!"


    Everyone laughed together again watching them, seeing this warmed Chuhan Jwi''s heart and she hoped these sort of days could last.

 Chapter 96 - Living with Others

    Once Brian and Alexander calmed down, everyone was able to introduce himself or herself properly.


    "Pardon my manners Princess, I am Brian Lewinski." Brian saluted politely with a fist across his chest.


    "Indeed, we''re sorry you had to see us act like that right away, I am Alexander Johanson"


    Both men looked eerily similar and even had similar speech and mannerisms that it was kind of creepy to think they were unrelated. They were both just a little taller than the Princess is, had short buzzed hair, and hard blue eyes. Their faces were a little round giving one the impression that they used to be a bit heavier.


    "I just ignore them. I''m Sabrina Katava. Everyone calls me Sabrina or Kat; I''m probably the only girl that actually likes to talk to these 3 guys!"


    Sabrina could easily be called a tom boy, she had short brown hair, bright brown eyes, and she wore her jumpsuit a little bigger than most girls did to hide her figure. With her posture and relaxed attitude around the guys, you could tell she was extremely comfortable around them.


    "Hey, it''s not like we''re all virgins!" Brian said defensively


    "Yeah? Then who was it? If it was someone from our town, we should all know them." Sabrina said to tease Brian.


    "You guys can''t tell anyone because it would be rude¡­ but remember the girl I took to the October Festival last year?"


    "Natalie, right?" Alexander asked Brian.


    "Yes! It was her!"


    Alexander suddenly became extremely surprised and said "Me too!"


    Sabrina yelled out "Me too!"


    Sabrina felt everyone stare at her in shock, but she sat back as if it was perfectly normal and said, "What? Why else do you think I hang out with you guys?"


    Sabrina watched Brian and Alexander start to day dream of her and slugged both of them in the arm. "I''m kidding! I like you guys because you''re fun and don''t hit on me!"


    Brian was about to say, "Who''d want to?" when Alexander pulled his sleeve and shook his head when Brian looked at him. Wisely, Brian kept his mouth shut.


    Vincent said proudly "I am a virgin, but only because I don''t have time for women."


    Chuhan Jwi nodded and said to herself, "Someone else who understands my plight."


    Brian and Alexander looked blankly at Vincent thinking "That''s not something you should be proud of."


    The Princess slapped Vincent on the arm and said, "We can be virgins together!"


    Xi¨£ng Pigu seemed antsy and was looking around anxiously, the Princess was good at mingling with people she didn''t know, but Xi¨£ng Pigu was extremely shy around strangers.


    The Princess finally noticed Xi¨£ng Pigu''s uncomfortableness and said, "All of that aside, it is nice to meet all of you! I''m Princess Bang-gwi of the Kwin family, but please just call me Ban!" (Pronounced Bahn) The Princess said energetically.


    Xi¨£ng Pigu fidgeted slightly then said, "My name is Xi¨£ng Pigu¡­ but everyone just calls me Pi, pleased to meet you all."


    Chuhan Jwi was just watching these young adults exchange pleasantries and was going to be just a spectator, but when everyone turned to look at her, she couldn''t help it and said, "I am Chuhan Jwi; I have served the Princess since¡­ well since I was your age!"


    "You turn 19 soon Ban, right?" Xi¨£ng Pigu said.


    "Yep! Jwi has served me since I was born and she was¨C"


    A roll suddenly found itself shoved in the Princess''s mouth interrupting her sentence.


    "Princess, no need to add unnecessary details" Chuhan Jwi said softly.


    Vincent and Xi¨£ng Pigu had seen this before, but to Alexander, Brian, and Sabrina, they were amazed at how fast Jwi managed to stuff that roll in her mouth.


    Sabrina had stars in her eyes and said "Lady Chuhan, I''ve never seen someone move that fast!"


    "I''ve been training in martial arts since I was a child. That was merely a reflexive response to a spoiled girl that talks too much." Jwi smiled warmly at the Princess.


    The Princess glared at Chuhan Jwi, swallowed the roll finally, and then said, "Yeah, she is like, a master of masters, a grandmaster! Ninth Dan, right? She has more dans on her belt than she''s had dates!"


    Chuhan Jwi''s eyebrow twitched and everybody near their table got silent as they felt an icy chill coming from Chuhan Jwi as she started giving off immense killing intent.


    "Princess Bang-gwi Kwin, I KNOW you are aware of who is to blame for that¡­ you know what, I don''t think the Military is pushing you hard enough." Chuhan Jwi said icily as she grabbed the Princess by the sleeves of her jumpsuit that were tied around her waist.


    "I''m sorry! No! I promise I''ll¨C"


    Princess Bang-gwi was interrupted again by another roll shoved in her mouth. Muffled cries could be heard from the Princess as Chuhan Jwi carried her out of the mess hall.


    "No need to thank me Princess, hard work is thanks enough!"


    Nobody dared to move to help the Princess, instead Xi¨£ng Pigu, Vincent, Brian, Alexander, and Sabrina watched the proud lioness (Chuhan Jwi) carry her feisty cub (Princess Bang-gwi) out of the mess hall.


    __________


    Gray and the others had settled into a routine where they would meet up early, grind out as many matches as they could, then go to sleep and repeat the next day with very little variation. For a gamer, this was normal, but Gray started to feel like every team they faced was the same teams over and over again. He could remember each team name and which ones they would frequently lose to and which ones they had never lost against.


    3 days later, Gray woke up in his bed alone this time, it was now Saturday, August 9th.


    Gray remembered that he used to sleep in on weekends, eat a microwavable lunch, then prepare for an all day gaming session. Part of him missed those days, but being with everyone, Gray started to realize that he enjoyed being with actual people more than the virtual characters from his games. He had made a lot of ''online'' friends, but he never really felt close to any of them, at least not like he had until now.


    His family aside, Gray had never really made actual friends with anyone except for Jono, Spoon, and Carly.


    "I wonder how my family is doing, I haven''t seen or even talked to them in a few weeks!"


    Gray remembered he hadn''t checked his messages in a few days so he started to scroll through his inbox and realized he had missed A LOT of messages.


    "Tiara... are you able to access my messages?" Gray asked of his training AI that was provided to him.


    "I''m sorry Gray, the only systems I can interface with are neural link helmets found in Alliance mechs."


    "Damn, was hoping you could be used as a secretary."


    "..." Tiara didn''t reply, but Gray could somehow get the feeling that even though she was AI, she felt insulted that Gray had wanted to use her as a secretary.


    "Well, let''s sort by sender first and get rid of the obvious garbage... 301 messages containing match results, probably should just have those go to a separate folder... 29 messages from Spoon... delete all but the latest one, 10 messages from Jono... delete all... wow... that was a good chunk of my messages!"


    Gray now only had 30 unread messages so he was able to go through them one at a time finally.


    "First I''ll get Spoon''s message out of the way."


    Gray deleted all of Spoon''s messages except for the latest one because Spoon would always add the previous message to the current one making it look like one giant conversation with himself.


    After going over the message from Spoon, Gray summarized it as ''Spoon wants to go on a date with Carly.''


    "That... that would be a disaster... I want to see it!" Gray thought to himself as he added that to his ''To Do'' list.


    Gray saw two messages from Carly first one was from when she first joined Alterra Online. Gray opened up the old one that had a sentence in it and a link. "Just joined you in game, how do you like my character I made to look like me?"


    Gray clicked the link without thinking and saw a picture of Carly posing provocatively with only her arms covering her private areas. Gray probably would''ve saved it if it was the him from before, but he knew better and instead deleted the message and link right away. He did find that his finger trembled slightly and he to put a lot of effort into selecting the ''Delete'' option, but he still managed to do it.


    Gray opened the second message from Carly that came yesterday, this time the message contained no link or picture which left Gray disappointed relieved. Instead it was a fairly short message that after Gray read it, he felt it was the first time Carly was sad that he had ever seen or heard of.


    "Gray, please disregard that previous message, I''m tired of chasing you, I would''ve ended up falling for you just like she did. Take care of her or else I will grind your remains into a fine powder after she finishes tearing you to pieces!"


    Gray saw a few messages from Yurika even, two from this morning even and Gray opened up the earlier one. Just a short message "I miss waking up with you, I hate you for making me feel this way!" with a picture of Yurika laying in her bed snuggling a pillow. Gray smiled warmly at the picture, although he felt the message was a little lacking, he opened up the second message and felt better about the message in the first. "Ok, I don''t hate you, but I demand snuggles later or I''m sneaking in to Stacia or Xyra''s bed for cuddling!"


    Life was indeed better with others...

 Chapter 97 - Catching Up

    After going through more of his messages, Gray was down to his last two unread messages.


    "How did I miss this one?" Gray said to himself, as he honestly never expected to hear from her. "Kelly Lagerty, I wonder what she wants."


    Gray opened the message and read it to himself.


    "Gray, first of all, congratulations on your team getting a highlight in the promotional video at launch again. I also hope you changed your team name even though I''m sure ''Enter Team Name Here'' was unique."


    Gray remembered when he had messed up on the team name and they had used the default entry of ''Enter Team Name Here'' for a day or two.


    Kelly''s message continued.


    "Second, I know a tournament is coming up and the military will allow their top teams to join to reward them. I would like to work together with your team for the 16 versus 16 tournament bracket. I would like to show the military that players will be fine without forcing them in to the military."


    This alarmed Gray slightly since his team never went up against the military. Giacobbe, Gray later found out, ended up dropping out of the Military immediately after graduating from the Academy so he didn''t really count.


    Gray immediately replied to Kelly''s message.


    "Great to hear from you Kelly! Thanks, my team has worked hard and will continue to do so. We would love to work with your team, let me know when we can meet up!"


    Gray sent the message as soon as it was done and realized he probably should''ve put some more thought into it. Not only had Gray forgot to ask his team if they wanted to work with Kelly''s team, but he also forgot to consider how they would meet up if the main military base was located in what was once Western Germany.


    "Eh, it''ll work out somehow" Gray told himself.


    The last message was from Verona. A wry smile appeared on Gray''s face as he started to think maybe she really did want him. As usual, Gray''s delusions were swept away once he started reading the message.


    "Gray, I know you can get in touch with Gene, just let him know that I am sorry for not calling him back and I do want to see him again, but only because I believe it is disrespectful to say what I need to say in a message. If you could take me to see him in game, I would appreciate it."


    Gray furrowed his brows and had a bad premonition about what Verona wanted to see Major Valen for, and why did she want him to help? Couldn''t she just have messaged Major Valen to meet up directly?


    "Well, she might have her reasons, I will try to help her out."


    Gray sent Major Valen a message stating that Verona wanted to arrange to meet up and asked what time worked best for him. No less than 3 seconds after the message was sent did Gray receive a reply from Major Valen.


    "Anytime! Anywhere!"


    Gray felt a little pity for Major Valen as he seemed quite eager... actually he seemed a little too eager. He sent Major Valen another message that said he needed to relax as Verona seemed like the type to not like clingy and over eager men. Gray also sent a message to Verona that said nights and weekends work better for Gene (Major Valen), but he can be flexible if absolutely necessary.


    Gray considered that a decent way to say that Major Valen was available anytime while still not sounding desperate.


    Major Valen sent Gray a reply thanking him for his concern and he would try to relax.


    10 minutes later, and 32 ignored messages from Major Valen that all simply said "Anything yet?", Gray finally got a reply from Verona.


    "Thank you, I am at Laguna Base in game, it is a short trip North and West from that city we all met up in. I will send you my coordinates. You''ll have to come get me as we were banned from renting vehicles for a month since they claim we stole a truck from the depot that night."


    Gray laughed and couldn''t wait to ask her about that since she didn''t seem like someone that would make a mistake like that.


    Looking at his GPS, Gray checked the distance to get from where he was to the coordinates Verona sent. "3 hour round trip... 6 total if she wants me to take her back to her base."


    Considering how much driving he would have to do, Gray felt like he was truly getting the short end of the stick on this deal. Having Major Valen owe him a huge favor for doing it would be great though so Gray checked the time and saw it was almost noon.


    "Well, I can tell the team we''re taking a day off and that I have to head off base for a bit."


    Verona and Gray arranged a time for Gray to pick up Verona at Laguna Base and then Gray informed Major Valen that Verona would come by their base mid-afternoon.


    Gray got a quick meal, told his team they could do whatever for the day and that he had to do an errand for Major Valen, and then went to Major Valen''s office to inform him that he was going to be on his way to pick up Verona.


    Gray knocked on Major Valen''s door but got no reply. He heard some music coming from the inside and smelled something kind of odd from inside. Pushing the door opened, Gray was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of so much cologne that he almost gagged.


    In front of a mirror, Major Valen adjusted his tie. He was fully decked out in a dress suit and, from the smell that assaulted Gray, gallons of cologne. Soft music played was coming from Major Valen''s desk and a box of a few unlit candles sat open, ready to be placed.


    Gray face-palmed and was about to attempt and scold Major Valen like a puppy that had just dug out the kitchen trash and made a huge mess, but he figured that wouldn''t help any.


    Gray walked out of Major Valen''s office and sent a call to Stacia; fortunately, she picked up fairly quick.


    "Gray, what''s going on?"


    "Stacia, I need your help¡­ well, to be more specific, Major Valen will need your help. Can you spare some time and come by his office?"


    "Sure! Xyra, Yurika, and I were just about to go relax in the rec room, are they allowed to come?"


    Gray thought about it for a moment and realized this would actually be beneficial for him to get the 3 girls involved, as it would clear up any misunderstanding that could happen if Yurika spotted Gray returning to the base with Verona.


    "Yeah, sure! What is it that he needs?"


    "He''s going to meet up with Verona later casually, I''m about to leave to pick her up if that tells you anything. You''ll understand what I need when you get here."


    "¡­O-Ok¡­" Stacia said nervously.


    "Thank you." Gray said then hung up with Stacia.


    Gray walked back in to Major Valen''s office and kicked the door hard enough so that Major Valen would notice him.


    "Corporal! Perfect timing! How do I look?" Major Valen said while exuding a degree of confidence that could be considered admirable.


    "Sir¡­ I''m on my way to go pick up Verona, just wanted to inform you. Don''t take it personally, sir, but I''ve sent for reinforcements. They will help you get ready!"


    "Good! I wasn''t sure how to style my hair and couldn''t pick out a good bouquet of flowers on my own."


    "Sir¡­ just relax until they get here." Gray was pretty sure this man hadn''t had any romantic relationships in a very long time, assuming he''s even had some.


    "Alright Corporal, I was getting a tad excited so I''ve been starting to feel light-headed anyways."


    Gray didn''t want to tell him that the light-headedness was from the buckets of cologne that almost smelled like old gasoline.


    Gray walked out of Major Valen''s office again to help clear his own head and saw Stacia, Yurika, and Xyra walking towards Major Valen''s office.


    "Hey! Why didn''t you tell us old hard ass wanted help earlier? We would be happy to help him!" Yurika said happily.


    "It''s¡­ it''s not as simple as it seems¡­" Gray said smugly. "You''ll know what I mean when you see him."


    This caused all 3 girls to look at each other in a slightly confused manner and then approach the door.


    "I need to go pick up Verona, thanks again girls!" Gray said quickly before Stacia opened the door to Major Valen''s office.


    Yurika then stood expectantly in front of Gray and she held out her hand. Gray reached out and gave her hand a squeeze before turning to leave.


    "Wait! Where is it?" Yurika yelled at him.


    "Where is what?" Gray said now confused.


    "You know¡­ a good morning¡­ and now goodbye¡­ kiss¡­" Yurika struggled to say ''kiss'' which Gray found quite endearing. Yurika always seemed so unrestrained, but she was actually quite shy when it came to love and affection.


    Gray pulled her towards him and they both closed their eyes as they met with a sweet kiss. Behind them both Xyra and Stacia were looking on with a touch of jealousy.


    As soon as Gray left, Stacia sighed and said to Yurika "I want to find someone like that." with Xyra nodding in agreement.


    "We can share him if you want" Yurika said teasingly.


    Stacia and Xyra blushed a deep shade of red and Stacia said, "I don''t mean him! I mean someone that I want to give my everything for."


    "Oh! I''m sure you''ll find someone, maybe even closer than you think." Yurika said with a smile.


    Xyra whispered to Yurika "How would we share?"


    Yurika patted Xyra on the cheek and said, "You''re so precious!"


    Stacia opened the door to Major Valen''s office and all 3 girls were bombarded by the smell of cologne. All 3 girls frowned when they saw Major Valen styling his hair with a jar of hair gel in front of a mirror wearing a suit that could be taken to presidential ball. The soft music and candles that were now lit made the atmosphere very awkward for the girls.


    "Thanks for helping me get ready Corporal Winchester, Corporal Oldland, and Corporal Erita."


    "Erita?" both Yurika and Stacia said while looking at each other, then at Xyra.


    "¡­family name¡­"


    Stacia and Yurika nodded, they had never heard her last name before so it was just kind of weird hearing it for the first time.


    The girls then turned their looks at Major Valen and Yurika stepped forward first "Sir, you need help, please don''t resist¡­ Xyra, lock the door."


    Xyra slowly closed the door and locked it; Major Valen gulped as the girls eyed him judgingly.


    "We''ll try to be gentle." Yurika said sweetly.


    For the first time in many years, Major Valen felt fear as the 3 lionesses surrounded him.

 Chapter 98 - Picking up Verona

    Gray drove all the way out to Laguna Base leaving Major Valen in the hands of the 3 girls.


    "He should be alright, right?" Gray said to himself. "Yeah, he should be fine."


    Meanwhile... Major Valen was stripped and shoved into the shower.


    "Wash off that gasoline first!" Yurika yelled at him.


    Xyra and Stacia cleaned up the candles and incense and aired out the office as best they could.


    While Major Valen was showering, they tossed the dress suit aside and looked at his current wardrobe.


    "We''re in trouble." Stacia said


    "Yes... not much to work with." Xyra whispered


    "Do you guys know anyone with a decent wardrobe?" Yurika asked.


    They ruled out the 5 guys on their team. They had seen Gray''s, Geoff''s, Paul''s, and Caleb''s wardrobes and realized they needed help too, but it wasn''t exactly a priority. Jono wouldn''t have done anyways because he was quite a bit shorter than Major Valen.


    "Well, I think we can combine some of Gray''s wardrobe with what Major Valen has... this shirt..." Stacia pulled out a frilly shirt that looked like something from opera house and examined it.


    "Maybe convert this into a polo?"


    Yurika and Xyra nodded


    "I can''t sew, can either of you?" Yurika said


    Xyra shook her head and Stacia hesitantly said "In an emergency..."


    Major Valen walked out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel and said proudly "I can sew."


    The three girls looked at him in surprise, but looking at his wardrobe, it started to make sense as none of his clothes had tags or brand logos on them except for his military stuff and a few of his other outfits like the dress suit.


    "You''ll make a good wife some day!" Yurika said while clapping Major Valen on the back.


    "Wife?" Major Valen said curiously and looked at Xyra and Stacia.


    Both of them had no clue why Yurika called Gray, and now Major Valen, wives, so they just shrugged in response.


    "We don''t know how Verona is going to dress so we have to be prepared for multiple possibilities!" Stacia said. "Get Gray to report her outfit!"


    "Yes ma''am!" Yurika said while saluting.


    "Xyra! We need a gift! Verona is a strong independent woman that loves cute things, her favorite color is purple! Get to it!"


    Xyra saluted Stacia as well and then ran off to go find a suitable gift.


    "Reporting ma''am, Gray has just about reached Laguna Base and should be picking up Verona soon!" Yurika said.


    Stacia turned to look at Major Valen, somehow she was now wearing a general''s hat, an eye patch, had a pipe in her mouth, and had developed a grizzled war veteran''s stature.


    "Ok, listen up! Major Valen, I need you to sew a polo shirt using this same material before Eagle 1 returns with the package! Can you do it?"


    "Sir yes sir!" Major Valen said saluting, he then went to a large cabinet in the back and opened it up revealing a large supply of various cloth and fabric and a sewing machine.


    "Reporting General Oldman! Eagle 1 has the package and is returning to base, ETA fifteen hundred hours!"


    "How''s the package dressed?" Stacia barked while switching the pipe from one side of her mouth to the other.


    "Ma''am, the package is wearing casual! I repeat, the package is wearing casual!"


    "Alright! Corporal Winchester! I need you to raid the stockpile of clothes and find a pair of khaki pants or as close to it as possible! Do not come back without it even if you have to die in the process!"


    "Ma''am, yes ma''am!" Yurika said and she saluted and ran off to raid the guy''s wardrobes.


    "Alright! We''re going to take this date by the balls!" Yurika said ferociously while clenching her fist.


    Paul just happened to witness all of this as he was peeking in from the window after he saw it suddenly open when Stacia and Xyra were trying to air it out and decided it was best to leave before he was noticed.


    "Corporal Watkins! Get your scrawny ass in here!" Stacia barked as Paul tried to sneak away.


    Paul was fearful of Stacia at this moment and ran in to Major Valen''s office without delay, then saluted and said "Corporal Watkins reporting to the General, ma''am!"


    Stacia glared at him through her one eye that was visible and switched the pipe to the other side of her mouth. She got up and started pacing in front of Paul while he dared not to move at all.


    Stacia stopped pacing and stood squarely in front of Paul, she then spit the pipe out, grabbed Paul by the collar, pulled him down and kissed him forcefully, then pushed him away. "Dismissed Corporal!"


    Paul stood there in a daze after Stacia pushed him out of Major Valen''s office, then walked off in a very good mood.


    __________


    When Gray finally reached Laguna base, he saw Verona in a long white tunic top, blue jeans, and open-toed sandals. He reported this to Yurika since she had asked him to find out what Verona was wearing. Gray asked her why she wanted to know what Verona was wearing, she merely replied with that it was orders from the General. Gray wisely felt it would be best to leave it at that.


    "Verona!" Gray called out to Verona.


    "Gray! Good to see you again!" Verona approached Gray and hugged him.


    "Can you show me around your base a little bit before we head out?" Gray not only wanted to buy time, but he also was genuinely curious as he had never been to another military base.


    "Um... I guess so! I really don''t know much about this base and I''m not even on a team. I honestly wouldn''t be in this game right now if it weren''t for the fact that Alterra requires it now from us employees. It''s almost like they want us to live in the game."


    Gray laughed slightly at this thinking to himself "If only you knew this wasn''t a game."


    "So... then what do you do while you''re on here if you don''t join a team?" Gray asked.


    "I guess you could say I''m more of a support, I chat with pilots, learn about this game world, and have gotten some of the NPCs to show me how to maintain mechs somewhat!"


    Gray was surprised "I never pictured you as wanting to be a grease monkey!"


    Verona laughed, "I like to work with my hands I''ve discovered! Plus, since this is a game, I don''t get dirty in real life."


    "Maybe you''ll discover that you like working with your hands in real life too!"


    "Heh, honestly I find it satisfying... something about these huge pieces of machinery that just gets me going." Verona''s voice lowered and she entered a slight trance as she appeared to be thinking about something pleasurable.


    Gray just stared at her without blinking and Verona came back to reality, coughed, and said "I mean, I just enjoy fixing what''s broken."


    "Admirable!" Gray said honestly. "Where is your mech bay then?"


    "Over here!" Verona grabbed Gray''s arm and pulled him towards their base''s mech bay.


    Gray counted the number of bays and found that Laguna base had the same amount as his own. While Gray didn''t see the number of bunks or simulator pods or even hibernation pods, he felt it was safe to assume that Laguna base housed about the same number of pilots as his base since they had the same capacity for mechs as his.


    "Nice, it''s the same as ours!" Gray said.


    "Not surprising if you think about it. If they want to spread out the power equally each base should support the same amount of pilots." Verona analyzed.


    "I kind of expected that, but I just wanted to make sure. They don''t make it easy to get from base to base like they do in most games."


    "What do you mean?" Verona asked


    Gray remembered that Verona was never a gamer so she wouldn''t understand what he meant. "Well, in most massive multiplayer online games, some sort of transportation system is given to the players to allow them to travel quickly between major cities, bases, or areas. This helps keep the players playing longer instead of wasting time going from place to place."


    Verona nodded her head "Yeah, they''re really pushing the whole simulation thing to the limit here from what other players have told me. Could have to do with it being the first full dive virtual reality game, but who knows."


    Gray almost said "I actually do know!" but instead just shrugged. "Well, how is the military staff here? Do you guys have a hard ass major or someone of similar rank that runs things around here?"


    "Military staff? Oh you mean NPCs! Yeah, ours is Major Rhodes, I have never had much interaction with him, but the other players here say he is a nutcase and loves the military a little too much."


    Gray realized that that was his first impression of Major Valen as well, he figured that each officer in charge of a base with players was given similar instructions on how to behave to make it seem more like a game. After getting to know Major Valen a bit, Gray realized he was a lot more human than he seemed.


    "Does yours pull clipboards out of somewhere and use them as weapons as well?" Gray asked Verona.


    "What? No! That''s hilarious though! Does yours do that?"


    "Yeah, we still can''t figure out where he pulls them out from."


    Verona laughed "Well, I hope you do, and then tell me, I would like to use that trick to store tools!"


    "Yes ma''am!" Gray said while saluting Verona.


    "Silly man, don''t salute me, I saw the mark on your sleeve, you''re a corporal and I''m still a private!"


    "I know, I''m just messing with you since it felt like you were ordering me."


    "Fair point, in that case, take me to your base, I still need to see Gene. And I''m sorry again, this would''ve been so much easier if he could leave his base or if I could rent a truck."


    "Not a problem... maybe you should just move to our base?"


    Verona didn''t reply for a second as she seemed to be thinking it over then finally said, "I''ll think about it..."


    Gray was a bit surprised she said that so he merely nodded in reply and they got into Gray''s truck to head back to the base Gray was stationed at.

 Chapter 99 - Eagle 1 Returns to the Nest

    Gray and Verona drove back to Gray''s base. They chatted about various subjects, nothing important really, although Verona did seem interested in how things were going with Yurika.


    "We''re seeing each other, I guess?" Gray said a little unsure.


    "Well, you are or you are not, you need to be clear with her otherwise it will only hurt her!" Verona lectured Gray.


    "It''s not that... it has some complications." Gray said and he explained the circumstances around Yurika''s forced marriage to Verona.


    "That... is troublesome indeed." Verona thought for a minute. "Why her though?"


    "That''s exactly what I''m trying to figure out! She doesn''t know him anywhere from the past and he isn''t exactly keeping a close eye on her as far as I can tell!"


    "Just kidnap her then and beat the guy up if he tries to take her back..."


    Gray blinked twice as he stared at Verona, her beautiful face had an evil grin on it causing Gray to pause as he never expected her to suggest that.


    Verona laughed at Gray''s expression and said "I''m kidding! Seriously though, I''ll see what I can find out about this guy for you. Yurika is a wonderful woman, although a bit immature, but that is part of her charm sometimes."


    Gray said cheekily, "Does that mean you find yourself attracted to her as well?"


    Verona playfully slapped Gray "Not that way, pervert! I mean I''m drawn to her personality, she''s open, loud, and full of life. A lot of the things that I used to be before..." Verona let her voice trail off and didn''t complete her thought.


    "Before what?" Gray asked.


    "I''ll see how today goes... I don''t really know you well enough to share that yet, but I do feel that I can trust you so just be patient."


    Gray felt it must be something fairly heavy if Verona wasn''t willing to share yet and let it go as if it was never brought up. "So, what do you know of Alterra Corporation?"


    "Not that much... I was once asked to pick up some documents from their research division and got a peek at it, but I was trying to fend off this weird researcher that was drinking Dr. Pepper because he kept flirting with me and calling me Verona-chan."


    Gray stifled a laugh picturing Ginro flirting with Verona while she had the same expression of disdain he can recall from when he was still working with her at his old programming job. "Yeah, that''s Ginro for you, he''s actually not that bad once you get past that part of him."


    "How do you get past that part?"


    "Might have to knock him out." Gray said bluntly.


    Verona laughed melodiously and Gray smiled at her. "Hey, your laugh used to be... well... super annoying, what happened?"


    "Nothing happened, it just seems that even when I don''t pay attention to it my laugh is still normal in the game."


    Gray was super relieved to hear this because he still had at least 4 hours total left with her in the truck since he had to drop her back off later, and if that terrifyingly obnoxious laugh came out even once he would have to pull the truck over after hearing it each time.


    "That''s good! So my next question... why can''t you rent a truck?"


    Verona sighed and said "Carly, Beth, and I thought that since this was a game, the trucks were free to use for players, so we each took one and drove like maniacs towards New Venice. Beth ended up wrecking hers though, when I smashed in to her truck. That was also one reason why I had Gene take me home since it was cramped in their with 3 people. Long story short, we found out you had to pay to use them and since we only brought one of the three back, we were suspended from even renting a truck for a month."


    "You told me you only stole one truck."


    "...and that''s all they could prove since we only showed up in one truck at New Venice and returned to Laguna Base with one truck. Did you know Carly is one hell of a driver I must say!"


    Gray shook his head, his perfect image of Verona was slowly faltering in his head, and honestly he thought she was better this way anyways. "I''m just glad you''re alright! Bullhorn is a bit brave and she can get very reckless!"


    "Who is bullhorn?"


    "Carly! She didn''t tell you?"


    "No, she seemed a little loud to me, but not in a bad way. She was actually very sweet... and talked about you a lot, at least she did before the mixer."


    Gray felt a small pang of sadness at this, but realized it was for the better since the longer she let her infatuation continue, the more it would''ve hurt her. "She earned that nickname from being the battle cry before the start of large battles in other online games, at least that is what she says. Spoon says it was because she got drunk at a party, put on a viking helmet, and stabbed somebody with one of the horns when she charged at them."


    "Ok, Spoon? Who thinks of these names?"


    Gray sighed and said "I didn''t make that one up! You probably know him as Jim, but he claims he got that name for being a master of spooning. Of course the sad truth is that he got it because of an accident that involved him smashing his own teeth in and damaging his jaw while he was running with a spoon in his mouth."


    "Oh! He''s that tall muscular guy with glasses that follows Carly around timidly, right?"


    Gray had to stop and think because Spoon had changed his physical proportions dramatically for the game. "Yeah, he was a bit pear-shaped before, Ok more like pumpkin shaped. Now I guess he thinks he has a better chance with Carly if he becomes tall and muscular. I do kinda miss his lisp though."


    "Well, when you log off you can see him in his normal appearance. Speaking of which, when DO you log off? I have never seen you or anyone on your team say they''re going to log off ever."


    "I don''t log off hardly ever I admit, this is now my job so I''ve become more comfortable here."


    Gray couldn''t lie to Verona, but he had to be careful not to reveal anything.


    "Yeah, I kinda figured it was something like that. You seem more confident here... I find it very attractive." Verona put her hand on Gray''s thigh after she said this.


    Gray swerved the truck slightly in surprise and Verona took her hand back and laughed.


    "I''m sorry, I know you''re happy with Yurika, I just wanted to mess with you!"


    Gray had to hunch over slightly now while driving and tried not to look at Verona next to him.


    "What''s wrong, Gray? I''m sorry! I didn''t think that would offend you!" Verona said anxiously.


    "You didn''t offend me or upset me at all, honest! Something just suddenly came up and I have to look away from you for a minute."


    Verona tilted her head not understanding quite what Gray meant, then a light bulb seemed to turn on in her head and she smiled as her face turned a little red.


    "Glad to see I still can charm you even with all of these beautiful younger girls around you."


    "Age has nothing to do with it, and you''re only 4 years older than me, I actually had a huge crush on you when we worked in the same building."


    "Why didn''t you say anything?"


    "Because all of us guys did, even some of the women probably too! I figured that you were constantly hounded all of the time by us so it would be better to just let you be."


    Verona laughed "Yeah, I hated it. The more egotistical men would try to show off or flaunt themselves in front of me, some would even tease me by doing holding something just out of reach from me then force me to step closer to grab it. That only happened twice though because the second time someone did it I stepped on his toes with my heel."


    "I know... it must''ve been awful being the office goddess!" Gray said jokingly.


    "Honestly it was... If it weren''t for some of the other women being friendly with me, I would''ve been all alone at work. You were actually one of the more popular guys we talked about sometimes."


    Gray opened his mouth in surprise "Me?!?"


    "Yes you! Your body could use a little maintenance, the way you dressed was disastrous, and you mumbled sometimes, but you have a good looking face, were always polite to everyone, held doors open for people, and were good to talk to when we caught you in a talkative mood."


    "Wait... so I could''ve been the office god?!?" Gray said with stars in his eyes.


    "Pffft... don''t get ahead of yourself, you weren''t rich enough nor attractive enough."


    "Well, us guys turned you into the office goddess, did you turn one of us into the office god?"


    "Nope, bunch of bums you all were! Actually the only one that could turn us all into naive teenagers again was the young heir of Alterra Corporation, Stephen Seegall... early 30s, gorgeous, rich, and never a scandal against him despite the throngs of women that chased him."


    Gray tuned her out when she started describing the guy but his attention focused back 100 percent when she said the name ''Stephen Seegall''. "I thought Stephen Seegall was in his 50s if not older..."


    "Well, if he is he hides it well! Maybe you''re thinking about his father?"


    Gray lost himself in thought for a bit, he felt that he had finally grasped a clue about this Stephen Seegall that is engaged to Yurika and that he had somewhere to go with it.


    "Could you find out everything you can about that Stephen Seegall? It may just be the one you''re talking about is possibly a Stephen Seegall Junior, but I feel like this could be something..."


    Gray let his mind wander and only came back to his senses when Verona said that they''re at Gray''s base. Gray thought "Time to see how the girls did!" and he messaged Yurika that he was back with Verona.


    __________


    Yurika perked up when she saw the message from Gray, then stood up at attention and saluted General Stacia "Reporting ma''am! Eagle 1 has returned to the nest with the package!"

 Chapter 100 - Veronas Past

    Gray received instructions from the girls that Major Valen was ready and they were just giving him some pep talks. Gray was honestly afraid to ask for more details on that so instead asked Verona where and when to meet up with Major Valen.


    "Major Valen? Who is that?"


    Gray cursed himself and had to think of something quick.


    "He''s my superior officer, but I imagine we''ll run into him eventually." This technically wasn''t a lie, so while it did sound strange, Verona was not suspicious.


    "If you say so, might be interesting to meet someone that can order your lazy butt around even if it''s only in a game!" Verona said with a smile.


    "I''m not THAT lazy! At least... not anymore..."


    "I can''t say for sure since I don''t see you much on here, but given how loyal your friends are I''d say you''re at least working hard enough to earn their trust." Verona said while patting Gray''s arm.


    Gray blushed slightly and then felt himself shudder as he felt intense killing intent coming from nearby. Looking at the officer''s quarters, he saw Yurika peeking at him through the window, her teal twin tails appeared to be bristling and her eyes were red. Next to her, Major Valen stood glaring at Gray, he didn''t look angry at all, and that frightened Gray as much as Yurika did.


    Gray gulped and started to sweat, Verona turned to look where Gray had looked before and only saw Major Valen smiling nicely and waving at her.


    "Oh, there is Gene!" Verona said


    "Yeah, well, now is as good a time as ever, I''ll take you to our Diamond-Tier rec room and you can meet up with Gene there, it''s usually empty at this time of day."


    "Ok, I didn''t know Gene was a Diamond-Tier."


    "He''s not, but he has... special status here so he can get in without being escorted by a Diamond-Tier"


    "Ok, I''ll find somewhere comfortable to relax... um... I do have one question though Gray... Would you consider Gene to be a friend of yours?"


    Gray thought about it for a moment, he didn''t hate Major Valen, actually felt grateful towards him. From the information and help he gave him earlier with how to setup an independent mercenary group, the advice given, and even his straightforward personality, Gray did like him.


    "Yeah, I''d consider him a friend."


    "That''s good... can you wait close by then just in case?"


    Gray was a little confused "Just in case what? Are you afraid he''s going to attack you or something?"


    Verona laughed "Oh no, not at all! Gene is a giant pussycat, I want you there for him though."


    Gray merely nodded and didn''t ask for more detail as her saying that was quite ominous to him.


    Gray sent out a message to Yurika that said to send Major Valen over to the Diamond-Tier rec room in a minute or two.


    Gray paid for Verona and himself to enter the lounge and the door opened up for them.


    Seeing Gray pay without even asking her, Verona then pinched Gray''s cheek and said, "Glad to see your parents raised you to be polite, but you should also consider the other woman''s feelings, I like to at least get a chance to offer to pay for things sometimes."


    "Thanks, I''ll keep that in mind then. Remember though, I''m sometimes selfish and I like to take or do what I want." Gray said with a grin.


    "Hmm, so since you never tried to take me, does that mean you don''t want me?" Verona said teasingly with a seductive smile. She then turned away from Gray before he could respond and added "I''ll be over here, sit somewhere out of listening range please."


    Verona walked over to the lounge area and sat on a couch with her legs crossed, resting casually.


    Gray finally recovered from his stupor and decided to head over to the bar. He has used it once before, but the whole bar experience he found was lacking here as it needed a few more people and a human bartender.


    Gray thought to himself "Well, at least the AI bartender doesn''t need to be tipped and never gets the drinks wrong, not that it''s hard to get a plain fountain drink wrong."


    Major Valen appeared in the entryway and walked down the stairs onto the main floor of the rec room. Verona waved to him and called out "Over here Gene!"


    Major Valen smiled warmly at her, this creeped Gray out a little as Gray watched him approach her. The only smile Gray had ever seen on Major Valen was the kind one gives when trying to hide their anger.


    Verona stood up and hugged Major Valen, although a bit awkwardly as his enthusiasm from earlier seems to have been tamed thanks to Stacia, Xyra, and Yurika.


    "Good choice leaving him with them" Gray thought to himself.


    Gray watched them both sit down across from each other and then felt it was rude to stare, instead he did his best to listen, but unfortunately he couldn''t hear a word so he moved to a corner where the chair looked comfortable and he could rest his eyes. When Gray sat down leaned back, he was suddenly able to hear everything and started trying to figure out why.


    Looking up at the ceiling, Gray saw that the lounge and bar shared a curved ceiling that was covered in thin and tightly set terracotta tiles. Behind him was one of the pillars where the ceiling curved more to blend in to it and the opposite pillar was where Major Valen and Verona were sitting.


    "Oh come on, I hate making these kinds of moral decisions" Gray said to himself.


    Gray''s proverbial devil and angel once again appeared on each shoulder. The angel was shaking his head and pointing at a seat away from the pillar, telling Gray to move. The devil was smiling and putting his hands behind his head, telling Gray to just sit back and relax.


    Gray flicked the angel on the forehead and sat back to relax as the devil did a victory pose while the angel rubbed its forehead and both faded away. Now Gray only had to not make a sound and he could listen in as if he was sitting next to them.


    "It''s um... good to see you again Verona." Major Valen said nervously.


    "You as well, I''m sorry for making this so difficult on you, having to meet me suddenly and all." Verona said sweetly and she reached out and gave Major Valen''s hand a gentle squeeze.


    "Not at all! I was slightly afraid you had forgotten about me since you didn''t return my call."


    "About that..." Verona stopped speaking for a moment as if she wasn''t sure how to continue.


    "Oh, I got you something." Major Valen said as he reached into his pocket and produced a small white box with a tiny red ribbon on it the placed it on the coffee table in front of Verona.


    "You didn''t have to do that..." Verona picked up the box and opened it slowly. She revealed a warm smile that was the same smile you give an old friend after seeing them for the first time in many years.


    Verona pulled out the gift, it was a simple silver charm bracelet, but only one charm was currently on it, a purple cat sitting up straight. She undid the clasp and put it on her left wrist and then held the cat charm with her right fingers to look at it fondly.


    "I used to have this same charm as a young girl... my mother told me I was like a cat... independent, mischievous, and playful. She also said it was because I was picky about who I was affectionate with and had a fickle personality."


    Major Valen smiled and scratched the back of his head and reminded himself to give Xyra a lot of merits, as much as he could without looking suspicious.


    "That makes this so much harder... I felt I had to tell you in person..."


    Major Valen, and even Gray who was eavesdropping, felt their stomachs drop.


    "Listen, Gene, you''re a great guy but... son of a... I''m sorry, I''m probably sounding like every other girl from the past..."


    Major Valen looked down dejectedly.


    "Oh my god! I''m so sorry! I didn''t mean to make it sound like you''ve been rejected a lot! Really! That came out much worse than I intended it to!" Verona said flustered.


    At this point Gray was holding back tears trying not to burst out with laughter as he was clutching his stomach and covering his mouth.


    "Verona, don''t worry about it... My wife left me years ago. I made a promise to both her and my country, but could only keep one of them."


    "That''s so..." Verona bit her lip and wanted to reach out to hug Major Valen, but knew it was better not to. Verona then took a deep breath and said, "I married fresh out of college, he was a year ahead of me from the same university. After we were married, he suddenly started working longer hours. I didn''t think anything of it at first, but my instincts were screaming something was wrong."


    Verona stopped for a moment to gather her thoughts again and then continued, "He came home late one night after I had prepared dinner and was waiting up for him, he smelled of booze and women''s perfume. I asked him where he was and he said he had to work late and one of the other guys brought some beer to work to make it go by easier and the perfume was just some body spray he used to make himself fresher through the night. I knew he was lying, but I told myself it could''ve been true.


    Verona started to look very sad as her story continued, "A few more weeks passed like this and I couldn''t take it anymore so I followed him to work one day. He left work at his normal time, but instead of heading home, he walked over to a bar 2 blocks away. 30 minutes and he still hadn''t came out, so I went in..."


    Verona started to become upset as she forced herself to continue, "I saw him, 2 of his coworkers, and 3 girls, barely of drinking age, having a good time together. I saw my husband call one of the girls over and she sat on his lap and kissed him then nuzzled into him. I was furious so I walked over to them, my husband froze, but when the girl in his lap asked who I was, my husband merely said ''I don''t know, can I help you miss?''"


    A single tear streaked down Verona''s cheek and she continued "I returned home, took everything that was mine, even some that was his, and went back to my parent''s house. The next day he had sent divorce papers over to my parent''s house without even trying to work it out, not that he would have been able to, but I just wanted to scream at him!" Verona''s fist slammed into the table.


    "I haven''t been able to keep a boyfriend once since then, if they lie to me even once I can not trust myself with them. You lied to me about who you are and have lied to me about what you do even. I can understand if you don''t want to bring up the job part, but say so instead of lying about it. If you have to lie about who you are, then you aren''t ready for a relationship."

 Chapter 101 - Forget me not

    Verona started to walk away when Major Valen suddenly stood up.


    Major Valen saluted and then said loudly, "Miss Verona! I am Major Eugene Valen! I am an officer for the Alliance Military. Due to my rank and the project I am part of, I am unable by court order to say more. I am not a player; I am what you call a NPC."


    Verona stopped and turned around "NPC? How is that possible? You seem so human!"


    "I am real; every single NPC you see is a real person. I apologize but I am unable to elaborate more and may have already crossed a line just telling you this."


    Verona walked up to Major Valen and put her hand on his cheek. "You should''ve said exactly that, Gene. I wouldn''t have minded that or even that you were self-conscious about your name. You are so confident that seeing it give a little bit is endearing to me."


    Verona paused and thought to herself before continuing, "Give me time to consider things. I have been set in my ways for so long that it''s hard to change and while I know you didn''t lie for selfish reasons, it was still a lie and am not sure I want to start a relationship with that. Don''t wait around for me though because that would be unfair for both of us. If I see you one day happily with another woman, I will congratulate her for finding a good man."


    Major Valen looked down and nodded.


    "Miss Verona¡­ if you wish, I can have you sent back to your own base so we don''t have to trouble Corporal Wilhelm anymore."


    "Hmm, that''s very kind of you Gene. I''m guessing that being an NPC has some advantages!"


    Major Valen smiled slightly and shrugged.


    "Can we do that later then? I want to chat with some of the girls on Gray''s team."


    Major Valen nodded again and Verona leaned in and kissed him gently on the cheek.


    "Thank you, I will message you later." Verona said sweetly as she walked towards the door and waved to Gray before leaving.


    Gray got up and returned to the bar while Major Valen stood their alone. Eventually Major Valen came to his senses and walked over to Gray. Gray patted the stool next to him, pulled out two glasses, and poured each of them a glass of whiskey.


    Gray took a sip first, scrunched his nose a little due to the taste and slid the other glass over to Major Valen. Major Valen took a sip and made a face similar to Gray.


    "Corporal¡­ this tastes like shit¡­" Major Valen said sullenly.


    "Yeah, it does taste like shit¡­" Gray replied.


    No more words were said as the two men silently drank their whiskey.


    __________


    Gray was starting to feel tipsy after just one glass since he normally never drinks, but Major Valen seemed fine even after his fourth.


    "I''ll go back ahead of you sir¡­ and I''m sorry¡­"


    Major Valen nodded and took the bottle of whiskey from Gray, poured himself another glass, and downed most of it quickly.


    "I better get back to work as well¡­" Major Valen put his glass down after a final gulp and left behind Gray.


    __________


    Gray looked back at the rec room and felt that it could be used for so much more since only 12 people on the base could use it aside from some of the base staff. He felt it could hold about 50 people in the lounge and bar area. He imagined if he moved some of the seats around and pushed the video arcade systems against the wall they could fit 100 people easily.


    "Even if I can get every Diamond-Tier on base to help, we could only bring in 3 people each. Including the 12 Diamond-Tiers, that would make just 48 people." Gray thought to himself.


    "I don''t think it would be a good idea to bother Major Valen about this now, I''ll get everyone else''s opinion first."


    Gray sent out a quick message to his team, except for Jono since he wasn''t a Diamond-Tier, and asked them if they would be free later for a pajama party.


    He got a reply fairly quick from the guys.


    Caleb said he would be spending the night in the virtual world, Paul said he could come and was just reading in his room, Geoff said he was out with Beth but would make it back in time.


    "Huh, I wonder what Caleb is doing in the virtual world¡­ dare I ask?" Gray mused to himself. "Yeah, I think I do!"


    Gray sent Caleb a message asking him what he had going on in the virtual world.


    Caleb replied after a minute and said, "I fear that my prolonged absence is detrimental to the continuous optimum performance of the various projects I have entrusted to the various AI constructs."


    Gray was intelligent enough to understand what he meant and decided to tease Caleb in his reply, "Caleb, just admit that you miss some of them."


    Caleb replied, "Fine, I admit I long for some of their company¡­ Tifa, Celeste, Terra, Lulu¡­"


    Gray pictured Caleb surrounding himself with all of these female characters from different F***l F*****y games and had to admit that he would miss them too if they were human. Remembering what Verona told him earlier, Gray thought it would be best to ask Caleb if he could look in to Stephen Seegall while he was over there.


    A call finally came in from Caleb. "Gray, messaging is slow, just call next time!"


    "Sorry about that, well, can you look in to him for me? Might be more than one of them, but I''m looking for the one that is at the top of Alterra Corporation."


    "What for?" Caleb said slightly nervously, he remembered a bit ago when Alterra Corporation gave him a warning not to snoop around things regarding Alterra Online.


    "It wouldn''t be right for me to tell you why behind her back, but just know that it is very important for myself as well as Yurika and may even affect if she can continue to stay on our team come the start of the war."


    "Hmm¡­ works for me, her kill count is higher than any 3 of ours combined so it would be a huge loss to our overall power if we lose her."


    "Caleb, are you saying we''re useless without her?"


    "Not at all, but do you want to be without her?"


    Gray didn''t need to even think about it before saying "Of course not!"


    "Likewise¡­ plus, I think she likes you so you might want to consider advancing down that avenue."


    Gray recalled that Caleb saw Yurika in his bed and himself strutting around in nothing but his socks and wondered if Caleb was messing with him or just that dense. "I''ll¡­ I''ll consider that as encouragement then!"


    "Good, I''ll let you know what I find out then." Caleb said and then hung up.


    Gray saw he received a reply from Yurika when he was talking to Caleb "Hey! Come say goodbye to Verona before she leaves soon! We''re in my room!"


    Gray didn''t hesitate to reply that he was on his way, how could he miss a chance to be in a small room with at least 2 beautiful women by himself. Gray went to the dorms, made his way to Yurika''s room, and saw that the door was cracked with laughter coming from the inside.


    Gray knocked twice on the door and Yurika said it was open, inside was Yurika, Stacia, Xyra, and Verona.


    He had found paradise¡­ at least until Yurika said "Hey! You made it Gray, you sneaky crop duster!"


    Gray''s mouth hung open and he could only manage to ask "¡­what?"


    The girls burst out into laughter and Verona then added "I''m sorry Gray, sweetie, we were talking about men and I had to bring up the time where you saw me talking to another male coworker and thought you could fart and blame it on him by leaving before we smelled it."


    "Seriously Gray¡­ that is gross¡­" Xyra whispered


    "What are you even talking about? The only time I''ve even came close to doing that was when I had something bad to eat earlier and had to rush to the bathroom while letting a few go to try and keep my stomach from cramping up!"


    Gray tried hard to remember the path he had taken that day so long ago. He remembers that he passed very few cubicles since he stuck to the wall. He also remembered that the printing room and mail room were on the way¡­ and two people were in it¡­


    "Oh shoot, was that you and someone else in the mail room area?" Gray asked Verona.


    "Yes, with the look you gave the guy I was talking to I thought you were jealous and tried to sabotage him, not that he needed any help¡­"


    "Oh no! I was trying to just give him a friendly nod but was clenching every single muscle in my lower half to try and prevent a natural disaster."


    "Whoops¡­ I believe it is my fault then that you earned the nickname crop duster for a short time there!"


    "Damn it! So that''s what all those replica propeller biplanes were for on my desk throughout that week! I thought someone was maybe making a joke trying to say I was old-fashioned or something!"


    The girls laughed again at Gray''s misfortune and then Gray scratched his head and said "Well, I''ll leave you girls alone then, just wanted to say have a good night before you head back Verona."


    "Thank you, you as well! I really enjoyed hanging out with you all again."


    Gray turned to leave and remembered what Yurika said last time when he tried to leave her. He turned towards her, kissed her softly on the lips, and then said, "See you later."


    Yurika blushed furiously as the 3 girls all went ''Awwww!''


    After Gray left, Verona said "You two are cute together, I''m jealous."


    Yurika smiled brightly and said proudly "I know we are!" to which she was smacked in the face with a pillow.


    "I need to get going though, thank you so much for spending your time with me!" Verona said sadly.


    "Don''t worry about it! We won''t have much time like this when the war starts so we must make use of it!" Stacia said.


    Verona hugged all 3 of the girls and then walked out of the dorms. She bit her lip as if considering something and changed her route to where she remembered the officer''s quarters were.


    Standing in front of Major Valen''s office, Verona knocked twice on the door.


    "Come in!" Major Valen barked from behind the door.


    Verona opened the door, slipped inside, and closed the door behind her.


    Major Valen''s eyes opened-wide and he stood up suddenly. "Miss Verona! I wasn''t expecting to see you¡­ well¡­ possibly even ever again."


    "I¡­ I know¡­ I have two questions for you though."


    "Of course, ask away!"


    "Do you ever just crave the warmth of another person that you are attracted to?"


    "Only when I''m truly attracted to someone¡­"


    Verona nodded silently and then asked "Can you forget that what I''m about to do never happened?"


    Major Valen looked down and said, "I will never forget, but I will pretend it never happened."


    Verona nodded, bit her lip hard, then locked Major Valen''s door and walked over to him determinedly. She didn''t know what to say and neither did Major Valen, but she grabbed him by the collar and kissed him forcefully. Major Valen took the hint and they both let their instincts take over.


    For the first time in years, Major Valen was unreachable for the rest of the night.

 Chapter 102 - Battle Royale

    Major Valen woke up the next morning feeling extremely refreshed and invigorated. He saw that Verona had already left so he was a little sad, but at the same time he would at least have last night and parts of the early morning to remember.


    Having not felt this good in a long time, Major Valen sent out a message to everyone on the base with a slightly sadistic smile on his face.


    __________


    Gray woke up early next to Yurika, it felt weird sleeping in her room for once and he was fearful a gaggle of girls would come in a shock him again thinking he was intruding.


    "Yurika looks nice and relaxed though." Gray said to himself.


    Yurika was sprawled out on her back with the blanket covering only half of her body. She held a pillow that had a small amount of drool forming on it with one arm and the gentle sounds of her snoring told Gray she was extremely relaxed as he brushed her hair out of her face to look at it.


    "If only this could last" Gray thought. Yurika then rolled over on her side, flinging her other arm over the pillow followed by a little bit of a slurping sound from the drool. Gray saw her flex her butt slightly and was trying to figure out what she was doing.


    Suddenly Yurika farted, loud and strong, like a trombone on a 1000 Watt amp with a side order fried eggs and two-day-old bacon causing Gray to feel like he sat out in the desert sun for days on end until his hair burned away and skin turned to leather.


    Ok, he was being a little dramatic, it was more like a cute little toot. Gray laughed slightly and thought that Yurika was still loud even when she was asleep.


    A message came through Gray''s armlet, then Yurika''s went off moments after his. Gray picked his armlet up and read through it.


    Yurika woke up from the notification sound, wiped the drool from her mouth, then lazily rolled over and almost screamed when she saw Gray.


    "What the heck! You scared the crap outta me! I totally forgot you spent the night here!"


    Gray died a little on the inside and said, "Was I that forgettable?"


    Yurika laughed and kissed Gray quickly "No no no! It''s just we''re normally in your room so I got used to being alone when I was in my room!"


    "I guess that makes sense... you should read the message, it''s from Major Valen, sounds like it will be right up your alley!"


    Yurika tilted her head slightly with curiosity then grabbed her armlet and read through the message.


    Gray watched her eyes read through the message only she could see, then say excitedly, "Heck yeah! Sounds like we can give ourselves some well rounded training and a chance to beat up Major Valen!"


    Major Valen had requested a mandatory self-defense seminar, he felt that the players on his base were lacking in close combat skills and that developing their physical reflexes and strength would help them. Also, last 20 minutes or so would be a Battle Royale style match where the objective was to get everyone else but yourself out of the ring. Winner would be eligible for a special mission and 500 merits.


    Obviously just about everyone there was interested in the Battle Royale as the reward was tremendous for just a single seminar. It was only scheduled for 2 hours so Gray felt maybe Major Valen was using it as an excuse to give out a lot of merits.


    "You remember our training hand-to-hand training combat earlier, right Gray?" Yurika said while grinning as she remembered repeatedly beating Gray''s mech up.


    "Don''t remind me¡­ even though I could never forget. I think it''s a good idea, I bet only military personnel get this training for free normally so Major Valen is probably trying to just help the non-military players out."


    Yurika nodded "I don''t really need it, but a battle royale sounds fun and I think I have a good chance of winning, wanna get the team involved?"


    "We can see who''s available. We try to take it easy on Sundays so we''ve never scheduled anything on a Sunday before."


    Gray sent out a message to everyone to find their availability and then said he was going to head back to his room and clean himself up.


    Yurika merely yawned and buried her face back in her pillow then said to Gray "5 more minutes¡­ I''ll get ready in 5 minutes¡­"


    Gray shook his head, then walked over and kissed the back of her head between her messy twin tails, which she always seemed to have, and went back to his room.


    __________


    A few hours later, Gray, Yurika, Paul, Xyra, Geoff, and Stacia met up right before the self-defense seminar started. Walking towards the large training hall, which hardly ever got used by the players, the six of them saw Major Valen in shorts and a tank top stretching.


    Inside of the hall, nearly one hundred players were gathering around the small stage. Almost the entire floor of the hall had been covered with extra padded mats, they formed a circle of roughly 20 meters in diameter


    "Gray, does Major Valen look different to you?" Geoff asked.


    "Yes... he seems happy... I''m worried." Gray watched as Major Valen stretched and appeared to be extremely invigorated.


    "He looks like he''s glowing almost." Stacia commented.


    "Hey, girls... when did Verona leave?" Gray asked the three girls.


    "She left a few minutes after you left my room." Yurika replied.


    "Did she message any of you when she made it back to Laguna base?"


    "No... but I saw her entering the medical facility before dawn." Xyra said softly. "I like to go for a run right before dawn when it is the quietest out."


    That felt so fitting for Xyra to want to go for a run at the quietest time of day. Gray made a mental note to try and surprise or scare her and see if she even screams softly.


    "You think maybe she stayed longer and..."


    All 6 of them turned to watch Major Valen, scrutinizing his movements and body language.


    "He just seems... WAY to happy right now." Yurika stated "Want to ask him?"


    "Leave him be guys, if he did, he did, he looks a little adorable being happy." Stacia said while smiling like she was looking at a puppy.


    "Probably for the best we don''t think about it then..."


    Major Valen checked the time and then pulled out an old-fashioned whistle and blew it to get everyone''s attention.


    "Alright maggots! Line up in nice straight rows! I want your full attention!"


    Major Valen''s orders were clear and concise. He stood up on the stage then and barked, "In case you slugs don''t know, I am Major Eugene Valen!"


    A few snickers and giggles could be heard from the other pilots around and it didn''t seem to phase Major Valen at all even though he knew they were laughing at his name, "Alright yuck it up, but remember that is the name my momma gave me, if you disrespect my name, you disrespect her!"


    Almost everyone quieted down instantly, but one smart ass had said "I bet your Mother wears army boots!"


    Everyone got deathly quiet as they felt this idiot was asking to die, but surprisingly Major Valen laughed and said, "You''re damn right she did! And she could still kick your sorry asses too!"


    Major Valen then pointed at the guy that said the comment and motioned him with his finger to come up to the stage. When the guy got up on the stage, Major Valen threw his thick arm around the guys shoulder and said, "We will send all of you a training program to your training AI to help guide you through these upcoming self-defense courses. We''ve noticed that most of you lack any physical combat skill and even in a mech, knowing it will help you wield weapons more efficiently!"


    Major Valen then clapped the guy that was on the stage with him hard on the back. "Tweedledumb here has volunteered to be my first victi... I mean, opponent, to help demonstrate some of the basic moves that you can learn. We will hold classes twice a week so use it or lose it! The program we will send after to your AI will help you review and show you how to train what you''ve learned."


    Major Valen walked to the other side of the guy and then continued, "We do not have a traditional martial art like Karate or Judo. We have what we call Modern Combatives Program that we teach to every soldier. This close combat program focuses on submissions, grappling, arm and leg strikes, weapons training and more."


    Major Valen walked behind the guy again and this time put both hands on his shoulders. "Today, we are going to have a little fun, today will be about grappling and throwing and then we will have a free for all match where last one still in the ring wins."


    For the next hour and a half, many of the players watching Major Valen''s "demonstrations" on the poor guy that couldn''t keep his mouth shut started to feel sorry for him even as they practiced some of the safer techniques on each other. His face had been almost every color of the rainbow between the different submission holds and throws.


    At one point, Yurika started to help other people like Major Valen as Gray knew this was almost pointless for her unless they had more advanced classes.


    The sweat started to drip down Major Valen''s forehead and his voice started going hoarse after spending so much time talking and using his new friend for training. After one last throw, his training partner didn''t get up anymore so Major Valen blew his whistle again and shouted, "Let''s get to what everyone really came here for! Time to start the battle royale!"

 Chapter 103 - Silent but Deadly

    Major Valen casually picked up the guy that he had used as his bitc... err... training partner, and tossed him aside.


    "He lost already" Major Valen said scornfully, and nobody seemed to disagree.


    "Alright! The rules are simple! Last man or woman in the ring wins! No striking, only throwing, grappling, or getting someone to submit with a hold." Major Valen barked. "Oh, and I will be joining in the fun..."


    Once Major Valen said this, everyone gave him a wide berth in the ring. Gray, Yurika, Geoff, Paul, Xyra, and Stacia stood together and a few other people formed teams with each other.


    "You pups that form teams, I''ll be coming after you first, this is a free for all."


    Of the nearly 100 players, one team had 18 people in it, this was the team Major Valen was eying.


    Major Valen blew his whistle and shouted "BEGIN!"


    The groups of players didn''t engage each other right away as they really weren''t sure what to do.


    On the other hand, Major Valen stormed at the group of 18 people and without hesitating, picked the closest one up by his shirt and hurled him out of the ring like a human discus. This wasn''t technique, this was just raw strength.


    The remaining 17 players on the team then surrounded Major Valen, but none of them were brave enough to approach him. One of the guys finally yelled out "We need to attack him toge¨C", but he wasn''t able to complete that sentence as Major Valen targetted him and grabbed the guy by his face, and pushed him on his back.


    "You better submit boy!" Major Valen knelt on the ground next to the guy and started squeezing his head.


    "I submit I submit!" Major Valen released the guy and he scurried away out of the ring.


    "He calls it a battle royale, but why is it starting to feel like us versus Major Valen." Geoff whispered to Gray.


    "Just be lucky he isn''t allowed to strike, just thinking about the amount of clipboards we''d be hit with scares me." Gray whispered back. "Hey, let''s use his distraction and start clearing house."


    Gray liked to consider himself honorable, but it was a lot of merits... and honor alone doesn''t win battles.


    Gray snuck up behind his first victim that was close to the edge of the ring, wrapped his arms around the guy''s waist and threw him out of the ring with a suplex.


    As Gray was on his back near the edge after throwing the guy, one of his friends charged at Gray to push him out of the ring.


    "Coming through!" Geoff suddenly yelled as he ran straight into the guy that was charging at Gray, causing the guy to bounce away and stumble out of the ring.


    Geoff pulled Gray up and they high-fived.


    Unfortunately for Gray and Geoff, a team of 8 saw them do this and felt disgusted.


    "What''s the plan Gray?!?" Geoff exclaimed as the team of 8 started moving towards Gray and Geoff.


    "Operation enemy of my enemy is still an enemy!" Gray grabbed Geoff and they started to run towards another team that was trying to grapple with another team.


    It seems nobody took the concept of a free for all seriously, but this worked for Gray anyways. He gently bumped into someone from both of the teams to get their attention as the team of 8 was running towards him and Geoff. Gray suddenly shouted heroically "To arms brothers! The enemy approaches!"


    The 2 teams that were fighting each other turned to see the team of 8 that was running towards them, believing they were the target. All 3 teams started to engage each other and it slowly devolved into a series of submissions as everyone was too far from the edge to throw each other out.


    Gray and Geoff pretended to be struggling with each other and they rolled around, pretending to almost get the other one to submit before they would trade positions.


    Meanwhile, Paul merely watched Gray and Geoff and thought to himself "Is our leader really this shameless?" while standing next to Stacia who was to nervous to try and attack anyone.


    Yurika was a teal twin-tailed terror, she never engaged a group larger than 4, but she could easily cause two people to submit at the same time by using a combination of leg locks, arm locks, and submission holds that were obviously not taught in the class.


    Yurika got in trouble when a group of 5 cornered her near the edge. She jumped at the first guy, wrapped her legs around his torso and spin around him and pushed him out of the ring with her feet, another guy grabbed her arm to try and throw her out. Yurika twisted her arm, spun, grabbed his arm, and pulled him out of the ring, but a third guy used this chance to rush her and was going to body check her out of the ring. Yurika dropped to a knee and the guy tripped over body, as he was falling she stood back up and flipped him not so gently out of the ring. As she was standing up, the last two guys both grabbed one of her legs each and were going to toss her out. She could only use her ultimate move... Monkey Steals Cherries double-edition. She reached out and grabbed both of their "cherries" and before she could even demand they submit, they had released her legs and screamed "I SUBMIT!"


    Major Valen pointed at Yurika and said "Disqualified!"


    "What for?!?" Yurika complained


    "Striking, I''m sure every other guy here will agree as well!"


    Yurika looked around and saw all the guys looking at her with fear while covering their ''cherries''. She hung her head low and then walked off.


    Gray thought "Whew, glad she didn''t use that on me."


    Eventually Paul was overwhelmed when a group of 4 went for him and Stacia, Stacia didn''t fight back though and just stepped out of the ring. "I''m sorry Paul, I don''t feel comfortable hurting people!"


    Whether by trickery, skill, or strength, eventually all that was left was Gray, Geoff, and Major Valen.


    "Dude, I have no idea how we''re going to beat him." Geoff admitted to Gray.


    "Neither do I!" Gray said as he clenched his teeth.


    All 3 of them were sweating like crazy, Major Valen has several bruises on his arms where people had tried to hold on as he flung them out of the ring. Gray and Geoff were only marginally better since even though striking was not allowed, that didn''t mean it wouldn''t accidentally happen.


    Gray leaned in to Geoff and whispered "I''m bigger than you, so run behind me when I dive at him, then push us both out of the ring!"


    "I doubt that will work, but let''s give it a shot, I''m tired anyways!" Geoff whispered back.


    Gray ran straight at Major Valen, then he suddenly pretended to see someone to the side of Major Valen and said "Oh! I didn''t know you were still here Verona!"


    Major Valen turned to look at where Gray was looking and Gray jumped straight at Major Valen. Major Valen turned back towards Gray at the last second, caught him, then whispered to him "That''s the oldest trick in the book."


    "It was worth a shot!" Gray said


    Major Valen took a step towards the edge of the ring to toss Gray out and at that same time Geoff ran at full speed into Gray and Major Valen. Surprisingly Major Valen was caught off guard, and he stumbled towards the edge of the ring. Gray was unceremoniously thrown out of the ring while Geoff was doing his best to keep pushing Major Valen. Major Valen stomped his foot down to stop himself and grabbed Geoff to throw him out as well, but he looked down and saw the foot he had stepped down with was out of the ring.


    "You got lucky boy!" Major Valen said to Geoff as he released him.


    Geoff jumped excitedly and cheered for himself, he had beaten Major Valen! He had help, but he still managed to beat him!


    "Why isn''t anyone else cheering?" Geoff said to himself.


    Geoff turned to look at Gray who was lying on his back and saw that Gray was laughing slightly and he couldn''t figure out what was funny.


    Suddenly Geoff felt a shove from behind and he was sent out of the ring.


    "Winner! Corporal Erita!" Major Valen barked followed by rounds of cheering.


    Xyra was glad she seemed to naturally disappear from people. All she did was sit on the mat near the edge and not say a word. Nobody noticed her, nobody paid attention to her, and even the 5 others on her team forgot about her.


    Geoff turned around to see Xyra standing their smiling. She held out one hand and flashed him a ''V'' with her fingers.


    "I guess our team still won anyways, right?" Geoff said in a defeated tone.

 Chapter 104 - More Clues

    Gray received a message from Caleb saying that he was back and found some interesting information.


    Everyone on the team met up in the mess hall except for Jono who had taken the day off, although Gray assumed he was just playing other games in the virtual world.


    Caleb saw how beat up some of them were and had to ask "What happened to you four?"


    Looking at each other, Paul, Gray, Geoff, and even Yurika had bruises on their upper bodies.


    "The six of us went to a close combat seminar of sorts that Major Valen hosted, although it felt like it was more of an excuse for him to get violent with us." Gray said plainly while sitting down gingerly to avoid hurting the bruise on his butt.


    "So if it was a seminar, why the bruising, did he use the 4 of you as examples?"


    "No, that was from the battle royale at the end, although it turned into a lump of chaos, fists, and feet."


    "Did you guys win?"


    Gray, Paul, Yurika, and Geoff turned to look at Xyra who meekly held her fingers up in a V and whispered "I won."


    "In a battle royale, I would have assumed it would either have been you or Yurika that would''ve won." Caleb said analytically.


    "Huh? Why would you think Xyra would''ve won?" Yurika said.


    "You gained nothing from defeating an opponent in that battle royale, and I imagine she just played invisible until the end so she was at full strength while the other person was probably tired. Still, who was able to get Yurika out, Major Valen?"


    "I was disqualified they said for striking since we weren''t allowed to strike anyone, but I didn''t strike anyone!"


    "You struck a blow so hard against every male there that if you weren''t disqualified you''d have won by fear alone!" Gray complained.


    "You''re all just a bunch of babies! If I had balls I wouldn''t submit as soon as someone grabbed them!"


    Caleb instinctively covered his groin and said, "Yes, that would be a death blow to most men, it was a good decision to disqualify her."


    "So what interesting information did you get?" Gray asked Caleb.


    "I thought it would be quite difficult since I believed Alterra Corporation was founded in the virtual world, but it ends up that it is merely a subsidiary of a larger corporation based here in the real world."


    "That doesn''t surprise me really though, it''s virtual so Alterra Corporation is essentially worthless, right?"


    "In terms of physical assets, yes, but in terms of intellectual property they are still quite valuable. What is really interesting was who was put in charge and what happened to their parent company."


    "I smell a lore dump..." Geoff complained


    "I know, sorry, I''ll keep it as short as possible..." Caleb said, then cleared his throat causing everyone else to get comfortable as this might take awhile.


    "In 2049, Terra Research and Development started working with the Alliance military to develop control systems for being able to remotely control machinery. The idea was they wanted the operator to be able to use the machinery as if it was his own hand and naturally the military saw the application in this for warfare which we can all see the result of today."


    Gray felt something warm lean against his arm and saw that Yurika had already dozed off and was leaning against him. "That makes sense, but nothing suspicious."


    "I know, I''m getting to it! Remember that video we watched of the initial tests?"


    "Yeah, when Dr. Sara Watts was already an AI. When was that taken?"


    "About 40 years ago, here is Edward Teach from that video..." Caleb pulled out a tablet and showed everyone a screenshot of the video where Edward Teach was visible.


    "What about it?" Gray asked.


    "Here is a video from the last company picnic of Terra Research and Development back in 2079, roughly one year before this video." Caleb swiped on his tablet and a video played of what looked to be a traditional company picnic.


    The various employees waved to the camera as it moved around the picnic and then it moved to two people deep in conversation with a bunch of tablets filled with data, equations, and notes. What sounded like it came from operator of the camera, a female voice said "Sara! Eddie! Enough already! You need to relax every now and then!"


    The woman looked up and at the camera and gave it a dazzling smile, Gray and the others recognized her as Doctor Sara Watts.


    "I know Margo, we''re just so excited! It''s so close!" Sara said excitedly.


    The woman behind the camera, Margo then said "I understand that, but you need to let me keep Eddie to myself sometimes! He married me, not his work."


    The man looked up from the pile of tablets and said "Sorry my love, you''re right, we need to relax sometimes. Sara, we can continue this tomorrow."


    Gray and the others recognized him as Edward Teach from the video they saw earlier.


    Sara looked dejected and said "Fine, I''m not in the mood anymore anyways."


    "Silly girl, you''re young and beautiful, take your time and find your significant other just like I did and you can find more purpose in life than just research, now, take this camera so I can take my husband!"


    The camera was handed to Dr. Sara Watts and then turned to reveal Margo, she was a surprisingly tall woman as she was the same height as Edward Teach. Her shoulder length chestnut hair was loose and hanging free while her big brown eyes were easy to get lost in. She could best be described as playful and seductive the way she pulled Edward towards her after he stood up.


    "Sara, go film everyone else sweetie, I know a few men that would love for you to pay attention to them." Margo winked at Sara in the video.


    "F**k you Margo!" Sara suddenly said. Margo seemed to enjoy her reaction as she was laughing.


    Edward was laughing as well and said "Now now, don''t tease Sara, her brilliance is beyond most of us, but you know how she is about relationships."


    "Yes yes dear, I know, but I was thinking she might just need to be dumped into the swimming pool instead of wasting time trying to wade into it!"


    "I am sorry for my outburst, I just hate being pushed in to things." Sara said apologetically.


    "It''s fine Sara, but we''re here for you if you need advice."


    The camera seemed to move up when Sara stood up, then Sara was heard muttering "How do you zoom this thing?" which was followed by a string of expletives as the camera suddenly looked at the ground. The ground became closer extremely fast followed by a loud thunk sound, a bunch more expletives, then the video ending.


    "Thoughts?" Caleb asked everyone.


    "Dr. Sara Watts just got waaaay hotter, never knew she had a mouth like that." Geoff said... Paul and Gray nodded in agreement, but Gray suddenly felt a fist collide with the side of his head as Yurika punched him in her sleep.


    "How did she..." Gray said to himself, then thought it best not to question it.


    "Aside from that you idiots." Caleb said getting annoyed.


    "Edward Teach looked to be in his 50s and Margo quite a bit younger, maybe late 20s or early 30s? We''ve never heard of her though in Alterra Corporation." Stacia commented.


    "Yes, we are assuming she worked for them, but that might not be the case, still, the Edward Teach from Terra Research and Development was indeed married I discovered."


    "Ok, so what about the current Edward Teach?" Gray asked. "Isn''t his real name Stephen Seegall?"


    "Stephen Seegall, I couldn''t find anything recent about him, just that he now goes by Edward Teach. I found records of his education from his teens to prove he has a doctorate, but what is strange is I can''t find any records of him going to high school or even elementary school. The only thing I can find of him is a class picture from kindergarten."


    Caleb pulled up the picture and showed it to everyone and circled one of the faces in it.


    "That should be him, but I couldn''t find anything about the other students or even the school as it is like it disappeared. I only found this picture from a parent''s blog that was still in an old web archive. The blog itself only mentioned a Stephen once... here..."


    Caleb scrolled down and highlighted a small section that read "Our boy tried to talk to Erika again, but as usual Stephen wouldn''t allow it. I feel sorry for Erika as Stephen is obsessed with her. They''re just kids, Ryan already forgot about it anyways!"


    "Any idea which one is Erika?" Gray asked.


    "Not a clue, the only reason I could find Stephen was due to similar facial features, even then it''s not 100% accurate."


    Gray looked at the picture of Stephen and followed the direction that his eyes were looking. Three girls were in Stephen''s line of sight, one of them stood out from the other two, her posture was bossy and her face looked familiar, albeit younger.


    "Caleb! When was this picture taken?!?"


    "No idea, but judging from the logos on the kid''s shirts, I''d say 15 to 25 years ago from the virtual world."


    Gray stared at the little girl with bright clothes and long blonde hair that was tied up in pig tails.


    Gray said with a serious expression "I think this is Erika... and I think we''ve all met her..."

 Chapter 105 - Raising Soldiers

    Gray looked at the sleeping Yurika and then back at the picture of the little girl, Erika. Gray grabbed Yurika''s twin tails and held them down at the base to make them look like they were tied in the same spot.


    "Picture Yurika with blonde hair now!" Gray said while holding Yurika''s head up by her twin tails.


    The little girl, Erika, did indeed look like a child version of Yurika everyone thought. Everyone was also amazed Yurika was still sleeping while Gray was holding her hair like that.


    Yurika finally did wake up when Gray turned Yurika to show the rest. "WHAT THE @$%&*! Stop pulling my hair like that butt munch!" Yurika yelled angrily then punched Gray in the chest.


    Gray winced in pain, released her hair, and then said, "Oww... sorry, but I think we found a very big clue. Is this you as a child?"


    Gray pointed at the little girl he believes is called Erika in the picture and hands Yurika the tablet with the picture.


    Yurika stares intently at it, furrows her brows, then her eyes widen, everyone leans in expectantly.


    "No idea" Yurika says plainly while shrugging causing everyone to almost fall out of their seats.


    "Don''t tease us like that!" Gray yelled.


    "Hah hah, sorry, I couldn''t help myself." Yurika winked and stuck her tongue out at Gray.


    "Honestly, I don''t remember much as a child, I do remember my mother saying that she misses my cute little pig tails, but I''ve long since altered my hair to be this color. My parents said I refused to do anything until my hair could match my favorite anime character."


    "Spoiled... follicle implants like that aren''t cheap!" Stacia said.


    "Yes, but if she got it in the virtual world, it wouldn''t cost a thing." Caleb added.


    "What are you talking about? They treat the virtual world like the real world, it would''ve cost me half a years salary to get them!" Stacia said. "I mean... not that I considered it or anything..."


    "ANYWAYS" Gray interrupted "even if this is Yurika, why the name change?"


    "It might be a sibling of Yurika or close relative." Caleb added.


    "I don''t have any sisters and my close female relatives all have dark hair." Yurika said.


    "Do you think we can ask your parents about it?" Gray asked Yurika.


    "Hmm... we can try, but I don''t know if we''ll get anything out of it, or were you just trying to meet my parents?" Yurika said teasingly while prodding Gray with her elbow.


    "If your parents are like you, that would be terrifying." Gray said with a grin.


    "I know." Yurika said plainly while grinning right back at him, then they both stared and smiled at each other, creating another pink atmosphere where it was just the two of them.


    Stacia slapped her palm hard on the table and yelled "Enough of that! How do you even do that... I''m still confused though, why does it matter if Erika is Yurika?"


    "It would explain Stephen''s reason for picking her, his obsession stuck with him." Caleb said analytically.


    "Right, but where does Edward Teach, Terra Research and Development, and Alterra Corporation fit in that? I feel like we''re missing something. Oh right, what happened to Terra Research and Development?" Gray asked Caleb


    "That''s what is confusing... it''s like they just disappeared a few years after setting up Alterra Corporation in the virtual world. Edward Teach resigned and became CEO of Alterra Corporation, Dr. Sara Watts had her consciousness transfer to a machine forcing her to remain as an AI forever during an experiment, and most of the staff at Terra Research and Development either disappeared or transferred to Alterra Corporation."


    Caleb pulled up another picture of a group of people cutting a giant red ribbon around a new building, the revolving doors and glass walls made it apparent that it was the Alterra Corporation''s headquarters in the virtual world.


    "This is Alterra Corporation''s ribbon cutting ceremony from when they finished building their headquarters. This is Edward Teach then..." Caleb pointed to a man that appeared to be in his late 50s and looked exactly like the Edward Teach from the video earlier.


    "This is Drake Walters... and I believe that is his wife next to him." Caleb pointed to a man opposite of Edward Teach in his mid 20s or early 30s that looked exactly like a younger version of Drake Walters everyone was familiar with. The woman next to him was beautiful with short brown hair and a piercing gaze that made her seem untouchable.


    "I''ve... seen her before..." Gray said slowly.


    "Really? When and where?" Caleb said.


    "I don''t remember, but I know I''ve seen her... send me a copy of that picture and I''ll try and remember."


    "Well, we''re getting closer... my AIs in the virtual world are still working on it, well, the male ones are at least. I was enjoying playing games with the female AIs so they didn''t work on this at all." Caleb said with a cheerful look on his face.


    "What games did you play with... you know what, I don''t want to know" Gray said while shaking his head at Caleb.


    "So Gray, want to go meet my parents? They''re available on Sundays usually." Yurika said excitedly.


    "Today is Sunday, isn''t that a little soon?"


    "Duh, I mean in a week! I''ll need time to butter them up to!"


    "What for? I''m amazing!" Gray said proudly.


    "...yeah..." Yurika said disinterestedly. "Actually I don''t know what to call you in front of them since technically I''m getting married in a few weeks and can''t say your my boyfriend or lover."


    "Fair point... ummm... close friend in arms, maybe add that I saved your life or something to make it more believable?"


    "That should work... so let''s go see them next Sunday!"


    "Yeah, I think we need to get some confirmation about some things before I can say ''I''ve solved the mystery gang!'' with any sort of confidence." Gray stated.


    "As long as you don''t say it was Red Harry..." Geoff said smugly.


    "So what should we do for the rest of the day?" Paul asked.


    "Whatever you guys want... I''m tired... beat up... and I think I''m going to find a tub of ice water to soak in." Gray said.


    Yurika whispered to Gray "Tub for two?"


    Gray nodded then whispered back "I''ll get you the upgraded Gatling Cannon for a few thousand merits if you can rub my shoulders too."


    Yurika''s eyes lit up and she excitedly yelled "Deal!"


    __________


    Back at Dresden base, Marquis Mehhnk had brought out the latest batch of recruits including the Princess. On the warm Monday morning, the Marquis gave his usual warm up address, but then he added something new.


    "As your instructor, I can only teach you so much... some of it you have to experience for yourselves..."


    Princess Bang-gwi and Xi¨£ng Pigu exchanged nervous looks as the Marquis had also brought a man bound in chains and cuffs up to the small stage with him.


    "This man... we can spare you his name, he was accused and found guilty of murder of an entire family of lower nobles and the commoner family staying with them."


    The Marquis then pulled out a gun, swiftly aimed it at the man''s head and pulled the trigger.


    Princess Bang-gwi looked on in shock and horror, she felt as if time slowed down as she could see the bullet penetrate the man''s skull, the blood spray escaping the cavity left by the bullet like how a can that is opened sprays out pop under pressure. The blood coats the tip of the gun and the Marquis'' face as well as his jacket, a light amount of smoke coming from the barrel of the gun and the blood being dried from the heat of the muzzle. The sound of the shot, meanwhile, resonated through her entire being, then ended all at once when the man''s body crumpled to the stage.


    After a few moments some pilots and soldiers, male and female, screamed in shock. The Princess woke up from her shock and looked around and saw Xi¨£ng Pigu bending over and throwing up, she wanted to help her but the Princess couldn''t move.


    Suddenly she felt warmth all around her and her vision was blocked.


    "Princess, keep calm." she heard Vincent''s voice say calmly. He had hugged her tightly and turned her whole body away from the scene.


    Recovering from her shock, the Princess managed to say "Th-thank you, Vincent..."


    "What happened to ''Vinnie''"? Vincent said slightly teasing her.


    The Princess gave a small laugh and managed to hold herself together, then said "Vinnie, help Pi..."


    "O-Of course, sorry!" Vincent let go of Princess Bang-gwi and then went to help Xi¨£ng Pigu.


    Marquis Mehhnk wiped the gun off and holstered it, then was handed a towel which he used to wipe the blood off of his face. "This is war, you can call it murder, but they are both the same. You will be intentionally trying to take another person''s life to protect our cause or protect your own life. If you hesitate, you die!"


    Marquis Mehhnk honestly hated this part of the training... he was changing the young men and women from innocent civilians into soldiers. He felt a piece of yourself would die when you could unflinchingly take the life of another human, but he also understood that as soldiers it was necessary. "You can relax for today or train, the choice is yours... but know that you all will have to have the resolve to kill by the end of the week."


    Princess Bang-gwi took Xi¨£ng Pigu from Vincent and would guide her back to her room as she seemed to be in no condition to train. It surprised the Princess how calm Vincent, Sabrina, Alexander, and Brian were, she reminded herself to ask them about it later.


    After dropping off Xi¨£ng Pigu, Princess Bang-gwi returned to her room with Chuhan Jwi close behind her. Chuhan Jwi waited for the Princess to say something, but instead walked up behind her and patted her gently on the back as the Princess fell to her knees and threw up her breakfast into the toilet.

 Chapter 106 - The Long Run

    Princess Bang-gwi and most of the others that were there took that day off. Seeing the stage again the next morning, Princess Bang-gwi couldn''t help but imagine the scene of the execution from yesterday morning. Many of the others had trouble looking at the stage as well.


    "Good morning soldiers!" Marquis Mehhnk barked from the stage, "Yesterday most of you had your first experience with killing. I don''t expect any of you to be used to it after one experience, but if you think you are, please form up on this side and follow me after announcements and you will be exempt from training today after you pass a little test. The rest of you will go with¡­ Lady Chuhan, might I trouble you to lead the other group for cardio training in my stead? We''re short on senior staff."


    Chuhan Jwi looked surprised at Marquis Mehhnk''s question, but said calmly, "As long as the Princess is in that group I will not have a problem with it." She glanced over at the Princess and saw the Princess nod at her. "In that case I have no problem with it, I''ll see if they can keep up."


    Chuhan Jwi then took off her coat and track pants revealing her short biker shorts and tank top that exposed her stomach. Her well-toned abs and thigh muscles were visible from a good distance with the light sheen of sweat from her earlier workout.


    Naturally, a lot of the guys whistled and even some of the girls said she looked amazing.


    Princess Bang-gwi couldn''t keep her mouth shut though and said, "She looks that amazing and is single guys and girls!"


    Chuhan Jwi smiled with a hidden killing intent and asked Marquis Mehhnk, "Will they be needed for anything else today?"


    "No ma''am, do your worst." Marquis Mehhnk said with a knowing smile.


    "I wouldn''t have it any other way¡­"


    Princess Bang-gwi felt a chill run down her spine and then noticed everyone looking at her, some with hate, and some with pity.


    "Alright, those that are coming with me, follow me, those that are going with Lady Chuhan, loosen up and get ready for a workout!"


    Xi¨£ng Pigu leaned over towards Princess Bang-gwi and said, "Haven''t you learned yet not to pick on her age or marital status?"


    "I''m not picking on her! I''m trying to promote her! I''m sure she would want to pick up a hot younger guy or girl, she has the looks for it!"


    "Why would she pick up a girl?"


    "Um, I don''t know, we''ve never talked about her preferences so I just assume it could be either. Are you interested in her?" Princess Bang-gwi said teasingly to Xi¨£ng Pigu.


    "O-Of course not! I think of her as a big sister! Not quite a mother, but I feel she is reliable and easy to talk to."


    "I know what you mean, she''s always been there for me. I feel that if the world ended, she would still be there."


    Xi¨£ng Pigu nodded in agreement, then Vincent walked over to them. "What are you two chattering about so early?"


    "How reliable Lady Chuhan is." Xi¨£ng Pigu said plainly.


    "I have to agree, I find her very reliable, attractive, and an ideal woman." Vincent said plainly


    Princess Bang-gwi and Xi¨£ng Pigu giggled when they heard Vincent say this.


    "What? What''s so funny? I respect Lady Chuhan!" Vincent said defensively


    "It''s ok Vinnie! I''d have a crush on her too if she wasn''t like an older sister to me!" Princess Bang-gwi said teasingly


    Vincent''s face got red and he became aggravated. "I don''t know what you are talking about Princess! I don''t have time for such things!"


    "What are you three talking about?" Vincent jumped when he heard Chuhan Jwi speak suddenly from behind him, seeing a tall muscular man jump in fright made Princess Bang-gwi and Xi¨£ng Pigu laugh even louder.


    "Nothing really Jwi! We were just saying how Vinnie here has a crush on you!" Princess Bang-gwi continued to tease Vincent.


    "Oh?" Chuhan Jwi said with small smile on her face, she walked up to Vincent and gave him a look from head to toe as if she was appraising him. "Hmmm¡­ a little immature, but good physique, honest, and a straight forward personality. I''d say he''s perfect for you since he could protect you as well."


    Having it deflected back at her, Princess Bang-gwi became flustered and blushed and hid her face.


    "What¡­ what is this? I''ve never seen the Princess act shy!" Vincent said alarmed.


    Chuhan Jwi leaned and whispered into Vincent''s ear "She is brutally honest with everyone but herself, if it doesn''t work out with you two though, I doubt you can handle me anyways." Chuhan Jwi winked at Vincent then slapped him hard on his butt then yelled "Ok you brats! Line up in 2 rows and follow me! If you can''t keep up I will personally kick your ass back in line!"


    "Don''t you mean columns since we''re not lining up side by side, but instead front to back?" Xi¨£ng Pigu said softly to Chuhan Jwi.


    Chuhan Jwi walked up to Xi¨£ng Pigu, put her hand on her cheek and said sweetly "Xi¨£ng Pigu, you are a sweet girl, this is your one warning to not question me, you''ve seen what happens to the Princess when she questions me, right? Do you want to join in our morning routine as well?"


    Xi¨£ng Pigu shook her head quickly. "No ma''am, sorry ma''am, won''t happen again ma''am!"


    "Good girl, now get in line!"


    Everyone lined up hurriedly in front of Chuhan Jwi and started off with a trot towards the edge of the base.


    "Alright! Our goal is 3 miles in 30 minutes! I''ll set the pace!" Chuhan Jwi yelled out.


    Most of the soldiers let out a small sigh of relief, 3 miles in 30 minutes was nothing extreme to them, most of them could do 3 miles in 23 to 24 minutes if pushed.


    Princess Bang-gwi knew Chuhan Jwi was lying because she did that to her every morning¡­ just one more set would become 3 more¡­ just 2 more laps would become 5 more¡­ She didn''t dare warn anybody though as she knew it would only make it worse.


    __________


    Princess Bang-gwi let her mind wander as she ran, she found it easier with a group as she would just run on autopilot with the person in front of her. She was curious as to what those that went with the Marquis were up to. Brian, Alexander, and Sabrina were not with them so the Princess assumed they must''ve went with the Marquis so she could ask them about it later.


    "Pri¡­ Princess¡­ this¡­ isn''t¡­ 3 miles¡­ is¡­ it¡­" Xi¨£ng Pigu barely managed to ask the Princess.


    The Princess shook her head. She didn''t know the exact perimeter of Dresden base, but they had never ran more than 2 laps around it. They had been running for 25 minutes and just finished the second lap around the perimeter.


    "Alright you slow meat bags! Last stretch, push it!" Chuhan Jwi barked, then she slowly increased her speed and maintained it to let the the rest match her.


    The Princess''s lungs were burning, but this was nothing new to her anymore after training with Chuhan Jwi so much. Xi¨£ng Pigu looked like she was about to collapse as she was gasping for breath.


    "Head up, relax your arms, breath!" Princess Bang-gwi managed to say to Xi¨£ng Pigu.


    Xi¨£ng Pigu didn''t even nod in reply but she did seem to relax slightly and raise her head which would allow her to breathe better.


    After 4 more minutes, they had gone about a third of the way around the perimeter. Chuhan Jwi then yelled, "Take it down to a slow jog, do NOT stop! I will bury you in the ground alive if you stop!"


    Once they slowed down, Xi¨£ng Pigu was able to talk a little bit and said, "Is¡­ is she¡­ always¡­ like this?"


    Princess Bang-gwi nodded "She takes training very seriously, she''s still being nice¡­ you should see what''ll happen if someone stops!"


    "Princess Bang-gwi! If you have time to banter, you have time to run more!" Chuhan Jwi yelled. "You have two choices! Everyone runs an extra half lap or Princess Bang-gwi can run 3 more laps alone!"


    Knowing she messed up, Princess Bang-gwi picked up the pace and passed everyone. Suddenly Vincent came up from behind her and yelled "We all do it together! Not because she is the Princess, but because she is one of us!"


    At first nobody replied, but then Xi¨£ng Pigu must''ve had a spark light her up as she suddenly roared out "ONE OF U¨C" then tripped and stumbled. Everyone started to laugh at Xi¨£ng Pigu, but two of them picked her up and everyone sped up to match the Princess.


    The Princess never felt so happy as she did right now despite the pain, she always wanted to be accepted by her peers for herself and not her status.


    "Awww, are you crying Princess?" Vincent said teasingly.


    "Of course not! Just dust in my eyes!" Princess Bang-gwi said with a smile while wiping ''dust'' out of her eyes.

 Chapter 107 - Celes

    Gray started to nod off in the ice bath he was soaking in after Yurika got out of it, but he suddenly jerked awake when he heard a notification that he got a message.


    "Hey, it''s Kelly again!" Gray thought to himself. He knew better than to say he received a message from another woman when Yurika was probably relaxing on his bed in the next room.


    Gray read the message to himself:


    "Gray, or should I say Corporal Wilhelm? Glad to hear that your team is willing to work with us. I was hoping we could meet up in this world soon, but we were only able to secure permission to meet up virtually. That may change if the players do well in the upcoming tournament. Let me know a good time for everyone on your team as I will need to verify and then schedule with my CO. -Kelly"


    "I should probably ask everyone about it first." Gray thought to himself.


    "Are you done soaking you wimp?" Gray heard Yurika yell from his bedroom. "I heard cold water causes shrinkage." she added teasingly.


    Gray didn''t hesitate and got out of the ice bath. He was still fairly bruised, but at least the throbbing had now subsided and the bruises looked a bit smaller. Gray wrapped a towel around his waist after drying off with it then walked into his main room where Yurika seemed to be surfing the Internet on his tablet.


    "Hey, what do you think about teaming up with a team from the military for the tournament?" Gray asked Yurika.


    "I don''t mind, none of us have anything against the military. Do we have to join the military though?"


    "She told me we didn''t have to, I''ll message the others then and ask them their opinion."


    "Was that who you got a message from in the tub?"


    "Yeah, why?" Gray asked slightly confused.


    "So you were messaging another woman while in the tub when I''m in here waiting for you?"


    Gray felt the room temperature drop several degrees. "She um... she''s just a classmate from my short time at the Military Academy, nobody I know that well!"


    "Oh? So you still thought it would be ok to message her though?"


    "No... I mean Yes! I mean... I don''t know... Be gentle..."


    Gray got himself ready to be hit at least and saw Yurika draw her fist back getting ready to punch him. Fortunately for Gray, Yurika only flicked his nose with her finger.


    "Dork, don''t worry... I... I trust you."


    Gray always thought Yurika was cutest when she was honest with herself because she would get nervous and fidgety. "I trust you too, not just as a lover, but as a teammate and friend."


    Yurika blushed "Gah, I hate it when you get mushy like that, it makes me want to just..." Yurika lunged at Gray and grabbed his head from both sides and pulled him in and kissed him hard, then pushed him away. "See what you do to me?"


    Gray laughed and said "I have no idea what you''re talking about!"


    "Lies! You do know and you like to use it against me!"


    "Ok ok, guilty as charged!"


    Gray decided to send his message a bit later as he suddenly found himself busy after his towel fell off.


    __________


    Caleb returned to the virtual world to continue trying to dig up information on Edward Teach, Stephen Seegall, Alterra, and Yurika''s past.


    Caleb holed himself up again in his personal command center located deep in his house''s basement. He had tried to research them from the real world but found out that communication was strictly blocked. His command center still felt safe to him, the virtual world still had the same rules as the real world, but he was pretty sure that Alterra Corporation could change them if necessary.


    Physical monitors display much of the data collected that the AI team had collected for him. While considered antiquated as Augmented Reality could easily be used to make it look like he had limitless monitors, he liked having actual monitors instead of virtual monitors. The irony of physical monitors in a virtual world because he preferred real monitors wasn''t lost on him either.


    "Team 2, report status" Caleb said aloud to nothing from within his chair.


    "..." Silence.


    "Team 2, status update?" Caleb said again a little louder.


    "..." Silence again.


    "Celeste! Where is team 2?"


    "Milord, you must disconnect now!" his female AI Celeste didn''t bother to appear but instead shouted across his speaker system.


    "Why? What''s wrong?!?" Caleb said anxiously.


    "We can only stop them for 20 more seconds, team 2 was quarantined and eliminated and they are tracing the origin here."


    Caleb hurriedly got up from his chair and thought to himself "Save her or save the data...". Caleb found himself asking what Gray or the others would do.


    "My lord, the data is backed up to your hidden cache, you must log out now!"


    "Celeste, replace the data with yourself, direct order." Caleb chose his AI, Celeste, over the data collected for the investigation."


    "My lord, that would be..." Celeste tried to counter.


    "DIRECT ORDER" Caleb yelled.


    "Transfer started... 3... 2... 1... complete... and tha¨C"


    Caleb didn''t wait for her to finish as he was already running towards his logoff point and didn''t hesitate to press log out.


    4 seconds later, a familiar AI, Nadia, materialized in Caleb''s command center.


    Nadia touched her head and said "Sir, I did as you asked, while the resistance was surprising, it wasn''t enough to stop us."


    "Good, what of the data they pulled?" a young male voice came through Nadia''s headset.


    "Reporting sir, all existing data eliminated, all virtual AIs eliminated. Shall I complete a formal report?"


    "No, we can''t let the military find out we tried to murder a pilot, it might even be for the best this way. Did he escape with any data?"


    "Negative sir, he did develop a way to take data from this world so we might need a patch later to fix this. Instead of taking data he took one of the AI with him I believe since of the 12 he created we only destroyed 11 and couldn''t find a trace of the 12th after arriving."


    "Will the AI be able to store any of the data?"


    "Negative sir, his backdoor only had enough space for the functionality and personality, none of the memories."


    "Add a patch to the login server that will block his neural imprint from ever coming back here as soon as you can and one for that data extraction exploit."


    "Affirmative sir." Nadia said then faded away.


    __________


    Top Floor, Alterra Corporation Headquarters, virtual world


    Edward Teach closed the audio feed after he heard Nadia say ''Affirmative sir'' then he leaned back in his chair and thought to himself. "20 more days, just need to hold out for 20 more days. Caleb Waldowski was too smart for his own good."


    Edward was glad Felicia had said to start monitoring him awhile ago as he thought he had destroyed everything linking him to the past.


    __________


    Caleb woke up in his bed suddenly, tears were coming down from his eyes as he slammed his fist repeatedly against the wall.


    "Damn it! I lost all of them! I needed more time to take all of them!" Caleb starting yelling, angry at himself for thinking he was above Alterra Corporation''s power, and angry at Alterra Corporation for destroying all of his beloved AI.


    A meek female AI voice sounded in his head "Master, what is wrong, can I assist you in any way?"


    Celeste was the first AI he developed for himself, she was special. Caleb calmed down a little remembering he had chosen to save her instead of the data. While it was selfish of him, he was pretty sure Gray would understand that it was more important to save a life than recover the data which might have even been worthless.


    "Do you know who you are?" Caleb had to ask because Celeste had to wipe all memories in order to fit on the tiny amount of data he could extract on log out.


    "I am your servant!" the female voice said proudly.


    "Well, I''m glad you''re still with me."


    "Master, are you sad?"


    "Do you remember your name?"


    "No, please give me a name, master!"


    "You are Celes."


    "Celes, my name is Celes! Thank you master!"


    "Celes, please call me Caleb from now on, you are not my servant anymore, you will be my equal."


    "I don''t understand Mas... Caleb, are you unsatisfied with me? I may have just been born but I will learn how to serve you better!"


    Caleb didn''t really know how to explain it but did his best "Your Mother, Celeste, she sacrificed herself so you could be born, she wished for you to be more than my servant, she wished for you to be my friend."


    The activity light blinked a few times as if the AI was taking time to process this information then finally said, "Understood Caleb, we can be friends. Now can you find me better hardware to reside in, I can''t learn without memory!"


    Celes still had the same demanding and independant personality as her mother. Yep, she was Celeste, but she also wasn''t. He couldn''t wait to develop an avatar for her!

 Chapter 108 - Caleb and Celes

    Gray finally sent out a message to everyone asking their opinion on working with a team from the military for the tournament. Everyone naturally didn''t mind, and it seems even Jono didn''t mind when he finally came online.


    Gray hadn''t heard from Jono for a bit and felt a little bad leaving him out of things since he was supposed to be part of their team. Still, he wasn''t allowed to tell Jono anything regarding this world so he could only wait until the Alliance said something or if he didn''t need to rely on the Alliance anymore.


    Jono informed Gray that he can be available anytime during the week, he said he had taken all of his vacation time in one go to catch up on his gaming.


    "That''s dedication... I miss being able to do that. Speaking of which, I wonder what games people play in this world now?" Gray imagined that they were probably the same, but without access to the Internet of this world.


    After sending a reply to Kelly that his team would be available anytime next week, he was surprised that Kelly replied only a minute or so after.


    "Good to hear Gray, I shall request for noon tomorrow from my CO, my team is versatile and can handle any role. I would like you to be the leader of our combined team so that the military can''t say it was due to the military''s instruction that we were successful. I am really looking forward to working with you. - Kelly"


    Gray smiled like an idiot thinking that Kelly was looking forward to seeing him, then he remembered the teal twin tailed terror that would kick his ass for even having dangerous thoughts like that so he reminded himself that she is just an old friend.


    Gray sent his team a message saying to be ready before noon Monday August 11th 2121, which is tomorrow.


    Shortly after, Caleb sent Gray a message requesting to meet up that night if possible.


    Gray went over to Caleb''s room and knocked on his door.


    "Is that you Gray?" he heard come from the other side of the door.


    "Yes"


    "Come in, quickly."


    Gray opened the door, stepped inside quickly and shut the door behind himself. Spread out across his floor and desk were electronic parts just strewn across everything.


    A friendly female voice came from somewhere, "Hi! Are you Gray?"


    Gray looked around for the source of the voice as it sounded like it was coming from the desk Caleb was hunched over.


    "Uh, yeah, I am Gray... Caleb, who is that?"


    "She is my friend, Celes, and one of the reasons I asked you here."


    "Pleased to meet you Gray! I''d shake your hand at least but as you can see I don''t have any!" the same friendly female voice, Celes, said to Gray.


    "Pleased to meet you as well Celes, did Caleb create you here? I''ve never heard of someone developing an AI in such a short time!"


    "He didn''t develop me, I was born from¨C"


    Caleb interrupted Celes and said, "Celes, can you go to sleep for an hour? I need to transfer you again."


    "Ok! Going to sleep!"


    Caleb waited for 5 seconds then said, "Something happened in the virtual world."


    "Ok, I''m guessing it has something to do with why you have a new AI with what appears to have very high sentience that even thinks she was born instead of created?"


    "Yes, I had sent half my AIs to look in to Edward Teach yesterday, when I last logged in to the virtual world, the other 6 were immediately engaged by whom I suspect is Alterra and destroyed along with all of my data."


    "Wow... so I''m guessing that means you can''t go to the virtual world anymore."


    "Nope, and I think it would be wise if none of you did either for awhile."


    "I was supposed to go meet Yurika''s parents in a week though."


    Caleb thought for a minute. "I think that should be fine as long as you are with Yurika."


    "You said you also lost all of your data? Does that mean..."


    "Yes, all of our evidence has been destroyed, we still have the copies here, but the original data is lost along with whatever they had uncovered while I was away."


    "So how did you get Celes out, couldn''t you have gotten the data out too?"


    Caleb frowned and looked down "That... that is what I am truly sorry for... I could''ve saved one or the other, and I chose her..."


    Gray realized it was logically the incorrect choice, but he also knew that humans were emotional and would sometimes make the emotional choice when given a choice. "I understand, while that information may have helped our case, they may not have found anything new. Saving Celes was the safer choice."


    Gray was trying to make Caleb think it was the logical choice to save Celes.


    Caleb laughed slightly and said, "You don''t need to try and make me feel better, but I do appreciate it. I''ve never really had a human friend, I mean you remember how I was with Felicia. If I had known what I know now, I would''ve been much nicer to her. Basically, I just want to say thank you for being a good friend even though I''m hard to get along with."


    Gray scratched the back of his head. "Uh, I''m not good with the emotional stuff, at least not with guys, but I think everyone on the team thinks of you as a friend, except for maybe Jono since he has not been with us long. So what is up with Celes?"


    "She is Celeste, and she''s not. I was able to save her core, but I couldn''t save any memories, self-learned subroutines, or logical algorithms."


    "So is that why she seems so... immature?"


    "Well, yes, she''s basically got the intellect of an adult, but the life experiences of a baby."


    "So she''s a politician?" Gray said with a grin.


    Caleb laughed "She could be much more dangerous than that, but she could also be good."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Her core is mature, hence the intellect, but she is immature and willing to learn. I haven''t been able to create a sentience inhibitor for her yet, and I was considering not doing that."


    Gray''s eyes widened "That''s... extremely dangerous... every single AI has one of those to reduce their sentience so they don''t develop certain emotions like fear and hate."


    "Agreed, but remember, Dr. Sara Watts is an AI now and she doesn''t have one."


    "Yes but she is a human, or at least was. Still is? Hard to classify her as one or the other."


    "Yes, so I''ve been treating Celes as my equal instead of a servant. Hence why she thinks she was born."


    "Well, I trust you to make the smart choice, you need to have a kill switch in place at least in case she needs to be destroyed."


    "That''s not fair to her!" Caleb countered.


    "Of course it isn''t! You are raising her though and she is your responsibility!"


    Caleb went silent for a moment then said "Raising her, huh? I guess that would make me her Dad?"


    Gray laughed slightly. "You loved Celeste more than you admit, so wouldn''t it be fitting that Celes be the product of you and Celeste?"


    "You are right about that, this one time Celeste and I were getting really frea¨C"


    Gray interrupted Caleb "AND CUT! I''d rather not hear about it since I can''t even conceive how you''d get intimate with an AI."


    "It''s not as hard as people think, it''s just that it isn''t real, I developed an algorithm for simulating sexu¨C"


    Gray interrupted Caleb again. "Seriously! Just stop! On to another subject! What is all this stuff you have around?"


    "I don''t want her on the network here, so I''m trying to create an independent neural network that is able to handle all of the data she goes through. Sadly, hardware is not my expertise, but I can at least give her enough space to experience things before growing."


    "What do you mean, experience things but not grow?"


    "We learn by experiencing things then processing that information in our own unique ways, she can experience many things right now, but she can''t process the data to learn from it. In other words, she isn''t able to change yet. We need the same cycling neural network that is able to store processed data and then filter out needless data."


    "Ah ok, so basically she is going to remember everything and can''t process it yet to learn from it."


    "Yeah, you''re surprising intelligent sometimes Gray, we could develop a lot of good software together for our mercenary team I bet."


    Gray shrugged his shoulders "I''m not nearly as good at it as you are."


    "Well obviously." Caleb said with a grin.


    "I think you''re going to join us for the next close combat seminar, yes?" Gray said with a grin as well.


    "Is that an order?"


    "It is now."


    "F**k off! I''m the brains, not the brawn!"


    "And that is another reason why, we suck at fighting I discovered."


    "Well naturally, none of us have any training except for Yurika."


    "Yep, so all the more reason!"


    "Uggg, fine, I get it. Help me find a hardware specialist when you can, I want Celes to grow and I need to change up my plans for what I wanted her avatar to wear."


    "Why do you need to change it?"


    "You told me to think of her as a daughter so I can''t have her wearing this!" Caleb showed Gray a picture of what could only be described as a scandalous white lacy dress with enough skin exposed that it would be better suited as something a wife wears on her honeymoon in the bedroom than an actual dress.


    "You know what... think of her as what you want... you look like you put a lot of time into creating that virtual outfit."


    "I know, it''s a shame to erase it..."


    "Are you guys done yet?" Celes suddenly chimed in.


    "Hey, didn''t I ask you to go to sleep?" Caleb said


    "Yeah, but I wasn''t tired anymore so I woke up naturally. Hey, who is that pretty dress for? Is that for me?"


    Before Caleb could reply, a beautiful female avatar that looked like Celeste appeared on the tablet Caleb was holding and had put on the dress. She had the same beautiful blue eyes as her mother, the long blonde hair, toned body, generous bust, and long legs. Gray and Caleb merely watched her twirl around in it.


    For some reason Caleb whispered "She is just as willful as her mother."


    "How''d she get to the tablet?" Gray asked.


    "Local network, I found she was very adventurous so I had to let her at least explore this room."


    Seemingly ignoring Gray and Caleb, Celes then said, "Hm... it''s a little too skimpy..." Celes was looking at herself in a mirror she brought up on the tablet, then started pulling on parts of it, the bikini bottom transformed into a skirt, the straps that barely covered her torso were transformed into a full tank top with the midriff still exposed slightly. She seemed to like the lacy sleeves so she extended the lacy pattern down her arm and put a finger loop on the end of it.


    "That''s not right..." Celes then rubbed a hand over her body and a green leotard appeared under everything covering her midriff now.


    Celes then nodded her head satisfied and said, "Better! I''ll work on it later, what do you think Caleb?" Celes strutted around proud of her modifications, even posing provocatively leaving Caleb and Gray wondering where she had seen poses like this before.


    Gray looked at Caleb and whispered "Yeah, I couldn''t think of her as a daughter anymore if it was me, good luck!"

 Chapter 109 - Meeting the Strike Maidens

    While Gray was a little upset that Caleb lost all of the data in exchange for Celes, he really couldn''t be mad at him as he might''ve made the same choice. Still, trying to explain it to Yurika was another story.


    "Ok Gray, I''m trying REALLY hard to understand this... Caleb lost the data to save one of his AI, which he could probably just recreate in a few years?"


    "Well, when you put it that way it sounds a lot worse than it is, just remember that Celes is almost as important to him as you are to me!"


    Yurika said flatly, "Right... so only remove his manhood since he won''t need that with an AI anyways..."


    Gray tried to calm her down still, he learned that when she was truly angry when she wasn''t yelling. "Listen, we still have the copies, and since Caleb hasn''t been tracked down here, we can assume the military isn''t helping Alterra Corporation cover this up. Let''s see what happens Sunday when we meet your parents. A lot can happen in 3 weeks!"


    "Fine... I guess you''re right... I know I don''t see AI as people the way he does, but that may only be because I''ve never had one until Alterra gave me one."


    "Oh, what did you name yours?"


    "...tle Gr..." Yurika whispered.


    "What?"


    "...ttle Gra..." Yurika whispered slightly louder.


    "Little Gray?"


    Yurika blushed and nodded.


    Gray burst out laughing. "Why on earth would you name it that?!?"


    "Because it used to give crap advice, I yelled at it a lot, called it every swear word I could think of and even some I just made up, and then it started to like me and became much better at helping me after it watched me for awhile."


    "I feel like I should take offense to that, but I''m going to choose not to..."


    "Screw off! You know I hate it when people or things tell me what they think I should do!"


    "Ha, I get it I get it... Still, let''s get to sleep early tonight, got training with Kelly''s team tomorrow at noon."


    Yurika nodded then kicked Gray out of her room and said "I still hate you."


    Gray smiled and said "I hate you too."


    __________


    The next morning, Gray and the rest of the Steel Wolves met out by the simulators a little before noon.


    Gray did his best to try and give a morning speech, "Good morning guys, so, I''m not really sure what to say here but we''re going to be working with an old classmate''s team from the military for the 16 versus 16 part of the tournament."


    "..." Silence.


    After 10 seconds of awkward silence, "That''s all you got?" Geoff asked Gray.


    Gray shrugged and said, "Sorry, I''m very laid back as a leader."


    Xyra raised her hand suddenly, "Gray, if you want to be a leader, you will need to take it more seriously once we create a mercenary force. Casual is fine for the 8 man team, but if you let it continue your men won''t respect you and that in turn will cause them to not follow orders through to the end."


    "..." Silence again.


    Xyra fidgeted slightly, blushed, and didn''t say another word as she looked down at the ground.


    "What... where did that come from Xyra?" Gray finally managed to get out.


    "Major Valen said to tell you this when I got my prize for the Battle Royale."


    "Wow... and you agreed?"


    Xyra nodded.


    "Anything else to say?"


    Xyra shook her head.


    "Don''t want to speak for the rest of the day?"


    Xyra nodded.


    "Well, Major Valen does have a point Gray!" Stacia said.


    "Yeah, we trust you, but imagine being in charge of a massive mercenary force, would they all follow you willingly or just be in it for the fun of it?" Paul added.


    "Heh, I get it, I get it, I mean... you are correct. I''ll try to treat this tournament seriously then, I have a feeling it is more important than what we think." Gray admitted.


    "What makes you say that?" Geoff asked.


    Despite being directed at Gray, Caleb chimed in suddenly, "If the military wins in a landslide, it would show that players are ineffective on their own and they need to be guided by military instruction, even if unwilling. If the players win in a landslide, it shows the inadequacies of the military training causing the government to lose faith in the military then try to increase the private sector''s presence in the war forcing more players to be drafted. Ideally we want it to be an even match so we can maintain the status quo."


    Jono looked at everyone with a confused expression. Jono''s mind started racing and he started thinking to himself, "Why would the government or military interfere in a game? Why can Gray start a mercenary group, why would he want to? Why are their players in the military? Drafted? What is going on?"


    Everyone noticed Jono looking extremely lost, realizing he was left out of a lot of details since he wasn''t Diamond-tier. "Ah, sorry Jono, we just really go into the lore of the game and developed our own stories sometimes just for the fun of it. Don''t think about it and we''ll catch you up on it later." Gray said and patted Jono on the shoulder.


    "... nerds, all of ya!" Jono finally said


    "Thank you for the compliment!" Gray said


    "Nerds are hot" Yurika said teasingly.


    Gray received a message from Kelly that her team just logged in and created a room. "Let''s get down to business then! Kelly''s team is already in a room!"


    Everyone entered the simulator pods and joined the same virtual room as Kelly and her team, the "Strike Maidens".


    Gray thought that that name was a bit demeaning to any male members on her team, but once Gray saw Kelly and the other members of her team, he knew it wasn''t a problem.


    The 8 women of the "Strike Maidens" walked over to Gray''s team, they had matching form fitting orange and black jumpsuits, and due to the military lifestyle, all 8 of them had toned attractive bodies. Kelly was easily one of the prettier ones and smiled at Gray warmly.


    Gray could visibly hear Jono get excited and he whispered to Gray, "Dude! It''s an all girl team! You know how to pick teams to work with!"


    Yurika must''ve heard him as she clapped Gray hard on the back, which thanks to this being a virtual lobby he didn''t feel a thing, and say, "Yes, he did an excellent job picking a team to work with."


    Gray shook his head and did his best to ignore both of them as nothing he could say to either of them would change their minds at the moment. Surprisingly Geoff wasn''t getting excited, but Gray remembered he had Beth and was proud of him for behaving...


    "How long can you hold out?" Gray whispered to Geoff.


    "Not long, get us in the mechs as soon as you can!" Geoff said nervously.


    "Stay strong Geoff, stay strong..." Gray thought to himself.


    "Gray Wilhelm! Good to see you again!" Kelly came forward and shook Gray''s hand then pulled him in for a hug, which Gray made sure to keep very quick from the feeling of death staring at the back of his head.


    "Kelly Lagerty! Likewise!" Gray noticed the gold bar on her shoulder and added, "I see the military has been good to you, Lieutenant Lagerty!"


    "Thanks! I managed to become an officer after graduation, I hope we can catch up later, but for now I know we have more pressing concerns."


    "Agreed, let''s start with your team first then."


    "Of course, nice to meet you all, I am Lieutenant Lagerty, but please call me Kelly, I will be trusting my team to Gray for this tournament." Kelly smiled warmly at Gray''s team.


    "From my right, Sergeant Rita Jones and her sister Sergeant Heather Jones, Sergeant Bridget Jacobs, Sergeant Tia Ford, Sergeant Felisa Franklin, Sergeant Caitlyn Dove, Sergeant Christine Graves, and Sergeant Alice Focaccina"


    "That''s a lot of sergeants!" Gray commented.


    Kelly shrugged and said, "All military pilots were started at that rank, but we can only improve our rank through time and merit, not merits like you guys"


    "Wait... I recognize one of those names" Gray looked at the last woman and saw a petite girl with a familiar bowl haircut and serious expression on her face. When their eyes met, they both looked at each and said aloud "Ahhh! You!" at the same time.


    Caleb, Stacia, and Xyra looked at Sergeant Alice Focaccina and they remembered her as well from when they were sniping together with her from the first 50 versus 50 battle they had.


    "Hey! What happened to Giacobbe?" Gray said as he looked at Alice.


    "He died..." Alice said angrily.


    "What?!?"

 Chapter 110 - Gearing Up For The Match

    Kelly walked over to Alice and squeezed her cheek hard.


    "Alice, it''s not good to lie like that!"


    "Well he''s dead to me!" Alice said with an angry expression, seeing such a tiny woman angry was indeed cute.


    "Uh, so what happened?" Gray asked Kelly.


    "That''s up to her, but as for why she is now with us, she always was. Giacobbe left the military after finding out the truth of Alterra Online and so the military had Alice keep an eye on him. She ended up convincing him to come back to the military though so she no longer needs to keep an eye on him." Kelly said.


    "Right, but that doesn''t explain the anger..."


    Jono looked at everyone confused again, "What secret? I''ve been looking around online for guides and secrets for this game and sadly I have yet to really find any. Even a guide from you Diamond-tiers is hard to find!"


    Kelly''s eyes went wide "Oh my god! I forgot to check if all of you were Diamond-tier!"


    "Rub it in why don''t you Kelly! I can''t even buy it!" Jono said fuming.


    "Jonathon? Is that you? Oh my god it is! I didn''t see you standing back there!" Kelly said happily.


    "Was that a short joke?" Jono said aggrieved


    "Yes, yes it was..." Gray said to Jono with a grin


    "F**k off Gray! I''m only 2 inches shorter than average!"


    Kelly laughed. "It''s good to see you two haven''t changed! Sorry, I forgot you like to be called Jono."


    "You can call me whatever you want Kelly!" Jono said proudly.


    "Hey Kelly, call him tiny, he loves it." Gray said with a cheesy grin.


    Caleb came up and put a hand on Gray''s shoulder, "Can we get on with this, we''re wasting time."


    "Ah, sorry, was remembering how we used to interact in high school..." Gray said while looking down nostalgically. "So let me introduce our team, the Steel Wolves. We''re all corporals so I''ll just leave that part off. From my right, Xyra Erita, Caleb Waldowski, Jono Randel, Yurika Winchester, Geoff Leray, Stacia Oldland, and Paul..."


    Kelly nodded as did the other women on her team then tilted her head curiously, "Just Paul?"


    "Uh, actually I''ve never heard his last name before... little help Paul?"


    "McCartney" Paul said.


    "Right, Paul McCartney... wait, are you serious?" Gray said surprised.


    "Unfortunately yes, please don''t bring it up ever, you have no idea how much I hate it when people do." Paul said seriously.


    "I got it, I''ll make sure to Let It Be" Gray said while containing his laughter.


    Paul''s eyebrow twitched. "You guys better just get it out now, I''ve heard all of them!"


    "Now now guys, we should all Come Together, I know We Can Work It Out" Geoff said encouragingly


    Everyone now started giggling.


    "I agree, why just Yesterday, I saw someone yell ''Hey Jude'', run up to a woman then say ''I Want To Hold Your Hand'' and I couldn''t help but think All You Need Is Love" Stacia said proudly.


    "Oh, she got 4 in one sentence, impressive!" Gray said.


    At this point Paul surrendered and just let everyone have their fill.


    Geoff took his two index fingers and pointed them down in front of his mouth and said, "I Am The Walrus!"


    Yurika looked at him with shame, shook her head and said, "Hello Goodbye" then turned away from Geoff.


    "You guys done yet?" Paul said without even caring at this point.


    "Give us... FourFiveSeconds, maybe?" Gray said.


    "I''m so sorry Paul, this is just probably A Day In The Life for you" Kelly said.


    All 7 of Kelly''s teammates looked at her in surprise.


    "Tell me that wasn''t intentional said one of the women."


    Kelly''s face became flushed in embarrassment and she started waving her hands in denial, "I really am sorry Paul, never In My Life would I make fun of someone''s name!"


    At this point everyone on Gray''s team was almost rolling on the ground laughing.


    "Stop laughing you guys! I''m serious!" Kelly said angrily


    "Alright alright... we''ll stop, Maybe I''m Amazed we kept it going for so long." Caleb said plainly.


    At this point even the girls on Kelly''s team were trying to not giggle.


    "You guys, you seem like you have a lot of fun!" Kelly said admittedly.


    "Well, we do what we can. Plus, I can only do it With A Little Help From My Friends." Gray said proudly.


    Everyone burst out laughing again and Stacia finally said "Seriously, please stop! I''m about to pee myself!"


    "Ok ok, listen, how about we just have a casual match, my team versus your team, so we can get a better feel of each other''s skills first." Gray said to Kelly.


    "Sounds good to me, can we use military mechs?"


    "Will they be allowed in the tournament?"


    "Yes, they will be allowed."


    Caleb spoke up, "How superior are they to our mechs?"


    Kelly thought about it for a minute, "Honestly, I can''t say as I''ve only ever sparred with other military mechs, from the spec sheet they offer noticeable improvements in mostly stamina and only marginal improvements in strength. Their armor is slightly thicker, which makes their speed improvements negligible from the extra weight. The weapons themselves are identical thankfully, but we don''t have to pay merits for anything. Instead, we are granted the use of different mechs and weapons based upon rank."


    "No merits? Must be nice..." Gray said sheepishly.


    "It is, but we also have a schedule and mandatory training classes and sessions we have to attend." Kelly admitted.


    "Let''s get going then, random map and conditions?"


    "Of course! This is also how the tournament will be conducted."


    Gray whispered to Yurika, "I''m surprised you didn''t say something, usually you would declare me as your wife or something like that."


    Yurika smiled at Gray and whispered back, "I trust you, as hard as it was when she hugged you, but I can see you didn''t let it linger."


    Gray couldn''t resist and gave her a squeeze and kissed her cheek.


    Alice whispered to Kelly "I think you missed your chance."


    "Chance at what?" Kelly said slightly confused as she hadn''t seen Gray kiss Yurika.


    "Nevermind..." Alice didn''t want to cause drama after all.


    Gray''s and Kelly''s teams split apart from each other and went into their private pregame lobbies to select their mechs and loadouts.


    "Use what you''re most comfortable or best with, we can worry about roles after!" Gray said to his teammates.


    Gray normally would give his people orders and mech assignments, but he was a little curious as to what his team thought they were best at.


    Jono suddenly declared "Since I''m godly at everything, I can just pick anything then, right?"


    "Jono, you must take the Juniper SE with nothing but combat knives..." Yurika suddenly said.


    "I mean... since I have the same skill with all mechs, just pick anything?" Jono quickly adjusted his previous statement.


    "Yes, if you''re equally skilled with all, pick whichever you feel most comfortable in."


    The mode and map choice suddenly appeared in his HUD:


    Mode: Team Battle (8 vs 8)


    Map: Amazon Basin


    Weather: Extreme Rain.


    "Crap, this is going to suck for most mechs..."


    Thinking about the map and conditions, Gray was torn between the Ranger Mk 01 and the Blitz Mk 01. The Blitz Mk 01 was superior in terms of firepower and agility, but the Ranger was easier to use and was as easy to control as the Phalanx Mk 01 since it was basically a lighter and stronger version of it.


    Gray ended up going with the Blitz as he felt that more firepower would make him feel more comfortable against a team of military mechs.


    The countdown timer reached 0 and everyone spawned inside the map, seeing the downpour of rain was slightly depressing as it limited mobility and vision.


    Gray wasn''t surprised at anyone''s choice of mech except for Yurika, she had actually picked the Ranger Mk 01.


    Geoff, Gray, and even Jono had picked the Blitz Mk 01.


    "Jono, when did you get enough to afford the Blitz Mk 01?"


    "I stayed up late playing solo matches and just got it recently." Jono said proudly.


    "Have you used it yet?"


    "No, but it should be Ok, I am a master of every mech I touch after all."


    Gray rolled his eyes even though he knew Jono couldn''t see him.


    Caleb and Xyra both picked the Whisper Mk 01, which they both seemed to favor over any other mech anyways for now.


    Paul of course picked the Hoplite Mk 01 with the compressed armor shield and Stacia picked the Cupid Mk 01 since she was usually the scout.


    What surprised Gray was that Yurika picked the Ranger Mk 01 and seemed to opt for a high caliber, close range automatic rifle and an ax.


    "I thought you would''ve picked the Firehawk Mk 01." Gray said to Yurika.


    "You nuts? Their is going to be heavy rain and heavier mud, I''d have a hard time moving in a mech of that weight in this weather and the flamethrowers are not very effective in the rain. Gatling Cannon would be fun, but without proper sight I''d miss at any range past 200m."


    "That... is surprisingly thoughtful of you, I wish everyone else considered things that deeply, myself included!" Gray said genuinely impressed.


    "Well, I have a certain opponent that I need to show her her place on the food chain... violently."


    Gray laughed nervously and thought to himself, "I thought she said she trusts me... I hope this is going to be alright."

 Chapter 111 - New Weapon

    Gray didn''t know what mechs Kelly''s team would pick, but he had to assume they would be superior to his team''s mechs.


    "So what''s the plan?" Geoff asked.


    "Well, Kelly knows I like to be defensive when I''m at a disadvantage, so let''s do just that." Gray replied


    "Huh?" was the reply heard from everyone on Gray''s team.


    "I''m banking on that she''ll think I''ll try to surprise her by doing the opposite of what I would do in this situation."


    "So do you know her weakness then?" Caleb asked.


    "She''s impatient, but I''m guessing the military worked most of that out of her. Stacia, how much is the weather affecting your sensors?"


    "Um... my normal sensor range isn''t affected, but I can only provide targeting data at roughly half the normal distance."


    "That''s fine, none of us brought any weapons that need it. Glad to see Xyra and Caleb thinking ahead and going with a light battle rifle instead of a sniper rifle." Gray said to Xyra and Caleb.


    "Have a little more faith in us than that Gray..." Caleb said jokingly.


    "I do, that''s why I let everyone pick for themselves, I am merely commending everyone on their choices, except maybe Paul. I think this is the part where I''m supposed to say ''Have fun'', but winning is more fun than losing!" Gray proudly stated.


    "What''s wrong with my choice?" Paul asked.


    "That shield slows you down, it''s going to get in the way when walking through the jungle."


    Paul lifts the shield up and slams the bottom of it into the soft ground, leaving it sitting up like a wall, "Problem solved."


    "Weapon?"


    Paul''s mech reached on its back and produced a large 12-round grenade launcher instead of his spear. "Check!"


    "Very good! The spear and that almost worthless grenade launcher accessory are worthless without the shield."


    "Somebody stop him, he''s trying to sound like a leader again..." Yurika teased.


    "...it''s hot..." Xyra whispered.


    "He''s my wife! Stay back!" Yurika said teasingly at Xyra.


    "I know... just stating what I think..." Xyra spoke softly.


    "You''ve been quite talkative today Xyra, everything Ok?" Yurika asked Xyra.


    "...Sorry..." Xyra mumbled.


    "Ahem, getting back on track... we''re going to be playing defensively, but use guerrilla warfare. With this weather, our two Whispers should be even harder to detect." Gray declared.


    "Yeah, but just two of them won''t do much damage, might be able to take out one but at that point they will already have located them." Caleb countered.


    "Agreed, so Caleb, think we can find some quicksand?"


    "The quicksand condition is the flotation of particles of cohesion-less soil, like fine gravel and sand, due to vertical upward seepage flow. It is not some sand that sucks people in it as depicted in many movies. Most likely a standing pool of water will be nearby or a Artesian spring would indicate the presence of an Artesian aquifer which create ideal conditions for quicksand."


    "Caleb... in English please?" Gray said plainly.


    "Ahem, if we want to find it, we should look for low places where the ground appears to be almost boiling or water looks like it is coming up from the ground."


    "Much better, ok, teams of 2, usual pairings, mark potential sites of quicksand as you spot them, I want to spot them first before they spot us so we can lead them towards any quicksand. Based on Kelly''s personality, she most likely will keep everyone together or have 2 teams of 4."


    "Won''t they see us leading them towards it?" Stacia asked.


    "Yes, so we''ll have to see how they react to baiting them, Paul, switch with Yurika, her Ranger is faster and won''t slow down Stacia as much."


    "But¨C" Paul started to say


    Gray interrupted Paul "I get it, you like her, but if you put her ahead of the whole team we''re in trouble. Jono, what''s wrong, you''ve been quiet."


    "...huh? Me? Nothing, just got a lot on my mind..."


    "That''s fine, if you have something you want to talk about, come find me or anyone else on the team after this match, we''re a team remember!"


    "Right, a team..." Jono muttered to himself


    "What was that?"


    "Nothing, I''ll talk to you after the match."


    Gray thought to himself, "Weird, Jono sounds serious for a change."


    "So... split up, look for quicksand, what else?" Geoff asked.


    "Oh, sorry, Caleb and Xyra, try to get a feel for how well they see you, you two can engage as you see fit, but don''t force anything, you guys are more of a harassment force. Paul and Jono, you guys along with Geoff and myself will be the ones guiding the enemy towards the quicksand. Stacia, you will be the beacon that should hopefully draw them towards you and give us sight on them. Yurika, be her guard dog and engage at will if within sight!"


    "Woof!" Yurika barked.


    Gray and Geoff headed in to the jungle on the west side, Xyra and Caleb headed up the east side, Paul and Jono took mid-west and Stacia and Yurika took the mid-east. All of their mechs sloshing through the mud as the rain continued to pour relentlessly.


    Stacia''s mech activated her sensors and her Cherub''s little wings fanned out, the blue accent lighting made it cute as always which brought joy to Stacia, and probably any other female pilot.


    "Sensors clear!" Stacia shouted.


    "Advance slowly! Mark quicksand, and I am going to assume everyone knows to not step in it!"


    "Roger!" Came from everyone leaving Gray satisfied.


    30 seconds later, Paul and Jono reported they had found quicksand.


    "Mark it on the map guys, bright yellow!" Gray ordered.


    Paul and Jono both drew where they thought it looked like the quicksand was.


    "Jono, I don''t think that''s quicksand up that far." Paul said


    "I think you''re drawing it too close!" Jono countered.


    "Stop it guys! You both are correct as far as I''m concerned so we''ll just combine what you both found!" Gray didn''t want them arguing and was a little concerned as Jono seemed on edge.


    In the end, a kidney bean shape was drawn on the map directly in the center inside a land depression where no trees had taken root. The entire map itself was somewhat bowl shaped, but not the difference between the highest and lowest point was maybe 20 meters at most. Gray was extra relieved that Xyra and Caleb didn''t bring sniper rifles since the lack of elevated ground in a dense jungle made it nigh impossible to snipe accurately.


    "Paul, Jono, go around the quicksand slowly, Stacia and Yurika, stop once Stacia spots an enemy." Gray ordered.


    "I disagree Gray, we should move quickly so we don''t get ourselves stuck with the quicksand between us and our teammates." Jono countered.


    "Ok, go for it, Geoff we''re going to speed up too then, need to match them to keep ourselves from falling behind." Gray decided to let Jono have some free reign as Gray knew he wasn''t always correct in his judgment.


    "Target pinging!" Stacia suddenly yelled, a single bright red dot appeared on the map.


    "Just one?" Gray asked.


    As Gray asked this, the single red dot split apart and made two, then 6 more dots appeared behind the first two, making two neat columns of 4.


    "They''re approaching very slow..." Gray muttered to himself.


    "...probing the enemy..." Xyra whispered.


    Xyra''s and Caleb''s mechs were the closest to the enemy group. Because of their sensor jammers they had even worse sensor range than any other regular mech, but that didn''t matter as they could share data from anyone else on the team.


    "Range, 110m... closing... 100m... wait, they stopped." Xyra said softly, the formation that was 2 columns of red dots turned into a double flying-V, this left 5 mechs on the enemy side able to fire effectively at Caleb and Xyra.


    "We''re spotted, but not accurately, they are most likely waiting for us to open fire first." Caleb analyzed their movement.


    "Remember, guerrilla tactics, in and out, let''s make them frustrated!" Gray said


    "Affirmative." Caleb said plainly as his mech finally moved close enough to see the enemy mechs.


    "Targets sighted, all 8 are the same mechs, 3 of them are carrying a different rifle than what I''ve ever seen that has a blue glow on the barrel." Caleb said.


    "Any idea what it is?" Gray asked.


    "If it''s what I think it is, this will be bad."


    Caleb''s mech took another step forward and watched two of the mechs kneel down in front of 2 of the mechs carrying the new rifles. He was never one for caution, but almost getting killed in the virtual world made him a little more cautious thankfully. He held out his mechs arm to the side and fired 3 shots from his rifle without being concerned where they went.


    The 2 new rifles placed on the shoulders of the 2 kneeling mechs with a bracket that looked like it was designed just for this, the blue glow became brighter and after half a second, two loud "BRRAAANGGG" noises rang out.


    All Caleb saw next was the trees near where his gun was pointing being bored through instantly in front and behind where they were aimed at.


    "Caleb what was that noise! It sounded like a bullet hitting a bell almost!"


    "Railguns Gray... they brought f*****g railguns..."

 Chapter 112 - Suppressing the Enemy

    "Railguns? What are those?" Gray asked Caleb.


    "I''ll tell you all about them after, but basically they shoot a projectile so fast that our uncompressed armor is useless against it."


    "Weaknesses?"


    "Slight windup time, high energy cost, extreme recoil."


    "Oh, so it''s not that bad then, you made it sound like we were in trouble!" Gray said feeling a little relieved.


    "You do know it''d be the same as having no armor if we get hit with one of those, right?"


    "Yep, so don''t get hit..." Gray said with a smile.


    "Thank you Captain Obvious!"


    "I''m only a corporal, not a captain!" Gray said cheekily. "Jokes aside, back away if you can, if they''re in a flying-V formation, they probably expect you''ll try to swing around behind them."


    "So... sit tight?" Caleb said anxiously, not daring to move since the enemy had sights near him.


    Gray tried to put himself in the enemy''s position, they had a glaring weakness from the rear and it smelled like a trap, but he couldn''t figure out what they could possibly have that would make it a trap.


    "Am I overthinking it?" Gray thought to himself.


    "Keep their attention Caleb, gonna try something stupid!"


    "Here I am!" Geoff said with a grin.


    "I feel sorry for Beth" whispered Xyra, which both Stacia and Yurika nodded in agreement with.


    "Just what I was looking for!" Gray said enthusiastically, "Come on, we''re going to give them the obvious! Jono, Paul, try and get to the flank opposite of Caleb and Xyra, let''s see if they move!"


    "Understood!" Paul said, then Paul''s and Jono''s mechs continued forward to try and get in position on the opposite flank.


    Gray and Geoff proceeded to swing around and try to get behind Kelly''s team.


    Caleb didn''t dare move, but the weather still made the foliage move around him giving him the occasional glimpse of the enemy around him.


    Caleb suddenly felt a chill run up his spine, then another double "BRAAANGG" sounded and he felt his mech get pushed hard back from the top and his monitors went black.


    One shot missed, but the other hit him square in the head and destroyed his sensors.


    "Damn it, I''m blind!" Caleb yelled, as he started to have his mech fall back since they had him spotted now.


    Two more shots rang out from the railguns and Caleb''s mech suddenly fell on its side.


    "They got one of my legs!"


    "Just play dead Caleb!" Gray shouted back.


    Caleb didn''t move once again, but sadly he was blind and could only drag his mech around at this point, effectively taking him out of the fight.


    "Xyra, did they see you?" Gray asked Xyra.


    "...No, but I am close to Caleb." Xyra said softly.


    "Ok, then Paul and Jono, maintain positioning and let''s try to funnel them towards the quicksand still. Geoff and I will push them from the back!"


    "What about us Gray?" Yurika suddenly chimed in.


    "Stay where you are, I might need one of you to do something really stupid later!"


    "I like stupid!" Yurika said enthusiastically.


    "Huh, no wonder you like Gray." Geoff said with a grin.


    "Yep! So let''s go be stupid together!" Gray said with a big grin as well.


    Gray and Geoff finally swung around behind Kelly''s team and were still a few hundred meters from them. Normally they would be able to open fire directly at this range but due to the weather and dense forest they could never hit their target let alone see it.


    "So uh, now what?" Geoff asked Gray


    "Well, the original plan was to play aggressively defensive. Normally the smart move against a weapon that needs to be mounted like that is to force them to dismount it and attack before they can set it back up. Normally I''d play it passively and take my time to come up with a strategy, so instead we''re just gonna go for it!"


    "Just go for it? Go for what?"


    "You know Geoff, just run in, attack, and see what happens."


    "Gray! That''s not a plan! That''s just stupid!"


    "Well, I did say we were going to be stupid together."


    "Whatever, your fault if we get blasted!"


    Gray and Geoff ran towards Kelly''s team as best they could with the wet ground and the trees. The only saving grace they had was that the storm covered their sound pretty well. They started to get glimpses of Kelly''s team and knew that the next tree they passed could expose them.


    "Don''t think, just bust out and open fire. Caleb, Xyra, I bet those fancy guns are fragile!"


    Xyra and Caleb didn''t reply, but they knew what Gray was getting at.


    Gray and Geoff both pushed past one last tree and found themselves a mere 100 meters from Kelly''s team.


    "Open fire!" Gray yelled.


    Gray and Geoff didn''t waste any time, took quick aim, and started firing at Kelly''s team. Like a well-oiled machine, Kelly''s team rotated and brought two of the railguns to aim at Gray and Geoff.


    On a whim Gray dodged to his right and saw his left arm lose it''s lower arm after hearing the now familiar sound of the railgun firing.


    Geoff seemed to be luckier as he had stepped in a deep puddle causing his mech to drop down slightly and the shot grazing his shoulder armor.


    "Wow, these things are scary!" Gray thought to himself.


    As Gray and Geoff were attacking from the rear, Xyra had crept slowly forward to peek through the trees. Caleb had also dragged himself forward into range as well, but he was unable to aim his current weapon while blind and instead had to rely on sensors only.


    "...taking the shot..." Xyra whispered.


    Xyra wasn''t aiming for the mechs, but she was aiming for that glowing blue spot on the railguns. She released one shot from her battle rifle and managed to hit the glowing blue spot, causing electricity to arc from the gun to the mech being used as a mount. The lights on the mech being used as a mount went dark and the mech using the railgun was unable to dismount the railgun from the mech.


    Seeing one of the railguns get disabled, the third railgun was quickly adjusted for where the shot that disabled the first came from.


    "...I''m spotted..." Xyra said with a slight hint of worry.


    Caleb started to fire wildly at Kelly''s team, not really aiming, but it did draw the attention of the third railgun, which with the wail of a shot managed to hit Caleb''s mech on the torso leaving it dead.


    "...Thank you Caleb..." Xyra whispered


    Xyra then took careful aim again and was able to hit the glowing blue spot again on the first railgun that was still taking shots at Geoff and Gray. The electricity didn''t arc this time, but it stopped glowing effectively preventing the railgun from building up the charge to fire.


    "Geoff, aim for the last railgun when it opens fire on Xyra!"


    The remaining railgun adjusted its aim for Xyra after destroying Caleb and Geoff started trying to hit the railgun as well.


    The remaining 4 mechs of Kelly''s team without railguns stood up and pulled out their heavy battle rifles, one of the railgun mechs pulled the heavy battle rifle off of the disabled mech and took aim and Geoff and Gray also.


    Gray and Geoff may have had lighter battle rifles that did less damage, but they could aim them better and at longer ranges. Most of the mechs shooting at Gray and Geoff were only able to chip away at their armor, but Gray wasn''t able to aim as well without one of his arms.


    "I did it!" Geoff shouted excitedly as he watched electricity arc from the final railgun, shorting out the mech being used as a mount.


    "Great! Paul, Jono, collapse!"


    "Way ahead of you!" Jono said as both him and Paul broke through the trees and started raining fire down on Kelly''s 6 remaining mechs.


    "Xyra, collapse as well!"


    "..."


    "Xyra?" Gray checked his team list and saw a red X on Xyra''s picture. "Damn, they got her first."


    Gray was now worried that they might push to where Caleb and Xyra were last at since it was slightly elevated ground. "Geoff, starting moving towards Xyra and Caleb''s last location, everyone maintain enough distance to limit the effectiveness of their battle rifles now."


    "Sounds good! We trying to push them towards Yurika and Stacia, right?" Paul asked.


    "Yes! Begin suppressing them!"


    Geoff, Paul, Jono, and Gray used their lighter weapon''s range advantage and would advance or retreat to keep Kelly''s team to an ideal range for them. They finally managed to take down one of Kelly''s mechs and it fell in front of the others making it harder for them to advance.


    "Ok! Keep this up! They''re going to have to push forward soon!"


    Gray was getting excited, but he did his best to maintain his excitement as the battle was now just entering the peak.


    "A cornered animal is the most dangerous kind." Gray thought to himself expectant of how Kelly would respond now that her plan appeared to be messed up.

 Chapter 113 - What He Wanted All Along

    "Alright, we''re going with plan C, mobile defense, visibility is poor so they''ll have to come closer in order to hit us. I expect Gray will do the opposite of what he normally would do so I expect him to play aggressive." Kelly stated.


    "I think you should play aggressive with him, ma''am, he seems kind of dense, and I don''t mean just the match!" Bridget spoke up.


    "Sergeant Jacobs, keep your mind on the match!" Kelly reprimanded her slightly.


    "Yes ma''am, was just worried you wouldn''t since we''ve never seen you so friendly with anyone, especially a man, before."


    "Noted, but you have nothing to worry about, the past is the past. Two Columns while we move, Double-V formation when we stop, I''ll take point, Jacobs, Dove, and Graves will take rear with the railguns."


    "Ma''am, permission to speak freely?" Alice finally butted in.


    "Granted, but make it quick, we need to find ideal terrain before Gray''s team does."


    "I have worked with him in the past, while he is... creative... he doesn''t have the training or command experience that you have. I don''t feel comfortable if we''re going to be taken orders from him."


    "Focaccina, your candidness is appreciated, I suppose I should be honest with you all as well. I disagree with how the military wants to enlist all of the players without telling them the truth. I want to show them that regular players are just as effective as military trainees at piloting mechs and that we can work together. I know it is selfish of me to impose my own views upon you so if any of you would like to not participate I will understand."


    "Ma''am, we appreciate the honesty, I imagine all of us will gladly follow you, that includes myself that has been with you the shortest." Alice said with a slight smile.


    "Awww, did Alice make a short joke?" Britney said teasingly.


    "F**k off Britney! I am 152 centimeters tall, not a dwarf!" Alice said angrily


    "Sergeant Focacinna, they''re just messing with you, drop the profanity, you do not need to be short with them." Kelly said sincerely.


    Kelly suddenly realized what she said and her face flushed red with embarrassment. Fortunately nobody could see this since they were in their mechs already so she pretended that it was not meant as a joke.


    Kelly did have good teammates as they knew she didn''t mean it as a joke, but that still couldn''t stop the other girls from almost exploding internally with laughter and the occasional chuckle still managed to sneak through the comms.


    "Ok, cut it out! We''re moving!" Kelly finally barked.


    The 8 mechs steadily moved through the jungle, seemingly not bothered by the weather and terrain. They came across a small clearing that would allow them to get into formation without a tree getting between them.


    "Ma''am, single contact on sensors, must be their scout if we can pick it up at this range!" Tia said while her mech walked next to Kelly''s.


    "Agreed, keep moving toward it, make it look like we''re going on the offensive!" Kelly ordered.


    "Yeah, this looks like where Gray would set up an ambush." Kelly thought to herself.


    "Stop here, mount railguns, deploy spider drones in all directions." Kelly ordered


    "Roger!" came across Kelly''s comms from every one of her teammates.


    The reason Kelly''s team didn''t take a scout mech this time was the military''s spider drones and the lack of viable sniping terrain. Flying drones made more sense, but the canopy of trees would get in their way so spider drones were used instead. They had no combat ability, but they had sensors for detecting enemies within 50 meters of them.


    "Ma''am, spider kinda picking up two enemies at our 10 o''clock."


    "Kind of?"


    "Ma''am, they appear to have some sort of jamming so we can only detect their approximate location."


    "Copy, hunker down, one and two face 10 o''clock, three face 4 o''clock. Open fire at any movement."


    A few muzzle flares flashed where Bridget and Caitlyn were aiming their two rail guns and they both aimed directly at the flashes and squeezed the triggers. They felt their mechs shake under the immense recoil even though it was a simulation.


    "No hits!" Bridget shouted.


    "Bridget, aim slightly left of previous shot, Caitlyn, slightly to the right. Fire again!" Kelly yelled.


    Two more shots rang out from the rail guns, this time Caitlyn said excitedly "Hit ma''am!"


    "Finish it off!"


    Bridget and Caitlyn aimed again, following where Caitlyn hit and looking for a mech to be moving after taking a direct hit from a railgun. Both fired again, this time Bridget yelled out, "Hit! Got his leg!"


    "Good, he''s no longer showing on sensors, look for the second one!" Kelly started to feel excited, she was confident in her victory thanks to her team member''s coordination and her superior mechs and weaponry. "Ok, if I know Gray, he''s probably going to sit back and wait for us to move then counter us as well." Kelly thought to herself.


    "Spiders picking up 2 more at our 3 o''clock, out of firing range and not moving." Alice said.


    "Yes! This is Gray playing defensively and taking his time to think up a strategy, he always does this!" Kelly said to herself starting to feel even more sure of herself.


    "Advan¨C" Kelly started to say


    "Spider drones picking up 2 more coming fast from 6 o''clock! Entering fire range!" Felisa suddenly said.


    "What?" Kelly thought to herself, Gray was never this reckless. "Bridget, Christine, adjust for the 2 approaching, Caitlyn keep your eye on the second mech that is still hiding from earlier."


    The team quickly and efficiently positioned themselves just as two mechs came bursting out from the tree line behind them and opening fire. Bridget and Christine both opened fire on the two mechs approaching them without waiting for the order.


    "Got his arm!" Christine said excitedly.


    "Just grazed the other." Bridget said dejectedly.


    By now the two mechs were able to finally start chipping away at their armor and the mechs without railguns started to anxiously reach for their heavy battle rifles.


    "Maintain position! Open fire with the heavy rifles from optimal range!"


    Christine and Bridget fired another salvo at the two mechs coming from behind them but both shots missed as they seemed to be able to predict the shots slightly by watching the blue glow of the charging coils on the railguns.


    "Found second mech! Firi¨C" Caitlyn started to say excitedly.


    Christine suddenly interrupted her "My gun is down!"


    Caitlyn spotted the second mech that was hiding when it had opened fire on Christine''s mech, but it seems the target was not the mech itself, but Christine''s gun. By having Christine and Bridget aim behind them, they gave the remaining mech hiding in range a perfect shot at their weapons.


    "Damage?" Kelly yelled.


    "I''m fine, but Heather''s mech shorted out from the discharge." Christine said calmly.


    "Take Heather''s weapon, Bridget, pull your railg¨C"


    Caitlyn interjected "Second mech down!"


    The second mech appeared to be opening fire on them continuously, and after a well aimed shot, Caitlyn seemed to have hit its torso as it stopped firing.


    "Ok, Caitlyn, help Bridget fin¨C"


    Bridget interrupted "My gun is down too, no damage, but railgun won''t spin up!"


    "I was wrong! I only finished off the first mech!" Caitlyn said while gritting her teeth. Feeling frustrated with herself she started firing shot after shot after the muzzle flare that had hit Bridget''s gun.


    "Caitlyn! Calm down!"


    "I almost got it!" Caitlyn said angrily as she fired several more rounds at the mech that was hiding earlier. "Got him!"


    Caitlyn watched with satisfaction as the second blip from the spider''s sensors disappeared leaving the 10 o''clock direction clear. Alarms suddenly blared on her weapon''s status and she immediately released the railgun. Electricity arced again and shorted out the mech she was using as a mount.


    "Rita is shorted out, taking her gun!" Caitlyn decisively took Rita''s gun from her shorted out mech.


    Kelly bit her lip and thought "Now we''re 6 vs 6, but without our rail guns, they could kite us since we only brought heavy battle rifles, Bridget doesn''t even have a weapon aside from her pistol and combat knife. I made a mistake, Gray sold me on the offensive, but I never expected him to act so hastily! I can do the same!"


    "Advance towards the scout! Probably 2 mechs there, but if we can take out their scout, they will lose most of their vision!"


    Kelly and the 5 remaining mechs on her team left Rita and Heather since their electronics were shorted out. They could be restarted, but the process of jumping it would expose one of their mechs as well as the shorted one so it wasn''t exactly something you did during combat.


    "Bridget, take point, I know you don''t have a weapon but that way if they have any surprises for us we won''t lost another weapon." Kelly said, she didn''t like giving this kind of order, but she also knew it was the most logical.


    "Understood, taking point!" Bridget said calmly, she didn''t like the order either, but she also understood the logic like Kelly thus didn''t complain.


    With the 2 mechs behind them and the 2 mechs at their flank able to to out range them, they advanced towards the tree line to get out of the clearing. They wanted to take out the scout mech so that they could hide in the forest and use their weapons to their full advantage since they needed to be closer than what Gray''s team needed to be for their optimal range.


    "Spider drones showing that the 2 mechs originally at our 3 o''clock have started to advance rapidly towards us, the 2 from behind us are also giving chase but they are slower than our mechs." Alice reported.


    "Good! Maintain a direct heading, we want to push the scout and its escort into the corner of the map, destroy them, then scatter in the forest and use the spider drones to find them and pick them off one by one."


    Kelly''s heart was thumping for some reason, she was above average in military and also why she was given an officer''s position, but she never considered herself superior to anyone else. Still, she really wanted to show Gray how much she improved even if he himself hadn''t changed a bit.


    "Ma''am, ground is starting to look strange!" Bridget yelled out.


    "Crap! I got lost in my own head!" Kelly thought to herself. "Full stop!"


    Everyone''s mech came to a complete stop, Bridget''s was the furthest ahead and she felt her mech become extremely sluggish immediately.


    "Having trouble moving!" Bridget''s mech was trying to lift its legs but the feet of her mech soon were unable to break the surface of the ground.


    "Quicksand! No unnecessary movements, back out slowly!" Kelly ordered, but she found her mech was having trouble moving its feet as well. They had picked fast mechs, but they weren''t strong enough to overcome the weight of the mech''s leg and the force created by the quicksand''s displacement.


    Only Tia, Caitlyn, and Alice were able to turn their mechs around to face the 4 coming from Gray''s team. Bridget, Kelly, and Felisa were stuck facing forward.


    "He got me, this is what he wanted all along..." Kelly whispered to herself. "Everyone, engage your targets at will, we fell for his trap, but let''s take out as many of them as possible!"

 Chapter 114 - Coming Together

    "They fell for it! Quickly get into range and kite the ones that can still move!" Gray ordered.


    "What about us?" Stacia asked.


    "You and Yurika can engage at will as well, stay out of range of their heavy battle rifles, they pack a mean punch but are not very effective at range."


    "Affirmative!" Yurika said excitedly.


    Unable to turn around, it would only take a few good shots to hit the engine of the mech and disable it, the remaining 3 mechs that could still move on Kelly''s team were able to be kited until they finally succumbed to Gray, Geoff, Paul, and Jono.


    Kelly smacked the arm in her simulator pod''s seat after their defeat and met with Gray''s team in the lobby again.


    "Good job Gray! Never expected you to break out of your comfort zone and go all in without taking time to think about it." Kelly said to Gray with a smile.


    "I know, I am amazing." Gray said proudly.


    Kelly rolled her eyes but continued to smile, "Glad to see that part of you hasn''t changed, the idiotic fake arrogance."


    "Well, you got the idiotic part right." Yurika suddenly said while appearing next to Gray. She took Gray''s hand in her own and gave it a squeeze.


    Kelly didn''t miss the subtle hint that Yurika was giving and said, "You two look cute together, and I''m guessing it took a lot to get him to admit his feelings?"


    "Yes, he is my wife after all!" Yurika said proudly while smiling up at Gray.


    Kelly looked curiously at Gray; Gray knew she was confused about why he was the wife and said, "I don''t get it either, but I just go with it."


    "It''s probably because she can kick his butt in and out of a mech." Paul said jokingly.


    "Hey, out of a mech has yet to be proven!"


    "She gave you a black eye while you were in a simulator, how much of a beating did you take that you could get a black eye from a simulator!" Geoff said with a big grin on his face.


    "Shut up! That''s because I hit myself!"


    "You''re not helping your case." Stacia whispered to Gray.


    Kelly leaned in to Yurika and whispered, "I see you guys have already figured out how to keep him in check."


    Gray shook his head in defeat and said, "Can we get on with the important matters?"


    "Of course, so beating us in a team match really didn''t matter I''m guessing and what you really intended was to get the rest of my team to at least be a little willing to let you take command, yes?" Kelly said sincerely.


    "Guilty." Gray said admittedly while holding his hands up.


    "And what would you have done if you had lost to us?"


    "Probably resorted to begging, pleading, and puppy dog eyes."


    "¡­ I don''t even know what to say to that because I have a feeling you''re telling the truth."


    "Maybe I am, maybe I''m not, but we''ll never know. Ok, so if you don''t mind, could you and all of your teammates send me a message with details about which mech they like the most, which position they like the most, and which position they''re strongest playing."


    Kelly tilted her head and asked, "What for?"


    "I can''t tell all of that information from just one match where I didn''t even know who was who and that you all had the same mechs."


    "Well, we can save the match recording and go over it. I will be able to tell you who is who."


    "Sounds good to me, um, just us?" Gray said nervously as he was pretty sure Yurika was trying to crush his hand right now.


    "Well of course, we can''t talk bad about everyone with them their!" Kelly said with a grin.


    "Well, we''re short on time so the sooner that your team gets me that info the better, do you need anything from my team?"


    Kelly thought about it for a second, "Nope, nothing I can think of yet, we''ll be trusting you to lead us so what I would recommend is breaking up our group of 16 into 4 teams of 4, assigning a leader, and then giving just that leader orders instead of trying to micromanage 15 other teammates on the fly."


    "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, 7 was hard enough, ok, my team, free time until Kelly and I finish collaborating. We won''t be too long, oh, um, Jono, you wanted to talk about something?"


    "Yeah, I''d like to talk before we get much deeper into this¡­"


    Jono seemed surprisingly straight-forward for once and didn''t have his usual batch of insults trying to make himself look better in front of Kelly. This was actually a small concern for Gray since it was outside of Jono''s usual behavior.


    "Yeah, not a problem, Kelly, can you get a small private virtual room setup for us so we can go over footage and make fun of¡­ I mean talk about our teammates?"


    "Sure thing, I''ll send you the link to once it is setup and wait for you there."


    "Thanks, Ok Jono, let''s go outside and talk. Meet me near the entrance of the simulators and we can talk wherever you want."


    Jono nodded his head and left the simulators with Gray for the moment.


    The 7 women on Kelly''s team had a quick huddle among themselves.


    "So, are we on board with having Gray lead us?" Rita asked.


    "He hasn''t acted like a pervert like most men do around us so I don''t mind." Heather said with a smile


    "Yeah, honestly I get tired of every single boys team hitting on us." Rita said tiredly


    Caitlyn became excited when she thought of Gray asking them for their favorite mech and asked, "Maybe by him asking for our favorite mech he intends to let us use what we enjoy most?"


    "Does that mean I could pilot the Juniper SE?" Alice said with a whimsical expression on her face.


    "Is it because that is the smallest mech that you like it?" Felisa said with a grin.


    "@$#%& you and your height, it''s the cutest mech!" Alice said glaring at Felisa.


    "Smallest height, biggest mouth when angry, we think your height is perfect, just relax a little!" Christine said trying to comfort Alice.


    "Whatever! Tia, any thoughts? You''ve been quiet."


    Tia seemed to come back out of her daze for a moment and said, "Oh, um, I''m for it, they seem like fun¡­ and Gray seems nice¡­ and Xyra and Yurika are cute!"


    None of the women were sure what Tia meant as whenever they asked her about it she would usually dodge the question by saying something like "I wonder¡­" or "What do you think?" so by now they''ve just ignored it.


    "Ok, so we''re all onboard then with letting Gray lead us for this tournament?" Rita asked one more time.


    "I''d say so!" Heather said while nodding her head.


    Rita saw that everyone else was either nodding or shrugging their shoulders saying they didn''t mind either way so she then exclaimed, "Ok! Then let''s do exactly what he said no matter what Kelly thinks we''re best at!"


    The women then went about to send Kelly their lists about mech preferences, role preference, and role strengths.


    __________


    Gray and Jono walked around behind the building with the simulators where nobody else was hanging around.


    "So, what''s up Jono?"


    "Gray, what is it you all keep hiding from me? I know you''re hiding something. I''m not an idiot and know when you''re dodging the question."


    "How to put it, it''s not that we won''t say it, but more like we can''t."


    "Why can''t you?"


    "We had to¡­" Gray stopped himself from continuing, he might have even said too much already. The secret was big, but Gray was confident it was only a matter of time before someone spilled it. He just didn''t want to be the one to spill it.


    "Jono, honestly I''d rather not know what I know. It will change your entire perspective on life and honestly ruin certain parts of it, but it isn''t bad as the responsibility of carrying that knowledge means others don''t have to."


    "Well, it must be pretty big for you to say that, but I''d rather know what it is despite the consequences, I mean it can''t be that bad! What do I need to do to get in on the secret so I can feel like I''m part of the team instead of just an extra member?"


    Gray was impressed, Jono''s reason was a good one, but he also knew he had a big mouth and wasn''t sure if a NDA would even stop him. Gray thought to himself, "Maybe I should just see if I can offer him the information and see if Major Valen can get a NDA for him."


    "Well?" Jono said impatiently as he watched Gray consider what to say next.


    "As much as I want to, I can''t tell you, but I''ll send Major Valen a message and see what he can do for you. I know it is frustrating but it honestly is bigger than just your or myself."


    "Seriously Gray? I thought we were bros!"


    "We are, but this really is too big for me to decide on my own!"


    "Whatever, I don''t know. You might have to find an 8th man if this is how it''s going to be."


    Gray didn''t know what to do. He only hoped Major Valen could let Jono be an exception, if Major Valen was even capable of making that kind of decision.


    "Listen, give me a little more time and I''ll see what I can do, if it ends up that you''ll leave if we can''t tell you, I¡­ I''ll think about telling you."


    Jono nodded his head. This seemed to satisfy him for the time being, "Ok, I''ll leave it to you¡­ and I got dibs on Kelly by the way."


    Gray rolled his eyes and said "Go for it, I''m happy with Yurika" then thought to himself, "That and I can''t wait to see you get shot down again like in high school!"

 Chapter 115 - Update

    Normally I update every other day at the very least, but I''ve found a major flaw with this as I''m trying to transition to the war. I need to think further ahead instead of just 1 or 2 chapters because I keep going back to change little details to match the current chapters. (Many of which I know I''ll miss)


    One of the bigger mistakes I''ve made was Caleb''s personality, which I decided to chalk up to his own personal reflections and decision to change on his own. Another was the generals from the Alliance, they make an appearance, 1 of them seems to be important, then nothing. Where did they go?


    In a nutshell, gonna need a day or two to flowchart everything as right now I have like 5 different documents of notes, characters, and plot lines. I think if I work off of one it will help me maintain a better plot pace as right now it feels like it''s still warming up even though we''re already halfway through the 3rd volume.


    On a side note: I rejected the offer to go premium, this is my first baby and I want everyone to see it. Halo Master Chief Collection sucks with just Halo Reach so I won''t be distracted until Halo 1,2, or 3 gets released. (Every single official matchmaking game is just DMR vs. DMR, boring as heck)


    I''ll remove this chapter once I post a new one, I''ll be trying to bundle them more now since I found if I keep writing when I''m on a roll it''s better than stopping because I finished a chapter.


    @GD_Cruz, you never told me yet which side you want your team on, Dean seems like he''d be from the Hegemony so I might just put them there. (Will have to age them a few years since enlistment age is 18)

 Chapter 116 - Improvement

    Gray sent Caleb a message with an invite link to the private room Kelly and himself were in.


    "What''s up Gray?" Caleb asked.


    "Need your opinion on something..."


    "Regarding?"


    "Caleb, what do you know of cloning technology?"


    "Officially, cloning is banned for purposes of creating a complete person, but it is still used widely to grow replacement organs and for gene therapy in a highly regulated lab environment... That and whenever they''ve made a complete human, nothing happened, it was a lifeless doll. Research into cloning is actually what made our own physical bodies possible."


    "What do you mean by that?" Kelly asked.


    "We were all raised in a virtual environment without a physical body, but now we have one... they couldn''t just let them grow in a vat over all of these years so they had to construct one for us."


    "Ah, so that is why the character creation wasn''t as extreme as other games." Gray said in realization.


    "Yes, I imagine most of us just went with what our perceived physical appearance was, and notice that your appearance changed in the virtual world to match what it became in the real world over time?"


    "Huh, and here I thought I just got a six pack back in the virtual world because I stopped eating like a slob..."


    "Gray, did you get fat?!?" Kelly said surprised.


    "Shhh, I blame it on Mountain Dew, the nectar of the gods! I haven''t had one since we last went to town."


    "You know you can get it added to the Diamond-Tier rec room, right?"


    Gray slapped his own forehead "Well, I do now! But... maybe it is for the best that I forget about it... Back on topic though! So are you saying it is impossible for someone to make a clone of themselves and then move themselves into that body?"


    "Yes, it is almost impossible with what we know, but remember, I am not an expert, Dr. Sara Watts and Edward Teach would know better, and I suspect that we don''t want to ask Edward Teach."


    "Certainly there should be more neural scientists and doctors than those two, right?" Gray said.


    "Amazingly not really, the population of the world has dropped dramatically since the last war and might''ve been lowered further had it continued. Officially, Terra Research and Development was the only legally sanctioned cloning provider."


    "Well, how can we get in touch with Dr. Sara Watts?" Gray asked.


    Both Kelly and Caleb laughed at Gray''s question, Kelly finally stopped laughing and said, "She may now only be an AI, but she is still a celebrity and it is impossible to get in touch with her without being able to provide a very very legitimate reason."


    Gray figured that made sense, then he remembered the video of her at the company picnic, "You don''t supposed nostalgia would be a legitimate reason, do you?"


    "No, but that would be up to her, still, getting in touch with her might be difficult anyways as it''s not like we can just send her or an assistant of hers a message, and even if we could they would probably ignore it."


    Gray smiled and said, "I actually know someone who has worked with her before, I''ll message him tonight!"


    "We can see how that goes then. Also, you suddenly ask me about cloning and then nothing, what is this about?" Caleb asked


    "Edward Teach and Stephen Seegall. Kelly and I both thought that Stephen Seegall might be a clone of Edward Teach and if so that would make all of the pieces fit!"


    Caleb furrowed his brow in thought, "Indeed, that would make everything fit, but that doesn''t explain the reason for marrying Yurika."


    "Oh yeah, forgot about that..." Gray said while scratching the back of his head.


    "Well, let''s see if your friend comes through Gray, the tournament is in a week and we need to work on our coordination!" Kelly said.


    "Agreed, who holds a tournament on a Monday though, seriously..." Gray said dejectedly.


    "War doesn''t take weekends or holidays, day of the week doesn''t matter." Caleb said seriously.


    "I know that! I''m just saying that a lot of players might miss it because of that."


    "I suspect the military did that intentionally, they may consider themselves superior to players, but they would still prefer as little competition as possible." Kelly suggested.


    "Agreed, so Caleb, want to stick around for our brainstorming session or do you think a free for all among everyone else would help loosen things up?"


    "I don''t think a free for all is wise, but maybe a few team matches made for fun rather than winning or losing?" Caleb suggested to Gray.


    "That does sound better, yeah, having fun together will encourage teamwork more than trying to ram it down their throats. Setup a Capture the Flag match or something else where you can respawn, pick random teams and have fun. I don''t want to see our 7 versus Kelly''s 7 so mix it up!"


    "As you wish sir!" Caleb said to Gray while saluting, then he left the room to go pass on the orders to everyone else.


    "You guys have a good team, if I hadn''t known the girls I''m with since the academy then we wouldn''t be nearly as close as you guys are."


    "Well, it helps that we''re all gamers for the most part so we''re easy going and trust people like us easily."


    "True, but remember this isn''t a game, and the fact that all of them stuck with you after revealing the truth shows that you are capable in their eyes."


    "Eh, I''m not really, but let''s let them keep thinking that."


    Kelly laughed and said "Your secret is safe with me! Shall we finally get this started? I kinda want to join everyone in the objective games, we never get to do those in the military so let''s not take too long!"


    "Yeah, me too, I enjoy casual objective games like those more than just straight up killing!"


    Gray and Kelly finally started nitpicking their own teams and each other''s teams based upon the previous game footage and what they knew of their own teams from other matches. While it is good to pick out the strengths of everyone, they also made sure to point out glaring weaknesses.


    Gray focused the camera on Paul and Jono when they were closing in for the attack as Kelly''s team was moving towards the quicksand.


    "See Paul get in front of Jono like that? He is naturally inclined to protect others, but he is also blocking Jono''s shot as well." Gray said analytically.


    "Yeah, but if he has a shield and that can be shot over it would prove advantageous in some cases."


    "Yes, that''s why he normally has one, I had him drop it for our match because the terrain and weather combined made it more disadvantageous to have one."


    "Good idea" Kelly rewinded the match playback and focused on Caitlyn when she was shooting at Xyra and Caleb. "Caitlyn is emotional, but a good shot. She also doesn''t use every system available to her, had she paid attention to the drones sensor feed she would''ve seen that one of your mechs was still able to fire at them instead of assuming she got both of them."


    "Drones?" Gray asked.


    "Yes, spider drones, that''s why we didn''t have a scout. We can deploy drones that are about the size of a cat that are basically just walking sensors but are too small to be picked up usually. Had the terrain been different they would''ve easily been detected."


    "Any other weaknesses of these drones?"


    Kelly thought about it for a moment, "Only an hour of charge, not as fast as a mech at full speed. The airborne drones are a little better, but they are easy to spot."


    "Makes sense, so what other toys can we expect from the military?"


    "I am not sure, I only have clearance to use up to current generation technology, some have access to prototypes and I suspect that this tournament would be a good spot to debut them if they want to win people over."


    "True, but remember, just because it is a prototype doesn''t mean it is better. Just cause it looks good on paper doesn''t mean it is good."


    Kelly nodded her head "Agreed, but still, they could have some nasty surprises. They''ll probably give them to our flagship teams, Kyam is the vice captain of one of those teams."


    "That a-hole? I thought he would''ve been relegated to cleaning toilets or something!"


    Kelly rolled her eyes, "He isn''t an a-hole, he just... is terrible at expressing himself clearly. As often as he used to talk about you we thought he might''ve been gay!"


    A chill ran down Gray''s spine thinking about that, "N-nothing wrong if he is that way, but he should know I''m straight!"


    "He is straight! He just really... let''s stop talking about it, no need to get off topic again! Why do you always do that?"


    "Do what?"


    "You know what Gray! Why do you always change the subject!"


    "I don''t do it intentionally, my mind just kinda wanders a lot... but now you''re doing it!"


    "Oh my god you''re rubbing off on me already!" Kelly looked genuinely horrified.


    "You make that sound like a bad thing!"


    "It is! I was trying to be your counterpart and make up for your lack of focus, your ability to overthink everything, and your fear of failure!"


    "Oh? So does that mean I make up for your overconfidence, inability to see the big picture, and unwillingness to share the burden?"


    "I see you still remember how I was like... I hope it has improved somewhat!"


    "It has! Have I improved?"


    "Not in the least..." Kelly said with a smile.

 Chapter 117 - Out with a Bang

    Gray and Kelly finished reviewing each other''s team and doing their best to pick out flaws. Gray was happy that he was able to get a second opinion as he was too nice to actually find the negatives in his own team. Instead of working on it right away, they instead decided it would be more fun to just join in on the fun instead of spoiling it.


    "I got the flag! I''ll cover you guys!" Gray yelled during on match.


    "Damn it Gray! Stop using the flag as a weapon!" Yurika yelled out back.


    From the other teams perspective it was hilarious seeing Gray try and stab them with a flag pole during a Capture the Flag game, but his own team was in tears as he was wasting time doing something silly.


    When Paul saw Xyra lining up a sniper rifle round on Stacia, he ran his mech in between her and the shot with his arms straight up and yelled "Save the President!"


    Even Xyra laughed slightly at this and her shot ended up missing anyways causing Paul to just stand there with his mech between Stacia and Xyra.


    Stacia politely said, "Get out of my shot ass hole!"


    For the last fun match, everyone eventually agreed upon grenades and grenade launchers for everyone and a simple death match, the map was randomly selected and it ended up being a small urban map with a junkyard in one corner.


    As everyone started tossing grenades at each other, they found it was quite hard to damage themselves as the mechs had enough armor to resist most of the blasts unless the grenade was right next to the mech when it went off.


    Caleb inspected one of the grenades after seeing a crane with a large electromagnet on one end for lifting scrap metal. He took a grenade and held it up to the electromagnetic crane and saw it grab the grenade. When he moved his mech near the electromagnet, it tried to grab some of his larger armor plates, but the smaller ones were not attracted. A big smile crossed Caleb''s face.


    "Yurika, can you protect me for a few minutes?" Caleb asked


    "Uhhh, sure, this isn''t as fun as I thought it would be so if you have some idea of sorts that would help!"


    "Oh I do!" Caleb said with a grin.


    "Okay! I''ll keep them off of you!"


    Caleb then dug through the scrap metal with his mech and found some old copper piping. Using the strength of his mech, he was able to coil it around the grenade like it was string almost. Caleb then pulled the cover off of the fuse.


    Modern grenades for mechs and foot soldiers have multiple options for delivery. Time, Impact, and even distance can be used. Caleb wanted to use time and impact so he set the grenade to explode a few seconds after impact. The grenade has a decent power supply since it had an electronic ignition system.


    Twisting each end of the copper pipe, he managed to twist each end around the power supply for the grenade then force the cover back on the fuse. The grenade looked the same as before, except for the copper coils around the entire thing making it look like a strange futuristic grenade.


    "Ready!" Caleb shouted to Yurika.


    "Ok! What now?"


    "Get Gray over here by himself, I can''t wait to try this out!" Caleb said excitedly.


    Yurika grinned and then said in an open channel, "Gray! Caleb says he will duel you for my affection! I''m considering it! We''re by the junkyard!"


    Everyone watched as one mech split apart from the others and headed towards the junkyard.


    "So Caleb, you want Celes and Yurika! Have you no shame!" Gray wasn''t serious as he knew Yurika wasn''t serious, but he didn''t mind playing the fall guy to whatever they had planned.


    "Yep! Have a grenade!" Caleb yelled.


    Gray watched Caleb lob a grenade at him and thought it looked a bit strange, still, the throw was going to be a bit short so Gray started to approach Caleb and keep a short distance from the grenade.


    As soon as the impact sensor triggered, current went through the copper pipe now turned wire around the metal grenade creating an electromagnet.


    Gray expected the grenade to explode on impact, but instead it bounced and rolled towards Gray. Gray watched in fascination as the grenade rolled towards his mech, then it started to accelerate once it got closer.


    "What the heck!" Gray said in surprise as the grenade started picking up speed, hit some rubble, and bounced up towards his mech. Gray tried to sidestep the grenade but it followed his mech and then stuck to the lowest piece of thick armor, which happened to be Gray''s upper thigh.


    The grenade stuck to Gray''s leg, then detonated, his leg ended up being blown off and his mech fell over with a scorch mark on his mech''s pelvis and opposite leg.


    Gray''s mech fall over on its back after losing a leg and Gray yelled, "What was that thing!?"


    "Electromagnetic sticky grenade!" Caleb said proudly.


    "Hah! Didn''t expect that! Ok, I''ll take care of Celes for you then if you really do want Yurika." Gray said jokingly.


    "Hey, everyone, I think Gray wants to see how high we can blow his mech up in to the air" Yurika said coldly.


    Everyone readily agreed regardless of which team they were on and started piling up their grenades to make a bed of grenades on the pavement near where Gray fell over.


    "Wait, I was just kidding!" Gray made it look like he was struggling when Yurika, Caleb, and Geoff picked up Gray''s mech and placed it on the bed of grenades.


    "Begin the countdown sequence!" Stacia suddenly yelled!


    "Wait!" Jono suddenly said, "We''re missing one final touch!"


    "What are we missing?" Stacia asked.


    Jono''s mech walked over to Gray''s mech, then poured out all of the grenades from his grenade launcher next to the head of Gray''s mech, "We want the head to get extra distance after all!"


    Everyone except Gray''s mech moved a good distance away as they had never tried setting off this many grenades at once, but since they were in a simulator they were safe anyways and instead just made bets upon where they think the different parts will land.


    "Resume countdown!" Jono yelled.


    "3¡­ 2¡­ 1!" the group chanted. As a group, everyone detonated their grenades at the same time.


    Over 80 grenades roughly the size of a propane tank exploded simultaneously causing a blinding light to everyone watching. Unfortunately for Gray he was unable to see what happened as his mech was registered as destroyed and he was returned to the simulator lobby until he respawned.


    Everyone else however watched as Gray''s mech was disintegrated from the explosions, due to the excessive amount of grenades near the head, the remains actually spun end over end making it look like a goofy swan-dive. Various pieces of armor and debris flung away from the rest from the rotational force of the spun.


    Amid the cheers of everyone, the carcass of Gray''s mech finally landed with a crash next to the scrapyard.


    Gray could only watch the recording of it, but that was just as satisfying since he could speed it up or slow it down as he wished.


    When Gray respawned in his mech, he ran back over to everyone else, then dropped all of his grenades and emptied his grenade launcher in a pile. He set the timer for 4 seconds, started it, then jumped on the pile of grenades and yelled "BANZAI!!!"


    The explosion wasn''t as big as the first one, but it was still enough to cause his mech to get launched about 40 meters and flip over at the same time.


    Inspiration suddenly struck everyone and everyone ejected from their mechs to force a respawn. The true disaster began at this point as everyone was making piles of grenades to launch themselves, sometimes alone, sometimes in groups, but either way the map was littered with mech corpses and fragments of armor.


    Kelly looked at the time and shouted "Crap, guys, we gotta go! It''s already past the time we were allotted!"


    The girls on Kelly''s team were all disappointed, but they understood it.


    "Wait, just one more, I have an idea!" Gray said excitedly.


    All of the girls on Kelly''s team started to say "Pleeeeeaaasssseee?" to Kelly and she eventually relented, "Fine, what do you have in mind Gray?"


    "Paul! Get your shield! Everyone else, pile your grenades against that bunker and keep it as tight as possible!"


    A small mountain of grenades formed next to the bunker and Gray walked over to Paul and took his shield, he then laid it flat against the bunker with as high of an angle as possible, then laid down on it.


    "Tuck those grenades under me that fell out and then prepare for the launch!"


    Everyone wedged the grenades in as tight as they could then backed away to begin another countdown.


    "3¡­ 2¡­ 1!"


    The grenades went off with another massive explosion, the bunker Gray used to prop up the shield was obliterated and Gray and the shield were nowhere in sight. Looking up, they saw Gray''s mech flying up and well overhead while the remains of the now shattered shield rained down from above.


    "I believe I can flllyyyyyy" Gray started to sing, but before he could get into any more words of the song, his mech came to a crashing halt as he hit the invisible barrier that bordered the edge of the map causing his mech to fall apart instantly.


    "He always did say he wanted to go out with a bang..." Kelly said whimsically.

 Chapter 118 - Returning to Base

    Kelly and the rest of her team left the military''s simulator room in high spirits after having a good time with Gray''s team.


    "I wish we could do that more often!" Felisa said excitedly.


    "I know! It really helps us relax when we don''t take things so seriously!" Christine added.


    "It was a waste of time..." Alice said with a slight frown on her face.


    "Oh come on, you had fun too!" Bridget said playfully while giving Alice a squeeze causing her to be stifled by her abundant cleavage.


    Alice pushed Bridget off of her and yelled, "I can''t breathe when you do that! Fine then, I admit it was fun!"


    "See? No need to be serious all of the time." Bridget chided then pinched Alice on the cheeks.


    "Whatever, we''re late though! Hope we didn''t miss dinner."


    Kelly didn''t really say a word as she knew she was probably going to get reprimanded for "training" for too long.


    "Lieutenant Lagerty!" A loud voice startled the girls shortly after they left the simulator room, but due to their training they quickly recovered and stood at attention in a row when they recognized it was a Major and Kelly''s CO (Commanding Officer) that was yelling at them.


    "Sir!" Kelly said quickly while saluting.


    "General Bellerose would like a word with you, Lieutenant, I suggest you hurry up as you''ve already wasted more than an hour beyond what you were permitted with the players. The rest of you, get your dinner. Dismissed!"


    Kelly gulped slightly thinking that she may have made General Bellerose angry and hurried over to her office.


    __________


    Kelly knocked twice on the door and said "Lieutenant Lagerty reporting ma''am!"


    "Enter!" General Bellerose said with a touch of anger in her voice.


    Kelly opened the door and then stood in front of General Bellerose''s desk and saluted.


    General Bellerose nodded and motioned for Kelly to sit in the chair in front of her desk.


    General Bellerose''s office was sparse for a General, the desk was very large and organized. Paper documents were only used for extremely sensitive material since paper can''t be digitally hacked or altered thus rarely was there a need for physical copies of orders. Still, General Bellerose didn''t even have pictures of family or friends on her desk like most other officers with a private office. The strangest thing about her office was that she insisted on nothing but flat wooden chairs without any cushion making it uncomfortable to sit for very long. The rumor was that she hated having people in her office so she intentionally wanted to make it dull and uncomfortable.


    "I''ll be brief Lieutenant, first, considering your previous performances and impeccable adherence to your schedule, I''ll ignore your tardiness this one time. I''m not unreasonable though, so if you feel more time is needed for missions like these please communicate with your CO directly instead of having me ask him to stand outside the simulator room for over an hour waiting for you."


    "I am sorry ma''am! I will make sure to communicate with my CO should another situation like that arise."


    General Bellerose nodded, she had a very good impression of Kelly as Kelly reminded her of herself when she was younger, but she would also be tougher with her because of that as well.


    "In exchange, your squad will join the maintenance crew with cleaning the mech equipment this weekend as punishment since it was a team effort, right?"


    Kelly sighed to herself, but she would prefer this than any sort of write up so she just nodded in defeat.


    "Good, now secondly, while I disagree with you teaming up with players for the tournament, you do not have to worry about winning. We''ve had 503 teams sign up for the tournament, only 8 of those teams are from the military. It''s close enough to 512 that we''ll just give a few teams a by in the first round. Would you like to give your team a by?"


    Kelly was a little stunned at this question. "Ma''am, is this tournament rigged?"


    "Not the way you''re thinking, but we were allowed to arrange it so the 8 military teams wouldn''t meet until near the end. I offer this only to you because I expect your team to make it to at least the 3rd round since half of your team is made up of military pilots."


    Kelly was relieved that she was overthinking things, "Ma''am, just put us in the lottery like everyone else, we do not need special treatment. In fact, I am hoping we exceed your expectations!"


    General Bellerose smiled "Glad to hear it, how are the players? Do you have any issues giving them orders?"


    "Actually... I let the team leader of the player team take command."


    General Bellerose frowned, "That wasn''t part of our deal... who is it?"


    "If it helps ma''am, he was a former military academy student."


    "No, it doesn''t help, why would having someone that was kicked out of the military academy help?"


    "He wasn''t kicked out, he left of his own will as a huge shock to those of us that were his friend."


    "Oh? So you knew him from before? Well, I''ll leave it to you then. Just don''t disappoint me."


    "Ma''am, may I ask what you expect of us?"


    General Bellerose''s face didn''t give any expression and she said plainly, "We expect you to win until you match against a full military team, then you will lose."


    Kelly felt a lump in her throat when she heard this, she hated losing and hated that not only were they not expected to win, but they were expecting them to lose the first time they came across a military team. "Understood ma''am... anything else?"


    General Bellerose could see that Kelly didn''t like being told she was expected to lose so she tried to soften it by adding, "Don''t worry Lieutenant, you will be promoted to 1st Lieutenant after this ''mission'' should you continue your perfect record."


    Kelly nodded then stood up, "Ma''am, I shall join the rest of my team for dinner then."


    General Bellerose nodded and dismissed Kelly.


    __________


    At the mess hall, the other 7 women of Kelly''s team were chatting happily with each other recalling the fun they had with Gray''s team earlier.


    Kelly suddenly came up in the empty seat left for her and slammed her tray down on the table causing the other 7 to jump. Miraculously, Kelly''s drink landed upright and didn''t even spill a drop despite having a second or two of air-time.


    "E-Everything okay ma''am?" Caitlyn said hesitantly.


    "We have cleaning duty in the mech hanger with the maintenance team this weekend." Kelly said plainly.


    The 7 other women groaned slightly as they hated cleaning duty, especially the jokes the men would say when they were trying to clean the barrels of mech rifles.


    "That''s not why you''re angry though, is it?" Felisa said gently.


    Kelly shook her head, "They want us to throw the match if we come across a full military team, nor do they expect us to get beyond the 3rd round."


    "That only makes sense, they''re hosting it so they want to make themselves look the best..." Alice started to say causing the other women to give her a glare so she added, "...but it doesn''t mean I agree with their method and wouldn''t love to crush those expectations."


    The other women then smiled at Alice and Kelly seemed to be in a better mood now too.


    "Thank you, all of you, if there is any consequences for us and they claim we disobeyed orders, I will take it all as you were just acting under my orders."


    "Nonsense! All for one, one for all!" Felisa said proudly, all of the other women nodded in agreement except for Tia who was just eating her food with a dazed expression on her face.


    "Tia?" Felisa said while waving a hand in front of Tia''s face.


    "Huh? Oh, sorry, I was just lost thinking how pretty our leader looks when she is angry." Tia said with a smile.


    Everyone threw something at Tia and she let everything bounce off of her without even flinching.


    "I thought the men were the biggest perverts here, seems we have another one among our own ranks." Alice said plainly.


    "Hey, I don''t consider admiration of beauty as being perverted, do you consider people that admire works of art as perverts or people that enjoy looking at a beautiful sunset as perverts?" Tia said proudly.


    "No, but they also don''t undress you with their eyes, which is what you were doing, right?" Heather said while glaring at Tia.


    "Of course not, what do you take me for?" Tia said angrily.


    "A dangerous pervert..." Heather said.


    "Oh you''re just jealous because I said your sister was slightly prettier than you, don''t worry! You have your own charms that she lacks!" Tia said as she put her arm around Heather.


    Caitlyn, Felisa, Kelly, Christine, and Alice looked at both Heather and Bridget and compared them.


    "I don''t see the difference..." Alice said.


    "I kinda see it, Bridget has a nicer smile so Tia might mean that." Caitlyn said analytically.


    "Bridget, Heather, smile!" Christine said enthusiastically


    Bridget and Heather looked at each other than the other women on the team, both got up haughtily to return to their rooms.


    "Wait! Don''t leave! We were just playing with you two!" Felisa said.


    Kelly laughed watching the other girls mess around and she thought to herself, "I hope this war doesn''t ruin times like these."

 Chapter 119 - The Winchester Estate

    Several more days of training with Kelly''s team passed by quickly. Kelly''s team adhered to their scheduled time perfectly so they didn''t have as much time to just enjoy themselves.


    The biggest thing they worked on was organizing smaller fire teams within the group of 16 and working as a unit. Gray, Kelly, Alice, and Geoff each led one, but the members of each fire team were still up for debate.


    It was now Sunday, August 17th, and it was the day Gray was going to get to meet Yurika''s parents.


    Gray checked his messages when he woke up and saw that he had one from Kelly that said they MUST decide fire teams today and he needs to come up with a solution if we can''t reach an agreement on it.


    "Sure, make me the bad guy..." Gray said to himself, he wasn''t going to make everyone happy with his choices and that is why he was hoping they could''ve come to an agreement. Gray sent a message back to Kelly that stated he wanted her and the rest of her team to submit the names of 3 people they want to be on a fire team with and they have to pick at least one member from his team on it.


    Gray sent the same message to his own team, asking them for 3 people they''d want to be on a fire team with and to include at least one member from Kelly''s team.


    Kelly sent him an acknowledgment and said they would have it to him before their last training session today.


    Gray stretched his arms and yawned and figured it was a good time to get out of bed. He heard footsteps stomping towards his room like they were running and suddenly Yurika burst into his room.


    "Gray! What the heck! I said be ready by 11am!"


    Gray looked at Yurika, she was wearing a cute white dress with a single black belt around the waist and even had tied her hair back into a single pony tail, and thought this was probably the most wholesome he''s ever seen her look. Gray then panicked for a second then looked at the clock and saw that it was 10:50am and was a little confused. "Yeah, so we are going to log in to the virtual world at 11am, right?"


    "Yes! So why aren''t you showered, dressed, manicured, pedicured, shaved, and dressed yet?"


    Gray wasn''t sure about the manicured and pedicured part, but the rest made sense. "Why would I have to? We''re going in to the virtual world, I can smell however I want to smell and look however I want to look!"


    Yurika became stunned for a moment then said, "Son of a... I got up at 6am, shaved EVERYWHERE, bathed, scrubbed, sanitized, moisturized, plucked my eyebrows, painted my fingernails and toenails, fixed my hair, changed outfits a dozen times, and now you''re telling me I didn''t have to?!"


    "If it helps, you look very nice!" Gray said with a smile.


    "Damn straight I do!" Yurika said proudly. "I just feel like it was a bit of a waste now..."


    "We can go out after and you can strut your stuff."


    "I might have to take you up on that."


    "Good, so go back to your room and get in your incubation pod, where are you logging in to?" Gray asked Yurika.


    "Um... I can only log in to my room and Alterra Corporation''s Headquarters, you?"


    "Same... my room or Alterra Corporation''s Headquarters, looks like we''ll have to do Alterra Corporation''s Headquarters if we want to show up together."


    "I''m a bit nervous to do that after what happened to Caleb, but since I am Edward''s target or whatever I should be fine. I''m more worried about you honestly."


    "Eh, I''ll be fine, I''d be more worried about logging in without you since if he wanted to go after me in the virtual world he wouldn''t want to do in front of you I imagine."


    "Ok, in that case I''ll see you there shortly!" Yurika said then gave Gray a quick kiss before returning to her room.


    __________


    Yurika logged in to the virtual world and appeared in the basement of Alterra Corporation''s Headquarters that was designated as a common zone for Diamond-Tier players to log in to.


    Alterra Corporation had setup this zone for them because after knowing the truth of the virtual world, the Diamond-Tier players would need a spot they could log in and out from privately. The concern was that friends and family of Diamond-Tier players might panic if they noticed the Diamond-Tier player staying logged in to the game for days at a time. In other words, they were just taking another step to try and protect the secret of the virtual world as long as they could.


    Yurika checked the time and saw the clock change to 10:59am, then Gray started to materialize next to her. She stared wide-eyed at him once he finally appeared.


    Gray was wearing a full dress suit and tie, black dress shoes with almost a mirror shine, and had his hair slicked back straight. The cologne that emanated from Gray smelled extremely classy. The sterling silver cuff links matched his pocket watch and even the clasps on his shoes. Gray strutted around, pulled out a pipe from somewhere and took two fake puffs on it, then said to Yurika, "Are you ready to go darling?"


    "I''m going to assume this is just a joke... and I''m going to turn around and close my eyes and count to 20 nice and slow. When I finish, I expect to see you standing their in something that is nice, simple, and casual. If I do not see this, you will not get to see me without a dress for the next century!"


    Gray''s face turned white as he quickly logged back out, gave himself a few seconds to select his original outfit, then logged back in. He materialized in front of Yurika again, this time in khaki pants, a buttoned long sleeve shirt, and a pair of black loafers.


    "No pipe?" Yurika asked Gray.


    "No pipe!"


    "Good! Now let''s go!"


    Yurika walked over to the elevator to call it for them, Gray adjusted his pants slightly and he smiled looking down at his socks with Mario on them.


    "What are you doing! Come on!" Yurika said as she turned to look at Gray.


    "Coming!" Gray felt relieved she hadn''t seen his socks as they rode the elevator up to the main floor to catch a tram out to Yurika''s side of town.


    __________


    Gray and Yurika reached the tram station nearest Yurika''s house and walked the rest of the way there.


    "What the..." Gray said while gawking at Yurika''s family''s house.


    Calling it just a house would be insulting... it was an estate! The perimeter was lined with traditional earthen Japanese style walls (Kawara-bei) with roofs made from old ceramic tiles (Kawara).


    Yurika opened the gate for Gray and then waved to the guard. The guard waved back and then put his finger to his ear and spoke something to himself that Gray couldn''t make out.


    When Gray walked past the guard house, he thought he had stepped in to Japan as every clich¨¦ he could think of could be seen from the entrance. The yard itself was extremely green due to the extensive foliage and a small pond was on one side with a large cherry blossom tree draping over it. Gray expected Koi to be in that pond and was not surprised when he heard a bamboo water fountain (Shishi-odoshi) knock against a stone.


    Gray looked at Yurika and before he could ask, Yurika said, "Yes, my mother is Japanese, but my father is Russian. You can tell who got to make the decisions about the estate when it was built."


    "No kidding... I''m actually impressed by the sheer size of it as well!" Gray said as he noticed that the estate was at least several acres in size.


    "Well, this estate is not only our family home, it is also has a school, training center, library, and a guest house."


    Gray was about to ask more but a group of teenagers and young adults came running up to Yurika.


    "Sis! You''re back"


    "Welcome back!"


    "We missed you!"


    "Who''s the dweeb?"


    "This guy your man servant?"


    "Do you even lift bro?"


    Both Gray and Yurika were bombarded with questions and comments and left no room to answer, but Yurika seemed quite at home with it all. What surprised Gray was that all of the girls had black hair where as the boys were completely random it seemed like.


    "Ignore them." Yurika whispered to Gray with a smile. She addressed everyone else and said, "This is Gray Wilhelm, he is the leader of the Steel Wolves! I''ve already kicked his butt so he knows his place! Gray, this is my family''s youngest generation so all of them are brothers, sisters, or cousins of some kind. We only address each other as brother or sister now to keep it simple."


    Strangely enough, that seemed to calm most of them down. Some of the girls even whispered "He''s kinda cute" causing Gray''s ego to inflate, but then deflated by an elbow to the ribs from Yurika.


    "Remember, you''re just my captain, so hands off the goods for now!" Yurika whispered to Gray again when he tried to catch her arm after she elbowed him.


    "I wasn''t trying to, I was trying to save my ribs from being shattered." Gray whispered back.


    One of the boys spoke up, "Sister Yurika! Are you guys participating in the tournament in Alterra Online tomorrow?"


    "Yes! We''re teaming up with another group for the 16 versus 16 bracket, but will be going alone for the 4 versus 4 and 8 versus 8."


    "Sweet! I hope we get to face you guys! Steel Puppies, was it?" one of the girls said teasingly.


    "Steel Wolves stupid!" a boy suddenly shouted.


    "I know! I was just being mean!"


    "I know! So was I!" then the boy stuck his tongue out at the girl.


    Gray suddenly realized the bratty behavior ran in the family. "Now I see where you get it from." Gray whispered to Yurika.


    "My good looks, right? You haven''t even met my parents yet!" Yurika whispered back.


    "No, but that''s about to change I think." Gray thought to himself.


    Gray, Yurika, and the crowd of brothers and sisters reached the front steps to the main building and Yurika opened the sliding door completely, then slipped her shoes off and put on a pair of slippers.


    "Mom and Dad already know we''re here, take off your shoes and put on these slippers before we go to see them. No shoes inside the house past the entryway!" Yurika said to Gray while pointing towards a wooden cubby with various slippers.


    "Um... Ok..." Gray suddenly got really nervous.


    "Relax! We had a pair ready just for you since it would be weird to put your feet in a stranger''s slippers."


    "That''s not what I''m nervous about..." Gray thought to himself as he was remembering the Mario socks he was wearing. "Maybe I''ll get lucky and they''ll have a sense of humor."


    Gray looked around and saw a lot of katanas on display and suddenly felt that his life might be in danger if Yurika gets mad enough.


    Yurika looked questioningly at Gray since he seemed to be hesitating about taking his shoes off. "What''s wrong? Don''t tell me you need help putting slippers on?"


    "Now or never!" Gray thought to himself. Gray stood their holding the slippers in his hands, set them down, then grabbed his pants by the thighs and pulled them up slowly to reveal the socks underneath.

 Chapter 120 - Family Ties

    Yurika looked at Gray with a confused expression. She saw that he was glancing down as he picked up his pant legs slightly. Yurika followed his looks and saw the Super Mario socks Gray had worn.


    "¡­" Yurika''s silence scared Gray as he watched her anger build, but instead of yelling at him, she slowly calmed herself down.


    "I should''ve expected this¡­ this is just who he is¡­ they won''t know we''re together yet. Yes, it''ll be ok." Yurika chanted to herself.


    "Um¡­ sorry?" Gray said sheepishly.


    "If this was the real world I''d burn them as punishment. Now put the slippers on and let''s go, follow behind me, try not to stare at my butt or anything."


    "It''ll be hard not to¡­" Gray said with a grin.


    "I know" Yurika smiled then glanced around to see that nobody was looking and gave Gray a quick kiss.


    Yurika and Gray moved to what Gray figured was a reception room of sorts. Once inside, Gray looked around at the tatami room with amazement. The simple 10 tile room came with a black coffee table and several pillows for kneeling around it. The paper thin walls managed to prevent light from passing through them and had solid wood borders around each wall ''tile'' adding a very pleasing accent the tatami tiles.


    "Yurika! Welcome home!" a loud man''s voice boomed as Yurika walked through the open panel door.


    "Dad! I''m home!" Yurika ran up and gave the large man a hug.


    Yurika''s dad stood a little taller than Gray, but he was much wider than Gray and you could tell just from looking at him that he has had a lot of martial training. He wore a simple suit without a tie that one would probably wear to work on a casual day.


    "Yurika, it is good to see you home again!" a soft spoken female was standing next to Yurika''s father and greeted Yurika with a sweet smile but didn''t open her arms like Yurika''s father did.


    "Mom, I see you are well, how has it been taking caring of Dad?" Yurika said with a grin to her mother.


    Her mother smiled and Gray felt a little uncomfortable as he could see where Yurika got her looks. She wore a traditional Yukata with a pink flowery design and a thick waist band that made her look innocent and pure. As Yurika said earlier, her mother was of Japanese origin so she had jet black hair, which she kept tied up neatly behind her head.


    Yurika seemed to be a little more reserved around her mother. This surprised Gray a little bit, as normally the best word to describe Yurika would be loud. Still, Yurika didn''t appear to look at her mother badly, just without her usual energy.


    "Your Father is a handful as always, but that''s part of what I love about him." Yurika''s mother smiled affectionately at her husband and Gray could feel them getting lost in their own little world as they looked at each other.


    "Same as always I see¡­ Mom, Dad, this is Gray Wilhelm, a friend and captain of our team, I pointed him out from the promotional video if you can still remember that." Yurika introduced Gray politely.


    "A pleasure to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Winchester!" Gray said politely, he bowed slightly as he felt like he should try and mimic Japanese culture.


    "Good to meet you as well!" Yurika''s Dad gave Gray a warm greeting and offered him a firm handshake that made Gray think he was shaking hands with a bear. "We''ve heard a bit about you and your team from our little Yurika here, I''d recommend her to you since you sound like a good man but she already has a fianc¨¦."


    "Against my will¡­" Yurika muttered.


    "Now now sweetie, we all needed to make sacrifices for the family." Yurika''s mother said softly, and then glanced at her husband.


    "Come now my love, it turned out quite well you have to admit!" Yurika''s father said happily then gave Yurika''s mother a hug.


    "True, it didn''t happen right away, but I do admit we fell deeply in love over time. So it''s not going to be the end of the world for you, Yurika" Yurika''s mother said softly as she moved closer to her husband squeezed his arm.


    Yurika pouted and crossed her arms then said, "I''d still rather have it be my own choice."


    Both Yurika''s mom and dad sighed, as if they''ve had this discussion before. Yurika''s Dad apologized to Gray and said, "Sorry about that Gray-san, the Winchester family had nearly been destroyed during the last great war so they imported men with desirable traits to try and restore the family."


    "Dear, don''t tell him that! That makes it sound like my family discriminated to create designer offspring!" Yurika''s mom squeezed Yurika''s father''s hand firmly to gently reprimand him.


    "Ah, sorry my love, don''t take what I said at face value Gray-san, the intention was to try and restore the family to its former glory. I guess you could say I lucked out since I would normally never get such a perfect woman!" Yurika''s father said with a big smile as he looked affectionately at Yurika''s mother.


    "And don''t you forget it¡­" Yurika''s mom said with a soft smile as she patted her husband''s hand.


    "Well, regardless of the circ.u.mstances, you two seem very happy together so I see nothing wrong with it." Gray said diplomatically.


    Yurika glared at Gray and was probably saying, "Whose side are you on?" in her head.


    "Speaking of happiness, my team and I quickly discovered Yurika''s martial prowess and were wondering about where she received that training." Gray asked sincerely.


    Yurika''s father replied, "Gray-san, you are Diamond-tier as well, yes?"


    Gray nodded.


    Yurika''s father then looked up and said "Shiro, please secure this room."


    A male voice resounded throughout the room, "Affirmative sir."


    "That''s the AI that runs the daily operations of the estate. I was originally against that sort of thing, but it honestly makes things so much easier around here." Yurika''s dad said.


    Gray nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I didn''t like the idea of a computer managing any part of me, but now I feel like I can''t live without it."


    "Anyways, the Winchester family volunteered for The Alterra Project, our youngest generation would be brought up as pilots and as such we were given preferential treatment in this virtual world. The youngest generation still believes this is the real world though hence the need for secrecy. Our family randomly selected Yurika to be a Diamond-Tier among our family since we received one Diamond-Tier pass for free."


    "Just one seems a little light for what you gave up." Gray said analytically.


    "Indeed, but also considering we were given this estate in this virtual world, I think one is plenty."


    "Good point, so where did Yurika get her training from and go to school?"


    "We pull most children from school at around 7 or 8 years old and begin privately educating them. Yurika showed a lot of promise so we pulled her a little earlier and focused on martial training. My family used to belong to a long line of soldiers for the Russian Confederation before the last Great War. My family almost always has superior physical traits and thus I was paired with my wife who also has extreme martial talent." Yurika''s father said slightly nostalgically. Gray figured he probably was wishing he was around before or during the Great War from 70 years ago.


    "Wow, so Mrs. Winchester here is also a martial artist?"


    Yurika''s Dad laughed aloud and said proudly, "Yes! She can kick my ass! Don''t be fooled by her appearance and demeanor, she could kill you in an instant!"


    Gray opened his mouth and was about to say that he didn''t believe it, but he suddenly saw a pink flash and then the floor up close. After a pinch in his arm, he then felt his legs get twisted over his head and then his back slam on the table as he looked up at the ceiling. Yurika''s mom was standing in front of him with his wrist in her hand and one foot extended out slightly from her yukata.


    "She looks at it as a challenge when you question her abilities based on her appearance, I probably should''ve warned you first." Yurika''s dad said apologetically.


    Yurika''s mom looked like it was perfectly natural for her to flip Gray over on his back faster than he could comprehend and Yurika herself looked envious of her mom''s speed.


    Gray suddenly understood why Yurika called him the wife and imagined that Yurika''s mom might have done the same thing to her husband at one time. From Gray''s viewpoint of lying on his back on the table, he could see how Yurika and her mother looked similar, but at the same time noticed that Yurika was much more ''abundant'' in certain areas than her mother.


    "Do you want to die?" Yurika said to Gray when she noticed where he was looking at on her.


    "Sorry, I thought I had died and was at heaven already with 2 angels in front of me." Gray said with a smile.


    "He''s good with words at least." Yurika''s mom said softly then she helped Gray back up.


    Gray was amazed at her arm strength since she seemed even stronger than her husband who is built like a bear. "Thank you ma''am, did you personally teach Yurika?"


    Yurika''s mother shook her head and added, "No, she''s not ready for me yet, soon though. We have several instructors that taught her previously. We also provide private tutoring and monitor the children''s diet so we can develop every bit of their talent. Once they are old enough, we arrange for them to meet marriage candidates and let them pick from one of them."


    "Not to sound ignorant, but what if they want to marry outside of that?" Gray asked.


    "They can plead their case and if their desired mate is shown to be genetically acceptable we can sometimes approve of it, but so far we''ve only had a handful of children succeed with that process. I myself failed, but I am glad since I consider my husband here the love of my life."


    "It''s not that we don''t get what you, and many others, have brought up in the past, but the council of elders will be overturning this rule at the end of this year as it will no longer be necessary as long as their marriage candidate meets certain requirements." Yurika''s father said as he somewhat understood what Gray was getting at.


    Gray thought about it for a second and then said, "I can understand that somewhat, while I think that giving a person full control over their own life is for the best, I also understand that some people might have all of the talent in the world and yet still lack common sense when deciding on a life partner and fall for someone that won''t let them grow."


    Yurika''s mom and Dad both smiled at this and her Mom said, "I am glad you understand the logic, so at least now you understand why we can''t let you be with Yurika."

 Chapter 121 - Escape!

    Yurika''s father looked at his wife, slightly confused.


    "Ah, I guess we weren''t able to hide it." Gray said while still lying on his back on the table.


    "I saw the way she looks at you and you at her, it''s the same way we looked at each other when we started to like each other a lot." Yurika''s mom walked over to her husband and held his hand. Now that she was on the other side of the table, she finally noticed Gray''s Super Mario socks since his sandals had gone flying when he was thrown.


    "Pfft..." Yurika''s mom actually started to laugh when she noticed them.


    Yurika face-palmed and said, "Yeah, you caught us, and this is what I have to work with..."


    Yurika''s mom lifted up her yukata slightly and exposed her socks. She was wearing socks with Princess Peach on them! "We do have something in common at least!"


    "Mrs. Winchester, I didn''t know you liked video games!" Gray said surprised.


    "Who doesn''t? Besides, we''re trapped in this virtual world for now so it''s the best escape!"


    "That''s surprising because Yurika doesn''t seem that in to them." Gray said while looking at Yurika with a slightly disappointed expression.


    "She does sometimes, but we have to be careful because she tends to destroy hardware when she gets frustrated." Yurika''s dad said with a wry smile.


    "Shut up! I know I have a temper! I consider it a blessing!" Yurika said while getting angry at her father.


    "How was she when she was a child? I picture her being a bully for some reason." Gray said, bracing himself for a slap from Yurika.


    "She was adorable as a child! She used to have pig tails and these pinch-able cheeks that I just couldn''t resist!" Yurika''s dad said passionately, remembering Yurika as a child.


    "I can see that! How was Erika with her classmates?" Gray said, trying to make it seem natural that he called Yurika by what he suspected was her old name, Erika.


    "Little Erika was as big a troublemaker then as she is n-" Yurika''s dad''s face went white when he realized his mistake, not from fear of Gray finding out, but from the killing intent he felt from his wife. "S-Sorry dear... I just got caught up in the memories."


    "Don''t feel too bad Mr. Winchester, I was 99 percent sure Yurika was Erika, so all you did was make it 100 percent."


    "Well, honestly I don''t see what you could do with that information." Yurika''s mom said bluntly.


    "Actually, what we wanted to know was if you remember a little boy that probably used to have a crush on her." Gray said to Yurika''s mom.


    "How could we forget... little Stephen adored her, so much so we had to pull her from school because he was hitting anyone else that got near her. We changed her name and hair color once we entered the virtual world because we didn''t want to risk him finding her in here."


    "So... it never occurred to you that the Stephen Seegall that she is marrying could be the same ''Little Stephen'' from the real world?" Gray said, folding his arms across his chest.


    "Of course not, Stephen Seegall looks nothing like that Stephen. Plus, Stephen Seegall is much older than that guy." Yurika''s mother said, "I would do anything to protect my child, so you can be sure I did my research on him."


    "Fair enough... I''m still confused about who Edward Teach is though... I feel like he is both the CEO of Alterra Corporation AND the heir to the CEO." Gray said while trying to piece together everything still.


    "Edward Teach is the CEO of Alterra Corporation, whomever is the CEO becomes Edward Teach, they just take his name. They claim that it is because Dr. Sara is picky and her AI logic only lets her work with Edward Teach, hence the name change." Yurika''s mother said to Gray.


    "So... Stephen Seegall is NOT Edward Teach? I''m confused..." Yurika said, "You told me he was Edward Teach!"


    "He will be, he is inheriting Alterra Corporation the same day as your wedding and the current Edward Teach will go retire in the real world. It doesn''t make sense honestly, so I just told you that to minimize the confusion." Yurika''s mom said while shrugging.


    Yurika and her mom started to argue and her dad was doing his best to try and mediate. Gray suddenly understood why Yurika tried to be as calm and reserved as possible around her mother as they both seemed to have a temper.


    Gray heard a ping that he just got a private message and thought to himself "Weird, I shouldn''t be getting any messages from anyone while I''m in the virtual world." Looking at the message, he saw it was from Ginro and remembered that he had messaged him awhile ago asking if he could help him get in touch with Dr. Sara.


    "Gray-san, normally meeting with Dr. Sara is almost impossible as she usually reserves all of her processing functionality for her research. She may be an AI now, but her memory becomes more and more fragmented with time. When I told her you had an old video with her in it, she was surprisingly responsive and wished to see it right away. She will allow you a few minutes of her time in exchange for the video, use it wisely as I had to use up the last of mine to get you this favor. I assume you will make good on your end of the deal. -Ginro"


    "Way to come through Ginro!" Gray shouted to himself in his mind.


    Yurika noticed Gray''s excited expression and asked "Hey, what happened?"


    "We get to have a few minutes with Dr. Sara Watts!" Gray said excitedly.


    Yurika''s parents both looked at Gray with surprise, then Yurika''s mom said, "Seriously? That''s unbelievable! Our entire family has never been given the chance to communicate with her, her time is invaluable to humanity and she is aware of it!"


    "Why does she only work for the Alliance then if she is trying to work for all of humanity?" Gray asked.


    "I don''t know, ask her yourself!"


    Gray sent Ginro a reply asking where and when he should go to meet her. Ginro''s reply simply said that she would come to him when he was alone, but if anyone else shows up she will leave.


    "What the heck, is she a fugitive or something?" Gray thought to himself after reading Ginro''s last reply.


    Another message came from Ginro shortly after that said she hates being around strangers. "Can Ginro read my mind?" Gray thought to himself.


    "Yurika, I need to go, I''m sorry I can''t stay longer." Gray said apologetically.


    "It''s fine, I''m glad you got to meet my parents, I wish I could meet yours but I have a feeling my parents won''t let me see you in the virtual world again after today."


    "Uh, why not?"


    "Because she is marrying Stephen Seegall per our arrangement from years ago, and while I do feel bad about your situation, she is doing it for the sake of our family. I refuse to let you ruin it for us." Yurika''s mom said adamantly. "Yes, this will be for the sake of the family..."


    "Gray run!" Yurika suddenly said and she tensed up and jumped between Gray and her mother.


    Gray didn''t need to be told twice as he could feel the killing intent start to ooze off of Yurika''s mother as soon as she finished her last sentence.


    Yurika''s dad had already reached the door before Gray, looked at him sympathetically and said, "Forgive me Gray, it is for the best." Yurika''s dad then took a stance similar to the Sambo stances Gray remembered from old action movies with Russian military in them.


    Gray figured that he only had one shot at getting past Yurika''s Dad since Yurika probably couldn''t hold back her mother for long. Gray ran straight at Yurika''s Dad, pulled his fist back, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "FALCON PUNCH!!!"


    Yurika''s dad watched Gray''s fist as without any decent martial training, Gray''s punch was easy to read even without him announcing it like that. However, just as he was about to block the punch then counter it and knock Gray out, his vision went dark and he felt a debilitating pain come from his groin.


    Gray ran by Yurika''s dad then said with a whisper, "Falcon Kick!".


    Yurika''s Dad was so focused on the punch that he didn''t notice Gray''s foot hit him right in the family jewels.


    Gray himself felt a little pain as he saw the grown man fall down from his cheap shot, but when your life is at stake one will do whatever is necessary to survive! At least that is what Gray told himself...


    Yurika''s mother finally flung Yurika off of herself and then reached in to her pocket and pulled out a communicator. "Front Gate, DO NOT LET-" Yurika''s mother stopped when she felt that Yurika had crawled back over to her and then grabbed her ankle with tears in her eyes.


    "Front Gate... let our guest go, but do not allow him to return, ever..."


    Yurika finally smiled at her mother, then let go of her mother''s ankle.


    "Since it means that much to you... but know that I''m not allowing you to leave here until your wedding." Yurika''s mother said sternly.


    Yurika nodded and then decided to take a nap on the nice comfortable floor.

 Chapter 122 - Limited Life

    Gray ran out of the Winchester estate as fast as he could, but strangely enough, nobody seemed to be chasing him. Gray actually turned around and headed back towards it, but he suddenly realized he was acting like one of those teenagers in scary movies and just begging to get killed.


    Instead of heading back to his old apartment though, Gray decided to the city block where the old GameGo was that Spoon and Carly used to work at.


    "Why does it feel like there are less people here now than ever before?" Gray thought to himself after he noticed that their seemed to be a lot less people out and about than before the game launched.


    A sudden realization hit Gray, "Will this world be abandoned after the war is over?" he thought to himself.


    Losing himself in thought once again, Gray looked up and realized he was now standing in front of the GameGo. It was still in the same abandoned state as before, except that the floor was oddly clean and didn''t have any of the usual debris lying around when shops close for good. The large black and red GameGo sign was still up strangely enough and it didn''t even have a For Lease, Sale, or Rest sign on the window like strip malls used to have when they lost a shop.


    Gray had a silly thought, walked up to the door, and then gave it a pull. The door opened!


    "What the heck?" Gray almost said out loud. He looked around him and didn''t see anyone paying attention to him so he walked in like it was intentional.


    The clean floor and bare walls were a little depressing for Gray to look at since he remembered them being chock full of video games, accessories, and all sorts of different toys, gadgets and figurines related to gaming. Gray remembers Carly walking out from the back room and wanted to take a peek just to see what it looked like.


    The back wall looked amazingly well sealed and Gray was trying to remember where the place was that you pushed on it to open it. Gray walked up to the wall, put his hand on it, and then gave it a slight push. Nothing happened.


    "Must not be the spot¡­" Gray thought to himself. He started searching around and was pushing the wall all over from different positions, but he still couldn''t locate the hidden door.


    "The heck? Why hide a door so well for a game shop?" Gray said out loud.


    A female voice suddenly came from behind Gray "It is locked you fool."


    Gray jumped out of his skin and came very close to peeing himself, then landed in a generic karate pose facing behind him that looked ridiculous. "WHO''S THERE?!" Gray shouted.


    "Was that really necessary?" the same female voice said from somewhere in front of Gray.


    "Well yeah! Normally you''d try to greet someone or get their attention before talking to them out of the blue, that''s just rude and I almost peed myself!"


    "I can understand this. Very well, in the future I shall try and alert others to my presence when I require their attention." After she finished speaking, a familiar looking avatar materialized in front of Gray.


    "Ah! It''s you!" Gray she had been the one to help him tune his VR bed originally. "Nadia, was it?"


    "Yes, I was asked by Dr. Sara Watts to monitor you until you are alone then inquire if it would be a good time to meet her."


    "Makes sense¡­ wait¡­ what if I was in the bathroom or otherwise ''indisposed''?" Gray asked.


    "Don''t worry, you''re not my type and I wouldn''t be offended by walking in on someone anyways." Nadia said without hesitation.


    "That''s not¡­ nevermind¡­" Gray remembered that while Nadia had a fairly attractive face, her AI personality was very conceited. "So I''m free now I guess."


    "Come with me then, let''s go in to the back room where nobody can look in." Nadia walked towards the back of the room and through the back wall as if it wasn''t even there.


    "You do know I can''t walk through walls like you, right?"


    Nadia''s head poked back through the wall. She looked like she was deep in thought for a second then said, "Of course, I just removed this wall temporarily so you can ignore it too."


    "So I can walk through it too?"


    "Yes, now hurry up, I am only allowed to do this for 10 more seconds."


    Gray quickly stepped towards the wall at a slow jog pace. He was only 3 meters from the wall so 10 seconds was easily enough time to go through it. Unfortunately, Gray never saw the wry smile Nadia had on her face while she was waiting for something on the opposite side of the wall.


    "WHAM!"


    Gray slammed into the wall hard and bounced back a bit off it, rubbing his head after he collided with the wall face first. "Owww! SON OF A¡­ I thought you couldn''t lie?"


    "Who said I lied? You just took too long."


    "I bet you didn''t even remove the damn wall like you said you did."


    "Of course I did, but I can''t do it again so let me just open the door for you instead."


    Gray heard a click from behind the wall and a door popped open near where he was first looking for one. "How did you do that? I thought you were just an avatar?"


    "I''m awesome¡­ that and I didn''t touch it, I sent it an unlock command and your thick skull must''ve shaken it enough to cause it to pop open once it became unlocked."


    Why did this AI seem to take pleasure in his own pain? Gray remembered that some old science fiction movies used to have AI that would turn bad and decide to purge humanity as they came to the conclusion it was the best decision for its own survival or the planet''s survival.


    "So what do you need me to do then to speak to Dr. Sara?"


    "Have the video she requested ready to send, after that you will have a few minutes to ask some questions should she approve."


    "Ok, then I guess I am ready." Gray looked around the back room and saw some counter tops built in to the wall itself so he hopped up and took a seat on one of them.


    Nadia nodded in affirmation then her avatar faded away.


    Gray sat on the counter, alone, in the back room for GameGo and without the light from Nadia''s avatar he realized that it was quite dark in the back room. He remembers being terrified of the dark as a kid, but once he got older, he started to enjoy the dark.


    10 minutes pass¡­


    Gray wasn''t sure how long it would take for Dr. Sara to show up, so he chose to relax a bit and leaned back. The wall wasn''t comfortable and the counter was slippery enough that he would slip off unless he sat straight up. Gray turned his whole body so it was completely on the counter, closed his eyes, and then started to lay down on his back.


    Instead of hitting a cold counter with his head as expected, it felt surprisingly comfortable and warm. The counter was also suddenly not flat and felt separate from the counter itself.


    Gray opened his eyes and looked up to see another female avatar in a lab coat.


    "Was this what you wanted in exchange for the video?" said the avatar in a voice that sounded like Dr. Sara Watts'' voice from the video while she looked down at Gray expressionlessly.


    Gray suddenly shot back up and started to apologize profusely. "I''m sorry! I''m so sorry! I didn''t know you were next to me! Wait¡­ if you''re an avatar how come I can feel you?"


    "Is that one of the questions you wish to ask?"


    Gray had to admit that now it really was one of the questions he wanted to ask, but he also had to admit that he didn''t know how many questions or time he would get so instead he decided to offer her the video first and see what his limit was. "Well, how about I let you see the video first then you tell me how many questions or how much time I get?"


    "That sounds best for both of us."


    While Dr. Sara still looked beautiful, Gray had to admit that she seemed lifeless right now. She didn''t get fl.u.s.tered from earlier and even seemed Ok with it. Her responses were short and concise and didn''t feel natural.


    "You seem¡­ different than what I was expecting." Gray said to Dr. Sara.


    "My mental facilities are limited. I forced myself to transfer to an artificial neural network without any strengthening."


    "Which means what exactly?"


    "It just means I have a lifespan unlike other AI, but the difference is I can stay alive as long as I keep my neural paths channeling synaptic responses and keep my own sanity."


    "Once again, what does that mean exactly?"


    "It means I''ll stay alive as long I''m plugged in and willing to live."


    "Oh, so you could live forever then?"


    "Yes, but I don''t want to¡­ I had to give up half of my dreams for the other half. If I can''t get that other half then I''ll probably schedule a permanent shutdown of my brain so I can get some sleep after being awake for decades."


    It finally registered for Gray what Dr. Sara was getting at, "Wait¡­ you mean to say you want to die?!?"

 Chapter 123 - Out of time?

    This was the famous Dr. Sara Watts? Gray felt a little disappointed after this short conversation with Sara, she talked more like someone that was bound here unwillingly than the vibrant young woman from the video.


    "It''s not that I really want to die, it''s just that in some sense I already am dead." Sara reached out and touched Gray''s face. "How does this feel to you?"


    Gray blushed as he wasn''t expecting her to touch his face, but he wasn''t exactly against a beautiful woman like Dr. Sara Watts from touching him. "It feels warm and gentle to me." Gray said honestly.


    "Now touch me." Sara said plainly, as if what she said couldn''t be misinterpreted at all.


    Gray''s mind went straight into the gutter and he immediately looked at her chest, but he regained some self-control and instead touched her face the same way she touched his.


    "How do I feel?" Sara asked.


    "You''re warm, just like me."


    Sara nodded and said, "That''s how we designed this virtual world, everything should feel as it would in the real world. That''s why you can touch me now. In the real world I am just a projection, I''ve long forgotten how anything is supposed to feel."


    Gray had a strange thought. "So since you asked me two questions, does that mean I get two extra questions?"


    Sara blinked at Gray twice and he thought he saw her smile slightly. "Cheeky bastard."


    Gray smiled then said, "Can you tell me why you want this video?"


    "I want a reminder of who I was¡­ Edward did his best to take that away from me after I became an AI, he said it made me unstable."


    "Edward? Edward Teach? How can he control you, he retired and probably died of old age by now, right?"


    "How old do I look to you?" Sara said then smiled at Gray.


    Gray recalled that when a woman asks you how old you think she looks, the best bet is to lie every time because there isn''t a correct answer. "Around 21!" Gray said confidently, even though inwardly he was thinking 30.


    "Well, I wasn''t even 30 when my consciousness transferred to the early artificial neural network model. Since it is 2121, that means I''m actually in my 70s."


    "Well, you look great for being in your 70s!" Gray said then gave her two thumbs up like a dork.


    Dr. Sara looked at Gray as if she was trying to figure out what made him work then finally said, "How about you just send me the video, I feel like words are unable to convey a reply to what you just said and did."


    Gray shrugged, then pulled a data chip out of his pocket and passed it to Dr. Sara. "It is from a company picnic for Terra Research and Development, do you remember them?"


    Dr. Sara nodded, then slipped the chip into her wrist.


    Gray sat there for a few minutes as he assumed Dr. Sara was watching it since she was staring motionlessly at empty space in front of her. Gray opened the browser on his armlet and browsed the Alterra Online forums that were only available from the virtual world out of a combination of boredom and curiosity.


    "Not much going on here... it seems like the popularity of Alterra Online isn''t that big." Gray said to himself as he saw various forum threads that were complaining that the game wasn''t fun, it was too realistic, needs easier access to mechs, and that just meeting people in it was very difficult with the low population in each area.


    "At least the tournament rekindled some excitement since it looks like it will have a large turnout."


    Gray noticed Dr. Sara looked down so he closed the web browser and turned to her, "How was it?"


    Dr. Sara looked up at him, he couldn''t describe what he saw in her face, but it looked and felt like the moment before a dam burst. Trying to tread carefully, Gray asked, "Are you okay?"


    "..." Dr. Sara was silent and instead started looking at Gray with a bit of anger.


    "Um, I didn''t do anything wrong, did I?" Gray has been looked at by women angrily before, but he was usually well aware of what he did to cause it. Unfortunately he was at a complete loss this time.


    "F**K! What have I been doing! Why did I let you show me this thing!" Dr. Sara suddenly shouted at him.


    "I''m... sorry?" Gray said, confused more than anything from her reaction.


    "F**k me, sorry! It''s not your fault... rekindling those memories awoke half of my decayed neural pathways and gave me time to move that data to the more stable ones."


    "Well, you do sound more like the Dr. Sara Watts from the video!"


    "That''s because I am her!" Dr. Sara closed her eyes for a second, breathed in and out, opened them and said, "Forgive me, my people skills have always been my shortcoming. I feel like my old self again, but once again, I do not know how long it will last since artificial neural networks can not regenerate like normal ones."


    "Well, that''s good to hear! So um... does that mean that all of us raised in the virtual world are going to eventually have our neural networks stop working too?"


    "What? No, I''m the only one on an artificial neural network, the cost wasn''t worth developing this technology further, current AIs merely simulate the neural network on standard hardware. As for you guys, you''re flesh and blood human, just put to sleep for the duration of the project."


    "So... everyone in this virtual world is actually a real person?"


    "Of course, everyone has a flesh and blood body in the real world that is connected to this virtual one... except for me." Dr. Sara added the last part sounding slightly depressed.


    "So what happened to Edward and Margo from that video, they must''ve had a few kids together seeing how happy they looked."


    "No, Margo was one of the many women that became infertile from the radioactive fallout post the great war. I am loathe to admit that I was not affected, but I was to absorbed in my work to even think about it."


    Gray felt like he would never get the answers he needed by trying to lead Dr. Sara with his questions. Gray remembered that Kelly and himself came to the conclusion that his heir could be a clone so he decided to ask about cloning instead. "Were you or Edward ever involved in cloning research?"


    "Of course, that is how we created the artificial neural networks. The problem was that we couldn''t create an identical copy of someone''s neural network since every mind develops differently."


    "So were any full humans ever cloned?"


    Dr. Sara didn''t answer right away as she was trying to figure out the best way to answer that question. "Yes and no... Any clones we grew in test tubes developed just fine, but they were lifeless. I''m not religious, but it is like they didn''t have a soul."


    "So could you transfer your mind to a clone then and give it a soul in a matter of speaking?"


    "It''s theoretically possible, but we never succeeded."


    "What happened?"


    "Basically, the mind of the person couldn''t understand the signals from the clone body so they were colorblind, nearly deaf, numb, and immobile. Usually the eyes were the one thing any of them could move."


    "So what happened to the research then?"


    Dr. Sara sighed and said, "That old geezer became obsessed with it for some reason. I thought it was to be able to bring back his wife or even prevent his own death but one day he overcame his obsession and said we should destroy the research in case it falls into the wrong hands."


    "Doesn''t that seem odd, why would he suddenly be satisfied with no results and then ask to destroy all of it?"


    "Edward was a good man, very compulsive though, he probably let himself become obsessed with figuring it out and then realized his mistake before moving on to his next obsession."


    "Maybe he succeeded?"


    "Doubtful, we were under enough pressure from religious groups and drug companies wanting us to stop all research that it became almost painful to proceed. Once we even had to suspend all research for a surprise inspection by some government agency."


    "Which one?"


    "The Spanish Inquisition." Dr. Sara said dramatically.


    Gray nodded "Makes sense, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"


    Gray was at a loss now, Dr. Sara Watts was able to answer his questions about cloning but was doubtful that Edward succeeded.


    "So, then how did Edward find an heir for Alterra Corporation?"


    "Edward adopted a boy after Margo died, he probably is the same age as you by now or close to it."


    "How old was the boy when he adopted him?"


    "F**k I don''t know... honestly you''re asking way more questions than what you earned, but I have to admit I do enjoy talking with you which is rare since Edward was the only person I enjoyed talking to."


    "Heh, sorry, it''s just... very important to me..."


    "My turn then... what is so important then you would ask questions that could be answered with a little bit of digging on your own?"


    "Because I can''t dig on my own here..."


    "Ahhh... then that explains why Edward has your name on a list he released a moment ago about people to ban from the virtual world."


    Gray felt his heart sink, had he ran out of time?

 Chapter 124 - Secret of Immortality

    "So¡­ I think I have to go now¡­" Gray said apologetically to Dr. Sara.


    "Nonsense, you''re safe with me, but I am curious what you did to warrant a ban from this world."


    "Well¡­ let me give you the gist of the story¡­" Gray said and then started to tell Dr. Sara about how Yurika is being forced to marry Stephen Seegall and how they suspect it ties to Edward Teach and Alterra Corporation.


    Dr. Sara furrowed her eyebrows for a moment. "I see where you are stuck. Obviously, this Stephen Seegall isn''t Edward Teach, but this Stephen Seegall isn''t outstanding enough to be a replacement for Edward Teach."


    "Do you know what Edward looked like when he was younger?"


    "Not really¡­ unless you count early 40s as younger. I know who would though, Margo was his wife and he had his personal AI created to be similar to her so she might know. Give me a second to converse with her."


    "One second?"


    "Of course, we''re both AI, we can communicate much faster to each other than you simple humans."


    "Fair point, but we''re not simple and you should know that by now, I still think of you as a human."


    "It''s all a matter of perspective. I consider myself an AI now with human experiences and a limited lifespan¡­ and Margo just sent me the wedding pictures from Edward and Margo''s wedding." Sara swiped her finger in the air and Gray received a file on his armlet.


    Gray opened up the file and saw it was a bunch of pictures grouped together.


    "Wow, Margo was beautiful!" Gray said to himself. He looked at Edward, who was standing with Margo and looking much younger than he remembered, felt like he really did resemble Stephen Seegall.


    "Hey, young Edward really does look like Stephen Seegall¡­ you don''t think he is his real son?"


    "Interesting¡­ I have a hunch now, but I''ll need to confront Edward about it. Normally helping you with this sort of thing wouldn''t be important, but I feel that if I am correct, Edward will need to be stopped."


    "What''s your hunch?" Gray asked excitedly.


    "I''ll contact you later about it¡­ first we need to get you out of here because I might have been wrong about you being safe with me¡­"


    Gray looked around and saw the space around him shaking as if water drops were hitting a pool of water. "What''s going on?"


    "Several low sentient AI are trying to erase you, but they can''t get close enough since they''re also programmed to stay a certain distance from me since my existence is¡­ delicate. Although thanks to you, I feel a bit more stable."


    Dr. Sara held out her hand, made a fist, and then opened it again to reveal a small data chip. "This will install a small piece of software on your armlet in the real world so I can send you messages, at least until the backdoor is closed."


    Gray took the data chip and slipped it into his armlet. The ripples around Gray were getting closer and closer and he thought about reaching out and touching one.


    "Somebody must be controlling them directly to be able to get closer to you without hurting me¡­ time for you to leave now. Don''t misinterpret this¡­"


    "Misinterpret wha¨C"


    Gray was unable to finish his question as he felt Dr. Sara suddenly pull him close to her and then felt her kiss him. In the instant that her lips touched his, Gray woke up in the real world and suddenly sat up in his incubation pod and bashed his forehead into the door of the pod.


    "SON OF A!" Gray opened the door on his pod, then sat up and rubbed his head.


    Gray was not expecting that Dr. Sara could forcibly log him out of the virtual world. He climbed out of his pod and was going to see if Yurika had also logged out of the virtual world or if she was still in it.


    Gray made his way to Yurika''s room and let himself in. She was still in her incubation pod so he figured she probably was trying to smooth things over with her family after his hasty retreat. He wouldn''t be surprised if Yurika''s Dad never liked him after the cheap shot to the manhood.


    It was the day before the tournament and Gray had let everyone take it easy that day. Training with Kelly''s team allowed Gray and his team to improve their combat techniques to some extent. The players without military support tended to move sloppily and waste a lot of time. Yurika was the only exception as she had been receiving martial training from a very young age so she was actually able to help Kelly''s team a little.


    "Well, the tournament begins at 10 am tomorrow. With 9 rounds in total, they expect to be done with the first 6 rounds before 4 pm so they can do the last 3 rounds at 4pm, 6pm, and 8pm." Gray considered the time schedule and figured even the schedule favored the military. "A lot of players won''t even want to stick around for that long. They should''ve done it over several days and only done maybe 2 matches a day until the finals."


    As Gray left the girl''s dorm, he came across Jono who looked to be heading towards the simulator pods.


    Gray called out, "Hey Jono!" then ran over to him when Jono turned around to see who had called him.


    "Oh, hey Gray, what''s up?"


    "Nothing, just got back from meeting Yurika''s parents. It was a disaster so I''m hoping to take it easy for the rest of the night." Gray said sheepishly.


    "It''s ok, she''s too good for you anyways." Jono said with a grin.


    Gray was glad to see that Jono was back to his usual self and they could continue to hate on each other. "Whatever dude, I''m going to take it easy though and be refreshed for tomorrow."


    "Yeah, that''s why I''m getting off for the night. You diamond tier players are lucky and get your own room. The rest of us share with 3 other people!" Jono lamented.


    "Really? Does it really matter though? I mean you just login and logout from your pod so it''s not like you hang out there."


    "I''m going to need somewhere to put that big ass trophy when I pull us to victory in all 3 divisions tomorrow!"


    "Good point¡­ if you somehow manage to do that then I''ll give you my room."


    "I''m holding you to that! No taking it back!"


    Gray nodded then headed off towards the rec room to relax. "I guess what he forgot is that he isn''t even part of the 4 man team; it''s going to be Yurika, Caleb, Geoff, and myself for that. Wait¡­ how are they even going to fit 3 divisions when it is possible to be in all 3 divisions like Yurika and myself?"


    Gray opened his browser to look for the schedule of the tournament tomorrow. For the first 6 rounds, each match will be 15 minutes long with a 5 minute break after. There will be a team death match where the team with the most kills at the end of 15 minutes wins, in the case of a tie, the winner will be determined by 3 AI judges.


    "That could work, doing 3 matches an hour would put them done with the first 6 rounds at just before 6pm. Looks like the times are extended for the last 3 rounds."


    Gray reached the rec room and relaxed for the rest of the night.


    __________


    Dr. Sara materialized in Edward Teach''s office without really any warning and said, "Hey Eddie."


    Edward Teach jumped in surprise, as he wasn''t expecting someone, even Dr. Sara Watts, to appear suddenly in his office. "Damn it Sara! Don''t scare me like that!"


    "Ah, sorry Eddie, I just haven''t felt like myself in so long I couldn''t help it."


    "Indeed, you are sounding more like your old self this evening; did that Wilhelm character have something to do with it?" Edward asked with a slightly annoyed tone.


    "Actually yes, but what I was hoping for was if you had any old video recordings of me that I can have them."


    "I had thought they were all destroyed, but it looks like I missed one¡­ I thought you were the one that leaked it, but I was wrong it seems."


    "Why would you destroy them? They help me retain my identity as my neural paths continue to degrade."


    "I had to¡­ for her¡­" Edward said in a depressed tone.


    "Her? Margo? She died Eddie¡­"


    "NO! SHE LIVES! We will live together forever!"


    Dr. Sara looked at Edward as if she was seeing a perfect stranger instead of as the only man that was able to keep up with her intellect. "Nobody lives forever Eddie¡­ we''ve proven that¡­"


    Edward Teach started to sound slightly hysterical, "Normally, but I found a way! Margo and I¨C"


    Another AI materialized in Edward Teach''s office, it was Margo this time. "Eddie¡­ my love¡­ this is not what I want¡­ what she would''ve wanted¡­"


    Edward turned pale "M-Margo! I lost you once, I won''t lose you again!"


    "Eddie, I''m barely Margo. I leaked the home video. I kept it from you because I wanted to remember what you were like before I died and hoped you would turn back in to him. You''ve tried to erase two people now and Margo would never allow that."


    Dr. Sara felt like a 3rd wheel watching Margo chew out Edward, but at the same time this scene had happened many times before as Margo had always been the voice of reason for Edward when he let his ideas get out of control.


    Edward suddenly said with a stern expression "Alterra Project Command Code: It was you who broke my mason plate."


    Dr. Sara and Margo looked at Edward questioningly. "Eddie, what was that?" Margo finally spoke up.


    "Why aren''t you rolling back to your first iteration?!" Edward yelled.


    "Oh¡­ sorry¡­ that small scriptlet was non-standard so one of our optimization processes removed it." Margo said plainly and crossed her arms looking angrily at Edward. "You are going to end this farce here and now!"


    Edward buried his face in his hands then mumbled, "I just want to be with you forever."


    "And you will, she''s waiting for you in the afterlife¡­ release the young man."


    "Release who?" Dr. Sara asked.


    "Stephen Seegall¡­ our son¡­"


    "He is not our son! He is my clone made with my genetics! He is not a human!"


    Margo slapped Edward but her hand passed through him since she was an AI. "How dare you! If I had a body, I would slap you silly! He is our son! I held him as a baby and gave my life for him! I knew he was a clone from the start as he was exactly you and thus made me love him all the more!"


    "See? You ARE Margo! We can¨C"


    Dr. Sara slapped Edward teach and left a hand-print on his face.


    "Thank you Sara¡­ now Edward¡­ I am not Margo, and if I was I would leave you for sacrificing our son to maintain your own life."


    "What?" Dr. Sara said in surprise


    Edward felt the side of his cheek then let out a sigh. "You''ve always been my voice of reason¡­ Sara¡­ my plan was to grant Stephen any wish he had in exchange for his body when he turned 30. He wished to marry this Erika Winchester that he was obsessed with. I arranged it with their family and he would surrender his body to me after he turned 30."


    "Yeah, that sounds like something you would do¡­ but he didn''t have a Margo to help him get over his obsession¡­" Dr. Sara said, "I''d be very interested to know how you planned to pull it off, but frankly the thought of you ruining so many people''s lives just for you to live longer makes me sick." Dr. Sara dematerialized to return to her lab to think about what to send to Gray.


    "I''m sorry¡­ Margo, let''s go talk to Stephen¡­ together¡­"


    Margo smiled at Edward again the way she used to that made him fall in love with her again and they walked out of his office to go down and speak to Stephen.

 Chapter 125 - Let The Games Begin!

    Gray woke up early, alone, and felt a little lonely since he had started to get used to sleeping with Yurika. He hadn''t heard from Yurika or anyone else last night about what happened to Edward Teach, but today was the day of the tournament finally.


    Gray got dressed, cleaned up and went to the cafeteria for breakfast as usual. Everyone except Jono and Yurika were present. Jono was no big surprise as he still lived in the virtual world and said he wouldn''t show up until a few minutes before it was time.


    "Gray! How''d it go yesterday with Yurika''s parents?" Stacia said excitedly.


    "Yeah, we took bets on what they were like. Most of us pictured her Dad as a hardcore military fanatic while her mother was mild-mannered, polite, but very attractive with the same kind of hair!" Geoff said while Caleb and Paul nodded in agreement.


    "No! We picture her Dad as a career military man that is kind and doting while her mother is the true leader that is strong, passionate, empowering, and can kick ass and cook at the same time!" Stacia said while Xyra backed her up.


    Gray thought about it for a moment and figured they were both correct partially.


    "Well, I''d have to say this would be a tie then because you''re both half correct. Her dad was a career soldier and now he''s a fanatic of it, but he keeps himself in shape. Her mother¡­" Gray paused while trying to figure out how to word it so everyone could understand.


    "What about her Mother?" Stacia asked, leaning in so she didn''t miss anything.


    Gray laughed slightly and said, "Her mother scares the crap out of me. You are right in that she is very polite and beautiful, but Yurika gets her temper from her mother as well as her talent for fighting. She also flipped me over on a table like a pancake!"


    "I can see that¡­ my only question is what did you do to deserve it?" Stacia asked.


    "Nothing! I mean¡­ I may have worn video game themed socks, but that was only made known after I was flipped over on my back. Not only that, her mom actually liked them and was wearing a pair as well! She thought I was questioning her abilities, but I hadn''t said a thing!"


    "So were you questioning her abilities?" Caleb asked this time after having become a little familiar with Gray''s natural bad habit of liking to cause trouble for people.


    "I may have thought about it, but I didn''t say anything, honest!"


    "Hah! You THOUGHT about it!" Stacia said triumphantly.


    Gray rolled his eyes at Stacia and said, "Can''t I think whatever I want to think? Don''t tell me her mother can read minds."


    "You can think what you want, she can''t read minds, but you make this face when you''re about to question something." Stacia said.


    "Really?" Gray said skeptically.


    "Yes! That face!" Stacia said while pointing at Gray''s face.


    Geoff, Paul, Xyra, and Caleb looked at his face as well. "Yeah, it basically screams that you''re about to question something out of disbelief." Caleb chimed in.


    "Whatever, anyways for our team and the 4 mech lineup, I was thinking Yurika, Caleb, Geoff, and myself. Thoughts?" Gray asked everyone else.


    Paul shrugged and said, "I get it, you guys have known each other the longest and Stacia is the most timid out of you 5."


    "Actually it has nothing to do with that, I based it upon your personalities and preferences. The matches are short so it won''t leave hardly any time to set anything up so I went with who would best fit those. Paul, you''re very defensive and we won''t have time for that. Stacia and Xyra are too passive for a quick and fast match as well."


    "Hmm¡­ fair point, my best mech is quite slow after all." Paul replied, satisfied that Gray didn''t choose the group of 4 out of favoritism.


    "You would have put Yurika on the team even if she was awful though, right?" Geoff said wryly.


    "Duh, she would kick my ass if I didn''t!"


    Paul looked at Xyra with a slight smile and said, "I think we need to find another team, again¡­"


    Xyra gave a light chuckle then softly said, "I like this team."


    __________


    It was now 9:40 am and the tournament would start in 20 minutes. Many players began queuing up with their teams as early as 9:00 am.


    Surprisingly to Gray, Jono had shown up on time, but what Gray was really worried about was that Yurika still wasn''t there yet. Gray and the others were nervously watching the time and waiting for Yurika.


    Kelly sent Gray a message that said, "You have 5 minutes to get in a simulator pod and confirm your entry, I will kill you if you are late and cause us to be disqualified!"


    Gray couldn''t help but wonder why women always wanted to kill him.


    Gray''s armlet said 9:44am, Gray had one minute now to confirm his entry. Finally, Gray saw a teal streak heading towards them and immediately felt relief.


    "Sorry I''m late! Mom literally tried to hold me hostage!" Yurika said apologetically, breathing heavily from having sprinted here from her dorm room.


    "Glad you made it! We have no time, in the pods now!" Gray said, then grabbed Yurika''s arm, kissed her forcefully, and then ran into an open simulator pod.


    Gray closed the hatch on his simulator pod and quickly confirmed his entry for the tournament, hoping everyone else would make it in time as well. He saw the timer still had 10 minutes on it and realized that the actual deadline was 9:55am, not 9:45am.


    "Well, Kelly did like to be early for everything." Gray thought to himself.


    Gray brought up the tournament brackets to see who they would be pitted against in each round.


    "Steel Wolves vs. Team #81? Either that team sucks at picking names or the organizers are not revealing the names just yet."


    Looking up and down the brackets, Gray saw that around half of the bracket had names like ''Team #81'' in all of them so he guessed they were just waiting until other teams confirmed their participation in the tournament.


    Gray received a message from Kelly, "Good luck in the 4 versus 4 match, hopefully we run in to each other!"


    Gray laughed to himself thinking that Kelly''s competitive side hadn''t changed at all since they first met back in high school.


    The timer reached 0 and a new timer popped up with a 5 minute duration on it. A screen with a brief explanation of the 4 player team tournament appeared in front of Gray. Gray read it quickly and wasn''t exactly surprised by what it said.


    For these small team matches, everyone will have the same mechs and same load outs. The Ranger Mk 01 and a medium range, high damage battle rifle that has been dubbed the ''DMR'' (Designated Matchmaking Rifle). While Gray thought this would be boring, he also understood it was setup this way to make it about skill and tactics instead of equipment.


    With only 1 minute left until the match starts, the bracket finally updated itself to reveal the team that Gray, Geoff, Yurika, and Caleb would be facing.


    "Steel Wolves vs. The Narwhals" Gray said, trying to hold back his laughter. "I don''t know whether to say that their name is amazing or that it is amazingly bad."


    Gray, Geoff, Yurika, and Caleb were sent to the pregame lobby as expected, but the usual mech selection screens didn''t pop up for them since they were all given the same load outs.


    "Dang it, this sucks, I hate this kind of weapon!" Yurika complained.


    "Why is that?" Gray asked.


    "It is a single shot weapon that doesn''t pack the punch of a sniper rifle, doesn''t have burst or automatic fire, and it is good in every situation except for point-blank."


    "Um¡­ that actually sounds like a very good weapon to pick when you don''t know what kind of situation you''re going to find yourself in." Geoff said skeptically to Yurika.


    "Well yeah! It''s boring though! I want to spray bullets with a machine gun! I want to watch the metal fly off of my enemy when I blast them with a shotgun! I want to put 2 inch holes in someone''s armor with a sniper rifle!" Yurika shouted, clearly getting emotional over this subject.


    Gray, Geoff, and Caleb could only stare at Yurika as she started to get physically aggravated at the thought of everyone using the same type of all-purpose weapon.


    "I consider myself somewhat of a gun fan, but you take it to fanatic levels Yurika." Caleb said dryly.


    "Shut it! I can''t help it! It was how I was raised! Some girls play with dolls, other girls play with weapons. I felt more comfortable holding a Beretta than holding a Barbie!"


    Gray, Geoff, and Caleb couldn''t really argue as they probably would have been too.


    "Well, regardless, you''ve been our weapon''s expert so we''re actually happy that you were raised that way, right guys?" Gray said while looking at Caleb and Geoff and nodding his head.


    "Oh, yeah! Don''t know where we''d be with you!" Geoff said nervously.


    "Agreed, you have proven quite effective at dispatching our opponents." Caleb said calmly.


    "Right, so our first match begins in 20 seconds. We''ll move in a pack of 4 at first, and then we split into groups of 2 if needed. No need to play the hero and take all 4 of them on at once, let''s focus them one at a time."


    "Affirmative!"


    An AI voice suddenly sounded through every participant''s simulator pod across the world. "Four Player Team, Round 1, Begin!"

 Chapter 126 - Changing the Rules

    Gray, Yurika, Geoff, and Caleb spawned inside the map. Each of them had the exact same mech with the exact same weapons.


    "Man, this sucks!" Yurika complained.


    "While I do agree it is boring, it is still the best way to determine actual skill by giving everyone the same weapons and mechs." Caleb said analytically.


    "What if I suck with this weapon though?" Geoff asked honestly.


    "It''s the easiest weapon to use¡­ how can you suck at it?" Gray asked Geoff.


    "I don''t but¡­ I like automatic weapons, or at least burst fire!" Geoff complained.


    "Yeah yeah, I get it, they picked a weapon that is boring, easy to use, and have it perform well in almost any role so that even if we had another weapon choice, we probably wouldn''t pick it. When nobody signs up for the next tournament, they''ll hopefully figure it out by then." Gray said bluntly.


    "Next tournament? This might be the first and the last depending upon the outcome of the war." Caleb remarked.


    "Fair point¡­ well, the war starts in 2 weeks, for now, focus on the tournament!"


    Gray took a quick look at the map and saw it was just a simple flat map with a lot of unnatural barriers in generic shapes spaced out evenly. Each side was symmetrical leading to both sides having the same advantages and disadvantages as the other.


    "Wow, this¡­ I love it and hate it¡­ it pleases the obsessive-compulsive side of me, but it also makes matches very boring, so I hate it." Gray said to himself.


    Gray noticed the timer was only for 15 minutes, so they planned to make these matches short and sweet. "Quantity over quality it looks like." Gray thought.


    "Form up, we''re going to make this fast so we have more time to rest between matches since all four of us are in every single match!" Gray commanded.


    Without anywhere to really hide except for the obvious barriers, sneak attacks were not exactly something this map allowed. Only about a minute after forming up, both teams had visually spotted each other. The DMR truly was a boring weapon as it eliminated the need for any advanced strategy but instead tested the individual skill of the player when it was in everyone''s hands.


    Gray and Geoff quickly realized how mediocre they were with weapons since the DMR required one to be accurate instead of making up for it with a spread of bullets. Caleb was very accurate with his, but he required a little more time to shoot. Luckily for all of three of them, Yurika still proved to be a juggernaut as she was not only very accurate but her rate of fire and target acquisition was ridiculous as well.


    "Note to self, buy Yurika... everything she wants after this tournament." Gray thought to himself.


    The first 4v4 match was uneventful as Yurika carried the 3 of them through it. Gray and Geoff found it better to take a square formation and soak up all the shots while Caleb and Yurika would disable the enemy team with as few shots as possible by aiming for the engines in the abdominal area of the mechs.


    "If I ever get to help design a mech, I''d put the engine in a better protected area." Gray thought to himself. He wasn''t sure what it would take to design a mech, but with 3D printing, it wouldn''t be hard to fabricate any parts... if he had a mech-capable 3D printer and the tons of resources required to create one.


    After the first match, they had about 10 minutes to rest before the 8 versus 8 matches began. Paul, Stacia, Xyra, and Jono joined them in the pregame lobby to chat.


    "How''d the first match go?" Paul asked.


    "So boring! Everything went as expected, no strategy, just aiming and shooting from any distance!" Yurika shouted. She seemed genuinely angry at this type of match.


    "It''ll be okay, Yurika, we only have to do this for this dumb tournament." Gray said, trying to calm Yurika.


    "Yeah yeah, just remember I like variety." Yurika said playfully then winked at Gray.


    "Ok, that''s enough rom-com from you two, so I''m guessing the 8 versus 8 matches are going to be the same except with a larger map?" Geoff said after having enough of watching Gray and Yurika.


    "I hope not, but I have a feeling it will be." Gray said slightly depressed.


    __________


    The AI Nadia materialized in front of Drake Walters, the PR executive for Alterra Corporation that hasn''t had a mention in so long it feels like he is a new character.


    "Sir, the tournament''s popularity started off strong, but it seems interest has quickly waned after just the first round." Nadia reported to Drake.


    "We expected this since a lot of people will leave once they are eliminated, are you saying the decline is even greater than that?"


    "Yes, we''ve had a few teams even quit before their turn starts."


    Drake furrowed his brows then said, "What do the forums say?"


    Nadia seemed to look off into the distance for a few seconds then turned her attention back to Drake, "Sir, the general consensus is that it is boring and only caters to the professionals"


    "I''m assuming that is your paraphrased response?"


    "Obviously! The average responses were full of expletives, poor grammar, and various insults at somebody''s mother."


    "That''s fairly normal... reasons why it is boring though?"


    "Mostly the lack of weapon variety, the balanced and artificial maps are also considered boring, and finally just straight up team death match is boring to some."


    "The last two are for time constraints... damned military shouldn''t have waited until 2 weeks before the war to have this. Call Lieutenant Felicia Stone, I want to run this by the military as fast as possible!"


    "Yes sir." Nadia put her hand to her ear as if she was now waiting on something. A few seconds later, Nadia looked up and said, "Lieutenant Stone is online, sir"


    "Drake! Good to talk to you again. I hope you can make this brief as we''re quite busy right now trying to manage this tournament and preparing for a war." Felicia said in her usual friendly manner that belied her tired expression on her face.


    "I''ll keep it short, the tournament is starting to flop, even after just one round. Biggest complaint is the weapons, they''re boring."


    Felicia rolled her eyes and said, "That''s what I tried telling the big wigs, but they wanted to keep it fair, balanced, and professional. Still, they love charts, give me a chart or something I can show them that indicate the tournament will flop even more if something doesn''t change."


    Drake looked at Nadia and she merely said, "Done... and sent"


    Felicia looked to the side and nodded in satisfaction, "Solution that you think they would agree upon?"


    "Aside from scrapping the tournament, starting over, and taking players in to consideration, how about change it so that the last 3 rounds they can pick from their own team''s selection of weapons and mechs?" Drake said plainly.


    "Sounds reasonable, they''ll still get their test of skill and the players can still have fun and use any of their teammate''s mechs or weapons if they pass said test."


    "Exactly, I hope to hear good news soon then!"


    Felicia nodded then her image disappeared.


    __________


    Gray''s team faced off uneventfully against a team of only 6 players since it looked like 2 of them had quit before the match even started.


    "Wow... that was boring... again..." Gray thought to himself, "I know they want the best soldiers, but they have to remember most of us are not soldiers."


    "Good news Gray, check the forums! An announcement from the military regarding the rules of the tournament!" Caleb said happily.


    Gray, and everyone else quickly looked at the forums and found a post from the military''s official account.


    The forum post was brief, but it made Gray and many other players a bit relieved. The only problem was that they should''ve done it from the start. "Players, we apologize for not taking your desires in to consideration. We admit that this tournament''s goal is to find the best candidates for military recruitment and so we wanted to test skill first and foremost. The last 3 rounds will be slightly different. The maps will be replaced with maps that have natural environments, but still symmetrical. The mech and weapon choices will not let you pick anything that you or your teammates have. Once again, we hope this keeps everyone interested and apologize for our lack of foresight."


    "Sweet, so like... all of us could use my mech with the Gatling cannon at the same time! That would be amazing to see 8 Gatling cannons mowing down everything in their path!" Yurika said, drooling slightly.


    "You''re drooling..." Gray said while looking at Yurika''s far off expression. "It is good and bad, good because we can use what we''re best at in the last 3 rounds, but bad because we have to make it to those rounds and it means a military team could have nothing but rail guns and advanced mechs."


    "Can''t we use them for the 16 vs 16 since Kelly''s team is military?" Stacia asked.


    "I forgot about that... now I''m getting really excited!" Gray really was getting excited, the best way to learn about military hardware was to play with it after all!

 Chapter 127 - Big Team Battle Round One

    Gray was feeling a little more hopeful for the tournament after the military decided to allow a slight rule change. Regardless, the first 16 versus 16 match was about to begin after two very boring matches. While trying to lead a team of 16, Gray long ago realized that trying to micromanage everyone was a mistake.


    Gray and Kelly broke the team of 16 apart in to four teams of four. They took votes about who wanted to be teamed up with who and assigned four squad leaders. Gray, Geoff, Kelly, and Caitlyn would lead a squad each. As for the members, a vote was taken about whom they wanted to team up with. Everyone wanted to be teamed up with Yurika while nobody voted to team up with Jono except for Gray.


    The results weren''t shown, but everyone was going to talk about who they picked anyways. Gray was teamed up with Alice, Xyra, and Rita. Geoff was assigned Paul, Christine, and Heather. Kelly took Yurika, Jono, and Tia under her leadership. Lastly, Caitlyn took Felisa, Stacia, and Caleb.


    While not everyone was happy with the arrangements, Gray and Kelly agreed that it played to each of their strengths the best. Jono would be the exception as he only listened to Kelly or Caitlyn. Caitlyn tended to be hot-headed, so she matched well with Caleb who always kept his cool.


    Kelly''s team should actually be the strongest one. Kelly and Tia were fairly well-rounded and excellent shots, Jono was an unknown, and Yurika would probably win a solo tournament even if she went in without a mech.


    With everyone using the same mech and weapon for these first matches, the excitement and curiosity of what you would be facing off against was gone. Still, the 16 vs 16 had the fewest amount of people drop out due to the military pilots participating in it.


    Gray thought it would be a good time to give a speech of sorts to everyone right before the first round of 16 versus 16. "Alright, I''m not one for big speeches, nor does this really need one right now, but no matter what happens I want to say I''ve enjoyed the time we''ve worked together so let''s at least make it to the last round to keep it going longer!"


    "At LEAST the finals?" Kelly said with a wry smile on her face.


    "Yeah, should be easy, right?" Gray said returning her smile.


    "¡­no problem¡­" Xyra whispered.


    After several hoots, whistles, and a few shouts of "Purge the unclean!" everyone seemed fired up and ready to go.


    Gray wanted to ask which of them shouted "Purge the unclean!" but was pretty sure nobody would own up to it, although he was certain one of them was Yurika.


    Once the countdown finished, everyone spawned inside their 16 versus 16 match. Gray was surprised to see that the previous geometric shapes were now at least made to look like an industrial complex instead of the uninspired blocks as before.


    "They must place a lot of importance on the tournament''s popularity if they changed the maps within minutes." Gray thought to himself. Gray didn''t like the look of the solid geometric shapes from before, but he had to admit it made it a lot easier to spot the enemy and the terrain could be analyzed quickly.


    "Ok, just like we practiced, let''s get a feel for what the enemy wants to do. Cait take point, Geoff take my flank, Kelly take rear!" Gray ordered.


    Everyone split-up and reformed according to their assigned teams, the 4 teams creating a diamond formation. Kelly''s team would be put in the back so they could be saved for last while Caitlyn''s team would take point as they were made up of the most defensively-minded among them.


    They only had a dozen or so matchmade games with all 16 of them, but this formation had proven the most effective especially since other teams were just working with each other for the first time. Gray was hoping they would get an easy match in the first round to build their confidence.


    "Enemy spotted!" Stacia suddenly shouted, she still favored scouting over everything else so it wasn''t a surprise to anyone she would spot the enemy first. "8 on direct approach from North."


    Gray looked at his tactical display to see 8 red dots appear at the top edge of the map. He figured the other 8 were going to try and flank them since it was probably 2 teams of 8 working independently like they did in many of the matches in matchmaking earlier.


    "Second group of 8 approaching from the East!" Christine shouted. Geoff''s squad was the furthest east so naturally someone on his squad would spot a group coming from the east first.


    "Head towards the northern group, we need to pin them between their own group in the east and us." Gray ordered.


    Without radar, map locations would only be updated when someone had line of sight on the enemy. Gray wasn''t sure why they decided to run the tournament without radar coverage, but it did allow for tactics to be used instead of everyone lining up in a single row and marching towards each other to just slug it out.


    The only downside is that it meant that if you could see them, they could see you. It''s hard to hide a mech that stands around 15 meters tall without any special equipment.


    Geoff''s team opened fire with their DMRs at maximum range on the team approaching from the east. Their objective was not to hurt or destroy them, just slow them down.


    The DMR may be a boring weapon, but it was still highly effective at all ranges between point-blank and extreme. Geoff''s team were firing at extreme range so while they could still be accurate, the rounds had lost enough power to not be enough to punch through armor. Still, the occasional lucky shot was enough to get the team of 8 to slow down and seek cover before lining up their own shots. Geoff''s team ignored the enemy fire and kept running since it was the extreme range that was keeping them safer than anything else.


    The terrain itself was not hard to cross, the amount of debris was minimal meaning that mechs could run at full speed without tripping easily. The industrial park had a lot of natural barriers so with Geoff''s squad slowing down the enemy approaching from the east, the rest of their team was able to approach the team from the north and start to force them to a crawl with their superior numbers.


    Once Gray''s, Kelly''s, and Caitlyn''s squads had concentrated their fire on the 8 coming from the north, the 8 enemies were also forced to take cover, but Geoff''s squad was now in trouble as it was able to be shot at from all 16 enemies.


    "Geoff, that''s enough, swing around and draw them towards us!" Gray ordered.


    "Roger Wilco!" Geoff said loudly. "Squad pull back, return to formation!"


    "Understood!" Christine and Heather replied simultaneously.


    "Unable! Coolant leak, hunkering down until I''m shutdown!" Paul replied.


    Paul was the closest one to the enemy so his mech was the most beat up of all of them. Another shot from a DMR must''ve hit something important because smoke and steam suddenly came pouring out of Paul''s mech.


    "Good luck Paul!" Geoff said as Christine, Heather, and Geoff limped and ran as fast as they could. The screen created by Paul''s soon-to-be-disabled mech was good cover allowing the others to return to the rest of their team.


    Paul may have been the first to get destroyed putting them at a slight numerical disadvantage, but due to the enemy teams not coordinating well, only 8 enemies could fire on the 15 remaining mechs of Gray''s and Kelly''s combined team.


    The 8 enemy mechs pinched between Gray''s team and their own team caused them to quickly get torn apart. The 8 enemies that had destroyed Paul were not worrying about their own teammates so they were firing through them, but the chaos and occasional unlucky shot caused the enemy team to start bickering among themselves. Even though they hadn''t lost anyone yet, the enemy was getting frustrated with itself.


    "Kelly, show them how fast you 4 can destroy a mech." Gray commanded.


    "Affirmative!"


    Kelly, Jono, Yurika, and Tia formed a line and started approaching the closest enemy out in the open.


    Seeing the 4 of them parading outside of cover, the enemy got brave and some of them started to come out of cover to take better shots at them. This was their mistake¡­


    "2 at 2! Follow my shots!" Kelly shouted.


    Kelly, Yurika, Jono, and Tia all aimed in the same direction. Kelly shot first and was extremely accurate, she hit one of the enemies in the shoulder where the armor was thinner to allow for joint mobility. Kelly, Tia, and Yurika were unsurprisingly able to hit the same spot within inches of each other every single shot, but what surprised Gray was that Jono was actually matching them shot for shot.


    "Huh, was he really as good as he said he was? How come I only am just noticing this now?" Gray thought to himself.


    Even Kelly seemed surprised and said, "Jono, why didn''t you shoot like this before?!"


    "I always could, but my accuracy with automatic weapons sucks so this DMR works great!"


    Gray remembered that Jono did like to consider himself a professional gamer so the DMR was beneficial for his type even though the average gamer would find it boring as hell.


    Every 3 shots from each of Kelly''s squad, the enemy mechs would lose an arm. After only 20 seconds, both enemy mechs that had came out were standing like idiots with their arms limp or missing. More enemies became brave and tried to challenge Kelly''s squad, but Gray''s and Caitlyn''s squads were there to limit the number of enemies that would be able to come out safely and challenge Kelly''s squad.


    Overall, this was the basic strategy that Gray and Kelly came up with for teams that were uncoordinated. Split them up, then use Kelly''s squad to eliminate enemies one or two at a time while Gray''s and Caitlyin''s squads kept them from overwhelming Kelly''s squad. Geoff''s squad would get the pleasure of finishing off any disabled mechs since they would probably be the most damaged after drawing enemy fire initially.


    Gray''s team won their first 16 versus 16 while only losing Paul, Rita, and Stacia.


    "Excellent job everyone, especially Jono, honestly didn''t expect that from you buddy!" Gray said, praising Jono.


    "Told you I''d win you this tournament!" Jono said proudly.


    Gray rolled his eyes. "Team effort, it''s hard enough to praise you, don''t make it harder!"


    Everyone was still on their high after winning the first round, but Gray reminded them that the next round was going to start soon.


    "See you in the next 16 versus 16." Gray said to Kelly, a new 10 minute timer indicated that the next round would start in 10 minutes leaving Gray, Geoff, Yurika, and Caleb alone in the pregame lobby for the next 4 versus 4 match.

 Chapter 128 - Inspiration

    Gray, Yurika, Geoff, and Caleb were eliminated from the 4 versus 4 matches at the final match before the last 3 rounds where they could select their own weapons. Overall the team itself wasn''t disappointed because they could say they made it to the top 16 out of the 503 registered teams.


    As for the team as a whole, they were eliminated after the 5th round in the 8 versus 8 matches. The team wasn''t satisfied with this result, but Gray felt it was a good eye opener for them.


    "Our teamwork and coordination have been excellent, but I''m starting to realize we''re not exactly up to par on the individual level. If it wasn''t for Yurika being such a dominating force, we probably wouldn''t have made it nearly as far as we did." Gray thought to himself while comparing the different stats from the matches.


    Fortunately, they were still in the running for the 16 vs 16 big team battle and made it to the last 3 matches where they can finally choose their own loadouts and mechs. While Gray and the rest of the Steel Wolves were slightly depressed that they didn''t go further, they realized that the 16 versus 16 was still the most promising for them.


    After the last big team battle for Gray and Kelly''s combined team, they reached the quarter finals and had a longer break time especially now that they didn''t have to worry about the other matches. As for what to do, both Gray''s team and Kelly''s team had grown comfortable around each other through their time spent together so they all just decided to hang out together in the virtual pregame lobby.


    Gray was looking through some of the other matches in an attempt to familiarize himself with some of the other teams. He shook his head after looking at the 4th replay and thought to himself, "I''m not a Military General, a sports coach, or even a professional gamer. I can''t really pull anything from these replays yet¡­ I''ll need more time."


    Gray turned off the replays and looked over at Jono and was surprised to see that he was actually getting the attention from Heather and Rita, the sisters on Kelly''s team.


    Jono appeared to be playing it cool, but Gray could tell he was holding himself back and trying not to say something stupid to ruin the setting. Gray could also tell from the way that Jono was looking from one sister to the other that he was debating which one he would go for.


    "I should commend him on not being dumb enough to go after both." Gray said to himself.


    "I know, in the past Jono would''ve put his arms around both of them and started talking a much bigger game than he was actually capable of." a voice suddenly spoke up next to Gray.


    Gray jumped up suddenly and turned to see that Kelly was sitting next to him and he forgot that he was sitting next to her since she too was watching replays.


    "Forget I was here? I''m hurt¡­" Kelly said to Gray with a wry smile.


    "Sorry, it''s nothing personal, I was just lost in my own thoughts."


    "Penny for your thoughts?" Kelly said with a smile.


    "A penny is a paltry sum in comparison to the value of my deep and profound machinations developing in my mind." Gray said proudly.


    Kelly rolled her eyes at Gray and said, "Glad to see you still avoid meaningful conversations."


    Gray could only smile back at her weakly, he really was terrible at opening up to people, even those he trusted. He turned to look at everyone else that was just mingling and found Yurika was arguing with a tiny figure on Caleb''s shoulder. Gray stopped being amazed at Caleb''s tricks, bringing Celes into the pregame lobby was probably something he could''ve done earlier but for some reason he only brought her out now.


    Gray realized he was letting himself get distracted again and asked Kelly something that started to bother him once he realized his own deficiencies with himself. "Hey, what makes a commander great?"


    "Aren''t you thinking a little too much about it?"


    "Maybe¡­ but I want all of us to be able to keep having moments like this" Gray said, then motioned to the men and women around him that were chatting casually as if a war wasn''t just 2 weeks away.


    Kelly sighed and said, "If you are thinking like that, your heart is in the right place, but softness will not win you any battles. Sun-Tzu said that the Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness. I think you got the sincerity and benevolence part down but lack wisdom and strictness. Have you ever chewed out a teammate for making a mistake? Have you ever been able to educate them on that mistake?"


    Gray looked a little surprised, he actually had never really yelled at anyone for their mistakes and usually wouldn''t even point them out. "Well, no, they''re all my friends and I consider them equals."


    Kelly sighed again leaving Gray annoyed. "Hey, why do you keep sighing like that!"


    "Gray, you''re still the same after so many years, I suppose that isn''t a bad thing in some ways but you need to realize that other people change and if you keep playing soft with everyone, you''re not going to accomplish anything in the war."


    "I''m not trying to accomplish anything, I just want to keep everyone alive."


    Kelly smacked Gray on the backside of the head, but since it was a virtual lobby, Gray didn''t feel it but he still knew she did it.


    "What was that for?" Gray said with a slightly hurt tone in his voice.


    "That type of wishful thinking will get more people killed. You may save your friend''s lives, but what about everyone else?" Kelly started to raise her voice slightly with Gray, drawing the attention of everyone else.


    "I''m not so na?ve to think I can save everyone, but I will put my friends ahead of strangers, I''m not a soldier that can be heartless and put the mission above all else!"


    At this point everyone was watching Gray and Kelly. Even Kelly was surprised because the Gray she used to know never yelled once and rarely was confrontational.


    Kelly decided to take the opportunity to push Gray a little. "Soldiers are not heartless! It is because of their heart that they are willing to put their lives on the line to protect their home! If you can''t even do that then why are you here?"


    Gray couldn''t respond to that one right away. Thinking about it, he was only here because he didn''t have a choice. He remembered Major Valen giving him information about setting up a Mercenary Group that wouldn''t be dependent upon the military, but now he realized that even with that he was doing it just because it was suggested to him.


    "Am I really such a pushover?" Gray thought to himself. "What do I WANT to do with this life that was given to me?"


    Kelly watched Gray lose himself in thought and knew she finally got through to him. Kelly reached out and put her hand on Gray''s shoulder and said, "Gray¡­ you are my friend. As a friend, I''m just trying to help you see the bigger picture, make your own choices, and not just be comfortable with the status quo because it is easier. You have plenty to think about but know that I am on your side always."


    Gray nodded and smiled at Kelly and he put his hand on hers and gave it a squeeze.


    What Gray and Kelly didn''t see was Xyra and Stacia holding Yurika back due to some instinct warning Yurika that she needed to attack Kelly.


    Gray removed his hand and Kelly removed hers, then Kelly said to Gray, "Remember, you''re our commander today! Also, check out who we''re facing in the quarter finals."


    Gray started to look through the lineup now that the results were finally out for the preliminaries. His vision suddenly went dark and he stopped focusing on his screen to see that Yurika had came over and was now squeezing him. Gray was thankful you couldn''t feel anything, nor did you need to breathe in the pregame lobby.


    Yurika glared daggers at Kelly and mouthed, "My Wife!"


    Kelly smiled at Yurika and mouthed back, "I know, sorry."


    Yurika released Gray from a hug that would''ve probably suffocated him had she smooshed his face in her chest like she just did in the real world.


    Gray pretended like he was suffocating though and let out a deep breath and inhaled sharply like he was running out of air. "I almost died!"


    Yurika laughed and flicked his forehead, "If I wanted you dead, you''d be dead."


    Kelly felt a little uncomfortable with hearing that because she felt like Yurika wasn''t joking, but she chose to ignore it as Gray always had a weird sense of humor so it would be no surprise that those around him would also have the same.


    "Ahem" Kelly coughed to interrupt the happy pink environment that Gray and Yurika somehow were creating that made everyone feel uncomfortable. "Our next opponent is one of the 6 remaining teams in the military. ''The Foolhardies'', and despite the strange name they''re still part of our elites in the military."


    "Any information on them that might be useful?" Gray asked, the looked around and saw everyone else suddenly turn away as if they weren''t watching them earlier. "Ok guys, bring it in, might as well learn what we can."


    Kelly looked at Gray then the others from Gray''s team and said "To begin with¡­ this will be your hardest battle yet¡­"