Tempest {{Reserved for Hal7283 and Time}} 18+

[Time_Keeper]

Of all the days an attack could have happened, it had to happen on the day his aircraft was getting repairs done to it. Grumbling under his breath as he maneuvered his jet quickly out of the way of an oncoming missile, Mukami Yuma was less than pleased. The current F/A-18 Hornet he was piloting had nothing on his original aircraft an F-16 Fighting Falcon. The controls were no where near as fluid as his personal jet was and the range on the weapons were absolutely atrocious to say the least. Not to mention that the maneuverability was down right pathetic. Every attack he somehow managed to avoid did nothing more than grow his general dislike of the aircraft, even if he had no choice but to continue to pilot it.

 

"How you holding up, Yu?" the sound of his childhood friend's voice coming through his earpiece had the brunette exhaling a long breath as he brought the Hornet up to fly steadily at Taka's left flank.

 

"Don't even get me started right now, Taka. This piece of shit is the last thing I'll ever get into again if we make it out of this alive" Yuma grumbled, it took only the sound of his best friend's energetic laughter to have a small grin making it's way up to his face.

 

"Come on, it definitely can't be that bad.....Not that it's good either. The point is, our jets aren't cleared to fly so we have no choice" Taka chuckled even if there was a note of tension in his voice as the pair had to send their jets into a brief spiral to avoid another round of missiles.

 

Turning his attention on the ground below them, Yuma's grin vanished as he took in the telling damage the attack had already produced. There were people screaming and running around with no clear direction to go, despite the best efforts of the ground military forces. Buildings had collapsed or were in the process of collapsing and giant holes decorated the ground where roads had once been untouched and clean. Even from as high as they were now, Yuma could see the death toll growing quickly. If not by the bodies he could see through the small side feed on the screen in his cockpit, then by the continuing explosions that sounded off with no signs of stopping.

 

It was obvious that no one had been prepared for an attack such as this one.

 

The day had started off like any other, nothing exciting had been happening until the first missile had been launched into a city that bore a population of several hundred innocent lives. The military had been quick to react but when they had arrived at the scene, nothing could have prepared them to see the size of a extraterrestrial ship of some sort hovering over the city while other smaller ships zoomed around, blasting at anything they saw fit, human or otherwise.

 

When Yuma received orders to get on any available jet and head out to defend the city, his first thought was that it probably wasn't something to worry to much about. Yet as more information had begun to trickle in, his disregard for the situation had waned and slight nervousness had settled in. Especially when he had been told that his Flacon wasn't ready to fly. Unable to go against orders and just wait for his jet to be cleared, Yuma had met up with his old friend and had agreed to fly the closest available aircrafts as they hurried off.

 

And now here he was, being tailed by five of these ridiculously fast aircrafts that clearly did not belong on earth. Splitting away from Taka to perform a wide turn in the midst of their flight, Yuma changed his course of trajectory to fly towards their enemies instead of away from them. He had had just about enough of running. Just because they had some kind of weird force field around them didn't mean that they were indestructible. Nothing was indestructible, otherworldly or not. He'd be damned if he didn't find a way to at least take down one of these little shits.

 

"Yuma! Damn it, where the hell are you going! You're going to get yourself killed!" Taka's displeased and alarmed voice did nothing to shake the brunette's determination or the excitement that had begun to mount inside him.

 

"I'll be back, Taka. Just gotta shoot down one of those cute little aircrafts. This whole running away crap is getting old" Yuma responded briefly before turning off all his communication with the other pilot with a few pushes in his controls. He knew Taka would worry, hell even Yuma himself was starting to doubt his sanity at this point, but he wasn't a top pilot for nothing. Even if his plan didn't work and he was eventually shot down, at least he would go down with a fight instead of running away. Besides, he didn't plan on going down alone.....he'd definitely be taking one of these things with him if it was the last thing he managed to do.

 

Activating two of his missiles, Yuma made sure to lock onto the aircraft on the far right of the five coming in his direction at alarming speed. "Here goes nothing" he mumbled to himself, moving his thumb to hover for a moment over the red button on his control stick. With a deep exhale, the young brunette slammed his thumb down, sending the twin missiles flying in the direction of his target before maneuvering his Hornet to take a light dive down to avoid the smoke that would surely follow his attack.

 

Hearing the explosion of impact as he righted his jet once again, Yuma momentarily thought that the missiles might have actually taken down their target. He could almost hear Taka cheering in his own jet due to most likely having thought the same thing. However, the thought was short lived when he jerked to the right as his jet shuddered under the impact of a missile hitting it's left wing. Warning alarms began to blare in his cockpit as Yuma quickly gazed at the smoking wing of the jet to analyze the extend of the damage.

 

"Shit" he murmured under his breath when the wing caught fire and the Hornet quickly began to jerk down to a deadly decent. And if that weren't the worst of his problems, he had three of those weird aircrafts heading towards him now at full speed. "God damn it....pull up you piece of trash!" Yuma growled, yanking back at the flight stick to try and level the jet again. After several fierce attempts he managed to do just that but he was given no time to feel relieved as he had to quickly change the trajectory of his jet when another pair of alarms blared at him that he had missiles coming his way.

 

Dodging them by a mere fraction of a meter, Yuma could do little else but try to keep the jet in the sky as the left wing continued to burn and his enemies flew hot on his tail. This wasn't how he had expected today to go but there was no way around it anyways. He managed to land himself in the viper's nest but he wasn't about to go down without a fight either. So if they thought they could shoot him out of the sky just because he had gotten a little damaged, they had another thing coming. Of course, there was little Yuma could do now aside from continuing to maneuver his jet out of the way from the relentless missiles that continued to come his way, but that would have to do until he figured something out or his luck ran out.

[hal7283]

 

 

 

 

Designation: RXO-9 (Relic of Extra terrestrial Origin no.9)

Height: 15 meters

 

Weight: 50 tons

 

Power source: Dual core reactor with one being a nuclear fusion device, the other one unknown.

 

Armor: An alloy formed with elements unknown to earth.

 

Armaments: Plasma filed generator x 2 (Can be utilized to generate protective shields, projectiles, energy sword/knuckle, etc. Or even wide area dispersal)

 

Optional Armaments: Any standard hand held weaponry.

 

 

Description: When volcanic activities underseas created an island in the middle of the Pacific. The geologists were astonished to find remains of what appeared to be complicated machinery among the layers of rocks which dated back to the age of dinosaurs. The news quickly spread, and an international excavation project was launched, unearthing more of these relics. They were soon deemed to be of extraterrestrial origin since they were made with elements unknown to earth, and with technologies far beyond that of the human civilization, thus, the designation: RXO.

 

The researchers moved the relics off the island for better research. Among the dozens of RXOs however, RXO-9 was found to be completely unscratched despite its millenias of burial. The researchers were able to reverse engineer many technologies found in the relics and incredibly expanded their knowledge of science, applying their founding to space exploration and launching a new age of discovery. However they were never able to switch RXO-9 up, nor could they figure out the "black box" area at its core.

 

And one day, RXO-9 disappeared. Despite the maximum security of the lab no trace of it could be found. The only clue was the figure of what appeared to be a white haired young man on the security cameras before it went black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It slept at the bottom of the ocean, motionless, as if it was nothing but rubble, like so many of its brethren. But quickly it awoke from its slumber, the lights in its cockpit flicker to light. Lines of words occurred on the main screen:

 

Loading.....

 

Reboot complete, commencing system check....

 

Main systems.....Clear!

 

Power source 1....Clear!

 

Power source 2....Deactivated

 

Core suspension....Clear!

 

Plasma Weapon systems....Clear!

 

Propulsion systems....Clear!

 

Life support....Clear!

 

Checking Memory files....10%....50%....75%....Error

 

Do you wish to ignore the corrupted files? Y/N?

 

Y.

 

Loading objective files.......

Objective 1: Destruction of all threats to this unit.....not applicable

Objective 2: Protection of Pilot.... Failed

Objective 3: ...............................Error....Error.... Failure to load objective files. Recommend total system reboot.

 

Do you wish to reboot the system? Y/N?

 

Y.

 

Preparing system reboot in 5...4...3...

 

Warning! Hostile signals detected!

 

Do you wish to abort the reboot process? Y/N?

 

Y.

 

Reboot aborted

 

Commencing Objective 1, destruction of all threats to this unit.

 

%^&* Launch.

 

It appeared suddenly in the middle of the battle field, a metal giant of orange and purple, shrouded by thunder as if it was the gods from the old legends. Like a lightning bolt it dashed across the sky, spreading beams of plasma which cut through the alien crafts like hot knife through butter, leaving a trail of explosions and falling parts. The small ships of the invaders quickly noticed the sudden intruder, and focused their fire power towards the source of the storm, but nothing was able to penetrate the wall of thunder.

 

Strangely though none of the human crafts were caught by the raging storm. While one may think at first the strange giant was protecting the human crafts, seeing the overwhelming fire power and the deadly precision of its attacks, some onlooker came to another conclusion: It simply didn't even considered the human crafts to be targets worth firing upon. It continued to cut through the invaders' lines and was soon facing the bulk of the invaders' forces.

 

Meanwhile in its empty cockpit, lines of text continued to occur on the screen, even though no one was there to witness it.

 

Target destroyed, switching to next target.

 

Detecting main body of enemy crafts. Continuing extermination.

 

Alert! Life sign of suitable pilot detected.

 

Negative, life sign termination of designated pilot was confirmed on operation time 1984468.10.23. CD

 

Alert! Life sign of suitable pilot detected.

 

Negative, life sign termination of designated pilot was confirmed on operation time 1984468.10.23. CD

 

Alert! This unit can not function in full capacity without pilot. Life sign of suitable pilot detected.

 

Negative. Designated pilot was confirmed dead........ Objective 2 Protection of pilot failed.

 

Alert! Life sign of suitable Pilot in danger! Suggest immediate assistance! Y/N?

 

...

 

...

 

...Y.

 

 

The purple giant accelerated, smashing through a few alien crafts which were in its way, and swiftly caught the human craft its candidate for "pilot" was in. Quickly scanning the human it re-confirmed its previous assessment, that he possessed the qualities required to be its pilot. It brought the human craft close to its chest and opened the door towards its cockpit. Then from the empty space a semi-transparent figure of a young, white haired man appeared out of thin air. He looked at the human pilot with his azure eyes and said with a cold, robotic tone: "Get in if you want to live."

[Time_Keeper]

Seeing something explode into action seconds after it had appeared in the battlefield almost like a trick of the light, Yuma didn't have much time to wonder what that thing was due to the fact that the thing was now heading in his direction after getting rid of several of the enemy ships. Blinking in disbelief as the giant caught his jet as if it hadn't been flying through the air at breakneck speed, Yuma could do little else but sit in his cockpit as the thing's chest seemed to open up right before his eyes. Leaning a bit forward unconsciously to get a clear look at what he was seeing, Yuma's eyes widened even more when he took note that what had opened was the entrance to some sort of cockpit. Definitely nothing like he had ever seen before.....yet again, with the way the day was going, that shouldn't have surprised him.

 

Pressing back against his seat sharply when a transparent vision of a man appeared, Yuma wondered not for the first time if he was losing his mind. First some sort of aliens and now a talking ghost thing and a giant robot looking object. This had to be some sort of strange vivid dream or something, because things like these didn't just happen so randomly. Even so, despite his uncertainty and shock at the situation, something told Yuma that this was no dream. Whether he liked it or not, this was actually happening and he couldn't deny it even if he wanted to.

 

Weighing his options as he finally took a moment to take the strange being's word in, Yuma briefly flickered his gaze around his cockpit before his gray eyes landed on the smoking wing of his jet. Though every instinct in him rebelled at the thought of getting into the thing that held him now, he really didn't have much of a choice. The jet was going to go down one way or another if the thing decided to let him go. That would probably get him killed or, if he wasn't lucky, create damage to his body he would probably not be able to walk away from......Nevertheless, He didn't know what he was getting himself into if he did what this transparent man told him to.

 

Years of military training had him trying to come up with any other alternative, his brain was working a mile a minute in a desperate effort....and yet he was coming up blank.

 

"Well Yuma....it's not like we have a death wish for today. Might as well see where takes us. It can't be worse than crashing and dying" Yuma murmured to himself as he tugged off his helmet and pushed several buttons on his controls to open his cockpit. Ignoring the hiss of air that filled the silence when his cockpit slowly opened, Yuma tugged himself to his feet while his gaze remained locked on the figure. Unease was making his skin crawl and he sort of wanted to sit back down and close his cockpit again but that wasn't like him. No, when he set his mind to something, Yuma saw it through. No matter what. Besides, he probably didn't have much time left anyways.

"I'm only doing this because I have no other choice. I don't know what you want or who you are but if you can somehow help the situation, then I'll do what you ask" Yuma called out to the man quickly, brushing somewhat loose strands of long brown hair away from his face. Making his way over to the hole in the thing's chest with nimble, agile movements, it took only a few moments for Yuma to make it to the strange cockpit. Gazing inside apprehensively for half apprehensive second, the brunette steeled himself again and gave himself a mental push to finish the distance and slowly sit down on the seat inside the cockpit.

 

"Now what?" He asked more so to himself than the transparent man as he looked around the strange cockpit with open curiosity and nervousness in his features.

[hal7283]

It let the white figure disappear momentarily to allow the human inside his cockpit. As soon as he sat down all the systems relating to the pilot went online. The cockpit door closed and for a moment everything was shrouded in complete darkness. Then the white figure of the young men appeared again, being semi-transparent parts of his body actually immersed into the pilot seat. The white haired man wasn't simply an interface for "it" to interact with the pilot, but was also the embodiment and visualization of its system, its memories and objectives, and fundamentally it's "core".

 

"Hold still." the white hair man said before getting closer, and without warning their lips met, the areas around his mouth was partially materialized so he could extract his saliva, thus his genetic material. He pulled back quickly and said in his cold tone: "Genetic sample collected, registration complete. Mukami Yuma, you're now the designated pilot of this unit."

 

Suddenly all the panels in the cockpit flickered to light, followed by the spherical internal surfaces around the pilot seat which now showed all of the surroundings. It appeared that as "it" brought Yuma into the cockpit it had been surrounded by the alien crafts, who were shooting continuously at the purple giant. Their projectiles met with the shield of lightning surrounded the mech and caused a storm of explosions shown on the screen in the cockpit. "Due to the circumstances training protocol would be suspended for the time being." the white haired figure continued: "Recommencing auto-pilot."

 

The very moment the last word dropped the giant mech burst into action again, continue to spread thunder and destruction across the sky. It wasn't long before all of the smaller crafts were destroyed, and only their mother ship remained. Suddenly the giant vessel began to descend and transform, re-configuring its parts as it went down, until it became a giant, dinosaur looking monster which was almost 70 meters high. It let out a loud "roar' which the shock-wave alone leveled several streets around it, then a thick beam of destruction burst out from its mouth towards the purple machine, which was easily dodged due to its incredible speed. The purple mech quickly closed the distance and began to bombard the monster with constant rain of thunder, like a sharp surgical knife leaving scars, slicing off parts and armor. Once the power core was exposed the purple mech raised its hands, creating a large ball of plasma and thrown it towards it.

 

The giant monster let out one last roar, followed by a giant explosion which engulfed not only the monster, but also large parts of the city around it. When the storm ceased only a giant smoking crater was left.

[Time_Keeper]

 

 

Name: Mukami Yuma

 

Age: 24

 

Sexuality: Homosexual

 

Personality: Yuma is what one could call extremely laidback. Though he rarely smiles much and isn't one for proclaiming his feelings to the world, there has only been a handful of times that anyone has ever seen him upset. To Yuma, getting annoyed or angry is a waste of time that he'd rather not indulge in. He prefers to take things as they come and react to anything that needs a reaction instead of running around like a lunatic for no given reason. Despite all that, Yuma is quite funny and friendly and he is prone to giving friendly advice to those that seem to need it. He doesn't mind lending a hand to anyone that asks for help and he's quite patient when it comes to solving troubling situations. He has a lazy streak and hates when his sleep time is disturbed over matters that he could fix in his dreams, but overall he's a quite an easy person to get along with.

 

Bio: Yuma is the son of two military generals and comes from a long standing family tradition of military personnel. Though he isn't one to adhere by his family's demands and requirements, he respects them in his own way. From early childhood his family slammed him with knowledge he could use in the world when he grew up. Of course, at that point they had thought their son would follow exactly what they had done when they had been his age. Yuma, though, took a completely different route from his family. Sure, he did enlist in the military and gained the rank of Pilot, but he did it on his own terms and conditions....most of the time, going completely against the wishes of his family. Due to that, his relationship with his family is a bit estranged, especially with the older individuals. For those family members in his generation, they find his antics and rebellion quite amusing and often aide him whenever they can.

 

Likes: Naps, conversations with intelligent people, any body of water; large or small, animals, the innocence of children, being able to help those in need.

 

Dislikes: Overly demanding people, in short; idiots who do more wrong than right, being disturbed while he's trying to sleep, the thought of failing missions he knows very well he could accomplished with his eyes closed, the older generations of his family, being forced to complete a task that won't fix a problem.

 

Extras: Yuma is a top pilot, never having failed a mission or lost a teammate. He's what one could have described as a genius when he puts his mind to it. However, most of the time, he enjoys watching others try to solve something before he actually steps in and takes over. He feels that as long as the action is a noble one, anyone should be allowed to take a shot at a problem as long as it does not bring about more bad than good.

 

 

 

Stiffening when the cockpit of this machine closed and darkness surrounded him, Yuma began to doubt is choice all the more. Sure, he wasn't prone to panicking or demanding to be released like other people might have been, nevertheless, he didn't essentially like the lack of knowledge on what was about to happen. For someone of his level of intellect, he preferred to remain informed about what was going on around him so that he could react better given the choice. At the moment though, it seemed that everything had been ripped out of his control and he could do little else but wait and see.

 

Of course, he could have done the smart thing and stayed in his jet while he threw the consequences of his actions to the air....but that would have been anti-productive. He could have also demanded questions from the semitransparent man before diving head first into a machine and a situation he had no understanding about. But they were in the middle of a battle and Yuma doubted that standing around asking questions would have been the appropriate course of action. Especially not when people that depended on him were dying and he had no idea how many friends he had already lost.

 

Jumping a bit startled when the strange white haired man appeared again, Yuma frowned when the man told him to 'hold still'. A part of him wanted to protest against those words and move about as he pleased just for the sake of being petty, yet Yuma knew that wasn't like him and it wouldn't have gotten him anywhere. However, he had definitely not been expecting what happened next.

 

With a muffled "Mph!" of protest, Yuma's eyes widen to the size of saucers when the man leaned forward and pressed his mouth against Yuma's. The kiss probably last no more than a few seconds but Yuma was still reeling by the time the man pulled back again. Frustration that he rarely experienced began to rear it's ugly head as Yuma swiped at his mouth with the back of his hand and completely disregarded the small blush that colored his cheeks. "What was that?! You can't go around kissing people like that! And what do you mean genetic sample and that I'm the designated pilot? You're making no sense!" Yuma hissed softly at this robotic apparition sort of thing. A clueless Yuma was not a happy Yuma and one could tell that without even having to look. Even more so with the situation he found himself in.

 

Inhaling sharply when the cockpit around him seemed to come to life with lights and a show of what was going on around it, Yuma's eyes widen as nervousness flickered inside him. So while they had been in here doing whatever the hell the white haired guy was doing, the enemy had surrounded him.....wonderful. With his hands itching to grab hold of a control stick of some sort, Yuma winched as explosions resounded around him on the screen in the cockpit. "We are so going to die...." he murmured softly to himself, doubting that whatever force field this thing had on, would protect them against such a vicious assault.

 

Blinking when the figure spoke again, Yuma didn't even so much as get a chance to inhale a breath in order to ask the man what he meant, when the machine he was in, burst into movement. Clinging onto the pilot seat as if his life depended on it, Yuma had no idea what he could do when this thing seemed to be moving with a mind of its own....Not that it was surprising, considering the figure who seemed to be sharing the cockpit with him for some reason. When all the smaller enemy ships were destroyed, Yuma slowly turned his eyes on the monster that the mother ship seemed to have become. The thing was almost like something that had stepped out of the Jurassic era, except it was clearly made of metal instead of flesh and blood like a normal dinosaur.

 

Cursing under his breath when the metal dinosaur's roar leveled several streets in the city below them, Yuma could do nothing but sit helplessly and watch in horror as what he could tell without a doubt, were dozens of lives lost in a blink of an eye. As the machine he sat in engaged the enemy, Yuma leaned further into the pilot seat in an effort to keep his cool and calm. His heart was pounding rapidly and his palms were starting to sweat even as the battle seemed to be coming to an end.

 

When the monster released it's dying roar, Yuma helplessness rose all the more at the sight of destruction that lay where the monster had once stood. Yes, the battle had been won, the enemy had been destroyed....but at what cost to the innocent lives of the people that had lived in that city.

 

"Alright, I've had enough. Let me out!" Yuma demanded, tone a far cry from the easy going, almost lazy drawl that it usually carried in it. "There were innocent people down there! That thing probably just took out hundreds! I need to figure out the status of my unit and the city's population, so get me out of this thing!" the brunette snapped, clearly not at all pleased on being pushed to become this frustrated and shocked.

[hal7283]

"Hostile signature terminated. Switching to stand by mode." the white haired man said seeing the large crater on the ground. Turning back to face his new pilot, and listened to his uproar. It wasn't sure why the sudden increase of his volume, nor the sudden rise of blood pressure, especially not the reason why would he want to get off. It said coldly: "Wide spread fire signatures and unstable architectures were detected from the city below. Probability of injury high. Advice to remain inside the cockpit. You are now the designated pilot of this unit, it's my duty to ensure the safety of you."

 

It then paused for a second, and thought about Yuma's questions. It's clear that the human had no idea of the sensory capabilities of itself, perhaps that's the reason he wished to get out and check it himself? Although it had no clue why would Yuma want to know such information, but with that in mind it said: "Request for collateral damage and status of human crafts acknowledged. Beginning retrieval of scanning data....Complete. The human life signs within the blast radius before detonation, 1739. Life signs after detonation, zero. Scanning for human craft signatures..... 4 crafts detected moving north. Do you wish to pursuit?"

[Time_Keeper]

Feeling his temper spike at the man's words in a way it never would usually have done, Yuma's hands balled into fists and for a moment he had to concentrate on breathing instead of lashing out verbally like he wanted to do. "I'm not some sort of porcelain doll. I can take care of myself, I'm in the military for God's sake. Going into situations like those in the field is what I'm good at!" he replied, trying his best not to let his voice raise any higher or let his temper flay more than it was already doing. Stressful situations should have been easy for him to handle, it came with the job description after all, but talking to what was starting to seem like a brick wall was not something he had signed up for.

 

Hearing the man's next words had a cold chill running down his back. 1739 innocent lives. That's how many had been lost in the last few seconds. If possible, his sense of failure filled him all the more as he racked a slightly shaking hand through his brown locks. His job had been to protect those people as best he could. Lead the enemy away from them and should he have to be shot down, get shot down in an area which wouldn't affect the innocent lives below him. That had all been for not now. They had beaten the enemy but the cost of the win was to high.

 

Thinking hard on the four jets the man had mentioned, Yuma hoped that Taka was one of those four. His best friend was as capable a pilot as Yuma himself so he doubted his friend would have been shot down so quickly. He had been going strong when Yuma had left him, hopefully he'd still be doing fine.

 

"No, don't follow them. They'll think of you as another enemy and probably open fire. You're an unknown to them and tensions are running high at the moment" Yuma found himself replying slowly as he gathered his thoughts and centered himself once more. "Is it possible to open a communications link with aircraft currently registered to Yukimura Taka? I need to talk to my partner" he asked the man. He had to get information out to Taka before anything else, once he assured his friend that this machine wasn't a target and that he was in it, Yuma would concentrate on getting out again.

[hal7283]

It looked at Yuma with his usual emotionless face, the life support systems recording the man's status to the smallest detail. It seemed that the mention of those collateral damage have caused some distress to him. Was there some sort of tactical value to those human lives lost? Or was there some key facilities located in the area now was nothing more than a smoking crater? In any case it doubt those things could've helped against the upcoming battle against the invaders, as his fragmented records indicated that what they've defeated today were nothing but scouts. It concluded that since it had records on those enemies, it must have fought them before. Were they the ones who ended the life signature of its last pilot? Were they the ones who buried him under the sea? Do they have something to do with the last objective file which was now corrupted? Such speculations were pointless however, and it turned his attention back to his current pilot.

 

"This unit can easily handle any threat the human crafts may pose." It said responding to what Yuma said about being fired upon as those human jets were indeed powerless against it. It found it curious that the humans had it in their possession for quite sometime before it could finish basic self repair. Did they gained nothing from studying it? Even if they couldn't reverse engineer all that went into its production, they must have learned some insight. Then why were the human crafts it witness today so....crude and primitive?

 

It listened to Yuma's request and answered quickly: "Affirmative. The frequency of your previous craft's communication was recorded in this unit's scanner data, and can be replicated. Commencing signal transfer.... You may now transfer your speech through this frequency."

[Time_Keeper]

"That's not the point. The point is that there is no need to cause any more fighting if you're not our designated enemy. If that information can be provided to them, then we can skip past a whole boatload of drama and more explosions" Yuma sighed heavily, rubbing at his temples as a migraine threatened to take grasp of him. It truly felt like he was talking to a brick wall at the moment. Whatever the man was, he didn't seem to understand what would come as common sense for a regular person. Then again, this white haired transparent person was as far from a regular human being as Yuma could ever hope to imagine. He supposed he shouldn't have been so frustrated, but he was getting tired of the helplessness surging in him and he at least wanted to remedy the situation at least a little bit.

 

Through the great military grapevine, Yuma had heard of a very few number of cases were machines like this one had been spotted and had taken in human pilots of various degrees and talents. Most of what happened to them were kept under wraps and even Yuma himself hadn't been able to figure out just how deep the military's knowledge of what this machine was, went. This was all new to him and he didn't know how to react to it, all he hoped for was that this thing didn't seem truly determined to keep him inside this strange cockpit.

 

Hearing the man's next words, whatever dour emotion might have been tugging Yuma down turned to momentary excitement at the aspect of being able to communicate with the outside world. Waiting a moment to assure himself that the communication link was solid and he wouldn't be talking to himself, Yuma asked in a hesitant manner "Taka?"

 

It took less than a moment for the sound of a sharp inhale to sound off before his friend's voice came through loud and clear. "Yuma?! Damn it, Yuma! Where the bloody hell are you? I saw your jet go down and I swear I thought we lost you! Where is this link coming from, the code around it is all weird?" Taka demanded, relief heavy in his voice and Yuma could tell that his best friend was probably gripping his jet's control very tightly with the amount of emotions he must be feeling.

 

"Taka, I need you to calm down and listen to me. I know you can see that giant purple robot like thing, right?" Yuma questioned and without evening needing to hear his friend's affirmation, he continued "I'm in it alright. I know it's crazy and you probably have a lecture waiting for me when we get back to base. Just do me a favor, get in touch with the commander and help him escort what's left of the civilians to safer ground. We've lost to many as it is and I don't plan on losing anymore. Tell my cousin that I'll try to meet up with you guys as soon as I can, clear? I just gotta figure this out at the moment....You can ask me whatever we want after we finish our jobs...And remember, this thing is a friendly, make sure no one fires at it" Yuma instructed his friend with a surprising note of his usual patience. Something he thought had taken a dive outside him mind as soon as this whole crazy day began.

 

There was silence on the other end of the communications link for several heartbeats before a heavy, reluctant sigh was heard and Taka's voice came through again "Fine....I copy that and I'll make sure to do what you told me. But boy, wait until I get my hands on you, I swear you'll get the lecture of a lifetime....Just, get out of that safely, you got me, Yu? Get your ass back to base in one piece or I won't make any promises in not shooting that thing down so I can get you out".

 

"I promise I'll be fine, Taka. Now finish the mission" Yuma replied with friendly affection in his voice. It took nothing but a moment to get his friend's final affirmative before the communication was shut down.

 

Sighing and leaning back in the pilot chair, Yuma turned his attention back on the transparent man while asking "You wanna tell me exactly how I'm your designated pilot now? I don't remember signing anything saying I would pilot this thing. And what exactly is this thing anyways? It's clearly not from here and we haven't been informed about anything like this before".

[hal7283]

It stayed silent during the conversation between Yuma and this "Taka". To be honest it wasn't really interested in the other humans anyway, as there were far more pressing matters to tend to. Thus it was quite a welcoming turn of events when Yuma inquired about itself, as it won't be able to function efficiently if its pilot remained ignorant. It looked at Yuma and explained in his usual mono-tone voice:

 

"In accordance of war-time emergency protocols, you were chosen to be the pilot of this unit: #$%^." It stopped momentarily and held up its hand towards its mouth, lowering his head slightly and for the first time his expression changed which showed clear irritation on his face. He looked at Yuma again and tried to speak, but the same meaningless gibberish came out of his mouth again.

 

"It seemed the state of corruption of my memory files were much severe than expected.... Please ignore the corrupted files as they are of little concern at the current moment." The emotion of its face faded and he continued: "Recommencing pilot orientation. You were chosen to be the pilot of this unit, your consent was irrelevant. However this unit would like to remind you that it was you who stepped into this unit's cockpit on your on accord, and by doing so you have avoided certain extermination."

 

It the floated towards the front of the cockpit, and the screen in front of Yuma changed to show the full body image of the purple giant. It continued: "This unit was constructed by &*$$$ on universal standard time 1984450.09.12. to combat the increasing threat of %^&(. This unit was built with the core objectives of 1. Destruction of all hostile threats to this unit; 2. protection of its designated pilot; and 3........the files for the third objective was corrupted and can't be retrieved at the moment. On universal standard time 1984468.10.23 this unit was heavily damaged and remained deactivated until universal standard time 71981234.01.24, at which point this unit was able to commence self repair, until the detection of hostile signatures, at which point this unit began enemy extermination. The reason for your lack of knowledge towards this unit is unclear, as this unit was in a human facility for some duration. Speculation is you do not meet the security clearance to be informed of this unit's existence. "

[Time_Keeper]

Listening to the man speak, Yuma had to try and keep up with what was being told. In a sense, it made sort of sense....though hearing this man speak in such a robotic way was kind of strange. Upon hearing a strange sort of gibberish come out of the man at a point during his explanation, Yuma frowned lightly while his brain tried to keep up with what was happening in front of him. By the momentary look of irritation in the face of the white haired man, it was clear that he had not meant to say what he did.....nevertheless, it didn't look like he could control it even if he wanted to.

 

Looking at the screen the man seemed to have changed for him, since Yuma knew he hadn't touched or pressed anything so far, Yuma paid mind to what was being said even as his eyes swept over the screen. His mind going a mile a minute while he tried to make sense of exactly what he had walked himself into by getting into the cockpit at such a crucial time during the battle. He was beginning to regret his decision now but there was little he could do at the moment.

 

"Alright, I can sort of understand all that....but if you were active before, then you had a pilot, right? What happened to them? You said that your second objective was protection of designated pilot, right? Shouldn't whoever that was still be around?" he questioned the man as calmly as he could manage even as he wasn't liking being forced to remain in the cockpit.

 

"And what's your name anyways? You keep calling yourself 'this unit', you should have a name, am I wrong?" Yuma asked after a moment more. As long as he could keep this thing talking, then he could calm his own self down slowly but surely and find a way to get out of this.

[hal7283]

It fell silent for a moment, while his expression remained the same, he lowered his head slightly, looking down for a brief moment before turning his gaze back at Yuma, and said: " On Universal standard time 1984468.10.23. CD, this unit engaged with hostile forces, and was heavily damaged. Life support system failed and life sign termination of the previous designated pilot was confirmed. This unit crashed to coordinate 47.9.126.43 down to the ocean floor. The heavy pressure of deep sea prevented this unit from engaging self repair, until seismic activity brought this unit up to the surface, and was recovered by the humans 10 cycles ago."

 

He paused for second to Yuma's second question, and answered: "The name of this unit was among the files corrupted, possibly due to damage from the battle and deterioration through time. Since you are this unit's designated pilot, please refer to this unit however you please."

[Time_Keeper]

Hearing what the man had said about his previous pilot, Yuma felt a hint of dread grow in him. If this thing's old pilot had died while in this very cockpit, then what was to say that the same wouldn't happen for him. And it still bothered him that he hadn't been properly informed of the existence of something like this in the first place. Sure, he wasn't a General or a Major, but as a top class pilot, he had assumed he would have privileges that those beneath him didn't. Or at least that the older members of his family would have in the barest degree, mentioned the existence of something like this. It was frusterating to lack so much knowledge and be in a situation such as this one, but as it was, it couldn't be helped.

 

Raising a brow at the mention of the thing's name being part of corrupt files, whatever that meant, Yuma sighed and leaned back heavily in the chair. "Alright, first of all, stop referring to yourself as 'this unit'. I'm starting to get a headache just listening to that" he murmured softly before his gaze went to the screen displaying the full body of the machine. Mind playing back on what had seemed like a storm raging it's fury around the machine when the thing had appeared, Yuma tilted his head to one side and parted his lips. "I think the name Tempest is a good fit for you. Lord knows it matches the way you appeared before us. What do you think? Is that name acceptable to you? " he asked, blinking at the white haired man for a moment.

 

After a moment of silence, Yuma looked up thoughtfully to the ceiling of the cockpit as he continued "Also, if I'm going to be your pilot, something I'm be no means fully on board with yet, there's going to have to be some ground rules. No more random kissing. I don't care if it was important or not, it's not exactly fun being caught off guard like that. Second, you gotta understand that I'm a trained soldier. That means that I can take care of myself if I'm asked to be let out in conditions like these, clear?". It was funny, just talking to this man was working wonders on calming his nerves down. He was feeling more like himself now than he had before.

 

"Lastly, what exactly are you? It's clear you aren't human but I can't say you're completely a machine either. You have the appearance of a human, despite the transparency. So are you like some sort of hologram?" He asked the last question that had been on his mind.

[hal7283]

Hearing what Yuma said "it" nodded, closing his eyes momentarily and said: "Registration complete. From this point on, the designation for this unit would be 'Tempest'.....I...am Tempest." "He" said while holding his hand up to his chest, the simple action of giving "him" a name thus allowing identification was enough to repair a lot of the errors inside his system, fixing previously disabled file links due to invalid file names and such. After all, there's nothing more ridiculous than a weapon wondering "who am I". Without noticing himself the corner of his mouth raised just slightly, barely noticeable.

 

He nodded to Yuma's request, and had no objections. After all "he" was but a weapon needed to be wielded by his pilot. "He" stopped Yuma from getting out due to the circumstances at the time, and due to the fact that Yuma hadn't gone over basic pilot orientation yet. Normally "he" wouldn't object to any of the pilot's orders. He answered: "Understood. The 'kiss', as you called it, won't be necessary in the future. The purpose was to collect your genetic sample to register you as my pilot, thus only you can pilot me from now on, at least until the termination of your life sign. And I will not object to your orders from now on, unless your actions are in direct conflict to my objectives. As for this human figure in front of you, yes, it's similar to what you may call a 'hologram'. It's the embodiment of my systems as well as the visualization of my 'core'. Is is too lengthy to explain at this moment, and we have more pressing matters."

 

Tempest raised his hand and the screen of his full body image disappeared, replaced by a model of earth, with multiple beeping red points approaching from all sides all over the planet. "Each of these points represents a same battle group like what I've exterminated earlier. It appears this planet is facing a full assault from the hostile forces. What are your orders Yuma?"

[Time_Keeper]

Seeing the small hints of a smile on the man, no, Tempest's face, had Yuma's own features relaxing a bit. No matter how stressful the situation was, he was at least pleased that he had managed to do at least something right. He didn't know what the significance of a name meant to the machine, but at least Yuma wouldn't have to continue to think of him as 'that thing' or 'it' anymore. Exhaling a heavy sigh, Yuma flickered his eyes once more around the cockpit as he tried to get more accustomed to it. Something told him that he probably wouldn't be going out anytime soon, so he'd have to get comfortable for the time being.

 

"Let's not talk about termination of life, alright? I'm already not jumping with joy to be in this position. How about we take this all one day at a time. After all, it's bound to be quite a learning experience for both of us. I'll try not to go against what you want as long as you don't restrict me too much. We're going to have to learn to be patient with one another" Yuma replied with an easy going tone of voice. The previous panic had faded in favor for the natural calm that fell over him and he wouldn't have it any other way.

 

Blinking when Tempest informed him of pressing matters, Yuma frowned and sat up in his chair. Looking at the screen with intent eyes, Yuma ran through possibilities of what could be done quickly, before coming to settle on one. "Since they're heading in our direction, I guess we can give them a welcome they won't forget. We're going to engage, there's no other way around it. However, this time around Tempest, we're keeping human casualties to a low. If I'm going to pilot you, you have to promise me that you'll adhere by my objectives too. And the primary one is protecting innocent civilians, no matter the cost. Are we clear?" Yuma responded, turning those gray eyes to lock upon Tempest's transparent core.

[hal7283]

“Understood. Protection of human civilians has now been added to the mission parameters. Preparing to engage hostile forces." Tempest said with his usual cold tone, he floated behind Yuma and said: "With the preliminary pilot orientation complete, I'm transferring part of the control to you." He closed his eyes momentarily then suddenly Yuma was surrounded by panels, buttons, handles which looked identical to the jet he piloted, only all of them were semi-transparent just like Tempest's hologram.

 

Tempest opened his eyes and continued: "I've created this simulation of your last craft's cockpit based on my scans. The components would partially materialize when he press them. Though inefficient in comparison to directly using my own controls, you should be able to pilot me the same way you piloted that craft. Same goes with weapon selection and firing, but replaced by the armament of mine with similar functions, such as small rapid fire or homing attacks. Other function inapplicable to this simulation can be activated by verbal command, such as wide area dispersal, shields, etc. Now you may engage the enemy. I suggest to lure them above the ocean to reduce possibility of collateral damage."

[Time_Keeper]

Turning his head to keep Tempest in view, Yuma listened to the man speak before his eyes widen slightly in surprise when familiar consoles appeared in front of him. The controls and panels were transparent in a way, almost identical to the hologram of this man, but thankfully he knew what they were for right off the bat. He had guessed that on his own even before Tempest began to talk and explain to him everything. Gingerly grabbing hold of main control stick, Yuma inhaled deeply while mumbling a soft "Roger that" to Tempest's instructions. This would be a completely different experience for him to undergo but he was more than willing to give it a shot.

 

Looking up at the sights still visible on the screen of the approaching enemy, Yuma shifted the control stick forward and jumped a bit when the machine jolted forward sharply. "Oops" he murmured softly under his breath, tilting the stick just so so that the machine sharply stopped again. "Alright Yuma, get your head in gear. This is just like flying a jet. No time for newbie mistakes" he grumbled softly to himself, rolling his shoulders just so and inhaling deeply again. Leaning further back into the seat, Yuma turned his focus on the approaching targets as he maneuvered the machine to shoot up high into the sky.

 

Angling the machine to head in the direction of the incoming enemies, Yuma fired a few non-honning missiles in the direction of a group of their enemies in order to firmly catch their attention. Once he took note of the enemies approach gaining momentum, he smirked to himself as he did what Tempest had mentioned and lured the enemy ships out towards the ocean. Once there, with his mind firmly in "mission mode" once again, the man's gray eyes flickered towards the button for honing missiles and sent a few of them as a welcoming gift towards a pair of their opponents. It would be a lie to say that the smirk didn't grow just a hint when two of the enemies on the screen provided, blew out of existence.

 

Maneuvering the machine to spin out of the way of a few enemy missiles, Yuma frowned just lightly as he took in the number of ships approaching. It would be a bit difficult to pilot this and destroy the enemy without making a few mistakes, but Yuma was game.

 

Dodging another round of attacks, the brunette scoffed softly under his breath as he launched another group of honing missiles out to rid himself of a few of the enemy numbers. "Let me know if you have some other suggestions in getting rid of these pests at a quicker speed" he murmured softly to Tempest.

[hal7283]

Tempest found the speed at which Yuma got used to controlling him to be reassuring. While it's somewhat a hassle to create an holographic projection and then transfer Yuma's input into commands, at the current situation the lag created by such indirect control is negligible. He kept close attention to Yuma's status, taking note of his rising adrenaline, and the slight smile when his plasma bolts hit the enemy and eliminated them.

 

As more and more enemies were drawn by them above the sea, it became clear that Yuma was having trouble dealing with the increasing numbers of the enemy. "Acknowledged. Commencing wide area dispersal." Tempest said as he let himself stop in midair, seeing this as an oppurtunity for attack all of the smaller enemy crafts swarm towards the purple mech, who after a moment of stillness opened up his arms and wings, then countless strikes of thunder burst out from all over Tempest's body, crating a thunder storm which engulfed the entire sky. When the last bolt of plasma hit its target there was no sign of the smaller crafts anywhere, and a few of the larger mother ships began gradually falling down and exploding, and the damaged ones began to rise up in altitude and soon began to accelerate out of the atmosphere.

 

"Enemy signatures eliminated. Mission complete." Tempest said as his avatar float in front of Yuma again. "The wide area dispersal is but one of the many ways my plasma weaponry can be used, as you can shape it at will the only limitation is your imagination, and my power reserve. Speaking of which..."

 

Suddenly the lights in Tempest's cockpit began to flicker. His hologram looked around and said: "The power reserve is running low at the moment, I'll....I'll need time to recharge..." As he spoke the lights in the cockpit became dim. Tempest began to fly towards land in a hurry and managed to land on a desolate beach. "Entering...maintenance mode..." Tempest said as his avatar closed his eyes. Suddenly everything inside the cockpit began to disappear, fading out like a mist while the figure of the white haired man became more and more solid by the moment. Eventually the whole giant purple mech vanished into thin air, and leaving only Yuma and Tempest's avatar in the flesh, breathing, and asleep.

[Time_Keeper]

Looking around in not so little surprise when Tempest made quick work of eliminating the rest of their enemies, Yuma didn't wonder for the first time what he had truly gotten himself into. This thing was ridiculously dangerous and lethal and yet here he was controlling it. Or partially controlling it. Never in a million years would he have thought this would happen, that he would be in the cockpit of something of this magnitude. Apparently he had been wrong. Whether the decision was truly his or not and whether he liked it or not, he was the pilot for Tempest and he would have to accept that. And learn to handle the supreme epic nature of the machine.

Nodding when Tempest spoke of the attack he had just used, Yuma parted his lips to ask him and few more questions, only to pause when the lights in the cockpit began to flicker. Looking around confused, his gray eyes flickered back over to Tempest when the man mentioned something about having to "recharge", whatever that meant. "What are you talking about?" he asked quite lost at the moment even as he observed the mech head towards land quickly. Land that happened to be no where near the city they had first began to fight in.

 

"Tempest, home is the opposite way" Yuma stated a bit startled but not even moments later he found himself sitting on a piece of sandy beach with a now solid white haired man as the mech disappeared around them. "What the hell" Yuma murmured to himself, looking around for a few long moments before his eyes landed and stayed on Tempest's sleeping form. Releasing a heavy sigh, the brunette huffed as he pushed himself to his feet and dusted himself off a bit. There was no point staying out in the open when he didn't know exactly what else lived on this piece of land.

 

Walking over to the sleeping man a bit cautiously, Yuma paused for a heartbeat before he exhaled a heavy breath and bent down. "Come on, you strange sleepy head. Might as well find shelter while we're found" he mumbled under his breath, placing one of Tempest's arms around his neck and securing his free arm around the white haired man's waist. Grunting lightly when he pushed himself back up to his feet, Yuma marveled at how heavy the man was despite his appearance. "I have a feeling you're gonna be more trouble than I'm looking forward to having" Yuma sighed, beginning to gently drag/carry Tempest with him deeper into the woodland of the island. He had no doubt that they would be found soon enough, the military was quite resourceful when it came to finding missing members. For now though, they would have to take shelter from the elements.

 

It wasn't long until the pilot had found a suitable cave to lay Tempest in and pillow the man's head in the top part of his uniform. With Tempest looking somewhat comfortable, Yuma calmly got to work on making a fire before gazing out into the forest around the cave. He didn't want to leave Tempest alone but he knew that he wouldn't be able to rest if he didn't scope out their surroundings. So with one final look at the white haired man, Yuma mussed out a soft "I'll be right back" before slipping out of the cave to explore the land a bit.

[hal7283]

Loading....

 

Loading...

 

Commencing quick system check...

 

Main system....clear!

 

Power source 1..... Clear!

 

Power source 2.... Deactivated

 

Frame suspension.... Clear!

 

Current power reserve.....9%....Estimated time till full charge... 134581367498 units.

 

Recommend core activation mode. Y/N?

 

Y.

 

Core activation commencing.....

 

Complete.

 

 

 

Tempest opened his eyes, finding himself in a cave he hurriedly he sat up and looked around. For a moment he considered the possibility of Yuma abandoning him, and something akin to "panic" almost filled up his mind. But seeing Yuma's clothes which he was using as a pillow earlier calmed him down. It's unlikely he would leave abandon his uniform with him here. And the data before they landed on that beach indicated this was an island, which further decreased the possibility of Yuma leaving on his own.

 

Reassured, Tempest curled up against the cave wall and looked at the fire in front of him. It's a rather odd feeling since when he was within his metal frame, he couldn't feel a thing even explosions that are a thousand times hotter than this puny fire hit his armor, yet right now, he could feel the heat radiating from the chemical reaction. This reminded him how fragile a organic body is, easily injured, easily broken. He wondered why would his creator leave this body, his core, an organic construct. Was it a design flaw? Or his creators had to compromise for some reason?

 

Tempest frowned slightly when his stomach began to rumble, another inconvenience came with this organic form. Perhaps he should go out of the cave to search for nutrition? But given the reduced scanning ability in his current state he doubt he could figure out what's good for consumption and what's not. All he could do at the moment was to sit there quietly and wait for Yuma to return.

[Time_Keeper]

It took a bit longer than Yuma had thought in scouting the island out. Making his way through the heavy woodland yet making sure to leave little indications as he went so he wouldn't lose his way, Yuma's self calm never seemed to shake. Anyone with less training would have been panicking and praying for a miracle. For Yuma, though, this was kind of an adventure. One he knew wouldn't last as long as many others would have feared. He knew that Taka, if no one else, would have noticed where the signal for the huge machine Yuma had been piloting, had faded from the radar. His friend would probably lead a search party in this direction sooner rather than later. At most, they'd probably be stranded here maybe a few hours or a day. Honestly, it was much better than what could have happened if they had crashed into the ocean.

 

Thanking the heavens when he found a tree filled with red apples as he circled around to head back to the cave after exploring the island for a while, Yuma stuffed a few of them into his pockets and cradled the rest in his arms. It wouldn't be as filling as a full meal perhaps, but it would hold them over for as long as they needed to wait. Truthfully, Yuma had no idea if Tempest would eat this or anything at all, but Yuma would still rather offer him some food than nothing at all.

 

It took several long minutes to successfully make his way back to the cave and by then, the sun had slowly begun to sink over the horizon. Walking into the area he had left Tempest, Yuma again thanked everything holy for the fire still being lit, before shifting his gaze to the white haired man. "Welcome back, Tempest" Yuma greeted the other man and though the only signs of a smile were the very slight up turning of his lips, his tone was kind and soft, as were his eyes.

 

"You had me a bit worried there" he stated calmly, placing the apples in a bundle a few feet from the fire. Pulling out the ones in his pocket, he brushed one off and walked a bit closer to Tempest. His actions were smooth and calm, portraying no intent to bring about aggression or anything of the sort. He didn't know what the monotone man was feeling right now and he truly didn't want to aggravate him.

 

"Here, you should eat this. It's probably not something you're used to or anything of the sort, but it'll hold you over a bit until we get rescued" Yuma said kindly, out stretching the arm that had the apple in its grip. Holding it out for Tempest, he waited calmly even while adding "We probably won't be here for too long. Search parties are more than likely going to be organized soon, so we can probably just relax here for a while while they head this way".

 

Tilting his head as he gazed curiously at Tempest, Yuma paused for a second before asking "How are you feeling anyways? You mentioned having to recharge. Did you manage to do so?"

[hal7283]

Tempest waited a bit longer until he finally saw Yuma coming in through the cave's entrance. "My apologies. My power were all diverted to self repair before the battle break out, thus when I engaged the enemy my power reserve was low. I'll need some time to recharge my energy before we can engage hostile forces safely."

 

He reached out and took the apple from Yuma, holding it up close with both hands and looking at it rather curiously, sniffing a few times before cautiously opening his mouth and taking a bite. Almost immediately he frowned from the sweet and sourness of the fruit overwhelming his taste bud, letting out a small moan as a result. Having not used this organic body has made Tempest's senses almost as sensitive as a new born child. He froze for a moment letting himself get used to the sensation in his mouth, and slowly began to chew on the fruit before finally swallowing it. Eventually he began ti pick up pace with eating the apple and by the end he was able to eat it without difficulty.

 

Swallowing the last bit down his throat Tempest turned to Yuma and said: "I don't think search parties are going to come any time soon, given the remote location of the island from any of the human military bases. Plus according to the weather data I collected before we landed, there's a storm approaching the island."

 

Almost immediately after Tempest mentioned the storm, there was a flash of lightning, followed by the sound of thunder crackling from afar. "From my observation, your crafts were not designed to withstand such unstable weather. We'll likely be stuck here until I recharge enough, which shouldn't take more than 10 hours."

[Time_Keeper]

Chuckling when Tempest let out a moan after taking a bite of the apple, Yuma shuffled off a bit to sit down just a few feet from the fire. Listening to the man speak and hearing the sound of thunder, which startled Yuma enough to make him jump a bit after his words were said, the brunette sighed softly. "If that's the case, then there's nothing we can do but wait calmly. Take your time with the whole recharging aspect. We have a source of food on this island and I'm sure we can find water if needs be. With the amount of rain that's about to pour, we'll have more than enough" he mussed. It was kind of surprising that Yuma was far from distressed about their current situation. Always being quite laid back and easy going, the brunette didn't really like to feel negative emotions. They messed with his usual calm state of mind and irritated him. So though the situation wasn't promising, in a sense, it was acceptable.

 

Feeding a bit more branches into the fire, Yuma yawned softly before collapsing back to lay on his back on the ground. It had been an eventful day and his usual sleepiness was starting to take over. Now that they still had a fire going and apples to hold them over a bit, Yuma wasn't against taking a short nap for the moment. There was literally nothing else to be done.

 

Tucking his hands under his head as a makeshift pillow, Yuma closed his eyes and murmured "Wake me up if anything happens. I'm gonna take a little nap for now. If you want more apples, feel free to take more, don't let yourself go hungry".

[hal7283]

Tempest nodded as he saw Yuma laying down. He picked up another apple and began to bite on the fruit, reducing its size slowly. When the second apple was finished he looked up at Yuma and noticed that he had fallen asleep. Turning his gaze towards the cave entrance and looking out, his thoughts drifted back to his past, which was almost as murky and unclear as the rainy sky outside. The bits a pieces of his memories lost through time bothered him deeply, especially the third core objective of his. How could he have forgotten something that was essential to his very existence?

 

But perhaps more importantly, why he could managed to forget one of his core objectives, yet still vividly remembered how his previous designated pilot died, to the smallest detail, how the cockpit was struck by an enemy attack, and vaporizing half of his body in an instant. He remembered how blood spilled out from the injuries and painted his cockpit red, and how the remains were thrown out of him as he lost control of his frame and went down in an violent spiral until he hit the ocean surface, and eventually sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Tempest really wished he had clearance to wipe records off his memory for remember that event was... detrimental to the well-being of his organic core.

 

Tempest let out a deep sigh, and continued to be on guard. But not used to using his organic body Tempest forgot one crucial thing, that he too would get sleepy. The sounds of rain falling seemed to have a hypnotic effect on Tempest and it wasn't long before he found it increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open, and soon he fell asleep. As the power reserves for his frame became more charged more of its functions came back online. He woke up in the middle of the night, with the storm had already passed the island he got to Yuma's side and shook his shoulder: "Wake up Yuma, I detect incoming crafts approaching this island. Judging by its energy signature it should be a human craft."

[Time_Keeper]

Grunting softly when he felt his shoulder being shaken in an effort to wake him, Yuma blinked open sleepy gray eyes. Though his first thought was to glare at whatever was pulling him out of the comfort of sleep, a small logical part of him knew it wouldn't be worth it. Especially when he would be glaring at Tempest, who could probably kill him without a thought. Sure, Tempest had said that he was his designated pilot, but at the end of the day, he was sure that even Tempest wouldn't tolerate certain things. And by the fact that Yuma was just barely getting to know him, he didn't want to push his buttons to far just yet.

 

"Alright" he murmured softly, though he couldn't quite get all the annoyance of being awakened out of his tone. Sitting up with a soft grumble under his breath, Yuma took a moment to reorient himself as he gazed around the cave before pushing himself up to his feet. "If it's a military craft, then we're golden" he mussed softly but even so, a small warning flickered in his mind. The higher ups would probably insist on separating the pair. Whatever was going on was higher than Yuma's pay grade and he knew that they would be quick to drag Tempest into their grasp. Yuma wasn't about to let that happen without a few choice words, but he knew he didn't have the grounds to directly interfere with whatever could happen. He would try though.

 

Kicking a bit of dirt onto the flames in order to get rid of the simmering sticks that remained of the fire, Yuma lifted the jacket of his uniform and starting to walk quietly out of the cave. Already he could hear the sound of a helicopter, he knew without a doubt that whoever was approaching was military. "Stay close, alright? Let me do most of the talking if needed. And if they insist in carting you off away from me, don't fight them. It'll make matters worse, just try to go with the flow" Yuma said softly as he carefully made his way through the trees surrounding the cave and towards the beach of the island.