A New Weapon

by Daemon

Chapter Six: A Past Revealed

Skai hid her Goddess in a secret room behind her hanger area. She then rushed back to the infirmary and waited for Dr. Croford’s blow out. Her clothes changed back as she ran to her room. She didn’t expect Dr. Croford to come so soon.

“Skaila Ayami D’Elando! You were given strict orders to stay put!” her was turning red with anger. “You disobeyed me and you…” her face calmed down. “Saved Zion and the other pilots.” Her face cracked into a smile. “You are given another chance for your accomplishments, one chance lost because of disobeying orders, and granted another for your condition and persuasive words.” She hugged Skai. “Congratulations! I’m sure your parents would be very proud of you.”

At hearing the mention of her parents Skai’s eyes welled up with tears and they threatened to spill. Her parents were the reason she was a candidate, to mend and defend. Becoming a pilot was her ultimate dream. But even so she missed her parents dearly.

                                                       ‘Flash Back’

“Run! Now! GO! Hurry sis!” yelled a boy around the age of 13 pushing his little sister through the only window.

The little girl was around 7 and she ran her 7-year-old heart out. She turned around in time to see the men throw something into her hut. As she watched the men run she heard her hut explode. The tiny girl rushed towards the hole in the ground. She tripped and fell scraping her knees. Through her tears she tried to see what she had tripped on…it was her mothers’ head! Blood covered what used to be blonde hair and part of her face. She stared at the girl and looked like she was in mid scream. The little girl herself screamed then, this was a mistake; the mercenaries walked up to her and circled her. One of them stepped forward and as he approached her he lifted the butt of his gun ready to strike. The little girl covered her head and screamed again. The mercenary was about to strike the girl but he met an invisible force field. They all stepped back a little. The little girl stood up and looked at the men. Her eyes flared a vicious green and a huge flame emitted from her. She yelled, out of rage for killing her family, “NORYOKU BLAST!!!” sending out a giant chi blast destroying all the men. The little girl was Skai.

                                                   ‘End of Flash Back’

Skai turned her back on the door and pulled her knees up to her chest. Making her feel small. She cried into her knees. The doctor left her alone thinking she might need it. She said goodnight and went to treat the injured candidates. As the doctor left the whole goddess pilot team entered the room. Yuu walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and looked at Gare, Erts and Yuu with a puzzled look, hiding her secret. She smiled.

“I remember you! You’re the boys that helped me on my first day here. What were your names again?” She was good at acting and she knew it.

“See! I told you we were only coming to see how Skai was doing.” Said Yuu playing along with Skai’s little game.

“You see she was in a fight with Force and they both passed out. She hasn’t been awake for 5 days, but force woke up almost right after.” Said Gare catching on.

“That’s why we kept disappearing yesterday, to see if she was ok.” Said Erts wanting to play as well.

They all smiled and Teela walked off mumbling something about how immature guys could be. The repairers followed her. Rioroute however wasn’t fooled.

“I guess we can tell you.” Said Skai going back into the depressed state she was in before. “Yes I pilot ‘The Flash’ as you delinquents are calling it. Its real name is the Sora-Novus. You wouldn’t believe the power it carries. You haven’t even seen a quarter of its power. Ha! Would you believe how long it took you to figure out I piloted ‘The Flash’? I thought being purple was a total give away.”

“Ya, well, you thought wrong.” Said Yuu grinning. “We’re not as smart as we look.” Everyone laughed.

“Where did you learn to act?” asked Gare curiously, later finding out this was the wrong question to ask.

“I had to lie to survive.”  Said Skai looking down sadly. “That’s why I was so sad before you walked in.”

“What’s the rest of the story?” asked Erts quietly.

Skai pulled her knees up to her chest again. She wrapped her arms around her legs and sat for a moment. Then she started to talk. “I was only little when my parents died.” Her eyes glazed over and she stared into space. She was in a painful memory now. “I had a Brother, his name was Denko. He was 6 years older than I. Some men came to our colony one day I think they were mercenaries. They were in our hut trying to kill my father. My brother pushed me out the window and told me to run.” Skai’s fist closed tightly. She put her chin on her knees and bit her lip trying not to cry. Yuu sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulder. Gare and Rio sat down as well, but Erts kept standing. His head was down and he was remembering his brother and a tear trickled down his cheek and fell onto his shoe. Rioroute put a hand on Erts’s shoulder and Erts looked at him. He nodded and went to sit beside Skai as well.

Skai persuaded herself not to cry and continued. “As I looked back I saw the men throw something into my hut. It must’ve been a bomb because it blew my house up leaving a hole in the ground. I ran back towards the hole but I tripped and scraped my knees. And…” She had to stop and cry now. She was thinking ahead of her story and had to cry. Yuu held her hand to give her the idea that she wasn’t alone. It worked and she continued. “…I looked around to see what I had tripped on and…I-I-I-it…w-w-wa-was my mo-mo-mothers’ head.” Rioroute gasped and tears started to trickle down Skai’s cheeks. “Her hair and face was covered in blood and she was in mid scream I think. It was such a horrible site I had to scream.” The others thought they would have to as well at a site like that. “This attracted the mercenaries and they circled around me.” She squeezed Yuu’s hand and he took no notice of it. He just patted her hand urging her to continue. Skai nodded. “One of them was about to hit me with his gun but I had an EX reaction and created a force field around myself. My force field broke his gun. And I stood up walking towards them all. I yelled “Noryoku Blast” and killed them all. I guess I never will know if they were mercenaries or not.” She smiled at the thought of destroying them all. She liked this image. She continued so as not to leave the story hanging. “I ran away to the next colony to look for shelter and food and clothing. I lied telling them I lived in the woods and my family was too sick to come to town so they sent me. It was all I could do to survive. My father had always told me to earn what I’m given so I did odd jobs like hunting or fishing or defending the village from invaders. I made a shelter just inside the woods and out of anyone’s seeing advantage. I’d live there for a couple months and just before someone found out my secret I’d run away and tell the next colony the same thing. I’d do all the odd jobs I’d done before and earn everything the same way. Then someone from one of the colonies had seen me using my powers and word travelled from colony to colony. Still my routine continued until last year when the news came to the colony I was running away to just before I got there and they sent me here. At first it was like a dream come true but then, thinking of all the duties reminded me of my family and I got all depressed. And now…I’m here…” Skai ended her story and looked around. Rioroute’s eyes were red and his cheeks looked dry obviously from silent crying. Gare looked sympathetic but Skai was sure she had heard him crying. Erts had been silent the whole time but his cheeks looked red as well. Yuu had been crying and Skai had heard him. She now lay her head on his shoulder to comfort him. It seemed to work.

All of a sudden, they heard a sniffle from outside followed by many after. They all looked out the door and saw that an enormous crowd had gathered of repairers and candidates that were injured or perfectly fine and had just happened to be passing by. Teela and the pilot’s repairers were right in front so it was obvious they had heard about the Sora-Novus, but that didn’t seem to matter right now. Kazuhi ran in crying and hugged Skai, thus pushing Yuu off the bed and causing him to fall on his head. The other repairers followed her in this act and the pilots looked on in wonder as their repairers cried in sync. Eventually they were pushed out of the room and joined the other guys in acting stiff and emotionless. They all looked tough but Erts knew they had been crying or were crying inside.  Then they headed to the relaxation room. Teela was waiting for them there.

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