Last Stand, Tora, Tora, Tora

Gudersnipe

“Battle Mode zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, one.” Announced J’nall proudly as she slammed down the computer pad with the data. “We’ve done it, we’ve practically won. They only have three fights with that battle mode in a term!”

“Let’s not be congratulating our selves just yet. This might be our last staged battle of the term, but its against the Blade Team,” Hunter warned.

“Your right,” replied Cindy. “They’ve gotten good since our last fight, real good.”

“We haven’t fought them in several years, and since we beat them in the last fight they’ve been seriously beefing up their mechs. Their skills haven't improved all that much, but they’ve gotten much, much stronger; thanks to all the upgrades and custom mods they’ve been adding.”

“Any clues as to what we’re going up against?”

“To many I’m afraid,” said Jason. “I’ve been reading up on the latest data. They have four high speed hover type suits, none standard of course, and all custom builds; equipped with high impact rocket launchers and plasma cannons, along with steel fired neo-narrite armor. Those are there lighter suits I’m afraid, then comes the bad news.

“There are two Tortoise Class Gun-tanks armed with high powered Gatling guns and long range ultra high powered charged particle plasma cannons.”

“That last part was a mouthful,” laughed Rian.

“I wouldn’t be laughing. That’s the most powerful mobile suit equip-able weapon out there, aside from specially built weapons like the Akkata cannon and the Thunder Flash cannon. As I said, most of their suits have customized mods, but the modifications are just pre-fabricated parts put together in strange new ways. Their tortoises are already pretty slow, so they added missile pods and extra large batteries so they pack a bigger punch. It slows the suits to a crawl, but then they can each fire a shot from their special cannon every two hundred seconds.”

“That’s a pretty fierce weapon, I dunno what we’ll be able to do to guard against them,” Carra said.

“We’ll just have to capitalize on the Tsubasa and the Epsilon’s speed. What else?”

“Well, they have one high speed flight model suit, not as fast as either of ours and not well armed, in fact it’s the only suit they haven’t modified the hell out of.”

“The eighth suit would be Yuesf’s?” asked Hunter.

“You got it,” nodded Jason. “And, coincidentally, the strongest.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” said Hunter. “I here he’s switched to an A type.”

“Yes,” said Jason. “He started with an Ultra-Saurus, big fearsome mech modeled after a tyrannosaur. But it gets worse; standard equipment on an Ultra-Saurus is a pretty powerful charged particle cannon, but he’s modified it. He’s increased the particle flow rate and added some very specialized particle batteries that allow it to fire a one-third power blast every hundred and eighty seconds without stopping to charge up.”

“That’s not to bad,” said Hunter. “Charged particle weapons create a pretty terrible recoil, if he wants to fire he’s got to stand still. You said one-third power burst, I assume you mean he has some way to increase the power further?”

“Remember how I said it keeps getting worse?” asked Jason. “He’s added a pair of Level Two Akkata Blossoms, and equipped them to also fire particle beams.”

“But… but that means he’s also able to make the shield!”

“The shield generated by the Akkata Blossom is among the most powerful on campus, second only to the Light Hawk system, and no ones been able to equip that to a mech yet. The only thing that can penetrate it is the breaking-point weapon on Kendrick’s Okki.”

“No trouble there,” Kendrick grinned.

“Lots a trouble there,” snapped Jason. “We probably won’t get more than one or two shots at him, while he’ll have the luxury of sitting behind his shield and sniping. And let’s not be forgetting his team mates.”

“Any other nasty surprises waiting for us on Yuesf’s suit?”

“Afraid so. It’s equipped with special Mobiru Armor.”

“Mobiru?”

“Yeah, it’s a new type of memory armor.”

“Are you saying it remembers attack?”

“Yup. And it adapts.”

“My god… He’s created the ultimate weapon!”

“It looks that way, doesn’t it?” asked a familiar, jovial voice from the doorway.

“Instructor Delphi!” Hunter said respectfully, standing up and saluting. The rest of the Eighth Power quickly followed suit.

“To what do we owe the honor, sir?” asked Jason.

“I’ve been reviewing the recent combat data on the Blade Team, and I think you’re in trouble,” Instructor Delphi told them in a serious tone.

“We were on our way to that conclusion,” replied Hunter. “I don’t suppose you’ve got a solution for us?”

“Actually I do; come with me Hunter, I have something for you.”

Hunter followed Instructor Delphi out into the hall and towards the elevator, signaling his team to stay behind.”

Delphi said nothing as he led Hunter through the maze of corridors that made up the school proper, until they reached a GATE room and headed out to the mobile suit hangers. They arrived in one of the older, out of the way hangers where the school stored little used suits and some of the more exotic models kept in stock for reference. This particular area was also where the teachers kept their private mechs.

“Have you ever piloted an A type mobile suit, Hunter?” Delphi asked as they rounded a corner into a small hanger. Hunter knew right away it was old, the wall was made of thick corrugated metal instead of the stone, which was typical of the newer hangers used by students.

“No,” Hunter lied reflexively, not wanting to dredge up the unpleasant memories of that run. “The first time I piloted a human type I fell in love and could never touch anything else.”

“I see. Well, the trouble is that human types just can’t compete with A and Z types. Its not that either class is better or worse, it’s just a difference in movements and tactical abilities.”

“So who do you say will win tomorrows battle?”

“Normally I would say the better pilot, except that Yuesf’s suit is simply so much more powerful in many ways, more powerful than yours, I’m afraid. In this battle, he has every technological and tactical advantage.”

There was silence between the two men for a while.

“I’d utter a string of obscenities,” remarked Hunter at length. “But it somehow doesn’t seem like a good idea to take the lords name in vain right before I die.”

“What makes you so sure your going to die?” asked Delphi levelly.

“Look at the evidence. Yuesf has been trying to beat me since day one. Now, he has an overly powerful mech and we’re going into fierce combat. He could kill me and make it look like an accident, no problem.”

“You’d be on a rescue return channel.”

“Well… I know it sounds really stupid, but I just don’t want to die. I don’t care whether I’m coming back or not, I just don’t wanna die.”

“I admire your conviction, Hunter Jusenkyou. To what extent are you willing to go for victory?”

Hunter thought over his words.

“Any?” he asked lamely.

“Well then, I think I have something here that will help you.”

Delphi led him into the hanger and out onto a catwalk. They were looking down on a mobile suit unlike anything Hunter had ever seen. It was around thirty meters long, and covered from head to tail in simple-looking white armor. It didn’t seem to have any special weapons or capabilities, as far as he could see. It was also shaped uncannily like a giant cat.

“I’ve never seen a mech like this before,” Hunter admitted.

“I should think not, this mech is practically one of a kind,” replied Instructor Delphi. “It’s a basic Tora unit.”

“Tora? Isn’t that High Mek’Harran for Tiger?” asked Hunter curiously.

“Yes,” replied Instructor Delphi. “Tora type units are fairly common; basic Tora’s like this are very rare, with only a handful of units in existence. But a white Tora is especially rare. Many years ago I watched one of these units in action. It was… indescribable.”

“Yeah but, it looks so… low tech. It doesn’t even have any weapons.”

“Hunter, what was the very first thing I taught you about mechs?”

“‘If you fall over, push the red button,’” Hunter quoted expertly.

Delphi smacked him hard in the back of the head.

“Not that you wooden headed lout!” he yelled. “You know what I mean.”

Hunter sighed. “‘Mech battles are not about wining or loosing, they are about the search for unlimited potential.’”

“That’s right. The beauty of this suit is the hidden potential. You can do anything with one of these.”

Hunter slumped against the rail and let out his air in a big huff.

“I have spent,” he began slowly. “The last two hundred and ninety-nine years bringing out the hidden potential in my extraordinary suit. My most challenging battle is tomorrow, I haven’t the time to start over!”

“Hunter,” said Delphi calmly, putting a fatherly hand on the young students shoulder. “You rely to much on new technology. Right now you’re probably trying to come up with some new fangled weapon you can use on Yuesf tomorrow. Is that right?”

Hunter hung his head.

“Yes.”

“That’s exactly how it’s been between you two, for the past three hundred years. You always try to outclass each other by developing superb new weapons, sometimes even expanding on each other’s advancements. For example, your ‘Akkata Cannon’ fires two beams, correct?”

“Yes—”

“Yuesf’s Blade Saurer has a cannon based on the exact same principles that fires three beams. Do you see?”

“Yes, but—”

“It has greater power than your weapon because it’s more. What was it I once told your friend Rian about his Wild Fire Gunjin?”

“‘Build better weapons, not more.’”

“Precisely. If anything, Yuesf’s cannon is worse than yours, but it’s more powerful because he added more of them.”

“But I still don’t see—”

“All new and shiny, where this poor old Tora is well over two hundred years old. And I’m talking Dimensional Standard Years, not GS. Why I’ve had it sitting in this hanger for… oh, thirty terms at least. Been probably sixty DSY since anyone piloted it extensively. I purchased it for a rather hefty price after I saw one in action, but he wouldn’t let me pilot him. Stubborn old dog.”

“Are you hinting at what I think you’re hinting at?”

Delphi shrugged and looked back out at the Tora.

“Are you trying to tell me,” Hunter began cautiously. “That this mobile suit isn’t a worthless old pile of metal, but in fact an honest to god New Type?”

“Could be.”

“If this is a new type, then—”

“There is,” Delphi interrupted, “one other thing, I feel I ought mention. Remember Yuesf’s Mobiru Armor?”

“Yes.”

“It is a more advanced version of the Mobiru System, originally built for the Tora suit.”

“Really? Wow. What is it?”

“In this particular suit, unlike in Yuesf’s, it is more or less a low level artificial intelligence protocol.”

“AI?” said Hunter incredulously. “Forget it old man, I’m out. You nearly had me sold there before you mentioned that. I’ve had nothing but bad luck with artificial intelligence. Never works right. Something always goes bad and the damn thing winds up wrecking half of whatever city we’re near.”

“This isn’t that sort of system boy,” Instructor Delphi retorted angrily. “First off, it is among the most advanced artificial intelligence systems in the Multi Verse, to the point where it actually simulates some of the neurons—”

“Oh please, I’ve worked with technology like that before, dozens of times. It doesn’t work!”

“Oh really?” shouted the angered instructor. “Before you mock a system why don’t you stop and learn about it? Your Artificial Neuron systems always failed you because you tried to replicate a human mind; something we already know to be impossible!”

He gestured emphatically toward the suit which, at that precise moment, stirred from its slumber and looked straight at Hunter, an animalish green light gleaming in its huge eyes.

“The designers of this suit did something totally new and unheard of,” continued Instructor Delphi. “They set out to simulate an animals mind. When they couldn’t quite simulate it, they simply borrowed it. Deep within his metal head pulses the very mind of an actual wild tiger.”

Hunter looked back at the great living metal cat with a new respect and awe.

“But, same as you discovered in your quest for the perfect interface, the mind of the animal is not fully equipped to control the suit and all its weapons. A tiger cannot fire a gun mounted on its back, and further still a tame tiger is no mobile fighter. As I understand it, the minds used for these white Tora’s were those of the strongest, fiercest tigers that could be brought back alive from the darkest jungles in all the Multi Verse. But again, the tiger’s mind that acts as its operating system has limitations. That’s where the human pilot comes in. The pilot and the Tora act as one; they are a team. You tell him where to go and what to do, and he carries it out with cat like reflexes; while you operate the weapons. Together you two could be very powerful.”

“Assuming I wanna team up with a steel kitty,” replied Hunter smartly.

“Oh I think you’ll want to,” replied Instructor Delphi calmly. “Did I mention the Mobiru system allows the Tora to learn and remember?”

“No.”

“It’s true. Every time it fights it learns, studies its opponents and remembers the experience for later use, much like your Kiyoku System but without the mind stream generator.”

“Yeah…” replied Hunter slowly. “I think… I think I was reading something about the Mobiru System that inspired me to work out that aspect of the Kiyoku System.”

“I would imagine that is so, Mr. Jusenkyou. The two systems are quite similar in that respect, but in the case of this Tora, instead of giving the pilot the information faster it simply reacts on its own. With natures best reflexes, I might add.”

“You said he wouldn’t let you in the cockpit, what did you mean by that?”

“When I first procured the white Tora,” Instructor Delphi reminisced. “I was so eager to try it out that I hoped in right off the transport and took it into one of the indoor arenas to go for a quick round of pitched combat. With, as it happens, instructor Gailen.”

“What happened?”

“I must have moved to fast. I didn’t anticipate how closely this particular suit has to bond with its pilot. I was new to him, he was new to me, and I guess he spooked.

“As per his form, Gailen came in firing and startled us both. The poor Tora tried desperately to shield itself, then made a charge for Gailen’s Raptor, before jettisoning me and breaking through a wall to get outside. Damaged, he ran for hundreds of miles while we tailed him in the air, until he finally collapsed with a command system freeze.”

“Blacked out huh?”

“Yes, sadly. I took him back here, to this hanger, apologizing profusely the whole time, and then painstakingly repaired every last flaw. I only got him to wake up once or twice after that; every time I got in he would fight me left and right, and then throw me out. Then his system would freeze up again, and stay that way for months. One day I got in and he just… wouldn’t wake up. After that I left him in this hanger, and hardly thought about him for three thousand years. It was Yuesf’s new toy that made me remember him.”

The Tora growled at Delphi and then at Hunter. Not an unfriendly growl, more of an acknowledgement of his presence. As Hunter watched the great beast seemed to be—almost—sizing him up.

“I thought you said his system was frozen, he doesn’t look frozen to me.”

Delphi pointed across the hanger into another of the large rooms.

“My Gunjin is in there, so I come through here almost every day. I have been, since I put him here, and in all that time he hasn’t moved, not once.”

“Anyone else ever come through here?”

Delphi shook his head no. “Not often, this set of hangers is my private work area. Occasionally other teachers come through here, but mostly just me.”

He regarded the suit calmly. “I think though, that its you he’s ‘warming up’ to.”

Hunter gulped. “Just what I need, a two hundred ton house pet. My room mates aren’t gonna like this.”

The Tora threw its head back and let out a fearsome roar that shook the building to the core. Hunter covered his ears and stared in bewilderment at the angry beast. Then it turned to him, while Instructor Delphi backed away carefully and, to Hunter’s amazement; the mechanical creature began to make a very strange sound, which Hunter soon recognized, as purring.

* * *