Chapter 36: Valerie's Vengeance - Fighters

'I, Valerie, daughter of the Black Wolf, hereby issue a challenge for the possession of the artifact Lock Down to Gold!'

With that, the battle is set between Valerie and Gold, and the process for the challenge as part of the Test of Brawl is set. The very last test before one possesses the power of an artifact, and this what everything has been leading up to. The processed went through surprisingly quickly, and the date is set to be five days from the day of the challenge, where Valerie would be taken to Gold's planet.

The way Test of Brawl is set up to work is that both sides are allowed to prepare as much as they wanted, and then they would both be moved towards a neutral planet that neither would know about before hand and it would be come a fight until one gives up, or one is killed. The option of giving up was simply there for the sake of completeness, as this is an option rarely taken. The entire fight will be monitored by the head of the academy and the upper echelon's of Absolute Being, and medical units will be waiting on standby and come down onto the planet's surface once the fight is complete

Through the five days of preparation, Rydel simply waited, and it was an excruciating wait. Knowing that no matter how much Valerie has prepared, this might be the last time he will see her alive. He had to be there, and Zel forms a key part of how he is going to get there.

'Where have you been all this time?' Turning on an anti-monitoring interference generator, Rydel spun around in his chair and looked at Zel. It has been quite a while since he last saw him, and he has changed the augmentation in his left eye from the normal silver colored plate to a blood red one, a rather bold fashion statement. But now, at least the color of the eye matches that of his arm.

'It is rather complicated.' Zel smiled lightly, 'and a long story. I will tell you about it when we get out of here. Now, what do you want me to do?'

'There is someone who was the daughter of an artifact user, and she will challenge him to a fight to the death. I wanted to be there.' Rydel said, 'and if things goes bad, we may have to step in and get her out of there. By we, I meant you, since I need to maintain my cover until I issue a similar challenge to Dolon.'

'Understood.'

'After that, we will take Dolon with us and get out of here.'

'Seems simple enough.' Zel said nonchalantly, 'My past few months of journey had made me a much better user of the Pocket space, so what you are saying should be quite simple to do.'

'That's awesome man.' Rydel gave him a thumbs up, 'contrary to you, my own ability with the glove has gotten only more and more rusty, because I don't want to draw any unnecessary attention, and the head of Absolute Being, who called himself Zero, knew why I am here. But I somehow have a feeling that he didn't tell that to that women who's running the academy. For some reason.....'

'This women you are talking about, is she very attractive, and wears a red dress every time you saw her?'

'You know her?'

'I do.' Zel replied, 'Lady Lily, one of the leader's most trusted commanders. She is extremely dangerous, and smart. Why do you think the leader kept your secrets away from her?'

'My third test before I can issue a challenge to Dolon, the Test of Mind happened not long ago.' Rydel thought back to that very afternoon, and relayed all of the key information to Zel. About how Zero is trying to show Rydel what the organisation aimed to do, and the direction they are heading. From Rydel's perspective, it seemd like they are trying to reach a middle ground in understanding each other's goals. But apart from that, Rydel saw zero point in Zero helping him in any way.

'I guess it's just something we need to think about.' Zel said, 'now, speaking of practicing with your artifact, do you wanna come in?'

And by coming in, Zel meant getting into his pocket domain. It has been such a long time Rydel has been in here, and it is just as Zel said. He really has come a long way. Existing in a small pocket domain of space that exist in parallel with the universe that Rydel resides in, Zel has made full use of the patch of space under his control. There is an entire space ship being stored within the space for one.

It looked like the glitch of a video game when Rydel walked through the semi-transparent walls of the real world and headed into the ship. Within here, he could no longer see the real world, and it seemed this is what Zel stays in.

'I don't suppose this is also how you travel around?' Sitting by the dining quarters of the ship, Rydel nodded thanks as Zel poured him a glass of liquor.

'No. I have tested the pocket domain's ability to move, and if I were to fly the ship within here, it would be no faster than a brisk walk.' Zel raised the glass, 'but I have been fairly adept at warping the entire ship in and out of space, so that's what I usually do if we have to travel far.'

'Very smart.' Rydel and Zel gently bumped their glasses and downed the drink. It was a sort of fruit cocktail, 'good to see you doing alright.'

'Same here....So, about practicing my artifact, what exactly can we do here? I know that nobody will be able to see and hear what we do, but wouldn't my artifact and yours...you know, interact adversely like before?' As Rydel put the cup down, his mind wandered back to the time when he reached out and tried to grab Zel mid warp, and that caused a sort of violent reaction that brought him into the pocket domain and knocked out Zel's artifact for a good while.

'I mean...you did sneak the equipment, high energy stabilizer was it, from right under my nose.' Zel chuckled and relaxed into the couch cushions, 'that's how I got onto the bad side of Lady Lily and almost got dismantled, you bastard.'

'True.' Rydel laughed too, but then realized something slightly inconsistent with the way Absolute Being treated artifacts, 'but why would Lady Lily choose to do that to you? I thought they value artifact users?'

'Only those with a high level of mastery, and those that are powerful enough to begin with.' Zel said, 'I can tell that this shit is personal, and Lady Lily managed to convince her boss to do what she saw fit.'

'Ah...' Rydel nodded understandingly, that means there is a good chance that Dolon is alive. Right before Zel poked his head out from the pocket domain, Rydel has just sent in a request for the list of artifact users that he could challenge as the test of Brawl. If things work out they way he thought it would, then he should be able to see the Dolon on the list and issue a challenge for her.

How exciting.

For the next few days, Valerie has entered into the stage of intense final preparation and rehersals, and Rydel had kept his distance per her request. Using that time, Rydel himself has been brushing up with the use of his artifacts within the pocket domain that Zel so generously prepared for him. He is a little rusty, but those few days of intense training certainly helps, and Zel had noticed how different Rydel moves now compared to before with the added bonus of physiological and nanotechnology enhancements.

It is not something Rydel could notice very easily when he only always hang around Valerie nowadays, who is also enhanced to the same degree. But for those looking from the outside in, it became really obvious.

Then, the time has come. The five days of preparation has finally gone by, and Valerie has finally 'summoned' Rydel to have breakfast with her.

'How are you feeling?' As Rydel embraced Valerie after finally meeting her, He felt the tightness in her body. She is ,understandably, nervous, though she is not anxious. She has been putting in the work, and she is ready.

'I have done all that I can.' Valerie said while digging her face into Rydel's body, 'I wouldn't have issued the challenge otherwise.'

'Do you know where the challenge is going to be?' Rydel asked, and Valerie shook her head.

The shuttle that will take care of the transport to the planet of the battle will arrive in thirty minutes, and the trio of Rydel, Valerie and her sister simply had breakfast without a word. Rydel knew how important this is to Valerie, and it is quite evident that it is something she wanted to do it herself. However, with Zel there, he will at least be close enough to see what's happening.

After the food, Valerie said her goodbyes to her sister, who broke down from her usual icy cold outer layer and refused to let Valerie go. She had been struggling to get adapted to the physiological enhancements stage, and was left behind by her, possibly by design now that she is thinking of it. Now, it is only the big sister that will take the burden of revenge, and shoulder the consequences alone.

With Valerie standing at the space port's launching bay watching the shuttle slowly descend onto the platform, Rydel turned to look at her, only to see her look at him too.

'You better whoop his ass.' Rydel said, forcing a smile, 'and don't get stabbed.'

'Allow me to show you how its done...' Valerie winked at him and stepped onto the shuttle. Knowing that Valerie is now out of sight from him, Rydel excused himself from her sister who's still standing besides him and looking up at the shuttle door where Valerie has disappeared into and headed to the back of the space port, where Zel is residing.

'Everything ready?' Rydel asked as Zel eyes refocused and met his own gaze.

Zel nodded quickly, and with the wave of his hand, brought Rydel into the pocket domain.

The suitcase containing all of Valerie's preparations for this fight is rather heavy when she packed everything into it, and she is forever thankful for whoever that invented the hovering cargo containers and commercialized it. There is enough juice there to take down a fortress, and if Valerie had planned everything right, then that should be enough fire power to take down Gold.

From the Test of Brawl, it didn't state what kind of environments the fighting will occur, but from what she knew, both of the combatants will be dropped onto a neutral planet, and the traditions of the Test of Brawl is that both parties will know the location of the other within a certain range to a certain accuracy, meaning that Valerie will be able to know that Gold is located within one hundred meters of the project location on her personal interface and vice versa. This function could obviously be manipulated by both sides of the party for their own benefits and tactics, and Valerie is going to utilize every advantage she can get.

Like many believes, taking down the user of an artifact is no mean feat, but underneath the many layers of armor and protection is still flesh and bone, or in this case exoskeleton and flesh. She need to pierce through the layers of protection, and get to Gold's real body.

Then, the shuttle rattled and lifted off. Valerie looked out of the window to see Rydel no where to be found, but her sister is still standing exactly where she left her, and looking up. Her long black hair waving good bye in the wind of the shuttle's turbine outlet.

Soon after lift off, further details of the Test of Brawl are being provided to Valerie. She is the only person on the shuttle judging by the empty cabin. Bringing the briefing from her own personal interface onto the projector on the table in front of her, a planet with no name designation is shown.

It's a terraformed rock planet, not to dissimilar to the Absolute Academy, with oceans, lakes patches of forests and a single settlement, though the settlement area was noted down to be abandoned many years ago. The drop off point of Valerie is near a lake sitting in between the forest it nourishes and the settlement it supported, and the drop off point Gold is on the other side of the abandoned settlement. Zooming in to view the detailed area as the shuttle vibrated through an acceleration gate and drastically increases its speed towards the destination, there is nothing spectacular about the setting. The forest setting will make the use of ranged weapons suboptimal, and depending on the spacing within actual environment, Valerie's use of the modified whip might also be limited.

Thankfully, the speed difference between the two combatants should be minimal, if not leaning more towards Valerie's side, the mobility through the forest will definitely be easier for Valerie than for Gold. The elephant in the room is the lake, and Valerie needed to treat it with extreme caution. Since there is no rule stating what one can or cannot do with the homing beacon function that allowed both sides to know their position, both of them could play that to their advantage.

Gold could manipulate the beacon to show him being in the abandoned settlement area while preparing to ambush Valerie as she prepared to cross the lake or go around it.

There is also no further detail regarding what sort of items one can obtain from the area, and for Valerie, there might not be anything on the planet's surface worth while, this will of course be a bit different for Gold depending on the state of the settlements and how much time has passed.

The shuttle's pilot relaid the travel information to Valerie as she requested it, and she have another three hours before arrival. So she instead decided to take this precious time to recharge and prepare her mind and body for the upcoming fight. There are so much skill in the bag that she could use for the up coming fight, and the cargo container she brought contained just about as much various tools as she needed.

With the quietness of spacing being the perfect back ground, Valerie closed her eyes and dived deep into her own subconscious, in search of the primal drive and anger that brought her to this very position. All the humiliation of defeats, the pain of cuts and burns, the anger, the rage flashes across Valerie's mind like a movie being played at three times the speed. The voices and images of her father the Black Wolf, Gold, Rydel, Lady Lily came in and out of focus and simply fueled the fire within her.

When she opened her eyes next, the darkness of space is no more, and the shuttle is slowly descending through the atmosphere of the planet, the planet which she now named the Arena. Looking out from the window, she could see the endless forest right beneath, the lake towards the far end and the buildings coated in grey even farther beyond that. Beyond the limits of sight, another shuttle is also slowly descending.

Both fighters have officially landed in the Arena.

This is where she will reclaim glory, this is where she will get her revenge.

'Welcome to the Test of Brawl, and may the best fighter win.' As the shuttle touches down, Valerie has already fully geared up with all the gadgets hidden within the giant trench coat and her hands hidden within the pockets. The first and last thing the shuttle speaker played was the message as spoken by the voice of Lady Lily, 'May you find your absolute being.'

'Hmph.'

As the ramp lowered and the smell of treess and plant life rushed into the air-conditioned shuttle interior, Valerie put on her sight enhancement goggles and stepped off the shuttle. The leaves crunched underneath her feet, and small unidentified insects chased each other in the distance. For an abandoned settlement, the ecosystem is fairly well maintained and there is still no sign of total system collapse.

Looking into her goggles that have synced up with her personal interface, Valerie started walking through the woods and leaving the shuttle behind, which lifted off and away soon after Valerie disappeared into the depths of the forest. Then, as a beam of light shining directly up into the sky, the location of Gold is revealed. And not long after, another shuttle has lifted off from that side too. This must be the beacon function.

Valerie imagined that from the perspective of Gold, this must be exactly what he is seeing too, a beam of light directly shining up from the woods. With a quick adjustment, it became quite clear that Gold has wasted no time waiting. The beam of light cut right through the settlement as he is moving too quickly for an Aquarian on land. There must be some sort of vehicles that Gold has manged to hijack? Valerie suspected, then she also started making her move.

If they fight in the woods, there is no clear advantage for the both of them. If they are fighting in water, then Gold will have a clear advantage. If they are fighting in the abandoned settlements, then the advantage may go to Valerie who can most likely sneak around without being found thanks to her years of training. And she can lay down as many traps as she wished then.

She needed to cross the lake and get to the settlements as fast as she can, that is where she will have the most advantage. Gold wouldn't know what Valerie is up to, however, he will know clearly that his very own advantage will be near the water. Using this as a bait, Valerie laid down the very first layer of traps.

She had prepared a handful of mines before hand, none of them enough to deal critical damage, but should be enough to put Gold on high alert and drastically slow down his progress. Scarcely scattering them around the muddy beach while being mindful of her footprint, she left a trail of the foot print into the woods and dropped as much trappings as she could without wasting them here.

She will bait Gold into this area, force him to go through the layers of traps and possibly take some damage. All of this is so that Gold will think that she is hiding within the forest, and by the time he realised that there is no one within the forests, she would have been fully prepared for a battle in the abandoned settlements!

Covering her last mine underneath a pile of leaves, Valerie reached into her hip, and turned on the interference generator. This is the one commonly used when trying to jam transmissions and prevent any eavesdropping in ultra secured rooms and communications center. It is crude and effective, and will generate a high intensity of noise all across all frequencies, making the possibility to identify any particular signal borderline impossible.

Gold braked sharply and looked at his personal interface, the beam of light from his challenger disappearing from sight.

He cursed deep down, and accelerated the vehicle through the empty streets of the abandoned settlements.

He is in no mood for games today, right as he was about to receive a proper assignment from Lady Lily about an external mission chasing down an artifact user located near the outer settled regions, a Test of Brawl challenge was suddenly issued to him personally, snapping away any hopes and dreams of proving himself to Lady Lily. He has had enough baby sitting and teaching assignments. He beat the Black Wolf, he returned the artifact Lock down

'Those who are arrogant enough to challenge me shall pay for their stupidity...' Showing a sign of frustration and rage that haven't been felt within him for such a long time, he dug his hands into the steering wheel and slammed down on the accelerator, 'Everything was lined up for me to step onto the stage...and yet...'

Hovering above the street level, drones of about fist sizes flew right behind the vehicle and tracked its movements. The cameras positioned near the front recording everything and sending it back to Absolute Academy and beyond.

The Test of Brawl have thus official started.