by Parker, Jack
"Ray, I don't know," he told her. "We have a lot of work to do here."
"I know, and I'm sorry," she explained, "but Leon needs help. I don't want…I don't want what happened to Brian to happen to him." Gordan sighed deeply. He knew he wasn't going to win this. He never won a debate against Ray. He just couldn't. In the end, she always seemed to know what was best. It was true that the knights of the GRC were supposed to protect people, and Leon needed protecting from Ramirez. Only Ray stood a chance against the silver haired devil.
Gordan leaned forward in his chair and stared her straight in the eyes. Ray awaited his response, a nervous heat flooding her body. She needed to know what his decision would be.
"Go ahead," he told her, bringing a smile to her face. "If they'll let you stay with them, then I don't mind, but if we need your help, you have to promise to respond."
"Of course," she told him with a mock salute. "You can count on me."
"I'm serious Ray," he stated in a deep voice, and Ray dropped her arm.
"I know," she said, her smile still in play. "I won't let you down, I promise." Gordan leaned back in his chair again, turning his attention to the ceiling.
"You're dismissed," he said. Ray stood up without a word and walked to the door, making sure not to slam it behind her. She had a lot of packing to do…again.
* * * *
Ramirez stormed into his office, quickly slamming the door behind him. He was in one of the worst moods he had ever been in before. The ace knight was always getting on his nerves, but this was even worse. He had had a perfectly good open shot at her, and because of his temper, he had pulled his trigger on Brian. It was true that Brian was a knight for the GRC, but he wasn't that big of a threat. His last bullet had been wasted.
The silver haired devil sat down heavily in his chair and sighed, trying to calm himself. He couldn't remember the last time his pulse had pounded this rapidly. Blood coursed through his veins at what felt like a hundred miles an hour. He just couldn't make it stop. The very thought of both Ray and Leon still being alive was driving him crazy. Why hadn't he just killed Leon when he had had the chance? He easily could have snapped his neck. For a normal pilot, the boy was exceptionally skilled. Perhaps he was even knight material. The last thing Ramirez needed to deal with was more knights. He scowled deeply at the very thought.
A knock at his door quickly drew his attention away from the events of the day. He was both thankful and furious at the interruption.
"Who is it?" he snarled, obviously annoyed right now. Despite his tone, the door opened without caution. In the doorway stood a young man dressed in a gray military uniform. He stood tall and proud, a stern look upon his handsome face. He didn't seem to be disturbed at all by Ramirez's harsh way of answering his knock. Instead, he walked forward into the room.
"General Ramirez," he began, his voice quite soft yet carrying a tone of high demand. His dark hazel eyes never once left Ramirez. Atop his head was a commander's hat, showing the world his high status amongst the other officials. It hid a good amount of his spiked auburn hair, some pieces escaping it towards the front and back.
Ramirez sighed, finally calming down enough to speak normally to the young commander before him.
"What is it Aaron?" he asked in his usual icy voice. Aaron only saluted in response.
"Sir," he began. "I came to report that we're working on the new Genos you asked for. We're using the high energy sacri crystals to power them."
"Good," said Ramirez as a cold smile spread across his pale face. "When the first one is completed, commander, you can have it."
"Thank you sir," he said as he dropped his arm back to his side. "What are my next orders?" Ramirez smirked, his blue eyes flaring at his newest idea. A devious look crossed his cruel face as he stared straight at the man before him.
"I want you to go to each continent," he began, "and kill the knights." To his pleasure, Aaron nodded.
"Yes sir," he replied as he turned around and began to head back to the door. "I won't let you down." He left the room, closing the door behind him.
Ramirez sat in the darkness, reclining in his desk chair. He began to tap his fingers together out of sheer enjoyment. This was all so entertaining to him. If I can't harm you physically, Ms. Cayden, then I'll simply destroy everything you care about. The thought brought out a vicious smile, and he began to imagine the look on Ray's face when she found out that all of her fellow knights were dead. It would become even more entertaining when he would tell her that it was all her fault.
"The stage has been set," he said to himself. "Let's see how this plays out."
* * * *
Dr. Solaris was sitting alone in his study, surrounded by books. He was currently reading one in particular about sacri crystals. He had a few things he wanted to find out. He recalled the time when Ray had told him about the device that Ramirez was supposedly creating. He wanted to know more about it. It was able to emit a high pitched sound, one that could easily cause someone a headache. If they could hear it, that is. He had reason to believe that Ray was one of those people. He needed to know why.
Dr. Solaris was so engrossed in the book that he jumped when his video caller began beeping, indicating that he had an incoming call. He quickly got up to answer it, and Ray appeared on the screen.
"Hey Dr. Solaris," she greeted with a smile. "I have a question for you."
"What is it?" he asked.
"Can I come stay with you guys again? At least for a while?" she questioned, earning her a confused stare.
"Why?" he asked, not fully understanding her request.
"I was thinking about this Ramirez thing," she began, "and I think the best way for me to keep my promise would be to stay with you guys." Dr. Solaris looked like he was about to say something, but Ray quickly cut him off. "And Gordan already said it was alright, so I just need an okay from you."
"Well…" he began, seeming to think it over. "I don't see why not." He gave her a smile, which she returned, giving him a thumbs up.
"You won't be disappointed," she assured him. With that said, the monitor went blank. Dr. Solaris decided to leave his study, seeing as how he had to tell his sons the news. Chris would be delighted. It was Leon he wasn't so sure about.
When he got to the living room, he was happy to see that Leon and Chris were playing chess. Now that Chris had gotten better, Leon was trying harder. It was hard to guess now exactly who would win. Both brothers were equally skilled.
"Leon, Chris," called Dr. Solaris, drawing their attention.
"Yeah dad?" asked Leon.
"I was just wondering how the two of you would feel about having Ray come back to live with us," he said, and as he had suspected, Chris's face brightened.
"That would be great!" he exclaimed, his blue eyes full of immense joy. Now the decision was all up to Leon. He only reclined on the couch lazily, placing his hands behind his head.
"I guess that wouldn't be so bad," he said, bringing a smile to Dr. Solaris's face. He also felt a little relived, since he had already told Ray that she could. Now there would be no objections.
"Good," he said as he turned around. "She'll probably be coming back tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" questioned Leon, confused. "Then why did you even…?" However, he never finished his sentence. His father was already gone, safely back in his study. Leon only sighed in response, but a small smile tugged at his lips. Despite what he had said, he had missed Ray. Maybe this time he'd try harder to get along with her. This time, I'll make sure to keep my mouth shut. I wonder though…why does she want to come back?
Leon simply shrugged off the question and leaned forward. After all, he had a game of chess to win. Or so that's what he thought before the word "checkmate" fell from his brother's lips. Leon only sighed and hung his head as Chris began cheering about his victory. However, the smile that had been playing on his face still remained. Things could be worse…I guess.
With that last thought, he began the tedious task of c
leaning up the chessboard. After all, he had lost this round. Perhaps tomorrow he'd have better luck.
CHAPTER 17
Battle Tragedies
The hanger to the Solaris base was opened as a black armored Geno walked in. It soon crouched down in the corner, the cockpit opening as Ray jumped out. There was a smile on her face and two bags in her hands, along with her backpack on her back. She watched as the Solaris family walked over towards her, their eyes on her Geno.
"So, you switched it back again?" questioned Dr. Solaris. Ray only shook her head.
"Nope," she said rather shortly. "This armor was made just for me. It looks like the standard black armor, but it's closer in attributes to my silver one."
"Just what does silver armor do?" asked Chris. He was familiar with the different colored armors and their attributes, but he had never seen a Geno other than Ray's that had silver armor. His brother's white armor cut transformation times, and his red armor provided a better defense, but he wasn't sure about Ray's.
"My silver armor does everything," she stated. "Better durability, better transformations, it allows more speed and better movements…I could go on, but I think you get the point." Chris only nodded, not planning on asking anymore about it. An armor that could do everything was pretty impressive. It began to make him wonder about Ramirez and his midnight blue one.
"Anyway," began Dr. Solaris. "You'll be happy to know that we didn't repaint your room yet."
"Good," she said as she began heading towards the stairs. It was nice to know that nothing had changed. However, Leon was being exceptionally quiet…
* * * *
Three days went by rather normally at the Solaris base. Nothing exciting had happened at all. There was no news of Ramirez or anymore burglar attempts in Torran. The first day for Ray at the base had been simple. She had spent the whole day fixing up her room. She had had to unpack everything when only about half a week earlier she had packed it all up.
Currently, she was coming back from the shower, a towel hanging around her neck and a slightly sleepy look on her face. She was dressed simply in a white t-shirt and blue jeans. She was currently on a course to the kitchen, but her communicator soon began to beep, stopping her in her tracks. She flipped up the screen only to see Abby's face.
"Good morning Abby," greeted Ray with a small yawn.
"There's no time for that," stated Abby, drawing Ray's attention and waking her up a little.
"What?" she questioned, confused.
"Turn to channel forty-six, quick," she said. Ray was currently walking into the living room, so she went over to the couch and sat down next to Leon. He was channel surfing again like he always did when he had nothing better to do. He finally found a channel he liked watching when Ray snatched the remote from his hand.
"Hey!" he yelled, shooting her glare, but she just ignored him and changed the channel to the news station Abby had mentioned.
"…Repeat," began the newswoman after Ray came in halfway through her message. "A strange Geno was seen on the continent of Azran yesterday. At about three o'clock in the morning, two witnesses said that they saw the massive creature heading to a nearby GRC base. It was too dark to tell just what it looked like, but both witnesses said that it was large and black with red glass eyes." By this time, Dr. Solaris and Chris had entered the living room, their eyes on the television.
"What's going on?" questioned Dr. Solaris, but he was quickly hushed by Ray, who kept her eyes completely glued to the screen.
"We bring you live to the battle site where only hours ago, this massive black Geno fought against three knights of the GRC," said the woman as the screen changed to view a desert. Ray's eyes widened in disbelief at what she saw. Gold metal littered the desert floor, broken off from two motionless Genos. The beautiful golden armor was gone, showing nothing but the basic skeletons of the three machines. Limbs had been torn off, the heads now separated from the main bodies. All three Genos were beyond repair now. There was nothing that could be done for any of them.
"My God…" whispered Chris, obviously in shock at what he was seeing.
"GRC knights Ari Dayton, Gina Lori, and Jeremy Richards were all pronounced dead at six o'clock this morning," continued the reporter. She went on to say more, but Ray didn't hear it. The remote slipped from her hand, clattering to the carpeted floor below. Her eyes were wide with shock as the images of the totaled Genos played through her head. Three of her fellow knights were now dead.
"R.C," called Abby calmly over the communicator. In her haste, Ray had forgotten to shut it off. "Are you alright?" There was no response, so she continued talking. "We have reason to believe that Ramirez is somehow behind this, but…" That was all she got to say to the ace knight. Ray had shut off the communicator.
Without a word, Ray dismissed herself from the living room, running back to her own bedroom before slamming the door shut. All three members of the Solaris family stared down the hallway, each feeling pity towards Ray. It was obvious that the knights of the GRC were like family. Losing three of your family members in one day was obviously difficult. What were they supposed to do in this situation?
Without a word, Leon removed himself from the couch and began to head down the hall. When he reached Ray's room, he tried to open the door, only to realize that she had locked it. Instead, he knocked gently.
"Ray?" he questioned.
"Leave me alone," was her only response. He wasn't about to obey her request though. He knocked again.
"Come on Ray, open the door," he coaxed.
"No, go away," she said stubbornly, which only caused him to knock harder.
"Please Ray?" he pleaded, waiting for her response.
"I thought I told you to go away," she said harshly. "I want to be left alone." Leon was starting to get angry, but he had to keep his temper in check. He didn't need to make her any angrier than she already was. That didn't mean he was going to leave though.
"Look Ray," he began, "I only want to help. Please open the door." There was no response this time, so he just waited. After a while, he decided to just leave, but she stopped him.
"…It isn't fair," she said softly.
"What isn't?" he questioned, getting rather close to the door so that he could hear her.
"Everything," she replied rather softly. "Three knights were killed today. Whatever did it won't stop there. He'll kill the rest of the knights on Azran and then move to Trin. When he's done there, he'll…he'll come here."
"But you can handle it," encouraged Leon. "I'm sure you wouldn't have a problem taking care of that thing."
"That's not what I'm worried about," she told him. "It that Geno goes after Abby and Brian, I don't think they would…" She couldn't finish that sentence. She didn't want to think about it. "I don't know what I'd do…if I lost them." She didn't say anything else, giving Leon a change to speak. However, he wasn't sure what to say. How was he supposed to comfort her now? There really wasn't anything he could say to make her feel better, and with the door separating them, he couldn't physically comfort her either. For some reason, he found the situation rather frustrating.
"Ray, could you open the door?" he asked softly, but when he turned the doorknob, he found that it was already open. Leon shoved the door open, his eyes instantly going to Ray. She was sitting on her bed, leaning against the wall. Her legs were drawn up against her chest, her head buried in her knees. Her soft, silvery blue hair was hiding her face, seeing as how it always hid the left side anyway.
Leon stood in her doorway silently, just watching her. It was so quiet that you could probably hear a pin drop. They were even able to hear the news announcer on the television, and the words she spoke quickly caught Ray's attention.
"We bring you live to Azran where one of our reporters is currently watching a battle with the mysterious black Geno and GRC knight, James Anders," she said. Leon was expecting Ray to bolt from the room, but she remained where she was. The sounds of the battle soon filtered into her room, and she
could hear the sound of metal clashing with metal.
"It looks like James can't see the giant Geno, seeing as how it seems to be using some form of stealth," explained the reporter. There was more clashing of metal against metal, and soon the sound of gunfire was added.
The sounds went on for a while, but the gunfire began to get worse. In fact, the sound of an explosion soon followed. There was more shelling, and now the sound of something charging could be heard. The squeal of a laser being fired followed not long after, accompanied by a rather large explosion.
"My God…" whispered the reporter, but his voice managed to reach Ray's and Leon's ears. "It's hard to believe that anything could survive that."
Leon watched as Ray pulled her knees tighter to herself, her body starting to tremble. She had yet to cry, however. Perhaps shedding tears wasn't possible for the ace knight. Maybe her pride was getting in the way.
Without a word, he walked over to her, taking a seat beside her on her bed. The added weight to her mattress caused it to shift, startling her. She raised her head and turned to Leon, quickly meeting his dark violet eyes. She didn't want him there. She wanted to push him off her bed, tell him to leave her alone, but for some reason she couldn't. She just couldn't bring herself to force him out. Maybe it was because of the way he was staring at her. His deep eyes were full of sympathy, and they were so incredibly vast. She found that she didn't want to pull away. She liked his eyes.
Without warning, he put an arm around her, still not looking away from her. It was hard to believe that this was the same boy who had yelled at her a few days ago, making her mad enough to want to slap him. It was like he had a split personality. Or maybe he felt challenged whenever she yelled at him. Either way you were to look at it, she liked him better like this. He was more comfortable right now. Perhaps this was the Leon Solaris that his fans knew of; the skilled, cute, and sweet Geno warrior that she was sitting with right now.
