Metallic Knights

The unnatural beauty of New Harmony seemed almost jarring to most combat masters after returning from a long mission. For days, Octave, Pastoral, Cavatino, Crescendo, Vesper, Sonata, Solo, and Hymn were outside the walls of the city, surviving in the brown-washed Wastes. Inside, however, everything was clean. The sky was a clear, clean blue, the gardens and lush plantlife grew radiant green with bright colors from the blooming flowers. Everything looked beautiful, which brought much comfort to most returning combat masters, but not all.

Octave’s eyes slowly slide open, large pieces of text running across his vision as his body checked itself. Everything felt different to him somehow. While he understood the need for a new paintjob, reworkings of his chipped and shattered pieces of armor, and a reunion with his older and better saber, he just felt different.

“What’d you do to me, Manhattan?” Octave asked, sitting upright on the table, examining his arms.

“Simple hardware and software upgrades. Sonata stopped by and said I should fix your eyes, so I did. They’re blue now. They match your armor.” Manhattan said cheerily, his back turned to Octave as he clacked away at his tablet.

“Oh.” Octave sighed, not totally surprised or angry about that change. “Anything I should know about with these upgrades?”

“Sure. First of all, I tweaked your old saber a bit. Gave it some new parts to make it run smoother and emit more energy, so it’s a bit stronger. I added the Burst-Raider ability to your saber as well. It works exactly the same as Break-Raid, but you’ll only have a three-second wait for your blade to recharge.” Manhattan turned, pointing at sketches and schematics that meant nothing to Octave as he explained.

“Okay. Anything else?” Octave asked.

“Yup. I completely replaced your visor, so it won’t crack so easily anymore. I re-worked your joints, so your limiters will allow you to run even faster now, if you can handle that. Lastly, I reinforced the plating on your left forearm, making it into a type of shield. If you were to hit it against a blade like yours or even a heavy buster, you’d lose the arm, but by something weaker like a metal sword or a lighter caliber buster, and you’ll be fine.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.” Manhattan said, leaning back in his chair, proud to somehow upgrade the last frame ever built by the legendary doctor Monday.

“Later.” Octave leaped off the table and exited the room, not as impressed with the upgrades as Manhattan projected he would be.

As Octave exited the front entrance to Manhattan’s lab, he noticed a familiar and unfriendly sight. Hymn leaned against the wall, head lowered, eyes closed, and arms crossed. When Octave entered his field of view, however, he stood upright, eyes squinting in disgust.

“I guess the humans decided you were no longer a threat despite the fact that you’re a simple malevolent.” Hymn mocked, a pleased smirk running across his face.

“It probably helped that I didn’t take pleasure in the act of killing. You and those malevolent we met at the Nexus Spire seemed to have that in common.” Octave replied coldly as he went to walk right past Hymn.

“Being General’s pet project won’t keep you safe forever, SaberMan. You’ll fight and fight and fight until you die, just like the rest of us.” Hymn practically shouted to Octave’s back, trying to get the last word as always. Octave paused for a second, replying with his head turned slightly, looking at Hymn through the side of his eye.

“And being General’s personal bitch won’t save you from that fate either.” Octave shot back before continuing his steady pace forward.

The dirt road Octave walked on seemed to stretch on forever. Most robot masters would take the faster route of teleportation to their destination, and humans used vehicles to travel long distances such as this one. But Octave prefered to walk. While it made him late to almost everything, he did it anyways.

Suddenly, a brown beam of light came shooting straight down in front of Octave from the sky. Pastoral had teleported near his brother’s position.

“Yo! How are you, bro? Manhattan gave you a real overhaul.” Pastoral said with a loud, jubilant tone. He stood still, waiting for his brother to pace towards him so they could walk together.

“I’m fine. Manhattan went a little heavy on the upgrades, so I was out for a bit.” Octave replied in his ever calm and collected tone, which always struck Pastoral as ironic. Once you get to know him, Octave was one of the least calm and collected people one could meet.

“So I went with Solo when he handed in the circuit he collected. Album told me you handed in one too. Said you labeled it ‘The Gemini.’ Weird name.” Pastoral always had a penchant for small talk, and more annoyingly, dumb human. “You’d think with a name like that, he’d have two chips. Eh?”

“You would think that, wouldn’t you?” Octave said cryptically, causing Pastoral to stop dead in his tracks while Octave continued with his forward march.

“Wait. Whoa whoa whoa what’s that supposed to mean?”

---

"Can I go now?" Little Duet, in the corner of the room, had been sitting
patiently. "Combat is scary without Big Brother..."

Sonata rolled her eyes and ended the training simulation, her tomahawk retracting and returning to its form as a simple, slim arm. "You PROMISED you’d hang out with me."

"...I didn't see much alternative." Little Duet’s eyes veered away, a slightly terrified look on his face as Sonata approached him. The skittish, childlike support unit was actually much older than Sonata, who was built centuries after Little and Big Duet, despite his frame placing him around the age of ten. He was the forever puppy of robot masters.

"I KNOW! We'll go to the streets!" Sonata placed her foot on the much shorter Little Duet's shoulder, in a brave, captain-like pose. "If I'm going to learn, I should do so by experience. Meet humans, eat things like Pastoral, run around like Octave! It'll be fun!"

Little Duet rubbed his chin with his hand. "Big Brother does always tell me I should get out more…”

Sonata knelt. "Why's that?"

"Because I look 'normal,' like a little kid. He's afraid that he scares people, so he stays near the Cathedral, or near military bases."

Little Duet looked down at the floor, "He thinks I don't know how scared he is of how he looks. It's really sad."

Little Duet looked up, and passionate tears ran down Sonata's face.

"...That's… beautiful. So sad. My face is leaking." Sonata, only months old now, had never been inactive enough to experience sadness. She was too busy in the training rooms or on the field with Pastoral.

...She is a woman of extremes. Such people should be feared. Little Duet’s eyes widened in contemplation. But, she's nice, so I'll stay with her until Big Brother asks me to come back.

---

“Bang.” Solo muttered, aiming his finger-gun off into the distance and raising it as though it had just been fired.

“Where’s Octave? Shouldn’t he be all fixed up by now?” Vesper asked sternly as she kicked her foot off the edge of the rooftop.

“You know how he is. Never teleports and he’s always late.” Solo sighed as he sat down, joining Vesper on the edge of the tall building in New Harmony’s downtown.

“So. How you feeling about your next assignment. I picked it for you specifically.” Vesper said, a large, mockingly goofy smile on her face when she finished speaking.

“You know I hate sniping. I get that the convoy needs cover, but I’d just prefer to get in the action like everyone else does.” Solo started, staring at his right hand, the very hand that could change into a deadly sniper in a moment’s notice. “I’d hate to bitch to my boss, but I think I’m just better at a mid range.”

“Jeez.” Vesper said, leaning back on her arms as they stretched out behind her, propping her up from the ground. “I guess I shouldn’t have brought up work. But if you want, I can get Octave and Pastoral on the job, make you guys ground escorts if you want.”

“Um…” Solo stammered, shocked at the appealing offer. “Y-yeah! Thanks, Ves. But I’d rather take Sonata and Pastoral. Octave always tries to fucking show off and take on everything alone.”

“Oh, I know.” Vesper let her head fall back. Without her helmet to keep her hair up close to her head, Vesper’s synthetic, but hyper-realistic hair fell back, hanging behind her. “One time, before you were born, I had to locate and rescue Octave because he got torn in half by some high tier malevolent he chose to fight. On a recon mission! Turns out the bot wasn’t very smart, but he should try to be more careful.”

“I… I can totally see that happening. He probably said something vague to someone on the radio before charging into the fight.” Solo chuckled.

“And I bet he thought it sounded way cooler than it actually was.” Vesper added, causing the two to burst out in a fit of laugher at Octave’s expense.

---

"Ice cream?" Sonata read the words, searching her memory for other times the words had been nearby each-other. She drew a blank, but the ice cream stand seemed to beckon her. It seemed… right.

"It's a human treat." Little Duet led Sonata by the hand. He seemed overly conscious of the looks that Sonata was receiving. Her armor, ice blue with ancient, native american decorations, stuck out like a sore thumb, the metal feathers on the left side of her helmet not helping at all. "I've never tried it. It might not be good."

Sonata smiled, and stepped forward.

"Hello. I'm ApacheWoman. I'm a super fighting robot. Nice to meet you!" Sonata bowed to the ice cream stand attendant.

A corpulent man, his stomach bulged against his apron. His thick mustache punctuated a pair of rough lips, pressed together in a thin line of confusion. His eyes widened, as Sonata leaned forward, waiting and expecting.

"...Ok." He murmured. He'd NEVER seen a real combat master up close. Many people hadn't. They weren’t exactly social Souls, especially since Octave’s little incident just over a week prior.

"Well?" Sonata folded her arms.

"Well what?" The stand attendant's mustache bobbed with each word.

"...When I see an evil robot, I kill it, because it's my primary function." Sonata stared at the sign. "You work here, right? So your function is to give me ice-cream. So...give me some please."

"You need to give him money first." Little Duet pulled her hand. "C'mon. We don't have any money, so we should go..."

Sonata, in a state of melodrama, hung her head down low. She was not yet capable to cope with her emotions just yet. She would learn in time to handle rejection, but for now all she knew was not to cry and shout in public.

"You know what? Sure. You robots do a lot of good for the city, and a few free scoops won’t break my bank." The gentleman took his scoop, and rolled up his sleeve. "What flavor?"

Sonata scratched her helmet. "What's a flavor?"

“I… Just… Um… Here. This is a fan favorite this time of year. It’s called strawberry.” The ice cream man pulled out two cones and placed two perfectly round scoops of ice cream into them before handing it to the robot masters. “And I don’t use the cheap pink stuff. I start with vanilla and roll in actually strawberries. See? No food coloring.”

Within a single taste, Sonata’s eyes widened along with her child-like smile.

"...This...is...delicious." Sonata crammed the whole ice-cream cone into her mouth. She chewed it, the cone crunching and the ice cream melting in her mouth.

Little Duet looked up at her, smiling. He had a strange admiration for Sonata's strange, naive behavior.

"You'll get brain-freeze eating like that." The stand owner, amazed at Sonata's capacity for ice cream consumption, made her another cone.

"Our internal processors can handle temperature variants up to the degree of harshness offered by deep space. Only an Absolute Zero temperature could harm my thinking capacity." Sonata blurted, snatching the next cone. "More! Thanks!" She crammed it in her mouth bite by bite.

She looked down, noticing a spark in Little Duet's eye. It quickly died down, consumed by a look of wistful depression.

"What's wrong, little guy?" The stand owner's bushy brows and mustache raised in concern. Sonata nodded, licking her fingers.

"...I thought it'd be nice to bring my Big Brother here, but he...he doesn't want to scare anyone."

Sonata took another cone. "Stand Owner excepted ME well enough. Your brother seems nice."

The stand owner shrugged. "Sure. I'll make a sign. 'FREE ICE CREAM FOR FREAKIN’ ROBOTS.' It'll be good for business. My name's Giseppe by the way."

Sonata nodded, licking her lips, remembering Giseppe's name.

"...But he's afraid that the way he looks will scare people. He doesn't want to startle anyone." Little Duet looked up at Sonata. "Do you think people will like him?"

"I like him. He's BIG. They'll probably just be impressed." Sonata crammed more ice cream into her mouth. "If he lets them, people can ride on his shoulders… Paint him… Get a bunch of flowers and cover him in them! It sounds like fun!"

“I don’t know…” Little Duet mumbled as he looked down at the floor.

“Well, if he never comes out to play and meet people, how do they know he’s an evil, scary, robot? I mean, Octave walks around here all the time, and he can be real scary. Just because he doesn’t look human like the rest of us doesn’t mean he can’t come out and play like us.” Sonata said, with an odd sense of childhood wisdom.

Little Duet felt the words sink in, pondering them.

Giseppe scratched his head. "Those words have a lot of weight, kid. For someone dressed funny and eating ice cream, you're pretty wise."

"And I’m only two months old!"

Giseppe shrugged. "Neat."

---

“If you want to make it downtown within the week, Octave, you’d better teleport there.” Pastoral started, unknowingly walking past his brother as he stopped in the dead center of the dirt road. “Vesper’s pretty chill, but I can’t imagine she’d react well to being stood up.”

“You ever get a sinking feeling in your stomach like everything’s gonna change?” Octave asked suddenly from his fixed position, causing his brother to stop and look at him with a look of confusion.

“Whaddya mean?”

“I meant what I said. Do you ever feel like things are about to change?” Octave said, slightly annoyed at his brother now.

“Well, Octave. Things always change.” Pastoral replied, simply.

“You’re right, you’re right. Forget about it.” Octave shook his head, almost as if he could shake the very thought from his mind. “You coming? Ves won’t be happy when I tell her you held me up on the way here.”

“Yeah, sur- wait. What? You’re the one who always walks!” Pastoral yelled, marching over to his brother, as if he were ready to fight.

“Eh. He said, he said.” Octave smiled widely as he became a blue blur in the sky, rapidly approaching the downtown area of New Harmony.

“Oh son of a-” Pastoral grumbled with a smile before following straight after him to clear his name in Vesper’s eyes.

I'll be doing the next two parts, and John will pick it up afterwards.

The next part will come here soon, because I'm writing it as we speak, and then the third will be either this afternoon or tomorrow.

Enjoy the wait, fuckers!

You know...When it comes to narration and Pastoral and Octave you can tell who wrote it.

But the other characters seems pretty much the same regardless of who wrote it.

It's a neat effect.

The afternoon sunset falling over New Harmony’s downtown shone down on the city like a glorious orange and yellow ocean in the sky. It’s current main admirer’s; Solo, Vesper, Octave, and Pastoral sat along the edge of a skyscraper, one of the tallest buildings in the city. Kicking their legs along the edge, none of them feared falling. Despite the damage done to the road, potential pedestrians, and vehicles, they’d be perfectly fine if any of them fell from this height.

“You know? I forgot we did this. It’s been a long while.” Pastoral said with a sigh of relaxation, his hands interlocked behind his head as he leaned back, completely comfortable.

“We used to do this after every mission together. It’s been almost a decade since we were last assigned a task as a team, all four of us.” Vesper added, the same relaxed tone and sigh Pastoral gave rang from her voice.

Octave, however, wasn’t as comfortable as his company. Normally, Solo would comment about these sunsets as being the only time Octave removed the rod from his ass, but today was not the case. That thought Octave had earlier, about everything suddenly changing for the worst, seemed to haunt his thoughts. Instead of enjoying the sight, he stared off into space and attempted to focus on exactly what he thought would change, to no avail.

“You okay there, Blue?” Solo leaned forward, looking past Pastoral to his right to address Octave, who shot a surprised look back.

“Huh? Yeah… I’m just thinkin’ about some stuff.” Octave said, waving his hand to convey he was okay, so the group moved onto a different topic.

“You hear about that captured Malevolent? General had him moved somewhere secret.” Solo said, looking back over to Vesper with the news.

“Good. Bastard fuck with there two’s head. I say they just rip out his IC and be done with it.” Vesper said, coldly, staring off into the sunset as she spoke.

Pastoral and Octave grew deathly quiet at the thought of that day. When both of them revisited the Domain in a very real, but still imaginary way. Octave killed 4 people, and will never be able to live that down. Pastoral made a connection with 95 that should stay between the three of them. It was a day that everyone should have just forgotten.

“Sorry I brought it up.” Solo apologized after the long silence.

“No, no. It’s fine. You two worked hard bringing him intact. Must feel good that he’s somehow important to General.” Pastoral chuckled, attempting to break the tension by patting Solo’s shoulder.

“I’d say. Bastard had the ability to copy our weapons and abilities. We’re just lucky he didn’t even touch Solo.” Vesper said, her inflection getting the point across very well that it was no easy battle.

“Yeah, and he damn near cut you in half with his copy of Octave’s sword.” Solo chuckled, poking fun at Vesper’s difficulty with the close quarters battle.

“Hey, he gave me a run for my money with my own weapon.” Octave said from the edge of the line, practically not even a part of the conversation. “If he got close, he would have cut you in half, Solo.” Octave finished with a smirk, causing the rooftop to burst out in laughter at Solo’s expense.

---

“You WHAT?!” General exclaimed uncharacteristically as he quickly jumped up from his chair, walking angrily towards Hymn.

“I observed the battle, and I request that both Octave and Pastoral be cut from the combat master program.” Hymn stuttered as he spoke. In his years of working with General, he had never seen him livid, most frustrating situations he handled with a sense of bravado and a level of suave. But, for reasons Hymn do not yet understand, General was pissed.

“You can dislike those two all you want. But to leave Sonata, a NEW COMRADE OF OURS?!” General paused, quickly regaining his chilling cool with a simple deep breath. “You dishonor yourself and you dishonor us all.” General turned back around and slowly returned to his chair, his rage almost completely gone in seconds.

“Sir, Sonata was combating a single foe and performed impressively against a more powerful enemy. I expected Pastoral to perform as he did--better than he did. Sonata, however, I simply had faith that she would-”

“You, Hymn, are a spiteful, shameful Soul. You’d have watched Sonata be torn apart if it meant letting Pastoral or Octave fall in combat.” General turned his chair away from Hymn, who hung his head in shame. “Two combat masters I now consider more skilled than yourself. My only dilemma now is whether or not to move them to S-Rank, or lower you to A-Rank. You are dismissed.” General waved his hand, telling Hymn to leave.

The knight stood and turned, his eyes wide and steaming with rage at the very thought of Octave or Pastoral being above him. As he exited General’s office, Hymn’s internal thoughts leaked out of his mouth in hushed, but furious whispers.

“How could he even entertain that thought? Son of a bitch. I’ll show him exactly why I’m an S-Rank and they’re not. Put them in their place… By any means necessary.”

---

The afternoon shone bright in New Harmony. In the streets, humans wore less clothing than normal to keep cool. Octave and Pastoral sat down in the observational room of the simulation chamber, unaffected by the heat. The duo peered through the window, watching Sonata cut down a holographic Malevolent after swiftly dodging a buster shot.

“She needs to put more power behind her swing.” Octave said plainly. To someone else, the simple and stiff comment would come across as crass, as if Octave disliked the young Soul he had been training himself. But Pastoral knew better. Had Octave felt negatively towards Sonata, someone else would currently be observing and training her. Octave, despite his emotional unavailability, seemed very fond of the childish Soul before him.

“Sonata nearly cut that Junk guy clean in half.” Pastoral added, leaning back in the chair, resting his feet on a button-less section of the panel before him.

“Probably because he was made out of junk.” Octave said, turning to his brother with an annoyed look on his face as he pointed out the obvious.

“Still. She’s learning quickly, moving that fluidly this early on is crazy impressive. But apparently she’s not so chill outside of combat. Ran around downtown the other day scaring people to death.” Pastoral redirected the conversation as Sonata did a back handspring to dodge a melee attack.

“She’s a child with a weapon. It’s sort of a scary concept.” Octave commented stiffly yet again.

“I guess she takes after her teacher more than we know.” Pastoral joked. As Octave sat upright to omit a response to the remark, a pair of heavy boots crashed through the door and stomped towards Octave and Pastoral, who soon turned around to see who it was.

“SaberMan. We are dueling in the next sim room over. NOW.” Hymn ordered, as if he had some actual authority over the lower ranked Masters.

“Get out sir douchebag. We’re observing Sonata. If I’m too busy stepping on your squishy head, then I might miss a mistake she makes. One that might get her killed.” Octave said, sighing before turning back to watch Sonata battle a large, tank-like simulation.

“How dare you-” Hymn started.

“Seriously. SaintMan. Get out.” Pastoral stood from his chair and clenched his fist as he took a single step towards Hymn.

“You think such a base support unit like yourself could take me on, PulseMan?” Hymn stepped in turn, the two powerful fighters now standing face to face.

“I think we’ve already had this conversation. And you’re starting to give me an excuse.” Pastoral replied sharply.

As the tension rose, Sonata’s attention went towards the large window to her right, viewing the scene as an outside observer. The break in focus caused her to take a hit by the tank hologram, knocking her onto her back and ending the simulation with a loss.

“Start it again and keep your eyes on the fight.” Octave spoke into the intercom sternly as Sonata rose to her feet, now even more driven to succeed. “Look, Pasty. You wanna shut this guy up, you gotta break his jaw. But Sonata needs to focus.”

“Yeah… You’re right.” Pastoral sighed, feeling guilty about making a scene that distracted Sonata so greatly. “Let’s go and see how much you grew on that last mission, SaintMan.” Pastoral ended, defiantly, before marching past Hymn and heading out the door.

“Good luuuuck.” Octave said, coyly.

“No amount of luck will save him from this embarrassment.” Hymn turned away from Octave to follow Pastoral out the door and into their duel.

“I wasn’t talking to Pastoral.” Octave added, a smile on his face stretching from ear to ear as Hymn marched out of the room.

---

ChargeWoman jumped into the air, spinning in a tucked position until she reached the peak of her ascent. Almost as if she was floating, ChargeWoman straightened herself out in midair and held her hand outwards, a ball of energy forming in her hand. She hurled it downwards before shifting her weight and landing on the floor. As ChargeWoman landed, the ball of energy bounced high into the air. When it came back down to her chest level, she kicked it in a roundhouse motion with her energy engulfed legs, shooting the bomb forward at an almost impossible speed.

MarksMan, familiar with this attack, dodged just before the kick met the bomb, and still was only barely able to avoid a direct hit.

With a sideways roll over his shoulders, MarksMan drew his Long-Buster, a high powered sniper rifle capable of shooting and killing almost anything. ChargeWoman, however, wasn't just anything.

In a charge to close the distance with the longer ranged combat master, ChargeWoman dashed ahead, her charged legs allowing for more powerful, and subsequently quicker movements. MarksMan fired, the shot ringing all across the valley of the wastes. When the round got to its mark, however, ChargeWoman jumped and aimed the side of her torso at the sniper round, sending powerful waves of energy through her frame and negating most of the power of the shot. The impact of it, however, quickly stopped her charge, sending her sliding onto her feet in a defensive position.

"Gotcha." MarksMan said in a sing song tone of voice, his scope fixated on ChargeWoman and nothing else.

"Thought you said you weren't a fan of sniping, asshole." ChargeWoman met MarksMan's glee in kind. She struggled to talk, the round she just took to the body did a lot of damage to her hull.

"I don't like it." MarksMan remarked, pulling back the action on his Long-Buster. Traditionally, a bullet would have fired out of the side, but since busters are energy based, all this did was recharge the one shot weapon. "But I know when to use it."

In a last ditch effort, ChargeWoman quickly charged and threw another energy bomb, and as expected, MarksMan shot it out of the air, creating a thick cloud that MarksMan could not see through.

"Ah shit! Shot-Buster!" MarksMan cried, backpedaling to try and get some distance between himself and the wide range of places ChargeWoman could be hiding inside that cloud. But it was pointless.

“INK-DROP!” MarksMan heard the cry and looked up, ChargeWoman coming down at him like a bomb in a pencil dive. MarksMan scrambled away, and without landing a direct hit, ChargeWoman only caused harm by sending MarksMan flying in the large explosion following the attack touching ground.

MarksMan brushed rubble off of himself, his HUD informing him he was fine. But it was not the time to get comfortable. ChargeWoman was a hyper lethal foe, her powers of charged energy were no joke. Unless MarksMan ended this here soon, she would get close. And then it would be all over.

When the dust cleared, MarksMan found himself just a few meters from the edge of a large crater ChargeWoman had just created. In a horrifying image, MarksMan saw ChargeWoman, still standing in the center of the crater, looking right at him.

“Think maybe we could talk it out?” MarksMan chuckled, shrugging his shoulders as ChargeWoman walked towards him, eerily calm.

“Sure.” ChargeWoman stopped her walking and powered down her charged energy that was lighting her arms and legs up. MarksMan's eyes widened with surprise and confusion. “But let’s talk with interpretive dance.”

As ChargeWoman arrived on the edge of her crater, the simulation suddenly ended. MarksMan and ChargeWoman's battle damage faded off of their bodies, and the shifting room returned to its boxed, girded, silver appearance.

“Get out.” Hymn ordered, walking into the room while Pastoral leaned against the framed of the door, an entertained look cemented onto his face.

“What the hell do you mean get out?” ChargeWoman cried out, her arms outstretched as her combat form shifted into her passive mode. “We were in the middle of killing Solo!”

“We?” Solo questioned, his worrying tone accompanied by his terrified, shocked expression on his face.

“Yo. Ves. We’re gonna do something real important. Think we can borrow the room for…” Pastoral shifted his attention from Vesper to analyzing Hymn, who turned towards him. “Eh… Five minutes?”

“Good work, kid.” Octave said, clapping slowly as he entered the empty gray simulation room. He stopped his clap suddenly and returned his hands to his side, suddenly realizing that the clapping schtick was General’s thing. His expression suddenly reeked of horror, and just as suddenly faded.

“Thanks, Octy! I’ve been training a lot!”

“Don’t call me Octy.”

“Yes, Octave.” Sonata said sharply, correcting herself before Octave got mad, which she knew he could, and probably still could.

“Here’s the thing: you gotta put more power behind your hips. Sure, if you’re fighting a hunk of scrap, you could sneeze in their direction and they’d fall apart.” SaberMan’s blade shot out from his arm, his mouth guard and light green visor revealing themselves from his helmet just as quickly. “But, should you ever face a well made enemy, such as myself…”

“I’d do jackshit.” Sonata gulped, terrified but still somehow awkward. She was still completely new at the aspect of cursing, and it was obvious.

“There ya go. Ready for this?” SaberMan took a combat pose, lifting his saber into the air and holding his left, free hand directly out in front of him.

“No. I want to know what happened to Pastoral. He was in there with you.” Sonata demanded, annoyed that SaberMan simply ignored the confrontation she had witnessed not too long ago.

“He and SaintMan… Went for ice cream.” SaberMan lied, his tone making it obvious.

“OOH! Can we go for ice cream!?” Sonata jumped up and down, completely ecstatic at the idea of ice cream.

“Tell you what.” SaberMan lowered his guard, standing upright. “If you can break my guard and hit me once, I’ll go get you ice cream until it’s leaking from your eyes.”

Lowering his guard suddenly seemed like a mistake when ApacheWoman charged SaberMan, now fiending for a single strike to land to receive her reward. SaberMan swatted the light attack away and brought his free hand up, palming ApacheWoman right on the forehead, stunning her and opening her stance for an attack.

SaberMan sent his blade forwards, placing the tip just in front of ApacheWoman's eyes, causing her to panic when she opened them.

“I win. Again.”

ApacheWoman swung her tomahawk in a forehand, knocking SaberMan's blade away as she lunged in for a backhand attack. SaberMan clutched the base of her weapon, grinding the assault to a halt before kicking her shin, knocking her off balance, and letting her fall forward on her face.

As the younger combat master went to stand, she noticed that, once again, SaberMan's blue sword was just next to her face.

“You’re going to have to try better than that. Again.”

ApacheWoman spun her hip to the side, kicking her legs out to the side and spinning her body around. When her legs came around in an attempt to sweep SaberMan's legs, the elder master jumped, seeing the move coming. While he was impressed at the attempt, she projected and allowed plenty of time of time for SaberMan to react.

By the time SaberMan landed and readied himself for a strike, ApacheWoman was back on her feet and in the process of jumping backwards. The second she landed, ApacheWoman jumped forward, rotating her body and coming in for a wide swing with her energy tomahawk.

Ignoring the fact that he could easily dodge, counter, and kill ApacheWoman right here and now, SaberMan admired the string of attacks and placated the strike. Guarding the side of his head, the connection of their weapons did little to stagger SaberMan, who was much less physically imposing than most other combat masters. SaberMan's strength was his speed. In a showing of this skill, SaberMan brought down ApacheWoman's tomahawk, shifted backwards, and swung, all in an instant. The attack left ApacheWoman with a shallow cut across her cheek.

Very unfamiliar with the pain of such a minor wound, ApacheWoman clutched her face with her free hand and stepped backwards in an unimpressive feat. Frustrated with his pupil, SaberMan decided it time to show her the error in such an overreaction, kicking her in the center of the torso, running around her in a blink of the eye, and allowing her backwards stumble to impale herself on his saber.

In a scream that pained SaberMan, both emotionally and physically (to his ears), ApacheWoman cried and clutched the blade sticking out from the lower left side of her body, just above the hip. Upon grabbing the saber in an act to gain some relief from the pain, the thin layer of metal and plastic around her hands was burned from the powerful energy emiting from the saber. In an act of mercy, SaberMan sheathed his blade and caught ApacheWoman as she fell backwards, clutching her wound and continually screaming.

“Octave!” Vesper darted into the simulation room, shoving Octave off of his own pupil as she grabbed the wallowing master in her arms. Vesper removed Sonata’s helmet and began stroking her hair in an act to calm her down.

“What the hell?!” MarksMan, close behind Vesper, ran up to Octave, pointing his Shot Buster straight at Octave, worried about the mental state of his close friend.

“She needs to learn to deal with the pain!” Octave yelled over Sonata’s screaming and reached out, swatting MarksMan’s buster away from his face. MarksMan, unphased by the act, took a step back and re-aimed his weapon at Octave’s face.

“Well she’s not you and you’re not General!” Vesper turned, shouting at Octave furiously. “Training it not a do or die situation, Octave!”

The comment hit Octave hard. For decades General trained him, stabbed him, shot him, abused him. All to make him stronger. In an act to try and teach Sonata to protect herself, Octave had become the very thing he learned to hate.

Eyes widened and mouth gaping, Octave slowly backed away from Sonata’s kicking, screaming, heavily damaged body and sprinted out of the room, faster than either Solo or Vesper could catch.

“Shhh shhhh, child.” Vesper whispered lovingly into Sonata’s ear. “Solo, teleport with her to Manhattan’s lab. I’ll go talk to Octave.”

“Should I alert General?” Solo asked, taking over on holding Sonata as she clawed at his arms.

“No. He’d probably just praise him.” Vesper sighed, disappointed at the situation. “Just… Get her to the lab. If I don’t calm Octave down, he’ll just freak out and do something stupid.”

Pastoral and Hymn stood opposite each-other in the simulation room. Their chosen field of battle was a fairly simple one; a massive, grey floored room with several marble pillars, spread thinly throughout the endless, concrete plain. They both waited, as the proctor of the duel prepared himself.

Album, ever reliable, stood near the center of the arena. The tall, thin robot master leveled his gaze at both of them, before speaking. "I think, gentlemen, that if we allow cooler heads to prevail, you shall both find this duel pointless. Such posturing is unbecoming." The logistical robot glanced towards Pastoral. "You in particular, Pastoral, I have known to be rather gentle and lighthearted in the past. I implore you to set aside such baseless violence, and use speech to determine your-"

"Shut up, FigureMan." Hymn growled. "If this is such a waste of time, then leave."

Pastoral gave Album a friendly grin. "I consent to the match, Album, and I appreciate your concern. Thank you for proctoring this match."

Album's lime-green eyes narrowed, as he considered them both for a moment. "...May the best man win."

"I intend to." Hymn clenched both fists, standing with his left foot forward, preparing himself to charge. "Now call the beginning of this match. I've waited long enough."

Album lifted his hand high, speaking in a clear, strong voice. "Gentlemen, defend yourselves at all times. Although this is a simulation, you are both to engage as though the battle were a real event. Should any glitch occur, you are both to disengage while the simulation resets." Album kept his hand high, alternating his gaze between the two. "Fight to the best of your ability, be the best of yourselves, and prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that though there can be one victor, New Harmony's Robot Masters fight with honor, and indomitable will. Are you ready?"

"Ready," Hymn said.

"Ready." Pastoral bounced lightly on his feet, his mind clear. He could see the hate in Hymn's eyes. He could see the way the robot favored his right side. The smart choice would be to stay back, and fire his buster.

Pastoral decided to get in close instead. If he couldn't beat Hymn up close, at his own game, then what was the point of winning?

"BEGIN." Album brought his hand down, and disappeared from the simulation, leaving Pastoral and Hymn alone.

Pastoral's visor came down, and he wiped his nose, grinning.

"I'll wipe that smirk off your face," Hymn hissed.

"I'll wipe the mat with yours."

Who will come out on top in this battle of wills?!

...Seriously, who? I donno. Probably Pastoral.

The duel comes later this afternoon! Stay tooned!

Temporary chapter setback due to enemy snipers.

Will post in the immediate future, so stay stayed tooneded.

Malevolent forces have begun attacking the writers. S-Ranked Combat Masters have been dispatched.

The moment the two took a step, FigureMan activated his ability; Chronicle Scan. His eyes and ears tapped into a specially designed hard-drive built into his brain, allowing him to receive every single iota of information this duel could glean.

General would want a full report, after all.

Despite their mutual hate, Pastoral and Hymn began the battle barehanded. The two combat masters cleared the floor quickly, closing the distance; being the faster of the two, PulseMan moved further than SaintMan.

The two met, both swinging their fists. The collision shook the room, and would have taken most humans aback. Neither managed to land a blow, but both reengaged, standing toe to toe. Pastoral, keeping his speed advantage, danced on his feet, circling Hymn and controlling the movement and flow of the engagement. Pastoral threw simple boxing combinations, as Hymn guarded with his hands first, then his shield. One of Pastoral's punches just grazed Hymn's cheek.

Hymn COULDN'T allow Pastoral to draw first blood in this skirmish. He stepped in, thrusting his head forward. Pastoral blocked the headbutt, but the blow wasn't meant to strike, it was to gain distance. Hymn stepped back, and swung his arm around in a chopping motion. Pastoral blocked, and Hymn prepared his buster, his hand transforming before Pastoral's eyes.

Thinking quickly, PulseMan swung his body backwards, and SaintMan's heavy-buster fired, just barely missing PulseMan's nose. Pastoral flipped back, performing a handstand. Hymn stepped in and fired again, aiming for the ground, where Pastoral's hands were. The spry robot popped into the air, avoiding the blast and landing on his feet.

Pastoral prepared his right cannon and fired off a few shots of his own. Hymn blocked without flinching. His armor was built for durability, rather than maneuverability. Busterfire dominated the field, gold and purple bolts of energy whizzing by. Pastoral leapt back, avoiding a shot. Another cratered the ground nearby him, but he evaded it with casual ease. He was no Octave in terms of speed, but his reflexes, footwork, and the his own agility made him a difficult target. SaintMan ground his teeth, charging as he prepared his mace. His right arm bloomed into a heavy, spiked ball, and he lurched forward with a loud war cry.

Hymn's mace came around, and Pastoral ducked under the blow. He stayed low, thrusting his boot, sweeping one of Hymn's legs. He rolled as Hymn brought down his mace, and he aimed his right cannon. Pastoral fired the single shot, striking Hymn on the cheek. "Gyah!!!" SaintMan's face turned towards his opponent. As the smoke and sparks cleared, Pastoral could see Hymn's face regenerating.

For a moment, Pastoral was transfixed by the image. He looked almost exactly like Skull.

Hymn brought his shield-bearing fist around, and smashed Pastoral with an immensely powerful blow. Pastoral blocked just in time, but the blow made his left arm go almost completely numb, and sent him flying. For several meters, Pastoral sailed backwards, before he managed to catch himself, his foot clipping the ground. He rolled, then put his boots to the ground, skidding to a halt just in front of one of the room's pillars.

SaintMan was immediately on his tail. PulseMan ducked as Hymn brought his mace around, smashing the pillar behind Pastoral. The speedy, brown robot spun to his feet, swinging his boot around. Pastoral's left foot smashed Hymn on the side of the head, who stumbled backwards. PulseMan rolled over his back, and popped up, kicking Hymn with both boots this time.

"CURSE YOU! MOURNING STAR BARRAGE!!!"

Hymn's mace detached, linked to his arm by a steel chain. Flailing his arm, the ball rocketed towards Pastoral, who stood his ground. The ball struck Pastoral on the side, eliciting a bark of pain. Hymn brought it around again, and though Pastoral's body was fast, Hymn's strike was faster. Pastoral was caught on the waist, and smashed through a pillar, rolling to his feet. "My condolences, Pastoral. It looks like the bell tolls." Hymn released a quick, superior laugh, but his smile faltered when the dust cleared.

Pastoral, lying down after the blow, immediately popped to his feet. He wiped his visor, smirking. "Honestly? Monday built me to last, creep."

"Glutton for punishment, eh?! I'll show you your place!!!"

"My place is right here! Same as yours! And my fist's place is about to be on your jaw!"

Hymn brought his chain around, the ball approaching Pastoral. However, Pastoral stepped in, grasping the chain and letting the ball swing around a new axis. To Hymn's surprise, the ball struck Hymn in the face, knocking out one of the robot's teeth. Pastoral smirked mischievously. It was a stupid counter-attack, but an effective one. With that, he charged.

SaintMan was off balance, and Pastoral meant to exploit that. Stepping in, PulseMan clenched his fists, but moved fairly fluidly; a strange departure from his typically hardstyle martial arts.

So many Robot Masters learned to fight from General. Pastoral, however, had taken a lesson from Lady Opera. Flowing like water, then crashing down with enough force to turn rocks into pebbles.

Pastoral swung a punch into Hymn's stomach, doubling him over, then thrust up his knee, striking the robot on the forehead. He danced on his feet, throwing blow after blow, each shot serving to both damage Hymn and keep him off balance. Pastoral readied his right cannon, as he swung his boot up in a side kick, smashing Hymn across the cheek.

"GOLD KNOCK!" Bringing his fist around, Pastoral smashed his buster against Hymn's chest, firing at point blank. A gold flash of energy sent Hymn skidding backwards, his teeth clenched, but he ramained on his feet.

Pastoral checked his buster, and realized that the muzzle was badly scraped. Cosmetic damage, but the cause, for a moment, was unknown. It was as if he'd fired his cannon against an unbreakable surface.

Hymn's body glowed purple, his muscles tensing and expanding, along with his armor. "...Pastoral...Allow me to show you a wall you can NEVER surpass." Hymn took a single step, his boot cracking the floor. "For all the favoritism you receive, and the support, and the training, this ability mine will crumble your inferior body."

Hymn looked up, a dark gleam in his eye. His armor shined with a violet blue overshield, as he looked at Pastoral in his new form. "This is ability is the Dark Ages. The ultimate fruit of my crusade against injustice and incompetence. It will be your undoing."

Pastoral, clenching his fists, stared Hymn down for a moment, as Hymn grinned maniacally, the floor crackling beneath his feet.

"...Yeah, Hymn. I've seen it before. We've fought on the same team at least a thousand times, remember? Heck, I saw you use it a year ag-"

Hymn burst towards Pastoral with a vengeance, "DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Pastoral's chest was clotheslined by Hymn's arm. The blow jarred Pastoral, nearly knocking him offline. Hymn grasped the robot's face, punting him upwards. He lifted his mace and smashed Pastoral down, the blow shattering Pastoral's visor.

With the momentum, Pastoral managed to get up, as Hymn thrust his shield-buster towards the dented PulseMan's face. Pastoral caught Hymn's arm, but was forced back. He avoided being shot, and yanked Hymn over his shoulder, smashing SaintMan against the ground. However, Hymn sat up, bashing Pastoral with a headbutt and doubling him back.

Hymn burst forward again, and shoulder checked Pastoral. The blow sent Pastoral jetting backwards like a cannon-ball. The robot only came to a stop when he smashed against a pillar. PulseMan rolled a few feet, before coming to a stop.

Grinning ear to ear, Hymn presumed he'd won with that. However, Pastoral slowly stumbled to his feet, dizzy. "Not gonna lie, that was actually pretty...whoa, man..." Regaining his balance, Pastoral planted his feet, as Hymn approached, glaring, but confident.

"See, Pastoral? You will NEVER achieve S-Rank. General recognized my prowess! He trusted in me, above you!"

"I don't care about S-Rank," Pastoral said. For a moment, there was an implicit cease-fire, as Pastoral and Hymn spoke to each-other on equal footing. "I don't care about being better than you, or the pride of this situation."

Hymn furrowed his brow. "THEN WHY, at every turn, do you subvert and challenge my authority?! Why do you INSIST on your childish threats and games?! Why do you vie for General's attention over me?!"

"Eh. I suppose it's a side effect of not liking you." Pastoral pointed his finger towards Hymn pridefully. "But, you not being likable isn't a punishable offense. But let me tell you something; I won't let you hurt my brother, and I won't stand by while you give robot masters a bad name by being a dick to everybody."

Pastoral dropped into a runner's stance, preparing to attack. "I won't tell anybody that I beat you here, but YOU'LL KNOW, and maybe that'll teach you some gosh darned humility!!!"

"If you think you can go blow for blow with my Dark Ages. armor you're sorely mistaken!!! A mere Page could NEVER surpass a KNIGHT!!!"

"King Arthur was a Page, dummy! And he was the best knight EVER!!!"

Pastoral's feet crumpled the concrete beneath them, as his powerful legs kicked up pebbles. He stared at Hymn, who lifted his mace to attack. PulseMan had learned something while fighting Cavatino.

It wasn't enough to pour his brute force into damaging something. He had to use finesse.

Pastoral jerked to the side as Hymn swung, circling around. He threw a punch into Hymn's side, managing to knock the robot back. Pastoral avoided yet another strike, as Hymn swung backhanded. PulseMan vaulted over Hymn's swing and brought his foot down, ax-kicking Hymn on the back of the head. Bellowing with rage, SaintMan charged Pastoral, the two dancing.

Each swing from Hymn's mace struck only air. Using his momentum to spring back and forth, staying out of Hymn's strike zones, Pastoral bolted back in when Hymn was off balance, issuing blow after blow. The fight had shifted from a one-sided battle in Hymn's advantage, to Pastoral battering the robot.

Hymn thrust his mace, and Pastoral sidestepped, jerking forward and thrusting his knee. As Pastoral landed to Hymn's left, the violet knight fired his buster. Pastoral ducked the shot, and sprang back in to issue a roundhouse to the side of Hymn's head. Hymn stumbled, as Pastoral fired a charged shot from his left cannon.

"Silver Splash!!!" The volley of bolts dented and heated SaintMan's armor, the robot seething with rage as he dropped to one knee. The Dark Ages enhancement wore off, leaving Hymn damaged and weakened.

Still, he stood, and aimed his cannon. "I'll show you a real charged shot!!! Royal Thunder!!!" A purple blast of energy sailed towards Pastoral, who had already charged both cannons.

Pastoral could see, in a clash of firepower, he would win.

Hymn held far too much back.

"PLATINUM STAR!!!"

In a glowing burst of vibrant light, Hymn's charged shot was dispersed into flecks of purple energy, Pastoral's shot piercing through. Hymn, unable to dodge in time, was stricken dead on.

In a testament to Hymn's strength and willpower, he was still standing when the blast struck him.

However, both his arms had been evaporated. He stood, for a moment, unflinching and solemn, like a marble statue. The color on most of his armor had been burnt off, but his face, laconic and sphinxlike, was intact.

Hymn slowly tipped over, landing on his back, as Album appeared in the arena to call the victor.

"The duel's victor is PulseMan. You both fought with all your hearts, and though there is a victor, I would like to reiterate, you are both champions for having fought such a stellar match."

The simulation ended, and Hymn's arms were restored. The room shifted back to its white appearance. Hymn sat up, putting his face in his hands. "...Un...forgivable..." The knight clenched his teeth, unable to accept the result of the duel. It was his worst nightmare, losing to Pastoral.

Losing to a trumped up Support Unit.

Pastoral stepped out of the room, speaking over his shoulder. "If you ever want a rematch, you know where to find me. Here's hoping this somehow gets you to be a better person, but...I'm not counting on it."

---

The battle, though a private match, streamed live to General, who watched it with keen interest.

"...His program reflex is improving..." General, sitting in a quiet room, interlocked his fingers. "He'd benefit from further sparring with you and Vesper."

Cavatino, standing at General's side, nodded, before raising an eyebrow. "At the same time?"

"Perhaps. Octave progressed faster that way. Unfair matches force the trainee to optimize, rather than simply win." General looked up at Cavatino. "Do you differ in opinion?"

"If I may, sir, it seems that Pastoral learns through experience, rather than training. I will see to it that his evolution as a warrior progresses, but formal combat sparring should remain tertiary to his development."

General nodded. "Of course. A mindful response, Cavatino. You are dismissed."

Cavatino stood to leave the room. "...Sir, would it be improper to spread the word of Hymn's defeat."

"Yes, Cavatino. The defeat in and of itself should serve as a wake-up call to him." General, looked at the far wall of the room, speaking to himself. "A knight, knocked from his horse by a mere page. Hilarious."

Cavatino paused, thinking to himself. ...The hell is a Page, anyway?

The winner, by mechanical knockout, is the Implacable PULSEMAN!!!

You guys always make me wait longer than you say I should for the next part.

WHY YOU TOY WITH MY HEART THAT WAY?!

Because I'm a massive fucking jerk. :D

In case y'all didn't know, the last two large posts are my new chapters. Apparently peeps didn't know!

"Listen and listen GOOD. I'm your leader for one main reason: I know how those Harmony punks operate." Skull spoke into his communicator, standing alone in the dark. His team needed to be told the deal. He was, in fact, the most experienced of the group.

The Toymaker trusted him above all of his creations. They were BUILT with loyalty in mind. Skull had earned trust through skill, cunning, tact, and pure savage nature towards the New Harmony denizens he had once sworn to protect.

"What we need to do is sprawl them, spread them out so they don't have one unified threat to shit-stomp us. In other words, most of us are a distraction." Skull decided to address his most important asset first.

A jet black, batlike figure. It stepped from the shadows and onto the teleportation pad. A rusted "Sniper Joe" drone keyed in the coordinates to Shade's drop off point.

"Shade, you're on thief duty. You know what your objective is. Do NOT fail. Make the grab, upload it, and then go after Lady Opera. Do NOT engage anyone. If they see you, blend in and avoid capture. Once you've given them the slip long enough, they'll run off to do more important things."

Shade nodded, as Skull stared at him with his cold, hateful eyes. "Do not fuck up. This whole attack is so you can get your job done. You're our damn quarterback. And remember, our teleporter won't work long, so once you've made the upload and killed Opera, it's on you to escape."

Shade nodded, and the teleporter whirred to life. The Malevolent stood, eager to enter and begin the attack.

"Slash. Run interference. Cut down any Robot Master you come across. If you see a brown one..." Skull man sighed "Try to kill 'em. He’s a fucking nuisance."

The Malevolent Slash stepped forward, a wild look across his face. He slid his long, energy coated knuckle blades against each other, causing a loud scratch before he chuckled and stood next to Shade.

"Cloud- I was you to stir up some atmospheric disturbance above their Precious Little Cathedral. Throw some lightning around. To be honest, I don't have the slightest idea what your powers are."

A thick, heavy set robot with wisps of thick, opaque smoke rather than legs, drifted into the portal. "I will show them no mercy! My thunderous atmospheric powers will topple their Cathedral, along with their hopes!"

"...Whatever, ya freak." Skull dismissively waved him away. "Commando- are the troops in position?"

Miles away, and underground, two Malevolents stood amongst thousands of Sniper Joe troops. The larger, more heavily armed, nodded. "They are ready and willing to fight on my demand. My advance forces have burrowed through their barrier and are ready to ascend."

"We're in Flynn, Skull!" Coil shouted out-of-turn from the small crowd of Sniper Joe troops. "We'll hit 'em where it hurts!"

Skull put his face in his palm. "...Shut up. Don't talk to me, Coil. You're aware that I hate you. Just stay with Commando and watch his back." Skull genuinely DID hate Coil. Few of the Malevolents actually got along on a personal basis, but their common goal was great enough to keep them from infighting during such a monumental occasion.

"Begin the assault when ready Commando." Skull watched the Teleporter, and turned on the lights in the room. Behind him, there stood an immense, red painted robot with profoundly hideous, yet humanoid features. It stood, inactive and looming, waiting for Skull's command.

"I'll bring Backbone when we're ready." Skull said with a sick, twisted smile. "New Harmony is soooooo fucked."

---

Octave, alone atop the large building, stood and gazed at the bright sun hanging high in the midday sky. There was a whirl and a thud behind him. The dark blue master turned slowly to see who had arrived from the teleporter transit system, an ability granted only to combat masters, and only usable inside the walls of New Harmony.

“You know… You can be a real drama queen, Octave.” Vesper said in a dismissive, calm voice. While you couldn’t tell from her voice, it was very easy for Octave to see she was both angry and disappointed.

“Sure.” Octave swayed his body away from Vesper, turning back towards the downtown cityscape. He stared down at the tiny people below who he had sworn to protect and wondered if he was capable of stabbing them if they too showed signs of weakness. While the thought didn’t sicken him, the answer he gave himself did.

“You ran your saber through Sonata’s chest, and now here I am trying to make you feel better.”

“Well. You’re doing a damn good job at it.” Octave sighed, realizing there was no escape from this conversation. If he tried to run, Vesper would chase him for the rest of his life.

“Thanks.” Vesper said, dismissing Octave’s sarcasm and bitterness. “You know I didn’t mean what I said back there, right? Believe it or not, I was pretty pissed when I saw Sonata lying there with a hole in her.”

“You may not have been far off. When I was assigned training the girl, I fought against everything General did to Pastoral and I. But I realize now that surviving that horror made us so much stronger than if he coddled us. Even if Pastoral rejected it entirely.

Vesper stopped herself as she went to speak, realizing that reacting to anger with Octave’s state of mind would end badly, especially for Sonata when her body’s repair was completed.

“You… You can believe that. Just remember how you feel about General. Do you really want Sonata to feel the same about you?” Vesper, just now remembering the futility of arguing with either of the hardheaded brothers. With Octave’s back still pointed directly at her, Vesper used her interface to activate the teleporter system, leaving the rooftop she, Octave, Pastoral, and Solo had spent so much time sitting on.

---

A few hour after his short conversation with Vesper, Octave walked down the street, once again watching the sun glare through in dome shield surrounding New Harmony, a lovely sight, even for a pair of robotic lenses they called eyes. But he was on a mission, a goal to achieve. A point that needed to be made.

After about an hour of waiting, the time had finally arrived. The knight armored Robot Master stopped at the sight of the blue armor in the corner of his eye.

"Word really gets out." Hymn commented, his eyes closed to imply his calmness. He looked at the sun with a somber look. "You like the sun?"

"Not sure." Octave was flippant in his response. "I guess I’m not currently focusing on the sun."

"...I should have won that fight, don’t you think so SaberMan?"

Octave looked at him with eyes wide and mouth bent up. "Not even a little bit. You’re a pretty disappointing guy, SaintMan."

"Did you not learn anything in our time together?" Hymn turned his back on Octave.

Octave chortled. "I learned that if you were as good as you are cruel, you’d be the best fighter in New Harmony. People might actually respect you."

"Funny." Hymn growled, turning to face Octave.

"True. I believe mercy should be earned. And no one i’ve faced has ever won that right"

“Well apparently Pasty has.” Octave was going tit for tat with Hymn. This was less a conversation and more of a verbal battle, and neither was winning.

"I will make that pest eat his taunts. I will avenge this tarnish on my name." Hymn's fist clenched so hard that it shook. "I lived with that shame. Now, I don't care who knows, because I intend to reconcile the MISTAKE of my defeat."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Octave asked, now interested.

"I want a rematch, of course. I'm going to fight Pastoral again, and I'll win. Simple as that."

Octave felt a cold heat of anger. "...No." Octave shook his head, pacing around Hymn.

A physical confrontation was now inevitable. The two stood in a unusually wide, empty alleyway. For at least four blocks, no one was around to witness this battle. An imperfect, but fair battlefield.

"I won't let you waste my brother's time with this, Hymn. He's a clean living, peaceful guy." Octave spaced his feet apart, ready for a fight.

"If you want him to concede, I'd suggest you talk to your brother." Hymn shot a look to Octave, smiling now. His metal visor came down, shielding his maroon eyes. "You won't have much more time with him."

"Why?"

"Because I won't just defeat him. I'll make sure he never stands up again." Hymn grinned, his energium mace forming. His left hand formed a wide, powerful heavy buster, the side bearing the New Harmony coat of arms, an olive branch wrapped around a planet.

Octave's combat matrix flared, activated by rage. his visor and mouth-guard slotting in place as he drew his saber.

"Like I said. Pasty is a clean living, peaceful guy… But..." Octave paused. "I am NOT!

"If you think I can't go through YOU, SABERMAN, you're mistaken!"

SaintMan dashed towards Octave, swinging his mace around in an attempt to take Octave’s head.

"Too slow, creep!" Octave rolled under the horizontal bludgeon.

"I'm not done yet, ingrate." Hymn planted his feet as Octave landed. The lighter, faster fighter, Octave had the advantage of his raw speed. He paced back and forth, ready for Hymn's next attack.

Hymn had force and range on his side. With Octave at a distance, he fired his mace, attached to a long, thick chain. Octave dodged the attack with ease; closing the distance in a split second to get what seemed an easy kill. As quickly as he attacked, Hymn put his mace over and swatted Octave's saber away and leaped back to a safe distance while Octave recovered.  

Bastard's heavy AND fast? When did this happen? Octave growled in annoyance as he swung his saber again. Hymn backed away, the tip of the energy blade nearly clipping his chin. Hymn pulled at his mace, and the chain began to retract. Octave ducked the ball as Hymn spun it in the air. Hymn brought it back to his arm, the metal ball locking into place.

The combatants clashed hard, their weapons sparking. Octave gritted his teeth, pushing against Hymn. I've fought him to a standstill before. I'll can take him out this time! He can't dodge forever...

"Be careful, Octave. I might get the wrong idea." Hymn grinned. "General wouldn't take kindly to my murder, now would he?"

"Don't hide behind your boss you cocky son-of-a-bitch. This is between YOU and ME." Octave growled, his blade shifting. The two of them moved in a slow circle, their footwork matching, the constant pressure of their weapons keeping them deathly still. "Nobody threatens my brother!"

"Isn't GENERAL your boss as well?" Hymn grinned, pushing harder against Octave. "Am I not your brother?"

"You mean jack shit to me, Hymn." Octave growled, as Hymn overtook him in the contest of strength. With a mighty grunt and a swing of his arm, Hymn sent Octave flying backwards, forcing him away. "Hah. The advantage is MINE."

"Is it?" Octave grinned.

Hymn looked down at his chest. There was a long, smoking cut in Hymn's armor. A shallow strike. A warning.

"You may be strong, but I'm faster than you can HOPE to be." Octave cut the concrete beneath his feet. "Last chance to back down."

Hymn patted his mace into his shield hand. "Come. I'll crush you in ONE HIT."

I actually remember the part about ice cream and the Malevolent preparing to attack New Harmony from your original draft of this story.

It came a lot faster in that one, but I think I preferred the build up in this iteration of Metallic Knights. I feel like I know the Robot Masters a little bit more (although that is also thanks to the short stories) so I'll actually care if someone dies in the attack.

I also like that Pastoral's victory over Hymn happened in the present rather than, like... a hundred years ago? I'm not sure why I prefer it, but it feels better. Maybe seeing Hymn immediate reaction to it made me see Hymn in a different light.

Anyways, this is stellar work. It was pretty fun reading through everything and the all the short stories posted!

Pastoral kicked his legs, sitting on the Cathedral wall, unaware of the developments far from him. He enjoyed the sun on his skin, and the breeze against his face. Synthetic or not, he was designed to feel, and see. Admiring the weather was one of his pastimes during a day off. His hand was lightly perched on a small tin box, carefully keeping it steady on the wall so the wind wouldn't blow it away, but making sure not to put his weight on it, lest he crush the boxes contents.

It was a simple lunch, made by a human chef who knew and enjoyed the robot master's company. One of the more personable warriors, Pastoral was one of the combat master's public faces. He assisted humans and industrial masters with construction, demolition, public works, and he even stopped to chat with humans.

With a vast network of contacts, and a large amount of goodwill, he had a relatively sizable perspective on human culture. One which most other combat masters regrettably ignored.

But, mostly he just liked food. He had simple tastes, and enjoyed tearing into things with his teeth. He opened his box, a simple, oval shaped patty of hamburger with a thick pad of cheese, flanked by simple vegetables like mushrooms, chili peppers, pickles, and tomatoes. It was the specialty of a local bodega, and one of his favorites. Without any thought, ceremony, or preparation, Pastoral began messily eating.

"You know, I used to consider trying food. But the way you eat REALLY turned me off to the idea." Like a ghost, Vesper had arrived with absolutely no noise. Perched on the wall to Pastoral's left, she looked down at him as he looked up at her, flecks of food on his face. "You gonna clean yourself up?"

"I have a napkin. It's rude to sneak up on people while they're eating." Pastoral continued eating for a moment, and Vesper indulgently waited, rolling her eyes at him and taking a seat herself. Pastoral failed to notice, but the older robot master had a fairly forlorn look on her face. She was considering approaching a subject she wasn't comfortable discussing with Pastoral. As he finished eating, the robot shut the tin, crushing it with his hand, and setting it to the side as he wiped his mouth. "So, what's up?"

Vesper stared off into space for a moment, before sighing, and opening her mouth to speak. However, to her genuine relief, Pastoral talked first.

"Just here to watch the weather, huh?" Pastoral said, shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah, I get that. It's a really nice day."

Vesper raised an eyebrow at him, forgetting her initial elation at being interrupted. Pastoral could normally read people very well. Surely he knew that she had something serious to say. She quickly realized that he did know. He just didn't want to know whatever it was. Something about his stature, and the relaxed look on his face said that he'd figure out on his own.

Especially if it was about Octave.

Vesper decided to grant Pastoral a reprieve for now, and nodded. "Yes. That it is," she murmured.

"Birds are singing, people are getting off of their construction, research, and commerce vocations to go home to their families, on a day like this, people like us ought to just relax and watch the weather for a while." Pastoral kicked his legs, bumping his heels against the wall.

"Stop kicking your legs. You look like a child at a doctor's office." Vesper snapped, and Pastoral immediately straightened himself. She sighed, removing her helmet and straightened her hair. "I've never told you this, Pastoral, but I've always considered you a valuable friend."

Pastoral raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't expecting that. Thanks, Vesper." He turned towards the Cathedral, standing upright. "I think it was just a few years ago when you started training me. I'm sorry I was such a mopey jerk back then." Pastoral internally cringed at the past. "If you and Lady Opera hadn't shown me the way, I would have been a D-Class fighter my whole life."

Vesper shook her head. "...Frankly, I'm glad you were weak. It taught you to value the strength you accrued. It also taught you to see things through the eyes of the weak." Vesper looked out towards the city. "Until you started blathering on about humans on our sixth day of training, I didn't even know what they did during the day. I didn't care. I had lost all perspective of who I was protecting, and why. Even from the start, you cared deeply enough about humans, and weaker masters, and New Harmony in general to want to fight for it." Vesper patted Pastoral on the shoulder. "What I'm trying to say is that whether you're strong or weak physically, you're strong in the real way. The right way. And I hope more masters learn that from you."

Pastoral's face twisted, his eyes growing wet with synthetic tears.

Vesper's face went from sincere and kindly to stern and dangerous. "If you're going to fucking do that, lower your visor." Pastoral's visor snapped into place, and he loudly sniffled.

"Thanks, Vesper. That really meant a lot."

"Eh. Lady Opera is the one who told me to say it. I just happened to believe it." Vesper quickly remembered the incident, and why she'd come in the first place. "Speaking of learning, Pastoral, you and I will be taking over Sonata's training personally. You taught Solo a thing or two about hand-to-hand combat and gunfighting, and he turned out to be a phenomenal ranger."

Pastoral regained his emotional bearings, putting his theatrics on hold. "Don't we need someone who has a melee oriented weapon? I'm pretty good up close, but I think a master with a blade would be best."

"...Yes, it would be." Vesper said. Pastoral looked her over for a moment.

The thing she'd come to talk about had DEFINITELY been Octave. ...If something was wrong with him, she would have just told me. Whatever it is, I don't think Octave would want me to know just yet. He thought to himself for a moment, folding his arms. I'll wait and talk to him later. Maybe he just didn't want to train Sonata or something, and Vesper's mad at him for it.

His deduction wasn't entirely on point, but he still didn't have the hard facts regarding the incident during Sonata's training. So, he let it go.

"You know Meter, right? CompassMan? He's got his Northern Axis saber, and he's pretty much on par with Solo when it comes to scouting. I could ask him to train with us." Pastoral smiled. "I don't hang out with Meter enough, so it's a win-win."

Vesper nodded. "Indeed. Meter is a kind person, and he's A-class. He'd be an adequate teacher."

Pastoral sat back down. "So, want to sit a while?"

"Nah. I've had enough for today. Goodbye, Pastoral. Thanks for the chat." Vesper gave Pastoral a brief salute, before jumping over the side of the wall, disappearing an a haze of light as she teleported away.

Pastoral was left alone with his thoughts, and for once, they weren't good ones. Enough had happened with Octave recently that he was weary of the drama and worry.

Perhaps it was time they had a genuine talk.

---

Cavatino gave Vesper a disappointed look, before speaking. "So, you didn't tell him?"

Vesper nodded. "We should give him more time. Time to decompress after all that business in the wastes. Aside from the two being close, the situation doesn't involve him. Why punish him with the details?"

Cavatino sighed, his heels clicking slightly as he walked. "He deserves to know, and he will find out. This was our chance to give it to him in a controlled situation."

"He should hear it from his brother," Vesper plainly stated.

Cavatino folded his arms. "Can I tell you something in confidence?" Vesper nodded, as the elite robot master spoke his mind. "If something happens with Octave that truly turns him...against us, someone will have to stop him. Someone who knows him well enough to talk him down...but someone who would understand the danger he poses enough to put him down."

Vesper shook her head at Cavatino, who quickly revised his statement. "I don't want that to happen any more than the next person. Octave is a friend, and a stellar combatant. But lately, his methods have been rather extreme."

"...If Octave ever goes rogue, I would not burden Pastoral with bringing him in. I'd rather use force myself than pit a brother against a brother."

"You and I both know that if one of them goes rogue, they'll handle it themselves. They're both strong, and they've been connected for a very long time. When the time comes...I doubt we'll have a choice."

With that, the two parted ways, Vesper's teeth clenched. "...We'll see about that."

Oh my! wrote:How will Pastoral handle the news of Sonata's grievous injury at Octave's hands?! Will Octave succeed in his coming duel against Hymn, or will Hymn finally defeat one of the famous Twins?

If a war between the brothers comes to pass, will Vesper be able to intervene, or will Cavatino's prediction come true? When brother fights brother, who comes out on top?!

Stay tuned and find out!

NEXT TIME ON DRAGON BALL Z!

Octave twisted his blade, blocking the heavy mace swinging down at his face. The impact drove Octave’s feet into the pavement, cracking the rocky road into tiny shards. 

“Now, SaberMan. You capable of much more than this. Are you holding back?” Hymn tone became eerily sympathetic, his calm intention to kill Octave that much more apparent. 

“I'd like to think it'd say a lot more if I killed you with the least amount of effort possible.” Octave shot back, he inferior strength now putting him in danger and he remained locked with Hymn. 

“I don't think you're capable of the effort it will take to kill me.” Hymn kicked Octave square in the torso, pushing him backwards as Hymn approached, coming in for the kill. 

But the blue combat master recovered too quickly. Octave dashed, pushing to his right with a jump and planting a foot on the wall. Before Hymn could react, Octave used his foot to lunge forward, kicking Hymn on the side of the head, the master’s own strength now backed by his momentum. The kick shattered Hymn’s helmet on his left side, and sent the heavy adversary to the floor. 

“Give up, SaintMan.” Octave’s coy demeanor during the fight melted away. His head tilted downwards, and his blade was placed incredibly close to Hymn’s neck.

“Why? So I'll be still while you lock me inside my own body?” Hymn chuckled, amused by Ocatve’s change in tone.”

“No. No matter how many times I might kick your ass, you won't stop trying to kill Pastoral.” Octave repositioned his saber, aiming it straight at Hymn’s head while he placed his left hand over the hilt. 

“Oh how the plague of praise for subpar performances have clouded your mind. If you think you are capable of killing me, SaberMan, you are a f-” 

Before Hymn could finish, Octave’s saber lit up in a glorious blue shine. Unceremoniously, the blue robot master shot off his Burst-Raider ability, an enhanced version of his previous Break-Raid on his more powerful original blade. 

Narrowly avoiding the lethal attack, Hymn’s dodge wasn't entirely effective. The blast from Octave’s attack colliding with the ground Hymn once laid on sent the master flying away from his attempted killer. 

“Are you so foolish as to actually try that? With your offenses? If I were to end your brother’s life, my punishment would be minor. But you? Killing human? Destroying Integrated Circuits without permission? Impaling a young master you're training? You’d either be exiled or killed!” Hymn laughed, half mocking, half begging with the murderous Octave. 

As Octave went to aim for another shot straight at Hymn for the kill, he paused, lowering his weapon. 

“Wait. How do you know about Sonata? Does Pastoral know?”

“He’ll surely know by now.” Hymn laughed, figuring he’d be safe from attempted annihilation. He was wrong. 

Shots from Octave’s saber rang out rapidly, the rounds and their consecutive explosions too much for the slow and heavy Hymn to handle. 

When the debris and dust cleared, Hymn stood upright, barely able to lift himself up. His left arm, where his buster was once located, was gone, blown away from existence. Pieces of his armor was cut, scraped, dented, or just missing entirely. 

“I don't care what happens to me, Hymn. I don't care what General, the public, or even the other masters think. If I can prevent your malicious assassination of my brother, then I will be killed or exiled without any guilt.” Octave aimed his buster once more as he walked closer to Hymn, who struggled to stand. While he could just wait for Hymn’s body to lock down from the damage of the previous barrage, Octave knew he wouldn’t feel it as he struck him down, so he moved to kill immediately. 

“Fool…” Hymn struggled to speak, now clutching his stump.

Now standing feet from his crippled victim, Octave lowered his hand from his hilt and raised his blade, aiming to finish Hymn with a more personal strike.

But before the damning act was committed, the morning sky was lit up with an unnatural light, like a rainbow that Octave had seen before when many combat masters teleported all at once. 

But both Octave and Hymn knew that there were no longer nearly enough robot masters with access to the teleportation transit to cause that light. 

Then, the ground suddenly shook beneath the Warriors, causing the unstable Hymn to fall as his lockdown sequence initiated. The rumble of a large explosion rang out across New Harmony. 

”ThisThis isis GeneralGeneral alertingalerting allall availableavailable Combatcombat Mastersmaster.” General’s communication echoed annoyingly through Octave and Hymn’s HUD. Octave stepped away from Hymn to understand the message fully. 

”New Harmony is under attack. I repeat, New Harmony is under attack and is under a state of crisis. Malevolent forces are in the city. All individual orders are being sent directly to your heads up display… New Harmony cannot and WILL NOT fall. I'll be seeing you on the battlefield, Masters. General out.”

“Shit.” Octave said just before his HUD rang with an executive order.

Octave: Provide cover for Manhattan’s Lab until MarksMan arrives to extract him. Further orders to follow.

“Shit!” Octave exclaimed as he prepared to teleport to his location. He paused for a second, turning to the invalid and locked down Hymn. 

DBZ Announcer wrote:#Hype- the Invasion of New Harmony begins now! Orders have been sent to the each of the Combat Masters we've met so far... And a few we haven't...

Will Skull and Commando's assault on the final bastion of humanity end their reign of prosperity? Or will General's counterattack buy New Harmony time to fight another day?

Will Octave spare Hymn?

Will the wide open plot holes close sometime soon?

Will we ever actually figure out who the fuck 95 is?

Find out in some post long after next time on Metallic Knights!

(Cha-La! Head Cha-la!)

Some post long after next time?

...I NEED MY FIX OF MK!

“Go! Go! Go!” Solo, the lone combat master present for the civilian evacuation in this area lead man and woman into the large air vehicle. Usually called into use for cargo transport, the J-19 Obsidian Class air vehicle was repurposed for an evacuation ship. 

Unfortunately, there was no safe place outside the New Harmony walls. And if the combat masters were to fail, the survivors here would have only relocated their demise. 

”This is Obsidian-5 to FSN-116. We are full to capacity. Are there any other survivors on your end?”

“Negative Obsidian-5. Sector should be clear.” Solo replied, scanning the tops of the large buildings surrounding him. The evacuation point, located on the roof of New Harmony’s largest mall, Oasis Shopping Center. 

As Obsidian-5 lifted off of the ground and prepared for liftoff, Solo turned to the whistle of a speeding rocket. The red and silver master lifted his right arm as the plates of metal shifted, revealing his long barreled buster, aimed, and fired. The round was energy based, much like Octave’s saber but unsteady. Contact with another object, living or not, will cause heavy damage. The glowing shot was skinny and soared through the air much faster than the missile. The sniper round hit its mark, albeit much too late.

The explosion threw the Obsidian ship off axis, tilting it away from the explosion and sending it spiraling out of control. With a scream and disturbance from his radio, Solo could only stand and watch as Obsidian-5 spun around and around until it crashed into the base of a nearby building. 

“No! NONONONONO!”

As the impact became engulfed in flames, the borderline skyscraper of a building warped and bent towards Solo’s position. When Obsidian-5 finally exploded, the added shock broke through most of the building’s support beams. As the building came tumbling down, Soli sprinted to the other side of the roof. Moments before the collision, Solo leaped off of the roof, the shockwave sending him flying as he was still descending. 

Crashing through a previously undamaged glass window, Solo tumbled through shelves and thin counters as his momentum slowed. Coming to a stop just next to the doorway to the backroom of the store he found himself in, Solo heard a faint gasp and rustling from the other side of the door.

“Hello? I’m not gonna hurt you. We just need to get you on an evacuation sh-” Solo started as he slowly walked through the door, his hands raised to support his friendly claim. Before he could finish, a gunshot rang off, and Solo felt the heavy impact of a non energy based bullet bounce off of his head. “Fuck!”

“Get back! I-I’ll shot again!” A woman, covered from head to toe in what seemed to be a mixture of dirt and blood, kept her sidearm weapon aimed at Solo, her hand shaking violently as she did. In her arms was a small child lying in her lap in the fetal position, covered in the same muck that the woman was.

“Whoa, listen lady. That peashooter isn’t gonna help you or that kid. I’m a New Harmony Combat Master. It’s my job to protect you, and right now, the best way to do that is to get you to the next evacuation site.” Solo, hands still raised, backed away from the frightened woman. It was obvious that she had seen some awful things. Even if the invasion had only been happening a few hours, the Malevolent were as cruel as ever.

“I don’t need your help! Your kind has KILLED people! And if you’re supposed to be protecting us, then why did you let this happen!?” The woman shouted, firing her pistol three more times at Solo, the first two rounds harmlessly bouncing off either shoulder, and the third ripping away synthetic skin as it pierced and bounced back from Solo’s face.

“Okay, I get it.” Solo sighed as he moved to exit through the door he entered through. Just as he reached the doorway, he stopped. “Just… If you see a robot like me with one eye, shoot it with this. Two or three should do it.” Solo reached for the right side of his waist and carefully placed a energy sidearm on the floor.

“What is it?” The woman looked concerned at the piece of technology she was unfamiliar with. Civilians weren’t allowed access to the powerful weapons Souls held.

“Pistol I ripped off of a Sniper Joe. Thought I’d keep it to remember… But It’s better if you have it.”

Solo exited the store, facing the now completely destroyed shopping center so many humans used to spend a great deal of time in. Down the street, to Solo’s right, was the cause for such destruction. A powerful Malevolent named Commando, the Toymaker’s own personal war machine. Commando was high up on General’s Wanted list, but many combat masters who had faced him before suggested that Duet be the one to destroy him.

But Duet was there, it was only Solo. But more importantly, there were many more evacuation sites in the direction Commando was headed.

“Fuck me…” Solo sighed as his small, one-eyed visor came down over his right eye. Solo’s arm cannon, the multi-buster, shifted from his hand into a long barreled, scoped, sniper rifle variant weapon. The Long-Buster’s scope gleamed in the sunlight at Solo aimed. While the rifle was powerful enough to destroy a tank in a few shots, from the looks of him, Commando was built in a similar format to Duet. It would take a lot more than Solo had to destroy the behemoth, but he definitely could hold him off of the evac point if he played his cards right.

The highly skilled combat master moved with silent footing, stayed low, and got himself to a position behind Commando. Solo had to aim the fight away from the building that woman was hiding. With a shot powerful enough to destroy tanks, Solo fired his Long-Buster into the back of Commando’s head. The round ricocheted off of the heavy metal, landing with a power burst of sound as it redirected harmlessly into the floor. 

“Who dares?!” Commando turned to see his attacker, expecting to see another small, ambitious human trying to save their home. To his surprise, Commando saw Solo waving coyly at him, yelling greetings from afar. 

“Yo! Asshole! You wanna try blowing something up that can shoot back for a change?!” Solo mocked as he readied his Bomb-Buster, a grenade launcher variant of his Multi-Buster.

“Sure.” Commando chuckled as he armed both of the cannons on his arm. After a short charge, he fired two missiles at Solo. But the small, nimble combat master seemed to dodge into cover with ease.

“This is gonna be the whole fight, ain't it?” Solo grunted as he picked himself up. Through his best efforts to dodge the explosion, the blast radius on Commando’s missiles were too big to dodge. That was a feat that Octave could accomplish easily. 

Once again, Solo stayed low and in cover as he moved into a several story building for a height advantage while Commando blew apart rubble he assumed Solo was hiding in.

Now a few stories up and directly to the side of Commando, Solo readied his shotgun variant of buster and leaped from the window. Landing and clutching onto the bulky, square shaped Malevolent’s shoulder, Solo clambered upwards until he reached Commando’s head. 

“What?! Hey!” Commando attempted to swat Solo off of his face, his bulky torso not allowing arm movements that swift. 

Before Commando could think to do anything else to solve his plight, MarksMan unloaded four shells of his Shot-Buster into his face, heavily damaging Commando’s one weak point. 

While Solo adjusted his grip on Commando’s head, the livid Malevolent smashed his face into the outer wall of a nearby building, throwing Solo into one of the rooms he had exposed. The massive renegade brought his cannons up and fired a missile into the room. The explosion was fiery and engulfed in dust. Following the hit, the front half of the entire building collapsed, with Solo still inside.

*HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG*
* - means click text!

Bathed in darkness, Solo saw nothing but the flashing warnings on his Head-Up Display. Surprisingly, Solo’s frame took the blast of a silo and a several story building collapsing on top of him. 

Suddenly there was a dirty beam of light streaming down from the top of Solo’s concrete and steel prison. There was an audible cry of panic by a human female as she rolled debris off of Solo. When enough of his body was exposed, Solo pulled himself up and looked around. He was fortunate enough to be at the bottom end of the huge pile of broken building, and there was no sign of Commando. 

“Where is he?” Solo swatted the dirt off of himself, leaving his heavily scathed body marginally clean. 

“He went that way.” The woman Dolo had previously been shot by pointed past the semi collapsed mall in the direction of the next evacuation zone. 

“This is Solo hailing Obsidian-3... Come in Obsidian-3! Have you completed your objective?! Shit.” Solo’s heart sank. His inability to stall Commando lead to the deaths of numerous civilians. While others may debate it, to Solo he had failed his duty to protect the people of New Harmony. 

“That was a swear.” The child said, his tone of voice heavily judgemental. 

“Sorry, kid. I’m just… I need to get you two to an evac site. Can you Guy walk?” Solo asked, concerned. 

“Can you? We’re fine, but you had a building come down on your head.” The woman retorted. 

“I've survived worse. What are your names?”

“I'm Rita and this is my nephew, Michael. I was visiting his parents today… They didn't make it.” Rita’s confidence faded as her mind replayed the traumatic events that transpired just a few hours earlier. 

“It’ll be okay. This area should be relatively clear if we avoid Commando. Hey, Mike. Can I call you Mike?” Solo’s voice became light and playful as he bent over to speak to the child who met Solo with dead eyes. 

“I'm Michael. My dad was Mike.” Michael said simply. 

“Alright. Now we know I'm not good with kids. We should get-” Solo stopped, his face consumed by horror as he watched Commando turn the corner down the street in the direction of the eliminated evacuation site. 

His cannons already raised, Commando fired in an instant. Solo grabbed Rita and Michael by the waists and held them up on his shoulders. As he began running, the first missile struck the ground just behind Solo. Though Solo took the brunt of the punishment, the three of them went flying in the other direction. Weighed down by the damage inflicted on him previously, Solo was last to recover. He looked up to see Rita and Michael running away from him. 

For a moment, Solo realized the reality of the situation. They were far out of the blast radius, while Solo would be taking a direct hit. With the condition his frame was in, Solo would not survive. His body would shatter and splinter, his integrated circuit would melt and be destroyed, and the Soul known as MarksMan would no longer exist. No one knows what happens when a Soul is destroyed. Many believe Benevolent Souls convert back into the disembodied signals and orbit the Earth for eternity, while Malevolent Souls return to the Domain. Either way, Solo was happy. He was sacrificing his life for two human’s. Combat Masters are the sword and shield of New Harmony, doomed to live forever and lose sight of why they fight. But Solo was fortunate to see who he’s fighting to protect live while he gave his life. 

As the roar of an incoming missile grew louder, Solo exhaled and closed his eyes. The missile hit, and a fiery explosion flew out in all directions. But Solo could still feel his arms and legs. He could feel himself forcing his eyes closed. He could hear the debris around his crumble and give way. There’s no way his body could survive an explosion as powerful as Commando’s, so why was he still alive?

The horrible, demented truth showed itself as Solo opened his eyes. There was a crater a few meters in front of him in the middle of the street where Rita and Michael were running. Solo stood to see the full extent of the damage, hoping against all odds that his eyes were closed for much longer than he thought, and that they had made it to safety. 

The first thing Solo saw was an severed arm fused into the road along the edge of the shallow crater. Bits of burning fabric floated and disappeared from the air. The upper half of Rita laid several feet away from the impact site, her skin completely burned through. 

“I… I…” Solo yammered as he fell to his knees. The combat master was so out of it, the giant Commando walked right behind him without any deviation or retaliatory action from Solo. 

“Tragic, I know. I make it a point to show every talented Soul allied to New Harmony just how fragile the people you protect are. They die after only a few hundred years. The Toymaker understands this, and asks us not to ally ourselves with laws of men. We are not evil, Solo.” Commando his his chuckle as he smiled at his ability to kill. To Solo, who had his back to Commando, he was solemn and almost sorry for what he had just done. 

But there was no forgiving this. 

“If you can do this and rationalize it…” Solo stuttered, his head hung down low. “THAT’S evil!”

Moar. I SAID MOAR!

THIS IS NOT A STORY POST.

But, it's pretty cool

So, if you do or do not know, I am a musician, mostly classical guitar and band stuff. But I do occasionally write. I wrote a song named "Octave's Theme" for Metallic Knights. It started off as a fuck-around with trying to do Rock/8-bit style music, and it morphed into the short song that it is.

As I'm writing this, I'm writing three more songs. Please, honest opinions of the pieces after you listen to them.

(Note: This link will take you to a computer playing my music. Press the "P" key or the button on the bottom left corner of the screen. The computer doesn't register when I tell it to become quieter and stuff like that. Use your imagination and thanks for listening.)

Link: Octave's Theme

Edit: Changed Link color for ease of access. Listening to the song as I type. Opinion will be in a separate post. -Morgan

So I gave the theme a listen, and I can say that it is very befitting of Octave. The Rhythm found within is very good on flow, and upbeat just enough to give it a steady 'battle' theme without being too over the top.

In general, the composition is splendid. The transition from the beginning to the meat of the music is impeccable and could not be done any more precisely. The crescendo *heh* leading up to the actual battle theme portion is also very inspiring, and seems to fit what I imagine of Octave at his nicest.

He is a very explosive character, but his actions and thoughts are meant with good intentions, and I think this song paints that perfectly for him. However, my one gripe with the song as a whole, is that the ending seems a bit rushed. The song itself has good flow, much like a speed boat on a still lake. However, the ending, to continue my metaphor, is very akin to that same speed boat crashing into a Yacht that magically appeared.

That is not to say that the ending was bad by any means, I just felt that the conclusion to the theme was sudden and a little abrupt. Not so abrupt that it was upsetting completely, but just enough so that didn't seem fitting. Cliche as it may have been, I was expecting a bit more bass, and perhaps the drums could have been much more forceful.

Think to the song Sacred Icon Suite 2 by Martin O'Donnell, the music flares towards the end of the song in a powerful way. For Octave, while he may not be quite as boistorous as the Spartans Marty depicted in that song, he does deserve, in some way, a flaring end to his song. The piece started mild, and it began to gather a lot of energy, but I feel that it could have, and perhaps should have had a little more at the end.

As I'm typing this, I've listened to it a total of five or six times. Each one I find myself tapping my toe to the rhythm, and enjoying the epic change in tone mid-way through. However, each time I listen, I find a bit of dissatisfaction when it comes to the end of the song. The cymbals crashing with the bass was a great touch; however, I think if you had elongated that combination a few more times, it would have really stuck with me.

Like, if you recall Halo 5 Guardians, when Blue Team shot out that window and killed the Sanghielis inside. Remember how the music really got hype as the Spartans scanned the room, before the cutscene faded to black? That kind of ending to this song is something I feel may have benefited this piece.

I won't give you the impression that I know anything about music. We've discussed this several times on Xbox, I appreciate music in many sorts and genres, but I don't know the inner workings for it like you do. Take this feedback however you will, knowing that I very much enjoyed the song. I just hope that, in the future, the endings have a little more substance. Beyond that, it was a pretty remarkable piece and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I cannot wait to hear what you have in mind for Pastoral, because I can pretty much assume that you are making one for Octave's bond brother. My question, however, is who the other two will be for? Baddies? General? Other Robot Masters? A certain Industrial Master turned Combat Master?

Whatever you do, I look forward to hearing it.

9.5/10

Well, I actually just finished the second half of Octave's theme: Dandelion. (Link at bottom). I couldn't figure out an ending without continuing the song for way too long, honestly. I have a plan for a 3 part theme for Octave, Pastoral, General, Sonata, Solo, and the big bad. Due to some secrets I cannot reveal about the plot, I can't tell you what the idea is, but points if you can catch it when all the pieces are ready.

The third part of Octave's Theme won't be out for some time. Pastoral's first part has a medley, but is far from being finished.

Link: Dandelion