She screams inside her cockpit. an energy gathers as her emotions get pushed to an extreme level. Sally's body grew hot, her eyes felt hazy and her consciousness drifted. She wants to prove them wrong, prove everybody wrong about her.
Jay looked at her in astonishment, he could see something. A number.
—-----
“Sally, whatever you do, don’t be a pilot”
A child was sitting there with a mech toy in hand, she looked up to her mother with a confused expression.
“Why?”
“Just do what I said… Give me that”
She snatches the toy from Sally's hands. She walks over and throws it in the trash. Sally watched as her mother trashed all the mech toys that they brought for her. The older lady's anger piles on more and more.
“Ma’ stop! why are you doing this!”
Her mom didn’t listen, she continued to trash all of the toys. Sally couldn’t remember her mom's expression but she remembered the fear in her mom's voice. Sally broke down pleading for Mom not to dump all of her mech-related stuff away.
“What going on Mom!?”
She said with her eyes brawling out. But that didn’t stop her, item after item was sent to the junkyard. Sally didn’t understand, why her mom suddenly threw out her stuff. And she didn’t understand that from that moment on her life changed.
Her warm and light-hearted house became a cold place. Her mother rarely talks to her and she’s forbidden from buying mech stuff at all cost. She could only sneakily watch some media but never own something that related to mechs. These moments of silence hurt her the most.
“Mom, when would dad come back?”
“You never had a father.”
“but…”
“Shut up and get back to your room!”
She didn’t think much of that conversation that day but it was obvious something happened. However Sally didn’t know, she couldn’t know what happened. Her life was relatively the same before she went to school. Where it goes from bad to worse.
“Ma’ Why did you send me to a C-class school?”
“You’ll thank me later”
“but..”
“.....” She only glared at Sally to shut her up.
Sally couldn’t understand, what? when? or why did this happen? Her mom used to be softer, and often worried about her. Ever since Dad went missing, her life felt so joyless. Her citizenship is B class but she got stuck here in a C-class school. Alone and hopeless.
At first, the school didn’t seem so bad but as time went on she knew that everyone hated her there. She’s a B-class that often looks down on C-class so they naturally had some resentment.
Her mom said this was where she belonged but her classmate didn't agree. They mock her, throw stuff at her, and never welcome her into any friend's group. She often heard about B-class bullying C-class. But she got it in reverse. She couldn’t help but feel unfair, She was in B class, and they should have been looking up to her. Some would get close but they only want her money and talk behind her back.
Her life is a living hell
The teacher turned a blind eye they were C-class too, her mother wouldn’t let her leave this place no matter how Sally pleaded, and no classmate wanted to talk to her. She constantly asked her mother, why she sent her here but never got an answer. Her mom wouldn’t talk and she didn’t have anyone to talk to.
“Mom…”
“Get out of my room before I beat you up”
“I...I just want to know…”
Slap!
“Get out!”
Sally got slapped in the face by her mom. She falls on the floor, her emotions are in turmoil as she struggles off the floor and out of her mom's sight. The only place she finds safe is in her room more specifically her bed. She got on and wrapped herself in a blanket. She cried her heart out, what did she do to deserve all of this?
She cuddles her body pillow and watches more mech combat videos. It’s the only thing she could hang on to. At least she could stop thinking about all her trouble. However, at some point, she could not take it anymore.
She balls up on the bed and went on the NET. She needs to know why she wasn’t sent to a B-class school like everybody else. Her old friend distanced themself when they heard that she would move to a C-class school. Her teary eyes couldn’t see well but when she read what the B-class school taught it all made sense. At least in her mother's logic.
Mech pilot = bad
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The B-class school has a mech pilot class. A trainee one where you control a trainee tier mech or TN to test your aptitude.
All of this because...
Ma’ didn’t want me to be a mech pilot…
“.....”
It didn’t make sense, why ruin her whole life because she doesn’t want her to be a mech pilot?
Why is it so bad? Why is she so sure that I would be a mech pilot? Maybe I just try it once and never again….why…
Then she knew why, it was because her father was a mech pilot, and he wanted her to be too. and… Sally still couldn’t figure out the whole story. Her mom has very tight lips when it comes to her affairs. So Sally lived on hoping she could pilot a mech. It’s her only goal now.
One day when she was 16, sitting alone on her table with no one to talk to. A guy came and announced something great. A pilot aptitude test aims to weed out a potential pilot among the C-class students. It’s a program that would boost pilot numbers since the military tension has been high in recent times.
Sally jumped at the opportunity, she always dreamed of being a mech pilot like her father. She still remembers the time when she flew high in the sky, seeing the dusty view outside the Zember dome. It’s not the most beautiful sight but it will be the one she’s always remember.
I want to see it again.
There is a team that came in to set up some kind of equipment in the school. It’s a machine with many cables attached to it. They brought in all the students to use the machine one by one. The students happily took the test. Not only did they get to skip class, but they could potentially become a pilot and elevate themselves out of C-class. The testing continued until Sally turned.
“B-rank?” The guy in the science coat asks looking through her profile.
“yes..” Sally replied meekly, years of mockery tearing down all her confidence.
“Wear this” The guy hands her a syn gear that looks like a glasses visor. It connects to a database cable. Sally picks it up and wears it on her head. Her body heats up, and her eyes become hazy. The tester's eyes widen as he reads the result of her test.
“We got a specialization”
“What type?”
“ 3 or 4”
He whistles “We got a Lottery winner!”
“What?”
Sally was excited, the tester's reaction was promising maybe she could be a real pilot! She is about to reach it! her lifelong dream and the dusty sky.
“You got something called singer specialization, a type 4! Congrats this made you eligible for a trainee pilot license.”
The tester transfers the test result into her smartwatch. A bunch of numbers and words that she couldn’t understand popped up. She speeds past that and looks for a mech pilot license.
“Where is it!?”
“Slow down, Ms.Kert you still have to apply for it.” The tester sends her to another location, which looks like it’s a government building. he pointed at where to go and gave her directions on what to do when she arrived.
“S..sorry I got excited..”
“Naturally, I was also excited for you too. we haven’t got type 4 in a while! Congratulations, but you have to step aside now we still have like 2000 kids to go through.”
“Sorry”
Sally step out of the way for the next kid to take the test. She opened up the test paper and stared at it, she smiled, she giggled, her dream was about to come true. She couldn’t wait another day and left school early to go to the government building.
In the interconnected maze of buildings, owning the whole metal structure is reserved for the only top people in Conticus II. Naturally, the government is included. Their whole building is in the A sector, at the center of the city. It stood among many of the top Corps in Conticus.
Sally felt out of place, being in C-class school in recent years made her quite a bumkins to technology. She enters the building and selects to apply for an early pilot license. The A.I. directed her to office 74 and she had to go through the elevator to get there.
One ride later, she arrives at the room. It has a sleek corpo design and a dash of light blue throughout the room. A man greets her on the table reviewing something on his floating screen.
“Hello, lady, here to apply for a trainee license?” The guy looked at her and went back to typing away.
“Yep!” Sally replied with enthusiasm. The paper has been sent to his screen and he verified them.
“Wow, a type 4. quite rare for a Trainee tier. Where’s your parent?”
“They are not available” She prepared for this question.
“Then we will have to call them..”
“No!” Sally blurts out “I mean they are VERY busy in and in an unreachable area so we can’t call them”
His eyebrows knit in confusion, he types something into the floating screen.
“Your mom is working as a vocal teacher at an Idol agency. And she seems to be VERY available at the moment.”
“...” Sally despaired, if this ever got to her mom, she would never be able to be a mech pilot. Who the hell could confirm people's position.. right, the government. “Please... I could… pay you”
“Bribing an officer is punishable”
“I… mean I could… made a donation? yes, I could donate to you. Please…” She places her index finger together looking up to the guy.
“....” The guy looks at Sally in desperation. He is about to make a call to her parents but sees something in her. A fire. “Upon closer look, your mom is currently very busy at the moment. I will proceed as your guardian.”
“Thank you! How much do you want”
“Kid, I don’t want money”
“Then are you….?” Sally's mood shifts in an instant.
“That’s not what I mean” The guy quickly corrected his mistake.” Just go kid, I’ll approve this for you. just don’t make me regret it.”
“You won’t” Sally smiled, as she received her newly made license. “By the way what’s your name mister? I will repay you!”
“Name’s Roland”
—----------------
jay watches on in awe, not only because Sally is doing something weird. He could also see something weird. a number. The number is tipping over a hundred. Its numbers are moving, pushing to go over 100 into 101. Its red hue turns pink, and in that moment a surge of energy emerges.
A burst of energy is visible to one eye, a moment that a human has evolved into something more. something extraordinary. A pink hue paints the whole cockpit. Anyone could recognize this phenomenon if they are an AP-tier mech pilot.
Sally just advanced to the Apprentice tier.
A newly advanced mech pilot could enter a flow state. A moment in time that brings out the pilot specialization to the max. Sally moved her mech and started the carnage.