Jan stepped through the halls, smirking when he heard the hurried steps behind him. “Decided to take me up on that offer then.” he said as he continued walking. He didn’t need to look back to see who was following him, he could already make an educated guess.

[color=d3d3d3]”Uh.. Yeah. Guesso.”[/color] Percy replied. He wasn’t even totally sure why he was doing this. But he was. 

“So, have you ever used training pods before?” Jan inquired, it was rather likely Percy hadn’t what with his rather run-down origins.

[color=d3d3d3]“...Training pods?”[/color] Percy’s response probably made it obvious he was absolutely clueless. [color=d3d3d3]“I.. don’t think so.”[/color]

Jan smirked, he was gonna see the spectacle of someone going ‘in the pod’ for the first time. He briefly reminisced of his own first time. It had involved vomiting and headaches “Well, it’s a good thing the base has a specialist present. Trust me, you’re gonna be happy he’s here.”

When the duo reached the simulator room, they were greeted by the constantly annoyed Neural-Engineer working on the room’s fifth pod. He looked up at the two that entered, “Going to duel? 1 and 2 are fine.. Percy, you never did this before, right?”

The redhead took a moment to look at the pod the engineer was working on, trying to remember if he’d even [i]seen[/i] something that looked similar to it.. and his mind was coming up with absolutely nothing. [color=d3d3d3]“Don’t think I have- Uh, I’m not dueling.. Am I?”[/color] Percy looked at Jan for a response.

“It’s an option.”, the ‘engineer’ noted, “Before you go in, allow me to say-”

Jan interjected. “Well doc, I’d say run him through a basic scenario first, let him adjust to the pods… forcing him into a high intensity situation is just gonna make his first time a disaster waiting to happen.”

“True that. In any case, don’t interrupt me again. Moore, if you puke in the pod, you better swallow that crap, or I’m going to make your spine [i]explode[/i], do you hear me? I’m sick of cleaning up after you people.”

Percy looked horrified that he even said that. [color=d3d3d3]“You’re.. Haha, you’re just kidding, right?”[/color] He wanted so badly to just not even do this now, but.. he’s here, why back out?

“God, do you even think that’s actually possible? Just get in the pod and do whatever the hell you want to do. A little training scenario is already in, get yourself warmed back up. If you puke due to ‘first-time sickness’, I expect you to clean up after yourself. It better be sterile enough to eat off of, if you need to do it in the first place.”

[color=d3d3d3]“Got it.”[/color] Percy mumbled. He cleared his throat, then spoke again at normal volume, [color=d3d3d3]“You said it’s all ready?” [/color]

“Yeah, dumbass.”

[color=d3d3d3]“No need in insulting me.”[/color] Percy said as he got into the pod. It didn’t feel totally foreign, because it had a resemblance to the NC’s cockpit, but nonetheless. 

“I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. The first time is almost always the worst as far as I know. Some people can handle it quite well, but I wouldn’t bet on it.” Jan tried to assuage Percy’s fears, he was quite unsure whether or not his words would help though.

[color=d3d3d3]”Let’s get this over with, then.”[/color]

“...Then actually plug in, stupid.”, the Neural scientist was overheard saying.

Percy’s face reddened slightly - he didn’t know that’s what that plug in there was for.. Thinking more on it briefly, what ELSE would it be there for? Decoration? He plugs in the same way he would in his NC.. and there’s that fucking feeling again - like he’s getting bigger and taller, but at the same time still feeling like himself. if that’s part of the simulation, they captured that feeling almost too well. He lets out a sound of disgust and discomfort - he is [i]never[/i] going to get used to that sensation for as long as he lives.

Percy could ‘see’ a simple, desert battlefield all around him, the same strange way he could see things with an NC’s eyes. He surveyed the area, looking for any signs of possible hostiles or enemies - that’s what this whole training this was for, right? Practicing fighting against some bots? ..Well, more accurately, against AI.

Percy could then realize he seemed to have access to a ‘list’ of possible enemies and situations. It was hard to describe, but there were various options. There was a short-looking ‘Anti-Tank’ scenario, one with helicopters, a 1v1 against another NC, a 1v2, and various ‘Pilot versus Pilot’ situations, among others.

[color=d3d3d3][i]Oh Lord. I thought he said it was already set up?[/i][/color] Percy looked at the numerous options, not sure what in the world he’d want to go with.. All of it sounded kind of daunting. Maybe it was just having so many choices, maybe it was him being a wuss by nature, he wasn’t sure.. But it took him a full minute to decide a 1v1 would do.

He was then blasted by a list of possible enemies. Three sub-groups were present, “High-Accuracy”, “Mid-Accuracy” and “Low-Accuracy”. The first was just his fellow Pilots. It was soon apparent that ‘Accuracy’ meant how accurate the specifications actually were to the ‘real-life’ version. A strange-looking NC in ‘Mid’ caught Moore’s attention, it appeared to be a nearly skeletal model with proportionately oversized boosters, and wielding two strange gauntlets with pike-like instruments sticking out of them.

The enemy data was titled ‘Smile!’ and had a notification saying that approximate voice-data was also provided.

Percy was honestly tempted to maybe try that one out, but.. Again, it seemed like maybe that was too much. He stared at it for a moment, then decided [color=d3d3d3][i]whatever, this is just a simulation anyway. I’m not in any danger.[/i][/color] He picks Smile! to fight against. 

Percy’s virtual equivalent of his NC then saw the rest of the world move and twist, until it was in a nice, circular imprint in the limitless dune. It was plopped on the south-western end, while another NC, just like the one he selected, materialized at the north-eastern.

The ‘Smile!’ then began communications, base off of the actual ‘Smile!’s’ known quotes. It was literally all screaming, punctuated by vitriolic, and honestly ‘imaginative’ curses.

[color=ed1c24]“NGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAARH! C’mere you iron-dildo, I’m going to BEND you until you can LICK YOUR OWN ASSHOLE!”[/color]. The gunmetal gray NC then initiated maneuvers, going straight towards the Papa-Mike.

Percy immediately regret this decision. [color=d3d3d3]”Shit. [i]Shit[/i].”[/color] He backed up as soon as he noticed Smile! coming for him, even using the new boosters. The speed at which he went back actually shocked him - these felt way better than the old ones, too.

Percy’s heart nearly leapt out of his mouth when he felt his back against the invisible wall separating the arena from the rest of the virtual map. Smile! continued to encroach, ranting and raving. 

[color=ed1c24]“When I’m through with you, an AMOEBA IS GOING TO HAVE LESS ASSHOLES THEN YOU WILL!”[/color]. It was in range.

The poor redhead was shaking - what in the [i]hell[/i] had possessed him to go up against this lunatic? He jumped, then boosted above his head - pure instinct was driving him now, and his instincts were screaming at him to FLEE. The Smile! quickly turned, using its’ thrusters’ improved gimballing to rotate 180 in half of a second. [color=ed1c24]“GET OVER HERE YOU FUCKING CUNT, I’M GONNA RIP OPEN ANOTHER ONE FOR YA!!”[/color]

Percy was trying to think of what in the fuck to do as fast as he could - he had a rail-gun, a melee, and a missile launcher- MISSILES. Missiles, yes, use the missiles! He went to turn around so he could more accurately aim the projectiles, then hurriedly fired them as soon as the crosshairs on his HUD lit up in red. They all missed because of how Smile was moving - erratically and unpredictably. Just like the pilot.

While Percy was being scared of an enemy that couldn’t actually hurt him, the Neural Engineer was laughing at him. “Hehah… aaah… Yes, Jan. Can we talk for a moment while Percy gets ‘brutally murdered’?”

Jan had been following the external feed with a similar amusement as well. “uh… yeah, what is it?”

“Has Sophia mentioned anything about your NC’s combat data? We were relayed an.. interesting offer, in addition to the Fairbanks contract, that pertains to you.”

“What, me personally?” Jan inquired

“Yeah. Try to feign ignorance when Sophia tells you, please? Some independent wants a cut of your NC’s combat data in specific. We have no idea why, and it’s… relatively harmless compared to the other thing, but we still won’t decide on it without your input. Reasonable reward associated though, they’ll trade the data with a nice shipment of Neural-Computer and sensor upgrades.”, he revealed a flask from his coat and took a sip, as Percy continued to get splattered.

 “What do you think you’re going to decide on?”

“What part of the combat data do they want specifically?”

“They specifically want your NC’s history. You know, information dumps, video and audio record archives, power usage charts, fuel consumption averages. Not too harmful, in all honesty. Just.. strange. I’d personally ask for modification history, but they don’t want that at all.”

“Eh, if they’re paying us for this, I’d say give them what they want. We’re lucky they’re bothering to ask politely.” Jan was rather cynical about these offers, getting paid at all was often a bonus the way he saw things.

“Mm, you’d do anything for money, wouldn’t you? Go help Percy with ‘Smile!’, I’m getting tired of seeing him get skewered.” Percy was obviously on his last leg.

But then he did something that neither of them expected. Percy finally realized that trying to keep the NC away just wasn’t the way to deal with this. He went straight for Smile!, his plasma sword at the ready, aimed right for what could be considered the stomach on the NC. When the sword pierced through the metal, he jerked his arm up, towards the chest, then proceeded to go absolutely ham, stabbing him quickly and with a ferocity that he didn’t even know he had in him. He kind of liked it.

The length of the heated-blade quickly hit something it couldn’t immediately slash through, just as the ‘Smile!’ counter-attacked. Pained, but no less angry, [color=ed1c24]“OPEN WIDE YOU SNIVELLING LITTLE SHIT!”[/color], the virtual ‘pilot’ slammed the Smile!’s fist right towards the PM’s head, that spear-like contraption revealing its’ true nature. Explosively.

The Papa-Mike’s head exploded, taking out a notable portion of the upper armor, alongside disabling the Papa-Mike’s rifle-wielding arm. In addition, the Smile!’s offending hand broke off, careening through the air and hitting the virtual sand with a soft thump.

Percy [i]shrieked[/i] when his head got blown off, panicking and making sure he wasn’t actually decapitated - giving Smile! a chance to hit him again for just a second. After he realized his head was firmly attached to his body, he switched the cameras from the decimated head cameras, to the cameras located on the chest, close to the neck. He then aimed his missiles at Smile! - he was too close to not get hit by at least some the shrapnel of his own projectiles, but in that moment he didn’t care - and fired. All of them hit in roughly the same area, doing enough damage to force the skeletal NC to lose its’ other arm.

[color=ed1c24]“Hah… NRGRAAAAARHAHAHAAHAHA!!! Who needs arms… WITH LEGS LIKE THESE?!! GET OVER HERE!”[/color]

The Smile! did a backflip, augmented by its’ own boosters. It took a moment to reposition itself before boosting straight towards the PM again, one leg ready to pierce the PM’s cockpit.

Percy’s reflexes were on point, so he easily dodged the kick that Smile! was trying to land. He even had the idea to use his plasma sword to slice through the metal of his leg to chop it off. The sword cut into the Smile’s foot, making it hold on to the leg itself by a few wires. The Smile! quickly rotated once more, and it went for another lunge. This one was different though. The Smile!’s torso portion began glowing red hot.

Percy fired another volley of missiles as he boosted backwards, hoping to slow Smile!’s advance - he had a rough idea of what he was planning, and wasn’t looking forward to having to recover from getting blown up in the slightest.

As the last missile impacted, the Smile! was obviously slowed. [color=ed1c24]“I’LL… I’LL...BITE YOUR LEGS OFFFF!!!-”[/color]. The Smile!’s own self destruct sequence finished it off, turning it into a nice debris field of smouldering slag.

Percy boosted backwards again just before the NC blew up. [color=d3d3d3]“Damn,”[/color] was all Percy could say.

Percy could hear the engineer knocking on his pod. “Good fight, keep in mind, it really is just a fucking simulation though. You can go crazy. It’s not like they can actually hurt you, retard.”

The redhead jumped when he heard the knocking, and he looked totally confused when he heard the engineer’s voice. It took him a minute to notice that he wasn’t looking at the sand anymore - he was looking at the engineer and Jan. His heart was racing and he was still shaking from the adrenaline in his system, and his head was pounding.

“So, how did it feel?” Jan asked

[color=d3d3d3]“I feel like my head’s about to explode,”[/color] Percy mumbled.. he laughed a little bit when he realized how funny it is that his head is aching like it is and his NC got it’s head blown off.

“Well, take a break if you need one, I’ll be running a scenario on the NCs I’ll be meeting in the field tomorrow.

[color=d3d3d3]”Have fun with that..”[/color] Percy gingerly unplugged himself from the pod, then got up shakily. He sat down in a chair, occasionally watching the screen that showed what Jan was seeing, until he felt more like himself.