𝐈 𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐲 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝

𝐏𝐚𝐥(M)

Sounds of grunting and bodies hitting a padded floor filled the sparring room as Yeji was set for yet another day of finding another co-pilot. The whole idea of finding a co-pilot through sparring is that you want your co-pilot to have the same combat IQ as you and the same skill sets. You also want to have sportsmanship.

For Yeji, none of the other pilots were working, there's something off with all of them. Marshal Kim insists that she try sparring with Lia to see if it works then, but Yeji denies the offer. She knows Lia is the best CE (combat eye) this operation could ask for; she can't waste her mind on piloting.

But Lia is different when it comes to combat, other pilots are violent and quick, whereas Lia is quick and smart. Her methods work well with Yeji's better than anyone else so far.

"She's gotten better. No one was one Pilot Hwang's level before, but now? Something has changed, she's gotten better." Taeyeon commented to herself as she watched Yeji fly through the matches like nothing.

Pilot Gomez's back hit the pad hard, making even Marshal Kim cringe. Yeji took her win against him and helped him up before heading off the mat for water. She was approached by her boss and Lia.

"Pilot Hwang, I understand you want Pilot Choi to stay the CE but if we can't find you another pilot soon enough, you'll start going on fewer missions. We can't afford to lose Saber Athena in combat, she's our only Mark 7 Jaeger and you two are now the only two pilots trained up to that." Marshal Kim told her with a stern voice.

"It's not that I want her to stay CE for the job, Marshal." Yeji sighed, "I can't lose another person close to me. Losing my sister was hard enough, I can't afford to put my best friend in there with me. If I lose CE Choi, then I really won't have anyone. Well, I'll have my idiot brother, but like I said, he's an idiot."

Lia looked down at her feet and Taeyeon sighed. "Pilot Hwang, remember why we are here. We make these kinds of sacrifices so that the rest of the population doesn't have to. Now get up and spar with pilot Choi. I want you to give her an equal chance as you did the others." She scolded Yeji, making her sigh.

"Yes, Ma'am."

The two sparred and as expected the match had nearly no end. A winner is marked when the points of each component have a difference of at least 2 (e.g., Player 1: 3 points Player 2: 5 points = Player 2 victory). But with Hwang and Choi, they are both smart in each other's missing fields, so they would keep pinning one down right after another, keeping the score equal or a difference of one.

That is how you know you have a great pilot pair.

"That's enough, pilots." Taeyeon boomed, both pilots stopped sparring and faced the woman with respect. "It's decided, I'll move our top engineer to the CE position and move Lia into a full- time pilot. Salaries to match."

"Yes, ma'am!" The two pilots shouted from their chest, saluting their boss and releasing it after she left.

"Yeji-ssi. Don't worry about me. You and I both know we're too stubborn to die at the hands of a Kaiju." Lia joked, but Yeji wasn't having it.

"You may be right, but these attacks are getting much more frequent. The attack on the workshop? That was so random, and even the Tokyo one just a week ago. I've been mapping these out and I think there's something to it."

"You think they have like a mission or something?" Lia asked. They put their shoes on and began walking down the halls, Yeji leading them to the lab. "What the hell are you doing with the lab scientists?"

"I wanted them to study the chemical makeup of the recent Kaiju we've killed, and they came back different from any other Kaiju to date. It's like these Kaiju are wired to one mission. They aren't just attacking cities; they're trying to get somewhere." Yeji kept talking while leading Lia to a makeshift desk she made for herself and the data she has gathered.