Ghost breathed out, his breath curling towards the cockpit of his Knightmare; he hadn't bothered with the heating system. It would detract power from the combat systems, and it always paid to perform at his best in these situations.

He looked down at Cyrus and Lightning; Requiem was hovering at a hundred feet, and they were standing on the hard-packed earth that made up the ground in this wasteland-like area outside Pendragon. He smirked, clicking off the safeties on his Hadron Rifles; they were set to EMP so that they wouldn't kill, but his opponents didn't know that. As far as they were concerned, this was live-fire, and he was only to hit their flight systems.

His voice was cold. "Well then, Knights of Three and Six. Let us see how you fare against the greatest pilot in the Empire."

(Let's get started. To those with Black Knights OCs, I'll start RPing with you immediately after this fight.)

Lightning Sighed, "Another Fight? Well, I guess it's better than sitting around, doing nothing, but the war's not al about fighting, you know."
He sat in Izanagi's cockpit, flicking the power on with his activation key. The Welcome screen came on, and Izanagi came to life. He broght out his master vibrator swords, in polearm form, but rerouted his second energry filter to his stark hadron, in case Ghost brought out his absolute defense field.

"Be sure not to underestimate me just beacuse Izanagi is eighth generation. You'll lose if you do." Lightning said. He hated how Ghost looked down on them, so much that he thought one knight wouldn't be enough. If he died... oops. His loyalty was to Britannia, not to this guy.
He looked at Cyrus, who seemed to be an okay guy,. "Well, let's get this over with."

Cyrus felt as though Ghost was over confident of his skills, just because he's the knight of one didn't mean he was the best. Looking down at the keyboard he knew that he would be able to take on Ghost by himself. His knighmare, the Susano'o, was perfect for every encounter. If he was to get all of his limbs to hold off a MVS, then he would just open the radiant wave cannon in the chest, and blow his enemy sky high. Activating the knightmare he heard, "Well, let's get this over with," come from Lighting's knightmare. shrugging the boy didn't like to speak during combat. Lately the emperor head given him the assignment of going to Ashford Academy to check anything he found suspicious. The mission seemed easy and at least he didn't have to see Ghost, or participate in any training. Turning on the power the eyes of the knightmare lite and everything seemed to be stable. "Ghost I'd like to remind you, that just because of your rank doesn't mean your our boss; we all get our orders from Emperor Schneizel." His tone was very much emotionless and dead since he had no interest in showing his true feelings.

Taking one of the two Maser Vibration Swords, from the back of the knightmare, he held it to the side, while in his other hand was a Super V.A.R.I.S.. He was happy that this was only training, and not the actual thing. He checked his sensors, and still the guy retained in the air. Looks like it's air combat, but he wouldn't indulge the guy in it. Raising the blaster, and aiming it to the legs of Requiem he let out one single beam toward the large knightmare.

Ghost reacted quickly, his craft flashing to the side. He opened up with the Hadron Rifles, the red beams raining carnage down below him towards Izanagi and Susano'o.

(Just to clarify some things: firstly, the Knight of One can give orders to the other Knights of the Round, as shown by Bismarck in R2. Secondly, the Excalibur will cut through anything with ease (including the Shinkiro's Absolute Defence Territory, stated to be by far the strongest shield in the series), except for a Maser Vibration Sword; it also appears able to deflect energy blasts. Thirldy, the Knight of One is generally accepted to be the best pilot in the Empire, although most Knights of the Round do not share this view for various reasons.)

Too Slow. Izanagi danced out of the beams with no trouble. Such attacks had no chance of hitting him. Lightning smiled, and took flight, aiming from the side woth his polearm. Feinting away at the last second, areial manuevering to capture Ghost's attention. He smiled, splitting his two polearms into sword mode, coming from both angles, at the same time reading the stark hadron. 'If he blocks the swords, the hadron will catch him. Dodge the hadron or the swords, he'll be left open for a full assualt by Cyrus.'

With another grin, he set the sights of his cannon on Ghost.

Ghost was surprised at the intelligence of Lightning's plan.

"Maybe I underestimated you," he muttered. "No matter."

He deflected the shot towards Cyrus with one of his ADT shields, knowing that the system wouldn't hold up for long, and flew towards Izanagi, while switching out his right-hand rifle for the huge Excalibur. He closed in and slashed towards Lightning's Stark Hadron Cannon, knowing that his best chance against the Izanagi was in close combat.

(Wait a minute now... Izanagi is a lightweight Knightmare, and it's packing a Stark Hadron Cannon? The Mordred was a super-heavyweight unit, and it still had trouble using the Stark Hadron effectively. The Stark Hadron is an enormous weapon.)

Cyrus watched as Ghost dodged the blast he knew that the guy was a skilled pilot but he wouldn't allow for him to be the best. He never thought of Ghost as the best just another Britannia ace like the rest of the knights, that was his opinion of the knights. Watching as Ghost fired off his Hadron rifles; Cyrus's hands flew to the keyboard. His eyes scanned everything and as the beams hit, his Absolute Defense Territory turned on blocking the hits as they rained down on him. There wasn't any openings so the shots wouldn't hit the Susano'o, but he still checked everything. There was no damage. He watched the Requiem and Izanagi were near each other. Taking off from the ground, the four black energy wings created a black rippling effect around the Susano'o making it appear as a black circle, about the size of the knightmare. Getting fifty feet away from the two he readied both of his super VARIS blasters and aimed them at the Requiem.

(Forgive my strange logic, but I guessed that the stark actually wouldn't weight too much, despite its size. I figured Mordred was mostly big beacuse of It's extreme defensive strength. Izanagi is a powerful unit, but with no defense, so I figured it was an acceptable choice If you wish, I can make it a Mini-Stark. Besides, I needed SOMETHING to balance out the fact that I'm (currently) the only knight of round without a 9th generation, unless I can get your permission to upgrade?)

Excalibur maybe powerful, but it was slower than Izanagi. It could deflect beams, but that wasn't a concern right now. He took the battle back on the ground, allowing for the wheel to take effect, helping his speed even more. Lightning focused on Ghost, "Ghost is ruthless, but he's not stupid. He won't just turn away from Cyrus. So, I have to get him into a position where it's 'face me or die.'

He back-spiraled away, launching missiles as he did, when he landed, his swords were in polearm form.

He noticed Cyrus was preparing a few volley of attacks, and he activated his needle blazer, running in close. It would again press Ghost into a touch decision: Ghost simply could not out-maneuver Izanagi, one of the worlds- if NOT the worlds- fastest knightmare. If he decided to block it, Izanagi would make sure Cyrus's assaults landed (Should Izanagi fall as well, so be it,). If he concentrated on dodging the hadron, Izanagi would eliminate him with the Needle Blazer. His ADF was not perfect, it wouldn't block two directions at once.

Decisions, decisions....

Ghost smirked and, instead of fighting, hit the deck by reversing all of his wing's thrust upwards, shooting him towards the ground and below the two Knightmares. He then shot upwards in a surprise attack towards the Izanagi. If Lightning wanted to play close quarters, Ghost was just fine with that. The Excalibur, combined with Requiem's crushing physical strength, would at least force Lightning on the defensive. As long as he could ensure that Cyrus couldn't get a clean shot off, defeating the Izanagi wouldn't be too difficult, and after that, dealing with Cyrus wouldn't be very hard either. It was the two of them working together that posed a threat.

(@Zane: Having given it some thought, I offer you a choice. You can either keep a full-sized ADF shield and downgrade to an eighth generation Knightmare [hence removing the Energy Wings], or remove the ADF and remain as a ninth. As for the Izanagi, I see now; so its main strengths are high-mobility combat combined with high firepower, but it lacks any sort of armour, therefore rendering it vulnerable should it get hit. Also, I may permit you to upgrade. Let me sleep on it and then I'll make my call.

Also, judging by some of the tech going around, I'm beginning to think that Requiem might need some heavier armaments... I think I'll fit it with a Phased Structure Diffusion Cannon, a.k.a. the weapon that the Shinkiro had in its chest. It'll also get a Fork Knife for when the Excalibur is impractical... which is a lot of the time, based on my experience with BFS's.)

(Roger, I won't upgrade, until we're finished with this fight. I'm working on a funny conversation with Lloyd and Cecil about it. The stark will be removed at that time.)

Izanagi danced out of Excalibur's reach 'Ah, Ghost must be thinking I'm favoring a certain style today." Lightning thought to himself, running around, seemingly randomly. He pretended to move in, but backlipped away, firing more missles as he did. Mid-air, he fired hhis Slash Hwarukens to the ground, zooming himself to the ground, and jumped up. The Result: He was under Ghost. With a smile, He feinted the strike, flipped up behind him, and fired the stark hadron, launching more missles as he did.

He just loved those confusing manuevers, providing he didn't confuse himself

Cyrus watched the two other knightmares go at each other, to him this whole training exercise was a big waste of time. His looked at the the Requiem both of the knightmares were opened for him to attack. Gliding on the air he watched as the Izanagi got under the Requiem, Cyrus saw the Stark Hadron fired along with more missiles. He moved the Susano'o a five hundred feet from the two knightmares, he put the super varis rifle back and took his other MVS, and prepared to attack the Requiem, if it was to move toward him.

Ghost immediately switched targets, dodging the Stark Hadron, and went for Cyrus, knowing that he could outmatch the younger Knight of Six in blade combat. The Izanagi was proving too mobile to deal with at that point, but Cyrus was looking to be easier prey.

(Lol... Cyrus is really overconfident, isn't he? And then there's the fact that he seems to refuse to admit that the Knight of One is accepted as superior. Why do I see Cyrus usurping - or at least attempting to usurp - Ghost at some stage... this'll be fun.)

"Hey, what the-?"Lightning said, surprised. No one just... LEFT, without making sure the target was destroyed. He got up on a decent ledge, readying the stark hadron for another shot.

There was a beep on his IFF. "Good Mooorning, Lightning!!!"
"Lloyd? At a time like this?" Lightning said with a sigh.
Cecile's face popped up next to him, "Me, too. Are you done with your training session yet?"
"Beacuse we're getting BORED." Lloyd said
"Umm, no unfortuantly... why, what's up?" Lightning asked, curious.
"We've got a little present for you. And it's pretty, too." Cecile said.
"Schneizel dearest figured it was time you got an upgrade." Lloyd added.

Lightning tried not to laugh. Schneizel dearest?

"AND so, The Izanagi Okami is waiting for you, my dear devicer. So hurry up." Lloyd said, and the IFF cut out.

Lightning laughed evily, and charged after Requiem. "Hey Ghost, Can I leave? Or do I have to hurry and finish you?" He said, putting his swords into polearm form

(There, First half of conversation finished. LET'S END IT!)

Looking down as the Requiem dodged the Stark Hadron cannon, he watched as it flew up toward him. Flying downward toward Ghost he matched the other pilots speed. "Don't you dare underestimate me," his voice was cautiousness and his swords were in-front of the knightmare. He watched as Lighting came after Ghost and smiled. Diverting to the side of the Requiem, he charge at it; hoping to catch it off guard. He heard what Lighting said and remembered his own dilemma, "Ghost can I go to? I need to get to Ashford before school starts."

Their requests to leave reminded Ghost of one thing - he had to be at a meeting. As Zero, no less. "Damn my memory..." He muttered, before switching back onto the general frequency.

"Very well then. Knights of Three and Six, you are excused. Now, if you please, I have some business of my own to attend to."

He then changed to a very specific radio frequency - that of his elite guards.

"Ark, are you there?" He asked.

(Okay CherrySwirl, it's your turn.)

Lightning sighed at such formal talking, but sped off back to pendragon like he was a kid, and the worlds greatest piece of candy was now declared his. Finally, after being looked down by the other knights for not having a ninth generation knightmare.

He rushed, and almost crashed into Lloyd, stopping himself last-minute.
"A-HA That sure was fast. Are you that excited, Lightning?"
He shrugged non-chalantly. "Just afraid that you wouldn't be here when I got back."
He led him into an exceptionally dark chamber, until he clapped twice. The room suddenly brightened, and there it stood.
Cecile popped from seemingly nowhere. "There it is, our newest pride and joy: Izanagi-No-Okami."

He stared at the knightmare in awe: They had completly remade the color scheme: It was now mostly white, the yellow had completly vanished.
"We've custom built this to suit your combat style." Lloyd said, "So, defensive wise, it dosen't have anything fancy life an ADF. However, the speed and combat prowess is simply amazing. We've kept most of your weapons, and enhanced them. The stark hadron had to go, though. Too weighty. We have, however, put two hadron cannon's on the knees. The slash harukens are standard... let's see..."

"Since they're MY creation, I'll handle the next part: The energy wings. They're the standard as the others one, and the color I chose was a lovely white. I thought it quite beautiful, myself. Now, who wants some sandwitchs I made, to celebrate?" She said, bringing oujt a plate of sandwitchs. Lightning accepted one. Lloyd seemed to protest, but the damage was done.

Lightning's eyes bulged. "Is this... wasabi? And do I taste mint chocolate?"
"Oh? You can tell? I thought it might bring a lovely taste combinations."
Somehow, Lightning swallowed it again. Lightning vowed never to have any of Cecile's Mystery Food X again.

"So, when can I test this baby out?"
"Oh, i hear there's an operation soon. Don't know what or when." lloyd said.

After a few more plesentraies. Lightning headed back to his house. He gave his coat to his temporary maid, "Thank you, Karen. Could you make me some tea?"

Rose hid an evil glare, and bowed, "Yes. As you wish, my lord."

(Okay, last of Lightning for a little bit. So i wanted to post him getting his new knight mare. The specs are on my character frame. I also wanted to mention Rose, even if it was just a sentence.))

Ark brushed his hair away from his ear and held two fingers against his receiver. "I read you, Zero. Everyone is accounted for even the 'witch'. We're waiting for your arrival to begin the meeting. Over." he removed his hand from the receiver. While awaiting for a response he looked up at his new weapon. A custom made knightmare the Guren B.L.A.C.K. He acquired it with his rank increase. Something he was proud of. Even though he hadn't been inside of it yet, he knew it wouldn't take him long to learn. Adapting was his specialty.

Ghost landed Requiem in a concealed cave, sliding it in gently next to the smaller Shinkiro. He stepped out of the larger Knightmare and pulled out his Zero costume, quickly changing into it. He slid on the mask last of all and climbed into the Shinkiro, firing up the Knightmare.

------Half An Hour Later------

Zero walked into the meeting room of the Black Knights' new headquarters, a stolen G-1 mobile base. He looked around at the various members of the Knights gathered.

"Sorry I am late, ladies and gentlemen." He said. "Now, everyone, status reports on our equipment. How many Knightmares do we have, and how far through construction is the Ikaruga II?"

(Who wants to take command of Rakshata? Just wondering.)

Nathaniel landed his unit at the research lab a few moments after seeing the Knights finish their training, he had watched from afar… through the scope of his Hadron Blaster, as he saw the Knight of One fly away. He wanted to follow the man, to find out where he always went, but he had other worries right then. AS he landed the guards approached.

“Lord Grantt, you’rer not permitted here without prior notice you know that!” they argued, he didn’t care to discuss the fact, instead he just walked right past them. One of the guards made to draw his pistol and a shot rang out. The guard was holding his hand as it bled and his pistol landed on the ground, Nathaniel was staring to them hard. “I don’t need you’re permission to investigate her majesties’ death…” he said cruly before moving on into the center.

He finally found Loyd hanging around with his assistant and his new devicer, the Knight of Six Lightning de la Rose, his was going to be interesting.

”So when can I take this baby out?” Lightning asked to Loyd as Nathaniel approached, he smiled at the change to cross blades with a Knight of the Round again.

Loyd said something about an operation but Nathaniel had a better thought, “How about right now instead…!” he called out to the knight and the scientist. He continued forward, “I came here to get Loyd’s help in breaking into a rather tightlipped Nobles personal data… but this…” he looked up at the frame a whistled, “Is much more interesting for me.”

The data was part of his investigation, but he knew the noble wasn’t guilty, he had just paid Nunnally’s memory insult and while he knew he was innocent of the murder he doubted he was innocent in general. He intended to bring that noble down but he had time to test this younger member of the knights, besides, he had to test each Knight under duress to discover the truth.

Stopping his attack on the Requiem Cyrus flew away from the training grounds. His knightmare barely used up any energy. Flying over the sea he found the large vessel he was suppose to land on, getting his knightmare on it and landing was a piece of cake.
"We are happy that you can be hear knight of three," the captain said while saluting him.
"Yes thank you for having me hear captain have the Susano'o already to go if we are to encounter anything," he said while smiling and walking away.
As Cyrus entered his room he looked on the bed where his cloths for Ashford was ,and the ID he would use. Gently walking to it, and picking it up, he saw that he would go by the alias of, Judas Verlona. His vermilion red hair gently moved in-front of him as he read through the files.

-------Half An hour later----

Cyrus looked at the dock ,as they landed, the Susano'o was being taken to a heavily guarded base. Walking down he looked at the car in-front of him, and got in, he was in the Ashford Academy uniform, and brought a charming smile to his face.


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rakshata looked over to Zero as he came in, she was laying on the couch with her tobacco pipe. As the masked man asked a question it seemed that the others didn't want to answer it. She knew the answers to all of them, she was the black knights Chief of Science.
"Well lets see we have a total of 30 knightmares at the moment, more will be produced. for the Ikaruga two we're following the same desigh, but were not yet finished there are still some things to work out so expect it in a month or maybe shorter Zero," she said before studying him. There were others things to be added to the Ikaruga two, she knew it, but there was time for everything.

"Oh?" Lightning said, turning around at the unexpected arrival, "I'm being challenged by Nunnaly's knight? Hmm..." He said, thinking about it. He wanted a rest... but the chance to try out his new knightmare was simply too tempting. "Very well then, I suppose we can have a quick spar. Then perhaps I can help you with this noble business. I'm also curious as to her death. Lloyd." He said, turning to the researcher.

He tossed Lightning a spear- shaped activation key, and Lighning fired up the cockpit. "I'll meet you outside." He said. THe welcome screen appeared, and Lighning toom the feel of his new Knightmare. "I feel... good." He stated to Lloyd.
He moved his legs into a launcher, saddling the sides with his wheels. "Now then: Izanagi-No-Okami... LAUNCH!" He shouted, speeding away, out a launch tube.

There was a blur of white zooming about the place, until Lightning stopped a few hundred meters up. He spread his white wings, making a ripple in the air of the purest white.

"All systems appear functional." Lightning said, bpulling out his new MV Swords, in polearm form. "I feel so... light, yet powerful... so this is what piolting a 9th genertion is like..."

He wanted more than ever to take Ghost down. He was handling him easily before. He would be toast next training session. "Very Well then, Nunnaly's Knight, let's have some fun!"

Nathaniel smiled as his challenge accepted. He didn’t anticipate to win this fight. Though the moment he glanced at Loyd and back at the machine he instantly realized he could. “Loyd… shouldn’t you warn him that the Lancelot is the worst kind of Frame for him to fight?” he asked idly.

He didn’t wait for the answer and instead clambered into his own machine and rolled calmly onto the training green. He knew how to beat this machine, with a single glance. It had no real armor to speak of, sure it had the wings, so fighting him in the sky was out of the question, but he was all bite and no bark… assuming he didn’t underestimate his opponent he would come out on top, or at least, teach this guy the downfall of his machine.

He was younger than the Night of Six, but he had managed to do the one thing that Lightning hadn’t and the was beat the Knight of One in a duel, and so he radioed him, “Pay attention kid, I’m going to teach you the difference between strategy and tactics…” he drew his MVS’s, “And maybe you’ll even learn how to beat Mikhael…” he goaded, knowing full well he was younger, but he still referred to him as kid just as Lightning apparently refused to use Nathaniel’s name.

He seemed to relax his units grip, but instead his wrist mounted harkens launched, pole-vaulting him into the air at the 9th generation unit. He didn’t activate his float unit, instead he just rode the momentum from the stiff wires toward his opponent, the blades brought up to cross his chest. “Come on!”

Zero nodded. "Very well then, Rakshata. Continue work on it."

He looked to Ark. "Is your Guren B.L.A.C.K. operational, captain?" He inquired.

Morgan smirked as Zero walked into the room, late as always.
For an excellent tactician, he had the memory of a fish.

She sat and crossed her legs not even attempting to listen to what Zero was saying.
She took a mirror out of her small bag and admired herself for a moment.

The witch smiled as she chew a piece of bubblegum.
She blew a bubble and snapped it loudly, receiving glares and and rolling eyes from the Black Knights around her.

Like she cared what they thought...

Rose stepped forward, "Recruitment is about the same rate. I'm also managing a small stream of resources from underground resisters. As for my part of espionage, I'm currently working for the knight of six, Lightning De La Rosa. As he sleeps, I'll try and uncover anything that's going on with the higher ups. We have small cash flwing in, as well."
____

Lightning smiled, "I won't make the mistake of underestimating you. I fight to win, and I don't look down on my opponets. I treat them all as If they were all a knight of the rounds. Let's make it fun, shall we?" He flipped his knightmare around, continuing to get the feel. A swarm of missles lanching from his back, and he flew with, backflipping at the last moment, and firing beams of enegry from his wings. Moving in as they charged towards him new opponnet.