Episode 11

[Opening Theme: “Violet Skies” by In This Moment] <https://youtu.be/WsS5yzkgui0>

“Mecha Meets its Match? Cheer Raider Captured!”

“Alright, Matt, come at me,” Jennifer invited. Matt smiled and ran towards her, his fist raised in preparation for a punch. The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back with the wind knocked out of him.

“Very good, Jennifer, that was well done,” said Ricketts. As promised, General Alvarez had assigned him to give them a crash course in some basic battle techniques. In the spirit of things, they were both wearing camouflage tank tops and sweatpants that they’d gotten from the base quartermaster. The school was allowing them to use the gym mats in the wrecked gymnasium for training and practice. Right now they were doing throws, methods of properly directing an opponent’s momentum to get them off their feet. “Now switch. Matt, you try.”

Jennifer saw the nervous look on Matt’s face and teased, “What’s the matter, you afraid of hurting me because I’m a girl?”

Matt shook his head. “Between us you’re the athletic one. I’m afraid you’ll hurt me.”

“Ha! Then you’d better get this right!” Jennifer said and changed at him. To his credit, he did manage to pull it off, if rather clumsily.

“Good. Now, practice makes perfect. Give me ten more, each of you, then we’ll move on to another style of throw,” Ricketts said. The lessons and sparring continued. They were almost done for the day when duty called.

“SABRE pilot to Artemis command. Incursion alert. On my way. Emergency pilot retrieval, dimensional fold, activate!” Matt said, and transported away.

Jennifer called out, “Gimme a V! I! C! T! O! R! Y! What’s that spell? Victory!” On the final word she thrust her fist into the air, and the charms flew off her bracelet and circled around her, turning into a swirling cloud of golden sparkles. She levitated off the floor, and her clothes vanished, leaving her completely naked. The rush of sparkles tickled against her skin, especially her tits and pussy. A sports bra and thong formed around her body. The striped braid appeared, starting from her shoulders and meeting in the middle, then the shell formed moving downward over her breasts, stopping with the lower braid. Bloomers formed over her thong, and the skirt pleats appeared, spinning around her body, drawing closer to her until they attached at her waist. Ankle socks and boots formed around her feet. Her hair blew wildly behind her, then came together and wove itself into a single braid down her back, secured with a red hair tie. A yellow glow appeared over her nose, then split into two that moved up and back, creating the visor. From the top of the visor and around to the back of her head, the helmet formed. A final flurry of sparkles moved over her chest, leaving behind block letters that spelled out “Cheer”. Then the sparkles lowered her to the floor and dissipated.

She immediately launched into a round off back handspring full twist layout, teleporting off to battle.

Matt heard Jennifer’s panicked voice over Panther’s radio, “Holy fucking shit! It’s enormous! Matt, you need to get here, hurry! Artemis command, send everything you have!”

“You’re clear on the other side of town from the base. I’m almost there. Backup’s coming. Not their fault both of us can reach the field faster,” Matt said. As the hoverwing approached the site, he saw what had her so worried. It was a mecha, matching Panther’s own size. It looked like it had been cobbled together out of scrap metal and junkyard salvage, with numerous gaps in its armor, but it was functional, and stomping towards several houses. “Well, damn. That’s pretty impressive,” he admitted.

There was a cockpit of sorts where its head should have been, inside a cyborg creature was wired in with a protective cage over it. Two panels opened on the front in the collarbone area, revealing two of the flying type creatures ensconced inside, and their eyelasers blasted out and hit the approaching Panther. “Shit!” Matt said. Caught off guard, he accidentally released the hoverwing and Panther dropped the rest of the way to the ground. The invader mech charged, swinging a giant club in its right hand. It got in a few good hits before Matt got Panther righted, fighting back with fists and plasma claws.

“Alright, you keep it busy, I’ll come in close and see if I can take advantage of those gaps, maybe do some damage from the inside,” Jennifer said.

“Oh, no, my dear. Let’s let the big boys play by themselves. Your opponent is me,” said a sinister female voice from behind her. Jennifer turned to see, and then leapt out of the way just in time to avoid a lightning strike.

“Tsarina!” she exclaimed.

“The Tsarina? Where?” asked Matt, the distraction earning Panther another hit to the face. “Goddammit! Jennifer, don’t fight her! I’m coming, just as soon as I deal with this!” He drew Panther’s axe and parried against the club, not only blocking it, but slicing it in half. He swung it again into the enemy mech, putting a good-sized gouge into its armor. The mech reached up with its left hand. A panel opened, and a pair of chains whipped out and wrapped around the axe, courtesy of the creature hidden inside. The two giant machines wrestled over the axe, ultimately Panther lost his grip and the axe was flung aside, out of reach. “Fuuuck!” Matt shouted. Panther’s shoulder cannons opened up and unleashed a barrage, but they were deflected away from the other mech by an electric charge protecting its armor.

Jennifer was now busy running and dodging further lightning attacks. She had summoned her pom-poms, and whenever she could she attacked with, “Fighting Spirit Fiery Burst!” However, the Tsarina was able to electrically extinguish all incoming fireballs, and responded with more bolts of her own. A shock went through Jennifer’s body as one connected, and she fell to the ground. She got back up and got moving again, but it wasn’t long before another hit sent her flying. It felt like the Tsarina was toying with her.

“Jennifer!” Matt shouted, with worry in his voice. Several blasts of flame erupted across Panther’s body, shot from the invader mech’s right hand and the fire-making creature concealed within. “Damn you!” he yelled, attacking again with Panther’s bare hands, doing his best to push the enemy’s arm up to divert its aim while landing some of his own blows. The eyelasers hit again, at close range. The mech aimed its fire downwards, and shot into the low fog that had been building on the ground, puffing out from vents in its feet. The fog exploded.

Jennifer hit the ground again, struck by another electrical blast. This time, the Tsarina zapped her again as she lay there, and then a third time. She tried to push herself to her feet, but was pulled up by the Tsarina herself, who put the girl in a headlock. “How easily you fall to me. Your friend, too. All will fall before me,” she hissed to Jennifer.

The smoke cleared around the two mechanical titans. Panther was on his back, taking a pounding from the other, but a mighty kick sent it reeling back. Panther scrambled to his feet. Matt allowed himself a glance to the other fight, and saw Jennifer tightly in the Tsarina’s grip. “Jennifer!” He paused and spared a few seconds to clear his head, the sound of his heavy breaths bringing him focus. His opponent charged at him. With the swiftness of a practiced move, Panther grabbed it just right, letting its momentum carry it over, and tossed the beast mech onto its back with a colossal crash that shook the ground. Panther looked down at the felled foe, raised his foot, and stomped hard onto its cockpit, smashing the protective cage and its occupant. He turned and ran towards the Tsarina and Jennifer.

“Aw, too bad,” the Tsarina said. “I was hoping my monstrosity would be able to take yours down, but no matter. It served its purpose, it’s given us this time together. Retrieval.” She and Jennifer vanished in a swirl of purple and blue energy.

“Jennifeeeerrr!” Matt screamed as Panther dove onto the ground, his hands closing onto empty space where they had been.

Ricketts and Matt sparred, trading blows back and forth, though the more experienced soldier won out in the end, throwing Matt down once again. “Okay, I think that’s good for today,” he said.

“No,” Matt said, standing. “We go again.”

“Matt, I can see you’re tired. We’ll pick it up again tomorrow.”

“Again!” Matt demanded.

“You’re pushing yourself too hard, kid. It’s been three weeks, you can’t keep blaming yourself,” Ricketts said, sympathy in his voice.

“That’s not it at all. I know there was nothing more I could have done. But one of these days I’m going to have an opportunity to get her back, maybe the only one I’ll ever get. When that opportunity comes, I have to be ready for it. I will be ready for it. I promised her father. So we. Go. Again.” The intensity in Matt’s voice hung in the air.

Finally, Ricketts said, “I probably should be worried about you, but at least you’re channeling that energy into something productive. Okay. We’ll keep going a little longer. Come at me, then.”

“My word, you certainly have been hungry lately,” Matt’s mom said after he packed away his second helping of dinner.

“It’s the training sessions. I’m burning a lot more calories than I used to just sitting at my computer all the time. This must be what life as a jock is like,” Matt said.

“And how’s that been going?” asked his dad.

“Well, I don’t see myself winning any martial arts competitions or anything, but my reflexes and muscle memory are greatly improved.”

“I’ve got some more leftovers for Mr. Monroe. You want to run them over to him, Matt?” his mom said, holding up a bag full of plastic containers.

“Yes, thank you, Mom. Thanks for cooking extra food for him, I’m sure it really means a lot to Jennifer,” he said.

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all. How is he holding up though all this, anyway?” she asked.

“I wish I could say. The way she tells it, he’s already been drowning his sorrows every day for years. I guess it doesn’t seem like he’s gotten any worse, which may be the best that can be hoped for,” he said. He picked up the bag and started towards the garage, then stopped and set it back down. “Actually, would you mind taking this over there? I’m suddenly needed elsewhere. And say ‘hi’ to Sugarshine for me, she’s been a bit lost over there without Jennifer around.”

“Go kick their asses, Matt!” encouraged Neil.

“Neil!” their mom scolded.

“You bet, little bro. It hasn’t been the same without Jennifer, but we still get the job done. SABRE pilot to Artemis command. Incursion alert. I’m coming in. Emergency pilot retrieval, dimensional fold, activate!” Matt smiled and gave a thumbs-up as he vanished.

The two creatures, both of them the cyborg version of the large twenty-foot adversaries, marched through the forest towards town, one behind the other. The air in front of them shimmered, and without warning Panther appeared, his axe already swinging through the air over his head. The green plasma-lit edge came down hard on the lead monster, splitting its head cleanly in half. “That’s right, you assholes, I didn’t forget to cloak this time. I may not have to hide my coming and going from the town anymore but I’ve learned my lesson about tactical first strikes!” Matt said.

The second invader raised its missile rack up from its back and fired several shots. Panther grabbed the first one under its arms and lifted it up, letting the missiles impact harmlessly against its armored backside. He dropped the creature and returned fire from his shoulder cannons. The antimatter bolts struck the enemy’s missile battery, causing it to explode. The creature staggered back with a gaping hole in its shoulder, its left arm barely still attached. It raised its right arm to fire its rocket flail. Panther was upon it quickly, deflecting its arm upwards, causing the fail to launch harmlessly into the air. With plasma claws extended, he slammed his hand down into the hole. The creature thrashed and then fell still.

“And to think these fuckers used to be hard to deal with,” Matt said, pulling Panther’s arm free of the monster carcass. He walked over to the other giant corpse and took hold of the axe handle, though it was buried so deep it refused to pull free.