Margo it turns out had been a bit of a waste. She fit the profile perfectly. Smart, athletic, a natural born leader. Her genetics all checked out, as did the psych evaluations. Behind the engine of a strong all-rounder like Guardian 09 she should have been one of the best, but you never quite know. Do you?

  The problem with saving humanity, is the humanity of it all.

  Margo it turned out was very human, and though she'd saved the human race twice, three times was just asking too much.

  Cherry couldn't have known any of that. All she knew is that he best friend had killed herself in the equipment shed behind the school.

  Margo tried very hard in her last moments to explain things to Cherry, about the war, her death, and the bracelet. Magro tried but Cherry just couldn't understand. Over all the blood and gore she just couldn't understand that for the past months Margo had been living such a different life from the rest of the human race, that she might as well have been an alien. "I'm sorry Cherry." She said at last, her face now very pale, and her body very weak. "I just couldn't stand to hear the sirens again."

  As we have found out the universe is vastly indifferent, and often cruel, but at times it does show moments of mercy.

  The sirens only started going off, after Margo was dead.

  Cherry had heard those sirens all her life, but they'd never sounded as dreadful as they did that afternoon. It seemed they were carrying Margo's departed soul with them as they droned. The Siren were nothing new. The first Wednesday of every month the county would test them out, like clockwork. It might have been clockwork, Cherry didn't know. She did find she'd been pavlovian trained by the sirens, they always went off right before lunch. Imagine her surprise during last year's tornado when her mouth started watering and the only thing she could think about in the storm cellar was food.

  A nice steak was the last thing on Cherry's mind. Her friend, her best friend had done the most unthinkable thing, just to avoid that sound. Like Cherry was now, like Margo knew she soon would be. It was chilling, concerning, and more than anything it wasn't Wednesday.

  Why were the risen blaring?

  It wasn't tornado weather, though it was the season for such things. The time was right too, 5 O'clock, that's usually when they started forming around here. But the sky was clear and perfect. Tragedies didn't just drop out of the sky, unless they were planes or bombs.

  Cherry was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to be outside. There were a million reasons for it. To see what was wrong, to get some fresh air, and of course to get away from what was left of Margo. She burst out of the storage shed, and exhaled a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Cherry gasped and gulped for some of the cool winter-spring air. She hadn't realized how deeply the smell of copper had permeated the equipment shed until she took in the grass of the fiend, and the smog of the city.

  The siren continued it's low cowlike moan. It was like the city itself had been pierced by something, and was now letting out a weak cry for help. The ground shook and before Cherry could start her panic anew, helicopters flew over head. It was like the movies!

  Nothing good ever came to people in movies.

  She did what any highschooler in a panic would do. She went to grab her phone. She was ready to call her mom, her friends, the army, anyone who knew what was happening. Before she could she noticed a blue band around her wrist, or rather under her wrist. "Oh yeah." She said hoarsely. "I nearly forgot about you." The hole the little watch-like device had cut into her was all healed up, no scar or anything. It now glowed very brightly beneath her her skin, visible even from the surface. Whatever the blue light was had been the cause of her friend's suicide, and now it had attached itself to her.

  She brushed her free hand over the left, and the light intensified. As if she was a puppet on a string her hand flew upwards, so high she was barley standing on her tiptoes to reach, if she picked up her feet she was sure she would have just dangled there. A beam of light shot out of the palm of her wrist, and into the sky. A moment later, as if in response a new beam of light descended from the sky, like one of apollo's arrows. It landed somewhere on the football field, and where it hit, wonders appeared.

  "Oh wow..." Cherry gasped, and let her jaw hang open in wonder.

  Standing in the football field, proudly, majestically, hugely, was a robot. A machine in the shape of a man, orange in color it sat there idling like a car, or maybe breathing like a human. Cherry had a hard time comprehending it at first, she had to crane her neck upwards to take in it's full height. It was tall, Cherry couldn't say how tall, taller than the school, it was a building onto itself. It was like a god, and hanging there in front of it, she felt like some kind of sacrifice.

  'Link Established' She thought to herself. "Initiating Transfer' She thought again, quite against her will.

  "Are you talking to me?" She asked, looking up at the orange monster, but it said nothing.

  Then everything went very bright, then very dark, and then very bright again. When her vision came back to her she was in a chair, surrounded my monitors. Despite everything that was going on, this chair was a big win. It was by far the most comfortable thing Cherry had ever placed her weight on, she was half reclined on the silver and orange seat. It looked like leather but felt like cotton candy, or a dream, or a well tenderized steak. Dang again the the steak, maybe she was hungry.

  'Transfer Complete. Synching...' She thought again, breaking the nice bout of dissociation Cherry had been enjoying.

  "No no no." Cherry, cried and pounded her hands against the chair, and the monitors. The space she was inhabiting was actually quite cramped, like some kind of pod, the roof ended just above the head of her chair, she couldn't have stood up if she wanted to. She kicked and screamed, and tried to scrabble out of the world's most perfect chair.

  Only as she fought she felt herself synching up with some great intelligence. Her thoughts got slower, and her muscles weaker with each passing second.

  '75%...80%...90%...' Her cool voice thought mercilessly. That voice, the one she was hearing in her head, it was her voice, but it was wrong. She knew it was wrong from the moment she heard it, it sounded monotone, drugged. '95...' Cherry realized with what little fear she could muster now, that if she spoke out loud her voice wouldn't sound all that different.

  "100%." She said weakly, before falling limp in her chair. It was like a hypnotist commanding a volunteer to sleep, only she didn't experience any kind of unconsciousness, only a shift.

  She was no longer in her body, and couldn't feel her body. She was in the machine, the robot, The Guardian. She realized it had a name, and a number and that number was 9.

  "Oh no, there's eight more of these things?"

  She realized too that all this fear, and trauma, and confusion were getting in the way of her mission. She was fleetingly aware that these emotions were nothing more than sliders on a screen that could be adjusted.

  Trauma: 70%

  Fear: 60%

  Confusion: 98%

  These could be adjusted, and were adjusted. By her, not someone else. It was like a reflex. Like taking a long breath to still your heartbeat.

  Trauma 0%

  Fear 20%

  Confusion 20%

  It was so easy, just like that. In her current situation she had no need to process Margo's death or what that would mean for her. She had some use for fear, just enough for her to feel danger and to keep her sharp. Confusion too had it's use, blind confidence could end her.

  "Guardian 9, logged in." She said aloud, not at all surprised to find her voice did indeed sound like the voice in her head.

  "Cherry?" A Male's voice came to her, like over the radio. "What took you so long? Team A's been trashed already, and we have kaiju streaming through the gap."

  The confusion slider could only do so much for Cherry. "What are you talking about?" Kaiju were the enemy, she knew that much. The Guardian, #09 hated them and she hated them too. Beyond that she'd need more data to proceed.

  There was a pause, and then an audible sigh. "Is this our first time meeting?" Cherry was surprised to find his voice chocked with emotion.

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  "Uh yeah, I think so." Cherry said slowly, calmly. "Margo's gone. She ripped this bracelet thing out of her arm, and it latched onto me. The sirens started going off, the bracelet began to glow, and now I'm in this robot." It was shocking to hear her calm, recitation of events. This was all life changing stuff and she was reading it off like a grocery list. She thought about Margo lying there, arm ripped open, bleeding out, and she felt nothing. It was like it had happened to another girl entirely.

  "I see." There was another pause, before the guy on the other side seemed to be able to gather himself. "Sorry I wasn't expecting this. My name's Gale, I'm going to lead you through this mission."

  "Where are you?" Cherry made the very human gesture of looking around, the Guardian smoothly copied the motion she was trying to make with her body. It's high seated vision swept the vast vistas of One Week City, over buildings, and past cars that looked like toys. She suffered through a moment of vertigo, but was able to adjust to the new field of view easily.

  "I'm about three hundred miles above you right now."

  Cherry couldn't help herself, and looked straight up. Sure enough In the sky there was a little digital green box indicating that there was some unseen ally high above her in orbit. What he looked like, or wanted she could only imagine. She suspected glasses.

  "Yep, that's me. Wave hi."

  Cherry followed through, the massive arm of her machine committed to a fluid but hesitant wave. "Woah." She said in surprise, then looked down at what felt like her own hand. She formed several signs with the Guardian's hand and it followed each of them faithfully. It even flipped off Gale when she tried.

  "That's good, get used to the heft and weight of your Guardian. Try turning a little more to the left. Try picking up your feet."

  Cherry and the Guardian nodded, and like a fawn she hesitantly shuffled to face the south end of the city. The groundskeeper was not going to be happy with the scuff marks she was leaving on the field, or the craters. Off in the distance she could see smoke, and a fire that looked like eaten up half the culture district on the other side of the river. There were other Guardians too. Two of them which were laid out on the ground like collapsed towers, burning with bright rainbow pyrotechnics.

  Her vision lit up with five red circles. They were off in the distance but she found squinting actually zoomed her vision deep into the city. There she saw that the five circles were to highlight the enemy. A hand full of the awful black furred animals were racing across Hook Bridge into the business district. They had long gangly limbs that moved like spiders with only four legs. Each was about the size of an eighteen wheeler, and heavy enough to crush a car underfoot whenever a Hyundai was unfortunate enough to land in it's path.

  "Okay, let's start with this. First thing you do when you contact an enemy. Always scan them. See if we can pick up anything useful."

  "Enemy?" Cherry squeaked.

  Fear:30%

  "Well they look like enemies don't they?"

  They really did, long slobbering snouts filled with massive teeth, and drool. Three rows of red eyes. Then beyond the black fur they seemed to have some kind of bone like exoskeleton across their limbs. Not like a insect, but it looked like actual human bones were growing along the length of it's body. Against the black fur it gave the look of some giant human skeleton scuttling along the road.

  "Scanning..." Cherry offered, and The Guardian agreed. She felt a pulse of energy release from the Guardian. It penetrated everything around her. Cherry's perception was flooded with static. She was taking in everything fifty thousand heart beats, fascist radio stations, kids shows, radiation slowly decaying in the rocks, none of it made any sense to her, it was all just noise noise noise. But a moment later, like a bat deciphering a sound wave it was all condensed, and suddenly made sense.

  New Enemy Detected.

  A screen appeared to the side of her vision.

  Name: Crawler

  Level: 1

  Health: 1

  Evasion: 2

  "Rex loss to these guys?" Gale half laughed. "Oh boy, it's a shame he won't remember this."

  "Are they easy?" Cherry Squeaked, she was already back tracking from the beasts, the feet of her Guardian crushed the stands of the football field, and would soon be making their way into the parking lot.

  "You're in a 250 foot robot, everything should be easy for you. But yes, these guys have one point of health, if you sneeze on them they'll die. The only thing you need to worry about is their evasion, see that there on their sheet? They've got a 2."

  "What does that mean?"

  There was a slight grunt of annoyance from the other side. "It's crazy the more I fight with you the more basic things I have to explain."

  "I didn't ask for this!" Cherry yelled and extended another rude finger to the little green dot in space.

  Gale laughed. "I'm sorry, we'll figure it out though. You taught me everything I know."

  "I did?"

  Confusion: 30%

  "You will, This is your first fight, so your mech hasn't been upgraded yet. That means you still have your basic shoulder cannon equipped. Wow this is actually kind of exciting to think about. Your first fight and I'm here to see it, I'm here to help!"

  "Focus please." Cherry whined. The little crawlers were steadily making their way through the city and it was undeniable they were coming for cherry. She squirmed and delicately tip toed her Guardian through the narrow streets and between tall buildings to put space between her and the creatures. "Sorry! Sorry!" She screamed as she inevitably rammed her elbow through the roof of a office building, or crushed a mail box.

  Trauma: 10%

  "No no, don't get behind the buildings you want a nice open field of fire."

  "You need to start telling me things!" Cherry growled. She reluctantly started retracing her cavernous steps back into the field.

  "Okay I'm bring the stats on your main weapon up."

  New Weapon Added

  Name: Bronco Shoulder Cannon

  Energy Cost: 1

  Damage: 1

  Accuracy: 5

  Special: For each additional Energy Charge spent, fire an additional shot.

  "There, see that Accuracy stat? That means five out of ten times it's going to hit your target."

  "Who uses a gun that only hits half the time?"

  Fear: 40%

  "It's not great." Gale admitted, half sheepishly. "And those two points of evasion make it even worse. Instead of hitting 5 our of 10 times, you'll hit 3 out of 10 times. Again not great but it's good enough for what you need. Plus it shoots very fast if you need."

  "I need to!" Cherry was watching the creatures smash through the roads towards her, very close now.

  "The guardian will aim for you, as long as you have the enemies highlighted, you're free to fire. Let's just start with a test shot to calibrate."

  This was actually happening! Cherry was about to fire a mecha's weapon weapon at a kaiju. It'd be cool if she didn't want to throw up so bad. Even with her consciousness in the robot, when her mind completely disassociated from her body she could feel her heart pounding, deep in the cocoon of the guardian.

  She thought to check how much energy her Guardian came with.

  Energy: 10

  The answer came to her mind fast and easy.

  "Cherry, fire!"

  The image of her grabbing a lever and pushing it all the way to the floor came to her mind. "Rrrraaah!" She screamed, good and tired of feeling scared. She moved all the energy stored within her guardian's reactor into to the main gun.

  Energy: 0

  Roll: 6 - 3 -8 - 7 - 4 - 7 - 3 - 9 - 8 - 10

  A satisfying, low 'gunk' drummed thunderously over the city. Ten flashes of light burst forth from the cannon at incredible speed for a weapon so large. Large shells slammed into the ground below like smoldering metal barrels. The canon swept across the city, and made good on Gale's word. With an accuracy and speed Cherry couldn't quite follow it dispatched all five crawlers. It's kinetic energy ripped holes, or rather craters through their bodies and into whatever was behind them. Cars, buildings, beasts all shredded in a single salvo. Though nearly every shot hit, a few didn't. Where the shots missed there were now deep holes in the road, and chunks missing from the buildings.

  "Cherry, that was incredible!" Gale cheered from his cushy spot in outer space. "You really are the best."

  "The people in those cars, will they be alright?" Cherry felt on the verge of tears.

  "They'll be fine. Everything goes back to normal if you clear an invasion point."

  "Invasion?"

  "That's right." Gale said proudly. "And you stopped it." He paused, that raw emotion was coming back to him. "I can't believe I'm never going to see you again."

  "What? No! you have to tell me what's going on. How do I get out of this thing? What happened to Margo?"

  "I know this doesn't mean anything to you yet, but you're the most incredible person I've ever met. I owe everything I am to you, you're my hero."

  What could that possibly mean? Cherry was a little young to be anybody's hero. Let alone some kaiju fighting space man's. "I don't understand what's going on."

  Confusion: 40%

  Before anything could be made more clear. There was a rumbling that took over the landscape. Out from the Hook River emerged a skeleton. An actual skeleton this time, not some kind of puppet. It was massive, monstrous, bigger even than the Guardian Cherry was sat in. Two impossibly long limbs pushed it's skinny frame out from water, sheets of liquid sloughed off it like some discarded skin. A skull rose up from the depths gallons upon gallons of water drained from it's eye sockets, it's nose, it's open mouth. It lumbered and reeled. With no muscles or mechanics in sight it straightened it's back, and stood up. It could only manage a decrepit looking hunch, and even then this thing was twice as tall as The Guardian.

  "looks like I spoke too soon." Gale gulped. "You sure didn't mention that thing last time."

  "What is it?"

  New Enemy Discovered!

  Name: Gashadokuro

  Level: 5

  Health: 10

  "I'll see if I can wrangle someone." Gale's voice wasn't exactly calm.

  Fear 60%

  "What do I do until someone shows up?" Cherry's voice was shrill with panic.

  "Fight it!"