Cherry was still huffing when the message came up.

  Wave Cleared!

  Like it was some game. That thing had just killed Clay. She didn't even know the guy, only for a few moments. Still seeing Lancelot, his Guardian just collapse like that...

  She wanted to stomp on that thing's bones, grind them to powder. It thought she was weak, well it was dead now. It was weak.

  Trauma: 40%

  She gulped, and mentally slid the bar back to zero.

  A comfortable numbness came over her. The painful firing of her synapses, the hateful ape chemicals flowing through the guardian crawled to a halt. The wretchedness of what she'd just encountered was reduced to simple uncaring facts.

  She fought with a boy.

  That boy died.

  And if Gale was to be believed he would be alive to fight once more.

  "Don't lean on those sliders too much, they're just there to help you focus in battle. They don't cure you of what you're feeling. As soon as you exit the Guardian all that shits going to come flooding back to you."

  "I'm not feeling anything." Cherry said calmly, and truthfully. Even her fear and confusion were at manageable levels.

  Fear: 40%

  Confusion: 40%

  "What else needs to get done? My guardian told me the wave was cleared, does that mean we're done, or is there another wave coming."

  "There's two more waves coming, but they won't be here for a while, we don't know how long exactly, but when they do come you'll get called up again. That's just for this timeline though, there's two more. One in 1925, and one in 2125, it's possible you could get called to one of those as well."

  "You sound like I'm going to go along with this, I'm not. This is all insane. Margo died, Clay just died, and you expect me to keep going."

  "I do." Gale didn't even hesitate. "I refuse to believe that there's any version of you, that wouldn't join this fight." It really unnerved her the way he talked like he knew her. It was like someone at the mall calling your name, and not being able to recognize them. "Besides, for you it's just two more fight. Both of which I've already been to by the way, and have seen you win."

  As if the damage done to her was all physical. "I'm not doing it."

  "Someone's got to." Gale said a little less gently this time. "But it's not my job to convince you the human race is worth saving." Another blue beam of light came down from the sky. Then the world started to get weird. The world rolled from where the beam hit, like it was made of water. Then blocks of solid matter began to lift up out of the ground and float into the sky before disintegrating. Cherry looked up and saw that the sky was gone, there was just a computerized grid above them now. "You'll have a few weeks to walk through the healed city, and see all the souls that weren't absorbed by that monster. Ask them if it was worth it."

  Cherry felt sick, the world was vanishing before her eyes. Whatever Gale was doing was just as bad as that skeleton. "What are you doing?"

  "This is my job." Gale said. "If you win the day, I get to reset the world. It'll be just like it was before the invasion point appeared."

  "Wait..." Cherry felt her heart skip. "That means Margo's alive."

  There was a moment of silence. "That's interesting... Did she die right before you summoned the Guardian?"

  The Guardian wasn't doing anything to dull the giddiness riding up on her. "Yes! Just a few minutes before, like right when the sirens started going off."

  "Then I don't see why not!" Cherry was surprised to hear the genuine joy in Gale's voice. He actually cared. She found herself actually charmed by that. "Your Sync Band might cause trouble though. That little Blue light that summoned the Guardian? You have it now, but if we reset and Margo also had it, that might be weird. I don't know what would happen."

  "Would they explode?"

  Gale laughed. "Probably not. The timeline can take a lot more abuse than you'd think. I'm just wondering which one of you it would Synch up if you summoned it."

  "So not my priority right now. Can you send me back to check?"

  "The reset takes a few minutes, be patient."

  "Hard to be patient when you're brining my friend back to life. Oh! Clay will be okay too, right?"

  "He will, but just so you know he won't remember any of this."

  "Cause he died?"

  "Right. The Third Wave of 2025 is just between you and me now."

  "Are they all like this? Like... with a sole survivor?"

  She was starting to get good and recognizing what questions were sensitive by how long Gale paused to answer them. "They're each a challenge." He quickly followed that up with, "Listen we don't have much time left, and I still have you walk you through leveling up your Guardian."

  "Like a video game?"

  "Exactly like a video game yes! You level up two different ways. Your Guardian Levels up each time you successfully complete a wave. That's the first kind. The Second kind is that your gear levels up when you use it enough."

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Cherry shook her head. "I feel like I'm going crazy. Are you actually talking about me leveling up? How? Why?"

  "Well the guardians were designed to grow and develop over a conflict. They observe the type of fighting they're in and develop methods for adapting to it. That's why. The how is some future tech nonsense I don't even understand. These creatures we're fighting The New Gods they like, come from a different dimension or something. When they die and we reset there's basically a whole bunch of extra matter and energy in the area that shouldn't exist or be there. Metatron, that's the name of my Guardian. Meatatron absorbs that strangeness then transmits it to your mech for the micromachines in it to... work. I don't know I don't have all the answers."

  "This is so confusing."

  Confusion: 50%

  "Oh look at that, your explanation is as confusing as me being teleported into this thing to begin with."

  She could hear him smile through the comms. "Now there's the Cherry I know. It's actually very simple, you've played video games more complex than this. Let's bring up your Guardian's Stat's I'll run you through it."

  Guardian: 09

  Level 2

  Hull: 10 (Hull determines the Guardian's Health, and when leveled up increases by 10 points)

  Power Plant: 10 (Power Plant determines how much energy a Guardian is able to produce, and increases by 10 when leveled up)

  Systems: 5 (Systems are how many additional pieces of equipment the Guardian can operate at once. It increases by 5 on level ups.)

  Actuators: 1 (Actuators determines the raw strength of The Guardian, and increases by 1 on level ups.)

  Engines:0 (Engines determine the speed and maneuverability of The Guardian and increase by 1 on level ups.)

  Those are your Guardian's main components, you're going to pick one to level up."

  "Which one?"

  "You're going to choose."

  "Well you already know what I choose, dude just tell me. I don't know which."

  "We have free will Cherry, we can't fall into the trap of thinking everything is predetermined for us."

  "I pick something stupid don't I?"

  "There's no bad options." Gale said.

  "actuators seems pretty bad, I have a gun."

  "You ended up fist fighting that thing didn't you? If you had an upgraded actuator, you could have laid it out on your first punch."

  "So I should pick actuators?"

  "Just think about it Cherry, Damn." Gale sighed. "So that's one half half of leveling up. You get to upgrade one of your parts, and you also get to select a new bonus for your Guardian. It looks like it's come up with a few options, so I'm going to show them to you."

  "Great." What a perfect way to unwind after a grizzly battle to the death.

  "You get an Offensive, Defensive, and Support option."

  Option 1

  Fist Catapult

  System Requirement: 3

  Range: Melee

  Energy: NA

  Effect: When engaging in melee combat the fists of the Guardian and rapidly retracted into the arm, and then hydraulically propelled forward at the moment of impact, massively increasing the damage the Guardian does in melee.

  "Okay, see that first option on your screen. That's your offensive action, it's giving you a melee weapon. If you're fighting in melee it's always better to have a weapon than not. A weapon grantees that your Actuator rating will be converted into damage."

  The confused Cherry. "Wasn't I doing damage when I was punching the thing?"

  "You were but, you were also getting lucky. The damage from an unarmed attack isn't guaranteed. Now see that it doesn't cost an energy to use this. We love that. Also notice the System Requirements. The Fist Catapult takes up three system points, and so does your shoulder cannon. You'd have to pick one or the other before deploying, or use your level up to increase your capacity."

  "Okay, I think I get it. What's my next option?"

  Option 2

  Ablative Armor

  System Requirements: 0

  Energy: 0

  Effect: Extra armor is added to the Hull of The Guardian. This armor is light weight and designed to easily fall off under stress, taking the brunt of damage instead of the main chassis. The Guardian gains 5 points of Health to their Hull.

  "Okay, there's option number two. This option is a passive benefit to the mech. Meaning it doesn't take any slots or energy to use. It's not as powerful as other options, but you don't have to juggle all those numbers. Plus extra health never hurt anyone."

  Option 3

  Range Finder

  System Requirements: 2

  Energy: 1

  Effect: The targeting system of this Guardian are enhanced, and able to link with other Guardians. When aiming The Guardian can choose to provide the aiming bonus to all other Guardians rather than their own attack.

  "That's Option 3. It's a support skill so it's about helping the team. Aiming is basically just spending a few moments to focus on your target before firing. Anyone can do it and it raises the accuracy of your gun by two points. So your cannon would be hitting seven out of ten times. This makes it so instead of you getting that bonus, it's all your allies."

  "My only other ally had a sword."

  "Fair."

  Wasn't she in a giant mech? Where were the missiles? These options were kind of lame. "Okay so I just pick a system to upgrade, and one of those options right?"

  "Right... plus..."

  "Oh no."

  "You also managed to upgrade your cannon during that fight. Each of your systems has a goal that you need to meet to upgrade them. The cannon's challenge was to kill five enemies with it, and you took care of that pretty easily. These challenges carry over even if you die. So Clay won't level up from this fight, but his gear will still gain experience from him using it."

  "I guess that's good. But i can barely afford the upgrades you just showed me without increasing my systems, is that going to make my cannon harder to use?"

  "Sometimes, but you get to choose. Here I'll show you, these are the last options and then you're done I swear.

  Gear Upgrade!

  Bronco Shoulder Cannon V.2

  Option 1

  Double Tap

  Effect: The Guardian's Shoulder Cannon now fires two shots for every point of energy spent.

  Option 2

  Armor Piercing Rounds

  Effect: The Guardian's Shoulder Cannon now ignores one point of armor from it's enemies

  Option 3

  Smart Rounds

  Effect: The Accuracy of The Guardian's Shoulder Cannon is now increased by 2 points.

  "Yeah see, 09 isn't out to do anything crazy. That's a workhorse of a mech, it keeps things simple. The Options you have right now are just going to effect how your cannon shoots. There's no additional energy or system requirements."

  "So what you're saying is that if I increase my power plant, that'll take me to twenty energy. Then if I get double tap I'll be shooting forty rounds a fight."

  "Now you're thinking like a pilot."