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Betoras believed in destiny, he did not doubt that nothing happened by coincidence. No, there was some unseen force that guided all men, paved for them the path they must walk, yet he also believed in free will, that while destiny left paths for a man to follow, it was his choice which of them to take in the end..

Naturally, he also believed it was the arrangement of said destiny that had led to what happened that night, that unexpected meeting of paths. It had been what had seemed in ordinary night in Temerus, a city on Ellana's south-east coast that attracted many tourists each year, it was also where Betoras had chosen to spend his vacation. The Beneran had been out enjoying the famous nightlife along the city's harbor. There, the large, three eyed, bull like figure had met a rather fetching female of his race in a local bar, and had intended to spend the night with her, they sat together on a bench in one of the water side parks, looking out at the distant lights of fishing boats out after dark, reflecting off the water's surface, behind them, there were the bright lights of the many tall buildings in the city, it was quiet, it seemed the park was largely removed from the usual bustle of such a city, and the only illumination around them was the orange glow of the lamp posts in the park, lighting the stranger's gray fur and Betoras' own short brown coat.

He might have kissed her if she had not revealed the fact that she was married. At that point, he quickly stood up, using an excuse about needing the washroom, an easy enough lie that should buy him enough time to get away, but while it was not true, he nonetheless walked to the park's public restrooms to ensure it was convincing. He was not going to be caught getting intimate with a married woman, and he had no intention of returning to her.

In the restroom, he caught his face reflected in the mirror above the sink. Betoras was generally considered a fairly attractive Beneran, standing at almost two and a half meters, his bull-like face was marred only by a diagonal scar on the left side, a memento from military days he had since left behind, the bluish flesh of it partially covered by his fur, all three of his eyes were blue, and a pair of shiny black horns grew from the sides of his head, long and curving upwards. His torso was covered in a white sleeveless shirt that displayed his muscular arms proudly, also allowing one to see the muscular structure of his torso.

He quickly exited the washroom, and made a quick glance towards the bench he had previously shared with the one he thought would be his companion through the night, and was satisfied to see she was looking away, he then quickly moved through the space between the buildings that served as the men's and ladies' rooms, trying to get out of sight as quickly as he could. He ran along a sidewalk beside the road, and continued until he saw a dark, shadowed alleyway, there he stopped to rest, supposing the woman would not find him here. He leaned his back against the stone wall of one of the surrounding buildings. The quiet, however, was soon interrupted by the sound of raised voices.

He quickly rose again, and went to search for the source of the sound, finding it with little trouble, while his hooves did not lend themselves to stealth, it seemed he had nonetheless gone unnoticed by the speakers. What he saw in the alley was a collection of figures, most of whom were fellow Benerans, but there was also one of the feline Gam'jira among them, and the one who was currently speaking was one of the wolf-like Alkari, the gray furred figure had a gun, a particle beam pistol, to be specific, pointed at an aged looking white furred Beneran before him.

"We know you have it." He said "Hand it over."

"I told you, I really have no idea what you're talking about." The old Beneran pleaded "You must have the wrong person, please... let me go!"

"Don't think you can deceive us, we know who you are, and we know that you took it, now hand it back!" the Alkar answered with a rather threatening growl.

Betoras was not really certain what was going on here, but he felt he had to do something about it. Many people thought that Benerans had difficulty making quick decisions, and while there was some basis to this stereotype, Betoras' time in the military had taught him that hesitating at the wrong moment could cost lives, as it was, his mind quickly formulated a plan, while the Alkar was the only one whose weapon was drawn, he was sure the others were armed too, that put him at a clear disadvantage, even with the aid of military training. If he wanted to help the old Beneran, his best chance would be to be quick, and not give the others a chance to react.

"This is your final warning, if you don't want to die, ha..." the speaker was interrupted by a quick motion on Betoras' part, running up behind him, he delivered a hard blow to the back of his head, the canine let out a cry of pain as he fell forward, only now noticing Betoras, a brief moment of confusion came over the group, seizing his chance, the Beneran immediately ran past them, and grabbed the arm of their victim.

"Come with me." He said, and without protest, the old bull did as asked.

Of course, the strange group did not give the two Benerans much time to flee undisturbed, as Betoras soon heard the sounds of feet and hooves on the street behind him, he did not need to look back to know they were following, and soon enough, the pulses of particle beams firing proved his theory that they were all armed. Thankfully, it was difficult for them to aim at moving targets while running, and the green blasts of light merely streaked past them, though Betoras could feel the heat radiating from them due to their closeness.

He had let go of his companion's arm by now, and he seemed to be able to keep up with him despite his age, he motioned towards a corner, and turned down it with the older one, hoping to lose their pursuers in there.

They found no such peace, as one of the pursuers soon looked around the corner, pointing and shouting "There they are!" then the firing started again.

This time, Betoras saw one of the bolts strike his companion, the old Beneran cried out in pain, and his hand immediately clutched at the wound, the blue blood characteristic to his kind seeping out from between his fingers, knowing there was no time to waste, Betoras put an arm around the gray furred man, and continued running with him.

"Just hold on a little longer!" he said "I have a car parked not far from here, we can get through this!"

And so he continued running, rounding corners whenever he could in the hopes of making pursuit more difficult, he was not sure how bad the wound of the one who he was trying to help was, but as long as they were still being followed, he did not have time to check, so he just focused on putting as much distance between them as possible, while still going to the general direction of the spot where he had parked the car.

This eventually brought them onto a more open street, and there were a few around to bear witness to the chase, but they got out of the way for their own safety, and soon enough, Betoras found his way to the parked vehicle.

It was painted in a deep metallic green, with the streamlined structure that was fashionable for cars in Alestrea at the time, Betoras unlocked the doors, and opened the front passenger door, helping the other into the seat before closing the door again, and taking his own place on the driver's side.

Wasting no time, he started the vehicle, the bright head lights coming on, and pulled it out, he drove it right into the midst of the people pursuing him and the stranger as fast as he could, they leaped out of the way in time, and it did not seem that any were hit. But he was at least able to drive past them, and make his escape, he then slowed the vehicle to a safer speed, and glanced to the figure in the seat to his side.

"How are you feeling? He could not see the wound itself, as the stranger was still holding it, but judging from the quickly growing deep blue stain in his side, it seemed like his injury would be rather dangerous to neglect.

The old Beneran shook his head "Don't worry about me, just focus on driving."

Betoras nodded, and continued along, regularly glancing back to see if their pursuers had come after them in any vehicles, so far, though, nothing.

He was not sure how long they had driven for when the stranger next to him suddenly coughed.

"Stop." He said "There's something... I need to say to you."

Betoras looked to him, and what he saw was not promising, some of the stranger's blood had gotten onto the seat, and his bluish exposed flesh had taken on a paler hue "Shouldn't I get you to the hospital?" he asked "If that doesn't get treated..."

"I said stop!" the older figure answered, his words sounding surprisingly forceful given his current weakness, yet the effort of that seemed to have caused him some pain, as he flinched, and more coughing could be heard "I don't think I'll be able to... last that long. And b... before I go... I must... entrust something to you."

Betoras was not sure what this was about, but he felt he should listen, so he found a suitable place to pull over on the side of the road "What is this thing you wanted to entrust to me?"

"I have something... those people... the ones who a... attacked me want." He answered, and reached into a pocket "But they must not be allowed to have it. Its power is... too great to be... left in their hands." He withdrew his trembling hand from his pocket, and reached it out towards Betoras. In it, the Beneran was surprised to see that he held a small device, perhaps the length of his smallest finger, it had a flat metal shaft with odd geometric lines on it, attached to a wide, diamond-shaped part of a white plastic like material, with a clear green piece set into either side, beneath it was what appeared to be circuitry "It's... the activation key... for a very special Kn... Knight Machine. I don't know who you are, but I... I feel I have no choice but to trust you with it, at least... that would be better... than to let them have it. Take it, and see to it that its power... is used for the right cause."

Betoras took the device, and looked over it, he noticed there was a section beneath the transparent material with the word "Aparillis" engraved into it.

"Thank you." The old bull said, and as he spoke, Betoras was sure he saw tears in his eyes "With that... I must be satisfied, and if you ever need its power... hold the key, and call its name... Aparillis, it will answer." Another cough, before he continued "Just don't abuse it..."

Betoras grabbed the gray furred Beneran's hand "Don't worry," he said "I don't know what this is about, but you can trust me."

The stranger smiled at this, although his eyes were closed "I guess... that's the most I can ask. This isn't how I wanted to go, but... I guess it's how it issss..." his voice trailed off, before suddenly, his head hung low, and his body went limp, the rise and fall of his chest had ceased, and Betoras felt his wrist for a pulse, finding none, before letting it slump to his side.

He realized that this stranger had taken his last breath.

It had been three days since that night, and Betoras would have been lying to say the death, in and of itself, had impacted him deeply, he had already seen too many people die, both allies and enemies, friends and strangers, in his military career to let the loss of one person whose name he did not even know faze him, however, that event had left him with a different feeling. Perhaps it was curiosity, for in the end, he had not learned what the whole affair was about. While the stranger's last words had given him some information, it all seemed to only raise more questions. Who were those people? What did they want this Aparillis for? Why had that man been carrying the key? He was left with all those questions, and yet he had no way to know if he would ever find their answers, then again, perhaps fate would lead him to those answers in time.

That night, the police had of course come, and Betoras had been questioned, but soon enough, they ruled him out as a suspect, for he had no weapons that could inflict a wound like the one that had killed that man, nor had he ever had access to any since he left the military. And after that, he had been allowed to go on his way. He had also told the police everything that had happened, and they accepted his story.

At least, he told them about everything except the key, that, he had managed to keep hidden, even though he knew that it would qualify as evidence, and should be given to them, why had he done that? He would have liked to think that it was because the dying Beneran had entrusted it to him, and he felt honor bound to hold on to it until he found a better place to it, but more likely, it was because he hoped that if he kept it with him, he might eventually find answers.

On that day three days later, he sat alone in a café, eating a meal of a bread stuffed with meat and vegetables, accompanied by an herbal tea made using multara blossoms, the Beneran's favorite, the tea was lightly sweetened, and gave off a most exquisite aroma, the bread was nice too, but to Betoras, the tea was definitely the highlight. The café was a quaint little place, adorned by various trinkets that he surmised must have been collected by the owner over the years. Everything from antique cookware to ornate Felstiran carvings, perhaps the oddest thing was the object on a shelf just above Betoras' head, an intricately carved sculpture, looking to be made from corral, in the shape of a Nakesh, one of the mysterious fish-like denizens of the deep, naked except for a headdress adorned by various shells, he, or maybe she, it could be hard to tell when it came to Nakesh, was pouring some kind of liquid from a pitcher. The front of the café had large windows that gave a view of the street beyond, lined with stores identified by colorful signs bustling with people going about their business as always.

The one who tended to the café was a Homunculus, an artificially engineered lifeform, he, or perhaps "it" would be a more accurate term, given that most Homunculi were sexless, was currently standing behind the counter, mixing a pot of coffee, a gold skinned, hairless humanoid who seemed to have a perpetual smile on his face. Of course, there was no doubt that the Homunculus was not the owner, Homunculi were created to be servants, the thought of one owning a business was unheard-of, but the owner was nowhere to be seen or heard, and the clerk seemed to be doing a good enough job of keeping the customers present comfortable.

Betoras heard the sound of the door opening, he glanced over to it, and saw another figure walk in. A reptilian being, with thick scales predominantly of a light brown, she had a short tail, barely more than a stub on her rear end, and a beak, the back of her head was adorned by spines that grew in such a way as to resemble hair, the figure had a rounded physique that would look slightly plump in other races, but Betoras knew that this was a natural feature of her race, for she was a Tenal, a race adapted to desert climates, the layer of fat that gave her that appearance helped her survive for long periods of time without food or water, not that she was likely to need it here.

And it was indeed a she, for Betoras had seen enough of her kind to recognize the differences between the sexes, the more slender waist and wider hips of females, as well as the head spines that males lacked, and he had to wonder what she was doing here. While seeing members of a wide variety of races in a popular vacation destination was not unusual, it was not so common for the Tenal to choose coastal regions for such purposes.

Betoras continued to observe the Tenal as she placed an order at the counter, before walking over. To his surprise, she came straight to his table, and motioned to the chair across from him.

"Mind if I sit here?" she asked.

He glanced around, seeing that there were unoccupied tables, before he shrugged "Why not? No one else is sitting there." He was not sure why she would specifically choose his table when there were other free places, but he saw no harm in allowing her to join him.

"Exactly what I was thinking." The reptilian woman answered "Leave the empty tables to those who come in groups."

As she spoke, he took a moment to look over her form in greater detail, her dress was fairly revealing, consisting primarily of a pair of wide legged white pants and a top over her chest, leaving her stomach exposed. Not that anyone was going to object even if there had not been others showing more skin about, given her reptilian structure, she could likely have left her chest uncovered and no one would mind. Her pants were secured around her waist by a belt with a metal buckle, and the neck of her top was adorned by a golden clasp carved with some form of bird with very intricate plumage. Some of her head spines were also adorned by metal rings with different colored feathers attached to them, her choices in clothing all came together to create a rather exotic air about her.

"If you're done admiring my body, how about we get ourselves introduced." She said, this caused the Beneran to turn his gaze back to her face, a hint of blue showing through his short brown fur.

"I wasn't!" he answered "I was just... well, I just found your choice of clothing interesting."

"There's nothing wrong with being attracted to other races." The Tenal answered "Or even having relationships with them, there's no need to hide it, but whatever you say, anyway, like I said, it's time for introductions. Eltira M'dran." She placed on hand on the table, the scales on the palms and inside of her fingers were a darker brown and had a very leathery look to them.

"I'm Betoras," he answered "Betoras Estora." Hoping to prevent their conversation from going down the awkward path Eltira had just pointed it in, he quickly added: "So what brings a Tenal to this part of Alestrea?"

"I'd like to say tourism, but I'm afraid it's for work." She answered "There's someone I'm supposed to meet here for my job."

He nodded to this "I'm here on vacation, like many of those who come here. So, if you don't mind me asking, what is the job you do?"

"Oh, it's nothing special, certainly nothing most people are interested in, still, it needs to be done." It was at this moment that the Homunculus servant came by with a tray carrying her food, a mix of stir-fried vegetables without a trace of meat in it, Betoras found it interesting that while the Benerans, who had external resemblances to the cattle the humans raised were omnivores, the reptilian Tenal were exclusively herbivores, just one of those odd things about the world, he supposed. Accompanying her meal was a steaming cup of coffee, she paid the waiter, with enough for a fairly large tip along with the cost of her food.

"Use the tip for whatever you like." She said "And you're not allowed to refuse it."

As the Homunculus walked away, Betoras smiled to the Tenal "Most people wouldn't be so generous to the Homunculus," he said "In fact, a lot wouldn't tip one at all."

"Well those 'most people' are hypocrites." She answered "How would they feel if I treated them differently because of their race? We may have created Homunculi, but they're still living, intelligent beings, and have free will like us, even if people try to train them to forego its use, so we have no right to treat them otherwise. If people wanted machines to do their bidding without asking for any sort of reward, they should have just built robots."

"You make a good point there." Betoras commented "I guess not everyone thought of things that way, though." Having spoken, he got back to eating his food, as did Eltira before him.

Though they ate in peace for a time, unfortunately, they were not able to finish their meals, for loud noise was heard from outside, it was a sound Betoras had heard too many times for his liking, the noise of an explosion. Immediately, he sprang to his hooves, even as the other customers all looked in the direction it had come from, muttering amongst themselves, if they were not too stunned by shock to do so.

"What was that?" Eltira asked, also standing up, she was soon next to the Beneran.

"I don't know, but I intend to find out." He said, quickly going to the door, even before he was outside, he saw a sight that caused his eyes to widen, through the window, he saw the clear signs of battle, the wreckages of broken buildings, and a sea of flame, and among it the carnage walked the giant shapes, each a humanoid figure, clearly mechanical.

They were Knight Machines, and as they fired at random targets, it became clear that they were the cause of the destruction. Immediately, Betoras ran out "Wait, it's dangerous out there!" Eltira protested, but he ignored her, and she quickly followed him, he moved in closer to the scene of the attack so he could better survey the situation, pushing his way past people fleeing from the scene. He was soon able to see the attacker's more clearly, they stood at perhaps seventeen meters in height, and were painted in a blue color, their forms were fairly streamlined, and lacked much in the way of decoration, each had a large hydrojet backpack, and they had enlarged claws on their forearms, though currently these were folded back and they instead used normal humanoid hands to hold the hand-held weapons they were using for the attacks. Betoras recognized them as Selanises, an older model of amphibious KMs that the Ellanan military had used, but now they were often found in the hands of private owners such as mercenaries, and of course were also sometimes used by criminals, unfortunately, who these belonged to he could not tell due to their lack of any markings that would distinguish allegiance.

Betoras counted five of them in total, and they were armed it seemed with particle assault rifles and hand-held missile launchers, there appeared to be no obvious strategy to their attacks beyond destroying whatever was in their path.

It was at this moment that the monoeye camera of one of them, swiveling beneath a clear visor in its head, focused on the two of them, glowing an ominous red, and it pointed its missile launcher at them.

Betoras, realizing neither of them would have time to get out of the way if it fired, could do nothing about it, and instead, he acted on impulse, grabbing hold of Eltira, wrapping the smaller reptilian in his wide, muscular arms, oddly enough, he did not notice any sign that she was afraid.

Through all this, the Beneran had no noticed that the attackers were not the only KMs present until he heard ballistic weapons fire, and the sound of projectiles striking armor, the Beneran looked to see that a group of law enforcement KMs, painted in the red and white of Ellanan police, had opened fire the rampaging KMs, the Salanis that had previously been about to fire on him and Eltira had turned its attention to the newcomers as the bullets from a KM sized assault rifle struck its armor, tearing holes through it, though there were only three of the police units, Betoras thought they should be able to handle common criminals.

"It's about time they showed up, now, you can let me go." Eltira said, and the Beneran nodded, then breathed a sigh of relief

"That was close, but it seems we're safe now." He said "Now, why don't you go somewhere safe?"

She shook her head "Why should I run away when you're out here in harm's way?" she asked "If you want me to leave than you'll have to too."

Betoras shook his head "I'm not leaving yet," he said "If there are any survivors caught here, I should help them, you should help me if you want to stay." The truth was, he did not think he believed that was his real reason, in the end, he doubted that he would see anyone alive in the area now, and even as he spoke, his hand reached into his pocket, feeling a now familiar object with his fingers. In truth, he had yet to try calling to Aparillis in the days since that night, so he certainly had no idea what to expect if he did, and for a moment, he wondered if he should try it now, but he thought it best to let the police handle it.

That said, he looked back to the battle going on, before his eyes, the police and the aggressors were fighting, maneuvering through the streets as they exchanged fire, though keeping to the already damaged areas, but the Beneran noticed something was wrong. There as a lot more skill to the Salanises' movements then he previously expected, they acted with the skill and swiftness only an experienced pilot could have, moving in just the right way to dodge each strike with the minimal amount of movement, and their own attacks were well aimed, making it difficult for the enemies to avoid them.

Then the police started losing, Betoras was surprised to see one of the machines take a direct hit to its head, the yellow particle beam passed right through it, leaving a hole in its path, its melted edges glowing red hot, the machine fired in the attacker's general direction, but with its main camera gone, it was impossible for it to make accurate shots, then a second Salanis struck it from behind, its claws extended, it stabbed them right through the machine's torso, impaling it, the amphibious KM then kicked its target, causing it to slide off the claws and fall to the ground.

A second Salanis also entered melee range, and began grappling with the enemy, after a struggle with it, it ripped off both arms, casting the appendages aside with no concern for where they landed, one of the broken limbs landed not so far from Betoras' position with a loud crash, he could see the jointed fingers of the hand still twitching as wires within the part where it was once attached to the rest of the KM sparked. Despite having literally disarmed his opponent, though, the pilot did not stop there, for claws extended, the KM thrust its arm forward, aiming for the waist, the extremely sharp metal blades stabbed through the armor, one directly cutting into the cockpit, the blue fluid that covered it when it was withdrawn making it clear what had happened to the pilot.

Betoras let out a low growl that seemed inappropriate for a bovine at the destruction before him, whoever these mysterious attackers were, he knew that they deserved no mercy, attacking both civilians and opponents who had already been rendered harmless indiscriminately, and he came to a decision, this was the moment that night was leading up to, it was time to see just what Aparillis really was.

This was what destiny had in store for him, well, if his fate was to use this Aparillis to protect the innocent, then he would gladly accept it.

Quickly, he pulled his hand out of his pocket, the activation key with it.

"So you have it?" Eltira asked, focusing her gaze on the key.

"You know about this?" Betoras asked, looking to her in surprise.

"Yes, but we can discuss that later," she answered "For now, are you going to do it? You can still back out now, but if you call that thing's name, then you'll be involved in something bigger than you know, are you prepared to make that commitment?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he answered "But I know I'm prepared to fight, and to accept my destiny, and I don't like to waste time when lives are at stake. If I can help people with this, then I'll use it, no matter what happens because of it."

At this, her beak split into what must have been the equivalent of a smile "I see, then maybe you're the right one to use it after all. Very well, do it, call Aparillis."

He nodded, and raised the arm that held the key up high, that had not been something the dying Beneran had told him to do, but it felt right to do it.

"Aparillis!" he shouted out as loud as he could, a bellowed cry that seemed to match the fury of the flame's that still burned in what had once been peaceful streets, and the mechanical soldiers that continued to clash. For a moment, Betoras feared that nothing would happen, that the key was useless, and that the stranger had died for nothing, that was until the transparent green plates on it glowed, and the Beneran saw a sight he was sure he would remember for the rest of his life.

Before him, the image of a still relatively intact building began to distort, as though light were passing through some refractive substance, the distortion intensified quickly, and at the center of the distorted area, a prismatic light formed and began to spread to encompass the distorted region, an area large enough to house a KM. That light than began to take form, solidifying into a humanoid shape before fading, leaving in its place a massive shape. The whole process had taken only a brief instant, yet somehow, it seemed the Beneran had seen everything in great detail, and he looked up to the form before him.

It was not the largest of KMs, maybe seventeen meters, if one ignored the single horn-like protrusion that rose from its forehead. Beneath this, a pair of green optics glowed in an otherwise dark looking visor. Overall, it had the visage of a giant armored knight, its outer plating was black with gold accents, engraved with intricate and beautiful designs, normally the mark of a Category S. Its chest bore a green crystalline sphere set into the center, surrounded by golden engravings in the shape of stylized wings, on its left arm, it bore a large shield.

"So this is Aparillis..." Betoras said, knowing this could only be the KM that name referred to "But it seemed to teleport, yet shouldn't that be impossible without Binding?"

"Now is not the time to ask questions like that." Eltira stated "I trust you can pilot it?"

"I know how if that's what you're asking," he answered "I just need to get to the cockpit, I'm sure I can use it to stop this attack."

Much to his surprise, the machine suddenly bent down in one swift, agile movement, entering a kneeling position with its hand rested on the ground before him, and in its lower torso, just beneath the green sphere in the chest, a hatch opened to reveal a cockpit.

"It seems it wants you to pilot it," the Tenal commented "well, go ahead, Betoras, do what you must, but try to keep at least one of the pilots alive, that way, the authorities can question him and maybe find out what's going on."

He nodded "You get somewhere safe until this is over." That said, he climbed onto the palm of the hand placed before him, and looked up to the face of the machine, he could see small vents along the outside of the edges of the inverted triangle shaped face-plate, rimmed in gold, and again he met the machine's green gaze. The machine carefully lifted him up towards the cockpit, he quickly climbed in, and took his place in the seat, finding it seemed to be designed for someone of typical Beneran physique. He took a moment to look over the cockpit, finding the design to be fairly standard, certainly familiar, he closed the hatch and strapped himself in, then, he surveyed his surroundings on the cockpit displays, with his past experiences, he was sure he would have no trouble piloting it.

All systems seemed to be in working order, and a quick check over the list of weapons revealed a pair of beam swords stored in the waist armor, a pair of sonic daggers in the forearms, and shoulder mounted particle beam cannons "Alright, let's do this, shall we?" he said to himself.

Betoras quickly spun the machine around, and saw that the last of the police KMs seemed to be faring better than its companions, since it still stood, which spoke well for the skill of its pilot, unfortunately, it was still being overwhelmed, while it was able to dodge or block many of the attacks thrown at it with the rectangular shield on its left arm, there was just too much for it to handle, and its armor was torn in many places, and now, one of the attackers was poised to deliver the final blow with its arm mounted claws, another holding it in place so it could not escape, the Salanis would not have a chance to destroy its victim, however, for it was suddenly knocked aside by a strike from Aparillis, which came charging in to bash the unsuspecting attacker with its shield.

Before the others had a chance to react, the KM activated a beam sword it had taken into its hand during its charge, the blade glowing a bright blue, and jabbed it right past the police unit, into one of the arms of the KM that held it, which forced it to let go, giving its victim a chance to break free.

"I don't know who you are, but thank you." A voice, no doubt belonging to the pilot of the police KM, said over the communication systems in the cockpit, it sounded a little familiar, but now was not a good time to try to work out where Betoras had heard it before.

"There'll be time for that later." he answered "For now, we need to fight these off."

That said, he quickly took in the state of his foes, it seemed the police KM had managed to disable one of them when Betoras' attention was directed elsewhere, it now lay on the ground, its body full of holes, and the light gone from its camera, that left four, whereas there were only two on his side, not exactly the best of odds, but he was confident enough in his own abilities to not back down because of that, and if his assessment was correct, his companion should still be able to put up a fight too.

The fight was quickly resumed when the enemies that had been struck by Aparillis earlier recovered their stance, with the group splitting into two couples to engage their foes.

"For two of them I'll just use two weapons." He said to himself as he worked at the controls, the machine let go of its shield and the joint that attached it to the arm bent back so that it was on the back part of the arm rather than the side, then the left waist armor opened, revealing the hilt of a second beam sword, which Aparillis drew, and activated. The first enemy charged, striking with its claws, but with speed that impressed even Betoras, he was able to dodge its strike, before he struck out with both beam swords, each one severing one of the machine's arms, he only barely noticed the second one fire several missiles in time, yet was able to avoid them by quickly jumping backwards.

Both mobility and responses seem to be top notch._He thought _Shall we see if it can win in a competition of firepower?

On the weapons list, he selected the particle beam cannons, and a section of the panel in front of him popped open, a grip with a trigger on it, clearly for aiming and controlling the weapons, extended. On the outside, two weapon barrels attached to Aparillis' back slid forward over the shoulders, with a section of the armor there opening to lock with the barrels, holding them steady, each was about the length of the machine's arms and had a slender, square shaped barrel. Betoras took aim and pulled the trigger, the enemy had been poised to take another shot, but quickly turned its attention to evading when light began to emit from the cannons, then they fired, a pair of bright blue beams streaking across the space before the KM, and towards the enemy. Even with its efforts to dodge the blast, the Salanis could not avoid its left arm and leg being caught in it, and completely disintegrated as a result, the blast also expanded the damage to nearby buildings, but thankfully everything within its radius was already destroyed beyond recognition so it could not make things much worse at this point, which was what the Beneran had been counting on when he fired.

The now crippled enemy fell to the ground, unable to fight in its current state, though to be safe. Betoras put the KM into a quick run towards it, the cannons retracting into their original position on the back in the process, and stabbed a beam blade into its intact arm.

He quickly spun the machine around, and saw the one that had lost its arms trying to run away, he gritted his teeth, having no intention of letting it escape.

"You're not getting away after what you did." He said, and put his hoof down on a pedal at his feet, which fired the thrusters in the back and legs of the machine for a quick burst of speed, easily catching up to the fleeing KM, and stabbing both beam blades through its back, one of the broken stumps of its arms reached forward as it fell forward while Aparillis withdrew the blades, then the downed machine exploded, producing a bright light that reflected off the other KM's armor.

With both the ones attacking him destroyed, the Beneran decided to see how well the police KM was fairing, when he turned around, he saw it stab a sword whose edges glowed red hot, a heat sword, through the head of one of the machines, the intense heat from it easily meting the material it touched. The machine twitched for a few moments as it was simply held there, before its enemy brought up a leg to kick it, sending it to the ground as the sword was removed. Betoras decided to see how well the other pilot would fair against the last one, which as it happened was the one whose arm he had disabled with a stab earlier, now it was holding an assault rifle salvaged from the wreckage of its companion in its undamaged hand, using it to fire at the foe, though its accuracy was limited by the fact that it could not use the other hand to keep the weapon stable, between this and the zigzag pattern its enemy moved in as it approached, many rounds missed, the rest the KM was able to catch on its shield. The machine ran passed the enemy, swinging its blade in a diagonal arc, the upper torso of the attacking KM and lower torso separated along the region where the cut was made, the severed surface still glowing with the heat of the blade, and then that machine also exploded, sending broken mechanical parts crashing into its surroundings.

Aparillis' head turned as Betoras checked for signs of further hostiles, but saw none, so he deactivated the beam swords and returned the hilts to their place at the sides of its waist. He let out a deep breath as he began to come down from the rush of combat, his heart rate and breathing slowed to something closer to normal, it had been so long since he had experienced actual KM combat, and he found that a part of him was relieved to feel that rush again.

"That was some pretty nice piloting there." The pilot of the now severely damaged police unit said as it walked towards Aparillis "And an impressive Knight Machine too, where'd you get it?"

"It's a rather long story," Betoras answered "and not..." he paused when it occurred to him that it might be best to answer any questions the police might ask "Am I obliged to tell you?"

The other pilot laughed "Of course not, you helped me fight them off, so as far as I'm concerned, you must be a good guy, no need to tell me more than that. Still, they really made quite a mess here, looks like we're going to have a lot of work to do."

Hearing that, Betoras decided it would be a good time to check on Eltira. He brought the KM down into a kneeling position, and opened the cockpit, quickly climbing out into the ruined streets, he looked around, not yet seeing the Tenal, but he did notice the police KM do the same, and a figure stepped out of its cockpit.

"Betoras! Is that you?" the figure called, the Beneran glanced up, surprised that the pilot seemed to know his name, then again, if it was someone he knew, it would explain why his voice had seemed familiar. Wondering who he was, he took a step closer to the pilot, who removed the helmet that had previously kept his face obscured, which revealed someone Betoras knew well.

"Aludar! So that's what you've been doing all this time?" he quickly ran over towards the other pilot, who had descended to the ground, a wide smile spreading across his face, the other Beneran was slightly taller than him, but not really bulkier, the fur on his chin was allowed to grow longer into a sort of beard. His fur was predominantly a dark gray, though the only parts of his body visible with his pilot suit in the same color as his KM were his face, tail and hooves. He fixed the other bull man with the friendly gaze of three brown eyes.

"That's right, I've been on the police force ever since we quit the military, and by the looks of things, you're trying to steal my work." The smirk on his face indicated it was meant as a joke.

Betoras shook his head "Today is a special case, it seemed you needed help there. Anyway, shouldn't you be arresting the surviving enemy pilots or something?"

"Don't worry about that." Aludar answered "We have a ground team here to take care of it, they won't be going anywhere. Anyway, it's good to see you again, old friend." He extended a hand for the other Beneran to shake, and he did just that.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what have you been doing all this time?" he asked Betoras after the gesture of greeting

"Actually, I've been working for Makabe Industries as a KM test pilot. It's not a bad job, really, and it's something I can use my experience for. Still, testing out a new machine in a controlled environment and actual combat are pretty different matters, I'm actually a little surprised I handled it so well after all this time."

"I see, so, does that mean that thing is one of Makabe's new prototypes?" he motioned to Aparillis, but Betoras shook his head.

"No, if it were, they wouldn't just let me use it in battle, I'm sure. They can't just risk a valuable prototype like that, after all."

"Now this sure is a touching reunion." A voice said, Betoras quickly turned to its source, recognizing it as belonging to Eltira even before he saw her, sure enough, she was standing there, there was a team of police officers with her, accompanied by a few Homunculi who, judging from their dress, must have been the surviving pilots from the attacking KMs. They appeared much more imposing than the one in the café, each about as large as Betoras, with bony plates covering their bodies, and a pair of horns on their heads, giving them an almost demonic look.

Aludar raised an eyebrow at this sight "What's going on here?" he asked "Who is this civilian and what is she doing here?"

"I'm no civilian." The Tenal answered, and produced a rather distinctive badge, it was decorated by a crest displaying an image of a kudluk, a Beneran mythical beast that had a body resembling that of a bull, but clawed forefeet and a draconic head, the image was green and also bore five stars of the same color, arranged in an arch over the beast, it was the symbol of the Alvani, the ruling body of Ellana, and beneath it was the image of a dagger with three golden stars on either side, and the words "Protecting the future of people and country." below it. Everyone in Ellana knew what the badge meant, and everyone knew that someone who bore it could not be ignored, for it identified a member of the Alvani Intelligence Unit.

"The AIU will be taking care of this investigation." The Tenal said "There's no need for you to concern yourself with it further."

Aludar muttered something under his breath, probably unflattering, but nodded "Very well, you handle things from here. Anything else you want to say, agent?"

"There is nothing more that concerns you, but I do need to speak to Betoras here." This caused the Beneran to stop all his motions, regarding the Tenal nervously, for he could not imagine what kind of business a government agent could have with him.

At his reaction, Eltira chuckled "Don't worry, I'm not arresting you, if that's what you're afraid of, I just want to ask you some questions, and maybe if all goes well, we can help each other out, or at least maybe you can help us and we can reward you for it."

"I guess I don't really have any choice in the matter." He answered, knowing that when an Alvani agent wanted him to follow her, it was unwise to refuse "It looks like we'll have to meet each other some other time," he said to Aludar "but I'm sure our paths will cross again, so goodbye for now."

The other Beneran waved to him "Goodbye, Betoras."

With that, Eltira led him away, eventually stopping in the husk of a ruined building, from a shattered window, he could still see the form of the KM he had piloted towering above the street "By the way, I'd suggest you move Aparillis out of the way before we go."

"You're right," he agreed "Any suggestion of where I should take it?"

"No need to worry about that, just use the activation key, and give it the command 'Aparillis, dismissed.', it will return."

He tilted his head in puzzlement, it seemed as though she knew a lot more about the mysterious KM than she let on, though given what she had already revealed about her true identity, that was perhaps not surprising, the whole affair seemed like the sort of business that the Intelligence Unit might get involved in "Like this?" he asked, bringing out the small hand-held device, and repeating the command she had directed him to.

Aparillis disappeared in much the same fashion as it had appeared, enveloped in light, before it vanished, leaving no trace of its existence except the unmistakable carnage of battle behind.

"You seem to know something about it," Betoras commented once it was gone, turning his gaze back to Eltira "Do you know where it came from, or where it went?"

"Now is not the time for that question." She answered "for now, just come with me, I can't say I want to remain here right now."

He nodded, and followed as she led him away, having no intention to defy this Alvani agent, soon enough, they were out of the ruined area of the city, and back into the undamaged surroundings, past the police that had now surrounded the area, the reporters who had rushed to the scene hoping to get as much information as they could, and the people gawking at the destruction.

"So, what exactly do you want to ask me?" Betoras asked "I'm sure it must be something rather important, for the Alvani to be interested in it."

"Right, we'll I'll start with this, where did you get that KM?"

"It was entrusted to me," he answered, once again intending to tell no lies "By a dying man, he gave me the key, and told me to ensure that its power would not be abused."

"Ah, that must have been Tularius, too bad he didn't make it."

"So you know him, I'm sorry about what happened," the Beneran answered "I tried to save him, but in the end, I failed."

The Tenal shook her head "There's no need to apologize, it's not like we were friends or anything, he was just a colleague, nothing more. It was unfortunate to lose a good operative like that, but grieving over it now won't change anything. Now, we thought he'd given it to you, since it wasn't found during the police's investigation, but we didn't want to approach you directly about it sooner as we weren't sure if we could trust you, and we didn't want to give you an idea of how much we knew too soon if you were an enemy. Still, the events I saw today seem to prove you're not working with them, and from the investigations I've already done on you, you seem pretty trustworthy. Originally my plan was to get to get a better idea of what you were like personally, which is why I approached you in the café, but things didn't quite go as I expected."

Betoras was not really surprised or bothered that the agent had apparently already done some research on him, he was sure her agency had easy access to all the relevant information, and it was not like she would find anything he wanted kept secret, her mention of "them" though did catch his interest.

"And just who are 'they', in this case?"

"Now that's the right attitude for these things," she said, her beak again opening in the imitation of a smile, her eyes brightening "Always look for answers, ignorance is poverty, and that is a good question, just who are they? The answer is the people who created Aparillis, and the people who want it back, probably the people behind the attack today. Naturally, they're people we're trying to fight, and I think Aparillis would be perfectly suited for fighting them, so I'd ask that you hand it over, or, if you'd prefer to keep it, then help us fight them."

Betoras tilted his head at the request, rather puzzled that this agent would ask him to fight for her organization, after all, he was a civilian, albeit one with military experience, seemingly guessing at his unspoken question, she spoke again.

"Like I said, I did some research on you, so I know about your background, I know you were a good pilot for our country in the past, and your performance today shows you haven't forgotten those skills, and like I said, I also feel you can be trusted. Now, of course we have other pilots who work for us, but none of them are as good as you. I'm sure you noticed when piloting Aparillis that its performance is top notch, it would be such a shame if we let that go to waste because the pilot isn't skilled enough to bring out its full potential, and of the people we have available, you seem to be the best candidate, so, what do you say? Will you help us, or not? And don't worry about your job, we'll contact your company and inform them that we'll be borrowing you for an extended period of time, and they're not going to argue with us. Of course, we'll also pay you for your services, and let you get back to your normal life once this is over." At this point, she had stopped on the sidewalk, and he did the same, thus, she just waited there, watching his eyes as she waited for his answer.

The Beneran thought about it, scratching his chin as he contemplated the question, part of him told him that he should decline, fearing that he might regret his choice if he agreed, and yet, there were a number of reasons he might consider joining, after the destruction he had witnessed earlier, he wanted to put a stop to whoever was behind it, and on a more selfish level, he wanted to know just what was really going on here. He had already seen people die for this, and he wanted to know what it was that they had been sacrificed for.

"I suppose that if I want to know the rest, I have to accept, right?" he asked finally, to which Eltira nodded.

Finally, he sighed "I accept," he said "Now, I hope I won't regret this, so, will you tell me all that you know now?"

"Of course," the Tenal answered "Come with me, we'll go somewhere more private, where we won't be interrupted, then I'll answer your questions, all the ones I can, anyway."

With that, she led him away, towards whatever place she intended to take him.