The Gremlin teetered in the middle of the gymnasium. Its front was studded with the ends of slippers, looking like it had been struck by a series of cannonballs. Mingling in between were gaping slash marks that wove patterns and danced in curving lines. Sparks shot out from its chassis and the head whirled around in all directions before the machine fell to the ground.

The trapped students rejoiced around the two warriors, Shotuku and Rick, before being whipped back into line by Miss Sakura. "Well that was pretty simple, don't you think?" Rick asked, used to his days of combat training as a Circuit Breaker.

"Yes, very easy. Let us hope that the students feel the same way," Shotuku answered.

"Well that fight was pretty quick. I mean we hardly did anything and then it was over."

"Quite."

"It was very anti-climactic. Really I can't imagine anyone wanting to listen to how we defeated the Gremlin after all is said and done."

"Indeed. I'm glad our story wasn't mentioned at all then, to help save people some time and keep them focused." And Shotuku and Rick looked up towards the heavens through the skylights in the gymnasium, the feeling of being watched ever present.

* * * * *

Porter took in a deep breath, sucking recycled air into his nostrils and feeling it spread out throughout his entire frame. The Gremlin was rushing forward, coming closer to destroy him and put an end to the battle. Porter wanted nothing less than to do the very same thing...but to his enemy instead.

As the battlesuit approached, Porter lunged forward then dropped down to his knees, leaning back and sliding under his foe. He thrust the katana upwards and let the sharpened steel slice through the groin unit of the Gremlin, tearing apart its casing and exposing wires underneath.

The hallway shuddered as the Gremlin stumbled a bit from the attack. It soon righted itself and spun around while Porter got to his feet slowly. He was still feeling the blows from earlier and couldn't just ignore physical pain with bravado. But he was going to try, regardless of this mechanical warrior. Porter rolled under the next strike from the Gremlin, a sweeping fist, but felt something close around his foot as he did. He looked down and found his leg had come under the grasp of the Gremlin.

Porter tried to kick at his enemy's grip but to no avail. This wasn't like a human who would respond to the sting of a blow. It couldn't feel anything and so its hold was solid. The battlesuit tossed Porter down the hallway as though he were a doll stuffed with cotton. The youth managed to twist his body while in the air and landed on his feet, sliding on the metal surface of the floor beneath him.

There was a clatter of steel as the katana landed on the ground behind Porter and the student looked down at his hands to find he had indeed let go of his weapon while in the air. This would be a problem. The Gremlin caught sight of this, its ocular crimson lens spinning in place to focus on every point of interest in the room. It took off, aiming to crush Porter before he could get a hold of his sword once more.

"You can do it Porter!" came Riya's voice from the side and Porter let his eyes slide over to look at the shy girl standing against the lockers, watching him. She gave him a little smile, unaffected by the weight of the current situation. Right, Porter thought. I can do it.

In a flash of lightning, the Gremlin's fist came down on the empty air where Porter had once stood. Now the young pilot was beside the katana, grasping its hilt and standing up to face his enemy, his eyes having turned into an icy shade of blue, hair starting to turn white. "I can do it."

The miniature-Goliath lashed out again, closing the gap instantaneously and bringing down its arm in a karate chop, which looked rather silly from a robotic humanoid. Porter's arm and blade wavered in the air, moving in a blur as he slashed upwards and sheared straight through the battlesuit's arm. The machine stumbled backwards, electricity and sparks shooting out of exposed cables while hydraulic fluids and synthetic oils spewed out of their tubes and leaked out onto the floor.

Porter struck once more, this time cutting further up the arm. He ducked an attempt to swat him away and the katana bit into his foe's other hand, burying itself midway before withdrawing. The pilot held the sword to his side, stepping back to observe the damage he had done. The Gremlin would not quit though, not bothered by its damaged limbs, and swung its leg out in a low kick.

Another brilliant explosion of lightning shot through the corridor and half of the leg went sliding harmlessly down the hall, trailing more internal fluids. Porter had not moved from his position though, still keeping the weapon at his side and looking over his enemy. "Tell your leaders," Porter said, addressing whoever was behind the red eye controlling the machine, "that the Saint Maurius Academy will never fall, as hard as you try. Not while I am here to defend it." The katana went flying through the air, driving straight through the lens and head unit, going in all the way to the hilt.

The Gremlin toppled backwards and sent shockwaves through the corridor as its great bulk smashed into the ground. Porter stumbled forward a little before catching his balance, is body's energy extolled in just keeping him conscious at this point. Riya came out from behind the corner, leaping a little in joy and grabbing on to him. Porter groaned a bit at her touch before leaning on her for support.

"I only said that threat to be cool Riya. I hope to Ishiyama they don't really send more of them." Porter climbed atop his downed foe and yanked out the katana. It was dripping with radiator fluids and the student had to shake the sword to get some of it off. "And I hope that Rick doesn't mind his weapon getting dirtied a bit."

"I think he'll be happy to see me safe," Riya whispered in response, trying to soothe Porter after the battle. Instead, Porter realized Rick would assume he was doing bad things to Riya while the two were alone and would probably kill him when they got back to the gym...

* * * * *

"Ahh! Save me Gretta!" Ardwen screamed as he dashed around the hangar, avoiding the different attacks from the Gremlin as it chased him. He had to constantly duck and hide behind new objects as they were smashed or thrown aside in the battlesuit's relentless pursuit of the poor student.

Gretta was frantically attempting to get the laser array online. She was working so fast at the terminal that smoke was beginning to rise from the keyboard and the screen was struggling to keep up with her different demands and requests. But there was no way to get the weapon to charge any faster. It needed two minutes in order to get to a state of being functional and that meant survival for Ardwen while they waited.

"I'm doing my best Ardwen! But it needs two minutes no matter what. You're just going to have to keep it distracted until then."

"Oh that's real easy for you to say over there," Ardwen yelped as he ducked a swing from the Gremlin and rolled to the side to avoid a kick. He had to stick his hand in front of his face to keep his glasses on his nose as he did all this, looking even more awkward. This wasn't what he was usually tasked with doing as a Goliath pilot. Nor had it been a part of training to deal with Gremlins. That had just involved getting to a safe location, not being asked to find weapons and activate security systems.

The Gremlin smashed through a few crates, sending the contents flying, some of which rained down over Ardwen. The poor student was pelted with different bits and parts from Goliaths, all of which happened to be made of some metal or another. He winced in pain and tried to shoot Gretta a dirty look as she fumbled at the terminal.

"You're doing great Ardwen, just a minute and a half to go." Ardwen rolled his eyes at Gretta's encouragement as the Gremlin charged again. This time when it swung its strike caught onto his feet. He hadn't been quite fast enough and instead went flying across the floor, bouncing and skipping until he collided with the foot of a Goliath. His eyes were spinning round their sockets and his body moaned to him in pain.

"Yes, I know it hurts," Ardwen said to himself. "I can't do anything about it." The pilot brushed himself off as he slowly got back to his feet and looked up to see the Gremlin right in front of him. It drove its metal fist into his gut hard, pinning the student up against the Goliath. Ardwen coughed and blood came out all over the Gremlin's arm. The youth's glasses finally slipped off his nose, bouncing off the robot and clattering on the floor, soaking in the blood that was now dripping from Ardwen's mouth. "That one hurt a lot more," he gasped.

The Gremlin raised its free right arm up and Ardwen brought his eyes up enough to see this second attack coming, punching him right across his face and whipping his neck sideways. More blood welled up in the pilot's mouth and he spit it out, feeling his tongue swelling and jaw bruising. His nose was now dripping as well with the crimson liquid and he felt his left eyelid starting to squeeze shut as it expanded. "Please tell me the laser works."

"I can't get the firing system to go off Ardwen! It's not responding for some reason." Gretta mashed frantically at the controls, trying to figure out a way to salvage the situation.

"Oh, lovely," Ardwen mumbled as he saw the Gremlin's fist rising once more. Ardwen's eyes closed to brace for the impact and he tried to grit his teeth, regardless of the pain it sent through his jaw. There was a flash of light so bright it seared right through Ardwen's eyelids and he had no choice but to let them flutter open.

The Gremlin's head was missing, having been blasted right off by the weapon Gretta was operating. The battlesuit slouched, its arms going back to its sides and letting Ardwen drop to the ground, where he fell onto his stomach and lay in his own blood, looking over at Gretta and her console.

"I got it to work Ardwen! Thanks for keeping it in place there!'

"Oh no problem Gretta," he coughed in reply.

"Say do you think they'll let us keep the bodies?" Gretta pondered aloud. "I mean its missing the head so the remote access is gone. Maybe we could use it for something..."

"That's a great idea Gretta but uhm...just to let you know, I'm in tremendous pain right now so if it isn't too much trouble, could you please help me out so I'm not soaking in my own blood and get me to a nurse."

* * * * *

Emera sidestepped a blow from the Gremlin and pulled out another card from her purse. She looked over the empress card she had drawn and smiled. Power over life, dominance over the year, and the bringer of the end for this robotic menace it seemed. She spun and whipped the card, watching with satisfaction as it slipped between two plates of armour and caught in the elbow joint of her enemy.

Raul was there in a flash, donning the brash knuckles from his repository of weapons, and wielding his dagger in his other hand. He smashed into the machine's joint, driving the card in further before stabbing down with the dagger into the same place.

As he brought the weapon down though, the Gremlin reached over and grabbed his arm, throwing him back against the wall of lockers. Raul crashed into them hard, feeling the storage units bending behind him before he was yanked right back out and sent face first into the opposite wall. The ninja managed to turn at the last second so that his left side met the hard metal instead and he felt the socket in his shoulder pop.

Raul toppled to the floor, struggling to get back up with just one arm, his left one now hanging limply at his side. "It's a bit tougher than I thought it would be." The Gremlin managed to withdraw the card from its elbow, crushing it in its grip and tossing the remains aside.

"Yes well nothing we can't handle still right? You only need one arm to beat it I'm sure." Emera gave Raul a sexy little wink that was immediately inspiring to the young man (and any other male who could've seen it) and he shook off the pain that was floating around his body.

The nunchucks came out and Raul twirled them around himself. He had tucked his left arm inside his suit so that it didn't flop about, cradling it across his chest as though it were in a cast. The training he had received from so many years ago had taught him how to fight while lacking many of his limbs and in various crippled conditions. This would be as nothing to one such as himself. And made even easier by the fact that he had a very useful partner next to him.

The Gremlin tried a sweeping kick that Emera easily jumped, throwing a few more of her deadly cards towards the battlesuit. All of them grazed its armour, opening up gashes across the steel. Raul simply brought the nunchucks down on his enemy's leg, trying to crack the metal casing around the internal components. It was a bit of a failure as the weapons meant for use on humans harmlessly bounced off and went flying through the air.

Raul was caught up in the force of the unstopped kick and was tripped up, falling back down to the ground where he rolled around, looking like a fish as he tried to return to a standing position. Seeing her partner struggling, Emera had to create a diversion and she whipped a card into the enemy's neck, watching as it caught a wire.

Sparks flew and the head unit began to twitch and buzz a little as something short-circuited inside of it. The battlesuit had to reach up and hold its head to keep it steady before everything seemed to wear off, but it was a good enough distraction. Raul was back on his feet with shurikens in hand.

"Looks like the head is the weak point, just like a Goliath."

"Then all I need is one good shot," Raul said as he shut an eye and hurled one of his ninja stars up at the Gremlin. It easily moved out of the way, letting the projectile fly up into the corner of the hall where it ricocheted around and back down, narrowly missing Emera and cutting into her dress a little.

"Hey watch it Raul! We're supposed to kill the machine, not each other!"

"Sorry, sorry. It's too fast for me to just take a sh-" Raul was cut off as he had to dodge a fist coming for his head. Before Emera could take a shot though the Gremlin had spun to fight her and tried grabbing for her arms as she back-flipped away.

The battlesuit didn't stop for a moment, throwing an elbow to the side to try and catch Raul off guard. The ninja just barely managed to spin out of the way before leaping another kick. Emera threw more of her cards but they were batted aside by the Gremlin's free hand and it came down in a karate chop. The model sidestepped the attack, but was now trapped against the lockers.

A red lens turned to look down on the young woman, seeing its captured prey and a chance to finish off one of the pests bothering it. Raul rolled out to the side though so that he was in front of the machine and whipped another of his shurikens. This one ended up going straight sideways and bounced off the locker just above Emera's head.

"What did I say before Raul!"

"Just watch." The projectile turned upwards after hitting the metal, shooting straight into the eye of the Gremlin and bursting out the other side. The whole machine shuddered for a moment before collapsing forward onto the ground.

In tattered clothes, the two students walked up to each other and joined arms in the hallway. "Like I said, I love a man who packs heat," Emera hissed into Raul's ear seductively.

"And I find I like a woman who knows all about protection," Raul answered as the two walked away from the battlesuit, back towards the gym. Behind them, the Gremlin caught fire as its head exploded, followed by the rest of its body detonating. "Did you hear something?" Raul asked, looking into Emera's beautiful eyes.

"Not at all."

A/N: I'm beginning to wonder if anyone takes danger seriously around this place! But wait, what of Chase and Nami?! Find out soon!