Definition

Meaning Behind Words

As soon as they arrived, they found the docks bustling with life. People were scurrying from place to place, moving cargo, loading firearms, pumping fuel, and storing back up rations.

By the ink colored submarine, five adults stood.

"Mavis-san! Mami-san!"

"Owner! Saki-san!"

"Kousuke."

"Why am I always the one people are unhappy to see?" He said, rolling his eyes.

"Because you always have that sour look on your face." Kirito smirked.

"Whatever. I'm not staying for long. Where's the Kaidou kid?"

"Will you please stop calling me that?" Jin sighed, knowing full well from the look on the blonde's face that he wouldn't. Well, whatever. "What do you need me for?"

"You know how you were Cyber Lance's test player?" Kousuke asked.

"I kind of still am..." He replied, taking out his Zenon.

"Well, congratulations! You just got hired to be Kamiya Craft's as well." His tone wasn't the least bit celebratory.

And neither was his new recruit's. "I don't remember ever applying."

"You didn't. I scouted you."

"And you think I would agree because...?"

"Because your girlfriend's the one who designed your new LBXs."

That caught his interest. "You're talking about when she asked you to renew the Emperor series a couple years ago in return for her helping you getting Kamiya Craft back on track?"

"The very one." Kousuke pulled out a small briefcase. Opening it, two LBXs came into view, both already put together by the manufacturer.

Both LBXs were dyed in black, purple, red, and grey. Both LBXs had the exact same hammer to wield. And both LBXs had designs that greatly resembled his first LBX, The Emperor.

"This is Emperor M3." He pointed to the more simplistic looking one of the two. "I suppose you could say that it's a direct descendant from the Emperor M2 that exploded six year ago."

"Thanks for the reminder..."

Ignoring Jin's remark, Kousuke continued. "The lower half is exactly the same as Emperor M2, but the upper half was completely remodeled." Then he pointed to the more complex looking one. "That's Emperor M5. Why did she skipped past M4, I have no idea, but well... Same as M3, their lower halves are all the same, but the upper half is totally different. You have those extra plates on the arms too, that may or may not give it a few tricks up its sleeve."

The black and white haired man decided to ignore the horrible pun and focus his attention on the two LBXs, specifically on Emperor M5. "I've seen M3's design before, as well as Eva's estimated statistics on it's abilities, but M5 is completely new."

"And untested." Kousuke added. "Emperor M3 was the first project she gave me. We've been working on it for years, and it was actually supposed to finally be put on the market a few months ago."

"But the World Sabers attacked Goliath, thus forcing you to push the date of release back until you could get it properly rebuilt."

"Which just so happens to be next week." Kousuke added smugly.

Ignoring him again, Jin continued his train of questions. "So what about Emperor M5? Since when have you been developing it?"

"Since the day Kirito and I went to visit Kreisler."

His head snapped up at that. "That late?!"

"Like I said, it's untested. And as of right now, there's only one of these in existence." But he didn't look the least bit worried. "I agree that rushed worked tend to produce not so beautiful results, but Eva had the right idea to based this on Kamiya Craft's best LBX." Then he quickly added. "Aside my Lucifer, of course."

"No one was going to say anything about that..." Kirito deadpanned.

"The Emperor's balance was a masterpiece, and lucky for me, we didn't have to start from scratch to recreate it. Both the Emperors I have here have that same balance, though their weights are different. Still, unlike M3, M5 was designed especially for you. No one but you could use it to it's full potential."

"But when did she..."

"That, you have to ask her yourself." Red eyes moved up to glare at heterochromatic ones, but the blonde wasn't joking in the slightest. He meant it.

It was his own way of asking him to bring her home.

"Alright, I will." He nodded. "Then, consider this a temporary contract... Director Kamiya."

And then, it was like that smirk never left. "I knew you'd come around."

"Kousuke." The heavy atmosphere that was slightly lifted up before came crashing down once again when Hugo called. The older blonde came over and handed him his own briefcase. "Here's the package."

He raised an eyebrow when he took a peek of the contents. "So we're proceeding like the original plan?"

"There wasn't much that changed in the first place." He responded. "The only extra work we have to do is to save Eva. Aside that, everything is exactly the same."

"I suppose that's true." He clicked his tongue. "But there are also more people than we thought. I'm going to need a bigger area to set it up in."

"I heard Kamui Island is pretty vacant these days." Hugo said, only half joking. "I'm pretty sure the clean up crew's taken care of the radiation by now. And for better or worse, the explosions actually leveled the field, so it works to our advantage."

"Hmm... That could work..." Red and purple eyes wandered over to the distance across the ocean. "Alright. Then, I'll be seeing you guys and Eva there in a few hours."

Exchanging nods, he separated from the group, leaving them to focus on their own task ahead.