Perfect Sacrifice (19 page)

"Just be careful," he warned.

"Don't worry," she said with a smile.  "Oh, and if Leon Solaris comes by, tell him I'll be back in a little bit, okay?"  The old man just nodded as Ray bounded off into the nearby desert, heading towards the two Genos that were stationing their own mini battle.

The two Genos didn't seem to care that she was approaching them.  They just kept battling.  It was only until she was right up next to them that they stopped and turned to her black Geno.

"What do you want?" asked one of them, a male.  He sounded a little annoyed to say the least.

"This battle isn't legal," she told them.  "The GRC has to regulate all battles."

"Big deal," stated the other, also male.  His ground base turned and growled at her slightly smaller Geno.

"It is a big deal," she stated angrily.  "You're fighting too close to the city."

"Notice how we don't care," said the other man lazily as his humanoid sat down on the ground.

"Just who do you think you are, woman?" asked the one in the ground base as it got ready to pounce at her.

"I'm a GRC official," she stated proudly, trying to appear intimidating.  It didn't work.  The ground base lunged for her, but she used her boosters to speed out of harms way.  She flipped a switch and broke the sound barrier, running right past the humanoid, who was knocked over by the sonic boom that followed.

"What the hell?" he questioned as his Geno slowly got back to its feet.

"It'd be wise to leave," she told them.  "I'm not here to cause trouble."

"We aren't leaving," stated the ground base pilot.  "At least not until we've taken care of you."  The humanoid got up, but Ray quickly shot him back down.  She then charged at the other feline, leaping high into the air.  She came down hard on its back, slicing into the metal.  She pounced off of it and jumped to the humanoid, doing the same thing.

When she was done, she got off of him, leaving them where they were.  Neither one moved.  Ray just smiled as the cockpit opened and she jumped out.

"Well that was easy," she stated as she waited for the men to leave their Genos.

* * * *

Leon sighed as he finally reached the repair shop that Ray had told him to go to.  He was currently walking around in his Geno, now fully repaired.  It was hard to believe that it had once looked like nothing but a pile of scrap metal.  Leon saw an old man standing in the back, staring out at the desert.

"Hey," called out Leon through a speaker, drawing the man's attention.  "Is Ray here?"

"Are you Leon?" he asked.

"Yeah, so is she here?" he pressed again, waiting for a response.

"She's out there," he said, pointing to the desert.  Leon turned his Geno and looked out across the desert.  There stood Ray's Geno, facing off with two others.  Leon growled out of annoyance as he ran out across the sands.

"Damn it Ray," he cursed.  "You're always getting yourself into trouble."

Out in the desert, Ray was marveling at her finished work.  She was getting sick of waiting, however.  She was about to get back in her Geno when the ground base Geno got back to its feet, shaking the sand from its body.

"What…?" questioned Ray, surprised at the new turn of events.  "How…how can you still…?"  It then hit her, and her eyes narrowed.  "Sacris cards."

"That's right," stated the man as he quickly turned a gun towards her, taking pleasure in her horrified expression.  "It's time to end this."

"Ray!" shouted Leon as he came running through the desert.  "Get down!"  His warning came too late.  The shot was fired.  Ray stood stock still, but before the bullet could hit her, her Geno stepped in front of her.  The bullet hit its leg, damaging it only slightly.

"How?" questioned the man in the humanoid, his eyes now wide.  He had seen the whole thing.  Ray's Geno then proceeded to turn towards him, its eyes blaring in the sunlight.

"Impossible," whispered the one in his ground base as he began backing up.  "How can that thing move…without someone in the cockpit?"

Ray's Geno bent down, allowing her to climb back in.  She didn't seem disturbed at all that it had just moved all on its own.  She took the controls and fired off some of her ammo, taking both enemy Genos out for a second time.  This time they wouldn't rise again.  She'd make sure of it.

"We give up!" shouted the one in the humanoid.  "Just don't hurt us!"  He came out of the cockpit, his hands up in the air.  His friend followed him.  "Please!"

"Relax, I'm not going to kill you or anything," she told them.  By now, Leon had reached her, stopping next to her Geno.  He said nothing to her, still slightly startled.  This was the second time he had seen her Geno move on its own.  That was illogical when you looked at how a Geno was structured.  They needed pilots.  They couldn't function without one.

"Are you letting us go?" ventured the ground base pilot.

"Only if you promise to quit fighting in illegal battles," she stated warningly.  Both men nodded to her and dropped their hands.  Whether they were telling the truth or not was unknown, but Ray just didn't feel like dealing with them anymore.  She didn't need to get into trouble so early on in her probation period.

"Come on Leon," she said as she turned back to the city.  "Let's go home.  This is boring."  She bounded back towards the town, and Leon followed.  However, there was still the matter of his car…

* * * *

It was approaching lunch time before everything had finally been resolved.  When they had gotten back to the base, Chris had to drive Leon back into Torran to pick up his car.  Now, everyone was just waiting for Dr. Solaris to fix them some lunch.  Ray was waiting in the kitchen, watching him cook.

"How have you been?" he asked her suddenly, snapping her from her thoughts.

"What?" she asked, seeming slightly zoned out still.

"You seem a little out of it," he said to her as he mixed in a few things to the soup he was cooking.  "I was just wondering how you were doing."

"I'm fine," she told him.  He sighed before changing the conversation slightly.

"You do know," he began as he turned to her, "that I was a friend of your father's right?"

"A lot of people were," she said as she rested her arms on the table in front of her.  "Sam was a friend of his too."

"Sam?" questioned Dr. Solaris.

"He owns a restaurant in Torran.  He gives me free food when I ask for it."  Dr. Solaris just smiled as he went back to stirring his concoction.

"Is it hard?" he asked her softly, earning him a confused look from the nineteen year old.

"Is what hard?" she asked.

"Being alone."

"But I'm not…"

"Don't lie to me Ray," he interrupted, glancing back at her.  "Others may not see it, but I'm not blind."  Ray turned her head away.  She was about to answer him when Chris came into the kitchen.

"Is lunch ready?" he asked.

"Not yet," responded his father.  "Why not play a quick game of chess with Leon?"

"Chess?" questioned Ray, sounding interested.

"Yeah," said Chris with a small smile.  "We play sometimes, but Leon is much better at it than I am."  Ray just smiled.  "Do you like chess?" he asked as an afterthought.

"Yeah," she said.  "I used to play all the time."

"Do you want to play?" he offered.  Ray shook her head, but stood up nonetheless.

"I think I'll just watch," she said as she walked with him into the living room area.  Chris began to set it up just as Leon came down the hallway.

"Hey Leon," greeted Chris.  "Do you want to play chess?"  Leon smiled at his younger brother and walked over.  It was a cocky smile, one Ray hated.  He was obviously good at the game.  A smile like that only came with bragging rights.  It made her wonder just how good he really was.

"Sure," he responded as he walked over to the couch.  He sat down across from Chris, positioning himself in front of the white pieces.  Chris sat down in front of the black ones.  Ray sat off to the side, watching.  To a lot of people, watching a chess game probably wasn't very interesting.  However, Ray found the game very fascinating.  It took brain power to win, along with very sharp eyes.  She decided to study the way they played.

Chris went first, making an obvious first move.  It was the same move that most used when playing chess.  However, Leon did the same.  Ray watched as they moved piece by piece, some moves taking longer to consider than others.  There were ones that were obvious, others that took good eyes to see.  Some pieces from each side were removed, and it looked like Chris was winning, but Leon quickly began to dominate the board.  Pretty soon, Chris's black pieces were outnumbered by the white ones.

"Your move," said Leon as he watched Chris decide on a move.  There weren't too many he could take anymore.  Leon's pieces were closing in around his king, guarded only by a few remaining pawns.  Ray knew as well as Leon did that there wasn't a single move that Chris could make that wouldn't give Leon an opportunity to checkmate him.  Ray just smirked.  Actually, there was one move.

Chris hesitantly reached to his king, moving it one space.  That was the end.  Leon picked up his queen and made the final move.

"Checkmate," he said with a smirk.  The word flowed so smoothly from his lips, showing that he had probably said it at least a hundred times.  Chris just sighed as he looked at his pieces.  He turned the king on its side, showing his defeat.

"Lunch is ready!" called Dr. Solaris.  The three of them stood up, deciding to clean up the chess game later.

* * * *

After lunch, Leon decided to go for a drive.  Dr. Solaris went with him, leaving Chris in his room and Ray in the living room.  Ray was staring at the chessboard.  She was monitoring the position of the pieces.  Chris obviously didn't realize that he was a better chess player than he thought himself to be.  If he had only looked harder, he could have lasted a few more turns.

"What are you doing?" questioned Chris as he walked into the room.

"Just putting away the chessboard," she answered as she began to place the pieces back in their proper spots.  Chris sat down next to her, picking up the few pieces that had fallen onto the floor.

"You said that you play chess," he began, earning him a nod.  "Are you any good?"  Ray laughed a little.  She wasn't just good; she was great.  She knew of almost every trick, every move.  She hadn't lost in ages.

"Yeah," she responded, trying to be modest.  "I'm pretty good."  She replaced the black queen next to her king.  "You know, you're not half bad either."  Chris just smiled shyly.

"Thanks," he said.

"Have you ever won a game?" she questioned out of curiosity as she began resetting the black pawns.

"Not against Leon," he explained.  "He's much better than I am.  It's almost like he knows what I'm going to do before I do it."  Ray just smiled.

"That's because he knows you too well," she began.  "I know that if you spent a little more time picking your moves that you could probably beat him."

"I don't know…" he trailed off, sounding a little disappointed.  "Leon has always been better at me at almost everything.  Why should this be any different?"

"Come on, don't be like that," she encouraged.  "How about I teach you a few tricks?"  He glanced at her, noticing the smile on her face.

"You'd be willing to help me?" he asked.

"Of course!" she exclaimed cheerfully.  "I've never been beaten.  I'm sure I can teach you a few things."  She extended her hand, as if this was like making a deal.  "But if I train you, you have to try your hardest to beat Leon this time, okay?"  Chris just smiled and shook her hand.

"Alright," he said with a pinch of excitement in his voice.  Ray stood up, the chessboard finally set.

"Okay, let's get started, shall we?" she asked as she sat in front of the white pieces.  Chris walked over to the black ones and made his first move.  Ray just smiled.  This would be fun.  She really did want to help Chris out.  She knew how it felt to always be beaten at something.  Just one win was all he needed to boost his confidence a little.  However, that wasn't her only motive.  She wanted to see the look on Leon's face when he was beaten at his own game.

CHAPTER 9

Misunderstanding

Almost an entire week had gone by, and nothing remotely exciting had happened.  If Ray wasn't out shopping with Leon, she was training Chris in the art of chess.  The more time she spent with Leon, the more she wanted Chris to cream him at the strategic game.  He was a pain, forever arguing with her or giving her nasty glares.  He was really beginning to get on her nerves.  He hadn't been quite so bad when she had first met him.  Why now?  What had she done?

"Well Chris," she told the boy with a smile.  "I think you should be ready now."  Chris just smiled as he looked over the chess board.  Ray had taught him moves he hadn't thought of using, including different beginning approaches.

"Thanks Ray," he said as he picked up the chessboard.  "I think I'll go challenge him right now."  Ray stood up and followed him to the living room.  Leon was lounging on the couch, the TV remote in his hand, but the TV was off.  He glanced at the two of them out of the corner of his eye.