Chapter 4: Last Goodbye

Shin shifts uncomfortably in his seat, courtesy of Ty, trying to reply to their relentless questions.

Khan pinched the bridge of his nose and Ronin just watched amused.

"Since your 10 years old, I guess I'll tell you more about myself and world." Khan gave a sigh of resignation.

Shin eyes widened in surprise and he leans intently at his surgate grandfather explains in detail.

In the year 2420 a few days years after the greatest coup d'etat up until the next 120 years, humanity rebuilt itself from the ashes of the resistance

Khan and Ronin's ancestors stood in the middle of the last battlefield, ironically they are named after them, still fresh with the corpses of both their foes and comrades.

Khan was Robin's righthand man, his inseparable comrade and best friend.

After the war was over, Khan told Ronin:

Khan was still as muscular but was full of blonde hair. They were both much younger

"I'll retire peacefully in Basecamp D. I'll be there if you ever need me." Khan said as he turned to Ronin, who was wearing a expression of surprise and sadness.

"Wait!! Don't go! Your a prominent leader, we need executives with experience. To rebuild!" Ronin impatiently answered.

Khan smiled at his best friend and shakes his head. He turns toward the sun rising in the distance, shedding its light over the land, driving away the shadows of war.

"We've been building all our lives, from that factory.. To the Resistance... I'm tired old friend." Khan answered slouching and glancing toward the sun. "And... All of this." He motioned.

"Oh...i understand." Ronin reluctantly replied struggling to withhold his tears. He understood what his best friend meant.

"We're 60 years old now, I need to find a purpose. My purpose. I think...I'll start by helping the residents of the lower cities." Khan chuckled half-heartedly.

"Then I wish you luck." Ronin sighed, failing to stop his tears not facing Khan.

Khan approached Ronin and gave him a pat of the shoulder for reassurance.

"Me too, give my regards to your little daughter."

"She'll miss her Godfather y'know!"

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.

Shin couldn't help but smile at the two idiots, they're both 80 now, still enjoying life and goofing off like their teenagers, still keeping up the family tradition.

Ronin spoke first after they let the story sink in into the boy. Ronin places down his cup after a long sip, with a face dark and grim. Completely removing the cheery atmosphere.

"War is coming, and in 2 years, you'll be enlisted automatically since your father can't pay the fee."

Khan looks down in resignation at his failure.

"I, Ronin will try to finish the war in 2 years so you, his grandchild, and other children of the cities, will never know what was is like."

"I see...Thank you Sir."

"That being said, there is a chance that I'll fail. So I'll be gifting you a Mech knight for your upcoming birthday."

Shin exploded with surprise and excitement as he jumped up.

"MECH KNIGHT?! Really?! That's awesome! For real?!"

Robin looks at him with a plain expression.

"Yes, consider it a favor exchange." He said smug.

Shin's smile flattened as he understood the man's intentions. He sat down again and leaned forward, facing Ronin.

"Sooo you mean... If I accept the knight, you'll need me to grant you one favor?" Shin asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." Ronin deadpanned.

Shin rethinks it for a moment and came to his conclusion.

"Deal!" he answered with a bright smile.

Shin reach out with his hand, motioning a handshake. His face plastered with a expression brighter than the sun.

"Let's shake on it!"

Robin reciprocated it and smiled at the small kid.

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War had indeed begun and Ronin went to war with his promise in mind. The fighting was brutal for both sides with constant streams of wounded soldiers being funneled into the inner parts of every city. Both were equally stubborn causing the death toll to rise exponentially, thus creating the need for more soldiers. The recruitment age was changed from 12 to 30 years old to 10 to 40; however, Shin remembered his promise with Ronin and studied diligently with Khan in the way of Mech knights since the day he departed from them.

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<2542>

In an undisclosed location in the Outer ring of City D:

In the middle was a large circular ring surrounded by stands. The walls were coated with neon lights and bright colored graffiti. The bleachers were filled to capacity behind the shielded walls.

A announcer in a levitating podium flew by the crowd giving his announcement ecstatically.

"In the Red corner!! We have the The current reigning champion! The Impenetrable Rook: Desmond Ironstone!! And his Knight: The Paladin! "

The crowd went wild with cheers as the big muscular man in his mid 20's waved at them and flexed his brawny body. The ladies, mostly the frivolous and gold diggers, shrieked in excitement at when looking at the fine specimen. It's true that he's looks are above average but his personality is crap, probably the fame that had gotten to his head.

"And in the blue corner! We have the Anonymous Black Knight! He didn't want to give either names again, bummer."

The crowds reaction was the same but a tad softer. He was known as a black knight because of his attire, which mostly consisted of Black monster fur leather jackets. He also carried plenty of bullets on his person, most speculated it as design to compliment the slightly curving sword strapped to his waist.

Desmond and the black knight walked to the center and shakes hands, mostly seen a sporting-gesture; however, Between a champion and his challenger, it was a testing ground.

When their hands met in their handshake, Desmond grinned smugly as he squeezed as hard as he could. To his surprise, his masked opponent that was shy a couple of inches from his height, squeezed back, just as powerful as his without a shift in composure.

"This guy is young, very young. Time to show him that these competitions are really about." Desmond thought as he eyed his adversary from head to toe.

Desmond walked over to his corner with a curtain covering his Mech Knight, he pulled on the curtain and watched it fall.

His Mech was a rook, meaning his mech was built for defending and guarding. His mech was armored by a heavy geometric plates of painted steel, with scratches and scars showing evident experience. Its chest was protected by a one-piece breastplate curved outward him with a point. Its shoulders were broad, large and just pointed, for a charging attack Desmond was known for. It's legs were large and solid, armed with pointed knee guards.

The black knight however had a more modest looking mech, it had similar paint job to the pilot's black attire, with a few silver gears and hydraulics exposed here and there. It had less armor than Desmond's paladin.

The black mech had Armor plating only the important and immovable areas mainly the torso and legs. The spectators have concluded that he's a Knight, the type with the biggest advantage in one-on-one confrontations. It had one long curved sword strapped to its back, it has never been used before and was most-likely for decoration. Both its hands were armed with single barreled blasters, which too were never used.

The mysterious underdog always disarmed his opponents with swift movements thus disqualifying them. How will it play through this time.

They wonder how it will end this time.

Desmond climbed into his mech and switched everything on, as the same with the black knight. He clicked each switch and watched as the screens in front of him turn on.

Desmond equipped a large mace from the incredibly massive racks of weapons to his side and watched as the black knight remained stationary.

The announcer gave his go signal and all the red neon lights turned green.

The Black knight sprints full speed at the crusader. Paladin reacted by putting his arms into an "x" to block, but the knight dropped down and pushes its feet forward to perform a slide, with it ending with him on his side beneath the paladin's guard. One of the black knights knees bent around locking one of paladins leg and the other landing just below the cockpits chest-hatch.

"Shit!!" He cursed.

Desmond looks down with the mech head to see that he'd been had. In a panic he holds his mace high for a downward attack. The black Knight took this opportunity to grab paladin's other leg with his left arm. With his right pushing against the ground, He lifted paladin's leg as he sweeped the other, tipping him over in the exact moment he drew back to attack.

The heavily armored knight falls down with a loud sound, with the black knight now towering paladin. He drew his sword revealing it to be a single-edged blade designed for slashing, similar in design to the one the pilot was carrying.

The crowed held their breath in amazement as the undefeated underdog drew his weapon for the first time in the two years he first appeared on the arena.

With fluid movement, the black knight drives his sword into Paladin, piercing the mech and driver alongside it. He slowly stands up and still holding his sword he raised it up after ripping it off the lifeless cockpit now drenched in blood of its pilot.

The crowd went wild with cheer as a battle between a supposed unbreakable champion and an anonymous underdog, took only two minutes to complete! Completely ignoring the death of the current champion.

The black knight waved at the crowed and motioned for the commentator.

"Oh! It seems like our new champion wants a few words."

The announcer happily added the microphone after he hurriedly hovered to the knight. The mech's breastplate opens into three sections, releasing steam. It's pilot stands up from his leather-covered seat and steps over his dashboard.

"I have achieved my Goal, now I'm headed to war."

Silence spread over the crowd.

"Don't worry because when I come back..I'll climb to the champion once more."

He tosses the microphone to the announcer and enters the cockpit once more. He heads to the large exit close enough to hear the loud celebration he left behind. the Mech Knight walked into one of the specially designed leavies outside of the arena.

We walks up to a large modified shipping container, it was three containers welded together to form a larger container. The top was completely removed exposing its inside.

The interior of the shipping container was unlike its rusty and old-looking shell, it was brand new and spotless. The black knight carefully seated itself into it, and laid down gently into the inside of the crate's mold-like packaging interior.

The cockpit opens and the black knight exits, without his mask and hood.

He opens a small compartment in the corner and procured a small string bag filled with a change of clothes.

He was now wearing jeans, light outfitted sneakers, and a simple black jacket.

"Gotta pack up, and get home." He muttered under his breathe.

He reaches into the neighboring compartment and pulled about a large tarpaulin. He walks over to each corner and latches the hooks of the container unto the tarpaulin's rings like he has done many time before. He secured everything one more time, and called for a Tow Leavie.

Leavie equipped with enough power to haul anything.

"How much?"

"That'll be 500 Credits." the conductor replied.

Shin paid the fee upfront by beeping his wrist integrated IED, Identification and Electronic Database, unto the man's scanner.

Shin looks at his wrist.

"The watch and box I was given all those years ago came in handy just as I began in this tournament. Technology sure is nice."

A small box with the information of your entire DNA sequence, Bank account, ID, and many other things.

He searches into his pocket and grabbed a small box and stretched out its antenna. He pressed the Button and waited for the red LED light to turn on. It turned on with a fainted beeping sound, as Shin purposely dropped it behind as he boarded the Tow Leavie.

The Tow Leavie lifted the large shipment from beneath it using its large crane fastened on every corner of the container.

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Shin instructed the Man to drop it by the junkyard.

"Gramps buying scrapyards , was by far the best suggestion I ever made."

Since now we have ownership of most of the junkyards in city D, finances isn't a hard thing for gramps as now that he's retired as a ETech. Passive Income is the best form of Income.

Shin turns to a large warehouse, which he calls his own home. When he first purchased this scrapyard in particular, with his first every winnings from the rookie league, he renovated the place, the inside at least.

He goes to a control panel beside industrial-sized steal beams and pressed a sequence of buttons. Four large tread robots, designed by Shin for the purpose of transporting large amount of items, equipped with a tiny ramp and hydraulics, crawled out of the retractable floor.

He sits down at the nearest wheeled office chair and rode it lazily to his wall of holo glass computers.

He stares at the hologram screens that took as Alot of space. The robots have transported the the shipping container into the workshop, the space separated by Hazard tape, lined by: beams, ladders and tools of all sizes besides a weapon rack only mech knights are capable of using. The space took up a quarter of the massive warehouse.

Shin presses his IED unto a sensor mounted on his desk and watched as the loading screen appeared on his holo monitors.

________________________________________________

Name: Shin Blacksteel

Cybernetic Augmentation: Light speed processing.

ID: 157896

Balance: 89,000 Credits

________________________________________________

Shin smirks in satisfaction, looking at his balance.

[ Incoming Transaction: Championship Pool....]

[ Transaction Transfering... 10%...59%.....100%]

[ Transaction complete ]

Shin smirks at his computer as he watched his balance sky rocket.

[ balance: +50,000 credits ]

[ Current Balance: 139,000 credits ]

Ding Dong!

The bell rang.

Shin rode his wheeled chair across the warehouse with powerful strides. Shin Opens the door enthusiastically to see a familiar bald figure.

"How are you, sonny?"

"I'm alright ol' Man."

Shin hugs Khan who now is visibly older and more frail, yet still muscular and healthy. Shin leads him to a dining table on the second floor.

They both step into the elevator as it lifted them up to the second.

"Why did you put an elevator here? Stairs would've taken good care of it." Khan asks.

"The First floor is for work n' Mech stuff gramps, so I need the ceiling high up." Shin shrugged.

"I found out that there was still more space above from my initial design of renovations." Ace replied.

Ding!

"SoI just made it into a living space." Shin proclaimed with pride as Khan watched In delight as they both step out of the elevator

His grandson has grown into a fine young teenager, the kind many parents wish for. Khan reluctantly looks back at his still rambling grandson. It was not long ago when he picked up his litte boy from that dumpster, not too long ago when he first had to change his diapers, not too long ago when he started helping around the shop, not too long ago he build his first invention, he has indeed grown to be a fine young man.

Shin gave him a brief tour of his little nest, It took up half of the footprint of the entire warehouse. He had a kitchen filled with canned goods and military rations, his absurdly equipped weapon rack with a section proportionally filled with ammunition of all kinds, a smaller version of the massive holo computer, his sleeping arrangements and a circular central table positioned to overlook the bottom floor bustling with robots he designed himself.

Shin assisted his grandfather to a cushion chair as he prepared dinner in the Kitchen, which mostly consisted of instant-hydrate provisions.

The cryptonians took the idea from meals used by astronauts. All they needed to do was just add water to hydrate a dried meal complete with spices and flavors and voala! Instant meal.

[ Incoming Transaction: City D Police department bounty....]

[ Transaction Transfering... 10%...59%.....100%]

[ Transaction complete ]

[ Balance: 139,000 credits ]

[ New Balance: 439,000 credits ]

Shin smirked happily as he recalled his plan.

Two years ago, just as he registered unto the tournament he came across a bounty request sent by the police.

It was a reward offered to anyone who hands over information about the whereabouts of criminals and illegal events, such as the mech fight club he just entered.

So Shin decided to Win the championship for the prize of his 50,000 credits and sell the tournament location out for 300,000 credits.

.

Shin chuckles as he remembered that fond memory. He walks to his grandfather with two plates of heated food.

Khan and Shin share dinner together and exchanged words about their past experiences together.

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"Shin, I have something to tell you."

"Yes grampa?" Shin replied as he whipped a tear of his face from laughter.

"I'm dying."

Shin felt as if a bomb just dropped. He initially thought his grandfather was joking but based on his expression, he wasn't. He was dead serious. The room's temperature dropped below freezing for a moment.

"Allow me to explain."

Shin jumped up from his seat, dropping his food about to blow his top at this ludicrous joke! but no words came out. He grit his teeth, and stared angrily at his grandfather.

"You may think of this as a bad joke, but I swear Shin...ill never lie about that, not to you." khan continues.

But Shin still held his peace.

"All living things reach their ends like machines, my son."

"...."

"And like machines, we patch ourselves up and fix.. but there comes a point where no matter what we do, our bodies with give up no matter how the machines refuses to."

"...."

"And when our bodies start failing, the machine will show a countdown only we could see..."

Khan stops his speech to catch his breath and push his tears away. Shin still has this hard expression on his countenance, not of anger but of sadness.

"I only have an hour left, and at midnight...i will die."

Shin's expression darkened as the clock ticked louder and louder into his ears.

"....why...." He growls

"I've known my time of death about seven years ago. When I started feeling weak."

That's true, it was then when grandpa slept in more leaving Ty to wake me up from then.

"... Why didn't you tell me?! I could've spent more time with you! Instead of me hurrying myself in training or in the shop! I could have spent more time.. Why... Dad... Why..." Shin yells out snapping his eating utensils in two.

Khan was unable to reply to his now tearing son.

".. I..."

"You're the reason I am here! Your the man who gave me another chance at life, a chance besides dying in that dumpster!! I love you dad... I just can't... accept this..."

Khan swallowed his saliva and clutched at his aching chest, aching at the sight of seeing his strong little boy cry.

Khan was suddenly enveloped by strong arms. He gave a sigh of tiredness and grief as he hugged his little one back.

"... Please don't... Leave me.. Dad.." Shin stuttered in between sniffles.

"Shin, I am not abandoning you I am just passing on ahead."

"...."

"look at me Shin."

Khan cups the boys face and forces him to face him, eye-to-eye.

"Yes.."

"I am proud of you! I love you my son.. Remember that..."

Khan gave another squeeze to emphasize his statement.

"Yesh.. I luve you two Dad..."

Shin buried his face against his grandfather's broad chest and tightened his hold knowing this is the last embrace, he'll ever get.

They cry in each other's arms for hours with Khan rubbing his hands around Shin's back, comforting him.

"Back at the workshop, I have a box with my will...promise me you'll read it?

"Yes Dad, I promise."

"Thank you, my son."

"And one more thing..."

"Yes?"

"I love you, more than you'll ever know."

"Me too dad, me too."

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