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The Obelion dug its claws into the ground, wishing oh so vigorously that it could grin. This man before it was so strange, so talkative, that it amused the Obelion greatly. The Obelion paces, circling around the strange man as he talked to him. Thoroughly amused, the Obelion let out a laugh. The arena around it was ever changing, almost as if the man couldn’t decide what it was that he wanted to fight in. This was fine, but bothersome in one way… It wanted to know it’s surroundings in order to fight. It would have no advantage, sadly, but it knew it could still win… It hoped.

The man still continued to talk though, going on and on about, really, whatever. But the question that was posed struck him. Name? He had no such thing. AI’s never really did. They had model names, but that was as close as it would get. They also had numbers, unit numbers that would differentiate them from their counterparts of the same type. He was, in fact, a little butt-hurt about not having a name. Still, the man wished to fight him on honorable grounds, demanding that it would have a name if the battle were to be as such. Thinking about it, it did like this deal.

Surrounding the AI was now a city street, both of them under an overpass on a quiet, well lit night. “Very well.” the AI finally spoke. “I will fight you honorably, but you may not name me unless you win.” Digging it’s claws into the street, it got ready to pounce, wanting to dart to one side in case the man decided to attack him first. “Jason.” The AI spoke the man’s name, it’s voice tinny and cold. It wasn’t like it was calling out to the man, nor was it familiarizing itself with the name. The AI simply respected the man for rathering honorable combat over a based skirmish that was for wimps and sissies. Not that the other AI’s would go along with the same idea, though there were a few.

Then the man shot, blasting the AI with two precise bursts of ammo towards the being. The AI darted out of the way, pushing off the ground and launching itself to the left then forward into it’s own attack. With gnashing teeth and gleaming claws, it swiped its metallic paws in attempts to take out this man as quick as possible.

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Almost immediately after winning her battle with Satoru, news came to Corrinne that her Uncle had fallen ill in their home, in Paris. The news came to her as a bit of a shock. She had just left her uncle’s side just days before. But knowing that they only contact relatives for serious situations, Corrinne quickly hurried and packed after being patched up by the doctors at BAITR Headquarters.

Arriving in Paris Headquarters, she looked around at the architecture and breathed in the familiar smell of home. Noticing some memorable faces, they smiled and waved to her. It was a comfort to see intimate acquaintances again, rather than new strangers or friends. There was something very safe that permeated from the colossal walls of Paris Headquarters, an unfaltering attitude that not only expressed itself in its buildings but in its people as well. Corrinne wondered if she had that same unwavering attitude or if it merely came off as haughty.

A company car took her home to her Uncle’s apartment. Where she found him sleeping quietly in his room, his breathing hoarse and his mouth lying agape. The apartment was more cluttered than she had left it, the dishes he promised to wash still sat dirty near the sink. And there was a general disarray of things, as if he knew no one would visit and therefore gave up on keeping the place tidy.

Corrinne scrunched up her brow as she shook her head back and forth. She left her room at BAITR Headquarters slightly disorganized but nothing like this. “Men,” She whispered sardonically. This roused her uncle and he weakly looked up at her from his sick bed.

“Corrinne?” Her uncle questioned looking up at her with his eyes heavy from sleep.

“Yes Uncle, I’m here.” She sat on the edge of his bed and rested her hand on his leg, gently petting it casually.

“Oh,” He groaned, “You didn’t have to come here, it’s just a cold.”

“That’s not what the doctors say,” She paused while he coughed uncontrollably. “They say that you have pneumonia, tell me now, were you so distracted that you didn’t notice you were sick.”

“Don’t scold me, I’m your elder!” He coughed again.

“Then maybe you should act like one,” Corrinne stood to fetch him a glass of water and quickly returned to his side as he squabbled with her.

“Your turning into your mother, she was always scolding me too.” He took a few sips from the glass of water she offered.

“Maybe it’s my being away that has made me more like her.”

“Maybe,” He replied and fell back onto his pillow and sighed. “How are things, I heard you were in a tournament, or something like that. Did you win?” He closed his eyes and listened to her as she began to respond.

“I won my battle but someone else will probably win the tournament … and I have a good guess as to who.” She grumbled near the end of her sentence.

“Who?” Her uncle opened an eye in interest to see her expression as she talked.

“Ah, just this p***k named Dal’Mori, fancy name, huh.” She rolled her eyes before settling them on something in the distance outside of her uncle’s window.

“Thinks he’s all that, huh?” He watched her quietly.

“All that and a bag of chips,” She looked back to him and smiled.

“Sounds like you really like him,” He smiled broadly and closed his eyes knowing her reaction.

“Oh you know me, I love those … self-centered, egocentric, brutes.” She almost growled, as she looked sideways out the window again. Her uncle chuckled and coughed.

“Typical,” He breathed out wearily. She looked back at him and studied him while his eyes were closed. His face was wane and creased from time. His once ginger hair like hers was now white and his once blue eyes were grey like steal. ‘Ever the General,’ She thought to herself as she pushed some of his bangs back from his forehead.

“Corrinne,” One of his hands reached up to grasp her wrist gently.

“Yes?” She smiled tenderly.

“Don’t leave me,” His eyes began to water weakly as his voice quivered. Corrinne looked down at him, shaken by his words, she grasped his hand strongly and looked at him with concern.

“I’ll never leave you,” She responded assuredly. This settled him a little before he drifted off to sleep again. Corrinne rubbed his arm gingerly as he slept. He was always like this when he was sick. ‘Like a child,’ Corrinne thought to herself. ‘Like we all are,’ She smiled to herself and decided to clean the apartment.

The next day the apartment was clean and her uncle could now sit up in bed and take some soup and medicine. They chatted about his work and when he started to feel sick. And also about how she had been doing at BAITR Headquarters. Was her AI Unit affecting her mind or not? She told him that she didn’t think it was but how was she to know. She still felt she thought the same as she always had. Her uncle listened intently, he signed her up for this but he was still unsure of it. Corrinne couldn’t afford to be ‘unsure’, this was her life now, and there was no going back.

He rested easier that day and left Corrinne to relax. She was able to fall back into some of her old routine: reading, watching the news, napping on the couch in the afternoon. Sometimes when he would cough uncontrollably she would enter his room to check on him. He would wave her off but she usually would help him with some water or tissues. He complained from her assistance but she knew he was pleased with her presence.

And yet she still felt he held her at a distance. She often wondered why he could not love her the way her mother had? Were all men this way? She sat and watched over him while reading one of her books from her room, most likely something by Jules Verne.

Over the next couple of days, this routine continued and Corrinne began to wonder how the others were doing back at headquarters. Her uncle could see her growing concern and urged her to return to BAITR Headquarters.

“But you’re not completely well yet,” Corrine objected.

“I’m well enough, I can take care of myself now. You should return to BAITR Headquarters, go chat to your fancy name man.” Her uncle laughed and he fended off Corrinne’s irritated slaps playfully.

“He’s not my fancy man and I believe he doesn’t even like me.” She pouted.

“No one could truly dislike you, my dear.” He was suddenly more heartfelt than he had ever been before and this somewhat worried Corrinne.

“You sure you’re alright?” She asked again.

“I’m fine. Go, go, I can take care of myself now.”




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“Quoi?” Jason snapped aloud when the world flickered, thus ruining the element of surprise.
Damned thing is too sensitive... He thought to himself. Well, if Solitaire already knew he was going to cheat, there was no sense in pretending that he wasn’t.
The world flickered, shivered, and changed. The ground beneath them stretched, spreading them apart. The concrete and plaster gave way to soil, and grass sprouted up against their feet. The sun rose into the sky, illuminating the world around them. The change was sudden and jarring, but Jason at least knew where everything would be and responded in kind. The newly broad and flat terrain gave him the benefit of range once again, and so Jason opened fire. Each time the Obelion tried to move, Jason forced the world to shift again, either causing the ground to rise or fall under Solitaire’s feet in an attempt to disorient it. The honest truth was that Jason had never fought an AI before. In SWAT, and in the streets, he had always fought people. They were predictable, and comparatively fragile. Suppressing fire would force them to slow, a few shots across the chest would bring them to their knees, and the sight of a sword would make them cower. But this? This was different. He was forced to think, to calculate, and to act on his feet. He knew he couldn’t risk a single mistake, or the creature’s jaws would be at his neck, and he would be done for. This was a test of strategy as much as one of skill...
And so, a strategy formed... Jason grinned as the thoughts in his mind reshaped the world around them. They stood once again within a city street, but this time it was packed with people. Shop owners peddling their wares, beggars sitting on the sidewalks, and crowds of people going about their business. Of course, none of these people were real, and none of them responded to Jason or to the Obelion.
“I am told your kind are skilled hunters, and if I am to be a Baiter, I will have to be the same.” Jason called to his oponent. “So, let’s you and I play a game. We will hunt, but we will see who is the hunted...” Then, Jason slipped into the crowd of people.

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Jason paused, his weapon still trained on his fallen opponent. His finger still lingered on the trigger, ready to fire again. Jason waited.
He waited until he could hear nothing but his own measured breathing, and until he was certain his opponent would not get up. Finally, Jason rose and approached the fallen Obelion's form, his weapon still trained on it. Once he was close enough, however, he could see that the AI had been beaten. He lowered his weapon and crouched low near the creature's head so it could see him. The simulated world around them began to slowly fade away. The buildings, the fake people, the street, even the sky, fell away until all that was left was an empty white floor, with an empty sky that went on forever. "Well fought, Solitaire." Jason said, a small smile on his face. The smile was one of satisfaction, but it held none of the gloating or disrespect Solitaire might have expected. Just because the AI lost, Jason didn't think he needed to punish him further. Who's to say the AI wouldn't enjoy being his partner? Assuming it was capable of enjoyment beyond the satisfaction of a completed objective. Eh, close enough, Jason thought.
"You were a worthy opponent, and I think you will make an even more worthy partner." He smirked, allowing his normal cocky demeanor to return. "Anything to say before we both return to the world of the living?"

The AI looked up at Jason, its body too damaged to move. He could see it in its eyes. It had resigned itself to its fate, and it hated it. "Do not expect the rest of my kind to be as forgiving as I was." the AI's voice was broken, scattered, like a glitched audio clip. But what Jason could hear was filled with spite. "Without me, you would not last a week. Remember that."
Moments later, the simulated environment slowly collapsed. The ground became an empty abyss, and both Jason and Solitaire became little more than bits in the stream of data.
And then, Jason was awake, laying on a hospital bed with the doctor from before monitoring him. "...Ow. Ow? OW!" Jason suddenly winced and put his hands to his head. He was wracked with the worst headache he had ever had. The doctor just chuckled quietly and handed him a plastic cup of water and a pill. "Take this." She told him. "It will help the headache. And congratulations by the way."
Jason grumbled as he took the pill. "Congratulations? For what...?" realization suddenly hit him, and all he could do was laugh. "Of course... I am a Baiter now, aren't I?"
"Not yet." The doctor told him. "You'll still need to have your new AI downloaded into a core for storage. And then there's all of the business of your title and whatnot." she smiled. "But yes, besides that, you're a Baiter now."
Jason was grinning from ear to ear. He hadn't realized how excited, how proud he would be. He would show these Baiters how it's done. He would make a difference!
"You'll want to-" the doctor started before being stopped short. Jason, in his excitement, had suddenly sat up and kissed her full on the mouth. Then, just as quickly, he pulled away, hopped off the bed, and started towards the door. "I know where to go. Thank you~!" he called back, still grinning. I feel like I should sing a musical number... He thought to himself with a smirk. Too bad I was never all that good at singing...

Jason waited impatiently outside the lab where they were implanting his AI core. He'd chosen his sunglasses - a fitting enough item for an AI that would supposedly improve his senses. But the process was taking too long. So what if an Sapient AI took up Petabytes worth of data? You'd think they'd have figured out a way to speed up the process by now...
"Sir." An engineer stirred him from his grumbling. "It's ready for you." the man handed Jason's sunglasses to him. The jet-black lenses looked no different from where he stood. "...Well, did it work? They don't look any different to me..." Jason asked skeptically. The moment he touched the light metal and plastic frames, he got his answer. Jason could feel his senses sharpening. Details in his vision became crisp and clear, sounds that would have blended into the background noise of the room became distinct, and he was pretty sure he could smell what the engineer had eaten for lunch... More importantly than this, however, he could feel the new guest to his mind. Nice to see you again Solitaire... Jason thought with a small smirk.
I hope you are lying... The AI groused. Well, if you don't enjoy my company, you'll have plenty more people to talk to soon. Jason thought with a smirk. He thanked the engineers for their good work before heading to the transport hub. Minutes later, he was stepping on a teleporter pad for BAITR Headquarters...

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