"ck me? Famed hero?" I asked curiously as my brain whirred into action and scoured my memory bank for "ck me".


    I got the answer to my own question just as Grand Elder She opened her mouth to exin to me patiently.


    "ck me was a powerful white mecha pilot back in World War 3 when our Federation was at war with both the Empire and the USAA. He was a mercenary serving the Empire at that time.


    The Empire was pressing us from the West while the USAA crossed the Pacific Ocean to attack us from the East. As you know, the greatest hero of the war was Russel Whitefrost who created miracle after miracle as he conducted our defensive war from the Capital. He was the only reason why wested that long.


    However, he wasn''t the only hero of the war. There were many others who rose to the asion during the critical moments which could have broken the war much earlier without their contribution.


    Tes''s grandfather, Tang Hu, was one such hero. He and his Heavy Mecha Squadron, fought and dyed the ck me Battalion''s advance by three full days, giving our retreating troops much needed time to make it to safety.


    On the third and final day, ck me himself had to fight Tang Hu in order to finally smite him down and break through to continue his assault.


    Tang Hu died a hero''s death, and his mecha which was nearly destroyed, was captured by the Empire.


    We got it back after the war was over. It was repaired, upgraded, and gifted to me for exceptional merits rendered."


    I nodded. It was more or less all the information I had as well, except for one crucial piece of information which Grand Elder She missed or intentionally skipped.


    Tang Hu''s body was never found.


    The general assumption was that the ck me had captured it alongside the White Phoenix.


    But the Empire denied ever receiving Tang Hu''s body or any report of its men ever receiving his body. As a world power, the Empire had absolutely no reason to lie about a single unknown soldier''s body.


    And so the mystery remained unsolved for those in the know.


    The stink of it was, Tang Hu didn''t die and had instead defected to the Empire. But no one knew for sure, and all talk of Tang Hu died down after the Federation dered him one of 108 National Heroes of WW3.


    "Your grandfather sounds like a great man, Tes." I told Tes with obvious admiration in my voice.


    "He was." Tes replied fiercely and red at Grand Elder She, as if daring her to mention anything about him defecting and betraying the Federation. She must be pretty shaken up when she found out about the possibility of her vaunted grandfather defecting.


    Grand Elder She merely smiled and pulled up the long voluminous sleeves a little bit to reveal her slender and perfect right arm to Tes.


    I caught a glimpse of a beautiful phoenix tattooed or carved into her flesh before she reced her sleeve.


    I had no idea then the significance of that tattoo.


    "I forgot to mention that I picked the White Phoenix out of a hundred other White Mechas the government offered me. And paid for its repair and upgrade myself." Grand Elder She said softly to Tes. "Tang Hu and his battle with the ck me left a powerful andsting impression on me. I hope to be worthy of this mecha one day."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Tes stared at Grand Elder She in shock, the beginnings of a serious case of hero worship already forming within her eyes.


    Grand Elder She chuckled lightly and nced at me. "This shall be our little secret, alright?"


    "Of course." I quickly agreed.


    "Acknowledged!" Tes replied as well.


    "Good, because we''re here. Come along now, I have a lot of things to do today, no thanks to your little record-breaking spree, Justin." Grand Elder She swept out of the little room and out into a ridiculously massive hangar that housed hundreds, if not thousands of mechas.


    The littlepartment we were in had lowered itself to the ground at some point, and allowed us to exit it directly.


    We quickly followed Grand Elder She rapidly into arge and luxurious lift and felt it move at high speed. And if my senses were right, it didn''t move vertically up.


    A few secondster, the lift door opened up to arge auditorium that could easily sit ten thousand people.


    "Make yourselffortable, Tes. Your schoolmates should be here soon. There are food, drinks and the toilet is right there. Press the help button found on every seat if you need anything. Goodbye." Grand Elder She told Tes as she gently pushed her out of the lift.


    The lift door began to close even before Grand Elder She had retracted her hand.


    "SEE YOU LATER TES!" I managed to shout right before the lift door closed once more and left the still confused Tes alone in the auditorium.


    Hum. The lift shot out at a noticeably higher speed and then stabilized itself.


    I turned to Grand Elder She and opened my mouth to ask her why we were in such a hurry, when the lift suddenly stopped once more and opened up to a beautiful andrge courtyard.


    "I was right." I thought to myself. "The lift didn''t move vertically up. We''re actually on the ground floor!"


    "Come along now." Grand Elder She rapidly brought me across the courtyard and into an astoundingly magnificent garden that looked like it was ripped straight out of a fairytale book and brought shamelessly to life.


    The first thing that struck me was how peaceful and how beautiful everything was. There was a small waterfall on the far left that fed a stream that winded across the whole garden and ended in a perfect lookingke with an ind gazebo in the middle. A fancy and ancient looking bridge connected the gazebo to the rest of the garden.


    The second thing that struck me was the fact that there were two powerful figures engaged in extremely high speedbat on the gazebo!


    Like, literally ON the gazebo. They were fighting on the roof!


    "Thank goodness we made it on time. They are still here." Grand Elder She smiled in relief.