He had just finished his workout at Force Force, a workout that he immediately regretted. His entire upper body felt like it was going to fall apart, and he had convinced himself that it was only by fate that he was still in one piece.

As he made his way home through 5th Avenue, Central, an incredibly beautiful girl with pink hair and a seemingly large backpack walked towards him. As he pa.s.sed her, he made a mental note about this weird backpack, but was too fatigued to ponder further.

Amber turned the corner and continued through 23rd Street, towards her apartment. She was unknowingly being watched.

Hidden on the opposite rooftop was Xero, who's sniper rifle was locked onto her. Due to the height of the building, he had full vision of her for the past 20 minutes, but had he not made a move. Until now.

As she reached her doorstep, Xero shot 2 blocks of ice at her feet, rooting her in place. Amber looked down at her feet in shock then quickly turned her eyes to Xero's position, instantly pinpointing his location. She immediately reached for her bag and equipped her hand cannon to counter the second round of ice shots with her own fire blasts, before firing two more shots at her feet to melt the ice and free herself.

She returned her eyes to the attacker, or at least to where he was, as he had repositioned himself onto a lower terrace. There he had fired 8 more rounds in quick succession, however these ice shards were larger and trapped Amber in a large cube formation. Xero immediately fired a 9th round at the cube, creating a blizzard atmosphere and severely slowing Amber's movements.

After a quick observation of the trap, Amber shot one continous blast of fire within the cube, melting it away and freeing up her mobility. She made a beeline towards Xero's building and shot a fireball at the terrace before he could get another shot off of his own. As he fell he shot 3 small bursts of snow below him to break his fall.

As soon as he landed he swiftly performed a roll to stand, only to see Amber directly in front of him, and both aimed their weapons at each other's heads. Their faces were dead serious until Amber recognised him.

"Xero what the heck?! You could've killed me!" she said furiously.

"If I wanted to kill you, I would've done so already" he replied with a soft voice.

"And if I wanted to kill you I'd be doing so right now! What the heck do you want?!"

Neither was incorrect. Xero possessed a greater advantage at a further distance whilst Amber currently had the upper hand point blank.

"I... just wanted to talk" Xero replied calmly, as he lowered his rifle.

Amber stared at him blankly for exactly 4.2 seconds.

"WE TALK WITH OUR MOUTHS YOU MORON!" she yelled, as she (playfully yet violently) smacked his head several times with her hand cannon. "You've got some nerve to shoot at me out of knowhere then claim that you come in peace."

"Sorry about that, my finger slipped." he said cooly, scratching his head and offering a pathetic smile.

Amber stared at him yet again with a blank expression, this time for 5.3 seconds, not buying any of it.

"THEN DON'T AIM AT ME YOU IDIOT! AND WHAT A LOAD OF c.r.a.p, YOU WOULDNT BE SO RECKLESS.."

We must skip ahead a bit into the story, as the friendly beatdown was too harsh and cruel to visualise lol.

5 minutes later, Xero sat silently with an ice pack on his head (produced by his own rifle) and a hot chocolate. Sat opposite to him was Amber, who had finally calmed down and invited him upstairs to her place for coffee. She took a sip of her frappucino (again, ice courtesy of Xero's rifle) before breaking the silence.

"I'm not joining Intel" she said, staring at her drink.

"They're not inviting you. Besides, that was your dream, Amber. You've always wanted to be part of Ops."

"It WAS my dream. They had the chance to take me and they ble-"

"No, Amber. YOU had the chance to take it and YOU blew it, quite literally."

Amber thought back to her time at the ZPF training camp. She was an extremely pa.s.sionate trainee, dedicating her entire being into succeeding in Intel. She had an affinity for short and mid-range heavy artillery, and her skill with the gun was so great she had earned an UltrRare sOr [Inferno] after only her first year. This sOr embedded her sOr into a large hand cannon, her firearm of choice even back then. Throughout her days at the academy both her skill and determination made her sOr and herself synonymous on campus, being nicknamed "The Inferno". Out of all 500 candidates, she was favourited for one of the two exclusive places at Intel, the Kingdom's Official Intelligence Agency (what an original name :D)).

Xero was also favourited for this specialised position, and his abilities were equally recognised. He was also bestowed an UltrRare sOr [Glacial] after his first year and, having specialised in long range combat, utilised this sOr with his signature sniper rifle. His reputation as "The Glacial" mirrored that of Amber and after both recieving their sOr they formed a duo.

The choice of "mirrored" instead of "rivalled" is significant because their dynamic was vastly different to that of Gale and Hikari's. One could argue that both relations.h.i.+ps were formed on the foundation of two powerful individuals, however that is the only fair comparison. Gale and Hikari were genuine friends with some friendly compet.i.tion, whilst Xero and Amber did not get along at all , at least on the surface.

Outside of battle, their personalities could not have been more different. Amber was incredibly hot-tempered (pun intended yet lazy :p), and would constantly yell at Xero for every little thing that ticked her off. Xero, on the other hand, was incredibly calm and cool (pun, again, intended), and countered Amber's tantrums with logic, reason, and calm tone.

Despite this, their true foundation was both their respect for each other's abilities and their acknowledgement of equal opportunity (there was a spot for each of them at Intel). They both desired success and knew that the other was the best way to achieve that, and so they quickly developed incredible battle synergy as a pair, ignoring any clashes that came with their personalities. Their marksmans.h.i.+p truly mirrored each other, and both were better off because of it. By the end of third year they both were almost guarantees for Intel.

Almost.

The day before their inevitable promotion, a group of jealous cadets had vandalised her room in an attempt to provoke her. Her reputation as "The Inferno" and this was also in part due to her aggressive personality, and these deliquents had decided to capitalise on this. They were successful, as she had burnt their entire hall to the ground in retaliation and was forced into trial with the Camp's Council. Though the council sympathised with her and understanding her motives and character, they also pointed out the danger Amber had posed towards other residents, and thus suspended her from the camp (along with the culprits, who were also justly removed).

Candidacy for Intel was by the individual, so given that Xero did not do anything reckless, he was the sole cadet promoted to that division. When heard the news about Amber he did not flinch. He remained calm and collected, as usual. After all he really didn't have much to say or express. However deep down he was incredibly sad and disappointed. That was his partner. Regardless, he accepted the promotion and has been Intel's Premier Agent and has since then achieved 7-Star Knighthood.

Amber was genuinely happy for Xero, however her anger towards the Council (and in turn, Intel) had never burnt out. Not only did she dream to join but she knew (and they knew) she deserved it, yet they turned her down. She understood the consequences for her actions, yet she never accepted the outcome. She quickly came to the resolve that she were to take matters into her own hands. She decided that she did not need Intel, and has since acted as an anonymous vigilante, shooting down villains on her own accord. She worked outside the law, taking out whoever she thought deserved it, as she took it into her own hands to give people what they deserve. Even if it came by violence.

"Yea. I know." Amber softly replied. She took an additional sip of her frappucino and looked up at Xero.

"But I also know that you didn't come all this way to attack me both physically and emotionally. So what do you want?"

Xero removed the ice pack from his head.

"You've been summoned to Vanguard." he replied.

Hearing this came as a shock to Amber, as she was fully aware that the newly formed Vanguard Unit was formed by Zephyrians chosen by the Crown Herself.

"The Empress knows of me?!" she asked.

"Amber, everyone knows about you. Intel have been keeping tabs on you ever since you lef-"

"Kicked. Ever since I was Kicked."

"Again, your fault. But regardless, Intel has kept track of the good you've done these past few years, and has recently brought it to light to the Empress."

Hearing that Intel still recognised her warmed her heart a bit, but she knew she had already moved on from it all.

"And what if I say no?"

"Well, Intel has also kept track of the damage of the damage you've dealt, and will hold you accountable for it all if you turn this down."

Amber glanced at his sniper rifle sat next to him.

"And you're here to subdue me if I say no?"

Amber instantly armed herself with her cannon and aimed it at Xero's head. Xero did not flinch.

"I'm not going to do anything to you. But I am going joining Vanguard." he said as he stood up from his seat, hands in his pockets.

She lowered her weapon once more and looked back at her drink.

"Come on, Amber.This is the outlet you've longed for. It's right in front of you. All you have to do is take it, and not blow it this time."

Xero picked up his rifle, mounted it onto his back and made for the exit. He had almost fully given up on Amber.

Just as he was about to open the door, he felt her hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see cute annoyed face.

"Fine." she said before her frown loosened up. "I won't."

She wrapped both arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. She was not only intent on not pa.s.sing up the incredibly opportunity of joining Vanguard, but she also recognised that she had a second chance to fully develop healthy relations.h.i.+p with the only person who had not only put up with her, but accepted her. He leaned in too, and closed the door.

And hence part 2 of Xember's (Aero sounds like it could be a chocolate bar with air bubbles) Journey had commenced.

They had fun that night.