Chapter 5
"You're a pilot right? For the ANGELS? What's it like?" Her curiosity got the best of her.
"It's fine I suppose, besides watching your fellow pilots die, and being blamed for that."
"Blamed for it? Why would you?" She asked
"I usually go to rough with my secondary pilot, they either die, or get too injured to continue on." He said casually.
"Wow, that must be problematic, how's your current pilot right now?"
"I don't have one, the higher ups won't give me one because they know that I'll kill them off anyway."
"Wow, that's really bad, haha."
"It's fine, it's not like they would've liked to be with me anyway."
"Why not? Is it because you usually hurt them?"
"No, it's because of my abnormalities, my stripes, eyes, horns. They don't like it."
"Is it because they think you're weird?"
"No, it's because they think that I'm part MINEL. Crazy right, ignorant fools, they don't even know what I am."
"So. . . what are you then? Sorry, I'm being touchy aren't I?"
"It's fine, you haven't judged me yet so it's ok. I'm not part MINEL for your information, no one knows exactly what I am." Melony was shocked for a moment, being part MINEL would've been cool enough, but he was an entirely different species.
"Woah! So you're part human and part something else? That's awesome! Thanks for trusting me with this." She said
"Am I not supposed to? You've been very nice to me this whole time, I thought you would've run away at this point."
"Nope! I'm completely oblivious to danger, even when it slaps me right in the face."
Meruem laughed and they continued on their walk around the basement, ending back at the room with the ANGEL.
Melony looked at the ANGEL again, astonished that such a thing could really exist. It was truly a sight to behold.
"Do you like it?" Meruem asked her.
"Like it? I love it! I've loved ANGELS since I was a kid, I always thought they were so cool. I mean, giant robots that can fly and fight, what's cooler than that?" She shouted.
"Wanna go inside?"
"What? I'm just an intern, I'm not allowed to go inside one of them, plus the pilots wouldn't like us to just walk inside."
"You're one of the interns? No wonder they were making you do such weird tasks. Don't worry about the pilots, I'm the pilot."
She stared at him in awe.
"Really! So, can I really go inside an ANGEL?"
"Yes, come on."
Not even a second later, the face plate opened up making a bridge for them to walk in. Meruem walked in first, calmly stepping in, Melony was most hesitant. Noticing this, Meruem turned around and gave her a hand.
Once they were finally inside the cockpit, Melony noticed how open it was, much more than she thought it was. She took a moment to look around the wide space.
"Wow, it's much bigger than I thought it would be."
"Yeah, I don't know why though, it just leaves more space for you to fall if you get pushed out."
The center of the room had two chairs connected to each other. One had handlebars and what looked to be a control panel. The other had slots for the hands and feet to go in, the head area was narrow, it seemed like it would press against your head if you sat in it.
"Which seat are you in charge of?" She asked
"I go right here," He pointed to the seat with the slots, "I directly connect to the ANGEL, my consciousness gets imputed into the ANGEL."
"Wait, I thought the personality was just coded in, so there's a person that becomes the ANGEL every time they pilot?"
"Basically."
". . . That's awesome." She said in awe.
Meruem let her look around a bit more before he said,
"Do you wanna sit in the co-pilot seat?" He didn't need an answer, Melony's face was good enough.
She giggled while getting in the seat.
"The handle bars control movement, the control pad is in charge of setting the power." He explained. Melony was taking note of all the things he was saying, she couldn't remember the quadratic formula, but she could remember this.
"What are you in charge of?" She asked him.
"I am in charge of movement as well, you'd help me stay stable."
"Ah, I got it. This is so cool!"
Meruem smiled at her, he felt happy that someone was enjoying his company so much.
They talked for a bit more about working with ANGELS before Melony checked her watch and saw that it was time to start working again. She walked out of the cockpit and turned to Meruem again.
"I've got to go, I have lunch at 1:30. Are you free then?"
"I'm free at any time, I suppose I'll see you at lunch, yes?"
"Yep! See you then, and thanks again for letting me go inside."
"No problem, I'll see you again."
She waved bye, and Meruem returned the favor. He stood there for a few moments, watching her run out of the room and down the hall.