Author's Note

Alright. You know how they say third time is the charm. Well this is my third attempt at a story. Hoping this one gets past moderation. The other two I haven't given up on just yet. I just find this one more... In the times I suppose you could say.

We'll see how this one turns out, and hopefully it's better than the last ones. All constructive criticism is welcome. Grammar and proof-reading also welcome, as I don't have an editor, and am doing the proof-reading and editing myself as I go along. Also bear with me between chapters, my work schedule doesn't usually allow my the time to sit and write for a while so it may be some time before the next chapter.

Also I know its risky business doing crossovers with games. but seeing as how this game has no real names for the main character (you) I shouldn't be running into the fanboy arguments of "That's not something he would do"... So I run less risk of getting those characters out of character. Although i guess this is an MLP site, so i should be more concerned about being OoC with them. HEHEH...

Well. Here goes nothing...

Sincerely
D.S.

Prepare for Titanfall

The warm sun of the midsummer day washed the land in golden rays. Dillan, the seventeen year old son of a prosperous farming family on the edges of the frontier, stepped onto the deck on the back of their modest two story farm house. He inhaled the fresh scent of pine, from the forests to the north, and the mixture of wheat, grass, oranges and grapes that wafted through the air.
Stretching his back he contemplated the days activities. Today was his day off. The grape harvest was still a few months away, they had just finished the orange harvest, and he still had a few more weeks before they began cutting down the wheat. Maybe today would be a good day to go swimming at the lake in the forest.

He turned on his heel, and strode into the house, gathered up his swimming trunks and a light lunch in a backpack, then headed out toward the swimming hole. Maybe his friend Joshua would be there. Josh was the son of the sheriff that kept order in their small town, who was nothing more than a formality, because everyone knew everyone, no crimes were committed.

The short trek through the woods kept him cool, so instead of jumping right in Dillan decided to eat his lunch first, then maybe take a nap. As he neared the lake he could hear splashing and laughing, which brought a smile to his face.

"Oi! Dillan!" shouted Josh. Waving at him from in the water by the floating platform they built.

With him was Josh's girlfriend Rebecca and her brother Tod, and Tod's friend Dennis. Dillan waved to the group and began to strip out of his clothes, thoughts of his lunch quickly being replaced by an eagerness to swim.

Once changed he dove into the refreshing chill of the mountain lake, the cool temperature of the water fed by runoff from the mountains ice caps soothing the heat of the sunny day. He swam over towards the dock.

"Hey everybody!" He called out as he neared the group.

The group of friends swam most of the day away. As the sun just passed its peak, they all went ashore. Rebecca got to work with Josh and set out a large patterned blanket.

"Hey everyone, come on over, we brought some sandwiches and fruit to eat!" Josh called out.

The food was a perfect meal to end a perfect day as they all lounged about.
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*Somewhere in orbit*

"Commander, we are approaching the staging coordinates. Shall I ready the Pilots?"

"Yes Lieutenant. Ready the Pilots. Tell them the mission clock is ticking. Thirty minutes."

"SIR!"
_________________________________________________________________________________

A low rumble shook the ground as the very air vibrated through the forest.

"Woah, did you guys feel that?" Denny asked.

"Yeah, felt like nothin' I ever felt before." Tod replied.

Suddenly a mass of fireballs streaked across what limited sky they could see through the trees, followed by several low thumps in the distance.

"What the hell is going on?" Josh half shouted. "I'm calling my dad."

Everyone was silent, waiting to hear the news from Josh. He paced in a small circle waiting for his dad to answer the phone. Finally when he was just about to give up someone answered.

"DAD! What's going o... No, I'm at the Lake with Rebecca, Tod, Den... What do you mean?... What to you mean she's dead?! DAD What the HELL IS HAPPENING! What's that noise in the background, is that gunfire?... Dad?! DAD!"

Dillan at this point was shaking in fear, confusion and rage, and he could see the others were in similar states. Suddenly Dennis took off like a bat out of hell through the woods, causing everyone to finally snap back to reality. Soon everyone was hot on his heels high tailing it to the nearest road.

After five minutes of running they all reached the pavement, panting. In the distance, the quiet rattle of gunfire and thumps of grenades could be heard going off. Pillars of smoke rose from the small town in the distance. Suddenly a Militia soldier Burst from the wood line a few hundred yards away, causing everyone to duck and hide behind bushes and trees.

"I didn't think the fighting on the frontier would make it this far in. The M-COR must be really taking a beating." Dennis whispered.
Suddenly the soldier hit a few buttons on an arm mounted display and looked skyward. A rumbling roar tore through the atmosphere followed by a loud shockwave that knocked the five teens down.

As the dust settled the scraping whir of machinery could be heard. Dillan looked under the bush he was laying on and saw a massive metal machine rise from the crater it had just made in the once undisturbed field. It strode with thunderous footsteps towards the pilot who proceeded to approach the metal monster. In a swift maneuver of practiced skill he leapt with the aid of a rocket thruster backpack just as the torso split open to reveal a cockpit, swung off the fingers of the beasts hand and landed neatly inside as the plates realigned over the gap, encompassing the pilot.

Amazed by the display of acrobatics, Dillan didn't realize that the behemoth was staring in their direction.
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"GOD DAMN IT! HOW MUCH LONGER?!"

"Two minutes."

"FUCK!"

The pilot slammed another magazine into his carbine and unleashed another volley, cutting down a few grunts in the process.

"Sadie, what's our sitrep. Are we winning?"

"No Shawn, the IMC outnumber us seven to one."

"Well then we will just have to even those odds then won't we?"

"Yes, that would be advisable"

"That was a rhetorical question Sadie."

"Noted"

Once his clip ran dry he slid a fresh one in its place and decided the luck of his hiding spot was running out.

"Sadie, that rooftop," He pointed "best possible route?"

"Calculating... highlighted."

A dotted line appeared on the HUD of his visor, 3D projected onto the world around him.

"Thanks Babe" He said as he launched into action.

His thrusters kicked in as he leapt from the floor against the crumbling ceiling that collapsed into the room he occupied, and kicked off, banking onto the exposed rooftop. The dotted line then ran zig zagging from lamp post to lamp post over to a billboard on a pole outside the shopping mall he was trying to get to.

He kicked it into high gear and engaged his active camouflage to make himself harder to detect as he leapt across the vast openness. With the practiced skill of always being an adventure seeker as a child, he nimbly completed each jump. Without even slowing down he ran across the face of the billboard using is thruster pack to keep him pressed to its vertical surface, and leapt across the massive gap. Suddenly an IMC titan's fist came from his right.

Instinctively he let his body go limp, but it didn't help that the punch still hit him with the force of a freight train. Sadie engaged the thrusters in his suit to help lessen the blow as well, but he still broke a few ribs. Hitting the ground in a roll right into his feet, Shawn was sprinting for the doors of the mall, and burst through the glass followed by a shower of bullets from his recently evaded IMC titan friends chaingun.

"Sadie, how the hell did he see me, my camo was up" he asked as he hid behind the wall to the service desk.

"Analyzing... Scans indicate the pilot is running with his canopy open."

"Amazing, these bastards get smarter and smarter. But let that be his downfall."

Before Sadie could even ask what he meant by that Shawn shot out from the desk and ran up a supporting pillar for the second floor balcony. The IMC titan was quick to engage and was blazing a trail right behind him in hot lead. He turned and kicked off the pillar to smash through the glass of the opposing balcony, rolling into another sprint, straight at the face of the titan.

He could only imagine the look of sheer surprise on the face of that IMC bastard behind his blue visor as the knife sunk into his chest. The titan, now with his pilot flat lining engaged auto titan mode and ripped the two pilots from the cavity and threw them unceremoniously to the ground and reengaging Shawn. Amazingly the body of the IMC pilot saved his life as three rounds from the chaingun ripped into him instead of Shawn.

Counting his blessings he rolled to his feet behind the columns and reactivated his camo. Now pilotless, the titan's optics would be fooled by the shimmering cloak that enveloped his body as he ran to the safety of the woods.

"Sadie!" Shawn coughed, a small spray of blood clouding his visor "Status!"

"Third and fourth rib broken on the left side, small internal bleedin..."

"NOT ME! ON THE TITAN!"

"Twenty Seconds"

Shawn slowed as he neared the other side of the shallow wood grove.

"Sorry for snapping at you Sadie. I'm just tired of the IMC beating us time and time again."

"It's ok, Shawn, your titan is ready, Call it in"

He removed his helmet and wiped the blood clean and replaced it. Bursting from the woods at a jog he slowed to a stop.

"This looks good a place as any. Sadie, come on down."

The AI resided in his suit, not in the titan, but it was nice to think that the titan gave his AI a physical form. A glowing green circle overlaid on his HUD, showing the anticipated drop location of the titan, so he didn't get crushed. Two seconds later an earsplitting roar smashed right in front of him, only slightly causing him to lose his footing.

"Never gets old babe" he said, admiring the gleaming metal, fresh from the assembly line.

The Atlas titan rose and took a couple strides towards him, he doing the same. As soon as he saw the cockpit plates start to open he kicked his thrusters into gear and swung off the awaiting hand into the gap, as it sealed behind him.

"Good to be home, did you miss me?" he asked as the titan released control to the pilot.

"I'm ALWAYS with you Shawn, and AI as smart as we are, don't have feelings. It is impossible to 'miss' you. But if it humors you, yes I missed you very much."

"Glad to hear that." Suddenly a short klaxon blared and a red light began to strobe across the panels.

"Unknown heat signatures detected. Three hundred meters, Two o'clock."

"Sadie, switch to thermal."

The view screens flickered and then flared into shades of greens and yellows. Five red outlines broken up by the foliage of the opposing tree line registered on the screens.

"Magnify, 4x" The image enhanced to show five cowering human silhouettes.

"Locals maybe? Lets not get them involved." Yet another klaxon blared.

"Warning, you are outnumbered. Three IMC titans approaching."

"Shit, we need to draw them away from the civilians."
__________________________________________________________________________________

Suddenly the ground shook with more thunderous vibrations as three more of the towering Titans burst from the woods. This caused the lone titan in the field to turn towards them. The three titans fanned out, surrounding the single titan. Without warning the cornered pilot attacked.

Dillan jumped as the fist lashed out from the monstrosity and collided with the face of the center opposing units. Shields flared around the suit but held, and all hell broke loose. Bullets, missiles and grenades flew from all directions, and just when the teens thought he was done for, the smoke trails cleared. The lone titan stood, with a vortex flowing from its hand, surrounded by hundreds of floating bullets and missiles.

Even more unexpected the titan leaned back, engaging dash thrusters, propelling itself backwards, then sideways. Suddenly the vortex collapsed and exploded outward, forcing all of the bullets and missiles into their owners. Two titans shields flared and died, the third titan, the closest took the brunt of the attack and was enveloped in roiling explosions across its hull, which then was enveloped in a mini mushroom cloud as parts rained down around it.

Without pause the Militia titan dashed right back into battle slamming its fist through the cockpit of the second closest titan, ripping the pilot from his housing and smashing him to a red pulp against his own titan as he jackhammered the fist into the sensitive components that were now exposed.

That titan toppled backwards to reveal the final remaining titan, an Ogre class, charging into battle, shields recharged and chaingun blazing. The heavy rounds pinging off the shield of the Militia titan rang out across the field onto pained ears still straining to recover from the thunderous cacophony of the titan battle. Dillan, even covering his ears, couldn't take his eyes off the amazing skill the militia pilot possessed.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Two down one to... oh shit"

Shawn slammed on the thrusters, rocketing Sadie backwards into the trees, using the natural surroundings to lessen the gunfire, and bring the titan in close where he would have a minor advantage of speed over armor.

The IMC pilot took the bait and lumbered in right after him. Shawn brought his fist up, and knocked the chaingun loose from the grip of the ogre and followed it up with a rapid jab to the cockpit, seeing the shields flare. Weapon gone, the ogre wound its massive arm back.

"Time to duck and run."

Dashing to the side he narrowly avoided the massive battering ram that is the ogre's fist. Planting two more quick hits to diffuse the shield he dashed in circles around the slow moving prey. Frustrated the IMC pilot wised up and grabbed two trees.

Confused more than anything Shawn still went for the kill. But the ogre outwitted him this time. With the deafeningly loud splinter of wood, it ripped the trees from their stumps and smashed each one into each side of Shawn's Atlas, and repeated. After three hits Sadie was whispering in his ear. "Eject Eject Eject Eject."

Ruefully Shawn yanked the eject handle and jettisoned from his beloved, giving her a mock salute, as her core went critical, engulfing both titans in a mini manmade sun. He didn't have time to react though to the shoulder guard from the ogre, flying through the air and smashing into him knocking him into blackness.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"HOLY SHIT" Dillan screamed as the titan erupted into a small mushroom cloud with the ferocity of the sun.

Everyone ducked as the pressure wave washed over them. They got to watch as the parts of both titans rained down around the field. One piece landing not too far from their hiding spot, the red hot glowing shoulder plate of the ogre. Followed shortly by the motionless body of a pilot. The same Pilot they saw get into the titan.

Dillan started to move towards him when suddenly someone grabbed his arm.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy?" Josh said, pulling his friend back.

"We have to help him, he's hurt!" Dillan replied, pulling his arm free.

He ran across the field and looped his arms under the unconscious mans arms and drug him towards their hiding spot. Just as he got into the foliage several soldiers emerged from the woods, sweeping their weapons side to side.

"We need to get him out of here, the IMC are looking for him, they will kill him." Dillan whispered.

"Dillan, I know you think you are doing a good thing, but if the IMC find us, they will kill us too!" Dennis argued quietly.

"Then don't help, they're going to kill us anyway, look what they did to the town. I can't live with myself knowing I could have saved him but didn't."

Tod snapped out of his stupor and helped pick up the pilot. "C'mon guys. Dillan, your house isn't too far away, lets get him there."

The five trekked slowly through the woods as to not be seen by the IMC grunts patrolling the wreckage looking for bodies. After a half an hour of quietly moving and waiting, they made it to his farm. Dillan and Tod managed to lift the man up the four stairs onto the deck, and through the sliding door into the family room of the house.

"DILLAN!?" Dillan's mother shouted from upstairs, just as they laid the pilot on the couch.

"YEAH MOM IT'S ME!" He called back.

Suddenly there was pounding down the stairs and Dillan was ensnared in his mothers arms.

"I thought you were dead. I was so worried" his mother sobbed into his shoulder.

"Mom... Where's dad?" Dillan pushed her to arms length to look at her. She just sobbed harder.

"He... He..."

"MOM he's not... dead... is he?" he asked, fighting back tears.

"I don't know. He went to town shortly before the attack started. He was going to pick up a few things for your birthday party next week and..." she just broke down into tears again.

"Mom, Where are my keys... I'm going to get him."

"No..." the raspy voice of the pilot coughed "you aren't. It's suicide to go back there. The IMC have a firm foothold right now. They
may be the enemy but the IMC aren't total monsters. They won't slaughter civilians unless they are trying to send a message. Your father, if hes still alive, will be ok for now."

"WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

"THE PILOT WHO SAVED YOUR ASS! IF THE IMC FOUND YOU THERE IN THE WOODS ON THE THERMALS THEY WOULD
HAVE GUNNED YOU DOWN!"

"YEAH AND IM THE CIVILIAN THAT SAVED YOUR ASS SO WE'RE EVEN!"

"Shhhh! Guys, you hear that?" Josh interrupted.

Police sirens sounded from outside. They all ran to the window to see a police car barreling down the dirt road towards the farm.

"ITS MY DAD!" Josh shouted "AND YOURS TOO DILLAN!"

Sure enough there were the two men, in the front seat of the cruiser as it flew at breakneck speeds around the bend and closed the distance to the house. Out of no where a lightweight framed titan barreled into the clearing, in hot pursuit of the cruiser.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" both Josh and Dillan screamed.

"Sadie, titan status?!"

A mechanical voice filled the room from his suits external speakers "Titan ready. I understand Shawn, Initiating Titanfall."
The gap between the Strider and the cruiser narrowed, when suddenly, a flaming mass of metal hit it at terminal velocity, pulverizing it into the ground. The cruiser was thrown onto its side and rolled to the roof from the force of the blast, and in the strider's place stood a militia atlas class titan in guard stance, weapon trained on the end of the road.

"It's only a matter of time before the IMC see my titans contrail, we need to get out of here."

Suddenly Dillan and Josh's father barrel through the door and slam it shut.

"MARIE! HOLY SHIT! I CAN'T BELIEVE IM ALIVE!"

"There's no need to shout John, we're safe, for now."

He breathes deeply for a few moments.

"Sorry, I, I was just a bit excited is all."

The pilot approaches him and stretches out his arm with an open hand. "Pleased to meet you John, I'm Major Shawn Thompson, of the Marauder Corps, or more commonly known as the Militia."

John slapped the man's hand away and pointed at him accusingly. "I know damn well who you fight for, and it's your fault they are killing us!"

"With all due respect sir, as this is your house, they would have come here either way, with our intervention or not, and even without destruction, would have laid claim to your land, and home. It was not our intention to start a conflict but to defend your right to live as you choose. The matter that the land gets destroyed from result of conflict, as terrible as it is, still is a hindrance to the IMC, So we do what we must, to cause the most trouble to the IMC. Now I beg you, let us go somewhere safer, the IMC will be upon us soon."

No sooner than he finished his speech his auto titan opened fire on squads of grunts closing on the house.

"Now if you'll excuse me. I need to defend our extract location." he commanded as he exited the house.
The pilot keyed his MIC. "All remaining M-COR forces, fall back, there is a farm located to the northeast of Palamino city. I am dropping a nav beacon, regroup there and wait for extract."

Shawn kicked on his boosters and landed on the back of his titan, popping the top hatch and shouted "COME AND GET ME!" at the approaching IMC forces.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Sir, the town is held, the militia are falling back. It looks like they are rallying at this farm here"

"We don't let them... HIM escape, It's time we used our Warp Shell."

"Sir but its..."

"But sir, OUR troops..."

"Just tell them to stay clear of the radius"

"Yes sir."
__________________________________________________________________________________

Ten minutes, fifty grunts, two titans and a lot of spent ammo later. Three other militia pilots converged on their location, only one had her titan remaining and it was slightly damaged. The wounded titan drug its derelict leg behind it as they approached the farm house.

"Sir, we've managed to hold the IMC back, but they are massing for another push. We won't be so lucky the second time" Jessica, the titans pilot announced over their closed battle group channel.

Shawn, who had dismounted his titan and left it to guard stance near Jessica's titan, looked around the living room at all the faces of the civilians he was protecting. Fear, the most prominent, among other emotions played across their faces. What he was about to ask of them was probably the hardest thing they'd do.

"Alright everyone listen up," he said, raising his hand to get everyone's attention "We don't have long before the IMC are stomping up that road. We need to evacuate. We've only barely managed to hold them off up to this point."

"Wait, you mean to tell me we are leaving the city?" Josh's father Ray asked.

"No. The planet."

"WHAT?!"

"There are battles raging all over this planet, no one location will be safe for very long for the time being. I'm asking you to come with me on our jumpjet out of here, back to the ship. Temporarily of course." he added quickly seeing the reactions of those around him. "The IMC aren't stopping here, and I can't guarantee that you will live if you stay. Granted I can't guarantee that if you leave with us either."

The distant sound of gunfire broke the concentration of the room. Everyone pushed up to the picture window and through its slightly smudged surface the battle could be seen raging in the distance.

"I think we should go" Rebecca said.

"Becky? You sure?" Josh asked.

"Well if we stay here right now, we're almost certain to die." She turned to Dillan to sell her point. "I know this is your house, but houses can be rebuilt. your family can't."

Dillan looked to his mother and father and nodded his head. "She's right, we should go."

"WELL that settles it, be ready to move in three minutes." Shawn said, clapping his hands together. Switching to the fleetcom channel he keyed his MIC. "This is Major Shawn Thompson requesting Hot Extract at my coordinates. I have a host of civilians that will be accompanying my squad on the bird back."

Shawn strode from the room, calling his titan to meet him half way. Once off the porch he lit his jump jets and launched himself into the awaiting cockpit of his titan. No sooner was he in, did three IMC titans come scooting up the road. Forward recon, light and fast scout units. He leveled his chaingun at the closest one, and let loose.
______________________________________________________________________________
Yesterday on an unknown planet in an unknown galaxy

Twilight always had a curiosity about the world around her. How to make something work, and why it worked that way. The fact that this was an assignment from both Princess Luna and Celestia was just a Pinkie Pie helping of icing on the cake.

"Spike, take a note please." she requested as spike pulled a quill and scroll from the desk.

"Day two hundred and eighty seven. Anomalies continue to appear on a regular basis. Not quite regular enough to precisely predict when the next occurrence will be, but the time between occurrences have been decreasing." Once the scratching of quill stopped, she continued as she peered through the telescope. "The most recent happening just earlier today, at approximately, 9:73 at night. A large semi-spherical piece of what appears to be some form of soil, mineral composite, appeared following a bright flash appearing in orbit at the coordinates that Princess Luna had indicated."

"Twilight? you don't think aliens are invading? do you?" Spike asked nervously.

"No spike. Have you been reading too many comic books again?" Twilight retorted.

"NO!" he said in a defensive manner. "Maybe."

"Well Spike," Twilight laughed " If they were aliens, they aren't very good ones. their ships are made of dirt."
______________________________________________________________________________
At an IMC testing facility, a half an hour ago, light years away.

"So did you hear about this new bomb they've created that we're testing today?"

"No, what's going on?"

"They say it utilizes the same tech that the ships use for faster than light travel, and titans use to warp into battle."

"Woah, that's kinda scary"

"Yeah I guess this is the first one they've tested of this magnitude. The prototypes were only large enough to diffuse smaller materials the size of a pilot. This one they are testing today is supposed to be powerful enough to diffuse and incapacitate a titan.
______________________________________________________________________________

"I suppose this one is a bit more out of the ordinary. Judging from the distance and magnification of the telescope, each one we've seen so far have only been roughly the size of a pony. This one is much larger." Twilight whispered, rubbing a hoof under her chin.

"How much bigger are we talkin'?" Spike asked, trying to look into the telescope.

"Well, if my calculations are correct, about thirty times the size. The dome of soil would be almost as large as Applejack's Barn.

"Woah, maybe its the mothership!" Spike worried, as Twilight just laughed and went back to peering into the eyepiece.
______________________________________________________________________________
Present day

"Shawn," Sadie announced through the titans internal speakers.

"Yeah yeah I know, I'm outnumbered a ba-jillion to one" he shot back as he ripped the arm from a strider and used it to cave in the cockpit of another.

"That's not a real number... and no, that's not what I was going to notify you of."

"Well then by all means, lets stand here and debate that fact all day."

The striders collapsed and he turned to face an atlas with just enough time to duck under the cluster bomb that flew over his head.

"We would be dead before we reached any..."

"That was sarcasm Sadie. what do you need to tell me."

"Scanners indicate signatures of an IMC dropship preparing to deposit pilots onto the deck of the house."

"Well shit." he answered with an uppercut to the IMC Atlas, followed by jamming his chaingun into the joint of its leg and firing until the limb tore free and the pilot ejected.

He rounded the house just in time to see the blue glow of the dropship entering normal space again. Kicking off the smoking corpse of an Ogre he pushed all reserves to his dash jets to carry him the distance between himself and that dropship. He couldn't help but try to stifle a smile when he saw the pilot coming out of the back hatch had most likely shit his pants.

Mid flight he discarded his chaingun, opting to have two free hands with which to grab ahold of the dropship. The screech of metal on metal sliced through the air as he compressed handholds into its hull, and used that leverage to slam the ship into the ground, under the crushing weight of seventy tons of titan.

No sooner than he dispatched the enemy dropship, their extraction team warped into its place. He keyed the external speakers and ordered the civilians in the house to evacuate and get on the ship. Once they had done that they would abandon the titans and evacuate with them. Scanning the seventeen IMC titans that were approaching from all directions, one thing was sure, they didn't have long.

Dillan sprinted across the deck with his friends and family, the sound of gunfire drowning out all other noise. Once onboard he turned to see the titan approaching so the pilot could extract as well.

Then black. That's all he could remember.
______________________________________________________________________________

"Stay back from the structure! The target is on scene! They are dropping the Warp Shell!" an IMC pilot radioed to all the surrounding
pilots.

A titanium sphere fell from orbit, red hot. Upon impacting the house it ripped apart, exposing the warp engine core. With no limiters on the engine it engulfed everything around it, the house, the titan, the ship, in a large radius and simply caused it to cease to exist, leaving a perfectly smooth spherical crater in the ground.

A cheer erupted from the IMC so loud it was said it could be heard for miles.