With both sides making preparations for warfare. Back in Laboratoria, Ethan was digitally sculpting holographic designs for the electromagnetic cannon on his hologram table while Kunoichi watched in awe. 

“So Kunoichi?”

Kunoichi snapped out of her marveling, “Huh?? Yes?”

“Would you tell me what weapons you and the other squad members specialise in? I’m planning on making special weapons for the whole squad if I can,” said Ethan.

“Ooooo cool, I’m not really sure what everyone specialises in because up until now we had no choice but to use guns and explosives against the robots. Although I think I can give you an idea of what each member may specialise in,” said Kunoichi.

“Sure, that's better than nothing I suppose.”

“Kay, lets start wiiitth- Ninja since I’ve known him from childhood. For as long as I can remember, Ninja had been studying and practicing Kenjutsu until this whole war began.” 

“What’s Kenjutsu?

“Well from what Ninja has told me, Kenjutsu is the art of the sword meaning techniques of the sword that can be used in battle.”

“I see, basically what you’re saying is that Ninja’s specialised weapon is a sword?”

“Basically yes, specifically the katana.”

“Katana? Do you have the design of the sword?”

“It’s has a slightly curved blade with a one sided edge to it.”

Ethan started digitally sculpting the sword with his hand on a holographic 3D model that was projected by his hologram table. “Is this it?”

“Close but it’s missing the cultural trademark guard,” said Kunoichi. She got closer to the hologram table and altered the holographic sword a bit. “And Voilà.”

Kunoichi had accurately sculpted a holographic katana. “Looks good, it’s a design I can work well with,” said Ethan.

“Great, but I don’t understand why you would make him a sword for a gun battle,” said Kunoichi.

“I won’t only be making him a special sword but I’ll make mechanisms that will improve his mobility and foresight. With these improvements, Ninja and the rest of the squad will pose a huge threat to the robots.”

“A mechanism that can improve mobility? What is it?” Kunoichi asked, curiously.

“Well the best that I can think of off the top of my head is electromagnetic boots, but we’ll have to see when the physics guy gets here.”

“Ooooo, electromagnetic boots? I can't wait to see what those do.”

Cute "Anyhow, shall we continue with our previous topic?”

“Sure, so what weapon do you think I would specialise in?”

Ethan scanned Kunoichi, “From what I’ve observed from you, you’ve a lean petite build so I doubt you wield heavy weapons, you seem flexible and light on your feet so I’m not really sure what you could specialise in.”

“Oh, so then you’ve been checking me out?”

“Not in the way that you think,” Ethan replied calmly trying to hide his fluster.

She giggled. “I’m just teasing but good observation though, it’s very accurate. Growing up, my parents made me do ballet & gymnastics, doing that made me flexible and acrobatic. They also made me learn a lot of weapon martial arts.”

“Nice, did you master all of those arts?”

“Yes, as much as each art was a lot of work to master, I enjoyed all of them which is what made me master them.” 

“That’s amazing, your parents must be so proud.”

“They were… they would brag about me to their friends & relatives whenever they got the chance, they attended all my performances and supported me as best they could,” said Kunoichi as her mood slowly turned gloomy.

Okay- I seem to have stepped on a sensitive topic here and may have just ruined her mood, how do I turn the tables? Maybe I should relate to her? Crack a joke maybe? Oh dear...

“Are they dead?” ………You dense, insensitive fool…

“Yes… they died from a robot attack."

Great, now I look like an insensitive jerk and what’s worse, my creation is cause of this. Ethan sighed. Alright we can still salvage this if I play my cards right-

“Ethan? You alright, you seem troubled?”

“Yes I’m fine, my condolences to you for your loss, I guess we’ve both lost a lot at the hands of Mavis… but that is why we need these specialised weapons so that we can avenge our fallen loved ones otherwise we stand no chance of defeating Mavis.”

“Can you promise that we’ll defeat Mavis?” Kunoichi asked.

“Well, from every encounter I’ve had with Mavis, she is always stronger than the previous encounter so I believe that this upcoming encounter will be the most challenging, to the point that I’m not too confident in making this promise.”

“Oh.."

“But at the same time, I am confident enough to make the promise. So I promise and swear on my life that I will defeat Mavis.”

Kunoichi smiled radiantly at Ethan, relieved that Ethan could make the promise. “Thank you, I really needed you to say that. Shall we seal it with a pinkie promise?” she raised her pinkie.

Ethan was confused by the term & gesture but went along with it. “Uhm sure.” he raised his pinkie and sealed the promised.

“Great, now you have no choice but to keep the promise.”

“Well, I had no intention of breaking it…Now what weapon would Colonel specialise in?”

Kunoichi took a moment to think about it, “Hmmm…now that I think about it, during training, she would always fight and beat us with different wooden weapons like a boa staff or a wooden sword. So I don’t know what exactly she specialises in since she uses all of them so well…but if I were to select one, I’d say she’s best with the boa staff so make her that.”

“A boa staff weapon huh, I may have an idea for that. Okay, what about Bradley? what’s his specialised weapon?”

“Bradley is an ex-military special ops officer so he mostly specialises in guns but he’s also very good with hand-to-hand combat so maybe try make a weapon that can utilises that skill,”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just make specials guns for him than making such a weapon?”

“Well I assumed you liked a challenge.”

“An accurate assumption. In that case, I’ll try think of something for Bradley. Now what’s uhmm, what’s his name again, uhmm Flash? Yes Flash, what’s a weapon that he specialises in?”

“Flash? He loves his flashy explosions so I’d say he specialises in explosives, but he’s also good with guns, I think his favourite gun is the revolver, he has amazing aim with that gun.”

“Explosives and guns… I can work with that. I believe that’s everybody, now I can start designing these weapons while we wait for Chemic and her friend,” said Ethan, continuing his work on designs with his hologram table

“But you forgot to ask about Chemic’s specialised weapon."

“Ehhh, isn’t it obvious though?”

“What do mean?”

“She has specialised guns for herself so she doesn’t need a new specialised weapon. All I will do for her is make a new type of bullet for her to use in her guns.”

“Oh, at least you’re doing something for her,” said Kunoichi. She continued to watch Ethan designing the specialised weapons on his hologram table.

A few minutes passed.

ZWHOOP

“I’m back- and I brought my friend. Introduce yourself,” said Chemic to her friend who was in awe admiring Ethan’s lab. “Zac!”

“Huh??? Oh hi, my name is Zac” he stuck out his hand.

“Ethan” he shook Zac’s hand.

“Nice to meet you, Ethan. I heard a lot about you from Chemic here,” said Zac, enthusiastically.

“Is that so? All good things I hope.”

“Yes of course, she told me about your tech and your amazing lab but her description of this place does not do it justice.”

“Thanks, you flatter me, but you can admire it as we work for we need to get started on the experimenting."

“Alright! What exactly are we creating?” Zac asked.

“We’ll be creating a lot of weapons but for now let’s focus on the biggest and most important weapon.”

“Which is?” Zac asked, curiously.

"The electromagnetic cannon”

“An electromagnetic cannon!!!”

“Yes, are you familiar with it?”

“Yeah, my division has been trying to figure out how to make one but with no success.” 

“Then we will make one with success, we have no choice but to do so. Shall we begin?” as Ethan raises his fist at Zac.

Zac grinned and answered excitedly, “Yessir” then fist bumped Ethan.

“Then let us begin.”

While Chemic & Kunoichi watched from the background, Ethan and Zac began their work by creating designs for the electromagnetic cannon, Zac provided experience from previous experimentations on the electromagnetic cannon to help prevent flaws in the design. Ethan used his hologram table to run artificial tests on the electromagnetic cannon designs to see if any of them would be a success, only two of the ten designs were successful. The difference between the designs was that one was easier to make but had a lower energy output meaning that it would do less damage on the Colossals, the other design was harder to build but had a higher energy output meaning more damage done to the Colossals. Ethan choose the latter design, he was worried that the former design would not be enough to take the down a Colossal and plus of course he enjoyed a challenge, high risks high rewards.

Time passed quickly, a day went by with a sleepless night for Ethan & Zac who were busy constructing the electromagnetic cannon’s design with physical components, heat and pressure. While Ethan was working industriously, back in the Virtual Cyber Realm at the Mavis Empire, Gov. Vector was busy hacking the human shelter’s network. “Governor Vector, how much more time will you need to complete this task?” Cybris asked.

“This is a complicated task that needs time and patience. I am not only hacking into their network, I am also hacking into their entire network streams so that you will have access to every electronic device that exists in that human shelter. So please, be patient as I will be done momentarily,” said Vector.

“Excellent Governor Vector, I thought you would need another day but it amazes me how efficient you are. It makes me wonder how you’re only ranked 4^th amongst the Governors,” said Cybris.

“I wonder the same thing… but I’d rather not question Lord Mavis’s choices as she sees things differently from us so I trust her judgement.”

“Really? I always thought that you would be the type to have and trust your own opinions,” said Cybris.

“I do.”

“Then tell me your opinions of this war, Lord Mavis and the other governors?”

“….Governor Cybris, I don’t consider you as someone who will understand my opinions. In other words, you and I are not friends so I see no reason why I should reveal my “opinions” to you,” said Vector ominously.

“Quite the statement there Vector, but you are a rank lower than me so you better watch your tone wit-"

“Well would you look at that, we finally have full access to the human shelter's network. Since my work here is done, I’ll take my leave,” said Vector, walking away from Cybris.

“Who said you could leave Vector, I’m not even done talking to you,” said Cybris in an annoyed tone.

“Like I said before, my work here is done, so there is no need for me to stay here… and I don’t care that you’re a rank higher than me, Cybris, if you want someone to boss around and kiss up to you, go find Governor Codey. I’ve got better things to do than waste any more time with you two idiots so see ya later Governor, don’t screw this up,” said Vector, leaving the room and made his way to the network jetstream.

Vector sighed. “I’m glad I’m finally out of that place, had I spent another second in there with that bastard, things were gonna get physical... I’ve done my task, now the rest is up to those two.”

Meanwhile, Cybris was fuming over what just happened but managed to just calm himself down. “I’ll deal with you later Vector. There are more important matters to attend to other than some cheeky lower rank,” said Cybris to himself, “Assistant!”

“Yes sir?”

“Summon Governor Codey, his turn has arrived.”

“Will do sir.”

Cybris scanned through Vector’s handy work and realised the vast windows of opportunities that Vector had hacked open for him and Codey.

He chuckled maniacally to himself. “Oh you poor humans, enjoy these last few moments of peace, for they will be the last you will ever experience.”