RP: YSS Miharu Prologue, Day 2

This TOTALLY sucks...

Tom moaned a bit from his prone position, in a nearby building, where the shot had sent him flying. The world was spinning far too fast for his tastes.

The only thing he knew was that he had just pulled off a rather unpleasant dance move: The 80 degree spine twister.

I'll have to remember that one for the future. The Yamataian thought unpleasantly, the events of the simulation further cementing his strong dislike for combat.

The thought had also crossed his mind that putting a Neko in charge of running the simulation was a bad idea. What was she going to do, keep dropping in enemies until they were all annihilated? What kind of scenario was that? Was this some form of twisted bloodlust?

Tom heard the yelling of Yukari followed by multiple shots and shook his head bitterly. Looks like she was getting shot too.

This can't be good for team morale...

He had no anti-grav and he was just as good as done with another shot in the back, so, after taking the tremendous effort to get his armor once again to a standing position, Tom readied the grenade launcher on his gun, just itching to shoot the first thing that he saw.

Pressed to focus on a target, James dropped down to an intact rooftop and whirled around to face the airborne armor. A volley of six missiles soared out from the augmentation pods at the incoming Super Phalanx, followed up with several blasts from his plasma rifle.

He could hear the cries of his squadmates and forced them to the back of his mind. He had to deal with what was in front of him first.

"Yukari-Chui, Taurus One is down, Taurus Two is damaged and I am engaged with Taurus Four. Hold on a little longer!"

Might as well give her some good news...

Just after Masako made her entry in he reception area, Nyton himself came in. The brown-haired nekovalkyrja blinked in surprise at the sight of a second pilot - she was fairly certain she had seen him as one pilot whom had transfered from the YSS Sakura - and moved from behind her desk.

"Welcome, Claymere-Juni. Come this way, please." She beckoned them to follow her to the simulation room. "I can prep up Daisy power armors for you in short order; is that okay?"

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Yukari's attacks had distracted the Kairyuu enough so that Morita managed to nail it with a solid shot from his plasma rifle. The downside was that the Kairyuu's barrier shield seemed to totally absorb the impact, leaving its armor cover relatively pristine as it lumbered toward the caretaker's Daisy.

The large armor's SIAR - a much larger version of the weapon the Golem II had - came up and blasted away at the Daisy, spitting 1.5cm anti-armor rounds at an insane rate. The yamataian dived aside, blocked a few hard hits with his forward shield and scampered forward to leap away behind the cover of a building, which began to be chewed at as if thousands of termites were on the job.

One of his tactical drones moved low around the corner to see how the Kairyuu was maneuvering and saw the NDI juggernaut bring out its light plasma cannon. The P53 fired, sending an disk of self-contained plasma Morita's way. The AIES blared an alert and Morita raced away from the cover and deeper between the two buildings just a moment before the disc hit what had been his cover a moment ago and filled a several-meter radius around the impact point with killing energy that left only smoking rubble in its wake.

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Yukari's shot smashed against the left shoulderpad of Taurus Seven, easily penetrating and doing internal damage. The Phantom II staggered back from the hit and too late realized Tom had fired his last SLAG grenade its way.

It was caught and torn to shreds before it could leap away.

As Harpy's AIES reported Taurus Seven was destroyed, a disruptor bolt hit the Harpy and Yukari almost felt the other Phantom II's shot spear through her torso as the simulation suit fed her the necessary nervous signals to indicate how her recon armor had not only recieved nearly crippling damage but also severely wounded the pilot. The Harpy dropped limply to the ground, all motor functions gone as her pilot went in shock and the AIES itself shut down, causing her holographic HUD to blink out and leaving her in the darkness of her helmet.

As the AIES rebooted with a "Stand by. Set up." The HUD winked back into visibility, showing the Phantom II looming over her with a forearm vibroblade drawn and slashing down to finish her off.

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Mini-missiles launched and spiralled after the Super Phalanx, causing the space power armor to make a defensive flip and start shooting down the missiles with its carbines and triple set of tactical drones beforethey could hit him.

That won James some time to deal with the last Golem II, which flew up and fired a set of energy disks at him: the disks were nowehere as strong as the ones the Kairyuu had used against Morita and impacted futilely around the Daisy's shield barrier, weakening it enough to scorch some paint away and destroy the last tactical drone it had, but not enough to actually deal impairing damage.

To his right, James saw a chilling sight: the Ocelot mobile frame. The large humanoid mecha weighted 35 tons, was nearly 50 feet in height and almost 40 in shoulder width. The large NDI soldier mecha, labelled Taurus Five on his HUD, was trying to pick its way carefully within the rubble of their training battle's venue - it wouldn't be too long before it got close enough to support the rest of the Taurus group.

The destruction of the enemy left Tom grimly satisfied...

...a feeling that was definitely not something the Raltean was used to, and, to be honest, scared him.

It's just a simulation... not real. A big video game.

No matter how he tried to rationalize it, though, Tom could not help but imagine the simulated enemy having had a family, and the horror he must have felt in that split-second before being shredded into oblivion.

What unbelievable brutality...

He then saw Yukari's Harpy get blasted in the chest and collapse to the ground, the Phantom II stepping up to her prone form and drawing its vibroblade. It stooped over her like a jackal about to tear into a carcass.

"NO!"

Ice flowed through the Yamataian's veins as he fired round after round of his LASR at the Phantom II.

"Yes, a couple of Daisy Armor's will be perfect." Nyton said to the Neko before he looked over to Masako. "Greetings. I am Nito Juni Nyton Claymere. I remember you stopping by Taii Kotori's office earlier." he said.

Already commited to the kill, the Phantom II was not nimble enough to avoid Tom's frenzied attacks: the yamataian's railgun tore holes in the Taurus Six's chest, abdomen and upper limbs, going even so far as giving it a hit that ripped off the offending vibroblade-armed limb at the shoulder in the process.

The Phantom II made a spin not unlike Tom had earlier as it crashed to the ground and stayed there.

"Taurus Six destroyed."

"Yukari!"

Tom rushed to her, his display already revealing the severe damage Yukari had sustained.

"Are you ok!?"

Not waiting for an answer, Tom switched to his plasma rifle as he picked up Yukari with his free hand, moving her to the (relative) safety of a nearby building.

"You better start talking because I sure as hell don't want to be squad leader!"

"Hey, guys! We need to regroup! We can't handle this situation! We have to get out of here!"

Morita never stopped moving, using this as the perfect opportunity to get used to the suit's mobility. It was starting to become easier - acting on instinct tends to do that. This simulation was getting more and more interesting the more he stayed in it - but, unless there was a really heavy weapon that the AIES wasn't telling him about...

"AIES! What weapon has the highest payload on this thing?"

"At present the weapon with the highest payload is the Plasma Rifle. With the optional Augmentation Pods there is the opportunity to use missiles."

"That doesn't help me. Plot me a course of retreat and send it to the other friendlies."

"Affirmative."

Morita leaped into the air, crashing through a window of an abandoned building and into cover. He hoped it would provide him a little respite while the others tried to get their bearings. His heart, already beating fast from the running, etched a grin onto his face. Perhaps it was because it was a simulation, or it could be that fighting is a personal pleasure - but, all in all, he was having a good time.

"AIES, pull up data on that really big one. Weak spots, blind spots, anything that can be an advantage."

He debated - the others had the same suit as him, so that meant that he also had a grenade launcher - which meant that those grenades were somewhere on the suit. Could they be used without the launcher?

"Is it possible to use the grenades without the launcher, AIES?"

James fired his plasma rifle at the Golem II, adding the forearm-mounted pulse weapon to the mix. He rolled to the side to avoid any more discs and jumped off of the edge of the roof, heading across the street.

That mobile frame's going to prove a problem, especially with Yukari wounded. The Geshrin opted to head inside the building rather than stay out in the open. There's got to be something I can do to help them out and keep the Phalanx away...

Yukari's eyes brightened as she briefly saw her shot lance through Taurus Seven's shoulder pad. She nearly gave a whoop of glee after Tom wrecked it. She took to her feet weakly, rifle still ready. She needed to find cover again --

White bleached her vision. Her brain registered the shot from Taurus Six more than AIES did. Vaguely she felt herself fall to the ground. She was sure she couldn't feel much of anything below her sternum. Her arms didn't work either. No words escaped her lips. Breathing was too difficult for that.

Suddenly, everything was black. She could feel herself again -- her body was hers. She felt more winded than any other time in her life; she took great gulps of air as sweat poured off of her head. Letting her head hang she contemplated what just happened.

No time for that. Once AIES rebooted the pain was back, only slightly dulled, sucking the air from Yukari's lungs and making her eyes cross for a brief second. Her helmet armor diagram showed the Harpy's torso painted bright red, meaning the protection there was breached and in pretty bad shape. Her bodily functions were mostly kaput; her right arm, which clutched her rifle, worked just enough for her to lift it. Hemosynthetic healing was attempting to repair her right lung, which had been obliterated from just under her breast to the end of the rib cage.

Yukari could feel herself bleeding. A lot. The pain was too much for her to notice the armor over her, knife pointed at her. Even it being pelted with bullets was hard to make out. All she felt was blood -- down her stomach, her privates, her legs, everywhere but her head.

She heard something from Tom. He was okay after all. That was good. She could take a rest. Rest sounded like a fine thing to do. She couldn't feel pain while she was sleeping, after all, and the pain was really too much then.

Eh? A hand wrapped around her under her arms. The pain increased ten fold. Yukari hacked and coughed; her screen was now covered in very realistic-looking blood. Did I do that? She couldn't really make out Tom as he looked at her. Everything was sinking into darkness.

Tom Freeman said:

"... be squad leader!"

Click to expand...

Squad leader? Yukari remembered something about being a squad leader. She hated power armors, though, so why would she ever be one? That made no sense. She tried to smile, but she couldn't feel her face very well. I would never do something that silly, unless --

" ... Let ... me out ... "

Nyton, Masako and the Juni entered the simulator room and it was quickly obvious that four of them were indeed active as the bulky training suits flailed and moved around on their hanger. One of them seemed to be with one arm while another was laying in a odd position, with the legs splayed out and the upper body raised. The two others seemed to be pedaling their feet in the air like mad.

The Juni chuckled, her breath misting in the cold air, and accessed her console, opening two of the vacant simulation suits. "Two Ke-M6-1A Daisy being set up. I'll adapt each for your height and stature. I'm sure I'll be able to sneak your Four-foot-eleven-inches in, Kurohoshi-san."

Something made the Juni frown over one of her displays and she glared the way of Yukari's simulation suit. With a frown, she waved the other two to their respective partners, now open and then her fingers danced over the console.

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Inside the simulation, Yukari's Harpy suddenly vanished from Tom's grasp.

"I am pausing the simulation for Yukari-Chui." Tom heard the brown-haired trainer's voice in his headset. "There's a problem with her. You can continue. Two others of your crew are hopping in."

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For Yukari, the battle stopped. The HUD and the urban environment faded to translucence with a 'simulation paused' in the center of the display and a communication window overlapped it, showing the trainer neko, whom was frowning at her. The blood was still there though.

However, aside from panting, Yukari wasn't actually hurting anywhere except for the burning of her tongue, which she had apparently bitten rather deeply. Blood dribbled from one side of her lips.

"Calm down. You're out of the scenario for the moment." The neko assured her. "The Harpy took some bad damage, but it could go on. There was a timer set for when you'd recuperate and be able to fight again."

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"Ke-M4-W2901 25x100 mm SLAG-S grenade are configured to be launched. The ordonance cannot be altered without the assistance of an armorer." AIES replied to Morita. A listing of the Kairyuu's system specs also scrolled down for him, but that thing was really tough and armed to the teeth. It'd take a lot of his payload to take down that shield and actually start to hurt it.

The one thing he did have in his favor was that the Daisy was a very decent suit on its own. It wasn't as outrageously powerful and resilient as the Kairyuu, but it was far more agile and fast. That allowed him to avoid a lot of fire from the NDI juggernaut's SIAR weapon, leaving plenty of geysering bulletholes

Obviously, to take down the Kairyuu, Morita needed to pour as much firepower on it as possible to take down its defenses and deal it lethal damage. Launching grenades, missiles or using the plasma rifle abundantly could reach that aim... but what would really help would be to have someone lend him a hand.

Fortunately, James' Daisy was running into a building close-by and might be able to flank the Kairyuu. Unfortunately, James was bringing friends: A banged-up Golem II (which James had failed to kill on his last shot) and flying overhead, a Super Phalanx that seemed to be warming up its plasma projectors to slice open the building Dige had run into.

Yukari blinked at the words. Her tongue was hurting like hell.

But nothing else was.

"E-eph?" The blood was in her mouth and not very pleasant; she swallowed some of it, attempting not cough it back up. It was all hemosynthetic anyway.

She looked around her helmet screen; on top the translucence of the scenario, she could see a small timer at the top.

"Oph." The only other bit of blood she could feel now was the rush of it going to her cheeks. She'd lost control, hadn't she? Just like she had before, on the Iori. It was a simulator, after all. There were no armors, no threats and obviously no hole in her chest. She looked at the screen, not sure if the blood was fake or real.

She swallowed another gulp of blood. It was less pleasant than the first, but smaller. "Juneek -- gaph -- " She wanted to swear, but it wouldn't have helped.

"Juni, I believe I have caused enough drama today, if compared to my profiency. Please remove me from this scenario and assign the highest-ranked crewmember as squad leader."

As Nyton walked over to his simulator he called over to Masako. "Hey we'll be going into this situation fairly blind so we need to be ready for anything. Our crew could be winning or they could be outnumbered. We'll have to analyze our situation fast and proceed accordingly within seconds." His eyes glanced over to one of the 'downed' simulators. And from the looks of it, I am inclined to believe our situation is of the latter. Nyton thought to himself. "Alright, let's do this!" he said with just a hint of excitement in his voice.

"No one can typically pull out of a battle by just pulling the plug, Chui; not to mention that drama is an everyday thing that everyone has to live with - you and your crewmates. Should I single you out and give you special treatment?" The trainer neko asked pointedly, apparently not scared of talking up to a higher-ranked officer. "Not to mention that by pulling out, you will make the situation the three others are in a lot worse than it was."

Of course, the Juni was omitting the coming inclusion of Nyton and Masako, but this really wasn't about them and more so about how dependable Yukari would be in real combat.

Yukari's lip was nearly healed, but she continued to speak telepathically, as it was easier.

"You should obey the command of a superior officer, Juni."

The urge she had was overwhelming: she was being pathetic; she should stay in and keep fighting, keep helping -- keep doing the right thing. But the right thing made her innards swirl. What was wrong with her? She hadn't felt so traumatized on the Sakura. Then again, the last time she remembered taking a hit in a power armor was practically in a past life.

The taste of blood was still fresh in her mouth.

"I am." The Juni cheerfully returned, her ears perking up. She took in a deep breath and then recited: "Courage is a hard thing to have. It only comes into play when darkness and despair threaten to swallow you. It is that little seed within you that allows you to forge on, to not give up, even when it's painful. Even when it is unbearable. Despair and shame are things you can defeat if you find the courage to do so."

That said, she added: "Your commanding officer asked me to tell you this if you had a hard time."

" ... " Yukari managed a small smile, in spite of herself. "Will it hurt upon starting the simulation again?"

Her tongue, it seemed, had healed enough to talk.

"Goddamnit, of course 'there's a problem with her': she's been shot up! Argh!"

This is stupid... I hate it!

His fury concentrated his coldness until it felt like the harsh ralt winter. He could feel his skin cooling as he growled at the Super Phalanx that was preparing to obliterate James.

He ran to a position behind a parked car, where he knelt and took careful aim with his plasma rifle at the Super Phalanx and fired.

"SOLDIERS, YUKARI HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE SIMULATION. I'M TAKING TEMPORARY COMMAND. JAMES, GET THE FUCK OUT OF THAT BUILDING AND ASSIST MORITA AGAINST THE KAIRYUU. BUY YOURSELVES ENOUGH TIME TO MAKE A TACTICAL WITHDRAWAL TO THESE COORDINATES UNTIL HELP ARRIVES."

He quickly punched in some coordinates at a nearby building 200 meters away.

Masako smiled as the rather large Nepleslian introduced himself to her. "Hello Claymere-Juni, forgive me if I didn't reckonize you from the start." she said with a small bow of greeting. "I'm Santô Juni Kurohoshi Masako, new armor pilot that just transferred from the YSS Mikomi," she introduced as the Juni led them into the simulator room.

"Arigatou, Juni," Masako replied to the other neko as she headed towards one of the unoccupied simulator armors. She then looked towards Nyton and gave him a thumbs up and a wink. "Yokai, Claymere-Juni," she said all of a sudden, mimicking his excitement.

James slowed to a stop and offered up a slight shrug. He just hoped that Tom knew what he was doing.

"Aye-aye, sir."

He made a ninety-degree turn and sped out the window, appearing above where Morita was locked in combat with the Kairyu. The Geshrin let loose with a flurry of plasma and sent another two missles flying.

"Morita-Hei, I have one more grenade left. If we time our attacks we might be able to bust that armor up."