Charlotte left the classroom soundlessly and made her way back to her room. She somewhat found the uniforms pointless: the Garden never did enforce them as they should. But orders were orders, so it wasn't like she could argue against them. Once she reached her room, she changed her clothes, though when it came to the below the knee socks, she couldn't help but feel bare. She normally wore thigh-highs, so this was to be expected, but she shrugged it off. She never did understand why girls always had to wear skirts for their uniforms. Except she wasn't really one to talk, her normal attire. Now that she had it on, the whole thing felt uncomfortable. Her pencil skirt felt too restricting, her legs felt naked, her jacket felt somewhat stuffy...but there was no room or time for complaining.

She buckled her rapier to her side and make sure she had plenty of magic in stock. Once she deemed herself ready she left her room. Once again she found herself the last to arrive, though this time it was excusable. A little time spent towards preparedness was never a bad thing to her. While the others made their presence known, Charlotte couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow. They were pretty enthusiastic, so to speak. Nonetheless she too approached Duncan with a salute. "Charlotte Aurum, reporting for the SeeD test as well, sir."

Fortunately he didn't have to wait long. Seconds later the first of Duncan's students began to arrive; this would have been to his relief is Syrus hadn't... Say goodbye to my Christmas bonus. He tried not to look the other man in the eye, unsure of how he would take what was surely in his eyes a brazen display of insubordination and disrespect. For a moment the man was silent and Duncan dared to hope... But of course, it was not to be. 'Do you know who I am boy?' The old man's voice was quiet but icy cold and the odd twitch betrayed his mounting outrage. Duncan stepped forward, hoping to preempt an explosion. 'Syrus, please. Have some respect for the Head Instructor. This gentleman is both my superior and the man who bankrolls your tuition.' His eyes bored into the student's as Duncan fervently prayed that Syrus would comply. The Head Instructor was a vicious barstard and if he didn't defuse this situation... Well, sufficed to say he would never set foot in a classroom again. 'I apologise for my student's ignorance sir. Syrus here is one of my newest students; I believe that you have read his dossier?' As he spoke, all smiles and respect, one arm shot out and grabbed Syrus's wrist. Duncan squeezed, not too hard but hopefully enough to get his point across. Both our arses are on the line here kid, don't do anything stupid!

Thankfully the others turned up soon after and as the group grew, the Head Instructor's indignation subsided. Duncan, relieved and grateful, gave each of his students an encouraging grin as he returned their salutes; their level of deference wasn't exactly required, but it was a nice touch. 'Well, we're almost all here. Just missing Marx, wherever he got...' He paused mid-sentence as another student jogged over to the group, a rather plain young man with a bundled pole slung over one shoulder. 'And there's the little git right now. You're almost late Marx. Step it up.' The boy smiled apologetically and saluted the Instructor, fumbling with his package as he did. 'Sorry Instructor; I couldn't find my tie and then my shoes were, uh... Kein Marx, reporting for the SeeD test, sir!' While Marx's air of good-natured incompetence drew a paternal smile from Duncan, the Head Instructor gave him the sort of look one might give something the dog dragged in. Regardless, with everyone assembled he stepped forward to brief the group.

'Ahem. As you may know, I am Head Instructor Maithwaite Corvo, chief tactical officer of Balamb Garden. I plan our missions, dictate the curriculum and oversee the business side of things. In other words, I run everything you see before you.' He took a moment to let that seep in, before setting off toward the main entrance, beckoning the group to follow. Corvo set a fast pace, talking as he went. 'Now to the business at hand. Lerwick will give you your orders later but for now I will outline the situation. Fourteen hours ago, the Galbadian Army launched an unprovoked invasion on the Dukedom of Dollet. Unsurprisingly the defenders were massacred; those few that survive have set up a last line of defense along Lapin Beach.' Duncan cast a worried eye around the students, gauging their reactions to the news. At least one of them was a Dollet native with family there; this test would be especially taxing for her. Corvo continued, unsympathetic to the would-be SeeD's feelings. 'We were contracted for deployment four hours ago, with the stated goal of liberating the city and cutting the Galbadian supply lines. Dollet knows that it cannot win a land war, even with our help. But perhaps we can maul the Galbadians badly enough that parliament can negotiate fair terms for surrender.' Corvo stopped short just outside the main gates, cutting a regal silhouette against the midday sky. At his signal, a pair of small airships dipped down out of the air to land before them. Each could hold perhaps four people, hanging out the open side doors. After admiring the view for a moment, Corvo turned back to the group. 'And this is the horse you shall ride in on. Now, go to Dollet and kill every soldier you see; no half measures.' And with that Corvo strode back into the grounds, coattails trailing behind dramatically. Silence reigned for a few moments and when he was certain that Corvo was out of earshot, Duncan heaved a sigh of relief. 'God, I hate that guy. Well, as he said we're going to Dollet. I'll brief you on the birds, but does anyone have any questions first?'

Syrus was the first to retort. "Yeah when do I get to kick that guys ass?" Syrus asked it as a real question and not as sarcasm. He knew the answer so he went off and hoped into one of the birds before Duncan could reply. He was annoyed with the head instructor. He lacked respect for anyone it seemed. All military and no heart, probably didn't even know what a heart was. Syrus grabbed a set of headphones and mic from the compartment, putting them on Syrus began to think. Duncan was a good man but if he didn't stand up to that ass on two legs then he was going to end up under the man's boot. Of course Syrus hadn't made it easy for the man in the past year. He was bounced around so much because Syrus would either out shine the teacher in combat and gods knew that none of them liked that or the teacher would think that their class wasn't challenging enough. Duncan had resorted to neither of those. Duncan simply grinned and bared it. Syrus had to admit that one day he would love the chance to beat him in battle but comrades they were today so he would let it be. Syrus waited for the others to join in and climb in the birds so that they could accomplish their goals, or rather a variation of them. He hoped to defeat the army and drive them from Dollet!

Standing at attention as Head Instructor Corvo spoke, Xerox did not listen to the man for the most part. He did think it was unfortunate that the defenders of Dollet were massacred due to the surprise invasion, but the important details were going to be handled by Duncan. As a pair of airships came down, Xerox's eyes glinted with interest. If he had the funding, he would easily build one he believed. One of a grander scale as well. Once Corvo had left, and out of earshot, Duncan heaved a sigh. At that moment, Xerox relaxed and went closer to the airships.

Hearing Duncan ask about questions, Xerox asked a number of things. "How much are these? What's the material? What kind of engine is it using? Are there blueprints for this somewhere?" It was the way Xerox was. Always curious about machines and technology. He didn't get to ride something like this to get to Balamb Garden from Trabia Garden. Rue pulled Xerox away from the air ship as he was tapping against parts of it, listening for it's structure. "Ah, sorry about bombarding you with questions like that. Just one question, how much are these airships?" Xerox wanted a figure to see how much funding he would need for something like that.

...Eika had become unnervingly quiet once the vehicles arrived. Unaware of whether it'd be a noticed factor or not, she'd wait until the inquiries were made and all was answered to slowly raise her hand up. Only when it was quiet. Only if she could catch her Instructor's attention when everyone else had begun boarding or moving about. She didn't want this stupid little question to be made public to the others. And if she managed to catch him, it'd be nice -- yet, not quite as nice as wanted, for the choice of wording that would in turn slip from her lips as a result.
"...Instructor. ...What makes us different from your common murderer? We are being shipped out to ruthlessly exterminate and eradicate the lives of other people. These soldiers that are being spoken of...Do they deserve to be slain down? Or are we not being given a reason, and simply following the command of the man running the Garden? I will not argue these directives, regardless. I was merely curious."

...Ah, that was probably a poor man's way of asking if they were just as bad as serial killers or not. Regardless, she'd wait until she received an answer before doing anything else. And if it was dismissed, she'd simply step into one of the metal deathtraps transportation devices that they were expected to huddle into. From there, she would plop herself down to the side, legs crossed over one another, and raise her orbs up to begin refining some of her magick into higher states of existence. Red, blue, yellow, and green lines would connect the quartet as the magic stored inside each one of them would be tampered with by her ever-moving digits to mesh them together into something even more terrifying than previously allowed within the confines of their magick-eating embrace.

Murdering other people. Different from murdering monster, but similar in another form of manner. With her gaze glancing up, she'd see four large eyeballs staring at her from the side of her orbs. ...Ah, Visionary. Curious to what was going on around its bonded charge now, it was what was allowing her to refine these magicks as she readied herself for the upcoming battle.
"...Mortality of a fellow human being...We have to cut it short, don't we?"
A shift of something inside of her head served as her answer, and she'd bow it as a result before going back to working on editing her stock..

If this is a joke it is not funny.

One had the nerve to disrespect a superior (how idiotic can you be), one was more interesting in the airship rather than the mission (the attention span of a goldfish probably), and one was either a philosopher (why) or one of those pro-life granola hippies (why would you even). Charlotte groaned inwardly, though she couldn't help but shake her head. This was seriously the team she was stuck with. She half expected to find several people pop up with hidden cameras. Except that she was very well aware that this was (unfortunately) very much reality and not some cruel prank. Taking in a deep breath, Charlotte crossed her arms, trying to remain focused on the mission. Except that said mission was jeopardized by her less than sane teammates. Oh, she knew she would be on a team, but she expected them to be, oh I don't know, relatively professional?

"No questions here, sir." Charlotte half spoke, half mumbled in disbelief at her group's rather...odd questions. Why, oh why did she have to get stuck with the one group full of idiots? She only prayed that at the very least they were capable in battle. She wasn't going to cover for anyone, she definitely didn't want to get stuck babysitting anyone, and for one reason or another she felt very bad for their instructor. He certainly had his work cut out for him. At the very least, she would make sure she was no burden to him.

Dollet.

Admittedly, Asa had never been there before. It was supposedly a rather quaint little town, with warm sandy beaches and various high class establishments to cater for tourists. The people were known to be rather friendly, and considering it was the final remnant of the Holy Dollet Empire, there wasn't very much to note at all.

Now however...Dollet looked entirely the opposite of what Asa envisioned.

"I've never seen so many dead people...." One of her squad members spoke up with a noticeable tremor in his voice, his eyes glassy as he stepped over a dead corpse in a Dollet uniform. "Th-There's...so many..."

"Fett." Ace's voice was low and stern, an authoritative tone that she had developed over the years. "This is a battlefield. What did you expect, a marching band?"

"N-No, sir," Soldier Fett's voice sank into a quiet murmur, his face ghastly pale underneath his helmet. "I just...I thought I was ready but..."

"But what? The army wasn't what you expected?" Ace cut him short. "Let me make this straight to you all. This is not the place for self-doubt, or for pity on your enemies. Because the minute you start using your head more than your weapon-"

Ace stopped in her tracks and held out a hand for the rest of her squad to stop as well, listening acutely to the wind whilst soldiers looked at her in bafflement. "Uhh, sir, what-?"

Fire suddenly brewed in her palm before she launched it above them with a fierce swing, a scream following shortly as a soldier plummeted down from the cliff, their bones cracking as they fell until they crumpled in a heap before their feet. Singed flesh pierced their nostrils immediately afterwards, causing several of the soldier to grimace whilst Private Fett looked like he was about to retch.

"-You lose your head." Ace finished, her expression grim as she picked up the sniper rifle the Dollet soldier was carrying. "Let's move on. We have an objective to complete." With that, she led her squad onwards, each of the soldiers sparing a conflicted glance at the dead soldier before following suit.

Riella

And done, done, write this, and this and boom! Done. Riella finished her paper, seeing that she was extremely late to where the airships were heading. "Alright. Let's do this!" She said grabbing her paperwork and got out of the classroom as she looked around trying to see which way it was. "Where is the class going? Actually, the airships, where are they?" She asked some stranger and he pointed to the way and said. "You better hurry up, because you are extremely late and they are leaving.
In any minute." Riella sighed. "No pressure there..." She said putting her paperwork on her back pocket as she would continue to jog towards the direction, but then her ninja speed kicked in. Riella jumped high, as she landed on a house rooftop and then she began to run fast as hell, using her ninja speed, jumping each house rooftop to get to the area where the airships were. "Come on, Rie, come on!" Riella said jumping back down on a grass, landing feet first and continued to run.

She could see people up ahead, a lot if people actually, crowded. "Excuse me!" She said jumping on top of the people's head, but they couldn't feel her feet jumping on their head because her speed was incredible and she didn't put much strength on it. And then thats where she could see the airships up ahead, a rock on the ground, she tripped and fell on the ground, well she rolled all the way to the entrance of the airships, outside of the gate, as she stood up and grabbed her paperwork and looked around for Duncan and walked to him, breathing heavily as hell as she gave him the paper. "Sorry! I was late. Please take this paperwork!" Riella bowed her head, hoping he will accept it.

Perhaps Syrus' attitude was to be expected; the lad was a bit overly emotional, perhaps too much so to be a professional mercenary. Duncan suppressed a sigh as he watched the Marx jump aboard the airship alongside Syrus, glumly taking a mental note of the incident; it would have to be taken into account when calculating Syrus' test score. It wasn't that he didn't feel for the guy though... Duncan had chosen Garden over a true military life to escape Corvo's ideal of professional soldiery and yet it hounded him even here. To his chagrin, he realised that Xerox had been talking for some time. 'Uh, price? As in buying price or cost to produce?' The instructor scratched his head, thrown by the randomness of the query. Garden used its own designed airship, built to high spec from the best materials on the market... so maybe... 'Maybe... something in the region of, say... three to five million Gil? As a conservative estimate?' It was probably a damn sight more to be honest; the armour alone probably cost over a million.

At this point he was starting to regret asking for questions. As he moved on to the next examinee, Duncan took note of the sudden gloomy air surrounding Eika. Oh for the love of... Perfect time to ask the big questions, seconds before starting a mission. He had suspected Eika to be fretting over her family but apparently she had more concern for the enemy; strange kid. But she raised a fair point, one that Duncan had spent a number of years studiously avoiding; was being a SeeD and fighting on money morally justifiable? Probably not. Was killing for money justifiable? No. Had that ever stopped him before? Of course not. So... how does a fighting man answer such philosophy? 'Well... I don't know. Tell me how you feel after the test, any revelations on the matter.' He left it at that, believing it to be one of those questions that everyone needed to answer for themselves. Duncan gave the last of the group a grateful nod, glad that at least of of them had her head on straight. Between doubt, emotion and Craft's pure mechanical ADD, he was starting to fear for their safety...

Duncan took one last look around the entrance, burning it into his mind as he always did before a mission; for all he knew, this could be his last. A few staff and students mingled around, perhaps to see the examinees off. But... there was one who was running, a young woman, barreling straight toward him - and tripping. She went completely arse over tit in a spectacular roll, ending up near Duncan's feet. 'O-oi... you alri-' Before he could finish, she sprung back to her feet and planted a wadge of paperwork in his hands, apologising for her lateness. As far as he knew, there wasn't anything for her to be late for... Ah, he thought, reading through the paperwork. God fucking damn you Dorn... A late transfer apparently; normally she would have been assigned to a normal SeeD squad since her admission was so late, but Dorn (the sly barstard) had stuck her with his squad, without any way of him knowing her training or capabilities. Exasperated, Duncan lit up a cigarette and took a deep, calming drag. 'Fuck's sake... Alright then, Riella is it? You're with us for the test, jump aboard. I'll introduce you to the squad and brief everyone once we're in the air.' After waving the last of the students onto the airships, Duncan took his place. Once he was aboard, the engines picked up and the airships gracefully lifted off, heaving westward over the sea.

'Good morning boys and girls. As per international law, we are now classified as hostile combatants in the war between the Republic of Galbadia and the Dukedom of Dollet. The flight will last just over thirty minutes and for the last five we will be in range of enemy AA emplacements; expect flak.' He spoke over the airship's built-in radio, activating a holographic panel set in the floor. A 3D map of Dollet appeared, annotations and markers appearing as he spoke. 'Before we get too in depth, I need to introduce a last minute addition to our roster; Riella Pelax, a master of... ninjutsu... Well fuck it, if she can fight that's all that matters. She's on the other bird at the moment, so those over there introduce yourselves.' He looked down at the transfer notification, which included a rather detailed dossier on Riella and her fighting ability. After a few seconds thought, he cast it out the side of the airship. Paperwork was useless where they were going. 'Back to the important bit. The main thrust of SeeD operations will be toward Lapin Beach; the rest of the force will land and from there, secure the city. We will not be entering the city proper; instead, SeeD candidates are to land on the north side of the city and secure a power substation commandeered by the Galbadians as a resupply and refueling point for their war mechs.' The map zoomed in on a point just outside the city's northern bounds, near the base of the cliffs. A number of structures stood clustered together, including a set of tall pylons. 'We are to and I quote, 'Neutralise the facility via invasive and/or explosive means'. In other words we need to blow that shit up. Xerox and Charlotte will be responsible for this; magic, robots, whatever you can find. Take those electrical towers down. The rest of us will back you up.' He didn't mention the large number of soldiers likely guarding the facility; rather, their presence was to be taken for granted. 'Once again... Any questions? He glanced as his watch. 'Touchdown in fifteen minutes.'

"Hm..." Xerox heard the price and started to make estimates in his head about the cost of the raw material from there. The fact that the armor was probably constituting to a good million or so, meant that the materials itself constituted somewhere upwards of half a million. That was just for armor material, any mounted guns, equipment, gear, engine and everything else ... Xerox sighed at the figures. It would take a long time to earn the money to just get the raw materials, unfortunately.

With another student transferring in suddenly and entering the test, falling over at Duncan's feet, Xerox looked on curiously. After a moment, he entered the airship. Rue followed with him and sat on his lap, to take up one seat less. Taking a corner seat, Xerox unstrapped his giant spanner and leaned it on the airship corner. He wouldn't be able to sit down, with the sheer size of the giant spanner.

The airship took off, and Duncan could be heard instructing the group over the built in radio. Ninjutsu? Hm... he pondered for a moment. Seeing as though Xerox ended up in the 'other' airship, he turned to face the newcomer. "Hey, I'm Xerox, and this here is Rue. I'm something like an inventor? A mechanic? Something like that. I only transferred here a month and a half ago. Nice to meet you Riella." He smiled friendlily to her.

As a hologram appeared on the floor, Xerox listened intently to the instructions. Neutralization of the facility huh ... I would prefer taking over than that, but it would be easier. Hm... I know! Opening up his tool box, he quickly made some modifications to the gauntlet from before. Xerox was modifying one of the parts he had finished, to make it able to inject something. He would probably need to access his ESS later.

Once Duncan asked if there were any questions, he spoke up. "Well, this is the Galbadian army right? So we will fight the Galbadian mechas then, right? That means they will most likely use the X-ATM092 and the GIM47N. Hm.... From what I know, these mechas are particularly weak against thunder type attacks. If they were to make a formation with them ... It would probably have X-ATM092s at the front with GIM47N shooting the chain gun or the lasers. Well ... only if they use them to defend it, which is likely. I would like to request that, if there is a chance, not to destroy all of the mechas. I should be able to override the controls and modify it for a good shrapnel explosion to destroy the power substation, due to it's decent size. That is only if the chance of this were to reveal itself. Charlotte, do you mind, if I get the chance to make the modification, to use thunder on the mecha? I would like to make it a remote or timed explosion, but don't have the equipment to do that with me, so would like your thunder to activate it, if you don't mind."

Realizing that he was just taking command with out anything solid, and being relatively new, Xerox went on to apologize. "Um... Sorry. I went ahead of myself. Taking command like that for no reason. It's just a plan I thought. If there are other plans, then please ignore my suggestion. I would like to ask though, is it possible for me to use some time after the mission, before we leave, to take some scraps back? There could be some useful parts is all." He was a bit timid during his apology and while asking about the scraps.

Syrus grunted in disgust. They were sending them on a mission that wasn't going to do much of anything. "Sir I do regret to say that by this map there seem to be two stations." Syrus took over the map and pointed out another station. "If we take out this one and the towers then the other one will be up and running in no time. I hate to say this but unless there is another team our mission is going to fail even as s little support to Dollet. The war mechs will be up and running in no time. Now if this is not over stepping shouldn't there be two teams? One to take out each station?" Syrus let the questions hang in the air. Was this part of the test was his thought or was this something that his ass was about to get chewed out for. Which ever one it was the cabin of the airship was silent and he was waiting for someone...anyone to speak up.

"...We're almost there."

Ace came to a stop near the cliff edge, sliding off her helmet with a sigh as she brushed her short, messy black hair out of her eyes. That was the problem with Galbadian helmets. They were so stuffy and uncomfortable.

"Lieutenant?" One of her more outspoken men raised a hand and an incredulous eyebrow. "You're not telling me that our objective is to guard some crappy communications tower, are you?"

"..." Ace looked behind her shoulder at the soldier that spoke, her glare sending a united shiver through the rest of her squad. "Is there a problem with that, Branon?"

"Well...yeah," Her junior admitted shamelessly, his shoulders slumping slightly. "I was expecting us to be in the thick of the action, ya know? I mean...the place isn't even that well-guarded!"

"A soldier's duty is not to ask questions. Now stand down, unless you want to be sent on the trip back home with no pay." Ace's answer was sharp and concise, allowing no further room for debate as she turned to face the cliff again. "I expect there to be Dollet soldiers stationed nearby. They are unaware of our intentions to repair the tower, so they will be ill-prepared. Still, expect resistance." She rolled her shoulders, cracking her joints as she limbered up her body. "We move on my count. One...two...three!"

Without hesitation, she leapt off the cliff, a chorus of surprised gasps following her descent as she quickly drew a Float spell from her stock, using her keen senses to deploy it just before her feet met the ground.

"G-Geez...Lieutenant Fiore's one crazy guy..." One of her men clutched his chest like his heart would give in at any moment as Ace dusted herself off from the landing. "I mean, there's literally a path to the west that leads straight down..."

"Maybe this is part of the army experience or something..." Another soldier quivered slightly, swallowing hard as his feet toed the line. "I think he's expecting us to follow him..."

"It's now...or NOTHING!" Fett screamed as he threw himself unceremoniously off the cliff, giving a frightened yelp as he plummeted down with much less grace than his lieutenant. "Ugh..." He groaned as his backside hit the ground, wincing at the impact as Ace tried her best to conceal a smirk. "Ow...I-I messed up my timing..."

"Hmph. Keep up that screaming Fett, and you'll give away our position," Ace did her best to scold him in her usual tone, but her amusement was difficult to hide. "Still...you got guts, unlike those spineless lot." She rolled her eyes at the rest of her men who decided that walking down the path was the far more suitable option. "Come on. Get up, so we can start the infiltration."

Fifteen minutes.

Everyone began to flood in by the time that Eika had finished correlating her magic and distributing it evenly to maintain reassurance that she would be able to appropriately junction her magic from any of her four (herself being a fifth by technicality) sources of magic during the mission that they were being sent on.

Fourteen minutes.

They all began talking, rendering her silent as she listened in. Like a ghost, she sat within the confines of this metallic transportation device, head down and head slowly swaying to a ticking unheard in the confines of her head as she placed her hands upon her lap. The orbs around her ceased transporting their magicks around and began a slow revolution above her head. So many things going on, and it seemed as if it was all planned out without a care in the world as to what happened...

Thirteen minutes.

The insistent humming of the mechanics around her finally got to her, it seemed, as the orbs above her stopped and promptly dropped to the ground with terrifying thuds. From the way their material looked, they should have cracked -- had they been normal. Instead, they simply ceased movement next to her and she raised her head at the words that had been spoken by Syrus in reference to the need of a secondary team to go and handle the other station. Both had to be taken down in a systematic manner in order to avoid further bloodshed, yes? Poor, poor little souls, all wandering around aimlessly within the confined down...

"I'll go."

Twelve minutes.

Oh? Looks like she'd finally spoken up to volunteer for her own responsibility. Regardless of it all, she was more than willing to raise up one of her orbs to allow the visage of an eyeball to surface up and stare at Syrus in order to vouch for her next words.
"I've many eyes to watch out for me. Capable enough to take care of myself if no one else can assist me in doing so. If it is a problem, I could at least be put to some use in taking down the station via frying down their systems. I think I've a reputation of breaking most mechanical things I touch anyways, do I not?"

...Was that...humor?! Holy shit, it was. She was actually trying to provide for a bit of light-heartedness before they were dropped off into a real combat zone. Well, damn...Who knew she was capable of thinking for others in such a manner and cracking a joke that made sense.

It was with a certain sense of pride that Duncan watched his students absorb the adhoc briefing, adding their own insights and opinions. A good part of this test was leadership and ingenuity, both traits that they were beginning to display. 'Intel suggest that we won't be encountering Crabs or Gim-Ns; X-ATM092 and GIM47N respectively. Instead there's a large compliment of Sammies and Gim-As, the lizard things and the flying ones. Both will be present at the substation, some active and some being recharged. Then again intel's been wrong before, so be ready for anything.' He fell silent as Xerox outlined his idea; he had in fact been issued with plastic explosives for that very purpose, but SeeDs were normally expected to source their own equipment in the field. Xerox's method was relatively easy and made good use of what could be captured from the enemy. Not bad, Duncan thought wryly. I had you pegged for a machine fetishist, but you've got potential. Once his student was finished, he nodded appreciatively, forgetting that Xerox was in the other bird. 'Good plan. If we go by the assumption that it takes you say, two minutes to rig a mech for demolition, we'll need at least six once we secure the disabled mechs before the towers can come down. I reckon we can hold the Galbadians back for that long.'

Duncan fell silent again as Syrus spoke up. Actually he had picked up on a solid point there... Looks like intel dropped the ball... again. He sighed. 'Well that complicates things.' His shoulders slumped and Duncan ran his hands through his hair in frustration, trying to come up with an on the fly mission redirect; with two targets the best method was to split into two teams as Syrus suggested, but this was a test and Duncan had to observe all of them to grade their performance. He couldn't very well be in two places at once and there weren't many options presenting themselves... To his blunt surprise, it was Eika who volunteered first, making it sound as though she would be sent off alone. If he hadn't been concentrating so hard, he might have noticed the strange behaviour of her... balls. If he had, he probably would have struck her from the team immediately; nervousness was expected but if ever got to the point that it impacted combat ability, the poor sap in question could be a liability. 'Wait wait wait... I ain't letting any of you go off on your lonesome. But how the hell...' Glancing down at his watch, he realised that he had precious little time before- The floor suddenly jolted, throwing Duncan against his restraints as the airship dove suddenly. 'Incoming flak! Hold on candidates, approaching drop point!' The instructor cursed under his breath as he made his decision; probably not the smartest but damned if he would let one of his students go off without backup. 'Fuck it, I'll hit the second substation. I have enough C4 to level half the city, I'll manage. Xerox, you're in charge til I get back. Take those towers down and stay there.' The airships were over land now, less than a minute out from the main substation. And there... there was the other one, five minutes yomp from ground zero... Fuck my life... Gotta do it. Duncan turned to the others, gave them a manic grin. 'Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!' With that he leapt from the airship, hundreds of feet into the air and screaming profanities as he fell. Nearing the last thirty feet, he reached within to cast Float and bring himself gently down to the ground in a ready pose, rifle up and scanning for targets. The kids would be fine; each had a lifetime of training to drawn upon and enough allies to cover one another. I'll be fine too. Just a hop, skip and a jump... After a deep, sobering breath, Duncan started creeping through the undergrowth toward the substation, with Vinzer clamped silently to his master's back.

Back on the airships, the flak was getting intense. 'I-Instructor! W-w-wha... What are we gonna do?' Kein was clearly panicking, leaning out the side of the airship to catch a glimpse of Duncan's fleeing form. A near miss threw him back inside, nearly landing in Riella's lap. Outside the open beaches narrowed into rocky crags and up ahead a complex of small buildings loomed; the substation. Already troops could be seen running back and forth, frantically setting up defences and activating mechs. The candidates were in for a hell of a fight. 'Drop in ten...' The copilot's voice echoes through both airships as they rapidly decelerated, coming to a hovering standstill fifty feet off the ground just inside the substation perimeter. '... two, one... Go, go, go!' Not wanting to be the last, Kein threw himself out bodily, flailing to activate his magic in time. The unfortunate boy hit the ground feet first and activated his Float too late; his knees pistoned up into his chest, winding Kein the moment he hit the ground. The first Galbadian soldiers on the scene stared as he fell and winced in sympathy as he landed, all enmity temporarily forgotten... But it didn't last long and several squads of soldiers converged on the landing site, swords and rifles at the ready.

Syrus slammed his fist into the side of the bird. "Damn, him! He is going to need help!" It had been too late to jump out due to Kein looking out the bird as the instructor fell. When Kein had fell back in Syrus gave him a glare but looked out. Duncan had landed in just fine in the bushes it seemed. "Alright everyone Xerox is in charge of the blowing shit up team but he isn't going to be able to give orders to use that are doing the killing shit department. Anyone not on the blowing shit up team follow me down!" At that moment the co-pilot had told they it was time to jump and Kein was either not listening or just to dumb to notice someone was trying to give some rather simple orders. Kein jumped and down he went. "Ok everyone except that guy follow me!" Syrus jumped out of the bird and about halfway down down he cast fire magic around his feet but made it come out in a continuous stream. Syrus went into a dive and angled himself towards the soldiers. He was going to have to save Kein from being blown or slashed to bits. Once he had almost reached the ground he cast float and the fire spell wore off, but Syrus had gained enough speed so that the float spell would only propel him forward when he cast it at the right time. Luckily he did. He pulled out both his gunblades and slashed through a quarter of the first wave. In the confusion he got up from a mess of soldier and began to fight his way back to to Kein. Casting a true cure spell on him reflexively the boy's pain went away and he was full of energy. Syrus hoped the boy wouldn't know the difference in the heat of battle that the cure spell had some extra kick, but right now Syrus almost didn't care. On the faces of each soldier he saw his old enemies. Syrus was burning with anger but quelled it as he waited only seconds for the others to follow. The Soldiers were confused but there was no where to go so Syrus stood his ground ready for any of them to attack as he waited for the blow shit up team to arrive on the ground and the reinforcements of the kill shit team got here for their share of dispatching the enemy.

After receiving the intel from Duncan, Xerox looked on at the map. A SAM08G and a GIM52A ... Quickly he announced, "Well, the weaknesses are the same generally. With physical attacks, you want to block off the mouth of the SAM08G and cut off the missile pack at the back of the GIM52A. Be warry of the cannon from the SAM08G and the missiles of the GIM52A. The missiles are homing, so detonate with a ranged attack or magic rather than dodging." Looking at the map, he tried to figure out where they would have the most mechas and most foot soldiers. There were two main points of entry to the substation that they were to attack. One was wider, it would be full of mechas and foot soldiers, possibly turrets. Then the smaller entry point. Duncan than instructed Xerox to take command. Wait what? he was confused at first.

Suddenly Duncan leapt out, and Syrus decided to lead. But before Xerox could interject, it was time to leave, and both Kein and Syrus had left. "Damn it! Listen here everyone else. Duncan left me in charge, not Syrus. So I will tell you the main plan. Myself and Charlotte will enter from the North, where the entrance is narrow, and difficult for the mechas. We can infiltrate quickly from there. Eika and Riella get Syrus and Kein to the East entrance and get the enemies' attention. Myself and Charlotte shall engage in a pincer attack to help take care of the enemies. I will look for a SAM08G to take and set it up for Charlotte to detonate. On the ground, decide what you need to do by yourselves. Now then, don't die!" Xerox ordered through the airship's radio, before anyone else had a chance to jump.

After doing so, he quickly grabbed his giant spanner and looked at Rue, who got on his back. Jumping out of the airship, it seems he would land closer to the substation, and closer to the Northern entrance. He did not have float magic ready, but pulling his hand into the ESS grabbing a giant propeller. Activating one Demi, he was able to energize the propeller, which had a para-magic energy convertor built in to it. It was one of his most difficult machines, and it was fairly inefficient at the moment, but it was enough. Activating the propeller, he slowed his decent as he approached the ground, landing softly in the mountainous area to the North. It seems there weren't any soldiers there that saw his decent. Putting his propeller back into the ESS, he pulled out a little device of sorts, and quickly finishing the modification to the gauntlet. Rue hopped off his back, and made a test on the shield bracelet. It was working well.

"Rue, use your keen senses to tell us when there are enemies about okay?" Xerox asked Rue, looking up to see if Charlotte was coming or not, and if the others had jumped or not.

Was this team going to be okay? Charlotte couldn't help but worry ever so slightly. No one seemed to be on the same wavelength--their instructer left them in Xerox' hands, which seemed wise, though it seemed not everyone was coherent to that command. Still, it only meant she needed to make she sure didn't screw up as it fell on her to pick up everyone's slack. Luckily Xerox seemed to have his head on his shoulders, and once the plan was given out, she nodded. To the north, then. Alright, this is what she was trained for. Was she anxious? Yes, anxious to prove herself. She was not going to fail, and if she had to carry every incompetent member on her back and hold their hands, just so she would pass, so be it.

As everyone began to jump off, Charlotte readied herself. First Duncan, who decided to take the second tower solo, then the klutz Kein, then Syrus, then Xerox. It was her turn. She looked outside rather warily, watching the scene unfold. Taking in a breath, she jumped off. The wind and scene rushed around her, and as she got closer to the ground, she unsheathed her rapier. "Slow!" She called, and her descent was slowed down her momentum tremendously. "Esuna!" She dropped onto the ground, managing to land beside Xerox. She lightly flipped her hair over her shoulders, turning her attention to the task at hand.

"At your order." She told him, brandishing her rapier to the side and clearly ready for the test ahead.

...Falling.

Everyone was Ŧคllเภﻮ.

As the metal deathtrap emptied out, a tilt of the head followed with Eika hearing her name called with some others.

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Taking hold of her pet doll, she took two steps to the exit -- and walked right off. Right into the freedom of solidity underneath her feet to keep her from plummeting to the ground below. Right away from the safety of the "bird" that had soared through the skies to bring them to the battlefield. Right into the strangest embrace of cold that seemed to warm away any terrors that could have lingered in her mind as she let her lungs empty out from baited breath, filling in again with fresher, cleaner oxygen. In her eyes danced a deducing myriad of blue and white tinged with orange as she looked to up to the sun.

...Calm. The sensation of falling through the sky was calm. So very...very...

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Mindset in place, she tucked Nom-Nom into her pocket in the midst of her free fall, one hand slowly reaching up to the sky that her gaze had become enamored with, the smallest beckoning motion bringing forth the orbs that had fallen out with her. Orders to protect...Get Syrus and Kein to the East. Don't let anyone die. Fight, fight, fight.

Understood.

Red optics betrayed nothing as she twisted in the air, orbs following underneath her so that one allowed her to gain footing on it as it began to slow its descent second by second. The other three? They would slam down upon a group of soldiers underneath her landing spot by the time she began to close in. The sheer force would undoubtedly send them to their knees, flying, or worse off if they had the misfortune of being hit by the falling projectiles. Meanwhile, the one orb that she'd been balancing on in her descent would come to a halt just low enough to allow her to step off of it and begin making her way through the midst of hostiles that the rest of her classmates had become mingled in.

Syrus, Kein, Riella.

Those three were who she needed to find, yes?

Two of her orbs lifted up, cracked and pained eyeballs opening up within them and darting around in a panicked manner -- looking above her own peripheral vision to find who she needed to as she moved the other two to either side of her and smiled. Flames licked at the insides of both constructs before she snapped her fingers and allowed the condensed magic to shoot forth from them.
"And I will bathe it all in flames. Fire."

A wall of flames on either side to set those in her way ablaze, clear her a path, and let her make her merry way wherever the other two orbs were bothering to lead her. With Visionary's help, she was quick to make her way to the side of Kein and Syrus. Now, now. There were far too many guns here pointed at people she liked to a degree. This wouldn't do, this wouldn't do at all!
"I do hope you can stand, Kein. Otherwise, I'll have to carry you."
Calm. So very very calm...Ah, she almost seemed like she was walking through a park instead of bringing her orbs over to allow more of those same flames to begin converging and building up in her junctioned contraptions. Let's see here...The new girl was missing, but hopefully she'd be out soon.

Oh well. Let the games begin.~

"And to the East we head. Let's get going, friendlies.~"

Another shot of fire -- this time in the mold of a giant arrow shooting straight through the crowd. Wouldn't be too terrible a surprise if they opened fire now. Maybe her greeting was a bit too warm for their liking.~

Watching Charlotte approaching him in the air, Xerox also noted Eika exiting one of the airships. As Charlotte landed, she told him she was at his order. "Relax, we are both candidates. Although I am leading, don't need to be formal." he told her, turning around and slinging his giant spanner onto his shoulder. He started to walk ahead, with Rue leading the way, listening and smelling for movements ahead.
"Anyway, we will be making our way to the Northern entrance. There will be less mechas, since this area's footing is bad for machines. Most vehicles won't be here either, so most of our enemies will be foot soldiers. The entrance is about two and a half kilometers from here (~1.5 miles for US measurements). At the left to the entrance, there was a hanger. Hopefully we can get in and get one of their mechas from there. I will then rig it up, at that time you will cover me.
There shouldn't be too many soldiers who notice our infiltration though, if the other team reaches the East entrance. They have more enemies to deal with, so should take a while longer to reach the entrance than us. Once I finish the rig, I will pilot it into position, and then once clear, you will set off the machine which will in turn destroy the substation. If I get my hands on a SAM08G, it would be ideal, since the explosive will release all the cannons and cause massive collateral damage to the area. The distance will cover most of the substation.
Before detonation, we will head for the East exit and reduce the enemy forces further. That way the Galbadian army has less soldiers to fight with, and a loss of a substation at the same time. You can use Thunder from quite a distance right?"
Xerox finished his explanation of the plan with a couple of questions. "Do you have anything you would like to add to the plan? Or see any faults I may have overlooked?"

After Charlotte was given a chance to speak, Rue suddenly halted. He came back to Xerox, and started gesturing with his hands/front paws along with his body. "Hm... a small platoon of six, huh ... Most likely lower ranked soldiers? How can you tell? Oh ... they are rather nervous huh ... It's a battlefield. It's how things are." Xerox spoke to Rue, before turning to Charlotte. "I would prefer not to kill, so I am more likely to knock them out instead of kill. It is your choice whether you kill or not. Anyway, there's six soldiers in approaching us, and even if we try to sneak passed, it won't be possible in this place." The rocky landscape had no where to hide. "Let us deal with this quickly and move on." he said, with his giant spanner still slung over his shoulder. However, his body seemed more poised for battle, despite the little change in stance. His left hand seemed to be holding some scrap and a screwdriver, for reasons unknown.

Ace gave a disappointed sigh as she watched the small cluster of Dollet soldiers bolt out of the tower as fast as their legs could carry them. She was aware that the Dollet Dukedom's army weren't exactly up to scratch, but it was hard to believe that these 'soldiers' were even military trained...

No wonder Galbadia was slowly taking over the political powers of the world, with this little resistance.

"Sir?" One of her men had returned from his patrol around the tower with a self-satisfied expression. "I can confirm that there are no other enemies within the current vicinity."

"Good," Ace responded with a small nod. "That makes things simpler. Now, if my estimations are correct, the generator should be at the summit of this tower."

"So we need to take this lift up, right?" Fett motioned to the slightly rusted panel on the floor. "Doesn't look like the safest method though..."

"You just fell off a cliff. I'm sure you can handle it, Fett," Ace replied with dry humour. "Now, I'll be taking three soldiers with me for cover, in case we get any unexpected monster attacks up there. As for the rest of you, you're all on guard patrol. Don't let any soldier or monster come near this tower, all right? I don't want any interruptions whilst I work, got it?" Her tone was cold and harsh, sending a chill through the soldiers like a Trabia wind.

"Y-Yessir! You got it, sir! No intruders on the perimeter, sir!" A nervous-sounding soldier piped up with a squeak before clearing his throat and turning to his comrades. "You heard Lieutenant Fiore! Let's move!"

"Tch." Ace shook her head wryly. "Fett, Branon, Treidum. You're with me. Get on board." She reached over to the control panel and activated the lift, watching warily as the panel creaked precariously into action. "No time to waste." She quickly stepped on, gesturing for the named soldiers to follow as they all crammed onto the tiny lift. Fett instantly grabbed onto Asa's arm as soon as the lift began to move upwards, eliciting an annoyed growl from the lieutenant as she shook him off aggressively. "No touching."

"Sorry! I ahh...got a bit panicky there." Fett looked truly sheepish as he stared at the moving floor with a pasty expression. "There's nothing to hold onto, you know?"

Asa merely scowled, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. She really shouldn't react so defensively to being touched by people, but she couldn't help it. She'd worked too hard to conceal her secret for some clumsy soldier with wandering hands to figure something out...

The lift came to a stop with a painful squeak, the warm glow of the setting sun greeting them as they finally reached the summit. "Now...the generator should be here somewhere..." Ace pursed her lips as she scanned her surroundings carefully. Of course, she was going to be the one to repair it. Her commanding officer had said as much at the mission debriefing.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to deploy a mechanic for this task, sir?"
"You serious? This is war, Fiore. A mechanic wouldn't last five minutes out there. They'd be a liability, and this is too important to screw up. Besides, I've read your profile. You're more than qualified for this. Now stop complainin'."

In other words...they couldn't be assed to supply the funds or manpower for a real mechanic. The decision of the gil-pinching higher-ups, no doubt. So, here she was.

"This is it." Ace gave a low whistle as she approached the run down generator, noting the various frayed wires and loose bolts. "Well, let's get to work."