"Mou... why is the commander so mean?" Serah pouts, knowing just why the winner gets a prize. She made her way over to sigma and whispered in her ear: "I'm still onboard~!" Then the little girl went to the girls' dressing room, got changed into her pilot suit, and then made a beeline for Atty.

Elora sighed at the announcement. She saw a camera in the bathroom, so she expected this to happen. Still, she couldn' help but feel a little oppressed at how adamantly the higher ups wanted to stop them from teaming up. Maybe it was considered unfair to the other pilots, but Elora considered it to be completely fair: Rilus was not a solo combat unit, and wouldn't last for long in any kind of engagement without allies. She was meant to co-operate, and she wouldn't be swayed by any "special rewards" offered by the perverted professor. She had something far more important at stake: the trust of her friends, and she was not going to betray them. On the way to the hangar she gave a thumbs up and a nod to Sigma as a sign of her loyalty to their cause, and went to suit up.

Elora hated how tightly the suit conformed to the skin, not to mention how its design accentuated the chest and crotch region in an embarrassing fashion. It didn't help that she suspected that the professor was peeping on them. Nonetheless, it was a necessity for piloting, and she didn't have much time to sour her thoughts on it when she opened Rilus up and hopped inside.

She did as she promised to Sigma, and set up a command for her to spot enemy units for Sigma along with a small window of her visual interface, practically giving her another pair of eyes to survey the battlefield with. It was easy enough to do, the Combat Analyzer being a state-of-the art supercomputer that could be customized up to the finest details, though Elora didn't touch on anything more than was necessary. She leaned back on her seat once she was done setting up a private channel for her, Serah and Sigma, and waited for the battle to start. She felt relaxed and at ease while she was sitting in front of a computer; she was truly in her element now. Unlike the outside world which was full of hate and malice, inside Rilus she felt like she was safe from all that. It was comforting, almost as if she was held in her own mother's arms.

I miss her. But she would be proud of me, I just know it.

Sigma clenched her fist. Having been watched by cameras was already considered when she set the plan into motion. She wasn't trying to be sneaky to her superiors, merely testing her waters, and organizing herself some sort of squad in absence of input. Perhaps I've misread those people. They seem to like to jest and mess with our minds far more than I've initially thought. Could she fulfill that kind of condition the new guy demanded after what was said and done? Even if they did pass, there wasn't guarantee the other two wouldn't turn on her...

Her thoughts were interrupted when both of them seemed to still acknowledge Sigma's plan, much to her surprise. Without doubt nor hesitation. The clone trooper was taken aback. She had bribed them, promised sweet things, and manipulated them... and yet, they were still determined to fight side to side. Thank you. She acknowledged mentally, as for the briefest of moments, her lips curled upwards. Sigma, the stoic Sigma, was smiling.

She put her suit swiftly, like many times before this drill. It clung to her like a second skin, perhaps too clingy in some...rather odd parts. Sigma thanked God for having a petite frame, as she could only shudder and imagine how the liutenant was able to squeeze her...more shapely frame in that kind of suit. Finishing the touch by running a hand through her hair, she began walking towards her mech, the Comet.

Inside, it was dark and mechanical, comfortable, but at the same time, ominous and cramped. She started to perform the startup checks when she saw the tiny window popup that came from Elora's Hud. Thinking, she typed a quick message.

I AM SORRY. NO STRAWBERRY CAKE.

Followed with.

IT WILL BE SACHERTORTE.

With that being said and done, she breathed deep, and steeled herself for the upcoming conflict.

Ian had taken the coffee with a nod, quirking an eyebrow at how Korie got his own bathroom . . .and the strange symbol for it. Okay, he's got a lot of special privileges, must be the kid of someone important. Funny how they tried to throw me off like that, I really don't care if theirs a boy or a girl, I got what I wanted and that's all that matter. Iam perked up when the announcement was made by Lorenzo, his heart starting to race as he made his way to the hanger, tossing his now empty coffee cup into a trashcan and stripping down to his underwear as he made his way there.

When he arrived, he saw his suit was ready for him,and wasted no time putting it on. The skintight fabric didn't bother him, and he took a moment to look at himself, having had the suit customized to better match his Framewerk. It was mainly black, with a number of red hieroglyphic symbols linung the edges to give it some style, as well a tribal motif of a Jackal printed on to the front as well.

"Looking good as always, wouldn't you say Anubis?" Ian turned to look at the framewerk, as if he expected it to respond. A few moments of silence followed before he clicked his teeth dismissively. "Whatever, man, I think I look fan-fucking-tastic."

Ian entered the cockpit, sliding into position on the seat with a excited smile on his face. He always felt at home when he was in Anubis, it was like an old friend to him. He often spent time talking to it, uncaring of how it made him look to others. Anubis was his friend, his confident, and he trusted it with his life on a regular basis, and it had never failed to deliver.

"Come on Anubis, time to show off a little, don't you think?" Ian said as he started up the generator, awakening the God of Burials with a low hum, it.s eyes flashing open in a burst of intense red light. "That's what I thought, because win or lose, we're going to show those bigwigs watching exactly what they signed up for when they let me have you. Let's do this thing!"

Ian activated the Shroud, causing the air to ripple around him as intense kinetic energies began to ciculate arpund Anubis, causing it to float slightly, the blades repositioning themselves in preparation. Ian waited u tilthe way was clear, than he blasted out of the hanger at half-speed, which was still pretty fast as he left behind a slipstream that slowly dissapated behind him. He landed with a crash on top one of the ruins, causing it to crunble slightly and sending up a low, dense cloud of dust. From this cloud, Anubis 14 rose, the rid in it's hand com8ng to life with a flash as a silver spearhead burst out from the tip, an ethereal trail following it as he did a few practice swings.

"Nothing get's your bloo pumping like a good old fashion free-for-all."

“Attention all Cadets,” echoed Lorenzo’s voice throughout the speakers from all over the base, “Your mock battle will be happening in approximately ten minutes! Hurry on over to the hangar and do suit up. Don’t worry about being indecent either, the only ones that’ll be looking is your Framewerk, so go ahead and get ready and move them to nearby ruins where you will be participating in the mock battle. Oh, and do put on a good show… we will be watching your performance with the utmost of interest!”

With a little disturbing laugh, you can’t help but wonder if the man was watching you all while you were off to your own devices…

Antwon grunted as he pulled himself up at the thought of the impending battle, feeling pumped by his impromptu exercise. Yeah, these guys definitely aren't up to anything sinister. No sir, Antwon thought to himself, in particular looking towards the one camera pointed squarely in his direction at a farther end of the room. Antwon, mature as he was, enthusiastically displayed his two middle fingers straight in the direction of the lens, before leaping off his raised position and walking casually to the hangars with the rest of his peers. Ant couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as Ian started stripping before he even made it to his mech. Ant made a simple mental note: Watch out for that one.

Ant casually slipped out of his clothes and into his suit right in front of his framewerk, not bothering the walk to the bathroom, and uncaring of the peeping eyes (or so one could only assume) of the rather creepy superior who spoke over the speakers. It was a simplistic forest green, without much insignia, just like Perry. Ant took a moment to look upon his machine with a small sense of pride, then looked over the rest of the competition. He noticed Perry was slightly smaller than most of the other mechs, and far less... accessorized, for lack of a better word. But this only served to comfort him. None of these mechs have even the slightest chance of catching up to me, Ant thought.

Some were certainly threatening in appearance, and most had some very menacing weapon systems, visible from their exteriors alone. But they would be no use if they could not close the distance or make the shot. The only mechs he was truly concerned about were the quicker ones, taking mental notes of the framewerks known as 'Atty' and 'Anubis', the only other mechs that were even marginal in Perry's comparative speed. Most especially, though, was Ant's concern for the mousy girl... he took a very particular mental note of "data collector" when she introduced herself. She will be the most problematic, Ant thought. Best to make sure she is out of the picture, first. Or at least, make sure that I'm not in her scope.

Ant entered his cockpit, quickly made sure his systems were fully operational, and let the numerous thrusters scattered all over Perry warm up. Ant reveled in the sound of Perry's engine revving up to full power, as the lights in his cockpit hummed ever greater to full life. A rare grin grew upon his face, his eyes closed, as he took this small meditative moment to think back on the few pleasant memories he had. Ariadne. Having grown familiar with the sound of Perry's generators when they were ready, Ant's eyes sprung open with a new flame, ready for the chance to prove himself. Just before he could spring out, however, Ian took the lead. "Dammit!" Ant cursed himself, letting one of his targets out of the gate first. Best to get the head start with the others while you still can, Ant concluded.

Perry took a half-kneeling stance, similar to that of an Olympic sprinter. The sound of the thrusters grew even louder, until all at once, Perry practically exploded out from the hangar. In a matter of seconds Perry was already out in the field, noting Anubis was busy flaunting up in the air. Ant smirked to himself. Excellent, he thought, Yes, stay in the air. I'll just be down here, tending to my own business...

Perry leaped like a frog onto the massive boulder sunken before him, using the momentum to change his course left, using similar boulders to swing left, right, left, right... not before long, Perry was well out of view, making preparations for the long haul...

Sigma examined the situation. Already, several of the fast framewerks were assuming positions. She pondered. Should I already start with my positioning? No, perhaps it is too soon. The pilot of the sniper framewerk instead took off at normal speed, resisting the temptation of igniting the spacetravel thrusters. Seeing piles of debris, she began to scan for a suitable cover, as it was expected of a rifle-toting mecha.

The commlink to Serah and Elora, however, was saying something different.

PROCEED AS IF WE WEREN'T ALLIES FOR NOW. LET THEM THINK OTHERWISE.

With a subtle sigh, Korie finally emerged from their room in their suit. It's tight...

Ignoring the obvious fact of how it pressed against their body, due to their petite nature and curves it was still hard to tell whether they were one thing or another. Looking up at a camera, and figuring they were under surveillance no matter where they were at they couldn't help but feel just a bit disturbed. Sighing again, Korie walked off towards the hangar and towards their Aester, not really paying attention to those around them as they approached their Framewerk and instead just focusing on it instead.

"It's good to be back, Aester," they smiled as they hopped into the cockpit and began to feel a warming ambiance from inside. It was familiar and soothing, it felt like a true caring aura was enveloping them... like they could accomplish anything. Like an extension of their body, Aester moved like a living being, walking out of the hangar calmly with fluid motions. Arriving onto the battlefield of the ruined city, Korie noticed those who were already there and their extravagant entrances with their weapons.

However, being inside of Aester just made them calmer. Looking around their surroundings before the match was to begin, Korie looked for a decent starting position to plan their strategy... before noticing some flowing water going into a hole. Pausing, they knelt down and used a subtle shockwave on the ground so that only they would notice it before smiling. Standing up, Korie and Aester walked off towards the ruins and promptly disappeared into the them.

As the other pilots began their sortie, Takeo rose to his feet, grimacing in prospect of the coming event. He hardly had any sim time with his Framewerk, and his first real enemies were going to be the teammates he was expected to cooperate with for the rest of his career as an operator. Fighting was never something he had much experience with, or enjoyed - he was a simple mechanic, and worked behind the curtain. He scrubbed his hat against his head in frustration as he began a slow walk to the hangar.

A small chamber adjacent to Iron Sparrow's hangar was where he found himself harassed by several nameless members of the medical team, stripping his work clothes and pressing cold metal instruments against his skin. He gasped and giggled at the flurry of hands for several seconds until he was left naked and alone, blushing profusely at the violation. Takeo quickly spotted the familiar pilot suit he had worn a few times before; it was plain and grey, matching his enthusiasm for aesthetics and Iron Sparrow's skin just the same. He quickly pulled it over his head - though his normal bulky trousers and coat hid his physique, the skin suit tried its best to show it off. Thick muscle and broad shoulders gained from years of heavy labour bulged through the grey fabric. From a nearby bench he snatched his cap and goggles and placed them atop his red-gold hair.

The sight of Iron Sparrow was never more imposing. He entered the hanger on its left-hand side, the massive steel giant gazing out across the exit ramp. The last of the service cables popped from its skin as Takeo approached. The way the shafts of light from the hangar's seams touched the Sparrow made it seem like it would turn and look at him at any moment. Takeo was not sure it wouldn't. He had worked on Iron Sparrow's maintenance himself, though with limited access, and every time he looked under the skin of his machine, he was left with more questions. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was not quite right, that it wasn't just a machine, but he knew prying with those questions would only cause him even more trouble.

The service elevator quickly brought him to the cockpit, and he found himself inside once more. The door sealed, sending him into another world. A world of silence. Nothing inside the cockpit he could explain - and somehow, he never felt alone. It was a strange sensation that nearly pushed him to tears, but he had not the faintest idea why.

Takeo quickly wrote in the ignition procedures and gradually raised power output. The metal beast roared to life in the hangar beyond, a silver-blue light emanating from the cross in its face plate. Takeo's visual feed flickered on, showing the hangar before him and notifying him of his Framewerk's status. Suddenly, everything in the world seemed so small.

"Armour nominal, output nominal, core temperature thirteen percent," Takeo said, running through his startup checks. "Preparing thrusters." He switched on the main comms channel. "Testing communications. This is Iron Sparrow, preparing for field exhibition. Open hangar eighteen." He was nervous, saying the words he had learned in training mechanically.

The hangar doors opened with a loud creak, and he acknowledged the operation of the Sparrow's audio input.

"Roger," came a female voice from Takeo's audio feed. "Iron Sparrow, you are clear to sortie."

Takeo swallowed hard, wishing he had another coffee. With a shaky hand he started the Sparrow's main thrusters and pushed the acceleration. The beast lumbered to life, steel feet grinding against the ground as it was propelled forward stiffly.

Takeo heard another sound, then. He thought he did, anyway. It sounded like a murmur, a gentle noise, something familiar...he shook it from his mind, but when it was clear, the shaking in his limbs had stopped, and his carefree smile had returned to his face. He felt something else, then. He felt excited. He approached the end of the exit ramp, and kicked acceleration to full speed.

"Sortie!" Takeo shouted, bursting forth into the daylight. The Sparrow slammed into the earth, causing a great rumble to everything nearby. It didn't just roll over the hills towards the battlefield, then - it rode through them, heavy frame rumbling as it tore the dirt before it asunder. It definitely wasn't an agile machine, but the power in its forward charge made up for that.

Before long, Takeo was among the other Framewerks. He wasn't a pilot, then, none of them were - they were the machines, the Framewerks, and he visualized them just the same. He felt his own body in each one of Iron Sparrow's heavy limbs, bearing his armour, the weight of duty, the duty of protecting his comrades. But for now, he would show them what he could do. He had to. How else would they trust him with their safety?

Takeo drifted slowly into the middle of the ruins, up on a rise. The great triangular shield on his back covered him from head to knees, making him nearly impervious to flanking. He knew he did not need to watch his six, so pushing right in the centre of the melee was his best option. The faster he could close in on his enemies, the quicker the fight would end.

Iron Sparrow's sword lay dormant, connected at his right wrist and extending along the length of his arm and over his shoulder. From this position, it was useful as a guard - but that was not its purpose.

"Weapons test," Takeo said on the main channel. He brought his hands together, punching the heavy switch on his wrist with an open palm. The giant rectangular blade exploded forward, shattering the sound barrier with a great crack. His arm lurched back from the recoil before he brought it up before him, blade pointing forward, ready to strike. He was ready.

She stopped singing, as soon as the announcement came.

This was it. The free for all... Her chest feels like its about to burst, knowing that she will go into battle without training or even a tip on controlling whatever she will be piloting. Utano walked slowly to the hangar, feeling horribly like one about to be executed.

"..dead man walking..."

Utano stood in front of her mech, a small plate on it reading AGAS-P01, with smaller letters below that showing the full name designation for it, the Armored General Assault Suit. The P she assumed meant prototype. It really didn't look like much, unlike the others, who seemed to have a lot more interesting things to them, all of whom looked much more powerful than this. If she had to describe this, it would be that hers was more to a soldier, while the others were those dragons, and prototypical super tanks.

She gave out a rather choked laugh. What was she even talking about?

Shaking her head, she looked over at the suit they were supposed to be wearing. Almost immediately she remembered the woman earlier, and how tight the suit was. There was no way she was going to die in that outfit. Not when it would immediately outline every feature on her body. And speaking of which, there was no mention of a weapon's safety in this mock fight, or even that they will stop before anyone gets killed. Most likely her death would involve being exploded to a million pieces so no one could question her choice of wardrobe after death, but still, there was no way she would wear that.

She wasn't about to wear the pilot suit, but she didn't feel right leaving it either, so she simply threw the suit into the cockpit and got in after it. Almost immediately Utano was overwhelmed by the myriad of screens around her as the mech powered up, even more so when the walls of the cockpit started to shimmer and fade into a view of the outside. By her right was a level with a few buttons on it, plus a small console, by her left was a sort of a long console with a switch she could push to 0 to 100 as well as a smaller consoles with more buttons on it. She could also see a few pedals underneath her feet. And in front of her was a bigger console with a lot more buttons that were also larger, as well as a keyboard she could pull out.

Plus a cup holder.

"Wha... what do I do now?"

After a few minutes fiddling with the controls, and meddling with the cup holder to make sure its not part of the control disguised as a cup holder, she managed to get the mech moving, albeit ponderously, as every step it took shook her. Having no real plan or anything, she simply walked the mech out as far off as possible, seeking to avoid the inevitable battle.

Finding a spot filled with rubble and nothing else, she sat back in her seat, as her mech knelt down to minimize their profile. Pressing again the button on her headphone, she brought up the menu and started playing out her own songs.

Ian ceased his warm-ups as he saw everyone else enter the battlefield, his position up high on the ruined tower giving him a good all around view of the battlefield. Anubis crouched low against the roof of the building, it's sensors scanning the entirety of the environment below it. It was only basic rudimentary stuff, a little better than average due to Anubis's reliability on evasive movement, but every bit of info helps, especialky when you're going against someone with much better informatiin gathering skills than you do.

Sigma thought she was so slick, making everyone think that she and Serah were helping out Elora, and he had to admit, he had boughtnit at first, not really giving it much thought. But then she tried to bring in U-U-her as well, and that's when the wheels began to start turning in his mind( after he has calmed down a little in thr bathroom from his little incident), his suspicions reinforced by the fact that the creepy doctor had specifically stated they work separately. Whether or not any of the three actually did that, he couldn't know, but it would be best to treat them as if they were working together until proven otherwise.

Focusing back on hus surroundings, he noted where everyone was, having Sigma's, Matsuda's, and her spefic locations. Korie had been in his sights, but he'd lost them in the depths of the ruins, and the rest where just general ideas with nothing concrete.

The Shroud's humming began to intensify as Anubis began to charge up, getting ready to make his move when the clearance was given. The energy of his spear also began to intensify as well, ready to deal some significant damage to somebody.

The spear armor piercing capabilties woukd be very effective against most of the Framewerks, the most troublesome being Elora's and Matsuda's, due to their heavier armors giving them better resistance to his attack. As it was, the place weakest link belonged to her, due to her apparent inexperience in using a Framewerk, something that worried Ian greatly. She'd need to learn how to use these things if she was to be able to fight the Cruxi, or else . . .she'd die.

Ian was once again reminded of his sister, his hands curling into a fist before he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. If possible, I'll see if I can help ger get better at it, show her the ropes. Like it or not, she's the last connection to my family I have, no matter how distant and . . . I don't know how I'd be able to face Alexandra if I told her I let her favorite Idol die.

Ian chuckled to himself, a disheartened chuckle as the emotions that Ian locked deep inside came to the fore, a brief moment of unbearable sadness that only Anubis was allowed to witness.

"All right Anubis, I say we hit Sigma first, see if there's an alliance brewing, than get out and find Korie. I can't let myself lose before them on the first run through, now can I." Anubis stayed silent, the only sound available being that of their hearts, his pumping with blood and Anubis' bursting with a vast amount of energy. Sometimes it was hard not to be slightly disappointedby how coldly his Framewerk was treating him, since he was certain there was something more to it than just hardware and circuitrt, but he'd just have to deal with it and wish for better luck next time.

“Attention all Cadets,” boomed one of Zan's superiors, XO Lorenzo, throughout the speakers from all over the base.

As soon as Zan heard attention he stopped what he was doing and started standing at attention.

“Your mock battle will be happening in approximately ten minutes! Hurry on over to the hangar and do suit up. Don’t worry about being indecent either, the only ones that’ll be looking is your Framewerk, so go ahead and get ready and move them to nearby ruins where you will be participating in the mock battle. Oh, and do put on a good show… we will be watching your performance with the utmost of interest!” XO Lorenzo made a somewhat disturbing laugh, but Zan ignored it as he continued standing at attention.

"Also!" Lorenzo's voice came back up on the intercom suddenly across the base. "This is a free-for-all bout, where the last man or woman standing will earn a special prize I have whipped up. So teamwork is pointless in this, fight each other till I say stop. That is all!"

After XO Lorenzo was done talking Zan headed to Пожертвовать, which was the Framewerk he was the pilot of. Zan switched into his suit, which was different than the previous one he had. It was probably an upgraded one, since the one Zan had previously was a bit behind the times. Zan noticed this one had only one layer, instead of two and seemed to have less protection than his last one. Although it did have one thing Zan always liked having with his suit and that was a built-in helmet. Nonetheless Zan wore it with no complaints. Zan got into the cockpit of Пожертвовать, which Zan figured compared to the other Framewerks it was controlled in a different manner. Пожертвовать was controlled by many motion sensors attached to the pilot's body, and also a pair of 'gloves' and 'boots' that the pilot would wear. Zan liked this configuration, even though it made piloting for him more dangerous than it already was. The only buttons and switches were above Zan's head on the top of the cockpit.

Zan placed on the sensors, 'gloves' and 'boots'. After that Zan powered up Пожертвовать, and released the two restraints on where Пожертвовать's shoulder-blades would be if it was not a machine. Then many spots on Zan's Framewerk light up a light blue. Zan rolled his shoulders, which made his Framewerk do the same thing. Then Zan did several checks to make sure all systems were working, which they all were. Zan then remembered XO Lorenzo did not say the limits of how much damage was allowed to be done on the other Framewerks and their pilots. "Sir, what the limit to the amount of damage the other Framewerks, or is there no limit, sir?" Zan asked aloud, figuring XO Lorenzo or Lieutenant Ritsu were listening in on everything in the Framewerks. If Zan was ordered to kill the other pilots, then he was would do it. If he was ordered to only disarm them, then that would be all he would do. Zan would do whatever he was ordered to do by his superiors. After Zan heard back from one of his superiors, he would head out in the ruins at whatever speed Zan deemed best.

Serah climbed into Atty, loving the warm and colorful interior her Framework had. She managed to get it to walk off towards the ruins, then kick off into them. Adjusting her thruster's fuel levels a bit, Serah didn't notice the message Sigma sent until a bit later.

PROCEED AS IF WE WEREN'T ALLIES FOR NOW. LET THEM THINK OTHERWISE.

Ehhh... Fair enough, she figures. Still, a quick scan of the area didn't hurt. Nothing, unsuprisingly. She activated Atty's beam-swords and started sailing her way through all the ruins, hoping to find one of her two teammates so she could at least keep an eye on them. Serah's supposed to be the guard, after all...

It didn't take long for her to notice someone else. Ian. He seemed to already be charging up something... Probably out to attack someone. Another scan didn't reveal anyone new to Serah, so she assumes he's been tailing. Good, he probably won't notice this...

The mech she was piloting swung it's sword, a sickle of energy launching itself at high speed towards Anubis while she herself followed right after it, having a few thrusters active but not all to not outspeed her missile.

((OOC: Looks like someones an eager beaver))

Ian's face burst into a wide grin as Serah launched an attack his way,deciding that it was only fair to return the favor. He drew back his arm before sending the spear hurtling straight towards her Framewerk, Atty was what she had called it right, before he himself activated Anubis' specialized combat evasion software to calculate his escape, launching himself up into the air with such force coming from the Shroud that the crumbling building couldn't support itself anymore and collapsed, the energy blade that he had only just evaded smashing into the building behind him and causing it to fall over as well, causing a chain reaction of buildings falling over on each other, making the inner ruins a very hazardous area.

Ian had decided to leap over to Serah for two reasons, one being that it would give his spear time to reach Serah, and the second was because the sun would be behind him, blinding Serah if she looked up to locate him. That was unless she got hit by the spear, something he'd like but didn't expect, though on the chance he did, he'd aimed it more towards the upper left shoulder area. Given her armor type and the amount of energy out into the spear, it would likely plow right through the Framewerk, most likely halting or severely hindering use in that arm

Ian, using the advantage of the sun on his back and shining in his opponents eyes, used Last Rites to form a cluster of energy bolts, 6 for each arm, two for each spike, and launched 3 barrages down on to Atty, before he used the remaining Kinetic energy he'd saved up for another full speed, instant acceleration charge, this time moving in a straight line and only moving to avoid any attacks sent his way. Forming an energy sheild in front of the fist, Anubis was able to protect it's arm from the recoil of hitting another object at such high speeds, as the sheild absorb most of the impact from the strike before it violently disperses into a glittering silver haze.If Atty got hit, than it would certainly rattle it's pilot a bit, and Ian wasn't done yet. Right after the punch, Anubis would move to grab hold of the Framewerk and use the forward momentum to send them both into a wild forward spin, something that Ian's training and Anubis' gyroscopics would help him ride out, but it would probably disorient his opponent a bit if he succeeded in doing so, especially when he finished the spin by slamming the Framewerk into the ground.

He'd immmediately launch himself off of Serah, giving her another disorienting rattle as Atty would be blasted by both a wave of kinetic energy and a barrage of twelve energy bolts from Last Rites as he backed over to where his spear was located. He would quickly retrieve, than separate the weaon into it's slashing dual short sword form, before rocketing forward again to launch a high speed barrage of slashes at the other Framewerk, aiming to disable by cutting at the joints of the machine rather than to kill by slashing through the torso. Afterwards he'd back away from Atty and take a defensive position, keeping his eyes open for any possible return fire from her or opportunists thinking he'd be distracted fighting the other Framewerk.

[@Ammox]
@Gnar The Missing Link Better get moving

Tch. The attack hit wide. What's more, Ian's spear was hurling straight at the Framewerk... The thrusters quickly shift in place to the left and went into Overboost to kick herself off with quite a nasty shock, just so she could avoid that spear. Serah figured he was still above her, so fighting right now would be... Bad. Shifting her thrusters once more to go back, half the first barrage of attacks BARELY hit her, damaging the construct's chest area... Damn, it's core was located there! Quickly, the wings on her back detached themselves to block the incoming fire from above, and while most of it was nullified, two more hit the back of it's "Neck". There was a very minor pause between Serah's input and Atty's reactions, but it didn't matter much. Something was off with the attacks having stopped. Then it hit her- Not the fist mind you- That she was about to get rammed. Once more the thrusters shifted position, this time to the south as Anubis' punch swung right before her cockpit.

Gotcha. ringed in her head, as soon as the unarmed Anubis tried to grab her framewerk. The blade suddenly extended FAR, more plasma energy cutting into it's hands and parrying off the move. The tried to get a simple swing in before speeding off backwards, as Ian did the same to retrieve his weapon. They were going to attempt to rapidly slash at her, or in serah's mind do some form of Melee attack. One of her beaten up wings clipped back to the... Back, while the other attached itself to the right hand, acting like an improvised Kite shield. As soon as she saw Anubis went for dual blades and not spears, a grin came out of her. "My domain now..." she muttered. Each one of the rapid slashes was blocked or parried, although without enough time to launch another attack as it was pretty fast. Atty was a bladed mecha, and Sera was far more experienced in sword combat than Ian was. Both Mechas were also at relatively the same speed. The final parry before Ian gave up was met by Atty quickly moving back in space as well. Serah launched two more sickles, one to Anubis' right and the other to it's left, which were co-ordinated to meet at the same point, Behind Ian, causing it so that he couldn't dodge to he side.

Sigma tensed, upon seeing the conflict unfold. Have we already run into problems? It is true that no plan survives contact with the enemy. Oh well here it goes. Sigma frowned, and typed the fatal keyword. She didn't care if their cooperation was more overt now.

STRAWBERRY

She then took a steady position in the rubble and aimed at the melee of Ian and Serah. "Targetting the thrusters". She curtly said, as her sniper mass drive rifle then zeroed on Anubis massive thrusters. She then opened fire, purposedly aiming just one of the mech's thruster sides. The slug went out of Sigma's barrel at relativistic speed, without barely any energy signature.

Get your mitts off her, asshole.

Elora got Sigma's message, and activated a couple of the anti-grav projectors, resulting in Rilus slightly floating, before she then launched out of the hangar and into the ruins. Immediately upon hitting the green fields and formations of stone she activated the Combat Analyzer, and scanned the entire area. A three-dimensional map formed in a corner of the HUD, complemented by three green dots and 7 red dots.
"Uploading map," she reported to the private channel. She heard some kind of grunting from Serah's side, and noticed that she already went to engage what looked like Ian's Framewerk.

"W-Wait!" Elora exclaimed, and activated her jet booster, sending Rilus careening through the air. She soon found the two of them scuffling. She closed in to engagement distance of both Ian and Serah, and launched a multitude of small discs from Rilus' back.
"Activating Data Drones. Initiating scan of enemy unit." She made the routine announcements just like she has trained , but she was strained in saying them, not prepared for a change in plans as quick as this. Still, she made good use of the time Serah was distracting the other Frame, and Rilus and the Data Drones scanned the unit, the drones buzzing around it like a swarm of insects found a fresh kill.

Having got enough data, Elora hit the command, and confirmed to Sigma: "Target spotted." At that moment, if Sigma didn't delete the link from Comet, her weapon should have immediately moved its firing line straight to the enemy unit.

Ian couldn't keep the smile off his face throughout the entire engagement, it was just so much fun. This is so much better than regular combat drills, man we need to do this more often. Ian had barely been able to defend himself from Serah swing, the blade busting through his quickly made shields and carving into Anubis' side. It wasn't a deep cut, but it wasn't shallow either. Still, he'd be able to fight just fine regardless.

When Serah sent her sickles of energy at him, Ian retaliated by firing three charged bolts at each one, the higher damage able ti effectively neautralized the attacks, before he placed his weapons together to form the weapon that he and Anubis were most skilled in using, the Naginata, the blade of energy bearing a srrange red hue, rather than the normal silver coloring of both the spearhead and sword blades. Ian had set the change in motion when he threw the weapon, setting it to change on a pre-set timer of a minute, about how long their exchange had lasted.

"That was a nice warm-up for the both if us, huh Serah," Ian spoke through the Framewerk's outer speaker, allowing for the younger pilot to hear his words. As he spoke, Anubis got into a low stance, weapon at the ready. "How about we play for keeps this time, with a little bargain on the side. Winner of this personal bout gets to make the other do 3 things, and they must do so without complaint. These things, of course, can not be something harmful or malicious in nature. If you agree, than say 'Aye', okay." The second he finished, Ian shot forward with another Kinetic charge, though he'd had less time to prepare this one, so it wasn't as quick as the others he'd pulled off, but still pretty fast. However, as he launched himself forward, he'd feel one of Anubis' thruster's get hit.

That was actually putting it mildly, the Thruster was decimated, the sot tearing through the blade and leaving only a shattered edge and a floating piece of scrap metal in it's place.

A sniper, huh, good shot but you're going to have to do better than that to throw me off

Ian from continued on his present course of action as the other Thrusters easily pushed him forward towards his target, the one that was hit being instantly discarded. The loss of the blade would lessen his overall maneuverability more than his speed, though it did mean he couldn't make any more charges with them after this. He couldn't afford to lose another one, or else his overall battle performance ould drop immensely and he'd be done.

[i]Looks like I was right, how exciting, fighting 3 on one." Ian laughed as he continued onward, though he'd punched some numbers and set the scanners on high, making it so that if another shot was fired at him, it would automatically disengage from the target to avoid fire. Given the low energy emission varient of what hit him, however, he'd likely get grazed by the next shot that hit him, given how he wouldn't notice it until it was too late. Hopefully he'd be able to survive that if it came to pass. He also took note of Elora watching the scene with her drones. He'd go after her next after he funished with Serah, not wanting to have the excitable young pilot send another sickle at him while his bavk was turned.

He'd begin the assault with a passing slash, taking advantage if his superior range, as well as the fact that he could place more power into his attacks as he aimed low for a leg. He'd then turn around sharply with the use of the Shroud to engage with Serah again. This time, the advantage was on his side, as he swung the Naginata wildly around him while still keeping a distance from his opponent. He'd randomly throw in a thrust or jab when appropriate in an attempt to throw his foe off and cause her to reveal more openings, as well as blocking or parrying any of her attacks with the resilient shaft of the Rod.

Throughout this exchange, if any of his hits landed, a flow of red energy woukd flow into the Framewerk. While it would go unnoticed at first, as the fight prolonged, Serah would notice that her weapon system's would begin to weaken and malfunction, as well as the pause between her and Atty's actions begin to grow at a slow,,but steady rate. This was the work of Anubis' Distrubtion energy, which was blocking and jamming up internal communication's and software with in the Framewerk. And the more times that Atty took a hit, the eorse it would become.

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"Tch... His mech can take a beating." Serah let out over the intercom of STRAWBERRY, before opening up a private chat with Ian. "Sure! But not here. This isn't a fair 1x1, let's have a private sparring match later!" Serah excitedly spurted out, leaving the call and going back to STRAWBERRY as soon as Ian came in close for the attack. The cheapshot hit for her leg did indeed hit, the message 'LEFT FEET THRUSTER 1 & LEFT KNEE THRUSTER 1 OFFLINE' flashed on her screen. Grr-! This was going to put off her piloting ability so much. She was able to block the second swing with the hilt of Atty's blade though, but repeated jabs to her core did manage to hit... It didn't take long for Serah to realise he was trying to disconnect her from her Framewerk, and as soon as she got a parry in she'd try to stab Ian's framewerk's chest region. The lag started being noticable though, so an Improv strat came to mind. Using her one remaining wing offensivly, it detached itself and tried to ram into Ian's neck, then pinning him down... This had to hit... Come on...

Elora was excited at the fact her scanning wasn't interrupted, and she made a cute little cheer once she was finished. She now had complete data of Ian's Framewerk, including all of his weak points and movement trajectories with an accuracy rate of 75%. She transmitted this data to both Serah and Sigma. "I got the data on him. You should now see green circles on his weak points, along with vector arrows pointing at his next predicted direction." This, coupled with complete battlefield awareness gave the three of them a considerable advantage over Ian.

Now that the drones were done scanning, it was time for them to reveal their biting side. Elora made a little smirk. "Activating Firing Mode."
The drone now stopped humming, and instead erected their turrets and started firing on Ian with lasers. They were weak shots, comparable to insect bites on a human, but if that didn't distract someone nothing will.

Elora informed through the private channel: "I'm coming to help, Serah." She then joined in on the assault herself, and began shooting at Ian with her ABR, targeting his weak points. She did remember him mentioning his Frame's specs, and decided to act on it, before it was too late for Serah. The ABR had low armor-piercing qualities, but against a low-defense unit with their weak points exposed it was sure to hurt.

Ian knew he was finished the moment Elora started firing at him. The only reason for a data collector to stop collecting data was if she had gotten all she need. With this in mind, Ian decided that if he was going down, he was going to take Serah down with him. He managed to parry her swing, though her use of wing caught him off guard, but he didn't stop pressing on. The wing dug into Anubis' neck as he pushed through with a roar, pushing as much energy as he could into his next move, a full on thrust into Atty's shoulder while the weapin shifted into his spear form, the amount of energy in the strike being enough to overwhelm the Framewerk's weakened systems and cause all combat systems to shut down, rendering her immobile and defeated to shut down . . . if he managed to hit her. After the strike, the Mech would come crashing down onto it's knees before falling over, suffering heavily from Elora's well placed shots. He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Ian opened up a chat between both himself and all of those involved, deciding that congratulations are in order for Serah and her teammates.

"Now that was fun, seriously, and yeah, a private match would be excellent. But seriously, your guy's teamwork was amazing, top marks for all of you. Now go out there and beat the fuck out of everyone else, show that slimey doctor the proper way to run a team. As for me, I'll just stay in Anubis and wait for the match to end. Ciao!" Ian then reached inti a corner if the cockpit to oull out his own music player, before he began jamming out to his tunes, keeping on unplugged incase somethung important was announced.

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