Romeo replied quickly and tersely. "Yes, I copy."

Krista was shocked by how different his tone was compared to back in the assembly hall. She has to ponder moment before she realized that he might be still angry with Miles. Continuing to monitor the temperature of the Slag Cannon, she replies. "Miles still has you worked up? Don't let him do that. It's a classic tactic." Krista takes a moment to recall what she could of the Art of War. "If I remember my Sun Tzu correctly, he said that angering your opponent is a good idea because it makes them act stupidly."

She took a moment to make sure that the voltage on the Archer's leg motors was up to spec.

"He also said to make yourself look weak, and let your foe become arrogant."

"THIIIIS IS DJ METALFACE, LIVE FROM THE ARENAAA! TODAY WE'RE PLAY-" Krista closes the connection to Koehler.

"Long story short, don't get salty as it makes you dumb and let Miles learn the hard way that a Rose has thrones."

Krista let out a small sigh. That pun kinda hurt.

"That's my piece on that. Want to start talking about how we will handle this fight? I'm a straightforward heavy hitter, for what it's worth."

While the pilots were preparing for the coming battle, Ritsu and Lorenzo were watching them from the upper deck of the command room using surveillance systems, with numerous scientists manning stations on the lower deck. Lorenzo was sitting at the table, leaning on his clasped arms and looking at the numerous screens with his reflective glasses. Ritsu was standing next to him, and held her arms with a worried look on her face.

"So far the project has entered its next phase splendidly," Lorenzo suddenly spoke, as if he wasn't talking to anyone in the room. "And there are plenty of promising subjects in this batch. Though there are also rotten examples, like the Number. Remind me why she is part of my project, Lieutenant."

Ritsu responded with tact. "Her inclusion in the XJ9 Project was requested by the head of the Exodus division, Joshua Graham. It was approved by the Lord Commander himself."

Lorenzo slammed his fist on the table. "BAH! Cain is a fool for thinking that Y2C and their abominations can be salvaged in any way! Their methods were flawed in their very foundation! They named the subjects after numbers, for goodness sake! It is no wonder it ended in a disaster like that! Emotionless dolls have no place piloting anything, let alone my works of genius."

"Professor, I would like to remind that Mai Twilight's mother was the first pilot to achieve a hundred-percent Synchronization Rate. Most pilots only reach into the 80-85 percent range at the very most. The Lord Commander believes she also has that potential despite her upbringing."

"Well, if her current rate is of any indication, he's hoping for a miracle. They thought they were smart when designing her weaponry purely around her Synchro rate, but now she can't even use them at full power! She didn't even speak to the other pilots! Without a proper social build, she will never develop the necessary skills required for combating the Cruxi. An utter failure, that unlucky number seven."

"That remains to be seen, professor." Ritsu said in a stern tone to the scientist. She looked at the screen, and saw Alexei Stukov appear in the hangars with his plugsuit on. He promptly entered his Framewerk. "After all, that is one of the purposes of this exercise, to test their Synchro Rates and tactical capability."

Lorenzo jumped from his seat. "Aah! Where is that noise coming from!"

"Professor, It seems the pilot of the Roxy, Harold Koehler, is broadcasting dated music. He seems to be quite eager based on the little dancing number he's throwing."

"Not for long if I'm gonna have a say in it...lousy whipper-snappers," the wrinkly man muttered to himself and activated the loudspeaker system. His voice could be heard booming through it:

"Harold Koehler, communications were permitted, not sound pollution! Cut it out, and stop with the motions! Now then, we will shortly begin the mock battle."

Lt. Ritsu's voice came next. "As a reminder, I will explain the objective again, which is to defeat as many opponents as possible before you are defeated yourself. The operation is completed when only one Framewerk remains standing, or when the Executive Officer deems it completed."

The hangar doors were then opened, revealing the landscape of zone A, which was the Open Fields, a vast stretch of empty land. You could see a tower soaring to the sky in the distance, which the map file designated as zone G, or the Tower of Power. The sky was filled with gray clouds, making for a dour scene to look at.

"Cadets, commence Operation: Mock Battle!" As soon as the words left the Lieutenant's mouth, the air filled with the grinding of metal and the roaring of thrusters as every Framewerk launched out of the hangar and into the fields in a thunderous fashion. The battle that would soon unfold on an astounding scale, with titans climbing over the broken remains of their comrades and vying for being the one to remain.

"Are you sure this is necessary, professor?" Ritsu returned back to discussing privately with Lorenzo. "This Battle Royale, I mean?"

"It is," Lorenzo said with a stern face. "You'll see. To defeat the Cruxi, they need to prepare to kill each other without hesitation."

@Elitestpotato

"What do you mean, professor?" Ritsu asked the old man, and he returned to leaning on his clasped arms while looking at the screen.

"You do not know how the Cruxi operate. They are capable of horrible things. For example, what if Yarimoto Kenshi, the boy who talked a bit with the Elora girl, suddenly decided to use the high-frequency blade on the other Framewerks during a battle with the Cruxi?" He asked while looking at the visual feed of Phantom Zero launching into zone A along with the others. "That blade can pierce matter at the sub-atomic level. Only barriers of the highest energy-output can protect you from it. And he isn't the only one; every one of these pilots can be turned against them, and it was the downfall of Y2C. I must do what I can to achieve results, Lieutenant."

---

"Activate Data Drones," Elora commanded, and out of Diver's back-slots launched discs that soon de-compressed themselves and took the form of helicopter-sized half-orb machines as Diver skid through the open fields. This is it then, the start of the fight. First I'll need to set up for my allies before I start directly supporting them. The Data Drones kept even pace with her despite her great speed, buzzing around like a cloud of hornets.
"Initialize terrain scan protocol," Elora next said to them, and three of the drones shot up high into the stratosphere. They spread out and floated over the arena like satellites, giving Elora extensive and detailed data about all the locations of the arena and everyone's movement. Elora transmitted this information to Koehler, Ryan and Alexei, and a 3-dimensional map appeared to the corners of the four's visual feed with easy-to-read markers for the environments and the locations of all the Framewerks. They now had complete map awareness, and thus a considerable tactical advantage over the other Framewerks.
"I now have the map configured. It should appear in your visual feeds now, Koehler, Ryan, and...umm...Alexei..." she softly said the last name. However, Alexei's response was pure static, and Elora started to feel scared. "Umm, hey, are you okay, Alexei?" She then saw what was happening to the Daemon: It was covered in electricity, and running at a normal-class speed, thundering through the fields in absurdly swift fashion while shooting out sparks into the air.

---

"Sir, the Daemon's power output is spiking!" One of the scientists at lower deck shouted. "The Frame's systems can't contain the voltage!"
One of the other scientistas added to it: "Sir, the pilot's Synchronization Rate is rising to 120%...160%...200%! The Frame has absorbed the pilot!"

"You decided to play with powers you can't handle, huh? You bastard!" Lorenzo took the device and pressed Alexei Stukov's red button, but it was too late: The Framewerk started shaking violently while covered in rabid electricity, and then exploded, sending out a shockwave that was felt by everyone on the field.

"Whoa!" Lieutenant Ritsu took leverage from the back of Lorenzo's chair as the shockwave hit the base. After a moment of recovering, she took the microphone, and spke to the command channel. "Attention Cadets, the operation has been canc-" A smack could be heard on the command channel.

"-The operation continues on, despite Cadet Stukov's accident. Let it be a warning to aynone who tries to surpass their Framewerk's limits. Carry on with the battle."

---

Elora's lips quivered while she watched the Daemon's once mighty presence fade away like a candle midwinter, and she doubled over on her seat. Alexei's death affected her, despite having only known him for less than an hour. She really did like him, though she didn't want to admit it to Koehler, but now she could never tell what she really felt for him. Diver kneeled down and picked up one of the Daemon's pieces, and Elora started crying. This was the world she lived in; it was a world of war, and a world of death.

@Penultimate_Pi

"THIIIIS IS DJ METALFACE, LIVE FROM THE ARE-"

"No," Lora groaned out with berating and interjection, flipping a switch to sever her comms connection with Koehler. There was enough stressful distractions to be had without that guy trying to inject dead music into his workflow. So what if her only accompanying sounds were miniscule voices and shifting machines? Maybe she liked it that way.

"Harold Koehler, communications were permitted, not sound pollution! Cut it out, and stop with the motions! Now then, we will shortly begin the mock battle." Once all the pilots at last appeared to be situated, the voice of the lieutenant piped up on the universal channel.

"As a reminder, I will explain the objective again, which is to defeat as many opponents as possible before you are defeated yourself. The operation is completed when only one Framewerk remains standing, or when the Executive Officer deems it completed." It was notable that they were still ambiguous as to what opponents they were fighting exactly, even though the general consensus among the cadets was a team-wide deathmatch. Hopefully this vagueness in command was something the commanders would choose to avoid later on.

As the huge doors of the hangar whirred up, inching apart to expose the lighting of the Solaire Ruin Arena, Lora revved up her Framewerk proper. The fingers of the large mechanical left hand curled up into a fist, clenching hard and then relaxing. Given the signal, the whole team of Frames was going to hurl themselves onto the field and engage combat on their targets. She needed to be as prepared as the rest of them, conceive a plan of action to grant Caliburn a tactical advantage.

"Cadets, commence Operation: Mock Battle!"

And with that, the holding locks were released and the service platforms removed. The sound of roaring thrusters and deafening thunders of titanic footsteps shook anyone standing in the vicinity. Within moments, the various Frames were out on the open fields of Zone A, engaging their first actions. While the alliance comprised of around half the team quickly prepared amongst themselves, Lora hurled her body into motion to seize control of Caliburn. With smoothed movements well-established for the over-sized machine, the Framewerk steadily bounded towards the series of tall pillars that comprised Zone B. Hopefully they would provide ample cover for-

- WARNING : NEARBY ENERGY OVERLOAD -

"What!?" Lora stopped short, Caliburn freezing to land on its feet, all just in time to witness Daemon surging past her. That thing was running as if the massively heavy Frame had less armor than a high-medium! Yet there it sprinted on, crackling with tendrils of electricity, power levels spiking higher and higher-!

Lora's first thought was that Stukov's frame was going to blow from the intense output of power. Thusly, as Daemon tumbled and began to twitch and crackle in a power-induced seizure, Caliburn gained the good sense to finish its beeline into the forest of pillars. She only barely got by, with the true-to-thought explosion generating a shockwave that slammed into Lora's Frame, serving as a last violent push into Zone B.

Her next thought, after taking cover behind a pillar and hearing Lorenzo's grim announcement, was that she had seen this before. Or heard of it, rather. With all the talk about Synchro Rates and their importance in being able to effectively pilot a Framewerk, more than once someone uninitiated had to ask what happened when one reached a 100% rate. The obvious answer was that a Framewerk became perfectly responsive to a pilot's exact movements; the lesser-heard supposition was that the pilot and machine literally became one. In this state, a fully-synched pilot was granted absolute control over the frame, and was able to perform actions and use abilities that were not possible otherwise.

Lorenzo's words had verified the idea that Stukov had attempted to do just that, with disastrous results. But why? Did he want more power? Did he believe he couldn't win without it? Did he even mean to unleash what he had? What, in that last half-minute, had truly occurred in Daemon's cockpit? What truly happened when one managed to reach 100%? With the majority of the wreckage vaporized, there may be no way to know.

For another brief span of time, the strange noises whispered at the edge of her awareness again.

In the next moment that she paid attention to reality again, Lora realized was that she was panting in a cold sweat. She quickly glanced around the cockpit, picking up condition readings - her Synchro Rate has taken a sudden dip. Lora shook herself alive again, re-engaging systems. She had to focus, there was still a battle left to fight, even if some others were now yet to be willing to fight it.

As Lora struggled with the controls, so too did her mind struggle. A dark inner war, held between the urge to advance and the fear of going too far. Yet more than ever, she wished to know the truth of 100% Synchronization.

@Dynamo Frokane

Miles took plenty of deep breaths as his stomach began to knot up, he was confident in his abilities but knew that the Synchro-Rates would play a part in the outcome of this battle royale, and he knew his own wasn't the highest. He began scanning the first battlezone as the the orders were given to begin the fight, there was no turning back now, every movement would count from here.

His Black Komodo growled like an american muscle car, the machine was ready to smash these other machines into junk, Miles could feel his competetive spirit rising out of him and burning his body like a purifying flame, and then suddenly....

BOOOOOOOOM!

There was mad disturbance, a huge explosion flooded his screen, the sound even drowned out the annoying music of Kohelers Framewerk, one of the machines had blown up....it was Stukov's Daemon, the one that everyone was certain would be leader, he was killed. Miles didnt know how to feel, he certainly wasnt Stukov's biggest fan but he felt robbed of a chance to defeat him fair and square, a chance he would now never have. Miles quickly shook his head and re-focused.

The Cruxi would have killed you anyway, you just got an early exit....

Miles said to himself quietly and the flicked on his intercom, I hope you saw that Ramirez, that explosion is exactly what will happen to you in the battlefield, thats if I dont do it to you first in this arena!
Miles, felt good about himself, constantly taunting the young boy, he wanted to express how little he respected the Rose Framewerk directly. Miles was very tempeted to attack Ramirez first but decided to savor that conflict for later in the fight, right now he just wanted to get stuck in, and he already decided not to attack Yeshua or Lora at this moment in time so he locked on to Krista's Machine instead.

Lock on to the Archer, Komodo, thrusters, flank and advance!

Miles chose not to say anything as he boosted towards the Archer framework, he loaded his gatling gun and began to fire at Krista as he closed in, hoping to engage in heavy close combat with the Komodo's fists when he got in fighting range.

"Miles still has you worked up? Don't let him do that. It's a classic tactic. If I remember my Sun Tzu correctly, he said that angering your opponent is a good idea because it makes them act stupidly. He also said to make yourself look weak, and let your foe become arrogant. Long story short, don't get salty as it makes you dumb and let Miles learn the hard way that a Rose has thrones. That's my piece on that. Want to start talking about how we will handle this fight? I'm a straightforward heavy hitter, for what it's worth."

There was a subtle shift in the Frames pose from aggressive to a passive stance, this is a game, there is a winner to the game,but a game all the same. His synchro rate flickered about, still at the same 84, but it was receptive more than transmitting. He mentally shut off the communication link with the idiot and let his vines spool out over his thighs for extra protection but didn't make them spiky just yet.

"You know what...You're right. Besse Mon Cul! I'm the same, but I'm melee. As for plans..."

He opened a visual link with what equates to a 'doodle pad' as he mentally drew up a number of plans regarding the three areas to go to, One was wearing the archer like a backpack and flying up to the tower to defend it, the other was to head for each area and defend in those zones together. Suddenly, the air shook as one of the frames exploded nearly out of the gate. Pieces of metal flew for miles in each direction, including the frame's machine gun to land at his feet with some of the belt attached and the arm that was holding it.

At first he was going to ignore it, he was a melee frame and had no need for a gun. But on the other hand, he was about the only one without one so it would throw off everyone's assumptions about him. If he took the gun it made him a bigger threat, if he didn't then it made him a bigger target.

The answer was made for him as the man he sought to avoid barreled down on the archer. He feinted to crouch down as the asshole flew by like he was making a smaller target as the vine reached out and took the gun to strap it to his thigh like a holster. Once he flew past, Rose flew after him and sent her the final plan he had thought up. He purposefully flew slower than he could to make himself look unable to catch up with the komodo while he started to establish target locks.

Silently, the monitors began to crackle with a new-found power as the world around him shook, opening the doors to the angelic freedom of the battlefield. The green fields ran towards him and lit up his eyes. No more hiding. This is the world.

The Anzu drifted like a cloud. It was elegant yet powerful. Underneath the ten-tonne heavy feet, the entire weight of the robot crippled the ground until all that was left was a slush. It would stick to the metal, causing friction problems later. He would have to leave this beautiful field if he wanted to survive. The weapon that was held by the two massive, god-like hands was bounced with the power of each muscle-tendon snapping with his motions. He had the control, now.

A monitor lit up on the far left, alarming him immediately. As this was his first combat test, he never knew what it felt like for there to be danger in his midst. This was real, thought Yeshua, as the massive contraption veered to his left, checking the perimeter. The massive landscape became a sandbox. The fauna and flora were dolls in a playhouse. With the monitor flashing, Yeshua clearly realised the weapon he was carrying needed to be charged up either any excess energy would literally destroy his Anzu. The weapon began to be tickled with the sweet nectar, lighting up like a Catherine Wheel. The next person he would meet would definitely find themselves in --

A massive explosion knocked the Anzu to the ground, tonnes of armour and wire flying in opposite directions like a ragdoll. Metal screetched, electricity zapped and zoomed, wires broke and tore. The excess weight took him off the face of the Earth and he was flung to the side violently, the entire world spinning. When the robot had finally halted after being flung many metres, the ground behind him was tarnished with ash and the foul stench of blood.

Turning the behemoth around, Yeshua witnessed the now-invisible corpse of the Deamon, piloted by Alexei. He had died in a brilliant flash of energy, not more than a minute into their first fight.

"That's one down. There'll be many more to come. No crying. Not this time."

With that, the Anzu took flight with his massive clouds for feet, marching to the great lake that was not too far away. He could spend that distance quickly, if he ran with all the power the machine could muster. With each step he took, the more powerful he felt. The sprint was a horses' stampede, but with the rage of a young man behind it. The radar flickered on, showing him the expanse of the lake. Quickly, the massive creature lunged itself against the air, feeling such resistance against the sheer weight of the Anzu. He struggled like a kite caught in the wind. It plummeted into the lake, causing a massive splash as it did.

"Not graceful. It'll work, though."

Down into the darkness the beast went with the mechanical screen Yeshua peered through, silently bracing the pressure of the waves. He touched the bed. Sand and soil crushed like fossils beneath his feet, the sound murdered by the immense body of water. He waited there, with his powerful weapon still equipped.

THe Archer purred at a 75% Synchro rate as Krista launched. After a moment that felt like all of her muscles flexing, she was in control of the Archer's limbs as it rolls out of the hangar. She was predictably one of the last out of the gate with such a lumbering mech. As she neared the starting area a she spotted Stukov's Framewerk glowing and crackling as it sped off into the distance. Krista steels herself, watching this new development carefully. It took a moment to realize that Stukov was in distress. Krista barely had time to curse before the Daemon exploded, rocking the Archer. What happened? Were they under attack?

Lt. Ritsu's voice chimed in "Attention Cadets, the operation has been canc-" A smack could be heard on the command channel

"-The operation continues on, despite Cadet Stukov's accident. Let it be a warning to anyone who tries to surpass their Framewerk's limits. Carry on with the battle."

Krista sat there for a moment, stunned into silence for a moment. However several impacts on her left side knocked her back into reality. She glanced over towards the source of the attack. The Black Komodo was rapidly approaching, firing several rapid shots at her. Behind that she could see the Rose trying to keep pace. Krista fired once at the Komodo to try to throw it off before backing up to try to keep it away. She knew she needed to keep as much distance between herself and the Komodo, as it had a much better close range fighter than her. Hopefully she could keep the Komodo off her until the Rose caught it, but at this point she knew she was effectively being herded towards the Lake in the north east.

@DarkRecon

Much like the other frameworks, the Setsuka took off and promptly landed in Zone A along with the others.

Mai just stood calm and quiet at all times...taking stock at the activity...there...

She saw the framework called Daemon do something she thought she'd never see again...not since her "other" division days...

Knowing full well what was about to happen, she decided to simply put distance from it immedately and "thrusted" towards Zone B. Behind her, she litterally felt the shockwave of the explosion as it rocked Setsuka but managed to keep control.

While on the run she spotted the framework Caliburn also doing the same but stopped amonst the pillars somewhere in the zone. Still, Mai didn't want to risk a confrontation just yet. After all, everyone was basically an enemy.

"Attention Cadets, the operation has been canc-"

"-The operation continues on, despite Cadet Stukov's accident. Let it be a warning to anyone who tries to surpass their Framewerk's limits. Carry on with the battle."

"...roger that...continuing mission...", Mai droned on the open line.

Not bothering to attack the Caliburn in Zone B, Mai weaved inbetween the pillars, Mai managed to reach Zone C. It was time to use anything to her advantage. Even the terrain if at all possible. Her initial plan was to get to Zone D. She knew the areas fairly well since she had studied before hand...but it was all the tunnels that she wasn't aware of...plus...she knew one of the other frameworks was a "recon" specialist type so she needed to get out of sight of it's air drones. If her luck held, she then TRY use the tunnels to her advantage if at all possible. Perhaps even find tunnels that could help her appear in other zones if she got especially lucky. But there was a risk involved.

Zone C was a total mystery to everyone...but now as Mai came upon it...she saw...

@Eisenhorn

Ritsu dusted herself off as she stood up. She didn't mind the fact that Lorenzo wanted to continue the exercise, but the fact he elbowed her off the microphone was not polite. Then again, Lorenzo never was a gentleman, she thought. She continued watching the fight through the visual feeds of the Framewerks and cameras that flew above the arena while Lorenzo was completely immersed in the action on-screen. It was impossible to gauge what the man may have been thinking.

---

When Setsuka first arrived in the Mystery Zone, it was an empty area only consisting of dirt and rocks. However, when the Framewerk took steps closer to the center of the area, Mai heard a click below one of Setsuka's feet, followed by an explosion. It turned out zone C was a mine field, and the mines turned out to be immobilization mines: explosives filled with a substance similar to rubber cement, but which had incredibly high durability for such a flexible material. Setsuka's feet were now bound to the ground by the viscous glue, unable to move for an entire turn.

---

As Elora had her moment of grieving, the battle started around her, Framewerk going against Framewerk in a mindless show of violence. At first she didn't feel like fighting for such a pointless cause, not when there were already casualties. It seemed like she wasn't the only one either; Ryan took a while before he started attacking Caliburn in the Forest of Pillars, and Roxy was kneeling next to Diver. She wiped her tears off her cheeks, and took another look at the map she made. She thought about assisting Macabre in zone B, but was still hesitating on what to do. She saw how several Framewerks were moving to other zones, like Yeshua to the lake, and Mai to zone C. Whether they were setting up for ambushes or simply running away from the heat of the conflict she didn't know. But then she saw the Black Komodo attack Archer. She knew that without assistance Krista would fall to Miles, and she hated the thought of the bully attacking her and taking advantage of her helplessness. She decided to help her right then and there by showing the arrogant boy she was not as harmless as he may think, and launched off with Diver.

Diver was faster than the Komodo, and soon caught up to the charging Framewerk. "Initiate Framewerk scan of enemy unit," Elora then ordered once she was in range, and her Data Drones buzzed around the Komodo while scanning the unit's structure and systems. Just as she planned, she got the entire data of the unit in a fraction of the time thanks to her earlier configurations of the Combat Analyzer. The data included the weapon systems of the Komodo, the structure of the Framewerk's armor and any weak points it had, Elora counting four or five. If it was a more armored Framewerk, like a Heavy-class, it would have probably only had one or two. Elora also had the data on the Framewerk's movement patterns, and the Combat Analyzer created predicted movement trajectories of the Komodo for up to five seconds in the future, allowing her and anyone who received the data to predict the Komodo's actions before they happened. She transmitted this data to Ryan, Koehler, Krista and Ramirez, whom she saw pursuing Miles while piloting Rose. Elora then started contacting pilots through the voice channel. First she contacted her teammates: "Ryan, Koehler, I'm going to help Krista take down Miles." Then she contacted two other pilots: "Krista, Ramirez, I transmitted data of the Black Komodo to you. You should now see the Frame's weapon data, weak points and predicted movement trajectories on your visual feed. Teach him not to bully others."

@LHG100

Koehler screamed his mighty battle cry, "HUAAA!", after coming to his senses. He jumps over Elora, then activates his thrusters to max, fairly quickly coming over Krista, and landing near (say, a few dozen meters) the front of the Black Komodo. "Leave him to me! This is a manly man's fight! Forget what I said, I accept your challenge, Miles!". He points to The Black Komodo's cockpit, and brandishes his weapons, a shotgun and his trusty piledriver. "No matter what happens, neither of us can stay too buttmad at the other for long. Deal?"

He thinks over what he should do. "Okay... if I go in at him, I can parry whatever he wants to do before he does it with the shotgun, probably... Then I can just punch him repeatedly. That could knock him out in his cockpit if he isn't wearing seatbelts. If he isn't wearing his pilot suit either, that'd help with my plan... but what after that? Where should I hit him with my pile driver...?"

"...Wait. He's been ass-angry... and I think he suffers from 'bees-in-ass' syndrome... I should try to give him a prostate exam! That's GENIUS! It's hilarious, and something we can laugh about a few years down the line. Fuck it, I'll try it!". He finishes his train of thought and tells his current teammates what he's thinking, "Elora! Krista! Try and do something else, I'm gonna check his asshole to see what crawled up their and died! HHHHUA!"

He boosts again to reach melee range, and allows some time for him to attack first. If so, he'll try to use his shotgun to 'cancel' the blow, if he does anything else, he'll try to begin his punch plan: stun his shit then power up the Piledriver for a prostate exam.

Of course, the shotgun is mainly meant to just be a distraction, so it likely wouldn't have enough 'impact' to stop the momentum of a 'true' punch. It was better then nothing, though. He could try to cross-counter with the Piledriver, but that would be dangerous for him; what if it gets redirected?

@Dynamo Frokane

Having mostly regained her composure, Lora took a peek at the radar. From the edge of Zone B, she could see the approximate position of most of the Frames. Most of the ones left in Zone A were converging on a single blip - one of the team's lone wolves. It had to be the Komodo, she figured, as Anzu would've made well to get away from the close combat. That left one blip traveling to Zone C (and abruptly stopping) and another blip headed straight for-

Time to go. The pilot steeled her nerves, and Caliburn pushed itself off the pillar, weaving a brief measure deeper into the pillars. The Framewerk turned back to witness the pillar, now sliced in half, collapse off to the side. This had to be Macabre and Visceral, then, which could prove to be a pain for Caliburn to deal with. Her close-range options were limited, and with how agile the other frame was, it would be vary difficult to get into a range where Lora could just unload onto the other frame. Trapped in Zone B's maze of towers, she didn't have the ample room needed to properly deploy her secondary arms system.

"Alright, boy," Lora muttered, redoubling her efforts into the harness, "Let's dance." Caliburn backpedaled from the confrontation, turning back into the haze of pillars as if goading the lighter Frame to just try and pursue it.

It was difficult, but Caliburn's travel was made easier by Lora's excellent Synch Ratio. It was able to duck and twist between the spires with human-like dexterity, even in spite of not having the additional thrusters that Macabre offered. Through her preservation and focus, Lora managed to barely keep ahead of the lighter machine, just enough to get her through the terrain.

Once Caliburn crossed the border into Zone C, the Frame broke into a proper run for a couple of kilometers. Then, Lora saw why the Framewerk in Zone C hadn't moved since it entered: it was firmly affixed to the ground via some sort of expansive superglue. Once the thought of minefield erupted in Lora's head, she twisted Caliburn around on a dime and planted its feet down into a right-facing ready stance, skidding back a few meters in the process. Not bothering to look if she set off one of those glue mines, Caliburn armed the Lightstriker, charging for the one shot she could afford.

Paying attention to her radar, Lora aimed the weapon carefully at Ryan's approaching position. Within moments of Macabre breaking free from Zone B and it rapidly zooming forth to meet his enemy, Caliburn twitched and fired on that location. If this didn't hit, it was unlikely she would survive the ensuing encounter.

@Dynamo Frokane

Miles, grinned as the Komodo was able to rattle off a few gatling shots on Krista's framewerk and then watch as she rapidly retreated, Miles was still in chase when.....Thwooom.....Brrssst The Archer fired a shot back as the Black Komodo was in pursuit, way to fast in thrusters to dodge the high speed projectile and it struck the Komodo heavy.

Luckily it only glanced the shoulder area of the komodo where the armour was very thick so the damage was very minimal, just a concussive impact. Unluckily that concussive impact knocked Miles around his cockpit fairly violently as he wasnt wearing his plugsuit, his lean body bashed against the control board and back, which would leave several bruises later on. Miles grunted and regained control, he knew this was the trade off for comfort, his mind breifly flashed the hard-to-forget image of Lora and Mai in their form fitting outfits.

The secondary effect was that the impact halted the pursuit as the forward momentum was pushed back by the shot, which had the komodo floating off the ground but stationary for a while. Thats when he saw him...

Raimirez?? you were sneaking behind me? thinking I was going to fast to notice you trailing? Well you can blame your teammate for shot stopping me, remember what I said about close to mid range? youve followed me right into it!

Miles wasted no time in switching the gatling to the heavy explosive rounds and emptied a whole clip in and around Rose's location seeing he was at the perfect range now. The Komodo started to fly around taking the shots from different angles darting around like a wasp, this was the true ferocity of the shock trooper style with the perfect opponent, Miles face was stone cold but inside he was giddy and blissful, until..

Swoooosh!

Right in his sights boosting towards his flank was Koehler, brandishing the Framewerks shotgun!, Miles had to think fast, he had just finished firing at Ramirez and had just been hit by Krista, he couldnt hope to also take on Harold as well, especially seeing as he need to reload his explosive rounds clip. Time to really start thinking. Miles began to sweat, he also noticed small machines that looked like flies circling the vicinity....drones??

I see youve got Elora on Recon? what a tight unit youve got there, but I'm not making my final stand against you all just yet.... Komodo!!!

Miles hit the afterburner and put the thrusters on high blast as he boosted out of the range of all the Framewerks chasing him vertically, he began to climb alitutde at an alarming speed reloading on the way up, he was moving too fast to fight, but he couldnt be chased easily at this acceleration, he just needed a breather and some space as not to get surrounded, he decided to boost over to where Ryan and Lora were fighting, to change the scenery keeping a good distance above them.

Romeo had to make a tough decision, here he had promised not to take the other on just yet. But on the other hand he attacked his first person he wanted to call a friend in a long time. It was one thing to take on Rose, but another to cut down another flower in bloom.

He established target locks as archers shot brought him to a standstill. Suddenly his data intake took a huge spike from all the reconnaissance drones. He moved like a danseur as he spun into the fray to minimize the damage he was receiving, taking the slower fired explosive rounds in such ways to twist into the tortion rather than wreck himself resisting the explosive force. He was getting hit, but he let the force of the grazing shots guide him rather than divert him. Komodo may be made for close and midrange, but Romeo was a lover, rose was made to embrace his enemy in melee with armor meant to close the distance. As the medium mech danced about from side to side like a hornet, All rose had to do was the slightest of shifts to continue plowing in.

When the coward tried to run, Romeo could only laugh as he easily matched the speed if not close in since he was flying slower before to give false data to his enemy. At best he would overtake the other, at worst they might be evenly matched for distance if not for those whips of his. Snapping out with great aerodynamics, the streamlined vines used the target lock he never lost along with the drone data to try and get a grip.

Primary concern was to establish a hold, most likely a foot or the arms. Next would be the rotating tortion of the established grapple. Like two anacondas with a shared mind, he could wrap and weave himself up its body. There are five types of loads that can act on a structure: tension, compression, shear, bending and torsion. No matter how advanced, no structure can act against all five, not even the sphere. Most mech are made to resist compression, shear and bending to prevent being crushed shot or torn. But Rose was made with tension and tortion in mind. He was made to twist and tear the aliens apart.

Secondary concern was weapons. He was certain komdo had some sort of melee defense, but unless it was sawblades coming out of the sides. it was most likely a melee weapon for the open hand design on the right. If he could establish grapple, the vines would try to work their way up to the arms and put him in a full nelson, if not just rip his arm off at the damaged shoulder from archer. The gun arm was not to be ignored as even a melee heavy build would still suffer at point blank against that gun.

Thankfully, he had a gun now too.

"ARCHER! SHOOT HIM DOWN!"

Krista did not expect to see the other pilots go after Miles. She didn't know if it is was out of a desire to come to her aid or just to take a bite out of Miles but either way it gave her some breathing room. She stopped running as she watched Miles try to fly off, with Rose hot on its tail. Krista tracked Miles as he tried to dodge the Rose, but eventually the Rose managed to entangle the Komodo with its vines.

"ARCHER! SHOOT HIM DOWN!"

Krista opened com links with Elora, Romeo, and Koehler. "Thanks for the help."

With the Rose holding the Komodo still, Krista had a clear shot at the Komodo's torso. With the help of the Prometheus system and the data feed from Elora's drones, she lines up a shot with the Archer's main gun and fires off a round at the Komodo.

Mai knew the risks...but this trap was more annoying that she anticipated.

With Setsuka stuck in place, she was now a sitting duck. Worse, she saw other frameworks going at it in Zone B directly behind her.

"...inefficient...", Mai muttered to herself. Deep down, she was mentally swearing to herself for such a rookie mistake.

Still, she had an idea but she needed to act fast.

"...initiating T system..."

Charging some green-ish energy into the Setsuka's hands, she then planted them into the ground where all the glue was near her framework's feet and litterally fired a blast, kicking up dust and dirt around her position. Hopefully, that would be enough to free Setsuka. Now though, she had no choice but to hold her ground since she didn't have time now to move to another zone.

Then, something happened to Mai...

* * * * * * * * * *

...

...

...

...what's this?...

That's when Mai saw him...or rather "it".

...who's that?...no...I've seen this...before?...a Cruxi?! Here?!...wait, where am I?! This isn't the battlefield...and why do I feel...normal...why do I feel-no no! Inefficient! You don't feel anything Seven!

The tall-looking Cruxi looked properly dressed too. It looked like it was wearing a long red robe of sorts that went from his neck all the way down to it's legs. Some sort of badge or insignia on it's chest area...a weird-looking white helmit covering it's upper area, head included...

Then, it made sounds...like it was trying to talk but...the sounds...the noises...

...no...NO STOP! STOP IT! WHY...NO HOW AND WHY DO I "FEEL" LIKE THIS!? STOP!

* * * * * * * * * *

Mai blinked as she wondered what just happened...but put her mind back in the battle as she waited for one of the pilots she saw at Zone B to make a move on her in Zone C if any did. Once she had a chance, she'd make for Zone D.

* * * * * * * * * *

Back in the frameworks hanger, Mai's engineer and scientist team were using their PC equipment to monitor Mai. One "senior" scientist member of the team then noticed something. During that one moment when Mai fired that T energy blast into the ground, he saw something that caught his attention.

For around 1 second, Mai's synchro rate suddenly leaped all the way to what he thought was 100% synchro rate before just as abruptly lowered back down to 70%. It was fast so he couldn't say for sure until he reviewed the data later but...if true, he knew what it COULD mean...

After all, he had seen this happen before...

@Eisenhorn

Yeshua waited in the darkness. It was cold, empty and quiet. All he could hear was the odd creaking of metal under the pressure of the lake and the whirring of all the motors in the robot. The Anzu was strong, but the joints would be quite loose after this. Hopefully, the boy wished, he wouldn't have to engage in any melee combat in this. His weapon glue a stagnant blue, lighter and more colourful than the navy blue of the water around him. The MAC round eagerly waited, twiddling its thumbs inside of the massive rifle. Yeshua wanted to release the pressure building up inside of it, to finally let the slug loose into the open world.

Firing up three different monitors, he looked around his surroundings as one of the onboard cameras captured any shapes above the surface of the water. Nothing odd appeared. If any of the Frameworks were to pass over, the stationed computers would do most of the work for him, allowing him to take it out of the sky.

The massive gas canisters placed on the side of the beast's massive wrists whir and splutter for a few crucial seconds. Yeshua snaps his neck to the left and right, looking at the gauntlets slowly collapsing under the massive pressure. They were filled with highly flammable liquids which morphed into gasses under the valves and switches at Yeshua's right and left hands.

"Chara" he swears in Hebrew, the tongue of his adopted family from all those years ago. The machine shudders as the metal begins to give way, splintering at the joints. He needs to move now. He needs to move fast.

The Anzu shudders with each quick step, the water crackling in through the holes. Each step the robot takes, the closer the light at the surface crawls. Like moving with two trucks tied to his shoulders, Yeshua grunts heavily as he urges the machine to press on, despite the heavy struggle. In a desperate act of self-preservation, he turns around and fires his weapon behind him, the surge of energy sending the Anzu backwards at a much faster rate. With the new speed, the Framework leaves the lake with a special urgency. At his wrists, Yeshua feels the pressure finally stop, but the gas begins to act violently still. Realising the danger he is, Yeshua smashes at the controls. He waits for the inevitable.

In a fiery explosions, the two gas canisters erupt, leaving only flames and crackling metal. The Anzu's hands are now alight with bright and vibrant flames, igniting the area around them by the surface of the lake. He drops the weapon on the ground in case it causes an even worse outcome as Yeshua checks all of the monitors, hoping his machine isn't ruined completely.

In fact, the wrists and hands are almost fine, just the canisters that broke were in any danger. The flaming hands look pretty cool though, even if the flamethrower functionality is destroyed. The combustion dies down as the Anzu grabs its rifle once again, Yeshua exhaling heavily from the action. It seems the greatest enemy is the world around him.

The Caliburn's sliding ended just a few meters short of a mine, the thin layer of earth that was layered over it swept off by the force of air moved by the Frame. It was a round disc colored in stripes of brown and blue and with a pressure button at it's center. On its own, Caliburn did not set the trap off...

---

Lower deckers gave alarming developments of the mock battle: "Miles Vayne's Synchronization Rate has dropped down to zero percent! The Frame's not responding!" "The Frame's sustained critical damage to the torso, and his life signs have dropped below safety thresholds! He has incurred major damage to the ribs, shoulders and cranium!"

"That's impossible, the suits should protect them from injuries like that!" Lorenzo lashed back. "Unless he's bashing his own head against the console like an idiot it's simply out of the-" "Professor, he may have not equipped it. We can't tell until after the exercise, but that is a possible reason for the concussion." The Liutenant moved her eyes to the old man, and then back to the monitors.

"That arrogant prick," Lorenzo said in a low voice, and pressed a red button. The Komodo then deactivated, turned limp and stopped resisting Rose's grappling as it hanged in the air, before dropping down to the ground in a loud thud, kicking up dust in a tall cloud. "He wants broken bones? He's going to have plenty of them when I'm done with him."

---

Elora watched as the Komodo got hit by Archer's shot, and was eliminated from the mock battle. It was then that she realized that Miles may have been hurt if not outright killed by such a powerful attack, and slightly regretted the aggressiveness she showed against him. She was scared at the side of her that wanted to bring pain to the boy, and shivered at what she thought she was becoming. It wasn't like her. However, she didn't have much time to think on it when she watched her map, and saw how Setsuka's movement abruptly stopped in zone C. Her irises shrinked, and she immediately contacted Koehler and Ryan: "Zone C is a trap, don't go there!" She looked at Ryan's position, and saw him dashing straight to the zone. "Ryan! Don't do it!" Diver launched off, and headed to zone C as fast as she could, dashing around and through the pillars in a desperate attempt to stop what he was doing.

She reached zone C, and hovered over the ground so she would avoid any ground-based traps. Then she saw Macabre, and how it charged straight at the Caliburn. The faster Frame knocked the sturdier Frame slightly backwards by the impact, and set off the mine: both of them were caught in the blast radius, and were glued by the payload, unable to move. "Ryan! Are you okay?" Elora frantically asked, not sure of what to do. If she went to move closer and help him, she could risk setting off one of the mines. Her hands trembled, and panic started to take hold of her. Her voice wavered as she opened the voice channel to Koehler: "R-Ryan's...trapped..."

---

"Sir, there was something else," one of the lower deck scientists added. "Mai Twilight's Synchronization Rate spiked to 100%."

"What?" Lorenzo blurted out before he could sip his caffeine-based synthetic drink. "Did it drop?"

"Yes, sir. It only lasted a second before returning to normal."

"Fascinating. The last time that happened her mother had very interesting things to say..."

"Professor, you can't mean-"

"I do. It may have happened again. Damn you Cain...you could be right about her."

@LHG100