OOC: Three way collab between [@Ariamis][@Dragoknighte] and yours truly. [hider=director´s cut] (OOC: This sillyness was so funny i couldn't cut it out) Sigma woke up groaning, seizing her head. All over her body empathic pain stabbed her with pins and needles. For how long had she been out? She couldn't understand. And then the Cheshire Cat told her to go to Neverland, and find the Cowardly Lion in order to get the Bong of Ultimate Destiny, the only weapon capable of defeating Lorenzo the Dark Lord of Kittens and EXPLODY SHIT. Also, Elora randomly exploded into a new form of Digimon named ELORAMON who could digivolve into MetalEloramon. It was the same, but she had a mask, which made her more mysterious and stronger. NOTICE ME SEMPAI NO DAME DESU CHESTOOOOOOOOO! <=================|---- Keikaku doori Ware wa zankantou ni, tateno mono nashi --------------------------------REAL POST STARTS HERE----------------------------------------------------------- [/hider] [h3]Sigma[/h3] An annoying beeping sound woke Sigma from her torpor. A communication from Lorenzo. The exercise was over. She clutched her head, still wincing from the empathic ordeal. She felt numb and cold, and she hugged herself in response. Her eyes went slightly wide. [i]Wow, someone took Irina down?[/i] She grinned slightly. Perhaps, just perhaps the situation had a silver lining. For the very first time in her life, she had scored a hit against her template. Her memory wandered to the other clones, wondering how they had fared. But, she first had to get out of the wreck. She really had pushed Eiswolf to the limits, she lamented as she opened the hatch, examining the wreck of her Framewerk. A broken doll for a broken doll. She stood silent, letting the wind caress her hair and make it wave. And hit her face a couple of times. Stupid hair. [i]The feeling of a battlefield could never be fully simulated.[/i] It was then when she noticed another pilot, dashing towards one of the wrecks. The Logic Gate pilot, Elora. The one who cried. She had cried too now, so she would need to ...apologize? It seemed fit. Damn, social interactions weren't her best. And fighting... it had been a rather underwhelming performance. She dashed towards Elora, who was inspecting another frame...Yeager?? Was that its name? "Calm down." She put a hand on the other distressed 14-year old. "I'll help you with the emergency hatch." [hr] [h3]Elora[/h3] Once the hand touched the poor girl's shoulder, she screamed in fright and jumped a bit, turning around like a cornered animal, her eyes wide and filled with water. She never heard the quiet girl arrive, and she didn't expect anyone to approach her on this incredibly vast field. "IYAAAHH! Uuuuhh. I-I'm sorry. I'm a bit...scared. It's hard to put to words." She nodded to Sigma's offer, and the two strained themselves as they pulled on the mangled piece of metal, and opened the hatch. Elora let Sigma go in first, and followed after her into the dark depths of Yeager's insides. They found Rooney in his cockpit, who was unconscious, and dragged him outside. Elora put her hands to her chest once they were done, as her fears started swelling up. "D-Do you think he's...uhhh..." [hr] [h3]Sigma[/h3] Sigma tilted her head, and a hint of a smile appeared in the corners of her mouth. She knelt besides Rooney, hands tenderly reaching for the pilot's face. "He's breathing." SLAP. "WAKE UP!" [hr] [h3]Roger[/h3] Roger's eyes opened slowly. [i] Where am I? Am I dead?[/i] The face that he felt all over made it abundantly clear that the answer to that last question was no. There was an aching in his ribs and his head throbbed, but something felt different. HE reached up and touched his face, which felt strangely hot. "Did I get slapped?" It was only then that he noticed the two girls standing over him. Oh hey. He knew these girls. Maybe. He didn't really remember much of anything that had happened in the last couple hours. Um... one of them was the crying girl, and the other one was um... he didn't remember her. "Sorry, but what happened?" Rooney reached up and touched his forehead. Blood. And he was in his plugsuit. He probably crashed. [hr] [h3]Sigma[/h3] "Pilot Elora. I think you're more suited to tell him." Sigma nodded, as she gazed around, searching for more wrecks. "I blacked out after my last attack on the Sköll." Her visage contorted upon finding one of the fallen enemy wrecks, who had been smashed against the tower. "Damn, please be alive. Please." Sigma muttered imperceptibly as she fumbled, and hurried up to open the cockpit of the other fallen mech. "Hey, are you alive, sis!?" She yelled, in an uncharacteristical display of emotion, her voice trembling much like when she spoke of Irina earlier. Her eyes widened, and she blanched all of a sudden, before turning her sight away, tears welling in the corner of her eye. "...ugh. Rest in peace, Theta." She whispered, before turning her sight on the other two live pilots. "Any more wrecks to check?" [hr] [h3]Elora[/h3] While Sigma was busy digging around the enemy Frame's grotesque vehicle, Elora jittered, unsure of what to say to Rooney. She was also taken out fairly quickly after Sigma was, and she only remembered that Rooney was fighting multiple enemies at the lake with Zim. "Uuhh, well...you beat that thing, I think. And, uhh, won? Irina was taken out as well, so we won the mission. Hey, are you okay?" She bent down, and looked at Rooney's face. "You l-look like you need medical attention, with t-that bleeding. N-Not to be rude..." [hr] [h3]Roger[/h3] Roger tried to remember the battle he was supposed to have just been in, but nothing came to mind. Well, if he had actually managed to come out alive after all that, he must have done something right. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and felt a sharp pain in his torso, just below the shoulders. Broken ribs maybe? It was then that he got his first good look at Yeager since he had come to. Oh. That would explain why he couldn't remember anything that had just happened. "Ouch, sorry about that, Yeager. Um, Elora right? I should be fine for now. Yeager and I have had our fair share of crashes. Nothing this bad. I hope I'll be forgiven for wrecking it so badly. 'Sides, I don't think there are any medical supplies around here, even if somebody did need them." Rooney wiped some blood out of his eye and blinked several times before realizing the other girl had asked a question too. "Um, I don't remember, but if I was fighting against multiple people, I think the wrecks would be that way." He pointed over towards the Lake of Rage. When he crashed, it was rarely ever in a curved path, so the battlesite was likely in a direct line backwards from where Yeager and that other Framewerk were. [hr] [h3]Sigma[/h3] "Good. I need to go there. I need to check if they're alive." Sigma said, not even directing her sight towards Elora nor Rooney. She walked in a hunched, primal position, and her eyes had gone rather glassy. "They are disposable dolls...but they're my siblings." She began to walk, tears running down her cheeks, without herself realizing. "Am I breaking down? Oh I apologize in that case." Sigma droned, in a strange eerie tone, before beginning to walk. "I am crying, I am being wasteful. I don't want to be disposed of." She paused "You did...well." Sigma also said, halting for a second. "I am sorry for calling you a crybaby. It seems...I fall under that definition too." She resumed her ghastly walk, before one of her knees seeemed to cave in under the tiredness, making Sigma kneel on the dirt due to sheer tiredness. [hr] [h3]Elora[/h3] Elora put her hands to her mouth, trying to not make a sound as she watched the suddenly emotional Sigma walk away and then stop, thankful of her kind words, but cautious of their honesty, considering her state. She moved around in her place while she looked aside, uncomfortable with the situation she was in. She tried to ease the awkwardness by trying to keep up the conversation, even though she was a nervous wreck at this point. She wouldn't be surprised at all if Rooney dismissed her as a crybaby, because she knew she was one, but she wanted to try, regardless. She cleared up her throat that was dried out by the weather. "Uhh, mister Rooney...I...I hope I wasn't a burden out there." She realized what she let out of her mouth, and whimpered. "I mean, was my data a-applicable to the tactical needs of the mission? I wish to improve as the intelligence specialist, so any feedback would be appreciated...if that is okay with you." [hr] [h3]Roger[/h3] Roger brow furrowed. Wait. Disposable doll? What? Was that a slip that he wasn't meant to hear? For now he would pretend like he hadn't heard it. That girl seemed like she wasn't in any state of mind to hold a conversation. Right now there was another girl right in front of him who seemed to be in the process of breaking down. "I don't remember the fight, but I'm sure you did just fine." Roger felt relaxed, almost serene. It was odd. Perhaps it was a side effect of brain damage. Maybe it was just because he couldn't remember the life or death struggle he was just in and could ride the high of endorphins left over in his body. Details. "You're beating yourself up too much. If you're constantly worrying about every mistake you make, you'll just make everything else worse. First lesson I learned about piloting back on my home planet. Course that was airplanes, not giant robots." Rooney didn't really know how to follow up, nor could he get that line about not wanting to be disposed out of his head. Damn, what he would do for a cigarette right now. [hr] [h3]Elora[/h3] The young girl nodded, and swiped her cheeks with her arm. For some reason Rooney's words brought her back to reality, away from the dark visions of causing people around her to die, as she has experienced before in a heart-wrenching memory. She rationalized that her map and enemy data was helpful for the operation's success when she thought about it more clearly, and sniffed as a sign of retiring from her misery. "I understand. I...I won't bring myself down, mister Rooney. I'll try my best as well, for as long as I have Logic Gate to trust in. T-Thank you," she said, and blushed a little at the embarrassment. [hr] [h3]Roger[/h3] "Not for nothing, but what are we waiting for? Are we going to have to walk back to base?" From the look on his face, it was blatant that was the last thing he wanted to do. Sitting up hurt enough, and given the size of the battlefield... He winced internally. Maybe it would have been better if he had just stayed unconscious and got dragged back to base. Then again, he would probably be even more confused than he was now. [hr] [h3]Elora[/h3] Elora looked around, at first confused about Rooney's words, before she realized what he meant. "Oh, well, the Executive Officer said that we'll have to wait for helicopters to come and retrieve us. It woudl be a long distance get back on foot, even with the rocket motors on our boots," she said, turned around, and hooked one of her legs up so Rooney saw the sole of the boot. "I don't think we have other choice but to wait." Elora didn't like handing out bad news out of fear of getting hit or otherwise mistreated, but she hoped that Rooney was still calm enough to take the news well. [hr] [h3]Roger[/h3] "That so?" Rooney replied before laying back down. If that was the case, he could just lay back and rest. [hr] [h3]Elora[/h3] Elora walked over to where Sigma knelt down, and put her hands to her knees as she looked down at her. "Miss Sigma...did you fight against Irina Spanova? W-What was she like...in person, I mean...well, in Framewerk." She bit her lip, and wished she could turn invisible. [hr] [h3]Sigma[/h3] Sigma's face was pointing downwards, her fists clenching the earth. "I can't save them." She whispered to herself, before noticing she was being talked to..."uh? Irina?..." She eyed the fellow teenager. "I only got a shot in, because of my backpack. I think. I never got to hit her before. Only Alpha did. She trained me, and I never...managed to get a hit in. She's a monster. All war heroes are...except Harold?" She sat, wiping her tears, the moments in silence having done wonders to regain her bearings. "That's why she's the template." Sigma added, looking at Elora."Maybe I said too much, but I might be disposed after this." [hr] [h3]Roger[/h3] "So if you're saying, what I think you're saying," Rooney interjected, "you're some kind of copy of Irina? That's... I don't know. If we're not supposed to find out, I won't tell." Really, secret government cloning programs sounded like something out of a movie, or the odd conspiracy theory that nobody took seriously. It didn't feel like something that was actually real. "If that's what's going on, why are you here with us?" Roger's fingers searched the ground for greenery of some kind, a blade of grass to chew on, something to occupy his mouth, but all he found was dirt and rock. "I'd figure they wouldn't mix in clones and normal people together in one group, but then again, we're a bunch of experiments ourselves. Guinea Pigs for these Framewerks. Still." [hr] [h3]Elora[/h3] The truth of Sigma's identity shocked Elora, and she went down to her knees and hugged the girl, tears appearing in her eyes. It was incredibly forward of her, but she couldn't help it as she was overcome with grief at that instant, far stronger than any anxiety she had developed over the years. "Miss Sigma, that can't be true! You're a real, living person like us! You can't be a clone. I-I won't believe it...I don't want to." Elora couldn't stand how the suffering they went through was done not only to them, but to beings who never had anything else in their life but to fight and feel the same things she did while she was out there, facing death and despair itself. That was not something she could accept. [hr] [h3]Sigma[/h3] Sigma stood there, silent, only rattled slightly by Elora's hug. Closeness. Sigma's face reddened so slightly, as her lips wobbled a little."Pilot Elora." She didn't know how, but her hand reached for Elora's head, stroking her hair. Much very like an adult would stroke a child. Much like in Irina's memories."We are through hard times. Very much so. People die. Families are broken. Yet framewerks need pilots. We were created so people like you could live on." Both her hands gently leveled the young pilot's head towards her own. "I do not think it is shameful to be a clone made for such a purpose." She then eyed Rooney. "In fact, I regret we could not be better. We were supposed to become like Irina, peerless...but I am...the success..." She bit her lip."And the others..." ..."Were disposed as mobile targets." Her voice choked. "I couldn't save them. I'm sorry. i developed sisterly feelings for them. I'm no good. At anything. Not even social...wordsfailingdon'tknow...scared." She finally decided to hug back Elora, unable to think a better response. [hr] [h3]Roger[/h3] Rooney mulled over Sigma's words. If she was the success and she was searching through the wrecks... oh. The pit of his stomach settled. "That's rough." A lame response. That helped nobody. It probably made him look like an ass. "I live out in what most people would consider the middle of nowhere. The kind of place people look down their noses at. But we didn't care. You get proud of your home when people stick their noses down at you. Makes you want to hole yourself off from everyone. Well the problem is that we can't really survive completely alone. In its natural state, we wouldn't be able to grow food, and the support we get from the Federation ain't enough to provide for everyone in time." Rooney paused to take a breath. "So we ourselves set up a big transport system using planes we built ourselves. With this, we could support a civilization. Well it isn't all that simple to be a pilot on Sparth. The mountains can grow so tall as to enter the stratosphere at times. If you aren't always focused and a... quick on the controls, you could trash the plane and doom some city's inhabitants to starvation. And the best pilots are like how ya describe this Irina. Peerless. About to move a plane like it were part of your own body. I was only in the program for a short time, but you're always pressured to be perfect at all times, because everyone, especially people you don't even know and will never meet are counting on you. It's probably nothing like whatever you've been through..." Oh man. He forgot her name again. But he couldn't let it show, or else this whole story would be botched. "but I imagine you're feeling a pressure kinda like that." [hr] [h3]Elora[/h3] Elora, after she held Sigma for a moment, finally let go, after her eyes turned red from the crying. She felt bad for Sigma, and hated herself for having assumed she was cold and unfeeling, like a stony statue representing stoicism. She helped Sigma up to her feet, and dusted off the dirt that accumulated on her plugsuit with her wet hand, causing even more stains. "I'm being messy, aren't I? I'm s-sorry." They were all having a difficult time, not just her. Sigma, Rooney, everyone. She sniffed, decided to try and stop crying, and puffed her cheeks as she did so. [hr] [h3]Sigma[/h3] Sigma tilted her head, thanking silently Elora for her help. She closed her eyes, interiorizing those words carefully. She didn't know how to follow, or what to say. Maybe she could tell them? Yes. Maybe she could. "I can cook though. Irina can't." She said, in a neutral voice."It's supposed to help in society, or so I'm told? I'm...no good at this?" She added, before trying to clumsily backpedal in her speech. "Uhh...ehh!!" She finally fumbled, becoming a little red. "I think we should regroup and wait for the others?" [hr] [h3]Roger[/h3] "That sounds like a good idea," Rooney answered, making no move to get up from his rocky makeshift bed. [hr] [h3]Elora[/h3] Elora stopped puffing her cheeks, and let out a sound of wonder. "Huh? You can cook? Well, it does..." Elora had no idea what to say to a comment, let alone reaction like that. The distress she was in seemed to fade away, replaced by oddness as she came to recover. "I agree, we s-should wait. Miss Sigma...don't say that you are not good. You are the best pilot I have ever seen, and you are also kind and caring. That makes you more of a human than Irina is." Elora shut her mouth and closed her eyes. It was rare when she had the guts to insult anyone, but she felt it was appropriate at that moment, if only so Sigma would feel better. [hr] [h3]Sigma[/h3] "...I don't know. I am after all a copy of Irina." Sigma said, puzzled. "But I appreciate? yes, that is the word, the ...thought?" Sigma added, obviously struggling to appear natural, before adding a small ruffle on Elora's hair. "I also held back a little against my sisters." She added."How much is that help going to take?" She wondered, looking at the sky.