Date: April 1st - Isokaze, Ace Academy - Time 3:40



Prologue: Reach for the Stars!

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Pilot's Lounge:

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Today was the first day of school at Ace Academy and for some of the people classes were starting to slow down, or end for the day. Many of the academy's pilots were scrambling here and there preparing their gears, and meeting up with their teams. The day itself was beautiful with a nice cool temperature, and the wind was cooling and refreshing. The school itself, while divided into engineering, psychological, and other divisions was mostly know for it's prized courses regarding basic, and advanced piloting of the amazing gear machines. It had sponsor organizations, and many famous students who graduated to resume respectable positions in, and out of the world of Gears. As such there were plenty of students at the moment in the library researching for classes just as there were people hurriedly checking some of their weapons through customs. There were some students hurrying to find teams here and there as it was the school's policy to make teams form during the summer but they had about a couple days inside of school to hammer out the details for certain.

Right now the pilot lounge was full of students meeting up with their teams and heading towards the hanger entrance swiping their pilot passes to get in, and out though it seemed more like a revolving door than anything. Others were watching TV, or simply relaxing on their own time. Some of the top teams were probably off meeting somewhere though there were probably more teams currently in school than not. Bill saw some familiar faces, and some not so familiar. The bar keep for the lounge was still the same man in his forties named Yukimura whom had been doing this job for about 13 years now and had seen some of the best pilots in the academy's history graduate.

Bill took a look out the large windows to his right in the lounge and saw that there were students walking all about campus doing their things some where muttering, and other laying around on the grass discussing all sorts of matters. But one thing he did notice was he a lot of talk around the lounge had some of the other students worried about the prelims, and the scoring tests. Scoring tests determined what sponsors some teams would get. There were various organizations around the city though the major one was the SBA an organization meant to help find students find sponsors. There was even a few students associated with them in someway throughout the campus. He wondered how many of the kids has recreational weapons this time around he remembered the boss from last year informing everyone Team Death Spike last year accidentally brought in a gear with military gear instead of proper recreational mech weapons that prevented death blows. Of course some weapons could have adjusted power setting to allow them to be used here to de-power the mechs instead of destroying them.

He fondly remembered Hakuno Sasaki had led the team to many a victory only to be led down by in fighting in the team. It led to the creation of rifts in the team not unlike the bigger teams over in America. Many people only fought together if Hakuno called the shots now that Hakuno was no longer a student the Celestial Star team coveted for it's legacy now was a shamble. The Throne Trinity was a team filled with the older students with more skills, and intelligence than High Blade but High Blade held a lot of potential, and skilled gear fighters despite their aggressive attitude. Both of those teams were the remains of the team that had once been a whole. Now Bill was left with Jun, and Yasumi whom was sitting right now to him. Jun was not a pilot, and Yasumi was a slacker who only did well in classes.

Though he was a force to be reckoned with in battles he was always a back up pilot. And so was Bill before the year had started. Now he was scrambling to put together some sort of functional whole. Bill can only use his last name so much to bring in new people after all. Yasumi was playing on his Driveboy DX at the moment but he had told him earlier when they met on the bus that he had tried to convince the others who were not in High Blade, or Throne to come join them but they were unsure. Two pilots didn't make a team that left them two days to finish their team composition. As Bill sat on the couch he wondered if anyone else would should up today all he could do was bite down on his burger he had in his hands and hope that things would get better today. Despite trying to concentrate however all he heard in the background was cheering as a group of students watched Team Siegfried from Germany fight against the LAX (The Latin American Exchange). Schools over in the west had already started competing with each other though Japan, and other eastern nations usually adhered to a different schedule than them. Still on occasion China, India, and Japan sent over teams to compete with other colleges. As he heard from the announcer apparently LAX was having issues with Siegfried's defensive strategy as LAX was majorly a offensive heavy team known for their brutal methods of attacking enemy gears.

@vancexentan

---

Ian entered the pilot's lounge. The poster he had read mentioned that a guy named Bill Atlas was the one he needed to talk to. Truth be told, he hadn't had the best of times trying to find a team, and this one seemed fairly desperate. The other team leaders were apparently quite aware of his weary nature and saw him as a potential liability, which was fair. He certainly didn't fault them for it, but that didn't keep him from asking.

After a brief survey of the room, Ian yawned loudly and approached the one that fit the description that he was given by one of the other students. He wasn't completely familiar with the Atlas name, but it probably wouldn't matter. It seemed Celestial Star was in need of members, and assuming the need was great enough, they would probably even look past Ian's near narcoleptic habits. Ian could only assume that the person sitting by Bill was another member.

"Err..Hi, I'm Ian Laudat. From what I understand you guys are looking for more members for your team? You wouldn't happen to have a sharpshooter already would you?" He asked, trying to make the best first impression possible.

Finally, classes were done.

Rio hated the first day of school, as it always ends up being nothing but wasted time. You hardly get anything done. Still, it was a necessary evil for some, and not all was bad about it. At least, not at Ace. She was staring up at a list of teams that needed members, as she wasn't part of one currently. Much to her dismay, though, most teams were either full on members or had already rejected her in the past, leaving her with only one option: Celestial Star. The team leader who was written next to the name left nothing but a foul taste in Rio's mouth. She pretty much needed to be in a team, though, for fear of becoming a laughing stock like last year. Like hell she'd let that happen.

The woman casually walked through the hallways, avoiding eye contact with most students. They're all equally unimportant to her. A bunch of faceless individuals who'd either fade into nothing or prove themselves to be worth remembering. Sadly, not a lot of people managed to succeed in that second option. Sure, they'll be remembered by the other faceless for as soon as they live, but after that you fade into obscurity. No legacy, no nothing.

The door to the lounge slid open and Rio's ears was immediately assaulted by the loud cheers of the drunkards watching TV, cheering on their favorite teams. She tried her best to ignore all the ruckus and looked around to find Bill Atlas' little corner. She first saw him with Laudat, the infamously lazy student. She didn't want to believe he signed up there and kept looking. Much to Rio's chagrin, it turned out to be the case after all. Even worse, there was already another pilot behind the desk, meaning even these applications were going by fast. The proud girl had to humble up a bit and swallow some of that pride, casually walking over to Bill's desk.

"Atlas," she greeted. Rio cast a brief glance of disgust over to Laudat and scanned Yasumi. He didn't look impressive. If she was going to be stuck with this lot of rubbish - excluding Bill of course - then she'll have to fear for the stability of the team. Still, better to have a team that underperforms compared to no team at all...

"I'm here to sign up. Rio Hamasaki, pilot of Union. Assault and Support. We've... fought once already." Rio explained. She was tempted to chew on the insides of her cheek in frustration of that humiliating loss, but managed to settle for only breaking eye contact. She pretended to look over in the direction of the TV, feigning some interest in the match.

@Heckno12@Ammokkx

Yasumi looked up with a dull expression his mop of grey hair obscured his vision partially but he really didn't care. He saw Ian show up and remembered him being in one of his tech classes. He was lazy apparently but hey they really couldn't afford to be picky at the moment. He looked over to his partner and grumbled, "Dude's a bit of a slacker. You sure you wanna let him in?" Yasumi put his Driveboy DX into his uniform's pocket and put his hands behind his head as he casually gazed over the newcomer. "We really can't be picky besides you aren't exactly the most motivated member either Yasumi. If we want to compete we need team members." Bill responded to his friend with casual indifference. "Sharp shooter? No we don't have one yet. We lost our last one to Throne Trinity. If you got what it takes I'll b-" Bill said as he was about to offer Ian a handshake another girl came stomping into the room and came right up to him. Usually girls didn't take a second look at the very average looking Bill so he didn't know exactly why she would go up to him so blatantly. "Um hello?" Bill said as he turned to face the new girl. She rattled off her position in the squad, and the fact that she wanted to be on their team. "Oh well welcome I suppose-" Bill began to state as he then heard her say that she had already fought him once before. Bill tried to remember all the fights he had been in at the school.

"I'm sorry Hamasaki I don't remember our fight. A lot on my mind recently I'm afraid. It doesn't matter though if you wanna join up I need all the pilots I can get my hands on. After all Yasumi is only signed up for a backup pilot...and he's..." Bill gestured over to the messy pilot besides greasy hair he had a number of problems associated with him. His uniform was unbuttoned, his shoe laces were untied, and he lacked any sort enthusiasm. "-him." Bill said as he sighed Yasumi frowned at his partner. "Guilty as charged." Yasumi said with very little energy in return not bothering to reject the sentiment Bill had shown, nor was he particularly surprised. He knew what he was. On the TV the announcers started to shout loudly as LAX's member Juan Rodríguez pulled a cheap shot on Siegfried's team captain tripping his mech and using the machine's spiked knuckles smashed into the mech's shoulders to keep the machine in an awkward position as it punched the machine repeatedly before it powered down leaving Siegfried in a difficult position. There were a number of students disgusted by the maneuver while some where cheering it on regardless.

@vancexentan@Ammokkx

---

"...Right." Ian said with a sigh. It seemed from the looks she gave, that the other newcomer was already not a fan of his. Being perpetually tired didn't tend to attract many friends. Still, he did his best to smile and pretend he didn't notice the animosity.

Despite, or probably because of, the fact that the only experience these people had with him was in a classroom setting they underestimated his piloting skills. He'd have to prove himself later in the sim. Of course, he couldn't exactly prove him self in a 1 on 1 engagement given his specialty...

Given the team's apparent lack of long range fighters, he could easily be of use. Yasumi was probably the only one whose name he knew, but that was probably a result of them both being called out in class on the occasion. He had thought slackers would stick together, but...eh, there wasn't really a code for such a thing.

"So, Atlas, you said Yasumi was just a backup pilot, right? So we're still missing one?"

The first day of class was largely uneventful- As with most classes and schools, it was more of an administrative day, see who had kept or dropped the class, discuss syllabi and grading policies, and generally introduce and gradually ease students into the semester. Already, much of the Academy's pilots were moving around, getting their gear in place, and preparing for the competitive season. Sara and her brother Sam, were some of those students. Sara's brother Sam, was a freshman, and had somehow convinced her to enter the competitive scene, and they had just finished clearing Sara's GEAR and weapons through customs. Sat sat on the shoulder of her GEAR as her brother piloted it into its slot in the hangar by the pilot's lounge, Sara held up a poster in front of her face.

It was a recruitment drive for Celestial Star, a team that had up until recently been of some major rapport- now sitting in a realm of relative obscurity if rumors were to be believed. Most of the former members had splintered off and formed their own groups- Throne Trinity and the High Blades being of some of the more notable ones. With her decision to jump into the competitive scene so late, it was surprisingly difficult for Sara to find a team- especially since most teams had already finished their recruitment- and many had already began training- over the summer. Most of the teams she had talked to had rejected her or offered her a position as a backup- few teams were willing to replace a team member they had been training with for a few weeks for a newcomer a day into the semester, no matter how good her rap sheet looked.

"Hoi, sis, I'll take care of wrapping up the Valkyrie, you go on ahead to the lounge." she heard her brother call, as he stepped out of the GEAR's cockpit. With a nod, Sara slid off of her GEAR, and dusted herself off before throwing on an oversized Sponsor-branded hoodie and making her way to the pilot's lounge.

The lounge was crowded, but Sara could already see pilots segregating into their little cliques- either groups of friends, classmates, or teams. Still, it was relatively easy enough for Sara to put a face to a name, and found the resident captain of Celestial Star- Bill Atlas, one of the most American looking pilots in the entire lounge. He had a few others with him, one playing a videogame, and another two that appeared to be approaching him for membership.

"So, Atlas, you said Yasumi was just a backup pilot, right? So we're still missing one?" Sara heard as she stepped up to the growing gathering.

"Did you say one more? Sara interjected, with a small smile and an equally small voice. Rapid-Response Skirmisher, and GEAR encyclopedia.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me you were popular with the hot chicks now Atlas?" commented Yasumi as he chuckled Atlas put down his food for fear that he may throw the burger at Yasumi's face. Still he couldn't exactly deal with him now...that could come later. "Sorry Hayakawa I'm trying to house train Masu but he's always had his head stuck in the gutter." Bill commented as he straightened his uniform instinctively trying to focus on anyone but Yasumi. "I thought you were in engineering training Hayakawa? Why would you pick up piloting?" asked Atlas casually as he brought up a clipboard containing a sign up sheet for everyone under Celestial Star that had contact info, and other technical jumble that he needed to have everyone sign. "I mean I don't mind you playing but you don't catch me as the sort to go into fighting." Bill continued as he put the clipboard down on the desk. "Well if you're all interested please write down your info down on that clipboard. Yeah I know low tech but it's for our sponsor, and my own convenience so I can contact you all." Bill told everyone as he frowned at Yasumi who was checking out Sara's chest and adverted his eyes quickly after. "Too answer your question though Laudat I'm just here because no one else wants me. And I like having a sponsor already hooked up. I can main pilot but I'd like to not do that."

It was then that each of the members suddenly felt blinded by a flash of light. Across the room, a rather slender individual looked at them, his glasses deflecting light straight into their eyes.

He lowered his eyebrows as his face set into a small, yet worrisome, smile.

"Perfect."

------

The first day of school was always refreshing for one Kiril Gurevich. It was a day of awakening from the slumber that summer vacation seemed to be, especially for students who did not have teams yet. He wasn't slacking around of couse, as there was quite alot of research to be done about the upcoming season's roster, as well as evaluation and testing of his new Gear, but it all seemed too slow for him. He needed more pressure, and the first day of school felt like a vice grip slowly clamping around his body.

It was a wonderful sensation.

True to the results of his research, he found the recruitment poster he was looking for on the school's oublic bulletin. The team he targeted was in shambles, the ambition of its members tearing it apart until only the core remained. He could not ask for a better opportunity. The Celestial Star had all necessary doors open for it already, and all that was needed from it was for it to walk through.

Naturally, the team's usual sponsors would have limited patience for failure, but this is where he would come in.

------

The young man approached the group, gliding like a hot knife through the crowd. He stopped at the distance that wouldn't require him to bend his head all the way down to see those seated, but still loomed over them, and over the newcomers.

"Good morning." his heavy European accent gave him away as a foreigner. Then again, the rest of the team did not seem chipped from the same block either. "Gurevich Kiril. I am here to join the Celestial Star."

"That's very sweet of you Yasumi," Sara replied disarmingly with a small smile and slight head tilt that caused her hair to bounce a bit. Yasumi's implications were crude, but Sara didn't dislike the man- he was a bit on the lazy side, but he had a better attitude than a lot of the others she had met last year. Still, she didn't pay him much attention, instead rendering it to Atlas, their prospective team leader as he addressed her.

"I've always been a pilot- that's what I got my scholarship for." Sara replied lightheartedly, "I do a lot of test work for GEAR manufacturers, so I'm usually talking to the engineering students about specs and performance standards."

"As far as the competitive scene goes- this is my first time trying out for a team, but its not like I don't know what I'm doing. I test pilot mil-spec GEARs for Defense Contractors, they teach you a thing or two about GEAR combat." she replied lightly, with a playful wink to punctuate her spoken resume.

She reached for the signup clip-board, picking it up first. She was about finished writing her information down when a flash of light surprised her and caused her to drop it with a small 'eep'. Approaching them was a rather tall, lanky student. Taller than most pilots, and not nearly as bulky. While their team seemed to be an exception, most of the pilots Sara had met kept in rather good shape and were as a result, rather stocky. This newcomer, who introduced himself as Kiril, was anything but. Toweringly tall and lanky- it would seem all the boys shared the same qualities- tall, skinny, and western.

In fact, everyone appeared much taller than she- even Hamasaki, with her very classic Japanese good looks and slender frame towered over Sara by almost a full 30cm. She envied Hamasaki's height- most girls probably did.

Returning her attention to Kiril, who stood a bit of a distance away from them in what appeared to be what counted as an acceptably dramatic distance, she regarding him with a disarming shrug and a small smile, as she handed the signup sheet to the next person.

"The signup sheet's being passed around, so you might have to wait your turn."

Ian blinked, it seemed that of the group he had one of the less impressive resumes...really the only thing that would even put him in a similar tier to this group would probably be his rifle. Well, at least the most recent person to walk up couldn't have such an impressive background.

In the school's simulators he had top scores in accuracy with both moving and stationary targets, though he could mostly attribute that to the sheer time he spent in said sim the previous year between naps. Back then he hadn't managed to find a team at all, so he spent the time that other pilots were using to compete to practice. Even so, it looked like that practice was going to simply be outshined by talent. That was slightly disheartening, but not altogether terrible.

Ian smiled lightly to himself and took the signup sheet. After filling in his information, he handed it off again.

This newer guy creeped him out a bit, the way he loomed over them. Kiril, is what Ian thought he heard the guy say his name was. He was enthusiastic and clearly pretty sure of himself. It was a clear contrast to Ian's personality, which was far from a bad thing, but for whatever reason he didn't understand it was...creepy, yeah that was the best word for it.

In spite of himself, Ian turned to Kiril and extended a hand to shake. "My name is Ian Laudat, it's...uh, nice to meet you." He said, obscuring his slight discomfort with a mostly genuine yawn. If it weren't for the current situation, he had no doubt that he would be fast asleep right now.

Rio flinched when the light hit her straight in the eyes, averting her gaze for just a second. Once her pupils recovered a little she looked back, seeing a lanky boy on the other end of the room. He hurried through the crowd, which creeped her slightly more out than Yasumi did.

"Gurevich Kiril. I am here to join the Celestial Star."

Rio's face twisted and contorted into a mix of confusion and disgust as she heard this line, scanning the third foreigner joining this team. She had a hard enough time accepting Atlas and Laudat, but now this overgrown snake too? The only normal person in her general vicinity was... someone who's name Rio didn't know. She glanced down at the clipboard, which had it written out. "Sara Hayakawa," it read. Finally, a traditionally Japanese name. She'd have preferred if the team only consisted of those of Japanese origin, but beggars can't be choosers.

"If you don't mind," Rio suddenly spoke up as she picked up the clipboard. She wrote down her info and handed it back to Bill instead of Kiril. She wanted nothing to do with him. The general way he carried himself reeked of a silver, poison-dipped tongue. Rio brushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes, cast another glance at her new team and then spoke again, directly addressing Bill.

"Atlas, what else do you want me to do before I take my leave?"

'I suppose this is what I get for waiting so long. Still none of them are that bad.' Bill commented to himself mentally as he prepared himself for what was to come next. Getting this team to work in a cohesive unit was going to be had. He'd have to channel his grand father a little bit. "First off we need to make sure everyone's all and good." Bill said aloud as the kids watching TV shouted in disappointment as Siegfried lost and LAX's theme played in the background. "But I suppose I should also introduce myself better to everyone not in the know. I am Bill Atlas. Former back up pilot, now Team Leader, of Celestial Star. Role given to me is Skirmisher. I'm good at fighting one on one. Nice to meet you Gurevich Kiril. You can call me by my first, or last name as you choose. I'm your boss not your slave driver so if you have any concerns feel free to come to me about them." Bill told everyone as he adjusted his uniform which was clinging tightly to him. He really hated uniforms they were way to formal. "For anyone not busy right now I'd like to take a chance to go into the simulator with you guys. We'll be fighting against level forty computer AI's. This way we can understand how well we can work with each other without comprehensive training, and see what we do need to work on." commented Bill further as he tried to act as professional as possible while not being intimidating at the same time. He didn't want to be 'that guy' to his team but he needed to get them to get better.

"If you guys can't go along with that right now we can pick up tomorrow. Remember we only have a few more days until we get our ranks posted. As a long running generational team we got a lot on our shoulders. Celestial Star placed 12 last year I'd like to get around that number though I understand the pressure will be a lot on you guys." commented Bill as he looked at the assembled crew and breathed out deeply. "I want to trust each and everyone of you is going to pull their own weight. If not then you have my permission to leave. I won't side line you for any reason other than we should rotate positions. However someone who is not willing to help the team out shouldn't be here. I'm not going to carry slackers into the top bracket. Not that I believe that I myself am that good but because I believe we have the components needed to be the best team in the league." Bill further stated giving his little speech wondering if it was working. "With all due respect boss man we got quite the weird formation. Brawler, skirmisher, long range? No defender? No supporter? We're all offense. That means this will not be a cake walk but hey...you know I'm in for the long shot." Yasumi Masu commented flatly not especially motivated as he took a look at Rio wondering what was crawling up her butt right now. She didn't seem to particularly like being here so...why was she here? "I get that which is why I'm asking everyone stay and help train with me." commented Bill as he folded his hands and bowed. "If you will have me as your team captain then I am duty bound to give you my all." finished Bill as Yasumi whistled as he looked over his old buddy. "Laying it on a bit thick there bucko?" Yasumi chuckled as one of the other students nearby looked over. "Come on Atlas this ain't a freaking action anime. Stop acting like a weirdo people are looking." laughed the student as Bill straightened himself and blushed as he noticed a group of girls giggling at him and one of his old team mates rolling his eyes.

Gurevich stared at Bill for a few long, silent moments, as if conveying the longest and slowest surprise in the world. "So this is how the big leagues are." He said, almost to himself. With a deft motion, his long hand snatched the roster sheet from Bill and he wiggled his eyebrows at the tall girl who seemed to put obvious effort into ignoring him. "I appreciate your honesty, Bill, and can already see we can work together quite well."

He turned to the others. "As for the roster, I am the support you are looking for. One of the best ways I found to prevent the opposing team from reacting to our plan would be to introduce enough controlled chaos into the arena. The Ogre excels at this." There were undertones of pride to his voice, yet for some reason none of the present students felt challenged in any way. "I have broken my fast and am prepared to start immediately."

With this, the young man turned to the others, with an expectant gaze.

"I've got no problem with that plan, Atlas. I mean it's only natural we do a few trial runs before we get our score." Ian said, he didn't know how much longer he could keep himself going, but another hour or so wouldn't be too impossible...he hoped anyway.

This Kiril guy though, Ian didn't like the way he spoke. Obviously he didn't seem malicious, but he gave off the vibe that a 'mad scientist' type of character would in an anime. Even the way he spoke just rubbed Ian the wrong way. Of course, Ian could just be imagining things. He was tired after all, maybe this guy was perfectly normal and his mind was just playing tricks. Then again, it seemed like Rio wasn't digging Kiril either.

Ian ordered a cup of coffee. A bit of caffeine would do wonders, even if he didn't really like the stuff the lounge carried. With a few sips of the still piping hot coffee, he felt a bit better. burning one's tongue was also a pretty good way to rouse them...if a bit unpleasant.

At this point he wondered if this team would work together properly. It seemed like a mashup of random, and very incompatible, personalities.

Rio was starting to regret the entire situation more by the second, seeing as her new team leader had made a fool of himself in public. She honestly wondered if she was better off cancelling this entire idea, but her pride wouldn't allow it. She wasn't planning on turning tail and running just because she felt slightly uncomfortable. Rio still didn't pay any mind to Gurevich and instead watched Laudat walk over the bar to grab himself a cup of coffee. It was something she regretted, as it was an incredibly dull sight.

"I suppose I can shave off a bit of time," Rio spoke. Her head was still turned away when she said it, but it whipped back towards them as soon as she was finished.

"Shouldn't we get at least a little acquainted with each other's GEARs and form a general strategy, however? Jumping straight into combat, even against a machine, seems a little... reckless." she chimed in. Considering how aggressive the team is, going in blind would be the mechanical equivalent of suicide. Or at least that's how Rio sees it. For all she knows their all-mighty 'leader' might be intent on ranking last this year.

Sara giggled as Atlas went about giving his speech. It was fairly melodramatic, and there could be something said about a man named Atlas putting the weight of the team on his shoulders, but Sara let it slide for now. She wasn't the only one that noticed, because all around them other students were gawking, giggling, snorting or some combination of the three. Regardless, Sara supposed it was the leader-ly thing to do. This was all fairly new to Sara- she had done combat maneuvers before, but generally it was in a 1x1 or 1xMutliple scenario with her relying on nothing but her own skills and the capabilities of her test unit. Working with a team was going to be an interesting challenge, and Yasumi seemingly agreeing with her noted that they lacked any serious defensive units.

Sara shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "Well you know what they say, the best defense is a good offense." Not the exact wording of the saying, with joking logic of course. "No one will shoot at you, if there's no one to shoot at you."

Bill expressed his desire to jump into the practice sims and everyone else seemed open to the idea, so Sara merely nodded in agreement. Hamasaki expressed her interest in getting to know everone's GEAR and strategy, and the tech-nerd in Sara's soul immediately jumped with excitement- she loved the idea of getting a look at different GEARs, and ACE academy pilots had a habit of customizing their machines.

"Actually," Kiril turned to face the tall girl, pushing his glasses up his nose, "It is better we do not get thoroughly acquainted first."

He was well aware he was out of his water. There was an innate advantage of working with rookies - they were easily malleable and would usually prefer to expand upon the ideas of others, instead of suggesting their own. This team was very different in nature, and while he was glad to step down for a change, he could not let them proceed without suggesting something.

"I suggest we dive right in," he continued, "without any planning beyond a few words of introduction. It is within the unknown that the true nature of a man is revealed, and this is a great opportunity to really get to know you all."

"Thanks guys...I appreciate it. I have a lot to live up to. Both inside of this team, and out. I'll do my best too be your team's captain." Bill said as he took the clipboard and smiled at them all. "We may not know each other well Hamasaki but I believe that it would be best to just test out our skills together in a battle simulation before we plan strategies for real. If we can get an idea on who meshes with who then we can start working on our formation with a clear idea of who should be offense, and who should be backing up the others." Bill commented as Yasumi scratched the back of his head. "Alright boss whatever you say." grumbled Yasumi as he scratched his head boredom leaking from his voice as he yawned tiredly. Still I believe we should down SOME ground rules before we start right? Your name is Gurevich right? You said your back up? Alright then you better cover our friend Ian." Bill said as he looked over the clipboard names quickly.

"I believe it would be best for me, and Sara to be working together as well. We're both skirmishers...that leaves Hamasaki. If she can provide covering fire to the both of us it would be greatly appreciated. The less they can focus on us the more power we have to get them off their game. Just be careful where you're shooting my gear is close combat oriented." Bill said as he moved onto the gears themselves. Now he felt a bit awkward his gear....well it was pretty sweet. It was way above anything he'd ever used before with good reason. Because it's old pilot was way above his league. "I'd think it'd be for the best to just show you guys my gear instead of explaining it. Come on this way...Yasumi can you wait for any lagging people?" asked Bill as Yasumi confirmed he'd keep his eyes out before Bill headed down towards the hanger entrance. He quickly pulled up his phone and used the pass on it swipe himself into the hanger before waiting for the others to come through with him.

It apparently didn't take long to get rid of the formality of using his last name, which honestly made Ian glad. He wasn't Japanese so that convention wasn't something he had grown up with. On that note, it was probably good that a few of the others were foreign as well. It made things feel a bit more casual without actually having to get to know each other. The sooner they could all be more comfortable off the battlefield, the sooner they could work cohesively on it.

"So I guess I'll stick to the back and pick them off while you keep them occupied." Ian affirmed his implied role. He didn't much like the idea of being paired with the guy he had just spent the past few moments thinking poorly of. In fact, the idea that he'd have to entrust his safety to this guy kind of put him off. With a sound that was somewhere between a yawn and a sigh, he followed Bill into the hangar.

It was a familiar sight really, the various GEARs of every pilot in the school. This year his would get to see some real action instead of just sitting in here. Of course, just because it hadn't left the hangar in that time didn't mean it was poorly maintained. While Ian wasn't an engineer, he was fairly versed in standard preventative maintenance.

Bill looked around the hanger himself it was filled with that sort of metallic smell, and look that only pilots could really enjoy. Even though he was a pilot though he still never really enjoyed the smell of metal. Fortunately, and unfortunately for him though he didn't get to enjoy the sights of all the engineers and pilots at work on their own gears...because his gear was being gawked at in all it's glory. The blood red, and dark black Exalted (more commonly known as the machine Masurao) stood proudly in it's place it's terminal was thankfully locked as it seemed the engineers had already gone over whatever they needed too. Knowing his team was probably still behind him he really couldn't help but feel he should disperse the crowd gathering around the machine.

"Holy shit that machine is sick!" commented a first year gear pilot, as another older member stared at the thing intensely. A few girls stood with open mouths gaping at the beautiful japanese inspired gear as Atlas ran over he saw one of his old team co-captains now managing High Blade Ryonosuke Kumagera a top level defender class gear pilot. Last year between him, and Sasaki they had almost never gotten anyone to hit their key members. Now High Blade was top on people's list to win because of Ryo's talent. However they had stiff competition. "Hey watch where you're shoving!" complained another pilot as Bill stood in front of the group after pushing his way forward. "Everyone please move I need to inspect my gear ple-" Bill said respectfully but still firmly as Ryonosuke stepped forward. "What's the meaning of this Atlas? I know this machine. It belongs to Black Thunder Atlas. How on earth did you get it from him?" growled Ryonosuke as Bill stood his ground in front of the admittedly larger man. Ryonosuke was practically 25 years old and he was bulky, and tough. The perfect specimen of a pilot if there was any. "Ex-" Bill tried to explain as one of the geekier kids came up, "Yeah that's definitely Masurao The Hardened Red Blade of Carnage. Build as a completely new model it's abilities with both speed, and shield strength are excellent. Hyperion Industries typically only makes big machines however Masurao is a specialty item. I would like to know myself how you came across it." asked the kid as Bill sighed. "It's because Black Thunder is my cousin, and mentor he gave Masurao to me because he thought I deserved it. That's all I'm telling you now leave or I'm calling the security guards go gawk somewhere else." Bill said firmly as most of the kids dispersed grumbling, and gossiping along the way. "So your cousin finally gave you your own jackboot to work into huh Atlas? Fine so be it. I'll see you in a combat round soon enough." Ryonosuke said as he left with a few other members of High Blade leaving Bill to himself as he turned around and stared at Masurao with a sigh. 'One hell of a boot you gave me Jaden...I hope it fits sooner than later...I'll need every ounce of Masurao's ability...no Exalted's if I'm too win.' Bill thought to himself.