“FLAMESTONE G-”

Flung back again by the large invader’s shield, Tian-Gui was about to rush in for a third time when Yui ended it in an instant, the foul-mouthed katana-user striking like lightning, practically bisecting the monstrosity in a singular blow. Cancelling his thrusters, the armored titan skidded to a halt beside the girl and marvelled at her work, before, just as a precaution, he raised his palms to generate more flames, incinerating the sloppy remains of the Invader.

It certainly wasn’t the best thing to smell, but Final Red came with air filters anyways, and Tian-Gui remained unfazed as he watched it burn. Finally, once it was charred black, he let it be, the vents in his armor still exuding heat.

“Well,” Tian-Gui said, turning to their clincher, “That was pretty awesome, Yui. New secret move or something?”

In just a couple of moments, Hiro witnessed a display of furious destruction. What originally was a disadvantage, had been reduced a pile of mush in between the squad members. Yui's display was in fact, something to be impressed by. But more over, a gasp of breath finally released itself from his lungs. A girt of his before unbinding the tether that kept the members healed, seriously, the toll that this ability took on him was great, but they lawlessness of his teammates was also a demanding factor. Their wounds and stamina would remain as if were limitless, at the expense of his own. He would appreciate if they would keep such in mind, but then again, another part of him thought that maybe he should perfect such an ability. A stretch of his neck and arms, before attempting to regain composure of himself, Gungnir flew down to his level and with its charged healed whatever fatigue was left. Sustaining that amount of craziness was never easy. A sigh, either way, the plan was essentially, hit it harder until it falls. Which leaves Hiro with a bitter taste on his lips, but ultimately the result spoke for himself. There was a considerable amount of damage done, however nothing too drastic on a worst case scenario one of the sensors was blown to bits, Falk would get an earful about that back at HQ.

Although training prepared them for these type of circumstances, the team preformed terribly. Ultimately, they were all over the place. Nothing was coordinated, and everything was thrown up on the air at the last second. This depicts their inexperience... Or perhaps his lack of strength. A thought began to loom on the back of his head, on that peered every so often of the man he once was before all of this. Hiro Valentine held a status before, and perhaps the loss of his memory affected much of his performance. Would the previous Hiro, the man who remembered his past and held different hope for the future, accepted these directives? Or would he have done something differently. Time was of the essence, and things did seem to calm down. Recharging Gungnir again, it hovered at the center. He was getting tired, but at least he could still function normally. "Gugnir is right there, if anyone needs to get healed, just tether with it. Should bring you all back to, if not close to 100%" He turned back to his squad mates, before pulling his glasses up and delivering a smile "Good work, Raphael and Alistair. Let's keep the flow going for next time."

---

Raphel was pleasantly surprised to see that Nakamura Yui had offered to deliver the final blow and, while both the similarities and the differences were highly distinctive between the two plans, it turned out that allowing Yui to go through with her own was ultimately the correct call. Raphel watched intently as Yui decimated the enemy that stood before the humans, cleaving its body completely in half.

He waited until the invader no longer showed signs of even the slightest twitch, before going in between both halves of the cadaver and kneeling down to make his examination. He didn't have the expertise to determine what exactly to make of it, but one thing was clear.

"Ah, so the enemies we're dealing with are biological as well as mechanical in nature," he deduced, "The latter would explain a lot in terms of the actions and reactions they've taken, but there's more about them that we've yet to account for..."

Regardless, at least now he'd know what needed to be done should he and his team were to ever encounter such a creature again, and that was victory enough. Updating the file that he wanted to send to Lt. Mako, Raphel got back up and found himself looking over towards Yui's sword, evidently curious of it. As someone who'd originally attempted to apply as a Striker himself, he could appreciate the effort that each applicant would have to go through in order to be truly effective. He approached the girl.

"You must be Yui, correct? Do you mind if I try to get a feel for your weapon?" Raphel asked politely.

---

And so it was done. The invader finally fell, not with bang, nor with a boom, but with a big splattering slash.

With the source of their immediate troubles taken care off, Mavis could let herself relax, the adrenaline coursing through her veins finally wearing off, even though it meant a little bit more pain waited for her until they could be back at the Academy and she got some proper medical attention, from a certain… very unhappy Lieutenant Colonel. Even so, it was just a minor wound; no one would notice if she didn’t spoke out. All she had to do was grit her teeth and carry on for a couple more hours or so.

“Well, that was pretty cool, guys. Now that we took out their artillery, we can go back. We probably shouldn’t hang around here more than we need to,” Mavis said as she came close to the downed alien with her typical smile stamped on her face.

“What Mavis said is correct. All of you, come back at once,” Lieutenant Isoshima’s voice finally came through the radio. Now that the mission was over she could go back to her regular command duties. “I know that taking down this invader wasn’t a foreseen part of your mission, but I commend all of you for decision. There are… some circumstances we have to talk about, but this can be left for after we are back in a safe zone.”

“I don’t normally do it for this much people, but you heard the Lieutenent. It’s time to fall back,” Subaru’s said as Neptune floated closer to the cadets. Just as her drone came to a halt, Subaru created a portal that would bring them right back to their transport. “Since there are some of you who are wounded, you can use it this time,” she said in her usual deadpan manner.

“Well then, go on, guys. We’ll be right behind you,” Mavis said. After all it wasn’t like she could leave until Neptune did as well.

"Most impressive." Mila said, stating the obvious once again, as she got closer to the people that seemed to gather around Yui. Immediately after, the purple haired girl turned to the giant in red armour and lifted her head straight up at him.

"Jian Tian-Gui, Striker of Team Afterglow. The importance of forming good relations with fellow soldiers is an important aspect of military life." After a short and awkward silence following this way-too-formal declaration; "I did not fail to notice the assistance you provided earlier, and hope I was of any help in the following engagement. Thank you." Her massive gun touched ground with a massive thud as she respectfully bowed in thanks before finally walking off towards her team captain.

"Allow me." she said, straight forward as ever, before picking up the unconscious Rin-Rin in Mavis' stead. Not that Mila doubted Mavis' physical prowess, but this was a logic thing to do seeing how the red head was Mila's direct higher up. Once Iron Saga was comfortably attached to the Cyborg's back, she followed the group back to the main transport.

The deed was done. Yui's plan was perfect, except for one part. Still though, the commendations of her fellow students felt nice. She stabbed her blade a solid foot into the ground and the overwhelming power stored within her body faded with a long exhalation. Alongside the power, the crystalline horns that grew and her scaly skin fractured into dust that blew away in the soft winds. While her body was uninjured from both the attack and her transformation (save for dry and raw skin), her internal systems were a complete different story. Less than half a minute. That's how long her transformation lasted.

“Nah...” Yui replied to Tian-Gui out of breath from the altercation, “old move. I just don't do it becayshe-” That's when she felt it. A horrible cramp took hold of each muscle in her body. She groaned in pain as her arms contorted against her chest and her legs buckled. Man, Yui's power sucked. It was super strong, but she always had to deal with this. Slowly but surely, the cramps subsided until she could actually think and move her limbs like a normal human being. Raphel asked the now-functioning Yui if he could feel out her sword, which was fine. Yui didn't really mind.

“Go ahead,” she said with an unemoted shrug, “pull out excalibur.” It was still on maximum weight, though.

After Raphel got his chance to play with the sword, Yui stood up and sluggishly grabbed the blade, making sure to toggle the weight back to a normal, usable level. She thanked Mila for carrying Team Yui Gang's wittle babby healer and entered the portal. She just wanted a nice, long nap in an attempt to ignore her body, which screamed with the force of ten thousand suns for going too hard.

---

The still very much alive Invader snarled in rough pain from its untimely defeat. Its body, split into two, thrashed against the grassed ground and sent droplets of its alien blood scattered among the greenery. Clearly it was still hellbent on fighting, but it wouldn’t be given a chance. The crimson monolith that was Tian-Gui made sure of that. He ended the creature’s life permanently with a healthy dosing of powerful flames. The creature had been reduced to charred metal and crumbling goops of black in no time. Incinerated.

While the other teams were conversing with one another, they would all hear Lieutenant Isoshima’s orders on the intercoms. A minute more and Subaru was offering free portal trips back to base without walking, her drone hovering over the students. Each student had done well enough in fighting to survive the encounter for the most part. Much like Lieutenant Isoshima had said, their actions were to be commended. But it could have been better, and this difference was what separated life from untimely demise.

As the others began to head back to base, R.R. and Riyame stood a bit away from them. The red-headed Striker was shuffling nervously from one foot to the other, her eyes cast towards the ground. “Er, hey, so I didn’t mean to fucking ditch. I just got super fucking excited and, uh…please don’t be mad Riyame...” Her teammate held a blank expression and even raised her arm up. R.R. instantly flinched with shut eyes…only to find Riyame’s hand on her head.

“That doesn’t matter R.R. What matters is that you’re alright,” said the Gunner. Riyame smiled as she patted the crown of R.R.’s head before she motioned towards Subaru’s portals. “Come on, we should be heading with them. And I’m sure a certain someone is worried about you too.”

“Eh? Eh!?! No way, no fucking way Reiki was worrying about me!” said R.R. as she followed her partner excitedly. She looked at the Gunner with too wide eyes and it took all of Riyama’s self-control not to giggle at the sight.

“Hmm, why don’t you ask them yourself?” Riyama shut off her comm links to avoid the barbed retort that would eventually come from their Linker. Soon enough both girls were at the base; in no time, all of them would be. Team Chaotix carefully excused themselves from the younger students to brief in private while the rest of the Psychers would come to eventually gather around Lieutenant Isoshima.

---

[quote=@Saltwater Thief]


And like that it was over. Lucia, with R.R. joining her, had been prepared to intercept the large Invader when it attempted to strike back, but it seemed that wouldn't be necessary as Tian ruptured its defenses and Yui, with assistance, saw to its end. It was a satisfactory end, as far as command was concerned. But Lucia couldn't help but grit her teeth in frustration. Not only had she arrived late to the scene, she'd been completely ineffective in the fight. When brute force seemed futile, she'd shied away and back off, whereas Tian had continued to press forward, and as a result had provided the opening Yui had needed to bring it down.

She'd acted like a coward, and this was her reward. Disgusted with herself, she shook her head and went to reunite with the rest of Novae before making for the portal alongside them. "I'll do better next time," she muttered to herself, "I HAVE to."

"Oh, R.R?" she asked as she passed the other Striker, "Thanks for your assistance today."

---

And like that, the large Invader died, and the battle had ended. After giving the area a quick scan through Dee's camera, Kuni sighed and then went to make her way to the rest of her teammates. She listened as they were apparently commended for taking down the threat that had been present, but Kuni just let the note pass by her. Her current priority was to ensure that her team was still doing fine. She let her focus shift away from them, and she didn't like that one bit.

Finally arriving with the team, she watched as Lucia arrived, and muttered something that wasn't audible to Kuni, before walking and catching up to R.R., most likely to talk to her. After getting Dee to go down to her height, she looked over it briefly, before spotting Mila, who was carrying someone unconscious. Kuni gave Dee herself as a target, and instructed it to follow target, before walking with some haste, going to catch up to her roommate.

Once she caught up to Mila, she looked over her, wanting to make sure that she seemed alright. Without saying a word, Kuni simply offered a nod of approval.

Honestly, Fiore was barely able keep track of the chaos happening on the battlefield, and seeing as she's a practically defenseless target without much in the way of weapons, it was a relief when the explosive action died down. A moment of silence--no, a few hours--would be nice, though, to clear her head and stop the world from spinning out of control. But right now, she must focus on the present, and her job as a Linker.

After checking up on her injured Gunner, Fiore confirms that nothing has been seriously hurt and that nothing can be done apart from a good long rest, so she begins wandering among the crowd of students to see if she can help out in any way. Unfortunately, it's a little hard when everyone is really tall and holding big guns. Even Tian-Gui looks scary, talking to that girl with the huge sword... Not to mention, Hiro's healing tether is much more effective than Fiore's Probe.

Fiore sighs, feeling a lump in throat form. She's tired, her legs hurt, and she feels lost with so many teams milling about. It's time to call this one a day. There's a lot to think about, and a lot that she can learn from. Perhaps getting a weapon would be a better idea that holding the team back by forcing Tian-Gui to protect her; she hates learning how to kill, but it can't be helped.

It would be nice, though, if she was just a bit more useful...

---

While he wouldn't have much time for a proper test drive of Yui's sword on his hands, Raphel was thankful that he still had the potential opportunity to get a few swings in before everyone was to answer the call back to base. He grabbed the sword by the hilt as Yui pushed it towards him, but was sent down to one knee as the sheer weight of the weapon had caught him off-guard. Considering his psychic prowess had a greater aptitude towards speed as opposed to strength, that was to be expected. Raphel used his right shoulder to adjust the position of his glasses, ensuring that he had both hands firmly on the grip of the sword before attempting to stand back up.

'Excalibur, huh?' he noted as he made a valiant, and surprisingly successful effort to get back on his feet, 'How fitting...'

After a large inhale of breath, Raphel put all the strength he had into a single, quick slash. It was very low to the ground, just barely having enough clearance to not actually leave a scratch on the earth like it looked to. There was only one assessment to make.

"This may very well be me not possessing the necessary strength, but to say that this is unwieldy would be a severe understatement." he told Yui as he carefully returned to sword to its rightful owner, "You must have quite the high level of psychic energy in order to utilize it as fluidly as you had. For that, you have my respect."

Tian-Gui watched Yui’s limbs spasm, the backlash of her actions manifesting, but the golden monolith only watched. Strikers had their own stubborn sort of pride, after all, and as long as the samurai girl didn’t topple over, he was fine with letting her go her own way. “Looks like power’s got a price, yeah,” he remarked, slapping her (lightly) on the back. “Thanks for your hard work.”

Though he couldn’t really smile with his mask on, one of the burning blue eyes of Tian-Gui still blinked out, replicating a wink, before he turned, right as the most troublesome of his classmates approached. Mila was a nice person, for sure, but almost half a year had passed and he still wasn’t totally certain how properly interact with her. Behind the imposing mask of Final Red, the Striker screwed his face up in an awkward expression, before responding, just as awkwardly and martially, “It’s the duty of a Striker to defend, but your gratitude is…appreciated regardless. As well as the firepower you provide, of course. Yes, let us continue to…observe the importance of forming good relations with fellow soldiers because it’s an important aspect of military life, Engel Mila, Gunner of Team Arizona.”

The titan bowed as well and extended a handshake for good measure, only to realize the mechanical gunner girl had already walked off towards her team captain. Scratching the back of his head, he let out a sigh, before striding back towards Fiore and Cellica.
“Nice work, you two,” he said, tone light and relaxed again, “Let’s get back to the Sergeant, eh? With a kill as big as that under our belts, surely she won’t chew us out too much?”

And, just like that, he lifted both of the girls up onto his armored shoulders, before marching towards the portal Subaru created.
@OliveYou@SimpleWriter@Burger

---

The trip back to the transport would take a blink of an idea, literally, as the Cadets crossed Subaru’s portal. As soon as they arrived at the airship, they would be welcomed by a blast of cold air, as the very own white-haired Linker cranked the cooling systems to as close to the maximum as she could while they were out. Once everyone that left for the mission was accounted for, and some basic post-mission procedures have been completed, the pilot announced that they would be taking flight right away, while Lieutenant Isoshima stepped out of the console bay of the command center with the arms crossed under her chest.

“I suppose you are all expecting me to ‘discipline’ you after this mission, right? If that’s the case, you don’t need to hold your breath. The collateral damage was within allowed margins and most of you didn’t display any kind of especially reckless behavior on the field. Instead of that, I’m actually going to commend you for your capacity for threat assessment. That Artillery Type would have prevented us from taking off and potentially destroyed the transport if you didn’t take it down. I’ll be sure to add this to the report.

Talking about this, once we are back to the Academy, the first thing you all have to do is go to Lieutenant Colonel Limit’s office for a post-mission check-up. Once you are done with that, I want every team leader to turn in a mission report. And, after that... you’ll have the rest of the weekend for yourselves. This mission was harsher than expected, so I’ve talked with the Operations Command and arranged a brief leave as a reward for your efforts.

Are there any questions? Otherwise, you are dismissed,” she said just as the transport landed at one of the Academy’s helipads and opened the cargo bay ramp, filling the compartment with the blood-red light of late afternoon.

---

Everything had settled and instead of chewing us down, the commander actually congratulated us. His worry was for naught, maybe they did do something of worth today. Such gave Hiro clarity, his chest felt as if it dropped a heavy burden and slumped shoulders grew taller, a smile shaped itself on his lip and promptly elevated his own sense of judgement over the situation. He should keep it in mind, however, eventually the stakes would be worse and everything wouldn't be as lax as it was today. There wasn't anything particular Hiro wanted to ask, and so he decided to proceed to his quarters to take a much needed shower. Stretching his neck from side-to-side in an attempt to release whatever stressed had build there over the past couple of hours. The screech of the rotor-blades eased themselves into a pause, and what was left of sunlight bathed the scenery before them. Hiro didn't hesitate for a moment before he stood and proceeded to HQ, maneuvering almost rhythmically to the showers. A moments pause, his pad began to reverberate on his wrist. He was sure Gungnir was sent to repairs, but the blaring icon demanded for his attention, a solemn stare... You see, mission were a critical factor in their lives and the lives of civilians. No matter what the circumstances are, the reality stems that there was no means of which you could ignore a direct order. Not because you didn't try, but because such a feed would be delivered to you regardless of the circumstances which surrounded you.

There wouldn't be a choice of whether or not you could pick up, but rather if you didn't pick up, they would push the notification so that they know you'd see it. As Linker too, pushing such a message wouldn't have been too complicated at all. As they aren't only in the field for support reasons, but simultaneously, they are there too feed info to the front-liners. Meaning, any message, Hiro wouldn't be able to ignore it no matter the circumstances if HQ was persistent enough. This wasn't an order, this wasn't an emergency line. It was a call... One where he could decide the outcome of it. The blaring stopped, a sigh escaped Hiro, and slowly he brought up the image to his sights. The mail icon had a single digit upon it, eyes trained on it as if calling for his attention. A single tap, opening...

A voice message, a female on the other side. "Hey, it's been awhile hasn't it?"

Hiro continued to undress, the pad placed on the surface of a table near the sink. Hearing everything unfold "How's training going? I'm sure everything is going great, knowing you though, you're probably not making much friends." A long pause, for a moment Hiro would've assumed that it was the end of it. But clearly it wasn't. The person on the other side of the line was thinking, searching for the words which would inevitably mirror her sentiments correctly. Her breathing was caught, a sigh, perhaps and inhale? He didn't seem to find it enough of a factor to consider it relevant... The shower turned on, water began to course across his head, slowly encompassing him completely.

"Look, we haven't heard from you in awhile and... And we kind of just wanted to-- I know that the incident--! Damn it..." There it was, the jumble of words and thoughts colliding together to perform a disgusting mend. Humanity couldn't effortlessly paint themselves so eloquently delicate, when the maelstrom in their hearts shifted the soothing tide, they couldn't possibly ever be ready for its turbulence. She didn't do anything, but... Why did it feel so treacherous? It felt as if talking to a stranger. "Call me when you can, Hiro. I'm sure you can at least do that right? I know you'll hear this... You always do." Click---

"I couldn't tell ya. I don't even remember who you are, honestly." Amnesia was a heavy burden, perhaps one that not much people have an understanding of. In this world, mankind's most prominent desire is to be remembered. To leave a piece of themselves behind, a trace of greatness or merely a trace of their existence... To not remember the slightest detail of them, is to surely be unable to recognize their very importance in reality. Her face, voice, mannerisms, gestures, step, laugh... All of them foreign to him. "I'm sure the other Hiro, the old Hiro would've been very happy to hear from you. But... That guy doesn't seem to be anywhere, probably somewhere lost, trying to be found."

He continued with his shower, unburden almost by the choices, by the circumstances presented to him. Or perhaps-- "That's what I'd like to believe, but I'm not that kind. Kindness is taught on the home, benevolence is achieved through experience after all."

The New Aeon Mall, reconstructed in Neo-Kyoto to match the city’s sleeker, shinier look, stood as a testament to humanity’s ability to always bounce back from adversity, and to become stronger for it. With state of the art static defences and automated security systems capable of evacuating and sheltering the tens of thousands of customers who file through its many shops every day, it is a steel-and-glass gem of capitalism and consumerism.

But where light shines, darkness treads as well, and as the sickle moon rises, another monster strikes! Upon a holographic stage, a great invader stood, its arms menacingly wide, its claws as long as sabers! A terrible gurgle rumbled through its tubular throat, before it declared, behind the bombast of thunder and lightning, the destruction of all of mankind underneath its fearsome Photon Tiger Claws! “Foolish humans, bound to the meat,” it chortled, swinging its glowing claws side to side, “Today shall be the day I end all your hopes and dreams, your joy and your smiles! Know me and fear me, the great Invader, Tel-Vor!”

“Not if I have a say in this!”

Three golden spotlights conjoined upon a section of the second floor of the mall, illuminating an armored hero of the highest caliber. As his iconic, glorious theme song rang through the air, singing of dreams and heroism, the red-and-silver hero of justice backflipped off, rotating twice before doing a three-point landing, his cyberweave scarf trailing dramatically above him. Striking one signature pose, then another, the transforming hero’s eyes burned the blue flame of justice, before he pointed one daring finger towards the villainous invader. “Your heinous plot stops here. Vel-Tor! Upon this oath that grants me strength, the vow I made to my honored father, I will defeat you! Uooooooooh…SAIBA SAIKIKU FIYA!”

Another dark chuckle, before the monstrous humanoid invader charged as well, a purple light blazing from its claws. “I’LL TEAR YOU TO SHREDS!”

Holographic pyrotechnics exploded as good and evil crossed fists, to the squeals and semi-dogmatic chanting of all the kids in the audience, as well some of the much, much older kids.

After all, Friday nights were Live Show nights.

---

Fifteen minutes of hot-blooded, unscripted action later, the show concluded in an explosive finale where Godfire Psyman invoked his Cosmos Lightning Mender to send Vel-Tor flying into outer space, to the applause and hype-noises of a few dozen children and their caretakers.

“Good job, Tian-Gui,” a blond-haired man said, offering a bottle of water, “Always good to have someone who knows their way through CQC.”

“Hey, no probs, Akira,” the larger man waved, “The smiles make it worth it.”

Akira laughed. “Spoken like a true hero.”

Tian-Gui grinned back, punching him on the shoulder. “Gotta up your game, Psyman. Can’t get outheroed by the villain, yeah?”

“Hey, if you ever wanna go into this for real…” The blond ikemen eyed a brow. “…an Invader-turned-hero was an idea they’ve been throwing around.”

“Naw, got my responsibilities ‘n all.”

His shrug came easily. “Figured. Wanna go for udon?”

“Eh…maybe after I get out of this costume?”

@Mr Nim

As ever, Mila had compiled all of the mission into a detailed report - and by all it was all. Her reports had a very bad tendency to be over crowded with useless details or descriptions, being that Mila was able, or rather had no choice, to store all of the information within her memory. To the cyborg, it took a conscious effort to filter only the useful information from everything else, but most of the time a lot went through the net. Knowing this, she had to come up with ways to Mila-proof her reports. One such way was asking another to go through it before she'd send it to the Lieutenant. Speaking of which, Mila knew for a fact that Kuni, her roommate, would be heading here pretty soon.

Their room was small, but clean. At the very least Mila's part was for sure, but then again she did not need a lot of space and/or material belongings. When Kuni would finally enter the room, Mila would be...standing straight in the middle of the room, staring at the door.

"Oh. Here you are, Kuni." Mila had most likely been standing in such a way for several minutes. Chances were her roommate was now 'used' to Mila's antics...or so the cyborg thought. Justified or not, Mila felt as if Kuni judged her awkwardness a bit less than others. It might have been because of her interest towards technology. Mila did notice Kuni was close to her Linker's drone in some way.

"Kuni, I have need of your assistance." Saying this, Mila started to move towards their common working desk. On the press of a button, a holographic screen opened up. Mila pressed her hand against the control panel, and the text report she had written within herself appeared on the screen for others to read. "Could you go through my report and filter the information that are pertinent to our superiors?" Then, turning to her friend, Mila took a surprised expression. "Oh. I forgot again; Hello, Kuni. How are you? I meant to ask you only if you had the time and were willing to, of course. I am not your superior, after all."

Tilting her head to the side; "After which, we could engage in socialization?"

After the post-mission checkup went fine for her, Kuni first went to do her own check up of Dee. She wanted to ensure that her combat drone did not get hit by any debris that she may have missed while still on the outside and not having the full focus on it. It had taken her a bit of time, but after looking over Dee about four times, she was finally satisfied and felt confident enough to say that her drone had not been harmed in any capacity throughout the mission.

With that done, it was finally time for her to head to the dorm room. One thing she was certain of was that her roommate, Mila, was most likely already there. And indeed, opening the door to the room, Kuni found Mila standing in the middle of it. Entering the room and closing it, Kuni went and placed her bag next to the edge of her bed, while Mila began calling to her for assistance. Turning to look in Mila's direction, she let out a small sigh "Yeah, I'll try helping. Though not sure to what extent I can help, considering I wasn't with your team and can't quite determine which details would be considered useless or not." She told her roommate.

Approaching the common working desk, Kuni did began to go over the details, making small marks next to details she thought were unneeded or rather irrelevant. Mila gathered a lot of information, that was for certain. When Mila suddenly asked how she was doing and saying that it was only if she wanted to help, Kuni turned to her and offered a smile "I'm doing good. Didn't get injured in the mission or anything, and Dee is doing good too. As for helping with this, I'm happy to. We're roommates, after all." She told her.

When Mila brought up the suggestion to socialize, Kuni rose her eyebrows a bit "I guess we could. Any topics in your mind? Or anything in particular you want to do?" She asked, while moving her gaze back to the screen, resuming the process of marking the details she deemed were irrelevant.

It was a weekend off. A rarity in and of itself, there was only one thing to do on such an occasion; hit the beach!

Well, sort of. There wasn't an ACTUAL beach worth visiting in the city, but there was an indoor, artificial beach with a water park included that could be visited. It wasn't even close to what Marseille could offer, but then again what was? It would suffice though, so Lucia donned her swimsuit, packed a towel, and set out to have a relaxing day by the water.

The building with the manmade beach was entirely temperature controlled and featured artificial sunlight to simulate a beautiful summer day regardless of season or weather. It was crowded, but that was expected given it being a weekend. By some miracle Lucia managed to find an open umbrella and quickly spread out her towel to claim it. Once that was done she carefully took off her street clothes and folded them inside her bag, then laid down in her sky blue bikini to soak up a few artificial solar rays.

"Hey hot stuff, need some lotion applied?" came a voice from nearby not long into things. Lucia looked up despite knowing what it would be, and to her disgruntlement she was right; a mid-teens boy who thought he was being witty.

"Non, merci," she replied nonchalantly, "I should be good for at least another hour before I need to reapply, and I'll do that myself. Run along now."

"Aw, come on! I just want to spend some time with you," the hormone-addled youth continued, "Who knows, maybe we could..."

"For your own sake," Lucia cut him off, "Do NOT finish that sentence. Au revoir."

"Really now, can't a guy-"

"D'accord, that is it. I am going to take my sunglasses off, and if by the time my eyes adjust to the glare- which will be around seven seconds, give or take- if you are still here I am going to bury you up to your head in the sand," she said as she closed her eyes and began to remove her shades, "And I'll make sure you don't come out for a while. Now then..."

It actually only took her 6 seconds to adjust, but the boy seemed to have taken her seriously because he was nowhere to be found. With that handled, Lucia propped herself up and gazed out at the wave pool that formed the "ocean" of the beach. It was plenty relaxing, and it helped take her mind off of the mission and what had happened. Which, she thought to herself, was exactly what the proverbial doctor ordered.

---

Just as Mavis expected, she didn’t get out so easily, after coming back from another mission with an easily preventable injury. Not that a cracked bone was much for her, but a certain Lieutenant Colonel forbid her from any for at least the next weekend. Not only that, but the redhead was required to wear a medical exoskeleton on her so that her treatment could be done in time, while also being promised a ‘proper education’ when the two of them were back at home.

“Well, I guess that all’s well when it ends well,” Mavis said to herself as she got ready for the ‘dreadsome’ prospect of a free weekend. Before she went out to hit the city and enjoy the day before the unavoidable earful she would get later in the night, Mavis left a note for Subaru in their room talking about her plans. She knew that the other girl was going to expend most of her time in the lab with her mom — Mavis’ mom, that is — but couldn’t stop herself from inviting her anyway.

On her way out, Mavis stopped by Kuni and Mila’s room to tell her other teammate, and her roommate, that if they would be welcome if they wanted to join her later. Not that she would blame Mila is she wanted to spend more time with a cutie like Kuni.

Nevertheless, Mavis would be spending most of the rest of the day in the mall. Between movies, junk food, games, and much more, she had enough to keep herself busy for a while. However, if she didn’t leave soon, she would miss the best part of her escape.

And… sure she didn’t miss it. And probably no one else would miss a slightly tall — when compared to the rest of the actual children around her — redhead waving her arms and shouting excitedly during a cheesy live-action superhero show happening in the mall. She couldn’t help but feel something pretty familiar whenever she looked at one of the actors, but she shrugged it off to the fact that repetition was a common thing in these kinds of semi-improvised spectacles.

When the time for the handshaking event that usually follows such performances came, Mavis was one of the first in the line, waiting with her autograph book and phone, ready to take some good photos with the show’s crew.


Meanwhile, at the Taiyoujima Water Park…

“Wow! You handled it like a pro,” said an impressed voice coming from not very far away from Lucia’s spot in the artificial beach.

If the Striker cared to turn toward the source of it, she would see a girl relaxing at a beach chair while having an ice-cold glass of melon & mint juice, looking right back at her. The girl was wearing a fashionable, dark one-piece which contrasted well against her fairly pale skin and silvery-white hair. Such a monochromatic look making the only spot of color in her appearance — her ruby-like eyes — stand out even more.

“I’m — hmm… sorry for interrupting you,” the girl followed up, as a light blush found its way to her face, regardless of whether she was being looked at or not. “It’s just that… the boys around here are so pushy, but you dealt with that one like it’s no one’s business. That was, well… very cool... I think?” she said, looking at Lucia in an apprehensive way, hoping that she didn’t get told off as well.

---

Finally, some time to myself!

The news of a weekend off was nothing but good news to Fiore, and immediately after arriving at the Academy, she rushed to her dorm room, intending to take a nice, long nap to rest her aching muscles. The mission sure did a number on her--even with her psychic powers, her body is still frail and Fiore is very, very glad to finally collapse into her bed after a long day. This is how Fiore spends most of her day; it is only after hours of serious rest and relaxation that she feels strong enough to get up and do something else.

So, after a short shower to clear her head and a snack of hummus and carrot sticks, Fiore embarks on the most surefire way of having fun that she knows: shopping.

Although brought up in a environment where fitting clothes were the exception, not the rule, Fiore has recently gotten more interested in the world of fashion, using her part-time job savings to purchase a few pieces of clothing she particularly likes. It is difficult, though, to find things in her size. (She mostly shops in the kids section--nobody gives her any looks, she could be a twelve-year-old for all they know.) But the New Aeon Mall has more than enough styles that cater to Fiore's taste, although in a slightly higher price; it's okay, she mostly just browses anyway.

Wandering around the mall, purse in hand as she window-shops, Fiore hears a commotion on the second floor. Curious, she joins the crowd surrounding the stage where two behemoths fight, exchanging blows in a flurry of high-tech holographics! While Fiore wishes she could say she was over stage-plays, her inner child takes over and she joins in on the chanting, a smile on her face as she watches the two actors fight. It almost reminds her of the mission, and how Tian-Gui smashed through all those trees! That was so cool!!

The show ends in a explosion of colors and Fiore, as well as the other children, raise a cacophony of applause and cheers in response. Looking around, she realizes she really does look like just another kid, and the smile slides off her face. This is no good. She even styled her outfit and hair to look more grown-up, and now she's just--

"Excuse me, are you lost?"

Fiore jumps, turning around to look (up) at the concerned face of a twenty-something man, two young kids following obediently behind him. She flushes, shaking her head in a panic.

"A-ah, no, I'm not! I just look young." An awkward laugh escapes her. Hopefully he doesn't think she's lying, like that one grandma who even took her to the front desk. That was humiliating. No, wait! She has her school ID, she can prove this! "I, um, I'm a student at the 2nd Tactical Arts Academy..."