When Elise had agreed to be a Frame Pilot, she had expected nothing particularly 'enticing' at the end of the day. Her choice, at it's core, was to join a PMC instead of being drafted by the U.S. military, and neither seemed particularly great at the end of the day—least of all in the middle of an apocalypse that had pushed humanity to the brink.

But here she was years later, eating a fresh bowl of ramen as she overlooked the Tokyo skyline within a massive airship, living a life most people would only be able to dream of even before the Warped had arrived and made a mess out of everything. It felt... Wrong, in a way—doubly so after having lived through hell as a civilian right before.

She had no reason to complain, though, and the price she was paying for such luxuries—on top of the continued safety of her father—was her service as a fighter on the front lines. As to whether or not that was a fair trade...

Well, she had no right to put a price on a human life, much less the innumerable masses whose own had been taken for no "good" reason. If she had been so lucky as to be allowed to live as she was now, then the least that she could do was work herself to the bone trying to make sure such an investment into her—and, by extension, those who worked alongside her—was worth it.

Today was another such day—more than most, given the mission briefing they had been given a few days prior. A joint effort with the Japanese government in Tokyo to attempt to reclaim parts of the Saitama prefecture, if she recalled correctly; something more important than the usual small skirmishes with weaker Warped to help get them more used to fighting, at least.

Hopefully the taste and warmth of the broth would calm her nerves instead of letting her stew in her thoughts any more... Or that the others would finish getting their meals before briefing. A nice chat was always nice to help break the tension in the air, and they did have some time to themselves for the moment.

Karaage! Rice! A big bowl of ramen!

Aaah, this was the best!

Her brown hair bouncing with each step, a smile as radiant as the most blinding sunburst on her lips, the wielder of the Chi-mechframe Hinotori practically skipped into the dining area, a tray looking positively overloaded in her arms. Of course, this would hardly be an unfamiliar sight.

For Fukada Hoshiko was something of a black hole when it came to food.

And what better way to enjoy delicious food then alongside her fellow pilots?

Her smile parted into a wide grin as she approached the others. Chatting over a meal was the best, and it felt like a great opportunity to get even closer with everyone.

From the very start, Hoshiko's opinion had been that since they were going to work together, it only made sense to make friends and get to know one another. Being cold and super professional or whatever was no good, especially when they were going to live together on Horizon. To that end, she had spent free time trying to get to know everyone as much as she could. Hanging out was the best way to make friends, after all.

These six months had been surreal, to be honest. Hoshiko never expected to experience anything like this. To be living in a base in the sky. To be teamed up with a bunch of other people and use a cutting edge piece of technology. But it was a chance to keep people safe, to make sure no-one ever got hurt again.

She had to take that chance.

"Hi, everbody!" declared the brunette, cheerfully, immediately sitting down close to the others and setting her tray down on the table as she did. "This is great, isn't it?! I'm so hungry! Itadakimaaaasu~!"

The following scene could be described as something of an assault on all that was edible, as Hoshiko began devouring her food at a pace that would have seemed impossible to anyone unfamiliar with her eating habits.

"Haaah~" she paused in her rampage against the food world for a moment, a hand to her cheek, "So tasty~!"

One thing that was still taking getting used to was the food here. Oh, she didn't even remember half the things she'd used to eat, or even what her favourite had been, but it was readily apparent that she hadn't been some massive aficionado for foreign cuisine in the past. Most things had been new to her, and she had definitely been learning how to use chopsticks for the first time, no half-lost muscle memory to rely on. It was a good thing that the whole learning process there was over with before this whole operation started and a bunch more people joined in, it would have been awkward to have a bigger audience than the local researchers.

Jennifer had spent a good few minutes absent-mindedly looking over the Tokyo skyline--it was neat to look it at it from above like this and not be dealing with the wind herself. Or having to talk to air traffic control at the same time. She wasn't a registered pilot, what were they expecting from her? The only times she'd come this high were in the full mechframe, it would have taken too long anyway, and then the odds that she'd collide with anything and not dodge were minuscule.

At least, she thought she could avoid collisions with most aircraft? They were pretty unlikely to be at the same altitude, and she could just go straight up and down with an agility that powered flight could only dream of. And backwards. So, she ought to never be hit by a plane, and even a helicopter would be pretty unlikely. Getting chewed up by turbine blades or a rotor sounded like a really nasty way to go, she should make sure that never happened.

An exuberant declaration brought Jennifer's attention back from the window again, and to the ramen she was carrying. Right, lunch, eat it. Pulling up the chair in front of the brunette before she got distracted again, watching in fascination as the food just... vanished. Where did it all go? Was she even tasting it?

"You look like you're enjoying that, uh..." what was her name again? Futaba something or other? "Honoka?"

"Itadakimasu~" Echoed the fellow pilot as he arrived just behind the others at the table.

With practiced dexterity, he slid the tray in his only hand onto the table before sitting beside Jennifer and across from Elise. Though his tray was similarly piled with food, it was far from Hoshiko's. A far more reserved bowl of udon, a large salad, two cookies, and a banana.

Pulling the chair back to have a bit more legroom, Rune, the veritable giant, sat. he always enjoyed sitting next to Jennifer, giving the broad height contrast between them. He was confident that standing, she was barely above eye-level with his navel.

Taking in the three, he started with the pilot across from him. Elise looked pensive and in thought. He had a feeling he knew what was on her mind; he hoped to chat with her about the coming mission. She was the most reserved from his perspective, and appreciated for her consistency. He gave her a kind smile as he settled into his seat. They trained and worked a lot on the airship. He didn't want to bring it up while they relaxed and ate, leaving it for her to bring up. If she wanted to, or he would wait until later.

The little one beside him understandably chimed up about Hoshiko's eating. Rune felt he could always tell how her memory was treating her by how much she reacted to his height. He related to her, though. They were all injured somehow, but Jennifer and his were easier to see on the surface. She was sweet, so he did his best not to let her forgetfulness bother him.

"Hoshiko," he said with a mild emphasis as not to directly correct Jennifer. "I still can't believe you'll eat all of that. Where does it go?!" he said with a chuckle and a shake of the head. "I'm twice your size, and I don't think I could finish one of your meals..." his voice was low and husky. Resonating deep in his chest, giving a bassy hum to his words.

Futaba Hoshiko was a ray of sunshine. What wasn't there to like? They hadn't had all the time in the world to get close, but she had magnetic energy. He wanted to reach out and ruffle her hair for being so charming, but he held himself to better standards than that.

He tucked into his meal, still getting used to chopsticks; the udon was slow going. Determined, though, he pressed on, trying to find his coordination. There never had been a point that he showed any frustration with only having one arm. Even when learning new things with his non-dominant hand, Rune always approached the challenge with resolve and determination.

There was a thud followed by a sharper noise as Rose dropped into the seat at the end of the table gracelessly and brought her bowl down on its surface in one motion, as usual making no effort not to cause a disturbance with her actions. The pilot let out a yawn, mouth opening wide enough to show all her teeth, and stabbed a pair of chopsticks into her food like it had personally offended her.

Which it hadn’t, because the food here was excellent.

If there was one good thing she could say about becoming a pilot it was the food. The quality, the quantity and even the variety of food that had been made available to her and the other pilots since she had come to Japan was something of a shock to her. Maybe she just had a twisted perception of things because of how she had spent the last five years of her life, but Rose had been under the impression that humanity had been so far gone that they couldn’t make things like ramen or fried chicken or curry anymore; those were luxuries and luxuries were the first things to be sacrificed in the name of fuelling the engines of war that kept them all alive and fighting. Hell, with the way she had been eating since becoming a soldier, you would have thought the first places to be attacked with the Warped showed up were where we kept our spices.

She had asked, in her first few days here after the shock had worn off, if this was what it was like everywhere in Japan. Perhaps the island nation had just been spared some of the damage done to the rest of the world, but no, civilians and regular soldiers didn’t get to eat this kind of food anymore; unless they were lucky. This was just a privilege of being one of the chosen few.

It was recompense for what they had to do, being thrown into the worst parts of the fighting over and over as humanities last shot at survival, until the threat was eliminated or they…

But there was no telling how long this luxury would last or how long they’d get to enjoy it. So every day Rose made sure to pick something different, something she had never eaten before and might never get to eat again. It was all good anyway, so why not seek out new experiences?

What was it today? Katsu? Fried chicken was fried chicken wherever you went and she couldn’t tell at a glance what was different between this and kaarage other than the shape and size. With a shrug, Rose pulled out her chopsticks and attempted to pick up a piece of chicken, lacking the proper technique but bullying the utensils into working regardless.

It was only after that that she looked across and noticed the other people sitting at her table. Or rather, noticed who the other people at her table were. A wide grin split her face as she finally greeted her fellow pilots.

“Ohayō!”

"Mmm? Well, I'm enjoying it 'cause it's really good, Whitestone-san!"

It was a little difficult to pronounce the girl's surname, still, but she did her best. After all, Hoshiko wanted to be friends with the other pilots. So even if she got her name wrong, that was fine. They all had to work together, right? So why not be friends?

Besides, the British girl was just so cute! She was so small and dainty, like a little doll, so it was hard to be too frustrated when she messed up her name like that. She didn't know her that well yet, but she did know she had some issues with her memory.

It was likely rather shocking that the aggressive warpath she had waged on her meal had already depleted it so much when she had only sat down a few moments ago.

Berg-san was big, but he was nice. She though he'd be really easy to get along with. To be honest, she hoped everyone would be like that. Even if they weren't, she still wanted to be their friend anyway.

"Eh? Where it goes? Umm..."

The brunette considered the question for a few moments. Wasn't it obvious? It wasn't as if there was anywhere else it could go. There was only one possible destination for any good that entered her mouth.

"My stomach, of course! It's not like it has anywhere else to go," she replied, brightly, before depositing another piece of karaage into her mouth.

So it was impossible for her to directly greet the other pilot as she approached, given her mouth was currently full. All she could do was thrust her right hand into the air and wave cheerfully back at her.

@Raineh Daze@SaltSight@King Cosmos@PKMNB0Y

In an instant, the light melancholy that lingered about Elise was swept away by her fellow Pilots. It was hard to remain lost in thought, after all, when the ever-giddy human black hole that was Hoshiko arrived and began devouring food like she had been starving for days. When she had first seen the girl's appetite, Elise had been shocked and wondered how bad the food situation had been in Japan since The Horizon had docked, but the following weeks showed that this was simply the girl's normal state of being.

That was a terrifying fact in and of itself, but at the very least the ship's crew was never left wanting for food even with her insatiable appetite. With Hoshiko's arrival, though, the others came to follow suit. Elise returned Rune's smile with a slight smile and nod of her own, but otherwise remained silent as everyone seemed to be swept along by the ever-chipper brunette's pace.

"Morning, everyone," she said, bowing slightly to each of her coworkers in turn from her seat. "Though at this point I think it might be better to say that it's just past noon by now...? Regardless, make sure you don't eat too much; wouldn't want to get sick out on the field."

The Pilot's gaze lingered momentarily upon the decimated remains of what Hoshiko had brought to the table before she shrugged and began to eat. Soggy noodles weren't particularly enjoyable, after all, and the college student-esque diet of instant noodles back before she had been recruited had been more than enough for her to enjoy a proper bowl of ramen every so often.

After taking some more time in silence for herself, though, Elise placed her chopsticks down besides her bowl and looked at the others again, trying her hardest not to make any quips about Rose's refusal to even try using chopsticks correctly.

"That being said, I overheard some of the strategy talk on the way over here. Apparently, we're being split into teams on the ground? No idea who's with who, though... Or why we haven't been told yet, either."

If she had to hazard a guess as to why things were so nebulous, though, it would probably be the nature of the Warped themselves. It was hard to gauge who might need to be sent where when those monsters seemed to roam about, and it wasn't like their behavior could be studied to the point where they could predict that sort of thing to begin with...

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@SaltSight@King Cosmos

"Hoshiko, right," Jennifer said, nodding and looking at the one who'd corrected her. It was that guy with the really odd name, Rune... something? And damn he was big, although happily this wasn't surprising, just... well, the part where someone so comparatively huge had wound up in the seat beside her and she hadn't even registered it until he said something really showed that she wasn't paying enough attention to what was going on.

So did the broth dripping into the bowl. Less staring at the huge guy, more finishing her lunch.

And hey, at least she wasn't the only one making mistakes with names! Where had she even pulled the 'stone' from? That didn't even sound slightly similar. Did the other girl know somebody else with that name, or was she just that bad with English?

"Well, we can't really be split into more than two teams," the small girl noted with a slight shrug, "There aren't enough of us for more. Maybe it's just going to be more of a rotating schedule? Some days you'll be on the slightly bigger team, some days on the smaller one."

Which was another thing to have to track. Damn.

Vacantly, Rune's eyes blinked twice at Hoshiko's response to his questioning. It was difficult to overestimate how literal she was. Slowly he just smiled, tickled by her humor. Intentional or not, it worked on him. Shaking his head, it made another attempt at the slipper noodles.

Mistakenly he had thought the udon would somehow be easier to eat with chopsticks—rookie mistake. Finally getting a good hold on a few more noodles, he looked triumphant right as Rose arrived, crashing down at their table. Focus failed as he flinched from her abrupt arrival. The noodles took a plunge back to their dark broth.

Squeezing the chopsticks with enough force, they creaked in protest rune sighed. Rose was tenacious. Her personality and frame were why Rune considered Frames to reflect the pilot. Her aggressive nature somehow slipped by being abrasive. He enjoyed her company even if they weren't much alike. They had both served in their country during the outbreak, so he felt a soldier's comradery; he wasn't sure she shared it with him.

"Ohayō," he responded, welcoming her to the table with a slight bow of his head.

Elise placing her chopsticks down caught his attention. Eyes met hers as she silently addressed each of them. Setting his chopsticks down in solidarity, not at all because he was frustrated. He gave her his full attention as she shared what she'd heard.

He stared at the table as he considered what she had heard. It was a bit concerning.

"Hmmm," he basically growled, the inflection of thought sounding more like a grumble in his chest.

Jennifer made an interesting point.

"Could be a rotating schedule so we won't all have to fight every day." he offered in agreement with Jennifer. There was, however, a layer to this that he hoped was wrong. They currently didn't fight every day, so that could mean there would be much tougher times ahead.

"Seems more likely related to reclaiming Saitama. Right Elise? May be bigger than initially thought..." he drifted off thinking.

He considered who they would pair him with. Hoshiko and Jennifer could fly, giving them ground and air control. Rose and him were a force on the ground, the good old sword, and shield. Elise would be good in any configuration. He wished she had heard more so they could strategize. All things considered, though, any of them would be a good pair or trio. He was confident in their abilities.

Being a latecomer to breakfast, lunch or whatever meal it was they were eating, Rose didn’t have the context to fully understand the tail end of Hoshiko and Rune’s conversation. And as the talk at the table turned towards strategy and their upcoming mission, the pilot found her desire to continue listening in disappear completely.

Instead she directed her attention back to her food and the piece of chicken still gripped tightly between her chopsticks. It was good, golden brown and full of flavour; it was breaded, not battered like the kaarage had been, which meant she had solved one mystery today. The rice it was served with was plain, but it was plentiful and filling and truly it was a luxury that they could eat this kind of stuff at all. Why anyone would want to spend their meal time talking about their upcoming mission, worrying about what some overheard strategic briefing meant when they could be focusing on food or, well, literally anything else baffled her. They would find out the parameters of their mission in the briefing and Rose would spend exactly 0 seconds more thinking about it than she had to.

Bunch of damn workaholics, honestly.

Still, it was impossible to completely block out every word that was said, so she ended up thinking about it regardless. Splitting the teams… that could be good or bad for them. Obviously it meant they were going out in smaller groups, which either meant the missions they would be going on were smaller scale, or it meant they were desperately spread thin and would be taking more risks with them. A rotating schedule was also possible, to give them breaks between deployments, but that only made sense with the smaller scale missions; otherwise they would be putting the smaller teams at risk just so the others wouldn’t get worn out. If this was related to the on-going plan to reclaim Saitama then she suspected that they were just spread thin and all of their pilots would be run ragged being sent this way and that trying to compensate for the size of the operation. They would be thrown at the front line over and over again to clear out the biggest messes and the strongest threats and the risk of one or all of them…

Dammit.

Elise was going to pay for making her think about this kind of thing while she was off duty.

As the others spoke among themselves at her remark, Elise chose to simply remain quiet and continue eating her ramen. The young woman nodded her head at the larger man's mention of her name, though a response was a few seconds later than she'd have liked; speaking with a mouthful of noodles would end with incoherent half-words at best, after all.

"...Well, it is a rather large area, after all," the Pilot finally responded, her hand quietly preparing another mouthful all the while. "It'd be stranger if we weren't on the ground for most of the day... Maybe more, depending on whatever the hell's waiting for us down there. But, well, we'll find out soon enough, I suppose."

With the actual mission briefing in less than an hour, though, Elise chose to finish the rest of her meal in lieu of continued small talk. There was time for that after the day's tasks were complete—assuming they were all well enough to speak afterwards.

---

Situated atop the bow of the ship, the command room had long since become a familiar sight to the Frame Pilots, Elise included. The place was abuzz with activity—no surprise, given the multi-day undertaking that awaited them. The various screens situated across the room showed a variety of things—views of the ground from remotely-manned drones, visuals showing the status of everyone's biometrics and the status of their equipment, and even communications with the JSDF teams on the ground to coordinate all of their efforts.

At the center of it all, watching as the organized chaos unfolded in front of her, was one Sandra Morrison, the owner of The Horizon and their boss. There was the slightest hint of insomnia from the bags beneath her eyes, but if she was tired, her behavior did not betray as much. Once the rest of the Pilots arrived, though, Sandra glanced at her watch and, after clearing her throat, began to speak.

"I thank all of you for arriving on time. As you know, today's mission is rather important—not just for the nation of Japan, but also to gauge your capabilities on the field proper," she began, turning her body slightly as she gestured to a holographic screen that appeared behind her. "Our primary goal over the coming days is to aid local military forces in recapturing the Saitama prefecture. While complete extermination of the Warped present would be ideal, such an outcome is, as all involved have noted, rather unlikely. Even so, clearing out a majority of the established Warped will give those here in Tokyo a buffer zone to the north, as well as room to re-establish and redevelop the region, however slowly."

With that, the blonde woman waved her hand against the screen, causing it to switch to an overview of the map of the region. To the southeast, of course, was a pulsing blue dot atop Tokyo—their current location. A few smaller dots were overlaid on top—the Pilots themselves, or at the very least the Chi-Mechframes that they possessed.

"As this is a joint venture with the nation of Japan, you do not have to worry about handling the entire prefecture yourselves. Rather, a majority of our efforts will be focused towards clearing out the western section of the region, as shown here. A northern offensive will be mounted by local forces as we proceed from Tokyo, but both groups should be ready to support the other at a moment's notice."

All the while, the map behind Sandra continued to light up, highlighting certain sections and points of interest whenever she brought them up. After she had finished, though, the map seemed to zoom in towards the (now-former) suburbs bordering Tokyo, where JSDF soldiers were already preparing their first forward line.

"Kim, Berg: your goal will be to protect the Japanese forces as they push forward. Remove any Warped that threaten to break through their defenses, and keep casualties to a minimum if you can. While the JSDF can handle smaller Warped with conventional firearms, larger ones will require your assistance to dispatch. Remember, one second could be the difference between a life saved and a life lost. Do not hesitate. If you cannot eliminate a hostile, call for backup and hold the line until they arrive."

Then, a switch to another camera, showing a visual filled with Warped. The bodies of the creatures seemed vaguely humanoid, though the blue and red skin tones and horns upon their heads seemed to invoke a more traditional demon's figure.

"Fukada, Whittemore, and Tarasova: you three will function primarily as an advance team, though you may be called back from the front if the situation grows dire with the others. Your goal will be to remove any larger Warped before they can contact the other team wherever possible, and inform us when you cannot so that they can prepare for engagement. Do not—and I cannot stress this enough—do not hesitate to retreat or call for backup when necessary. If you must engage an enemy you cannot handle alone, prioritize your own survival above all else. The life of one greater-class Warped is not worth your own."

After what felt like a rather extended silence and a glance over the Pilots present, though, Sandra nodded her head.

"With that said, be prepared to shift positions at a moment's notice. These are general guidelines for an ideal scenario," she continued, gesturing towards the screen at her side, "but nothing ever truly works out as planned—doubly so when our enemies are monsters, not men. If there are any further questions about the objectives for today's mission, speak up now. Otherwise, collect your Chi-Mechframes from the engineering bay and head to the hangar for deployment. You depart in thirty minutes; I wish you the best of luck in your efforts. Dismissed."

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@SaltSight@King Cosmos

After finishing her seconds, it was off to the briefing room as quickly as possible.

Sandra was really pretty, but this was a bad time to be thinking about that. Instead, Hoshiko focused on what she was saying. They would be working with her homeland, to take back Saitama and make way to protect the innocent people of Japan and reclaim their lands from the Warped! Naturally, the girl was ready for this. No matter who it was, she was always read to help out. And taking back more of her homeland felt plenty meaningful even without considering how many people she'd help in the process.

"You've got it, Morrison-san!" declared Hoshiko enthusiastically, flashing the thumbs up towards the owner of the Horizon as she did. So she'd be going with Jennifer and Rose, huh? That was fine by her!

Even though she flashed a wide grin towards her teammates, the girl could feel her heartbeat quickening, pounding in her chest. She didn't want to let it show, but she was feeling pretty nervous. But she was going to help retake Saitama today, and that meant there was no way she was going to let nerves get in the way!

Afterwards, she stopped by the engineering bay and retrieved her device from the engineers. It was through this little necklace that she could equip her Chi-Mechframe, and fight back against the Warped. Well, that and the Echidna currently merged with her heart, in a state of permanent dormancy.

She was going to use this to fight for others.

Hoshiko made her way to the hanger.

As she reached the door, the brunette gripped her necklace in one hand.

"Alright, let's do this!" she declared, nodding to herself with a confident smile on her face, "Hinotori, ignite!"

The necklace glowed brightly, like a star on her chest, flashing once before light washed over her whole body. After a few moments, the light began to build, gathering over her as it began to form distinct shapes. With a flash, layer by layer, each piece of her Chi-Mechframe began to appear. First there was the base layer, manifesting over her body, including her small skirt. Then came the first layer of armor, starting a few centimeters from her body but sliding into place, locking over her and forming the most basic portion of Hinotori. The third flash heralded the arrival of the more complex parts of her armor, creating Hinotori's silhouette. The building light disappeared entirely with the formation of the boosts on Hoshiko's gauntlets, the final piece of her Chi-Mechframe.

When the lights faded away, the shining armor that was Hinotori gleamed on her body, a shine of its own seeming to emanate from the anti-Warped weapon.

It was time.

"Hinotori, launching!"

With that, Hoshiko sprang from the Horizon, and into the open air, the wind whipping past her as she began to hurtle downwards.

Naturally, her rocket boosters would be used to control her descent.

@PKMNB0Y@King Cosmos@SaltSight@Raineh Daze

Swaying on her feet, it seemed questionable that Jennifer was even paying much attention to the briefing, until the small girl gave an emphatic nod. Right, right, send the aggressive trio off to pick off reinforcements. And if they got in trouble or were needed, just run away! Or fly away, in her case. Sounded simple enough; go out, kill some monsters, come back, rinse and repeat.

And try to not get too badly hurt in the process. No doubt they'd all heal pretty well, but there were limits to how fast that would go.

The engineering bay was the same boring old place as ever. Really, she didn't even know what most of the things did or what they were for, and she'd never really spent much time there. Normally, Jennifer would be more likely to head over to medical, even if it was for the sake of Chi-Mechframe testing, but it probably made sense to store everything in one place for general deployment. Hm, not that there was much for her to actually pick up from it? More a better place to put her clothes.

As usual, the nice researcher lady whose name she couldn't remember--where had she left her notebook before lunch? Maybe up in medical...?--was there, holding the little pink stone that represented the core of Albion's combat functionality, and the source of its armour. Just slot it into the choker like so and--

A polite cough interrupted her. Right, Albion still had its quirks to work out. Like, if she didn't want her clothing shredded, take it off now. No fancy matter-absorption here. Right, now she could just depress the gem fully and...

It felt strange. It always felt strange. Something hooking into parts of her body she was barely aware of, thin spikes of metal lancing through her skin, spreading out and flattening, forming armour and clothes perfectly contoured and skintight. A transformation that started from the inside and tended to disregard whatever was clinging to her at the time. Maybe that could be useful on its own?

At last, the masked visor settled into place, and all along the Chi-Mechframe's length, blue light came to life.

Hm, that seemed like a good phrase to copy. "Albion, launching!"

Jennifer's exit was less a launch, and more a graceful fall backwards out into open sky. Closer and closer came the ground, accelerating constantly despite the rushing air, enough to slip past the earlier-launching Hoshiko. But it didn't matter, as now she was transformed, and nothing, nothing, could beat this manoeuvrability.

With no warning, no clear impetus, the freefall turned into a corkscrewing loop, Jennifer laughing at the feeling of free flight--and levelled off. This was a serious mission, after all, there was only a little room for showing off. Just a little.

... which way was North? She wasn't a homing pigeon.

Rose was stone-faced as she sat through the briefing, listening attentively to the information but without much of a reaction to what was being said. Like they’d expected, they were being used to support what was left of the Japanese military in their attempts to reclaim Saitama, making use of the newly acquired power of the Chi-Mechframes to advance a conflict that had previously been against them.

Splitting their numbers was, against all of her predictions, not about giving them time to rest or to overwork them. The decision was just… a strategic one. Two of them would babysit the troops and keep them safe while the others would look to take out the big threats before they caught wind of the people about to march right into their claws. And of course, she was given the role of one of the hunter-killers, most likely because the capabilities of her suit were far too compatible with the role.

Honestly, she hated that her Chi-Mechframe had turned out the way it did sometimes. It was cathartic as hell ripping warped to shreds but she always ended up being placed right in the thick of it as a result.

After that they were dismissed, with only thirty minutes to prepare themselves which seemed like it was cutting things a bit too close given how important this mission supposedly was. But she wasn’t an officer, she wasn’t the brains. She was just the meat.

But it was nice of their commanding officer to tell them not to throw their lives away. Really, it was.

Following the others to the engineering bay to collect the core of her mechframe, Rose proceeded down to the hangar with stiff shoulders and a rigidly straight back. She held her head high and kept her chin raised as first Hoshiko and then Jennifer suited up and jumped. The soldier tried not to grimace as she took a deep breath and slapped the thick circle of metal with the red stone at its centre against her chest, the device sticking to her and beginning to grow and spread across her body. Within moments Rose could feel the strength of her armour begin to flood her body, her nerves lighting up and her posture becoming less forced and more confident as the mechframe spread to cover her arms and leg before finally reaching her head.

Walking forward, she felt the balance of her body shift forward as the tail extended behind her and her arms grow heavy as the large blades began to form. Stepping up to the edge of the hangar floor, right up to the open doors, Rose looked down to see Hinotori and Albion plummeting to the ground.

Skipping the declaration the other two had given, Rose simply waited until the Horizon was passing over a suitably tall enough building and stepped off, beginning to fall towards and then passed the building and reaching out an arm to jam the cracking red blade into the concrete and use the drag to slow her decent to a survivable level.

Rune nodded at the mention of his name. It was the first motion he made during the brief. It came with a telling clench of his jaw, lips pursing slightly. Given his capabilities, it was the most decisive strategic decision to put him on supporting the line. It wasn't that he envied the frontlines, but he wished he was more offensively capable. All four of his fellow pilots eclipsed him in the ability to vanquish the Warped.

"Yes, Ma'am," he said resolutely to his orders. It was a good choice, and he was happy to have the opportunity to help. Plus, he would have good company for the assignment, not that he thought any of them would be poor company.

The forward team got equipped quickly in the hangar and leaped directly from the ship into the battlefield. Rune took a moment to remove his jacket, hanging it beside the sizeable, jagged ruby shard, vaguely conical with a streak of shimmering cerulean bolting. His large hand gripped the dog tag he wore from his previous service, a silent promise to his countrymen he would fight hard for all of them before he took it off, slipping it into the pocket of his jacket.

Eyeing the ruby, he took a deep breath before picking it up. Instantly it reacted, shattering into hundreds of blades of red and blue light that aggressively whirled into place, forming thick plating. From the neck down, his whole body was encased in light that hardened and dulled to resemble Warg, his Chi-mechframe. Last to form was the billowing black cape growing right from the mantle around his neck.

Turning to face the last Pilot in the hangar with him, his partner for this mission, he gave her a toothy smile.

"You and me this time. Let's give 'em hell."

With that, red energy shaped like the maw of a wolf grew up from the back. Leaning forward, it seemingly consumed his head in a massive bite before squeezing down to become the full helm of his frame.

"See you on the ground~" he said as he turned and charged the hangar door, flinging himself into the sky.

There was nothing Rune could do to stop from careening toward the earth. Thankfully terminal velocity wasn't enough to do significant harm, he'd be lying to say it didn't sting a bit, but there was no better way to make an entrance. The wind whistled and howled as he flew down past the tallest rooves of the city.

Asphalt buckled, and dust erupted from the projectile of a mech slamming down. Knees bent and form hunched forward, leaning against the massive shield with the base firmly buried in the road. Rune straightened slowly to his total height, seeming even more massive in the mech. Turning slowly to the frontline of JSDF soldiers, the cerulean lights on his mech pierced through the debris.

"Unit Berg, Reporting to support JSDF," he said formally before ripping the shield from the ground. Falling into their ranks, he watched the sky for Elise.

With no real questions about their mission proper, Elise returned the commander's dismissal with a brief nod and salute before following her peers out of the room. The engineering bay, as ever, was abuzz with activity. The young woman had long since given up trying to understand the complexities that came with managing both the ship and their equipment, but the efforts that the staff present put into maintaining was not lost upon her.

Regardless of those matters, the Pilot soon broke off from the others to retrieve her own piece of equipment: a small glove, into which the polished core of her Chi-Mechframe, Selene, was embedded. After confirming that everything was in order with the engineer who had handed it off to her, though, the young woman promptly gave her thanks before following the others to the hangar.

Given the size of her Chi-Mechframe, though, Elise chose to wait for the others to head out first—or, at the very least, wait for the advance team to make their exits first. Their eagerness to head out into the fray soon left only her and Rune on standby, and the larger man had soon thereafter made his own parting statements.

"Try not to leave too big of a crater."

As the last to leave, though, the Pilot was left to transform at her own leisure.

Elise held her one gloved hand over her chest, the jewel-like stone embedded within glowing ever-so-brightly as a halo began to form over her head. Though slow and measured at first, the sound of the halo whirring around her head soon gave way to an imperceptible silence as the rest of her Chi-Mechframe—vaguely winglike armaments, a set of mechanical shoes equipped with stabilizers, auxiliary tools to feed her information around the halo, and the rifle she had come to know inside and out—formed, piece by mechanical piece.

With everything in order (and a brief test of her own equipment while still in the hangar, just to be safe), Elise nodded and took a deep breath before following after her peers. Taking an aircraft down would have been far more preferable in her opinion, but going down alone in one felt a bit too uncomfortable.

Doubly so given everyone else's penchant for superhero-style landings.

With her wing narrowed to a point, Elise began to dive towards the ground headfirst, a thin barrier projected from the machinery around her halo to protect her as she sped forward. Through the parted clouds, the young woman could make out the front lines—and with them, a small crater that marked where her partner for the mission had touched down.

Rather than make a similarly spectacular appearance, though, Elise simply slowed her descent once she drew close enough to the ground. Her mechanical wings unfurled as she seemed to hover in midair, casting a slight shadow upon the battlefield as she made her presence known.

"Elise Kim, present," she spoke in Japanese as she gave a slight bow towards the soldiers, "I shall be in your care."

@SaltSight

---

What had once been a sprawling suburban residential area had long since been ruined, unmistakably scarred by the Warped that now roamed the streets. Though torn asphalt and years-old bloodstains marked the earth, actual combat had not been seen in the region in ages.

But such "peace" had to come to and end.

A few of the Warped—ones more humanoid in nature, though with distinctly inhuman monochromatic skin—had already begun to congregate at the arrival of the soldiers. A few of the smaller ones had already begun to bear down upon the defensive line; behind them, larger beasts thrice their size ambled forward. Their distended bodies seemed more akin to bloated corpses, swollen and misshapen, but their speed was well beyond what a shambling corpse might have reached.

Though their initial targets were the swathes of humans firing upon them, the arrival of a few new targets in their midst quickly changed their priorities. Lumbering giants and nimble gremlins alike lunged out at the nearby Pilots, their only aim to tear them limb from limb.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@King Cosmos

There they were.

As the air whipped past her body, Hoshiko could see the targets ahead. They were vaugely humanoid, iridiscent red or blue, almost exoskeleton-like skin covering their bodies. Mouthless, noseless, and earless, possessing two slit-like eyes stacked atop one another and a pair of horn-like structures projecting from their heads. The smaller ones possessed one arm reshaped into what looked like a club, while the larger had both arms reformed in such a manner. She'd heard this type of warped referred to as Oni-pattern before, and while they were considerably more alien then any prior depiction of oni the name certainly fit. She also knew they weren't among the strongest Warped.

Even if they had been, Hoshiko's response wouldn't change.

"Alright, let's go!"

Drawing back her right arm, she could feel the heat flowing through her gauntlet. There was a steady thrumming sound from within, which built into roar as a gout of flames suddenly spat from the vent at the rear of her gauntlet, shooting into the air. The flames built, growing more intense, until-

Hoshiko hurtled towards the ground, becoming a red and white blur with a streak of fire behind her, careening directly towards one of the largest Oni Warped. The booster on her gauntlet roared as she came into range, closing directly on her target before it could even respond.

Her fist slammed down, and the monster's face crumpled inwards like a tin can, horns snapping and hurtling off in opposite directions as it head snapped backwards, body carried by her momentum. Hoshiko's fist went entirely through the Warped's skull, shattering its head to pieces and leaving nothing behind.

The sheer velocity of Hoshiko's drop caused her to slam into the concrete, cratering it beneath her, but Hinotori absorbed the shock easily.

It was just like jumping off some playground equipment.

The flames from her gauntlet's booster faded, and as the oni Warped's body fell behind her, the brunette straightened. Fists raised in a boxer-like stance, legs squared, she inhaled-

And launched herself forward, striking the nearest Oni-pattern warped in the chest, immediately crumpling its chest cavity from the blow. Before it fell, she had already spun and kicked one of the smaller monsters in the side, cracking its hardened skin and shattering its internal structures in a single blow.

She was going to help take back Saitama.

@PKMNB0Y@King Cosmos@Raineh Daze

Rune watched as Elise descended slowly and gracefully to the JSDF frontline. Switching radio channels to speak with her directly, he turned to observe the battlefront. The Warped were getting rowdy, but it looked within their control.

"Descending like that, rumors will start that there's an angel on the battlefield." His tone was joking, but he felt there was some truth to it. "Anyways, I best get to work."

Switching back to regular comms, he began walking past the barriers and gun emplacements; Rune felt compelled to say something to the soldiers. He hoped they wouldn't just see him as some tool or a weapon.

"Ganbatte!" came the shout of encouragement from the crimson frame before it began its sprint onto the battlefield.

Rune ignored most of the smaller Oni-Type Warped as he headed straight for the larger ones. Batting away the few close enough to engage with him without losing a step. Approaching the first large one, it reared back a haymaker of a punch, uncoordinated yet powerful. Rune planted his foot down, drawing his shield back before punching with the flat rim at the top. Like a battering ram, his blow met the Warped with concussive force. The telltale BONG of his shield resonating echoed down the street as the warps arm cracked and whipped back limp. Coming back down, he hammered into the knee of the warped, crumpling it down to a more manageable height.

Tucking down, he compressed his body, building up a vicious uppercut. Against enemies that posed a lower threat, his shield was used more like a sledgehammer than a tool for defense. Uncoiling all the force he could, he punched upward, pulverizing the Oni's grotesque head. The body fell limp.

Turning, he caught a human-sized Warped leaping at him. With a twist, he backhanded the creature with enough force to throw it dozens of feet in the air, disappearing through a skyscraper window. The small ones were no problem. The large ones were only enough to slow him down. Rune slowly pushed the line of Warped.

Enemies, enemies... what was she best off dealing with? The pilot could only wonder for a few seconds as she hung above the battlefield, currently quite out of the reach of immediate danger before diving in. Why not go for the biggest and nastiest ones? If she stopped those from ambling forwards, then the others would be able to fight through the weaker ones to join her in any case. And they definitely didn't want to let the things lurch and wobble their way into range of soldiers, fighting them there might get other people hit anyway!

Descending abruptly to hover in front of one of the things, her attack was immediate: a vague jab, definitely something like a punch, but without much in the way of good form. Not that it mattered, the gentle tap more than close enough range to a bright blast of energy right into the hard-to-reach face. Not enough to destroy the head in one go, sadly, and it was already swinging, but Albion's unparalleled mobility just let her smoothly pull to the side, throwing the other hand in another quick jab, redirecting it and rocking it, and for all that it was faster than a shambling corpse, it still only had two arms and couldn't turn to keep up as quickly as she could gracefully drift around it, throwing punch after punch--and blast after blast--all the while.

It was almost no time at all before the repeated blasts finally broke through, making the head pop rather... grossly, and Jennifer gave the body a little kick--itself with another blast--to make sure that it fell away from the line before pulling back up to pick another target. Ah, the freedom of height, and there wasn't anything these lines of warped could do even if a few of them were starting to notice as she selected another one of the larger warped and dived in again...

This was actually pretty fun. Was it meant to be?

Fifty feet above the ground, the claws digging through the concrete finally lost momentum and Rose was left hanging from the side of a building overlooking the ruined street. The other had all already hit the ground and started engaging the Warped, carving through the lesser enemies with ease.

Seeing as how they had it covered for now, she saw no rush to join them; instead, she used her vantage point to get a view of the battlefield and kept an eye out for anything troublesome. She knew first-hand how quickly things could get out of control or how fast one of the stronger Warped could bear down on you, but so far none of the bigger threats seemed to have noticed them or had enough time to reach their front lines; they would in time, they always did, but for now it was just Oni and slightly bigger Oni they had to worry about.

Deciding that she’d slacked off enough, Rose pulled her claws free from the concrete and pushed off of the building with both feet, angling herself towards a dense pocket of Warped as she launched herself down the street to catch up with the others.

She descended upon the Oni like a whirlwind of blades, twisting her body to lash out with both arms at the nearest Warped to decapitate two at the same time. As she landed, she pirouetted around and whipped her spiked tail into the temple of another, knocking them off their feet and piecing their skull in the same motion. Then they closed in, aware of her now, but more sweeps of her arms meant that she was soon standing alone in a circle of dismembered, decapitated and bisected Oni.

Letting out a sigh, Rose turned her head to locate the next largest grouping of Warped and began to walk in that direction. Her claws could easily deal with these smaller variants, the over-sized blades slicing them to ribbons, but the larger ones where a pain since she couldn’t cleanly cut through them all the way.

She didn’t like leaving anything alive long enough to be a threat to her.