Member
Tim the Yeti
LG
During the ride over to the Western District, Akari slowly withdrew into herself. She was psyching herself up, mentally preparing for what was to come. Despite the fact that this was a low-risk mission, she wanted her team to accomplish it effectively and with ease. Secretly, she hoped she would get the chance to engage in combat, but she didn't bother mentioning this to anyone. They'd likely see her as too eager. A partially true observation, but one she didn't want people thinking. When the Lieutenant spoke up, she straightened her posture and listened closely. Her only reaction was a slight nod at the end of the debriefing, excitement raising the hair on her arms and tracing lines up and down her back.
Once the Osprey landed, she turned to her teammates. It was a surprise that Kuni had joined them, but Akari didn't mind. She could be helpful, even if she was only operating from the safety of the Osprey. "So, what's the game plan? Kuni, bring up the map with the locations of the sensors." She said, nodding at the dark-haired girl. "Please." She added after a moment's thought, not wanting to come off as rude.
With the mission being low-risk, Kuni decided to move to the tablet control of Dee, her drone, and come down with her team. It was always preferable in her eyes to make sure that it operated well, and being there meant that she could help better than simply by looking through Dee's camera. After the Osprey landed and they all got off, Kuni made sure the drone was at her side, before hearing Akari speak to her. Nodding, she tapped her tablet and brought up the map with the landmarks of the sensors.
"Okay. Nearest sensor we need to take care of is to the south-east from us, approximately a kilometer away. The furtherest one is eight kilometers away. Do you want to work from the closest to furtherest one, or the other way?" Kuni asked, approaching the other two so they may also glance at the map, which was another benefit that they normally didn't have.
"Closest to furthest sounds ideal to me," Lucia replied as she climbed out of the osprey, stretched her arms, and started surveying the area. It was entirely routine, and nobody was expecting any kind of major conflict, but it never hurt to keep an eye out. Invaders were nothing if not unpredictable. "For starters, let's secure the area and make sure nothing is going to disturb us while we handle the repairs."
Lucia closed her eyes briefly as she willed her Drive to activate. Maltet's armor booted up within seconds, as evidenced by the ionic skirt appearing from her waist, and she began to make her way toward the sensor. Her eyes swept back and forth, watching for anything untoward or hostile. Moreso than the scattered and skittering Invaders that were effectively wildlife, that is.
Akari gave Kuni an appreciative glance before exiting the Osprey. She left just in time to see Lucia power her drive. Akari wasn't envious of her waist cape, but she couldn't say that it didn't look quite graceful on the French woman. Surveying the area, Akari let loose a small sigh through her nose when she didn't see anything. In all honesty, it was a good thing that there were no creatures in sight, but Akari despised these low-level missions. She couldn't wait until she was out of the Academy, and getting sent on missions of utmost importance. Her brother always had the best stories, and she couldn't wait until she was a part of that too.
Picking up her pace to catch up to Lucia, Akari wondered if it was the appropriate time for chit-chat. Probably not, but since there weren't any imminent threats around there was no harm in it. "So, once we get to the first sensor I'll stand guard while you fix it. If you'd like, we can switch off from there or stick to that for the entirety of the mission."
Not sure what else to talk about, Akari continued looking around, head swiveling this way and that. "So, how's your rooommate been treating you?" She finally asked, wondering if she'd even get a response.
"A sound plan," Lucia replied, "Switching off is fine with me."
"As for my roommate, it's going quite well," she continued, "There were a few communication hurdles, at least at first. But Cellica's a sweetheart, and we're getting along famously."
Akari smiled lightly at this news. It was always great to hear that roommates were doing well and getting along with each other. Her thoughts wandered to Fiore, her tiny Linker dormmate. She wondered how their team was faring. Filing that away as a question she would ask later, she took a moment to concentrate on her own Linker. They were nearing the first sensor now, and Akari wanted to ensure they wouldn't run into any issues. Turning towards Kuni, Akari cleared her throat to get the girl's attention.
"Kuni, is there anything in our immediate path or are we okay to advance?"
Having walked in silence for the majority of the way, with her drone Dee at her side, Kuni did notice the short exchange between her two teammates. It was nice to be on the field for a change. Especially since the conditions appeared to be rather ideal, or at least, they did for the mostpart. When Akari asked her the question, she focused for a moment. Sensing a few invaders, she instructed her drone to hover a bit higher, to try and get a better view of the surrounding area through the drone's camera on her tablet as well.
"Few invanders, but they appear to be lurking in the shadows of the plants." Came her response, and she also began scouting the area for any potential spots that they could use in case the invanders attacked.
What filtered on Dee's surveillance and what Kuni saw were accurate; multiple Invaders had been spotted. True to her word, none of them seemed to move in a position to attack. Though they were very aware of the drone's presence; some even turned their silver heads upwards, metallic surfaces concealing alien eyes that stared back at Kuni through her drone. All the same, there wasn't much cause for concern. At least initially. A sound of rending metal suddenly pierced through the air, followed short by something heavy thudding into the grassy ground.
Almost immediately the Invaders swiveled their heads in a joined direction before scampering loosely. The positions would be instantly recognizable to Kuni as a battle formation. So far they hadn't been engaged but something had sparked the Invaders to move on the offensive. More and more noises of torn metal echoed in the forest around Team Novae, only layered by the hustling sounds of the Invaders scurrying around. No doubt anything that moved against them would now be treated as hostile.
"Wait." Kuni suddenly said. The formation of the invanders quickly changed into a different one, and it was one Kuni really did not enjoy seeing. Their offensive formations. The hustling sounds from the invaders made Kuni wary, as something had triggered the Invaders into going into this kind of formation, and it didn't appear to have been caused by them.
"The Invanders switched to an offensive formation. I'd suggest we change our path. It may take us a bit longer, but we will be on somewhat higher ground compared to where we are now." Kuni told them "We just need to head a bit more south. It will be a slight detour, but a safer one."
"Higher ground would also possibly allow us to see what exactly has them so agitated," Lucia agreed. She'd stopped in her tracks and put one hand on the sword hilt at her belt the moment Kuni warned them, and her eyes were scanning through the gaps in the trees. For all the effort, however, she didn't spot anything.
"I think it's wise to adopt a more standard formation while we do so," she added as she started to strafe in a southbound direction, keepig her front toward the trees where Dee had originally headed, "Whatever it is out there could very well come after us if we're not careful. I'll take point, Kuni after me, and Akari if you'll guard the rear?"
Akari didn't wince at the sound of tearing metal, only cocking her head inquisitively as she wondered about the source of the noise. When Kuni informed them about the invader's offensive formation, her hands went to her pistols. She pulled them out of their holsters, trigger fingers resting on the side of the barrel for the time being. Discord and Harmony powered on with a slight whir, easing some of the anxiety that came with her immense anticipation. She felt secure holding them, ever since she had taken them out to the range when she was fifteen.
"Rear it is." Akari agreed, gesturing for her teammates to move forward. Once they started trudging along she took up the back end of their formation, even more attentive than before. "Any ideas what's causing that noise?" She asked, her voice loud enough to reach the front of their unit, but not by much. "Kuni, is it possible to send Dee scouting out a bit further? I don't want us to walk straight into whatever caused it."
There was no mistaking this; these were the sounds of combat. Or of massacre. In these times, it was difficult to tell the two apart. For Team Novae though, it would soon dip into the former as the scuttling sounds seemed to be driven towards their direction. Whatever had triggered the Invaders was now scaring them off, inadvertedly leading them right into the group of Psychers. The first to arrive popped its head out of the growth parallel to the group at the side. It paused, as if jostled in surprise to find the once cautionary group of students suddenly on the defensive.
But then again, it made sense. Now that they were being threatened, so too would it engage. Its head lowered closer to the forest floor. At the same time, the whisp-like wires protruding at either side of its head began to pulse and glow with a sickly orange coloration. They heated up, snapping like maddened electrical cables, whipping and sparking wherever they were in the air. Soon enough more Invaders that had been driven away arrived, though these lacked the surprise of its first breached. They too bristled their "whiskers", slowly leering at the trio of girls and moving forward slowly.
Before Kuni could react to Akari's question, she found herself listening to the sounds of combat. And then not long after, an Invander popped its head very close to them. The pause in its movements made her pause too, until it started making its whisps pulse and glow, something that was soon followed by more Invanders that were beginning to leer at the group.
Keeping her eyes on the first invander, Kuni couldn't help but wonder what drove them there in the first place "Cover me for a moment and I'll try to find both the safest area for us to retreat to, and see if I can figure out what caused this." She told her squadmates, before quickly turning her attention to the tablet at her hand, and beginning to instruct Dee to fly even higher and turn towards the direction the Invaders were coming from. If they could figure out what was driving the Invaders in their directions, then they will be able to think of the best course of action too.
When the first invader poked its head out from between the trees, there was a moment of pause as Akari watched it. The seconds its whiskers began to glow and pulse -whipping around like thin ropes of lightning- she raised Discord and Harmony, switching their settings so they would fire round discs of plasma rather than beams. She aimed Discord, preparing to fire a round between the invader's eyes. Before she could engage, more rustling sounded around them, and Akari peered at the rest of the invaders on the edge of her vision. When they began advancing, she smirked, ready for combat.
"I'll stay close to Kuni, start putting them down, Lucia." She commanded, raising her voice to be heard over the sound of combat all around them. With that, she took aim at the closest invader, squeezing her trigger and sending three discs of plasma about a quarter of the size of an average frisbee flying towards its face. Not waiting to see if her attacks struck, she whirled, firing at the other invaders.
The shots Akari had taken were true and firm, each disc of plasma hitting their mark. The first Invader that had looked at them the wrong way suddenly spurted, falling to its side in a crumbled heap of sparking flesh. On closer observation, one could see a good half of its face melted, having taken a direct blow from Akari's plasma shots. The act of fire had ignited the remaining Invader's motions. The cylinder-like cartridges located on the back of their necks hissed and pushed into their heads. Eyes lighting up, they leapt at the group of three with desire to maim and kill. Yet Akari's guns didn't stop firing, as one by one the Invaders were blown back with various bits of their bodies melting from the condensed plasma bullets.
"D'accord!" Lucia replied to Akari as she rushed forward to meet the Invader's charge. One of the incensed little machines took the opportunity to leap at her, only to be met with an edged beam wall as Lucia willed her saber to materialize and swung it upward to intercept the attacker. She hardly lost a step as she continued moving, keeping clear of Akari's line of fire while slashing her way through the pack. There were a fair amount of them, but careful and precise movements kept her from becoming surrounded as she continued to weave her sword around and directly through her targets one by one.
Meanwhile, Dee had finally identified the source of all their troubles. Moving about the forest like an animal was a red blur, leaping from Invader to Invader and tearing into them. At least now they knew the source of the metal tearing; almost immediately did the blur find itself barrelling towards their direction. As it sped out of Dee's sight of frame, a heavy thud sounded right beside the group. Almost shaking the ground itself, the Invaders charging at them gave slight pause, realizing the one causing their trouble had just appeared. The disemboded head of one of their own still hung from the jaws of its bearer, the girl uncaring of the alien-like blood dripping out of it.
At least until some of it got in her mouth, of which she promptly spat the metallic head away and rubbed at her tongue. "Ugh, ugghh! Fucking nasty...."
With Akari providing cover, Kuni was capable of seeing through Dee's camera the source of what pushed the invaders towards them. Barely a moment later, and the girl vanished from the line of Dee's sight. She placed instructions into to the drone to survey the surrounding area further, but before she could take a look at the footage, the girl that Dee's camera spotted before arrived next to them. Baring jaws, one of which had an Invader's head on it, Kuni couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
"R.R.?" She muttered briefly, before realizing this was no time to get distracted. Just because the invaders that were around killed rather rapidly, it didn't mean they were out of danger just yet. Though the surprise appearance of R.R. made Kuni feel as though they should be even more careful than before. After all, they were previously told that it was relatively safe, and that the scouting report came from Team Chaotix.
The remaining invaders, though momentarily frozen, quickly regrouped. Their fear upon seeing their biggest foe -if they were even able to experience that basic emotion- was quickly replaced with rage. Gathering into small bunches, they launched themselves at the four girls, with the largest group going straight for R.R.'s head.
Akari raised her twin pistols to defend herself against her own group of invaders, before becoming aware of the ones that were going straight for Kuni. Their Linker. Debatably the most important member of their team. She knew Lucia and R.R. could defend themselves with ease, but Kuni was their weak link and needed some form of protection. Plus, Akari had grown slightly attached to the girl after working with her for so long. She wouldn't let her go down one of the few times she had decided to join them on the field.
Switching aim with Discord, she focused on nailing each of the invaders that had thrown themselves at Kuni. At the same time, she fired Harmony blindly at the invaders who went for her. She could hear the sound of metal collapsing against the ground in her right ear, and the corners of her lips tugged up. Had she really taken them out? "Kuni! Hover!" She shouted, just before the wind got knocked out of her, an invader barreling into her side. Apparently not.
Cursing as electric whiskers connected with her flesh, Akari praised the radiation that had given her the ability to generate her passive force field. Otherwise, the skin protecting her ribcage would have been seared. Summoning up Concussion at her side, she sent the invader flying back with a medium sized blast. Twisting, she quickly sent a few discs into its metallic body so it couldn't get back up and ram into her again. Glancing up to see if Kuni had listened to her, she went back to firing at the invaders, keeping them as far away from her and her Linker as possible, knowing that Kuni would have to come back to the ground eventually.
Lucia whirled around at the sound of a heavy thud as an incredibly fast object suddenly entered the area. She held Maltet's sword at the ready, certain by the reactions of the Invaders that this new arrival was responsible for the agitation they'd seen before. If it was an enemy... but then she realized she needn't carry that concern, or so she realized as she noted the long, bright red hair and massive claws the party crasher was sporting. This could only be R.R, the almost feral Striker of Chaotix. But what was she doing here? Chaotix had handled the scouting and given the All Clear report, so why was R.R. here, separated from her team?
Her focus was torn away from these questions by a mechanical whirring that sounded like a war cry as two more Invaders boldly ran at her. Spinning her sword in her hand, Lucia stepped to the side at the last moment and dissected the first one with a horizontal followed by a vertical slash, then swung around and gave its brother the same cross section before it even reached her. As she prepared to resume her lethal dance however, Akari's cursing drew her attention behind her to where her Gunner was wrestling with one Invader while several more were taking the opportunity to target Kuni!
"Merde!" Lucia hissed as she spun and directed her focus to her armored boots, signaling them to deploy bursts of energy from the soles to rapidly accelerate her through the air back toward her Linker. With well-practiced steps she cut the bursts at roughly the halfway point and shifted her body weight to lead with her legs on the landing, sliding across the ground and coming to a stop directly between Kuni and her would-be assailants. Her left arm came up, and with a small flash an energy barrier blossomed out from it that two Invaders collided with at the same time. With a snarl Lucia swung the shield outward to knock the two of them away before deftly beheading both of them in midair with a pair of swift sword strikes. From there she stood her ground, waiting for any of the others to test their luck against her sword if they dared.
"Eh. The fucking fuck are you looking at?" R.R. turned her head at the launched Invaders jumping at her. No sooner did they leave the ground did they rejoin it in pieces. Massive clawed gauntlets that could only be an Armament had sent them into the next life, R.R. reducing her attackers into piles of leaked fluids and torn apart metal in shot time. A few slashes was all that was needed for her and she looked back to see what the others were up to. "Ah man. Riyame's gonna scold me if I let someone die around here. Oh hey, you fucking got em!"
Her own enemies dealt with, R.R. was happy to watch from the sidelines as the Invaders briefly got a hit on Akari; only to be swiftly met with retaliation of their own. By now their number had been dwindling and it didn't look like they had wanted to start a fight. The majority of the Invader's number, as few as they were of what was left, began backpedaling away to retreat. Akari's shots were successful in leading them away from Kuni and the way R.R. flexed her claws didn't insure a victory.
Soon the small area was being cleared, the Invaders leaving behind their fallen in hunks of alien corpses. "Yeah, yeah, we fucking did it, awooo!" R.R. cheered bouncing in place as she watched the aliens scamper about. Whether they would be heading right into another team was up in the air, but not really Team Novae's problem. Speaking of which... "Oh, right. Uh....who the hell are you?" R.R. asked, as if she had only now noticed the team she had run into. If she was aware of the trouble she had caused for them, she didn't show it, staring blankly.
The Invaders seemed to have decided to not give up just yet, and started an assault againts each of them. Luckily for her, Lucia and Akari came to her defence, and the latter instructed her to use her psychic drive. Doing as instructed, Kuni focused on herself, and after a moment, a blue aura would surround her, and slowly she would rise above the ground. When she reached a three meter height, she decided that was enough, and then moved her attention to the tablet once more, using this safe moment as a chance to try and look over the footage that came from Dee.
Between Akari and R.R., it seemed as though they were holding out very well. And soon enough, the remaining invanders began to run away. Once it appeared to be safe enough, Kuni lowered herself back down, and upon landing, let out a sigh. She kept looking through Dee's footage "It appears we're safe for the moment. Thanks Akari, Lucia." She said, offering a nod to her teammate, before turning to look at R.R., who just presented them with a slightly odd question. For some reason, Kuni figured that R.R. would know who others from the academy were, considering they saw each other at the academy on a regular basis. Deciding to leave the response to the other two, she tapped on the tablet once more, turning Dee to the direction of the first sensor "The path appears to the sensor appears to be clear for now." She told everyone.
Once the remaining attackers turned tail, and Kuni was back safely on the ground, Akari slipped Discord and Harmony into their hoslters. They remained active for a few moments, before shutting off with a short whine. She looked in the direction the invaders had scuttled off to, hoping they ran into another team and got slaughtered. When R.R. spoke, Akari turned to face her and grinned at her enthusiasm. It was a bit wounding that she didn't recognize them, but Akari waved it off.
"Team Novae," She began, nodding towards Lucia. "That's Lucia Juste-Enfant, our Striker." Her head bobbed in Kuni's direction. "And that's Kuni Durant, our Linker. I'm Akari Saito, Team Novae's Gunner." She stuck her thumb into her chest when she mentioned herself, not bothering to hold out a hand for R.R. to shake. For all she knew, R.R. would take the opportunity to bite it off. "It's a pleasure, R.R."
"If the way is clear," Lucia added as she disengaged her sword and notched it back on her belt, "Then we should continue on. But first, R.R... why were you running around the forest slaughtering Invaders? Aside from the obvious I mean. What happened to the rest of your team?" Granted, expecting a clear answer from the redhead Striker might be overzealous in and of itself, but it was pertinent to ask nonetheless.
