2022-12-08: Transmission of Feelings

• Log: 2022-12-08: Transmission of Feelings
• Cast: Rikka Takarada
• Where: Tsutsujidai - Junk Shop Aya's Junkyard
• Date: U.C. 0096 12 08
• Summary: While digging through the junkyard, Rikka contemplates things that have been happening in her life lately, recent events and her thoughts and feelings on them, and asks herself questions that may not have answers. Her musings, however, lead her to the discovery of something that may prove useful in the future.

---

 The junkyard belonging to the Takarada family, from which the Gridman Alliance sources most of their parts, has been seeing a lot of activity lately. More activity, perhaps, than it ever has seen since the hustle and bustle during which Synchrotank and Phormocannon were built. It's only been barely under a year since then, but Rikka Takarada could hardly call herself the same person now that she was back then.

 She's seen countless battles, evolving from Gridman's support vehicle to fighting beside him, a talented pilot now in her own right. She's met countless irreplaceable people. She learned the true nature of herself and her city. She fell in love again, though she hasn't quite been able to confess despite the urgings of many - and rejected a confession in turn with honesty, and in so doing forged a steel bond of friendship. ...She's suffered pain and hardship, too.

 These thoughts and more run through Rikka's head as she digs through piles of salvaged parts, looking for... something. She's not sure what. Maybe it's just a general need to... busy herself, to keep herself from thinking about the uncertain fate of Hass, freed from possession but snatched away from her at the last moment. ...No. She can't think like that. She promised that she'd come back to her. She has to trust her, like she and Namiko trusted her. Right now, she needs to think more like... Alouette. It was so inspiring, to see her springing back with renewed courage and desire to protect those she cared about. Right now, that's what she needs. She has everyone's courage, too - her birthday party is fresh in her mind, warm thoughts buoying her back up.

  Maybe it's these thoughts, dwelling on her friends, that causes her to feel it. Somehow, she gets a good feeling from one of the nearby junk piles. Rikka heads over to it and continues her work, studying, frowning at, and rejecting junk in turn. Eventually, however... a pile begins to shift. A bit of it falls away. Rikka scrambles back, and stares into it. It's dark, but she sees the gleam of metal. Something large. Curiosity has her now - she keeps digging to excavate the object. The more she works, the more its form begins to become clear. It's...

 ...

 ...What IS it? Rikka's read about funnels. It kind of looks like one. But, with its blocky yet rounded, almost toyetic design... it looks like the kind of weapon you'd see wielded by a toy robot more than anything. But it *feels* like one, and it's definitely the source of that feeling she got. She gets that vague sense in the back of her mind. She continues the excavation work. Eventually, it's fully extracted and, exhausted, Rikka sits herself atop it for a moment.

 A single funnel won't do her much good. Especially without an assembly or something to connect it to her suit. She doesn't even know if she can control them. They're weapons used by Newtypes, right? ...Is she a Newtype? They're able to feel things other people don't, and ever since she found herself watching that battle from within the dream given to her by Bujack, by Akane, where she found herself touching the minds of others, reaching out to them to lend them aid during the fight, she's been able to feel and notice things she didn't before. Not quite on that scale again, yet. That felt like a singular event made possible only by the circumstances at the time, and by Bujack's very nature. But among other things... she could feel that strange, undescribable *noise* from Celebro while possessing Hass - and she could feel Doctor Cektru's mind, her Intent, when forcing the creature from her friend's body.

 ...Can people like her, Repli-Compoids, even be Newtypes? ...Maybe it doesn't matter. It's just a label. But maybe she should ask Leina about it sometime, all the same. Though... at that thought Rikka frowns, drawing her knees up onto the funnel and hugging them closer to her.

 ...Why does it say about her that she's only just figured this out about herself and she's already thinking about how she can use it as a weapon? It's not like she wants to hurt people with it - quite the opposite, actually. But something about it... makes her feel a little uneasy. Still... there's Synchrotank. It's a weapon, too - but it had become something more. A tool for saving others, the symbol of her bonds and her courage. When she thinks of it like that... It doesn't seem so bad. And what's more... She's starting to feel the limits of what Synchrotank is capable, even reinforced as it is with the strength of their bonds. She may need something more potent, in order to keep the people she cares about that safe. She doesn't know what's going to come next.

 At that thought, Rikka's gaze turns upward in the direction of the shopping district, where the corpse of a kaiju looms. It has, for several days. This is strange in and of itself. Never before has a kaiju... lingered, like this, after its defeat. And she's sure they defeated it. It's unsettling. But more than that... the shape of the kaiju itself. She likes to think she's developed a pretty good understanding of Akane by now. And yet...

 "...I don't get it." Rikka mutters to herself, releasing her legs and letting them slide back down off the side of the funnel. Akane's kaiju up to this point have been made with a purpose, and a design that supports it. This one, though... Rikka doesn't know what to make of it. It doesn't have any of the design flourishes of the others that made it clear that Akane cared about them, had passion for her work. But it's clearly something she made - all too clearly - but lacking in any effort or consideration beyond a set of eyeholes. Is it a sign that she's given up? Is it a cry for help? ...It might be some kind of cry.

 "Akane... what are you thinking? Are you alright?" Rikka asks. ...She hasn't seen her in a while, come to think. Where is she now...? She pulls out her phone, staring at the screen for a moment. She knows that Yuta has been sending Akane things, things to cheer her up, let her know that he's thinking about her. Maybe she should do the same - just to know that she's okay...? Her thumb hovers over Akane's name at the screen... but her nerves get to her at the last moment. Too nervous to even start typing anything, in case she can see the traitorous sign of typing in progress. Afraid of getting an answer - or maybe afraid of getting no answer at all. She backs out, instead opening the Gridman Alliance group chat.

 > Hey guys.
 > Found something cool in the junkyard.
 > Gonna need a hand with them.

 ...Time passes, and work is done. Gradually more funnels are excavated, cleaned up, and repaired... and eventually, they find a matching fixture for them. They have everything they need, and so, the funnel rack is affixed to and connected to Synchrotank. Of course, after all this work... it's important to try them out!

 Synchrotank is rolled out and started up, like normal. But this time... she can feel their presence, faintly, if she reaches out for them. That much seems to have worked, at least.

 "I'm releasing one of the funnels now..." Rikka announces. It comes loose and Rikka urges it forward. It floats before Synchrotank moment... before crashing to the ground. Rikka winces. Is that not enough...? Rikka reaches out to it again, whispering a quiet plea. That seems to have had a little more of an effect. It rises, its flight starting to stabilize a little. So, she can control them... but, if this is all she can do, will they really be of any help to her? She takes a deep breath, shutting her eyes again.

 This time, she fills it with everything she has. Her hopes and her desires. Her courage and resolve to protect. She takes all of this and wills it to move - and this, finally, causes it to move. The toyetic funnel glides through the air. The flight path isn't particularly graceful... but this is Rikka's first flight, and she can work on that with time. That she had been able to manage this much is enough, for now. She just has to keep at it...

 ...And hope that she will ready, for when the time comes that she must use them.