2023-08-07: The Millympic Games - Tsutsujidai Team
- Log: 2023-08-07- Millympic Games - Tsutsujidai Team
- Cast: Rikka Takarada, Alouette Pommier, Gridman, Namiko, Akane Shinjo, Hass
- Where: Ashford Academy
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-08-07
- Summary: The Millympic Games begin in earnest with a cross-school team between Jindai, Montserrat, and Tsutsujidai trying their hands at the games!
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
The Millympic Games are here again! The Tsutsujidai team put on an outstanding performance last time, and now their team has only grown bigger with the addition of more friends.
Rikka's confident they'll do this year, too - or at the very least, that they'll have a good time doing it.
For a moment, Rikka stares up at the Alto she's selected and takes a deep breath. Today, she's in her pilot suit - featuring the white and yellow of Tsutsujidai High School, and... given that it was made for a school event rather than actual combat, is adjusted a bit more for looks rather than practicality.
"I can do this." Rikka murmurs to herself, climbing up into the cockpit and settling into the seat, gripping the controls with some amount of trepidation. She holds her breath for a second, but-
...So far so good. It's not like she expected something to happen just because she sat in the cockpit, but... No, better not to dwell on that.
She just has to focus on her friends right now. No point getting stuck in her own head.
"Can everyone hear me?" Rikka says, testing communications. "Thanks for joining me today. Let's have fun with this, alright? ...But try to win. I'm confident we can pull it off."
The first round features a set of balls in the starting zone and a series of buckets on the field - one point buckets on the outside, and three points in the center bucket!
"Cyclops and Flash are going to swarm us as soon as we get out there. We should split ourselves between Offense and Defense. For my part... I'm better at covering, so I'll be ready to intercept." Rikka decides. The whistle blows - and Rikka rushes out onto the field, ready to cover whoever goes for a score!
FPT: Rikka Takarada has acted with Mobility and Hit Points.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette has fond memories of joining in on the Millympic Games last year as a ringer. So much so, that she's ready to do it again, even as their team continues to grow! One might wonder why she didn't betray Tsutsujidai for Jindai... but perhaps she'd prefer to be competing with them for points.
Not to mention, she wants to be there to support her friends from Tsutsujidai... especially Rikka. She's glad she was feeling okay with not just participating again, but leading their team. But all the same, the other five of them will support her through it all.
As for her own pilot suit... it's the same matching fit she wore with Rikka and Gridman last year.
"Loud and clear, Captain!" She replies, enthusiastically, as Rikka tests her comms out. "...Exactly. Let's put on an even better showing than last year, shall we? With our new additions, there's no way we can lose!" She certainly sounds confident, tending to the controls of the Alto, fine-tuning them just to her preference.
First round seems simple enough, just score with the ball and avoid a tackle. She already starts strategizing a path to victory, taking into account Rikka's defensive stance.
"The Alto is a larger and sturdier machine than the Savage... but lacks for speed in comparison." She considers. "Our own Altos should be able to hold the Heroes off, while Akane and Gridman's Savages use their superior mobility to aim for the center as fast as they can." True to her plan, Alouette attempts to use her Alto's superior bulk to try and shrug off Cyclops and Flash, aiming a shot all the same!
FPT: Alouette Pommier has acted with Mobility and Hit Points.
<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
It's good to put the piloting suit again. Gridman is ready. Still bolstered by his experiences at the water park yesterday, he moves with a spring in his step. There's no way Team Tsutsujidai is going home with anything but first place!
Giving a smile to his teammates, the young Hyper Agent climbs into his chosen machine -- one of the RK-92 Savages. It takes a few minutes for him to get fully settled inside, letting the odd cockpit settle around him. This thing will really pick up all his movements, huh..? Stretching one arm forward to test this, Gridman is almost startled at the machine's perfect mimicry.
<"I can hear you, Rikka! We can do this. Akane, let's team up!">
Bending his -- and the Savage's -- knees, Gridman waits for the whistle. The moment it is heard, he zooms forward, heading straight to the center ring, ball under his arm. Today, he radiates pure confidence and excitement. As long as his teammates can hold off the other machines, he's going to score for sure..!
<Pose Tracker> Namiko has posed.
Namiko has come to like the Alto, on account of its many exciting levers, and a cockpit that moves. She could also just ATTACH her Neuron to the back, which is kind of cool. Kobu tiny...
Anyway, Namiko is, predictably, in her sports day gear and has a beautiful girl in the second seat, making her invincible. Namiko's Alto is the same stock as everyone else's using one; she found one in bright red which she has no idea how but she's calling it destiny.
"Rikka!" Namiko chimes. She's getting the hang of comms on these things. She gives her friend a big smile. "Loud and clear, babe! Let's run this!" She might be paying some extra attention to Rikka for a few seconds; Namiko is also worried about her friend being back in the seat. But she seems to be OK.
Alouette gives out a plan, and Namiko barks, "Right! Defense with the heavies, sure thing!" She grabs the controls and the Alto stalks forward fast, using its significant size advantage to try and keep the Hero team at bay.
Cyclops is probably having the time of his life down there, by the way. But this isn't about him.
FPT: Namiko has acted with Mobility and Hit Points.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
THIS MORNING
Akane Shinjo has absolutely no intent on going to the Deculture Festival events and wearing a mediocre stock pilot suit. Surely she can get something better from 3G -- safer, maybe a little less frumpy...
Akane stares at what she's presented with.
"... That's going to... uhh... hm."
TEN MINUTES AGO
Akane does her best to get into the Savage while wearing... a Dive Suit. The material bares most of her thighs, everything below her thighs, and most of her arms; while it provides at least swimsuit-level hard coverage, the rest is semi-translucent. She's thrown a uniform skirt on over it in an attempt to preserve at least a tiny bit of modesty, but...
NOW
"I hear you," Akane confirms. As Rikka takes charge of the situation, she smiles and says, "Understood. I'm not very confident as a pilot, but you're right about me being smaller, Alouette... I'll go on offense." Not what she'd prefer, but just the same... "There's more of us than them, even if I'm pretty sure their machines are better-tuned. I'll be counting on you guys. ... Ready, Gridman?"
She waits for the whistle -- and her own approach is more deliberate than Gridman's. She actively uses Rikka and Alouette as cover, and does her best to coordinate her movements. Relying on them... it's a little scary, but --
FPT: Akane Shinjo has acted with Mobility and Skill.
<Pose Tracker> Hass has posed.
This time last year, Hass had no experience, nor any particular *interest* in mechs. She'd been content to cheer her friends on from the sidelines. A lot can change in a year, though... and she wants to learn. She wants to know how to fight, and it turns out that MS sports with the people you care about is an excellent way to figure that out!
It's taken a few minutes to adjust to the cockpit, to work past the anxiety left over from her experience in the tunnels beneath Nouvelle Tokyo. But with Namiko by her side, she can do this.
"Got it! Time to go, Nami!" she cheers, letting Namiko handle primary motion. She's here to adjust, to keep their situational awareness up. Or, case in point, to keep them on-balance during a tackle...!
FPT: Hass has acted with Mobility and Intuition.
FPT: Round Complete!
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
TEN MINUTES AGO
"Ah-" Rikka starts. Then, Akane shows up to the event in a Dive Suit. Rikka's attention is stolen immediately, and words fail her until her line of sight is broken. She can't say she expected that! The fact that she's so distracting is a blessing and a curse! Now she needs worry about keeping her head clear for other reasons.
NOW
...Fortunately, if anything, Rikka seems more focused right now. Everyone's positive responses ring in her ears, and that's all she needs right now.
And, conveniently, they make a pretty well-balanced team - with the Altos on defense and Gridman and Akane focusing on scoring, everyone has their role and is ready to act on it!
Still, the Heroes are no joke - as Akane surmises, their machines are better tuned. This allows them to perform some maneuvers that catch them by surprise every now and then...
...but, ultimately, they clear the event with a decent score and move onto the next!
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
When Akane shows up, while Rikka is distracted, Alouette on the other hand, has to stop herself from bursting into laughter at her choice of piloting suit. Oh, the dive suit...
But that was then, and this is now! Alouette was laser-focused on their goal of overcoming the Heroes, and thanks to their teamwork, they're able to pass the event well enough!
Which leads them to the next event - with the simple goal of knocking their opponents off the pillar. "...Seems like we're on more equal grounds this time. One shot, and that's it. Which just means we need to outplay them!"
Volunteering to go first, Alouette grabs the pugil stick with her Alto, aiming it in challenge at the Tendus in particular. "I think I'll settle my score with the fellow songbird~" Focusing her line of sight to the edge of the stick itself, she finds a line of trajectory and... strikes! Now it's up to the rest to take their own shots.
FPT: Alouette Pommier has acted with Skill and Targeting.
<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
"W--wow, Akane." Gridman isn't sure where to look, so his gaze stays locked onto her eyes. "That's... a really powerful outfit!"
And that is all he had to say on the topic.
Thankfully, the event moves quickly. Only minutes after they've finished Touchdown, the next event begins! Towerfall. Knocking people off a pillar with a stick? That sounds easy enough!
<"I've got next."> Gridman says over the radio, as Alouette moves out. <"You got this, Alouette!">
He almost feels back for the Ashford students. Only two against six? That's gotta be intimidating... But Gridman doesn't feel bad enough to go easy on them. When it's his turn, he leaps forward, gripping the little stick in his hands. Maybe his martial arts training will come in handy..!
FPT: Gridman has acted with Skill and Targeting.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane struggles to score, and has to ultimately retreat and go for hasty single points. Gridman does the meat of the scoring -- and Akane's poor Savage eventually gets tackled, too... still, the team overall seems to be doing well.
"Alouette, I think we need to figure out a way better pilot suit situation," Akane tells her, tugging at the translucent material just a bit, between rounds. ... then she opens comms to Rikka privately and adds, "... but maybe not right away~"
Except, crucially, she doesn't actually swap comms to Rikka, and just blasts everyone with that one.
Akane doesn't get long to rest -- It's Savage against Savage on the giant pillar, and Akane thinks a little about what she's heard about other schools' student councils to --
"Hi there," Akane says, with an almost malicious little grin on her face. "Engine... Kusanagi-san, right?"
Then she swaps her video comms over to broadcasting to Kenji, cranks the bilateral angle of the Arm Slave controls as high as it'll go, and takes a single swing.
<Pose Tracker> Namiko has posed.
TEN MINUTES AGO
Namiko sees Akane in a Dive Suit.
Namiko, without looking away, gropes blindly for Hass' hand to remind her of the importance and purity of love above the temptations of the flesh.
"I'm gonna go, uhhh, walk my taxes! Let's go Hass!!"
AND THEN:
Between them, Namiko and Hass equate to approximately one acceptable pilot, so although Namiko misjudges some distances - however attentive she can be, having used machines at such disparate sizes actually makes it a little harder for her to figure out how big things are relative to each other, sometimes, especially with Neutron's strange resonances within her. Hass keeps her balanced when she might otherwise fling herself. In the end, it works out: They're able to keep the score down!!
That moves them on to the next game, though, where Kenji Kusanagi, a man she does not know but would - honestly probably despise, in that way kindred spirits have of hating the very things that makes them alike. Fortunately, Akane murders him in cold blood.
"Hass," Namiko says, adrift, both at Akane's ultimate use of her situation and also the whole-way out there tease their strongest friend's girlfriend just issued. "....we're falling behind, Hass."
With this thought in mind, she grabs a stick and marches on toward Songbird, rolling her neck until she gets a nice crack. "Alright. I'll go next! Hass! Let's go with low center of gravity for this one!"
Is that something you can do in an Alto on Earth!? Namiko seems confident!? She might have just seen it in an episode of Captain Freedman!?
FPT: Namiko has acted with Skill and Targeting.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Oh no! Akane's too dangerous!!
"Th-that's- Well, I can't say I'd mind if you held off a bit longer..." Rikka manages to stammer out. This, too, is audible for all to hear.
The next event takes place atop a pillar, with their team against two Heroes to see who will remain on top.
Literally.
It's turn-based, with each of them getting one shot at it. They'll need to work together, making each hit count... Rikka takes a deep breath. She can work with this.
"I'll leave her to you, then." Rikka says with a smirk, as Alouette declares her target. Rikka's attention turns toward Engine in his Savage. She takes a moment to size up the smaller machine...
...and then lunges forward with a calculated motion, lashing out with a sweep of her pugil stick to capitalize on Akane's plan!
FPT: Rikka Takarada spends 1 ID Charges! They will apply this coming round!
FPT: Rikka Takarada has acted with Skill and Targeting.
<Pose Tracker> Hass has posed.
Hass, meanwhile, had just laughed, gripping Namiko's hand tight. "You're hopeless, y'know that?" she teased.
But now, as they attempt to keep the defenders occupied, it's all she can do to keep them on two feet--despite Namiko's faltering, though, they manage to push through and score!
She grins under her mask. "Not for long, we're not. Right, low center! Got it!" Regardless of whether Namiko's request is *reasonable*, Hass seems to know just what to do. As they hop up onto the pole, she grips both sticks, pulling the Alto down into an only mildly-shaky half crouch. "Okay... Nami-chan, now! Strike!" she calls out when she sees an opening, her knuckles white as she tries to counter the feedback she's feeling from her controls.
FPT: Hass has acted with Skill and Targeting.
FPT: Rikka Takarada's Protective Instinct Ability assists!
FPT: Alouette Pommier's Tenacity applies!
FPT: Gridman's Open Your Eyes applies!
FPT: Gridman's Telepathic Link and Mediumship Abilities assist!
FPT: Hass's Ability assists!
FPT: Round Complete!
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"...No kidding." Alouette answers Akane, with a flip of her hair. "Try having to wear that thing in an emergency deployment!" But there's a wry little smirk, as Akane broadcasts her thoughts to everyone instead of just Rikka. "Sure. Have fun with it for just a while longer, why don't you~?"
On second thought, maybe she shouldn't have allowed for that, as Akane's... tactic, provides the pilot Kenji Kusanagi with a burst of, let's call it motivation.
Despite the entire team's best efforts, he stands strong, refusing to be knocked off that pillar - subsequently sending a good chunk of the team's machines down themselves.
In the end, only Rikka stands strong, her calculated strike finally putting an end to Engine's reign. It was rough... but thanks to her efforts, the team is able to move onto the next round!
<Pose Tracker> Hass has posed.
Hass and Namiko's efforts are valiant, but perhaps the low center of gravity move was a miscalculation! Crouching left them less able to move--and Hass' called shot was a dud. They whiff, and for their trouble, earn a fall onto the mat in one hefty blow.
But there's not much to be done except move on!
It's a race! Songbird from the last round joins Kitsune as the Heroes, poised and ready to go against the group. One of them makes a taunting motion toward the group, a self-assured 'you're going down' gesture.
"Okay... a race. Speed... we can do that. Nami, same division as last time? You on the arms, me on the legs?" They'll have to get into a good rhythm if they want to get any sort of speed, but... "I'll follow your lead."
The pair's Alto goes first, and Hass curls the Alto's lower half upward to keep swinging to a minimum, making small movements as necessary to keep it that way, and to keep them from creating a resonance. Controlling it like this is difficult... almost like a three-legged race.
FPT: Hass has acted with Hit Points and Skill.
BBSYS: Post 1133, 'GUTS Crossdressing Pageant Third Judge Announced' has been published to IC News/Rumors by Emilia Eschonbach.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane's Savage gets not quite toppled and more ejected by force.
Akane makes the deliberate decision to shut off her comms for a little while. She also sets her bilateral angle back from 3.5 to 1.8, before she forgets and immediately wrecks herself by spinning herself in a circle when she tries to turn her head.
She's pretty silent this round, by comparison -- just carefully putting hand over hand on the zipline with a firm, almost tight expression on her face. "Ugh," she mumbles to herself in her cockpit. "Stupid play. Why did I think that'd work."
At the very least, she's channeling it into physical action... She might need a minute or two before she goes back to transmitting.
FPT: Akane Shinjo has acted with Hit Points and Reactor.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka winces just a little as pretty much everyone else ends up falling to the mats below.
"Is everyone alright? Anyone need a breather?" Rikka asks, taking a moment to check up on them all.
Right now, though, it's time for round three! It's a race - they have to pull themselves across a steel rope, then release themselves and zipline back to the start... Rikka nods to herself.
"We've got what it takes." Rikka agrees. That does make her think, though, and take a moment to assess Hass and Namiko. Their strategy is pretty unique... and honestly, considering how new to piloting they are, they're doing pretty well.
For Rikka's part, her strategy focuses on pacing herself - conserving her Alto's energy with slow and careful motions, so she can be ready to unleash it in bursts if she starts falling too far behind.
FPT: Rikka Takarada has acted with Hit Points and Reactor.
<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
Gridman makes a brave charge... and is promptly knocked down. His machine hits the ground in synch with Namiko and Hass', and he gives them a little wave.
<"Sorry about that! I guess I got a little over-confident.">
This next game is a bit confusing. Studying the instructions, Gridman takes his time. Rushing in isn't going to work here. Even though it's a race, messing up would mean total failure.
<"Right. I'm ready!"> Gridman sounds determined..! With a bend of his knees, he starts to run!
Upside down with the steel cable, then coming back on the zipline. He can do this!
In the crowd, somewhere, four personages watch with varying amounts of interest and pride.
"I bet everything on the kids again." Borr says, grinning. "They came so close last year, and this year they've got Namiko and Hass. It's gonna be easy."
Vit rolls his eyes, making a scoffing noise. Borr tosses a bit of popcorn at him -- but winds up hitting Calibur. The samurai doesn't seem to notice this, and so a bit of popcorn remains nestled in his limp hair.
"The least we can do is believe in them, Vit." Max chastises. "It will not be as rewarding an experience if they do not feel adequately believed in."
"I'm on it." Vit replies, easily, waving a little noisemaker. It makes a fairly quiet rattling sound. "See? Brought it from home."
<Pose Tracker> Namiko has posed.
Shortly after Engine releases his sealed power, Songbird does, for related but not quite the same reasons. Namiko and Team Namiko's Alto go flying hard to the mat! "Whoof!!" Namiko yelps. It's not AS hard a hit as the Neutron takes, thanks to all that Autobalancing padding, but it's no fun just the same!
Still, she laughs afterward. "This...might be kinda fun?" she muses aloud, and slaps a robot hand onto the ground, allowing her to rise. "Gridman...it's fine! They really went crazy on us!"
SMASH CUT TO STARTERS' BLOCKS.
"Oh no, she's back," Namiko says, with not-entirely-faux worry. "That chick gets scary sometimes...."
"Oh! Yeah, I'll work the arms! That's...!" ...the main operation on this one, actually!
She sucks in a breath and nods to herself. "Right! Let's do it then! We gotta do it fast and efficient, OK? I'll gun the reactor a bit, give us some juice."
It becomes zero degrees hotter, because reactor shielding is VERY important.
FPT: Namiko has acted with Hit Points and Reactor.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"...I'm fine." Alouette answers Rikka's question. "Just really caught me off guard?" She admits. "I wasn't expecting them to fight so hard at all. But they won't have their way this time!" She grins, regaining her confidence.
The next one seems tricky, Alouette thinks, as she watches Hass and Namiko take the lead together. She's one of the last to go, so by the time it's her turn, she feels like she has a clear grasp of it in mind.
"It's time for a rematch, Songbird!" Alouette challenges, as her Alto pulls itself forward and forward, hanging across the rope.
She noticeably lags behind the other Songbird at the start of the race. But in truth, Alouette's using her mastery over the reactor to specifically save the boost in speed for the trickier parts. It also makes her movement all the more unpredictable for her opponent - who will never know if she's about to be outpaced.
FPT: Alouette Pommier has acted with Hit Points and Reactor.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Someone sits down next to Borr, with full, acute knowledge that he has entered the Danger Zone.
"They've got this. Plus, when it comes to a teamup, six is the best number, right?" Surprise: it's Utsumi! (He'd elected to skip being on the team; teams are limited to six actual people, and in this particular case, he thinks he's probably better off being chill about it. Besides: Utsumi's always been comfortable on the sidelines, and if the team beefs it, someone is gonna need to be level-headed about it.)
... That doesn't stop him from giving a too-enthusiastic, "Go for it, Gridmaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" at the top of his lungs while in kicking range.
<Pose Tracker> Hass has posed.
The Heroes put up a hell of a fight. Kitsune's Alto is agile, but it's hard to believe a Tendus can move that fast! Alouette and Gridman falter enough to drop them behind their opponents, while the power couple of Takarada and Shinjo both beat their opponents handily!
Hass and Namiko, meanwhile, don't fare particularly well. Namiko manages to keep pace with the red Alto's arms, but Hass isn't able to find the right rhythm to keep in time with her, taking time losses as the EXaMAC sways and wobbles on the rope. She curses under her breath. But, despite her failure, the pair comes in *just* over Songbird's time. Hass slumps a little in her seat, sighing... but they're able to move on.
<Pose Tracker> Namiko has posed.
Eventually, Namiko slumps against her seat as the whistle sounds. "Jeeze...that was close."
Maybe she's aware that she and Hass were out of sync, but she leans over and grasps for her hand anyway in the few moments they have. No promises, just a quiet moment to touch and reassure her that she's not mad. She smiles.
"Alright! Uhhhh I guess, we're probably the last back so... uhhhh, I'm not the captain, do whatever! Rules are oppression!"
A WHILE LATER:
"where did they hide that," Namiko says, blankly, staring up at a MASSIVE pile of foam blocks assembled into the loose shape of a pyramid, which manages to loom tremendously high above even the Alto. "That's so much foam. Golly."
The Heroes line up. Torb and Oni...don't really do much because their machines require control and stretching won't translate out of the cockpit!
Cyclops fully is doing twist stretches though. This too is the power of a support soldier's son.
Namiko says, "Alright, Hass. We have 30 seconds to get to the top. We gotta go all in on this one. If you see a good handhold, call it out, OK? We got two heads in here! That's perfect for this!"
The airhorn blows. Namiko's Alto leaps!!!
FPT: Namiko spends 1 ID Charges! They will apply this coming round!
FPT: Namiko has acted with Armor and Intuition.
<Pose Tracker> Hass has posed.
Hass smiles back, squeezing Namiko's hand and nodding.
At the pyramid, the girl's eyes shine a little as she observes their final challenge. Whoa.
That's a challenge she absolutely welcomes. She nods to Namiko. Dexterity and control are going to be paramount here. She stretches before they start, drumming her fingers on the control sticks. The Alto crouches... the horn blows!
She puts it all into this. Eyes dart back and forth, and her hands snap the sticks this way and that, grasping for handholds, keeping an eye out for the Heroes poised to hold them back...
FPT: Hass spends 2 ID Charges! They will apply this coming round!
FPT: Hass has acted with Armor and Intuition.
<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
Gridman falls behind again, frowning inside his Savage. This really isn't a good showing at all! He's got to keep up with everyone!
Distantly, someone screams Gridman's name. The Neon Genesis Junior High Students, sitting around Utsumi, cover their ears in perfect unison.
"Utsumi!" Borr shouts, only to be cut off by Max of all people.
Beneath his enormous mask, the largest Hyper Agent chuckles. "That was ideal."
It seems there will be no shin-kicking today. Utsumi is spared...
Game four. Gridman lightly slaps both sides of his face, determination burning in his yellow eyes. Some kind of foam pyramid? How hard can it be?
30 seconds to the top. At the starting sound, the Hyper Agent charges forward, clambering up the first block. This Savage isn't like his real body, but maybe he can still pull off a few tricks. Attempting a flip from one layer of blocks to the next, will this bold strategy pay off?
FPT: Gridman has acted with Armor and Intuition.
FPT: Gridman spends 1 ID Charges! They will apply this coming round!
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"It's good to know Ashford's budget is being spent in just the right places," Alouette remarks, dry, when the pyramid of foam is revealed.
But for her, this isn't really the time for jokes - after that utterly embarrassing performance in the last round, she desperately needs a win. The others can't see how pressed she is, as she grips the controls for the Alto, jamming the machine forth.
So she's going to give it everything she's got this round! Mostly by using her intellect here, trying to predict where the attackers will come from, avoiding their assaults from above.
As Namiko and Hass gleam, they still have the advantage of numbers... if they can help boost each other to the top, they might just be able to win no matter how stacked the odds are against them.
FPT: Alouette Pommier spends 1 ID Charges! They will apply this coming round!
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Barely pulling out a win against Tsubaki, Akane starts to rebound from her previous irritation. At the very least, Ashford's Heroes aren't totally keeping her down, even if she nearly failed at the last second...
"I'm holding up okay, but I'm a little frustrated," Akane transmits back to Rikka. She wouldn't say anything at all, normally -- but last time she mentioned having a bad time during something like this, Rikka said she'd rather have known. She can at least try it.
Looking up at the Savage-scale pyramid, she looks across toward the Heroes -- and gives a particularly close eye to that Tendus.
"... I'm glad you're here, Yonezawa-kun," Akane offers him, with a slightly cringing smile. "I did catch you looking a couple times, you know. Sorry if, uh..." She rubs at the back of her head, saying, "You know what? Don't worry about it."
Yonezawa still thinks Shinjo-san looks like a reader model, actually, which makes being on video comms with her a little much right now. He gives her a "Good luck" and closes comms.
Akane springs at the blocks with some force. The foam is an unusual structural material for a mecha to traverse -- but Akane has a plan. Yet again, she changes the bilateral angle right before trying to move; a good pilot would be reading her expected movement speed while she's lining up at the start, and suddenly moving much more rapidly might catch them off guard.
FPT: Alouette Pommier has acted with Armor and Intuition.
FPT: Akane Shinjo spends 1 ID Charges! They will apply this coming round!
FPT: Akane Shinjo has acted with Armor and Intuition.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"It's okay. Don't worry about it - remember that and use it to your strengths next time." Rikka assures Gridman. And to Alouette's report, Rikka nods and smiles. "Good. I like to hear that confidence."
And for Hass and Namiko...
"You two are doing great so far. Keep it up!" She encourages. ...But, considering that they're together, she has a feeling they'll be fine no matter what happens.
Akane, meanwhile, admits that she's a little frustrated. Rikka gives her a small smile. She's glad that she was able to admit that.
"...Yeah, I get it." She says. "We can have a venting session after, if you want it."
The next challenge features... a towering pyramid of foam blocks? Rikka stares, similarly dumbfounded.
"...How long did that take to put together...?" She wonders - then, shakes her head.
They're up against three opponents, this time - and one of them's even from Tsutsujidai. They have thirty seconds to get to the top... so, it's time to focus on defense again. Rikka ascends, ready to turn aside any who stop her climb to the top. And if she taps her intuition to be ready to act before they even make their move...
...That's probably fine, right?
FPT: Rikka Takarada spends 1 ID Charges! They will apply this coming round!
FPT: Rikka Takarada has acted with Armor and Intuition.
<Pose Tracker> Namiko has posed.
Namiko's heroic leap is...COMPLETELY predicted. So is Akane's. Maybe it's Yonezawa's....powerful... .....ness, maybe it's Toji's strong Athlete Friend energy, maybe Shinji's learned whatever Technical Arte allows Sousuke to sustain THAT physique on CALORIE MATES, but they're all boosting ahead fast!!
Fortunately, they have backup. Rikka and Alouette clamber ahead with great success, and Hass is able to shore up Namiko's fumbling start, the duo managing not quite an untarnished victory, but at least to clear in a respectable time.
Gridman discovers that the problem with foam is in fact, that it is not hard, at all. Trusting in the Savage is the play, perhaps, and if he had a little more practice with the technical side of Arm Slaves, he might just nail it, but, instead, he slightly misses the flip, lands butt-first on a foam block, and is then bounced magnificently both up and backward. He'll have to make up time along with Akane and The Namihass.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"... Thanks," Akane says, with a nod. "That might be good."
It stands before them now: the Millyminator. This one is a one-at-a-time course (or rather, set of courses -- the scales are particularly important for this one!) featuring several events.
The lack of opposition gets Akane to stop trying stupid tricks and simply approach it the way she's most comfortable. Unfortunately, she has to run it first.
When it's her turn, she's... honestly pretty exhausted -- and moving the Savage has become legitimately difficult. She's never gotten this much of a workout before -- the climbing segment is fine for her, her sense of balance is easy to extend outward, but most of the rest of this is rough.
Twice she's very tempted to seize her machine the way a kaiju would and move like it's her body, but... it's unhealthy to solve a problem like this with that kind of action.
No matter what time she manages or how far she gets, she makes sure to cheer her whole team on as they, too, run through the course.
CHANSYS: No channel with that name or alias found.
<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
Gridman blushes bright red as he utterly fails at the pyramid. This really isn't going well! Can they even still win with all the failures he's racked up?
In addition, this last challenge looks... really intense. <"Thanks, Rikka."> Gridman adds, somewhat absentmindedly. <"We can do this!">
Okay. One more chance. Gridman shifts his weight from one foot to the other, trying to pump himself up. Maybe a really, really good showing here will make up for all the previous rounds.
<"We can do this."> Gridman says, again. <"Alright!">
Where Akane decides to cut out the stupid tricks, Gridman increases them, jumping from wall to wall in the rotating cylinder, turning his vault into a flip... He's got to make this count!
FPT: Gridman spends 1 ID Charges! They will apply this coming round!
FPT: Gridman has acted with Piloting and Hit Points.
FPT: Rikka Takarada spends 1 ID Charges! They will apply this coming round!
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka nods back to Akane. She always has time for her.
Right now, though - it's time for the Millyminator. Rikka stares out at it in surprise.
"Wow, they... really beefed this one up since last time, huh?" She remarks. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Well, nothing to do but face it...!
It feels like a test of endurance just as much as it is a test of raw piloting ability. She'll have to hold strong here - falling off would really set them back...
Still, she's an even better pilot now than she was last year. Maybe all her experience will pay off...!
And, of course, she'll put her all into cheering on her friends when it's their turn to face the course. That's just as important as getting a good time!
FPT: Rikka Takarada has acted with Piloting and Armor.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Having reached the top, Alouette can't help but feel a little proud of herself, wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead and taking a deep breath. "That was so close..." She remarks, as she and Rikka make it to the top. Has Rikka messed up even once yet? She's just as good as she was last year!
"But I don't think it's over just yet." And as if to confirm her words, the MILLYMINATOR rises, promising to be the ultimate obstacle course. The same Millyminator which just barely scraped the victory out of the Tsutsujidai Alliance's hands last time of course! And now it's even scarier... but they'll give it their best come what may.
She excitedly cheers on Akane, Gridman, and Rikka until her lungs give out... and then it's her turn. No Heroes to fight off... it's just her and her instincts. She can do this... she focuses the entirety of her attention to the controls in front of her, her mind working faster than the poor old Alto can handle. She tries to scale the Alto back for precision - letting the autobalancing handle some of the trickier parts like the uphill sprint. Even if it doesn't always move just the way she'd like it to, being so much more used to Coordinator machines.
In the end, no matter how she did, she's exhausted and most importantly, she had fun. Now she eagerly awaits to see how Hass and Namiko do together!
FPT: Alouette Pommier spends 2 ID Charges! They will apply this coming round!
FPT: Alouette Pommier has acted with Piloting and Armor.
<Pose Tracker> Hass has posed.
The Millyminator...
"How does GUTS get the money for this?" Hass murmurs to herself...
But that doesn't matter. What matters is movement. They wait for their horn, Hass glancing at her partner with determined eyes... and the moment it sounds off, they MOVE. She keeps them on-balance as best she can. Their relative experience means tricks are off the table, for the most part-- just raw effort. Sweat beads on her brow as they push past the pump-elevator.
The hand-bike is left to Namiko, but she does her best to keep balance on the cylinder; they're both equally responsible as they make their way up the netting and down the zipline. The wall-vault proves challenging, with a concerted, synchronized effort between them... but it's starting to feel easier. They're more in sync.
A sprint, a leap... she flexes the Alto's legs, nose scrunching up under her mask as she tries to give their fall some sort of direction, praying they land the jump to the swing, and then to the finish line.
[OOC] Akane Shinjo says, "Oh it is the Millyminator now yes. I'll fix all of those in blu-ray."
<Pose Tracker> Namiko has posed.
Namiko does not laugh at Gridman. He is trying so hard. "C'mon! We're still in it!"
The Millyminator...she's become more powerful than ever, hasn't she? Welp! That's probably fine! Namiko braces herself at the start, drawing in a deep, steadying breath. Akane's run's ovr, Gridman's gone ahead..."He's getting really good with that thing, huh?" Namiko muses. "I guess he's used to it?" ...She smiles. "Good for him." She's having fun! Despite all the banging around.
"Idunno, man, I think Britannians juice each other for it or something," Namiko says, which is supposed to be a funny absurdist joke but is honestly just kind of what happens. "OK. We're up next. Hassun...." Namiko calls her that when she feels especially fuzzy. "...Let's show 'em something!"
The horn blasts, and they're off! Namiko's handling direction while Hass handles actual motion, for the most part. Neither of them is a GREAT pilot, so indeed, it's a rather workmanlike performance. But...they do their best. Namiko barks, "Taking the arms!" as they reach the hand bike and works it quick and efficiently. Trust Namiko with delicate hand movements! The netting is less her thing but she does her best.
But, their sync is improving. The last jump, Hass takes. Namiko seizes for the swing...!
A firm clasp confirms the grab, but the question is, as they release and drop into the enormous pads: How was their time!?
FPT: Namiko spends 2 ID Charges! They will apply this coming round!
FPT: Namiko has acted with Piloting and Armor.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
In the end... the Millyminator is too demanding for the Tsutsujidai team, who are variously new pilots, unfamiliar pilots, or out of their element. Everyone makes it to the conveyor belt, but no one quite manages the maglev jump in time. Akane, at least, misses the swing itself.
In spite of herself, though... well, it wasn't bad, even if she's a little salty. She at least gets to walk off with her friends...
... and do a little more relentless teasing.