2025-07-03: Sect 26.4 - E-1 Field Test 02
- Log: 2025-07-03: Sect 26-4 - E-1 Field Test 02
- Cast: Hina Kuroiwa (as run by Tem Ray Circuit), Aurora Dusk, Rikka Takarada
- Where: South Britannia - USSA Forward Operating Base
- OOC - IC Date: 0100-07-03
- Summary: Now that everyone is friends in the Gaia Sabers, E-1 and Aurora head for a reported USSA base where OCU personnel have touched down. Only a few essential personnel are there to meet the OCU's representative from 3G, however -- which means 3G Chief Takarada has to defend herself and the remainder of the base from both at once.
<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapons Team has posed.
FIVE DAYS AGO
E-1's conditioning has begun to slip. She's refused to leave her room for two days, now. Some amount of this is inevitable, but it's starting to strain everyone else on her project.
"I... understand why we'd align with NUNE in the interests of my regimen, but... why would we help Britannia?" E-1 looks confused and distraught. "They're horrible... they -- they shot people, at my school, when things were in lockdown..." She shifts uneasily, saying, "I don't want to do this anymore... Things don't make sense. It hurts... I keep forgetting things..."
Amun shakes his head. "This situation does not please me either. I would very much have preferred we arranged other allies. But you must continue. They will kill both of us if you do not."
Her eyes widen. "... then why are we here?"
With a sigh and another shake of his head, Amun meets her with gallows humor. "They would have killed us for that, too." He laughs.
She doesn't.
THREE DAYS AGO
E-1 lies on her side, dazed. Dr. Sumino talks about her with Chief Engineer Landry as if E-1 isn't present. "Do you know why subjects resist conditioning? Of course you don't. You're an arrogant prick." She looks at him with barely-restrained contempt. "I'll tell you. It's because they can't give up on their attachments. You'd like it if they could, of course."
"That's why I'm expecting better from Repli-Compoids than human subjects," the engineer shoots back.
"Limit your wishful thinking to sending SMS messages to junior lab staff." An exasperated sigh. "The things that make them good subjects also attenuate the... mixed... effects of using something as old as HADES. Right now there are many axes on which she is a worse subject." Dr. Sumino leans in, continuing, "I propose we give her a reason to retreat -- or rather, that she gives herself one. I think she'll lose her attachments to the anomalous PLANT and the OCU if she kills a 3G member. They're still operating something in concert with the USSA..."
Landry grinds his teeth. "I don't want to put the test unit through its paces again this soon." He clenches and unclenches his fist a few times, muttering, "If the old man were here..."
"I'm the fucking program director now," Sumino snaps, heat entering her voice. "Get over the dream of having the old man back. Get over yourself. E-1 is going to finish this retune, and we are going to send her to South Britannia, and the next time we see an OCU Intelligence vessel en route she is going to put someone from the Grand Glorious Guard in the fucking ground so she can cut off the impulse to go home." Turning away, she says, "When I turn around I want you to be gone so you can get her unit in good working order."
Chief Engineer Landry turns to leave, muttering something under his breath.
NOW
E-1 approaches the USSA field base. She's been told to go loud, not quiet. She goes loud, not quiet. She's been told that if Britannia can quell the rebellion, things will get easier. Her regimen will soften. She'll have... peace. Like they promised. Peace.
Her funnels streak out and rain fire on what is -- to her sensors -- an airfield. Unfortunately, she's losing to the oldest trick in the book -- Wanzer powerplants in dummy balloons.
The USSA is only using those balloons to mask that their true offensive is moving in on Rio de Janeiro, leaving virtually nothing on-base... save, of course, anything the OCU might have brought with them.
KTS: Mobile Weapons Team has deployed in RX-94E1 Mass Production Nu Gundam <E-1 Use>. KTS: Aurora Dusk has deployed in RX-94 Mass Production Nu Gundam <HADES Test Type>. KTS: Rikka Takarada has deployed in RX-90 Mu Gundam <Red Umbrella>.
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
"-briefing over. Dismissed." Ashcroft puts away her telescopic pointer. Aurora gets up from her seat.
She pays little attention to the changing room on board the craft they deploy from. She's seen a thousand like it. Putting on her flight suit is a rote task, too. The sort of corset like segment over the tight "vest" gives her mild trouble at first, but it's not actually an independent piece from the flight suit itself.
Soon, she's standing in the hangar in front of her MP Nu, staring silently, as the Nu stares back equally silent. Ashcroft places a gloved hand on her shoulder. "...I know it's a painful system to use. Do your best." With a squeeze, Aurora is sent on her way.
Aurora approaches together in formation with E-1, HADES spun up and ready to go. She's pregamed the medication for this in an attempt to dull the pain before it happens (this is one of the reasons this flight suit goes with this unit).
<< Wolfhound, engaging. >>Together with E-1, she deploys her funnels in a spread formation and tears apart both buildings and enemy contacts. Dummies can easily be distinguished by the way they fall apart when destroyed - unfortunately, the first few Aurora destroys are with reactor shots, and it takes her a little while to notice that they pop instead of blowing apart.
<< Wait, these are all... >> She swivels her head around and begins an area scan. When she runs into tricks like these, she expects an ambush.
KTS: Rikka Takarada has deployed as a Boss for 2 opponents.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
The previous kaiju attacks striking USSA holdings have stuck in Rikka's mind. Someone has to be responsible for that. Akane's kaiju were her own creations - they had to source them from somewhere. But who? Dealings with BioNet...?
Rikka remains convinced she has to be alive... and even if it isn't, using her kaiju like that is an affront to her memory. So she has to look into it, investigate the site for any sign of clues...
...Akane would've been better at this, she reflects. She'd know what to look for right off - she'd relay her findings with that infuriating smugness she can't help but love...
The SSSP would be better at this, too - but they have their own fires to put out right now. So, it's up to her.
...Maybe that's just an excuse. Maybe this is just an excuse. She's been dwelling a little less now that she has someone who is at least trying - or at least says that she's trying - to be on her side, even if it's the person she last expected...
She wonders if the degree of closeness is why Marusan took it worse. She wonders if that thought is uncharitable toward Akane's mother.
It's a train of thought that could easily lead to spiraling -
- except a sharp feeling inside her head quickly forces herself back to reality. Impending danger. The releasing of funnels - followed by explosions, as dummy wanzers explode all around.
It isn't long before the Mu Gundam takes to the sky.
"Hold your fire!" Rikka calls out - and pauses, as she gets a better look at the machines present. Two Nus...
They seem alone, though. Maybe...
"Wait, are you..." Rikka starts. "...There's no need for this. Turn off your weapons and let's talk."
<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapons Team has posed.
E-1 is incredibly frustrated to realize that she's been had; she grinds her teeth in the cockpit, muttering, "Can't something be straightforward for once..."
She doesn't get to dwell on that, though -- because the Mu Gundam arrives. "What do you mean, there's no need for this?!" E-1 shouts back. "You're here! You're -- it's your fault that they keep doing this to me! Because you left!"
The contradiction -- that E-1 wants to defeat Rikka so she can leave, but Rikka leaving is bad -- grinds in her brain, but in a way where she tries to pull away from it rather than dwell on it. Besides -- she has a flightmate to worry about, too.
Her grip on the controls tightens, and she murmurs, "... I get to decide how active it is this time, but... I have to show them they can trust me to do it on my own..." She could just not activate HADES -- but then the instant she got back... if she got back... there'd be all manner of questions.
So it goes that the vents take on that heated, aggressive red again. "I'll try to set her up for you," she transmits to Aurora, tone flat, before raising the Jesta beam rifle. It's the vulcans she uses first, though, trying to pen Rikka in with small arms fire.
"There's nothing to talk about!" she shouts, switching back to close-quarters comms with Rikka as she swoops to one side. "Are you here to support the rebels? Does the OCU suck that much now?" ... in spite of herself, she's still talking.
KTS: Mobile Weapons Team has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Aurora Dusk KTS: Mobile Weapons Team targets Rikka Takarada with Head Vulcans Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
Aurora's head swivels towards the newcomer. She expected to be fired on, and raises her beam rifle to counterattack... only to be baffled by the Mu's attempt to talk her down.
<< Talk? You're interfering. If you're authorised to negotiate a surrender on the target's behalf, I can connect you with someone who can accept it. >>
Aurora does not use the term "USSA". It's a rebellious province. They're the target.
E-1 launches into action after responding to Rikka, telling Aurora she'll set her up. Her response is calm and flat, too. << Acknowledged. >>
To be completely honest, Aurora's first instinct wasn't to attack, but E-1 has pressed the issue. She attempts to draw a bead on the Mu, waiting for her moment. << Are you appearing before us as our enemy, or are you going to step aside? >>
KTS: Aurora Dusk targets Rikka Takarada with Pass! KTS: Rikka Takarada engages evade against Mobile Weapons Team's Head Vulcans Burst! KTS: Rikka Takarada successfully reacts to Mobile Weapons Team's Head Vulcans Burst, taking 2320 damage! KTS: Rikka Takarada accepts Aurora Dusk's Pass! KTS: Best Defense! Rikka Takarada successfully reacts to Aurora Dusk's Pass, taking 0 damage! <Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Her suspicions are correct. One of the Nu pilots is the same one from before - the one the Gaia Sabers took away. And the other... is another familiar voice. Rikka grits her teeth as E-1 shouts back at her. It's hard not to be a little mad. Because of her, because they responded to her attack... But... she holds it back.
It isn't her fault. It's the fault of whoever's responsible for her.
"It's not my fault... They wouldn't have stopped at just me. We're just... tools to them." She replies, shaking her head. "I can help you. You don't have to do this."
Her attention turns toward Aurora.
"...That's not what this is about, no." She replies. Her attention is drawn back to the other Nu - the angry red that emerges from its vents. The vulcans fire and the Mu Gundam dodges to the side. The armor is grazed, but it doesn't slow her down.
"I'm here because someone set a kaiju on them and innocent people got killed, and I'm trying to figure out who and how. The Gaia Sabers cared more about putting them down than helping deal with it - they are not good people." Rikka replies. "Anyone who would encourage you to use a system like that does not care about you. They do not care about people - only power. It's going to kill you."
She looks toward Aurora again.
"I don't want to be... but I can't step aside, either." She replies.
E-1's Nu Gundam gets a spray of vulcan fire in return, trying to force her back - and the Fastening Launcher is drawn and ready. Two quick rounds are fired off toward Aurora's, with the aim of restricting her movement.
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Mobile Weapons Team with Covering Fire! KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Aurora Dusk with Fastening Shot! KTS: Mobile Weapons Team fails to engage charge against Rikka Takarada's Covering Fire! KTS: Best Defense! Mobile Weapons Team successfully reacts to Rikka Takarada's Covering Fire, taking 2700 damage! KTS: Rikka Takarada begins a Formation attack! KTS: Aurora Dusk has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Aurora Dusk's I've Accepted the Machine that I Am activates! KTS: Aurora Dusk engages evade against Rikka Takarada's Fastening Shot! KTS: Best Defense! Aurora Dusk moderately reacts to Rikka Takarada's Fastening Shot, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapons Team has posed.
E-1 tries to reconcile what she's been told with what Rikka's saying right now. It's enough to put a hint of pain in her forehead -- not much, just the faintest bit of frustration at the cognitive dissonance involved. She's been told she's a replacement subject very plainly -- but the idea that E-1 could have been taken anyway, could have had this done to her anyway...
"... At least I wouldn't be alone! At least we'd have each other!" she shoots back, ignoring (forced to ignore) the offer of help, circling around the Mu Gundam as her jury-rigged mass-production Nu rushes through the vulcan fire. It's not a very effective strategy -- Hina is not a close-quarters-comfortable pilot -- but the HADES colors her thoughts.
Drawing her saber, E-1 says, "The only reason I can do this is because of what I am -- what we are! Anyone else would die faster, or get Algernon! What I'm doing is -- important! For progress!" These things aren't strictly lies -- but they're thoughts she needs to compartmentalize to function like this, contradictory with other thoughts.
Slashing once before pulling away, E-1 lets something slip that she really shouldn't. "They wanted to send me along with that new kaiju! Maybe if I'd been strong enough to come that day, you wouldn't have a rebel group giving you any reason to be here in the first place!"
KTS: Mobile Weapons Team targets Rikka Takarada with Beam Saber! KTS: Aurora Dusk targets Rikka Takarada with Beam Tonfas/Sabers Deep Pierce!
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
The Fastening Launcher gets... questionable results. The vents of Aurora's Nu glow an angry red as it steps first left, then right avoiding the shots.
E-1 closes to melee, and Aurora instinctively follows her, approaching from a not-quite opposite angle. << We didn't come here to interfere in your investigation. Do it somewhere else. >> She side-eyes E-1. It's not strange to see somebody lose their cool in this line of work, especially people like them, but this seems... she doesn't look very well-balanced, somehow.
She wasn't planning on admitting the kaiju was a Sabers op, but E-1 just comes out and says it. (In Aurora's opinion, it was obvious anyway.) She dismisses the thought, much like she dismisses the enemy pilot's attempt to reason with them. It isn't news to her that she's a tool, anyway.
E-1 pulls away, and Aurora immediately steps in to fill the void with her own lunging stab. Textbook wolfpack, really. Hopefully not so textbook Rikka sees it coming.
KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada engages parry against Mobile Weapons Team's Beam Saber! KTS: Best Defense! Rikka Takarada successfully reacts to Mobile Weapons Team's Beam Saber, taking 1850 damage! KTS: Rikka Takarada fails to engage parry against Aurora Dusk's Beam Tonfas/Sabers Deep Pierce! KTS: Rikka Takarada successfully reacts to Aurora Dusk's Beam Tonfas/Sabers Deep Pierce, taking 4320 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"You don't have to be alone now. We can help you, like they did for me." Rikka insists. ...It feels like looking in a mirror, a little. If she was in her shoes... she would've felt much the same. As long as she had someone, she would've been fine doing what she needed to keep them close...
But she wasn't alone, then. She had people to help get her out. Does she have anyone like that...?
E-1's Nu closes in and Rikka prepares herself for the attack as she draws her saber.
"Sorry... the data I need is here." Rikka replies to Aurora.
What E-1's doing is important for progress... Rikka doesn't get time to respond right away. The defense rod is drawn from the Mu Gundam shield. It electrifies, and comes up to meet the Nu Gundam's beam saber, redirecting it toward the shoulder armor rather than letting it strike solidly. Aurora is upon her immediately. Where she's able to deflect E-1's, Aurora's attack slips through her guard - and she's forced to double back, ceding ground to mitigate the damage.
Rikka grits her teeth - but E-1 continues, and her eyes open wide as she says something she shouldn't. They wanted to send her with the new kaiju. The implication is clear. The Gaia Sabers were working with the kaiju because they sent it themselves.
"...Because you would have killed them all?" Rikka asks. "Is that what you want?"
She shakes her head.
"...They didn't ask you for this. They're using you. They had a chance to let you go back - but they put you to work again. We deserve to live our normal lives just like anyone else, but they're using you." She presses. "Their idea of progress is everybody listening to their demands, or they run them over with kaiju or people like us. That isn't 'peace', that's control."
She shakes her head.
"...Sorry. This has become the site of science crime, now - and you'll find I have jurisdiction." Rikka asides to Aurora.
She raises the Fastening Launcher toward E-1. Aurora's proven skilled enough to dodge it, so isn't ready to try it on her just yet - so she fires it for E-1's Nu, now, aiming for the legs as she strafes toward Aurora's Nu.
With defense rod in hand she turns on her quickly, lashing out with two sweeping strikes. She's ready to catch her if she tries to dodge - her senses focused on following her movements.
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Mobile Weapons Team with Leg Shackle! KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Aurora Dusk with Foresight! KTS: Mobile Weapons Team engages charge against Rikka Takarada's Leg Shackle! KTS: Critical Hit! Mobile Weapons Team poorly reacts to Rikka Takarada's Leg Shackle, taking 5160 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapons Team has posed.
E-1 is a normal girl, at the end of the day. She doesn't have the emotional regulation for this -- the world she grew up in was a peaceful one, and one she desperately longs to have back. She does, in her gut, pick up on Aurora's side-eye -- but she doesn't pay it any mind.
... part of her really doesn't want to make friends here.
"Why? So I can end up driving the same damn suit for you people?" As the Fastening Launcher anchors a charging Nu, E-1's emotional affect shifts again -- a cooler, brassier anger. "Oh, spare me. Besides, not all of us are God's favorite." ... perhaps the Queen of Monsters has been the subject of lab gossip.
Rikka asks if she would rather have killed them all -- and E-1 says, "At least it'd be over! The less unrest, the less they need to do stuff like this! The OCU wouldn't have sent you over if they were dead! Maybe it is control -- who cares?! The anomalous PLANT was more peaceful when there were kaiju, too!" She doesn't even try to refer to it as Tsutsujidai.
While her suit tries to dislodge the fasteners, she attacks with the funnels; the simple cylindrical weapons whirl around before entering a simple 'fan' formation around the Nu. (She doesn't have the attention to spare for something more complicated.) "Cover me!" she asks Aurora, a little desperate.
KTS: Aurora Dusk engages parry against Rikka Takarada's Foresight! KTS: Aurora Dusk moderately reacts to Rikka Takarada's Foresight, taking 3290 damage! KTS: Mobile Weapons Team has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Aurora Dusk KTS: Mobile Weapons Team has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Mobile Weapons Team has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Mobile Weapons Team targets Rikka Takarada with Simplified Funnel Rack Basic Formation!
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
HADES stress aside, Aurora is doing fairly well. She's used to this, and she's never known a peaceful world anyway.
'The data I need is here.' Aurora shrugs. There's not much she can say to that. << Okay. We're at an impasse that can only be resolved by fighting. >>
'Is that what you really want?' << ...It's our job? We want to do our job. We're here to do it. Aren't you here for your job? >> This really isn't the kind of questioning Aurora does well with. Not because she doesn't have any answers, but because there's not much for her to say about it. It's her job, like any soldier.
<< This is normal for us. >> She stops short of saying 'you wouldn't understand' or somesuch. Rikka HAS been in the labs herself. Then again, if she left, does she really understand?
Rikka lashes out with the defense rod. Sparks fly through the air as it contacts Aurora's beam saber, scraping past her machine's thigh as the parry turns a well-aimed combo into a series of glancing hits. << Your jurisdiction doesn't extend here. >> Not into this territory, not into Aurora's armor if her parrying has anything to say about that. (Glancing hits don't count as penetration!)
Aurora is starting to worry a little about E-1. She shoots her a concerned look, but doesn't say anything about it out loud. HADES is like that, she supposes. Pregaming her medication seems to have helped a little, and she's used to coping with side effects, anyway. She makes a mental note to check on her later.
The request for cover comes, and Aurora deploys her own funnels. The long fins (that's where they get their name) fold into their attack shape and begin flying back and forth like rabid birds, firing from multiple angles and distances. It only takes an exertion of will to drive them forth, and with HADES spurring her on, Aurora feels like she can drive them harder.
KTS: Aurora Dusk targets Rikka Takarada with Fin Funnels Devourer Formation! KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Aurora Dusk has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Aurora Dusk has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada engages intercept against Mobile Weapons Team's Simplified Funnel Rack Basic Formation! KTS: Best Defense! Rikka Takarada successfully reacts to Mobile Weapons Team's Simplified Funnel Rack Basic Formation, taking 0 damage! KTS: Rikka Takarada engages intercept against Aurora Dusk's Fin Funnels Devourer Formation! KTS: Critical Hit! Rikka Takarada poorly reacts to Aurora Dusk's Fin Funnels Devourer Formation, taking 5900 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Aurora Dusk's Hands Stained the Colour of Wrongdoing activates, causing Insight L1!
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"No, so we can help you get back to your life. None of us want to force anyone into a suit." Rikka insists. She flinches, though, as E-1 hits a nerve. 'God's favorite'... More than anything, that's what cause the Mu Gundam to stall for a moment.
"...That's... That's not-" She starts, and shakes her head. "She's not... like that. And that doesn't have anything to do with this."
She looks toward Aurora.
"Your job is -" She starts, and cuts herself off. She shakes her head. "...It shouldn't be normal. It shouldn't be normal to anyone."
She tries to center herself again.
"It'll never be over. There'll always be unrest. They'll keep looking for it - keep deciding someone else has to die." Rikka replies. ...And she frowns... The anomalous PLANT. Is that something they planted in her, or did she start calling it that on her own? "...Tsutsujidai. It's Tsutsujidai - you can call it that. And no, it wasn't. From the outside, maybe. But people dying, and no one remembering them... I'll never forget that."
As for Aurora's refutation, Rikka can only shake her head.
"You can disagree if you want." She leave it at that for now.
Both machines unleash their funnels - which leaves Rikka with only one choice.
"Funnels!" Rikka calls out. The Red Umbrella rises up, spreading out its spines - and the funnels fly. Some of them fly skyward, but the rest remain close-by. They chase after both E-1 and Aurora's funnels, beams firing warningly - not to destroy, but to force them off-target by requiring attention devoted to preserving them.
She escapes harm from E-1's - but Aurora's strike true. Rikka winces as the Mu Gundam is rocked by funnel fire. It lists in the air for a moment, but she forces it up-right. She whirls on Aurora, leveling the Fastening Launcher at her Nu again. She fires - this time, trying to affix her with the Gravity Shackle, to weigh down her machine by increasing gravity's draw on it.
She whirls on E-1, next, defense rod sparking to life. She aims and jabs it forward precisely, trying to disable systems with its electrical charge.
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Aurora Dusk with Gravity Shackle! KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Mobile Weapons Team with Stunning Sweeps! KTS: You can only respond to Leaders with React. KTS: Mobile Weapons Team fails to engage react against Rikka Takarada's Stunning Sweeps! KTS: Best Defense! Mobile Weapons Team successfully reacts to Rikka Takarada's Stunning Sweeps, taking 0 damage! KTS: Aurora Dusk engages evade against Rikka Takarada's Gravity Shackle! KTS: Best Defense! Aurora Dusk successfully reacts to Rikka Takarada's Gravity Shackle, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapons Team has posed.
The gears grind to a halt in E-1's head as Rikka says that she doesn't want to force her into a mobile suit. The stammering loses her a little momentum on getting E-1 to calm down -- but she's struggling nevertheless. "I -- I have to do this. I have to do this!" she insists, but it's a fully pre-rational thought -- there's no actual reason.
"It's the anomalous PLANT. Stop clinging to it!" That lets her find a little traction again. "It's -- she's just another girl now, and that city is -- just another city!" Her breathing quickens, as she finds a new emotional locus; she doesn't notice that she's using 'is' for Akane, though. "Maybe it's better to just forget those inconvenient things!"
E-1's machine can't find a way to escape. She finally pulls herself free from the Fastening Launcher, just in time to have to bat away the defense rod -- but it takes effort for her, and leaves her with little recourse. She can't use her funnels without a chance of harming herself -- so instead, E-1 goes to shoulder through with a quick shield bash.
She finally remembers that she can medicate, and scrambles for the pills the Gaia Sabers doctors gave her. Keeping everything going at once means forgetting to turn off wide comms -- both Aurora and Rikka get to hear her scrambling and muttering, "Dammit -- I, I need my -- I need something to make my head stop hurting..."
KTS: Mobile Weapons Team targets Rikka Takarada with Adapted Jesta Shield Bash!
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
Rikka starts arguing with Aurora, then cuts herself off. Again, shrug. If she doesn't want to argue a point, Aurora doesn't feel like pushing it today. They're here to fight, and she's here to do something that requires them not to fight. Therefore, they fight.
<< It was never going to be over anyway. We've been at war for twenty years at least now. Longer than I've been alive. >>
Whatever Rikka tried to do, Aurora burns her thrusters and mostly avoids it. There's a short period where it looks like her leg has been caught, and she's about to trip... but she rights herself in time. She also fails to notice exactly what Rikka was actually trying to do, just that something happened.
Aurora tightbeams to her partner. << ...E-1, please stop telling her everything. We're operating covertly. I'm not telling her my backstory.>> Aurora pouts slightly... but most of that is lost in the increasing concern as she listens to E-1 hurriedly scrabble around in her cockpit for her medicine. While she does that, Aurora interposes herself protectively between her and Rikka. Her beam tonfas unsheathe like wicked claws, and, vents burning red, she leaps towards her opponent, descending on the Mu with a vicious fury, swiping away at every part of her within reach. If all it accomplishes is buying E-1 some breathing room, she's done her job.
KTS: Aurora Dusk targets Rikka Takarada with Beam Tonfas Rip and Tear! KTS: Aurora Dusk has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada engages parry against Mobile Weapons Team's Adapted Jesta Shield Bash! KTS: Rikka Takarada successfully reacts to Mobile Weapons Team's Adapted Jesta Shield Bash, taking 1760 damage! KTS: Rikka Takarada fails to engage parry against Aurora Dusk's Beam Tonfas Rip and Tear! KTS: Rikka Takarada successfully reacts to Aurora Dusk's Beam Tonfas Rip and Tear, taking 5220 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka shakes her head.
"...It's that kind of thinking that keeps the fighting going. We have to believe we can stop - but that starts by not enabling the people responsible for it." Rikka replies. She catches the comment on her age. Twenty years, at least - longer than she's alive... So she's actually a bit older than this pilot?
E-1 says she has to do this. Rikka shakes her head.
"You don't have to. You can stop, right now. Whether with me, or... you go somewhere else. I'd prefer it if you came with me, but. I won't force you." She counters. E-1 insists that it's the 'anomalous PLANT', and Rikka frowns. She listens - and her brow furrows as she listens to the way she says what comes next. ...Does she not know? Or does she know something she doesn't? She let slip about the kaiju before, too. She stows that information away for later. She doesn't comment on it aloud - but her stance shifts, just a little.
"It's Tsutsujidai. It has a name." She insists. "...But you're right about one thing. She is just another girl now. It is just another city. That's how she wanted it. She didn't want it and its people to be tied to her - to be tied down by her. She didn't want to be special, or a God anymore... She just wanted to be loved and appreciated by someone who cared about her, not because of what she made. And she wanted Tsutsujidai to be able to go on without her, to have a life of its own. So its people could be who or what they wanted to be."
She shakes her head again.
"But it's still our city. Yours, mine, and everyone else who was born there. That's not inconvenient. It's our home." Rikka concludes.
Both of her attacks are avoided - it's hard fighting two pilots, much less two of them in sync like this, HADES burning in their veins... Fighting two-on-one is starting to weigh on her. She still manages to catch E-1's shield bash. She can't redirect it fully - but she uses the momentum from it to shift herself to the side. The beam tonfas tear into the Mu's side, ripping apart armor and causing the machine to reel a little.
She doesn't know how much further she can push it. ...But she doesn't know how much further E-1 can push herself, either, from what she overhears.
"...Turn it off." Rikka says, eyes open wide. "Turn off HADES! You can't keep pushing yourself like this!"
She grits her teeth. The last thing she wants to be is responsible for forcing herself to keep fighting beyond her limits... So this has to finish soon, then, doesn't it?
She draws on her funnels again - the ones circling the battlefield, and the ones high up in the air. They start to fixate on Aurora's Nu Gundam - the one with the gravity shackle stuck to it. They start to spin and open fire - the toyetic funnels and the plain, purposeful weapons firing as if a single unit.
Some of them, however, break off - these converge on E-1's Nu as the Mu Gundam charges it head on as a distraction. They open fire, aiming for the limbs.
KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Aurora Dusk with Together as One! KTS: Rikka Takarada uses Hyper Reloader KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Aurora Dusk with Fastening Shot! KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Aurora Dusk with Together as One! KTS: Rikka Takarada targets Mobile Weapons Team with Flanking Maneuver! KTS: Mobile Weapons Team fails to react to Rikka Takarada's Flanking Maneuver! KTS: Critical Hit! Mobile Weapons Team poorly reacts to Rikka Takarada's Flanking Maneuver, taking 5390 damage! KTS: Rikka Takarada begins a Formation attack! KTS: Aurora Dusk engages evade against Rikka Takarada's Together as One! KTS: Best Defense! Aurora Dusk successfully reacts to Rikka Takarada's Together as One, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapons Team has posed.
"Shut up!" E-1 snaps back at Aurora -- but catches herself, shaking her head and going, "No, you're -- you're right, it's -- that's, I need to stop fucking talking to fucking Treasure Chest!" The vents flare red again, and she tries desperately to find the path through Treasure Chest.
"No way forward but through," she tells herself, desperately. "No way forward -- no way forward but through." She grinds her teeth, as Rikka starts telling her about Akane. She's wary here -- using the small amount of separation she gained to continue circling around Rikka. Rikka keeps telling her she can just stop -- that she can't keep doing this, that she should just turn it off. Can she?
... Treasure Chest has tried desperately not to kill her. Every time she's attacked it's been to disable her as swiftly and efficiently as possible -- without any kind of lethal intent behind it. She knows this because the HADES tells her.
"You're the one giving me a headache!" she insists, even as her machine loses its left arm to Rikka's funnels. It could be worse -- and would be, were it not for intervention. "Even if she isn't God anymore, someone is -- and a world like that is for people who God loves! I need to stop -- feeling you! It's not my city anymore!" ... and that means... that must be why she was given the latitude to decide to use the system -- or not -- on her own, right?
The vents shift from red back to yellow. "... I can't afford to keep running the system with this much structural damage," she transmits to Aurora. She takes the machine into a crouch, slowing down as much as possible and starting to charge up her beam rifle. "No way forward but through," she keeps telling herself, as she goes for a sniping shot...
... and aims down at the last second. She can't make herself do this. Not quite.
KTS: Mobile Weapons Team targets Rikka Takarada with Jesta Beam Rifle Sniper Shot!
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
Aurora's eye twitches when E-1 yells at her. It can't be helped, she tells herself. She's not used to fighting under the effects of HADES. Speaking of, there's a building pressure behind Aurora's eyes now. She's going to feel this in the morning, she's sure.
<< And we're not enabling the people responsible for it. We're disabling them. Every colony drop since the first can be traced back to people who should've been killed before they had the chance to gather strength. >> Not Aurora's best rhetoric. Now, watch as she makes it personal. << If somebody had just put Gato down like the criminal he was, Stardust could've been avoided. If the Zala loyalists had been hunted down properly, there would have been no Break the World. >>
Aurora manages to dodge the funnels fairly well, for someone with a mounting headache and a gravity shackle stuck to the legs. She burns her thrusters and jumps in front of her partner, trying to block the shots headed for her. Shackled as her machine is, she doesn't manage to get all of them, but she at least manages to prevent some damage.
E-1 radios in her cancelling of HADES, and it occurs to Aurora that she should probably at least turn hers down. The red glow around her machine weakens, and the burning in her head recedes slightly, too.
<< We've already been using HADES for too long. We'll finish her off together! >> The funnels, still swirling around the battlefield, resume their assault. With less strength to draw on from HADES, Aurora has to put more effort into keeping the pace up, but she's firmly in the swing of things. The funnels dance around, sneaking behind wreckage before popping out and firing as rapidly as they can manage, moving around Rikka with nearly as much energy as they did the last time.
KTS: Aurora Dusk has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Aurora Dusk targets Rikka Takarada with Fin Funnels Devourer Formation! KTS: Aurora Dusk has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Rikka Takarada fails to engage evade against Mobile Weapons Team's Jesta Beam Rifle Sniper Shot! KTS: Best Defense! Rikka Takarada successfully reacts to Mobile Weapons Team's Jesta Beam Rifle Sniper Shot, taking 4200 damage! KTS: Rikka Takarada fails to engage evade against Aurora Dusk's Fin Funnels Devourer Formation! KTS: Rikka Takarada successfully reacts to Aurora Dusk's Fin Funnels Devourer Formation, taking 5490 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"'Disabling'. That's a nice way of putting it." Rikka replies dryly. "You talk like all the world's problems can be solved by just killing enough people - but that's just going to cause more of them. The Gaia Sabers... they don't do anything to address the root of the problem, try to figure out why. They're just enabling the cycle to keep going."
Her attention turns back toward E-1. She hears that mantra she keeps repeating. No way forward but through. No way forward but through.
Is that something else they told her? Or is she just trying to convince herself?
"...It's not me." Rikka replies. "...Who said it isn't? If you moved away to try to find your own life, that's fine... But if you think you're not deserving of it anymore... it'll still welcome you back."
But... she sees that angry red die down to yellow. The system's off. Rikka exhales, relieved. She doesn't want to think about it eating away at her anymore. She doesn't want to think about how much damage has already been done - how much treatment she needed, even with HADES-E.
...But it'd be foolish to think the fight is over. Even with HADES off, she's still reciting that mantra.
Is she doing this because they needed her to do it...?
E-1 takes aim. The Mu Gundam shifts to dodge - and she notices, the way the weapon aims down at the last second. It may be that that saves her, as the shot slams into the Mu's leg rather than the mid-section - and as Aurora's funnels dance around her like a hungry swarm. The Mu Gundam is forced down to the ground level, Rikka wincing as her body is thrust forward. She pulls back at the last second, keeping her from slamming her head into the console from the forces. It stands up, with some effort. It lurches from the damaged leg, but she forces it to keep standing. The Mu Gundam's funnels overhead start to spiral again, fixating on her targets.
"...This isn't the only way, you know. It's hard to see it when you're alone, I know. If I didn't have others with me... I'd still be where you are now." Rikka says. "I'm not giving up on you. ...But I can't let you kill me. I can't let you do that to yourself."
And more than that... Akane. With everything E-1's said... is it possible she really is alive?
Do they know where she is right now?
...For her sake, and E-1's, too, she has to live. She won't let herself be the final nail in either of their coffins.
The funnels overhead open fire on the ground below. She'd positioned them above like at for a reason, earlier - and with how she's avoided going for killing shots the entire time, it may be hard to realise the true reason for this barrage.
No shot is aimed for either Nu. Funnel fire crashes into the ground, kicking up dust and debris until it builds into a voluminous cloud.
The Mu Gundam kicks off the ground, its flight unit blazing back to life as it soars away in a retreat, its funnels following suit as they return to the umbrella.
<Pose Tracker> Mobile Weapons Team has posed.
Rikka tells E-1 that it's not that she doesn't deserve it; Aurora affirms that they've been using the HADES too long, that they need to finish her off together. E-1's mind reels. She doesn't know what she wants anymore. It feels like she can't go home -- but Rikka tells her she can. Surely that's the condescension of the God-loved to the downtrodden... isn't it? It has to be. It has to be.
"... What do you mean, it isn't? If I don't do this they'll kill me -- kill us..." There is an 'us' -- presumably it's the team handling her, the team that retreated with the Gaia Sabers. ... But something sticks with her. 'Can't let you do that to yourself.' That's... It feels strange, to her. Something in her gut turns. "... You don't know what I'm going through. You don't know how this feels," she says -- but it's weak, hesitant.
Rikka kicks up dusts -- and then leaves amid the spray of Minovsky particles and dirt, sensors losing all focus. E-1 lets out a sigh of... relief, in spite of herself.
"... The base only has a skeleton crew. It's... not worth it. We -- have to go home," Hina says, quietly. "The mission... is a failure."
<Pose Tracker> Aurora Dusk has posed.
Rikka's words fall on deaf ears. Aurora's focus is swallowed up by the fight she's currently in.
She watches as her and E-1's combined attack almost brings the Mu to the ground... and then watches again as it disappears in a cloud of dust. << Stay alert. >>
But Aurora is staying alert for an attack that never comes. The Mu flies away in retreat.
<< ...It's not our fault we were attacking an empty base,>> Aurora mumbles. << ...Time to go. >> Her head hurts. She's tired. They barely accomplished anything, impressive combat display against an outnumbered enemy aside.