[center][h2][color=b7ffff]Cellica Karris[/color] and [color=bc8dbf]Riyame Miyako[/color][/h2]
Collab Post between
[@datadogie] and [@TheWindel][/center]


As Team Afterglow began to move out, Cellica took up the role that she had already planned to do; she took what higher ground she could, even ground raised by a meter or two got her further coverage of the areas ahead. Plus, it was a lot more [i]freeing[/i] being in the lead - yes, she had a specific place to go and had to take a general route to get there, but she could touch on that route just enough to adjust it to her liking. 

At the same time, pushing so far ahead on her pathfinding adventure made Cellica separated from the other two in her squad. She almost felt like retreating back and travelling closer to them, in more of a group, rather than going ahead. Getting used to such a scouting role would mean that during missions she was away from the friendships that she had made. Turning on her speech bracelet for a small while wouldn't draw the battery much at all, and at least she could talk a little.

It would never be her real voice, however. The voice from the speech bracelet, no matter whatever voice it attempted to replicate, would not be Cellica's voice. No matter how much she tweaked it, raising the pitch or adding a tiny detail like an accent increase, it would never be hers.

Cellica realised that her thoughts had brought her eyes to stare at the bracelet, and looked up to see where she had subconsciously carried herself - she was surprised at the distance she had moved. Looking around, she found that she had moved herself somewhat away from her team, having visually lost them. That wasn't good; Cellica figured the best thing to do was to continue onto the objective and hopefully regroup with them there.

Shots in the distance made Cellica snap Thumper into a ready position. Another team was engaged with the Invaders, that much was obvious - her own team didn't have another gunner on it, so the shots had to come from another. Plus, they were far off; there was no way Cellica had walked [i]that[/i] far from her squadmates.

It was soon that the distant fighting began to end, and Cellica hadn't made progress in finding her team although had made progress in working her way toward the sensor (at least, she believed so). Taking a moment to look in the direction of where the fighting had originally been coming from, she wondered not who had won but how many invaders had been defeated. She had the confidence that it [i]had[/i] been the other squad that had won, especially with the vast array of weapons everyone had for themselves. Cellica gave Thumper a pat.

Turning toward where the fighting had been coming from gave Cellica an early warning as to the Invaders that were retreating from their battle with Team Novae - if she had continued walking as she had, then perhaps she would have gotten much less of a hint that trouble was on it's way. It seemed that letting her thoughts gude her could turn out to lead to both positive and negative ends.

It was the [i]snap[/i] of a fallen branch that really caught Cellica's attention to the distance of the incoming threats. Taking a few steps backwards with Thumper raised and ready, she awaited the first Invader to arrive in her sights.

As the first Invader stepped into her sights, she identified it as one of the quad-legged variants. That troubled her only slightly - a pack of them could overrun her, though if these were the same ones that had come from the fighting that she had heard before, there was most likely less of their number. Through the scope, Cellica observed the Invader turn it's head to face her just as she pulled the trigger.

The [i]Thump[/i] that the weapon was named for was easily distinguishable in the quiet of the forest. Perhaps it would scare a more Human opponent, both from the sound and the pure power of the weapon as the superheated round impacted between the Invader's eyes. The fellows of the fallen, however, did not flinch. Even as the first Invader's body dropped, the rest of them immediately bolted her way as if they were flies to a dead cow. It was a little intimidating, but then so were many other things in life. A second round hit right under the head of another Invader, and Cellica had the satisfaction of watching it tumble to the ground even as she targetted a third, and then a fourth.

The only quaim that Cellica had was her ammo capacity. Whilst Thumper was indeed a powerful weapon, evidenced by an Invader almost completely becoming brought to a halt by a round that lodged itself in it's chest, the amount of rounds stored within the weapon meant that a miss could be detrimental when facing a pack, as she seemed to be now. Whilst there were signs of some damage on a few of the Invaders, she had underestimated their number by a small margin.

Pulling the trigger again, an Invader found itself lucky with a shot that only took off one of it's legs and sent it falling to the dirt. With one more shot left and four more invaders (as well as the three legged one that had found out that walking on three legs was not [i]too[/i] hard), she fired Thumper straight into the neck of one of her foes and immediately went reaching for her pouch of bullets. Prising one between two fingers, she slammed it into the open reciever of Thumper and managed to crack off one more shot. The range had fallen too close for her to have retrieved any more rounds.

The closest of the Invaders leapt at Cellica. Holding Thumper at both ends, she took a step forward and thrust her body and weapon back against the Invader. As she had hoped for, the Invader was thrust back where it had came from. As she had [i]not[/i] hoped for, the Invader's own weight thrust [i]her[/i] backwards. Just for a moment, she thought she was going to stay upright on one foot, before she teetered that little bit more and ended up on her back. Preemptively bringing her knee to her chest and thrusting her foot up, she was able to hold one of the Invaders that had so-obviously planned to jump on top of her above her, though the weight of her attacker crushed down upon her knee, making her grit her teeth in pain. Lifting Thumper with one hand, she used the end of the barrel to keep the flailing attacker at bay as one hand desperately tore at her ammunition pouch, trying to prise another bullet out for the Invader atop her. She suddenly recalled there being a few [i]more[/i] invaders left just as another one attempted to get at her free leg, which she tried to kick at it with.

In these times of troubles, it was perhaps a lesson to Cellica of the dangers for not sticking with one's team. Despite their overall weak demeanor and lack of battle strength, the Invaders had still managed to pin her down in numbers. It would just a few seconds to end the student's life through a swarm mentality before moving to the rest. Perhaps that was why it should have been taken with great relief the crushing metal weight pressing on her leg was suddenly slammed away, leaving Cellica to hold back nothing. Before there was much time to process there was no longer anything to kick at, the metal forms pressing on her from other sides had also mysteriously vanished. 

Or rather, they had each been slammed away with considerable force. The sound of scuffling boots and quick gunfire lit up the area, ending each in the crushing sound of metal torn by bullets. Even the last straggler, who had been limping forth with three legs only found itself moving no more with a bullet to the head. If Cellica hoisted herself up, she'd see the [url=https://i.imgur.com/7DganfF.jpg]form[/url] of her savior, the girl deftly twirling her firearms back into their associated holsters along her jacket. As soon as she noticed Cellica she walked over to her with an offered hand. [color=bc8dbf]"Are you alright?"[/color] 

It was odd to suddenly find that what Cellica had been pushing at was suddenly gone; her knee and her weapon immediately shot upward at the now non-existant Invader atop her, only having the weight of the air itself pressing down instead of a metal beast. Her ammo-hunting hand tugged a round out of her pouch, slamming it into Thumper. Cellica raised herself into a sitting position to shoot at the remaining Invaders, only to find that there were none left. She took a moment not to celebrate too early, but finally, she let out a breath that she had been holding ever since she had pulled a round.

It was very quickly that Cellica's eyes came to gaze upon her saviour, looking her from bottom to top brisky before coming to rest on her face. As her physical hand moved to take her saviour's hand, her she began a psychic handshake with her speech bracelet. It took just a split second for her to interface with it, allowing her to communicate vocally. Her voice coming from the bracelet, she spoke through it to the woman as she pulled herself up to her feet, one of which was still hurting quite intensely from the Invader crushing down on it.

[color=b7ffff]"I'm okay. I think. There were a bit too many for me alone,"[/color] Cellica responded. At least one positive of using the speech bracelet to speak was that she could adjust how it sounded, from happy to sad. For now, she left it somewhat neutral. [color=b7ffff]"I ran out of rounds. Thank you for helping me out."[/color]

"Well, it's a good thing I came when I did," the girl, known as Riyame from Team Chaotix said. [color=bc8dbf]"But seeing as you're all alone out here, I'm guessing you were seperated from your team, right? We're in the same boat then."[/color] The older Gunner sighed as she briefly glanced up at the sky. [color=bc8dbf]"I actually thought you were my partner since who else would be fighting in the forest all alone, right? Sadly she ran off at the first smell of Invaders....I swear, that girl sometimes. Anyway, we should probably get you back to your team."[/color]

As Riyame said this, she noticed the way one of Cellica's legs wobbled and quivered. Narrowing her one eye, she swiftly scooped up the other girl and held her in a cradle with her arms. [color=bc8dbf]"That looks sprained and I know holding up that Invader couldn't have done well for it. Come on, we can keep moving like this,"[/color] she said, already beginning to move at a light jogging place. She held Cellica carefully in her arms; there was no rush. She knew R.R. could handle herself if need be and she had little doubt there was cause to worry. Though it was still annoying when her partner kept hounding every enemy in sight without second thought....

It seemed that Riyame had worked things out on her own - Cellica was indeed seperated from her team, though she couldn't help but admit to herself that it was her fault for delving too far into her thoughts in the first place. She had both failed to keep a visual contact with her team [i]and[/i] focus on where she was going as the person in the lead. It-

Cellica almost jumped as she was scooped off of the ground, though it did take a lot of pressure off of her leg. [color=b7ffff]"Thank you,"[/color] the girl says, taking the time to load round after round into Thumper now that she was out of the fight. [color=b7ffff]"If you can, head us toward the nearest scanner. That's where my team was going, and there's someone in it that can look at my leg."[/color]