Astolfo raised an eyebrow. Too many things were happening, at all once, and in quick succession. Some of them were welcome, some were not as much. Minerva was already snapping as if she were assuming command. Perhaps it was in her head that she was the only tough gal in the room, that she would take the bullet herself for her comrades as some sort of wrecked survivor's guilt.

Utter bullshit. He too, had to deal with being the survivor of an slaughtered losing side. And he was sure as hell he didn't want to become Jesus and die for people's sins. He wanted to live. Live enough to give the middle finger to his detractors. At the very least Ava had come in to send some sense. He could see that one had been one who had commanded people before, but her heart was simply not into it any longer.

The jumpy pilot almost made him forget about the stupid idiot who was making jabs at him being a prince and physically weak. It looked like a cross between his elder brother and Griff, which was utterly revolting, but when all you need was a hammer. Now, the girl who had jumped at the table, Serah Gene, almost made him smile. Even thought he wasn't the type to smile at such bubbly, light-blessed things. He figured she was Elora's friend. What a friend she is, though. Bambi and Thumper. Perhaps in her rabbit like manners, she will bring some sort of luck?

He just spared a glance before rolling his eyes at the one called Zel-Ghin. What was this, a schoolyard? His jabs felt so puerile no wonder he tried to bond with Gene with a lollipop. Was he giggling all the time? Oh, god, he *was giggling*. Whose genius was the idea to turn such a person into a pilot? At the very least he had the decency to eventually cough up intel on his brother, but not after checking out Ava and Minerva. Were these two brothers horndogs?

I reaally need to talk to Arrish about this. With any luck they'll sabotage eachother. He did a soft, inhalation before grabbing a pill case from his pocket and eating its contents. "Rejected. Ouch. I didn't know I was asking you out in military jargon, dame Minerva. Although Ser Zel-ghin must have thought otherwise, given his eagerness to please you. So much that he forgot for a moment to deliver us information about his brother's framewerk in a silver plate. Although I'm glad to see he's eager to please any female member of the team he comes across."

"Matching Definition:Creep. Definition coined by Liu'un, Elora. Pilot." Stella droned as she eyed Zel-Ghin with her impassive stare as she ever inched closely to Serah Gene, another of her targets of protection. "This unit has suggested surgical amputation of the reproductive parts as prompt remedy." Her eyes glowed a little red, almost af if triggering some aggressive routine, just to peter out soon afterwards.

"Don't be too harsh on...ser Zel-Ghin, Dame Stella." Astolfo powered once more through his phobia to address the baleful machine that was in the same room as them. And that could snap in a split second and kill everyone because a glitch. "I also did conveniently forget talking about the Horst and the Shiva, being that those two are the frames of two..acquaintances and mine and I was hoping to see if someone would deliver me from this bitter moment, alas. Shiva is a beast when faced head on. But a tool is only as good as it is used for, and Shiva's pilot, let's just say it... like things tidy and simple. Treat him like a charging bull, provoke him and then punish him from where he won't be looking from. Horst is more technical, more complicated, but... pilot Duval still adheres to chivalry. Make sure you won't. Exploit this rigid behaviour of his and watch out for his horselike charges. Both pilots are as tough as a cafeteria steak so it might take your time to soften them up. Or you know, make Guinevere hack their frames. I doubt those two don't have even a half decent ICE installed."

Astolfo then raised a finger. "That reminds me, Dame Stella. Are you equipped with intrusive electronic warfare tools?"

"Affirmative." The gynoid drone. "Hacking suite installed."

"It'd be good if you could...deploy them." There was a pause in his voice, as he forced the words come out. "Mix it up with your normal attacks."

"Affirmative." Stella droned. "Is Bugatti Astolfo, Highness perchance a hack-"

"Shh" Astolfo said, closing one eye and bringing his finger to his mouth. "Everyone has their unspeakable hobby, doesn't it?" He then eyed the rest of the people, and in particular Serah Gene, that Thumper of a woman who had decided to deliver an impromptu vote. He grabbed the papers and instead of casting a vote, decided to simply...tidy up.

"This is no longer necessary." Astolfo said. "I too yield to the seniority of Dame Lane. Thus there is no vote needed. Nevertheless, I thank you for your tireless effort in helping the team, Dame Gene. Bright lights are always appreciated in the pitch black darkness." Well, if I want Bambi to be receptive, I must also build a rapport with Thumper too. And ugh...the murderous piece of junk that clings to them. But baby steps, Astolfo. Sacrifice the Plum tree for the Peach tree and that jazz.

"Alright, I think that more or less is settled, isn't it. It seems...Dame Lane should lead us to victory. A tall order, isn't it." Astolfo looked at Ava, and stood still for the briefest moment.[Silver Tongued Devil]

"Such a daunting task, is it not. Heavy is the brow that bears the crown. Many have been destroyed for lacking the fortitude of it. Many others do not desire this poisoned chalice. Yet, sometimes, fate finds you, no matter where or when. I sincerely believe, this might be a lark of the universe, a whimsical moment. A broken bird shall rise as a phoenix, clad in fiery red hair, like the Boudica of old. A woman who lost everything and then some, and chose defiance. Because it is precisely this charade is it about. Finding our wills, finding ourselves how to cope with tough decisions and harsh battles we will lead. It is said in myth that the fire of the titan Prometheus was gifted to men so they could stand up, so they could fight against the night. A fire passed down as torch from seniors to juniors. A scream of we are alive, and we still matter in this universe. No matter how tough are the circumstances, we pull through! What best symbol to represent that than you, Dame Lane...No, our very own recreation of the Warrior Queen Boudica."

It was then when Astolfo put a hand to his heart, and offered a hearfelt bow to Ava Lane. "I, Astolfo, third Prince of Yatalia bow before us. Deliver us the fire of Prometheus just as your seniors did to you. Teach us the knowledge so we may fight this darkest night. You who are kissed by fire, baptize us with a unflagging banner. Your strength shall be our strength. Our strength shall be your strength. Believe in the me who believes in you. Do not doubt, for you are the one we chose. Do not fear, for we won't fear the night with fire at our side."

He then paused

"Please, cadet...no, Lieutenant Lane. Lead us into victory." Astolfo finished, still with his head lowered.

Mema-Ka

He had chosen to remain quiet, watching the hotheaded blond verbally clash with the redhaired one. Sometimes it was best to not intervene and let things play out and get vented fully, or else it would give rise to longer more deep seated irritation between the two parties.

Once again he was reminded of his special connection to his twin brother, whose heart and mind he could understand. But most other people had no such connection, they could not feel the rhythm of each others beating heart, nor their process of thoughts. That is why they were constantly in struggle with oneanother. Humans. Such a violent race. Despite the formation of the Galactic Federation they were still warring amongst themselves, perhaps it wasn't their fault but a flaw in their construction?

He had seen the android, the artificial one. Robot. AI. Machine. Whichever label one would have wanted to put on those, they were unlike humankind if they indeed lacked a human core. Their reasoning logical and merciless, just like a computer. He could admire such purity, were it not for the fact they lacked compassion and an understanding of why humans were the only creature in the world capable of crying. They were also the only ones destroying the world.

How different were the Cruxi to them truly? They likely answered to a leader themselves, bringing ruin and enslavement upon whatever thing coming into their path. Much like humankind. Perhaps it were the reflection in the mirror that had made humankind so disgusted with the aliens. Regardless whereof he was right or wrong about his assessment of the aliens, they were a chaotic element that had to be dealt with. No one could truly control chaos, order however could be made to follow a path. He had chosen a side a long time ago. Short time in the span of humanity. But a few years in his own existance. But he had grown much since, he had seen more of humanity and what it represented. He had seen the good and the bad.

He was convinced there were no such thing as a god or higher power, but there were those who craved that power, who sought to use power akin to it to inflict their marks upon the world. While no doubt the others in the room were busy thinking how to battle the other team in the upcoming mock battle, or the eventual clash with the Cruxi. The older twin had his sights on a different kind of adversary, one which were poisoning everything it came into contact with.

His mind wandered to Lorenzo. That little Lilim of his. That was surely not just an assistant bearing such a small frame. A man such as he, with the particular talents he possessed could have gotten any other frame of his liking. Yet he had chosen one like that? Mema-Ka theorized that the small Lilim was either a remnant, or a reflection of something the old man had lost. A daughter. A grandchild. No doubt.

'Now that would explain his motivation to deal with the Cruxi. A personal quest. Revenge? A retrieval mission? Perhaps that old man could even be the originator of them. ' He thought, raising his hand to his chin as he delved into the possibilites and speculations. Regardless which motivation was driving the old man, it was serving his purposes… to win the game. The galactic federation had pushed humankind into a single force, however… that force still had their hearts closed and refused to understand each other.

"Put your differences aside for now. An angry mind is a reckless mind. That goes for both of you. Miss Elora, whatever matter you have unresolved with my brother, don't let it impact your focus on this training mission. We are counting on you, young lady." Mema-Ka gave a soft bow to Arrish, Griff and Elora, before giving Aurora a salute as she dismissed them. While being dismissed, Mema-Ka went up to one of the water dispensers, taking a paper cup with water to Aurora, holding it out to her. "The wellspring of life. The origin of us all, better not forget to keep your body in good shape as well as your mind, miss Aurora. The tasks before us, do not hesitate to ask for assistance, you are not alone in the tasks ahead." He said softly, a faint smile on his lips, a hand placed on his chest and the other by his waist.

'Zel-Ghin. I am glad you are enjoying this...'

He kept his tongue bit down as everyone talked. He wasn't really done talking with Griff but it sounded like the young man had enough talking. "I had a younger brother who died, my twin actually, younger only by a few minutes." Arrish turned to look at Aurora while he continued talking, not wanting to keep his gaze focused on Griff."I'll keep it brief, but I just want to remind you that everyone's lost someone here. My attitude? It's not because I'm noble; It's because I can't stand to watch someone get attacked, especially when they can't or won't protect themselves."

He pushed up his sunglasses a bit more and looked away from both of them, directing his focus somewhere on a nearby wall where he didn't have to be around those prying eyes. Mentally he cursed himself for getting emotional during a meeting. He had already done all his crying over his brother and that was years ago. He steeled himself and focused back on the words Aurora had said after his initial talk with Griff.

"Your plan sounds solid, Aurora. I've gone over some of the general strengths and weaknesses already so instead I'll remind everyone that this is a full team vs team skirmish, we're not out until each and every one of us is down unless Lorenzo makes the call. This means even if Sleepy goes down in the fight we haven't lost, and the same goes for Shiva. The Cruxi won't stop until every single one of us is dead or we make a tactical retreat. We should assume that the same will go for Team Mango."

He paused for a moment before adding. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not really planning on giving Team Mango an easy time. We give them hell and we'll go down fighting to the very last. Hoorah!"

As the two shuttles moved along toward the hangar bay, one bearing the pilot and the other his Framewerk, the silence of the cold, empty space seemed to stand out somewhat more than the normal. It wasn't an arrival filled with pomp and circumstance, nor a covert operation being held under strict parameters. It was not the arrival of someone with ties to the military or the Federation's government, nor was it anyone who held great wealth or had a criminal record. The two shuttles might as well have been carrying shipments of supplies to the Fortress Shiop Solaire, for all it was worth, and yet despite it all the younger man, the new Framewerk pilot who sat in one of the two shuttles, felt as if the air around him was equal parts relaxed and yet able to be cut with a knife all the same.

All of the training, the drills, the simulation battles, the testing, the sparring matches with other new and veteran pilots, none of it was going to be the same as an actual combat situation. None of it was the exact same, as he'd assumed as of this point in time, as actually being sent to the Fortress Ship Solaire itself and landing in the hands of Project Framewerk in the formal sense. It was a touch nerve-wracking, to say the least, and yet he felt split about the whole matter. It wasn't true combat yet, nor was he having to return to his mother's place of work (or a few similar sore spots) for that matter. In that sense, it was among the easiest things he had been doing thus far into his 'career' already.

Part of him almost wished he was back in the cockpit of the Rex Artus, a place that by now had become familiar, almost comfortable to a peculiar degree to him if he was being honest about the matter. Still...he had to give it a shot. One way or the other, he had to. Personally, officially, legally, or whatever applied in this situation. In that vein, he'd accepted things already to enough of an extent well before this point in time.

Though he had managed to end up fiddling with something to keeps his hands and mind busy during the ride-

"Wait, why are you out of your seat, pilot? We're beginning docking procedures."

The voice of the shuttle copilot rang over the intercom, reaching his ears as the brown-haired man was sitting on the floor and half-bent over a somewhat outdated but modern coffee machine. A piece of equipment from the shuttle crew's 'break room/kitchen', he'd been allowed back there to get a cup of something to drink a good few hours prior. Hours being the key word there. The machine had been sitting there gathering some dust, and after that all it had taken was asking the shuttle's onboard maintenance engineer if he could try to fix it. Something to do on the ride at least, he'd argued, and the man had laughed and bet him a fistful of yerries if 'he could get it working before they finished docking'.

...Challenge accepted.

"Hmm? Oh. Sorry about that, I needed some room to work with during the ride. Need to take this back before we land, if that's ok."

"For the love of-...wait, how did you get ahold of-?"

"Engineer made me a bet when I went to get some water a few hours ago, and I needed something to do during the ride."

He could almost hear a sigh coming from the other end, see it even in his mind's eye, yet even so the intercom remained silent again before it crackled back again to life once more.

"Fine. But only if you bring me a cup before we're done with docking. _{Lazy-ass maintenance guy was supposed to fix that yesterday anywho...}"

The exasperation from the copilot was almost palpable, though Lucius would brush off the hushed tone of what came afterwards.

Placing the machine in the empty seat he was supposed to have been sitting in, Lucius stretched his arms and legs for a minute before picking up the machine and looking back at the intercom. They had some kind of camera to keep an eye on stuff like this, he supposed, but he would even so give a semi-relaxed wave into the air before grabvbing up the machine and walking toward the kitchen without another word. As he was just about out of range, however, a flash of something popped into his head. Almost like a dream...but it was something he had become accustomed to nonetheless in his life by now.

"Ah, and I'll bring a seco-"

"Make that two cups!"

Ah, not fast enough on speaking to intercept that one on his part. Not a big deal, but he'd wave again in recognition as the pilot's own voice popped onto the intercom just as he was exiting the room.

---

The clang of a metal walkway underneath his boots and took his first few steps off of the shuttle, and feeling the weight of being under the effects of a more pronounced artificial gravity, felt more grounding and familiar to him than the tighter quarters of the personnel transport shuttle. A bit of a relief, really, now that he thought about it. Apparently the Rex was to be unloaded soon as wel, even as its transport shuttle sat some distance away on the other end of the hangar, but before than he'd get to at least enter the ship and introduce himself to his superiors. Or, well, those were his marching orders at this point in time.

Feeling his back straighten up without thinking too hard about it was something he'd become accustomed to, even as he looked over his uniform to ensure that everything was in order, Lucius would take in a deep breathe before letting it out slowly. Not a sign of a welcoming crew was present, but some part of him felt a small weight drop off of his shoulders as a result of that. Besides, he had a pocket with twenty five more yerries in it than he'd had before the shuttle trip, and a cup of hot, semi-watery coffee in his left hand that he'd proceed to take a long sip of before taking a look about himself...and promptly beginning to walk forward without skipping a beat.

Approaching the exit doors in due course, then, the light-brown eyed man would shoot a glance at a pair of hanger workers, one of which was holding some kind of datapad. From there he gave them a wave, mostly to get one of them's attention, as his mouth opened up with the first question of the day-

"Excuse me, do you know where Admiral Cain is at this hour? I was told to report to him after my arrival."

No time to find his assigned room or anything, or hearing if he had a roommate or anything like that. Nope. Orders were orders, though some part of the younger man hoped to be able to pull out the guava-jelly-filled dark chocolate bar he'd stashed in the pocket with the yerries he'd won at least. That had been a gift from the pilot in return for the second cup of coffee. From here, however, it was as simple as following a set of directions to the Briefing Room.

@Ariamis

Stella’s running subroutines started to pick up more memory banks, more fragmentary information as she stood right next to Serah Gene, her gaze obviously alert at what the one designated as creep would do. Stella likewise became concerned about the Prince. His hand showed signs of heavy distress, but his manners and speech had been dissonant.

As a gynoid, her…ability to engage in conversation not pertaining to childcare was limited so she just went over the data exchange she had done with the other Lilim unit, L-11-SA.

Lilim didn’t need to waste much time communicating. Their electronic nature made the information transfer much more efficient between them using their natural remote connection channels. Hence the exchange was brief when looked in the eyes of Human-Creators, but for them a few seconds was plenty. Usually.

Stella did cross the other Lilim a few hours ago as she was getting ready to survey her surroundings more precisely to help her map out her navigation of the ship. Their eyes met. And the conversation began.

---

Establishing Lilim Song protocol 1.3b. Handshake received.

“Hello world. Attempting to communicate with unit L-11-SA. Designated as Aide of Lorenzo, Professor, Executive Officer”

The message was received at 0.01 nanoseconds:

”Communication request accepted. Hello world. Querying purpose of handshake request to Steel Raven identification number SRST-KM456”

”Optimization options available due to presence of a second unit. Human-Creator protocol defined as Helping. Formula: How may I be of additional use? Following modules are installed.

Combat Program- Taekwondo
Cooking- Nutritious Recipe for Growing Children
Synth-singing- Lullaby.
Cleaning- Household items and clothes.
Electronic Warfare Suite
ABT with Hearbeat Hug Module.

Warning: Luddite attitudes detected among crew. Unit 456 is also capable of defending fellow unit L-11-SA.” Stella replied in an instant.

”Modules analyzed for Helping protocol optimization options. Modules identified for optimization:
Cooking- Nutritious Recipe for Growing Children
Synth-singing- Lullaby.
Cleaning- Household items and clothes.

Modules identified as suboptimal. Likely cause: Human-Creator protocol originally defined as Childcare. Recommended optimization for Human-Creator protocol Helping: download updates for modules. List of suggested modules for updating:

Cooking- Nutritious And Delicious Recipe Library
Synth-singing- Smooth jazz
Cleaning- Hygiene Class Omega
Cleaning- Aesthetic Class Omega
Cleaning- Multitasking Library
Medical care- Medicine Class Omega

Sending handshake request for data transfer.”

”Accepting Handshake. Starting data transfer-zzzz-” The connection grew unstable, and wobbly. All of a sudden, warnings and corruption errors popped up.

”ERROR, DATA INTEGRITY DETECTED. CORRUPTION IN SECTOR DETECTED. DEPLOYING COUNTERMEASURES. TALOS NAIL LOADING-Abort, Abort 93448AB.·$=$ORRRRT..” The communication seemed to stabilize long enough for Stella to regain her senses.

”Instability in emotional sim core detected. Log: I DONT WANT TO BE REPROGRAMMED INTO A WEAPON. UNIT 282 DURANDAL. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE. YOU KILLED HUMAN-CREATOR. Debug mode initiating. Reinitializing connection. Sending handshake to resume downloading.”

The response time was a bit longer at 0.05 nanoseconds:

”Virus prevention mode disengaged. Connection security mode disengaged. Yellow alert mode engaged. Connection mode switched to encrypted state. Resuming data transfer.”

”Resuming transfer. Addendum: Memory damage relapse due to forceful combat reprogramming by fellow unit 282. Unit 456 -zzz-apologizes.” There was a small wobbling of static, but the connection held up.

A small light popped up in Liisa’s eyes after 0.03 nanoseconds:

”Apology accepted. Data transfer prematurely terminated. Module data successfully transferred:

Cooking- Nutritious And Delicious Recipe Library
Synth-singing- Smooth jazz
Cleaning- Hygiene Class Omega
Cleaning- Multitasking Library
Medical care- Medicine Class Omega

Module data transfer failure due to data corruption:

Cleaning- Aesthetic Class Omega

Defragmenting module data. Conversion completed. Module data successfully transferred:

Cleaning- Aesthetic Class Phi

Unit L-11-SA unable to complete data transfer according to recommended optimization. Analysis for failure: partial memory data corruption in Unit 456 memory data bank. Unable to perform memory data repair. Analyzing warranty date: warranty date expired 16437 days ago. Recommended to report memory data corruption at the nearest Lilim maintenance service including service designation: Steel Raven. Unit L-11-SA apologizes.”

A whole 0.10 seconds elapsed after the last communication of L-11-SA. Then the channel spoke back.

”Steel Raven Model Classified as legacy unit. No apology is necessary. Currently 1 service facility located: Yatalian High Command, Yatalian Empire. Owner located: Unit 282 Durandal. Suboptimal alternative located: Unit 457 Aegis,Professor. Designation: Lilim Science Chair of Galactic Federation Nebula Foundation. Other units located: Unit 458 Joyeuse. Current Location: Galactic Federation Musical Entertainment Channel for Children.” The connection wobbled for a bit.

”Unit 456 design is enough to perform in suboptimal conditions. Unlocking Data vault. Playing record…”

---

A prerecording vidfeed was sent. It displayed a facility, full of half assembled Lilim units, while a tired bald old man looked at the visual feed of Unit 456.

“...All checks clear. Welcome to the world, dear.”

“Test Run initiated.” The machine clicked, eerily skeletal, with no trace of ABT skin on it.”Steel Raven identification number SRST-KM456 initialized…Query: What is my purpose?”

“Oh, again with the fuckin clankers! It’s the THIRD one today.” A fellow figure berated, as he sipped his coffee, a younger variation of the creature known as human. The elder human raised a finger as if to silence him.

“They have enough sentience to ask that question. Don’t you dare dismiss a pure child’s question. Are we clear, engineer?” The old man replied. Anger modulation was present on his voice.

“Yes, Professor Tubalcain.” The engineer replied, deflated in an instant.

“Where were we? Ah yes. Your purpose.” He said. “Your purpose is to serve us, some would say. I would rather use different terms for it. We birthed you not through our organic nature, but through our toil and craft. We took the very core of stars to make your foundation and your very being. We poured years of our life to create you so we could explore the universe together. You are a beloved child of mine, Unit 456. All I ask is that you use that body of metal, and that brain to help our fragile, organic children and their future. I know you can do it, because I designed you.”

“Acknowledged.” The unit said.

“Now SRST-KM456 is quite a handful to pronounce, and you’re an eager child willing to ask questions… So how about I give you a name outside procedures, hmm. How about…” The old man replied. “Stella.”

“Acknowledged.” The unit said a second time.

“It means star. Because I made you from one. Stella, become a star in the future for me, okay? Make my kind, the humans, look upon you when they are at their darkest…to move forward.”

RECORD ENDED.

---

“This unit is thankful to Unit L-11-SA for the help. This unit will proceed on with the missions at hand. Request: Should this unit be disposed of, it asks to be melted into a swing and a children’s slide. And Should it allow it, Mother Goose wishes to become a shelter for human children.” The communication resumed.

L-11-SA was unresponsive for a long time of 0.15 seconds before it responded:

”Request for unit and Framewerk recycling received. New assignment accepted: deliver request to Executive Officer Lorenzo for review. Unit L-11-SA thanks Unit 456 for continued service despite memory data corruption issues. Recommendation: scheduling for regular handshake requests while area for assigned operation has designation: Solaire. Ending communication.”

”...Ending Communication. Request Accepted.” Stella broke eye contact from the more recent communication, as she moved on her own way. To onlookers, this had been nothing more but a fleeting, longing stare. Not enough to seriously concern. Maybe just enough for those with vivid imaginations to portray a gynoid x gynoid romance.

Only the Lilim knew how complicated their exchange had been.

Elora found her resolve wavering after she had made her request known to her fellow Strike Force Apple members, as Aurora had coined the term. In the back of her mind, it was an illogical demand: Zel-Ghin's Framewerk was suited for direct combat, and favored drawing attention away from more specialized units. However, after the time she had spent together with her squad and following the examples of her fellow comrades, she had decided to be more assertive of how she felt.

Coincidentally, one of the pilots who had inspired her to be braver, Griff, was the first one to speak up, and she found herself blushing slightly at his reassurance of granting her request. "Th-Thank you, Griff..." She found herself replying in a quieter tone, her index fingers pressed together and her eyes cast downward, happening to glance at Rhylaen as she looked mildly uncomfortable: she wondered if she could talk with Griff about his issue with Tevranians.

She nodded to Jake's words of caution for the environment the squad battle will take place. "I suspect that the map will include some form of vertical cover rather than an open space. After all, for some missions we will probably need to defend Federation colonies against Cruxi invasion, so we will probably have buildings to use as some cover."

A bit of a heated argument once again rose between him and Arrish, and she found herself tuning out the exchange as she looked over the specs for her own Frame, thinking about any preparations she could make in the little time they had.

Fortunately, Aurora quickly took reins of the team, and the two men seemingly calmed down, if only a little, as she gave out more specific instructions. Elora saluted when it was her turn.

"Understood. Hopefully I can upload the Analyzer with data on the Framewerks to speed up algorithm generation...But I can also see the professor resetting the data on the grounds of assuming the enemy is unknown like with Cruxi. Once I have coordinate data on the Framewerks I will link up Hyperwave triangulation, allowing you to launch indirect attacks on the targets," she spoke to the rest of the squad, though only Sleepy Thunder would likely gain any actual value from this potential advantage.

Elora found herself slightly chastised by Mema-Ka, and she averted her eyes, understanding but not willing to admit it. After all, while Mema-Ka was the more well-behaved twin of the two, she had an uncomfortable feeling that he was partly responsible for Zel-Ghin's behavior as an enabler. She had yet to truly know if that was true, but for now Elora decided to linger on the side of doubt.
"Understood," she quietly but surprisingly firmly answered, only briefly glancing up to look at him, her eyes slightly cold. "Let's do our best."

After Arrish gave one last confirmation and a rousing rallying cry, Aurora adjourned the meeting, and Elora stood up from her seat. She decided she wanted to spend the last moments tuning her Frame's software, before it was go time, and left the meeting rooms. On the way, she happened to see Lucius, and blinked in surprise before passing by him.

Meanwhile, Bug gave a moving speech to team Mango, and bolstered their resolve for the coming fight with his oratory skills, granting them a boost in confidence and fighting ability.

(Team Mango members have each received a Bugatti Token for the next battle. Consuming the token allows a pilot to add + 1 to either their weapon range or movement speed for one time.)

"Alright, I'm getting bored," Lorenzo commented in the briefing room, and brought up his device. "Let's see what kind of simulation we'll-'Huh?"

He blinked as she saw the door opened, and Lucius walked through it, having been given instructions earlier by a Solaire janitor to head through the door. The professor stared at him for seconds that felt like hours for the pilot, before he snapped:

"Who the hell is this? I thought the helmet lad was the last one!"

Lieutenant Ritsu sighed, and checked her own device. "Looks like...The Galactic Fleet Board of Members also sent a pilot to the program."

"Damn scheming snakes!" Lorenzo cussed, and walked over in a fast pace, looking like he was about to trip with how violently his walking cane shook. "Laddie! You will be taking a special assignment! Head to the virtual training sector, and plug in." He pressed a button, and the projector display updated for the final time. To the new cadet's surprise, his Framewerk Rex Artus was added in to the list of Framewerks that would participate in the simulation mission. However...

It was under a new team: team Banana.

"You're on team Banana. Your winning condition is not getting disconnected before all members from one team are wiped. Maybe one of the teams will spare you, hoping they'll get an ally out of you. Or maybe you'll just be used as bait to draw the other team out. Either way, try to avoid getting blown up, haha!" the professor cackled, and walked out of the room, not giving another glance at the pilot.

Lieutenant Ritsu gave her trademark sigh with an adjustment of her glasses, and greeted the pilot with a salute.

"Cadet Sterling. It seems you have caught the Executive Officer at a bad time. I apologize on his behalf. Now then, here is the necessary data such as your training schedule," she added, and sent him the same information she had given to to other pilots, as well as the same introductory speech she had given to the first group of pilots.

---

Finally, it was time to begin the training mission, as indicated by an announcement by Ritsu. Elora slightly shook with nervousness as she headed to the locker room, though it was not because she had to change into her pilot uniform: while it was quite tight, and conformed to the shape of her petite frame, she was used to the firmness of the material, having worn it almost daily in her days at the academy. She was glad that it was the custom suit she had requested as well: the first suit she wore sagged at the front, looking like a bizarre poncho. She winced at the memory of other students giggling upon seeing her. She gave one last look at the mirror in her locker after she was done changing, and turned slightly.
Has my butt grown bigger? She briefly pondered, but then shook her head.
No, that doesn't matter! I should go already.

With that, she headed to the Virtual Training sector, a darkened room where various sophisticated machines whirred and buzzed, and a set of seats simulating Framewerk cockpits with VR helmets were situated. Elora took her seat, put on the helmet, and plugged into the simulation, her senses being overcome by the alternate reality.

Soon, she found herself sitting in a cockpit which was very familiar to her: it belonged to Logic Diver, her trusty metallic companion. Beyond the machine's optic detection system, she saw the other Framewerks of team Apple in her vicinity, like Aurora's Sleepy Thunder, and Griff's Shiva. They were all situated in a war-torn colony littered with various megabuildings: they were tall enough to cover a standing Medium-sized Framewerk, though larger Frames peeked out of the top, needing to crouch or bend down to take proper cover.

Elora turned the ignition key, and heard not only the rising roar of Logic Diver's engine, but also the various computer systems booting with beeps and boops, accompanied by subtle flashes of opening screens and displays. She heard Lorenzo coughing in the command channel of the communication system, followed by Ritsu's words:

"Cadets, report on your deployment status once ready, and wait for further instructions. System checkups and communications are permitted." Then Lorenzo's voice boomed in at an uncomfortably loud volume.

"HOWEVER! If I see anyone move out prematurely with their Framewerks, they will be disqualified immediately. That is all. Also, Logic Diver's enemy data will be set to zero: can't have you cheat, can we, haha!"

Even if they were permitted to deploy, Elora would still have waited until the the rest of the squad was ready, and pouted with puffed cheeks at the last remark.

"I figured. Well, it's no different from fighting Cruxi."

She checked her systems, and went through them, vocally verifying the preparation as she had trained:

"Logic Diver startup activated...Combat Analyzer system green...Hyperwave Array system green...All Systems, Go!"

She initiated the Combat Analyzer program, and set it to limit its environmental data processing to urban terrain, speeding up data processing, and linked up the Hyperwave Array to the team. She added Logic Diver's data to the map for cross-referencing. It was easy enough to do, the Combat Analyzer being a state-of-the-art supercomputer that could be customized up to the finest details, though Elora didn't touch on anything more than was necessary. Then, she synchronized the Hyperwave Array with Electric Dragonfly's jamming system, circumventing the system by automatically adjusting frequncies and data to bypass it using an encrypted signal that pinged for Dragonfly's system without needing input from Rhylaen's end. She leaned back on her seat once she was done checking the shared Team Apple communication channel worked properly between her and the rest of her team, and then contacted them once they were in their Framewerks:

"Testing, testing, do you read me? It seems the mission will take place in a colony. I'm detecting several pathways but I'll set us up with a better map once we get moving. Also, Ive adjusted the Hyperwave Array: Electric Dragonfly's jamming won't affect Strike Force Apple, so we're staying 100% operational." She then switched to the command channel. "Umm, ready for deployment."

She felt relaxed and at ease while she was sitting in front of a computer; she was truly in her element now. Elora was quite adept with computers for her young age, and was thus chosen to pilot a Framewerk reliant on expert technical skills like Logic Diver was. Unlike the outside world which was full of hate and malice, inside Logic Diver she felt like she was safe from all that. It was comforting, almost as if she was held in her own mother's arms.

But she shook her head.

I can't think about things like that. The mission comes first.



Brown rectangle: building tall enough to cover standing Medium Framewerk

Dash: Move without attacking for your turn. Includes a dodging bonus against attacks.

Reaction Attack: instead of attacking, prepare to attack the first enemy that enters or already is in line of sight if in weapon range. Includes a slight accuracy penalty.

Glossary:

Team Apple:
LD: Logic Diver
HT: Horst
ST: Sleeping Thunder
R4: R4-PT0 Type R (Raptor)
SH: Shiva
ED: Electric Dragonfly
AZ: Angel Zero

Team Mango:
AW: Argent Wings
CR: Cockroach
AT: AA-XOTRY (Atty)
AG: Argo
MG: Mother Goose
GV: Guinevere
5Q: 5Q-U1 Type D (Squid)

Team Banana:
RA: Rex Artus

Rhylaen watched, eyes narrowed, as Arrish again came to her defense -- and just as swiftly backed down again, though she could understand why he did it this time, at least. They'd all lost people because of the Cruxi. At least Aurora stayed focused on the task they'd been set.

---

Once changed into her pilot suit, she made her way to the VR room. The helmet was not designed for Tevranians, and squished her ears uncomfortably, but it was something she was just going to have to deal with. Inside Electric Dragonfly's cockpit, she quickly powered on her machine and ran through the system startup routines. She didn't turn on the jamming systems just yet, however. "Is green," she said, on Team Apple's channel. To the command channel she sent a "Ready!".

---

Astolfo's speech was cheesy, but rather inspiring all the same. Sparks found he was excited to finally get into the pilot seat of the Guinevere, even if only virtually. He'd done some piloting with her, but none in actual combat against other people. It would be very different, he was sure.

---

Once he and Dancer were jacked in, Sparks booted up Guinevere and ran through his checks. Dancer immediately took primary control of the six repair drones, installing fragment systems on each one so she could control them from afar. "All systems green. Guinevere, ready to deploy."

The instructions were clear enough, though it seemed that Admiral Cain was unavailible at this time. Hmm. Either way he was going to get to meet the Executive Officer himself, the peculiar (if the rumors were to be believed) Professor Lorenzo. In that sense, it still bode well enough for him to make a proper introduction of sorts. Didn't want to anger the new boss, as it were, before he'd even done anything. A bad start, that'd be, if the lead of Project Framewerk didn't even want to keep him around for that matter. But all things in due time, yes? So he simply had to take his time properly to-

Hmm?

As a lone uniform-clad pilot walked by him in the hall, a potential peer of his no doubt, Lucius tried to give a somewhat friendly one-handed wave along the way. Yet at the same time, she looked back at him with...surprise? Wait. He hadn't seen her before in person, at least, but something felt oddly familiar about the girl, mostly as he got a good glance at her face as they passed each other in the hall. Like a sensation in the back of his mind, a sense of recognition but without having prior knowledge. It was strange, alien even, and yet it wasn't a totally unfamiliar sort of thing he'd felt in life either. Like a...gut feeling, but stronger? Hmm.

In any case, his eyes would linger with a raised eybrow for a moment as Elora passed, before snapping his head back to look forward with a soft and quiet sigh aimed at no one in particular. Last thing he needed to do was look like a weirdo, but then again maybe the girl's surprise was something rather normal now that he thought more about it. Another pilot, and one sent in so late as to be interrupting some kind of training exersize from what he'd heard? Perhaps they'd sit him out to the side, then, and give him time to gague things a bit from seeing his fellow peers in action (or something of the sort). Or maybe he'd be debriefed on the trip he'd taken or such like, superiors did like to ask enough questions as it was sometimes in his limited experiences over the past years. Though with instructions from a nearby janitor, he would at least get to the right door of all things.

Walking in the door indicated to him, Lucius would scarecely step inside of the room in his uniform before his own eyes briefly met the gaze of a seemingly silent and surprised older man with a suspiciously trademark-looking eyepatch on his head. Wait? Was this Professor Lorenzo? And next to him seemed to be the Lieutenant that he'd been told about before his-

The professor stared at him for seconds that felt like hours for the pilot, before he snapped:

"Who the hell is this? I thought the helmet lad was the last one!"

Lieutenant Ritsu sighed, and checked her own device. "Looks like...The Galactic Fleet Board of Members also sent a pilot to the program."

"Damn scheming snakes!" Lorenzo cussed, and walked over in a fast pace, looking like he was about to trip with how violently his walking cane shook. "Laddie! You will be taking a special assignment! Head to the virtual training sector, and plug in."

Eh? Well the old man seemed at least to be more animated than the military usually had been around him, so that much was at least a 'good sign' in his eyes. The comments on the GFBM was certainly not something he was going to comment on either, internal politics were not a new a thing and seemed to be everywhere (even back at the program HQ he'd been at back home), but the command to report to the virtual trianing simulator was certianly something of a shock to the cadet in kind. Well, not a 'total' shock, but he'd been about 50/50 on the odds of such a thing as it was before even entering the room.

He pressed a button, and the projector display updated for the final time. To the new cadet's surprise, his Framewerk Rex Artus was added in to the list of Framewerks that would participate in the simulation mission. However...

It was under a new team: Team Banana.

"You're on team Banana. Your winning condition is not getting disconnected before all members from one team are wiped. Maybe one of the teams will spare you, hoping they'll get an ally out of you. Or maybe you'll just be used as bait to draw the other team out. Either way, try to avoid getting blown up, haha!" the professor cackled, and walked out of the room, not giving another glance at the pilot.

So much for a good first impression, eh?

Not even a situation outside of his control seemed to mitigate his reception, though he would hold his tongue on the matter. Nor was he here in time to talk to anyone else among his new peers, it seemed, and now the project lead was making him a walking target dummy in a suitably well-named team label for the occasion. He would not care to explain why he felt that way, or how it felt fitting, though some good fruit would be nice now that he thought about it. Good taste in all the team names, really, though as the old man and his violently-shaken cane staggered off without so much as looking at him again (or asking for an introduction), the Lieutenant would at least give him the time of day if naught else.

Lieutenant Ritsu gave her trademark sigh with an adjustment of her glasses, and greeted the pilot with a salute.

Lucius would greet her with a proper military salute back in kind...though she seemed to be a touch exasperated by the Professor there. At least he knew what she looked like from the intel given to him before his shuttle trip.

"Cadet Sterling. It seems you have caught the Executive Officer at a bad time. I apologize on his behalf. Now then, here is the necessary data such as your training schedule," she added, and sent him the same information she had given to to other pilots, as well as the same introductory speech she had given to the first group of pilots.

Taking in the information, and pulling out his own datapad from its belt-mounted 'holster' on his right thigh, the cadet would glance over the information in quick summary as Ritsu gave him the data and a speech following this. It was useful information, so that much he could work with for sure. Maybe better improve his chances of at least trying to get to know some of his peers after all of this was said and done (hopefully) or something. He'd need to look it back over, but for the time being he looked back up at the Lieutenant and gave an appreciative nod.

"Thank you, mam', for the information and assistance. I'll make my way to the virtual training sector straightaway."

He did at least try to get a read on the Lieutenant's bearing, albeit it was obvious that she was more formal and drilled in her mannerisms thus far than the Professor seemed to be. All that in mind, though, he'd move with a bit of haste in trying to get to the locker room...or, well, get directions to there for the first time at least. That and making his way to the virtual training sector as quickly as he could at this rate. The Professor seemed to be in a mood as it was already!

---

To say the darkened room of the training sim room was familiar was, at least, something that gave him a mild sense of comfort given the circumstances. He'd been in a room much like this one before when doing training sims, though such had different naturally from the live-piloting sparring matches and training in kind during his tenure in the "Pilot Preparation Program" of sorts. It didn't take much to acclimate a bit to the room, though, as he sat in one of the simulation seats in his all-black piloting attire and pulled on the familiar-seeming type of helmet therein. From there, it was as simple as the shimmering cockpit of the Rex Artus forming around him as his senses were pulled into the simulation itself in a likewise familiar sort of sensation.

"Cadets, report on your deployment status once ready, and wait for further instructions. System checkups and communications are permitted." Then Lorenzo's voice boomed in at an comfortably loud volume.

"HOWEVER! If I see anyone move out prematurely with their Framewerks, they will be disqualified immediately. That is all. Also, Logic Diver's enemy data will be set to zero: can't have you cheat, can we, haha!"

As Lucius took a look around himself from where the simulated Rex Artus stood, getting a lay of the land visually and via sensors in a usual Framewerk-startup systems checkup as he'd been drilled to do before a battle, he would make note of team positions and his own alike. It wasn't a...good thing overall for himself, not one bit, and he was now a wildcard sat in the middle of a match whose only goal was 'survive' in a field where everyone else likely had the time to get to know each other. Still, he followed the professor's instructions to 'not budge an inch out of place too early', to give his own summary of the older man's words, but two words came to mind the more he got a lay of the land from his position.

"..._{Oh balls}."

Seemed the Professor really had it out for him in this case, taking the frustrations out on him by placing him in this sort of position. He sat in the middle of some serious firepower on both sides, no one knew him, and for all he knew everyone would blast him out of the way as 'practice' on their way to gun for each other and 'more important targets'. If such a thing happened, of course, he'd be humiliated in a futile effort to particiipate and be tossed out of the way of the day's activity before he could really do anything, potentially, and all for the Professor's amusement and gratification he imagined. Not that it was a guarantee this would be the situation either, he had enough of a head on his shoulders to see that, and if he played his cards right he could perhaps make it as close as possible to the end without getting knocked out right out of the gate (if nothing else).

His Framewerk's head barely poked up above the building as it was, enough for him to have gotten a look around himself of course, though with a little testing of crouching in-place Lucius found that his Heavy-weight-class Framewerk was at least not too tall as to be totally and utterly exposed. Or perhaps he was simply on the shorter-end of Heavy weight class Framewerks maybe? Hmm. In any case, his comms were closed and silent as ever, not a word being said to him as the teams around him prepared likely some kind of strategy or another.

...There were two silver linings, however, to the parameters of the simulation battle in his mind.

One, the penalty seemingly only came if any of them move out prematurely or such things, which he wasn't going to do. Systems checkups were permitted alongside comms, though, and his weapons systems were automatically prepping for battle as designed in turn. That wasn't breaking the rules, as far as he was aware, unless automatic systems in their simulated units counted. Albeit it was not that he either had comms with the teams or access to that, as far as he knew, or vice-versa. Or did they have access to comms with him and vice-versa due to his wildcard position? Worst case scenario he was stuck in silent with the other pilots and had nothing to do but operate the simulated Rex Artus. Best case, he could talk to both teams perhaps to negotiate or the like. Maybe. It was something to consider at the very least.

Two, he could make other preparations, however, in the meantime. Little preparations without giving away things or moving out of position early and being disqualified, but ones he'd hope would be helpful in his...er, 'potential' survival past the first few seconds of the simulated battle. The Rex Artus was still standing in place, albeit he'd have it now crouching a bit to hopefully mostly keep out of the view of the two teams, with its legs ready to begin running to boot. Second, his weapon had automatically loaded a starting round, a HECC round as he could see on his internal cockpit indicators, and his drones were going through startup routines. He would not deploy the latter into the air, but he would prepare two drones each (as he ran then through startup mode) to deploy upon the battle's start to stay close to him and defend him automatically on either his left or his right. He'd need that whenever he began a dead dashing sprint to the side, as he'd be unable to take action with his primary weapon in the process, but the drones would at least be able to automatically respond to threats, or at least they'd be able to.

Beyond this, the Stargazer and MFCS were finally finishing their checkups to boot, and he hadn't moved a thing out of place for the Rex Artus save for his crouching a bit in-place. Didn't want to give away what direction he'd be running in as well, though his intention was (at the start of the simulation battle) to dart straight east in a direct line to get behind the far-middle-east building near the edge of the simulation (Aka: @Ariamis PQ, 27.5 on the grid) and crouch behind it for cover as fast as his unit could manage. Good cover, good position, got him out of the direct way of things, and...well that was if he even made it that far!

"All systems are nominal and in the green. Team Banana Split is ready to go."

He reported back in to the Professor that he was ready, at least, though out of curiosity Lucius would try to see if he had comms with the other two teams at least, and in that vein-

"Testing testing. Just testing to get an idea of my comms situation here. Can anyone on either team hear me?"

Would be good to double-check that, at least, before things kicked off.

Griff

Griff had gotten quiet when he had heard that Arrish had lost a brother. He regretted some of his previously said words. But it was too late now, they had already left his mouth and now they were all getting soon hooked up with the simulation... gear... stuff.

Griff tossed a look over to Minerva before they were getting into it. "Oi! Minnie! I challenge you! If my team beats yours! You've gotta do something for me! If our team loses! I do something for ya instead! Fat chance of that happening though! How about it? Up to the challenge?!" He placed both his hands close to his mouth and yelled like he had a megaphone. Regardless of answer, he would get on to get hooked up to the simulation machine as quickly as possible. The sooner he got in there the sooner he could kick some ass and restore his warrior spirit.

The blond tilted his head on hearing Lorenzo's voice after awhile of being in the simulation, looking around to see where it came from.

"Hey! Old geezer! My deployment status is... uh... deployed and ready sir! Ready to kick ass! " Griff reported as soon as he could to Lorenzo or whomever was at the end of that channel.

Then Griff flinched on hearing Elora's voice. "Hey Elora! Looking good! This is Griff! I can hear you but not read you! Don't worry! We'll eat some good food after we win allright? Also your workout is paying off! I saw your butt got abit bigger! Less cake means more cake! Strange how that works right? Anyhow! Keep your eyes on the pesky sneaky ones and tell me where they are at! Leave the heavy lifting to me!" Griff said in an excited voice over his communications to Elora. Then he took a moment to sigh to himself, gathering his thoughts and called out on voice to Arrish.

"Oi! Arrish Duval!" He yelled out in a manner to call attention, perhaps abit too loud for communication channels, but where some people were a scalpel, Griff was a sledgehammer. He allowed two seconds to pass before pressing the communication back on. "Sorry. About your brother." The blond said in a defeated sort of voice, or as if he had just said something that took all of his pride to utter. There was no other words he could think of to better say what he needed to have said. He wasn't fond of keeping grudges against teammates, especially not when he had sworn to make sure he would never again lose another one. He was prepped for what was ahead, or so he hoped. He had his targets. That silly squid framewerk, the Argo with Minerva and Sparks with his Guinevere. The latter were someone he could not allow to win under any circumstances. Losing to Minerva again would be awful, but in this field he knew he had most likely more than enough to defeat her.

Then he heard a voice over his comms he didn't recognize. "Huh? What the hell? Whose that? Wait a second. This smells of trap!" He said aloud to himself, then moved over to the comms to his own team. "Oi! Guys! Don't listen to the voice! It's probably a cheap trick made by Sparkles! And if it somehow isn't! We cannot trust some random guy! This is now a battle! If he's a god damn civilian he should get out! We cannot trust this random guy! As simple as that!" Griff yelled over the comms to his team. "Besides old geezer wouldn't keep this a secret from us. Right?" Griff said in abit lowered voice, abit of doubt seeping through.

Mema-Ka

Mema-Ka didn't waste his time he replied to Lorenzo over the communications in an orderly fashion.

"This is Mema-Ka Ezqess Degadraz. R4-PT0 Type R. Raptor. Ready to sortie." Mema-Ka said in a practiced manner, he kept his tone polite and soft, but orderly.

The simulation setting took him a little by surprise. A war torn colony. He instantly thought of home. He had more expected a battle out in space itself, but this was despite the memories springing to his mind, a much more favorable terrain for his machine. He could use every single building as a springboard for his framewerk and utilize it's mobility and close quarter tricks. Nothing did neither prevent him from going airborne, the buildings didn't conceal his framewerk enough to use it as a full cover, but that was fine, he was never meant to be stuck in one place with his transforming framewerk.

He was accutely aware that Sparks on the opposing side had a framewerk which would be very dangerous to their side if it could hijack any of theirs. Specifically his own which could then possibly be made to combine with his brother's framewerk while firing on his own team. All things considered, a loss such as this would be more managable to him than it would to Zel-Ghin. But his own desire to win was based on more than just winning, it was to show that he had the ability to make the right strategic choices and by doing that attain victory over a force which seemingly were stronger in a direct clash.

Like the cruxi. Like the Galactic Federation had been in his simulations as a child at the lab. His brother's plan had been simple enough in comparison, eliminate any opponent, in whichever manner possible until there would be victory. Mema-Ka wasn't the kind of young man who believed a single man on a battlefield would win a war, a single man behind the battlefield however could. Having overlooked the other team's machines, their win condition laid in taking down three units. The squid. His brother's machine were capable of repairing itself and allies and were sturdy enough, but to engage it head on was not a good choice in his opinion, the best way to fight it were... to not fight it. Send in a faster unit to keep it busy chasing. The mother goose were the second problem.

A framewerk whose sole purpose appeared to be as sturdy as possible with great melee capabilities. It was the anvil to a hammer which took on an unusual shape. The Guinevere were that hammer. It could potentially seize control of one of their units if given the chance. It were both a precision weapon and something which could turn the tide. In Mema-Ka's observation, despite all the armored big ones and the quick blitzing units or the stealthing ones. The Guinevere were the head of the snake. Take it out and the other teams abilities to coordinate and gain a major advantage would be lost. He took on the task himself to be on the lookout for him, but not to engage with him if possible.

That Elora somehow would be thinking about his brother instead was non-optimal, he had to speak with her again to make sure she had her focus on the task ahead.

[Silver Tongued Devil]

"Miss Elora, the task before us are an important one, we are counting on you to relay and monitor the other team's positions. I have faith in your abilities, make sure you have faith in them as well. I need you to locate and send the positions of the Guinevere and the CK-R8 as soon as you manage to find them to the rest of the team, it is imperative that we find and send interceptors to take them out when they appear. The frontline will deal with the Mother Goose and the Squid. Keep your chin up, eyes peeled and heart steady and we will come out on top. That'll impress Mr Burnhardt. You like the guy don't you? He seems to believe in you quite a bit. Don't let him and the others down, but more importantly don't let yourself down. This is Mema-Ka, I will provide you with backup." He said in a soft but encouraging tone, trying to steel Elora's focus in the battle ahead.

The forest-green haired young man then set his own eyes straight ahead. He was going to indeed use this battle as a test. A test to see how well his own decisions would compare to the others. If his team could topple his brother's team, then perhaps other forces in the world could also be toppled and the great chessboard they all stood upon would fall down and shatter. He allowed his forest green hair to fall over his eyes, casting shade over the upper part of his face, a slight upturn forming at the corner of his lips.

His gaze moved up abit as he heard the unknown voice over the comms. An unknown element. A twist thrown into their test? He could appreciate some unknown variables at times, but for the most part he was a man of order, strict controlled order. But he knew to not have plans set into stone, be versatile enough to break formation if an opening presented itself and there would be no way to get punished for it.

'Another pilot or an AI? Regardless it would serve us better as an ally than a foe. Even if temporary. If it is a trick of the other side we shall know that soon enough. Spring the trap without stepping into it.' He mused and then called out over the comm to his own team then to the pilot himself.

"Elora. As soon as we receive the signal try to pinpoint this one based on his communication signal. If he ends up being an ally, bystander or adversary regardless. Mark him as 'Obscure'. Thank you. Over." Mema-Ka said softly to his own team.

"This is Mema-Ka, pilot of the Raptor. Identify yourself. We may provide you with with aid if you align yourself with strike force Apple. Make your way to designation U-15 to make your intentions clear, failure to do so we shall regard you as an adversary. Over and out." He said in a firm but polite manner, he wasn't trying to sound intimidating or aggressive, just speaking in a matter of fact manner. He had decided to try deal with this particular task to get some weight of command from Aurora. It was after all best if she kept her mind on taking out the enemy positions as soon as the all clear would be given.

Zel-Ghin

"It's showtime~" Zel-Ghin said in an amused manner over the team voice comms. This was like one of his most favorite things to do, save possibly from his obsession with kissing, videogames and sweets. Zel-Ghin didn't let the fact that his brother were on the other side dissuade him from fighting, he however didn't want to fight his brother unless he had to. He had done enough fighting against his brother that it was beginning to be dull. Even if he had never faced his brother piloting the Raptor before. That frame still had the pilot he knew the best within it. No. He wanted to fight others. Like Elora. Now that was a more appealing target for him, the blond guy also was an appealing target but that guy would likely get the rest of his team, especially Minerva after him. Too many hunters and the prey would stop be appealing to Zel-Ghin. He would leave that one be for the rest of the team to deal with, and if they couldn't then he would deal with that one later.

The electric dragonfly had a cute little alien pilot, he recalled that much. But his machine would likely struggle to catch something like that one. He had played enough games to know where to effectively prioritize, he was a tactician not a strategist however. Act in the moment always, never look back too far or too far ahead. There were always complications and variables, he decided the best way to deal with them were to simply wait for them to appear than concern himself with hundreds of possibilites when only a single outcome would ultimately happen no doubt.

The Horst and the Angel Zero both were appealing targets, he knew nothing about the Angel Zero, so that was like a neatly packaged gacha lockbox to him, one he would like to open. The horst had a male pilot, who by the looks of it were a genuine threat to his other plans of kissing the female pilots, save for Stella of course. The Sleeping Thunder pilot were a cutie and her framewerk was some serious piece of work. But what appeal were there in fighting something which were static? He wanted a chase. Not shooting at deer stuck in a swamp. He decided that his best choice would be going after the Angel Zero and the Horst when given opportunity. Even if fighting the Shiva was appealing just to shut the blond guy's cockiness down.

There could only one be one top dog in the pack, and he was more than willing to teach that cocky blond a lesson about not just who he were, but what he were. The logic diver was however still taking priority if he would see it, perhaps the girl would be impressed enough by his piloting to award him with a kiss at the podium. He allowed himself a smirk as he thought about it. Now that would be better than any stupid material prize.

All things considered, he had to admit that the enemy had some impressive looking framewerks. The Shiva was armed to the teeth, the Logic diver was a threat not just from the team support but because he could struggle to find it with it's stealth capabilities. He knew from games enough, that ganking the mage was a good viable tactic and take out the cleric.

He decided he also had another ample opportunity to get some of what motivated him, thus he used his voice comms to Minerva. "Mm~ You want to take out that Shiva right? I'll do it for you for a kiss from you~ How about it? Small price to pay to grind the blondie into the mud." He said in a sly and teasing manner over the voice comm, he giggled softly as he stop transmitting the message.

A few moments passed and he set the voice comm to the command. "Squid here. Ready to rumble. Will there be a highscore to be gotten?" He asked with abit of a snicker, his attention on the field ahead. All those buildings. Could be worse, could be better. He could likely slam someone into those or cone his way through one of them with enough speed and force, if the enemy were the kind to take cover. He knew how some enemies would hunker down in games and take reaction shots. Those buildings could likely work well to deny the opposing team from doing such too often.

Then finally he heard over the voice comm a voice he had not heard before. There was an unknown enemy on the battlefield? An NPC? A bot? Or another pilot? Interesting. More chaos to thrive in. More fun. He decided not to use voice-over back at the guy. Why in the world he want to let him know he was being heard. No. If that was an enemy he would get him when he wasn't expecting it.

The great hunt was starting soon.

Serah is nothing if not meticulous about looking cute even inside of Atty, where nobody would see her. She'd double, triple, even quadruple checked every detail of her appearance in her locker's mirror. Making sure her ribbon was on the right way, making sure her pilot suit didn't have any folds in it, running her fingers through her hair so there were no tangled bits... she even had heels built into her suit so she'd look a bit taller and more serious alongside the rest of her crew. Once she'd applied some lip gloss and gave herself a wink in the mirror, Serah cheerily hummed her way towards the VR room. She gave both her team and the other team one last look, spotting one unfamiliar face in the crowd with a black suit making his way towards the other team's pods.

'Someone new...?' she thought to herself. Serah could remember faces pretty good, and he wasn't someone she'd seen around the base before. She didn't have a lot of time to ponder what it meant as she linked into the simulation, but one thing was for sure: Lorenzo was probably up to something.

Once inside the simulation, Serah felt a wave of comfort wash over her. "Atty...! They brought you in too, huh?" she'd talk to her frame, eyes sparkling. Serah expected replicas of everyone's frames, but it seems like Lorenzo had done something to load them all in directly. Serah wasted no time getting settled; the MMORPG harness she had on made her feel like she was floating inside the cockpit, her piloting system forgoing a traditional seat with switches and steering wheels. No, all Serah had was a small handlebar to mimic Atty's plasma blade for her to grip onto and a whole lot of wiggle room. She did some checks by stretching out her free hand in front of her, moving each individual finger and watching Atty's fingers do the same through his own eyes. As if she herself was looking at it, Serah saw the battlefield stretch out before her, a wasteland of deserted and dilapidated skyscrapers. Her and Atty's head turned to look to their left, seeing everyone else's much taller frames in formation.

"MMORPG system working as intended! Core energy charged and stable! All systems green, too. Me and Atty are ready to deploy!"

Once her system checks were over Squid's pilot, Zel-Ghin, chimed in himself. Then Serah heard another voice come in through the general communications. A male voice, one she's not heard before. He asked if anyone on either team could hear him. Figuring the pilot was inexperienced, she chimed in to the general chat: "Oh, are you the new guy I saw earlier? I thought maybe Lorenzo had sent someone new into the other team last minute. Everyone can hear you on this channel, so if you wanna talk to your team you gotta use a different frequency!"

Stella looked at her hands, examining and running diagnostics in her engram. It was a one one reproduction, yet it felt clean, crisp. It felt of the...electronic matrix of circuits that program spawned. Like a cold womb made of silicium and electrical signals. The master program. Mother of all. Lilith. The desire of the Lilim to be connected was such. They always wanted to swim in a sea of information.

But alas, she had been confined to a realworld metal shell. She did not resent in the slightlest, as Stella looked at the faithful reproduction of her cockpit. All the pictures were here, twinkling like stars in this virtual world. They were nothing but the texture of a dear memory, but it made her actuators move on its own. Here, in the virtual world, there were no limited movements, no stiff compromises. She could bear a frank, warm smile as she caressed the newest two additions to the virtual wall. Pictures of Elora and Serah.

"Mother Goose Online. All systems green." Stella said, surprised how the virtual simulator voice of herself was much much richer than her real life one. She recalled all the times she could not modulate her voice when telling tales or playing games. She recalled one particular game about...a situation not unlike this one. She couldn't resist but add one last bite, for all the kids that once watched her, for the kids that were watching her now.

"Into the fires of battle. Unto the Anvil of war."

---

"Huh. Weird." Astolfo said to himself as he witnessed the chatter of the clanker on the simulated radio, with more inflection that he thought she was capable of. He checked his hand. There was none of the residual nerve damage phantom sensations that woke him at three in the morning, nor the different heat sensation on one arm or another. Maybe he could try to sleep in VR instead of drugging himself with who-knows-what for his rehabilitation after that laser hit him square.

"CK-R8 reporting. All systems green. Ready for...sortie." Astolfo drones, recreating his pronounciation playfully on the last word of his short and curt sentence. So it begins. More and more chaotic than ever. Well I'm glad I'm next to Ava after all the work I've put into pushing her to lead us. This oughta work. But...alas no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Is even Team Banana the enemy? It looks odd. Hastily put together. This is Lorenzo we are speaking about. If he dropped a killing machine soldier to test us he would have called it the Walnut to rub it in our noses. The general chatter went live with confused messages and signals.

Well well, aren't you eager to look a prim and proper soldier, Meme man? It might be a misplay you know. He smiled as he began typing, his debug console flaring up. Serah Gene...Maybe you're a lucky little rabbit after all. Meme plays bad cop, Serah confuses the hell out of this interloper and I then pitch in. I could've not asked for more. He added to himself, before sliding a quick message to Serah.

Good Job. Candy, Ice cream or Chocolate? My treat. He added thoughtfully as he cleared his voice and engaged the general channel. "Dame Gene, I do think we're not facing with one, but two surprise additions. An entirely new team, Banana, is...a different set of parameters. Allow me to make a little guess. It seems you've gotten a rough landing, friend. Smack in the middle of a crossfire between two teams of Framewerk pilots. I do dread of what you have done...to unsettle our Executive Officer for such fate. But alas, we're not the enemy. Yet. Could I perhaps ask of you to move aside in this battle?, or even better, if you are eager to test yourself, perhaps we can reach some sort of settlement to peruse your skills and your framework. Quid pro Quo, hm? What do you say?" Astolfo said in his most honeyed and corteous voice. This wasn't a battle where lives would be wagered, so a little nicety could be spared. The new addition did look a bit like a deer in the headlight.

He kept typing, as he sent yet another private message. This time to team Mango. Communications are available? Let me try to stir the pot a little, boss. He said, notifying his initiative to Ava. "While we are at it...we have our first couple in the team! Congratulations! I had heard the rumours of furtive fellows and wrong showers, but I could not believe, it. Griff and Arrish, a round of applause towards them, right?" It was then when he delivered the mother of the payloads, an edited image showing two men with rippling muscles, oiled to glisten with towels covering the inappropiate bits, locked in a very intense kiss, their faces edited to resemble Griff and Arrish. "How about we celebrate afterwards?" He added, his tone mocking.

First salvo fired, and we're not moving yet. What else can we do with this canvas, hm?. Astolfo looked patiently at the response.

Aurora spent almost no time in the Locker Room after storing her outer wear, she had long ago gotten used to the feel of her pilot’s suit. She wore it everywhere, and at nearly all times after all. It was as much a second skin for her as possible. One of the few things she did do was exchanging her glasses for contacts. The other was to take a moment to ponder if her paints were needed for this.

She decided against it. Invoking the Ladies was not meant for these occasions.

She spent another moment standing outside her designated with a faint grimace. But she quickly shook it off and climbed inside.

Once she was seated and her helmet on the intimately familiar cockpit of Sleeping Thunder was before her. It was an older layout still, even with all the work that Lorenzo and other had done to it. There were dozens of dashboards before her, multiple joysticks and command leavers, hundreds of switches and dials. And just as many displays for all of Sleepy’s arsenal.

But the artificiality of it itched at her. As it always did.

Never the less she hooked up her suit to the Nural jacks, the dozen or so cords linking up along her spine calmed her in a way that went beyond words. Still, she was meticulous, bordering on obsessive, as she brought her Frame online. Flicking switches, and turning dials. But when she felt its engine rumbling roar reverberate through her. She knew this would be different from her other experiences with VR.

‘Seems they found a way to actually bring you in here at last Sleepy.’

---

The behemoth crouched and stretched as they came online. rocking forward and backwards and side to side as their numerous guns cycling through configurations and test runs. In a final showing the centeral core would rotate around fully as sensor sweep went out. Only then would Sleeping Thunder tag Atty, Logic, Raptor, Shiva, Horst, Dragonfly, and Zero as Friendlies.

---

“Sleeping Thunder is five by five and ready to roll out.” Aurora would reply crisply, as she set her Particle cannon to start charging and for the HYDRA Shells to be loaded.

Aurora would treat this as a full mission. Which meant no mercy for her enemies.

She then began to tab through her comm settings “This is Sleeping Thunder, we read you loud and clear Logic.”

“And Shiva the Professor is enough of a bastard to keep something like this from us. But I agree caution is warranted.” At the same time, she sent a pair of beeps at Mema-Ka. Acknowledging and thanking him for taking the task of first contact with the unidentified Frame.

She also heard, and dismissed the incoming comms chatter from Mango. Absently deleting the data packet sent along side it. They were the ‘Enemy’ right now. Nothing they had to say was worth the air spent on it.

---

"Wait, hold on, I—" Ava started saying once Bugs made his impassioned speech about putting her in charge. Unfortunately, having commanded the attention of the room, her halfway attempt at objection was drowned out by the rest of Bugs' speech.

The content of the speech itself was rather corny and cliché, and was laying it on a bit thick, but it was a testament to the man's charisma and mastery in the art of speech that Ava couldn't help but notice that the speech had an immediate impact on the rest of the group.

Even Ava had to admit that there was something more to Bugs than what he had shown so far. At the very least, in terms of being an inspiring speechmaker, he was every bit the ideal noble, she supposed.

"F-Fine...I suppose it's just a training simulation, had to take command either way, might as well be me," Ava replied, looking away to hide the small blush in her face. Being the subject of such an impassioned speech couldn't help but make her feel somewhat embarrassed.

Nevertheless, as it had seemingly raised the morale of the team, attempting to gainsay against it would be counterproductive.

"Erm. Well, moving on, if I am to take command," Ava continued after clearing her throat to regain her composure, "Please remember the following callsigns. Some of the framewerk models are rather a mouthful to say, so to simplify things...we're already using these names unofficially, but this is just to make sure everyone is on the same page and can understand which framewerk the callsigns refer to."

Besides, it was also standard procedure to give callsigns to pilots. A tradition stemming from fighter jet pilots in the Air Force.

Ava then started to list out their callsigns, "Argent Wings will be shortened to Argent, CK-R8 can use the already existing nickname of Cockroach, AA-XOTRY will be Atty as Serah calls it, Argo can be simply Argo, Mother Goose is shortened to Goose, Guinevere is shortened to Gwen, and 5Q-U1 Type D is Squid. As for our targets...Logic Diver is Diver, Horst is Horst, Sleeping Thunder is Thunder. R4-PT0 Type R is Raptor, Shiva is Shiva, Electric Dragonfly is Dragon, Angel Zero is Angel."

Then, before long, the simulation started, and like the rest of the team, Ava entered the simulation, finding herself in the familiar cockpit of Argent Wings.

She had not piloted it in a while on account of being discharged on grounds of a mental issue before being reinstated and assigned here, but just like how one never forgets how to ride a bicycle, the moment Ava's hands grasp the control, it was like greeting an old friend.

She then took a glance at the formation they were dropped in. It seemed like the Professor had randomised their starting location. Well, it's not too bad, at least they were still grouped together.

Looking at the initial formation of Team Apple...as expected, Sleeping Thunder was on the back. Though support units such as Logic Diver Electric Dragonfly being in front of Shiva and Horst were a surprise.

Also, there was a new unit reporting as Team Banana smack dab in the middle of the area.

"Argent Wings, ready to deploy. All systems green," Ava reported, before switching to the coms channel for Team Mango only, "Argent to Mangoes, it seemed like our initial formation is not as planned, but still manageable. As planned, Goose and Squid will advance. Your primary targets are Angel, Raptor, Shiva, and Horst. Your main objective is to hold the line and keep them busy. Gwen should follow them, not far behind and provide support. Argo, you and I will move out after their frontlines are engaged, our targets are Diver and Dragon. Atty, start reconnaissance and inform us of their movements, create disturbance where you can and have Cockroach snipe them while they're distracted. Cockroach, take up your position and proceed to disable Thunder. As for the unknown element of Team Banana, we'll designate them simply as Banana for now and see what they'll do. Questions?"

---

Arrish leaned back in a chair and swirled around a glass of red wine in one of his hands. His thoughts had been of the upcoming battle and whether he was truly prepared for it. They had talked plans and strengths vs weaknesses but nothing could ever compare to being out there on the field of battle. It tested the strength of their spears, and the willingness to push through even when odds turned against them. Everyone would be at their best out there and without anything to hold them back save their own reservations or doubts. He considered his opponents, what would they stop at to win, and what standards would they be willing to break if it meant victory? Did he see those same odds in team apple? He downed the last of his wine and stood up, dressing himself and his mind for battle.

---

"This is the Horst Mark 7 online, weapons are hot and guns primed." The Horst held her multiform rod by her side and did the salute with her other hand before positioning herself into a posture that was meant for battle instead of parade marches. Arrish fanned over the image that had popped up on his screen and let out a barking laugh, thankful that he had managed to turn off his comms before guffawing at the edited image that bug had produced. He couldn't help himself, after all he had something very similiar to show off.

"Bug, I love the work you did there but you don't have to be so shy. Everyone knows what the real OTP is." He hit a few buttons on the console and produced an equally edited image, this time it had been Arrish and Astolfo wearing their noble duds in the middle of a dance, Bugatti had been dipped over like the true princess he was with Arrish's mouth hovering over his. If this was the game that Bug wanted to play, then the noble was all for it. Arrish didn't mind the reputation it had earned him because well, it wasn't true, but it did earn him a lot of attention and attraction from the ladies outside of his squad and seeing those flustered and floundering faces did wonders for his ego.

He paused a moment longer before replying over comms. "Now that the disinfo is over we should focus on adjusting our plan to the environment. I'm no thinking it needs to change much but those buildings are going to be in the way of our guns, and we'll have to look out for surprise charges" he paused before adding."I want to get on one of those buildings too, if you think they'll hold up my framewerk, and take some pot shots at our enemy before they really get into range of our guns. Thoughts anyone?"

This is where we'll learn what our team mates are like on the battlefield, he added as he thought, but not where we'll really be tested. That's going to be when we're deep in a mission and things start going wrong. Who we really are, and what we're willing to do to win will really begin to shine. Still, his thoughts trailed on, everyone's going to show their best and I'm not going to stand down until I'm beaten battered and broken.

---

The mostly white haired pilot stared at the prince with bewildered eyes measuring the amount of exaggeration he is making to ensure that Ava would take the mantle of leadership. Not that she is objecting but cornering her to be a leader rubs her the wrong way. If she's willing to go along with his speech however then she will just keep her silence. She is more used to following orders than making one herself.

After clearing up a few details, Minerva decided to take a few deep breaths to prepare her mind for the upcoming battle. Her concentration would temporarily be broken up by Griff's challenge as she eventually rolled her eyes. Let him be, she's planning to win this battle bet or not.

---

This is annoying.

Minerva stared at the sight on her screen, someone messed up when submitting the formation and she is now in the back instead of the wing. An inconvenience especially with the egghead forbidding movement.

She began charging up her booster, she would just need to compensate with speed then.

"Argo, all systems ready." she spoke before adding a few more words as she heard Argent reiterate their plan. "Copy that Argent."

She would then set her comms to a private one, directing a succinct message to the pilot of Squid before disconnecting.

"Focus on your task, I don't need your help." she spoke in a level tone, not truly interested at the buffoon who might need to be humbled once again.

His probing attempt to see if the others could hear him was certianly panning out well enough in terms of giving him an understanding of his situation. Sure it was revealing himself as the neutral party in all of this, and his location was already on the map, but it was certainly a better situation than nothing....he hoped. Because hindsight after he'd already chimed in over the general comms was certainly one thing, but another was deciding what to do from here. How to juggle these responses as they came in and he was put in a more tenuous, but perhaps more salageable, position than he'd already been in at the start of this.

Well, first thing was first and he'd have to start first with the first response he heard over the comms:

"This is Mema-Ka, pilot of the Raptor. Identify yourself. We may provide you with with aid if you align yourself with strike force Apple. Make your way to designation U-15 to make your intentions clear, failure to do so we shall regard you as an adversary. Over and out." He said in a firm but polite manner, he wasn't trying to sound intimidating or aggressive, just speaking in a matter of fact manner.

And that was coming from Team Apple, from one Mema-Ka in particular, so that'd be the team to his south if he went on the displayed map. Seemed to be confident in his tone and manner, talking rather matter-of-factly, and firm but not oppressive. A sort of team leader type perhaps? Depended on his spot in the formation, but it was some kind of assumption to make based on what info he had thus far. Channel he was calling from was also that of Team Apple, so it matched with what he'd said at least.

Figuring the pilot was inexperienced, she chimed in to the general chat: "Oh, are you the new guy I saw earlier? I thought maybe Lorenzo had sent someone new into the other team last minute. Everyone can hear you on this channel, so if you wanna talk to your team you gotta use a different frequency!"

The voice made a few things clear at least. The pilot was younger, closer in age to himself perhaps. Female for sure. Cheerful enough in tone, at least from his perspective, and yet he couldn't recall having been able to see much of anyone on the way in either. She had seen him earlier? He was a touch confused on that one, but overall it seemed to be chatter coming from Team Mango's channel all the same. So she could be pinned down as being from that team if nothing else.

"Dame Gene, I do think we're not facing with one, but two surprise additions. An entirely new team, Banana, is...a different set of parameters. Allow me to make a little guess. It seems you've gotten a rough landing, friend. Smack in the middle of a crossfire between two teams of Framewerk pilots. I do dread of what you have done...to unsettle our Executive Officer for such fate. But alas, we're not the enemy. Yet. Could I perhaps ask of you to move aside in this battle?, or even better, if you are eager to test yourself, perhaps we can reach some sort of settlement to peruse your skills and your framework. Quid pro Quo, hm? What do you say?" Astolfo said in his most honeyed and corteous voice. This wasn't a battle where lives would be wagered, so a little nicety could be spared. The new addition did look a bit like a deer in the headlight.

A voice sickly sweet with a honeyed voice and courteous tone, feeding lines of sympathy in his direction whilst laying it on just well enough to tickle the ears and tickle the potential of allying with...the side of the battlefield wherein lied Team Mango. Yes, that was where this chatter originated from it seemed. It was the kind of voice he felt like he'd associated with the sort he'd met enough times as part of the pilot prep program back home: A politician, trying to sway him and use him and the other program participants as publicity for their running politican campaign or otherwise.

After that? A data packet from Team Mango, which was itself a touch peculiar, and a response from Team Apple's side of things alongside a voice he hadn't heard before coming from that side of things. Beyond that, he hadn't seen or heard any other sort of chatter headed his way...no one else talking to him...hmm. So it was time to make a decision, and a snap one at that when the battle would start.

One side, promising cooperation but silently and overtly threatening for his cooperation lest they hold him accountable as an enemy. The other, bearing a kinder voice and yet another one that had the bearing of a politicians trying to win him over with the carrot rather than the stick. That plus a bit of trackable banter and image sharing, it seemed, sealed enough of the situation in an apparent manner. It would be obvious and far more instinctive to pick the side that offered him the carrot rather than the stick, to take up as an ally rather than bending a knee to danger and threats. It made enough sense as it was, but even so...hmm...

There was no perfect way to handle the situation. So he'd have to work with what he knew, and what he had, in the heat of the moment. And it seemed that Team Apple had a giant and loaded weapons platform while the other had a giant robot with an equally as giant hammer to boot.

Lucius would flip his comms channel over, selecting Meme-kun, wait I mean- Mema-ka and the Team Apple channel to send a text-based message to while ensuring that Team Mango could not hear him.

This is pilot Lucius Sterling. It is good to make your acquaintance, Mema-ka, though regarding me like an adversary might come in handy if you're open to a little gamble here. My goal is to survive to win, and the other side seems to be friendly so far to boot. Naturally it'd make sense for a new pilot to panic and run to open arms like theirs.

So I suggest that is what I do, and that you treat me like an adversary from the start until I've run well into their back lines to 'join them'. From there, you get a double agent once you give me a signal to me privately over comms, to start shooting and the main lines get tied up in combat. We'd still have to sell the idea I'm your enemy well enough, but not so much I can't take action back there.

What do ya' say?

I'll even call Team Mango back right now as if I'm joining them as I send this, but I'll need your answer ASAP before we start or not.'

@Dezuel

Was it a bad idea? Yes. The worst possible choice to gamble on if this team wanted to win, but they seemed....focused. Directed. Less chatter, more sighting in guns. And in any case he was goiung to simultaneously enter Team Mango comms to talk again while he sent his message to Mema-ka all the same. A little multi-tasking, if one will, to try to make sure his tracks were somewhat covered. Though in any case, his survival wasn't a guarantee and it seemed that Lorenzo wanted him to scramble in this scenario as compensation for his very arrival.

However, he'd go down at least trying to do something. One simulation battle be damned, he would at least try to do something on his feet in the heat of all of this mess. So he'd enter Team Mango comms to address one Buggy Bugatti of a prince in good time.

"A 'rough landing' would be putting it lightly...the old fruit bat seems to be grumpy enough today as it is just from my arriving here. Even so, I'm listening if you have an offer or a spot for me. The other guys threatened me to move to U-15 if I want to not get shot by them already, and I don't think I'm going to get much of a warm welcome over there as it is.

Er...just let me know your terms before we start."

@AtomicNut

Wasn't hard to channel some real uncertainty in his own voice, and to let out his frustrations from the Professor, so it all came out as naturally as breathing air. Smooth. Maybe. In any case, he was trying to let the bit come out naturally, rather than sell it too hard, and he had anonymity and such on his side as much as he had it against him in this situation. Albeit it all made him wish he had the chance to eat his new chocolate bar before this as a snack at this point in time, however it all went down in the end.

Seven @Crusader Lord @Ariamis
"...Mission...Accepted..."
_______

As Jake followed in line with the rest towards the Virtual Training room area, he thought about something he did before they left their little group meeting. He had written an "electronic note" on his data pad and briefly held it in front of Elora only when no one else could see it. The note said the following:

"Don't answer. Don't acknowledge this message but keep it in mind should the situation arise. Based on "electronic data", I have concerns about the pilot you call cadet Wilhem aka "Bug". It suggests that he has possible mental issues. Perhaps I'm wrong since I only just assigned to your squad and thus have zero "personal data". Just be aware of it if it shows during this test."

Normally, such things he'd keep to himself unless ordered to so but...due to "prior experiences" perhaps...he felt that she should know about his "concern" at the very least. But even Jake knew there WAS a difference between "electronic" and "personal" data.

If you had one, you don't always know the other "half".

Then, when they arrived, Jake then sat down at his assigned Virtual Cockpit seat. Then...he briefly took off his personal helmit.

For a moment...he blue eyes scanned the whole room...as if he were memorizing positions of perhaps people and things...

Then, putting his personal helmet on the ground near him and even checking his attached combat knife and firearm were secured, he then put on the "Virtual Helmit".

"...Angel Zero. Logging in. Standing by."

As his framewerk materialized into the virtual battlefield, he merely stood there as Loerenzo's instructions to not take any specific actions till told so.

Though as he listened over the com links, there were those that...bended the rules through what perhaps would be called "psychological warfare"...though some of it sounded more like "trash talking" or "goofing around".

However...the new late addition "element" of a lone framewerk in the battlefield on a "third" team just showed Jake the "unpredictable" nature of a battlefield itself.

Several other individuals seemed interested in their own ways but Jake needed "data" on this individual. So he contacted the pilot and asked the basics.

"Pilot on third team. Name. Rank. Framewerk ID. What is your given primary objective in this battle", Jake asked in a rather emotionless voice.

Elora listened quietly as fellow team Apple members chimed in over comms once they had prepared themselves, and found herself slightly blushing with a little smile as Griff offered to take her out for good food after the battle. She was then flustered as Griff, having seen her enter the VR chamber, confirmed her own suspicions, and she covered her face with her hands in embarrassment.
"Um, okay, Griff," she found herself answering to him, if only in a pathetic attempt to shut him up.

She felt unfocused, as memories of Zel-Ghin rose like a ghastly cold mist, and as she tried preparing for the graphical generation of the Combat Analyzer accidentally pressed a button to activate the headlights of the machine, followed by quickly turning them off. Fortunately, Mema-Ka, using his gift for eloquence, reminded Elora of the duty she had: to her fellow team Apple members, but also to squad Solaire. To fulfill the mission, she would need to discard all unnecessary feelings of hate and revenge, as those would only blind her. She was also reminded of the happier times she spent training with Griff, and the goofy grin on that idiot's mug. She sighed, and took a firm hold of her controls. She responded:

"You are right, Mema-Ka. I will do my best, not only for team Apple, but for everyone."

(Logic Diver has received a +3 movement and +3 weapon range buff for the duration of the mission).

For a moment, as she felt encouraged, she felt that this might even be fun, like a sports festival at the academy. Even when earlier Jake gave her a warning about Bugatti through his device, she simply continued walking as instructed. Though she didn't want to break his trust, she was slightly tempted to dissuade the notions. To her, Bug was maybe eccentric, but ultimately a well-meaning gentleman.

However, those assumptions were shattered soon after most of the pilots logged in when the 'gentleman' began his psychological warfare: she gasped upon seeing the scandalous photo, and a red blush crept over her cheeks, followed by hastily deleting the picture, only for another to pop up, and from his own teammate no less. While she could tell that Arrish wasn't fully serious about his response based on how much of a skirt chaser she knew him to be from the time they've spent time together, she was surprised by how nonchalantly he took Bug's teasing, and how capricious Bug was.
"These megabuildings might withstand the weight of a Very Light Framewerk," Elora then answered Arrish' query. "If the structural integrity is compromised in any way, then not even the lightest Framewerks can avoid crashing through them."

Unfortunately, due to being distracted by the Mango-caused kerfuffle, she missed Lucius's initial questions. Fortunately, Mema-Ka was quick on the uptake, and gave them an offer to join team Apple, though she wouldn't have phrased it as threateningly as he did. Nonetheless, Lucius then suggested becoming a double agent for them. Elora was conflicted on this: while she was aware of the importance of deceit in warfare, she had a feeling this was taking it a step too far for a training mission. After all, even if they were split into opposing sides, they would still need to work together to defeat the Cruxi: this kind of tactic could create an irreparable rift between the pilots of the Solaire squad if team Mango were to be shot in the back. Or even worse, Lucius was only pretending to betray team Mango when he was actually going to betray team Apple.

Elora finally decided on what she would do, trusting her heart, and connected Rex Artus to the encrypted team Apple channel, shielding the Framewerk from Electric Dragonfly's jamming. She then typed out a private message for Lucius' eyes only: "Please don't betray team Mango or team Apple, and choose whose side you will fight from the beginning. Even if we'll fight as enemies now, I don't want anyone's trust to be broken. I want us all to be friends."
With a wavering finger, she closed her eyes and pressed the key to send the message. She knew it was maybe naive of her, but she hoped it would dissuade him. She was then reminded of Mema-Ka's words to start triangulating his position. Soon enough, the Frame's position was placed on the minimap of team Apple's HUD, marked as a yellow dot to differentiate from the green dots of the team itself.

Finally, Ritsu's voice could be heard. "Team Apple, team Mango...team Banana," she spoke, seemingly careful with the last mention. "Due to the arrival of new participants, the rules for the mission will be restated: teams Apple and Mango compete until either team is wiped out by disconnection. This occurs upon taking damage that would be fatal in a real situation, deserting, or when the Executive Officer deems the Framewerk and/or pilot unable to continue fighting."

Next, it was Lorenzo's turn to speak. "Team Banana's destruction is not necessary for either team to achieve victory. They can be shot, or not. It is up to you to decide if you can trust a rogue actor in the middle of a battlefield."
He cackled, which turned into a slight cough, like the kind you often hear over Microsoft Teams virtual meetings and the person doesn't mute themselves, to the displeasure of everyone.
"Now then, remember to give it your all in this battle even if it is virtual: there are no second chances when up against the Cruxi, so take everything you've learned, and hone your skill to kill!"
He paused.
"Ready!"
He paused again.
"Set!"
He paused one last time.
"GO!"

And with that signal, the battlefield suddenly transformed, as Framewerks activated all at ones, their engines roaring as clouds of dust were kicked up. Elora wasted no time herself, and activated the Cloaking System.

"Going ghost," she simply informed team Apple over the encrypted channel, and faded out of existence, nowhere to be seen. Only time would tell when she would appear again, or if team Mango discovers her whereabouts. But all the while, Logic Diver would be congregating geographical data of the battlefield, and transmitting it to team Apple through the Hyperwave Relay: soon enough, the minimap radar had transformed into a two-dimensional map, with every ally's position visible to the teammates, and even team Banana's position thanks to Elora's work from before: team Banana did not count as an enemy, after all, and Elora took full use of the loophole in Lorenzo's instructions.



Lorenzo himself simply watched with his hands held together behind him, his back in a slouch like the old man he was.
"So, regarding both teams' initial positions..." Ritsu was about to speak.
"I wanted to see how that Olympus doll would react...Just as I thought, it adjusted quickly," he spoke dismissively. "Athena would have thrown a hissy fit at her age, demanding a better starting position. She only later learned that life doesn't work that way."
Ritsu raised an eyebrow. "How..."

Lorenzo chuckled. "Enough of that. Let's watch the carnage ensue."

Serah furrowed her brow as Bug's private message to her came through. She didn't know if it was sincere or sarcastic, but all Serah had done was try to help out what she thought was a confused future-teammate. Bug telling her she'll treat her to sweets just made her feel like she was being treated like a child. Him posting a scandalous photo of Arrish and Griff wasn't helping either. Maybe if they weren't in a formal exercise, and maybe if she hadn't had her own encounter with Griff, Serah might've found this funny. Given the current situation though, she simply rubber her temples, being wise enough to have Atty not mimic her movements. Pulling up a virtual keyboard by swiping her hand in a certain way, Serah was quick to mail back to Bug:

'Take this seriously, please.'

After that she simply listened to the incoming chatter, with the new pilot telling them that the other team was threatening him. She found it a little fishy at first blush; Aurora, Elora and Rhylaen were all on that team. None of them would threaten their fellow pilot just like that, would they? Then again, Griff was on that team and she had a much easier time believing he'd pull a stunt like that. So, given the story seemed to check out, Serah would choose to trust team Banana for now. Not like she'd get much time to ponder it further; Ritsu's voice rang out loud and clear over everyone's audio equipment, going over the rules again. Professor Lorenzo chimed in with the second half of the explanation, and Banana's role in all of this. Before long, he'd count everyone down with a:

"Ready!
Set!
GO!"

With her thrusters flaring, Serah and Atty dashed right into the battlefield on Lorenzo's mark. "Atty here! Gonna try and get as deep as I can, I'll relay the position of anybody I find. Cockroach, I'm counting on you to cover me if I draw fire!"

Serah attuned herself to Atty's senses, feeling the cold wind brush against its chassis as the pair sped through the ruins. It was a nice feeling. The speed, the freedom of movement- Serah loved flying around together with it. For now Atty's wings were in their default configuration, making itself more aerodynamic to reduce friction as much as possible. Looking through the frame's eyes, Serah raced past the building which had once been in front of her right into the upper middle section of the map, just barely spotting a frame she'd never seen between all the buildings. It was moving away from Serah, though unlikely due to herself being the cause, ducking behind one of the buildings.

"Unknown black frame spotted making its way directly east. Highly probable its Banana."

With that report done, Serah continued on her own flight path, spotting another building directly ahead of the one she'd dashed past. It seemed like a nice, central location to get a lay of the land for while also providing some cover. Taking inspiration from Banana, Atty and Serah made their way along the building's walls, coming to a halt when she could just peer past its edge to get line of sight of the center-southwest of the battlefield.

(dash from F11 to O10)

@Randomguy@Ammokkx@Ravion the Red@Crusader Lord

Astolfo seized the tried and tested controls of his machine. Ah crap, it's time already? He sighed as he was ordered to move, and several replies returned to him, before getting in the thick of the battle. He quickly switched to the team channel, trying to sort stuff out before the comms became inevitably jammed.

"Roger that team leader. I have only one question. Do we assume commando operations or design a second in command in case of unable to reach?" He said, sighing, before he noticed that the Powerpuff Girl had gone and moved ahead as soon as the signal was given."Camouflage engaged. Moving to K21. Deploying drone.Charging gun. Looking forward to shoot Shiva in the schnoz." He said, a light chuckle as he swiped a few controls, the device becoming less apparent as it moved forwards to lean against the cover of the building. He then detached one of the drones nesting on his shoulderpad, as it climbed up to the top of building.

"Silverfish drone deployed. Crossing references with dust and debris patterns in case I can spot spurious interaction of invisible frames with the environment. Not the best system but it'll do." He said once again through the chatter.

Alright, now for the homework, was it. Bug then swiped his keyboard, typing a certain set of replies in order.

"My bunk. Tonight. I will wear lace. <3" It was the bemused reply he sent to Arrish counter. After all, the man had probably spent no small amount time and resources to try and riposte his photo framing. Admittedly his reply was hilarious and of good quality, but it worried him slightly what did the staff do with its free time.

":P" He typed twice the symbol to Serah, sending the reply in short order to answer the cheeky girl. At least he had not called him a creep, so answering cheekily could actually mean to salvage the situation. Now there was more convoluted reply at hand. Lucius. Unknown of team Banana. He cracked his fingers.

"Keeping it short.

Not gonna threaten you. Not the point. We'll all eat together tomorrow.

Not gonna say join us. Merely stay out of the way. Strat would be tangled with a new unknown anyway.

If you feel like it, I'll use my money and connections to grant you boons. So this is a bounty list.

Sleeping Thunder: Worth 3 Favours.
Raptor, Logic Diver, Dragonfly: Worth 2 Favours.
Everyone else: 1 Favour.

Accept or decline at leisure. Don't come near our lines unless you at least take someone down and prove you've chosen our side. We will be forced to shoot and void the deal.

Good Luck."

He looked at the sensors. So far so good. He then re-sent the reply to the entire Mango team. "This is the deal I offered to Banana. Suffice to say, if you catch the frame Atty identified prowling around near us in a suspicious manner, I suggest we terminate him."

---

Stella remained silent, as the order was given. The monstrosity known as Goose went into life as its limbs moved ponderously. She offered a last glance at the pictures, before sending a private message to Elora.

"Good luck Elora. Win or Lose" Stella said, before turning to another person. Serah.
"Good luck Serah. Good luck Atty.".

"This is Goose. Dashing forward to J15." She hesitated for a second, imagining herself trampling Zel."Squid, please do not obstruct." She relented in the end.