[center][h1][color=9e0b0f]Ava Lane[/color][/h1]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/DzjHvu3.png[/img]
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Ava let out a sigh as she found herself once more in reality, having been disconnected from the simulation.

Having a high synchronisation rate with her framewerk, naturally, she felt her entire body ached as a result of Argent Wings' destruction. A testament to how well the simulation emulated the real thing.

"Ugh..." she groaned as she tried to get out of the virtual reality pod, only to flinch because of the pain she felt from attempting to move around.

At this point, she was already used to the pain. At her level of synchronicity, feeling pain every time she piloted her framewerk was a given. Even if her framewerk did not take a single hit, those with a high level of synchronicity would always find themselves far more worn out than the average pilot after a deployment, as if it was not merely the framewerk that was fighting, but their own body.

Not wanting to cause undue worry, she opened the pod so the technicians overseeing the simulation would know that she was all right before sinking back into the seat within the pod to let her body rest for a while longer.

In the meantime, she turned her attention to the screen displaying the simulation. Namely, the battle that would determine the victor. That between Guinevere and Horst.

On paper, Horst would win because it was a combat unit and Guinevere was a support unit. However, Guinevere had taken minimal damage thus far, while Horst had taken considerable damage from its last engagement with Argent Wings.

Thus, Ava was somewhat confident that they would be the victor. A conclusion that was proven right soon after, as Spark emerged as the victor of the bout.

Not long after, she noticed Bugs walking over to her pod before giving her a salute.

Having already somewhat recovered from the simulation, Ava got out of the pod and returned the salute, "Thank you. You did well," she then added, "Although...there is no need to salute as we are effectively the same ranks, as mentioned by Lieutenant Kaname."

"Good work all around, everyone," she then said to the rest of the pilots, giving them a polite nod, before heading off to the briefing room.

A victory for her team, she supposed. She was happy, of course, but ultimately...it was not something that really mattered much.

They were here to fight Cruxi. Which was an entirely different experience from fighting framewerks.

Combat training against a framewerk was, of course, always beneficial, but it would be a poor metric for gauging effectiveness against Cruxi.

Different tactics and military doctrines were needed to fight Cruxi. Not because they were more dangerous—though Ava believed they were—but because there was an inherent difference between a human and a Cruxi. Not to mention the information gap between fighting against framewerks, which were manufactured by humanity, and when fighting the Cruxi's machines, which they often did not know the full capability of.

There was a reason there were many stories of ace pilots who were used piloting framewerks in conflicts between nations or planets to quickly end up dead when deployed against Cruxi.

It was simply a different experience. One that would only become clear on the battlefield when one came face to face with the evil that was the Cruxi race.

She hoped that the Professor would keep that in mind when picking the leader instead of basing it only on the results of that simulated combat training.