Location: Terra Colony Andromeda
North Sector - Training Field Septa
Division 8 - Storm 1
Time: 1344
January 31, 2050
As always the air was brisk up here. Over two thousand meters up, Chisuke wished he had held onto his rucksack. The cumbersome thing was annoying, but he’d at least have a coat on by now.
[Come in Chisuke, What’s your status?] Itsuki’s voice spoke into his ear.
Chisuke finished off the bots tailing behind him by sending off his technique, Blood Slicer. As their metal forms split and fell to the clouds below, he grunted as another squad of enemies turned their eyes on him. Fins flicking, they pursued. Chisuke needed a second, using a technique involving core energy was taxing, not only the mind but the body as well. He bounded from one bot’s back to land on another nearby. Taking away its ability to fight, he destroyed its processing center with a good stab. The shark shaped bot seized and jittered underfoot as it lost some altitude before leveling out.
[We’re in deep shit.] Chisuke finally replied as he swung his odachi out to catch his pursuers in the side. [Why is it that you always wrap me up in these insane stunts?] He grumbled, though grinned as he found satisfaction in watching the bots fall to his blade.
Itsuki replied with a scoff. [As if you have an issue with that.] His eyes flicked to the radar in his HUD. [But I agree with your assessment. This is a lot more than we thought.]
[You think!] Chisuke barked, fed up with Itsuki’s nonchalance rather than with his own precarious situation. [I bet the other upperclassmen agree, at least bring parachutes for us next time!]
[I’ll think about it.] Itsuki said offhandedly, [For now, do what you can.] He then switched to an open channel. [Alpha 1, this is Storm 1, as you can see we’ve shifted gears in the original plan. Sending you a recalculated flight path. Proceed to the Rendezvous as we discussed, the only change will be that we’ll cover you, stay close and don’t get shot down.]
[Roger.] Alpha 1 worriedly replied, [Where are you by the way? I saw you fall to grab that student, do you need assistance getting back up here?]
[No..] Itsuki flung his whip amongst the mechanical foes diving at him. As it coiled around one of their fins, he yanked it hard to bring himself into a landing on its back. [I’ve got my own way back.]
Alpha 1 nodded, acknowledging Itsuki's situation through the shared video feed. [What’s the situation with anti air support?] He asked.
[Not luck.]
They had hoped that the battle walker's munitions would be enough. It seemed they were wrong and so was 00’s prediction. This must’ve been a sore spot for 00. As an AI, it didn’t make mistakes since it had all available data at its disposal, both past and current of any situation they were plugged into. 00 had primary access to the Academy’s network, which was administering the training exercise. He should’ve seen these new enemies coming, but he didn't, which meant that new variables were being added right under their noses. Itsuki thought perhaps the fault lay with him for his lack of activating 00 for so long.
The AI’s processing matrix could’ve not been fully woken up yet. That.. Or there was some doubt clouding 00’s per coded judgment matrices. While an error from a technically cynical view point, it could be interpreted as a human-like trait, a quite astonishing event for an AI. Itsuki decided he’d have time later on to figure this out. Leaping from one bot’s back to another, he slashed through their metal sides that tried to ram him mid jump. One wrong step and he could end up falling from the sky, so he tread carefully and efficiently. Lashing the whip in his other hand, he imbued core energy into it. Its brown snake-like length extended and caught one of the aquatic shaped foes a few meters above.
The whip’s handle tugged back on his hand and he ascended. The leather length of material retracted as if it were a reel. There was nothing special about this whip, it had no cool technological advancements, no.. it was an ordinary old whip. The only aspect of it that was different from those of the wild west was that it was made of core material. Its composition made it a good conductor of core energy, which, with the right training, could be manipulated to either stretch or compress the whip’s length. Kicking his legs forward as he swung on the retracting whip, he rose up over a cloud and a pod of bots that flew past.
He swung out with his other hand, his thin blade flashing silver 5 times before its midsection snapped. He frowned. Not good, two contacts left. Shaped like a bestial Tunas, they came close to slamming their spiked tails into him. Itsuki quickly retracted the whip then cracked it twice, his hands a blur. Like lightning, searing deep cuts gnashed into their metallic scale like sides. Itsuki flung the whip out again to grab onto another bot to continue moving. Swinging through the air, he landed on a much larger whale type bot. Keeping himself mobile, he ran as he depressed a trigger on the hilt of his sword’s handle. The broken end of the thin blade detached from the cross grip. He then pressed the swordless handle into a slot on the rectangular boxed sheath attached to the left side of his waist. With a sharp ring, he unsheathed it to bury the new blade into the foothold under his feet. Metal wrenched and tore as he dragged a long cut across the bot’s top armor. Only after dispatching yet another number of bots that noticed his actions did he eventually hear Alpha 1’s voice asking him a question.
[I say again.. What do you mean, No luck?]
Itsuki internalized an apology for the wait he caused. While not saying it aloud, he answered by giving a straight reply.
[The battle walker is out of munitions. But not to worry, I have an idea.]
Having traversed several hundreds of meters up, he returned to the forefront of the ongoing dogfight around Alpha 1 and his support group. He jumped ahead to the forefront of the engagement and popped off a flare from his waist. The enemy bots flung themselves to him like a fish to water. As Itsuki held him off, he keyed his touchless interface to link up a second comm line. [00.. What’s the situation with comms, why can’t I connect with S1?]
[Query.. A jamming smoke has been detected in S1’s area of operation, this is highly irregular, such use of weaponry was not outlined in the training exercise’s original purview]
[Must be that guy.] Itsuki muttered and noted how irritated 00 sounded. The AI’s robotic tone was fading, only somewhat persisting. By how upset 00 seemed, the AI would likely have some choice words for whoever was playing these tricks on them. Itsuki would too. He again counted this instance with the many other bones he’d have to pick at after this.
[So when can we get in contact?] He continued, as he lured a number of enemies on his tail. [We need to coordinate for the next phase of the plan, so the sooner we have comms, the better.]
[Query.. S1 is currently repositioning and will be in communications in 1 minute.]
[Can we make it any quicker?]
[Negative.. Upon review of the enemies attack patterns, I’ve surmised that the enemy ground forces have identified him as a high value target, the same can be said for you as well User Itsuki. In fact, by how many you have on your tail, I believe you may be growing popular with the new crowd.]
Itsuki almost chuckled at that. 00 was developing a sense of humor, yet another interesting facet of the AI he’d need to observe closely going forward.
[That’s too bad.] Itsuki sighed, [Is the battle walker still functional?]
[Affirmative, While the walker’s long ranged armaments are drained, I have mid and close combat capabilities.]
[Good.] Itsuki waved to his allies ahead. Dressed in their academy uniforms, the students he had brought along cut across the sky, jumping from bot to bot as if they were nothing but disposable platforms. Itsuki turned and lashed his whip, dealing with the trailing bogeys on his tail. With one good crack 3 went down, then another crack echoed for another 4, then 5.. The number piled on as Itsuki kept swinging until he finally had some breathing room. [We’re clearing a path ahead.] He told his group. [Take out as many of them as you can before we leave. Group Epsilon, you’ll be handling the rest after we break away.]
[Understood] Responded Epsilon 1.
Itsuki turned around mid air and eyed the continually flittering schools of aquatics bots. Reading the three dimensional read out of enemy and allied contacts, all of Group Gamma and Beta were clustered in what looked like a hollow cloud of red that was shrinking by the minute.
[Chisuke.] Itsuki called, [Clear a path at point 0356. Take as many as you need and keep Group Beta covered, the rest of us will handle Group Gamma.]
[Got it.] Chisuke sprang to, his smile a tell of the adrenaline rushing in his veins. [Come on slow pokes, if you don’t pull your weight I’m going to kick your ass after this.]
Half of the original 40 of their support team followed, all of them grumbling under their breath at Chisuke’s jabbering, yet none of them talked back. Itsuki found that admirable of them, or at least applauded that they were smart enough to not disobey Chisuke, or get in his way. In any case, they’d get it done.
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[The rest of you.] Itsuki called out. [Move quickly, I want a perimeter on Group Gamma, and I want it now!]
An affirming signal came from those who remained nearby. Itsuki fell into a semi-circle formation with 18 others in front of Group Gamma. Abating the enemy's encirclement, Group Gamma advanced slowly at the same time. Those able to fire back put forward to drawing off the enemies as Itsuki and his group held a buffer area of airspace around Group Gamma. The mystics of Itsuki’s group stayed nearer to the center and opened up with a barrage of energy bolts. The frontliners followed and dispersed the clusters of bogeys that made a break for a gap in their defense.
Itsuki felt they were holding, though knew he needed one more hand. He tapped his comms earpiece twice and said. [Alpha 1. I’m down a person from my team. I'm going to need another close combat expert, so I’m taking Shisuki to replace Stella.]
[Go ahead.] Replied Alpha 1, who paused and asked, [That is.. if the student is willing?] He was being courteous, and Itsuki couldn’t blame him. This wasn’t in the plan and Shisuki was only a first year. Except, Itsuki knew there was more to her than Alpha 1 knew.
A reply returned in a regally feminine voice. [It would be my honor, teacher.] Shisuki said, [I will make up for the meat head's failure, it is the least that I can do.]
[Hey!] Shouted Stella in Shisuki’s ear. [It’s not my fault, I thought we’d at least get..]
Shisuki immediately muted her, then huffed. [My my, what a rude little pig.]
Cutting his end of the comm connection, Alpha 1 shivered in his vest. Shisuki’s voice had cut deep with such blunt words and a pressuring tone he never thought she’d have. Everything his ears had felt told him that he didn’t want to mess with her.
Pressing a dainty hand to the release trigger on her waist, the harness around Shisuki slackened. Put into free fall she showed no fear and reached her arm out in time as Itsuki’s whip coiled around it. Tugged forward, Shisuki manifested her core weapon as she was propelled into the midst of the battle. Sailing through a cloud, she spun as the whip let her go and slashed out with her short sword. Held in a reverse grip, she intended to get up close and personal. The eastern warrior-like spirit within her was reflected in the katana themed construction of her weapon. Shining a beautiful aqua silver, she cut like a calm wave rushing up onto a shore.
[As brutal as ever, teacher.] Shisuki chuckled, not missing how Itsuki had tossed her purposefully head first into a batch of unsuspecting enemies. [You really haven’t changed all that much.]
Itsuki grunted instead of speaking. Shisuki giggled as if she had heard a joke. To her, Itsuki sounded as if he were bouncing her statement right back at her. In all seriousness, Shisuki caught the irony in his meaning when she reflected on the past.
Over a decade ago was when they had first met and was when Itsuki had begun to train her at the request of her grandfather. Admittedly, she naively asked why he was qualified, not knowing what kind of demon he was. Still, she had to ask the question under the certain circumstances of their meeting. Itsuki had been.. Unimpressive to look at back then, and she had mistaken him for a 4 year old since he was so short. When the last word of her question had left her lips, she immediately found herself on the ground. It had taken many seconds before she realized Itsuki had flung her there without her being the wiser.
And so began the rest of their history. It was a short year of tutelage, but she’d never forget it. It was a back breaking time that left her more dead than unconscious in bed on most days. As bad as it was to experience it, that year had taught her much and had steeled her to handle the ludicrous kinds of stunts explorers did, both in training or in the field. So being flung by Itsuki felt like old times and that things hadn’t changed with herself that much either, except now she could handle the pressures of combat. Whether it was on the ground or in the sky, or in the depths of hell, she could face it.
Calm.. kept Calm.. She repeated in her head. Control your emotions. Her vision blurred for a second as her eyes dilated, then contracted into a sharp focus.
Using the bots as footholds, she weaved through the air and chased the enemies down. All the while, she gathered energy into her hands. Balls of water collected at each of her finger tips. Finding the right moment as a herd of enemies made for a rush at her, she flexed her non-dominant sword hand out and the large blue drops of water flew out, scattering into tiny spear-like droplets. Like a spray of violent rain, each drop pelted them in a clatter. They drowned, flailing as every minisual tear of moisture ran them through from stem to stern.
A student on Shisuki’s left moved to cover her and hammered his war axe down, breaking apart the bot attempting to accost them from below. A flecking of sparks shot up from under him, the bot’s outer shell of scaly armor plates crumpling as the electronic internals discharged in one last bout of life. He jumped to his next target, letting the one from before sputter out as it dropped from the sky. In concert, another student bounded through the air as if there were invisible footholds. With a heavy fist bound in bandages, she struck at a foe flying overhead with an upcut to the underside of its thick metallic belly. The whale shaped bot that was well over 5 meters long groaned, its failing frame speaking for itself. Going clean through what felt like 4 meters of metal and circuitry, the student came flying out from the topside of it before landing to run across its back.
Shisuki gave them an impressed smile. Every student that had come with Itsuki, except Stella and herself, was an upperclassman with at least 2 years of experience at this school. While not full fledged explorers yet, they had undergone 2 years of rigorous training under Andromeda Academy. It went to show just how proficient the school was. Most importantly, they had grit and had become accustomed to the rigors of these training exercises.
As Itsuki battled, he surveyed the situation constantly for a break in the enemy's attack. The enemy’s numbers had fallen, except their tenacity and calculated actions to aim for Group Gamma and Beta were of concern. Whoever was controlling them was likely onto their plan. A click in his ear then got his attention.
[S1 to Itsuki. Do you read me?]
[Yeah, I do.] Itsuki said. He was glad that S1 was still in the fight. [Almost done up here, are we good on the ground?]
[Not quite, but we’re handling it. We’re moving to Phase 7. The number of constructs down here isn’t where we want it to be, but it will have to do. I’ll call in another artillery strike on the key targets if we run into trouble.]
[Good Idea. I’ll start making my way down, ETA is about 100 seconds.]
[Copy, be sure to not die.] S1 said, his voice a cheery kind of teasing. [And make sure not to fall from the sky again, seriously, I got a heart attack when you did that. The literal quake you made probably scared everyone.]
Itsuki nodded. Seeing that there was a thinning of the enemies up ahead he pulled ahead of everyone else. Bounding from bot to bot, he downed as many as he could on his way. As he brought another of the larger bogeys down, Chisuke’s voice shouted in his ear.
[They’re thinning up 100 meters south east. What’s the play Itsuki?]
Itsuki took a moment, accelerating his thoughts with his core energy to decide. In the back of his mind, he noticed the thin sword in his left hand had dulled and cracked. He grimaced, disliking how he’d had to fall back on using this old weapon. While it had its advantages, its use in long drawn out battles was inefficient. Guns were always better, but this was the most optimal of what he had on hand, and he needed to save what little equipment he had left in his storage ring for the rest of the fight ahead. Replacing the blade in one fluid motion, a second had yet to pass as he drew the hilt of his sword back into its sheath to snap on a new one. By his count, he had 5 remaining replacement blades in the sheath. He’d need at least one when the time came. His mind made up on what to do next, he marked the breakout path Chisuke had indicated and sent it to Alpha 1. Itsuki could already hear Alpha 1’s propulsion unit revving as his perception of time sped back up.
[Alright! Time to go!] Itsuki shouted.
As expected, Alpha 1 acted quickly and led his group down the route Itsuki had devised. The escorts with him opened up with their rifles, widening the gap in the enemy ranks with a flurry of rifle grenades. Group Gamma and Beta drove hard, their propulsion packs whirred incessantly as they flew past Itsuki and his team. Group Epsilon maneuvered into an intercepting position at Alpha 1’s rearguard and were already under assault so the enemy attempted a chase.
With that, Itsuki relayed directions to his team. The chime in their ears drew their eyes to the indicator. They looked down to see the arrow pointing 2000 meters down. Silent groans emanated from the students, no one liked performing a landing action, especially since they didn’t have the options of parachute packs. Shaking the anxiety off, many took the plunge.
Itsuki was the last to start his descent and made sure he had his eyes on everyone. Landing on one of the shark shaped bots, he planned to land in a controlled crash. He was sure he could survive the landing without a parachute, but it would drain his core energy. He’d need that for later. After ripping out the bot’s processing center, he left the thing intact and let the nose slowly tip down.
Chisuke joined him, crouching on the tail side of the bot. Shisuki hopped on as well, kneeling at the front of it, perching on the bot's snout. Itsuki took his place at the midsection of the bot and gripped the top fin as if he were steering it. The outstretched fin on either side of it did well in getting the falling wreck to glide somewhat as they picked up speed at an astounding pace. Itsuki eyed the timer in his HUD. The count was fluctuating, no doubt thanks to S1’s request for artillery support. Right now, Sinder, Arielle, and Haruka must’ve been under a lot of pressure with all that heat on them. The barrage of artillery would delay their recovery, though would unfortunately not subdue them. Those three had proven to have become formidable.
Itsuki was somewhat glad, though wished he hadn’t trained them so well, but that would’ve been idiotic of me. He calmly scoffed at himself for thinking he’d slack off. As the ground came closer, the gray craggy features of the battlefield below showed itself in all its radiant dreariness. But beyond was a lush untouched green on the horizon. It seemed so close he could touch it.
[Let’s go! Time for round two Itsuki.] Chisuke shouted as he jumped. [Let’s see who can take out the most this time.]
Shisuki followed with a polite smile as she hopped off. [I’d say my bets are on teacher.]
Chisuke audibly snorted in defiance, to which Shisuki only followed up with a giggle. Itsuki rolled his eyes and held on. Steeling himself, he let his core energy strengthen his body. Pulling on the bot’s top fin, he angled up a few seconds before he hit the ground. He flattened out his angle of flight as the underside of his ride screamed and sparked into the hard earth. Jumping off, he rolled into a crouched posture as the wreck slammed into a outcropping of rock. The subsequent explosion left Itsuki with a ringing in his ears and his surroundings so filled with dust he couldn’t see 3 feet in front of him.
A shift in the dust drew his eyes, trusting his senses, he knew he was in the thick of it yet again. Enemies were closing in, so he struck out with his blade. He caught a puppet construct right in the face. Kicking it away, he then whirled the whip in his left hand. Spinning it over his head the dust cleared in time for him to see a golem’s fist come straight down on him. Itsuki dashed forward, the blast of the golem’s fist throwing him forward. He somersaulted, spun on his heels and slashed both legs out from under the 5 meter golem. Leaping up to break out of the grouping of enemies surrounding him, he sighed, gripping his weapons tightly.
On to the next one.