Roleplay Area

[Raptordude115]

Adalia sighed heavily and rubbed her temple, seeing that although the B-ST drive was successful in wiping out the raptors, there were obviously some..."minor" bugs to work out. As the Raptors brought Fenrir back to the hangar bay, a scientist called the test to end, much to Adalia's dismay. Regardless, she was mostly satisfied with the test.

Now to just make sure Razel was still alive so they could test it again.

 

[Ishi123]

Fenrir was successfully docked back into the hangars, the Raptors pulling away and back into space as a medical team hurried onto the platform. Once the clamps were secure around the frame, the men quickly shuffled across the platform that extended out to the cockpit. Unable to get it open, however, they requested an engineer to assist them, requiring a manual override to open the cockpit with Fenrir completely deactivated. Once the cockpit was open, however, the effects of the system was clearly visible. Razel was a mess, blood continuing to leak from the corner of his mouth, some from his nose. His eyes were a bit glazed over, but he was still conscious.

Most puzzling of all, though... he was smiling.

He blinked a few times to reorient himself, turning to the medical team, who could only watch on, hesitating to reach out to him in case there were any mental side-effects. He then noticed the engineer and addressed him directly.

"I think it works." He said in a raspy tone, though his carefree demeanor was still very much intact despite all the damage.

 

[Raptordude115]

As the medical team took care of Razel and got him to the emergency room, Adalia decided to make her way down there as well. Not so much to see if Razel was still alive, since she sincerely could care less about his well being, but to see the damage done to him upfront. She wanted an up close look at the effects done to Razel as a result of the B-ST Drive, and to get those bugs fixed before their invasion.

 

[Ishi123]

The medical team attempted to take Razel out of the cockpit, but he ended up pushing them off of him just as they were getting a hold of him to hoist him up onto the platform and onto a gurney. He stumbled a bit, leaning against the rail, refusing any help as he turned towards Adalia. He decided to stare back at that cold gaze she placed upon him... he knew she didn't care about him. Not in the slightest. He couldn't help but feel contempt towards her. All of this... Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu... DELPHI... and now this system. The commander was creating monsters, and he knew it.

Razel wiped the blood off of his face and spat any remaining in his mouth down onto the floor.

"You get what you wanted?" He asked her.

 

[Raptordude115]

Adalia looked at Razel with that ever present stern gaze, crossing her arms under her chest as she saw the bloody mess he was in.

"More than enough. Let the medical team take care of you. We still need you alive for the mission."

Without uttering another word, Adalia took her leave, not even looking back at Razel in his state.

 

[Ishi123]

"Don't change it."

Razel's words weren't a request. They were said in a demanding tone as the commander walked away. She stopped in her tracks, bewildered that someone was addressing her in such a manner.

 

[Raptordude115]

"What."

Adalia turned back to look at Razel, looking at him with questioning eyes.

 

[Ishi123]

Razel was still catching his breath, but he couldn't wipe his smile off his face.

"That system... Silber uses it too, doesn't he?" Razel propped himself up against the platform railing until he was standing straight, taking his hand off the railing to stand on his own. His legs shook a bit, but he caught his balance and managed to keep himself upright, despite how weak his body felt. "If that's the case... I'll need every advantage I can get. I want to make sure I can match him next time..."

 

[Raptordude115]

Adalia simply stared at Razel with a stern look, seeing his smug smile on his face before simply nodding.

"Fine. Try not to kill yourself in the process."

 

[Ishi123]

Razel was satisfied with the answer. He knew that Ren was going to be difficult to beat... even moreso now. He knew that Ren wasn't going to let the destruction of his home and his family slide. No... Razel knew that he was marked, now. No matter what, Ren was going to get back at him eventually... and he wanted to make sure that he was prepared for that. It wouldn't be easy to adjust to the system... but if Ren managed it, then he would as well. Razel would be prepared.

He felt the sting of Ren's fury before... and he wanted to see more.

 

[Ishi123]

Orbital Frame in position.

Frame harness closed.

Hydraulics locked in.

Power flow stable.

Magnetic launch rails charging.

30 seconds until ready to launch.

He took a breath and sighed outward slowly, gripping the controls as he watched the timer on his HUD count down. He played his fingers on the controls, one after the other, from pinky to thumb. He ran another check on all the systems to make sure everything was good to go. It was a routine he had cemented in his head from repetition. He'd check everything once, and then again, and then a third time, sometimes even a fourth.

Launch rails fully charged. Ready to launch.

He faced his eyes forward.

"Ren Silber, launching."

His frame was lurched forward, accelerating at an incredible rate, being sent along a series of rails and out the hangar, the hydraulic clamps letting go just as the frame hit the end of the track, sparks flying with a thunderous clang as the clamps slammed against the end of the rails, the frame let loose at high speed. Its wings unfolded and let loose a brilliant blue light as it flew upwards into the sky.

From the command room, Commander Weinberg, Cagalli and Dingo watched intently. Ren's course would be a long and winding canyon run to test his handling of Tsukuyomi, followed by a combat test with unmanned LEVs and then a one-on-one match with Leo piloting his Vesperia. Ren had been conducting multiple training exercises like this over the past week, only allowing himself two days out of the week to do anything else, which ended up being more work anyway. It was all at his own insistence, however.

"Alright, you know the drill, Silber." Weinberg said through his earpiece.

"Think you can beat your record?" Dingo added.

"Maybe." Ren responded, gripping the controls eagerly. "I'll see what I can do."

"Heh... alright." Dingo said with a smile. "Go ahead and show us a good time."

"Clear to begin." ARAI said to Ren. "Time to beat is 1 minute, 23 seconds, 55 milliseconds."

"I'll do it in a minute and 10." Ren said.

"Timer starting now."

With that, Ren took off, his back being pressed hard against his seat as the frame lurched forward into the canyon. There were many twists and turns to get to the end, and he'd need to be quick and accurate in order to clear all of them at the speed he was going. Every attempt yielded better results than the last, however. He was confident that he'd be able to do it.

Approaching the first turn, he quickly twisted a bit in the air, directing Tsukuyomi's thrusters towards the canyon wall, and while keeping his speed, he coasted around the bend easily. The next bend was immediately after, and he adjusted himself in the opposite direction to clear it. Keeping a low altitude, he decided to push himself further. He gunned it, a screech of power emitting from the thrusters as he was sent forward, faster than before. He twisted and turned around the bends of the canyon, keeping his low altitude and being sure not to rise above the canyon line. The others watched intently, observing his progress. Ren was going fast enough that he wasn't able to take all the turns without hitting the walls. He accounted for it. When he hit the first of the sharpest turns, he twisted the frame around, sideways against the wall. When he hit it, the feet of his frame sparked off the wall of the canyon, and when that happened, he pushed his frame forward and up from his position, carving thick lines against the walls of the canyon with the feet of his frame and making the curve around it, Ren himself being pushed down into his seat as he followed the curve of the wall around the bend. He bit his lip, the forces on his body causing him to shake and his vision to blur. But in short order, he managed to clear the entire bend, making the frame kick off of the wall and into another break-neck burst of speed.

"Hah... that was a good one." Dingo remarked from the control tower with a smile.

Ren continued following the canyon before hitting the straightaway, a long, straight line of water going a good distance forward and towards another bend. Ren launched himself into it, moving at a great speed. He twisted around, spinning multiple times before ending upside-down, the frame's wings flattened out as he skimmed the water. He closed his eyes... he could just feel it. He felt everything. It was becoming second nature to him... the frame felt like an extension of himself. He flew across the surface, a wave of water trailing behind him as he continued down. But he would proceed to flip himself upright again and push himself even further, the frame speeding up even further. A powerful boom resonated off the canyon walls and the shockwave made the trees rustle as he pushed his frame faster. He would come up on that next bend as fast as he could. From the control tower, it looked as though he planned to slam himself into the canyon wall, but Ren knew what to do. He timed it perfectly.

Right at the perfect moment, he flipped his frame around so he was facing upwards, the legs of the frame pointing forward. He lit up his thrusters from that position to slow himself down from his break-neck speed, at the exact perfect timing and speed to allow himself to flip back around and clear the curve at the best possible angle and velocity. Dingo couldn't help but clap his hands together in excitement.

"Yeah, that's how it's done!" He shouted.

Weinberg herself found her lips curling into a smile at the display of skill.

It didn't take long after for Ren to clear the entire canyon run.

"Canyon clear." ARAI stated. "Time is 1 minute, 8 seconds and 11 milliseconds."

"Good job, Ren." Dingo said through the comms.

"Initiating combat simulation." The operator said. "Deploying ULEVs."

Multiple unmanned LEVs launched from the ground, taking to the air in front of Ren.

"Time to beat: 42 seconds, 76 milliseconds." ARAI said, pulling up another timer.

"No problem." Ren smiled, preparing himself.

"Begin."

In the control tower, the group watched as Ren began to easily carve his way through the ULEVs with a ferocious mix of power and skill, cutting and shooting through them all with nary a scratch on himself.

"Not bad, huh?" Dingo remarked, watching the screen with great interest. "He's been getting better and better."

"Can't say I'm displeased with the results so far." Weinberg responded in approval. "He's shown remarkable growth in just a week.

Cagalli didn't say anything for herself as she watched on, seeing how easily Ren dispatched all the ULEVs. She felt a twinge of worry in her chest, but kept any thoughts she may have had to herself.

 

[Ishi123]

"All targets down." ARAI confirmed. "Time is 32 seconds, 11 milliseconds."

Ren flew upwards and hovered above the canyon, continuing to squeeze and release the controls rhythmically. Now for the hardest part.

"You ready, Leo?" Weinberg asked him from the command room.

"Everything's good to go." He responded.

"Go ahead when you're ready."

Leo had been hiding amidst the landscape for some time, now, waiting for the green-light to engage Ren. He'd been training with Ren over the past week, and every time he'd come at Ren from a different angle. This time, he'd had a gauss rifle prepared to initiate a first strike on Ren before moving in closer. He stuck low, in between the rocks, and took aim, the rails of the rifle folding forward and extending to their full length as a targeting scope appeared in his cockpit. He scanned the area and found Ren, who was scanning the ground searching for Leo. He was unaware of what Leo was going to throw at him, but it didn't take long for him to realize that it was a mistake to be so high up in the air.

"He's got a sniper." Ren said in realization just as Leo made his shot. The thunderous boom of the rifle threw up dust from the landscape as the projectile made a blue trail streaking towards Ren. Ren had started moving beforehand, though, and he managed to elude the shot with a nosedive downwards, taking cover under low altitude.

"Nice move, Ren." Leo said to himself, loading another shot. He knew that Ren would need to peek up if he wanted to find him, and when he did, he planned to shoot him right out of the sky. It was a good thing, though, that the gun he was using wasn't quite powerful enough to punch through Tsukuyomi's armor, so he wouldn't need to worry about actually hurting Ren. In fact, all the weapons they were using at the moment were underpowered in taking their respective machines, so both parties were free to engage in any way they wanted.

Ren hid himself behind a group of large boulders on the ground. He saw the direction the shot came from, but he didn't have enough time to actually determine from where the shot was made. For now, he could only make sure he had proper cover between him and Leo.

"ARAI, can we see him?" He asked.

"He's low to the ground." She responded while making a scan of the area. "There's too much interference from where we're at. We'll need to raise our altitude if we want to find him."

"We'll get shot out of the sky if we do that." Ren said, deducing Leo's plan. "Could we just head straight for him?"

"He'll most likely relocate if we try to head towards his shots." ARAI stated. "If we can avoid his shots, anyway."

Ren put a hand to his chin in thought. Despite Tsukuyomi's superior performance compared to Leo's Vesperia, that wasn't quite the issue. Leo was a damn good shot, regardless. He may be able to dodge the shots, but not in a way that would allow him to get close enough to spot Leo before he relocated and fired at him from a different position.

Meanwhile, Weinberg, Dingo and Cagalli looked on in great interest.

"Alright, Ren." Dingo muttered. "What're you gonna do now?"

Ren kept thinking, trying to think of a way to break the stalemate while ARAI kept on the sensors to notify him of any subsequent shots that may come their way. Though with the way things were going, Ren knew that Leo was willing to wait. Ren would need to make the next move.

"ARAI." He said. "Deploy OPTIONS."

"Roger, deploying OPTIONS."

The six OPTIONS released from Tsukuyomi's wings and began to float around the frame.

"Keep them low to the ground." Ren ordered. "Sniff him out."

With that, the OPTIONS scattered in the direction of Leo's shot, weaving in between the rocks and staying low enough to avoid detection as Leo scanned the skies.

"Ahah!" Dingo clapped once. "Smart, Ren!"

"Using the OPTIONS like that." Weinberg commented. "Never would've thought."

The six OPTIONS weaved around close to the ground, making a search net in the direction of Leo. It was only a matter of time before one of them spotted their target. And when one did, they all converged at once. Leo, however, noticed and just as the OPTIONS shot inwards towards him, he took off to avoid it, unable to move in any other direction if he didn't want to get hit. And then Ren had him.

"Target acquired." ARAI said.

Instantly, Ren shot a flurry of homing missiles upwards into the sky, taking off just behind them as they curved downwards to rain onto Leo. With the opportunity seized, Ren could now close the distance in following his missiles and prevent Leo from taking cover again. Realizing this, Leo abandoned the gauss rifle and shot upwards into the sky to avoid the rain of missiles that hit the ground underneath him, pelting the earth in a cascade of fiery shockwaves. Ren immediately closed the distance on him, blade drawn, and from his alternate hand he fired a volley of homing lasers to open the engagement. Leo put up a field in front of him to halt the lasers, drawing his own blade to meet Ren's, the two clashing in the sky. Blades locked, Ren's OPTIONS quickly took position around Leo, firing inwards. Leo, however, managed to slide underneath Ren to avoid the shots, directing a punch from his Gauntlet skywards and into Ren, launching him up into the air.

Ren grunted as his body was suddenly pushed forward as his frame went backwards. He pulled himself back up quickly, however, and retaliated by flipping his wing pylon forward and firing Halberd shots downwards toward Leo as he attempted to move up to reach him. Leo transformed his Vesperia into its flight mode, the body folding in on itself until it took its fighter craft form, and throttled up, closing the distance much faster than he would have before. Leo fired off missiles and lasers to meet Ren head-on. Ren responded quickly by deploying a shield to block the shots, and as he was occupied in doing that, Leo soared past him and above him, his craft spinning and transforming back into its LEV form. He then rained more lasers down towards Ren's rear from above.

"Incoming from above." ARAI warned him.

Ren reacted quickly by taking another dive, launching more homing missiles to meet the incoming lasers, Leo's shots hitting the missiles and causing them to explode in mid-air, producing a smokescreen by which Ren was able to escape Leo's line of sight.

"Clever trick, Ren." Leo smiled, activating his advanced targeting, picking Ren's frame out through the smoke. "But it's not gonna work."

Leo send a shot of his own Halberd down through the smoke towards Ren, managing to hit him just as he deployed a shield in front of himself. The shot did connect, however, and send Ren spiraling down towards the ground. Ren managed to recover before he slammed into the dirt, however, and he quickly made a mad dash sideways, skimming the ground as Leo continued firing shots downwards towards him. He knew that he was at a disadvantage with Leo claiming the high ground, so he sought to quickly rectify this. Although Ren was pinned down, his OPTIONS were not, and they quickly converged towards Leo, firing their weapons in unison and forcing Leo to halt his attack to avoid the shots. They didn't relent, however, continuing to fire at him from all different directions. Ren took the opportunity to once again close the distance and attack with his blade. Leo attempted to fire a volley of lasers at him to force him to back off, but Ren deployed his shield just in time to block them and continue, forcing Leo to engage him in close quarters, striking his blade off of Ren's. But this is where Ren had the advantage.

He laid it on hard, not giving Leo the space he needed to secure an advantage. Leo was forced on the defensive, and quickly deployed his own OPTIONS to assist him, attempting to get Ren to back off with the sustained fire from his OPTIONS. However, Ren wouldn't allow that, using his own OPTIONS to intercept Leo's, making sure they couldn't interrupt him as he kept Leo on the back-foot with his blade.

The three in the command room observed quietly at the two fought it out, matching each other blow-for-blow, their OPTIONS lighting up the sky in a shower of lasers. It was clear that Ren was gaining the upper hand on Leo in close quarters, the superiority of Tsukuyomi in up-close engagements clearly showing against Vesperia's more rounded statistics, though Leo's skill counted for something, and he was able to keep pace with Ren well enough, though he was having a hard time finding openings to counter Ren's onslaught. However, Ren then twisted himself around, lashing out hard against Leo and causing him to be thrown back, breaking his defense. In that moment, Ren spun around, activating his second blade and throwing a hard slash upwards into Leo, catching him in the side, though Leo was using the momentum of Ren's previous strike to back up, resulting in the damage being minimal. It was still a blow well connected, however, and Leo spun around in the air to catch some distance. The dust settled, and the two stood apart from one another in the air.

Both Ren and Leo were panting, adrenaline pumping through their veins and sweat dripping from their brows. Ren was in a bit worse shape, however. He wasn't quite used to the heat of battle, yet, and while Leo was able to compose himself and steady his breathing, Ren took longer to do so, hyperventilating as he attempted to catch his breath. It was giving him a headache.

Dingo furrowed his brow as he stared at the screen. He spun around on his heel towards the door, passing by Cagalli, who looked at him confused.

"I'm going out there." He said.

Weinberg turned around towards him.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah." Dingo responded, stopping at the doorway. "I think it's about time we saw what he can really do."

Meanwhile, Ren had collected himself, distancing himself from Leo for a bit, expecting the training to be over for today. However, he then heard Dingo contact him.

"Alright, Ren, you ready?" He asked.

"Ready for what?" He asked, a bit puzzled.

"Additional contact." ARAI stated, a blip appearing on Ren's ring radar. He turned to it, seeing Jehuty approach at a rapid pace, faster than Leo's Vesperia could manage outside of its flight mode.

Taken aback by the sudden appearance of Jehuty, Ren stammered. "Ah, uh, I don't know..."

"C'mon, kid." Dingo said, slowing down to a stop when he reached Ren and Leo. "I think you're ready to take me on this time."

"Ehhh..." Ren nervously groaned, but Leo interjected on his behalf.

"Are you sure, Dingo?" He asked. "I mean, sure, he's a lot better, but what are you looking to do here?"

"I want to see IMPULSE." He said frankly. "If Ren's going to be going up against Neo BAHRAM, he'll need to master that ability."

"I guess..." Ren said quietly. He had his share of worries about IMPULSE, though he was sure in time he could master it. What worried him was Jehuty. He remembered the last time he went toe-to-toe with Dingo. As long as Jehuty had Zero Shift, it would be impossible for him to win against him. Even with IMPULSE, he doubted that he'd be able to defeat that frame.

"C'mon, Ren." Dingo said. "I know you got this."

"I don't, uh..." Ren rubbed the back of his neck, a bit nervous, but deciding that it couldn't hurt to at least try. "Alright, I guess... fine."

"Alright!" Dingo cheered. "I'll take things from here, in that case."

"Don't go too hard on him, Dingo." Leo warned as he began to leave.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Dingo said, backing up from Ren to a safe distance, preparing for combat.

"Alright... get ready, ARAI." Ren said, turning to face his new opponent.

"I think you need to take your own advice, there." ARAI stated.

"I'm trying." He replied under his breath. True, that command to get ready was half said to himself.

"Alright." Dingo said, Jehuty crouching in the air, poised to strike. "Here, I come, Ren!"

Ren drew his blade, ready to counter Dingo's attack, but when Jehuty suddenly disappeared, he was completely helpless. The radar signature reappeared directly behind him, but Ren wasn't fast enough to avoid a kick to his back, sending him backwards.

Ren grunted and reoriented himself to face Jehuty.

"You alright?" Dingo asked.

"Ngh... dammit." Ren scowled, gripping his controls. Before he could prepare himself again, however, he suddenly found Jehuty grabbing Tsukuyomi's head, twisting around and throwing him away. Ren yelled out and tried to twist himself around to face Dingo again, but he was suddenly halted as Jehuty appeared behind him, Dingo drawing his blade and striking downwards only to stop just before cutting into Tsukuyomi.

"Agh, crap..." Ren muttered before Dingo let him go, the two frames floating apart.

"C'mon, Ren." Dingo said. "Use that ability of yours."

Ren let out a huff of frustration. "It's not that easy..."

Dingo sighed, shrugging before releasing his OPTIONS. They immediately took flight towards Ren, shooting off lasers towards him. Ren moved backwards to avoid the fire, but suddenly found Dingo behind him. Ren looked back and immediately went downwards to avoid Dingo, but it wasn't long before he reappeared next to him. Ren lashed out towards Dingo, but the slash failed to connect as he disappeared again, this time appearing above him and kicking downwards, sending Ren spiraling down towards the ground, though he recovered before he hit the ground, immediately thrusting upwards to get back up into the air.

In the control room, Weinberg and Cagalli watched on. Dingo seemed to just be toying with Ren, appearing all over the place and avoiding every one of his attacks as his OPTIONS harassed him. As it stood, Ren wasn't standing a chance. He couldn't even gain any initiative as Dingo continued to dash around, foiling Ren's every move as soon as he made it. Cagalli watched silently, slowly clasping her hands together nervously. She found herself saying his name underneath her breath.

"Ren..."

And then it happened.

Ren was sent skyward by an upwards kick from Dingo, shooting up straight up into the air, back to the ground, and in that moment, Ren's eyes opened and shone with a yellow glow. Dingo suddenly shook in his cockpit, red lights sounding around him. The Metatron lines on Jehuty turned orange.

"Ngh... what...?" He stammered.

"Resonance reaction detected." ADA said.

"Resonance... that's impossible..."

Tsukuyomi reacted immediately, angling both his wing pylons downwards behind him and shooting his Halberds downwards toward Dingo. This move managed to catch Dingo off-guard, but he reacted quick enough to Zero Shift out of the way. Tsukuyomi, however, moved his hand towards Dingo's position just as he appeared there, firing off a volley of homing lasers towards him. Dingo moved quickly, Zero Shifting up in front of Tsukuyomi, but the frame reacted immediately, activating its blade and slashing forward, forcing Dingo to bring his own blade up to defend. Ren took the opportunity to twist himself around and maneuver himself above Dingo, kicking downwards and nailing him right in the back, sending Jehuty downwards towards the ground and releasing multiple homing missiles down to follow him down.

"Dammit... what's going on?" Dingo said, tossing homing lasers upwards to meet the missiles, causing them to explode in mid-air. Tsukuyomi supplemented the attack with more shots from his Halberds, piercing through the smoke of the explosions towards Dingo, but Dingo quickly moved out of the way, disappearing as the Halberds shot past and reappearing next to his opponent, slashing towards Tsukuyomi. The frame countered, pushing its blade forward and sliding it underneath Dingo's, sparks flying as Tsukuyomi's arm crossed over Jehuty's, raising both upwards. Tsukuyomi then reached his other hand forward, grabbing Jehuty's head and spinning around to toss it away. It released the frame, sending it away, but Dingo quickly used Zero Shift to position himself directly behind Tsukuyomi.

But Tsukuyomi saw it.

The instant Jehuty began to disappear, space distorting around it as it was pulled into Vector Space, Tsukuyomi used the momentum of the throw to spin around, slashing behind him even before Dingo had appeared there. By the time Jehuty did appear, it was directly in the path of Tsukuyomi's blade. Dingo couldn't react in time, and the slash hit him head on, sparking off Jehuty's shoulder armor and breaking it, the armor shattering against the powerful attack. Dingo was sent flying backwards, spinning around in the air, but the frame gave chase, and as Dingo reoriented himself, Tsukuyomi was on top of him, thrusting both his blades forward, stabbing into Jehuty's torso.

"Agh!" Dingo cried out as his cockpit went red and alerts began to sound. "Ren!"

Both Weinberg and Cagalli shot up from their seats as they watched. Weinberg called out to him.

"Ren, stop!"

But he didn't. Ren was no longer there. Tsukuyomi's left wing pylon flipped forward, and Jehuty suddenly found itself staring straight down its barrel. It shot its Halberd, but Dingo Zero Shifted away. Dingo was then behind him, blade activated. Ren turned around to slash at him, but Dingo blocked the strike and retaliated by stabbing his blade through Tsukuyomi's shoulder joint, tactfully disabling the arm, though he would be forced off when Tsukuyomi crouched down, allowing its legs underneath Dingo and then kicking them both out, slamming into Jehuty and forcing him back. With its remaining left arm, Tsukuyomi fired off multiple shots as it flew backwards and down towards the ground. Dingo gave chase, dodging the shots before summoning his energy shield to deflect the others as he closed in. Tsukuyomi then activated its Phalanx, which Dingo was barely able to Zero Shift away from as a storm of energy bolts shot forward. Dingo then appeared at Tsukuyomi's right side, confident that it wouldn't be able to react in time to avoid his attack with its bad arm. But he was wrong.

Tsukuyomi immediately angled its wing Halberd towards Dingo, and fired a powerful shot towards him, hitting him in the right arm and throwing off his attack, allowing Tsukuyomi to spin towards its good side and lash out with its blade.

It was a decisive strike.

The blade cut deep into Jehuty's chest armor, causing heavy damage and sending the frame backwards. Jehuty was damaged. Dingo attempted to deploy his OPTIONS to make Tsukuyomi back off, but instead it moved forward, thrusting its blade forward and piercing straight through Jehuty's chest. Tsukuyomi then pushed forward, thrusting fast towards the ground. They both hit the earth hard, Jehuty and Tsukuyomi both crashing down and lifting up dust and debris with the impact. Tsukuyomi, however, was undeterred, and while on top of Jehuty, it flipped its wing pylons up once more, aimed down at the ground as it used its foot to keep Jehuty in place.

"REN!" Leo shouted as he flew towards the two, firing his weapons towards Tsukuyomi while in flight mode, forcing Tsukuyomi forward and off of Jehuty. Leo transformed his frame to its LEV mode at speed, slamming himself right into Ren and forcing him away from Dingo, sending Tsukuyomi into a nearby cliff face. Leo took the initiative and pinned Tsukuyomi up to the wall, a blade drawn and pointing towards its head, using its free arm to keep Tsukuyomi's good arm pinned back. Tsukuyomi attempted to lift up its damaged arm, the limb twitching and sparking as the damaged joint refused to move properly, but the blade activated nonetheless, but Leo ended it. He brought his blade down on Tsukuyomi's left arm and then its right, slicing both off and disarming the frame. At that point, the yellow glow of the frame slowly faded, the frame deactivating and falling to the ground, lifeless and still.

"Ren!" Cagalli immediately bolted from her seat, knocking it over as she rushed out of the room. Weinberg just stood there, shaken by the entire event... she began to question her decision to allow Ren into the Space Force... both Ren and Tsukuyomi may very well be liabilities that they could not afford to have.

They were dangerous. If it came down to it, she knew that she'd need to make the call to put both down.

 

[Ishi123]

Tsukuyomi had quickly been transported back to the base by a team of cargo aircraft, along with its severed arms. Jehuty received the same, the two frames being quickly moved back into their hangars. Jehuty was able to position itself back into its hangar, but Tsukuyomi was still inoperable, so it had to be positioned manually into its clamps. By the time that was done, Ren had finally calmed his breathing. His cockpit was opened from the outside, and Weinberg and Leo were standing there. The commander's face held no expression whatsoever... Ren didn't want to look at her. He didn't need to, though.

"What happened?" She said, no emotion in her voice.

Ren's eyes scanned around at nothing in particular as he attempted to find an answer for himself as well as for her.

"I..."

"You don't know." She finished his sentence for him. "You don't know anything, do you?"

"I... that's..."

"Elana..." Leo said, trying to intervene, but Weinberg continued, ignoring him.

"You've been a lot of trouble since you got here." Anger was beginning to appear in her voice as she spoke. "I've had about enough of all of this. It's bad enough all the things that happened before, but now Antilia is gone, and you just almost killed one of my runners!"

"I don't know what happened!" Ren protested. "I'd done it before... I know how to activate IMPULSE, but... something about this time..."

"What about this time, Silber?" Weinberg's cold tone pierced through him.

"I, uh..." Ren looked away from her once more, unable to come up with an answer.

"Hang on, Elana."

Dingo approached from behind, fortunately none the worse for wear. Aside from a new bandage on one side of his forehead, he seemed to be unscathed.

"What is it, Dingo?" Weinberg said sternly, her patience clearly very thin.

"Jehuty went into resonance." Dingo plainly said. Ren's head perked up when he heard this.

"What?" The commander asked.

"Wait, what do you mean, Dingo?" Leo added.

Dingo nodded to confirm. "I don't know why, but right when Tsukuyomi entered IMPULSE, Jehuty started to resonate with it."

Weinberg shook her head in disbelief. "But that's impossible."

"Should be, but that's the case." Dingo crossed his arms. "I remember that feeling... it was the exact same 8 years ago... with Anubis."

Dingo then turned his attention to Ren, who was looking right back at him. "Any ideas?"

"I... I don't know." Ren said. "Both Tsukuyomi and its sister frame Amaterasu were designed incorporating some of Anubis's design into them. Neo BAHRAM went so far as to use some salvaged parts directly from Anubis."

"But that shouldn't be enough to trigger a resonance." Leo said.

"It's not." Ren confirmed. "In order for the two to resonate with each other, they'd need to share the same bond Jehuty had with Anubis."

"But it only activated during IMPULSE." Dingo noted.

Ren nodded, putting a hand up to his chin in thought. "And I lost control of it..."

"Jehuty was linked to Anubis via the battle AI." ADA sprang into the conversation from across the gantry. "It was DELPHI."

"So, then..." Leo paused, thinking for a moment. "Could Tsukuyomi and DELPHI be related somehow?"

"Could ARAI have been created using DELPHI as some sort of template?" Weinberg suggested.

"Even if it was, anything short of the genuine AI wouldn't trigger a resonance." Ren stated. "No, there's only one way that Jehuty could resonate with Tsukuyomi."

"It was DELPHI." ADA repeated.

"So, then, what?" Dingo shrugged.

"It can only mean that DELPHI is still active." Ren said in a low, solemn tone. "And Tsukuyomi and DELPHI are connected through IMPULSE."

"That's not good..." Leo said. "If DELPHI is still around, then we have a lot more problems than we thought we did."

Weinberg sighed, before turning her attention back to Ren. "You're forbidden from using IMPULSE from here on out, understand?"

"Wait, hang on a second." Dingo said in protest, but Weinberg stopped him.

"If this is what we think it is, then IMPULSE is far too dangerous to be used." She said. "We can't afford to have DELPHI around in any form whatsoever."

She then turned to ADA.

"ADA, I want you to work together with ARAI to find the IMPULSE program."

"Ren looked for it before, Elana." Dingo said. "I don't think that-"

"ADA could reach deeper into ARAI's systems than I could." Ren interrupted. "ARAI is barred from accessing anything too deep, but a different AI might be able to find it."

"Good. Then do it." Weinberg nodded, before turning back to Ren. "In the meantime, I'm grounding you from any further sorties in Tsukuyomi. I'm assigning you to R&D instead. Use your experience in Neo BAHRAM to make something useful."

Her callous tone stung Ren a bit, but he didn't say anything in response as she walked away. She was right about IMPULSE. If DELPHI was really connected to Tsukuyomi like that, then it was much more dangerous than he had realized. Ren could only sigh and lean back in his seat, defeated.

 

[Raptordude115]

Zack was snoring lightly as he laid in his cell, twitching and groaning as he tossed and turned in his sleep. To anyone watching him, he was in one hell of a dream, or perhaps, a nightmare, given his movements. As Zack continued to groan in frustration during his dream, he could only see fogged darkness, and a bright, shining yellow aura in the distance...that grew in size as they got closer...

Eclipse had fired a barrage of homing missiles at a group of LEVs, all bursting into balls of flaming metal and scrap, the anguished cries of people filling the air as they were immolated within the flames. Eclipse had soared past more LEVs, using its Phalanx to fire a stream of concentrated plasma bolts at charging LEVs and then switching to its claws to shear away at an unsuspecting LEV, the pilot of it screaming for his life before being cut short once Eclipse shoved its right claw right into the cockpit. Eclipse was glowing yellow as it stood atop of the downed LEV, a city burning away behind it with Neo BAHRAM ships overhead in the blackened skies. Its eyes shone bright gold as the yellow aura enveloped it, the Runner of it looking down at the control panels. Their visor was blackened out, and the screams dying and burning people wrought the sky as a tall figure was visible In the reflection of his visor.

It was Tsukuyomi, all broken and dismantled before Eclipse. Another figure who stood on top of it looked up at Eclipse, his eyes filled with fear and hate. Ren.

Eclipse stood ominously over him, aiming several homing missiles at him and Tsukuyomi as Ren cried out to it.

"Don't do this, TESS! Zack! Snap out of it!!!"

Zack's eyes glowed brightly as he looked down at Ren through Eclipse's cockpit, devoid of emotion. He stared at Ren for the longest time, a voice all too familiar telling him to follow through with killing Ren. Adalia's voice...

"Destroy him...for Neo BAHRAM...for me...!"

A blast of orange and white light erupted as Eclipse fired its missiles at Ren...

"NO!!!"

Zack jolted awake and breathed heavily, clutching at his face and heart as he felt his heart rate exceed its usual pace. Sweat dripped down his face as he tried to cope with the nightmare he just had, what he and Eclipse had just done. That feeling of losing control from that thing Eclipse went into back on Mars. IMPULSE...

Zack gulped as he tried to calm himself down, stumbling shakily to his feet as he leaned against the cell wall. Had anyone heard him? Saw him? He could only hope not.

 

[Ishi123]

Footsteps began to echo down the hall shortly after. Zack figured that it was someone coming in to check on him. Commander Weinberg then appeared in front of the cell. She stared at him sternly from the other side of the bars, not saying or doing anything indicating that she'd heard his screams.

She silently opened the cell and stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

 

[Raptordude115]

Zack finally cleared his throat after staring back at Weinberg for a while, feeling a bit nervous that she'd come to visit him so abruptly. He could only assume it was for some serious matter.

"Erm, hello, ma'am."

 

[Ishi123]

"Were you aware that the IMPULSE system is linked to DELPHI?"

Her question was direct and to the point, leaving no room for any misinterpretation.

 

[Raptordude115]

Zack blinked in confusion to Weinberg's question before widening his eyes slightly in visible surprise. Not that he didn't know what DELPHI was, he had heard the rumors while back in Neo BAHRAM. The AI of the infamous Anubis that fought against the Space Force years ago. No, his confusion came from if IMPULSE was linked to DELPHI.

"IMPULSE and DELPHI? I'm sorry ma'am, but, I had no idea that they were. Based on what I heard while in Neo BAHRAM, I thought DELPHI was destroyed with Anubis years ago..."

 

[Ishi123]

"We thought so as well." The Commander said. "But it seems that they somehow salvaged it from Anubis after the old BAHRAM was destroyed."

Weinberg crossed her arms, staring down at Zack.

"You have no memory of your IMPULSE incident, but you saw the tapes. Your IMPULSE is different from Ren's. It not only was of a shorter duration, but it also seemed less powerful, and you weren't completely hospitalized like Ren was the first time he activated it. It even goes down to the frame glowing a different color. So what do you think is the reason for this? What makes you special like Ren?"

 

[Raptordude115]

Zack thought hard about it, rubbing his head as he tries to rack an answer to Weinberg. His IMPULSE was different, so different. If DELPHI wasn't installed in Eclipse, but IMPULSE was, then how come he can't remember how Eclipse had it?

"I...I don't know...I mean, maybe me and TESS...maybe..."

Zack looks down at the ground, thinking deeply before looking back up at Weinberg.

"I really can't say why we're different." He said with slight frustration. "I wish I knew... maybe I'd be able to help more..."

 

[Ishi123]

"If DELPHI doesn't connect to Eclipse as it does with Tsukuyomi, then maybe the AI would know more." Weinberg remarked, pausing for a moment to think before muttering to herself. "Seems Ren's call before was a good one..."

 

[Raptordude115]

Zack simply stayed silently, only nodding lightly. He hoped TESS might know. But if TESS does know, then what else might she know...?