1013
Training Grounds, RF6
-Myristic-
Pushing out into the sky for what seemed like an eternity was reason enough for me to smile. Lately, all the work involved with the unit had consisted of desk work ensuring the books were kept, that our equipment was being maintained, etc. The others were in the air already, blue, green and yellow specks of light rapidly changing positions as each of them prepared in their own ways. Opposite me, another group was rising into the sky, the colour of their magic filling the spaces between them.
Stand by for limiter release.
Seconds after the announcement power flared around me as each of us gained access to our full strength, a rainbow of colours that was beautiful to the eye, but deadly in use. I could feel the joy in the others, the limiting of powers was something that all of us objected to, but had grudgingly accepted. We were but tenants of the Ground Forces, subject to their rules and regulations while planet side.
The Weavers made their way down to me, making lazy circles in the air. I gave them thumbs up as they drew closer, a signal for them to get ready. As they finally reached me I opened my mouth to begin to going over the plan in detail.
“Don’t waste your breath Myr, we already know what to do!” David called.
“Maybe you think you do but let’s go over it again anyway” I replied.
Juliet interrupted me and in her best impersonation of me, she said “Right the mission is simple. First, we’ll proceed covertly towards the EZ as far as possible-”
Meia continued her voice low, “Once discovered by enemy forces, we are to defeat them as quickly as possible and make best speed to the EZ, stopping only to fight if necessary. As we need to return to base at 12, a time limit has been imposed. Failure to complete the exercise by 11:30 is an automatic loss to our team, represented by the arrival of enemy reinforcements.”
At this point I was laughing too hard to care that I had been interrupted, their impersonations of me a source of great amusement. “Those aren’t getting any better…. In fact I think that they’re getting worse each time you try.” Blank faces met me as I continued to laugh, before I was stopped by Mei swinging her device straight at my head, forcing me to block, fast.
The sensor grid will be disabled for the next 30 seconds, will all participants head to their starting locations.
“We’ll have to save this for later.” I yelled as we dove, heading for ground level. Accessing the menus within the TCD, I added myself to the Weaver’s displays, the device allowing us to exchange tactical data between us, in addition to maps and other low level sensors. We touched down, settling into an easy run between the concrete spires looming above. Speed was of essence. The distance we covered before getting discovered would have a massive effect on determining the outcome.
Exercise start.
We continued on for another 30 seconds without incident, before a pink sphere of magic appeared in front of us. “Combat jackets, NOW!” I called. There was no need to be told twice; the other’s summoning forth the heavily armoured over suit, the TCD automatically altering the colour from the standard black to one more suited to our environment. The sphere pulsed once, before accelerating towards us. We leapt into flight, speeding away from the location, out pacing the sphere with ease. [We’ve been spotted too early, there’s no way to avoid combat with all of their forces now. We’ll have to make a break for it.]
[Does any one have any information about the extra forces that we have to deal with? It’ll be risky to try anything ambitious without knowing their capabilities.] David asked.
[Perhaps, but we can’t afford to waste any more time. Each passing second just gives them time to create more searchers.] Meia replied. [I suggest moving to rooftop level. we don’t have enough room to maneuver, and sight is restricted. If one of their melee specialists catches us down here, it’s not going to be pretty.] ‘Good call’ I thought. I activated the TCB, setting a directional marker. We accelerated towards the sky in a tight diamond formation, Meia in the lead, Juliet and David behind her, with me taking the rear position.
Transitioning between the levels took place without a hitch and we continued on, going from roof to roof. Since taking to the roof tops, we had avoided another 5 searcher’s, from three different users, pink, green and red. “This is taking too long. We may have to just take our chances and fly to the EP,” I said.
“Agreed,” Juliet chimed in, “We haven’t been attacked yet, but it’s going to happen soon. Breaking stealth isn’t going to be what they’re expecting, shifting the advantage to us.”
Meia deliberated for moment, “Right, you’ve convinced me.” We took off from the roof, our departure creating a small shockwave that rattled the surroundings. [Steadily increase altitude until we hit the standard flight ceiling. We’ll spread to distance 2 to give us better manoeuvring room.] Moments after we lifted off, I felt an on overwhelming sensation in the back of my skull; ten’s of pink orbs filling the space we had just vacated, many of which impacted on the roof, raising a plume of dust into the air.
[That was close. Keep an eye out.] A streak of light in the corner of my eye was the only warning of what was to come. Acting on reflex I created a shield in that direction, a flaming sword smashing into it as it materialised. The shield’s structure began to crack, white amongst the blue, getting longer and longer as the owner of the weapon continued their assault against my defences, her long pink hair trailing behind her. The other’s realised my predicament as this occurred and I sighed in relief as my shield was reinforced by Juliet, her shield weaving together with my own. Meia and David were no slower to react, each of them firing as our shields wove together. The owner of the device had no warning, the shots passing through our shields, and took two heavy blows to the body. The force of the impact blasting her back several meters.
Suddenly, tendrils of green wrapped themselves around me and Juliet. I followed the stream of energy with my eyes, to see a figure approaching from below, fists extended. He connected with my right foot, shattering the weakened shield, sending me tumbling upwards, snapping the bind on me. Juliet responded quickly, opening fire below her. Some of the bolts were blocked by his defences, pushing him away from us. Others passed by him, following the streams of green to their origin. It winked out of existence shortly after.
David and Meia had wasted no time as we came under attack, taking advantage of our misfortune to charge their own attacks. A massive beam of dark blue lanced past me, heading towards the sword knight. Another beam tinged with green swept past Juliet, heading towards our other attacker. Juliet and I added to the attacks, bolts of arcfire filling the sky.
With the completion of our attacks, we didn’t hesitate, flying away from the scene as fast as we could while maintaining formation. We heard the attacks hit home as we turned our backs form the scene, the level of the attack guaranteed to strain their barriers and magical endurance, if not take them out of the fight entirely. We managed to advance another 20 meters before the next attack came, this time from below. A pink stream of energy wide enough to rival our previous attack appeared before any of us could dodge. It hit the combined shields of Juliet and Meia directly, some of the attack leaking around the edges. Even these scraps contained enormous power, activating my automatic defences. The attack continued on, battering against their shields. It was now 3 seconds into the attack and I sensed the strain in the shield, beginning to buckle under the load of power. Quickly I reinforced the others, lending my strength to the shield. The onslaught continued, my magical reserves being burnt away at an alarming rate, just from maintaining the shield.
“Blade Storm!” Pin pricks of light materialised beneath David, making it seem like he was standing on a thick blue cloud, far to the right of us. Each point accelerating away targeting a wide area below us, where the attack came from. 2 seconds later, the attack stopped. We flew away, gaining altitude as we went. We quickly hit the flight ceiling, any higher and we would be falling out of the sky in minutes. So far we had encountered 2 of the 7 on the opposing force, and each of them had forced us to weave. ‘We underestimated their abilities.’ I thought, ‘It’s probably a good thing that there were no other combat capable members in their division.’
The respite gained from our barrage was short lived, in seconds; a swarm of orbs broke through the clouds, closely followed by a larger ellipse of magic. I kept an eye of her as we flew, with each passing moment, the gap between us and her attack decreasing. [Scatter] I sent to the others. We broke into two, taking sharp turns to the left and right respectively. The orbs followed us, splitting roughly into equal groups, small bursts of energy dissipating into the atmosphere as a swarm in the centre collided with each other. The resultant blast played havoc with our ability to sense magic. This combined with the concentration needed to dodge the remaining attacks led to me and Juliet flying straight into another attack, from none other but than the one who knew us the best, Fate.
The air in front of us was filled with plasma lancers, golden arrows that punched into our defences. The initial salvo decimated our hasty shields, leaving the second more potent attack to slam directly into our bodies. Each hit felt like getting punched gently, but the succession of attacks left me gasping in pain. Juliet faired slightly better, being further back, allowing her to bring up another shield that was able to absorb some of the attacks before breaking. [Rear Shields!] was Meia’s panicked cry. We acted instantly. I kept my eyes forward, bringing it up as Juliet spun around, casting her own directly in front of mine. I felt a tug at my magic as she began the task of merging the strength of the two together, the connection breaking as the attack rolled in, the force of it pushing us forward.
Meia and David flew past below our feet, heading towards Fate. A barrage of fire flew in their direction which they dodged nimbly, rolling to the left. A flash of green covered the sky momentarily before fading, magical energy gathered around Meia’s body as she invoked her ultimate spell, Vandread. We followed them on their attack run, wary of attacks from behind. Meia sped off, leaving David behind as she accelerated. A line of green light was all that could be seen of her, one that speared towards Fate, striking an instant later. Nothing happened as Meia re-appeared to the eye behind Fate. The damage done was apparent as we grew closer. Her barrier jacket was smoking, tiny rips throughout. The once pristine white cloak was no longer to be seen and the bottom of half of her device had simply disappeared. She was still standing, a testament to her strength and endurance. A chain of fire radiated out from David. One, two, three orbs hitting simultaneously. Her strength finally gave and she fell, face first towards the ground, descending more rapidly with each passing second.
We rejoined Meia, the fatigue that was rapidly setting in made even more apparent by her heavy breathing. “1, maybe 2 down.” She said between pants. “How much further to the EP?” she asked.
“1 minute of uninterrupted formation flying,” David replied, “Roughly 2 klicks away.”
As he spoke, I swept my eyes around, ever vigilant for attacks. The sky to the north was clear, with the south clear as well. Suddenly, a directional marker appeared in the TCD, the other’s already moving. As I went to follow them, a series of heavy blows rained upon me. My autonomous defences were destroyed by the first, leaving two to hit home, my upper arm going numb from the force, nearly making my drop my device.
The others had fared no better, a cross of heavy fire from the east and north, sending David and Juliet tumbling away, down towards the earth. Meia was the only one unaffected, having been in the centre of the group, blue, pink and red flashing past above and below her position. Shields up, she came back up to me, hovering protectively in front, letting me recompose my self. “Looks like they’re all here now…”
“Yeah, two of the others in the initial attack are down on the rooftops, in the region where Fate crashed down.” I grimaced from the delayed sensation of pain in my right arm, the numbing effect of the bolts wearing off as we spoke. “How are David and Juliet?”
“They’re fine for the moment…”She pointed off to her right, where a silhouette could be seen, “Looks like we’ve got their attention for the time being.” I reinforced our shields, as she spoke. “There’s another two behind us, one slightly higher than the other.”
I slowly turned my head in the indicated directions, a black suited figure slightly below us, the other hovering with the sun behind her, blurring her features. The sensors attached to the TCB whirled into life, filtering out the glare of the sun, and magnifying the image. It slowly became clearer, another black suited figure, holding a deadly looking pole arm.
David’s thoughts came loud, ringing in my skull, [Meia, Myristic do you read?]
I let Meia reply as I updated the TCD, with the locations of the enemy. The data transferred as Juliet replied, [Pass the word and we’ll spring the cage.]
[David, Juliet. I’ve passed you the Tac info. Intercept the two on the rooftops attending to Fate. We’ll be fine up here. Just be careful, we’re still unsure of the status of the sword knight….] Fire from three separate directions flew towards us, interrupting me. We dodged around it nimbly, bolts colliding with each other, exploding with brilliant colour, providing a spectacular light show for all to see.
David’s mental reply came shortly after. [Beginning our attack run now.] I focused on our opponents, mentally mapping their positions in the sky, “We’re heading straight for Nanoha then?” I asked, “Unless of course you want to make this harder….”
Laughter greeted me, “I’d say that we’re up to the challenge… but it’s far too dangerous with a cannon pointed at your back.” She gave me a thumbs up, “Here’s the plan. Charge, dodge and kill. Any questions?”
“I can see why the others like you in charge…” I said dryly, “I certainly didn’t let them do what they wanted all the time.”
“Simple is best after all,” Meia shot back. “Unlike some of the convoluted plans you came up with…” She readied her device, the tip glowing with power as an overcharged arcfire was readied. I swung around, reaching for my magic, mental blocks releasing as I pulled. Bringing my device to my shoulder, I took aim and fired in one fluid motion, lancing towards the axe wielder, Keroko. Meia moved as it sped off, myself following soon after. My barriers focused solely towards the rear, relying on Meia for our forward protection.
We covered the distance between ourselves and Nanoha in a mere 6 seconds. 3 seconds in, we were surrounded by a deadly halo of energy, which ripped into our defences. Each and every impact slowly reducing the effectiveness of the barriers. Thankfully, the barrage ceased as we moved within 150 metres of her position. We were now close enough to hear what she was saying.
One. Two. Three. Her device loaded in rapid succession, the empty casings caught the sun as they fell, three points of light that stood out in the background as she yelled her next attack. “DIVINE BU—SU—TER!”
It was only 100 meters to her as she fired. A pink beam that eclipsed the brightness of everything else in the area. I rotated my barrier around to face forward, calling a round shield into existence directly behind it, followed by Meia’s own. We flew head first into the column of energy, our weakened barriers holding for a split second before collapsing. Nanoha’s attack continued on, it’s force unabated, smashing into our shields with ferocious intensity. Unlike the first time, we were prepared for the tremendous force of the beam, the second we had to prepare allowing us to reinforce the structure of the shielding, making it more resistant. Even with the extra preparations, the sheer amount of power was beginning to eat away at the shield. Everything about the attack was astounding, the power, the scale, the duration. Even the sound was astonishing, silent in flight, yet once it encountered any resistance, growing in noise, as if the attack was cheering itself on. “This can’t continue on for much longer can it?” I roared, fighting to make myself heard.
Meia shook her head, [What was that? I missed it.]
[This can’t continue for much longer can it?]
[Perhaps not… Still, it’s time to begin the counter.] I nodded. Carefully, we began to edge towards the outer edges of the shield. I held my device out, the head of the staff pushing against our shield. I glanced upwards to check that Meia was in position. She was in a similar position to mine, a slight nod indicating that her readiness.
Slowly, we slipped out past the edge of the shield. I could feel my barrier jacket getting whipped about in the outer edges of the beam. The tips of our devices held the shield in place. I tightened my grip around the bottom of the shaft. In unison with Meia, I slowly pulled the head across the face of the shield, moving further and further away from its protective embrace.
It was a risky plan. We would slip away while maintaining the shield. Detonate the shield to make it seem like the attack was a success, and hit them once they moved to confirm. It had worked so far, but we were now approaching the hardest part, holding the shield in place while we moved away from it. One sudden movement and we would get caught in the onslaught of the attack. The head of my device was now approaching the edge. Bold letters flashed into view.
Objects approaching from 7 o’clock
I turned my head to the left, careful to keep my grip steady. Behind me, I could faintly make out the figures of two people. [Incoming! Two at 7.]
[I’m in position] came Meia’s reassuring voice, [Myr. Move up a little, then slowly pull away for a moment.]
I followed her instructions, flinching as I pulled away. ‘I hope she knows what she’s doing.’ [Ready]
[In three, flee.]
[One] Bolts from Keroko and Tesla slammed into my side. The shield tilted further as the bolts pushed me slightly to the right.
[Two] It was nearly time.
Acceleration.
[Three] I pushed away at top speed. The shield collapsed behind me as I fled, the torrent of energy that had been stopped in its tracks resuming its destructive path. Looking back, I could now see why Meia had told me to shift positions slightly. Instead of following its original path, the beam was now heading a slightly different direction, straight towards the incoming fliers.
[We can worry about them later, get to Nanoha!] I mentally berated myself for getting distracted as I moved off. I focused my aim at her, sighting along the length of my device as I flew towards her. The head of my device was filling with energy, a tactic that had been developed within the unit to mask the charging of spells from the enemy. A light on the side flashed twice, showing me that we were ready to fire.
[Ready?] In response, a counter appeared on screen.
2.
1.
0. A cone of energy appeared from my device as I fired. It grew to a diameter of half a metre as it left my staff. The air crackled as it zipped past, tiny sparks of electricity leaping around the attack before disappearing just as quickly. I was a mere 50 metres from her as I fired, just far enough away for her to bring up a shield before it struck.
Focused as she was on my attack, Nanoha was caught by surprise from behind as Meia’s buster devastated her defences. The shock of it must have broken her concentration, my own attack slamming into her body a second later. I followed up with a bind, thick bands of magic that prevented her from moving. “I don’t suppose you’d like to stand down and pretend that you’ve been knocked out.” I asked her as I moved closer to her. “It’d be easier on your body.”
“Taking pity on your opponent? That’s not good Captain,” Nanoha replied. Then to my shock, she continued, “Raising Heart, Mode release.”
Alright, my master.
“I didn’t think you’d actually agree to it.”
“As much as I’d live to try and continue resisting, I’d have been taken out in seconds. Getting knocked out isn’t my definition of fun. Plus, I still have paper work to do….” She concluded with a sigh.
Before I could reply, a stream of red fire cut across the space between me and Nanoha, sending me diving backwards.
“Che, Looks like my plan didn’t quite work out.” Meia said as she returned fire with a trio of arcfires. “Then again, I didn’t really expect it to work that well either.”
“Plan?” I asked, scanning the sky below me.
“Later,” She replied tersely, “The priority is to meet up with the others before heading to the EP. We’re clear?”
“It looks like it, but they’ll be down there somewhere,” I said. [David, status?]
Silence.
[Juliet, status?]
[We’re lying low about 100 metres from the initial tac point.] A sense of annoyance and anger pervaded her thoughts. [The sword wielder caught us off guard. She’s no longer a problem, but Dave’s down.]
[Fuck.]
[My thoughts exactly.]
[Hold your postion, we’re on our way.]
[Roger]
****
1054
Crouching, I edged the tip of my device past the corner, the live video stream directed to the TCD. Doubling checking my surroundings, I swiftly ran across the gap. I was now only 20 metres from Juliet’s position, and although I hadn’t seen any sign of pursuit since Meia and I had split up, it wasn’t the time to get sloppy. ‘It’s quiet… almost too quiet.’
As I rounded the corner of the next building, the waypoint marker ticked to 6m. Stopping behind the low wall facing the complex, I glanced around, trying to find them. [Juliet, confirm your position.]
[Above, to your right.] I turned my head slightly to my right, searching when I finally saw them.
[Well at least we know that the camo works… No way that I would have spotted you on my own.]
[R&D will be pleased. Completely useless for combat however.]
[Well, we can’t have everything.] I sent, as I floated up to them. “Damm, he’s going to be sore as hell later tonight.” I remarked as I saw him, “What the hell hit him?” His jacket was shredded; you could see faint bruises developing where the jacket had disappeared.
“I didn’t get a very good look of it, but it was a chain whip of sought. I was more concerned with taking her down as quick as possible. Hard to believe she could still be standing after what we hit her with.” She shook her head in disbelief before continuing, “The control she had was incredible as well, manipulating the attack to just score the surface. I’d hate to go up against her one on one.”
I finished checking his vitals as she stopped. “We’ll have to give him a proper check later, but he’s fine to move.” Kneeling next to him, I pulled his limp body up, draping his arms over my shoulders, loosely binding him into position. Awkwardly I stood, my left arm snaking behind to support his weight. “Right, let’s go. Juliet, take point.”
Together, we manoeuvred through the streets. Meia’s icon grew solid after we had gone 50 metres towards the EP. It reassured me that she was watching close by. ‘1536 metres and counting.’ We sped up as we approached an intersection.
It proved to be a good decision.
An instant after we swept through, it exploded. The shockwave of the blast pushing me into the side of the building. Shattered fragments of glass rained down around us as we scurried for cover. Pushing our backs against the building, I began erecting a shield around us as Juliet scanned the area for signs of the enemy. It was rocked within seconds, a duo of projectiles coming from the west.
Out of the haze surrounding the intersection, I could just make out the shape of an axe. Juliet opened fire, filling the air around the blades with arcfire. The figure burst out of the haze, finally giving us a visual of the wraith that had been stalking us for the past 10-15 min. A pure black bodysuit, edged with lines of blood red. Fiery red hair tied into a ponytail, double headed axe in hand. Not the best camouflage, but one that would strike fear into those that she swooped down on. Another figure flew up to join her, blue hair streaming behind her. Her jacket was much like Keroko’s, but lined in blue.
Meia’s voice butted in, [Myristic, Juliet, keep them there.]
“So uh… what’s with the hair matching lining?” I asked, my voice booming across the gap.
[Working on it. Juliet, get ready to break for it. Meia, take the red head. We’ll take the other.]
[Understood] Juliet replied.
Silence.
One of the two quickly retorted, “You’re about to get caught, incarcerated for espionage and yet that’s the first question you ask?”
“We’re not in chains yet.” A flash of green streaked past, zipping through. It was a surreal moment, one that could easily fit into a play, our ‘angel’ of salvation appearing right on cue to save us. Although whether we would have a happy ending remains to be seen.
We blazed away from our position, Juliet slightly behind, readying her attack. Tesla’s bolts slammed uselessly into my shield, and was taken out by Juliet’s gamma ray. We cut to their left as we breezed through, opting to take the direct flight path to the EP, instead of lurking in the shadows. Meia joined us, coming up behind me as we raced through the streets, raising our altitude as we went along.
Without warning spikes of energy appeared in out path, erupting from the sides of the building, boxing us between them. Already close to the end of the ‘roof’ we continued on. Finally emerging out from it, we shot upwards.
I managed to ascend 2 metres before I was roughly jerked back down. Meia joined me on the descent. Two thin streams of green energy were wrapped around out legs, stretched into the shadows. It wasn’t the strongest of binds, but in our weakened states, was sufficient to hold us in place. Juliet flew back in, firing away. We watched in anticipation as the bolts flew down.
Nothing.
I could see Juliet nodding above us, obviously receiving guidance from Meia. Coming in closer to me, she said, “Cut the binds, I’ll take David,” as she draped his arms around her.
“Careful now, don’t want to drop him.” With that I released the final bind. She moved slowly away from us, David’s limp form on her back before she flew off, heading straight up. [Myr, D-cannon at the ready. We’ll drop it on top of their heads once we get closer.]
We were reeled in slowly. It became apparent why Juliet’s earlier attack failed once we came to within 15 metres of Shamal. [Well he’s obviously worthy of his title, the Shielding Guardian Beast. Although whether he’s capable of shrugging off 2 D’s are another question.] The gathering energy threatened to explode from my grasp as we were dragged down. I quickly managed to get it back under my control, storing it into my device.
[Once we pass 10 metres, fire]
‘Not a moment too soon, I wouldn’t have been able to hold it for much longer.’ I thought.
“Fire,” I murmured softly as we passed the mark.
A dark sphere instantaneously formed over the pair, its swirling depths an endless void of pure black. It crashed down on top of them, enveloping their figures in its destructive embrace. A gamma ray speared into it seconds later, following the tendrils that still bound us. They pulsed once before unwrapping themselves, getting pulled into the depths of the spell before we could blink.
We watched on silently as we retreated from the scene, heading upwards at speed, until we could no longer see it lying below us.
She was waiting for us as we appeared between the buildings. “Any problems?” Meia asked as we came into speaking distance.
“None,” she stated matter of factly, “I think I caught a glimpse of the other two about a minute ago, but the searcher revealed nothing.”
I shrugged, “Well even if they’re still conscious, Keroko won’t be too much of a problem. Vandread hurts… a lot. Although much more of this and I won’t be moving for a while.”
“Agreed. I haven’t been hit as much as you have sir, but what’s gotten through is going to hurt a lot later on.” Juliet said as she nodded, agreeing to my statement.
“Right, let’s get moving. Only a klick left now.” Meia said.
****
The next minute passed swiftly, with no further interruptions. My battered body protested as we flew along, at a much slower pace than what we were capable of. The roughly hour long exercise had depleted much of my energy. Judging from the others, they were pretty worn out as well.
The distance left to the EP ticked down quickly in flight, until the counter was no more.
Exercise completed at 1121.
“Next time we do this, find some easier opponents for us…I’m going to be sore for a week.” Juliet said as we made our way to the ground.
I chuckled, “No problem, I’m not that big a masochist that I want to suffer their attacks day in and out.”
“Sure you’re not.”
2007-11-18, 07:10
Author
, i decided to do a snap update on one of my main OCs here.
What would you replace it with then? 
And I see you're claiming the Subaru "Freedom" design 
This time his problem seems to be he's immume to healing magic.
.gif)
