The Elysion, exercise area
Mirage and Arad are standing by the marked ring where they were about to spar with the most fearsome man they had come to know. Ernest is standing off to the side, with the intent of observing the match. As Arad said earlier, there was a large medical team posted in the back, with nine stretchers in the event someone or everyone was incapacitated.
The two pilots are wearing t-shirts and exercise pants, although Mirage's only reaches her knees. Arad checks his watch, about to dial the rest of Delta Platoon and Walkure when they walk in, sans Shiro.
"Where's Chuck?" Arad asks.
"Right here, sir!" Chuck replies as he walks in.
Arad stretches his arm a bit. "So, are you all ready?"
"Tch. Ready to get pounded to the ground? Yeah." Hayate fumes.
"Calm down, Hayate. It's not like the Captain wants us to get beat up; we just need a little more combat practice on the ground." Mirage responds.
"You didn't hear Shiro, Mirage." Hayate sighs, "He's not exactly happy that you guys threw him head-first into an aerial battle with basically no experience."
"Even though we did help him out, it doesn't take a psychiatrist to figure out that Shiro's probably going to return the favor to you guys." Makina rubs her neck.
"I just hope he doesn't leave all of you in comas or something." Reina softly remarks.
"I don't think he'll do anything on that level." Mikumo states. "I admit, it scares me a bit to think about what Shiro would do when he's angry, but I'm pretty sure you'll at most be knocked unconscious a few times."
Everyone looks at Mikumo, their gazes all skeptical or defeated. The violet-haired singer was completely oblivious as to why they were all looking at her the way they were. They stared at her for a few moments as Shiro walks in, carrying a duffel bag.
"Is there something I need to be made aware of?" Shiro emotionlessly asks, noticing everyone's gaze locked on Mikumo, who is standing there.
"No, you just missed a confidence booster from Mikumo." Chuck sighs.
"Good, maybe then you'll all last a bit longer." Shiro replies, ignoring their sarcasm.
The pilots looked miffed at Shiro's blunt response, while the singers of Walkure can only dread what they know is to come.
"So then, I guess to start off, I'll evaluate Delta Platoon in a one on one fight; then I'll see how all of you fare against me. Walkure will spar with me once I'm finished with Delta Platoon." Shiro explains, taking off his jacket, revealing a form-fitting grey t-shirt underneath.
Mikumo stared at his arms, and a flurry of thoughts crossed her mind: What scars might he have on his torso, if his arms were this badly scarred? How much combat has he endured? What could possibly scar a man with this level of combat proficiency? As her mind raced through all of these questions, her eyes focused on something else: there was a large slash mark that ran around the side of his neck, and it seemed to span the diameter of his neck. Mikumo's eyes widened as she processed all this. None of the others seemed to notice that scar, that or they didn't show it.
Her designated protector was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. He must've seen all kinds of combat, and survived horrible things. And she was about to spar with him in hand-to-hand combat.
"Now then, which among you would like to go first?" Shiro stoically asks.
The members of Delta Platoon look between each other and back at Shiro. Hayate steps forward.
"I'll be your first opponent." Hayate looked serious, and he was. In the back of his mind, however, he was extremely nervous. A voice calms his nerves.
"Hayate?" Freyja softly calls.
He looks over at his girlfriend. Her face tells him that she's scared, mostly for him. Her eyes are wide with concern. He can't help but smile at her, caressing her cheek gently.
"Don't worry. It's like Mikumo said; I'll only be knocked unconscious a few times." He grins.
Freyja pouts. "That's not encouraging at all!"
Hayate laughs. "Yeah, I know, but it's fine. I'm pretty sure I had this coming for a while now anyway. Make sure you watch, so you don't end up like me."
She nods.
"Why do you make it sound like you're being shipped off to die?" Shiro calmly asks.
"Because it sure feels that way." Hayate shoots back, a grin on his face.
Shiro raises an eyebrow. "Don't worry, your superiors are going to have it much worse." He looks at Mirage and Arad, who stiffen under his gaze.
"Don't." Hayate says, his gaze leveled at Shiro.
"Well, then, shall we get started?" Shiro asks, rolling his shoulders.
"How is this gonna work? Are you just gonna punch me until I drop?" Hayate asks.
"What would be the point of that? We're here to evaluate how well you hold up in a melee engagement. If I did that, you wouldn't learn anything and neither would I."
"So, what am I supposed to do?"
"We will spar for about five minutes. In that time, try to land a direct hit on me, or at least stay conscious. Naturally, I will be holding back, but you should not be. So, attempt to hit me however you wish. Think of this situation as though you were fighting another person, not me."
"Implying that taking a hit from you wouldn't outright kill me." Hayate remarks as he takes a fighting stance.
That appears to be a boxing stance. He isn't well trained, that or he has never been in a melee engagement before.
"Whatever motivates you. If that doesn't however, I will find another way," Shiro calmly states, looking at Freyja and Mirage.
"Don't even think about it." Hayate growls.
"Then show me what you're capable of."
Hayate then charges at Shiro, putting all of his power in his punch. Shiro catches his fist, tossing it aside and knocking Hayate back. Hayate gets up quickly, and charges at Shiro again. The latter pushes his palm out as Hayate gets within arm's reach, knocking Hayate to the floor. The cycle repeats another three times before Shiro hits Hayate hard enough to send him to the edge of the marked ring, just in front of Freyja and Mirage.
"You need to figure out another method of attacking someone other than just throwing yourself at them. You're not fighting like you're on even ground. You're fighting as though your only objective is to slow me down, which is not what we're here for."
"Well sorry, but it's kinda hard to ignore the fact that we really aren't."
"Think of it this way: You can't simply slow me down, you need to put me out of commission, or else the people you hold dear will suffer."
Hayate looks as though he was about to say something back, but he closes his mouth and exhales softly. "Fine."
He takes up the same fighting stance as before. He rushes at Shiro, but instead of making a beeline at him, he dashes back and forth in a diagonal line, his fist cocked back. Once he gets close enough to Shiro to hit him, he punches Shiro, his head the target. Shiro leans back, grabbing Hayate's outstretched arm and tosses him over his back. Hayate rolls for a second, but soon gets back up and charges again. Shiro throws a punch that Hayate barely manages to dodge. Hayate rolls to the side and behind him, forcing Shiro to rotate to face him. Shiro swings his arm in a wide arc, nailing Hayate in the head, knocking him off to the side. Hayate jumps up and dodges Shiro's punch before ducking. Hayate punches Shiro square in the chest, but to the shock of every everyone else in the room, Shiro doesn't budge an inch. The moment that Hayate landed the blow on Shiro, a buzzer sounds.
So Hayate's style is to charge in and force his opponent to absorb his blows , but he needs improvement on his accuracy and he's too predictable. Otherwise acceptable performance.
"Not bad, Hayate. You actually managed to land direct hit on me within the time limit. Good job."
Hayate sighs before leaning over and groaning. "Man, you hit hard. Are you sure you were holding back?"
"If I wasn't, you'd be unconscious with at least half your ribs broken. You'd also be unable to dodge my punches. I heard that Delta Platoon does air shows during Walkure's concerts, so I need you to be able to fly during those, especially since I have yet to practice for performing them. I also heard that you're quite popular in the air shows due to your...maneuvering skills."
"You've got to be kidding me. Ugh, at least we're even now, right?"
"Not quite, but next time, you won't have to worry about taking as many blows as you did, assuming you learned something."
"Yeah, I definitely learned something from this." Hayate groans, standing up.
"Now then, who will be next?"
Mirage steps forward. She takes a deep breath. "I'll be your next opponent."
"Very well then. Follow the same procedure Hayate did."
Mirage nods and takes up a fighting stance that Shiro recognized.
A Judo stance. She must have trained more extensively than Hayate.
"Before we start, I'd like to ask you something."
"Which is?"
"Were you the one that had me thrown headfirst into an aerial dogfight?
Mirage tenses, her eyes widening for a moment. "Is that still bothering you?"
Shiro stretches his neck slightly. "No, I just needed to confirm who's brainchild that idea was. Now I know."
Mirage stops for a moment and becomes lost in thought. In that time frame, she loosened her posture, and she didn't even notice Shiro walk up to her until he was standing a couple feet from her. She snaps to focus, and tries to distance herself from Shiro, but she does so too late. Shiro grabs her arm, and throws her to the center of the ring. Mirage gets up and tries to ready herself, but Shiro doesn't let up. He sweeps his leg at her ankle, knocking Mirage on her back. Mirage groans before sitting up.
She's too distracted to even fight. It was too easy to get inside her head and make her lose focus.
"You need to clear your head before you fight; don't let your opponent get inside your head." Shiro calmly criticizes.
Mirage rubs her head. "You're not the first to tell me that. Anything else I need to be aware of?"
"No, that is it. Again."
Mirage gets up, taking a deep breath and exhaling softly. She distances herself from Shiro before taking up the same stance as she did before. Her eyes are locked on Shiro, her expression unreadable. She runs at Shiro, going for a low sweeping kick. Shiro kicks her leg up, causing Mirage to land on her back. Shiro brings his arm down, but Mirage rolls to the side and aims a punch at Shiro. Shiro dodges the punch and grabs Mirage's arm and tosses her towards the edge of the ring. She dashes toward Shiro, aiming a high kick at his head. Shiro ducks below it, but Mirage brings her elbow down immediately after missing her kick. She grazes Shiro, and follows up with a sweeping kick. Shiro grabs her leg and throws her on the floor. Mirage lets out a pained sound as Shiro aims his fist at her head. She flinches, expecting to be knocked out as she hears an impact sound next to her. She opens one eye, seeing Shiro on top of her, his arm off to the side her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees his first on the ground next to her; there is a small dent on the floor. She gulps nervously at this before her eyes meet Shiro's. He looked as stoic as ever, but he didn't seem to be as critical as he was a few minutes ago.
She didn't last as long as Hayate did, but her skills are definitely more refined than Hayate's. She will most likely be easier to train than Hayate.
"That was much better. You are much more effective when you're not distracted." Shiro calmly states as he gets up from on top of Mirage.
"I suppose so." She groans as she sits up. "Do you like throwing people, Shiro? Because you seem to do that a lot."
"Not really. Normally, I'd put distance between my opponent and myself by putting more force in my punches, but that usually results in a broken rib or so. Obviously, I can't do that to you guys. Not yet, anyway."
"Well, that's always encouraging." Kaname sighs.
Mirage deadpans. "So, how hard are you hitting us compared to how you'd fight someone for real?"
"If I were to put it on a scale from one to ten, you guys would probably be a one. Walkure would have to be below one, most likely."
Everyone gapes at him. The members of Walkure couldn't take offense to what he said, especially after seeing Shiro essentially playing with some of their best pilots. The pilots of Delta Platoon mentally dread the sparring sessions that they knew were imminent in the future.
"Well, now the matter's settled, would you like to continue to practice, or would you like to switch out?"
"I thought you said you wanted to evaluate us?"
"I already have. It doesn't take me long to evaluate you in a sparring match."
Mirage rubs the back of her head. "I think I'll switch out for now, my head's spinning."
"Very well then."
"You sure work quickly, Shiro. It's almost scary how efficient you are." Arad comments.
"Would it be better if I was comfortably inefficient?" Shiro questions.
"Is that a legitimate question or are you just being sarcastic?" Chuck asks.
"It's a mix of both. I won't sacrifice efficiency just to make everyone happy, but if Arad or Captain Ernest deems my training too rigorous, I will adjust myself accordingly." Shiro calmly answers.
Arad sighs. "I was joking, Shiro. You're doing just fine, as long as no one sustains serious injuries, you keep doing what you're doing."
"If that's the case, then would either you or Chuck step into the ring for your evaluation?"
Chuck exhales. "I guess I'm next. You already whipped me in our last engagement, so go easy on me, will ya?"
"I will test you on the level that I tested Mirage and Hayate." Shiro emotionlessly states.
Chuck gulps and steps into the ring. Everyone watches the fight with curiosity. No one had seen Chuck fight hand-to-hand, but they knew he had strength. His well-defined arms and legs were clear indicators of it. Chuck readied himself, taking up a considerably different stance, compared to Mirage's. His arms were brought up, as if to block, except Chuck's torso was tilted in comparison to Shiro's. His body posture was also at a lower height than Mirage's and Hayate's. Shiro struggled to identify what the Ragnan's first move would be. Chuck leaned forward slightly, and charged straight at Shiro at a speed Shiro did not quite expect. The moment he neared Shiro, Chuck cocked his arm back and put all of his strength in his punch. His aim was true, as Shiro didn't deflect or catch his fist, opting to block it instead. The impact moved Shiro back a couple feet.
He's far stronger than the other two pilots, in terms of sheer strength. In addition, he's more agile than one would think, which makes it easy to underestimate him. He's also created his own style of fighting, making it difficult to predict his movements. I'll probably have to let him take the initiative to learn his movements.
Chuck backed off, putting distance between him and Shiro. He assumed the same stance, and began to circle Shiro. Shiro followed the circling pilot with his degree of vision until Chuck circled out of it, not bothering to move his head. Chuck circled Shiro until he was behind and slightly to the left of the bodyguard, pausing for a moment. After a few seconds, Chuck charges at Shiro, the latter turning to grab the charging Ragnan. Right as he neared Shiro, Chuck pushes himself to the right with a surprising amount of agility, dodging Shiro's grab. He aims another high-powered punch at Shiro, who blocks the punch and pushes Chuck back.
They stood there for a few moments. Shiro stood there, waiting for Chuck to make the next move, but Chuck stood there, motionlessly staring at Shiro as he took up the same stance as before.
"What's wrong, Shiro? Aren't you going to make a move?" Chuck taunts lightly.
Shiro tilts his head. "I was under the impression that you would move first."
"And why is that?"
"Because I know that you're trying to stall so you can learn my fighting style."
Chuck's face falls before he grins softly. "You really are something else, Shiro. I guess it's pointless to keep stalling, huh?"
"It would be. Aside from that, is that how you would fight in a melee combat scenario?"
"Yeah, I get it's a bit strange, but I feel it works best for me."
"There's nothing wrong with it, I just thought it would be difficult to keep that up."
"It's not; I actually feel most comfortable doing this."
"If that's the case, then I should probably take you a bit more seriously." Shiro remarks.
"Shall we finish this?" Chuck asks, already knowing the outcome.
"Indeed. Show me what you're capable of."
Chuck dashes towards Shiro with an impressive burst of speed from pushing off the ground. Right as he nears Shiro, he ducks low and attempts an uppercut at Shiro's chin. Shiro dodges to his left, and kicks Chuck in the shoulder, knocking him off balance. Chuck quickly recovers, rolling into a kneeling position before charging straight at Shiro. He aims his fist at Shiro's head, but before he can make contact with Shiro's head, the bodyguard moves faster than Chuck anticipated, doing a backflip and kicking Chuck's abdomen in the process. Chuck lands halfway out of the sparring ring on his face, right in front of Walkure.
Chuck groans as he rolls over to see the girls looking down on him.
"Are you okay, Chuck-san?" Freyja's concerned expression makes him grin.
"Don't worry, I've definitely been through worse." Chuck responds.
"That look like it hurt." Mikumo states blankly.
"That was an impressive performance, Chuck." Kaname kneels down to give him a water bottle, which he gratefully takes.
"You lasted a lot longer than Mira-Mira and Haya-Haya, Chuck. Good job." Makina chimes bubbly.
"I didn't know you were capable of going that fast or hitting that hard. I think you actually made Shiro try a bit." Reina adds.
"Indeed he did." Shiro confirms from the ring. "You were thinking, planning, executing, all while you were fighting me. I see why you're Delta Platoon's tactician."
"Wait, what about us?" Mirage asks.
"I thought I did pretty well." Hayate says.
"Both of you exceeded my expectations. However, that doesn't mean your skills are good enough as is. Chuck so far is the only one that I have some confidence in to emerge successful from a hand-to-hand engagement." Shiro calmly states.
Hayate and Mirage frown at each other, before back at Shiro.
"I take it that means we'll be getting extra attention from you during our practice sessions?" Mirage timidly asks.
"That much, you can expect."
"Having said that, I would like to ask you something, Chuck."
"Ask away, Shiro." Chuck responds.
"You fought with an impressive level of stamina. How did you attain such a level of endurance?"
"Well, as you can probably tell, I'm one of the locals here on Ragna. I swam a lot as a child and I still do, so I guess that would be where all my energy comes from."
"How far can you swim without getting exhausted?"
"On a regular basis, probably ten to fifteen miles, depending on current."
"Hmm, thank you for this information. I might just put it to good use," Shiro thinks aloud, looking at Hayate and Mirage. The two pilots' eyes widen at what they think Shiro might be considering.
"Oh, fuck. I hope he doesn't make us swim that far. I don't think I can do five miles." Hayate estimates softly.
"He can't do that, can he?" Mirage near silently asks back.
"I'll have to ask Arad if I can extend my training jurisdiction." Shiro says, directing his eyes to the two pilots, who pale at Shiro's gaze.
"Just don't go overboard, Shiro. You can't expect us to compete with Chuck over here. He'll always have the advantage in that kind of exercise." Arad states.
"I have no intention of doing so. If anything, I'll probably be more intensive with Chuck than the three of you, so don't worry about that."
"Okay then. So I guess it's my turn to jump in the fire?"
"I believe the term is 'the frying pan?'"
Arad chuckles softly before stepping in the ring. "Don't expect anything crazy out of me. I may be in good shape for my age, but I'm not as young as the rest of Delta Platoon."
Shiro nods. "I'll take that into account."
Arad cracks his neck before assuming a judo stance, similar to Mirage's.
He must have been the one that trained Mirage. I estimate that he'll last longer, but won't be as flexible as Mirage, physically and mentally. This may get interesting.
"I assume you want the same thing out of me that you want out of the others?" Arad asks as he swings at Shiro.
"Not quite," Shiro responds as he counters Arad with a punch on his own. "I want to see how long you can hold up in an extended melee engagement."
"You're not still upset about the whole flight training incident, are you?" Arad asks as he blocks Shiro's punch, the action moving him back a few feet.
"I'm not entirely upset, just curious if that's how you train all of your pilots." Shiro kicks off his leg and and performs a mid sweeping kick at Arad's torso.
Arad is caught off guard by the sudden burst in speed leading to the attack. He takes the blow, tumbling toward the edge of the ring before getting up. "Man, you really hit hard. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to kill me."
"That is not my objective. Besides, I did promise not to do anything that could be perceived as aggressive," Shiro says as he grabs Arad's arm and throwing him over his back, putting Arad back in the center of the ring.
"Your actions and your words don't belong together, Shiro." Arad chuckles as he unleashes a flurry of punches at Shiro.
"Well, they would if we weren't sparring right now." Shiro replies as he blocks and deflects Arad's punches.
After the umpteenth punch, Arad begins to slow down his punches, and opportunity Shiro did not pass up. He grabs Arad's shoulders and uses them to flip over Arad. He lands behind Arad, and before Arad can turn around, he punches Arad square in the back, sending the senior pilot skidding to the edge of the ring, in front of Delta Platoon.
"Ungh, I think I might be getting too old for this." He groans as he rolls over to face his subordinates.
"Captain, you're in your mid-thirties." Mirage states blankly.
"Technically, I'm 38, an age most guys retire." Arad sits up.
"You don't plan on retiring anytime soon." Hayate adds, giving him a water bottle.
"No, but I should get some slack, right?"
"No." The pilots respond simultaneously.
"You guys are cold." Arad chuckles softly before standing up and walking over to the wall.
"Perhaps it's better that they are," Shiro says, grabbing a water bottle from his duffel bag, "that way, you can keep performing at your peak. That aside, you performed very well, you just need to improve your reactivity."
Arad sighs. "Yeah, I know. They've still got ways to go though, haven't they?"
Shiro looks at Hayate and Mirage, who tense up at his gaze. "They need a lot of work. I'm not certain I can get them up to your standards. It depends on how much time we have."
"Don't worry about it. Now that we've had our practice, I believe it's Walkure's turn now." Arad turns to the singers, who fidget nervously, aside from Mikumo, who seems distant.
"Mikumo. It's our turn to spar with Shiro now." Kaname's voice grabs Mikumo's attention, the latter blinking a couple times and turning to face the group.
"Oh, right." Mikumo absentmindedly responds.
"There is one thing I'd like to make clear before we start." Shiro begins. "The point of me sparring with you girls is to train you all in self defense, should the need for you to defend yourselves without us arise. However, there are some things I cannot prepare or train you for. I'm sure you're all aware of some of the things that may happen should you be captured and held hostage." He looks at all of them to make sure they understand. After confirming their understanding, he continues. "I believe this goes without saying, but just in case one of you forgets, if you are faced with the decision between engaging a hostile and escaping, you need to pick the latter. To be blunt, no amount of physical training can ensure that you can fight on even ground with a soldier, so don't do anything of the sort, understood?"
They all nod.
"Good. Your training is going to be different from Delta Platoon's. While their objective is engage and defend you girls, your objective is to survive and evade. To train you girls, we're going to play a game of sorts, if you want to call it that. Near the Elysion's current location, there is a forest along a cliffside. At the end, there is a marked point at which I want all of you to reach. Your objective for this is to resist capture from a search group and make it to the point."
"Wait, who's going to be in the search group?" Freyja asks.
"I will select two other members from Delta Platoon to be in the search group, alongside myself."
"Wait, what?" Hayate stops to process the information.
"Half of Delta Platoon is going to act as a search party attempting to search for Walkure. The other half will stay at the point, to receive any members of Walkure that reach the point. The search party members are allowed to "capture" a member of Walkure should they find one; to capture, all they do is restrain them in a manner where they can't move for five seconds. If the member of Walkure escapes within five seconds of being pinned, they can continue to advance towards the point. If not, then the member of Delta Platoon that captured the member of Walkure will bring her to a designated point. For you to succeed, you must either evade capture for an hour, or make it to the rendezvous point."
"It's going to be dark soon, how are we supposed to reach the point through a forest in the dark?" Reina asks.
"I will provide you all with basic supplies: a canteen of water, a small first aid kit, and a compass. Some of you will get flashlights, others will get batteries. If you manage to link up with another member of Walkure, you can give the batteries to the one who has the flashlight. You will all start off in different locations, but the endpoint does not move." Shiro explains as he hands out the basics. He hands Makina a couple batteries, Reina a flashlight, Freyja one battery and a flashlight, and Kaname a single battery. He gives nothing to Mikumo. "For this particular exercise, we will be operating as if we have no communications available."
"What do we do if we get in trouble?" Freyja asks.
"There's a whistle attached to the compass, but only use it if you're in mortal danger."
"Who's going to be at the rendezvous point, and who's going to be the search party?" Kaname asks.
"I will only disclose that to Delta Platoon. You have five minutes to prepare yourselves. There are two shuttles on the flight deck of the Aether, one for Walkure and one for Delta Platoon. We will leave around the same time, but we will not be able to see each other's drop locations."
Having said all that, Shiro and Delta Platoon go to the back of the room, while Walkure goes to the flight deck of the Aether.
Six minutes later, the flight deck of the Aether
"So that's it, huh?" Hayate frowns.
"I should've figured he'd do this." Mirage sighs.
"Well, I can't say he's not doing a good job so far." Chuck notes.
"Yeah, at least everything he's doing is relevant to them and our line of work." Arad states.
"I'll be honest, I definitely didn't see this coming." Kaname says.
"Me neither. If we were doing this two months ago, I'd think it was pointless, but now, not so much." Reina agrees.
"I'm still not totally up for this, but I see why we're doing it." Freyja notes.
"Well, at least we're not going to get beat up like you guys did." Makina chides, looking at the pilots.
"Don't hold your breath." Chuck looks back at the singers. "If you're not careful, you might end up on Shiro's bad side."
"I'd rather you not put bad ideas in their minds, Chuck." Shiro's voice cuts through the atmosphere. "I'm here with the purpose of training them in whatever way I can. I've read the reports from when you attempted an operation into Windermere. Which, needless to say, was a serious failure. Mikumo got captured, and Makina was wounded by a sniper. Even though things worked out in the end, you can't simply leave it to chance that things will work out."
"You seem extra serious about this. Is this something that you personally find important?" Mikumo asks, her crimson eyes locked on Shiro, who is organizing equipment on the shuttle.
Shiro pauses for a second. "In a way, yes. Just do me a favor, and actually take this seriously. I'm incredibly skilled, but there are some things I cannot do; protecting you girls while I'm not in your vicinity is one of them. I cannot guarantee that I'll always be there to protect you girls."
Shiro's answer seemed solid to the pilots who were listening to him, but to Walkure, it only raised more questions. What each of the singers questioned, however, was a totally different story. Naturally, it seemed a bit suspicious to Kaname for Shiro to be as concerned as he was over their safety; Makina and Reina thought it a bit strange for the man who rarely showed emotion to be so intense over training. Freyja and Mikumo both thought that Shiro knew more than he was letting on. That, or he had his own reason for becoming Mikumo's protector.
"Is everyone ready?" Arad asks.
The group members look between each other, then back at Arad.
"As ready as we'll ever be." Hayate answers.
"Good. Walkure, you're on shuttle one. Delta Platoon, you're on shuttle two. Good luck to everyone." Shiro calmly says.
With that everyone boarded their respective shuttles, and they took off. Shuttle two took off first, followed shortly by shuttle one.
Shuttle two
Shiro opens his duffel bag, checking the contents.
"Hey Shiro." Hayate calls out.
Shiro closes the bag and looks up at Hayate. "Yes, Hayate?"
"Did you have a particular reason to assigning me and Mirage to marking the rendezvous point?"
"Not anything special. Why do you ask?"
"Just curious. It seemed like you meant to separate everyone."
"That's pretty much the point of the exercise. This is to simulate a scenario where Walkure gets shot down over enemy lines, and has to evade capture from a hostile party. Last time this happened, it didn't end very well for some of them, or you, for that matter. You, Mirage, and Freyja were almost executed; although you were able to get into your Siegfrieds and escape, you can't rely on luck or chance to save yourselves. You'll eventually meet a painful death if you do, or worse yet, people that you care about will." Shiro's words weighed heavily on the pilot.
"You sound like the voice of experience." Mirage softly interjects.
Shiro turns to look at them out of the corner of his eye, a slight grimace visible. "I really wish I wasn't."
"Have you had people close to you die for similar reasons?" Arad asks.
The other three pilots stare at their squad leader, somewhat taken aback by his blunt question.
"C-Captain." Mirage and Chuck both stutter.
Shiro holds his hand up, drawing their attention before sitting in his seat. "I've lost a good number of people, people I considered family, for one of two reasons. One, they were too careless or stupid to stop themselves from screwing up when it mattered most. They were akin to Hayate and Freyja; they were very capable and skilled, but more often than not, they wouldn't always bring their best to battle. They were had an 'all-or-nothing' mentality, and for a while, it worked out fine. They thought it would always be, and they paid for it. That's why I abhor people with carefree mentalities. I can't tell if they know when to take things seriously, and I can't trust them for that. I'm well aware that you put forth your best effort in battle, Hayate, but you can't wait to be in battle to take things seriously. You need to try your best whenever it's applicable, whether it be training exercises, or in battle. Let me tell you now, it's not a pleasant feeling to watch someone die for reasons that could have easily been avoided."
Hayate looks down for a minute before looking back at Shiro. "I fully understand what you're trying to tell me, Shiro, really, I do; it's just that, I want Freyja to enjoy the rest of her life, and I want to be there for her, wherever, whenever, lest I be the reason she can't be happy."
"How does that relate to your efforts?" Shiro asks, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Freyja doesn't have as long a lifespan as regular people. She's from Windermere, and Winderemereans only live to about 30 years old; most don't even make it that far. The fact of the matter is, she's already showing signs of aging, and she's only 15." Hayate grits his teeth as he grimaces.
"And there isn't a simple solution to this; otherwise you would've already tried it?" Shiro assumes.
"Yeah."
"This is a curious topic, as this is the first I have ever heard of this. Is Windermere a hostile planet?"
"No, it's really cold, but we've all been there, and nothing stood out to me as particularly hostile. Maybe the local wildlife, but I don't know about anything else."
"So you don't know much about the issue, and even less about the solution."
Hayate nods.
Shiro looks out the window. "Well, that problem aside, you need to know when and where to put forth extra effort. Sometimes you just need to take a step back and evaluate the whole situation, and determine what you need to do, and how to go about doing it."
"Something tells me you learned all this the hard way." Hayate softly mutters to himself.
"You have no idea." Shiro returns at an equally quiet tone.
Shuttle one
Mikumo stares blankly at her pack, which has nothing but the basic supplies that were handed out by Shiro. She takes out the first aid kit and opens it.
"What're you thinking about, Kumo-Kumo?" Makina asks in her usual bubbly tone.
"Do you think Shiro's being hard on you?" Reina asks.
"No, not at all. It's just...strange." Mikumo absentmindedly responds.
"What is?" The duo asks.
"Shiro gave me a first aid kit with a knife and flare in it." Mikumo says, gazing at the blade of the knife.
"Why did he do that? None of ours have those two items in it, do they?" Kaname asks, checking her kit.
The other girls check their kits to confirm the presence of the items in question, and after a minute they close their respective packs.
"I don't have those."
"Me neither"
"Same here."
"I guess he's giving you special treatment?"
Mikumo inspects the knife's blade closer, seeing an engraved text on the back edge of the blade. She couldn't read the text, so she put the knife away, closing her kit. "I suppose there's no use worrying about it now."
At that moment, an alarm sounds, drawing their attention.
"We can't be at the drop zone already, we've been flying for barely two minutes." Makina says, tensing up.
"That's the lock-on alarm. Someone's locked on to our shuttle!" Kaname yells as the blaring intensifies.
"Walkure! Brace for impact!" The pilot yells over his shoulder.
Right after he finishes, there are a flurry of faint whizzing sounds, followed by the shattering of glass. Mikumo looks in horror at the cockpit's glass, which is riddled with cracks and holes, some of which have red splatter marks on them. An explosion rocks the shuttle, the frame groaning and straining from the impact. The shuttle suddenly dives sharply, sending the girls flying and hitting the walls of the shuttle. They all grab the nearest sturdy shuttle part to steady themselves.
"What just happened?!" Freyja yells as she grabs the bar on the roof of the shuttle.
"The pilot's dead!" Mikumo raises her voice to be heard over the scream of the shuttle going down.
"Who's attacking us?!" Makina yells as she grabs an unconscious Reina and braces herself and Reina against the wall of the shuttle.
"I don't know! This wasn't the plan! Everyone, stick together and brace-" Kaname doesn't finish as the shuttle is suddenly ripped in half down the middle.
The shuttle crashes in two different locations, each half leaving a scorched trail of scraps and twisted chunks of metal amidst the trunks of trees decimated by the crash. Off in the distance, the Elysion is ravaged by a series of explosions, running up the leg units. The turret mounts detonate, parts raining down into the ocean bed where the Elysion is resting. The 'torso' of the Elysion sinks lower as the leg units of the Macross unit crumble. The Aether and the Herrara sink into the water up to their mid-lines.
Three minutes later, somewhere in the forest
Mikumo staggers as she carries an unconscious Freyja. She manages to gently lower Freyja before collapsing. She coughs up a bit of blood as she lies on the ground, agonizing pain coursing through her body.
"Thanks for the knife, Shiro. It really came in handy." Mikumo softly groans before collapsing.
Hey guys, hope you enjoy the story so far! This chapter is now the longest so far, but I'm 90% sure they'll get longer, so I hope that makes the readers that wanted longer chapters happy. Anyways, leave a review, and see you all later!