Assignment 10: The Battle for Tokyo
"Move into critical areas. Don't let the Avalon crash! Help those around you! We will move on Tokyo now!" Schniezel had set some explosives aboard the Avalon, and detonated them as his ship was destroyed. Schniezel hadn't told Kanon about these, so I couldn't have warned the crew about them, but I still felt responsible. Zero had crushed the Brittanian air fleet in mere minutes, but he wasn't able to prevent the deaths of some of his most valuable subordinates.
"Leann?" Kallen had walked up beside me and put her hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright?"
I pushed her hand away. "I'm fine."
"No, you're not. You should come to the bridge."
"I'm going to visit the infirmary." I walked away from Kallen, miserable. So far we had 34 casualties, but that number could only rise higher. I even knew a couple of the people that had died. Tamaki and Inoue had both been killed by the blast. Quietly, I sat beside one of the young men that had been injured. His name was Haru Yawasaki, and had been in the engine room when the bombs went off. He was now missing his right arm, and his left eye had been poked out by shrapnel. When he saw my face, he was initially confused, because I was in Leann form.
"Who are you?" he asked, not sure where he was.
"I'm-" I paused, not sure what to say.
"An angel?" he asked hopefully. I wanted to say no, to say that I was a demon that shouldn't be allowed anywhere, but I found myself nodding. I wasn't even sure if the boy would survive the night. It was so cruel. The people who had the most value in life were struck by tragedy, while those who had everything one sought to gain would feel empty, like the void of space, where nothing was left but cold regret.
"What happened?"
"Schniezel hid some explosives aboard the ship and detonated them. Schniezel has been defeated, but we have lost many talented people."
"Are you new here?"
I shook my head. "I was one of the founding members of the Black Knights. I'm always in disguise, but you have seen me before." He looked at me strangely.
"Why so you disguise yourself?"
"Because the royals would recognize me." Haru was surprised to hear that.
"Are you Brittanian?" I nodded. In my pocket, my phone started to vibrate. I excused myself and went outside to answer the phone.
"Yes?"
"It's me." Zero was on the other line.
"What do you want?"
"A status report on the ship, and our casualties." I sighed. Zero always cut straight to the point.
"The Avalon can still fly, but needs repair before seeing any combat situations. We have 9 dead, 14 seriously injured, and 21 with non-life threatening injuries. Anything else, Lord Zero?"
"We will be returning to base theta. I will rendezvous with you there in thirty-one minutes."
"Roger that. Q-2 out." I hung up the phone. I didn't know how Zero could be so calm after such a disaster. I walked to my personal quarters and stepped into the shower. I was hoping that the hot water would take my mind off the sight of those men and women in the infirmary, screaming, their bloody bodies staining the pristine white sheets with blood. After a half hour, the water turned cold, forcing me to get out, shivering.
There came a knock at my door, so I dressed and answered. C.C. was staring me down in the doorway.
"What do you want?
"I came to ask you for something."
"And what would that be?"
"I want all of V.V.'s data that you can access." I handed her a thumb drive that I grabbed from my pocket. Slightly surprised, she took it. "Why did you have this in your pocket?"
"I was planning to give it to you when you boarded."
"Oh." C.C. paused as she received a page from Zero. "You are to go to the R&D department on the third floor. Rakshata has an upgrade for your Knightmare." I thanked C.C. and headed for the research and development department on the third floor of our base. I opened the door to Rakshata's sneaky smile.
Rakshata had made the Guren fly. The float pack was blue to match the color of the Guren. I stared at the Guren Flight Enabled Version. It was calling me, begging me to take it out for a spin and destroy some Brittanian scum.
"How do you like it?" Rakshata asked, expectantly.
"It's wonderful." I breathed.
"Good. You will be needing to pilot this in the upcoming battle for Tokyo." I swallowed hard. We were going to take over Tokyo like we had planned, it's just it was delayed 4 weeks. Zero had an amazing plan to get us inside the city.
"Thanks for all your hard work, Rakshata."
"No problem. I always enjoy a good challenge."
I grinned. "You just want to outdo that Brittanian Earl, don't you?" I teased.
Rakshata scoffed. "As if. He's been trying to catch up the entire time. My Gefjun disturbers have been put into place. All that's left is for Zero to give the order."
"Well, see you later." I called over my shoulder as I walked out of the R&D department. I had a strategy meeting to attend. It wouldn't do to be late.
The meeting ended just like I had expected. Zero had revealed his brilliant plan to take over the Tokyo settlement, and we had followed his orders to the letter in preparation for this battle. I needed my rest, so I sank into my pillows and fell to sleep.
The next morning, I got up and walked to my hangar. Rakshata was waiting for me when I got there. The Guren was one of her favorite babies. Rakshata wasn't going to let it be mishandled.
"Morning, Rakshata." I said, still somewhat sleepy.
"Hop in, Miyan." She gestured for me to enter the Guren.
"Right, right." I said, grabbing the key and sitting down in the cockpit. My mission was to go in and assist in the capture of the government complex. Zero had discovered an underground escape route that I was to destroy. After that, I would battle some of the Brittanian forces. The hangar doors opened up, so I strapped in and started up the Guren.
The Brittanian forces were all lined up on the walls of the Tokyo settlement, where they stood, imposing on us their superiority like a tiger over a deer. But their position was their undoing. Zero ordered for their surrender, but the Brittanians refused. Then Zero activated his plan. First, he opened the earthquake stabilizers that held up the settlement and protected it from seismic damage. But when it crumbled, we rushed in to finish off the Brittanians.
I was heading toward my destination when I was stopped by several Knightmares. They were Gloucesters, but they had been modified to allow for greater battle performance. Then I heard Luciano's distinctive voice call out for my slaughter.
"That's one of Zero's aces. I will finish her like a bag of potato chips." His Knightmare frame was certainly somewhat impressive, what with its MVS particle drill lance and grey lavender coloring, but my Knightmare was better. His was restricted to the ground, while mine could fly like a bird. However, Luciano didn't know that, so I was waiting for the right moment to play that particular card.
He rushed me with his drill lance, aiming to hit my right arm just below the shoulder, but I dodged to the left and grabbed his lance with my RWS and hit it to the max. The lance initially held out against the radiation, but even the power of the spinning MVS lance couldn't take that much destructive power. I grinned. Luciano was going to be no problem at all. He finally detached his useless weapon, and drew his backup MVS sword. My slash harken found its way right into his Yggdrasil drive, exploding.
The other three Knightmare pilots must have been surprised at how fast one of the Knights of the Round had gone down. The maroon Knightmare on the left moved some of its shoulder and hip pieces to form a cannon. I went into a defensive stance, knowing that the blast was likely powerful enough to destroy most Knightmares in one hit, but I was confident in my RWS, so I braced myself for the oncoming attack. The Knightmare had a modified Hadron Cannon, and its destructive power would have been immense if the beam had been condensed into a single beam. As it was, the blast was largely unfocused and it missed me thanks to my RWS. I had discovered in that instance that if I diffused the RWS, then it could almost be used as a shield.
After the attack subsided, I rush at the Knightmare to take it out before it charged up again. The Hadron Cannon was still dangerous if used correctly, and I wanted to avoid a direct hit. I pulled out the knife that accompanied the Guren and charged for the maroon Knightmare, but the black and gold Knightmare on the right charged me with its blade drawn. I met it with aggression, knowing that this Knightmare was special. I didn't know how, but I suspected that there was more to this Knightmare than you first believed.
The Knightmare I was fighting swung it's blade and managed to hit my left shoulder. I cut my arm clean off above the elbow. Frustrated, I leaped at the Knightmare and grabbed the right arm of the Knightmare. He tried to break free but my RWS started to boil his arm. He ejected his arm and fell back. I chased after him, but was caught by surprise when it changed into jet and flew into the sky. It was a lot faster than me in the air, so I decided to stay grounded. I was not expecting to get blasted from behind.
The maroon Knightmare that I had left alone had charged up its super Hadron Cannon and fired it directly at me. I didn't have time to use my RWS so I activated my float pack and took to the air. I was almost shot down by the flying Knightmare/Jet but I started to use the RWS to block it. The blast was too strong for it to dissipate and my right arm was mostly destroyed. I swore. Rakshata wasn't going to be happy when she learned that I had been taken out by two experimental KMFs.
The flying Knightmare was preparing to finish me off when a yellow slash harken penetrated its wing. It electrified, and the Knightmare began to short out. The pilot of the flying Knightmare was lucky enough to come to a safe landing, but wasn't lucky enough to get away from the Shen Hu.
"Thanks Kallen." I said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"No problem." She replied. The maroon Knightmare was still on the ground and charging up her beam.
"Careful, she has a large Hadron Cannon. It isn't focused like ours, but it still packs a nasty punch."
"Thanks for telling me. Hyaah!" She cried as she launched her Shen Hu at the maroon Knightmare. The maroon Knightmare fired her Hadron Cannon, but at the same moment, Kallen fired her Baryon Cannon. The Baryon Cannon had a lot more power so it cut through the Hadron Cannon and hit the maroon Knightmare head on. The maroon Knightmare activated its Blaze Luminous system, but even that was no match for the destructive power of the Baryon Cannon. The pilot managed to eject her cockpit before she was killed, but her Knightmare was destroyed.
The final Knightmare, an orange one with two Hadron Blasters on its wrists and an active float system. It was the Blasteind, and I wanted to take it down, but I was weaponless, so I headed back to base to get it fixed up.
The rest of the battle went by pretty quickly, from what I could tell. The experimental Knightmares that the Brittanians had deployed had been no match for Kallen's Shen Hu, and the rest of the opposing forces had been dealt with quickly by the main troops of the Black Knights. Princess Euphemia had been taken into our custody, and the Brittanians had surrendered to the Black Knights. It was only going to get worse from here on.