Chapter 35: Team Bonding
"Alright. We will now begin the exercise between four cute shotas" Astra playfully said, which immediately had a trion bullet fired right by her face. Takeru glared at her with an unhappy look.
"Don't you dare even get close".
"Its okay. If Astra does anything criminal, we can just beat her up and report her" Ryuu mentioned, his normally playful and happy voice somehow sounding menacing even though he said it normally.
"Either way, lets get this done. The better we learn about each other and our fighting ability, the better" Kotaro said as they entered the room. It was one of the training rooms they had for large scale tests. The first session would be a 2v2 battle, Shoutaro and Takeru vs Ryuu and Kotaro. Then, the four of them would fight a large group of Trion Soldiers together.
"And...beginning warp now!"
As for the battlefield, it was a large pumping station.
The map was small, and the warp points were not too far apart, so that way they could get right to it.
ANd of course, the teams went right for each other also. After all, the map was bad for sniping.
"So what is the plan?" Takeru asked.
"Ryuu has training with Kogetsu, but not as much. Kotaro will be weaker to my style. However, the approach will be difficult...so we should finish off Ryuu first. He wont use a sniper rifle on such a small map".
However, that was when they heard a shot ring out. Takeru and Shoutaro immediately dodged as an ibis shot wrecked through the building.
"...but I suppose he might try to change tactics to surprise us".
"Good to know" Takeru mentioned, jumping up and using Grasshopper to close in. He also open fired on Ryuu, while Shoutaro came forward. As this happened, viper shots came around the corner, but Takeru stopped and shot them all down, using the submachine gun that had a strap around his shoulder with one hand while he used grasshopper with the other.
"Kogetsu...senku!"
Ryuu unleashed a powerful slash, but Shoutaro covered Takeru with his shields that stopped the attack. More viper shots came around the corner, and Shoutaro blocked them, but at the same time he put up shields from behind. Surely enough, they came from that direction as well. But he was forced to dodge as rounds came from a third direction, ripping through his shields.
"Gimlet" Shoutaro muttered as he realized what was fired, right as Kotaro fired another Gimlet while the viper rounds were still coming.
Kotaro had shout countless Viper rounds in advance, setting them up to fire in paths that would delay trajectory while he moved into position and fired Gimlet. With bullets coming from so many directions at once, Kotaro seeked to overwhelm them early, as was his nature.
Takeru however intercepted many of the viper shots, preventing them from hitting as he then open fired on Ryuu, who took cover behind a wall. The wall was quickly breaking down though, as Takeru threw a weird sci-fi looking grenade into the air. This grenade immediately started flying and flew right at Ryuu, forcing him to run, but it turned to chase him.
Ryuu managed to unleash a senku and hit it mid air, where it exploded.
"Salamander Grenades? That is some welcoming" Ryuu muttered, when he noticed something coming from above. He quickly shielded, as countless hound rounds came down on him.
And then he put up another shield to block Takeru's asteroid barrage from his SMG.
"Meteora!".
And Ryuu returned fire with meteora, to blast Takeru to pieces as Takeru released more grenades before raising a shield himself.
"I see now...so that is who has been mentoring you" Takeru mentioned, as Ryuu captured each grenade in a shield and forced them to detonate like that. "You have quite a few good mentors. Arafune-sempai for switching between combat stances, Azuma-sempai for using radar and placement to shoot through walls, Kurobe-kun for Trion manipulation, and Kurogami-kun for shooting lessons, right?"
Ryuu was suddenly a bit off put, and at that moment Takeru came at him full force.
Not only did he guess who taught me what, but he also used it to surprise me and used that opening to attack? Thats not something a normal B-Rank would do...
Ryuu deployed a shield, and then in a surprise, curved part of the shield into a rest as he formed Ibis and rested the barrel on it, pointing it right at Takeru and firing. Takeru used grasshopper to dodge, only to suddenly find himself thrown off balance as he hit a wire.
"Spider?!"
Ryuu then right at him with Kogetsu, but then was launched backwards, as a grasshopper pad had been placed right in front of him. Takeru open fired right back, but Ryuu shielded as Meteora came right at him. He shielded direct hits, but some of it impacted the wires right behind Takeru, and this time it blew him up for sure. And yet, as the smoke dissipated, he was nowhere to be seen. Ryuu realized he had a reaction to the right, and saw him using the wires to help him evade. He open fired at Ryuu, but Ryuu returned fire while shielding. And yet...the shield didn't block them, as weights appeared all over his body.
It was lead bullet. Takeru then released an entire clip of hound shots into the air, before switching to Asteroid and firing from the front. "I can attack from multiple sides too".
He said this as he threw more grenades at Ryuu. However, he suddenly had an arm cut off all of a sudden.
What?
Somehow, in between Meteora, Ryuu had used his Kogetsu and released a Senku.
How did I miss that...
That said, Ryuu had taken some damage as well, as he was leaking Trion and weighted down.
But those two were not the only two fighting.
"Its been awhile since we last fought each other so seriously" Shoutaro said, as Kotaro closed in with a Scorpion while Viper rounds came from all around him. "This is fun".
Shoutaro still had Kogetsu out, but in his off hand he brought out a handgun and fired at Kotaro. Suddenly he stopped firing as he brought it down, but Kotaro knew that was a feint. The real attack was a mole claw from below. Otherwise, he would already start dodging the viper shots inbound.
Kogetsu clashed with the scorpion, and broke through easily. However, the attack did not come from below as Kotaro predicted, but as he dodged the Kogetsu, a scorpion blade came out of the blade. Unless of course, it was Gen'Yo...
But stopping to think about it would result in Kotaro losing. So he dodged that too and went for Shoutaro's legs, but a shield appeared there, as well as countless mini-shields. The viper shots went around them of course, but Shoutaro blocked them too. Kotaro then went for the leg, but he saw many futures where he was defeated.
But that didn't matter to him, as he had already accomplished what he needed to. The thing that appeared under Kotaro, something he had switched something out of his Trigger slot for...was Grasshopper. And he launched Shoutaro into the air. Shoutaro then went flying, and in that moment, an Ibis shot that was fired by Ryuu ahead of time already hit him.
As such, Shoutaro ended up bailing out and hitting the mat in the branch.
"Well...I suppose I should have expected that".
Meanwhile, in that moment, Takeru used the chance to get close to Ryuu, but viper shots that had been headed for Shoutaro suddenly had changed directions and come towards him. This distracted him as Ryuu then fired an Ibis rifle right at him, and finished him off.
"The team of Kotaro-kun and Ryuu-kun has won!"
As that was said, Takeru landed on another bail out mat, while Kotaro and Ryuu walked out.
"That was tough. I nearly got had there" Kotaro mentioned, when Shoutaro threw a water bottle in his face. "Hey!"
"We weren't allies in that moment. You should have hit me with an asteroid, instead of making Ryuu shoot me. We both know a huge chunk of asteroid close range would have done the job better then grasshopper".
Takeru paused for a moment, reading something in the room. He had heard about Kotaro's trauma, as well as what happened during the invasion, so it didn't take him much to figure it out that Kotaro had difficulties firing at Shoutaro.
"Sorry...but, its not something I can just get over" Kotaro replied. "In any case, I thought switching it up by putting Grasshopper in there was a clever idea".
"Just, make sure you talk to us about these things and dont hold it in" Shoutaro told him.
"Ahhh...this would make such a good wholesome but also romantic BL comic between two elementary school boys" Astra mentioned, breaking the serious and foreboding atmosphere.
"Go die in a hole!"
"I wonder if we can get a new Operator?"
"I swear if you even think about writing me into anything I will shoot you".
"Who wants to play a game where we guess if Astra is in a Trion Body by attacking her?"
"Jokes aside, the simulation room has loaded up the next scenario. After that, it should be fine for your review session" Astra mentioned, as Ayumu came down the stairs.
"I can help if that will make things easier. I recently got the data we got from the new types, so we can add those in. Also, those Colsaria goons that were hounding us lately as well, I got their data from Tamakoma".
"Ah, thanks Ayumu!" Astra replied. "You guys head in, we will load it into the simulator".
The four boys decided to head in, and loaded up a new map. This time, they were at a dam itself. It was the dam up river from Mikado City, which you could drive to by going down the road that headed by the Okino Hot Springs and Inn.
"Okay. So here is the goal" Astra started to explain. "You have to destroy all the Trion Soldiers before they cause damage to the damn. So you all cant just go wild and attack the soldiers, you need to coordinate and prioritize and make sure none of them inflict damage to it".
"Hold on, Trion wrecks normal buildings...is this a Trion dam, or a normal one?" Shoutaro asked as he looked down from the top of the damn.
"Oh, you don't know? The dam is owned by Border. The original one got hit by a stray shot during the first invasion...its why so much of the forbidden zone looks grimy, but doesn't have random trash or such everywhere. It all got washed away".
"Ah...now that you say that..."
"Anyways, it only hit a section of it though, but no one really talks about it much as it got grouped in with the giant alien robots attacking everything. Anyways, yes, the dam is made of Trion, so it wont get destroyed in a single hit...by most Trion Soldiers".
"Loading complete. There will be one hundred Trion Soldiers you have to fight. It will consist of thirty dogs, twenty idras, ten marmods, ten bamsters, ten Vanders, ten Bados, five Ilgars, and Five Rabbits".
As they had the Trion to do large scale attacks, Kotaro and the other two had defeated many Rabbits during the Large Scale invasion by Afto. However, all of that at once was a lot. They mainly did repeated short battles, and they never had a protection target.
"This is insane".
"Well, you have the No. 4 Shooter, the No. 8 Gunner, a boy who while classified as a sniper is a Perfect All Rounder in training basically, and someone whose skill with Scorpion should be up there with the top ten. Besides, this level of stress should help you bond as a team".
As that was said, the gates began to open right in front of them. Naturally, they did not all deploy at once, so the faster they worked together before the rest came in the better.
"Ryuu, cover us from up here. Shoutaro, take the front, and attack the main group. I will support the mid, cover you and get any that gets by. Takeru, take the flank. Wherever we need help. That is our starting formation, but...if Ayumu and Astra are running this simulation, we might have to change it up".
"What do you mean?" Takeru asked.
"In terms of combat, Ayumu is good...but when it comes to Operation and strategy, he tends to go for Overkill".
As that was said, the opening wave revealed to have three ilgars.
Kotaro immediately used Grasshopper to go up.
"And the plan changed already!" Takeru shouted.
"its fine! We just need to hold them off. Ryuu, focus on the groups and tough enemies! Dont let them get close! Target Ilgars, Vanders, and Rabbits especially! And make preparations!"
"Okay!"
Shoutaro and Takeru hopped down the dam, sliding down the curved side as a Rabbit seemed to charge towards the dam.
"Target this one first!"
Takeru open fired with rounds, which the Rabbit blocked with its tough arms. But, it then became covered in weights, which weighed it down.
And that let Ryuu snipe it easily with an ibis shot. However, three Idras intercepted with shields. The shield was broken still, but it absorbed some of the damage so the Rabbit only lost an arm, which freed up its mobility. Takeru continued to spray with lead bullets as they landed on the ground, but they were fired at in return. Shoutaro used his skill at Trion manipulation to block with shields, and prevent anyone from getting a hit on them.
Meanwhile, Kotaro landed on the Ilgar, and used his new technique to combine three asteroids together, and shot it right down into its head to destroy the core as its defense system activated. But that was not the only issue, as bombs rained down from above Kotaro as the other two Ilgars flew overhead.
"Seriously?!" Kotaro said, using shield to protect himself while using Grasshopper to escape. The Ilgar started to crash into the ground, but he noticed that even though it wasn't in self destruct mode, it was heading towards the dam all the same.
And then from behind, Kotaro narrowly dodged a surprise attack by an Idra that appeared to have become an Ace type.
"Seriously?! Oi, don't tell me...Ayumu?!"
The Idra went head on towards Kotaro, showing far more speed and agility.
But Kotaro had seen that coming, and already had his composite ready, firing it right at the Idra. It dodged of course, but his bullets tracked the dodge through the pre-set path and pierced it all the same. Bombs came from below, but the shots came back around and intercepted, blowing up several of them right at the source, and causing the Ilgar to blow itself up basically, shattering it to pieces. Only one left, but two more gates opened, and the other Ilgars came out.
"But that is fine...I will deal with them all!"
Meanwhile, the one that was going to crash into the dam was shot away, as several Ibis shots hit into it and the force knocked it off course, into a pack of Vanders.
"That was too close...Kota, please be careful where you drop your trash".
As that was said, an Ace Idra appeared by Ryuu, tossing some of those triggers that summoned dogs. They came right at him, but they got stuck on Ryuu's spider as he swung the Ibis around and fired, wiping out the entire path except for the Idra that dodged. One of the dogs with a blade came at Ryuu from behind, having been thrown elsewhere in anticipation of what Ryuu would do. But it too got stuck on a wire, and Kotaro threw a meteora back to destroy it and the others that were coming out as he drew Kogetsu and fended off the Idra.
"Damnit...as if this wasn't tough enough..."
And then, a blade appeared in the Idra's off hand and came at him with both attacks. It was also learning the position of the wires and came at him while avoiding them. Ryuu backed up and launched a senku at it, but it dodged into the air, where suddenly it got pierced by another Viper + Gimlet while Ryuu was already aiming towards the enemies by Shotuaro, and fired at another Rabbit that had been weighed down by lead bullet, this time taking it out. But the damaged Rabbit and another one came right at Shoutaro, forcing him to dodge while Takeru shot down a marmod that came from behind. He also threw up a few grenades, that flew towards some Bamsters headed their way.
"This is insane".
"Watch out, Ayumu is activating the Ace Mode on the Idras".
"I noticed!" Takeru said, as he shot at a few more Idras still in group combat mode. Shotuaro meanwhile struck at a rabit, but it dodged the Kogetsu blade. Right as that happened though, the blade morphed and came at the Rabbit's core, breaking it. But Takeru shielded him as a Bamster fired at him from a blind spot the rabbit created. "This really isn't easy".
This combat test was far tougher and more intense then they had actually anticipated or expected. And it had only just begun.
