Over time, it was found more efficient to limit the army to mechanised divisions as to focus manpower with the Guild; like this, we can assign agents to any military operations in need of infantry without losing them indefinitely. In turn, all armies around the world consist solely of specialists and aces to take over the more daunting tasks that do not require Makers or are unsuitable for them.

-Histoire

Summer had once again parted, leaving them in the chill winds of October. Rather it would have, were the three of them not sitting in a cafe and protected by windows.

Looking over her two friends, IF felt content in a way she would not have expected before. Meeting Compa had been lucky, and Nepgear became as good a friend over the past year. She was fully prepared to go through her teenage years by herself and accepted it, but things turned out much better than that.

Compa was sweet and thoughtful, if a little airheaded at times; Nepgear managed to climb out of her shell a little, though she remained shy around strangers.

"So, Iffy's birthday is coming up again." Compa noted it with a smile, reminding her of the fact and making IF sigh. She lost count of how often she told the other girl there was no need to do anything. It was nice that she did it anyway, but she really did not need to.

Unfortunately, Nepgear caught interest from that and turned a thoughtful look at the brunette by her side. "Really? When is it?" So she told her it was the twenty-sixth while Compa already rushed ahead wondering what kind of party to have. It had happened before, though IF still refused to have something that big. Her birthday was just like any other day.

Over the discussion however, Compa suddenly went quiet and turned her gaze downward; the other two quickly noticed and shifted their attention to the aspiring nurse. When she looked up, her gaze was tinged with curiousity. "Actually, I just noticed. When is your birthday, Nepgear?" IF blinked in response, realising that the purplette had never mentioned anything over the almost full year they knew each other.

Nepgear for her part fidgeted a little and played with a few strands of hair. "Oh, um, it's... tomorrow."

Both girls stared at her incredulously, IF more amused and Compa scandalised; the peach-haired girl leaned over the table, a whine almost audible in her voice: "Why didn't you tell us sooner? Now we can't prepare anything for you!"

IF, on the other hand, already got to thinking and threw a speculative glance at her colleague. "Your birthday is the sixth?" A nod. "I guess that makes sense. People might get weird about the date." Nepgear nodded slowly, her expression unreadable; IF did not pry. She knew from one of the children at home what sharing the birth date of Lady Purple Sister could lead to.

"It's okay, really." The purplette slowly got comfortable again, offering them both a weak smile. "Sis already prepared something, even if she won't tell me what it is. I can tell her to fill you in if you want?" They both agreed to that, which made the smile widen; Nepgear's lips curled up properly while Compa cheered.

Then IF's eyes caught the time and she sighed. "As fun as this is, we have to get going."

Nepgear checked her own phone and blinked at how fast the afternoon went by. "Goodness, you're right."

They quickly paid for their tea and cake, then waved Compa goodbye and headed out for the Guild. It was time for work once again.

. .

. .

For the first hour, they all thought it would be but another boring patrol in Virtua Forest. Nothing happened outside of a pair of Dogoos crossing their path.

While they were talking about their respective birthdays coming up, IF casually checked Chirper for any news, yet found nothing out of the ordinary. Ever since MAGES. had been appointed as a loweean Maker two months ago, she kept roleplaying in her chirps; CyberConnect2 from Lastation happily joined her the previous month, both as a Maker and with the roleplay.

Both women were twenty-two, three years below the average age of appointment for the position. IF knew they must be remarkable.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when their trackers chimed loudly, making the whole group stop to check the small screens; Gabriel pressed a button to play the message they all received, loud enough for everyone to hear: "This is Scout-336 calling every group near Virtua! A Dolphin spawned in the safe zone! One man is down already! Hurry!" The woman's last word was punctuated by a scream in the background.

IF already had her map app open before the message was played in full, the Guild-exclusive application receiving GPS-data from headquarters within seconds. She quickly cast a glance at where Nicos sat in the distance, then turned and pointed forward. "This way." Following her call, the whole group took off running. Alexis cursed under her breath as they ran.

As they themselves were close to the safe zone, their group did not take long to reach the fighting. First of all, they saw the Monster itself. Six metres long and green from its tail to the tip of its head, except for its batlike wings and the tips of its fins; the Dolphin was far too big to be held afloat by such small wings, yet rolled through the sky as if it were water. Golden windchimes filled the air with their music as shards of ice flew past, a smatter of crimson discolouring its normally golden horn.

There were several holes in the flank turned their way, gaping yet not bleeding.

Next they saw the people, four mages directing attacks with three gunners taking potshots, all of them hidden behind a tree or other. Six more agents stood in melee range as bullets and magic flew over their heads. Doing the math, IF noted that this meant two other teams had arrived before them.

While the adults were winded from their sprint, Nepgear and IF immediately went past the group in the back and joined the first line. Fire was held as they moved, though the Dolphin had gone to ground-level to evade them anyway. It's eyes were intelligent yet empty, taking in the additional enemies as it reoriented itself.

Taking in her allies, IF noted that most of them were already heavily bruised; the one man down was nowhere to be seen and the people with them were bleeding from minor wounds. No one acknowledged their presense as everyone focussed on the creature in front of them.

From behind them, a male voice shouted over the Dolphin's song: "Just keep it at bay, the mages can deal the damage!" As if on cue, a barrage of two lightning bolts and a dozen icicles went over their heads to force the Monster back down. It retreated with a low 'uumph' and reared back, the smell of ozone filling the air; IF shut out any fear she might have had as it charged their line. She knew she could do it, no matter how much part of her insisted she was unprepared.

When the Monster began to charge, all of them scattered to the sides. One woman with them was thrown aside as a fin glanced her, audibly breaking the arm and sending her away with a pained cry.

As everyone was still in the process of landing, the Monster's hide emitted ice to send after its victim; several shards drilled into her and brought out a pained screech. Then a long salvo from the second line pushed the Dolphin back, its momentary cover of the first line no longer there.

IF did not need to see Nepgear to know she was already turning around; as her friend darted off to tend to the downed woman, the brunette drew her own pistol while getting to her feet. Five shots were fired, each of them impacting close to the Monster's beady eye; its attention immediately focussed on her while IF clicked her tongue about having missed. Despite the next wave of fire and lightning rolling in, it formed more ice to shoot her way.

Two shards she could sidestep, three more she flicked out of the way of. Then came a hail that ran into a gout of flame, courtesy of Nepgear. Someone else already carried the now healed woman off, so the purplette was back in.

Another two groups appeared between the trees now, taking the Monster into a pincer-attack from both flanks. Mages continued bombarding it, though the first on IF's end began to run out. The Dolphin was pushed back and started thrashing around, clearly injured. Hundreds of smaller and bigger holes were burned, smashed, and torn into its hide.

With more agents however, it also became harder to get a good shot in; the Monster stayed hidden behind trees or their own people, trying to keep its distance from the first line while also lashing out at them. Two more people got injured during this back and forth and IF wondered how to break the stalemate. Despite being a newborn, their opponent apparently knew not to take flight lest it would be an easy target.

"IF!" A shout caught her attention and she disengaged, taking a few steps back and letting others close the line, before turning her head. Nepgear was done with her latest patient and wore a determined expression. She was also tense. "Give me a push!"

She had her sword drawn, the cold metal almost gleaming; IF took a moment to understand what she meant, then cast a look around at the fighting going on. Magical projectiles continued to zip over their heads and down at the Monster at times, with the gunners taking potshots when they could. That would not do.

After nodding at her friend, she called out to everyone: "Hold fire!" And in the same moment, Nepgear started to dash her way. While those behind them immediately noticed and stopped, IF bend forward. It was a slight issue of not making her katars clank together, but she angled them in a way that gave her joined hands more stability.

When the blur that was Nepgear jumped and landed on them however, she felt a heavy push downward; the other girl used a lot of force in her run, but IF had more than that. She immediately balanced herself and strained every muscle in her arm, pushing the other girl up and off. Every bit of momentum counted.

Then Nepgear jumped. The force of it sent IF stumbling forward instead of backward, straining her tendons to the point of pain. She immediately hid those hands in her sleeves and rolled off the momentum, looking back to see Nepgear soaring through the sky. In fact, she was so fast that she appeared to speed up further in mid-air.

The purple projectile flew a good ten metres, up top above the line of agents and onto the Dolphin's back before it even realised she was on her way. With that same motion, she rammed her blade into the creature; all of her momentum was behind that strike, making her target shudder and squeal before shaking her off.

Nepgear rolled off her own landing the same moment the Dolphin hit the ground, one of its wings neatly bisected and a deep gouge in its back. Before it could back up again, or work through the shock, a dozen agents closed in to finish it off.

Seconds later, it died in a shower of silvery particles, leaving behind nothing but a band of exhausted people.

IF had managed to heal her strained tendons discreetly by that time, getting up while everyone else began cheering. There was much praise for the both of them, her and Nepgear alike. They held themselves well in a fight that required over twenty agents to pull off.

As the tension faded and reports were made, IF cast a speculative glance at Nepgear and rubbed her arms. She had not expected her friend to have that much strength.

She was definitely special, that much IF knew.