Welcome back, my boy. I knew I was right to have placed my bets on you. Seems like my plans are still on schedule.
Werner Franxx could not suppress the grin that broke out on his aged face as he verified that the plans that he had set in motion many years ago was still on it's course to fruition. All the while he ignored how Zero Two was pointedly doing her best to cause a bruise on his arm as she incessantly jabbed at him with her finger.
"Sooooooooo, you do know that you have a lot of explaining to do, don't you?"
"All in due time my dear, all in due time. Now hush, let us watch the spectacle before us."
Before Zero Two could insist on getting her explanation from the doctor, Nana cut in with a serious tone as she tapped the display of the tablet she carried in her hands.
"Franxx activation is confirmed by Code 016 and Code 015. Shall we call a stop to the tests? Delphinium's chest plate still requires repairs from the impacts it has received."
"No. Proceed with the mock battle to it's conclusion."
"What? Why? It'll just place further risks of damage to the Franxx currently on the field. We've gotten what we came for, no need to take further risks." Nana argued.
However, Werner merely looked at her with an amused eyebrow as he rejected her suggestions.
"You're as uptight as ever, Nana. Think of it as fulfilling an old man's whims."
"Putting valuable hardware at risk goes far beyond something as mere as your whims, doctor."
"I think the boy has earned his right to cut loose, wouldn't you say? Besides, aren't you curious as well?"
"...Eh?"
"Thirty-five points advantage, right?"
"...Doctor?"
His single remaining eye fixed upon Nana as he continued.
"I'll guess you'll soon get to see what it truly means for a pilot to carry a thirty-five point advantage in melee proficiency over Nine-Alpha in real-world terms."
Looking towards to the two Franxx now facing each other in the Training Yard, Nana grimaced as she prayed for the safety of Argentea's pilots.
"Delphinium startup sequence complete. Connection established and holding steady. Magma Fuel Converter is running within acceptable margins of error. Minor damage to chest module detected, minimal loss to combat effectiveness. Systems, all green. We're cleared for combat operations."
As Ichigo relayed the information that she received from the Pistil terminal, Hiro took note of their current status and verbalized their next step.
"Put out an area scan with the sensors and retrieve all potential targets. 500 meters will do."
"Scanning. Scan complete. Target, 330 meters bearing north, Argentea-class Franxx. IFF disengaged. Non-lethal limiters are in place. Awaiting your orders."
"Switch to manual controls."
As she executed the OS switch from automated piloting controls to full manual, Ichigo smiled at how the pilots of Argentea didn't seem to realize how badly they had screwed up by volunteering to be their opponents.
It's their funeral then.
Zorome felt a cold drop of sweat roll down his back. Miku seemed no better, she was outright shivering in fear as they looked at the fully activated Franxx opposing them.
"Hey, Zorome! Seriously, it's time to call it off! Call it off now before something bad happens!"
"You're gonna back down now Miku? After the scene we had just caused? You're part of it as well now. Can you imagine how you'll look if we both ran off like puppies with their tails between their legs right now?"
Miku swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and closed her eyes as she let Zorome take all responsibility for their upcoming actions. She just calmed herself as put her trust into Zorome in the hopes that he knew what he was doing.
It was a trust that was soon to be shattered into pieces.
Although she wouldn't find out so soon as Zorome put up the finest act of bravado he had ever performed in order to stir his emotions towards courage and increase the stakes as much as possible. His strategy was to basically force an confrontation through the potential of social embarrassment via trash talking. Both to increase the potential rewards if he achieved victory this day and to push his shaking instincts towards fight instead of flight. Ever since Hiro and Ichigo had transferred to Plantation 13, he had spent the entire time demeaning them.
And he wasn't going to stop now.
Little did Zorome know that he was essentially digging his own grave as he flipped Argentea's communication channel to "OPEN".
"Woooooooo~ Round of applause everyone! Look at that! The frauds actually did it! Maybe you aren't such a wuss after all, hehe. But you gotta do more than that you know? Can you actually move or are you just putting up a strong front hoping that the mock battle will be called off soon before your legs give way and you piss yourself in fear? Aggressor-sama?"
Zorome refused to stop his incessant mocking for even a single moment. He could not allow this chill to overtake his body and force Argentea to his knees. Without realizing it, Zorome had verbalized his own insecurities during his ranting.
The smirk on Delphinium's face had long faded into a passive, serious expression as it's teal blue eyes fixed onto Argentea with a dangerous glint. A look that did not give Miku any confidence in herself despite Zorome's constant belittling of Hiro and Ichigo. Miku felt a creeping feeling of unease even as Delphinium merely stood still clutching it's dual spear-swords in it's hands as it faced Argentea.
As Zorome settled into a silence when his stream of abused trailed off, he awaited Hiro's response. The air stilled with tension when it seemed there was no reply forthcoming from the pilots of Delphinium.
Until a sudden, jerking motion from Delphinium broke the tension as it harshly hunched over forward as if it was a puppet that had it's strings cut for the briefest of moments before it steadied itself back into it's upright standing position. Envy Shop, the twin magma spear-swords that Delphinium carried into battle against Klaxosaurs crashed onto the dirt of the Training Yard, causing a cloud of dust to kick up into the air.
Zorome howled in laughter as he took in the sight. They couldn't even maintain a standing position nor grip their weapons! How much of a farce could this trainer squadron be?
"Hahahahaha! Hey, Mr and Ms Elites, don't piss yourselves from working too hard! Seems like you can't even hold your weapons properly! Look everyone! That's how pathetic these losers are! Ahahahaha!"
As Zorome's shrill cackling continued to echo through the Training Yard, Nana grimaced at the sight of Delphinium dropping it's weapons. As she turned towards the doctor to repeat her request to call off the mock battle, she noticed the doctor had a knowing glint in his single remaining eye.
"Oh, switching to manual is he? Seems like he's gotten serious then. This will be interesting to watch."
Manual controls? What are those?
In her entire time as the doctor's assistant and interacting with Franxx and their pilots, she had never heard of this "manual" that the doctor just spoke of. Luckily for Nana, she was going to get her question answered as Zero Two's patience was already wearing thin as she demanded answers from the doctor.
"What do you mean by manual? And why did Delphinium jerk like that? Just what is going on?"
Werner was more than happy to explain the pride of his creations during his time as the Commanding Officer of the Special Tactical Fighter Training Group.
"Manual controls. That's when the pilot deactivates the piloting assists provided by the Franxx OS. That jerking motion you saw from Delphinium was due to the swap over as the OS initialized the new control system. Normally, in the regular piloting control scheme, the Franxx OS assists the pilot in many functions ranging from auto-aim, prerecorded motion data, tracking of targets on it's radar and the distribution of magma energy to each of it's subsystems in the most optimal way that the OS decides."
"So why would one ever remove all of these advantages?"
"Because to some pilots, they see it as a form of hindrance that limits their freedom. With manual controls, a Stamen with enough skill is able to operate his Franxx in ways that the prerecorded motion data will never be able to achieve. Meanwhile, the Pistil is able to dictate the distribution of available magma energy as she wishes and with such, she is able to push the subsystems of her choice over the rated limits with a focused surge of magma energy."
"That sounds amazing, why aren't more pilots using the manual control scheme then?"
"Because it is exceptionally difficult to operate. What you're looking at has taken countless hours of specialized training to produce in extremely small, selective batches to achieve. It is absolutely impossible to reproduce this on a larger scale in Garden's training program for the regular ground forces. Not to mention how the sheer amount of stress that it places on the Pistil as she now has to regulate the Magma Fuel Converter at all times lest it suffers a critical meltdown without the OS automating the process for her. The Pistil also has to constantly calibrate and adjust the Franxx itself as the Stamen pilots it due to a lack of prerecorded motion data available."
Zero Two eyes widened at the revelation that the doctor had provided her. Delphinium's Magma Fuel Converter could suffer a meltdown at anytime?
"That's insanity!"
"It is. But through sheer hard work and effort, they have achieved the impossible. How many Pistils in the entire APE resource pool do you believe is able to handle such demands placed on their support role? I can only think of one." Werner continued,
"And she is in Delphinium right now."
"Switchover complete. Weapon modules have been successfully purged."
Magma weapons were used to defeat Klaxosaurs. Their super heated charges allowed one to pierce their resistant hides and crush their cores.
But Hiro wasn't fighting Klaxosaurs at the moment.
He was fighting an enemy Franxx.
Thus he did not require the use of Envy Shop which laid in the dirt of the Training Yard as it was discarded by it's users.
"Hiro. Take note, this is the first time that manual controls have been used on Delphinium. Goro has always used the automated controls whenever he piloted, thus I will need some time to calibrate the joints-"
Before Ichigo could finish her sentence, Delphinium slammed it's fists together with such force that it caused sparks to dance off it's iron.
"There. It's calibrated."
"...This is why the Garage mechanics hate you, you know?" Ichigo sighed.
"Well, we have our jobs, they have theirs. I'm just making sure they have work to do after all."
Hiro clenched and released Delphinium's fists multiple times as he made sure his "calibration" had worked. While he was running through the motions as Ichigo made her final checks, Zorome's face popped up on the main display once more.
"What's that you're doing? If you think disarming yourself will make me go easy on you, you thought wrong! I'm still gonna kick your ass like I just did, you wuss! I'm the Great Zorome after all-" However his blustering was cutoff by a soft, introspective voice.
"You know, back in Garden, my melee proficiency scores were the highest in it's history, surpassing even Nine-Alpha's. I don't think many people remember that I'm a close quarters combat expert when it comes to piloting Franxx." Hiro mused.
That was until Hiro lowered his head and narrowed his eyes at Zorome as he growled the finisher to his speech.
"Well then, let me remind you of it right now."
Biting her lip, Ichigo felt a pleasurable shiver run down her spine as she struggled to control herself after hearing how manly Hiro sounded at that very moment.
She was going to need a fresh set of panties after this.
Delphinium extended its right arm with it's palm opened and it's fingers pointed at a forty-five degree angle towards Argentea. At the same time, Delphinium's put it's right leg into a forward position as it shifted such that it's dominant side of it's body faced Argentea. Drawing back it's left fist to shoulder level, Delphinium closed it's fist as it was positioned beside it's cheek. Delphinium's belt of boosters all pointed behind it as they purred, ready to ignite at any moment and push out forward thrust.
"Huuuh? What the hell is that pose? Do you think you look cool or something?" Zorome sneered at the absurdity of it.
Hiro was going to charge at him without even a weapon? Had he lost his mind? Or did he plan to recover from his loss with the excuse that he fought unarmed against Argentea?
No matter, Zorome would offer no mercy. He would finish off the Special Tactical Fighter Training Group with his own hands.
And then Papa will finally acknowledge his existence.
A soft, dangerous smile graced Hiro's face as he spoke.
"A Franxx, doesn't have the form of humans just for show, you know. I'm gonna teach you it's utilities and possibilities."
"Yeah yeah whatever you say, you wuss. You gonna come or what?!"
"Oh-Kay, Jack Russel! Lets go for a ride through the skies!" Hiro's teasing voice mocked his opponent.
Zorome eye's narrowed in rage at the insult. Jack Russel... He was going to relentlessly degrade Hiro every waking moment after the mock battle for that.
"Miku! Keep your eyes forward and don't blink! He's gonna come straight for us without trying to dodge. It's an easy pattern, I'll gut him with Night Claw before he can even touch us!"
Miku nodded as she focused her eyes on Delphinium. She wasn't going to blink. She wasn't going to miss even a single step that Delphinium took. She was going to show that stuck up team leader that it wasn't alright to just favor Hiro over everyone else! She was a good Pistil too!
A frontal charge. This was easy. This was simple. It had no subtlety or tactics behind it. Just track it, give Zorome the knowledge on when he was required to time a thrust from Night Claw and Delphinium would be stopped dead in it's tracks in an instant.
Any moment now. I just need to focus my eyes. It can't be that-
Delphinium disappeared from her line of sight.
"WHAT THE-!?"
Delphinium's boosters roared in the silence of the night sky. A giant plume of dirt, dust and smoke was left in it's wash as Delphinium exploded forwards.
"How can a..."
Goro furiously wiped his glasses on his sleeves to remove the dust that had layered on it's lenses.
"It's not possible for a..."
Mitsuru choked out as his uninterested persona that he tried so hard to cultivate was smashed in an instant as he was forced to acknowledge something impossible done by the person he hated the most.
"Franxx to move that fast!"
Zero Two's jaw dropped for the second time of the night as she saw her darling cross the Training Yard at a speed so fast it made her bones rattle from the vibrations Delphinium had left on the ground after it had kicked off.
All the while, her mind contained only a single, overriding thought-
Darling looked so damned hot.
"-FUUUUCK!? HOW THE FUCK CAN IT MOVE SO FAST!? ZOROME! DO SOMETHIIIIIING!"
Miku screeched her throat raw as she jerked back from surprise and begged Zorome to stop the incoming blue freight train of doom coming to wreck them.
Zorome's paralysis of fear was broken by Miku's loud scream. With his brain operating a million miles an hours in a thousand different directions, Zorome picked the first logical thought that raced through his mind.
If Delphinium was coming straight at them, no matter how fast, all he had to do was to put Night Claw out forward at center mass and Hiro would have impaled himself with his own charge.
That dumbass. If you think you can act cool at the Great Zorome's expense, you had another thing coming.
A grin spread across Zorome's face as he arrogantly felt like a bona fide genius in a world of absolute dumbasses. He put Argentea's right claw out forward at center mass and awaited Hiro to commit his own suicide.
Zorome's blind arrogance would soon pay it's price.
The sheer, soul crushing shock and violence of the impact that rocked through Argentea caused Miku to be forcefully ejected from her Pistil terminal even through the safety locks. Long streaks of red trailed her wrists and calves as the force of being literally ripped out of her Pistil terminal caused the safety locks to slice through her skin.
As Miku screamed in pain, her brain which was currently addled by the painkillers being injected into her from her Pistil suit dully noted that she would not feel anymore follow up attacks or endure any future injuries from the Franxx bond due to her forceful disconnection.
It was the greatest blessing, mercy and luck that she could have ever received considering what was coming up next.
Zorome however, was not so lucky.
As Miku's body flew backwards from the impact of Delphinium's shoulder ram into Argentea's chest, her body collided with Zorome's who was being literally pressed with such force against his Stamen seat that he felt his eyeballs sink into its caverns. The rear display screen of Miku's Pistil suit slammed against Zorome's nose, breaking it. Torrential streams of dark red blood immediately gushed from his twin nostrils as Zorome gurgled his pain through the blood filling up his throat from the busted nose he had just received.
"Told you I could have dodged it by tilting with a 7 degree correction."
"Big deal, he wasn't even compensating or trying to hit you. Hiro, focus. We're still engaged in battle."
"Right! Following up!"
As the shoulder ram by Delphinium carried both it and Argentea a few meters off the ground and still speeding in a straight line, Hiro unleashed a flurry of punches against Argentea's chest.
The sound of crumpling steel echoed throughout the night air as Hiro pummeled his opponent.
Four punches.
Damn, thought I could have gotten five in before we started touching the ground. Seems like I'm getting rusty.
The violent impacts caused by the rapid fire chain-punches of Delphinium shook Argentea's cockpit as it caused the already injured Stamen-Pistil duo to be disorientated from the sheer kinetic energy they were forced to absorb.
As Delphinium's initial charge slowed down and both Franxx started to nearly have their feet touch the soil of the Training Yard, Hiro followed up with the second part of his combination attack.
Hiro then aimed a sharp kick at Argentea's ankles. Tripping it and causing Argentea to stumble forward towards Delphinium. Without missing a beat, Delphinium grabbed Argentea by it's underarms in preparation for an overhead slam. Pushing Delphinium's servo joints to the point that Hiro winced at the groans of twisting steel, he trusted Ichigo's support skills to keep up with the demands he placed on their Franxx. It was the Pistil's job to keep up with the demands of her Stamen co-pilot. In that regard, Ichigo succeeded with flair, especially when it came to her beloved Hiro.
Ichigo being reliable as always. I can always count on her to be there for me when I need it.
Hiro grinned to himself as he thanked the stars above that he had been blessed with such an absolute gem of a Pistil that allowed him to really unleash his full range of abilities.
"DEEYAH!"
Argentea was slammed into the ground with such impact that it caused an absolutely gigantic cloud of dirt and dust to explode outwards in a rolling wave. In fact, Argentea was slammed with such force that it bounced a couple of meters above the ground.
However, Ichigo did not have time to marvel at the overhead slam that Hiro had just performed as she prepared to reallocate magma energy to the boosters for the final sequence of attacks.
In Argentea's cockpit, both Zorome and Miku were flung out of the stamen seat the very moment Argentea was tripped. Their bodies were suspended in mid air until Delphinium had slammed Argentea to the ground with such force that it caused their brains to rattle in their skulls. As their bodies rose and pressed against the ceiling of Argentea's cockpit due to the kinetic energy and physics of the overhead slam, tears leaked from Zorome's eyes as he begged Hiro to stop while he choked on his own secretions and fluids.
Unfortunately, Hiro was having too much fun to stop midway. It had been a long time ever since he had a chance to really cut loose in a Franxx. The fact that his opponent was Zorome added another level of satisfaction to the beat down. As he called out to Ichigo to complete the attack pattern, he grinned to himself
Why didn't I do this earlier? This is so much fun.
"Ichigo!"
Delphinium's boosters purred once more as it gripped Argentea by it's neck, which was currently mid air from the ground slam that caused it to bounce,
"Delphinium, FULL BOOST!"
As Ichigo cried out, every booster on Delphinium roared to life as it carried Argentea upwards towards the night sky. By cutting the limiter on the Magma Fuel Converter, Ichigo was able to reroute every ounce of power to the boosters.
And it showed.
The deafening roar of the igniting boosters were proof of that as Delphinium shot skywards along with Argentea as it's unwilling passenger.
Meanwhile, in Argentea's cockpit, Zorome and Miku crashed to the floor. From the ceiling to the floor in an instant.
A sickening crunch followed through to denote the twin impacts of their bodies hitting the floor.
The impact on the back of Zorome's skull turned him unconscious, with the darkness finally providing him a respite from the pain. Miku's Pistil suit covered the rear of her head such that the kinetic foam absorbed most of the impact and thus, she did not suffer from Zorome's fate. However, the impact on her back was so harsh it caused large purple bruises to form even through the protection offered by the kinetic foam of her Pistil suit.
As Delphnium blasted through the sky with it's left hand gripped on Argentea's neck, Hiro drew back it's right fist as he prepared to deliver the finishing blow.
"Hiro! The arm servos are at eighty percent! Finish it now!"
"IT'S OVER FOR YOU!"
One punch. Smashing Argentea's chest.
Two punches.
Throwing in one more just for good measure, Hiro snarled in his mind.
Just because Zorome made Ichigo cry.
Three in total.
And with that said and done, Delphinium released it's grip on Argentea's neck and allowed it to drop to the Earth. With gravity now in effect, Argentea helplessly spiraled downwards towards the ground. Meanwhile, Delphinium continued it's flight path with it's right fist stretched out as the remaining thrust of the boosters carried it forward for a little longer.
Like a shooting star blazing a trail through the night sky.
Turning from his position in the Stamen's seat, Hiro glanced down at the Franxx that had just crash landed onto the ground of the Training Yard.
"Return to the Earth where you belong, Zorome. We'll stay right here, because-" As Ichigo's voice joined his to complete the sentence in unison,
"These are the sprint of our wings."
Hiro felt a warm squeeze on his hand.
He squeezed back.
As the Plantation's medical staff removed Zorome and Miku from Argentea's cockpit on stretchers to relocate them to the infirmary,
Zero Two glared at the most disgusting sight she would ever witness. Nothing she experienced, not even from her time on the front lines where she saw pilots torn to pieces and their Franxx being burnt out husks on the battlefield could prepare her for something so physically repulsive.
Darling was descending from Delphinium on it's automatic ladder.
Except he wasn't alone.
That blue-haired bitch was wrapped around his arm like she had owned it.
And darling didn't seem to notice.
Noting how Ichigo was glancing towards her, Zero Two bared her fangs towards her darling-stealer in a attempt to intimidate her.
That was until Ichigo did something that Zero Two truly did not expect from the blue-haired girl considering what she had came to learn about her over the past couple of days,
She smirked at Zero Two in response.
Zero Two's nostrils flared in irritation at her declaration of victory.
Oh, she was going to have a nice talk with darling soon. A realllllllly nice and sweet talk.
If darling had an good excuse that is.
Zero Two cooed to herself as she prepared to confront her beloved darling for his infidelity.