Chapter 6: The Fairy Dances Beneath the Moons
Before Elise and Perinne could properly introduce themselves to their new companion, a wave of the monsters fell upon them. Quickly however they realized that Cecilia was a good addition to the team, her machine was focused on ranged combat, so they let her use her remote weapons to pick off incoming monsters, while Perrine and Elise used their melee weapons to take out the leakers. All three had trained as part of a team, and while they were no longer on the same teams, the training came back, and they soon fell into a groove.
The Neuroi fleet which had arrived right when they met Cecilia finally started pushing back the monsters, and after what felt like hours, the area seemed to be clear, for the moment. The girls floated in the sky, looking towards the setting sun. "My name is Perrine, Perrine H. Clostermann, and this is Elise"…
"Elise von Dietrich" Elise interjected. The two formally introduced themselves to Cecilia, and as they'd expected, she didn't recognize their machines or their backgrounds. They shook hands with each other, Perrine noted how unlike Elise's Sonic Diver, Cecilia's "Infinte Stratos" as she'd called it was worn more like a striker, but with extra parts covering part of the upper body, and with wings, which were oddly not actually attached to the rest of the machine.
"It seems that none of us are from the same place or time, Perrine continued, "and I have a feeling that we're no longer on Earth, of any sort."
"Well, I think we can confirm that now," Cecilia said, pointing off to the east. Perrine and Elise looked where she was pointing, and saw that in the darkened sky, no fewer than three moons had risen. A brilliant white one, similar to the moon they knew, though with a different crater patter, and two others, much smaller, but just as bright, one a crimson red, and the other a sapphire blue. Despite the sun finally having set, the triple moons gave off more than enough light to continue to see by.
"Well, lets put this to the side for the moment," Cecilia bringing them back around to the most pressing subject. "Perrine, you said that one of those Neuroi guided you here?" Perrine nodded, "but Elise, nothing like that happened to you?" Elise nodded at that as well. "Interesting, like Elise, I was dragged here with no warning, I was actually out doing an independent training run, when I suddenly found myself here in the middle of a battle. That reminds me, right when I came across you two, more of those Neuroi showed up, along with three absolutely enormous ones. I wonder what happened with them?"
After a short discussion, they decided to investigate the rifts Elise had seen, and they headed off back towards the battle. As they approached, they saw that massive numbers of Neuroi and the creatures were fighting around the giant Neuroi fortresses. "Perrine, doesn't it look like the Neuroi are heading for those rifts?" The rifts Elise had seen were now clearly visible, three of them, forming something like a loose triangle, their open maws darker than the night sky, as if inside them wasn't darkness, but an absence. Cecilia had come to a stop and was using the sight of her IS's beam cannon as a telescope. "Yes, they are definitely headed towards the rifts. In fact, one of the fortresses is about to enter a rift."
As they watched, the massive Neuroi began to enter the rift, which was even larger than the almost inconceivably huge flying fortress. Even as it entered, uncountable number of beams licked out from its surface, blowing away the monsters that tried to approach it. The fortress was by now halfway inside the rift, and was coming to a halt. As the girls watched, space around the rift seemed to twist, and suddenly the Neuroi appeared to contract slightly, and then it detonated. As the massive explosion propagated among its length, the rift became visibly unstable, and then it detonated as well. A distortion flew out from the rift, and wiped out everything in a wedge of the sky within the view of the rift. Neuroi and monster alike were shredded by the distortion. The shockwave of its passing buffeted the girls, even though they were well to the side and below the plane of the rifts. "My god, they're trying to seal the rift and they are going to sacrifice an entire hive to do so. What in the world is going on?" Perrine had never seen Neuroi acting like this. No one had.
As the second fortress Neuroi approached the rift, the girls scurried over to the cleared area from the first blast, and watched as the event unfolded again, and like that, 2/3 of the sky was cleared. "Well, it looks like these Neuroi are solving the problem for us," Cecilia's voice had a confident tone. "Though I wonder why they went to the effort of brining us here if they could handle it." As they spoke, the third and final fortress approached the last rift, something shocking happened. Out of the rift came a massive arm, it looked nothing like the monsters, it was almost…plant like, made up of massive green vines. And following the arm was a head, a maw of endless blackness. From the mouth a massive blast of energy erupted, striking straight through the Neuroi fortress, which exploded into countless shards of light. The beam also took out uncountable numbers of smaller Neuroi and monsters. But the Rift was still there, with this new creature watching over it. "Perrine, Elise, I…think we may have a problem…" Cecilia tried to make her tone light, but the terror in her voice was palpable.
Right then, another rift opened, this one much smaller than the others, and out came something completely unexpected, a robot. A rather large robot at that, its red and gold color scheme and undeniably feminine design giving it a rather incongruous look. "That's...not a Neuroi, or a monster, what is it?" Perrine spoke without thinking, but Cecilia and Elise were clearly having the same thoughts. Their radio's crackled as a transmission came over an open frequency.
"Steel 2, come in Steel 2. This is Fairy 1. Fairy 2, are you receiving? Assault 1, SRX 1, is anyone receiving?" Shine was trying to get her bearings, the continued battles against the Einst-like creatures after the Swordian incident was resolved had prompted a major battle around Aviano base, and Riksent's forces had been called to assist the Hagane and Hiryuu Kai's squadrons. She'd personally led her forces to the battle. It had been going well, but suddenly her instruments had gone dark, and she found herself here. Wherever she was, it wasn't earth, if the three moons she saw in the sky were any indication. Her attention snapped back to the com as a voice came over it.
"Fairy 1, this is Cecilia Alcott, IS Blue Tears, who are you?" Shine searched her display for the source of the transmission, and was shocked as her display zoomed in on three girls floating in the air. Each had some sort of device equipped, but they were so different, ranging from one girl who seemed to have propellers on her legs, to another strapped into some sort of exoskelletal frame. And then she saw what was behind them. Impossible!
"Cecilia Alcott, my name is Shine Hausen of the Dukedom of Riksent, where are we, and why is there a Regisseur here?" Shine could not understand how that could be here, it wasn't one of the false Einst that had started to appear, it was a true Einst Regisseur, and its existence was impossible.
"We…aren't really sure where we are, and I've never heard of a 'Regisseur', but there has been an ongoing battle between two major forces, and we've been caught in the middle. The force that seemed to be nominally the one to favor was winning, but that massive creature appeared and stopped them. Almost all of both forces has been destroyed, but we must close that rift!" Cecilia paused to take a breath, and Elise suddenly interrupted.
"Shine, my name is Elise, I'm not sure who you are, but you seem to know what that creature is, I've had my Sonic Diver running an analysis, and I think there is a way to close the rift, but we have to take out that Regisseur you mentioned to do it." Shine pondered what the girls had said, as she could see the three of them conferring. Then she noticed the W-I3NK System's display was indicating a possible connection. Impossible! The other Fairlion was unknowable dimensions away. She called up the display, and was astounded to see it showing schematics of two of the machines out there. 'Cecilia Alcott: IS Blue Tears' and 'Elise von Dietrich: SD Bachstelze'.
"Cecilia, Elise, I…think I may have a plan. It seems my system can interface with yours, and if so, we have a fighting chance. Unfortunately I can't seem to interface with your friend there, its like…does she even have a computer on her machine?"
"Shine, my name is Perrine Clostermann, don't worry about me for now, I'll cover you all from behind, my abilities aren't purely technological like the three of you."
Elise's voice broke in, "after we take out that large creature, we can execute my plan. The fact that the three of us can interface will help tremendously, and I've worked out a way to integrate Perrine into the second part. So what is your plan?" Shine briefly relayed what she knew of the Regisseur, and how they could get it out of the way. With everyone clear, the foursome headed off towards the remaining rift, and the last remnants of the enemy forces.
They approached the rift, a few Neuroi still miraculously remained, but even as they watched, they fell to the creatures, which still outnumbered them greatly. "Cecilia, Elise, are you ready?" Shine looked at their faces on the display, they seemed nervous, but they were hardly alone in that. "Perrine, be ready to follow us in for Elise's side of the operation." They hadn't been able to rig a visual, but they'd managed to get an audio connection to the unusual 'Witch" as she'd called herself. Her displays indicated they'd reached the appointed spot to kick off the operation. Shine's cockpit reconfigured, moving her into a standing position. "Connection to IS Blue Tears and SD Bachstelze established. W-I3NK System, Trinity Mode. ENGAGE!" The last words were echoed by Cecilia and Elise as the three machines shot off into the melee, towards the massive head of the Regisseur.
Cecilia couldn't believe the freedom. The information being sent to her by Shine allowed her to operate beyond her wildest imaginations. She'd never been able to use the Tears and the Sniper Cannon at the same time, but now she was controlling all four Tears, and with a degree of control she'd thought impossible, while also taking careful aim with the cannon. She used the Tears to keep the creatures at bay, while the cannon scored hits on critical parts of the Regisseur, as shown by the data from the W-I3NK System. She could sense a similar freedom from Elise in Bachstelze, using her lance and cannons at will, never missing a shot. And then there was Shine. Her machine, her 'Fairlion' she'd called it, was dancing through the sky, the light of the moons reflecting off it. The three cut a swath through the remaining creatures, and found to their shock the remaining Neuroi falling into formation with Perrine.
"Cecilia, now!" At Shine's order, Cecilia let lose everything she had straight at the head of the Regisseur, and all the Neuroi followed suit. The blast threw its head back, and Shine's Fairlion shot forward. "SHIIIIIIIIIIINE SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRKKK!" her scream resounded in Cecilia's ears, as an energy field enveloped the robot. It accelerated faster and faster, and struck the exact spot Cecilia and the Neuroi's beams had hit, right in the middle of its forhead. Shine's Fairlion emerged from behind the Regisseur, which was…falling back into the rift. It seemed to be trying to pull itself back out, even with a massive hole in its head, but the remaining Neuroi charged forward, sacrificing themselves to force it back into the rift. Cecilia saw Elise and Perrine take up their positions around the rift.
"Elise! Now!"