I should probably clarify something quickly. In Sora/Suguri, there are 2 types of ammunition.

Live ammunition, and beam ammunition. Live ammunition includes things like bullets, rockets, mines, and other things like that. They can't be dashed through, and sometimes deal more damage. However, they can't penetrate enemies and sometimes (in the case of rockets and mines) can be destroyed.

Beam ammunition isn't always a long beam or however a beam is usually thought of. It's more like energy/particle weapon or something. It can be an actual beam, a long shot (think of an extra big bullet sort of), a sphere, or other fun shapes. Beam ammunition can be dashed through, and doing so increases your heat and fills your sp bar to let you use hypers. It can't be destroyed either like live ammunition can. Beam ammunition also penetrates things, so you can hit multiple enemies with the same attack. However, beam ammunition can be reflected in certain levels…

Since there isn't an exact description of how beam ammunition works, I'm just using my imagination most of the time. The characters won't need to know how it works either, there job is to use it not understand it, so that makes writing this slightly easier.

Dashing allows your character to move faster, but increases your heat. Higher heat means you take more damage. So 100% heat = 100% more damage taken. While dashing, you can't attack.

Sorry about the ~250 words here, but this should clarify some things for people who have never played Sora or Suguri. I'll try to show this in the story but it might not be clear so I thought explaining it here would be helpful for some people.


Maki ignored all the screams for her to stop as she left the bunker. Upon hearing the alarm, she had grabbed the first weapons she saw and raced outside to stop whatever was triggering the alarm. Even Rin who normally was faster hadn't reacted as quickly as Maki so she found herself alone flying upwards towards the city hoping to see what the problem was.

Off in the distance she could spot what appeared to be multiple machines racing towards the city with no worry about potential enemies.

Are they not at all concerned about the nearby military base? Maki wondered.

Looking downwards from the ones in the sky she spotted a large centipede-like robot with some sort of cannon on its back.

That's…. new. I don't remember any reports of a machine like that on their side, that probably means it's new. That or no one has ever survived against it to report it Maki thought grimly.

Looking at her equipment Maki felt unprepared to fight. In her rush, she had only grabbed her trusty Beam Rifle M and her sword. While she was uncomfortable fighting the large machine without her bazooka, Maki dashed forward knowing she didn't have time to go back and grab it. She looked around and saw several ships with rocket containers on their sides which appeared to be the closest to her.

Taking the first group by surprise, she shot her rifle point blank into one, dashed in front of another, and shot it point blank. As she did this she thought she could hear screams as the rocket-ships burnt up in flame or exploded. Wincing at the sound she continued her assault, they had come to attack and she didn't have time to feel guilt at killing people instead of machines. They were soldiers so they knew the risks of fighting she reasoned, although it didn't make her feel much better hearing their cries of pain as she took them down one by one.

Finishing up, she dashed towards the next group. Maki could tell she had lost her advantage of surprise because now machines were coming towards her and shooting. Maki dashed through the beams shot at her, but had to change her course when a hail of bullets came her way.

So they've figured out their beams are mostly ineffective against me while I'm dashing? That makes this more difficult.

Taking aim, she shot her rifle straight into the eye of another sphere-shaped robot, then started dashing in a circle to get behind them but quickly abandoned that plan when several rockets were shot where she was going. She flew under the ships that fired at her and came upwards with her sword, slicing the wing off one which also took its ability to fire rockets from that launcher. Above them now, she fired several shots in succession at each of them.

The centipede machine was now directly below her. Gripping her sword tightly, she dashed straight down towards its cannon. Moments before reaching it she stopped her dash and lunged with her sword, slicing the first beam supporting the cannon on its back. She dashed towards the next beam and cut it several times before managing to damage it enough.

Several spots along the surface of the centipede retracted revealing bright yellow spots which started releasing glowing yellow spheres around it. This took Maki by surprise who put up a barrier around herself to block the attack before dashing upwards where they were becoming more spread out.

I can't destroy that cannon on it with all those beams it's shooting. I can dash through them but I can't attack while doing that. That just means I'll have to destroy each spot producing those attacks.

Maki dashed above it's body towards the front. Once near the head of it she stopped inside a small opening in the attacks and shot her rifle hitting two of the spots along it. She changed positions once her spot was no longer safe and continued her barrage along its surface. Explosions raced along its surface from her attack, while the machine twisted its body trying to avoid her continuous attacks. Its surface was covered finally in an explosion, ripping off its armour.

As soon as this happened Maki pointed her rifle at the third supporting beam and fired several times into it until it exploded. She had to twist her body just as a rocket came from below before she had time to aim at the final beam. Looking where it came from she spotted several rocket pods protruding from the sides of the giant machine.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS!" she screamed. "JUST HOW MUCH MORE OF YOU DO I HAVE TO DESTROY BEFORE YOU DIE!".

She dashed backwards towards its right side as some rockets came to where she had just been, but her eyes widened in horror as the rockets started turning to follow. Maki dashed down towards the ground taking a sharp turn before crashing to go under it. Once on the other side she fired her beam rifle at the first rocket pod on that side. In response to her attack it fired several rockets towards her. Dashing forward towards it she barely managed to avoid the rockets and slashed it several times with her sword destroying it. She dashed forward to the last one on that side while mentally preparing herself for the next barrage. Just as it fired its next volley of rockets at her she dashed away from it for around 10m before sharply changing direction back towards it in a triangle shaped path. Stopping in front of it she stared down the barrels of the rocket launchers as she raised her rifle and unleashed it down the barrels, smiling in grim satisfaction as it exploded.

Maki screamed in pain as she felt a burning sensation all over her body and raised another barrier. She spotted several more yellow spots along its surface that were releasing beam spheres around it again.

Maki moved away from the machine and began to fire at its surface again. While focused on it she felt her back burn again. She instantly dashed away and looked to see what snuck up on her, spotting only what appeared to be a bird.

Why would a bird be all the way – Her thought was interrupted by a beam coming from the bird's mouth at her. Maki rolled out of the way, letting its attack hit the bigger machine. She then responded by shooting at it but could only watch as it avoided her attacks and flew away.

Not having time to think about it she turned her attention back to her main priority. Beams rained down on it as she circled above to get to the last set of rocket pods. Once they were in view she disposed of them with her rifle. Noticing she had a clear shot of the last support beam on the cannon she shot at it, managing to destroy it and having the cannon collapse on the machine before having to move out of the way of the last beam spheres coming from it.

Having just finished with the biggest threat she knew of, she looked around for any more enemies. She managed to spot Rin several hundred metres away fighting off some more robots. Maki began moving towards Rin before noticing another person off in the distance surrounded by some machines. The machines were making no effort to hurt the girl, instead seeming to take orders from her on where to shoot the city. Puzzled by this Maki began to move towards her, leaving Rin to defend herself.

That girl… she looks like she may be in charge of this attack. She's not inside a machine herself though, which means she's probably another altered human.

As Maki approached the girl, the machines around her dispersed down towards the city. Only nine bird shaped things remained around the beige haired girl.

"Are you the one causing all the issues here?" The girl suddenly asked.

Looking at the girl Maki could see that she appeared to be a little frightened. However, she also looked dead inside, as if she didn't care about anything anymore.

"The only one causing issues here is you and your friends, attacking an innocent city for no reason"

Looking slightly puzzled the other girl responded "I'm not sure what you mean. This city is abandoned, I'm just here to flatten it. Why would you defend it?"

"This city isn't abandoned, there are people still living here. If it was abandoned then why destroy it?".

"Because I was told to. If I don't do what I'm told then what's the point of me existing? I'm not good at anything which is why I was assigned to level the city and recover whatever scraps of supplies were left"

"Please, you don't have to do this. There are so many innocent people in there, they didn't do anything. You don't need to destroy the city just to try and prove to yourself that you should exist." Looking around Maki saw Rin struggling with the number of enemies and realised she was running out of time. "If I were to destroy those machines, would you try and stop me?"

"If you intend to get in the way then I have no choice but to stop you. That's the only reason for my existence now anyways, and as another altered human you should know what will happen to me if I don't try to stop you. It's better to die here trying then it is to be a burden to the people around me"

As soon as the girl finished talking the bird looking robots rushed towards Maki, dispersing as she tried to aim at them. Surrounding Maki, they released beam spheres at her forcing her to dash downwards. Maki stopped her dash quickly at shot at three of them, groaning in frustration as they avoided her attack. Next, she tried dashing towards the other girl but the girl moved out of the way letting some birds take her place to shoot at Maki. Maki dashed upwards instead but had to make a sharp turn to the right as a bird moved above her and put a mine out to block her path.

The birds moved towards the other girl and started circling her while releasing mines and beam spheres around her. Maki moved backwards while shooting her rifle at the girl, before dashing back as the beams got too close to her.

Is she controlling those bird things around her? They don't appear to be regular machines.

Maki dashed straight at the girl again, twisting her body at the last second to avoid colliding with mines. The girl moved out of the way but this left Maki right behind one of the birds. Maki quickly slashed at it with her sword managing to take a wing off. Unable to fly any more the bird fell from the sky, quickly disappearing.

Looking back at the girl Maki saw pain on her face. Without hesitating Maki fired at the girl forcing her to dodge. Watching her movements Maki took a shot where the girl would appear. Moments before the shot hit another bird moved in front, taking the attack instead and blowing up in the process. Maki began dashing to follow the girl's movements, pausing every few seconds to fire several shots at her. Two birds suddenly shot upwards before firing two long beams at Maki who dashed through the attacks, firing at them once they stopped.

Only five left if I'm counting correctly. This has been easier than expected. I should still keep my guard up and not do anything dangerous.

They were now low enough that Maki could look directly into the windows of several buildings. Looking downwards she saw some engineers working on fortifying the base of a high-rise to prevent collapse. The girl noticed them as well, and three birds formed a triangle above her facing the engineers. Beam particles formed at their mouth signalling their attack. Some engineers looked up and saw this, screaming for help.

"No!" Maki yelled as she began dashing to block the attack. The remaining birds spread their wings and unleashed a hail of bullets at her, managing to hit her several times. Maki was sure that she wouldn't make it in time, but managed to get in front and create a shield just as they attacked. She was surprised when the beams didn't hit her shield directly, instead it seemed that their aim was off as the attack would have landed near the engineers instead of hitting them had she not blocked it.

Maki immediately dashed towards the girl, stopping her dash and spinning to slice another bird in half with her sword before continuing again. She stopped right in front of the girl, pointing her rifle at her. The girl moved away but not fast enough to avoid Maki's attack hitting her stomach.

Colour drained from the girls face as she looked at Maki sadly, managing to choke out "I guess I failed again?" before falling from the sky, blood spurting out her wound the entire way.

Maki covered her mouth feeling sick from what just happened. Why didn't she deploy a shield to protect herself? Did I just kill her? She's around my age, how could I kill someone my age?

Thoughts racing through her head, Maki dashed downwards to where the girl was collapsed on the ground. Landing next to the girl, Maki kneeled down to check for any sign of life. Maki could feel a weak pulse from the girl, but with all the blood she was losing she needed medical attention right away to have any chance of surviving. Looking up, Maki spotted Rin still fighting off enemy robots.

If I try to save this girls life, I can't help Rin. But if I help Rin then this girl will die.

Maki looked around praying that someone else would be nearby who could help, but no one was there. Her head down in defeat with what happened weighing her mind down, Maki pulled a small first aid kit off her belt and opened it up. She took out some rubber gloves from it and put them on. Taking a shot of morphine out, she stuck the needle into the girls arm and pressed down on the syringe to relieve the girl of pain if she was still conscious. She next pulled some gauze out. Maki quickly examined the girls wound. It went through the right side of the body above the hip, near the stomach.

Shouldn't she have taken less damage than this if she's an altered human?

With no time to waste, Maki didn't think much more about it as she began to work to stabilise the dying girl, ignoring her own injuries.


Notes:

I don't know much about medicine so I had to look some stuff up. I probably got some stuff wrong (such as how to treat a wound) so I'm sorry to any medical people reading this.