It was another day in Mesagoza, in the Paldea Region. Inside a specific company's office, a few of a particular team were relaxing and watching a replay of a live broadcast that happened a few days ago, where Superman, Jexi and the Hero Alliance together defeated The Elite, Theodore Flux and the Tumultuous 20. Superman's final words to Manchester Black, followed by the crowd cheering were heard as someone walked by to see some members watching it.
"Are you guys still watching that?" Hilda asked.
"Uh-huh! It's so amazing!" Piccoletta said.
"I was honestly worried for a minute when Jexi and Superman both started holding nothing back and acting the way Theodore and the elite did… but I'm glad it was all just an act," Ignatz added.
"And Theodore Flux has been put behind bars and won't act against anyone ever again," Narve said.
"Yeah, but something tells me that Theodore wasn't the only mind in all of this." Lysithea remarked with crossed arms. "What happened towards the end doesn't seem like to be entirely of Theodore's work… someone else other than the Elites was helping him, I can be sure of that."
"Okay, with all those pointers, I can see why you'd wanna rewatch the whole thing…" Hilda sighed with a smile.
"It's more than just something to watch over and over. It's also something to be inspired by." Urbosa said as she walked in. "Jexi set a standard that we all must aspire to."
"It's gonna be pretty hard to top what he did all those days ago. But then again…" Hilda said.
"You're right about that, Hilda. But we can damn sure try." Connor said, walking in. "I think it's time we got more into our work as heroes for hire. And we're going to start by really getting into a certain company we've been casing for a while now."
The group in the present moved to meeting space in the office where Connor threw down a portfolio emblazoned with a large Capital V, opening it to reveal all sorts of photos.
"Vandelay Technologies. One of the primo tech companies of the Future Universe. They're up there with All Science Go as being one of the best in business. Nobody can sell in Robotics like these guys." Connor said.
"If they are so successful, why would we be investigating them? This just seems like you're going to make the same mistake as you did on the Starfall Islands." Lorenz noted.
"You do have a point, Lorenz. Vandelay seems legit on the outside, and after the big starfall botch-up, I would've dropped this investigation." Connor said. "If we hadn't gotten some new info just recently."
"Looking into Vandelays history, for some reason the previous CEO of the company mysteriously retired one day and handed everything to the current one in charge." Lysithea piped in, showing a photo of a tall man with green eyes and tan skin. He has beige hair that's mostly slicked back, with a portion curving over his forehead. He primarily wore a black suit with several red and gold highlights, as well as gloves and spats, concealing most of his body. Under the main suit, he wore a white collared shirt and a red tie.
"Kale Vandelay. Son of the previous CEO, Roxxane Vandealay, who really launched her company sky high in only just 3 years." Connor said. "Once Kale took over, he reworked the entire company's staff system. Under his leadership, Vandelays recently been promoting Project Armstrong, a new type of cybernetic enhancement program."
"And this is worth looking into because…?" Hilda asked.
"Because I've been getting bad vibes about Kale. And this recently showed up in the mail not too long after we got back fixing the Cyber Collision stuff." Connor said passing over a note.
"I thought you should know that Vandelay has been tinkering with tech you now might find familiar. Come find me if you're interested in getting it all out of the wrong hands." Avlora read. "What could this technology be?"
"Symphogear stuff, like my relic. I'm sure that's what they meant." Connor said. "And this note was sent from an undisclosed location straight from Vandelays's campus."
"Sounds like something you'd want to get a look into," Raphael said.
"Sure do. So I'm goin' to Vandelays Campus to find our mysterious sender and get the scoop straight from them." Connor said.
"Oh no you don't. Not alone you're not. You promised you'd bring partners in case this goes over your head." Hilda said. "I can't let you get into a mess with a billion-dollar tech company. I'm coming with you, because I know that things are going to get rough, no matter where we go."
"And I'll come too," Lysithea said. "There's no possible way you're going without me to get you out of trouble."
"Alright, then, we've got us a team. Let's get this show on the road." Connor said.
Future Universe, Vandelay Technologies Campus….
Betty flew Connor, Hilda and Lysithea to where the Vandelay Technologies campus was located. It was mostly situated on a volcanic island, the campus being about the size of an entire city with multiple flashy buildings all around.
"This place is huge!" Hilda noticed.
"I told you these guys were primo," Connor said.
"So, do you have a plan to get in there?" Betty asked.
"Sure do. This campus is so big and there's so much staff on it, no one's gonna notice three extra people there." Connor said.
"Unless someone does something stupid, which I can already feel like that it's going to happen." Lysithea said.
"We'll drop in and infiltrate the campus through the Production Department on the islands southwest tip. Then we'll look around and try to find whoever sent us that letter." Connor continued.
"Not much of a plan to start, but its better than nothing," Hilda said. "Either way, let's do this!"
And so, Betty flew over the island and beamed the trio down into Vandelay's production department. The closest place they could safely infill into was an open quad with a giant statue propagandizing Project Armstrong, with lots of signs all over the walls, one of which read 'No napping, there's work to do!'.
"Flashy," Hilda said.
"Yeah, whoever must be in charge of this place must really have a knack for flair-ow!" Connor whined as he ran face-first into a tablet. That's when the three of them were stopped by a trio of average human-sized robots with a white and orange paint job.
"Who are you three supposed to be?" one of them asked.
"Uh… we're tourists! Yeah, we heard about Project Armstrong and wanted to see what it was all about. We applied for the test run, but we got kinda lost." Hilda covered.
"Is that so? Alright, kids, let's see what we got here…" the leading robot said, scanning the three of them with its tablet. "Standard issue people, no record of Future Universe citizenships…" he reviewed their profiles before coming across Connor's Relic strung around his neck, and Hilda and Lysithea's Crests, setting off a Foreign Object alert. "Ah, foreign object warning. Looks like they're defects. Take them in." he ordered as the other two other robots advanced.
"And you said no one would notice us!" Lysithea said.
"So I can be wrong once in a while, sue me." Connor said as the robots got closer, one of them trying to grab Hilda.'
"Hey, get your hands off me!" Hilda shrugged her grabber away and accidentally summoned Freikugel into her hands. "Uh…"
"Is that a weapon?" the second robot asked.
"Uh…I don't think so?" Hilda asked.
"I think they're resisting." the first robot said as all three of them drew plasma batons.
"Uh oh…!" Hilda said as one of the robots took the first swing at her.
"Hilda, look out!" Connor called as he pushed Hilda out of the way and took the blow for himself, the plasma baton hitting him right in the chest as all the wind was knocked out of him.
The shock from the baton coursed up his chest, right through his relic, causing it to glow as his heart started rhythmically beating. Connor was blown back a couple of feet, his firearms slipping out of their holsters and scattered everywhere a bit.
After Connor collapsed and recovered, he noticed all his guns were shaking before they came flying back to him one by one. He was off guard as he was almost whacked in the face with his sawed-off, but he managed to catch it before holstering it, then catching his Magnum, and then his rifle, spinning it and slinging it over his back before catching both his revolvers in each of his hands.
"Whoa…" Connor gasped at what just happened before looking at the three robots, smirking under his mask and twirling both his six shooters and aiming right at the three of them, causing all of them to flinch.
Security barricades then appeared behind them, locking Connor, Hilda, and Lysithea out from retreating, but they didn't plan on running away.
"Get them!" the lead robot said.
Hilda and Lysithea grouped at Connor's side, as Connor twirled his revolvers again, Hilda spun Freikugel in the air, and Lysithea summoned Suttungr's Mystery and quickly flipped through its pages before they all struck their fighting stances, ready to fight back.
(Cue: The Rush- Hi-Fi Rush OST)
The three robots soon attacked, picking their individual targets. Connor rolled out of the way of the lead robot's baton swing in time with the beat he was giving off before unloading his revolver into the robot's core as it burst open, before giving it a kick away as it exploded a safe distance away.
Hilda clashed weapons with the second one, despite being at a weapon disadvantage, but she was able to use her strength to overpower the bot and smash it to pieces with a few good swings of Freikugel.
As for the third, it was at the mercy of Lysithea as she used her magic to tear it apart quickly, reducing it to scrap.
"Well, that didn't go so well…" Connor said.
"So much for keeping a low profile. I really didn't want trouble at this point." Hilda said. "But what happened back there, Connor?"
"Dunno, but it looks to me like…" Connor thought. "First: my relic got hit by that bots plasma baton and charged it up. Dunno if it's supposed to do that. Second: the extra juice caused my guns to be attracted back to me, or more specifically my relic. Third: it's making everything sync up to a beat without me transforming. And, this may sound ridiculous to you guys… but when the music kicks in, it's almost like…"
"You're on a stage and you're some sort of rockstar?" Hilda asked.
"Yeah, exactly. Where'd you get that idea?" Connor asked.
"Because there's some guy nearby who's acting weird just like you're describing." Hilda pointed behind them.
Close to them, a young man right in his mid-20s was acting like he was a rockstar finishing his first set, and he appeared to have scrapped a couple of robots himself. He was of average height with brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a red scarf with a blue button and a smiling face button centered near his neck. He had a mechanical left arm possessing grey-and-red highlights with four fingers. His outfit consisted of a yellow-and-orange jacket, with a t-shirt donning a white lightning bolt. He also wore blue jeans with grey stripes and grey-and-white sneakers with red soles.
"Chai….Chai…Chai…" the young man cheered to himself as the three of them couldn't help but walk up to them as he kept being absorbed in his own imagination. "Thank you…thank you.."
While this was happening, two more robots were observing the young man's fantasy, and saw the three of them as well.
"Are those the guys?" the first asked, elbowing his other.
"I dunno." the second said, shrugging.
"You want an autograph? I'll get you an autograph. Thank you… thank you…" the young man said.
"Ahem…" the first robot said, getting everyone's attention.
"Oh… ummm… anyone see the guys that did this?" the young man asked, trying to feign ignorance.
"They're the defects!" one of the robots said.
"Wha-? Nononononono, I was just-" the young man started before the two robots drew their weapons.
"No getting outta this one, buddy." Connor said.
"Yeah, guess so. Well, here we go!" he said as a grabber popped out of his robot arm before metal scraps magnetically flew to it, shaping into a razorback guitar. He then tossed it up in the air and caught it to use as a weapon as he joined the trio's side.
"Take them out!" one of the robots said as they engaged.
The young man proved to actually be quite the capable fighter, using his makeshift guitar to whack the robots in time with the beat of the music coming from somewhere on his body. Together with Connor, Hilda and Lysithea, the group took out all the security bots coming their way, deactivating the barricade.
"Well, that was… awesome? But we should probably get outta here." the young man said.
"Good call, guitar man." Hilda said as the four of them went past the barricade and further up the street into a plaza. Suddenly, a couple of screens turned on, showing a burly woman in a suit with black hair highlighted with red and orange streaks.
"Hey oh! Big Boss of production Rekka here, and what's this I hear about DEFECTS running wild in REKKA's zone? Anyone sees these kids running around, Rekka wants you to CRUSH them, SMASH them! No defects get out of Production! NOT ON REKKA'S WATCH!"
"I am not a child! How many times do I have to explain myself!?" Lysithea yelled to the woman, although she couldn't hear her as the screens cut the feed.
"Ok, clearly not someone we want to run into." the young man said.
"Definitely not." Hilda said. "So what's your story? You here because of this Project Armstrong stuff?" she asked as the four of them took a different route to escape after a door closed on them.
"Yeah, I came to the island because the project could fix up my originally organic busted left arm. I signed up with Vandelay to be a Future Rockstar, but then all this happened." the young man said. "Now we're all in the same boat, branded as defects, huh? But you guys aren't implanted like me."
"They must've branded Hilda and myself as defective because they detected our Crests." Lysithiea said. "It means that Vandelay is not so welcoming of certain groups of people… Something is fishy about all of this."
"My relic must've set em off too. So much for first impressions." Connor said.
"Ah well, not like we could just walk up and apologize for the trouble." Hilda shrugged. "Besides, if they're really shady, then I won't have to feel bad for busting their entire force up."
The quartet continued forth until they passed through another door. There, they saw three more of the same model robots looking at a black mechanical cat with blue lines on its body and a red collar.
"Is this one of the defects? Looks suspicious." one asked.
"Could be…" another said.
Connor whistled, grabbing the trio of bots' attention.
"Hey! Lookin' for us?" Connor asked.
The three bots ignited their plasma batons, diverting them away from the robotic cat as it hopped away.
"Get them!" the leader ordered as they moved to engage.
"Try and catch this!" the young man taunted as he evaded the bots sword swings with expertly timed dodges timed to the music coming from him, countering with his guitar right after. Connor did the same and shot the other two bots in the head.
Hilda followed up this assault by smashing the bots to pieces one at a time with swings from her Hero's relic. Reinforcements soon arrived but Lysithea sent them to the scrap heap by blasting them apart using a Fire spell.
"That takes care of that." Connor said, wiping his hands together.
"And… Now what are we supposed to do?" the young man asked the group.
"Well, you got me." Hilda said.
"Hey! You guys alright?" a voice called from the building above. "Thanks for helping my cat! Need a hand?"
"Well that's convenient," Hilda said. "Yeah, we could sure use one! We want out of here in a bad way!"
"Well, that might be something I can handle if you-"
"Hey, yelling like this is awkward! Can you speed this up?" the young man asked.
"Fine, then! Look, I hacked the access panel. Smack the switch and come up."
The young man jumped up and did so, causing the gate and a few platforms to open and appear, allowing the group to go forward.
"Man, Project Armstrong's turned out to be a real bummer…" the young man groaned. "I wanted a cool robot arm, not a target on my head!"
"At least you don't have a bounty on yours to go with it." Connor said. "I mean, having a bounty is cool, but it sometimes can get stressful."
"You have a bounty? I mean, you do look like an outlaw cowboy, but your bounty can't be that high-" the young man said.
"He's worth 1.023 Billion." Hilda noted.
"WHAT?!" the young man gawked in shock.
"Hey, don't get excited about it. You think mine's big? You should see what some buddies of mine I hang out with are worth." Connor said. "But let's not talk numbers right now."
The four of them soon headed inside where the voice was coming from.
"Hello? We're here… cat rescuers? You… said you'd help out..?" the young man asked. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…"
"Good, you made it."
"Huh? Who said-?" Connor started.
"Down here." Everyone then fixed their gaze and saw the cat the security bots were inspecting before. "Alright, so I'll keep this quick." the cat spoke.
"Uhh…" the young man was obviously a little weirded out.
"I saw you guys fight back there. I think we might be able to help each other." the cat spoke.
"I-I thought…" the young man tried to say.
"Security's all over you guys, which I could help with." the cat continued.
"Stop! Ok. Whoa whoa whoa whoa. That was YOU back there? You're a… cat?" the young man asked, looking at the three with him. "Are any of you not freaked out by this?"
"Not really, I happen to know a couple talking cats," Connor responded. Somewhere out there, Mona and Gouto sneezed in a karmic reaction.
"And this is 808. She IS a cat, but I built her. Look, like I was saying-" the voice behind the cat, dubbed 808 tried to continue.
"You know, I thought my music robot arm power was crazy, but this is…I'm…probably better off by myself." the young man said, walking away before 808 tugged on his scarf.
"Dude, listen! And this concerns you three too. Vandelay;s up to something." the cat said.
"Wait, so Connor was right about these guys? And why does this concern us?" Hilda asked.
"You three are part of Team Revival, the hero business for hire, aren't you?" the cat asked. "Who do you think sent you that letter?"
"Wait, that was you?" Connor asked. "Well, not technically the cat, but the one behind it?"
"That's right. I had 808 slip it into your mailbox, but getting her to your office and back was a beast. You wanna know more about what Vandelay's up to? I can get you guys to my place to give you the scoop." 808's operator said. "And bring this guy with you." she motioned to the young man.
"Thanks but I'm good…" the young man said, going in to pat 808s head with his cybernetic arm, causing them both to be jolted.
At that moment, an MP3 player in the man's chest started beating. As something happened to 808 as well before she meowed and turned into a floating spherical speaker.
"Whoa, what just happened to your cat?!" Hilda asked.
"I dunno, she's not responding…" the operator said. "What did you do?!" she asked the young man.
"Hold on. Did you just feel that? That… beat?" the young man asked. "I think we got something here!"
"What something is that?" Connor asked.
"You'll see." the young man smiled before looking back to 808. "Hey, so, offer reconsidered. But I'm gonna borrow your cat for a bit."
"What? Why?" the operator asked.
"Hey, you wanted to help right?" the man asked. "And don't worry, it's just till I get outta here."
"Ugh. You three better not let this guy run off with her." the operator said.
"We'll keep an eye on him." Connor said.
The group then proceeded to an elevator, and activating let them get launched up to a rooftop level where they could see the view of the entire production area, and beyond into the rest of the island, before landing back down and coming across another wave of security bots.
"Bring it on!" the young man encouraged. Due to his new connection with 808, along with his musical empowerment, he showed off a new ability to execute a final blow in tune with the music his MP3 was pumping out. Together with Connor, Hilda, and Lysithea, their attackers were soon sent to the junk pile.
"Another squad to the scrap heap. Man, I take it back, this isn't so hard." Hilda said.
"Maybe things aren't so bad after all." the young man said, disassembling his weapon and putting it away.
"OK… remind me to ask you guys how you do all that." 808s operator said.
"Like I know. Anyway, it's your turn. We need to get out of… wherever we are." the young man said.
"We're in Vandelay's Production Department." Connor piped in.
"And the only direct exit is through Quality Assurance. You guys see it?" the operator asked as they looked over the horizon.
"So many buildings… it's hard to tell." the young man said.
"It's the one that literally says "QA Center" on it. Duh." Hilda noted, directing him to the building.
"Oh, that one."
"But even if it is a way out, they're likely expecting us to go there. We should-" Lysithea started before the young man grabbed her.
"You had me at "way out". Let's go!" he said as he led the way forward to the building.
"Listen, buddy, I'm not sure being overconfident is gonna be the best thing for you here. Trust me, I know." Connor said.
"Uh… the best solution is the most obvious." the young man replied.
"That's wrong and… TERRIBLE advice. You and these guys are wanted! We need to outsmart them." 808's operator said.
"Well then we'll fight our way out." he replied.
"Are you an idiot? That's literally the opposite of outsmarting them."
The quartet and their cat guide continued to make their way across the rooftops before the young man accidentally dislodged a fuel tank on some weak steel girders, making him fall lower to a lower part of the ramparts painfully as the others went down to him.
"Are you alright?" Connor asked.
(Music Shift: I Got This - Hi Fi Rush OST)
"Ugh… I think I found a shortcut." the young man said.
"Yeah… sure." 808's operator said as they continued on.
"Whoa, this campus is huge. It's more like a city!" the young man noticed.
"Perk of being one of the Future Universes's leading tech companies. Vandelay probably owns this whole island." Connor said.
"Yup, they like to show off." 808's operator said. "But you and your friends are the same as me, cowboy. You and I? We're both looking for what they're hiding."
"Oh, you both like digging up secrets? How about you tell me your names?" the young man asked.
"If it took you this long to ask, you can wait a bit longer." the operator said.
"I don't see any harm and tell you both who we are though," Connor said. "The name's Connor Trav Yukine. Just call me Connor though. I'm the leader of Team Revival."
"I'm Hilda Valentine Goneril. You could say I'm Connor's trusted employee." Hilda followed.
"And I'm Lysithea von Ordelia. I'm also a part of Connors organization." Lysithea went last.
"Nice to meet you guys. I'm Chai, by the way." The young man finally introduced himself.
"Chai, Connor, Hilda and Lysithea? Alright then." 808s operator said.
After the four gave their names, they continued onward to Quality Assurance via a lot of redirects, eventually making their way through the perils of a Production line. They navigated the twists and turns, fighting off various models of Vandelay's security robots, including a new humanoid type with a blaster and a larger model, before finally arriving at the front of Quality Assurance, opening its doors to the group with an exit sign to boot.
"Hey look! Exit! Told you guys this was easy." Chai said.
"It's obviously a trap we're being lured into. But I get the feeling we'll be going in regardless." Lysithea said.
"Yup. nowhere but in." Connor said.
(music fade)
The group headed inside the building and straight to a circular platform, all while chai was taking it easy as 808, back in cat form, walked ahead.
"See? Just like I thought. You guys need to relax." Chai said before the pounding of metal caught everyone's attention.
"Introducing… the Head of Production… REKKA!" a PA system acting as a hype man called as pyrotechnics blasted, showing the woman from before in her full appearance. As shown on the screen, she was a tall, tanned-muscular woman with black side swept hair and red-yellow highlights. She wore a white button-up shirt with black/yellow arrows on the shoulders and her name on the back, a red tie with yellow stripes, and wrestling gloves with white laces and gray tips. Additionally, she wears black tights with purple and white stripes and pro wrestling boots with white laces. Notably, she was wearing a wrestler's belt with the word "BOSS" highlighted on her buckle. She posed along with the pyrotechnics before silencing them.
"Oh no…" 808's operator said before putting a paw to her face.
"Hey oh! There you are, y'little boys and girls! Messing with Rekka's CREW, Rekka's PRODUCTION, and, worst of all… Yeah, Rekka's perfect no-defect RECORD!" Rekka said before slamming her fists together again.
"Your security tried to kill US!" Chai said.
"Project Armstrong EULA." Rekka informed, puling out a slip of paper with Chai's own signature on it. "Fine print. Shoulda read it, PUNK! DEFECTS get recalled." she said, verberating recalled by slitting her throat.
"Uh… recalled? I think you mean killed!" Hilda said.
"Rekka ain't picking the verbs! That's for the mooks in marketing. ANYWAY, thanks for being dumb enough to just waltz in here. REKKA ain't gotta get her hands dirty." Rekka said.
"I told you…" 808's operator said to Chai.
"More specifically, I did." Lysithea corrected.
"Welcome to the Project Armstrong defect check, honies." Rekka said, slamming her fists. "And our QAs the best in the business… Hey oh!" she posed.
(Cue: 1,000,000- Nine Inch Nails)
Suddenly, the platform they were on turned into an elevator as they were being raised up, Chai lifting his shirt up to see his MP3 player pulsing like crazy.
They suddenly stooped on an upper part of the silo before a pair of yellow glowing eyes pierced the blackness, before coming out of the shadows was a massive intimidating-looking robot with a orange yellow and white paint job and yellow LEDs depicting music bars on its shoulders and a glowing core in its chest. It was connected to some kind of rail track, having no legs.
"Oh boy…." Hilda breathed.
"I like defects." the robot spoke.
"That's good!" Chai nodded.
"I like how they taste."
"...Not so good." Hilda said with a wince. "Well, this won't be fun at all, won't it?"
"Be quiet, and prepare for battle, Hilda." Lysithea scowled. "There has to be a weakness in such a large creature… But where could it be…?"
"Uh, Lysithea?" Connor noted.
"What?" Lysithea asked as the robot brought its arms up.
"MOVE!" Connor called in alertness.
"Inspection Level: ONE MILLION!" the robot called as it brought its firsts down, Lysithea nearly able to dodge out of the way and prevented from being crushed, regrouping with the others.
Chai then tossed 808 into the air as she transformed into speaker mode, before assembling his guitar. Connor then cracked his hands as he drew his revolvers, while Hilda summoned Freikugel and Lysitheaa Suttungr's Mystery.
"Let's rock, big boy!" Chai said, the robot roaring right in their faces.
VS. QA-1ML
FIGHT!
"Haha, bring it!" QA-1ML declared, sweeping his arms across the platform, unsuccessfully trying to hit the quartet. They struck back, hitting his chest and arms and doing as much damage as they could.
"Guys, his hands are extra sensitive for uh… inspecting." 808s operator informed.
"That's a funny way of telling us to hit them," Hilda replied, Dodging one of QA-1MLs fists as it hit the ground before she gave it a couple of whacks. This was followed up by Lysithea blasting it with Fire, making QA-1ML lurch back.
The giant robot recovered and roared, before making four pairs of rocket turrets appear from out of its back two each mounted on its shoulders.
"Finally get to use these!" it said.
"It's got missile launchers!" Hilda warned.
"I see that!" Connor assured.
"Try and dodge this!" QA-1ML declared, firing off rockets from each of its launchers and making them target specific areas.
Lysithea was able to blast a few of the rockets out of the sky with her magic as the last one was evaded. QA-1ML then went for another slam with its right hand, but Hilda whacked it away and Chai disabled it with a follow-up combo. After which, Chai knocked the hand into the air with another swing of his guitar, then batted it right at the robot's face, causing it to punch itself, shattering half of its protective armor.
"Ah! My face!" QA-1ML cried as his face sparked and he went down for a moment before getting back up. After a few more hits, he had enough. "Time…to get…SERIOUS!" he said before letting out a yell as the color of his paint changed from orange to red, as his fists were electrified.
QA-1ML incorporated new attacks in this 'Serious Mode' such as slamming the stage, and his strikes now zapping with voltage after every hit, along with using his rockets. Once there was an opening however, Hilda disabled the robots left arm, enabling Chai to do the same thing with the right, making the inspection bot punch itself, fully revealing its exposed face. On its forehead was an LED screen that showed the world 'Weak Point!'.
"Looks like we found the weakness you were looking for, Lysithea!" Connor said.
"Did they honestly make its head an obvious weakness by pasting 'weakpoint' on its forehead?" Lysithea asked.
"By design. Speaks for itself." 808's operator said.
"Well, a targets a target." Hilda shrugged as she leaped up and whacked QA-1MLs face with Freikugel, while Connor shot it and its hands.
"This should bring it down. Dark Spikes Theta!" Lysithea called as she hit the robot's face with the powerful dark magic spell, making it crash to the ground. But it wasnt done yet, as it tried to sweep everyone off the platform. The group saw it coming however, and leaped over it. Chai then landed on the bots other arm and ran up it, before jumping into the air for the finisher.
"You've got a killer track. But every song's gotta end." Chai said before swinging his guitar down onto the bot's face.
This finishing blow would send the bot crashing on to the platform, causing it to collapse as everyone landed beside the wreckage.
"Well, that turned out a lot better than we thought." Connor said before alarms started going off. QA-1MLs forehead screen showed that a Self-Destruct sequence had been activated, and his body was going to detonate… in just five seconds! The group quickly gained some distance just as the explosion went off, sending them flying.
(end song)
Connor, Hilda and Lysithea managed to land safely. Chai… not so much, as he smacked into a board counting the number of days without defects, resetting it to zero before he flopped onto the ground.
"Wooo! Did you see that?" Chai asked, recovering quickly.
"Yeah, we did. Nice landing." Hilda sarcastically said.
"But now, you guys follow me this time. We REALLY gotta get outta here." 808's operator said as she approached the hole in the floor. "No complaining this time," she said to Chai before jumping down.
"Well this job got off to a big start," Connor said.
"It sure has. And something tells me it's only going to escalate from here." Lysithea noted as everyone followed 808 down the hole.