Chapter 45: Bombs Away
…Yes nothing less than our nation is at stake as Noire still thinks in the cockpit of her magnificent aircraft. How are we to ensure the enemy bombers get taken out when we have neither the missiles to shoot them down, nor the time to rearm?
"…But if the bombs were to kill our troops below wouldn't we be able to revive them?" Rom asked.
"Good point but then that would mean that they'd no longer be able to use the abilities the perk a colas give them, we'd have to give them the drinks again or else they'll have no edge, and once they're dead they can't be brought back to life. Anyway I've managed to come up with a new solution." The CPU of Lastation spoke with pride.
Note: Readers please listen to 24 poles Krazy Ivan while reading this:
With that announcement she then gets on the radio.
"All Lastation pilots be advised I want you to use every smart missile you have against the enemy bombers, when you run out of missiles use every available bomb you have and use it on those bombers, our speed and stealth should enable us to do this." She ordered.
With that command given she then looks on the screens to determine the number of enemy bombers. She then talks out loud while she looks.
"Enemy B52s and lots of them, while they're inferior to our aircraft due to them being slower and lacking any camouflage technology, should they manage to reach any of their targets their large payload can cause significant damage to our forces below. If our smart missiles that will always hit their target, and can even communicate with other missiles ensuring they hit different targets, are not enough to take all the aircraft down, then perhaps our future proof bombs can do the trick. Just like with everything, they may have bigger numbers but we have better technology and quality." Our Lastation goddess commented.
She then accelerates the bomber to top speed just as many of our other bombers do. Our target is the other bombers and so goes step 1 of our plan: Find the B52s. While we fly in formation at such a high speed I then start to realise just how skilled and how well trained our pilots are, as well as Noire our CPU. Her abilities as CPU are very useful, she's very efficient and skilled which is just as well as to bomb another bomber does take some skill.
It's not long before we fly over the Leanbox squadron of bombers in which we then turn around, while we have heard of their size in numbers, it's when we see them for ourselves that we get to realise just how many of the things there are. Bombers as far as I can see and they're all heading for Lastation; our home even with some of them knocked out of the sky with our missiles they still fly in formation. At least it should be easier for our pilots.
Hoping our bombs can finish them off and with precision we do a dive towards them ensuring the speed of the aircraft is correct, as the aircraft dive on the Leanbox bombers with the bombs ready. At the right moment and with such precision they are unleashed, at the split second it happens all of our aircraft then swoop up away from their B52s as the bombs are on their way. Our aircraft are able to halt quickly as they spin around and hover, watching with nervousness as to whether our CPUs plan to bomb the bombers will work.
It looks as though the bombs appear to be above the bombers; before I knew it the bombs hit the bombers. In fact it was done with such precision that each bomb is spread evenly across the targets causing lots of explosions on them all.
I've never seen that before I must admit, a bomber being destroyed by other bombers above is something quite unbelievable. The bombs cause explosions across the squadron, as this causes the bombers to explode into quite a few pieces as well as for them to come crashing out of the sky. All I see down there are different pieces of scrap metal falling down, because of the immense number of them it fills the sky, almost as though it's raining. I do not see a single enemy bomber still in the air let alone one that's unscathed.
"We'll have to see if there are any survivors that we can rescue as well as seeing if we can gather intelligence from those planes, we need to get them recycled too." Our beautiful pilot commented.
"Wow that was amazing we have now gotten rid of the enemy bombers, Leanbox doesn't have any more aircraft at all right now; I don't think we have lost any of our aircraft at all." I said.
"Yes but now our aircraft has ran out of ammunition and we only have our cannon fire left as a weapon. While we haven't lost a single aircraft I do see it as a catastrophe that so many Leanbox pilots have lost their lives today and all because of Vert, but we have a battle to fight right now. It looks like from our screen their M808B Scorpion Tanks from Halo are on the move and there are loads of them. We are heavily outnumbered here. I wonder if the Master Chief is here." She expressed concern.
"Do you have a plan?" Blanc asked Noire.
"Yes fortunately the remaining weapons in this bomber can cause damage to their artillery; they need to be taken out as soon as possible. When that happens I'll send this plane home to refuel and we'll board my special Black Beast Tank in the back, I'll let you drive it Blanc their numerous scorpions will be no match for my future proof tank." The silver haired beauty spoke with pride.
"Thank you so much Noire, oh I love the idea of driving a tank, nothing like driving an unstoppable vehicle." The Loweean CPU laughed.
With our plan in motion Noire heads to where all the Leanbox artillery are, even though our bombs have destroyed a good number of them there are still some left. Despite there being SAMs that guard the artillery from the air, they can't lock onto our aircraft because they can't see us at all.
"Black would you like to do the honours?" Noire asked me with a hint of flirting.
"Oh yeah." I reply with much enthusiasm.
"In that case, our AC130 is in the air." She sounded like a multiplayer announcer.
I look through the screen and just like in COD, I just see Black and White but the screen highlights the targets in green indicating the Leanbox vehicles, I notice how they're mostly rocket artillery and SAM vehicles. I don't see any friendlies at all but even if I did friendly fire is impossible. With that knowledge I switch to the 105mm cannon. I fire the shot before switching to the 40mm, I then fire again this time repeatedly at a group of artillery.
Despite the terrain being varied, as some are amongst forests, while others are on grassy hills, the terrain cannot protect them as we can see them clearly with our thermal cameras.
"Right on target Black there must be 100 plus KIA." Uni commented.
I then fire more shots causing various enemy vehicles to explode in the area. Thanks to the vehicles being very close together I'm able to cause a lot of destruction. It's not long before some people get out of their vehicles armed with launchers. They try and aim with their launchers but they then realise that they can't see anything in the sky. All they see is shots coming out hitting them. I switch to the 25mm and mow them down with the gun.
"Nice…Boom! I see a lot of pieces down there; just wish they'd give up so they can live." The Lastation CPU Candidate remarked.
Couldn't agree me, I manage to bombard quite a large area, not a single Leanbox soldier or vehicle is still alive from where I hit them. I zoom out back to the 105mm where there are still plenty more vehicles as far as I could see. I notice how while some of the occupants of the vehicles are running towards the battlefield, eager to get away from the carnage I'm causing from above, some stay in their vehicles as they try and find targets to shoot.
"Our forces are completely invisible to them, their artillery is useless, they're out of range anyway from where our forces are. I'll move the bomber to another area of the battlefield. I'm going to try and hack into their radios try to encourage them to flee, they must know they're just dying there." Noire noted.
"Recalibrate Azimuth angle adjust elevation scan." Uni said.
If I'm honest I don't know what that means, although I have noticed she is saying dialogue similar to AC130 operators from Modern Warfare. It's not long before I start firing again with the 105mm causing more damage to them as well as hearing Uni confirming the vehicles I have destroyed as well as her expressing grief over loss of life which I feel as well. Why are they insistent in dying in their thousands like battle fodder?
"Leanbox this is Lady Black Heart, I have no quarrel with you. My quarrel is with your leader who insists that you lot fight us. I do not want any more bloodshed and I think we all know that your troops are getting massacred, so I leave you with two choices: You either drop your weapons and go to Lastation with your hands up or you can continue to die needlessly, please surrender I will treat you fairly. I'm a kind goddess and I do not wish the destruction of your innocent people just please stop fighting us." The Lastation CPU speaks with sorrow and genuine emotion.
I do not fire anymore and neither does our bombers as we wait to see whether Leanbox will surrender or at the very least just retreat? But it then turns out that their remaining vehicles which is still large in number fire all of their missiles. Why they do that I don't know? What makes them think that they can hit anything or even be able to do a sneak attack? What just because they're hidden in dense forests?
"What a shame we'll have to keep killing them until they do retreat or surrender, oh goddess why do they want destruction, why are they prepared to die in the thousands if not millions? Why can't we get along?" Noire said with sadness as well as frustration.
"Probably because they're brainwashed by that dumb broad Vert." Blanc answered with anger and sorrow for the loss of life.
In response I fire the guns as many times as possible at the very vehicles that fired, which happened to be all of them but despite the ferocity of me firing those weapons, and the destruction of their artillery, there are still plenty of them remaining and they don't appear to dwindle in number. Worse the screen tells me I'm out of ammunition.
"Noire do you have any ammunition in reserve for this plane?" I ask her.
"Unfortunately not and it's a shame because I love flying in this. It's so technologically advanced; I'll have to do a tour of Lastation from the air in this thing." She replies sounding quite glum.
I notice Noire looking a bit sad. I understand as she loves that plane so much, and now she has to leave it for the rest of this battle. I also thought that she would have liked to have been able to show the plane, without anything bad happening concerning it. For Noire she feels that having to leave the plane isn't good as it shows flaws, the flaw being it doesn't hold enough ammunition to hold of the Leanbox invasion. She wants to be flawless and I can't blame her at all.
But she hasn't failed and we intend to put her at ease.
"I actually like this plane too. I'm impressed this plane can carry a tank, plenty of bombs, plenty of ammunition and has room for a good number of people." Blanc commented.
"Me too, it's so comfortable in here, you can actually relax on these seats and it can bring great views." Ram added.
"It's fast too there's a food and drink making machine on board." Rom replied with a smile.
"Your plane is a success Noire; we've managed to defeat the entire Leanbox air force with help from our ground and air troops, despite being heavily outnumbered. It's one of the limitless things I like about you Noire. Your desire to improve and your desire to be a flawless goddess. We love your plane Noire, and we know that you'll succeed in ensuring the plane has even more ammunition and fuel next time." I reassured her.
"Think of it this way, at least now you get to show off your amazing tank as I'm sure it will play a key part in repelling the Leanbox invasion. This isn't Neptunia Noire we will never laugh at you, we will always laugh with you. Don't worry about it, your plane impresses us and what's good about you is your desire to get better. I'm sure your tank will be very impressive just like this plane. I love you Noire we all do." White added and I know she meant love as in a fan.
After White spoke the Lastation CPU's glum look vanishes and returns to a smile.
"Thanks a lot my friends that means so much to me, head for the tank guys I'll meet you there. I just need to send a message to our troops below." She spoke with happiness.
With this we head to the back of the plane. Just like with the plane, I notice my Loweean allies are amazed, speechless at the sight of such a large black tank in this plane. I notice how large the turret is as well as how there are two of them; I also notice the tank has two mini guns as well as a few missile launchers.
It's not long before we go in inside the colossal tank, just like the exterior the interior amazes us. The interior of the tank wasn't quite what I expected as there is plenty of room inside and there's even black carpet and wall paper. There are a couple of large TVs inside which provides the occupants with a view of outside, a few beds, an atomic manipulator, a few gaming chairs and even a bath and shower.
It's unbelievable as the interior is more like that of a 5 star room rather than a tank. I'm amazed that there is no sign of machinery to load the gun or places to store the ammunition. Amazed we all find a gaming chair or a bed to sit on as Blanc finds the PS3 controller. As she gets used to the controls which takes no time due to knowledge as CPU and experience, it is at that point we hear Noire make her speech to her troops.
"Lastation and Lowee I am pleased to announce that all enemy fighters and bombers are now destroyed, unfortunately though our planes need to rearm, so sadly you'll be without air cover but with luck they should be back in time to help. I know we are still heavily outnumbered but our tanks are of better quality. I am also pleased to inform you that your leaders that you love so much; will be joining in the fight from my pride and joy: My very own super tank. We will stop the Leanbox invasion and I have faith in each and every one of you. I am confident that our superior technology will beat their superior numbers. It is an honour to fight with all of you and I look forward to seeing you all in person. To Lastation and Lowee!" The silver haired beauty spoke with passion and pride.
Her speech was very moving and I love the sound of her voice, so caring, so honest and so loving. We all enjoyed hearing her speak. It is then someone on the radio speaks.
"Lady Black Heart, we have spotted a large number of A220 Vultures, permission to use the Pokémon?" A soldier said via radio.
I remember them, they're helicopters from Halo.
"Permission granted Pokémon trainers be advised, use every available flying type you have and order them to take down the Vultures." The attractive Lastation lady ordered.
"Yes Lady Black Heart." The soldier replied.
It's not long before Noire gets in the tank. She stands there with pride and beauty, even posing as she's very proud of her tank, and is full of joy as she'll let her best friend Blanc drive the tank.
"Your tank is so cool it's almost like a cozy hotel room here. You sure know how to impress." White spoke with amazement and joy.
"Thank you for the compliment White, I'm glad you like my tank, I knew you all would, another one of my pride and joys. It's tuned to go over 100mph, it can withstand missiles, shells, even radiation. Yep it's very powerful. I'm confident the Leanbox armour won't stand a chance." Noire replied with joy and pride.
"Hey thanks for letting me drive this thing, I love to drive something like this, I feel so powerful in this." The Lowee CPU said.
"You're welcome, I always wanted to give you the pleasure, now I've set the plane to go home and the hatch will open, all you have to do is drive out of the plane and it will automatically deploy parachutes. Smart missiles can be launched from the tank even in the air." The silver haired goddess spoke with pride.
When the tank is then driven out of the plane it feels surreal and novel. I'm not sure I've been in a tank before, let alone a special one specifically for Noire. Not only that it's also cool to be parachuted down from thousands of feet via her special wonderful plane, yeah very novel. I notice how everyone enjoys the fun of being in a floating tank; I do genuinely feel like I'm on a theme park ride of some description.
During this time our driver fires some missiles from our glorious tank which will hit some enemy choppers. At that point I hope that this tank and all our friendly tanks can survive against the vast numbers of the enemy Scorpion tanks, it would be sad if one of Noire's magnificent technological marvels were to be destroyed. I am more than impressed with her technology. That being said I do have confidence that our technology can protect us and I'm sure Blanc's driving skills will keep us safe. I'm sure she'll handle this gigantic vehicle with ease, she's a CPU and she's already proven to be very familiar with PlayStation controllers.
I then look at one of the computer screens which show our Pokémon of different flying types and sizes, as well as varying appearances battling their helicopters. For once it's nice to see that we have more Pokémon than they have helicopters, but I notice how it's mixed outcomes in certain areas. In some places the flying Pokémon are able to take out the enemy A220s with ease, and even when they get shot at their high levels ensure they can take a lot of damage. In other areas though the helicopters are able to shoot down a good number of the enemy Pokémon before they can even get in range of their own attacks.
It's a battle of attrition as both sides fail to dominate the other, what a stalemate this is. I am relaxed in the knowledge that Pokémon cannot die here, they can only faint and when they do we can just take them back to the Poké Centre. But what about Leanbox's ability of reproducing new helicopters not to mention how many men do they have in reserve? Probably plenty. These helicopters need to be taken down but apart from the Pokémon; we don't have any decent means of taking the enemy helicopters down without risking our tanks being destroyed by their missiles. They could potentially wipe us out due to their mobility and manoeuvrability. Blanc notices this and so she decides to fire more of her missiles in hopes that the Pokémon can take the advantage.
After a while of floating down and seeing both sides fighting each other giving it their all, the missiles manage to hit a group of their Vultures. Unfortunately this appeared to have little effect as there are still plenty of Leanbox Vultures in the sky. Despite this our driver decides to use every missile in the tank against the enemy.
It's now tense as can we take the advantage? Can we eliminate this threat or will we have a hard time dealing with them when it becomes a helicopter vs. tank battle? We all admire the bravery of those Pokémon we really do and seeing this must be a morale boost to the Loweeans, as they can say they have done their bit in repelling the Leanbox invasion, and take pride in training their Pokémon very well. But they face a foe that is proving quite tough to defeat with what we have right now, despite this I think the Pokémon are doing rather well. I just hope they'll all be alright when we take them to the Pokémon centre.
Once again the missiles manage to hit a group of enemy helicopters and while this time more are destroyed, it barely makes a dent in breaking the stalemate. Or has it? I now notice on the screen that despite fierce resistance the Pokémon are able to take down the Vultures one at a time now even if a few are fainted with every Vulture taken.
After much watching as both sides lose their respective units quickly, it then goes down to a few Vultures and a group of flying Pokémon. They appear to be Legendary, which I'm kinda not surprised since Legendary Pokémon are the most powerful. Who owns them I wonder?
Not only are they strong but they are very good at taking the Vultures down. I notice how they fly over the Vultures away from the cannon fire, only to do their various attacks at the cockpit. Their different moves destroy the glass and kill the pilots, making the choppers useless.
Despite winning that part of the battle just like we have done with every part, so far while our forces destroy theirs, our forces end up becoming unavailable for the rest of the battle at least temporarily. If we can carry on with this with their tanks and their infantry we should be able to win this battle. And perhaps Lastation can be saved again.
I notice on the screen countless Leanbox Scorpion tanks heading for our own troops, but by this time our own tank has landed next to all of our own tanks.
Our Lastation goddess gets on the radio again:
"I have good news and bad news everyone: The good news is that all of the Leanbox Vultures are destroyed, but the bad news is that most of the flying Pokémon have fainted, and a massive unit of Leanbox's own Scorpion tanks head towards us.
I wish to thank the Pokémon trainers who have done so well, and you can proud of your Pokémon for their bravery and their success against the helicopters. They will get the best care from our Poké Centres. As for now, I know we face overwhelming odds but our tanks are invisible to them, have longer range than them, are more stronger than them and can do more damage than theirs, and with much superior accuracy thanks to our technology. Plus which my very own Black Beast driven by our good friend Lady White Heart is here for support. Lastation and Lowee, together we will hold back the Leanbox invasion and we will show them that invading us is a waste of time, a waste of effort and a waste of resources." Noire spoke with pride and passion.
Note: Readers please listen to Arby n The Chief Season 5 Theme Here Comes The Chief while reading this.
Blanc then gets on the radio.
"They want a fight! We give them a fight! Fire at them!" Our driver yelled with passion.
Barrage after barrage of shells are fired from our long line of invisible tanks and from what I see on screen, they take out group after group of their tanks. It's pleasing to see each of them destroyed with just one shell, as well as to know that we're out their range but they are definitely within ours. And yet it's sad at the same time to see the carnage of all the loss of Leanbox life, all because of their brainwashed leader. But while I'm sure we all feel the same way, we cannot let that get in the way. All we feel is adrenaline as we are in one of the best tanks in Gameindustri, fighting for both of our nations.
Thanks to the speed of the tank's machinery we're able to fire rapidly. I notice how the high tech computers are able to calculate the angle of the turret, ensuring that when the turret is at that ideal angle the shell will hit the enemy tank, even if the drivers rely on satellites to be able to see the tank. It amazes me how the computers are able to do the sums and the equations of projectiles with such speed. How much I love technology, and I love how the Lastation goddess's future proof technology has played a big part in helping us win this battle.
All Blanc does just as the rest of our drivers do, is fire shell after shell at the enemy Scorpions, but still despite the constant firing and even though every shell hits a tank they just keep coming, and while we have destroyed a fair amount there appears to be no sign of the threat reducing.
After what felt like ages of watching the screen as shell after shell hit the tanks, they eventually appear within distance of our own eyes. Even now despite having a huge advantage with our vastly superior range, we couldn't destroy enough of them. We did destroy a lot of them, but we are still heavily outnumbered. Thankfully we still have our superior armour and we're also invisible.
"They just keep frigging coming!" Blanc spoke with frustration as well as concern.
"I see what you mean Blanc; they just don't want to give up." Noire agreed.
It is at that point our soldiers on the radio tell us some bad news.
"Lady Black Heart, I'm getting concerned we're getting low on ammunition. Request permission to retreat because I'm worried we'll lose all of our tanks." The soldier said on the radio.
"Negative we cannot lose Lastation because if we do, Gameindustri will be in chaos and decay forever and we'll all be slaves. Just keep fighting until you run out of shells, then stay put our future proof armour should protect us from their shells. I'll arrange for air cover." Our silver haired beauty said.
Our radio lady then speaks to another person.
"Attention all air units I want you all to scramble, but only do so when you have enough bombs and missiles to destroy all of their tanks, or enough of anything that is effective against their tanks. Try and get there as soon as you can or we could lose our entire tank division to the enemy. Be advised danger close, not that danger close should matter or anything being as friendly fire is impossible." She explained.
So we have air cover coming, but can we hold out against the seemingly endless number of tanks? Despite being low on ammo?