The next morning arrived both too slowly and too quickly for Fie's tastes. Slow, because despite her best efforts there was little relief to be had in sleep. Even someone as proficient at the fine art of passing out as she was found it impossible to get any actual rest under those circumstances.
Physically, at least, she was mostly fine. The musician of the original Class VII proved himself to be one of the most proficient users of healing arts that she had ever met. Outside of a little stiffness in her arm there was no hint of what had transpired the previous night.
Unfortunately, that was where the positives ended. Even if there were no scars to mark the battle her mind made up for it by replaying the event over and over again. To even call it a battle was an insult. Shirley had toyed with her until she got bored before completely destroying her with little effort. It reminded her of the times she fought against Boss and the others, but those had been expected as she had been a kid going up against fully grown veteran jaegers. Shirley was both her age and someone who had followed a similar career path.
Fie knew her skills had stagnated, but not even she could have imagined that such a gulf had been formed between her skills and that of her old rival. And not only that, but her weakness had been exposed for the entire world to see...
Maybe it was a good thing she never found Xeno or Leo. Someone as weak as her would only disappoint them and slow them down.
But even though it felt like a millennia had passed overnight, the next morning came far too soon for the exhausted girl. Time waited for nobody and there was no chance the others would allow her to stick around in bed all day. Best to just get up, focus on her tasks, and ensure her mask of indifference was on extra tight today.
"Hey, Fie? Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah. I'm cool." Damn. Acting normal was harder than she expected. Juna definitely noticed her slip, but both she and Altina were nice enough to remain silent as the three of them dressed and prepared for the missions ahead.
...Or at least that had been their intent before Instructor Towa ran up to them shortly after they met up with Kurt, "Class VII! There you are! There's been a change of plans for today." The tiny teacher looked like she had swallowed a lemon, "Instructor Rean has been ordered by the Imperial Government to investigate the society with his classmates."
Honestly Fie shouldn't have been as surprised as she was. It made a lot more sense to send in a handful of specialists who knew what they were doing over a group of weak kids. A group that she knew she was a part of.
That didn't stop her classmates from taking off in a rush to find their teacher. As unpleasant as that upcoming conversation was Fie knew she couldn't very well avoid it. So with a heavy sigh the former jaeger took off after them, albeit at a far more sedate pace.
She finally caught up with them outside of the train where they had found Rean alongside Laura and Elliot. Juna was fuming, Altina looked distraught, and Kurt was arguing with their teacher. She only managed to catch up in time to hear the final bit of the discussion, "...I can't take someone who lacks confidence and conviction to such a dangerous place." The elder swordsman's eyes met with hers briefly, "None of you are strong enough to handle the battles ahead."
She knew his words to be true, but it still hurt a lot to hear. Fie could at least say she took it better than the others, as Kurt could barely hold in his anger and frustration has he ran off while a simmering Juna grabbed Altina's hand before marching off in a fury. Rean didn't even bother sparing her a second glance as he began walking towards the horses. At least Laura acknowledged her presence with a nod and Elliot a nervous smile before the two followed suit, leaving Fie all by her lonesome.
"Well. This kinda sucks." The silver-haired girl muttered to herself. Now what was she supposed to do?Presumably she and the rest of Class VII were to attach themselves to one of the other classes with VIII being the obvious one.
In all honesty, that didn't sound like a terrible idea. Right now she wasn't ready to deal with her classmates or Class IX friends. Randy at least would have the background knowledge to make sure things didn't get too awkward.
She found the tall red-head a distance away getting ready for whatever exercises he had planned for the day, "Yo, Selfie." He greeted with a short wave as she approached.
That caused her to stop short, "...Selfie?"
"Yup. Mixed your name and Sylphid. Figured since we're not running around in the corp anymore we shouldn't keep calling each other our jaeger names. Like it?"
"It's terrible."
The jaeger turned cop turned teacher shrugged nonchalantly, "The only other name I came up with is Lil' Fie-Fie."
That was such an awful name! The victim of those awful names focused all her anger, humiliation, and annoyance into one singular glare. Randy merely chuckled despite her best efforts, causing her to scoff, "Whatever." Best to just drop the subject and hope he forgets about those dumb names
"So how ya feeling, Selfie?" ...Or not, "Dumb decision to go after my cousin like that, but I'm glad you're alright."
"Not sure I'm alright, but at least I'm alive. Limbs are still attached, too." A little jaeger dark humor was actually enough to get her to crack a small grin.
"Exactly! Most people in our line of business don't get that luxury. You lost, but you're still kicking. Use that as a lesson for next time." The Red Reaper shook his head in dismay, "But damn. I figured time would have made her stronger, but I wasn't expecting by that much. Took half my squad to take her down a year and a half ago. Looks like we all gotta kick it up a notch."
She wasn't sure if the easy-going man was trying to cheer her up with his words, but she couldn't deny that it was working a little, "Mmm. I take it we're with you today?"
"Yup. My kids are raring to go after last night so I'm gonna up the intensity today. Hope you and yours are ready for some hard training."
Honestly? A little hard training sounded pretty good to take her mind off of everything.
Time proved her to be right. The drills Randy had Class VII and VIII run were basic stuff that every jaeger learned early on in their careers, but Randy at least ensured the intensity was high enough to make it a worthwhile use of her time. Before Fie knew it the morning had come to an end and everyone was dismissed to take a break and grab some grub.
Something which Fie planned to do in a few minutes. The food car was probably packed at the moment and she was more inclined to wait until it cleared out a bit. Instead she found herself hanging out with a busy little engineer as she did her rounds.
"You should go take a break." Fie tiredly informed the other girl, "Watching you run around all morning has made me exhausted."
"Ahaha..." The engineer blushed slightly, "I didn't do much! It was only thanks to Mint that I was able to repair the soldats! Pablo and Gustav helped too."
Did Fie actually believe that clumsy Mint could help out with real work? Maybe? But even if she did she seemed like the kind of girl to create extra work for others with her forgetfulness. Maybe she left a hammer inside a soldat joint or something? Her dubious expression must have shown as Tita held her hands up in mock surrender, "Relax! It was nothing! I'm used to pulling all-nighters when I'm working on an interesting project anyways. This is nothing!"
Staying up all night when you don't need to? Absolute insanity.
"Hey, time for lunch yet?" How curious. The new speaker was a tall red-headed man who was just walking into camp.
Between his poise and the massive blade strapped to his back he was clearly a warrior, but it was Tita's reaction that caught Fie's interest the most, "A-A-Agate?! Agate! Is it really you!"
And now she had the identity of the mystery person she and Sandy had heard about. The vibrant blush on her friend's face made it quite clear that the girl was sporting a crush on the older man. She didn't see any similar reaction on his face which hinted to Fie that it was a one-sided affair. That being said, given the guy had dropped in on the camp it was clear he at least cared for the girl.
Either way, it wasn't important. What was was the fact that as Tita's friend she had every right to tease the girl about it later, "I'm gonna go find some food. Catch you later." Eventually. Right now she wanted to find Sandy to share this juicy intel.
Of course she couldn't resist the urge to shoot her friend a wink as she departed, causing the little engineer to flush even brighter.
Leaving the two to their own devices the former jaeger went back into the train. Thankfully it seemed like a lot of the students had either finished their meals already or taken them to other places. There was plenty of space for her to eat in privacy.
Unfortunately for her... "Fie! Over here!" ...The rest of Class VII was currently eating at a table. Mentally shrugging at the inevitability of everything the girl acquiesced, quickly grabbing her food before sliding in at the table alongside her classmates.
The burger was pretty decent, but it seemed like she was the only one interested in eating. Didn't the others know that you still needed to eat while miserable? Well, their loss.
In fact Kurt was so against eating that he rose from his seat and began walking off. When Juna questioned his actions he shook his head, "Don't worry. I'm just going to go train. ...Though I may lack confidence and conviction, I'm still not foolish enough to go out on my own."
"Hey, just because he said that to you-"
Juna's attempts at cheering the Vander up had seemingly no effect, "I'm fine. I know he did it to keep us out of danger. It's too much for us – no, for me... His judgment wasn't wrong."
His words caused Fie to let out a snort of derision, "You aren't the one he was worried about. I'm the idiot who abandoned you guys to get my ass kicked. If not for me..."
"It doesn't matter." Kurt interrupted, "If someone like you, whose capabilities far exceed my own, got beaten then what hope do I have?"
In hindsight, maybe she really should have taken Rean's advice and talked with the boy earlier. She really was starting to believe that Kurt's animosity came from feelings of insecurity and not real hostility, "Not so sure about that..."
"Argh!" Juna's yell caused the two of them plus a silently observing Altina to turn to her in shock, "You guys are such idiots! I get that you two want to sound all tough and grown up and talk about how you accept the way things are, but I know you're thinking otherwise. What's wrong with just saying 'I'm frustrated I got left behind?'" The pink-haired girl took a deep breath, "There's no way anyone should be so understanding about being tossed aside like that. Me and Allie feel the same way."
"...I do not know if I'd call it 'frustrating,' but generally speaking I share the opinion." Altina finally chimed, "I have supported Instructor Rean on his missions for the past year. Though I am technically his student now, I remain unconvinced it was a good reason for excluding me." Although she denied it, her facial expression definitely screamed 'frustrated' in Fie's opinion.
The former jaeger couldn't help but let their words affect her. Being left behind again – even if was only temporary this time – did not sit well with her. A part of her wanted to buy into Juna's crazy scheme, and a glance towards the swordsman confirmed he was thinking along similar lines.
It was clear that Juna wanted to go after Rean and the others, but there was one critical flaw in the plan, "You do know that they're gonna be going after some really powerful foes, right? I dunno about the knight lady, but Shirley isn't the kinda person you want to face."
"I know!" Juna insisted even if Fie wasn't sure she believed her, "But even if we don't fight them directly there's gotta be something that only we can do!"
This whole idea was painfully naive. It was also probably gonna get them all killed. As much as Fie wanted to have a shot at redemption she knew it was a terrible terrible idea. If the others wanted to run off and get themselves killed pointlessly then she would simply stay behind. She opened her mouth to say just that-
"Can I count on you to keep an eye on the others during this field exercise? I trust them, of course, but I think your experience will come in handy out there."
"I'm sure Zephyr taught you something completely different, but you're a member of Class VII now. Trust in the others. Even when you lack the strength to prevail on our own there are few challenges that can't be overcome with the aid of trusted friends."
Rean's words, with the former coming before the trip and the latter just last night. For some reason unknown to her those words caused her to hesitate. She still didn't see herself as a believer in all the saccharine crap the instructor liked to spout, but...
Maybe Fie's strength was lacking, but her classmates were about to charge off into danger and she was at least somewhat confident that her skills and experiences could be used to help them. And she would readily admit that Juna, Kurt, and Altina had impressed her a little thus far. So long as they avoided picking a fight with the Sanguine Ogre or some other equally terrifying monster they actually could contribute in some way...
Pragmatic realism warred with hopeful idealism in her mind. It was a war that might have had no clear victor, except there was one other variable that tipped the scales decisively: Juna's words had struck a chord with her.
She really wanted that second chance to prove herself. "Alright, I'm in."
Juna let out a short cheer while Altina merely nodded her head in satisfaction. Kurt's initial look of surprise faded into a resigned smile, "I have no desire to be left behind either. I take it you have a plan Juna?"
The girl in question gave a nervous smile before wilting under their combined looks. Fie could only let out an amused sigh, "We're totally dead."
"Teehee. I'm so glad the four of you seem to be feeling better."
That voice came from outside their group. Even if it had only been the previous night, given everything it happened it took Fie a second to remember the name, "Musse?"
The mint-haired girl leaned in with a conspiratorial grin, "I happened to overhear a little something, and I thought you guys might be interested in it."
Her words caused Fie to analyze the girl in more thorough detail. That she had somehow managed to overhear the conversation was already suspicious enough, but given her words it was clear that she at least thought she knew something pertinent to their upcoming mission. There was definitely something off about Tita's roommate, but Fie just could not get a read on her.
Musse seemed to notice the attention on herself as she shot Fie a cheeky wink.
Kurt seemed to share her concerns, "What exactly are you talking about?" He asked warily.
"Heh heh. I'd bet good mira it's something fun." The addition of a second eavesdropper caused Fie to twitch in annoyance. Had she really been so focused on everything else that she slipped up this badly? The second voice belonged to Ash as the rough boy approached with a smug grin on his face, "I want in."
Her classmates shared bewildered glances with each other. It was painfully clear that somehow Juna's crazy little plan has just spiraled out of their control. And yet even as Musse began speaking Fie couldn't help but feel a tinge of excitement. They had the resolve and soon they would have a plan.
What would come after was entirely up to them.
Kurt couldn't help but look back nervously as he contemplated the strange path his day had taken. Perhaps he had allowed himself to get caught up in the heat of the moment thanks to Juna's speech, but upon further reflection he couldn't help but wonder if he had made a huge mistake. The Vander had expected their plan to be something suitably valiant to prove his worth to Instructor Rean and make his family proud.
Instead they had absconded in the middle of a training exercise, stealing a panzer soldat in the process. All in pursuit of a rumor that they had little way of verifying for themselves.
Instead of making his family proud he couldn't help but wonder how disappointed they would be if he ended up getting expelled. The swordsman was fairly certain that they had commit a few crimes in the process too.
Still, this was the choice he made and he would stick with it, consequences be damned. That he wasn't alone in his criminal acts was at least some relief. He had little doubt that the powers that be would be more than willing to punish all of Class VII and the tagalong Ash, but perhaps their show of solidarity could earn the students a little leniency?
The Vander shook his head. Best to not dwell upon the consequences of his decision. The others didn't seem to be all that bothered. Juna had that same admirable look of determination she always seemed to have. Altina was walking beside her stoically. Ash was impossible to read since he was controlling the Drakkhen.
Fie meanwhile was glancing around warily. Especially understandable considering their actions required them to avoid the roads and settlements en route to their destination. While no monster seemed foolish enough to attack their group with the panzer soldat in tow the previous night had proven that there were far more dangerous things in the area than simple monsters.
Glancing at the quiet girl caused him to let out a tired sigh. After everything that had happened the past twenty-four hours the young swordsman knew what he must do. The way the girl warily eyed him as he slowed his walk to move alongside her only reinforced that decision, "I believe I owe you an apology."
"...Huh?" Her reaction might have been comical were the situation not so awkward.
"I realize now that I have been acting unfairly towards you. I have been treating you with mistrust almost the entire time when it's now painfully obvious that the one I was truly upset at was myself." Admitting his own failures was hard, but finally getting it out there left him feeling better.
"Naw." Surprisingly Fie waved him off after a brief silence, "It's my fault too. I asked Rean about it and he pretty much told me the same thing. Said I just needed to open up and talk things through. But, well... I never did."
That revelation threw him for a loop, "I had no idea you had been talking to Instructor Rean about me..."
"It just slipped out in a conversation once." The way the girl immediately brushed him off was enough to warrant a raising of the eye. Was she embarrassed? "So what brought on this change of heart?"
"Last night, mostly." At her curious look he elaborated further, "I've been so blinded by the fact that you are my superior on the battlefield that I never bothered to look beyond it. Seeing you struggle – and fail – against that enforcer last night showed me that we are more similar than I cared to realize. Despite your mysterious aptitude you are just as human as I am, with your own purpose driving you forward."
The silver-haired girl glanced down at her hands, "My own purpose, huh? Sometimes I wonder about that..."
"You seemed like you had a purpose when you picked a fight with that crazy jaeger last night." His words earned a shrug from the girl. He hesitated before opting to continue forward, "Speaking of that, it seemed as if you had a history with her. Would you happen to be...?"
"A former jaeger? Yeah. You got me." Fie tilted her head in interest, "Does that bother you?"
Now it was his turn to shrug, "A little. Had I found out a few weeks ago I probably would have been concerned, but it's clear the faculty know of your past and they let you enroll regardless. And more importantly? I think I'm just tired of mistrusting you."
"Huh, neat. So we're cool now?" He noted that this might have been the first time he actually saw the quiet girl give a genuine smile.
The Vander let out a low chuckle, "Yeah. We're cool." It felt really good to finally get that off his chest, "One less regret before we all get expelled after pulling off this crazy stunt."
"I'd be alright with that." Fie's words surprised him. She must have noticed his confusion, "Getting expelled means we somehow survive the next few hours."
"Haha..." There was something about the girl's morbid humor. Or was it even humor to begin with? "I... suppose that is of a slightly greater concern, isn't it?"
Fie nodded. "Not dying is pretty fun."
"Hey!" Further conversation was interrupted by the nosier of their two remaining classmates. It seemed the others had finally taken heed of their discussion, "What are you guys talking about?" Juna asked suspiciously.
"I do not detect the usual levels of hostility from the two of you." Altina added, blunt as ever.
"Just talking about how your crazy plan is gonna get us killed. That's all." Fie's teasing remark caused the girl in question to fume and retort angrily while he and a stoic Altina watched in varying levels of interest.
Kurt still wasn't sure about his decision to go to the Branch Campus instead of the Main Campus, but as he observed his three classmates he couldn't help but feel a smile come to his face. Regardless of if it was the right choice or not, right now he was happy and felt like he was finally starting to make strides forward, both as a swordsman and as a person.
Now he just needed to do as Fie said and find a way to survive the next few hours.
Fie hadn't thought much of her feud with Kurt. One of her classmates disliked her. It was as simple as that. She had experienced far worse in the past.
So she was surprised at just how good it felt to have that conflict suddenly resolve itself without a fight. It was as if an invisible wall had been constricting her and now it was toppled. For the first time since her arrival at Leeves the girl finally felt comfortable among her peers.
That was probably a good thing as it seemed they were coming up on their destination.
That mysterious gate sealing off a forgotten path that piqued her interest a day ago? According to Musse it led to the ruins of a town that had been wiped out to trigger the Hundred Days War. A place forgotten to history.
The town of Hamel.
That the girl had a feeling she had heard the name before lent credence to Musse's intel. Boss and the others had mentioned something along those lines a long time ago, but the memory was a vague and fuzzy one. Such atrocities weren't alien to the former Zephyr member, unfortunately, but the scale of Hamel's supposed demise definitely put it above anything she herself had lived through.
Tragedy aside, the sealed ruins of one of Erebonia's darkest secrets would make for an excellent hiding spot for any sort of criminal organization to operate freely.
"Wait." Given they were almost there it was time to stop and think things through, "We need a plan."
She could only hope her inability to detect anyone during their approach was because they still had the element of surprise and not that an exceptionally skilled person was eluding her senses. That was the one big advantage Class VII had right now. The other was Ash's Drakkhen. Admittedly a giant robot wasn't exactly the best weapon for a sneak attack, but it was something Fie was glad to have on hand.
"Do you have any ideas?" Juna – despite being the one to create this operation – looked on hopefully.
Fie glanced around, "I think I should scout ahead. Get a picture of what's going on."
"What?! That's bullshit." Came Ash's voice from inside the soldat, causing Fie to grimace. Loud mech speaker really didn't do well for a quiet approach, "We don't got time to be messing around. I say we just charge in there, gun's blazing."
"No. I agree with Fie." Already ending her feud with Kurt was paying dividends as the swordsman came to her support, "We only have one chance at this, so we need to strike with precision. I trust in her ability to remain undetected."
"Allow me to accompany you. Claiomh Solais' stealth field will keep me protected." Stealth fields were cheating, but Fie nodded along to Altina's suggestion. A second pair of eyes was a good thing.
What the two discovered was pretty grim indeed. Rean, the other members of the original Class VII, and the bracer Agate were all present inside the ruined village, but so was Shirley and that knight. Most ominously was the presence of two other knights and the Red Constellation's best sniper, Gareth the Blitz. The two sides weren't fighting at the moment, but the wreckage of some powerful looking archaism and corpses of the Constellation's military monsters made it obvious to her that a fight had taken place. Fortunately both sides were too busy with each other to notice her and Altina.
As they returned to the others Fie wracked her brains to formulate a plan. There was definitely way too much firepower on the other side for them to hope to win in a fight, but if they can pull off a sneak attack to break the enemies formation they might at least be able to tip the scales back in Rean's favor. It was insanely risky, but when she presented the idea to the others they all agreed – even Ash.
With the soldat leading the way the five of them charged into Hamel. While Kurt, Juna, and Altina went after the three knights Fie followed Ash as they went for whom she considered to be the most dangerous target – Shirley. While she had no desire to get her ass kicked again she could at least hopefully keep the psychopath jaeger from doing anything too deadly. To her relief they managed to pull off the ambush successfully, with Ash's Drakkhen causing the Ouroboros agents and jaegers to scatter in confusion while her classmates drove the knights back. For her part Fie kept her gunblades trained on a very amused looking Shirley Orlando.
"You guys!" Rean's shout drew all eyes to the worried teacher, "Stop! You need to get back!"
"We won't!" Kurt replied, "You told me I needed to find what lies beyond. I spent my life wishing I was more like my father and brother. I watched as my purpose was taken away. It's possible I'm wrong, but... as far as I'm concerned, this is what lies beyond!"
When Kurt finished Altina took the time to speak up, "We understand this is a violation of orders. However, since we received valuable information, we can to offer support. After all, Special Ops missions require us to make judgment calls depending on the situation."
"Sorry we went against your orders, Instructor Rean." Great, now Juna was chiming in too, "But don't you remember? You said it yourself. You told us to find an identity for our class that's all our own. We may not have skill or resolve yet... But we decided among the four of us that we'd come and help!"
Fie could feel the eyes upon her. Even the enemies seemed curious as to hear her speech. With a quiet groan the girl said the first thing that came to mind, "...You told me to watch over the others."
Despite having the shortest and lamest speech by far the reactions were pretty funny. Rean gaped like a dead fish while Laura and the others couldn't help but laugh despite the situation.
It was when Shirley joined in the laughter that everyone seemed to remember they were still on a battlefield. The red-headed jaeger glanced between the two groups with a bloodthirsty gleam in her eyes, "It would've been great to just really go at it with everyone... But maybe now that the situation's nice and warmed up, it'll work?"
Fie's eyes widened when Shirley pulled out... "A detonator?! No...?!" She had no idea what it was, but it was obviously bad news. Not wanting to know what the object did she took the shot, but the Constellation member cackled before using her free hand to draw her weapon and block the attack in a supernatural feat of strength. With that she was free to push the button.
Almost immediately there was a loud rumbling. Something was approaching, and it was coming fast! "Behind us! Watch out!" While she managed to leap away in time, Ash inside the soldat wasn't nearly so lucky. Fie could only gape as a new enemy strolled into view and slapped away the Drakkhen with a single blow.
...That was by far and away the biggest machine Fie had ever laid eyes upon.
As much as it pained her to admit, there was absolutely nothing she could do against an enemy like that. Even if she had ten times the explosives she had on hand the student doubted it could have made even the tiniest of dents in something that big. A glance around showed her classmates were just as terrified and in awe of their newest enemy, and even the original Class VII looked stunned.
Except for Rean. He simply raised an arm into the air as if in a trance, "Heed my call! Valimar, the Ashen Knight!"
Of course! The guy was super famous cause he had a super robot of his own! That it only took a matter of seconds for Valimar to fly into the clearing from the base camp was a testament to just how mobile the ancient machine was. She watched with interest as her instructor boarded the knight before drawing his weapon and engaging the enemy.
Since the Stahlritter knights and Red Constellation were completely focused on the ongoing battle, Fie was quick to rejoin her classmates and together the four of them descended from the hill towards where their seniors were watching. Along the way Altina was able to inform them of the specifications of the giant machine – Apparently it was called an Aion and this was the same model that single-handily blunted Erebonia's assault on Crossbell just prior to the October War.
And as Fie watched Rean fight it, she could see why. While she was definitely a proponent of speed over power, all the speed in the world mattered for little when you couldn't actually damage your opponent. And that seemed to be the problem Rean was facing as his smaller Divine Knight seemed to make no headway, even as it nimbly evaded each of the Aion's massive fists.
"There's no way he can beat that gigantic thing by himself!" Juna agreed to Fie's private assessment.
"That's it!" And yet it seemed to spark something within Kurt. The Vander took off in a sprint. It didn't take long for his destination to become obvious – Ash's fallen Drakkhen.
Fortunately they discovered the punk was still mostly fine, and more importantly, so was the soldat. After helping Ash get out of the cockpit Kurt was quick to take his place. While Juna and Altina seemed a little apprehensive about his decision Fie couldn't help but pout a little, wishing she had thought of it herself.
Instead all she could do was believe in Kurt and Rean as they stood together against the colossal foe... Or at least that was what she thought until her ARCUS II started glowing. From her peripheral vision she could see the same phenomenon happening with Altina, Juna, Laura, and Elliot. It seemed their seniors had some idea what was going on, as it had supposedly happened during the civil war.
It was a very special combat link that had allowed them to support Rean inside his Divine Knight
.
Neat. And yet while the graduates had the most knowledge of the phenomena it was Fie who discovered something unexpected: Rean wasn't the only one they could link to. So while the others debated who should be the one to support Valimar she took the road less traveled and formed a combat link with the Drakkhen, "Kick some ass, Kurt."
Her enemy turned friend didn't respond verbally, but he did bob his soldat's head in acknowledgment before drawing his twin blades. Fie blinked – Hadn't the soldat been carrying Ash's switchaxe? Eh, whatever. It was a good thing, so not worth thinking about.
It was weird. Somehow her combat link allowed Kurt to push his Drakkhen at speeds well beyond what he had used during practice. That was good for his continued survival cause the Aion's fist was half as big as his machine and any clean hit from that would absolutely obliterate his mass produced machine. As it was he was deftly able to evade the ponderous strikes.
Of course he seemed to be completely incapable of harming the juggernaut himself, but that was where Rean and Valimar came in. It seemed that Laura had been the one to win the debate – much to the chagrin of Juna and Altina – and unsurprisingly given the nature of the Arseid master she was able to enhance Valimar's strength beyond what it had previously displayed. While Kurt played the distraction it was Rean who inflicted some real damage as he drove his giant tachi cleanly into the enemy.
A living opponent would have been able to identify Rean as the only real threat and reacted accordingly, but at the end of the day the Aion was just a really big archaism. While powerful its AI appeared limited as it kept falling for the hit and run tactics from the two smaller machines. Fie couldn't help but pout as she observed the two dancing around the lumbering behemoth – this was the kind of fight she lived for.
Instead she was forced to watch the battle between titans. While the Aion did eventually bust out a few dangerous looking area attacks to force them back, Rean seemed far too savvy to let his guard down and Kurt's determination refused to allow him to let up, even for a second. The end of the fight came rather anticlimactically when Valimar drove its sword straight into the Aion's chest, presumably hitting something important as the large archaism shut down without warning.
"Yay. We won." Although her words were spoken in deadpan she couldn't help but allow a relieved smile onto her face. That being said, she refused to allow herself to relax as both the Red Constellation and those knights were still around and none of them looked particularly bothered at their machine getting its ass kicked.
Not even the arrival of friendly reinforcements of Randy in a Hector seemed to faze them any. In fact Shirley looked rather amused as she giggled out loud, "I'm still a bit peckish, but I guess I'll just have to save it for another time." The crazed girl turned away from the Thors group to stare at something – or was it someone? - outside of Fie's vision, "You'll come join the party next time, won't you – Jaeger King?"
...What?
"Ah, so you noticed after all." She froze. N-No way... There, atop the hill Shirley had been looking at was an impossible sight. There was Xeno and Leo, but she barely noticed their existence as in between them was something completely impossible.
"...B-Boss?"