Unerased Savior

[empress_without_a_throne]

1.

[SolSavior's seen better days.  Lots of them.  Even the fight with Sara had confined the damage to mostly just SolSavior's joints and more vulnerable spots, whereas this scuffle with Sol"Eraser"'s seen much of the true and honest Sol machine pushed to the limit]

The Shadow Mirrors and the Indalph... united in desires for conflict and conquest.  Justify war to provide a reason for technological advancement and growth, and just move from world to world so you're never short on supply.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Shadow Mirror's own world just drove them away...

Certainly would explain why they didn't try coming to us asking for help... or the Indalph doing anything for them either, come to think of it.

Or maybe they really just don't care.  They certainly all have a trend for disregarding the weak and undesired.

2.

[And yet the Savior team weren't the ones that got the roughest fate out there.  The memorial for fallen pilots has a new entry, and double agent status be damned...]



... Lamia...

[Mizuki's still going to pay her respects.]

I wish the circumstances of... everything... could've been better.  For your sake.

Wherever you are, whatever afterlife exists for... whatever you were... rest well.  When it came to it, you were our friend, not the Shadow Mirror's tool.  And we'll see them pay for what they did to everyone, you included.

Comments

[tiger_ken]

Well... would you be able to put up with my parents?

[Ken asks, folding his arms.]

I mean... I ignored a lot of their advice as I grew older, but they're still some of the best ki masters around. And who knows, maybe some of the stuff that applies to ki generation could apply to you and Void energy.

[actuallyselfish]

"Worst case scenario, Mizuki'll know how to work in better synergy with Sol energy. I say go for it." Dido says.

She folds her arms. "But training's only one side of the equation...we need to adapt our tactics to counter that SolEraser team." She frowns. "I mean, Jesus! They had a counter for every one of our tricks: acid for close up, that Horizon Crusher to ground us...they even countered our Sol Salvation move by de-combining on the spot! I don't even know what that move's called!"

[empress_without_a_throne]

I think the Getter Team -back while they were here- had a maneuver called the "Open Get".

And of course they're going to have counters... Sara knows our machine's ins and outs. So with her providing advice a counter to SolSavior wouldn't be hard for the Indalph.

But...



When we fought Sara, she targeted structural weak points. The Eraser Team either didn't or couldn't... instead just opting for more basic counters and catching us by surprise.

But those kinds of tricks won't work forever.

[actuallyselfish]

"Still...I kid you not, my life was flashing before my eyes when they were about to bring down that sword on us." Dido shudders.


"If it weren't for our friends...well, now that Kagura's out of earshot, I'll go ahead with my speech: Having Friends is awesome. Having friends is really, really awesome. ."

[empress_without_a_throne]

Of course it is. Solaris... the Savior Team even, wouldn't have the life it has today if it weren't for the Unity Group.

[tiger_ken]

And I think enough has been said on how bad it'd have been for me if not for Solaris still kicking around...

I'll ask my folks about what they can set up. They may not have their own machines anymore, but some of the principles have gotta be the same.

[empress_without_a_throne]

Good idea. And more importantly...

... Maybe it can give us a leg up on SolEraser too. It might be based on our machine, but the combination points between their machines is different... and easier to exploit.

[actuallyselfish]

"Hmmm..." Dido pulls out her tablet. "Their decombination speed was faster than ours...but that means the docking clamps aren't as tightly socketed in..!"

She chews at the end of her stylus. "Tell you what: I'll fix up the Sol Machines, and run a full analysis of SolEraser's specs!"

She raises her fist. "You guys go and train your hearts out! Break your limits and all that! And..."

[actuallyselfish]

She whips out a scanning pack, and a packet of sticky sensor pads.

"...could you take some readings of your power output while you're training? I wanna do some more science with this Ki thing!"

[empress_without_a_throne]

... Sure, but I think you're over-thinking SolEraser's weak point.

[She points down to one of her legs.]

Its feet. That rabbit machine splits in half to form each of them. But it's small, and having docking clamps located where the ankles are would put an awful lot of strain on them.

See what I'm getting at?

[tiger_ken]

Its a difference of anatomy, basically. Kinda seems weird to have something dedicated to just being feet though.

[...A moment of realisation.]

Was Sara actually any good at designing robots?

[empress_without_a_throne]

If she wasn't before... she at the very least got to be familiar with the design of SolSavior when she used that echolocation trick on us. And there's been weirder combiners out there.

But... fact is, if we can somehow manage to knock SolEraser backwards and expose its feet... we have a good target.

[actuallyselfish]

"It makes a twisted amount of sense, though." Dido muses. "The fastest animal forms the feet, the bulkiest unit forms the torso, and animal with pretty much just a head forms the, well, head."

She nods. "But I like this plan, Mizuki. Maybe you and Ken could practice striking people's ankles during your training session?"

[empress_without_a_throne]

Don't think you're getting out of this too, Dido.

Going after someone's legs is hard... but if you're just aiming to knock them off-balance, you can make that an easier target. So you'll get to be the final leg of this maneuver. Ken and I'll expose the feet, and you snipe them with the Lancer's cannons.

[actuallyselfish]

Dido blinks. "Cannons? What cannons? Does ShelLancer have a mode I'm not aware of?"

She groans. "Christ: am I gonna have to install some cannons while you're away?"

[empress_without_a_throne]

[Dido gets bonked on the head for that.]

The coil-guns. In tank configuration they're forward-firing, yes?

[actuallyselfish]

"Uh...oh! Yes, the coil-guns arrays! Yes of course!"

Dido scratches the bump on her head sheepishly.

"It's funny...you said one thing and I had a different image in my head..." She coughs. "In all seriousness, the Shell Flak system is an antipersonal defensive measure...even in tank mode, it doesn't have precision aim."

[empress_without_a_throne]

And that is why we're practicing, and just another reason why we're going after the smallest of SolEraser's components. We don't need to trash a whole machine, just damage a critical component of one. The Shell Flak guns ought to be able to manage that, and if we get the timing and coordination down, we should be able to reliably hit with them.

[actuallyselfish]

Dido pouts. "Well damn. And here I thought I could weasel my way out of more training."

She chuckles. "I'll see what I can do. Maybe hit the Gebian Gym some more. Heck, once I'm done with tech work, I could visit you guys!"