You leaned forward and placed your broadsword over your right shoulder. The androids cautiously stepped forward, their blades twitching and feinting to test your guard. Their movements were stilted and slow. None would be able to match your speed, you decided.
One of them then suddenly rushed forward, ready to swing its blade arm, only to have its head cut off with a horizontal slash of your blade. Then you charged with the speed of a race car, cutting open every single android. By the time their bodies hit the ground, you were onto the next batch.
Automated turrets fired on you from several directions at once, but you were able to use the bodies of the androids to block their incoming bullets. As much as Dr. Ver prided himself on being a truly multidisciplinary scientist, he and his team found it hard to program the combat androids with tactics that actually challenged you. As it was, you were quite literally running circles around them.
When the last android spilled its mechanized guts on the floor, the turret fire suddenly increased. You realized that the androids were leading you into a valley area where there'd be turrets on all sides of you, behind every rock and within every nook and cranny. Paintballs flying at the speed of bullets were shot at you, but you were faster still.
You ducked behind a large boulder for cover, and while the turrets were too busy setting their sights on it, you jumped high in the air, held your sword like a two-handed javelin, and flung it towards the turrets. The sword, filled with explosive energy, detonated like a grenade, demolishing a few of the turrets. The jump landed you in front of another turret that was trying its damnedest to keep up with you. You bisected it with a new sword before it could even turn around.
The turrets didn't let up though. There were still a dozen of them firing on you from the nooks in the canyon walls and holes in the ground. You needed more time. Fortunately, with the Sword of Hermes, you always had more time.
[ACCELERATION]
The world slowed to a crawl. The paintball fire seemed to hang in the air. For you, it appeared like time had stopped. This was your power, the ability to push your mental and physical speed to its utmost limits. It wore you out, yes, but its utility couldn't be denied.
You passed through the turret fire with deft grace, slashing through each turret as if your sword were a kitchen knife cutting vegetables. It wasn't long before each and every turret was just gone. Then your power wore off, and you felt like you had just run a marathon. You slumped to the ground and panted to catch your breath.
"Your Acceleration let you destroy all the remaining turrets in less than five seconds." Doctor Ver commented into your headset. "A new record for you."
"Thanks," you replied breathlessly.
"Don't wear yourself out so much though," he warned. "You need to pace yourself so that you don't collapse in the middle of a mission."
You nodded and stood up. The flying drones were coming in from holes in the sky-painted ceiling. Their round, bubble-shaped bodies were propelled by helicopter propellers on top of and below them, and tiny gun barrels jutted out of either side of it. There were easily fifty of them by your estimate. The descended upon you like a swarm, ready to open fire.
You smiled and held out your blade in front of you with both hands. You were a hero! You thrived in impossible odds! "HAH!" You cried as you in charged once more into the fray.
After the testing, Doctor Ver, Commander Acampora, Vice-Commander Oswald, and some of the bridge crew gathered in the command center of the SDF to discuss my results. By the end of the exercise, not a drop of paint stained your body.
"I must say," Doctor Ver began by addressing you. "You certainly used the SG-01 to its utmost potential. You were going faster than our cameras could keep track of. Just look at this."
He pointed to the screen he was projected onto the wall. On it, the computer played a recording of the skirmish. You saw yourself jumping from drone to drone in midair, stabbing one before using it as a platform to jump to the next. But something seemed off. The recording seemed to 'skip.' One frame shows you on top of a turret, and the next showed the turret being cut down without the blade even being animated
"Even a frame-by-frame shot cannot pick up what you're doing in Acceleration. Truly remarkable, if I don't say so myself." The Doctor complemented, though whether he was complimenting you or his own work was hard to tell.
You nodded vigorously but said nothing. The Doctor had every reason to be proud of his work, as far as you're concerned. The Symphogear performed marvelously, and you couldn't wait to actually use it.
Commander Acampora made the biggest grin you've ever seen her make. "I'd say she's more than capable of fighting Noise like that."
"With all due respect Commander, Agent Nostrum has never actually fought Noise before." Oswald said. "We have no way of knowing the risk."
And with that, the swell of pride blooming in your chest deflated like a balloon. You couldn't help but sigh. How long would he make you wait? Didn't he know how embarrassing it was for a hero to have never actually been on a real mission? As much as you appreciated Oswald's training regiment and guidance, you had to wonder about his judgment here.
The Commander looked over to you, then turned to Oswald and said "She's about as ready as she can be. We can't simulate an actual Noise battle. Only by sending her into the fray can she get the experience she needs."
"That's assuming the Symphogear's Noise Canceler actually works," Oswald grumbled.
"What?" The Doctor suddenly shouted, a half-crazed, half-offended look in his eyes. "WHAT?! You dare to doubt the genius of my invention?"
The two men looked each other in the eye, the Doctor pointing at Oswald in a fairly melodramatic fashion and Oswald looking at the man impassively. You'd think that, having known each other for so long, they'd get along better, or at least learn not to step on each others' toes. Does Oswald purposely egg the Doctor on? If so, to what end?
The Commander would have none of it though. "Okay, boys, play nice." She says in a slightly threatening tone. The two men stiffen at her emphasis on the word "boys" and then go silent. "Regardless of what anyone else here thinks, Agent Celia's the one going into the fray. I think she'd know best what her limits are."
"Ma'am, I think I'm as ready as I could possibly be," you said while giving a nod to Oswald. "Only on the battlefield will I prove my worth as a soldier." And as a hero, you add to yourself.
"Well, there you go," the Commander said matter-of-factly. "Agent Nostrum thinks she's ready. That's good enough for me."
Oswald straightened his back a little bit at that. He looked as though he wanted to object. But what could he possibly object to? This was what you were made to do, what you always dreamt of doing!
Lunchtime immediately followed the meeting. As usual, you decided to eat lunch with:
[X] Vice-Commander Oswald. You talked to him about what happened with Doctor Ver and about whether you are ready to enter into the fray.
[X] Doctor Ver. You talked to him about the Symphogear Armor and argued about what it meant to be a hero.
[X] Kadasha Francis, Gagan Patel, and Joe Mccall, the bridge crew operating behind the scenes during your testing. You talked to them about the practice session you just had and what they thought of it.
The rest of your day seemed to be going smoothly as normal. But then, you were summoned by the Commander for an important assignment.
"You want me to 'hang out' with people my age?" You asked slowly, trying to keep the incredulity from your voice.
"Yes," she answered. "I've been looking over your profile, and I noticed a glaring lack of social interactions. You're going to be interacting with the public a lot, even if it's only for search and rescue operations. I think that you could use some practice."
"Practice? With whom?"
"There are some young kids on the base aboveground." She smiled fondly. "They're the kids of some of the personnel here. I know their parents well, and one of them, Emily, is my ten-year old niece. The rest are about your age. Hanging out with them will be good for you."
"Good for my training?" You asked to clarify.
Samantha shrugged. "Sure. For your training. You have your orders, agent. Remember not to reveal any classified information to the civilians. And good luck."
You knew that there was a small town surrounding the SDF base's upper portions. It was a new town that cropped up overnight, back when the American government instituted the SDF a couple of years ago. However, you've never really seen any reason to venture out to it. The base provided all of your needs – training, shelter, sustenance, and social interaction. But orders are orders, and you have no particular reason to disobey it.
So you went up to the surface. You were told that you'd be hanging out with your new friends here, meeting with some people the Commander knew. That's how you found yourself at Fugly Bob's Burger Place, one of places kids in town liked to hang out, feeling as out of place as… well, a designer baby super soldier in a fast food joint.
You see a freckled girl with long brown hair done up in a ponytail wave at you from one of the tables. Seeing her, you walk up to her to greet her, noticing three other people besides her.
She holds out her hand. "Hey, you're Celia, right?" She asks.
"Yes, my name's Celia Nostrum. Don't wear it out." You smile and shake her hand, hoping you don't look as nervous as you feel. "It's nice to meet you…"
"Ah, I have one of those names that are too weird to say out loud. But I prefer people call me Sternie." She then gestures to the table's other occupants. "And these guys are my gang, Skylar and Brent."
"'Sup," Skylar, the tall girl with curly pink hair said before looking back down at her magazine.
"Always nice to meet new people," Brent, the dark-haired boy with buzzcut hair, said as he leaned back in his seat.
"And she," she says, putting her hands on top of the head of a small, blonde-haired girl that sat next to her, "is Emily, the little snot I have to babysit."
"I'm not a 'little snot'!" Emily protested, pouting as she crossed her arms. "I'm ten years old now. That's a two-digit age, just like yours! That means I'm not a kid anymore!"
"That's not convincing coming from the girl who's unironically obsessed with My Little Pony and finger paints the wall." Sternie put her hand on her hip and looked at Emily.
"One time! That was one! Time!" Emily said and stamped her foot. You certainly thought she looked like a little kid doing that.
"Her pa's often in the navy overseas, and her mother works in San Diego, though they visit frequently." Sternie continued as if Emily hadn't spoken. "Her aunt has me look after her when none of them are available."
"Yeah, I get it," you say. "I had a similar upbringing myself, being privately tutored and all."
Sternie gestured. "Why don't you sit down and talk with us? We're ordering milkshakes. It's on me; I've got allowance money to burn."
You shrug and say "thanks." After ordering your milkshake, you decide to talk about…
[X] Superheroes. Brent has a T-shirt on depicting some comic book character. You think it's the newest incarnation of Spider-Man, though you aren't really sure. Maybe he's a fan?
[X] Fashion. Skylar's reading an edition of Preppy Monthly, the same one you read. And from her appearance, she seems to have been taking its advice in it to heart. You want to compliment her on her appearance.
[X] Sternie and her gang. They seem like an interesting bunch. You'd like to swap stories with them. You'll need to be careful not to reveal too much about your past, however.
So you get two choices this chapter. Keep in mind that this is still part of your character creation. Your socialization choices will affect Celia's relationships retroactively. Of course, Celia is going to have familial feelings towards Oswald and Dr. Ver regardless because she's known them longer, but how friendly they are to her will change accordingly. Similarly, your dialogue option with Celia's new civilian friends will better determine her interests.
So I noticed that a bunch of you voted that you didn't care about plan voting, so here's what I'm going to do: at the end of each chapter from now on, I'll let you guys know whether you need to vote on things individually or create a plan. For this update, you need to vote on each topic individually.
Finally, sorry for taking so long between updates! I had my laptop crash a while back. This laptop is borrowed from a friend. Hopefully, my old laptop will get fixed soon. Thank you for your patience!
