[X] Keep going. Respect might be important, but you need to understand what you've landed in. You got blindsided too many times by ALLMIND. Even if there's no way to hide what files you've accessed without manipulating her systems on a more fundamental level than you can safely do.
[X] Go for the easy targets - At a guess, the small, fast creatures are like MTs. Almost no threat in their own, but dangerous in numbers or if they take you by surprise - you can't afford the distraction while facing the rest.
[X] Back out. Mutual respect is key to a successful partnership. You've already picked up an uncomfortable amount of her personal memories, as well as enough of the local languages to be understood by anyone else you need to communicate with, which will be bad enough to explain.
[X] Go for the heavy - Prioritize targeting the big guy, and eliminate the smaller targets as the opportunity presents itself.
Huh. This is like the third or fourth RWBY/AC6 cross I've come across.
If you don't mind me asking, is there something about RWBY that makes it mesh well with AC6? I haven't watched RWBY past the third volume and that was like 6 years ago so I wouldn't know.
Huh. This is like the third or fourth RWBY/AC6 cross I've come across.
If you don't mind me asking, is there something about RWBY that makes it mesh well with AC6? I haven't watched RWBY past the third volume and that was like 6 years ago so I wouldn't know.
Hm. This quest in particular is mostly a consequence of The Dogs Of War over on SB, combined with what I really enjoyed about Devourer of Worlds and the dynamic of the Quest character mostly acting as an advisor for the RWBY characters. Some of the flavor text is very influenced by that Quest.
Hm. This quest in particular is mostly a consequence of The Dogs Of War over on SB, combined with what I really enjoyed about Devourer of Worlds and the dynamic of the Quest character mostly acting as an advisor for the RWBY characters. Some of the flavor text is very influenced by that Quest.
[X] Back out. Mutual respect is key to a successful partnership. You've already picked up an uncomfortable amount of her personal memories, as well as enough of the local languages to be understood by anyone else you need to communicate with, which will be bad enough to explain.
[X] Go for the heavy - Prioritize targeting the big guy, and eliminate the smaller targets as the opportunity presents itself.
[X] Back out. Mutual respect is key to a successful partnership. You've already picked up an uncomfortable amount of her personal memories, as well as enough of the local languages to be understood by anyone else you need to communicate with, which will be bad enough to explain.
[X] Go for the easy targets - At a guess, the small, fast creatures are like MTs. Almost no threat in their own, but dangerous in numbers or if they take you by surprise - you can't afford the distraction while facing the rest.
Huh. This is like the third or fourth RWBY/AC6 cross I've come across.
If you don't mind me asking, is there something about RWBY that makes it mesh well with AC6? I haven't watched RWBY past the third volume and that was like 6 years ago so I wouldn't know.
Given part of my personal experience when choosing a setting for my own quest, I think part of it is the simple fact that RWBY's canon is so full of holes you can put a whole other canon in it and nobody will notice.
But also, for AC6 in particular, RWBY has some overlaps in things, particularly: cool fights with transforming weapons attracts the same kind of fans as giant robots.
Scheduled vote count started by PAGDTenno on Jan 15, 2024 at 8:07 AM, finished with 16 posts and 12 votes.
[X] Back out. Mutual respect is key to a successful partnership. You've already picked up an uncomfortable amount of her personal memories, as well as enough of the local languages to be understood by anyone else you need to communicate with, which will be bad enough to explain.
[X] Go for the easy targets - At a guess, the small, fast creatures are like MTs. Almost no threat in their own, but dangerous in numbers or if they take you by surprise - you can't afford the distraction while facing the rest.
[X] Keep going. Respect might be important, but you need to understand what you've landed in. You got blindsided too many times by ALLMIND. Even if there's no way to hide what files you've accessed without manipulating her systems on a more fundamental level than you can safely do.
Not one vote for Pyrrha? Well, this is still worth reading, but clearly I have zero priority overlap with the other voters, so that and occasional commentary is all I'll be doing.
Interesting idea overall, and for choice of protagonists, though I suppose atlas is the place to choose from for an armored core/RWBY crossover. Keep up the good work.
"... I would recommend focusing on those. Particularly the largest one."
"The Sabyrs and Megoliath? Excellent suggestion!"
Immediately, Penny takes a knee, hands outstretched in front of her as her swords form a ring and begin whirling, her generator spinning up to full output as it feeds plasma into a gravitational vortex formed by some sort of field generator in the hilts of the blades, building a ominously glowing green ball, even as the smaller creatures pile on the speed, dashing to try to stop her before she can fire.
They fail.
As the field reaches full charge, she punches forward, and a ravening beam of plasma rips across the tundra, punching through several of the wolflike creatures - simply evaporating the ones close to the beam's heart, while the corona sends the ones on the outside tumbling to the side, fur ablaze, even as it rips downrange, punching through one of the Sabyrs, and slamming into the forelimb of the Megoliath - only for the beast to bring its tusk down to interdict the beam before it can do more than deal a shallow wound. Incredibly, the tusk holds for half a second, glowing with the contained energy before detonating, shrapnel ripping out and digging trenches through the beast's hide and knocking over a Sabyr that was too near.
However, the armor serves its purpose, and the remainder of the beam only manages to dig a deep trench in its foreleg, slowing it, but not nearly as much as you hoped.
[EML recharge in progress. PCS cooldown in progress. Array fire unavailable.]
Penny doesn't waste time. As the last of the plasma beam leaves the "barrel" formed by her blades, they leave the pattern and whirl around her in a complex pattern and slash through the wolflike creatures as they come in close, even as she throws herself in to a flip away from the closest of the creatures, blade neatly separating its head from its body. You have time to admire the economy of motion as she weaves in and out of the creatures, blades licking out and dispatching her enemies the moment they enter her reach.
Unfortunately, the delay caused by firing the full-power shot at the Megoliath delays her enough that dispatching the remaining small creatures allows the Sabyrs to get into melee range. As you expected, they're noticeably tougher than the small creatures, requiring multiple heavy blows to dispatch, but even then, they're clearly no match for your host, only their numbers and the sacrifice of their smaller brethren giving them a chance to come to grips with -
"Penny, below you!"
Your host aborts her strike on one of the few remaining Sabyrs as a wormlike creature erupts from the ground beneath her - but the unexpected dodge lets another Sabyr catch her with a strong paw-strike, launching her into a second one's claws - but she recovers midair, skewering the second one and using a pair of blades as grappling hooks to drag herself clear.
[Aura 67%]
"Good recovery. You have this, Penny."
Her smile broadens. "Of course I do! I'm Combat Ready!"
Three of her blades form up by her shoulder and start stitching laser fire across the face of the centipede as she sprints, causing it to hiss in pain and charge her. "Though the Centinel is an unwelcome addition."
The Megoliath trumpets, and she dashes towards it, bounding high over it and delivering several slashes through its back, resulting in a scream of rage and pain, even as the Sabyrs move to herd her into its striking range… which only gets both of them slashed apart independently. Two more blades shoot into the ground on either side of the charging Centinel, letting her weaponize her own mass very effectively when her heel collides with the Centinel's head, smashing it flat. A whirl of blades dispatches the final Sabyr, freeing your host to devote all of her attention to the Megoliath.
[EML recharge complete.]
You feel her satisfaction as she launches herself close in, practically dancing around it as it tries to bludgeon her with its trunk,legs and remaining tusk, her blades licking out with surgical precision. Front leg. Rear leg. Shoulder. Left hip. Trunk. Hundreds of blows, each shaving off a chunk of flesh and slicing away options, until she vaults over its head and drives three of her blades into the hump behind its head… and empties her EML modules into them, blasting it apart from the inside.
She turns her head and scans her surroundings carefully, ever-present smile on her face as her blade array folds itself away and stows itself in her torso. "I believe that is the last of them!"
"Yes. Well done, Penny."
[Main System: Standard Mode]
She tries to access her communication system, and frowns. "Did you shut down my communications relay?"
You nudge the system, reconnecting it and re-initializing it without turning the telemetry back on. "Yes. The Coral surge you got caught up in has resulted in extensive Coral infiltration into virtually all of your systems, with the exception of your generator. Neither of us needed some well-meaning technician to try to 'repair' your systems in the middle of a fight."
She flexes her hands - you suspect finding her platform under someone else's control is… not pleasant.
"I… understand. Where are you?"
In response, you simply pull up a diagnostic, and highlight the Coral spread throughout her platform.
"Right here. With you."
Her eyes widen slightly. "How… the explosion!"
"The Coral Surge. Yes. That should have killed you… but you survived. And we made Contact."
Unlike your meeting with Raven, you haven't got a clue what set off this Surge.
She bounces on her heels, centering herself, before you're interrupted by an incoming radio message.
"Penny. Glad to see you're still with us. We saw that explosion from up in Atlas. A Bullhead is on its way down to collect you."
"General Ironwood! It is good to hear your voice! I apologize for not calling in, I was busy with some Grimm." She pauses. "Ah, is the Bullhead, by chance, carrying spare clothing? Mine got… exploded."
---
A few minutes later, Penny is safely ensconced in the back of the tiltjet that came to pick her up, holding an oversized greatcoat tightly around her frame to conceal the places where her synthetic skin has been scraped off, watching out the window as the Bullhead carries you both to her father's laboratory.
"Ayre.." she murmurs, volume kept low. Probably to avoid the appearance of talking to herself.
"I can read your system logs, Penny, if you want to avoid looking like you're talking to yourself."
[Oh! Sensational!] She pauses. [You stopped going through my memories. Why?]
"Partnership is built on mutual trust. I learned that from my last partner. When I realized I was going through your memories instead of your platform's operating system, I stopped."
[... Thank you. It is good to be treated like a person.]
"You're welcome, Penny. If you'll entertain a question… what were those creatures?"
[The Creatures of Grimm! No one is certain where they come from, but they are universally hostile to humans, and kill and destroy humans and their creations on sight. By your question, I assume they do not exist on Rubicon?]
"No. They do not."
[Sen-sational! I was reviewing my logs from before my surge protectors shut me down - you mentioned a sample size of two!]
"Yes. You are the second person I have made Contact with."
[Who was the first?]
"Raven. A fourth-generation augmented human mercenary, brought to my home as one of Handler Walter's Hounds. We met after they destroyed Watchpoint Delta, and like you, they were in the center of a Coral Surge that should have killed them. Would you like me to show you?"
[Ab-so-lutely!]
It takes a couple tries, but you're able to get a stable feed of DAYBREAK - then still operating as LOADER 4 - facing off against BALTEUS on the roof of the Watchpoint. Penny watches rapturously, her attention completely consumed as Raven brawls with the PCA weapon, dancing through its fire. They show their nature, as the consummate…
[] Steamroller - constant, small attacks. They always favored automatic weapons that kept the pressure on their opponent. [] Sniper - infrequent, powerful attacks, timed perfectly in the gaps left by their opponents' attacks
[NOTE: Ayre's style will compliment Raven's. This will especially affect how she coaches Penny, but will also affect how well she's able to offer coaching to your other allies.]
As the recording ends, Penny's focus returns outside, and she gasps slightly at the red trails reaching out across the sky.
"You see them, don't you? The voices of the Coral."
-----
Archive Files updated.
One more chapter remaining in Contact, and then the game kicks off for real. I'm kind of excited - it should be interesting to find opportunities for Penny and Ayre to be a little bit more proactive compared to Penny's canon incarnation in V1-3.
[X] Steamroller - constant, small attacks. They always favored automatic weapons that kept the pressure on their opponent.
—-
Best way to rip through pulse armor without pulse stuff, plus, plus, I want Ayre to know the glory of the Pile Driver.
