Feels like a silly question to ask on what must be my fourth or fifth readthrough, but what do Antagonists look like? Just giant alien bugs? Vaguely insect-like mishmashes of metal and crystal? Pacific Rim Kaiju?
 
Feels like a silly question to ask on what must be my fourth or fifth readthrough, but what do Antagonists look like? Just giant alien bugs? Vaguely insect-like mishmashes of metal and crystal? Pacific Rim Kaiju?
Varies depending on their complexity and power levels
As for appearances, lower level Antagonists looks very mechanical. They have recognisable machinery through all components and design wise highly resemble equivalent human weapons. AG infantry tend to be bipedal, AG tanks use treads etc.

As the power of an Antagonist rises, they tend to be constructed of smaller components and modules, as well as starting to look organic and bizarre. Specialist AG infantry look like giant fucking spiders, Heavy Laser AA look like Kaiju centipedes (They're just Ohmu from Nausicaa). Eventually, their mechanical components become so fine as to change into being formed from Nano-carbon-quantum-machines.

There's a slight exception with AG non combat forms, they're all rather organic in appearance but are basically no threat combat wise.

and of course, the veiny pomegranate.


Type 2 Antagonist.

It's fucky. Each eye shoots lazas.
 
Wait he did what?

I was thinking about the Ultra Sonic thing tbh, where he can just kinda wish for things and it'll happen.

Oh yeah, robotnik invented a thing called the Genesis Wave. Which let him rewrite the universe to a degree. This was used to justify a reboot when Super Sonic and Robotnik were fighting each other during the rewrite.
 
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Oh yeah, robotnik invented a thing called the Genesis Wave. Which let him rewrite the universe to a degree. This was used to justify a reboot when Super Sonic and Robotnik were fighting each other during the rewrite.

The Super Genesis Wave was a collaborative project between Wily and Robotnik, with the goal being to rewrite reality with them as the victors. Sonic in particular would likely have been erased entirely. Luckily, Super Sonic proved immune to the effects despit the device being powered by the Chaos Emeralds.
 
The Super Genesis Wave was a collaborative project between Wily and Robotnik, with the goal being to rewrite reality with them as the victors. Sonic in particular would likely have been erased entirely. Luckily, Super Sonic proved immune to the effects despit the device being powered by the Chaos Emeralds.

Yes. I was eliding some stuff.
 
Yo.
So, found this recently and read all of the main posts within like three days, foregoing decent sleep. Gotta say, absolutely banger story, just lovely all around.

Just one thing stuck with me, though. Little niggling thought in the back of my head that wouldn't leave me alone. We know from the story that Anna is extensively modified due to the insane schedule that she had to keep before the main story and that Druga is now slowly rolling back the intensity of the mods, since Anna isn't literally fighting Antagonists every day. She's getting shorter, for one, and has mentionned, although I don't remember where, that redundant organs are getting shunted back into storage rather than sitting inside her. Essentially, she's returning to baseline Valkyrie mod levels, rather than being to a Valkyrie what a Valkyrie is to a baseline human.


From what I can tell, Anna and Durga are easing off the whole pilot improvement thing because it isn't needed anymore. She isn't expected to face live combat anytime soon and when she will, she won't be alone. The UNAF won't let her be alone. She's a critically valuable asset until she manages to teach someone else the Wave Force, then she's still the most individually powerful Valkyrie they have. She's going to be pushed to fight more Type Zero's, yes, but with the support of other elite forces that can do more than hold their own. She doesn't need to carry the fight, all she needs to do is land the final blow, deliver an attack so powerful that even a Type Zero can't get back up.


So she doesn't need to be so heavily modified, so heavily optimised for direct battle. It isn't necessary.


And Anna, sweet little Anna, knows this. She's not stupid, just uneducated on many things and socially stunted. Now that she knows about the wider world, about how other Valkyries like her are fighting the good fight, she knows that she can let down her hair, so to speak. She's no longer the sole line of defence between humanity and the Antagonists. She can afford to take some time, go to the academy, learn what UN wants her to learn, all that jazz. This is what happens in the quest, more or less. She does as told and attends the academy, slowly learning how to act around other humans.


So : Anna, just a few days after she's been found by the UN, is finally lucid and healed enough to talk to. The damage from destroying both a Breach and a Type Zero had after all been severe. She's visited by representatives, who explain everything about more or less everything. Her town, after all, had been completely cut off from the rest of the world. They don't short-change her or feed her misinformation because one, she's humanity's greatest hero and two, if she ever finds out later and gets pissed that's a disaster waiting to happen. More or less what happened in story, from what I can tell. Then, when she's being fed actual military hardware while the scientists and engineers onsite wonder how on earth she's managed to survive this long off what's essentially the contents of a few guns safes, a machine shop and the bodies of her slain foes, it's the turning point. In the quest, this is when Durga starts rolling back it's improvements, because they can now manage superior performance even without them.


I propose the opposite.


What is Anna's main hang up? The one thing that she'll never budge on? Protecting other humans.


They musn't come to harm. They can't be hurt infront of her. The Lord as her witness, if she sees something harm someone, that thing is going to die a very quick, very painful death.


So here's my little proposition : Anna, after listening to all of this and agreeing easily to the offer of helping protect humans as part of an organised military, is being fed with high grade military hardware. She's being fed generously well in food, more food than she's ever seen in her life. It isn't a problem for the military, they have more hardware than they'll ever need and more food can be grown if needed. So Anna contemplates for a bit on the future as she eats and heals. She's hit a bit of a snag though.


See, she'd been a bit out of it when they'd explained everything, but she's pretty sure that the UN people told her she's going to be fighting alongside other Valkyries. At first she didn't know what that meant, because she didn't know what a Valkyrie was, until they noticed her confusion and explained that a Valkyrie was a person that had bonded with a Valkyrie core, like her.


It's only now, in the armory or the hangar or wherever she is, that she finally gets it.


''Like her'' They'd said.


They're other people. Other humans. Fighting. dying.


She can't have that. She can't allow that. But she knows that she's valuable to them, that they'll never let her fight alone. There'll always be someone with her, to serve as backup, because she's an asset that can't be lost.


So she doubles down. She'd pushed herself so hard before because she'd all there'd been between her people and the Antagonists. She isn't the only one anymore, but now she pushes herself even harder because she can afford to and because she knows that one day in the future she's going to have to lead other people straight into the lion's maw. She doubles down because it's the only thing she knows and she's been told that one day, she's going to have to fight things even stronger than Sekhmet or they'll wipe out communities magnitudes larger than her old one.


Before, she'd been as modified as she could afford. Too many material and energetic restraints prevented her from going too far. She'd been a sole operative conducting a guerilla war. Hit and run tactics combined with stealth meant she could lever far more force against larger enemy concentrations and that required a low profile. Limited hardware meant that once she attained the size sufficient to mount all of her weapons, there was no need to go larger. There was also a balance of needs to consider. How many supplies are dedicated to Anna instead of the community? It'd been a balancing act on a knife's edge, one that she'd made work for years.


But now things are different. She has functionally unlimited ressources, unlimited energy. All her energy conservation methods and tricks now allow her to utilize modern equipment in a manner that ensures more or less unlimited combat readiness. Not to mention the vast logistical train now available to her. She now has access to explosive munitions, drones, ballistic ammunition, etc. She no longer needs to be conservative, to be as efficient as possible. Before, she'd needed to ensure maximum combat ability at the lowest possible cost. Now she just needs to ensure maximum combat ability, at any cost.


So she goes BIG. More armour, more weapons, more sensors, more thrusters, more reactors, more limbs, even. She puts the pedal to the metal with no restraint whatsoever. Before, she'd needed a low profile for stealth. Now, she knows that when she'll be deployed, it'll be with others. One Valkyrie's thruster tail can be hidden by terrain or weather. Two can work as well. But it's a simple fact that stealth is less and less useful the more people there are. Engines at rest can be hidden with Impeller, but as soon as you power up something's gonna notice. So if she's going to be noticed either way, might as well make it obvious. Make it so obvious, in fact, that they'll be inclined to ignore the others. Become the target. You're a bigass target with bigass guns that attracts a lot of attention. They can't ignore you. And if they do, they won't be long for this world, because you won't ignore them. If they focus on you, that means less attention on whoever is with you. Less attention means less danger. Less danger means higher chances of survival.


Anna and Durga are one of the best Builder Valkyries in the world, and the best there is at killing Antagonists. It isn't that hard to build something even greater on top of foundations already laid out.
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--- Lethal Architecture ---
Yukari


It isn't unheard of for third year cadets to welcome first years to the academy. Whilst the instructors usually welcome new cadets in scheduled waves, sometimes people are enrolled either too early or too late to participate in the group tours. As the instructors are few in number and usually very busy, greeting these students falls on volunteer seniors that have demonstrated their ability to sufficient standards. You are one of these exemplary cadets, an elite third year student. You've welcomed a few new students with little trouble, much to your private delight.


You also think that there's been a mistake.


Admittedly, the file you'd been given access to had been very bare bones, with very little actual information on it. The only thing that you could say that you actually knew about this new cadet before meeting them was their name and gender.


And now that you've met them, that they're absolutely massive. Y-you didn't know people could actually get this bi-large! You meant large!


W-what has she been eating!? You remember reading an old pre-impact article that said that wild game meat was apparently better for your health? Since she came from an newly rediscovered community in the middle of the wilderness, maybe that was it? You know that sometimes such places still supplemented their diet with wild sources, even though they had modern food production facilities.


Still, you couldn't just stay silent the whole trip! S-say something already! "So, Anna, do you have any questions about the Academy? If you're nervous, you don't have to worry about your age, some candidates are found late so there's no explicit rule about your age, some of the first years can be older than many third years."


There! Nice and reassuring, just as you should be! The academy could be a drastic change in scenery for most, so a helping hand was often needed to help smooth the transition.


Anna looks down at you from the other side of the jet before responding. "I am sixteen. That's the average age for first years."


W-what?! She's at least an entire foot taller than you! How can she be sixteen!? " A-ah, I'm sorry, it's just, you're so very tall, and I..." You stop talking when you realise that you're digging a hole for yourself. A heavy silence settles down between the two of you. You don't try to break it again.


------------------------------------------------
Koujirou


Someone taps you on the shoulder at the end of the opening ceremony. It's probably Setsuna setting up a prank again. you turn around to tell her off. "Dammit Setsuna, I know this whole uniform thing was..." That's not Setsuna.


That is, in fact, someone's ribs. You look up. That is someone's chest. You take a step back and look higher.


There is a giant woman looking down at you.


Why is there a giant woman looking down at you!?


"Rokusabe Koujirou!"


When did she even sit down next to you? How did you not notice her? Y-you were rather focused on your whole s-situation, now that you think about it, so maybe you really just didn't notice her?


There is another hand on your shoulder now. You turn your head halfway, trying to keep the unexplained giant woman in your field of view. You find what was behind you.


Oh no.


It's Yukari.


You slump down at the injustice that is life.


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Sandra


When you sent a message at the faraway Valkyrie for rudely interrupting her practise, you hadn't expected much. Just a standard reply, maybe a request to leave, to which you would comply.


You hadn't expected them to come down to meet you.


"Sandra..." You turn to look at Shuri, who is frowning at the approaching Valkyrie.


"What is is Shuri? I'm sure everything is fine, they're just coming down to greet us properly" And they are. They'd sent a message right after they began their descent that communicated their desire to greet you face to face. Maybe they simply weren't used to or didn't like using electronic communication methods. A bit unusual, but not altogether unheard of.


Without your frame deployed, you only notice what Shuri was alluding to when the unknown Valkyrie touches down a dozen paces away.


"O-oh my! Hello! Good day to you, Miss Sanchez!"


She's quite large. Very large, in fact. It's to the point that you're quite sure that Miss Sanchez's frame weighs as much if not more than both your and Shuri's frames put together. She towers over the both of you at a staggering three meters tall and though you can't see any weapons deployed at the moment, the sheer number of attachment points you can spot at first glance says much. You can't quite make out the exact shape of her armour plates beneath what seems to be a perpetually shifting mist but you can see enough that you know that what's there is thicker than anything you have equipped.


She also has four arms.


You're not quite sure how to react at this.


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Bah, just a brain worm that would't let me go. It's shitty writing, I know it is, the voices are all wrong and it's barely long enough to convey what I was trying to.

Anywho, I just thought that seeing how everyone reacts to BIG Anna would be funny, so I decided to throw some words down and see what would come of it.
Tell me what ya'll think of the idea (besides it being angsty for no good reason, trust me I know) and the writing. All criticism welcome, might as well.
P.S. gotta say before there's an argument about her height in this. I went literally balls to the wall. She's eight feet tall. That's 2,45 meters, more or less. She's quite simply a giant. It's absurd and I love it. And no she doesn't have the four arms outside of Durga, they act as additionnal weapon mounts and give her additional zero range combat utility when she needs to eat an Antagonist.
 
If we go by the hypothesis that one of Anna's weapons is based on a highly optimized snow plow, she probably has a badly neglected sonic weapon that was originally a truck horn that could be repurposed as a war horn.

Well, she does have speakers of some sort on her suit, so there's nothing really stopping her from just blasting those at maximum volume. I must admit that Anna having what's essentially a foghorn constantly blaring as she fights would be quite something.
 
Her warcry/horn is the fucking static white noise she fills the entire area with.

OOOooh! Inspiration! It could be that it's just a mix of all her various noise-adjacent things she's absorbed over ther years, so it's just a massively loud drone that's heard for kilometers around. But it's on a wavelength that humans can't hear, and she has it always running! So to the Antagonists, there's this massive hateful scream just echoing from somewhere, meanwhile Anna is smiling at a small child as she rebuilds their house that was attacked!
 
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Durga:
Generalist frame. Smooth and rounded pure black armoured plates underset with a navy blue layer of flexible composite. A prominent pair of backswept horns emerges from the top of the helmet.

Surface of frame reconfigurable, capable of shifting mass to reduce damage, taking the place of missing appendages and forming extra appendages if necessary.
Durga was named by an Hindu family of refugees who arrived into your town after you saved them from Antagonists fairly early on, you decided to keep it as you hadn't bothered to name it before hand.
It is quite possible that Anna's frame was named as such because she did at one point pull out a bunch of extra arms.
 
Anna probably needed extra arms for more normal guns when she started out, but by now, the weapons probably just stay in storage and get a portal opened in front of the muzzle when she has to shoot something. At least she did it that way several times in story and while fighting Sekhmet.
Also, no way the hypothetical anime would have a human-sized Anna fighting with skyscraper-sized weapons floating around her, that seems a bit hard to do properly. The Gilgamesh impression is far easier to do :D
 
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