Memori

KuroMaboroshi joined #Prologue02
11:22	Palmu	The steady, familiar rumble of the activation sequence plays out all around you. The stench of oil and electricity, the buzz of screens and lights turning on, banishing the darkness of the cockpit. And the click of the Synch-link connecting with yout implants, immediately widening your sense of self to include the entire Wanzer. And then, the ping of SAM
11:22	Palmu	coming online within the system. "-et. Oh. Oof. The transition never stops being jarring...Okay...Oh, the servos in the left leg don't feel as responsive as they should be. That's no good."
11:24	Palmu	SAM's clear voice fills the tiny shelter, drowning out the habitual noise of the Wanzer as she pokes through its systems, muttering at issues she spots and highlighting them for the engineers to look at.
11:40	Druby	Warren has his eyes closed, breathing in a slow and controlled manner, focusing on the beating of his own heart as the machine comes to life around him. He vaguely registers the lights blinking on as his senses are instead filled by those of the Wanzer's, wincing slightly as the feeling of it triggers a brief headache. The hiss of pain he makes is quickly clamped down on, especially as he feels the reactor thrum along with his heart, his
11:40	Druby	breathing making servos whir as the Wanzer begins to match some of his smaller movements. "It's not going to be a problem is it?" Warren asks as he lets out a slow sigh, rubbing at his brow.
11:46	Palmu	"Probably not, I think we'll be here for a few extra minutes though...Whoever last used this unit really put it through the ringer, and the post-combat check mustn't have been all that thorough."
11:47	Palmu	For a moment, you can see her face on one of the screens, frowning at you in consternation before it flickers off again. Both of you assume that her avatar has been based on her original body, still barely seventeen years old physically, though with obvious touch-ups.
11:48	Palmu	The bright red hair cascading past her shoulders would be the clearest example, but her eyes aren't quite normal either, being a sapphire green hue that exists nowhere in nature. At least her slightly round face looks normal enough. "Try moving your left arm?".
11:53	Druby	"Tsk," Warren clicks his tongue in annoyance, before shaking his head. "Whatever, a few extra minutes won't kill me..." The way he rubs at his forehead before dragging his hand across his face may make someone question otherwise though. He rolls his shoulder now, moving his left arm as requested before giving a scowl. "Oh, you've got to be- Looks like the left arm might be damaged. Getting some resistance at the shoulder. Who the fuck
11:53	Druby	did they have look over this thing?"
11:58	Palmu	SAM disappears for a second, and when she shows up again, hand slapping at the screen ineffectively and face set in an expression of frustration. "I knew it! Jared and HOLMES had this unit last! Those assholes must have tried to break your runtime record by just smashing through the obstacles.
11:59	Palmu	Ugh...That's a really good question, though. Let me take a look-see...UGH!" The girl stares at nothing in particular in disgust. "It was that new engineer on loan from the Forge! That's so petty!" And that's...Not all that new either.
12:00	Palmu	For some reason, Forge officials seem to have it out for you in the strangest ways. Substandard equipment, missing test results, long waiting times on requisitions...And now a Wanzer without sufficient repairs.
12:06	Druby	Warren gives a low growl, grinding his teeth for a moment in frustration. "Let's make sure there aren't any other surprises then and run a full diagnostics check. I swear, one of these days they're just going to start cutting wires in these things. I'm not going to lose to Jared because of broken gear."
12:07	Palmu	"Roger!" After a moment, the insides of the Wanzer are plunged back into darkness as the engineers outside start hasty repairs. SAM is quiet for a moment before her voice comes out of the intercom. "...This is unfair." She sounds plain petulant now. "We're doing so well! So why do we get bullied like this?" It's things like this that certainly show that she
12:08	Palmu	Didn't grow up like you did.
12:15	Druby	Warren gives another wince as the synch system shuts down a little hard, the sudden loss of his connection to the Wanzer being rather jarring. "Fuckers..." he bitches pointlessly at the engineers outside. Not like they could hear him. "Well, in case you haven't noticed, people here are kind of competitive. You don't think they wouldn't stoop down to sabotage?"
12:22	Palmu	"But...! It's...No, that's true. I really shouldn't be surprised." She sounds very dejected about it. "I just hate it. Sometimes I wish we didn't have to be here..." And there it is again. For a NERV made AI, she really doesn't feel all that loyal at times. It's a wonder why she was chosen for you to begin with.
12:22	Palmu	But, as usual, she rebounds quickly - "Well...Whatever! We'll show them all anyway, cruddy servos and lack of update times or no! We're the best! We're the baddest! And the coolest! Yeah!" You get the feeling she's trying to psych herself up, the slightest quiver in her voice gives it away.
12:29	Druby	"Yea... The baddest and the coolest. Woohoo." Warren cheers halfheartedly, giving a weak fistpump into the air. He sinks a bit lower into his seat. "How long is this going to take?"
12:35	Palmu	"Be a bit more excited!" She sighs in annoyance, before letting out a quiet 'hmm'. "Not long...Though I don't think they can fully repair the issue in the left arm, not without taking it off. Should we call this off?" She sounds a bit apprehensive. It would be equal to giving up after all, but there's no way you can perform to your fullest like this.
12:35	Palmu	It's just an obstacle run, though. So perhaps you don't need the arm for more than brute force anyway.
12:44	Druby	"What? Call this off? Hell no!" Warren exclaims now, sitting up straight again now. "I'm not ruining my record now! I don't need an arm to finish an obstacle course!" He slams his fist against the side of one console. "I sure as hell am not gonna let some transfer from the Forge force me into giving up!"

"...Obstacle course?" SAM sounds even more apprehensive now. "It doesn't look like an ob-" Just then, the Wanzer activates again, the shock of the sudden re-connection jolting both you and the AI, and the loud buzz of a simulation coming online breaks through even the rumble of the mecha coming online. Immediately, SAM breaks into a status update, her voice
13:03	Palmu	taking on a slightly mechanical tinge as pre-programmed directives take over for a moment: "Wanzer 0014Z White Eyes online. Internal systems nominal. Weapon systems nominal. Power intake nominal. Warning - Left arm mobility at 75.5%. Left arm weapon systems restricted to manual use. White Eyes, ready to launch. Oof." The girl returns to normal and her face
13:03	Palmu	appears in one of the screens on your left, looking worried. "That's not an obstacle course!" And right after her shout, the rest of the screens in the cockpit come to life, showing you the training grounds with a simulated AR overlay - Before your eyes, a city from Earth springs to life from the pre-built obstacles of the area, followed by three distinctly
13:03	Palmu	familiar forms. Chariotspawn. Bipedal mixtures of clockwork and white organic material, they appear like sleeker versions of the Wanzer, though without heads or any sort of ranged weaponry, though as experience tells you they're fully capable of assimilating any technologies they come across and absord into their bodies.
13:03	Palmu	. This...Is a training exercise you've fought a few times, but always with at least another Cadet as back-up! You know what the Spawn will seek to do - Split up and seek randomly spawned material deposits, with which they can create more weapons and armor to use against you. Your goal is to destroy all of them, without being destroyed yourself.
13:04	Palmu	"Oh no..." SAM whispers. Without a doubt, this is the hardest solo mission that's actually possible to accomplish in the entire simulation database currently used by the Cadets.
13:48	Druby	Warren jolts as the synchronization is reestablished suddenly, sending a spike of pain through his head. His curses are cut off as the course is revealed before him and he blinks, taking in his simulated surroundings before letting a brief and rather quiet "Oh..." out of his mouth. He only lets things surprise him for a moment however, before his eyes narrow and he immediately pushes his Wanzer into movement. The usual strategy for this
13:48	Druby	sort of exercise with two cadets was to split up, each blitzing and taking down an Angelspawn before they could assimilate too much (or anything at all preferably) before linking up again to focus down the final target. It was a matter of taking down your opponent quickly and efficiently, but now on his own he was on an even stricter time limit. Going for the closest Angelspawn, he leverages all of his weapons, training the gun he has on
13:48	Druby	manual control over the Angelspawn in preperation. "SAM! Usual strategy! Alpha strike!" He calls off, notifying her to open fire with all weapons as soon as they get close enough. Of course "close enough" in this case is close beyond all normal reason, getting within several hundred meters of it before he plants his feet against the ground and his entire cockpit almost feels like it's going to fall apart under the combined recoil of
13:49	Druby	three different heavy weapons. Bullets and rockets fill the air with blazing lights and deafening noise, blotting out any sort of cry the Angelspawn might've given. Instead there is only the earthshaking roar of .50 caliber guns and rockets that fill the air with smoke and debris. He only lets up when the smoke becomes too thick for SAM to continue targetting through, the silence nearly as deafening as the roar with the sudden shift. The
13:49	Druby	whirring of his guns dies down, barrels glowing red and he takes a step back as he stares into veil of dust and smoke. When the Angelspawn rushes through it, smoke seeming to almost clear itself out of the way of the Angelspawn's AT field, it is instead met with the steel of Warren's combat blade after he steps aside to avoid the blow and impaling it in its side. The chest mounted shrapnel cannon fires off moments later, again and again
13:49	Druby	and again, until he's gouged out a hole directly to the otherside of the creature, almost having sawed it in half.
14:09	Palmu	The spawn still tries to vainly reach for something to assimilate, but when you pull the blade out of its ruined side it lets out one final clicking screech and crumbles into the ground, falling into pieces as it goes. "Hostile eliminated! Can't see the other two on the scanners..." If nothing else, the un-assimilated spawn are fast, but if you're lucky the
14:09	Palmu	equipment deposits will be far enough from each other that you can fight them one-on-one. Preferably even before they find anything to use. But, of course..."Hostile located! It's coming in fast!" Responding to a sudden blip of movement on your radar, you turn just in time to see the other spawn barreling in from around the corner. And, of course..."No way!
14:09	Palmu	It's already found two caches! Heavy armor and maul load-outs!" Indeed, the spawn looks much bulkier than before, even bulkier than your Wanzer, and its arms end up in massive, jagged hunks of metal. You can hear the gears its body is composed of grinding harshly against
14:09	Palmu	each other as it builds up speed to ram you, trusting in its mass. But, in a way, you're in luck. Both of those load-outs will drop its maneuverability, and when combined...Sure, it's going to pack a serious punch, but it's going to move like molasses. "Wait - Another cache has spawned! Directly to the north-east, behind the first building!"
14:33	Druby	Warren lets out a slow and controlled breath, allowing himself a moment's break as his weapons cool down. He scans over the screens, checking the status of his weapons and ammunition. "Getting lucky, huh?" Warren asks before his eye snap up at the indication of the new hostile. "Dammit! Maybe I'll believe that the day this shit stops happening!" He only remains still for a brief moment longer as he analyzes the situation before he
14:33	Druby	lurches his Wanzer backwards. "SAM! Rockets, target its feet!" He calls out, trusting in his AI to do the targetting and firing for him. He hopes that with the Angelspawn's increased mass and speed, the sudden shift in momentum from a volley of rockets would be enough to trip it over and buy him a bit more time. He doesn't bother to stay and watch if it succeeds or not, however, simply turning down the street and heading for the cache.
14:47	Palmu	"Firing!," SAM exclaims, and another salvo rushes through the air. A series of explosions blocks your hearing for a second as you start moving, but the tremendous crash quickly following them, heard even through the noise, is enough to signal your success even before SAM lets out a bark of laughter. "It just went through a building!" That should take it a
14:47	Palmu	moment...You round the corner and see the cache, propped up against a simulated storefront, and the markings on the case...High explosive! But just as you reach the cache and pop it open, you start hearing a loud whirr. The third Spawn is approaching. You glance towards the noise, and at the other end of the street, just out of the range of your scanner, you
14:47	Palmu	see it. Wheels replacing its legs, turning it into something akin to a mechanized centaur, with a great lance in its arms, it starts coming right at you in a loose zig-zag pattern, at a steady speed. On the bright side, no ranger weapons...And then its shoulders pop open, revealing two grenade launchers.
14:48	Palmu	You don't even hear SAM's update as your mind goes into an overdrive and you hastily reach into the open case before you...A grenade?! No, something better, but still just a single-use weapon. A miniature N2 mine. Unlucky!
14:48	Palmu	! The blast radius on these things is ludicrous! And just then the other Spawn arrives once more, smashing through a building behind you. And now you are sandwiched between two Spawn - A lumbering brute and an agile mid-range fighter.
15:10	Druby	Warren barks out a laugh as he hears SAM's report on their success, mouth splitting into a wicked smile for moment before he gets to the cache, but upon opening it, his smile simply drops. "You're kidding me..." he mutters to himself. This quickly turns into a much more vulgar, "Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me!" as he spots the wheeled Angelspawn zig-zagging its way towards him. A growl slips out of his lips as the grenade
15:10	Druby	launchers pop out, followed by the rumbling of his pursuer. "This is fucking ridiculous!" Warren bitches now, cradling the N2 mine in his arms like it was a lifeline. Quite honestly, it probably was, considering he was now staring down two Angelspawn that would individually probably take two cadets to take down. "Keep track of #3 for me, tell me when it fires or gets close," he says to SAM as he turns to begin charging headfirst towards
15:10	Druby	the second Angelspawn. He lifts his left gun, firing a few bursts downrange towards it to test its defenses, but finding it ineffective, simply stops and focuses on getting ready to move the hell out of the way.
15:21	Palmu	"It's picking up speed," SAM warns you as you dash towards the brute, which is also starting to ramp up from a lumbering gait into a barreling charge. This time it's keeping its large arms low, protecting its legs however. Good programming. "Grenades incoming!" Perfect timing! Just before collision with the
15:21	Palmu	 push the Wanzer into its limits, likely breaking something as you throw yourself to the side, the brute passing you by, just barely scratching your already-damaged left arm, and then the roar of explosions propels you into the ground. With a quick, if clumsy, roll you end up back on your feet and staring down the two spawn, now on the same side of the road.
15:21	Palmu	The brute seems to have taken the brunt of the damage from the explosions, its heavy armor cracked all across its frontage. "That was way too close! Left arm mobility down to 70%! But, good dodge!"
15:30	Druby	Warren only spares a moment to wiggle his left arm, testing its movement once again. Not the best, but at least it was still mobile. "Gonna need to do better than good here..." The boy gripes quietly as he glances up towards the Angelspawn. The armored one was probably going to be the tougher one to crack due to just how tough it was. He needed to take advantage of that cracked armor. Firing off another volley of rockets, aiming to
15:30	Druby	shatter its front entirely, he lets out a breath before saying, "Time to do something stupid..." He charges towards the Angelspawn now, firing with both miniguns as he does his best to lay down as much damage as possible while trying to take advantage of its low maneuverability to dash right past it again as it's still disoriented and turning in order to head for the other Angelspawn, which ought to be much closer by now. He really hoped
15:30	Druby	that it had some sort of friendly fire protocol built into its programming, otherwise he was going to look pretty stupid running straight into a grenade.
15:34	Palmu	 There's a sound like shattering glass as you dash past the brute, through the cloud of smoke caused by your rockets. "One salvo left!" SAM warns you even as you dip past a massive maul aiming straight for the Wanzers head, and as you break through the cloud you end face-to-face with the lance-wielder.
15:48	Druby	Even though he'd planning on the lancer to be directly behind the larger Angelspawn, it was still something to burst through the smoke in order to come face-to-face with it. To his credit, there's only the slightest pause as he takes in the situation before he immediately goes into a dive directly between the lancer's legs, combat blade held out to try and sever or cripple one or more of its legs, and hopefully leave it in a heap on the
15:48	Druby	ground to block the other Angelspawn's path. The N2 mine is similarly left behind as he simply drops it on the ground beside them as he rolls up onto his feet and continues his forward momentum to take him someplace (hopefully) far away enough from the blast radius to not simply vaporize him. He skids to a stop, quite likely much closer to the blast radius than reccomended, but he didn't have time to ensure his own safety here if he
15:48	Druby	wanted to take advantage of the opportunity he created as he spins around and immediately opens fire with both the rockets and his miniguns, trying to set off the N2 mine.
15:59	Palmu	The lancer strikes fast enough to gouge through the side of your head, destroying some of the optical equipment and causing the left half of your screens to go blind. But that's still plenty enough vision - As you drop into a roll, swiping out with your blade in the process, you earn a loud screech from the Spawn as your knife bites through
16:00	Palmu	two of its now-spindly legs, but like an arachnid it has a good six of them left. It still imbalances it enough to cause it to stagger and use its lance to balance itself, but that moment of hesitation is enough as you force your boosters into full power to aid in getting some range between yourself and the Spawn, and turn just in time to see the slower of
16:00	Palmu	the two push past its staggered partner and start coming towards you again...But all too slow, as you open fire towards them. And predictably...There's a flash of white, and then all of Wanzers systems are screaming at you. "Critical damage to the legs! Critical damage to both arms!
16:00	Palmu	All weapon systems critically damaged! Critical damage to the optics! White Eyes at 8% effectiveness! White Eyes...Still operational!" Surprise colors SAM's voice as she reads through the mechas status.
16:00	Palmu	"I can't believe it! We're still operational!" A single optical screen stained with static still works, revealing a blasted hellscape and a massive crater...But no Angelspawn. "Mission...Successful!" SAM gasps out, and the last screen goes out as the simulation starts to power down.
16:09	Druby	Warren lets out a low hiss as half of his senses go dark, his heart skipping a beat as, for a moment, he wonders if the hit had just neatly impaled him into the ground and that all of his movement would suddenly be arrested. Luckily for him, he simply keeps going, and he rides that wave of elation all the way till he detonates the mine. He flinches in an instinctive response to the light and sound, both of the explosion and the alarms
16:09	Druby	blaring in his ear. His hands are tight on the joysticks, his entire body tense as he sucks in breath after breath while SAM reports on damages that appear redundantly on the screens before him. It takes a moment for it to hit him as he stares at the single screen that remains functional, and when it does, it's almost like someone cuts his strings. Warren simply collapses backwards into his seat, slinking downwards until he's almost just
16:09	Druby	a puddle in his chair. "We did it...? We did it. Haha... Fuck... We actually did it!"
16:23	Palmu	"Congratulations!" SAM laughs as well, the two of you coming to terms with the fact that you not only survived but actually fulfilled the mission parameters. As far as you know, only a single person has succeeded in the mission solo before you, and that was the legendary pilot, from whose combat data the mission was built from to begin with.
16:23	Palmu	With a hiss, the cockpit of the Wanzer starts to open and light floods into the darkness again, along with sound from the outside, and reality re-orients itself. A moment ago, you felt like you were lying on your back, but as the final systems shut down you finally realize that you're sitting up. "They're going to remember this for a long time! Oh, merging ba
16:23	Palmu	*merging ba-" SAM notes just before the Synch-link detaches itself, bringing you fully back into your own body, SAM riding back into the implant where she's usually stored. Almost immediately afterwards, her voice rings out from your communicator. "-ck. Oof!"
16:23	Palmu	As the AI re-orients itself as well, you push up from your seat and force the rest of entrance open, looking out to the unblemished practice ground. At the very edge, you can see a group of engineers wildly gestulating at the screens, along with some of the Cadet instructors who are nodding thoughtfully at the data feed.
16:24	Palmu	And next to them, three men are looking over towards you, both clad in the uniforms of the Commanders. The first of them, an older man with a face that looks like its chiseled out of stone stares your way for a moment longer, before his expression turns just a mite bit sourer, and he marches away, while the second, notably younger but nearly twice your size,
16:24	Palmu	, a familiar giant of a man is smiling as he watches you. Even from this distance, you can see him mouth the words 'good job', before turning and following after his older companion. This leaves the third man, a lanky fellow with a somewhat greasy smile, starts moving towards you instead.
16:25	Palmu	"Oh. I think that's Commander Rogers!" SAM notes. And with Commander Armstrong, that means...The stone-faced man must have been Commander Joenmaa, from the Forge.
16:33	Druby	Warren blinks as the lights go from bright to dark to bright again now as the cockpit opens up. He gives a bit of a groan as he stands up, stretching a bit and hearing a few bones pop before hopping out of the chair. He's quick to school his appearance as soon as he spots the uniformed men, the smile he had on his face quickly being wiped away to be replaced with a scowl, and one that deepens slightly as he catches sight of the frowning
16:33	Druby	Joenmaa. "I thought he never left the Forge... The hell is he doing here?" Warren asks quietly, watching them leave before he turns towards Rogers. He doesn't quite get at attention, but he does stand up a little straighter from his usual slouched position. "Afternoon, sir." Warren says simply in greeting, trying to keep their conversation short.
16:43	Palmu	"Good afternoon, Cadet Novack and...SAM, yes?" The man stops before your now-resting Wanzer, looking up at you, the light from the lamps above glinting off his half-moon glasses. With his slicked-back brown hair and oily smile, he looks more like a door to door salesman than the over-all commander of NERV.
16:43	Palmu	"That was quite the show, my boy. I apologize for the surprise in change of scenario, this was a bit of an exam, you see. And you passed with flying colors!" His smile grows just a bit wider, and he spreads his arms out. "Congratulations, you have just been chosen as the Pilot of Evangelion Unit 045!"
16:46	Druby	Warren can almost feel the grease coming off of his every word, the slightest bit of distaste showing on his face. He isn't able to keep it up however, as Warren is forced to do a double take at the man's words, staring at him as if he'd just grown a second head. "Pilot of what!?"