Mission Eleven: Sakidō

Darwin remained where he lay before, watching as Shasse was pulled into the air and then blinked away into the distance. He waited a couple moments. The forest seemed a lot quieter now that the rest of his team had begun their trek back towards the Fort that had become their home. So this is the result of their first mission? A dramatic conclusion without even touching their scarlet target? No, this mission would not be for naught. Despite all of his best reasoning (what little remained) saying Follow everyone else and return to the Fort, the issue was that he didn't want to. He wanted to make sure that Shasse's injury wasn't for naught. He had completely forgotten the goal of scouting the area for anything that may be of use for those in the Fort and abandoned the idea of mapping out the area for the sake of research (and now to warn those of what occurs to anyone entering the forest).

All he wanted was that damned fruit.

He wanted it so badly that his eyes tightened into closed, wrinkled balls in their sockets, squeezing out tears while his jaw hung loose. He wanted to get the fruit. He wanted to go home. He wanted Shasse to be safe. He wanted a lot of things, but he felt like none of it could be in reach despite watching as the others managed to successfully return to the base.

All want, and no drive to grab it. He took a second to yank himself up from the ground, letting his eyes catch on the now dried hemosynth forming a red stripe along his Mindy's bicep (he even made note to consider that look on a paintjob later) as he wobbled on his feet, ready to move back to base. Someone should have found the pomegranates somewhere. His priorities had shfted - ensure the survival of his partner. He wiped the tears with a gauntleted hand only to smear them across his face using the metal.

His ascent into the air was slow. He opted to take his time to avoid potentially getting high up in the air and forgetting that he could fly... again. Yet the boosters said otherwise, kicking him straight up. His scream made a sharp echo off the rocks and trees. He spun around to regain his position, forcing his head to clear the fog once more as it entered another adrenaline-rushed state that left his body quivering inside of its metallic cocoon, soaring overhead in a wobbly fashion as though he were a bird whom had just smashed into two too many well-polished windows in the direction of Fort Miller.
 
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Ayenee surface - South

"Eh?" Nerai looked up, suddenly hearing her name over comms. She'd set out towards the southern group, planning to reroup with Abart and the others. "u-Understood, I will be there momentarily!" At her current speed it would take about a minute to make her way over to the cliff faces, making extra haste...
_____

"Very well then, good luck in there Chusa." With a quick Salute, Abart Touched down in the lagoon along one of the rocky cliffs, standing guard while waiting for the rest to arrive. He preemptively whipped out his LASR that had been strapped to his shoulder this whole time, not wanting to be caught unprepared for whatever could be coming after them. "So much for the pomegrenates...heck." He mumbled. He was just starting to have fun here, just flying about without a care.
_____

Nerai had made her way to bestside southside, spotting the group that just split up, with Hoshi and Care heading towards the caverns, and the rest that was standing guard outside. All throughout, the whole situation between Mark, Chlo-chan and Eden went completely past her and the rest of the crew here. If she had known however, there was a 99% change she would turn this snek around to assist the lad. Maybe the robot too. However as she remained completely oblivious to this fact, the only thing she thought about was how to go about her current task of.....standing around..... essentially. She plopped herself next to Abart, once again finding herself grouped up with her nephew for this mission. "Alright, Theisilis-heisho is present and ready to assume command of .....outside team. Please proceed."
 
East

The square and its market offered no luck. The personnel of the Kaiyō would be able to tell that there was a downtown stretch one way with no trees or shrubbery, as was seen in much of the city. To the other side of the square was a more residential area and, two streets in, there was a block with greenery that could just barely be seen from their position.

South
Forest

Eden brought Mark and Chlorate back to the fort and had met up with a medic halfway there.

Bay

As Hoshi and Care entered further, they would see the energy signals coming at them fast. Hoshi gave the medic a quick order.

"Care-hei, get to the walls of the cave! Quickly!" She herself was already moving that way, so that the life forms could pass and they could remain undetected... As long as they still were undetected, that is.

Fort Miller

At Fort Miller, medics were being sent out almost en masse to the various locations it was needed, even to the ogre in the city to see about reviving the creature in some way. Teien Eden, who had endured an experience unlike any she was used to, made a note to check in with the Darkfire Clan about this development.

Teien Eden called over comms to the medics on her ship's roster, "I need one of you to assist Mark-hei immediately. He needs a friendly face right now..." She looked to Mark as he was carried by the two fort medics, "You're going to be okay, I promise."
 
Alastair reached the town square and seen some of the crew moving about. This reminded him of the kid games he use to play at home where someone would hide an item and everyone would have to go hunt for it. He never pictured he would be doing the same thing as an adult in an advanced suit of power armor. He could not help but chuckle as this thought filled his mind. Either way an order is an order so best not question the motives and just find the fruit.

He floated just over the tops of the buildings looking for a market place. It did not take him long to notice Arete seemed to have the same idea as she was heading in the same direction. Not wanting to fly along he decided to make chit chat till they reached the place. He quickly landed near her.

"Hey Arete, mind if I join you? I have not really got the chance to introduce myself."
 
East
Town Square

"Hm... No pomegranate here?" Walter muttered irritably to himself. "The scans should be picking them up, but I don't even see them around... Damn infuriating."

Walter Hyde kept refreshing the search, letting his suit run on some autopilot function that he never got to use. The scans kept coming up with nothing, even as he shuffled the parameters around faster than an accelerating Mindy II. It was, to be honest, stumping Walter fairly hard, since every reasonable and sound decision he made just came out with nothing as a result.

"Is finding pomegranate even supposed to be the mission objective?" After reviewing the mission details, Walter came to realize that the actual goal was to scout the area. The pomegranate detail was, more or less, seemed like a fun activity for the crew to do while they were at it.

The techie was too embarrassed to mutter 'Yare yare daze' under his breath; now it actually made sense. Scout out the landscape, and have fun while at it; that was what the mission actually is. Well in that case, Walter decided it can't hurt to roll with it, even though he won't be spending the fun with anybody.

"Well, the hunt for the pomegranate continues." Walter said aloud, as he minimized the scan query and pulled up the minimap, just to get an idea on where the others are right now. "I may not be able to find..."

... Walter Hyde turned off the autopilot function, and checked what type it was. It had the 'Home To Closest Group' function on it. Low and behold, he wandered right to Alistair's group because of it, and he was pretty much shoulder-to-shoulder with the small angel, with Alistair Belmont himself just across from her. Not to mention, Walter was talking aloud just now, and he wasn't even in the middle of the group, he was in front of the group!

Alright, I cannot, under any circumstance, suddenly break away from this group. Walter thought to himself, his brain racing at thirty miles per hour. Judging from the fact that that Mikeal guy noticed that I wasn't there during the briefing, I am pretty sure there are others here who are gonna ask that question, too. If I break away right now, they're all gonna get suspicious, maybe even report me for misconduct, put me through more basic training... I won't let that happen!

But... But yare yare daze, why am I always walking into officers?! I just... I just need to roll with it again. That worked last time with Mikeal, and he was probably the worst guy in the crew I could have met for the first time. Just act natural.

Walter tapped his helmet a several times, and cleared his throat. "No idea what happened there, I think the suit's radio is a bit buggy. I'm going to need to fix this after the mission." Walter said, fabricating an excuse for his sudden silence. "Anyways, I didn't detect any pomegranates in this part of town. We might need to look further."
 
East
Town Square

"Relax, Fluffy, I'm fine!" Replied Gravity to Katsu's questions about her health as she gracefully touched down by Arete, Walter, and Alastair. She was very disappointed at the absence of pomegranates, to be sure. They were truly pilgrims in an unholy land.
 
Miles finished prepping the tube and just, stopped. The effects had well and truly vanished and his mind had stopped doing flips over every detail, unlike a true drunken black-out Miles was now plagued by his memories of the events of the forest. With the cognitive ability of a scientist he told himself he wasn't to blame, but with his vague inferiority complex those facts were quickly overtaken by his self proclaimed failure and guilt.

A war waged in the Minkan's mind threatening to send him mad if no one side could take over, on one side the truth and logic told him to think rationally and do his job after all his oldest friend was a little mangled presently. The other side screamed failure on a loop getting louder each time, and who can possibly listen to reason with such a cacophony drowning all logic from their mind.

To Sacre, Shasse and anyone else who happened to be in the medbay or walk past he would seem no different apart from standing stone still and staring at the hemosynth tube, he didn't make a sound or even blink for a minute as his consciousness fought itself ruthlessly and arresting all physical motion including his breathing for a brief moment. As quickly as the fight started it was over and Miles was left panting having held his breath almost long enough to knock himself out, blinking he looked around at his surroundings once more and shook his head.

Meanwhile Shasse was still locked in her armour and in a state not unlike limbo, she wasn't dead or even close to dying nor in enough pain to cause comatose however. While her body slept her mind was awake and free to do as it pleased which mostly consisted of her piecing together the incident of the forest in her head now that the drunken fog had cleared.

All of her physical senses were useless with her body lying soundly within the sealed mindy suit, and so she thought about everything she could to keep herself occupied in this strange state. Shasse remembered hitting the tree after removing the helmet which was where everything went wrong, in her drunken state she'd inadvertently initiated a system shutdown when removing the helmet and so she simply fell wearing a suit of metal.

What happened next, she recalled a pain in her arm, the one that had been twisted and mangled from taking the brunt of the fall through the trees. Then, when she'd silently called for someone to help her someone had, his face clear in her mind as though she were staring at him right then and there, Darwin Schultz. In her moment of loneliness and pain he had saved her and brought her back to reality, she could recall hearing his worried voice and seeing the concern in his eyes as she had drifted in and out of sleep.

Shasse's mind hit a point of perfect clarity as something hit her, she still hadn't been able to thank him properly! With all of her willpower she tried to wake up her slumbering body but to no avail, it appeared she would be taking a trip to the t hemosynth tube for her arm reconstruction and as a result her body was shut down. Shasse stopped trying to wake up and instead tried to think of what she would say to him, she didn't want this to be one of her bouncy and playful encounters like she was used to. This one needed to have real meaning behind it and she didn't know why she wanted it to so badly, picturing his face again she knew she couldn't blow him off with some half baked thankyou, this one would be the most serious thing she had done in her life.
 
Darwin approached the doorway to the medical lab. He hesitated. He looked to his arm, still stained red. He'd probably have to wash that off soon before it begins to reek of copper. It's not sanitary to have something coated in blood - even if its synthetic. His head had cleared since he left the vicinity of the forest. Dirt caked his armor from where he had to make an emergency landing to gather his bearings, head spinning as the curse wore away. His body was still tremulous.

Clean off the armor. Shower. Eat. Be complacent about the situation.
Or...

He pushed through the door of the medical bay in his powered down armor, helmet cocked under his arm. His head snapped from left to right, his hair puffing out from the motion. He tried to ask where Shasse was, but his voice cracked. His throat gummed up. Dehydration must have been setting in. When he managed to sputter out the words, he had already caught sight of her within the tube.

His jaw tightened and his eyes closed. His back arched forward into a deep bow and yelped "I'm sorry!"

The hemosynth being pumped through the tube reminded him of a fish tank's bubbler. The steady rhythm of a heart-rate monitor pierced his ear drums. The air conditioning hummed and sent a cool breeze against the back of the infantryman's neck.
 
East

Hearing the casual but positive reply coming from Gravity, the fox boy smiled underneath his helmet. He wouldn't want her to continue if she wasn't feeling up to it. After all, she has gone through quite something. Being called Fluffy didn't seem to bother him. In fact, he was slightly amused by this nickname. Gracefully he sat down on the ground next to Gravity, Arete, Walter, and Alastair, and maybe Nora, and looked around.

"Well, looking for that fruit ourselves wasn't successful. How about we ask one of the locals about it?" he said, looking over to who apparently was Walter according to his HUD. It seemed that he has been here before the group arrived even, and according to his words he had looked for that fruit here already. "Walter, if your comms are making problems, make sure to get that fixed asap. In fact, without functioning comms you aren't able to perform at peak performance and can get yourself and those around you in danger. Do you want to go back to base and have the comms replaced? Other than that, you scouted this area for that Pomegranate already. Did you happen to ask the locals about it?" The foxboy's voice was rather calm, not scolding or anything. Also, his voice wasn't too deep, more like that of a late teenager.
 
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East

Alright, this Katsu guy is practically giving me a way out of here. I could just take off and-

Walter stopped thinking and... Well, he started thinking about what Katsu just said. Wait... Wait a minute. Functioning comms are important? No they aren't, I as a technician was trained to realize that radio comms aren't that important to be fixed, why would he say something like that?

Unless... Oh. Oh hohoho. Clever Katsu, clever. You also knew that we have multiple forms of communication, ranging from telepathy to radio to laser projected instant messaging. Which means you also must have known I wasn't at the meeting earlier today! You were trying to see if I were a spy or something. That's a clever way to corner someone like me, but that won't work!

"Thank you for your expressed concern, but we have more than one way to communicate aside from radio transmission, such as telepathy and laser messaging. It's why technicians like myself don't put a high priority of repairing that particular radio system in the battlefield. If I notice anything wrong, I can just resort to other methods, or take off my helmet instead." Walter Hyde said.

Walter, satisfied with that answer, moved on to the topic of the pomegranate. "I have not considered asking the locals, I... Heh, I was looking at the screen too much. I don't exactly have bright ideas on what to do next, so..."

Walter's head turned slightly to Arete, just noticing that the small solider had wings. He wondered if she was an Elysian, or perhaps a native angel. It's hard to tell by just looking at them; one would need to ask them, or see how long they could fly.
 
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Capital Memorial City
Dang there's a lotta people hanging around here in power armor!

Dang you people did a buncha stuff! If I missed you please let me know.

The little woman pouted and huffed a little bit. Out of stock and closed! What a waste of time this was, heading out here! Alright, think Arete, think! Where else would they have pomegranates... A supermarket? Probably, but- Her thoughts were interrupted by another armor nearly bumping into her, Walter's auto-navigation placing him right next to her with no apparent recognition of her wings being there. She visibly shivered when he talked about his radio cutting out before taking a brief deep breath.

Then she remembered she had been spoken to, by a different man, Ala... alastar? Alastair. "I uhh," she stumbled over her words awkwardly for a moment more, "Iiiiiiii don't mind -ahem- though I'm not sure that a mission is the best time to ah, make introductions." She sort of half-awkwardly turned to the one named Katsu, or Fluffy apparently. "Erm, we uh, technically did... Technically. Given that I was raised in the Capital City for most of my life I'd consider myself a local." Breathe in, breathe out. Keep calm. It sounds like that guy with the busted radio might know how to fix things if they break. Breathe in... no getting eaten by this metal suit today. Breathe out...


Dammit, I zoned out again uh... "Oh, right, searching... it's possible that a supermarket downtown would have them still. Or we could split up a bit more to look around the city in groups, since there's so many of us here together. You'd probably get some really unhappy looks if you started climbing trees in the middle of the city though... At least in the more wealthy places. So ah... be careful?" Oddly enough, she didn't seem to catch on to Walter's comment about the scans coming up negative for pomegranates.
 
Alastair had just enough time to rub his chin in response to Arete giving her feedback on his introduction question before crew fell out of the sky. He was amazed at how quickly his comrades came to his side. He was still getting use to being in command so the dedication of the team to group up for planning made leading all the more easy.

"Arete, I believe that is a wonderful idea to split up and cover more ground." He said in a relaxed voice. "I was already going to the market so shall we continue on our way while the rest split up?" He asked in a curios tone.
 
East

At Walter's answer, the fox boy just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but I can't recieve any telepathy. Or at least I can't reply to that. And pretty sure that for lasers you need a clear line of sight, so communicating around corners or through a building won't be possible. However, you aren't part of my squad, so better ask your Squad Leader about what to do when you have a broken comm."

He then looked over to Arete, a bit surprised to hear that she was a local, but not bothered about it. "Ah, didn't knew you were from here." he said, but then looked at Alastair. At his suggestion he was glad that he had a helmet to hide his smirk, but at the same time he really just wanted to facepalm. So after a second of calming down he said "Sir? You may not have noticed because you didn't ask for a status report, but we've already been at the market place and didn't find any of that fruit there. Also, wouldn't you want to fly high above the city and coordinate the multiple squads that way? I mean, with Walter here, there is at least one more squad nearby, or he was seperated from his squad, maybe because of his damaged comms. And I am pretty sure..." He paused for a moment to look over Arete, Lauren, Gravity, and Nora, all in heavy power armor. "...that we only need one person to search one supermarket. We are not expecting any hostilities in this city, and even if, we are all armored and armed." Even if Nora had only her small weapons with her. "Arete, I have a task for you. Since you are a local, tell us where a couple of nearby supermarkets are. Then each of us picks one and checks it out, before rallying back here. This Town Square seems like a good POI to gather to, and is identifyable from high above when flying as well."
 
Alastair was getting use to Katsu calling him out on things to make sure everyone around knew Katsu was the fox with the plan. It reminded him of Miko and how he always found a way to with respect make his leaders look like fools when possible. Miko always did have an issue with authority and felt his way was the fastest way to victory. He chuckled to himself a little.

"Welp, you heard the squad leader. Though I would recommend going in pairs. While there is no danger it is unwise to go alone on a world we do not have full understanding of. Plus since there is no immediate danger, it does gives a chance to learn about your teammate." He said in an affirmative voice.

"Come on Walter, lets go for a walk so I can share with you why it is important to fly a mindy with both hands firmly on the steering wheel." He said as he walked over and gave him a pat on the back.
 
Walter Hyde turned to Alastair, feeling quite insulted for that. He had already done Mindy training twice, he didn't need to relearn it again. Though the paranoid part of his mind wondered if this officer also noticed Walter missing from the meeting.

Yeah, that has to be the case. Why else would he single me out... Wait. Walter's conspiracy web slowly fell apart as he rethought the whole situation. They don't appear to be all that interested in me? Was Katsu not testing me? Now that I think about it, that tone isn't there to begin with...

At this moment, Walter Hyde considered another possibility; that maybe, just maybe, he was being unrealistic in his expectations. No one in this group appeared to be a stickler-of-the-rules type like Mikeal Harris was, not to the Minkan. So that means...

That means I was being so dumb that I just cornered myself, while looking like the dumbest kid in the group. The poker-faced Santo Hei concluded in his mind. Well, damn. Checkmate. Nothing I can do but oblige at this point.

"Er... Thank you, sir." Walter responded to his superior with some courtesy, and some hesitation. The technician made a mental note to just cut it out with the paranoia already, as well as adding unnecessary falsehoods; at this point, they had proven to be the opposite of useful assets.
 
Mark sat leaned up against a tree, his hands trying to stem the blood flowing to the ground under him, a trail from where he had been dragged to the new position was evident. "I don't know how I got here. One moment I was trying to fly out of the hangar, the next I was plummeting." He said in between clenched teeth as the pain since the move had gotten worse. Right now his hands and this accursed branch were all that kept him from out right bleeding to death.

"I've called for help, and all I hea.....gah! Was laughter. Children. Nyah! But no one ever came.", He explained trying to stay still, but every shift was like being stabbed repeatedly.
 
Fort Miller

There was a small thunderclap as soon as Sacre cleared whatever it had been that was interfering with the teleporter. Sacre moved with Shasshe and started to carefully strip off her armor so that she could go in the tank. "No Miles, Although, it does seem to be more common for you then for others; failure is an event, not a person. Regardless, I've got an expertise in transporting patients that you don't, that's all. If you were to apply yourself, you could get certified and approved as well." Sacre was mostly focused on making sure that the Neko made it, and being destracted often made her a bit less caustic. However, her tone didn't do anything to reassure Miles.
 
Miles nodded at Sacre's words knowing she was right as always, he wasn't trained or equipped for the kind of patient recovery she was instead being more suited to remaining in the base or ship medical facility to treat the patients she brought in if she didn't want to do it herself or had others to tend to. He watched Darwin enter and move over to stand in front of the hemosynth tube containing Shasse Emiko, he considered talking to Darwin but left him to make his apology however unnecessary it may be and he was reminded of the fact that only moments earlier he had also blamed himself. Sacre's words had not gone unnoticed and Miles looked at the floor

The minkan moved to stand beside him and put a hand on his shoulder gently but continued to face the tube, "Raise your head up Schultz hei, I know she doesn't blame you and she wouldn't want to see us beating ourselves up over what she's likely going to call a little scrape. All we can do is wait for her arm to heal and hope she doesn't beat us up for not getting the fruit."

Within the tube the blue neko didn't stir once, tubes running to an oxygen mask keeping her breathing while her arm was healed, the bone returning to the correct alignment and stitching back together. The sight for the onlookers was a surreal one, as mangled and torn, flesh and muscle seemed to piece itself together slowly as the arm took a form more recognisable shape. Unlike earlier in the forest however her face showed an expression of peace rather than the agony that she'd endured before, within the tube her great mass of hair had splayed out behind and around her effectively wrapping her in white without interfering with the regeneration process.

Miles took his hand off Darwin's shoulder and instead pressed in the the glass side of the tube for a moment before shaking his head and moving to inspect the monitors running scans of her body checking to ensure nothing was going wrong during the healing, nothing seemed out of the ordinary and Miles simply sat down in a chair and alternated his gaze from the screens to the tube and back and would stay like this silently.
 
Capital Memorial City

Arete took a slower breath. "Good idea, let's go in small groups. Now if I can remember... down Mirthspark Road should be a couple supermarkets. We never bought fruit from them but I'm sure they have what we're looking for..."

The little angel sighed a bit quietly to herself, armored fingers tapping at the chin of her faceplate with the sound of a snare drum. "It should be... Downtown, that way," Her other arm extended out to direct towards the busy metropolis-like area of the city, even though it was still dwarfed by the megacities many of the other soldiers would have been accustomed to back in their home universe. "Take a left at the intersection with Three Danes, and it should be on your... right, yes. We should also look at the Agziar shopping district to the south east. There's probably some there too..." The little one's voice faded a bit as she finished her speech, her words trailing into a slightly awkward silence. It felt weird being even remotely in some sort of leadership position, even if it was being basically a tour guide...
 
East

Mikael has been focused more on putting to memory the sights and ongoings of the city under his own sub-mission. He has not really been paying much attention to Walter other than his proximity to him, grunting in response to his chatter. And he really did not notice the additional junior enlisted that had arrived, though he noticed their IFF distance indicator reducing when they were heading this way.

"Pair up and maintain regular contact. I will me watching from the skies." Mikael said, having nothing much to add to her idea. "Just do not cause any more trouble. You see a bar fight, let it be..."

They were not under is direct command, but he was the highest ranking in the area and thus would look bad if something did go wrong. He would make regular scans while cloaked as he monitored.
 
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