[Quest] Journey to the East

Premise: An R&D team from one of Neutrino's biggest labs has hired you and a group of others to journey into the eastern wastelands and recover a lost transport vehicle carrying many important documents and materials.

Preparation and maintenance is a MUST on this mission as the target area is rather far and emergency aid won't be able to reach you that far away from civilization. As if that weren't bad enough, the target area is notorious for ensnaring many travelers and never letting them return home.

After making preparations, load up in your ARMS and meet the others by the city's eastern gate. If I wasn't being clear enough, the group hired will comprise solely of those characters who are used while posting and is open to absolutely anyone who wants to join in.

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Swinging his pocket watch from a chain, Aleaster sat on the rim of a rather old looking yet still impressive water fountain. The stray droplets of splashing water stuck to the threads of his modest clothing: a brown cloak with the appearance of a tailored potato sack. Underneath that was a sleeveless blue shirt matched with loose fitting black pants tied down at his shins with bandages (wouldn't want sand blown into any unwanted orifices, would we?). Around his neck was a thin red cloth made of dense fibers that was perfect should he need to move around in a heavy sand storm.

"I know I'm early, but I really wish those guys would hurry up already..."

He knew there was a reason for his employers to be hiring a party of ARMS pilots and not just a single one, but Aleaster couldn't help but tempt himself with the prospect of going on ahead of the rest. Of course, actually doing such a thing could be considered suicide with the many perils one faces out of the safety of Neutrino. Wild ARMS, harsh weather conditions, natural disasters, marauders, the list goes on and on.

"Those lab coats sure were weird about giving me the job though. Well, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised..."

Digging through his pants pockets, the academy student pulled out a folded piece of paper that he'd been given upon being hired. Pulling out a pen, Aleaster began filling out the questions while he waited for his comrades to arrive.

Neutrino Research and Development wrote:

1.) How would you rate your ARMS' performance?

2.) What is your favorite animal?

3.) Do you believe in reincarnation?

4.) Do you have a favorite historical ARMS pilot? Who?

5.) Which parts of your ARMS do you take priority in?

6.) On a scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy change?

7.) Do you work best with a partner, or solo?

Arriving in the general area of the meeting place about 15 minutes before he had to be there, Reon was slowly walking about the city in his casual attire, a blazer, button up shirt, and fedora but this time he had brought a bandanna with him, to be used for numerous survival scenarios. He had a bag stowed with other, looser, clothes that he might need later but he was fairly comfortable in what he was wearing at the moment.

His mission was fairly straight forward, he and his 'comrades' had been hired by a R&D group to recover a lost transport vehicle carrying documents and materials, or whatever the hell else the company really wanted. The mission was fairly straight forward, but the truth is that the mission would probably be more complicated than that considering that they were going outside the city which, in general, was dangerous.

Reon, absent mindedly, arrived at the east gate a little bit before the actual meeting time, but it appeared that someone was already their, writing on a piece of paper that automatically reminded him of the survey the R&D company gave him. Reon took off his hat and said " Hello, I see your here a bit early as well" mostly a compulsory action than anything else, but he recognized the person standing in front of him, he was in his grade, his name was Aleastor if he recalled correctly. Reon took the survey out of his pocket, which was already filled out, and read it again.

Neutrino Research and Development wrote:

1.) How would you rate your ARMS' performance?
Ace

2.) What is your favorite animal?
Mythical: Dragon Real: Bear

3.) Do you believe in reincarnation?
No

4.) Do you have a favorite historical ARMS pilot? Who?
No

5.) Which parts of your ARMS do you take priority in?
Legs and arms/weapons; if you can't move, your useless, and if your gun aren't apt, your useless as wel.

6.) On a scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy change?
8

7.) Do you work best with a partner, or solo?
No preference

Reaching past the evening net of eternal winter.

"There's a survey along with this mission request sheet?" a young dark-haired Academy student in an indigo-colored buttoned coat strode down one of the busiest streets of Neutrino, headed to her ARMS's holding area and then immediately towards the destination area. To her classmates, she was known as Yuzuna.

The teenager's attire looked somewhat formal, especially her coat which reached past her thigh in size when she wore it. Her dark blue pants and the barely-visible collared violet shirt underneath the coat complemented the color scheme and appearance of the ARMS pilot-in-training. Finishing up her appearance was a ribbon that adorned her collarbone.

A mission like this shouldn't be too particularly long, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially because it was her first employment request, she didn't want to be the one that came unprepared. In a medium-sized silver bag, Yuzuna carried some backup food and supplies, as well as a small box which contained dice for no particular reason. The weight of the bag wasn't particularly heavy, but it slightly strained her shoulder after walking for several blocks.

I still have some time, maybe I should fill some out... the schoolgirl thought to herself. Switching her handheld machine to its 'Music Player' mode, Yuzuna sat down on the nearest bench and listened to some music while she slightly struggled with some of the questions.

Neutrino Research and Development wrote:

1.) How would you rate your ARMS' performance?
Excelle Proficient

2.) What is your favorite animal?
Foxes

3.) Do you believe in reincarnation?
Yes

4.) Do you have a favorite historical ARMS pilot? Who?
No

5.) Which parts of your ARMS do you take priority in?
Legs, defenses Control efficiency

6.) On a scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy change?
6 9 7

7.) Do you work best with a partner, or solo?
No particu Only if our strengths are complementary to the task

"Maybe I should have brought a pen as well..." the girl slightly muttered, looking again at some of her crossed-out survey answers. "Now to look for the ARMS that I've been assigned to..."

After a few more minutes, the schoolgirl maneuvered her machine at a moderate pace. Its appearance was that of a regular Academy-regulation ARMS, but was colored in a blue and violet design, much like her clothes. Also, bluish-white fur which was tailored as a decoration on her machine gave it a slightly unique appearance, at least from the waist up.

It wasn't long before she reached the meeting point, a water fountain. Yuzuna made the necessary settings before stopping and parking her ARMS, and then descended from the azure-colored cockpit.

Slowing down to a fraction of her pace just a moment earlier, Yuzuna's eyes glance up at the figures of at least two figures who were already waiting at the area. She recognized their appearance but was still a short distance away, and shouting to greet someone wasn't her style. "And maybe I'm a bit late too."

Spoiler:

“Thanks for taking care of Usa while I’m gone, Tatsuya.” The bunny in question was happily nibbling on a carrot stick in the make shift cage. Usually Sora let her run loose in the small yard by the shop and throughout her small house, but since she was going away she had asked her friend to watch the rabbit. Tatsuya lived nearby to Sora and sometime came to help out at the parts store. He was about Sora’s age but had no idea the person he was talking to was actually a girl; Sora never let anyone in on her secret, even her friends.

“I don’t mind. Are you really gonna go that deep into the wastelands? Must be something awful special lost out there. You did give your mech a good check over?”

Sora smiled. Of course she had. She had checked everything to make sure it was ready for a journey. A few of the joints had needed a bit of work and sealing, but otherwise it was a pretty basic check. She had even stored some extra food rations and clothing in there, just in case. “Hey, don’t forget who you’re talking to here, even I wouldn’t forget that. I’ve been out there before, anyways. Maybe not quite that far, but I know my way around a bit. Other than the dents from them being old parts, it’s in great shape. I hope I find something good while I’m out there, though. I haven’t had a part to get customers excited in a while… just little things.”

“Maybe you’ll find a whole ARMS out there, one of those Class X’s people go on about! It’ll be buried in the sand, make sure you take a metal detector with you, I mean it.” Tatsuya was a firm believer in the legendary Class X ARMS. Sora, on the other hand, wasn’t completely convinced.

“Yeah, right. Then we’ll both enroll in Ashford cause we’ll be super rich.” It was hard to completely mask the dislike in her tone, but unlike her gender, her dislike of Ashford was a bit more open. “Alright, time to go. Make sure you double check that the shop is locked tight and the closed sign is up.” She heaved herself up into the pilot seat as she was speaking. “See you in… well, whenever I get back.” Tatsuya waved and gathered up Usa’s cage and food to take over to his house. After a moment of shifting around her bag (stuffed full of wasteland survival supplies), Sora completely settled into her seat and grabbed the controls on either side. With a whoosh, the lid closed and sealed her inside.

That must be the meeting spot, looks like I’m here fourth. I wonder how many people they asked...? Looks like Academy kids, great. She ‘parked’ her ARMS and started down. Half way down, she noticed both boys were filling out a piece of paper. “Ah! I forgot about that weird survey…!” She scrambled back up and dug through her bag a minute before locating it. “There it is, at least I didn’t lose it completely.”

Once both feet were planted firmly on the ground and she made her way over to the water fountain to sit, she realized something else. “Do either of you have a pen I could borrow? I’m Sora, by the way… Shouru Sora.” Best to play nice, she might have to rely on these people later.

Quote :

1.) How would you rate your ARMS' performance?
It runs, kinda old, but gets the job done.

2.) What is your favorite animal?
Most things with fur. Rabbits, foxes, cats.

3.) Do you believe in reincarnation?
No, not really.

4.) Do you have a favorite historical ARMS pilot? Who?
Can’t say I know much about things like that.

5.) Which parts of your ARMS do you take priority in?
Every piece is important. If you forget one, your whole ARMS might fail you.

6.) On a scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy change?
Depends if it’s good change or bad change.

7.) Do you work best with a partner, or solo?
Depends on the work.

Today was just a mission like any other. James finished drinking his coffee and changed into his work clothes. They just consisted of a green, button down mechanic's shirt and a pair of jeans, but it seemed to fit the bill nicely. Fixing that last button on his shirt, James picked up the briefing. The mission was fairly cut and dry. Move into the eastern wasteland, recover the materials, and make a successful extraction. Judging by just that this mission would be a cake walk. That was the problem though, you could never judge a mission by just the bare minimum, details were necessary.

James opened the door of the pilots locker room and entered the north central ARMS lockup, situated directly beneath the Academy campus. Opening the next file in the packet he had received, the blond haired boy read the geographical report on the designated mission zone. The target was in hard terrain and judging by the looks of it the extraction would be hard. Preparation would be a must. Arriving at his ARMS dock, James quickly put in his combination to one of the storage lockers at his block and opened the door. Pulling out some MREs and various other emergency supplies, the blond shut the locker and placed the items in the lower right side storge bay in the cockpit of his aqua marine Sutherland. Finishing up the last of the unlocking procedures, James inserted his key and the boot up wizard began.

Main system prompt wrote:

Begining voice print check. Please state your name and I.D.

"James Parker, Q0761A"

Main system prompt wrote:

Check complete. System is ready for input.

Inputting the final commands for dock release, James felt a slight tap as the mechanism started to stand on its own. Before gaining control of the ARMS, the system logo presented itself on the screen.

Main system propmt wrote:

A utonomous
R einforced
M echanical
S keleton

After the logo disappeared James gained full control over the ARMS. Wasting no time, since he would soon be late, the blond pilot sped off using the underground ARMS transit network to reach the eastern gate. After ascending the inner gate ramp he parked his ARMS next to an already assembled group of them and went down to the fountain. James looked over the survey he filled out earlier along with the mission paperwork as he started to talk."Hey everyone, hope this one goes quickly. I've got plans for tonight."

Neutrino Research and Development wrote:

1.) How would you rate your ARMS' performance?
Above Average

2.) What is your favorite animal?
Tigers. They are strong, independent, and follow their own path.

3.) Do you believe in reincarnation?
Yes, but I still value my own life.

4.) Do you have a favorite historical ARMS pilot? Who?
Sheyenne Rainstorm, a legendary ARMS pilot who it is even said once tamed a Z class ARMS.

5.) Which parts of your ARMS do you take priority in?
Movement and coolant systems. If your overheated your systems start to shut down and you are dead. The same goes with movement. If you cant move, you are mush in the cockpit.

6.) On a scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy change?
9

7.) Do you work best with a partner, or solo?
I work best with a partner, but I still can manage on my own.

Kyle piloted his modified Burai towards the meeting point. His 16 foot mech was painted white with red painted over where the original models were dark brown. The machine weaved back and forth in the transport tunnel much like a child weaving through the streets on roller skates. The laid back blonde took advantage of the nearly empty underground to do things that would get him scolded for during any other time.

"This is so fun!" he called out laughing loudly. Soon his brown eyes found the elevator to bring mech's topside and slowed his unit down so that it could enter the transporter safely. The steels doors opened and the white and red Mech inched forward slowly, soon the elevator locks were set into place, securing that the heavy unit would remain safe and not move around too much.

While he and his Burai were moved to the above-ground, 'Ky' leaned back in his comfortable pilot chair and looked at the three screens ahead of him. The ones on the left and right were at 45 degree angles and were the interpretting images and such from the left and right sides of the Mech while the front screen was well..the normal front view for the mech. The camera was situated on the frame somewhere so that a full 360 degrees could be viewed by the pilot. The controls for this modified Burai was not the usual levers and sticks, but instead a heavily modified Playstation controller.

The left analog stick was to set to move the mech while the right analog stick altered its viewing. Pressing in the right analog stick would revert the camera to default. X controlled the boosters, square controlled the main artillery on the Burai, circle was jump and triangle was the Pilot eject button. R1 and L1 were set to the respective fists while R2 and L2 had yet to be programmed. Aside from the controller, the next thing that this particular pilot had installed into his cockpit were two keyboards, one beneath the left screen and one beneath the right screen for dual typing purposes. Different commands would bring about different reactions for his Mech and such, for instance the command "Shift+R" on the right keyboard brought up the 1-on-1 chat with his other friend Reon. Soon the doors opened again and Kyle was where he needed to meet the others before they set out.

He powered down his Burai and opened the exit hatch to step out. The blonde noticed other had gathered and pulled out a red licorice stick and put it into his mouth. He was dressed in his favorite blue jacket with the black skull image on the left side, dark blue shorts and black wristbands. Upon reaching the fountain, he sat down and nibbled some more on the red candy item that jutted a good 5 inches from his mouth.

"Lets see....Survey!" he said with glee.


Neutrino Research and Development wrote:

Quote :

1.) How would you rate your ARMS' performance?
Splendiferous

2.) What is your favorite animal?
Lions, Tigers, Wolves and...there are more but those stand out.

3.) Do you believe in reincarnation?
Of course

4.) Do you have a favorite historical ARMS pilot? Who?
Not really...

5.) Which parts of your ARMS do you take priority in?
The cockpit, if its too cluttered and I cant figure out whats going on..I might as well just die.

6.) On a scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy change?
5

7.) Do you work best with a partner, or solo?
Who knows? Lets find out

A young man walked through the gates, obviously a raider due to his dirty clothes. Moving towards the rest of them two other men walked behind him, on carrying a large pack and the other holding a larger pack. A few gun barrels poking out of them. As the apparent leader of the trio approached a yellow cat-like eye was shown in his right eye socket. The other however was covered by an eye-patch. "Um, hello.." He said in a quite voice, anyone with a brain would've realized that he was shy.

"I'll take it from here boss." The one carrying the pack of supplies interrupted. "We are the Telum clan hired for this mission, I am Ox." He said, turning his head to the weapon carrying man. "I'm Trigger, if you have a gun that needs fixing I'm the guy." He announced. "And this quiet man is Rogue, leader of the Telum clan." He said, making Rogue look at the ground.

"Oh a survey." Ox said, handing the paper to Rogue who pulled out a mechanical pencil.

Neutrino Research and Development wrote:

1.) How would you rate your ARMS' performance?
Good.

2.) What is your favorite animal?
Wolf

3.) Do you believe in reincarnation?
Er..

4.) Do you have a favorite historical ARMS pilot? Who?
No, was never taught history.

5.) Which parts of your ARMS do you take priority in?
All of it.

6.) On a scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy change?
Um...

7.) Do you work best with a partner, or solo?
Partners.

"Hmm, all done!"

Shooting up from his seat, Aleaster stretched his arms and began approaching the large city gates. Folding up the survey he'd just finished filling out, he slipped in the scrap and pulled out a small black device that looked something like a rather ornate detonator.

"Now that everyone's gotten here, I'd say it’s about time to leave."

With the press of the button on the device, the gates gave the mighty sound of gears creaking into motion and slowly parted. Beyond the guarded path stood his own transport: a deep purple Sutherland with what looked to be a single barreled rifle in its right hand. Pushing a different button on the very same device he'd used to open the gates, he signaled the Arms unit to open its hatch as well as release a pull up rope.

"For whatever reason those guys in the white coats decided on putting me in charge of this operation, hope you guy's don't mind!"

Without wasting movements, Aleaster adjusted himself to the suit's control seat and closed the hatch. The mobile suit came alive with a turn of the ignition and the academy student turned his attention towards blazing a path for the others.

"I've got the coordinates loaded onto this Sutherland's tracking system so try not to get left behind! I'll need whoever has the best capabilities to keep surveillance on the weather and everything around us."

A set of wheels flipped down from the back of the knightmare's legs and began to rev audibly. After a few minutes or so of waiting, it took off in a rush into the eastern distance.

ooc: Yeah, jon jacked my color...

"I've got the coordinates loaded onto this Sutherland's tracking system so try not to get left behind! I'll need whoever has the best capabilities to keep surveillance on the weather and everything around us."

Was the last thing his 'leader' had said to the group before he had prepped to leave. Reon, unintentionally, had placed his mech a bit of a way away from his current position, so, before he could respond to anyone, he had to go back and get his mech. In about a minute, he was already getting into the pilots seat of his mech.

His mech was fairly simple, a common C class. His mech was equipped with a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, and a long distance radar which could also be used to increase the comm link inbetween all of the people participating in the mission. his mech had for screens, three to the front, and one above him, the three in front of him are the obvious directions, and the one on top viewed whats behind him.

Reon quickly returned to his previous position to see that not a lot had change, and as his captain took off, so did he.

OOC: Horrid post, really.

Watching other people head over towards the fountain in their machines, Yuzuna noted the individuals who have accepted the mission request. Without knowing that one of them was actually a girl, she assumed that she was the odd one out, being a female pilot.

The amount of Academy students and Raiders were about equal, and it was obvious to tell who was who by the looks of their mecha design. Academy models were usually more generic, since they're on loan and strict against tampering or major reconstruction. It was too bad, a joystick and lever control is somewhat limiting in control. Now perhaps if she can get her own ARMS one day, it'll utilize a keyboard as well.

"Now that everyone's gotten here, I'd say it’s about time to leave." the long-haired student who was probably the leader of the mission signaled that this fountain was only the starting point for wherever they were headed. Pressing a button from a colorless device, a gateway to a subterranean ARMS parking area was revealed. Quickly he ascended into the machine and his voice spoke one last time before the hatch shut itself. "For whatever reason those guys in the white coats decided on putting me in charge of this operation, hope you guy's don't mind!"

While the machine started up, Yuzuna returned to her fur-adorned ARMS and signaled for the large frame to open. Slowly ascending into the torso of the machine with a quick whir, the ARMS closed and Yuzuna found herself seated in the cockpit.

"I've got the coordinates loaded onto this Sutherland's tracking system so try not to get left behind! I'll need whoever has the best capabilities to keep surveillance on the weather and everything around us." the leader's voice amplified itself through the ARMS he was riding in.

"I need to download that forecast mod, by the way." Yuzuna spoke to herself and placed her ignition key into its slot.

Quote :

Please type in the password to start up the machine.

Of course, this is a start. Yuzuna thought to herself and typed in a 6-digit code instantly with her left hand. Her reflexes were always more precise when it came to typing rather than controlling with a lever. I wonder if someone's invented a mod to use a game controller to pilot their ARMS... That may be fun.

Probably isn't very practical though. While the systems started up, Yuzuna watched the screen change from system diagnostics to a clear view of her vision range. The front 3 screens were naturally to see outside and one on the side showed the programs that were running and kept track of useful data. Naturally this would leave her open to attacks from behind, but hopefully other members of the team would handle that situation. "Minimap on." a smaller data window popped up on the side screen to keep track of their route in case the entire group got lost on the way back.

The azure-colored mecha's Sakuradite engine ignited and Yuzuna quickly followed one of the team members who had just followed the leader's course.

"For whatever reason those guys in the white coats decided on putting me in charge of this operation, hope you guy's don't mind!" The sudden announcement made Rogue raise his head, looking at a student now climbing into his ARMS. Dropping his sheet in the area needed he walked up to his two followers. "Ox, you take left carrying me, Trigger you guard right." Rogue said, his leadership skills temporary coming out as he ordered the two.


"I've got the coordinates loaded onto this Sutherland's tracking system so try not to get left behind! I'll need whoever has the best capabilities to keep surveillance on the weather and everything around us." The Student said through his ARMS, leaving the trio to get into their as well. Rogue sitting down on Ox's open palm, their Sakuradite firing up as they started to follow.


Patching into the team's com system Ox started to listen, making sure nothing fishy was going on behind closed radio signals. Even if they were hired together, doesn't mean they aren't going to be shot in the back. One of the cruel reality's of the Waste, betrayal is always around the corner. "Alright, I think we should start by telling what everyone is good at." Trigger said into the group's com system. "Otherwise we wont work efficiently as a unit." He explained.


"I'm a weapons mechanic, if your gun has jammed look no further." Trigger said, explaining his particular set of skills to all who where listening. "And I am a ARMS mechanic, if you get damaged I'll help as best as I can." Ox said, leaving the channel open for anyone else who wanted to share.


"And I sorta lead them.." Rogue said, his voice quiet.


(Trigger is Dark Red, Ox is Brown, and Rogue is white.)

Unbeknownst to the rest of the team, a leader had been chosen prior to their arrival. It was an Ashford Student with a long black hair and a purple Sutherland. As soon as the (rather large) group had all gathered, he announced it was time to pack it up and get a move on.

Sora climbed back into the pilot seat of her own mecha. She’d taken the original coloring, sand blasted it off, and repainted it in a nice metallic blue. The outside was more or less your typical Sutherland. Inside, however, had been modified slightly. As soon as she sat down she inserted and twisted the key, starting it up. A few screens flickered to life around her and the entire panel in front opened up to a view on her surroundings. From the outside, however, it was still impossible to see the pilot.

The screen in the center was her diagnostics and a generalized map of the surrounding area. In the center on the panel, a welcome message was flashing by and, after a moment, a prompt was displayed requesting verification of ownership. Unlike typical mechs, she had modified hers to accept on her finger prints on a special panel the right left of the main screen. She could have sold the part for a huge sum, but she cut her losses and decided to use it on her own unit.

She pushed her finger tips against the panel and after a brief second, her prints were recognized and the unit fully activated. Placing her feet on either pedal (go and stop, of course) and grasping her various controls, she set off with the group.

A few steps into her travels and she remembered to connect herself to the comm. channel the group would be using. Audio-only appeared at the top left corner of her center screen, letting her know she was both listening in and being listened too.

"Alright, I think we should start by telling what everyone is good at. Otherwise we wont work efficiently as a unit." Following the statement was an assessment of the questioners own abilities, as well as two other voices.

Sora debated on answering for a moment and then spoke, “You can call me Sora, I’m the guy in the blue mecha.” Best to make it clear who was speaking. “I guess you could call me a parts dealer and an ARMS fixer. I own a little shop where I buy, sell, trade, and fix mecha parts. I spend a good deal of my time out in the Wastelands looking for good parts, so I’m a bit familiar with the area. One of my projects has been mapping out the Wastelands, so I’ve got a bit of that uploaded into my mecha nav. system.”

--------------

Sora’s font is #BF80FF

"I've got the coordinates loaded onto this Sutherland's tracking system so try not to get left behind! I'll need whoever has the best capabilities to keep surveillance on the weather and everything around us."

James quickly hopped into the cockpit of his aquamarine mech and closed the hatch. Having left the machine in sleep mode, the blond just inputted his password and the machine came to life one again. It was just about time for this cowboy to head out. After checking all of the system gages at the bottom of his central moniter James started moving forward with the group.

Before entering the main com channel for the group, James decided to take full use of all of his Sutherland's capabilities. Reaching beneath his seat, the boy pulled out a small black cd case. James carefully removed the disk and inserted into a slot on his main console.

"Computer, please hotkey weapons locks 2 through 7 to the left hand thumb switch." After a second the conformation message was displayed. "Excellent. Please initiate dual system boot using drive 3 as slave. Once completed que ExODUS." For a moment the left side monitor flashed blue and a few lines of code moved across the screen. Once they finished the EXeistnetial Opening Dowser and Unicode Scanner program, or Exodus for short, took control of the monitor. Being one of the programs he kept from his summer job at the shop, the disk's raider software was probably not going to make any of his teachers too pleased. This was expectantly true because the main goal of Exodus was the detection of channels in use and the decrypting of them. If more than one ARMS system was running the program in a group it could also be used to detect the location of all senders of messages. The left monitor started filling up with various wireless channels in use, but for now James just had it open the team's mission comm. Now it was time to pick up the bat and play some ball.

"Alright, I think we should start by telling what everyone is good at. I'm a weapons mechanic, if your gun has jammed look no further."

"And I am a ARMS mechanic, if you get damaged I'll help as best as I can."

"And I sorta lead them.." Rogue said, his voice quiet

“You can call me Sora, I’m the guy in the blue mecha. I guess you could call me a parts dealer and an ARMS fixer. I own a little shop where I buy, sell, trade, and fix mecha parts. I spend a good deal of my time out in the Wastelands looking for good parts, so I’m a bit familiar with the area. One of my projects has been mapping out the Wastelands, so I’ve got a bit of that uploaded into my mecha nav. system.”

Using the information he had just picked over the comm James registered the new contacts a M1, M2, L2, and Sora, respectively. Now that their ARMS system id's were registered with his on board system he would have them labled whenever they talked or on the triangulation tracking overlay for his minimap.

"Hey everyone, this is James Parker, ARMS mechanic extraordinaire, here. Hope you are all doing well today. My skills are in mechanics and reconnaissance. Although my fighting ability is specialized in close range I also have a rifle with a removable scope for minor ranged combat. Hope we can all get along well."

After taking a quick second to hop over to a direct message channel for his two friends' suits James talked again. "The checker is green boys, call the bounce." James hit the hot key to merge the sounds from both channels and then reset his speech to the main group channel.

"If there are any ladies out there I'm single and a lookin' for some fun, so let me know if you wanna do anything later."

--------------

James is using the Olive font color

Since the current trip was somewhat uneventful, the Academy Student changed the settings of the screens in the cockpit. Instead of 3 screens viewing the ARMS's line of view, the two at the side changed to data diagnostics. The screen at the left kept track of important parts' energy capacity and the one on the right had a menu for communication systems.

4 people connected right now, I wonder who?

Using the left hand keypad, Yuzuna connected herself to the room.

"-right, I think we should start by telling what everyone is good at. I'm a weapons mechanic, if your gun has jammed look no further." a voice spoke as soon as she connected.

"And I am a ARMS mechanic, if you get damaged I'll help as best as I can."

"And I sorta lead them.." this particular voice was slightly harder to hear because of some static.

“You can call me Sora, I’m the guy in the blue mecha. I guess you could call me a parts dealer and an ARMS fixer. I own a little shop where I buy, sell, trade, and fix mecha parts. I spend a good deal of my time out in the Wastelands looking for good parts, so I’m a bit familiar with the area. One of my projects has been mapping out the Wastelands, so I’ve got a bit of that uploaded into my mecha nav. system.”

A trio of mechanics and a merchant who also repairs parts and maps the area... Yuzuna thought, as another voice joined into the channel.

"Hey everyone, this is James Parker, ARMS mechanic extraordinaire, here. Hope you are all doing well today. My skills are in mechanics and reconnaissance. Although my fighting ability is specialized in close range I also have a rifle with a removable scope for minor ranged combat. Hope we can all get along well."

Mechanic with fighting experience... Yuzuna recognized the name as a fellow Academy Student's, yet she hasn't talked to him anytime before that. Looks like I'll introduce myself.

"I'm-"

"If there are any ladies out there I'm single and a lookin' for some fun, so let me know if you wanna do anything later."

"... Well, I was going to introduce myself, but now I feel uncomfortable." Yuzuna spoke. Regardless, she continued with an introduction anyway. "My name's Yuzuna Nagatou, and I'm in the blue mecha that has white fur adorning the shoulders. I mostly know how many parts work, about programs that can be installed, and what's optimal for certain ARMS. I suppose I'm more of a researcher than a mechanic though."

As she waited for a reply or another person to speak up, Yuzuna watched the minimap navigate through an unknown area. This has probably been the farthest area she's ever gone to in her Academy-borrowed ARMS.

After running some diagnostics on his machine, making sure specifically that his radar was working at maximum power without draining any energy from the other parts of his suit, he tuned into the channel that all the mission's participates were introducing themselves in. The raider trio introduced themselves, albeit weakly, and then another raider boy stated that he was no more than a shop keeper; nothing wrong with it, Reon was just unsure of most of the raider's combat ability.

Next up was the Academy students, which he knew a little about in his own right, first to introduce himself was a person he was rather friendly with. With a slight static tone behind his message, he heard a voice with a slight distortion "Hey everyone, this is James Parker, ARMS mechanic extraordinaire, here. Hope you are all doing well today. My skills are in mechanics and reconnaissance. Although my fighting ability is specialized in close range I also have a rifle with a removable scope for minor ranged combat. Hope we can all get along well."

Reon expected as much from here, but seconds after, as he suspected, he received a second more personal message. " "The checker is green boys, call the bounce."
Reon laughed, and synced into the private channel. "This is only for protection purposes, it's not like if they find out they'll care. 'Called the bounce' whatever the hell that is supposed to mean" Reon said, quickly changing back to the channel that included everyone. Parker made a brief, slightly flirtatious, comment in the main chat before another academy student, Yuzuna, started to speak. She briefly talked about heer skills, which revolved around engineering and such and she quickly finished

Reon decided to take the opportunity to introduce himself, he was most likely going to tell his machine to follow the leader, and sleep. "Nice to meet you all, my name is Reon Decovington and my specialty is, lackluster I know, piloting. I know a small bit of engineering and repairing, and, while being competent at both short and long distance combat, I focus on long range