Main Character
User: DarkestofSouls
Name: Sean Curtis
Age: 18
Pilot Name: Revanant
AC Name: Dancer
AC Appearance: Dancer (In Silver instead of blue and gold in place of the Darker blue. Light blue still the same. Dual Missile Packs on the back.)
H+ Enabled?: N

H+ Capabilities
(If applicable) : N/A

Psychological Profile: The subject tends to respond with compassion when in situations where a choice must be made. He has gone out of his way to protect damaged objectives or comrades, sometimes at the expense of the highest score, in situation where a non-simulation would have resulted in injury or death. The subject displays a fierce loyalty to his teammates, and many who are paired with him tend to want to be reassigned to him again. Mentally, he is one of the highest tactical scorers ever to take the test at his age, and scored amazingly well on the follow up usually given during later examinations. Recommended to be assigned small unit leader positions, preferenced towards AC combat.

Distinguishing Features: Facial Appearance, Normal outfit. Has a long scar on his right arm from shoulder to the crook of his elbow from an incident during a live fire incident.

Commonly Known History: Son of David Curtis, the AC pilot 'Kingsniper'. His father died on the battlefield to another SC pilot, codename 'Lonely Hunter'. He lives with his 15 year old younger sister, Lisa Curtis, and his mother, Susan Curtis. His mother works for Seraphiel Corp, and as such lives in the nearby corporate housing.

In his two years at the Academy, he's scored very well, but not the highest, on almost every test. He's slowly developed a rivalry with underdog student Eris Atkin.

Secondary Characters:
Lisa Curtis: Sean's sister, Lisa turns 16 in two months, at which point she intends to also apply at the academy.

Susan Curtis: Sean's mother, and an employee at Seraphiel Logistics. She is always looking out for her children, but supports them both becoming AC Pilots.

Minor Characters:

"Mr. S": The mysterious head board member of Seraphiel Logistics, he has only appeared as a computer simulated head, carried around by his assistant Automaton, Angel

Andrew Waters: A Seraphiel Logistics board member, and vice-president of the board. He's always been against the partnerships with SinCorp, believing Seraphiel should work with the larger Corporations then the smaller ones. However, Mr. S's support of SinCorp has caused his complaint to fall by the wayside, much to his disappointment.

Morris "Mo" Strong: A Seraphiel Logistics Board member. Morris was once the head of Seraph R&D, before he was promoted by Mr. S. While usually quiet at board meetings, everyone has learned to listen when he speaks, as it's almost always when he has something important to contribute. He feels he has become at least strong acquaintances, if not good friends, with James Sinclaire.

Takumi Nakamura: The youngest male Board member, he was promoted to the board only a year ago, so he's just getting the feel for how things work. He is a graduate of the Military Academy, but has never piloted an AC in real combat. He, in his personal unit "Spectre", set the record for the blade combat course, and S-Ranked every Melee-only battle he's ever practiced in, though he scored average across the board otherwise.

User: Sinspiration
Name: Julianna Sinclaire
Age: 18
H+ Enabled?: Y
H+ Capabilities
(If applicable) : [Classified]
Pilot Name: Argent Soul
AC Name: Snowblind
AC Appearance:
Model Image 1
Model Image 2
Painted Snow-white
Only occasionally uses the grenade cannon

Psychological Profile:
My first impressions of Ms. Julianna. She appears to have an introverted personality, however remains at a reasonable level of sociability, there is a well hidden desire to prove herself, however to who or what I am unsure. Julianna also has an exceeding level of respect for her Father whom I can only assume was also of a military background.
I have concerns about her that I cannot place, her unsettling wealth of Next craft knowledge exceeds that of some-one several years her senior, but her opinion of humanity is worryingly lacking. I can confirm that Julianna is currently extremely stable, if prone to stray from others, but would recommend she partake in social practices.
With her dedication to work allowing her to finish her work quickly and efficiently, she has a lot of spare time that could be spent taking up social activities.

Distinguishing Features:
MuscleTracer / Plugsuit
Appearance and favored Casual Wear
Pearl White hair, quite lengthy.
Bright blue eyes.
Height last measured at 5'7
Silver lines showing under her flesh (representative of the scarring that occurs from HumanPLUS upgrades) said markings line her upper body, arms, legs and back of the skull.

Favored Method of transport

Commonly Known History:
Ms. Julianna was born in the St. Vincent Medical Center, her father is James Sinclaire, sole founder and CEO of SinCorp as well as rumored ex-Raven. Julianna herself was home tutored and withheld from the academy for two years and three months, but was introduced into the Academy after having been given an evaluation of her ability and knowledge of Next crafts.
In her last month as a student in the Academy she started out quietly, having to wait out the period so that she may officially obtain her Student License to pilot a Next Craft. She has additionally attracted some attention as an unknown factor, since she avoids most contact and has never been seen piloting by her fellow classmates they are unsure yet of her, not to mention mostly alienated by her lack of sociability.

It has also been confirmed that Julianna received HumanPLUS enhancements at a younger-than-recommended age. However I do not believe it factors into her personality, but it has put her at odds with some students who are still pending the treatment and the rest who have refused the option since it is risky and often fatal to have enhancements before the age of sixteen.
Furthermore her reluctance to divulge the effects of her upgrades also raises concern.

Sub Characters:
James Sinclaire - Father of Julianna, he is the powerful figurehead of SinCorp, a widower and known to be to the point, sometimes harsh, but fair. As the CEO of SinCorp he is often busy and rarely has too much time to spend with Julianna, however he makes use of her and praises her abilities as a Next test pilot. Unfortunately he sometimes disappoints Julianna's hopes, slowly adding to the rift between the two of them.

Varena Black -
Codename: Crimson Scarf
AC: Red Queen
Prominent board member of Seraphiel Logistics. As acting head of Security and Military Concepts she is a natural warrior, she has often been noted to come up with rather destructive ideas, often only as theory though, she often teases other board members with knowing more about certain factors that she lets on, such as the enigmatic past of their Partner Company SinCorp's CEO, James Sinclaire. Varena is less commonly known as the Next pilot Red Queen.

Minor Characters:
Tristan Michaels -
Codename: Heartstopper
Next: Chapel
A budding young pilot with a decent average grade of A. He was predominantly something of a womanizer but upon encountering Julianna has found himself unable to spend time with other girls and is considered to be a little possessive of her. In spite of seventeen attempts at asking her out so far he has been shot down every single time yet he stubbornly refuses to give up. Sad, really.

Raijin Nakamura -
Codename: Shinigami
Next: Karas
Younger brother of Takumi Nakamura and a potential AC pilot, unlike his brother he much prefers the use of rifles, unfortunately he's not as successful as his elder brother and feels pressured by his father to be just as great, unfortunately developing a rebellious streak in the process.

User: IrisIridescent
Name: Eris Aurora Atkin
Age: 18
H+ Enabled?: N

H+ Capabilities
(If applicable) : N/A

Psychological Profile: Subject is unsure of herself, and does not seem to realize just what potential she has on the battlefield. Prefers not to work with others for fear of a situation with friendly-fire and has been known to unintentionally subject her team-mates to friendly-fire. When on the battle field, she erupts with skill, precision, and persistence. Can sometimes be wreckless on the battlefield and doing things in hand-to-hand that are extremely risky. Often gets S grades but occasionally gets C's and B's bringing her over-all score to an average and acceptable score. Because of all of this, she is seen as the "underdog" who will surprise everyone with her potential.

Distinguishing Features: General appearance Outfit(Minus weapons and fitted to Eris's form)

Commonly Known History:

Born to two well known and successful scientists, a mechanical engineering scientist named Sundosia I. Atkin and a genetic engineering scientist by the name of Mikael R. Atkin, has an older brother by the name of Anton M. Atkin who works as a civilian. Is close to her parents who are proud of her accomplishments and do what they can to support her. She lives in private housing near the academy she enrolled into two years ago. Her formal education was done by enrollment in the public academy until she was old enough to enroll in the military academy.

Is slowly developing a friendly rivalry with fellow student Sean Curtis

Pilot ID: The Duchess
AC Name: Old Faithful
AC Appearance: Old Faithful (armor is jungle green instead of black)

Sub Characters

Sundosia I. Atkin: Eris's mother and head of SinCorp Research and Design, is often described as "a lady who knows what the heck she's doing"

Mikael R. Atkin: Eris's father and geneticist for SinCorp

Minor Character:

Anton R. Atkin: Eris's brother who is a civilian living a normal life with an average job.

Local Map:



Orange: Seraphiel Logistics holdings.
Blue: Civilian Buildings
Green: Military Base
Red: SinCorp Holdings
White: Military Academy

Begin Record../

The year is 2213, one-hundred years after the Great Abandonment of Earth, a world now poisoned and ridden with the fallout of war and the destructive effects of Kojima Radiation that tore its climates asunder.
After two years of travel under the effects of cryogenic freezing a fleet of colony ships traveling at FTL speeds, one of many similar models aimed at local galaxies, found its way to the Gamma Cluster, eventually landing on the Ice Planet Hiberna, a world rigid with snow, yet inhabitable, bearing unusual snow-plants that acted in the same manner as earths trees, converting out carbon dioxide for precious oxygen.
However the harsh environment proved difficult to live within, forcing humanity to take up the emergency measures of building domed colonies to create contained environments.
of the few saving graces given to humanity, a clean, new source of high-yield energy, named Nephilim after its discoverer Dr. Joan Nephilim, this being rigged in as a compatible replacement for all old Kojima model generators.

Thirty years after the Hiberna Settlement, troubles started, with some Colonies in poorer locations, they began to undercut others for their resources. As the troubles grew hostilities were eventually declared, causing the first Hibernian War.
It went on for another eight years until the corporations were established, creating fair trade amongst its neighbors.
The colonies of Hiberna once again enjoyed peace for a time, going on for thirty more years of peace, but again the strain of living in the harsh environment, lack of resources and local terrain for some colonies to expand to. Hostilities rose once again as the second Hibernian war was declared.
In the previous war, all that was available were only regular MTs, the concept of Next Crafts left forgotten on earth, but for the second war Next Crafts were created to do battle and fulfill missions, one colony, Mersenne, acting as the first to bring these machinations back to life.
As the war dragged on for another ten years several of the colonies slowly came to a new alliance, boring down the rest until a fatalistic event occurred and one of the Colonies was torn apart, forcing thousands out of it, the colony itself eventually collapsing and being destroyed.
This great tragedy ended the second Hibernian war and brought about a new age of peace, built on the sorrow of past mistakes, ones humans were bound to repeat. But alongside the sorrow remained loathing and underlying plots for revenge.

It is now twenty years after the war. And the Mersenne colony remains prosperous, with its leading Corporation Seraphiel Logistics partnering up with a newer company that had grown within the dome, SinCorp, the two have had relations for the past nineteen years, Seraphiel Logistics acting as the main manufacturer of Mersenne's Next parts, SinCorp acting as an advanced research and development arm.
Seraphiel Logistics established an academy for young pilots, and began training new prominent candidates for the future, in preparation of any further wars, a safeguard against the ill-natures waiting to spring out at them.

/...End Record

"Attention, candidates!" Commander Edward Pellegri ordered as he walked into the room, inspecting the small class of fifteen assorted pilot candidates stood ready and firm, each one with their hands behind their backs, the left holding the right by the wrist. The commander stared at the young students, pacing back and forth as he inspected them, looking for the slightest wrong twitch and movement,
"At ease!" He called, immediately allowing them to relax, most were thankful to be out of the awkward stance, however one didn't care much either way. Julianna sunk her shoulders only lightly, spreading her stance just slightly and folding her arms before herself as she watched the Commander.
Edward Pellegri had taught this class since they were first induced into the Mersenne Military Academy. Next pilots were especially difficult to find in young, lesser experienced candidates but at least the more intelligent once's could be trained and ultimately accepted into the ranks of the Mersenne colony's White Raven branch.
He hadn't been pleased when a new pilot had been forced into his class and he stared hard at Julianna for a moment, who barely reacted at all. Edward found himself slightly unsettled at how empty the girl's eyes seemed, he knew one thing for certain, that one was not normal.

He looked at the rest of the class,
"You have your schedules for today but lets go over them, first period; Non-Lethal Combat against Unmanned MTs and Normals, Second Period; Specialty Combat testing, Last Period; Next-to-Next combat practice. Your Nexts have all been provided with non-lethal rounds and for you blade users, as usual; your blades have been modified by representatives of their respective manufacturers to do no real damage, but they'll continue to perform as they would in a full combat situation, their parameters have been entered into the database and the Unmanned computers will react according to their power should you strike an unmanned target. Your Nexts have also been fitted with disablers should you receive too much virtual damage in accordance to the appropriate power of all your weapons." He held his right hand across his body then flung it out to the side, "Move out! Suit up and enter your Next Crafts!"

The class saluted to the commander respectively before running towards their locker rooms for suiting up. They separated into two groups, males and females respectively entering personal lockers since, unlike the main Military, they weren't bound to be changing in the same location often when they were fully fledged pilots.
This fact made Tristan groan as he watched the girls go into their locker room, eventually entering the male locker room and grumbling loudly,
"Why cant there be mixed changing rooms?" He sighed, obviously wanting a chance to peek at what had become his object of affection, the new girl and never-before-seen pilot, Julianna, he could care less for all this combat for that angel of beauty, "I'll just have to show her how great I am out on the field!" Tristan confidently yelled, poor deluded boy. He changed into his blue and gray plugsuit, feeling the pin-prick of the suit inserting a synthetic nerve cord into the back of his neck when he activated the suit's internal systems and groaned again,
"Damn it all to hell that still freakin' stings!!"
"Baby.." Raijin Takamura responded as he zipped up the front of his suit, turning it on also and barely noticing the prick in the back of his neck, the needle-like feeling had become second nature to him personally, "You wanna pull a girl who could probably take more pain than you.."
"Aw shaddap." Tristan raised a fist to Raijin, growling.

Meanwhile in the girls locker room, Julianna paid no mind to the other girls as she stripped completely, exposing the various silver markings that covered her body the constant reminder that she'd taken on extensive HumanPLUS modifications, luckily it wasn't as awful as the concept seemed since they lined her form quite neatly, she pulled out her white plugsuit, slipping on the body suit and selling it up then pulled on the separate leggings and gloves. They served no purpose other than some physical protection. Upon activating the suit she made no complaint. Once she'd packed her casual clothes away neatly in the locker and went to the exit of the room. She was internally eager to finally display her capabilities, but kept it quiet, she knew she was good, and she'd had to sit here and observe the foolishness of some of the lesser experienced, now she could show these fools how it was done.

Sean never ran, not unless he had to. Conservation of energy was the most essential part of being a pilot, be it in a Next or out. As such, he entered the locker room last, going to his locker and retrieving his orange and navy blue jumpsuit. He wasn't distracted by the color, in fact he felt it helped him focus more. He did some warm up exercises, loosening up, then headed for the door.

He was walking past when he overheard Raijin and Tristan's back and forth. As he saw the fist come back, he put a warning hand on his shoulder. "That's enough, both of you. Though I can sympathize with the girls. If I had boobs, I wouldn't want to share a locker room with Tristan here." He smiled at Raijin. "Also, I call dibs on taking the new girl. I've already beaten both of you, so pretty soon they're either going to pit me against the new girl or let me fight you guys two at a time." He patted his hand twice on Tristan's shoulder, looking between the two of them. "See you guys in the hanger."

He turned and headed out. He knew all the guys in the class by name, and knew mostly what they liked. He had started working on the girls, but they were a little tougher to crack. If he was going to take the lead in this class, he had to earn the trust of everyone they brought in. "Well," he told himself, "looks like I've got a new girl to work on as well."

Eris had followed her fellow students into the female locker rooms. While she was there, she took her neurosuit and slipped into it. It was a standard color, a black and light blue suit that she was slipping into. When she activated it, the needle like feeling in her neck was something she had long since grown used to but it was no less uncomfortable. As she was slipping into it, she could hear some of the vicious whispers of the other girls,
"Well, now we see why she's so special." One whispered to the other,
"I can't believe that she actually did something like that...such a thing is inhumane." Another said before a third shrugged,
"I don't know, I think I may want to try it, I hear you can get really good advantages." The second girl then looked appalled,
"Yeah but something like that is risky, it may have side-effects they don't tell you!" She whispered.

This made Eris smile a little after putting on the finishing touches on her neurosuit. She knew the truth, sure there was the risk of fatality but the scientists who did that were normally very cautious about that. She remembered well the times her mother brought her to work with her and it was here she was brought to meet a young girl, still in a wheel-chair, frail, and recovering from a major surgery is what her mother told her. She remembered playing with the young girl that would become her friend, doing the best she could to help her recuperate from...at the time she had no idea what it was but she knew now. She was probably the only friend that Julianna had at the time, or closes to it anyways.

Of course, today, she wanted to keep her distance. All eyes have seemed to turn to Julianna, and she wanted to make herself scarce. Everyone did not really know Eris, most of them just knew her parents. Her mother was a very prominent figure in Mersenne, and her father was one of the scientists involved in HumanPLUS. After she was done putting on her suit, she stepped out, looking to Julianna briefly before getting ready to pilot the Next, heading towards the hangars.

(Edit: Never mind)

Julianna calmly walked at the general pace of the others, receiving stares from a deal of the males, and probably the jealous looks of some of the girls who'd been here longer, or were more vain that they were being outclassed by some newbie in terms of the boys she was attracting, especially as Tristan sidled up by her, looking her up and down in her suit, he could barely get a word out before Julianna stared up at him, causing him to freeze,
"I don't have time for you today. Back off." She commanded firmly and, like an obedient pup, Tristan practically fled, but stared over at her longingly,
"She's so.. So perfect.. So firm.. Oh she could shoot me in the heart and I'd be happy.." Tristan pined, Raijin chuckling then,
"I think if she shot you in the heart we'd all be happy, clown.."

Julianna huffed silently, continuing the long walk to the hangers until she entered her personal storage unit for her AC, she stared up to the great machine quietly then clambered up the ladder that took her up to the back entrance of it. She pulled up a latch that turned into a handle. The underside of it had a trigger pad that when she pulled on it slightly the back entrance powered up, allowing her to twist the handle once and the back entrance opened up, several plates shifting open and a tube-like structure protruding from it.
She slipped into the tube, sliding down into the cockpit area and the interior sensors immediately activated, the back closing.
"Voice recognition, activate start-up sequence.. Codename Argent Soul. Clearance Grey-Zed-Zero-Zero-One-Three. Engage."
A soft female voice responded to her then,
"Clearance confirmed, engaging systems. Activating Inertial dampeners.." Julianna lowered her head, waiting for it. The sudden jolt of the dampeners kicking in. The field they emitted safeguarded the pilot even if the ace was hit with a round from a giant cannon. Most people felt sick the first time they had to endure it, and admittedly as a child it made her sick too, but she never wanted to disappoint her father,
"Inertial dampeners initialized, activating motor functions.. Inserting nerve connector."

A prehensile cable as produced from the seat behind her, a needle-like plug pointing at the plug int he back of her suit, sinking in rapidly and Julianna winced that time, even she couldn't stave off the sharp pain of her nervous system being connected to the Next.
"HumanPLUS systems detected, integrating.." Julianna looked up at the screen before her, ignoring as her suit began to light up, reflecting the lines under her flesh,
"Synchronization at 21%, all systems engaging combat mode."

The screen lit up, becoming an orb-like visual of the world before her AC, the storage facility was opening up, a line of light growing slowly to batch her Next in light, revealing the defend body of Snowblind. Wires and connectors fell from the machine and the machine reached its hands forward, grasping a-hold of two similar, large rifles.
The underside of the chest opened momentarily, exposing the blades concealed within the hangar but then closed again. Various control plates on the machine opened and closed, shifting as a full test of the entire AC. The boosters on all sides opened and blasted ones, only a test firing to assure it was all functioning perfectly before the machine leaned forward, stepping out gracefully into the open area of the hangar.
"Synchronization 100%. HumanPLUS settings fully configured."
"This is Argent Soul. AC Snowblind fully functional and online." Julianna reported aloud, using the head of her AC to look about at the others, the camera eye shifting quickly to lock on to the others and identify them.

Sean smiled as he walked past Tristan. "Be careful what you wish for, 'Heartstopper'. It might just come true." He moved past, and pulled his way up his own later. Once on top his AC, he looked down around the hanger, admiring the view. He leaned down, pressing a button on the back, and a small compartment opened. Inside was a pictue of him and his sister, both little, at the Castelle Park. He was ruffling her hair, and she was ducking, a smile on her face. Next to the photo was his handle. He gave it a twist, and a pull, and then pulled his hand away as it snapped back into place, and the hatch closed again. A back section slid open then several plates shifted. He hoisted himself up, and through into the cockpit. He waited until the hatch sealed behind him and the plates interlocked again before he addressed the computer. "Voice recognition, activate start-up sequence.. Callsign Revanant. Clearance Green-Alpha-Seven-Three-Two-Six. Engage."

A male voice responded "Clearance confirmed, engaging systems. Activating Inertial dampeners." Sean gritted his teeth. He didn't mind the dampeners, he just wished they powered up slower. He grunted as it kicked in, and straightened up as he heard, "Inertial dampeners initialized, activating motor functions.. Inserting nerve connector."

He hated the cable more then the dampener. He grimiced as it stabbed into the back of his suit. "No HumanPLUS systems detected. All systems engaging combat mode."

Sean lowered his shoulders, relaxing into his seat, and tested his systems. "This is Revanant, Dancer is online and funtioning at 100%. Awaiting orders." He looked around, watching Snowblind for a minute before scanning the rest of the area.

Eris arrived at the hangar and immediately went to her assigned AC. She stared at the green beauty given the name of 'Old Faithful'. She then climbed up the ladder into the back entrance of it and went inside the AC, she made her way into the cockpit and sat down, making sure everything was locked and closed before activating the AC,
"Voice recognition, activate start-up sequence...codename The Duchess, clearance Indigo-Charlie-Seven-Four-Four-Eight." The female voice then responded,
"Clearance confirmed, engaging systems. Activiate Inertial dampers." The voice said and Eris bowed her head, and although she anticipated the connection, she still flinched at the feel of it entering into her nervous system, it was mainly a reaction more than anything else. She had been used to needles what with both of her parents being scientists.

Once this was in, the voice continued,
"No HumanPLUS systems detected. All systems engaging combat mode." Eris then relaxed a little, checking her system by tapping various buttons to check the system,
"This is The Duchess, Old Faithful is online and ready to go!" She said, half-tempted to be goofy and do the robot but decided not to. She looked around at the others as she waited for them to give her orders. It was not like anyone took her seriously with a pilot name of 'The Duchess' and a craft name of 'Old Faithful' but there was a reason why the Next's name was 'Old Faithful'.

She wondered what her parents were doing and her brother as well as she waited for the orders. The head of the craft moving as it looked around before shifting a little, rather restlessly. How long as she going to have to wait? Well, it did not matter. She would get her next orders soon enough but she could not wait for this to be over with so she could get this needle out of her.

"Shinigami, AC Karas, reporting." Raijin stated, stepping out in the burgundy machine that he owned, this was followed by the blue, reverse-joint legged being that Tristan Piloted also stomping out into view,
"Heartstopper, AC Chapel, I'm all set." He chuckled, checking his systems carefully, even if Tristan was a lovestruck fool, he wasn't half bad as a pilot, in spite of losing to Sean several dozen times in the past two years. He looked then at the AC referred to as Snowblind,
"Oh man.. Even her AC makes her sexy.."
"Some-one stop Tristan before he commits Robophilia.." Raijin rolled his eyes, inspecting his internal systems again, the FCS was fully functioning, he was getting lock-ons on the other ACs, at least until it disappeared, however he understood why.

"All your Nexts are now on a Neutral status. Report to the Underground Testing Facility, double-time!" Commander Pellegri's voice ordered. It was almost on the instant that he'd finished his sentence that Julianna's AC burst forward, it was only a basic quick boost to begin with, but then several portions of the back of the Next flicked open, the over-boosters firing up for a moment and allowing her to soar through the air, angling towards the elevator which the Machine enclosed on quickly, the lightweight body allowing great airflow and movement.

Pellegri watched the White AC speed across the outer field, frowning slightly,
"So that's SinCorp's monster.." He muttered to himself, watching as it set down outside the elevator pad, having turning around swiftly and hovered to the ground gently as it watched the others catch up. He reactivated communications with the candidates,
"Well now, it looks like Ms. Sinclaire is eager to show us her skills, for that reason she may go first, all of you get on the Elevator when it arrives, after that, the rest of you get to the observatories surrounding the test field. Julianna you report to the entryway into the test field."

Tristan was still sitting there gapemouthed, watching the white AC blast of into the distance before he yelled,
"Woah woah! Wait for me my sweet!" Chapel leapt into the air, opening up its boosters and divebombing towards the elevator only to find himself over shooting it and having to his the back boosters to back pedal before he crashed into the main building and turned around.
As for Raijin he'd made a more simple ground based approach, boosting forward several times as he skated across the earth, the boosters allowing him to travel along the ground casually,
"We still gotta wait for the elevator, why bother rushing?"

Sean followed, waiting until he was a short ways out before activating his own boosters. He flipped to an open Comm. "So, Dutchess, you got an opposite number for the Next on Next last period. I'd like to set the score of this rivalry before we get to far into this year." He put a playful edge into his voice, so that she didn't take his challenge the wrong way. He was interested in finally facing 'Old Faithful', quitely confident he would be 'dancing' circles around her. He smiled as his own personal wit as he ran an interna diagnostic of his equipment. Even though the startup computer ran one when it booted, he prefered to cycle his weapons once before entering the field, just in case something had gone amiss. Better to catch it early then lose it just as you need it. He cycled the weapons while he waited for a reply, getting greens across the board.

Eris smirked when she heard what Sean had to say about their rivalry and she opened the Comm to respond to him,
"Is that so? Then let's give them a match to remember, huh?" She stated. She too was looking forward to facing against "Dancer" and showing the craft and it's pilot just why she called her Next 'Old Faithful'. She then moved her craft outside of the hanger before casually boosting towards the elevator. Once she reached it, she stood nearby those already there, waiting for them all to catch up. She knew that no matter what happened, Old Faithful would live up to his name and get her through the matches one way or another. She looked to the others with her before opening her comm again,
"Good luck to everyone today huh?" She said to them, offering a friendly hand so to speak before they got to the 'exciting' part.

"Communications, close all open channels," Julianna stated calmly, this command immediately cut out the chatter of the other pilots as she turned her Next about, watching as the great blastdoors that led to the underground testing facilities opened up, the giant elevator that rose up to them revealing itself. It was a sturdy machination like all the tools of this facility, it served its purpose well, the elevator itself was marked out with maximum spaces, an individual fifteen spaces marked out.

Julianna shifted her AC and moved it so she wast standing in one of the spots. She turned around again, standing there silently as the otheres filed on, Tristan almost immediately taking a space up next to Julianna, yet several attempts to open a communications line ended up in completely failure,
"Hey guys am I the only one having problems getting a clear line with Julianna?" Tristan questioned suddenly to any others who were listening, but he was interrupted by Raijin was laughing as he followed Eris to her place, finding himself a space behind her,
"She knows she can tune you out when she's in a Next! Hah!!"

Once everyone had gotten on the elevator, it shifted, jolting downwards then began lowering, revealing the girders and interiors as the elevator lowered them past walkways and observation rooms looking on the elevator shaft, most of these rooms doubling as classrooms for other military students, the ones who weren't pilots.
Many of the classes stopped entirely to go to the windows and stare at the Nexts as they went deeper, people on the walkways completely awestruck at the variety of machines standing upon the elevator.

Once the elevator hit the bottom after some minutes of travel the other candidates began to file off, entering large-sized doorways on either side of a much larger one, which acted as the entrance into the testing ground. As the others entered the observatory, the doors to the testing are cracked open, revealing the simulated suburban area, there were no normals or MT's present yet, but they'd be brought in soon.
Painted on the ground on the opposite side of the door was a ready space that Julianna stood in, eyes calmly observing the systems on her AC, looking for discrepancies. The balancing on her machine was an unusual format, stabilizers attached to the back slowed her initials tarting speed but with a little momentum she'd speed up to extraordinary speeds, not that such a thing was uncommon for Nexts.

The doors closed behind her slowly, locking down,
"Alright, once everyone is place, connect to the observation systems and switch to the auto-follow cameras, lets see what Miss Julianna has to offer to our flock." Pellegri stated, "The course will consist of over a dozen MT's and several normals, disable them quickly."
"Destruction of all Enemy MT's and Normals.." Julianna muttered, unimpressed, "Child's play.."

Sean frowned. He rather wished she hadn't flipped it off, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it. He set down in one of the spaces, looking back at them. "She probably disabled communication. I think you need to back off her a bit, Tristan. You're just going to blow any chances you have at her." He looked over the assembled ACs, ready for the day.

As they got into position, he reached behind his chair. He had customized the seat so that a small pocket could store stuff. He pulled out a notebook and pencil as he linked up. He liked to take notes of the custom AC equipment at work, and today he would have a brand new entry, as apposed to edits. He flipped open the notebook, watching the camera interestedly.

Eris filed out with the rest of the students when the elevator had hit bottom. She followed instructions and connected to the observation system before switching on the auto-follow camera, blue eyes watching as Julianna began the match. She already knew of Julianna's extraordinary skills, thanks to a little secret she had been holding for years. She rolled her eyes at the conversation going on between the men but felt a pang of hurt grasp hold of her but she brushed it off the best she could, lest she accidentally give away her secret attraction for one of said men that she kept hidden in the shadows of her mind. She brushed away this thought as she returned the attention back to the upcoming battle.

A light chuckle escaped her as she heard what Julianna would be up against. That was definitely child's play. Those would be no match for Julianna, they would be nothing but scrap metal in no time. This first section of the training was not going to last very long, she almost wanted to take a little nap but knew better, instead she watched and...pretended to be interested.

"Commencing Test Sequence. Unmanned Units Online." Pellegri stated as various garage doors int he suburb opened, ground based elevators lifting Normals into view across the field, several MT's also beginning to walk out into view.

Julianna's AC moved forward for a moment, skating down the initial ramp but then stopped, seeming to duck behind the buildings, its rifles held out to the sides. And she didn't move for at least ten seconds in that time raising a lot of concern,
"Hey whats up with her?" Raijin wondered, "Come on wheres the action? Did that brand new Next get a malfunction already?"
"This is getting a bit WOAHWHATTHE-" Tristan cut himself off, Yelling when Julianna's Next suddenly jumped forward, the back of it opening just a moment as she let the Over Boosters fire for but a fraction of a second, launching her across the field and towards one of the normals.
The boot of her Next skimmed just over its shoulder and her side booster's activated with a bright flash, a rifle aimed at the back of the Normal's head, a single shot of the rifle blowing into the back of its metallic cranium and sending it crashing to the ground.
She landed in that instant, holding the rifles out to the sides independently pointing at a couple of separate MT's across the buildings, each receiving two shots each. As a result of calculated virtual damage, both shut down immediately to represent their incapacitation. The Next burst into the air again, the special bosters allowing her to zip about the limited airspace of the battlefield with surprising precision as the unmanned units tried to get a bead on her, firing wildly.

Julianna dispatched of the small numbers quickly, as she dashed about in the air she was continuously finding a new target and firing, even ones she wasn't directly looking at, a great deal of it was her awareness of their positions and predicting the correct moments in which to fire. Before no more than another twenty seconds had even passed the machine hit the ground in the center of the field, the last of the MT's and Normals grinding to a halt.

".. What the fuck just happened..?" Raijin asked aloud, looking at the AC in the testing field. Half the time he couldn't even keep up with the movements, Julianna had relentlessly moved through the air, like a great white insect, seemingly directionless, yet she'd flawlessly downed the enemy targets in-
"Two minutes, forty-nine seconds. Accuracy rating 100%, Calculated damage done to your AC.." Pellegri hesitated for a moment, "Damage done is non-existent. S Grade performance, Argent Soul." Pellegri stated in a positively unsurprised manner, "Your father will be disappointed that you didn't do it quicker."

"Does anyone have some spare goggles to stop my eyes popping out of my head..?" Tristan asked aloud, "Beauty, brains and grace on the battlefield! Oh, my Julianna is the complete package!" He yelled, whistling from his cockpit, not that Julianna was even listening. She simply turned to the entrance and lifted her AC into the air, hovering over to it,
"Test mode disengaged. Lets see.. Who's up now.. Ah, Revanant."

Sean had been to impressed at watching her to take notes. He frowned at Pellegri's assesment of her time. She had scored the third fastest time in this trial's history. He completely ignored Tristan, moving off into position when he was called. "Roger, Revanant copies. Moving to test starting point."

He moved into position, dropping his AC into a slight croutch. "This is Revanant, Dancer is Green all, Go for test." As soon as the Normals appeared, he hit his booster, firing it in short, powerful bursts. As he reached the first building, he gave it an extra jump, landing on the roof of the building.

He gave his recharge meter just enough time to get back up, for it was only a quarter down from his boost-jumping. Then he boosted forward, headed to the edge of the building. As he approched the edge, his computer began to lock onto the Normals and MTs below, giving him 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and finally 6 strong locks. As he reeached the edge, he gave it another boost, tossing himself from the building. As he fell, he fired the missiles. Two pairs of six missiles jumped from a back mounted twin missile launcher, letting them off to track their targets as he switched to his rifle. He fired into a pair nearby, then hit his boosters again.

He slowed, so that he didn't hit the ground hard and overload his impact joints. As he slowed, he killed the boosters, and hit the ground. He then boosted left, and then forward and right, dodging fire from the nearest MTs. He opened up with his rifle, occasionally rasing the laser rifle in his other hand to take out a longer range target. He dodged around buildings, stopping only long enough to let his meter fill up as he walked around a building out of range. He made his way quickly around the edge, before sweeping in with another set of missile into the now clustered survivors. He skidded to a halt as the missiles hit, and the mini-warheads went off, doing nothing but scorthing the paint on them, and shutting them down. He lowered his weapons. "Mission Complete, going to standby phase." He turned and walked to the exit, not waiting around to hear his score. He could hear it on the way back to his observation station.

Eris's blue eyes remained trained on the craft as it sped through the course. Her eyebrow raised a little when she noticed Julianna delaying behind a building. This girl was up to something but what-her answer came when the craft bolted out of from behind the shelter. She relaxed once more, now this was more like it. After hearing Tristan's shock, she flipped off communications, no one could hear her, she could not hear them, why she did this was known only to her. She then returned to watching Julianna. This was what she was expecting. She watched as Argent Soul flew over to the Normal and aimed the rifle at the back of its head before blasting it, shutting it down. She rolled her eyes,
"Now she's just showing off." She stated to herself, lightly chuckling as she continued to watch. She was anxious now, anxious for her turn. Old Faithful was not as speedy or flashy as other crafts but it got the job done and got it done well. Before she knew it, it was over, Eris leaned back in the chair a little before hearing the time that was given,
"Huh, a little slower than usual, she must be a little tired today." She commented as she mused over it but had no time to before it was Dancer's turn.

The blue eyes once again trained themselves onto the next craft. She watched as Revanant guided Dancer up onto the building and she watched. Suddenly there was still and silence for but a moment before he fell off the building, seeming to be aimed at the MTs and Normals and then the missiles fired out, she knew that when they impacted, the machines there would be shut down. She instead decided to keep an eye out for the craft itself and watched her rival as he fired at another pair of the machines.

She continued to watch as he used his rifle and missiles, knocking them offline. A smirk crossed her lips when he began to walk towards the exit,
"Well done my rival. Not bad." She said to herself. Again she anxiously waited her turn, shifting slightly to show her restlessness once more. She wondered if she was next or when it would be her turn at all. Well, she had no choice but to wait and try to occupy herself the best she could by watching the others until then.

"Three minutes, three seconds, looks like the newbie beat you, Revanant. No damage again, 100% accuracy, Overall a Grade S for you as well." Pellegri chimed off, "That time should chip away at your average." He added, clocking it of as he looked through his list to the next candidate,
"Alright. Heartstopper, get in there."

"Woohoo! Time to show Julianna what I can do!" Tristan yelled, but was cut off by Pellegri then,
"White Raven Heartstopper! Never use a follow pilots real name over open communications, enemy forces may be listening while you're out on the field! If you go about calling the names of your allies your enemies may target them outside of their Next's, this is why we use Codenames. As a mercenary your anonymity must be upheld." Pellegri lectured him, half yelling this information and Tristan stopped still a moment,
"I'm sorry, sir, it wont happen again." Tristan responded, getting to the entrance and passing Sean, raising his rifle a moment, "I'm gonna top your score for Argent Soul!" He announced, dashing intot he area as the doors closed behind him.

Julianna opened her communications again, sending a line over to Sean and waiting for him to accept the private call, once it went through her emblem would show up on his heads up display Julianna's voice coming through fairly clear,
"Impressive.. I look forward to dealing with a real opponent as opposed to the joker standing in the field right now.. His over-eagerness will result in a distasteful failure." Julianna stated, almost as if predicting the outcome of Tristan's round.

"Okay! Here I go!" Tristan called, using the powerful revere jointed legs to kick himself into the air once the test started and the MTs and Normals were in ready position again.
He aimed down at a number of MT's spraying bullets from the machine-gun in one hand, and the assault gun thumping out one round after the other in a rhythmic fashion, managing to down them as he then switched to his bazooka's.
However his predictable movements were allowing him to be caught by stray fire, he boosted about occasionally, trying to dodge rocket and missile fire from the clunkier Normals until he was stood face-to-face with them.
His AC lowered itself to a ready position,
"What is that idiot doing?!" Raijin yelled, though perhaps a bit too late. In his attempt to be stylish, Tristan had fired at the Normal, point-blank range.
"You AC's integrity is at 50%, Heartstopper, what on earth were you thinking?!"
"Wha?! Whaddyou mean??"
"Just because the test rounds have no explosives packed into them, doesn't mean we don't calculate the risk of explosive damage done to yourself from your own attacks."
"Aw crap!" Tristan yelled, boosting backwards only to feel a heavy crack at the back of his AC, a Normal behind him had forced a punching blade into the back of his Next. Chapel immediately shut down.
".. AC Chapel has been disabled.. Grade F performance Heartstopper.."

There was a stunned silence for a moments, at least until other pilots began bursting out laughing, even Raijin having to control himself lest he press the wrong buttons by mistake, Tristan had made an utter fool of himself..
"And it is to this shameful, if only simulated demise, that we have to helicopter the remains of his Next out of the arena." Pellegri stated, and just as he'd stated, a helicopter appeared from overhead, several strong magnetic arms extending from it and clamping onto the disabled Next before flying it through the cityscape.

Once it had deposited Chapel, his AC began to re-initialize, Tristan holding his face in his hands, realizing that perhaps he shouldn't have been trying so hard to impress Julianna,
"Next up, The Duchess, please try not to repeat Heartstopper's foolish error."