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An ear-piercing explosion rang out behind An as she was ejected from the ground into the air.
"Engaging thrusters!"
Her destination was the dark Mars horizon, and her goal was to escape the monstrous creatures that poured out of the cave she had just opened up with that charge. Their screeches and horrific, twisted forms sent shivers down her spine. Why am I the one doing this?? She thought while rushing to turn on her thrusters. She furiously clicked the button, but they just wouldn't start. As the fear of being caught started to take over her mind, an electronic voice spoke in her ear; it was Toya on the comms.
"Hey, Vivid 2, your Reactive Augmented Defense suit isn't looking so good.”
"Yeah, my R.A.D. suit has been compromised, I think? The fighting and the explosion probably damaged it," she explained.
"Ah, that's… not great. You probably only have 15 minutes or so before your inner layer gives in to the environmental conditions."
"Oh no no no.. that’s not good at all, can I get picked up? Where are you guys, Bad Squad?"
Next, Akito's voice came through. "This ship sucks ass, who bought this thing?"
"You did! Now please tell me what happened!"
"We dropped off you guys, Vivid Squad, and then we had too much time to kill. Toya and I were practicing the new dance when someone kicked the power or something. We're stuck in orbit. By the way, Vivid 1 got lost after we dropped her off." They were focused on dancing and let my precious Kohane get lost in space?
"W-Well, this is no time to give up. In fact, let’s get fired up instead," she shouted with completely feigned confidence. The ground was getting pretty close now, so she braced herself for landing. When the impact happened, she mitigated the damage with a graceful roll. After landing on her feet, she didn't waste a single moment and whipped out two pistols, connected to her R.A.D. suit by tubes. Then she turned around and started sprinting backwards while shooting. The guns didn't have any visible projectile, only a bright red burst wherever they were pointed. In this case, it was the mass of warped monsters. They were vaguely humanoid, but their limbs were much longer and skinnier, and they had no neck, only a rounded "head". It didn't really matter how scary they were, though, because they dropped like flies against An pelting them with gunfire. Good thing I practiced this with Haruka!
For each one that fell, two more emerged, but as long as she was traversing flat ground, she could keep a slightly faster pace.
"Bad 1, Bad 2, how's the startup? My uh.. power is running low,” she asked with urgency in her voice.
The one that responded was Toya. “Great news! We got it started up, now to fly across the pla-”
An didn’t get to hear the rest as something barreled into the side of her head; one of the abhorrent space monsters got the drop on her. The low gravity caused her to roll a safe distance away, but she had lost so much distance on the mob. Now, there wasn’t any time to shoot, only to run for her life at full speed. Someone, please save me..!
After running for a while, she reached a new landform. It was a massive bowl in the ground, with rocks and hills scattered everywhere. Thinking it would be a good place to lose them, An stopped very briefly and took the biggest leap she could muster towards an opposing tall, cylindrical rock. It worked, her strong dancer legs landed her onto the vertical surface. After she made a few motions to start climbing, something wrapped around her leg and she let out a shriek of surprise.
"EEEK!" How did they gain on me so fast? She looked down at all the grotesque arms wrapping around her left foot, dragging her down. No, I can’t leave Kohane, I have to keep fighting! She pulled and pulled and pulled, but her body was still being peeled off the rock. Her brow was sweaty and her arms ached, beginning to give way to the immense strength of the aliens. She looked down at the sea of beady black eyes one last time, ready to let go, when something neon blue streaked across her vision, severing the arms and freeing her. Someone familiar got on the comms.
“Vivid 1 here, readying a follow-up shot!” Kohane’s sweet voice filled An with hope, enough that she mustered the will to scurry up the cliff to safety. Although the pursuers certainly wouldn’t give up yet, she had some time to catch her breath and prepare to make her final stand. The glint of light in the distance let An know that Kohane was on her way. The horde was now just about to reach the top of the ledge, and An clutched her guns tightly in anticipation. From the sky, Kohane unleashed a volley of shots from her railgun, smashing against the rock and sending many of the aliens crashing down to the planet's surface. An breathed the biggest sigh of relief as she heard a wisp of Kohane’s thrusters at her side. They both cried out and joined in a big hug, even if it was awkward in clunky R.A.D. suits.
“I’m so glad you’re safe! You got lost and really had me worried..” An said. Kohane smiled and tightened her embrace.
They were interrupted by Toya on the radio. “Nice shooting. I’m surprised at how fast you shot that railgun. The M.E.I.K.O. (Magnetic Energy Induced by Kinetic Overload) rifle is quite heavy, isn’t it?” A proud look overtook Kohane’s face while she was being praised.
“Yes.. these two fingers have gotten quite strong,” she said while looking at An.
“Oh- Okay… Anyways, I suggest Vivid Squad move toward us, east of the sun.” Both of them nodded and prepared to leave. Kohane began to grab An, but stopped halfway as if she was asking permission. Even though their suits made them physically enhanced, An couldn’t help but worry as this tiny girl carried her through the air.
“Hehe, isn’t this kind of backwards? I should be the one carrying you,” An said playfully. Kohane didn’t respond, and it was hard to see her face, but anyone could accurately guess what it looked like right now: adorable.
“Hey, quit flirting and move faster. Scanners are picking up movement. They’re still hot on your trail,” Akito reminded them gratingly.
“Ugh, still? They won’t give up! Carrying me is slowing you down, let’s run.”
“A-Are you sure? You must be so tired after all that.”
“We get plenty of exercise, this is nothing!” While they landed, An checked the timer on her visor - only 5 minutes left to get back. The two girls ran together as fast as their legs could carry them. It wasn’t fast enough though, because they barely outran their pursuers. However, the sight of the VBS spacecraft up in the sky gave them hope. They pushed on until the roaring engines descended upon them. As if that wasn’t loud enough, Akito landed near them, shaking the very ground they stood on. His suit was much bigger than Vivid Squad’s; in fact, it was just a mecha with the words “BAD DOG” painted on the side.
He let out a low, confident laugh before going all out on his enemies. On one side, he flung his arm out, sending many gray figures flying. Then, he turned to the other and slammed his fist into the floor, leaving a small crater. As they were backing off to board the ship, Kohane got knocked over by a thrown rock. An swiftly drew her weapons and shredded the attacker before rushing to Kohane’s aid. After confirming that they were safe and onboard, Akito leaped to the back of the spacecraft and connected to the mech dock, allowing the team take off without looking back.
Their first action was to take off their helmets and discard them.
“Kohane, are you hurt?” An asked while rushing to her side.
“No, I’m fine, my suit is damaged but… wait- is this really necessary??” She looked up at An, who was closely examining her injury.
“Right.. Sorry.”
Akito strolled into the room with some headphones on and addressed the whole team, “These audio clips we got are sweet, good work everyone.”
“Yeah! The one from the cave would make a good hang before a beat drop, can’t wait to get back to the studio and try it out!” An added.
Having gotten what they came for, Vivid Bad Squad headed back to their home planet in high spirits. Little did they know about what would be waiting for them next…