And that's where YOU come in! So, you wished to enlist in our experimental M.A.G.I.C.A.L. (Modular Armed and Genetically Imprinted Carapace containing Artificial Lifeform) Girl program, huh? Well, worry not! Our very own mascot Cutu-chan the squid (that's the "Artificial Lifeform, by the way!) has been installed into all sections of your M.A.G.I.C. armor for quick diagnosis during combat! Once you're wearing it, you'll be able to ask her any questions you have about the program!
For now though, I would like to ask a very quick, and very important, question! As you may know, in the not so distant future, you may have to face other people from other nations in combat. I know, it's a terrible thing, and you probably have enough stuff in your plate right now to worry about that, but it's important for us to know the role you'd have in this, once again, currently only hypothetical, battlefield! Please tell me, which of these four you find more appealing!

[Pinks]:
>Natural squad leaders. Well rounded in all attributes, they usually stand front and center on the battlefield, firing down oponents with massive machine guns, gattling guns or missile launchers, while simultaneously giving orders to their squads.
>Skills:
Blast Volley! {-2% Liao} (Summons two massive shoulder or arm weapons of your choice. Roll a D20, if 10 or below miss, if 11 or above hit)
Manic Missiles! {-5% Liao} (Blasts the enemy with a missile barrage, careful with the explosion! Roll a D20 if 14 or below miss, if 15 or above hit, if 2 or below explodes in your face)
Command Staff {-30% Liao} (Control one of your squad members during your turn)
[Blues]:
>The brains of the squad. responsible for deployment of shields, turrets and drones, as well as scanning the battlefield for potential threats. Quite weak, but provided with extremely resilient armor.
>Skills:
Wide Guard {-5 to -30%- Liao} (Create a dome-like shield with the size and placement you desire, cost depends on size and distance)
Deploy! {-10% Liao per unit} (Deploy a turret or attacking drone. Roll a D2 per unit whenever it's doing an action, 1 will result in a miss and 2 in success)
All Seeing Eye! {-2% Liao} (Scan the battlefield, allowing you to spot enemies and send out drones to their location)
Security Breach! {-20% Liao} (Hack enemy equipment. Roll two D20 per item you wish to hack, if both end up with even numbers you are successful, if both end up with odd numbers you silently fail, if they end up with both odd and even numbers you fail and alert the enemies to your location)

>>6030059
[Yellows]:
>The squad's crutch. Standing at the backside of the battlefield, they fire at the enemy from far away with sniper shots and tactical bombardments from above.
>Skills:
Sniiipe~ {-5% Liao} (Summon a sniping weapon of your choice. Roll a D3 if far away and a D8 if close. If above 2 it's a hit, if 1 it alerts the enemy to your location)
Bombs Away! {-25% Liao} (Fire a barrage of bombs into the sky, which then fall into the selected area)
Teal & Green Healing Beam! {-10 to -50% Liao} (Repair ally's M.A.G.I.C. armor using your own Liao, cost increases based on amount of damage)
[Reds]:
>The brawn of the squad. Charge forwards into enemy territory while carrying melee weapons and low range firearms. Their armor is especially designed to sustain a large amount of damage and deliver twice as much.
>Skills:
POW! {-2% Liao} (Create a small barrier around your body and dash at the enemy either barehanded or with a weapon. Roll a D10, if 3 or below miss, if between 3 and 7 hit with small recoil damage, if 7 or above hit without injuries)
ZAM! {-2% Liao} (Summon two melee weapons or one firearm of your choice)
BLAM!! {-5% Liao} (Increase both offensive and defensive dice odds by 2 temporarily and boost physical strength)


>General Skills:
Flight {-5% Liao(Take off), -10+% Liao (depending on time in the air)}
Personal Shield {-5% Liao}

>You'll begin with 100% Liao at the beginning of a mission, but you may obtain more by eating foods high in carbs and sugars! Or by finding other life forms around to satiate its hunger...

>>6030060
>>6030059
>Blue

>>6030059
>pink

>>6030065
+1 to Pink

>>6030060
>Yellows

>>6030060
>Pink

>>6030059
>>6030060
>Yellows

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Between Pink and Yellow so far, I'll give it a couple of hours still just to make sure. Here's how the designs look in case this makes someone want to change their mind.

>>6030060
>Pink

>>6030060
>>Yellows

>>6030411
>Yellow
summon weapon niggaaaa

>>6030411
>Pink
The Yellow's B3 offends me

>>6030411
I'll switch my vote to Yellow.

>>6030064
>>6030060

>>6030065
>>6030070
>>6030189
>>6030416
>>6030528
Going with Pink then!

>>6030065
>>6030070
>>6030189
>>6030416
>>6030528
>2 Months Later - Planet Carthis of the Sirius Empire - Carthis Millitary Base & Liao Research Center

>[Cutu]: "On the next hallway just turn to the right and keep going straight, that'll take you to Training Room 6, ika!"
To be honest, you're shocked by how much easier it is to navigate this maze of a base with someone giving you directions, the little arrows in your visor screen are also a massive help. Seriously, this place is just grey, grey, grey, they could at least put up some signs!
>[You]: "Thanks Cutu, you can turn off the GPS now, I think I can turn a corner by myself."
>[Cutu]: "Ika! Understood, shutting down guidance system!"
Once your screen is cleared of the GPS' multiple interface icons, you decide to relax your eyes a little from all the bright colors and look around the hall. You lift up your visor and adjust your eyes to the comparatively dark lighting. Other girls and women wearing similar armor to yours in a vast array of colors walk around you, going in and out of the next corridor where the training areas are located, completely ignoring you. If they're using the same tracking system as you were, that'd make sense, it tends to treat other humans as walls or obstacles by accident. Considering it's a completely free (with ads!) civilian app made for regular use it's slightly understandable, but you hope the millitary's systems won't have that same issue during combat.

And here we are! Training Room 6. After weeks of adjustments, tests and preparations, you're finally ready to begin training for real! You were worried you'd get lost and get here late, but you're actually a few minutes early! Time for some mental preparation before your first real (technically) battle. You wonder what your squad members are going to be like, you saw them briefly a couple of times at the cafeteria and at the dorms, but you haven't been able to talk to them yet to know what they're like. Apparently they've already participated in a real, official mission, so you're worried about dragging them down... No, no! Focus! You're the new leader of their squad, you have to act like you know what you're doing!

>>6030600
>[?]: "Kyaa!"
>[You]: "Wahh!"
While you were busy honing in your courage, a girl in Blue armor bumps into you from behind, knocking her down to the floor and almost doing the same to you.
>[?]: "Ow... Ow... What happened?"
The girl is still still down on the ground, rubbing her exposed cheek while sounding confused. She lifts up her visor and glares at you, then panics and bows down apologetically.
>[Blue?]: "Ahh! I-I'm so sorry! I swear there wasn't anything in front of me a minute ago... What happened Cutu-chan?? .... ... ...Oh... An ad popup was in the way..."
Got the free app too huh? Her ponytail flops around back and forth as she looks around the hall.
>[Blue?]: "Man... It sure is dark over here isn't it? How do the dudes walk around without bumping into anything? Mmm... Ah, right, the training! Ermm... Do you know where Training Room 6 is?"
She says while still sitting on the floor with her knees crossed. Training Room 6? That means she must be part of your squad... But that's strange, last week you saw the others eating lunch, and they had another Blue with them, one that looked much more... competent. Was she just a friend of theirs or something?

>Help her up and tell her where to go {Sociable}
>Ask her what squad she is from {Polite}
>Ignore her and quietly go into the room {Stoic}
>Glare at her and criticize her clumsiness {Mean}

>>6030603
>Glare at her and criticize her clumsiness {Mean}
Where's the GOOD Blue?

>>6030603
>Glare at her and criticize her clumsiness {Mean}
We're gonna have the best squad even if we have to whip our teammates into shape!

>>6030603
>Ask her what squad she is from {Polite}

We're also generally worried about our perceived incompetency. Not to mention that we can be polite right now and strict when it counts, which is in missions.

>>6030972
>>6031294
>[You]: "Hmph... If you can't even make your through the base, how do you expect to make your way through a battlefield huh?"
>[Blue?]: "I-I'm sorry ma'am!"
The ditzy girl jumps up to her feet and salutes you. Does she think you're higher ranked than her just because you're talking sternly? Well, if your guess is true that might not be TOTALLY wrong, but she should probably learn the rank insignias before she gets herself into trouble...
>[You]: "Pay more attention to your surroundings please, and stop relying on crappy free software. If you want to support our glorious Empire to the best of your abilities, the least you can do is download the paid version of the GPS for god's sake!"
Kind of hypocritical advice, but it does make you sound more like an old grumpy general.
>[Blue?]: "U-Understood! I'll be going now, f-farewell!"
She says as she runs into the next hallway, looking nervous. Yeah, that was how a leader was supposed to act in that situation... Right? Yeah, that's right! You're gonna do great!
Slapping yourself twice on the cheeks, you follow the clumsy girl and make your way to the training room.

Inside the grey, empty room with a single large door leading into the training grounds, you see the awkward girl from before introducing herself to the other two. The large woman in red armor guffaws loudly at something while wrapping her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders, while the one in the yellow armor just crosses her arms and sighs with a knowing look on her face. You've seen these two before from a distance, they're always arguing about something or other, with the Yellow usually winning the argument, but you don't get the impression that they dislike each other, quite the opposite in fact.
>[Yellow?]: "Mm? Oh hey, you there! You're with us too, right?"
The Yellow pries her eyes away from the duo and calls you over.
>[Blue?]: "Oh, it's you! I didn't know you were OUR Pink!"
>[You]: "And I didn't know this squad was taking in a Blue..."
>[Red?]: "Yeeaah... Our dear Lizzy got into a bit of an accident, so they had to pull her back for now. But hey! Now we get two rookies to play with instead of one! Gahahah!"
>[Yellow?]: "She ended up flying faster than her body could handle, just passed out midair. Surprised she survived that at all, to be honest. What a dumbass..."
>[Red?]: "Gahahah! Well, it never hurts to be a bit reckless! On the real battlefield, if you have any convictions you should follow them immediately, regardless of what your superiors say or if it puts you into danger!"
>[Yellow?]: "*sigh* That's so wrong in like, eight different ways... She wasn't even in a "real battlefield", it was a training exercise."
>[Red?]: "Just means she was taking it REALLY seriously! Like a true soldier should!"
>[Yellow?]: "*sigh*"
>[Red?]: "Gahahahah-"

>>6031768
*DING DONG*
The sign above the large metal door lights up red, indicating that the training exercise is about to begin.
>[Yellow?]: "Ah, no time for introductions everyone! C'mon, let's get in there."
The Yellow put her hand on your shoulders and whispers to you.
>[Yellow?]: "Don't worry, I told them to set the difficulty pretty low, so if you just follow common sense you should do fine. *pat pat*"
She pats you twice on the shoulder and starts heading towards the training area, followed by the overconfident Red and the sweaty, nervous Blue. But before they can get into the room, you say one last thing to them:

>"Alright team, let's do this!" {Sociable}
>"Good luck, everyone." {Polite}
>"..." {Stoic}
>"Just try not to get in my way..." {Mean}

First time in a long while I tried to phonepost an update earlier today, and I ended up losing the entire thing and had to write it all again two hours later lol

Also, now that we've reached the final "character creator" choice, if anyone wants to suggest a name for the MC that'd be good. I was gonna go with "Maria" but I might as well leave it to a vote if anyone wants a different name.

>>6031769
>"Alright team, let's do this!" {Sociable}

Red(?) is already motivated, Blue(?) needs a pick-me-up, and Yellow(?) has good confidence we have this in the bag. Uplifting words are good. Who knows, maybe we'll start making speeches about Friendship and Teamwork.

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>>6032289

--COMBAT TUTORIAL--

This here is your map screen! The differently colored letters represent the members of your squad, and the red dots are the bad guys! Just clear all the red dots off the map and you win, easy as pie! Feel free to use any of those white barriers as cover too, but just be warned that your enemies may do the same. Filled in white barriers are ones that extend upwards, high enough that you won't be able to jump over them or shoot above them or anything like that.

See those pink circles surrounding your own letter P? The smaller, filled in one is your movement range, while the big hollow one is your attack range. Every turn you can walk anywhere within the filled in circle, or attack any enemy within the hollow circle. Simple enough, right? You can either move in a specific direction (like towards a teammate, enemy or specific cover), or simply say "Move north" or "Move northeast" and we'll make it happen! Oh yeah, and if you use the [Flight] skill, you'll be able to fly to anywhere on the map! At a cost, of course...

And finally, the cyan bars at the bottom of the screen are your squad's Liao Meters! They function as both your health AND your ammo for your various attacks. If your meter runs out, it's game over for you!

Remember to always roll the appropriate dies, and we'll be rolling your squad's dies for you! You can always order them to do whatever you need them to do, but if they do it or not is up to them!

--Tutorial Over--

(Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak)

>*[Training Dummy 1/2/3] have been deployed!
>[Blue?]: "Ahh! O-Ok, umm... The training video said I was supposed to scan first, right..."
>[Red?]: "Don't waste your juice, dumbass! We can see the three of them right over there!"
>[Blue?]: "I-I-I'm sorry!!"
>[Yellow?]: "Good thinking though, if this was real combat that would be the right move!"
>[Blue?]: "A-Ah... Th-Thanks..."
>[Red?]: "Gahahah!"
What will you do?

>>6032409
>Move towards the nearest cover.
>Ask Red(?) to advance ahead

Red is obviously made for long-term battles and skirmishes. Our attacks should be used for a decisive strike rather than blasting it willy-nilly.

This means that Red should be in close-range, Pink should be in mid-range for decisive attacks and/or firing support, then Yellow and Blue should be in backline support, where they still have most of their strength.

"Command Staff" should only really be used when we really want something done and they won't do it. Whether that's because Blue is having a panic attack or whatever. Though she does seem to be good at following Standard Procedure under pressure.

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>>6032593
>*[Pink] moves towards the nearest cover
>[You]: "Hey Red, move ahead in front of the walls and await further orders."
>[Red?]: "Ooh, the rookie's taking charge already huh? I like it! Gahahah!"
>*[Red] advances ahead.
>*[Yellow] moves towards the nearest cover.
>*[Blue] flicks through her tablet screen, wondering if she should deploy a turret or a drone in this situation.
>*[Training Dummy 1/2/3] spread out and advance forwards.
What will you do?

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>>6032809
Have Blue deploy a drone.

>>6033228
Seconding

>>6032809
>>6033228
Supporting this.

The Training Dummies are spreading out, and Turrets are usually best in situations with a high concentration of enemies in one place. Drones are best here.

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>>6033228
>>6033265
>>6033350
>*[Pink] moves towards the nearest cover.
>*[Red] advances ahead.
>*[Yellow] moves towards the nearest cover.
>[You]: "Blue, what are you doing?!"
>[Blue?]: "A-Ah! W-Well... I just wasn't sure-"
>[You]: "Come on, get you head in the game! Deploy a drone already!"
>[Blue?]: "R-Right! Sorry!"
>*[Blue] deploys a Friendly Drone!
>*[Training Dummy 1/2/3] advance forwards.
What will you do?

>>6033446
Have Pink and Red move up towards the most Northwestern one. Yellow and Blue move up behind cover. Drone move up towards the enemy.

>>6033608
+1

>>6033446
Sorry, OP, battle tactics aren't my strong suit.

>>6033446
>>6033608
Supporting

Same reason as what was said before. Though I do realise now that it's essentially a coin-flip whether or not that Drone hits anything.

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Rolled 18, 16 = 34 (2d20)

>>6033608
>>6033653
>>6033666
>*[Pink] advances towards Training Dummy 1.
>*[Red] advances towards Training Dummy 1.
>*[Yellow] moves towards the nearest cover.
>*[Blue] moves towards the nearest cover.
>*[Friendly Drone 1] advances forwards.
>*[Training Dummy 1/2/3] advance forwards.
>*[Training Dummy 1] spots [Red] from a distance!
>[TD1]: "ENGAGING-TARGET."
>*[Training Dummy 1] readies its weapons.
>*[Training Dummy 2] spots [Red] from a distance!
>[TD2]: "READYING-WEAPONS-BEEP-BOOP. AM-I-DOING-THIS-RIGHT? FIRST-DAY-ON-THE-JOB."
>*[Training Dummy 2] readies its weapons.
--Rolling for Training Dummy 1/2--
What will you do?

Leaving teammate rolls until right before I write the vote so it doesn't cause any confusions.
>>6033653
>Sorry, OP, battle tactics aren't my strong suit.
Lol don't worry, we'll have plenty of talky bits to go with the combat

>>6033706
write the update*

>>6033705
Red use Zam two melee, if summon is successful attack dummy 1.
Pink use Blast volley targeting dummy 2.
Drone attacks dummy 2.
Yellow move up a bit and hold.
Blue can go to where yellow was.

>>6033740
Sorry, but you can only use one skill per turn, so Red can either use ZAM and dodge for now or attack without it either with POW or just with her hands.

Also reminder to roll with Pink actions since she's the character you control so I don't have to account with the possibility of her not following orders and denying the roll, pls

>>6033774
Also I should've clarified earlier, but I'm also counting normal attacks as "skills" since they'd use a D20 and it'd be pretty OP if you could use a special move and ALSO attack normally after

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>6033774
Wasn't sure if summon weapons was a free action or a attack. Do the weapons stay? Use ZAM.
Didn't want to roll, you know it could sway others depending on if it was good or bad.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

--Rolling for Friendly Drone 1--

>>6033818
>Do the weapons stay?
Yes, but they if they're dropped or thrown or shot out of Red's hand or something they disappear
>it could sway others depending on if it was good or bad
That's fair enough, but there's enough randomness with the teammate rolls that I'm not too upset about it

Rolled 2 (1d3)

--Rolling for Yellow--

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Rolled 5, 8 = 13 (2d20)

>>6033740
>>6033818
>*[Pink] advances towards Training Dummy 2.
>*[Pink] uses [Blast Volley!] against [Training Dummy 2]! Two massive, Liao-made shoulder weapons appear from her shoulder with a flash of light and shoot a barrage of bullets at the enemy, piercing its metal shell in various areas!
>*[Red] uses [ZAM!]. Two swords made from Liao appear in her hands with a bright flash!
>[You]: "Yellow, come over here and gives us some support."
>[Yellow]: "Be right there newbie... I'm just taking care of something real quick~..."
>*[Yellow] uses [Sniipe~] against [Training Dummy 3]! She misses, but it does not appear to have noticed the bullet flying past its head.
>[Yellow]: Tch, damnit...
>*[Blue] moves towards [Yellow] and hides behind her.
>*[Training Dummy 1] fires its weapons at [Red]! Her armor takes 7% of damage!
>*[Training Dummy 2] fires its weapons at [Red]! Her armor takes 6% of damage! [Training Dummy 2]'s body hisses as sparks and smoke fly out of the bullet holes covering its body.
>[You]: "R-Red, are you okay?!"
>[Red]: "Gahahahah! Don't worry about it, Red armor can really take a pounding!"
--Rolling for Training Dummy 1/2--
What will you do?

>>6033845
>*[Friendly Drone 1] shoots a small blast of energy at [Training Dummy 2]! Its right arm is ripped off its body and clangs down to the floor!

(Forgot to add that one...)

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>>6033845

Rolled 7, 3 = 10 (2d20)

>>6034160
--Rolling for Pink/Red--

Rolled 1 (1d2)

--Rolling for Friendly Drone 1--

Rolled 3 (1d3)

--Rolling for Yellow--

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Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>6034160
>*[Pink] redirects her [Blast Volley!] towards [Training Dummy 1]! The massive shoulder weapons spin around and aim towards a different target. [Training Dummy 1] dodges all bullets successfully and hides behind cover!
>*[Red] dashes towards [Training Dummy 2] with her Liao swords. Before she can slash away at its body, [Training Dummy 2] jumps back slightly, causing [Red] to slam her blades against the ground!
>[Yellow]: "Alright... This time I've got this..."
>*[Yellow] uses [Sniiipe~] against [Training Dummy 3]! The bullet weezes through the air and hits the enemy square on the head! Sparks fly out of its face as its arms and legs twitch erratically.
>[Blue]: "N-Nice shot Yellow!"
>[Yellow]: "Heh, it's no big deal really..."
>*[Blue] moves in closer to [Yellow].
>*[Friendly Drone 1] moves towards [Training Dummy 3]!
>*[Training Dummy 1] readies its weapons.
>*[Training Dummy 2] attempts to ready its weapons. However, the now exposed right side of its body suddenly shoots out sparks and combusts into flames, which quickly spread to the rest of its body!
>[Training Dummy 2]: "BEEP-B*woooo*P. . . TELL-TELL-MY-WIFE-I-LOVE-HER-ER-ER-BEEP-BO-"
>*[Training Dummy 2] falls to the ground, defeated!
>*[Training Dummy 3] continues to move its limbs at random while standing still. Large amounts of sparks fly out of its head, and its voice box emits a garbled static sound.
--Rolling for Training Dummy 1--
What will you do?

>>6034357
Red flys to the Eastern most dummy and attacks if she can.
Pink moves up to the northen most one and shoots.
Blue can deploy a turret near the triangle cover. Yellow moves up.
Drone attacks.

Rolled 18, 13 = 31 (2d20)

--Rolling for Pink/Red--

Rolled 1 (1d2)

--Rolling for Friendly Drone 1--

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>6035345
--Rolling for Friendly Turret 1--

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>>6035019
>*[Pink] advances towards [Training Dummy 1] and continues her [Blast Volley!]. [Training Dummy 1] is unable to dodge again, and is pierced multiple times in the chest by the heavy amount of enemy fire.
>*[Red] moves towards [Training Dummy 3].
>*[Yellow] advances forwards.
>*[Blue] moves towards the nearest cover.
>[Yellow]: "Psst, hey rookie... Here's a hint... *point*"
>*[Yellow] points towards the flat top of the cover they're hiding behind, [Blue] thinks about this for a second and then nods, looking enthusiastic.
>*[Blue] deploys [Friendly Turret 1] on top of her cover!
>*[Friendly Turret 1] fires a barrage of energy blasts at [Training Dummy 1] from a distance! [Training Dummy 1]'s stomach catches fire as it collapses to the ground defeated!
>*[Training Dummy 3] advances towards [Red] with spastic movements.
>[Red]: "Heheheh..."
>*[Red] lightly taps [Training Dummy 3]'s torso with her hand, it topples over its own weight and collapses to the floor defeated!
>[Red]: "Gahahahah!! Yes, I actually got a kill!! I'm the best~ ...sorry to steal your thunder, little buddy. You did good too but y'know, robots don't count."
>[FD1]: "*beep-boop*(annoyed)"
>[Yellow]: *yelling* "Technically I did most of the work!"
>[Blue]: *yelling* "A-And technically I'm the one that got the most kills... Technically...!"
>[Red]: "Eh... Who's counting..."

--YOU WIN [Training Course (Difficulty: 3)] !--
As a reward, you may pick one permanent upgrade to help you on your next battles!

>Bigger [Movement Range]
>Bigger [Attack Range]
>2 [Cutu-Chan Crazy Candy Bars!] (Heal 10% Liao per bar)

>>6035364
>>2 [Cutu-Chan Crazy Candy Bars!] (Heal 10% Liao per bar)

>>6035364
>[Cutu-Chan Crazy Candy Bars!]
These 2 items or 20% Liao regen?
If items i'll pick
>Bigger [Attack Range]

Probably won't be writing anything today since I got invited to a thing
>>6035392
They're two items that you'll get at the beginning of every mission that you can use to recover 10% Liao each. Kinda like potions.

>>6035364
>[Cutu-Chan Crazy Candy Bars!] (Heal 10% Liao per bar)
>>6036167
I'll forgive you this time since i also went out today.

>>6035380
>>6036876
>[Cutu]: "Hurray ika!! *pop pop* Congratulations ika!! *clap*"
Various tacky animations of confetti explosions fill your field of view as Cutu-chan congratulates you on your first successful training mission.
You take off your visor and join up with your fellow teammates as they walk out of the training room.
>[Red]: "Gahahah! I gotta say, putting that turret up on the barricade for the final attack was pretty smart! Totally something Izzy would've done!"
>[Blue]: "I-It's no big deal really, it just seemed like the right thing to do..."
She says as she looks meekly towards the Yellow, who winks at her while grinning.
>[Yellow]: "You weren't bad either... eh... what's your name again?"
>[You]: "...Maria, my name's Maria."
>[Red]: "Gahahah! Nice to meet you for real Maria! Name's Sarah! And that one there's Violet!"
>[Violet]: "I can introduce myself just fine, thank you~"
Says the Yellow as she looks smugly towards Red- I mean, Sarah, who's giving a series of noogies to the nervous Blue.
>[Sarah]: "And you, Rookie N° 2?!"
>[Blue]: "O-Ouch ouch... M-My name's... Lily- Ah, please stop..."
>[Sarah]: "Lily huh? Kinda too similar to "Izzy", would get confusing! I'm just gonna call you Rookie!! Okay Rookie??"
>[Lily]: "Th-That's fine... I suppose..."
>[Violet]: "*sigh* Come on now, stop that..."

>>6037322
As you enter the cafeteria, you notice your squad's reserved table is filled from one end to the other with a feast of various types of cakes, pies, puddings, chocolate bars and other types of sweets. Red- *ahem*, I mean Sarah, jumps immediately onto one of the benches and starts scarfing down food. Violet sits down next to her and at also begins to stuff her cheeks full of sweets, though in a slightly slower manner. You and Lily sit down on the other side of the table and slowly and calmly consume the food using your utensils instead of your hands.
>[Sarah]: "*munch munch munch* Man, this is always my favorite part- *buuurp* *munch munch*"
>[Violet]: "*munch munch* Slow down fatass, eating that fast ain't good for your body- *burp* Nice, last slice! *munch munch munch*"
>[Sarah]: "Gahahah! The double croissants are miiine!!"
Guess they aren't that different when it comes to food...
>[Lily]: "I have to say, this is much more delicious than I was expecting! I wonder how much money they're using up on this..."
You look to your sides, dozens of other squads are sat down all around, chatting up and devouring the piles of food in much the same way as those two. That does seem like quite an enormous amount of high-quality desserts, especially for a millitary base.
>[Red]: "They're probably just being softies to use since cute little innocent girlies~ Gahahah, suckers~"
>[Yellow]: "I think they'd waste more money on actual ammunition and weaponry, instead of the fake ones we produce from nothing. Though I don't know why they felt the need to make our "fuel" taste THIS good..."
As you eat the sugary concoctions up, you and your squad's armor begins to glow a calming, blueish color, indicating it's in "recharge mode". It begins to process the "nutrients" you're consuming, turning them into energy for itself.

>[Sarah]: "*yaaawn* Mm, yep~ That's all from me for today, I'm out~"
After a solid 15 minutes of nonstop food consumption, your Red teammate decides to finally get up from the bench, Violet does the same.
>[Violet]: "We're going to go check out how Izzy's doing in the infirmary and then we're going back to the dorms. See you two later, girls!"
>[Sarah]: "See ya Maria, see ya Rookie!!"
>[You]: "Bye-bye~ *wave*"
>[Lily]: "W-We are both rookies, aren't we...? Wh-Why is she only acting like that towards me...?"
>[You]: "Mmm, well... Either she's still upset you got more kills than her, or it's because you just act more... bullyable, I guess..."
>[Lily]: "I-I suppose so... A-Anyways! I have to go solve some paperwork i-issues because of the sudden transfer to this squad... so... uh... S-See ya later..."
Lily goes running in the opposite direction of the other two.

Different from them, you have nothing do to for the entire rest of the day! What will you do?
>Follow Sarah and Violet to the infirmary
>Follow Lily to the secretary office
>Go back to your dorm
>Walk around the base

>>6037328
>Walk around the base

>>6037861
Without anything to do, you end up spending the rest of the afternoon bumbling around the base with your visor flipped up, hoping you'll be able to memorize the layout so you won't ever need that shitty GPS app again! You pass through a few other squads chatting about food and their families and other meaningless stuff like that, as well as a few male workers and higher-ranked officials.
>[You]: "Lily was right, this place really IS dark as hell..."
You and all the other girls have the luxury of having these state of the art screens and displays placed into your armor, but all the dudes and older women are just walking around in their normal millitary getup, walking around this place must REALLY suck for them. Well, since it doesn't affect you you probably shouldn't think about it so much, if it benefits you, why question it?
>[You]: "....Agh-! *salute*"
While you were thinking way too hard about the base's lighting conditions, you accidentaly bump into an old blonde man wearing a particularly clean uniform, his chest full of shiny gold badges and medals. Without thinking, you immediately go into a quiet salute, in the hopes he'll simply just brush this encounter off and walk away.
>[Man?]: "Mm? Ah, it's you, from the training sesh just a while ago right?"
He speaks in a chilled out, relaxed tone, which doesn't fit his appearence at all...
>[You]: "*still saluting*.... *whisper*Cutu-chan, who is this guy...?"
>[Cutu]: "That's Father, ika!! Father!"
Huh? Father? Is he like an AI developer or something? How does that work? You subtly lower down your visor and scan him for his identity.

>>6038565
>[You]: "A-Ambassador Kane, sir! I'm so sorry for bumping into you..."
In your shock you accidentaly ask for an unnecessary apology. But seriously though, what are the odds you'd bump into one of the Empire's Ambassadors just walking around a millitary base like this! That'd be like, meeting the Prime Minister at a supermarket or something!
>[Kane]: "Ahahah, it's alright, quite fine! Mmm, and you are..."
He scans your body, probably looking for the identifier number on your armor.
>[Kane]: "P-337! I was watching your training earlier, I do it for all recruits, no worries! Nice to meet you! Lollipop?"
He pops up a big grin on his face, reaches into his pockets and pulls out a funny-looking purple lollipop. He waves it in your face, are you supposed to accept this? Is this some kind of trick to see if you're a spoiled little kid or not? And does he REALLY watch every single training session? You feel like he should be out there doing more important work...
>[You]: "N-No thanks... I- we just ate... If you'll allow me to ask... what are you doing here on Carthis, sir?"
You've heard some stories about this guy, apparently he's a massive environmentalist, says he's doing what he does in the hopes humanity will unite together, go back to our homeworld, Earth, and fix it back to what it was before. You don't really get it, what is that special about that planet that all the hundreds of Empire-controlled planets don't have? Sure, it has an "ocean", but isn't that just a bunch of water? You've never seen one yourself, but that's what it looks like in all the pictures. Just a big ball of water floating in space, who cares about that? No one thinks Carthis is special for being just a big ball of sand floating in space! And yeah sure, Earth is the biggest supply of Liao in the galaxy, but other Empire-controlled planets start generating it below their surfaces a mere couple years after being conquered, apparently because of our use of oxygen or pollutants or something like that. You're not huge on the science aspect, but what you DO know is that going back to the Earth is totally, completely pointless!
>[Kane]: "Ah, nothing much really! Just looking over the Liao research and watching some training while I'm at it, it's quite thrilling to watch isn't it! All those magic laser powers, pew pew and all that!"
Man, this guy really isn't taking this that serious is he? You finally allow yourself to drop your salute, noticing that he's clearly not paying attention to it.

>>6038567
>[Kane]: "You know, I wasn't into this whole... Liao experiments thing at first but... it really seems to be panning out rather well!"
You've heard those rumours too, apparently Ambassador Kane used to be firmly against the use of Liao, but no matter how much he asked the Empire wouldn't hear it, so he just gave up, turned over a new leaf, and directly assisted in the development of the technology.
>[Kane]: "I don't tell this to many people but... I'm actually the one that came up with the design for Cutu-chan, y'know, the squid mascot. They wanted it to make it a bird or something at first, totally lame. Ah right, here, check it out!"
He looks over his shoulders, then starts unbottoning his uniform, revealing a crude-looking anime shirt underneath. It's an ugly drawing of Cutu-chan on the left, and an even uglier drawing of a girl on the right, she's wearing some kind of weird blue dress, and her hair is tied into twintails.
>[Kane]: "Cool, huh? These were the characters for this really old kid's cartoon I tried to make a long time ago, about saving the Earth and stuff! Tried to make a pilot myself, it didn't really pan out all that well but at least they let me reuse the mascot design!"
>[You]: "I-It looks great, sir!"
The Ambassador buttons his uniform back up and turns his back to you.
>[Kane]: "Alright, it was nice to meet you but I gotta go, lots of stuff to inspect and I still gotta go back to the Solar System by tomorrow. Real nice stuff at the training session, keep it up!"
He waves his hand in a cartoonish manner and runs off. What a strange, strange encounter that was... You gotta ask your squad members about him later.

You look at your visor's clock, 7PM. That's just 4 hours before you have to go to your dorm room, maybe you should go do something while you still have the time?
>Go to the infirmary
>Go to the cafeteria and eat some dinner
>Go to your dorm room early
>Continue walking around the base

>>6038568
>Continue walking around the base
Turn it into a jog, get some cardio before bed.

>>6038568
>Continue walking around the base

>>6038570
>>6038759
You decide to spend the rest of the night jogging around the base, continuing to graph your mental map of the area while doing some exercises, you feel pretty confident you'll never get lost in this place ever again! Before you realise it, it's already past 9PM! A small notification appears on your visor with a beep, warning you to go to your room. As you were walking around the base before, and now as you're going to the dorms, you noticed a large amount of candy wrappers spread all over the base, similar to that lollipop the Ambassador was handing out to you. You had never seen that brand before, but maybe it's actually quite popular? Either way, they shouldn't be placing all this trash all over the ground! You're 15 and you're already feeling like a grandma compared to these kids...
You walk into your room and immediately remove your armor and rest your body on the soft comfort of your bed. Cutu-chan's voice emerges from a speaker on the bed frame, alongside a sweet lullaby. This is a specially design bed, made to give you sweet dreams while you rest! ...at least that's what the instructional video said, in actuality it uses some brain technology to place good "memories" into your head, that you experience exactly as you would a dream. Apparently it's made to keep us relaxed during the night even if we're scared or stressed. Makes sense, can't have a bunch of kids crying out in the middle of the night. You close your eyes and quickly fall asleep to the nice, soft lullaby.

>>6039511
---
>[ERROR]: "Hahahah! Come on come on! To me, to me!"
Laughs your mom, as you and her play a friendly game of soccer together, alongside your father and brother on the other team. The soft sand below your feet flies into the air as you pass the ball to your mother, who then scores the winning goal.
>[ERROR]: "Hahahahah! Yessss! We won sweetie!"
As the salty breeze blows onto your face, you face towards the horizon and stare at the big blue ocean in front of you. A myriad of colorful marine life swim around its surface, creating a uniquely beautiful color effect aross the water. Dozens of dolphins and manta rays jump towards the sky, sending a wave crashing down into the beach, you see your friends from school below laugh together while covered in sea water. A giant blue whale emerges from the water's surface and sprays some of it into the sky, causing a rainbow to form around it.
As another wave splashes onto the beach, a collection of colorful seashells suddenly encrusts the pillowy sand, causing children and parents alike to alight in joy and come together to collect them all. You join up with them, collecting the sparkling marine treasures and placing them inside your pink plastic bucket.
>*squelch*
As you reach your hand towards a nice, curvy beige conch, another hand, green and with webbing across its fingers, appears from below the seashell, startling you enough to drop you plastic bucket and jump back in shock. The rest of its body emerges from the sand, colored a moldy green that makes you want to vomit. Its yellow eyes bulge out of their sockets as they pulsate erratically alongside its flabby neck. Its smell overtakes the salty scent of the sea, replacing it with the smell of rotten eggs and meat.
More of them emerge from the sand, one after the other, brought onto the beach by the ocean waves. You can barely muster up the courage to get up. You feel the sea levels return to the beach as your butt and feet become soggy, it then quickly returns back to its origin, creating a strong pull. Not ready for the sudden shift in position, you trip and fall back first into the moving water, its pull dragging you closer to the disgusting creatures. Their webbed hands reach towards you, intending to drag you further, down into the sea, to wherever they've come from. You can't muster up the energy or courage to fight back, the others on the beach don't seem to be able to either. Or perhaps they've just decided to let you go.
The creatures grab your legs and pull strongly, water fills your nostrils and sting your eyeballs. You yell in shock, but your mouth is too submerged. As the air runs out of your lungs for what feels like an eternity, you open your eyes, one last time. A black pillar, all the way at the bottom of the ocean. Cyan markings glow in the darkness of the deep sea.
>[You?]: "...There's something h̷e̸r̶e̴&$%$¨
...........
{Error$DreamMachineUnstable Error$337CheckForDetails%Quit}
{>quit}
{Return$DreamMachineOff}
---

>>6039517
[You]: "*yaaawn* Mmm... Huh? It's only 6 AM...?"
That's strange, you heard the bed was supposed to wake you up at the exact time you were supposed to go train, which is 10 AM. Is it malfunctioning or something? You've never been the type to go back to sleep after waking up, but you doubt anyone else is awake at this hour. Especially the teen girls, they usually like to browse their social medias or whatever until late into the night- Damnit, you ARE starting to sound like a granny...
What will you do?
>Try to go back to sleep
>Wake your squad up early, like a sergeant in a movie would
>Go see if you can eat some early breakfast
>Go to the training room early, how exemplary of you!

>>6039518
>Go see if you can eat some early breakfast

>>6039518
>Try to go back to sleep

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>6039743
>>6040159
Rolling

>>6039743
>*grrl*
Your stomach growls under your sheets. Yeah, since you're up early you might as well go eat something before the training starts. You toss your bedsheets aside, put on your armor and lazily stumble out of bed, making your way towards the cafeteria.
The base is still covered in pitch black darkness at this hour of the morning, so it'd be very difficult to find your way around this grey maze... if you hadn't spent all day memorizing the layout of it yesterday, that is! On the way you spot a couple small roombas floating around the area, sucking up the dust and candy wrappers spread around the ground. Their designs are slightly cute, as are the noises they make whenever they're sucking up garbage, but the lack of human beings anywhere in the base at this hour still gives you a mild sense of discomfort. It feels like something could come out of the shadows at any moment...

When you finally reach the cafeteria, you're disappointed to see that the main food area is locked up tight still. Well, there goes your chances of eating a proper meal. You instead walk up to a nearby vending machine and buy a bag of chips. Not the healthiest thing ever, but at least it doesn't taste like pure concentrated sugar.
>[Lily]: "H-Hey, Maria..."
>[You]: "AAAAGHH!"
You scream out and toss your chips into the air.
>[Lily]: "Aaaahh!!"
She does the same, tripping over herself and falling to the ground... again. Seriously, what's wrong with this clumsy girl? She can't just walk right up to your face and whisper like that!
>[Lily]: "S-S-Sorry!! I-I think my bed isn't working properly, it just woke me up in the middle of the morning, so I thought I'd just walk around and find someone to fix it..."
>[You]: "Stupid... No one's gonna be fixing your bed at this hour! Especially not a highly experimental, highly advanced techno-bed!"
>[Lily]: "A-Ah... Y-You're right... I just wonder why it stopped working is all... A-And you... what are you doing up at this hour...?"
>[You]: "W-Well... my bed broke... as well..."
>[Lily]: "I see..."
You collect your chips bag off of the floor and continue eating, trying to not look as hungry as you actually are. Great, now you can't go back to your room or you'd look like a bad role model for this dummy girl...

>>6040317
You decide that the best course of action is to walk to the training room, making yourself look responsible even though you do feel pretty tired. Lily follows behind you, stammering her words like she's trying to say something to be polite, but doesn't know exactly what to say.
You both reach the training room hallway and sit down on a small bench placed between two doorways leading to their respective training courses. You crumple up your chip bag and toss it into a nearby trash can.
>[Lily]: "Heheh..."
>[You]: "What?! What's so funny?"
>[Lily]: "N-N-N-Nothing!! I-I just thought it was kind of strange that the trash can is so empty when there's all this trash all over the floor..."
>[You]: "Yeah. They should really teach the younger kids not to throw their garbage on the ground..."
>[Lily]: "W-Well, it's not like it's a problem... right? The floor is always covered in dust and sand from the outside anyways. They always turn on the cleaner bots at night to clean the messes up, and it's not like anyone's tripping and hurting themselves on some candy wrapping. I know they say throwing trash on the ground hurts the planet and the animals or something, but I don't really believe that kinda stuff..."
She's kind of got a point, it's not like the trash is doing any harm to anyone or anything. But it still just... doesn't feel right. If you have trash on you, you put it in the trash can, that's how it is.
>[You]: "Hey can I ask you something? How old are you again?"
>[Lily]: "A-Ah, I'm 12..."
That's pretty young for a Blue, they're usually the brains of the group, so generally they're supposed to be the oldest. And yet she still managed to get two of the three kills on the training session yesterday. Maybe she's one of those precocious types? Actually, considering her clumsiness, probably not, maybe she's just lucky.

What will you say in response?
>Woah, I'm surprised you're so young considering how well you were doing yesterday! Do you think I did well too?
>It's impressive that you're managing to keep up with us while being so young! Keep it up.
>That's still pretty young. You should probably leave the trash philosophy to the grown ups until you mature a little.
>Little girls that haven't even hit puberty yet shouldn't be thinking this hard anyways. Just do as you're told and you'll be fine.

Rest in peace the 5 paragraph long "spooky walking around the dark base" section of the update I had to remove after an hour of writing cus it really bloated the update and didn't lead into anything besides Lily scaring Maria. If I was writing a book I'd have kept it.

>>6040319
>Woah, I'm surprised you're so young considering how well you were doing yesterday! Do you think I did well too?
Cutu chan = Cthulhu?

>It's impressive that you're managing to keep up with us while being so young! Keep it up.
>But seriously, don't litter.
It makes the whole place trashy. Like, aesthetically.

>It's impressive that you're managing to keep up with us while being so young! Keep it up.

>>6040456
>>6040670
>[You]: "It's impressive that you're managing to keep up with us while being so young! Keep it up."
>[Lily]: "O-Oh, yes I will! Thank you ma'am! *salute*"
>[You]: "And seriously, don't throw your trash on the floor. It's gross."
>[Lily]: "I-I'll make sure not to do it again in the future!"

You and Lily wait the next few hours for the rest of your squad to arrive. As soon as they do, a message appears on your visor display, telling you to gather your squad and head to the spaceship bay for further instructions. That's unusual, are they gonna have a training session on another planet or something?
You and your squad squeeze through an extremely busy hallway and arrive at the spaceship bay. A few other girls are standing at attention in front of a specific set of ships. That's probably where you're supposed to be as well, so you head over there immediately. Luckily you are one of the first squads to arrive to... whatever this is, which you hope makes you look really professional and punctual!
A couple of minutes later the rest of the squads arrive at the bay, and the grumpy-looking superior in front of you begins to hand out instructions:
According to her, they're going to be passing around a very top secret package on another planet nearby and they're worried about attacks from an enemy army. Apparently some information got leaked about what it is and where it is, and whatever it is it's something REALLY important, important enough that the enemy may send out the big guns just to take it out. They're going to be placing M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Girl squads along the path of the vehicle containing this top secret thing, and if you see anything approaching the vehicle you're allowed to freely open fire without question.

>>6041082
You reflect on your mission as you board one of the ships. Your first, real mission. This was incredibly sudden, you really thought you'd have at least a month or two of just training before they'd put you in one of these. Is it because you already have two experienced teammates? Or were your results during the training yesterday really that good? Violet suddenly places her hand on your shoulder.
>[Violet]: "I'm seeing you sweating there Maria, calm down. This is actually pretty normal stuff, we've been in one of these kinds of missions before. The higher ups are just using the sheer amount of soldiers we have as a deterrent so the enemy doesn't even try to attack. A squad of magical girls can easily take on a heavily armed tank, they wouldn't be stupid enough to try and attack a hundred of them."
>[You]: "Huh? But I thought the magical girls were still being kept hidden from the Empire's enemies, how would our presence there scare them?"
>[Violet]: "*sigh*... That was the plan at the beginning, but someone leaked our existance pretty early on, probably the same group that leaked this secret delivery thingie too, since they never found out who the culprit was."
>[Lily]: "Woah, scary..."
>[Violet]: "Again, not too uncommon. Using spies is classic warfare stuff."
>[Sarah]: "Yeah..."
Sarah is looking out the window with an extremely out of character amount of thought in her eyes, even though she responded just now it feels like she was only half listening to what you were saying.
>[Violet]: "That's unusual, you being all silent like that. Thought we forgot you for a second since I wasn't hearing that grating laugh of yours in my ear every 5 seconds."
>[Sarah]: "U-Uh yeah yeah! Just thinking about... the ocean..."
>[You]: "Huh?"
>[Sarah]: "N-Nothing nothing! Just had a problem with my bed so I didn't get a lot of sleep- L-Look, we're here! Gahahahah! Let's g0 beat those Rebels to death!!!!"

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>>6041083
>1 Hour Later - Planet Ith of the Sirius Empire - Middle of Nowhere

>[Sarah]: "GAHHHH!! This is so boriiiiing!!"
>[Violet]: "Told you so. We're deterrents. I doubt the enemy is even going to show up."
>[Sarah]: "But how long is this gonna take?! Why don't they just land the ship next to the thing, grab it and fly away! It'd take like 16 seconds!"
>[Violet]: "Yeah, if you wanna get shot down from space that is. It's much safer to move it on the planet's surface into a camouflaged ship with it's drives all charged up, and then zoom on out of here before anyone notices... Though I am wondering why it's so far away from the research center. Do they have decoys going in different directions perhaps? Or maybe they're trying to subtly show off the large amount of heavily armored soldiers we have by placing them all on a straight line like this? Seems a bit risky though..."
>[Sarah]: "Graaahh! Whatever nerd I don't care, this just sucks! Hey Rookie, warn me if something punchable shows up, I'm gonna listen to some tunes!"
>[Lily]: "R-Right!!"
Looks like no enemies are around... For now. And neither is the super secret mcguffin thing. Guess you could take this time off to relax... Or organize your squad's position ahead of time, just in case...

--ARROW TUTORIAL-

Heya again! Just something new real quick, see those cyan arrows on the map? If you step on them, you'll move to another screen. You can only see what is happening on the screen
that you (Pink) are on, though! That's it. Tutorial done.

--Tutorial Over--

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak)
>Relax

>>6040321
Don't be afraid to indulge yourself a little, just for the sake of flexing your prose muscles and having fun!

>>6041084
>Stay on high alert, don't get too comfy
Any second now, we could need to move. This is war.

No update tonight, way too tired from work and I still have stuff to do

>>6041879
Is Elden Ring the 'stuff'? Someone pointed out that's probably why /qst/ is dead today.

>>6041882
Lol no, I have to finish some stuff for my art Twitter's Patreon before the month ends. I rarely actually play games nowadays

>>6041086
This and check out the other maps if possible.

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>>6041086
>>6041991
>[You]: "Alright Sarah, just don't get too comfortable. We're still on the battlefield after all."
>[Sarah]: "Yeah yeah yeaaaah! I got it!"
Sarah walks over to one of the small hills surrounding you, sits down and leans on it with both her hands crossed behind her head.
>[Lily]: "S-Sorry for bothering you guys but... Do I got to... do something right now? Maybe I should put a turret right there..."
>[Violet]: "Naaah it's fine. If you put some defenses up ahead of time the enemy will just go around it. You need to catch them by surprise. Plus, you don't wanna go around wasting your juice up without reason,"
>[Lily]: "I... suppose so? Mm..."
You feel like she has a rebuttal for that argument ready in her mind, but is refusing to say it out of nervousness.
>[You]: "Listen, you have to do what you think is right okay? But also get ready to get scolded at if you do something stupid."
>[Lily]: "I-I'm not sure that's a good idea... I can be kind of dumb sometimes... a lot of the time. And I'd rather not get scolded..."
>[Violet]: "If you constantly worry about getting yelled at then you're never gonna get anything done on your own. Being a good soldier isn't about just following orders mindlessly, you also have to know what to do when you don't have a voice in your ear giving you commands constantly."
Violet leans against one of the surrounding hills like a wise monk giving some sage advice to someone, Lily seems very amazed by her general attitude.

A couple more minutes pass before the first bit of news reaches your visor screen. The vehicle containing the top secret mystery object thing is arriving at your location in approximately ten minutes, coming in from the west. You move closer to the path of the vehicle in the hopes of seeing it from a distance, but unfortunately the thick sand flying across the planet's surface makes it hard to spot things from afar. The most you can see are the silhouettes of the squad members that had been placed right next to yours, to your left, standing at attention.
>[Violet]: "And stiiilll no sign of any bad guys. *yaaawn*... Maybe I should've sat down and listened to some music too when I had the chance... Hey Cutu-chan, do you have my classical piano megamix downloaded? ...Yeah, that one, thankies~!"
Violet is standing a couple of feet behind you, hidden between two hills. Behind her is Lily, who has spent the last few minutes looking around the area for possible turret placing locations. As if to mirror Lily's anxiousness, Sarah is still laying in the exact same position she was before, looking up at the sandy sky and saying nothing while presumably listening to some hard rock jams.

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak)
>Relax
>Move West

Wasn't able to do it today because my friends dragged me at the last minute to go, but tomorrow I'm certain I'm not gonna be doing anything so I'll be switching to the same combat update pacing as last time (aka an update as soon as I see a vote)

>>6042705
*to go somewhere

>>6042701
>Move West

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>>6042791
>*[Pink] moves to the Western Map.
You move towards the squad you spotted from a distance. They seem to be significantly younger than yours, you seriously doubt any of these girls are older than you. They're all standing around, facing the entrance inbetween the cliffs where the vehicle is supposed to appear from with furrowed brows. You squint your eyes in order to indentify their Pink's code number and then begin messaging her through your armor.
>[You(Text)]: "Hey, how u doing"
>[Other Pink(Text]: "Nm just waitig for the car, our yelow says she can see it thru her sniper rifle"
And just a few seconds after she texts you that, it appears. A heavily fortified vehicle, almost like the kind you'd use to transport prisoners around except even bulkier than that. It drives towards you at an agonizingly slow speed, probably due to the sand giving the tires a hard time. You know aerieal vehicles are much easierfor your enemies to identify and track, but they couldn't at least get something that floats one or two feet above the ground so it'd move slightly faster?
>*BANG*
A loud sound echoes through the area, managing to be even louder than the sandstorm around you. Suddenly the other squad's Yellow jumps slightly backwards and falls to the ground, blood coming out of a hole in her torso.
Her teammates look back at her with terror, the Red covering her mouth with both her hands. The Pink looks around the dusty sandstorm surrounding you all with wide opened eyes. Where did that shot even come from?! Is there an enemy camouflaged somewhere nearby, or did they attack from a long range even with the sand surrounding you?! And why did they wait until now to make a move? Yellows may have the weakest kind of armor, but it's still not easy to just pierce through it like that, they must be using some really strong ammo.

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 2 Candy Bars remaining (Heal 10% Liao per bar)

>>6043048
Get to cover. Call the your teammates and get them to check for snipers on the other map.

>>6043251
+1. Go time, girls.

>>6043048

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>>6043251
>>6043269
>*[Pink] moves towards the nearest cover.
>[You]: "Girls, we've got trouble on the west side! Come over here as fast as you can! And Lily, I need a full scan of the area."
>[Lily]: "U-Understood!"
>*[Blue] used [All Seeing Eye!], a group of foot soldiers and two snipers have been identified behind the northwest hills, hidden by cloaking devices.
>*[Red] moves towards the Western Map.
>*[Yellow] moves towards the Western Map.
The other magical girl squad panic and spread out around the area, hiding behind the nearest hill to them.
An enemy sniper, who is now highlighted in red on your visor, readies their rifle to shoot at the other squad's Blue, who is cowering in fear on the ground.

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 2 Candy Bars remaining (Heal 10% Liao per bar)

>>6043375
>Try to grab the other blue and pull her behind the closest cover (hoping your Lily will not develop feelings of jealousy after seeing you getting touchy with another blue)
>Order your blue to leave a drone back in the east sector, to prevent a possible enemy flanking.
>Try to contact the other pink and coordinate a defense plan.
The enemy is pinned behind a natural choke-point, so we should win this battle easily if we don't act recklessly.

>>6043623
I'll support. And scream at the other girls to get there heads in the game.

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>>6043623
>>6043679
>*[Pink] moves towards the other squad's Blue.
>[You]: "HEY YOU, BLUE! YOU'RE IN THEIR LINE OF FIRE, MOVE OVER HERE, QUICK!!"
You scream out at the top of your lungs. The Blue lifts up her head from the sand to try and listen to you better, and as soon as she does, a loud BANG blasts again through the battlefield and a bullet hole briefly appears on the ground where her head used to be, before being quickly covered up again by the sandstorm. She quickly scrambles up to her feet and rushes towards you, hiding behind the same hill.
>[You]: "Hey, are you okay?"
>[Other Blue]: "Y-Ye-Y-*sob*-Y-"
>[You]: "Don't worry about it okay? We're gonna get through this! I just need you and your teammates to focus."
>[Other Blue]: "B-B-But- *sob* B-But *sob*....."
She repeats herself over sobs as she points towards their Yellow in the distance, laying on the floor without moving a muscle with bloody sand covering her torso.
>[You]: "Focus! On the battlefield things like that happening is a given! You need to focus and carry on your orders! understood?!"
You're screaming this out with confidence, but on the inside you feel like you might vomit at any minute. You feel lucky a visor is covering up that Yellow's face, because if you saw her dead, unblinking eyes for even a moment you don't think you'd have the courage to continue on...
>*[Red] moves towards the Western Map.
>*[Yellow] moves towards the Western Map.
>[You]: "Lily, I'm gonna need you to leave a drone back there in case enemies appear from behind you guys."
>[Lily]: "A-Alright! Nothing appeared on the scanner, but I guess it's better to be prepared..."
>*[Blue] deploys a Friendly Drone!
You send over the scanner data to the other Pink in the hopes of creating some kind of defense plan, she doesn't reply.
The sniper that shot at the Blue moves closer to the open space at the center of the combat zone, and as they do the other squad's Red appears from behind a hill and punches them right on the face with all her might, knocking them down into the sand.

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 2 Candy Bars remaining (Heal 10% Liao per bar)

>>6043846
>Yell to the other squad's red to use that dude as a human shield while running over to our (seemingly?) more-defensible position.

>>6043978
I'd rather not abandon that position just yet, I think she can still hold it for a short while.
>>6043846
It's risky, but I propose we Fly towards the other pink, wake her up with a tactical slap on the face, then try to hold off the bad guys on the east.
Once the vehicle is further along its way (one turn or two), then Red-2 can fall back by using the armored car as a shield.
If we can wake up Pink-2, maybe she can Command Blue-2 to release a defensive turret to cover our retreat.

I'd like to hear what other anons think about this plan before we enact it.

>>6044002
I'll support. Not sure if the second squad will be of much use. Seem to be shaken.

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>>6044002
>>6044107
>*[Pink] flies towards the other squad's Pink.
>[You]: "Hey! Do you wanna die or something?! Why don't you respond to my texts?!!"
The other Pink is frozen solid. Her visor lifted up, presumably so she can ignore your text messages. She leans back against the hill and clenches her fists while staring at the horizon with a dead look in her eyes, almost like she's a statue.
>*SLAP*
You slap her in the face with all your might. She lets out an audible gasp as she flies backwards onto the sand. Good, that seems to have woken her up.
>[You]: "IDIOT! You're the leader of your squad, all your teammates are counting on you! You can't just sit there and cry while they're in danger, dumbass!!"
You grab her by the armor plating on her neck and lift her back to her feet. Tears swell up in her eyes.
>[You]: "If you're gonna keep crying, then you might as well go back to the ship and leave your squad here to die! Is that what you want?!"
>[Other Pink]: "....*sniffle*....*sob*...."
>[You]: "Answer me!!"
>[Other Pink]: "I-I j-j-just wanted.... th-th-the money... for m-my mom..."
Naturally, since you all are parts of a secret, obviously dangerous millitary experiment, they wouldn't be offering applications to young girls if there wasn't something extra added onto the offer. All families of the girls that were picked were, of course, rewarded handsomely for the danger their children were likely to be placed in.
>[You]: "And you thought there wouldn't be a catch?! You thought you'd just participate in a couple training sessions and go back home safe and sound?! Are you stupid??!"
>[Sarah]: "*wolf whistle*... Nice scolding, Maria!"
>*[Red] moves towards the Western Map.
>*[Yellow] moves towards the Western Map.
>[Violet]: "You're an idiot too, dumbass. Don't joke around at a time like this... Anyways, Maria, we're almost there with you, and Lily's hanging out behind us in case someone else decides to pop up. Everything good on your end?"
>[You]: "Not good, this squad's Yellow is wounded, and the others are being uncooperative-"
>[Other Pink]: "I'm not being uncooperative! I-I just can't... Th-There's too many of them right? W-We need to leave and get Jackie- Er... Our Yellow some help!"
>[You] "Our mission is to protect the cargo on the vehicle, if you try to run away that'd count as desertion. They might put you in prison, or maybe even take a big cut away from your pay..."
>[Other Pink]: "Ahh....B-But what a-am I supposed to-"
>[You]: "You have a magical glowing armor that creates giant guns from thin air and allows you to freaking FLY! What do you mean "what am I supposed to do"??! You can do whatever you want! A group of soldiers could easily overpower even a grown man, but you're a magical girl! Common sense like that doesn't apply to you!"
The other Pink clenches her teeth, looks around for a moment, and nods her head. She seems to have calmed down, at least on the outside.

>>6044289
This squad's Red stomps on the sniper she knocked down to the ground repeatedly. Blood oozes out his thick plated millitary armor as his scanner data slowly fades away, indicating he has been deemed KIA. The Red doesn't stop her assault however, continuing to kick his face even after it has been completely pulverized by her foot. Three foot soldiers appear from behind the hills and ready their weapons, aiming towards her.
The remaining sniper moves forwards and aims his rifle in the direction of the other Blue.

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 2 Candy Bars remaining (Heal 10% Liao per bar)

>>6044291
Their reds drawing fire? Good. Have our Yellow snipe them, using the distraction. We pinks and our red should get in close enough to rain down hell, while Blue then sets up a defensible point on the fallen Yellow.

maybe? i'm bad at combat strategy.

>>6044311
Partially agree:
Red-2 should activate her personal shield and fall back, hiding behind the armored car.
She has gone berserk, but probably Pink-2 can override her decisions now via Command Staff.
To cover her, Blue-2 should set up a turret above the low wall towards the center of the map.
If Violet is within sniping distance, she can help too.
We pinks have to take care of the other sniper.
A question for QM: I'd like to fire manic missiles at the tall rocky formation above enemy sniper 2, in order to disrupt its aim temporary and buy us time (possibly even seal the west passage). Is it possible? Do we get a dice roll bonus for aiming towards a large stationary target?
Also, we cannot leave Yellow-2 here, we must bring her back to her family.

Only gonna write one update today at night, it's one of those "spend all day driving around doing chores" days again...
>>6044435
>I'd like to fire manic missiles at the tall rocky formation above enemy sniper 2, in order to disrupt its aim temporary and buy us time (possibly even seal the west passage). Is it possible?
Yes for the distraction, but then both the formation you're blowing up and the remaining debris turn into a not filled in barrier that the enemy could climb over.
>Do we get a dice roll bonus for aiming towards a large stationary target?
I'm gonna go with yes for a bonus, but also since you're decently close to it it has a higher chance of causing negative effects if you roll low too. Plus it'd cause a big enough sand explosion that it'd be hard to see the results of what you did for the turn it happens

>>6044708
>Plus it'd cause a big enough sand explosion that it'd be hard to see the results of what you did for the turn it happens
That's probably no good right now, but it could become useful as a diversion later on.
The updated plan for this turn is:
1. Ask Red-2 to fall back, using the armored car for protection if possible; she should turn on her personal shield for extra safety.
2. If Red-2 refuses to comply, have Pink-2 use Command Staff on her
3. Attack the sniper by ourself, using Blast Volley!
3.5. Coordinate the attack together with Pink-2 if she still has actions available
4. Ask Blue-2 to set up a turret above the low barrier near the center of the map
5. Call HQ and request for poor Yellow-2 to be rescued and be given urgent medical care.
Our teammates are probably still too far at the moment, plus their line of sight is obstructed by the rock formations.
Additions from other anons are welcome.

>>6044758
I'm backing this.

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>>6044758
>>6044886
>[You]: "Alright, first of all, your Blue should definitely place a turret right there in the middle, over the little hill right there. That should keep us safe in case we have to put ourselves in the open."
>[Other Pink]: "O-Okay!"
Their Blue hears her Pink give her orders on the radio and instantly becomes slightly more rejuvenated. She lifts herself up and places the Friendly Turret on the sandy hill. The sniper in the distance concentrates his scope right on her head-
>*[Pink] walks forwards and uses [Blast Volley!] against the enemy sniper, he's quickly obliterated by the incessant gunfire.
While you were doing so, the other Pink was talking to her Red.
>[Other Pink]: "-Riley! Y-You have to back down, they're gonna surround you! ...Or put up a shield at least! ..........Ugh... She's not listening to me! I can only hear her crying over the mic."
>[You]: "You gotta use the Command Staff on her, or else she's gonna get herself hurt."
>[Other Pink]: "B-But... Isn't that-"
>[You]: "Do it!!"
The other Pink concentrates her mind. Suddenly a cyan glow surrounds her armor, and from that glow emerges a long ornamental rod with a pink crystal on its tip. She shoves its base into the ground, causing the crystal to glow.
Their Red rapidly switches her demeanor, from being hunched over with her fists poised to standing up perfectly straight. She jumps backwards with all her might while activating a shield around herself.
>[You]: "*sigh* Good work..."
You pat the other Pink on the shoulder as she continues to firmly hold the staff with her eyes closed.
>*[Red] enters the Western Map!
>*[Yellow] moves towards the Western Map.

>>6045040
>*[Friendly Drone 1] is suddenly shot out of the air! It crumbles into metal pieces as it crashes against the ground.
>[Lily]: "Wah! B-Bad news guys!"
>*[Blue] hides towards the nearest cover.
>[Violet]: "Sh-Shit! More of them?! Hey Lily, can you handle that or do you need help?"
>[Lily]: "W-W-Well, I don't... know? I-I could set up a turret since it attacks anything unusual around it even if it's invisible, but then I wouldn't be able to tell with my own eyes where the enemies are unless I did a scan first! Wh-What do you think, Maria...?"
>[You]: "-Hold on, I'm busy! Yes, we've got an injured Yellow here! Send- ..... Ugh, fine!! *click* Grrr... They said they can't send out help, apparently the two squads northwest of here are under attack too, and they're way worse off than us. Also, they've detected that what they think is a driveable mech just entered the planet's atmosphere. They think more might be coming too."
>[Violet]: "Tch, damnit... We can't join in with every battle at once, let's just focus on what we're dealing with right now!"
>[Sarah]: "Gahahahah! A mech?! Awesome!! I can't wait to beat the shit outta one! Wanna see momma say I'm a good for nothing bum after that!!"
>[Violet]: "That wouldn't prove anything, stop joking around!"
>[Sarah]: "Ugghh, yeah yeah! Don't worry Maria, I'll get the Yellow to safety for ya."
>[You]: "Thanks Sarah."

>>6045046
Seriously though, what the hell is going on? No enemies showed up until right the cargo was just about to drive by your squad's position, and now they're even dropping out of the sky? Is that a coincidence? Or were you just not warned about the enemy appearing beforehand for some reason? Maybe they took out everyone who could warn command about them, or they have some kind of radio scrambling device... Either way, this is way too much for a first mission!

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 2 Candy Bars remaining (Heal 10% Liao per bar)

>>6045049
Will the Candy bars help Yellow-2? If so, supply her one. Set up the turret, too. We don't need to know where they are, we just have to lock them down and keep them busy so they can't stop our allied vehicle making it through, right? Drag them into a costly, time-consuming back-and-forth!

>>6045078
I agree with the turret part, we shouldn't just let the enemy roam freely and gain advantageous positions. But Lily, try to do so behind a safe position.
The enemy destroyed our drone, which means they're not invisible ninjas or anything (in that case, they would have just slipped past its sensor). They're probably being extra sneaky.
Violet should stay alert too, her keen sniper eyes can probably notice things that even the sensors cannot detect.
We should retreat along with Pink-2, and Red-2 should keep falling back.
I'm grateful to Sarah for offering to help Yellow-2, but let's try not to show it too much.
Blue-2 should start her retreat, staying ahead of the vehicle.

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>>6045078
>>6045205
>*[Pink] retreats back south.
You grab the other Pink's arm and drag her back as well, explaining to her that it's time to retreat, she calls her Blue and she starts doing the same. Her Red seems to have snapped out of her angered state after being commanded and backs down as well.
>[You]: "Lily, set up that turret. Violet, stay over there for now and keep and eye out for anyone sneaking around the hills. If you see anything unusual, start shooting."
>[Violet]: "Ay ay captain~"
>*[Yellow] moves towards the nearest cover and looks around.
>*[Blue] deploys a Friendly Turret!
>[You]: "Sarah, try to not get shot over there!"
>[Sarah]: "Gahahahah! I'm clearly the main character, no way I'm getting shot! Ever! Gahahah!"
>[You]: "Try to take this a bit more seriously..."

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 2 Candy Bars remaining (Heal 10% Liao per bar)

>>6045481
Go west, along with Pink-2, try to regroup with our forces.
As we move, fire towards the northern trio (it's just suppressive fire to keep them away, it's not intended to actually hit them).
If the eastern enemies are smart, they'll stay hidden behind those rocks.
Lily should use her scanning power, maybe this will locate the unseen enemies.
All the others can keep their assigned tasks, I guess.
Try to chat a bit with Pink-2, introduce ourselves, ask what's her name.
Additions from other anons are welcome.

>>6045774
That all sounds fine by me. Not sure what to add. +1.

>>6045481

Rolled 1 (1d3)

--Rolling for Yellow--

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>6045910
--Rolling for enemy sniper in response--

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>>6045910
>>6045911

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>>6045774
>>6045863
>*[Pink] retreats towards the vehicle. Firing her [Blast Volley!] at the northern enemies, who quickly fall back behind the hills.
The other Pink follows behind you as you return back east. Looking at your positions right now, you doubt any of the remaining troops are gonna be an issue. You sigh with relief and decide to relax your fellow Pink with some banter.
>[You]: "...Hey, sorry for the rough introduction. I swear I'm not like this all the time, kind of stressed out right now."
>[Other Pink]: "I-It's fine! I-I'm not usually this nervous either..."
>[You]: "I'm Maria, by the way."
>[Other Pink]: "A-Ah, that's a nice name. I-I-I'm Anna, Anna Smith."
You both shake hands amicably. Her hold is surprisingly firm for such a stuttering young girl, she definitely has some vigor hidden behind all that nervousness. You decide she might be worth remembering and change her contact info from her squad number to her actual name.
>*[Red] lifts the other squad's Yellow above her shoulder.
>[Sarah]: "Yoink, up you go..."
>[You]: "Quick, is she still breathing?! What does the wound look like?!"
>[Sarah]: "Geez geez okay! What am I, a doctor? She is still breathing but it's very gross-sounding. And can't check the wound, her armor already grew back around it. It does look very crystal-ey though, which is what happens when your Liao's low, might be bad news."
>[You]: "Crap... Okay, just get her to safety for now. If she's still breathing that means we can save her... I think. Hey Lily, scan up the area again, don't want any more sneak attacks happening around here."
>*[Blue] used [All Seeing Eye!], another group of foot soldiers suddenly appear around you, highlighted in red.
>[You]: "Okay, doesn't look too bad. We'll just keep backing up for now."
>[Anna]: "Y-Yeah! You heard her, keep backing up!"
The other squad's Blue and Red jump onto the armored vehicle's sides as it passes by them, allowing them to catch a ride on it for faster travel.

>>6045938
>[Lily]: "Y-Y-You might want to hurry up! A bunch of bad guys just appeared around us- Eep!!"
You hear the sound of a sniper bullet fly by as Lily yelps and presumably hides behind cover.
>[Violet]: "*whisper* Finally got you, you little shit~"
>*[Yellow] uses [Sniipe~] against an enemy sniper! She misses, drawing his attention.
>[Violet]: "Sh-Shit! AGH!!"
Before she can fully retreat into her hiding place, the enemy fires back with a sniper shot of his own, hitting her right on her left shoulder. She jumps behind cover and falls down to the ground.
>*[Yellow] loses 15% Liao!
>[Lily]: "V-Violet, are you okay??"
>[Violet]: "I-I'm fine! As long as it doesn't hit a vital area it should regenerate just fine- Ugh! I-It does hurt like shit though..."
>[Sarah]: "H-Hey hey! Don't go dying off now!! Hey Rookie, do a better job over there, that bitch still owes me like, 15 bucks from last week!"
>[Lily]: "I'm trying! A-And I didn't finish talking! Th-There's something big coming up from the east! I think it's the mech thing they were talking about!"
>[Violet]: "N-No shot... It's probably- Agh! ....probably just a tank or something..."
>[Lily]: "Maybe..."
A group of foot soldiers begin to climb up on one of the hills as the vehicle passes by it.

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 2 Candy Bars remaining (Heal 10% Liao per bar

>>6045940
We probably should hurry up, the situation is becoming more and more like a Kobayashi Maru.
The eastern enemies look concerning, but they'll have to climb that barrier, giving us a defensive advantage.
We should clear the remaining distance by Flight, together with Anna, and join with the surviving blue and red.
If we still have action after that, shoot the eastern enemies.
Red-2 should also equip a ranged weapon and attack the closest enemy.
Sarah should also fall back, carrying Yellow-2.

>>6045940
I still think we should give a candy bar to their Yellow to get her up, if we can.

I'll back >>6046001 for the rest, but humbly suggest that if we dogpile their tank/mech, is may demoralize the remainder enough for a rout to become possible.

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>>6046001
>>6046006
>*[Pink] flies towards the moving vehicle.
Anna follows behind you as you fly through the air. You land slightly in front of the vehicle to assess the situation.
>[You]: "Alright, headcount! We're both here, your Blue and Red are over there... Where's Sarah and the Yellow?"
>[Sarah]: "Here I am! Right on time, as always! Gahahah!"
Sarah appears from behind you, carrying the Yellow over her shoulder.
>[Anna]: "Jackie! Oh no, is she okay?"
>[Sarah]: "Obviously not, dumbass!"
She's still breathing, but it's extremely rough-sounding and full of coughs and wheezes. You lift up her visor, her eyes are half closed like she's falling asleep, she's probably lethargic because of the amount of Liao entering her body to heal the wound. Her armor currrently appears extremely brittle, like it's made out of glass. Whenever M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Girl armor is fully destroyed during combat, it turns into crystals and shatters so as to not leave a trace of it behind, it must've been an almost lethal shot if it drove it to this point with only one bullet...
>*[Pink] hands a Candy Bar to the other squad's Yellow. She recovers 10% Liao!
You unwrap one of the candy bars you brought in case of an emergency and stuff it down her mouth, she chews on it slowly and swallows. After a few seconds, the armor starts glowing a cyan color and becomes slightly more opaque. Good, that won't heal her fully or anything, but at least the armor won't shatter by dropping her on the ground too hard.
Right as you wrap that up, the armored vehicle passes you by carrying the other Blue and Red, the latter shooting at the enemies trying to climb over the hill, driving them back behind cover.
>[You]: "Alright, everyone here? Good. Let's go back east now! Violet, Lily, are you two okay?"
>[Lily]: "I-I am, the turret's keeping the bad guys at bay for now... But..."
>[Violet]: "AGHH! Wh-Why is it still hurting so much-"
>*[Yellow] loses 10% Liao!
>[Violet]: "Wh-What?? What's happening- agh!!"
>[Lily]: "N-No way... Is the bullet draining the Liao somehow?! Hold on Violet, take off your armor."
>[Violet]: "Wh-What?! I-In the middle of a battlefield? Are you cr-ugh!"
>[Lily]: "I'm serious! Let me see the wound!"
>[Violet]: "A-Alright, just be quick..."
You hear the ground shake as large metallic footsteps approach from the east.

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 1 Candy Bar remaining (Heal 10% Liao)

>>6046295
Attack the enemy's, have a drone deployed.

>>6046295
We don't see the next sector yet, the best approach is probably to advance, weapons ready.
With the combined firepower of 5 magical girl and the protection offered by the vehicle, we'll obliterate any enemy on our way.
Also, try (and fail) not to be distracted by whatever is happening between Violet and Lily.
We should probably come up with a plan to deal with the mech, but we need to see it first.
>>6046425
And a drone, too.

>>6030411
By the way QM, could you also draw how Red and Blue look like?

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>>6046425
>>6046455
>*[Pink] (and company) move to the Eastern Map!
>[Lily]: "...Aha! See, I knew it! The bullet used the force of the sniper rifle to bypass the armor completely so it would reconstruct itself on top of it, and then began to suck out Liao from it directly!"
>[Violet]: "G-Great great, fantastic. Can you pull it out already so I can put my armor back on?! The enemy is gonna come rushing in once they realise we're defenseless!"
>*[Blue] deploys a Friendly Drone!
>[Lily]: "There, not defenseless anymore. Come on, stop moving your arms already! I don't want to accidentally hurt your shoulder even more..."
>[Violet]: "A-Alright fine! Just do it quickly!"
Heavy mechanical footsteps approach from the east, shaking the ground and lifting up sand as it approaches your position. A wide circular base in the middle, being carried around by 6 large robotics legs. Turrets placed around the perimeter of the center mass are controlled manually by soldiers moving around inside the mech, and emergency jet boosters attached on the soles of its legs are activated with a quick press of a button in case it ever needs an fast lift-off. Compared to a humanoid mech it is definitely inferior and a bit of a one-trick pony, but it can still mow down a few hundred defenseless civilians in a quick second.

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 1 Candy Bar remaining (Heal 10% Liao)

>>6046455
>By the way QM, could you also draw how Red and Blue look like?
I'll draw them as soon as I have time

>>6046708
>Pink: Manic Missiles! as a distraction

>Blue: Security Breach to hack the mech, if possible, and take down any defenses we can, plus see about opening any hatches, then...

>Yellow: Bombs Away! to fill the mech's every open orifice with as many explosions as possible, to gut the thing of crew

>>6046711
Thank you
>>6046722
+1, let's gauge the mech's defenses.

Addendum:
Red-2 should climb on top of the transport vehicle.
Maybe she can deflect incoming enemy shells with her fists, like Hibiki Tachibana did in Valverde.

For the strategy part:
The mech looks like the "land battleship" type, meaning it will probably hit hard from the distance and shrug off our attacks.
The proper counter for it would be air support, which we don't have.
Also, we could try to sneak under it, make a hole and plant explosives inside it.
We'll see.

Rolled 15, 6 = 21 (2d20)

>>6046722
--Rolling for Blue--
Also apologies for only one update today, I got caught up in something unexpected during the afternoon

Rolled 3 (1d20)

--Rolling for Pink--

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>>6046722
>>6046786
>*[Pink] attempts to use [Manic Missiles!] against a nearby hill as a distraction. Instead the barrage of missiles fly off in random directions, blowing up in the sky and around the edge of another hill further east. The enemy hides away behind cover, but they don't seem to be too intimidated.
>[You]: "D-Damnit..."
An enemy foot soldier tries to sneak up on you while you're distracted by your blunder. However, Anna pulls out her weapons before he can react and shoots him square on the chest multiple times.
>[You]: "A-Ah... Thanks, Anna..."
>[Anna]: "Don't mention it, that's for when you saved me before."
>[You]: "Hm *smile*..."
The other squad's Red climbs up on top of the armored vehicle.
>*[Blue] attempts to use [Security Breach!] against the enemy mech. She's unable to breach through their firewall, drawing the attention of the crew inside it.
>[Lily]: "Eek! Th-They're aiming right at us!!"
>[Violet]: "D-Don't worry, I got this! Just gotta put the last bit of the armor in- Haah~ Much better~ Here we go."
>*[Yellow] uses [Bombs Away!] against the enemy mech! Large bombs emerge from the sky and fall down on top of the robotic spider. Its shield activates in time blocking the attack, but the turrets are unable to shoot at Lily while it is up.
>[Violet]: "Agh... Man, that move is tiring to use~ Still, that should distract them for a bit..."
>[Lily]: "G-Good job Violet!"
>[Violet]: "Meh, it's nothing~"
The foot soldiers and snipers surrounding the mech cower away behind cover at the sight of the massive explosion surrounding their robotic trump card.
>[Sarah]: "Heya, got the armor off of the Yellow here and she has a weird green thing poking outta her bullet hole, is this the draining thingie yall were talking about?"
>[Lily]: "Th-That's it exactly! Get it out of there and put her armor back on as quickly as you can!"
>[Sarah]: "Sure thing! ...By the way Rookie, does Violet have any funny birthmarks or hairy armpits or something on her body I could use for blackmail later?"
>[Lily]: "Well, I only took off the top half, but-"
>[Violet]: "E-Enough bantering! We're fighting a godamn mech here!!"
>[Sarah]: "Gahahahah! Maybe you are. I'm the one playing nurse back here while you guys have all the fun!"
>[You]: "Seriously guys, focus on the mission..."

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 1 Candy Bar remaining (Heal 10% Liao)

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>>6047251
Here's my proposed strategy (see pic):
Sarah should separate from the main group and join Violet, Lily and drone-kun.
This group should advance towards the next natural cover, just behind the turret.
Here, Sarah should leave Yellow-2 in Lily's care, and climb to highest rock formation.
Once reached the top, she should stay hidden and wait for the right moment to jump onto the mech and start wrecking it from above.
For the time being, us Pinks should keep pressure on the guys at the north. Blast Volley should be enough.
Blue-2 can keep following the cart, and maybe support Red-2 with her Wide Guard if needed.

Rolled 6 (1d20)

--Rolling for mech--

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>>6047879
>>6047879
>*[Pink] moves northeast and uses [Blast Volley!] to keep the enemies at bay. The foot soldiers retreat further behind the hill.
Anna follows your lead before you can even explain your plan to her, helping you prevent the enemy from advancing forwards.
>*[Red] begins climbing a nearby hill as she heads towards cover.
>*[Yellow] and [Blue] await for [Red] behind cover.
The giant mech regains its composure and deactivates its shield. It points its turrets towards the armored vehicle, who is being protected by the other squad's Red and Blue, but it doesn't fire a single round. Is it analyzing the situation? It's likely the crew doesn't know the full details of what magical girls are capable of, maybe that massive bomb barrage took them by surprise, so now they're being more cautious? You shouldn't underestimate them however, they're still piloting an extremely large and menacing piece of machinery that could trample that armored vehicle under its foot in a second if it got the chance.

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 1 Candy Bar remaining (Heal 10% Liao)

>>6048138
It is actually a bit strange, they're assuming a defensive position here.
I'm starting to think this could actually be an "escort the bomb towards the enemy base" kind of mission...
Strategy:
Sarah should continue her mission, engage Flight mode as soon as Yellow-2 is safe, she must hurry up.
Anna should keep targeting the topmost trio, while we should fire missiles towards the enemies escorting the mech (to interfere with their aim).
Violet and drone-kun should mount a defense against the 3 enemies trying to sneak in from the south.
Lily and Blue-2 should try to hack the mecha again.
If they get root, they should temporarily refrain from any digital mischief, I wish to speak with the mech's captain first.
We should try to get them to surrender without a fight, and maybe listen to their reasons and reach a mutual understanding.
If the negotiations fail, then we attack the mech.
Question for QM: is a single red magical girl strong enough to push the armored transport along an alternative route?

Updates come back later today, apologies

>>6048967
>is a single red magical girl strong enough to push the armored transport along an alternative route?
Yep!

Rolled 12, 8 = 20 (2d20)

--Rolling for Pink and mech--

Rolled 5, 20 = 25 (2d20)

>>6049912
--Rolling for Blue--

Rolled 1 (1d2)

--Rolling for Friendly Turret--

>>6049913
Probably the unluckiest 20 I've seen in a while lmao

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>>6048967
>*[Pink] fires [Manic Missiles!] against an enemy squad. It misses and explodes against a nearby hill, covering one of the enemy soldiers in a moutain of debris and creating a large sand cloud around the area, allowing the remaining alive soldiers to back off.
Anna moves upwards and fires her weapons around the enemy's cover, blocking their chances of surrounding you from behind.
>[Sarah]: "Heya, your pizza's here!"
Sarah drops the other squad's Yellow carelessly behind cover.
>[Lily]: "H-Hey! Be a bit more gentle!"
>[Sarah]: "Gahahah! Don't worry Rookie, she's a soldier! If she can tank a bullet she can take a little fall like that, don't be a pussy!"
>[Lily]: "Sh-She got shot in the chest!!"
>[Sarah]: "Yeah, but her's is pretty big! Maybe it cushioned the bullet or something! Gahahah!"
Violet moves up to the other Yellow, holds her hand and lifts up her visor.
>[Violet]: "You're gonna get through this, okay? Just keeping breathing, and keep your eyes open. Focus."
The other Yellow smiles very slightly and nods weakly.
>[You]: "Alright girls, the big guy's coming over our way. You four down there should head to the southmost hills and wait my orders. Remember, we have to keep the cargo safe at all costs!"
>*[Friendly Turret 1] attempts to fire blasts of energy against the enemy mech, it misses. In retaliation, the enemy mech aims one of its own turrets straight at the Friendly Turret and fires its ammunition. It is completely annihilated in a second by the overwhelming amount of bullets.
>*[Blue] attempts to use [Security Breach!] against the enemy mech again, it fails.
The mech steps forwards towards the moving vehicle, kicking off sand into the air as it lifts its gigantic, spider-like legs.
>*[Friendly Drone 1] moves south towards an enemy squad.

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 1 Candy Bar remaining (Heal 10% Liao)

File: RedBlue.png (1.15 MB, 2364x2213)

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Also here's the designs for these two, way more defensive and bulky than the Yellows and Pinks

>>6049938
Ca n we focus on supporting the Reds while they try to disable a leg?

>>6049969
The weak point it's probably not in the legs, it's got six of them, plus it has rocket boots...
Also, the mech has been refraining from attacking us magical girls, I'd like to know why.
I'd like to try communicating one more time, like this: have Red-2 dismount from the vehicle and push it straight to the north. Then, Blue-2 launches the hacking (it got their attention the last time), we climb onto the transport and signal the mech we wish to talk to them.
>>6049952
>Fangs
>Straight bangs
Nice, thanks QM

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>>6050007
>*[Red] grabs the other squad's Yellow and moves south towards the hills. [Yellow] and [Bue] follow behind her.
>*[Friendly Drone 1] moves south towards an enemy squad.
As the armored vehicle approaches the enemy mech, the giant robotic beast raises one of its many legs, waiting for the car to pass under it so it can squash it down.
>[You]: "A-Anna, tell your Red to push the vehicle back, quickly!"
>[Anna]: "U-Understood!"
Anna's Red teammate lowers herself down from above the vehicle and dashes into it from the front, pushing it back right as it was about to pass under one of the robot's appendages. It slams fruitlessly into the sandy ground below, completely missing its target.
>[Anna]: "M-Maria! My Blue managed to hack into their system! Sh-She didn't manage to get to anything important, but it should be enought to communicate with the people inside!"
>[You]: "Good work, send me their code number immediately, let me do the talking."
As you gather up their communication info, the mech briefly takes off into the air via its feet thrusters, landing right next to the vehicle as it's being pushed north. It quickly lifts up its leg and presses against the moving car from above, not enough to destroy it, but enough to press it down into the sand, disabling its movement. You guess it's a safety precaution in case you say anything they don't like. This is REAL bad, the entire mission could go to shit if they decide to put a bit more force behind that leg...

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 1 Candy Bar remaining (Heal 10% Liao)

>>6050280
>Demand to know why they're attacking us, and what their mission is. offer surrender.

While we're engaged in 'negotiations', maybe have our Red rip open this tin can and jump inside for some BLAM!! + ZAM! fisticuffs?

>>6050408
>While we're engaged in 'negotiations', maybe have our Red rip open this tin can and jump inside for some BLAM!! + ZAM! fisticuffs?
I'd leave that for plan B, have Sarah stationed above the high barrier, ready to jump onto the mech and give it the new sunroof it deserves.

I suggest a more diplomatic approach for the negotiations: (first of all, suspend all attacks during the talks) congratulate with their captain, acknowledge that both of us want to end this without bloodshed, briefly explain our objective and ask them to explain their motives.
Propose that their captain shows themselves outside, as a display of chivalry (Violet, you'll be plan C).
Obviously, we mustn't show any sign of weakness!
If possible, give our speech while floating slightly above ground, like a proper angel of the battlefield.

Suggestions/remarks are welcome.

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>[You]: "Alright everyone, temporary truce time! I'm going to attempt to communicate with the mech captain, don't attack them anymore unless they do it to you first!"
While you say that, you send out text messages to Sarah, telling her to climb up the tall hill next to her and attack the giant robotic spider if it shows any sign of aggression. She sends out a long line of laughter and devil emojis and complies.
>[You]: "Ahem ahem, testing! Can you hear me? I'm calling a temporary truce, let's try to talk this out."
The rough voice of an older man comes out from the other side of the radio.
>[Captain]: "Sure, got all the time in the world anyways... Excuse me but, how old are ya exactly?"
>[You]: "Fifteen years old. I'm Maria, the commander of our squad. Could I please get your name, sir?"
>[Captain]: "Jesus Christ, so it really is true... Those Empire fuckers are really bringing out little girls to war... Crazy bastards..."
He just completely ignores your question and starts talking to himself.
>[You]: "A-Ahem, anyways, maybe we can reach some sort of compromise and avoid all this fighting, sir? What exactly do you want with that vehicle?"
>[Captain]: "Eh? We want to destroy the super-computer you're transporting, obviously! Well, our original orders were to steal it, but this here machine ain't exactly made to collect anything, and they said we could destroy it if necessary."
You float upwards into the sky, trying to look more intimidating and in control as you look straight into the mech's side ports, where you assume they have a camera placed since it's blinking red.
>[You]: "Perfect! Now, if you could exit your machine, maybe we can discuss ways to-"
>[Captain]: "Exit?! Hehe, no way girlie! After those outta nowhere bombs dropping outta the sky, I ain't leaving this seat even if ya threatened my family. I don't know what kinda brand of super-soldier-future-terminator bullshit y'all are, but I ain't taking any chances!"
>[You]: "V-Very well, but if you've agreed to our truce then that means you want to talk as well, correct? What are your demands?"
>[Captain]: "Smart kid. Mm, well... Probably shouldn't be sharing this with the enemy, but some shady science folks from command were offering big bucks for anyone that brought back one of those goofy suits y'all are wearing intact. With a bonus if it had someone alive inside, who knows what for, don't care either. So here's the deal, y'all give me someone to bring back home, and I pretend those hacking attempts y'all are spamming at me miraculosly worked and shut down our robot enough for the car to get away. Deal?"

>>6050408
>>6050422
>>6050743
>[You]: "And you think taking in a single POW is more efficient than killing us and taking our armor yourself?"
Of course, your armor with shatter itself as soon as you pass away, but you doubt they know that.
>[Captain]: "Absolutely! You think I'm getting outta this thing and getting blasted in the face by a hydrogen bomb or whatever the hell?! If y'all come in here yourselves that kills two birds with one stone. Plus, I don't wanna have "killed 8 ten year olds" on my resume, y'know?"
>[You]: "What about the foot soldiers surrounding this area? Are you not worried about their safety?"
>[Captain]: "Of course I am, but they ain't in my crew, so they ain't my problem! Whether they live or die is up to them and their commander."
You kind of get what he's saying, you've been basically commanding two squads at once throught this mission and it's definitely been exhausting, you can't imagine commanding dozens and dozens of troops simultaneously while being on the battlefield yourself...

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 1 Candy Bar remaining (Heal 10% Liao)

>>6050744
'Volunteer' Sarah, then have her rip them apart.

Is it a warcrime? Yes. Will it probably work? Hell yes.

>>6050768
But what if they knock her out with anti-Liao gas or something? We're dealing with a smart enemy here.
I'd rather buy more time with probing questions, "don't you have magical girls on your planet?", "a computer is not special or anything, why do you want ours?", then offer to let them surrender and retreat safely.
If they refuse our generous offer, let Sarah do her thing.

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>>6050768
>>6050794
>[You]: "W-Well, why do you need that computer so badly anyways? Is it really worth all the casualties?"
>[Captain]: "Hell if I know, the eggheads say it's dangerous so we need to take it out. Simple as that."
>[You]: "S-Surely a computer can't cause that much damage!"
>[Captain]: "Yeah? Well, before today I thought elementary school girls couldn't cause that much damage either, but would ya look at that!"
>[Sarah(Text)]: "Climbing up the hill, pretty high up now, wat do (devil emoji)?"
>[You(Text)]: "Climb as high as you can and wait until I give you the signal, don't be hasty."
You should probably keep distracting the mech crew while she gets into position, things could get bad if they start blasting towards the hill and the debris falls down on everyone below.
>[You]: "So, you guys don't have anything like us magical girls back home?"
>[Captain]: "Hah, no shot. Unlike you Empire scumbags we don't go putting our wives and kids on the front lines. And, "magical girls"? They're really treating this like it's a joke with a name like that, aren't they?!"
>[You]: "C-Calm down, sir! As you've seen, we're more than capable of defending ourselves. They didn't send us out here just to die-"
>[Captain]: "I'm ain't talking about you combat skills! Kids should be studying and playing with their friends, this is totally unhealthy! I'm telling ya, in a couple of years what you've been through is gonna catch up with ya, and it's ain't gonna be pretty!"
>[You]: "Listen, sir. Please retreat immediately if you want to avoid meaningless deaths."
>[Captain]: "What, ya threatening me now?! Aren't ya worried about your little computer over here?"
>[You]: "Whether the computer is destroyed or not, it will still result in us destroying your mech regardless. I'd much rather avoid unecessary skirmishes."
>[Captain]: "Th-That'd be fine! I-I'm not sure what this computer's gonna do, but I'd be happy to die if it meant helping out my people!"
>[You]: "Really? And does your crew feel the same way...?"
>[Captain]: "..."
Good, that should shake him up for a while. Time to think up a strategy. No way you're offering one of your girls to them, they'd tear her open in a second to do some wacky experiments for sure. And no way you're retreating and failing your mission either, that'd look terrible on your record.

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 1 Candy Bar remaining (Heal 10% Liao)

>>6051111
Time to trigger our trap.
Fire a blast volley directly towards the mech, as a distraction.
Sarah should jump onto the mech's roof and start smashing it.
Ask Anna and her group to defend the vehicle, Red-2 can probably break the leg holding it down.
Lily, Violet and drone-kun should attack the 3 southern soldiers.

>I'm telling ya, in a couple of years what you've been through is gonna catch up with ya, and it's ain't gonna be pretty!"
Poor man, he tried to warn us...

Really sorry for the slow updates but I've just been way too tired recently and I'd rather delay updates than write them while I'm sleepy and have them end up all fucked up. Returning tomorrow.

>>6051751
Don't worry QM, take care.

>>6051111
I still think Red-1 (Sarah, in other words) should jump inside while Red-2 keeps it off-balance and we provide a distraction. CQC!

>>6051751
Bit under the weather? Sorry to hear it!

>>6051949
>I still think Red-1 (Sarah, in other words) should jump inside while Red-2 keeps it off-balance and we provide a distraction. CQC!
Maybe she can do both? Keep the mech off-balance as she breaks the leg blocking the transport?
It would also be nice to capture the mecha in walking conditions, rather than breaking it entirely...

Rolled 2 (1d2)

--Rolling for Friendly Drone--

Rolled 1 (1d3)

--Rolling for Yellow--

Rolled 15, 7 = 22 (2d20)

--Rolling for Red and the enemy mech--

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>>6051167
>>6051949
>*[Pink] uses [Blast Volley!] against the enemy mech while its captain is distracted, the bullets are quickly blocked by its shield system.
>[Captain]: "B-Bastard-!"
You turn off your radio call. Welp, can't say you didn't try to be civil.
>[You]: "Anna, tell your Red to push the mech's leg away from the vehicle, quickly!"
You have to hurry while they're distracted by your sudden advance on them. The moment it clicks on their heads that they're about to lose they're bound to crush that car and fly away from here as fast as they can.
A few seconds later, their Red charges up her POW! and dashes with all her might against the mech's limb, knocking the robot back a couple of feet as it rearranges its legs to balance itself. The vehicle springs back to life and continues to move forwards, with the other squad's Blue sticking to its backside.
>[You]: "Sarah, now!"
>[Sarah]: "Hell yeah!!"
>*[Red] uses [ZAM!] and summons two massive axes made out of Liao!
Sarah jumps from the massive hill into the mech's topside (while its shields are distracted by your barrage of bullets) and begins to mercilessly attack it with her weapons. The mech's turrets fire around in random directions, unsure of what target to attack first.
>[Violet]: "Seeing some enemies coming in from the south, permission to attack, ma'am~?"
>[You]: "Granted! Anna, tell your Red to hold onto that leg as hard as she can until the vehicle is a safe distance away."
>[Anna]: "Yes ma'am!"
>*[Friendly Drone 1] flies towards enemy soldiers fires some energy blasts against one of them, successfully hitting him square on the chest and knocking him down. The other two soldiers angrily shoot down the drone in retaliation.
Out of nowhere a massive pod falls down from the sky and onto the way of your escape route. These are usually launched from orbit by a spaceship and mostly contain supply drops or small automated weaponry (drones, turrets,etc) for extra backup, but this one looks rather large compared to the ones you've seen in the training videos. Well, regardless of what's inside, you just have to blow it up and move forwards. Just a bit more and you're done.

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 1 Candy Bar remaining (Heal 10% Liao)

>>6052342
Manic Missiles from both pinks on the pod, if possible, while a Blue uses a Wide Guard to shield us from the attack's possible backsplash?

>>6053448
I think the pod is just too far away, that attack will likely not yield much success.

Blue-2 stand-by, ready to deploy a Wide Guard (if I were the enemy, at this point I'd blow up the mountain to block the road).

Plus, I'd like to learn the purpose of that pod. Maybe their ground troops requested an emergency escape pod? (If we destroy their escape pod, they'll probably abandon all hope and fight desperately).
I'd rather ask Lily to analyze it first.
Sarah should keep smashing the mech (use BLAM!!), while Red-2 should stay alert and punch it away if it gets too close to the vehicle.
Us Pinks should move south, following the transport in its path, while at the same time firing Blast Volley towards the northern enemies.

If we can get the timing right, the fallen mech will shield us from enemy fire.

Rolled 1 (1d10)

--Rolling for Red--

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>>6053448
>>6053467
>*[Pink] descends south, firing a [Blast Volley] against the northern troops hiding behind the hills.
>*[Red] uses [BLAM!!], greatly boosting her physical abilities!
>[Sarah]: "HAAAH!"
Sarah slams against the mech's metallic shell one final time with her newly boosted attack power, tearing a hole through the robot's ceiling, She lands right in the middle of its cockpit area, surrounded by half a dozen soldiers and the captain, who all turn their attention away from their consoles and screens to stare her down.
>[Sarah]: "Gahahahah! Got ya now bitches- AGH-!! Fuck!"
In a flash, one of the mech's crewmates pulls out a sniper rifle tucked away in between the control panels and shoots Sarah straight through the leg. Blood gushes out for a second before being covered up by the armor's regeneration abilities.
>[Captain]: "Hey, I told you to leave her to me!"
The captain reprimands his subordinate. Sarah attempts to get up but ends up stumbling and falling back down to her knees, the pain in her leg does not go away. "Shit, it's one of those drainy thingies from earlier isn't it..." She thinks to herself in her head.
>[Captain]: "Sorry girl. When you're in Heaven, blame this on your parents."
As Sarah tries to get up from the floor, the captain pulls out a pistol of his own and shoots her right in the forehead. The force sends her crashing down to the floor, landing right on her back.
>[Sarah]: "Gah! F-Funny you say that- Agh! Grrr..."
The hole in her armor covers itself up quickly and the pain goes away soon after. However, the pain on her leg continues to pester her, preventing her from getting up as fast as she wants to.
>[Sarah]: "M-My parents are- Agh!"
Another pistol shot, this time through the left shoulder.
>[Sarah]: "D-Dead! Both of them. N-Nice backstory for a main character right- GAH!!"
The captain shoots her undamaged leg, the armor regenerates like normal, as does the wound. He looks at his opponent with wide open eyes, baffled.
>[Crewmate(Whisper)]: "Sh-She's not going down, even after being shot in the head..."
>[Crewmate(Whisper)]: "Th-They really are monsters..."
>[Sarah]: "I-I can hear that, asshole- Agh! ..."
>[You]: "Sarah! What's taking you so long in there?! I saw you burst through the roof, just break as much as you can and get out of there! Something new just dropped down from the sky and we might need help!"
>[Sarah]: "D-Deal with that yourselves for once- Gah!!"
>[You]: "A-Are those gunshots I'm hearing?! Are you okay?!"
>[Captain]: "N-No parents, huh...? Who put ya up to this, then? Adoptive parents? Gambling addict uncle? Druggie aunt? Some fucked up orphanage system- Woah!!"
The captain aims his pistol at Sarah once more, however the cockpit suddenly begins to shake intensily, knocking him and his crew off balance.
>[You]: "Anna's Red just bashed into the mech, now get out of there while they're distracted!"
>[Sarah]: "G-Gah....Hahah...Hahahahahah!!"

>>6054144
Sarah completely ignores your radio transmission and starts laughing maniacally as a cyan glow envelops her, covering her in a small barrier.
>[Sarah]: "Dumbass!! No one is making me do anything, I'm doing it for myself!! You think gacha money and good food grows on trees or something?!"
Her legs tremble as she lifts herself up and prepares to launch an attack.
>[Sarah]: "I live for myself, no one else! Now, get lost, assholes!!"
Sarah launches forwards at incredible speeds, bashing right through the mech's armor on its westmost side. However, the injury on her leg prevents her from landing properly, causing her to faceplant into the sand below.
The turret placed above the hole Sarah created with her attack suddenly combusts into flames and blows up. From the ground level, you can see the crew inside run around the cockpit in wild panic. The gigantic machine begins to topple down. The pod in the distance glows a bright white and begins to open up.
>[You]: "Th-They're definitely preparing one last attack for sure! Anna, tell your Blue to prepare a wide guard barrier and your Red to grab Sarah! Lily, what's happening with the pod-"
>*schwiiing*
A loud sound akin to a sharpened blade echoes through the air. The spider-like mech suddenly explodes completely, sending huge chunks of debris flying through the battlefield. A large piece of the robot's interior that miraculously managed to remain intact lands on top of the other squad's Red, burrying her lower half and one of her arms into the ground. Their Blue, who did not have time to set up the barrier due to the sudden nature of the explosion, gets off of the armored vehicle's backside and runs up to the Red to try pulling her away.
>[???]: "Maaan... That SPD-R model was like, thirty years old. Truly sad to see it go, so many memories..."
An unknown, deeply obnoxious male voice enters your ears, sounding like it's coming out of a loudspeaker. Where is it coming from? The pod? You look over to where it was just a minute ago, strange, it's not there anymore...
>[???]: "You Empire fucks really don't know how to respect good machinery huh?! Look at that ugly armor y'all are wearing, no style at all! That old school robot vibe really fit the sandy atmosphere too, what a shame, what a shame indeed."
You look back towards the pile of metal covering the center of the battlefield. Something is standing there, about 8 meters tall, standing on two legs, coated in pure white Liao-reinforced plating, wielding sharp blades in both hand. One of the enemy's most powerful weapons, the Yeti. A single pilot humanoid mech.

>>6054145
>[Yeti Pilot]: "Mm- Woah, the loot's safe?! Jackpot~!"
The tall machine grabs the slow moving armored vehicle with its arms and lifts it up like a toy truck.
>[Cutu-chan]: "WARNING! WARNING! Package has been delivered successfully. Please return to your designated escape ships within the next five minutes! WARNING!"
Huh? You hadn't noticed because of the sudden shock of seeing one of the enemy's strongest weapons right before your very eyes, but a loud warning message is ringing out through visor, spoken out by Cutu-chan's squeaky cartoony voice. The GPS app suddenly boots up, directing you towards the escape ship on the eastern side. Does this mean you should just abandon the vehicle and run away? Did the higher ups give up on the mission? Did you... fail them?

What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 1 Candy Bar remaining (Heal 10% Liao)

>>6054146
Failed them? But the package as delivered successfully...

Anyway:
>Have the Blues set up defenses while we unbury one Red and help the other lip to safety. We're extracting.

>>6054150
>Failed them? But the package as delivered successfully...
I suspect we were protecting a decoy vehicle...
>Anyway:
>Have the Blues set up defenses while we unbury one Red and help the other lip to safety. We're extracting.
Pretty much this. In any case, orders are orders and we must retreat.
Violet and Lily: keep attacking the nearby enemies (Sniiipe~, deploy drone), but start walking back towards the eastern exit.
Anna: help rescue her Red.
Us: ask Sarah if she can walk. If she can do without our help, focus on the new mecha.
We shouldn't give him the suspicion that we're abandoning the mission on purpose.
Shoot him in the most-armored point, careful to avoid arms and cargo. Ask the pilot to identify themselves.

Rolled 1 (1d8)

--Rolling for Yellow--

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>*[Pink] moves towards [Red] and lifts her up.
>[Sarah]: "Th-Thanks- Agh!! Sh-Shit... Th-This shit really does hurt..."
>[You]: "Are you okay?! Let me open up your armor so I can-"
>[Sarah]: "N-No time! It's fine, I can walk-"
>[Yeti]: "Heeey~! You two down there!!"
The humanoid robot turns its head downwards towards you and Sarah.
>[Yeti]: "Mmm, let's see~ Which one do I snatch up~? Eenie... Meenie... Miney- Eh, fuck it. The pink one looks cuter!"
A gigantic metal hand coated in white plating reaches towards from above.
>[You]: "A-Anna! Your Blue!!"
>[Anna]: "Y-You heard her!"
The other squad's Blue stops helping out her comrade and starts touching around the tablet screen attached to her right arm. Suddenly a bubble of light blue hexagonal shapes appears around the Yeti. Phew, you're glad she still had her shield settings prepared from her previous attempt! The Yeti bumps its large hand against one of the glowing shapes.
>[Yeti]: "*whistle*~... This is some high grade barrier you got here~! Like some tank-level shit! *knock knock*"
The robot cartoonishly knocks its fist against the barrier like it's knocking on a door.
>[Yeti]: "Heh, and they said I wouldn't need any Liao-based equipment for this! Always underestimating the enemy, no wonder we keep losing... ...Welp! Anyways..."
The mech takes a step back and sticks out both of its sharp blades protruding out of its arms. Parts of its armor lifts up, revealing metallic pockets under its plating, which suddenly begin to glow cyan and dispense a large amount of steam.
>[Yeti]: "...Never hurts to be prepared, right~?"
>[You]: "C-Crap, he's using Liao to power up! Anna, do you think her shield will hold?!"
>[Anna]: "I-I'm not sure! W-We've never used it before in a battle..."
You'll take that as a no, then!
>[You]: "L-Lily, double up her shield-"
>[Lily]: "Hehe~ Already on it, ma'am!"
Right as the mech's blades, coated in a cuan glow and propelled by Liao-based jets which suddenly emerged from the robot's forearms, were about to make contact with the wide barrier, it suddenly started to turn more opaque as its blue glow became stronger. The Yeti slams against the shield using its blades with all its strength, but it only manages to create a crack at the point of impact.
>[Yeti]: "Woah, cool~ *knock knock*"
>[You]: "N-Nice job, Lily!"
>[Lily]: "Hehehe~"
>[Violet]: "Stop giggling, dummy! Help me lift this girl up!"

>>6054678
Violet and Lily lift up the other squad's Yellow over their shoulders. The southern enemies notice this and walk out of hiding. Violet attempts to snipe at them with her rifle, but it proves to be rather difficult to do with only one arm. The enemy lifts up its weapons and aims them at the duo.
Anna and her squad's Blue pull at their Red's arm with all their might, lifting her torso and other arm up from the ground, but still leaving her legs buried below the metallic debris.
>[Yeti]: "Heey~! I still have your little truck thing, in case you forgot! How about you open this shield up and we make a deal, huh~? Wasting millitary money IS super funny, but you did just make me kill a barrel of stray cats just to use that attack and I'd rather not kill the possums too! Or the bonsai tree! Just saying, don't want that on your conscience right~?"

>[Cutu-chan]: "WARNING! WARNING! Package has been delivered successfully. Please return to your designated escape ships within the next four minutes! WARNING!"
What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak / You have 1 Candy Bar remaining (Heal 10% Liao)

>>6054681

Feed our Blue a candy bar and have her attempt a hack on this thing. Get the bullet out of our Red and send her in to gibble a leg if (and only if) the hack succeeds. Either way, get everyone else running.

>>6054164
>decoy vehicle
I think you're right. let's hope the yeti-pilot doesn't realize that too soon.

We're fighting on sand, surely they can free Red-2 by digging around her trapped legs... I don't want to think about the alternative.

If we were in a 90s mahou shoujo story, killing cute animals like that would be absolutely unforgivable...

I propose we have the barrier expand suddenly, knocking the mecha (who is holding a heavy load) off balance.
(Now we could Manic Missiles! towards the mountain directly behind it, causing debris to fall above the mech, but the dust could be a problem).
Then, ask Sarah to make a Liao spear for us, and stab the mech in its vital point (use our flight thrusters to increment the momentum of our attack).

Rolled 5, 5 = 10 (2d8)

--Rolling for Yellow--

Rolled 11, 5 = 16 (2d20)

--Rolling for Blue--

File: CombatEscort20.png (196 KB, 2364x2213)

196 KB PNG

>>6054688
>>6054800
You decide to take off Sarah's armor regardless and remove the bullet, can't have one of your teammates limping around the battlefield. Luckily she feels no shame, so the procedure goes by smoothly.
>[You]: "Hey Sarah, hypothetically, how far do you think you could throw this candy bar?"
>[Sarah]: "Gahahah! I can do you one better~!"
*[Yellow] releases the other Yellow and uses [Sniiipe~] against enemy foot soldiers, shooting them down easily.
>[Violet]: "Phew, that was close- *bonk* Ouch! What the-?"
A rectangular object suddenly smacks Violet on the head from above, startling her.
>[You]: "Lily, eat that candy bar and use your hacking on that mech!"
>[Lily]: "Yes ma'am!"
>[Sarah]: "Hey Rookie, did that hit anyone on the head?!"
>[Lily]: "I-It hit Violet, yes!"
>[Sarah]: "Hah! Told you! You owe me ten bucks."
>[You]: "A-Ah... Wh-Whatever! Anna, how's your situation going?"
>[Anna]: "W-We're trying to pull her out but it's not working!"
>[You]: "Mm, try digging around the sand a bit. You should be able to free her legs that way."
>[Anna]: "O-On it, ma'am!"
>[You]: "You don't need to call me that, we're not even on the same squad!"
>[Yeti]: "Heeey!! *knock knock* Are you just ignoring me?! I'm trying to be nice y'know? ...Eh, whatever..."
The blade coming out of the mech's right arm suddenly changes shape, becoming more cone-like. The newly changed weapons begins to rapidly spin in place, causing a loud mechanical sound to surround the area. The robot once again lifts up its plating and begins glowing and releasing steam.
>[Lily]: "S-Sorry Maria, but the hacking didn't work... again..."
>[You]: "That's okay! Just bring up your shield configurations and get ready!"
The Yeti readies its arm for a potent attack, pulling it far behind its back.
>[You]: "Waaait... Now!"
Right as the drill is about to make contact with the reinforced barrier, you tell Lily to turn her part of the shield off. Without the double protection, the mech easily shatters through the Wide Guard with far more force remaining than it had anticipated. It loses its balance and stumbles forwards, dropping the armored vehicle to the ground on its side.
>[Yeti]: "W-Woah! Interesting..."
>[Anna]: "Your idea worked Maria! We got our Red out of there safe and sound! You're so smart..."
>[You]: "Compliments are for later, get your squad together and prepare to move out!"

>[Cutu-chan]: "WARNING! WARNING! Package has been delivered successfully. Please return to your designated escape ships within the next three minutes! WARNING!"
What will you do? (Check skills here: https://pastebin.com/b7t0P3ak)

>>6055826
>Please return to your designated escape ships within the next three minutes!
What a persistent cephalopod.

Order every magical girl to activate Flight mode and Fly towards the escape ship (we should probably carry Sarah, and the parts of her magical armor we removed earlier).
Anna should cover our escape by firing blast volley at the nearby footsoldiers.
(we could also provide suppression fire as well, but our hands are already pretty full...)
Ask Anna to have a member of her team drop some object which looks like a bomb.
Send a message on an open channel, telling gundam that this isn't the end and we shall meet again on the battlefield.

>>6055896
+1

>>6055826

File: CombatEscortEnd.png (186 KB, 2364x2213)

186 KB PNG

>>6055896
>>6056157
>*[Pink] flies towards the escape ship meeting point, dragging [Red] with her!
>[Yeti]: "H-Hey, wait a sec, little girl! I'm still talking- Augh!"
As the Yeti tries to grab you again with its giant metallic hand, the other squad's Red suddenly dashes into its arm with all her strength, swating it back.
Anna follows behind you, flying alongside her Blue and shooting a barrage of bullets at her backside to prevent any enemies from following her. Both of your duos meet up at the gathering point by the ship, causing its door to swing open and for its hyperspace drives to begin activating.
>[Violet]: "A-And we're here! Man, today has NOT been my day, I thought that was never gonna end..."
Lily and Violet fly into the gatherin area, carrying the other squad's wounded Yellow in their arms. They quickly enter the ship safely strap her onto one of the seats.
>[Anna]: "C-Come on Riley! We're all here at the ship waiting for you!"
You look back over to the battlefield. The Red is flying around all over the place and repeatedly using POW! against the Yeti, preventing it from moving or attacking.
>[Yeti]: "M-Man, these toddlers are actually the real deal huh? Alright, time out, time out~!"
The robot makes a T with its hands, indicating the Red to stop attacking it.
>[Yeti]: "Alright, just so you know, I could totally kick your ass right now if I wanted to... BUT I'm getting bored and we already got the super computer thingie we wanted, soooo I'm letting you go for now! Come on, hurry up back to kindergarten~!"
The Red glares at the mech angrily for a couple of seconds, but after hearing Anna's incessant pleas for her to come to the ship, she simply clenches her fists and reunites with her team.
As the ship starts to slowly fly into the sky, you activate your loudspeakers and give out one final message.
>[You]: "*ahem*... Gentlemen, it was an honor being your opponent tonight. And Yeti, this is not over yet! I promise you, the next time we meet in battle, we will show you what us magical girls are really capable of!!"
>[Yeti]: "........*yaaaaawn*... Mm...Welp, anyways! Finally, time to go home and eat- Hm...?"
As the machine lifts up the armored car with its plated arms, the vehicle begins emitting a low beeping noise. Its armor suddenly snaps out of its shell and slam into the sand below, revealing the inside of the vehicle to be filled with a single, smooth, metallic sphere.

>>6056223
>[You]: "Man... I'm still kind of upset I didn't manage to protect that car..."
>[Lily]: "I-It ended up being a fake or decoy or something anyways, didn't it? At least that's what it sounded like from the message..."
>[You]: "Even so... I just feel like I failed-"
>[Sarah]: "Meeeh! Stop thinking so hard! The only things that matter is that we got out of the alive, and they all sucked ass!"
>[Violet]: "Not how I'd put it, but you're right. You did well, ma'am!*salute*"
>[You]: "...Mhmm-"
>*BOOOOOOOOOM*
You look out your window as a loud explosive sound emerges suddenly from the planet's surface, followed by a large cloud of sand, debris and smoke billowing upwards into the air, spawning from the battlefield you were just in.
Before you can look at the situation with any more detail, the ship's space drives become fully operational and warp the ship far far away from that sandy planet.

--YOU WIN [Ith Super Computer Escort Mission] !--
As a reward, you may pick one permanent upgrade to help you on your next battles!

>Bigger [Movement Range]
>Bigger [Attack Range]
>+1 [Cutu-Chan Crazy Candy Bar!] (Heal 10% Liao per bar)

>>6056224
I vote for the candy bar, useful little item.

Also,
>Sending poorly-trained troops to the front
>Explosive surprise
>What our enemies say about us
>HQ floors full of trash
I'm starting to suspect we might be working for the bad guys...

>[Sarah]: "*nom munch nom*Gahahahah!! What a first mission huh, Maria? *munch munch*"
Before you realise it, you're back in the millitary base's cafeteria, surrounded by your hungry teammates as they scarf down calory-heavy foodstuff.
>[Violet]: "*munch nom*Gonna be honest, I thought we were dead for a second. I can't believe they pulled out two mechs, including the freaking Yeti, just to beat us..."
>[Sarah]: "And they STILL lost! Gahahah! At this rate, this war stuff will be done in no time... Hey, Maria, are you listening?!"
While your companions celebrate your well earned victory, you stare at the other tables surrounding yours. Squads with one, two, or even three teammates missing from their tables. The remaining girls eat their feast slowly, poking at their cakes and puddings with their forks like a little kid does to the vegetables they don't want to eat. You notice a group of grown men walking down the hallway that connects the cafeteria to the west side of the base, carrying with them a black metallic box filled with wires and blinking lights.
>[Lily]: "What was in that vehicle that they wanted so badly anyways? Some kind of computer? That doesn't seem worth the effort to me..."
>[Sarah]: "Geheh,*nom munch nom* maybe it's gonna upload some secret code into our brains that turn us into war machines of death! *gulp gulp* Hah~, that'd be awesome!"
>[Lily]: "Th-That sounds scary!"
>[Violet]: "Don't put any ideas in her head *munch munch*, it probably just allows them to develop stuff faster than they would otherwise... Hey Maria, you should probably eat something..."
You look over at Anna's table, she chats up with her squad as she eats an entire slice of cake in two bites. She definitely looks more confident now than she did on the battlefield. Her Red holds her head in her hand and eats an ice cream sandwich while looking upset, she chokes on it after swallowing too much of it at once, causing the Blue next to her to bursts out laughing while slapping her back. The Yellow is nowhere to be seen.
Like a video going in fast forward, you're suddenly standing inside your dorm room with the lights off. You slowly take off your armor and put on your pajamas as you reflect on today's battle. As you lay down in bed, it begins to play out a soft lullaby and glow a warm, comforting cyan color. Crap, you just remembered how your bed broke last night and woke you up too early, is that gonna happen again? Eh, whatever, you're too exhausted to go ask someone to fix it. You close your eyes and melt away into the darkness of the night

Decided to wait until the thread reaches page 9 so I can make a new one and continue this. It was my first time trying a oneshot and clearly my slow release schedule doesn't really mesh with that kind of quest. We'll be back next week (probably)!
Here's the archive:
>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/6030057/
Thanks to the two anons and any potential lurkers for sticking with this quest for as long as you did, I knew the lack of preset choices would throw a lot of people off but I really wanted to maintain the squad management vibe it has right now, which I think is working pretty well!
Any criticisms are welcome as always, and I'll hopefully see you both next thread!