ZetaRESP

The first thing she did after class was done was... well, leave the premises and get out. She was done with day one and she wanted to just go to cry on a corner and stop thinking about it... however, all in all, she had to make a recount of the situation, because that's what she was there to: she had not only to learn, but also to teach, because she was meant to gain the knowledge so her planet could get an upper hand in battle. So, it's imperative she cleans her thoughts and focuses on the lessons. Besides, it was the first day of class and she knew it wasn't gonna be the easiest, as it never is, so she could not just feel defeated by how bad this day was. That doesn't mean she doesn't utterly hate this place and wants to it burn down, because she does. The first day was the worst ever, her performance was subpar less for her not being up to her game and more for her game not being made for this place. Her first battle the way there was bad in her looks, but that was her own fault entirely. Period one was the one she could say was the most normal, but she wasn't sure of what that class was for. Period two involved an actual hazard by a robotic trap triggered haphazardly by the teacher. And after she tried to do her best to a random situation, she was rewarded with a reprimand for the use of her fans, which she certainly misses. Period three, she got reprimanded only because of the looks of her stuff, as it was just a REGULAR NON POWERED FISHING ROD, FOR THE LOVE OF-... yeah, apparently it was the style that screamed "steampowered", but it was her favorite style and she wasn't gonna change it so that was another trouble in gate. Then came the lunchtime with ended with her getting sick with milk and attacked with an entire pantry only because she wanted to talk with one person and to top it off, she did embarrass herself a lot in the term. Fourth period was a freaking chore and she will likely have nightmares with that teacher's "lesson". Then it came the last class, which apparently the teacher hated as much as she did and the entire thing was only to show something philosophical and stuff that she was not gonna delve into, because it was too freaking weird. All in all, the whole "most prestigious school" thing is overblown and she really felt like lowering the bar of what she was gonna learn. She knows she has to do a homework for next week, but she's not even sure she'll last a week, so she's not in the mood for thinking about it. Also, the teacher involved was the second life threat she suffered ever since she touched down, the first being that specter thing from the day prior This entire train of thought basically had her wandering aimlessly, with her music box now held on the belt of her one sleeve leotard and the earphones on, listening to the one song that can soothe her in these moments. She just didn't care what to do at this point...

Erica was hearing everything and was certainly feeling the regret to having even tried to get in there. So far, this was the worst first day she ever had and she was personally branding the entire place into her blacklist. First class was weird, the second one almost killed her, the third one got her apparently in the bad side of the teacher, lunch was a horrible mess, fourth period was torture and fifth period was designed for failure. Among that and what happened the day prior with the whole spirit thing, she was certain this entire place was hating on her. Well, she's stuck in the place due to her duty with her planet and she will not leave until she completes her mission, so the planet better get to the idea that she's there to stay.

Touch looked at the fallen Locomon. "Oh, a Locomon! Touchmon, we need to help it!" Frimon leapt to the Locomon's side and tried to push it back on track with its tail. It... was not going to work right away. Touch sighed and tried to see what could be done with what they actually have in hand. "Well, this sounds like a problem for strong hands. I wish I could help, but well..." He looked at his hands, and then looked at the device in his pocket, the so called Digivice. He thought about what may it do, but was not certain it would activate right away. He pocketed it back and tried to look at the wheels, maybe they can try and remove some branches from them to make Locomon at least be able to roll its wheels, while Frimon tried to hit it over and over with his tail to get it back on track.

As Erica saw the mechs moving upwards, she tried to think on how to handle them, when she noticed the mechs stopping. She was ready for whatever came her way, but then she heard the teacher speaking. Apparently, it was all over. And just as before, she didn't make the impact she expected. Far from it, she was thoroughly blasted and her own Mech was pretty damaged. Once again the feeling of failure came to haunt her. With that, she disconnected herself from the control system and got out of the mech. She was somber the entire way back to the classroom, repeating the battle in her head over and over again. She always did that after any particularly bad match she had in Robattle, but it was more painful this time. It wasn't failing to get to the goal and score points, it was basically a combat situation where she should had been dead. Repeating this was torture and it hurted a lot, but she had to do it in order to understand what were the flaws of the situation.

Erica actually did what she wanted and now she needed to get her wind back. And by that she decided to go super close quarters, by quickly getting up and spraying all the mechs around her with the fire of her dragon head hand in an attempt to stabilize the area around her, though she may also overheat the area around her. Not much of a worry for her mech, of course. She also uses her large sword to break the formations around her and not only clear the area, but also break their standing near her forcing them to either enter close quarters or abandon the area. She's fighting with more instinct and quick ideas than actual planning, but at this point, she couldn't care less. She was mostly blowing up steam with the entire area. She would sometimes hit a few loose rocks and batter them onto the mechs to attack them at a distance or even sing her sword onto those that were the closest. She was a brawler, not a combatant, so her strategy was to just burn everything.

Erica was getting painfully aware of what her surroundings are and how her plan was not really the best sounding. She also realized that the hits she was getting were really going to break hr up if she didn't do something. She tries to assess the situation, but it's hard for her to do so. She's aware of their firepower and position, she's aware of her own surroundings, but she's not aware of how to stop them. Her sword needs time to reconfigure into a rifle, which is the biggest downside of that weapon, and right now she can't do so. Her other weaponry is not for distance and those mechs have the absolute advantage in both field and armament. And while the armor is strong, it's not gonna withstand the damage of another volley of missiles. She feels the urge to surrender and call for help... And just as happened in the previous class, her thoughts of surrendering are shut down as her mind goes immediately into "screw this nonsense" and her mind kicks into high gear. Her plan: not survive, but to wreck some stuff. She immediately turns on the boosters and turns the feet into wheels. This changes her somewhat bulky mech from a slow running leviathan into a dashing leviathan on wheels. She first dashes around in circles to pick up speed, which was actually easier than she expected, due to the fact that outspeeding missiles is somewhat likely. As she finally got enough sped she begins to dash towards the river and the rock formation like an out of control locomotive, the damaged sword serving well to parry enough of the missiles away as she got her objective. The closer she got to the river, she made her mech bend its knees. The idea was probably obvious to anyone, but ridiculous to most people: She jumped over the body of water using physics, sheer speed and her increasing and deepening hatred for this academy to her favor. And once in the air, she actually did something she picked up from the previous class, which was only made easier by the fact most of her mech used hydraulics that simulate motion capture: She curled into a ball and let inertia do its job. It's now a giant ball of heavy metallic plating at speeds that rival most speed-based mechs flying towards a formation of rocks that incidentally serve as the foundation of the attacking robots. The most likely result, in Erica's mind, is a very damaged rock formation and a somewhat less damaged mech.

Erica had clear what to do: She had to fight and she had to survive. Her outfit was the same kind of gymnastic leotard with a ripped sleeve she had from the last class and in her hand was the bracelet to call for her mech. She never thought she would have to get into another battle this early, but she was not gonna get behind. When Erica heard the first buzz and saw the terrain change, she quickly pressed the button to summon her mech, knowing this is the signal she was expecting. As her mech appears behind her, she sees the other mechs in the rocks and she knows the meaning of this. Once Malkin talks to them and gives them the 30-seconds notice, she dashes to the cockpit, climbing the staircase up to the chest, then the staircase retracts and the cockpit closes before she is hooked to the harness of the control station, her legs sitting over pedals while her arms are gripping tightly on the arm manipulators. The engine turns on and the mech comes to life just as she's being aimed. She lifts the arm with the large sword, thinking her first chance is to parry the first blasts with the big sword as she checks the terrain for any cover she can take before trying her plan. As she does so, she turns on the tank legs and moves towards the nearest cover. She needs to find a vintage point in order to switch the sword into a plasma rifle to take on these units.

Erica paid attention to the imagery in front and yes, she was shocked when the mech exploded, but still the message was clear. Mech Combat was more than it seemed at first sight. Apparently, choosing what battles to fight was as good as how to battle them herself. She closed her eyes for a moment and returned to her battle in the Finback. She recalled seeing the pirate mech in front of her and she simply dashed to it, but her mech was not fast, so she basically undid her advantage by going to close combat, especially when the other mech showed up and she got almost outmatched. If it weren't for the firepower she was packing, she would had been done... but she could had made it differently. She had a plasma rifle, she was in the back and the other targets were not protected. She could had taken them out on a distance and that would had worked. She chose the wrong battle and she paid the consequences. She opened her eyes and, when the teacher asked for volunteers for the challenge, Erica walked right to the front of the class. "I will."

After that cruel "class" she had earlier, it came the Mech Combat, which to be honest, she had not real expectancy of being really good at. Because even though her own knowledge of Mech came from combat... well, she's still only a brawler in a pseudo sport that uses pseudo mechs as a medium. To her, this is like getting a street fighter into a martial arts class: they may have talent, but they had nothing to nurture it so far. So the environment of the class and the question that opened it were not unexpected. She was sure, however, whatever she said was not gonna be fine, so she just went with bluntness. "I personally have no idea what do you expect me to answer. I'm a robbatler, so I technically never do combat and I never use a mech that's larger than twice the height of a man. I only used a mech in a combat situation exactly twice: A "test drive" for my mech once it got built and a pirate assault defense back in the Finback. The former can't even qualify as a "combat" and in the latter I personally think I did not give my best and I was foolish, and even then it was only because I wasn't alone and those pirate were cowards that I made it alive and almost in one piece. So, no, I don't really think I can give an answer about something I just studied a bit and only experienced once, so I limit myself to what I know from Robattle and it's basically what I know of combat in general: Do the best to be the best or get trashed and get lost. That's all." With that, she simply sat down. Her expression had slowly over the course of the classes, which for her were pretty much a pain in the rump, gone from simply emotionless cold to "disturb me at your own risk" cold. Behind that, she was pretty much embarrassed and upset and she was certainly glad this was the last class of the day.

Erica was confused about the sport, mainly because she only knows of football, baseball and volleyball. The latter is more her alley, but the former is used a lot in Robattles. After all, kicking a ball is something every frame can do. Of course, it's harder in the frames, because you actually need to be able to handle the slower movement of the big bulky robotic suit in order for you to kick the ball. In fact, the only reason her legs were good enough to do wall jumps is because of the exertion of kicking the big rubber ball with a motion suit in a way that it works. She heard the soccer was played a lot in the higher systems, so maybe it can be related to this "higher football" she heard about, which wasn't football at all.

Erica saw the course and saw the people trying it. She was pondering the chances to actually feign sickness to avoid it, only for that part of her brain to be repeatedly shot down and removed from the equation. She already got harmed, embarrassed and even humiliated by this school. This is her chance to blow some steam. She approaches the starting line. People are probably wondering how will she run in a "robe", but she has it covered. She takes running stance... and in one quick motion, she discards her kimono and underneath it she has a red gym leotard with a kind of bronze colored band in the waist like a shiny corset and a pair of flats with bronze colored soles. At closer look, the soles are just colored brown with slight glitter and the corset is also not metallic, but made of fabric. Of course, she wouldn't let them a closer look as she quickly dashed off through the starting line. Erica saw the poles and knew the intention was to try and leap on the top of the poles, but she actually decided to leap to the actual pole and grab it, then swing to a different pole using the pole's natural flexibility and reach this way the other side. She was no grasshopper to leap all on her tiptoes. In fact, her tiptoes may be dangerous and she wasn't gonna risk a fall in concrete. The laser chamber was a problem because it needed precision and speed as well more than physical prowess. But she was in a rush, so she decided to take advantage of the fact she was basically smaller not only than everyone around her because of her age, but also smaller than the average 15 y-o girl. She leapt to the wall to avoid the first lasers and then went to the first platform, quickly taking a stance similar to a frog before frog leaping from platform to platform. She did it because the size required she was as little as possible and she wasn't gonna risk to see if the moat was actually filled with lava or not. She hated the crawl thing ever since she had her drill training before heading in. She was gonna do it differently this time. She gripped the wires themselves and dragged herself using her feet to push. Her arms started tiring half way, but she didn't give up and kept pulling to the best of her talent. She was also getting increasingly dirty. But in the end, she made it. She will try to do them the regular way next time. The wall was something she was used, but the whole use of the shocking tiles was kind of strange. She was not gonna climb it bare handed and to top it all off, some of the tiles were shocking? Screw this thing. She took the rope, took a deep breath and jumped, then used the momentum to spin and roll the rope around her waist. She then slowly began to wrap the rope around her, the reaction causing her to climb up. She was not as strong as she would like to, but sometimes she didn't need to. Once she reached the top, she simply pulled the rope wrap down and she got out of it like if it was a tight skirt. She saw the students going before her and saw the robots, but she was already planning to speed up. As she got to the first pendulum, she actually leapt to it and did the same thing as she did in the first stage. She came to realize that running a marathon against a robot was not her forte, so she had to think outside of the jar. She almost falls once, but her foot actually hooked her to one of the pendulums and the swing tossed her back in the proper bridge, where she simply ran and dodged the final pendulum. Being chased by flamethrowing robots... what was next? Battling a sumo? ... and she immediately regretted her thoughts as she saw the thing coming for her in the final test. She saw the pathways being blocked by the heavy weights and she expected that the idea was to move the weights and avoid the sumos as she would go forward. The main problem is, obviously, the weights, which seem already complicated for any of the other kids, but for Erica is almost impossible to lift. She tried, indeed, but she can't seem to pull it up. She looks down and then to the sumo in front. She tries to lift the weight for a while, but it's unfortunately too much for the little girl. So she won't even try to play fair against this death trap. She takes momentum and dashes off, not before vaulting over the weight and using it as a leverage to leap over the sumo. Her first attempt, of course, the sumo grabs her, so she simply holds tight to the sumo and, the moment it lets go, she pulls off and back to the start of the path. This time, she rushes back, dashes in and when the sumo incomes, she slides underneath it, thanks to her small size and rolls over the next weight. Same thing she does immediately after and barely manages to make it, her leotard is snagged by the shoulder so she loses a sleeve and the shoulder clothing almost up to the neck. She's not happy about that damage, but she likes the style she got. She goes the slide down and manages to do it... in roughly 1.5 times the time of the person right behind her. Well, she's unlikely to win any prize, but she really wants nothing to do with it right now, she just wants this class to be over.

Erica quickly got on her feet after all that mess. She was a disaster and also very embarrassed by the way she crash landed on the floor from the table. She went quickly to the bathroom to clean herself. After a quick impromptu wash, at least the milk smell wore off her. She decided to ditch her current clothing, due to the lots of stains in it, and pull out from her bag her kimono and knee high boots in order for her to be presentable for her next classes. She was not gonna let a bunch of oranges and other assorted foodstuff to make her miss a class.

Erica was certainly embarrassed about this, even though she did notice the food's physics being altered by his presence, she was way too focused on him. She even felt her face get hotter as he replied to her, even if she tried to keep her cold demeanor and expression, her face was glowing red like a traffic light. She, of course, understood that it was no time yet for it and she was determined to test herself, whatever that was, so she only nodded Then he did the countdown and, at that moment the vice principal entered. The moment she called everybody's attention, she rushed to her feet to salute... and tripped with a puddle of sausage mush, began to lose balance and fell from the table to the floor flat on her face, which was now emitting steam from the redness it was sporting. She really loathes food fights.

Erica breathed deeply once she began to feel better. She was confused about what happened, but after Merlin signaled her, she didn't press comments. She sat down and, while feeling a little embarrassed and also still a bit heavy, she focused on her petition. "I... want to be part of your house..." Erica was very proud of herself and doing this was still very hard. "I am a good mechanic and fighter, or at least I believe so myself... but my social understanding is less than average and I do not have enough to move around in this place. I..." her embarrassment reaches "glowing tomato" levels. "I... need your help..."

Erica left the table once the onslaught died down and headed to where Merlin was. Of course, the titanic effort of moving a table like that and the amount of pressure due to the fight were enough to sap her strength, so she was barely able to join his table and eventually fall flat on her face at his feet, her energy having totally burnt. She looked up at him, trying to keep her sternness even in the face of absolute exhaustion and even with her body covered in various alimentary products. "I... wanted to... talk to you... about your-URKH" She suddenly felt like gagging. Much to her chagrin, she had a bit of allergy to the smell of milk. Only the smell, though. In fact, her sense of smell was badly reacting to a lot of products in her person, causing her gag reflex to trigger.

Erica looked back and she was feeling really overcome with the attacks. The soda geysers, the sausage chains and everything were being too much for her and she was not liking it. She was getting really tired and she felt she should surrender right there... but the moment that thought crossed her mind, she went into hyperdrive. "SURRENDER NEVER!" was the motto the general drilled into her mind when she was in the basic training in order to get into the MechA cademy. She took it to heart. Surrender never. She felt a rush of energy come to her mind, to the point she grabbed a table to stop the food as she approached Merlin's table and attempted to get into "safety".

Erica was already in self defense mode, she just adjusted her speed to avoid more stuff. She was not liking this a bit, so she did the only thing she could do in the moment: Grab a nearby chair and use it as a makeshift bludgeon. She would use it to block and parry the food that was coming her way as she tried to approach Merlin. She even got to the point to double wield chairs. She was not worried about getting dirty, but food was not entirely soft and some fruits may be hard to handle. Of course, she tried to measure which food was worth avoiding and which food was worth blocking, in order to not tire, but she nonetheless parried as much food as possible away from herself.

Erica was understandably not feeling like gathering into the mess of the food battle, but she was drawn into it because she was hungry. And she decided that, to avoid being hit, she had to play her game. She closed her eyes for a second and when she opened them up, she imagined everyone was wearing robotic battle frames and she decided to play with that. She rushes through the battleground, blocking and parrying the attacks with her bare hands as she rushes along, no longer caring if she pulls out movements out of "Cyber Shinobi Ramen-Kun", she has to get through the mess. She leaps over the tables, flips around the chairs and basically does her best to keep moving. She tries to find out if Merlin is still around. Yes, she felt she had to speak with him, as she's pretty much feeling directionless right now. The classes are not going as she expected, specially because her way into mechanics was... rather unconventional if speaking charitably, very wild and disorganized if speaking bluntly. And she cannot allow that to happen. She NEEDS to get the best she could because she's basically representing an entire population in the school. And, much to her chagrin, she needs a lot of help in areas she originally considered non important.

Erica looked at the teacher and despite not showing it, she was absolutely confused. Then she stops for a couple seconds and realizes she refers to the look of the device and how it is steampunk in look. She then sighs. The look of her invention was once more deceiving everyone around. She then sees her table mates giggling at the teacher's retort. Erica was not really amused by them, sho apparently created together what seemed to be a mechanical hand. She didn't say anything and simply looked at the rod she made. It was a fine rod, no matter what the teacher said or the giggling of the others. She looked at them in the eye and simply began to clean up the desk from what pieces she didn't use. She didn't even care to correct the teacher. She really didn't feel like talking back to a teacher right now.

Erica took a while to finish, if only because she took a while on realize that the others were kind of weirded out by her, so she finished her own invention on her own. It wasn't much, it was only a fishing rod with a claw instead of a hook, but it looked like a steampunk styled robot arm instead. Erica has some issues with making stuff in a way that is NOT steampunkish. She really like the look of stuff like that. Erica finishes her invention and immediately sets it to see how it worked. The line seems to be working well and the pressure sensitive claw is doing its job to pick up the stuff and keeping it tightly held. The release system, which is to fully reel the claw up and then using a lever in the rod to let it go, was working well so far. She was fine with this, so she just waited until she had to show it to the teacher.

Erica sat in a table, not really seeing anyone who's name she had learned... of course, she only knew like 6 names, mainly Xa'tok, Sammi and Bianca, but none of them were there. She looked at the toolboxes and began to see what the tools were in there before the teacher was dragged in. 'Well, at least this class is not likely to kill me...' She waited for the class... only for the teacher to reveal raw materials in a hidden wall. She was somewhat surprised, but she went to the wall and did grabbed something. As she saw the stuff in there, including a bunch of metal parts and all, she thought for a second what she could make with all this. She went, of course, for the gears and the most rustic looking pieces of metal, she was gonna make something that was mostly decorative, but had some function, but she wasn't decided what. She then saw the microwave thing and picked it up. she then went to the table and... well, for once, she decided to see who she was with. "So, what do you all think?"

Erica gave the teacher her remaining fan reluctantly... very reluctantly. She already lost one in the battle with the robot, which she observed was really ancient, even more than what little culture her own nation had, and losing the other due to this rule was really not good in her mind, specially after what happened in the elevator. This and the fact that already two classes in and she ended up fighting a robot and a dog was not good. However... she doesn't feel that bad about the fights themselves, but about the fact she was disarmed. "Understood, but if the next classes kill me, I must warn that you shall be the target of my future haunting. I hope you understand." After deadpanning that in the most serious mono-tone she could muster, she bowed and left for the next class, not having checked who her partner was yet, but having some sort of idea of what she can do her work around...

Erica was not really well with the cold rush, but she was well enough to sit, her legs feeling a bit numb. She was at least fine everyone was at least in one piece. After she saw her roommate dealing with the thing, she was able to understand the kind of artifact: not even the oldest machines made in her homeplace had a separate power source. It didn't even have batteries inside, it disconnected from the coffin and was out of service. It was something really old. Still, it was loaded with equipments, made for war. Or Robattle, she assumed, as it only needed a pilot and may wreck havoc all over the stages in Asari. It was also intelligent enough to know who actually took the device in the first place. she was sad about her battle fan, but she was still in one piece. 'Maybe I should install electric pulse systems on my war fans for a change.' Yeah, she wasn't able to move away from that idea. Then the teacher thought about the questions and all and she had one, with her most serious deadpan tone... "Are you planning on bringing more of your expeditions next class? I may need to upgrade my war fans by then." Yeah, it was THAT kind of question.

Erica was tossed aside by the thing in front of them after the teacher spoke about weaponry. "Well, I'm sorry for trying to stay alive." She still had one of her metal fans, but wasn't gonna help much against the robot like that. When the "one" turned out to be the teacher she got up from her position and watched the things unfold in front of her. What could she do now? She then heard Chase speaking and mentioning the back of the robot. After a couple seconds, she realized that... well, it was kind of obvious. She got up and quickly ran to the robot. The advantage of being a Robattler is that her "robot" in there is more of a power suit, so she pretty much does the motion herself. She ran to the robot's arm and vaulted from it in order to land on top of the sarcophagus and see what was behind the robot. If it was a wire or a battery, she would stab it with her war fan.

Erica is surprised when her former roommate dangles something in her head. She doesn't worry about it much, as she learned to respect it and the charm was cute in her mind, so she left it. Then she began to open the latches of sarcophagus, something that actually gave her a bit of tension as she was unlatching the thing, the cold of the object not helping. As soon as it began to open after the last latch came out, she took her hands to her hips. In them, an eagle eyed person would see the steampunkish handles of her war fans on her hips, though they may not notice what they actually are until she draws them, only the kitty decor chain on the hilts. When the mechanoid scans her and attempts to grab her, she pulls out her metallic fans and uses them to try and swat away the hands of the mechanoid, getting into defense position immediately. "Do not inch one step closer!"