Video Games

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

Hayato is in the White Chalice Commons area, setting up a VR kit of the type Gainer always seems so fond of and looking a bit like your grandad when confronted with a DDR pad. Being aloof and mysterious is all well and good, but every once in a while you've got to remind the younger generation of their place. And truth be told he missed piloting. This seemed like a relatively harmless way to indulge in a bit of nostalgia.

By the time his challenger got there, he was pretty sure he had everything set up right.

[The match with Cynthia is being projected on a nearby TV. So watching is totally possible.]

Comments

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

All right, old man, is this your first time with Overbattler? I'll go easy on you until you learn the controls, but it's pretty similar to your standard Overman configuration.

[By which she means, two virtual sticks control everything.]

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

I can figure it out.

[He slips the goggles on and picks up the joysticks.]

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

[Cynthia's avatar appears to the side of Hayato's interface, talking with him.]

So you say. But don't forget, I'm a national-level champion at this game!

Hm...there's no proper Getter Machines in here, but maybe you'd do well with a high-speed flight type?

[Cynthia's chosen a well-balanced machine, with stats tuned slightly into more speed and melee attacks at the cost of defense.]

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

[Hayato looks over her choice, then over some of the other options. Eventually he shrugs and goes with the one Cynthia selected, dropping him into the battle arena.

While he waits for Cynthia to show up, he starts zipping around, getting a feel for the controls, running into walls a few times.]

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

[Cynthia shakes her head, watching her opponent flounder around from a high vantage point. She fires a warning shot, intentionally missing Hayato's Overbattler...]

Here I go!

[Then she dives towards him, the sun at her back!]

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

[Hayato's Overbattler spun around wildly for a second longer than was wise before figuring out where she was coming from, then started accelerating towards her with some kind of glowing sword at the ready.]

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

[Cynthia's blade clashes with Hayato, both machines taking damage and flinching from the blow!

Cynthia de-targets the machine in front of her and swings again. Her mech won't have a starting dash before it's swing this way, and she'll strike faster. It's an advanced technique a novice would have no way of knowing about!]

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

[It works flawlessly, taking off Hayato's machine's leg at just above the knee. He tries to track her with the machine guns on the shoulders that are this overbattler's only ranged weapons.]

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

[Cynthia boosts up, her own Overbattler dunking Hayato's with a kick to the top of the head. She fires a shot straight down, dealing a critical hit...]

[SHOT DOWN appears on Hayato's screen, along with a respawn timer. He can choose several respawn points.]

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

Okay, I think I see how this works...

[Round two. The totally-not-a-gundam that is Hayato's machine reappears behind a building. It flies up to the top and comes down on top of Cynthia in a copy of her initial attack in the first round. Still a bit clumsy, but he's acting with purpose now rather than simply reacting to everything she does.]

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

[Cynthia's caught by surprise for a moment, not seeing the opposing machine until it's nearly too late! She manages to boost back at the last minute, but now her back's to a wall. Her machine's still a bit damaged from the earlier attacks, as well.]

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

[Hayato pushes the advantage, but his attacks have weird opening in them. It's pretty clear that he's running into a problem of the overbattler he's using isn't moving as fast as he wants to.]

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

[As he swings at her, Cynthia drops down, boosting below Hatato's legs. She fires back up behind him, her melee weapon catching his backside for critical damage...and bisecting him in two vertically.]

Maybe you should try a different machine...that one doesn't really seem to fit your playstyle.

[Hayato's looking at another SHOT DOWN message. He notices that he can choose beween several other Battlers while he's waiting to respawn, with different combinations of attack, defense, speed, melee, and ranged power.]

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

I can change mid battle? Well then.

[Next time Hayato pops out, he has a rather different machine. This one has basically no defense to speak of, medium attack power, and is generally not popular due to being too fast for most players to be able to control without running into walls all the time. For the moment his new mech, armed with a lance, is standing still, waiting for Cynthia to make the first move.]

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

Eh? The Blitz Valkyrie? No one uses that thing, it's too fast to properly control!

Newbie mistake. Ah well, it's still his first game...

[Cynthia advances on the Overbattler, firing off shots from her main gun.]

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

[The Blitz Valkyrie zipped off towards Cynthia in an elaborate weaving path around the streams of shots from her main gun. It took one or two glancing blows, but was right in front of Cynthia unnervingly fast. There was a lightning fast strike, then it was gone, continuing on behind her.]

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

Wha? How can he even control that speed?

[She'll be down with another attack like that! She tries to spin, her game's computer having no issue keeping up with the machine, but her own eyes, not so much...she panics, and does an inverted barrel roll with her blade extended!]

Spin attack!

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

[Getter-2 Hayato's overbattler was long gone by the time Cynthia's counter attack came. A few more flybys didn't have any attacks hidden in them, but they did fill the air with smoke trails, and they made it almost impossible to tell where Hayato was.]

If you heard so many stories about the Getter, you should know what Getter-2's specialty was.

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

[Cynthia's facepalming now. Of course she knew that Getter-2 was nearly unmatched at speed...no wonder this guy could fight like this.]

Guess you've finally shaken the rust off, eh?

[Cynthia's trying to keep up and predict Hayato's movements, but she's just wasting ammo at this point, firing at thin air.]

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

[And then, just as Cynthia's fire rate started to drop to conserve ammo, Hayato came up from directly beneath her with one more lightning fast lance strike aimed at the small of her back as he flew past.]

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

[Congrats. You're the first person since Gainer to make her see the respawn screen. Cynthia groans and rethinks her strategy. She didn't have the reflexes to match that speed, or she'd probably be as scarred up as Hayato was. Maybe she could tank it?]

Let's try this, then.

[She changes units to the Steel Lotus, a super slow overbattler that focused on defense and throwing out large amounts of low damage danmaku. It's the closest thing she can think of to a hard counter, though it's hardly something she's used to using.]

[Spawning on the ground, she lets loose in Hayato's general direction, filling the air with anti-air beams. This game's just become a bullet hell.]

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

[Hayato closed in as much as he could, but couldn't get close with all those bullets. He did his best to drive her into a corner between the walls of two ruined buildings, though. If he could just get her close enough...]

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

[Cynthia's forced to keep moving back, and finds herself suddenly closed in. Her ammo's starting to run low, as well. How does he keep dodging?!]

[Her spellcard attack is ending! There's a narrow gap you could slip through!]

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

Yet the gap wasn't exploited. In a moment, the Blitz Valkyrie was gone.

Before Cynthia could figure out where it had gone, the wall behind her exploded and her overbattler got a lance in the back.

[g4merqu33n.livejournal.com]

[That shouldn't even be possible! He'd attacked from outside the game area?!]

[Cynthia grumbles as her machine goes down. The game had probably bugged out from Hayato's raw speed and erratic brainwaves...]

[She sighs. There was only one choice left...who knows, maybe she'd be able to handle it with the piloting she'd recently been doing.]

[Hayato's facing a carbon copy of his own Blitz Valkyrie now. It's pink to differentiate.]

It's the last round, first to 3 points wins it. Don't you dare hold back, old man!

[space-mcgyver.livejournal.com]

Didn't know you were a fan of video games.

[Lowe wasn't present at the wedding, instead using the peace and quiet to mark as many units in the hangar with his name as possible do some regular maintenance work. But now he's done, and he's here.]

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

I don't, normally. But it's worth trying new things every once in a while.

[space-mcgyver.livejournal.com]

Heh, well said! Just don't expect to beat all the champs right from the start... the ship seems to be crawling with them, by the way.

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

Of course not. There's a huge gap between this toy and actually piloting. That's why I can do this at all.

[space-mcgyver.livejournal.com]

Speaking of which... I don't mean to pry, but any reasons you're not piloting anything anymore Commander?

Any reasons I can know and won't force you to kill me, that is.

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

Cumulative effect of hundreds of small injuries combined with the incredible stress of piloting the Getter for years on end. If my body takes that kind of stress for much longer, I'll almost certainly die.

[space-mcgyver.livejournal.com]

Getter doesn't fuck around, does it.

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

I keep telling people that but they never listen. They act like it's some big game.

[He gestures at the Overbattler rig]

THIS is a game! Mobile Suits are toys. The Getter is...it's more than a just a machine, more than just a power source.

[space-mcgyver.livejournal.com]

[Man, that struck a nerve - and reminded Lowe of that one time when he almost smuggled Kei to Shin Getter's hangar. Wonder if Hayato knows about this...]

Well, yeah. Still, as long as it's on our side...

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

[More than he meant to let out. His face returns to it's normal mask.]

We'll find out in the end.

[saikyocivrobo]

That's one person I didn't expect to play a video game.

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

Even I need to work the rust out every once in a while.

[saikyocivrobo]

Are you playing alone, or looking for some fools to beat down soundly?

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

Ms. Lane wanted to see the skills of a former Getter Pilot in action.

[saikyocivrobo]

And the result? Somehow I don't think she was disappointed.

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

I like to think I held my own reasonably well.

[saikyocivrobo]

Well, if you want to fight against someone else, there are also people who haven't spent their whole life playing that game. Like me.

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

I don't think this is going to be a regular thing.

[saikyocivrobo]

Well, if you'll be looking for more people to play with one day, you know who to call then.

[getter-class.livejournal.com]

Just about anyone on this ship.

[saikyocivrobo]

Touche...