Operation Day. Codename: Project Hex. Earth's orbit, above Africa. A dozen mecha stood in a large cargo area, dangling from the loading deck of a massive transport ship. The carrier resembled a beige goose with its ducklings huddling beneath a wing for safety. Rena stared at her screen with grim determination. She knew what needed done. But her eyes looked down at the worn picture of Solare stuck in the corner of one monitor. She inhaled deeply, eyes closing as she drew a finger along his visage. "For you. For us," she whispered. The girl's hand reached back and caressed her lips a moment. A memory of a first kiss dancing in her head. "Captain?" came a gruff male voice over the comms. "Time to fly. Go for launch!" Rena commanded. Her demeanor snapped back into combat mode; eyes searching every inch of her view in rapid succession. Witch Protocols now activating read one screen as Rena's mecha pushed its way out into space and toward Earth. Soon all of the team was pushing off into the orbit. "Form on me! Delta formation." The mecha lined up on either side of Rena's machine forming a reverse "V" with the girl as the spearhead. Deploying a small object from the mecha's waist, an expanding silver blanket opened sideways and large enough for each machine to wrap half its body in the stuff on the way down. The group boosted into the gravity well, turning into fiery shapes in the sky. Landing somewhere in the Sahara Desert, the group advanced on the coordinates given them; supposedly a secret base of the enemy had been found. That was as much as Rena needed to know, according to her superiors. A radar began to ping at the given location, but then a second object appeared. It dashed across her radar like only a mecha could. "Heads up, two-o-clock." "Roger that. Damn, that's fast." "I heard they made special mecha that ski on the sand." "Roger that too--same here! I wonder if they--" "Cut the chatter. Sweep the sides and finish it." Two of the mecha boosted forward through the sands, flanking the lone unit. Two laser blasts at just the right moment was enough to waste the enemy's machine. A second after hitting the sand it exploded in a huge fireball, glassing the ground into a shiny crater. Sparing no time to let reinforcements build, the team moved toward a single building. Inside they found a huge cargo elevator which brought them down into dangerous territory. Gone was the blistering heat and whipping sands, replaced with a metal-reinforced cave system in ample, if dim, lighting.

OOC SCENE SETUP Per the rules, I roll a d6 for new episode number and get a 4; adding that to the running total puts us at episode 8. Using Mythic GM Emulator, I rolled "Transform Reality" to help generate a title name. I'll turn that into... Newtype Activate! Next, I roll to see what impossible happening goes on with the Protagonist and the Mecha this episode. Each is a d6. I get a 1 and 4. That means the pilot blacks out in the middle of an unwinnable battle and the mecha speaks to the Protagonist.

T-minus one day from operation. Rena gripped the controls hard as she maneuvered her mecha behind a huge boulder. The joysticks groaned under her strength as a series of lights flashed from the other side of the stone, vaporing a large section of it in a barrage of missiles. "C'mon Rena, give me a real fight!" came Solare's voice over the comms. The girl, barely twenty years old, grit her teeth at the taunt. "You don't really think you're going to win, do you Solare?" she quipped back at him. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to defeat you!" she shouted. A chunk of rock flew to one side, taking Solare's aim with it. He instinctively opened fire with a machine gun, cracking it into multiple pieces. Rena used the distraction to leap into the air and dive the other direction, firing her own gun. A blister of welts opened up on the ground and up one of the opposing mecha's legs. "Dammit!" Solare shouted and tried to dive away, the damaged leg now lagging in movement. A series of blips sounded in Rena's cockpit as her missile pod gained full lock-on. The woman didn't realize it, but her mind was slipping away as she acted on instinct alone. Her thumb clicked a button down to rain death upon her opponent. "Die," she whispered. Six missiles flew up and out, snaking through the air with incredible speed. Solare activated his jets on full, barely getting away as the explosions erupted all around him. The legs had all but been destroyed as the mecha flew away and up into the air, spinning around to open fire with the machine gun again. Rena was too fast, now acting without thought. Her machine dove to the side and took flight as well, nimbly spinning to avoid the hail of bullets. "DIE," she said more forcefully. A small drip of blood came down her nose again as parts of her brain not normally used came to life. Disengaging the empty pod to make room for the secondary rocket, Rena took aim and fired without a lock. She knew it would connect. But Solare had apparently counted on it as the stream of gunfire turned and hit the projectile almost instantly after being launched. A massive explosion of fire and smoke took most of Rena's mecha with it, throwing the machine back to the ground hard. A cloud of lunar dust kicked up and mixed with the smoke to create a thick fog. Alarms blared in the girl's ears as her console lit up with red. The eject system was unresponsive as Rena punched it over and over. With no alternative, she pulled her legs up and kicked at the screens until the door gave way. She coughed as the cloud swooned in and cradled her. A crash a hundred thousandI forgot to adjust for the size difference between pilot and machine... oops XD meters away blew the dust back. Solare's mecha was unable to stand, but could still point its gun. "It's over, Rena. I've won," he said. Silence held the battlefield. The pilot hatch opened and out climbed the loser. Solare stared through his monitor at the girl longingly. A stir of emotions boiled up in him, turning his stomach. "Finish her," came the doctor's voice in both their ears. "W-what? But, she's--" "Are you being insubordinate? I said finish the sortie." "I... y-yes..." A long pause followed as Solare lined up his shot. Another hail of bullets came as he emptied the magazine. But, Rena wasn't giving up; she'd managed to get to the ground and use the machine for cover. Her mind was still connected to what was left of it, like some kind of phantom limb. "DIIIIIEEEE!!!" she howled as the noise of warping metal deafened her. The words Witch Protocols now activating appeared on the cracked cockpit screens. The dormant system at the core of the machine activated; the entire reason for the team's existence. Project Hex. Using only her mind, Rena piloted her mecha as though she were sitting inside. Her nose began to drip blood as her brain used its full capacity. The girl lifted her arm, then opened her hand quickly. With the last of its power, the mecha aimed its arm at Solare's machine. A beam saber shot out of it at high-speed, hidden by the smokescreen until it was too late. The blade of red and gold light ignited as it came in contact with the mecha, piercing its core and sending the hulking machine to its back. Rena wore a manic grin until the connection was severed; her mecha ran out of power as it too slumped over. "S-solare?" she said, finally back to her senses. "SOLAAAAAARE!!!" she screamed, running forward. She clamored up the ladder rungs and ran along the leg to the cockpit, kicking at the emergency release until the door opened with a soft hiss. "You can't be dead! I'm sorry! I didn't... I can't..." she said, scrambling inside to pull him free of the wreck. "I can't do this without you," she added softly, a few tears running down her cheeks, mixing with the blood on her chin. "You fools! You'll ruin this entire mission with your stupidity!" the doctor said, pounding away at his console within the safety of an underground lunar bunker. A final eruption of light overtook Rena's senses as the jet fuel exploded from sparks in the core. The whole thing seemed to happen in complete silence as she held Solare's unconscious body in her arms. Emergency sirens woke the girl. She looked around and was stunned to see the cockpit had survived, blown away from the heaviest damage hundreds of meters away. A crater was all that was left of Solare's machine. The boy looked up at her, himself also barely in his twenties. "W-why..." was all he could say. "I... can't do this... without you... Solare..." was all the girl could respond with.

OOC Some scene setup here. Per the rules, I roll a d6 for new episode number and get a 3; adding that to the previous 1, we are now on episode 4. Using Mythic GM Emulator, I rolled "Passion Illusion" to help generate a title name. I'll turn that into Smokescreen. Next, I roll to see what impossible happening goes on with the Protagonist and the Mecha this episode. Each is a d6. I get a 5 and 1. That means the pilot uses the power of love and the mecha gets a new weapon.  

The cockpit opens with a pop and hiss letting Rena step out of the machine. A wide array of wires and tubes ran from its sides and back to a bay of computers nearby. A man in a white lab coat stares down at the readouts, clearly pleased with himself. A second cockpit opens and the Rena's partner, Solare, steps out. "Rena you've got..." he says, motioning to her lip and nose as he walks toward the doctor. Rena dabs her lip and stares down at the blood for a moment, quickly snorting before she wipes away the rest on her sleeve. She catches a couple of the technicians whispering and staring at her. They both snap their eyes back to computer screens, a hint of fear on their faces. "Very good results today," the doctor says without looking up at the pilots. "I see a promising trend in your data, Rena. I think you're ready for a real test." Solare lets out a small sigh of disapproval but knows better than to speak up. "I'm...I'm ready for whatever challenge comes," Rena says, obviously lying. "We'll see very soon if you are. The Operation starts in ten days. You'll be training every day until then." Rena is clearly taken aback, but like Solare, knows not to talk back to a superior. "Y-yes," is all she can muster to reply. "We start the tests tomorrow at oh five hundred. Dismissed."

Rena climbs into her seat and engages the startup sequence. Another day of virtual reality piloting. "Watch your sidelines!" the man shouts. A spray of virtual bullets peppers a green mecha. "I'm not always gonna be here to watch your ass!" he scolded. The mecha powered down and fell over while walking, crashing in a virtual building. "Solare, I can handle--" Rena starts to reply but is cut off. "Get your head in the game, Rena! It's like you don't wanna be here!" "Of course I do! I signed up for this, didn't I?!" she screams. A doctor watches a readout of Rena's brain waves. A sinister grin grows on his face as he pushes his glasses back up his nose. "We're going to clean the planet of scum and then clean the atmosphere! Anyone fighting against us deserves death!" The woman's virtual mecha bursts forward in a flash of speed, guns blazing. She heads straight at the enemy, spinning and dodging explosions. A spray of missiles flies the right shoulder and hits a building, caving it in. A moment later a bright light pours out of the smoke and a second, more powerful explosion vaporizes the surroundings into a small crater. Rena is screaming the entire time. Blood drips slowly out of one nostril onto her lip. The doctor cackles with morbid glee. Sliding to a stop, the mecha spins in place using multiple angled thrusters. It fires full-auto on a chasing enemy mecha, catching a rocket the instant it is shot. Another explosion crumples the metal into a pile. Throwing the gun to the side, the mecha holds its arm up. A metal rod shoots out of a small pocket under the right hand, igniting with yellow energy a second later. Rena's jaw begins to hurt from clenching her teeth. The beam saber thrums as more foes appear. Rena renders them limb from limb in less than twenty seconds. An electric shock brings Rena back as the simulation ends.

Astral Era Year 134. The Earth weeps from nuclear fallout as her children continue to wage war for fleeting resources. A large rumble shakes the world. Rena Izumi awakens again to visions of war. She wipes a cold sweat from her brow and walks to the shower. A hot shower soothes her uncalm mind, for now. The woman thinks back on what she remembered besides war, but struggles. So much of her mind is strategy and scenarios and blood. A memory comes to her of a field of yellow flowers and a doctor in a lab coat. "Rena, it's for your own good," he says. "But I just woke up. Can't I stay here?" she asks in rebuttal. "I'm afraid not. Come along, and I'll show you something better than flowers," he says, grabbing hold of her hand. She is dragged away. Rena screams and punches a wall, not noticing the doorbell. The pain brings her back to her self and she answers. A man in a similar white uniform as her own waits on the other side, clearly annoyed with a pained expression. "You're late. Again," he says. She wants to snap at him, but something stops her. "I was.. I'm just.." she stutters. "Sorry." "Come on, or we'll be doing extra laps. Again," he says, walking away. Rena grabs a protein bar from her countertop and darts out of her room after the man.

Astral Era Year 134. The Earth is poisoned by nuclear fallout from World War III. Humanity now lives in orbit, or in ever-shrinking pockets of society on the surface. The moon has a sizable city holding a population of four million, named Minerva. Sitting in geo-synchronous orbit are three city-sized space station colonies; Helios-I, Olympus, and 天堂 (Paradise). What resources remain on the planet are fought over using massive weapons of the final war, which never truly ended.