619/Molly's Boot Camp

Molly's Boot Camp
Date of Scene:	20 October 2023
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Molly and Chrono have their first training session together. Chrono... has some stern words for Starcrash.
Cast of Characters:	Chrono Harlaown, Molly Skyline

---

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown was waiting, sitting on a large rock in the same field outside the city he often did. His arm felt better now (sprains were much easier to deal with) and now it was finally time to train with the last of the device mages he knew of. Molly.

Well, there was also... a few others but they weren't really ones he'd be training. Ever.

He'd sent Molly directions on where to meet with him and now seemed to be in meditation, waiting for her arrival.

Currently, however, he was still a bit miffed at her device. The focus purely on offense, not enough defense... he had half a mind to make good on his threat to it. He wasn't always the nicest enforcer when devices decided to put their user at unnecessary risk.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly arrives promptly. Early, even; if the British reputation for being fashionably late is deserved, then at least it doesn't apply to her. Since they're in the countryside, she seems to have indulged herself in using Starcrash to get here as well, and is flying, albeit low to the ground. No need to throw up what might amount to a neon sign five hundred meters up, when she's just on the way to a training session and too lazy to walk the last half a kilometer.

The purple-haired girl lands in front of Chrono, and rests her staff across her shoulders, behind her head. And here, Molly's true weakness shines through: She has absolutely no idea how to great someone in this particular situation. So you've been offered a training session by a kid who works for an agency that protects the multiverse from threats that might destroy it, and you're getting said training because you've found a magic device that turns into a staff, turns you into a magic girl, and maybe cares a bit less than it should if you get broken bones in the process?

What do you say, here?

"Uhh, hi," she says. Real smooth.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown looked up at her and then slowly got to his feet. "Hello again, Skyline-san," he said. "So then, this is our first training session and the point of these are to give other device users some proper TSAB training. While I'm not fully able to serve as a full instructor, I can give enough training to hopefully ensure you're ready for the dangers you'll face out there as a device mage."

He then glanced to her staff. "Additionally, we're going to run over some basic shielding techniques. Before we begin, can you tell me what spells your device has taught you to use?"

And then, in a far, far harsher tone... "Starcrash, what spells are you capable of that you *haven't* taught her?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly gets over being flustered. And, right, that's how things work in Japan.

"Right, Harlown-San," she answers, managing to remember her manners at this point. (Japanese manners, specifically, not British onces.)

She shifts her staff from her arm and plants it with the butt-end by her feet, and the big blue jewel up in the air. "Uhm, so far, I know Solar Beam, which is..." She pauses. What do you really say about that? "A heat ray, basically. Sol Barrage, which is essentially the same thing but instead of a ray, it's a series of... Barrets, I think Rashmi called them, which I can configure, like, I can make them home in." She pauses, "Unless someone manages to reflect them like Sunbreaker did and I end up with them homing in on *me* instead, which was sorta embarassing. Uhm, there's Eclipse Beam, which is another ray but it's really darn cold, Nova Shockwave which is a kinetic blast, and I can also fly and shield myself." She bites her bottom lip, "Those two seem pretty basic though, like Starcrash only wants to do them because he recognizes that being in the right place to shoot and not being taken off the field early both mean I can do more damage.

<< I OBJECT STRONGLY >>

"You can object all you want," Molly sighs, "But I'm pretty sure it's a fact."

<< I REMIND YOU THAT YOU IGNORED MY WARNING TO SHIELD YOURSELF AND SHIELDED SOMEONE ELSE INSTEAD >>

Molly sighs, and pinches the bridge of her nose. Having an argument with her own device before her first training session has started seems like an amazingly inauspicious start. "Just... what else can you do that you haven't taught me, like Harlown-san asked?"

<< OTHER KNOWN SPELLS INCLUDE VOID EDGE, SOLAR SHELL, AND AURORA BARRIER. NO OTHER SPELLS AVAILABLE DUE TO MISSING MEMORY BANKS. >>

"...And how come you've never told me about THAT before?!"

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown gave a nod and then... "Ah... right. You're not Japanese, are you?" he asked before scratching his chin. "What name is more comfortable for you? I'm actually from Midchildia, so I've been adapting to what people prefer in this case."

"Now then, about your training... a device is meant to be the assistant to the mage, not the other way around. Starcrash, your highest priority should be to keeping your mage safe. However, there are times where a mage may tell their device to focus on keeping someone else safe. Now, it seems you have a lot of temperature control spells, which is fortunate. Temperature control spells are actually my specialty, along with binds. But before anything else... the most important thing is to ask this. How do you WANT to fight? What manner are you most comfortable with? It sounds, currently, like Starcrash is specced more for artillary combat. But that doesn't necessarily mean that's what will work best for you."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly pauses, of course she's not Japanese, isn't that-- Oh, right, Chrono is 'not from around here' in a way that makes her version of 'not from around here' basically seem like she lives next door.

"Honestly, back home you'd just call me Molly, and that's fine by me," she replies, "But I'm trying to get properly used to how they do things here, 'cause I don't want to be disrespectful, so either way is fine by me."

<< MY USER IS CURRENTLY QUITE SAFE. >>

"Starcrash, you're being a dork," Molly points out. "Honestly, artillery combat works for me. Standing back -- well, ideally standing back, anyway -- and dishing out all the offensive power I can feels... pretty good? Especially when I'm in a team. Rashmi is amazing to have around and when we fought Sunbreaker, even though I was pretty badly affected by her magic, Rashmi was able to keep me in the fight." Right up until she got burned to a crisp, of course; which Molly doesn't mention, but her expression betrays how heavily it weighs on her.

"But I feel like if I'm going to do that, I need either better mobility, or better defense." She pauses. "Maybe both."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown gave a small nod. "Indeed. Artillary mages depend on a wide number of skills in order to perform their duties. Allies are useful, but cannot always be depended on. Speed in order to maintain your distance, binds to lock down a target long enough to strike them with a blast, large mana reserves in order to not over extend themselves and, of course, the ability to defend themselves against different tactics. In an ideal situation, you wouldn't be alone and could instead focus on launching long ranged support."

"But life is rarely ideal and a proper training regime will help enable you to make do." He glanced around and... "I'll give you a three minute time period to get ready." He held up his staff and... and barrier formed around the zone. Taking all non-magical creatures with it.

"Feel free to fly up and get whatever distance you feel comfortable with. The goal will be for you to try and keep me at a distance." He started to fly, up into the air. "If you can get me to the ground, you 'win', as it were. I'll be launching my own long ranged assaults and trying to get close. You *do not want* me to get close. I will be trying to get a hold of you and ground you as well. If you touch the ground, you will 'lose.'"

He then gave her a small, gentle smile. "You're not expected to win, however. This is training. Just do your best and it should give me a clear idea on which skills you require more practice with. From there, we can setup a proper training regime."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly Skyline watches as Chrono creates the barrier, and ohs, "Right, I forgot. Starcrash can actually do this, too. I guess that's important." She takes a step backwards, and stretches, rolling her shoulders and flexing her arms. "Just because I'm not gonna win, doesn't mean I'm not gonna try *real hard* to win," she points out. "Don't you dare go easy on me."

She half-crouches, and launches herself into the air, taking off to find a pretty significant altitude. Higher than she's gone before, honestly; and she makes use of that three minutes to get some serious distance.

Afterall, she figures, she can always get closer. But getting further away means turning her back and that's less than ideal.

"Alright, Starcrash, this is *training*, so we're not trying to pulverize his skeleton or anything, right?"

<< NOTED >>

Please, don't forget. Also, can you pre-load a program? Sol Barrage, set for homing?

<< ARMED >>

"Oh good, thank you."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown chuckled and gave a small nod. But it was training, he was NOT going to go full tilt on her. He never did. But he was going to take it seriously. He didn't... do things... non-seriously.

But if he went full tilt... well... She wasn't ready for that. Most weren't. He... had no chill in that regard.

Then the timer went off and he took only a second to pinpoint her. "Huh," he said to himself. "Good distance. Now, let's see what you can do, young mage."

            <<Stinger Snipe!>>

And then he made a small orb of light blue magic...

*And it flew at her like a missile. It wasn't just the power. It was the fact the little orb moved so incredibly quickly and, worse, was able to redirect its angle as needed. A small, compressed ball of magic he could redirect and manipulate... Coming STRAIGHT at her.

Worst of all, though? Would be when it shifted direction to PIERCE the first of her attacks and KEEP COMING AFTER HER!

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Time must be up by now," Molly muses, "Maybe I should've asked you to time it for--

<< INCOMING ATTACK >>

"Oh man! He is not playing around!" Well, you did specifically tell him not to. Molly points her staff set with the pre-loaded attack in Chrono's general direction (it's hard to aim precisely from this far away anyway). "Fire!" she yells, and a trio of glowing orbs, one after the other, streak off towards Chrono in return. One of them encounters incoming blue orb, and... doesn't... survive that encounter, but the other two fly past and keep coming.

Molly should probably do something about a shield, but this would normally be where she'd fly around and fire off more attacks instead, like she did against Sunbreaker.

And how well did that turn out?

"Shield," Molly instructs.

<< WE HAVE TIME TO-- >>

"SHIELD NOW" Molly snaps.

<< ARMED >>

Come to think of it, what do you say when you want a non-offensive spell do go off? 'Fire' doesn't reall seem appropriate. She said 'Execute' once more but she's not masquerading as the Red Queen here. "Uhm, deploy," she says, watching the blue orb come closer and closer.

A shield goes up, and it's just in time to absorb the hit. Molly still gets rattled, but at least she's still airborn.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown was watching her. Well, both of them to be fair. He was curious how she'd respond. The orb was powerful, likely a lot more powerful than something she was used to when she saw things of that size. It was one of his favorite spells due to both its efficiency and control, but when you've used a spell long enough, you knew how to get all of the power out of it you could.

So it pierced one of her orbs, and kept going at her... and...

Shield. It crashed against the shield, sending ripples through it. But it was just one, at least. Interesting that she used a verbal component to her shield. Most didn't. But he knew a few who did. Or perhaps it was her device...

The two orbs came flying at him and she was able to see HIS shield. While she used a verbal component, all he did was hold out his left hand and the shield formed in front of his palm. The two orbs smashed into it, sending dust into the air...

And so the assault began. He flew out from the dust a moment later, rocketing towards her. He held his device out towards her once more.

            <<Stinger Ray!>>

Instead of being a ray, it was more a flurry of magical machine gun fire. But if she tried to shield it, she'd uncover that this spell had a special property of its own. While the other spell he could redirect, this one was just a straight flurry. It was, however, very good at piercing shields.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly's shield gets rattled hard, and when the explosion that wraps around it clears, she sees Chrono coming straight towards her. And, she doesn't want that, right? Artillery Mage and all that? (That has a rather nice ring to it actually, come to think of it.) And this is a test to not get forced to the ground, so--

Molly takes off upwards, flying straight towards the sun. Hey, it worked in Top Gun. Molly isn't Maverick, however.

"Shield," she instructs again, and after confirmation from Starcrash, she raises her defenses, just in time to absorb the Stinger Ray. ...Well, some of it, anyway. It hits her shield, then again and again, and her shield falls.

After which, Molly feels the attack hitting *her*. Her eyes go wide in surprise, and her climb stops as shekind of... flails around in the air a little bit, taking more hits before arresting her sudden descent.

"Alright!" she shifts her grip on Starcrash, holding the staff almost more like a rifle. "Solar Beam!"

<< ARMED >>

"Fire!"

Starcrash unleashes a heat ray, true to Molly's description of it. it's a sustained, powerful blast (well, powerful by beginner standards, anyway) that she aims in Chrono's direction. She's still eyeballing it, but it's sustained long enough that she can walk it into the target, which she certainly tries to do.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown kept flying at her. Good. She was shielding it, but... huh. Oh. He wondered if that was too much when she started to descend. Note to self, girl is definitely still learning. More than that, he wondered how much her device was fighting her on her choices. She needed to be able to launch her attacks...

It was ironic. She was practically the example case of the issues with an intelligent device. Namely, the delay in casting caused by requiring an AI to run on top of everything else. But an AI that second guessed its user, or tried to force them to fight a certain way... it was a bit... troublesome.

Worse, he was getting closer with each second. The blast came at him... And he veered off to the right, away from it. But the beam kept coming.

He'd tested her with one blast, now he'd tested her with shield piercing attacks. Now? He wanted to see how she'd react to overloading her attack.

He came to a stop, allowing her to redirect the beam towards him... and he held out his own rod and aimed it towards her...

            <<Blaze Cannon!>>

And a cyclone of FIRE erupted out from his rod, SLAMMING into her beam. Worse, the two blasts smacked into each other and the cyclone of flame started traversing UP her blast! Smashing a veritable cyclone of flame and destruction against her own heat beam, worse it was heading up TOWARDS HER!

However, fortunately, it was a highly destructive, rapid bombardment attack... designed for mid ranges. The flames would disippate almost entirely by the time they GOT to her, and even if they did get to her, they'd maybe be a few embers by then.

The goal wasn't to hit her with it. It was to disrupt her own attack, see how she reacted... and if she would panic when the flames were coming at her.

            <<Stinger Move!>>

And then how she'd react when she saw an arrow of blue magic RUSHING AT HER FROM THE WAKE OF THE FIRE BLAST, following in its coattails coming right at her. Chrono having followed up his own blast with a rapid dashing attack to try and bridge the distance between both of them.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Well that's definitely something Molly hasn't seen before. It's not the first time one of her own attacks has been turned against her -- Sunbreaker redirected her homing barrets, and that was frustrating in the extreme, as well as painful -- but this is new. But she's watched enough cartoons that you'd think she ought to have at least suspected it to be a thing.

What's important is that it's happening *now*, however.

Molly's eyes go wide, and she breaks off her attack once it becomes painfully obvious that her attack isn't the one winning this contest. She breaks off, shifting her own trajectory to fly off in a different direction. "Shield!" she shouts as she's going.

<< ARMED >>

"Deploy!" she yells, just in time to get thoroughly rattled and knocked, once again, well off course.

"Sol Barrage," she gasps, not bothering to correct her plummeting trajectory just yet. "Configure for..." How to phrase what she wants, "Big explosions, no damage, just bright flashes. Ten of them, wide dispersal."

<< BRIGHT FLASHES WILL NOT DEFEAT-- >>

"Just do it!"

<< ARMED >>

"Fire!!"

As requested, no less than ten barrets launch out of Molly's staff, but it doesn't seem like they're really designed to hit anything; they're just flying off into the space all around Chrono, and then detonate, going off with a loud noise and a big, bright flass of light.

And while that's going on, Molly finally gets to correcting her fall, and skims along the treetops as she switches direction and sets about regaining altitude, rocketing up towards the clouds as rapidly as she can ascend.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown had no choice. Suddenly, the flashes of light blinded him and he had to pull back, covering his face with his arm to not be blinded. He quickly activated the sensors, allowing himself to track her even if he couldn't see her. But still. OW!

"Very good use of your utility!" he called out to her. Distract an opponent, keep them on the back toes. Blinding them to create an opening.

However, she didn't follow up the assault. Ah. That was why. Getting back up into the sky...

There, he had tested her reactions to different attacks...

Now time to see her reaction to overwhelming force.

            <<Stinger Snipe!>>

It wasn't one orb this time. Five orbs. They shot out, moving at her, swirling around her and then striking out wildly. Bouncing off her shield and not disippating. Seeking an opening and trying to drive her DOWN.

... However, if they broke through her defenses... Rather than hitting her... Only one would strike her. The others would go past her, not actually hitting and instead disippating a few moments later.

As that finished up, he finally uncovered his eyes and blinked a few times before resuming his pursuit.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Right now, Molly is forced into what she doesn't really want to be forced into; namely a situation that Starcrash refuses to acknowledge as a possibility. She's on the defensive.

<< WE MUST ATTACK IF WE WISH TO SUCCEED >>

"I need to *survive* to succeed," Molly counters; she hears the compliment from Chrono, but hasn't really got the time to respond to it. "Shield!"

<< NOW IS A GOOD TIME TO ATTACK WHILE-- >>

"SHIELD!!" Molly snaps, and manages to get one deployed basically just in time to get hit by not one, not even two or three, of these Stinger Blasts, which start rattling her about and bouncing off her shields. In response, Molly changes her course, trying to turn faster than the orbs can. ...Which turns out to absolutely be a losing proposition.

<< WE SHOULD CONSIER-- >>

"Sol Barrage!" Molly instructs, "Same as the previous cast, then prepare it a second time with homing barrets instead."

<< ARMED >>

"Fire!" Molly sends off a second volley of the blinding flashes, and shifts her trajectory again. "Load second volley!"

<< ARMED >>

"Fire!!" she yells, all while getting rattled, and getting forced downwards, against her best efforts.

And then her shield breaks, and one of the orbs hits her, before the others dissipate. And now Molly is very definitely heading downwards, in a very uncontrolled fashion.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown was forced to cover his eyes, holding out his hand to form a shield in case there were any non-flashbangs in those bombs of hers and he couldn't see. Using his device's tracker to follow her, even if he couldn't see.

Just flashes, okay, so--

Then the homing barrets. BAM! He was experienced, he'd been in a lot of fights, albeit ones with less intensity than this world's. Still...

He was impressed. She was a beginner. That much was obvious. Despite that, she was already coming up with proper strategies and combinations. Hearing them crash against his shield was encouraging. She'd do well.

However, now there was a problem. Was she in freefall?

She didn't seem to have control... But... There was a difference between 'freefall' and 'falling to her doom'.

He held out his device... and noted that while his shield had held, his left arm had a few cuts along the barrier jacket. It seemed there was quite a bit of firepower in those blasts of hers, getting through the barrier like that.

As she got closer to the ground, he wondered if he'd pushed a bit too hard... But fortunately, she wasn't the first student of his to fall after the fight. And about five feet from the ground, magical binds would erupt around her, tying her up and slowing her fall... gently lowering her to a few inches from the ground.

Then they'd fade, letting her drop a much smaller distance to the ground. He'd follow a few moments later, landing by her. "Well, Skyline-san, very good. You've got a while to go, but I think you've got pretty good instincts. I've certainly seen recruits with a less solid baseline." He then glanced towards the staff and his voice turned stern. "Starcrash, I trust you have been supporting your mage and not giving her too much trouble?" he asked.

Oof. He never treated the OTHER device AI's like this...

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly doesn't really start to snap out of it until she's getting close to the ground. Could she have saved herself on her own? Possibly. (Or 'Probably', depending on who you ask, but there's Molly's opinion and then there's reality.) The binds do their job just fine, and Molly finds herself on the ground much more gently than she was going to end up with.

"...OKay," she gasps after a moment. "That went well."

<< WE LOST THE CHALLENGE >> Starcrash points out, oh so helpfully.

"I need to teach you about irony," Molly responds, rolling her eyes.

When Chrono lands nearby, she sits up, resting Starcrash across her legs as she kneels. She soaks in his observations, before planting her staff on the ground and using it to pull herself up to her feet. "Your attacks are..." she pauses, "Much stronger than mine, but I'm also not very experienced or skilled yet. Those orbs that stick around and just hammer away until they get through, that's *wild*."

<< AFFIRMATIVE >> is the answer that comes from Starcrash, in response to Chrono's question directed at it.

"You argue with me every time I want to do something defensive," Molly points out, "Unless you're the one suggesting the defensive moves."

<< YOU ARE INEXPERIENCED, >> counters Starcrash. << I AM MERELY ADVISING YOU ON BEST STRATEGY >>

"Are all devices like this?" Molly inquires, looking back to Chrono. "I get the impression that Starcrash is kind of... arrogant."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown gave a small sigh. "Yes, to an extent. There are two types of devices. You have an intelligent device. I use a storage device." He held up his own to display. "The key difference between the two is that an intelligent device has an AI inside it. It allows it to act as a support in combat, giving guidance, direction, even able to cast spells using your mana."

He then glanced towards the device. "However, it is a *supporting system*. You are still the master. It is supposed to aid you and advise you. NOT attempt to overrule you. It is certainly not supposed to second guess your basic tactics. And it is *not* supposed to *ever* put you in more danger. Tactics are more important that raw power will ever be."

He then reached out and pat her on the head. "You'll do fine, Skyline-san. We can have more training sessions to develop and hone your capabilities. Starcrash, I'll be running diagnostics on your system and we will work on your capabilities as a support for your wielder. You've chosen her as your wielder, you should have more faith in her."

He then held up his rod and brought the barrier around them down. "Now then. How about we go get something to eat before you return home? Using magic like that often works up an appetite."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Yeah, food would be great," Molly agrees, following the pat on the head. Which, to a Brit, seems a bit of a strange act of affection; but this is Japan, not Britain, afterall.

"Oh! I heard of this place called the Vampire Cafe, which serves... stuff themed exactly how you'd expect, do you want to go there? My treat!" she offers.

Molly slings Starcrash across her back, diagonally with the jewel over her left shoulder. "Say, question, before we go eat. Starcrash said he had missing memory banks. Would that mean, that..." she chews over her words for a moment, "Could I find replacement memory banks, and maybe give him abilities he doesn't currently have?"

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown gave a small nod. "Sure. We can go there." Oh, he was NOT going to like this. He uhhh... tended.... to do very 'well' at such restaurants. Or terribly, depending on if you were him. Life of tiniest, seriousist soldier. But well... life of a mentor. "My treat, however. As the teacher here."

"As for repairing the memory banks... yes. It depends on how much damage is hardware and how much is software. I have everything needed to fix and replace software damage and upgrade the data. But if the physical drives are damaged, you'll need a meister. Fortunately, I know one who is on this planet. But uhhhh... she's currently indisposed. I'll try and see what I can do in regards to that. Once I've finished a full diagnostic, I'll see wat I can do to fix corrupted aspects."

"It won't be easy, however. An AI like Starcrash is incredibly complex. Their personality can't just be 'fixed' compared to missing data, it'll likely take a while to repair everything. But I'll see what I can do."