From what Jin had said, the Kitsune attending the miai was somewhat of a nature-person... and probably would know more about the giant-ass centipede she had captured on holo. She had checked the fancy hotel first, to no luck, and had been directed to either the arcade or the club.

Arcade first then.

Wearing her heavily embellished top paired with loose-fitting harem pants, and carrying her jacket over her shoulder, Hyeon-ju navigated the Arcade, looking for a short colorful Kitsune...

There was a shock of lavender hair bouncing around in one corner as the excitable Fox tried to land his heavily damaged spacefighter back at the virtual spacestation after actually completing a mission.

"No!No!No! Don'trunoutoffuelnow!!! Soclosetodocking!!!!"

Was that a ki... no that must be the Kitsune she had heard about. It matched what she had been told at least; short, colorful hair, talking like someone on speed.

She didn't want to risk actually interrupting his game that seemed to have put his excitement level pretty high, so she stood behind him, waiting. Flight game huh? Interesting.

"Ack!Nofuel.Nofuel.Nofuel."

On the screen, in defiance of proper physics, the sudden loss of thrust meant his fighter slowed . . . and the mission timer ticked down . . . leading to the GAME OVER kanji lighting up across the screen with the entrance to the hangar looming large in the background, but not close enough to count.

"Ahcrapcakes."

"A shame there about your game, Kitsune-sama," she offered politely. "If it's a cooperative game, I'd be happy to help you."

She offered a bow. "Utaku Hyeon-ju, hohei of the 7th Sky Rider Wing."

He whirled around, already looking up . . . a lifetime of that, with a wide grin when he realised who it was.

"Utaku-san! Perfect! Afighterpilot. Notsureifthesearenetworked."

He said waving at the cabinet next to the one he had been using.

"KitsuneIzumi, manageratKitsuneBiopharmaticalsPerfumeDivision."

The introduction was almost added as an afterthought.

She had trouble parsing his speaking at first, but she heard her name, perfect, and pilot. So she assumed that he appriciated the offer.

It took a bit more effort for her to understand the introduction completely. "Ah, perfume division? See, I had heard you were somewhat of a student of nature and interested in the wilderness here from Ujina Jin-sama - I had the chance of seeing some of the large creatures here and captured it on Holo, and from what he said it sounded like it could be of interest to you."

Hyeon-ju looked to the gaming cabinet. "But if you are here to play, I'm happy to join you..."

He waved at the second cabinet, and tried to work out how to link them for two player action. It proved to be easier than expected and soon his screen read . . .

PLAYER ONE IS READY . . . waiting for Player Two.

"Yesgotit. ShowingonyourscreenUtaku-san?"

Wow. That was fast. He seemed to be a real whiz... Probably a likely contender to win the Robotics contest.

Stepping up to the cabinet, she flung her jacket on the rail so it wouldn't get in her way. "Affirmative, Kitsune-sama. Operational and ready."

He slapped the PLAY button and waited for the game to brief them on their mission.

"Whatdoyouthink? Bombingrun? Convoyescort? orAttacktheKatana?"

In stark contrast to the hyper-active Fox, the Utaku considered the missions with an icy seriousness. "Attack the Katana. It will be our best path to victory, Kitsune-taisa."

And would play best to her strengths.

Izumi keyed in their chosen mission and up came the scrolling mission brief telling them their objectives and fighter loadouts. As it was an old game the fighters they were 'in' were obsolete by the Utaku's standards most likely. To the Kitsune . . . it was just fun.

"HA!Timetotrashthecruiser!!!!!"

"Yes!" Her enthusiasm actually matched his. Hah. Child's play. I can see where his problem might've been now. The throttle mechanic seems to drain the fuel faster. Only to be used for short bursts or evasive maneuvers.

"Careful with using the throttle, it will drain your fuel faster." If the hyper-Fox would actually listen was another matter, but she was already taking care of things pretty easily, used to the evasive maneuvers to avoid draining her shield. However, she was also used to flying in a unit, so she took lead to draw most of the AI's fire, so that the Fox would have less shooting coming his way.


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D5 LE Fluff Piloting for gaming. +6 Utaku tech: 6d10o10k3+6 25

Which was good as otherwise StarFox would have just flown right into the middle of everything. As it was, now he had someone to follow and could get much closer to the Katana before launching torpedoes.

"Sothat'swhyIranoutoffuel . . . cruisergonnadiethistime."

He proved to be one of those gamers who moved with the action on the screen, leaning to the right as he banked right and aimed at the Katana's engines.

"OHYAS! Torpedoesaway!!!!!"

"Firing torpedoes, sir!" She echoed, actually a little bit excited herself. It was nice with an easy flying, and well, this was almost flying. And damnit, that Fox was so kami-damned hyper, she was getting affected herself.

Hyeon-ju sent off her own torpedoes at the marked Weak Spot. Combined, it made for great and effective fireworks!

"WOOHOO!! SmokeoneKatana."

He looked away from the screen at the Utaku, all grins.

"Nowwejusthavetogetbacktobaseinonepiece!"

Izumi was bestowed one of the Extremely Rare Limited Edition Hyeon-ju Grins (tm) in return. "Smooth flying, sir. Yes. We should have enough fuel left to use the throttle. Throttle now to put some distance between us and the Katana."

This was just like flying those simulators back in first year of flight school. "Easen on the throttle now... we'll use it again for a last burst of speed to cross the finish line."

She had the instinct to guesstimate pretty well on when to apply the throttle, and she watched the distance-measuring carefully as they flew back to base. "Soon... soon... now! Full throttle forward!"

She said full, Izumi went full. Nearly wrenching the throttle lever off the cabinet . . . but luckily no damage. On the screen, starlines stretched as the fighter accelerated towards the station, the Katana breaking up in a series of explosions behind them.

"OHYEAH!!!!!"

He grinned back at Hyeon-ju.

She gave the Hyper-Fox an approving nod and smile. No way could she ever hope to match his enthusiasm. "Well done, Kitsune-sama. Mission successful."

For her, it had been pretty easy flying. Still, she raised her hand, holding out the palm as she waited for the high-five.

The Rokugani as a race were regimented and touch avert. Hyper Fox was Hyper Fox. The high five was made without a thought. Shortly after they docked at the station with plenty of fuel to spare. The screen read . . .

MISSION COMPLETE

. . . with appropriate fanfares and fireworks. A screen Izumi had never seen before but he wasn't about to say that.

"AwwwrightUtaku-san. Thatwasgreat! Wanttodosomethingelsenow?"