NIA Assualt vs. the next upcoming GF2 TEAM

"Is everyone okay?" Layla's voice crackled through Tomi's comms, her concern cutting through the roar of the wind.

Tomi's light lancer trembled, barely managing to withstand the force.

His heart pounded in his chest, adrenaline coursing through him as he watched Griggs, calm and composed, place his mecha's hands behind his own to stop him from being blown back any further.

"Hey, you okay in there?" Griggs's voice came through, surprisingly gentle despite the chaos. His usual cold tone carried a hint of concern.

"Yeah... I guess," Tomi replied breathlessly, trying to steady himself.

His mind was racing, his heart hammering, but he was still standing. That had to count for something.

Just as the wind began to die down and the dust started to settle, Nia's voice echoed through the battlefield once more, this time smoother, more sinister.

"Well, let me introduce myself to you all," she said, her tone dripping with arrogance.

"I'm Nia, and my mecha—Rita—is a humanoid design, which your pathetic systems couldn't even detect."

Her words hung in the air, like venom seeping into their minds. "But I can't blame them. Rita's a new design—cutting-edge tech, thanks to our team's vision of future greatness. We'll enslave every dark mecha to our will. Your time is over."

Tomi's pulse quickened as Nia's mecha raised one arm, its sleek fingers extending, pointing directly at his light lancer. A cold, predatory smile curled on her lips, visible through her cockpit window.

"Anyway," she continued, her voice sickly sweet,

"I'm here to retrieve our unique escape subject." She leaned back, crossing her legs casually in the cockpit as though this were some casual meeting, not the battlefield she had just torn apart.

Her eyes locked onto Tomi's mecha with unnerving focus, like a predator toying with its prey.

Tomi's stomach dropped. Her words clawed at him, the realization settling in like a cold weight. She was here for him—and she had no intention of leaving without her prize.

Tomi's heart thundered in his chest, fear gripping him as his eyes widened. Nia's mocking words fueled his rage, and a smirk twisted onto his lips, his hatred rising like a tidal wave.

His hands tightened around the controls, the adrenaline pulsing through him. Just as he was about to react, Arande's voice broke through the comms, sharp and defiant.

"Too damn bad, because now he's on our team. You'll have to get through us first," Arande spat, her voice vibrating with a mixture of determination and barely contained anger.

Tomi could hear the passion in her voice, and then Blaze chimed in, even louder and more furious. "Damn right, Arande! And fighting us isn't as easy as it seems!"

Layla's voice followed, her tone laced with a wild thrill. "You'll regret picking this fight, Nia!"

A faint smile spread across Tomi's face as he listened to the trio—teammates he once found insufferable now standing firm by his side.

Their solidarity made his fear of being recaptured by the Eclipse begin to melt away. The weight in his chest lightened, and his grip on the controls steadied.

"How cute," Nia's voice came through, projected by her towering mecha.

Rita's eyes flashed menacingly, bathing the battlefield in a pale, sinister glow. Her tone was dripping with condescension, but just then, she was struck by an unexpected response.

"Now that I think about it, you're worse than Blaze when it comes to delusional self-praise," Zane's voice cut through the comms, cool and nonchalant, like he was commenting on the weather.

Tomi could almost see Blaze bristle in his cockpit.

"Hey, joker! What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Blaze's fury was palpable, his words coming out in heated bursts.

Before the banter could go further, Nia's mecha roared. Her fury was unmistakable, vibrating through the ground as Rita's engines flared to life, shaking the battlefield. "You damn brat! How dare you insult me!"

Zane, smirking from within his cockpit, realized just how easily he'd angered her.

Like Blaze, Nia's temper was a crack in her composure, and his mind was already spinning, calculating the next jab that would push her over the edge.

But before he could say anything, Tijona's voice snapped through the comms, her irritation evident. "Zane, shut your damn mouth!"

As Nia's mecha roared again, Tomi instinctively covered his ears. The deafening sound tore through the battlefield like a living force, rattling his lightlancer.

Arande's voice came through immediately, concern coating every word. "Are you okay? Please, say something."

Tomi, still shaken but regaining his composure, barely had time to respond before Nia's voice returned, now cooler, and more composed. Her eyes were locked on Tomi's mecha, the predatory gleam in them unmistakable.

"But…" she purred, her voice now syrupy smooth as she calmed herself, trying to mask her earlier outburst. "I'm taking him regardless."

Nia's chilling smile was visible through the cockpit window of Rita, her eyes gleaming with a dark promise.

The battlefield felt like it had paused, everyone's attention focused on her and the ominous declaration she had just made.

"Time to clean this all up," Nia said, her voice dripping with cold satisfaction. Her mecha, Rita, moved with eerie grace as she raised her hand, fingers spreading out like a predatory claw.

"Activate H2."

At her command, the circular ports in Rita's fingers slid open, unleashing a barrage of red laser beams that sliced through the sky.

The air crackled as the beams surged toward the team with relentless precision, burning the atmosphere with their heat.

"Zane, Blaze, Arande, Layla—protect the boy and Ace!" Tijona's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and decisive.

Tomi's heart raced as he yanked his controls, barely dodging the searing beam aimed at his light lancer's core.

The smell of burning metal filled his cockpit as the laser skimmed the surface of his mecha, leaving a scorch mark.

Before he could react, Arande's flying mecha swooped in, grabbing him out of the line of fire just as another beam shot toward him.

"Got you!" Arande's voice crackled through the comms.

Layla countered, firing her beam, the blue light colliding with Nia's, creating a brilliant explosion mid-air.

The force rattled Tomi's cockpit, but he felt a rush of relief seeing Layla stand her ground.

Meanwhile, Zane and Blaze had already positioned themselves around Ace's damaged light lancer. Zane's mecha pulled out a gleaming sword, its edges catching the light as he swung it with precision, deflecting beam after beam.

Sparks flew as each strike sent Nia's attacks bouncing harmlessly away, redirected into the sky or the ground.

Blaze, crouched beside Ace, worked swiftly to help him up.

"Come on, guy, we need to move!" Blaze growled, glancing over at Zane's defensive maneuvers.

But Ace's pride flared like wildfire.

"You two move! I don't need your protection!" His voice was venomous, barely containing the rage simmering beneath the surface.

He struggled to his feet, eyes blazing. "Let me deal with that damn old hag myself!"

Blaze hesitated, looking between Ace and the chaos around them. "Ace—"

"Get your behind over to that weak newbie!" Ace snarled, pointing toward Tomi, whose mecha was still dodging beams with Layla and Arande covering his blind spots.

Every flash of red light only seemed to fuel Ace's fury, his pride burning hot as he remembered the earlier blow Nia had dealt him.

With a grunt, Ace shoved Zane and Blaze aside, marching into the thick of the battle, his light lancer sparking and damaged, but still functional.

"Playing strong right now isn't exactly the best plan," Zane muttered, his cold voice cutting through as he sheathed his sword, watching Ace head directly into the fray.

Ace shot a glare back at him, his eyes filled with defiance. "Just shut it, okay? I don't need your sympathy or empathy. Save that for the newbie."

But beneath the harshness, a flicker of something else passed through Ace's mind—something he wouldn't say out loud. He wanted to protect his team. And Tomi, despite everything, needed to survive.