()||<BIN>9</BIN><黑屏1>0,10</黑屏1><BGM>BGM_Empty</BGM>:
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<BIN>70</BIN><黑屏2><睁眼><BGM>BGM_Wake</BGM>:Gr MP5 opens her squeezed-shut eyes by just a sliver. That's when she finally realizes the explosions, which were so loud that they hurt her ears, are all gone.
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:Light filters into Gr MP5's visual modules, and she sees a worried face scowling hard at her.
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>||<震屏>:You stupid shorty! P99 told you to stop standing around and run! Are you deaf?
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:Ehhhhh? What are you doing here, XM8... +Your face is huge, XM8, just scoot back a bit...
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:P99 looks over and barely manages to keep XM8 from knuckling Gr MP5 on the head.
P99(0)<Speaker>P99</Speaker>||:Are you awake? +Hehe, what a coincidence. I was still checking for the coordinates of our reinforcements back then, I didn't expect them to show up by airdrop—
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>||:Yeah, I arrived and the first thing I saw was a stupid little shorty standing motionless so the enemy could get some target practice.
XM8(0);MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:Um...well... A-Are the enemies all gone?
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>;MP5(1)||:Yup. We checkmated them.
XM8(0);MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:That's good... I have to hand it to you, XM8. Your experience in actual combat makes you really amazing. +Hehe...not like me, I lost a leg,
XM8(0);MP5(1)||:
()||:Gr MP5 exhales deeply and giggles, but as she looks down at the stretcher she's lying on, particularly at her lower body, her face turns gloomy again.
XM8(0);MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:If Master were here—
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>;MP5(1)||:How much longer are you going to keep muttering about Thompson?
XM8(0)<Speaker></Speaker>;MP5(1)||:XM8 interrupts Gr MP5's ramblings without any mercy, the way she always has. +But this time, Gr MP5 looks genuinely depressed.
XM8(0);MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:If Master had been here...she wouldn't have lost a leg, at least...
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>;MP5(1)||:If Thompson were here, she wouldn't have lost a leg, because she wouldn't have LET herself lose a leg.
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:You're starting to sound like a tape recorder, XM8...
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:P99 once again steps in just in time to keep XM8's hand from punching down on Gr MP5.
P99(0)<Speaker>P99</Speaker>||:I think...what XM8 means is that Thompson wouldn't have let herself get into a situation like that in the first place, right?
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:That's because Master is cool and strong! +Of course someone as strong as her could have withdrawn in one piece. It's all because I didn't train enough...
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>||:So why did you stay put and let yourself get beaten up when P99 told you to run? +I mean, you're much weaker than Thompson, aren't you?
XM8(0);P99(0)<Speaker>P99</Speaker>||:XM8, you're being way too harsh...
XM8(0)<Speaker></Speaker>||:XM8 ignores P99's whispered reminder.
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>||:You're weak, you're cowardly, so why do you keep acting tough?
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:Gr MP5 pouts and looks away.
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:That's because...because... +I thought that...if I didn't run away, maybe I could become mentally stronger...
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>||:You stupid shorty... +Being mentally strong doesn't mean standing around on the battlefield like a moron...
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:But Master wouldn't have run from a fight!
P99(0)<Speaker>P99</Speaker>||:Argh, you're you, Gr MP5, and Miss Thompson is Miss Thompson...
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:Ah, you're a tape recorder too, P99.
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker><Shake>||:—Ow!
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:Smack! +XM8 finally gets her chance to flick Gr MP5's forehead.
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>||:Thompson doesn't run from a fight because she doesn't have to. +Can YOU do that, Gr MP5?
XM8(0);MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:I know that, even if you don't say—
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>;MP5(1)||:What the hell do you know?! +Honestly...you're just like those newbies who jump grades to compete in international chess tournaments and insist on comparing themselves to the grandmasters. With an attitude like that, it would be a miracle if you didn't fall apart at all.
XM8(0)<Speaker></Speaker>;MP5(1)||:Gr MP5 lies motionless on the stretcher. All she can do is look at XM8 and P99 with a put-upon expression on her face.
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>;MP5(1)||:I've called you a stupid shorty already, but you really are a moron...
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:It's not like I'm denying it, right...
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:P99 adjusts her glasses.
P99(0)<Speaker>P99</Speaker>||:I think...XM8 wants to say that Thompson wouldn't make her friends worry like this, am I right?
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:Yeah, that's because Master is very strong—
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:No sooner has Gr MP5 finished her sentence than she realizes what she just said. She freezes up and protects her head.
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker><Shake>||:Ehhhh? Um...XM8, I think I sort of understand what you mean...
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:XM8 sighs heavily. P99 has pinned her hands behind her, and she is as immobile as Gr MP5.
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>||:What did I tell you before you set out? +Come. Back. In. One. Piece. What I meant was that you shouldn't try to pointlessly tough things out. +You aren't like Thompson. You don't HAVE to be like Thompson. Just fight in your own way.
XM8(0);MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:Like say...by not standing still and running away instead...?
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>||:Yeah, you're an important person who stands in the vanguard to protect others. How can you do that if you don't even protect yourself? +What would P99 and the others do if you went down?
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<BGM>BGM_Empty</BGM>:Gr MP5 does not answer immediately. XM8 and P99 stand quietly beside her.
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||<BGM>BGM_Moon</BGM>:A long time ago, I had a mission...to deliver resources to everyone in the combat zone. +When that mission ended...I remember Miss Helian said that no matter how much we civilian Dolls were enhanced, we'd never be able to beat military Dolls. But... +But she also said that there were some things that only we could do!
MP5(1);P99(0)<Speaker>P99</Speaker>||:Ha, I heard that when I joined up too... +"There's a reason why Griffin chose you."
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:Ever since then, I've always admired Master... +Master is strong, beautiful, and she's got a really impressive CV! +I always felt that...that Master was always shining, that she never made mistakes, but she's also so far away from me, distant and untouchable...
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>;MP5(1)||:But you can always see her at the training ground...
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker><Shake>||:"Very far" is just a figure of speech! A figure of speech!
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:Gr MP5 pouts, but her eyes look a little lost.
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:I'd really like to become like Master...
P99(0)<Speaker>P99</Speaker>||:Personally, I think...maybe Thompson would rather you become "a better Gr MP5", perhaps?
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:A better me... But what would that be like? +I always tell the Commander that everyone can count on me, but I'm weak and I get scared to tears easily... (Sobs)
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>||:Yeah, like I was saying, you just aren't suited for the frontlines—
XM8(0);P99(0)<Speaker></Speaker>||:P99 puts a little more force into pinning XM8's arms behind her.
P99(0)<Speaker>P99</Speaker>||:You know, Gr MP5... Miss Thompson once talked to me about this. +You're small, and the base issued you special equipment too. Going along those lines, wouldn't you be better off becoming stronger in your own way than single-mindedly imitating Miss Thompson?
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:Gr MP5 is gobsmacked.
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||<震屏>:Ehhhhh?! D-Did Master perhaps talk to you about me?!
P99(0)<Speaker>P99</Speaker>||:Yeah— +XM8 heard it too. Miss Thompson said a lot, didn't she?
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>;P99(0)||:...Ahem, yes. +Thompson emphasized that you shouldn't stand around like an idiot in the middle of the battlefield. It would be tricky for us if you got blown to bits.
P99(0)<Speaker>P99</Speaker>||:A-Ah, umm...haha... what Thompson meant was that you should consider your friends' feelings when they're concerned about you...
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:P99 shoves XM8 awkwardly and XM8 immediately shuts up. They both stare expectantly at Gr MP5. +Gr MP5 bites her lip, her eyes looking pensively at the ceiling. She seems to be deep in thought.
P99(0)<Speaker>P99</Speaker>||:Gr MP5...
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<BGM>BGM_Empty</BGM>:Smack!
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<BGM>BGM_Hello</BGM>:P99 is silent for a moment. Just as she is about to say something, Gr MP5 suddenly smacks her fist into the palm of her hand. P99 jumps in shock and XM8 takes the chance to break free of P99's grip.
MP5(1)<Speaker>Gr MP5</Speaker>||:That's right! All I have to do is dodge! +If I avoid attacks, I can keep standing in the front line, and I can still protect my teammates!
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:Standing beside her, P99 and XM8 finally sigh in relief and smile at each other.
P99(0)<Speaker>P99</Speaker>||:Well, she's gotten her mind out of that rut at last...
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>;P99(0)||:Yeah, although ultimately it was for Thompson's sake, not ours—
XM8(0)<Speaker>XM8</Speaker>;P99(0)||<震屏><黑屏1>:Owwww! Being kicked in the knee really hurts!
()||<BIN>9</BIN><黑屏2><黑屏1>:... +The medical Dolls on the transport headed back to HQ cautiously begin their preparations, unsure if this not-very-long journey will end up generating another casualty.