Little Pilot Academia

Chapter 120

Ursula hesitated in front of the door. She wasn’t even sure if Croix would be in there. Plus, what’d she say? Croix had warned her. In an indirect way, but she had. Ursula couldn’t really be mad at her. What’d she do? Beg her to change the rules? Croix didn’t have the power to do that just because she was the head of the IPR.

Still, she knocked. If nothing else, Ursula wanted to at least know what Croix thought of this. The idea of putting a bunch of teenagers in such danger made her stomach churn.

There was no answer. The door was still dented where she’d banged it previously, though it had obviously been fixed to allow it to open all the way. Ursula sighed, wondering if she should try to contact Croix through message. Was she using this as an excuse to see her? Maybe. She didn’t even know if Croix was here. She had the apparent ability to teleport via that little room of hers. As far as Ursula knew, she could be back in Machina partying with cyborgs.

She looked to the sides. This area of the Dragon was always empty, so the metallic corridors were mostly silent, save for the far-reaching echoes of distant conversations. Maybe she should have tried to open the door on her own… No, without the strength magic gave her she wouldn’t be able to. And she wasn’t going to waste one of her capsules on this.

Putting her back against the door, she slid down to the floor, letting her head hang. Her students… Ursula had seen what TDE could do. The armors definitely had an advantage with the current rules. Without lasers, no ship stood a chance against its defense. Well, save for maybe the Shiny Rod in its axe form. Because, well, that was it. Akko would have to use the axe form if they wanted to win. Would she even want to do it?

Could she, essentially, kill someone? Because that’s what this was. Leaving other racers in the ground would, most certainly, end up killing them.

The answer was no, clearly. Ursula wouldn’t allow it. If the girls insisted on participating on the race, their strategy would be clear: stay away from everyone else, let them take each other out. Or let the planet do it.

Suddenly, she heard a noise. She fell back as the door opened, not letting her react. She looked up and saw a roomba opening it. With some hesitance, she scrambled to her feet and entered the room. Croix’s room. She expected that familiar feeling of weightlessness, but it didn’t come. Instead, the door closed, and the red roomba stood, glowing with Inferno, in the middle of the room, perfectly still. Ursula started to feel the wall until she found the control panel, and then she turned on the lights. The room was big, bigger than any of the ones they’d gotten, but it was empty. A desk and a bed – a bed that wasn’t even properly made. Ursula shook her head. That was a telltale sign of Croix living somewhere. She didn’t even leave the Dragon’s maids do it for her.

The roomba continued there. Was it waiting for something? Maybe it could only teleport at certain times or under certain conditions.

Ursula sat in the bed. She was slightly hesitant, though this place was obviously not Croix’s headquarters. She would probably be sleeping in her lab. Or working there. Or on some meeting.

With some curiosity, Ursula allowed her body to fall into the mattress, laying with her face up. Her head hit Croix’s pillow, and she was surprised to find the smell of hair gel in it. Well, it made sense, with that stupid hairstyle she always showed. In a way, it was very unlike Croix. She had always preferred simplicity, before. It was strange, how her attitude an personality had changed so little, yet other parts of her…