Apologies are in order.

"I'm sorry." Sho looks surprised when he turns around. Scythe is standing there awkwardly, squirming as he stares at the floor. "Because I distracted you, your mech lost its arm... that was my fault. I'm sorry." He can't tell if this whole situation is real or not, but the remorse he feels is very much real.

To his surprise, Sho just smiles. "Relax," he says, giving a thumbs up. "You were just trying to help, and we pulled through! The Excelsior will be ready to rumble again in no time!"

And then, before he walks away, Sho pats Scythe on the head. That makes Scythe blush. He opens his mouth to protest, but Sho's already walking away.

"Lucky you!" Scythe jumps. He turns to see another character he saw in the intro. She's got long bubblegum pink hair in a very 80s, very anime feathered style, and wears the same V-neck spacesuit as Scythe, save for big pink boots instead of his cherry red jacket. She's also got huge boobs that take him completely off-guard. "I think I'm owed some gratitude for saving you, don't you think, rookie?" Her eyebrow quirks upwards, a display of brazen cockiness.

Scythe immediately dislikes her, but he gives in. "Thank you for saving me," he grumbles. "I owe you one, um..."

"Stellara Quixote von Feldspar," she proclaims loudly! "And you'd best remember it, seeing as it's the name of your savior!"

It takes every drop of self-control Scythe has to not sneer, roll his eyes, and make some kind of disparaging comment. Thankfully the conversation is cut short as a booming voice comes on over the intercom. "All hands on deck! Report to the auditorium! We've made a crucial discovery!" Without hesitation, Stellara runs past Scythe. Since he doesn't know where to go, he follows her.

The auditorium is filled with, for lack of a better word, background characters. Minus a big guy in green, a little nerd in blue, and a pointy-looking guy in yellow - other standouts from the anime's intro - they all just sort of blend in. Another exception, however, is the busty female scientist and the man with the white beard and eyepatch in the front of the room. The former types on a console, bringing up images on screen behind the latter as he begins to speak.

"We've just had a stroke of luck," he announces. "The lost arm of the Excelsior was dragged into a wormhole while the enemy retreated, and its retrieval signal hasn't died out! We've managed to locate the enemy home world!" A display pops up on screen showing a dark purple planet with two Saturn-like rings, crossed over each other to make an X. Scythe doesn't bother commenting on how silly it looks or how it doesn't make any sense that they'd have a picture of it if they'd only just discovered it a few minutes ago.

Clenching his fist, the old man barks, "This is our chance to end this war! We're preparing to warp into this planet's vicinity before the enemy can prepare itself!" It's a plan that seems very hasty, but given how hotblooded everyone in this anime is, Scythe doesn't bother pointing that out. The studio probably found out they were only going to get one or two more episodes and had to write an ending fast.

"While we finish repairing and upgrading the Excelsior," the old man explains, "the rest of our ace pilots will engage the enemy! All hands, to battle stations!" Scythe can already feel the space station rumbling underfoot. He's beginning to feel a little nervous.

In the chaos leading up to the fight wherein everyone's milling around and preparing themselves, Scythe learns two things. One, that Stellara's usual copilot fell ill and that she's planning to fly solo. Two, that Sho is undergoing some kind of extremely strenuous simulation training to be able to handle the Excelsior's upgrades. Even though he knows this is just a fictional world he's been transported into, it's hard to tell himself these aren't real people or that his next choice doesn't matter...