Sandbox / Rise of the Valkyrie

The T-Virus: a manmade bioweapon with with horrifying effects on those it infects.

The Arms Virus: a pathogen of mysterious origin that grants fantastic powers to the women who contract it.

A man who fancies himself a god has combined these two diseases to form T-Valkyrie, and the only hope in stopping it may rest on the shoulders of two mysterious mortal girls...

This is the first of the "Valkyrie Drive Girls" series of stories. Albeit incomplete, the story can be read here.

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Rise of the Valkyrie provides examples of:

• Actual Pacifist: Mamori, as usual. She's even uncomfortable being used to harm B.O.Ws, who are mindless killing machines across the board.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Chris and Lady J with a helicopter's minigun and Rain respectively, laying waste to a huge mob of B.O.Ws.
• The Bad Guy Wins: In spite of what his Villainous Breakdown at the end would imply, Wesker wins. Even though T-Valkyrie's E-Strain has a few quirks to iron out before it can consistently be used to create viable Extars, Draugr function perfectly well as B.O.Ws, and the L-Strain works just fine. While the failed launch of the T-Valkyrie missiles was expensive, Wesker stands to make it all back marketing the virus itself, especially with a buyer like Lucifer willing to pay top dollar in preparation to aid Apollyon's planned war. The entire second part of the story turns out just to have been a field test of the aforementioned Liberator strain, and a shot at getting Chris, Mamori and Mirei out of the way. Even destroying his stockpile is a minor inconvenience, as Wesker has the virus's genome map saved, backed up and backed-backed up.
• Big Bad: Albert Wesker.
• Big Entrance: Mirei and Mamori make their appearance on Wesker's stronghold via missile crash-landing as they had on Mermaid. They're surrounded by Einherjar (the story's answer to Ganados/Majini). Cue a blazing light from the missile, the mechanical, warbling 'AAAAAAAH!' of Mamori Driving, and Mirei comes barreling out of the missile, sword in hand as she slices and dices her way through Wesker's army.
• Big "WHY?!": This is all Chris can manage when, in the middle of the first encounter with Draugr, Mamori and Mirei start making out (he doesn't know how the Arms Virus works). Also counts as Angrish.
• Bittersweet Ending: Despite Mirei having stopped Wesker's planned missile launch of T-Valkyrie, Wesker ultimately gets most of what he wants. T-Valkyrie itself, despite the Extar strain being somewhat temperamental, has proven its worth as a bioweapon, and money is flooding in to the GUAE from people interested in the virus, with the promise that it will cause tons of problems for the Valkyrie-verse in the future...
• Black Comedy: From Chris after the group's epic beatdown at the hands of Wesker. Lady J describes the fight as having "gone well". And Chris responds:
  Chris: As far as fighting Wesker goes, that wasn't too bad. At least no one went out a window this time...
• Body Horror: The Draugr are individuals whose bodies reject T-Valkyrie, leaving them stuck halfway between Arm and human form and in blinding pain. They serve as the 'zombies' of the outbreak, frantically attacking anything they see in an agonized rage.
  • Leon inadvertently reveals what happens when a non-Liberator touches an Arm when he grabs Mamori in her sword form to drag her into the escape chopper: the hilt glows red hot, and when he tosses her safely into the chopper, his hand is horrifically burned.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: When Wesker shows up at Totsuki academy, true to form Chris shouts his name...and so does Rain. The two take a second to glance at each other.
• Character Rerailment: Wesker is far less of the raving lunatic he was in Resident Evil 5: while he's certainly the egomaniac he always was, he's far more in control of the situation, with a number of backup schemes in case something goes wrong, as opposed to just assuming everything will go as he plans and freaking out when it does. It's these qualities that secures his ultimate victory.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: Wesker equipping Tyrant Arms. They're fearsome weapons, but his synch rating with them is in the toilet, so he he can't use them properly and Mirei turns the tables on him. Justified in the nature of the Arms Virus: it's laughable to think Wesker could use weapons that primarily run on love and trust between Liberator and Exter, especially after the efforts he took to reduce it down to mechanical efficiency.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • The first fight between Mirei and Wesker goes...very badly for the aforementioned Liberator. Wesker gave her no chance to turn Mamori into an arm, and without her she is quickly overwhelmed by his speed and power, even with her own enhanced abilities.
  • Mirei later returns the favor when she masters her Valkyrie Drive mode.
• Dark Reprise: Alive by Meatloaf changes to this mid-song, no less. At first, it's a triumphant ballad to the protagonists escaping the horror of T-Valkyrie with their lives. But then it shows Wesker, none the worse for wear, handing a case of T-Valkyrie canisters to Apollyon...
  That's right, I got away with it all, and I'm still alive...
• Deteriorates Into Gibberish: A decidedly-unfunny version when Mamori and Mirei are separated from the group in Totsuki. Mirei is trying to comfort her girlfriend, and Mamori starts thanking her...but then she sees something pink and hideous with a long tongue crawling on the ceiling behind Mirei.
  Mamori: Thanks Miiiirah-aaaah-jah-ga-bhuh-gu-MIREIIIIII!
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Wesker grabs Rain in her gun form out of J's hands at one point and uses her as a club against the heroes before tossing her into Chris. She describes the act of some stranger grabbing her in her Arms form as leaving her feeling 'violated', and considering the nature of her powers as an Exter, one can understand where she's coming from.
• The Dragon: Nemesis to Wesker.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Rain is expositing about how Wesker has essentially reduced T-Valkyrie and by extension the Arms Virus down to mechanical efficiency, bypassing the need for sexual arousal through use of an 'inducer' chemical that instantly places the Extar in the trance that causes them to Drive. Suddenly she stops, and then busts out laughing as she realizes the huge mistake Wesker made in doing so:
  Rain: Idiot. Oh my god, Wesker, you idiot...no wonder he can barely use that Arm! How could he: the Arms Virus runs on arousal! You bypass that, your Arm is practically useless! All those Arms he's equipping, he's making himself weaker! He's the worst Liberator ever!
• From Bad to Worse:
  • The T-Valkyrie Virus is this to any familiar with how the Arms Virus operates. The T-Virus that Wesker merged with the Arms Virus caused it to break the gender barrier: it can infect men as well as women. To make matters worse, a good percentage of infected individuals turn out to be incompatible with the virus and transform into Draugr.
  • Draugr are annoying and unnerving, but entirely manageable to Liberator/Exter duos and hardened BSAA agents. Whatever Rain's Disarmament Beam turns them into is another story...
  • Tyrants are bad news on their own merit: Wesker managed to turn them into Exters, and all they need to Drive is a quick press of a dial on their gloves.
• Frying Pan of Doom: Soma uses one to defend himself from Draugr!Erina Nakiri.
• Gunship Rescue: Once Mirei brings down Wesker's AA system, Chris and the others give her air support in an Apache as she charges Wesker's base. Later, they use that same Apache to extract her and Mamori as the base begins self-destructing.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Lady J gets a harsh lesson in Newton's Third Law when Wesker strikes the barrel of Rain's cannon form, burying it in the ground as Lady J pulls the trigger: the recoil of the cannon going off downward sends Lady J rocketing into the ceiling, knocking her clean out.
• Hypocritical Humor: Lady J's reaction to Leon engaging in fancy, close-range Gun Fu against a group of Draugr.
  Lady J: [scoffs] Showoff... (starts making out with Rain to Drive her and join the fight)
• I Know You're Watching Me: A terrifying scene has Meifon hiding in a nearby closet in Wesker's lab. He doesn't seem to notice her as he drinks coffee, writes down notes on a clipboard, then opens up a laptop in view of Meifon, typing something before wandering away. Meifon squints to see that it's a Word document with one sentence on it: "There's no point in hiding." Cue Wesker Flash Stepping in front of the closet, eyes glowing and a huge smile on his face.
• Implacable Man: Nemesis is never truly beaten onscreen: he dies when Wesker's lab blows up, taking the blast in his Arm form and saving Wesker's life.
• Kick the Dog: Wesker forcefully using Rain to smack the others around. Rain describes the act of grabbing an Exter in her Arms form without her say-so as the rough equivalent of molesting her. Played with in that Wesker probably didn't know that, and thus wasn't going out of his way to be pointlessly cruel.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Wesker is blown out of the air mid-jump back into the flames of his self-destructing laboratory screaming Chris's name. Subverted in that he survives.
• Made of Iron: Mirei's superhuman enough to survive Wesker stabbing his hand through her chest. She's out for the rest of the fight, but she's back on her feet after an hour or so of rest.
• Mythology Gag: Jill's ringtone turns out to be Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Lady J tries using Rain's Disarmament Beam ability on a Draugr to see if it would cure him: the Draugr mutates horribly and becomes a huge half-chainsaw monster. Oops.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud*: Mirei after taking a haymaker from Wesker and sent flying into a wall mumbles "Two sugars for me, please..." and then keels over. Any humor in the situation dies when Wesker closes the distance and shoves his fingers through her sternum.
• Norse Mythology: Most of the monsters in the story take their names from Norse Mythology. Draugr, Jotun, Fenrir, Farbauti...Meifon's berserk form, where she transforms into a giant dragon, fits even more: a short, Greedy little girl who turns into a giant dragon is basically the myth of Fafnir.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Mamori points out a button that she thinks will open a blast door. It activates a Laser Hallway and nearly gets Chris and the others killed.
    Mamori: Is this the button? (...) Not the button-WRONG BUTTON-BAD BUTTON!
  • Lady J's expression when she realizes she accidentally mutated a Draugr into a hulking beast with a chainsaw for an arm pretty much sums up her thoughts on the matter.
  • Another from J when Wesker knocks her aim off: she realizes that she's about to fire Rain straight down.
    J: FU-!
  • Mirei when she witnesses a Tyrant Driving and becoming a huge warhammer.
  • Wesker when he realizes Mirei completely outmatches him in her Valkyrie Drive form.
• One-Winged Angel: Draugr!Meifon takes to absorbing the T-Valkyrie Virus from the corpses of Draugr around her, mutating her into the frenzied, implacable Fafnir.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Mamori thoughtlessly likening Mirei to a B.O.W. There was zero malice in it, as she was simply drawing a parallel based on what Chris was telling her, and she immediately claps her hands over her mouth in abject horror and apologizes profusely as she realizes her mistake.
• Our Zombies Are Different: The Draugr, of the rage variety: individuals whose bodies are stuck between Arm and human form, leaving them in excruciating pain that causes them to lash out at anything they see.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: When Wesker tosses Rain into Chris, she turns human again in mid-flight and ends up giving Chris Marshmallow Hell when she slams into him, and it only gets worse as they try to untangle themselves. But this ends up averted from both Jill and Rain: they're not about to hold it against Chris when he obviously had no say in the matter and immediately tried to get Rain off of him when he recovered from getting the wind knocked out of him.
• Power Armor: Nemesis' Arm form, complete with twin shoulder-mounted rocket launchers and twin miniguns. While he in no way becomes sluggish, Wesker is understandably slowed considerably whilst wearing it.
• Precision F-Strike: Meifon's crass, sure, but her reaction to a Hunter barreling at her and the others takes the cake.
  Meifon: OooaaAAAH THE FUCK IS THAT THING?!?
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When Rain is trying to keep a two-handed grip on Mirei, who's hanging off of the side of the escape chopper.
  Mirei: (holds up sword!Mamori) Take her!
  Rain: I can't hold you up with one ha-!
  Mirei: TAKE! HER!
• Running Gag: The 'Virgin' gag from Valkyrie Drive makes a triumphant return: Leon stifles a laugh when he sees what Mamori wrote on her name badge for the Pantheon, causing Mamori to whine that her name is "Tokonome".
• Shoo Out the Clowns: The cheeky, goofy Meifon isn't simply shooed out at the midpoint: she's Draugrized.
• Smash Mook: The obligatory giant BOW the team faces: the Jotun. Functionally identical to El Gigante.
• Strictly Formula: The story basically follows the modern Resident Evil formula: the beginning is slow-paced with a focus on horror (Totsuki Academy), the endgame is fast-paced action (Wesker's compound), the final battle is against a Tyrant-esque monster (Nemesis Drive Wesker), and it ends with an escape from a self-destructing facility and Mirei firing a final shot with Rain to finish Wesker off.
  • In relation to the above, Lady J ends up injured and unconscious after the battle with Fafnir. When Wesker is giving one final charge at the helicopter as the good guys are trying to escape, Rain turns to Mirei and gives the classic Resident Evil "take this super powerful weapon and finish the bastard off" line.
  Rain: Use me! (Drives)
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Anyone who's watched Food Wars! knows what a badass Soma is, so his reaction to nearly getting killed by Draugr!Erina is completely understandable: he goes into shock. Soma is a chef, not a warrior.
• Take That!:
  • Leon describes the C-Virus incident as a 'total disaster', which is true in both senses.
  • In the battle of Totsuka, Mamori is forced to grab a frying pan to defend herself. By sheer luck she manages to score a hit on Wesker (for as little good it does her), and the sound it makes is fitting, yet familiar...
• The Day the Music Lied: Valkyrie Drive cues up as Mirei and Mamori go to kiss each other so they can fight Wesker...and the music abruptly cuts off as they realize Wesker has shoved his hand between their mouths. Then MVC3 theme cues up as he tosses Mamori across the room and punches Mirei into a wall, then proceeds to beat the living daylights out of them, Lady Lady and Chris and co.
• Tragic Monster: The Draugr, since unlike most Resi monsters they are not beyond saving. They become violent due to how much pain they're in. Erina at one point is loaded up with as much painkillers as she can handle without it being lethal, and she's still in so much agony she can barely think straight: the paramedics have to medically induce a coma after Chris and the others interview her.
• Villainous Breakdown: Actively exploited against Wesker when he realizes the Arms he's equipping are making him weaker. To keep him from throwing them away and going back to basics, Mirei taunts him by suggesting that T-Valkyrie has rejected him and that he's not worthy. Wesker doubles down on his use of the Arms in a narcissistic rage, trying to prove her wrong. Then when he's completely been defeated, he screams Chris' name in impotent fury as his plans (and laboratory) explode around him and his aforementioned Archenemy flies away in a helicopter.
• Wedgie: Meifon gives the Valkyrie Drive an obligatory Panty Shot when she almost leaps out of the helicopter to grab her hat when it's blown off her head. Claire scrambles to grab her and manages to drag her in by her undies. Despite the pain, to Meifon's immense relief her hat is perfectly fine.
• Wham Line:
  Wesker: Fusion Trans: Liberate Arm!
• Wham Shot: Draugr!Meifon, leading to the realization that compatibility with the Armed Virus does not guarantee compatibility with T-Valkyrie.
• The Worf Effect:
  • Rain's Wave-Motion Gun form tears through Hunters and other lesser BOWs with ease, but it can only knock Tyrants down for a moment and Nemesis completely No Sells it.
  • Wesker's frankly terrifying set of Nemesis armor is absolutely no match for Mirei and Mamori's Valkyrie Drive form.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Mirei and Mamori quickly find out that they're in a Resident Evil story, not a Valkyrie Drive one, when Mirei takes it as a given that Wesker will just stand there and let her Drive Mamori without complaint. After all, that's how it was on Mermaid. She ends up getting the taste slapped out of her mouth by Wesker for that blunder, who gives them no time to Drive. The next time the two face off against him they make sure to Drive well before kicking the door down and confronting him.

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